Mighty Morphing Power Sabers (fan-fic)
Authors: LV426 and Lahanda Robanga
Author's Note: We do not own ANY of these characters and do not claim to. This fan-fic is a parody of Bubblegum Tokyo 2040. Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 and all characters within as well as any other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
With a great blast of energy and loud exhale, the junior executive burst into the room. The first time he had done this had scared the hell out of the President of Production, but he had since become used to the man's abrupt nature. He looked up from his lunch. It could have been lobster or it could have been grilled cheese, he simply didn't know for all the treatment it had been given. All he knew was it cost a fortune and the company was paying for it, as always. He looked up noncommittally. "Yes?"
"SIR! I just got this in the mail and wanted to deliver it in person," the junior exec walked more calmly still catching his breath, his goal completed when he placed a manuscript on the President's desk.
Between grunts as he munched a bite, the President picked it up, making a point to get grease on the cover. It was just the thing a President does to a paper, especially if he thinks its going to be crap, but because he didn't give a shit, would produce it anyway. He spoke with his mouth full, muffling it a little. "Why did you want to do that? Just another lousy manuscript we can sell to the kiddies."
"Look at the author's name, Sir," the exec smiled almost nastily.
Another grunt and the president was looking at the name... "Daley Wong? Is this some kind of sick joke?"
"No, Sir... the name is real and so is the person."
"Interesting... a show with a dirty joke for the author's name... why didn't we do this before?"
"Because no one who works here has a dirty name."
"Well why not!" Whatever was left in his mouth flew onto the manuscript as he spoke. "We SHOULD have someone! This way, we can market to both kiddies and the youngsters who think they are too old for this. After all, kids LOVE dirty words!" His hands flailed in the air as he spoke. "Get me Mr. Wong this afternoon. We have a SHOW TO PRODUCE!"
Made-Up Films Presents:
The Mighty Morphin Power Sabers
Cheesy intro music plays as the screen shows flashing colors and lights in such a fashion as to create a seizure in anyone who is watching. Occasionally, this is interrupted by the image of a hard suite drop kicking some indiscriminate "bad guy" and the words "Go Go Power Saber!" After thirty seconds of torture, this ends.
The stars... such a beautiful thing to behold when the smog of the city isn't in your way. But it is hardly the only thing up there on such a night as this... the moon is also there... Some would swear a castle existed on that moon, but that is something for another day. A bit closer to the earth is a space station. This is Genom's Umbrella station. With a telescope, the incomplete satellite is a real scene to behold, but if you get even closer, you see the work force of what makes Genom such a powerful organization. The building force is their top seller of all time... the boomer.
Unfortunately, the chance to see this work up close is rare and most will never see it. One man does though. He sits atop of Genom tower and watched his beloved boomers create another device for his massive organization. This is Quincy. He sits there day after day watching his beloved boomers work. He has no choice. He is stuck to his seat and has been unable to move a muscle since the accident. He would tell you that he loved watching them work, and he did for a while, but now its always the same... and he is finally getting board.
Quincy sighed as his eyes continued to dead-stare at the screens in front of him. "God this is dull," he said off hand, knowing no one would listen. "Lets see... maybe this one can start a conga line out there... but I did that yesterday.... And the pieces drifted off into the sun... well almost all of them. Think one or two are still out there. DAMMIT! What can I do to liven things up?" He thought a moment before a smile would have appeared on his face if he could have facial movement. "I know what to do...."
* * *
The moment the team already in the office saw her, they knew there was going to be trouble. Not only was the new girl late for her first day at work, she was a mess. Her make up had been smeared and her left high heel wasn't just broken, it was missing altogether. Add to that the distraught look on her face complete with tears and they all knew the manager wasn't going to deal well with this.
The girl, for her part, didn't look to eager to see the manager approach her, either. "Ms. Linna Yamazaki, I presume," the manager spoke, her voice betraying her mechanical nature as much as her overly pale skin and bright red eyes. "Why are you late?" Linna only looked down not wanting to explain herself. "Not talking? Well let me guess. You were on your way here and some insane biker tried to hit you. Rather then accept that she missed, you chased after her and broke your shoe. Since it was no good now, you threw it at her when she left. Am I right?"
Linna looked up angrily at the manager. "So what?"
"You should know better then to mess with people like that. Its almost as bad as messing with me," the manager finished as monotone as ever.
"How did YOU know about all this?" she glanced toward her friend's office.
"It doesn't matter. I just know, as any descent manager interested in tormenting their employee's should. Now, get to the janitor closet. Since you are in no condition to deal with customers, you will work at cleanup today."
"I wasn't HIRED for cleanup!"
"You are now. Understood?" Linna was silent. A little agitation showed in the boomer's voice. "I said, understood?" Again, silence, only now a disgusted Linna began to walk away. "HEY!" the boomer boomed at her. Linna turned to see the face had changed. Two large fangs had dipped below the upper lip as the forehead had split open, the panels that had concealed the inside now on either side and the insides looking like twisted insect wings. The space they had covered now revealed wires that seemed to move on their own like a mechanical version of living flesh. "I said, understood?"
Linna nodded, shocked. "Yeah.... Understand."
Instantly, the panel shut and the fangs returned to normal. "Good."
"Can I ask how those wires were moving?"
"Motors. I was designed to scare the snot out of insubordinate employees when I had to."
"Oh," was all Linna could say. She walked away wondering if she had picked the right place to work.
* * *
Kane stopped just short of the corridor entrance. For most people here, the day had been rather long. For him, however, it seemed to always end a little too soon. He was a lower end manager, and though his boss usually didn't try to cheer him up, she had today. She had told him of a new member of Genom, whom he would now be responsible for. He didn't listen to the details. All he needed was her picture and he was more then pleased.
However, now came the difficult part for him... befriending her. For all the slaps he had gotten throughout his life, he was surprised there wasn't a permanent red hand-print on the side of his face. Still, the moment of truth had arrived. With a deep breath, he stepped into the corridor. "Well, so this is the new employee that had Ms Bot so uptight."
Linna jumped slightly, her hands not letting go of the mop as she looked up to see who was poking at her now. She saw Kane smiling back, but wasn't quite sure what to make of it. From her previous experience, she knew if he was a co-worker, he was probably trying to hit on her. If he was a manager, he was more likely then not a jerk who would want nothing more then to try to crush her spirit. "Yeah, I guess that would be me. Who are you?"
"Your direct manager, but you can call me Kane."
"So, what do I owe the pleasure?" Linna's tone oozed sarcasm so badly Kane could swear he felt it.
"Whoa! You got me all wrong. Unlike the boomer, I would rather welcome new co-workers," he smiled a bit as he added, "soul eatings wont start for at least another week or so." Linna blinked, but couldn't help but smirk a little. At least this manager had no problem with a little humor. Kane could only smirk in his mind all the more. "SCORE!" he thought to himself. "Say, I hear your new not just to the company, but to the city itself. Care to have a guided tour after work?" he added more audibly.
* * *
Orange industrial boomers formed lines as they sorted through the various discarded metal parts. Some would be refurbished and used in new models of whatever they came from, others would be melted down and made into new parts. Still others would be thrown away entirely as beyond use. No one knew what happened to this last group, but suspicions of some fast food companies looking for ways to make burgers or what-have-you out of them have circulated.
While working on this large sorting job, the boomers didn't seem to care terrifically what they were or were not doing. They simply didn't have the ability to. They were programmed to do this, and had the intelligence to analyze and make decisions on each piece, all faster then a team of humans could.
Through the camera pointed from the control center, Quincy watched these boomers. For once, he had interest in such monotonous work, but the interest was that of a child ready to cause mischief. "Which of you will I call... let me see..." he said to himself, his eyes unable to portray the impish amusement on his face. "Yes! You'll do!"
As he lifted an antique muffler, drone #237 went silent, the red LEDs in his eyes went silent. He remained like this for a moment longer, as Quincy fed him the program he was to act on. When he turned on again, he looked around, lowering his hand, but not letting go of the muffler.
The two boomers on either side didn't give this much thought, as they assumed he found something he was going to ask the manager about. Still, work was to be done and they continued.
With a slight chuckle, 237 made his way into the control tower. Once inside, he found the one he was looking for, a young man at one of the terminals who was dressed casually. He approached and tapped the man on the shoulder. "Excuse me, sir, but I have something to show you."
The man looked up. "Yes?" His eyes went wide as he watched the boomer and dived to the side.
With one fluid motion, the boomer swung the muffler up and stabbed it into the monitor, blunting off the small amount of tail-pipe, but also shattering the screen, blowing glass all over itself as well as the man's arm. "PILLOW FIGHT!" it screeched and laughed insanely as it approached the man again. This time, it didn't miss. The man's screams could be heard all over the control center before his head bounced off the display system and sending him to see days of his childhood in dream land. Still, there was no one to hear that day. He was the only operator scheduled for that day and the repairman who was supposed to come to fix the soda machine wasn't scheduled to arrive for an hour. "I win!" the boomer pronounced gleefully before, laughing the whole time, he stepped out through the main door and made his way toward the Sodo district.
* * *
Sylia floated in her pool, letting herself remain in absolute calm. Such times as these were rare for her these days, so she took full advantage of them when she could. This was not to be one of those times for long.
Down the hall, a huffing and puffing could be heard... it wasn't very loud or close yet, but it was getting closer as the butler, Meisio Anderson barreled down the hall. He felt like he might have a heart attack doing this, but didn't really care as he tried to increase his speed. Without warning, he was through the main doorway into the pool room. Sylia gasped in surprise as she watched him burst inside and without even a pause, dive heard first into the pool with her... clothed as he would be serving dinner.
She groaned as he swam underwater and toward a tube of water that extended from almost the bottom of the pool to the ceiling. It's texture blurred the image of anything in it, but it was smooth for a large oval area facing the rest of the room. "Must you do this every time?" Sylia moaned. She knew what was coming, but also thought his way of doing this was more then ridiculous.
Meisio, for his part, ignored her as he dove deep enough to reach himself into the tube and pulled himself up into it. A moment later, he was in that oval, where on his side there was a button and a mask-piece designed to cover the mouth. After hitting the button, he put the mask on and breathed deeply. "Yes it is. You know the rules," he spoke into the mask, his voice echoing through the room with speakers around it. It was also a little deeper for some reason.
Sylia drifted her way to the edge of the pool and pulled herself up. "Yeah, yeah.... I know," her tone turned overly dramatic/sarcastic. "For reasons we don't terrifically care about, all orders must be given by a man in a tube. Do I have it right?"
"If I could, I would see if you memorized it word for word, but very good. That is cor..."
"In other words, you don't have a clue. You just like it."
"Well, err--- moving on," the butler quickly covered, "Well, before I do that, I have to thank you. Getting the mask installed here was a life-saver."
"What else could I do? You nearly drowned yourself last time," Sylia added pointedly. She had hidden his scuba gear and promptly forgotten where.
"Incidentally..." Meisio started, before Sylia cut him off.
"How about we get to business," she quickly interceded before turning her head. "MACKIE!"
"Yes?" he replied, just loud enough to be heard.
"Could you please come in here?"
"ummm...."
"Mackie?"
"alright...." In a moment, he made his way into the pool room. There was nothing unusual except...
"Mackie... why do you have a salad bowl on your head? I told you its just weird and no one likes that kind of weird."
"I couldn't help it!" Mackie whined, maneuvering the bowl so it could remain but he could see his sister. "It was sitting there on the table and it was so inviting..."
"On the table?" Meisio asked. "Was it the one I had been using for dinner?"
"ummmm..."
"Mackie... take the bowl off your head," he continued, then added a little bit of menace. "NOW!"
"Aye-yie-yie-yie-yie!" Mackie murmured to himself as he removed the bowl, revealing his hair to have glops of caesar dressing and various parts of a salad through it. "Your so mean sometimes."
"You haven't seen mean yet. But that's beside the point. CALL the SABERS!"
* * *
Nene Leaned back in her cubicle. "Damn this is a slow day," she commented to herself, "Ah well... that's probably a good thing, when you look at it, right Mr. Weasel?" She smiled at her stuffed weasel doll sitting on her monitor. The speaking at slightly higher pitch, she picked up the doll and bobbed it's head to speak back. "That's right, Nene, and don't you forget it."
"Talking to dolls again, beanpole?" Nene jumped as she heard the all-too familiar voice of her co-worker. It wasn't like she didn't like the guy, but she definitely found him annoying when he decided to pop up out of nowhere. This was one of those times. He was leaning on the side of her cubicle with a sympathetic and mocking expression on his face.
With a glare, she quickly snatched her weasel away from his arm's reach and held it like she was some kid afraid a bully would take her toy away. "Why do you care, Leon-poo?" Her tone was almost haunty, but with a hint of teasing as well.
"Why do you have to call me that?" Leon whined.
"Because you are Leon-poo, Leon-poo..." Nene continued. As much as he tried to get on her case, it was always incredibly easy to turn the tide... just one word, and it worked like a charm every time. As Leon looked like he was going to whine about it again, she couldn't help but stifle a giggle.
"Well, in any case, I was wondering if you could do something for me."
"What do you need?" her tone changed instantly to curiosity.
"Well you see, I was going to take the evening off to-"
"To try to hit on Priss again?" A sadistic smile stretched across her face. This was too easy, and Leon had to know this.
Leon's face was instantly a neon sign. "WHAT?!?!? I didn't say that!"
"You didn't need to," Nene cooed. "But, I can't."
"WHY?" Leon whined, just a little too loud, as the room now looked at the two and a few giggles were heard from other cubicles. He only got more bright red.
Nene grinned. "Gotcha," she thought to herself. He was now exactly where she wanted him. "You didn't say the magic word," she said in a teasing sing-song voice.
"Please...."
"Or kiss Mr. Weasel!" she added quickly putting the weasel doll up to his face.
"WHAT?" Now he wasn't trying to be quiet any more. That they were the center of attention didn't matter. What did matter is here was this young girl getting the better of him, and he knew it!
"Well if you want to try to hit on Priss again, you need to kiss Mr. Weasel on the lips," she added matter-of-factly. "You hurt his feelings calling him a mear doll."
Leon looked around, feeling the eyes (and laughter) on him. Nene couldn't have planned this one as well as it went, and he knew she wished she could. With a sigh he replied. "Alright... Pretty please?"
Nene smiled cheerfully and shoved the weasel in his face again. "That's good, now kiss Mr. Weasel and make it all better."
Leon sighed. He knew what he had to do. He picked up the doll and kissed it on the nose quickly, giving it back immediately.
"Hmmm... well I was hoping for a nice wet one, but I guess I can let you go with that," Nene completed the transaction non-committedly. "Now lets just see what we can do..." She began to hum to herself as she hit a few keys. She had the schedule up and was about to change it when it happened.
The watch covering most of Leon's for-arm beeped. It didn't just beep anything, the tune to come out of it was "Mad-machine," and the whole room heard it. Instantly, a cry of "whoa! COOL!" was heard, followed by "Hey, where did you get that?" Leon's eyes went wide as he watched the crowd condense around him, but he couldn't explain where he got it... how would he explain that a young woman who ran a lingerie shop gave it to him? How would he explain what he was DOING in the lingerie shop? And perhaps most importantly, how would he explain what else came with it?
Nene, for her part, was already out of her cubicle and running along the empty side-walk. "Bye, Leon-poo! See you when you get out!" She hummed to herself as she skipped away. Yes, today was going to be fun.
* * *
Several hours from now, the Hot Legs would be packed. The bar would be busy pouring out beers and specialty drinks. The tables would have almost all have someone sitting at them, and the standing area would be crowded with people waiting to hear her. However, that was later that night. For now, Priss concentrated on the tone of her voice. The song they were practicing was relatively new, and she wanted to have it perfect. Agitated, she stopped singing and raised her hand. "Damn. Sorry, guys. I suck."
"Priss, it sounded fine," the guitarist responded with a little annoyance.
Priss shook her head. "Not good enough. Not yet, anyway."
"This is the seventh time you've stopped us!"
"And probably not the last," groaned the drummer.
With a sigh, the guitarist approached Priss. "Look, I know you want this to be perfect, but this is the first time we are playing this one at the club. We need to get through the whole song at least once..."
Priss was about to argue, but her giant forearm-filling watch started beeping the tune to "Mad-Machine." She looked at it more than annoyed. "Later. I gotta go." Her tone was still very calm.
"You gotta GO?!? And what about the practice?"
Priss shrugged. "The song can be released next week."
Without giving anyone a chance to respond, she was gone. A moment later, her bike could be heard revving and roaring away into the distance. "She said that last week too," the drummer said, more to himself then anyone.
* * *
"Mad Machine" played softly within the room, but the echoing effect the pool brought with it made it sound louder then it should. Sylia shook her head and approached her bathrobe. Once it was secure over her bathing suit, she dug into the pocket and pulled out her own forearm-length watch. A few buttons later, hers stopped playing. "Mackie," she sighed, "I'm already here. Did you really need to put out a call for me?"
"You're the one that had this panel designed with just one 'call all' button," Mackie countered.
"My idea?"
"Well that's what Nigel said when we were building it."
"Sounds like I'm going to have to talk to Nigel."
Meisio grinned sheepishly inside the tube still, but since the siblings argued among each other, they missed it.
* * *
Kane and Linna were seated comfortably in the restaurant. The waitress had not made it over to take their orders yet, but Linna was tense about the time already. She knew that she had to be in early tomorrow, or face the wrath of the evil boomer boss from hell again, but at the same time, she didn't want to insult Kane and leave early either.
Kane was oblivious to this dilemma. Instead of wondering what was going on in her head, his mind was focused on how to make his next move. He smiled a bit, "So, why did you come to Tokyo anyway? I'm sure you must have grown up in a place much nicer then this."
"Hmm? Oh... well, I guess if your into the country life," Linna responded as quickly as she realized what was being said. "I just wanted to see what its like in the city."
"Like what you see so far?"
Linna nodded.
"I'm glad." He placed an arm around her shoulder. "You have seen nothing yet."
Linna fidgeted a little. She didn't like the idea of getting so close to someone at the office so soon. "Say, did that waitress forget us or something?" she asked, more to get rid of him for a moment then to actually get the waitress.
Kane blinked a moment. He could tell what Linna was doing and for a split second his temper flared to boiling. But she wasn't being up front about it just yet, so he came up with a better way to respond... he played dumb. Giving her a light squeeze before getting up, he replied. "Could be for how long she is taking. Want me to go see?"
"Please."
"Back in a minute..." he finished in a sing-song tone.
Linna sighed and looked toward Genom Tower. "Where are they?" she asked herself. "I thought I would at least hear gossip about them by now..."
* * *
Leon turned off the ignition of his car and stepped out. It had taken him way too long to get here, but what could he expect when all of Nene's co-workers swarmed about him all talking at once so he couldn't get an answer (real or not) through and collectively too solid to shove his way out? "Damn, them. Damn them ALL!" he muttered to himself as he stepped into the Silky Doll.
The door opened, the bell rang, and everyone looked to see who was coming in. When they saw it was a man entering the lingerie shop, a few of them eyed him peculiarly, while most decided quite promptly to just make sure he didn't go near them. He didn't look like the kind of guy that would be looking for a gift for his girlfriend, after all.
"God I hate this part," Leon muttered to himself. "I know its not what it looks like, and the others know, but these people DON'T know." Grunting and pushing up his determination, Leon marched across the store and into a changing room booth. Once inside, he groaned as he heard the murmurs and the giggling from various girls who had been watching him. "Nene, if I EVER find out that you were the one behind the door being placed here..." he steamed. Then he hit the switch and the mirror opened to reveal a secret elevator. Stepping inside, he let it shut behind him and take him upstairs.
When the door opened again, he was in the control center, and he could see just how late he was. Sylia, Nene, and Priss were all there, already suited up and looking at him. Nene with a sheepish grin, while Sylia and Priss both showed their annoyance with his timing much more clearly.
"Why were you so late?" Sylia asked.
"Well, erm... you see..."
"We let you on this team to help fight boomers. If your going to be late like this and hold us all back, you might as well not be here."
Leon sighed. His invitation had been more of a demand. Nene had shot off her mouth to him and to ensure he wold keep the secret, he too, had to be in on it. "Look, if you want to know why, ask Nene. Her friends are the reason."
Nene glared at him. "Are you blaming ME?"
"Yes I am..." Leon stormed up to her, for the moment her red armor not mattering to him.
"Enough!" Sylia belted out. "We don't have time for this. Mr. Anderson spotted a rouge boomer going into the Sodo Ward. Leon, suit up!"
After sticking her tongue out at both Leon and Sylia, Nene turned away with her arms crossed. Leon didn't seem to notice as he huffed his agreement with Sylia and marched into the nearby pod. He closed the door behind him and looked around. "Sylia? Where is the hardsuit?"
"Push the panel directly across from the door!" came the answer, a little muffled due to the pod itself.
"Right," he responded as clearly as he could and hit the button. With a whirring noise, something moved to the left. He turned and saw a panel opening to reveal... "Sylia? Did Nene put you up to this?"
"Put me up to what? Your hard suit is there waiting for you."
"Where? Behind the pink one?" There was no answer to this. Leon waited a good 30 seconds as he heard no reply. "It IS behind the pink one, right?" he asked again, now a nervousness in his voice.
"Not... really..." came the for once uncertain voice of Sylia.
"Then where is it?"
"Your... looking at it." This time it was Leon's turn to be silent. "You ok in there?"
"NO IM NOT OK!" Leon bellowed. "IM BEING EXPECTED TO GET SUITED UP INTO A NEON PINK HARD SUIT WITH... WHATS THIS?!?!? FLOWERS ON A SKIRT?!?!?!?!?"
Nene's eyes lit up. "Aww, you'll look so cute, Leon-poo!"
Leon was silent for a moment before the yelling continued. "NENE! If your behind this I SWEAR you better prey your gone before I come out!"
"Enough!" Sylia broke in. "If you had gotten here on time, you could have had one of the other hard suits, since this is the last one in the line, your stuck with it."
"But, but..."
"No buts! Put that thing on now and let's get out of here!" This time the voice was Priss, who was simply getting tired of waiting.
"Go without me!"
"Your part of the team and your coming!" Sylia retorted. She was not going to have part of her team disregard them all because he didn't like his fashion statement.
"No I'm not!"
"And so you'll leave everyone to risk their lives over something that trivial."
"Yep!"
"Don't be such an ass," Priss countered with an eerie level of calm in her voice. "With your helmet, no one will even know who you are anyway."
"Well..."
"And you don't want to watch me die, do you Leon-poo?" Nene piped.
Leon considered how he would answer that a moment. "It's tempting, but no."
"Then your coming?" her eyes were bright again.
"Yeah, yeah, just let me get into this thing." After a moment, the pod opened again. Leon stood there with his helmet under his arm. He stood a little awkwardly, but he wasn't used to high heels. He was also a lot more conscious of the fact that he was wearing a blazingly pink female formed hard suite with bright white and yellow flowers all over the skirt. That skirt being the only one on any of the hard suited figures now in the room. He blushed in embarrassment, but still managed to get out a sentence in a dangerously low tone. "Not one word."
Nene apparently didn't care what he said. "HOW CUTE!" she squealed out as she cupped her hands together in front of her.
Leon took a step menacingly toward her and almost fell over. He glared at Nene though he knew he was helpless. "Stupid high heels," was all he could say as Nene beamed and giggled at him.
"Enough. Everyone get ready to launch!" Sylia pointed to the larger pod behind her. It opened up and Priss walked inside. Leon watched as it snapped shut and open rapidly. The pod was now empty again. Now Nene pranced in. Sylia waited patiently for him to make his way. Hoping she wouldn't give some "ladies first" wise crack, he stumbled toward the pod, learning how he would balance himself in this new footwear as he went. Within a few moments, they were on their way.
Mackie wasted no time to get the van started. A moment later, he was following them from the ground.
* * *
Kane sat down again, much to the annoyance of Linna. However, he had not done anything too bad yet, and he did actually get the waitress. Still, did he have to guide her and keep a hand on her ass? She wasn't even human, for crying out loud! The boomer looked at him first. "Your order, Sir?" she inquired.
"Why not let the lady order first?" he cooed.
"Very well, Sir," the waitress replied with a respectful bow. She then turned to Linna. "And what you like, Ms?"
"Well... what would you recommend?"
"We are incredibly well known for our chicken wings."
"I bet," Linna muttered under her breath, watching Kane ogling a second boomer waitress. "How about two orders of that, one for each."
The waitress bowed again. "Very well. Thank you, Ms." And she strolled off.
"Can I ask you something?" Linna asked about as politely as she could. "Why did you choose this place?"
"It's a personal favorite," he responded without blinking an eye.
"Why am I not surprised?"
"Hmmm?" He only now looked at her.
"Look, can we just call it a night? Your obviously more interested in hitting on anything that looks female then you are in being a gentleman." Linna didn't wait for an answer. She was already standing as she finished talking. "See you at work tomorrow."
Kane looked at Linna and tried to look hurt. "Why Ms. Yamazaki... why would you say such a thing."
Linna stopped walking away but didn't look back. "Have you even watched yourself tonight?"
"Why?"
"I don't think there is one woman here you haven't stared at for at least thirty seconds. I don't even want to know what you have going on in your head."
Kane's expression turned savage. "Your career, of course. I'm the one who will give the final report on you to the company, after all."
Linna spun around and slammed her hands down on the table, glaring at Kane as if his death could happen by it. "Why you..." Linna didn't get any further before a loud crash was heard across the room. Both turned to face it simultaneously.
What they saw was a bright orange boomer with deep red eyes looking around the room. It had the knocker from the once there door still in it's hand. "Knock knock," it cried in an almost squeaky voice, followed by an insane giggle.
"What the hell?" Kane whispered.
"A rouge boomer?" added Linna in the same hushed tone.
The boomer threw the doorknob at a bald man drinking soup, knocking him face first into the soup, followed by insane laughter. Once it got back to giggles, it grabbed the bar and ripped it out of the floor, causing the crowd to erupt into panic. 'Again! Again!" it squealed in delight, swinging it's newfound toy about the room like it might find a piniata.
"What are we gonna do, Kane... Kane?" Linna noticed her companion was gone. After a moment, she noticed he was in the crowd trying to get out the other door. She couldn't help but feel disgusted as even when fleeing for his life and abandoning her, he was still trying to cop feels of the girls around him. But then she saw a much better exit: namely the window behind them. Getting the courage to go closer to the insane machine at the other end of the room, she made a dive behind one of the bar stools. A moment later, she picked it up and ran for the window.
The boomer turned to face her as she picked up the stool. "Playtime!" it screeched before walking toward her, making weird breathy noises. "I am your father," it said, giggling through the line, before it swung at her with the bar.
With a scream, Linna ducked as the bar crashed into the stool she had picked up. She looked up to see half of it had been crushed before the momentum had stopped the destruction, creating the pocket that she was now in. As the boomer lifted the bar over his head again and put a second rather large gash into the roof, she launched herself forward, aiming to get under the table she had just been sitting at. Linna waited for the impact, but when it came, it came from across the room. She blinked before she and the boomer turned to look at the new source of crashes.
Before them stood what looked like four armored young women; one in silver, one in blue, one in red, and one in hot pink with a flower covered skirt. None of them spoke immediately. They stood there, posed, as if they expected the boomer or someone else to take a picture before anything else happened. The boomer, however, did not seem to be that patient. With a mad giggle, it lifted the bar again, this time at about waist height and swung it like a baseball bat.
"Sabers! Evade!" the silver one belted out, though it was not necessary. All four of them jumped aside in various directions. "Pink, we have this one. We need you to get her to the van." With the same authority, she pointed at Linna.
"Why me? At the very least you could let me fight," the pink Saber whined, revealing a very masculine voice within it.
"Don't argue! You have your orders!"
"Alright..." with a sigh, the pink Saber approached Linna.
"What is this?" Linna bellowed in exasperation, "Isn't it bad enough that I was being attacked? Now I need to be kidnapped by a transvestite in some kind of super armor?" She kicked at the pink ranger, though it didn't do any good.
At first, the pink ranger tried to grab her foot as she kicked, but as Linna complained, something inside him snapped. He pushed her leg out of the way violently and grabbed her arm. "Listen to me, now. Wearing the pink armor was NOT my choice!" Linna struggled to free herself, wanting to argue that idea, but for the moment, she knew she would more rather keep her arm and any other appendage a strength enhanced and enraged pervert might try to remove from her firmly attached. She kept her mouth shut. After a few seconds, the saber spoke again. "Alright, here is the plan. We are going through that window. Ready?" He didn't give her time to answer before he had picked her up and ran full speed at the glass, leaping so that he twisted himself behind her and hit the glass first.
Linna screamed in absolute horror as the plummeted to the ground. That however didn't last as she heard jets engines coming from the saber who held her through all this. She looked at him to see small jets had opened on his shoulders and thighs, slowing their descent as the aimed for a hole in the roof of a pink van below. "You sure you didn't pick this color?" she asked, finally getting the idea she might live through this.
"I told you no! Now hold on, I've never landed before."
"What! Oh SHIT!" The saber landed in the room, falling on his back. Linna tumbling away. She looked up rubbing her head to see the Saber getting up as well. She glared at him. It had just occurred to consider what he might have been looking at when they fell. After all, it didn't seem he was hurt. "Great landing. YOU certainly earned your wings!" was the best she could come up with at the moment, though.
"Ah, give me a break, Ms. Yamazaki! You didn't make it any easier and you know it!"
She was about to respond when a hand tapped her shoulder. Looking back, she saw a boy in his late teens looking up at her. "Ummm, ma'am? Are you ready?"
"Ready for what?!?!?" she blared, her arms stretching in her exasperation.
"You didn't tell her Leon?" the boy asked the Saber behind them.
"She didn't give me a chance. And DON'T use my name when I'm suited up!"
"Leon, huh?" Linna repeated, her eyes blazing in rage. "Well, Leon, Perhaps you should tell me what the hell you were supposed to when you were probably struggling to feel me up!"
"WHAT?!?!?!?!?" Leon screamed. "Like I would want to do that to you!"
"And what does that mean?"
"Make your own conclusions," his voice had menace in it.
"ENOUGH!" Mackie screamed. He looked at both of them. "Linna Yamazaki, you have been recruited to our little task force: the Knight Sabers. That is why you're here."
"The Knight Sabers?" She blinked, now thrown off guard.
Mackie nodded. "Have you noticed how at times a boomer, much like the one in there now goes insane for no peticular reason?" Mackie waited for Linna's nod, which didn't take too long. "That's what we are here for. We try to take them out before then can do any real damage... or kill anyone."
"Well that's nice, I guess, but how do I fit into this?"
"You can thank my sister for choosing you. She is our leader, and she decided it would be a good idea to have an agent inside Genom. They are the ones who make these things, after all."
"Don't I get a say in this?"
"I wish there was time, but there isn't, especially now. You see, now you know one of our people by name. We cant let you leave without joining yourself."
"And what happens if I don't?"
Mackie just shook his head, the sad expression doing more to scare the hell out of Linna then the boomer had. "I don't want to know what my sister might do. She isn't always the most rational in her reactions. Please don't turn down this invitation."
After what seemed a long wait, Linna finally spoke up. "Alright, what do I do?"
"In that compartment over there is your hard suite. Put it on and Leon will guide you back to the fight. They need you two up there."
* * *
"How long are they going to be?" the red saber whined, stumbling to her feet. She had just taken wine bottle after wine bottle after beer mug after god knows what else in machine gun fire. The boomer had apparently decided to play war as it yelled out "datta-datta-datta-datta" during it's mad throws and ducked behind table it had knocked over as if it was a bunker wall.
"Doesn't matter. We cant let up on this thing!" the silver one replied, the urgency in her voice blaring.
"I knew we should have sent someone else to do it," the blue saber added.
"Look, Priss. You KNOW this was the only way. He is the only one who's suite doesn't have super weapons in it. And I thought we might need them."
"But so far, that hasn't mattered, has it?"
"Oh shut up!"
* * *
Linna stepped out of the pod, her hard suite on, but helmet under her shoulder. Now encased in a form fitting green armor, she looked at the two others across the room for approval. Mackie nodded with a smirk. Leon's reaction, however, were covered by his helmet. "Well? Does it fit right?"
"Of course! My sister designed it for you!"
"Sylia... designed... these... to... fit... us... indivi...vidually?" Leon's voice sounded shocked beyond belief.
"Well, of course, Leon... why..." Mackie looked at Leon's armor while he wore it and it occurred to him that the chest in peticular was not that of a guys. The skirt, also was far from something a guy would wear. "oh..."
"I'm gonna kill her," was all Leon could say.
"Umm... I don't think that's a good idea."
"And WHY NOT?!?!?"
"Because she signs your paychecks."
Leon sat in dead silence. "I don't need the cash that bad."
"The consider the others on the team who just might get a little bit pissed at you. You cant take everyone, Leon." This time it was Linna speaking.
"You haven't even met her! Why are YOU defending her?"
"Because she apparently believes in me. I owe her this much." Her tone was almost wistful. "I wont let you all down."
Leon looked like he was about to argue, but instead he let his shoulder slump a moment. "Alright, you win for now. Let's bet back there."
* * *
With a loud "oof," Priss was sent sprawling into the wall. She slid down and held her head a moment, trying to clear it. "Damn this bastard is tough," she moaned. The boomer wasn't done with her though. She stood up as it approached again, this time armed with two chair legs it had sharpened into make-shift swords. "If I do this wrong, I'm dead. Still, I don't see any other..." Her words were interrupted by two energy blasts from the window. They didn't do any damage, but they stopped the boomer's approach. Instead, both he and Priss turned to face the windows as Leon and Linna landed in the debris of glass. "...way?"
"We're back!" Leon announced.
"About time! What took you?"
As they discussed this, the other two knight sabers came to join them.
"Alright, then its time to unleash everything we've got," the silver one interrupted. "Sorry to do this to you, Linna, but even as this is your first time in a hard suite, we need you to help us in the ultimate attack."
"Already? And what's my special part to the technique?" Leon asked.
"Well, you have a unique one... called Super Sulk."
"...excuse me."
"No time to explain. Knight Sabers! Its show time!" The all scattered on command, leaving a confused Leon to figure this out. "Super Sulk? What does that mean?" He sat down annoyed. "Damn them all. Why cant they give me something useful!"
Immediately the boomer began a slow an awkward approach to him. "Aww, what's wrong?" it asked in an honestly concerned, if not a little insane voice. "Somebody needs a hug..." the voice became singsong as it's arms opened up and it teetered toward him.
"Leon is doing his part perfectly. Now on my mark, everyone will move in to attack at once," Sylia announced.
"Right," came from the remaining three.
"Mark!"
Linna and Sylia dove to the left and right while Priss rushed head first at the boomer. Nene jumped using her jets, intending to aim herself directly at the boomer's head. In the next instant, Sylia and Linna rushed by on reverse sides of the boomer, simultaneously ripping it apart; Sylia with blades extending from her arms and Linna with ribbon blades trailing her and shredding everything in her wake. Priss rushed head long, punching the distracted boomer in the gut, a small grenade on her knuckle exploding on contact. Nene finished this picture by firing a cannon designed to fry the boomer's brain straight into it's head. All four landed and turned to see the results of their attack at the same time, watching the boomer stumble a moment. It's voice fizzled and it fell backwards, immobile.
* * *
Quincy watched, his face unable to betray the horror he felt as his toy broke. "NO!" his voice echoed from around the room. "Why would they do this to me? Is it too much to ask to play once in a while when it's my command that says make these things in the first place?" If he could have gotten up and stormed around, he would have, but his immobility at this moment only fouled his mood all the more. "If they want to play rough, I can make it rougher!" With a thought, Quincy turned on the intercom. "Mason! I require your assistance."
"I'm on my way, Sir," came the voice of his dedicated right hand man. In a minute or two, the doors directly in front of Quincy opened. From behind them, a very pale man with jet black and slicked hair stepped forward. "You wished to see me Sir?"
"They broke my toy."
Mason blinked. "Pardon?"
"The boomer I was playing with. The Knight Sabers broke it."
"That is a pity, Sir."
"I still want to play with it."
"What do you have in mind for a broken boomer?"
"I want to make it mutate. It can fix itself with what is around it, when set right."
"That's true, but it will also be very unstable."
"All the better. The Knight Sabers wanted to play rough. I will play rough back."
With a sigh, Mason nodded. "Alright, Sir. I'll go flip the switch."
"No," was the quick reply. "Mason, you know that isn't how we do this."
Mason rolled his eyes. "You want me to use the staff? Why? It would be much easier and much more cost effective to simply flip a switch."
"But that isn't how it's done. Its tradition."
Mason sighed, obviously wanting to argue further, but this was his boss' idea, and he didn't want to call Quincy stupid to his face. "Very well." He turned and left the room. After a few minutes one of the screens came online and Mason's face was displayed behind a space helmet. In his hand was a weird staff with a DNA strand artistically place at the top. "Sir, ready to throw the staff."
"Excellent. You know the time to throw, of course."
"Yes, Sir."
"Then let us begin." Quincy savored the moment before continuing. "Let my boomer GROW!" he bellowed.
As soon as it was said, Mason threw the staff down to Earth. "Wont be long, Sir."
"I cant wait," was the old man's reply.
* * *
The Knight Sabers stood around, as if unsure what was next. "Well, that one was really very easy," Sylia commented. "Wonder what the old man up there was thinking?"
"Aww who cares. What I want to know is why the hell we are still here? And for that matter, why the hell the AD Police aren't! Are they really that useless?" Priss began to rant.
"HEY!" Nene and Leon yelled in unison. "I'm sure they have a very good reason." Nene finished.
"SHH!" Linna hissed. "I think I hear something." They all got quiet to listen for what Linna was listening to; a faint whizzing sound like something small was whirling into the area at incredible speeds.
"I knew it," Sylia grumbled.
"Knew what?"
"Quincy was always a poor loser. Get ready, team. This isn't over yet."
As soon as she finished talking, a large section of the roof collapsed directly over the boomer as a loud crashing sound was heard, burying the boomer and forcing the Sabers to cover their ears, despite filters in the helmets. Then low vibrations started shaking the room as the new pile of debris started to move.
"What the hell?" was all that came out of Priss before the debris burst apart. The boomer stood again, only now at double it's original height, and a shoulder span at least four times the original. It had various parts of the restaurant's electrical system sticking out at odd intervals, as if it had patched itself up with whatever was around at the moment. It's face had changed to, become more animal-like. It now sported a full and powerful jaw with razor sharp (though still orange) teeth.
The boomer looked around and roared its returned. It spoke with a voice that was low and feral. "Play time!" Not waiting for a response, it swung one gorilla like arm at Linna, sending her into the wall. Nene charged the boomer meaning to kick it, but instead found herself grabbed by the head, and hurled through the window to land below with a loud thud.
"Alright you piece of orange garbage, NO ONE messes with my friends and lives," Priss threatened, moving in like she was going to punch it head on. The boomer roared in the new lower set vocal system to laugh, but when it reached out for her, it missed. She jumped at the last second, trying to get behind it.
However, the boomer had a few new tricks of it's own. One of the metal bars in it's back launched out of it's skin and straight at her. Priss groaned as she was hit and sent sprawling to the floor.
"Hey! You cant do that to her!" Leon bellowed. He ran up to the boomer and punched it in the chest. No response. He punched again. No response. After trying several more punches and at least as many various kicks, he realized how little damage he was doing and looked up.
The boomer's eyes suggested it's amusement. "Somebody's cranky," it said as it picked him up. Then it swung him straight down through a table. "NAP TIME!" it announced gleefully.
"We aren't getting anywhere like this," Sylia commented to herself. "Mackie! Get the motoslaves out NOW!"
"Coming, Sis," came through the radio. Sylia waited no more then five seconds before the robot-like assistants of the Sabers burst through yet another window, finally finishing the last one off. Nene was already riding in hers.
"Alright, you scrap of metal! Time for a little taste of your own medicine!" Nene rushed the boomer, slamming a fist into it's gut and making it stumble back a moment.
Looking up at her, it grappled her shoulders. "Wrestling! Oh boy!" it squealed in it's feral voice as it locked Nene into a grotesque mockery of a sumo match.
Taking their chance to get into their own motoslaves, the others kept an eye on the match. Sylia had to turn to her intercom once more as she heard Godzilla sound effects coming out of her radio. "Mackie! Be serious!"
"Alright, alright," came the reply. "Geesh, Sis. Your no fun."
"ahhhiEEE!" squealed Nene. Sylia turned to see her team member flying into a wall. "He's a tough one," she moaned as she stood up once more.
"I bet I could take it," Priss countered.
"No. Too dangerous. Best we do what these things were made for," Sylia argued.
"And that would be?"
Sylia was silent a moment. "Mackie? What was the main feature Nigel had designed into the motoslaves?"
The radio was silent for a moment. "Didn't he tell you? They can fuse together and become one giant robot at your controls."
"How do we do that?"
"Ummm... didn't he tell you?"
Sylia thought about arguing how if Nigel hadn't told her about the motoslaves fusing, how could he have told her how. Instead, she just answered with a simple. "No."
"Damn. He didn't tell me either."
"What?"
"Don't worry, Sis. The manual has to be around here somewhere!"
"Hurry up!"
"While you two bicker, I'm going in," Priss interrupted.
"I'm with you!" Linna added.
"Same here," came from Leon. "Split up and hit it from all angles. GO!"
The plan was sound. The actions were sound. The timing, however, was not. The boomer watched as Linna rushed in first. It seemed to blink at her before it roared out. "LEAP FROG!" and it ducked, letting Linna's own force lodge her into the wall behind her. Priss followed up by trying to go low, only for the boomer to ram her into the ground as it grabbed her shoulders and launched over her. Leon, still aiming for the spot where the boomer was, tripped over Priss.
"Alright, I got it! The command to do fuse the motoslaves is just by will! All you need to do is will it into the giant robot." Mackie's voice finally returned.
"You heard him, Sabers," Sylia commanded. "Lets go Saber force!"
With a resounding 'yeah,' the motoslaves lost their exoskeleton forms, instead becoming liquid metal that flowed over the sabers, and away from them toward each other. The large prismaticly colored glop of metal goop reshaped itself into a rather skeletal robot in front of them before hardening. A space in each limb opened up and one in the chest. "Everyone, inside!" Sylia commanded before jumping into the chest of the machine. Each Saber in turn jumped into the limb colored after their own hard suite.
Once they were inside, the openings sealed and the robot roared. The hands came together and a blinding flash occurred between them. Pulling it's hands apart, it now had a sword forming between it's hands.
The boomer watched as the robot got into battle position, its eyes fixed on the still glowing sword. "Ohhh, pretty," it said just before the robot came charging at it. However, the boomer didn't move. It was focused on the shininess of the sword right up to the point that it was sliced in half. "That hurt, you meanie!" it yelled at the offending robot before it blew up.
"Well that was interesting," Leon said. "Can we please go now? I'm tired of being in the public in pink."
"Aww, but your so cute, Leon-poo," Nene teased.
"Dammit, Nene! I will NOT put up with being called that!" His attempt to grab her wrist turned into the robot holding its own hand back.
"Hey! Let me go!" Nene whined.
"Alright, lets get out of here," Sylia interrupted.
"Right," agreed Priss.
The robot liquefied around them, letting them down gently before the small liquid metal lake flowed out the window and back into the van below.
In another minute, the sabers were on the roof and using their jump jets again to get out of the area. Mackie started the van and followed them.
* * *
"How! How could they win?!?" Quincy asked exasperated by what he just saw.
"I'm not sure, Sir," Mason responded, "but I have never seen such weapons as what they have just used before."
"It's just not fair," Quincy whined. "God do I have a headache."
"I understand, Sir. Should I get the aspirin?"
"Please."
"Yes, Sir." Mason left, coming back a moment later with a few pills.
"Could you help me out?"
Mason sighed and opened Quincy's mouth. After putting the pills in, he began to move the jaw to chew them.
Authors: LV426 and Lahanda Robanga
Author's Note: We do not own ANY of these characters and do not claim to. This fan-fic is a parody of Bubblegum Tokyo 2040. Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 and all characters within as well as any other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
With a great blast of energy and loud exhale, the junior executive burst into the room. The first time he had done this had scared the hell out of the President of Production, but he had since become used to the man's abrupt nature. He looked up from his lunch. It could have been lobster or it could have been grilled cheese, he simply didn't know for all the treatment it had been given. All he knew was it cost a fortune and the company was paying for it, as always. He looked up noncommittally. "Yes?"
"SIR! I just got this in the mail and wanted to deliver it in person," the junior exec walked more calmly still catching his breath, his goal completed when he placed a manuscript on the President's desk.
Between grunts as he munched a bite, the President picked it up, making a point to get grease on the cover. It was just the thing a President does to a paper, especially if he thinks its going to be crap, but because he didn't give a shit, would produce it anyway. He spoke with his mouth full, muffling it a little. "Why did you want to do that? Just another lousy manuscript we can sell to the kiddies."
"Look at the author's name, Sir," the exec smiled almost nastily.
Another grunt and the president was looking at the name... "Daley Wong? Is this some kind of sick joke?"
"No, Sir... the name is real and so is the person."
"Interesting... a show with a dirty joke for the author's name... why didn't we do this before?"
"Because no one who works here has a dirty name."
"Well why not!" Whatever was left in his mouth flew onto the manuscript as he spoke. "We SHOULD have someone! This way, we can market to both kiddies and the youngsters who think they are too old for this. After all, kids LOVE dirty words!" His hands flailed in the air as he spoke. "Get me Mr. Wong this afternoon. We have a SHOW TO PRODUCE!"
Made-Up Films Presents:
The Mighty Morphin Power Sabers
Cheesy intro music plays as the screen shows flashing colors and lights in such a fashion as to create a seizure in anyone who is watching. Occasionally, this is interrupted by the image of a hard suite drop kicking some indiscriminate "bad guy" and the words "Go Go Power Saber!" After thirty seconds of torture, this ends.
The stars... such a beautiful thing to behold when the smog of the city isn't in your way. But it is hardly the only thing up there on such a night as this... the moon is also there... Some would swear a castle existed on that moon, but that is something for another day. A bit closer to the earth is a space station. This is Genom's Umbrella station. With a telescope, the incomplete satellite is a real scene to behold, but if you get even closer, you see the work force of what makes Genom such a powerful organization. The building force is their top seller of all time... the boomer.
Unfortunately, the chance to see this work up close is rare and most will never see it. One man does though. He sits atop of Genom tower and watched his beloved boomers create another device for his massive organization. This is Quincy. He sits there day after day watching his beloved boomers work. He has no choice. He is stuck to his seat and has been unable to move a muscle since the accident. He would tell you that he loved watching them work, and he did for a while, but now its always the same... and he is finally getting board.
Quincy sighed as his eyes continued to dead-stare at the screens in front of him. "God this is dull," he said off hand, knowing no one would listen. "Lets see... maybe this one can start a conga line out there... but I did that yesterday.... And the pieces drifted off into the sun... well almost all of them. Think one or two are still out there. DAMMIT! What can I do to liven things up?" He thought a moment before a smile would have appeared on his face if he could have facial movement. "I know what to do...."
* * *
The moment the team already in the office saw her, they knew there was going to be trouble. Not only was the new girl late for her first day at work, she was a mess. Her make up had been smeared and her left high heel wasn't just broken, it was missing altogether. Add to that the distraught look on her face complete with tears and they all knew the manager wasn't going to deal well with this.
The girl, for her part, didn't look to eager to see the manager approach her, either. "Ms. Linna Yamazaki, I presume," the manager spoke, her voice betraying her mechanical nature as much as her overly pale skin and bright red eyes. "Why are you late?" Linna only looked down not wanting to explain herself. "Not talking? Well let me guess. You were on your way here and some insane biker tried to hit you. Rather then accept that she missed, you chased after her and broke your shoe. Since it was no good now, you threw it at her when she left. Am I right?"
Linna looked up angrily at the manager. "So what?"
"You should know better then to mess with people like that. Its almost as bad as messing with me," the manager finished as monotone as ever.
"How did YOU know about all this?" she glanced toward her friend's office.
"It doesn't matter. I just know, as any descent manager interested in tormenting their employee's should. Now, get to the janitor closet. Since you are in no condition to deal with customers, you will work at cleanup today."
"I wasn't HIRED for cleanup!"
"You are now. Understood?" Linna was silent. A little agitation showed in the boomer's voice. "I said, understood?" Again, silence, only now a disgusted Linna began to walk away. "HEY!" the boomer boomed at her. Linna turned to see the face had changed. Two large fangs had dipped below the upper lip as the forehead had split open, the panels that had concealed the inside now on either side and the insides looking like twisted insect wings. The space they had covered now revealed wires that seemed to move on their own like a mechanical version of living flesh. "I said, understood?"
Linna nodded, shocked. "Yeah.... Understand."
Instantly, the panel shut and the fangs returned to normal. "Good."
"Can I ask how those wires were moving?"
"Motors. I was designed to scare the snot out of insubordinate employees when I had to."
"Oh," was all Linna could say. She walked away wondering if she had picked the right place to work.
* * *
Kane stopped just short of the corridor entrance. For most people here, the day had been rather long. For him, however, it seemed to always end a little too soon. He was a lower end manager, and though his boss usually didn't try to cheer him up, she had today. She had told him of a new member of Genom, whom he would now be responsible for. He didn't listen to the details. All he needed was her picture and he was more then pleased.
However, now came the difficult part for him... befriending her. For all the slaps he had gotten throughout his life, he was surprised there wasn't a permanent red hand-print on the side of his face. Still, the moment of truth had arrived. With a deep breath, he stepped into the corridor. "Well, so this is the new employee that had Ms Bot so uptight."
Linna jumped slightly, her hands not letting go of the mop as she looked up to see who was poking at her now. She saw Kane smiling back, but wasn't quite sure what to make of it. From her previous experience, she knew if he was a co-worker, he was probably trying to hit on her. If he was a manager, he was more likely then not a jerk who would want nothing more then to try to crush her spirit. "Yeah, I guess that would be me. Who are you?"
"Your direct manager, but you can call me Kane."
"So, what do I owe the pleasure?" Linna's tone oozed sarcasm so badly Kane could swear he felt it.
"Whoa! You got me all wrong. Unlike the boomer, I would rather welcome new co-workers," he smiled a bit as he added, "soul eatings wont start for at least another week or so." Linna blinked, but couldn't help but smirk a little. At least this manager had no problem with a little humor. Kane could only smirk in his mind all the more. "SCORE!" he thought to himself. "Say, I hear your new not just to the company, but to the city itself. Care to have a guided tour after work?" he added more audibly.
* * *
Orange industrial boomers formed lines as they sorted through the various discarded metal parts. Some would be refurbished and used in new models of whatever they came from, others would be melted down and made into new parts. Still others would be thrown away entirely as beyond use. No one knew what happened to this last group, but suspicions of some fast food companies looking for ways to make burgers or what-have-you out of them have circulated.
While working on this large sorting job, the boomers didn't seem to care terrifically what they were or were not doing. They simply didn't have the ability to. They were programmed to do this, and had the intelligence to analyze and make decisions on each piece, all faster then a team of humans could.
Through the camera pointed from the control center, Quincy watched these boomers. For once, he had interest in such monotonous work, but the interest was that of a child ready to cause mischief. "Which of you will I call... let me see..." he said to himself, his eyes unable to portray the impish amusement on his face. "Yes! You'll do!"
As he lifted an antique muffler, drone #237 went silent, the red LEDs in his eyes went silent. He remained like this for a moment longer, as Quincy fed him the program he was to act on. When he turned on again, he looked around, lowering his hand, but not letting go of the muffler.
The two boomers on either side didn't give this much thought, as they assumed he found something he was going to ask the manager about. Still, work was to be done and they continued.
With a slight chuckle, 237 made his way into the control tower. Once inside, he found the one he was looking for, a young man at one of the terminals who was dressed casually. He approached and tapped the man on the shoulder. "Excuse me, sir, but I have something to show you."
The man looked up. "Yes?" His eyes went wide as he watched the boomer and dived to the side.
With one fluid motion, the boomer swung the muffler up and stabbed it into the monitor, blunting off the small amount of tail-pipe, but also shattering the screen, blowing glass all over itself as well as the man's arm. "PILLOW FIGHT!" it screeched and laughed insanely as it approached the man again. This time, it didn't miss. The man's screams could be heard all over the control center before his head bounced off the display system and sending him to see days of his childhood in dream land. Still, there was no one to hear that day. He was the only operator scheduled for that day and the repairman who was supposed to come to fix the soda machine wasn't scheduled to arrive for an hour. "I win!" the boomer pronounced gleefully before, laughing the whole time, he stepped out through the main door and made his way toward the Sodo district.
* * *
Sylia floated in her pool, letting herself remain in absolute calm. Such times as these were rare for her these days, so she took full advantage of them when she could. This was not to be one of those times for long.
Down the hall, a huffing and puffing could be heard... it wasn't very loud or close yet, but it was getting closer as the butler, Meisio Anderson barreled down the hall. He felt like he might have a heart attack doing this, but didn't really care as he tried to increase his speed. Without warning, he was through the main doorway into the pool room. Sylia gasped in surprise as she watched him burst inside and without even a pause, dive heard first into the pool with her... clothed as he would be serving dinner.
She groaned as he swam underwater and toward a tube of water that extended from almost the bottom of the pool to the ceiling. It's texture blurred the image of anything in it, but it was smooth for a large oval area facing the rest of the room. "Must you do this every time?" Sylia moaned. She knew what was coming, but also thought his way of doing this was more then ridiculous.
Meisio, for his part, ignored her as he dove deep enough to reach himself into the tube and pulled himself up into it. A moment later, he was in that oval, where on his side there was a button and a mask-piece designed to cover the mouth. After hitting the button, he put the mask on and breathed deeply. "Yes it is. You know the rules," he spoke into the mask, his voice echoing through the room with speakers around it. It was also a little deeper for some reason.
Sylia drifted her way to the edge of the pool and pulled herself up. "Yeah, yeah.... I know," her tone turned overly dramatic/sarcastic. "For reasons we don't terrifically care about, all orders must be given by a man in a tube. Do I have it right?"
"If I could, I would see if you memorized it word for word, but very good. That is cor..."
"In other words, you don't have a clue. You just like it."
"Well, err--- moving on," the butler quickly covered, "Well, before I do that, I have to thank you. Getting the mask installed here was a life-saver."
"What else could I do? You nearly drowned yourself last time," Sylia added pointedly. She had hidden his scuba gear and promptly forgotten where.
"Incidentally..." Meisio started, before Sylia cut him off.
"How about we get to business," she quickly interceded before turning her head. "MACKIE!"
"Yes?" he replied, just loud enough to be heard.
"Could you please come in here?"
"ummm...."
"Mackie?"
"alright...." In a moment, he made his way into the pool room. There was nothing unusual except...
"Mackie... why do you have a salad bowl on your head? I told you its just weird and no one likes that kind of weird."
"I couldn't help it!" Mackie whined, maneuvering the bowl so it could remain but he could see his sister. "It was sitting there on the table and it was so inviting..."
"On the table?" Meisio asked. "Was it the one I had been using for dinner?"
"ummmm..."
"Mackie... take the bowl off your head," he continued, then added a little bit of menace. "NOW!"
"Aye-yie-yie-yie-yie!" Mackie murmured to himself as he removed the bowl, revealing his hair to have glops of caesar dressing and various parts of a salad through it. "Your so mean sometimes."
"You haven't seen mean yet. But that's beside the point. CALL the SABERS!"
* * *
Nene Leaned back in her cubicle. "Damn this is a slow day," she commented to herself, "Ah well... that's probably a good thing, when you look at it, right Mr. Weasel?" She smiled at her stuffed weasel doll sitting on her monitor. The speaking at slightly higher pitch, she picked up the doll and bobbed it's head to speak back. "That's right, Nene, and don't you forget it."
"Talking to dolls again, beanpole?" Nene jumped as she heard the all-too familiar voice of her co-worker. It wasn't like she didn't like the guy, but she definitely found him annoying when he decided to pop up out of nowhere. This was one of those times. He was leaning on the side of her cubicle with a sympathetic and mocking expression on his face.
With a glare, she quickly snatched her weasel away from his arm's reach and held it like she was some kid afraid a bully would take her toy away. "Why do you care, Leon-poo?" Her tone was almost haunty, but with a hint of teasing as well.
"Why do you have to call me that?" Leon whined.
"Because you are Leon-poo, Leon-poo..." Nene continued. As much as he tried to get on her case, it was always incredibly easy to turn the tide... just one word, and it worked like a charm every time. As Leon looked like he was going to whine about it again, she couldn't help but stifle a giggle.
"Well, in any case, I was wondering if you could do something for me."
"What do you need?" her tone changed instantly to curiosity.
"Well you see, I was going to take the evening off to-"
"To try to hit on Priss again?" A sadistic smile stretched across her face. This was too easy, and Leon had to know this.
Leon's face was instantly a neon sign. "WHAT?!?!? I didn't say that!"
"You didn't need to," Nene cooed. "But, I can't."
"WHY?" Leon whined, just a little too loud, as the room now looked at the two and a few giggles were heard from other cubicles. He only got more bright red.
Nene grinned. "Gotcha," she thought to herself. He was now exactly where she wanted him. "You didn't say the magic word," she said in a teasing sing-song voice.
"Please...."
"Or kiss Mr. Weasel!" she added quickly putting the weasel doll up to his face.
"WHAT?" Now he wasn't trying to be quiet any more. That they were the center of attention didn't matter. What did matter is here was this young girl getting the better of him, and he knew it!
"Well if you want to try to hit on Priss again, you need to kiss Mr. Weasel on the lips," she added matter-of-factly. "You hurt his feelings calling him a mear doll."
Leon looked around, feeling the eyes (and laughter) on him. Nene couldn't have planned this one as well as it went, and he knew she wished she could. With a sigh he replied. "Alright... Pretty please?"
Nene smiled cheerfully and shoved the weasel in his face again. "That's good, now kiss Mr. Weasel and make it all better."
Leon sighed. He knew what he had to do. He picked up the doll and kissed it on the nose quickly, giving it back immediately.
"Hmmm... well I was hoping for a nice wet one, but I guess I can let you go with that," Nene completed the transaction non-committedly. "Now lets just see what we can do..." She began to hum to herself as she hit a few keys. She had the schedule up and was about to change it when it happened.
The watch covering most of Leon's for-arm beeped. It didn't just beep anything, the tune to come out of it was "Mad-machine," and the whole room heard it. Instantly, a cry of "whoa! COOL!" was heard, followed by "Hey, where did you get that?" Leon's eyes went wide as he watched the crowd condense around him, but he couldn't explain where he got it... how would he explain that a young woman who ran a lingerie shop gave it to him? How would he explain what he was DOING in the lingerie shop? And perhaps most importantly, how would he explain what else came with it?
Nene, for her part, was already out of her cubicle and running along the empty side-walk. "Bye, Leon-poo! See you when you get out!" She hummed to herself as she skipped away. Yes, today was going to be fun.
* * *
Several hours from now, the Hot Legs would be packed. The bar would be busy pouring out beers and specialty drinks. The tables would have almost all have someone sitting at them, and the standing area would be crowded with people waiting to hear her. However, that was later that night. For now, Priss concentrated on the tone of her voice. The song they were practicing was relatively new, and she wanted to have it perfect. Agitated, she stopped singing and raised her hand. "Damn. Sorry, guys. I suck."
"Priss, it sounded fine," the guitarist responded with a little annoyance.
Priss shook her head. "Not good enough. Not yet, anyway."
"This is the seventh time you've stopped us!"
"And probably not the last," groaned the drummer.
With a sigh, the guitarist approached Priss. "Look, I know you want this to be perfect, but this is the first time we are playing this one at the club. We need to get through the whole song at least once..."
Priss was about to argue, but her giant forearm-filling watch started beeping the tune to "Mad-Machine." She looked at it more than annoyed. "Later. I gotta go." Her tone was still very calm.
"You gotta GO?!? And what about the practice?"
Priss shrugged. "The song can be released next week."
Without giving anyone a chance to respond, she was gone. A moment later, her bike could be heard revving and roaring away into the distance. "She said that last week too," the drummer said, more to himself then anyone.
* * *
"Mad Machine" played softly within the room, but the echoing effect the pool brought with it made it sound louder then it should. Sylia shook her head and approached her bathrobe. Once it was secure over her bathing suit, she dug into the pocket and pulled out her own forearm-length watch. A few buttons later, hers stopped playing. "Mackie," she sighed, "I'm already here. Did you really need to put out a call for me?"
"You're the one that had this panel designed with just one 'call all' button," Mackie countered.
"My idea?"
"Well that's what Nigel said when we were building it."
"Sounds like I'm going to have to talk to Nigel."
Meisio grinned sheepishly inside the tube still, but since the siblings argued among each other, they missed it.
* * *
Kane and Linna were seated comfortably in the restaurant. The waitress had not made it over to take their orders yet, but Linna was tense about the time already. She knew that she had to be in early tomorrow, or face the wrath of the evil boomer boss from hell again, but at the same time, she didn't want to insult Kane and leave early either.
Kane was oblivious to this dilemma. Instead of wondering what was going on in her head, his mind was focused on how to make his next move. He smiled a bit, "So, why did you come to Tokyo anyway? I'm sure you must have grown up in a place much nicer then this."
"Hmm? Oh... well, I guess if your into the country life," Linna responded as quickly as she realized what was being said. "I just wanted to see what its like in the city."
"Like what you see so far?"
Linna nodded.
"I'm glad." He placed an arm around her shoulder. "You have seen nothing yet."
Linna fidgeted a little. She didn't like the idea of getting so close to someone at the office so soon. "Say, did that waitress forget us or something?" she asked, more to get rid of him for a moment then to actually get the waitress.
Kane blinked a moment. He could tell what Linna was doing and for a split second his temper flared to boiling. But she wasn't being up front about it just yet, so he came up with a better way to respond... he played dumb. Giving her a light squeeze before getting up, he replied. "Could be for how long she is taking. Want me to go see?"
"Please."
"Back in a minute..." he finished in a sing-song tone.
Linna sighed and looked toward Genom Tower. "Where are they?" she asked herself. "I thought I would at least hear gossip about them by now..."
* * *
Leon turned off the ignition of his car and stepped out. It had taken him way too long to get here, but what could he expect when all of Nene's co-workers swarmed about him all talking at once so he couldn't get an answer (real or not) through and collectively too solid to shove his way out? "Damn, them. Damn them ALL!" he muttered to himself as he stepped into the Silky Doll.
The door opened, the bell rang, and everyone looked to see who was coming in. When they saw it was a man entering the lingerie shop, a few of them eyed him peculiarly, while most decided quite promptly to just make sure he didn't go near them. He didn't look like the kind of guy that would be looking for a gift for his girlfriend, after all.
"God I hate this part," Leon muttered to himself. "I know its not what it looks like, and the others know, but these people DON'T know." Grunting and pushing up his determination, Leon marched across the store and into a changing room booth. Once inside, he groaned as he heard the murmurs and the giggling from various girls who had been watching him. "Nene, if I EVER find out that you were the one behind the door being placed here..." he steamed. Then he hit the switch and the mirror opened to reveal a secret elevator. Stepping inside, he let it shut behind him and take him upstairs.
When the door opened again, he was in the control center, and he could see just how late he was. Sylia, Nene, and Priss were all there, already suited up and looking at him. Nene with a sheepish grin, while Sylia and Priss both showed their annoyance with his timing much more clearly.
"Why were you so late?" Sylia asked.
"Well, erm... you see..."
"We let you on this team to help fight boomers. If your going to be late like this and hold us all back, you might as well not be here."
Leon sighed. His invitation had been more of a demand. Nene had shot off her mouth to him and to ensure he wold keep the secret, he too, had to be in on it. "Look, if you want to know why, ask Nene. Her friends are the reason."
Nene glared at him. "Are you blaming ME?"
"Yes I am..." Leon stormed up to her, for the moment her red armor not mattering to him.
"Enough!" Sylia belted out. "We don't have time for this. Mr. Anderson spotted a rouge boomer going into the Sodo Ward. Leon, suit up!"
After sticking her tongue out at both Leon and Sylia, Nene turned away with her arms crossed. Leon didn't seem to notice as he huffed his agreement with Sylia and marched into the nearby pod. He closed the door behind him and looked around. "Sylia? Where is the hardsuit?"
"Push the panel directly across from the door!" came the answer, a little muffled due to the pod itself.
"Right," he responded as clearly as he could and hit the button. With a whirring noise, something moved to the left. He turned and saw a panel opening to reveal... "Sylia? Did Nene put you up to this?"
"Put me up to what? Your hard suit is there waiting for you."
"Where? Behind the pink one?" There was no answer to this. Leon waited a good 30 seconds as he heard no reply. "It IS behind the pink one, right?" he asked again, now a nervousness in his voice.
"Not... really..." came the for once uncertain voice of Sylia.
"Then where is it?"
"Your... looking at it." This time it was Leon's turn to be silent. "You ok in there?"
"NO IM NOT OK!" Leon bellowed. "IM BEING EXPECTED TO GET SUITED UP INTO A NEON PINK HARD SUIT WITH... WHATS THIS?!?!? FLOWERS ON A SKIRT?!?!?!?!?"
Nene's eyes lit up. "Aww, you'll look so cute, Leon-poo!"
Leon was silent for a moment before the yelling continued. "NENE! If your behind this I SWEAR you better prey your gone before I come out!"
"Enough!" Sylia broke in. "If you had gotten here on time, you could have had one of the other hard suits, since this is the last one in the line, your stuck with it."
"But, but..."
"No buts! Put that thing on now and let's get out of here!" This time the voice was Priss, who was simply getting tired of waiting.
"Go without me!"
"Your part of the team and your coming!" Sylia retorted. She was not going to have part of her team disregard them all because he didn't like his fashion statement.
"No I'm not!"
"And so you'll leave everyone to risk their lives over something that trivial."
"Yep!"
"Don't be such an ass," Priss countered with an eerie level of calm in her voice. "With your helmet, no one will even know who you are anyway."
"Well..."
"And you don't want to watch me die, do you Leon-poo?" Nene piped.
Leon considered how he would answer that a moment. "It's tempting, but no."
"Then your coming?" her eyes were bright again.
"Yeah, yeah, just let me get into this thing." After a moment, the pod opened again. Leon stood there with his helmet under his arm. He stood a little awkwardly, but he wasn't used to high heels. He was also a lot more conscious of the fact that he was wearing a blazingly pink female formed hard suite with bright white and yellow flowers all over the skirt. That skirt being the only one on any of the hard suited figures now in the room. He blushed in embarrassment, but still managed to get out a sentence in a dangerously low tone. "Not one word."
Nene apparently didn't care what he said. "HOW CUTE!" she squealed out as she cupped her hands together in front of her.
Leon took a step menacingly toward her and almost fell over. He glared at Nene though he knew he was helpless. "Stupid high heels," was all he could say as Nene beamed and giggled at him.
"Enough. Everyone get ready to launch!" Sylia pointed to the larger pod behind her. It opened up and Priss walked inside. Leon watched as it snapped shut and open rapidly. The pod was now empty again. Now Nene pranced in. Sylia waited patiently for him to make his way. Hoping she wouldn't give some "ladies first" wise crack, he stumbled toward the pod, learning how he would balance himself in this new footwear as he went. Within a few moments, they were on their way.
Mackie wasted no time to get the van started. A moment later, he was following them from the ground.
* * *
Kane sat down again, much to the annoyance of Linna. However, he had not done anything too bad yet, and he did actually get the waitress. Still, did he have to guide her and keep a hand on her ass? She wasn't even human, for crying out loud! The boomer looked at him first. "Your order, Sir?" she inquired.
"Why not let the lady order first?" he cooed.
"Very well, Sir," the waitress replied with a respectful bow. She then turned to Linna. "And what you like, Ms?"
"Well... what would you recommend?"
"We are incredibly well known for our chicken wings."
"I bet," Linna muttered under her breath, watching Kane ogling a second boomer waitress. "How about two orders of that, one for each."
The waitress bowed again. "Very well. Thank you, Ms." And she strolled off.
"Can I ask you something?" Linna asked about as politely as she could. "Why did you choose this place?"
"It's a personal favorite," he responded without blinking an eye.
"Why am I not surprised?"
"Hmmm?" He only now looked at her.
"Look, can we just call it a night? Your obviously more interested in hitting on anything that looks female then you are in being a gentleman." Linna didn't wait for an answer. She was already standing as she finished talking. "See you at work tomorrow."
Kane looked at Linna and tried to look hurt. "Why Ms. Yamazaki... why would you say such a thing."
Linna stopped walking away but didn't look back. "Have you even watched yourself tonight?"
"Why?"
"I don't think there is one woman here you haven't stared at for at least thirty seconds. I don't even want to know what you have going on in your head."
Kane's expression turned savage. "Your career, of course. I'm the one who will give the final report on you to the company, after all."
Linna spun around and slammed her hands down on the table, glaring at Kane as if his death could happen by it. "Why you..." Linna didn't get any further before a loud crash was heard across the room. Both turned to face it simultaneously.
What they saw was a bright orange boomer with deep red eyes looking around the room. It had the knocker from the once there door still in it's hand. "Knock knock," it cried in an almost squeaky voice, followed by an insane giggle.
"What the hell?" Kane whispered.
"A rouge boomer?" added Linna in the same hushed tone.
The boomer threw the doorknob at a bald man drinking soup, knocking him face first into the soup, followed by insane laughter. Once it got back to giggles, it grabbed the bar and ripped it out of the floor, causing the crowd to erupt into panic. 'Again! Again!" it squealed in delight, swinging it's newfound toy about the room like it might find a piniata.
"What are we gonna do, Kane... Kane?" Linna noticed her companion was gone. After a moment, she noticed he was in the crowd trying to get out the other door. She couldn't help but feel disgusted as even when fleeing for his life and abandoning her, he was still trying to cop feels of the girls around him. But then she saw a much better exit: namely the window behind them. Getting the courage to go closer to the insane machine at the other end of the room, she made a dive behind one of the bar stools. A moment later, she picked it up and ran for the window.
The boomer turned to face her as she picked up the stool. "Playtime!" it screeched before walking toward her, making weird breathy noises. "I am your father," it said, giggling through the line, before it swung at her with the bar.
With a scream, Linna ducked as the bar crashed into the stool she had picked up. She looked up to see half of it had been crushed before the momentum had stopped the destruction, creating the pocket that she was now in. As the boomer lifted the bar over his head again and put a second rather large gash into the roof, she launched herself forward, aiming to get under the table she had just been sitting at. Linna waited for the impact, but when it came, it came from across the room. She blinked before she and the boomer turned to look at the new source of crashes.
Before them stood what looked like four armored young women; one in silver, one in blue, one in red, and one in hot pink with a flower covered skirt. None of them spoke immediately. They stood there, posed, as if they expected the boomer or someone else to take a picture before anything else happened. The boomer, however, did not seem to be that patient. With a mad giggle, it lifted the bar again, this time at about waist height and swung it like a baseball bat.
"Sabers! Evade!" the silver one belted out, though it was not necessary. All four of them jumped aside in various directions. "Pink, we have this one. We need you to get her to the van." With the same authority, she pointed at Linna.
"Why me? At the very least you could let me fight," the pink Saber whined, revealing a very masculine voice within it.
"Don't argue! You have your orders!"
"Alright..." with a sigh, the pink Saber approached Linna.
"What is this?" Linna bellowed in exasperation, "Isn't it bad enough that I was being attacked? Now I need to be kidnapped by a transvestite in some kind of super armor?" She kicked at the pink ranger, though it didn't do any good.
At first, the pink ranger tried to grab her foot as she kicked, but as Linna complained, something inside him snapped. He pushed her leg out of the way violently and grabbed her arm. "Listen to me, now. Wearing the pink armor was NOT my choice!" Linna struggled to free herself, wanting to argue that idea, but for the moment, she knew she would more rather keep her arm and any other appendage a strength enhanced and enraged pervert might try to remove from her firmly attached. She kept her mouth shut. After a few seconds, the saber spoke again. "Alright, here is the plan. We are going through that window. Ready?" He didn't give her time to answer before he had picked her up and ran full speed at the glass, leaping so that he twisted himself behind her and hit the glass first.
Linna screamed in absolute horror as the plummeted to the ground. That however didn't last as she heard jets engines coming from the saber who held her through all this. She looked at him to see small jets had opened on his shoulders and thighs, slowing their descent as the aimed for a hole in the roof of a pink van below. "You sure you didn't pick this color?" she asked, finally getting the idea she might live through this.
"I told you no! Now hold on, I've never landed before."
"What! Oh SHIT!" The saber landed in the room, falling on his back. Linna tumbling away. She looked up rubbing her head to see the Saber getting up as well. She glared at him. It had just occurred to consider what he might have been looking at when they fell. After all, it didn't seem he was hurt. "Great landing. YOU certainly earned your wings!" was the best she could come up with at the moment, though.
"Ah, give me a break, Ms. Yamazaki! You didn't make it any easier and you know it!"
She was about to respond when a hand tapped her shoulder. Looking back, she saw a boy in his late teens looking up at her. "Ummm, ma'am? Are you ready?"
"Ready for what?!?!?" she blared, her arms stretching in her exasperation.
"You didn't tell her Leon?" the boy asked the Saber behind them.
"She didn't give me a chance. And DON'T use my name when I'm suited up!"
"Leon, huh?" Linna repeated, her eyes blazing in rage. "Well, Leon, Perhaps you should tell me what the hell you were supposed to when you were probably struggling to feel me up!"
"WHAT?!?!?!?!?" Leon screamed. "Like I would want to do that to you!"
"And what does that mean?"
"Make your own conclusions," his voice had menace in it.
"ENOUGH!" Mackie screamed. He looked at both of them. "Linna Yamazaki, you have been recruited to our little task force: the Knight Sabers. That is why you're here."
"The Knight Sabers?" She blinked, now thrown off guard.
Mackie nodded. "Have you noticed how at times a boomer, much like the one in there now goes insane for no peticular reason?" Mackie waited for Linna's nod, which didn't take too long. "That's what we are here for. We try to take them out before then can do any real damage... or kill anyone."
"Well that's nice, I guess, but how do I fit into this?"
"You can thank my sister for choosing you. She is our leader, and she decided it would be a good idea to have an agent inside Genom. They are the ones who make these things, after all."
"Don't I get a say in this?"
"I wish there was time, but there isn't, especially now. You see, now you know one of our people by name. We cant let you leave without joining yourself."
"And what happens if I don't?"
Mackie just shook his head, the sad expression doing more to scare the hell out of Linna then the boomer had. "I don't want to know what my sister might do. She isn't always the most rational in her reactions. Please don't turn down this invitation."
After what seemed a long wait, Linna finally spoke up. "Alright, what do I do?"
"In that compartment over there is your hard suite. Put it on and Leon will guide you back to the fight. They need you two up there."
* * *
"How long are they going to be?" the red saber whined, stumbling to her feet. She had just taken wine bottle after wine bottle after beer mug after god knows what else in machine gun fire. The boomer had apparently decided to play war as it yelled out "datta-datta-datta-datta" during it's mad throws and ducked behind table it had knocked over as if it was a bunker wall.
"Doesn't matter. We cant let up on this thing!" the silver one replied, the urgency in her voice blaring.
"I knew we should have sent someone else to do it," the blue saber added.
"Look, Priss. You KNOW this was the only way. He is the only one who's suite doesn't have super weapons in it. And I thought we might need them."
"But so far, that hasn't mattered, has it?"
"Oh shut up!"
* * *
Linna stepped out of the pod, her hard suite on, but helmet under her shoulder. Now encased in a form fitting green armor, she looked at the two others across the room for approval. Mackie nodded with a smirk. Leon's reaction, however, were covered by his helmet. "Well? Does it fit right?"
"Of course! My sister designed it for you!"
"Sylia... designed... these... to... fit... us... indivi...vidually?" Leon's voice sounded shocked beyond belief.
"Well, of course, Leon... why..." Mackie looked at Leon's armor while he wore it and it occurred to him that the chest in peticular was not that of a guys. The skirt, also was far from something a guy would wear. "oh..."
"I'm gonna kill her," was all Leon could say.
"Umm... I don't think that's a good idea."
"And WHY NOT?!?!?"
"Because she signs your paychecks."
Leon sat in dead silence. "I don't need the cash that bad."
"The consider the others on the team who just might get a little bit pissed at you. You cant take everyone, Leon." This time it was Linna speaking.
"You haven't even met her! Why are YOU defending her?"
"Because she apparently believes in me. I owe her this much." Her tone was almost wistful. "I wont let you all down."
Leon looked like he was about to argue, but instead he let his shoulder slump a moment. "Alright, you win for now. Let's bet back there."
* * *
With a loud "oof," Priss was sent sprawling into the wall. She slid down and held her head a moment, trying to clear it. "Damn this bastard is tough," she moaned. The boomer wasn't done with her though. She stood up as it approached again, this time armed with two chair legs it had sharpened into make-shift swords. "If I do this wrong, I'm dead. Still, I don't see any other..." Her words were interrupted by two energy blasts from the window. They didn't do any damage, but they stopped the boomer's approach. Instead, both he and Priss turned to face the windows as Leon and Linna landed in the debris of glass. "...way?"
"We're back!" Leon announced.
"About time! What took you?"
As they discussed this, the other two knight sabers came to join them.
"Alright, then its time to unleash everything we've got," the silver one interrupted. "Sorry to do this to you, Linna, but even as this is your first time in a hard suite, we need you to help us in the ultimate attack."
"Already? And what's my special part to the technique?" Leon asked.
"Well, you have a unique one... called Super Sulk."
"...excuse me."
"No time to explain. Knight Sabers! Its show time!" The all scattered on command, leaving a confused Leon to figure this out. "Super Sulk? What does that mean?" He sat down annoyed. "Damn them all. Why cant they give me something useful!"
Immediately the boomer began a slow an awkward approach to him. "Aww, what's wrong?" it asked in an honestly concerned, if not a little insane voice. "Somebody needs a hug..." the voice became singsong as it's arms opened up and it teetered toward him.
"Leon is doing his part perfectly. Now on my mark, everyone will move in to attack at once," Sylia announced.
"Right," came from the remaining three.
"Mark!"
Linna and Sylia dove to the left and right while Priss rushed head first at the boomer. Nene jumped using her jets, intending to aim herself directly at the boomer's head. In the next instant, Sylia and Linna rushed by on reverse sides of the boomer, simultaneously ripping it apart; Sylia with blades extending from her arms and Linna with ribbon blades trailing her and shredding everything in her wake. Priss rushed head long, punching the distracted boomer in the gut, a small grenade on her knuckle exploding on contact. Nene finished this picture by firing a cannon designed to fry the boomer's brain straight into it's head. All four landed and turned to see the results of their attack at the same time, watching the boomer stumble a moment. It's voice fizzled and it fell backwards, immobile.
* * *
Quincy watched, his face unable to betray the horror he felt as his toy broke. "NO!" his voice echoed from around the room. "Why would they do this to me? Is it too much to ask to play once in a while when it's my command that says make these things in the first place?" If he could have gotten up and stormed around, he would have, but his immobility at this moment only fouled his mood all the more. "If they want to play rough, I can make it rougher!" With a thought, Quincy turned on the intercom. "Mason! I require your assistance."
"I'm on my way, Sir," came the voice of his dedicated right hand man. In a minute or two, the doors directly in front of Quincy opened. From behind them, a very pale man with jet black and slicked hair stepped forward. "You wished to see me Sir?"
"They broke my toy."
Mason blinked. "Pardon?"
"The boomer I was playing with. The Knight Sabers broke it."
"That is a pity, Sir."
"I still want to play with it."
"What do you have in mind for a broken boomer?"
"I want to make it mutate. It can fix itself with what is around it, when set right."
"That's true, but it will also be very unstable."
"All the better. The Knight Sabers wanted to play rough. I will play rough back."
With a sigh, Mason nodded. "Alright, Sir. I'll go flip the switch."
"No," was the quick reply. "Mason, you know that isn't how we do this."
Mason rolled his eyes. "You want me to use the staff? Why? It would be much easier and much more cost effective to simply flip a switch."
"But that isn't how it's done. Its tradition."
Mason sighed, obviously wanting to argue further, but this was his boss' idea, and he didn't want to call Quincy stupid to his face. "Very well." He turned and left the room. After a few minutes one of the screens came online and Mason's face was displayed behind a space helmet. In his hand was a weird staff with a DNA strand artistically place at the top. "Sir, ready to throw the staff."
"Excellent. You know the time to throw, of course."
"Yes, Sir."
"Then let us begin." Quincy savored the moment before continuing. "Let my boomer GROW!" he bellowed.
As soon as it was said, Mason threw the staff down to Earth. "Wont be long, Sir."
"I cant wait," was the old man's reply.
* * *
The Knight Sabers stood around, as if unsure what was next. "Well, that one was really very easy," Sylia commented. "Wonder what the old man up there was thinking?"
"Aww who cares. What I want to know is why the hell we are still here? And for that matter, why the hell the AD Police aren't! Are they really that useless?" Priss began to rant.
"HEY!" Nene and Leon yelled in unison. "I'm sure they have a very good reason." Nene finished.
"SHH!" Linna hissed. "I think I hear something." They all got quiet to listen for what Linna was listening to; a faint whizzing sound like something small was whirling into the area at incredible speeds.
"I knew it," Sylia grumbled.
"Knew what?"
"Quincy was always a poor loser. Get ready, team. This isn't over yet."
As soon as she finished talking, a large section of the roof collapsed directly over the boomer as a loud crashing sound was heard, burying the boomer and forcing the Sabers to cover their ears, despite filters in the helmets. Then low vibrations started shaking the room as the new pile of debris started to move.
"What the hell?" was all that came out of Priss before the debris burst apart. The boomer stood again, only now at double it's original height, and a shoulder span at least four times the original. It had various parts of the restaurant's electrical system sticking out at odd intervals, as if it had patched itself up with whatever was around at the moment. It's face had changed to, become more animal-like. It now sported a full and powerful jaw with razor sharp (though still orange) teeth.
The boomer looked around and roared its returned. It spoke with a voice that was low and feral. "Play time!" Not waiting for a response, it swung one gorilla like arm at Linna, sending her into the wall. Nene charged the boomer meaning to kick it, but instead found herself grabbed by the head, and hurled through the window to land below with a loud thud.
"Alright you piece of orange garbage, NO ONE messes with my friends and lives," Priss threatened, moving in like she was going to punch it head on. The boomer roared in the new lower set vocal system to laugh, but when it reached out for her, it missed. She jumped at the last second, trying to get behind it.
However, the boomer had a few new tricks of it's own. One of the metal bars in it's back launched out of it's skin and straight at her. Priss groaned as she was hit and sent sprawling to the floor.
"Hey! You cant do that to her!" Leon bellowed. He ran up to the boomer and punched it in the chest. No response. He punched again. No response. After trying several more punches and at least as many various kicks, he realized how little damage he was doing and looked up.
The boomer's eyes suggested it's amusement. "Somebody's cranky," it said as it picked him up. Then it swung him straight down through a table. "NAP TIME!" it announced gleefully.
"We aren't getting anywhere like this," Sylia commented to herself. "Mackie! Get the motoslaves out NOW!"
"Coming, Sis," came through the radio. Sylia waited no more then five seconds before the robot-like assistants of the Sabers burst through yet another window, finally finishing the last one off. Nene was already riding in hers.
"Alright, you scrap of metal! Time for a little taste of your own medicine!" Nene rushed the boomer, slamming a fist into it's gut and making it stumble back a moment.
Looking up at her, it grappled her shoulders. "Wrestling! Oh boy!" it squealed in it's feral voice as it locked Nene into a grotesque mockery of a sumo match.
Taking their chance to get into their own motoslaves, the others kept an eye on the match. Sylia had to turn to her intercom once more as she heard Godzilla sound effects coming out of her radio. "Mackie! Be serious!"
"Alright, alright," came the reply. "Geesh, Sis. Your no fun."
"ahhhiEEE!" squealed Nene. Sylia turned to see her team member flying into a wall. "He's a tough one," she moaned as she stood up once more.
"I bet I could take it," Priss countered.
"No. Too dangerous. Best we do what these things were made for," Sylia argued.
"And that would be?"
Sylia was silent a moment. "Mackie? What was the main feature Nigel had designed into the motoslaves?"
The radio was silent for a moment. "Didn't he tell you? They can fuse together and become one giant robot at your controls."
"How do we do that?"
"Ummm... didn't he tell you?"
Sylia thought about arguing how if Nigel hadn't told her about the motoslaves fusing, how could he have told her how. Instead, she just answered with a simple. "No."
"Damn. He didn't tell me either."
"What?"
"Don't worry, Sis. The manual has to be around here somewhere!"
"Hurry up!"
"While you two bicker, I'm going in," Priss interrupted.
"I'm with you!" Linna added.
"Same here," came from Leon. "Split up and hit it from all angles. GO!"
The plan was sound. The actions were sound. The timing, however, was not. The boomer watched as Linna rushed in first. It seemed to blink at her before it roared out. "LEAP FROG!" and it ducked, letting Linna's own force lodge her into the wall behind her. Priss followed up by trying to go low, only for the boomer to ram her into the ground as it grabbed her shoulders and launched over her. Leon, still aiming for the spot where the boomer was, tripped over Priss.
"Alright, I got it! The command to do fuse the motoslaves is just by will! All you need to do is will it into the giant robot." Mackie's voice finally returned.
"You heard him, Sabers," Sylia commanded. "Lets go Saber force!"
With a resounding 'yeah,' the motoslaves lost their exoskeleton forms, instead becoming liquid metal that flowed over the sabers, and away from them toward each other. The large prismaticly colored glop of metal goop reshaped itself into a rather skeletal robot in front of them before hardening. A space in each limb opened up and one in the chest. "Everyone, inside!" Sylia commanded before jumping into the chest of the machine. Each Saber in turn jumped into the limb colored after their own hard suite.
Once they were inside, the openings sealed and the robot roared. The hands came together and a blinding flash occurred between them. Pulling it's hands apart, it now had a sword forming between it's hands.
The boomer watched as the robot got into battle position, its eyes fixed on the still glowing sword. "Ohhh, pretty," it said just before the robot came charging at it. However, the boomer didn't move. It was focused on the shininess of the sword right up to the point that it was sliced in half. "That hurt, you meanie!" it yelled at the offending robot before it blew up.
"Well that was interesting," Leon said. "Can we please go now? I'm tired of being in the public in pink."
"Aww, but your so cute, Leon-poo," Nene teased.
"Dammit, Nene! I will NOT put up with being called that!" His attempt to grab her wrist turned into the robot holding its own hand back.
"Hey! Let me go!" Nene whined.
"Alright, lets get out of here," Sylia interrupted.
"Right," agreed Priss.
The robot liquefied around them, letting them down gently before the small liquid metal lake flowed out the window and back into the van below.
In another minute, the sabers were on the roof and using their jump jets again to get out of the area. Mackie started the van and followed them.
* * *
"How! How could they win?!?" Quincy asked exasperated by what he just saw.
"I'm not sure, Sir," Mason responded, "but I have never seen such weapons as what they have just used before."
"It's just not fair," Quincy whined. "God do I have a headache."
"I understand, Sir. Should I get the aspirin?"
"Please."
"Yes, Sir." Mason left, coming back a moment later with a few pills.
"Could you help me out?"
Mason sighed and opened Quincy's mouth. After putting the pills in, he began to move the jaw to chew them.