*** Forwarded message, originally written by ROBERT GEIGER on 09-Jul-99 ***
AD Police headquarters, the morgue.
Without a doubt, this was perhaps one of the most visited and
despised rooms in the AD Police complex. Hundreds, no
THOUSANDS, of front line officers had ended their careers on a cold
slab in this place, lives torn from them by lasers or metallic hands.
Currently, THANKFULLY, the only corpse now was Miriam
Yoshida's. After getting scraped off the wall of a lab in Maebashi, his
body was brought in, then it would no doubt be cremated and disposed
of. *Hopefully mixed with somebody's compost pile,* the night
attendant muses, completing a report.
The attendant didn't know the whole story about Yoshida's
death. Only that he got nailed after butchering some hookers. In all his
time working here, this was the only time he felt any satisfaction filling
out a disposal order.
"Excuse me."
The attendant's head snaps up to see a huge man in front of
him. *Why didn't I notice him coming in?* he blinks, staring at the...he
used this term loosely!...man before him. His visitor was well over two
metres tall, filling out the drab grey jumpsuit to near capacity. Beady
eyes looked out from a face that was an explosion of unkempt hair, a
cap precariously perched on top of his head. The only reason that
"boomer" wasn't running through the attendant's mind is that none of the
alarms in the AD Police building were going off.
"May I help you?" he wonders.
The man shows a clipboard with a release form. "I'm here to
pick up the body of Miriam Yoshida."
"I wasn't told about any pick-up."
A shrug. "I was told that the relatives of Yoshida-hakase
wanted to recover the body so they could dispose of it in their own
manner. They want to keep this quiet since they're higher-up types. I
have the authorization right here."
The man passes over the forms. The attendant looks over each
page in turn. Everything was in order with the proper signatures.
"Okay, I'll release it. Just give me a hand over here."
Both swiftly retrieve the body from storage and lie in on a
gurney. A few signed forms later, Yoshida's remains are wheeled out
the door. The grey-clad man rolls the gurney down a hallway leading
outside. There, he rolled up to a sleek black van awaiting him. He
presses his thumb against a discoloured square near the handle. The
back door unlocks. Sliding the body inside, the man returns the gurney
to the hall and slips into the driver's seat.
With a faint hum, the van drives off into the night...
* * *
"Illusions" Vignette - "What Goes Around...!"
a fanfic of the Bubblegum Crisis - Megatokyo 2034
by Robert Geiger <robertgeiger@prodigy.net>
and Fred Herriot <fherriot@hotmail.com>
**** **** ****
Edited by E.B. Kushnir <kush1@iaw.on.ca>
**** **** ****
Based on characters and situations from "Bubblegum Crisis," created
by ARTMIC and Youmex, "Urusei Yatsura," created by Rumiko
Takahashi and "Tokimeki Memorial," created by Konami.
**** **** ****
This story is also based on the UY fanfic series "The Senior Year" by
Fred Herriot and Mike Smith and "The Ishinomaki Years" by Fred
Herriot as well as the BGC fanfic series "No Armour Against Fate" by
Shawn Hagen
**** **** ****
WRITER'S NOTE: This story, a sequel of sorts to "Knight Sabres
Reborn," is set sometime after "Aces and Hearts" and "The Phoenix
Story." Isaac Du'Arc is based on Yukito Kishiro's original creation.
**** **** ****
Darkness...
"Can you hear me?"
A faint voice, bringing him back from nothingness.
"Yoshida-hakase, can you hear me?"
Slowly, he pulls himself to awareness, a thin silver of light
becoming visible. A face swims into view. On noting his return to
consciousness, a wide grin crosses the man's features. "It's good that
you've returned to us," he nods, his voice flecked with Paris.
A mumbled reply responds as he focuses his gaze on his
apparent saviour. The man was perhaps in his late thirties or early
forties. Long blond hair beginning to go grey. The most notable feature
was that the man's eyes were seemingly replaced with cybernetic ones
resembling old-fashioned soda bottle cap glasses.
"Uh...who are you...?"
"My name is Isaac Du'Arc," he gives a small bow. "I am the
one who brought you back from the dead. The most important
question however, is do you know who you are?"
"My name...is Miriam Yoshida."
Another smile responds. "Excellent! Knowing who you are is
important."
Yoshida frowns, trying to turn his head...to discover that he
could not. In fact, he couldn't move at all! No sensations, either. "I
can't move...or feel anything."
Isaac's face turns serious. "I'm afraid I have unpleasant news
for you," he sighs. "You sustained extremely heavy damage which has
for now rendered you immobile from the neck down. I have also
restrained you after my initial operation so as to prevent any possible
damage. I've used a substantial amount of painkillers which accounts
for your lack of sensation and feeling. There is also extensive nerve
damage."
A strangled sob answers. Those damn whores! They've made
him a vegetable!! He then focuses his attention on what Isaac said.
"You said I'm immobile for now?"
A nod. "As I have said, the first operation was to revive you.
Further operations will be aimed at getting you back on your feet and
as well as you were before, if not better."
A sigh of relief. "You said 'if not better?'"
Oddly, the grin returns. "From my examination of you, it is
unavoidable that cybernetic replacements are needed. I can give you
the needed replacements...and it is within my abilities to offer you the
option of a specially designed boomer body."
"Boomer?"
"Yes. It would be no ordinary metal shell, though. It would be
designed and built for you alone. Built with your needs and desires in
mind." Isaac leans closer to Yoshida. "Think of what you want, what'll
be your goals when you receive your new body? What are your
desires?"
Yoshida concentrates. All the events that had brought him to
this point flash through his mind. He is so engrossed in his thoughts that
he doesn't notice Isaac producing a small bowl with a pudding-like
substance in it, savouring each mouthful.
Every humiliation, every indignity, flashes through his mind.
Those who had stolen his glory, destroyed his life's work. The street
trash who had ripped his life away from him. He reduces it all to a
single denominator as a scream proclaimed his single desire...
"REVENGE!!!!"
* * *
"Amazing!" Yoshida's new arm and hand smoothly shifts from a
slender woman's limb to its original form.
He and Isaac stand in a small room off to the side of the
operating theatre where the latter had rebuilt Yoshida into his new form.
Yoshida was amazed with Isaac's skill in cybernetics and boomer
technology. It had taken only a week for construction, implantation and
rehabilitation. Yoshida suspected something else was at work but
Isaac was close-mouthed about exact details. "I am rather proud how
it turned out," the latter smiles as he watches Yoshida practice with his
new body. "It's important to remember, morphing is an exacting ability.
I strongly recommend for you to use templates for the time being. Also
remember that you don't have fusion ability. When you change, you
shift, compact and expand mass like a C-55, but you cannot gain or
loose mass. Thus if you shorten your height, you would have a large
frame. When tall, be more slender."
"Pity," Yoshida muses as sharp claws sprang from his fingertips.
"In my opinion, it's no real loss," Isaac waves a hand around.
"Any one with the required skills can mount a gun on a boomer. And
nearly any idiot can fire a gun. It takes will and hard-earned skill to use
the abilities I've given you. Boil it down, you are now deadlier then any
gun that I could have given you. Besides, the plasma emitters fill that
role anyway."
Yoshida wills the small gunports to appear on his hands.
"You're right," he muses as something crosses his mind. "I expect that
you will be wanting...compensation for your services."
"Indeed I do, but not quite what you may be thinking of," Isaac
takes a packet out of his pocket and hands to Yoshida. "I shall be
frank. I expect you to attempt retribution for what has been done to
you. Within this packet is a chip containing the information on what I
want. If you are successful in your goal, contact me at the number
given. Do not return here, because I will be leaving very soon. I will
then arrange for a drop-off point." A pause, then, "And if you are
unsuccessful...the matter of payment will be moot."
Yoshida grimly nods as he pocketed the packet. "I have to
wonder, why have you chosen to help me?"
"While I admit you have made many errors in the past..." Isaac
replies, "...I also see you as a man of great intellect and talent who has
been shaped by the events in your past. And I decided to give you
another chance at life."
"Thank you," Yoshida then looks around and sighs. "I guess I
should be going now. I'll be sure to contact you later."
He then strode out of the room. Isaac sighs. He knew what
could happen next. People were such a predictable lot at times. It
almost made exercises like this boring to him. Still, he didn't mind it.
After all, in the eyes of some...
...in the eyes of one...
...it did serve a good purpose.
* * *
Tanzania, years ago...
"Magnificent, aren't they?"
Isaac nodded, his eyes locked on the struggle on the plains not
a dozen metres away. A herd of wildebeest had been cornered by a
pride of lions, the graceful cats presently closing in on several
weakened members of the herd for an easy kill. Conservation of
energy. Why go out and drag down the strongest of the lot when those
who couldn't put up a fight could still fill your belly?
"They are indeed," he chuckled.
Soon enough, two of the large animals were dragged down,
their flesh torn asunder by sharp teeth as the lionesses began preparing
their prey for the other pride members. "So the cycle goes on," the
voice mused from beside him.
Isaac blinked. A young woman, her voice touched with a
strong Highland brogue though well cultured. Turning, he saw a slender
person dressed in a button shirt and slacks, a grey, red and gold tartan
shawl drawn over her shoulders. She hadn't been on the tour. Who...?
"How did you get here?"
"I've my ways, Doctor Du'Arc," she fixed him with an icy green
stare, her tomboyish-cut red hair decorated with diamonds...or were
they diamonds?...in a tiara-like pattern over her forehead.
His eyes widened as recognition dawned. Noting his look, she
nodded. "I've a bit of a business proposition for ye, Doctor," she
mused. "Could I have a word with ye in private?"
Isaac gazed at her. How did one respond to one of the world's
richest, most influential businesspeople?
"I'm at your convenience, Dame Nicole..."
* * *
Later...
"Ah, here we are!" Nicole breathed out, then waved Isaac
down the street. "This way, lad. The pubs here are quite nice if you
can stomach the swill Americans call beer."
Isaac chuckled as they head down a street, his eyes scouting
the area to confirm that he was in one of Washington's outskirts. So
that was a real transporter, eh? Pleasant way of travelling around the
world when most normal people were restricted to airplanes and
trans-sonic shuttles. Then again, he wasn't as much a "normal" person
as his host. "Where are we exactly?"
"Arlington, just across the river from the Lincoln Memorial,"
Nicole responded, then nodded. "Ah, here we are!"
They stepped into a cosy English-style pub overlooking the
Potomac. The bartender's eyes widened on seeing Nicole, then he
nodded as she guided her guest to the upper floor. "The people here
know you," Isaac was quick to notice the exchange.
"Whenever I need tae do some serious dealing with outsiders, I
do it here," Nicole replied, then waved Isaac to a booth. "This town's
practically owned by us through the Annex here, so ye need not tae
worry about spies from elsewhere identifyin' ye."
After a waitress came by to get their order, Isaac fixed the
matriarch with a stare. "So why do you need me?"
"Because you're a very amoral person, Isaac Du'Arc," Nicole
returned his glare. "And I have need of a man like ye."
"I'm not for hire, Dame Nicole."
"I dinnae say I was gonna bring ye into my company, lad."
Isaac blinked. Interesting counter. "I know very much about
you, madame. You and your Nendo-kata friends now control sixty
percent of the world's banks and trust companies, totally dominate the
foreign exchange markets and now hold a hundred-year monopoly the
megacorps have no prayer in the world of breaking."
"Aye, that's true...but 'tis nae the only thing we do, lad," Nicole
replied.
"Ah, yes, your...willingness to spy on anyone of importance to
ensure that anything that threatens the human race is exposed before it
grows to the proportion of an epic disaster. I should learn to be a little
more cautious from now on, I believe."
Nicole laughed as the waitress came up with their drinks. "Ah,
a really intelligent person. Thank God they're still around," she toasted
him, then sighed. "Alright, lad, I'll be honest with ye. The influence we
have has ne'er been gathered before in human history, Doctor. With
one word, I could bring down every megacorp on this planet. Ye
probably know our part in bringing down I-Corp two decades ago. I
can do the same to anyone, even Genom. But I won't. Ye want to
know why?"
"Because you don't want to see the good flushed out with the
bad," Isaac replied. "As I recall, while I-Corp was in fact a front for a
crazy neo-Cathar sect that wanted to turn humanity into a 'pure-energy'
state, it also dominated the economies of sixteen countries, including
Canada and the United Kingdom...and when it was brought down, it
took many of those countries years to recover from the recession that
followed."
"There ye have it," Nicole nodded. "Doctor, one of my SPDs
has more power in her hands than a king of two centuries ago could
barely DREAM of havin'. An SFIO could bring governments down
with a simple word in the right place. Ye know what that sort of deep
influence can do to normal people." She then glanced out the window,
pointing. "Ye see that mansion on the hill there?"
He looked. A home shaped somewhat like the Parthenon in
Athens, with Doric columns forming the front facade. "Yes. Lovely
house, isn't it? A museum, I believe; that is Arlington National
Cemetery, isn't it?"
"Aye, it is. The house itself belonged to the family of that
gentleman right up there," Nicole pointed.
Isaac turned. On the wall hung an old lithograph of a
white-haired bearded man dressed in a light grey uniform, three stars on
the collars. "Robert E. Lee, I believe."
"That's him," Nicole sighed. "What do ye know of him?"
"My knowledge of American history isn't as strong as it should
be, Dame Nicole. Would you care to enlighten me?"
"Aye. Lee was the commander of the Army of Northern
Virginia during the Civil War. A Napoleon-type commander who
could think rings around his opponents...until he gutted two divisions'
worth of troops in a reckless charge at Gettysburg in '63 that made the
charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimea look like a bleedin' walk in
the park. But at the end of it all, he was well-respected by friend and
foe alike. The most beloved general in American history, some thought
of him. But did ye know that when it was all said and done, some
people said he should've been hanged?"
"I didn't."
"Aye, it's true. They said he should've been hanged exactly
BECAUSE he was a good man, someone who believed in what he did.
Ironic, isn't it? He hated slavery, hardly owned any slaves when he
became a landowner. He thought succession was sheer madness. Yet
when Virginia voted to succeed from the Union in '61, as Lincoln tried
to get him to become field commander of the Union armies, he went
with his state. In his eyes, his duty to Virginia took greater importance."
"Understandable," Isaac nodded. "Who would, even in the dire
circumstances of a civil war, want to raise a hand against one's kin or
people? I know that at the time, the southern states had quite a
different world-view of their place in America than their northern
brethren. They saw the United States as a confederation of
independent states, not one nation. An 'are' instead of 'is,'" he
paraphrases a great historian of the period.
"Aye," Nicole sighed. "Doctor, my SPDs are, in ways, a pack
of General Lees. They believe in what they do and because they do it
so damned well, they think they're invincible. In their eyes, they cannae
do no wrong. Put simply, every once in a while if I feel it necessary, I'd
like ye to demonstrate to them otherwise. That's the business
proposition I have for ye."
Isaac's eyes widened. "You know what I'm capable of, Dame
Nicole."
"That's why I want your services, lad."
Silence fell as the doctor considered the offer. "I assume you
wouldn't want me to kill your people."
"If accidents occur, they occur. That cannae be avoided.
But...aye, I'd prefer if they lived. Ye see, what I'd like for ye tae do...is
tae show them how bad things could become without them actually
experiencing it. Teach 'em a lesson...but make sure they live to put that
lesson tae good use. Like the way the Yanks train their troops.
Making training harder than actual combat."
Isaac slowly nodded. "I can agree to that. Actually, it would
be very interesting to plan such operations. But what happens if your
people discover me?"
"I'll shield ye if I have to...but from what I've seen of ye, you're
good when it comes tae doin' things," Nicole replied. "I have the codes
for every system in my company. All that'd happen is a flick of the
finger and Isaac Du'Arc remains a mystery."
"A ghost."
"Aye."
Silence. "But what happens to Toratotaka's stated mission of
helping humanity achieve its destiny?" he wondered.
"We'll still do that," Nicole sighed. "But I nae want my
company to become humanity's crutch, Doctor."
"Ah!" he toasted her, then drank.
Nicole returned his toast, then quickly drowned the beer.
"Damn, I hate this stuff!" she wiped her lips.
"Would you prefer something better?"
"Guinness?"
He gaped. "You're a Highlander, Dame Nicole, matriarch and
warlord of your own clan! And you drink Irish ale?!"
"Best damned stuff on the planet, lad."
"I know a good pub in Dublin."
"Let's go..."
* * *
Today...
Jean Noburu hums a tune that plays from her stereo as she
stares at the information on the screen before her. The deputy
commander of Field Intelligence Team N-40 had received a request for
an interview from Arisa Lain, a student at Tokyo University. Arisa was
studying journalism and wanted an interview with Jean as part of her
class project.
A sigh escapes her. She'd been interviewed many times since
her becoming a Sexaroid had become public knowledge. Ever since
the news of that bastard Yoshida having killed her in an attempt to
transform her into a suicidal killing machine, people had asked her what
did feel like to be a Sexaroid. Did she have any regrets? What were
her plans for the future? And on and on...
Jean's plans at present were for her to put her life back
together. From a hooker on Paradise Loop, to a T'n'T intelligence
officer/aide to Kentaro Miura, dietman from Kawasaki. She had at last
found a chance to truly enjoy life.
If only these reporters would leave her alone!
She was rather surprised to get a handwritten letter from Arisa,
enthusiastically asking for an interview. A quick check with Megumi
Mikihara confirmed that Arisa was who she said she was, with good
grades at the university and a cheerful..."perky" was perhaps more
accurate...personality. On considering a refusal, Jean had images of
Arisa's tear-streaked face if she got a form letter turning down her
request.
With that, Jean pulls out stationary and began her reply...
* * *
The Diet, later...
"Pardon me. I'm here for an appointment with Jean Noburu.
My name's Arisa Lain."
The secretary assigned to assist the members of N-40 looks up
to see a gangly young woman standing in front of her desk. Arisa is
dressed in jeans and a denim jacket with a backpack. Her
shoulder-length black hair had one lock dyed a vibrant yellow in
adherence to a current fad. She then smiles. "Hai, Noburu-san is
expecting you. I'll call her now." She presses a button on the intercom.
"Noburu-san? Arisa Lain is here for her appointment."
"Send her right in."
"Noburu-san will see you now," the secretary waves down the
hallway. "Go straight down the hall. Third door on the left."
"Thanks!" Arisa nods, heading off...
* * *
*Knock-knock!* "Come in!"
The door opens as Arisa steps in. "Thank you for agreeing to
meet me, Noburu-san," she bows. "Atashi wa Lain Arisa desu."
"No problem at all," she returns the bow with a smile. "Would
you like something to drink?"
"Um...if it's not to much trouble, some tea would be nice."
"Of course."
Jean has some tea brought in as both settled in. Arisa takes out
a small recorder and places in on the desk. "Arisa Lain's interview with
Jean Noburu," she announces after turning it on. "I guess my first
question is what was your life like before you became a Sexaroid."
Jean sighs. "Pure hell. My parents died in the quake like so
many others and I was put into a government-run orphanage along with
dozens of other children. I stayed there until I decided I wanted to
leave and ran away."
"Was it unpleasant there?"
"Not really. I wasn't neglected or abused. I was looked after
by the nuns rather well. But everything was stretched so thin that not
everyone could get the attention she needed. So, I ran away one
night."
"Why?"
"Because I was stupid. I thought I could handle myself. I had
plans of stealing and scamming my way until I could pay for a
apartment." Jean shakes her head. "I spent my first night in an
abandoned bathroom and almost got shot by soldiers when I tried
stealing some food. By then, I was too ashamed and afraid to go back
to the orphanage."
"And what then?"
"Baby found me," Jean's lip curls. "He was a pimp who had
seized control of part of the Loop. He showed up while I was
scrounging around and offered me food and shelter as long as I pitched
in and helped his little family. 'We all have to look out for each other,
you know.' He didn't have me selling myself at the start. He got me
hooked on drugs, THEN started treating me like dirt. I spent my days
trying to find enough johns to pay for shelter, food and drugs."
"And then?" Arisa probes.
A shudder. "One day, I felt a sharp pain, then darkness. The
next thing I knew, I woke up in someone else's body."
"One of the AD Police officers who suffered from that biomech
virus? Lieutenant Asako Yamano, I believe."
"Hai. It was created by Miriam Yoshida. He created it as a
way of driving those with cybernetics berserk. He'd been freed from
jail by some fusion boomers who wanted people like Asako-chan to
wreck havoc so that AD Police could be torn apart by the government
and leave normal folks defenceless. He planned to use our brains in
boomeroid bodies like Billy Fernwood had some years ago. It was his
biggest...and last...mistake," a satisfied grin crosses her face.
"Oh, really?" Arisa looks intently at her. "How did you get out
of such a situation?"
"Some people from Toratotaka were aware of what was going
to happen since the Diet wanted to invoke Protocol 113 and have the
brains of Asako-chan and the other AD Police officers used to make
boomeroid troops for the force. Since the brains were cremated at the
request of Asako-chan and the others, Yoshida snatched hookers like
me off the street, killed our bodies and put our brains in their bodies.
"When we were awakened, Toratotaka was alerted and
managed to contact me in a manner I'm...a little unsure of right now.
They then told me how to throw a gravity warp blast which blew
Yoshida right to Hell!!" Jean then notices Arisa shuddering. "Oh,
gomen!" she blushes. "I got a little carried away there."
"N-no...problem at all!" Arisa takes a sip of tea, calming
herself. "After you were rescued?"
"Since our original bodies were gone, 33-S bodies were made
and our minds transferred to them. After that we were asked to help
neutralize those dietmen who had been replaced by fusion boomers.
All of them, to aid their disguise, had replicated their templates' thoughts
and emotions before the templates were killed, so by freeing them of
whatever programming their friends gave them, it would be as if the
originals never died. I then used a special reprogramming ability given
to me that allowed Kentaro-kun to become a free being. I've become
his companion and aide. We both work to make Megatokyo a safe
and happy place."
"That's so romantic," Arisa projects a dewy-eyed stare,
grinning goofily.
Sweat drop. "Very much, I guess. Is there anything else?"
"Umm...iie, I think I have enough for now," Arisa turns off the
recorder. "Thank you very much for letting me interview you," she
rises, bowing.
"No, thank you," Jean grins. "I very much enjoyed talking to
you. Here, let me show you out of this place."
"Thank you!" Arisa nods as Jean walks past her to open the
door. "Oh! May I ask one more question?"
"Sure," Jean said as she turns...
...as a clawed hand grabs hold of her face while another slams
into her solar plexus. "Do you believe..." Yoshida hisses as his face
shifts to its original form, "...that things we do in the past can come back
to haunt us?"
He then yanks her onto the spikes sprouting from his chest...!
* * *
The secretary looks up as Arisa left her office and quietly
closed the door behind her. Giving the university student a friendly nod,
she then turns back to her work...
* * *
*Ring-ring!* "Jean Noburu's office, may I help you?"
"Hello, Akiko-san. This is Kentaro Miura. Is Jean there? We
were supposed to meet for lunch."
"Hai, Miura-san, she is. I'll patch you through."
Ringing echoes in Jean's office for a moment, then the
secretary's phone rings again. "I didn't get an answer," Kentaro
announces when the phone is picked up. "Is everything okay?"
"Just a moment, sir, I'll check."
Akiko walks over to the door and raps on it lightly.
"Noburu-san? Miura-san's on the phone. Is everything okay?"
No answer. "Noburu-san?" the secretary opens the door.
"Miura-san is on the..."
Her eyes widen on seeing the bloodstained floor. She lifts her
eyes, then screams at what was dangling from the ceiling...
* * *
*Ring!* "Yoshida-hakase! How did things go?"
"Smoothly. I have what you want."
"Ah! Here is where you should take it..."
* * *
Akiko shudders as she staggers to the phone, picking it up and
dialling a number. Since she had been assigned to help the members of
N-40 settle in at the Diet, she was given EXACT instructions by
Toratotaka in case something strange happened.
Trying not to gag, she dials a number...
* * *
*Ring-ring!* "Moshi-moshi, Tanaka desu."
"Commander Tanaka?!" a panicked woman replies.
"Commander Misa Tanaka?! KMT-Nine?"
"Hai, this is she. Who's this?"
"My name's Akiko Takahashi. I'm the secretary to the
members of Field Intelligence Team N-Forty. Deputy Commander
Noburu's been...she's..."
Misa blinks, her brown eyes widening on seeing the pale look
on the caller's face, then nods. "Hai, I understand. Have the building
security force secure the scene. NO ONE disturbs the scene until I get
there, not even AD Police!! I'm on my way!"
"H-hai..." Akiko closes the line.
Misa slams the phone down, then feels Wataru Morooka's
hand on her shoulder. "What happened?" her 34-S boyfriend wonders.
"Someone attacked Jean-chan at the Diet. Gotta go," Misa
kisses him, then rises to dress. "Can you call Kozue-chan at
Makoto-kun's place and get her over there, too?"
"Okay," Wataru nods. "Watch yourself, Misa-chan."
"Always..."
* * *
"Master."
Isaac turns away from his work station to see his towering
servant standing there holding a package. "Over here."
He motions to a table as his servant places the package on the
smooth surface. Isaac swiftly unwraps it to gaze on its contents. Two
shapely arms then wrap themselves around his chest. "Did Santa give
you something nice?" a sultry voice asks.
"Indeed, my dear!" Isaac chortles as he pats one of the arms,
looking behind him. Cuddled up to him is a ravishing Japanese woman
dressed in a tight bodysuit, her long black hair tickling Isaac's neck as
she nuzzles it. "Something that will be of great use to me," he studies
the objects:
Two packets of a gelatinous material.
A small container with a reddish material inside.
And a small object that sparkled in the light like a diamond.
Isaac picks up the crystal, staring intently at it. "But first, we
must see to our guest..."
* * *
The Diet...
"WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?!"
Hally Odotte stares at the gory scene before her as she walks
past the barricade of AD Police troopers and entered Jean's office.
Already there, Misa and Kozue Tsuzuki (KMT-9's interrogator) were
picking through the mess. Jean's body was on a stretcher, a
blood-stained white sheet covering it. "Kami-sama..." the former Killer
Doll tenses on seeing the unmoving corpse of her friend and teammate
nearby. "Misa-nee-chan..."
Misa rises, running a hand through her ponytailed brown hair.
"Fuck!" she hisses; this had NEVER happened before to a T'n'T-built
Sexaroid! "Why weren't security cameras placed in these offices?"
"They were supposed to be installed next week, Commander,"
Akiko stammers a reply, now in the chair beside Jean's body, her face
awash with tears.
"Fat lotta good that did Jean-chan!" Misa snarls, then sighs.
"Are you sure about this Lain girl that came in earlier?"
"H-hai," Akiko shudders. "S-she's a student from Toodai..."
Kozue's cell phone rings. "Hai, Tsuzuki desu...ah, Izumi-chan!"
she brightens up, then blinks. "Omoshiroi...you sure?!" A pause, then,
"Hai, bring her here. Arigato, Izumi-chan. Bai-bai!"
"What?!" Misa wonders as Kozue cuts the line.
"They found Lain-san tied up in her dorm with all her personal
gear returned," Kozue reports.
Misa blinks, then sighs. "Whoever planned this is stupid."
"Or wants to keep collateral damage to a minimum," Kozue
hums.
"Not the way I'd plan it," Misa replies. "Did Lain get a good
look at whoever took her place?"
"Iie," Kozue shakes her head. "She just got knocked on the
head and was kept in place until Izumi-chan and Satomi-chan found
her. She did need a bath, though."
Misa nods. Hally stares at her. "So who did this?!"
"We don't know," Misa gazes at the shorter woman, tensing on
seeing the panicked tears in her eyes. What possessed
Mikihara-sempai to allow someone who in some ways was still
emotionally a child to take charge of a field intelligence team?! Jean
would've been better suited for it...if not one of the original AA fifth
gens like Yohko Okano or Momoko Andou. "All we do know is that
whoever this is, he or she's got a very good working knowledge of how
our internal systems work."
"What do you mean?" Hally demands.
"They got her reserve memory crystal," Kozue closes her eyes.
"Not to mention her regen packs and a sample of her blood."
Hally blinks, then shudders. "What does that mean?" Akiko
wonders, wiping her face.
"It means that somewhere out there, Jean-chan's still alive,"
Misa's eyes narrow. "And if she's still alive, we'll find her..."
* * *
"Jean Noburu?"
Jean's eyes flutter open to look on a pair of cybernetic eyes
piercing a man's face. "Uh...where...?"
"It's okay, Noburu-san," the man smiles. "You are out of
danger. I am Doctor Isaac Du'Arc. I did the work needed to bring
you back from the dead."
*'Du'Arc?'* The name was unfamiliar. If she'd been operated
on, wouldn't it be someone from T'n'T? "How long has it been?"
"About a day," Isaac fiddles with some buttons and knobs on a
panel next to him. "Things have gone quite well considering your
present...condition."
Memories of what happened surge forth as Jean made a
choking sound. "Yoshida...!"
"Indeed," Isaac hums. "He was rather...enthusiastic about it. A
bit of a disappointment really...but that's how it goes..."
A frown. "Disappointment?"
"Yes. Here I go and give him a second chance at life and he
falls right back to his old nature. Intelligence and talent are poor
substitutes for good moral character."
A stunned look replies. "You brought him back?!!"
"Yes. I would've chosen Largo but he was in an extreme rut
and I doubt he would change given another chance. Besides, that's
been done to death already."
"YOU BASTARD!!!!" Jean screams, trying to lunge at him but
couldn't move. Staring down, she realizes why.
A head was all she had...
* * *
Nerima...
"Okay, she's in storage now."
Yuina breathes out as she stares on the body floating in the
gestation tank. It was easy to repair physical damage to Jean's
body...but without the reserve memory crystal, it was an empty shell,
useless. Placing a new crystal in her body wouldn't bring Jean back.
Taking a deep breath, she then gazes on Misa. "Any idea who did
this?"
"Only one possibility," the commander of KMT-9 sighs,
crossing her arms. "Miriam Yoshida."
Yuina blinks. "What brought that conclusion out?"
"We know Jean-chan's story, Sempai. When Kozue-chan and
I were busy at her office, I asked Izumi-chan to pop by AD Police to
find out where Yoshida's body was. Guess what? It was taken out
about three weeks ago, two nights after he was found."
"By who?"
"According to the attendant, someone representing Yoshida's
relatives. Problem is, Yoshida had none; his folks bought it in the
quake. Then again, how was this guy supposed to know?"
"Get a picture?"
"Hai," Misa fishes out a picture, then hands it over.
Yuina looks. Tall fellow, about 220 centimetres, quite bulky.
"Don't recognize him."
"I had him checked up in the database. He's a ghost, Sempai."
A scowl crosses the house matriarch's face. "Ghost" was a
term T'n'T field workers used to identify someone who couldn't be
nailed down with a positive ID even with a full-blown search using all of
the company's resources. They were encountered from time to time,
files kept on sightings...but so far, no one had been able to start
assembling stories and gauging motivations.
She then takes another look. Typical manservant type. "We'll
worry about this fellow...and whoever he's working for...later," she
hands the picture to Misa. "If we run on the assumption that Yoshida
has come back from the dead, his next obvious targets are Jean's
friends from Paradise Loop...or the Sabre Knights."
Misa scowls. "Orders?"
"Yours and Izumi's teams will remain by the Diet. Invisible
guard. Megumi'll get her hounds on the streets to trace Jean's crystal.
I'll keep Asako's people here until we run him down. Yoshida HAS to
have a boomer-type body to do his morphing tricks; it's the same basic
principle as what a C-55 can do. Once he comes in range of any of
our establishments, we've got him. If someone, ANYONE, tries for
the others in N-Forty, you'll know what to do."
"Hai, wakarimasu," Misa nods, heading out...
* * *
Isaac twists the release knob, letting a fresh rush of drugs pour
into Jean's brain. Her screaming and crying had quieted down to faint
sobs. "While you, of course, don't feel better..." he dries Jean's tears
with a cloth gripped in a pair of clamps, "...I hope you are now calm
enough to hear me out."
"Why should I ever listen to you?" she snarls.
"Because I can help you get back on your feet and back to
your friends. However, I need assurances from you that you will not
attempt retribution upon me."
Jean stares at him, then nods. "Very well."
"You're lying," Isaac turns a computer screen towards Jean. "It
says so right here, not that I really need it..."
She explodes. "***WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU
EXPECT?!?! YOU BETTER KILL ME NOW, OR I'LL HUNT
YOU THE REST OF MY LIFE!!!!***"
"No doubt you would..." he nods. "But that would be a terrible
waste of your potential." He gazes at the ceiling and inhaled. "I guess
this calls for stronger measures..."
He then gazes at Jean.
"I give my heart, my soul, my body..."
Jean's face becomes a mask of horror as something clicks in
deep within her mind.
"All of me, of my free will, to you and only you, Jean
Noburu..."
Jean franticly shook her head. "No...NO!!!!"
"Now and for the rest of our lives..."
"Stttoooppp...! Stttoooop...!!"
"This I swear by all I believe."
Silence falls. Jean clenches her teeth together, seemingly trying
to keep the proper words from emerging. She then slumps her head
and began to speak...
"I give my heart, my soul, my body...all of me, of my free
will...to you, Isaac Du'Arc...now and for the rest of our lives. This...I
swear...by all I believe..."
A pause, then Isaac's brow rises in surprise. "I didn't think
that'd happen. It seems that there is an unfortunate loophole in that
code. Oh, well..." he shrugs, then grins, throwing his arms wide.
"What's important is that I get you back to those who're most likely
worried sick about you. I'll get things ready right now." He then turns
a monitor towards Jean, pressing some keys. Soft music began to
flow. "For your enjoyment," he smiles, then walks out of the room.
Jean doesn't really pay attention to him. It had happened. It
had happened. She was bound to him...to him...to him...
It wasn't fair!!
Then, she looks up as footsteps approach her. A gorgeous
woman now stood before her. She gives Jean an even look, then slaps
her across the face! "Don't think for a moment that the oath means
anything to him!" she giggles, then leaves.
Jean shuddered, then began to weep...
* * *
Elsewhere...
"Nice to see that some things were kept behind."
Yoshida chuckles as he relaxes before the computer. It had
been simplicity itself for him to return to Maebashi. Even if the place's
use had been exposed, it was a government facility and still in
operation. It was late evening. Once he was done here, it was back to
Megatokyo. He wouldn't need this place again.
Tapping into the secure part of the machine to get at his
personal files. Once there, he draws up all the information on the seven
other bitches he had dragged out of the Loop to press Satoru's plan. A
twinge of uncertainty then floods him as he remembers what Jean had
said about the fusion boomers who had taken over members of the
Diet. Was Satoru one?
Shaking his head to rid himself of the irrelevant issue, he then
memorizes the pictures there. No need to worry about that now. If
that whole story was true and if the fusion units came back, he'd deal
with them. Even if he did want revenge, he wasn't crazy enough to fall
on that sort of crowd. If boomers ran the planet, it would not be a
pleasant place for normal people to live.
Staring at the seven women, he taps Namie Okajima's face.
She had worked in the same area of the Loop as Jean. She'd be next...
* * *
Kawasaki...
The door to Kentaro Miura's apartment opens as he shuffles in,
absently tossing his coat onto a chair. He takes a glance around the
empty room. Ever since Jean's body was found and the horror of what
befell her had sunk in, he had been moving around in a kind of daze.
His whole world, given new life when Jean entered his life and he was
forever freed of the voices and the OMS, was crumbling around him
and he just didn't know what to do.
Kentaro slumps in a chair, gazing at the small box resting on the
mantlepiece. He was going to propose to Jean. It was going to be a
symbol of hope and love. Now it was a symbol of despair.
He detects something at the corner of his eye. Light was
coming out from under the door to the bedroom. Thinking he had
forgot to shut it off when he went to work, Kentaro walks over and
opens the door...before stopping, his jaw on the floor.
Soft light from lamps placed in the corners fall on the bed,
making the figure lying on it glow in her white gown. Her arms were
crossed over her chest. A bouquet of roses were clasped in her hands,
making it seem like blood was staining her gown. A soft, sweet
fragrance filled the room. More rose petals were strewn on the floor.
On a nightstand, a bottle of champagne was chilling along with a bowl
of strawberries.
Kentaro staggers over, falling to his knees beside the bed and
reaches out to Jean, his fingers traced her face. Her eyes flutter open.
"Jean...?" Kentaro croaks.
She turns her head, her eyes widening on seeing Kentaro. The
next moment, she flies into his arms, sobbing with relief...
* * *
Oshika...
*Ring!* "Is that ye, lad?!"
"Hello, Nicole!" Isaac smiles. "I trust the two are safely back
together."
"Aye," Nicole nods. "Jean's getting the care she needs. I heard
of that little trick you pulled. Ye know that nae works since the Codes
are on a separate ROM chip. It nae can be forced right intae the
crystal itself."
"An experiment...and an assurance. Besides, from what my
observations of Miss Noburu and Mister Miura revealed, both are too
much in love with each other to be concerned about me," Isaac hums.
"I hold nothing over her. Though it might've been interesting to see how
it might've gone if a certain person hadn't cut it short."
"I'm a jealous woman!" a voice thunders from the background.
"As I am well aware off," Isaac chuckles. "But you'll still stay
where you are until I decide otherwise."
"Oh, pooh!"
"On other matters..." Nicole tries not to laugh; Isaac's
companion oft reminded the matriarch of a mix of Lum Moroboshi and
Akane Saotome with a sadistic streak spiced in. "I think ye have
something that doesnae belong to ye."
"Compensation. I assure you that I will not be raising an army
of Sexaroids as slaves, assassins or...research material. It's for study.
By the way, do pass my compliments to Ifvibaner and Kaita about the
reserve crystal. Excellent workmanship."
"It better be," Nicole warns. "Now, what about Yoshida?"
"I leave him to you. I've no further use for him, and no doubt
he will make another attempt. You have more then enough resources
available to detect him. I think Doctor Himoo is already working
towards that end with Commander Tanaka's and Commander
Shinohara's teams."
"Aye. This time, there nae be another chance for him."
"Hmmm..." Isaac then muses. "Depending on the condition, I
have a small request..."
Nicole listens, then nods her approval. The conversation
concludes, then the matriarch cuts the line. She then senses Anri's wide
eyes fixed on hers. "Problem, lass?"
"Obaa-sama..." the young Sexaroid stammers, everything
adding up deep in her mind, revealing a whole new side to her
employer she NEVER suspected existed. "Wh-why...?"
"Because sometimes, we ourselves need a reality check, Anri,"
Nicole rises, waving her assistant to stand beside her as they gaze onto
the rolling Pacific. "Because we're in the position we're in,
overconfidence in our ability to deal with things off is often our most
dangerous enemy. Your father and the lasses in Edo have many good
qualities; I'll nae deny them that. But given the recent spite of successes
they've had in pressing our goals, they badly needed a reality check to
keep them sharp. This does it much better than anything else I can
conceive."
"It's horrible," Anri sighs.
"Aye, lass. That's what this world can be tae many people.
Dinnae worry about it...and dinnae speak of it to yuir sisters,
ESPECIALLY Dee and Sylvie. Understood?"
"H-hai..." Anri nods...
* * *
Nerima, later...
"You sure you're going to be okay, Jean-chan?"
Jean blinks, then gazes painfully at Namie. As soon as she and
Kentaro had reunited, both had gone to the Tower so that Jean's
crystal could be placed back in her original body...which, since she was
a boomeroid Sexaroid, DIDN'T have the ROM chip containing the
Sexaroid Codes which would've trapped any other 33-S into a promise
bond with Isaac. Sitting beside Namie was her fiance, Tomoharu
Chizono, both holding the other's hand. "Yeah, I'll be fine..." Jean
sighs, gripping Kentaro's hand. "I...gods..."
"What did it feel like?" Tomoharu, a C-55 who had taken the
place of a Nagano dietman, gently prods.
"Like everything in my life ceased to be relevant save for
Isaac," Jean sighs. "I couldn't fight it...couldn't resist it...damn it
all..."
"It was too sudden for you," Kentaro muses, drawing Jean onto
his lap to gently kiss her forehead. "The other Sexaroids, those born as
Sexaroids...they have a chance to grow into accepting the Codes as an
influential part of their personality. Even if the reserve crystal was taken
out, they'd still be influenced by the Codes. You're pretty lucky, Jean."
"Yeah, I am, I guess..." Jean loopily smiles, then stares at
Namie. "Oh, did this Lain girl really want to interview me?"
"Hai, she did; Yoshida probably overheard her and decided it
was the best chance to get at you," Namie nods. "I called and told her
what happened. She said that she hoped you'd be okay."
"Tell her thanks," Jean adjusts her glasses, then takes a deep
breath. "Okay, what now? Who do we go after? Yoshida or Isaac?"
*Idiot, stop calling him by his name!!* she mentally adds.
"Yoshida is the more dangerous threat if Du'Arc decided to let
you go," Tomoharu purses his lips. "We know he can morph and he's
become used to his abilities."
"But we still have no idea what else he can do," Namie hums.
"Much less, who he'll target next."
"IF he targets someone else," Jean adds.
"This jerk?!" Namie snorts. "Count on it, Jean! I've seen his
file! Obsessive-compulsive doesn't BEGIN to describe him!!"
"Most likely, you and the others would be next, then maybe the
Sabre Knights," Kentaro sighs, his SDCI programming coming out.
"But it's not wise to sit around and wait for him to come for you. Go to
him. Fight the battle on ground you choose, not him."
"Good point," Namie nods, then rises. "C'mon, love, let's go
home. Jean-chan, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay," Jean nods as Namie and Tomoharu depart, then gazes
at Kentaro. "Hold me..."
"I'm right here," he draws her close...
* * *
Outside...
<<Hannah-chan, is that Namie-chan leaving?>>
<<Hai, Misa-san, it is,>> Hannah Miller nods, using a hard-link
to transmit to Misa, who was relaxing in a bistro on the other side of the
street from the main gate. <<She's with her fiance, heading to the Pizza
Emporium.>>
<<Going to the tram to head home,>> Misa grunts. <<Okay,
moving to follow. Tell Izumi-chan and the others.>>
<<Hai. Ganbatte, Misa-san!>>
Misa pulls the cyber-link from the back of her neck, then rises
to follow Namie and Tomoharu on the other side of the street. Given
the large amount of metal around, both were probably keeping their
MFS systems down so they wouldn't be too distracted by echoes.
Understandable, but not smart when you're dealing with a madman like
Yoshida, armed with...
Hello! Hello! What have we here?
Trailing Namie and Tomoharu is a tall blonde woman with blue
eyes and all sorts of delectable curves, her eyes fixed on Namie. Her
face was neutral, but Misa's MFS was picking out all sorts of
interesting details inside her. *Okay, that's gotta be him,* Misa smiles
as she leaps onto a fence, bounds up to a street light, then does a
running leap to the other side of the street, waiting for Namie,
Tomoharu and the stranger to pass before dropping back to the
ground, her hand reaching into her raincoat to feel the solid weight of
her gaikatana. <<Namie!!>> she transmits out.
Ahead, Namie blinks. <<Misa-chan?!>>
<<Don't react, don't look back! I think Yoshida's pacing you,
range five. Can you pick him up on MFS?>>
Namie closes her eyes, then grunts. <<Hai, got something.
What's he look like, Misa-chan?>>
<<He's a 'she' right now. Blonde beach-bimbo look. Head
down towards the road leading into the Fault; that'll be perfect.>>
<<Hai, wakarimasu,>> Namie nods, gripping Tomoharu's hand
as she guides him toward a road leading south-east...
* * *
Elsewhere...
Isaac reclines in a chair, watching Yoshida stalk another one of
Jean's friends, Namie Okajima, currently with her fiance heading
south-east from the Toratotaka Tower, no doubt towards the Fault.
Since Namie didn't live anywhere close to that...and her fiance had
apartments which could be reached via tram from Nerima...there was
no doubt that Yoshida himself was being trailed, Namie baiting him into
a trap. Unknown to the deranged scientist, Isaac implanted a camera
behind Yoshida's eyes that allowed him to see what Yoshida saw.
Isaac spoons some more pudding into his mouth and sighs.
"You sound bored."
"Yes, I am," he sighs again. "More mindless violence tonight.
I'd hoped that a man of Yoshida's intelligence and talent would provide
some quality entertainment. However, it seems he just wants to pander
to more base instincts."
A throaty laugh. "Sometimes one should turn off their brain and
enjoy their desires. 'Sides, we got to keep the gaters fed."
"Ho-ho!! A good point! Do you have any suggestions to spice
up tonight's main event?"
"I thought you'd never ask!"
Isaac looks behind him to see that she was setting another
monitor up. Shooing him off the recliner and replaced it with a
low-backed stool, she allows him to relax. After he sits down, she
dances around the stool, engrossed in a striptease. Isaac watches,
eagerly grinning. On finishing, she then bites the buttons off his shirt,
then yanks off his trousers and underwear.
An oldie...but a goodie.
Settling down on him, she beings to gyrate. "Not too quickly,
my dear," he grunts. "Pacing is important."
Laughter, broken with gasps, fills the room as they alternate
between serving each other and the scene before them...
* * *
The Fault...
Namie and Tomoharu relax as they head down the dirt road
which ran along the bottom of the scar bisecting Megatokyo. It was
possible for both to simply walk from Nerima to Chuuou; they had all
night and tomorrow was a Saturday. Six metres behind them, the
blonde woman maintains her pace, her eyes locked on the bouncy girl
ahead of her. Namie, when she was in Stacey Fernwood's old body,
had pulverized both of Yoshida's assistants with gravity blasts when the
whores made their escape. Yes, time to take her down...
<<Weapons, Misa-chan!>> Namie tenses on picking up small
blobs of metal in a large circle around her.
<<I sense them,>> Misa nods. <<Keep going. I've seen these
punks before. They always go for the cute ones. Looks like the
doctor'll get some exercise before getting his head hacked off.>>
<<Hai,>> Namie nods.
"Hey, babe, how's it going?!"
The blonde slows down, her vision picking up a dozen or so
young men, all with bulges in their jackets denoting that they were
armed. "What do you want?" she neutrally inquires.
"What do you think?!" the leader snorts.
She sighs, then fixes him with a stare. "Oh, then you better
come get it, sweetie pie," she invites them in.
The punks laugh as the leader approaches her...just as her arm
suddenly morphs into a multi-barrel plasma cannon! He cries out as
she locks on him, then fires, roasting his body before he could come a
metre closer. "Fuck!!! Boomer!!" another snaps.
"Get her!!!" a third roars.
The other arm morphs into a cannon as the blonde starts to
wade into them...
* * *
Elsewhere...
"Such good technique," Isaac muses, watching the whirling
figures on the screen. "Everyone knows her part well and executes it
with the ease of veteran actors."
"The question is..." she pants, her hips wiggling, "...can they
continue to act like they want to when problems arise?"
"Uhmf! We'll see!!"
* * *
The Fault...
In less than a minute, the battle is over, a dozen burned corpses
splattered on the ground as the blonde allows her arms to morph back
to normal. Her head snaps east to see Namie and Tomoharu still
walking down the road, acting as if nothing had happened behind them.
What the...? Grunting, she moves to follow...just as Namie turns to
her. "Hey, fuck-face!!" she gives her the bird. "You really are an
asshole, you know that?!"
The blonde stops, her eyes widening as Tomoharu scoops
Namie into his arms. "Where to, my love?"
"Home, sweets!! I've got lots of candy for you!" she points
towards the Diet.
"Hai!!" he activates his legs' anti-gravity systems and allows
himself to soar off to the north-east.
The blonde screams as her body morphs back to Yoshida's
natural looks, his legs propelling him towards the escaping whore and
her love...just as a bolt of burning pain rips through his side. He nearly
doubles over as a pair of feet land behind him, his eyes turning to see a
black-haired, blue-eyed woman in a black combat uniform staring at
him, a drawn katana in her hand.
"Yoshida..." she icily purrs. "We want a *word* with you!"
Snarling, he leaps away, his internal systems moving to mend
the deep cut in his side as his arm morphs to lock on Izumi's forehead.
Before he could muster power to shoot, she leaps into the sky...as
another gaikatana, twirling like a tumbler, slashes through his arm at the
elbow! Yoshida screams, the surprise of the attack catching him off
guard as a foot plants itself into his back, sending him tumbling towards
Misa. She rears up, then delivers some sweet chin music to send the
scientist down on his back. Misa backs away, arms cocked and ready.
"Well?!"
Shuddering, Yoshida sends mental probes out to his
chopped-off arm nearby, his internal damage control systems going
overtime to keep his power grid stable. Footsteps from behind. He
turns to see a platinum-haired woman standing by his lost arm.
"Looking for this?" Satomi smiles as she summons a chi ball, then she
delivers a brick-shattering blow to shred the wrecked arm into tiny bits.
Yoshida howls, the backlash from his destroyed arm searing
through him like a thousand knives as he rolls, his right arm locking on
Satomi's head...then he blinks on noting no one there. A stab of fear
arcs through him as he rolls back to his feet, eyes scanning wildly about.
No one. Where?! Where were they?!!
* * *
Elsewhere...
"There!" Isaac suddenly leans forward, almost dumping her
onto the floor. "He's starting to succumb to frustration and fear. I think
I know the ending of this show."
"We can't stop know!" she pulled herself back up, biting his
shoulder. "After all, so many things end the same way...yet we still
watch since there can be so...many...variations."
"Ah, yes!" he chuckles, diverting his attention between the
screen and her well-sculpted assets. "I've seen this many times myself.
I continue to watch though for the feeling that a well-crafted story
brings..."
"Let the game end..." she purrs...
* * *
The Fault...
"Yoshida..."
He tenses, then turns as something walks out of the shadows.
A woman dressed in a black coat, glasses fixed over grey eyes,
short-cut black hair. "No..."
"Surprised?" Jean snorts, reaching into her coat to draw out a
very ominous-looking pistol. "You shouldn't be," she locks on his
forehead. "You fucked my life royally when you sent your goons to get
me and the others! Now I'm gonna fuck yours!!"
Roaring, Yoshida moves to aim his right arm at her...as her
SBG-207E snaps on his chest and fires! The bolt slams into his chest,
the EMP burst ripping through his biomechanical filaments as the power
cells in his body suddenly overload. A scream barely escapes his lips
as his right arm suddenly explodes, showering the area with dark blood
and torn flesh! It is quickly followed by his legs, what is left of his left
arm...and then his chest!!
* * *
Elsewhere...
"YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
EESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!"
Isaac and his companion collapse as the screens go blank...
* * *
The Fault...
Yoshida's vision hazes over as Jean walks over to stand over
his face, the pain searing through his mind overwhelming all his other
senses. "Gee, what was it Yuka-chan always says when she shoots a
boomer with one of these things?" the intelligence officer hums
exaggeratedly, then she smiles, snapping her fingers. "Oh, just
remembered!!" she then aims on target.
"Boomer go down the hoooooooooooooooole!!"
Then his vision goes white before blackness comes...
* * *
"...Yoshida...Miriam Yoshida...?"
A familiar voice sounds in the darkness. Awareness comes
back to him centimetres at a time as he eventually finds himself looking
up at a plain white ceiling. A face appears, eliciting a storm of relief and
delight. *Another chance!!* he mentally laughs.
"Du'Arc-hakase! How did you get hold of me?!"
"I've my ways," Isaac replies. Strangely, he wasn't the laughing
lunatic he portrayed himself as before. He was merely staring
straight-faced at him.
"I have to wonder..." Yoshida muses. "Why have you revived
me again?"
"I have use for you. You shall aid me in my experiments."
"I guess I should...after all you've done for me. How can I help
you?"
"By being a good test subject," Isaac leans back, waving to an
unseen person.
Fear rushes through Yoshida. "Wait...!" he tries to get up but
finds he was restrained by straps...not to mention that he no longer has
any arms and legs...as a huge man took hold of the gurney. "WAIT!!!!
Please give me another chance!!!"
"I gave you your chance, Yoshida-san," Isaac scratches his
chin. "I brought you back to see what you would do with your new life.
You wanted revenge and so I let you have it, on the one who was the
cause of your death. After that, your possibilities were unlimited. But
you went to the well once to often, and tried to kill those who didn't kill
you. So you failed your last chance."
"PLEASE...!!!" Miriam wails as he is wheeled across the room.
"I won't try for vengeance!! I'll make up for it!"
Isaac shakes his head. "I'm afraid not. I'm no angel of life,
pulling people back from the beyond for altruistic reasons. You were
an experiment in my ongoing study of karma...and you've failed to
overcome yours. Thus I have no more use for you beyond what your
body can offer."
More screams echo as Yoshida is wheeled down a corridor
lined with metal doors...
* * *
Nerima, days later...
"So do we have ANYTHING on this creep?"
"I'm afraid not," Megumi sighs, relaxing in her chair as she gazes
sympathetically at Jean. "I've done five sweeps of all our databases,
ten of Versailles' database alone with Robert's help. This Isaac Du'Arc
really knows how to keep himself hidden."
"What was his game, Sempai?" Jean crosses her arms. "I
mean, it made no sense. Reviving Yoshida, then allowing him to nearly
do me in, then bringing me back...!"
"What do you think it could've been?" Megumi wonders.
Jean's brow furrows, then she sighs. "I don't know."
"Well, think about it when you're not distracted with
Kentaro-kun and your duties," Megumi smiles, rising. "We'll keep an
eye out for him. If he causes more trouble, we'll get him, one way or
another. Anyhow, Diedre-chan and Liberte-chan should be due by
sometime soon for a chess game and tea, so if you'll excuse me..."
"Hai!" Jean rises, bowing, then departs.
Megumi watches her go, then shaking her head, heads to the
window to gaze on Megatokyo, as if she was pulling it apart one block
at a time. Isaac was a slippery bastard for sure; none of her observers
had picked him up anywhere in the city. How could Nicole allow such
a man to exist in the first place?!
She sighs, the answer coming to her as soon as she asked the
question. There were people out there of such great evil, people
without a care in the world, that Toratotaka hunted day in and out. At
times, given how dark and foreboding the world could be at times,
Toratotaka was indeed a burst of sunshine. Because of their high
standards...and their stunning success rate...some at T'n'T probably did
believe they could do it all if they had to.
People like Isaac Du'Arc showed them otherwise.
"Megumi-chan?"
"Ohayo, Liberte-chan," Megumi sighs as Liberte and Diedre
stand to both sides of her. "You're early."
"Didn't take Papa long to figure out what happened to
Jean-chan," Diedre sighs. "Du'Arc came to town, didn't he?"
"Hai, he did," Megumi nods.
"Do you think he's gone?" Liberte sighs.
"Doubtful," Megumi shakes her head. "He wanted Jean-chan's
reserve crystal and regen packs for some reason. I've a very ugly
feeling that we haven't heard the last of this yet."
"God help us all," Diedre closes her eyes...
* * *
EPILOGUE
The Tower, nighttime...
Yoshiro Andrews sits back, slowly drinking his tea, trying to
relax. He was more tense these days. With Saotome, Quincy and
Sylia hemming him in...like wolves that harried a prime stag before they
tore it to pieces...he had more than enough reasons to worry. *There's
not one damned thing I can do about it!* he snorts.
The computer on the desk suddenly flickers to life...
"Andrews-hakase."
He snaps around, seeing an image form on the screen, a man
with cybernetic eyes smiling at him. Startled, Andrews backs away
from the machine. "Who...who are you...?"
"I am Doctor Isaac Du'Arc," he gives a small bow. "Please
don't be alarmed. I mean you no harm."
"What do you want?"
"I only have a proposition for you," Isaac replies. "One that
may help you in your current situation."
Hope flares in Andrews' heart. "You can help me out?! You
must then know what I want!"
"Indeed I do," the other's voice hardens. "But I cannot help
you out of what you have placed yourself in. You have gone too far in
that regard and must one day answer for what you have done."
Andrews deflates. "What could you ever do for me then?"
"I can give you an opportunity to atone for your sins, to
overcome your karma even though you may not be around to enjoy it.
It will be up to you to decide what's most important to you."
Andrews shudders, then sighs. Despite all his past fluster, he
was no fool. Saotome was out there in Nerima waiting for him, a dark
angel of vengeance ready to strike him down whenever he decided the
time was right. His vengeance wouldn't be a quick bullet to the skull,
either. It would be much worse. It would wreck everything he had
done over the last decade and more.
Sitting down in front of the screen, he sighs again. "What did
you have in mind, Du'Arc-hakase...?"
*** The End...For Now ***
-- Listar MIME Decryption --------------
-- Content: text/html
-- CONTENT REMOVED, NOT PLAINTEXT.
-- Listar MIME Decryption --------------
-- Name : bgc-wca.txt
-- Decoded: quoted-printable
AD Police headquarters, the morgue.
Without a doubt, this was perhaps one of the most visited and
despised rooms in the AD Police complex. Hundreds, no
THOUSANDS, of front line officers had ended their careers on a cold
slab in this place, lives torn from them by lasers or metallic hands.
Currently, THANKFULLY, the only corpse now was Miriam
Yoshida's. After getting scraped off the wall of a lab in Maebashi, his
body was brought in, then it would no doubt be cremated and disposed
of. *Hopefully mixed with somebody's compost pile,* the night
attendant muses, completing a report.
The attendant didn't know the whole story about Yoshida's
death. Only that he got nailed after butchering some hookers. In all his
time working here, this was the only time he felt any satisfaction filling
out a disposal order.
"Excuse me."
The attendant's head snaps up to see a huge man in front of
him. *Why didn't I notice him coming in?* he blinks, staring at the...he
used this term loosely!...man before him. His visitor was well over two
metres tall, filling out the drab grey jumpsuit to near capacity. Beady
eyes looked out from a face that was an explosion of unkempt hair, a
cap precariously perched on top of his head. The only reason that
"boomer" wasn't running through the attendant's mind is that none of the
alarms in the AD Police building were going off.
"May I help you?" he wonders.
The man shows a clipboard with a release form. "I'm here to
pick up the body of Miriam Yoshida."
"I wasn't told about any pick-up."
A shrug. "I was told that the relatives of Yoshida-hakase
wanted to recover the body so they could dispose of it in their own
manner. They want to keep this quiet since they're higher-up types. I
have the authorization right here."
The man passes over the forms. The attendant looks over each
page in turn. Everything was in order with the proper signatures.
"Okay, I'll release it. Just give me a hand over here."
Both swiftly retrieve the body from storage and lie in on a
gurney. A few signed forms later, Yoshida's remains are wheeled out
the door. The grey-clad man rolls the gurney down a hallway leading
outside. There, he rolled up to a sleek black van awaiting him. He
presses his thumb against a discoloured square near the handle. The
back door unlocks. Sliding the body inside, the man returns the gurney
to the hall and slips into the driver's seat.
With a faint hum, the van drives off into the night...
* * *
"Illusions" Vignette - "What Goes Around...!"
a fanfic of the Bubblegum Crisis - Megatokyo 2034
by Robert Geiger <robertgeiger@prodigy.net>
and Fred Herriot <fherriot@hotmail.com>
**** **** ****
Edited by E.B. Kushnir <kush1@iaw.on.ca>
**** **** ****
Based on characters and situations from "Bubblegum Crisis," created
by ARTMIC and Youmex, "Urusei Yatsura," created by Rumiko
Takahashi and "Tokimeki Memorial," created by Konami.
**** **** ****
This story is also based on the UY fanfic series "The Senior Year" by
Fred Herriot and Mike Smith and "The Ishinomaki Years" by Fred
Herriot as well as the BGC fanfic series "No Armour Against Fate" by
Shawn Hagen
**** **** ****
WRITER'S NOTE: This story, a sequel of sorts to "Knight Sabres
Reborn," is set sometime after "Aces and Hearts" and "The Phoenix
Story." Isaac Du'Arc is based on Yukito Kishiro's original creation.
**** **** ****
Darkness...
"Can you hear me?"
A faint voice, bringing him back from nothingness.
"Yoshida-hakase, can you hear me?"
Slowly, he pulls himself to awareness, a thin silver of light
becoming visible. A face swims into view. On noting his return to
consciousness, a wide grin crosses the man's features. "It's good that
you've returned to us," he nods, his voice flecked with Paris.
A mumbled reply responds as he focuses his gaze on his
apparent saviour. The man was perhaps in his late thirties or early
forties. Long blond hair beginning to go grey. The most notable feature
was that the man's eyes were seemingly replaced with cybernetic ones
resembling old-fashioned soda bottle cap glasses.
"Uh...who are you...?"
"My name is Isaac Du'Arc," he gives a small bow. "I am the
one who brought you back from the dead. The most important
question however, is do you know who you are?"
"My name...is Miriam Yoshida."
Another smile responds. "Excellent! Knowing who you are is
important."
Yoshida frowns, trying to turn his head...to discover that he
could not. In fact, he couldn't move at all! No sensations, either. "I
can't move...or feel anything."
Isaac's face turns serious. "I'm afraid I have unpleasant news
for you," he sighs. "You sustained extremely heavy damage which has
for now rendered you immobile from the neck down. I have also
restrained you after my initial operation so as to prevent any possible
damage. I've used a substantial amount of painkillers which accounts
for your lack of sensation and feeling. There is also extensive nerve
damage."
A strangled sob answers. Those damn whores! They've made
him a vegetable!! He then focuses his attention on what Isaac said.
"You said I'm immobile for now?"
A nod. "As I have said, the first operation was to revive you.
Further operations will be aimed at getting you back on your feet and
as well as you were before, if not better."
A sigh of relief. "You said 'if not better?'"
Oddly, the grin returns. "From my examination of you, it is
unavoidable that cybernetic replacements are needed. I can give you
the needed replacements...and it is within my abilities to offer you the
option of a specially designed boomer body."
"Boomer?"
"Yes. It would be no ordinary metal shell, though. It would be
designed and built for you alone. Built with your needs and desires in
mind." Isaac leans closer to Yoshida. "Think of what you want, what'll
be your goals when you receive your new body? What are your
desires?"
Yoshida concentrates. All the events that had brought him to
this point flash through his mind. He is so engrossed in his thoughts that
he doesn't notice Isaac producing a small bowl with a pudding-like
substance in it, savouring each mouthful.
Every humiliation, every indignity, flashes through his mind.
Those who had stolen his glory, destroyed his life's work. The street
trash who had ripped his life away from him. He reduces it all to a
single denominator as a scream proclaimed his single desire...
"REVENGE!!!!"
* * *
"Amazing!" Yoshida's new arm and hand smoothly shifts from a
slender woman's limb to its original form.
He and Isaac stand in a small room off to the side of the
operating theatre where the latter had rebuilt Yoshida into his new form.
Yoshida was amazed with Isaac's skill in cybernetics and boomer
technology. It had taken only a week for construction, implantation and
rehabilitation. Yoshida suspected something else was at work but
Isaac was close-mouthed about exact details. "I am rather proud how
it turned out," the latter smiles as he watches Yoshida practice with his
new body. "It's important to remember, morphing is an exacting ability.
I strongly recommend for you to use templates for the time being. Also
remember that you don't have fusion ability. When you change, you
shift, compact and expand mass like a C-55, but you cannot gain or
loose mass. Thus if you shorten your height, you would have a large
frame. When tall, be more slender."
"Pity," Yoshida muses as sharp claws sprang from his fingertips.
"In my opinion, it's no real loss," Isaac waves a hand around.
"Any one with the required skills can mount a gun on a boomer. And
nearly any idiot can fire a gun. It takes will and hard-earned skill to use
the abilities I've given you. Boil it down, you are now deadlier then any
gun that I could have given you. Besides, the plasma emitters fill that
role anyway."
Yoshida wills the small gunports to appear on his hands.
"You're right," he muses as something crosses his mind. "I expect that
you will be wanting...compensation for your services."
"Indeed I do, but not quite what you may be thinking of," Isaac
takes a packet out of his pocket and hands to Yoshida. "I shall be
frank. I expect you to attempt retribution for what has been done to
you. Within this packet is a chip containing the information on what I
want. If you are successful in your goal, contact me at the number
given. Do not return here, because I will be leaving very soon. I will
then arrange for a drop-off point." A pause, then, "And if you are
unsuccessful...the matter of payment will be moot."
Yoshida grimly nods as he pocketed the packet. "I have to
wonder, why have you chosen to help me?"
"While I admit you have made many errors in the past..." Isaac
replies, "...I also see you as a man of great intellect and talent who has
been shaped by the events in your past. And I decided to give you
another chance at life."
"Thank you," Yoshida then looks around and sighs. "I guess I
should be going now. I'll be sure to contact you later."
He then strode out of the room. Isaac sighs. He knew what
could happen next. People were such a predictable lot at times. It
almost made exercises like this boring to him. Still, he didn't mind it.
After all, in the eyes of some...
...in the eyes of one...
...it did serve a good purpose.
* * *
Tanzania, years ago...
"Magnificent, aren't they?"
Isaac nodded, his eyes locked on the struggle on the plains not
a dozen metres away. A herd of wildebeest had been cornered by a
pride of lions, the graceful cats presently closing in on several
weakened members of the herd for an easy kill. Conservation of
energy. Why go out and drag down the strongest of the lot when those
who couldn't put up a fight could still fill your belly?
"They are indeed," he chuckled.
Soon enough, two of the large animals were dragged down,
their flesh torn asunder by sharp teeth as the lionesses began preparing
their prey for the other pride members. "So the cycle goes on," the
voice mused from beside him.
Isaac blinked. A young woman, her voice touched with a
strong Highland brogue though well cultured. Turning, he saw a slender
person dressed in a button shirt and slacks, a grey, red and gold tartan
shawl drawn over her shoulders. She hadn't been on the tour. Who...?
"How did you get here?"
"I've my ways, Doctor Du'Arc," she fixed him with an icy green
stare, her tomboyish-cut red hair decorated with diamonds...or were
they diamonds?...in a tiara-like pattern over her forehead.
His eyes widened as recognition dawned. Noting his look, she
nodded. "I've a bit of a business proposition for ye, Doctor," she
mused. "Could I have a word with ye in private?"
Isaac gazed at her. How did one respond to one of the world's
richest, most influential businesspeople?
"I'm at your convenience, Dame Nicole..."
* * *
Later...
"Ah, here we are!" Nicole breathed out, then waved Isaac
down the street. "This way, lad. The pubs here are quite nice if you
can stomach the swill Americans call beer."
Isaac chuckled as they head down a street, his eyes scouting
the area to confirm that he was in one of Washington's outskirts. So
that was a real transporter, eh? Pleasant way of travelling around the
world when most normal people were restricted to airplanes and
trans-sonic shuttles. Then again, he wasn't as much a "normal" person
as his host. "Where are we exactly?"
"Arlington, just across the river from the Lincoln Memorial,"
Nicole responded, then nodded. "Ah, here we are!"
They stepped into a cosy English-style pub overlooking the
Potomac. The bartender's eyes widened on seeing Nicole, then he
nodded as she guided her guest to the upper floor. "The people here
know you," Isaac was quick to notice the exchange.
"Whenever I need tae do some serious dealing with outsiders, I
do it here," Nicole replied, then waved Isaac to a booth. "This town's
practically owned by us through the Annex here, so ye need not tae
worry about spies from elsewhere identifyin' ye."
After a waitress came by to get their order, Isaac fixed the
matriarch with a stare. "So why do you need me?"
"Because you're a very amoral person, Isaac Du'Arc," Nicole
returned his glare. "And I have need of a man like ye."
"I'm not for hire, Dame Nicole."
"I dinnae say I was gonna bring ye into my company, lad."
Isaac blinked. Interesting counter. "I know very much about
you, madame. You and your Nendo-kata friends now control sixty
percent of the world's banks and trust companies, totally dominate the
foreign exchange markets and now hold a hundred-year monopoly the
megacorps have no prayer in the world of breaking."
"Aye, that's true...but 'tis nae the only thing we do, lad," Nicole
replied.
"Ah, yes, your...willingness to spy on anyone of importance to
ensure that anything that threatens the human race is exposed before it
grows to the proportion of an epic disaster. I should learn to be a little
more cautious from now on, I believe."
Nicole laughed as the waitress came up with their drinks. "Ah,
a really intelligent person. Thank God they're still around," she toasted
him, then sighed. "Alright, lad, I'll be honest with ye. The influence we
have has ne'er been gathered before in human history, Doctor. With
one word, I could bring down every megacorp on this planet. Ye
probably know our part in bringing down I-Corp two decades ago. I
can do the same to anyone, even Genom. But I won't. Ye want to
know why?"
"Because you don't want to see the good flushed out with the
bad," Isaac replied. "As I recall, while I-Corp was in fact a front for a
crazy neo-Cathar sect that wanted to turn humanity into a 'pure-energy'
state, it also dominated the economies of sixteen countries, including
Canada and the United Kingdom...and when it was brought down, it
took many of those countries years to recover from the recession that
followed."
"There ye have it," Nicole nodded. "Doctor, one of my SPDs
has more power in her hands than a king of two centuries ago could
barely DREAM of havin'. An SFIO could bring governments down
with a simple word in the right place. Ye know what that sort of deep
influence can do to normal people." She then glanced out the window,
pointing. "Ye see that mansion on the hill there?"
He looked. A home shaped somewhat like the Parthenon in
Athens, with Doric columns forming the front facade. "Yes. Lovely
house, isn't it? A museum, I believe; that is Arlington National
Cemetery, isn't it?"
"Aye, it is. The house itself belonged to the family of that
gentleman right up there," Nicole pointed.
Isaac turned. On the wall hung an old lithograph of a
white-haired bearded man dressed in a light grey uniform, three stars on
the collars. "Robert E. Lee, I believe."
"That's him," Nicole sighed. "What do ye know of him?"
"My knowledge of American history isn't as strong as it should
be, Dame Nicole. Would you care to enlighten me?"
"Aye. Lee was the commander of the Army of Northern
Virginia during the Civil War. A Napoleon-type commander who
could think rings around his opponents...until he gutted two divisions'
worth of troops in a reckless charge at Gettysburg in '63 that made the
charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimea look like a bleedin' walk in
the park. But at the end of it all, he was well-respected by friend and
foe alike. The most beloved general in American history, some thought
of him. But did ye know that when it was all said and done, some
people said he should've been hanged?"
"I didn't."
"Aye, it's true. They said he should've been hanged exactly
BECAUSE he was a good man, someone who believed in what he did.
Ironic, isn't it? He hated slavery, hardly owned any slaves when he
became a landowner. He thought succession was sheer madness. Yet
when Virginia voted to succeed from the Union in '61, as Lincoln tried
to get him to become field commander of the Union armies, he went
with his state. In his eyes, his duty to Virginia took greater importance."
"Understandable," Isaac nodded. "Who would, even in the dire
circumstances of a civil war, want to raise a hand against one's kin or
people? I know that at the time, the southern states had quite a
different world-view of their place in America than their northern
brethren. They saw the United States as a confederation of
independent states, not one nation. An 'are' instead of 'is,'" he
paraphrases a great historian of the period.
"Aye," Nicole sighed. "Doctor, my SPDs are, in ways, a pack
of General Lees. They believe in what they do and because they do it
so damned well, they think they're invincible. In their eyes, they cannae
do no wrong. Put simply, every once in a while if I feel it necessary, I'd
like ye to demonstrate to them otherwise. That's the business
proposition I have for ye."
Isaac's eyes widened. "You know what I'm capable of, Dame
Nicole."
"That's why I want your services, lad."
Silence fell as the doctor considered the offer. "I assume you
wouldn't want me to kill your people."
"If accidents occur, they occur. That cannae be avoided.
But...aye, I'd prefer if they lived. Ye see, what I'd like for ye tae do...is
tae show them how bad things could become without them actually
experiencing it. Teach 'em a lesson...but make sure they live to put that
lesson tae good use. Like the way the Yanks train their troops.
Making training harder than actual combat."
Isaac slowly nodded. "I can agree to that. Actually, it would
be very interesting to plan such operations. But what happens if your
people discover me?"
"I'll shield ye if I have to...but from what I've seen of ye, you're
good when it comes tae doin' things," Nicole replied. "I have the codes
for every system in my company. All that'd happen is a flick of the
finger and Isaac Du'Arc remains a mystery."
"A ghost."
"Aye."
Silence. "But what happens to Toratotaka's stated mission of
helping humanity achieve its destiny?" he wondered.
"We'll still do that," Nicole sighed. "But I nae want my
company to become humanity's crutch, Doctor."
"Ah!" he toasted her, then drank.
Nicole returned his toast, then quickly drowned the beer.
"Damn, I hate this stuff!" she wiped her lips.
"Would you prefer something better?"
"Guinness?"
He gaped. "You're a Highlander, Dame Nicole, matriarch and
warlord of your own clan! And you drink Irish ale?!"
"Best damned stuff on the planet, lad."
"I know a good pub in Dublin."
"Let's go..."
* * *
Today...
Jean Noburu hums a tune that plays from her stereo as she
stares at the information on the screen before her. The deputy
commander of Field Intelligence Team N-40 had received a request for
an interview from Arisa Lain, a student at Tokyo University. Arisa was
studying journalism and wanted an interview with Jean as part of her
class project.
A sigh escapes her. She'd been interviewed many times since
her becoming a Sexaroid had become public knowledge. Ever since
the news of that bastard Yoshida having killed her in an attempt to
transform her into a suicidal killing machine, people had asked her what
did feel like to be a Sexaroid. Did she have any regrets? What were
her plans for the future? And on and on...
Jean's plans at present were for her to put her life back
together. From a hooker on Paradise Loop, to a T'n'T intelligence
officer/aide to Kentaro Miura, dietman from Kawasaki. She had at last
found a chance to truly enjoy life.
If only these reporters would leave her alone!
She was rather surprised to get a handwritten letter from Arisa,
enthusiastically asking for an interview. A quick check with Megumi
Mikihara confirmed that Arisa was who she said she was, with good
grades at the university and a cheerful..."perky" was perhaps more
accurate...personality. On considering a refusal, Jean had images of
Arisa's tear-streaked face if she got a form letter turning down her
request.
With that, Jean pulls out stationary and began her reply...
* * *
The Diet, later...
"Pardon me. I'm here for an appointment with Jean Noburu.
My name's Arisa Lain."
The secretary assigned to assist the members of N-40 looks up
to see a gangly young woman standing in front of her desk. Arisa is
dressed in jeans and a denim jacket with a backpack. Her
shoulder-length black hair had one lock dyed a vibrant yellow in
adherence to a current fad. She then smiles. "Hai, Noburu-san is
expecting you. I'll call her now." She presses a button on the intercom.
"Noburu-san? Arisa Lain is here for her appointment."
"Send her right in."
"Noburu-san will see you now," the secretary waves down the
hallway. "Go straight down the hall. Third door on the left."
"Thanks!" Arisa nods, heading off...
* * *
*Knock-knock!* "Come in!"
The door opens as Arisa steps in. "Thank you for agreeing to
meet me, Noburu-san," she bows. "Atashi wa Lain Arisa desu."
"No problem at all," she returns the bow with a smile. "Would
you like something to drink?"
"Um...if it's not to much trouble, some tea would be nice."
"Of course."
Jean has some tea brought in as both settled in. Arisa takes out
a small recorder and places in on the desk. "Arisa Lain's interview with
Jean Noburu," she announces after turning it on. "I guess my first
question is what was your life like before you became a Sexaroid."
Jean sighs. "Pure hell. My parents died in the quake like so
many others and I was put into a government-run orphanage along with
dozens of other children. I stayed there until I decided I wanted to
leave and ran away."
"Was it unpleasant there?"
"Not really. I wasn't neglected or abused. I was looked after
by the nuns rather well. But everything was stretched so thin that not
everyone could get the attention she needed. So, I ran away one
night."
"Why?"
"Because I was stupid. I thought I could handle myself. I had
plans of stealing and scamming my way until I could pay for a
apartment." Jean shakes her head. "I spent my first night in an
abandoned bathroom and almost got shot by soldiers when I tried
stealing some food. By then, I was too ashamed and afraid to go back
to the orphanage."
"And what then?"
"Baby found me," Jean's lip curls. "He was a pimp who had
seized control of part of the Loop. He showed up while I was
scrounging around and offered me food and shelter as long as I pitched
in and helped his little family. 'We all have to look out for each other,
you know.' He didn't have me selling myself at the start. He got me
hooked on drugs, THEN started treating me like dirt. I spent my days
trying to find enough johns to pay for shelter, food and drugs."
"And then?" Arisa probes.
A shudder. "One day, I felt a sharp pain, then darkness. The
next thing I knew, I woke up in someone else's body."
"One of the AD Police officers who suffered from that biomech
virus? Lieutenant Asako Yamano, I believe."
"Hai. It was created by Miriam Yoshida. He created it as a
way of driving those with cybernetics berserk. He'd been freed from
jail by some fusion boomers who wanted people like Asako-chan to
wreck havoc so that AD Police could be torn apart by the government
and leave normal folks defenceless. He planned to use our brains in
boomeroid bodies like Billy Fernwood had some years ago. It was his
biggest...and last...mistake," a satisfied grin crosses her face.
"Oh, really?" Arisa looks intently at her. "How did you get out
of such a situation?"
"Some people from Toratotaka were aware of what was going
to happen since the Diet wanted to invoke Protocol 113 and have the
brains of Asako-chan and the other AD Police officers used to make
boomeroid troops for the force. Since the brains were cremated at the
request of Asako-chan and the others, Yoshida snatched hookers like
me off the street, killed our bodies and put our brains in their bodies.
"When we were awakened, Toratotaka was alerted and
managed to contact me in a manner I'm...a little unsure of right now.
They then told me how to throw a gravity warp blast which blew
Yoshida right to Hell!!" Jean then notices Arisa shuddering. "Oh,
gomen!" she blushes. "I got a little carried away there."
"N-no...problem at all!" Arisa takes a sip of tea, calming
herself. "After you were rescued?"
"Since our original bodies were gone, 33-S bodies were made
and our minds transferred to them. After that we were asked to help
neutralize those dietmen who had been replaced by fusion boomers.
All of them, to aid their disguise, had replicated their templates' thoughts
and emotions before the templates were killed, so by freeing them of
whatever programming their friends gave them, it would be as if the
originals never died. I then used a special reprogramming ability given
to me that allowed Kentaro-kun to become a free being. I've become
his companion and aide. We both work to make Megatokyo a safe
and happy place."
"That's so romantic," Arisa projects a dewy-eyed stare,
grinning goofily.
Sweat drop. "Very much, I guess. Is there anything else?"
"Umm...iie, I think I have enough for now," Arisa turns off the
recorder. "Thank you very much for letting me interview you," she
rises, bowing.
"No, thank you," Jean grins. "I very much enjoyed talking to
you. Here, let me show you out of this place."
"Thank you!" Arisa nods as Jean walks past her to open the
door. "Oh! May I ask one more question?"
"Sure," Jean said as she turns...
...as a clawed hand grabs hold of her face while another slams
into her solar plexus. "Do you believe..." Yoshida hisses as his face
shifts to its original form, "...that things we do in the past can come back
to haunt us?"
He then yanks her onto the spikes sprouting from his chest...!
* * *
The secretary looks up as Arisa left her office and quietly
closed the door behind her. Giving the university student a friendly nod,
she then turns back to her work...
* * *
*Ring-ring!* "Jean Noburu's office, may I help you?"
"Hello, Akiko-san. This is Kentaro Miura. Is Jean there? We
were supposed to meet for lunch."
"Hai, Miura-san, she is. I'll patch you through."
Ringing echoes in Jean's office for a moment, then the
secretary's phone rings again. "I didn't get an answer," Kentaro
announces when the phone is picked up. "Is everything okay?"
"Just a moment, sir, I'll check."
Akiko walks over to the door and raps on it lightly.
"Noburu-san? Miura-san's on the phone. Is everything okay?"
No answer. "Noburu-san?" the secretary opens the door.
"Miura-san is on the..."
Her eyes widen on seeing the bloodstained floor. She lifts her
eyes, then screams at what was dangling from the ceiling...
* * *
*Ring!* "Yoshida-hakase! How did things go?"
"Smoothly. I have what you want."
"Ah! Here is where you should take it..."
* * *
Akiko shudders as she staggers to the phone, picking it up and
dialling a number. Since she had been assigned to help the members of
N-40 settle in at the Diet, she was given EXACT instructions by
Toratotaka in case something strange happened.
Trying not to gag, she dials a number...
* * *
*Ring-ring!* "Moshi-moshi, Tanaka desu."
"Commander Tanaka?!" a panicked woman replies.
"Commander Misa Tanaka?! KMT-Nine?"
"Hai, this is she. Who's this?"
"My name's Akiko Takahashi. I'm the secretary to the
members of Field Intelligence Team N-Forty. Deputy Commander
Noburu's been...she's..."
Misa blinks, her brown eyes widening on seeing the pale look
on the caller's face, then nods. "Hai, I understand. Have the building
security force secure the scene. NO ONE disturbs the scene until I get
there, not even AD Police!! I'm on my way!"
"H-hai..." Akiko closes the line.
Misa slams the phone down, then feels Wataru Morooka's
hand on her shoulder. "What happened?" her 34-S boyfriend wonders.
"Someone attacked Jean-chan at the Diet. Gotta go," Misa
kisses him, then rises to dress. "Can you call Kozue-chan at
Makoto-kun's place and get her over there, too?"
"Okay," Wataru nods. "Watch yourself, Misa-chan."
"Always..."
* * *
"Master."
Isaac turns away from his work station to see his towering
servant standing there holding a package. "Over here."
He motions to a table as his servant places the package on the
smooth surface. Isaac swiftly unwraps it to gaze on its contents. Two
shapely arms then wrap themselves around his chest. "Did Santa give
you something nice?" a sultry voice asks.
"Indeed, my dear!" Isaac chortles as he pats one of the arms,
looking behind him. Cuddled up to him is a ravishing Japanese woman
dressed in a tight bodysuit, her long black hair tickling Isaac's neck as
she nuzzles it. "Something that will be of great use to me," he studies
the objects:
Two packets of a gelatinous material.
A small container with a reddish material inside.
And a small object that sparkled in the light like a diamond.
Isaac picks up the crystal, staring intently at it. "But first, we
must see to our guest..."
* * *
The Diet...
"WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?!"
Hally Odotte stares at the gory scene before her as she walks
past the barricade of AD Police troopers and entered Jean's office.
Already there, Misa and Kozue Tsuzuki (KMT-9's interrogator) were
picking through the mess. Jean's body was on a stretcher, a
blood-stained white sheet covering it. "Kami-sama..." the former Killer
Doll tenses on seeing the unmoving corpse of her friend and teammate
nearby. "Misa-nee-chan..."
Misa rises, running a hand through her ponytailed brown hair.
"Fuck!" she hisses; this had NEVER happened before to a T'n'T-built
Sexaroid! "Why weren't security cameras placed in these offices?"
"They were supposed to be installed next week, Commander,"
Akiko stammers a reply, now in the chair beside Jean's body, her face
awash with tears.
"Fat lotta good that did Jean-chan!" Misa snarls, then sighs.
"Are you sure about this Lain girl that came in earlier?"
"H-hai," Akiko shudders. "S-she's a student from Toodai..."
Kozue's cell phone rings. "Hai, Tsuzuki desu...ah, Izumi-chan!"
she brightens up, then blinks. "Omoshiroi...you sure?!" A pause, then,
"Hai, bring her here. Arigato, Izumi-chan. Bai-bai!"
"What?!" Misa wonders as Kozue cuts the line.
"They found Lain-san tied up in her dorm with all her personal
gear returned," Kozue reports.
Misa blinks, then sighs. "Whoever planned this is stupid."
"Or wants to keep collateral damage to a minimum," Kozue
hums.
"Not the way I'd plan it," Misa replies. "Did Lain get a good
look at whoever took her place?"
"Iie," Kozue shakes her head. "She just got knocked on the
head and was kept in place until Izumi-chan and Satomi-chan found
her. She did need a bath, though."
Misa nods. Hally stares at her. "So who did this?!"
"We don't know," Misa gazes at the shorter woman, tensing on
seeing the panicked tears in her eyes. What possessed
Mikihara-sempai to allow someone who in some ways was still
emotionally a child to take charge of a field intelligence team?! Jean
would've been better suited for it...if not one of the original AA fifth
gens like Yohko Okano or Momoko Andou. "All we do know is that
whoever this is, he or she's got a very good working knowledge of how
our internal systems work."
"What do you mean?" Hally demands.
"They got her reserve memory crystal," Kozue closes her eyes.
"Not to mention her regen packs and a sample of her blood."
Hally blinks, then shudders. "What does that mean?" Akiko
wonders, wiping her face.
"It means that somewhere out there, Jean-chan's still alive,"
Misa's eyes narrow. "And if she's still alive, we'll find her..."
* * *
"Jean Noburu?"
Jean's eyes flutter open to look on a pair of cybernetic eyes
piercing a man's face. "Uh...where...?"
"It's okay, Noburu-san," the man smiles. "You are out of
danger. I am Doctor Isaac Du'Arc. I did the work needed to bring
you back from the dead."
*'Du'Arc?'* The name was unfamiliar. If she'd been operated
on, wouldn't it be someone from T'n'T? "How long has it been?"
"About a day," Isaac fiddles with some buttons and knobs on a
panel next to him. "Things have gone quite well considering your
present...condition."
Memories of what happened surge forth as Jean made a
choking sound. "Yoshida...!"
"Indeed," Isaac hums. "He was rather...enthusiastic about it. A
bit of a disappointment really...but that's how it goes..."
A frown. "Disappointment?"
"Yes. Here I go and give him a second chance at life and he
falls right back to his old nature. Intelligence and talent are poor
substitutes for good moral character."
A stunned look replies. "You brought him back?!!"
"Yes. I would've chosen Largo but he was in an extreme rut
and I doubt he would change given another chance. Besides, that's
been done to death already."
"YOU BASTARD!!!!" Jean screams, trying to lunge at him but
couldn't move. Staring down, she realizes why.
A head was all she had...
* * *
Nerima...
"Okay, she's in storage now."
Yuina breathes out as she stares on the body floating in the
gestation tank. It was easy to repair physical damage to Jean's
body...but without the reserve memory crystal, it was an empty shell,
useless. Placing a new crystal in her body wouldn't bring Jean back.
Taking a deep breath, she then gazes on Misa. "Any idea who did
this?"
"Only one possibility," the commander of KMT-9 sighs,
crossing her arms. "Miriam Yoshida."
Yuina blinks. "What brought that conclusion out?"
"We know Jean-chan's story, Sempai. When Kozue-chan and
I were busy at her office, I asked Izumi-chan to pop by AD Police to
find out where Yoshida's body was. Guess what? It was taken out
about three weeks ago, two nights after he was found."
"By who?"
"According to the attendant, someone representing Yoshida's
relatives. Problem is, Yoshida had none; his folks bought it in the
quake. Then again, how was this guy supposed to know?"
"Get a picture?"
"Hai," Misa fishes out a picture, then hands it over.
Yuina looks. Tall fellow, about 220 centimetres, quite bulky.
"Don't recognize him."
"I had him checked up in the database. He's a ghost, Sempai."
A scowl crosses the house matriarch's face. "Ghost" was a
term T'n'T field workers used to identify someone who couldn't be
nailed down with a positive ID even with a full-blown search using all of
the company's resources. They were encountered from time to time,
files kept on sightings...but so far, no one had been able to start
assembling stories and gauging motivations.
She then takes another look. Typical manservant type. "We'll
worry about this fellow...and whoever he's working for...later," she
hands the picture to Misa. "If we run on the assumption that Yoshida
has come back from the dead, his next obvious targets are Jean's
friends from Paradise Loop...or the Sabre Knights."
Misa scowls. "Orders?"
"Yours and Izumi's teams will remain by the Diet. Invisible
guard. Megumi'll get her hounds on the streets to trace Jean's crystal.
I'll keep Asako's people here until we run him down. Yoshida HAS to
have a boomer-type body to do his morphing tricks; it's the same basic
principle as what a C-55 can do. Once he comes in range of any of
our establishments, we've got him. If someone, ANYONE, tries for
the others in N-Forty, you'll know what to do."
"Hai, wakarimasu," Misa nods, heading out...
* * *
Isaac twists the release knob, letting a fresh rush of drugs pour
into Jean's brain. Her screaming and crying had quieted down to faint
sobs. "While you, of course, don't feel better..." he dries Jean's tears
with a cloth gripped in a pair of clamps, "...I hope you are now calm
enough to hear me out."
"Why should I ever listen to you?" she snarls.
"Because I can help you get back on your feet and back to
your friends. However, I need assurances from you that you will not
attempt retribution upon me."
Jean stares at him, then nods. "Very well."
"You're lying," Isaac turns a computer screen towards Jean. "It
says so right here, not that I really need it..."
She explodes. "***WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU
EXPECT?!?! YOU BETTER KILL ME NOW, OR I'LL HUNT
YOU THE REST OF MY LIFE!!!!***"
"No doubt you would..." he nods. "But that would be a terrible
waste of your potential." He gazes at the ceiling and inhaled. "I guess
this calls for stronger measures..."
He then gazes at Jean.
"I give my heart, my soul, my body..."
Jean's face becomes a mask of horror as something clicks in
deep within her mind.
"All of me, of my free will, to you and only you, Jean
Noburu..."
Jean franticly shook her head. "No...NO!!!!"
"Now and for the rest of our lives..."
"Stttoooppp...! Stttoooop...!!"
"This I swear by all I believe."
Silence falls. Jean clenches her teeth together, seemingly trying
to keep the proper words from emerging. She then slumps her head
and began to speak...
"I give my heart, my soul, my body...all of me, of my free
will...to you, Isaac Du'Arc...now and for the rest of our lives. This...I
swear...by all I believe..."
A pause, then Isaac's brow rises in surprise. "I didn't think
that'd happen. It seems that there is an unfortunate loophole in that
code. Oh, well..." he shrugs, then grins, throwing his arms wide.
"What's important is that I get you back to those who're most likely
worried sick about you. I'll get things ready right now." He then turns
a monitor towards Jean, pressing some keys. Soft music began to
flow. "For your enjoyment," he smiles, then walks out of the room.
Jean doesn't really pay attention to him. It had happened. It
had happened. She was bound to him...to him...to him...
It wasn't fair!!
Then, she looks up as footsteps approach her. A gorgeous
woman now stood before her. She gives Jean an even look, then slaps
her across the face! "Don't think for a moment that the oath means
anything to him!" she giggles, then leaves.
Jean shuddered, then began to weep...
* * *
Elsewhere...
"Nice to see that some things were kept behind."
Yoshida chuckles as he relaxes before the computer. It had
been simplicity itself for him to return to Maebashi. Even if the place's
use had been exposed, it was a government facility and still in
operation. It was late evening. Once he was done here, it was back to
Megatokyo. He wouldn't need this place again.
Tapping into the secure part of the machine to get at his
personal files. Once there, he draws up all the information on the seven
other bitches he had dragged out of the Loop to press Satoru's plan. A
twinge of uncertainty then floods him as he remembers what Jean had
said about the fusion boomers who had taken over members of the
Diet. Was Satoru one?
Shaking his head to rid himself of the irrelevant issue, he then
memorizes the pictures there. No need to worry about that now. If
that whole story was true and if the fusion units came back, he'd deal
with them. Even if he did want revenge, he wasn't crazy enough to fall
on that sort of crowd. If boomers ran the planet, it would not be a
pleasant place for normal people to live.
Staring at the seven women, he taps Namie Okajima's face.
She had worked in the same area of the Loop as Jean. She'd be next...
* * *
Kawasaki...
The door to Kentaro Miura's apartment opens as he shuffles in,
absently tossing his coat onto a chair. He takes a glance around the
empty room. Ever since Jean's body was found and the horror of what
befell her had sunk in, he had been moving around in a kind of daze.
His whole world, given new life when Jean entered his life and he was
forever freed of the voices and the OMS, was crumbling around him
and he just didn't know what to do.
Kentaro slumps in a chair, gazing at the small box resting on the
mantlepiece. He was going to propose to Jean. It was going to be a
symbol of hope and love. Now it was a symbol of despair.
He detects something at the corner of his eye. Light was
coming out from under the door to the bedroom. Thinking he had
forgot to shut it off when he went to work, Kentaro walks over and
opens the door...before stopping, his jaw on the floor.
Soft light from lamps placed in the corners fall on the bed,
making the figure lying on it glow in her white gown. Her arms were
crossed over her chest. A bouquet of roses were clasped in her hands,
making it seem like blood was staining her gown. A soft, sweet
fragrance filled the room. More rose petals were strewn on the floor.
On a nightstand, a bottle of champagne was chilling along with a bowl
of strawberries.
Kentaro staggers over, falling to his knees beside the bed and
reaches out to Jean, his fingers traced her face. Her eyes flutter open.
"Jean...?" Kentaro croaks.
She turns her head, her eyes widening on seeing Kentaro. The
next moment, she flies into his arms, sobbing with relief...
* * *
Oshika...
*Ring!* "Is that ye, lad?!"
"Hello, Nicole!" Isaac smiles. "I trust the two are safely back
together."
"Aye," Nicole nods. "Jean's getting the care she needs. I heard
of that little trick you pulled. Ye know that nae works since the Codes
are on a separate ROM chip. It nae can be forced right intae the
crystal itself."
"An experiment...and an assurance. Besides, from what my
observations of Miss Noburu and Mister Miura revealed, both are too
much in love with each other to be concerned about me," Isaac hums.
"I hold nothing over her. Though it might've been interesting to see how
it might've gone if a certain person hadn't cut it short."
"I'm a jealous woman!" a voice thunders from the background.
"As I am well aware off," Isaac chuckles. "But you'll still stay
where you are until I decide otherwise."
"Oh, pooh!"
"On other matters..." Nicole tries not to laugh; Isaac's
companion oft reminded the matriarch of a mix of Lum Moroboshi and
Akane Saotome with a sadistic streak spiced in. "I think ye have
something that doesnae belong to ye."
"Compensation. I assure you that I will not be raising an army
of Sexaroids as slaves, assassins or...research material. It's for study.
By the way, do pass my compliments to Ifvibaner and Kaita about the
reserve crystal. Excellent workmanship."
"It better be," Nicole warns. "Now, what about Yoshida?"
"I leave him to you. I've no further use for him, and no doubt
he will make another attempt. You have more then enough resources
available to detect him. I think Doctor Himoo is already working
towards that end with Commander Tanaka's and Commander
Shinohara's teams."
"Aye. This time, there nae be another chance for him."
"Hmmm..." Isaac then muses. "Depending on the condition, I
have a small request..."
Nicole listens, then nods her approval. The conversation
concludes, then the matriarch cuts the line. She then senses Anri's wide
eyes fixed on hers. "Problem, lass?"
"Obaa-sama..." the young Sexaroid stammers, everything
adding up deep in her mind, revealing a whole new side to her
employer she NEVER suspected existed. "Wh-why...?"
"Because sometimes, we ourselves need a reality check, Anri,"
Nicole rises, waving her assistant to stand beside her as they gaze onto
the rolling Pacific. "Because we're in the position we're in,
overconfidence in our ability to deal with things off is often our most
dangerous enemy. Your father and the lasses in Edo have many good
qualities; I'll nae deny them that. But given the recent spite of successes
they've had in pressing our goals, they badly needed a reality check to
keep them sharp. This does it much better than anything else I can
conceive."
"It's horrible," Anri sighs.
"Aye, lass. That's what this world can be tae many people.
Dinnae worry about it...and dinnae speak of it to yuir sisters,
ESPECIALLY Dee and Sylvie. Understood?"
"H-hai..." Anri nods...
* * *
Nerima, later...
"You sure you're going to be okay, Jean-chan?"
Jean blinks, then gazes painfully at Namie. As soon as she and
Kentaro had reunited, both had gone to the Tower so that Jean's
crystal could be placed back in her original body...which, since she was
a boomeroid Sexaroid, DIDN'T have the ROM chip containing the
Sexaroid Codes which would've trapped any other 33-S into a promise
bond with Isaac. Sitting beside Namie was her fiance, Tomoharu
Chizono, both holding the other's hand. "Yeah, I'll be fine..." Jean
sighs, gripping Kentaro's hand. "I...gods..."
"What did it feel like?" Tomoharu, a C-55 who had taken the
place of a Nagano dietman, gently prods.
"Like everything in my life ceased to be relevant save for
Isaac," Jean sighs. "I couldn't fight it...couldn't resist it...damn it all..."
"It was too sudden for you," Kentaro muses, drawing Jean onto
his lap to gently kiss her forehead. "The other Sexaroids, those born as
Sexaroids...they have a chance to grow into accepting the Codes as an
influential part of their personality. Even if the reserve crystal was taken
out, they'd still be influenced by the Codes. You're pretty lucky, Jean."
"Yeah, I am, I guess..." Jean loopily smiles, then stares at
Namie. "Oh, did this Lain girl really want to interview me?"
"Hai, she did; Yoshida probably overheard her and decided it
was the best chance to get at you," Namie nods. "I called and told her
what happened. She said that she hoped you'd be okay."
"Tell her thanks," Jean adjusts her glasses, then takes a deep
breath. "Okay, what now? Who do we go after? Yoshida or Isaac?"
*Idiot, stop calling him by his name!!* she mentally adds.
"Yoshida is the more dangerous threat if Du'Arc decided to let
you go," Tomoharu purses his lips. "We know he can morph and he's
become used to his abilities."
"But we still have no idea what else he can do," Namie hums.
"Much less, who he'll target next."
"IF he targets someone else," Jean adds.
"This jerk?!" Namie snorts. "Count on it, Jean! I've seen his
file! Obsessive-compulsive doesn't BEGIN to describe him!!"
"Most likely, you and the others would be next, then maybe the
Sabre Knights," Kentaro sighs, his SDCI programming coming out.
"But it's not wise to sit around and wait for him to come for you. Go to
him. Fight the battle on ground you choose, not him."
"Good point," Namie nods, then rises. "C'mon, love, let's go
home. Jean-chan, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay," Jean nods as Namie and Tomoharu depart, then gazes
at Kentaro. "Hold me..."
"I'm right here," he draws her close...
* * *
Outside...
<<Hannah-chan, is that Namie-chan leaving?>>
<<Hai, Misa-san, it is,>> Hannah Miller nods, using a hard-link
to transmit to Misa, who was relaxing in a bistro on the other side of the
street from the main gate. <<She's with her fiance, heading to the Pizza
Emporium.>>
<<Going to the tram to head home,>> Misa grunts. <<Okay,
moving to follow. Tell Izumi-chan and the others.>>
<<Hai. Ganbatte, Misa-san!>>
Misa pulls the cyber-link from the back of her neck, then rises
to follow Namie and Tomoharu on the other side of the street. Given
the large amount of metal around, both were probably keeping their
MFS systems down so they wouldn't be too distracted by echoes.
Understandable, but not smart when you're dealing with a madman like
Yoshida, armed with...
Hello! Hello! What have we here?
Trailing Namie and Tomoharu is a tall blonde woman with blue
eyes and all sorts of delectable curves, her eyes fixed on Namie. Her
face was neutral, but Misa's MFS was picking out all sorts of
interesting details inside her. *Okay, that's gotta be him,* Misa smiles
as she leaps onto a fence, bounds up to a street light, then does a
running leap to the other side of the street, waiting for Namie,
Tomoharu and the stranger to pass before dropping back to the
ground, her hand reaching into her raincoat to feel the solid weight of
her gaikatana. <<Namie!!>> she transmits out.
Ahead, Namie blinks. <<Misa-chan?!>>
<<Don't react, don't look back! I think Yoshida's pacing you,
range five. Can you pick him up on MFS?>>
Namie closes her eyes, then grunts. <<Hai, got something.
What's he look like, Misa-chan?>>
<<He's a 'she' right now. Blonde beach-bimbo look. Head
down towards the road leading into the Fault; that'll be perfect.>>
<<Hai, wakarimasu,>> Namie nods, gripping Tomoharu's hand
as she guides him toward a road leading south-east...
* * *
Elsewhere...
Isaac reclines in a chair, watching Yoshida stalk another one of
Jean's friends, Namie Okajima, currently with her fiance heading
south-east from the Toratotaka Tower, no doubt towards the Fault.
Since Namie didn't live anywhere close to that...and her fiance had
apartments which could be reached via tram from Nerima...there was
no doubt that Yoshida himself was being trailed, Namie baiting him into
a trap. Unknown to the deranged scientist, Isaac implanted a camera
behind Yoshida's eyes that allowed him to see what Yoshida saw.
Isaac spoons some more pudding into his mouth and sighs.
"You sound bored."
"Yes, I am," he sighs again. "More mindless violence tonight.
I'd hoped that a man of Yoshida's intelligence and talent would provide
some quality entertainment. However, it seems he just wants to pander
to more base instincts."
A throaty laugh. "Sometimes one should turn off their brain and
enjoy their desires. 'Sides, we got to keep the gaters fed."
"Ho-ho!! A good point! Do you have any suggestions to spice
up tonight's main event?"
"I thought you'd never ask!"
Isaac looks behind him to see that she was setting another
monitor up. Shooing him off the recliner and replaced it with a
low-backed stool, she allows him to relax. After he sits down, she
dances around the stool, engrossed in a striptease. Isaac watches,
eagerly grinning. On finishing, she then bites the buttons off his shirt,
then yanks off his trousers and underwear.
An oldie...but a goodie.
Settling down on him, she beings to gyrate. "Not too quickly,
my dear," he grunts. "Pacing is important."
Laughter, broken with gasps, fills the room as they alternate
between serving each other and the scene before them...
* * *
The Fault...
Namie and Tomoharu relax as they head down the dirt road
which ran along the bottom of the scar bisecting Megatokyo. It was
possible for both to simply walk from Nerima to Chuuou; they had all
night and tomorrow was a Saturday. Six metres behind them, the
blonde woman maintains her pace, her eyes locked on the bouncy girl
ahead of her. Namie, when she was in Stacey Fernwood's old body,
had pulverized both of Yoshida's assistants with gravity blasts when the
whores made their escape. Yes, time to take her down...
<<Weapons, Misa-chan!>> Namie tenses on picking up small
blobs of metal in a large circle around her.
<<I sense them,>> Misa nods. <<Keep going. I've seen these
punks before. They always go for the cute ones. Looks like the
doctor'll get some exercise before getting his head hacked off.>>
<<Hai,>> Namie nods.
"Hey, babe, how's it going?!"
The blonde slows down, her vision picking up a dozen or so
young men, all with bulges in their jackets denoting that they were
armed. "What do you want?" she neutrally inquires.
"What do you think?!" the leader snorts.
She sighs, then fixes him with a stare. "Oh, then you better
come get it, sweetie pie," she invites them in.
The punks laugh as the leader approaches her...just as her arm
suddenly morphs into a multi-barrel plasma cannon! He cries out as
she locks on him, then fires, roasting his body before he could come a
metre closer. "Fuck!!! Boomer!!" another snaps.
"Get her!!!" a third roars.
The other arm morphs into a cannon as the blonde starts to
wade into them...
* * *
Elsewhere...
"Such good technique," Isaac muses, watching the whirling
figures on the screen. "Everyone knows her part well and executes it
with the ease of veteran actors."
"The question is..." she pants, her hips wiggling, "...can they
continue to act like they want to when problems arise?"
"Uhmf! We'll see!!"
* * *
The Fault...
In less than a minute, the battle is over, a dozen burned corpses
splattered on the ground as the blonde allows her arms to morph back
to normal. Her head snaps east to see Namie and Tomoharu still
walking down the road, acting as if nothing had happened behind them.
What the...? Grunting, she moves to follow...just as Namie turns to
her. "Hey, fuck-face!!" she gives her the bird. "You really are an
asshole, you know that?!"
The blonde stops, her eyes widening as Tomoharu scoops
Namie into his arms. "Where to, my love?"
"Home, sweets!! I've got lots of candy for you!" she points
towards the Diet.
"Hai!!" he activates his legs' anti-gravity systems and allows
himself to soar off to the north-east.
The blonde screams as her body morphs back to Yoshida's
natural looks, his legs propelling him towards the escaping whore and
her love...just as a bolt of burning pain rips through his side. He nearly
doubles over as a pair of feet land behind him, his eyes turning to see a
black-haired, blue-eyed woman in a black combat uniform staring at
him, a drawn katana in her hand.
"Yoshida..." she icily purrs. "We want a *word* with you!"
Snarling, he leaps away, his internal systems moving to mend
the deep cut in his side as his arm morphs to lock on Izumi's forehead.
Before he could muster power to shoot, she leaps into the sky...as
another gaikatana, twirling like a tumbler, slashes through his arm at the
elbow! Yoshida screams, the surprise of the attack catching him off
guard as a foot plants itself into his back, sending him tumbling towards
Misa. She rears up, then delivers some sweet chin music to send the
scientist down on his back. Misa backs away, arms cocked and ready.
"Well?!"
Shuddering, Yoshida sends mental probes out to his
chopped-off arm nearby, his internal damage control systems going
overtime to keep his power grid stable. Footsteps from behind. He
turns to see a platinum-haired woman standing by his lost arm.
"Looking for this?" Satomi smiles as she summons a chi ball, then she
delivers a brick-shattering blow to shred the wrecked arm into tiny bits.
Yoshida howls, the backlash from his destroyed arm searing
through him like a thousand knives as he rolls, his right arm locking on
Satomi's head...then he blinks on noting no one there. A stab of fear
arcs through him as he rolls back to his feet, eyes scanning wildly about.
No one. Where?! Where were they?!!
* * *
Elsewhere...
"There!" Isaac suddenly leans forward, almost dumping her
onto the floor. "He's starting to succumb to frustration and fear. I think
I know the ending of this show."
"We can't stop know!" she pulled herself back up, biting his
shoulder. "After all, so many things end the same way...yet we still
watch since there can be so...many...variations."
"Ah, yes!" he chuckles, diverting his attention between the
screen and her well-sculpted assets. "I've seen this many times myself.
I continue to watch though for the feeling that a well-crafted story
brings..."
"Let the game end..." she purrs...
* * *
The Fault...
"Yoshida..."
He tenses, then turns as something walks out of the shadows.
A woman dressed in a black coat, glasses fixed over grey eyes,
short-cut black hair. "No..."
"Surprised?" Jean snorts, reaching into her coat to draw out a
very ominous-looking pistol. "You shouldn't be," she locks on his
forehead. "You fucked my life royally when you sent your goons to get
me and the others! Now I'm gonna fuck yours!!"
Roaring, Yoshida moves to aim his right arm at her...as her
SBG-207E snaps on his chest and fires! The bolt slams into his chest,
the EMP burst ripping through his biomechanical filaments as the power
cells in his body suddenly overload. A scream barely escapes his lips
as his right arm suddenly explodes, showering the area with dark blood
and torn flesh! It is quickly followed by his legs, what is left of his left
arm...and then his chest!!
* * *
Elsewhere...
"YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
EESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!"
Isaac and his companion collapse as the screens go blank...
* * *
The Fault...
Yoshida's vision hazes over as Jean walks over to stand over
his face, the pain searing through his mind overwhelming all his other
senses. "Gee, what was it Yuka-chan always says when she shoots a
boomer with one of these things?" the intelligence officer hums
exaggeratedly, then she smiles, snapping her fingers. "Oh, just
remembered!!" she then aims on target.
"Boomer go down the hoooooooooooooooole!!"
Then his vision goes white before blackness comes...
* * *
"...Yoshida...Miriam Yoshida...?"
A familiar voice sounds in the darkness. Awareness comes
back to him centimetres at a time as he eventually finds himself looking
up at a plain white ceiling. A face appears, eliciting a storm of relief and
delight. *Another chance!!* he mentally laughs.
"Du'Arc-hakase! How did you get hold of me?!"
"I've my ways," Isaac replies. Strangely, he wasn't the laughing
lunatic he portrayed himself as before. He was merely staring
straight-faced at him.
"I have to wonder..." Yoshida muses. "Why have you revived
me again?"
"I have use for you. You shall aid me in my experiments."
"I guess I should...after all you've done for me. How can I help
you?"
"By being a good test subject," Isaac leans back, waving to an
unseen person.
Fear rushes through Yoshida. "Wait...!" he tries to get up but
finds he was restrained by straps...not to mention that he no longer has
any arms and legs...as a huge man took hold of the gurney. "WAIT!!!!
Please give me another chance!!!"
"I gave you your chance, Yoshida-san," Isaac scratches his
chin. "I brought you back to see what you would do with your new life.
You wanted revenge and so I let you have it, on the one who was the
cause of your death. After that, your possibilities were unlimited. But
you went to the well once to often, and tried to kill those who didn't kill
you. So you failed your last chance."
"PLEASE...!!!" Miriam wails as he is wheeled across the room.
"I won't try for vengeance!! I'll make up for it!"
Isaac shakes his head. "I'm afraid not. I'm no angel of life,
pulling people back from the beyond for altruistic reasons. You were
an experiment in my ongoing study of karma...and you've failed to
overcome yours. Thus I have no more use for you beyond what your
body can offer."
More screams echo as Yoshida is wheeled down a corridor
lined with metal doors...
* * *
Nerima, days later...
"So do we have ANYTHING on this creep?"
"I'm afraid not," Megumi sighs, relaxing in her chair as she gazes
sympathetically at Jean. "I've done five sweeps of all our databases,
ten of Versailles' database alone with Robert's help. This Isaac Du'Arc
really knows how to keep himself hidden."
"What was his game, Sempai?" Jean crosses her arms. "I
mean, it made no sense. Reviving Yoshida, then allowing him to nearly
do me in, then bringing me back...!"
"What do you think it could've been?" Megumi wonders.
Jean's brow furrows, then she sighs. "I don't know."
"Well, think about it when you're not distracted with
Kentaro-kun and your duties," Megumi smiles, rising. "We'll keep an
eye out for him. If he causes more trouble, we'll get him, one way or
another. Anyhow, Diedre-chan and Liberte-chan should be due by
sometime soon for a chess game and tea, so if you'll excuse me..."
"Hai!" Jean rises, bowing, then departs.
Megumi watches her go, then shaking her head, heads to the
window to gaze on Megatokyo, as if she was pulling it apart one block
at a time. Isaac was a slippery bastard for sure; none of her observers
had picked him up anywhere in the city. How could Nicole allow such
a man to exist in the first place?!
She sighs, the answer coming to her as soon as she asked the
question. There were people out there of such great evil, people
without a care in the world, that Toratotaka hunted day in and out. At
times, given how dark and foreboding the world could be at times,
Toratotaka was indeed a burst of sunshine. Because of their high
standards...and their stunning success rate...some at T'n'T probably did
believe they could do it all if they had to.
People like Isaac Du'Arc showed them otherwise.
"Megumi-chan?"
"Ohayo, Liberte-chan," Megumi sighs as Liberte and Diedre
stand to both sides of her. "You're early."
"Didn't take Papa long to figure out what happened to
Jean-chan," Diedre sighs. "Du'Arc came to town, didn't he?"
"Hai, he did," Megumi nods.
"Do you think he's gone?" Liberte sighs.
"Doubtful," Megumi shakes her head. "He wanted Jean-chan's
reserve crystal and regen packs for some reason. I've a very ugly
feeling that we haven't heard the last of this yet."
"God help us all," Diedre closes her eyes...
* * *
EPILOGUE
The Tower, nighttime...
Yoshiro Andrews sits back, slowly drinking his tea, trying to
relax. He was more tense these days. With Saotome, Quincy and
Sylia hemming him in...like wolves that harried a prime stag before they
tore it to pieces...he had more than enough reasons to worry. *There's
not one damned thing I can do about it!* he snorts.
The computer on the desk suddenly flickers to life...
"Andrews-hakase."
He snaps around, seeing an image form on the screen, a man
with cybernetic eyes smiling at him. Startled, Andrews backs away
from the machine. "Who...who are you...?"
"I am Doctor Isaac Du'Arc," he gives a small bow. "Please
don't be alarmed. I mean you no harm."
"What do you want?"
"I only have a proposition for you," Isaac replies. "One that
may help you in your current situation."
Hope flares in Andrews' heart. "You can help me out?! You
must then know what I want!"
"Indeed I do," the other's voice hardens. "But I cannot help
you out of what you have placed yourself in. You have gone too far in
that regard and must one day answer for what you have done."
Andrews deflates. "What could you ever do for me then?"
"I can give you an opportunity to atone for your sins, to
overcome your karma even though you may not be around to enjoy it.
It will be up to you to decide what's most important to you."
Andrews shudders, then sighs. Despite all his past fluster, he
was no fool. Saotome was out there in Nerima waiting for him, a dark
angel of vengeance ready to strike him down whenever he decided the
time was right. His vengeance wouldn't be a quick bullet to the skull,
either. It would be much worse. It would wreck everything he had
done over the last decade and more.
Sitting down in front of the screen, he sighs again. "What did
you have in mind, Du'Arc-hakase...?"
*** The End...For Now ***