Bubblegum Chaos : Hurricane Season
A fanfic in seven parts 
by Mark Latus

     "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not 
become a monster.  And when you look long into an abyss the abyss looks into
you"
     - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, "Beyond Good and Evil"

     "I will not take advice from anyone who finished his life as a babbling
madman"
     - Sylia Stingray


Part 1 : Storm Warnings
[Revised draft version -03/18/98]

     Berlin - 9 am Friday June 30 2036 AD 
     
     Lieutenant Eric Rhinehart (European Police Complex, German Division,
Technological Crime Unit) surveyed the building again.  It hadn't changed 
much in the past five minutes.  Stalemate.  The terrorists couldn't leave and
he couldn't storm the building without inflicting heavy civilian casualties.  
To say nothing of his fireteams' own fatalities.  
     The computer identified these bastards as "Hellhound", an armoured
mercenary unit who'd operated mainly in the Baltic states and Russian 
Federation.  With the civil wars calming down over there they'd made the
switch to corporate warfare.  Pity these clowns hadn't been hired to hit the
tower.  GENOM's security was beyond state of the art, by the time the TCU
arrived there'd be nothing left to do but sweep up the pieces.  Unfortunately
Phoenix Cybernetics didn't have anything that elaborate.  But then only GENOM
could get away with lethal force security without the politicians screaming.
     "Captain's still caught in traffic."  His partner Marlene joined him,
making sure to keep the armoured cars between her and the line of fire.  The
cars AI's scanned the building ready to open fire as soon anyone emerged to 
shoot.  But there was a five second delay to allow the operator to abort
if a hostage was shoved into the open.  Four seconds was plenty of time for
someone to pop out a window, blow your head off and get undercover.
     "Thank heaven for small mercies.  Any pearls of wisdom from our beloved
chief?"
     "Yeah, she wants you to solve this fast without losing any hostages and 
before the media get through the blockade."  
     "Any suggestions as how I'm supposed to do that when I've had to deploy 
everything we've got just to keep them contained?"
     "Not a one.  On the bright side maybe now we'll get the budget to replace
our toys."  Two months earlier Black December, a nationalist group, had 
decided that Europlex was a symbol of Germany's surrender to the European
Federation.  A lot of heads had rolled after the security screwups that 
allowed them to bomb the vehicle bays.  The fight over if new equipment should 
come out of Europlex funds or Germany's treasury was still going on.  All of
which meant Eric was in a lot of trouble being short of firepower.  Disaster 
was fairly inevitable and that meant a scapegoat would be needed.  Poor Eric. 
Still it could be worse, Marlene reflected.  She could have been in charge of 
this crisis.  "The negotiator's here."  
     "Problem is these guys aren't talking.  Which means they're waiting for 
something."
     "A way out?"
     "Probably, but how?  We've interdicted the airspace, nothing's getting 
in by road and we've mined the sewers in case they try sneaking out by the
underground route.  What haven't we thought of?"
     "Divine intervention?"
     "Funny as a chest wound."
     "The bright side is most of the staff weren't in yet so we're looking at
under 50 hostages."
     "Which is more than enough for a decent massacre.  We can't infiltrate
the building without breaking their sensor web even if we had the manpower.
Why couldn't they have picked somewhere with narrow hallways?"  The building's
blueprints had made it clear the perps wouldn't have to ditch their armour to
stay active.  Wide corridors and no solid walls.  Support pillars and light
partitions like most offices these days.  "How are the hackers doing?"
     "Still no luck fooling their sensors.  They're talking thirty minutes 
minimum for undetected entry.  Planning on using the sewers?"
     "I would but that's so damn obvious.  These are seasoned pros they must
know that's are best way in."
     "So the basement's probably sown with bombs?"
     "That's what I'd do."
     Both fell silent.  What were they waiting for in there?  Why weren't they
using the hostages to demand safe passage?"
     "Lieutenant!"  One of the techs scuttled over too join them.  The hunched
posture wouldn't provide any more protection from a bullet but obviously made
him feel more secure.  Rhinehart tried unsuccessfully to remember the techie's
name.  Problem was they all seemed so generic it was virtually impossible to 
tell them apart.  For line officers tech-heads all blurred together, even the
ones tapped to go on field assignment rotation. "What have you got?"
     "There's a call from you on the secure channel!"  The supposedly 
unbreakable encrypted channel changed hourly in these situations.  "It's not
headquarters ... he says he's the leader of the Knight Shadows and he's asking 
for you!"
     "This had better be a goddamn bad joke!"  Eric grabbed the handset from
the crouching technician.  "Who is this?"  The same gravelly voice he'd heard
last year rolled out of the speaker in American accented German.
     "Hello again Lieutenant Rhinehart ..."
     "Listen, if this really is you and not some joker with a 'Clint Eastwood' 
program you'd be advised to head back wherever you've been these last few
months.  Armoured vigilantes are on everybody's shitlist these days!"
     "I'm afraid I can't do that."
     "Look you saved my butt last year but times have changed and I'm trying
to hold the lid on a crisis.  I don't need some death or glory crazies
interfering ..."
     "Do you know what Hellhound are waiting for?"  Rhinehart hesitated and
instead of resume his tirade answered the question.
     "I'd say a way out except there isn't one."
     "I'm afraid you're wrong.  There's a Raptor gunbird on the way.  It can
blow your choppers out of the air and hover over the building.  Hellhound will
blast the roof and boost up to rendezvous.  There are other charges placed 
through the building.  Blowing them will cover their retreat.  You'll be too
busy dodging debris to try to shoot them down.  Hellhound will be on their way 
out of the country while you're still trying to figure out what happened."
     "Shit!"  It had the unfortunate ring of plausibility.  "If this is true 
then when ..."
     "ETA is 15 minutes.  They'd have been here sooner if they hadn't wanted 
to make a surprise entrance rather than with half the German air force after 
them."
     "Damn."  Options flickered through his mind.  It was a short list.  "If 
we get the military to scramble ..."
     "By the time they believe you'll it'll be too late.  I'm not here to
discuss the matter.  We're going in."  
     "NO!  You'll spook them and they'll kill the hostages!"
     "We're quiet when we have to be.  I'm not debating this.  Our ETA is 60 
seconds.  End transmission."  The signal stopped.  Eric decided not to waste 
his time swearing at the dead line and switched to Alpha copter's code.  Until 
now he'd been using the open frequency.  Which was undoubtably compromised but 
was supposed to bring home to Hellhound just how isolated they were.  Now what 
to say?  If he panicked the copter jocks into shooting down the Knight Shadows
the folks in the building might think they'd lost their way out and freak.
Meaning bloodshed.  Except they'd also freak when the Knight Shadows arrived.  
A day like this can only get worse.
     "Yolanda, you getting any traffic heading this way.?"
     "Nothing up here but us.  The rooftop is still empty ... hold it!  I see 
something moving ... what the hell is that?!  Like hot air distortion  ... 
nothing on the scope ... it's heading for the building ... I can't make out 
any details ... It's stopped over the roof.  What the fuck is this?  There's
still nothing on the equipment, I can see something but the computer can't.
I'm going in for a closer look!"
     "Negative, hold position!"  Ignoring Yolanda's blurted inquiry Eric 
decided to play a hunch and switched to the encoding sequence for all the 
air units.  "Lieutenant Rhinehart to all pilots.  Do not investigate the 
anomaly over the building.  Do nothing to draw attention to it.  It isn't 
there as far as we're concerned."  Silently he added a prayer the code wasn't
compromised or all hell was about to break loose inside.  The pilots 
acknowledged though Yolanda reasonably enough demanded "What the fuck is 
going on?"
     Eric actually smiled, "Hopefully the cavalry just arrived!"
     Marlene looked him over.  "You'd better hope so.  Or you've just flushed
your career away."  Eric nodded and focused on the building.  No sight nor
sound of a massacre starting so everything was under control.  Though how long
that would endure was anyone's guess.
     The Shadow Wing hovered almost silently over the building.  While not
truly visually invisible all the sensors on the roof were blind to it.  Inside
Mackie smiled faintly though no one could see it behind the black faceplate.
"Rhinehart's not going to interfere."
     "One less worry".  Ilsa's Austrian accent became more pronounced under
stress.  She nodded at her gun display.  "Still no one on the roof.  Looks
like they're depending totally on the sensors.  Almost childlike faith in
technology."
     "They don't have the manpower to guard everywhere.  Besides would you
stand guard on a roof wired to explode?"
     "Point."  Ilsa snapped her visor into place.  It'd been a while since 
they'd had any real action.  Time to find out if they were still as hot as 
they thought they were.  Ironic, she'd been in Hellhound back when she was
new to the merc business.  Screw it, everyone in the group she'd given a damn
about was gone one way or another
     Frank swivelled the pilot's seat around.  "I hate to bring this up but 
time's a wasting.  Even in whisper mode this bird isn't silent and the stealth
system just makes us harder to spot.  We may be invisible to their sensors but
if anyone just takes a look up here ...
     "I'm feeding the roof cameras a fake image."  As always in pre combat
Mackie sounded unflappable.  "The bombs are on a dead man circuit, break the 
signal and ... ok I've got it duplicated and overridden their signal.  I'll 
plant a portable to keep them shut down.  Here's how we do it."  A three 
dimensional image of the building appeared and rotated to a birds eye view.
     "There are six suits two floors down.  Three in the main conference room
with thirty hostages.  The others spread out here, here and here."  Tapping
into his own security network had been no problem.  So much so that he'd made 
the penetration harder than it had to so it wouldn't look like an inside job.
"They're mine."  The image removed several floors to show four red suits
(Modified NeoNATO G-7s, c2028) each waiting at a different side of the 
building.  "Ilsa you head down another three floors.  We've got four of them 
waiting to snipe at the TCU when the gunbird's due.  They don't want to risk 
a lucky shot bringing it down.  They've got Viper missiles and at close range 
they'll punch straight through your suit without slowing down.  Don't risk 
trying for a surrender, just blow them away."
     "That's what I was planning."
     "Frank we've got two rovers down on the tenth, there's three more with
the other fifteen hostages down on nine.  Eliminate the threesome then take 
out the others from below."  Frank nodded.  "The one in the lobby is starting 
to head for the stairs.  Doesn't want to be left behind when their ride 
arrives.  Target of opportunity once the hostages are secure.  Questions?"  
None.  "Let's do it!"  They rechecked the drop cables momentarily then Mackie
triggered the door.
      The bottom hatch of the Shadow Wing slid open creating a black hole in 
the empty sky illusion.  Not that the system was perfect.  The wraparound 
image could only fool the eye from a distance.  Get closer and it became 
more and more apparent that there was something there.
     The three suits fell silently towards the rooftop, the cables slowing 
their descent.  Using the suitjets would have been faster, it would also 
have been a lot noisier.  The faint thump of impact should be unnoticeable, 
the roof had sufficient reinforcing to serve as an emergency helicopter pad.
Frank suppressed a slight wince at the thought of the high explosive they'd
just landed on.  Sure Mackie was broadcasting the disarm radio signal but that 
wouldn't help if there was a wired backup and someone pushed the button.  
Even as he thought this he was unsnapping the cable from his hardsuit.  The
three drop cables snapped back up into the Shadow Wing and the hatch resealed.
The onboard AI would keep it hovering overhead.  At least it had better.  
     Had there been anyone on the roof they'd have seen two formhugging suits 
of armour, male and female in outline.  Both totally black except for red eyes 
and a small red number on the right shoulder.  The woman's was number two, the 
man's number three.  They'd also have seen a large humanoid blur bigger than
both suits combined.  Frank and Ilsa's suits were sensor invisible but lacked
sufficient space to install the visual distortion equipment.  
    On their helmet displays both saw a blue outline appear.  Radio silence 
until strike point.  Shadow 2 headed west, Shadow 3 headed south.  Shadow 1
turned his attention to the floor.  Thermographic scans and the video from 
security cameras gave him the position of his targets.  Despite its size his
suit moved with a minimum of noise.  Ten minutes left.
    Ilsa stopped on the roof's edge.  The device mounted on her left forearm 
wasn't standard equipment though she had practised with it.  Still field 
applications tended to turn up problems no amount of testing ever discovered.  
It certainly looked like a weapon, a long thin wrist mounted outcropping ending 
in a folded claws behind a bladed head.  She fired the piton into the roof 
edge and felt it bite.  The claws unfolded and dug into the ferroconcrete.  
100% secure according to the readout on her wrist.  She gave it a quick tug 
and didn't feel it shift.  Ok, time to go.  She stepped over the edge and 
began sliding down the side of the building.  
     The cable paid out smoothly, so far so good.  It should be able to handle
five times her suited weight.  She passed the hostage occupied floor without 
notice.  Thermograph had shown no one near this side.  The cable should be
nearly invisible.  Nearly. This was the most dangerous part of the operation.
If someone above saw the cable, anyone below looked up or the cops drew
attention to her then she was in deep shit.  Only one arm free, the other
upraised and locked with the armour supporting her weight.  Right now her beam 
saber was inaccessible, or at least triggering it would slice through her 
support cable.  Still cutting herself loose and using the suit jets was the  
preferred option if discovered.  Unfortunately early discovery meant dead 
hostages.  Used to be she didn't give a damn about bystanders.  Life had been
a hell of a lot easier before she become one of the goodguys.  Also nastier, 
brutal and she hadn't really liked herself a whole lot.    
    She stopped her descent.  In position one level above the snipers.  
Thermal scan had her five metres from the nearest suit.  She subvocalized a 
command and the suit transmitted a signal blip.  Theoretically undetectable
by anyone except the other Shadows.  Her gun arm was ready to twitch towards
any sign of movement.  Theory is a hard thing to bet your life on.
     Thirty seconds passed.  A three flickered on her helmet display.  Frank 
was in position.  It was all up to Mackie unless something took it out of 
their hands and the shooting started early.
    Mackie hadn't been idle on the rooftop.  Thermographic scan had confirmed 
the video picture from below was accurate.  There was the possibility the 
intruders had managed to switch their images and the hostages.  It seemed 
they weren't that advanced.  There were three powered suits directly below him.
One by the huddled hostages, another by the corner where the two windows met
watching the TCU at ground level.  He was covering the North and East faces
which was why Frank and Ilsa had descended by the West and South faces 
respectively.  The third armour jock stood by the door, watching the corridor 
and guarding the reason for this little nightmare.  They hadn't been able to
get one of the prototypes.  Those were housed in the basement vault and 
inaccessible once the alarm was triggered.  Enough firepower to crack the 
vault would bring the building down on your head.  Still the loss of the 
encoded discs would be a major setback.  Luckily the data was still secure.  
The mercs would at least be bright enough to know if they squirted the data 
out on an uplink their employers would have no reason to retrieve them.
     Blowing a hole through the reinforced roof would be noisy as hell and
take a lot of firepower.  Luckily there were other options.  Three metres to
his right was the ring of thermex he'd set.  He was over his first target,
Ilsa was in position, now it was all up to Frank.  The slugthrower on his
right arm tracked his first target.  He waited silently and without any 
restlessness.  In his current state of mind he could wait a century without 
concern.
     Frank was in position!  Mackie triggered the thermex, tripped the go code
and fired straight down.  The depleted uranium slug punched through the roof,
continued through the next floor and impacted the helmet of Hellhound member
Curt Jurgens.  It continued through the helmet, losing more of its' momentum
in the process.  The bullet surged through skull, brain, neck, lung and body.  
It angled slightly and exited through his left thigh, cutting through the leg 
armour.  From there it continued through the floor and entered the next level.
It slammed into the carpeting and expend the last of its energy embedding 
itself in the floor.  
     Mackie was moving as soon as he fired.  To his side the incandescent 
thermex melted through the ferroconcrete dropping a circle of concrete onto the 
lower level.  As it burned through the roof it spluttered and died.  Mackie 
plunged through the hole avoiding the edges and landed on the concrete circle
the moment after it impacted.  The crash filled the corridor.  So much for 
stealth.  His thermograph had temporarily been washed out by the thermal 
explosive's heatflare.  His beam saber hummed on as he scanned the floor.
Below Jurgens' armour toppled over and his two comrades turned toward the 
noise and the hostages he'd been guarding.  This floor was far less solid 
and the beam saber sliced through it easily.  Knight Shadow's weight crashed 
through the ceiling coming down almost on top of the Hellhound who'd been 
watching the corridor.  He began to spin towards Mackie as the energy sword
bit into his neck.  The headless body went into a power armour amplified 
death spasm.  Mackie slammed it into the corridor, out of his line of fire as 
he turned to the third suit.
     The final hound was very, very good.  He'd spun to see Jurgens corpse
crash into the ground and immediately aimed at the ceiling.  He'd been about 
to rake the ceiling with fire when Mackie crashed in.  As Mackie killed his 
friend he was bringing his gun arm to bear.  His reflexes were excellent.  He
was almost fast enough.  Almost.  The spray of railgun launched needles struck 
his torso at five times the speed of sound.  They kept going through both him 
and the window he'd been watching.  It shattered into fragments leaving 
nothing to stop the spray of blood that exploded from his back.  
     Three down in seconds, three to go.  Everything had happened almost too
fast for the hostages to react, they sat there frozen.  Then everyone seemed 
to start yelling and screaming at once.  Mackie's amplified suit voice cut
through the racket.  "Quiet!  There's more of them out there.  Stay down!"
Without waiting to see if they had listened Mackie tore through the wall.
Inside his helmet the AI chirped as it completed the program to duplicate the 
short range Hellhound transponder signal.  The camouflage program was already
creating the visual signature of G-7 power armour.  It might buy him a few 
extra seconds.  Or it might not, in firefights people tended to get careless
about checking ID's before firing.
     His teammates had been busy below.  When Mackie's signal arrived Ilsa 
had dropped the final level firing her shoulder mounted sonic pulsers.  The
high frequency wave blew the row of windows inward.  The windows' implosion 
had sprayed glass over the merc who'd lain hidden behind a bulletproof shield.
She had automatically raised her hands to her helmet covered ears as the
ghastly shriek ripped through the air.  Dropping the viper launcher in the 
process.  Ilsa swung in through the window firing her railgun into the prone
figure.  Armour shredded before the high velocity needles.  Not exactly fair
play but there were three left and Ilsa wasn't wasting time taking unnecessary 
chances.  She unsnapped the cable winch and moved forward through the offices.
Thermograph showed a target directly to her right.  She emptied the magazine 
at the target and saw it fall.  The suit slid a fresh railgun cartridge into 
place.
     She hit the floor automatically as the collision alarm screamed.  The
missile roared over her head, punching through partition walls in its path. 
Luckily the viper had been too close to the launcher for the proximity fuse to 
arm.  It smashed through the outer wall and continued through the air 
searching for an armoured target.  It had begun heading towards the ground 
when a TCU anti aircraft burst took it out before it could splinter into 
independent warheads.  Ilsa hadn't thought just reacted, now she had time to 
comprehend what had happened.  Her helmet's display had already backtracked the 
missile to point of origin.  Before the hound could shift his aim Ilsa fired 
from the floor.  The stream of needles sliced his left foot off at the ankle.  
He screamed and triggered the launcher in his pain spasm.  
     Unfortunately for the merc he'd pulled the launcher's muzzle towards him 
as he fell.  Again the missile was too close to the launcher to arm.  That 
didn't prevent it from taking off the top of his head as it roared to life.  
The rogue missile tore out of the building heading for the clouds at a 45 
degree angle.  A TCU copter's AI tracked it and the pilot blew it out of the 
sky. 
     Three down, one to go.  Dammit she preferred shooting Boomers.  They 
didn't scream and you didn't feel at all bad about killing them.  Tracking  
... she spun to the left and fired.  There was an unearthly howl as armour
ruptured.  Her audio pickups caught the sound of screaming as the slumped 
armour jockey tried to hold in the intestines that oozed through his shattered belly
armour.  He didn't even look up as she crashed through the office wall.  She 
shifted her aim to the launcher and fired a single needle through it.  Nothing 
but high tech junk now.  For a moment she shifted the targeting display to 
the survivor then twitched it away.  He was no threat.  The fallen man 
couldn't hear her but she whispered into her commlink anyway.  "Level secure.
All four down.  Three terminal, one critical."
     Mackie's voice answered.  No emotion in the tones.  "Acknowledged.  Four
down ..."  She heard the brief whisper of a railgun.  "Five down, one 
remaining target."
     Frank hadn't been idle either.  He'd been hanging above the hostage
filled room studying heat patterns.  Unlike Mackie he wasn't simultaneously 
running  security video and standard visual.  The unenhanced had to worry 
about information overload.  One standing in the window looking down at the 
police lines.  He had a hand resting on the neck of an unsuited person.  A
little insurance against police snipers.  If anyone shot the merc and hit the 
suit would snap the hostage's neck or crush his windpipe.  If anyone shot at 
him and missed he could toss the terrified techie through the window.  The 
risk of smearing hostages over the pavement tended to deter the police.  It's 
hard to explain to the next of kin when the media splashes that image over 
every news show.  
     Meantime Frank had his own problems.  He'd descended fast and silent but 
he was in full view of the cops.  People were starting to point and that would 
tip off the mercs.  A room full of civilians made for a lot of complications.  
He'd made a brief plan on the way down.  Nothing fancy but then this situation 
didn't call for finesse.  Act and react.  He signalled he was ready and the 
go signal came!
     His beam saber hummed parting the cable like twine.  Gravity took over.  
As Frank fell he arced his upraised arm forward.  The energy blade melted 
through the window and severed the arm gripping the hostage.  Who fell over 
backwards as he instinctively threw himself away from the glare.  The 
powerless hand and forearm hung locked around his throat.  Heavy but harmless.  
The merc clutched at his stump and began to yell.  There wasn't much bloodloss 
as the wound was instantly cauterized but that didn't prevent shock.
     Frank's free hand crunched into the ledge as armoured fingers scrabbled
for a grip.  He surged forward, shattering the window.  The beam saber swung
round to silence the amputee.  If he'd paused to think Frank would have said
he was making sure he didn't get backshot while he took out the other two.
He ripped his gunhand free and landed ready to rock and roll.  The second merc
was a clear shot.  The pulsecannon bolt put a golfball sized hole in the 
helmet.  Two down but now the room was full of hostages shouting and screaming 
as they ran everywhere.  The last merc was about to open fire and mow down
everyone between him and the Knight Shadow.  Frank swore as he safed the 
beam saber and leapt forward putting himself between the gun and the hostages.
There was a burst of fire and an elephant stepped on his chest.  Frank's own
gun fired.  The merc's gunhand shattered at the point blank laser burst.  It
penetrated his suit just below the shoulder.  He dropped as Frank reeled back    
clutching at his chest.  
     Breathing suddenly seemed a lot harder.  He looked down in dread 
expecting to see his lungs falling out.  The armour was dented inward from the 
minigun burst but intact.  Mackie definitely knew how to build armour.  Still
a little more sustained fire and he'd have been picking bullets out of his 
ribcage.  He took a quick sweep of the room.  A lot of very scared people,
some shrapnel injuries but nothing life threatening.  Ignoring the cries and 
demands for explanations he headed into the corridor.  Two above and there was
no way they'd missed his entrance.  Thermal scan on the ceiling.  There!
     He fired three shots.  The first punched through the floor.   The next
two burned through the air and into the hellhound.  On the stairs the merc 
who'd been watching the lobby heard a voice cut off abruptly.  He ran through 
the comm band trying to get a response.  
     "Morton, Zwingli just cut out on me and no one's answering.  What's
happening."
     "Fuck knows.  There's shooting below.  I don't if it's the cops or those
assholes are wasting the hostages but I'm ..."  The voice suddenly became a
long undulating scream, then contact broke.  The merc on the stairs got 
very scared.  This place had become a deathtrap.  Ok, never mind how the cops 
got in, what do you do about it?
     Frank headed for the stairwell trying to ignore the fire in his chest. 
When the adrenaline wore off he'd be in serious pain.  The suit's medical
subsystem noted his pain receptors flaring and requested permission to inject 
a painkiller/stimulant combination.  He overrode it.  Running on drugs in a 
firefight was a last resort only.  Target of opportunity ahead!
     He burst through the door and drew a bead on the merc.  To see the man
holding his hands upraised in surrender.  Frank checked the impulse to fire
anyway and made a quick decision.
     "You have thirty seconds to get out of the suit!"
     The merc didn't argue just cracked the access panels and levered himself 
out.  "Don't close the panels."  The merc froze.  "Step away from the suit
and hug the floor!"  The man complied with alacrity.  As soon as he was down
Frank put a laser pulse into the power armour's interior.  The merc stared up 
at his smoking hardsuit.  "Stay there!"  Frank ducked back through the 
emergency door and swung it closed.  He'd broken the lock but hadn't torn it 
off its' hinges.  Good!  A low power burst from the laser wielded it shut.
OK no worries about him getting on this floor and seizing a hostage.  Time to
call in.  
     "Five down, one alive but neutralized."  Probably the smartest one of 
this bunch.  Realized something took out 80% of them inside of two minutes 
and surrendered.  Hell, odds like that and I'd surrender.  Frank dismissed the
thought.  "There's a lot of trigger happy cops out there and they'll be 
storming the building any second."
     "You're right."  Mackie sounded unworried.  "Cut into the elevator shaft
and boost up to join me.  It'll draw a lot less fire than heading back up the 
outside."  Ilsa acknowledged.  Frank strode to the elevator reactivating the
beam saber.  A few hostages who'd poked their heads into the corridor dashed
back into their room in a hurry.  The elevator doors cut easily, the insurance
was going to hate them for this.  He double checked the suitjets then felt them 
roar to life.  Short range flight capability but it'd get him to the top of
the shaft.  Something above him rising fast.  Ilsa.  He'd play catchup but the 
shaft was too narrow for games.
     Above them Mackie pried opened the elevator doors and heard a faint
scrabbling behind him.  The last of the mercs on this floor had surrendered.  
He'd been momentarily surprised.  Most of his vigilante career had been spent 
fighting Boomers.  They never surrendered, just fought on until they were
destroyed.  He could have ordered her out of the suit but that would have left
a trained fighter on a floor full of civilians.  The simpler solution was to
visualise the weak points of G-7 armour and wreck its power systems.  The
last hound was now held immobile by her lifeless suit's weight.  Trapped in a 
body sized prison which would get very uncomfortable very quickly.  The TCU
could worry about prying her out when they reached this floor.
     There probably wasn't an intact partition left on this level.  Between 
the Hounds' suits and his own they'd all been demolished.  That was one
thing the others had that he lacked.  Tight space manoeuvrability.  He'd
originally built this suit for overwhelming fire superiority.  Which it had
but at the cost of bulk.  Luckily Boomers weren't much on tight spaces either.
Still there were times a smaller suit would have been a definite advantage.
     Ilsa roared out of the shaft and landed with a flourish.  Frank wasn't 
far behind.  He stumbled a bit on touchdown, Ilsa let out a small gasp at the
damage.  "I'm fine, just a few bruises."  That was reasonably accurate, the
suit's medical subsystem would have signalled an alert if there was serious
injury.  Assuming it wasn't crashed by the damage inflicted.  Still Frank 
didn't seem adverse to leaning on Ilsa.
    They rocketed through Mackie's entryway onto the roof.  In response to
his signal the Shadow Wing's hatch slid open and the drop cables snaked down.
Using them was a lot safer than flying into a hovering aircraft.  Misjudging
when to cut the boosters would be very unhealthy for all aboard.  Mackie 
unclipped his suit and jacked into the communications panel.  This beauty was
his own design.  Beyond state of the art and excellent at  breaking into
police and military signals.  
     "Lieutenant Rhinehart the building has been secured.  There are 14 dead
mercs and three live ones.  Two unharmed, one critically injured.  The 
injured one is one the twenty fifth, massive abdominal trauma, needs 
immediate attention if you want him alive.  One armourless one in the 
stairwell, one stuck in her powerless suit on the twenty eighth.  Some of the hostages will need 
medical treatment but there are no life threatening injuries among them.  We 
will attempt to intercept the gunbird.  Goodbye."
     On the ground Rhinehart shouted at his troops.  "Well what are you 
waiting for, Christmas?  Get in there!" 
     "Looks like your gamble paid off."
     Rhinehart nodded as he studied the holes the Shadows had blown through 
the building.  "So it seems.  They don't mess around."
     "Yeah.  Still the captain isn't going to like this."
     "Screw her."
     "She's not my type.  The pleasure's all yours."  Eric chuckled but 
inwardly he sighed.  Maybe the Shadows had resolved the crisis the fact 
remained that vigilantes were unpopular these days.  It was all the fault of
those Knight Saber maniacs in Japan.  They'd probably inspired the Shadows
but with them it had just been a facade.  They'd only pretended to be the 
heroes the Knight Shadows undoubtably were.
     Unaware that the Knight Sabers were being unfavourably compared to his 
own group Mackie swivelled the Knight Wing towards the estimated intercept  
course.  ETA of the Raptor was four minutes.  Ilsa was at the gun controls 
again.  Mackie was piloting, he'd built the cockpit so he could operate it 
from his own suit.  Frank had slumped by the comm panel.  He was fingering the 
dents in his chestplate and swearing.  
     Might as well be sure the Shadows got the credit.  Besides it'd help with
their disappearing act.  He snapped off the sensor blanket and visual 
distortion signal simultaneously as he hit the thrusters.  The startled
copter pilots had a brief glimpse of the delta winged black craft as it roared
past them.
     Mackie was running in his combat persona.  He calmly noted that the
Shadow Wing was built primarily for transport and attack on ground based
Boomers rather than air combat.  He'd improved its capabilities after the
Knight Wing was shot down but it still wasn't a fighter aircraft.  Fortunately
the gunbird was a similar design.  Designed for the rapid deployment and 
withdrawal of armoured troopers in the Antarctic War it was a combination
of fighter and cargo dropship.  Still its capabilities weren't to be taken
lightly.  They'd been very effective until the widespread use of combat
boomers largely phased power armour infantry out.  Boomers could be deployed by 
dropping cargo pods from two kays up.  Also there were no next of kin so you
didn't have to worry about retrieval.
     No contact yet.  Why?  They should have contact in sixty seconds.  Where
was it?
     "Something on the edge of the scope ..."  Ilsa's voice crackled over the
suit link.  "... I think it's ...Yeah it's the gunbird!  Heading back the way
it came like a bat out of hell.  Probably tapping police frequencies and heard 
that Hellhound is history so they don't need their taxi."
     Mackie glanced at the long range tracking screen.  Ilsa was right.  No 
way they'd catch them with that much of a head start.  Anyway shooting aircraft
down over a crowded city wasn't a good idea.  "Ok, mission accomplished.  
Time to head home."  He turned the plane toward the area he'd dubbed "the
vanishing point".   
     A legacy of East Germany the inefficient and largely abandoned former
industrial zone was a good place to disappear.  The residents of the slum had
nothing to say to the police and didn't give a damn about anything outside 
their rotting piece of turf.  For their part the authorities stayed out.  Let
the hardcases prey on each other, long as they stayed confined who cared what
they did in there.  Which was useful when you need to make several tonnes 
of VTOL aircraft disappear without leaving a trail. 
     Mackie operated on the assumption that he was being tracked, it was 
simpler that way.  He armed the drone missile.  Three, two, one ... Now!
The sensor screen and visual warping system activated.  As they did the drone
roared away replicating Knight Shadow's sensor signal.  Mackie shifted course
70 degrees and headed to the concealed hanger flying in whisper mode.
     In response to a signal a hatchway opened in the roof of an abandoned
warehouse.  The zone's scavengers had learned to avoid the place.  It had a 
very good and very dangerous security system.  The locals whispered that it
was a secret military lab, or worse a secret GENOM installation and stayed 
clear.  As the roof hatchway closed above them a second opened in the floor.
Shadow Wing descended steadily into what had been an East German military 
base.  Built in preparation for a war that never came it had been discovered
and the aboveground area purchased by Katsuhito Stingray.  He'd been very
efficient at destroying all records of the complex.  Now only nine people
knew it existed, three of whom weren't human.  Two of those three were waiting
for the Knight Shadows.
     Mackie shut down the lift fans and deactivated the blocking systems.  
Outside Linna started involuntarily as the Shadow Wing seemed to blink into
existence.  Nene felt a little smug at not showing any reaction.  The sensor
blocking system had the same effect on their hardwired senses as it did on
other computer sensors.  Though unlike them they were equipped with human 
eyesight as well.  Or rather a close approximation, actually their organic 
senses were sharper than a human's.  To break the silence she commented, 
"First bit of action in months and we're stuck down here."
     "I didn't want Dumas wondering where I got another four Knight Shadows."
Mackie emerged from the Shadow Wing.  He was carrying Frank's battered 
hardsuit.  Linna noticed the dents and swore.  Before she could ask Mackie 
what had happened Frank and Ilsa emerged.  Ilsa still had her suit on and 
Frank was leaning on her for support.  She guided him to a chair and sat him 
down.  
     "I'm all right.  Just a bit bruised."
     He'd automatically spoken in English but Linna understood him.  Learning
English had turned out to be easy with her new form.  Nene had plugged in a
basic vocabulary through the interface port in her skull.  The initial version
that Sonya had plugged in had turned out to be full of inaccurate 
translations.  Payback for a joke that Linna both had and hadn't pulled on 
her in Tokyo.  Afterwards she'd apologised for it.  The Linna who'd pulled the
joke no longer existed.  None of those memories had been recorded.  The
metaphysical implications of this were never far from her thoughts though it 
was nowhere near the obsession Priss had with who they were. 
     At any rate she could now translate English to Japanese nearly 
instantaneously though she still didn't get any puns or plays on words.  She
subvocalized the sentence and spoke the translation.  "You should take a sauna
and massage.  It would be best."  She was aware she sounded stilted but at 
least everyone in Shadowbase could understand one another.
     Nene let Mackie place the damaged suit on the diagnostic table and 
open the hatch on his own suit before addressing him.
     "You were right Mackie.  It wasn't a GENOM operation."
     "Explains why it was so messy", Ilsa murmured.
     "No big surprise.  If Daniel had been involved even peripherally we'd 
have had a helluva time beating them."  Mackie slid out of the suit and 
closed the hatch.  He began attaching sensor pads to the suit.  Everything
had worked fine but it never hurt to recheck systems after combat.  Frank's
suit was going to need a major overhaul.  Lucky they all had backup suits.
     "Yeah well ... thing is Mackie the gunbird sent a couple of signal 
pulses.  Coded of course but I managed to track them to a merc base in the  
Lisbon Freezone.  Anyway I was able to follow a trace from the base back to 
the source. Took some doing but I am the hacker supreme!"  Once that would 
have been exaggeration.  There had been better hackers than Nene. legends like 
Count Gibson, Cowboy Williams and Hiro Stephenson.  But now she could 
literally plug her cyber consciousness into the globalnet Nene could get into 
anywhere.  At least anywhere with outside connections.  GENOM's nastier 
projects around the world tended to use near sentient AIs with no network 
connections and couriers to physically deliver the completed encrypted data.  
The system in the heart of GENOM's Tokyo Tower was the ultimate destination 
for the couriers and the only repository of all GENOM's data.  Nene was sure 
she could get in.  Getting back out again was a different question.  Getting 
out both alive and undetected an impossibility.
     "Where did the signal originate?"  Sylia's voice was flat.  Nene thought
it was funny ... ok ironic ... that she sounded more human than Sylia.  Of
course she'd also lost her blind faith in Sylia.  Okay getting killed was 
always a possibility but that hadn't meant it wasn't a shock.  
     Though from the autopsy reports she'd downloaded from ADP she'd never 
known what hit her.  A heavy caliber bullet through the back of the head was 
about as instantaneous as you'd get.  Still the images made her cringe.  The 
actual autopsy had been fairly cursory.  The morgue was full of bodies and 
her cause of death pretty bloody obvious.  Priss had got to go out fighting 
which was probably the way she'd have chosen to die.  Her problem was she 
hadn't stayed dead.  Linna had probably had the worst death.  Freefalling 
towards MegaTokyo with a cloud of anti personnel missiles to thick to destroy 
swarming towards her.  Plenty of time for regrets and to anticipate the end.  
It made her skin crawl just thinking about it.
     "Nene!"
     "Sorry Sylia, just woolgathering.  The signal originated in Britain.  
Edinburgh, to be a little more precise."
     Mackie sighed.  "McCrea and Sullivan.  My good friends at Omnitech."
     "But they're part of your anti-GENOM coalition!"
     "They were.  Lately they've been making noises about dropping out.  I 
expected them to attempt espionage then cut and run.  An actual military 
strike to acquire our developmental tech was a very low probability.  Better
review their personnel files and deduce who pushed them into this."
     "Daniel."  Sylia spoke without emphasis but Mackie could sense her buried
hatred.
     "I don't think so.  At least not directly."
     "Mind letting us mere mortals in on what's going on?"
     "Sure Ilsa.  When I set up the Eurocorp coalition I knew it wouldn't
stand firm for long.  Omnitech was one of the weaker links but we needed 
their R&D facilities for some of the biochip work.  They've been making noises  
lately about it being better to join GENOM rather than getting crushed then
absorbed so I've been expecting them to walk out.  I wasn't expecting them
to leave empty-handed.  What I wasn't expecting was for them to try a mercenary
strike to grab the finished product.  They should have just gone for good old 
fashioned espionage and hacked into our database.  I had some very convincing
but utterly worthless simulations tucked away for them to find."
     "Looks like they anticipated you.  Or they just figured that it'd be 
better to be sure by grabbing a working model.  After all who knows what's
real in cyberspace?"
     Before Mackie could comment Linna broke in.  "Maybe someone suggested 
they do things this way?  Someone from a certain multinational we know."
Sylia nodded.
     After a moment Mackie shook his head.  "No I don't think so.  If Daniel 
was behind it he'd seen to it they did a better job of extraction.  Besides
he prefers to operate within the rules.  Pushing them to their limits perhaps 
but never breaking them." 
     Frank looked up from examining his aching chest.  "You're right there.
Those clowns were nowhere near as hot as Wolfpac and I can't see Daniel 
running a mission with secondraters." 
     Mackie nodded.  "Not that he wouldn't have used the technology if  
Omnitech offered it in exchange for a favourable acquisition by GENOM."
     "Favourable meaning the top execs get rich while everyone else gets
turfed out and replaced by Boomers."
     "Right."
     "Great century we're living in!"
     "That's more or less how the Megacorps have always operated.  At any 
rate I don't think there's any direct GENOM involvement but it can't hurt to
check.  Nene, would you mind breaking into Omnitech's personnel files.  Find
out if either McCrea or Sullivan got a new assistant or secretary lately.
Anyone with a past too good to be true who'd have been close enough to drop a
few hints."
     "No problem.  While I'm there like me to crash and burn their system?"
     "Hmmmm, it's tempting.  How about you break into their restricted files
and see if you can find anything extremely illicit.  If you get lucky then you 
flood the web with the data anonymously.  If they were smart enough to keep
their nastier stuff inaccessible then by all means fry their network."
     "My pleasure."  Nene gave a wink which no one else saw and Mackie knew
there'd be a price attached.  Things were getting complicated down here.
     Linna was studying him with a concerned look.  "What I don't like is you
misread this situation.  If no one pushed those guys into doing this then that
means you read them wrong.  What about that marvellous enhanced brain you're
supposed to have."
     "I'm not omniscient!"  Mackie sounded quite aggrieved.  "Being enhanced
doesn't make us infallible.  If that was true then Sis would have ..."  He
broke off what he was going to say.  Sylia's mask slipped slightly and the
rage emerged momentarily.  Then it was gone as if erased and her face wore
the cold expression they'd grown to expect.  Reminding her of her greatest 
failure was very unhealthy.  Whether or not she could have anticipated Dumas's 
actions was very questionable to Mackie.  But not to Sylia.  She knew she'd 
failed and it ate at her like a cancer.  Mackie decided to change the subject 
in a hurry.
     "So, where's Priss?"  Sonya was also absent but that wasn't a surprise.
She'd always preferred to stay out of Shadowbase and had never been 
comfortable with his Knight Shadow activities.  These days she was going out 
of her way to avoid Sylia.  For which Mackie couldn't blame her at all.
     Linna shrugged.  "No idea.  I don't think she's come home yet."
     Nene nodded.  "Yeah I finally got her to come partying with me."  That
was a definite change.  Priss hadn't left the complex since her resurrection
except when they'd literally dragged her out.  Dying had made her somewhat
reclusive.  "Anyway we got separated early on.  She spotted this guy and
headed off with him.  Funny, I wouldn't have said he was her type.  She was
never that keen on the macho jock type.  Which is why Leon never had a prayer
of getting close to her." 
     Linna frowned, there was something wrong with that story.  Perhaps not.
Maybe she'd gone with the guy because he reminded her of Leon.  After all in
the good old days she'd been constantly fighting him off.  Yeah, the good old
days ... back when they'd both been human.
     Mackie seemed relieved.  "That's a good sign.  Maybe she's starting to
come to terms with her new life."  As he said this he noticed Nene and Linna 
were looking at the tunnel door.
     "Guess again!"  Sonya entered looking extremely agitated.  Nene and 
Linna had heard her before anyone else.  Hardly surprising as their hearing 
exceeded even an enhanced human's by quite a wide margin.  "I think we've got 
a real problem here!"
     Mackie crossed the hangerbay almost at a run wiping his hands en route.
Knight Shadow's skin had picked up a coating of dust while smashing through
the thin interior walls.  Besides his softsuit would need cleaning anyway.
     "What's wrong?"  In answer she held up a note written in Priss's hand.
The message was in both Japanese and English.  Both versions were short and
to the point.  Mackie read the English version out loud.  "I QUIT!"
     "Quit?"  Nene looked at Linna in amazement.  Linna gaped back in   
astonishment.  Ilsa looked up from peeling Frank's softsuit down to his waist.
Frank took a deep breath and winced.  Trying to take his mind off the pain
he spoke without thinking, "How can she quit?  She hasn't got a job here, 
she's got a life.  How do you quit being a biomech ... ?"  His voice trailed
off as an answer occurred to him and everyone else.
     Linna broke the silence, "Will you all stop it!  Look, we all know she's
been pretty damn miserable since she ... woke up but she's never got 
suicidal!"  A memory of a particularly depressing conversation made Linna
wince.  "Okay, we ... she did talk about it once but it'd be pretty pointless.
If we die for whatever reason all you have to do to bring us back is download 
our memory recordings into a new body and we're resurrected again."  Linna 
wasn't looking her way so she completely missed the guilt that flickered 
across Nene's face.  Sylia didn't but didn't react.  Not yet.  She'd find out 
what it meant later.  For now she let Linna prattle on undisturbed as she 
tried to solve this mystery.  At Sonya's side Mackie performed the same 
exercise but, like her, had no answer.  At least none that made sense.  Still
with someone like Priss you couldn't count on logic or even common sense  
playing a major part.  Even so there were too many pieces that didn't fit.    
Perhaps Linna would fill in a few blanks.  Or perhaps Nene would if the right
buttons were pushed.
     Meanwhile Linna was saying, "Fate's dealt Priss a lot of really shitty
cards but I've never known her to get suicidal!"  To Sylia this sounded like 
an excellent opening.
     "That's debatable."
     Linna looked aghast.  "Sylia!  How can you say that!"
     Unruffled, Sylia continued talking in the same mild voice.  "I would 
agree she's never been the type to write a note and put a gun to her head.
To her that would be giving in, letting the bastards grind you down."  Linna 
nodded automatically and Sylia glimpsed Nene breathing a sigh of relief.  So
she tightened the screws.  "But objectively speaking what's the difference 
between that and deciding to go out in a blaze of glory?"
     Linna frowned while Nene paled.  Sylia hid her smile and turned so she
seemed to be addressing Frank and Ilsa instead of her own teammate.  After all   
both were puzzled having had the chance to get to know Priss before her 
death.  They were the ones who needed it explained to them so anyone would 
expect her to talk to them.  You'd have to be watching very closely to 
realize her attention was still on Nene.  Of course Mackie noticed but he held 
his peace.  He wanted answers as much as she did.
     "The night I recruited Priss she was about to try and storm the tower
armed only with a handgun and her motorcycle."
     Frank blinked, "That's nuts!  Hell, you might as well turn the gun on 
yourself.  End result's the same and you don't get tortured to death if 
security takes you alive!"  Ilsa was a little more practical.
     "Why was she so eager to die?  Or was it more of a romantic gesture?"
     "The latter.  The leader of the gang she rode with, a streetpunk with 
delusions of being a mover and shaker in the underworld, witnessed some GENOM 
agents engaging in an extralegal operation.  If he'd just laid low for a while
and kept his mouth shut he'd have been fine.  Unfortunately for him he wasn't
as streetsmart as he thought.  Instead he told his gang the gravy train was 
on the way and tried to blackmail GENOM."
     Ilsa winced, "How the hell could anyone be that stupid?"
     "Small time gangsters don't have to be particularly bright, just tough 
enough to hold their turf.  Evidently he convinced himself GENOM would care  
about any dirt he could throw on their shiny corporate image and pay him a
fortune in hush money.  Or as he put it he had them by the balls and was going
to squeeze until they made him a millionaire."
     "So how did you hear all this?"
     "I was employing an agent to bring me any information he could find on
GENOM's illegal activities ..."  For a moment Sylia wondered if Fargo was 
still alive then cut off the sentiment as irrelevant.  "... and Priss's
friend was less than discreet in his bragging."
     "Priss's lover!"
     Sylia nodded at Linna.  "I was getting to that.  At any rate GENOM could  
have discredited him easily enough before he got his evidence to the media. 
Not that they'd have to do to much considering how much of MegaTokyo's news
network they owned overtly and covertly.  Or they could have paid him off as
the money would have been a drop from a very large bucket.  But he had already
spread enough rumours that it was obvious he wouldn't keep quiet if they paid
him off and that might encourage others to try their luck.  So it was more
cost effective to kill him."  Ilsa and Frank nodded, Sonya looked shocked.
     "That's it?  He couldn't hurt them but they had him killed as an 
example?"  Sylia nodded and Sonya realized she was the only one who was
surprised by any of this.  "My God!  Poor Priss!  No wonder she hates GENOM
so much!"
     Mackie sighed.  "Yeah, but you have to realize this wouldn't have been an
executive decision.  It would never have got as high as Madigan, hell all it
would take was some fourth class manager in security ..."  Something occurred
to Mackie and he looked at his sister.  "You know who gave the order, don't you?"
     "Yes.  Initially I hung onto the name in case I needed a carrot to keep
Priss in the group.  Later on it didn't matter as she was focused on GENOM
itself rather than the man responsible."
     Linna glared at her.  "You never told her?"
     "It was only in the first few months she wanted to know it.  As time 
passed it became less important as she decided her personal tragedy paled next
to what GENOM was doing to Tokyo and everyone in it.  Besides by then she had
realised also that he wasn't worth dying for and her demands to know who gave 
the order were getting few and far between.  When was the last time you even 
heard her mention his name?"
     "I never said he was worth dying for ... hell he's always sounded like a 
scummy little creep ... not that I ever told her that you understand and I'd
appreciate it if you didn't repeat that but ... look she was rocky at the 
start but as committed to the Sabers as any of us.  Even if you'd given her 
the name she'd have stayed."
     Sylia sighed and for a moment Linna glimpsed the woman she'd known.  "I
know but she'd have felt honour bound to kill him.  Except it wouldn't be a 
battle but cold blooded murder.  At the time it seemed important she didn't 
cross that line.  Not for his sake, the world would have been no worse for his 
passing but for hers.  I didn't want her to become a killer, not for the sake 
of a loser who was never worth it."  The moment passed.  "As I said it seemed 
important at the time.  Now I'd happily have helped her kill any of GENOM's 
employees if it would have kept her from a damnfool stunt like this."
     Nene rolled her eyes.  "Sylia, I know she's been bitter the past few 
months ... not that you've been much help, but she hasn't turned into some 
homicidal killer!"
     Linna chimed it.  "Right on, Nene.  Look we all know she's lost it on 
occasion but she's never been indiscriminant about targets.  She's never had
the terrorist mentality.  When Senri got killed she just wanted Mason's head,
she didn't want to wipe out the construction crew and everyone else from GENOM
who carried out his orders.  They were just doing their jobs far as she was 
concerned.  Spineless maybe but that wasn't a capital crime!"
     Nene considered mentioning that was a death by misadventure while Linna 
herself had kept her cool after Irene was murdered instead of preparing to
storm the Tower solo.  But judging that Linna wouldn't appreciate the 
comment settled for saying, "Not to mention there wasn't anything illegal 
about the demolition.  Immoral maybe but ..."
     "Quiet, Nene!  This is about justice not the law and Priss understood 
that!  That's why she targeted Mason!  And why we supported her that night."  
     Mackie glanced at his sister, the one Mason had really intended to bring 
to him that night.  In that he had succeeded.  He couldn't help wondering what 
if she hadn't answered the challenge, giving Mason the martyrdom and pseudo-
immortality he craved.  In his mind that had equated to victory, bringing
Sylia onto his level.  Had he survived would he have used Gilgamesh anyway 
and created Largo or would he have turned away and chosen to continue making
his mark as a human?  How would events have unfolded if he had lived?  
Scenarios flittered through his mind momentarily then were banished as the 
idle daydreams they were.  "What if ...?" was like an addictive drug, 
seductive but ultimately empty.  Dark as things were he had to deal with the 
world they had, not the future they could have had.  To do less was to run 
away and concede to Daniel before the struggle even began.
     Mackie realized while he had been brooding Linna had kept on talking.      
Except that now Nene wasn't supporting her.  In fact she was definitely taking 
exception to Linna's reasoning.
     Oblivious to her friend's distaste Linna continued, "... but even after
poor Sylvie died she didn't go on a rampage!" 
     "No, just mopped around acting like she'd lost her best friend or true
love."  Nene shook her head, "Let's face it, she's got a real talent for 
getting worked up over people who weren't worth it!"
     "NENE!  How can you say that?"
     Linna's anger didn't ruffle Nene.  "Easy.  I was on that case remember?
I saw the bodies."
     "Bodies?"
     "Her victims ... you remember?  The poor bastards she used to replenish 
their blood supply."
     "Uhh ... she didn't mean to ..."
     "Like hell she didn't!"
     "I mean ... Sylvie and Anri ... they had no choice!"
     Nene rolled her eyes, "For God's sake, I've been putting up with this 
from Priss for months but I'm not about to let you get away with it.  
No matter how much Priss rationalized it she murdered six people!  Not GENOM 
employees with bloody hands, not serial killers or anyone you could say was
better off dead.  She wasn't some storybook vampire who gets to stay 
sympathetic and tormented by preying on people the readers agree have it 
coming.  Her victims weren't even criminals, just half a dozen ordinary 
citizens.  Six men and women whose only real crime was being in the wrong 
place at the wrong time!  Why doesn't anyone else ever remember them?"
     "Uhm ... but Sylvie and Anri were treated like slaves ... like?  Hell, 
they were slaves!  Them and all the other sexaroids!  They couldn't help it!
It was like an addiction, they had to have blood!  It wasn't their fault!"
     Nene sighed.  "Ever heard of blood banks?  Or did you think on Generos 
if the sexaroids get damaged they feed them workers until they regenerate?"
     Linna blinked.  She'd never thought of it that way.  "But ...!"
     "But bloodbanks have security so if they'd hit one in MegaTokyo they ran 
the risk of being caught or at least identified and tracked to their hideout.  
That's if they pick the nonvictim route.  However if they preyed on unarmed 
civilians at out of the way locations the risk was minimal.  Besides what's
a few human lives worth to them?  Zero.  That's the real reason they killed.  
Not because they had to but because it was easier for them!"
     Linna look flummoxed and Nene looked like she wasn't backing down.  There
was awkward silence for a few moments which was abruptly broken by Ilsa.
     "Fascinating as all this is ... or would be if I knew what the hell you
were talking about I think you've forgotten our real problem.  Namely where
the hell has Priss gone and is she likely to do anything that's going to 
screw us?  I don't know about you but the idea of Berlin burning down around
us upsets me!"
     Grateful for the interruption Linna tried to get back on track.  Where was
Priss and what was she up to?  She started thinking out loud.  "She can't have
gone too far ..."
     Frank sighed, "Linna, this is Europe.  The borderless land to quote the 
tourist brochures.  Sure she's only got a local drivers license and a couple  
of credit cards but long as she doesn't try to go overseas that's all the
documents she needs.  She could be anywhere by now."
     "Can't we track her by her cards?"  She looked at Nene expectantly but
the hacker didn't answer.  Her confident demeanour had vanished, right now
she looked very ill at ease.
     Sylia startled everyone by breaking in with, "Of course we could but 
Priss must know that.  She'll have ditched or sold the cards by now, perhaps
acquired black market ones.  There are other ways of tracing her but before 
we discuss them I believe Nene has something to tell us."  Everyone looked at 
Nene who got more and more nervous.
     "Uhm ... I'm not quite sure how to say this but ... Priss has a little
more freedom than you might think."
     Linna felt a certain sinking feeling as she asked, "What is that supposed
to mean?"
     "Well it's just that ... you know she hasn't been adapting well to our
rebirth?"  A rhetorical question and a serious understatement.  Nene plowed 
on, "We've all been trying to get her to accept the changes, to see how we're
lucky to be alive again.  Not that we've been having much luck."  That got a 
round of nods and Ilsa muttering something in German about lack of success in
forcibly removing broomhandle from rectum.  "I can't see her problem myself 
... which I guess could be the reason I'm not getting through to her."  Nene
sighed.  "Even Linna's had no luck and she's kept going despite becoming one
of the most hated people in the world."  Linna's jaw clenched and Nene knew
she'd done it again.  Open mouth, insert foot.  She was trying to either
laugh it off or apologise when Mackie broke in.
     "Everyone already knows what Priss has been like.  How about telling us
what we're waiting to hear?"
     "Uh, yeah ... sorry, I got sidetracked."  Nene wondered if that had been
deliberate, a subconscious defence mechanism keeping her from revealing what
she'd done.  It had seemed like a good idea at the time but with hindsight 
she was feeling more than a little foolish.  Of course how was she supposed
to have guessed Priss would pull something like  this ... if she had, it was
still possible Priss was holed up somewhere in Berlin sulking.  She didn't
really believe that there was still hope everything wasn't about to blow up
in their faces.  She was also hoping that she was about to tell them wouldn't    
make her very unpopular.  Wishing she'd had time to work out how to explain 
this mess she began to speak.
     "Okay so we all know Priss is pretty messed up and we've all tried to
snap her out of it.  But the only time she brightens up is when she's in her
suit or the simulator.  She's too busy running them to worry about how things
have changed.  Course that never lasts but it's a good sign, right?"  She'd
been hoping they'd all chip in with their own happy Priss stories.  Instead
they all just stared at her.  Taking a superfluous deep breath she continued.
     "Well we all try to encourage her when she shows signs of life, that's
the point I'm making.  So awhile back she came to me with this request ...
it seemed harmless enough, I mean if worst came to worst ...  Right, just tell 
the story.  Let's see ... this didn't just happen, you understand?  It was
over quite a few weeks.  So anyway Priss told me that one thing that was 
depressing her so much was that Mackie and Sylia basically owned us."  Sylia
didn't even blink but Mackie began to protest.  Nene waved him to silence.
     "I know, I know.  You've never thought of it like that.  Thing is she
sort of has a point.  From a legal standpoint we're Turing certifiable  
biomechs.  None of which is worth a tinker's damn when it comes to rights as
GENOM's made damn sure that AI doesn't equate to human.  So just like boomers
we're corporate property and owning us isn't slavery by any legal definition.
Which Priss really didn't like.  I mean I've never thought about it but it
was one of the main things screwing with her head ... at least that's what
she told me."  Nene paused and Linna filled the sudden silence. 
     "If she told you that I don't think she was lying.  We both know Priss
has always been a rebel at heart ... well she's always thought she was so
don't interrupt Sylia!  So I can see her worrying about owned.  Far as she's
concerned she's never been bound to anything or anyone.  Which she knows is 
a lie but she'll never admit it."
     Looking lost Sonya asked, "So are you all afraid we're going to say we
own you?"
     Linna shook her head and tapped her chest with a smile.  "No.  All you'll 
ever own is the hardware.  The software's what makes me Linna Yamazaki and
you'll never own that."
     Nene nodded vigorously, "You got it!"  Less enthusiastically she added,
"Wish Priss could have seen it that way."
     "Well she didn't.  But what's that got to do with why you're looking so
guilty?"
     Nene gave a nervous laugh.  "You know, I was just getting to that."
Time to face the music.  "Like I said Priss hated the idea of potentially
being property.  I couldn't convince her to let it go.  Besides it sort of
made sense when she talked about what if Sylia completely wigged out and ..."
She trailed off and all eyes turned to Sylia.  Who showed no expression and 
said merely, "Continue."
     "Uh ... right.  Like I was saying Priss didn't like the idea she could be 
owned ... I was just trying to help her adjust!  It's not like I had any idea
she was planning to duck out on us!"
     Gently Mackie asked, "What did she get you to do?"  He had a nasty 
feeling he'd figured it out but he hoped he was wrong.
     "She ... Priss wanted to be able to vanish if things got real bad.  Say 
Phoenix went under and we wound up in GENOM's hands.  Last thing any of us
want if Dumas getting his hands on us.  So if need be she wanted to be able 
to drop out of sight.  As a last resort which I figured it would have to be 
to get her out of Shadowbase.  You know she's practically been a recluse 
since she woke up!"  Linna didn't say a word but her expression said it 
clearly.  Stop messing around and get to the damn point!  "Okay, okay!  What 
I'm trying to say is it's not easy to go underground these days. Sure we can
change our appearance but that only goes so far.  Sooner or later you're 
going to need ID.  ID that won't set off any alarm bells when it's scanned."
     "ID that you provided?"
     Nene winced a little at Sonya's question but nodded.  "Yes.  There's 
three sets, one for each of us.  With our modification abilities they could be 
used interchangeably but Priss felt learning three different bios could be  
trouble so she picked her own."  She glanced at Linna.  "Since this was a 
last resort I hadn't got around to telling you yet.  Priss figured you'd call
me paranoid so I should keep quiet unless we had a worse case scenario.    
Besides the fewer people who knew what I done the better."  Linna rolled her
eyes and Nene shrugged.  "Well, it sounded good at the time."
     "So who is she now?"
     "Kikuchi Yohko ... or Yohko Kikuchi as they'd say around here."  A note
of pride became evident.  "But nobody needs to worry if she's walking around 
as Yohko.  Those papers will stand any form of scrutiny.  Yohko's in every
database she needs to be and several she doesn't.  I've got programs keeping
her stats updated same as the other two.  Believe me I didn't miss a trick 
there's no way to tell she never existed.  Hell, I will stack my work up
against every cover every government and corporate black ops division ever
created.  Hermetically sealed and adamantine coated there's not the slightest 
chink to get a hook into.  Nobody's going to find anything fishy about Yohko."
     Mackie sighed.  "That's not necessarily a good thing."
     Nene deflated a bit, "Ummm yeah I guess things have turned out a little
unfortunate."  She brightened up, "On the plus side we know who we're looking
for so I can unobtrusively track her.  I'll just hook in and ..."
     Mackie raised a hand and Nene paused before heading for her workstation.
Which was a considerable relief of Frank, Ilsa and Sonya who found it eerie to 
watch Nene plug herself into the mainframe and chat away while scrolling 
through cyberspace.  A sight they avoided whenever they could, it was easier 
to think of Nene, Linna and Priss as people when they didn't display their ALF 
capabilities.         
     "Before you go hunting through every database for everyone by that name  
maybe I can narrow it down a bit.  Does she have a passport?"
     "Of course.  Fully registered and visas that'll get her anywhere she
wants to go ... that's why I said she might not be in Europe anymore."
     "And there's no chance it'll fail inspection?" 
     Nene's eyes narrowed and her reply sounded more than a little indignant.
"Are you doubting my work?  I told you they're perfect!  They'll beat every
airport security check in the world!  Even MegaTokyo's and that's the 
toughest system in the ... oh shit!"  Her voice trailed off as the implication
sank in.  Without another word she raced to the console, grabbed the slim
fiberoptic cable with one hand while pushing her hair clear of the neck
socket with the other.  She snapped the interface cable in place and tore into
cyberspace, almost forgetting to engage her security protocols in her haste.
     Focused on the virtual world she hadn't bothered to maintain a link to  
the physical one.  She didn't need it, she could feel everyone's eyes on her
filled with a mixture of horror and wonder at her stupidity.  Keeping 
metaphorical fingers crossed she slid through the hidden door she'd installed
and simulated a credit check subroutine in the day's arrivals.  Maybe she was 
panicking for no reason ...  Okay, now she had a reason.  Like a ghost Nene
slid out of the network, taking care to see she had left no sign of intrusion 
behind.  This was the hardest part of system breaking, any fool could get in 
with the right penetration 'ware.  Leaving unnoticed took a maestro.  Though
now she could interface at computer speeds instead of clunky old human 
reactions cleaning up was a long operation only in the relative sense.  
Cyberspace receded and she saw Shadowbase again, except that from their faces
she had the feeling everyone already knew the bad news.  But how?
     "Did I leave a monitor display on?"  That would have scrolled by to fast 
for human comprehension but Sylia and Mackie could have been watching for a
certain name.
     "No."  Mackie's answer was dry but not devoid of humour.  "But you sort
of gave it away by yelling, 'Priss you double crossing bitch!' while you were
online."
     "Oh ... thought I only thought that.  Have to watch that, don't want to
mutter the wrong thing when I'm hooked in.  Like accidentally telling everyone
we've got hot and heavy lately.  Oops."
     "WHAT!"  Sonya demonstrated a remarkable turn of speed in grabbing Mackie
by his softsuit's collar and spinning him to face her.  "WHAT THE HELL IS
SHE TALKING ABOUT?!"
     Taken off guard Mackie's evaluation persona disengaged leaving him 
emotionally defenceless against her wrath.  Enhancements forgotten he tried 
to stammer out an explanation except he couldn't string the right words 
together."  Things might have escalated with Sonya saying or doing things she 
would subsequently regret had Linna not put a hand on her arm.  Startled by
the interruption she was about to tell her to not interfere but Linna spoke
first.
     "Chill, Nene's just playing games."  Following Linna's gaze Sonya saw
Nene giggling, wearing that smirk she found so irritating.  Feeling a fool   
she let go of Mackie and turned beet-red as she muttered an apology.  Her mood 
wasn't improved by Nene commenting, "You're way too tense.  If you don't stop
taking things too seriously Mackie's going to get fed up and look elsewhere.
Not that it'd worry me, I'm still waiting to show him this body's full
capabilities."  Mackie had collected himself enough to ignore the wink and
the innuendo though he reflected Nene's sense of humour had roughened since
her rebirth.  But that was irrelevant, there were much more important concerns 
to worry him.  The big one being why had Priss "returned" to MegaTokyo.  
Before he could say anything Sylia took command.
     "I have allowed this discussion to proceed because it is vital to
understand Priss's motivations.  Why she has travelled to MegaTokyo is 
crucial as it could spell the difference between inconvenience and disaster.    
Best case scenario is that she has accepted herself as the continuation of
Priscilla Asagiri and chosen to revisit her roots to affirm this.  If she does
not appear in public under her own face, arouses no suspicions she is other 
than she seems and does not contact any of her surviving acquaintances it 
remains possible to quietly retrieve or convince her to come home."
     The least skeptical expressions belonged to those who had known Priss the
least.  Sonya, Frank and Ilsa looked to Mackie for answers but it was Linna
who spoke up.  "Ah Sylia ... Priss has never exactly been known for her
subtlety."
     Sylia ignored the soothing tone which suggested she might be unstable and 
need to be handled gently.  "As I said that is the best case.  However as no 
one has noticed any signs of acceptance and I consider a miraculous conversion
very unlikely this matter will not be resolved so easily.  Which brings us to
the worst case scenario, she has tired of waiting and determined to kill Dumas
herself.  In which case we can expect Mackie's truce with him to become void
very soon."
     Everyone reacted in their own way.  Linna swore fatalistically and 
snatched Priss's note, searching it for a clue to her friend's plans.  Nene 
plugged herself back intent on monitoring ADP and N police communications 
for signs of Priss created disturbance in MegaTokyo.  Frank muttered they'd  
known the job was dangerous when they took it then joined Ilsa in reviewing 
bugout procedures.  Sonya clutched Mackie's arm and stared at the ceiling as 
though expecting a gigawatt beam to come burning through it any second.  Only
Mackie and Sylia didn't seem to be concerned, both had the same look of quiet
calculation.  As though this was not a matter of life and death but merely a
chess game.  Mackie was made the first move, squeezing Sonya's hand to impart
whatever reassurance he could he shook his head.
     "No, I can't see her attacking Dumas.  She's embittered but not stupid.
Those ALF bodies are tough but they're not indestructible.  All our Tower
assault simulations were based on assuming Dumas has at minimum upgraded 
defences to be able to withstand superboomer class assault.  She's got to 
know she'd never make it."
     Cautiously Linna ventured, "You do remember Priss always went into combat 
not exactly concerned she might die ..."
     Ilsa broke in with, "Bullshit!"
     Frank agreed.  "I don't care how good your armour was, people with that
attitude don't last very long in combat.  Not unless they're obscenely lucky.
Besides people who don't give a damn for themselves care a whole lot less 
about anyone and that doesn't fit what we know about Priss." 
     Sylia gave a thin smile.  "It would be more accurate to say Priss did not
truly accept the reality of dying.  Like many warriors that ignorance was her
mind's shield.  It gave her the strength to face anything.  Whatever happened
she knew she would triumph.  Even now much of what troubles her about her 
resurrection is the fact that it means she lost a battle.  Which should be 
impossible when you're the best of the best.  That she died, or rather the 
first Priss died, is a more abstract concept.  But then how many warriors 
truly accept they might not survive the battle?  Dying is losing and to lose 
is impossible if you're the greatest fighter ever born." 
     Mackie cut in before Linna could.  "While I don't quite agree with your
assessment I'd say that Priss's greatest fear isn't death, it's failure.  
Especially now that she considers herself a boomer with a secondhand copy 
of Priss's memory."
     Nene frowned, "Actually Mackie ..."
     Before things could get sidetracked Mackie continued, "The point is while
she might not value her life losing is another matter.  She's got to know that 
if she launches a solo attack on the tower she'll never get close to Dumas.
I think she'd like to go out in a big, heroic blaze of glory but not if she 
won't last long enough to get the job done."  There was a round of nods, it 
made sense.  Later Mackie realize that if he had stopped there events would 
have unfolded differently.  But he had wanted to convince both the others  
and himself that things were going to be fine.  So he continued with, "Now
if Priss took her hardsuit with her we'd have to worry as she just might
think it made her tough enough to blast her way through the tower defences.
But I can see it from here, hardly surprising as removing it without
authorization would have set off alarms left, right and center.  Besides there 
would be no way for her to smuggle it into MegaTokyo on a commercial flight
..."  Mackie trailed off and everyone realized he was looking at Nene.  Whose
face had fallen when Mackie started talking about hardsuits.
     If Linna could have got migraines she knew one would be throbbing inside
her skull.  Keeping her voice as level as she could she managed not to scream,
"Nene, tell you didn't mail Priss a hardsuit care of MegaTokyo!"
     Nene got a funny look on her face, somewhere between guilt and conscience
pangs.  "I swear to you I haven't send hardsuits anywhere on Priss's 
instructions."
     Mackie studied her silently then without looking around ordered, "Ilsa,
go check the backup suits."
     Sylia almost smiled.  "Don't bother, the Saber suits are mockups."
     "Which you fabricated and replaced the real ones with.  The ones Nene  
arranged to send to MegaTokyo for you, erasing all traces as they went."
     "Yes."
     "The Shadow hardsuits?"
     "They're the originals."
     "Because the Knight Shadows can still run missions while the Knight 
Sabers are limited to undercover training exercises.  So we're far more likely 
to need replacement hardware."
     Sylia nodded, "I took a calculated risk that any damage incurred during 
training would sufficiently minor that I could repair them swiftly enough
that I wouldn't need the secondary suits." 
     "And you didn't tell me any of this beforehand because you knew I'd 
consider it a truce breaker.  Though if I found out after the fact trying to
recover the suits from MegaTokyo would be too risky because of the danger of
exposure.  Far safer to leave them in Phoenix's wharfside warehouse despite 
the probability Dumas has it wired by now."
     Nene managed a smile, "No worries Mackie, they aren't there.  Everything
is in storage at the Silky Doll head office and who's going to look for 
hardsuits in a lingerie store ...?"  The look Sylia was giving her registered 
and Nene shut up.  Sylia inclined her head slightly to her brother, conceding  
him a point.
     "While you may now know where they are matters remain as you stated.  
Attempting to recover them would be most unwise."
     "I can't argue with that, you've outmanoeuvred me again."  Mackie's
expression mirrored a chess player's on seeing himself trapped into unavoidable
checkmate.  The mingled resentment and respect gave way to puzzlement.  "What
I still can't understand is why you took the risk of sending them in the first
place.  You cannot possibly think four hardsuits will bring down GENOM but I 
can't see any point to this beyond storming the Tower.  Which everyone here 
knows won't change a thing."
     "Not quite true little brother, it would change one thing."  Sylia 
surveyed the room calmly as she spoke.  "As you all know I have said all  
along that killing Dumas would not cripple GENOM.  A Dumas superboomer 
equipped with his memory recordings would take his place and the corporation
would suffer a hiccup at best.  But the original Daniel would be dead and  
I dream of that every night."  Sylia's voice stayed cool but in her eyes 
there was a hint of the fury caged behind her mask.  "Killing Daniel would
be insufficient but it would be better than no vengeance at all.  For true
retribution we would have to destroy GENOM while he watched, making his life's 
work, everything he's struggled, compromised and murdered to accomplish 
meaningless.  Then and only then could he die if there was any justice.  But 
there isn't, justice is a vain hope.  Vengeance is the best we can hope to
achieve."  
     Mackie nodded as the last piece slid into place.  "It's your final move
in case of a checkmate.  Kick the board over and change the rules."
     She nodded then explained for the benefit of the unenhanced present. "If 
Dumas neutralizes Phoenix by whatever means then there's no reason left to 
keep this civilized.  According to GENOM the Knight Sabers already made one 
terrorist assault on the MegaTokyo Tower.  So they shouldn't be too surprised 
at a second."  
     Sonya felt shock race through her.  Partially from Sylia's words but it
was the sort of thing she had grown to expect from Mackie's sister.  What 
really chilled her was the way everyone seemed to approve of the statement.
Mackie seemed the only one unmoved but when he spoke she realized that was 
because of graver concerns.
     "I can understand the sentiment and agree Dumas needs to pay for what he 
did.  If everything was lost why not try a suicide run on the Tower?  Hell,
I'd join you!"  Sonya gasped and clutched his arm but he didn't react.   
Oblivious he continued, "That said I have to ask if you have completely lost 
your fucking mind?"  His tone didn't waver but Sonya felt the tension in his 
muscles.
     Sylia ignored the vulgarity and calmly answered, "In the event of having
to take the final option I wanted hardsuits within striking distance of the 
Tower.  Without Phoenix's resources it would be next to impossible to smuggle
them out of Germany.  Which assumes they hadn't been melted to slag by a 
laser satellite strike on this facility."
     "Which all sounds very clever except now Priss can pre-empt your
strike."  Turning to Nene he asked, "You told her about the hardsuits."   It
was more a statement than a question but Nene's expression answered him 
regardless.  Looking miserable again Nene nodded and withered some more under 
the combined glares.  Her mood wasn't helped by Mackie saying, "Priss is on 
the loose in MegaTokyo and can access a hardsuit.  Is there anyone who doesn't 
see impending disaster?"
     Frank muttered, "SNAFU!" while Ilsa cursed and Linna sighed and shook 
her head.  "Priss, you've really done it this time."
     Sonya's face looked like all the blood had drained away.  She whispered,    
"She wouldn't, not really.  She can't possibly be that reckless, can she?" 
Silence answered had and somehow she went paler.  "But if she does ... Dumas
will think we're at war ... Berlin ... oh god!"  The words became a whimper 
and she began to shake.  Mackie took her hands and met her eyes as her gaze 
snapped up.  With utter sincerity he told her, "Berlin won't burn like Tokyo, 
I swear it!"  With that he took her in his arms and she clung to him like a
drowning woman to a life preserver, wanting desperately to believe he could  
make it all better.  He saw Nene roll her eyes but knew this wasn't some act
of Sonya's to publicly demonstrate their closeness.  He could feel her shiver,
she was terrified.  Sonya wasn't a coward but she had never been a warrior.
She couldn't view mortality the same way.  But it was more than that, she was
terrified for his sake and for the sake of the city beyond them.  After what
she had seen in MegaTokyo it wasn't terror without cause.
     Sylia momentarily considered making a caustic comment about Mackie 
wasting time but knew it would simplify taking command.  They faced a crisis 
and it was up to her to resolve it.  Same as always.
     "Our first priority is retrieving Priss before she attacks GENOM.  She 
has the distinct advantage of already being on site.  If she hasn't already
she will have had ample time to retrieve her hardsuit before we can reach
MegaTokyo.  While her suit's canister is rigged to destroy both the contents 
and anyone forcing it open if tampered with it is also programmed to recognise 
the designated wearer."  Linna looked at her surprised and Linna acknowledged 
the unasked question.  "I planned on the assumption that I might not survive 
in any form to lead the operation.  If so I didn't want my vengeance to die
with me by putting the suits off limits to everyone else."
     Nene frowned, "You said the canister holding her suit.  By that you 
meant ... ?"
     "I meant exactly that.  I am the only one who can open all four, yours 
is keyed to you, Linna's to hers and Priss to hers.  Try and open one of the
others and you'll set off the thermex charges."
     "Great, so there's a one in four chance of picking the right one of four 
identical cases."
     "They aren't identical, each one has a distinguishing mark which I 
intended to tell you about."
     "So why hadn't you?"
     Sylia looked Nene in the eye.  "Before I gave away any more secrets I
wanted to test your ability to keep the ones you already had.  It's the sort 
of thing I'd rather didn't crop up as pillow talk with Mackie."  Sonya missed
this comment her mind on terrible burning light from the sky.  Mackie heard
but didn't react.  Nene got angry and began a rebuttal but stopped when she
realized Sylia wasn't listening.  "This means Priss doesn't know how to 
recognise hers either though we can't count on her picking the wrong one and
being unable to escape the inferno if she wrenches open the wrong case.  With 
her MegaALF abilities she's got a strong chance of evading death and trying 
again.  So the likelihood is she will have a functional hardsuit in her  
possession long before we arrive.  Hopefully not having destroyed ours in the
process.  Fortunately we have one factor in our favour.  Dumas is currently 
in Peiping negotiating the purchase of the Chinese government so we have a 
little time before she'll strike."
     Linna sighed.  "That still leaves us with a major problem.  Even if we
manage to find where she's holed up how are we going to talk her out of this?     
She's made up her mind and we all know how stubborn she can be.  Hell, if she
meets us that'll probably make her go storm the Tower right away."    
     "I wasn't planning to ask her to come back with us."  Sylia looked past 
Linna to Mackie's two mercenaries.  Both knew how high the stakes were and
neither had a personal bond to Priss.  They wouldn't hesitate to do whatever 
it took to stop her.  Except that they didn't express agreement, instead both   
looked to Mackie for direction.  A potential problem, while they agreed with 
her he was their leader.  That could complicate things.  But right now there 
were more immediate problems to face. 
     Linna looked aghast.  "What the hell are you suggesting."
     "That if she won't come quietly we take her back by any means necessary."
     Nene looked equally stricken.  "You mean any means short of killing her,
right?"  She gave a hopeful smile which withered under Sylia's steely-eyed
glare.
     "I mean what I said.  By any means necessary."  Linna's protest died 
unspoken as Mackie snapped into strategic mode. 
     "I hope it won't come to that but we can't let Priss break the truce.  
If she does Daniel will retaliate and there's no saying how high the death
toll will be.  Priss can't see beyond her own bitterness otherwise she would
never risk all those deaths on her conscience."  He tried to inject an 
optimistic note.  "But even if we have to use force it may not come to that.
Your bodies can survive disabling injuries that would kill a hum ... your old
bodies."  It might have worked if Sylia hadn't added her own reassurance.
     "Also if worst comes to worst we can always recreate her."  Sylia didn't 
add that could be desirable in many ways.  They would once again have Priss as
she had been on her first revival but this time they would know what to 
expect.  She still wouldn't like it but they could cushion it as best they
could.  A happier Priss would be more manageable though that wasn't all.  They  
had been friends once and Sylia had no desire to make Priss suffer.  But 
necessity overrode compassion and for all her problems Priss was one of the
finest powerarmour warriors on the planet.  Sylia occasionally reflected it was
a good job she kept all emotions save anger on a tight leash.  She probably
wouldn't like herself much anymore.  
     Her brief moment of introspection abruptly vanished.  Linna looked  
caught between shock at the implications and anger at Sylia's casual mention
of the resurrection option.  It was Nene who caught her attention.  Once again
she had that expression that meant she had something unpleasant she needed to 
tell them.
     "You can't do that!"
     "Nene, I have never conceal this.  All along I have said that if anything 
happened to any of you I would recreate you.  That's why I have urged you all 
to update your memory recordings so you don't have to start from the first
day again."  Only Nene had accepted the offer which had disappointed Sylia.
But trying to force the others, especially Priss, would have backfired 
spectacularly.
     "You don't understand!  I'm talking literally!"
     Sylia's expression didn't even twitch but alarm bells started going off
in her mind.  "What have you done to Priss's recording?"  Even as she spoke a
scenario was already playing forming.  Priss's stubborn individuality having
to face the possibility (however remote) of being reborn again and again with
each new Priss as real or unreal as she was.  How could she think herself
unique when dozens who were as much Priss as she was could be created at any
moment?  Fortunately ...
     "The recording and both backups actually.  It was just I thought ... no,
I knew she'd feel better if they weren't lying around.  Don't look at me like 
that, we both know we could have run off new ones anytime we needed them.  I
figured once she's come to terms she'll make a new recording and that would
mean if she ever needed rebirth we'd get a Priss who had accepted what she 
was.  I thought I was doing the right thing!"
     Linna laid a hand on her shoulder.  "We know ... and maybe you were
right."
     Sylia studied Linna as she dissected her statement.  "She has destroyed
Priss's personality recordings.  How can it possibly have been the right
thing to do?  Should Priss die at either our hands or Daniel's the results 
will be the same.  Priss will be gone forever."
     "Yes.  Which is exactly would happen if she was human.  But Priss thought
she had lost her mortality and that diminished her.  By losing that she ceased  
to be human, even more so than by becoming a Boomer.  I think that's what 
she'd say ... with a lot more rambling, simpler words and a lot of vulgarities 
but you get the idea." 
     Sylia didn't crack a smile.  "This isn't a philosophy debate.  If the
recordings are gone then she's even more likely to get herself killed.  If 
she dies she won't be around in any form to face the consequences.  It may 
even feed a death wish and that's the last thing we want."  Sylia fell silent
for a moment.  "This limits us, we can't afford to lose her so lethal force
is out.  That ties our hands and is going to make retrieval a lot more 
difficult."
     "I can't agree."  All eyes turned to Mackie.  "I don't want Priss to
die and I definitely don't to be responsible for that happening.  But the
world doesn't give a damn what I do or don't want.  Like you said Sylia we
have to prevent Priss from attacking GENOM by any means necessary." 
     Nene stared at him.  "Mackie?  Do you know what you're saying?"
     He met her eyes and didn't flinch.  "Yes, I do.  We are going to keep
Priss away from the Tower at all costs.  Even if we have to kill her."
     Total silence.  Nene and Linna stared at Mackie and his Knight Shadows.
That was when they knew, it wasn't just talk.  If they had to they would do
it.  They wouldn't like it but they wouldn't let that slow them down.
     Sylia broke the stunned silence.  "I forbid it.  We need Priss, if we
lose her team dynamics ..."
     "I don't give a damn, there's a city out there that Priss is endangering.
I don't want to hurt her but if it's save her or save Berlin you know what
I'll do."
     "We can't afford to lose a fighter of her caliber."
     "Bullshit!  Priss is good but she's not so good you couldn't replace her.
Why don't you admit the truth."
     Sylia's mask cracked and the woman on the edge of madness peered out. 
She almost radiated hostility.  "And just what is your truth, little brother?"
     "That deep inside you're not only bottling up guilt over everyone Daniel 
killed, you're also repressing the pain you feel about what you did to Priss.  
You don't want to face having her die without forgiving you.  I don't the 
right or wrong of this; facts are easy, ethics are another matter.  Our 
enhancements let you see a lot of possibilities but no answers.  Maybe there's   
nothing you need forgiveness for, maybe everything.  But we can't afford to 
indulge your mea culpas.  Priss has to be stopped whatever it takes.  And 
that's what we're going to do."
     Sylia studied her brother a moment.  Without taking her eyes off him for
a instant she asked, "Linna, Nene?  Are you going to let him sacrifice Priss
because he doesn't have the balls to fight GENOM."  She didn't see Linna nod 
but she could read it in her voice. 
     "This is one unholy mess, Priss has to be stopped but not by killing her.
We'll stop her and we'll bring her back alive!"
     Nene contributed, "This whole thing is largely my fault and I want to
make it right.  We can stop Priss without hurting her.  I know we can."
     Mackie read the look in his sister's eyes.  Checkmate.  Maybe he could
beat his sister if the standoff erupted into a fight but against Linna and 
Nene's MegaALF capabilities anyone not wearing a hardsuit stood had no chance.
With his entire team down to softsuits they were in trouble.  In his
peripheral vision he saw Ilsa estimating if she could snatch up nearby 
handgun.  Frank and Ilsa both kept weapons stashed around the base, a holdover 
from their merc days.  More for a security blanket than utility.  Any GENOM  
team that breached the base would be able to sustain that amount of firepower
and in the current situation Linna and Nene could laugh off the threat they
posed.  However ...
     The strategic assessment had flashed through his mind giving him an 
optimum course of action.  Burying any remorse he felt Mackie spoke a string
of nonsense words then launched himself at his sister.  Amazed Linna tried to 
intervene but she suddenly felt so tired.  Feeling warm and content she 
drifted off into sleep.  Unlike Linna, Nene didn't go gentle into the good
night.  She was doing her best to rage went the lights went out.
     Sonya Geary was far out of her element and knew it.  While she was 
brilliant in several fields none of them had any relevance here.  She didn't 
have the slightest idea how to comprehend this situation.  Before her Mackie    
and Sylia fought with a ferocity she had never seen in their sparring matches.
She remembered being scared Sylia might hurt Mackie in those practice session
as they seemed so violent.  Now she knew how restrained they had been, this
was what a real no holds barred fight looked like.  Would either be able to 
walk away from this?  It was hard to imagine. 
     Behind them Linna and Nene looked asleep on their feet.  That she could
understand but not this.  What was she supposed to do?  Try to intervene or
was that the last thing she should do?  She didn't know.  Something changed
and Sylia tried to twist away but Mackie kept his grip.  There was a sharp
chuff then both fighters stiffened.  They kept their balance and the noise 
repeated.  Both fell and Sonya started forward but was checked by a hand on
her arm.  She turned to see Ilsa holding a stungun and understood.  Hit one of 
them with the clinging charged gel and the current would pour through both. 
Which meant ...
     Ilsa shook her head.  "Not just yet."
     "But Mackie's ..."
     "He's strong.  He'll be all right."  Through the whole exchange Ilsa 
hadn't taken her eyes off Sylia nor stopped aiming at her.  Suddenly Sonya 
realized someone was beside her and nearly jumped out of her skin.  Frank 
didn't crack a joke, he didn't even acknowledge her.  As if she didn't exist
... and perhaps to him she didn't.  The revelation blossomed as it all made 
sense.  They were treating this as real combat, she was a known quantity
an dismissed.  All that mattered to them were threats and Sylia was the most
immediate.
      Most of Frank's attention was on Sylia, those his eyes flicked to Nene
and Linna his gun stayed fixed on Sylia.  Despite the pain his ribs must be 
broadcasting his face was a model of concentration.  Without looking at him  
Ilsa asked, "Got her?"
     "Yes."  All banter gone they seemed so much more intense than Sonya had
ever seen them.  Ilsa shifted her attention to the other two Knight Sabers.
Neither had moved and she had no idea why.  That scared her.  Contrary to the
old saying what you didn't know could hurt you, sometimes lethally.  Had 
Mackie done something to them so they wouldn't interfere?  Perhaps ... just  
before the fight started he'd said something.
     Her unwavering gaze on the resurrectees Ilsa asked, "Sonya, what happened 
to them?"
     Surprised they remembered she was there Sonya blinked then realized they
really needed an answer ASAP.  She took her best shot at providing one.
     "I can't be sure without a hands-on check but I think Mackie put them 
into hibernation mode."
     "Into what?"
     "It's the standby biomode we keep the blank ALFs in so they need minimal
support.  Until they're up and running there's no need to be operating at any
higher state."  Thoughtfully she added, "It must be a Frankenstein protocol 
hardwired into them."
     "A what?"  Before Sonya could answer Frank broke in.
     "A failsafe against them running amuck and Mackie and Sylia's card in the
hole just in case.  If there's time to use it then you shut them down nice 
and peacefully and you can either fix what's wrong with them or ... reload the
program."  A frown crossed Frank's face then vanished as he banished the 
thought.  This was no time to think about the implications of what reloading
Nene and Linna would mean.
     Ilsa lowered her gun and nodded fractionally.  "Handy if you've got time
to use it which you probably wouldn't if they were running berserk.  In which 
case you'd need a lot of firepower damned quick.  Which is why Mackie had us 
standing by in the suits the day he woke them up.  Wonder why they didn't use 
it when Priss started freaking out?"
     Sonya nodded at Linna and Nene, "I guess because they didn't want to let 
anyone know it existed unless they had to.  If they knew it was there they
might have been able to find a way around it."
     "Makes sense.  How long are they out for."
     "I don't know, Mackie didn't tell me about it either."  There was some
heat in her voice but not too much.  The more who knew the more chances for a 
leak.  Besides it was probably keyed to just Sylia and Mackie.  They wouldn't
want anyone who knew the command phrase able to shut down the Knight Sabers.
Hesitantly she added, "I'd guess no time limit, something has to restart them. 
After all you wouldn't want them to awaken unexpectedly if they were out of
control."
     "Makes sense, hope you're right."  Ilsa lowered the gun and headed across
the room before Sonya could answer.  Frank didn't budge, he stayed with his
gun fixed on Sylia.  A few moments later Ilsa was on her way back with a 
medical kit.  Circling around to keep out of Frank's line of fire she 
cautiously knelt behind the sprawled siblings and cracked the kit's seal.  
Almost instantly her hands reemerged with two hypos.  A sedative for Sylia
and a stimulant for Mackie.  Silently praying she wasn't about to have her
neck broken she reached for Sylia.
     Sylia Stingray awoke without giving any sign knowing something was wrong.
She banished the feeling of chemically induced false contentment and listened 
to the whisper of voices.  Instantly identifying all four she tried to deduce
the situation but lacked sufficient data.  She needed more.  Not yet willing 
to open her eyes she continued feigning sleep as she assessed her personal
situation.
    She was sitting against something cold and hard, head slumped down and 
arms pulled behind whatever she was leaning against.  There was pressure on
her wrists and tension in her arms.  A tentative movement to lessen this came 
to naught, something restrained her limbs holding them in a fixed position. 
Having a good idea what she'd see Sylia opened her eyes.
    As she had suspected she leant against one of the concrete stanchions that 
supported Shadowbase's roof.  While she couldn't see the far side of the 
pillar she knew her hands were shackled behind it.  On the other side of the  
room she saw Frank behind the wheel of a forklift as it trundled through the
main doors bearing a packing case.  Ilsa directed Frank while Mackie worked
on a terminal.  Sonya was the only one not busy, she seemed to have been left
on watch but her attention had wandered.  Sylia considered faking continued
unconsciousness but the cuffs didn't feel like she could slip them working
blind and without tools.  The ironic thing was that she had insisted they 
have escape proof restraints handy should they ever acquire any hostages or
prisoners during their struggle.  So there was no point in letting Sonya think
she was still out.  On the other hand if she was spotted she could try to talk
them into releasing her.  At the very least she could get a few answers.
     She waited a few moments and saw Sonya glance her way then do a double
take and signal others.  Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at
her until Mackie said something.  His two team-mates continued down the 
corridor while Mackie walked over trailed by Sonya.  He stopped well out of 
kicking range and Sylia had already seen there was no launchable debris within 
reach of her legs.  Unfortunate as she felt like  making a gesture of 
displeasure.  Instead she'd have to settle for a few answers.
     "Where are they?"
     Sonya answered before Mackie could stop her.  "We put them back in the 
tanks.  Best place for them in their state."  Looking a bit guilty she added,
"We'll revive them as soon as soon Mackie's back ..."  She trailed off fearing
she had said too much but Sylia just nodded and shifted her gaze to her 
impassive brother.
     "You're going after her."  It was a statement, not a question.  Mackie
nodded.
     "I don't want it this way but I can't let her endanger the truce.  I will
do everything possible to bring her back safe and sound.  But if there's no
alternative I will do what I have to."  Sylia nodded.
     "You'll do what it takes no matter how much you hate it.  I'm sure Daniel
would agree with you."
     Mackie didn't flinch.  "We're nothing alike and I'm not going to play 
your mind games."
     Having confirmed to her satisfaction that guilt wouldn't work Sylia 
concentrated on analysing this situation.  "In case of a worst case scenario 
you need your armour or you don't have a prayer of subduing her.  Since I
didn't smuggle any of the Shadowsuits in how do you expect to get them out
of the airport?"
     "I have a method that should work.  If it doesn't I'll have to hope 
she'll listen to reason."  Mackie gave a thin smile and Sylia matched it.  In
Priss's case that translated as getting her to hold still long enough to use
the shutdown command.  Difficult enough under normal circumstances but in
Priss's current state she'd bolt first time she saw them.  Assuming they could 
even find her in a city of twenty million.
     Sylia studied her brother and decided that was all he was going to say
about his plans.  That indicated he didn't want to risk her intervention 
therefore ...  She flicked her gaze to Sonya and saw the guilt her brother was
blocking.  She could use that.  "So how long are you planning to keep me 
chained here?"  Sonya winced but Mackie answered levelly, "I'll be setting
the cuffs to unlock twelve hours after we depart."  Sylia could fill in the   
unspoken part, "I'd have left you until we got back but Sonya wouldn't hear
of it and I can't leave Frank or Ilsa to watch you.  This was the best we 
could agree to."  Out loud Mackie continued, "By then we'll already be hunting
n MegaTokyo.  Before you can get a flight over it will have ended.  One way or 
another."
     After a momentary pause Mackie added, "I'd advise against reawakening 
Nene and Linna before we return.  Too much risk they'd do something to expose 
us all.  If we bring back Priss alive then there's no problems.  If not ...
I think they'll understand.  Eventually."
     "Do you expect me to understand?"
     Mackie studied his sister and shook his head.  "No, I expect to be on 
your shitlist forever for pulling this stunt but being short of allies you'll 
keep working with me for the time being."
     "Very astute.  Under different circumstances I might be proud of how
much you've learned."
     "I had a good teacher."  After a moment he added, "Sis, this isn't how I
want us to part."
     "But you're not going to let me go."
     "No."
     "Very wise, if I was free you'd regret it."  Mackie nodded and turned to
go.  As he did Sylia told him, "For whatever it's worth I know you're just 
doing what you think best.  You're wrong and I'll stop you any way I can but 
I bear you no malice.  All the venom I've got is for someone else."
     He turned back.  "Thanks Sis.  Maybe someday ..."  Then he shut up and 
stalked off followed by Sonya.  The girl paused to look at her and started to 
say something then gave a helpless shrug and followed him. 
     As soon as they were (hopefully) out of earshot Sonya grabbed Mackie's
arm and hissed in his ear, "You can't leave her like that for twelve hours."
     Quietly he answered, "What's the alternative?  If she's free we're in 
trouble and one thing we never built was a cell with a timelocked door.  It's
just lucky we had a set of programmable cuffs of she'd be stuck to that pillar 
until we get back."
     Sonya sighed.  "I know, I heard what she was saying but ... I can't just
leave her on her own all day.  She'll dehydrate!  And what about ...?"
     "Sylia's enhancements give her excellent biological control.  She can
stand it.  She won't ... soil herself unless she lets it happen.  Say as a way 
of convincing you to let her go early.  Which is another reason I want you
out of here."
     "We've been over this.  I can't just leave her and hope nothing happens
to her.  Sure she's scary but she's still your sister."
     "Sonya ..."
     "I know, you want me as far away as possible so she won't grab me as a
hostage to use against you.  Well she wouldn't ... okay she might but even so
I can't just walk away."  Sonya came to a decision.  "Six hours!  I'll stay 
half the time then I'll head off for a vacation in ..."
     "Don't say it!  She might be able to hear you."
     Naturally Sonya immediately turned to look at Sylia only to see her
potential sister-in-law was apparently meditating.  Still you never knew.
"I think you're being paranoid but okay.  I'll stay halfway then I can leave
feeling a bit better." 
     Mackie sighed.  "You know I'm on a deadline and I don't have time to 
argue you out of this.  All right but just look in occasionally and be very 
skeptical if she starts getting sick.  With enhancements faking ailments is
easy.  If you do offer her water approach from the side and use a squeeze 
bottle with a long straw.  Under no circumstances get within biting range."
     She looked at him, "We're not talking some movie hyper intelligent 
serial killer here.  We're talking about Sylia."
     "I know.  I'd feel a lot safer if all we had chained up was one of them."
     Sonya snorted but cast an apprehensive look at Sylia.  Playing good 
samaritan seemed to be less and less of a good idea.
     Two hours later it seemed even more unwise.  Sylia hadn't budged and 
didn't respond to her attempts at conversation.  Taking Mackie's advice and
leaving was probably a good idea but she'd said she would stay the full six
and that was what she would do.  She was heading back to the concealed exit
from the underground installation when she heard a noise from the ALF lab.
It sounded like ... dripping?  Sonya suddenly swore!  The tanks!  Could one of
them had sprung a leak?  She rushed in intent on repairs while wondering how 
she'd patch it unaided if it was a major rupture.  Then skidded to a halt  
and felt her jaw drop.
     Nene gave her a cheery wave.  "Got a towel?  I can't see any round here
and while I'm still a bit self conscious on public nudity I'm not putting
my clothes back on like this."  She waved a wet hand at the folded outfit 
Sonya had removed from her before sliding her into the tank (she had insisted
on doing the job not wanting Mackie to get any ideas.  Which wouldn't be
hard the way Nene flirted with him).
     "But ... but how ...?!"  Somewhere deep inside Sonya berated herself for 
sounding like an idiot.  But the astonishment she felt was too great to listen
to the inner voice.
     Nene shrugged.  "You mean why am I awake?"  Sonya managed a nod.  "Simple
answer.  I've mapped my own cybernetics ... I figured as it's running my 
software I'd better know everything I could about the hardware.  So I found
the emergency shutdown a few months back.  I can't blame Mackie or Sylia
for including it but it made me edgy.  Suppose someone else managed to access
it?  Major achilles heel.  But I didn't think they'd remove it and as it was
hardwired in I couldn't get neutralize it without surgery.  But I could add
a few subroutines in case it activated that switch hibernation state into 
regular old slumber.  So when I woke up from my nap I climbed out of the tank
and here I am."  Sonya suddenly registered the sound of dripping behind her
and turned to see Linna looming over her shoulder.  "Naturally once I woke up
I triggered Linna's restart.  So, what's been happening while we were off in
dreamland?"  Sonya looked into Linna's scowl and decided honesty was the best
policy.
     Hearing some familiar if unexpected voices coming up the corridor Sylia 
slid out of her meditation and let a smile emerge.  It was a rare sight these 
days but not one anyone else saw.  The voices became clearer and she heard
Linna saying, "Let me get this straight.  Mackie can control us and he's had
that power all along?"  
     "Yup."  Sylia could picture Linna shaking her head.
     "Guess he's really has changed then.  Lucky for us he's not like he used
to be a few years ago or we'd spend all our time hanging around his room in 
our underwear ... or less."
     "Would that be so bad?"
     "Hey!"  From the interruption it seemed Sonya didn't appreciate Nene's 
wit.  At least not when it involved Mackie.
     The trio walked in, Sonya in the lead with Linna's hand resting on her
arm.  Nene gave a little wave then zipped behind the pillar.  There was a
brief mutter followed by twin clicks and a sudden reduction in arm strain.
Sylia pulled her arms back and levered herself to her feet, resisting the 
urge to rub her wrists.  Ignoring the mystery of their presence (probably Nene, 
she could get the details later) Sylia began giving orders.
     "Nene we need three tickets on the next flight to MegaTokyo.  They've got     
a two hour start but we don't have to worry about transporting armour.  Linna, 
pack three suitcases.  We'll look suspicious without luggage.  Sonya ..."
Sylia shook her head.  "Never mind, my brother wouldn't have told you anything
just in case I got free."  Her gaze flickered across the room to a worktable.
"Follow me."  Sonya didn't move and Sylia gave her a chilling look.  "It'll
hurt a lot less if you walk over there yourself."  Sonya shivered and followed
knowing Sylia wouldn't hesitate to strike her then drag her over while she
was wheezing in pain.
      "Sit"  Sonya obeyed then felt the tightness on her right wrist at the 
same time she heard the click.  Sylia ignored her protest and clicked the 
other cuff around the armrest.  "With one hand free I could have beaten the 
lock.  Maybe you can but I'd advise you not to try.  Right now you'll be 
free in ten hours.  Mess with the lock and you might break the timer.  Then
you're stuck here until someone frees you."  Sylia started to turn then added,
"As I said I bear you no malice.  I'll leave some water in easy reach", before
striding across the room to join her Knight Sabers.
     Linna had paused on her way to the quarters to see Sylia handcuff 
Mackie's girlfriend and give her the warning.  Nene grinned at her.
     "Any sense of deja vu?"
     Linna frowned.  "No, why would I?"
     "No reason, just wondering if you wanted to check her bra for a hidden
transmitter."
     "ha!"
     Linna stalked off and Nene shrugged sending a quiver through the 
interface cable.  Which didn't cause any glitches as she fulfilled Sylia's
orders.  She'd selected three identities from their archive and was already 
nearly finished her work.  She greeted Sylia with, "Almost done."  At Sylia's
nod she asked, "Uh Sylia ... I'd feel terrible if anything happened to Priss
but ... well Mackie has a point.  If she attacks GENOM then we're all 
screwed."
     Sylia shook her head.  "First priority is to recover Priss intact, or
with the minimum possible damage ... injuries.  But you're right a premature
assault by Priss would be disastrous.  If we're too late to stop her then 
there's only one chance."
     Nene hesitated to ask fearing the answer would be "fight and die" but
couldn't leave it hanging.
     "Which is?"
     "Regicide."
     Nene started so much she almost dislodged the cable.  "Regicide!  Sylia
that's a long shot and we're having enough trouble getting it working in the
simulations!  Who knows what safeguards they've got we haven't considered yet.
Plus the only place we can possibly activate it is inside the Tower!  We're
not ready!"
     Sylia gave her another of those cold smiles.  "That's why it's a last 
resort.  But as our only other worst case options are lie down and die or
fight until overwhelmed it's worth trying.  If I were you soon as our travel
plans are made I'd join me in working on it."
     "You've got over things to worry about first."  Nene grabbed an emerging
printout and handed it to Sylia.  "Since you can't alter your appearance like
me and Linna you've got some cosmetic changes to make."  Sylia didn't object,
just nodded and headed to her quarters.  Nene unplugged herself and followed
then paused on the threshold and called some encouragement over to Sonya. 
     "Hey, don't worry.  Mackie over-reacted but we'll have everything under
control in no time.  Then once Priss is back things will go back to the way 
they were and your biggest worry will when I'm going to steal Mackie from
you."
     Nene waved and departed but Sonya wasn't really listening.  All she was
really thinking was that the old saying was true.  No good deed goes 
unpunished.


End of part 1

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author note

In case anyone was wondering who Senri was and why Priss freaked out that's
the name I'm using for Sho's mother, the lady who cashed in during the aprtment
demolition in BGC 3.  If she ever had a name I couldn't find it so I cheated and 
used Nakajima Senri (her voice actress) as her name.