Sorry, I guess the file's a little too big. Here's the second part.
********************************************
Damien sat in the ADP lobby, waiting. Not quite sure if he was up to
this.
Maybe he should leave. After all, it _had_ been..... how many years?
Six?
She might not even recognize him, or worse yet, she does recognize him,
and
proceeds to vent six-or-so years of anger on his skull. Naaaaah....
Nene
wasn't that kind of-
"Damieeeeeeen! When I get my hands on you...........!"
Uh oh, then again.... Damien tried to get up, but was immediately
plowed
back into the couch by a somewhat upset red blur. Shaking the cobwebs
from
his head, he found himself face to face with a (very) cute redhead, who
didn't look entirely happy with him, but didn't have the gleam of murder
in
her eyes yet. "Um...... Hi, Oneechan...."
"Don't 'Big Sister' me!" Nene said angrily, hugging him at the same
time.
"Where have you been? It's been so long since I last saw you!"
"Ow. Glad to see you too." Damien replied, catching his breath. "Why
you
sitting on my lap?"
Suddenly realizing where they were, she quickly got up blushing
slightly,
but still smiling. "Because you've gotten too big to sit on mine. Look
at
you! I see you've forgotten to stop growing since you left!" Grabbing
him
by the hand, she started leading him out the door. "C'mon, I just got
off
for lunch, and I want you to meet some of my friends! You can explain
where
you've been there!"
"Waitaminute! Didn't come by myself." "Hey EDGE! We're leaving!"
"Coming!" A dark-haired young man in his late twenties, carrying a stack
of
papers and an ADP officer's uniform in his arms, ran back into the
lobby.
Damien stared at him, wide-eyed. "That was quick! How do you do that?
Your Japanese stinks, and you get a job in less than an hour, at AD
Police
no less!" Reminding himself to figure it out later, he dropped the
subject.
"Anyway. Nene, this is Edge. I guess he's a new recruit, then. Keep
an
eye on him for me, willya? And since we're on the subject, how did my
favorite anarchist end up in the Police? You haven't been maturing on
me
again, have you?"
"A little." Nene said, grinning. "It's a long story. Speaking of long
stories....." She added, with a glare at Damien, "I believe _you_ have
one
you're just dying to tell!"
"Oh, yes," Edge said, ears perking up. "this ought to be worth
hearing!"
"You know, for such a 'noble spirit', you sure are nosy!"
"Stop delaying the inevitable!" Nene snapped, happily, somehow. "I
wanna
know what you've been up to!"
"Fine." Damien said, surrendering. "Edge, you drive."
"I don't have a choice, seeing as you can't drive!"
"Whatever." Damien said as he opened the back door. Their vehicle was a
large van of a design Nene couldn't recognize. the van's color was
light
gray, with a black underside. If she looked closely, she could make out
a
subtle flame design at the line where the car changed colors. Inside
the
car was a large black mass that suddenly shifted.
"W-what is that?" Nene gasped even as it raised it's head, revealing it
to
be an impossibly large black panther.
"What the-" Damien said, peering into the car. "Selene? Quit taking
naps
in company vehicles, you could've given us a heart attack!" turning back
to
his friends, he scratched Selene on the head. "Aw, this is just Selene.
You can call her our supervisor's...... pet. Don't worry, Nene. If you
treat her right, she's just a pussycat, if you'll pardon the pun. Sit
on
her tail, though, and she'll shred you into fettiucine."
Selene put her head in Nene's lap as she sat down. Nervously, she began
stroking the feline's neck. The resulting purr nearly shook the whole
van.
"W-o-o-o-o-w" Nene stuttered. "I-I've never seen a panther this big,
is
she a boomer?"
"Er.... Sort of." Damien replied. "I think we should tell Turner about
that spot." he whispered to Edge. "Now be nice to Nene, Selene. She's
not
a snack." "So anyway, Nene, you're probably wondering what I'm doing in
MegaTokyo, right?"
****************************************
"Hey, Nene, since when did you become a pimp?" Priss called out as the
three entered the restaurant
"It's always the one you least expect..." Linna added.
"I/She am/is not a pimp!" Nene, Damien and Edge chorused. Having
agreed
to leave Selene in the van (as causing a panicked stampede is not a good
way to spend lunch), Both guys decided to escort Nene to her table. Of
course, they knew the reaction they would get, and planned the response
accordingly.
"Hi, guys!" Nene piped up, "Look what I found! And they were on a
2-for-1
sale, too!"
Damien and Edge rolled their eyes. "Hi." "Edge, say something. It's
rude
to just stare at someone, no matter how beautiful they are!"
"Oh, sorry." Edge said, flushing slightly. "Hello."
Damien sighed. "Forgive him. Too nervous around women. So Big Sis,
when
are you going to introduce us?"
Priss and Linna nearly facefaulted. "H-he's your brother?" Linna
asked,
"But-"
"He's not my _real_ brother!" Nene replied, "It's a long story. This
is
Damien Hailey, and his friend, Alexander Blade."
"Call him 'Edge', get it?" Damien smiled. "And you are?"
"This 'mercenary,'" Nene said, pointing to Linna, and ignoring her
protest,
"Is Linna Yamizaki. And the Ape-woman here is Priscilla Asagiri."
"What did you call me?"
"Geez," Damien said, "What a 'Priss-y' attitude!"
Priss shook her head. "Just call me Priss, okay? And enough with the
bad
jokes, please."
Damien and Edge pulled out Nene's chair, and each got their own chairs
from
the next table. "Truce then. So what do you do for a living? I know
Nene
works at AD Police, and Edge is going to be, too."
"ADP?" Priss asked, "You gotta be kidding!"
"Frontline officer." Edge said, somewhat proudly.
"But you'll get yourself killed!" Linna protested.
"What?" Damien asked, "Why?"
Nene sighed. "Because we're always outgunned." she said sadly. "We're
the
one fighting and dying out there, trying to keep the city from being
destroyed, but everyone treats us like an unwanted stepchild." Raising
her
voice, she continued. "They refuse to give us better equipment, then
they
complain that we can't protect them! We're constantly stuck between a
rock
and a hard place! Our officers fought hard during the Boomer Revolution
this year, and the public still treats us like a joke! Our chief is too
afraid of upsetting the corporate ass-kissers in the government to even
allow us to do our jobs right! Every minor boomer incident, we lose too
many good men and women, and even fewer enlist to take their place, some
officers are even talking of quitting, even Leon is getting discouraged!
If it wasn't for the Knight Sabers, this city would've been destroyed a
l
ong time ago! The situation's getting worse, and WE CAN'T DO A DAMN
THING
ABOUT IT!"
By the time Nene finished, both she and Damien were almost quaking with
anger. Of course, Nene's last outburst caught the attention of everyone
in
a twenty foot radius of the table, but she was too angry to be
embarrassed.
Finally, Damien spoke up.
"I can't believe this! Of all the stupid, quasi-political......"
Just then, a soft beeping made Priss, Linna, and Nene reflexively check
their watches. "No, this one's mine." Damien said as he pulled back his
sleeve, revealing a small bracer-like device on his arm. drawing an ear
piece and putting it on, he tapped the comm. "What's up? ............
Naw, she's with me and Edge, she decided to take a nap in the van.
......
..... She's probably asleep again. ........... Okay, Listen. I wanna
discuss something about the Advanced Police with you later, is that
okay?
.................... Yeah, I found her. ..................... It's
not
like that! ......... Ha, ha, very funny. ............ Okay.
.........
...... You want to talk to her? ..................... Cute. .......
......Well, she is! ........ Forget it, you already got a
woman!........
............ Okay, here she is." Removing the communicator, he handed
it
to Nene. "It's the boss. He wishes to speak to the lady, as he put it,
'that I went to the ends of the earth, and a few other planets, to
find.'"
He said, rolling his eyes.
"Really?" Nene took the bracer and put it on her own wrist. It
suddenly
shrank to fit her slimmer arm. a small screen popped up, and A darkened
image of a young man with shoulder-length hair appeared. "Hello?"
"Hello, Miss Romanova!" The voice on the other end spoke in an odd
accent,
almost a dialect. Nene realized that Damien had been speaking the same
way, but to a lesser extent.
"Call me Nene."
"Okay, Miss Nene."
"Hey boss," Damien cut in from over Nene's shoulder, "what's with the
'Shadow Master' bit?"
"Security. Now go away. We need to discuss embarrassing things about
you." While Damien returned to his seat, mumbling various threats, the
man
returned his attention to Nene. "Greetings, Nene. Call me Turner.
Nice
to finally meet you. Damien's been talking about you almost nonstop
since
we arrived. I hear you're an AD Police officer."
"Operator." Nene corrected, "And Lord and Master of the ADP computer
system!"
"And so modest." Turner deadpanned. "But I digress. I was hoping that
you could assist us in a few matters from time to time. I've noticed
your
attempts to hack into our system, and although my superior recommended
bloody
retribution, I have a better method of dealing with potential foes:
make
them an ally. I'm not trying to pay you off to get an insider into ADP,
I
have enough of those."
Nene's eyes widened. They traced me? But How? "I'm listening..."
Nene
said cautiously.
"I hope so, I'd look silly talking to nobody. Basically, I'd like to
use
your hacking skills. Despite your failure at cracking our system, even
though you got almost twice as far as Genom's best operators, you have
considerable raw talent. You'd be more of a freelance operative. You
can
still work at ADP, and in fact I would prefer that you do, and you
would
receive pay for whatever services you render. This in no way obligates
you
to divulge any information about AD Police."
"I'll consider it." Nene finally said after some thought.
"That's the best I could hope for on such short notice. Contact Damien
or
Alex when you reach a decision. Thank you for your time. And you
really
should put those, 'pictures,' in a more secure file."
"You rat!" Quickly, she removed the armband and returned it to Damien.
It
re-expanded, and he put it on. Shortly, the waitress-boomer returned
with
their orders, and they basically made small talk about their jobs until
the
boomer returned with a carton containing a pair of large steaks. Damien
took the box and the three of them left to take Edge and Nene back to
work.
Damien let Selene out of the van and they walked a short distance from
ADP
HQ, then Damien climbed onto her back, and the panther climbed to the
rooftop and bounded across back to the Megaplex.
Nene and Edge stopped to watch them bound off across the street. "Quite
a
guy, Isn't he?" Nene said, smiling.
"Is that why you watched over him all those years ago?" Edge asked.
"He
loves you for that, you know, and he will repay you somehow."
"He was worth it." Nene replied. "Come on, let's get back to work."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
=That night=
MegaTokyo has always been a place full of shady deals, not all of them
in
the shade.
This is particularly true of the back alleys of the abandoned portions
of
the city. Police presence is less than nil, with the exception of the
corrupt ones involved in some of the aforementioned deals, and that's as
bad
as no cops. Consequently, alot of deals between gangs, drug dealers,
and
low-level corporate executives that prefer their business out of the
public
eye come here to do business, such as this case.
An unmarked Mercedes rolled onto the sidewalk, cutting off any escape
from
the alley. Out of the car stepped two men in gray suits. Their boomer
bodyguards got out of the front seats. Inside the alley stood two
thugs.
One carried a submachine gun, and the other a long lead pipe, which was
currently smudged with the blood of the unfortunate young boy doubled
over
on his knees between them.
"You thought you could run from us, boy?" The first man said, walking
up to
them. "Now I'm only gonna ask this one more time: Where is the goddamn
CHIP?!" he yelled, punctuating that last word with a vicious kick to
the
ribs.
The kid coughed up a little blood. "I-I told you, I d-don't know what
you're talking about!"
"Liar!" The man said, lifting the boy up by his collar and slapping him
across the face.
"Calm down, Kain." The second said, strolling up to his partner. "The
kid
obviously isn't going to tell us. Besides, we can always make more. A
shame really, now the child knows too much." Turning to the boomers, he
spoke in a cold voice: "Kill him." The boomers moved forward,
shredding
their disguises.
"No." A voice spoke quietly. Everyone looked up to see a shapely young
woman standing on top of the car. Around her body was a form-fitting
black
bodysuit covered in what looked like blood-red claws wrapped around her.
In her hands she carried a halberd with a forked blade and a pair of
cables
at the butt leading to a pack at her back. A pistol hung at her belt,
with
a gun that had a wide barrel. Dark brown hair flowed in the wind that
had
suddenly picked up. "Don't do it."
"Fine then." Kain said, "Kill her first!" One of the boomers raised
it's
arm, firing a burst from the laser machine-gun mounted there. The woman
leaped high over the shots, Coming down in front of the boomer with a
grand
sweep of her blade. She spun around, and faced the two thugs. The
boomer
behind her split in a diagonal across the shoulder, and she knocked it
to
the ground with the end of the spear.
The second boomer opened it's mouth, preparing to fire it's laser, but a
red flash knocked it behind a pile of rags and refuse. An inhuman hiss
came from behind as a reptilian tail violently whipped back and forth.
Finally, the sounds of struggling ceased with the sickening crunch of
metal
and synthetic tissue. A moment later, a large, raptor-like creature
jumped
on top of the dumpster, covered with nutrient fluid from the boomer it
had
just mangled. The boomer's head was currently hanging from the lizard's
mouth. With a roar that shook the few remaining windows, the creature
pounced on one of the thugs, lower claws shredding his flesh even as it
knocked him to the street. His screams didn't last long.
The woman quickly speared the other thug and let his body fall to the
ground. Turning to the suits, she grinned. "Trying to kill an innocent
child." She sighed as the lizard slid quietly next to her, blood now
mixing with the boomer's fluids. "What should I do with the two of
you?"
"Screw you, bitch!" Kain yelled, pulling out a pistol. He quickly
fired,
aiming right between her eyes.
The bullet ricocheted away. The woman's eyes flashed, and a wave of
force
hurled them both into the wall. "Shut up before I kill the both of
you!"
she snapped. "If this is the best Genom's got, you won't stand a chance
against us." Gently, she picked up the unconscious child and threw him
over the lizard's back. Taking hold of one of the small spines on it's
neck, she climbed on herself. //Let's get out of here, Sangre.// She
said
in Spanish as they rode off.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shortly after she and Edge returned to work, Nene had called Sylia to
tell
her what happened. Sylia told her to accept, and called the others for
an
operation into the Darkfire Megaplex. Nene was still on duty that
night,
so it was just the three of them.
Slipping into a delivery truck as it entered a side loading bay, the
Knight
Sabers ducked into an empty corridor. At the end was a lift going down.
Sylia considered going back, but the sound of metallic footsteps quickly
changed her mind. At the bottom of the lift, the doors opened to reveal
a
small warehouse of military equipment. Four high-tech tanks occupied
one
corner of the area, while twenty battlesuits stood silently on the other
side. On the far side of the room were four aircraft, twenty Bu-12b
Battle
boomers and half a dozen GD-42 "Genki" Battlemovers. These stood among
hundreds of metal and ceramic crates of various sizes.
"My god!" Linna breathed. "Look at all these weapons! What do you
think
they're going to do with them?"
Priss pulled a clipboard with a small screen on it off a tank. "Hey,
what's this say? I can't figure out a thing on here."
Sylia looked at it, then punched a few buttons. If one could have seen
through her helmet, they would've seen a look of comprehension come
across
her face. "According to this, All this is supposed to go to someplace
called, Sanattan-3. They're storing it for transport elsewhere. But
for
who?"
"How could you tell?" asked Priss, "I couldn't understand a damn
thing."
Sylia turned the screen to face Priss. "The data's repeated in six
languages, one of them's English, another's Japanese, but it has an odd
accent. I can't make out the other four."
Suddenly. a sharp tapping on the metal floor caught their attention.
Standing in front of the lift they had come out of was a young black
girl
about thirteen years old, wearing a red cloak over red-orange street
clothes The cloak was closed at her neck by a large brooch containing
an
equally large ruby. In one hand she carried a wooden staff that was
taller
than she was. The staff had gold capped on both ends, with a sculpted
phoenix on the top.
"Hey!" the girl gasped, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"Get lost kid!" Priss said, lowering the plasma handcannon she brought
along in case of a certain boomer "We're not gonna hurt you."
"Hold up, you're the Knight Sabers!" The girl shouted.
"Oh, great." Linna sighed. "Grab her!" Linna leaped forward, trying
to
catch the girl before she could alert the base. The girl lowered her
staff, and a blast of fire shot out of it and blew the hardsuit to the
floor.
"What the-" Priss cried as Linna rolled onto her stomach and climbed to
her
knees. The front of her suit badly scorched and partially melted on
some
spots. Suddenly, a wall of flames encircled them.
The girl hit a large button on the wall, and six small robots hopped out
of
niches in the walls. The robots resembled large disks on four
insectlike
legs. Their domed tops raised, revealing dual laser lenses. Alarms
blared
as they began to surround the Sabers.
"Let's get out of here!" Sylia cried as she took to the air. She fired
on
one of the drones trying to cut off their escape while Priss and Linna
shot
off past it. Sylia watched, wide-eyed, as the girl created a ball of
swirling flame on the tip of her staff and fired it at her teammates.
Before she could wonder how that happened, however, she found herself
under
laser fire from the drones.
The Sabers headed back to the lift, just as the doors opened, revealing
a
woman in a black bodysuit with crimson claw-like plates. Next to her
was a
large raptorlike monster, with a sleeping twelve-year-old boy slung
across
it's back.
"What the hell is this place?" Priss asked out loud, "And how do we
get
out of here?"
The monster snarled and moved to join the fray, but the woman placed her
hand on it's shoulder, making it stop. Instead, it leaped over everyone
to
land near the girl.
"Get him out of here!" The older woman yelled, "We'll handle this!"
"But-" The girl tried to protest.
"No buts, now move!" Grumbling, the girl slid the boy off the lizard's
back
and onto a nearby dolly. With another mighty leap, the lizard rejoined
the
woman, who climbed on it's back. As the girl wheeled the boy off, the
flames in the room died out. "Attention all Shadow squad members! The
Knight Sabers have infiltrated the base and are in Transport Station 4!
I repeat, the Knight Sabers have infiltrated the base! Report to
Transport
Station 4!"
"Oh, shit," Priss swore, "We're really in it now!" Raising her plasma
cannon, she blew the left legs off one of the drones. the Sabers
quickly
ran for the other side of the warehouse, Priss and Sylia providing
covering
fire. Suddenly, all the doors leading out of the area slammed shut,
trapping them. One door reopened, and two familiar battlesuits entered,
adjusting their helmets.
*************************************
Damien activated his HUD, scanning the hardsuits. The blue suit had a
new
cannon attached to her right arm. "Somebody's missing here." He said to
Turner, "I don't see the red suit anywhere."
"Then we gotta keep this session short." Turner said, disappointed.
"But
we can't just let these three leave without some kind of workout.
Tonight's
lesson," He said out loud, "Is dealing with 'unconventional' attacks.
To
your right is your first assistant instructor. Here is your second."
He
said as the young girl reentered. "Class, begin!"
With a bloodcurdling roar, the Sangre charged the Knight Sabers. Sylia
fired on them, but the beast sidestepped, and was on her in a second.
The
jaws snapped shut, crushing the manipulator on her left arm. Quickly,
Sylia pressed a button on the inside of the suit's arm, and the rest of
the
manipulator blew off. A small blade folded out, and she jabbed the
reptile
in the side of the neck. As the lizard screamed, Sylia swung across the
neck, inadvertently twisting the blade, and kicked the rider off. She
immediately found herself riding a lizard that was very pissed off for
three very good reasons:
One: Someone other than it's rider was on it's back.
Two: That someone had just attacked it's rider.
And Three: Said someone had also twisted a knife in it's neck.
Snarling, Sangre twisted, intent on getting this woman off his back and
between his jaws. Before the hardsuit could get a better handle on his
back, he quickly rolled onto his back. Suprisingly, he soon found
himself
being lifted into the air by his enemy and thrown to the ground. Sangre
hissed and sprang forward, slashing Sylia in the chest with the
razor-sharp
claws in it's feet.
Staggering back, Sylia leapt into the air to avoid the raptor's next
attack,
and found herself under heavy fire..... literally. The girl who had
returned was now firing fireball after fireball at her. Trying to
disarm
her, Sylia shot back, knocking the staff out of her hands. Yelping, the
girl fell back, but got back up and drew a pistol out of her cloak.
Angrily, she began firing more bolts of fire out of the pistol.
**************************************
Meanwhile, Damien and Turner charged Priss and Linna. Linna threw out
her
daggers, but Turner knocked them away and countered with his wrist
laser.
Linna spun away from the blasts, then leaped forward. The two suits
circled
each other, sizing each other up, waiting for the next move.
Priss and Damien both extended their blades and went at it like old
enemies.
Priss ducked a slash from Damien's blade and swept his feet out from
under
him. Damien rolled back to his feet and launched a series of kicks at
Priss' head. Priss blocked the attacks, and swept across with a
roundhouse
kick. Damien grabbed her leg and brought his arm down hard on her shin.
Wincing, Priss kicked him away, then jumped to an overhanging catwalk.
Damien took off after her, dodging the plasma blasts she sent his way.
He
unholstered his laser rifle and fired back, but the blue suit avoided
those,
too. Their battle soon turned into a shootout, both combatants just
barely
dodging each other's blasts. After a particularly nasty near miss,
Damien
pulled some white grenades from his belt and tossed them to the side,
using
laser fire to drive Priss closer to the target area. Priss jumped into
the
air, trying to avoid the grenades' blast. When she landed, she
immediately
slipped on the thick sheet of ice that had suddenly formed under her
feet.
Damien ran up and kicked Priss, sending her sliding across the ice to
slam
into a nearby console.
**ENOUGH!** A voice bellowed out, half in everyone's mind.
Sylia stopped from where she was trying to dissect the lizard while
keeping
herself from being broiled.
Linna and Turner halted in the middle of their respective attempts to
slice
each other up.
Priss and Damien were in mid-leap, and landed on the floor.
A giant ball of black flames erupted in the center of the room,
absorbing
most of the light in the room. The flames dissipated, revealing a man
dressed in an all-black suit with a blue tie. The man's skin was a deep
black that was felt more than it was seen. Pupilless white eyes
contrasted
greatly with the rest of his body, which seemed to get darker the longer
you looked at him. A few dark flames swirled about his body.
The Knight Sabers stared as their opponents quickly saluted, even the
raptor. The dark man walked over to where the girl's staff had fallen,
picked it up, and gave it back to her. Walking back into the middle of
the
room, he finally spoke:
//What is the meaning of this?// He asked calmly, turning to Turner.
//Um, well sir, these are-//
// The Knight Sabers, I know. So this is your project, eh?// Turning
to
face Sylia, he smiled. "You'll have to forgive him, he's almost as bad
as
I am with situations like this."
"Who are you?" Sylia asked.
"Oh, I'm sorry." he chuckled. "Where are my manners? I am Dr'kfir
Nova.
CEO and presently sole stockholder of Darkfire Industries. If you want
more information, my men will challenge you one more time. If you
defeat
them, We'll tell you everything you want to know. Now, I'm afraid
you'll
have to leave." With a wave of his hand, the Knight Sabers were
consumed
in a huge flare of black fire.
********************************************
Moments later, somewhere outside of MegaTokyo, a tiny spark ignited.
The
spark erupted into a raging inferno for an instant, and was gone. In
it's
place stood the Knight Sabers, unharmed but somewhat confused.
Priss looked around. "Great, now where are we?"
"I'd say about 30 miles west of the city." Sylia answered.
"This has to be one of out most humiliating defeats ever!" Linna
wailed.
"Who said we were defeated?" Priss countered. "I was just getting
warmed
up!"
"That's because that girl was using you as a barbecue pit!"
"We can discuss this back home." Sylia said as she began walking
towards
the city. "Right now we need to get there. Unfortunately, Nene's
probably
still at work, so we may as well start walking."
With a slight moan of dispair, the other two got up and followed.
Tonight
had been so not their best mission, and they just wanted to go home.
Nene
was going to tease them endlessy about this.
===============================================================================
And........ Done! Finally, I can live again! At least until Chapter 2.
I
still need to gather more information, though. but I will get it done.
I would like to say now that I will be taking a few liberties with the
rules of both RPGs, mainly for story purposes. So a few restrictions on
abilities and spells may be stretched a bit, but for the most part, I'll
stick to the rules. (With the possible exeption of the Temporal Magic
spell Dimensional Pockets!)............Maybe.
See you later! and remember, comments go to me at "SAMAS_1@Hotmail.com".
C&C on this would also be appreciated.
SAMAS
______________________________________________________
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