Disclaimer: The Phantom is the property of King Features Syndicate and
Bubblegum Crisis 2040 is the property of JVC. No money is being made from
this and no such intent should be inferred.
Author's Note: *Whew* Finally finished this mother. Enjoy.
C&C,, public or private is welcome. I respond to all C&C....eventually
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Warning: Contains spoilers for the anime.
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Today's Fortune Cookie:
"Once they go up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department."
-Werner von Braun
"So the kay suit was remote controlled?" Nene asked as she, Linna, and Kit
walked across the tarmac of Walker International. High overhead, the sun
shone down with warm heat and around them, workers held shouted conversations
as they cleaned up rubble.
"Yep," Kit replied. "And there's nothing in it, or any of the other boomers
we destroyed to indicate that Genom was actually behind the attack. Nothing
we can take to the World Court anyway." He smiled grimly. "The Phantom, on
the other hand, will be keeping a very close eye on Genom."
Nene let that pass without comment. "So what are you two going to do?" she
asked.
"Whatever we want," Kit said. "Apparently whatever happened in the jungle did
what the Tok Rmara was supposed to and without that ten-year time limit."
"We've decided to take things slow," Linna said, almost shyly taking Kit's
hand. It's new territory...for both of us." She squeezed his hand and smiled.
"Your folks are going to freak," Nene said. "Especially your dad."
"Let them," Linna said and then sighed. "I'm probably going to wind up
disowned but this is what I was born to do, and I can't change that."
"So when are you going to tell them?"
"This summer. We'll both be on break by then and Kit will have time to brush
up on Japanese etiquette."
"You think that will help?" Nene asked as she angled away from them to help
Nigel, who was loading the hardsuits onto wheeled racks.
In truth, Linna had no idea if that would work. Her father was a
traditionalist, with ideas that went back a hundred years or more. She
would...she broke off and smiled slightly to herself. She had been with the
Knight Sabers for only a month or so and she was already thinking in terms of
tatics. Sylia must be rubbing off on her.
****
Sylia sighed as she watched Linna and Kit walk past. She had no doubt Linna
would continue being a Saber, but part of her would be elsewhere, no longer
one hundred percent devoted to the team. Walker was a wild card in her plans,
but he was a wild card with access to vast resources. She had formed the
Sabers on the assumption that she would have to find the creature with only
whatever she could come up with. But now that Walker ha entered the equation,
the Bandar might be willing to provide her access to the technology they kept
set aside for the Phantom.
No, there was no might be about it. She and the girls had risked their lives
and--that train of thought broke off as somebody touched her on the arm.
Turning to look, she found a young Bandar, still in his teens. "The elders
wish to speak with you," he said quietly and walked off as though he knew she
would follow.
****
Sylia gazed around the conference room that she had been escorted too. The
Elders all dressed in suits, stared back at her and then one of them, a woman
spoke.
"You have our thanks, Sylia Stingray." Sylia inclined her head in reply when
the woman continued. "Unfortunutly, that is all we can give."
"What?" Sylia exclaimed, coming to her feet. "We risked our lives trying to
save this place and that's all you can say? 'Thanks'? You owe us."
The woman steepled her fingers and studied Stingray for moment. "Perhaps you
are right...very well. Turn away from your obsession, abandon the search for
Galatea, and disband the Knight Sabers. Every step you take hunting for her,
brings her one step closer to wakening. Your focus on finding her even now
causes her to stir, to grope for walls of her prison. Only by abandoning her,
can you accomplish your goal."
"I can't do that," Sylia said, feeling as though she had been punched in the
stomach, though she clamped down on the feeling before it reached her face by
dint of sheer control. "Galatea...her power...I must destroy her if I am to
have any peace. I must see her dead."
"Then you have doomed Tokyo and all who live within it. Is that the price you
are willing to pay, Sylia Stingray? Is your quest worth your soul?"
"My soul and more," Sylia replied without hesitation. The blood of a city on
my hands is a fair price for saving humanity." Her voice was level, her
expression a mask. But inside she was reeling. The Bandar knew, they knew
everything. But how?
"She saw it that way too. But very well. If that is your choice, be warned.
When you face Galatea, you will do so alone, we will not alert the Phantom.
But we beg of you, Sister, tell your comrades. Tell them about those who came
before, and what you hunt. For their sakes, if not yours, tell them
everything."
Numb, Sylia somehow managed to stand up and leave.
****
"Window dressing," Nene muttered as she walked up to Sylia as she crossed the
tarmac. The leader of the Knight Sabers stared blankly at Nene, and then, as
though Nene's question was some sort of button, the numbness fled. "What do
you mean?"
"Them," Nene said, indication Kit and Linna as they walked by. "It's like the
past week has been all about them and the three of us are just here to move
things along." She shrugged. "Window dressing."
"I see," Sylia said and then jumped as Guran cleared his throat.
"A cargo plane has been prepared for your use to return you to Japan," he
said. "The Phantom will be returning to Metropia by his own means. If you
wish to say good-bye, now would be the time." Without waiting for a reply, he
walked away, quickly catching up to Kit and Linna. For a moment, he spoke to
them and then departed. Kit and Linna embraced each other tightly for a
moment and then he ran to catch up to Guran while Linna walked back to the
Knight Sabers.
"You okay?" Nene asked.
"I think so," Linna said. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Yeah,
yeah I am."
"Right. Then let's go!" Nene chirped and took off, Priss sauntered after her,
leaving Sylia and Linna behind.
"Jim Morrison was right," Linna said after a moment as she started after the
others.
"About what?" Sylia asked. 'Who's Jim Morrison?' she thought.
Linna paused, then turned and smiled at Sylia. "Everything."
****
Epilogue
They say happy endings come with a price. A price that only good men and
women can pay.
Though they were wed some five years after their initial meeting, those five
years cost the twenty-fourth Phantom and his wife dearly. Japan sank beneath
the sea, a moment's hesitation left the world's future in doubt, and for the
first and only time, a Phantom took a human life.
Yet it was also a time of Marvels. For the first time in almost a century,
Heros once more arose to challenge the ambitions of evil, and the Knight
Sabers stood with them, those legendary Defenders.
Christopher "Kit" Walker and Linna Walker would eventually die within hours
of each other of old age, but left behind a single child to carry on the
legacy, and what a legacy it was. For the twenty-fifth Phantom was the first
to stand under another star in the name of justice.
But as in all good things, the story of Katarina Walker is one that is best
left told another day.
For now, this story is finished.
*************
Steve "Komodo" T.
"Great," Nabiki said, getting up to pace as her voice began to climb in
volume with every word. "Kasumi gets a man who worships the ground she walks
on, Akane has three different rich lunatics, or kings, or Demigods fall in
love with her nearly every day--and that's just before breakfast, mind
you--and what do I get?" She glared at SETCOM's burnished black metal shell,
her voice soft, but her tone as cold as ice. "A computer."
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