Part 3: Queen of Coins

    "Cheer up Nene!  This is the best score you've ever gotten
on the hand-to-hand part of the hardsuit recalibration trials,
I'd have thought you'd be happier.  I commend whoever you've got
coaching you." Linna says.
    Instead of rising to deny the implication that she hadn't
improved on her own, the words seem to drive Nene's depression
even deeper.  "It was an AD Police front line officer Sylia's
been having me keep tabs on, you remember Michael?  The one who
took out that boomer practically unarmed?  His was one of the
units involved in that incident last week..." Nene's voice gets
pinched off and she can't continue.
    "Oh Nene." Linna sympathizes, "You weren't, um, _involved_
with him were you?"
    "It wasn't like that!" Nene denies too quickly, "At least I
didn't _think_ so.  Now he's gone, and there are times..."
    "We've all been there, it's why Sylia has those rules we
never follow." Linna gives Nene a hug, "Sharing helps though,
doesn't it?"
    "Yeah, but not enough." is Nene's barely audible reply.

    *Never enough.  Bloody, literally _bloody_, system; takes
all even a person with no less than _three_ amazing supernatural
powers can give, and doesn't leave him with the small circle of
friends he begins to make!* I complain.
    *That does not give us leave to stop trying.* Paladina
argues.
    *And there's the matter of paybacks.* Garion agrees.
    *Paladina and Garion agree?  The world _is_ ending.* Tinker
comments.
    Ryuko directs our attention to the TV above the bar, *You
guys should see this!*
    "...nce again.  There seems to be a hostage situation brewing
at a downtown securities firm.  The terrorists have not given a
statement yet, but their spokesman, pictured here, announced a
list of hostages...Yamazaki Linna...they have made no demands
yet, and police units are standing by." the reporter states in a
bored tone.
    *Isn't that the leader of that group of jerks back with the
ninjas?* Tinker asks concerning the 'terrorist' spokesman.
    *It sure is!* I sober up, *They've got Linna, the Knight
Sabres are going to try to mount a rescue.  They have no idea
what these 'terrorists' are capable of, even in hardsuits they
may be getting in over their heads.*
    *Then they'll need backup who _do_ know.* Garion volunteers.
    *Volunteering again, Garion?  You know what happened last
time.* Ryuko comments.
    *Just because the horse bucks you off once is no reason to
quit riding, we've got a job to do.  Our one remaining friend,
Nene will be there, can any of us just stand by?* Paladina says.
    *No.* we chorus, Ryuko included.

    *Did we have to come as a girl?* Tinker whines.
    *We agreed that our Telekinesis would be more useful in
combat than Conjuration, besides the lightest and most protective
armor design we could Conjure on short notice is based on
Sylia's hardsuits and you admitted we did not have time to
redesign it to masculine dimensions.* Ryuko explains, a little
smugly.
    *Don't be catty Ryuko...* I try to smooth things over, *and
I can't _believe_ I just said that.* I finish lamely as the
conflict dissolves in general amusement.
    Not the effect I was hoping for, but understandable.  The
basic frame of our suit is based on those Tinker scanned while
in Sylia's building, but we made some cosmetic and armament
modifications, based on a _feline_ motif.  I could just die.
    Priss' arrival derails my mortification.
    *Frontal assault hmm?* Ryuko wonders, *Wonder if this is
actually part of Sylia's plan or if she's pulling the lone wolf
routine again?*
    *Whatever, it's getting the ones we recognize as ninja away
from the hostages and toward the action.* Garion says, *It might
just work if Linna picks up on it...There she goes!  She got all
of the remainder, she's really good!  Let's go meet her, these
air shafts are the only route out of the building without ninja
guarding.*
    *Only because we knocked them out on our way in!* Tinker says
with some pride in the advantage our protective armor gave us
against our old rivals.
    We pop open the ventilation screen over the corridor Linna is
sneaking down.  "Up here!" I whisper urgently, "The blue Knight
Sabre has their combat personnel distracted, but the ventilation
system's still the only unguarded way out."
    "Who the hell are _you_ supposed to be?" Linna asks not
trusting my familiar-yet-distinctive armor's appearance.
    "If you want to get out of here in one piece, don't waste
time!" Paladina urges, lifting the shocked Linna into the air
shaft with us with TK.
    "How?" Linna asks looking back into the hallway.
    "Time for introductions later, you've gotta be going now!"
we urge.
    After sending Linna on her way out, we join Priss in bashing
our old rivals.  Priss' chaotic, brawling style of combat seems
to confound the ninja's pattern breaking advantages, but as we
join the fray they have become more desperate and begin directing
their attacks against the armor as well as the person in it.
    "Heads up, Blue Sabre!  I think they've been toying with you
up till now!" We warn her.
    "Who the _hell_ are you?!?" she asks, repeating the question
of the day.
    "I'm here to help." we say, taking half her opponents
attention away from her.
    The fight is a virtual replay of our fight at the ninja
compound, they have gotten better, but we have the advantage of a
hardsuit now.
    "Your moves, who?..OathBreaker." one of my opponents gasps
out before falling unconscious.
    While my concentration was on the ninja, the remainder of the
Knight Sabres have made their appearance, and from the way
Nene's suit sensors are deployed I'd guess they've been watching
_our_ fight _very_ closely.
    "I believe some explanations are in order.  Wouldn't you
agree, _Michael_?" the Green Knight Sabre asks.
    For the first time in our short existence, each of us
attempts to act without taking the others into consideration.
Some try to flee, others to confess, at least one of us has no
clue _what_ to do.  Out of this chaos of intent a yawning
darkness emerges and engulfs us.



 
                    Part 4: Queen of Wands

    "Yes, I stand by my identification of her...him...whatever."
Linna says, "I've seen the way it fights, both as Michael and
just now.  They are the same person."
    "But that's impossible!  Michael died!  They found the
remains of his pager watch at the scene." Nene protests, "He
would have told me." she adds in a quiet voice.
    "_Sure_ he would have told you." Priss says in a sarcastic
tone, "'By the way Nene, I'm not only an ADP Officer, but I also
moonlight as a female vigilante.' That would have gone over
well."
    "We're ones to talk about keeping secrets, but it seems that
our mysterious friend had more than a few." Sylia walks in, a
small frown on her face.
    "Is...she...awake now?" Linna asks.
    Sylia shakes her head, "No, and _she_ is the correct
pronoun, now.  All the requisite parts are present, and we must
assume, functional.  Her cellular makeup is unique, and bears a
similar relationship to a boomer's that a living tree does to a
piece of plastic.  I believe it is well within this being's
capability to alter itself in the way it must have if Linna's
identification is correct."
    "A boomer!  I told you he was a GENOM spy!  Let's slag her
while she's still down!" Priss exclaims.
    "Hold on Priss." Sylia commands, "There's no way this could
be a boomer, even a prototype.  The chemistry is too complex,
decades ahead of anything we've even heard _theories_ about out
of GENOM.  Given some genius-level intuitive leaps and many
years of research you might be able to come up with a boomer by
studying _her_, but not the other way around."
    The others sat stunned, considering what that last statement
might mean about Sylia's father's work and how it would affect
Sylia herself learning of it this way.

    *Awaken, Keeper of Memory, we have much to discuss.*
Paladina pierces the not-so-pleasant haze covering my awareness.
    *Yeah, and not much time either!* Garion seconds.
    *Ite!  What hit us?* I ask.  Our head pounds and it takes
some effort not to slip back into the haze to escape the pain.
    *I think _we_ hit us.* Tinker chips in, *There's so much we
don't know about what we are.  We're not integrating back into a
single personality like that literature you recalled says we
should be, but I think we just experienced what happens if we get
_too_ far out of synch with each other.*
    *That's the least of our problems, we've been captured.*
    *Who by?* I wonder.
    "Get up, I know you're awake now." says a woman's voice,
disrupting our internal dialogue.  We open our eyes to see the
most vibrantly _alive_ person we've seen in our short memory.
She is beautiful, we can see why the animators made her eyes
such an unusual color, their actual color would never convey
their impact.  Her every move is somehow both seductive and
intimidating, she is Priss Asagiri.  She is not wearing her
hardsuit, indicating that she is aware that we know her identity.
Her next words show that she has accepted Linna's identification
of _us_ "There are a few things you might want to explain,
_Michael_."
    We check to see if we shifted back while unconscious, no.
With blind hope we let Ryuko try to snow Priss, "Michael?  Isn't
that a foreign _boy's_ name?" we say indicating our feminine
curves.
    Priss has none of it, "Cut the bullshit."
    *She doesn't like us much does she?* Garion remarks.
    *Would telling the whole truth satisfy her, or make her more
mad at us?* Tinker asks, sounding even more childlike than
usual.
    *Our secrets are _ours_.* Ryuko counters, *_Some_ of us have
forbidden direct lies,* she levels her attention at me and
Paladina, *but she'll have to ask some _very_ specific questions
if she wants to get anything she doesn't already know.*
    "The events I told you before were the truth," Ryuko begins,
"The amnesia, ninja compound, all of it.  I didn't tell you what
made me decide to run from them.  You would have thought I was
crazy without proof, hell _I_ thought I was crazy the first time
I, I _changed_." Ryuko conveys the initial confusion we felt
that first night on the run very well, but Priss is _still_
having none of it.  "Given the things pressure the ninja leader
was putting on me, coupled with my amnesia, I figured I'd finally
snapped. At that point I had nothing more to loose, so I ran. I
didn't accept what really happened until one of the ninja stopped
me on the path, called me 'Miss' and asked if I'd seen _me_.  By
the time I got to town that night I met you Knight Sabres, I just
wanted some time to sort myself out.  I didn't escape the ninja
only to become some scientist's guinea pig!"
    *You might have laid it on a bit thick there, Ryuko.* I
warn.
    "Then this is _totally_ unintentional." Priss growls
slapping a newspaper down on the bed beside me.  The banner
headline reads, A New Knight Sabre?  'SabreCat' Key to Foiling
Terrorist Plot.  It also had a fairly decent picture of us in
our armor fighting one of the ninja.
    "SabreCat, eh?  It fits." we remark then look Priss in the
eyes.
    *Wow, those eyes.* I nearly get lost, but the others remind
me that she is _not_ being friendly to us.
    "I did _not_ include the media in my plans.  I saw my former
colleagues were involved and thought my unique knowledge of their
methods made me their captives' best chance of coming out
alive."
    "You arrogant bastich, you could have killed them all.  Who
do you think you are?" Priss asks.
    "Someone with power, and thus responsibility." We answer.
    "Power?  What kind of power do _you_ have?" she challenges.
    "Well, _this_ for example."  We shapeshift to make ourselves
identical to Priss and move to attack.
    She is as effective against us as she was with the ninja.
Her attacks come randomly, with nigh unbelievable strength
behind them.
    *We're getting our ass kicked here, why did we just match
her, we could've 'shifted to something better!* Ryuko complains.
    *Wait for it, Michael has a good plan.* Paladina responds.
    The door opens with Sylia and Linna in it, tasers drawn.
    "Which one Sylia?" Linna asks.
    "Shoot us both,  we can't chance this thing getting away!"
_we_ yell out before Sylia can answer.
    They'd seen the same kinds of movies I had, their aim
shifted from us to the real Priss.  I moved between them, leaning
to whisper in Sylia's ear, "Wrong." With a telekinetic burst I
literally fly down the corridor, smashing through an exterior
window to freedom.



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