Wolf's Place was an out of the way bar down near the edges of
the rift that formed the Canyon. The people who attended the place
were not the nicest of people normally, but, for some indescribable
reason, remained civil and somewhat respectable in this
establishment. According to the owner, a person who was only known
as White Wolf, this was because it was probably the only business
that was willing to serve them.
However, this particular night was a little different than
normal. The patrons were more nervous than usual. There was an air
of cautious anticipation and fear running through the air as murmured
speculation rose as to the truth of several rumours running around
the city.
It had started a few months earlier, with the rumours of two new
armoured figures that used swords to take care of boomers. No-one
knew where they came from, although the people were female, and more
were curious about their ability to seemingly disappear from a
confrontation scene. Finally, no one had figured out how they were
able to do the most amazing physical feats with no sign of exhaust
ports on the armour. This smacked of a brand new technology,
something that people and corporations were will to pay big bucks for.
At about that same time, the ADP, which had been considered
somewhat of a joke among the police and security forces of Japan, had
suddenly started to become competent in their jobs. They were using
more skill than before, had lower casualty rates, and, amazingly,
making more arrests that stuck. Knowing how badly they were supplied,
this pointed more to a fundamental change somewhere in the
department starting with attitude. This did not bode well for most
patrons.
Tonight however, the rumour mill had been carrying one of the
most ridiculous stories around. Although some people were taking it
seriously, it had to be a lie. Somehow word was getting around about
some new special employee of the city's most technologically
advanced police department. It seems that ADP had recruited a new
inspector to their ranks that was a Jedi Knight. Wolf himself was
hiding a grin as the people asked him what he thought of this.
"Hey! Don't ask me. I try to stay out of trouble and away from
the cops. If they want to come in here, I'll take their money like I
take anyone else s, but I doubt that a _Jedi_ would ever appear
around here." he chuckled to one of the patrons seated at the bar.
"After all, since when do film characters come to life?"
The patron, a young black haired man in his mid-twenties,
thought this over for a moment. Wolf's comments made a little bit of
sense, but his living depended on the police being incompetent. A
competent inspector would change things, much less one who was
reputed to have some type of supernatural powers. He downed his
drink as he considered that the rumour had only started this morning
with no evidence to back it up as of yet. He turned to face the
entrance as a person stepped through the door and he choked on his
drink.
White Wolf turned around to see what the trouble was and if he
would have to perform the Heimlich Manouver. When he saw the person
that had come in the door, striding towards the bar, he dropped the
bottle of rye that he had been holding. The smashing bottle caused
people around the bar to look up and several gasps of astonishment
could be heard.
The figure, which stood at least six and a half feet tall was
wearing dark boots, black gloves, and a black volumous cloak that
provided his head with some cover. It was nearly impossible to see
the persons face, as the area where the head was seemed to absorb
light. What little of the face that could be seen was young and calm,
but with a seriousness and a look of having seen too much around the
eyes.
The man seemed to radiate his being a soldier or a warrior of
some type; but not from any modern war. He appeared to have the
carriage of a minor noble, with a straight back, and proper grace and
manners. He did not so much walk as glide across the floor, no
movements to rise and fall evident as it would have been in a normal
persons walk. At the same time, these ancient seeming attitudes were
combined with something in his stance that said that he was
experienced with things far beyond the comprehension of mere
mortals. As if he had been in the future but was adjusting to being in
this time period.
That combined with a badge and the silver and black tube visible
at his right hip marked him for who he was, although it seemed
unbelievable.
The ADP Jedi had just walked into Wolf's Place.
SkyKnight Productions
Proudly Presents
A NonTechnical Film
MegaTokyo 2036
The Knight Sabers
"An Alternate History of The Bubblegum Zone - Episode #13"
Copyright (c) 1996 Bert Van Vliet, Darren Steffler
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, Darryl Storm,
Lightsnake and Natsumi are Copyright (c) 1994, 1996 Darren Steffler.
The characters of Ranma and Nabiki are Copyright (c) 1987, 1996 Rumiko
Takahashi
The characters of Master Skywalker, Skywalker, Solo, Jedi, Master
Yoda, Darth Vader and Star Wars are Copyright (c) 1976, 1996 George
Lucas
The characters of White Wolf, Misa Takimoto, Alan Wiliamson and Tanisa
Carr are Copyright (c) 1995, 1996 Hitomi Ichinohei
Written by Darren Steffler, Hitomi Ichinohei
Chapter One: Where there's power...
The establishment became quiet as everyone who could see
watched the Jedi as he stepped closer to the bar, their expressions
ranging from awe to disbelief. For the patrons of Wolf's Place, the
half believed rumour had become cold, hard fact and in a very
unnerving manner. Whoever the Jedi was, it was obvious he was here
on business, not for pleasure, and that was even more unnerving.
As he came up to the bar, he looked at Wolf and said, "Tea,
Orange Pekoe. Hot with milk and sugar."
"C-certainly sir." Wolf replied, not quite believing what he was
seeing. As he turned to prepare the requested drink, he asked, "What
brings a Jedi out at this time of night?"
The Jedi pulled down his hood, shaking off some of the snow on
his cloak and looked straight at Wolf. "Trying to find some
information on a case I'm working on. Specifically, I'm trying to find a
person named Hollister."
Wolf looked at the red headed, green-brown eyed man who was
standing there. "Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I don't know
anyone named Hollister. Are you sure that he was going to show up
here?"
"Actually, I don't expect him to be here. I'm trying to find him
and I would be grateful for any information." He grinned and raised his
voice slightly, "The person behind me who has that stunner would be
well advised to deactivate it and put it down."
In the back, the man who had the stunner was surprised. He didn't
think that he had been obvious about aiming and readying the stun
weapon. It was impossible for the officer to have noticed such a
thing. As the Jedi started to pick up the drink Wolf had just placed in
front of him, he decided to risk it. If the Knight was as powerful as
he seemed, then he could well make his reputation tonight. Of course,
he would have to find some way to repay the Jedi, but that didn't
matter.
At that moment, a snap-hiss was heard just off to his left, and
an energy blade, which was glowing purple, came into his vision. "I
believe my brother said that you should put that stunner down.
Unlike him, I do not have to bother with a lot of the 'protect the
innocent' crap."
The man with the stunner just gulped and looked up to see the
brown-haired woman standing close to him. She was dressed in a red
motorcycle outfit with a scarf and seemed familiar for some reason.
As he carefully removed and put down the stunner on the table, he
noted that she was beautiful. If it wasn't for the fact that she held
a lightsaber, he would have been tempted to ask her out on a date.
The Jedi at the bar chuckled a bit. He motioned for Wolf to make
another tea and waved for her to join him at the bar. "You know sis, I
could have handled that."
She took the stunner, one of the sonic types as it turned out,
and went over to where he was. As the rest of the bar started to get
back into a nervous conversation, she said, "Yeah, I know Bert. I'd
like to have some fun too you know."
Bert, sometimes known as SkyKnight, looked at the brown haired
singer. He realized that she shared his abilities and was still unsure
about how she had been able to train herself to use them. So far she
had been silent on that subject, but whatever happened, she was quite
strong in the Force. A good a name as any to call the strange powers
they had that were a combination of psionics and magic. "So, what are
you doing here? I thought that you'd be practicing for your next
concert."
She snorted, "As if I'm going to get any practice done. I needed
to do something besides watching Nene." Priss took a sip of the tea,
letting the warmth of the fluid flow through her, "Besides, what the
hell are you doing here? You're already supposed to be off shift."
Bert looked into his cup, and then drained the rest of his tea in
one gulp. "What else," he asked quietly, "you know what I want to do."
Priss drained her tea as well. "Yeah, I know. Let s go see Nene
and then go home. You need to get some rest for tomorrow."
Bert looked at Wolf and gave him a card, "If there is anything
you think I should know, give me a call."
Wolf looked at the card as the two Jedi left, knowing that this
would not be the last time he saw them. On it was the ADP logo and
address as well as the name of the Jedi; Special Inspector Bert Van
Vliet.
***
Chief Inspector Ichinohei wondered whether or not she was
coming down with an ulcer.
As if it wasn't bad enough that Nene Romanova, one of her best
computer people, had been kidnapped and placed in a coma, now she had
to deal with her boyfriend, a newly created special inspector in her
department. She didn't like it. Bert was too close to the case, too
much of a wildcard to be trusted to handle the current situation
within the law. Unfortunately, she had her orders from above and said
orders stated that he was to be allowed free reign in trying to
apprehend these criminals.
Taking another long pull of her coffee, (She had long since
graduated to one litre mugs) she wondered who was giving these
orders. *Ok, I know that some officials at the upper levels have
started to take some notice of what we are doing, but this is going
too far. Only a politician would put a loose cannon out on the
street.*
Getting up, Hitomi strode over to the window and looked out into
the quieter than normal operations bay. She noted that Van Vliet's
marker tag had finally gone offline, indicating that he had signed off
duty for the night. A somewhat mixed blessing since Bert had
demonstrated some abilities which were far beyond the ordinary.
Hitomi was still unsure what to make of him and Priss Asagiri.
Both of them had lightsabers, similar to the one she carried, and both
of them were martial artists. While not unusual in Japan, they had
more of a combat style, something similar to Bujutsu and some of the
higher arts yet combined with something else. Somehow she had a
feeling that they knew more; that they were like her elder sister and
herself.
What had triggered that reaction was the fight that she had
observed between Bert and Priss. Not everyone could handle such
weapons with the skill and ease with which she had seen them do in
that warehouse. It was similar to what a trained Chi-di Samurai could
do. The problem was that there were very few people left who
followed the ways of the Chi-di.
Her family was one of the few left that followed those ancient
teachings.
According to history, the Chi-di were Samurai who used their
own life forces to protect others, to do more than the ordinary, and
to heal. Hitomi almost had the feeling that Bert and Priss could do
similar things, but that would be impossible. Both were missing the
noticeable aura which surrounded individuals that had trained
themselves to use their inner resources, the aura of a fighter. No,
what had led to the conclusion was the feel of a different type of
ability, one she could not describe.
The Chief Inspector hoped that her new officer would be able to
handle things within the law. While he had justification, she hoped he
would let reason prevail. Whatever else happened, she wanted to keep
him on the force.
"Officer Van Vliet, I hope you find what you are looking for."
***
A figure stared out of the office window at the city of Mega-
Tokyo.
For the first time in his life, Quincy actually felt old. Not
physically, but mentally. In the past few weeks a person who they had
thought to be a boomer had turned out to be a legend come true.
The Jedi were real, and Bert Van Vliet, special officer of the
ADP was one of them.
He also realized that if the films were any basis for what the Jedi
were, then Genom would not be able to operate as they used to.
"You know Madigan," Quincy began, "In the old days, before
boomers, you could have gotten yourself a good team of individuals to
carry out your dirty work. Give them a bit of brainwashing and they
stayed intensely loyal to you no matter what." He took a sip of his
drink, savouring the smoky flavour, and wondering how best to bring
up an unpleasant reality. "With boomers, we gained power and access
to places that would have been locked to us otherwise. Their designs
and abilities enabled us to virtually control everything. We owned
this city."
Quincy took another sip of his drink and chuckled, "I know we've
had a number of clashes with the Knight Sabers, but in reflection,
they were only an annoyance. We have to face the future and that
means we have to face the fact that this city may no longer be ours."
He turned to look at his purple-haired assistant, who looked
back at him quietly and slowly sipped her own drink. "We need to know
more about these Jedi, what they are, what they can do. More than
that, we have to find some way to bind them to us."
Madigan looked into her drink and replied quietly, "So what are
we supposed to do? Train our own Jedi? And how, how will we
recognize those people with the potential to be Jedi? It will be
almost impossible to do and you know it."
"Perhaps. But that's why I arranged to have Mr. Van Vliet join
the ADP."
Madigan looked up startled. The report that had been on her
desk yesterday said that one of the two known Jedi had become part
of the police department, but she didn't know that Quincy had arranged
it. Keeping him as a member of the department might not have been the
wisest of decisions. "Why for God's sake?"
Quincy looked her in the eyes, "So that we can find out more,
especially about what technologies he uses. His lightsaber is not
like anything available with our current knowledge of physics and
technology. He can do things that are supposed to be physically
impossible, and from all indications, he has a score to settle with our
competitors." He noted the widening of her eyes, knowing that the
reasons he gave were hardly good enough for arranging such a favour.
"We can also see what we can learn through our various sources and
the security equipment in the station. It may be possible for us to
learn about who has the potential and turn them to our way of
thinking."
Madigan shook her head, "I hope you know what you are doing sir.
This could well blow up in our faces."
Quincy turned back to the window, "I know. Madigan, I want you to
start taking more responsibility in the company, start to do more and
make more decisions. From now on, you are the senior vice-president
of Genom. All of Genom, not just operations."
He enjoyed the dropped-jaw expression Madigan's reflection
gave him.
***
When the attending nurse looked up and saw the two people who
had entered the intensive care unit, she got a bit nervous. With the
number of people who had visited the patient, ranging from her fellow
officers to good friends and family, it wasn't hard to get a
description of these two people. Rumours had been flying around for
the last couple of days since the EMT's and paramedics who had
arrived with the patient told of two people fighting with energy
swords.
According to everyone Priss Asagiri and Bert Van Vliet, the two
who had just entered the observation area were the ones who were
involved in that fight. There were some mutters as to the powers the
two had and of the possible origin of the two. She just hoped they
didn't use them here.
The officer outside had told them these two were famous for
their tempers.
"Do you mind if we go in for a little while? I know it's after
visiting hours, but we'd appreciate it." Bert asked the black haired
nurse.
"Of course. She's not responsive as of yet, but her brain
activity is good. Don't say anything angry or abrasive. People in
comas can hear what's going on and doing that may set her back."
Bert nodded and Priss smiled her thanks as they went in to
check on Nene, a team member, a friend, and when all was said and done,
family.
***
Within a dimly-lit practice room a man sat in a kneeling position,
meditating upon various events that had taken place during his
lifetime. He was in his forties and darkly handsome, a fact
accentuated by twin streaks of gray on either side of his face. There
was something that marred that masculine beauty however, a jagged
scar on one side of his face that disturbed his otherwise calm visage.
Somehow the room seemed less bright around the sitting figure.
A disturbing feeling of dark forces that could almost be felt. An
unnatural silence seemed to blanket the room, encompassing all that
moved.
The silence of the room was then disrupted by a door opening,
allowing more light into the room only to be seduced into the
darkness.
"What have you found my student?" the dark man quietly asked of
the much younger man standing in the door.
"It is uncertain Sensei," the young man said, a living shadow
framed by light. His own personal darkness almost as strong as his
teacher's. "From all reports, odd things have been occurring in Mega-
Tokyo. There seems to be two possibilities, but either could be them.
"I see."
"I have heard whispered rumours that one of the two is being
targeted by some high-tech group. Led by a man called Hollister."
"Hollister?" the kneeling man smiled. "I know him. We met...many
years ago." He was silent for many minutes before speaking again.
"Gather the others, first student. We will offer our...services to
Hollister and if the Gods will it, we shall find what we seek."
"Hai, Sensei." The young man respectfully bowed and closed the
door, eager to comply.
"Chi-di," the dark man spat, for the first time showing emotion.
"At last the clan has found you again, and of our ancient conflict,"
the darkness gathered around the man, "this shall be the last."
The darkness seemed to chuckle ominously with him.
"So? Are we going?" someone spoke with a bored tone, catching
first student's attention. First student saw that it was second
student, leaning lazily on one of the walls.
"Yes."
"Perfect, a chance to demonstrate our worthiness before our
master," the second student said mockingly.
First student frowned slightly. "You should show more respect."
Second waved his hand carelessly. "Oh, I have respect. HE knows
that." They both knew who. "I merely choose not to display it openly.
I think it amuses him."
First narrowed his gaze but decided to stiffly walk away. "I
must tell the others."
The other smiled wickedly at his departing back. Then mused,
"Mega-Tokyo. Ah, the possibilities..." The smile broadened.
***
"So, what's the job?" Lightsnake asked. The contact, one of
many, took a long pull on a cheap cigarette.
"Some deal in Mega-Tokyo. It's 'bout that crazy rumour of Jedi."
The shabby man snorted. "Seems a secret techno group wants these
'Jedi', dead or alive."
"Dead's more my style," the mercenary told the contact, who
shrugged.
"Doesn't matter. Jus' bring 'em in. Yes or no?"
"It sounds...interesting. I'll take it."
"Great. I'll phone it in and get the details. Good hunting." The
contact stood up and walked away, slouching.
Lightsnake watched him go, repressing the desire to scowl.
Difficult, even with circuit overrides.
Humans could be so pitiful.
THE NEXT DAY...
"At least the desks aren't a wreck." Bert commented to Leon,
who was showing Bert the various files on the equipment that ADPolice
had. As one of the inspectors, Bert had to be familiar with the
various weapons that were stored in the arsenal room as well as the
operations of the K-17 hardsuit. "I agree that it might be better to
choose a more powerful hand weapon that the police standard, but
there's no way that you're going to get me into one of those
disasters waiting to happen. I'll be a lot safer facing boomers with
just my lightsaber."
Leon grinned, "I didn't think so, but regulations require that
you be familiar with all the equipment."
Bert grimaced, "Can't I just get some sort of special
dispensation or something? I mean, I do NOT want to die."
"You want to try to explain that to the Chief, or tell her why
one of her best people wants to avoid using equipment that could
help?"
"Help? Yeah, it'll help me if I use it. Into a grave that is."
Bert got up, "Doesn't she realize what pieces of shit they are? And
what's this about me being one of her best people? I'm just here to
find Hollister."
Leon's expression became serious, "She does. She just wants to
afford her officers some measure of protection. She just is not
allowed to go over the department budget and that's always shrinking.
As for being one of her best people," Leon looked the younger man in
the eye, "We both know how good you are in a fight, and if you think
that she's going to le..."
"LEON! VAN VLIET! GET INTO MY OFFICE! NOW!"
***
Doctor Ikagawashii was going over the review of the data that
they had collected on Mr. Van Vliet and his sister, Ms. Asagiri. From
the physical reactions the two had, as well as the energy field that
the two had been able to call up when they summoned their swords, he
was sure that they were not human, or at least not a human born on
this particular planet. No Earth born human could have the kind of
powers that had been demonstrated by the pair.
Considering all the precautions they had taken, and the fact
that it had taken a lot longer than they had expected to acquire the
girl due to the inability to affect her by any means involving energy,
It had been an unmitigated disaster. They should have suspected that
there would be someone else like Bert somewhere on the planet. The
real question was how many more of them were there?
Doc began compiling the information into several sub- files
paying particular attention to each of the different abilities and
demonstrated powers.
***
"I don't care if Miss Asagiri is your sister Inspector Van Vliet,"
the Chief stated quietly, "I also don't care if she's your girlfriend
Inspector McNichol, what I care about is the fact that SHE IS
PURPOSELY CAUSING DISTURBANCES IN HER SEARCH FOR THIS HOLLISTER
CHARACTER!"
She started to pace, grabbing the full mug of coffee on her
desk, "Do you know what it's like to come in here in the morning and
find that, not only did an officer under your command do some things
that were...questionable, but his sister starts going places and using
that damn lightsaber!" She took a _long_ pull of coffee before
continuing, "If you don't calm her down, I'll find some way to make the
swords illegal despite the fact that they are a useful tool."
Hitomi turned to face Bert, her eyes burning with anger and
making Bert wince a bit. "You are going to talk with her, get her to
stop racing that motorbike around the city, and have her STOP
PULLING OUT THAT DAMN ENERGY SWORD!"
Leon ahmed to get the Chief's attention. "I have an idea that
might solve a few of our problems and allow Priss to continue her..."
he grinned suddenly, "quest...for Hollister and members of his
organization."
"Why do I have the feeling I'm not going to like this." she said to
him.
Leon chuckled, "Perhaps because you've gotten to know my sense
of humour, anyways, here's the idea." Leon explained to the Chief
about what he had in mind, causing Bert to grin widely and Hitomi to
sit down partially stunned, "Well, what do you think."
"I was right, I don't like it. It's the only real option we have at
the moment however, so implement it." She turned to Bert, "As for
you, standing orders are for anyone in this department to go after
the Knight Sabers and attempt to capture them."
"No way!" Bert said quietly, "I'm not going after them, and you
can have the damn badge back if you think I'll do it."
Chief Inspector Ichinohei was not used to having her officers
talk back to her in this manner, especially not a rookie, which she
still considered him to be. "Leon. Implement what we discussed.
Officer Van Vliet and I will be here for a while..."
Leon quickly left the office, but wondered, since Bert was a
member of the Knight Sabers, what would convince the Chief to leave
him alone about that particular matter.
***
As far as anyone knew there was nothing that Fargo would not do
to make a buck.
His appearance, his attitude, and his general demeanor were an
indication that he was out for himself, and screw everyone else. He
would deal with anyone. Crook, cop, corporation, or specialty
organizations. As long as he had an income he would be happy.
This, of course, was the lie.
The truth was Fargo really only handled one group. The group
that he was not known to be associated with.
He was the fixer for the Knight Sabers.
Fargo had taken a number of unusual precautions in setting
himself up as Sylia's contact and fixer, including that of setting up a
seemingly elaborate network of contacts for people to trace the
Knight Sabers.
None of which were worth a damn since they led nowhere.
He kept his eye out for jobs, as well as an eye out for any
information that Sylia needed in order to run her organization.
Whenever there was a possible threat to the city, he made damn sure
that the leader of the Knight Sabers was as prepared as he could
possibly make her from his end. Whatever happened, he did not want
what he considered Mega- Tokyo's only hope to die.
He also wanted the revenge that the mercenary group brought
about everytime they faced off against Genom.
That was why he was a bit cautious when it came to this
particular job.
For the past couple of days, there had been an unusual rumour
going around that there was a new set of individuals in the city.
Individuals that certain groups of people were willing to pay money
for. According to the request, these 'Jedi' had some technologies
that many small companies and certain powerful individuals would be
more than willing to acquire.
Which had led to the unusual request on his desk that the Knight
Sabers kidnap and hand over these Jedi at a certain spot.
He still hadn't figured out if the rumours had any validity, but
the strangest thing was that Genom was staying out of this. Somehow
that didn't seem right and Fargo was extremely suspicious of Quincy,
especially given the dealing that they had in the past. He would pass
the information on to Sylia as well as the information that Genom was
taking a hands off policy concerning this. He just hoped that Sylia
would not make the wrong choice.
After all, he owed her family plenty.
***
"It doesn't matter what you say," Bert said quietly, "There's no
way I'm going after them."
Eyes glinting, Hitomi said, "Why, for Amaterasu's sake! They are
mercenaries, not much better than the group that you are going
after."
Bert raised his hand to stop her, "The difference is that they
are honourable. As far as records indicate, the Knight Sabers have
always honoured their agreements and have helped people in trouble.
I do not see what the harm is in letting them go. Besides, I owe them."
The Chief looked over at Officer Van Vliet, her voice becoming
icy, "What do you mean, 'I owe them?' Do you have dealings with them?"
Bert's eyes glinted, and Hitomi swore that she could see a bit
of a purple sheen to the whites, "They helped me get Nene back. No
cost. No payment. We have an agreement of honour and I will not
tarnish that honour, not for anyone."
Hitomi sat forward and put her chin on her hand. With Bert,
there would have been a probability of capturing the Knight Sabers,
especially SkyKnight. She had her own score to settle with that happy
go lucky vigilante. The problem is that if Bert had given his word of
honour, then there was no use in trying to change his mind. She hated
it, but if his honour was like her own, then Inspector Van Vliet would
resign rather than go after the Knight Sabers. "Ok. You'll be excused
from having to try to capture the Knight Sabers, but I still want you
to respond to Boomer sightings and reports, if at all possible. The
heavens know that we need the type of help that you can provide."
Bert smiled, "Agreed. However, I refuse to wear..."
***
Mackie looked down at the city below him as the hypersonic
aircraft he was aboard left the parking level and started to make it's
final approach.
So many things had changed in the years that he had been away.
His friends were older, he was nearing graduation with his Bachelors
in Engineering, and the Knight Sabers had grown and changed. He
should have been happier at this homecoming, especially since he
would be seeing the few people he counted as family. His uncle,
sister, Doctor Raven and the members of the Knight Sabers.
He just wished his homecoming could have been under better
circumstances.
From what Sylia had told him over the phone, Nene had been
kidnapped in order for a weaponry organization to get a hold of Bert
and his secrets. The secrets of the Knight Sabers technologies.
That someone had figured out Bert's connection to the Knight Sabers
was bad enough, but for Nene, who to him was the ever-innocent young
girl he found so charming, to be harmed in the manner she was angered
him.
He was also surprised that Mega-Tokyo wasn't currently a
warzone.
He wasn't sure how his sister had been able to manage it, but
she had kept Bert from exploding and taking apart the city in order to
get a hold of whoever harmed Nene. Given how Bert had reacted to
anything attacking the young red head, it would have been a disaster
for the city if he ever went on such a rampage. He shook his head,
finally understanding his sisters constant exasperation about his
hobbies when he was younger.
Mackie was back, and if things continued the way they were
going, he would have to petition Sylia for a place in the fighting team.
***
"Hey Priss!"
Priss winced at the sound of the voice that had just called her
name. She turned around and, with a forced smile, greeted the one man
she dreaded seeing. "Hi Leon. How's it going?"
He smiled, bowed, and said, "So far I fare well dear lady,
although your brother vanquishes under a gaze more fearsome than
could be imagined when first encountered."
She sighed, placing a hand over her eyes, "You've definitely
been hanging out with Bert too much. He's starting to rub off on you."
Smirking a bit, Leon made a quick reply, "Ah, but as one type of
Knight to another, Bert's actions are those of a virtuous man. Does
it not follow that I should be one to emulate him, a Knight-In-
Shinning-Armour?"
Priss groaned at the inside joke very few people would get. She
just hoped that if Sylia ever heard Leon at it that she would _not_
guess that Leon had been the mysterious 'SkyKnight' that had
assisted Bert. They had explained it away as a type of illusion using
Bert's enchanted suit instead of his new one. If the leader of the
Knight Sabers _EVER_ found out about the desception that she and
Bert had pulled on her... "Would you knock it off? Speak modern
Japanese, not some bloody old and ancient version of the language.
Goddess above, you have been with Bert way too much."
Leon finally chuckled out loud, "Ok. But Bert and I got in
trouble earlier when the Chief heard about your antics last night."
He resisted the urge to bend over laughing when he saw her sickly
expression, "She wanted the two of us to take responsibility for you,
her exact words being, 'You are going to talk with her, get her to stop
racing that motorbike around the city, and have her stop pulling out
that damn energy sword.'"
Priss decided to try to use her sex appeal. It had always
worked before, and with what she had learned from Sylvie... "Well, I
hope you were able to talk her out of it, after all, it wasn't illegal."
She saw some reaction and decided to press her advantage. "Besides,
we all want Hollister, and if I happen to scare a few people onto the
straight and narrow at the same time..."
Leon was definitely in trouble and he knew it. He had admitted
to himself a long time ago that Priss was probably the only woman for
him, the only woman that he was really interested in. Whenever she
did this, he was always hard pressed to resist her. This time was no
exception. "Not to worry, we came up with a plan to help." He pulled
out a decal sticker and some papers. "These will help you stay out of
trouble, but only under one agreement. That you stop pulling out
that lightsaber so often."
Priss looked curiously at what the ADP Inspector had handed
her, "What is this all about?"
"After talking to the Chief, it was decided to register your
motorcycle as a possible police vehicle for Bert, and thus immune to
most traffic laws." He noted her grin at that. *Probably thinking of
all the speeding she can do now.* he thought sarcastically, "And, to
keep you out of trouble with your investigation, to welcome you to
the rank of private investigators. The Chief thinks that will keep 'my
girlfriend' out of trouble."
He repressed a grin at her very red face.
***
Sylia waited quietly in the lobby of the airport, her mind on
matters other than waiting for her younger brother. Although she
didn't looked perturbed, or seem anything more than slightly peeved
that the flight her brother was on had ended up being late, anyone who
knew her would have known instantly something was wrong. Of course,
it wasn't as though she could allow herself the luxury of showing her
feelings. As the leader of a supposed team of mercenaries, she had
to be the calm, cool, and collected person who was more an ice queen
that a human.
Unfortunately, being a person who was able to control her
emotions more than most Japanese did not mean that the emotions
were not there.
***
add
***
Linna sighed as she looked in from the observation room. Sylia
had arranged for them to have twenty-four hour access to Nene and
they had decided that someone should always be with her. At the
moment, Sylvie was with the red-headed computist as she lay there
listlessly. It was so damn frustrating! No matter what they did, what
they tried, no-one had been able to get through to Nene. The doctors
had told them there wasn't a physical problem that they could find but
that still hadn't explained why she hadn't woken up.
She walked into the ICU and came up to Sylvie, "Hello Nene,
Sylvie. So how are you two doing today?"
Sylvie looked up, as worn looking around the eyes as Linna felt.
"We're doing ok. So, what's been happening with your latest show?"
"Not much at the moment. We have to do something to top
Natsumi's Olde Tyme Magick Show, she's got all the customers."
Sylvie grinned, "Well, according to Bert, there's good rea..." she
broke off as the monitors connected to Nene started to beep loudly
and a recorded voice stated over the speakers, "Code three in ICU.
Repeat code three in ICU. Doctors on standby for patient in room 452
please report stat. Code three in ICU."
***
Priss had walked in as this began happening and took one look at
the situation. The officers behind her had opened the door and
various personnel were filtering in and pushing Sylvie and Linna out
of the room. This was extremely serious, enough to warrant her
relaxing her guard a little more.
Besides, if they asked about the holographic image she would
tell them it was one of her Jedi powers.
Holding up her arm, she touched the sabers that were unseen by
anyone else. "Bert, respond immediately this is an emergency. Bert
respond."
***
Bert had just walked into the area where Nene usually worked.
As he looked at her desk, he got a feeling of pure dejection come over
him. *God, this is hard. I wish she was here right now, then
everything would be all right. Hollister, I swear, you're going to..*
The insistent and constant buzz in his armband started
indicating an emergency call. He responded immediately, not caring
who saw, "Bert here, wh..."
"Never mind that Bert!" Priss' image said, startling several
people who were now watching this unexpected conversation. "Get to
the hospital right now. Nene's in trouble and it looks like she's
dying."
Bert didn't wait but ran out of the door before anyone in the
office could comment.
***
add
***
Bert crashed through door after door of the hospital, alarming
many doctors and nurses along the way. He didn't care, all that
mattered was getting to Nene's room. Praying feverently inside his
head, he desperately hoped with all his soul that what was happening
wasn't true. It COULDN'T be true!
However, despite the pleas to God, Destiny, or whatever
Persons Up There that should be listening, when he reached his
objective the sight that stabbed him through the heart was all too
painfully real. Through the viewing window, Bert could see doctors and
nurses frantically trying to save the too-still red-headed form on
the hospital bed. It was painfully plain to see that Nene was slowly
slipping away from life, from friends, and, most heart-wrenchingly,
from Bert.
Priss, Linna, and Sylvie, who had managed by some miracle to get
there before him, instantly grabbed him and just barely stopped his
forward momentum mere feet away from the door to the room that held
Nene.
"Bert! Stop! You can't help her now!" Sylvie pleaded.
"The HELL I can't!" he shouted, tears beginning to form in his
eyes. "I..."
"You think WE fuckin' like standing out here like this?! What do
you THINK you can bloody well do??" Priss demanded, driving truth like
another spike into Bert's already wounded heart and hating herself
for doing it, but she had no choice if Bert was to be stopped.
Bert tried to get through them once more while Priss talked,
then slumped in defeat, knowing his heart-sister was right. "I can't
just stand here," Bert said, his voice heavy with the helplessness he
was feeling. Even with all the powers he had gained, none of them
would save the life of the one closest to his heart.
Sympathy and similar grief was in Linna's eyes but she held her
voice steady. "Sylia will be here soon. We just happened to be visiting
when it happened." She blinked and sudden tears flowed down her
cheeks. "It came so suddenly we didn't believe it at first. We can't do
anything but wait, Bert." Linna released him, and cautiously the
others followed suit, not letting their own grief distract them.
Unsteadily, Bert walked over to the glass and blankly gazed at
the furious but silent activity of the medical staff. He slowly
brought up a fist and pounded once on the transparent barrier.
"I...feel so helpless," he whispered as the others protectively
gathered close behind him.
"She's been in that damn coma for a week, now..." Priss choked,
and tried hopelessly to hold back her own tears, feeling that to shed
them would only confirm the fact that one of her best friends was
dying. "That bastard who did this is gonna pay."
"Oh yes," Bert said in the deadliest tone of voice the other
Knight Sabers had ever heard.
"Do not give in to the Dark Side, my students!" commanded a
sharp voice that only Bert and Linna heard. "There is always hope in
life!" Only Linna turned to see Yoda behind them in the room. He was
wearing a solemn expression on his face, quite unlike his usual
joviality.
"Shut up, Yoda," Bert stated furiously, not looking away from
what he could see of Nene's face. "Does it fucking LOOK like there's
hope?" From what the male member of the Knight Sabers could tell,
things in the other room weren't improving at all, in fact they were
getting more frenzied.
"There is always hope," Yoda repeated, making Linna wonder why
the little green Jedi teacher created from Bert's mind had chosen to
appear now. "Hope stems from the Force. And the Force comes from all
living beings. Your friends strengthen you as do your allies. They
help you with their love, their determination, and their unspoken, or
spoken, promises of aid. That gives you strength."
Priss and Sylvie couldn't hear Yoda, but knew from experience
that Linna and Bert did. Whatever the Master had said, made Bert whirl
around furiously, about to make a scathing, blistering verbal retort.
Then he froze, and slowly anger changed to something Priss couldn't
quite figure out. It seemed a mix of disbelief, uncertainty, rising
hope, and other emotions she had more trouble deciphering.
"Now you see clearly, my pupil." Yoda smiled, then disappeared.
Linna turned to Bert, plainly confused by Yoda's words and
Bert's reactions. "'See clearly'? What did he mean by that?" she asked
him.
"Linna, Priss, Sylvie..." Bert quickly said, knowing Nene didn't
have much time left, but wild faith told him told him that this was his
love's only chance. "I know this is going to sound crazy...but I need to
get to Nene and for you to get everyone else out."
"What?!?" all three women chorused disbelievingly.
"Please!" Desperation gave him strength in his voice. "If I have
to I'll summon my suit but I NEED you to do this!!"
"What are you going to do?" Priss demanded, thinking he'd gone
off the deep end.
"I'm not sure. But it's Nene's only chance!"
Priss stared at him for a few seconds, studying her heart-
brother carefully. He seemed halfway confident that whatever he was
planning would work, and that was a damned sight better than what she
saw in Nene's room right now. Still...
"Help him. It will save your friend."
Priss didn't turn but she knew the voice. Master Skywalker.
"Sonava..." she swore as she knew she couldn't fight both of them like
this and certainly not with Nene's life hanging in the balance. "Dammit!
Okay, you win." Sylvie and Linna looked like they might protest but
quieted when Priss glared at them.
Bert sighed out with relief. Now for the easy part, and then...
***
"And I say you can't DO this!" one of the doctors protested, but
a close humming lightsaber in Priss' hand killed his protests handily.
"But she's going to die without our medical treatment!"
"She's dying WITH it too," the determined singer countered. "It's
our turn now so MOVE it." And she got the rest out off the room after
that.
Linna hung behind after she had closed the shutters on the
viewing window to prevent anyone from seeing in. "Are you sure...?"
she said, hesitantly.
"Yes," Bert answered firmly, and smiled faintly. "Trust me, I know
what I'm doing."
Perversely, she felt comforted by the phase usually used
before he got into trouble. "I hope this works," she said before she
left the room, closing the door behind her.
"Me too," Bert whispered, watching her leave before turning to
Nene.
It was a scene from one of his worst nightmares. Save for head
and arms she was covered by an antiseptic white sheet. Electrodes
were strapped to her arms and forehead and several machines
monitored her slowly dropping vital signs. What made his heart pound
fearfully was her too-pale face, made even more pallid by her slightly
dulled, but still very red, hair.
He stumbled over to stand over her and gripped one limp hand
with his gentle two. Bert prayed this would work. No. It HAD to.
"I wish I could say something right now, Nene, but you how I feel
about you and there's not much time." He took a deep breath and called
for a promise to be answered, and talked into the air to someone else
that was not in the room, not even in the same universe. "Hey! I may
not be in danger, but I WILL DIE if NENE does!!" he shouted with all his
pent-up emotions, throwing himself into his call.
"TWISTER!!! I NEED YOUR HELP!!!"
***
A figure walked slowly across a rocky landscape. This was a
desert unlike any other for no one could exist upon it without the
protection of a spacesuit. For the terrain was red, red as most of
the lifeless planet known as Mars.
The figure was indeed wearing a spacesuit, but it was unlike the
bulky spacesuits created in the twentieth century. It was form
fitting and movement was made much easier as a result. Still, not many
of the few humans living on the red planet would feel very safe
walking alone like this. Save one, and he had good reason, both for
feeling safe and for walking.
Suddenly, the figure stopped and straightened, as if listening
to something totally unexpected. Then vanished.
The barren landscape was empty once more.
***
"TWI..." Bert began to cry again, but the shout died in his throat
when a humanoid figure in what appeared to be some kind of advanced
flight or space suit. The mirrorshade helmet visor prevented him from
seeing inside. He stared stupidly at the person until the stranger
hurried through some kind of quick helmet removal procedure. When the
helmet came off, Bert nearly fainted with relief.
Twister had come.
Chapter ???
-----------
Looking at him with green-brown eyes like his own, the newcomer
shook his brown-haired head in disbelief. "I never thought THAT would
happen when I gave you my word. What's the matter, Bert?" Twister
said, worried about why the red-head had called him and surprised
that he had been dragged instantaneously, with little warning, from
the universe he had been in.
All Bert could manage was say "Nene" and direct Twister's
attention to the love of his life that was dying with a shaking finger.
The young-looking psionist followed his finger and his eyes
widened with shock when he saw who it was and why Bert had called him.
"Stardust!" Twister cursed, seeing how close to the edge the young
woman was, and leaped forwards to place two hands on either side of
Nene's face. A blue aura immediately started shining from the hands
and seemed to seep into the still girl's body, Twister closing his eyes
as he gave healing energy to her weary body.
Helpless, Bert could only watch and pray as he continued to hold
Nene's limp hand. After a few seconds, her vital signs could be seen to
slowly increase, lifting Bert's cloud of gloomy depression
considerably.
Which almost descended again when Twister removed his hands
with a concerned frown. "What the hell is the matter?! Keep going!!"
Bert snarled.
"It's not working," Twister said, holding up a hand to ward off
Bert's furious questions, and in a commanding manner that gave Bert
pause as he had never seen his friend react like that before. "Look.
Her stats are dropping again." Bert's heart dropped when he saw
Twister was right. "Her body isn't the problem." Hesitating, he told
the reason why. "It's HER."
"WHAT?!?!" was Bert's incredulous response.
"For some reason she doesn't want to live," Twister explained.
"It could be for a good reason or a stupid one, but either way the
result is the same. Even if I return her body to full health, she'll
just get worse again."
Bert digested this, then remembered what his friend could do.
"You've got psionic powers! Use them! Talk to her, please!"
"You know I don't like telepathy. I've never done this before,"
Twister said, but his tone betrayed him and he knew it.
So did Bert. "Do it," he ordered with determination in his voice.
Twister sighed and reached out again, only this time he used one
hand and touched her forehead.
That was what Bert saw.
For Twister, it was something quite different.
***
For a moment, there was a sensation of falling through infinite
blackness.
Then Twister stood upon a white floor that was everywhere, or
so he noticed when he looked around. The sky was a drab gray with a
few slightly less drab clouds here and there. There was nothing else
he could see.
"Great," he sourly observed to himself, and was somewhat
surprised to hear himself like he was really in reality. "Now what do I
do? Mental contact was never like THIS before." He sighed in
frustration; there might not be much time left. "Analyze later. I've got
to find Nene."
As soon as he said that, the scenery shifted. Now he stood in an
even gloomier room that had only one door, which was directly ahead
of him. There was faint sound of a girl crying coming from the other
side of the door. "Whoa," he said, surprised at what had happened.
"Guess I'd better be careful what I say, and want. This is all in the
mind," he reminded himself. Twister reached for the door, then checked
himself; he needed some sort of plan before he faced Nene. Would she
listen to a stranger?
Or maybe...would she listen to herself?
Nene sat in a replica of her apartment.
It was home. A place of safety, of security.
Now it was a retreat. She sat on one of her chairs and was
crying non-stop, as was possible when one was in one's mind. Over and
over, she imagined waking up and succumbing to the drugs, telling all
she knew to the Knight Saber's enemies. Dooming all her closest
friends, and Bert! Nene couldn't bear the thought of that. Over and
over she imagined them dying and all of it HER fault! She couldn't let
that happen! She wouldn't! But she knew she couldn't resist. There was
only one way to save her friends.
She wanted to die.
The door opened and closed, but Nene didn't pay any attention
to it, too far into her grief and despair to notice. That changed when
she felt a tap on her shoulder. Her tear-streaked face snapped up in
shocked surprise, and stared.
There was a second Nene standing in front of her!!
And this one wasn't crying, she was frowning. "What ARE you
doing?" her double demanded crossly. Her twin looked ready to go to
work, neatly dressed in her normal ADPolice wear. She looked annoyed
at the seated Nene, fists on hips and glowering at her.
"What?" Nene said, confused by the question and situation.
"What are you DOING!?" her twin said again, more loudly. "We've
been rescued! Why are you still moping around here?" She waved
indicating the room.
"Who are YOU?" Nene asked, getting irritated at being treated
like this. "Rescued? How?!"
"I'm YOU!" her twin declared, pointing at a freshly startled Nene.
"Or more accurately, I'm your subconscious mind and I've been paying a
lot more attention to outside than YOU apparently have. Hmph!" She
crossed her arms and turned her face away from Nene. "The others
have been worried sick and here we are lying like a sack of potatoes
wailing needlessly to herself."
"HEY!" Nene angrily stood up and faced her twin. "If you're my
subconscious mind you should be nicer to me!"
"Then wake up already," Nene's double shot back. She looked down
quickly then grinned impishly. "After all, we've still got to finish
planning the wedding," she said knowingly, nodding down at the ring
Bert had given her. "After all, he DID give you the ring."
Nene blushed. "Oh, right. You should know that I knew." The
sudden mischievous sparkle in her twin's eye made her flush further.
"So I suspected he didn't plan it! He did give me the ring!"
Her twin smothered a grin. "That's so. Well, if you're going to
wake up I'd best be going." She turned and walked to the door. Before
she left, she smiled back at Nene and said, "Make sure you give him a
BIG kiss when we wake up!" The door closed behind her, leaving Nene
alone with her renewed blush.
Her subconscious was certainly eager!
Said 'subconscious' slumped on the other side of the door,
relieved to be done. The form of Nene shimmered and then snapped back
into Twister.
"Whew!" he burst out. Nene hadn't suspected, and he had managed
to stay in her shape the whole time. Convincing her that she could
wake up had been easy, trying to keep Nene's form had been the
difficult part. He had had to believe he actually WAS Nene's
subconscious at one point to keep stable. She would recover, and now
Twister finally could get out of her mind.
He imagined withdrawing from her mind and...left.
***
When Twister opened his eyes, he knew only a few moments had
passed in real-time.
"What's wrong? Why did you stop?" Bert asked worriedly, looking
at Nene then Twister and back again. Was it his imagination or did
Nene's skin look like it had lost some of it's pallor?
"I'm done. The rest is up to Nene," Twister answered him, giving
the incredulous Bert a tired grin. "Hey, you know I work fast when I
have to," he joked.
"So she's..."
"Going to be just fine, Bert." He blinked as a wave of weariness
washed through him. "Do you have anyplace I can crash? I wasn't
exactly ready to do this, though I have no regrets in THAT respect."
Having just saved Nene's life, Bert would have given the
psionist his SkyKnight hardsuit, softsuit and all. "Remember me
telling you about my archery club?" Seeing Twister nod, Bert gave him
the address. "The city should be close enough to your Mega-Tokyo
that you can find your way easily." Now that Nene was out of danger,
and he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, Bert finally realized fully
what Twister was wearing. "What on earth are you wearing anyway?"
"Not Earth," Twister corrected, collecting his helmet from where
he had dropped it. "Mars. It's been over fifteen years since I saw you
last," looking at the stunned Bert carefully, he added, "for me, that
is. You don't look much different so it's likely been a few months for
you." He held up his hand before Bert could say a word. "Later. I'll see
you at the club." And with that, he teleported away.
Bert stood in stunned silence until a soft female mumble caught
his entire attention. He leaned close as, wonderingly, he saw the most
beautiful face in the world slowly open her eyes.
"B-Bert?" she weakly said, wondering if she was still dreaming
that strange dream. He stared into her eyes for a moment, then
fiercely embraced her in a hug, dislodging quite a few of the
electrodes on her arms.
"Nene," he whispered. "Thank God you're all right. I thought... I
thought...I'd never talk to you again." His voice broke.
Gently, Nene lifted her arms and hugged him close in return.
"Never, my gallant knight in shining armour," she whispered right back.
Their tender moment together lasted until the door banged open
and a furiously concerned Sylia, several doctors, Priss, Linna, and
Sylvie rushed into the room. "Dammit, Bert! What the hell are you
DOING!?" Sylia burst out. "Nene is...is...is..." she trailed off when she
noticed Bert, looking guilty, AND Nene, looking very much awake,
watching her. Her jaw dropped, it being the last one as everyone else
behind her had done so mid-way during her first sentence.
"Hi, Sylia," Nene said, smiling impishly at the humorous sight.
The doctors were almost trampled as Priss, Linna, and Sylvie
ran over to her.
***
<Add other stuff here>
***
Hollister paced around the office. Doc watched him do so for
many minutes before shaking his head.
"So you didn't get what you wanted and the girl was rescued.
There are still many things we haven't tried that might work better."
Doc shook his head. "Perhaps something a touch more subtle perhaps?"
"Damn it!" Hollister stopped and angrily slammed a palm onto the
desk. "We could've got so much from that girl! But SkyKnight and the
Knight Sabers managed to rescue her before we could get anything!" He
scowled as he contemplated a map of Mega-Tokyo on the wall. "She held
on longer than I thought possible."
"For what it's worth, I believe she was beginning to react
adversely to the drugs," Doc pointed out to his furious boss. "The
results would have been the same."
"We would have still had the girl," Hollister retorted.
"True," Doc conceded, acknowledging the point. "But our failure
to keep her only proves that we were not ready. We need more
RELIABLY accurate information on the Jedi."
Hollister was about to question him when a tech rushed in. "Sir!
The bugs on the new building just registered an intruder!"
Immediately, Hollister and Doc rushed out the door to join a
small group of men who were keeping track on all the listening and
viewing spy equipment scattered around Mega- Tokyo in order to track
Bert. However, they focused mainly on the club that their target
owned and operated. So far they had managed only listening devices
but they were sufficient to be able to find out the comings and goings
of people. Right now, the club was closed as it's owner was away at the
moment. Which made a visitor a very curious thing.
"Why didn't our external sensors warn us?" Hollister queried a
technician.
"Because there was nobody outside, sir," was the immediate
reply, the helpless expression on his face told the leader that the
man spoke the truth.
Doc raised an eyebrow. "And yet he just 'appeared' inside?
Fascinating."
"Turn up the volume," Hollister ordered. "If he says anything I
want to hear it." The tech complied.
The sensitivity was such that they could hear the unknown
visitor's footsteps on the wooden floor. Then...
"Nice place, Bert. I should've visited sooner," the stranger
commented to himself. It was male, sounded young, but with something
out of place in the voice that neither Hollister nor Doc could quite
define. "Still, I've been so caught up with things the last fifteen
years..." The young man's sigh echoed in the room, so did the chuckle
following it. "After my experiences one would think... that..." The voice
trailed off, and then...
"Damn. That took too..."
SCCCCCCQQQUUURRREEEERRRKKKK!!!!!
"TURN IT DOWN!!!" Hollister bellowed needlessly as the tech was
already reaching for the dial. The static's volume quickly died to
bearable levels. Doc and Hollister looked at each other and in silent
agreement went back to the office. Doc closed the door and sat back
in his chair.
"Whomever he was, he found our bugs," Hollister said, a frown on
his face.
"Rather quickly too," Doc commented. "But the things he
mentioned before he discovered them were very interesting, as was
whatever he used to destroy the bugs."
"Another Jedi?" was Hollister's sour reply.
"It seems likely. One with the ability to know when he is being
watched, perhaps? And that comment about 'fifteen years'? He sounded
to be in his early twenties, if that." Doc smiled as another piece to
his puzzle fell into place. "Seven years old when he met our Mr. Bert?
That seems most unlikely. He is older than he sounds."
Hollister snapped his fingers, surprising Doc. "That's where I've
heard that quality in a man's voice!" Seeing Doc's quizzical look, he
elaborated with a smile. "In soldiers who have been in several hard
wars for a very long time. You're right, he must be older. It feels
right."
With a wry twist on his lips, Doc rolled his eyes. "Now we have
another to spy on. And considering what he did to THESE bugs I think
we're going to find different ways to spy on HIM. Whomever he may be."
"Don't worry," Hollister said with a malicious grin. "I plan to get
all these damn bastards who are getting in my way."
Doc inclined his head, giving his superior his support.
***
<Add stuff>
***
Bert closed the door behind him with enough force that his
guest should have heard it.
"Bert?" the familiar voice called curiously from somewhere in
the club.
"Yup!" he happily called back, buoyed still by the happy recovery
of Nene. "Where are you?"
"Archery range," came the reply.
"Don't move. I'll be there in a second." He smiled when he heard
the affirmative response.
Still, he wondered over some of those rather bizarre comments
Twister had made in the hospital. Also, that futuristic space suit the
psionist was wearing at the time was damned odd as well. He suspected
that the other had traveled into yet another universe and was fairly
curious which one.
When he walked into the range, he saw Twister was still in that
space getup, minus the helmet, and holding an arrow at the feathered
end. Before he could comment, his brown- haired friend threw the
arrow. It shot through the air as if it had been launched from a bow
and thudded into a target at the other end of the range.
Bert stared at the target for a moment, the image settling in,
then doubled over with laughter. Twister hadn't been aiming for the
exact enter of the target. Rather he had just made the finishing
touch on a pattern formed from many arrows. One the target was now a
big smiley face like those in 'Have a Nice Day' stickers.
Recovering, he remarked with a smile, "Cute. But you're supposed
to use a BOW to shoot arrows." The display of ability didn't surprise
him as Twister had been trained by Ranma in Anything-Goes Martial
Arts and THAT was an unusual fighting style to say the least. Like
Ranma, it appeared that he didn't have much trouble using unorthodox
methods.
Twister slapped a head to his forehead. "Doh! I knew I forgot
something."
"Don't you have a perfect memory?" Bert grinned.
"Shoot." Twister snapped his fingers and sighed. "Oh, well, I
stand revealed. Yes, I did it on purpose." He hung his head. "The shame
of it all."
Bert stepped up and patted his shoulder sympathetically. "Don't
worry, I won't tell anyone."
Twister began bowing profusely. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank
you." Then he straightened with a grin. "God that feels good."
Raising his eyebrows, Bert wondered what that meant. "Oh, so?
Do you mind telling me now where you've been? And why I haven't been
invited to your wedding?"
"What about yours?" He grinned at Bert's double-take.
"How did you...? You didn't...?" Bert relaxed then. "You got that
from Nene, right?"
"She probably thought I was just her imagination but she DID
tell me," Twister admitted, still grinning. "After I told her I knew
about it." He didn't mention EVERYTHING but that was Nene's secret,
not his.
"WAITaminute," Bert demanded, narrowing his eyes, a strong
suspicion forming. "Just HOW did you know?"
"After you told me to make the ring," Twister admitted.
Bert was speechless. "You... KNEW... that..."
"...she would think that you wanted to marry her? Of course!"
Twister grinned back at Bert's growing murderous look. "What does ANY
female think when she sees a DIAMOND ring? Even one that is such
because of a curse. It was painfully obvious, except to you. My only
regret is that I wasn't there to see you give her the ring." He
chuckled at the image.
"I can't believe I fell for that," Bert muttered.
"YOU told me to make it," Twister pointed out helpfully.
"Okay, then, that makes things MUCH simpler," Bert sarcastically
shot back. "I owe you for not warning me," then Bert sighed, "But after
saving Nene's life I guess I can't string you up by the ankles."
"I'm relieved," Twister wryly said. "Besides, ANY Nene is worth
saving."
"Amen!" Bert feverently seconded. "And I notice we have gotten
WAY off topic of my original question. Namely: what happened to you?"
Twister looked at him in a somber way, and he was reminded that the
psionist had said it had been fifteen YEARS for Twister. A lot must
have happened.
"Well, I did go back to my home universe for a while." Twister
sighed fondly. "I hardly used any of my powers for almost a year, with
a few highlights here and there, and after several years of craziness
this was a relief. Unfortunately," he rolled his eyes, "I started
getting restless and started several events goings that eventually
had me telling a few of my friends about what had happened to me.
Psionics first, of course. The good thing, or bad thing depending on
your point of view, was that they were Anime fans and earlier that
year introduced me to a lot more anime than BGC and Ranma. Knowing
that those two are real made it...interesting.
"They wanted to see for themselves, of course, so I took two to
Ah! My Goddess first, then Tenchi Muyu." Twister grinned at Bert's
stare. "Word of advice: DON'T tick off Ryoko. Anyway, everything went
pretty well, but I had told them I would decide the next universe and
that I would go ahead first to get things set up." Past pain came up on
Twister's face but quickly fled. His mood became less cheerful as he
continued. "Choosing a Gundam-type of universe was a mistake, but I
didn't think so at the time. A war was going on between Earth and most
of the space colonies. Earth was losing, and," he grimaced, "the other
side's philosophies were not pretty towards Earthlings. I got involved
after a pilot killed a friend of mine along with her three year old son
with a beam rifle while her seven year old daughter watched and
myself arriving just in time to see them die."
At that point, the look on Twister's face sent shudders down
Bert's spine. He had a sinking feeling what was next.
"The shock was considerable. I killed him," Twister said with
absolutely no emotion in his voice. "Then took over his Mobile Suit and
managed to finish off his partner. Semi-officially I joined the United
Earth Alliance and became a Mobile Suit pilot. I became quite well
known to the enemy." From the look on his face and knowing what he was
capable of Bert didn't doubt it. "But it wasn't enough, I needed more of
an edge and managed to persuade some officials to construct a Gundam
unit designed, with my help, for me. When it was finished...I made quite
an impression.
"Bert, all that time I stayed male. I avoided cold water like the
plague and my personality became more and more chilly. Now I know
that switching forms is necessary for me; I seem to slide to extremes
if I don't, and the fact that I never reconciled the death of my friend
didn't help. Her sister, who was concerned about my behaviour, found
out about my secret and managed to keep me female long enough for my
emotional dams to break." Twister smiled wryly at Bert. "I was much
more bearable after that. After the war, I left to set up a base on
Mars; that Earth held too many bad memories and some rogue colonies
might've headed for the asteroid belt.
"That's why I was on Mars."
"That...sounded rough," Bert understated.
"And that's why I'm saying this: if you let ye stay in this
universe so I can lighten up some more, I swear, by my word, that I will
not use my psionic powers at all while I visit unless a life is in
danger. Will ye let me?"
"Are you sure about this?"
"Will ye?"
"Aye, I do, fellow knight."
Twister breathed out in relief. "Thank you, Bert. I just don't
want to use my psionics for a while. And," he seemed to concentrate
for a moment but nothing happened, his face brightened, "it appears
that it worked! I had hoped it would. Great!"
"Uh huh," Bert noncommittally said. "And where exactly are you
going to stay?"
"Ummm....do you need an assistant for this place?" Twister
sheepishly asked.
Bert threw up his hands. "I should've known. Fortunately for
you," he grinned, "I do need someone here now, especially since I'm an
ADP Inspector. I just hope you can put up with Anri's efficiency."
Twister's eyebrow raised. "You? A member of the ADP? Don't you
see enough of Nene on her off hours?"
At that Bert flushed, causing the brown haired young man to
chuckle at the others discomfiture. "Ahem. Getting back to that, I
think I should get you some clothes. Wearing that suit would raise
some eyebrows around here."
Bert left the room and quickly came back with a suit bag as well
as a small pitcher of water. Not giving Twister a chance to ask why he
had brought the water, Bert dumped it on the psionist's head. "Well, I
think these will fit you now," He chuckled at a wet, glaring Darlene.
"The only clothes around here that I had access to and might possibly
fit were for your female form. I hope you can stand to wear one of
Nene's ADP uniforms until we get to my apartment."
Darlene continued to glare at him and calmly stated, "You're
enjoying this, aren't you?"
Bert looked up at the ceiling in complete innocence and whistled.
Darlene started to giggle, unable to keep up the pretense of
being angry. "Well, at least this'll be familiar." Then she remembered
something and dug into one of the pockets of the now-baggy
spacesuit. "Oh yeah, did you know you were being bugged?"
"Say what?!"
Darlene pulled out several tiny electronic devices and held
them out on her palm. Bert stared at the little eavesdroppers, then
started swearing impressively. "I guess you didn't," she observed
belatedly, seeing his reaction.
"No, I didn't," he grated out. "Could I have those?" Darlene
shrugged and dumped the eavesdropping devices into his hand.
"I...ah...guess I'd better change," she said, shifting in the baggy
spacesuit that was now much too large for her. "Um...could you double
check to see if you can get some other kind of clothes?"
Bert shook himself out of his contemplation of the listening
devices. "What? Oh, sure, I'll just be a sec." He dumped the burnt-out
bugs into a pocket and left to get the aforementioned clothing.
Darlene sighed, then smiled wryly as she held up a loose glove.
Enchanting her spacesuit to fit in both forms hadn't been a big
priority as loose water was practically nonexistent on Mars base.
Looking around the room curiously, she spotted something and froze.
It was a multi-colored, crystalline-appearing rectangular box,
and it hadn't been there when she had arrived in the room ten minutes
ago. Moreover, she KNEW what it held and a worse time it couldn't have
picked. Flopping hurriedly over in baggy clothes she immediately
grabbed the box. "What are YOU doing here??" she demanded of the box
though she knew she would not get a reply from the Deck, but Darlene
imagined she felt pleasure coming from within. Nervously looking to
make sure Bert hadn't come back, she put the Deck into one of her many
sample pockets. "I guess I was right about you needing to come back to
me every once in a while....but why right now?" she said, sighing.
Darlene had made the thing, but she had accidentally made something
OTHER than what she had expected. Something a lot more powerful than
she had been trying for, and enigmatic to boot.
Bert arrived at that moment, carrying an assorted pile of
clothes. "I just remembered that you told me that you can change
clothes yourself. So... Here you go," he said, presenting them to her
with a flourish, the display making her flush and also the fact that
she had forgotten, it having been so long since she had needed to do
so.
"Would you stop that!" she snapped, grabbing the offering
angrily.
"Sorry, habit." Bert grinned with a shrug.
"Yaright." With a snort, Darlene headed for the bathroom. She
decided she wouldn't worry about the Deck of Tarot. It might even
leave after a few days.
Or so she hoped; the thing still spooked her.
***
add stuff
***
"You know," Bert said as Darlene came out of the change room, "I
should show you the downstairs labs. I have a feeling that you'll want
to try out a few ideas of your own in several areas."
Darlene frowned at that. For her, the past decade hadn't been
all that pleasant. The war, experiencing her own dark emotions, and
the intense sorrow at what she had become had left their marks. Try
as she might to forget her experiences, they were indelibly etched
upon her psyche. Even after the war, she hadn't had much chance to
loosen up as her work in building Mars base had consumed a lot of
time. Darlene didn't want to get into anything serious, just relax a
bit and spend some time with a very good friend. She could see that
Bert was making the offer out of friendship however, not need. Her
instincts gave her the feeling that she would be involved sooner or
later, but she hoped later. Like a year or two.
"Sure, why not? If you built something similar to the setup that
I had back in my Mega-Tokyo then you've probably got quite a large
amount of equipment."
As they headed to the elevator, Bert grinned. "Oh, more than
just a lot of equipment. There was something that I had started
working on before I was taken over to your dimension and that I just
finished the prototype for a couple of days ago. If it works, then we
could build you one as well."
The hidden elevator started down as Darlene wondered what he
was talking about that she might want.
Bert sighed, seeing that she had not worn Nene's uniform but
rather changed some of the pile of surplus clothing to wear. "And I
was wondering what you would look like too."
"Sorry to disappoint you," she said icily.
"Why didn't you?" he asked, honestly curious.
"I didn't want to change Nene's uniform."
"What?"
"Top was too tight."
Bert blushed.
***
add stuff from Genom
***
Darlene's first sight of the underground lair was impressive.
Bert had designed the lighting from the Batman movies and the small
bits of light made the area seem more impressive. Over on one wall
was a set of hardsuits, while another area contained a lab. Several
areas contained small computers and benches and along one wall that
corresponded to the area behind the target range were three
vehicles. Bert's Warhorse, a car reminiscent of the Batmobile but
much sleeker and looking a lot quicker, and an X-Wing fighter.
There also seemed...to....be.....Darlene closed her eyes and
turned back to the vehicles. After counting to ten she then opened
her eyes.
She wasn't seeing things.
There _was_ a brand new X-Wing fighter sitting there.
Whatever there was in her eyes when she turned to the owner of
the cave, it made Bert back up nervously. "Beeeeerrrrrrttttt!" she
said, drawing out his name in incredulous and seriously annoyed
disbelief. "TELL me, you're NOT serious about," she pointed accusingly
at the thing that belonged in another universe far, FAR away, "THAT!"
"Why not?" Bert countered with a smirk and a glint in his eye.
"I've already got Yoda talking to me; I figured I might as well go all
the way."
"Screaming and kicking all the way no doubt," Darlene said dryly.
She scanned the area, and frowned. "Assuming the thing DOES work,
which might bend the laws of possibility a bit," she ignored Bert's
wounded expression, "how are you going to get it out? And UP? Have
you invented repulsors for it?
Blushing a bit, Bert looked at the prototype sitting not far
away. "Well, there's a shaft behind the wall of the archery range, just
big enough for it to get out. She's stabilized by gyroscopes and I
used declassified information on mid to late twentieth century
jumpjets to create a system for it to lift off with. Getting it out of
here isn't the problem." He started to walk towards the X-Wing,
causing her to follow. "The real problem might be getting her back
inside."
Darlene started to rub her eyes. "You mean to tell me you've
got a way to get this thing out of here but no way to get it back in?
What were you planning to do, park it at ADP headquarters or
something?"
Bert grinned. "Why not, I'm already a well known Jedi."
Darlene stopped in her tracks. "WHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAATT!?!" Bert
winced at the volume of the shout, but wasn't surprised after the
reaction the X-Wing had made.
"Do you HONESTLY mean to tell me that you told ADPolice about
your powers?! WHY?? And JEDI??" She covered her face with her hands.
"Oh, God. The worst thing about this is that I started the whole mess."
Darlene lifted her head to glare at a sympathetic Bert. "Is there
anything ELSE, pray tell?"
"Well..." Bert scratched the back of his head. "Priss is a Jedi
too."
Blue eyes widened at that, then disappeared when Darlene put
her face in her hands again in dispair. "Why me? Why, why, why, why
me??" she groaned.
Bert patted her on the shoulder. "There, there," he comforted,
acknowledging to himself that it probably was a shock.
Darlene just groaned again into her hands.
Some time earlier, a waist high metallic unit on three wheels
noticed the new arrival and decided to have a little bit of fun with
the woman who had just entered his world. Sneaking behind her while
she was shouting, he prepared himself to surprise the red-head. Her
reaction to his VERY loud squeal was satisfyingly high. Of course,
knowing how Priss had reacted, the R2 unit moved backwards VERY
quickly before it could end up being kicked across the chamber.
***
<Add>
***
Bert and Darlene had moved over to some seats in front of a
computer terminal. The only male Knight Saber had explained a few
things to the newly-arrived mage.
"So you figure what I had done to you acted as a kind of
catalyst? And since Priss had the potential to become a Jedi, she
started to become one?" Darlene summarized incredulously.
"That's about right," Bert agreed. "Though I don't know where she
got the training from; which still bothers me."
"Where did YOU get the training from, Bert?"
"Yoda, but..." Bert stopped when he considered that. "You don't
think HE trained her? She can't even SEE him," he protested.
She shrugged. "Maybe someone else is. If YODA can appear, why
not something else? Anyway," she said, changing the topic, "I guess
the Force could be a mix of magic and mind; it certainly makes sense.
But if Priss is a Jedi now, unlikely as that sounds to me, that means
it's growing. Weird."
"My sister would agree with you."
"Sister?! But..." Darlene stopped and took a few deep breaths.
"Y'know, if you start calling her Leia I'm OUT of here." She threw her
arms up in the air. "By starting this, I guess that makes me Darth
Vader."
Bert chuckled. "I'll have to get out that mask sometime to see
how it fits on you. But the cape might be a little short on you right
now."
Darlene stared at him, then finally started laughing so hard
tears were flowing down her cheeks. Bert laughed along with her. After
a moment, she calmed down. "B-But was the X- Wing REALLY necessary?"
she managed with a giggle, wiping the wetness off her face.
"No Jedi should be without one," he affirmed, then gave in under
her knowing grin. "Well, maybe not. But I wanted to."
"One favor," Darlene said. Bert looked curiously at her. "When
you show that thing to the others, I want to be there." His expression
of trepidation made her laugh. "I may play around later, but right now
let's discuss where I should stay and, since I'll be working for you, my
salary." The predatory grin on her face made Bert even more anxious
than before, and he remembered Nabiki's reputation with money was
almost legendary.
"Right," he said, and sighed. "Do you want me to deal with
records?"
Darlene eyed the computers. "No... I'll hack into the necessary
computers. I could use the practice. May I?" she asked, fingers
hovering over the keyboard.
"Who am I to condone necessary violations of the law?" Bert
said. "Go ahead."
"Great," Darlene said, smiling at him before proceeding to tear
apart security measures left and right, fingers flying across the
keys.
It was an aching reminder of Nene, making him smile as the
memory of his red-headed girlfriend recovering came up. He hoped she
wasn't having much trouble getting out of the hospital.
And as for the one who put her there...
He let dark thoughts flit though his mind as he watched Darlene.
***
add
***
Priss had just arrived at the range and was parking her bike
when Leon came up. "Hi Leon, how's things?"
Leon just looked at Priss, slightly annoyed with her. Somehow,
by being with her and Bert when they had rescued Nene, he had been
designated the department's expert on Jedi. Priss' actions during the
last couple of days, in which she had been searching for Hollister on
her own, had filtered into the department. The Chief had been livid
this morning about the disturbance it had caused, and told him, in no
uncertain terms, that he was to talk with Priss and get her to calm
down. Either that or get her to also join the police department.
"Priss, why the hell did you chase those morons last night? I
know you want to get a hold of Hollister and his people but don't you
think igniting a lightsaber while traveling over one hundred and fifty
kilometres an hour is a bit idiotic? You know how many complaints ADP
and THP received from motorists thinking that you were a boomer of
some kind?"
Priss looked up and started walking for the entrance, "And I'm
fine too. Sheesh. Capture a couple of crooks who might have
something to do with that weaponry organization and you go nuts."
Leon matched her, stride for stride, "Nuts? You're kidding
right? I know you didn't do anything illegal, but could you at least TRY
not to make so much of a scene?"
"Hey can I..." she broke off as Bert walked out of the door with a
cute red-head that seemed familiar for some reason. "Hi, Bert.
Leaving so soon?"
Bert looked up at Priss and saw Leon beside her. He had to
think fast, "For now. I'm just going to drop Darlene at my apartment
and then get back to work. I still have to finish off the shift."
Priss remembered where she had seen her before. It was the
same young woman that had given her the new bike and the armbands.
"Nice to see you again Darlene." she grinned evilly, "There are a few
things I wanted to talk to you about when Bert went to visit you.
Specifically: why Natsumi was so eager to move here."
Darlene started. "Natsumi? Here? You're kidding, right?"
Bert flushed. "Ummm. Not really. She moved to the city a couple
of months ago."
Darlene turned to Bert. "I think that you and I will be having a
VERY long conversation so that you can fill me in on a few things."
Meanwhile, Leon was looking at the red headed girl. Even with
her eyes flashing like that, she was pretty to look at, and how Bert
was affected by that gaze was somewhat amusing. "Wait a second, you
haven't introduced me to the young lady yet. Who is she?"
Bert turned to Leon, "Oh, sorry about that. Leon McNichol meet
my cousin, Darlene Stefanson. Darlene, Leon."
Priss's lips started to crinkle at the sides. "You know, Leon,
since our cousin just arrived, why don't you take her out for dinner
tonight? She's never been to Mega- Tokyo before and I'm sure that
she'll want to compare the sights to things that she has seen in
pictures."
Leon smiled, and took Darlene's hand, which he had just started
to shake, and kissed the back of it. This enabled him to completely
miss the look she had given Priss which said 'I'll get you for this.'
*Great! First one Priss majorly embarrasses me with Leon and now
another one is trying to do the same thing. Deities! How do I get into
these situations?!*
Looking up from where he was kissing her hand, he asked Darlene,
"M'lady, would you be so kind as to permit me the honour of treating
you to dinner and show you the sights of this fair city?"
Darlene grimaced, "Not you too! First him and his old fashioned
chivalry and now you! What is it? Contagious or something?"
"Look who's talking," Bert muttered quietly, which earned him a
glare from Darlene who had heard.
Leon was waiting for a reply so she turned back to him. "Well, I'd
say yes..."
"Great!" Leon exclaimed, interrupting her. "You'll be at Bert's,
right? I got to go now but I'll come by around seven. See you then!" He
gave the stunned Darlene a beaming smile before hurrying away.
"...but I'll be busy for the rest of the week," Darlene said,
weakly finishing what she had planned to say. Priss and Bert were both
doubled over, laughing, earning them a laser glare from the flushing
red-head. "Oh, THANKS, Priss. Thanks a LOT. Why did you DO that?!"
she demanded.
"Nothing personal," Priss chuckled, "I just needed to give Leon
another girl to go after." She examined the scowling Darlene. "So
you're the one who started all the weirdness with Bert?"
"No, that was when he was born. I just added a little more."
"Hey!" Bert protested, while Priss chuckled. "I object to that
slander."
"Sorry," she said, apologizing. Then she smiled at Priss, making
the singer uneasy all of a sudden. "It's nice to meet you, Priss. And
while you're not the Priss I knew, I think I should tell you something.
She and I sometimes played jokes on one another and, well, let's just
say I plan to get you back for getting me stuck with Leon." She
shivered a little, remembering something unpleasant. Why Leon again?
Priss' expression turned uncertain as she recalled again some
of the things Bert had told everyone. "Ah... It's not that bad, really."
"Uh huh. Arranging a date for an engaged person. Right."
As Priss' eyes widened at that news, Bert stepped in. "Why has
that taken so long anyhow? You said you've been away for over ten
years."
"I've been a LITTLE distracted, Bert. Besides, it's not like
they're waiting long, universal travel the way it is." Darlene gave a
sheepish grin. "I don't think Nabiki and Lotion would mind me looking
older; you know how slow I'm aging. Ten years isn't much. And there are
some," she blushed, "other things Nabiki asked me to do, along with
what I need to figure out." Bert nodded, grinning slightly as he
speculated what Nabiki had all asked.
Priss, however, was not so calm. "Waitaminute! Do you mean
you're engaged to TWO women?!?" she said incredulously.
Darlene blushed even redder. "It was not MY idea."
"Knowing Lotion and the reason for your...ah...aversion to her, I
can see why." Bert shook his head, not envying his friend's position.
"Say...is that one of the reasons..."
"NO!!" Darlene shouted, then blushed at their surprised
reactions. "Can we get off the topic, please? What about Natsumi? You
said she was here?"
Now it was Bert's turn to flush. "Uh...yeah."
Darlene sighed. "Can't you just tell her no?" Then she shook her
head. "Forget I said that. This is Natsumi, and she's REALLY
determined to have you if she came here."
"'Have you?'" Priss echoed, then grinned and gave Bert a nudge.
"Why, Bert! You sly devil! Captured another woman's heart, did you?"
Panic in his eyes, Bert said, "Priss! It was an accident!" His face
drained of color as he thought of something truly terrifying. "DON'T
tell Nene! Please!"
"Well..." Priss drawled out.
Darlene shook her head. "Nene will find out sooner or later,
Bert. Better sooner, given Natsumi's a magic-user. I guess I'll have to
find and talk to her too," she sighed.
Bert wasn't happy, but resolved to put a cheerful face on.
"She's easy to find. But I'd better get you to my place right now." He
grinned mischievously. "After all, you need time to get ready for your
date tonight."
"I did NOT need the reminder," Darlene growled, determined to
get Priss back for that as she looked speculatively at the singer
then resolutely walked away with Bert.
Priss didn't know why, but she had a feeling that doing that to
Darlene might have brought more trouble than she was ready for. Then
she grinned to herself as she recalled the red-headed girl's face
when Leon had trapped her; whatever happened, it was worth getting
Leon permanently off her back. He was a nice guy, and a good friend,
but NOT a date the singing Jedi wanted. As to Darlene's arrival...she
decided to let the others find out on their own. Bert would likely
introduce her soon anyway.
Humming, she went to her motorcycle. It was a great day for a
ride.
***
add
***
add
***
Darlene was irritated. She hadn't wanted to have a date with
LEON of all people, but this was almost as bad. He'd asked her out and,
reluctantly, she'd gotten as ready as she thought was possible,
experience on the opposite side being zero, when he had come to pick
her up. They were even eating at a restaurant, for crying out loud.
But now...
"Leon," she said crossly. No response. "Earth to Leon," she said
again, more loudly and this time she got through.
He started. "Huh? Oh, sorry," he said sheepishly when he saw
Darlene frowning at him. "Just thinking about work."
"Gee, if you're that passionately involved with your job, why
take me out then? Just move into your office, get a pillow for the
desk, and you're set for life." When she saw his face redden, she
relented. "I'm sorry; I get a little sarcastic at times."
Leon sighed and shook his head. "No, it's not your fault. I
haven't exactly shown you a good time by drifting off, have I?"
She cocked her head curiously. "What's the matter anyhow?"
Leaning back in his chair, Leon raked a hand through his hair
with a sigh. "Do you know anything about the state of my department's
equipment from talking with Bert?"
"Before or after the Boomers leave their footprints on it?"
"You know enough," Leon said sourly. "It's bad enough that Jedi
seem heaven-sent for some people in ADPolice. The ones that care
anyhow. Dammit!" He slammed a hand loudly onto the table, anger
bursting to the surface and startling Darlene. "Even with Jedi we
still need better equipment! Too many men die fighting more and more
powerful boomers," he finished grimly.
"Um...Leon?" Darlene said and looked at the rest of the
restaurant. Everyone was staring at their table.
The ADPolice officer finally noticed he had attracted attention
and gave a weak laugh to those watching before turning back to a
slightly blushing Darlene. "Sorry, again," he apologized quietly.
"Why can't you upgrade if you're getting so trampled?"
"Well," Leon rubbed the back of his neck, "it's not as bad now, not
after Chief Ichinohei took over. She's a damn sight more effective
with what we have than the last Chief. But we still get more
casualties than we ought to. Hey," he said, concerned when he saw
Darlene's face fall, "what's wrong?"
"Nothing." Darlene collected herself and smiled reassuringly at
the worried Leon. "Just a memory. Um..." she began uncertainly, then
plunged on, "Is it just budget cuts, or something?"
"Yeah," Leon said, disgusted at the stupidity of politicians.
"Add that they go for the lowest bidder and you have suits that are
good for nothing save using them as a substitute for tinfoil and
making popcorn." He thought Darlene would laugh at the joke, but to
his surprise she looked angry.
"Idiots," she muttered, almost too quietly for Leon to hear but
the fierceness in the words allowed it. At a normal volume, she said,
"What do you do with all the wrecked suits?"
"Ah... If one is damaged beyond repair, we salvage what we can
for the undamaged suits. Otherwise, it's fixed. Why do you ask?" he
asked curiously.
"I have a friend who... knows a lot. He's diverse but I think he's
worked with hardsuits before. I'm pretty sure he could improve your
suits, enough that you'd notice."
That raised Leon's eyebrows. "What's his name?"
Darlene knew she was getting deeper than she should, but she
felt Leon's plight keenly, and it was because he was right that she
had to. "Ah...Darryl Storm, but he prefers to be called Twister." She
hesitated before going on. "You won't find him in records because he
likes being mysterious." True enough.
Leon was dubious. "If he's into illegal..."
"No, no! Nothing like that. He's around seventeen, Leon. He hasn't
really done anything for anybody, but he is good and don't let his age
fool you. Actually, I think you may like him."
"And how did you met this genius?" Leon asked, grinning.
"None of your business," she replied tartly. "I'll get him to call
you tomorrow. And we'd better finish before our food reaches ice age
temperatures." They started to eat, then Darlene paused. "Oh
yeah...there's something else."
"What?"
Darlene grinned impishly. "He's not a Jedi but Twister's a little
like Bert. Knightly behaviour and all that."
"Oh, boy," Leon sighed. "I knew there had to be a catch
somewhere."
THE NEXT DAY...
Mackie was looking at the armbands that his sister had given him
in frustration.
He had spent a very tiring night trying to find a way to pry the
things apart with breaking them after having used several other
means to try to examine the circuitry and other internals of the
devices. While many of the functions could be easily explained with
mesh circuitry and the new molecular circuits that were being
developed, these things were as far beyond that as current
computers were above ENIAC. It was so annoying to have a self-
cloaking technology and not be able to examine it.
What was even more annoying was the fact that they compressed
matter in some manner.
*I suppose it's like that Doctor Who show, with a large inside
comparative to the externals.* Mackie thought, *But what type of
power source could be used to keep such things stable? It can't be
any ordinary technology, and it has to have something to do with the
abilities that Priss and Bert were using, but what?*
He held the under the magnifier, trying once again to discern a
spot that could be opened. The only placed he noticed was near the
diamond, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't figure out how
to pry it open at that point. He was about to give up in disgust when
he noticed the rim. If they disconnected at that point...
"Maybe I could sneak into Bert's new lab and figure out what was
going on." He muttered quietly while wondering if he should also ask
Doctor Raven for his opinions.
***
"I wish I didn't have to go back to work right away." Nene fumed
as she sat next to Bert in the car, "It would have been lovely to take
a few days off so that we could spend them together."
Bert chuckled, "Well, you wouldn't want Chief Inspector Ichinohei
on your case now, would you?"
Nene rolled her eyes. Ever since SkyKnight had first
encountered the Chief Inspector's determined stance to take him into
custody, Bert had been egging her on. There had been several
occasions where SkyKnight had lingered at a scene in order to goad
Hitomi, much to her embarrassment. It had developed into a type of
honourable competition where both of them kept trying to best the
other. Nene had accepted that Bert enjoyed those confrontations as
they were never really out to hurt each other.
"Couldn't you try to be nicer to her?" she pouted. "The Chief is
a good person, she just has this idea that the law takes precedence
over justice."
Bert rolled his eyes in turn, "Uh-huh. And perhaps Hitomi loves
to have vigilantes take care of rogue boomers and other situations."
"Well, at least she takes care of the boomers before going after
you."
Bert pulled into the ADP parking lot and went over to the
officers section. "Yeah, she does at that. I just wish she wouldn't be
so bloody literal minded on issues of the law."
Nene noticed where they had parked and asked Bert, "Do you want
to get a ticket or something? These spaces are for department staff
only."
Bert grinned, "It'll be ok for today Nene. I cleared this in
advance."
She looked up at him as they exited the car, "What's going on?"
"Well, everyone wanted to welcome you back, so they're allowing
me to park here while you're welcomed back properly. I'll have to
leave you for a little while when we get inside, but I'll be by your
desk in about ten minutes. Promise me you won't tell anyone I told
you."
Nene shrugged, "Ok, I'll pretend I don't know anything about
what's going on. Just get back as quickly as you can ok?"
***
add
***
Nene was having a good time. Naoko and the others had
surprised her with flowers and other gifts and the Chief hadn't said a
word about the impromptu party atmosphere that had developed. She
was hugging two stuffed toys she had gotten when she felt Bert's hand
on her shoulder.
"Enjoying yourself dear?"
When Nene turned around, she stared at Bert. Although his
unruly hair and green-brown eyes were the same, her fiancee had
changed clothes. Actually, the clothes looked good on him, fitting
close to his form and making him look more handsome to Nene. It was
the clothes themselves that she was having a bit of problem with.
Bert had on a pair of black pants, black boots and a formfitting
double-top. On his belt was the standard call/locator box and firearm
that all officers carried and one more item. His lightsaber, worn
openly without anyone making a comment.
She then noticed that peeking out of the pocket of his top was
an ADP identification card that showed him to be a member of the
police force. Her surprise was tremendous. Bert, who had once been
afraid to step into the station because of the state of his
identification, was now an officer with the department. She got up
slowly and then threw her arms around his neck in a hug.
"I take it you approve?" he asked softly in her ear, holding her
lightly and carefully.
She smiled up into his eyes, "I do approve."
She kissed him to the cheers and claps of the office.
***
add
***
R2 had been having fun all night long.
After Bert had dropped him off at police headquarters
yesterday, he had spent the time going from section to section of the
building. Being his first time outside of Bert's lair, he was enjoying
the freedom and the sights that were everywhere. More than that,
there were people!
For the first time in his young life, the droid was overwhelmed
with the information from his various sensors. There was so much to
do and learn out here! Of course, he had to take the time to properly
assess the potential for fun. He didn't think that going behind
someone and squealing loudly would be much good, especially
considering the noise coming out of the droid repair shop. R2 could
hardly wait until all those droids down there were reactivated. (He
had not realized that the shop was the AD-17 repair bays)
Of course, he had been told by Bert to meet him in those boring
front offices. He knew that he was going to be given over to a woman
Bert cared about, but had no idea who it was. All he knew was that
Bert had taken the time to install an interface port for him at one of
the desks.
Unfortunately, R2 was more like his creator than one would
think possible, especially for something that had an internal clock
mechanism. Of course there was a difference. While Bert had a problem
with wanting to engineer everything in sight, R2 wanted to get to know
people. Having seen so much, and observed the many humans going
through their functions, he was in ecstasy.
He had also forgotten what time it was.
So when R2 finally noticed that he was supposed to have met
Bert sometime earlier, he rushed to the appropriate office in time to
see a human female with her face attached to Bert's. Deciding he
could get away with his first joke one last time, he snuck up behind
her and squealed loudly. It would have worked too except for one
thing.
He had been drowned out by everyone clapping and whistling.
Disappointed, he decided to get the girls attention by extending
his arm attachment and grabbing her. Of course R2, being only waist
high, couldn't reach up very far. He also grabbed at the only thing
available to his reach at that moment. It would have been a better
introduction to Nene if Bert had remembered to do one thing. Program
niceties into R2 so that he would have known better that to pinch the
red headed ADP officers rear end.
Nene eeked into Bert's mouth and turned around to see who had
decided to pinch her. She didn't notice anyone there until she looked
down. Seeing what was in front of her, Nene sank into her chair. She
was still dreaming, still in a coma. She had to be since there was NO
way that could be R2-D2 standing right in front of her.
Bert looked at her concerned, "Nene, are you all right?"
She looked up at him, and in a voice that sounded far away said,
"What is R2-D2 doing here at ADP headquarters?"
Bert chuckled nervously, "Ah...I thought you might like to have a
droid of your own Nene, and since R2 knows computers, I thought it
would be nice to give him to you."
She continued to stare at him and then started to get it. Bert
had had a mysterious project going for a while. One he wouldn't tell
anyone, including her about. He had built R2! Getting her colour back,
she looked at the small droid, "You mean to tell me that he's mine?
What a wonderful present!" She then remembered how he had introduced
himself to her.
Her face suddenly coloured and looking him in the camera lens
she said firmly, "I, however, DO NOT APPRECIATE SOMEONE PINCHING MY
BOTTOM!!!"
The last part, which was shouted at the small droid, caused him
to back up quickly where one of his wheels snagged a carpet edge and
he fell over.
***
add
***
Twister frowned as he looked around the room he had thought
Leon would be in. He wore a visitor's pass as Leon had set it up but he
had thought he knew the correct place to find him. Nothing. He sighed;
it was likely he wasn't in this one and that differences in the two BGC
universes were the reason. Now how could he....wait! Now there's a
familiar face, he thought with an internal grin. "Naoko!" he called, and
almost immediately regretted it as the pretty brown-haired girl, who
was one of Nene's co-workers, passing by in the hallway whirled on
him, very surprised. "Ah...your name IS Naoko?" he said to try to cover
himself.
"Yes." She blinked in confusion at a person she had absolutely
no recollection of meeting before. "I'm sorry...do I know you?"
Twister smiled and bowed with a flourish. "No, but I know of thee,
fair one." Naoko blushed at the praise and bow. "My name is Twister. I'm
looking for a Leon McNichol. Do you know where the redoubtable
inspector might be?"
"Uh...yes!" she blurted out, for once at a loss for words. "He's...
He's...." Suddenly she grabbed one of his arms. "I'll show you," she
stated with a smile, almost dragging him along.
"A personal guide; I'm flattered."
"How DID you know my name?" Naoko asked curiously.
"I have my ways," he intoned mysteriously, making her giggle.
Unfortunately, when they got to the correct room, Leon was nowhere
in sight. Naoko fretted.
"He SHOULD be here... maybe Nene knows." And so they walked over
to the red-head's desk, Twister repressing a grin for Nene's possible
reaction. This should be good.
Nene was taking a quick break, nobody grudged her this because
of her stay at the hospital. She never much liked hospitals and had
been eager to get back to work, but she still tired a little easily now
and then. Hopefully it would pass but for now she was thirsty and was
drinking some water. When Naoko and some stranger came up to her
desk she asked curiously, "What's up Naoko?" before starting another
sip of water.
Innocently, Naoko said, "Is Leon expecting someone by the name
of Twister?"
SHHPPHHT!!
Twister adroitly avoided the spray of water, half-expecting it
and pulling Naoko out of the way as well. Nene immediately started
choking and hacking from the shocked inhalation of water down the
wrong tube. The brown-haired girl pounded her friend on the back.
"Nene, what's wrong?" she asked, worried.
"I suppose she wasn't expecting such an unusual name," Twister
helpfully commented.
"Twi... Twi... Twister?!?" Nene finally gasped out.
"See?"
Leon stepped out of the Chief's office. "Hey, what's going on out
here?"
"The fiery-haired lady was a tad startled to hear my name," the
young-looking psionist explained. He stepped up to Leon and extended
a hand. "I be Twister, and from Darlene's description ye be Leon?"
The inspector rolled his eyes before shaking Twister's hand.
"She warned me about the Knightly bit."
"Well," Twister said in a more normal way, "sometimes I like to be
formal." He grinned.
"Darlene?" Nene numbly said, stunned that the person who had
changed Bert in another universe was actually HERE.
"Yes, Bert's cousin who just arrived," Leon explained with a
frown. "Didn't you know?"
"I think he may have forgotten," Twister explained, "or either
wanted to wait for some reason. Darlene can be a bit quirky
sometimes, that might be it. But she told me he WAS going
to...eventually."
Leon's lips twitched. "That sounds like him all right."
"What's all going on out there?" A cross voice demanded and then
Chief Ichinohei stepped out of her office. Irritably, she scanned the
room. Her eyes widened momentarily when she focused on Twister but
otherwise did not change expression.
"This is the one I was talking about, Chief," Leon said. "At least
it wouldn't hurt to give him a chance."
"Hark! Dost mine eyes see a doubter of mine abilities?" Twister
exclaimed and dramatically placed a hand on his chest. "I am wounded
to the quick." Startling Hitomi, Twister knelt with one leg bent in
front of her. "Please, let me show mine worthiness to thee, O Lady of
Law," he declared and bowed his head.
Incredulously, Hitomi stared down at him. She snapped out of it
when she heard Naoko's giggles and saw Leon's wide grin. "Oh, get up!"
she snapped, wishing her face wasn't turning the red she knew was
there.
Twister stayed put. "I cannot unless ye give me a chance to
prove myself," he stated.
The Chief almost ordered Leon to pick him up, except for one
thing. While Bert did not show a strong and focused ki of an expert
martial artist, this Twister person did. One of unusual depth and
power for one so young too. He probably could knock out everyone in
the room with the exception of herself, and even that she wasn't sure
about. It was best to accept his offer if only to keep an eye on him.
"Very well, just get up!"
"As you wish," he replied and stood up, a mischievous light
glinting in his eyes. "I don't think you'll regret it," he continued in a
normal manner.
"I already do," she said in a dry voice. "But if you want help
you'll have to do without McNichol as he is far too busy at the moment
for something extra." Her gaze fell on Naoko. "Naoko should be more
than enough help for you to find what you need."
"Ah...thanks. But what reward shall I get if I succeed?" He
shrugged helplessly. "It's not exactly the cheapest thing to repair or
build a suit."
"What do you propose?" she asked, honestly curious.
"Mmmm.... I'll use a suit with an intact frame, scavenge armour
from others, put in circuits of my own... Okay, let's target a....50%
increase of strength, armour, and speed. If I do, then you pay me the
cost of what a normal suit would be, plus 10%."
"Fifty percent?!" Leon gaped. "That's impossible!"
"Leon, ANYTHING I do to the suit would probably increase
something."
"But the frame won't handle that!" he protested.
"Then it won't work and the Chief won't need to pay," Twister
said mildly. "That is, if she agrees."
"I admit, I am curious. Very well, I agree to your terms."
"Done!" Twister said.
Chief Ichinohei did not feel anything unusual, but she couldn't
get rid of the sudden feeling that somehow the deal she had made held
a lot of weight.
Naoko immediately latched onto Twister's arm again, and said,
"I'll show where everything is. Can you really improve the suits that
much. Where are you going to..." her voice faded as she dragged a
slightly startled Twister out of the room.
The Chief watched them go. "I wonder if he can," she mused
before going back into her office and shutting the door.
"Fifty percent? He's nuts." Leon shook his head.
"Leon," Nene said, in a rather ominous manner, "where is Bert?"
"He said he was going out investigating. Why?"
"I'm going to have a...talk with him," she stated, fire in her eyes,
and without another word started on the paperwork on her desk with
renewed and determined vigour.
Leon wisely said nothing.
***
<add>
***
Bert stopped in his tracks and wondered what the heck Twister
was building in the unused corner of the cave. When he had given his
friend permission to use whatever he wanted freely, he hadn't
expected the mass of wires, circuits, and coils in front of him.
"And you complain about MY toys?" he called out.
Darlene popped her head around what appeared to be the
skeleton for the strange machine. "This isn't a toy. THIS is a tool,"
she declared.
"I thought you were tuning up a suit," he said, puzzled. Darlene
waved at the scattered parts with a grin. "A person's as good as his
fools."
"Shouldn't that be tools?"
"Do I detect a hint of bad temper, Bert?" she said and grinned
when Bert groaned, recognizing the Dr. Who reference in the joke. "Not
a very good one, was it? But at least you got it."
"Oh yeah, I got it all right," Bert replied sourly, "right in the
breadbasket at about two hundred kilometres an hour." He grinned
when she stuck her tongue out at him. "What IS this thing supposed to
be anyhow? And why are you in female form?"
"I'm female because I'm going to cheat to speed things up in
assembly," Darlene admitted. "I already have everything I need, and
I've made this before. I'll change back when I program and test it."
"But what IS it?"
"A Molecular Alignment by Forced Electron Acceleration
Temperament machine."
Bert mouthed the words silently. "MAFEAT? My feet? That's not a
very good anagram, Darlene."
"That's the simplified version of the name actually. It's much
more complicated than that but it will essentially re-align matter in
solids to be as strong as possible. Did you know that those ADPolice
frames and armours have a hellish amount of micro fractures in
them?"
Bert nodded. "Lowest bidder. The materials they used will do
that no matter what you do. Higher quality stuff, like what I use,
doesn't do that."
Darlene nodded to the machine. "I can program this to fix the
imperfections. Actually, most of it would go during the normal process
but I'll have to work to get ALL the damn things out of the material."
The red-headed engineer raised his eyebrows. "Where did you
get this idea from?"
"I can do it by psionics but I tried figuring out how to do it by
machine a few years ago and..." She waved at the result. "It'll be able
to hold the frame. The armour I can put in separately. There'll be some
changes I have to make first before putting it in, due to the minor
alterations the process will create, but it'll be able to handle a lot
more after."
After doing some quick math, Bert whistled. "Without the flaws,
and strengthening it after that, I think it might be able to take on a
normal Boomer."
"That's the point."
"Can I play with it after you?" Bert grinned.
"You'd have to strip all circuits out of your suit," she warned.
"Re-alignment plays havoc with electronics. And that's be a little
costly."
"No shit. Sylia would have my hide."
"You know, you never told me how Nene reacted after she saw
me." She looked inquiringly at him.
Bert winced. "Don't ask. By the way, everyone's going to Sylia's
and Nene told me she was going to tell Sylia so I guess you'd better
come."
An evil light grew in Darlene's eyes. "I guess I shouldn't
disappoint them, should I? Dramatic entrance?" she asked with a
wicked grin.
"Why not? This should be good."
***
Bert parked his Truck-With-the-Options-From-Hell within swift
walking distance from Sylia's place. Nene sat beside him as he had
picked her up, a normal occurrence but the topic she was talking
about was far from the mundane.
"Why wasn't Twister with you when you picked me up, Bert? I
thought you said he was coming," she said in an aggrieved voice as she
had wanted to discuss a few things with this stranger from another
universe.
In response Bert gave her a smile that held a hint of a grin. "He
is, but Twister felt that we should come first and settle down before
he comes."
Nene looked suspiciously at him, there was something funny
about Bert's smile. Dubiously, she said, "I guess that's smart."
"Did you tell Sylia yet?"
She shook her head. "No, I haven't had time so I'll let YOU tell
her."
Bert gave a heavy sigh. "Swell."
Suddenly, Nene laughed and hopped slightly to get closer to her
fiancee, awkwardly wrapping her arms around his neck before dragging
him, unresisting, for a kiss. Neither cared much about the discomfort.
When they separated, Nene said, with bright eyes, "I love you."
"I love you too," Bert answered back. "But we'd better hurry or
else the others will think we've been captured or worse." Nene rolled
her eyes before shuffling back and opening the truck door to get out.
The male Knight Saber stayed in his vehicle for a second longer
as the grin he had been straining to hide burst out. He and Twister
DID want the others to settle down, but not for the reasons Nene had
guessed. Actually, Bert himself was in the dark on what Twister had
planned, save for a hint that it would be an 'uplifting experience'.
Whatever it was, knowing that he and Twister had a fairly similar
sense of humor, it was bound to be good. Before Nene got impatient,
Bert wiped the grin off his face and left the car.
***
"Would you please repeat that, Bert?" Sylia said in a level tone.
Everyone in the room was seated; Linna in a well-padded chair; Sylvie
and Mackie on a couch as Anri had regrettably stayed at Bert's shop
until closing and would be along later; Priss sitting reversed on a
thin metal chair; Bert and Nene on another couch; and Sylia on a
slightly padded wooden chair with arms. From her reaction she had not
welcomed the surprise the male Jedi had sprung on her. Bert belatedly
remembered Sylia did not enjoy unexpected things, and from Nene's
red-face and guilty expression, she had forgotten too.
"Ahhh..." He cleared his throat nervously. "Twister's in town."
Linna and Sylvie's wide-eyed surprise hadn't faded after the first
time he had said that. Priss was grinning as she watched him squirm
under Sylia's icy glare.
Mackie was bewildered, having never been told about this. "Who
is this Twister character?"
"The person who created the bracelets all of us are wearing,"
Sylia informed her younger brother, who glanced down at the devices
on his arms in surprise, not releasing Bert's eyes for a second. "Just
WHEN did he arrive, Bert?"
Bert smiled nervously, and said, "Ah...a few days ago?" His smile
faded away under Sylia's intensified laser stare.
She swiveled her head to Nene. "Did YOU know? Never mind," she
said disgustedly, after seeing Nene's obvious shame. "I hoped you
would be a good influence on HIM not the opposite way around! Has
anyone else but me known?" she added scathingly.
Helpfully, Priss held up a palm. "Well, yeah, but I thought he'd
already told you. But then, this is Bert so I suppose I shoulda known
better."
"Oh, thanks a lot, sis," Bert muttered, and Priss grinned at his
tone.
Sylia took a deep breath to calm herself. She supposed she
should be used to Bert's unexpected surprises by now, but every time
he did this a deep sense of frustration and anger arose, and loss of
control over her emotions was one of the things Sylia hated the most.
"Very well, he is here in Mega- Tokyo. WHERE in Mega-Tokyo, Bert?"
"Well, he's...." Bert began, but was interrupted.
In a rather unique manner too.
Of course, one doesn't normally expect to find one's self, and
what one is sitting on, shot like a cannonball through the roof along
with one's friends.
Needless to say, Nene screamed and clutched Bert, who in turn
was gripping the couch in a death-grip, so hard he had trouble
breathing as the two of them watched the ground rapidly fall away
below their couch, wind whistling by as they gained altitude.
Everyone else had been, understandably, caught by surprise as
well. Linna tried to bury herself in her big chair as clouds whipped by
before her startled and frightened eyes. Sylvie and Mackie had
latched onto what they could on each side of their furniture. Sylia
and Priss had the worst time of it as their chairs were small and
flimsy-seeming under the circumstances. The leader of the Knight
Sabers had quickly reached back to grip her chair firmly, but Priss
wobbled erratically as she hugged her thin chair in panic.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?!" she screamed over the roar of
the wind.
Impossibly fast, the sky turned black and filled with stars as
the Earth now rotated below them before they stopped moving. They
were still roughly in the same positions as they had been in the room
but they floated erratically.
White-faced, Mackie carefully reached below the couch, hoping
to find floor, but only found empty space. "Nothing," he croaked, which
alleviated no one's concerns.
"A-Am I d-dreaming?" Linna said, gasping when she looked over
her chair's arm and saw the Earth rotating below. Beautiful, yet
terrifying under the circumstances.
"If you are WAKE UP DAMMIT!!" Priss shouted frantically as she
tried to get into a better position on her gyrating chair.
"EVERYONE CALM DOWN!" Sylia shouted as she floated in a
background of stars. It helped a little, but not much.
Then a fire burst into existence in the middle of the group.
Blue fire, and it caught their attention immediately. It grew, and
grew, until it was man-sized but cast no heat. A darkness grew inside
the light and a form came into being from the blaze. No one knew what
to do and could only watch.
Suddenly, the form snapped into clarity, revealing an ominous,
black crystal-armored figure that burned blue fire around its form.
As it rotated in space all saw the burning blue eyes that glowed
coldly through the helmet's visor. The strange arrival spoke.
"I BE THE CRYSTAL KNIGHT!!" the being boomed in an echoing voice.
"I BE TWISTER AND I HATH COME UPON THEE!!"
"I HATH COME TO THY UNIVERSE TO AID MINE ALLY AND COMRADE!"
"BUT REVENGE I NEEDS TAKE FIRST!" The armored stranger sharply
pointed at a suddenly frightened Priss. "I REMOVE MINE PROTECTION
FROM THEE! DROP AND BEGONE!"
The singer's eyes widened in horror as she felt herself begin to
fall towards the Earth, and started to scream....
Just as her chair slammed onto a hard surface.
The jolt cut her scream off abruptly. Dumbstruck, she blinked
and looked down at what had stopped her drop in the emptiness of
space.
A section of fucking FLOOR??!?!?
Which grew, wiping out the sight of the Earth as Sylia's floor
revealed itself to those amazed at the spectacle. The others'
furniture drifted down to rest; the reason Mackie had found nothing,
everyone had been a good three feet off the floor. The stars
vanished quickly, along with the armoured image who had claimed to be
Twister.
Sylvie looked back and forth, as if to reassure herself that she
was back. "W-What was THAT all about!"
"Me," a male voice calmly stated from behind Priss, who started
violently at the unknown voice's nearness and whipped her head
around to look for the source. Like a Cheshire cat, a brown-haired
young man appeared slowly from thin air, a grin on his face and a
mischievous twinkle in his hazel eyes. His jeans and T-shirt were an
extreme contrast to the previous spectacle seconds before. "Well," he
told a staring Priss with a slight smirk, "I told you I'd get you back
for what you did, Priss." Looking around at his staring audience, he
announced, "I'm Twister. Think my entrance was too mild?" he added with
fake curiosity.
"NEXT time," a shaken Bert growled out, "could you tell me a
little MORE of what you have planned than 'an uplifting experience'?!?"
Twister raised an eyebrow. "It WAS, wasn't it? I..." Twister was
cut off like Bert had been before as an enraged Priss leaped from her
chair and tackled the surprised jokester, grabbing his neck and trying
to strangle him and pound his head into the floor at the same time.
Her face was red with anger, teeth clenched furiously.
It took Sylvie, Bert, and Linna to get her off him.
***
"All right, maybe I did overdo it a tad," Twister admitted,
rubbing his slightly sore head a little from the couch they had put him
on as Priss glared from over him.
"'A tad'" Priss mimicked scathingly. "Just you wait, asshole, I'll
get you for this!" She turned around and stomped towards the kitchen.
"How about calling it even since YOU started it with LEON," he
called after her, making her hesitate. "I TOLD you I'd get you back."
She snorted and proceeded to disappear into the kitchen.
"Could you have excluded US from your little display?" Sylia
asked him with an angry frown on her lips. He shrugged sheepishly. "So,
you're Twister. From what Bert told us I can guess how you did it, but
have you actually BEEN in space?"
"Yes, not that it was very peaceful at the time," he sighed. "I'd
rather not talk about that right now, later perhaps."
"Wait a minute!" Everyone looked in surprise at an angry Mackie.
"How come everybody knows you? And what did you mean by HOW he did
that hallucination, Sis??" he demanded of his sister, who sighed.
"I'm sorry, Mackie, I felt that the less people who knew about
the full story of what happened to Bert the better. You just happened
not to be there when he told us about how he met Twister," Sylia
explained. "As for how..." She hesitated, wondering how to explain it.
Twister had no worries about the matter. "Magic. I cast a magic
spell before entering the house, which let me in undetected in case
you were wondering how I got up here. Most of it was the illusion you
all saw, including you not being able to see me until I spoke," he
finished.
Mackie stared at the slightly grinning stranger. "No way," he
said disbelievingly. Twister just continued grinning silently at
Sylia's younger brother.
"I didn't find it very funny," Nene said angrily, and his grin
vanished. "I was terrified!"
"Oh, come on, Nene," Linna objected. "Sure it was scary but it
wasn't real. I'll never think roller-coster rides are as exciting
though." She paused as she remembered the sight of the Earth spinning
below her. "Some parts weren't bad at all." Priss, who came back into
the room with something to drink, looked at her friend disbelievingly
for a moment before stalking back to her chair and sat after giving
Twister a glare.
"An exciting career of designing amusement parks down the
drain. Too bad, Twister," Bert said, chuckling when Twister gave him a
sour look.
Sylvie leaned forward, curiosity in her eyes. "Do you really
change sexes when water hits you?" she asked, Mackie's eyes widening
at that news.
"Ah...yes."
"Let's see then," Priss said, and calmly tossed the water in her
glass at the brown-haired young man, who turned into a startled red-
haired young girl when the water hit.
"Hey!" she protested angrily, wiping water from her face. "I'd
LIKE some warning first, Priss!"
It's one thing to hear about a transformation, but the near-
instantaneous form-change astounded everybody in the room except
Bert, who had seen it many times before. That most of them recognized
the form of Darlene only made things more disconcerting. Stunned,
Nene stood up and walked over to the other red-head, who watched
cautiously as the hacker waved a hand above Darlene's head and
encountered nothing. The expression on Nene's face started the other
giggling, until a numbly made poke to one of her breasts made her
blush furiously.
"It's true," Nene said, startled.
"That could've been established WITHOUT the tactile
examination, Nene," Darlene protested, making the other red- head
blush in turn. "What about a poke HERE!" And she poked Nene's stomach,
right where she knew the Nene she knew in the other BGC universe was
very ticklish. So was this one, and it produced a startled yelp from
the ADPolice officer. Not to be outdone Nene retaliated, and soon the
two of them were furiously poking each other, making each other
laugh.
Bert finally put an end to it by interposing himself between the
two. "Hey, hey, hey! Please, not in front of the children!"
The two females blankly looked at the obstacle between them.
Then Darlene grinned wickedly, Nene following a second later, somehow
divining what the other was going to do. Faster than Bert could react,
the red-haired mage slipped behind him and grabbed both arms in a firm
grip. Nene moved in and attacked her fiancee from the front, tickling
him mercilessly.
"Hey!... Hahahaha! Nene! Stop! That's unfair! It's...HAHAHAHAHAH!!!"
Bemused, everyone else watched as Bert was tortured by the
two. Sylia sighed, hoping things would settle down soon. But....seeing
Bert in his current predicament...not too soon.
***
It took some doing but eventually the three red-heads calmed
down. Amusement still dancing in their eyes, Nene and Darlene sat on
opposite sides of the couch from Bert, who was still a little winded
from the tickle-fest. After shaking her head in resignation, Sylia
settled back in her chair.
"All right. Now that we've settled down, shall we discuss what we
are going to do about this?" she addressed the group in general.
Darlene frowned. "Pardon me? I think I'm already doing more than
enough right now to occupy me on my vacation."
"Vacation???" Sylia said incredulously and Bert winced.
"After being second-in-command of Mars Base for over five
years, and fighting the war before that, hell yes, I would say this is a
vacation. A much needed one. I'll be helping out with Bert's store while
I'm here and play around with increasing ADPolice's hardsuit abilities
a little on the side. Everything is either done, or in the process of
being finished to satisfy any investigation, just in case." The red-
head fixed her eyes to Sylia's. "I am not as young as I appear, Sylia
Stingray, and I may not bloody well show it but I need a damn break
from responsability for a while. If you want my help I'll gladly supply
it, but don't make it an order." There was appalled silence in the room
when she finished.
"Darlene," Bert said in a strangled voice, a quick glance from
Sylia shut him up.
"Bert mentioned your aging had slowed dramatically. How old are
you now?"
"Getting near to forty, I suppose." Darlene shrugged. "Hard to
be exact." Sylia raised her eyebrows at the number.
"Well," she said, considering the strange red-head that she had
heard so much about from Bert. "You are right; you are your own
person and seem to be capable of handling yourself in Mega-Tokyo. I'm
sorry if I assumed you would not. I did not know about what you had
done already." Darlene relaxed at those words.
"Thank you," she sighed. "I'm sorry too for that little speech but
I am not a Knight Saber, and I would like to relax on more munane
things." She laughed at another thought. "Even if I'll be working for
Bert." That worthy Knight Saber glared at her.
"I almost have a heart attack thinking you and Sylia are going
to duke it out, and then you make fun of me?!"
Darlene blinked up at him with wide blue eyes and an innocent
expression that increased the cuteness levels in the room by 200%.
"Forgive me?"
Everybody else in the room grinned as they watched Bert's
angry expression slowly crumble into disbelief, into resignation, and
finally capitulation. "Oh, all right," he groaned. "Just PLEASE stop
looking at me like that." Darlene did, shaking her head sadly.
"Bert, you're a sucker for young red-heads," she observed,
amusement sparkling in her eyes. "Good thing you're getting married to
one, hey?"
Nene grabbed Bert's head and turned it to face her. "Darn right
he is," she said in a tone that melted Bert's heart and then proceeded
to kiss the only male member of the Knight Sabers quite thoroughly.
Ignoring the couple, Sylia asked Darlene, "What sort of
improvements will you be doing to ADPolice equipment? It would be
useful to know."
"I'm just putting together an AD-17 from a used frame and parts
and improving it a little so that it should be able to handle normal
boomers better." She shrugged. "It's only one, and I don't really know
if they'll let me do others, but it would be stupid if they didn't let me.
I'm doing it pretty cheaply even if the suits will be 50% better or
more. Your suits would be able to whip them still no problem," she
said, reassuring Sylia, who then frowned.
"Bert showed you our suit statistics?"
Darlene shrugged. "Nothing I haven't seen before, or come up
with on my own. I've had to deal with hardsuits and boomers before,
but the technology seems higher then the other Mega-Tokyo so Bert
let me look." She snorted. "Heck, I had to fight SkyKnight myself once
so I should know. It wasn't HIS fault," she quickly reassured them.
"You fought Bert in his armour BARE-HANDED!?!" Linna asked,
wide-eyed.
"Sorta." Darlene smiled sheepishly. "Psionics are a wonderful
thing at times."
***
Hollister cooly regarded his newest visitor in his darkened
office, calculating whether or not the man was worth hiring. He
noticed that he in turn was being examined in the same manner and
smiled thinly; it was rare for a mercenary to be discriminating for
most didn't give a damn who they worked for, and those weren't the
kind the blond manipulator wanted.
"So your name is LightSnake. Better than most code names I've
heard," he said dryly. "As it happens, I've heard a little about you.
Surprising little, considering what jobs you've pulled off that I've
heard about." His visitor didn't change expression.
"In my business the quieter you are the better your jobs get,
and you also live longer. A bonus one likes to get." Hollister nodded
his agreement.
"Not many IN your 'business' realize that." He studied the
mercenary a bit longer and made his decision. "Very well, I'll take you
on. Your targets are rather unusual and may have connections with a
mercenary group called the Knight Sabers. You'll be informed of
everything we've gathered and guessed; I you will need it," he finished
sourly, getting a faint stirring of curiosity from the freshly-hired
mercenary.
"How odd are the targets?"
"Yes, Hollister," an amused voice from one of the shadows in the
room asked, "how odd?"
Both Hollister and LightSnake were out of their chairs in a
flash, the blue-haired mercenary faster, and drew their personal
weapons to aim at where the voice came from. "Who's here!?" Hollister
barked out.
"I'm disappointed, Hollister. But then, it has been a few years
since we met, has it not?" the voice said, and upon finishing a dark
figure stepped out of shadow. The blond man took a moment but then he
finally remembered the scarred face and relaxed minutely.
"Kage!" he said, and slowly put his gun away. LightSnake lowered
his but did not do the same. "What are you doing here?" The handsome
face smiled, the scar making the normally friendly gesture seem
sinister.
"Rumors. Whispers on the wind. Whatever you wish to call it."
Hollister was sceptical despite the dismissive way the dark man had
talked.
"Assassins don't follow whispers."
"You know I am more than assassin, even as little as you have
seen, and certain whispers roar like the hurricane in my ears. Which is
why I came to you to offer my clan's support." Kage turned to
LightSnake. "As have others, but for different reasons."
"Everyone has their own motives," the mercenary replied
stiffly.
"Indeed."
Hollister didn't show it, but he was both pleased and
apprehensive that the mysterious Master that he had encountered
once before had come. Pleased because he knew Kage was a
supernaturally skilled fighter. But he was apprehensive as well, for
the vague rumors that had been filtering out of Mega-Tokyo should
not have attracted the Master's attention. Unless there was a
reason, and he was not about to ask why unless the information was
volunteered. Kage, he recalled, had a short temper about a few things
and Hollister felt that this might be related to one of them.
"Yes," Kage affirmed again more softly, rubbing his scar
unconsciously, "everyone has their own motives."
Make that almost certainly one of them.
Doc, carrying several files, chose that precise moment to walk
into Hollister's office, the Doctor was momentarily taken aback at the
extra person in the room but seeing as his superior was unconcerned
about it decided to ask later. He cleared his throat and held out the
folders he held. "Here's the information on Bert van Vliet and Priss
Asagari we've collected so far," he said, dropping two files on
Hollister's desk. "And... these are the data on our two test subjects
in our current project." He dropped the other two folders beside the
ones on the desk.
"Excellent."
"The mercenary can have the folders; I prefer to find things out
with my clan," Kage said smoothly. "But what is this 'project'?"
The blond leader weighed the pros and cons of revealing the
project, and decided it would be best if both parties knew. "Very well.
I suspect our new mercenary friend knows about the battlemover
technology that was released in other countries."
LightSnake was quick to guess the answer. "Yes, I have. That was
your group?"
"Correct. Our current project is improving the battlemover's
mobility and firepower, as well as increasing the duration of life for
the controller. Our two test subjects are one human...and one
sexaroid, both needed to test either case. They have not yet
been...installed into their battlemovers."
"I thought sexaroids were all destroyed," LightSnake said
neutrally.
"A surprising amount still exist. This one we picked up in North
America, working as a high-class prostitute. We know at least two
others are in Japan, we had them once," Hollister's face showed a
reflection of the icy fury he had felt at the time, "but one of the
targets helped them escape. A pity, for sexaroids would be ideal for
the technology."
"Do you still have pictures?"
Hollister looked at Doc, who nodded and said, "Yes, we made
several records. We can pull them up if you wish."
"I do."
Kage's evilly-scarred face smiled. "Interesting, and how do you
plan to 'test' your subjects?"
The blond-haired man had an immediate answer. "Genom is getting
too curious about our work. Leading the investigation is Quicny's
most trusted executive, Kate Madagan. When the time is right, her
curiousity about our technology will be satisfied." Hollister smiled
grimly.
"Quite...satisfied."
***
add
***
"Here it is, and better than new."
Chief Ichinohei frowned at Twister's announcement as she looked
at the normal-looking AD-17 in the garage. Several regular personnel
were standing around the machine in a loose circle, Leon being one of
them. Van Vliet looked ready to break out laughing from his position
beside Twister, apparently he knew something she didn't.
"It doesn't look any different," she said finally.
"Well now, you didn't ask for cosmetic changes," Twister replied
pleasantly, "but inside is almost a whole new ball game. Go ahead, test
it."
Looking dubious, Hitomi ordered an observing officer into a
regular suit and for the newly revamped machine - Leon.
Sighing at what he should have known was coming, Leon warily
came up to the suit and carefully looked it over before starting
suit-up procedures. Bert leaned close to an amused Twister.
"You said it would be improved 50%, right?" he whispered.
"I said 'at least 50%', Bert, not exactly."
"So how much DID you improve it by?"
"Oh about... 66.6% percent. So its two-thirds as strong as
before," Twister replied, as if doing something that impossible was
the most natural thing in the world. The brown-haired miracle-worker
caught Bert's look, and added, "When you're as low-class as that thing
was there's plenty of ways to bring things up."
Bert choked a laugh down at his friend's assessment of ADPolice
gear; Leon was going to be pleasantly surprised.
Both officers had finally suited up and had stomped around to
face each other. Leon made his mech's hand give a 'come get it'
gesture, making almost everyone chuckle. The other officer replied by
pulling back a fist to hit Leon, who stepped back to give more room to
dodge.
But the suit WAS quicker and he was unprepared for the swift
reaction. Backpedalling out of control, Leon almost slammed into a
support pillar before he frantically corrected himself, almost
running forward into the unmodified AD-17's chest. Leon's cursing was
audible over his speaker as the other mech let him recover.
"Faster response time, Leon!" Twister called out. "Adjust for
it!"
"NOW you tell me!" was Leon's the sarcastic response as he made
small experimental movements to test the new mech and learning
compensate for the faster speed. Finally he stopped and faced his
opponent. "All right Sakamoto, let's try it again," he said. Sakamoto
didn't reply, but he did repeat his punch.
This time Leon was prepared and ducked as the metal fist passed
over him. His own mech's hand lashed out and caught the arm, crushing
the weaker armour with its increased strength. Bert noted this
absently; regular AD-17 armour was like tinfoil compared to his own
SkyKnight hardsuit, but it was still impressive. Leon tried flipping
the other suit by jerking on the arm, but the only thing that happened
was the limb being ripped off. It left one AD-17 with only one arm and
the modified AD-17 sheepishly holding the torn appendage.
"Enough!" Chief Ichinohei cried. They settled down, Leon still
holding the arm as Hitomi looked appreciatively at his suit. "How was
the suit, Leon?"
"Great!" Leon enthused over his suit's speaker. "The reaction
time is much better than before and I wasn't planning to rip of the arm
like that. We'll have a better time against boomers with this," he said,
giving a thumbs up with a metal hand. Twister casually walked up to
the thinking Chief.
"Told you I could do it," he chuckled, breaking her out of her
reverie. "You can test everything else about it later, but I think
you'll admit it's what we agreed on. And," he added slyly, "it's all
previously bought and approved gear that has only been upgraded.
Your superiors can't complain at a slightly higher priced suit at a
much more than 'slight' performance. What I did also extended the
mech's lifetime; it IS pretty much brand-new now. It's also more bang
for your buck than before," he said expansively. Hitomi eyed him
drolly, and not a little suspiciously.
"I suspect I'll be paying you soon," she said wryly, looking over
the restored suit. "Is it possible to ask how you managed it?"
"<Ach, lassie, ye just have to be a miracle worker,>" Twister
chuckled in English, but with a Scottish accent. Bert groaned as
Hitomi's eyes shot up in surprise. The psionist heard his friend's
reaction. "What's your problem, oh mighty JEDI?" Twister asked archly
at the red-headed Knight Saber in normal Japanese.
"Nothing, nothing," Bert said with a sigh.
"I do have to ask if you've ever been involved with illegal mech
activities," Chief Ichinohei said to the brown-haired young man, who
smiled.
"Nope. I have some experience with making mechs, and none making
personal hardsuits like the Knight Sabers." Twister smiled
disarmingly. "I learn quickly though; I've even taken apart the
occasional boomer or two."
Bert choked; Twister had to be referring to his version of the
BubbleGum Crisis where he operated on Sylvie and Anri with
telekenisis and the mechs had to have been Gundams. Still, he knew if
Twister applied himself to anything he could figure it out quick
enough. Fortunately, the Chief didn't know that. However, she was
looking at the dimension-travelling individual with consideration, but
considering what he was afraid to ask.
"Would you be willing to do some more?" she asked him. Twister
bowed gallently.
"Gladly," he said cheerfully. "I've rented a place relatively
nearby and empty place where I can work. I... um... Leon, what ARE you
doing?" he called out. Surprised, everyone else turned to Leon.
The Inspector jumped; he had been marvelling over the response
time, manouvering, and strength of the rebuilt suit, running a palm
over the armour plate almost worshipfully. He laughed sheepishly as
he put a hand behind his head. "That's some job you did. I didn't think
you could. Will you be doing more?" he asked, looking more at the Chief
than Twister, who nodded.
"That's what the Chief asked me to do."
"Great!" Leon enthused, and meant it.
"We have twenty-three nonfunctional suits," Hitomi said.
"Normally we either send them back or just strip them for parts,
but now I'll just send them for you to repair," she told Twister. "After
that... I may have something else for you." She walked away after that
mysterous comment, leaving a puzzled Twister to look inquiringly at
Bert, who shrugged.
That young man may not be a member of ADPolice, Hitomi thought
to herself as she walked out of the garage and down a hallway, but his
results are amazing. She knew a fair amount about exoskeltons
herself, but to improve the performance of an AD-17 that much was
nothing less than astounding.
She'd have to send one of the suits to oneechan to see how he
managed it. But for now, she would make a few inquiries about this
remarkible young man to see if he had spoken the truth about his
activities.
***
add
***
R2 was bored.
He had gone over the whole station, talked with some of the AIžs
on the net, and had also sent e-mail to a lot of humans, (He had gone
overboard on that after he had discovered an on-line yellow pages...),
but he still ran out of things to do rather quickly. He hated to admit
it, but he missed seeing so many humans around all the time. Most of
all he missed Nene.
While wondering about, he thought again of the droid repair bay,
and decided to go that way, perhaps they had managed to get a few of
the other droids back on-line and he would at least have SOMEONE to
do something with. Perhaps he could even get out of the building once
in a while.
This was not a good thing.
When R2 managed to get into the repair shop, he noticed a brand
new droid standing there, one that he had not seen before. Going over
to it, he noted that the surface was newer, and neater than the
others there, and that it was slightly different from the rest. There
was still an open interface panel so he connected his communications
interface to it. What he found was rather unnerving for him.
It seemed that this droid was without an AI to call itžs own.
Sending a circuit probe program, R2 found out that it didnžt have
enough space for an AI, and that most of the body was hollow. He
thought for a while and went to get a small cart. If he could fill the
droid with the proper equipment and give it an AI program...
***
"YOU DID WHAT!"
R2 bleeped out his message once again, rather statled at the
volume with which Nene had responded once he told her of his nights
activities.
"R2, you canžt just go arround making droids whenever you want
to, especially not with equipment that you should not be touching and
using." She told her companion while shaking her head. "Do you realize
how much trouble we could both be in?"
The little droids whistling answer was despondent, and
complaintive at the same time. He told Nene that he WAS there to help
out and that the droids were obviously inoperational. The fact that
he had restored one to full operation should get him some
recognition.
"R2, the type of recognition that could bring would probably
have the Chief take you apart. Come on, lets go down to those repair
shops, I want to see what you did."
***
The modified AD-17 unit was bored. He had been brought on-line
the night before by the smaller droid, and told that he should study
for a while before being presented to the others. Besides, since his
AI was obviously brand new, he would be better off learning instead of
doing.
That had been four hours before.
Now for humans, four hours isn't long, but for a droid that could
input data at E3 speeds, that was a huge amount of time.
*Well, I guess the little one, R2, isn't going to be back very
soon, I should do some exploring,* AD thought while rubbing one
mechanical hand just under where his face was. *Besides, those
places on the Internet seemed interesting.*
He went to the exit along one wall, lifted the garage door, and
left the building.
***
***
add
***
Bert, Priss, and Twister were not really surprised to find
themselves arriving at a high-tech company, given Hitomi's rather
unique suit, but they were surprised at which company they had
arrived at.
The complex, which was not marked by anything other than a small
plaque that could have gone unnoticed declared the place as 'Dynelex
Research and Development laboratories, Tokyo Division. A company of
the Dynelex Corporation.'. The name of this particular company was
not unknown to Twister and Bert as there had been some small bits of
information floating about on the company back in their home
dimension or dimensions. They still hadn't quite figured out if they
were from the same place.
One thing was for sure, This Dynelex was different from the
Dynelex that they knew. There, although the company had resources,
they were really a small animation firm that had a strange collection
of individuals. The company had relied on theoretical information,
not really developing and testing much.
Here the company was obviously much bigger and devoted more
money and time to research.
As they entered the elevator, Hitomi spoke. "Access to Oneiko's
personal laboratory."
Along one wall, a glass plate appeared with an outline of a hand.
Hitomi promptly placed her hand on it and after the scan, a binocular
type device appeared to which she placed her eyes. Two seconds
later, the elevator started to rise. Priss looked over at the Chief
Inspector, "Okaayy...It's obvious that you have access to some really
advanced equipment. Who are you really?"
Hitomi looked at the singer and with a small smile said, "Someone
who should have paid more attention in class."
The brown haired woman snorted as Twister and Bert looked at
each other in askance, "Yeah, and all I am is a Talento."
At that moment, the elevator opened and Hitomi led them all to a
door at the end of one hall.
Inside the door was a very up to date laboratory with equipment
that they couldn't even begin to guess about. Test tubes, beakers,
electronic components, and files lay about, some in a very haphazard
manner. An entire wall of the room was covered in calculations and in
the middle of the room, at an old style terminal, was a woman with
short black hair.
As the group approached, she turned to them, noting each in
turn. Her eyes lingered for a moment on Priss in a manner which the
singer couldn't really identify. It was almost as if the scientist was
assessing her, but she couldn't quite figure out what for.
"Bert Van Vliet, Darryl Storm, and Priss Asagiri meet my elder
sister, Oneiko Tokugawa. She is the CEO and major stock holder of the
Dynelex Corporation."
"Good evening gentlemen, Miss Asagiri." Oneiko said, a bit coldly
when she referred to the men, "Why did you bring them here Hi-chan? I
mean Miss Asagiri I can understand, but men??"
Hitomi looked a bit embarrassed. "Well...it's just
that...Uh...earlier tonight they were attacked at an archery range
and...well the people who attacked, their fighting styles matched the
description of the people our mothers fought."
Oneiko's eyes narrowed at that, and she took a good look at the
three people in front of her. "He's the only one who has the
potential." she said, indicating Twister, "These two couldn't be Chi-
di."
Bert frowned, "Hold it. Could you two explain something to me?
Why are you pronouncing 'Jedi' differently?"
The woman in the green lab coat looked at Bert strangely, "I did
not say 'Jedi', I said 'Chi-di'. They are a type of Samurai, in terms of
Westerners, Knights. The Chi-di use the life-force of everything,
themselves included to protect others. Out of all of you, the only
one with a high-potential Chi is Mr. Storm."
Hitomi coughed, "Uhh...That is one of the things I wanted to talk
about." Taking a deep breath she continued, "It seems that Bert and
Priss are what are referred to as Jedi Knights."
As Hitomi explained what had been happening, and to the truth of
the rumours that had been running around the city for a while,
Twister was taking in the fact that these two could apparently detect
his abilities to use Ki. It seemed there were people in this
particular version of Earth who could use their life-force in a
similar manner. It would explain some of the more unusual aspects of
the attack they had faced earlier as well as how they had managed to
avoid being detected by Bert and Priss. He decided to disturb the
discussion. "Are the two of you Chi-di then?"
Oneiko looked at him, then to the two others. "Are they
trustworthy Hi-chan?"
"As trustworthy as any, perhaps more." Hitomi replied, hoping
that her sister would be willing to answer questions and explain
things.
"Ok then," The CEO of Dynelex got up and turned to press a spot
along one wall. An elevator opened up and she gestured for everyone
to go inside. "I guess it's time to talk in a more secure area about
the structure of the universe. Or rather, universes."
All three visitors started at her words, wondering what exactly
Dynelex really was.
***
add
***
Given the ultra modern laboratory that was above, this room
was something of a disappointment. There was a large space with
high-wire equipment, a place to practice martial arts, and a large set
of arc lamps all going at full power. Besides the concrete walls, the
only other considering to modern technology was a few computers and
some sort of manipulator equipment.
Currently they were kneeling around a small table. Each of them
had some snacks as well as sashimi and tea. Oneiko looked at all of
them, wondering what to tell these people who were really outsiders
despite her sisters feelings. "Ok, perhaps I should start with this
symbol." she said pulling out a small bit of cloth with the Ying-Yang
insignia. "What do you think it means?"
Twister started, "It stands for opposites. Male and female,
soft and hard, and so on. It also indicates that there is always a
little of the opposite in each of them. This is the human condition."
Oneiko smiled, "That is a good start, but there is quite a bit
more. For all intents and purposes, this is a reduction of all the
universe, multiverse, omniverse, and more." "To start properly, we
must understand something of philosophy."
"For the Chi-di, the philosophy is that we are responsible for
the existence of our universe. I don't mean that the Chi-di created
this universe, but that we are responsible for creating other
universes. Think of it this way. Every time someone commits a story
to writing, creates a world that is enjoyed by others, this actually
happens somewhere. If it hasn't happened in this dimension or in any
dimension, one will be created where it did happen."
"What do I mean? Suppose we take this dimension of space- time
which we currently occupy. If someone, say in another dimension
wrote about it, then it would exist for them. By such creation, this
dimension then exists from the point in time that the writer has
written for. Unfortunately, the writer only writes about a few
incidents, a few things and leaves the rest for the general
understanding of that particular culture or audience."
"The universe that is created is thus incomplete and only
exists for the period in time for which it is written, or at least that
would be the case if those in that dimension did not write of other
dimensions. The dimension then will extend itself forwards and
backwards through space-time to occupy itself where it is. It
creates a past and continues on into the future."
"Unfortunately, this means that all universes are unstable,
that they depend on other universes for their existence."
Hitomi took up the story from their, "This means that the
universes are interconnected by the desires of those within a
particular universe. For us, it means that we must have analogues
somewhere out in the various multiverses that would be created, each
multiverse being a derivative of a story, a set of stories, or a
certain type of story. Our existence depends on us writing stories
on other dimensions and other dimensions writing stories about us."
"It also explains some things such as how one can live an
incident before and yet it not having anything to do with
precognition. In these cases, especially that of writers who get
their ideas when they sleep, they are actually feeling the responses
or seeing the situations of their analogues in other dimensions."
Oneiko continued, "As an example, have you ever felt your
muscle suddenly cramp at night, for no physical reason, giving you
intense pain and making you want to scream?" She noted the nods of
the three. "This is because you are experiencing what another
person, an analogue of you has experienced at a moment in time either
corresponding to that moment in time or that particular age in time.
There are other factors involved, but that is the simple explanation."
"What also has to be considered, what has to be known, is that
everything has it's opposite. Whatever holds the various dimensions
in place in space-time has it's anchor point some-something in
dimensional matrices. We really do not have the words or the
understanding to properly describe the concepts involved. Moreover,
the stability of everything depends on these opposites always being
in balance."
"Thus there cannot ever be light without dark, entropy without
creation, and good without evil."
Her expression grew very serious, "For the Chi-di, even with all
the good that we did, the balance had to be kept and an organization
with similar powers and abilities was created. They are out opposite,
in power, in abilities, and in dedication towards the forces of good
and evil. However, their philosophies state that there are no
opposites and that no matter what there can never be an opposition
to them, no matter how long our battle with each other has been."
Oneiko stopped for a moment and sipped her tea. "It doesn't
matter how many dimensions the Chi-di cross to, this has always been
the same." The quiet statement of going to OTHER dimensions by this
woman was more of a surprise than what she had already revealed.
***
add
***
Mackie was basically relaxing in the lab when he had a sudden
idea about the armbands that he and the other members of the Knight
Sabers were wearing. Even though he now knew a lot of the things that
had been bugging him about the devices were magical, like his sister
he wanted to define it in a scientific manner in order to duplicate it
at some point. He had a feeling that being able to have more armbands
would be useful, especially since the type of situations that were
now being encountered by the group involved a lot more than boomers.
He had especially puzzled over the 'larger inside than outside'
concept. If there was some way to duplicate it scientifically and add
the dimensional warping capabilities to the hardsuits, then his
friends would be able to last longer. If he could add the power system
in a dimensional vortex with the probability of emergency protection
techniques...
"I wonder if this will work." He muttered as he prepared himself
with a small box of tools.
After attaching the equipment to himself, he grabbed his wrists,
covering the diamond sabers with his palms. Aloud, he said, "WEAPON'S
BAND DEACTIVATE, ME!"
There was a bright flash of light.
***
In one of the hidden network of rooms inside of Raven's Garage,
Sylia and Doctor Raven were completing the upgrades of the suits
when it happened.
Sylia's hands, which were around one of the helmets spasmed as
a jolt, almost like electricity went through her. The helmet cracked
into pieces, littering the area and Sylia slumped, unconscious.
Dr. Raven however, managed to stay awake, his arms tingling and
his chest feeling suddenly heavy. Something had caused the armbands
he was wearing to release a huge amount of energy. Until they
determined what happened, he decided to take them off.
He soon discovered that was impossible.
***
In a suburb of Kyoto, a twelve year old girl was watching her
favourite television show, wearing the costume her mother had made
for her and stroking the metal broach she had bought earlier in the
day. At the appropriate point of the show, she said the words with
which her animated hero transformed; "Silver Power, Activate!"
A sudden surge of energy, silver in colour surrounded the
youngster who, wide eyed, looked at the broach. As Misa fainted, she
thought to herself, *I'm a magical girl too!*
The glow of energy seemed to be absorbed into the costume and
the broach that she clutched tightly between her hands.
***
Natsumi and Linna were floating a few feet above the stage as
the two practiced some simple spells. What ever was happening
knocked both of them unconscious.
***
In Winnipeg, a young man worried about his upcoming exam was
relieving his stress by practicing his martial arts. No-one else in
the house was awake and he was doing some of the more difficult
moves involved in punching. He let out all the anger at himself which
he had been holding back into one last hit against the target.
His parents and sister, awakened by the scream and the sound of
an explosion from downstairs rushed to the basement to see Alan
embedded in a wall and his practice dummy blown apart.
***
Anri and Sylvie were coming out of the clinic where Sylia's uncle
worked. They suddenly keeled over as the energy surged through
them.
***
In the Scottish Highlands, a woman was reading an ancient
looking tome that she had found a few years back containing some
interesting poems, almost like spells. She was surrounded suddenly
by a blue glow, almost being knocked unconscious immediately. The
book she held started to shrink and disappear, becoming a small,
ancient looking pin. Tanisa buckled forward unconscious and fell to
the floor.
***
Priss had been riding her motorcycle when whatever happened
caught up with her, surrounding her in greenish flames. She fell off
her bike and her limp and unconscious body skidded across the
highway.
***
Bert and Nene were coming back from an investigative scene
when they were hit with the energy as well. Bert was surrounded by
red lighting while Nene glowed a pinkish white. The only thing that
saved their lives when the car went out of control was the airbag
system.
***
The Three Jedi Master's who had been teaching their respective
students felt their knees buckle as they gathered in Bert's old house
in order to compare notes.
"It's happening." The woman said unnecessarily.
***
Darlene had only just seated herself at her desk in the office,
about to try to reason with Leon who wanted to have her join the
police force. While he didn't know about her two forms, he had seen
her fight and use a lightsaber. She was suddenly surround by light
that seemed to go through the entire spectrum, although the colors
of purple and blue were the most prominent.
Darlene was immediately knocked unconscious and Leon was
unable to get near her for ten minutes.
***
The light in the lab disappeared and Mackie was nowhere to be
seen. Instead the armbands he was wearing fell to the ground, fused
together were his hands would normally be. As they lay there a
mechanical sound that was almost a groan could be heard emanating
from them and they faded away.
TO BE CONTINUED...