Of Knights and Dolls

Prologue


Standard disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.

All C+C is desired. You can contact me at: sommer@3rdm.net


It was put together quickly and is a little rough, but it's the general
idea I want.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



Dr. Fujinami watched intently as the experiment went through the process
one more time. "I think we got it this time," he said to the only other
person in the sub-basement three's main lab.

"I concur," Dr. Kanemoto said, her heart skipping a beat as she watched
the experiment unfold.

It was all coming together at last. Keiko Kanemoto almost jumped up and
down in joy, but instead allowed herself to think back on the last few
years, now that there was a real chance of a breakthrough on the project.
She had been working for Genom since her  graduation from MegaTokyo
University's Science Department, getting high marks for her revolutionary
ideas on dimensional field interfaces.

She had faithfully worked for them for seven years, always obediently
doing the work assigned to her and never causing any problems. It was
after those seven years that her world was completely changed; she
received the transfer (along with a promotion and a tripling of her
salary) to her new obsession. Her superiors took her off the project she
was working on and relocated her from the general labs in Genom's main
headquarters to the one of the secret field laboratories in the main city
itself. The reason for the secrecy was not that the work was dangerous; it
was just that her superiors had deemed the project top secret, not
allowing the faintest hint of it to be leaked to anyone, even her fellow
researchers. The more isolated the lab was from prying eyes, the better.

The first time they showed her the project, she had been in awe. Before
that moment she had believed that she had learned all that there was from
the professors at the university, and they were among the best in the
world when it came to dimensional technology, but she was floored when she
discovered the project's advanced field theories. It was obvious someone
else had developed the system up to that point, but when she pressed her
superiors as to who had created it, they told her not to be concerned and
to just figure out how to make the system workable. One did not question
orders from that high above, so she began her work on the fields,
confident she could create a portable system within three years.

Three years became five, and still her progress was limited, frustrating
her to no end. In spite of this, her superiors never tried to remove her
from the project or inferred she was not trying her best. Then, when it
seemed she had hit a wall, one that she could not seem to overcome, they
assigned a partner to her: Michael Fujinami, who had graduated at the top
of his class. Kanemoto had been less than enthusiastic about being
partnered up with someone that was twenty years her junior, certain that
in spite of his marks, he wouldn't have the first clue as to how the
interface system worked. Surprisingly, Fujinami had lacked the arrogance
she had come to expect from meeting the last few 'top guns' from the
university. He had listened to her intently, soaking up everything like a
sponge. That, combined with the fact he also had a pleasant personality,
caused Kanemoto to warm up to him. In the three years they had worked
together, they had developed a close friendship and mutual respect for one
another. For the last three years the duo had worked on the dimensional
interface system, and at last it seemed they had made the breakthrough
they had been waiting for.

Then the warning systems went off.

The two looked at each other in surprise as the foot-thick, titanium
security doors slammed shut, completely protecting and isolating the lab
from the rest of the building. Fujinami reacted first, heading to the main
security panel and tapping into the external cameras.

"What's going on?" Kanemoto asked, looking over her partner's shoulder as
she tried to get a closer look.

"I'm not sure!" he snapped. In all of the years he had been on the
project, they had only had a problem with intruders once. Some young punks
thought the parts store that was the front for the secret lab would be an
easy place to knock over. He could only imagine the shock the thugs must
have had as they came face-to-face with the security boomers that guarded
the installation. Now someone was trying to break into the lab again,
right at this most critical juncture. It seemed too much to merely be a
coincidence.

"Ah ha!" He had discovered where the disturbance was. At first, he had
assumed (and hoped) it was another simple break in. However, it was clear
that was not the case. The point of entry had been one of the side walls
of the building that was next to the alley. Not that the intruder had
entered through a window, rather, he had gone through a wall. The dust
from the wall's destruction was still obscuring the scene, but only for a
moment. Already he could see the forms of five security boomers moving to
intercept the intruder. More units would arrive moments after that.

Things were under control.

As the dust at last settled, Fujinami could make out the intruder, or in
this case, intruders. Five slightly larger than human-sized figures were
standing in the huge hole that had just been made. His first thought was
that they might have been boomers, but upon getting a good look at the
styling of the metal-clad figures, he quickly came to another conclusion.

"It's the Knight Sabers!"

Kanemoto looked at him in shock. "How can you tell?"

He pointed at the viewscreen. "There are five figures, in what appears to
be hardsuits, that are obviously female from the styling of what they're
wearing, getting ready to hit us. How many women do you know go around
attacking Genom operations in hard suits?"

"I though there were only four of them," Kanemoto pointed out.

"Maybe they added a new member!" Fujinami shouted out in panic as he
watched the armored warriors move into action.

The first one to move was in a blue hardsuit (at least he assumed it was
one. Combat weaponry was not a field he was familiar with). As she leaped
towards the boomer closest to her, large wicked looking blades popped out
of the forearms. Her movements were so swift that the boomer only had a
chance to get its arm up to block the blow, unable to even bring its
weapon systems to bear on her. Blue drew her arms back and brought the
blades forward in a slashing motion, slicing through the arm and torso of
the boomer like they weren't there. A second double slash cut through the
head and neck, severing it from the body. Blue didn't hesitate and was
past the metal form, as well as the other boomers next to it, and into the
corridor beyond before it hit the ground.

Green went in the same direction as Blue. Fujinami could see that it was
the largest of the intruders, almost the size of one of the security
boomers. It took a laser blast in the chest from one of the boomers, which
didn't even serve to slow it down as it grabbed the nearest metal
automaton and wrapped it up in a bear hug. Fujinami watched as the boomer
opened its mouth, preparing to release an energy blast at point-blank
range at its assailant. There was a slow build up of redness from the
gaping jaw, but just as it appeared to be ready to unleash the blast, the
glow faded. A moment later a spray of fluid and wires shot out of its
mouth as the boomer was snapped in half. Even with the limited knowledge
of boomers that the scientist possessed, he was still stunned by the
display of strength the hardsuited warrior demonstrated.

While that was happening, Red and Yellow took action. Each raised their
arms as one, as though they were in perfect synchronicity, and released
blasts from the palms of their hands. From Red, tongues of white-hot fire
shot out, encasing the boomer she was aiming at in a fiery aura. The robot
fired off two errant blasts from its hand blasters, both of them barely
missing the warrior, before its metal casing melted, frying its insides.

Yellow unleashed a trio of beams from both of its palms, each a different
color. The beams of light twisted together to form one as they lashed
forward, blowing off the head and upper torso of her target.

The last one took action at the same time as Red and Yellow did. Gray
raised her arms as well, allowing Fujinami to see four cylinder-like
objects on each of the forearms. From the cylinders, small flashes of
light began emitting from them. The scientist wasn't certain as to what
was happening until he saw the holes form on the remaining boomer in that
direction. It did manage to get a shot off from its mouth cannon, striking
Gray in the chest. He saw the woman recoil, then unleash another volley of
solid slugs at the boomer, insuring its destruction.

The entire fight had taken less than four seconds.

Yellow and Red left down the corridor opposite the direction Blue had
taken. Green remained behind to check on the damage done to Gray. Fujinami
could just make out some circuitry that was hanging out from a damaged
section of Gray's torso, when Gray's head jerked up to look directly at
the security camera above. She raised her arm, and Fujinami saw a flash
right before he lost the picture.

Fujinami felt his heart sink. He stared at the static-filled screen for a
long time before turning to see that Kanemoto was as pale as her lab coat.

"Did you send a signal to headquarters?" she asked

Fujinami nodded his head. "We have over twenty boomer security units
here-"

"Fifteen," Kanemoto corrected.

Fujinami nodded. "Maybe they'll be able to hold them off long enough for
help to arrive."

It was then he heard a noise from directly outside the entrance. A minute
later, sparks began to fly from the inside of the door as a laser began to
cut its way through.

"Then again, maybe not."


Charles Argot, one of the chief investigators for Genom, was not a happy
man. He had had planned on taking the day off with his children, who he
never seemed to have enough time for, when his superiors called him in to
investigate a scene. It had an Alpha Priority signal, meaning he had to
respond. He gave his apologies to his wife and asked her to make the
excuses to his children as he went to investigate the scene of the
incident.

With a tired sigh, he looked over the destruction that had taken place in
the remains of the main lab once again. The intruders had done an
excellent number on the whole place. Almost all of the security tapes had
been erased, including the recorders in the security boomers' heads. Only
the external camera, housed in the building next to the secret lab, had
evaded destruction. The central computer bank had been wiped clean, and a
particularly nasty virus had been downloaded into it. All of the hard data
on the project had been taken or melted into slag. And as to the only two
scientists that had been working on this particular part of the
project...well, judging by the shape of the bodies, and that there was
very little blood around, it appeared they had died quickly.

"What do you make of the situation?"

Argot nearly jumped out of his skin. He had already halfway drawn his gun
out of his shoulder holster before he identified the speaker. As he
released his hold on the gun, a thought went through his mind as took in
the other man's form. It was a clich�, but he couldn't help wondering how
the hell someone that big could move so silently.

"We still need to do a thorough investigation, Mr. Stryker, but I feel
relatively certain it was the Knight Sabers," Argot explained to the high
ranking, six foot, ten inch man that now stood next to him. He noted that
Stryker had to have been at least three hundred pounds if he was an ounce,
and was more than convinced the man had to be a boomer. Had to be, no
matter what others claimed.

"How can you be certain?" Stryker asked.

Argot thought he detected a mocking tone in the giant's voice, but he
might have simply been paranoid. It was hard to read Stryker's feelings
since his voice was so deep and his face displayed all of the emotion of a
piece of rock. "We only have a fleeting glimpse of them, but there is no
doubt it was five female intruders, wearing what appeared to be hardsuits,
that broke into here."

"There are only four Knight Sabers," Stryker mentioned.

"They could have added to their ranks," Argot pointed out.

"What about the hardsuit designs? Aside from the fact they appear female,
they look nothing like the Knight Sabers' outfits."

"They could have upgraded them. They've done so before."

"Somehow, I don't think so." Stryker pointed to the message that had been
lasered into the wall in the main lab.

Argot shook his head. "It's probably a red herring. Something to deflect
the investigation away from them."

The stare Argot received from Stryker scared him so much he almost
instinctively drew his gun. Thankfully, he suppressed the urge. On some
intuitive level, he was certain that no matter how fast he was, Stryker
would be quicker. And he had no wish to find out how the large man would
react to having a gun drawn on him.

"I have some familiarity with the name," Stryker informed him. "That they
should happen to come upon this particular project makes me certain it's
no coincidence."

Stryker pulled out a cellular phone from a pocket of his trenchcoat and
dialed a number. Argot heard the name 'Quincy' mentioned once and suddenly
decided he didn't need to accidentally overhear something that might
necessitate him 'disappearing'.

The entire call took thirty seconds. As he finished, Stryker placed the
phone back in his jacket pocket and began to walk off. Ignoring his
survival instincts, Argot dared to ask the question plaguing him.

"What now, Mr. Stryker?"

Stryker turned to Argot. For the briefest of moments, Argot could have
sworn he saw the tall man smile.

"The answer is simple. We are going to hire the Knight Sabers to take care
of this little mess."

Argot stared at him in surprise. He probably would have inquired further
as to exactly WHY Stryker felt it necessary to hire armored mercenaries
that had interfered with Genom's plans before, when one of his men asked
him to go over some of the boomer remains that were near the entryway.
Argot made his way to the entry point, leaving Stryker in the room, alone.

Instead of leaving, Stryker went over to the message that had been burned
into the wall, and gently ran his finger along the path of the burn marks.
What he had told Argot was true. This was one of the names that had been
associated with the original creator of the dimensional field/shield
interface technology, technology that Genom was trying to recreate and
improve upon as well. It had been over twenty years since they had last
been heard from. That they would show up now, after all of these years,
would only mean trouble. Trouble that would have to be taken care of
immediately.

He was about to leave the room when he decided to take one last look at
the words. To the casual observer, they hardly sounded like a prophesy of
doom, but words could be deceptive sometimes, especially to those who did
not know what message they truly contained. Seven words. Simple words, but
words that held the promise of things to come.

'The Machine Gals are back in town.'


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Yep. A BGC/Moldiver crossover, although the emphasis will be BGC. Don't
know when I'll be able to devote the time necessary to write it out, but
it got into my head and proved a distraction I didn't need at the moment.
So now it's out.