This is the second part of Chapter 4 of Bubblegum Ragnarok.

Dave Row

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Bubblegum Ragnarok 
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Chapter 4 (second part)
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Iczer looked up at the imposing frontage of the ADPolce HQ with 
considerable trepidation. It was certainly an impressive building; it
seemed a pity to her that some of the money lavished on it couldn't
have been spent of the better equipment that the men on the ground
obviously needed, judging by her own experiences, but she guessed that
some things never changed, and the fancy building was no doubt making
the administrative staff very happy.

She sighed to herself, making sure her ears were covered and her
glasses firmly on, then walked into the entrance, hoping Nene had
arranged things as she'd promised. She needed the things in her bag,
but they weren't irreplaceable, and she'd rather lose them than find
herself explaining her presence here in a police interrogation cell.
Especially a Japanese one; she suspected their reputation for carefree
disregard for a suspects rights wasn't better in MegaTokyo than in her
original universe.

Walking carefully, she crossed the street to the front of the
building. The snow last night hadn't been serious, but it was still
cold and she had to step carefully to avoid the pools of half-solid
slush and snow that the cleaners had piled up at the sides of the
road. She shivered, wishing she'd had time to get another coat to
replace the one she'd lost last night, hurrying to get inside where it
would be, she hoped, decently warm. At least the weather forecasters
had said that the unseasonable airstream from Asia was due to change
very soon, and it would get back to normal temperatures. It couldn't
happen too soon for her.

The wide door opened automatically as she approached, leaving her in
front of an imposing reception desk. She smiled nervously at the
smartly uniformed girl behind the counter, trying to look as helpless
as possible.

"Excuse me? I'm here to collect some of my things that were found?"

The girl looked up at her, her gaze wandering down across Iczer's body
in a way that made her blush faintly, then smiled cheerfully.

"Of course. Can I have your name, please?"

Iczer gulped, _really_ hoping Nene had made good on her promise to
arrange things so she wouldn't have to show ID.

"My name is Iczer"

The girl looked at her, and then started to type at her computer
console. After a few seconds she looked up again.

"Oh... you were involved with that Boomer incident last night?"

Iczer nodded, not speaking, and hoping the girl wouldn't act so 
friendly; she was desperately afraid of saying something stupid that
would get her into deep trouble, and it wouldn't be as easy to talk
her way out of it here than it had been at Nene's home. Fortunately
for her nerves, the girl just looked down again, as her console beeped
quietly and popped out a small plastic card.

"Here. It's a temporary visitor ID, please wear it until you leave. If
you take a seat, one of our people will be with you shortly to take
you to identify your things."

Iczer smiled her thanks, making a big production out of fixing her
badge as she tried to ignore the slow, curious look she was given. She
was starting to hope it was just police curiosity, she was afraid to
think what else might be involved. She sat down, looking about her in
an attempt to look busily interested in the admittedly rather boring
appearance of the ADPolice entrance hall.

Luckily for her growing tension, it wasn't very long before another
girl appeared, who stopped in front of her and smiled down; this time
just a friendly smile.

"Miss... ah... Iczer??"

Iczer looked up and nodded, slowly getting to her feet.

"Yes?"

"Good afternoon. I'm here to take you to identify your things, please
follow me, and stay close. It's easy to get lost in here."

Nodding, Iczer did as she was told, staying as close as she could to
the girl. She hadn't been joking about it being both a maze, and a
pretty busy one at that, as she let her effortlessly through a series
of corridors that would have made a laboratory rat feel quite at home.
Eventually they arrived at a large room full of lockers. Standing
quietly, she looked around with interest as the girl consulted a
notepad, then pulled out a locker drawer and lifted out a bag, putting
it on the table in the middle of the room.

"Could you identify this as yours, please?"

Iczer nodded, unzipping the bag and quickly looking through the 
contents, smiling in relief when she was certain it was hers.
"Yes, this is mine."

The girl smiled, then looked rather uncomfortable.
"Ah... there was a jacket as well, but it's rather..."

Iczer looked at her, confused.
"It's rather what?"

The policewoman shrugged, and pulled a large plastic bag out of the
drawer, placing it on the table. It contained her jacket, but it was
still covered and soaked in blood after last night. "I'm afraid it's
in rather a mess. Did you want to take it as well?"

Iczer gulped. The sight of that bloodstained jacket was making her
feel physically sick as it brought back the memories and feelings of
last night. Face white, she turned away from it, grasping the handle
of her bag in reassurance. "NO! I mean, no, I don't, please..."

The girl looked at her white face closely, obviously concerned, but
she didn't seem very surprised. "There's a restroom just in the
corridor, if you'd like to use it?"

Iczer tried to smile in thanks, but settled for a quick nod, trying to
restrain her trembling, as the girl quickly led her outside, pushing
the door of the restroom open for her. She hurried inside, her hand
clutching the sink as she half doubled up, trying not to be sick. The
sight of the blood had brought it all back, making her realise just
how real it had been, that someone had died. Despite the fact she now
realised it wasn't really her fault, she didn't feel any better about
the young girls' death. Shaking, she turned on the cold tap, splashing
her face with water until she felt a little better.

She turned suddenly as the door opened, but it was only the
policewoman. "Are you OK?"

She nodded before replying, trying to steady her voice.
"Thank you, but I'm fine now. It was just a shock, seeing it like
that..."

The girl nodded in sympathetic understanding, probably she had seen
this sort of reaction before. Iczer just hoped they wouldn't ask her
to identify the girls' body, or something. She shivered again, not
understanding why she was having such an extreme reaction to this;
she'd seen blood before, and the fight with Loki had certainly been
bloody enough, and she hadn't fallen apart like this. Maybe it was a
delayed reaction to being shoved around Universes. She was beginning
to worry about it, which itself did nothing to help her emotional
state. Straightening up, she tried to put it all aside for the moment,
picking her bag up and settling it over her shoulder.

"If there isn't anything else, I really should be getting along."

"Yes, of course. No, there's nothing else to do, Officer Romanova
cleared up all the paperwork earlier. You just have to sign for the
bag and contents, and that's it."

Iczer stood for a moment, steadying herself, before giving the girl a
rather shaky smile. "Thanks. Well, if you can show me where I do
that?"

The policewoman nodded, holding the door open for them both to leave.
Iczer must have been more unsettled than she thought, for as she left
the washroom she nearly ran into an ADPolice officer striding down the
hall. Startled, she barely managed to stifle an *eeeep* as she jerked
herself to a halt, as he swerved sideways, barely avoiding her.

"Oh, my apologies ma'am..."
His speech halted suddenly as he looked at her. It took her a few
seconds to realise that she recognised him; it was the young policeman
who had run out last night to help her and the other girl. She
blinked, stepping back a pace to give herself some room, as she looked
at him in embarrassment, unsure how to respond.

"Uh... hello..."
Oh right, she sarcastically thought to herself, what a wonderful
opening line! Why didn't you pretend you didn't know him and just keep
going? Behind her she could just see the policewoman craning to see
over her shoulder as she eyed the two of them curiously. "Do you two
know each other, then?"

Iczer shook her head, blushing, not knowing how to respond safely, and
wishing Iczer-2's clear skin didn't make her flush so obviously every
time something like this happened. It wasn't helped by the friendly
way in which the man smiled at her, obviously pleased to see her.

"In a way. I met her last night, at that Boomer incident. She saved my
life."

Iczer saw the other girl staring at her, and couldn't help but feel
the emotions curling about her, as she blushed even more deeply. "No,
really, it was just blind luck. I'm sure you'd have been fine without
me, I was just getting in the way." Even as she spoke, she realised
that her hurried, almost breathless denial wasn't going to help.

The officer shook his head, smiling up at her. With a detached part of
her mind she was surprised, he was shorter than she was. Last night
had been so hectic she hadn't noticed, but somehow she'd got the
impression the ADPolice squads were all big men.

"Nonsense! Without you that Boomer's cannon would have fried me!
But... what are you doing here?"

Iczer sighed, trying not to show a reaction as a brief memory of last
night caused her sickness to partially return. "I had to collect some
of my things, I left them behind."

Behind her the policewoman gestured at the officer, trying to shut him
up before he upset Iczer again, her signals making him look confused,
before he smiled again as he finally realised what she wanted.

"Well, at least you could let me buy you a drink sometime, that is if
you don't mind?"

Iczer looked at him blankly, trying to work out what he'd just said,
having trouble for some moments with the concept of a man trying to
pick him/her up, before she finally made the mental connection. It
didn't help that her sudden realisation was accompanied by a loud
mental chuckle from Iczer-2, who obviously had a far better grasp on
the situation right now than she did!

"A... drink? But ... I don't, I mean I..."

He smiled at her confusion, then bowed slightly formally.
"But I'm forgetting my manners! My name is Morisato, Keiichi 
Morisato..."

Iczer gaped at him, mind whirling furiously as she stared at him. It
_had_ to be just a coincidence, didn't it??!

"Miss? Pardon me, but is something the matter?"

She gulped, and managed with an effort to paste a shaky smile across
her face. "N... no, nothing. I'm sorry, it's nothing, really."

"Ah, I see. Then you will let me take you out for a drink sometime?"

She nodded, almost automatically, mind still shuttling on automatic as
she tried to reassure herself than the man's name was merely a
coincidence.

This time he smiled broadly.
"That's great! Here, my card. Give me a call, OK?"

Iczer licked her lips, looking uncertainly for a moment at the
proffered card, before taking it with a hand she had to will into not
shaking visibly. She looked at him again, and nodded, unwilling to
trust herself to speak, as he smiled a final time, and strode off down
the corridor. Oh god, what had she got herself into _this_ time??! Her
hand closed into a fist, crumpling the card slightly as she looked at
the retreating back of Officer Morisato, absolutely certain that what
had just happened had a meaning, but having no idea at all what it
was.

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Priss wove her bike through the traffic as she made her way to Raven's
Garage. Her attention wasn't on the other vehicles, but on the odd
events of last night. She still didn't believe a word of what Iczer
had told them, she was certain the girl was lying, but the fascinating
question she had was the one of _why_ was she lying? For some reason,
she had a feeling that the incident with the Boomer hadn't been a
coincidence, even though she didn't have any evidence to support the
idea. Well, she was sure Nene would have some answers for her very
soon; much as she teased her about her lack of physical skills, she
had a very deep admiration for her ability to find things out. Not
that she'd ever _tell_ her that, of course! 

The traffic thinned around her, becoming scattered as she finally got
close to her destination. She wondered how Mackie was getting on with
repairing the damage incurred during the fight with Largo? She wanted
to have words with him about that, the sooner she'd be ready to get
back into action the happier she'd be. Her wound was nearly healed,
and she chafed at Sylia's ruling that she mustn't do any training
until _she_ pronounced Priss ready! Hell, she was a grown woman,
didn't Sylia trust her not to do anything silly?

She drove her bike into the entrance to the garage, noting no-one was
outside for once. She wasn't really surprised, there was a lot to do,
and anyway Dr. Raven always complained that cold weather like this
made his bones ache. Swinging herself off her bike, she shoved it past
the boundary of the perimeter alarm before tugging off her helmet,
letting it swing from one hand as she casually pushed the door open. 

"Hi, pops! Is Mackie here?"

Dr. Raven only spared her a quick glance and a frown at her greeting,
before returning his attention to his work.

"He's in the lab."

Priss waved her thanks, grinning at the annoyed look on the old man's
face; one of these days she was going to address him formally as
'Doctor', just to see his reaction!

Walking across the workshop, she casually dumped her helmet on a bench
as she opened the door and stepped into the concealed lift, flipping
up the cover as she tapped the access code into the security pad. She
waited for a minute as the lift took her down to the basement, then
pushed the door open and stepped into the hidden workshop.

"Hi, Mackie!"

Mackie looked up, smiling over the half-disassembled hardsuit he was
working on.

"Hi, Priss! Come to see how I'm getting on with the repairs?"

Priss grimaced slightly.
"Getting on? You mean you haven't finished yet?"

Mackie looked offended.
"You know very well there's still a lot more work to be done! And
anyway, sis said you weren't to do anything involving work until you
were fully recovered."

Priss frowned, not wanting to be reminded of that edict, or of the
events that had led up to it.

"Oh, OK already, I'll be a good girl!"

Mackie grinned, not commenting. He was happy Priss was seeming if not
exactly cheerful, at least less depressed than she'd been recently.

"So what have you been up to?"

Priss sat down at the end of a workbench, one foot swinging idly as
she watched Mackie work. "Oh, nothing much. I've been ordered to take
it easy, remember?"

"I heard there was another Boomer rampage last night. Some people
killed."

Priss nodded, looking thoughtfully out into space.
"I know, I saw it."

"You saw it? What were you doing there?"

Priss looked at Mackie's annoyed expression, and sniffed. It was bad
enough when Sylia ordered her to take things easy, now even Mackie was
acting like her nursemaid!

"Actually, for once it was completely accidental! I just ran into it
by accident, and stayed to watch. It was afterwards it got
interesting...2

"Afterwards? What happened afterwards?"

Priss grinned over at Mackie, who'd stopped working, one hand still
absent-mindedly holding a screwdriver as he stared at her with a
curious look on his face, obviously realising from the way she'd said
it that it was something unusual.

"Well, what happened went like this...2

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The police officer moved quietly through the now almost empty ADPolice
offices. At this time of night, all the administrative and casual
staff and police had long headed for their homes, and the active,
24-hour section wasn't very close to here. Still, he looked about
casually, as if just checking up on things, just in case someone was
working very late or something. Seeing nothing, he smiled to himself,
as he sat down behind a data access console, making sure he was both
hidden from anyone walking casually by and in a position to quickly
change to an innocent operation if someone did disturb him.

Flexing his fingers slightly, he slipped a data chip into the storage
socket as he started to download data about last night's Boomer
incident. His employers were, of course, always interested in the data
ADPolice had, mainly to make sure they only had the data they were
supposed to, but he'd received a message to look into last night's
with an unusual priority flag. Judging by what he'd heard in the
canteen, that didn't surprise him, although he was certain that the
reports of what a girl had done to a Boomer were heavily exaggerated
each time they were told. Still, it was easy money...


End of Chapter 4