Many, many thanks go to Slacker for helping me refine this fic.

All chapters are availible on my page: http://templar.anifics.com/

Disclaimer: The characters in this work of fan fiction belong to their
original creators, and are not used for the purpose of monetary gain.

Sabers Destiny
by Andrew Wilson

Part 3: Double Vision

Linna shook her head.  It had been over a month since the Knight Sabers
had gained a new member, though it had felt longer.  Thankfully, there
had not been much activity, so the meetings had only been about once a
week.  Any more often then that, and Linna knew she would have lost her
mind.

It wasn't that the boredom was getting to her, though the lack of an
extra paycheck was rather annoying, it was the egos.  Morgan and Sylia
argued about almost everything that came up in the meetings.  From
hardware to tactics to overall strategy.  The woman just would not
quit.  She was almost as bad as Priss was, though Morgan didn't disobey
orders.

The three of them were in Sylia's apartment.  Nene and Mackie were out
somewhere, and Morgan was arguing with Sylia about a couple of new
weapon systems Sylia was working on.  This left Linna bored.  Looking
for a way to pass the time, she flipped on the news.  *Vision is in
town?  I'll bet Nene is trying to get tickets.*

Something about the singer seemed familiar to Linna, but she couldn't
put her finger on it.

Eventually, Morgan tired of arguing with Sylia about the suit upgrades
Sylia had planned.  As it was, they wouldn't be ready for a few months. 
Morgan dropped onto the couch beside Linna, and quickly noticed the
other woman's stare.

"Are you alright?"

Linna blinked, then shook her head.  "Yeah, it's just that she looks
familiar."

"Who?" Morgan turned to the screen, and caught the end of the press
conference.  "Vision?  Maybe you two were after the same man back in
school."

Linna groaned.  "No, it's not that.  I just feel that I've met her
somewhere."

"Don't worry about it," Sylia said, "it will come to you eventually."

*******

Morgan grumbled as she entered Sylia's apartment.  Two meetings in less
than a week was both irritating and dangerous.  Some of Sylia's "11
rules" made sense, especially the part about "You do not know each other
outside this group."

Everyone else was seated already.  "You're late," Sylia said.

"I had to take the back way in," Morgan replied.  That back way was a
small network of transport shafts, basically a scaled down version of
the antiquated subway system that connected the main base, Raven's shop,
and the airfield where the sky carrier was kept.

Sylia nodded.  "Normally I wouldn't call you in so soon after a meeting,
but events two nights ago caused a job to come up."

"How much are we getting?" Linna asked.

"Thirty million up front, another twenty upon completion.  Our client
needs a body guard for the next few days."  Sylia briefly outlined the
plan.  It was relatively simple.  They would set up an outpost in the
hotel where the principle was staying.  Two members, most likely Linna
and Nene, would pose as employees of the hotel.  The other two would set
up a remote monitoring station in a discrete location.  The hardsuits
would be in this location, with one of the observation team in a
softsuit at all times.

"Why do we have to do the work?" Nene whined.

"Because you two don't stand out as much," Morgan replied.  "And you
would fit the role a little better."

"What are you saying?"

Sylia answered instead. "She's saying that you and Linna are normally
more cheerful than she could manage on a good day.  Plus I will be the
one monitoring the equipment."

"You still haven't told us who we're protecting."  Linna stated.

Sylia placed a set of photo's down. "Dr. Richard McLaren.  A scientist
for Gulf and Bradley, currently working on a joint project with Genom."

"We're working for Genom now?"

Sylia shook her head.  "I know that none of you like this, but we have
no choice.  There had been a definite lack of jobs lately, and the money
from this should cover our operating expenses for the next few months."

Morgan studied the picture.  "I know this man.  He's one of the best in
the field of cybernetic R&D."

"How good?" Sylia asked.

"He's no Dr. Stingray, but he's widely acknowledged as the best in the
world.  Genom has been trying to lure him away from Gulf and Bradley for
years now, but he won't budge.  If I remember correctly, there were
plans for a joint project between the two companies.  Some kind of new
combat boomer, one that makes the Doberman model look like Nene."

"Stop picking on me!" Nene fumed.

"If that is true," Sylia ignored the exchange, "then we should also try
to discreetly probe for some kind of information on this new boomer."

*******

The St. Regis Hotel was one of the most expensive in Mega-Tokyo.  Morgan
knew Sylia would have been able to afford a room there, but after
bribing hotel manager to allow Nene and Linna to pose as workers, the
operational budget was getting a little stretched.

At the moment, Morgan was with Sylia in a room at a nearby (and slightly
cheaper) hotel, monitoring the surveillance equipment.

"I wish I could have infiltrated the hotel," Morgan grumbled.

"You know why you can't," Sylia replied.

"I know.  But I didn't think this would be so boring."

"Well, he's order call girls these past few nights.  We could let you
take that role."

Morgan studied Sylia's face.  "I wish I could tell when you're kidding."

*******

It wasn't until later that night when something finally went wrong.

"They just left the room," Linna said over the radio, "looks like
they're taking him to the hospital."

Sylia nodded to Morgan, who rushed towards her hardsuit.  The rest of
Linna's message went unheard as Morgan's suit closed around her.

"Be careful, Morgan," Sylia said a few minutes later, "there's something
funny about that ambulance."

"Acknowledged," Morgan replied.  Engaging her thrusters, she hopped from
rooftop to rooftop in pursuit.

The expression on the driver's face was priceless, especially when she
leveled her gun arm at him.  "Out," was all she said, wanting to keep
the incident as short as possible.

Which was good because a second later she was attacked by a four meter
tall (and four legged) combat robot.

After a quick leap to get away from the mech's cannon, Morgan fired
everything she had.  Both the energy shells and the rail gun spikes
bounced off its armor.

"Sylia," Morgan screamed over the tactical net, "this bastard's too
tough."  A near miss out brought a curse.  "I think I know this one,
it's a GD-42.  There's no way I can beat it."

"Get out of there, Morgan," Sylia replied. "There's nothing you can do
now."

"More bad news," Morgan continued as she pulled away from the battle. 
"They've transferred McLaran to another car, but they've left his
tracking device."

Sylia's sigh was easy to hear over the radio.  "I'll meet you six blocks
north, and three west of your position."

Morgan watched the spider-mech back off, watching her.  She shrugged,
and headed to the rendezvous point, while the mech and the car it was
escorting headed in the opposite direction.

*******

"What a night," Nene sighed as she served the group tea.  "The Doctor
gets kidnapped, and Linna goes missing.  What else could go wrong?"

"When Linna's transmission was cut off," Sylia said, "she was near
Irene's grave and I have a feeling there's a connection.  Would you
check the data on Irene?"

"Irene?" Morgan asked.

"An earlier case," Sylia explained.

"Mason's doing?" Morgan asked.

"How did you guess?"

"Pissing you off was one of his hobbies, or so it seemed."

*******

While Sylia watched Genom Tower, and Nene tried to find data about the
case, Morgan was given the task of finding Linna.

Hopefully, whoever took her did not search her too closely, or they
would find the emergency beacon.  Even if it was active, the range was
limited to a few hundred meters.  Sylia's instincts told her something
was going to happen, so speed was of the essence.  For that, they would
need the new motoroid.

Morgan smiled as she ran an armored hand over the polished surface. 
"Pops" had delivered all that he promised with this one.  About the size
and shape of a typical sports car, the car had a much narrower passenger
compartment (enough for two people, one behind the other, though the
passenger would be ejected in the transformation sequence). The trunk
was large enough for some backup ordnance (or a spare hardsuit, Linna's
in this case).  One thing was certain, this thing was made for combat. 
Whether as a street machine, or it's alternate mode of a three meter
tall mech, the motoroid was packing serious firepower.  Twin pulse
cannons were concealed just behind the headlights (and would be on the
mech's wrists), and a pair of rocket pods (located beside the
cockpit/over the shoulders) gave it a little extra punch.

There had been a slight argument over the name.  Sylia, in keeping with
the tradition of the other motoroids, had wanted to name the class
Tsunami.  Morgan, on the other hand, argued that such a name would be
find for a new class of motorcycles, but the car needed a different
name.  More names went back and forth, from Dragon to Cataclysm, and
when Pops and Linna suggested Volcano, it had stuck.  The paint job was
a solid crimson, but already Morgan was imagining detail work of a
fireball covering the forward half of the car.

The glass windscreen moved forward, allowing Morgan to slide into the
control seat.  Several self-guided cords plugged into the interface
slots of her hardsuit, allowing Morgan slightly better control of the
mech when it was active.  With a fierce hum the engine sprang to life,
ready for action.  Morgan was ready to give in to that wish.

*******

Off all the people Linna expected to see come through the door of the
shack her captors had placed her it, Morgan wearing a hardsuit was
somewhere near the bottom.

"Come on," Morgan said, tossing a softsuit to Linna, "I have your suit
in the trunk.  There's something going down."

Linna nodded.  "We need to stop at my apartment first."

"Why?"

"I need to pick up something.  Something that might help."

Morgan nodded. "Right."

*******

Linna didn't say anything about the item she picked up, and Morgan
didn't ask.  Sylia was on one of the artificial islands in the bay, and
they had to hurry to make it in time.

Of course, 'hurry' has different meaning to different people.

"You could have hit that poor man!" Linna said over the com system.

"He should have moved out of the way," Morgan shot back.

"He was on the sidewalk!"

"Have you seen the traffic around here?  Look on the bright side, we're
making great time."

"Look out!"

Morgan swerved to avoid a group of children, and inadvertently sent the
Volcano through the glass facade of a car dealership.  Terrified
customers dove out of the way as the motoroid sped between the rows of
showroom models, eventually crashing out the opposite window.

Emerging from the building, Morgan kept to the sidewalks as she sped for
the bay.

"What's causing all this traffic?  It's not even close to rush hour."

Linna gulped as she pointed down the street. "Maybe it has something to
do with that roadblock up there?"

Morgan spared a glance at the indicated area, then returned to
concentrating on how not to kill pedestrians. "ADP, rogue boomer or two,
unless I miss my guess."

"We're going around, right?"

"Nah, we have plenty of time before we have to meet Sylia.  I'll bet
that helicopter she spotted hasn't even reached the R&D plant yet."

"Are you sure about this?  There are three of them."

"Perfectly.  Though you might want to get your boosters primed."

"What do you mean by thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-" Linna's
scream was cut off as the cockpit resealed itself after ejecting the
passenger.  The car tilted of the ground and began to bend in half as
the components shifted.  The rear seat collapsed, shifting Morgan back
in the cockpit as it rotated to match the motoriods new configuration. 
The cockpit itself slid forward as the forward end slid up, covering the
windshield with several layers of armor.  As the arms unfolded from the
sides, and the rear split to form the legs, an armored sensor cluster
popped up as the unit's head and began sending information directly to
Morgan's helmet.

The unit's momentum had been eaten up by the transformation, so Morgan
engaged the boosters to take her to the battle site.  The looks on the
ADP team's faces were priceless as one of the 55-c's was annihilated by
a pair of energy blasts, one to the head and the other to the torso.

The other two immediately turned to the new threat (which was the only
real threat, considering the ADP's hardware and reputation).  Morgan
easily took them out with a burst from each wrist gun.

Linna came bounding up once the second headless boomer fell to the
ground.  "Can we go now?" She asked over the tac net.

Partly as a joke, Morgan made the mech shrug its shoulders before
returning to its street mode.

"How disappointing," she commented as Linna climbed it. "They weren't
much of a challenge.  I didn't even get to use the rockets."

*******

Once they reached the piers, Morgan again converted the motoroid and
engaged the thrusters.  She soared over the bay with Linna riding in the
arms.

They set down at the edge of the island, and headed in by way of the
rooftops.  Once they met up with Sylia, they saw a confrontation taking
place between the spider-mech's pilots and Quincy of Genom.

"Why don't we do something?" Morgan asked.

"We need to see how this will turn out."

"I know how it'll turn out," Morgan shot back.  "That's one of Quincy's
doubles, an android.  I'll bet there's something nasty in that
helicopter."

Sylia nodded.  "Then let's go."

*******

"It's rather foolish of you to cause such an uproar over just one little
girl."

A pair of bullet's entering his torso interrupted Quincy's speech. 
Before Kou could fire anymore shots, Linna landed beside him and
restrained his gun arm.  At the same time, Sylia grabbed McLaren and
placed him on a nearby rooftop.  Morgan landed a short distance away,
her weapons armed.

"You've got to stop this fighting, now!" Linna screamed.  One of the
pilots, Reika, recognized her voice.

"Shut up, Genom agents," Kou snarled.

"They wish," Morgan stated, "we're-"

"The Knight Sabers," Quincy ground out. "They and you are two of a
kind.  Foolish rabble, striking out at Genom!"

Reika raised her gun.  "Don't bother," Morgan shouted before a shot
could be fired.  "It's an android.  Quincy has them in storage at Genom,
he controls them from the tower.  It's useless to destroy this thing."

"Correct," the false chairman's voice took on a mechanical tone. "I
recognize that voice.  How nice it is to hear from you, Madigan.  You
had such potential, but now you are merely another annoyance."

Morgan's shot disintegrated the android's chest, dropping the head to
the ground.

"I though you said it was useless to shoot it?" Reika accused.

"I've wanted to do that for months," Morgan replied.

"Now that the performers are assembled," the head continued, "let's
raise the curtain on the show."

>From the helicopter, there came a metallic shriek.  The Knight Sabers
stood horrified as a giant boomer tore its way out of the thin armor.

The collected fighters scattered, ready for battle.  Unfortunately,
their weapons bounced off the boomer's armor.  It leaped on top of the
tank, and quickly disabled its primary sensors.  Linna attempted to hit
it with her knuckle bomber, but she was backhanded into a nearby
building.  Sylia closed to do the same, but was immobilized by the
thing's claws.

Most of Morgan's shots bounced off the armor, but one dart hit a joint. 
While the beast reached to pull it out, it dropped Sylia.  Morgan caught
the falling form, and quickly leaped out of reach.

Linna emerged from the hole she created in a nearby building just in
time to discover one of many booby traps in the street.  Morgan dimly
heard some warning to that effect from the android head, but was too
busy trying to find weak points to pay it much heed.

The GD-42 was firing wildly at the boomer, but none of its shots were
connecting, or even coming close.  "Damn," Morgan cursed, "they're
blind."  Recognizing the only option, she leaped onto the mech and
hot-wired the remaining connections to her targeting sensors.

"Can you see now?" she asked over the radio.  There wasn't time for a
response before the boomer closed the distance to the mech and grappled
with it.  Sylia leaped on top of the boomer's head, and plunged her
blades into its joints.  Linna followed, hitting the same spots with her
knuckle bomber.  Globs of biotech-matter flew away from the beast, but
it would not be stopped.

"We'll blow it up with out self-destruct system," Reika said over the
circuit.

"Did you copy that, Knight Sabers?" her co-pilot asked.

"But what about you?" Morgan called back.

"We've got an escape system.  Now get out of here!"

Seconds later, the main hatch flew outwards, followed by the co-pilot's
ejection seat.  Reika's chair didn't follow, though, the boomer had her
trapped.

While Linna raced to the mech, Morgan sent a command to her motoroid to
leave the island.  Linna and Reika were able to clear the area seconds
before the mech's self-destruct system turned the street into a
firestorm.  On her way out of the area, Morgan picked up McLaren, and
joined the other Knight Sabers on a nearby piece of wreckage from the
sunken Aqua-city.

Shortly afterwards, Morgan had to keep herself from laughing as McLaren
was arrested instead of his kidnappers.  The free tickets didn't make up
for the twenty million they should have gotten, but it was rather
unlikely that McLaren would be paying the balance on their fee.

"So what now?" She asked Sylia.

"What do you mean?"

"We've just proven that Genom doesn't care about what we do.  In fact, I
would say that Quincy uses us to test new designs."

"And we prove time and again that we can beat anything they throw at
us," Linna commented.

"That's not the point," Morgan replied.  "Besides staying alive, I
joined this group to hurt them, not to become part of their R&D
department."

"Look at it this way," Sylia said, "every time we destroy one of Genom's
new models, we cost them billions.  This new boomer represented a
significant investment.  It's slow work, but we'll succeed eventually."

"Why is that?"

"Because there is no other option."

End Chapter 3

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