This is my first official fanfic, written several years ago, but
I've been unable to post it to the FFML until now. Although it was
written some time ago, I have not received much feedback on it, so I
would deeply appreciate any and all C&C I could get on this! However, I
must ask that you write to me directly (Cylor@hotmail.com) with your
comments, flames, MSTs, and what not because I'm not a member of the
FFML. I hope you enjoy the read, but either way I look forward to
hearing your thoughts on it.
MegaTokyo, Japan 2034 A.D.
It was a typical afternoon in Megalocity Tokyo. The sky was
still sunny, although it was beginning to cloud over and would probably
rain later. The streets were clogged as it was rush hour, and traffic
was backed up even further than usual. A few A.D. Police helicopters
flew overhead on patrol; there would be many more out later, after dark.
The sunlight reflected off the gleaming solar panels placed on the
rooftops of most every building in town, and glistened on the western
side of the Genom Tower, the massive cone-shaped structure that towered
over every other building in MegaTokyo.
Linna Yamazaki was cruising down the freeway, on her way home from
the securities firm where she worked. She'd just gotten paid, and
planned to do a little shopping later. Linna was already calculating
totals in her head, when suddenly a biker shot out from behind a truck
in the oncoming lane, making a high-speed head-on collision seem almost
certain.
Linna screamed and wrenched the wheel to the side, she and the
biker (who also swerved in surprise) missing each other by centimeters.
Linna nearly lost control of her van; as it was she collided with the
guardrail, resulting in a fairly impressive fender-bender and shearing
the paint off the right side of the vehicle. The motorcycle skidded to
the side, slamming up against the opposite rail. Its driver miraculously
avoided serious injury, at least of the bodily persuasion.
Linna waited a moment for the air bag that had filled the driver's
compartment of the van to deflate, then got out to survey the damage.
"My car!!" she shrieked in horror, seeing the dented fender and
severely scratched paint job. Her shock quickly turned to fury, and
after waiting again for the traffic to clear (which only irritated her
further), she strode across the freeway toward the driver of the
motorcycle, who was removing her helmet and swearing profusely.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, passing like that?!!"
Linna shouted, approaching the biker. "It's a lucky thing we weren't
both killed!!! Look at what happened to my car!! I hope your insurance
is...Priss??!"
Priscilla S. Asagiri swore loudly, throwing her helmet to the
ground. "Shit!! You think you've got it so rough?! Look at my bike,
it's totalled!!"
"I should've known it was you!" Linna exclaimed, her anger
undiminished. "Nobody else is crazy enough to pull a stunt like that!
I bet you don't even have any insurance either, with as many traffic
violations as you've got! Well, just because we're friends, don't
think I won't sue!"
"Why you..." Priss began, but was interrupted by the arrival of
Nene Romanova on her motorscooter.
"Wow, what a wreck! Are you guys okay? You sure are lucky!" she
called to them. "Maybe now you'll obey the speed limit, Priss!" Nene
grinned, looking infuriatingly smug.
"Shut up and help us, Nene!" Priss hollered at her. "What're A.D.
Police there for, anyway!"
"Sorry, but I'm off work!" Nene called, clearly enjoying an
opportunity to taunt her friends for a change. "You'll have to wait for
the Traffic Cops! See you later!" She drove away.
Priss swore and kicked her trashed motorcycle, causing a few
unidentified parts to fall off. "That good-for-nothing little...I'll
get her for this!"
"You just want to get out of here, in case Leon shows up." Linna
sniffed in disgust.
"Damn right. Let's go." Priss growled, heading for Linna's car.
"Hey, wait a second!" Linna cried. "You can't just leave your bike
laying there by the road like that!"
"Watch me!" Priss shouted back, squeezing into the passenger's
side as cars whizzed by.
"You've got some nerve...all right, we'll settle this later!"
Linna declared angrily as she got behind the wheel.
"Just drive," Priss growled.
"Hey, what about the Traffic Cops?" Linna scolded.
Priss leaned out the window and looked behind them. The streets
were as crowded as always, and no cops in sight.
"Ahh, they're all too lazy to come out for a little thing like
this. If we wait, we'll be here forever. Besides, we can always get Pops
Raven to fix your precious car, and maybe my bike, too. I'll pick it up
later, if it's still there."
"Well, okay...but if I get in trouble, it's up to you to get me
out!" Linna said, reluctantly driving away.
Later that day, Captain Shiro Yamada stewed in boredom behind
his desk at A.D. Police headquarters.
He had been with the A.D. Police almost since the organization was
started, which was quite a feat given their high mortality rate,
especially since the new Combat Boomers had been coming out. But all
that had begun to change in the past two years, because although the
Boomers seemed to get stronger and stronger, if the A.D. Police couldn't
handle them, the Knight Sabers would.
The Knight Sabers...that mysterious band of mercenaries. Four
anonymous women who possessed incredibly powerful combat suits, they
could easily destroy any Boomer, no matter how powerful it was. Nobody
knew who they were or where they got their equipment, but many of the
A.D. Police were grateful for their presence as the Knight Sabers often
saved them a lot of work and casualties.
And for that, Yamada despised the Knight Sabers.
About three months ago, a very heavily-armed Combat Boomer was
causing massive damage to the city, and Yamada's squad, which had been
sent out to stop it, was being decimated. Yamada had acted against
orders and taken out a K-12 armored suit to slug it out with the Boomer
face-to-face, but by the time he arrived on the scene, the Boomer had
been blown to bits. Burned into the ground near its remains was an
elaborate signature, produced by precise cutting lasers.
It read, 'KNIGHT SABERS'.
Yamada had been shown up by four women in tin suits!
If the Knight Sabers hadn't interfered, Yamada would've destroyed
the Boomer, been crowned a hero, and probably received a promotion. As
it happened, instead he was reprimanded for taking out a K-12 without
authorization.
As Yamada sat behind his desk in disgruntled reminiscence, an
A.D.P. officer suddenly burst into the room.
"Captain Yamada!" he exclaimed, clearly agitated. "Where's Leon?!"
"Inspector McNichol left a while ago," Yamada responded. "He
probably went to that bar again, hoping to see his beloved 'Priss and
the Replicants' perform. Guess nobody told him that place shut down for
repairs."
"Well, we've got a serious problem!" The other man paused to wipe
his brow, and took a few breaths before continuing. He'd obviously been
running around quite a bit. "Genom was showing their new mobile factory
installation to some construction execs, and the thing went nuts! It
turns out it's totally run by Boomers, and probably even has an AI of
its own! It's been driving through MegaTokyo for about fifteen minutes,
and demolished six buildings before it stopped after taking out a raised
highway!"
Yamada jumped to his feet and hollered into the intercom. "This is
Yamada! My unit, prepare to move out and engage the Genom Mobile
Construction Unit! You, tell me more in the car!" He jabbed a finger at
the winded A.D.P. officer.
"Uh, yes sir!" the man said as they dashed out of the room.
A short while later, the sun had nearly gone down and it had
begun to rain. And three friends were just finishing their supper in an
upscale restaurant about four miles from A.D. Police headquarters. Their
conversation, which had been subdued in the presence of other patrons,
now became more casual.
"I can't believe this! First you wreck my car, and now you want me
to pay for all this food, too?!" Linna exclaimed, her eyes flashing as
she looked up from their receipt.
"Hey, what do you mean I wrecked your car?!" Priss hollered back,
slamming a fist down on the table. "It was just a scratch, and you can't
blame everything on me!"
"It did look like you were responsible, Priss." Nene pointed out,
sipping her drink. "Especially since you're always speeding..."
Priss sat back in her chair with a scowl. "Shit, you would stick
together like that. All right, all right, Linna, I'll pay for your
repairs. But you'll have to wait 'till next month, 'cause right now I'm
broke."
Linna didn't exactly look satisfied, but finally nodded in
agreement.
"There, that's solved! See how things work out when you take
responsibility?" Nene said, nodding sagely. Then she broke into a grin.
"Now let's celebrate! Gimme the after-dinner menu!"
Linna and Priss's spirits sank simultaneously, remembering past
alcohol-assisted "celebrations". A distant rumble of thunder echoed
their sentiment as the rain outside became heavier.
"Hey, what's that?" Priss interrupted, pointing to the large TV
monitor situated on the opposite side of the room. It had been playing
'D.J. Tommy', an annoying electronically-enhanced media host, but the
broadcast was suddenly interrupted by a live news report.
"Hey, turn it up!" Priss hollered to the bartender.
"--where a newly-developed Genom Mobile Construction Unit, to have
been unveiled today to an international group of business executives,
seems to be out of control. Conflicting reports indicate that several
buildings in the area have been leveled, and the complex has currently
come to a stop after destroying a raised highway...an A.D. Police squad
is attempting to bring the facility under control, but is having little
success due to its armored exterior and heavy demolition equipment. No
live footage is available at this time due to extreme on-site hazards,
but given the considerable A.D. Police presence, Boomer involvement is
considered likely."
The three women looked at each other. "Then that thunder was..."
Priss didn't need to finish her sentence.
"Boy, it sounds bad." Nene said, looking worried. "I wonder
what...hey, what's that?" she pointed to the screen.
They turned their attention back to the broadcast.
"...Now joining us live is Alan Richfield, Senior Coordinator for
GENOM Construction. Mr. Richfield...?"
The shot shifted to what looked more or less like a typical Genom
suit.
"Greetings," Richfield said. "On behalf of Genom I must extend my
most sincere apologies and regrets for the damage that has taken place
thus far tonight, and I can promise that Genom will do whatever it can
to aid in repairs and recovery once this situation has been solved. In
order to end this embarassing incident, I have been authorized to offer
a sum of thirty million for the assistance of the Knight Sabers in
recovering our installation before any more regrettable damage is
inadvertantly caused to the city."
Nene spewed her drink across the table.
"Thirty--...Thirty million??!" Linna gasped.
Priss raised her eyebrows, but then leaned back in disgust. "Ah,
that's just Genom trying to cover its butt. They want that thing
stopped fast 'cause they want it back, and they don't want people to
see what their machines REALLY do." She sniffed. "Besides, I'd never
work for them anyway."
"But Priss," Linna argued, "Then we--"
She was cut off by Richfield's voice.
"If the Mobile Construction Unit is recovered intact, Genom would
be willing to add an additional twenty million, for a total of fifty
million."
The room echoed briefly with the ringing sound caused by Nene's
glass as it clattered to the table. "Fifty..." she whispered in awe.
"Oh, Priss, think of what we could do with money like that!!"
Linna exclaimed, her eyes seeming to glow with joy. "I could buy a NEW
car! And I could have a house built in Geo City, and then I'd probably
just invest the rest of it, and become the richest woman in Japan...!
And imagine what you could do, too! You could easily replace your old
bike, and add whatever you wanted onto it... and you could probably get
some new gear for your band--in fact, you could even start your OWN
recording company! And you'd be able to move out of that dirty old
trailer, and pay off all your debts, too!"
Priss looked tempted, but remained unconvinced.
"Yes, and I could get that new system I've been wanting...and what
man could resist a girl like me, especially with all that money!! And
he'd be handsome, and stylish, and we'd...!" Nene sighed dreamily.
Priss and Linna blinked, disoriented by the bizarre turn the
conversation had taken.
But then Nene frowned. "But, we couldn't go without Sylia! She's
not back from Germany yet. And if Sylia's not around, we can't even get
our suits! And without Sylia or our suits, well...we're not the Knight
Sabers."
Linna looked profoundly disappointed for a moment, then perked
back up. "But, we could get into Sylia's building, and GET our suits! We
all know how to operate them, and you could get us inside, right, Nene?"
"Well, yeah, but...I wouldn't want to go out without Sylia. It
wouldn't feel ...you know, right. It'd wreck my confidence." Nene
murmured, looking downcast.
"Your CONFIDENCE?!!" Linna erupted, nearly coming out of her
chair.
"Yeah, and besides, there'd be security guards there, anyway."
Priss said, waving her hand dismissively. "A.D. Police will have to do
their job for a change, and handle this one themselves."
"But...but Nene, Priss...!" Linna argued, looking desperate.
"This just in..." the newscaster interrupted. "...New reports
indicate a school bus was passing over the highway in question at the
time that the Genom construction unit arrived in the area, causing the
highway's collapse. There is no information on the occupants of the bus
or their current condition, assuming any of them survived the collision,
but it was believed to be a group of local schoolchildren being
transported to their homes. The A.D. Police have been unable to search
for survivors as the construction facility's defenses have prevented
them from approaching."
Priss leaned forward. "Oh, shit...!" she swore quietly.
"Upon hearing this latest report," the newscaster continued, "Mr.
Alan Richfield stated that, for the intervention of the Knight Sabers
and the safe retrieval of the Genom construction unit, its contents, and
any and all survivors, Genom would double its previous offer, bringing
it to a total of one hundred million..."
"A HUNDRED MILLION???!!" the three women shouted, leaping to their
feet and almost knocking over their table.
The bartender looked up at them as they stood gaping at the
screen. Nene spotted him after a moment.
"Uh, I didn't know Genom could be so generous!" she giggled
nervously.
"Priss, pleeeeaase...!!!" Linna begged.
"ALL RIGHT!!" Priss shouted, slamming her fist down on the
table(which made Linna and Nene jump in surprise). "We're gonna do it!
We're gonna go save those kids, 'cause A.D. Police can't do anything
right!!"
"YAY!!" Linna cried, literally jumping with joy. "And we'll get
the money, too, right?"
"Hmm...I s'pose." Priss shrugged. "I guess we could use it, even
if it IS from Genom."
"But...but, what about Sylia...?" Nene asked, still looking
hesitant.
"Sylia ain't here! I'm in charge now!!" Priss exclaimed, clenching
her fist. "Besides, she'd want us to do it! That thing could wreck
MegaTokyo...but there's no Boomer on Earth that I can't trash!!"
The service Boomer approaching their table to collect the dishes
stopped dead in its tracks.
Linna and Nene exchanged a worried glance.
About ten minutes later Linna's van rolled to a stop in an
alleyway behind the building which housed, among other things, the
residence of Sylia Stingray, her lingerie shop "Silky Doll", and the
secret headquarters of the Knight Sabers. Priss, Linna and Nene got out
and surveyed the situation.
"Too bad we can't get into the garage," Nene said to Linna.
"You'll just have to leave your car out here, and hope nothing happens
to it."
"Well, that's reassuring!" Linna said in annoyance.
"Well, I mean, it being such an obviously expensive vehicle..."
Nene began, but Priss cut her off.
"Okay then, we'll have to go in the front!" She headed down the
alley toward the front of the building.
"Priss, wait!" Nene called. "What about the--"
"What's the matter?" Priss tossed over her shoulder without
stopping. "You can get us in, can't you? It's an electronic lock, you
know!"
"Of course I know!" Nene said as she and Linna hurried to catch up
with Priss. "But what about the security guards?"
"What security guards?" Priss asked as they rounded the corner and
came around front.
"Those security guards," Linna said, wincing.
Two uniformed men stood at the front doors. They spotted the
three, and approached them.
"Hey, who're you...?" the older of the two guards began.
The three women froze. Thinking fast, Nene pulled out her wallet.
"A.D. Police!" she said as she flashed her badge, making everyone
jump in surprise. "We urgently need to get inside this building!"
"Huh?! Uhh, why?" asked the bewildered guard.
"Yeah, why...?" Linna began, but Priss elbowed her.
"Why?! Ummmm, err..." Nene stammered, so nervous that they could
almost see her breaking into a sweat beneath her reddish-pinkforelocks.
"Well, uh, you see, we need to, um, get up to the roof,
because...ahh...we need to...to... to set up, er, an observation post!
...So we can get a better view of the area where that incident is taking
place, and plan a better deployment strategy! And this IS about the
tallest building in the area, you see, so if you could please let us
in...?" Nene batted her eyelashes at the confused guards, certain she'd
won them over.
"Well...I don't know...this still seems strange, you understand,
with just the three of you here..." the older guard said, rubbing his
beard. "How do we know you're--"
"Just shut up and let us in!" Priss snarled at the guards, pushing
Nene out of the way. "We're not here to rip anything off, she really IS
with A.D. Police, and we know the owner, so you don't need to worry
about your damn paychecks!" Her eyes narrowed angrily. "Besides, if you
don't let us through, a bunch of little kids are gonna get killed, if
they're not dead already!!"
The two guards looked dazed.
"Priss...!" Linna whispered, reaching for her shoulder.
The younger guard seemed to snap out of his trance. "What? Priss?
Are you THE Priss, of Priss and the Replicants?!"
"Huh?" Priss blinked. "Uhh...yeah."
"WOW!! This is unbelievable! I'm your absolute biggest fan! Can I
have your autograph?" the young man cried, shaking Priss's hand
vigorously.
"Oh...uh, thanks," Priss muttered, hoping this wasn't going to be
like her first encounter with Leon. But then she got an idea.
"Thanks a lot! Hey, listen--" -she glanced at his name tag- "Kyle,
right? Tell you what...I'll give you an autograph, PLUS I can get you
free tickets to my next gig! How's that sound?"
"REALLY?!" None of them had imagined a human being could smile as
broadly as Kyle did; his molars were clearly visible from any angle.
"That...that'd be UNBELIEVABLE!! I could never possibly repay you!"
"Well..." Priss sighed, looking sideways at the front doors.
"But...but I..." Kyle whimpered, clearly torn.
"I'll get you a table right next to the stage!" Priss promised
with a wink.
After staring for a moment, Kyle sat down with a sigh.
"Well...guess I'll just take a break for a couple minutes..."
Dumbfounded, the older guard looked from Kyle to Priss, and back
at Kyle again, then sighed in disgust. "Well, since you're from A.D.
Police...I guess I'll have to let you in. But all the other exits are
locked, so you'll have no choice but to come back through those doors
when you're done in there, and if we feel the need to search you when
you come back, then that's what we'll do!"
"Why you...!" Priss growled, clenching her fist, but Linna hurried
her toward the front door.
"Thank you very much!" she said as the older guard reluctantly
unlocked the door for them. "Come on, Priss," she whispered to her,
"Don't forget about all those zeroes...!"
"Huh...? Oh, the kids!" Priss exclaimed as she burst into the
building.
"Hey you guys, wait for me!" Nene cried indignantly as she ran
after them. "You know I can't run as fast as..."
As the sound of their footsteps receded down the hallway and out
of earshot, Kyle turned to look at his partner.
"Hey Roger, just what kind of a search were you planning...?"
Within minutes, the three Knight Sabers had reached the room where
their 'hardsuits' were kept. Nene hit the computer console, keying in
the activation sequence, while Linna got their battle suits out of the
lockers. The battle suits were an integral part of the hardsuits; when
worn under the armor, special components woven into the battle suits
interlocked and interfaced with the armor itself, and helped them to fit
into the customized (and very precisely measured) hardsuits. Sylia had
told them that they wouldn't be able to operate the armor without
wearing the battle suits.
"Yes! I got it!" Nene exclaimed as the large, refrigerator-like
units which contained their hardsuits swung open.
"Great, now hurry up and change!" Linna said, tossing Nene her
battle suit. Priss was already halfway into hers.
Once they'd all changed, it was time to suit up. As they began the
somewhat laborious task of assembling and getting into the
hardsuits--making sure each seal was locked in place, and testing each
component as they went; it didn't take more than a few minutes, but it
was still that much more time--Nene hesitated.
Linna locked her suit's torso into position, and started working
on her 'sleeves'. "The one thing we won't be able to use," she said as
she tested her clamps, "is the Knightwing. Sylia's the only one who can
fly it. But the incident isn't that far away, so we shouldn't need it."
Nene fidgeted with her armor, halfheartedly prepping it. "Priss,"
she said without looking up, "Are you sure about this?"
Priss ignored her, totally focused on getting into her suit as
fast as she possibly could.
"Priss," Nene repeated. No response. "Priss...Priss. ...Priss!
...Hey, Priscilla!!"
"Whaaaat?!" Priss snapped in annoyance.
"Well, it's just that...we've never gone out before without Sylia,
and..."
"Sylia, Sylia, Sylia!" Priss snarled. "That's all I ever hear
about! I'm surprised you get out of bed in the morning without Sylia
there to tell you what to do!! Hurry up and get into your suit!"
Angrily, she test-triggered one of her wrist blades, nearly slashing
Linna.
"HEY!! Watch out!" she cried, almost tipping over to avoid Priss.
Nene pouted as she suited up, her feelings clearly bruised.
"So, how do you suppose the A.D. Police are trying to stop the
factory?" Linna asked, trying to lighten things up a little. "I'll bet
they're trying to get permission to use their K-12 armored suits." She
giggled. "Of course, Leon would just take one...I wonder if he's there?"
"Nah, I heard it was some idiot named Yamada," Priss grumbled. "So
either he's a yes-man for the bigwigs in charge and won't let his men
get anywhere near the action, or he's a hero type, in which case he's
probably running low on manpower by now." She snorted in disgust. "What
a bunch of morons. That's why we always have to come save the
day...sometimes I think all most A.D. Police are trained to do is stop
bullets."
"Hey, Priss...that isn't funny." Nene said soberly.
"Whatever." Priss donned her helmet and locked the visor down.
"Okay then... LET'S DO IT!!"
Meanwhile, a little over a kilometer away, the situation was,
to put it mildly, grim.
"Where are those helos I ordered?!" Shiro Yamada shouted at the
A.D.P. officer next to him.
"They can't make it, Captain," the officer grunted, wincing. "It's
because of the crane on that thing, see?" He pointed. "They say it's
automated, so that would make it impossible to get anywhere near the
facility, let alone land on the roof!"
Yamada swore bitterly, turning to survey the situation.
The Genom Mobile Construction Unit--a massive, tread-driven
facility that one of the techs had said reminded him of a sandcrawler
from those ancient 'Star Wars' movies--had driven freely through
MegaTokyo for a short distance, which resulted in a flattened path of
utter destruction where it had been. The last structure that had been in
its path before it finally stopped was one of the city's many raised,
two-level highways. The G.M.C.U. had driven through the bridge-like
structure as it had every other obstacle in its path, resulting in an
entire section of highway being broken out, and then it had come to a
stop directly between the remaining halves of the highway. The
now-famous school bus had been unfortunate enough to be travelling on
the highway at the time of the collision and had been hurled to the
ground below along with the highway itself, and now lay smoking on the
far side of the factory. It had not been the only vehicle on the highway
at the time of the impact, either, but was the only one the media had
concentrated on. Yamada had no way of knowing if there were any
survivors...although from the look of things, he personally doubted it.
The A.D. Police squad had the factory boxed in on two sides. They
had set up an armored barricade both in front of and behind the
installation, and were very well dug in. The main problem was that no
one could get closer to the thing than sixty yards away. If anyone
tried, the factory turned its external cutting lasers on them. Plus, it
would occasionally tear up parts of the street with its boring
attachments, throwing up debris as deadly as a rain of bullets. It would
do this every few minutes at random intervals, seemingly to keep their
heads down. Not only did this make it suicidal to approach the factory,
it made it impossible to reach the bus.
Yamada was the kind of man who liked to be as close to the action
as he could. In this case, the closest he could get was crouched behind
one of the A.D.P. squad cars parked next to the barricade along with
Furukawa, his subordinate officer. And here, Yamada could no nothing but
scowl in frustration.
"Damn it..." he muttered. "If we don't find a new tactic soon, we
may have to simply make a run at that thing, and hope enough of us
survive to get inside and shut it down..."
"Sir...uh, I think that might be a little extreme," Furukawa
gulped, angling for a better view.
"Well, have you got any better ideas?!" Yamada demanded. "Time is
NOT on our side!"
"I know, Captain, but...huh?!" Furukawa's expression changed to
one of shock as he surveyed the scene. "Captain Yamada!" he exclaimed.
"The factory! It seems to have extended some kind of--arms--from the
exterior, and it's using them to pick up the rubble and throw it--"
"THROW it?!"
Yamada's question was answered abruptly as a massive slab of
concrete smashed down on a nearby A.D.P. squad car (which was parked
BEHIND the barrier), crushing it, and its occupants, like an aluminum
can. The car then exploded, throwing several nearby troopers through the
air. When the smoke cleared, those who weren't dead were severely
injured.
Coughing, Yamada looked out at the factory. "That's it. Now it's
just going to pick us off, and we can't do anything about it." He
whirled around to face Furukawa, who was staring in horror at the grisly
scene nearby. "Shit! The only way we can stop that thing now is to use
the particle-beam satellite weapons!!" Yamada shouted, clenching his
fist.
Furukawa did a double-take. "Wh-what?! But U.S.S.D. are the only
ones who can fire them, and we could never get the military to fire into
the middle of MegaTokyo!"
Yamada was about to explode when an A.D.P. officer behind them
hollered, "Hey, look! What's that?"
Everyone turned to look where he was pointing. On the remaining
upper section of the highway across from them, there was movement and
something glinted in the dim light. "It's hard to see, with this rain,"
Furukawa said, "But isn't that..."
Yamada grabbed a pair of binoculars to look for himself.
Three glistening figures stood on the highway.
"ALL RIGHT!!" a young A.D.P. officer yelled, throwing his helmet
in the air. "It's--"
"The Knight Sabers!!!" Yamada shouted, slamming his fist down on
the hood of the car in frustration.
"Hey, there's only three of them!" one of the troopers said,
squinting to see through the rain. "Aren't there supposed to be four?"
"Who cares?" His teammate responded. "Three is better than none!"
As the A.D. Police looked on, one of the three, whose deep blue
armor reflected the searchlights, stepped forward and, with a dramatic
gesture, spoke.
"Knight Sabers...GO!!"
"It sounds better when Sylia says it," Nene muttered, still
pouting.
"Well, it looks like the A.D. Police are happy to see us," Linna
observed, smirking behind her faceplate. "They're practically dancing in
the rain! Ha! What would they do without us?"
"Die, probably." Priss muttered under her breath. "Come on, let's
get down there."
"It's been a while since we've fought in the rain, too," Nene
murmured, fidgeting. She still didn't feel quite right about this job.
"Think you can handle it, Nene?" Priss said sarcastically.
"Oh, don't worry about me!" Nene said, her pride coming back.
"With this powerful suit of mine, I can handle anything! Even Largo,
remember? In fact, I bet I could go take care of that factory all by
myself! It's no match for my control systems!"
"But let's all go together, just the same," Linna interrupted,
anticipating Priss's next remark. She nudged Nene.
Priss shrugged. "Okay then, let's go!!!" she shouted, diving off
the highway toward the factory below.
Linna and Nene nodded to each other and followed her.
Priss plunged through the air toward the gigantic machine below
her, still irritated by Nene's reluctance. What, doesn't she trust me?
she wondered. After all those times I saved her useless butt, too...
Her thoughts were interrupted as the factory sensed her presence
and abruptly reacted. The large crane attached to the roof suddenly came
to life and swung around toward her as she fell. Firing her suit's
back-mounted thrusters, she avoided its swing and turned in anticipation
of its next move. That move never came, though, for the other two had
followed Priss down and Nene disabled the crane with a shot from her
shoulder-mounted beam weapons.
Okay, maybe she's not COMPLETELY useless...
The G.M.C.U. had other defenses, however. As the Knight Sabers
landed on the ground near the complex, the automated arms it had been
using to throw debris at the A.D. Police shot out at them, their
claw-like pincers ready for the kill. Priss spun out of the first one's
path, grabbed it from the side, and grappled with it until it broke off.
Linna simply diced the second one up with the deadly ribbons attached to
her helmet.
"Well, that was easy," Priss sniffed, tossing the remnants of the
mechanical arm away. "So now how do we shut this thing down?"
"Just think of it as a really big Boomer, Priss," Nene told her.
"Somewhere in there, there's gotta be a brain...!"
"Right!" Priss nodded. "Okay then, first we'll get those kids,
then we'll--"
She was cut off in mid-sentence as the factory itself seemed to
come alive. The walls opened, and huge, segmented panels extended forth,
moved into position, and interlocked with each other, forming a new wall
and ceiling.
The factory had effectively enlarged itself, expanding to cover a
substantially larger area than it had occupied previously. It had
enlarged its interior by a good fifty meters in front, and the school
bus, which had been lying a short distance to the side of the complex,
was now trapped inside it...as were the Knight Sabers.
"What the hell?!" Furukawa exclaimed as the beleaguered A.D.
Police watched the G.M.C.U. expand, swallowing the Knight Sabers and
nearly coming up to their defensive perimeter. "The guy from Genom never
said it could do anything like that!"
Yamada's eyes narrowed as he surveyed the scene. "Wonder if it's
got any other tricks up its sleeve..." he muttered under his breath.
Inside the newly-erected walls of the factory, Priss swore a blue
streak. "'Just like a really big Boomer', huh?! Well, I've never seen a
Boomer do anything like that!"
"Quit arguing, you two!" Linna said, fed up with the both of them.
"All the interior equipment is gonna come after us now!"
She was right; all around them construction equipment of every
size, shape and design came to life and moved to attack them. Linna
dodged a massive scoop that slammed to the ground behind her, spun
around, and severed its cables with her ribbons. To her right, she saw
Priss charge headlong into what appeared to be some kind of oversized
plow, while Nene rocketed up to an overhead platform and used her
control systems to make several pairs of mechanical arms attack each
other.
Turning her attention back to her own situation, Linna saw a
cluster of high-powered drills screaming toward her just barely in time
to flip out of their path. She slashed them as she dodged, and they
crashed to the ground in a twisted heap, pointing in every direction.
"Hey, Linna, be careful!" Nene laughed.
Linna turned to respond and saw--
"Nene! Look out!!" she yelled.
"Got 'em!" Nene responded as she blasted a grappling arm as it
swung toward her. Honestly, they didn't need to worry about her as much
as they did. Sometimes it was like they thought she couldn't do
ANYTHING. Well, she'd show them...
"BUT--!!!" Linna shouted.
"Huh?" Nene paused; she couldn't see Linna's expression (or her
face, for that matter), but something in her voice--
Nene's thoughts were interrupted abruptly as something slammed
into her from behind, flinging her through the air. Trying to get her
bearings, she figured it must have been one of the automated cranes, and
then she smashed into the wall and fell limply to the ground. Dazed, she
tried to get up but then felt something powerful grab her.
Shaking her head to clear it, Nene realized she was caught in the
grip of a giant clamp, and the only thing keeping her from being crushed
to death was her hardsuit. Breathing a sigh of relief, she attempted to
assert control of the clamp.
(SYSTEMS DAMAGE) flashed on her helmet's built-in monitor.
Nene's eyes widened. She tried it again.
(SYSTEMS DAMAGE) flashed sporadically.
"Oh nnooo...!" Nene felt the old panic surging up again; she
fought to keep it down. When the crane hit her, it must have smashed her
computer systems, which were all located on her back...
"Priss...Linna...I'm in trouble...!!!"
Priss disdainfully kicked aside the last piece of the plow that
had attacked her and, peering through the billowing smoke from the
resulting fire, hollered, "Just a minute, Nene! I found the bus!"
"BUT PRISS--!!"
Priss ignored Nene's whining--she could take care of herself this
ONE time--and focused on the downed school bus as she ran toward it.
It was laying on its side, and as she got close enough to be able
to see inside the vehicle, her heart skipped a beat when she saw what
looked like charred bodies inside...
...Then she heard the very distinct sound of children crying
nearby.
Priss found them huddled by some idle machinery near the bus. There
were about ten kids of varying grade-school ages huddled together in a
very frightened-looking clump. Glancing over them as she approached,
Priss didn't see any serious injuries.
"Hi! It's okay, you don't have to be afraid anymore," she told
them, trying to make her voice sound as soothing as possible. "You're
safe now. Listen, can you tell me if any of your friends are around here
someplace...?"
The children shook their heads somberly.
Priss's spirits sank.
"Wh-who're you...?" one of the younger ones asked.
"We're the Knight Sabers!" Priss declared, striking a pose and
trying to sound more confident than she felt. "We're here to help!"
At that, the children's eyes widened and their expressions changed
almost unanimously from fear to wonder. "Wow, the Knight Sabers! I heard
about them on TV!" they exclaimed.
"Right!" Priss said with a nod. "The A.D. Police are waiting for
you outside. I'm gonna blow out this wall, so you can run out there and
get back to your families." she explained, pointing. "So you'd better
keep your heads down, okay?" She charged up her pulse-cannon.
The kids apparently understood; at any rate, they ducked.
As expected, it only took a few shots to blow a garage door-sized
hole in the wall. Priss was about to start herding the kids toward the
new exit when suddenly a man staggered out from behind the bus.
He was wearing a slightly burned construction uniform (which read
GENOM Construction Group) and was lugging a large tool that resembled a
shovel. Must be one of the workers, Priss thought to herself. Richfield
forgot to mention them. Typical.
"Hey, you!" she yelled at him. "What're you doing? Get outta
here!" She pointed at the hole in the wall, where the kids were now
heading.
The man looked at the children as they ran past him, then suddenly
raised his tool--
Priss gasped and, acting reflexively, snapped her right
needle-cannon into position and fired a two-foot-long blade into the
man's chest, pinning him to the bus.
The man looked down at the long piece of metal protruding from his
chest in apparent surprise...
...Then reached up and, almost effortlessly, pulled it out.
"Oh shit..." Priss whispered.
Then the man looked up at her, and opened his mouth as if to say
something.
And his mouth opened wider...and wider... and wider, until his
skin tore...and a familiar-looking beam weapon protruded forth...
Priss threw herself to the side, dodging the laser blast, and
opened up with her pulse cannon. After half a dozen shots, all that
remained of the 'man' were about a thousand little mechanical bits and
pieces, and a few shreds of artificial skin.
Priss would've wiped her brow, but her helmet got in the way.
Turning, she saw Linna trying (without much success) to get Nene
out of whatever fix she'd managed to get herself into. In the dim
recesses of the factory behind them, Priss saw shadowy figures moving...
"Linna!" she shouted. "Boomers!!"
Outside, the A.D. Police looked on as a section of the factory's
wall blew out, leaving a large entrance.
"Now what's going on...?" Yamada wondered aloud as he watched.
"It must be the Knight Sabers," Furukawa reasoned. "Maybe they
found some survivors and they're trying to get them out. ...Or something
like that, anyway," he said, shrugging as Yamada looked at him
skeptically.
"Well, get some men over there and find out!" Yamada said. Turning
back to the factory, his eyes narrowed as he mulled over his strategy.
Somehow, he would be the one to bring this thing down...one way or
another...!
"Come on, Linna! Hurry up and get me outta this thing!" Nene
whined impatiently.
"All right, all right, I'm trying, okay?!" Linna snapped, trying
to figure out how to get Nene out of the clamp. She was frustrated, and
Nene's whining was getting to her. There weren't any visible controls
anywhere nearby; besides, if the G.M.C.U. really did have its own AI,
there was nothing Linna could do about it. The clamp literally had a
mind of its own.
"Lin-NA...!" Nene struggled to get free, but she couldn't move
more than an inch or so in any direction.
"Be quiet for a second, okay??" Linna admonished. "I can't think
with you yelling!"
"Linna! Boomers!!" Priss hollered as she ran toward them from over
at the far wall, where she'd been with the kids.
"Huh?! Boomers?!" Linna repeated. "Where--?!"
"Behind you!!" Nene screamed. Linna glanced over her shoulder just
in time to dodge the metallic fist that swept through the air where her
head had just been. Spinning reflexively, she sliced the
attacking Boomer with her ribbons, then jumped away. The Boomer fell
to the ground in pieces, its mechanical limbs still twitching eerily.
"Where'd that come from...?" Linna wondered in surprise. As she
stood there, several other men emerged from the shadows and approached
menacingly.
"Watch out! They're all Boomers!" Priss shouted as she launched a
kick in mid-stride, knocking one of them to the ground. It recovered
quickly, however, and all of the Boomers ripped out of their artificial
skin, revealing themselves for what they truly were.
No matter how many times Sylia explained it to her, Linna would
never understand how those huge androids could fit into a human frame.
She didn't have time to ponder it, though, because the Boomers quickly
rushed them and a furious battle began.
"Hey, those are C-series Combat Boomers!" Nene exclaimed from her
position mashed between the two halves of the clamp. "What are they
doing here?!"
"Those bastards at Genom set us up!!" Priss fumed as the Boomer
she was fighting exploded in a shower of debris. "They must have
secretly been using this thing to manufacture these Combat Boomers!
That's the real reason why they wanted it back so badly!!"
"There's something different about these Boomers, though!" Linna
said as she dodged a flurry of attacks from the one she faced and got in
a couple hits of her own. "It's like they learn by watching us...!"
As if to demonstrate her point, the Boomer fighting Linna faked an
attack and when she moved to evade, it caught hold of her arm and swung
her into a pile of machinery.
Nene watched helplessly as her friends battled on. Suddenly she
felt something give slightly, and the clamp seemed to tighten. It was
almost imperceptible, but the thing was definitely still active...
"Linna!! Priss!! Get me outta this thing!!!" she squealed. She
didn't care what they thought of her bravery at this point; she didn't
know how much longer her suit was going to hold!
"What're you doing?! At least TRY to make us think you're being
useful!" Priss hollered in exasperation, slicing the clamp apart with
her wrist blade. Free of the giant vice, Nene fell to the ground in
surprise.
"Ah! Th-thanks, Priss!" she gasped in relief.
"Will you shut up and DO SOMETHING??!" Priss yelled as she dodged
a Boomer's swing and slashed it with her blades.
"Okay, then...!" Nene said, taking aim with her wrist-mounted
blasters. "I'll--"
She was interrupted as a Boomer's fist connected with the left
side of her helmet, denting it, severely damaging one of the antennae,
and momentarily blinding her.
"Aagh!" Nene stumbled to the side as her monitor came back
on-line. With an effort, she turned her fear and disorientation into
anger and determination.
"Why, you--!!" As the Boomer approached, Nene fired right into its
face, blowing most of its head off. The torso flailed around and she
backed off, then kept firing until she'd taken it completely apart.
"All right, Nene!" Linna called, having just finished off another
Boomer herself.
Bursting with pride, Nene thought to herself, There, that'll show
those guys...I beat that thing, even without my control systems!
"Yes!!" She raised her fists over her head triumphantly.
It was a movement she'd regret making for the rest of the week.
Priss leapt over a charging Boomer and kicked downward as it
passed beneath her, stomping the android's head clear down into its
torso somewhere. Then she flipped down and shot it up with her
needle-cannons. It made for yet another satisfying explosion.
"Man, who knows how many Boomers there are in this place!" she
said. "Once the kids get clear, we're gonna have to find this thing's
AI, and fast!" Glancing over toward the exit, Priss saw that most of the
kids had gone out, but a few were still inside. She waved at them and
pointed to the hole in the wall, signaling them to leave. However, they
hesitated.
Maybe they're scared to go out there 'cause of all the hardware
A.D. Police has aimed at this thing, she reasoned. She was about to call
to them when she was interrupted by a surprised screech.
Turning, she saw a Boomer grab Nene from behind, cathing her
outstretched arms in a virtually unbreakable grip and dangling her in
the air by them, as a second Boomer approached.
"Nene!!" Priss hollered and began charging toward them, but
another Boomer suddenly appeared and, catching Priss off guard, snapped
her into a full nelson. Its strength was tremendous and, despite her
armor, Priss felt like both her shoulders would pop out of their sockets
any second.
Through a haze of pain, she could see one of the kids still
standing over near the bus, staring at her...and she saw another Boomer
looming up behind him...
...And then, in that instant, Priss suddenly recognized the boy.
Her eyes widened behind her visor. "...Sho??!!" she whispered, her
voice a mixture of horror and disbelief. Even from this distance, she
could see the glowing red eyes of the Boomer behind him.
"NOOOO--!!!" Priss shouted. Somehow, she managed to reach behind
her. In a wild fury, she grabbed the head of the Boomer holding her and,
with a burst of adrenaline, tore it right off. Dropping the machine's
head, she kicked off from its body and fired her suit's thrusters,
launching herself toward Sho.
The Boomer about to attack him looked genuinely surprised when
Priss came screaming though the air at it. She struck it head-on at full
speed with her wrist blades extended, ripping completely through its
body like a blue, streamlined missile. The Boomer did not get up again.
Priss herself was a little stunned from the impact; even she had
never done anything like THAT before. Pushing herself up from where
she'd landed, she shook her head to clear it, then looked around for
Sho. For a horrible second she thought she might've hit him--
Then she saw him getting up from the ground where he'd landed
after diving out of her way. His hair was messed up and his clothes were
all dirty, but Priss breathed a sigh of relief.
That is, until he spoke...
"P...Priss...??"
"Hey! Come back here!!" Linna yelled as Priss rocketed off to save
Sho. First she wrecks my car, then she tries to stick me with the dinner
bill, then she pulls that stunt at Sylia's, and now she leaves me to try
to save Nene by myself! she thought to herself, starting to get more
than a little bit fed up. And all in one day, too!!
As the Boomer she'd been fighting fell to the ground in pieces
behind her, Linna called, "Hang on, Nene!" and rushed toward her and the
Boomer that was dangling her in front of its companion.
She was sure Nene would've laughed under different circumstances.
Suddenly, a headless Boomer jumped in front of her. Linna jumped
back in surprise, then harpooned the machine and ran past it, dicing it
up with her ribbons as she went by.
But in the moment she took to do that, the second Boomer had
reached Nene. As its fellow construct held her hanging in the air
helplessly, the Boomer pulled back its fist--which packed all the power
of a jackhammer--and rammed it into Nene's side.
She cried out in what must have been extreme pain.
The sound brought Linna up short--she'd heard Nene scream in FEAR
plenty of times, but never like THAT--and she half-expected the Boomer
to come away with her guts in its hand. But, as it pulled back for
another blow, Linna saw that her armor had held.
This time.
Linna was going to make sure there wasn't a second time.
With a battle cry, she ran at the two Boomers and leapt into the
air, firing a harpoon at the one holding Nene. It struck the android
right in the head, and it dropped her. Her momentum carrying her through
space, Linna twisted around in mid-air, slicing the Boomer up with her
ribbons and finishing it off.
But she'd missed the other one, and it didn't even let her land.
The Boomer grabbed Linna's foot as she flew past it and jerked her back
toward it.
Realizing her situation, Linna fired her suit's thrusters to
escape but the Boomer hung on, and used the added momentum of the
hardsuit's rockets to swing Linna around in an arc and slam her into the
ground with tremendous force, amidst the wreckage of the drill she
destroyed earlier.
The force of the impact actually knocked Linna out for about two
seconds, but she came to when she heard Nene scream. Still dazed, she
tried to get up, but it felt like her armor was caught on something.
She heard Nene cry out again, calling her name, and angrily
wrenched herself free. Turning to face the remaining Boomer, Linna was
surprised to see that Nene had plugged into it with her interface cables
and had fried its circuits.
Nene rushed to Linna's side as she got up. "Linna, are you--?!"
"Yeah, I'm okay," she replied, finding the concern in her friend's
voice almost touching. She shook her head, still feeling a little woozy
after that hit.
"Are YOU all right, the way that Boomer was beating on you?" Linna
asked Nene. "It looked like he hit you pretty hard."
Nene winced behind her visor. "It hurts, but..." she still sounded
worried.
"Hey, where'd all the Boomers go...?" Linna asked, looking around.
"Oh! They're all over there, fighting Priss!" Nene exclaimed, as
if she'd just realized it herself. "We better go help her!"
They ran (limped) toward the wrecked school bus, where Priss was
slugging it out with half a dozen Boomers as a twelve-year-old boy
looked on, calling her name.
"Priss--!" as soon as they got there, Linna could tell she was in
bad shape. Priss's hardsuit looked severely banged-up from multiple
impacts, and she had one of her own needles protruding from her right
thigh.
"Priss!!" the boy wailed.
"Get him outta here!" Priss hollered as she hit one of the Boomers
with a barrage of needles. It exploded, but another one charged forward
and slammed her.
"But--!!!" Nene protested.
"GO!!" Priss shouted, blasting her assailant with her pulse
cannon. "I'm gonna show these boys some fireworks!!" She nodded toward
the demolition supplies a short distance away.
"You WOULDN'T--come on!!!" Linna grabbed Nene and Sho and ran for
the exit.
"Look! Somebody else is coming out!" Furukawa yelled, pointing.
"It's two of the Knight Sabers, and that last kid who went back in!"
Yamada grinned triumphantly. "So...it was too much for them!" He
turned to the troops. "All right! As soon as they're clear, move in!"
Meanwhile, one of the Boomers had Priss locked into a crushing
bearhug. She tried to kick it, but the needle in her leg painfully
obstructed her. It opened its mouth to blast her with its laser, and she
quickly rammed her wrist blades into its inorganic guts. The Boomer's
grip loosened, and she blew its head off with her pulse cannon.
As the android's now-useless body dropped her, Priss fired her
thrusters, launching herself backwards toward the demolition supplies.
Taking a quick look, she was sure there were more than enough explosives
to do the job...which was fortunate, since she couldn't think of any
other way to finish this.
The Boomers were in pursuit using their own built-in thrusters,
and Priss had just enough time before they reached her to pull the
needle out of her leg. The long, razor-sharp blade felt even worse
coming out than it did going in, as it tore through skin, muscle and
tendon for a second time.
Ripping it out with a curse, Priss tossed the needle aside and
dodged the first Boomer to reach her. She sliced the second one
right down the middle, its two halves falling to the ground lifelessly
behind her, but the third one connected and Priss was tossed backwards
by the force of the blow.
She pushed herself to her feet as the Boomers closed in around
her. It was now or never.
Bringing her pulse cannon around, Priss took aim at the huge
crates filled with live explosives. Yeah, there'd be enough, all
right...!
She shouted, "GO TO HELL, YOU BASTARDS!!!" and fired.
"CHARGE!!" Yamada shouted as the A.D. Police surged forward.
"No! WAIT!!" Nene yelled as she and Linna ran with Sho at full
tilt away from the factory.
Just as the A.D. Police had cleared the barrier, the Genom Mobile
Construction Unit exploded, showering debris everywhere as its massive
frame collapsed. The A.D. Police dove back behind the barrier, most of
them escaping injury.
As an avalanche of debris swept over the two Knight Sabers, Linna
stumbled and Nene, acting instinctively, grabbed Sho and rocketed him to
safety behind the A.D.P. barricade.
Bits of dirt, metal, concrete, and other miscellaneous debris fell
from the sky for blocks. It took almost a full minute before the dust
began to clear.
Nene opened her eyes, and found a dozen A.D. Police officers
staring at her. "Uh, here," she said awkwardly, pushing Sho at them (who
appeared to be unconscious, but otherwise unharmed). Getting to her
feet, Nene took a moment to make sure she was really still alive, then
hopped back out from behind the barricade and ran out to see if
her friends were too.
"Linna!! Priss!!" At first, there was no sign of them, but then
she saw Linna struggle into view. They both opened their visors and
looked at each other.
"...Is Priss...?" Linna asked hesitantly, sounding like she wasn't
sure she wanted to know the answer.
"Look!!" Nene cried, pointing.
She felt a surge of relief as she saw Priss climbing out of the
wreckage a short distance away. Her armor was covered with hundreds of
little knicks and scratches from the flying debris, but at least she was
alive.
"Shit, that was rough..." Priss swore painfully as she hauled
herself out of the wreckage. She didn't exactly share Nene's sentiment.
"Priss!" the others called, waving to her. She could picture them
jumping up and down ecstatically the way they normally would after
something like this, but like her, they were probably in too much pain.
At least they'd gotten Sho to safety. As for the matter of explaining to
him what was going on, well...that would come later.
Climbing down toward them, she opened her visor and grinned at
them, although even that hurt. "See, I told you we could beat that
thing!"
Linna got to her feet, and Nene was saying something in an
indignant tone, but Priss didn't catch any of it.
She could only stare in shock and horror...
After everything that had happened that day, Linna had now gotten
to the point where she was Really Mad. The others must've realized it,
too, for they both fell silent as she got up.
Turning to face Priss, she exploded. "Are you CRAZY?! Are you
completely nuts?! You could've killed all of us just now!! And Genom
said they wanted that thing back in one piece, remember?! But nooooo,
you just HAD to go and BLOW IT UP!!! Now they probably won't even toss
us a single yen! A HUNDRED MILLION, Priss!! And you..." She stopped in
mid-gesture, unnnerved by the way the two of them were staring at her.
"...What?"
"Liiinnaaaa--!!!" Nene wailed, her voice breaking off in a sob.
Following their gaze, Linna abruptly realized what had happened.
When she'd destroyed the cluster of drills earlier, their momentum
had caused them to become embedded in the concrete, and the speed and
angle of impact had twisted the drill bits as they suddenly stopped
spinning. When that Boomer had slammed her to the ground while she was
trying to help Nene, one of the diamond-tipped drill bits, pointing
upward, had punched right through Linna's hardsuit at her midsection
almost as if it wasn't there. She hadn't realized it at the time because
she was disoriented and numbed by adrenaline.
Linna hadn't seen so much blood since Irene died...
Looking back up at her friends, she whispered, "Priss...!"
...And then collapsed.
Nene screamed.
"LINNA!!!" Priss shouted, pounding down the scrapiron hill toward
her friend as she saw her fall.
Cradling Linna in her arms, Priss could tell she was losing blood
fast. She swore in frustration.
"Priss...what're we gonna do...?!" Nene wailed, sobbing.
A few blocks away, an A.D. Police squad car tore through the
streets, racing toward the site of the incident at top speed.
"Shit, I can't believe nobody called us about this earlier!!" Leon
McNichol swore as he yanked the wheel around a corner. "That factory
could level the whole city!!"
"Yeah, and with that hothead Yamada in charge, we'll be lucky if
there's anybody left to greet us when we get there," Leon's partner,
Daley Wong, agreed. "Just try to get us there in one piece, okay?"
Suddenly, there was a concussive blast up ahead of them, and Leon
hit the brakes reflexively. A moment later, hundreds of small bits of
debris rained down on the roof of the car.
Leon and Daley stared as the last chunk bounced off the hood.
"Does that mean what I think it means...?" Daley wondered aloud.
Leon floored the accelerator. Moments later they pulled up behind
the A.D.P. barricade.
"Hey, Leon, you missed the show!" one of the troopers called to
him as he got out of the car. "The Knight Sabers are here, and they blew
up the factory a minute ago!" The man, who was sitting on top of one the
the A.D. Police armored vehicles, craned his neck for a better view.
"But now...it looks like one of them is down!"
Leon stared at him for a moment without comprehending, then yelled
"What?!" and broke into a mad run toward the barrier. The sudden
pounding of his heart surprised him even more than his reaction
surprised the others...but what if it was...?!
He passed the barrier and saw two of the Knight Sabers kneeling
over the third; the fourth one was nowhere to be seen. Seeing the
blue-armored one, he breathed a subconscious sigh of relief. But he saw
the one in olive-green armor lying there limply, and even from this
distance, Leon could tell it was bad.
As she knelt there holding Linna, Priss's world seemed to fall
apart. Things had suddenly taken a disastrous turn and, despite her
earlier confidence, she found herself desperately wishing Sylia were
here.
Because she had absolutely no idea what to do now. All she could
think was that they had to get help for Linna, somehow...!
Dimly, she heard footsteps approaching. "Priss, Leon's coming!"
Nene warned, regaining her composure enough to close her visor.
Reflexively, Priss snapped her own visor shut, and did the same
for Linna (who had passed out, mercifully), even as she focused on Leon
and the single ray of hope that he brought with him.
Leon slowed to stop a few feet from them, staring at Linna and the
blood seeping out of the hole in her suit, mingling with the rainwater.
Priss and Nene didn't move or speak but just sat there looking up at
him, their helmets hiding their helpless expressions. Nene sniffed
occasionally, her shoulders quivering.
"...What...what happened...?" was all Leon could manage to say.
Priss was about to try to explain when several other A.D. Police
officers, including Daley, Furukawa and Yamada, reached them. Like Leon,
all Daley could do at first was stare in horror. "Holy shit...!"
Furukawa murmured.
"Hmph," Yamada grunted, surveying the scene with his arms folded.
Nodding, he said, "That's a hard lesson to learn."
"You jerk!!" Leon exploded, turning to face the older man.
"They--"
Yamada ignored him. "You really should have left this incident in
the hands of A.D. Police," he continued, addressing the Knight Sabers.
"We had the situation well under control."
Nene sobbed, on the verge of coming apart. Priss stared at Yamada,
her shocked expression hidden behind her visor.
"Listen, you glory-seeking idiot--!!" Leon yelled, grabbing Yamada
by one of the straps securing his bullet-proof vest. "If it wasn't
for--"
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!" Priss shouted at the top of her lungs as
she jumped to her feet and punched Yamada. The impact of her armored
glove broke his nose and knocked him out cold. All the A.D. Police
present (except Nene, who was still kneeling over Linna in a state of
near-hysteria) jumped back in surprise. Leon was just as taken aback as
anyone, but when he saw a couple of them reaching for their weapons, he
quickly yelled to them, "I was just gonna do that myself!"
"Please, Leon!!" Priss cried desperately as she grabbed him by the
shoulders, "You've gotta help us!!"
"Wh-what?!" he stammered, startled by the urgency and emotion in
her voice.
"Help us!! Take us to a hospital!" Priss pleaded, her grip on his
shoulders tightening. "PLEASE!! I can't let her die!!!"
Nene flinched visibly at the word 'die'.
Leon swallowed. Priss could see beads of sweat breaking out on his
forehead as he stared at her, his own reflection on her helmet all he
could see. Then he nodded.
"Okay!" he exclaimed. Turning, he barked orders. "Daley! Bring an
armored transport back here NOW!"
"Huh?!" Daley did a double-take. "But, Leon--!"
"MOVE IT!!" Leon shouted.
About forty meters away, hidden amidst the wreckage of the
factory, a lone Boomer watched as the Knight Sabers and A.D. Police
loaded Linna into an A.D.P. armored carrier. Leon and Daley hopped in
alongside the driver as Furukawa and a couple of troopers attempted to
rouse Yamada. The vehicle then drove off at top speed.
Having monitored their conversation, the Boomer scanned its
internal maps of MegaTokyo and projected their destination.
Then it moved back out of sight.
"Hang on, Linna...!" Priss whispered to her as they sped through
the streets, riding in the back of the A.D. Police armored carrier. They
had laid Linna, who was still very unconscious (which Priss was
desperately hoping would not be permanent) on the long bench on the
right side of the spacious rear compartment. A.D. Police troopers rode
to Boomer incidents on those same benches, which lent an even greater
feeling of morbidity to the scene; at least that was what Priss thought
as she held watch over her friend there. Nene sat on the bench across
from them, her head down. She was very still, her posture hinting at the
anguish she must have been feeling. Priss was surprised at how well she
was handling the situation, though. Leon and Daley were with the driver
in the cab up front.
Priss clutched Linna's hand tightly, praying to anyone listening
that they'd be in time. Behind her, Nene sobbed quietly.
Priss had lost too many other friends like this. Her mind kept
flashing back to Sho's mother, and to Sylvie and Anri, each dying in her
arms. All because of Genom, or Boomers, or both. If they took Linna,
though...she couldn't let that happen. She didn't know if she'd be able
to handle it...
After a time, Priss realized Leon was crouching next to her. She
turned toward him.
"How'd this happen, anyway?" he asked softly, indicating Linna's
injuries.
"There were Boomers inside that thing," she murmured, her voice
low. "That's why I had to blow it up. I think one of them nailed her
with a drill."
"Boomers...??" Leon's face registered surprise, even with his
sunglasses on. "What were Boomers doing in that factory?"
"My guess is Genom was secretly using it to build them," Priss
replied. "With the gear inside that thing, they could probably crank out
just about any type you could think of."
"Holy..." Leon ran a hand through his hair, his usually cool
demeanor showing cracks under the stress of the evening. "Genom was
going to build dozens of Mobile Construction Units and deploy them
internationally." He turned to Priss and took off his glasses. "They
were gonna use them to fill illicit orders for Combat Boomers, which
they would use the totally automated factories to mass-produce. Then
they'd sell them on the black market to whoever was
buying--international terrorists, arms dealers, Third World countries,
the Communists..."
"But now you can nail them for it, right?" Priss said, hoping at
least some good would come out of this somehow. "Now that we figured out
what they were doing...!"
Leon bowed his head, then shook it. "No evidence. We wouldn't be
able to salvage anything concrete from that wreck. Besides, Genom runs
the courts, so there's nothing we could do anyway."
Priss swore bitterly, slamming her fist down on the bench in utter
frustration.
Daley leaned back in his seat, turning to face them. "We're here,"
he called.
"What's this?" one of the medics wondered aloud as the A.D. Police
armored carrier pulled into the Emergency & Trauma Center. "Late
casualties from the factory incident? I thought they'd brought them all
in by now."
As the emergency medics, of whom there were several, approached
the vehicle, the rear double-doors swung open.
"A.D. Police!" Leon hollered as he jumped out. "Get a stretcher
over here, YESTERDAY!! We've got a critically injured patient here!"
"Hey, what gives? I th--Knight Sabers??!" a medic exclaimed as he
looked inside.
"Yeah! Hurry up and help us get her inside!" Leon barked as the
medics crowded around them.
"Huh?!" The medic did a double-take. "But...we can't...!"
"WHY THE HELL NOT?!" Priss shouted as she tried to load Linna onto
the stretcher.
"Well, it's just..." the man stuttered, clearly very
uncomfortable, "We don't have any idea who they are! What if--?"
"Listen, you jerk!! If it wasn't for the Knight Sabers, you, me,
and everybody else in this town would be nothing but shadows on the
wall, get it?!" Leon yelled in the medic's face. He pointed over his
shoulder at Linna. "If she dies because you held us up, I'm gonna shoot
you myself!! Understand?!"
Swallowing, the medic nodded. He and the others helped Priss and
Leon load Linna onto the stretcher (the hardsuits were quite heavy) and
they rushed inside.
"What??" Dr. Robert Adams asked, straightening his glasses as he
stood up. "Let me get this straight. You want me..."
"--To perform emergency surgery to save the life of one of the
Knight Sabers!!" Leon hollered, nearly coming over the man's desk at
him. "It's the least you could do, considering all the things they've
done for us!" he added impatiently.
"Well, I AM a doctor!" Adams replied, sounding a little insulted.
"Quick, bring her in!"
"We already did! In fact, she's waiting on the table!!" Leon
snapped in exasperation.
They hurried down the hall from Adams' office to the surgical
ward. The nurses were all occupied with other casualties (both real and
imagined) related to the factory incident, so Leon had had to hunt down
a surgeon himself. They burst into surgery, and Adams stopped short.
"Wh--what the--??" Apparently he was surprised by the sight of
Linna lying on the operating table, still in full armor, with Priss and
Nene huddled over her. Daley was hanging off to the side, but stepped
forward when they entered the room.
"What's going on?! I can't operate like this! Get her out of that
armor!! What are you people thinking?!" Adams stammered.
"Daley, what...?" Leon asked, taking him aside.
"We've been trying to get them to take her suit off, but they
won't do it," Daley muttered, sounding worried. "They want to save her,
but they seem afraid to reveal any of their identities..."
Leon stared at him for a moment in disbelief, then turned to the
Knight Sabers. "But, you HAVE to...!" he began.
Priss stood there, tension visible in every inch of her body, even
despite her suit. The choice she had to make was one of the toughest of
her life. After several agonizing seconds, she finally exclaimed, "All
right!!"
She turned toward them. "But," she decreed, motioning with her
hand, "Everybody but the doc leaves!" Reluctantly, Leon and Daley filed
out of the room, leaving Dr. Adams, Priss, and Nene standing over Linna.
Priss hesitated a moment longer, weighing the potential
consequences of her actions that night, both past and future. Finally
the scales tipped, and she whispered inaudibly, "Forgive me,
Linna...Sylia...!"
Reaching down gingerly, she triggered the necessary seals to open
Linna's hardsuit. It unfolded seemingly one component at a time, until
the armor lay spread out on the operating table beneath its occupant.
Finally, almost painfully, Priss removed the helmet, and as Nene looked
on in trepidation, Dr. Robert Adams gazed upon the face of Linna
Yamazaki...Knight Saber.
Blood dripped on the floor.
Nene shuddered involuntarily when she saw Linna's wound. Sure
she'd seen worse in movies, and certainly heard about far more
stomach-turning things from A.D. Police patrol officers. But it was far
different to read police reports on strangers than it was to see one of
her best friends in such a situation.
"Well, she seems to have lost quite a bit of blood," Dr. Adams
observed unnecessarily, "But luckily I think the, er, invasive object
missed most of her vital organs in the area of..."
"Can you save her or not?!" Priss snapped impatiently.
Dr. Adams adjusted his glasses in a clinical manner, and smiled
slightly. "Not to worry," he said.
Priss and Nene straightened, a sudden ray of hope and relief
peering through the dark clouds at them.
"I am one of the best cyber-surgeons at this hospital," Dr. Adams
continued. "Leave it to me."
Priss started. "Cyber...??" she repeated.
Oh, no...! Nene thought to herself, afraid she knew what was
coming.
Dr. Adams nodded confidently. "Yes. I can replace her damaged
tissue and organs in no time; just let me get my things...Now, you may
want to--"
He was cut off in mid-sentence as Priss grabbed him by the collar
and spun him around.
"NO WAY!! I ain't gonna let you turn her into a damn Boomer!!!"
she shouted in his face.
"Wh-wha--?!" the startled doctor sputtered.
"Wait a minute...!" Nene said, trying to intercede.
"You're not gonna replace a damn thing!!" Priss hollered, ignoring
her. "You're just gonna heal her where she's hurt! Do whatever you have
to, but NO organ replacements!!"
"B-but...but how am I supposed to do that?" Adams stammered.
"How'm I supposed to know?! YOU'RE the doctor!!" Priss exclaimed,
her temper flaring brightly.
"Well, to be honest..." Adams mumbled, clearly both afraid and
ashamed, "I'm not really that KIND of a doctor. In fact, there aren't
that many of them around any more..."
"You gotta be kidding!" Priss blurted. "I was at a hospital less
than a year ago and--"
"A lot can change in a year," Adams pointed out. "Most of them
have changed fields or retired."
Priss just stood there, staring at him in amazement. The seconds
ticked by.
"...It's the only way...!" Nene whispered urgently as she gingerly
laid a hand on Priss's arm.
She came back to reality with a jolt.
"NEVER!!!" Priss shouted as she turned and, bringing her pulse
cannon to bear, blasted the shelves full of artificial replacement
organs to dust.
Nene's mind seemed to shut down for a moment when she fully
realized what had just happened. She could only stare at the
destruction, weakly mumbling "...How...could..."
Adams gaped in horror at the scene, then turned to Priss,
sputtering "Do--do you realize--what you just--"
In response, Priss grabbed the hapless doctor, jerking him toward
her and nearly lifting him off the floor.
"Listen to me, you idiot," she growled dangerously, "You're gonna
operate on her. Right now. And you're gonna do whatever you possibly can
to save her life. If you don't, I'M gonna operate on YOU."
Adams swallowed hard. "Well...I think I know some things I could
try...they might work. But I've never done anything like this
before...it's going to be a very difficult operation. I'm afraid
you'll both have to leave--" --Priss's grip tightened menacingly-- "--So
that my concentration won't be disrupted."
Priss stood there a moment longer, as if she were trying to suck
any possible treachery out of Adams' body, then released him and stepped
back toward the door.
"You better not try anything..." she warned as she paused at the
doorway, then finally stepped out into the hall.
Nene exhaled, afraid the stress of the night was going to cause
her to have a nervous breakdown. She followed Priss out the door.
Great, Priss, she thought to herself, that's just great. Just when
I thought things couldn't possibly get any worse than they already
were...!
"Man, that's unreal," Daley muttered as he and Leon stood around
out in the hallway. "Keeping their identities a secret is so important
to the Knight Sabers that they'd almost sacrifice one of their lives to
preserve that...I wonder why? Who are they, really? Why don't they want
anybody to know?"
Leon didn't respond.
He knew, although Daley's question was rhetorical. At least, he
knew who one of them was. To tell Daley wouldn't be...right. But he'd
seen her, in a fever dream, after they'd smashed the D.D. early last
year...just one of the many times that the Knight Sabers had saved
MegaTokyo.
When the Knight Sabers spoke to them, something in their helmets
scrambled their voices slightly, just enough so that Leon couldn't be
absolutely, positively sure that it was her. Not enough to totally
eradicate the slightest shreds of doubt that lingered in his mind.
But still, he knew.
"Hey, clear out! Keep out of this area!"
The sound of Daley's voice brought Leon back to the here-and-now.
Looking around, he saw several people, probably hospital staff, peering
down the hallway at them.
"A.D. Police!" he announced. "We're roping off this wing! While
we're here, this entire section of this floor is off limits!"
The onlookers hesitated, then slowly dispersed.
Leon and Daley stood there alone. It was the only thing they could
do, now.
"Shit, I hate waiting," Leon muttered.
Further down the hallway, a janitor peered around the corner.
"Uh, Leon," Daley sighed, pointing.
Leon gritted his teeth in anger and frustration. He didn't turn
around, but instead simply shouted, "THE NEXT PERSON WHO STICKS THEIR
HEAD DOWN THIS HALL IS GONNA GET SHOT!!"
Footsteps echoed down the hallway as the janitor ran for his life.
"What a moron," Leon muttered. As he spoke, there was a series of
what sounded like small explosions from the operating room.
"What the--?!" both men exclaimed, simultaneously drawing their
weapons.
They stood there for a moment, not knowing what to expect but
ready for whatever it was, and then the blue Knight Saber strode out
into the hallway, the doors swishing behind her. The red one followed
behind her, protesting loudly.
"I can't believe it!! I just cannot believe you did that!! That
has got to be one of the single craziest things I've ever seen you do!!!
NOW what do you think her chances are??! At least--"
Whirling around to face her, the blue one shouted, "SHUT UP!!!"
Despite her indignation, the smaller red one took a reflexive step
backwards.
Leon and Daley stood there in bewilderment, watching them
awkwardly.
The blue one noticed them after a moment and hollered, "What're
you looking at?!"
"Uhhh..." was the only thing that came to Leon's mind.
They stood in tense silence for several seconds. Finally, the red
Knight Saber shrugged in resignation. "Well, I guess the only thing we
can do now is wait," she sighed, walking over to one of the benches
against the wall. Obviously exhausted, she dropped to a seat.
"Oww--!!" she cried, clutching her side in surprised pain.
"Boy, you guys really got beaten up," Daley observed as he sat
down next to her, putting his gun away.
Leon looked at the blue 'Saber as she paced in front of them, and
realized for the first time how right Daley was. In the hallway's bright
light, he could see that her armor was covered with literally
hundreds of tiny dents and scratches, and blood dripped from a
nasty-looking hole in the right leg. As for the red one, her helmet and
the apparatus on her back were smashed up badly, and her armor looked
cracked where she was holding her side.
"You should get yourselves treated while we wait for the Doc," he
advised them. "This IS a hospital, you know."
"No thanks," the blue one muttered as she paced.
Leon blinked in surprise, then leaned back against the wall where
he was sitting. "Well, then, do what you like," he sighed in
exasperation. "I'm sure the janitor won't be happy about having to wipe
up the blood you're dripping all over the place, but if you think you've
got enough, and you're enjoying yourself that much..."
Whirling around angrily, she hollered, "If I wanna stand here and
bleed, then damn it, THAT'S what I'm gonna do!!"
They all sat there looking a little dazed, and she stalked off
down the hall toward the window at the far end. Leon watched her go,
then swore under his breath and followed.
The red Knight Saber stayed where she was, but looked up when she
noticed Daley looking at her.
"Wh...What?" she asked, sounding a little hesitant.
"Your voice..." Daley murmured. "...It sounds kinda familiar
somehow, but I can't quite place it..."
She clammed up immediately.
Priss leaned against the window as she stared out into the night.
The rain had gotten heavier and even though they were on the third
floor, she couldn't see that far. Not that there was anything to look
at, anyway. MegaTokyo was just as dingy-looking at night as it was
during the day.
She couldn't believe how badly she'd screwed everything up so far
that night. If she hadn't led them into that factory, if she'd just
stayed at the restaurant or gone home, none of this would ever have
happened.
Priss truly didn't care if she lived another ten years or died
tomorrow. But she couldn't let another friend die...not Linna...
But, what about Sho? she asked herself. What would've happened to
him if I hadn't been there...?
She was ashamed of her outburst in surgery, although she didn't
regret it. She'd heard about people who had gotten so many artificial
organ replacements that they literally became Boomers, and others who
had gone insane because of 'side effects'. Either way, from Priss's
viewpoint, if you replaced any part of your body, you gave up a little
bit of your humanity, became something less than human. And she had a
terrible feeling that humanity was becoming a scarce commodity these
days.
"So..." she murmured to herself, "...Did I trade Linna's life for
Sho's...?"
"Hey, wait up!" she heard Leon saying as he approached. He came
over to stand next to her.
"Leave me alone," she muttered without looking at him.
"Come on," he said quietly, "You gotta try to calm down. You're
gonna drive yourself nuts pacing around like this. I've seen it happen."
He smiled slightly and leaned a little closer. "I'm sure your friend's
gonna be okay."
Priss snorted bitterly. "I'm not," she admitted.
Leon stood there quietly for a moment, as if he were trying to
think of something to say. Being sensitive probably doesn't come to him
naturally, Priss thought to herself. He's gotta work at it.
It didn't really increase her opinion of him any.
"Well, if nothing else, at least come sit down. Even if you don't
want to do anything about it, I bet that still hurts," he said,
indicating her leg.
She glanced down at her injury. Actually, she'd forgotten about it
until he'd noticed it a minute ago. She was definitely still bleeding;
not a gusher, but nothing to laugh at, either.
"...I've had worse," she finally replied, turning back to the
window.
Leon clenched his fist. A few seconds passed, and then he hissed,
"Shit...why don't you trust me, Priss?!"
"Wh...what are you talking about??" she asked, startled by the
sound of her name. "I don't--"
"You don't need to pretend right now! I know it's you, and you
know it!" he exclaimed. "I've never told anyone...I've kept your
secret...but you still act like we're strangers, even now, when we're
alone!"
"As far as you're concerned, we are!" she snapped.
Leon gritted his teeth angrily, and said, "I just don't get it.
I've saved your life..."
She hated to admit it, but he was right.
"...And you won't even show me your face, even though I know who
you are..."
They stood there looking at each other for a long moment. The
added height afforded by her hardsuit allowed Priss to look Leon
straight in the eye, and as she did so she wondered...
Is this how he really feels, or just another of his lines...?
Leon stared back at her...
...Although the only thing he could see was his own reflection on
her helmet.
Then he straightened up, slipped his sunglasses back on, and
silently walked back toward the benches where Daley and Nene were
seated.
Priss turned back to the window for a moment, then muttered "Damn
it..." and followed Leon.
Had she looked out the window, Priss would've seen a man pause on
the street as he looked up at her. He smiled slightly, looked around,
and then approached the hospital.
Nene sat across from Daley in uncomfortable silence as Leon and
Priss returned from the window and sat down, separately, nearby. She
tried to take her mind off Linna somehow, because she was afraid she'd
start coming apart again if she dwelled on her lying on the table in
there, with the surgeon cutting her up...
When all else failed, Nene could always fall back on one thing:
self-pity.
This had been one of the worst nights of her entire life. Their
mission had been a total disaster, and she kept wondering if any of her
ribs were cracked from when that Boomer had hit her. If they were, she'd
have to call in sick at work tomorrow, and then what would she tell
them?
"Well, uh, you see, Sir, I ran into this Boomer last night while
everybody was over at that factory incident..." That'd sound great--a
member of A.D. Police being beaten up by a Boomer (even if she WAS just
a dispatcher). No, she'd have to think of something else, but what could
she say that wouldn't sound dumb?
She sighed dismally, feeling more depressed than ever. Nene
couldn't imagine how things could possibly get any worse...
Unfortunately, Daley chose that moment to try to lighten things
up.
"Hey, Leon," he said, "Remember the other day, when Kanzaki
brought in that Boomer arm, and made it move around and grab that cup
off your desk?"
Leon chuckled. "Yeah, and Nene freaked out and spilled a whole pot
of coffee on Naoko's desk...it took 'em the rest of the day to clean it
up." They laughed.
Nene stiffened. Her restraint was about to be put to the test in a
way it had never been before.
"Yeah, and then there was that other time when Nene fell asleep at
her desk, and started snoring while the Chief was briefing us...the look
on her face when somebody woke her up...!" Leon laughed long and loud.
Nene sunk into her seat, wishing she could disappear. She could
feel Priss's eyes boring into her, telling her not to react. Dieting was
easy compared to this!
"Heh, heh..." Daley chuckled, then his expression grew more
serious. "Hey, listen, I forgot to tell you earlier, but I saw her
staring at you the other day, like she was daydreaming or something...!"
Leon snorted. "Well, too bad. She's not my type." He gestured in
the air as he explained. "She whines when things don't go her way, and
then there's that weird hair coloring of hers...what does she do,
shampoo with strawberry syrup?"
Daley laughed. "Yeah, that's why she hoards all those desserts!"
You jerk, Leon!! Nene wanted to yell; it took all the self-control
she had to keep from jumping up and slapping him. The one time you made
a pass at me, I turned YOU down--!!
"Ha! Well, she can't be eating it," Leon continued. "Where does
she put it?"
That made her feel a LITTLE better.
"Yeah, I dunno...remember when we saw her at that bar that one
time? She sure didn't look like she'd been stuffing herself THAT night."
Daley grinned mischeviously.
"Man, was she ever drunk." Leon shook his head. "One of her
friends practically had to drag her out the door...and then come back
for her clothes...!!"
They laughed so hard they nearly fell off the bench.
Leon leaned back against the wall as he wiped the tears from his
eyes, then looked over at Nene. "Hey, is something wrong?" he asked.
"...Who...me...? ...Uh...no...n-nothing..." she stammered. You
guys were there??!! she thought wildly, utterly mortified. That's it!!
I'm never gonna help you out ever again--in fact, I'll never even speak
to you again--! she vowed inwardly.
"Hey, wait a second...!" Daley said, staring at her. "Leon, do
you...?" He whispered something to him, pointing at Nene.
"Huh?!" Leon blinked in surprise, and they both looked at her.
"Wh...what...?" she asked, shifting nervously. Priss watched them
intently from across the room.
"Do you suppose...??" Daley said to Leon. They stared at Nene for
a long moment.
Inside her helmet, beads of sweat rolled down her face.
Then, after what seemed like an eternity, Leon burst out laughing.
"What! Nene a Knight Saber?! Yeah, right!! Have you ever seen her in the
shooting range?? She can't even come close to hitting ANY part of the
target!!"
They both laughed. "Yeah, you're right, there's no way...she
wouldn't last five seconds against a service Boomer, let alone a combat
model. " Daley chuckled in agreement.
Nene was either going to kiss Leon or kill him. She might do both,
she thought.
As Leon and Daley continued joking around, Nene heaved a depressed
sigh. Now there was ABSOLUTELY no way things could possibly get any
worse...
Just then, footsteps echoed in the empty hallway.
"Man, is that bunch deaf, or what?!" Leon growled as he pushed
himself to his feet. Turning, they saw a man coming down the hall toward
them. He was dressed in the uniform of a security guard.
"What's going on...?" Daley asked, getting up to stand next to
Leon.
As Priss watched them, Dr. Adams abruptly emerged from surgery,
surprising everyone. His brow glistened with sweat, and his surgical
robes were stained with blood. Priss jumped to her feet, and heard Nene
do the same behind her.
"Doctor...??" Leon exclaimed, turning to face him.
He approached Priss. "About your friend..." he began, but was cut
off by Leon's radio, which beeped suddenly.
He tore it off his belt and spoke into it sharply, keeping his
eyes on Adams. "What the hell do you want?!" he demanded. "We're busy!"
"Leon!" the transport driver exclaimed, his voice filled with
urgency. "We just found a body down here!! One of the hospital security
guards, minus his uniform!"
"What--?!"
They all turned to the security guard simultaneously.
Who had already drawn his sidearm, and had it trained on them.
He fired two quick shots, instantly killing Adams where he stood.
He then swung his pistol around toward the next target--
But one of Priss's needles tore through his body, ripping into his
chest and out his back. He was flung backwards by the impact, landing on
his back and skidding to a stop a little ways down the hall, where he
lay perfectly still. He was almost certainly dead, especially since
about a gallon of his blood was now on the wall.
"Wonder what the hell that was about..." Leon muttered, grimacing
at the sight. "Crazy bastard, that's for sure."
"What was the doc trying to tell us?" Daley asked. "I guess we'll
never know now."
Fear gripped Priss's spine. Turning to rush into surgery, she
exclaimed, "We'd better check on--!!"
"Uh, guys...!" Nene said, examining the wall. "...I don't
think...THAT THIS STUFF IS BLOOD--!!!"
Turning, the others could only watch in horror as the man suddenly
loomed up behind her, his skin hanging in tattered shreds from his
biomechanical frame. Nene shrieked in terror as he grabbed hold of her,
and they both smashed through the wall and into the darkened room
beyond.
Priss was already charging forward before they hit the wall,
rushing past Leon and Daley as they stared in shock. What the hell is
this?! she wondered, her mind racing even as she focused on saving Nene.
Did it survive the factory blast, and follow us here to get...revenge??
She leapt through the hole in the wall with her needle-cannons at
the ready, but saw only Nene slumped in the corner. Priss grabbed her
and quickly hauled her to her feet.
"Nene? You okay??"
"Ohh...yeah, I think..." she groaned, shaking her head groggily.
"Where'd the Boomer go?!" Priss demanded, peering around wildly in
the darkness. She didn't see any sign of it, but it had to still be
here! Where was it--?!
"I dunno..." Nene moaned, holding her head. "It hit me, and I
don't know what happened next..."
Hoisting Nene over her shoulder, Priss hurried back into the
hallway with her. She had just reached the hole in the wall when
suddenly the Boomer appeared behind her, thrusting downward at her with
her own needle.
"UGH--!!" The blade caught Priss at a gap in her armor, tearing
into her right shoulder. Staggering into the hallway before a horrified
Leon and Daley, she dropped Nene and fell against the opposite wall as
she struggled to pull the needle out of her arm. It wasn't a serious
injury, but it hurt like hell and severely limited her fighting
abilities, especially since she was right-handed.
Apparently figuring she was incapacitated (which wasn't far from
the truth), the Boomer turned toward Leon and Daley, striding forward
and receiving little or no damage from the bullets they were pumping
into it.
"Shit--!!!" Leon swore as they backed away.
"NOO!!" Nene yelled, having recovered enough to stand, and firing
her interface cables at the Boomer. Turning, it sidestepped the cables
and grabbed them as they shot past, then used them to yank Nene toward
it.
"WAAAAHH--!!" Nene was jerked through the air and landed firmly in
the Boomer's grip. Almost playfully, the huge android picked her up by
the helmet, then reached down with its other hand and gripped her
injured side.
Nene cried out in agony as the Boomer applied crushing pressure to
her already tender ribs. It seemed to enjoy it.
"Nene...!" Priss whispered desperately as she tried to pull the
needle out of her shoulder.
"My God...!" Daley said as he and Leon watched in horror. "It's
torturing her!! What kind of a Boomer is this?!"
"A DEAD ONE!!!" Priss roared. With a battle cry, she tore the
needle out and rushed at the Boomer with it, aiming to slice its arm
off. What she hadn't expected was that it would suddenly thrust Nene
into her path, forcing Priss to painfully throw herself to the side at
the last second to avoid hitting her. She landed at the Boomer's feet,
and it tossed Nene aside and picked Priss up.
The Boomer lifted her up to stare straight into its glowing red
eyes. As it did so, Priss triggered her left wrist blade and rammed it
into the android's chest. It made a surprised mechanical grunting noise,
and then grabbed her right leg in a vice-like grip. She gritted her
teeth as it ground its metallic thumb into her previous injury, and hung
on.
With an almost angry gesture, the Boomer abruptly threw her to the
floor, then raised its metallic foot and stomped on her chest. Priss
gasped in pain and grabbed at the Boomer's leg in futility. The android
bore down on her with its weight, and she could feel her armor cracking
as warning lights flashed in her helmet.
"PRISS...!!!" Nene cried helplessly, in too much pain herself to
even be able to move.
The Boomer pressed down harder, its strength seeming to increase
with every second. Priss saw stars and, in an instant, her entire,
wasted life flashed before her eyes...she heard Leon yelling something,
and there was a bright flash of light...
And suddenly the Boomer was off her, staggering slightly as bits
of its shoulder scattered through the air, the result of a potent laser
blast.
Priss, Nene, Leon, Daley, and the Boomer all looked to see who had
fired.
There, leaning weakly against the doorway and back in full
hardsuit regalia, was Linna. She faced the Boomer, her posture one of
determination, although she didn't look like she had more than one
shot in her.
Stepping over Priss, the powerful android approached Linna. She
fell back against the doorframe, too weak to defend herself.
Suddenly Leon leaped up behind the Boomer.
He had attached a 'power shot' explosive projectile to his pistol,
and fired at point-blank range into the back of the android's head. The
ensuing explosion obliterated its entire upper torso, scattering bits
and pieces of it all over the hallway.
It took almost fifteen seconds for the smoke to clear, and for a
while all anyone could do was cough. When they could finally see again,
they watched as the Boomer's legs and lower torso took one more step...
...Then wobbled unsteadily, and finally toppled forward
lifelessly.
"...Leon...?" Priss called hesitantly, coughing as she looked
around for him.
"Whew...I'm glad that's over!"
Priss looked behind her and saw Leon sitting on the floor near the
Boomer's legs, grinning and scratching his head. He appeared to have
miraculously escaped injury.
"You're okay you're okay you're okay!!!" Nene cried as she hugged
Linna.
"For now, anyway...!" Linna laughed weakly. "...Although that
might change if you don't stop it!"
Breathing a sigh of profound relief, Priss got up and sifted
through the wreckage of the Boomer. After a couple minutes she found one
of its eyes, and held the glittering red orb up to the light.
That almost made it all worth it.
"Heh...eat that!"
"Man, that's what I call a rough night," Leon sighed as the Knight
Sabers prepared to leave. He looked up at them. "Anything else we can do
to help, before you vanish into the night?"
"Yeah," Priss said as she surveyed the scene. She walked over to
the window, then turned back to Leon.
"Shoot this window out," she said.
Leon raised his eyebrows, than grinned and slipped on his
sunglasses. One of the lenses was cracked, but it didn't matter. He
pulled out his gun and obliged.
As the glass shattered, Daley smiled and said, "Boy, that Boomer
really caused a lot of damage."
"C'mon, you guys, hurry up!" Priss called to Linna and Nene, who
was huddled over something on the floor.
"Almost done...there!" she giggled, and they both came over to the
window. After pausing to wave good-bye to Leon and Daley, they rocketed
out into the night.
Priss paused at the window, and looked over her shoulder.
"Leon..." she said quietly. She reached up to touch her visor, her
fingers near the release triggers...
Leon straightened up a little in surprise and anticipation.
A long moment passed.
Their eyes met...even though they couldn't see each other.
Finally, Priss sighed. She smiled, a little wistfully...
...And let her hand drop.
"...Thank you." she said.
Leon's face fell, but he picked himself back up and smiled.
"It IS our job to help people," he replied.
Priss chuckled. Then she jumped out the window and fired her
thrusters, vanishing into the darkness.
Leon and Daley stood there for a minute, then turned and headed
back to the destruction inside. "Better call the Forensic squad," Daley
said. "We got a long night ahead of us yet."
Leon nodded. "Hey, what were they doing over there a minute ago,
anyway?" he asked, pointing to the floor.
They went over to examine it, and Leon smiled. "No way any
janitor'll ever get rid of THAT," he chuckled.
Burned into the floor by cutting lasers was an elaborate
signature. It read:
KNIGHT SABERS
(with a little help)
The three Knight Sabers traveled through the city, rocketing
from rooftop to rooftop, until they reached a roof within sight of the
'Silky Doll' building. Once there, they checked to make sure no one
could see them, and then collapsed with a unanimous groan, letting the
rain wash over them.
"Priss," Nene moaned, "How'm I gonna explain to the Chief how I
got a couple of cracked ribs and a mild concussion...?"
"Nene," Priss grunted, "I've been beaten, choked, stabbed, shot,
had bones broken, and gotten driven over by my own bike." She was quiet
for a moment, then admitted, "But never all in one night, until now."
"Yeah, and we didn't even get the hundred million, either..."
Linna sighed mournfully.
"Linna, are you sure you're okay?" Priss asked her. "The doc came
out to tell us something, but then he got blown away."
Linna shrugged. "I don't know anything about that," she confessed,
"But I came to when I heard a lot of shooting, and I was all stitched
up. Whatever he did, he finished the job."
"Are you sure?" Priss asked, sounding suspicious. "I'd better take
a look at it once we get inside..."
"What for??" Linna asked, sounding exasperated. "You don't know a
thing about medicine, Priss! I tell you, I'm all right! If any of us
would know, it'd be me! Everything's in the right place!" She waved a
finger sagely. "I taught an aerobics class, you know!"
"So what?"
"SO I know how all of the..."
As the two of them argued, Nene gazed up at the stars and sighed.
"Geez, I wonder what Sylia's gonna say when she gets back...?"
BUBBLEGUM CRISIS
-Berserk-
written by
Corey Smith
December, 1994-February, 1995
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Well, this qualifies as my first official fanfic. I may not be
the most prolific of writers (that will change), but everybody has to
start somewhere. As I write this it's been nearly two years since the
completion of 'Berserk'. I've since written a Ranma 1/2 fanfic entitled
'The Sands of Time', but as much as I love Ranma, Bubblegum Crisis
remains my personal favorite anime of all time. (Though Evangelion is
pretty damn cool too...) Anyway, I'm getting off track.
I still have yet to recieve any feedback on this story (so please
send me some quick!!), but my associates and I will soon be starting
work on what must be one of the most ambitious Bubblegum fanfics ever
written. There's no title yet, and it's not a direct sequel to
'Berserk', but it is related in some ways. Incidentally, I hope I didn't
make any grievous errors in the production of this story, but my only
BGC reference material is the videos themselves (which, as you may
imagine, I have studied very, very thoroughly). Anyway, if you liked
this one (please tell me if you did), watch for the next one to show up
in installments in the near future. Also, I will soon be starting on my
original story entitled Burning Road, so S.F. and anime fans (and
imaginitive people in general) should find that interesting too. Again,
please send any comments, questions, suggestions, etc. to me at
Cylor@hotmail.com. "Thank you for your support."
Corey Smith 1/3/1997
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