and here it is Chapter 5!!
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BattleKrome
-BGC nut
-DTP nut
-Coco nut
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yudenakya nama-BIIRU
*if i don't boil it, it's still draft beer
<from Dragon Half ending song, Watashi no Tamagoyaki>
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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: singtokyo5.txt
Singularity Tokyo
By Battlekrome
Chapter 5
<BGM Back in Time by Hewy Lewis & the News>
I awoke to darkness.
Something heavy was lying on top of me. Groaning I tried to get up. The
heavy object slid to land beside me in what I now realized was garbage.
Sitting up, I glanced over and realized the heavy object had been Yuri.
Standing up unsteadily, I looked around the alley that we were in. Switching
my sensors to fully active, I looked around for any activity. Noting none, I
climbed out of the garbage bin that Yuri and I had landed in. Brushing off
what garbage clung to me, I switched to my normal clothes and wandered out
of the alley.
I wondered how I could get the jackhammers in my head to stop. It was then
that the girl ran into me. She was obviously out of breath.
"What you running from?"
"Huff.... huff... Black.. huff.. car, huff... tried to run... huff, me
down."
As we walked toward what I think was her home, we went up a set of stairs to
an overpass. At the top which I didn't notice at first was parked a black
car. We turned to go across the overpass, when a lady stepped out of the
car.
"Irene?" she said.
Irene turned toward the woman.
"Die!" at this the woman charged toward us, blades extending from her
fingertips.
Shoving Irene to the side, I decided to deal with this the quick and
efficient way. A quick scan of the woman revealed her true nature. A boomer,
assassin type: strong points, stealth and speed, Weak points, light armor
and not much strength.
Forming my arm cannon, I snapped off a blast into the boomers chest. What I
didn't expect was for the blast to blow completely through the boomers chest
and kill it instantly.
Quickly reforming my arm to a normal appearance. I turned to where Irene
lay.
"You weren't kidding, Irene."
"How... How did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Blow a hole in that boomer."
"Can't tell you. Now do you have any place you can go that is safe?"
"Y.. yes."
"Go there and trust no one."
With that I turned and walked toward the stairs.
Before I got there I heard her say, "Who are you?"
"You can call me Spectre."
***
I continued on my way back to where I had left Yuri earlier.
I decided to start small and work my way up.
"Yuri? Yuri? You awake, Yuri?"
Then I proceeded to shake her. This worked.
"Man, Aika, tell the jackhammers to lay off and let me get some sleep."
"Yuri?"
It was then that she finally noticed where she was.
"Aika, did the factory blow up?"
"Not that I know of. I sorta blacked out." I admitted.
"Well, I did too so you're not in trouble. Now, you have any idea where we
are?"
Bringing up some of the locator beacons around MegaTokyo I found that only a
few were working and many of them seemed to be broadcasting on different
frequencies than they should be.
"I place us somewhere in district fourteen or fifteen, though the streets
match nothing I have. Going to try an uplink and do a little surfing but
I'll need to have access to a land line for that."
"Shall we wander around until we find a phone booth?"
"Good idea. If you see the skyhook or Genom tower anywhere tell me, I'll be
able to tell our position from that."
It was a half hour before we found a decent place to tap into a phone line.
Yuri had changed into her casual clothes, that is biker gear. Quickly
tapping in I found that the security systems on the lines were laughable.
Some of it was so easy, I wondered if sometime recently someone had
downgraded the entire network.
Going over recent events and such, various news articles too many of them
pro-Genom, I found what I was looking for the local directory map. It read
weird as If someone had forgotten the dynamic link interface we all hate to
love. It wasn't even linked to the phone directory. "Sheesh, Yuri, this is
more and more looking like something out of that gajin horror show the
Twilight Zone."
"You mean things aren't adding up and life seems weirder than usual?"
"My thoughts exactly."
I turn back to searching, one article caught my eye, 'Lab destroyed in
explosion, fianc�e of Irene Chan killed in blast.' Well, it didn't say that
exactly but I could piece together that from what it said and didn't say.
Then I noticed something that I had overlooked, the date was 2032 not 2045.
Weird must be looking at an old issue. Repeated searching found that it
wasn't an error, it really was 2032.
"Yuri, I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"
"Good news." She replied.
"We're still in Tokyo. 14th District."
"And the bad news?"
"It's the year 2032 and no ones heard of the Knight Sabers." I stated.
"You've got to be kidding me. It's 2032?"
"It has to be otherwise someone has pulled the greatest hack in history and
changed every clock, " I admitted, "And I would of heard of one that good."
"How can it be?"
"Well, you remember the bright light that we saw before we blacked out?"
"Yeah, well that most probably was an event horizon of the time gate and it
reacted badly with the wave of changes the altered past did."
"What's that in english?"
"Basically from what I can tell it went nuts."
"Good enough for me."
After a small bit of cracking I had procured from one of Genom's secret
accounts enough money to keep us in the red for a while. Yuri had found a
small cafe nearby and had taken up residence at one of the tables.
"On the upside the AD police are half way competent."
"That's the upside? We're in the past, there's no Knight Sabers and the AD
police aren't cannon fodder?"
"That's about it. Another plus is Genom is paying for tonight's lodgings."
"Oh my, says it all."
"You got that right."
***
<BGM Here I go Again by Whitesnake>
Thus Yuri and I went off to a local Motel and set up shop. First of all,
though we went down to the local DMV and acquired driver's licenses, birth
certificates and such, ID had been our first priority, It was now Yuri
Cyanamid and Aika Kenton but we felt that changing our last names was a
small price to pay for a way to get all the stuff we needed.
A quick stop by a local bank machine provided us with enough cash to last
the weekend.
***
I was drawn out of my computer surfing bliss when Yuri came back with the
groceries. Both of us were extremely hungry for some reason. With that Yuri
kept on eating and I went surfing again.
I was on one of my favorite hangouts in chat land when I noticed someone
familiar, RHC. After a few questions I knew that we had to be in the past.
It seemed that now I was better then Nene at cracking. The AD police
database seemed to be surrounded by next to nothing in security. Well
nothing that they had programmed that I didn't know the back door to or knew
holes in. Nene seems to not have upgraded their security to the fortress it
was.
Going over the old and new records revealed much about the AD police. Couple
things had changed: they were equipped with military hardware, they had
effective training, and the basic weapon for a grunt to use was a friggin'
rail gun. After about a full day of searching and hunting I came to the
conclusion we had to start up the Knight Sabres as Genom was getting away
with murder and not even the police could fight it.
It was then that I told my plan to Yuri. Her response was less than
enthusiastic.
"But, why? Why do we have to join the AD police??"
"Yuri, let me put it this way. If another biker claimed that he was part of
your group and he'd obviously wasn't. You'd be angry right?"
"Yeah, I'd probably give him a good piece of my mind." Yuri huffed.
"Well, the same thing goes for the AD police. We join them and then we do it
legally and they can't touch us. Of course we'll keep our Knight Saber
identies secret."
"So you mean we get to kick butt, rob Genom, and do it legally?"
"Pretty much."
Thus I began to craft our joining of the AD police.
***
Actually joining the AD police was easy. The attrition from one boomer
combat usually killed an officer. This was down from entire squads worth of
men being killed by one boomer. Thus basic grunts were hired almost weekly.
Yuri and I deserved better than being basic grunts. A desk job on the other
hand would make Yuri stir crazy by the end of the week. Thus I had to
compromise, bike squad for Yuri and desk job for me. I even managed to get
us extra firearm practice for some of the more exotic weapons the AD police
admitted to having on hand.
One name I hadn't seen before on the AD police roster was a Ranma Saotome.
Seems that instead of the Chief that I remembered being there, it was him.
Wait a minute; remembering some of the old records that I had downloaded
back, well after... the heck with it, that I downloaded earlier. He had been
an above average loose cannon, from what I remembered.
He was out with his wife for dinner when a boomer rampage occurred. It said
that both him and his wife attacked the boomer but both died before AD
police could arrive on the scene. In his file it said wife: Akane Saotome.
This was interesting known relatives: Nabiki Tendo, Kasumi Tendo. Now I
wonder if that was the legendary NCorp, Nabiki or the name was just a
coincidence.
The job interview was as much a test to see what knowledge one knew as a
test to see if you were capable. What was the hard part for joining the AD
police was a knowledge test. This would've been easy to fake that we had
done it, but Yuri and I somehow decided that, that was cheating. The test
itself would've been easy for anyone who had grown up in MegaTokyo. This
posed a problem for us. Sure, we had grown up in MegaTokyo; the problem was
thirteen of those years hadn't happened yet. With a bit of cramming we were
able to pass the test easily. The one thing that disturbed me was that my
recall of things that happened in the past somehow seemed clearer.
***
<BGM Mysterious Ways by KMFDM>
One of the things Yuri and I had purchased almost as soon as we could were
a pair of motorcycles. We then checked out the local garages to see who
could soup them up to the class we needed. Then we came across a familiar
one, Raven's Garage. It was on our way there that the calls of a boomer
rampage occurring across the police radio bands. Altering course we raced
along the streets to the scene. The bikes weren't as fast as we wanted them
to be. We were forced to drop the bikes and hoof it so that we would be at
the boomer just before the AD police would arrive. We got off the bikes and
parked them in a convenient alley. After we made sure no one was watching we
changed into our hard suits and began roof hopping toward the last known
position.
With my sensors, tracking the boomer became child's play. Yuri and I landed
about fifty yards behind it; I fired off an arm cannon shot. I expected to
blow a small hole in the armor and get its attention. The shot blew its
entire right arm off at the shoulder.
"Yuri, am I using larger shot sizes than I usually do?"
"Nope."
"Then how the heck am I blowing holes in these boomers?"
"Aika, you're worrying over this?"
"No it's just I'm wondering how much damage a half decently powered shot'd
do."
With that being said we charged the boomer.
The boomer lasted a whole five seconds. Yuri's first punch intending to
cripple its jets and keep it grounded took off the jets and the entire left
shoulder. As she looked at her fist, amazed, I finished the boomer off with
a roundhouse kick that sheared it in two.
"Yuri, it is just me or do they not make em like they used to?"
"Shouldn't that be the don't make em like they will?"
"Good point. What should I put as our call sign?"
"Atlas and Spectre."
"Why not Knight Sabers?"
"Do you see Priss or Nene around?"
"No... Ah I see your point."
With some quick strokes with my claw I crudely signed 'Atlas & Spectre.' We
left before the red and blue lights of the AD police pursuit vehicles could
illuminate the remains of the boomer. Taking to the rooftops again we
quickly made our way back to our bikes and then our way back home.
***
<BGM Boku wa mo Pioneer from Tenchi Muyo! >
The next day the news was just as boring. Seems the AD police took credit
for our kill. It was also the day Yuri's and my interviews were scheduled.
Both of us were understandably nervous.
I was standing outside the Chief's office waiting for him to call me in to
do the interview. I was nervously playing with the edge of the coat I had
decided to wear. I was wearing what I considered formal to nice clothes.
That is clean and half-decent looking; I was also wearing a skirt instead of
my usual sweat pants. It was then that a guy about forty to fifty years
stuck his head out. He looked at me and asked, "Aika? Aika Kenton?"
"Yes." I answered.
"You can come in now."
We entered his small office. The office seemed cluttered, but to me it
seemed ordered like I do sometimes, chaos revealed.
He motioned for me to take a seat.
"Now about your application, we have way to many dispatchers as it is. It
says here on your resume that you know how to ride a motorcycle."
"Yes."
"Well the motorcycle division could use a few more people so I'm going to
have to put you there."
"Ok."
"So then it's settled. I'll have someone come by and give you an orientation
and to take you to get the things you need from stores. You can go now. I'll
have them come by."
With that he turned back to his paperwork. I went out and not knowing what
else to do leaned against the wall and waited. I was thinking over what to
do about the Knight Sabers. The first priority was Sylia and Mackie. Their
technical knowledge was needed. Then there was Priss and Linna. They'd help
considerably in the combat department. Finally Nene, Hacker, ECM, and ECCM.
It was five minutes later that I was brought back to reality from my
thoughts.
"Aika? Aika Kenton?"
"Yes, that's me. You're going to show me around?"
"Yep, What would you like to do first? Get your equipment or a tour of the
building?"
"A tour would be fine."
"I'm Naoko. Nice to meet you Aika."
Naoko gave me a pretty good tour of the building keeping it to things I'd
need to know to go to.
First thing she pointed out was every washroom in the building. Next she
showed me the garage and armory.
After that we went to stores, where I got my uniform, and my sidearm.
"What about my badge and ID?"
"Oh you'll get those once the bureaucrats get done with it or a week. Which
ever comes first, usually a week though. Now you'll probably get assigned to
the pursuit force while you learn all the procedures and such. You probably
won't even see combat until after you get you badge."
"So when do I finally get to ride the bike?"
"After we train you for emergency maneuvers on the bike and then once you're
tested you get bike qualification and are assigned one of the street hogs."
"Street hogs?"
"Yeah that's our name for the Biker cops. They call the bikes hogs and we
car cops as they call us think they hog the street. It's not our fault that
the cars aren't as maneuverable as they are."
"I take it there's a lot of animosity between the pursuit cops and the
motorcycle division?"
"Naah, its just that when ever we have picnics and such we always team up by
the vehicle you use. The motorcycle ones are the only ones who can bring
their vehicles to participate in the game. Though it tends to get the grass
kinda torn up."
"So when should I show up tomorrow?"
"Come by around ten or so. The front desk will have someone picked out to
help you learn the ropes."
Author notes: None, nada, rein de tout
You want lengthy author notes go read someone else's fics
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