Hello.
This is the third chapter of a sequel I am writing. I have just send Chapter
18 of the the first story in this series, "Black Knights, Steel Hearts", to
raac, and will be
archived at the raac archive site. I hope to continue these stories under the
heading "Bubble Gum Crucible" (Assuming it hasn't been used already). The
third story in the series, "Storm Warning" is also being written at this time,
and is a BGC/Highlander Crossover. Please read and enjoy!
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Bubble Gum Crisis is copyrighted Artmic Inc. and Youmex, Inc. I am
just borrowing the characters for a little while, and promise not to
bend, fold, or staple them - unless I can come up with a good reason
to do so. I can be contacted at the Email address above. C&C will be
accepted, out and out flames will result in a Boomer or two being sent
after you.
Please, enjoy my take on the Bubble Gum Crisis universe......
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Chapter 3
AD Police Headquarters
Febuary 10, 2036
9:32am
"Nene!"
Nene Romanov turned at the sound of her name. Leon had just
stuck his head in the small room that held the ADP's computer
security office, a beaming smile on his face. Daley stood behind
him, looking bemused. <Now what?,> she thought, watching the two
of them stride into the room. <Uh-oh, Leon's smiling at me. This
could be trouble.>
She'd been a sergeant for over a month now, and already she
was wondering if maybe she'd made a mistake in accepting the
promotion. Sure, there was a hefty increase in pay, but her
responsibilities had increased tenfold.
Daley had secured her the position of "Computer Security
Officer," which meant she had to keep the Hackers out of the ADP
computer systems. Of course, since she was one of the Hackers who
regularly slipped into the system, she knew most of the ins and
outs already. Several holes the systems she and Alan Tremolini,
the other half of the ADP's Computer Security Office, managed to
plug with some success, but several others were not easy to
correct. THEY were driving her crazy. They didn't seem to affect
Alan though. <I wonder what would happen if I lit off a
firecracker under his chair....>
She shoved those thoughts aside, and smiled at Leon. "What's
up, Leon?" she asked brightly.
Leon smiled back. "I need all the data you can find on a
vigilante who calls himself Nemesis. His usual base of operations
is North America, so see if you can hook into the FBI computers.
How soon can you get the data?"
"Give me a couple of hours," replied Nene thoughtfully.
"What happened?"
"Looks like Nemesis has taken a working vacation," replied
Daley "And chosen MegaTokyo for his trip." He briefly outlined
what happened in District 9. Nene eyes widened as Daley described
the scene on the pier.
After Daley finished, Nene nodded. "I'll get right on it."
Leon pulled something out of his wallet and laid it on
Nene's desk. She swallowed her shout of glee as she saw it was a
dessert coupon from Siroccos. "Make that an hour and a half," she
amended, picking up the coupon and slipping it into her purse.
"Thanks, Nene. I know I could count on you." Leon glanced at
his watch. "We'd better get moving Daley. We have a briefing with
Detective Anderson in half an hour. I hope she's in a better mood
then she was this morning."
"Don't blame me," replied Daley as they left. "I was witty
and charming. She just wasn't impressed with your good looks."
"That's what I like about you, Daley. Your sense of tact."
Nene looked at her computer screen as the two officers left
her. <Now, where to start? INTERPOL for the basics, the FBI for
the details I think. I think Sylia might want to know what's
going on.>
Alan walked in, a steaming cup of tea in one hand, a file
under his arm. "Morning, Boss," he said cheerfully.
"Morning," Nene mumbled back.
Alan placed the tea on his desk, and sat down. He stretched.
"What are you doing?" he asked in uninterested tone.
"Leon wants data on a vigilante who calls himself Nemesis.
they think he was behind an attack in District 9 last night."
"Nemesis? Hold on, I think I can help there." Alan opened a
drawer in his desk and starting sorting through a pile of
computer disks. After several minutes, he pulled one out of the
pile and handed it to Nene. "This should cut out most of your
work."
She glanced down at the disk. Printed in garish red ink
across the top was the word NEMESIS. She looked at Alan. "How do
you happen to have this?" she asked.
Alan shrugged. "I'm an informational packrat by nature. When
things get slow, I cruse the computer networks, looking for
interesting data." He held out several more disks for Nene's
inspection. She noted that two of them were marked KNIGHT SABERS.
"How current is this?" she asked, holding up the Nemesis
disk.
"Should be within a couple of months."
"Can I use this?"
Alan shrugged. "Why not? I'm sure not getting much use out
of it."
"Thanks, I owe you one."
"No problem. What's on the docket today, Boss?"
Nene turned back to her own computer, inserted the disk, and
skimmed its contents. Alan hadn't been kidding when he'd said the
disk was current. "Give me fifteen minutes to update the disk
from the FBI files, and then we'll start by seeing if we can plug
that hole in the air duct monitoring sub system."
"I'll start by double checking several of the smaller
modules first."
"It's a plan. Let's get to it."
After several minutes of working, Nene slipped out of her
cubical and snuck a peek at Alan. He'd slipped on his earphones,
and was lost in the music and lines of code. Moving quickly, Nene
slipped out an empty data disk out of her purse, and inserted it
into the other disk drive. In a matter of minutes, she'd copied
all the data from Alan's disk onto the empty disk, including the
updates from the FBI. Another glance to make sure that Alan was
still occupied, and the copy disk went back into her purse.
"All done," she called out.
"Good. I've check modules F-12 through F-23. Why don't you
start with module F-24, and check the even number modules, I'll
take the odd number ones."
"Fine by me."
They spent the next hour tracing and eliminating security
holes in the air duct monitoring sub system. Nene sighed as two
of her back doors into the system were eliminated, but she
couldn't do anything about it. Despite his laid back attitude,
Alan was no slouch in the programming department. Anything she'd
tried to weave into the modules now, he'd spot.
She glanced up at the clock, and noticed it was close to
eleven. She stood up and picked up the disk. "Time for a break.
I'd better run this Nemesis file up to Leon now."
"Want to go have lunch afterwards? My treat."
"As long as it isn't the cafeteria."
He snorted. "There's a little Italian restaurant three
blocks from here," he said with a shrug. "After looking at all
that spaghetti code, I'm ready for the real item."
"All right, you're on. Meet me downstairs in ten minutes."
********** ********** **********
Sato's home
District 4
Febuary 10, 2036
10:51am
Shikichi Sato was a small sparse man, neatly groomed, who
usually looked more like an accountant then the Oyabun of the
Sleeping Dragon Yakuza. But he didn't look much like an
accountant now.
He glared at the three men standing in front of him, trying
hard not to let his temper explode. "Ichitaro, has Hoshi-san
regain consciousness yet?" he said in a low, tight voice.
"No sir," replied the man in the middle. "According to my
sources at the hospital, he has lost a lot of blood. He is not
expected to awaken for several hours still. He told one of the
men before he passed out that Nemesis was here."
Sato glanced at the man on his left. "Honjuji, what about
those that survive the attack on the pier? What is their story?"
"They all agree that it was one person in a hardsuit, and
the description of the hardsuit matches the one Nemesis wore in
San Fransico when he disrupted our operations there."
Sato felt his anger building. "I want security at all
operations increased. Use every available man and weapon. How
many Jager battlesuits do we have?"
"Twelve," replied Ichitaro. "We have enough experenced men
to man them all."
The Oyabun nodded. "We'll use them as our mobile reaction
force. If Nemesis attacks one of our targets, our men are to
fight to hold him there, while the reaction force moves in."
"What about the combat Boomers we have?" asked Satoru, the
man standing on Sato's right. "Might it be advisable to use them
instead of the Jagers?"
"Only as a last resort," replied Sato. "We have to show the
others we can handle a lone madman without resorting to the level
of violence that Boomers represent. One should not use a spear to
kill a tiger if a bow and arrow will suffice."
"And if we can not?"
"Then we will use the Boomers."
"What do we tell the others leaders?" asked Honjuji.
"We tell them to take precautions with their own business,
but stay out of the way otherwise. Nemesis has taken action only
against us so far, so he is our problem for now."
Sato looked at each of them. "This single man has come close
to undoing everything we have built in the last two hundred
years," he said slowly, letting his words hang in the air. "If we
are to survive, we must kill him. We must do so as an example to
others that might think we are weak and open to being challenged.
I will not tolarate failure this time, because failure would mean
our destruction. You have your orders, go."
********** ********** **********
Holton Junkyard Co.
District 5
Febuary 10, 2036
12:39pm
Gaven sipped his coffee and stared at the readout on the
table in front of him. "An intresting selection of targets."
The girl sitting across from him smiled. "You think so?" she
asked eagerly. "It was tough to get it, but I think that's almost
everything Sato has an intrest in."
"I think we can elimanate the purely legitimate businesses
Sato has right now. Too great a chance of innocent bystanders
geting caught in the cross fire."
"Already did that, big brother." The girl passed over a
smaller stack of paper.
The vigilante known as Nemesis examined the new list with
intrest. "Illegal weapons, drug labs, Boomer chop shops,
brothels, gambling houses..." He looked at his younger sister.
"Where did you get this?" he asked.
"Sato's own system," she replied with a shrug and a smile.
She shared the same green eyes as her brother, and they gleamed
with delight. "The security system they've got is at least three
years out of date, and Sato is spending more money on hardware,
and almost nothing on software."
"You were careful?"
She looked hurt. "Of course. I went through three cutout
computer systems, including ADP's, before I went into Sato's
system."
He looked at her in disbelief. "You went through the ADP
computer system?"
She shrugged. "I wanted to see how good their security was."
"And?"
"And someone's begining to wise up over there. I saw
beginings of a VERY tight security system being put into place.
Another two months, and it would be a challenge to break into
it."
"In that case, stay away from their system. Use one of the
others for your cutout."
"All right." Sensing his mood, she changed the subject. "Are
you going out tonight?"
He nodded. "Sarge and I are going out in a while. We'll
recon a dozen targets, and choose three or four for tonight's
blitz."
"Be careful."
"I always am." He stood and streched. "Why don't you see if
the Doc and Smitty need a hand with the hardsuit."
"Sure." She stood and walked away.
Nemesis watched his sister walk away. <I should have never
involed you in this madness, Maria,> he thought. <You should have
a home, friends, and a normal life. I don't want you caught in
the firestorm I'm igniting.>