For Jeanne Hedge, who waited not-so-patiently. :)
What has gone before:
Chapter 1:
In the dead of night, five gigantic mecha emerge from the depths of
Tokyo Bay and smash a GENOM warehouse, leaving no witnesses except for a
trucker, Jim Ashima, and his companion, Clara. When Sylia sees a news report
on this, she wonders if the Knight Sabers are enough to handle the problems of
MegaTokyo any longer. She begins making plans to expand the Knight Sabers, a
move prompted in part by Reika Chang (AKA Vision) visiting the city.
Meanwhile, Leon and Daley begin investigating the destruction of the warehouse
and find a giant footprint from the mecha.
Priss visits Linna and goes on at length about how she is going to break
up with Leon, but Linna has heard it all before and is not impressed. She and
Daley have been listening to the couple bitch, moan, break up and get together
again for too long. Their talk is interrupted by Reika, who pays a surprise
visit on Linna, announcing that she is moving to MegaTokyo on a permanent
basis. Priss immediately declares that they should hold a party.
The party goes well, until Priss tries to prove her sobriety (or lack of
it) and injures herself. Reika is shocked by the speed in which Priss's cuts
heal and the story of how Priss came to be enhanced by nanotechnology is told.
Vision tries to apologize for her reaction, but Priss's temper flares and she
attacks the other singer. She comes to her senses before any harm is done and
runs out of the apartment, followed by Leon. The others discuss how Priss has
been on the edge of true cyberpsychosis ever since her rampage through
MegaTokyo. Outside, Leon catches up to Priss and convinces her that he will
be there to help her, no matter what happens. They kiss and return to the
party, where Sylia offers Reika a place in the Knight Sabers. Reika accepts.
Chapter 2:
Linna is put in charge of Reika's training, running the singing star
ragged their first morning. Meanwhile, Jim Ashima, escapes from a contingent
of security boomers into the anonymity of the Canyons, a section of MegaTokyo
devastated by the Second Kanto earthquake. The boomers killed his companion
Clara and he swears to find some way to avenge her.
At ADPolice HQ, Leon runs into Nene (almost literally) and she gives him
a disk with some info she says he'll find useful on his case. Leon then sees
the new Chief, who assigns him some help: Former Chief Goto of the old
Patlabor command, SV2.
Sylia meets with Fargo, who tells her about Jim Ashima. She puts him on
the trucker's trail and he promises to find him. Linna and Reika got out to
dinner and Linna tells her about the Second Kanto Earthquake and how her
family survived it. Linna's father ran a martial arts dojo and had organized
his students into rescue parties after the quake. Linna had to watch a very
good friend of hers die in the aftermath. Linna admits to Vision that she's
not sure why the Knight Sabers keep fighting GENOM, except for the fact that
there is no one else.
Largo, in his role as Brian Larsen, GENOM Special Assistant to the
Chairman, visits the site of the new GPCC building. A GENOM VP named Anderson
had been found guilty of kickbacks and fraud and had been relieved. The VP, a
man named Anderson, had also been responsible for covering up the Warehouse
incident and had sent the combat boomers to kill Jim Ashima. His heavy-handed
incompetence had gotten him terminated. While Largo overlooks the site, the
mechs attack, flying in at low altitudes. Largo taps the OMS (OverMind
Control System) and uses it to send every construction boomer at the site
against the mechs, heavily damaging at least one of them and forcing them to
flee. The OMS then almost purges Largo for unauthorized access.
Priss and Leon go on a date, but it is interrupted by a gang mugging.
Leon is knocked out while Priss, with her enhanced physiology, is only
stunned. The gang is about to murder Leon and have some fun with Priss when
Priss attacks them. When Leon comes to, he finds Priss sitting amid the
bloody, mangled corpses of the gang. She almost attacks Leon, but stops
herself in time. Looking at herself, she begins to scream and claw at her
eyes before fainting. Leon uses her Knight Saber communicator to call for
help.
Chapter 3:
Chairman Quincy holds a meeting with Wilhelm Godhardt, a representative
from SCHAFT, a German-based mecha company that GENOM is considering working
with on a joint project. With the chairman is Dixon Kelly, a Special
Assistant with a cyberjack enhancement, and Asuma Shinohara, one of GENOM's
vice-presidents. Shinohara objects to the proposed project, while Kelly
supports it. Quincy tells Godhardt they need more time to decide and, after
the SCHAFT man leaves, chastises Shinohara for belaboring his points. Outside
of the GENOM Tower, Godhardt meets with SCHAFT Security Systems Colonel Johann
Hineman in his limo and they discuss the meeting, which they reveal to be no
more than a cover for something else.
Reika goes to Nene's apartment so Nene can work on constructing the
programs for the singer's hardsuit. She catches the hacker asleep, but they
soon get to work. Nene reveals she would rather work at Raven's Garage on
this, but Priss is there, recuperating from some incident.
At Raven's Garage, Priss wakes up. Leon hovers over her, concerned, and
at first she can't remember what happened. It comes back to her quickly
however. After Leon leaves, Priss eavesdrops on him and Sylia discussing how
serious this is and that Priss may have to be institutionalized if they can't
find a way to help her.
Nene and Reika arrive to do some work on the computer for Reika's suit.
The hacker takes Reika on a tour of cyberspace, teaching her about how the
hardsuit operating system is a learning system that can almost read the user's
mind through biofeedback. They work on the look of Reika's suit. Finally,
Nene talks Reika into a combat simulation, explaining that Sylia wants Reika
combat ready as soon as possible.
At the ADPHQ, Leon and Daley discuss the GPCC battle (which GENOM is
calling an industrial accident) and Leon finally views the disk Nene gave him.
It has information on an old form of mecha known as a Labor, which was used
for many different purposes until the rise of the boomer phased them out of
business. The disk also lists three companies that once built Labors and are
still in existence: Shinohara-Toyohata Industries, a GENOM subsidiary; Barumi
Tech, now a computer software company; and SCHAFT Enterprises.
Fargo contacts Sylia, informing her that an unknown group is looking for
powered armor operators. He tells her that it might be connected with the
group hitting GENOM sites. She decides that, with Priss out of action, that
Linna will have to check this lead out.
Priss slips out of Raven's garage, raiding the Knight Sabers' lockers
for clothes. Nene and Reika are busy on the combat sim, were Nene is trashing
the rock singer, despite some inspired tactics by Reika.
Sylia speaks to Linna about her undercover mission and Linna accepts.
However, before they can talk any further, Nene calls to tell them that Priss
is missing.
Chapter 4:
In the halls of GENOM, Largo discovers that the mechs he fought at GPCC
are known as Griffon Combat Labors, a specialized form of labor originally
constructed by SCHAFT. Dixon Kelly meets with Madigan, another Special
Assistant, whom Quincy has just recalled from Osaka. She had been relegated
to that post after the first encounter with Largo.
Linna, Reika, and Nene meet at Raven's and discuss Priss's disappearance
and Linna's new assignment. Sylia checks out Priss's trailer and finds Priss,
but Priss goes so far as to shoot a hole in the wall to keep Sylia from
stopping her. Priss explains she needs to go out on her own to find a
solution to her problem and that no one else can help her.
Fargo meets with the people looking for powered armor operators. His
contact is a young girl with green hair who seems incredibly naive. He gives
her a faked dossier on Linna. Once she leaves with it, however, the contact
drops her act and becomes totally professional. She meets up with other
members of her group and is addressed as the Boss.
USSD, the United Nations Strategic Space Defense force which controls
the orbital laser satellites, has a meeting over what to do about the mech
attacks. The satellites recorded images of the attack on GPCC. It is
revealed that weather patterns in the MegaTokyo area have been disrupted by a
nuclear explosion in Siberia, as part of the Polar War, and the USSD targeting
programs have not adjusted yet. General Griffith orders the satellites made
ready in any event.
Leon has a talk with a veteran ADPolice officer, Sergeant Richard
Decker. Decker is a professional and also sports a cyberarm. Leon talks to
him about cyberpsychosis, hoping to discover a way to help Priss. Decker
tells him that it's Priss's fight. Only she can help herself.
Meanwhile, Priss runs into some external troubles, namely a group of
bikers who want to have an interesting time with her.
Chapter 5:
Priss charges the bikers on her motorcycle, but they disable her bike
with a chain. She pulls her gun on them, but its barrel was bent in the
accident and is useless. For a moment, she almost falls into the same
bloodlust that claimed her before, but is saved by Kaz, the leader of her old
bike pack, who happens to come along.
Linna, meanwhile, has been recruited by the terrorists behind the mecha
attacks, the AGF (Anti-GENOM Front.) The Boss sees her personally and inducts
her into the band, showing her the Griffon labors they have been using in the
attacks.
Largo meets with Madigan and the two have a meeting of minds,
discovering that Anderson, the incompetent VP Largo terminated, may have been
the front man for someone else, setting GENOM up for a fall in the near
future. A quick search of the GENOM public database confirms this. The two
decide to discuss what to do over dinner.
Leon, Sylia, and Nene all conduct their private searches for Priss, with
no luck. Sylia begins to have doubts about her ability to lead the group.
Leon and Daley go to Shinohara-Toyohata Industries to interview its president
about labors. They arrive to find Goto already there, talking with Asuma
Shinohara. Asuma shows them his pet project, a museum devoted to labors.
There, they learn that the most likely labor culprit is the Griffon, which was
produced by SCHAFT. Further, Goto reveals the possibility of a witness, Jim
Ashima, who could identify the Griffons and implicate SCHAFT. Furthermore, he
says he has a lead on where Ashima is, thanks to a "friend of a friend."
Chapter 6:
Priss and Kaz, after a day of bike riding, talk about Priss's problem.
Kaz tells her that she can't run away from her problems.
In the AGF's hideout, Linna takes part in a training simulation in the
Griffons, under the watchful eye of Bud, the man ho piloted the original
Griffon. Her fellow Griffon pilots, Max (a missile-happy moron) and Dora (a
quiet, but competent woman who is jealous of the attention the Boss gives
Linna) manage to do all right, but Linna is "killed." Wilhelm Godhardt and
Colonel Hineman meet with the Boss and watch the exercise. They talk about
one more mission before they try for their real objective. Their plan is to
blame the Griffon rampage on GENOM, using the falsified information in the
GENOM public database to prove this. The furor over this will allow SCHAFT,
they hope, a chance to re-enter the Japanese market.
Nene searches the net for Priss, and finally decides to try and raid the
GENOM mainframes. She runs into Dixon Kelly who, with his cyberjack, manages
to easily dump her off the system and implant a virus into her computer,
erasing all her files. He also identifies her as a Knight Saber, but doesn't
follow the lead at this time, hoping to meet her again on the nets.
Leon, Daley, Decker and his squad head off for the Canyons on a false
alert which they arranged so they can search for Ashima. A GENOM informant in
the ADPolice reports this to GENOM, and is then apprehended by Chief Matsui.
It turns out that Leon and Decker decided the best way to find Ashima is to
use GENOM to flush him out. It's dangerous, but the Canyons has too many
hiding places for their limited resources. They no sooner arrive in the
Canyons then they are attacked by some sort of heavy ordnance.
Priss is still hanging out with the Pack, trying to sort out her
feelings when she is approached by Moro, the biker who tried to accost her
earlier. He insinuates that she and Kaz have a relationship and she loses her
temper, throwing him against a wall. He pulls a knife on her. The red rage
she felt before threatens to overwhelm her again, but she thinks about what
Kaz told her and beats it back, controlling it. She defeats Moro, giving him
a wedgie to remember her by. The Pack then hears about another gang, the
Black Scavs, attacking the ADPolice with some arms they got from a backer.
The Pack rides out to deal with this, since the Scavs are on the Pack's turf.
At the AGF base, Linna and the Boss talk and the Boss intimates she'd
like to be more than friends and co-workers. Linna is very nervous about that
and puts her off. She then goes and sends a message to Fargo, informing him
of where the AGF is located. Dora watches this and, after the other two
leave, she sabotages Linna's Griffon.
Sylia, Nene, and Reika get suited up (Reika for the first time) and head
out in the KnightWing to deal with the Griffons.
The remaining members of the old SV2 Patlabor Unit 2 meet in a
Shinohara-Toyohata warehouse, where their old Ingram Patlabors have been
stored since the early 21st century. Goto has ordered the old machines
prepped for one last fight.
The KnightWing attacks the Griffon base on the Dream Island landfill.
The Griffons burst out of the base to deal with them. Linna prepares to
change sides, but the Boss is ready for that, activating a restraining system
in Linna's Griffon that gives her complete control over it. She tells Linna
it is based on the DD Battlemover. She then makes Linna fire her missiles on
the unsuspecting KnightWing. Sylia, devastated by this latest apparent
defection in the Knight Saber family, freezes up and the KnightWing takes the
missiles dead on.
And now, the conclusion...
Bubblegum Crash!
Angel of Light
Chapter 7
"In the early 2030's, boomer technology began to advance at a prodigious
rate. Modern technologists are often confused, however, by the 'backsliding'
that seems prevalent in that day and age. Even before the unveiling of the
Second Generation Boomer, GENOM had matter fusion, self-aware AIs, and the top
secret hyper-boomers. Why then, were the models of the middle Thirties so
limited?
"The answer is fear.
"GENOM began to fear their mechanoid slaves, fear that they may rise
against humanity. Only by limiting the capabilities of the cyberdroids could
GENOM hope to maintain its control. The OMS, their much fabled control
system, was still in the testing stage. Some boomers showed the ability to
resist it. GENOM's most prevalent nightmare had to be a self-aware,
fusion-capable hyperboomer with delusions of godhood."
-- Dr. Sylvie McNichol, "The Age of the Knight Sabers," 2063.
For Linna, the KnightWing seemed to fall forever. When its lazy fall
finally ended, the impact knocked her Griffon to the ground, bruising her as
she was thrown against the restraints. Agonizing sobs tore their way out of
her breast until Milly's voice intruded.
"Stand up, Four." The Griffon obeyed mechanically and Linna could do
nothing to stop it. The gleaming metal bonds clamped around her hands and
feet, combined with her safety belt, held her almost immobile. Dimly, she
heard Milly ordering her Griffon to take the point as the five-mecha terror
squad marched toward GENOM Tower. Behind them, a cloud of smoke rose from the
center of the Dream Island landfill.
*****
Inside a small, dilapidated warehouse the intense activity ceased for a
moment. With a crackle of static, the radio announcer's voice was loud in the
sudden silence.
"We repeat our urgent announcement. Five gigantic boomers have been
spotted emerging from the waters of Tokyo Bay. The boomers are almost eight
meters tall and heavily armed. It is speculated that they are part of some
top secret military project. Police have no comment at this time whether the
boomers are connected with the explosion that occurred earlier tonight at
Dream Island. The ADPolice recommends that you stay in your homes and take
cover. If you can, please make your way to the civil defense shelters. These
boomers are considered highly dangerous. We repeat, five--"
"Boss, what are we going to do? The Ingrams aren't ready yet!" Shige
asked, turning toward Goto.
Goto seemed unperturbed. "How much longer do you need, Shige-san?"
"I could get one of them operational in about an hour. If I had the old
squad, 15 minutes for the lot of them." At Goto's nod, Shige went back to
work, hastily running the necessary checks to get the giant labors functional
again. Much of his time was spent trying to correct the mistakes made by his
"helpers."
"An hour?" Asuma exploded. "We can't waste that sort of time!"
Noa restrained her husband. "Asuma! Shige-san is doing what he can.
Yelling at the Chief won't help."
While husband and wife argued, Goto merely lit his cigarette. "I don't
see what alternatives we have--" His cellular phone interrupted him. Paying
no mind to Asuma (who was turning red with apoplexy), he answered it. "Goto
here." He listened to his phone intently. After a minute, he said, "I
understand. We'll be right there." He then turned to Shige and asked, "Are
the command cars okay, Shige-san?"
Shige looked up, "Yeah, they should be okay.... I used to tinker with
them in my off time."
"Shinohara, Ohta," Goto called while marching over to a series of
lockers. "We have a small problem in the Canyons. Security boomers and a
gang armed with heavy ordnance have pinned down some ADPolice officers,
including Detectives McNichol and Wong. Let's go help them out and bring them
back here."
"Help them out with what?" Asuma asked sarcastically.
In response, Goto unlocked one locker.
"Yes! There IS a God!" Ohta yelled happily.
A party was going on in the Canyons but no one wanted on the invitation
list. Gang members, boomers, and ADPolice officers blazed away at each other
savagely. In the center of the fracas, the remains of an ADPolice transport
burned merrily, thanks to a helpful dose of napalm. Its composite hull,
however, resisted the flame and the occasional burst of heavy weapons fire
with ease.
"Where did you get this monster?" Leon shouted at Decker from inside the
broiling oven the van had become.
Decker's soot-stained face broke into a grin, his white teeth gleaming
amid the black. "This is my baby, Leon!" he shouted back. "It used to be a
Combat Boomer Transport, but I picked it up surplus and put it on the vehicle
list!"
A loud explosion made talk impossible as the Scavs unloaded another
missile on the security boomers stalking the field of battle. The boomers'
particle beam weapons whined in answer. ADPolice officers taking cover around
the flaming wreck added their weapons to mix. Nearby, someone screamed in
pain then another explosion silenced them forever.
"We can't stay pinned down here!" Leon yelled.
Daley looked up from where he was trying to get the truck's radio to
work. "The boomers are jamming us! I can't contact HQ!"
Leon nodded. "How's our friend?" He pointed his thumb at a ragged
homeless man curled up in the corner. Daley shrugged.
The man was Jim Ashima, for whom they had come into the Canyons to
collect. Leon had taken this squad down into the Canyons, hoping GENOM would
react and flush Jim into ADPolice hands. It had been a gamble. GENOM had a
very good chance of finding and killing Jim before the ADPolice could protect
him. The Canyons, however, was a rat's nest of streets, collapsed buildings,
and abandoned tunnels. A person could hide for years in the rubble.
Unfortunately, the ADPolice had just entered the Canyons when a local
gang, the Black Scavs, protested. The ironic thing was that the plan had
worked. Jim Ashima had come running into their arms, followed by a squad of
GENOM boomers. Leon could have done without the boomers, however, as they
were striking at ADPolice and Scavs alike.
"Do you have any more surprises here?" Leon asked Decker, still yelling
over the din.
Decker grinned again. "Check the rear compartment!"
Leon went back to look. A moment later he returned and began to swear
at Decker, whose grin just got bigger and bigger.
Two Black Scavs in a building overlooking the trapped ADPolice hoisted a
round into their anti-tank weapon. Getting their backers to pay for a
replacement would be hard, but killing some cops was worth it. They hadn't
had this much fun in a long time.
One of them turned around to the door. "Dek! Where's that second
fucking round?!"
Dek didn't answer him, mainly because he was taking a little nap. He
had been looking very tired, so someone helped him catch up on his sleep with
the judicious application of a length of chain. Kaz, all six feet ten inches
of him, loomed over the Black Scav gunners, grinning.
"Now, boys...." Kaz drawled for effect. "What did I tell you about
having fun without inviting us?"
Priss let out a war cry as she led the Pack in on her borrowed
motorcycle. It had been a long time since she had taken part in a turf war
and she was having the time of her life. Around her, the rest of the Pack
spread out, looking for trouble.
Jingoro, a large biker with a chrome cyberarm and an impressive
collection of obscene words tattooed across his body, caught her attention.
He pointed to a boomer not fifty yards ahead. She nodded.
The boomer was facing away from them, trying to get a clean shot at the
ADPolice around the van. Its sensors alerted it to the sound of approaching
bikes, so it turned to face them.
It got its sophisticated head snapped off by a very UN-sophisticated
length of chain stretched between Priss and Jingoro as they roared by at high
speed, their enhanced bodies allowing them to hold onto it. Jingoro dropped
the chain and gave Priss a high five with his cyberarm. They then turned to
look for another target.
The sound of wrenching metal caught their attention. Priss turned and
saw something clawing its way out of the wrecked rear doors of the ADPolice
van. The flames and smoke made it hard to make out, but the flashing shoulder
lights gave her a good idea. Her suspicions were confirmed a second later as
someone in K-13V ADPolice power armor stepped out of the smoke. With all the
shit flying around, she could think of only one person crazy enough to pull it
off that stunt.
"Yeah!" Leon said, taking a step forward in his suit. Now it was time
to show these punks what the ADPolice was made of. Of course, the K-13V would
not have been his suit of choice for that. It was the culmination of a "Build
it cheaper, not better," philosophy and the suits' track record reflected it.
Still, it was better than nothing.
He looked around the street-cum-battlefield for a target. A multitude
presented themselves. Bikers, gangers, and boomers were running around,
shooting, grappling, and generally making a mess. Two bikers had decapitated
a boomer neatly with a chain, he noted idly. Then he got a good look at one
of them.
"Priss!" he yelled, starting toward her. He was halfway there when a
boomer decided he looked like a good target. It leaped, slamming into him
mid-torso. The K-13 groaned under the impact, its thin armor shell buckling
inward. Leon cursed and swung one fist at the boomer. His punch caught it
alongside the head, knocking it back a few inches. The boomer turned back
towards him, completely undamaged.
"Oh, shit," Leon said calmly. The boomer's red eyes seemed to gleam in
anticipation as it closed its fingers around the chest plate of the K-13. Its
fingers dug through the eggshell armor and it lifted the power suit up off the
ground. Leon threw several more punches, but they seemed to have even less of
an effect than the first.
"Decker, you ass! If you're going to steal a suit of armor, why
couldn't you have gotten a GOOD one?!" he snarled, helplessly.
BOOM!
Everyone stopped. That had not been an explosion or the sound of a
heavy weapon firing. Instead, it had been a deep, low boom that had settled
deep in the bones (or equivalent structures). Only Leon's boomer took no
notice, but that was because its entire torso had just been smashed away.
Most weapons, by nature of their function, make holes in things. This was no
different, really, except that the hole was bigger than the boomer it hit.
At the end of the street, a small, stocky man held a Big Gun, the wet
dream of every gun fanatic in the world. Some of those present wept at the
sight of another man holding it.
BOOM!
Again, the gun spat fire. This time it caught the ground floor of a
building the Scavs were using. The entire structure seemed to jump, then it
began to collapse inward. The man with the Big Gun began to laugh.
"I knew making a recoilless anti-labor gun was a mistake," the man's
partner groaned. He held a much smaller weapon, which he used on any target
that got too close. It spat out very small, high-speed flechettes that tore
through metal, stone, and flesh with equal ease. Worse, the flechettes spread
out, like shotgun blasts, doing incredible damage over a wide area. Two
boomers ran into his range and were reduced to tinfoil.
The Scavs then, in their wisest decision of the day, decided they had
enough. Grabbing their weapons, they fled as best they could. The chatter of
ADPolice chainguns, the BOOMs of the rife, or the whisper-quiet chuff of the
flechettes followed them.
The boomers had less of an instinct for self-preservation. The
remaining ones charged blindly toward the two men. They were certain that at
least one of their number would get through. Several opened their mouths,
charging their particle weapons that would surely kill these interlopers
before they could fire.
They were wrong.
After the last boomer fell to the ground, the two men held their weapons
on the remaining ADPolice and Pack members. A tense silence reigned. It was
broken a second later as Goto stepped out onto the battlefield.
"Good work, Shinohara, Ohta," he said.
*****
Nene woke suddenly, aware of someone kissing her. No, the person was
forcing air into her lungs! An uncontrollable urge to cough suddenly seized
her. She did so, sitting up suddenly. Her spasm continued for several
minutes.
Reika stood back, watching Nene carefully. The two Knight Sabers were
on a deserted stretch of the Tokyo Bay shoreline. They were wet and
bedraggled, with many, small, balloon-like floatation devices adorning their
armor. She had removed their helmets in order to help Nene.
After Nene stopped coughing and seemed to be breathing normally, Reika
asked, "How're you feeling, Nene?"
"Like I just swallowed half the world's known pollutants." Nene made a
face and tried spitting to clear the taste in her mouth. "What happened?
Where's Sylia?"
Reika shrugged. "I was strapped into my seat on the KnightWing when you
suddenly yelled something about a missile lock. The next thing I knew, there
was a huge explosion underneath me and I was airborne." She winced slightly.
"I think I'll have some colorful bruises tomorrow. I hit the water pretty
hard."
As if reminded, Nene's body began to register their complaints about
what they had gone through that night. Everything seemed to ache. The young
Knight Saber closed her eyes and moaned lightly.
"I found you, floating face down in the water and hauled you ashore.
Good thing I know artificial resuscitation. You looked pretty awful by that
point."
"Thanks, Reika. Did you see any sign of Sylia?"
"No, but I saw that." Reika pointed across the bay to Dream Island.
The landfill was burning brightly, sending a large plume of smoke into the
muggy August sky. "It must be where the KnightWing went down. Aviation fuel
burns pretty hot. I guess it ignited the garbage."
Panic seized Nene for an instant, then she shoved it back. She was the
senior member here, for once, and she couldn't afford panic. Carefully, she
made herself run through her options.
"Okay," Nene said, exhaling slowly to calm herself. "I'm going to
search for Sylia's transponder. Give me my helmet." Reika handed it to her
and she put it on. Fortunately, the displays lit up. Her chest armor had
borne the worst of her damage and the entire suit was water-resistant. She
wouldn't want to fight hand-to-hand, as micro-fractures covered her armor, but
the ECM and communications systems were intact. "Run a check on your armor,
and let me know your status."
Reika nodded, and struggled to bend over and reach her helmet. It was
difficult with all the flotation devices. "How do you retract these things,
anyway?" she grumbled.
"Just puncture them with your blade," Nene said absently, putting her
suit to work. Normally she would uplink with the KnightWing, van, or a
Motoslave for the search, since they had more powerful sensors. However, that
wasn't an option right now The two antennae on her helmet popped out and
began to rotate.
The search quickly came back negative. Nene shook her head in annoyance
and ran the search again, and a third time. Finally she spoke to Reika, who
was busily popping flotation devices. "Nothing. Her transponder must have
been damaged." Nene didn't mention the other alternatives, and neither did
Reika.
"So what do we do now?"
"Used to be, Mackie would be nearby with the van for backup, but since
he went to Germany, that's no good. I don't know if Sylia had any plans for
what to do if the KnightWing went down." Nene racked her brain, trying to
remember if Sylia had ever mentioned something like that to her. Then it hit
her. "She DID tell me how to contact Fargo if we ever had any trouble,
though. It's a place to start."
Reika looked dubiously at Nene. "So, what? We go looking for a phone?"
"Um, yeah."
"Nene!"
"What NOW?"
"Are you sure you want to go in there like THIS?"
"Do you want to go in there with just what we wear under these suits?"
"Good point."
The pair was standing underneath a broken-down pier looking at the Dox,
a very disreputable nightclub catering to those of... wide-ranging tastes, was
the first place the two Knight Sabers had come upon which might have a working
phone. Since they washed ashore, they had found only two pay phones (both out
of order) and the few warehouses they had broken into had been abandoned.
When Reika and Nene had found the Dox, they had watched the leather and vinyl
clad patrons with some trepidation.
I wish Priss was here, Nene thought as they went up to the door.
*****
Largo stepped off the lift and into the GENOM Operations center.
Technicians and analysts scurried around him. A 3D hologram of MegaTokyo
rotated slowly in the air above him like a vast, neon spider web, showing a
representation of the Griffon's progress. They were on a direct beeline for
the Tower. Blue and yellow arrows, denoting ADPolice forces, were converging
on them from all sides. GENOM Tower glowed amber in the center of the map.
"Go to Condition Red," Madigan barked to the technicians, coming out of
the lift behind Largo. The Tower in the map immediately changed to a crimson
hue.
"Prepare the security boomers," Largo added. "All of them."
A young technician looked up. "Sir? Do you mean the Fusion Boomers as
well?"
Largo turned and looked contemptuously at the man, as if wondering who
would question his orders. The technician quickly returned to his work.
"They will be here within a half-hour," Madigan said.
"We may have to take a personal hand in things, then," Largo replied.
*****
Shige struggled to reach the main servomotor on Unit 1's left arm. He
remembered the old manuals stating that this procedure was a one man job. The
Boss had agreed with it... if that man had four arms and twelve fingers.
The door to the warehouse opened with a screech, but the technician
barely heard it. He worked his tool into the tight space, only to realize it
was the wrong tool. Cursing the entire way, he worked himself out from
beneath the armor and went for his toolbox.
About a dozen very large people in biker leathers stood there, gawking
at the Ingram. Shige stared at them, their clothes, their outlandish hair and
swallowed audibly. Then Goto stepped out from behind then bikers.
"Ah, Shige-san... here are some helpers for you." He noted Shige's
slack jaw and bulging eyes. "Is there a problem?"
Priss stood by Kaz, Leon, and Decker as they watched Goto introduce his
mechanic to the Pack. The foursome were lounging against one of the small
command cars that had carried Shinohara and Ohta out to the Canyons and back.
Decker, Leon, and Jim Ashima had hopped rides with them, leaving the rest of
the ADPolice squad under Daley to mop up and take care of the wounded. With
the boomers destroyed, it was easy to get reinforcements from ADPHQ.
"You sure they'll behave themselves?" Priss asked Kaz, motioning towards
the Pack members by the towering mecha.
"Sure," the burly man responded with a grin. "They love getting their
hands greasy, and where else are they going to find something like THAT to
play with?"
Priss eyed the eight-meter tall mechs with some distaste. She was
worried about the Knight Sabers. Since she was told about the Griffons, she
had tried to reach Sylia and see what the Knight Sabers were doing. All she
got was the answering machine. She scowled and half-considered going off to
Raven's Garage. Leon noticed this and shot a quiet glance at Decker, who
nodded.
"Come on, let's see if they have any beer in this place," the ADP
Sergeant said, clapping his meat hand on Kaz's shoulder. Kaz, noting Priss's
mood, was quick to agree. The two went off, beginning to trade lies about
their exploits.
"You didn't have to chase them off," Priss said quietly to Leon once
they were alone.
"I thought you might want to talk... about why you ran off," Leon said
simply. He pulled a slightly crushed pack of cigarettes out of his jacket
pocket and lit one, and then offered one to Priss, forgetting for the moment
she didn't smoke anymore.
"Why? You have to ask that after what I did? I lost control, Leon. I
was a danger to you and everyone else." She took the cigarette and dropped it
to the ground, crushing it beneath her heel.
"Priss, you've been through a lot... nobody's going to blame--"
"No, they'll just put me in an institution, right? That is what you
said to Sylia. I heard it."
"I wouldn't let that happen to you."
"'It's the law,' isn't it?" Priss said, sarcastically.
"Well, sometimes, there's a higher law," Leon said uncomfortably.
"I'd have to be locked away in some steel-caged room until they thought
I was 'safe.' Which would be never. I know the statistics on cyberpsychosis,
Leon."
Leon nodded, not knowing what else to do. There were very, very few
successes in the treatment of cyberpsychosis. In cases like Priss's, where
the cyberware could not be removed, there were none. Priss had been driven
over that edge once and clawed her way back. That had not been entirely her
fault, however, as the shock of being forcibly bonded with her hardsuit would
have caused anyone to snap. Sylia was still investigating the cause of
Priss's metamorphosis, but the original nanoids had been destroyed to save
her. Without being able to examine their original programming, there was not
much to go on.
If Priss went over that edge on her own, she'd never come back.
"Dammit, Priss, why didn't you come to me? I would have helped you," he
said angrily.
Priss kept her back half-turned on him. "I thought of that," she said
softly. "But I was... afraid."
"Afraid? That I'd turn you in?"
"No! I was afraid... to trust you, Leon. I was afraid to... love you.
Everyone I've ever loved has died. And I had to watch them all die." Priss
hugged her arms around herself, not looking at the ADPoliceman. "I was afraid
that I'd have to watch you die too." Afraid that I might be responsible for
your death, as I was with the others, a little voice whispered inside her
head. Daisuke, whom I couldn't protect. Sylvie, Anri... "And I'm still
afraid of what I might do in a fight."
"Priss...." Leon said, reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder.
She flinched slightly as he touched her, but made no other reaction. He
turned her around until she faced him, her head held low. Mustering a smile,
he pulled her chin up until he could see her red eyes. "I understand, Priss,
I do. But I still intend to marry you. I'm too mean to die and too stubborn
to give up, anyway. You'll just have to live with having the coolest cop--"
Priss elbowed him sharply. His breath whooshed out of him and he clutched at
his side in mock-injury.
"Most egotistical, you mean. And shouldn't that be 'stupid' instead of
'stubborn?'" she asked acidly. But there was a bit of a twinkle in her eyes
that belied the tone.
"Oof, quite a jab you've got there. After we're married, I may have to
file for abuse."
"Abuse? Why I hardly touched you, you big baby! Keep whining and I'll
really give you something to cry about!"
"Children, children," Kaz said, coming back toward the altercation with
a big grin on his face. Behind him, Decker, who had managed to find or
liberate a six-pack, was trying not to chuckle. "Play nice, now," Kaz
continued.
"He/She started it!" two voices said in unison. For an instant,
everyone stared at each other, and then broke out laughing.
*****
Linna wept inside her steel cocoon. She could do no more than watch as
Milly, showing a remarkable ability to divide her attention between
controlling Linna's Griffon and her own, pulled at the strings of the
high-tech marionette. So far, the five terror-mechs had left two squads of
ADPolice to lie smashed against the asphalt. The ADP's ineffectual weapons
were shrugged aside with ease.
"Now, now," taunted Milly over the communications channel. "Don't sob
so. You're a pro, aren't you, Miss Knight Saber? You knew what you were
getting into."
"I'm not--"
Milly's voice took a dangerous turn, her hatred as evident as the
gleaming edge of a knife. "Spare me the false protests! You transmitted our
position to someone and the Knight Sabers appeared." More quietly, she
continued, "I only wish they had sent Priss... it would have been much more
satisfying to have her trapped in a combat mech, helpless and waiting to die."
"Who are you?" Linna asked, shock making her voice ragged.
"Me? I'm just a cat's-paw that has grown its own claws." Milly
laughed.
"What does that bitch think she's doing?" Wilhelm Godhardt snapped,
glaring at Colonel Hineman. "It's not time yet for the final operation!"
"Obviously, something happened to move up our schedule. The Dream
Island base is in ruins. The AGF must have come under an attack of some
kind." Hineman's voice was as calm as ever, his soldierly demeanor unaffected
by Godhardt's vitriol.
"Well, call them back! We're not ready for this!"
"With all due respect, sir, the die has been cast. We are committed.
First, if we tried to call the Griffons back, it is highly unlikely that they
would obey us. Second, we would not be able to use the Griffons again after
the GENOM spin doctors get done with this. We must move now."
Godhardt settled back in his chair. The two men were in a SCHAFT
Security Systems mobile command trailer. Two technicians in the same crimson
uniform as Hineman were listening to reports coming in from the streets and
projecting the state of affairs on a monitor for them to see. It was not
good. The Griffons were making a beeline for the Tower, ignoring all other
targets and attacking only when the ADPolice made an attempt to stop them.
"What is she thinking, Johann? She's already tossed the plan to the
winds." Godhardt was calmer now, resigned. His career was ruined. Success
might save him, but he no longer believed such was possible. Some of the
animation went out of his face as he spoke, like a puppet tossed aside, its
dance on stage over.
Hineman chose his words carefully. "It may be that she has panicked and
is simply hoping to do some damage to GENOM before she is stopped." Hineman
considered this highly unlikely. His observations of the terrorist leader
told him that she had her own agenda and was following it. It was because of
this possibility that he had opposed using the AGF in the first place, but he
had been overruled.
Godhardt thought about it. "Yes. That could be it." He made a
decision. It may not be the best one, but it was the only possible one he
could see. "Contact our agent at GENOM. Make sure he sees that the only way
ANY of us will survive this is if GENOM fails to mount a credible defense."
"Yes, sir."
The Griffons' march on GENOM continued with hardly any pause. Of
course, they hadn't reached the mega-corp's security perimeter yet. Milly
knew that they would face the stiffest resistance there.
Her VR display suddenly pinged and showed a new threat. The ADPolice
was mounting another futile barricade. She was surprised that they had the
manpower left to try it. In another lifetime, she might have pitied them.
"Fresh meat!" Max yelled happily over the comnet.
"Stow it, Max!" Milly snapped.
WARNING! Her monitor flashed. IONIZATION DETECTED! WARNING!
"Shit! SCATTER!"
The Griffons broke in five different directions as the wrath of god
descended in a bolt of azure flame.
"USSD just tried to destroy the targets with the orbital laser
satellites!" a GENOM technician reported shrilly.
"Someone replace that man," Largo said idly, his link with the computers
before him having already informed him of the hit. "Sloppy," he commented to
himself. "The shot was partially diffracted by the atmosphere. They haven't
accounted for the new weather conditions yet."
"USSD often leaps before it looks," Madigan commented, her fingers
flying over the keyboard in front of her. "Do we want to run the risk of them
trying again?"
Largo considered the holo. The satellite strike had been detected by
the Griffons before it had hit, probably because a sufficiently sensitive
sensor array could detect ionization from the satellite's targeting system.
The shot had gone off the mark in any event, deflected by the new warm air
currents that were seething around MegaTokyo. It had hit a building instead
of the street. The building had collapsed, knocking over two more before the
chain reaction subsided.
"I don't think they will try that again, but it would be best to
interfere with their communications in case they prove to be that stupid."
"My thoughts exactly." Madigan turned to a technician gave a short
series of commands. The technician set to work, jamming USSD's
communications. "We want GENOM to deal with this threat. Correct?"
"Of course. Anything else would be a public relations nightmare."
"As if this wasn't one already."
"It is containable, my dear." Largo looked surprised at the endearment
that crossed his lips. He and Madigan shared a glance before they returned to
their duty. A small smile, unseen by anyone, crossed Madigan's face.
Milly picked her Griffon up off the ground. The shockwave of the blast
had knocked them all flat. "All Griffons, report." she said.
"Griffon-2, OK," came back Jackson's voice.
"Griffon-3, ready to kick some major ass!"
"Griffon-5, OK," said Dora.
Milly checked her readouts on Griffon-4, the one with Linna. The
displays were blank. Concerned, she ran a diagnostic and tried to
re-establish her control over it. Nothing.
"Can anyone see Four? I can't link up with it."
"Nope, no sign here," Max replied.
"I don't see it either," came back Dora.
"I think I saw it run toward the buildings that collapsed when we
scattered," Jackson said. "It might be buried under a ton of rubble."
"I'm not even getting a transponder reading. Damn! She must have been
caught in the blast."
"Who needs that traitorous bitch, anyway?" Inside her own cockpit, Dora
smiled. While being the victim of an orbital strike wasn't what she had in
mind when she had sabotaged Griffon-4's computer, it was just as satisfying.
"We need--" Milly began, when a shrill alarm went off in her cockpit,
warning her of a missile lock. "Shit! The ADPolice! What does it take to
make them give up?! Scatter and engage!"
"The ADPolice certainly is dedicated, if foolish," Madigan commented.
"Their foolish pride aside, they will not be a factor in this. The
Griffons are destroying them." Largo steepled his fingers and studied the
incoming information.
"Not too easily. It looks like someone has finally authorized some
heavier weapons."
"It won't change the outcome of this fight, but it WILL improve our
chances."
*****
The work on the Ingrams was now moving quickly along. The Pack's best
mechanics, though unused to the technology, loved finely-made machines and
they recognized the craftsmanship of the Patlabors as a smith would recognize
a well made sword, or a mechanic a finely-tuned car.
Shige had to direct their work, but they knew how to use the tools, and
were picking up the fine details as they went along with a skill that would
have done his old boss proud.
Priss was pacing back and forth like a caged animal, under Leon's
watchful eye. Occasionally, she would start for the door to the warehouse,
then stop indecisively before resuming her pacing. Finally, Leon had enough.
"Look, Priss, just go. We've got things under control here." He
lowered his voice, "You can do it again, I know you can."
Priss glared at him.
"You're going to go in the end, anyway," he said with a shrug.
Any reply she might have made was cut off by the beep of Goto's phone.
The former chief of the SV2 Unit 2 sat up straighter in the seat of his
command car where he had apparently been dozing and answered it.
Unconsciously, everyone not already involved in something clustered around him
for news.
"Right. Got it. We'll send someone." Goto looked up at the people
standing around. "What?" he asked.
Priss reached in and grabbed his collar. "What's the news?!" she grated
out.
"Oh, that. The Knight Sabers have called in."
Priss let go of him, stunned. "They called you?"
"No, not exactly. They called an associate of mine. It seems they need
to be picked up from a club called the Dox. Their transportation crashed on
Dream Island while confronting the Griffons."
"Are they OK?"
"Both of them are fine."
"I'll go. I know where it is." Priss turned and ran to her motorcycle.
She mounted it and slipped on her helmet. Gunning the engine, she paused to
look back over her shoulder at Leon, who gave her a thumbs up and a wink.
Goto, looking nonplused, just shrugged.
The motorcycle's tire squealed as Priss skidded to a stop in the secret
parking garage underneath Sylia's building. She shut off the engine and leapt
off it, putting down the kick stand with hardly any conscious thought. Her
pace slowed, however, as she reached the equipment lockers. When she stood
before hers, she hesitated, her hand hovering over the access pad.
Inside it sat her new hardsuit. Her fourth, in point of fact. Her
first had been lost in her near-fatal confrontation with Largo. The second
had been replaced just this year, when Sylia had produced her new designs.
The third--
She shook her head. She didn't want to think about it. This hardsuit
was perfectly safe. Sylia had made it for her, tailoring it for her new
strength and reflexes. And she was needed out there.
"Right, let's go," she said, beginning to strip her clothes off.
*****
Linna shook her head slowly, coughing in the smoke and dust-filled air.
The last thing she remembered was a brilliant bolt of blue, then nothing. She
opened her eyes and was panicked by the blackness that greeted her. She was
blind! her thoughts yammered in her skull, running around and around.
After a moment, however, she got a grip on herself and realized that it
was just her VR Helmet. It was off-line, feeding her no information or
telltales at all. She reached up and pulled it off.
The Griffon was lying on its side, at roughly a 45 degree angle. Most
of its indicators glowed a bright red. She barely noticed, for the manacles
that Milly had shackled her with were gone.
"What happened?" she asked aloud, trying to make sense of the situation.
Hesitantly, she tried to query the mech's computer, but got no response.
"I don't get it," she muttered. "That might have been an orbital
strike, but it shouldn't have taken out the computer unless I was hit dead
on... and I wouldn't be around after that. The computer system is triply
shielded." She tried again to coax a response from the Griffon, but got
nothing. Next, she tried to open the upper hatch, but something was blocking
it. Remembering the damage a satellite strike could do, she assumed she was
buried under rubble.
Better not try the emergency ejection system then. I might just be
slammed against a pile of rock, she thought. Only one thing left, then.
She reached over and flipped a cover off one button and hit it. With a
hum, several of the red displays turned green, and a short message flashed
across the terminal.
MANUAL MODE ENGAGED.
"OK, Linna," she said aloud, "let's see how good you really are at
this." In manual mode, the Griffon was entirely reliant on its driver. There
was no auto-balancers, no combat computer, no error correction. Bud had
trained her how to do it, for it was conceivable that battle damage could take
out the computer systems. She had fallen flat on her face more times than
not, however.
Fire and rescue vehicles were clustered around the site of the orbital
strike, trying to assess the damage and pick up the pieces of the ADP assault
on the mechs. The Griffons had moved on by now, of course, intent on keeping
their appointment with GENOM. Wounded and dead were scattered all over the
battlefield, giving them plenty to keep them busy.
Nobody noticed the pile of rubble begin to shift.
At first, it was just a few rocks, then the entire pile seemed to move.
Several rescue workers yelled for everyone to stand back, fearful that the
pile was going to collapse and maybe crush some of the workers.
Instead, it seemed to explode outward as the damaged Griffon-4 clawed
its way out of the rubble. The mech's armor was dented and scratched, and
some of its external weapons were mangled, but its movement seemed unhampered.
After one look at the black and grey monster, most people took off running. A
few ADPolice officer shot at it with their handguns, to no effect. The
Griffon ignored them, however, and turned toward GENOM Tower. Slowly, it
began to walk, sometimes leaning on nearby buildings for support, as it
drunkenly swayed. Despite its obvious problems, however, it kept to its
course.
*****
The oversized truck rumbled into the parking lot with the subtlety of a
tank division. It was steel-grey in color and running with its headlights
off. The windows were tinted black, obscuring and clear view of its driver.
From his seat by the door to the Dox, the bouncer looked up in
annoyance. That... thing was taking up valuable space reserved for his
establishment's clientele. The bouncer, who went by the sobriquet of "Brain"
(because he was working toward his doctorate in Philosophy in spare time)
immediately saw in this an opportunity for some controlled mayhem.
In the colloquial, it was time to bust some heads.
"All right, buddy, move that thing out of here!" the bouncer yelled at
the truck. Despite his academic leanings, Brain was still an imposing
physical specimen, standing about six feet tall and weighing over 200 pounds,
all of it muscle.
"'Cor, is it going to be trouble, Brain? Need me to rough someone up?"
came the whiny voice of another bouncer, an English expatriate with an
annoying accent.
Brain favored his fellow bouncer with a withering glare.
In the meantime, the truck had come to a complete stop in front of the
club's doors. Brain moved in front of it and repeated his challenge when the
driver's side door opened.
Brain found himself looking up at the barrel of a very nasty-looking
weapon. The driver of the truck was clad in sapphire blue armor that gleamed
in the fluorescent lights of the parking lot, accented by ruby-red stripes
that ran down the sides and over the black-visored helmet. The armor covered
a very feminine form and made no effort to hide the fact, molded as it was to
the figure's curves. Very lethal-looking weapons were placed on the forearms
and shoulder-mounted booms. These facts had barely registered in Brain's mind
when the figure spoke.
"Don't piss me off," her electronically modulated voice said. "It's
been a bad fucking month."
"R-right," Brain replied. "You'd be here for your friends, right?
They're inside."
The Knight Saber nodded and hopped out of the truck's cab. "Don't touch
the truck," she said, unnecessarily. Brain and his fellow bouncer nodded.
With that, she ducked inside the Dox.
"Gee, Brain, weren't you gonna--"
"Don't make me hurt you."
Priss activated her image enhancers as soon as she entered the gloomy
confines of the Dox. The bar was kept in a nearly impenetrable gloom, made
even denser by the brilliant sodium lights trained on the three stages where
scantily-clad people performed acts of rather dubious morality. Multi-colored
strobes went off at random intervals, disorienting and confusing the patrons.
They captured cigarette smoke in their glare, freezing it in serpentine coils
in the dank corners and high ceilings. Her suit's sensors cut through the
gloom and light display with ease.
Her suit caught some attention, but most of the bar's patrons were
fixated on two others. Priss shook her head in amusement as she watched Nene
try to wave off the drinks being pressed upon her by a seven foot tall
leather-boy wearing something reminiscent of Roman gladiatorial armor. Nice
muscles, she thought to herself, involuntarily.
And these guys are tame compared to SOME of the freaks in MegaTokyo,
Priss thought. She looked around for the third hardsuit she had hoped to see,
but Sylia's silver-and-blue was nowhere to be found. The rocker frowned and
quickly shouldered her way over to her friends.
"Priss!" Nene exclaimed over the Saber comm channels when she saw her
friend. She ran over and hugged her. "You're back! I'm so glad!" Nene's
red helmet suddenly swiveled back and forth, looking over the attentive crowd,
and the computer hacker seemed to withdraw inside herself a bit. "Could we
please get out of here?"
Priss chuckled. "Surely someone of your "looks and incredible brains"
can deal with a place like this, Nene."
One of the female patrons danced suggestively close to the red-and-pink
hardsuited vigilante and whispered something that Priss didn't catch.
"Priss! Can we just GO??" came Nene's high-pitched voice, almost
shrieking.
"Okay, okay, let's just collect Vision. Where's Sylia?"
Nene still had the jitters, but Priss could hear a strange note in her
voice as she replied, already heading for the door. "I'll tell you outside!"
Priss tried not to laugh as she pulled Reika away. The singer in the
red-and-black hardsuit was having a conversation with a woman clad in chains,
leather, and metal studs in almost every pierceable part of her body. The
woman held a leash connected to the collar of a man who wore only a mask and a
leather loincloth. The man was on all fours, letting the woman sit on his
back. The two seemed to be discussing the relative station of men and women
in a relationship, and Priss was sure it was QUITE enlightening. She wondered
if she should take notes for dealing with Leon. He'd look cute in that
costume.
*****
Dixon Kelly immersed himself in GENOM's net, letting the waves of
information slide through him, calming his panic. Here, inside the machine,
he was beyond all those petty limitations of flesh. Or so he told himself.
His SCHAFT compatriots had fumbled and the whole plan was in danger of
collapse. That was a sobering thought. Thinking of what the Chairman might
do if his role in the affair was discovered (and it would be, Dixon knew that
with certainty) would have driven others to flight. But where could anyone
run to that GENOM couldn't follow?
No, he thought, slipping into the idioms of his homeland, the best
defense is a good offense. The original plan MIGHT still succeed, if GENOM
took enough damage this day. With that in mind, he reached out and nudged a
few stray threads of data.
Outside one of the entrances to the GENOM Tower, the one in line with
the Griffon's advance, three boomers stood silently. Made out of blue steel
and plastics, they were thin and wiry of build. They looked nowhere near as
impressive as their more combat-oriented brethren, but looks were deceiving,
in this case.
A new command entered their electronics brains and their eyes flashed
red. They turned and faced each other, getting into a huddle, and then the
metallic skin of their arms and shoulders began to bulge. There was a
grinding crunch as the boomers' arms exploded into a serpentine nest of
metallic tentacles, which sank into the other boomers skins easily, merging
them together into one mass. Then, like metallic vines, the tentacles shot
out and latched onto the skin of the GENOM Tower itself.
"Mr. Larsen! The Fusion Boomers have activated themselves!"
"Let me see it!" Largo commanded, turning to face the gigantic
holographic image. It switched to an external camera view of the main GENOM
entrance, where the three Fusion boomers had been stationed. They were now
lost from sight in a tangled, wriggling mess of machines and wires that was
slowly growing up the side of the Tower. As Largo watched, the smooth outer
skin of the arcology bulged and twisted as the fusion tentacles burrowed
beneath it. Suddenly, the image disappeared in a burst of static.
"They've assimilated 2.3% of the Tower's mass already!" came a report.
"Send the shutdown codes!" Madigan snapped, standing beside Largo.
"I already sent them. The boomers aren't responding!"
Madigan and Largo exchanged glances.
"Sabotage," Largo said.
"It must be. The same mole as before, do you think?"
"If so, he or she must be extremely skilled with the GENOM Net."
"Kelly!" Madigan snarled.
Largo's brow crinkled in thought, a human affectation as he ran down
Madigan's logic. "Yes, it makes sense. With his cyberjack, he could do it."
His lips quirked into something resembling a smile. "How ironic, treachery by
the Chairman's Special Assistant."
Madigan sat back down at the console. "What do you think we should do
about it?"
Largo turned towards the technicians. "Activate the disaster protocols
and then get yourselves to the shelters. Miss Madigan and I will oversee this
area."
The nearest technicians looked startled. "But, sir..." one of them
stuttered.
"Now." That quiet command quickly cleared the room. A strident klaxon
began to go off all throughout the building.
"ATTENTION! DISASTER PROTOCOLS NOW ENGAGED. ALL PERSONNEL, PLEASE
REPORT TO YOUR DESIGNATED SHELTERS! REPEAT, DISASTER--"
"In response to your question, my dear, I think this is something that
we Special Assistants should deal with ourselves."
Madigan looked into his eyes calmly, "I agree."
The hologram in the center of the room blinked and an image of Chairman
Quincy appeared, looking down on them gravely. "Larsen, Madigan, report."
"Sir, we believe Mr. Kelly has allied himself with outside elements to
arrange this disaster. We were just about to deal with him."
Quincy's larger-than-life image nodded. "Very good. Do everything in
your power to contain this problem. Remember, GENOM is a respectable company.
It is regrettable that one of own has caused this fiasco." His tone carried
the weight of a death sentence.
"Understood, sir." Madigan said quietly. Largo simply nodded his
acknowledgment, his eyes showing only a glimmer of his hatred for the man
whose image floated before him. Quincy seemed not to notice as him image
disappeared.
Largo placed his hand flat against the console before him. "I don't
suppose you have any special skills to help in this?" he asked.
Madigan smiled slightly. "A few. And you?"
"A few," Largo repeated with a similar smile. "It seems the time for
secrets is passed."
Madigan nodded. She rolled up the sleeve of her left arm, baring it to
the elbow, before Largo's puzzled gaze. Then, without glancing at him, she
tapped a section of her forearm.
The skin fell open, as if on a hinge, revealing a cyberlimb of
incredible complexity.
While Largo examined it, she spoke. "Over 95% of my body is cybernetic,
built along the lines of the old 33-S boomers." Her voice was flat, without
inflection, but he could sense subtle currents of emotion beneath it. "My
brain is about all that's left of my original body, and it has been enhanced
considerably by microprocessors." Two thin cable snaked their way out of her
arm and she deftly hooked them into the IO ports of her console. "I think I
can take on Kelly."
"WE can take on Kelly," Largo said. His hand flexed, digging though the
thin metal skin of his console, fusing his systems with it. It was Madigan's
turn to watch in amazement as Largo made the computer a part of his system.
"Do you trust me?" he asked, reaching out his hand to her. His skin and hair
changed color, become reversed images of their usual shades.
Without hesitation, she took his off-green hand in her own. There was a
staccato flicker in her vision as their systems connected.
And then she was lost in the entity known as Largo. Images buffeted
her, flowing by so quickly they seemed to make little sense until she asserted
herself, making them slow. She saw Brian J. Mason kill Katsuhito Stingray
and, in turn, be killed by the scientist's daughter. She saw part of the
GENOM executive survive and swear revenge, revenge that led the new
hyperboomer to the summit of GENOM Tower, to face her and the Chairman. She
tasted the defeat there, like ashes in her mouth, his revival months later,
and the even more shameful defeat at the Fusion Reactor. She could see the
ambitions and passions driving him, and the cold logic that fed his dreams.
Man was weak and flawed. Cyberdroids were limited. Only in their fusion
could true greatness be achieved.
Largo, for his part, saw the young woman that had been Kate Madigan.
Driven by ambition and the need to overcome any challenge, she had rocketed up
the ladder of success, ruining her competitors and letting no one stand
between her and her goals. Her flesh and blood had been cold-bloodedly
sacrificed on the altar of ambition when it became a nuisance. He saw her
meet Quincy and felt her fierce loyalty to the idea of GENOM, which Quincy had
seemed to symbolize. Power and control in one package.
They pulled back out of their link and looked at each other.
"Yes, I trust you," Madigan said, stepping closer.
"Let us go and deal with Mr. Kelly, then," Largo said. Just before he
plunged them into the net, he proved he had not forgotten everything about
being flesh and blood. He drew her into a kiss, which she accepted eagerly,
her cold mouth pressed against his. And then they were in the net.
*****
"What do you mean, Sylia's GONE?" Priss yelled. The truck she was
driving swerved across the road, clipping a foolish nighttime driver and
sending him off into the shoulder. What was he thinking, driving on his side
of the road without watching for Priss?
"Watchtheroad! Watchtheroad!" Nene screeched.
"Why didn't you look for her, Miss Brains, huh? She could be hurt out
there!"
"I looked!" Nene protested. "There was no sign of her transponder. If
her suit was intact, I would have found it!"
"But to just leave--!"
"These things are tearing up the city! What were we supposed to do?"
Priss glared at her fellow Knight Sabers, but had to concede the point.
"OK," she growled at last, "but I ain't convinced Sylia's gone, not by a long
shot."
"What are we going to do now?" Nene asked.
"What are you asking me for?"
"Well, aren't you in charge?"
Priss started to laugh at the idea. Her, in charge of a group? Hell,
she didn't even take orders well, what good would she be at giving them? But
the laugh died when she realized she was the one with the most combat
experience there. Without Sylia or Linna, there was no one else the job could
have fallen to. Damn it all.
"Shit!"
"Priss?"
"OK, OK, I'm in charge! Goddamn it all to hell."
"So, what ARE we going to do?" Reika asked, popping some aspirin she had
found in the first aid kit to help her bruises.
"I brought the Typhoon II Motoslaves," Priss said with a grin. "They
should help out against those monsters, no sweat."
"The Typhoons?" Nene said with a slight quaver in her voice.
"Priss, I haven't trained yet in the Motoslaves. I've barely got a
handle on this suit!" Reika protested.
There was a brief pause.
"Oh, shit."
*****
At last, they had reached the Tower.
Milly let a slow smile cross her face as she looked up at the monolithic
structure. The last time she had been here seemed like a lifetime ago. In a
sense, it was a lifetime ago.
"Hey, Boss! What's going on there?" Jackson's voice crackled over her
speaker.
She looked more closely at the Tower's base and saw that something was
not right. It looked like a metallic fungus was growing across the face of
the arcology. At spots, the skin of the Tower had burst open like festering
boils and spewed forth writhing metallic tentacles that covered everything.
"It looks like a Fusion Boomer or two is at work, but why would they
assimilate their own building?" Dora asked, confused.
"Can I shoot it?" Max, as ever, was unconcerned with the big picture,
except to see how many holes he could put in it.
"Well, it seems someone else is causing some trouble for GENOM tonight.
It will make our job easier. Griffons, prepare to--"
"KNIGHT SABERS, GO!"
The shout was electronically amplified and easily heard. It was meant
to be heard, a challenge thrown down at their feet. As one, the Griffons
turned.
Behind them stood three robotic knights in shining armor. The lead one
was primarily blue and gold in color, sporting a large hand gun that it
leveled at the four remaining Griffons. Slightly behind it stood two
identical figures, though one was red and pink, and the other green and gold.
Though the height of technological sophistication, they looked as ludricous
arrayed against the Griffons as the ADPolice armored suits, standing only as
high as the Griffons' thighs.
Milly activated her external speakers. "Ah, I was wondering if any of
you had survived." She paused and cocked her Griffon's head as it looked at
them. "Oops, sorry, it looks like one hasn't. Your friend was the victim of
a satellite blast, I'm _so_ sorry to say."
"BASTARD!" the blue and gold one yelled, opening up with her Motoslave's
35mm handgun. As she emptied her clip at the Griffons, they scattered. The
lead one, the one which had taunted her, launched several missiles from its
shoulder-mounted pods. The missiles burst between the Griffons and the Knight
Sabers, blanketing the area with heavy smoke.
"Jackson," Milly said over their private comm link, "keep the Knight
Sabers busy while I go for the Objective."
"Right, boss. Good luck."
"I make my own luck," she said, then turned her Griffon towards the
Tower.
"BASTARD!" Priss yelled, emptying her handgun at the Griffons. Part of
her was screaming for Linna, another part was screaming in rage at the monster
taunting her and her friends. She wanted that person's blood. The redness
crept into her vision, but she rose above it, channeling it into something
useful.
The Griffons played it sneaky, however, covering the battlefield with
dense white smoke. There was more to it than ordinary smoke, since it
reflected her radar returns as well, but she was beyond caring.
"Come on, let's go get them!" Priss yelled. She activated the jets on
her Typhoon and shot up into the sky. Behind her, the others did the same.
It was well that they did, for the Griffons came lumbering out of the
smoke at that moment. The lead Griffon saw them flying overhead and
immediately lifted both arms toward them, opening up with the forearm-mounted
machine-guns and energy weapons. Armor-piercing rounds and brilliant beams of
light shot up, only to be dodged by the nimble smaller mechas.
The green and gold Motoslave swooped down towards the Griffons. Inside
it, Reika gritted her teeth against the G-forces as she barreled toward the
monster mech.
"Reika, pull up! What do you think you're doing?" Priss yelled over
their communications net. She tried to take some shots at the other Griffons,
who were now leaving the cloud, but she had emptied the clip and she wondered
if her rage was going to cost her a new friend.
But Reika knew what she was doing. She waited until the AI on the
Motoslave, Linna's Motoslave, told her the time was right, and then pulled up
hard on the flight controls. The Motoslave barreled towards the lead Griffon,
dodging its fire, and then, at the last moment, swooped upwards. Its right
foot caught the Griffon in the head, smashing the delicate sensors held there.
"SHIT!" Jackson swore as most of his displays died. "Dora, hook your
sensor feed up with my mech, now!"
"Gotcha, Jackson!"
"All right, let's kill some people!" Max crowed, and let loose with what
few missiles he had left from their engagements with the ADPolice. Jackson
was surprised he had any, but Max had obviously been hoping to unload a few
onto GENOM.
The missiles spiraled toward the hovering pink and red mech. It didn't
seem to notice them at first, but then began a frantic series of dodges.
Jackson thought the pattern looked familiar, then realized that it was similar
to some of the evasive patterns used by the mech that had blinded him. He
punched his evaluation into his battle computer.
"Dora, Max! They're using some sort of computer-operated defense
pattern!" he shouted into the comm. His battle computer flashed a solution to
him. "I'm downloading a firing pattern to you now!"
"Roger!" Dora shot back.
"What?" Max said.
"Fuck! What made you try that, Reika?" Priss yelled.
"But Priss, it's not too different from what you've--"
"Not NOW, Nene!"
The job of leader was not what it's cracked up to be, Priss thought to
herself.
The Griffons took away any further chance for ruminations with a hail of
fire. All three of them were shooting like there was no tomorrow. At least
there were no more missiles.
She and Reika dodged around the shots manually and were ignored by the
shots. Nene merely had the Motoslave's AI handle it while she did what she
could to the Griffon's targeting systems. The Griffon's battle AIs saw the
pattern they had been programmed to look for.
Hence, Nene was caught off guard when the Griffons fired their missiles
at her, homing right in on her Motoslave, ignoring her evasions. The
explosion lit up the night sky with a brilliant flash.
*****
Together, Largo and Madigan fell into the GENOM computer system. The VR
environment was already suffering from the Fusion Boomers assault. The icons
were fuzzy and indistinct as more and more of the Tower fell to rogue boomers.
It was ironic, Largo thought, that he had to fight humans and boomers
trying to do what he had always dreamed off. But this attempt was doomed to
failure. It was a distraction, that was all, for an attempt by other humans
to take over GENOM. Too much of the Tower's vital systems were fusion
resistant for the Boomers to succeed, no matter how much damage they did.
Besides, Largo would rather HE be the one to wrest GENOM from Quincy.
They arrived at level six, the deepest level of GENOM's security net,
sure that they would find their quarry there. The level appeared empty and
featureless, all icons hidden and cloaked by cipher programs that were
constantly updated by programmers and security boomers. No unauthorized
access had ever been made on level six.
"Kelly!" Largo called out, his icon appearing as his "Larsen" persona.
"We know you're behind this. It's no use trying to hide."
Madigan stood beside him, her icon's hand linked with his, just as their
bodies were linked in the real world through his fusion systems. "We know all
about SCHAFT and the Griffons, Kelly. You've lost."
A GENOM Security Daemon appeared before them, but they could tell
immediately it was not an ordinary Daemon. It's resolution was too good, and
the flaming katana it held was no ordinary security program. Also, a silver
cable stretched out behind it, linking it, the two special assistants could
see, to the Fusion Boomers assimilating the Tower.
"LOST?" the Daemon shouted, in Kelley's unmistakable voice. "IT IS YOU
WHO HAVE LOST! I DON'T NEED SCHAFT ANYMORE, NOT WITH THIS!" Kelly brandished
the katana which crackled with the power the boomers stole for him. "ONCE I
ACCESS THE OMS FILE, I WILL HAVE ALL I NEED!"
Largo and Madigan shared a worried thought through their link. Kelly
had discovered the OMS, the most secret file in all of GENOM. Its security
almost resembled a whole new level in its complexity. Just finding it was a
monumental feat. Could Kelly actually access it?
"We can't allow that, Kelly," Largo said. Nothing more need be said.
"WHO SAYS YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ALLOW ANYTHING?" The katana slashed down
at them, forcing them to leap backward. "I'M SICK OF ALL OF YOU! I'M
-BETTER- THAN ALL OF YOU! BUT YOUR FUCKING JAPANESE PREJUDICES AND ARROGANCE
MAKE YOU SO CERTAIN THAT NO 'GAIJIN' COULD POSSIBLY BE AS GOOD!" Kelly was
ranting now, punctuating every phrase with a sweep of his sword.
Largo and Madigan kept moving back, avoiding the sword with well timed
acrobatic leaps. They did not let go of each other hands--in fact, they could
not, as it was a symbol of their link. Largo's cybernetic systems analyzed
Kelly's sword program and oversaw their defense while Madigan's human brain
sought a means of counterattack, using its unique ability to analyze and
intuit patterns.
There, she said over the link. When he attacks, he draws from the
shields on his link to the boomers. If we can sever that, he will lose
control over them and of their power.
How can we do that while he's keeping us on the defensive? Largo thought
back.
We have to sever the link and make him think he did it.
Largo barely received that thought when Madigan went into action. As
Kelly launched his next attack, she swung their linked hands toward the sword.
It sliced through their icons, sending howling waves of feedback through both
their systems. Largo had not felt such agony since his disastrous battle on
top of the Tower, when the Knight Saber known as Priss had destroyed his arm.
Even though the damage was only symbolic, it felt the same.
Madigan screamed and lightning crackled all over her icon. Largo felt
an involuntary howl growing in his throat as her icon began to derezz.
Whatever her plan, the fury of Kelly's attack had been too much. At the
least, her systems were fried. At worst, permanent brain damage had been
done.
There were no words. Kelly did not deserve such. Largo merely readied
his most powerful attacks and unleashed them at Kelly, with attacks that
visually resembled his gravity blasts. They slammed into an invisible shield
around the Security Daemon.
Kelly laughed and raised his sword. "AND NOW, YOU DIE!" The sword
fell.
"Bye-bye, Gaijin" came another voice.
Behind Kelly's Security Daemon, Madigan's fuzzy icon suddenly firmed
back into full detail and produced a handgun-shaped icon. She fired, directly
at the base of the silver cord attached to Kelly's icon. With a small
explosion, the cord severed.
Kelly screamed, his scream echoed outside the net, in the real world, by
the Fusion Boomers who had attacked GENOM. The virtual light on level six
dimmed and flickered as the OMS awakened. Still imperfect, still being
refined, it was yet a vessel of awesome power. The three programmer icons
could only watch in awe as its might flashed out like a bolt of flame down the
silver wire. It shriveled as it burned, but the OMS was not to be denied.
The Fusion Boomers outside screamed again, this time the despairing scream, as
their brains fried inside their skulls.
Kelly recovered first. He staggered and twitched helplessly as he
stumbled, but he still made his way toward the OMS, which flickered and spat
lightning fitfully, returning to its sleep.
"Kelly, stop!" Largo called out.
"It's... mine!" Kelly screamed, reaching into the OMS. The security
programs reacted to his touch, eating at his icon as acid would. Still, Kelly
manage a triumphant laugh, his voice hollow sounding as the OMS ate away at
-him.- "So... much... power..." he croaked. "So vulnerable..." The laugh
died. "It's... killing me... but it's... vulnerable..." His icon died,
vanishing from sight.
Largo stood over the place Kelly had stood. Madigan came and stood
behind him.
"I'm sorry if I took you by surprise... Kelly was growing stronger the
longer the Fusion Boomers were at work. We had no time to waste."
"It's immaterial," Largo replied, absently studying what he could see of
the OMS. "Your plan worked, and success is all the matters." He paused and
looked at her. "I am... gratified that you succeeded."
She actually smiled at that, then turned more serious. "Did Kelly harm
the OMS?"
"I don't think so, but something is different. The security programs
seem intact, however. It's still inviolate."
"Perhaps... he did something in the real world?"
Largo spun on her. "Of course!"
*****
Milly piloted her Griffon into one of GENOM's loading docks, turning her
weapons on the massive steel doors. They broke easily under her onslaught.
She shuddered slightly as she once again entered the halls of GENOM, but
stamped down on the feeling. She was beyond that sort of thing now. She
could not repress a small sigh as she put her Griffon on automatic. She would
miss it, the giant mecha of mass destruction that had given her the power to
bring GENOM down. But it had served its purpose, and she had learned all too
well what happened to tools which had served their purpose.
"Good luck, boy," she whispered, slipping off it. She now wore a GENOM
jumpsuit, identical to the sort worn by the common workers of GENOM. She
checked to make sure that she had her handgun and knife ready, and she started
off.
*****
"It's no good," Madigan repeated. "The Fusion Boomers assimilated most
of our boomers, and our other security forces are spread too thin."
The two had returned to the real world, and they were studying the
situation on the threat boards.
"Kelly HAD to have sabotage the physical security around the OMS
somehow. We have to guard it from someone from SCHAFT getting to it!"
"Well, the Griffons are fighting the Knight Sabers now, so I don't see
who else we could call upon for help..."
"The Knight Sabers? Let me see it."
An image of the battle flashed on the screen. Three Griffons facing two
hardsuits in Motoslaves. Largo's eyes narrowed as he noted that Sylia's
silver and blue colors were nowhere to be seen.
"They've taken some losses... or some of them were missing."
"There were only three of them to begin with in this attack. The third
one was a rather garish pink, I believe. It was destroyed early on."
Largo nodded, remembering that one of the Knight Sabers, the one with
the pink hardsuit, was notoriously slow at combat. He knew what to do, then.
He closed his eyes, and activated his personal commlink, sending it on a
specific carrier wave, using ancient codes that had been devised long ago by
Katsuhito Stingray.
-Sylia,- he called. -Sylia Stingray.-
*****
The fight was going badly.
Priss and Vision pounded at the Griffons with everything they had, but
the mechs sheer size worked against them. They could buzz around the giants
like flies, but their weapons had about as much effect as a bee's sting. They
could leave holes in the Griffon's armor, but there was too much armor and not
enough vital points. The Griffons did a better job of guarding their sensors,
too, preventing a repeat of Reika's initial coup.
"Dammit!" Priss screamed. "Jam their targeting sensors!"
"I'm trying!" Nene screamed back. She sat in the back of the van,
trying to coordinate her efforts with its equipment, but losing her Motoslave,
which she had been flying by remote, left her at one remove from the field.
She didn't dare bring the truck within sight of battle for fear the Griffons
would realize what it was there for and blow her up as easily as they blew up
her Motoslave. She was making do with what information Reika and Priss could
spare from their AIs, but it wasn't as good.
A sensor alarm went off. "Priss, we've got three... no, SIX vehicles
approaching, and three of them are HUGE!"
"ADPolice?" Priss asked, in between dodges.
"No, they don't match ADPolice profiles--" She broke off. "Here they
come!"
The vehicles squealed around the curve in the road, coming toward the
battlefield far faster than seemed safe for their bulk. The lead three
vehicles were actually quite tiny, but the three that followed them took up
the entire road, looking like oversized tractor trailers. Sirens wailed and
lights flashed, leaving no doubt to the nature of the vehicles, if their white
and black coloration wasn't enough.
The battle stopped, the participants distracted by the newcomers. As
they watched, the large vehicles spun around and came to a stop. The three
smaller vehicles also stopped in front of the larger.
In the silence came the crackle of an loudspeaker, and a voice came over
it from the center small car. "Attention Griffons, this is Chief Kiichi Goto.
We are a duly deputized force with the authority to arrest you for the
incidents at the GENOM Distribution Center and GPCC Construction Sites.
Please shut down your vehicles and disembark at once!"
The Griffon's answer was best summed up by Max, who let loose a stream
of machine gun shells at the little car. It hurriedly backed away as the
pavement in front of it exploded.
The response was totally unexpected. From each of the large vehicles,
large hydraulic legs shot out and clamped down on the pavement. Then, with a
whine of old hydraulics, the payload beds of the huge trailers began to rise.
Lying on the beds, like bodies on a slab, were three giant mechs, easily the
size of the three Griffons. Red lights on their shoulders began to flash,
making them stand out starkly in the night.
The Ingram Patlabors, the last of their breed, had arrived.
One of them, with a large number "3" on its shoulders, stepped forward
cockily. "This is Inspector McNichol of the ADPolice! Your rampage ends
NOW!"
"Oh, shit..." Priss muttered.
*****
-Sylia. Sylia Stingray.-
The voice came from a long way off, slowly piercing through the layers
of darkness that separated her from reality. Pain came with the voice as she
struggled toward consciousness. Her entire body ached and felt like it was
held together by only the most fragile of connections.
She opened her eyes and tried to will the landscape to stop spinning.
The last thing she remembered was a long fiery plunge, riding the KnightWing
down to its end, the emergency ejection seat only functioning at the last
moment, a short flight followed by a hard landing, and then nothing.
-Sylia.-
That voice... it seemed familiar. It was coming over her helmet
commlink. As her vision steadied, she checked the identifier and froze. She
had only see that identifier three times before, and the man who had used it
was dead, twice over.
-Sylia, the OMS is vulnerable. It MUST be protected.- A download
followed, showing the exact physical location of the GENOM Holy Grail. She
gasped, despite the pain that sent through her head. To reveal this to her,
things must be desperate.
-Imagine what things would be like if the terrorists got their hands on
this, Sylia... you don't want that anymore than we do.-
Sylia tried to move and groaned as fresh pains shot though her left hip.
It felt like it was broken and she could feel shock setting in. She was
bleeding, she could also tell, and pretty badly. Her hardsuit was moderately
damaged, but the first aid center was still working. It injected pain-killers
and quick healing agents. The pain receded. She thought again of making this
automatic for her suit, like it was for the others, but she trusted her own
judgment too much to place something like that in the hands of a machine.
Slowly, trying to make herself more comfortable, she activated her
comm-system. "Saber One to Saber Team, come in."
*****
"Saber One to Saber Team, come in."
"Sylia, is that you?" Priss shouted into her comm-system.
"Priss? You're back? What's your situation?"
Priss looked around. The Griffons and Patlabors were in a tense
stand-off, each uncertain of the others exact threat. But at least two of
them, one on each side, seemed itching for a fight, and LEON was piloting one
of the Patlabors, which filled her with no end of confidence.
"Um, well, it's relatively stable, I'd say. What's YOUR situation?"
"I'm hurt, but OK for now. It's not important."
Bullshit, Priss thought, she could hear Sylia's voice growing fainter as
she spoke.
"Sylia, give me your position, your transponder is out, we can't
pinpoint you by it."
"It's not important... listen, Priss... Terrorists are after... the
OMS." You have to stop them, or millions will... suffer." Following this was
a download of a location in GENOM Tower. Priss barely glanced at it.
"Sylia, you have to give me your location!"
"Hurry, Priss..." Sylia fell silent.
"Sylia!!" Priss cursed and switched channels to Nene. "Nene, can you
pinpoint her location?"
"Just a moment, Priss... yes, she's still transmitting. I'm narrowing
it down... DARN! Lost the signal."
"Did you get her location or not, dammit?"
"Um, well, within 50 meters or so..."
"Good, take Reika and get her."
"Where are you going, Priss?"
"I have something to take care of in the Tower."
With that, Priss activated the jets on her Motoslave and rocketed
towards the nearest loading dock.
Goto, Asuma, and Decker hovered around their command cars, watching the
Patlabors and Griffons stand off.
"Man, I ain't seen things so tense since that fucking 'cease-fire' in
Korea," Decker cursed.
"You and me both," Kaz said. "How much longer is this going to go on?"
"Not much longer," Goto said.
"THEY"RE NOT GOING TO SURRENDER. EAT HOT PLASMA, CRIMINALS!" came
Ohta's voice from the loudspeaker of the Patlabor with the large number "2" on
it. His labor, in a smooth economical motion, pumped the action of his
gigantic pulse rifle and fired it at the Griffons.
They dodge it, of course. The blue-white flash of energy that came from
the muzzle rocketed out, the reaction forcing even his massive mech back a
half-step. It slammed into the side of the Tower, tearing a gigantic hole
through the remains of the Fusion Boomer rampage.
"OHTA, YOU MORON!" came Noa's voice from the last Patlabor, the one
marked with a number "1" and the name "Alphonse."
The Griffons evinced a whole new level of speed in dealing with the
Patlabors. Against boomers and ADPolice armor, they had only needed their
strength and size, but when finally faced with something their own size, the
Griffons had to fall back on the trademark of the original: Speed. They
rushed the Patlabors, coming from three sides, moving almost too fast to be
seen.
Noa and Leon tried to bring their rifles to bear, but the Griffons were
upon them before they could fire. There was a loud crunch as the mechs
collided.
Inside his Patlabor, Leon cursed. The controls weren't that different
from the ADPolice Armor (which made sense, since the ADP armor was a
descendent of this original design) but he had no experience with driving
something this big. He was here as a warm body and because he felt that
someone should represent the ADPolice in this fight. He flailed backwards,
trying to keep his mech upright. Then he checked for damage.
There was none. Looking over to one side, he saw the Griffon that had
hit him looking in shock at a mangled arm.
"I don't get it," he muttered. "What happened?"
"Noa, Ohta, Leon, it seems that the Griffon's armor is made out of
modern composites... not as strong as the Ingram armor. Try to close in
hand-to-hand with them." Goto said over their comm network. Faintly, Leon
could hear Asuma talking to Noa over his personal line.
The Patlabors always deployed with a the Forward, the mech unit itself,
and the Backup, someone in the command car at the site who could take a more
strategic view of the battlefield. Goto, Shige, and Asuma were filling these
roles for them now.
"Damn, what are those things made of?" Max groused.
"Looks like its steel-based," Jackson replied. "Our armor is designed
to deal with particle beams and fusion attacks. We weren't supposed to meet
up with something like this."
"So what do we do now?" Dora asked.
"We still have the edge in speed, let's use it! Scatter!" Jackson
threw his mech into sudden motion, heading for the number 3 mech. Max went
after the gun-wielding lunatic in the number 2, and Dora went after number 1.
"Aim for the sensitive areas, like joints and sensors... maybe we can cripple
them!"
*****
Priss landed before the GENOM loading dock. Something had already been
here and blown a huge hole in the gates.
"I guess this is where the other Griffon went." Priss said, disengaging
from her Motoslave. Its AI went on automatic immediately, alert for any
threats. "OK, boy, you go first." I must be getting old, Priss thought to
herself. I'm getting CAUTIOUS.
The caution paid off. Deep in the shadows of the loading bay, a red
light flashed. With no other warning, Griffon-1 launched itself at the
Motoslave, its guns blazing. In response, the Motoslave raised its shield,
but the bullets and shells blew it backward slightly.
"Bastard!" Priss yelled, launching herself in the air. She hovered for
a moment above her Motoslave and swung out her railgun. With a sharp SNAP!
and discharge of ozone, she sent a spike right toward its sensor array. The
Griffon covered its face with its hands, blocking the hypervelocity missile.
Shocked, Priss dropped back down behind the shield of her Motoslave, which was
now taking pots shots at the Griffon with its 35mm handgun. It hit, but just
pitted the armor covering the Griffon's chest and arms.
Damn, I hope it doesn't have any missiles left, Priss thought.
The missiles launched a second later, of course.
Damn! OK, God, DON'T do me any favors, why don't you?
The first missiles slammed into her Motoslave's shield, detonating and
destroying it utterly. The next one hit the mech in the chest and smashed on
through, shattering its spine and blowing it backward like a rag doll. Priss
readied herself to try and dodge the onslaught.
Suddenly, a great roaring sound hit her ears, making her stagger. The
sound crashed past her like a wave, and she was vaguely aware that she was
only catching the slightest part of that wave. A red and black figure stood
beside her, arms outstretched, the sound pouring out of a chest-mounted
emitter that had previously been hidden by panels of armor. The panels had
swung aside, not unlike a boomer heat beam's shielding, to allow the weapon to
fire.
The wall of sound hit the missiles and they all went up in a massive
explosion. Priss shielded her head with her arms as the blast and shrapnel
washed over her. Then she turned on her rescuer.
"Vision! What are YOU doing here? I told Nene to take you with her!"
Reika closed the panels on her chest. "And I decided you needed my help
more than she did." She and Priss ducked outside the loading bay, out of
sight of the Griffon. It chose not to follow. "I may be the rookie,
Priss-san, but I know better than to go alone into the heart of enemy
territory."
"What the hell did you use, anyway?"
"New sonic weapon Sylia made up. She apparently thought it was
appropriate for me. So, what are we going to do?"
"Where's your Motoslave?"
"I left it on auto between here and the fight. It might be able to slow
down the Griffons if they get past the police. Do you think we'll need it?"
Priss just gave Reika a look which was unfortunately lost behind her
visor. "You have any other way to take out eight-meter-tall mechs?"
"As a matter of fact..."
*****
The three Ingram Patlabors fell into a defensive huddle, keeping their
backs to each other, denying the Griffons a chance to split them up and defeat
them in detail.
"Take THIS!" Ohta yelled, firing another shot at the evasive Griffons.
"And THIS! ANDTHISANDTHISANDTHIS!!!"
"Ohta! Stop wasting ammunition!" Asuma shouted, but he could hardly
hear himself think over the constant roar of the pulse rifle.
Leon and Noa were more cautious, trying to wait for a good shot. The
Griffons tried several times to close with them, but were driven off by the
pulse rifles each time. The impasse was not going to last, however.
Jackson reached a decision. "Dora, Max... prepare to feint toward the
city. If we look like we're escaping, they'll have to come after us."
The Griffons broke off their harrying of the Ingrams and sprinted for
the city streets.
Only to be stopped by something standing in their way.
In the middle of the street, sways slightly like a punch-drunk fighter,
its armor scored and crumpled with damage, stood Griffon-4.
"Looks like the traitor doesn't know when to quit!" Dora sneered.
Griffon-5 jumped forward, arms outstretched to take on its former teammate.
"Dora! She's not worth it!" Jackson yelled, to no avail. His threat
monitor wailed and he spun around. The Ingrams were closing, led by that
gun-wielding maniac. "Damn! Max, can you handle both #2 and #3? They seemed
to be the less skillful ones. I'll take on #1."
"Gotcha! Prepare to die, assholes!" Max raised his arms and let out a
stream of cannon fire at the Ingrams. Number 2, as was typical, stopped and
raised his pulse rifle.
Jackson headed off the #1 Ingram. It still held its pulse rifles close
against its chest, not even unlimbering it to have ready. He hoped to sweep
by it on one side and try and incapacitate its sensors.
He never got close. Noa dropped her pulse rifle and swung her old
baton, which she had hidden behind the weapon's bulk. Moving swiftly, she
caught the Griffon alongside its head, shearing it clear off. The decapitated
stump sparked and sizzled fitfully as the giant mech reeled backward. She
followed it up with a spinning wheel kick, her Ingram moving as smoothly and
certainly as any human, catching the black and grey mech in its side. There
was a dull crunch as armor buckled and tore beneath the hit. Jackson's
Griffon stumbled and fell to its knees. With a little side-step, Noa got
behind it and raised her baton high, bringing it down in a underhand sweeping
motion to thrust it into the Griffon's spine. Its back broken, the terror
mech slumped down, lying still.
Max, Ohta, and Leon faced each other tensely for a moment, then Max
spoke, using his loudspeakers. "Think you're a big man with that gun, don't
you, cop? Do you think you're faster than I am?" In an almost comical
gesture, the Griffon stood like a Western gunslinger, hands twitching at its
waist, its forearm cannon gleaming.
"Is that a challenge, punk?" Ohta screamed back.
"Um, is this really a good idea?" Leon offered.
"Ohta, you moron! Just shoot him!" Asuma yelled, a little less
restrained. Beside him, Goto lit a cigarette and just smiled.
"Shut up, Shinohara! This is a challenge between men! McNichol, don't
interfere!" Ohta barked.
"Whatever...." Leon said, backing off. He looked around for Priss, just
to make sure she was OK and became alarmed when he realized he couldn't see
her anywhere. If she had gone off somewhere and gotten into trouble. He
immediately went looking for her.
Ohta slung his pulse rifle behind his mech's back and stood before Max.
"Draw, criminal!" Ohta yelled, focusing his anger, his rage on his opponent.
Long ago, Ohta had found a talent that no one else had ever apparently
possessed before, the ability to focus his near-constant anger into a Zen-like
state of enhanced concentration and control. He now focused that
concentration on his opponent.
Max pulled back on his controls to raise his arms and fire.
Ohta's Ingram shot out its right hand, down to its calf, which popped
open to reveal a large, perfectly scaled, handgun. In one fluid motion, he
grabbed it and brought it up. Before Max's arm even reached chest level, a
single shot blew the Griffon's head off. The second, hitting the chest plate
square on, tore through the armor and entered the pilot's compartment, killing
Max instantly (and messily.) The third and fourth shots smashed the hip
joints, causing the terror mech to slump to the ground.
"Yes! Take that you low-life scum! I LOVE SABOTS!" Ohta screamed,
laughing maniacally. Unlimbering his pulse rifle he ran maniacally over to
the Griffon and began pumping it full of point-blank plasma again and again,
screaming epithets the entire time.
"Is he always like that?" Decker asked Goto, back at the command cars.
"I took him off his medication today. It may not have been a good
idea." Goto replied.
"Bitch!" Dora screamed at Linna, launching her Griffon at the Knight
Saber. The two mechs collided loudly. Linna scrambled with her controls as
she toppled over backwards, trying to regain her balance. Dora was on her in
a flash, her Griffon standing over the fallen mech. She raised her foot to
bring it crashing down on Linna's chest armor.
Linna made sure she was there to meet it. Rolling desperately to one
side, she got her Griffon out of danger and struggled to her feet. Dora was
after her too quickly for that, however, and Griffon-4 got kicked in the face,
sending it back into a building, smashing the storefront.
"You should have stayed dead, bitch. Now I have to get my hands dirty.
I didn't want to do that, but Milly will forgive me for killing a traitor."
The terrorist's voice got ugly with hate. "I don't know what she saw in you,
anyway!" Griffon-5 began to pummel the nearly helpless mech. "You don't love
her! I do!" she screamed as her fists smashed into Griffon-4's head and
chest.
Linna tried to raise one of her mech's arms to protect herself. Dora
grabbed on to and began to pull. There was a screech of metal and then the
arm came off in Griffon-5's hands.
Dora looked at it dumbly for a moment, giving Linna the chance to
scramble out from underneath the Griffon and get to her feet. She took
several deep breaths. "Focus, Linna," she muttered. Her Griffon was hurt bad
and the loss of the arm was crippling. What chance did she have against Dora?
Then, as if he was right there beside her, she heard her father's voice.
He had been explaining armed vs. unarmed combat to her in the dojo.
"The armed opponent has an advantage, usually in strength and reach, but they
can still be taken out, no matter how fearsome their weapon. They can be
disarmed. You may have to take a hit or two to get close, but once you are
there, the unarmed fighter has the advantage."
"What if you are the one with the weapon, Father?" Linna has asked.
"An unarmed fighter cannot be disarmed because her weapon is a part of
them. The armed fighter must make her weapon a part of them, an extension of
their body. Then, they cannot be disarmed." Her father had smiled then, "At
least not unless you opponent is very good."
"And if I am so badly outclassed? What can I do then, Father? If I
have no choice but to fight?"
"Linna-chan, let me tell you a story. There was once a tea ceremony
master who had been made a samurai by his lord. Now, he had no idea how to
use the swords, but he accepted them anyway. One day, he inadvertently
insulted a young warrior, who challenged him to a fight. Panicked, the tea
master went to a swordsman, asking for training. In response, the swordsman
asked the tea master to prepare some tea. He did so, his movements done
easily and swiftly, with no thought required. The swordsman told him then to
imagine that the sword was like his tea ladle, something that the tea master
was used to and familiar with from long practice. If the tea master could
reach the same state of calm non-thinking, and if he held his sword high and
attacked at the same time as the young warrior, he might at least take his
opponent with him. The tea master did this, and when the young warrior saw
the look in his eyes, his acceptance of death, then he backed down, and did
not fight the tea master. Now, your enemy will not always back down, but you
can still defeat him, if you are willing to pay the price."
Linna slowed her breathing, calming herself. Mentally, she said a small
prayer of thanks to her father's spirit for his teachings, and prepared
herself. She stopped thinking of her Griffon as a machine, a device, but
rather saw it as herself, facing Dora in hand-to-hand combat.
Griffon-5 stood up and tossed aside Griffon-4's arm contemptuously.
"This ends NOW, traitor," Dora hissed over the comm system.
Linna made no reply. Her Griffon just stood there, awaiting her
opponent's attack. Inside the cockpit, one of her hands stood poised over a
shielded switch.
Griffon-5 charged Griffon-4, its hands outstretched to grab the chest
plate and tear it off.
Griffon-4 spun around at the last moment and began to run. Dora crowed
in triumph at her foe's cowardice. Her Griffon grabbed the other, snagging
its remaining arm, then putting it into a half-nelson. "Now, I'm going to
tear you in two, bitch!" Dora hissed.
Linna uncovered the shielded switch and hit it. Alarms began to ring
inside her cockpit and red lights glared. She paid them no mind but instead
reached down between her feet and pulled at a yellow and black cord.
Dora got five more seconds to gloat, then the hatch above Griffon-4's
cockpit blew off and the pilot's seat shot through it up into the air. Five
seconds after that, the self-destruct charges SCHAFT had designed into the
Griffons, the ones meant to hide their involvement in case capture was
imminent, went off, enveloping Griffon-4 and Griffon-5 in a ball of flame.
Linna saw the flash and then the shockwave hit, sending her chair
tumbling through the air. A building loomed suddenly before her as she spun
around wildly. She braced for the impact--
--and a giant white hand caught her as gently as an outfielder's glove
catching a pop fly. It was still a rough stop, and Linna couldn't help but
scream as she felt her left shoulder dislocate in a blaze of agony, but it was
better than smashing into the side of a building. Looking up, she saw one of
the giant black and white mechs was holding her. The pilot, a little old lady
with russet-colored hair
"Sorry I couldn't get here sooner," she said with a smile. "But I guess
I got here in time."
*****
The Griffon in the loading bay watched the entrances with the patience
only a machine could muster. It had been instructed to guard this point and
it would, until it received new orders. The SCHAFT AI was undismayed by its
diminished stores of ammo and missiles. It would fight until it was
destroyed, regardless.
Motion by the main entrance caught its sensors. Two figures in
hardsuits were rushing it. It brought up its cannon, but the targets jinked
and turned erratically, not giving it any pattern to anticipate.
The hardsuited warriors approached to within point-blank range. Then
Priss leaped high into the air, the jets on her back firing to give her extra
altitude. While leaping, she unlimbered its railgun and began firing, taking
careful aim at the Griffon's sensors. Programmed to protect its delicate
'eyes,' the Griffon once again raised its arms to shield them.
As it did so, Reika ran forward and ducked between its legs. She spun
around almost instantly, a large, glowing blade extending from each wrist, and
slashed at the back of the Griffon's knees. The glowing blades sank into the
delicate joint assemblies easily, crippling the monster mech.
The Griffon fell forward, stopping its fall with its hands. As it did
so, Reika leaped up onto its back and scrambled to its head. Once there, she
began to plunge her blades into its delicate sensors.
"Get going, Priss! You're the only one who knows where this damn thing
is we're suppose to protect! I can hold this thing now!"
Priss wavered for a moment, then nodded and rocketed down the halls of
GENOM.
"Yeah, this will be a piece of cake," Reika muttered. At that moment,
as if to mock her words, the Griffon reached up blindly and managed to grab
one of her legs. She shrieked as it flung her off its head (now a mangled
wreck) and into one of the loading dock bays. The impact knocked the breath
out of her and left her senseless, barely aware of the scraping sound of metal
on concrete. The sound of the Griffon crawling towards her.
*****
Milly pried open another security door. When the disaster protocols had
been triggered, the doors had slammed down all over GENOM Tower, blocking
almost all access. However, to her surprise, the doors between her and her
objective were all unsealed and easy to open. She saw no guards and wasn't
too surprised. The Fusion Boomers had taken out most of the boomers, and the
humans were now safely locked up in survival shelters.
"Never look a gift horse in the mouth," she said as she easily forced
open another door, shoving the heavy steel assembly to one side. "But this is
too easy."
Suddenly, the doors opened onto a large room filled with computers, each
of them softly whirring and beeping as they went about some task. In the
center of the room, a large, horseshoe-shaped super-computer sat, cables
running from it to all the other machines. And, easily visible in the center
of the U, was a hand-sized block of molecular crystal, used for storage of
terabytes of data in an easily portable form. The OMS.
"At last," she breathed. She reached up and put her hand on the soft
humming pice of crystal. "At last, freedom."
Gently, she pulled at the crystal, working it loose from its socket. It
came free easily, darkening to opacity as it did so. The computers protested
with a high-pitched hum, which ran down to silence. One by one, they shut
down, as if she had pulled the plug on the entire set-up. In a way, she
thought with a grin, she had.
"Put it back."
She started at the unexpected, yet familiar vice from behind her. Her
hand twitched to her gun, but the menacing snap of a railgun capacitor
charging stopped her.
"None of that," Priss said, aiming her railgun at the terrorist's back.
"Now, turn around, slowly."
"I don't think you'd like that... Priss," Milly said.
Priss felt the blood drain from her face in shock. "How do you know--?"
she began to ask. Then the terrorist turned around and let Priss see her
face, a very familliar face, framed by vibrantly green hair. Its features
tended more towards cuteness than beauty, but with a particular elfin charm
that had attracted its share of admirers.
Priss's hand droped to her side and her knees nearly buckled. What she
was seeing was impossible, but somehow, one stangled word escaped her lips.
"A-Anri..."
"Hi, Priss," Anri said softly, mockingly. "Miss me? Gee, I guess not,
since you just LEFT me hear over a year ago!" The words flew like a railgun
spike at the Knight Saber, hitting deeply.
"I-I thought you were dead... like Sylvie. I thought Largo killed
you..."
"Oh, yes, that made everything so easy for you, didn't it? No loose
ends, no boomers for friends, no more complications." Anri's voice became
even more venomous as she stepped closer to Priss. "I should have expected
it, though... what further use did you have me? What further use did ANYONE
have for me? I was never more than a tool to you, to ANY of you!"
"T-that's not true! Sylvie--"
"DON'T YOU SAY HER NAME, MURDERER! YOU KILLED HER! WHAT RIGHT DO YOU
HAVE TO TALK ABOUT HER!" Anri's face was contorted by rage as she screamed at
Priss, lunging forward with the need to strike the focus of her rage. Priss
wince at her words and at the pain she could see in her old friend.
"Do you have any idea what I went through, Priss?" Anri asked, now only
three feet from the Knight Saber. "They threw me out with the TRASH! I was
just barely hanging onto life, and it took me almost six MONTHS to regenerate
my systems on Dream Island! I had to feed on the blood of RATS until I could
move enough to find humans, or be able to synthesize my own!" She was
screeching now. "I'VE SEE HELL BECAUSE OF YOU! And you can go to hell for
all I care!"
The last line was delivered very quietly, almost unheard by its
audience. But Anri suddenly had a knife in her hand, a variation on the laser
swords Sylia used in the hardsuits. Its edges gleamed as she suddenly plunged
it into the breastplate of Priss's hardsuit, its sharp point, driven by boomer
muscle, sliding through the armor and entering Priss's heart.
Priss staggered back, in shock. The redness swirled around her eyes,
but a new element, a darkness she remembered seeing on GENOM Tower's summit
when she had almost died, was rising faster than it. "A-Anri..." she croaked,
before she fell over.
Anri looked down at the body at her feet and stepped around the widening
pool of blood. Then, OMS crystal in hand, she headed for the door, whistling
a happy little tune.
*****
Reika struggled to regain her senses as she heard the Griffon crawl
toward her. It had thrown her a good distance, but she knew she didn't have
much time, even if it was crippled. She scrambled to her feet--
--only to be smashed down by a large, black fist. She screamed as she
fell back against the wall, expecting the next hit to mash her into a pulp.
"NO, YOU DON'T!" shouted a electronically amplified voice.
Reika looked up, struggling to clear her vision. A large white blur
stood over the low black blur she knew to be the Griffon. Shaking her head,
she saw it was the Patlabor #3, the one Leon was piloting. As she watched, he
brought a large baton down on the Griffon's back, severing it neatly. There
was a small explosion, and then the Griffon lay still.
"L-Leon?" Reika asked as she stood shakily.
"HOWDY!" he said, flippantly, making his labor give her a snappy salute.
"WHERE'S YOUR PARTNER?" he asked, concern evident in his voice.
"She went that way," Reika said, pointing at one of the doors leading
out of the bay.
Leon popped his head out of the upper Ingram hatch and yelled down, "We
better go look for her, then... she has a knack for getting into trouble."
With that, the Ingram knelt down, allowing Leon to clmaber out of its chest
hatch, onto its knee, and then down its arm to the ground. He drew his "Earth
Shaker" .60-caliber revolver and started toward the door. Reika followed, a
bit shakily at first.
They found the trail easy to follow, as they came across one open
security door after another. Leon hurried along, quickening his pace almost
without realizing it, as his concern for Priss grew. It grew even worse when
they finally came to the OMS room, and he saw her lying there in a pool of
blood.
"PRISS!" he screamed, running to her.
"Oh, no..." Reika whispered, hurrying behind him.
Neither of them looked back to see a waifish figure sneak out of a
utility closet and run back the way they came.
Leon hovered over Priss, afraid to even touch her. "This is bad..." he
muttered, looking at the pool of blood surrounding the still figure.
"No... shit, Sherlock," Priss muttered, suddenly, her voice rough with
pain.
"Priss! You're alive?" Leon exclaimed.
"Barely..." she whispered. "Get... knife... out..."
Leon turned Priss over and was almost sick at the sight of the knife
buried up to its hilt in her chest. He yanked it free and tossed it aside.
"B-better..." Priss managed to say. "Nanoids... couldn't heal... my
heart like that... Leon, it was Anri..." Tears fell from Priss's eyes. "I
left her to become like that... it's all my fault!"
Leon caught Priss up in a helpless hug. "Shhh, Priss... It's OK. We'll
find her... help her somehow. I promise." Hie eyes hardened as Priss fell
unconscious. "I promise we'll find her."
Epilogue:
Sylia opened her eyes to be greeted by several smiling faces by her
hospital bed. She managed a slight smile in return and tried to sit up
straighter, which caused her to wince in pain.
"Damn, and you said I was stubborn, Sylia," Priss said with a grin. She
was sitting by Leon, fully recovered from her wounds, thanks to the nanoids in
her blood.
"But you're looking much better, Sylia! You'll be out of here soon, I
know it!" Nene piped up. She was the only one who had seen how badly Sylia
had been hurt by the KnightWing crash. If she had taken any longer to get to
her...
"You have to take better care of yourself, Sylia," Reika chimed in.
"You know what the say, if you die, we all get a promotion... and I don't
think Priss is THAT eager to be leader."
"NO WAY!" Priss said emphatically, drawing a laugh from all present.
"So," Sylia said, "does someone want to fill me in on the situation?"
"The AGF is finished," Linna said quietly, her arm still in a sling from
her battle with Dora. "They've lost their backers and their headquarters.
The only problem is, their leader never resurfaced."
"She got what she was looking for, Sylia," Priss said miserably. "I
couldn't stop her... it was Anri."
Sylia's eyes widened. "That explains a lot," was all she said, giving
Priss a sympathetic look. "What is GENOM doing about it?"
"Besides cleaning up the mess?" Leon asked. "They're blaming the whole
thing on SCHAFT, and there's some evidence to back them up. SCHAFT, for its
part, is blaming their executives here for having their own agenda, but no one
is buying that story. I don't think SCHAFT will be welcome in this country
any time soon. Chief Goto and a Mr. Jim Ashima testified about the Griffon
mechs and SCHAFT's previous involvement. And GENOM was helping us for once."
Leon's voice turned very ironic for the last sentence. "The City also gave
the old Patlabor squad and me a medal, but they're denying the Knight Sabers
were involved... typical, I suppose."
Sylia nodded turned toward the large bay window in her private suite.
The Griffons were finished, but the loose ends still dangled. A sexaroid was
loose with the power to potentially control any boomer she wished. Someone
she thought dead had spoken to her, warning her of the OMS's weakness. That
would have to be investigated carefully. What would happen next?
There was a knock at the door. Chief Goto stood there, a bouquet of
flowers in his arms. "Ah, hello," he said. "Mind if I visit for a moment?"
"Uncle Kiichi?" Sylia asked in surprise.
"UNCLE KIICHI?" everyone exploded.
"Well, not really," Goto said, smiling. "I'm a friend of the family. I
just let her and her brother call me 'uncle' after their father died."
"You knew Dr. Stingray?" Leon asked, his sunglasses slipping off his
face in surprise. Goto nodded. "Somehow, that makes sense," Leon said.
Everyone had a laugh, then Priss turned to Sylia. "Hurry up and get
better, Sylia, and we'll have a party to celebrate." She winked at Linna.
"Hold on, not at MY place again! That's how this whole mess started!"
*****
"I am disappointed by your failure to guard the OMS, Larsen, Madigan,"
Chairman Quincy said gravely from behind his desk.
"We took every precaution we could, sir," Largo replied. "We'll get it
back before the terrorist can assemble the machinery to utilize the program."
"You had better, Larsen. If you and Madigan had not performed so well
against Kelly, I would not even be considering giving you this chance. Find
the OMS, and find it quickly!"
"Yes, sir!" they both said, and then they were dismissed. Together,
they walked down the halls of power, neither looking at each other. Finally,
Madigan spoke.
"Where should we begin looking, do you think?"
"My dear, we shall not be looking. I think the Knight Sabers have
excellent reasons of their own to find this terrorist in question, and they
seemed blessed with an uncanny sort of luck." He ushered her into his office.
"We shall use them to find the OMS, and then dispose of two problems with one
blow."
"And how will you use them?"
"Through a traitor in their ranks."
"A traitor? I find that hard to believe."
"Look at this, then..." Largo said, calling up a camera feed on his
monitor. "Thanks to a serendipitous accident, we have discovered the identity
and enough personal information about one of the Knight Sabers to construct a
doppelganger, a specialized 33-S2. This boomer will infiltrate the Knight
Sabers, and, when the time is right, eliminate them."
Madigan looked at the screen and smiled. She hooked her hand in
Largo's, their systems once again linking in a union far more profound than
anything a mere human could experience.
On the screen, a naked Nene Romanova floated in a large nanotank, being
watched over by Dr. Mriam Yoshida.
*****
Somewhere, in a safehouse she had prepared long ago, Anri contemplated
the OMS crystal and began to laugh.
The End.
Author's Notes:
Well, THIS has taken forever... it's been almost two years since I
started this story, and it's been changing ever since I first came up with the
idea. I apologize it took me so long to finish this last bit. The first six
parts are, of course, available at the RAAC archive.
This is the last story I will put out in chapter format... I won't tease
any more. Now that this is finished, I have learned my lesson.
As you may have noticed, I have a sequel in mind... maybe you'll see it
next year some time. :)
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the ride.
