Nene sighed happily.
Although she had been worried about Bert ever since he was
kidnapped and tortured, somehow tonight was like it was before, almost
like when they had first started to date. For the past week he seemed a
lot better, getting along with everyone and, surprisingly, not arguing
with Priss like he usually did. This in itself was an unusual, but
pleasant, surprise. It was almost as if he had been doing some growing
up.
She looked up at him as they walked back to the car. His red hair
was in a slight mess due to the light breeze and his green-brown eyes
had a calm, peaceful look to them. For the first time in weeks she was
getting a feeling of contentment from him.
Of course, she did not yet know what he had gone through.
As Bert looked down at his companion, he had to smile. To him,
Nene was the most beautiful, most wonderful sight in the world. After
what had happened, and his fears of never being able to see her ever
again, he had come to a decision that he was finally ready for. He felt
his pocket for the diamond ring that he had been carrying for the past
month, at least for him. It was unlike any stone in this world,
probably in this universe and a gift from a person who turned out to be
a good, if strange, friend. He wondered a bit at how Twister was doing,
but put the thought from his mind. It was unlikely they would ever meet
again, at least in this lifetime.
*I'll give it to her tonight.* Bert thought to himself and he
gazed into those wondrous emerald-green eyes, *I hope she likes it.*
He was just opening her door when things went wrong.
***
Hollister looked at the monitor, staring at the man he hated.
It hadn't been that long ago that the bastard on the screen had
fouled up his plans. For no reason he could understand, the person, who
they had identified as one Bert Van Vliet, had rescued two 33-S
sexaroids. He had claimed that they were friends of all things!
He thought back to all they had learned of him; and all that they
had not learned.
"Who are you, you bastard?" he muttered under his breath, "No
traceable past except for the last three years, independently wealthy,
and obviously working for some damn covert group." Hollister wondered
once more if this guy could be a Genom special agent. The company
seemed to have a lot of people on the payroll that were never officially
acknowledged, but put the thought aside. If this guy was part of Genom,
then the Mega-Corporation would have been more technically advanced than
they already were.
"There's no use speculating until we get our hands on him. I
would like to examine that weapon of his, it was unusual, but
somehow...familiar." Doc told Hollister as he tinkered with the
controls on the remote cameras. "We've been waiting for him to show
himself, and now we can acquire him. After what he and that machine
did, I'm going to enjoy experimenting on him."
"Shut up and release the boomers." Hollister grated out.
***
Two people started to run across the street at the red headed
couple as they approached their vehicle. The screech of tires caused by
cars attempting to stop suddenly caused their target to turn towards
them. When he saw them, he pushed his companion out of the way as he
got ready to fight.
*Oh shit!* Bert thought as the two approached at high speed, *What
the hell is going on?* A faint suspicion in the back of his mind, he
quickly gave each of them a scan and noted the high electromagnetic
signatures. He smiled.
Bert quickly ducked the arm of the first boomer as the punch came
towards his head. "So you want to fight, eh. As a master of mine once
said, 'Try? There is no try. Only do; or do not.'" Putting some space
between him and the biomechanoid, he mentally called for his suit; not
the SkyKnight armour but his soft suit undergarment. A purple glow
started to form at his feet and quickly surrounded him. When it had
dissipated he was wearing some type of black raiment, faintly
reminiscent of something from the martial arts.
Nene had looked up and saw the boomers coming after Bert. The
normal, smart reaction would have been to run, but he just stood there
as they approached him, waiting to fight them. She started to scream,
"BERT!!! NO!! DON..." when a swirling purple light surrounded him. As
it disappeared, she looked on with open mouthed shock. She recognized
the outfit; she had seen the LD with him too many times not to recognize
it, it was the same costume that Luke Skywalker wore in Return of the
Jedi.
And he was holding his lightsaber in his hand...
The two boomers looked on, studying their opponent. The lightsaber
had been expected and programmed for, after all, Doc had seen the weapon
in use against a boomer before, but the energy display and the clothing
change was an unknown. It hardly registered on their sensors, but the
burst had to have been powerful to change the molecular structure of
what he had been wearing. The opponent had somehow...transformed for
lack of a better word and there was no way that he had been distorting
his looks before. They would have detected the slow energy release.
Bert, with a wry grin, held the lightsaber up to his face in
salute. As he activated it he said, "I wish thee good grace and good
battle. May the Force be with you."
***
Hollister looked on in shock at what he saw, "What the hell!!"
His companion was a lot calmer about this, "It seems that he is
more than what he looks like, and now I know where I've seen such a
weapon before..."
SkyKnight Productions
Proudly Presents
A NonTechnical Film
MegaTokyo 2036
The Knight Sabers
"An Alternate History of The Bubblegum Zone - Episode #12"
Copyright (c) 1995, 1996 Bert Van Vliet
The characters of SkyKnight, Bert Van Vliet, Hollister, Doctor
Ikagawashii and Hitomi Ichinohei are Copyright (c) 1995, 1996 Bert Van
Vliet
The characters of Twister, Darlene Stefanson, Professor Kitamura and
Natsumi are Copyright (c) 1994, 1996 Darren Steffler.
The characters of Ranma and Akane are Copyright (c) 1987, 1996 Rumiko
Takahashi
The characters of Master Skywalker, Skywalker, Solo, Jedi, Master Yoda,
The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars are Copyright (c) 1976, 1996
George Lucas
Written by Hitomi Ichinohei
The blond-haired man in a smart business suit whirled around to
face the scientist at the control console.
"You know where he got the damn thing then? Who does he work
for?" Hollister grunted in anger. He didn't like surprises, and the
man shown on the screen had presented too many to him already. He
stared at the white haired scientist who had put a pipe to his lips.
"I cannot say for sure," Doc began, looking at the screen with
some amusement as the boomers decided to shed their skins and attack in
earnest, "but if I'm right about this, then we can say good bye to those
boomers. As a matter of fact, we can count ourselves lucky he didn't
cross over to the Dark Side considering what we put him through."
Chuckling, he watched the boomer's sensor readings as Hollister looked
at him as if he was crazy.
***
Bert smiled as the two boomers shed their skins. Finally!
Something normal that he could deal with. Albeit in a new way, but
normal none the less. Lowering his high- tech sword a bit, Bert
reflected that he hadn't had a good fight in a while, and this was the
perfect way for him to relax. He had to admit that he was getting as
bad as Priss in that department, but then again...He flipped backward
using a move that a certain young man taught him to avoid the slashing
claws that tried to eviscerate him.
"A Jedi does not flee from fighting evil, foul ones. Indeed, a
Jedi gladly eliminates it from existence. As you have chosen the Dark
Side, I will now have to remove you from this reality," Bert said in a
bold voice while swinging the saber around in a tight arc which removed
the offending arm. As he took off the head of the boomer in front of
him, he felt the energy build up of the second one. Apparently it had
decided to use its laser array against Bert.
Swinging around, he stepped towards the biomechanoid.
***
Nene had opened the car door in the meantime, activating the
dashboard control panel as Bert had shown her the week before. Luckily,
their identities probably were not compromised as everyone had started
running when the boomers emerged from the plas-skin. She quickly
started the vehicle and turned it around to gather her Knight Errant.
*But,* she worriedly thought to herself, *Is it really Bert?*
***
Doc watched silently as the being he assumed to be human seemed to
casually catch the laser blast on his light sword, something that should
have been an impossibility. From what he saw and heard, he realized that
his theory was not far from the truth, and if that was the case, then
this person probably was not from this planet, possibly not even from
this galaxy. Of course, IF this supposition was true, then they were
going to have to be more careful in trying to acquire him.
Hollister watched as the second boomer was taken off-line and then
screamed in anger "WHO ARE YOU!" He slowly turned, smoldering, to the
old man who seemed more interested in keeping his pipe lit than in what
the screens had shown. "Ok Doc. You said that you had an idea who he
really is. Let's hear it."
"I said no such thing," the scientist calmly replied while blowing
a smoke ring, "Actually, I said that it was lucky he had not gone over
to the Dark Side." He sat up, looking the younger man in the eye, "As
to what he is, he is a Jedi Knight."
"What the hell is that?"
Smiling to himself, Doc remembered the movies that played across
the large screen when he was very young, "Well, the story begins a long
time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."
***
Bert stood over his handy work, and was about to make a comment
when a car pulled up next to him.
"Get in here!" Nene shouted to him from the drivers seat.
He grinned saying, "Your wish is my command, M'lady." and bowed.
Nene rolled her eyes as he climbed in and put the car in gear
before he could close the door. As she did so, she touched the
camouflage switch which activated the car's electronic surface, changing
it's colour. "You have a lot of explaining to do buster..."
***
"...of course the last Jedi of that time created a new
academy...And thus began a new age of chivalric enlightenment that was
the mainstay of the New Republic. Of course the forces of the Empire,
and those that had followed the ways of the Dark Side, were an ever
present treat, but more than adequately held in check by the Skywalker
and Solo families. Of all the Jedi, they were the strongest in using
the Force."
Doc slowly and carefully took a puff on his pipe, savouring the
last bit of the blended tobacco within the bowl. He was completely
relaxed, reliving the excitement he had felt when he saw the films for
the first time, saw the special effects that were the start of a whole
new industry that had led to the computers and the sciences that they
now had. He remembered the ambitions the movies raised in him, the
almost immediate love of mysteries and science. Somehow they had fallen
aside and, in recent years as he had gotten involved with this group,
had completely disappeared. This young man, Bert Van Vliet, seemed to
make those dreams come alive again.
He chocked his pipe on the rim of the ashtray and began filling it
up once more, starting to infuriate Hollister who had listened to the
tale with an unusual intensity. "Of course, that is where the story
ends. The books continued for a while, but somehow, there was a lack of
enthusiasm, of spirit in them if you will." Doc lit a match and puffed
a few times, getting the pipe going again, "What I just saw however,
reminded me of the movies. His uniform was straight out of the third
film, 'Return of the Jedi', and that's when I remembered the weapon, 'an
elegant weapon from a more civilized age' as it was put and a Jedi
Knight's main weapon of choice."
"Of the Jedi, their codes of honour were similar to the codes of
Chivalry in medieval Europe, with one major difference. They could not
allow themselves to get angry. If they ever got angry, ever got into an
uncontrollable rage in which they killed indiscriminately, then they
would enter the Dark Side of the Force. This was a great danger as the
Dark Side allowed more power, more abilities to manifest and the one who
entered the Dark Side became a menace to all life. It was, after all,
the fall of one Jedi to the Dark Side which led to the destruction of
the first alliance of worlds known as the Republic."
"This man," the white haired scientist continued, "Bert Van Vliet
is, quite possibly, not from this planet and I would surmise has a
longer lifespan as well."
Upon hearing that, Hollister started and turned to the desk to get
the file they had amassed upon their red headed antagonist. He quickly
flipped through the documents until he got to one obscure reference
which had not made sense at the time and that he had assumed to be some
sort of joke to throw him off track. After he heard that Bert had, on
occasion, visited the ADP building and had been allowed access, he had
checked to see if someone there had been helping him, or possibly using
him in some special manner.
"Doctor, when did those films you were talking about first
appear..."
***
Sylia sat in her chair sipping her tea and looking across at an
upset Nene who was pacing back and forth in the living room. She
couldn't blame her for being somewhat angry after hearing what Bert had
done, after all, she was peeved at him herself, especially since he took
it into his head to confront two combat boomers without his armour.
Sylia was, however, curious as to how he did it. She was sure that Nene
was keeping something back.
Nene had told her about the sudden attack, as well as the fact
that Bert was now carrying his personal lightsaber around with him all
the time. That in itself was not a good sign since his mood had changed
when he had been held captive and tortured by Hollister a few months
ago. Sylia supposed it was one of the reasons that he had been in a
better mood for the past week, but it did not excuse the fact that he
was now carrying a potentially deadly weapon where ever he chose to go.
While it served him well in this case, it was a danger to his identity
since, outside of the head-hunter boomer, SkyKnight was one of only two
people who was known to have such a weapon.
*Bert,* she thought to herself, *You had better have a damn good
explanation for this*
There was a knock at the door, and Linna, with Priss and Sylvie
close behind, came into the apartment.
"What's up Sylia?" Linna asked the leader of the Knight Sabers.
Sylia sighed, "It's Bert. He was attacked by two boomers earlier
tonight when he and Nene were coming back from his archery range."
Priss sucked in her breath. Turning to the still pacing Nene, she
said, "Shit! How badly is he hurt?"
Nene looked at her friends and they could see an expression on her
face that they could not quite recognize. There was anger there, and
worry, and something else. The expression on her face hardened a bit.
She didn't know what was happening, but she was not happy with
Bert. After they had started to drive off, she was about to give him a
royal ringing out because it seemed like he was now carrying weapons
with him where ever he went. Before she could say a word to him
however, the same mysterious swirling energy had covered him and the
garment that he had been wearing disappeared. She had been about to ask
where everything had gone when he told her that it would be best if he
explained what had happened to everyone at once.
"The stupid, moronic, idiotic, idealistic, jerk is perfectly ok,"
she fumed. "It turns out that he is now carrying his lightsaber with
him all the time, that's all."
Sylvie frowned at that. Although she was quiet about it, she had
been very concerned at Bert's attitude during the past several months,
one of the reasons that she had been quietly monitoring Priss and Bert's
activities since joining the fighting team. If their 'Knight-in-
Shining-Armour' was starting to carry what had become his favourite
weapon with him, then he could be reverting back to the out of control
personality that had gripped him just after Anri, Bert, and her had been
kidnapped.
It was at that moment Bert entered the apartment, carrying a teak
box. He looked better than he usually did these days, face smiling and
eyes bright. Bert took one look at all the faces in front of him, three
of which were concerned, one with a smile of grim satisfaction, and one
which was still angry, and grinned. "So...Who's the patient?"
Sylia looked at him and before anyone could respond said with an
icy calm voice, "Bert, you better have a good explanation for why you
were carrying that energy sword around with you."
The only male fighting member of the Knight Sabers sighed.
Apparently, they were not in the mood for his jokes at the moment. "Ok,
everyone. For once, no jokes." As he said this, he placed the box on
the table in front of everybody. A peculiar looking standard was on top
of the box, showing two crossed sabers that seemed to be made of
diamond. The metal upon which the sabers were attached seemed to shine
more than normal, and it caused the others in the room to let out a
small gasp.
Placing his hand on top, he opened the lid of the box . Inside
were twenty indentations, each, except for two at one end, held an
armband with the same diamond like insignia as on the box. They seemed
to be made of some precious metal and almost shone under their own
power. "Gathered Knights, If I may be so bold as to ask a boon of thee,
I would present you each with two of these bands to adorn your most
delicate arms."
Priss rolled her eyes at the words...
Sylvie raised an eyebrow and looked at Bert...
Linna closed her eyes in frustration...
Sylia looked evenly and closely at him...
Nene eyes had opened wide and remained on the box...
"I think this deserves some sort of explanation," Sylia said
evenly, looking at Bert and then to the box containing the armbands.
Bert smiled wryly. "Well, it all began about a week ago when I
went out flying in my SkyKnight armour..."
***
"You're telling me that he's been around as an adult since at
least 1995." Doc stated in a flat tone.
"Yes." Hollister replied, "It was some information that one of the
ADP officers had noted concerning an incident with him. At the time, I
thought was placed there to be purposely misleading, a joke or something
to waste our time. As it now turns out it may explain a few things, like
where he got his money."
The white haired scientist sat still for a moment before quietly
muttering, "Perhaps more than you can imagine."
Hollister turned to his companion, "What do you mean?"
"What I meant is that we may have found a potential wealth of
scientific and philosophical information if we can capture and control
him." Doc stated as he stared off into space, "Remember when I told you
the person who designed the self-regulating blood system in those two
33-S sexaroids was a genius? I think we now know who designed the
system and why he called both of them friends. It's quite possible that
they are now more than ordinary sexaroids, with a much better AI system
and abilities that were probably hidden from the scanners. It's also
possible that he was responsible for a lot of things that we now take
for granted."
Chuckling a little at the suddenly blank expression on Hollister's
face, he leaned back and started to puff on his pipe again. "To
understand what I'm talking about, we have to take a look at how our
technologies have advanced since those movies came out."
"For the most part, a lot of our thinking, and a lot of the
designs for modern technology and ideas is based on two sets of
idealistic shows. The first being Star Trek and all the associated
spin-offs, and the second being the Star Wars saga. The two series
happened to catch the popular imagination of both the public and the
scientific community in a lot of different ways. One of the biggest was
it's effect upon research directions. Several items from Star Trek
started to be created in Canada. The Mediject, a type of early
hypospray unit designed in Winnipeg and the early Tricorders, created
and built in Toronto are prime examples. In the 90's a lot of other
technologies were designed and built in that country, innovative items
that had never been seen before."
"Robotics, however, remained behind the times until the
development of boomer technology. As a matter of fact, boomers can be
looked upon as a type of Android, a combination of biological and
mechanical materials. The main difference between boomers and androids
was always thought to be that an Android was a being which had free will
and could make intelligent, sometimes intuitive decisions on it's own.
Currently available AI technologies do not allow boomers to really have
a free will, although the programs they are installed with allow them to
be able to imitate a living human to a certain extent."
Doc pulled on his pipe once more, "If he considered these two
sexaroids friends and not machines, in his own words, 'physiologically a
little different', but a person with feelings, then he was probably the
one who modified them. Thinking back to the reactions that they had,
one seeming to suffer rape trauma and the other being surprisingly
independent, I would say he was probably grooming them for something
special." Doc looked straight into Hollister's eyes, "What I mean by
that is that he would not need to work for any covert group, he probably
creates them to follow his ideals and gives them anonymous "gifts" of
slightly advanced technology."
Hollister could not bring himself to give a reply.
***
"...and then Darlene, with the help of her teacher, was able to
send me home," he concluded as everyone in the room stared, varying
degrees of disbelief, worry, and curiosity being evident in their
expressions.
Sylia looked at Bert, very concerned about the young man possibly
losing his mind. The story he told, of going to another universe where
he had been magically connected with his hardsuit, fighting a gargoyle,
and meeting people who changed sexes with water was an indication of
delusional tendencies. She had assumed that he was over the ordeal that
had taken place, but now...She would have to take him off active duty
once more. "Bert. I hate to do this to you, but until we
can...confirm...what happened to you, I do not want you up in your
hardsuit."
Bert silently sipped his tea and looked at everyone. The only one
in the room who had an expression other than concern and worry was Nene,
and that only because she had seen visual effect of the 'Wild Magic'
field that surrounded him every time he called for his soft or hard
suit. Twister had been correct about their reactions.
He sighed wearily, "You really can't do that these days. If I
need my hardsuit, I can always call for it. The only way for me to be
with..."
Priss grabbed him by the shirt collar at that point, her face a
combination of fear and anger. "Don't give us that shit. Listen little
brother, _You_ _Are_ _Staying_ _Out_ _Of_ _Your_ _Hardsuit_." She
dropped him back to the couch and started to pace, the rest of the team
surprised at the intensity of her feelings, and the fact that she
finally admitted, out loud, the relationship that had developed between
her and Bert. She didn't notice him stand up and head towards the
centre of the room, as she was pacing away at the time. "Magic doesn't
exist you idiot. If it did, don't you think we would have found some
way to destroy Genom by now? Damn it, if you want somebody to put you
into an asylum keep this up!"
Bert looked at Priss' back, a slight smile creeping across his
face. "Oh really?"
Priss spun around to glare at Bert, "Really. Do you thi..."
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
There was a blinding flash of purple-white light and a sudden
increase in air pressure. Priss was thrown off her feet as the rest of
the team was plastered to their seats. Shrieks of surprise were torn
from the assembled Knight Sabers as, blinded, automatic combat reactions
took over. Linna had grabbed for Nene and pulled her away from the
couch, Sylia automatically moving back and left, and Sylvie going into a
combat crouch. Priss had rolled, drawn her gun, and started to search
for a target despite the spots in her eyes. When she could see once
more, her mouth, as well as those of the rest of the team, had dropped
open in surprise.
Standing in the middle of the living room, where Bert had been a
second before, was a polished silver and blue piece of modern armour.
The glowing red eyeslot on the helmet turned slowly on everyone in the
room and the amused, modulated voice of SkyKnight asked, "Believe me
now?"
Priss' hands dropped, the gun loosely gripped, and stared at the
impossible. She wasn't sure anymore if Bert was the one losing his mind
or she was. A purple glow surrounded the figure, and a now grinning
Bert appeared, reaching down to help her up.
He smirked, "Well, there were several ways I could have proved
this to you, but that was the most fun."
Priss wanted to strangle him.
Turning, Bert noticed everyone else staring at him, and Sylia's
questioning gaze. He chuckled, reached over and closed the box. "If
everyone will come over to this side of the room for a moment, I'll show
you something that will make what I said a lot more believable."
Nene looked at him as everyone moved over to his side of the room.
She had believed his account, having seen that purple field of energy,
and understood why he had changed, at least she thought she did. While
she knew he didn't have a choice in what had happened, she was none the
less feeling jealous of this Darlene, who had experienced a part of his
life that she never would. *I'm going to get the full story from him
later...And he had better tell me the truth!*
Bert reached forward and touched the diamond sabers saying, "The
Knights have gathered." A panel in the front of the box opened and a
purple beam started to come out of the diamond. Soon the beam had
coalesced into the image of a young, red-headed, blue-eyed girl who's
face dimpled as she smiled at them.
"Hello everyone!" The image said as it waved to the assembled
Knight Sabers, "This may be a bit of a surprise if Bert has not told you
what happened yet," the girl giggled, "As a matter of fact it may be a
surprise even if he did tell you. In any case, my name is Darlene
Stefanson, a magical friend of his."
She smiled at them, "Any ways, I suppose I should start off with
what those armbands can do." The image held up her left wrist,
demonstrating, "The one for the left hand contains a communications
array that allows you to be able to have audio and visual communications
with each other. And before you ask, no, a lot of it is not magical.
The only magical sequences of the communications method is the three
dimensional imaging and the signal band width. The rest is a
communications system which Bert and I came up with."
"Of course, this is a great improvement over your old beeper
system as it allows you to be able to contact and update one another
right away. One of the major improvements that I had suggested was to
eliminate the beeping in the first place. I disliked the way those
communications devices worked when Sylia used it to contact Linna,
Priss, and Nene that way. It used to disturb us at the oddest times and
was _much_ too obvious." The women in the room looked startled. This
girl was talking as though she knew them although they had never met
before. There was more going on here than either Bert or Darlene had
revealed.
"Instead, the new system provides a vibration along the arm." The
visual communication function disappeared and she giggled, "I also
included watch functions on it. To activate any of the functions, touch
the crossed sabers and think about what you need."
Darlene held up her right arm. "The right hand armlet has a
vastly different function. Within is a space for a few small devices,
one of which Bert installed in every one of them. To retrieve any item,
all you have to do to is think 'weapons band activate' and the name of
the weapon."
She now had a wry smile on her face, "I think Bert has been
watching too many movies since he came here however, considering the
standard weapon he built." A lightsaber hilt appeared in her right
hand. "The weapon will always appear in your right hand in an inactive
mode. By the way, if it needs to, the parts can be upgraded and
replaced, the bands are bigger inside than they are on the outside."
"Now, by Bert's request, there are ten sets of bands here. The
first six are for you, the fighting members of the Knight Sabers. There
are also bands there for Doctor Raven, Mackie, and Anri." She looked
serious for a moment, and Sylia noticed that the girl seemed to run a
gamut of emotions, never seeming to stick to one, "The last one is in
case you ever need another person. Remember Sylia, choose your people
carefully since you cannot get more of these bands."
Darlene suddenly looked contrite, "I almost forgot, I placed one
more feature in both bands so that only the person who wears the armband
can see or feel it."
She suddenly giggled and grinned impishly, "In any case, I have
some personal wishes as well as some gifts for everyone except Bert. He
already has his gifts" Darlene smiled at them, "Sylia, knowing you, or
rather, knowing your analog, I realize how interested in the sciences
you are. This being the case, I prepared some information files for you.
I hope you enjoy them." A small disc came out of the opening in the
box.
"Priss, I know how much you like speed, so I prepared a copy of my
motorcycle for you. You'll find it a bit faster than yours. To make it
full size, touch the gas tank and say 'grow'." With that, and a small
giggle, a perfectly formed miniature of Priss's motorcycle came out.
Priss stared at it as though it would bite.
Composing herself, Darlene continued, "Linna, knowing how much you
practice the martial arts, I asked a friend of mine to help me prepare a
set of information on some...advanced...techniques you might like. To
view the information, touch the diamond at the top of the box to see a
list of available files. Think of the file and then it will start to
play." A small box with a diamond top appeared from a white mist.
A moment later, a small sheathed sword appeared, a perfectly
detailed miniature with a pair of intertwined dragons. "Sylvie, I
really do not know what else to give you, other than this. You can
enlarge it to full size just by thinking about it. It cannot harm a
human being although, if you wish it, it can harm a boomer. This is
_not_ it's natural mode however, and you must concentrate on it being
able to do such damage. You will be required to place a drop of your
blood on the blade. From that point on, it will be with you until your
death when it may be acquired by one of your bloodline or designated
heir."
A small black case appeared, "Nene, I made a small computer for
you and stored some code breaking techniques in it that were worked out
against Genom a while back. I hope that you will find them useful.
Now, although the pocket computer is small, it is very powerful, being
optically based. I'm sure that you will figure out several uses for
it." The girl in the image suddenly looked a little sad, "Nene, from
what Bert has told me about you, you are similar to one of my best
friends, your analog, and a person I miss." She looked down and said in
a rush, "I...I placed a few personal messages on a disk for you."
Darlene then looked up and forward, although her lower lip was
trembling a bit. "Well, That's all. Perhaps someday we'll meet. Take
good care of the big lug. He needs looking after."
The image faded at that point leaving everyone in silence.
***
The door to the apartment opened and a tall, brown haired figure
came in and turned on the lights. Looking around quickly, as if he
expected intruders, the man, who's back showed a very well structured
musculature through his shirt, closed the door, hung up his jacket, and
went over to the small liqueur cabinet on one side of the room. Pulling
out a glass, he filled it with a small amount of scotch, less than half
a shot and all that he really allowed himself these days.
*God damn it Bert, what the hell are you doing now?* the figure
thought as he flopped down on the couch, taking a sip of the drink.
*What the fuck was that energy field and why were those boomers after
you.* The brown haired main suddenly froze in shock at a stray thought,
something that he hoped was taken care of with the elimination of one of
his old police reports. *Ah hell! Did those bastards at Genom figure
out that he's SkyKnight?*
He closed his eyes, deciding there was nothing he could do
tonight, and that it would be best to talk to Bert tomorrow at his club.
Smirking to himself, the figure ran his fingers through the brown thatch
at the top of his head, thinking of what he knew, and had promised
himself never to reveal. *It's a good thing that I 'bounce ideas' off
of Bert in order to get an 'outsiders' point of view to cases.*
Leon sat back and tried to relax.
***
Sylia was the first to break the silence. "That
was...Interesting, but I take it she left out a lot of details. For
instance, how to place a weapon inside the band and how to make it
return to a neutral state."
Bert grinned, "She did at that, but then again, she _is_ a little
ditzy as a girl." Seeing that Sylia was still not in the mood for his
particular type of humour, and that everyone else was looking at the
items in front of them, he decided to can the jokes for a while longer.
"To place a weapon inside, you hold it in your hand and think 'Weapon
band deactivate' and the name you want to give it. The item then
vanishes from your hand and ends up stored inside the armband. As
Darlene said, all of them have lightsabers inside of them, so go ahead
and take a pair. I already have mine on, although I have to be careful
when I use them."
Sylia caught on that and said curiously, "What do you mean by
that?"
Bert looked uncomfortable for a second, "Well, the Wild Magic that
hit me has an unfortunate side effect if I use a magical item and call
for either of my suits at the same time. I can use them separately, but
dangerous and sometimes unpredictable results can occur otherwise. It's
fairly controlled now, and no one knows exactly why the magic affected
me in this manner, but spells cast around be tend to go awry. I don't
think we really have to worry about that however unless we come up
against a magic user."
Linna was looking at Bert and wondering if _she_ should be worried
about that. Looking at the small magic box, she considered activating
it immediately. She was curious about the techniques the girl, Darlene,
had mentioned, but was not really feeling in the mood to explore it at
the moment. Linna still had an unusually bad head ache from when that
armour had appeared. To be honest, she wasn't really feeling up to
learning anything more, as her brain was currently overloaded with new
information. Reaching forward, she took the armlets and placed them on
her wrists.
"Hey! Where's they go?" Priss exclaimed looking at Linna's arms.
She was hoping that none of this was really magic, but some form of
highly advanced science. People having the power to change the way the
universe operated scared the shit out of her. To have _magical_ devices
as a normal part of a personžs life...Priss shuddered, pitying Bert, and
wondering how being in such a universe had affected him. She couldn't
deny the evidence in front of her eyes, but she _really_ hoped that none
of it was magic.
"It's Magic Priss, Remember?" Nene bubbled and quickly got the
computer and a set of armbands for herself.
Everyone else slowly got the items assigned to them as Sylia came
to a decision. "I do not want any information on magic going outside
this room. Doctor Raven, Mackie, and Anri are _not_ to know how the
armbands work. As far as they are concerned, they represent a top-
secret and highly experimental technology. Now, for the rest of this,"
her arm swept the new devices, "they are definitely _not_ to know where
this equipment came from. The knowledge is too dangerous."
Bert snapped his fingers, "Oh, before I forget, this is for you
Nene." He pulled a small velvet box out of his pocket and gave it to
the young red head who opened it up. "I asked Twister to make this for
you. I hope you don't mind, but I fig...Unf!" Bert was cut off
suddenly as Nene had grabbed him in a tight hug. Before he could say
anything more, she pulled his head down and kissed him long, loving, and
sensuously. All thoughts, in fact, all coherent thinking abilities,
left his mind as he responded to that kiss. It was unlike any kiss he
had before and he was stunned.
Nene pulled back and, almost shouting in happiness, said, "Yes!!
Yes!! Yes!! My answer is yes!" She quickly pulled the diamond ring out
of the box and put it on her finger.
Everyone gasped, and before Bert could collect the shattered
remnants of his mind together, Priss grabbed him by the shoulders. "If
you don't mind, I'm going to borrow Bert for a little while." She
pulled him away and out of the apartment while the rest of the women
were looking at the ring that Nene now wore, the large diamond that had
a faint purple sheen to it.
***
Priss pulled Bert into his apartment, locked the door behind her
and shouted, "ARE YOU FUCKING NUTS!"
Bert, who had been slowly recovering from Nene's affections, was
brought violently back to reality by that. "Uh? What are you talking
about Priss?"
Priss was slowly getting red as she looked into his face, it was
as if he didn't know what...It slowly dawned on her that he really
didn't know. "Bert. Why did you give that ring to Nene?"
"Well the ring serves several purposes," he replied. "The first,
and most important, being that if I am _ever_ pulled to another
dimension again, I can home in on it and come back. The second is that
it will provide her some personal protection. The ring will project a
small field of force if a bullet, or some type of projectile, is shot at
her. It will also deflect most of the impact of any energy weapon,
something I felt she should have."
Sitting down in his recliner, Bert continued, "The only drawback
is that it needs to be exposed to light to recharge itself. Neither
Twister or myself could figure out any other way to power it."
Priss shook her head, "But why make it out of diamond?"
Bert looked at Priss, wondering what she was getting at. "Well,
it was a readily available material, all of the crystalline structures
on those armbands and the boxes are diamond. Besides, as Darlene, she
took some time to design it, thinking that Nene would like something
that looked pretty. From her reaction I think she was right."
Sitting down in front of him, she took hold of his head and looked
into his eyes, "Bert. Do you know what a _diamond_ ring means?"
He looked puzzled, "What does..." Bert trailed off as he
remembered, in _this_ dimension, diamond was not as easy to get a hold
of. Come to think of it, it wasn't easy to get a hold of in Twister's
dimension either. That was when he remembered the traditional usage of
a diamond ring, and he started to shake a bit.
"Oh no!" Getting up suddenly and shaking off Priss, he leaped for
the door and tried to open it. Being locked, he started fumbling
around, allowing the brown haired singer to catch up with him. A small
smile started to twitch at the sides of her mouth.
She turned him around, "Forget it little brother. She's now your
fiancee." Grinning Priss then started to rub it in, "At least you won't
have to look for a band, I'll do it for free." He groaned at her words
as Priss' grin threatened to become a full fledged gloat. "It seems
Darlene was right, you do need looking after."
Bert didn't reply.
THE NEXT DAY...
Naoko couldn't help but stare at the huge diamond that Nene wore.
She had been a little surprised at how overly excited that her
friend had been that morning, and had noticed the new ring that she had
been wearing. Asking about the large, slightly purple diamond, Naoko
learned that Bert had surprised her with it the night before. Talk
about things being totally unexpected!
Shaking her head, Naoko admired the stone. It was about two
centimetres long, one centimetre wide, and half a centimetre thick. The
setting the stone was sitting in was a pair of intertwined gold dragons,
wonderfully detailed and seeming almost alive. Moreover, the stone was
a purple diamond, a _very_ rare type of diamond. She knew Nene's
boyfriend was some type of high-priced engineer, but she never imagined
that he could be _that_ rich.
"So, are you going to marry him?", Naoko asked.
Nene smiled happily. "Of course! I've been waiting for him to
ask me, and it's finally happened!" Her thoughts strayed to what
marriage would be like, and the children she wanted to have. She
realized that she might have to drop out of missions now and then, but
it would be worth it. Nene's eyes shone with excitement as she looked at
the ring. "I'm going to make extra sure he's happy once we're married."
Naoko shook her head, realizing that she'd have to cover for Nene
over the next little while. Obviously she was so caught up in thinking
about the future that she wasn't really paying attention to her work.
It was a bit surprising, after all; it was hard to believe the ever so
innocent redhead was going to get married.
***
Leon walked into the archery range, going over to the locker and
getting his bow. He smiled to himself as he considered the fact that he
was using such an ancient weapon in an age where an ADP officeržs
survival depended on high tech weaponry. Somehow, Bert's infatuation
with Europe's chivalric age had spread to himself, and he now enjoyed
being able to hit the target. Although it wasn't too different from
holding a gun and firing it, Leon had found that he needed more skill to
get an arrow to hit the target, and that provided a lot more
satisfaction than just being quick on the draw.
Going over to the range, he saw that Sylvie, Priss and Bert were
in adjacent lanes. Leon noticed that, as usual, Sylvie was out for fun
while Bert and Priss were trying to outdo each other. He still hadn't
figured out why they felt the need to argue, compete, and generally
annoy each other. Shaking his head, he took the lane next to Bert.
"Congratulations Bert, I saw the ring you gave to Nene last
night," Leon said as he sent his target down the range.
Bert's arrow went wild, hitting the floor halfway down as he
started to get a little green. He didn't want to think about his
accidental engagement. Neither did Bert want to think about how excited
his red headed girlfriend was. The very thought of marriage, and the
responsibilities that went with it, scared the hell out of him. The big
problem for him was that he couldn't tell Nene it was all a mistake.
Disappointing her was something else that Bert did not want to
contemplate.
Priss smirked from where she was. She and Leon had been getting
along better for the past few months, especially since he had decided to
stop trying to ask her out on dates. Priss wasn't sure what had finally
gotten through to him, but she was glad. Leon turned out to be a good
friend, once you got past his obsession for trying to go out with
anything that wore a skirt. "Well, I already told him I'm going to sing
at the wedding."
Bert's next arrow also went wild.
"Would you two mind?" Bert said irritably, "I'm _trying_ to
relax. Reminding me that I'm now engaged is _not_ helping." Grumbling
a bit, he recalled the target. Pulling the arrows out and placing them
in the quiver, he wondered how long Priss would bug him about this.
Knowing her, probably for the rest of his life. Bert then thought of
the perfect way to get Priss back, and, since she had called him little
brother...
Grinning a bit, he turned to the brown haired officer, "Sorry
Leon. It's just that my _Elder_ sister has been bugging me about it all
day. Isn't that so Sylvie?"
Sylvie giggled getting the idea, "Yep! Apparently Priss is trying
for a new record in 'How does one annoy _Younger_ brother?"
Priss looked at the two of them, "Hey! I'm not _that_ old."
"You're the one that keeps calling me _little_ brother." He
grinned, "You know, you'd look a lot younger, and a lot cuter if you
wore a frilled dress once in a while..." Chuckling, he started to turn
towards his office. It was the last thing he remembered for a while.
Priss had taken the opportunity to deliver an uppercut that
knocked Bert out.
***
Hollister pondered the information that Doc had given him the
night before. He hated Bert, but Doc was right, he had to look at the
long term view. If Ikagawashii was correct, then this...being...could
help them with several projects currently underway, providing there was
sufficient motivation. He looked through the file on his desk,
examining the stills of those people who consistently went into the
archery range. Of these, there were five people whom he was known to be
friends with.
The first picture was of Sylvie:
The sexaroid they had captured before. According to his
information, she was consistently in the company of the person in the
second picture...
Priss Asagiri:
A minor singer with a strong following. She had several
reputations, and a past that was in some ways as mysterious as that of
Bert's. It was known that she liked to fight, loved weapons, and was
friends with at least two people from ADP, one of whom had tried to date
her several times...
Leon McNichol:
Currently an Inspector with ADP. He had a reputation for being
very officious, very law abiding, but was also known to have
a...strange... relationship with people wearing various types of powered
armour. He had been reprimanded several times for letting the Knight
Sabers, and specifically SkyKnight, go when he had been ordered to
detain them. There was also the time he was brought in for emergency
surgery by a black armoured figure. He was known to get most of his
information from a young woman within the ADP...
Nene Romanova:
She was a bit of a mystery. She wasn't a fighter, nor was she
violent. Her reputation for various types of chocolates and sweets was
legend, even among 'doughnut loving' police officers. She was highly
intelligent, with unknown, but extremely good sources of information.
It seemed as though she was Bert's girlfriend. However, if his
supposed age was accurate, it was very possible that she was his
daughter or grand-daughter. She was also known to have a love-hate
relationship with a former aerobics instructor and stock market
expert...
Linna Yamazaki:
Here was another mystery. She was known to be a friend of Bert's,
an able dancer, and a practitioner of the martial arts. Records
indicated that she knew quite a bit about the stock market and how to
make it work for her. There was also an indication that she handled
more money than was officially reported.
Beside these pictures were individual photos of the six armoured
individuals collectively known as the Knight Sabers, five of which were
women. Although he wasn't able to confirm it, he suspected that Bert
was the one who formed the Knight Sabers, a covert group of operatives
who were technically a mercenary organization. If the assumption was
that he created these groups, an assumption that made too much sense
once the pieces were put together, then these five people were possibly
the start of a new team of covert operatives.
Looking them over, he picked up Nene's picture.
"If we had the right incentive..."
***
The main computer room in Sylia's building now had several piles
of output folders spread out.
Sylia sat up in her chair, sipping tea from a cup placed beside
her keyboard. Getting up, she stretched, looking at the mess she had
created. The leader of the Knight Sabers had to smile; it was usually
Bert that made a mess like this, but the disk contained some fascinating
files, technical specifications, plans, and weapons. Some of which were
very...advanced.
As an example of that, on the main screen was the picture of an
amazing super computer system. She knew that optical based technologies
were theoretically possible, but to have plans of a complete system,
including all the chips, was something that she had not imagined could
be contained on such a small disk. And that was one of the smaller
files.
Sylia looked at the screen, with a bit of wry amusement. At the
moment the system would be impractical, if not impossible to build.
While it was interesting, and she might be able to develop a similar
system based upon the pictures, notes, data, and technical
specifications, it would take an incredible manufacturing setup to
produce the current system.
Shaking her head, she wondered _where_ they found enough pure,
flawless, diamond to build the original machine.
***
Bert slowly opened his eyes to view the ceiling of his office.
"I take it you're feeling better Bert?" a voice chuckled.
Groaning a bit, Bert sat up, and swung his feet to the floor.
"Yeah," he winced, "Although my head feels like if it fell off. What
hit me?"
Leon continued to chuckle as he handed his friend a mug of tea.
"Priss. Who else."
Bert took a long pull from the mug, rolling his jaw slightly as
the pain of Priss' punch entered his brain. It wasn't the first time
that she had been angry enough to hit him or smash him against
something, but it was the first time she had knocked him out. He put
his cup down and started to rub his jaw. "So, where are the tornado
twins?"
"Sylvie took Priss up to the lounge to try and get her to calm
down." Leon looked at his friend for a moment. "Tell me something. Why
do you keep trying to annoy her?"
Bert shook his head and went back to sipping his tea. "Force of
habit I suppose. We've sort of gotten used to trying to find things to
annoy each other with. The more annoying the better." He looked up at
the brown haired police inspector, "So, how long was I out?"
"About fifteen minutes." Leon grew serious, "Do you have some
time at the moment Bert? I need some advice and to warn you about an
incident that happened near here last night."
"Sure Leon." He chuckled silently to himself. For the past few
months, since his business opened to the public, Leon had been visiting
and telling him all sorts of interesting information. Small tidbits
which, unknown to the ADP officer, helped him out with his SkyKnight
duties and functions. Bert had reciprocated, offering some advice and
some technical help now and then. It was a good easy relationship with
both of them relaxing more than anything else.
"Well, during the past few months, new weapons have been showing
up in the international marketplace. According to some...reliable
information, these devices originate from here in Japan." Leon started
to pace, seeming agitated. "Some of the information coming to us isn't
good. Whoever they are, they've brought back the DD Battlemover."
Bert jerked suddenly, spilling his tea. Leon was talking about
the group that had one person who had become the bane of his existence.
He was talking about Hollister, the one who had hurt Nene and Priss,
tortured him, planned to enslave Sylvie and Anri, and was responsible
for the most inhuman weapons and devices ever created by man. Bert and
the rest of the Sabers had seen the plans for the new Battlemover, and
it had been sickening to say the least. The inhuman bastards had
designed the thing to either drive a human pilot crazy or to condemn a
sexaroid pilot to slavery.
Leon looked at Bert, "Yeah, the same device that almost destroyed
Mega- Tokyo a while back. This version of the armour is...more
insidious to say the least. According to our counterparts in Korea, the
thing is utterly inhuman."
Bert paled, knowing what the plans were. Given what Leon just
said, and the fact that most beings did not consider boomers people, he
could just imagine what the Korean version of ADP had found. He
silently cursed himself. It was bad enough that Hollister was a
constant torn in his side, but he had forgotten the organization that
backed him. Given what Leon just said, Hollister was now the least of
his concerns. Despite the fact that Bert wanted to kill him, the
bastard would be needed to get information on these people. "What...did
they find Leon?"
"You don't want to know Bert. You _really_ do not want to know."
***
Hollister looked at the picture of the red headed girl. Of all the
possible targets, she was the most likely to bring Bert to them. This
would mean capturing her, despite the complications that could cause
with the ADP. "Well Doc, what do you think of the plan?"
Doctor Ikagawashii looked at his copy of the file, and sat
pondering the advisability of procuring this young woman. If they did
get a hold of her, it was possible that she would have the same
abilities as those of Bert. It would be too dangerous to simply kidnap
her and bring her to their main facility. He thought a bit at the
supposed abilities from the movies he had reviewed that morning, as well
as the tapes of what had happened. Doc reviewed what he had learned.
One:
The light sabers differed. This was to be expected as each Jedi
designed their own Sabers to suit their individual personalities and
hand grips.
Two:
He had mentioned his teacher, and the quote exactly matched those
from the movie.
Three:
The lightsaber had presented the same impossibility as that of the
film, that of deflecting a laser blast.
Four:
Bert's physical conditioning was similar to that of the movie's
Luke Skywalker.
He glanced at the intensive, yet scanty psychological profile that
they had put together from the little available information. Three
hundred pages, which boiled down to the fact that he was a chivalric
person. Bert was more than willing to put himself into danger for
others, and would frequently seem to go out of the way to rescue people.
He had to be an innovative engineer who tinkered circuits together out
of available materials, which meant at some time he learned spitball
engineering. His combat skills and weapons of preference were ancient,
being bows and arrows, swords, or bare hands, indicating an honourable
disposition and a preference to battle with a personal edge. No one was
sure if it was because he liked to see someone bleeding up close, or
because he wanted to remind himself of the human factor. The latter was
most likely, given that however practical he might be, Bert steadfastly
refused to kill if he didn't have to.
Doc then thought of the energy that changed his clothing and
caused the saber to seemingly appear. He shuddered, as there were only
two real explanations for it; either a highly controlled, highly
accurate teleportation technique, something that would have to be
centuries ahead of their own technology, or control of the mysterious
'Force', which he apparently had access to.
It would be a dangerous gambit. If the girl had even minimal
training in the abilities of the Force, and the possibility existed,
then she would be as dangerous as Bert. They could not keep her awake,
since the Jedi were able to find their friends though feeling them.
There was also the strong possibility of some psychic abilities. He
thought of that for a second. The Jedi's powers were similar to what
Terrans would call psychic abilities. Admittedly psychic abilities on a
scale never before recorded, but psychic abilities none-the-less. If
they kept the girl sedated then he should not be able to detect her.
"It's possible," Doc stated, "but it will require a lot more
planning. Are you sure that the surveillance team will be able to give
us her entire schedule?"
"Yes." Hollister replied. "They are to watch her, and where she
goes for the next two weeks. That should give us enough time to come up
with something. I'm already arranging for two safe-houses for whenever
we are ready to go. What I want to know is, given what you told me last
night, is there any way to hold him?"
"We'd have to keep him drugged to prevent his escaping and this
might be a problem. The drugs that would keep him complacent and the
truth drugs are not completely compatible." The white headed scientist
commented. "Despite the fact that he looks and acts human, there is also
the strong possibility that his physiology may act unusually with the
drugs. We have to be extremely careful about this, and make certain
that _we_ have control of his lightsaber."
The smile on Hollister's face was not pretty to look at. "Count
on it Doc, count on it."
***
The underground chamber, which was a large darkened area, was as
silent and as deathly still as a tomb. What little light there was had
several strange items under them. Items which seemed familiar, yet
unusual. Prominently featured were three unusual vehicles, one that
looked something like a motorcycle without wheels, another that looked
somewhat like a car, and a very strange one that resembled a type of
aeroplane. Another set of lights along one wall displayed a series of
armour suits, each in an individual glass cylinder, and their designs
and appearances was unusual to say the least.
An elevator opened and a red-headed man stormed out, walking to
the lab area. Unhappy, angry, and filling the air with a number of
scathing remarks, Bert pushed open the door and almost slammed it behind
him. He was responsible for the hurt a lot of people suffered. Him.
No one else deserved the blame. Moving to one of the highly adjustable
tables, Bert tried to get his mind on putting together the armour suit
lying on top of it.
He soon gave up.
Looking down at what was supposed to be his latest hardsuit
design, he snarled with disgust. It wouldn't matter what he built, what
he came up with, the new DD Battlemover removed the options of
retrieving the pilot alive. Taking a piece of the unoffending armour
plate, he threw it against the far wall of the lab with some self-hatred
at what he had failed to do.
Bert sat down, wondering what the hell he was going to do. He had
spent so much time redesigning the team's suits, adjusting them to each
person's particular preferences and abilities, that he forgotten what
they were facing...Bert now realized how hard a job Sylia really had.
Not only did she keep the team going, get assignments, and ensure their
safety, but she also had to keep the overall picture in mind.
Bert had concentrated so hard on Hollister that he had lost sight
of what they were really facing.
He recognized that his problem with what was happening was part of
his overinflated feelings of responsibility. If Bert had been
successful in removing Hollister and his group, shutting down where ever
the bastards were selling, designing, and building these new weapons,
the people trapped inside the DD's would still have their freedom. He
couldn't imagine a worse crime against humanity that removing a person's
right to be who and what they were.
"What the hell can I do?" he snarled to himself as he looked out
the lab window into the rest of his underground complex. "No matter
what, people like that will still be around." Somewhere in the back of
his mind, a voice whispered seductively that it didn't have to be that
way, that he could somehow fix things by putting on his suit and simply
blasting people out of existence.
Bert got up quickly and started to pace. He had to come up with a
new plan of attack, something that would end Hollister's operation once
and for all.
"Be not so angry, my student. Go, calm your mind and your heart
and then will your answer be." a voice said, coming from near one of the
larger laboratory tables.
Bert spun, recognizing the voice but not really wanting to listen
to it at the moment. On the chair behind the table was a short figure
wearing an outfit similar to the peasants clothes from ancient Japan.
He held a small irregular cane in front to him and his pointed ears
twitched with some amusement.
"Oh shut up Yoda!" he exclaimed to the solid looking apparition,
one of the fortunate, or in this case unfortunate, side effects of the
Wild Magic that Darlene had accidentally blasted him with. While the
little guy offered a lot of good advice, he wasn't really there, at
least not in the sense of being a real person. 'Yoda' was a part of his
mind, given life by Bert's own needs and emotions. "In case you didn't
notice, designing hardsuits and the associated equipment helps me to
relax.
Yoda hopped down to the floor and walked around the table.
"Troubled you are by things that could not be helped. A Jedi must
learn, to his regret, that he cannot solve every problem. A Jedi can
only do what he can to aid those of the light." He pointed to a seat
over on one side of the room. "Quiet yourself and understand that what
has happened is done. You may change the future as it is unformed, but
you may not change the past."
Bert took a seat and growled irritable at himself. He had learned
the hard way that it wasn't always wise to argue with this part of
himself. His mind tended to make what Yoda wanted to do a reality, at
least for him and any other person who was magic sensitive. "So what
_should_ I do? It's my fault that people were used in those damn
machines. If I had come up with some way to get rid of
those...inhuman...bastards, that armour would not be out there now.
Unfortunately, with one already being in use, there are probably more
out there, and that means that people will be able to copy the thing."
Yoda shook his head, "Built this place, you have." He waved his
staff at the entire complex, "The time comes when it will be needed, but
calm you must be. You must at terms be with your limitations."
Bert got up suddenly and walked towards the door, "I suppose, but
then again, I have a hell of a lot of limitations, and I don't intend to
let any more people get hurt." He went into the elevator followed by
the pint sized midget and pressed the button for the entrance to his
recreation centre.
***
On the second floor, behind the closed door of a private exercise
room, Linna concentrated on the movements of the two red-headed figures
in front of her. She had marveled at the grace and ease with which the
two girls moved. It was like watching the ocean; a smooth, unbroken
rhythm of blocks and blows, strike and counter-strike which spoke of a
large amount of skill and training. The pig- tailed girl was obviously
better, more at ease while her sister, Darlene, was on the defensive
more often than not.
Of course, the _very_ high leaping that they were able to do was
what interested her at the moment.
Linna had looked at several of the visual and audio files that
were in the box, seeing attacks that at first glance did not make sense.
Fists moving faster than the eye could easily see, fireballs being
fired, and diamond-like shields. The section on avoidance moves was
uncannily eerie. It seemed as if they could sense an attack before it
had truly begun, before the opponent gave a single muscular indication.
Knowing that most of this was well beyond her current, and quite
possibly future, abilities, she decided to start with something that
seemed relatively simple.
There was a knock on the door to the room, and Bert's voice wafted
in. "Linna? It's me, can I come in?"
"Sure, come on in."
He opened the door and stepped in followed by a short, pointed
eared companion. Linna rubbed her eyes, thinking that somehow her
vision had been affected by the magic of the crystal. She couldn't
really be seeing what looked like a combination martial arts master and
alien being rolled into one. As Bert closed the door behind him, she
sat down, looking up and continually rubbing her eyes.
Bert looked at her with some concern, "Are you all right?"
Still covering her eyes, she said, "Bert. Please tell me there
isn't some sort of alien midget next to you."
Bert started, somewhat warily at that statement. "You can see
someone besides me?"
Yoda looked at her, his face crinkling with a small smile, "See me
she does, student will she be."
She looked at the small being who had made that comment and said,
"Student? What do you mean by student?"
Bert looked uncomfortable as he slowly asked, "Linna, when my
armour arrived, what _exactly_ did you hear?"
***
Sylvie looked at Priss in a resigned manner.
She had finally gotten her to calm down, and, after a couple of
drinks, had gotten Priss to open up a bit about what was really
bothering her.
As usual, Priss was worrying about Bert's welfare and how his
being engaged would affect everyone. It wasn't that she did not want
Bert to get married, but she didn't think it was the smartest idea in
the world, given that he and Nene had been going over a somewhat rocky
stretch in their relationship. Bert was uneasy about doing anything to
hurt people, and although he loved the red-headed ADP officer, he tended
to stay away from deeper commitments until pushed.
Priss knew her little brother well enough to realize that their
outside activities was the main reason for his worry; he felt that Nene
should have a more stable relationship than with the combat-hardened war
machine that he had become. She also knew the other, unmentioned,
reason that he tended to avoid relationships. It was that he missed his
_original_ home, which was years and dimensions away.
"I _know_ he'll screw this up if we don't keep an eye on him." she
stated gruffly to her companion, "He's too damn shy for his own good."
Sylvie sighed as she looked at the brown haired singer sitting
across from her in the private booth. Ever since she had arrived with
Anri, Priss had made her part of her family. Originally, she supposed
it was because their personalities were similar, uncannily alike in so
many ways. The feelings between them had grown deeper however, from
close friends to being virtually sisters. For the first time in her
life, Sylvie was treated as a real person instead of a machine, and she
cherished that.
That was why she loved Priss and didn't like seeing her friend
hurt.
Of course, the same could be said for the rest of the team. Given
that Sylvie didn't really have a lot of friends, or a chance at a normal
life, she had taken every opportunity she could to spend with the few
friends she _did_ have. Broken down, it was limited to basically Anri
and her fellow Knight Sabers. Like Priss, she was loyal to their small
family, and worried about how the others, especially Priss, were doing,
but wasn't as pushy as her brown haired friend. Sylvie kept thinking
that the singer would be better off if she would quit worrying about
Bert.
"Bert will be ok, Priss. You can't take care of him forever you
know."
"I know Sylvie, but he can be such an idiot at times. Give him
something to design or engineer and he'll spend days without getting
some rest. Try and get him to talk about his personal feelings and he
runs." She sipped the fruit and vitamin concoction, wishing that Bert
allowed alcohol on the premises. "You know as well as I do that he'll
hide if he thinks he's making a mistake."
Sylvie smiled at that. It was an accurate, if understated, view
of Bert's personal life. He didn't make friends easily, and he tended
to shy away from most people. Wondering about that, she realized that
almost all of the people who made up the Knight Sabers were loners.
Sylia was a scientist who avoided chances to make friends, feeling
her duty towards people for the perversion of her fathers work was to
protect the public from its misuse.
Bert was originally from another dimension, somewhat afraid of his
feelings, and had a tendency to get lost in a laboratory or hardsuit
research.
Priss' past was too full of pain from losing people to opposing
gangs and boomers, something which hardened her heart against wanting to
be close to anyone.
Sylvie herself was afraid of getting close to people in case they
found out the truth about her.
The only two exceptions to this rule were Nene, whose personality
made almost instant friends of anyone, and Linna, who at least tried to
make friends.
She wondered if any of them would ever be free of the past.
***
Bert sat down against a wall as Yoda chuckled at the expression on
Linna's face. She seemed to be taking it well, considering that she had
just been told that she could potentially perform magic. Bert, however,
did not, could not take it as well. While he had become more used to
the concept of magic, he still couldn't really stand how it defied the
orderly running of a universe. After his experiences with Akane's
exploding cookies, not to mention Professor Kitamura's testing
techniques, he was weary of anyone having magical abilities. His own
magical powers and abilities sometimes unnerved him, but Bert had
gradually come to accept them.
After all, his powers did not exactly have him casting spells, or
at least not many spells.
For some reason, his own abilities were rather limited. Whether or
not it was fortunate or unfortunate was up for debate, but it did bring
up some interesting, though somewhat unanswerable, questions. He knew
that his abilities stemmed from the magical blast that he was hit with,
but why were _his_ particular abilities a seeming combination of
psionics and magic?
He went over the points in his mind of what he could do:
One:
Revising and redesigning his suits with a lot of concentration.
Two:
Making them repair and recharge themselves somewhat.
Three:
Having them come and go from him at will.
Four:
He was able to detect electromagnetic fields within a fifty metre
radius if he concentrated on detecting them.
Five:
He was able to levitate some items if he maintained concentration.
Six:
He was intuitively able to grasp the concepts of magic, something
he did not really understand.
Seven:
He had faster and better reflexes.
Eight:
He could heal himself after a fashion, although it took time.
Nine:
If he concentrated, was able to form the magic field into a semi-
solid object within 2 metres of himself.
He looked up at the small figure who was quietly waiting for Linna
to come back to reality.
The major difference in his powers, and sometimes the major pain,
was the fact that his mind had created 'Yoda'. It was a representation
of the best of himself, his conscience, his humility, his willingness to
learn. Yoda had once lived only in his mind, until he had decided that
Bert was ready to begin learning more; that he had grown calm and stable
enough to be able to really begin to handle his new abilities. There
were times that he suspected that Yoda knew more than his mind did.
This was supported by the fact that he came up with things that Bert had
never experienced, and didn't know some things that he had experienced.
The little fellow was a questionable enigma, one that none of the magic
experts he had come in contact with could explain.
Linna looked at Yoda, then looked at the small magical box that
was still in front of her. Her eyes opened wide. If she was able to do
something like that, was able to make something magical even if it
wasn't powerful or big, she would be happy. Magic seemed like it was a
lot of fun to do.
"I would like to be your student Sensei." she said humbly, bowing
low in an ancient formal bow, as she was already on her knees. "What
shall I need to do?"
"Be yourself child. When you have recovered yourself will we
begin."
Bert just groaned.
***
In a public park, on the other side of Mega-Tokyo, a flash of
bright light occurred behind some trees. People who happened to be
there looked that way, and started to run, wondering if there was some
kind of explosion, some kind of event happening that might make the
news. As the more curious and foolhardy went towards the point where
the flash occurred, they passed a figure wearing a dark cloak. She was
obviously female, and walking calmly away from that area. In her right
hand was a small suitcase and in her left hand held what looked like a
small bit of stone.
*Damn! Now that I'm here I've lost track of him.* the figure
thought as it silently ran a polished fingernail over the stone. *It's
a good thing I read the family archives about dimension traveling. I
should have enough gold and jewels to last several months.*
The girl placed the stone into a cape pocket and brushed a strand
of black hair away from her face.
***
Somewhere in the room, a phone rang.
Sylia sighed and looked up. She was a little annoyed since she
was reviewing one of the most promising files on the provided disk. It
was theoretical data on a high powered, high energy laser that combined
a free electron emitter with a semi-conductor one without the meltdown
that such emitters usually had. Hoping that whatever it was wouldn't
take long, she answered the phone. "Hello, Sylia speaking."
"Hello Sylia," Bert's voice replied, "We didn't discuss it last
night, but I know you probably want to test out my new abilities."
She smiled slightly, Bert was learning not to hide things from
her, "That would be a good idea. How about the day after tomorrow. I
should have some preliminary sensors and equipment reconfigured to test
certain things."
"Sound's good to me." Bert hesitated for a second, "You might
want to use those devices on Linna as well."
Sylia sat up straight. There was something in the way Bert said
those words that made her uneasy. "Why would I want to use these on
her? She didn't travel with you to another dimension." She heard Bert
sigh on the other end of the line. "Ok, what happened?"
"Linna may have magical powers, or at least the potential for
them."
Sylia narrowed her eyes in thought. "Oh? And how were you able
to find out?"
Bert coughed nervously, "Well, there's something I neglected to
mention about my new abilities..."
TWO DAYS LATER...
Bert was standing in the middle of the hardsuit testing area,
waiting for Sylia to begin. Although he tried not to show it, he was
nervous. Not because of the tests, Bert was used to that, but because,
while convenient, he didn't like to call on his abilities too often,
much less the other aspects of his powers. Having the laws of the
universe change around him was something he didn't really like, although
he accepted it.
Sylia's voice came through the speakers, "Ok Bert, we're going to
start off with you calling your suits. I want to try to get some
readings on what's going on."
"Ok. I'll start with my soft suit."
He calmed himself and thought of his fighting undergarment. In
his minds eye, Bert stepped in and zipped up the garment, to him, it
felt real, as though he was actually doing it and that was what made the
difference. Because of the magical connection between his suits and
himself, anything he thought of regarding them _became_ reality.
***
Sylia kept her eyes on the energy readout as the rest of them
looked through the window. The visual effect was, to say the least,
interesting. Starting at his feet, a glowing whirlwind of energy
surrounded Bert, completely encompassing him before dissipating. When
it was gone, he was in his revised undergarment.
She frowned at the screens. According to every sensor, there was
very little release of energy, at least in the common electromagnetic
range. The only detectable energy was in the visual range, and matched
the frequency of the light that had appeared. They would have to repeat
the experiment to try to get a scientifically detectable energy range,
and that meant going over things by the quarter range.
It was going to be a long night...
***
Some people were wondering what the manager of the Old Tokyo
theatre was thinking. For some reason, he had closed down a very
successful production that had been playing for the past five years to
open an old style magic act. While the old style slight of hand was
interesting, most people did not pay attention to it since, in this age,
people were bored with it. None of it amazed or delighted people since
they could do the same thing with technology lying about the house.
However, it was unusual enough to have sold out the seats for that
nightžs performance.
The reporters and reviewers were coming, hopefully to ridicule a
manager who was foolish enough to stage such an ancient act.
The public was just curious as to what was going on.
The young black haired woman who was standing in front of the
theatre looked at all of the customers. She had been surprised at how
technologically advanced this civilization was, as well as the seeming
lack of magic in this world. There writings on the subject were
amazingly devoid of what it really was, although there were some small
shops that specialized in 'mystic equipment'. It had been easy enough
to get this theatre as a base of operations; a simple spell of
compulsion was all it took.
Natsumi smiled as she thought of her gallant, mystical Knight.
***
Inside one of the upper level offices of Genom Tower, a woman with
purple hair was frowning at some reports that had reached her desk. The
first one concerned the new DD Battlemover. Although it was not known
to many people, Chairman Quincy was very anxious to retrieve any
fragments of that technology. The advantages that it could give the
corporation in terms of contacts for space-based suits and boomers was
tremendous, and with the addition of its onboard computer system, the DD
became the ultimate battle machine given the right circumstances.
Madigan carefully studied the file and the findings that the
Korean ADP had found. It was uncanny how close the new Battlemover was
to that of schematic and files that had survived on the unit. It also
made better use of the available material, much better than had been
imagined. Whoever these people were, they had designed the new DD to
work with a direct weapons link to Sexaroids. She sat back, carefully
contemplating this information. For all intents and purposes, she was
Quincy's heir, and as such, he trusted her more than anyone else.
Madigan had always proved that Quincy's trust was dear to her and that
she would never betray him. She had to make some decisions on this, and
advise him correctly and appropriately.
Some people in the corporation had wondered, given the infighting
that occurred in the upper-echelon of the mega-corporation, when Madigan
would make her bid for power. If anything, there were many who would
rather deal with her than with "The Old Man", and would prefer it if she
did take over the company. Unfortunately for them, they would have to
wait for a very long time for that to happen; even if Quincy died, the
Board of Directors would hardly choose her to head the corporation.
For Madigan, she was quite content to stay in the background.
Unbidden memories came to mind as she thought of her boss. Quincy
had literally chosen her for the brilliance of her mind and her ability
to organize things. She also had the ability to sometimes oppose what
he was doing, but in such a way that he never felt threatened. There
was an unspoken bond, a link beyond what would be normal for employer-
employee relations. She knew that in his own way Quincy cared for her
and would rather sacrifice himself instead of seeing her hurt.
That she would do the same was unnecessary to say.
*Who are these people?* Madigan wondered. *Where are they
manufacturing these things?*
She had to find out, not only for herself, but for her mentor.
***
Sylia frowned at all the readouts. Despite the fact that they had
spent the last three hours trying to find the energy range that 'magic'
operated in, none of the instruments had registered anything other than
the purple light. If there was a way to detect such energy, it wasn't
with this particular equipment, and that meant designing a new type of
detector, something that would have to go beyond the current knowledge
of physics. She refused to believe that this energy form couldn't be
defined scientifically. "Ok Bert. That's enough for now."
Bert sighed in relief. He couldn't believe how tiring that was!
While testing his hardsuit had always been exciting before, both in
terms of seeing what they could do and how far he could push the design
limitations, he had been pushed well beyond his limit. He looked at
Sylia as he came out of the chamber, "Thanks. Did you get anything?"
"No. Apparently 'magic' operates on an energy level that is
outside the normal electromagnetic spectrum." She turned to write
something on a notepad and murmured, "There has to be a substantial
amount of energy used however..." Sylia suddenly gave a start. "Linna,
you're next."
Everyone else looked at Linna, who was only dressed in her
softsuit. "Hey! What's going on here?" Priss asked as Linna looked
down beside her, ignoring everyone else in the room. What was Linna
going to do in the hardsuit area?
Linna was nervous about what she was about to do, and kept looking
beside her. "Are you sure I can do this Yoda? I mean, you told me I'm
able to do magic, and I did manage to do one small spell, but do you
think I'm ready to do more?"
Yoda smiled and looked up at his student. He was well pleased
with this one. She was respectful, honest, and in control of herself,
unlike so many youngsters. *Ah...Only if my other students had been so
calm. Disasters perhaps, may have been averted.* Getting a toothy
grin, he looked over to Bert who had wrapped his arm around Nene, "Trust
yourself, you should. You know what you are doing." She shrugged
her shoulders and looked up from her Sensei. "Ok, I'm as ready as I'll
ever be. According to Yoda I should be able to do this."
Priss stared at Linna, unable to believe her ears.
"YODA!?"
***
As Natsumi concluded her show, which had been extremely
successful, she felt the faint stirring of a spell. It was almost as if
someone had overpowered it, which meant either a powerful magic user,
which Bert could be considered, or someone new to their powers. In this
magic-dead world, such powers stood out like a beacon.
It was too bad she never learned how to detect the direction
spells came from.
She faced the audience, "Thank-you! And now to conclude the show,
I have what some consider to be an old trick, that of sawing a person in
half. In this case, I will saw myself in half with this apparatus."
Behind her, the curtains opened to reveal a nasty looking rotary saw
sitting above a plain wooden table. The thing about this table was
there wasn't the usual box which surrounded the one to be sawed in half.
In was plain, ordinary and dull. "I would like three volunteers from the
audience to examine the blade and the table for any tricks."
As the three volunteers came up, she wondered where that spell had
come from. Unlike the aura of Bert's magic, which had a slightly
uncomfortable feel to it, this was more the type of magic she was used
to. Was it possible that Bert was teaching someone? Had he found an
apprentice? She hoped not. It would be too dangerous for him to teach
anyone, considering he had less than a year's training in the field and
used his abilities instinctively instead of with purpose.
In the end, she felt the glow of power three more times, and
although she was not able to home in on the source, at least got a
general direction for the flashes. Especially since the flashes
increased in power. It brought back memories of how she used to
overpower her spells as well.
Of course the audience was kept wonderfully terrified.
Using an illusion and keeping herself out of the way, she seemed
to have been sawed in half, and her legs started to walk around the
stage. The fake blood and gore packets in the table caused many people
to faint and scream. The upper body of the illusion seemed to be
reaching weakly before it, and the table was consumed in flames.
She ran out in a cloak and put the flames out with a fire
extinguisher, and revealed herself for who she was.
The applause lasted for ten minutes.
***
Sylia couldn't understand what had happened.
Linna's bursts of magic had been detectable by the equipment.
Somehow, outside of the spectrum of light, there was a detectable energy
both above and below the visible light waves. The computers had shown
that the visible spectrum energy had been a guide to forming and shaping
the power that had flown from her. It also showed that the energy from
the ball of light was self sustaining, and that it continued to flow
even after she was done, but not from her. Energy was coming from
nowhere, an impossibility within the guide of Newtonian physics.
When the test was repeated, the same results had received. That,
unfortunately, led to a conclusion that she wanted to be false, wanted
very much to be refuted.
She knew that was wishful thinking. If her readings on him were
correct, then the type of power he wielded was not magic. Somehow, he
held a power within himself that mimicked the abilities that Linna was
demonstrating. This in itself was disturbing, given that when Bert lost
control of himself, he tended to go far over the edge.
She had to find out exactly what he was using so that, if
necessary, she could stop him or counter his actions.
***
For Hollister, the lateness of the hour was not wearing on him as
much as getting some straight, honest information about what the Jedi
were. Looking at the number of books that lined the desk, to various
information packets and 'director's cuts', he was surprised by how
remarkably inconsistent the information was. There were only a few
things that had been carried over between all of the films, books, and
other paraphernalia.
Of course, that did not really mean anything, since Bert had
managed to either change the molecular structure of his suit or...He
wasn't sure how, but now, more than ever, he wanted whatever technology
that...(very impolite word edited) had. His head went back a bit in
thought, and he looked once more at the arrangement of the energy
weapons that were attached to SkyKnight's forearm armour. He then
turned to a page in the reference manual on his desk and his eyes
narrowed. He had it! Proof of collusion by Bert and the Silver garbed
Knight Saber.
"The bastard is using Rebel technology!" he muttered to himself
excitedly. He then started comparing the films to film clips and other
details of the various Knight Sabers, and saw a pattern beginning to
form. He smiled to himself. SkyKnight had once been captured when they
had tried to acquire his suit and the obviously advanced systems
contained within. That effort had met with a disappointing failure.
However, if the technology was the same, then, perhaps the
weaknesses were as well...
***
Priss excused herself from the testing room, having completed her
own series and gotten both depressed and fearful of the impossible
things that she had been seeing. She shuddered unconsciously as she
looked down at her wrists. She could clearly see the metallic armbands
with the diamond tops, and yet, earlier in the week, she had asked a
friend in her band how her wrists looked, and he had commented that
nothing seemed to be wrong.
He could not see the armbands.
"Want some company?" Sylvie's voice came out of the darkness
behind her.
Turning, she looked at one of her best friends. Hell, more than a
friend. Besides Bert, Sylvie and Anri were the closet thing she had to
a real family. Priss and Sylvie complimented each other in many ways.
Since the two had virtually the same personality, although Sylvie tended
to think more while Priss rushed into things, everyone had started to
treat them as if they were twins. Not surprising really, as their
combat styles were very similar. In fact, if Sylvie hadn't decided to
take advantage of her enhanced weapons capabilities, they could even
wear each others hardsuits; Priss stubbornly refused to think of it as a
sexaroids super weapon interface.
"Not at the moment really." Priss said, attempting to smile.
Sylvie rolled her eyes, "Ssuurree. You just like disappearing in
the middle of a testing session. Why not admit your fears? You hate
the idea of magic."
"OF COURSE I HATE THE IDEA!" Priss suddenly screamed, losing
control of her emotions which were thinly held in check. "How would you
like your notion of reality turned upside down!?"
For the first time in a long time, Sylvie's eyes narrowed in
slight anger. "I _have_ had my world turned upside down, several times.
My ideas concerning my existence, my very being, tossed, turned, thrust
sideways, and more. _Anri_ and _I_ got used to that, so Bert and
Linna's new abilities do not surprise me as much. Given your past, they
shouldn't bother you much either. What's really eating you up inside,
Priss?"
Priss looked down at the ground and then across the devastated
area of the canyons. She couldn't look at Sylvie, not right now. "I'm
not really sure. DAMMIT!!" The singer looked at the ground again and
sighed, "I think I need a vacation."
Coming to a sudden decision, she turned and looked at Sylvie.
"Tell Anri that I'm sorry I missed her testing her new suit and that
I'll make it up next time." She ran back into the garage, grabbed her
helmet and started the _new_ motorcycle. "I'll call Sylia in the
morning, I just need to ride at the moment."
So saying, she took off before Sylvie could comment on her
behavior or even follow her.
Priss had to do that because she didn't want Sylia to start
testing her in the same manner she had Bert and Linna. She hadn't
mentioned it, but whenever Bert did anything with his new powers, she
felt it. Strangely, it didn't happen when Linna had done anything, and
Priss was worried that she was going crazy. The slight buzzing that she
had heard/felt for the past few weeks, since before Bert's adventure,
was getting more intense and that was what scared her.
That and the whispering voice that spoke to her during the day or
when she slept.
***
Quincy's face, as usual, was impassive as he absorbed the
information about the new type of DD's operating in other countries.
Although he would not show it, he was not pleased with what had happened
with that particular project. Billions of yen had gone into developing
that machine. On this subject, he had only one comment. "Attempt to
acquire one. A working one _without_ a pilot. If this proves
impossible, then buy the pilot along with the unit. Also check to see
about sales of sexaroids and if there have been any further
disappearances from Genaros. While the pilot in the one the Korean ADP
captured is human, I would not put it past these people to try to
acquire some of our property to resell to others. Now, the other matter
you wanted to see me about."
"Yes sir," Madigan responded, "It seems there was a disturbance a
few nights ago in one of the better parts of the city. Two boomers
attacked a couple. A young red-headed couple, the male being tall and
Caucasian and the female being a Japanese/Caucasian. While this
normally would not concern us, the report of the male using an energy
blade to destroy those boomers caught my attention."
Quincy sat up in his chair. There were very few people who had
access to that type of technology. One was obviously his company,
Genom. They had developed that blade specifically for the HeadHunter
9000 boomer.
Another was that annoying female Chief Inspector with the ADP.
Her family had the money and connections, as well as several top notch
research labs around the world. While they mostly concentrated on
environmental and other non-lethal concerns, Dynelex had once been known
to work on several government weaponry projects in their early years.
The final person who had such a weapon was SkyKnight, and if he
had boomers attacking him when he was not armoured, then he was
vulnerable. This could turn out to their advantage if they could find
this person. If this person WAS SkyKnight, and somehow Quincy knew it
was him, then they could find out who the Knight Sabers were.
He would finally have their heads as trophies.
Smiling to Madigan, the white haired business man issued an order
that might be the downfall of the Knight Sabers, "Find security and
surveillance video of that night for all micro-camera's in that area. I
want to know what he looks like, who he was with, and his style of
fighting."
***
Priss raced down the highway, trying to go faster and faster, to
push this new bike to its limit while numbing her mind to what could be
happening to her.
*Shit! What's happening to me? I don't want to go to a doctor,
not now. If it's a tumour I'd rather not know. If I can detect magic,
then why didn't I feel an increase in that buzz when Linna cast that
spell?*
As she passed the 220kph mark, a small red glow started to gather
around the bike. Too confused and worried to notice, the small fireball
that was contained within her bike caused several people following
behind her to veer off and call the highway patrol, thinking that her
engine was on fire and was going to explode.
"What the hell am I going to do?" she growled out loud, not quite
able to bring herself to admit that something was extremely wrong with
her. For several months now, she had been having a recurring head ache.
Nothing serious, and aspirin usually took care of it. She had convinced
herself that it was a migraine, something she would have to learn how to
live with. Then, about five weeks ago, she thought she was hearing this
sort of annoying low level buzz. She looked around, trying to find the
source of the sound and failing. She soon discovered that those sounds
were in her head, and that the noise created was both annoying and
soothing. At the time, she thought it might be an injury related to
when she was badly shot, and was now only manifesting itself. Still
nothing to really worry about.
It was during the concert just three weeks previously that she
heard someone whisper, "You already help to protect those closest to
you. Soon you will learn that this is only the beginning." She didn't
show it on stage, but it frightened her. It was a MALE voice that was
talking in her ear while she was singing a song at full volume with the
speakers blasting out at the audience. She should not have been able to
hear anything!
Priss was tempted to call a doctor at that point, but what for?
If she was going to die, there was no way that she wanted to live on an
IV flow and eventually become a vegetable in order to stay living. She
wanted to go out in battle, or singing. The two things that really got
her adrenaline flowing. No, it had been best if only she suspected
anything and to deal with the pain by herself.
That had changed in the past few days however.
Now, everytime Bert used his abilities, or made his hardsuit
appear and disappear, Priss heard his use of that power. What made it
worse for her was that she could detect some of his feelings, his
emotions, if she concentrated. While the brown haired singer could just
about second guess him every time, it was unnerving how much closer she
had become to him. It was almost as if they were linked in some manner.
Priss had found she was able to find him from where ever she happened to
be, and the kicker was that she somehow _knew_ exactly when he did
anything with his suits.
For the sake of her sanity, in the past couple of days Priss had
convinced herself that she was dying from a brain tumour, rather than
face the other possibility that stuck out at her.
That she herself could do magic.
Not, Priss finally admitted to herself, because magic defied the
Universe, but because she could not see ANYONE being able to handle such
power for long. She had already seen Bert freak out a couple of times
when he had none of these abilities, so how would he be now?
And, if Priss was magical, or had magical abilities, then could
she handle the responsibilities that it implied?
***
Leon had been relaxing, driving around the cities highways with
Daley, when the call about a motorcycle on fire came across the
dispatch. He recognized the description of the motorcycle, and became
instantly worried. What was wrong with Priss that she didn't notice
that her bike was on fire?
***
Everyone in the room was looking into the testing chamber where
Anri was in her recently upgraded hardsuit. Unlike the others, Anri's
suit was built as a stealth unit, designed mainly for
infiltration/communications with few, but powerful weapons. Given that
Anri had almost an aversion to fighting but still wanted to contribute
more than just as their field medic, Bert had designed the sleek, flat-
black suit to enable her to assist Nene.
With the new stealth equipment, the suit was virtually
undetectable. Sylia had managed to eliminate the tell-tale
electromagnetic signatures that were unique to all their suits.
Unfortunately, this presented some uncommon problems.
The first being that the superconductor skin on Anri's suit had to
be redesigned as a sheet instead of individual units.
The second being that her suit was more likely to overload and
give out em-spectrum pulses when hit by electricity.
It was also the most expensive suit in the Knight Sabers arsenal.
Looking at the console settings, Bert took perverse pride in his
design. Taking the base blueprint from the KnightHawk suit, KS6 had
improved mobility and enhanced flight capabilities. However, he had to
bow to Nene's knowledge when it had come to the suitžs computers. it
was probably the most advanced system that they had ever put into the
suits.
Anri had become the Sabers ace-in-the-hole.
"How does the new suit feel, Anri?" Sylia asked as she looked at
the incoming data.
In the suit, Anri smiled. It was a dream to handle, and responded
to her slightest whim. The new interface helmet that Nene had designed
to enable her to better communicate with the suitžs computers allowed
her to think most of the commands necessary for her part in Knight Saber
operations. "It's great! The movement is smooth and comfortable, and
the new inner helmet is very comfortable. I don't think that I'm going
to have any trouble with it in the field."
Sylia smiled softly at the young girl who was finally coming out
of her shell and regaining her confidence.
***
As upset as Priss was, she was still an expert rider. Weaving in
and out of traffic, she headed towards the outskirts of town, and
towards a long, straight stretch of highway where she would see what
this machine could really do.
That was when THP sirens reached her ears.
*SHIT!* she thought. *All I need to happen is to have the cops
impound my bike tonight. Uh-uh, I'm out of here.*
Her bike started to race down the highway, the red fireball
increasing slightly in size as it gathered the excess heat from her
engine.
***
A figure wearing a dark cowled robe looked on from a distance at
the speeding figure. Quietly, he reflected that although she might not
have been the best choice, she did have a lot of potential. Smiling
slightly, he wondered if it had been right for him to have advanced her
abilities without her knowledge or consent. No matter, it had been
done, and now she was ready to begin making use of the Force.
It was time to extricate her from this slight mess and fully
introduce himself.
He wondered how the other two were making out with their
students...
***
The bike Twister had made for Priss, one that was almost an exact
duplicate of the motorcycle that he had built in another world, except
for the safety features that a non-psionist would need to handle the
capabilities, was a lot faster than her old one. She had already
managed to push it up to 350 kph and the gauge was still rising.
She was enjoying herself immensely.
Grinning under the helmet, she thought to herself. *Well, I wonder
where my playmates went? Too bad they can't keep up. I bet they wish
they had a proper vehicle.*
What she had forgotten is that THP and ADP tried to make high
speed chases a thing of the past, and, although it did happen on
occasion, they tended to use the onboard communications systems to make
things easier on them.
She looked behind herself when she noticed that the sirens had stopped,
and saw that THP had apparently given up.
Goddess! That felt great! The bike was allowing her to outrun
the police with ease, and it handled as well at the higher speeds as it
did at the lower speeds. Magic did have a use after all.
Turning around, Priss saw the reason that the cars had stopped
chasing her. Not three blocks ahead was a roadblock, something that she
had _not_ expected, and at the speed she was currently going, 375 kph,
there was no way that she would be able to slow down in time.
She had to attempt it anyway.
As she was about to start braking, she _felt_ a hand on her
shoulder and a _voice_ right in her ear. "Keep going. Tell yourself
that you will be able to make it and you will. Concentrate. Tell
yourself that there is a ramp in front of you that will enable you to
jump those vehicles.*
"WHAT THE HELL!" Priss shouted, just about to lose control until
the hand that held her shoulder _firmed_.
"CONCENTRATE! Now tell yourself there _is_ a ramp."
Now down to less than a block, Priss obeyed the voice.
***
The police manning the barricades couldn't believe it. Whoever the
cyclist was, she wasn't slowing down. In fact, she seemed to be gaining
some speed. Several people started to run or duck out of the way,
afraid both of the craziness of the rider and the fireball that they
were sure was going to cause the bikežs explosion.
That was when she rose into the air and leaped over all of them.
Leon had just turned in behind the cars when this happened.
"SHIT!" he exclaimed out loud, looking out the window at the glowing
fireball that surrounded the bike. He had already figured out that if
that was a normal fireball, then the bike would have exploded by now.
What was getting to him was the fact that the bike was in a perfectly
controlled flight.
When the bike landed, some 500 metres away, Daley commented on the
odds of the person seated on the bike being a boomer.
Leon was just pondering what was happening. *First Bert with some
sort of energy field that I saw surround him the other night, now Priss
with her motorcycle. What is going on with those two?* He wondered if
it had something to do with the Knight Sabers. The problem was, if it
did, that meant that Priss was a Knight Saber as well.
***
As soon as Priss was far enough away, she noticed the fireball.
"Oh hell! This thingžs going to explode!" She shouted behind
her, "Get ready to jump, OK?"
The hand firmed on her shoulder once more. "No need. Slow down,
the fireball will dissipate as the energy is used up. Slow down and
drive someplace both private and quiet. We need to talk."
Priss snorted at that. "Yeah, I'll say we do. You come out of
_nowhere_ and end up behind me on my bike. I want to know..."
Her voice trailed off as she realized something, "Bloody...It was
your voice that I heard on stage!"
"This is true." the figure said, his face hidden behind the hood
of his robes. "However, you can hear me because of who and what you
are. As Bert can hear Master Yoda, you can hear me."
"Who the hell are you?" Priss asked as she stopped the bike, got
off, and looked at the figure.
The figure reached up for his hood and as he pulled it back, said,
"You can call me Master Skywalker."
Priss did the only thing she thought sane at that moment.
She fainted.
THREE DAYS LATER...
For the life of an ADP officer, everything ran according to a set
routine. Get up in the morning, get to work, fill out a report, answer
a call, fill out a report, get lunch, fill out a report, etc. Upstairs
was always wanting report after report after report.
Most of which added up to a mound of manure for all the 'help,
resources, and support' that was promised but never given.
As Chief Inspector Ichinohei sat at her desk, downing her first
(at least at work) cup of coffee, she went over that paperwork, wishing
there was some way for it to just vanish. As usual, she was making
notes, comments, and a list of requested material which she knew would
never be looked at, ordered, or filled. The political machine just
refused to admit what was going on, what had been happening to this city
since the Kanto earthquake. With the exception of a few individuals,
such as the Emperor, the entire political machine, the machine that had
kept Japan moving and growing for nearly 75 years, had turned a blind
eye to the death and destruction that was happening.
Learning back and rubbing her eyes, she noted that she had drained
her coffee again, something that was happening more and more frequently,
to the point where people had given her a 'cup appropriate to last you
five minutes'. Said cup was one of the novelty store types that was as
big as a punch bowl and kept hung up on one wall.
*Amaterasu protect me. I'm getting worse.* she thought to
herself as she reached behind her for the carafe pot that contained her
unusually strong blend of coffee. *It used to be that a cup of coffee
would last me twenty minutes or so. Now I can't even remember drinking
it.*
Looking at the coffee she just poured herself, she wondered how in
the world she managed to get through each day, each hour without going
crazy. It wasn't just the paperwork which, goddess above, seemed to
increase with each passing day, but that no one seemed to care that the
Advanced Police were getting the shit kicked out of them. People, PEOPLE
under her command were dying, and they were not a set of damn
statistics, as some of the people referred to them. Each and everyone
of those officers had a name, a family they were a part of, and she was
the one who had to put on the stern, seemingly uncaring attitude to keep
the department running.
Her memories went back to some of the first lessons that she and
Oneiko had been taught, especially the one lesson that had come to
define her life, "The true test of command is being able to track of all
the small details. Despite what they may look like at the time,
ignorance of them will cause your defeat."
She brought up a list that no one knew was stored on her computer.
When she had first started to rise in the ranks, she had bought an old
WORM drive, circa 1998. It was an oddity and a rarity, since everyone
tended to use either magneto-opticals or data-blocks. She had installed
the worm on her machine, and added the name, the personžs record and
history, and most importantly the age of every person who was in some
way injured under her command. It was a record of the people who she
considered society's true heroes.
People who had given their lives to pursue the course of
protecting innocents without going outside the law.
*There are definitely times that I envy the Knight Sabers,* Hitomi
thought to herself. *Despite the fact that they are mercenaries, they
can at least take their frustrations out on something, somebody.*
"I think I should have listened to Oneechan and gone into the
family business," she muttered to herself.
***
Bert sighed as he looked over the list of 'things to do' that Anri
had left on his desk. When he had hired her on as one of the clubžs
managers, he hadn't expected her to be so efficient. At first, it was
as a gesture of friendship, not to mention the fact that if he hadn't
offered the job to Anri, Priss would have rammed her autocannon down his
throat. Besides, he could keep an eye on her and make sure that she was
relatively safe, as she still had some flashbacks to when she was raped.
Once a week, he came to regret that impulsive decision, since Anri
_always_, without fail, brought him a list of things that needed to be
fixed up, ordered, replaced, repaired, or what not. It also seemed like
that list was getting bigger every week.
Not for the first time, he wondered if listening to everyone and
starting his own business was the best idea. Oh, it provided an
excellent cover, no doubt about that, especially since they had a custom
sports shop that made equipment to the useržs specifications. No one
had yet questioned how much material entered the building and never left
it, at least not by the usual route. Also, being situated in one of the
more affluent neighborhoods, no one actually expected his place to be
hiding anything.
The one advantage of the place was that he had been able to build
a complex that he had in mind, one that combined elements from the
Sabers base with elements of various anime, manga, and movies. Below
the main complex, which included a double basement, was his private
sanctum, a place where he could relax and get away from it all while
still pursuing his researches.
He leaned back in his chair, smiling as his mind drifted over the
four story lair that he had created. If Sylia ever saw the full extent
of his 'little' shop, she would probably strangle him at first
opportunity. Of course, he still had to tell two other people about the
complex.
Since Nene was at work, he decided to start with Priss, who, of
course, would come with Sylvie. Well, why not. The Sabers were the
only family he had in this time period, and he really had nothing to
hide from them, at least not for long. Of course, seeing the look of
surprise on their faces at some of the things he came up with was fun.
Taking a big gulp of his tea, he open a comm channel to Priss's
apartment. Surprisingly, he got her machine. Given the fact that she
was never an early riser, as a matter of fact she thought of noon as
being 'Still way too early', he was surprised. In fact, he hadn't seen
her since they ran the tests three days ago. He decided to try the new
communications system.
Touching the Sabers, he said, "Priss."
He waited for about thirty seconds before a slightly perspiring
brown-haired face answered his call. "What is it Bert?"
Bert was a bit surprised and did his best to cover it. "I just
wanted to know if you would like a tour of my new lair."
"New lair? You mean you built another lab?"
"Yep! It's situated under the club. I thought you might like to
see it and give me some input on what it still needs."
Priss's image look chagrined for a moment, and she said, "I'm on a
_vacation_ at the moment. I'll take a look at it when I get back into
the city."
"Wait a second, you're not even in the city?"
"Nope! I needed to get away for a while. I should be back in
about a week or so. Don't worry, I'll keep in touch."
The communications faded as Bert wondered what could get Priss to
take a non-enforced vacation.
***
Hollister wondered what Doc wanted.
After showing him his discoveries about the Knight Sabers and
SkyKnight, Ikagawashii face had grown thoughtful, and, curiously,
suspicious. He had then told the blond haired man that he wanted to
examine all possible pictures and files about the Knight Sabers in order
to get a good idea what was going on. As if it wasn't obvious enough
that the silver garbed Knight Saber was the test subject for all the new
technologies and devices before it was incorporated into the other
hardsuits.
Knowing the laser array system was at first part of an X-Wing
fighter, Hollister started to see that most of the items that SkyKnight
first used were from the Star Wars sagas and therefore from Bert. He
was selling or giving his technology to these people, of which SkyKnight
embodied the ideals the Jedi were supposed to uphold. It was very
possible that these parts came ready made, to be added to the hardsuits
at a given time. It would also mean that Bert had access to a
laboratory or shop somewhere that was not noticeable, but near enough
for him to get to when needed. The Club, which had been a probability,
was dismissed as being much too ironic to be possibly used for such a
purpose. It gave too good a cover for whatever meetings he had with his
friends. They needed to get some scanning devices into that place as
soon as possible.
Doc chose that moment to walk in, not bothering with knocking, and
closed the door behind him. "We might have a way of getting hold of
SkyKnight's technology, if you are willing to play a gambit."
"What do you mean?" Hollister asked.
"I mean that there have been at least three different SkyKnights,
and I think at least two of the blue Knight Sabers." The white haired
scientist smiled as Hollister's jaw dropped open. "First, the person
originally known as SkyKnight was known to assist the police as often as
possible. He was badly hurt, possibly killed, in a battle with
Dobermans from which his body was dragged away. The second SkyKnight
emulated the first, but at times acted as if he did not know how to
control his suit properly. He overcame that and it is suspected that a
Leftenant Natasha Rutherford was responsible for assisting him while
losing her own life in the process. This was also the first time that
those lightsabers were seen in public, during a battle with a new type
of boomer, which also had such an attachment by all accounts. SkyKnight
then disappeared for a while, and the first time he reappeared, he
attacked members of the ADP, which his predecessors failed to do."
"From this, several conclusions can be reached. The first
SkyKnight was someone they had just recruited into the ranks of the
Knight Sabers. A person who was idealistic and naive. When he died or
retired, they replaced him with a person who had similar ideals, but was
more used to controlling a suit of powered armour. It is also probable
that he was a member of an armoured battalion, which is why Natasha
Rutherford was on the scene with a new type of battle armour. The
latest SkyKnight appeared after the attack on our base. SkyKnight was
not seen for a while, so I would assume that the second one was killed
when you blew up the base."
Doc smiled as he saw Hollister get the idea.
"We see if we can get one of our people recruited as a possible
replacement."
Hollister loved the idea.
***
Priss wiped the side of her face, tired after several hours of
facing off against the laser drone that she had built under the tutelage
of Master Skywalker. She grinned. Bert would have been very surprised
to learn that she had spent the last few days repairing and refurbishing
his old place in the suburbs. He would be even more surprised to learn
that she had accessed his lab and managed to build a drone for her
practice with her lightsaber. While it didn't use an anti-grav unit, it
did use a series of directional air cylinders to enable it to move.
Of course, the reason she was out here was because she needed a
relatively quiet place in which to practice and absorb the lessons that
she would need in order to back up and take care of Bert.
Being an extremely stubborn person, a trait she shared with Sylvie
and Bert, it had taken several hours, and a lot of explanations by
Master Skywalker to convince her that she wasn't crazy. She still was
overwhelmed that she had natural abilities in a subject that she hadn't
believed possible a week ago. As she had no choice, Priss adjusted to
the concepts fast and was doing her best to learn about how to
manipulate the energy field that surrounded her.
Of course, there was some free time, and Master Skywalker, Luke,
had taken the time to explain the true reason why emotions, especially
anger, were the temptation that led to the Dark Side.
As Priss understood it, the Dark Side of the Force was not so much
evil in itself as loss of ethics and morality due to the sudden
overwhelming increase in power that anger allowed. Such an increase in
raw power, if one was unready, caused a high, a feeling of incredible
strength that one would refuse to back away from. For some, this caused
a type of insanity that led to the person accessing this power all the
time for the sheer joy of feeling the flow. For others, this caused an
unparalleled feeling of despair at what they had done. In either case,
it became hard, if not impossible, to bring them back over the edge to
sanity.
It was a danger they all faced.
Of course, Luke had also explained that she and Bert were supposed
to become the first Jedi of this universe. Unfortunately, that would
mean that some would consider them crazy, as they talked to people who
seemingly were not there. He had also explained that there were four
other people with the potential to become Jedi, but that it would have
to wait to be revealed.
It seemed the schedule to which the Jedi Masters had been working
to had to be accelerated due to Bertžs unexpected trip to another
universe. Due to his friendžs burst of raw power, combined with
a...being...who had embued him with said power, he had gained an extreme
ability in the Force. This had necessitated Yoda having to train him in
a special way while trying to reduce the amount of power he had
available to him. Bert didn't know it yet, but his entire molecular
structure had been slightly altered to accommodate this increase in
abilities.
Unfortunately, Bert had already touched the Dark Side once, and
had been lucky to be pulled back to the light. For him, the temptation
of the Dark Side would be greater than for any other potential Jedi. If
he ever gave into his emotions so much that he wanted, needed, the
power, then he would become one of the greatest of the Dark Jedi.
For better or worse, Priss had to become competent in all the
abilities of the Force, learning more than Bert had initially so that
she could be the ultimate safeguard. She could become angry, have any
other emotion that a ordinary human had, she just had to learn _not_ to
pull for more power than she was ready for. Of course, the brown haired
singer had asked why she had been chosen for this gift.
The answers she received both surprised and scared her.
***
Madigan looked over the pictures that had been retrieved from the
one operational security camera in that area. What it showed looked
more like a test for a new type of combat boomer with visual distortion
capabilities. Despite her first assumption, this could not be SkyKnight.
It might, however, belong to the underground organization that was
competing with Genom in advanced weapons.
The pictures, taken approximately two seconds apart, showed a
young man and woman being approached by two people. Before they could
properly approach or attack, the male had already sent the female out of
the way. The next picture showed him avoiding a punch by one of the two
persons. Up to this point, it seemed like a simple snatch or kidnapping
attempt.
It was the pictures that followed that were the most revealing.
By the next picture, the male's attire had completely changed, and
the bladed energy weapon was in hand. The male saluted while activating
it. The next picture showed an the male high in the air, approximately
four metres above the ground. The fighting style as nothing like
SkyKnightžs. While SkyKnight tended to go in fighting, usually using
western boxing techniques with a little bit of martial arts, this male
used martial arts combined with an odd type of fencing technique.
What was most interesting was the laser blast being deflected by
the energy blade. Until this time, it had only been theoretical that
laser energy could be countered or deflected in this manner, and nothing
that small. In terms of electromagnetics, only something the size of a
space station should have had the energy to create the necessary
gravimetric field.
For a energy sword to do this meant a totally unknown technology.
As Madigan leaned back in her chair, she pondered what this could
mean. A boomer that could do this would make any of Genom's obsolete,
and that would mean a huge reversal of fortune for the company. Quincy
had to be told of these conclusions immediately, as well as view the
photos and other deduced information.
*The chairman is not going to like this.* she thought as she left
her office.
***
Although it was still early in the morning, Nene's day had been
very busy. By this time, everyone in the ADP had heard of her
engagement and was offering congratulations, even the Chief. It was
kind of ironic about her however, given that she was the dark-armoured
police person who was always trying to bring in the Knight Sabers.
If Chief Ichinohei ever knew that she was congratulating two of
the people she was trying to bring to face the law, she would have a
fit.
So far, all of her friends had given her all sorts of engagement
gifts, and some of them were quite naughty. Given how Bert reacted to
certain things and how old fashioned he was, she was sure that they
would make him blush more than she did when she had opened them up.
While she suspected that Bert's proposal had been somewhat of a surprise
to him as well, especially once she had time to think about it, Nene was
determined that she would not let him off the hook. She had been waiting
far too long for this.
*It'll be spring in about five months. A late February marriage
would be good, perhaps even up to mid March.* she thought,
contemplating a possible marriage date. One of the good things was that
she was now of legal age, both in fact as well as on paper. *It's a
good thing I'm so good at computers or I would have never have met
Bert.*
Naoko tapped her on the shoulder, "Would you stop looking at your
engagement ring?" She giggled, "If you're this distracted now, I wonder
what it will be like after your honeymoon?" Naoko giggled even more at
Nene's bright red blush.
***
Quincy was looking over the information which Madigan had put
together. He was disappointed that this person could not be SkyKnight,
but from the looks of things, some new type of combat boomer. It was
doubtful that the energy sword could have had the effect it had, so that
meant that the boomer had to have an extremely powerful em field. How
it had operated without blowing out all the systems in the boomer, and
the electronics in the surrounding area, was well beyond him.
"Is there someone who knows boomers that we could get to work on
this little problem?" he said as he poured over the pictures. "Someone
who could be innovative enough to know how this type of boomer might
even operate?"
Madigan had been awaiting this question with some dread. As it
turned out, she had researched the numerous people who had any
connection to boomers or boomer research and she kept coming back to one
person who might be able to shed some light on this. Unfortunately, she
was unsure how that person might react to the company asking for help.
"There is one person sir," she began, "unfortunately, she might
not be willing to cooperate with us."
"Why would that be Madigan?"
"Because the person is Sylia Stingray. The daughter of the man
who created boomer technology. She might be able to shed light on this
new boomer, but somehow I do not believe she would be willing to co-
operate."
Quincy sat back in his seat, "Not surprising really. Come to think
of it, why haven't we heard her name before in connection with boomers?"
Madigan looked down at a file she carried, "Well sir, she did
receive a couple of doctorates degrees, but has treated them as though
they were hobbies, which they might well have been. She owns several
companies outright, through her inheritance, and has bought a couple
more. While these are technology companies, she does not concern
herself with the day to day running of their operations, only checking
in once in a while. As for testing the prototypes that these companies
came out with, she has done so only when the company absolutely insisted
that she test them out. So far, she's been satisfied to run a lingerie
shop here in the city."
"Nothing else?" Somehow this struck Quincy as unusual. In his
day, the Stingrays had never been far from vocal or completely involved
in the sciences. He supposed that the girl was not as dedicated as her
father had been. No. He would not involve her as it sounded as though
she would have no idea what to do in a laboratory.
"Nothing else sir," was his purple-haired protegežs reply, "her
brother is studying robotics and mechanics in Germany however, and has
been rated as a genius by his professors. He may not be able to help as
of yet, but we might consider recruiting him for future purposes."
The white haired executive grunted. "Do so. In the meantime find
somebody who may be able to describe this boomeržs operation."
Madigan answered in the affirmative as he continued to go over all
the pictures available from that camera. One picture caught his eye,
and he started to contemplate it. The face of the person that came out
of the alley as the test boomer and the woman left was very familiar.
He rang Madiganžs secretary to get her back to his office. As he
did so, he had some unpleasant thoughts about the face he had seen.
"Well Inspector," the old man said to himself, "besides any information
you may have on the Knight Sabers, what can you tell us about this
particular boomer?"
FIVE DAYS LATER...
SkyKnight hit the pavement hard and struggled to roll over quickly
before one of the two boomers shot at him again. *Damn it! Where are
the things coming from?* he thought as he quick-aimed the particle
lasers on his left arm at one of the boomers. "Sylia, I'm facing off
against another two of the damn things, how are you guys doing?"
"Not so well," was her terse reply. "I'm having trouble hitting
the ones I'm facing. They're not fighting like normal boomers, but are
keeping under cover. The others are having the same trouble."
"Well, mine are bloody well coming after me. So far I've
scratched five, but they still keep coming. Mine are not fighting from
cover however."
"Everybody, I've registered three more appearing in the area.
This thing's obviously a trap."
"Acknowledged, Nene." Sylvie replied, "Who do you think set it?"
"Doesn't matter. We'll figure it out later. Nene. Anri. Get as
many sensor readings as you can and if possible scan a few of the
disabled boomers."
"Roger, Saber Prime." the two girls quickly answered.
Up to this point, the battle had been fairly uneven, with about a
dozen updated C series combat boomers. They had managed to responded
quickly the police report of three of the machines on a rampage in the
cityžs main shopping district, but not in time to stop a lot of death.
The area had the slightly sickening rust smell that drying blood
creates.
SkyKnight hardly reached his knees when he was hit from behind by
an energy burst, tossing him forward onto his face. *Oh shit!" he
thought as he saw a couple of the C-17D about ready to fire whatever
weapons were in their chest cavities. The silver garbed Knight Saber
thought he had had it, and was desperately rolling towards his left,
when he saw a metallic gleam streak out and strike one of the machines
from behind. Without time to worry about that, his multi-launcher
locked into placed and fired four specially designed railgun bolts.
Unlike his regular explosive ones, these were designed with a sticky
surface, much like super glue. The C-17 series had a habit of catching
the bolts in mid-air and tossing them back at the gunner, and the one
behind him was no different. He ended up blowing off the arms of the
boomer, and was able to rush in and finish it off with his lightsaber.
SkyKnight turned in time to see a figure in black and silver
armour about to get creamed from behind by a boomer, and shouted, "GET
DOWN CHIEF!" before firing a fulisade from the particle lasers. It
helped. Chief Ichinohei, the person inside the suit, was able to turn
around and quickly finish off that boomer.
Anri's voice came over the speaker, "The other boomers are
disappearing from the scopes. I'm going to make a pick-up run. Stand
by."
Grinning for the first time that night, Bert said, "I'll be up in
a little while. I've got an old friend waiting for me."
Sylia's voice was stiff with sudden disapproval, "Bert, leave her
alone."
"Awww, and miss all the fun? Come on, she at least deserves a
chance at me."
Obviously frustrated, Sylia replied, "Make it quick ok? Our energy
reserves are low and, since she just showed up, the Chief Inspector
might end up taking you in."
"Don't worry about me, Sylia. I've got quite a bit of power
left." he chuckled, "Trust me, I know what I'm doing."
The figure in black started towards SkyKnight, "Hold it mercenary.
You're under arrest."
The silver and blue suit bowed to her, "Ah, Chief Inspector. So
good to see you again. I trust you have been well?"
"Forget the pleasantries bastard. No more kids gloves. I'm taking
you in tonight, and I'm going to get a hell of a lot of answers out of
you." Hitomi's voice had an unusually cold tone to it, unlike the other
times that she had confronted him. "You've got a lot to answer for, and
I'm going to find out what you did to one of my officers!"
Before Bert could figure out what she meant, the Chief had quickly
closed the intervening space and, using a power assisted turn, tossed
him over his shoulders and onto his back. "YOWW! That hurt!"
"It's going to hurt more unless you tell me where you've hidden
McNichol." she said as she grabbed the front of his suit, raising his
helmet up so that the eyeslots on his visor were close to her visored
face, "Where the hell did you stash him after your meeting yesterday."
Bert broke her hold. "What the hell are you talking about? I
haven't seen McNichol since the last boomer incident we were both at!"
For the first time, the black and silver suit hesitated. Then she
did what she had never done before when facing him. She pulled her
lightsaber off the belt attachment on her armour and turned it on. "I
don't believe you. He got a message with your armoured voice telling
him to meet him at some secret rendezvous he didn't tell me about, and
then disappeared. I want him back, and I'm not going to stop until I
get him."
SkyKnight barely had time to activate one of his own lightsabers
to stop her attack and quickly backed away, activating his flight
system.
As he rose to the roof tops, he heard, "Not this time, you
shitheaded mercenary!" and felt something grab his legs. Looking down,
he was surprised to see that Hitomi had grabbed him, and was somehow
managing to pull him back down. He grabbed one of her arms and pulled
her up, "Look, I don't know where McNichol is, but I'll try to find him.
Ok?"
She snarled, "Not this time!" and slapped her free hand against
his chest.
Bert screamed suddenly in indescribable agony.
***
Priss' head suddenly exploded in agony. She had been practicing a
balancing and levitation exercise, using a balance beam set three inches
above the ground, when and incredible surge of pain reached her. Her
last thought before passing out was that something had happened to Bert.
***
On the rooftop they had fallen to, the Chief Inspector deactivated
her suit, turning it into ordinary looking street clothes. "I've
finally got you, you bastard." She muttered as she looked at her prize.
Reaching down she tried to pry open the visor, but couldn't do so.
"Locked eh? Not for long buddy." Hitomi reached for her radio while
she spoke into her helmet mike. "Elder sister? ADP will be shipping
you a package to open. It turned out he's vulnerable to an EMP."
***
"Damn it! Where is he?" Sylia grated as she paced back and forth
in the small space available in the KnightWing. "He should have been
here by now."
Sylvie smiled, "Knowing Bert, he's probably tormenting the Chief
Inspector with his bad jokes and puns."
The white armoured leader of the Knight Sabers growled as Linna
started to giggle at that comment. "He could at least have a little
consideration for her. It's the first time I've ever seen him go out of
his way to bother a police officer. I still don't understand why he
does it, or why she hasn't taken sterner measures."
Nene was monitoring the police bands, hiding a small smile. She
knew that to the two of them, this was a competition to see who was the
better warrior, the better protector. The two of them had never talked
about it much, but she knew that Bert respected...She gasped as she
heard the news coming over the police band, "Sylia, I think you better
hear this."
Sylia came over and started to swear loudly when she heard the
various people chattering over the bandwidth. "I hope the three of you
had a chance to recharge your suits because it looks like we have to
rescue him. Somehow, the Chief has managed to knock him unconscious."
Linna and Sylvie stopped laughing as Sylia took over the controls
to the highly sophisticated stealth jump-jet. Anri went through her
suit's diagnostics and pulled up her onboard copy of Bert's medical
profile. Given Bert's tendencies to get hurt, she replaced the normal
emergency field pack with the larger and more complete operative
procedures field pack.
***
"Do you think he actually knows where Leon is, Chief?" Daley
asked, a little nervous given the anger that Hitomi had been displaying.
"I mean, it's completely unlike what we know of him."
"And what exactly do we know about him? He's a mercenary, he uses
illegal weapons, he is egotistical, and he loves to fight. SkyKnight
also breaks a lot of flight laws and regulations. He's a danger to both
our air support and to the hypersonics arriving everyday, especially
with that damned riding jet he uses."
"But Chief, he usually helps us out of trouble with the boomers,
and he's always rushed people to hospital as best he could. Couldn't we
just wake him up and ask him nicely if he would help find Leon?"
The Chief looked at Daley. Of all the people on the force, she
would have suspected him of being more anxious than her to find the
missing officer. Given her sister's particular preferences, and the
people she had met in university, Hitomi wasn't blind to the infatuation
that Daley had on Leon. Usually the department frowned upon this, and
reasigned any officer who had an infatuation with their partner. In
this case, Inspector Ichinohei had never seen the point in doing so, as
the two were her finest investigative team. Besides, Leon didn't know
about it, or if he did, he wasn't letting on. As far as she could tell,
Leon only thought of Daley and himself as good friends. "We'll find
McNichol, and when we do, it will be without the help of
this...this...It will be without his help."
Daley shook his head as a specially secured transport truck came
up to take the silver garbed Knight Saber away to some company.
***
Sylia was looking down from above, about to order the others into
action, when she noticed the person who had gotten out of the truck and
greeted Inspector Ichinohei. She enhanced her visuals and took a good
look at the person. She was slightly taller than the Chief, with short
black hair and a very cold, calculating demeanor and look. "Ok, back to
the KnightWing. We're going back to home."
The three women who had been about to leap down on the police
turned to look at their leader. Nene was the first of them to voice her
concerns, "WHY! Bert's been captured, and once they get the armour off
of him, they'll be able to find the rest of us."
Sylia voice was calm as she replied, "Bert will be fine. He'll
also be released when he wakes up, without his suit having been
examined." She walked to the entry ramp of the KnightWing without
further comment.
***
"It seems that you have finally been successful in capturing him,
Hitomi." the black haired girl stated.
Hitomi grinned suddenly, "It seems I have, and without resorting
to illegal tactics either."
"True, but illegal means have their places too. Remember,
authority is not always right."
"Perhaps, but then again, defiance without just cause is always
hurtful to the innocent."
There was a distinct chuckle coming from the woman as the officers
loaded the very still Knight Saber into the back of the van. "Well,
getting him out of that will be a nice puzzle to solve. I like the
design."
Hitomi sighed. It was going to be one of those days...
***
Priss awoke slowly, not feeling all that good, and wondering what
she was doing sleeping outside. She suddenly remembered what had
happened and sat up quickly.
Big mistake.
What had been a small pain exploded behind her eyes and she
collapsed again. "Goddess' above, what a headache!" She got up more
slowly this time, mindful of her head and went to the kitchen. If she
was still feeling this amount of pain, then Bert was in BIG trouble.
Whatever had taken him out had to have hurt him like hell. She had to
find him quickly.
"I would suggest you wait, although I doubt you'll listen to me."
Luke's voice said.
Priss turned, "No, I'm not going to wait is right. Besides, I seem
to remember you doing something similar once upon a time."
"True. Before you leave, however, how about the two of us having
some hot chocolate." He said, guiding her towards the table. "I'll make
some while you take a painkiller. Your head must be flashing more than
mine is."
"Wait a second," she looked carefully at the Jedi Master, "you
felt that?"
"Of course I felt it Priss. It was quite a tremour that Bert
caused in the Force. With the possible exception of one person, and she
was not really a Jedi, he has the strongest force potential ever
recorded."
She watched him puttering around the kitchen for a while as he
gathered up the various ingredients to make what was his favourite
drink. "You know, I just thought of something. Why is it, if you're an
insubstantial ghost to most people, you can eat, drink, move objects
around, and need to sleep?"
Luke looked back at her from where he was slowly melting the
chocolate in the pot, "Because I never really died." Seeing the look of
confusion on her face, he continued, "Normally, what I'm about to tell
you is kept away from young Jedi. What people think is that a Jedi
surrenders himself to the force when the inevitable end comes. The
truth both simpler and more complex than that. You see, what happens is
that a Jedi becomes one with the Force."
He poured in the heavy cream and sugar, stirring the liquid with a
practiced hand. "Before you ask what I mean, let's start with what the
Force is. The energy fields that we refer to as 'The Force' are not
only psionics, although that is a large part of it, and it isn't magic,
although that is involved as well. The Force is really an amalgamation
of both of these fundamental energies that form all universes."
"You told me this." Priss stated calmly, "But that still doesn't
explain how you can say that you're not dead when, according to you, you
died several centuries ago."
"True." Luke replied as he poured the steaming brown liquid into
two mugs. "What I neglected to mention is that it is also the life-
force of an individual that is the unsaid equation in what the Force
really is." He brought the cups over to the table and gave one to
Priss, "The life force actually passes from one dimension to another,
and is bound up with anti-life, or death. At some point, these two
forces cancel out each other and that is where I actually am. In a way
I'm both dead and alive, in another I don't really exist."
Priss sipped slowly, "Is that what will happen to me?"
Luke smiled in an innocent looking manner, "Someday perhaps."
***
Sylia seemed calm, cool, and collected when she picked up the
phone to call a certain individual. It had been a while since they last
saw each other, but there were bonds between them quite beyond that of
an ordinary Sempai and student. Given what she had been thought by the
slightly older woman, and the introductions that had resulted, she knew
that she could trust this person with more than her life.
"Hello," a voice answered, "Who's there?"
"It's me, Sempai. I need to ask a favour of you concerning a
situation you are working with."
"What particular situation is that?"
"It concerns a silvered companion of mine, and what I need him
for."
"You mean he's yours? I didn't realize that you had that kind of
a connection."
"Could you release him without getting in trouble with the ADP?"
"I can arrange it. Hitomi's not going to be happy about this,
especially since she thinks he's hiding one of her officers. A Leon
McNichol."
"The Chief Inspector is not happy with many things, and I can
assure you he has not hidden her officer. If anything, he would be glad
to help find him."
"I'll find a way to release him, and inform my sister that he
escaped. I will call you with any information you may need."
"I didn't know she was your sister."
"She has changed a bit since University, Sylia. I am surprised
that you didn't recognize her."
"So am I. If you have need, please call."
"I will."
***
Things were not going well for Leon.
First, there was the phony call from 'SkyKnight', who had
requested a meeting with him. This was somewhat unusual, enough to
pique his interest as it had never occurred before. While SkyKnight was
not very forthcoming on a lot of subjects, he could usually take care of
himself. He also did not need to ask Leon for information since Nene
could access whatever he required quickly and quietly. This had been
enough to kindle his suspicions.
He had prepared for this meeting by first visiting the medical
section of the building and getting one of the emergency kits stored
there. Although hardly ever used, there was a section in Medical that
had to do with the intelligence gathering branch of the ADP. The kit he
had taken was concerned with truth drugs and serums, and ways to prevent
them from working.
Like all other police services in Japan, the ADP had 'expanded'
sections that handled what would be normal for military intelligence
services and spy organizations in other countries. While this could not
be handled under the constitution in a normal form, it could be handled
under the heading of 'police investigative procedures.' This was one
of the reasons that most of the police forces in Japan had such a high
conviction rate. The arrests were assisted with intelligence
information that was not available to other police services around the
world.
Right now, the dose that he took had been enough to prevent the
people who had grabbed him from finding out anything about the Knight
Sabers or the 'boomer', as they were calling Bert.
Sick to his stomach, he was continuing to act as though the
answers to the questions they were asking him were true, and that the
various drugs that they had pumped into his system were working. He
knew that he couldn't keep this up forever, and that the limit of the
anti-toxin that he had taken would wear off in a few hours, but if they
believed him, his city would be safe. He had to hold on as long as he
could.
He had to hope they didn't learn differently.
***
A figure wrapped in a brown flowing cloak looked over the small
complex of buildings that formed the Dynelex Laboratory complex. If
anyone had observed her from where she had secreted herself, they would
have said that she was impressed with the structures, given the look of
concentration on the youngish face. They would have been wrong.
As Priss turned her attention from area to area within the
complex, having already used her senses to find the general area where
Bert was being held, she tried to feel the presence of the various
lifeforms within the buildings. Something was wrong with what she was
detecting however, although she couldn't quite figure out what it was.
Not that it mattered. If anything went wrong, Priss would simply evade
or destroy it. Destroy being the operative word.
Going towards the scientific complex, she leapt over the outside
fence easily; her skills with basic levitation having given her enough
control to do this. Keeping to the shadows as she had been thought with
her time in the Knight Sabers, she quickly headed to one of the
buildings situated near the centre of the area. So far she hadnžt been
detected, but she still felt something was wrong. It was as if there
was something missing, something important.
Looking up, she rose quickly to the roof, using her powers to help
stabilize her as she climbed. She wasn't quite good enough to leap to
the top of a five story building. She doubted that ANYONE was that
good. Once on the roof, she scanned quickly for electrical spy devices,
and was surprised to find none. Where she would only have been slightly
worried before about something feeling wrong, this was more than that.
What company would deny itself the basic protection of a proper security
system? She decided to scan further, in case it was a trap and that's
when it came to her what was wrong.
There was absolutely no trace of a boomer of any kind.
***
Madigan rushed into Quincy's office, not bothering with the usual
protocols of calling or knocking on his door. She had to rush if they
were to act on the information, and given what they had done in the
past, it had to be kept quiet. "Sir, we have a slightly serious
situation that requires your immediate attention."
Quincy looked up from where he was, a little surprised at
Madigan's lack of courtesy. She was obviously anxious to tell him
something, although he could not figure out what was so urgent that she
couldn't just call him quickly. "What is the situation Madigan?"
"ADPolice have just captured SkyKnight."
Quincy stood up quickly, excitement shining in his eyes as he
thought of what he wanted to do to the wise-cracking Knight Saber.
"Send out a team of boomers to perform a recovery right away. I don't
care where he is or how he is being held."
"Yes sir, and the information a certain individual has on that
special boomer should be arriving soon. Do you want the source
terminated?"
"Any reason for him to suspect our involvement or who any of the
extraction team are?"
"None sir."
"Then have him released somewhere. He may be useful to us in the
future."
Madigan replied in the affirmative and left to carry out Quincy's
orders.
Quincy wondered what he would do first when he had SkyKnight.
Force him to work for Genom, tell him who the other Knight Sabers were,
or plain torture him. It was so much fun contemplating the
possibilities.
***
Priss had quickly checked to be sure, but now there was no doubt.
There were no boomers in the area or on the grounds. Either this was an
extremely lucky break or a trap, and it was more likely the latter. She
was willing to bet that someone was expecting the Knight Sabers to show
up and rescue their errant member.
That was when Priss realized that she should have been expecting
that too. "Damn it!" she swore as quietly as she could, "You've all
been captured haven't you?" As much as she wanted to do so, she
couldn't risk using the communications system in case it was heard.
She'd get Bert first and decide what to do from there. Since he had the
greater powers, then he should be able to figure out something.
Summoning the lightsaber, she turned it on, and a beam of purple
energy came flashing out. Unlike the older plasma lightsaber that Bert
had originally developed, this one was magically enhanced in a way that
allowed the beam to reflect all types of energy streams. It was weird,
but as it turned out, anyone with the abilities of the Force could build
such a lightsaber. The main difference was the focus crystal that each
Jedi either found or made. In this case, Bert had made several crystals
with Darlene and they all had differing frequencies, and thus different
colours of light to the blade.
Using it as a knife, she quickly cut a hole in the roof of the
building and dropped in with her energy sword held ready.
She had to act quickly, as the alarms had already sounded and she
could hear someone running towards the area. Not paying attention to
whoever it was, she located Bert, and was surprised to see that he
wasn't restrained. She went over and slid an arm under his shoulder and
helped him up. God was he heavy in the armour. Heavy enough that she
wasn't going to be able to lift him to the roof like she'd originally
planned. She turned to the wall that was near the outside and started
to cut a hole, when woman came into the room.
Tokugawa Oneiko was not given to bursts of anger, her demeanor
being very much like Sylia's. Seeing someone cutting up one of her
labs, however, was not a situation that she enjoyed. She activated the
vari-armour suit that she still had not taken off and pulled out her own
lightsaber.
"Hold it, whoever you are. You're not getting out of here that
easily."
Priss turned to see a black haired woman wearing some very
familiar armour. From the looks of it, whoever this woman was, it was
not someone that she had the time to mess around with. Not without some
concern, and hoping that she would be able to guide him down to the
ground, she leapt out of the hole holding Bert.
***
The quad of boomers that had appeared at the outside of the
complex looked on as SkyKnight and a brown robed figure fell to the
ground, a black armoured figure that was slipping a helmet on not far
behind. When they had been sent to acquire SkyKnight from whoever was
holding him, they were not told to expect this. They contacted their
base for instructions and were told to try to see if they could get all
three of the individuals.
The Boomers started in towards the complex of buildings and
readied their weapons arrays.
***
Priss was cursing a little, especially since that drop had not
been easy. She had survived, mostly by luck, but the landing had hurt
like hell. Quickly putting an arm under Bert's, she lifted him up and
started towards the fence.
"I don't want to have to hurt you, whoever you are, but I would
advise you stop before I have to use deadly force," Oneiko treatened,
although she was wondering if she could actually take this creature on.
Her suit said that the person who stood in front of her was biological,
but given the drop that she had taken, with an armoured figure that had
to weigh well over half a tonne, she was obviously not a normal human.
Priss placed Bert down slowly, and activated her lightsaber once
more. "He's leaving with me, whether or not I leave you in pieces is up
to you."
Oneiko snorted, "Not likely girl, you need more experience."
That was when the boomers started firing.
***
Madigan looked at the screen in amazement. One of the mysterious
hardsuits that they had been trying to find was there, facing off
against a being in a brown cloak. Whatever had happened, the building
were they where fighting was obviously a wreck, torn apart from the
inside.
The possibility that Dynelex had been the source of this new
boomer, or at least knew more about the boomer than anyone had imagined,
gained credence as the brown cloaked being deflected a laser bolt from
one of the Genom's boomers with a lightsaber.
The two figures, both female, attacked the boomers and made short
work of them, none having been prepared for this contingency.
***
Priss turned to face the black suited figure, "Shall we do this
again?"
Oneiko looked at what they had wrought with the unexpected attack
by the boomers. "No need. I shouldn't have tried to use my weapon to
sting you like that, although you seem immune to various types of rays."
Priss started, then shrugged it off. The wording that this black
armoured figure had used had to be a coincidence. "True. So what are
we going to do?"
"You get out of here and take him with you. I have a feeling that
he'll be safe in your hands."
"Where are the others?"
"There's only him. The others got away."
Unsure of what else to do, Priss saluted her with the lightsaber,
gathered SkyKnight, and left.
Oneiko saluted the departing figure, "We'll meet again, whoever
you are, and somehow, I will get to know you."
THE NEXT DAYž
Bert opened his eyes slowly to see the ceiling of his bedroom.
That was good in a way, it meant that everything that had happened was a
dream and thusž
Bert suddenly jerked himself up and out of bed, immediately
crashing back down to it as all the muscles in his body exploded with
pain, and the biggest head-ache he ever suffered hit. "Oh booyyyyž."
As he opened his eyes slowly, the spots of light behind his eyes
disappeared slightly and he became aware of his surroundings once more.
Not only was he not in his armour, he was lying in his bedroom. The
bedroom from the old house which had been abandoned almost a year
earlier due to the likelihood that Hollister would try to grab him from
there again. Somehow he had never gotten around to selling the place,
so it had been sealed and left alone.
Of course, if he was here without his armour, then someone knew
who he was.
The last thing he remembered a huge amount of pain when the Chief
had hit him, but nothing should have affected him that way. The closest
thing to such an incident where he felt something similar was what the
HeadHunter had hit him with. The damn weapon had bypassed his suit
completely and he never figured out what the hell the boomer had been
using.
That's when he remembered something extremely important to him.
"Damn," he swore under his breath, "Nene."
Despite the extreme pain, Bert got up and headed downstairs to the
phone.
***
Priss both hated and loved this exercise, although she had become
very good at it. If she hadn't, she would have died the day before,
when those boomers had attacked. Sighing, she looked over at Master
Skywalker, "Don't you think it would be better for me to wait for him to
wake up and talk to him?"
Yoda shook his head, "Tell her unwise it is to do so, and mention
not that you are training her." He shook his head. "Unexpected that
was and time I need to decide."
Luke grinned at his old master and turned to Priss. "Well, not at
the moment. You'll have a hard enough time explaining how you rescued
him without revealing that I trained you."
She looked at him, "Wait a second, you mean you don't want me to
tell him?"
He chuckled a bit, "Actually, Yoda told me to tell you that."
Priss rolled her eyes and muttered something to herself as she put
on the helmet. She forced herself to relax and let the energy flow
through her, feeling everything that surrounded the area, and more,
feeling the flow of all types of energy. The practice drone started up
and fired.
***
Bert had just come downstairs, after a visit to the washroom to
clean up a bit and to get a set of 333's to handle all the aches in his
body. As he looked out the back window, he saw someone practicing with
a lightsaber. Not quite thinking yet, he started to dismiss it, then
looked at the figure for a few moments. *She's got good form. Needs a
bit of practice on the riposte, but not allžthatž*
He ran out the door shouting "PRISS! What the hell are you
doing?!"
Unfortunately, since he had dropped several metres to the roof's
surface the night before, his body was not yet in good condition. As a
result, his leg started to cramp on him, and he was forced to halt his
forward momentum by grabbing the landing sidebars so he wouldn't topple
over. Staring out at Priss, he noticed that the helmet she wore was
sealed, and that she was deflecting the lasers that were being fired at
her.
"How the hell is she doing that?" he muttered, and on a hunch used
his own abilities to try and detect the electromagnetic fields
surrounding her. He was surprised at the sudden response his mind felt.
A sort of feedback from Priss.
"Strong she is in the Force, young one. Jedi she is, and powerful
will she be."
Bert turned slowly, "You're teaching her, aren't you Yoda?"
"That be not so. Student of mine, she is not nor shall she be."
The small green-skinned alien looked over at Bert. "The Force flows
through all beings, all times, all things. Train you I have, and train
you I will. She does not require what I have to teach."
Bert sat stunned. Priss, one of his best friends and, officially
speaking, his sister, was a Jedi. *Well, no one will deny a family
connection now,* he thought as he contemplated what this meant. That's
when he remembered the one person who would not be very pleased. "Oh
shit! Sylia's going to kill mež"
***
Sylia blocked the knife strike coming at her ribs with a twisted
back hand, and went in with a finger strike to the inner elbow that was
countered with an outhand spin. "So the damage upstairs was caused by a
brown haired woman with an energy sword?"
Oneiko went to a palm strike to the chest, which was pushed aside
as her oponent went to a sword strike to the upper arm. She used a
reverse finger twist to block and went to a two finger nerve strike to
the outer wrist. "Yes, she was quite a good fighter, although she
lacked technique. The young woman would be a good student if I could
find her."
Sylia had expected the counter-blow and opted for a block flick
with her little finger while going in for a Rat's Nest finger strike to
the stomache. "I'm not sure, offhand, who she could be, but I do have a
few suspicions. Do you think my missing person will be all right?" To
herself, she was wondering how in the world Priss had found out about
Bert being captured. She was going to have to have a long talk with the
girl.
Oneiko's instinctive block missed and her oponent scored. "Good
move. As for him, he should be. She was trying to protect him,
especially when the boomers arrived. Somehow the girl seemed delighted
as she destroyed them."
A chuckle escaped the lips of the leader of the Knight Sabers. "I
think I can identify the person now, although I'm not sure how she knew
that he was in trouble. Anyway, how have you been? I thought you left
Japan for a while, and why didn't you contact me when you got back?"
"Not bad. I did a few things for the organization and had a bit
of fun going to various 'vacation spots'. I only got back about two
years ago, when my mother retired. We were all hoping Hitomi would be
joining the family business, but she is too interested in being a member
of the police force to involve herself with the corporation at this
point." They walked over to a nearby table where some tea was waiting.
"What about you? I knew that the white Knight Saber's battle style was
familiar, but I had no idea you had formed them. What the hell were you
thinking of, being that obvious?"
Sylia looked a little embarassed, "I wanted revenge, pure and
simple. You remember how I was after my father died. I know that it
wasn't the smartest thing in the world, especially with the training
your mother and your aunt gave the three of us, but it was the only
thing that I could do to keep myself sane." She noted Oneiko's
incredulous look, "Ok, ok. I admit that I like putting on the suit and
going out righting wrongs. Besides, my team of people do happen to give
the city some hope, especially with the depredations caused by boomer
misuse."
A small chuckle which quickly turned into whole hearted laughter
issued from the black-haired woman. "Sylia, I was kidding!" Shaking
her head, she continued, "You did what you felt was right at the time.
Besides, I know you quite well, young lady, and that group you put
together has to be very professional."
"At times. They tend to break the rules I originally laid down
however."
"And you've never had the heart to enforce the final rule have
you?"
In a quiet, barely audible voice, Sylia replied, "No. I couldn't
bring myself to do it."
"Then you've learned the final lesson."
***
If anything good could be said about Ethan Hollister, it was that
he was extremely turough when it came to persuing something, weather it
be a person, philosophy, or goal. Given that attitude, he persued Docžs
suggestion that he try to get one of his own people to infiltrate the
ranks of the Knight Sabers by eliminating the person currently wearing
the SkyKnight armour. Unfortunately, that was proving to be somewhat
more difficult than originally expected.
Holister was not very happy once he got a look at the data that
had been gathered by the C-17žs the day before. Given the past
performance of the suits in question, and the fact that they had been
able to disable the SkyKnight suit once before, it shouldnžt have been
hard for the boomers to have acquired him. At least that was the
thought that they had been following.
It was galling, but it seemed that the Knight Sabers had once agin
upgraded their suits, especially that of the SkyKnight armour. In many
ways, the reactions of the suit were completely unlike how the suit had
reacted only a few weeks before, almost as if the suit had skipped over
a couple of theoretical generations of advances. Most unusual were some
of the new additions to the suits outside appearance, including some
crystaline areas that were amazingly resiliant to damage. If the rest
of the suits kept pace, then even their new boomers would be unable to
compete with them.
Of course, the fact that Squad Q had been able to arrive in time
to help the Sabers combat the C-17žs was not overlooked.
If anything, Squad Q would also have to be put on the list of
those to be eliminated sooner or later. The only reason that Hollister
had not given such an order thus far had more to do with the fact that
they provided interferance with the Sabers in many situations,
especially since the new chief decided to try to apprehend them. The
thing that was of concern to him now was the fact that Bert had
connections to both the Knight Sabers and to members of the squad, which
could mean that he was manipulating these people towards some unknown
purpose.
Of course, if he was the last of the Jedi, or even a lone sentinel
sent to this planet, then Hollister would not put it past Bert to
manipulate things to end up the way he wanted them to, including tracing
a couple of possible candidates for training as Jedi.
After all, it was what Hollister would have done.
***
"If things don't start get some news on what happened to SkyKnight, I'm
going to scream." Nene muttered under her breath as the Chief called
Daley, Naoko, and herself into the office. To say that she wasn't having
a good day would have been an understatement. She had stayed the night
at Berts appartment, hoping to sneak into the computer room later in the
knight and find out where Bert was being held. Unfortunately, Sylia had
caught the young red-head as she went into the room. To say that her
plans for a quick 'Sensor check run' were spoiled would have been much
too mild.
Sylia had taken it upon herself to sit in Bert's living room
while Nene slept in the bedroom.
"To start with everyone, we've found Leon, a bit worse for wear
Nene
***
Bert and Priss
***
Watcher and the spies
***
Doctor Ikagawashi
***
Sylia confronts
***
Leon and Daley
***
Hitomi
***
Nene and Naoko
***
Next Day
Leon
***
Anri and Sylvie
***
Doctor Ikagawashi and Holister
***
Priss and Bertžs punishment
***
Oneiko plans
***
Daley investigates
***
3 days later
second attack
***
Quincy plans
***
Bert and Sylia design new suits
***
Linnažs training
***
Daley and žboomer undergroundž at wolfžs place
***
Watcher looks in on Naoko and Nene
***
Job offer
***
5 days later
Bert tinkers
***
add
***
add
***
Leon sat in the care as he had beeen doing for the last fifteen
minutes or so, wondering what to do given that he had some idea of what
Bert would do. He had to confront bert, tell him to let someone else
handle it, and not to get involved, without letting him know that Leon
knew who he really was. His head leaned back againsts the seat rest for
a moment as he thought of the situation, and the fact that neither of
them had broached the subject of SkyKnight and had been extremely
careful not to let that occur.
*Bert if there ever was a time that SkyKnight was needed, I would
say itžs now. Unfortunately, we canžt have that happen as people would
figure out that you were the lone male Knight Saber...Nah..., that
wouldnžt work. I have to figure out something else instead of an open
confrontation, something that would be better,* Leon thought as he
looked out of the window at the club. It was then that he noticed who
had parked her motorcycle and that she was walking up to the front door.
He quickly got out as she ran her security card into the side slot and
entered her code.
Unfortunately for him, he did not catch up to her before she
entered the building.
Unfortunately for Priss, she hadnžt stayed to make sure the door
locked...
***
If anything, Priss was extremely angry at Bert, especially since
he had it in his head that <HE> would be the one to rescue Nene, and
that he would do it alone. As she had a vested interested in making
sure he didnžt get his butt shot off, as well as an interest in keeping
one of her few friends alive. It was unfortunate, but Hollister had
gotten too close to the truth before, and it had almost cost Bert his
life.
"Damn it you idiotic asshole!!!" she exclaimed unnecessarily at
Bert as she came into his office. "I know that youžre going to try and
find Nene alone. What is it that Sylia keeps saying about operating
solo"
The red headed young man seated behind his desk and looking at a
folder in front of him was stone faced as he slowly raised his head,
"Ižm sure you know as well as I do. Besides, this has nothing to do
with Saber operations. Itžs personal, and itžs going to be letal,
especially for one particular blond-haired individual if I happen to see
him."
Bert reached under his desk and activated a Plasma wall screen
that had seemed like some sort of fancy whiteboard. "The thing is, he
doesnžt really want Nene, he wants me. The police also have no idea
where the real rondezvous is, Hollister took them into consideration
when he left those clues. The thing is, he made some very subtle
references to Star Wars, and in particular, to Jedi. He knows about me,
and my abilities, although Ižm sure that he doesnžt know about all of
them."
Using a pen, he clicked to a map of Mega-Tokyo and then focussed
into the Canyons. "One of his comments was that he knew about me
žflying the trenches back home.ž Only thing is he canžt know where Ižm
really from, so that means hežs guessing, using the films as a basis,
and hoping to lure me into this section of the canyons." he pointed at
an area about three miles away from Ravenžs garage. "Itžs too damn
close to one of our bases, and I donžt want to risk him finding out
where it is, especially since hežs also expecting SkyKnight to show up."
Priss turned to him. "Wait a sec. What do you mean hežs
expecting SkyKnight?"
Bert opened his left hand which had been tightly clenched all this
time, and in the palm of his hand was the ring he had given Nene.
"Hollister had this delivered with a message. He wants SkyKnight and
his armour there as well as me. Hežs willing to exchange Nene for the
technology contained within the suit, and hežs warned me not to strip
out any technology from the 'Imperial and New Republic years.ž The
problem is, how do I get a 'Skyknightž to show up?"
Before Priss could reply to that one, a voice said from the door,
"Why not let them have me? Ižm sure that I could use your armour if you
give me a chance. We have a slightly different build, but not that much
to make a huge amount of difference."
Both of them spun at that, and Bert was the one who identified the
person standing in the doorway. "Leon?!?"
***
ADD
***
Leon was watching his two friends as they started to get over the
shock of his knowing Bert and SkyKnight were one and the same person.
"Don't worry so much about it. Ižve known for almost a year now, and if
I was going to arrest you, I would have done it a long time ago. Point
of the matter is, youžre too damn valuable to us, despite what the Chief
thinks."
Priss` eyes narrowed at that, her hand going down, and summoning
her lightsaber. "How much do you know Leon? About us, who we are, and
where Bertžs from?"
"Hold it sis."
"No way Bert. He knows about us, and we need to know how much,
and how he learned about us."
Bert gave her an annoyed glance, "Give him a chance to explain
then, will you?"
Leon was just looking at Prissž hand, and then quietly said,
"Youžre both Jedi, arenžt you?"
"Yeah. So?" she said cautiously, not wanting to admit much to
Leon, who appearently knew a lot more than he was supposed to.
"Nothing, but itžs rather obvious that Bert wasnžt born on this
planet, although you probably were. Itžs also obvious that both of you
have been doing your best to hide your abilities, although not very
successfully. As for me knowing who SkyKnight was, I remembered
something from an incident that happened a little more than a year ago,
and I know that Nene and Sylia are also members of the Knight Sabers."
Leon stated cautiously, not taking his eyes off of hers for a second.
"Youžve known about Priss since the Battlemover incident, havenžt
you."
Turning to Bert, Leon looked puzzled, "Knew what about Priss?"
It was Bertžs turn to look a little puzzled, "You mean you didnžt
know about Priss being the blue Knight Saber?"
Leon laughed, and sat down, a lot of pieces to the puzzle of
Prissž constant disappearances suddenly making sense. "No, I didnžt
know she was the blue Knight Saber. I didnžt even suspect it to be
honest, although I have seen both of your powers as Jedi."
Bert looked at Leon a second, and then said, "I think we should go
downstairs, a friend of mine may be able to help."
***
add
***
Hollister smiled grimly as he looked at the screen. It had been a
good thing that they had decided to use safehouses in order to hold
their guests and conduct the interrogations. The rescue that Bert had
effected for the red-headed ADP officer had resulted in the loss of one
of the two facilities they had set up. No doubt that this one would
soon be lost as well, once the communications connections were
backtracked.
Losing them had both good and bad points, unfortunately most of
them bad. The good part was that they had been able to find out some
more about Bert. The bad part was that there was obviously more to
these "Jedi" than was obvious at first glance.
He stared at the screen, listening to the conversation that was
being held by the brown haired singer and the Jedi.
***
Bert was kneeling on the ground, looking at Nene, holding her
close to him. "Don't worry Nene, I'm going to get him. I swear, I'll
find and destroy Hollister once and for all." He looked into her face,
thinking of all that he had gone through to find her. Thinking of how
he had nearly lost her forever.
He lifted her up and stood, looking over at Priss, the pain in his
eyes evident, and the fear that he had well hidden. "Priss. Take her
out of here and make sure she's safe."
"What the hell do you think you're going to do?" she grunted,
suspecting the answer.
"Find Hollister, find his white haired friend, and kill them."
"Not alone you're not!"
Bert's eyes blazed a slight purple, "ALONE! HOLLISTER IS A LIVING
DEAD MAN, DO YOU HEAR ME? I WANT TO TORTURE AND KILL HIM FOR WHAT HE
DID TO HER!"
Unseen by him, Priss's mentor, Master Skywalker, took in the
scene, looking at his student and her brother. "You must calm him down.
He's much too angry. If he loses control he could become the most
dangerous man on the planet."
Priss silently acknowledged the point, looking for a way to stop
Bert or calm him down. Leon had already left the building and was
waiting for an ambulance to take Nene to the hospital. If she couldn't
get Bert to calm down, then she would have to take matters further than
she wished, further than she was ready for.
A purple glow flowed into her hands, leaving her lightsaber
clearly visible. "Bert. I don't want to have to challenge you, nor do
I want to be the one that has to stop you, but I cannot let you leave
here, not like this."
For a few seconds, an incredulous expression was on his face. He
looked at her and willed Nene away from him, away from the area where he
was about to call Priss's bluff. As she landed softly, he looked to the
one person who probably knew him better than he knew himself. "If that
is the way it has to be elder sister, then so be it." A purple glow
surrounded his hand as his own lightsaber appeared.
***
Hollister sat up straight. "His sister!"
His grim smile turned into a small rictus. It explained so much,
and now her own past, with all the blank spots, were so much less
mysterious. He turned off the screen, and gathered the last of the data
cartridges, and set the computer to transmit the picture over a certain
frequency so that they could later retrieve the information. It would be
too much to hope that they would eliminate one another, but any delay
was useful.
***
Priss saluted Bert, and both of them activated their sabers.
Using the skills that came naturally to them, they both fed on the
main source of their abilities. They felt the flow and ebb of the
specialized type of energy they both had access to, not quite magic, not
quite psionics, but a combination of both. The energy blades flashed
off of one another and they fenced for almost twenty minutes.
It only ended when the Chief Inspector placed her own blade
between them to stop the battle. She looked at Bert, and managed to say
the one thing that finally soaked into his head, finally made him want
to give up his revenge trip. "Nene's being taken to hospital in critical
condition. Who should I inform if she does not survive?"
Upon hearing that, Bert let the fight drain out of him and
deactivated his saber, attaching it to his belt.
Deactivating her saber as well, Priss let out a silent sigh of
relief, and, when Bert had gone around the corner to ride with Nene to
the hospital, let her legs give out and collapse.
Unfortunately it was right into Leon's arms.
***
"Will Nene be alright Anri?" asked the concerned leader of the
Knight Sabers.
Anri's posture was disturbingly sedate. She ran the sensor logs
of Nene, stored in her white and red medical hardsuit, and compared it
to her last medical check to be sure. "I don't know." she stated
firmly. "According to what I'm reading, she should have woken up after I
stabilized her, but something is keeping her asleep. I wish I had more
training."
Linna was strangely silent while Sylvie used the remotes to land
the KnightWing. If only she had been better at magic, perhaps they
would have found her before this happened, and before Bert and Priss
struck out on their own. While she had been learning steadily about
magic from Yoda, there was a lot missing in those lessons. If only
there was someone in this dimension who knew magic and could teach her.
"If only..." she mused quietly...
***
A phone rang in an office overlooking the city of Mega- Tokyo.
When it was answered, a picture of the Mayor and several of the
Prefecture leaders showed up. The request they made was unusual, but
granted.
THE NEXT DAY...
Leon looked silently into the hospital room, unable to bring
himself to intrude on Bert as the younger man looked longingly, lovingly
at Nene. The red-haired girl, whom they had brought to the mediplex
yesterday, remained in the coma that the drugs their enemies had given
her induced. He knew that sooner or later someone would have to tell
Bert the bad news, and he figured it had better be him. Leon steeled
himself for what he was about to do, what he knew Bert's fellow Knight
Sabers could not do.
He opened the door and walked up to his friend, laying a hand on
his shoulder. Leon felt the sudden tenseness, and the highly controlled
calm that was the only thing that kept Bert from attacking
automatically. "Bert, I've got to tell you something."
Bert's body didn't move, and he remained contemplating Nene's
face. There was so much that he wanted to tell her, so much that he
wanted to apologize for. He knew it would take some time for the drugs
to leave her system, but he was willing to wait for as long as it took.
"Leon, there's only one thing I want to hear, and that is if anyone has
found where Hollister is."
Leon kept his voice tightly controlled, "Bert...Bert the
doctors...They told me that Nene is in a coma she might never come out
of." The young red-head surged upward, turning angrily, his eyes trying
to deny what he heard. He couldn't lose Nene, not like this, not
because someone wanted to get their hands on him. It was when he looked
into Leon's eyes and saw only truth that he broke down, the life going
out of his face, and started to sob quietly.
The brown haired officer looked at his friend. There had been
many times in his career when he had cause to tell the loved ones of the
officers and troops under his command this type of news. They always
took it badly, but at least they looked as if they still had something
to live, to strive for. For the first time in his life, Leon saw a
person who lost everything; his reason, his will to live. It was
something he never wanted to see, and it was made worse because the
people involved were friends and comrades.
He realized that Bert needed something, anything, to prevent him
from going over the edge, and Leon was suddenly glad he had made the
phone calls the night before. Strangely, or perhaps not so strangely, he
didn't have to call in many favours. The ADP Brass didn't like the fact
that one of their officers had been kidnapped, nor did they like the
fact that the officer was now on life support. They had readily agreed
to Leon's plan, and had processed the paperwork in a matter of hours.
"Bert. Listen to me, Nene's going to recover. She has to."
Bert just looked at Nene, his face seeming to have aged years in
the past few minutes. In a deadly quiet voice, a voice that held no
emotion, he said, "Leon. I want them. I want Hollister and the only
way for you to stop me is to kill me."
Leon only nodded, and pulled out a badge and gun. "I know. As of
this moment, you're a special inspector with the ADP and have only one
job: Find who did this to her and use whatever means necessary to see
that justice is served."
(The End...)