Find all 6 chapters at http://nikholas-f-toledo-zu.webjump.com/ofg.html
Bubblegum Crisis: Story of the Knight Sabers
Once and Future Goddess
=====================
Chapter Five: A Time of Chaos
=====================
"Who the hell are you?" the female in the blue hardsuit asked.
The woman merely sheathed her weapon, the visor glowing blue under
the moonlight. She turned towards the woman who had spoken to her, eyeing
the largish cannon now pointed directly at her.
"You do realize how rude it is to be pointing such a thing at a
lady, now, ne?" the woman asked nonchalantly.
Priss visibly spluttered something, but the words were just too
garbled to hear. "What the hell are you talking about?!!!" she shouted.
The woman merely shook her head as she surveyed the downed
battlemover. "Well, my task here is done. Lucky you, I was passing by, or
you just might have lost someone."
No one spoke, realizing just how true that was.
With that, the mysterious woman leapt high, her thrusters flaring
brightly as she dwindled into the darkness of the night.
"Was she some new type boomer or something, Sylia?" Linna asked, as
she watched Priss cradling her friend Sylvie.
"Nene?"
"She's human. Or, at least, she should be one, under that armor of
hers."
"But what kind of armor was that, Sylia?" Priss wanted to know.
"That's the first time I've ever seen something like that. Hell!! If I
didn't know any better, it looked like it was a part of her."
Sylia sighed, feeling the beginnings of a headache coming. She
turned to look at Priss, who was kneeling beside a prone Sylvie, crying
her heart out at her friend, muttering curses at her for not trusting
her.
Sylia chuckled inwardly at that. Perhaps there _was_ hope left in
the world.
Her mind returned once more to their mysterious benefactor,
wondering what agenda the woman - if it indeed was one - had. Sighing,
she motioned for her teammates to evacuate the area.
===================
Into the present.
Life was good. Well, as far as things were going right now for
Leon. His sister had not done anything unspeakable, or harangue him for
his lateness, or possibly his choice of clothes and work. Leon smiled
inwardly, knowing full well that his sister had become the surrogate
mother for the both of them when their parents had died early on.
How they managed not to get separated was beyond him. But, somehow,
they managed to get by until Kyoko managed to land a modeling job. It had
been years since he'd seen his sister when she opted to move to Europe.
He wondered how the times had changed his sister.
He glanced at his sister, trying to spot anything different about
her.
"I can't believe that you could leer at me like that, Leon,"
chastised his sister. "I'd have thought you'd at least gotten rid of that
habit."
Leon shrugged, adjusting his shades of coolness + 5. "Well, there
are some things that will always remain the same," Leon answered back.
"Still, I'm really intrigued as to why you'd come back."
Kyoko sighed, debating what to say to her brother. He may not look
it, but Leon had a knack for getting the truth out of anyone when they
least expect. Right now, she could not risk getting her brother involved
in this little crusade of hers.
She arched one delicate eyebrow, her eyes mirroring her disbelief.
"Does a sister need a reason to visit her only brother, Leon-chan?" she
asked, half-amused.
Leon shook his head. "Jeez. I was just asking," he replied,
sounding hurt.
"Well, let's just say I'm home to see about a job offer," she said
impishly.
Leon groaned, as he realized his worst fears might not be so
unfounded.
Kyoko elbowed her brother, as she demanded what's wrong with her
staying with him. Her brother wisely chose to shut his mouth and hoped
she wasn't planning to stay around for too long.
"You've done quite a bit for yourself back in Europe, sis," Leon
pointed out. "Why don't you want to stay there? After all, you've got it
made back there, right?"
Kyoko smiled sadly. "Maybe so, but it just doesn't feel too right
at times. I've always had plans on coming back to MegaTokyo after a
while. Took me a little longer than I'd planned, but at least I'm home
right now."
"Howz about letting me treat you to dinner?" suggested Leon.
"You sure you could afford me, brother dear?" she asked coyly.
"Depends. Probably."
"ADPolice pays that well?"
"Not really. But if you've got friends... let's just say I know
what to do with my money," he answered cryptically.
"You really shouldn't have joined ADP, Leon -"
"It's the only life I know, sis," Leon told her. "Besides, it's -"
What Leon was about to say was drowned out by the explosions that
ripped across the airport.
Leon quickly grabbed his sister and began running towards the
nearest exit. Already, he was having one of his feelings. And these
feelings normally translated into trouble. BIG trouble.
*What now??* he thought.
Both of them ducked as a hail of bullets went their way. A number
of people dropped to the ground, blood seeping from their wounds.
Leon cursed inwardly. Of all the places for this to happen.
The wall behind them exploded, sending the two tumbling away.
*SHIT!!! This is not good,* Leon thought. "What else could go
wrong?"
===================
In Hot Legs, the blue Knight Saber was not happy.
Priss muttered a curse, damning boomers to hell and back for
ruining another of her gigs. It was a wonder that the old man still let
her perform, considering the stuff she had to pull, one time or another.
She quickly stripped the leather tank top and mini she had already
put on and hurriedly put on her biker outfit. She then scrawled a quick
note and taped it on the mirror where Aisha, her band mate, could see it
when she came in for her.
She just prayed the manager wouldn't mind too much. Priss mentally
reminded herself to be extra nice to him for the next few days. She still
needed the job until she could finally close the deal with Mrs. Kusanagi.
So much for a nice, dull day.
===================
"What?!! Another emergency?!" Linna complained to herself as she
quickly toweled herself dry. "Why the heck do those hunks of tin have to
go crazy at a time like this?!!" She had a frigging date in an hour!
Linna threw on some street clothes and hoped her date wouldn't mind
too much for being late.
*Damn! And I was really looking forward to this date!* she wailed.
*And the guy was just perfect for me?!! Aaaaahhhh!! I hate this job!*
With that, she jumped into her van and rode off for another hard
day in the 'office'.
===================
Ka-BOOOOM!!!
Nene whipped her head around, expecting the worst.
She was right. Two boomers walked into the newly-made hole. One
held a gatling in its right hand while the other opened its chest plates
to reveal an array of heat lenses.
Nene froze as she watched.
Time slowed.
People ran away in slow motion.
The boomer let out a snarl as it opened fire with its heat cannon.
Then the screams.
Nene looked away, tears misting her eyes as she tried to tune out
the agonized screams of the people caught up in the blast.
She had long thought she was used to the screams by now. After all,
working as dispatch for ADP more or less had her listening to the screams
and curses of the field officers as they fought against boomers. Being a
witness to the carnage was another matter.
Kurumi was silent all throughout the incident - eyes hard as ice as
she bore witness to the carnage. She was practically quivering in anger.
She had long since grown callused to such scenes. After all, the one she
had lived through had been just as bad as the Second Kanto Quake. It
still surprised her that so few remembered _that_ event ever happened.
Then she saw the boomer open fire at the woman who had managed to
survive the heat blast.
Her cries of pain echoed loudly across the now deserted area. So
did the cry of the child she held in her arms.
Without another word, Kurumi leapt into action, moving at speeds
that made her seem nothing more than a blur. Kurumi tore the ribbon from
her hair, using it to snag of what remained of the stone pillar nearby.
Kurumi heaved mightily as she threw the pillar straight towards the two
boomers with all the power of a missile.
The boomers turned and opened fire, reducing the pillar to little
more than rubble.
A small cloud of dust enveloped the area, giving Kurumi the chance
she needed.
Wasting no time, Kurumi leapt into action, rushing forwards so fast
that she looked nothing more than a blur to Nene's eyes. It looked like
one moment she had been twenty feet away - the next, face to face with
them.
Both were quite surprised with what happened next.
Kurumi slid behind the two, lashing out at one of them with a
vicious spin kick. Her blow connected _hard_ with the first one, causing
it to stagger into the wall behind it.
Without missing a beat, Kurumi whipped around to face the other
boomer, this time using her ribbon to slice away at the boomer's
outstretched arm, cutting through the arm with little difficulty.
The boomer reeled back, its systems trying to stabilize itself with
the loss of the arm.
Not giving it any chance to counterattack, Kurumi rained down a
multitude of chi-powered punches and kicks powerful enough to smash the
reinforced armor of its chest. Yelling loudly, she swung her left arm,
her hand glowing with a cerulean hue and struck the boomer hard into the
chest.
The boomer had little time to react as it felt its systems
overload.
Kurumi then unleashed the chi she was building up in her hands
inside the boomer, causing its chest to explode right in front of her.
Kurumi then turned her attention to the first boomer, which had
already gotten up, its chest armor open, revealing its powerful heat
lenses. It began targeting the strange human, unsure of what to make of
its assailant but knew the human had to be destroyed quickly.
The boomer snarled at her.
"Your move, tin can."
The boomer fired its heat cannon.
Kurumi dodged the blast with pitiful ease.
Seeing its attack failing utterly, the boomer opened its mouth to
reveal the particle cannon within it sparkling with restrained energy.
Kurumi merely smiled, waiting.
Attaining lock, the boomer began firing its cannon at multi-cycle
phase, not caring at the strain it was putting on its weapon.
The target dodged and dodged as she taunted the boomer. Not once
did the boomer's weapon touch the strange human.
It did not have long to be worried as Kurumi angled towards it.
The boomer moved to intercept the fist, seeing how its partner had
been so easily destroyed by the human.
It did not expect its opponent's fist to shatter its arm to pieces.
It screamed in pain, staggering back.
Kurumi then used her ribbon and sliced the boomer's head into
pieces.
Its optical sensors saw a flash of red before its sensors went
offline. A few seconds later, it joined its counterpart in the scrap
heap.
===================
Nene Romanova watched in mute awe as her new friend tore two 55-Cs
into so much scrap metal with such ease!! Not even Linna could do it any
better than Kurumi had - and Linna had to have a hardsuit to do it!!
*Just who the heck is she?* Nene wondered. *Wonder Woman?*
She blinked, rubbing her eyes with her fists to clear her eyes of
the improbability she had just witnessed. It was impossible! No human was
capable of beating weapons of mass destruction like they were nothing
more than pieces of junk - not unless one was wearing a highly
sophisticated power armor.
Nene blinked again, staring at the now widely smirking Kurumi.
Yet, it was. Somehow her _new_ friend managed that feat quite
easily.
*Unless she's not human,* she figured.
"Che! I never thought killer androids could be this frail," Kurumi
complained, tying her ribbon back. "The stuff big sister makes use of for
our sparring sessions were so much better and a damn lot more difficult
to trash." Kurumi looked thoughtful for a moment. "Then again, they never
tried to kill me before." Kurumi gave a small shrug, not really caring
about it.
"You... you just took out two 55-Cs, Kurumi," Nene stated in a
shocked voice.
"Your point?"
"How did you do that???" Nene asked.
"Martial arts, of course!" she responded in her best cute voice.
"...."
Kurumi smiled. "I know. Most people tend to react that way." She
then grabbed Nene and took off for the nearest exit. "Come on! Time to
get lost."
"Can you teach me??" Nene asked suddenly.
"I think I already said yes on that."
===================
"Status?" Sylia queried.
"AD Police has set up barricades along the perimeter of the
airport. Firefights within the complex are heavy. Reports indicate boomer
strength to be around eight to ten. One group reported seeing an unknown
type of boomer, but had been cut off before they could get any visual
confirmation," reported a woman with vibrant short green hair.
"Civilian casualties, Anri?" inquired Sylia.
"Heavy. Casualties are expected to be in the thousands, or worse."
Sylia merely nodded, her expression neutral. Linna looked slightly
green. Priss took it in the normal, stoic demeanor that seemed to belong
to Sylia.
"Kami-sama! That many?!" Sylvie burst out.
"The MegaTokyo Airport is one of the busiest in the world. It has a
capacity to serve over half a million passengers in a given day. Still,
you are right. This attack was provoked in order for us to show up. Of
course, I had not expected Nene to be within the engagement area," Sylia
responded.
"We got to get Nene out first! No telling what's happening to her
right now," added Linna worriedly.
"Damn it! Why now?!!" Priss yelled, sounding extremely irritated.
"Do we have a fix on her coordinates, Sylvie?" Sylia asked.
"I can't get a proper fix on it. The signal is erratic but, from
what I could get, it seems that she's moving out of the danger zone.
Still..."
Sylia nodded. "It would appear that we have to split up. I will
take Linna with me and search for Nene. We'll take the eastern exit.
Priss, Sylvie, the two of you enter through the north gate and work your
way towards the south. Hopefully, this way, we can triangulate Nene's
location even with the interference and clean up whatever boomers are in
the airport."
Sylia stared at the two for a moment. "I want no heroics. Take them
out. No undue risks, and take the motoroids with you. Mackie and Anri
will stay with the Knight Wing and hover at an altitude of 1000 feet and
wait for our extraction signal. In case of trouble, you are to leave us,
if necessary."
Mackie smiled and gave a thumbs-up from his position in the
cockpit. Of course, he left it unsaid that he would disobey that last
order.
"I'll prepare the medkit. Just in case," Anri announced as she
looked meaningfully at Priss.
Everyone laughed until Priss let out a slightly aggrieved cry of
irritation.
"ETA to target area: one minute, sis," Mackie announced.
===================
"Uh-oh."
"Now what?!!" Nene asked her partner.
Kurumi frantically looked around for any way out. Beating 55-Cs was
one thing, but even martial artists of her caliber would be hard-pressed
to fight against battle-boomers like the ones that were blocking their
escape route.
Well, not _that_ much. Not with the level of training she had
undergone for the past years. But it did mean having to use more of her
esoteric moves.
Kurumi sighed.
Three BU-12Bs stood not too far from their position from within a
stuffed-toy store. Two others stood nearby, sweeping the area clean of
obstacles. It really wasn't the best of all places to be hunkering about.
But, considering that it was the only available place, it would do for
the time being, while they debated on what to do.
Kurumi knew she could get past them all if it was only herself she
had to worry about. But she had Nene with her. To top it off, Nene had
little expertise in martial arts or, if she had, not the type that would
help in matters like these.
"Someone's gone to a lot of trouble, setting up this trap," Kurumi
stated.
"Huh?!"
"This is a trap, plain and simple. We've spotted - what? - over
twelve of these military models already. Someone wants to lure somebody
in here badly, if they wanted to stage an attack like this in so
populated a place." Kurumi spat, damning boomers to hell and back. "It's
a wonder the people hadn't pushed banning these things."
Nene shook her head. "They tried, but no one actually listens.
They're too afraid. Genom holds too much power in MegaTokyo, if not the
entire world, Kurumi. Even if the government did, it would mean having to
ban every type of boomer and destroying the entire technology base for
it, since it's the only way to ensure the ban works. Doing that would
destroy the world's economy."
"Don't I know it," Kurumi shot back. "Still, we have to get out of
here. Whoever is responsible for this seeming boomer rampage is waiting
for someone to appear. They -"
Nene gasped. "The Knight Sabers!!"
Kurumi nodded. "Yep. You're right."
Nene could hear her heart pounding madly in her chest. A trap?!
No!!
She had to warn the others. And fast.
"We got to warn the Sabers then!" Nene whispered urgently.
Kurumi shook her head. "We can try, but I doubt we could find them
in time. And with there boomers running amuck..."
"What do we do??" Nene asked, wondering where her fellow Sabers
were right now. She silently prayed they were safe. Now, if she could
only get to warn them!!
"Five to one. Not exactly the odds I would care for. Still..."
"Wha-wha... what are you talking about, Kurumi???" Nene practically
cried out loud. "Those are military model boomers. BU-12Bs!!! Not 55-Cs,
which mainly serve as bodyguards!! These things have enough firepower to
take on the Sabers on equal footing. Even if you managed to take on those
two back there... you can't possibly - !"
"Nothing I can't handle" was the calm reply of Kurumi as she
wrapped a long scarf around her face.
Nene wondered where she got that. Still, no use worrying over that.
"Are you crazy?!! That's suicide!!"
Kurumi shook her head. "No, Nene-chan. It would take more than what
these tin cans can dish out before they can even hope to touch me." She
cocked her head slightly. "Besides, I've been in situations a lot worse
than this so don't worry too much. We'll get out of here. Just leave
everything to me."
With that, Kurumi thrust herself into battle once more. Man...
err... Woman against machine.
"Prepare to become a pile of scrap, boomers!!" Kurumi cried out as
she charged her enemies.
The boomers whirled around, weapons unloading a fierce barrage
against their single opponent.
"Over here, you stupid excuse for a battle robot!!!" Kurumi taunted
from her position, high above the five boomers.
The boomers answered by firing their weapons upon the foolish human
interloper.
Kurumi jumped away, landing lightly a few meters behind her
opponents.
The boomers turned around, firing at their mysterious opponent,
trying to get her into their crossfire in vain. Their target was too
agile, their weapons too slow to have any chance of ever hitting her.
But it would not last. Kurumi knew it.
Nene could not help but wonder just how martial arts allowed you to
tangle with boomers. Not even Linna could handle that old Assassin-type
boomer that had killed Reika's little sister. So how come Kurumi could?
Martial arts? But how?
Nene sighed. There were times when she picked up the craziest
people for friends. This looked like it was going to be one of those
days.
The boomers were quite surprised when their sensors did not confirm
the destruction of their target. Even more so when said target was a mere
human.
The BU-12B was the most powerful of the mass-produced military
boomer-types, other than the Doberman. Still, it was relatively easy to
deal with, unless encountered in huge numbers. Well, easy for the Knight
Sabers anyway. Against the ADP, it was not something to think about.
Not that ADP could be blamed for it. They did try their best. But
their best was never good enough.
Still, even that did not seem to trouble the human who now stood
atop the third floor railing. Of course, these boomers had yet to tangle
with humans who could actually kick their metal asses.
Kurumi smiled as she commenced her attack.
The boomers fired.
Technology had risen by quite a bit since the days after the quake
had destroyed most of Tokyo - more so with the development of boomer
technology. It could be said that boomers were the current height of
man's technological research.
And like any other technology, good things could be turned to bad,
a problem that tended to cause quite a lot of chaos. But, then again,
that's why the Knight Sabers existed. Or the ADP, for that matter.
Still, technology had yet a looong way to go if it was to match the
speeds martial artists were capable of attaining with the proper training
and skill. In this case, the boomers couldn't even begin to understand
why their weapons weren't even touching their target.
This suited Kurumi just fine. After all, what they can't hit won't
hurt her in any way.
Still, she had to end this fast. No telling what might happen if
she dallied.
Kurumi smirked as she began to power up. A brilliant green glow
suffused her form as she manipulated her chi. This was the ultimate
culmination of her training - of anyone's training in the Art. Such was
the power the human body could attain.
It was too bad few people had the patience to endure the necessary
hardships along the way. Power was something gained through countless
trials.
Time to acquaint these metal monsters with it.
"Anything-Goes Final Attack!! Rising Nova Crush!!!!"
Kurumi cupped both hands in front of her as she summoned her chi. A
bright aquamarine ball popped into existence between her hands, crackling
with restrained energy that begged to be released.
It had taken her quite a few years to really fully master the use
of her chi. But it was worth the effort - considering that little
incident back then had yet to be concluded...
Nene watched, transfixed by the scene before her.
The green sphere that developed around Kurumi's cupped hands surged
forwards, crackling with tightly restrained power. It punched through the
first boomer with relative ease, consuming it in greenish fire.
The sphere then struck... well... it hit the ground and just
disappeared.
*What the heck?!!!* came Nene's confused thought.
Even the boomers seemed confused, not bothering to fire on Kurumi,
who stood a few meters away. Suddenly, a huge pillar of luminescent green
light came into existence all around the remaining boomers.
Nene saw the boomers struggling. She wondered what could it be
until she saw the boomers suddenly thrust high into the air.
As it reached its apex, a small star bloomed into existence,
obliterating the rest. It lasted mere moments, but for that brief moment,
it felt like an eternity.
What happened would forever etch itself in Nene's memory.
Well, it would have... too bad she wouldn't be remembering it for
long.
"Kurumi!! What you did... it's... IMPOSSIBLE!!!" Nene burst out.
Kurumi smiled wanly, feeling slightly drained. "Gomen, Nene-chan. I
can't let you remember all this," she apologized as she took out a small
bottle from somewhere.
Nene was puzzled. "What are you talking about?!! And... what's with
the shampoo??"
Kurumi quickly poked Nene behind the neck where the sleep point
was. Nene stared at Kurumi uncomprehendingly before she collapsed into
Kurumi's waiting arms.
*Lucky me, Shampoo-chan taught me a few tricks. Hopefully, the
improved formula 110 would lock that portion of Nene's memory. I hope,*
Kurumi said to herself as she carried Nene's unconscious form out of the
airport and somewhere private for her to conduct her shampooing. *Now...
if the formula would just work the way it was supposed to...*
===================
"Ooohhhh... What happened?"
"Great! You're up! I was kinda worried for a while there. I thought
you were killed or something," a voice beside her gushed out, hugging her
rather tightly.
"Air... need... air...."
Kurumi backed away. "Errr... ah... sorry, Nene-chan! I _was_ kinda
worried."
"What happened to me? I feel like someone used my head for a
baseball..."
Kurumi was about to say something in response to Nene's question
when one of the ADP officers approached the two.
"Glad to see you're awake, Nene."
Nene looked up to see a smiling Daley Wong flashing her a thumbs-up
sign. "Yeah... thanks. Did Leon...?"
Daley shook his head.
"This is not good," Nene told no one in particular.
"You got that right. It's a kill zone out there. I'm not even sure
if anyone is still alive in there," Daley commented. "I just hope Leon
gets out of there."
"There... the airport is crawling with military boomers," warned
Nene.
Daley nodded. "Yeah. We know. Took out the first, third, and fifth
K-12 battalions. The heavy armor groups just arrived to deal with the
problem."
Daley's dubious voice conveyed a heck of a lot of what he thought
of that idea. The heavy armor group used the newer K-14B class power
armor - better armored, and armed with two 30mm chain guns and a two-shot
mini rocket launcher. It looked a lot better, but even these types had
trouble with 55-Cs during the boomer rampage not so long ago.
Against BU-12Bs... well... no one voiced out their worry over the
people who were about to enter a boomer-infested area.
None of their people could estimate the total number of boomers
but, from the preliminary reports they've got from their people holding
station above and inside the airport, there were quite a hefty number of
55-Cs, not to mention the presence of BU-12Bs.
Even a kid could divine that this incident was a trap whose jaws
had just swung shut when the Sabers arrived on the scene a while ago.
"I just hope the Knights Sabers would be okay," said Daley quietly.
"When did they arrive?" Nene queried.
"They just arrived half an hour ago. They've cleared out a section
by the north and south areas. Other than that..." Daley shrugged.
Remembering something, Daley asked, "Any of you know anything about
that explosion in the south terminal exit?"
Kurumi shrugged. Nene just blinked.
"I take it none of you know anything about it?"
"Not really. All I know is that some sort of blast threw the both
of us out by a good fifty meters. Both of us were rendered unconscious
for some time. Nene was out a lot longer, though," answered Kurumi.
"Lucky for us, no one was around to finish the job."
Nene stared intently at her newfound friend for quite some time.
Something about that question tickled a faint, ghostly memory in her.
"Something... I..." Nene began.
"Huh? Ara! Nene-chan! Anything wrong?" Daley asked.
Nene shook her head. "I feel different somehow..."
Kurumi sucked her breath in. *Oh-oh!! I hope that damn formula
works!!*
Daley looked greatly concerned. "Hey! Someone call a paramedic!!"
Nene once more shook her head. "No. I'm okay. I just... well...
feel..." She paused.
Daley and Kurumi waited, each fearing for the worst.
"I just... well... it's just that... I feel..." Nene suddenly
smiled. "It's just that I never felt my hair feel so good in so long a
time...," she gushed out. Nene blinked, staring at the twitching forms on
the pavement. "Uh... hey!! Are you guys okay??"
===================
"Just how many of these are we supposed to be killing?" Linna asked
nobody in particular as she finished downing another 55-C boomer. "That's
the fifth... no, make that the sixth one! Gods! Just how many are they?"
complained Linna.
"The place must be crawling with them," Priss quipped. "Not that
I'd mind."
"You would!!" Linna shot back.
"That does not sound good, Priss-san," Sylvie scolded while she
took aim with her pulse rifle.
The pulse gatling rifle had been a recent invention of Sylia's.
Because of its prohibitive weight, Sylia had been unable to make use of
it in any of the suits and had thought of installing it on the new series
motoroids Dr. Raven came up with. However, with Sylvie's arrival into
their group, she simply had scrapped the plan and tried to lighten the
rifle up for Sylvie to use. Being a boomer allowed her to carry a _lot_
more weight than any one of them - even with the myomer musculature.
The result had been a hardsuit with a superior set of weaponry. It
would still take a while for all her upgrades to come into fruition but
with Sylvie handling the heavy arms end of the team, it would certainly
let Priss come out of any engagement relatively unhurt - as could be
hoped for.
"At least Nene-chan finally got out of here," reminded Sylvie.
Priss merely grunted a reply as she was busy trashing another 55-C
boomer. "Did you know this would happen??" Priss shot at Sylia. "That
this damned mission of mercy would be a trap, Sylia?"
Their white-suited leader nodded.
Priss sighed, wishing Sylia would warn them about these things.
Made it easier, rather than finding out too late and then subsequently
learning that Sylia had actually known it would be one.
Like that frigging Largo incident. God only knew what would have
happened if that madman-turned-boomer-supreme actually managed to get his
hands on the OMS. Lucky for them Anri had managed to finally overcome the
Largo's control over her. Of course, not before Largo destroyed a number
of Genom Headquarters across the globe.
Not that Priss minded, since she hated Genom anyway. Still, the
number of people that died in the particle-beam bombardment weighed
heavily upon her. She still had nightmares about it.
"Well, looks like Genom wants us dead this time," Linna piped in.
"The risks of our job," Sylia answered, her voice calm and
unwavering.
Priss snorted, wondering just how the heck Sylia could be so calm
about trotting into a trap, like the proverbial lambs for the slaughter.
"I have a baaad feeling about this," Linna commented.
"Obviously!!" Priss shot back, sarcastically.
"But, why this trap??" Sylvie asked. "Why did it have to happen
here??"
"To make sure you attended this little get-together, my dear Knight
Sabers," someone answered for her.
The four startled Knight Sabers whirled around to face a hulking
silver boomer that towered over them by a good four feet. It was massive,
larger than anything they had ever encountered before. Its red eyes
glared at them as it stood there, not a hundred meters away.
Sylia recognized the boomer from the preliminary reports on Genom's
latest boomer research Fargo had given her: the prototype Dreadnought-
class boomer. Designed to replace the somewhat unstable and violent
Doberman model, its fire power rating was just above the DD. But the most
dangerous thing about this new type was its techno-organic brain. Unlike
other boomer AIs, it had a near capacity for human thought. A little, but
that was enough to make it all the more effective against its enemies.
A smart boomer. One that could fight without having to be limited
to its battle programs. Dangerous... and effective.
All the more reason for Sylia to find some way of addressing this
problem. She had expected it to be here, but she had hoped against it.
The new generation suits had yet to be finished and, even with the
motoroids as support, it would take a miracle to stop this virtual
machine of destruction.
Sylia weighed her choices. A trap this had been from the start -
that much had been obvious. Could it be that Genom had finally decided to
get rid of them, once and for all?
She mentally chided herself. Genom had always been trying to kill
them. Not that they were successful. Still, they always came out of it
alive. Perhaps this time...
*No.* Sylia said to herself. *She will have her revenge.*
Still... Sylia was hesitant in fighting this boomer - hesitant in
letting the others fight it, as well. Something about it screamed bloody
murder in her head.
"Well?" the boomer asked, taunting them to move first.
There was little she could do now, save try and gain some valuable
information on this new type. To do so would, of course, entail having to
take the boomer on with its silent challenge.
*No choice now,* Sylia thought. "Knight Sabers... GO!!!"
===================
"Damn it!! Just how many of these things are there, Leon?" Kyoko
whispered.
Leon shouldered his Earth Shaker Assault Pistol Mark VII. It was
tailor-made just for him by his old friend in the tech department. Swift
had really outdone himself with it. Employing heavy slugs fired at hyper-
velocity speeds through a simple micropulse generator within it. The gun
could punch through boomer's armor like a hot knife through butter.
One problem was its limited ammo space. It could only hold up to
five, high-explosive bullets, which were murder to make and damned
expensive, too.
Not that he minded. The pistol had saved his neck countless times
in the past few months.
"Whoever's orchestrating this has gone to a lot of trouble securing
this many boomers," Leon noted.
"The million dollar question is: why?" Kyoko asked. "These boomers
don't act like they're on a rampage. They seem to be waiting for
something."
"Or someone. Make that a group of someones," corrected Leon.
"Well, now that we've answered that question, how do you propose to
get us out of here??"
"I dunno."
===================
"Priss, watch out!!" warned Linna.
Priss dived down, as a hail of laser fire went her way, followed by
a deafening explosion behind her. Priss gaped, rolling away before a
large section of the ceiling came down on her.
Linna jetted forwards, firing her own cannon at the massive boomer,
trying to give Priss time to get up.
Linna was quite surprised and impressed at the ease at which the
boomer seemed to handle them all at once. Everything they tried ended up
with them getting kicked around, their armor testament to that fact.
Sylia mirrored Linna's own thoughts. Truly, Genom had indeed
outdone themselves with this prototype. All the more reason for her to
re-design the newer hardsuits to adjust to the competition.
Still, she was happy that Largo or Mason had not been around to
make use of this weapon.
"There has _got_ to be a way to beat this God-forsaken thing,"
raged Priss, firing her railgun to no avail.
"Sylvie!!" Priss cried out as she watched her friend tackle the
boomer into the ground. True, Sylvie, being a sexaroid and wearing a
custom-designed hardsuit, was exceptionally strong, perhaps strong enough
to handle any boomer, but perhaps even this one.
Sylvie only lasted a mere few seconds... It stood up, one hand
around Sylvie's neck, crushing it ever so slowly.
"Noooooooo!!!" Priss ran towards her friend, screaming in rage. She
ducked as the boomer's arm shot towards her. She quickly grabbed at the
arm, hoping her timing was right.
Contact was brief, but was enough for Priss to gain enough leverage
to perform a double spin kick on the boomer's skull.
Twin explosions caused by the contact explosives on Priss's legs
made the boomer stagger backwards, releasing its victim.
Linna and Sylia quickly took advantage of the situation and started
pouring fire upon it.
"Die, you bastard!" Priss screamed.
===================
"Geez!! This has got to be the largest pile of junk I've ever seen
in my life! And I thought mine was pretty impressive," Skuld remarked.
"Well, considering how tight our funds are, we normally don't throw
anything away. Even busted armor or equipment could yield useful spare
parts," explained the techie.
Skuld nodded. "I guess," she conceded.
She spied a damaged power armor off to one side of the repair bay.
Walking toward it, her mind literally danced with ideas on what she could
do with it and with the scrap-yard a few feet away.
It had most of its armor panels removed. Even that did not deter
Skuld from seeing that this one had certainly been through a lot. Her
eyes scanned the armor, eyeing it this way and that, while her mind began
reconstructing the armor before it had been mangled to bits.
"Someone must have been crazy to have fought against something
obviously a _lot_ stronger," Skuld said. "Either the person who piloted
this one was one crazy person or just an idiot." She analyzed her last
remark. "Ummm... or maybe both."
The tech winced, knowing all-too-well who the person had been.
"Well, we're actually scrapping this one since its too heavily damaged to
repair, much less try to."
Skuld smiled. "Oh, okay," she began. "Where do I begin my work?"
The techie eyed the young woman. "You sure are pretty darn
enthusiastic for this kinda job, kid."
"Well, you could say I love technology," she enthused.
The techie nodded, eyeing her dubiously. "Uh-huh. Okay, fine. Come
with me and I'll show you where you can start." He turned around and eyed
the young woman critically. "Although I would suggest using overalls, if
you don't want to ruin your clothes."
Skuld blinked. She never paid any attention to her clothes, since
she mostly never got it too dirty. Well, if she did, she'd just cast a
spell to clean it. Or Belldandy would coax her out of it to get it
washed.
"Sure. Got any in my size?"
===================
Sylia cursed inwardly. The boomer was fast, its response rating
better than she expected. Even with the pounding it just took, the boomer
was still standing and still good enough to hold its ground against them.
If this kept up, they were sure to lose.
They had to finish this and fast. They couldn't possibly last much
longer.
*Priss, Sylvie,* she called out to them using the comlink. *On my
signal, close in as fast as you can. Linna, since you're closest to the
motoroids, activate their self-destruct sequence. We'll bring it to you.*
*No problem, Sylia,* answered Linna. *I hope this works,* she added
to herself.
*Think this might work, Sylia?* Priss asked, somewhat dubiously.
After all, considering they've practically thrown everything but the
kitchen sink against the thing, and it was still functional and fully
capable of handling them.
Priss really hated that. She hoped Sylia would hurry up and finish
the re-design on the suits - provided they live through all this. If she
did, she promised herself to stop driving like a maniac for a week.
*Ready whenever you are, Sylia,* Priss told her.
*I'm ready, Sylia-san,* came Sylvie's reply.
Sylia watched as the boomer stood there, waiting. She could hardly
believe the capabilities of this prototype boomer. She had to find a
way... and fast. No telling what Genom may have planned.
*Now!!!*
Taking their cue, Priss and Sylvie charged forwards. Sylvie opened
fire with her pulse rifle, pouring it on relentlessly as they neared
their target.
The boomer charged, its thick duralloy armor taking the brunt of
the damage. It did not care. Its primary objective was to fight the
Knight Sabers. To test them and itself under combat.
It knew there would be another time to truly kill them.
Priss reached the boomer first, sidestepping around the swing and
lashing out with a punch of her own.
The boomer dodged aside.
Priss blinked in surprise, cursing her inability to get a decent
hit in.
The boomer swung its leg at the Blue Saber, but found it blocked by
the Silver One.
Sylvie pushed the boomer back as Priss unloaded a number of spikes
pointblank. Sylia came in next, the blade gleaming on her arm.
*Push it back towards Linna,* she ordered.
Priss and Sylvie complied, closing in as well, not letting it use
any of its range weaponry. Already, their suits bore the marks of just
how efficiently it used its weapons, not that it was also quite good in
hand to hand.
Priss, Sylvie and Sylia struck as one from three different sides,
doing what damage they could as they lured it towards the fallen
motoroids.
A minute passed, the Knight Sabers continually pounding at the
boomer.
Suddenly, the boomer lashed out against the three, through at
playing at the defensive, and began to dish out its own brand of
punishment against the three.
Sylia was the first to get hit by a close in laser blast.
Sylia was thrown a couple of meters, her chest armor a smoking
ruin. The hardsuit had thankfully absorbed most of the damage, but not
without consequences.
*Sylia!!* a trio of voices called out in alarm.
Sylvie was next to fall, the boomer rushing towards her and
pummeling her into the ground with a swift combination of punches and
kicks that shattered her armor.
Sylvie tried to stand, but found herself driven into the ground by
a swift kick to the gut.
Priss sought to aid her fallen friend, rage empowering her. She
danced around the boomer's attacks, missing them by mere millimeters at
times.
She broke through its defense by some miracle and stabbed it with
her own blade, digging deep into its chest. Priss sliced downwards,
intent on cleaving the bastard in two for what it just did to her
friends.
Nutrient fluids spurted out from the 'wound'. Priss then drove the
blade in deeper, screaming for the boomer to just fuck up and die.
The boomer roared in pain, swatting its assailant aside as it
staggered backwards, its system trying to stabilize itself. By some
miracle, Priss managed to hit a vital area, causing an enormous amount of
feedback and forcing it to shut down some of its primary systems.
Not good. A green blur shot forwards, driving the boomer back with
a complex combination of punches, kicks, low thrusts and the occasional
ribbon swing.
Priss, wanting a piece of the action, rushed forwards, suddenly
feeling that they just _might_ win this time.
Sylvie struggled to rise, pain shooting across her abused body. She
saw Sylia standing up, albeit shakily, her chest armor non-existent,
exposing fragile human flesh.
*Sylia??* she called out weakly.
*I'm fine. The others?*
Sylvie glanced at the other two. Linna and Priss were going all out
against the boomer. Somehow, they were holding it off. But for how long?
*How much time do we have?* Sylvie asked.
*Two minutes. We have to get that boomer near the motoroids!!!*
Sylvie forced herself to get up, willing the pain to cease. Her
friends needed help to finish the accursed boomer already.
Sylia struggled to regain her footing, but found the pain to be too
much for her to stand for long.
Priss snarled, lashing out at her enemy with everything she's got,
her body shrugging off the blows the boomer landed upon her.
Linna wove through the boomer's attacks, not once getting tagged by
it. Perhaps it was skill or luck or both that got her close enough to
knuckle-bomb the area Priss had damaged. Linna was not stupid to even
think for one moment that the boomer could not have successfully defended
against her, had it not been for its 'injuries' that Priss had dished out
moments ago.
Sylvie also saw this and pressed whatever advantage she had. Her
own hardsuit bore more damage than the others... well... maybe expect for
Priss. She attacked, letting loose with everything she's got.
The boomer's formidable armor buckled under her onslaught, weakened
by their former attack upon it.
She was relieved to see that the boomer had actually a limit to
what it could do. Not that it was any comfort to them to know this.
*One minute,* Sylia announced somewhat hoarsely.
All three Knight Sabers heard the strain upon Sylia's voice. It
would seem that she had been hurt badly by the last attack. Still, they
were all thankful to see her still alive.
"Let's finish this!!!" roared an enraged Priss, grabbing the now
weakened boomer and whirling it around to allow her to get a decent kick
against it.
Linna followed up by cutting one of the boomer's arms, her revenge
for what the boomer had done to her.
Sylvie followed suit, firing her pulse gatling laser at high cycle,
not caring what it did to the weapon.
Seeing their opponent falter in its steps, they all jetted out to a
distance, priming their weapons. An unspoken signal passed through them,
opening fire at the new boomer, causing it to stagger back towards the
motoriods.
Three...
They still kept pouring it on, not caring that the boomer had
already reached the limits of its endurance. They kept on firing and
firing. They just wanted it to die.
Two...
They slowly backed away, not wanting to get hit by the explosion.
One...
The Knight Sabers knelt around their fallen leader, checking her
condition. They all gave a sigh of relief to see Sylia was alright.
Zero...
They turned towards the boomer as it was engulfed by the blast.
"Good fucking riddance," muttered Priss. The other Knight Sabers
couldn't agree more.
===================
Skuld happily hummed to herself as she went about her task in
helping the techie assigned to her, for the time being, repair one of the
newer K-14Bs that had been damaged quite some time ago.
She'd never have believed that such an inefficient machine so
obviously poorly designed and constructed could actually be made to serve
the public like this. Her Banpei Mark VI could have destroyed one of
these things without really trying too hard.
No wonder so many ADP officers die in the field. With such shoddy
equipment to work with, it's a wonder ADP could even do its job right.
She promised herself that she would find some time to re-design the
whole thing into something more appropriate. Yes. Definitely something
worthwhile doing. After all, ADP deserved a break from what it had to put
up for so long.
A small idea began top form in her head. Maybe...
"You really like this kind of work, don'tcha?" asked the techie.
"Yep," Skuld replied.
The techie smiled. "People around here mostly do stuff just because
they have to. You're the first person I've heard to like this kind of
job."
Skuld shook her head. "The name's Skuld," she re-introduced
herself, holding out a slightly greased hand.
The techie smiled a bit, reaching out with his own hand. "Colin
Stryker. People tend to call me Stryker."
Skuld smiled. "Pleased to meet you, Stryker."
Colin Stryker found himself laughing for the first time in the past
few weeks. Having lost his own family to a boomer rampage not too long
ago, he'd been sulking under here since, mechanically doing his job while
he let himself drown in utter misery.
Skuld joined in as well.
Stryker could not help but feel so... relaxed. Like a great weight
had been removed from his shoulders. Perhaps it was.
He smiled inwardly, glancing at the still chuckling Skuld.
Perhaps there really was a God in heaven...
===================
Two slightly charred-looking individuals staggered out of the ruins
of the airport. Daley and a few other ADP officers rushed towards the
two, surprised to actually see _anyone_ get out of their in one piece,
much less alive.
He breathed a sigh of relief, happy to see that Leon had gotten
out. He wondered about the woman who supported Leon, though. The
mysterious woman clutched some sort of long-barreled weapon that looked
too much like a rocket launcher, only smaller. Much smaller.
Perhaps a girlfriend? Daley quickly trashed that idea. After all,
how many times a day did Leon ever so try to entice Priss to a date? He
wouldn't just drop her like that. Would he??
"Nice to see you still in one piece, Leon," he remarked.
Leon cracked a smile, adjusting his shades of coolness. How that
accessory of his could have survived was beyond him.
Ah well... "Who's the lady?" he asked in conspiring tones, pointing
at the woman who was being attended by one of the doctors, still
clutching the wicked weapon to her. "New girlfriend?"
Leon blinked, the pain in his chest all but forgotten. "Sorry to
disappoint you, Daley. This one happens to be my older sister."
Daley laughed at that.
"Did I miss anything?" Leon asked.
His partner shrugged. "Not really. Well, maybe that Nene and one
other girl about Nene's age also managed to get out."
Leon suddenly grabbed Daley. "Did the girl look anything like this
one?" he asked, fishing out a photocopy of the Chief's sister.
Daley took one look at the photo and nodded.
Leon sighed, slumping back, wiping his brows.
"I take it she's the one I've heard you were supposed to take care
of?" he asked, a bit amused.
"Yeah. Yeah. The Chief's sister. I can't believe I actually agreed
to do this. I mean, I'm an ADP officer, not some babysitter!!" Leon
complained.
Daley put a comforting hand on his partner's shoulder. "Hey, it
could have been worse."
===================
A lone figure sat behind a massive desk, contemplating the results
of their tests. Already, the data they've gathered had been most
impressive. Quite so that Chairman Quincy had given his go signal to
start building the plant to mass-produce the Dreadnought-class Boomer,
now dubbed as the Type D-99.
The figure got up, moving towards the large window to stare at the
buildings below. Moonlight washed away the shadows that hid the figure's
face, revealing it to be a woman of surpassing beauty. There was nothing
beautiful about the way her icy blue eyes stared outside.
She had long abandoned any scruples about killing, long hardened to
the basic fact of life. The real world was not ruled by democracy or by
truth, or love, for that matter. It was killed or be killed - the
struggle of the strongest and of the best. Who came out on top would be
the ones to dictate the rules.
She smiled, a cold, mirthless smile.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Nikholas F. Toledo Zu @ WWW: The Entertainment Capital of UP Village
Vector, Switch, Yebah, Rain Man, goo, Pervert, Scruples, Hollie, NomaD,
Blitz, Gee, Datzo, Jewel, elf, Radler, Pinball, Mayhem, Chaos, Father,
Attar, Llewe and Katana @ http://nikholas-f-toledo-zu.webjump.com/ NEW!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------