Bubblegum Crash : Knights' End

A Knight Sabers' fanfic in nine parts
by Mark Latus

Note- Dialogue enclosed in <"  "> is in English.  All other dialogue should 
      be assumed to be in Japanese.

Part 3 : MegaTokyo Burning

      7 pm Tuesday October 30th 2035 - GENOM Tower

     "Confirming deployment of final battle group." 
     "Excellent.  Await activation signal."  Dumas leaned back in his chair
and glanced around his control room.  The centre of an electronic web 
assembled for one purpose.  Around him video monitors flickered with images.
Pictures sped by too fast to be interpreted by the human brain.  Dumas watched
and waited.  Deep inside his mind he felt a twinge.  He flicked a mental 
switch and shut down his emotions.  Nothing must be allowed to interfere.
Reports continued pouring in from cooperating sectors within the tower.   
     "Satellite control, holding at first stage."
     "Air defence maintaining at Defcon 2."
     "Neural link in holding status.  Though I have to tell you Daniel that 
the mercs are getting restless."  Madigan sounded edgy.  She still didn't
know precisely what was going to happen.  Only Dumas knew how all the pieces
would fit together.
     "For what we're paying they can stand a little boredom.  Remind them that
the launch order could come at any time."
     The reports continued filtering in.  Dumas kept watching his surveillance
videos.  Soon, very soon indeed.

     7:30 pm Tuesday October 30th 2035 - Phoenix Warehouse, Sector 3

     <"OK Frank shut it down.">  Mackie sounded unhappy.
     <"I got 6 out of 10.  For targets that fast that's pretty hot.">
     <"Yeah, in one of those old junkers you used to use.">  Frank and Ilsa 
still had trouble with much current state of the art was behind the Stingray
designs.  <"You should be getting a minimum 90% kill rate.  The damn target
lock system must have gotten damaged in transit.">  
     Frank shut down the electromagnetic accelerator in his suit's right 
forearm.  Four small target drones remained hovering in standby mode.  The 
other six had crashed onto the floor, shredded open by needles moving at hyper
velocity.  Funny how delicate some of the suit's systems were.  Of course 
even with the target lock out of action he could kick the ass of any other
powered suit.  Well anyone except the other Shadows and the Knight Sabers.
     Mackie stabbed a probe into a concealed port.  An access panel swung open
in what had seemed a seamless surface.  Studying it Mackie sighed, <"Might as  
well step out.  This is going to take a few minutes.">
     <"Roger.">  Frank triggered the opening sequence and the top half of the 
suit split down the middle.  He levered himself out.  There wasn't much he 
could do to help.  Normal power suits he knew a bit about but stuff this 
advanced ... only Mackie and other geniuses could handle.  "At least the 
other weapons systems are on line."  The left arm beamsaber and shoulder 
mounted sonic pulsers had tested out fine.  So had the movement and jumpjet
systems.  Mackie muttered something noncommittal and kept working.  Maybe he
was too much of a perfectionist.  In combat you didn't always have the 
luxury of 100% efficiency.  Not that there'd been much combat lately.  And
Mackie got to pick and choose his battles.
     <"Ok looks like you check out fine.">
     <"Knew I would.  Also knew that Frank wouldn't.">  
     <"Never send a man to do a woman's job?">
     <"You got it.">
     Frank glanced over as Sonya shut down the test program and Ilsa cracked
her suit.  Sonya kept saying Mackie was crazy for playing at "superhero" but
she was always assisting his madness.  Must be love, why else would you put 
up with a lunatic?  Of course it helped that she got on with Ilsa.  Ilsa 
thought of her as a kid sister.  Sonya seemed to look on Ilsa as some sort
of surrogate alter ego.  Someone who'd gone out and done things she'd dreamed
of doing but wouldn't risk herself.  An adventuress.
     Ilsa tried not to disillusion Sonya by telling her that adventure was
90% boredom, 10% terror.  These days Ilsa figured that the classic 
definition of adventure was correct.  Adventure - "Reading about someone else
having a miserable time a thousand miles away."
     <"So when do we meet the Knight Sabers again?">  Ilsa called over to 
Mackie.
     Without missing a beat on his repair work Mackie answered, <"Tomorrow.
Tonight we get everything working perfectly.  Last thing I want is to be
shown up.  Soon as I'm done here I'll get my suit up and running.">
     The back panels on Knight Shadow 1 were open.  Mackie figured the flight
pods and missilepack needed some fine tuning.
     <"Be good if something happened tomorrow.">  The combined manoeuvres with
the local vigilantes promised to be a little dull.  MegaTokyo had been as 
quiet as Berlin since the fusion reactor incident in September.
     <"Don't hold your breath.">

     7:45 pm Tuesday October 30th 2035 - Sylia Stingray's Apartment.

     At Sylia's insistence Linna settled down on the couch.  Just the two of
them.  Sylia had said she wanted to talk but what about?  Was Sylia worried
she'd been upset by Priss getting the second in command slot?  "Is this about
the Knight Sabers?"
     "Indirectly.  It's more of a business proposition."
     "Oh?"  That was intriguing.  Did Sylia know of a job opening?
     "I'm ... thinking of pursuing a research project with Phoenix.  It's of
indefinite length and requires relocating to Berlin for most of the next
little while.  I need someone to manage the Silky Doll chain in my absence.
Interested?"
     Linna just stared at her.  That was quite the bombshell.  Finding her
voice Linna said, "That's ... surprising.  What about the Knight Sabers?"
     "Priss will keep running it.  With Largo gone and Quincy under Daniel's
control I think we may have become obsolete.  At least in the sense of being 
able to effectively fight GENOM in that fashion.  We can see about recruitment 
to keep the team up to full strength."  Sylia paused for a moment, "In fact I 
may have two new recruits in mind."  With Staeler gone the Knight Shadows 
will also be obsolete.  With them not needed in Berlin I can talk to Mackie 
about transferring Ilsa and Frank to MegaTokyo.  Of course there is the 
problem of a language barrier but ...
     This was quite a night for surprises, Linna thought.  Not long ago, just 
before Largo re-emerged, Nene was worried that the Sabers were about to break 
up.  Now Sylia seemed to be saying exactly that.  The thing to remember is 
that she's superhumanly intelligent.  If she thinks the time has passed ... 
can I argue with that?  And do I really want to spend the rest of my life 
fighting?
     "I need to think about this.  How about a few more details."  Pause "And
something to drink."

     8:00 pm Tuesday October 30th 2035 - Hot Legs Club, Sector 5

     "Back in this dump again."  The thought depressed Priss.  Telling the
owner to screw off after landing that disc contract had not been one of
her brightest moves.  It was hardly libel, the guy was a two faced creep.
Except the record deal went sour (sonofabitch wanted to turn me into an idol
singer) and she was back on the club circuit.  Such as it was.  There weren't
many places left willing to employ her.  Abrasive personality my ass!
     At least she still had fans around here so she'd got back in.  As an
opening act but it was better than nothing.  An opening act for some group
of heavy metal clones.  What a life.
     OK enough whining.  Deliver the show of the year and make 'em forget
the creeps following her.  Have to start another comeback.  She'd been up 
and down in this town enough times to give her motion sickness.  Time for a
quick pep talk to the band (screw up and you're roadkill) then head out and
rock this fleapit.  "Ok people ..."  She finally noticed there was a new guy
fiddling with the keyboard.  "Where's Yoshi?"  She could take a pretty good
guess either a new girl or ...
     Her bass player shrugged. "Sick."
     Great.  "Drunk or stoned?"
     "Both.  Anyway this is Ryo."
     "Hi." 
     Priss ignored the outstretched hand.  "This guy's the best?"
     "Best I could find on an hour's notice."
     "Great."  She turned to glare at the new addition.  "You'd better be 
good.  Cause if you're not you answer to me."
     Ryo swallowed the smart remark he'd been about to make.  There was 
something scary in her eyes.  "You won't be disappointed."
     "I'd better not be."  She took a moment to calm herself then turned back 
to the group.  "OK we'll open with ... "
     
     8:00 pm Tuesday October 30th 2035 - ADPolice Headquarters

     Detective Daley Wong picked up his coat and headed for the elevators.  
Leon could finish up the paperwork, he needed some sleep.  Unlike his partner 
he'd pulled more than his share of overtime lately.  Sitting by the elevators,
wearing a very sour expression, was Nene Romanova.  Daley paused.  He'd
noticed that the past few days Nene hadn't been her normal bright and bubbly
self.  Well as a detective it was his duty to investigate.
     "Evening Nene.  Hey didn't your shift finish a while back?"
     "I had some reports to finish up.  Besides my scooter broke down this
morning so I'm stuck waiting for a bus.  And thanks to the latest labour
dispute they're running at about a quarter of capacity."
     Well that explained her rotten mood right now.  It didn't explain why
she'd come in on Saturday looking ready to kill something.  His curiosity
was peaked.  Besides he liked Nene, maybe he could help her with ...
whatever was going wrong.
     "Tell you what, I'm heading home so I'll you a lift."  She looked a 
little hesitant so he added.  "I promise not to try and take advantage of 
you."
     Nene decided she could believe that.  She wasn't his type.  No woman was.
     "Thanks, I appreciate this."
     The elevator arrived and the two of them got in.  Behind them a GENOM 
built security camera watched them go.  
     In the GENOM tower Dumas gave the order.  "Activate the first wave 
Boomers."  Phase 1 had begun.  
     Throughout the area city planners designated Sector Five concealed 
Boomers began to power up.  Some were programmed to run berserk.  Some had
specific objectives programmed into them.

     8:15 pm Tuesday October 30th 2035 - Hot Legs Club, Sector 5

     Priss strutted out onto the stage.  There were fewer cheers than she'd
expected.  OK, no messing around, straight into the best music these zeros
ever heard.  She raised a hand, when it dropped the sound would kick off.
     The far walls exploded inward.  The audience screamed as concrete 
shrapnel sprayed across the floor.  Lucky most everyone was clustered around 
the stage.  Most of the debris didn't reach that far.  Most of it.
     The unlucky few clutched their wounds but didn't become the centres of
attention.  That was reserved for the Boomers that marched into through the
holes.  Priss felt her mouth go dry.  Seven of them.  Older models, BU-12A
combat series.  She'd trashed a lot of them in the Knight Saber's early days.
Except here and now she didn't have a hardsuit.  She didn't even have a gun.
The Boomers stopped short of the crowd.  They seemed to be waiting for 
something.  
     When nothing happened a foolhardy few took tentative steps toward the
Biomechs.  Was this part of the act?  Then one of the Boomers spoke. 
     "Are you ready to rock?"
     That seemed to confirm it.  The tension in the room reduced.  At least 
on the part of those not standing near the wounded.
     "Yeah!"  A few people answered the biomech.
     The spokesboomer smiled.  "Then let's PARTY!"  The Boomers unlimbered
their weapons, left arm mounted heavy machineguns and took aim.
     Priss dived for the backstage as the Boomers opened fire.  Behind her
Hot Legs filled with the sounds of screams, weapons fire and metal into 
flesh.
     She ran for the dressing room.  Shit!  There was no place to hide weapons
in a leather miniskirt and bra.  Her gun was in the bottom of the bag that 
had held her stage costume.  Her signaller was back there as well.  The 
watch that concealed it didn't go with her image.  
     Heart pounding she flung the door open and kicked it shut behind her.  
She pawed through the bag, where the fuck was it.  Here!  She snapped of the
safety.  The Earthshaker model 4 was illegal for use by civilians.  She didn't
care about that but it made getting ammunition difficult.  No reloads, just
the six shells in the gun.
     Six bullets.  Seven Boomers.
     "Shit."
     No time to waste!  Grabbing the watch she flicked it open and punched in 
the priority code.  Knightsaber in distress.  Sylia had always said it was 
for dire emergency only.  Use it frivolously and you're out.  "I'd say this
qualifies."
     No way out from here.  Solid walls and grills on the windows.  The fire
exit!  Just down the corridor.  She could hear something moving outside.
     There was the pounding of Boomer footfalls.  She had been followed.  
She fired through the door twice.  Something howled and reeled away.  She 
flung the door open, glad it opened inward.  A Boomer was sprawled in the 
narrow hallway, not dead but nonfunctional.  A second was emerging from the 
direction of the stage. 
     Priss fired once.  The bullet took the Boomer in the middle of its 
forehead. Its' artificial brain exited through the back of its' skull.
     Two down, five left.  Three bullets remaining.
     She turned to run for the fire exit and saw the metal door bending
inward.  There was a Boomer in the alley.  At least one.  Once it was through 
it couldn't miss hitting her in a passageway this narrow.
     Fuck.  OK, two choices.  Cower in the dressing room and hope the other
Knight Sabers get here in time (something under thirty seconds) or try and 
make a break through the front.  If two boomers had departed she could maybe 
drop the other three (yeah, right).
     Die cowering or take the slim chance at survival.  
     No choice.
     "What the hell.  Like the man said 'No one here gets out alive'."
     Priss ran back the way she'd come, hurdling the fallen Boomers.  Behind
her the fire door caved inward.  She charged across the stage, dancing over 
the bodies (BASTARDS!) and dived to the dance floor.  
     All five Boomers were waiting for her.
     The Earthshaker fired twice.
     A volley of machinegun fire answered.
     One last wild shot rang out then the guns blazed again.
     Silence fell over Hot Legs.
     The Boomers trooped out.  There were other massacres to perform.
     Inside the club a concealed radio kept sending out its distress call.

     8:17 pm Tuesday October 30th 2035 - Daley's car, entering Sector 5

     "So feel like talking about what's really bothering you?"
     The question jolted Nene out of her daydream.  Daley was watching the
road but she could see his gaze flickering over to me."
     "What do you mean?"
     "I mean you've been down for several days now and snapping at anyone who
asks you about it.  Whatever it is you have to deal with it sometime."
     Nene was on the verge of telling him to mind his own business but
hesitated.  She wanted to tell someone, but it had to be someone who wouldn't
repeat it.  Or at least didn't know who she was talking about.  That let out
Priss, Linna and Sylia.  "All right.  But it doesn't go beyond this car."
     "My lips are sealed.  I've been keeping quiet about your hacking skills
haven't I?"
     True enough.  No one apart from Daley and Leon knew she'd cracked the
neoNATO database during the "Illegal Army" trouble.
     "Ok, Well there's this guy ..."
     "Ahh.  I've had trouble like that myself."
     Nene blushed.  "Look do you want to hear this or not?"
     "Sorry.  Please go on."
     "Well we were starting to get somewhere when he had to go to Europe.  
There was this family inheritance thing ... Anyway he just got back but he
had this girl with him.  Real cheap looking piece of ... Can you believe
that?"
     "He'd promised to wait for you?"
     "Well ... not exactly."  Nene was silent for a moment.  "But he should
have ... I mean everyone else had us pegged as a couple."
     "Everyone?"  Daley couldn't recall hearing about Nene getting serious
with anyone.  And he did try to keep up on the office gossip.
     "Almost everyone.  Everyone of those who knew about us."  Except for
Priss and Linna who'd been betting on how long before things fell apart.
Which left Sylia, and it was hard enough to figure her out at the best of
times.  "He goes to Europe and gets lucky, every guy I date (which isn't
that many) turns out to be some sort of creep."  It was so unfair.  "Men!"
     "Can't live with them, can't live without them," Daley commented 
agreeably.
     Before she could answer the car's collision alarm screamed.  A Boomer
had jumped into their lane and stood stationary.  Daley threw the car into a
frantic swerve to avoid the collision.  As they skidded by the immobile
biomech it fired once into the driver's side.  Daley's cursing cut off 
abruptly.
     The out of control car flipped twice and came to rest right side up. 
Nene tasted something salty and struggled out of a daze.  Blood.
     Her seatbelt had held.  So had Daley's but he was slumped forward.  The
side window was gone and the driver's door was crumpled inward.  Daley's face
was a mask of blood and wounds.  Through the windshield Nene could see the 
Boomer coming to finish the job.
     Forcing herself not to panic Nene released her seat restraint.  Ignoring
the ache where the harness had cut slammed her chest she reached across to 
Daley.  No pulse in his neck.  His jacket was open revealing the shoulder 
holster.  Carefully, as if she had all the time in the world, Nene drew his 
gun.  She reached behind her and popped her door.  It opened with a squeal of 
protest.
     Nene flung herself backwards and landed butt first.  She unlocked the
safety and looked toward the charging Boomer.  It launched itself into the
air and landed on the car's roof.  Its' grin became wider and revealed the
mouth mounted particle beam cannon.
     Feeling as if she was moving in slow motion Nene aimed at the Boomer
towering over her.  She ignored the blood that slicked the pistolgrip and
targeted the cannon.  Hearing her shooting instructor's voice echo through 
her mind she squeezed the trigger.
     The bullet impacted the emitter head squarely.  The Boomer's head 
exploded.  Still hearing the nonexistent instructor's voice Nene switched
her aim to the torso and fired two more shots.  The headless Boomer 
overbalanced and bounced off the back of the car.  It hit the road and lay
still.
     The world began moving at normal speed again for Nene.  She stared at
the Boomer sprawled in the street and became conscious of the adrenaline 
rush.  "Yes!  I did it!"  Then she saw Daley's body hanging in the car and
the elation vanished.  She had to call this in.  As well as recheck Daley,
she'd been in a hurry.  Maybe he was still alive.  "Hold on."  She began to
reenter the car.  Her watch began beeping, the Knight Saber assemble signal.
She flicked it open and sent back the Saber in distress signal.  She had
enough problems right now without some goddamn drill.
     Across the street, concealed in the shadows, the second Boomer tracked 
her.  Unlike its' dead cousin it wasn't a general combat model.  Though it 
looked like a normal BU-12A it had been built for a special purpose.
     Assassination.
     Once the target's route had been confirmed it had waited and let the 
other unit intercept and draw out its prey.  It wouldn't fire without a
minimum 85% chance of success.  Now it had what it needed.
     A target lock on the back of Nene's skull.
     Daley was dead.  Nene hit the ADPolice emergency signal on the 
dashboard videolink.
     The Boomer fired one shot.
     Nene never saw what hit her.
     Both ADPolice and Knight Saber signals wailed on unattended.

     8:25 pm Tuesday October 30th 2035 - Knight Sabers Concealed Hanger

     As Sylia finished sealing her hardsuit the Knightwing continued warming
up.  When Priss's priority distress signal came she'd jumped into her suit
as soon as she'd entered the base.  Priority meant there hadn't been time to 
pull on the softsuit she normally wore under the hardsuit.  She'd ditched her 
clothes, jumped into her power armour and headed for the Knight Wing.  Her 
underwear left a lot of bare skin rubbing against the suit's interior.  If 
this wasn't an emergency she'd make Priss's life hell on Earth.  She could 
blank out the discomfort until the situation was resolved.
     She'd ordered Linna to change to a softsuit, suit up and bring Priss and
Nene's armour with her.  By the time Linna did that she should be ready to
launch the Knight Wing.  Meanwhile more firepower would be useful.   
     As she initiated prelaunch sequence she continued transmitting on the
Knight Shadows emergency frequency.  Mackie came on line, "Sis!"
     "Mackie, I have a priority one distress from Priss.  Correction priority
one signals from both Priss and Nene.  Both are in Sector Five.  I'm launching
out with Linna"
     In the warehouse the others watched Mackie snap into tactical mode.  
"Frank and Ilsa's suits don't have the range to rendezvous with Knight Wing.
My suit's in the middle of maintenance.  I estimate a minimum of fifteen
minutes to make it combat ready.  I'll have to meet you there."
     "Understood."  Sylia broke the link.  Mackie began shouting orders at 
the others.  He wasted no time cursing having only one suit with independent 
flight capability or fate for striking when he wasn't ready to go.  He'd
do that when he relaxed afterwards.  Now all that mattered was making
Knight Shadow functional.
      Sylia started the VTOL fans.  Linna landed inside the Knight Wing.  
She'd made a suit boosted jump through the main hatch, a hardsuit tucked
under each arm.  Yelling at her to hang on Sylia headed upward at full power. 
The cover over the hanger barely had time to open.  She sealed the main 
hatchway and headed for the nearest signal.  "Nene's also signalling an
emergency.  We'll get Priss then head for her.  Mackie will join us soon
as he can."
     Even with the suit's audio insulation it was difficult to here the
radiolink over the roar of the drivefans.  Linna was wishing they hadn't
been toasting their deal.  This would be a lot easier with a clear head.  
"Sylia, what the hell is happening?!"
     "I don't know.  But I'm going to find out."

End of part 3

Next: Things are bad.
      They get worse.

Part 4: Crash & Burn.

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