C&C would be very nice. Please?
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: P&B.txt
"I hate nights," Ryunosuke muttered to himself, turning over for
the 53rd time. His sheets were twisted around so tightly they would
have cut off circulation, if he had such a thing.
The room was completely dark, although that mattered little to
him. The minute sounds he made were easily deciphered by his
sophisticated hearing, and his eyes were more than capable of seeing,
should he desire. Ryunosuke believed in being prepared, and only
someone that didn't know his history would call him paranoid.
Even constant monitoring of his surrounding area barely made a
dent in his mental resources, something he was painfully aware of. It
left him with far, far too much time to think. And thinking was
something he'd had enough of.
Ryunosuke clicked his tongue softly, listening to the sound
rebound off his walls. Six years, he thought. Six years since I was
last attacked in my room. And it's been eight since it was a regular
occurrence. He shook his head. He kind of wished things were like that
again.
Well, no, not really. He'd gone through a lot in those few years,
and he'd just as soon not have to do that again. Things were pretty
good now, he had money, some friends, his own business, hell, he owned
the building.
So why did he feel like going out and blowing up boomers until they
invented something powerful enough to stop him?
He snorted aloud. Yeah, like that would take long. He pulled the
pillows over his head and tried to bury himself in them. He really
hated nights.
It was tempting, he thought. It would be nice to just switch off
for a while, get past the boring stuff, and wake back up. Maybe, maybe
they would forget about him, and he'd just sleep forever... Good thing
only Nuku Nuku had the codes for that function. She'd keep him from
doing anything stupid. He turned over again.
He did miss the early years, before his birth, back when he still
had a mom and dad that loved each other. His life had went to hell
shortly after his father had decided to get a divorce.
Hell, he thought, my life -ended- shortly after dad decided to
leave. And as always, he thought about the events that had played such a
big role in his life. His death at age 11, and his installation into
the android body created by his father.
Mom had been gone on too many special occasions, and was almost
never home on regular days. And when she missed that Christmas, Dad
decided it was time to go.
He'd been planning it for some time, and it coincided with his
completion of NK-1124, the prototype android body. Grandfather would
have been so happy to have got that thing without much trouble, he
thought. And then where would we be?
Dad was smart, a genius in his own way, but he really failed to
plan things through. He should have guessed about the security. He
should have known Mom was gonna freak. And he should have known Arisa
was going to pull that trigger.
Ryunosuke shook his head. Ah, well, at least I got a pet out of
the deal. And a unique opportunity to visit the girl's locker room. He
chuckled to himself. Yeah, being a girl had it's points. Two rather
large ones, thanks to Dad, the horny old goat.
Ah, well, what the hell. It'd kill some time. He reached for a
cable laid across the night stand beside his futon. A brief search gave
him an end, which he carefully stuck into his ear. The original design
may have worked just as well, and looked a little less silly, but any
really close exam would have revealed the data port cover at the base of
his neck. And having other people know his secret was not high on his
list of things to do.
His ear canal irised shut on the cable, completing the
connection, and he lay back on his futon. He shut his eyes, closed his
mouth, and folded his arms across his chest.
'Let's see here, ah, day one. Full sensory response acceptance,
ride-along thought. I don't want to end up thinking as a child again.'
****************
Part one.
Ryunosuke became awake like someone had thrown a switch. The
first thing he noticed was a slight weight sitting on his chest. The first
thing his eyes focused on was the source of the slight weight on his chest, a
cute furry cat nestled between his breasts.
Hey! I know that cat, he thought. It's okay! He reached one slim,
graceful hand up and gently petted it. Then his brain overcame the processor
lag. The hand, so unlike his, slowly moved
a few inches to the side of the cat and gently prodded.
"AIIIIIIIEEEEEE! DAD! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?" he screamed in a
high-pitched, female voice. The cat freaked and immediately left the room.
"FIX IT!"
"Now, now, son, I saved your life. You could at least say thanks
for your present," Kyusaku said calmly from his position behind Ryunosuke.
Ryunosuke spun around to face him. "THANKS? YOU WANT ME TO SAY
THANKS? I'VE GOT BOOBS!" He grabbed them and attempted to thrust them in
Kyusaku's direction as proof.
Kyusaku frowned disapprovingly at his son. "Remember what we told
you about manners, Son. Say thank you politely whether you like it or not.
Remember that thing your aunt gave you that we didn't know what it was? She was
so upset when she found out that you didn't like it."
Ryunosuke stood shakily and pulled his shorts away from his new
body. He looked down into the depths, then looked back at his father. "Dad,"
he said menacingly, "I now have several things that I don't know what are.
Thanks to you."
Kyusaku smiled happily. "You're welcome, Son. Glad you like it."
He stopped and frowned again. "Now, Son, you should leave your clothes on.
You're to young to be playing with a girl's body like that."
Ryunosuke would have turned purple with rage if he'd been equipped
to do so. Instead, as a result of one of Kyusaku's quirky little ideas, he
blushed cutely and tore two chunks out of the operating table he had been
leaning against. "Dad," he said dangerously, "I didn't hear that. We will now
go to different parts of the house and I will not hurt you no matter how much
I want to."
Kyusaku gulped and nodded nervously. "Okay, Son, I understand
that you're upset. You calm down, then I'll run a few diagnostics and we'll
call it a night." Kyusaku backed away slowly.
Ryunosuke ignored the retreating figure of his father and ran his
hands along his body, stunned at the strangeness of it all. His eyes had the
strangest tendency to focus on things in microscopic detail, and the
wealth of information his skin sensors provided nearly overloaded his brain.
Kyusaku walked back in and looked around thoughtfully.
"What, Dad?" Ryunosuke asked reflexively.
With a little 'Ah' noise Kyusaku bent down under a bench and
retrieved an ice cream scoop. He wiped it off and threw the rag in the
container marked 'Biohazard'. Turning to Ryunosuke, he said, "I want an ice
cream cone, do you want one?"
Mistaking the look that tried to surface on Ryunosuke's new face
for something else, he hastened to reassure him. "Don't worry, your body
can eat, you can even taste things. It's indistinguishable from a normal girls
body unless you look internally," he said with a suggestive wink.
Kyusaku examined the scoop critically. "I'd better wash this
anyway..." He trailed off as he left the room.
Dad has flipped his lid, Ryunosuke thought angrily. He acted like
it was no big deal. I'll SHOW him why it is a big deal. He will fix
this... Ryunosuke took a few deep breaths to calm himself like he'd been taught.
It didn't seem to help. He could feel the pressure, he knew every chemical
that was in the air, but it was in a cold, analytical way. It didn't feel
right.
Ryunosuke clenched his hands together on the table again, then he
peacefully slumped to the floor, fast asleep.
Kyusaku stepped in from outside the door where he had been hitting
buttons on a remote control and looked at his son thoughtfully.
****************
Ryunosuke became aware of sheets wrapped around him again, and the
incredibly odd sensation of a cable in his ear. The full sensory
playback had ended, cut short by his father's activation of the brain stem
override. He could only assume his father had wanted to record his Son's first
moments as a cyborg for posterity.
He shook his head. Crazy old man. Him and his ideas, like that
girl training bit he made me agree to. I hated that bitch, Mrs. Tanaka.
Like I really wanted to attract a nice man. And trying to set me up with her
nephew, ugh!
He smiled, remembering one of the first few times he had met the
old woman, one of the few incidences he still had that he'd recorded for his
own use. She hadn't been all bad, after all, she'd provided him with the
idea for the perfect business.
'Play file, audio/visual only.'
****************
"Ryunosuke! Come here, we have something to discuss!"
Ryunosuke's head snapped up from where she'd been studying,
external sensors swiveling out into place. "Yes Dad?" She followed the sound
of his voice, barely remembering to hide the ears.
She arrived in the larger living section of the apartment to find
her father drinking tea with Mrs. Tanaka. Ryunosuke had already met the
woman, and knew she had came over, but she hadn't been paying attention to their
conversation.
Kyusaku told her to sit down. "Ryunosuke, Mrs. Tanaka has brought
it to my attention that your education has been rather deficient in some
areas."
"What do you mean, Dad?"
Mrs. Tanaka spoke up. "What your father means, dearie, is that
there are things about your body that you don't seem to know about."
Ryunosuke held up the book she'd been reading. "Oh, I know that.
I'm studying so that I do know the body."
Kyusaku looked at the book and groaned inwardly.
Indeed, she looked like she had just drank something very bitter.
"And just what it that you're reading, dearie?"
Ryunosuke lowered the book again. "It's the owners manual," she
said reasonably.
"Owner's manual? What on earth do you mean, child?" she asked,
shocked.
"For this body, you know, the instructions." She'd learned about
some of the advanced features, and was eager to learn more.
"Well, for one, you need to start wearing a bra. Oh, Mr. Natsume?
Could you give us some privacy? I need to talk with Atsuko alone, girl talk
don'tcha know."
Kyusaku nodded enthusiastically. "Why, of course. Thank you for
the warning, Mrs. Tanaka. If you need me I'll be in my lab." He beat a
hasty retreat.
Ryunosuke watched him go with a sour look. She kind of knew what
to expect now, and she didn't like it.
The old woman shifted and smiled. "You see, if you don't wear a
bra when you're young, your breasts will sag when you get older."
"Kind of like yours have anyway?" Ryunosuke asked snidely.
Mrs. Tanaka frowned. "Well, yes, anyway, I've brought you this as
a present.
Ryunosuke shut her eyes and bowed her head for a moment. "Gah,"
she said under her breath.
Louder she said, "A present? You shouldn't have! Really!"
Shaking her head, Mrs. Tanaka replied, "Oh, it's no trouble. No
trouble at all! Here." She handed a wrapped package to Ryunosuke.
Ryunosuke took the package with all the enthusiasm of someone
accepting a dead mouse.
"Go on, open it, dear," Mrs. Tanaka prodded.
Ryunosuke was tempted to fake enthusiasm and rip the contents to
shreds as she opened the package, but dismissed that as too petty. She tore
off the paper to reveal a box. Opening the box, she found a bra. A
conservative, pale blue silk bra.
"I hope you like it, I was shopping to day and it just caught my
eye. I said to myself, 'That would just be perfect for dear Atsuko,' so I
decided to just grab it and surprise you." She shifted her weight slightly.
She looked Mrs. Tanaka in the eye and said seriously, "You know,
talking to yourself is a sign of poor mental health."
Mrs. Tanaka blinked. "I'm sorry...?"
"Oh, don't be. I just love it! I'm sure it'll be a perfect fit!"
Ryunosuke gushed as her father came back into the room. She bared her
fangs at the old woman. Unfortunately for her, this was an incredibly cute
gesture and totally failed to convey any threat.
Smiling, Mrs. Tanaka said, "You're welcome, Dear. You didn't seem
to have any, so I felt it was only appropriate." She looked around for a
second, then back to the two residents. "I'm sorry to be in such a rush now,
but I simply must be going. Good day!"
Kyusaku let her out. "Come see us again!"
"Thank you again..."
Kyusaku closed the door and walked back to his lab.
Ryunosuke stood there a minute longer, examining the bra. She
grinned.
****************
Everything went black, and Ryunosuke's vision and hearing went
back to normal. He grinned to himself.
Yep, it was a perfect fit. I just didn't say who it was going to
be a perfect fit on.
Unconsciously, he compared his mental images of Nuku Nuku and
Yoshimi. Nuku Nuku was perfect, almost too perfect. She was the product of his
father's fantasies, and her body reflected it. Her cat brain provided the
perkiest, friendliest, freshest personality one could ask for. She'd saved his
bacon in any number of bad situations, and she was a great person to meet in the
kitchen every morning, even if she did insist on fish for breakfast.
If he was going into a firefight for three weeks, he'd call on her
first every time.
Then there was Yoshimi, his oldest friend. She was 100% human,
and acted every bit of it. Her body was a little less perfect than Nuku Nuku's,
although she was very lithe, she even ran an aerobics class. She was an
excellent martial artist, although she lacked the ability to turn steel bars
into pretzels. And her personality! Sheesh, it seemed to Ryunosuke that
every time he turned around she was picking at him, or pissing off his latest
girlfriend, or having a bad day, or something.
He also owed her his life several times over, for things he'd
never admit.
Yoshimi, he thought. Now there is a nice rack. Not as good as
mine was, but still...
'Play file, Full sensory response acceptance, ride-along thought.'
****************
Ryunosuke pulled her school clothes out of her gym bag and put
them on. Many other girls around her were doing the same thing, although a few
of them hadn't made it out of the shower yet.
High school had came as a shock, but Ryunosuke was smarter than
average, and with the perfect memory a computer enhanced brain provided, most
classes were a breeze.
The students had taken a little more getting used to. Previously,
all of Ryunosuke's friends had been boys. He knew about girls, that having
been one of the early talks given to him by both his father and mother. They
both wanted him to be a little stud. But still, he was more comfortable around
boys. Then he became a she, and a very pretty she at that. Suddenly, Ryunosuke
was accepted more by the girls than boys, and, to avoid being badgered for
dates, she decided to stick with the girls.
Unfortunately, Ryunosuke wasn't that great at being a girl at
first, and got a lot of strange reactions. Then she found one girl who didn't
seem to care that her friend was a bit odd.
Ryunosuke glanced at Yoshimi to confirm size one last time, then
back to her task at hand. She then reached into her bag and rummaged around
with one hand. She snorted softly to herself. Nice present, old bag. Like I'd
ever wear something like that, Ryunosuke thought. Then she smiled inwardly.
But I know someone who would...
"Hey, Yoshimi?" she asked.
Yoshimi looked up. "Yes?"
Ryunosuke pulled her hand out and handed something to her friend.
"Here, check this out."
"Oh, wow! This must have cost a bundle!" Yoshimi cooed as she
caressed the blue silk bra.
Ryunosuke blinked and took a second look at it. "Really? How can
you tell?"
One of her other friends, Mitsuko, stared at her. "You mean you
can't?"
Ryunosuke shrugged. "No, they all look pretty much the same to
me. I mean, I know this one looked pretty good, but it's just a bra."
A few of the other girls in the locker room gathered around to
join in the conversation.
Yoshimi looked back up at Ryunosuke, "Where did you get it if you
don't know how much it costs?"
"This old woman that lives in my building is always giving me
clothes and stuff, it was in that."
"Wow! She must be really nice to give you something like that!"
There were murmurs of agreement from the other girls.
Ryunosuke snorted and mumbled something under her breath. "Well,
anyway, I don't like it, but I bet it would look good on you, Yoshimi. You can
have it."
"Thanks!" Yoshimi smiled and promptly started trying it on.
No really, it's the least I can do, Ryunosuke snickered mentally,
never taking her eyes of her friend. "You're welcome." She turned back to
one of the other girls. "How did you know it was expensive?"
"Well, look at what it's made of. Silk isn't cheap you know. And
then there's how it's made. And the designer, some of the top designs only
come from certain stores and they have the highest prices." Mitsuko pulled her
skirt up. "Take a look at these and guess how much they cost."
Ryunosuke was all to glad to look, but confessed ignorance of the
price.
Mitsuko told her. "I carried 22000 yen with me that day. And I
still had to scrape for tax."
Ryunosuke's eyes widened in shock. "Wow."
Mitsuko smiled grimly. "Yeah, wow. Mom is real cheap and
wouldn't give me the money for them, I had to save up."
One of the other girls laughed. "I bet it was worth it though,
you haven't complained about your boyfriend cheating on you lately."
Everyone laughed.
I was right, thought Ryunosuke triumphantly. It is a perfect fit.
Yoshimi looked good.
The girls left the locker room in small groups. Ryunosuke let the
conversations delay her exit for a while. She still didn't say much,
but she listened intently.
****************
Oh, hell, Ryunosuke thought, stopping the playback. I'd forgot
about that. My first fight, and one that was particularly nasty.
Ryunosuke suppressed an involuntary shudder. If Dad had only
knew, he could have fixed it. And then everything would be so much better.
'Resume.'
****************
It was fortunate that she was devoting so much of her attention to
her audio sensors, otherwise she might have missed the sharp crackle of
machine gun fire muffled by many concrete walls. Ryunosuke left the locker room
in a headlong sprint before the burst had even finished, her ear-like external
sensors swiveling out into place in order to better track the noise.
Kyusaku had also reacted very quickly to the noise, although his
reaction was more of a self-preservation instinct. He dived to the floor on the
other side of his desk a second after large caliber slugs smashed through the
top of his outer wall.
After destroying several square feet of wall, the assault stopped.
A loudspeaker came on. "KYUSAKU! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! GET OUT HERE
SO WE CAN HAVE A HUSBAND TO WIFE CHAT!"
Kyusaku uncovered his head and peeked cautiously over the desk.
He could just barely see part of the distinctive Poison One. "Akiko?" he
asked.
Sensitive microphones had relayed his answer to the women at the
controls. "YOU ONLY HAVE ONE WIFE, UNLESS YOU FORGOT TO TELL ME SOMETHING!" she
screamed. With the loudspeaker off, she yelled, "FIRE!"
Another long burst of machine gun fire caused him to duck once
again. It abruptly shut off and a small feminine form barreled through the
remains of his wall.
"Dad! Are you okay?" Ryunosuke asked, concerned.
"Just fine son, but it's going to take me hours to get my office
back in shape."
"As fine as you ever are I guess." She looked back out into the
copter's windshield at the arguing women inside. "That's the same thing that
was chasing us isn't it?"
Kyusaku nodded as he stood up carefully.
"That's Mom's, that's Poison One. And that's Mom in there."
"Yes. Your mother wants to have a talk with me."
Ryunosuke turned and looked back at her father. "Well then. It's
disrespectful to keep her waiting." She unceremoniously grabbed her
father and dragged him outside to the waiting craft.
Inside Poison One, a small argument was under way. Arisa wanted
to just pull the trigger on both Kyusaku and the girl, but Kyoko was
preventing her from doing it. Akiko was clearly tempted, but she wanted to talk
to Kyusaku more than she wanted to kill him for being an unfaithful husband.
She would settle for screaming at him right now.
"AND WHO IS THIS? YOUR LATEST CONQUEST? A DAUGHTER BY SOME SLUT
YOU NEVER TOLD BE ABOUT?"
Kyusaku winced at the volume. "Could you maybe turn it down a few
notches? You're hurting my ears."
Ryunosuke ignored her father and attempted to ignore the insults
thrown her way by her own mother. She decided to take control of her father's
end of the conversation.
"I am NOT his 'latest conquest'! That's sick!" Okay, maybe she
wasn't so successful at ignoring the insults.
"KYUSAKU! GET IN THIS HELICOPTER RIGHT NOW! I WANT TO CHOKE YOU
TO DEATH IN PERSON!"
He shook his head slightly. "Why don't you come down here so we
can talk about this?"
Inside Poison One, Arisa was getting impatient. She had a ton of
weaponry at her disposal and everything was turning into a shouting match. She
absentmindedly scratched an itchy trigger finger.
Ryunosuke grabbed her father and jumped back about 10 feet as the
triple-barreled cannon chewed the ground in a short arc where they had both
been standing. They all stared stupidly at the incredibly deep holes where
armor piercing rounds had punched through the ground like butter.
"Oops."
"ARISA!"
Ryunosuke had enough. She knew the capabilities of her body now,
and it wasn't more than 20 feet off the ground. An easy hop.
From a standing start she easily jumped the distance to the
hovering plane, impacting just to the left of the big gun. It was an even
simpler matter to wrap her right arm around the barrels and pull.
The gun bent and twisted until she was able to rip the mangled
mess free of the housing and fall lightly with it to the ground.
"NOW," she screamed, "ARE YOU READY TO TALK?"
"How...?" began Arisa.
"Damn..." whispered Kyoko.
"I thought so!" yelled Akiko. "It's that android Father was
griping about!"
"It just attacked us!"
"It appears to be angry," commented Kyoko.
"I knew no other woman could take him," Akiko said quietly.
"Except the woman from his dreams."
"Lady?" Kyoko asked.
"Ma'am, we have to defend ourselves," said Arisa hopefully.
She sagged.
"Ma'am?"
Outside, Kyusaku and Ryunosuke were being ignored. Being unaware
of this, they carried on a very moving speech, if one sided, on how much they
wanted to sit down and talk about it like any other family.
Akiko resisted her subordinates' efforts to talk to her. After a
few minutes, they gave up. And perhaps it was that very realization that
they gave up that spurred her to action. Akiko NEVER gave up.
"He chases after a dream, when he has me. It's time to show him
why I'm better than a dream." She turned to Arisa. "Destroy that horrible
creation of his. I don't care what Father says."
"That's our Boss!" the two women chorused.
"Missile away," Arisa said, almost as an afterthought.
Ryunosuke shoved her father to one side and quickly jumped to
avoid the incoming projectile.
More concrete wall crumbled as the missile hit, but fortunately
didn't blow up.
Ryunosuke's first thought was to run. Her second thought involved
Yoshimi but probably wasn't relevant. It finally occurred to her to protect her
father, after all, it's not like she could be hurt.
She darted away from her father and waved her hands. "HEY! OVER
HERE!"
Poison One obligingly turned and fired another missile. It did
finally occur to her that she was the target, not Kyusaku.
Speaking of targets, Ryunosuke twisted to avoid the latest
missile.
Akiko screamed in frustration. "Why didn't they explode?"
"Umm, you did say not to use live explosives in the city. Without
the guns most of our real offensive power is gone."
Arisa fired another missile, and this time Ryunosuke simply leaned
to the side and deflected it.
Akiko screamed in frustration. "Don't we have anything? The power suits!
They're in the back, correct?"
Kyoko nodded.
"Keep it busy! I'll take it from there!" Akiko disappeared into the
back.
Ryunosuke was getting annoyed. Poison One didn't seem to be a real
threat. So much for her Mom's favorite toy. It was time to end this.
She calculated nine possible angles of attack, and, choosing one,
jumped backwards to the side of a building to rebound and fly directly at the
front of the assault plane. Arisa fired two more dummies in quick
succession but Ryunosuke was above the angle of attack, Arisa had tilted the
nose too far down in order to keep a visual.
Avoiding the blades proved trickier than she had thought but it
was helped by Arisa pulling the nose back up at the same time she was firing.
Ryunosuke wrapped her legs around the windscreen and waved inside.
Then she squeezed. Powerful electric muscles in her legs exerted tremendous
force against the cover, causing a myriad of cracks to appear in its surface.
She relaxed her hold and slipped down as Arisa frantically attempted
evasive maneuvers, only to grab hold once more and punch straight through the
glass and into the control panel.
Then she jumped back away from it, not bothering to let go of
the fist full of wires she held in her hand. She landed lightly on the
ground thirty feet away.
Poison One didn't land so lightly. It didn't explode, but there
was a finality to the crash that indicated that it wasn't likely to move under
its own power again.
Ryunosuke was barely able to contain the impulse to do a victory
pose and make a speech. It was so tempting, especially when she could see it in
her mind's eye, but the nagging worry that other people would see it kept
the twisted impulse in check.
She looked around for her father, only to see him seated on some
rubble some distance away. He clapped politely.
She shrugged and turned back to the crumpled metal. "Let's see if
they're ready to talk now." She walked over to the mostly intact body. A brief
search around the side door revealed enough dents that she was able to pry the
door out of its mountings.
Dozens of small caliber machine gun slugs smashed into her torso
for her trouble.
Ryunosuke was thrown back several feet from the impact. A light
blue humanoid mecha stumbled out of the door, one arm raised and pointed
at her.
Ryunosuke rolled to one side as another burst tore the ground
where she once was. She flipped to her feet and examined her new opponent. A
small rack of rockets was mounted on the left shoulder, while the right arm
moved to point the attached machine gun again. The mecha's legs didn't move
fluidly like the arms, and it seemed to shift it's weight from leg to leg
without cause.
It was a relatively simple matter for her to evade the slow
response of her untrained mother, but she nearly dodged right into the path of
one of the little rockets.
Explosion-driven rock fragments tore at the remains of her school
uniform but did nothing against the armored flesh beneath.
Ryunosuke rolled with the blow, once again evading the machine gun.
The mecha paused to bat at a bit of cloth that flapped across it's
veiw plate.
She took a little bit of time to examine the cloth. It appeared
to be the lower half of some sort of one piece jumpsuit, although it was hard to
tell with most of it disappeared into the canopy.
She evaded the attempts to attack by running back and forth and
ducking the shots that came her way and studied the cloth. It was the pants
part of a jumpsuit, and had apparently been left hanging through the door to the
mecha when her mother had jumped in. It was getting in Akiko's way now,
occasionally flapping across her vision.
For Ryunosuke though, to see is to act. She was wrapped around
the back of the mecha before the pilot could even begin to turn around. A sweep
of one arm smashed the rocket housing while the other stretched the cloth
across Akiko's vision.
Ryunosuke held on easily as the mecha turned back and forth, using
the distraction to work her fingers into the crack between the canopy and
the frame, where the cloth went inside. After that, it was just a matter of
strength.
Akiko watched in a mix of horror and amazement as the thickly
armored cover to one of Mishima Heavy Industries most popular single pilot mecha
was ripped off and dumped to the ground.
Ryunosuke clambered up and stood on the shoulders of the mecha,
then using the cloth she still had in one hand, pulled her mother out of the
mecha. Gently, but not near as gently as she might have.
Akiko dangled seven feet off the ground, at least until she lifted
her arms and allowed them to slip out of the sleeves of the uniform. She
fell heavily to the ground.
Ryunosuke was about to speak when her sensors swiveled and
informed her of another mecha still inside the cabin. This one moved faster and
surer than her mother's. This one was driven by a better pilot. This one had
also just fired a rocket, which was just about to hit the back of the one she
was standing on and explode.
Akiko was very lucky that the bulk of the mecha was between her
and the explosion, but she was still knocked sprawling.
Ryunosuke was thrown against the side of a building so hard the
wall cracked, and she came as close to fainting as she had ever came before.
It took her a few moments to stand up.
By that time, however, Arisa had crossed the distance between them
and had picked her up by her head. This time in was Ryunosuke's body that
strained under the pressure exerted on it.
Arisa moved the machine gun around to point into her torso, then
pulled the trigger. Hundreds of bullets flattened against the incredibly
resistant flesh.
Ryunosuke screamed for the first time. While the bullets didn't
actually cause any damage, and it didn't actually hurt much, it did cause more
than a little discomfort.
It took two tries, but by twisting and kicking with all of her
force Ryunosuke was able to break free. She back flipped away.
Arisa turned and fired the machine gun again. Ryunosuke heard her
mother's startled gasp as a few of the bullets came a little to close for
comfort.
Just like what had caused him to become a her. And it was all
caused by the same person.
Ryunosuke growled, and finally, real threat showed through the
cute little fangs.
Arisa didn't even have time to blink before the pink-haired
missile slammed into the left knee joint of her mecha. It toppled forward.
Ryunosuke helped gravity along the way as she used her leverage to
speed up its fall. Arisa was stunned from the impact.
Ryunosuke scanned the joints and seams of the powered armor,
searching for weak spots on a near instinctual basis. Then she took it apart,
scattering bits of metal for yards.
Arisa shuddered as she heard the sounds of rending metal above and
behind her head, helpless with the controls no longer responding to her
commands. She gurgled in surprise when a powerful hand wrapped around her neck
and lifted her into the air, facing away from her opponent.
Ryunosuke pointed her captive at her mother, still sitting in
roughly the same place as she landed. "Do you see that?" Ryunosuke growled,
giving Arisa a shake. "Huh? Do you see who you nearly hit with that gun? Just
like..." She shook her, and tightened her grip slightly.
Arisa choked as her air supply cut off.
Ryunosuke also appeared to be choking. Dim memories of her own
accident as well as the thought of what might have happened to her mother filled
her head, and a migraine hit her so hard she clutched at her head with her
free hand.
Akiko and Kyusaku stared dumbfounded. Neither one could quite believe
it, but both were sure that someone was about to die.
"Atsuko!"
Ryunosuke was jerked back to the present. "Wha?"
Everyone but Arisa searched for the owner of the voice. Arisa
continued her efforts to pry Ryunosuke's hand off.
"Atsuko! What are you doing? What's going on?"
Ryunosuke spotted Yoshimi running straight for her. "Yoshimi!
Stay back! You could get hurt!"
Yoshimi had to pause. She stopped away from Ryunosuke's
position on top of the remains of the powered armor. "What happened?"
she repeated.
"That girl is killing my partner!" a new voice screamed. Everyone
looked to see Kyoko struggling out of the assault craft and running up to them.
"Loosen your hand! She's turning blue!"
Ryunosuke brought her arm around so she could look Arisa in the
face. "Ah, so she is." Ryunosuke shrugged and relaxed her grip.
Arisa gasped raggedly and slowed her frantic struggles. Suddenly
she jerked her body much like Ryunosuke had earlier, but failed to get away.
Ryunosuke moved her thumb and forefinger up to press painfully
against the bottom of Arisa's jaw. Arisa stopped moving and hung limply.
"Why are you doing that? Let her go!" asked Yoshimi frantically.
Kyoko stepped forward and held out her hands in Ryunosuke's
direction.
"Listen, Atsuko? Please, just let Arisa go and we'll leave. Please?"
Ryunosuke turned back to face her mother's direction. To Yoshimi
she said, "This stupid woman nearly shot m... that lady over there." She
waved at her mother with her free arm. "That was very careless and someone
could have gotten hurt!"
"But she didn't hit her. Calm down, Atsuko."
Ryunosuke looked down at Kyoko, who had walked up behind Yoshimi.
"Yes, just let her go," said Kyusaku.
Ryunosuke sighed and dropped her to the ground. Arisa lost no
time scrambling to her feet and backing away. She grabbed Kyoko with one and
started dragging her away. She froze when someone else grabbed her by
the neck.
She had a sneaking suspicion who it was too. "Um, sorry Ma'am?"
Akiko turned and marched the both of them away. "Your pay WILL be
docked for this little incident. To say nothing of how upset Father will be
when he finds out you managed to get Poison One destroyed." Her ranting
continued out of sight, but carefully avoided mention of the android or her
estranged husband. The pain was too fresh.
Yoshimi waved a hand at the surrounding destruction. "Now, would
you mind explaining just what happened here? And how you managed to tear up a
robot? I know you're strong but this is ridiculous!"
Ryunosuke collapsed to a kneeling position on the mecha and
clutched at her head. "My head hurts."
"Get down from there. I need to take a look at you." Kyusaku
wiped his forehead.
Ryunosuke lowered herself to the ground, all of the fluidity and
grace was gone from her movements.
Yoshimi watched, concerned, but didn't go over to give a hand.
Kyusaku was the one to support Ryunosuke with one arm and lead her to
his Land Rover. He needed to get her back to his lab.
"Wait!" yelled Yoshimi. "What's wrong?"
Ryunosuke lifted her head and waved dismissively with one arm.
"I'll tell you later, kay?" Her head lolled.
****************
Ryunosuke stopped as the file came to an end. That memory had
remained in his organic brain, and reliving it through recording had brought it
all back.
He could dimly remember the hate, the desire to kill. Looking at it
now, it seemed irrational, but at the time?
Ryunosuke rolled over again, more for something to do than
anything else. The last file had disturbed him, so he removed the cable and
laid it to the side.
Oh, sure, he understood the problem now. He had brain damage at
the time, and the organic support system wasn't properly configured. His father
may have been a rocket scientist, but he sure wasn't much of a brain surgeon.
Unbidden, a thought of Arisa and Kyoko surfaced. Poor Kyoko, he
thought. She was so much happier then. Now her need for revenge outstripped
his own at times. Without her� Ryunosuke cut off that thought. Best to not
think of such things.
Sudden scratching at the door nearly startled him. He listened to
it a few seconds, pinpointing the exact position of the sound, and deciding
if it was what it sounded like.
It probably was, so Ryunosuke rolled out of his sheets and crossed
the room, standing to one side as he opened the door a crack. Yep, it was
one of their cats, a large male black and white that Nuku Nuku called something
incomprehensible in almost everything but cat speak. Yoshimi had named
him Checkers.
Ryunosuke climbed back on his futon and allowed the cat to climb
on top of his chest, petting it absentmindedly. He gave a brief thought to the
clock, and realized that it was nearly four in the morning. Even though he
could adjust the chemicals in his brain to remove mental fatigue, Ryunosuke did
needed sleep. And despite his recurring insomnia, the soft purring of the cat
lulled him into a trance as he started thinking of tomorrow.
****************
Six A.M., he realized, waking swiftly as the cat jumped down and
started walking toward the door to the bedroom. Time to get started.
Ryunosuke barely bothered to get dressed, throwing a shirt on his
powerfully muscled frame and letting it go at that for now.
Such excess pseudo musculature was nice, there was very little that could
match him for sheer strength, and none of it was his size. However, it had a
price. In terms of agility, sensors, and internal backups, his first body far
outstripped this one, leaving Nuku Nuku with the awesome hand to hand
skill. Still, Mother had insisted he be as manly as possible.
He walked through his rooms swiftly and silently, following the
cat. Both of them had pretty much the same thing on their minds. Food.
In the kitchen, he was greeted by his housemate enthusiastically.
Atsuko 'Call me Nuku Nuku!' Natsume was always obscenely cheerful in the
morning, as well as every other time of day. "Good morning Ryunosuke!" she
chirped, then meowing something appropriate to Checkers. She was wearing a cute
pink apron over a rather conservative skirt and blouse, and was in the process
of dismembering a large fish.
Two other cats, one large grey male and a smaller calico female
were already eating from bowls placed to once side. Checkers made a beeline
for his own and dug in.
"Morning Nuku Nuku," he replied. "What's up this time? Fillets?
Smothered?"
She held up the fish triumphantly. "Salmon!"
Ryunosuke groaned. He should have known. Ah, well, he thought,
turning to the refrigerator and getting some milk and a roll of cookie dough.
He munched on it contentedly as he watched Nuku Nuku cook.
She happily sliced up the fish and grilled it slightly,
occasionally grabbing a piece as she worked. When it was done she offered him a
plate, which he accepted with a thank you.
"Need some?" he asked, handing her the dough in exchange for the
plate.
She nodded and took a large bite of the sugar loaded confection.
With most of their dietary requirements thrown out the window, health wasn't
much of a concern, but sugars were good, simple sources of the energy they did
needed. Pretty much everything else was for pleasure, after a few other basic
needs were met.
Ryunosuke started in on his share of fish. "Where do they have you
stuck today?"
Nuku Nuku made a face. "Desk again. I hate doing reports, meeting
people is so much more fun! I like patrol." Nuku Nuku was popular among the
people at the AD police headquarters, but she still preferred active duty.
Somehow, the mean streets just weren't quite as mean to her.
Ryunosuke nodded sympathetically. "It's necessary sometimes. You get
more good info before anyone else that way. We'd never know about the juicy
boomer crimes without your taps." Among other things, Nuku Nuku was the
resident hacker extraordinaire, and she had long since infiltrated the police
network.
She nodded, resigned. "I know, but it's still boring. I wish I could
get out more."
Ryunosuke considered this for a moment. "Hmm, I'll probably be going
crazy after a day in the lab, what say we get Yoshimi and Kyoko and go
out tonight?"
"Yeah!" Nuku Nuku nodded happily. "That would be fun. Where?"
"We could go to Hot Legs again, I heard that they got a new singer.
Honestly, it's up to you girls," he replied.
Nuku Nuku shrugged. "Okay. Well, it's time to go," she said as she put
all of her cooking utensils up and took off her apron.
"Have fun," Ryunosuke waved. "Try not give anyone a heart attack," he
said as an after thought.
"I will!" she chirped as she happily donned a jacket and grabbed her
motorcycle helmet on the way through their living room. A few seconds
later a loud roar and screech of tires zoomed by right below the kitchen window.
Ryunosuke shook his head. High speed takeoffs were fine, but from the
sixth floor? Quickly finishing his own breakfast, he left the kitchen
for his private lab.
This was his pride and joy. The lingerie store downstairs was nice,
especially when he was able to convince the girls to model for him, but
he left most of its day to day operation to the hired help. The lab, however,
was were the real business started.
He had been lucky enough to have been left a few patents by his father
that had escaped company ownership, and Ryunosuke was no slouch as an
inventor himself. Kyoko frequently helped him on some of the projects, she had
an intimate knowledge of mech support systems, having run nearly all of
them while working for his mom. Now, she ran them for him.
Ryunosuke walked over to his main workbench and ran his hands
almost lovingly down the smooth metal of a half assembled hardsuit, checking
for stress fractures.
The basic design of the suits was older than the mecha he had fought
against so long ago, but the slim design and powerful structure was his
and his alone. At first it was just a way of concealing his strength from
others, passing it off as augmented by the suit. Later, when he brought Yoshimi
into his team in an emergency, he had to actually create something capable of
going head to head with boomers and surviving. Another had been created for
Kyoko, but she'd only used it once.
His suit was different from the others in its sheer size. Figuring that
the extra strength couldn't hurt, he'd added onto the original design
until it was significantly stronger than himself, no mean task. He needed that
strength to haul around his weaponry. The 'Last Argument of the Seriously
Pissed Off' may have been jokingly named, but joke or not, it was heavy. A five
foot plasma gun tended to be.
However, it was also as subtle as a truck, and about as accurate. He
frequently used smaller weapons. Railguns, armor piercing machine guns,
and occasional hand to hand usually did the trick.
After months of frustration, he'd finally just given Nuku Nuku a large
set of ceramel claws on all four legs and said the hell with it. She all
but refused to use a gun of any sort in battle, causing a whole new set of
complications in her line of work. Still, Nuku Nuku was both a girl and
a cat, leaving argument pretty much out of the question.
Yoshimi favored a mix of guns and hand to hand, using a set of
monowire ribbons like flexible swords to slice through boomers.
However, none of the hardsuits were on his list of things to do
today, much as he would have liked. With a mental groan of dismay, Ryunosuke
walked over and sat down at a relatively normal computer terminal. Someone has
to keep the business running.
****************
Yoshimi was happily tired. Her aerobics class was coming along
nicely, and she'd even convinced a few of them to try gymnastics. She'd never
actually won any medals herself, but several of her friends had and it always
gratified her to hear from those she had helped.
She walked into her apartment and found a message on her answering
machine. She hit the play button and listened with half an ear as she
started stripping for a shower.
'Hey, Yoshimi? It's Ryunosuke. Wanna head out to a club or
something with me and Nuku Nuku this evening? I'm going to try and get Kyoko to
go too. Call me back.' *click*
Yoshimi shook her head sadly. "He'll never learn. Oh, well."
After a quick shower, Yoshimi called and agreed to be picked up in
a half hour. She was ready by the time Ryunosuke pulled up in a large black
van.
"Where are we going?" she asked, getting into the passenger seat. She had
dressed up for the occasion in a tight blue dress that only reached mid-thigh.
She pulled a few strands of hair out of her eyes and tucked them behind one ear,
waiting for Ryunosuke to answer.
"Kyoko's, first. She wouldn't let Nuku Nuku pick her up,"
Ryunosuke replied dryly. His idea of dressing up was simply to put on clothes,
although thanks to Yoshimi's insistence on having her old shopping partner, they
were tasteful.
Yoshimi giggled. "Gee, I wonder why. And after that?"
Ryunosuke shrugged. "I was going to leave it up to you and Kyoko,
but I was thinking about Hot Legs. I heard they have a new singer."
Yoshimi nodded. "Sounds good to me, lets ask Kyoko."
When they picked her up, Kyoko also agreed on Hot Legs as a good place and
quietly took her place in the back of the van just above a hidden hardsuit.
Grumbling slightly, she adjusted the waistband of her slacks to better
accommodate her gun. She'd managed to get a license to be a bodyguard and never
left home unarmed, although who she was guarding she'd never say.
Ryunosuke drove almost cautiously through traffic. Although all
he really wanted to do was floor it and watch the havoc, he'd learned caution
over the years. Idly, he reflected on Nuku Nuku's rather more enthusiastic
method and compared it to his early adventures on a bicycle.
It had been right after Yoshimi had first found out he was a
cyborg, but it was before she had learned that he was really a guy.
****************
"Ahhhh! Finally, I thought I was going to go crazy from boredom
in that class."
"That's not funny."
"Oh, sorry about that, Yoshimi. Didn't mean to touch a nerve
there," Ryunosuke apologized. Then she yelped and skipped nimbly out of the way
as Yoshimi swiped her book bag at her.
"Sure you are," she grumbled. "I don't see why you're complaining
about the class, you seem so good at math."
"Yep, that's me. The human computer."
"Oh."
They walked on in silence, Ryunosuke leading the way toward her
bicycle.
Yoshimi stretched and yawned. "At least we got out early today,
but what am I going to do for the next few hours? It's too far to walk home,
and I don't want to hand around here for that long. The gymnastics club is
meeting today."
Ryunosuke shrugged.
"Hey, why aren't you in any clubs?"
She shrugged again. "None of them really appealed to me. It's
not fair pitting this body against someone in any kind of contest. I didn't
work for these muscles, winning would be pointless."
Yoshimi ahhed. "Well, what about one of the other clubs? You
like building things right? I saw that little drawing you did of a mechanical
arm in class."
Ryunosuke smirked. "It kind of comes with the territory you know?
My dad is a hotshot inventor, my grandfather owns MHI, my mom works there..."
she trailed off into thought, then shook her head and continued. "I looked
at the engineering club, but all the boys kept staring at me."
Yoshimi looked at her friend's measurements and nodded
understandingly.
She wished she was built that well.
They got to the bike racks, Yoshimi staring in mild shock as
Ryunosuke casually unwrapped the steel bar and freed her bike. Ryunosuke looked
at her, smiled, and patted the bike's seat invitingly.
"What? You can't be serious," she said, backing away.
"Oh, come on. Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you."
"I don't know..."
"Come on, we can make it to your house in ten minutes," pleaded
Ryunosuke as she hauled Yoshimi on the bike with her.
"Ten minutes? There's no wa-AAHHHH!" The rest of her protests
were lost in her shriek of absolute terror as Ryunosuke accelerated like a
motorcycle.
Far across Tokyo and ten minutes later, Yoshimi slowly screeched
to a halt. Ryunosuke had long since stopped the bicycle, but Yoshimi had
been hitting the higher ranges of Ryunosuke's hearing for several minutes
after.
"DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN!"
"Sorry," she apologized.
"We could have been killed!"
Ryunosuke just looked at her.
Yoshimi took a second to consider what she had said, then changed
it. "Okay, scratch that, I could have been killed! Don't you have any
consideration for me? I'm only human!"
Ryunosuke's whole demeanor changed in that instant. Leaving the
bicycle to fall where it was she turned and looked the other way. "Oh, so I'm
not? I have a brain just like you do."
"Sorry," Yoshimi replied contritely. "But you're stronger than I
am! We nearly crashed into that car!"
Ryunosuke turned back around and mentally reviewed the trip, a
process that didn't take long, even considering her slightly faster thought
processes. "Um, which car?"
"Any of them! All of them! And what about that bridge?"
"What about it?"
"You were in the wrong lane for half the time!"
Ryunosuke brightened. "Yeah, jumping those cars was kind of fun."
Suddenly Yoshimi giggled. "Yeah, I'll admit, that was kind of fun.
Almost like a roller coaster."
"And the looks on those people faces... Priceless," laughed
Ryunosuke as she picked up her bike and stuck it in a bike rack.
Yoshimi lead her up to her parent's apartment. "Yeah, I wish I had a
camera at the time. I would have loved a picture."
"Oh? I'll bring you a printout tomorrow."
"Printout? How? Oh..." she said as Ryunosuke tapped her head.
Inside the apartment Yoshimi put aside her shoes and called for
her mom as Ryunosuke was doing the same. "Mom? I'm home! And I brought a
friend."
They met her mother as they were walking farther into the room.
"Hello Dear, you're home early today," greeted her mom. "And who
is your friend?"
"Mom, this is Atsuko Natsume. Atsuko, this is my mother."
"Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Kagewara," said Ryunosuke as she
carefully memorized her looks.
Yoshimi's mother was apparently very traditional in many ways,
wearing a good kimono and leaving her hair in a very outdated style typical of a
housewife. She smiled warmly, accepting Ryunosuke without question.
Yoshimi, however, was subject to a full interrogation about her activities that
day.
Fending them off as well as she could, Yoshimi grabbed Ryunosuke's
arm and retreated to the relative safety of her bedroom. Once there, she shut
the door and leaned against it, breathing heavily.
Ryunosuke looked around with interest, mentally cataloging the
posters, books, small personal computer, clothes, and small mountain of stuffed
animals.
The last she regarded with some caution, as it appeared to be
rather precariously stacked on top of the bed.
Yoshimi sighed. "You'd think I'd never came home early before. I
swear, she gets worse every day."
Ryunosuke just nodded sympathetically. She could relate. "Yeah,
you should see my dad. He's always been a little eccentric, but lately I
think he's gone a little far."
Yoshimi cocked her head sideways. "You mean like turning you into
a robot?"
She smiled wryly. "Yeah, something like that." Picking up a
plush kitty, Ryunosuke waved it at the pile on the bed. "Lemme guess. You like
stuffed animals."
Yoshimi blushed slightly. "Yeah, well, people just keep giving
them to me, especially after they see I have so many. That one you're holding
was from and old boyfriend."
"Really? What happened?"
That served to keep the two occupied for the next several hours,
as Yoshimi related her dating adventures.
****************
Ryunosuke chuckled softly to himself. Considering Yoshimi's
recent run of men, not that much had changed since then. He hung back around
the bar as much as possible, keeping a close eye on the others enjoy themselves.
Scanning.
Watching.
Listening.
Drinking.
"GO! GO! GO! GO!" the chanting of the crowd around him spurred him
to even greater efforts, or so it seemed. Ryunosuke liked whiskey. Well, no,
not really, but he did get a kick out of watching everyone else watch him
drink people under the table. The loser had to pick up the tab, and right now
Ryunosuke was way ahead of the competition.
The fact was, he'd long since given up more than a pretense of being the
lookout. They could take care of themselves, that having been driven home every
time Nuku Nuku dragged in another mugger, much like their cats at home dragging
in dead birds.
Yoshimi had reluctantly given up on the idea of dragging him out to the
dance floor, and had run off with Nuku Nuku, who had met them at the bar. Nuku
Nuku wasn't the best dancer in the world, but she thought it was fun and never
had a shortage of partners.
Kyoko, on the other hand� Ryunosuke shook his head in amazement,
incidentally downing yet another shot of whiskey, and watched Kyoko dancing with
a ferocity unmatched by anyone else, even in the mosh pit.
On stage a woman known as Priss was singing with a passion that
matched Kyoko's on the floor, if such a thing was possible.
Quite frankly, Ryunosuke was having trouble fitting Kyoko's
current behavior with what he knew of her. She'd always been the calm, rational
one. He shrugged. It was pretty good music.
He turned around as a guy started to tap on his shoulder. A huge,
heavily muscled guy in a black leather jacket was smirking at him while the
bartender was holding out a bottle of whiskey and waggling it suggestively. A
pretty girl in a similar outfit was standing behind the big guy.
Ryunosuke grinned. "That's a nice jacket you've got there."
****************
A cool breeze, heavy with the scent of exhaust fumes, blew a few
pieces of trash through the alley as Ryunosuke stepped out. He adjusted
his new jacket, hampered slightly by the girl on his arm, and looked
around. Although dark, the neon signs on the street provided plenty of light to
see by.
The guy had turned out to have quite a tolerance for
alcohol, so Ryunosuke had paid the tab in mock respect. After all, he
thought, taking all of a man's money after taking his clothes and his
girl would just be adding injury to insults.
He'd talked with the girl for a while and managed to get a name, Hikari,
and an invitation to her apartment.
He had looked for the girls but had finally just thrown the keys
to Kyoko, yelled something about 'her place' while gesturing at Hikari,
and left.
It just so happened that injury and insults were foremost on the
minds of the men who followed him out. Taking a fellow gang member's jacket was
not a wise move, much less a shared girl, and the three were anticipating him
to be an easy mark after a night of binge drinking.
Ryunosuke knew they'd followed. He knew how far back they were.
And from the slight stiffening of the girl at his side, he knew she had just
realized.
He calmly stopped and turned around, letting the girl go. He sized them
up and shifted into a fighting stance.
The three guys were taken aback. Bright they might not have been,
but they knew something was amiss. These were not the actions of a drunk
man. One pulled a knife and shifted into a stance of his own.
"What, don't tell me. You want money. Or my car," Ryunosuke said
contemptuously. "I've heard them all. "Why don't you just turn around
and leave? Save me the effort."
The man with the knife snarled. "Why don't you just shut the hell
up and die?"
"You first," Ryunosuke said, and darted in. He grabbed the knife
hand in one fist and squeezed, then threw the guy into the other two as they ran
forward to help.
Ryunosuke heard a scream from behind him and turned to see Hikari
running out the alley. "Wait!" he yelled. "Where're you going?" She didn't
bother answering.
The men groaned and started picking themselves up.
"Now look what you did," Ryunosuke complained. "You scared her
off!"
"Unng," one replied. "Fuck you, you bastard. She's ours." He
pulled out a large gun from his jacket and pointed it at Ryunosuke.
Ryunosuke frowned and held still. Getting shot wouldn't hurt him,
but it would give away his secret. That was not an option. He thought
fast, reviewing his options.
Unfortunately, most of them involved getting shot and killing the
men. And then he saw the answer.
Priss Asagiri took one look at the scene in front of her and went
into action. Three guys dressed as gang members, one with a gun, facing away
from her. One guy in casual dress facing her, apparently about to get shot.
Solution: take out the guy with gun.
Priss was an experienced fighter, a veteran of martial arts
training and hundreds of bar fights. She forced the gun to one side and kneed
the guy in the back, twisting the gun out of his hand before he could shoot.
With the threat of the gun removed, she could now kick some ass.
Which she did, thoroughly.
For his part, Ryunosuke was quite content to watch, playing the
part of the helpless noncombatant as Priss beat the luckless three into the
ground. He clapped politely when she stood panting over their bodies. "Nice
work."
"Thanks." Priss turned and looked at him. "You okay?"
He nodded. "Yeah, but my date ran off," he said ruefully.
Priss grunted. "I saw her running back that way," she pointed.
"Didn't seem like she was gonna stop either."
Ryunosuke shrugged. "Ah, well. I'd best go see if I can't grab a
ride."
They walked out of the alley just in time for Ryunosuke to
see his van being driven away, probably by Yoshimi considering the state Kyoko
was in last time he saw her. "Damn. It figures, this just isn't turning out to
be my night."
Priss laughed. "Your ride took off without you, huh?"
Ryunosuke nodded. "Guess I'll be walking back."
"Where're you headed?" she asked curiously.
He grimaced. "The other side of Tokyo."
"Hah!" Priss laughed. "That's a long walk. Tell you what, I'll
give you a lift on my bike if you want me to."
Ryunosuke brightened. "A bike ride? With you? Hell yeah!"
Priss's openly friendly face became more guarded, and her smiled
turned a little more evil. "You don't mind fast riding do you? Because I like
to go fast, and by fast I mean FAST."
Ryunosuke chuckled. "What a coincidence, so do I," he said with a
leer.
Priss just smiled in anticipation.
****************
Kyoko was happy. Not just any sort of happy, but the sort of
happy that usually only comes from listening to violent music and blowing things
up with bazookas. She hadn't done any of the latter yet, but hey, the night was
still young.
As a direct result of Kyoko's unusually good mood, Yoshimi was
driving. After the MHI tower strafing incident, they'd all agreed to keep
Kyoko from the helm when she was grinning like that.
Nuku Nuku rode by them for the sixth time, pinkish hair trailing
in the wind, pedestrians and other cars scattering before her. The occasional
flash of her tail lights glinted off of chrome in the darkness. Yoshimi ignored
her, lost in her own thoughts.
Kyoko, for her part, also ignored her surroundings. She could
still feel the music, driving into her soul, throbbing insistently like an itch
she couldn't scratch. She sighed and leaned back in her seat contentedly,
picking at her blouse. Maybe she needed a wardrobe change, she thought.
Something with more� Leather?
"Hey, Kyoko," Yoshimi said thoughtfully, startling Kyoko.
"Hmm?" she asked, sitting up. "What's up?"
"Why do guys act like that?" Yoshimi asked, never taking her eyes
off the road.
"Oh, you mean Ryunosuke?" Kyoko asked. Seeing Yoshimi's nod, she
continued. "He's probably just trying to be one of the boys. You know
how guys are, it's all about who's got the biggest toys," Kyoko said,
contempt plain in her voice.
"They're not all like that," Yoshimi protested. "Ryunosuke can be
sweet and caring at times, when he's not being a total ass."
"He's better than some, but when you get down to it, he's still an ass."
Yoshimi paused and looked at her briefly. "So why are you still with him?"
Kyoko sighed, looking out the window. Cars streamed by them, occasionally
honking their annoyance at Yoshimi's timid driving. She collected her thoughts
and tried to explain. "I've told you, I swore to his mother I'd take care of
him as long as I was able. And he's fighting MHI. I can't trust him to take
care of it all himself. Who else is going to? You?" Kyoko shook her head.
"Hey!" Yoshimi protested. "I help too you know. How many times
have YOU put on a hard suit and joined in?"
Kyoko held her hands up placatingly. "Don't get me wrong, you do
a fine job. But you're not a pilot. And you have a real life, outside
of planning assaults and loading weapons. This isn't your fight. You
might as well find yourself someone and settle down, leave the fighting
to those with the grudge."
"Oh, so just because MHI hasn't shot at me personally means I
shouldn't care?" Yoshimi snapped. "Do you think I'm some sort of cold,
self-centered bitch?"
Kyoko shook her head and remained silent.
"Well? I've watched MHI destroy Ryunosuke's life, your life, and
nearly everyone else's too," she continued weakly. "How many people
have died because them? Boomers, accidents, or just because they were
in the way?" Yoshimi voice rose and her driving got more erratic. "And
you think I'm just going to walk away?"
Kyoko carefully didn't look at her, staring out the window at the
pedestrians, face unreadable.
Yoshimi paused for breath, breathing heavily. "I'll see this
through, as far as he does," she finished, just barely audible.
They rode along in silence for a few more minutes, until Kyoko
reluctantly spoke up. "Umm, could you carry me on to HQ? There are
some things I need to do there."
Yoshimi nodded once, sharply.
Ah, hell, thought Kyoko. So much for my good mood.
****************
Yoshimi stopped the van in front of Ryunosuke's building, intending to
carry it on to her place. The idiot could come and get it himself.
Kyoko was just stepping out when she heard the characteristic hum
of a high powered motorcycle stopping. Odd, she thought. I'd have figured Nuku
Nuku would have been inside by now.
She stepped out and looked around in time to see Ryunosuke get off
of a nice motorcycle driven by a brown haired girl. Then as the girl took her
helmet off, she realized.
Priss. THE Priss. The face may not have been framed by a wig now, but
she still recognized it, having stared at it for nearly an hour while dancing
like a maniac.
Dumbstruck, after all, how could Ryunosuke have met someone like
Priss?, she watched him laugh as he talked easily with her, to far away
and to low to hear. Priss seemed a little taken aback by whatever it
was Ryunosuke was saying. Then as she watched, Priss's face darkened.
Gleefully, she watched Ryunosuke quickly stop talking as he
realized Priss's mood. She nearly cheered when Priss hauled off and
slugged him, knocking him back several steps. Priss jammed her helmet
back on and took off at max acceleration. A low 'Yeah!' from beside her
told her she wasn't alone in her opinion of the incident.
Ryunosuke watched Priss leave impassively, at least until he
realized he had an audience. His eyes widened as he saw the smirks on
their faces, then narrowed. "Not a word," he growled.
"Got shot down, eh lover boy?" Kyoko asked snidely.
"Tsk tsk tsk, poor Ryunosuke," Yoshimi mocked. "Looking for love
in all the wrong places."
Irritated, he spun and walked into the building, his two
tormentors trailing behind.
This is a heavily rewritten version of my Nuku Nuku alt universe, and I
used many of the scenes from that for the flashbacks. An eventual fusion with
BGC was always planned, but during my third rewrite, this sort of happened.
Otherwise, I'd have had a new chapter finished long before now.
This is still a draft, and I'm not scared of another rewrite should it
require it. Please tell me about any problems.
The original version can still be found on my web site
http://lavender.fortunecity.com/clockwork/416/fanfics.htm
Thanks, as always, to John Go, Isaac Marchionna, Ann Pinsonneault, X-ile,
and everyone on FFIRC.
Well now, now that I'm back, have this out of the way, and as soon as I
finish just a little more homework, I can start in on my backlog of fics I need
to C&C.
Kichigai
ICQ# 37606443
Visit my site! http://lavender.fortunecity.com/clockwork/416/index.html
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That
way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away, and you have their shoes.