Greetings.  This is my latest project, and I think it's going to be my
most interesting one to write thus far.  It's certainly been fun, in a
twisted sort of way.

I've already written part one, and after it sees some revisions, it
should be out in the next couple of days; keep an eye out for it.

For you Ranma fans : I've not given up on Tainted Honor, but I needed to
step away from the piece for a while; I was rushing it too much, and it
was suffering because of that.  I'll probably release part three some
time next week or so.

BTW : This story is dark, though not in the usual way. (In other words,
I'm not killing off all the characters this time).  If you have an
aversion to dark stories, don't read this; however, if you just don't
like to see gratuitous character death, then by all means DO read it.  I
promise, I don't kill characters without good reason.
	And I promise never to kill all the Knight Sabers again.  Not after BG
Collapse.  Writing that story gave me nightmares.

Anyway, here goes.  Please C&C this; I think this has the potential to
be my best work yet, but only if I get good (preferably harsh, so I can
find all the little bugs in it) C&C.  Feel free to apply the Cuisinart
if necessary.  Special thanks to Jeanne Hedge and Damon Casale for their
help thus far.

Disclaimer : I haven't seen BG Crash, so if there's a continuity
problem, just assume that Crash didn't happen in this timeline (but tell
me; it MIGHT be something I can fix).  Thanks.

Douglas Alra Reeves <dougreeves@earthlink.net> proudly presents . . . 

Cry of the Phoenix
A Bubblegum Crisis fanfiction

Prologue
26 December 2034
23:20 PM

     <Good,> Sylia thought as she visually scanned their target.  The
GENOM electronics research facility was devoid of light, meaning
there were no innocent workers to endanger; it was one less problem
to worry about.
     Still, that was only one concern of many.  The mission, as
planned, depended heavily on secrecy; secrecy was not the Knight
Sabers' forte.      Her intelligence network had drawn a blank on
possible defenses at the installation.  What little information she
did have came from an unknown source.  The very nature of the
situation screamed "trap".  Still, they had no choice.  If they
failed tonight . . . she didn't want to consider that.  Fortunately,
Nene's voice spared her the necessity.
     "There's the entrance," she whispered, indicating a heavy
security door.
     Sylia nodded in affirmation.  "Can you open it, Nene?"
     "Of course I can," the young hacker answered with mock
indignation.
     "All right; let's go."  Quietly, the four armored vigilantes
crept from their hiding place.  Nene had the door open in seconds,
and they slipped inside.
     "Which way?" Priss asked, glancing down each of several
corridors from the entry hall.
     Nene paused a second, the silence broken only by the faint hum
of her scanning systems, then pointed to her right.  "Down there."
     "Linna, take point," Sylia ordered.  "Priss, guard the rear. 
Go."  They quickly walked down the hall, as stealthily as they could
manage.  
     This bothered Sylia.  Their movements should have set off
multiple alarms by now; she'd expected to have to fight their way in. 
Something wasn't right, and variables in this sort of operation
disturbed her.
     Still, they made it to the computer laboratory undetected, and
Sylia sighed in relief.  Once Nene obtained the data they had come
for, they could slip out the way they came in, and GENOM would be
none the wiser . . . she hoped.  Still, the nagging doubt would not
let her go.
     Moving as quickly as possible, Nene extended the data probes and
plugged into the machine.  A few seconds passed . . . "Found it. 
Pulling a copy now."
     "Very good.  Get ready to--" She never finished the sentence as
alarms suddenly wailed all around them.
     "We've got trouble!" Nene cried.  "Boomers--lots of them!"
     "Forget the copy!  Erase the originals and let's go!"
     "Right . . . here they come!"  Even as she finished the warning
a horde of cyberdroids burst through the far door.  "Done!" Nene
called out, then detached her data probe and ran for the exit.  Sylia
made it out right behind her, but neither Priss nor Linna could
disengage from battle to retreat.
     "Priss, go!" Linna cried.  "I'll cover for you!"
     "Right," Priss answered, crushing a boomer's head with a rocket-
boosted kick before turning to flee.  A spray of laser fire cut off
her escape, but it was abruptly silenced by a flare of Linna's
knuckle bomber.  As she neared the doorway, the focus of the boomer
attack shifted toward Linna, and the green-suited warrior quickly
found herself overwhelmed.
     "She's not going to make it," Nene whispered in horror.
     "Linna!"  Priss screamed, turning back toward the fray, but it
was too late.  The tide of android soldiers could not be turned, and
it came crashing down over Linna.  A sickening crack resounded as her
hardsuit shell was split open, and a cut-off scream was her final
breath.
     "NO!" Priss screamed again, blindly firing into the boomer horde
until Sylia jerked her backward through the doorway.  It slammed shut
behind them as they ran.

                       * * * * * * * * *
                                
     Sylia's expression was blank as she slumped into her seat aboard
the skycarrier; no tears fell, and no anger broke through the mask. 
Only the steady flow of blood from her bitten-through lower lip
hinted at the intensity of her agony.  One of her own had fallen. 
Linna.
     <I should have known it was a trap,> she chastised herself. <No. 
I DID know it was a trap, and we went anyway.> All the signs had been
there.  A critical piece of information at a critical time.  The
anonymous source of that information.  The too-easy entrance into the
research facility.  Still, they had been given no choice.  Allowed to
proceed, that single GENOM project would have rendered all their
struggles meaningless.
     Even so, it wasn't worth the loss of one of her "children".

     Priss's head was buried in her hands, tears flowing too quickly
to restrain.  She wanted to scream, to kill, to destroy, to HURT
every boomer and MAIM every GENOM exec . . .  but she could not. 
They'd had to flee for their lives, and they'd left Linna behind. 
She should have stayed . . . should have died, too; she should have
died INSTEAD of Linna; she should have stayed behind in her friend's
place.  
     Ghosts of fallen friends rose again to haunt her--all the lives
that had been stolen along the way.  Sylvie . . . and Anri . . . she
had loved them dearly.  Now Linna, too, had sacrificed herself. 
Their deaths hung over her like a dark cloud; each had fallen in her
place. <Never again,> she swore silently. <Never again.>

     Nene was in shock, curled up with her knees against her chest,
trembling in fear and pain and a thousand other emotions she'd never
really known before.  Only now did she realize just how naive she'd
been; the real possibility of death had never even occurred to her. 
Sure, the job was dangerous, but it could never really happen, right? 
Wrong.
     Linna was dead.  Gone.  Her smile, her gentle teasing, her
seemingly effortless grace . . . all lost forever.  In the blink of
an eye, the world had become a darker place.  Or maybe it had been
that dark all along, and she was just blind to it all.  She didn't
know anymore.

     Elsewhere in the city, a single, solitary soul laughed silently
to himself.  The Knight Sabers were beaten; their spirit had died
with one of their number.  He had won, at long last . . . but the
real contest was just beginning.

***********
End Prologue


-- 
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Douglas A. Reeves <dougreeves@earthlink.net>                   
Bubblegum Crisis fan and writer of fanfiction                   
Storm Warnings - http://web2.airmail.net/a0011387/              
"Sometimes a lost cause is the only cause worth fighting for."  
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