AFA Part 2

Falling from Grace

Ch. 28 – "I'm Gonna Scream"


~MegaTokyo, Japan~

"Almost like old times," Leon smirked to himself from the restored ADP patrol car as it flew down the mostly deserted streets of MegaTokyo. Turning the last corner, he pulled up to the destroyed alleyway in the cruiser just as the flash of hardsuit thrusters exiting the scene died down. Leon's hand was on the gear shift, ready to give chase until a tinge of Blue out of the corner of his eye stopped him cold. He shot out of the newly repurposed Genom security car, the air of familiarity quickly evaporating at the sight of the blue hardsuit slumped against one of the remaining intact walls. "Priss!" he yelled out, running past an injured blond haired girl, a more severely injured male and nearly stumbling over the rubble strewn across the street.

"Priss! Priss, are you okay?" Leon nervously scanned the motionless hardsuit for any sign of life, worriedly taking note of nicks and scratch he could see, including an ominous cut along her neck, with two streaks of blood running down its edges. But motion of the fingers of the hardsuit and a tilt of the helmet up to face him allayed his immediate fears.

"Leon?" a weak voice emanated from the helmet.

"Just hold on…" he cautioned, reaching up and gently pulling up on the helmet to reveal a very pale and worn face, with tears streaking down both cheeks. "… what…. what happened?" Leon asked, fearful that he already knew the answer… and the possible implications for the future.

Priss looked up and into Leon's worried face, then immediately darted her eyes to the side.

The frown on his face gave away how he felt about Priss' avoidance of the question. "Look, I got a call from the security chief that you had left out of the tower in a big rush and towards a reported rogue boomer sighting. But I don't think this was just any rogue boomer, was it? And were those the other Knight Sabers? What were they here for? What happened, Priss? Speak to me!" he pleaded.

Another tear rolled down her pale cheek, and then a small smile cracked from her lips. "… it was her… linna…" she whispered, her smile inching up as the realization began to hit home. "She's alive. I… I don't know how…" But even as she said the words, the recollection of images that had been projected in her mind just a few minutes before suggested a different possibility.

As Priss' words trailed off, Leon's own mind raced furiously. But he quickly scanned the scene as two more security cars pulled up at the end of the alley. Leon had a million more questions he wanted to ask, but they would have to wait. "We need to get you out…" he started to explain, before sharp words from behind him cut them off.

"You're Priss Asagiri, the former Knight Saber, aren't you."

Leon turned around to see the blond girl he had run past now standing on one leg, propped up against a half standing wall. He could tell she was bad off, but the tone of her words was full of grit and determination despite her condition.

Priss didn't speak, only looking into the fiery eyes of the girl standing above both her and Leon.

"I need to talk to you," she continued. "I need you to tell me about Linna Yamazaki… and whatever you might know about happened to my sister, Ginger Vanette."

"… ginger…" Priss murmered, a small flicker sparking in the recesses of her mind… before a sharp, clear memory shined through, her eyes flaring wide. The gesture wasn't lost on the other woman.

"You know something, don't you?" she exclaimed, taking an involuntary step forward… and immediately shouting out and collapsing on her bad leg and onto the ground.

At least, she would have fallen once again if Leon hadn't spun around to catch her just in the nick of time. "Okay, I can see we have a lot to talk about here. Why don't we continue this conversation once we get all of you some help," he stated, nodding in Priss' direction.


~Neo Genom Tower, MegaTokyo, Japan~

"Sir, my apologies… we… we have lost track of the Knight Sabers," said a uniformed Genom officer bowed before Quincy, his hands shaking by his sides. I small, curt laugh met his report.

"I am not surprised. I want the active search immediately toned down to a minimum. However, ensure our passive search field is expanded in accordance with the specifications given out by the research department."

"R…right way sir!" he blurted out, spinning around on one foot and running for the door.

With his orders given, the large cyborg shifted in the seat behind his desk. A mere thought activated an image projection on the right side of the desk. The image showed security footage of a tower entrance, with medical and security personnel escorting four individuals. Two he was familiar with. Two, who happened to be the most injured, he was not… not yet anyway.

A quick query was placed, and answers were found. And another possible avenue towards his ultimate goal was illuminated… which brought another short laugh to Quincy's throat. "So she wants to know what happened to her sister, does she?"


~Colorado, USA~

The three men sat stoically at the nondescript table, stacks of papers, folders, data pads and notecards strewn haphazardly over its surface. Two of the men sat at chairs with their military jackets hung over the back, both on one side of the table. Facing them was the third man who had a sports coat hung behind him. Covering the entire wall behind the civilian was a smart board, itself covered with pics, notes, maps, lists and statuses. But even with all the wealth of information spread out before and around them, all three wore confused, worn looks on their faces. Each man silently stared into different points of the table. And based on the empty coffee cups and burned out cigarettes on the table in front of each of them, they had been that way for quite a while.

Finally one of the two military men sighed deep, pulling up his head from his hands, he rocked back in his chair and stared up into the soft lighted ceiling. "We have to assume that Rosencreutz has all the resources to create another sotai."

"If not an army of them," the other military man spoke up beside him.

The civilian on the opposite end of the table shook his head. "As much as we are assuming he has all the right equipment, and even with the supposed host of the last sotai, I still don't think it will work without an untainted, compatible host."

"Unless the Lazarus project has allowed them to perfect the ability to clone," one of the military men argued, bringing up an earlier point of contention.

"And that's just speculation at best. We know his current form is mostly cyborg, so I doubt the cloning technology is as far as we fear," the civilian countered.

A cellphone rang, one of the military officers looked up with a hesitant glance over at the civilian, then sighed and answered his phone. "Yes? You have her? Okay, bring her into lab two immediately." Hanging up the phone, his military companion perked up at last.

"Is that the cousin of the sample's host?"

"Cousin?" the civilian queried worriedly.

"Yes, the Yamazaki woman's cousin is now in our possession. Now we just have to see if she can make a compatible host."

The civilian shot out of his chair and slammed his hands down on the table, scattering papers and folders onto the floor. "WE discussed this and WE agreed not to use a live subject! No one gave authorization for this, did they?"

"Professor James, we did discuss this. However, those discussions were before realization that the phenomenon had spread to influencing humans, and before Rosencreutz came back from the dead and in possession of the sotai," the man said, holstering his phone while responding evenly.

The other military man joined in. "Professor, we understand your reservations, but you must know of Quincy's and Genom's reputation among the scientific community. What do you think he's doing right now? Is he going to carefully proceed in researching the phenomenon, submitting peer reviews, gaining public consensus prior to proceeding? Or is he going to shove every resource he can get his cyborg hands on into drilling every last secret out of the specimens he already has in his possession?"

"So now we're going to stoop to his level? Is that it?"

One of the military men stood up, then walked around the table, past the civilian and to the smart board. He trained his eyes onto an enlarged photo of a blond haired woman singing on a large stage… overlooking an even larger crowd. He pointed one finger at the singer and turned around to face the professor. "For the last six months this one… thing… Aoede… has crisscrossed the world, going from country to country at will and purposely and willfully manipulating every human it came into contact with the thought that it was the greatest singer that ever lived. And it succeeded in that so well that there are worldwide riots going on right now in disbelief that it's been destroyed. You tell me what the risk would be if another… sotai… were created that did anything and everything that Quincy Rosencreutz wanted it to do?"

The sitting military man answered for him. "We already have a pretty good indication from the remains of our exploratory team."

The comment caused his compatriot to momentarily search the floor. Among the folders scattered there, he picked one particular file up, opened the jacket and pulled out a picture of a special operative. He then turned back to the board and affixed the picture next to another picture of two women… women labeled as former Knight Sabers, Jill and Katsumi. "Because of advances by the Chinese government, we had already received authorization to 'make contact' with some of the Knight Sabers. Preliminary information we received from Switzerland was that they succeeded."

"However, after the preliminary contact, we never heard from the team again," the sitting officer continued, "until all but one were found dead. And the one left alive was heavily contaminated by the phenomenon. We brought him back to the US and was preparing to test and interrogate him when he learned of the destruction of the sotai Aoede. In response, he committed suicide."

The officer at the board pointed back at the picture of Aoede. "If Quincy were to obtain something capable of this…"

"Quincy wouldn't be the most powerful man in the world. He wouldn't even be godlike. He would be god. Period," the seated military man finished for him.

Based on his experiences, Professor James could voice no rebuttal to that point. "… so… so what do you want me to do with the woman?"


~Kumamoto Castle, Kumamoto, Japan~

Misa Yamazaki sat alone in one of the converted museum rooms, staring down at the city of Kumamoto below them. Heart broken, a stray tear rolled down her pale cheek. "… linna…" she whispered to the summer winds, softly blowing through the open window. Movement on the castle grounds below drew her eyes nervously downward, her worn out mind struggling with the dreaded anticipation of what could lay ahead for her and the remains of her family. However, instead of the feared armed assailants who had taken her niece from her sister in broad daylight and directly from their home, or even the crazed masses chanting the name of the dead sotai Aoede, this time it only appeared to be a few of the local Kumamoto militia who had gathered up her extended family and whisked them to Kumamoto castle… the one place that corrupted modern technology couldn't touch and the easiest place to defend their people… whoever might still want to try and snatch them away.

Footsteps from the hallway drew her attention to the closed door of the makeshift living space. It slid open with a slight hiss, allowing her husband to enter… followed by two very upset relatives, her light brown haired sister and her sister's husband. "Hina! Are you… " she started to ask, standing up from the chair and taking a step towards her sister… before a barrage of angry questions flew at her.

"Who took her? Where did they take Momoko? Why… why would they do this?!" Hina Tomoe cried out, her husband putting one arm across her and holding her back even as she pushed closer to Misa.

Hirata also placed himself between the two women, although a bit off to one side.

"Hina… Jiro…" Misa started, alternating worried looks between the two, somewhat fearful that Hina's husband might drop his arm if she spoke the wrong words… and that her own husband might not be able to stop them either. However, her own heart didn't have the strength left to fight them. She resigned herself to fate, bowing her head, slumping back into the chair by the window. "… I'm so sorry… I… I don't know who did this or why… exactly…"

"What do you mean 'exactly'!" her sister fired out. "It's about that biker girl, isn't it! The one that's working with that corporation… Genom… This has something to do with her doesn't it!"

"We don't know if Priss is involved or not," Hirata spoke up strongly, directing the attention away from his wife momentarily. He put a hand on Misa's shoulder and tried to give her a reassuring squeeze even as he continued with his own limited knowledge. "Listen, I know both of you are upset, and I don't blame you for that. We…we still don't know what happened to Linna… and… I don't think this is because of Priss. Something… something bigger than all of them has swept them up. Now it's reached deeper into our family. I agreed to bring you up to talk to Misa in hopes that we can all learn something from this and try and figure out what we can do next. God knows we've tried to sort it all out over the last few days and come up with nothing."

The Tomoe's couldn't help but notice the sincerity in Hirata's voice, his words… and the mention of their missing niece, bringing some calm to the situation. Hina's arms lowered to her sides and Jiro was able to release his grip on her. "I just don't understand… what difference does it make that they are related? Un… unless she's a hostage!" Hina quickly surmised, grasping at the only explanation that made any sense to her. "They might be using her to coerce Linna into doing what they want!"

Her husband nodded in affirmation. "Maybe that's what Genom did to Priss as well, otherwise why would she turn on her supposed friends, the Knight Sabers, like that."

But Misa shook her head. "I don't think so. Priss didn't have any other family from what we knew of her. Both her parents and younger brother were killed in the Kanto quake. Neither Priss nor Linna ever mentioned any other relatives while she was staying with us."

"Not like Priss ever said much of anything to us while she was recovering at our house anyway," Hirata commented surly.

"So what could it be then? Why did she turn on the Knight Sabers?" Hina prodded, first at her brother-in-law and then glaring directly into her sister. "And what was she recovering from for so long? You never did tell anyone exactly what happened to Priss the last six months."

"And you never really did explain where Linna went last winter either, only saying that she was 'finding herself' after the boomer plague in Tokyo," Jiro Tomoe added pointedly towards Misa.

Misa continued to bow her head, her eyes shifting from side to side. Finally she let out a deep sigh, and looked up into her sister's eyes. She tried to form the words, her mouth opened, but… no words would come.

Her sister had very little patience. "Well?"

Just then, more footsteps and soft voices echoed throughout the halls of the upper floor of Kumamoto castle as several other Yamazaki family members shuffled through the open door and into the makeshift interrogation room. Upon seeing Hina and Jiro the group gathered in the center of the room and collectively hugged and lended their support to the mourning couple.

"Are you okay?"

"Whatever you need, just ask."

"Did they hurt you?"

"We're so sorry."

"Do you know who did this?"

The questions asked essentially ignored Misa and Hirata's presence in the room… at least until Hina nodded in her sister's direction. "Misa was about to explain what she knew about them… the Knight Sabers…"

Most of the family turned and faced the Yamazaki couple, pinning them to the wall with their glares, stares, and whispered questions.

Hirata gave a final squeeze to Misa's shoulder and then raised in hands outward. "We are going to need some chairs or mats."

"This might take a while," Misa finished explaining.

A few minutes later, enough mats and chairs were accumulated to accommodate the entire family, now seated around the chair that Misa sat stoically at. Thus, she drew in a deep breath, temporarily calming her doubts and fears, and then proceeded to lay all of her daughter's dark secrets out before the bright glare of her entire family.

"Hina asked what Priss was recovering from. She also wanted to know where Linna was last winter, before Priss… came to live in our house. But… to answer those questions, I'll have to start from the beginning." Misa paused for a moment, glancing into the eyes of her questioning family, and wondered just how they were going to take this news. She noticed a small smile from her aunt, the most senior family member present, and found reassurance from the nod in her direction. She bowed her head and continued.

"When Linna left to go work in Tokyo, she had an ulterior motive… which some of you have probably already guessed. She wanted to find the Knight Sabers… and she wanted to help them, and join their cause. And, she succeeded. The first one she met was Priss…" Misa continued with the early tales of the Knight Sabers, and Linna's intial trials and tribulations, including coming home to the fixed date with Masaki Yoshida.

"But that was when Linna was hurt, right? Wasn't that when… well… she lost her fertility?" one of her brothers spoke up.

Misa nodded in agreement. "Yes, but the accident wasn't from a workplace incident. It was while she was trying to fight a rogue boomer with the Knight Sabers…" Misa filled in the details where she could, talking about the accident, and about Priss' role, the events at the hospital and with Masaki and Linna and the fountain that everyone knew about… but no one else knew all the background… until now.

Gasps and 'I told you so's' were whispered among the family at some of the more sorid details. However, Misa paused again at what she had to divulge next.

"You all know of the boomer plague, and the stories of the Knight Sabers involvement due to the Genom testimony. But, what I knew at that time was that Linna… even as hurt as she was… still went back to Tokyo to try and stop the plague from happening. They, the Knight Sabers, knew from the inside history of the real cause of the Kanto quake of 2033. That quake wasn't an accident. Genom used an earthquake device to stop the boomer phenomenon from spreading out of control back in 2033."

"That's impossible!"

"An earthquake device?"

"Genom did that?"

The outbursts from all the family temporarily shocked Misa. She was so used to the maddening, crazed events that she had become somewhat numb to them now. "We could hardly believe it ourselves, until we saw the stories on the news about the boomers going out of control. Linna said that they did try and stop it, but somehow they failed. The sotai, the cause of the boomer phenomenon, was freed and taken by Genom, and to the Genom tower. But somehow, the Knight Sabers managed to regroup and try another attack… except…. except… Linna…"

Misa bowed her head again, but felt a calm hand on her arm, and looked up into the worried and concerned face of her sister. That concern warmed her own heart enough to continue. "We don't know exactly what happened next… only that… Linna was captured by the sotai and brought into space with it and the Genom tower."

"Captured?"

"Space?"

"Was it related to the showhamm disaster?"

"Yes, it was directly related to the Showhamm project. The station was destroyed as the Knight Sabers fought the sotai know as Galatea. But, Galatea, the reason she captured Linna… was to try and create more of her kind… the same way that Sylia Stingray had been used by her own father to create Galatea in the first place. In fact, something was embedded inside Linna. But, it failed. It failed in space when the other Knight Sabers, and specifically Priss, were trying to rescue her. So, because of that failure, Galatea decided to try again. And, this time, she used Priss. And, as you've heard, she succeeded, and Aoede was created."

Misa paused from her tale, glancing up and finding stunned silence all around her family. "Somehow Linna's hardsuit protected her return to Earth, but the failed seed almost killed her. Luckily it was removed by a doctor in Switzerland, where Masaki was able to meet her and bring her back home. But, the trauma she suffered really took a toll on her memories and mental state. It took weeks to overcome, but when she did… she remembered what had happened to Priss. But, no one knew where on Earth she was. That was when Linna left to go find her."

"So, she wasn't finding herself. She was trying to find Priss," Hina spoke up, beginning to tie the threads together. "So, when did she find her? Where was she?"

"Linna never did find Priss, and to this day, we don't know where she was," Misa answered.

Jiro spoke up, confusion swelling in his voice. "But, Linna was gone for months! And we all know Priss was recovering here for the last few months herself. So, what happened?"

"Linna said that a boomer delivered her at our doorstep," Misa responded with a shrug. "One minute we were planting annuals on the front of the house. I stepped inside to wash up, and when I came back outside a few minutes later Priss was literally lying in Linna's arms. I never saw the boomer that Linna supposedly saw, and at that point I didn't know what to believe. But, when we inspected Priss, we found the same… marks… on her body that Linna had also suffered from. Linna seemed to know what they were, but, was probably in denial. She didn't want to believe that another sotai had been created, and created from Priss at that. But, at the time, none of us knew better. Priss… she could barely function at all, and never did fully recover her memory in the entire time she was here. Linna, and both of us, we were all so focused on helping Priss recover that we completely missed any connection between Priss and Aoede."

"You really believe that? You believe… believe Aoede was a kind of… boomer… a sotai? And that it was created out of Priss' body?" Hina queried in disbelief.

A young voice from behind Hina answered the question for them. "I can see it. I can totally see it," spoke one of their teenage nephews. "After that news conference, when Priss ratted out the Knight Sabers, I dug around online. Comparing concert footage from Priss and Aoede, side by side, I can absolutely believe it. They are almost like copies of each other," he said unapologetically.

"You mean Aoede is a copy of Priss," another relative offered up.

Jiro shook his head in bewilderment. "But what does this have to do with Momoko's kidnapping? Why, why would anyone want our daughter?"

Silence fell across the room at the difficult question, but only for a few moments.

"Well," Misa started hesitantly, before anxious looks from her sister and brother in law prodded her to continue. "It was something that Linna mentioned to me, about the events at Showhamm. I asked her, why when Galatea had captured her, why did she turn around and implant the sotai seed inside Priss. Linna said that the host, as she called it, had to be 'untainted' by the process. That was why Galatea couldn't use Sylia again… and why, after the seed inside her had failed, Galatea couldn't use her either…"

"But, wait, are you saying…" Jiro started, before his wife cut him off.

"…someone wants to grow one… one of those things inside Momoko?!" Hina fnished for him, her eyes wide with panic and fear. "How? Why? Why my Momoko? I don't understand!

Hina bowed her head once more, measuring her words carefully. "I just don't know enough of the details of what actually happened to Linna, or even to Priss to say for sure. Hopefully I am totally wrong and this has nothing to do with Momoko. At this point, without even knowing what happened to Linna… all I know is that about ten days ago Priss left our home to go back to Tokyo to continue her recovery… around her more familiar surroundings. Then, three days later Linna got a call from Priss to meet her in Tokyo. That was the last we heard from Linna. Then a couple of days ago we saw the Genom press conference with Priss…" At that point Misa broke down into sobs, Hirata trying to give her comfort with a small hug around her shoulders, before continuing on for her.

"Most of what we know is what Genom has announced. Priss is alive, but working with Genom and has not tried to contact us. Aoede was 'deactivated'… whatever the hell that means. One of the other Knight Sabers did contact us after the Genom press conference, but they didn't know anymore that we did. I think they went into hiding after talking to us…"

"…but now with Momoko kidnapped as well, they may be our only hope to figure out what is going on. We have to find a way to get in touch with them again. We have to ask the Knight Sabers to help us find out what happened to Linna and Momoko," Misa finished, wiping tears from her face as she gave a thankful squeeze on the arm of her husband.

Jiro wasn't convinced. "Just how the hell can the rest of the Knight Sabers help us when they will be lucky to help themselves? The rest of the world is out there right now trying to hunt them down thanks to Genom!"

"And thanks to Priss," Hina added darkly.

To be continued…


A/N: Yeah, it happened again. Another plot twist. Oh well. :P