"Just one question," Ranko said, "why are you doing this? What did
Kuno Industries do to you?"
"That, Ranko," Shampoo replied tiredly, "is a long and painful
story, one which we don't have time for now. Sean."
"Yes, Commander?" Sean asked.
"Show Ranko around the compound, give her the grand tour. Tell her
as much as you can about her new world."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Ranko, feel free to ask him any question you like. You need to
learn as much as you can if you are to survive here."
"What makes you think I'm gonna stay here?" Ranko asked defiantly.
"Because the only people who can help you find your past are here,"
Shampoo replied, a statement that wasn't too far from the truth.
"Dismissed." Sean and Ranko rose from their seats, the former leading her
out of the room. After the door closed, Shampoo cradled her head in her
hands, fighting the tears that seemed bent on escaping.
"Was that proof enough for you?" came a mechanical voice from
behind. Shampoo started violently, knocking the chair to the floor as she
whirled about to face the speaker.
"How long have you been there, X?" she snapped to the back wall.
"Long enough," came his reply as a portion of the wall moved. Her
eyes involuntarily locked on the patch of distorted space as he stepped
closer. In an instant, the warped air that vaguely resembled human contours
snapped into clear focus, revealing the black-clad warrior. "Shampoo, you
know what that thing is."
"Yes," she replied, "I did not want to believe it at first, but..."
"So what will you do?" X asked, his luminous red eys betraying no
emotion from behind his faceplate.
"I... do not know," she said sadly.
"I can't believe I'm hearing this," X said in disgust, "you're
letting your feelings cloud your judgment."
"What?!" Shampoo exclaimed, insulted.
"You're still carrying a torch for Ranma," X replied, "but you're
beginning to confuse him with that clone you just let go!"
"How dare you!" Shampoo hissed, her eyes narrowing to slits.
"That thing is an abomination, and it must be destroyed!" X
exclaimed, anger radiating from his inhuman eyes. Shampoo remained silent,
glaring daggers at the shadowy fighter before her. "If not out of respect
for Ranma's memory, then out of common sense! It is a creation of Kuno
Industries! It may be here to infiltrate and destroy your resistance!"
"Ranko doesn't have any memories..." Shampoo began.
"So, it has a name, now?" X said, sarcasm dripping from his ghostly
mechanical voice
"I will not argue this with you!" Shampoo shouted, a righteous anger
in her tone.
"Fine," X said, "if you won't get rid of it, then I will." He
marched past her when Shampoo's hand shot out and closed around his arm. X
stopped, looking at her hand then at her face. "Let go."
"No," Shampoo snarled, "you will not harm her!"
"And just how do you propose to stop me?"
"Have you forgotten who helped you get free from Wataru's control?"
Shampoo asked, feeling sick at herself as she did. "You owe me, X."
X stared at her, his rigid posture the only clue as to how her words
had affected him. "That was low, Shampoo," X whispered, "real low."
She knew it was. Using his honor, the one thing X still held dear,
against him like that almost made her ill. "I am sorry, X," she said
apologetically, "but I had no choice. I cannot afford to lose another member
of this resistance movement. Perhaps Ranko can be a big help."
"Whatever," X replied, "but I will keep my eye on that clone. If I
see anything, anything at all, that tells me it will betray the resistance,
then honor or no I WILL dispose of it. Understand?"
"Perfectly, X," Shampoo replied. Without another word, X engaged his
cloak and vanished into the shadows. She stood there, alone, thinking about
the man X had once been and what he had become at the hands of Kuno
Industries. Just one more thing Wataru Kuno had to answer for.
======================================
"Any progress?" Senior Technician Kiko Murakami asked Junior
Technician First Class Yuu Sakagami. The small control room was situated
above one of Kuno Industries' Mech Hangars, a row of triple-reinfoced
windows offering a view of the floor below.
"We're loading new inhibitor programs now, ma'am," Yuu said. His
black hair was tangled and unkempt, bloodshot eyes and a dark five o'clock
shadow betraying his lack of any recent sleep. Kiko looked out to the floor,
her eyes falling on the only mech in the bay.
"What is the probability of success this time?" Kiko asked as she
stared nervously at the infamous Juggernaut. It wasn't the mech's production
code, KI-307, but a name given to an unstoppable metal beast. Keeping the
Juggernaut under control was never an easy thing, sometimes proving
impossible. It was kept away from other mechs. Juggernaut was known to
annihilate anything in sight when in the grip of one of its rages, and mech
units were very expensive.
"The software guys predict a ninety-seven-point-six-three percent
chance that these inhibitor programs will work," Yuu replied, "but we've
heard things like that before."
"True," Kiko said, keeping the fear of being so close to that
heavily-armed killing machine out of her voice. "The only safeguard that's
worked consistently so far is the one that keeps it from harming us."
"The Frankenstein chip," Yuu said. It had been given that name due
to its purpose; preventing a "Frankenstein Scenario" in which Juggernaut
would attack and kill its creators. "Fortunately, that's not a software
program or a behaivior directive. It's the one safeguard hard-wired directly
to the brain running that thing."
"Yes, too bad it took X escaping to teach us that," Kiko said,
running her fingers lightly across her chest. The scar left behind from the
wound he inflicted had faded, but was still a painful reminder that one
could never be too careful around things such as this.
"I just can't understand why we can't hardwire more safeguards like
the F-chip," Yuu said as the staccatto clacks of his fingers on the keyboard
continued full-thrust.
"Because to do so would endanger the brain inside it," Kiko answered.
"Would that be a bad thing?" Yuu asked, "the brain in there had been
diagnosed schizophrenic and manic-depressive among other things. The guy's
psych profile should have gotten him locked away for the rest of his life!"
"It WOULD be a bad thing," Kiko said in a warning tone. "We have
orders directly from Mr. Kuno to do everything possible to bring Juggernaut
under control. If we destroy the brain in there..." She let the sentence
trail off into space, the thought of what Wataru would do something she
didn't want running around in her head. Rumors of what had happened to Dr.
Clark's staff after the escape of X still circulated even five years after
it had happened. Dr. Clark had been spared Wataru's wrath, however, having
died in a quick and very violent fashion at X's hands
"Inhibitors loaded and running," Yuu said, "release the clamps?"
Kiko looked at the massive clamps around Juggernaut's arms and legs that
held the monstrous thing in place.
"No," she said, not wanting to take any unneccesary chances, "leave
them on. No sense in risking that thing trashing the bay."
"Yes, ma'am," Yuu replied.
==========================================
"Those morons," Wataru muttered as he read the report. Ryo's attempt
to apprehend R-014-F had failed, as he should have known it would. The
programming may have been incomplete, but the unit was still easily capable
of trouncing anyone stupid enough to challenge it. Bringing it back would
require cunning, brute force simply would not do, or would it? It would
require something equally as powerful as R-014-F, if not moreso to return it.
His eyes fell on the description of the man who had been with the
clone at the attempt, reading it over and over. He knew this man, one Sean
O'Malley, former American Military. SEAL Team Six, if he remembered
correctly, probably the only experienced combat veteran Shan Pu had in her
whole rag-tag bunch of fighters. Sean would not have needed the clone to
fight off Ryo and his two idiots, but the display had to have impressed him.
//So,\\ Wataru thought, //R-014-F is in Shan Pu's hands.\\ The rage
returned, an all-consuming flame that sent his blood singing through his
veins. If that Chinese whore thought she could use one of Wataru's own
weapons against him, she had another thing coming!
Wataru took a few deep, calming breaths to bring his temper back
under control. He was not his mother, and would not allow his emotions to
rule his thinking the way she did. He had to find out where Shan Pu was
holed up, for that was where the clone had to be. Perhaps he could kill two
birds with one stone.
He accessed the Kuno Industries Weaponry Files, pulling up Project
R. Once his terminal de-crypted the data, he accessed the "COMPLETE" option
to see a list of units that had been finished and were ready for activation.
He scrolled through the list of twenty complete clones, cursing that
the process of creating them took so damn long, looking at the programming
parameters for just the right one. After a minute, he found just the unit.
//R-033-M,\\ he thought as he looked at the thumbnail in the upper
right corner. The face held deep blue eyes, a mop of black hair tied back
into a braided tail. The power levels were up to full, considerably above
that of R-014-F, but it was the mental programming that Wataru looked at.
R-033-M was programmed for total ruthlessness and deception. He could easily
work his way into Shan Pu's ranks, and from there... Wataru chuckled at the
thought of his own soldiers and mechs slaughtering the chink's troops, and
Juggernaut bringing their leader to his feet. This would be perfect.
========================================
Well, that's part two! Hope you all like it!
Jed