AFA Part 2
Falling from Grace
Ch. 9 – "Stranger in a Strange Land"
"Oh Mackey, it's been so-o-o long since I saw you," the grass skirted woman purred. "You just have no idea the things that have been going through my mind. "What's that you ask? Well, I could tell you, but it would be so much more fun to show you," Nene whispered seductively. The lone human wiggled her hips as she tiptoed across the sandy beach… and began dancing in a circle, at the center of which sat a peculiarly decorated coconut. It wore twin black circles on the front, a jack-o-lanternish smile below, and short black moss covering its top. It was perhaps unfortunate for the coconut that it was unable to soak in its surroundings as the oblivious girl methodically slipped her hands behind her back, untying the string that held on her makeshift bra. Nene held the fig bra in place with one arm while turning her deeply tanned back, teasing the emotionless 'Mackey'. She shook the grass skirt from side to side and lifted her arms high to the sky, letting the bra and skirt fall into the sand.
"Ta da!" Nene exclaimed, spinning around and showing off her body for her love… who didn't twitch a hair on 'his' messy, mossy head.
"Hey! What the hell's wrong with you?" she screamed at the poor, defenseless fruit. "Don't you care that a naked woman is standing in front of you? Don't you want me Mackey? Don't you love me? Won't you come to me… come back to me… save me… please, Mackey, save me…" The young girl broke down in tears as she collapsed on the ground, clutching herself tightly.
Only the vast ocean answered her sobs. Its elongated waves lapped at the edges of the small tropical island, surrounding the lone Saber with its monotonous, ebbing roar.
The woman slowly became aware of her surroundings, the numbing pressure on her back alerting her to the fact she was lying down on a cold surface. Voices nearby drew her closer to consciousness, strange foreign voices…
"Hey, what's that?"
"Well, well, well, looky what we got here…"
"Na… nani?" the weak woman croaked out.
"Look's like this purdy lady's all ready to go… she's already got her clothes off for you Gene."
"Heh heh, yeah, looks like our lucky day…"
"What are you doing?" the confused and frightened woman asked. Where was she? What the hell was happening?
"Hey look at that, she's one of them foreigners."
"Yeah, this is gettin' better and better."
The two men closed in on the vulnerable woman, cornering her against the wall. At the last second, she flailed her leg out clumsily, trying to stop the would-be attackers. It simply gave one of the men something to grab, which he did, dragging the helpless woman onto her back.
She screamed out in horror, her cloudy mind trying to warn her of their sinister intentions.
"Shut her up!"
"Hold her down!"
"Almost… Hey, what was…?"
The man circling behind the brown haired woman looked up into the darkness of the alley. Another metallic clang resonated from the shadows. Metal flashed in the darkness. The ill-minded man uttered one final surprised grunt as red streaks began pouring down his dirty clothes.
Both remaining humans screamed as a green behemoth stalked out of the shadows, sliding its blade from the deceased man's neck and letting his body drop carelessly.
The remaining attacker turned tail and took two leaps before several puncture marks appeared in his back. Another muffled groan filled the alley.
While her two assailants bled out the last of their lives, the woman cowered against the wall, her shaking body failing to blend in with the rusted metal behind her.
The metal beast neared her, then halted and slowly lowered one hand down to her, opening up its palm in a strangely polite manner.
The confused woman watched the faceless orange head impassively scan her naked body… a sense of familiarity dawned in her fogged mind. A nearly alien word came to her lips … "Hardsuit?"… but the woman couldn't remember where she had heard that word used before. As she struggled with that puzzle, the woman suddenly realized she couldn't even remember…
"Who… who am I? What's my name?" She turned to 'Hardsuit' with the question but received no verbal answer in return. The metal hulk only stretched out its arm a little further, as if to ask the woman to take its steel hand with her own.
The cold human sensed no malice from its actions now despite the brutal slaying. It slow, deliberate actions appeared more protective than menacing. Thus she did take its hand, letting the mechaniod gently lift her up to her feet. It faced the woman, lowering both arms to its side… and split itself in half.
The woman jumped back for a second before understanding. "I… I'm supposed to get in…" Her body seemed to know what it was doing better than her brain did as she slowly turned around and inserted herself into the opening of 'Hardsuit'. The confused woman bent over to put her arms into the suit, only to have the armor suddenly close up around her. Recovering from her surprise, she found herself already adapting to her new surroundings. Displays came online as the woman began to flex her arms and fingers, getting more comfortable by the second… until the tingling began in the back of her mind. A wave of nausea precipitated a white flash that pulsed from the screen in front of her… or was it on the inside of her eyelids…? She was too disoriented to discern as the brutal images flew past her eyes.
Images of a battle… electric flashes… a red hardsuit… a blue hardsuit… a ghostlike image of a very familiar woman with dark hair standing in space… more flashes… fighting… blood… anger, hate, malice… revenge… death… loss… too much pain… too many memories all at once.
The woman screamed as the hardsuit somehow opened up again, spilling her onto the ground, where she lay gasping and heaving. She stumbled away from the walking torture chamber and out of the alley… and nearly into the water. She looked over the edge of the pier into the icy still water below. The lighting around illuminated her image –a ghostly image from the past- but she still couldn't put a name to the reflection staring back at her. A brown haired woman with pale violet eyes peered at her… a stranger in her own body. The key to unlocking the identity of that stranger lay within memories she was now terrified to remember or relive, a past of horror the likes of which she could only hope to never comprehend.
With nothing but the unknown guiding her, all she knew for certain was that she was cold and hungry. Since her only means of support was also the source of her live nightmares, she was unwilling to reconnect to it in the same manner that had produced those horrid visions. It was, however, the only thing she could trust at the moment. A cool breeze blew in off the lake and across her bare back, sending chills across her skin and reminding her of her first priority.
"I've got to find some clothes," she spoke out loud, attempting to comfort herself. To her surprise, the hardsuit answered her call. Its orange visor flashed twice then it turned back into the alley. A few moments later, it reappeared with some wrinkled clothes in its hands. It extended it arms out to her, handing the clothes to the surprised woman. With the speed it had produced them, she wondered if it had gone to find her those clothes in the first place.
"Thank you," she replied sincerely, slight warmth settling over her body as she quickly dressed in the shadows of the alley. The feeling seemed to be a common one, making the woman wonder how often she had thanked her mechanical companion in the past. If she was going to survive here, wherever here was, she knew she'd likely owe it many more thanks.
The sounds of sirens rose from the depths of the city noises. Their shrill drew out a sense of panic, and the woman felt the feeling of familiarity… a feeling that she needed to run. She didn't know why or more importantly where, but she just chose a direction and started running away from the sirens.
The hardsuit followed close behind, keeping a close watch on its charge.
Nothing went unused in this part of the world, this lush jungle still untouched by mankind. Everything served a purpose in this place. The small bits of food eaten by small insects, in turn ingested by larger animals, which were in turn hunted and eaten by even larger animals, which would eventually die… only to be digested by the insects and parasites. Below the sticky, hazy tropical sky, the opportunistic jungle was slowly reclaiming a foreign object. The hardened metal shell, its blue and red paint scorched with burn marks, sheltered a ground dwelling lizard. The scavenging leeches below the leafy floor covering soaked up tiny droplets of blood scattered around. Heavy footprints slowly filled with groundwater, giving mosquitoes a breeding ground. Those footprints traveled for miles in both directions, in and out of the dense jungle, to a waterway where robotically controlled river barges moved their cargo through the unclaimed land and towards the rest of the unsuspecting civilization beyond.
The two Chicago police officers were normally cautious in this part of town. With the report of a boomer sighted in the area, however, they weren't just cautious, they were downright paranoid. Driving into the rundown section of the warehouse district, they inched their silent electric vehicle through the cluttered alleyways… until a heat signature showed up on their scanners.
"Could that be it?"
"I dunno."
"Base, this is unit 37. We've got something on the scanners here."
"Base to 37, copy. I'm seeing your feed. Analyzing now. Wait, doesn't look like a boomer…"
A figure darted out from behind the boxes and back down the alley.
"Looks like a person. We're pursuing, base."
"Roger."
"Hey, wait up! We just want to talk!"
The figured ignored them as it continued to flee.
As the two cops jumped out of the car, their radios crackled to life with another report. "Base, this is Unit 5. Two civs down over here. Send medics… wait, scratch that. Send the lab and two bodybags."
"Great! This just keeps getting better," the older cop grumbled as he struggled to keep up with his partner, now pursuing the too quick human through the alleys of the warehouse district. "Man, I'd rather be on riot patrol downtown with those nature freaks than this." He could hear the quicker, lighter footsteps of the younger cop ahead as he turned the corner of a rusted metal warehouse. Almost fifty feet behind, the older cop ran to the end of the alley and turned right by the waterfront, then heard footsteps running down the next alley over.
"Shit! Should've cut them off." He was about to backtrack, to try and cut off their only lead, when a panicked voice stopped him in his tracks.
"Hey, what the…!"
The voice of his partner was suddenly cut off by the sound of a struggle. He ran back to the dock end of the alley, pulling out his flashlight.
"Hey Jim! Are you alright?" Images of rogue boomers filled his frightened mind as he panned his flashlight around. The thin beam cut a small hole into the enveloping darkness of the alley… until it stopped on the deathly still figure of his partner, lying face down next to a dumpster.
"Shit! Officer down!" he yelled into his headset as he swept the beam around, searching for his partner's assailant. Approaching the only hiding place in the alley, he drew his gun and pointed it towards the dumpster. Cautiously he swept around the backside, his nerves a mere hair's breadth away from firing his weapon. He moved silently, holding his breath tightly. Turning the last corner, he found nothing but shadows waiting for him. He exhaled.
Turning back to his partner, he knelt down to find him thankfully alive, but unconscious… and with no visible sign of the cause.
More sirens approaching filled the night sky above. A sharp metallic sound further down the alley rang out over the sirens, snapping the officer's flashlight beam toward the disturbance.
Behind an overturned box, thin eyes squinted from the light's intensity while a human hand tried to shield them from the exposing source; a metal pipe, the source of the sound, rolled away from its hiding place.
"Hold it right there! Don't move!" he ordered, pointing the gun at the suspect. As soon as the weapon came to bear on the figure, another sharp metallic noise echoed from the roof, jerking the officer's head skyward.
A pale shadow plummeted from the roof of the warehouse and landed with a clang no more than two inches in front of his gun.
The man's heart rate tripled as he stared death in the face… an orange face with no discernable features. "BOOMER!" He attempted to pull the trigger, but the gun was knocked from his hand faster than even his hair trigger reaction. He stumbled backwards, tripping and falling over the still form of his partner. A gleaming blade stabbed out from the shadows, extended out to the side in an attack stance. The blade flashed up, preparing to cut right through the remains of his bravery… which were even shorter lived as he screamed for mercy, the rest of his body paralyzed by the inhuman sight. Time slowed as the blade began its journey towards his prone body. He clamped his eyes shut against death, and heard another scream.
"MATTE!"
Death did not come… and he opened his eyes to the sight of the blade held a mere inch from his head. Another peculiar sound from the end of the alley drew not only his attention, but the boomer's as well.
A click and a high pitched squeal was all the officer could remember as the alleyway exploded behind the boomer, changing darkness into an orange ball of light and flame, the roar of the detonation drowning out the rest of the world.
She shivered terribly. Even her goosebumps had goosebumps on them. The worst part was that Sylia had no way to stop the shivering, no way to combat the cold. Her body was working overtime to fight that cold, but it was only overtaxing the remaining life support systems of the hardsuit. In turn, that was draining even the extended life from her hardsuit's internal batteries. Having worked closely with Nigel and Mackey on the new suit designs, she knew she didn't have much time left.
She peered out of her fogged up visor and into the chilling blackness of deep space, her eyes focusing on the myriad of stars visible. But like an oarless boat in a vast ocean, her slim form slowly turned to face the planet below, the Earth that she would orbit until long past her death. Eventually she would reenter the atmosphere at an angle that would burn up the metal hardsuit, along with the soft, fleshy body within. And then her ashes would be scattered across the planet, much like the remains of the boomers created from her own body. As consciousness was slipping away, her last thoughts were of the love she knew she would never have with Nigel, her love for her 'brother' Mackey, and remorse for her fellow Knight Sabers.
"Nene, Linna, Priss… I hope you are all somehow alive and still well… and I hope you were able to finally stop what my father created, stop the evil that bastard used me to create… Father…… Father, I'm coming to see you… Father… and I hope I'll find you… I'll find you in hell…"
To be continued…