Grrr... Trying to finish evil editing job while working on Puck.
Made a few changes, LOVE C+C PLEASE! Anything wrong I'll fix and then
consider it final. Then I'll only have 38-41 to fix. ;)
Thankx,
Twister.
| Twister (also known as Darren Steffler ;)
| e-mail at twister@tendo-dojo.ranma.net
| Home Page at http://www.winnipeg.freenet.mb.ca/~fmw675/
| Big Heapum Fan of: Ranma 1/2, Bubblegum Crisis, Dirty Pair, Gundam, and
| the rest of the known anime universe.
Twisted Path 3 - Another Bubble Started.
Part 3
A Story Inspired by Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma 1/2
and the Bubblegum Crisis
by Darren Steffler
Chapter Thirty
--------------
After the elf incident, Darlene made the fastest recovery she had made
yet, for she had been absolutely correct in her assumption that Priss would
tease her mercilessly about that...encounter with Malkon in Kirin's castle.
This kept on for over a week until, as Twister, he joined one of the Knight
Sabers' meetings.
"Priss, I think you can STOP doing that," he said firmly, finally fed up
with the amused singer's comments. Priss smirked from her chair.
"Why? I thought brides ENJOYED weddings," she said, grinning as he
narrowed his eyes angrily. He started to say something, but Sylia interrupted
him.
"I have to agree with Twister, Priss. However entertaining," she smiled
at his long-suffering expression, "it's about time you stopped."
"Oh, alright," Priss griped.
"Thank you," Sylia said, sighing at the grateful, and overdone, bows
Twister was giving her, much to the others' amusement. "Now then, shall we
start the meeting?" She paused. "And Twister, sit in a couch or chair, not
air."
Grinning, Twister unfolded from the crosslegged sitting position he had
been levitating in, repressing the impulse to say 'om om om', and plunked
down beside Linna on the couch. "Sorry," he said, unrepentant. "All my
repressed good humor is arising today."
"'Good' humor? From whose point of view?" Priss sniped, but Twister just
looked up innocently at the ceiling.
"Ahem! Shall we begin?" Sylia repeated with a trace of annoyance, and
the two quieted down. Nene, Linna, and Mackie, who had been watching Twister
and Priss, smothered laughter and focused their attention on Sylia. "While we
have not been hired by anyone, yet, I noticed yesterday that an odd thing has
been occurring recently." The others exchanged puzzled looks. "Nene has told
me that many personal 55-C Boomers, here and there, started disappearing over
a week ago but the disappearances stopped as of the day before yesterday."
Nene piped up. "I told Sylia about this on the third day. What's
puzzling ADPolice is the manner of their disappearance and how it's being
done over such a large area. Almost every sector has reported theft and
that's making it impossible to narrow down where they've been taken."
"Yes," Sylia agreed, "but another thing started up a day after the
Boomer thefts stopped. I've been told that quite a few homeless have also
begun disappearing, with no sign of a struggle taking place. The most notable
fact is that they all had semi-violent to outright hostile tendencies."
"That's weird," Linna observed.
"Sylia," Twister said, "how many 55-C's were stolen?"
"Nene tells me that over 28 were reported stolen." Priss whistled at the
number. "That number may be inaccurate given that some people might not want
it known that they had a Boomer and not reported to ADPolice."
"That's practically a small army," Twister observed.
"Yes, an accurate assumption given that those homeless might also be
used as solders, if the right drugs are given," Sylia said darkly. Everyone
turned grim when she mentioned that.
Mackie stood up, consternation on his face. "Oh, sis, I forgot to bring
the data you wanted. It's still in my room so it'll be a few minutes to find
it," he said apologetically and Sylia nodded.
"Mind if I join you? I've been wanting to ask you about your Highway
Star for a while," Twister asked with a smile.
"Sure," Mackie said, pleased to have a chance to talk about his
creation, and they both left the room.
Four pairs of eyes watched them go. "He seems fully recovered," Sylia
observed. Priss' snort agreed with her.
"I still have a hard time believing all that he can do," Linna sighed,
slumping back into the couch.
"Darlene's still Darlene," Nene said, frowning at Linna. "She's the same
person that we've known for almost two years."
"Why do you keep calling Twister, Darlene? That's his female name,"
Linna asked curiously.
Nene huffed, a little red-faced. "She was Darlene when we met, and I'll
always think of her as Darlene when she's not in front of me," she said
primly.
"That's one way of avoiding confusion," Priss said, grinning. "Besides,
while he can be a pain, he's been DAMN useful at times. But don't tell him I
said that," she warned after a quick glance to the door. "By the way, have
you heard him singing while he's Darlene?"
"No. Why?" Linna asked.
"First time she did my jaw almost hit the floor," Priss confessed, and
everyone stared at her. That Priss had admitted THAT meant Darlene must have
impressed the hell out of the singer. "Took everything I had not to show it.
SHE thought nothing was different, but MAN, she was singing in a completely
different way!"
"How so?" Sylia asked curiously.
"Well, when he sings as Twister he's totally precise about the WAY you
sing a song, but he can't seem to put much emotion into it. I admit he
learned damned quick but he was missing something." Then Priss exhaled
heavily. "However, as DARLENE she wasn't as precise but..." she struggled to
express what she knew in words the others would understand, "...the...the
FEELING was there, and STRONG. And that's what the more popular singers do;
pour what they're feeling into their songs. Like I do," Priss said
offhandedly, and no one objected knowing she spoke truth. "It's spooky. After
hearing that, I waited until Darlene became Twister again and asked him to
sing. And the feeling just wasn't there anymore. He doesn't even REALIZE a
damn thing!" she said, frustrated.
"As Darlene he DOES feel things more intensely, Priss," Sylia told the
singer. "That must be the reason."
"It's just plain bizarre," Priss complained.
"Sylia!" Twister shouted, catching their attention for he sounded
slightly angry. "Could you get everyone down to Mackie's room?"
Surprised and puzzled, the four women looked at each other then headed
for Mackie's room. When they arrived, they found Twister frowning at one of
Mackie's very large posters. Sylia's brother was smiling nervously at his
sister and looking like he wanted to be far away from where he was. Sylia
walked a little ways into the room while the others looked on from the
hallway. "What's the matter, Twister?"
"Oh, nothing really," he said in a tone that meant exactly the opposite.
"It's just that when I walked in and saw this poster I noticed something odd
about the picture."
Sylia looked at the poster. It was an image of an old Mandelbrot fractal
in full color, but other than that nothing seemed odd about it and she told
Twister so.
"My senses are slightly more acute, including sight," he explained. "The
thing seemed off-color somehow, as if something was interfering with it. I
can't explain it better than that. I touched it, and when I removed my finger
there appeared to be another image underneath."
"Another image?" Sylia wondered, glancing at her brother, suspicion
beginning to form. "Of what?" she asked.
Twister didn't say a word, he just placed his hand on the poster. After
fifteen seconds, a ripple beginning at the hand cascaded outwards and removed
what was the image of the fractal, replacing it with another one.
The Knight Sabers stared at what was shown.
It was Darlene. WITHOUT any clothes on.
"I figure this was when you gave me those tests, Sylia. The background
was altered, I've NEVER been in THAT bedroom," he said, rather forcefully and
not surprising given the room pictured. Then the fractal image came back,
obscuring the true picture underneath. All female eyes swivelled to the
sweating Mackie.
"Mackie," Sylia said ominously, and her brother swallowed. "How did you
do this?"
"Ah... I have a friend who has access to temperature sensitive plastics.
Y'know, like the ones billboards use to change advertisements according to
outside weather?"
"You better not have done US," Priss said, the glint in her eye shining
in Linna and Nene's eyes as well.
"Ahem," Twister said, catching their attention. And the three posters he
had managed to touch while all eyes were on Mackie revealed the images
underneath, backgrounds similarly altered. Nene, Linna, and Priss all flushed
at the sight of themselves au naturale, then three pairs of menace-filled
eyes swivelled in unison to Mackie, who was backing away nervously. "And,
Sylia, there's another one of these posters behind the door," Twister added,
smiling grimly as Sylia's icy gaze joined her fellow Knight Sabers. Her
brother gulped, fearing what was to come.
Roasting time.
Mackie marshmallows tonight.
AN HOUR LATER...
"Can you BELIEVE that Mackie?" Darlene growled as she, Linna, and Nene
walked downtown after the meeting. "I mean... REALLY!"
Linna and Nene exchanged surprised and amused looks. The contrast
between Twister's initial chilly anger and Darlene's current exasperated
state was almost hilarious. They had all opted to wait a few days before
doling out Mackie's punishment. Anticipation torture. Sylia's younger brother
had paled when Twister offered to help any of the others with their ideas;
the young scientist-mechanic knew all about the powers the
half-psionist/half-mage had at his command and, even worse, Twister's sense
of humor.
"Actually, we should have expected something like that," Linna sighed.
Darlene snorted, then smiled an evil smile. "But what to do about it?
That's the problem; too many choices," she mock-sighed.
"You won't do anything... permanent, will you?" Nene said, hesitantly.
"You mean like turning him into a pillar of salt?" Darlene inquired,
then waved her hands frantically in denial when they turned appalled looks at
her. "I'm kidding! Kidding! Jeez! I'm more the non-lasting type of punishment
person." She chuckled at their relieved expressions. "What are you two going
to do?"
"I don't know," Nene admitted. "I need a little time."
Linna wasn't as unsure. "I'm thinking of giving him a few free aerobics
lessons..."
"THAT'S punishment?" Nene and Darlene chorused incredulously
"...in one of my one-hour long ADVANCED aerobics classes," Linna
finished. "He'll be SO sore by the end of the third day..." They all laughed
at the image that produced.
Then they were interrupted.
"R-Ranma?" a voice stammered directly ahead of the three. Darlene froze
when she heard, and saw, the person who had spoken. The trio had reached a
corner of an intersection, but the person who had spoken had almost reached
their side of the crosswalk before halting. Linna and Nene had walked a step
or two forwards before realizing that their friend had stopped and was
staring at the stranger on the street.
The young man looked like he had been travelling for he looked dusty and
was carrying a backpack on his back, an old style umbrella attached on top.
Both women noticed he was attractively good-looking, and the bandanna wrapped
around his black hair only helped this image. He appeared very surprised, and
angry.
Darlene was not just surprised, she was shocked beyond belief.
"R-Ryouga?!?!" she said as she backed up towards the corner of the building
behind her. "H-How did...?"
Indeed it was Ryouga, impossible as it was, and in a very frustrated
mood, not helped by mistakenly thinking he saw his rival. "Raaaaannnmmmaaa!
Prepare to die!" he shouted, whipping out his umbrella as he prepared to
strike. Pedestrians gathering around him looked on with mixed disbelief and
amusement seeing the ridiculous-seeming weapon. Linna and Nene were wondering
how Darlene knew this guy, until they remembered that Darlene had mentioned
the name Ryouga before, but that was someone who was supposed to be in
another universe entirely.
"Wait!" Darlene cried frantically, waving her hands in denial. "I'm
not..."
She wasn't able to finish as Ryouga leaped towards his foe, making her
dodge so as to not get hit with the umbrella that was extended. The
innocent-looking weapon smashed into the corner of the building that Darlene
had been standing in front of, leaving a sizable crater in the concrete and
drastically changing people's minds about its effectiveness.
"Ryouga, stop!" Darlene did a very dumb thing and stepped close to the
angry martial artist. "I'm not Ranma!" she said.
"Shut up!" Ryouga bellowed and launched a fist at the red-head.
Who didn't dodge, as Ranma would've. Instead, she used both hands to
block the incoming blow, digging into and ruining the cement sidewalk as she
was forced backwards, wincing at the pain in her wrists. Darlene took
advantage of Ryouga's confusion while keeping a grip on the other's fist.
"I'm NOT Ranma, Ryouga!" she said again. "Who ELSE looks like Ranma?
Remember?" she stressed the last word.
The bandanna-wearing martial artist blinked, and finally noticed the
lack of a ponytail in the young woman's hair. There was only one other he
knew personally that had Ranma's cursed form and that was... "Twister?" he
said, confused.
"Shh! Use Darlene," Darlene hissed, shushing him quickly. "Yes, you
idiot! Can't you TALK first before attacking someone?" Ryouga flushed with
embarrassment. "Now I've got to get you out of here, c'mon!" she said,
grabbing his arm and dragging him along. When she reached a confused Linna
and Nene, she muttered a quick "Let's go." before walking by them, Ryouga in
tow.
Confused, Linna and Nene looked at each other, then hurried after the
other two.
Darlene refused to say a word until they all got to her store and went
upstairs. After using warm water, which made Ryouga relax, Twister sighed.
"You, Ryouga, are the only person I know who could do this. How long have you
been here?"
"Where IS here?" the eternally lost boy demanded as Linna and Nene
decided to take sit down, curious as to what was going on.
"Mega-Tokyo. And no, I don't mean Tokyo." Twister paused. "Ryouga,
you're in another UNIVERSE."
It took a moment to sink in. "Another... universe?" Ryouga said faintly.
"Yes, I've been here almost two years now, but I don't think you have.
When did you last see Akane? Or Akari for that matter."
"A few weeks ago. What do you mean by 'another universe'??"
"As in a different Earth is what I mean. THIS Japan isn't the Japan we
left, and time can act oddly between two universes. Like I said, I've been
here almost two years, but somehow you managed to follow me by entering this
universe sometime after leaving the dojo, maybe almost the same time I left
you did but arrived later." Twister ran a hand through his hair, frustrated.
"That's my best guess anyhow."
"Can you send us back?" the bandanna-wearing martial artist asked
plaintively.
"I've been working on it off and on. If I increase my efforts I think I
can in around a month." He didn't miss Ryouga's look of dismay. "I'm sorry,
but that's as soon as I can make it, I hope, but while you're here...
Ladies?" Twister inquired, Linna and Nene perked up as Ryouga registered
their presence at last. "Ryouga Hibiki, meet Linna Yamasaki and Nene
Romanova, two good friends of mine who know a lot about me."
"Hello!" "Welcome to Mega-Tokyo."
"Ah... Hi," the bandanna wearing young man said, slightly red-faced and
bashful at the two women's curious examination of himself.
Twister frowned at another thought. "Now, where should you stay while
you're here?" he murmured.
"Say," Linna asked intently, staring at Ryouga intently. "You're a
pretty good martial artist, aren't you?"
"Ah... Sorta," he replied, laughing a little and scratching his head.
She smiled, and both Nene and Twister recognized the particular smile
the black-haired aerobics teacher wore, one that appeared too often when
faced with a member of human males. Standing up briskly, Linna came within a
foot of the suddenly nervous and flushed Ryouga.
"I'll gladly volunteer to show you around," she purred as Nene watched
behind her, annoyed. Twister put a hand on his face, resigned at Linna's
predictable behaviour. She fingered her own headband, and said, "Maybe I
should change this to match..."
Ryouga eyes brightened, and he also started sweating a lot more from an
internal conflict.
She's cute, he thought dreamily, but Akane... Akari...
Resigned to watching this, Twister observed Ryouga's predictable
indecision and shook his head sadly.
Chapter Thirty-One
==================
TWO WEEKS LATER...
A laboratory, secretly prepared and set up with some of the most
advanced equipment on the planet, started the next upheaval in the lives of
the Knight Sabers and Twister. And it began with a familiar voice, one they
knew well, even if they had only heard it for one night.
"Our preparations are complete. Let the first move be made."
The two in front of him nodded, then walked away.
"Soon..." he murmured.
And started to laugh.
"AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!"
Linna and Ryouga stopped practicing at the scream of frustration that
came from the red-headed, cross-legged figure a short distance away from
their mat. Linna was the one practicing really, Ryouga was teaching her as a
means to pass the time and out of a growing friendship between the two. That
friendship was a constant source of amazement for Linna's closest friends who
knew her boyfriends never lasted more than two weeks. Of course, Ryouga never
really fell into that category, even after two weeks of Linna helping him
around Mega-Tokyo, she keeping close tabs on the eternal lost boy after
losing him one day in a shopping mall and taking three hours to track him
down. Linna had tried to take things a little further, but Ryouga was so
indecisive she withdrew, finally fed up, and instead asked him to teach her
some of his moves, and that calmed the fanged young man's nervousness down.
Darlene was puzzled and a little hurt that her friend hadn't asked her first,
until Linna confessed that she had thought their long friendship might affect
training.
So now Ryouga had settled into being Linna's sensei while Darlene worked
on getting a trans-universal spell working.
The mage's scream didn't exactly indicate positive progress.
"Trouble?" Linna asked, a slight grin hovering on her lips.
The red-head didn't turn around, but her hands were thrown up furiously.
"No! I always yell out at the top of my lungs just for the hell of it!" she
shouted angrily, not bothering to loom at them. Linna shook her head, amused.
Nene walked in from the entrance to the large cavern, annoyed. She had
been working on the cavern's large computer when she had heard the scream.
"Darlene again?" she asked disgustedly.
"Who else?" Linna sighed.
Nene pursed her lips and a determined look appeared on her face as she
strode towards the now-muttering mage. Walking around the seated figure and
glaring down at her friend, Nene loudly said, "Hey!"
Startled, Darlene jerked her head up to stare at her strangely resolute
friend. "Nene? What..." The ADPolice officer interrupted her.
"Darlene, for the last WEEK you've been getting more and more moody ever
since you started running into problems with that stupid spell of yours." The
other tried to speak up, but Nene pointed an accusing finger at the red-head,
making Darlene's eyes cross as she tried to focus on the digit. "Oh, no! No
excuses! Everybody's had enough of your bad temper! YOU are going to forget
about that spell until you get back to normal and WE will make sure you do
so! Am I getting through that hard head?"
"Hard head?" Darlene protested, but Nene was unwavering in her stare and
she soon gave in. "Okay, okay! I'll stop. Enough with the laser look
already."
"Good!" Nene grinned impishly as she watched her friend stiffly stand
up. "Come on, let's get going."
"Going? Going where?"
"A party, silly."
"Party?" Linna thought she remembered something mentioned a long time
ago, and then it hit her. "Nene, you don't mean THAT..."
"...party? Of course!" Nene quickly finished. "Priss got the invitations
ready a long time ago and today's the date it's on."
"I see I'm outnumbered again," Darlene sighed, giving the two of them a
small glower. "Just a moment, I have to do something before we leave." She
left normally through the hangar's only entrance.
Linna came up to Nene and whispered, "You're not going to get her drunk
like we had planned, are you?"
"Of course not!" Nene indignantly protested. "Not now. Well, maybe a
little bit if she won't loosen up," she mused thoughtfully.
"How about not at all, idiot," Linna whispered firmly. To Nene's
startled look she replied, "Do you WANT a drunk mage who isn't experienced at
being bombed?"
That reminder made the red-head pale a little. "Oh, yeah. I guess not
then," she said sheepishly.
Ryouga, who had stayed in the background, hesitantly said, "Ah... Should
we continue, Linna?"
"Sure, no problem," she said brightly, turning away from Nene. "Did you
want to start with that shishi houkoudan you mentioned?" Ryouga balked a bit
but reluctantly nodded. "Great!" she said, and meant it.
But Ryouga had to add one important point, forgetting his nervousness as
he shifted into full-sensei mode again. "However, the Shishi Houkoudan uses
heavy emotions like depression to fuel it. You're not that type of person,
but Ranma found a different way that uses confidence and that would be more
your style." He shrugged. "There's only a very small difference so if you
know one you can figure out the other."
"Confidence?" Linna mused aloud as she thought about it, then smiled. "I
like the sound of it."
That figures, Nene impishly thought to herself, and hid her grin behind
a hand.
That evening, after parking their transportation and following Priss to
the party's location, they arrived at the entrance. A set of stairs led up to
a large and expensive-looking club's door where a line of flashily-dressed
people stood. Darlene gaped up at the club's entrance. "YOU know this guy,
Priss?" she demanded incredulously for she couldn't believe someone PRISS
knew could afford renting a place like THIS for the night. Behind her,
Ryouga, who was nervously escorting Linna, silently agreed.
"Hey, I know the guy's friend." She grinned down at the slightly stunned
red-head. "Close enough."
"How close would that be?" Darlene innocently asked the singer, smiling
impishly. Beside Priss, Nene giggled at the incoherent growl her brown-haired
friend made in reply. Sadly, Sylvie and Anri had declined to come, fearing
that their sexaroid bodies might attract undue attention.
"Come on," the singer said irritably, striding ahead. Nene and Darlene
followed, both grinning, with Ryouga and Linna behind them. The two Boomers
who were acting as bouncers stopped Priss' momentum momentarily until she
identified herself and the others. There was a bit of trouble with getting
Ryouga in, which might have turned bad(for him or the Boomers was
debateable), but Linna proclaimed that he was her escort and they grudgingly
let the group inside.
It was almost wall-to-wall people and the five made slow progress inside
the rented nightclub. Suddenly, a tall, thin, white-haired male about Priss'
age with a blue streak of color in his long mane appeared in front of Priss
and smiled energetically when he recognized the brown-haired singer.
"Hey, Priss! Long time no see!" he cried out, slapping a hand on one of
her shoulders. "Nice set-up my buddy got together, hey?"
"Hey, White." Priss smiled back and looked around at the crowd. "Yeah,
it sure is. Thanks for getting us in."
"No sweat," he said dismissively, then White saw who had come in with
her and whistled. "I should've figured your friends would be nice but I
didn't think they'd be THIS nice." The three females reddened while Ryouga
frowned. "And TWO red-heads yet! I'd better check to make sure all the fire
extinguishers are working." Nene and Darlene blushed even harder. "You've got
to introduce me, Priss, I'm dying here," the man mock-griped.
Priss grinned. "That's no surprise. Everybody, this is White-N-Blue,
call him White, and if he has another name I haven't heard it. White, these
are my friends Linna, Nene, Darlene, and, Linna's date for the night,
Ryouga."
White opened his arms wide with a grin. "Welcome to the party. Hey, cool
headband and getup," he commented approvingly to Ryouga. "Unfortunately, I
gotta go. I'll be back later but have a real time till I get back, then we'll
really get swinging!" After a sly look at the two red-heads, he added, "Try
out the punch, it's great!" That said, he disappeared into the crowd.
"Hentai," Priss muttered softly; White obviously knew it was spiked.
"I'm hungry. Where's the food?" Nene whined.
Darlene hopped slightly and spied the refreshments along one wall.
"Found it! It's on the far side of the room."
"Well, c'mon then! I'm starved!" Nene almost dragged Darlene along as
they set out for their objective and quickly vanished into the throng.
Priss sighed, disgusted. "That's Nene for you." Now she in her turn
looked around for something else entirely. "Where's the dance floor?"
Linna craned her neck and pointed in a seemingly random direction. "Over
there, I think." Smiling she tugged on Ryouga's arm. "Shall we?"
"Bu-bu-but I don't know how to dance!" he protested, face paling.
"Who dances?" said Priss with a grin. "You just rock. Let's go!" And
together they brought the nervous martial artist along with them.
"Oh, wow!" Wide-eyed, Nene scanned the deserts and dainties that covered
most of a table. "This is great! What should I get? It all looks so good."
She glanced at Darlene inquiringly, then did a double take.
"Mmm... Try a little of each?" Darlene said with a grin as she casually
held a plate that almost overflowed with cake and sweets.
Nene was stunned. "Wha...? When did you...?" She gathered herself and
glared at Darlene who stepped beside her, popping a round sweet into her
mouth. "You did that just to annoy me," she accused.
"Hey, you're the one who complains about her waist," Darlene pointed
out. "Just reminding you, that's all."
"I have control!" Nene protested, then weakened a bit as Darlene
knowingly looked at the table then her. "I do," she said more feebly.
Darlene sighed. "Losing battle," she remarked, then stiffened. Nene's
eyes widened in shock as she too felt something grip her behind.
"Hey, girls," a male, confident sounding voice came from behind them.
"Do you want to party with me for a while?"
Darlene's reply was in a normal volume, but with a tone of you-are-
about-to-become-charcoal-and-I-don't-mean-my-dragon very much present, "Lose
the hand, asshole, or else."
The voice grew amused, "Or else what? My hands feel VERY comfortable
where they are." He squeezed making Nene squeak indignantly.
Darlene's eyes narrowed in anger.
Ryouga paused in the middle of a step.
Exhilarated from the dancing, Linna panted, "What is it?"
"I thought I heard something."
"In THIS?" she said incredulously.
He listened, then shook his head. "Must be imagining it."
"Do some more of those martial arts flips!" she demanded with a smile.
Ryouga blushed, embarrassed, as the crowd around him echoed her loudly.
The area around the refreshments was stunned into silence as people
stared at the overturned table and the pair of feet that protruded from
behind it. Slowly, Nene turned her wide-eyed stare from the display to
Darlene, who was straightening from the position her throw had placed her in.
Miraculously, she still held her undisturbed plate in one hand.
"I did warn him," she said, piqued.
"But did you have to toss him into the FOOD?!" Nene demanded, recovering
from the shock. Darlene shrugged her shoulders sheepishly. "Honestly!" she
huffed.
"Um... Well, I still have this," Darlene said, displaying the plate she
still held. "Let's go get something to drink."
Eyeing the tempting plate, Nene decided. "Oh, all right." She made a
face at the destroyed table "Bleah!" before they both walked away.
There was a groan from behind the table in reply, and one foot twitched.
The table with all the non-alcoholic beverages was only a little ways
off and had two attendants giving people what they requested. The pair, one
male and one female, welcomed the red-heads. The blonde female attendant was
grinning after another look at where the unfortunate table had been
overturned.
"Couldn't have happened to anyone better. Nice job," she congratulated
Darlene, who reddened. The woman chuckled. "Oh, don't be embarrassed. He's
been doing that all night, and with this assorted crowd it was bound to
happen sooner or later."
The black-haired male chortled. "Yeah, but what a waste of good food."
After giving her partner a grin, the blonde said, "What would you like
to drink? Punch? Tossing perverts around is thirsty work."
Knowing that the punch was spiked, Nene began, "Um... we'd..."
"Sure," Darlene said, not seeing Nene's suddenly panicked expression
behind her.
Before Nene could say nay, the smiling blonde held out two glasses
filled with pink-yellow liquid from the extremely large punch bowl on the
table. "Here you go!" Darlene accepted one with a smile, Nene with a sickly
expression.
Darlene sipped from the cup, and her eyes widened a few seconds later.
"Whoa!"
The two attendants exchanged nervous looks, and the woman inquired,
"Anything wrong?"
The red-head shook her head. "No, no. I... This punch just has a wicked
aftertaste, that's all." Darlene considered the flavor. "Not bad actually."
"Aftertaste?" Nene said curiously and took a large sip from her own
glass. She blinked in confusion. "I don't taste anything odd."
Darlene drank a larger amount to better judge the taste. "It's sort of
an intense pepperminty-cherry flavor. You sure you can't taste it?" Nene
shook her head. The two behind the table withdrew a little.
"That's what the alcohol taste-nullifier is supposed to be like," the
blonde whispered.
"But only in concentrated form! How can she taste it when it's diluted
as much as it is?!" her companion in mischief objected.
"I guess she has really good taste buds." She shrugged. "It happens."
Meanwhile, Darlene had emptied her glass trying to isolate the elusive
tang. She held out her glass with a smile. "Strange taste, but I like it.
Kinda grows on you."
The blonde blinked, but accepted the glass automatically. Strange, she
thought, this punch is so spiked this girl should be feeling it by now. Must
have a high tolerance for alcohol. The blonde smiled back as she filled the
glass again. I wonder how high? she wondered.
From her position behind Darlene, Nene's face was flushed, having
finished her own glass. Her own tolerance wasn't nearly as high as her
friend's.
Good punch, she thought a little blearily, I guess one more shouldn't
hurt.
"I'll have one too," she said a little unsteadily, but firmly holding
out her own glass.
Seeing her state, the black-haired male merely smiled and re-filled it
without a word.
"Quite the gathering," Daley shouted to his partner as they weaved their
way through the crowd. The two had been ordered to stop by this club and do
some things before their shift ended.
Leon grinned back at him, then sighed. "Yeah, too bad we're on duty." He
stopped and looked around as his red-haired partner caught up to him. "Where
do you think they have it? Nevermind, I see it. Come on." The pair started
pushing through the crowd again. But as they neared their goal, Leon saw two
familiar women standing by the table the officers were heading for and
immediately stopped. Daley looked back, startled.
"What's up?" he asked. Leon stared at two red-headed figures by the
table.
"Isn't that Nene and Darlene?" the brown-haired ADPoliceman said, a
feeling of dread beginning to make itself known in his stomach as Daley
whipped his head around to check. Leon's partner frowned thoughtfully.
"Looks like them alright. They seem to be leaving though," he commented.
With some concern in his voice, he said, "You think they drank a lot?"
"Darlene's the one to worry about, but fortunately she has a high
tolerance to alcohol," Leon replied, more to reassure himself than Daley.
"We'd better make sure. Let's go."
When the two officers reached the table, they flipped out their ID's to
the much-surprised punch servers. Leon said, "ADPolice. I'm sorry but the
substance you're using is not on the approved list of safe chemical additives
yet so I'm afraid you'll have to stop serving your spiked punch."
"Oh, damn," the blonde said disgustedly. "I had a feeling this would
happen."
"Say," Daley asked the attendants, "how much punch did the two red-
haired girls who just left have? It's important." The woman blinked,
surprised.
"Really? Well, the green-eyed one had two glasses and was starting to
look pretty tipsy."
Leon leaned forward anxiously. "And the other?"
The blonde shook her head in remembered disbelief. "TEN, if you can
believe that! I was wondering WHEN she would start acting drunk and that was
at number five. She's a head shorter than me and I would've been on the floor
by then," she said admiringly. "The punch is pretty heavily spiked to test
the secret ingredient you know." She took a look at their somewhat-panicked
expressions. "What's wrong with that?" she asked.
Leon laughed a little, hiding his concern. "Nothing! Nothing at all. We
just thought we knew those two, that's all. Just stop serving punch; someone
else will come for it later. Come on, Daley," he said, leaving the slightly
confused attendant behind.
"This is Not Good, Leon," Daley said as they plunged into the crowd
again, rapidly scanning the mob for the two girls. "We'd better find them
fast before anything happens."
"No shit," Leon replied. "The last thing I want is another Elf-like
incident." Suddenly, Leon smacked a fist into a palm in realization. "Wait a
minute! Why would those two be here alone? This party is more Priss' style.
She MUST have come with them. AND I have a better idea of where to find HER,
then she can help us find THEM. Let's go!" Leon started ahead once more,
forcing Daley to hurry to stay behind him.
"Go where, Leon?"
Leon turned his head, showing his grin.
"Just follow the music!"
Chapter Thirty-Two
==================
Darlene heaved a sigh.
"Are you dooonne yet, Nene?" she asked for what seemed the quintillionth
time.
"Almost," was the reply from the stall.
The red-head sighed again; even being in female form and her current
drunken state, she was still uncomfortable in the ladies room. But Nene had
had to go, and, as she had been unable to walk very far at the time, had
needed the mage's support.
Darlene wasn't feeling very steady herself, and not just a little giddy.
The closest thing to what she felt like now was drunk, but that was
impossible; she hadn't even had one alcoholic beverage tonight. She giggled
a little for no reason.
Finally, Nene's stall opened and the silly grin the ADPolice officer
wore did nothing to alleviate the giggle fit. "Sorry, had trouble with my
skirt," she apologized, giggling.
"Why? What was the trouble?"
Nene broke out laughing. "It was on the floor!"
Darlene joined in when she heard the joke. Two other women over by the
mirrors who were checking their make-up looked at each other and struggled
not to break out laughing themselves. Not because of the drunken joke but
rather the sight of the two diminutive red-heads laughing over something only
drunks could find funny. Both of the cute-looking girls seemed at a point
somewhere in the middle of being buzzed or unconscious. They were hilarious.
"Aren't you gonna go in?" Nene asked Darlene, but the other shook her
head.
"Nope!" she declared proudly. "Don't need to. Takes a looong while for
me now." She snickered at the dirty look her friend gave her. Then Darlene
lowered her voice, and whispered to Nene conspiratorially, "Tell you
something else though."
The red-head leaned forward, eyes bright with curiosity. "What's that?"
Darlene didn't say anything, but smiled mysteriously and unbuttoned her
blouse a little to open it up.
Nene gasped in surprise. "A BRA?!" The two women who were leaving rolled
their eyes, exasperated by the ongoing clothing humour, not knowing the real
reason for Nene's shock. The owner of the fantasy store never wore a bra, her
breasts were pretty firm and didn't move much unless the red-head moved too
quickly, also wearing thick blouses, but the real reason was because of her
transformations between sexes. "Why?" Nene asked curiously, fascinated by
this oddity.
"Well heck! If you go to a party you dance, and dancing would bounce
these things around too much," Darlene complained. "Sometimes I wish Ranma's
female form hadn't been so well-endowed."
Me too, Nene thought enviously.
"If I do change, it becomes a muscle shirt, and vice-versa. Neat, huh?"
She hopped and considered. "The support IS nice," she mused, if a little
guiltily.
Nene ignored it completely, caught up as she was in a sudden vision of
being a princess in a magical land. She sighed sorrowfully. "I wish I was a
princess," she said wistfully. If their friends had been in the washroom they
would have felt a sudden sinking sensation at those words as Darlene perked
up on hearing them.
"Let's pretend!" the mage exclaimed, and Nene blinked at her friend.
"What?"
"You be the princess, and I'll be your faithful court wizard," Darlene
bubbled in her excitement. "It'll be easy!"
"Really?" Nene said, getting excited as well, then frowned. "But what
about a court?" To that, Darlene smiled impishly.
"Let's work on us first, then we go to the party, I mean court,
OUTSIDE."
Nene's eyes widened in realization at all the people outside the
washroom and her excitement welled up once more. "Do we do it?" she said,
bouncing on her toes in front of a grinning Darlene.
"YES!!" they chorused, and broke up giggling.
Leon and Daley had found Priss shouting criticisms at the band, and
after explaining their appearance and concerned looks, went off to find
Linna. They found her and Ryouga on the dance floor. Ryouga having lost his
embarrassment at last, though it still surfaced from time to time.
Linna was surprised at the three's arrival, her bandanna-wearing escort
stopped as well and came up beside her. "Priss, what's wrong?" she asked,
noting the singer's expression.
"Nene goofed up, that's what," the singer replied, agitated. Leon spoke
up.
"Daley and I saw them leaving the table with the spiked punch. We asked
and apparently Darlene had drank TEN glasses of the stuff." Linna paled.
"Oh no! Do you know where they went?" she asked, but the question soon
became irrelevant for gasps and intermittent shrieks from one side of the
crowded room advertised the fact that something was up.
Then what seemed to be a visual shiver passed over the five on the dance
floor, leaving them, and everyone else in the club, with an apparently
radically altered set of clothing; the reason for the previous startlement of
the far side of the crowd as they had been the first to be hit.
Linna looked down and saw a beautiful green dress, cut in a medieval
style and with a slightly below average neckline. If she had possessed a
mirror she would have seen her hair was longer and held by an ornate tiara
embedded with emeralds. Beside her, Ryouga stared at the changes made to her
attire and quickly looked down at himself, but found to his relief that his
normal clothes hadn't been altered.
Priss stared at her fellow Knight Saber as well before jerking her eyes
down to herself, and didn't like what she saw one bit. Feet to fingertips,
the singer was dressed in deep red leather. Hugging skin close to her body,
the leather pants she saw appeared laced up the sides while her 'shirt' was
something that covered her back completely but laced up the front, showing a
bit too much cleavage for her liking. Leather gloves protected her hands and
arms up to just beyond her elbows, tall boots on her feet did the same for
her legs. As with Linna, Priss' hair had changed but tied into a short
ponytail. Normally, Priss LIKED leather, her biking outfit was made of
leather, but not THIS way. For God's sake, there was even a belt with a
frigging SWORD to complete the damn outfit!
The two detectives saw the two women, then looked at themselves. Daley
had on a loose, silk shirt with billowy sleeves along with a pair of matching
pants that fit rather close. Along with delicate-seeming shoes, white gloves,
and a circular, purple-colored cloth hat, the red-haired officer was dressed
like a classic court fop, with a rapier buckled casually around the waist.
Leon was dressed in similar style to Priss, but in a masculine way and
a little more armoured. Black leather, along with thicker bucklers of the
same material reenforced by metal, was what his outfit was made of. His sword
was more massive in its sheath and his gloves were gauntlets.
Their clothing hadn't actually changed, Darlene hadn't had enough
concentration to alter a room's worth of clothing, but the mass visual
illusion she HAD done was impressive in its results and extended to the
entire party, creating a excited murmur that covered the stunned five's
conversation.
"Wha-What's this?!" Linna stammered as she finally spoke up, snapping
out of her stunned state. "How come I can still feel my old clothes when I'm
wearing THIS?!" Priss checked patted her arms and legs and sighed in relief
when she too felt her clothes were unchanged.
"A hallucination?" Daley queried Leon as he admired the getup he found
himself apparently wearing.
"More like illusion if Darlene's involved," Leon said absently. Daley
wondered why until he saw his partner hungrily examining Priss' revealing
getup.
So did she. "Leoooon...." she started threateningly, holding up a fist
and advancing. The officer backed away quickly, holding up his gauntleted
hands in surrender, and feeling very glad that the sword at her side was an
illusion.
"Ha ha ha! Right!" he declared, turning resolutely and hoping she
wouldn't punch him. "We've got to find those two before they do anything
else." Priss eyed him sceptically, but reluctantly turned away to look for
the missing duo.
"THERE you guys are!" exclaimed Nene's excited voice. "Finally found
you!" she said as she glided through the crowd into view. Literally: she was
floating an inch above the floor. The ADPolice red-head wore an outrageously
fanciful, fairy-tale princess-style dress. The wide bell-shape of her gown
was so white it hurt the eyes, making detail was impossible to see. Luminous
white silk gloves covered her hands and an extravagantly expensive necklace
was around her graceful neck. "Told you, Darlene. Ah!" she exclaimed and
corrected herself. "I mean, court wizard, we have found them!"
"Certainly, your highness," Darlene said with a giggle as she stepped
around the grinning Nene. Her outfit was the most disturbing of all; she
appeared to be wearing a dress of some kind, purple of course, but everything
was obscured by a long cloak that concealed whatever she wore underneath and
had a high collar that framed the mage's face and hair. The disturbing part
was the color of the cloak: there was none. That is, the cloak kept shifting
into one eye-wrenching pattern before moving on to another just as wrenching.
She held two glasses of punch in her hand and was sipping out of one of them.
Ever so subtle, Priss shouted at them. "What the hell are you two
doing?!?! Get rid of this stupid spell! For crying out loud, do you WANT to
get caught??"
"Aw, Priss, don't be a spoilsport," Darlene said, pouting. Then she
brightened and held out the glass she hadn't touched yet. "Here, have some
punch." Frowning, the singer took the offered drink as she tried to frame a
reply, but the magic-user had already turned to Nene. "What else do we need,
your Highness?" she said with a giggle. Nene furrowed her brow in
concentration, then smiled.
"We need a prince!" she exclaimed.
"One in an enchanted sleep?"
Nene looked dubious. "I dunno. Isn't that a princess' duty?"
"Eh, equal rights," Darlene said, waving her hand dismissively. "Let the
prince do it for a change." Nene smiled and nodded approvingly.
"Okay!"
"Soooo...." Darlene drawled out, then whirled around to smile merrily at
Leon and Daley, startling them. "I guess we've got two volunteers right
HERE!"
Leon backed up a step at the look in her eyes. "Ah... hey now, Darlene,
don't do anything hasty now. Just..."
"DEEP SLEEP!" Darlene cried gleefully, pointing at the two ADPolice
officers. The two word rhyme was sufficient to cast a sleep spell which
washed over the two hapless officers.
"Don't...." Daley began but lost the battle with his eyes and fell
asleep, Leon a moment later. Priss, fumbling with her drink, caught the
brown-haired officer while Ryouga grabbed Daley. They laid the luckless
officers gently on the ground while Nene clapped heartily.
"Neat!" she chirped.
"Nene!" Linna protested, and the red-head became downcast at the angry
look on her friend's face. "This isn't funny! Stop it! You too, Darlene!" she
said, turning to the grinning mage who then mirrored Nene's crestfallen look
when she saw how angry Linna was. "You're both drunk and behaving like
children! Darlene, get rid of all these spells, now!" she demanded but the
red-haired mage scowled.
"Am NOT drunk! Only had punch! See?" she declared and drank the rest of
her glass in a gulp. "I'm just..." Darlene started weaving unsteadily,
"...finnnnneeee...." Her eyes rolled up and Linna had to catch her before she
hit the floor.
"Too much, too fast, and it finally caught up to her," Priss said with
a resigned sigh, looking over the three unconscious bodies. "NOW what do we
do?"
"I..." Linna began to say, but stopped, startled, when Nene's princess
illusion vanished and her regular clothes revealed themselves. The red-head
was disappointed, but the others were relieved. "Looks like the illusions
won't last long, thank goodness." She plucked at her own illusionary dress.
"Though I may ask her for a real one sometime." Priss snorted.
"Thanks, but I'll pass." She looked around at the excited crowd around
her, the court getup was being greeted as a harmless, hi-tech prank and most
people were taking the whole thing in stride, enjoying the masquerade while
it lasted. Figures. "We'd better leave." She looked wryly down at the
blissfully oblivious Leon. "And take the 'sleeping beauties' along."
"What will we do? We all came in my van. They won't fit," Linna said
worriedly. Priss dismissed the worry and waved at the ADPolice officers on
the ground.
"They must've brought their car. I'll drop Darlene off, then dump them
at their place and take a bus home."
"Awww...." Nene whined. "Can't we stay longer?" She hiccupped.
"No," Linna said firmly, grabbing her red-headed friend's hand firmly.
"Let's go home, Nene. Ryouga, could you pick up Leon and Daley?" He nodded
and bent to gather up the two fallen men. "Thanks. Priss should be able to
manage Darlene." She sighed as they started to leave.
What a night!
Priss parked the police car by Darlene's place, she had just gotten the
unconscious Darlene in by the first story door when she realized a flaw in
her plan.
"Oh, man!" she exclaimed out loud to no one as she realized something.
"How am I going to get the other two into their place? It's hard enough with
Darlene." She sighed, tired, as she managed to open the door for the
staircase to Darlene's second story home. "Guess I'll manage," she grunted.
When she reached the top, still holding the out of it red-head, she was
rewarded with a shock.
Outstretched on the floor were Daley and Leon.
"HUH?!?!?!?"
A chirp to the side attracted her attention, and she nearly cried aloud
again. It was Darlene's dragon Charcoal in it's miniature form, sitting on
one of the couches with its wings outstretched. It chirped again before
vanishing in a small puff of flame.
"The damn dragon heard me," Priss said incredulously. "But it got the
WRONG place! Argh! Now what do I do?!" she demanded. Holding Darlene wasn't
easy so she took the unconscious mage to the mage's bedroom and put her on
the bed. The singer stretched her arms, grateful to be rid of the weight.
Putting a hand on her head, Priss wondered what to do. There was no way she
was going to drag the two officers back down the stairs, so she supposed they
might as well stay here. She started to turn away, but then an idea struck.
A good idea.
No.
This was an EVIL idea.
A full-blown grin grew on Priss' face as she looked at Darlene's still
form. Oh, this was just too good, she thought. Should she do it? A chuckle
escaped her. You BET! But first... Priss quickly left the room and headed
down the hall again.
She needed one little thing which she knew the red-head had.
Chapter Thirty-Three
====================
The first thing Leon discovered upon slowly gaining awareness of his
surroundings was that most of his clothes were off and that he was in a bed.
Unfortunately, by the feel of the silky-soft covers on his skin, it was not
HIS bed. This was not necessarily a bad thing. Nevertheless, he carefully
opened his eyes, wondering where he was as his last memory ended at the party
last night.
And saw Darlene's peacefully sleeping face right beside him.
His immediate first thought was: Did we?? Considering who slept beside
him, in what was most likely her bed, his next thought was: How is SHE going
to react? The answer to both was: leave and find out LATER.
Leon tried ease himself out of the bed, but saw that it would be
difficult as he was positioned on the side of the bed against the wall and
would have to crawl over the dozing mage to escape. Shifting his legs under
the covers, he brushed Darlene with one of his knees and discovered with a
bit of nervousness that she was wearing even less than he was. Nothing.
Wait...
Something...sticky?...was on his leg from the brush with Darlene? He
slid his hand under the covers to feel what was on his leg. Yes, something
sticky all right...no, impossible. Cautiously, he lifted his hand and
examined the clear substance in the morning light. It didn't quite look like
what he hoped it wasn't. He sniffed cautiously, then more deeply to make sure
and blinked in surprise.
HONEY????
What the Hell...? he thought in astonishment. Then he began to get
suspicious; he and Darlene in bed together, which was probably impossible for
them to have done so by themselves considering what happened last night;
Darlene having a sticky substance in an embarrassing position; and Priss had
been present last night at the party. NOW things were beginning to make
sense. All TOO much sense as he knew something about Priss and Darlene's
jokes on each other. Now more than ever he had better get out of...
Darlene's eyelids twitched.
Leon's stomach sank as he watched her eyes slowly open, then snap all
the way up in shock when she focused on the now-sickly smiling Leon.
"AH!!! WHAT?!?!" she screamed aloud, recoiling from him, then blinked
again in shock when she noticed that she wasn't wearing anything underneath
the sheets, and instinctively covered herself more fully with the bedsheets.
Before Leon could say anything she discovered the third and greatest shock,
and turned pale. She shifted her legs underneath the covers a little,
confirmed it, and went from pale to sheet white. Leon tried to reassure her.
"Ah... Darlene... It's not what you think..."
His voice died as she focused on him once more, after a moment her face
started to return to a normal color and her eyes relaxed. So did he.
"Leon..." she began conversationally, considering the ADPoliceman in her
bed. He, in turn, was getting nervous again; she was taking this far too
well, he realized.
"Ah, yes?" She smiled at him.
"PREPARE TO DIE!!!!!" she roared furiously, eyes blazing, and a fist,
glowing brightly with ki but Leon didn't know about that part of her fighting
skills, rocketed towards his head. Leon missed being hit by half a centimetre
as his reflexes threw him out of the bed, years of dodging Boomers paying
off. The wall where the fist landed wasn't so lucky and with a loud explosion
a new hole was created in it.
From the floor, Leon stared at where the fist had struck until Darlene
slowly turned her enraged gaze in his direction again. He leaped up,
adrenaline flowing, and sprinted for the doorway, mentally cursing Priss for
trying to kill him; the only time he'd seen the red-headed mage madder was
the Elf episode, and not by much.
Somehow, he didn't think staying and talking was a wise idea.
Priss, who had stayed, and Daley, whom she had placed on the couch, woke
up because of Darlene's enraged shout and even more alertly when the
explosion happened. Priss leaped up in a half-asleep combat-mode and rushed
to the hallway just in time to see Leon slam the bedroom door shut and lean
on it heavily as he collected his wits. The singer then remembered her little
prank and grinned broadly.
"Sleeping arrangements not to your liking, Leon?" she said with a smirk,
Daley walked up to stand behind Priss, wondering what was going on.
"For God's sake, Priss!" Leon said in an angry and panicked way as he
glared at her, wearing only his boxers. "This is NOT funny!"
"It sure looks like..."
CRACK!
Leon's gaze shot down and he paled as he saw the sharp sword thrusting
out from the door just below him, positioned between his spread legs, Priss
and Daley gaped. He moved frantically out of the way before the blade shot
cruelly up, carving a path through the door where Leon's neither region had
been.
"Clothes!" Leon demanded, and raced for the pile Priss numbly pointed
to. Daley was about to ask him what was going on when the bedroom door
exploded outwards and tumbled to the floor in tiny pieces.
The red-head felt running away and letting Priss cool the obviously very
angry Darlene down was the better part of valor. After grabbing the car keys
when Priss hurriedly offered them, he quickly followed a semi-clothed Leon
out of the apartment.
Priss stared in shock at her friend when the red-head come out from her
room. A bedcover was wrapped around her body, concealing it, but the now-
flaming sword she held in her hand and the murderous expression on her face
told the singer that the mage was definitely NOT happy. Darlene stepped
forward down the hallway to grimly follow the fled males but Priss, feeling
very stupid for doing so, intercepted the furious girl's path.
"Wait!" the singer cried. Not wanting to run over her friend Darlene
reluctantly did so, but her eyes were almost glowing with fury.
"HE DIES A SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH!!!" Darlene savagely shouted at her,
punctuating the remark by waving the flaming sword and started advancing
again.
"It was a joke! A JOKE, Darlene!" Priss cried out. It took a second, but
Darlene finally heard what her friend said and blankly looked at her. "You
two didn't do anything! I put you both in bed together and used some honey to
make it look like you had done something."
"Honey?" Darlene blinked several times in confusion, then realization.
"A...joke?" She lowered the sword, flames vanishing from the blade.
Priss sighed in relief, seeing that the mage wasn't going to chop Leon
up into little pieces anymore. She nodded affirmatively. "Yeah, just a joke."
A minute later, the singer got painfully off the floor, desperately
sucking in air that had been knocked out by Darlene's lightning-fast fist.
"Fuck, I really did it this time," she groaned, holding a hand to her sore
midsection. "Damn, she hits hard. At least she didn't go for the face."
Wincing a little, Priss headed for the mage's bedroom. She gave a hesitant
glance at the blasted pieces of door on the floor before stepping through the
doorway.
"Any OTHER surprises today?" Darlene said bitterly. She sat on the edge
of her bed, still holding her sword and hugging herself as if needing
comfort, not bothering to look up at Priss, who sighed.
"No."
"Great. Then here's one for YOU!" And, to the singer's utter horror,
Darlene threw the sword straight at her! The blade slid through clothes and
flesh effortlessly, shock and the mage's quickness had prevented Priss from
moving out of the way. The hilt impacted her already sore midsection severely
and she staggered backwards in pain and shock. She'd just been impaled with
a frigging sword! Priss thought, terrified. She was dead! Heedless of the
consequences, she frantically gripped the hilt and pulled. The sword came out
like nothing held it at all and for a brief moment she held the weapon high,
staring at it. What the?!? She'd felt nothing?! Quickly looking down she saw
a hole in her shirt, but no blood from a wound. With her free hand, Priss
hesitantly checked and confirmed it.
Nothing.
"My sword doesn't harm human flesh. I forgot about that when I was angry
at Leon. Now you know how I felt, and still feel," Darlene said bitterly,
having watched Priss' reaction and then turned her gaze back to the floor.
Heart still hammering, Priss couldn't say anything in response for the
moment. Instead she walked over and sat on the bed beside Darlene, carefully
putting the sword on the bed as soon as she could. "Guess it wasn't such a
good idea, huh?" she said finally.
"You KNOW my past!" Darlene angrily retorted, whirling to face the
singer, tears in her eyes. "AND that I still don't know things about myself!
Like when I lost control of my anger, and you know what happened THEN! It
almost happened again when I thought I had..." She trailed off and shivered.
"In my male form I'm in control, almost to a fault at times, but in my female
form I'm NOT, I don't have the experience! Who knows what might happen if I
did... that?"
"You might find out some day," Priss said, realizing that the red-head
still hadn't come to terms with some of the more exotic alterations to
herself. It was easy to think otherwise as her friend tended to bury worries
and show a more pleasant face.
"Maybe, but I'm scared to death of the possibilities," Darlene
whispered, and didn't object when Priss put a reassuring arm around her
shoulders, deriving a little comfort from it. After a few minutes she sighed
and looked up at Priss with something akin to amusement on her face. "You
realize we're both going to have to apologize to Leon, don't you?" The singer
looked less than pleased with that, but couldn't argue the point.
"I suppose so..."
"And let's not do any more practical jokes for a while, please?" Darlene
pleaded. "This one frazzled my nerves a little too much."
"What about impaling me with that fucking sword?!?" Priss protested
indignantly. Darlene looked at her with a fake expression of innocent
confusion.
"But I thought would be appropriate for a vamp."
"VAMP?!?!?" Priss exclaimed indignantly. "Why you!!!" Priss' friendly
hug turned into something more appropriate for pro-wresting as she attacked.
Darlene screeched in protest as it was unexpected.
"HEY!! No fair!! I've just got a cover on!!" she protested.
"I'll take any advantage I can get!" Priss pressed her attack, and
started tickling her friend mercilessly.
"No, no, not there! Ah! Ah-haha! Hahahahahahaha!"
It degenerated from there.
Nene's awakening was much less of a surprise, Linna hadn't bothered to
take off the red-head's clothes and simply laid her friend on her bed.
However, the hangover she had was a painful reminder of what had happened
last night. She was still blurry on certain details and so she decided to
give Darlene a call.
She had showered as she had felt dirty and the pounding in her head was
a little less intense but otherwise she thought she was presentable enough
for the vid-phone. It took quite a few rings before Darlene answered.
"H-hello? Oh, Nene! Hi!"
Nene stared. Darlene's face was flushed, her hair was in disarray, and
there was a bedsheet wrapped around her, loosely. Her response to Nene's call
had been a breathless response as well. It looked like... No. Not Darlene,
Nene thought disbelievingly. Then Priss, with a smirk on her face, appeared
behind the mage and waved casually at the ADPolicewoman.
"Hey, Nene. Recovered from last night yet?" the singer asked with a
grin, reminding the red-head about her headache and making her wince.
"No, I'm not," she replied petulantly.
"Good!" And before the sputtering Nene could frame an indignant reply to
that, Priss continued, "That's what you SHOULD get for getting drunk when you
KNEW that punch was spiked. What happened is all YOUR fault!"
"Okay, okay! Owwww...." Nene had to cover her ears to stop the pounding.
Meanwhile, Darlene naturally heard all this. "SPIKED punch??" she
growled the question out, looking alternately at the friend on the vid-screen
and the friend beside her. Both looked a little nervous. "No wonder I can't
remember parts of last night's party...yet," she amended, when became male
she would remember it all. "I won't bother to ask how, just tell me I didn't
do anything bad."
"Not really," Priss conceded, Nene just continued to look guilty.
"Nothing people will think actually happened, or at least connect to you."
Darlene sighed with relief.
"Why are you at Darlene's anyway, Priss? I thought...." Nene trailed off
with a blush. "Nevermind." Darlene blinked.
"Thought what?"
Priss fought back a laugh. "And I thought I had the dirty mind." When
Darlene turned to her with a frown, she said, "Well, you DO look like you had
some male...company over." She ducked the angry swing Darlene aimed at her.
"You were tickling me! And you certainly have a mind filled with IT
after doing what you did this morning!"
"So I'm sorry already! It's not like anything really happened with you
and Leon."
"Could we not mention THAT again?"
Nene blinked in astonishment. "LEON?!?!" she gasped, eyes wide. Darlene
looked pained while Priss grinned.
"Just...forget it," the red-headed mage groaned. "Nothing happened.
Priss was being funny and I STILL fail to see the humour," she directed at
the singer. "Look, I'll phone you later, Nene. I have to clean up, and maybe
practice some spells on a HANDY volunteer." She smiled at Priss with a glint
in her eye. "Bye." The image vanished with a fading image of a worried Priss
inching away from a nastily-smiling Darlene.
Now I wonder what THAT was all about, Nene wondered.
"Get outta here, ya bum!"
A humanoid figure flew through the air into a pile of trash bags, the
door it had come from slamming shut behind it. There was a groan from the
form as it rose from the trash, then a snarl as a metallic arm shredded the
bags it had landed in.
"My, my. Rough night?" someone commented mockingly.
The form whirled around when he heard the female voice, stopping in
momentary amazement to the beauty standing in the alley with him. Then anger
rose up. "Who the Hell are you, bitch?" he snarled. The female smiled.
"My name is Yanda and yours is Steelfist. Or at least...it used to be?"
she reflected, looking pointedly at his false arms.
Steelfist grit his teeth at the painful memories that remark triggered.
He was a far cry from the leader of the Steelriders he had used to be, and it
had all started with an encounter with a trio of girls. Two were trying to
wake up their red-haired companion when his pack had found them. Easy lays.
The three would've been a lot of fun, or so they had thought. Even when the
black-haired one had shown some martial arts knowledge he had her beat with
his expensive bio-metallic arms.
Then that red-haired BITCH decided to wake up.
Apparently not drunk at all, she had fought him. Incredibly, impossibly,
he had lost when she had SEVERED one of his fucking arms at the joint! After
that defeat things had slowly gone downhill for him since. He didn't have
enough money to fix his old limb and had to get a cheap, plain metal one that
wasn't nearly as powerful. His pack, his FORMER pack, drove him off because
of the weaker limb and his defeat. He had had nowhere to go except visit old
so-called friends who eventually threw him out every time.
Bastards.
Now he had been thrown out of a bar into trash and run into this weird
bitch who somehow knew his name. "So what the fuck you want? I got better
things to do," he sneered.
"So I see," she said, looking at him standing in garbage. "Very well, I
offer you something simple."
"What's that? A freebie?" He leered lewdly.
"Power." And she held up a glass cylinder that glowed a faint crimson
the color of blood from within.
"You crazy, bitch?"
"Who isn't? Catch!"
Startled, Steelfist grabbed the vial before it hit his face.
Unfortunately, it was with his cheapshit fake arm and his indelicate grip
crushed the glass, releasing the liquid inside and splashing it all over his
arm and himself. "Fuck!" he shouted, franticly trying to wipe the glowing
stuff off and failing. "This better not be some poisonous crap or something,
bitch." Yanda smiled.
"I would say 'or something.' You might even say it'll make you a
new...man."
Steelfist's eyes suddenly widened in panic; the stuff on his clothes had
begun to MOVE. He looked at his metal arm and saw it beginning to melt. "What
the hell?" he whimpered, unable to comprehend what was happening. Then the
places on his skin where the liquid had hit felt like they were starting to
burn. He tried to say something in his panic but Steelfist had swallowed some
of the strange stuff and his larynx no longer worked.
The pain came quickly as something unexpectedly immobilized him.
Yanda smiled like an expectant mother.
Another pawn to play.
Chapter Thirty-Four
===================
ONE WEEK LATER....
In Hot Legs, a red-headed young woman seated at a table was occasionally
looking from side to side, searching the crown around her. Her posture
indicated a tenseness for some unknown reason.
"Hi there."
Darlene quickly looked around and saw Leon smiling behind her. She
relaxed at last and indicated the empty chair on the opposite side of the
table. "Hi, Leon. Have a seat," she offered.
"Thanks." He sat down and looked quizzically at her. "Why so tense?
Seems to me I'M the one who should be wound up." Leon couldn't help but be
amused when the red-head blushed a little.
"I'm here to apologize for last week. I was a little upset by Priss'
little joke and I should've realized that was all it was before trying to
kill you," she finished in a small voice.
Leon sighed and leaned back in his chair, scratching the back of his
neck. "I guess I can understand it from your perspective, and it's not like
I've not been in slightly different but similar circumstances."
"'Different' meaning 'guilty?'" said Darlene with a hint of a smile.
Leon didn't comment but his big grin said it all. "As for being tense, just
think about it." She waved at the crowded bar. "Single female, empty chair,
raging testosterone levels. Need I say more?" She paused in consideration.
"They did stop coming for a while after I threw one persistent idiot who
wouldn't take a hint into a table." Her expression turned slightly nervous as
she looked from side to side. "It's the two women who whispered in my ear
that really got me wound up."
Leon leaned forward with a broad grin. "Hey, you gotta admit you're not
a bad looking gal."
"But 'light my leather with your flaming passion'?? Come on!"
Not able to prevent it, Leon howled his laughter and she looked on with
a disgusted expression at his reaction. The brown-haired man got hold of
himself, still wearing his wide grin. "Sorry. Just the look on your face..."
He shook his head. "I guess I should apologize too for making it hard for you
to set up this meeting." That was a mind way of putting it, Leon had
religiously avoided any contact with the mage until she had used Nene to
deliver the message that she was very sorry about the misunderstanding.
"No, don't. I WAS a little pissed off. Well, WAY more than a little,"
Darlene amended guiltily. She looked at her watch as a diversion away from
the uncomfortable topic. "Priss should be on stage soon." She saw the light
of interest ignite in Leon's eyes and smirked knowingly.
"Say... You don't happen to make love potions, do you?" he asked.
"Sure." Leon did a double take at the quick response. "First I'll need
the penis of the man you want her to fall in love with, then slice it up
before pounding it into a fine mush and..." She stopped when Leon's eyes
threatened to bulge out. It was her turn to laugh at his horrified, pale
face. "I'm kidding!"
"I should hope so!" He shook his head slowly. "Your sense of humour
needs work, Darlene."
"Sorry, I'm in a bad state of mind right now regarding the 'S' topic."
She frowned at her watch; it was time for Priss to go on.
"I wonder what's keeping her," she murmured.
"No goddamn way! Not this time, miss do-whatever-the-hell-I-want-to-do!
I have had it with you leaving just before the act! You either play, or else
I circulate to every place in Mega-Tokyo that you're too unreliable to hire!"
the club manager shouted at Priss' face, which plainly showed her anger and
hesitation.
Why did Sylia have to call NOW?? Priss fumed to herself. The leader of
the Knight Sabers seemed to have an uncanny knack of doing this just before
a performance and now the singer was facing the result. She had gotten out of
her singing costume and into her biking leathers before exiting the dressing
room, but the manager of Hot Legs had been waiting outside the door. He, of
course, had immediately figured out what she was doing and threw a fit.
But he'd never threatened her with this particular threat before. If he
did she and her band would never get a gig again, no matter how good she
sang. He waited with his big arms crossed for her response, and she hadn't a
clue what to do, Sylia needed her or she wouldn't have called. Perform, or
pummel Boomer butt and perish musically. And she had to think of the band
too.
Then she got a desperate idea.
"What if I get someone else to sing?" Priss asked quickly.
"What?!?" he shouted incredulously, and almost said more but she threw
up her hands reassuringly.
"She's good, she's good! I taught her myself."
The manager frowned, but kept his peace. Knowing singers as he did, he
knew they didn't often complement rivals on their abilities. Granted, this
one was in a tight spot, but she seemed to be telling him the truth. Also,
the crowd outside tonight wasn't too particular as long as there was good
music, even if Priss' fan-boys would be disappointed. "Where has she
performed?"
"Ah...nowhere, but she really is good!" she quickly added to forestall
his blowing up again. "She just owns a business so singing is just a hobby
with her. I happen to know she's in the club tonight too."
Looking down the hallway, the manager signalled one of the bouncers to
come over. Priss almost sighed in relief, but checked herself as only half
the battle was won.
"Okay, what does she look like?" the manager asked.
"You want me to WHAT?!?!?" Darlene demanded incredulously. Priss pressed
her hands together and gave her a pleading expression. The rest of the band
had found out and was gathered behind her. They just watched, having had to
do the exact same thing Priss was doing right now at some point in their
careers.
"Just sub for me tonight, please? I REALLY need to go."
The exasperated red-head put a hand on her forehead, knowing what Priss
meant by that statement and knew she didn't have much choice in the matter.
Bloody hell. She hadn't known this would happen when the bouncer had told her
Priss requested her presence. Polite fellow. Leon had said he'd wait, but
given what she knew she was going to do, she wished he had left. Gods, why
me?
"All right," she sighed in capitulation.
"Great! I owe you! Bye!" Priss turned to leave.
"WAIT!!" the manager bellowed, making Priss pause. He pointed at
Darlene. "Sing something," he demanded.
She shrugged, took a deep breath, and started singing one of her most
favourite lines in Priss' songs. "Kon'ya wa Hurricane. Anata wa
Hurricane...." Darlene stopped, puzzled, when she saw the manager and the
rest of the band staring at her. What was with them? she wondered.
Priss smirked, and said, "Told ya! Bye!" And then she was out the door,
hoping she wouldn't be late.
Noriko, a slim, black-haired woman and recent replacement for drums when
the old drummer had quit, stepped up to a still-confused Darlene and gave her
the once over before grabbing one of the red-head's wrists. "C'mon, girl. If
you're gonna sing in this dump, you better look the part."
"What?" Darlene said, wondering what she meant. Then looked at the getup
the drummer wore and her heart sank when realization hit.
Oh. No.
Sylia was mildly relieved to see Priss come roaring into Raven's garage
just in the nick of time.
"Finally!" Linna remarked. "What took you?"
"Oh, lay off," the singer disgustedly replied, tearing off her helmet as
she quickly got off her bike. "It's not my fault you always call just before
a performance, and this time the manager at Hot Legs had a bigger fit than
usual." She hurried past them to get to the change rooms.
"Was there any problem?" Sylia asked as Priss ran past Nene, who had
just finished changing herself.
"Nah, I got Darlene to take my place," was the casual reply she got
before the brown-haired singer closed the door.
Linna and Nene blinked at each other, and in unison both said,
"DARLENE?!?!"
"I wonder how that will turn out," Sylia wondered aloud.
Linna snickered. "Too bad we won't be there to see."
Leon was beginning to become seriously bored when the members of Priss'
band started onto the stage, prompting the crowd milling on the dance floor
to start cheering, screaming, and making other less definable noises. He
wondered if Darlene had decided to remain backstage; whatever Priss had
wanted had seemed to be as much a mystery to the red-head as to Leon.
Speaking of his most favourite singer, she hadn't come out with her
band, which wasn't Priss' style; she was usually the first. As the mob below
started murmuring, a half puzzled, half impatient sound, the new drummer for
the Replicants stepped up to the mike at the front of the stage.
"Guess you all are wondering where Priss is, huh?" she asked the crowd,
getting a questioning roar from the audience. "Well, our main lady did one of
her famous disappearing acts again so she won't be singing tonight." Noriko
stood there smiling as a wall of groans and boos cascaded over her,
unaffected by the crowd's disappointed response. Personally, she thought a
small part of Priss' popularity came from those absences. Before things got
ugly, she talked in to mike again. "But aren't you wondering why we came up
on stage?" she said, a note of inquiry in her voice.
As the crowd's noise died when that comment registered, Leon raised his
eyes, impressed at the way she handled the large group of music-hungry
people. Should've gone into politics, he thought as the crowd re-focused
their attention on the drummer, who smiled again.
"A friend of Priss, who happened to be here tonight, volunteered to take
her place and sing for us. I heard a little demonstration earlier and she's
great. She also knows all of Priss' songs so she'll be giving us a taste of
her talent tonight."
"No, she can't mean..." Leon half mumbled, incredulous at the suspicion
he knew whom the drummer was talking about.
"So let's introduce..." Noriko turned around and faced backstage,
"...Darlene!" She paused as the crowd waited. Leon slapped a hand to his face
when he heard the name.
Silence.
A vexed look appeared on the black-haired woman's face when she realized
no one was coming onstage, there were a few chuckles from the crowd when they
saw this. She spoke impatiently into the mike. "Darlene, come on! I said you
don't look that bad."
"That's what YOU think!" demanded a nervous and female voice from the
shadows, more people in the crowd laughed and the rest were beginning to
wonder what the new singer looked like.
"You said you'd do it," Noriko reminded her, and waited. Apparently,
that did it for slowly, and carefully, Darlene walked out into the light,
looking anxiously from side to side. Leon's jaw dropped, then he had to
stifle his laughter so the red-head wouldn't somehow hear and strangle him
later.
She wore a wig the same bright color as her own red hair, but longer and
in curls. A loosely cut, black tank top covered her upper torso but left her
middle bare. On her legs were what had to be the tightest set of shiny black
pants Leon had ever seen, likely made from some kind of plastic, that ended
between the knee and ankles. A pair of black shoes with high heels were on
her feet, which was the reason for her careful walk as she'd never worn them
before. Some large bracelets and makeup finished her quickly assembled stage
costume. The black clothes contrasted with her whiter-than-normal skin's
complexion.
The crowd whooped when the gathered people saw her; while she was an
unknown, she certainly young, good looking and sexy in her getup. Certainly
a point in her favor with this gathering.
Meanwhile, Darlene couldn't recall ever being more embarrassed and
uncomfortable. The wig made her scalp itch, the heels on the damn shoes were
murder, the makeup felt caked on her face, Noriko had said it was LIGHT but
she had her doubts about that, and the damn pants made her feel like she was
presenting her rear to the world! Priss owed her big time for this, she swore
to herself. BIG time.
Her smaller height was only emphasized when she reached a grinning
Noriko, to whom she gave a brief glare as if this were all the drummer's
fault. "Glad you could make it," that worthy said blithely before abandoning
Darlene to get back to her drums.
Darlene looked down at the floor of the stage, red-faced at the whistles
she was getting. I hate crowds, I hate crowds, I hate crowds, I HATE crowds!
she cursed before reluctantly turning to the mass of people watching her. "H-
hi there," she shakily said into the mike, trying to keep her eyes on the
audience, "I g-guess I'm the entertainment for tonight."
The crowd seemed a little disappointed for some reason, then an
aggrieved voice spoke up near the stage, "Hey! You're the bitch who flipped
me into the table!"
Anger flared as she looked down, and, sure enough, it was the asshole
who wouldn't give up earlier. "Since you seemed to have a HEARING problem,"
she said, using the mike and making her voice boom loudly in the club, "I
hoped the impact would make an impression into your deadwood HEAD! Would you
like another message?" And she held up a fist in his direction. He shut up.
"That's telling him, Darlene!" shouted a voice from the second level.
"Thank you VERY much, Leon!" was her sarcastic and heated reply. "I'm
bloody well nervous enough already!"
"Then shut up and sing!" cried an unknown voice from the crowd.
"Fine!" she shouted back furiously. Her anger made her forget her
nervousness as she turned around to Priss' band, and said, "Hurricane!" More
of a demand than a request really, but used to a temperamental singer's
moods, namely Priss, the band ignored the tone and started playing. Darlene
glared at the audience after taking the mike out of its stand, and waited for
the time to start. When it came, she was beginning to lose her anger, but
started anyway without hesitation.
At first the crowd didn't react when she started out, but as she went on
the crowd roared their approval and began to dance. Leon felt his jaw drop
again for the second time that night, Darlene was GOOD! When the hell did she
learn to do this?! He knew she knew magic, and she also ran her store, but
this sort of thing took time and he'd never heard a hint of anything like
this before. He shook his head at the oddities the girl showed sometimes. As
he listened, he could tell her style was similar to Priss', probably who
taught her since she was her friend, yet oddly different. More...compelling,
he decided, than Priss' singing, which always revealed the burning passionate
emotions of his singer. Darlene's was more for the music than herself. Two
different ways, yet both beautiful to hear. With a smile he readied himself
to listen for the rest of the night, and seeing Darlene's current pseudo-
blissful expression knew it would be a long one.
Concentrating on her singing at first, Darlene hadn't realized what
effect her voice had on everyone else. Mostly because of what was happening
inside; she had only sang by herself, or with Priss, and only briefly in
female form when the singer had asked her. Now she was singing a full song
with music filling the air around her, the audience was incidental. At first
she had been angry, but as she went on she lost that emotion, beginning to
feel her heart pounding to the pattern of the beat and relaxed into it. The
feeling was both soothing and energetic. She felt almost a part of it, and
then...more than just a part.
Time lost meaning as she willingly lost herself in the music.
The world was song.
Chapter Thirty-Five
===================
"So, what did you mean when you said Darlene was covering for you,
Priss?" Linna asked, sitting in one of the mobile command van's chairs made
to accommodate her in her hardsuit.
Priss sighed in a disgusted way. "The manager of Hot Legs basically
threatened to blacklist me and the band from even dumps like his place." She
shrugged and fiddled with her helmet. "I DO like to sing so I didn't have
much of a choice asking Darlene to fill in, and I told you guys she's good;
she can handle it."
"Singing, yes, but while a crowd is watching her?" Nene asked dubiously.
"She'll be fine, all right?" Priss growled, not appreciating the doubt
that comment placed in her. "So what are we doing tonight anyway?"
"I finally got a lead on those mysterious disappearances of Boomers and
homeless several weeks ago and we're going in to check it out."
"Why? I mean, isn't that ADPolice's job? Not that they would be much
help." Priss ignored Nene's suddenly indignant posture. Sylia went on.
"I'm concerned about this and we need act on this information quickly.
Whomever arranged the vanishing of those Boomers and people without detection
is powerful and most likely working for something that would not be
beneficial to this city. I would like to prevent a mass release of Boomers
and drugged humans into Mega-Tokyo. The damages would be inconvenient to say
the least, more so if they are equipped with sophisticated gear."
The others swallowed nervously at the image Sylia gave them.
"Okay, I guess I can see why you'd want to cut that sort of thing off
ahead of time," Priss said.
"I'm glad you agree," was Sylia's dry reply.
Priss remembered something. "Hey, Linna. Where'd you leave bandanna
boy?"
"Ryouga's in my apartment," then she added as an afterthought, "and I
made sure to tell him not to leave."
"Is his sense of direction really that bad?" Nene inquired curiously.
Linna shuddered though the others couldn't notice it. "Yes, you can't
let him out of your sight or else he wanders off somehow. I just hope leaving
him in the apartment alone tonight is safe."
"How do you manage to watch him all the time?"
Linna chuckled. "Oh, some of the girls in and around my apartment
complex love to help me with that. Especially when he trains. They love to
see a muscular young man sweat." Nene and Priss laughed.
"Linna, really," Sylia reproached, though they could all hear her smile.
"I shoulda known," Priss commented.
"Did you need more help?"
"NENE!" shouted everyone save the red-head.
"Whaaaaat?"
ELSEWHERE...
Ryouga paused in confusion. How did all these people get in Linna's
living room? he wondered.
Above the lost boy's head was a sign.
It read: "WELCOME TO MEGA-TOKYO MALL - CENTRAL PLAZA"
OUTSIDE KS MOBILE COMMAND CENTER...
Mackie watched from the inside of the van as Sylia conferred with the
members of the team. They were hidden in a back alley several blocks from
their target, a wise precaution to take in case something went wrong.
"All right, we'll enter the building on three sides to reduce the
chances of someone slipping out the back door. Priss, take the north side,
Linna, there's an alley on the east so you come through on that side, Nene
and I will take the front. The west is wide open so that should not be an
option for those inside if they try to escape, and if they do we'll not have
much trouble tracking them. If you find the main computer wait for Nene and
she'll download anything of value. And in the case of personnel, if they look
important knock them out and leave them for ADPolice"
"Yeah, they're great for clean up," Priss quipped.
"Hey! Stop that!" Nene told her, angry over the insult to her police
organization.
"Why? It's true enough."
"Enough you two," Sylia said, stopping Nene's retort. "Let's get to
work."
"You got it, Sylia. See you inside!" Priss jumped away, her air jets and
powered hardsuit giving her extra bounce as she leaped away into the night.
More silently, but after a friendly wave to the others, Linna followed.
"Ready, Nene?" Sylia asked the power-suited red-head, who nodded
affirmatively despite still being angry with Priss. Together they jumped into
the darkness.
Mackie stood up and closed the van door so no one would notice anything
suspicious. He wished his sister and the others luck even though the mission
sounded simple. They shouldn't have any trouble tonight, he thought.
The shadows outside the van loomed ominous in the night.
Priss landed softly with only noise around her the quiet hiss of her air
jets. The building's few windows and single door on her side of the building
were shown clearly on her suit's screen.
"Sylia," she said as she opened a channel to her leader. "Looks quiet on
my side. Can I go in?"
"No, Priss, stay outside and come in if there's any trouble."
"Aw, man..." Priss groaned, she knew how likely that was.
"Nothing in the alley, Sylia," Linna reported.
"Good. Stay outside, just in case. Nene and I are going in."
"Okay, Sylia. Be careful."
"We will. Out."
Priss sighed, resigned to play sentry post for the rest of the mission.
Sylia waited as Nene rapidly disabled the electronic security on the
front door, studying the structure they were breaking into. There was no
outward sign of activity, or security for that matter, which wasn't unusual
if someone was trying to keep something well hidden from prying eyes; the
absence of obvious and elaborate security system was almost as good as having
one. She had been told a couple of kids had wandered into the building, and
had never come out again or seen from again. There had been a third person
with the group but he had stayed outside. After a while, several large and
mean looking men had discretely searched the area but the boy had escaped
notice and got away to tell his tale, which eventually reached Sylia. This,
and the other information she had gathered, made her decide that this was
most likely one of the hideouts of whoever masterminded the Boomer thefts.
Nene, finished with her task, stood up and opened the door.
Not a sound. Perfect.
Silently, the two entered the large hall which was the building's main
entrance. After careful scanning, Nene told Sylia there was a lot of
electrical activity deeper in the structure. The leader of the Knight Sabers
nodded and they cautiously proceeded in that direction.
Priss had started to argue with herself whether or not it had been a
good idea to get Darlene to substitute for her when she saw the door she was
watching open. She tensed.
And waited.
And waited some more.
"What the Hell?" she muttered. The door was wide open but no one was
coming out and she couldn't scan anything through the doorway. Priss began to
feel uneasy. "Sylia?" No response. "Nene?"
"What's up, Priss?" Linna asked over the encrypted communications
channel they all shared.
"Something weird is going on, that's what, and now I can't reach Sylia
or Nene," Priss answered her, becoming more anxious by the second. She heard
Linna try contacting the others but she got no results either. "Dammit, I
think something's really wrong here."
"Do you think we should go in?"
Priss didn't need much time to think that over. "Hell, yes!" she said,
leaping out from her hiding spot and quickly coming to the open door. There
was nobody she could see inside so she cautiously started in. "I'll keep
talking along the way."
"Wait, Priss! Let's go in to..." Linna's voice died when Priss got
several feet inside the room. The singer realized that there was some kind of
jamming going on, relieving her somewhat as this was probably the reason she
couldn't contact Sylia or Nene. Still...worry gnawed at her as she walked
deeper in.
Who had opened the door? And why?
"Priss? Do you hear me? Priss!" When Linna got no response she cursed a
little at her friend's headstrong approach, more annoyed Priss had gone in
without backup than her methods. By now Linna had a strong feeling some kind
of jamming was going on inside the building, otherwise she would had heard
SOMETHING from Priss, at least she hoped that was it.
She had just about decided to follow Priss in when the door to the long
alley opened and she hugged closer to the dumpster she hid behind. Two large
men exited into the alley, looking from side to side.
Linna's scanners confirmed her guess: Boomers. She decided to wait a few
minutes more before springing a surprise attack on them and getting inside.
She was coming to the conclusion there was more here than met the eye and had
a bad feeling about this mission.
The former dancer was quite shocked when the dumpster she was hiding
behind had its contents practically explode from the bin when two previously
hidden forms leaped high into the night air.
Boomers!
"What?!?!" was her startled cry before she jumped from her old spot, one
of the Boomers made a small crater with its fist as it missed her narrowly.
The other started shooting at her as she weaved and dodged the sudden hail of
firepower.
She had figured she could take these two on but then the two Boomers
that had exited the building a little earlier arrived, their disguises shed
and ready for battle.
One Boomer was behind her now, blocking the way out while the two from
the building blocked the other way, and the fourth was rising into a crouch
from where it had tried to hit her. Linna's heart pounded frantically as the
four began to advance.
This was bad. Real, REAL bad.
Sylia nodded to Nene, who nodded back, a little nervously but otherwise
all right. The white-suited Saber burst through the door with Nene following
close behind.
The room was filled with blinking panels and screens, but was empty save
for a large chair at the end of the room with someone visibly sitting in it
and making unknown adjustments on the panels.
"Freeze!" Sylia ordered, aiming her palm blaster at the unknown
controller, who immediately stopped. And turned the chair around to reveal
herself to be a very attractive blonde woman, with a distinct lack of fear
and/or startlement that took Sylia slightly aback.
"So," the woman said, smiling at the armoured invaders to her domain.
"Knight Sabers."
Nene gave a startled exclamation and pointed at two screens. "Look!"
Sylia did and found herself biting off her own reaction; each screen
showed Linna and Priss fighting. Linna with a bunch of Boomers in her alley
and looking overwhelmed, and Priss fighting some monster Boomer in a large
room that was likely somewhere in the same building they were in.
"Call them off," Sylia ordered the woman in an icy tone that showed she
meant business.
"Really?" The woman smiled again and swivelled her chair around so that
she was mostly hidden from sight again. "And you'll kill me if I don't? That
would be too bad seeing as we were waiting such a long time for you to come."
"What?!" Sylia and Nene exclaimed.
"And we DO want you to stay."
Then the floor beneath Sylia and Nene erupted with a powerful electrical
discharge, freezing their systems and making them scream, before exploding.
The two Sabers lost consciousness in fire and pain. They landed hard on the
floor after hitting a transparent shield that they hadn't seen, which had
safely protected the other occupant of the room.
Yanda stood and walked over to the stronger-than-steel plastic that
separated her from the two Sabers. She looked the two forms over carefully as
if thinking of something else.
And smiled as she approvingly patted the transparent shield.
Priss cursed venomously before dodging a swing that would have taken her
head off. What the FUCK was this...this goddamned THING?!?!? She had entered
this darkened room and had immediately known it was a trap when the door
slammed shut behind her. She had whirled around when she saw something rise
out of the darkness, and rise, and rise.
The Boomer was twelve feet tall, if not taller, massive as hell, and had
not spoken a word or growl since its initial attack. She could see openings
for laser lens on its chest, particle cannons on the arms, and even a few
missile holders at the waist. It hadn't fired any of that armament though.
The reason for this became painfully obvious: to demonstrate it didn't NEED
them to beat the crap out of her.
And the maddening thing about it was that it didn't. She hadn't
hesitated using her own weapons, but its thick armour was too strong to
penetrate and it was fast despite the bulky appearance; her hardsuit was
dented and she was bruised underneath. The Knight Saber's main strength was
teamwork, but she was alone against this monster.
"Goddamn Boomer!" she shouted in frustration. She almost got hit again
when hidden speakers came to life.
"Ha hah hah hah hah!" cackled a male voice, "Do you like my little
creation, Knight Saber?"
"Who the fuck are you? Argh!!" Priss finished with a cry of pain as the
Boomer connected and launched her across the room to painfully land ten feet
away.
"Someone who you have faced before, or at least my beautiful creations,"
and the voice turned ugly, "before you destroyed them!! I am Doctor Miriam!"
the voice declared arrogantly.
"Yeah? Go to hell!" Priss groaned out as she managed to stand again.
Unfortunately, she did remember the name from the incident at ADPolice and
knew things were Not Good at the moment.
There was an incoherent growl over the speakers but when he spoke again
the doctor had calmed down. "As much as I would like to send you there first,
I regretfully cannot right now. However..."
Faster than it had moved before, the Boomer leaped forwards and grabbed
the blue Knight Saber by the neck and raised her slightly off the ground. The
suit afforded some protection against the strangulation, but not much.
Breathing was hard to do at the moment.
"...that does not mean I can't have some measure of enjoyment."
The last thing Priss saw was the Boomer's fist coming towards her head,
after that same fist had pummled her stomach a few times of course.
Then blackness swallowed her whole to the tune of Miriam's laughter.
Linna was starting towards the fading edge of unconsciousness rapidly as
she was continually punched by the Boomer in front of her. She had taken one
of her opponents out with her charged mono-ribbons, but one had gotten a grip
on one of her arms long enough for another of its kind to grab her other arm.
Then the third had started pounding on her before she could retaliate, but
not as hard as it could have, oddly.
Why don't they finish me off? Linna thought, somewhat dazed. Then an
extra hard punch doubled her over and the two androids holding her dropped
her unceremoniously to the ground. The green Saber tried standing up, but
stopped when she noticed the Boomers weren't attacking anymore and were even
backing away. Something was up and she found out what when a familiar voice
cut through the ringing in her ears.
"Knight Saber."
Linna jerked her head up to find the owner of the voice. Her eyes
widened behind her helmet and she gasped aloud in shock. It COULDN'T be!! He
was DESTROYED!!
"I have a...present for you to deliver."
And the one known as Largo laughed.
Chapter Thirty-Six
==================
He'd been told his objective was here.
The information given him was correct, the bitch was in the club. What
he hadn't expected was for her to be singing onstage. He never had much of an
ear for music, but even he could tell she wasn't doing badly; which probably
translated to excellent for people who cared. Doing what he came to do in
front of everyone in this shit club probably wasn't wise, but who gave a
fuck; he'd love an audience for when he confronted the bitch.
No. Not bitch.
Darlene. At last he finally had a name for the slut.
It would make killing her far more satisfying.
"Would you like another drink?"
Leon looked up at the waitress with a smile and shook his head before
turning back to watch the stage. I wonder how much longer she'll go, he
wondered, she's almost gone through all of Priss' songs, not that it looks
like she's going to be able to continue for much longer.
True enough, however euphoric the music was to Darlene, it was loosing
its hold on the tired red-head as she finished another song. The groans
behind her when the band stopped playing echoed her own feelings. She
couldn't believe she had sung for, she checked a large digital clock on one
wall, two and a half bloody HOURS?!? She would have shivered but lacked the
energy. Getting lost in the music had been freaky, she forcibly ignored the
yearning feeling the recollection of her trance-like state caused. One more
song, then that's it for me, she decided.
She picked up the mike, and with a slightly hoarse voice said, "I think
one more and then I gotta quit folks." She coughed. "My throat ain't used to
this despite the fun." And I'm pooped to boot, she added to herself, hearing
the band behind her sigh in relief. There were groans in the crowd at her
words but after the longer than usual session they had little to complain
about.
Except for one person.
"Awwww... Is the little bitch tired?" a voice called out. Most of the
crowd swivelled to look for the source of the comment. A big man with a sneer
on his face below dark shades was walking towards the stage, people moving
aside for him when they saw his size.
"Pardon me??" Darlene demanded over the mike, not a little disturbed for
she felt she knew this person coming closer to the stage. "Who are you?"
"Oh no, you've forgotten me. Well, I certainly haven't forgotten you,
slut!" He held up an arm, making the jacket he wore slide down and expose the
metallic limb underneath.
The mage's blood, which had started to boil, cooled when she saw the
arm. "Steelfist," she said flatly, the shades had confused her but the arm
and the manner was a dead giveaway.
"Bingo," was his snarled response.
Uh oh, Leon thought warily as he watched events unfolding below him.
What did Darlene do to this asshole? I think I'd better get closer. And the
ADPoliceman left his seat, heading for the stairs to the lower level.
"Yeah, well, I wasn't particularly concerned with your welfare after
what you and your gang tried to do to me and my friends," Darlene told
Steelfist, who had reached the area below the stage. She wasn't surprised
when he vaulted up onto the stage with one of his hands; the asshole wouldn't
care for him talking up to her.
"You ruined my fucking arm, bitch!" he shouted.
She took a breath to calm herself; any more remarks like that and she'd
probably hate herself in the morning for breaking every bone in his body.
"Not hard for someone trained in martial arts style I've trained in. Now get
of the bloody stage! I don't want to have to do more to you." Her mood wasn't
improved by his scornful laughter.
"More!" Steelfist laughed again. "Oh, it's way too late for that,
bitch."
"Stop. Calling. Me. That," Darlene grated out.
"Got to show you my big surprise first."
"What??"
"Yeah," Steelfist said, smiling for the first time. He reached up and
took off his glasses.
His eyes were the red eyes of a Boomer.
Skin shredded and flew away with clothing as internal bio-technical
systems expanded the former human into a Boomer's battlemode. He looked
somewhat like a 55-C Boomer, but instead of a factory-made precision look his
exterior was like sun-heated plastic, it was slightly deformed in appearance.
More organic.
Taking advantage of Darlene's wide-eyed shock, Steelfist moved with
beyond human speed and caught the red-head by the throat with one of his huge
metal hands. He lifted the choking Darlene with one hand, making her dangle
in the air. "Like I said: surprise." The voice was now the only indication
that one could tell Steelfist was amused.
When the crowd had seen the transformation, people immediately started
running away from the scene; Mega-Tokyo residents knew very well what a
Boomer could do. Leon was hard pressed as he tried to force his way in the
opposite direction. When he was through, he took in the sight of Darlene
being held by the throat by an unusual-looking Boomer, swore, and pulled out
his gun. "ADPolice! Let the girl go!" he ordered the machine.
Steelfist laughed and aimed his free arm at the detective, who ducked
behind a concrete support pillar; just in time too, as the android began
firing the machine gun built into its arm.
Darlene, who was starting to see spots of light, took advantage of the
distraction and summoned her sword. With its usual purple flash, it appeared
in her right hand and she thrust it forward. The blade plunged into
Steelfist's lower torso and causing him considerable pain when she jerked the
ultra-sharp blade out roughly, spilling Boomer fluids from the wound.
"You fucking bitch!" he snarled, halting fire on Leon so he could cover
the wound until it sealed. In furious anger, the once-human Steelfist threw
the blacking-out red-head at another large concrete pillar with beyond-human
strength. Darlene flew almost in a straight line at the column, until she
hit. Her eyes jerked open in shocked pain as concrete slammed into her from
behind with piledriver force. For a moment she hung there, the stone wall
showing cracks around her slightly embedded form, then her eyes rolled up
into her head and she slowly fell forward onto the ground.
"Darlene!!" Leon shouted, shocked and stunned. Hearing the Boomer's
malicious laugh the brown-haired officer's eyes narrowed and his face became
grim. Stepping out from behind his cover, he aimed his gun and fired several
rounds at the killer machine. All he managed to do was catch its attention.
"If you wanted to play, asshole, why didn't you just say so?" the Boomer
commented evilly, standing straight as it no longer leaked fluids and curled
an arm so that a fist was pointed in a 45 degree angle from the floor. A
foot-long blade snicked out from a sheath and gleamed evilly in the club
lights.
Oh fuck, Leon thought as the Boomer jumped off the stage and started
walking confidently in his direction, now what the hell do I do now?
Stall, he decided. Stall a LOT.
"So what's your problem anyway, you damn Boomer?" he called out, keeping
the solid pillar between him and the android. He had no illusions he would
last very long against the thing with just his gun. Hell, it would likely be
the shortest fight he'd ever have for the rest of his brief life.
"I lost my gang because of that bitch. Now she's dead and you'll be
next," Steelfist replied, smoothly circling the column that Leon was trying
to keep between the two with a predator's ease.
"Gang?? Since when do Boomers have gangs??" Leon was beginning to
believe this thing was seriously demented.
"Boomers don't, but then I only became one recently."
"WHAT?!" Leon couldn't believe his ears. "Are you saying you used to be
human?!" He stopped when the Boomer paused.
"Yeah, cop. And loving being a Boomer." Steelfist posed his newly
robotic body mockingly. "The latest secret technology: little, tiny machines
that can do some amazing shit on a person. I'm not really a true Boomer
because I was human but I'm close enough to make the difference not worth
crap." The thing clenched a fist from remembered anger. "My own gang threw me
out and my life was becoming one that was being thrown into a dumpster. Until
someone...helped me." The android chuckled. "Now I'm getting my revenge."
"Is revenge worth losing your humanity?" Leon demanded.
"Why should I care? Humans are fucking nothing." Steelfist moved
ominously closer and scraped the armblade chillingly along the concrete
column's surface. "Just like you're gonna be."
Leon was about to reply to that when a flying chair smashed into the
Boomer's head, staggering it forward a bit from sheer surprise but otherwise
leaving it unharmed. Steelfist whirled around angrily, and snarled at what he
saw. Leon's expression was one of relieved surprise and renewed concern.
Darlene glared from across the room, her thinking was a little fuzzy but
her anger was certainly not. Her throat had been hurt by the Boomer's tight
fist and she couldn't talk at the moment. The chair she had thrown had gotten
her opponent's attention so she clenched her fists and charged headlong
towards the blue android, a glow starting to form around her right fist.
Steelfist roared his own fury, the bitch was tougher than he had thought
but he had more tricks up his sleeve. His chest panels opened, revealing an
array of lens for his heat weapon. His prey responded by dramatically
increasing her momentum and headed straight for him! Stupid bitch! he thought
scornfully as the array started to glow. Time to FRY!
What happened next was too fast for Leon to see. Just as Steelfist
started to fire, Darlene leaped ahead, glowing fist first. She connected
microseconds after Steelfist's weapon went off and the mage started to burn.
However, the ki force she had collected around her fist exploded outwards.
She had experimented with the directionless energies she had aimed at Leon in
her past fury at finding him in her bed. It was a new technique, fairly
simple to build up, but hard to sustain until the strike. Dubbed the
'Concussion Fist' it lived up to its name as the blast it created shattered
the lens in Steelfist's chest and causing massive energy feedback from the
disrupted firing. The two fighters flew apart from the blast and the
android's misfire. Darlene landed hard on a table, shattering it, while
Steelfist slammed hard into the column Leon had been using for cover and was
still.
"Damn it!" Leon swore as he ran to kneel beside the slightly smoking
mage. "What the HELL were you thinking of??" he demanded of the semi-
conscious Darlene.
She managed a sheepish, if painful, shrug as she struggled to get up.
Her skin was blistered in some places, and reddish on the rest. The wig was
still smoking as she weakly took it off and let it drop to the floor. When
Darlene noticed Leon waiting for a reply she pointed at her throat and made
a croaking sound. He understood what that meant.
"Can't talk?" The red-head nodded, then put on an expression of surprise
when the ADPolice officer slid arms beneath her and picked her up. She would
have protested but her throat wouldn't allow that. "Yeah, I know; you don't
need my help, right?" Leon said, and chuckled at the sheepish look she gave
him knowing that was what she would have said if she had been able too.
"Frankly, you look like hell, Darlene."
"And that's where you'll both be going, you shitheads!"
Even burdened by Darlene's weight, Leon instinctively ducked forwards
just enough to miss being sliced in half by a blue particle beam. He knew the
open area was suicide for them to be running around so he ran for backstage.
"You don't get away THAT easily, bastards!" Steelfist snarled. He
started forward to pursue but then he was hit by a literal shower of bullets
from above. ADPolice had finally arrived. Several of them were on the second
story while the rest were on the first. All firing at the once human
Steelfist.
The android couldn't afford being hit in a vital spot now; his internal
circuits in his chest region were burnt out in a major way from the blast,
limiting his mobility severely. He computed possibilities and almost laughed
at the obvious solution. "Check THIS out, cops!" he cried out, and, in an
apparently suicidal manouver, jumped closer to the officers on the level he
was on. Now he could do what he wanted; which was to cut a huge semi-circle
out of the upper floor with his mouth cannon. The loss of support caused the
second story, and the cops above with it, to collapse onto those beneath.
Steelfist had jumped safely back and gazed at his handiwork. "Don't mess with
a Boomer when he's got a job to do, assholes," he said mockingly before
turning away.
He still had prey to kill.
Leon sighed with relief as they exited into the night air via the back
door. He'd heard the commotion as they had left and knew that ADPolice had
finally arrived. The loud crash and following silence hadn't sounded good
though.
"How are you doing?" he asked Darlene, who was looking more alert than
she had been a few minutes ago.
"Beh...tah," she croaked out. "Fah heela." It was true; her skin looked
a little better already.
"Why didn't you blast him with a spell?" Leon finally asked as he tried
to decide what to do next. Darlene's annoyed pointing to her throat clued him
in on why she hadn't. "You need to talk for that?" The Look she gave him was
answer enough, and he wondered how women were able to communicate that 'gee,
I'm glad you finally figured it out, Einstein' message with just a facial
expression. Leon decided to let her stand on her own then if she felt that
good and gently placed her on her feet. She wobbled a bit on the first step,
but steadied herself on the next and sighed in relief at being able to stand
again.
"Wih wai?" she croaked.
The wall belonging to Hot Legs exploded and they both ducked for cover.
When they looked up, the blue form of the transformed Steelfist stood in the
hole that he had made, light from inside shadowing him ominously before he
stepped into the alley.
"Here we go again," Leon muttered.
"You've cost me a lot of pain, losers," Steelfist announced. Leon and
Darlene had to duck behind a trash bin when the android fired some bullets in
their direction. "I'm REALLY gonna enjoy ripping your guts out."
"Ah...excuse me?" a voice asked. The shooting stopped. "Can you tell me
where I am?" Startled, Leon and Darlene looked at each other then peeked
around the dumpster and saw a familiar, thoroughly misplaced person.
Ryouga?!?!
Steelfist was too angry to note the unusual attire of the bandanna-
wearing young man. "Do you think I give a shit, asshole? I'm busy!" He shot
a few bullets at the eternally lost boy, but with his lightning fast reflexes
Ryouga managed to dodge.
"Why did you attack me?!" he demanded, then noticed the two further down
the alley. "Darlene? Leon?" Steelfist was surprised at this.
"So, you know them? Then I guess I have one more piece of shit to kill."
If he knew Ryouga better he would have known not to say something like
that, Darlene reflected to herself as she saw the fanged boy almost visibly
swell with anger. "Ooo... Ba' 'ove." Leon looked at her in puzzlement but she
just smirked at him.
Ryouga had been suppressing his anger and despair ever since he had
found out he had somehow wandered into another universe. Now this metal thing
was threatening to kill him AND the only person who could send him back home.
No!!!
He grabbed several bandannas from his head and started spinning them
with a furious expression.
"What the fuck are you doing? Waving surrender?" Steelfist laughed, not
noticing Darlene pull Leon behind the dumpster for cover.
The furious martial artist loosed slightly over ten of his ki-charged
bandannas at Steelfist, who was just beginning to wonder where the young man
had got all the bandannas from but just stood there amused. He wasn't amused
for long; several sheered through sections of his legs, severing many
supporting biotech muscles and moving joints. He started to fall as others
went through his arms, torso, and one partly through his head. If he had
moved, less would have hit but, unknowing of the deadliness of the bandanna
in a Hibiki's hands, instead stood still and presented a prefect target for
Ryouga.
Steelfist collapsed to the ground, feeling the pain and major systems
failures that his body told him about. Hearing an external noise, Steelfist
looked up and saw a descending fist with his one good optic.
Then he saw no more.
Leon stared as Ryouga, with an expression of disgust at the greasy
fluids on his hand, pulled his fist out of the crushed skull of the Boomer
who used to be Steelfist. "How...?"
Darlene coughed. "'Ouga berry 'ood fighter," she managed and was pleased
with the results; her voice was improving.
"I wonder if he's interested in joining ADPolice," he mused as the
destroyer of the android came over to them after a puzzled glance at the
fallen machine. Darlene snickered, knowing there wasn't much chance of that,
and headed for the door. "Hey, where are you going?" Leon called out,
surprised.
The red-head turned around with an annoyed look and used her hands to
call attention to the rest of her body. The top she was wearing was slightly
charred, but the plastic pants must be painful when they were melted like the
way they looked now. She was also barefoot, having lost those high heels
somewhere along the way. In short, she was a mess; a fact not truly noticed
by Leon until she called his attention to it. And upon seeing his sheepish
look she stomped back into the building to change back into her normal
clothes.
"Um...Leon?" Ryouga's puzzled voice turned Leon's attention back to the
young man. "What was that thing I took out doing here?"
The ADPoliceman sighed and started explaining.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
====================
"Oh man, I hurt," Darlene croaked as she sank into the passenger seat of
Leon's car. At least she could talk semi-normally now but bruises were
beginning to show on her neck where the transformed Steelfist had gripped
her, she touched them briefly before flinching from the pain. Another person
sitting in the back made her turn around. "By the way, Ryouga, thanks for the
rescue." Her smile made the normally shy young man turn slightly red at the
praise.
"It was no trouble," he said, but hopeful eyes focused on her. "How long
before we can go back?"
"Probably another day or two." She saw joy flare in his eyes and warned,
"I had a breakthrough a few days ago but I need to test it first." The
driver's door opened then.
"Test what?" Leon asked as he got behind the driver's seat.
"The spell to take me and Ryouga back to the universe we came from,"
Darlene said, seeing no reason not to tell him. He turned to look at her in
shock in the middle of starting the car.
"You're leaving?" Darlene nodded reluctantly. "Have you told Priss and
the others?"
"I was tonight, but she left," she said crossly, still mildly annoyed at
what the singer had gotten her into.
Leon started the car and began the drive to Darlene's place without a
word. The mage noticed this and asked, "Sorry to see me go?"
"Well, yeah," he admitted, "I may not have been as close as the others
to you but I consider you a friend. You talk like it'll be a long time before
you come back and I hate those kind of good-byes."
"Oh, I see." Darlene smiled mischievously. "Guess I haven't told you
about the funny things crossing universes does to travellers." Leon glanced
at her, puzzled.
"Pardon?"
"I could spend fifty years outside this universe and come back at almost
the exact time I left. It will be a long time for me, but considering I have
a longer than usual lifetime ahead of me I doubt you'll notice."
"Really??" Leon pondered this. "I always wanted to have a year's
vacation in a day," he mused, making Darlene laugh.
"Maybe next time."
When Leon dropped the two off at the store, Darlene certainly didn't
expect Sylvie, Anri, Linna, and Mackie anxiously waiting for her.
"Darlene! Thank god you're back! I... What happened to you?!" Linna
exclaimed in disbelief, finally seeing the red-head's injuries.
"Somebody Borged that Steelfist guy we fought when I first arrived."
Uncomprehending eyes stared at her so she sighed and tried again. "Somebody,
somehow, turned him into a Boomer and he attacked me at Hot Legs." She
winced. "Took me by surprise but Ryouga finally wandered by and destroyed
him."
"But I left him at..." Linna stopped trying to understand Ryouga's
presence and shook her head angrily. "We don't have TIME for this! Mackie,
show her." The black-haired, younger brother of Sylia nodded and picked up
some kind of remote video viewer, giving it to Darlene after pushing a button
on a small keypad. The face that appeared on the monitor jolted Darlene so
much she almost dropped the machine.
Largo!
"Good evening to those who watch this little recording of mine," the
image of the long-thought-dead hyperboomer spoke, "and most of all to the
Crystal Knight, to whom I truly hope sees this before sunrise tonight. Sadly,
you were not with the Knight Sabers as I had hoped but I let one go in the
hopes that she would be able to contact you." Largo's face smiled. "We have
a score to settle, you and I, and with three of the Knight Sabers as hostages
I feel you will find my invitation most compelling." He chuckled evilly.
Darlene's gaze could've burned holes in the screen.
"This should be amusing. Here is what I have planned: Priss, oh yes I
know all their names, will be located here," and an image of Mega-Tokyo
sprang up to dominate most of the screen, a flashing green dot supposedly the
place Largo mentioned as he went on. "You, Crystal Knight, will go to a
second location," and a red dot appeared on the other side of the city, near
the edge of Mega-Tokyo ended. "Alone. And enter through the gates. If you do
not, all three hostages will die and I will release all the Boomers I have
into the city. If you do not come before sunrise tonight I will do this
anyway.
"Do come soon," he finished jovially.
The image of Largo disappeared, leaving the map and the two flashing
blips on the screen.
"Have you located both places, Mackie?" Darlene asked in a tight voice.
"Yes."
The red-head nodded, then proceeded to crush the viewer between her two
hands. As the pieces fell to the floor, she commented, "That felt good." The
sonofabitch! she mentally growled to herself. "I guess I don't need to figure
out who was behind the attack on me at Hot Legs. But it sounded like he
didn't know the relationship between the Crystal Knight and I. That's
something the bastard would've definitely mentioned if he knew."
"So what do we do?" Linna worried.
"About the part with the Crystal Knight? Not much choice there, but for
Priss he didn't mention anything so he likely expects a rescue attempt, and
doesn't care if someone attempts it. How's your hardsuit?" she asked Linna.
"Not in good shape," the raven-haired Saber worried.
"That's okay, I'll fix it before you go."
"Is there anything we can do?" Sylvie said. "Priss is our friend too."
Darlene hesitated. "There WAS something I...fixed, but... No," she shook
her head. "No, you can't."
"Fix? Darlene, if you have something I can use to save Priss then tell
me!" Sylvie demanded.
"Even the D.D.?" sighed Darlene.
Sylvie paled and looked shaken, Anri looked at her with concern. For
good reason; the D.D. Battlemover had been the weapon Sylvie had used to get
the data disk containing the information to make her and Anri no longer
dependant on human blood. But the battle computer's AI had taken control when
Sylvie had been wounded during a battle with two security Boomers, and had
initiated a timer to detonate a micro-neutron bomb that would've destroyed
Mega-Tokyo. Priss had had to wound her fatally to deactivate the D.D. and it
was only Twister's intervention that had saved her.
Priss...
The sexaroid cast off her fear and with renewed determination told
Darlene, "Even that!" Darlene nodded; it was her choice.
"You don't need to worry much about it, actually.. I altered a lot of
the hardware and DEFINITELY rewrote certain parts of the software. It won't
take over like last time. I thought of giving it to you as a joke but when I
finished I realized that wouldn't be such a good idea and left it in
mothballs."
"So it'll be just me and Sylvie?" Linna said.
"I'll help," Mackie and Ryouga offered at the same time.
"No way, Mackie! You don't have the combat experience," Linna told him
firmly. "I don't want to tell Sylia that I let you get killed." The teenager
looked rebellious, but knew the truth when he heard it. "We'll need you in
the van again."
"Not you either, Ryouga," Darlene added. "You were lucky today that it
was Steelfist you fought and not a true combat Boomer. They play for keeps
and I don't want to tell Akane and Ranma you were killed by some crazy
androids in another dimension." That got to him, and the lost boy's anger
deflated. Which was good; while he was an excellent martial artist, he wasn't
trained to fight hordes of Boomers. She frowned. "Two isn't enough though.
Even with the modified D.D. you'll need help..."
Then she got an idea.
"Leon!" An officer shouted. "Phone for you!"
"Got it," Leon replied as he picked up the receiver and pushed a button
on his phone. What appeared on his vid-screen made him sit bolt-upright in
shocked surprise.
"Long time no see, officer McNichol," the Blue Bullet said, face
obscured as usual by his blue helmet. "I suppose this is a bit of a shock."
"Given that you are supposed to be dead, that's an understatement!" was
all Leon could come up with as a retort. The Bullet chuckled.
"I'd love to chat longer but I have little time. I've heard that two of
your officers have acquired some...unusual abilities."
"You hear some funny rumours..." Leon replied neutrally.
"Well, here's another: apparently, the Knight Sabers ran into some
trouble with an old enemy and were caught." Leon's stomach muscles tightened.
"One was released to inform certain parties. That party will be going
somewhere while another place was set up to occupy any help he might call.
The bait's the blue suited Saber."
Priss. Damn it! "So why are you calling me?" he demanded.
"The enemy is the mastermind behind all those Boomer thefts weeks ago.
Isn't that ADPolice's department, or rather, YOUR department, Inspector?"
"That's right."
"To ensure the survival of the Saber I've convinced the remaining Saber
and...another to accept you, your partner, and those two unique officers I
mentioned. I suspect they'll need the help. Do you wish to accept?" Leon
frowned at the screen.
"I suspect you know the answer or else you wouldn't have bothered to
call." He sighed, knowing he didn't really have a choice. "All right, where?"
"Meeting point being transmitted. They'll meet you there." The Bullet
paused. "Thank you, Leon." The image blipped out, leaving the information
that had been received behind.
Leon sighed again and sat back wearily in his chair. This was going to
be one of those long, long nights.
"WHAT is THAT??" Linna exclaimed in disgusted fascination at the gooey
concoction Darlene was scarfing down like there was no tomorrow. She had come
up to tell the red-head they were ready only to find her eating...something.
Darlene paused.
"Honey, some sugar, chocolate sundae syrup, more sugar, peanut butter,
yet more sugar, molasses, milk... Did I forget to mention sugar?"
Despite her hurry to get moving, Linna turned almost as green as her
suit. "My God! How can you EAT that?!?!"
"I have to. I want to make sure I have enough energy for this trap." The
rest of the stuff oozed out when she quickly put the drinking glass to her
lips and drank. When she finished, she looked at Linna. "Don't worry, I'm
almost done," she added, pointing to an extremely large cooking pot where
Linna realized Darlene had mixed everything together.
The aerobics instructor fled downstairs.
Darlene finally relaxed and grimaced, revealing her disgust; the stuff
WAS terrible, but she felt she had to have this extra energy. Still... She
shuddered as she refilled the glass.
She stuck her tongue out.
"Yuck!"
"Do you have any idea why Leon called US in particular, and to meet
HERE?"
Bochinski sighed at looked at his partner, definitely not an
unattractive view since the changes they had both been through. Of course,
Wadderson's change was more obvious than his own, which had been a constant
reminder to his poor friend. Leon had managed to give them a few week's leave
to come to terms with what had happened, but Wadderson hadn't contacted
his...HER partner at all during those weeks. He didn't mind; he understood
the change from muscular macho officer to Mega-Tokyo locker room pinup
must've been a hell of a shock.
She seemed to be coping though, he noticed, and hadn't requested another
partner. The long blonde hair that had grown was tied in tight braids;
possibly a bad idea to keep hair that long, but after that session in the gym
he knew GRABBING those locks was a bad idea. Wadderson had jerked her head
violently and he had went flying; her strength was unbelievable. At least she
wore a uniform that fit her now. He mentally smiled; some criminals would
probably beg to be arrested by his partner.
For himself, there wasn't much to do, other than mailing his sister out
the silverware set of his she had always admired. Bad luck; he had liked that
set, but it had just driven him up the wall to have it in his house. His
sense of smell had improved phenomenally, it was good that he was a bachelor
who liked a clean apartment. But while he knew about the healing ability, the
silver, and his sense of smell, he didn't have a clue on how to transform
into a werewolf. The elf had said he had full control, but that was not
necessarily a good thing if you had no idea on how to change and wanted to.
I'll just have to stumble onto it, somehow, Bochinski mused.
"Hey! Did you hear what I said?" Wadderson said, annoyed, braking into
Bochinski's reverie. He shook his head to clear it.
"Sorry, bud. Just thinking about some stuff," he apologized. "And no, I
don't have a clue."
"Damn."
"So what DID you do all that time when you didn't bother calling me?" he
asked curiously. "And what happened with your girlfriend?"
Wadderson didn't reply immediately, which surprised her partner
considerably as she hadn't taken being transformed into a woman very well.
When she did, she spoke hesitantly. "Lynn couldn't believe it at first, but
I still acted like myself and after being together for a year she knows me
pretty well. We...talked." Wadderson looked away from her partner. "She still
loves me, can you believe that?" She shook her head in disbelief. "Christ,
you know what a looker she is, Bochinski, but I really never appreciated HER
until now. Lynn's helping me cope," she turned back to look at Bochinski and
her voice firmed as she smiled, "and I'm not quitting ADPolice either. It's
the one thing that's stayed constant." She snorted. "Do you know how many
people I had to shout at to keep on? I had to demonstrate that I could still
do my job, fairly spectacularly too."
"How many other 'offers' did you get?" Bochinski asked with a small
grin, his partner looked at him with annoyance.
"Frankly, I lost count." Her head turned as she spotted something
approaching. Bochinski looked as well and saw it was Leon and Daley.
"Finally!" Wadderson said, relieved to get off the topic they had wondered
into.
"Hey, you two. Sorry to call you so late," Leon said with a smile as he
and Daley got out of the car. With a more serious tone, he asked, "How is
everything with you guys?"
"Dealing, sir. What did you expect?" Wadderson told him.
"Ah, too bad we couldn't switch places," Daley sighed.
"You would say that," Leon snorted, interrupting the blonde's response.
"Alright, we've got weapons in the trunk so we'd better get them ready while
we're waiting."
Wadderson and Bochinski looked at each other in surprise, then Leon.
"Who are we expecting, sir? And what's happening?" Bochinski asked.
A hissing of air behind the altered pair caught everyone's attention.
When all turned to see what had made the sound they saw a green armoured
figure land gracefully on the ground. The ribbons attached to her helmet
fluttered momentarily behind her before settling down. "I see you're all
here. Great," the green Knight Saber said in a distorted, yet feminine, voice
that sounded quite anxious.
Leon scratched his head and gave a half-smile at his fellow officers'
staring startlement. "I guess I should explain."
"I'm glad I don't have a dull partner," Daley sighed.
Leon frowned, noticing something. "I was told there'd be someone else
with you."
There was a heavy THUD of something landing behind them and everyone
whirled again. And looked up in shock at the dark, metallic giant that had
somehow arrived unseen by them. Leon recognized it despite the altered
appearance and swallowed.
"You just HAD to say that, didn't you, Leon?" a stunned Daley commented.