Bubblegum Crisis : Tokyo Babylon

A fanfiction by Mark Latus

Part 5 of 5

     From their quickly chosen defensive position the Wolfpac watched the
Knight Sabers tear into the security Boomers.  After the first one of them
fell the Boomers had defaulted into combat mode.  However with Nene 
scrambling their link channels the Boomers were fighting as individuals rather
than a unit.  Which meant they were losing ground rapidly.
     Priss wrenched off a Boomer's bazooka equipped arm and fired a particle 
beam into the shoulder cavity.  Its torso exploded and the smoking hulk 
crashed to the ground.  Priss paused to make some witty comment (having 
watched too many action movies recently) which was rather wasted.  The Boomer 
was dead, the other Sabers were too busy to appreciate her sense of humour,
and most of the Wolfpac members (having hacked into the Saber comm channel
automatically) didn't speak Japanese.  The two who did were not known for
their sense of humour.
     Having nothing better to do the 'pac mercs were critiquing the Sabers'
fighting styles.
     "The one in the blue suit has style", Frank commented.  Ilsa disagreed,
either from professional judgement or jealousy.  "Any idiot could do that 
with a suit that powerful."
     Helmut, the mercs oldest member (almost 30, which after 12 years as a
merc is something of an achievement) sided with Ilsa.  "The blue suit is
pure flash.  She's taking unnecessary risks rather than using her suit's
technical superiority.  Also this isn't a movie, if you want to waste time
gloating do it after all the enemy are dead.  Now the green suited one is
making excellent use of her suit's capabilities."  As he said this Linna's 
monofilament ribbons slashed a boomer into three pieces.
     Marie, the group's leader, added her opinion.  "The green suit is good
but the white suit's better.  She's taken out the most boomers and she's done
it with speed and precision.  In addition to which she's directing the others
as she does this with an excellent tactical sense."  Marie was one of the
merc's Japanese speakers.
     Nadia decided to put in her two rubles.  "Of course the white suit's 
their leader, so it's natural you'd side with her.  What I'm really wondering 
though is why is the red and pink one hanging back?"
     "She's more technical support than combat orientated.  Right now she's
blanking out the lab's security systems and the Boomers combat interface."  
Having reminded everyone he was listening Daniel fell silent again.  
     The twelfth and last Boomer fell to Sylia.  While the other Sabers might
have doubts about her mental state they couldn't deny she was still one hell
of a fighter.  Nene's sensor sweep established no other Boomers were lurking
outside the building.  Unfortunately the lab was shielded which meant there
was no telling what was waiting for them inside.  On Sylia's order she used
an EMP burst to destroy the external sensors (having located and targeted
them during the fight).  Thanks to her jamming Mason had no idea how many
people had got out of the chopper.  Now the Wolfpac would remain undetected
while the Sabers entered the lab.  Their "allies" worried Nene.  As far as
she could tell they weren't going to do anything unless the Sabers were ...
incapacitated was how Sylia had explained it.  Stone cold dead was another 
way of expressing it.  Still there was probably nothing to worry about, after
all they'd already beaten Mason twice.  They should have it down by now.
     Priss blew open the main door and they headed in.  The first surprise
waiting for them was a laser cannon battery.  It began an automated sweep
of the hallway at approximately chest height, the optimum programmed kill
point.  Nene dived for the floor followed by Linna who'd taken a hit.  Priss
cursed and fired back, still standing, ignoring the energy bursts ionizing 
the surrounding air.  Sylia had jumped to the ceiling, punched in a grip with 
one hand and returned fire with the beam cannon in the other palm.  The
lasers exploded, filling the corridor with smoke.  Sylia dropped down to
check Linna and Priss, both had taken hits.  
     Linna stood up, "I'm fine, just taken by surprise."
     "Yeah Sylia, you made the suits laser resistant didn't you?",  Priss 
added.  Sylia had to agree with their assessment of their condition, the   
refractive coating had diffused the laser's power.  However she had to
remind them of a few things.  "Laser resistant, not laser proof!  Take enough
hits and the coating will burn away.  So remember to use cover, and don't 
use names.  You never know who's listening."
     Priss remembered the mercs didn't know who they were, only Dumas did.
"Uh sorry, I'll use colours in future."
     Meanwhile outside Marie asked Daniel, "How are we going to know if the
Sabers get wiped anyway?"  He seemed focused on something else but replied
"I'm getting a videofeed from the Sabers leader.  If she gets killed it's a
fairly safe bet the others are dead or dying."
     Someone else was watching a videofeed.  Mason had overridden the jamming 
and got the buildings internal sensors back on line.  The external sensors
would not respond and were probably physically destroyed.  The internal 
cameras at the main entry had just been blasted but they'd been on long 
enough for him to identify the intruders.  It didn't seem possible, how had
Sylia found him.  For that matter how had she even learned he had returned?
Was it possible there was some sort of psychic link between them?  After all
they both had enhanced brains.  Mason abandoned this line of speculation and
turned to the main problem,  living through the rest of this night.  His only
real advantage was the Knight Sabers generally operated in the open.  The
confining aspect of the building might throw them off.  The best option 
would be an ambush at sub-lobby 3.  He could pin them down long enough for the 
BU-12D's to reach them.  He linked to his Boomers and sent them into combat.
He tried not to think that the Sabers had destroyed a larger group of this
model the previous night.  Mason took primary control of the security system,
interfacing so that the building felt like an extension of his body.
     Sylia noticed the change right away.  She pulled Nene toward her fast as     
a security door came crashing down.  The door (which would have cut Nene in
half) locked to the floor.  All along the corridor came the crash of security 
gates closing.  "Looks like he's got past your jamming."
     "That quickly?  Doesn't seem possible Syl ... uh white saber."
     "Hey you guy's OK?"  Priss's voice echoed in her helmet.  "Hang on we'll
blow the door."
     "That won't be necessary blue saber."  Sylia extended her armblades and
slashed a large oval in the door.  She grabbed the metal and heaved the
loose part to the side.  Priss and Linna stepped through to join them.
     "This will really slow us down", Linna observed.
     Sylia completed her survey of the digital map Daniel had provided.  They
were heading for the main lab, a large space on sublevel 3.  The site of the
Gilgamesh equipment, it had originally been used for Boomer testing.  It was
overlooked by a control room which seemed the best place to find Mason.  The
building's structure interfered with Nene's sensor sweeps so they couldn't
track Mason directly.  The ground level section they were in was an extension
however 15 metres ahead ... "Blast the door ahead, watch out for surprises!"
     Linna and Priss complied.  They stepped through the gaping hole and 
entered a lobby area.  Now they were over open space, the lower levels began
below this position.  Linna asked, "Do we take the stairs or the elevator
shaft?"
     "The shaft, but first Nene kill the cameras."  Nene's suit emitted an 
EMP pulse and Mason's eyes in the lobby and the level above and below fried.
     Priss aimed at the elevator doors.  Sylia put a hand on her arm and 
opened her vizor.  Switching off the comm. channel she told them "Forget the 
elevator, that was for Mason's benefit.  We're in radio silence until I tell 
you otherwise."  Mason could well have broken into their audio link by now.
Daniel's feed was a coded digital video signal, a lot harder to break.  She 
estimated another ten minutes before it was compromised.  She indicated the 
floor, "Priss dig in there, Linna dig in there."  Sylia extended her blades 
to full extension and silently cut a circle in the floor.  Priss and Linna's 
grip kept it from falling free.  They lifted up quietly and placed the circle 
to one side.  Without a word they dropped silently through the hole into
sublevel one.  Sylia blasted the elevator doors, she didn't want Mason to
wonder what was keeping them.  She dropped through the hole and was about to
repeat the process when Nene grabbed her arm.  Nene raised her vizor, pointed 
to the floor and told her, "At this range my sensors work.  The next level's
crammed with Boomers!"
     Sylia made a quick decision, time to take a risk.  "Feed their positions 
to our suits.  Everyone target through the floor and fire on my command."
Linna and Priss moved apart, to cover the Boomers further away.
     "Now!"
     Mason was very surprised when the roof above "him" exploded.  While he 
was still in sublevel 3 his mind was interfaced with the Boomers in the lobby
of sublevel 2.  His plan had been to pin the Sabers down when they broke 
through the elevator shaft into sublevel 3.  Being so close to his control 
room he had a lot of heavy weaponry concealed on that level.  While the 
Sabers were pinned down his Boomers would target through the floor of sublevel
2 and catch the Sabers in a crossfire.  A good plan, he just hadn't expected
Sylia to adopt it.
     Most of his Boomers were down, he broke his link and ran through the 
defensive options.  There weren't many left.  Largo hadn't never lived here 
for more than a few days so he'd never upgraded the defences.  Mason 3 had
done what he could but he'd had limited time and had been counting on 
concealment as his primary defence.  Besides there were limits to what he 
could smuggle out of the GENOM tower.
     The last boomer fell and the Sabers dropped into sublevel 2.  Sylia
switched back to the comm channel.  "No point in being subtle, he knows we're
up here.  Blow the floor!"
     Priss obliged.  Nene scanned through the hole.  "There's a lot of nasty
stuff down there."  As she said this she fed the data through to the others'
hardsuit displays.  She ducked back as a particle cannon traversed upwards.
Priss's own particle cannon blew it apart before it had a target lock.  Then
everyone opened fire and Mason's defensive weapons became twisted piles of
metal.
     They dropped through the holes (of which there was no shortage) onto
sublevel 3.  Nene's sensors picked up a large power buildup nearby.  "I'm
getting a signature like Largo's directly ahead of us!"
     Priss started running down the corridor ignoring Sylia's call to wait.
Linna followed, seeing no alternative Sylia joined the rush.  Nene brought up
the rear.  Several weapons popped out of the walls.  All were blasted before
they had a chance to lock on target.
     Back in the lobby of sublevel 2 a damaged, but still operational, BU-12D
deactivated its "play dead" mode.  The previous night the Sabers had shredded
the 12D's so much that they hadn't had a chance to demonstrate the new 
advance of this model.  It crawled over to a destroyed unit and began 
assimilation of its fallen comrade.  This "cannibalism" was a variation of
some boomers ability to merge with external materials.  The idea being a
damaged boomer could repair itself by absorbing material from a more
extensively damaged unit.  The previous night the Sabers had destroyed all the 
Boomers they fought.  In the rush of tonight one remained partially 
operational.  It crawled around the lobby hunting for more useable remains.
     Priss burst into the main lab, Mason was waiting.  "You again?  I was
hoping for a decent fighter this time."
     "Fuck you!"  Priss fired and missed.  Mason dodged with inhuman speed 
and fired a force pulse at her.  The kinetic wave slammed into her.  As she
went flying Linna broke into the lab.  She charged Mason slashing with her
combat ribbons.  He dodged and leapt across the lab.  Priss got up, a little
shaken but with a fully functional suit, as Sylia and Nene entered.
     "No individual attacks, we englobe and destroy him."
     "Anytime you're ready ladies", Mason announced.  Nene's sensor readouts
confirmed this superboomer was no tougher than the last.  Together they could
take him.
     "NOW!"
     The Sabers charged Mason, he waited but didn't open fire.  As they passed
the midway point of the room they got an unpleasant surprise.  The chemical
polymer sprayed from the wall vents as a liquid but on contact with the air
hardened into threads.  Sticky, nearly unbreakable threads.  
     The Sabers charge stopped dead as they tangled in the web.  In the space
of seconds they were immobilized.
     "YES, I DID IT", Mason's cry of triumph didn't come from the figure in
front of them.  Sylia's neck was free.   She looked up and saw another Mason
looking down from the raised control room.  The Mason they'd been fighting
seemed to have shut down.  "How did you like my puppet show, Sylia?"  Mason
asked.  "He was supposed to become Mason mark 4 if anything happened to me
but I found a new use for him.  He hasn't had a consciousness installed yet
so it was a simple matter to interface with him and use him to fight you.
And now I'm going to use him to kill you."  Sylia had being panning her field
of vision around the lab.  Hopefully Daniel was still receiving the videofeed
and was sending his troops in.  Since she couldn't count on that she needed
a way out of this web.
     Everyone was caught and straining against the fibres.  Unfortunately
no one had a weapon trapped at an angle that would let them hit Mason if they
fired.  Enough heat might melt her free of the web.  Using her palm controls 
and the vocal inputs in her suit she diverted power into the outer shell of 
the hardsuit.  It might work if she could buy time.  Meanwhile if the mercs
were on the way it would help if they arrived unobserved.  "Nene, EMP burst 
now!"  Nene managed to comply.
     Mason's monitor system fried but he didn't seem particularly worried.
"My fellow superboomer is EMP shielded, as is a little something I call 
Gilgamesh.  You haven't damaged anything crucial.  I can restore the sensors  
with ease.  Now where were we?"
     He likes to gloat, Sylia reminded herself.  Keep him talking.  "Very
clever, how did you come up with this trap."
     "To be quite honest it was already here when I took over the lab.  This
was originally a boomer development lab.  If a new model starts running amuck
you have to find out why.  If you blow it to pieces you'd never find out 
what went wrong with the design.  So this system was designed to 
immobilize rogue boomers intact.  Then they could be dissected alive for  
analysis purposes."
     "Very humane."
     "Perhaps.  Cruelty is the essence of humanity after all.  That and 
stupidity.  We were something new, better than human.  You could have joined
me, become a goddess with an immortal body.  But you threw it away and now
you're just another fool who'll die at my hand."  Mason raised a hand, his
puppet raised its arm.  "First the idiots who follow you and then your own 
death.  That seems appropriate."  The possessed superboomer held its hand in 
front of Nene's helmet.  At that range the hardsuit couldn't possibly 
withstand the implanted energy sword when it activated.
     Sylia cursed, she needed a little more time to melt her way free.  Some
distraction, anything.  "I've always loved you."
     "Nice try, but your friend's dead,  what the ...?"  Mason's gloating 
turned to confusion as five heavily armed powered suits charged into the room
firing chainguns at the control booth.  The armoured glass fragmented as the 
penetrator rounds ripped through it.  Mason seemed to dance as the cybroid 
killer bullets ripped through him.  Dumas had claimed they were the latest 
thing in anti-boomer weaponry.  Designed to penetrate boomer skin then 
fragment internally the bullet's alloy also caused a synthetic cancer that 
destroyed a boomer's regenerative system.  Genom's latest measure to make
sure they kept control of their creations.
     The incredible offensive power of a superboomer isn't worth a lot if you 
get caught by surprise and blown full of unrepairable holes.  Mason flopped 
from the control booth and impacted the floor bleeding a variety of coloured 
fluids.  He twitched slightly but made no other move.  Marie told her troops 
to cease fire.  Nadia scanned the fallen superboomer and announced, "It's 
still alive, dying but still alive."  Everyone aimed at it but Marie shouted, 
"Hold it!  Blast it if it moves but otherwise let's see if Dumas wants to 
witness the kill."  She turned to the command link channel. On the floor 
Mason gurgled weakly, "Danny .... you  bastarrrd."  Hearing 
Dumas's name hadn't made his night.
     "We've got one dying Mason down here.  Feel like gloating?"
     Sylia heard Daniel's reply, having broken into the Wolfpac channels on 
the way to the lab.  "Am I my brother's keeper?  Kill him, but make it a 
chest wound, I'd like the face as intact as possible.  I'm on my way down." 
     Marie nodded to Frank.  He stepped forward and shoved his chaingun arm
against Mason's heart analog.  Then solemnly announced, "Brian James Mason.  
You're dead Jim!"  The penetrator bullets ripped Mason's circulatory systems 
into fragments.  The Superboomer's biosystems collapsed and that was the end 
of Brian James Mason mark 3.  As Frank said, "Bit of an anti-climax really."
     Daniel and Cynthia entered the building as Ilsa was commenting to her  
fellow mercs, "I thought these clowns were supposed to be hot stuff.  Instead
they wind up pulling an armoured babes in bondage scene and we have to save
their asses." 
     Nene, who had broken into the Wolfpac comm. channel and spoke English,
retorted "Hey you idiots wouldn't have got anywhere near here if we hadn't
blown all the traps and surveillance gear on our way in." 
     "Come over here and tell me that to my face."
     Caught in the polymer web Nene fumed in frustration.
     Meanwhile Helmut was asking Marie, "Should we cut the Knight Sabers 
loose?"  How strong their current alliance actually was remained known only 
to Dumas.  The polymer threads entrapping Sylia had melted enough to free her 
arms.  She extended her blades and slashed herself free.  "Never mind."  
     A few more quick slashes and the others were free.  Free but rather 
messy with all the threads hanging off their hardsuits.  "I'll bet we have to 
clean these  ourselves", Nene whined.  Sylia ignored her.  She stepped up to 
the immobile "puppet" Mason and punched a blade between its eyes.  Why take 
chances?  
     It dropped like a stone.  Helmut shouted, "Hey the money man wanted that  
one intact."
     Daniel, preceded by Cynthia, entered.  "That was something of a whim
Helmut.  Don't worry about."  To Sylia he said, "Pity you couldn't take Mason
yourselves.  Now I have to pay them a combat bonus.  Ah well."
     "We did what we could.  I can't anticipate everything."
     "True, true.  Neither of us can.  Anyway let's take a look at Gilgamesh
shall we?"
     Frank quipped, "So much for the Life of Brian.  Next feature the quest
for the holy grail."
     Looking at his half brother's remains in passing Dumas commented, "This 
is an ex-Mason."  It rather surprised Frank who hadn't expected Daniel to get
the reference.
     The mechanism filled the rear of the lab.  A large part of it appeared to 
be life support systems for the maintenance of the superboomers that had  
filled the three pods.  Now those were all empty.  Somewhere inside it were  
the mind and memories of Brian James Mason.
     Meanwhile on sublevel 2 something emerged from concealment.  The 
regenerated BU-12D was somewhat patchwork in appearance but all systems were
functional.  While it had been repairing itself it had seen another five
intruders drop down to level 3.  Followed a few minutes later by two more.
All those people on sublevel 3!  The master's order had been clear, protect
the machine at all costs.  It dropped silently down to sublevel 3 and began
stalking towards the lab.
     In the lab everyone had moved closer to the machine.  Dumas studied it
with satisfaction.  "Beautiful."  Quietly Nene had sidled up to a dataport 
and connected her suit.  She triggered a high speed data dump.  Maybe Sylia
would want the data later.  Assuming she could decrypt it.
     Meanwhile Sylia finished studying Gilgamesh.  She was standing next to
Daniel and decided to remind him of their contract.  "You hired the Knight
Sabers to kill Mason and destroy his recorded memories."
     "Yes, we'll have to study it and learn how to purge them."
     Sylia nodded.  "That's what I'd do.  But then I asked for myself 'how
would Priss deal with this situation?'"  Through his helmet visor Daniel 
looked puzzled.  Then he got it!
     "NO!"
     Too late.  Sylia was standing next to the machine as she fired her beam
cannon into it repeatedly.  Its power cells exploded and the machine became 
wreathed in smoke and the smell of melting petrochemicals.
     Before Sylia could withdraw Daniel had his own suits weapon arm aimed at 
her head.  "YOU GODDAMN BITCH!"  
     Marie reflected this was the first time she'd seen Dumas's cool persona 
crack.  It also meant everything was about to hit the fan.  The Green and 
Blue Sabers were aiming for Dumas, Cynthia was shifting the aim of her 
particlebeam cannon between them, the other Wolfpac members were targeting 
the Sabers and the Red & Pink Saber wasn't helping much by asking "Can't we 
all just get along?"
     "Play it cool people", she muttered into the comlink.  Which in 'pac 
code meant "Target the nearest of our former allies and wait for the fire
order."
     Seemingly oblivious to all this Daniel asked Sylia simply, "Why?"
     After a pause to consider all the variables that lead to her decision
Sylia told him.  "There are a lot of powerful people in the world I'd prefer
to stay dead when their time comes."
     Daniel sighed and lowered his weapon.  "You've just blown the only 
chance at immortality we're likely to get."
     "It didn't do Brian much good.  Who'd want to live as an immortal maniac
spreading destruction.  That's what we have God for."
     "Heh.  I suppose I don't want Quincy sticking around forever.  I have 
my own ambitions."  He glanced around.  "I supposed we'd better defuse this."
     Sylia nodded.  "Calm down everyone." 
     Dumas added, "We've agreed to disagree.  Everyone stand down.  Including
you, Cynthia."
     Looking uncertain, and wondering if their respective leaders were crazy,
everyone lowered their weapons.  It was at this point that the boomer made
its appearance.  Being too late to save the Gilgamesh project it switched to
the secondary directive.  Kill the Knight Sabers, priority termination to be
accorded the white Saber.  Its rebuilt particle cannon should be its most 
effective weapon if used at maximum pulse.
     Dumas was standing next to Sylia as the Boomer targeted her.  Cynthia
was the first to see it and its target.  Her cyberlinked suit moved her 
faster than any human could manage.  She shouted, "Down sir!" and threw 
herself into the line of fire as she targeted the other boomer.
     They fired approximately simultaneously.  She was firing penetrator  
bullets that travelled at three times the speed of sound.  The BU-12D's 
pulse moved at light speed.  Before its head exploded the energy burst had 
plenty of time to wash over her suit.
     Cynthia fell as almost everyone opened fire on the already dead Boomer.
Chaos reigned as they swept the corridor with fire and ran frantic scans for
attacking hordes of Boomers that just didn't exist. 
     Daniel rushed over.  There was a hole in the chestplate of Cynthia's 
armour.  He popped the suit, the hole extended into Cynthia herself.  She
opened her eyes and coughed up a mouthful of green fluid.  "Gkk ... fuck this
hurts! ... pain unck.... pain suppression system offline, bio function 
failing ... I'm dying."
     "Remain calm, I'll get you fixed.  Just hold on."
     Cynthia made a sound that might have been a laugh.  "I have an internal
monitoring system remember.  Uhh ... wound ... entry wound cauterized by
beam impact ... cannot regenerate affected tissues ... systemic damage
spreading.  Termination imminent ... shit I don't want to die."
     Sylia, having come up behind Dumas, asked  "Is she a new model?  Most of
them aren't that scared of dying."
     Crouched down by his Boomer Dumas replied, "Cynthia's a new design. 
Mentally she's supposed to be the most human design we've created."
     "Daniel ..."  Dumas was surprised, it was the first time Cynthia had
called him anything apart from "Sir".  "Yes, Cynthia?"  He asked.
     She raised her right hand and grasped the gauntlet enclosing his.  "I  
... I love you ... "  Another fit of coughing up fluid struck her.  Then she
suddenly stiffened before falling limp.  Awareness faded from her eyes and 
she was gone.
     Daniel carefully lowered her hand.  After a brief pause he said, "That
was something of a surprise.  She was programmed for fanatical loyalty not
romance.  I'd better speak to the designers."
     Marie, who'd been close enough to hear, commented "Treasure this moment
Dumas.  It's probably the only time anything female will say that to you."
     The armour they were wearing concealed Sylia and Daniel both wincing
slightly.
     The past was gone, time to get on with his future.  Daniel reflected he
had made plans for if the Gilgamesh unit was destroyed.  Time to put them in
motion.  "All right, time to move out.  Marie, have someone bring Mason's
remains.  I'll carry Cynthia."
     Sylia had crossed over to the superboomer she'd killed.  She picked it
up.  "This one's my kill, it goes with us."
     "Fine, I don't need two dead Mason's.  One will be plenty."
     The Sabers regrouped around Sylia and her cargo.  Daniel carefully 
disengaged Cynthia from her suit.  It was useless and would fit his story
better if left here.  He cradled her in his arms as Frank tossed Mason's
carcass over his suit's right shoulder.  Boomer fluids began running down
his arm.  Hopefully it wouldn't stain the paint.
     The Wolfpac formed around them and the two distinct groups headed out,
keeping a watchful eye on each other.  There was a delay in the lobby as the
mercs used their suit jumpjets to head up to ground level.  The jet backwash
meant only one at a time could ascend without cooking the lower level.  The
Sabers suits enabled them to jump the three stories without trouble.
     Apart from that everything went smoothly.  Everyone reentered the 
cargo lifter and arrived back at the warehouse without any further incidents.
The only thing of note happened after Sylia dumped the superboomer remains
in the Sabers truck.  Telling the others to guard it she stalked over to
Dumas.  He split from the Wolfpac and met her halfway.  They switched off 
their audio links, raised their visors and talked face to face.  Distance and
some type of sonic baffle kept anyone else from hearing their conversation.
     After several minutes Daniel handed over a credit chip confirming
payment of all fees to the Saber account.  Sylia took it and headed back to
her friends.  They loaded up at her command and she drove off.
     Inside the cab Nene asked Sylia, "Umm, do you want to talk about it?"
     "NO".  The tone of voice made it clear she wasn't going to say anything
more.  Nene decide to change the subject fast.  "You know before you blew 
that gizmo I managed to download a good part of its program."
     "I know, my distraction kept Daniel from noticing.  I'll study it 
later."
     Someday, Nene thought, I'm gonna manage to surprise her.
     Back at the warehouse Marie asked Dumas, "What were you two talking 
about anyway?"
     "We were arranging a date."
     "Fine, don't tell me."
     Dumas kept from smiling, his iceman reputation remained intact.  No one
could believe him when he said something like that.  Even if it was true.  
Time to get his story in place.  "Pack up and get ready to move out.  I have
to steal a few Boomers to get my story in place.  But first ..."  Daniel 
emerged from his suit and went to his car's trunk.  From there he removed a
surgical pack.  Selecting a scalpel he headed for Cynthia.  "This is a little
too precise for using a suit.  Luckily her wound isn't near the memory 
stack."  As the Wolfpac watched he made the first incision.  Working steadily 
and methodically he was done inside of five minutes.
     "This should improve my position with Chairman Quincy."  He wiped his 
hands and cleaned off the download disc.  Good old Cynthia came through 
again.  Now to pay off the Wolfpac, ship them off and change a few records
about who was using those combat Boomers.
     September 22nd was a fairly windy day.  Inside the GENOM tower physical
conditions remained the same as ever.  However there were plenty of rumours
blowing through the tower.  D.C. Dumas had turned up that morning with a dead
bodyguard boomer, a truck full of wrecked BU-12D's and the body of Largo.
That's the sort of thing that's bound to start a few stories.
     He was currently in the Chairman's office, the only other people present
Quincy himself and Security Director Madigan.  The latter of whom was 
silently cursing Dumas and wondering how she'd ever keep this confined to 
GENOM.  
     Dumas had just finished a rather lengthy explanation.  After a few
moments silence Quincy lowered the hands he'd steepled on his desk and looked
at Dumas.  "So to summarize Mr. Dumas you realized some time ago that the
terrorist Largo and your late half brother were one and the same."
     "Yes sir, as I stated my memo of June 16th ..."
     Quincy cut him off.  "This in turn lead you to suspect that the failure
of our human-computer interface project might not have been as total as 
announced.  You investigated and learned of the high accidental death ratio
among the project members.  These suspicions were confirmed yesterday 
by the murder of Dr. Otomo.  You recognised the quotation as being from a 
book both you and your brother had read.  Since our security was clearly 
compromised you did not reveal these suspicions to Ms. Madigan but instead
proceeded on your own.  Your guard boomer was able to interface with the
main computer and trace the intrusions into our system.  Uncertain as to
who was above suspicion within the company you hired the Knight Sabers to 
kill Mason."
     "There was precedent for their involvement with the case of Dr...."
     Quincy raised a hand and Dumas fell silent.  "You then removed a squad of
our new combat boomers from storage and took them to the location the late
unit Cynthia had determined to be the intrusion source.  You had given this
address to the Knight Sabers and intended to eliminate the winner of the 
contest between them and Mason.  The Sabers killed Mason but your attempt to
kill them failed.  You barely escaped with your own life and in the ensuing
chaos the so called "Gilgamesh" mechanism was destroyed.  This is what 
happened."
     "Yes sir."
     "You've had quite a busy first day on the job."
     "Something of an understatement sir."
     "Indeed."  Quincy was silent for a few moments before speaking again.
While I normally applaud efforts to kill the Knight Sabers I am somewhat
unhappy about the loss of Gilgamesh."
     "With respect sir it was not a total loss.  Prior to this we believed
the process was a total failure, we now know it can work.  To an extent.  The
uncontrolled megalomania and messiah complex the reborn Mason displayed as 
Largo suggests there may have been some personality distortion resulting from
the process.  Also my bodyguard was able to download a good deal of data 
from Gilgamesh before the Knight Sabers killed her."  Dumas placed the disc 
on the Chairman's desk.  "Additionally since both we and Mason were mistaken 
concerning the death of Dr. Hathaway one of the original researchers remains
alive."
     "Ah yes."  Quincy's voice went cold.  "These events mean Hathaway lied to
me about the project.  What do you think we should do about that?"
     Dumas smiled, "Put him to work.  Vengeance can wait until he's rebuilt 
the project for us.  There are other researchers we can use and unlike
Gilgamesh the Osiris project will begin with the knowledge that the goal is
achievable."
     "Osiris?"
     "From the Egyptian god who returned from death.  If you'd prefer another
name ..."
     "Osiris is fine, have the proposal on my desk by noon tomorrow."  Quincy
smiled, as a reassuring gesture it was a washout.  "Now Daniel have you 
wondered why I transferred you to MegaTokyo?" 
     "I would guess it's something to do with the proposal Sir."
     "Proposal", Quincy chuckled.  "'Global Economic Domination by 2040 AD' 
is a fairly intriguing title.  This makes very interesting reading."
     "Thank you Sir."  Without a trace showing on his respectful expression 
Dumas thought "I sent it to you at just the right moment.  The Board is close 
to revolt after some of your recent fiascos.  You need a clear direction to
silence your critics and hang on.  Because they're as ruthless as you and 
there's a limit to how many you can kill or intimidate.  I'm giving you the
plan you need to hang on.  While advancing my own agenda."
     "I notice you recommend stopping our urban boomer tests.  Those have
always amused me in addition to providing invaluable data."
     "With respect sir those tests provide false data and hurt combat boomer
sales.  The ADPolice are so outgunned it's useless to extrapolate that data
into actual combat performance.  The Knight Sabers are so effective at 
wrecking Boomers that it makes the Boomers look defective.  Additionally
,since we explain these tests away as rogue units, many countries avoid buying
Boomers for fear of them running berserk in their own population centres." 
     Quincy looked at him.  "No moral argument?"
     "I've never considered those necessary for a corporation, Sir."
     Quincy laughed.  "I like you Daniel."   A pause.  "I'll be presenting my
plan to the board at our next meeting."
     "Of course, Sir."
     "If this works you'll be on the fast track to the top, maybe even to a 
board member."
     "Thank you Sir."
     "If it doesn't work ... well you'll regret it for the rest of your life.
However short that is."
     Dumas showed no signs of fear at the threat.  "It'll work.  Sir."
     "Well if there's nothing else we both have a great deal to do."
     "There is one thing sir."
     Quincy looked slightly annoyed, "That being?"
     "We never did locate the remains of the original Largo.  I would like to
recommend we resume the search until we locate them."
     "Fine.  Good day Daniel."
     "Good day Sir."
     Dumas left.  Quincy turned to Madigan, "Have a few people search the
ruins.  They won't find anything but I want our boy wonder's mind at rest."
     "Yes sir."  That son of a bitch made security look incompetent.  I hope
his plan's a disaster and I get to handle his layoff.
     Quincy stood up an stalked to the window.  Looking down over the city
he whispered, "It's mine, and I am going to hang on to every piece of it.
forever."  Once Osiris was up and running that would be more than an idle
boast.
     Madigan decided to wait until Dumas's stock dropped a bit before 
mentioning Osiris got his balls cut off.
     September 27th 8:00 pm
     The restaurant was small, expensive and very exclusive.  The reservation
list was three months long.  To get in earlier you had to be either one of 
the business elite or a favourite of Chairman Quincy.  It had quickly become
known that Dumas qualified as the latter.
     He looked out from the spire top windows over the chaotic city and tried 
to decide if this meeting was the stupidest thing he'd done in years.
     A waiter guided her over to his table.  He stood up, "Sylia."
     "Daniel."
     A brief pause as they sized each other up.  Both appeared completely
relaxed, not that appearance means much when you can control your emotions.
     While waiting for drinks they made small talk, mentioning people they'd
known years ago, old hangouts that collapsed in the quake, nothing of
consequence.  Both kept overriding the sensations the other's pheromonal 
trigger stimulated.
     Things started getting a little more serious over dinner.
     "How's Mackie?"
     "Adapting."
     "At least he knows what's happening, we didn't."
     "My father would have told us if he was still alive."
     "Really?"
     "Eventually he'd have had no choice."
     "Good old Doctor Stingray."
     "Daniel, I find it hard to believe you still resent being enhanced."
     He smiled, "You're right.  I got over that years ago.  Actually without
the enhancements I wouldn't be able to push my current project."
     "GENOM's global takeover."  Sylia's voice went very cold as she said 
this."
     Daniel shrugged, "Someone has to, GENOM's the biggest so they're ideal."
     "It's the last thing anyone needs."
     "It's what everyone needs!"  For the first time some passion entered
Daniel's voice.  "Unity is what we need and without it the human race is
finished.  We're tearing the planet apart in the name of national interest,
we need a global perspective.  Tribes gave way to kingdoms, kingdoms to
countries, now countries are giving way to the multinationals which in turn
will give way to the metanational."
     "So everyone should just stand back and deliver themselves into the
caring hands of GENOM?"  Sylia sounded incredulous.
     Daniel shrugged, "There will be abuses, that's inevitable.  Inequity,
discrimination and suffering.  The industrial revolution was the same.  But
in the long term it will have been for the best." 
     Sylia looked at him.  "The problem with the abstract view is you forget 
the very real people who'll suffer as a result.  Also I don't buy the
inevitable long term good emerging from evil argument.  GENOM has shown all
along they can't be trusted.  Yes the governments are destroying the planet
but there's no reason to think GENOM will do any better if they own the
world."
     "I disagree.  Still it looks like we both remain idealists."
     "Idealists on opposite sides."
     "Unfortunate."  Dumas paused.  "It would have been good if we could ... 
begin again.  It's been some time since I've been with a ... kindred spirit."
     "Yes."
     "So that's about all there is to say then."
     "I suppose."  After a few moments Sylia asked, "How was your meal?  I
didn't even notice what mine tasted like."
     "No idea.  I don't even remember what I ordered."
     Sylia smiled, "For enhanced humans we're somewhat pathetic."
     "I would have to agree.  Cheers, to your health."
     "And to yours.  So now what?
     "The night is young.  Let's call a truce for now and see what happens."
     "Why not.  You can get tired of being the icewoman."
     "Being the iceman gets a little wearing after a while."
     They left the restaurant together trying to pretend it was eight years
ago.
     September 29th 8:30 am
     Sylia stopped in to look at Mackie.  He'd been sticking to his room the 
past few days as his integration finalized.  The room was empty and, for a
change, organized.  She could actually see the floor.  She wandered down to
the lab, she had her own project she'd been meaning to work on.  This was a
day off, time for a little research.
     It was down there that she found Mackie.  He was running the fighting
simulation on level 9.  His lack of formal training didn't seem to affect
him.  His strikes were precise, his blocks and avoidance flawless.  As if he
knew precisely what his body was capable of doing.  Which was in fact the 
case.
     He stuck the kill point and the simulation ended.  He emerged from the
chamber and saw his sister.  A pheromone reached him and biochemical induced
desire triggered.  He took a deep breath and entered himself.  The desire
remained but it was pushed to the edge of his awareness.  A nuisance but
nothing more.
     Sylia studied him and nodded.  "Looks like you're more or less fully
integrated."
     "I think so", Mackie replied.  "I can turn the combat persona on and 
off at will which eases my mind a lot.  And my ... emotional problem seems
controllable."
     "Does that mean you'll give up watching the others as well?"
     "Uhm..."
     "Forget it, it livens things up around here."
     "Anyway I need a shower.  I'm not Superman, a workout like that and I 
sweat."
     "Fine, meet me in the kitchen for coffee when you're done.  There's 
some things we need to talk about."
     A little while later both Stingray siblings were looking at each other
over coffee.  Sylia started, "Mackie, what are your plans?"
     Mackie put down his cup.  "I don't know.  Until very recently I haven't
felt the need for any.  Now ... well spending my life fixing bikes and
hardsuits seems to be losing its appeal."
     Sylia had been considering this for a while.  She asked him, "Tell me
what you know about Phoenix."
     "The company?"  She nodded.  "Well it's an electronics/biotech. company
based in Berlin.  Dad set it up from his patents in his pre GENOM days.  He 
left it as the majority shareholder and never sold his shares.  He was using 
different techniques while with GENOM, more expensive ones that would have 
bankrupted Phoenix if he'd tried them there.  The shares passed to you on his 
death so you effectively own the company.  You let the managers run the 
company without much interference.  It's your major source of hardsuit 
components, supplies a variety of power armour parts to the EEC combined 
forces, and promotes pure research into biomech technology.  That's about 
it."
     Sylia nodded, "That's right except for one thing."
     "Which is?"
     "I don't own it, you do."
     Mackie stared at her, "WHAT!"
     "I have custody of it until you turn 18.  Then, by the terms of father's
will, it passes to you."
     "You mean we split the ownership?"
     "No.  It's all going to be yours."
     Mackie looked at her.  "But why, you're the eldest.  Why leave 
everything to me?"
     Sylia looked off into the distance, trying to see her father.  "The will
was changed near the end of father's life.  I believe he had designated me
as his personal fury.  So I was supposed to take his vengeance while you
continue his life's work."
     "I see."
     "Also I suspect he felt better about his male heir being the one to
complete his research."
     Mackie took a sip of his coffee.  After a few moments he said, "He was
our father and I loved him.  But after what I've learned lately he doesn't
seem to have been a very likeable man."
     Sylia paused before replying, "At home he was a good father.  Away from
us he did a lot of ... unethical things.  It's quite possible we'd have 
become estranged If he hadn't died when we were young."  She was silent for a 
moment, "To be honest it's been quite some time since I've been after revenge 
on GENOM.  I oppose them because someone has to, whatever he did wrong father 
was right about that."
     They both drank in silence.  After a time Mackie said, "Berlin ... hmm,
that's something to consider."
     Sylia nodded, "No rush, you've got about 18 months to consider what, if 
anything you want to do about Phoenix."  She smiled, "In the meantime how
about giving me a hand."
     "Doing what?"
     "Know your enemy is a good maxim.  I've taken the superboomer out of the
freezer to dissect it.  It'll be handy to know their weak points if GENOM
starts using more of these."
     Mackie shrugged.  "If I do wind up continuing dad's cyberdroid research
I'll probably be grateful for the practice.  Anything for a weird life.  
Still what do you think GENOM's going to get up to now that Daniel's on the
scene?"
     It was the first time in ages Mackie could recall Sylia looking 
uncertain.  "I don't know, I really don't know.  We'll find out soon enough."
To herself she added, "If Daniel does start directing GENOM they'll become
far more subtle.  Which will make them much harder to fight.  Unless we want
to risk people thinking we're the bad guys."  
     They were going to be living in interesting times.

Epilogue
     1:00am November 17th 2033 AD
     It was Takaya's first night as a watchman at GENOM's district 5 Boomer
Research and Development Center.  He was being shown around by Fukimachi.  
The older watchman was near retirement and hopeful that he was going to last 
that long.
     "Frankly kid I wouldn't go making this your career.  There used to be
ten of us, now it's just you and me."  Fukimachi tapped an inert Boomer in
passing.  "Before long they'll have both of us out and these things 
patrolling the warehouse.  No people at all." 
     Takya nodded, just as long as he didn't have to patrol with one of the
damn things.  Boomers gave him the creeps.  So when they entered the research
center and he saw the thing floating in the fluid filled tank he recoiled,
"JESUS!"
      Fukimachi nodded, "Ugly customer isn't he.  Some sort of repair project.
When they brought him in a few months back he looked a hell of a lot worse."
He scratched his head.  "I heard a couple of scientist's saying they think 
it'll regrow enough to start walking around again.  Me I figure its never
getting out of there.
     That sounded good to Takya, there was something unnerving in the way its
single eye stared at him.  He was more than happy to follow Fukimachi and
proceed on their round.
     Inside the tube Largo waited.  He was months away from mobility but he
should be able to integrate with the support tubes functions in just a few
weeks.  From there he could connect to outside systems and start things
moving.  He'd had a lot of time to think while he floated.  He know realized
he'd been far too weak in his past efforts.  The Boomers were as unworthy as
the humans, he alone was evolution's perfect child.  He would cull them both
and bring forth a new race in his image.  The time of his glory was 
approaching.  And this city, the first to reject him would be the first to 
feel his wrath.

End.



Author's afterword:  That concludes Tokyo Babylon, think of it as my 
explanation for some events that happened between Crisis and Crash.  This 
isn't the end of the story arc, that will continue in "Bubblegum Crash : 
Knights' End".  It'll pick up shortly after the events of Bubblegum Crash
and (among other things) cover Mackie's vigilante career in Germany.  The 
main focus will be on Daniel and Sylia's next clash as Quincy orders him to 
destroy the Knight Sabers.  It'll get a bit ugly.

If you have a comment on this story email me at

Mark.Latus@MSVU.Ca

Until next time

Mark

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