Though the tags don't mention it, think of this as a draft, since odds are,
there will be at least one rewrite based on any C&C I might get. So please,
please, please, send C&C, especially since this chapter seems a little weak
in places but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't figure out why, so maybe
it's just me.
This fic is based on the 2032 version of Bubblegum Crisis, and for the
purposes of the fic, Mackie was 20 in 2032, rather then the 16 I understand
he was supposed to be. Hence the alt tag with a question mark since I'm not
sure if that's just artistic licsence or qaulifies as an actual alt.
Okay, you're probably bored with the notes, my fingers are tired, so let's
get on with it!
Compliments warm the heart......
Criticisim Strengthens the Soul.....
Flames Shall Be Used As Target Practice. :-)
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Keep/5268/Fanfic/fanfic.html
Agreeable Komodo
He who buys it, uses it.
Just say yes to prophylactics.
"Karaoke, is Japanese for tone deaf."
-Starburst Commercial
****************
Disclaimer: The following was written for the enjoyment of the writer and
those who read it. No money has been or is intended to be made off of this
story and all characters are the property of their owners.
****************
Mega-Tokyo: December 4th, 2097
It was snowing.
The white powder sifted down out of the sky like a gentle drizzle, covering
anything it touched with white. A poet would liken the effect to a white
cloak upon the shoulders of a beautiful maiden as she walked through the
forest under the winter's moon.
Indeed, the cold and snow encouraged the populace to stay indoors or wherever
they could find warmth and a dry place to sleep.
If there was any way that Satori Mackenzie could have known this, she would
not have cared. Not at the moment.
"What the hell do you mean I'm stuck here?" She yelled at the screen on the
desk she was sitting behind in a office on the seventh floor of the Tokyo
Police and Security Department headquarters. Satori was a slender athletic
young lady. Tall, with reddish brown hair, a gymnast's build, and a model's
body.
On the screen, Reina Mackenzie, her mother sighed. "We've been over this
before, Satori, under Japanese law, you're a minor-"
"I'm twenty fuckin years old!" Satori interrupted. "I can drive-I can buy
cigarettes-I. . .I can buy booze! I aint no minor!"
"In England, yes," Reina replied. "Not in Japan." Satori's jade green eyes
bugged out and she let loose with a stream of words foul enough to peel paint.
"Are you done?" Reina asked calmly. Satori nodded. "Good. Now let's go over
this again. You assaulted a gaurd. You committed B and E." She held up a hand
to forestall her daughter's protest. "Yes, I'm well aware of why. Now let me
finish. Since the gaurd recovered without any long-term ill affects, aside
from injured pride, and since you didn't steal anything, and because under
Japanese law, you're a minor, you cannot be released on your own
recognizance. Nor can you leave the country for the same reasons for two
years. You should consider yourself lucky Mr. Stingray was able to not only
procure legal aid, but was willing to accept custody of you for the next two
years."
"Lucky? Who the hell is this Stingray guy anyway?"
"He's a friend of your grandmother's," Reina replied. "I admit it's been
years since I've seen him-"
"Years?" Satori interrupted again. "Just how much do you know about this guy?"
"Well, not much really-"
"Great! So for all you know, you could be sending me to live with some
perverted whackjob!"
"Satori-chan," Reina said, her tone one of amusement. "You have a fourth dan
ranking in Kung-Fu, do you really think an eighty-eight year old man could
try anything without you tying him into knots?" Satori averted her eyes from
the screen. "I know this is difficult for you, Reina continued, "but there is
nothing you, I, or anyone else can do except try and deal with it. Your
father and I are going to send you a package filled with some of your things
from your room. Is there anything you want?"
"Could you send Mister Thimble?" Satori asked, referring to her favorite
stuffed animal, a worn out teddy bear.
"Of course dear, anything else?"
"Oh, send some of my Jun Seiya CD's too," Satori added. She was about to say
more when the door to the office opened and an officer poked her head in.
"Hey kid, your ride's here."
"Be nice to Mr. Stingray dear," Reina said and blew her daughter a kiss. "I
love you."
"Love you too, Mom," Satori replied as the screen winked off.
Standing, Satori followed the officer out of the office and down a short
hallway to a small reception area. Standing by the elevator was detective
Hibo Kasagi, a large, heavily built man, another man, who's build under the
suit reminded Satori of the green guy from the american comic books who spoke
in third person and was always smashing things. Sitting in one of the chairs
was an elderly man, his hair a pristine white, his hands, which were folded
on top of a simple cane, still obviously had some strength and power in them.
He wore a black suit with a white shirt and no tie.
"Is this her?" He asked. The officer nodded.
"Yes, Sir, Mr. Stingray," she said, as she handed him a pad. "If you would
just sign these chain of custody documents? They list your responsibilities,
duties, and rights for the next two years." Stingray took the pad and studied
it for a few moments before producing a stylus and scrawling his signature on
the plate at the bottom and handing it back. The officer tapped a few buttons
and small card slid out of the side. "This is your copy," she said, handing
it to him. Stingray took and slipped it into his pocket.
"Do you have any bags?" He asked Satori.
"Just a suitcase back at the hotel," she replied. Stingray nodded and looked
back at the officer. "Anything else?" The officer shook her head. "Then let's
go." Without a word, the big man walked over to Stingray and gently helped
him stand.
*******
"He's a boomer, right?" Satori asked as they descended the steps of the TPSD
to the street.
"Who?"
"Him," Satori said, indicating the big man behind them. "He's a boomer,
right?" Stingray nodded.
"Aren't you worried about him going rogue?"
"There's no such thing," Stingray replied as they reached the car, a long
black sedan parked at the curb. Several scorch marks at the curb indicated
that the security system had been busy. "All rogue boomer incidents were
actually weapon tests conducted by Genom," he said "Genom" as though it was a
curse. "I built and programmed Raven myself. There's no danger." He took out
a remote and clicked it. Satori thought she saw a flicker of electricity
ripple across the shiny metal as Raven reached over and opened the rear door.
Stingray got in and Satori started to follow only be stopped by the older
man's upraised hand.
"No," he said. "You're driving." Satori stared at him helplessly. "You can
drive, can't you?" His tone was condescending, almost patronizing and Satori
felt her lips compress together in anger.
Fuming, she stormed around to the driver's side and got in as Raven seated
himself in the passenger's seat.
Starting it up, she pulled away from the curb.
"The rules," Stingray began as they pulled into traffic. "You will be
employed by me as my chauffeur and gofer. You will receive a wage, a room,
food, and board. I rise at dawn every day and am in bed by nine every day,
and I expect the same of you. There will be no boys, or girls for that matter
at the house."
"No girls?" Satori exclaimed, perhaps a little to loud. "You think I'm into
girls?" Stingray smirked and Satori clenched her fingers around the wheel.
'Bloody hell Satori,' she berated herself. 'Now he thinks you're into girls!'
Fastening her eyes on the road, she listened in silence as he continued.
"There will be no drinking, and you will take classes of your choosing part
time at the university. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir, Mr. Stingray," she ground out between clenched teeth. 'It's two
years,' she thought to herself for what would be the first time of many. 'I
can handle anything for two years."
*******
After retrieving her bag from the hotel, and following Stingrays curt, one or
two word directions, she pulled up the sedan up to a massive monolith that
was a fusion of western and Japanese architecture.
Brooding, the monolith sat at the edge of a cliff overlooking the Sea of
Japan. It looked for all the world like it was haunted, an image emphasized
by the fact that it's black paint made it look like a black shadow against
the blacker sky.
"This is where you live?" Satori asked. Stingray nodded as Raven reached
forward and touched one of the buttons on the console, causing the wrought
iron steel gates to open. "Spooky."
*******
Inside, the house seemed to embrace it's western heritage, with high ceilings
and thick carpets. Most of the lights were out, creating heavy shadows and
distorting objects into nightmarish parodies of themselves, reminding Satori
of the ghost stories her father liked to tell her when she was young.
Dinner was a light stew with bread and then Raven led her up the stairs to
her room, a half circle with a small balcony over looking the ocean.
Overwhelmed, she unpacked and went to bed.
*******
"Bloody hell," she grumbled, throwing back the covers some two hours later.
"I can't sleep." Grabbing a portable torch and a warm robe, since Stingray
didn't seem to believe in climate control, she slipped out of the bed and out
into the halls.
After more then half an hour of wandering, she came upon a small room on the
third floor at the end of a hallway.
Practically empty, the only things of interest was a roaring, crackling fire
in a the fire place, and over it, a huge picture of four women. The same four
women in fact, who's photos were scattered throughout the house. When she had
asked Mr. Stingray about them, she had received only a grunt in reply. Also
in the picture were a middle-aged man, and a young man about Satori's age,
who, upon closer inspection, she realized was a much younger Mr. Stingray.
'Huh," she thought. 'He was kinda cute back then.'
Shivering as a cold draft blew through the room and through the material of
her robe, she crouched, holding her hands out towards the flames in hopes of
warmth. It was then that she realized that there was none. Curious, she
cautiously held out her hand towards the flames, and, after a moments
hesitation, thrust her hand in. There was no pain, no heat, and when she
withdrew her hand, no sign of burns.
"No bloody way," she muttered as she thrust her hand back into the flames and
held it there, counting off the seconds until two minutes had passed before
removing her hand and looking at it. Then, gathering herself, she stepped
into and through the flames, finding herself inside a stone chimney where the
sound of a low hum reached her ears. Looking around for it's source, she
found a small, expensive looking holoprojector set into a small recess over
the fire.
"There's only one reason for a fake fire," Satori said to herself as she
stood up and began feeling the stones of the chimney. "And that's to hide
something-like a secret passage!"
It took her a while, but she finally found a loose brick, that when pulled
out, revealed a switch. Flipping the switch, she hurriedly replaced the brick
as floor under her began to lower.
'A hidden lift!' She said silently. 'Imagine that!'
The trip down lasted perhaps a minute, the last thirty feet or so through a
steel tube. Finally, the ride ended and metal walls opened, to reveal a
massive underground facility, lit sporadically by huge floodlights hanging
from a gridwork of steel lattice built through and around the stalactites
growing downward from the rocky ceiling. It reminded her of the cave under
the home of the american comic character who dressed up like a bat.
Excitedly, she descended the short flight of stairs and began exploring.
The cavern was huge and with each thing she saw, the more the feeling that
she was onto something big grew.
There seemed to be everything here. Manufacturing equipment, a chem lab that
would have made her chem teacher back in high school wet his pants, a garage,
a jet, water craft. A computer setup that would set any nerd to drooling and
more.
"There's even a fuggin armory. What the hell does he need an armory for?"
Nobody answered, but her mind was coming up with all sorts of possibilities
as she continued her explorations.
Finally, at the far end of the cave, she found a small room. Against the
walls on either side of the door were suits of armor, evidently made for
women. One was white, one was blue, one was a sorta reddish pink, and one was
olive green. Each was within a glass case, which in turn stood upon a black
steel cube-shaped dias.
At the center of the far wall, directly oppisite the door, floating in a tube
of greenish, glowing liquid, was another suit of armor. It seemed almost
alien in design, like the metal was organic, grown in a womb rather then
crafted in a shop.
As she stepped closer, a cold wind suddenly whipped up as the world faded
into a haze.
She saw herself in the suit. How she knew who was within the black armor, she
could not say, but she knew, without the shadow of a doubt, that if the
faceplate were to be removed and she were to look at the face behind it,
Satori Mackenzie would look back.
Gradually, she became aware that there was no ambiant noise. Indeed, even the
armored figure seemed unmoving. It was then that she heard a roaring noise
and when she turned to look, she saw a tidal wave of blood rising up before
the shadow of a woman.
For a moment, just a moment, she knew the who the shadow was and then the
wave crashed down on her everything went black.
When her vision cleared, she was in a study of some kind, sitting in a chair,
and looking at Mr. Stingray.
He did not look happy.