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From: "David A. Tatum" desaix@sysnet.net
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Subject: OtR5.txt
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 15:33:58 -0400
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"Noa," Asuma ordered through the microphone. The eight labors he was
paying attention to were still in a standoff, and he was still unsure
whether the Rumbler was going to intervene. He hoped he could get
everything done before it did anything, but he knew that was unlikely.
However, until he knew which side it might come in on, he had to pay
attention to the more immediate dangers. "Draw your gun, and get ready to
use it. It won't do anything significant to those Brochens, but you might
be able to disable an Abraham with it."
"Roger," Noa acknowledged, directing Alphonse to draw its revolver. She
wasn't even going to argue for the preservation of the Abrahams- if it
stood in the way of her clearing Asuma's name, she'd get rid of it.
"Mr. Utsumi, sir," a young messenger said, running up to the man.
"Yes, Mr. Iguchi?" Utsumi said to the man, pulling away from Takeo. Iguchi
whispered a few words into his ear, and his smile grew devilish. "He is?
Well, welcome him aboard and escort him here! We shouldn't leave him out
of the party. After all, everyone ELSE has a representative here... well,
everyone but that American labor."
The messenger nodded, running off.
"Who's coming?" Takeo asked curiously.
"An old friend," Wong replied. "Who also has a stake in this coming
battle, if I don't miss my guess."
"You're being evasive," Takeo clucked.
"I just don't want to spoil the surprise!" he laughed.
Asuma, standing just within hearing range, glared at him. "Uh huh... why
do I get the feeling we won't LIKE this surprise?"
"Surprise?" Noa asked, not able to tell he was talking to Utsumi through
the microphone. "What surprise?"
"A friend of Utsumi's is coming aboard," Asuma explained. "I don't like
it. In fact, if a battle's going to take place, I'd rather it started
before he got here. Move in, but take no hostile action until they do."
"Roger," Noa replied, and Alphonse started marching into the line of
labors. A Brochen moved to step in her way, so she tried to turn and avoid
it, only to be cut off by the other one.
"We're being surrounded, Sis," Bud said through the Griffin's speakers.
When he spoke, Wong snapped his fingers.
"I almost forgot AGAIN! Hold on a moment," he said, dashing into the
control cabin briefly.
While he was away, the Brochen behind Alphonse started closing in. "Noa!
Look out!" Asuma cried.
Before Noa could react, the Brochen launched an attack, striking out with
its fist with the intention of punching a whole through the patlabor. The
Griffin intercepted the blow, deflecting it with a quick forearm and
shoving the military labor back several steps. As the Griffin started
moving into action, a sound sprang forth from the speaker.
"Music?" Asuma said curiously.
"Wagner," Utsumi explained, emerging from the office. "We put the speakers
on the thing just so it could play Wagner when it moved. We hadn't done
that until just now."
"The Flying Dutchman?" Takeo said, curiously. "Knowing you, I'd have
expected the Rings of the Nieberlung."
"Let's just say that if things don't turn out well in this action, I have a
feeling we'll be stuck at sea for a very long time," he explained.
"Why is that?" Takeo asked.
"Because," a new voice answered. "He knows that if Shaft survives this
little encounter, he won't be able to survive going anywhere Shaft has
offices. And Shaft has offices all over the world.
"Ah! Mr. Kurosaki!" Wong chirped. "I was wondering how long it would take
for you to get here."
Kurosaki, the man who had once posed as the chief negotiator for Holly
Security Systems, and who had one point been Utsumi's right hand man,
approached the gathering of people on the deck, escorted by Iguchi. "I
must thank you for this opportunity to be your replacement, sir."
Utsumi laughed. "You're only my replacement if there's a company to make
you one, Mr. Kurosaki. I don't think there will be one when this is all
over."
"Only if you win, Utsumi. And I don't believe that's going to happen...."
"You don't think so?" Utsumi said, turning his attention back on the fight.
"Why not?"
The forces had squared off. Alphonse, instead of being surrounded, was now
confidently facing both Brochens, which appeared to be slightly scuffed
from prior action. Meanwhile, Shaft Security Systems' four Abrahams had
encircled the Griffin, mimicking the former battle the two sides had
engaged in on the Babylon Gates. One of the Abrahams attacked, but the
attack was quickly countered by a shoulder throw into two of its
companions.
"If you're going to beat us," Takeo noted, "I don't think it will be with
these labors."
* * * * *
Kanuka watched the initial hostilities break out, and quickly realized that
Asuma had come here to find something important. For some reason, he had
formed an alliance with Utsumi to get it, too.
And Shaft Security Systems was trying to stop him.
Since she was investigating to see if the 3-S was involved in ANY illegal
activities, she had to know just what it was they were so anxious to
protect. And if, while doing so, she could find what Asuma was desperately
searching for, well, she wouldn't have any objection. And, considering all
of the fighting going on, it was unlikely anyone would notice her for a
while.
She started to move her Rumbler out, and got about halfway to the warehouse
before her sensors picked up movement on her right flank.
'Reinforcements!' she thought worriedly. Quickly, she found cover and
waited until they passed, drawing her firearm just in case.
When the two type Zeros and the Ingram passed by her, she realized that the
new arrivals weren't exactly reinforcements after all.
* * * * *
Gomioka whistled in amazement as he took in the scene. He'd seen plenty of
combat in his labor, but this was the most high-powered battle he'd yet
seen. One Ingram- Alphonse, perhaps the best produced Ingram ever,
considering how fine-tuned the mechanics squad had been able to make it-
two Brochens, four Abrahams, and, to top it all off, the god-damned GRIFFIN
were engaged in heavy combat not more than a hundred yards from his
position. And it was his duty to get in the middle of that fight.
He couldn't quite tell who was on who's side- though it seemed that the
Ingram and the Griffin were trying to work together. He didn't know who's
side he should go in on, either- the Ingram was piloted by an AWOL police
officer, but her apparent ally was one of the greatest criminal labor
pilots in Japanese history. Shaft owned the Abrahams and the Griffins, and
most people in the police thought of Shaft as being little more than a
business Yakuza, but this WAS their property and they did have the right to
defend it. And, for all he knew, the Griffin was a part of Shaft, too, so
didn't it have as much right to be here as Shaft Security Systems? Though,
now that he thought about it, Shaft had disavowed any knowledge of the
Griffin when they'd been questioned about it.
"Traitor!" Ohta roared over the radio, and charged in toward the Ingram
and, since they happened to be in that direction, too, the two Brochens.
One of the two military labors turned from Alphonse to face him down.
Well, that settled it, in Gomioka's mind. Obviously, Ohta was out for
Noa's blood, and he couldn't calm him down. He wasn't sure he SHOULD calm
him down at this point, anyway. Instead, he had to act... and since the
Brochen was a known enemy, the Griffin was, at least at one time, a bitter
enemy, and the Ingram was going to be an enemy whatever he decided, maybe
he should just take all of the labors down and sort it out afterwards.
* * * * *
"Uh, oh," Wong frowned. "Looks like your friends from the SV2 have arrived
earlier than I expected."
"Doesn't change anything," Asuma said, directing his voice away from the
microphone to make sure he did not distract Noa. His eyes did not leave
the battle, however. "I was hoping they'd get here before the fight was
over, myself."
"Yes," Wong said distractedly, fumbling with a radio microphone of his own.
"But I should make sure we don't hurt them too badly. Bud?"
A crackle of static came over the speaker on Utsumi's radio. "Yes?"
"A few new labors from Special Vehicles have shown up on the scene. Please
try to remember we're working WITH the police this time, not against them.
They just don't know it yet."
"What if they attack me?" Bud's voice asked.
Wong thought about that for a few seconds, and witnessed the Griffin
deliver a powerful blow which shattered the chassis of one of the Abrahams.
Two of the others were slightly damaged, but still battle capable. A
third had yet to actively enter the fight. And, it seemed, the two Type
Zeros were closing in.
"If they attack you, just be sure you don't hurt them any more than you
have to in order to survive. We want them happy, remember."
* * * * *
Noa was not a happy camper. The Brochens had not been trying to fight her,
yet. Instead, they were driving her away from the Griffin, isolating her.
Hoping, perhaps, to get her alone and finish her off quick.
They got her a considerable distance away, though the Griffin was still
visible in her line of sight, when one of the two labors broke off and
engaged... another Ingram. Asuma's voice in her ear informed her that the
SV2 had arrived, and was apparently going after everyone, and then she
didn't have time to think any more because the Brochen finally made its
move.
Rapidly directing Alphonse to duck the blow to its head, she started
thinking strategy. Drawing her electromagnetic baton, she charged through
the attack and clipped the other labor in the torso, staggering it.
Quickly pushing out Alphonse's foot, she hooked the Brochen's leg and sent
it to the ground. Spinning the baton around, she pierced the metal armor
of the military labor, disabling it.
"Brochen one has been dispatched, Asuma. I'm currently out of the action-
what should I do?"
"Ohta seems to be taking care of the other Brochen for us- though I think
it's unwillingly," Asuma's reassuring voice yelled out. "Helping him would
only get us into even more trouble at the moment. Why don't you help Bud
out? He's having problems trying to avoid the Zeros without hurting them."
"Roger," she agreed. Retrieving her baton, she turned her attention
towards the spot where the Griffin was still tangled with five labors.
Just as she was about to run into the action, a powerful energy beam passed
right in front of Alphonse, exploding the concrete not more than ten feet
away. "Ack! What was that?!" Noa cried.
* * * * *
"Where the hell did THAT come from?!" Asuma exclaimed, echoing Noa's
sentiments.
Kurosaki stepped over to Wong. "Well, I kind of agree with your friends.
I don't think two Brochens and four Abrahams would be enough to handle the
Griffin and the Ingram. So, when we saw that the Sangria was coming into
port, I brought along a couple of experimentals which may be a bit more of
a challenge. Meet the SRX-71 and the SRX-72. A hybrid, if you will, of
the technology behind the Griffin, the Saturn, and the Phantom."
On the battlefield, a pair of labors, both reminiscent of the SR-70
Saturns, appeared from behind a large set of crates.
Utsumi stepped back, slightly startled. "A hybrid?"
Kurosaki nodded. "Like I said, thank you for giving me your job. You're
too much of a loose cannon, so I was appointed to replace you in the
military labor research section by the Division Manager. I took those
lessons we learned from you all too well."
Utsumi frowned. "I thought we determined that hand-to-hand was the way to
go."
"That we did," Kurosaki agreed. "But that philosophy gave us the same
results as the heavy weapons of the Phantom did. No, in the end I realized
it wasn't the weapons that was the problem with the earlier version, it was
the lack of speed and maneuverability. What good is a weapon if you can't
use it? The Saturns were maneuverable enough, especially when enhanced by
the Griffin technological developments, but really were underpowered-
especially to handle all the technology we included on the Phantom project.
So we developed two variants, pulling in the technology you developed in
the Griffin project. We replaced the weapons ports for the firearms with
the power generation and distribution nodules from the Griffin, and
miniaturized the weapons of the Phantom project, placing them in the
electromagnetic combat knife storage system slot. In the SRX-71, you have
the Plasma Cannon. In the SRX-72, you have the Electromagnetic Pulse
Generator. The results, well... we'll see in this action how effective the
results are, won't we?"
Takeo frowned. "Why are you telling us all of this?"
Kurosaki laughed. "Because it doesn't matter. All we want is to see how
these labors do when facing the Ingram and the Griffin. By the time this
battle is over, anything you might have been coming here looking for will
be long gone."
As Asuma frantically relayed this information over to Noa, Richard Wong
looked at Takeo with an expression only she would know meant he was
worried.
* * * * *
Kanuka heard the explosion behind her- a sound which reminded her of a
certain snowy night almost a year beforehand- and shuddered. It sounded as
though something more powerful than she'd thought Shaft had available at
the time. She couldn't worry about it right then, though- her job was to
find out what Shaft was hiding in that warehouse. Then, if it was as
incriminating as she'd hoped, maybe she could join the fight and not get
into TOO much trouble when she got back to the States. Besides, it was
entirely possible that finding whatever it was that Noa and Asuma were
looking for would be the best help they could get.
Hoping the battle would be enough of a distraction that she could get into
the warehouse unobserved, Kanuka moved out from her hiding place and
started running in as fast as her labor could travel. Reaching the
warehouse's loading dock, she pried the door open.
To her surprise, there was a lot of activity going on in the building.
Dozens of people were running around, taking what looked like labor parts
and loading them into a truck as fast as they could. Additionally, one
group of people was carrying something quite familiar to Kanuka. A police
labor revolver.
Putting two and two together, Kanuka quickly realized what was going on.
The labor parts being loaded weren't labor parts at all, but a labor shell
which could be adapted as a disguise, making any labor look like a
patlabor- likely an Ingram, from the shape and color, though Kanuka
couldn't tell the make for certain in as many pieces as it was. The
revolver, obviously, was the murder weapon used to kill Asuma's father.
The evidence. Shaft was trying to get the evidence of their guilt out of
the area as fast as they could, hoping to avoid discovery by the police.
Well, they had been discovered. And Kanuka was angry.
"This is Interpol. I am using the authority granted me by international
treaty to put you ALL under arrest!" People started scrambling away,
until Kanuka drew her gun. "FREEZE!" Everyone stopped- no-one was willing
to chance a labor with a gun. With this evidence secured, Asuma's name
would be cleared.
The question was, though, how she could keep it secure if she needed to run
out and save Noa from whatever those two mystery labors were?
* * * * *
Bud Reynard directed the Griffin to rip the arm off of the labor he'd just
dispatched. Pivoting and thrusting out with the metallic limb, he pierced
the armor of the final Abraham, knocking it out of commission permanently.
Level one was complete.
He observed the rest of the field. Noa was having difficulty with the new
labors- she seemed to be on the run, mostly, unable to spend the time to
draw her gun or move in for fear of being struck by one of the weapons. He
started to move in to aid her, but the two Zeros cut in front of him. He
could easily pass through them, but not without causing them severe damage.
The other Ingram, however, which was also in serious trouble from the
Brochen it was facing, could probably be helped without too much
difficulty. Charging in from behind, he struck out. The Brochen was
heavily armored, but the hands of the Griffin were designed to pierce any
labor armor yet designed and Bud was intimately familiar with its layout.
Piercing the back of the military labor across its 'spine,' he ripped out
the power supply- both battery and connectors- before it had a chance to
react.
He could see Noa in desperate need of assistance. She was running out of
room to run, and she still couldn't move in on her opponents. She needed a
distraction, at least. Now that he'd rescued the Ingram and left the
Zero's behind, maybe he could give her that distraction.
He didn't count on the Ingram not being as grateful as he'd hoped it would.
Before he could move into action, a metal fist backhanded the Griffin,
knocking it back into the charging Zeros, damaging an elbow joint in the
process. While the Ingram charged off in Noa's direction, Bud found his
attention taken by the two other police labors.
As he watched the Ingram run off, he shook his head. "Ingrate," he
snarled, before trying to find a way of evading the two Zeros with a
damaged arm.
* * * * *
Ohta ignored the Griffin. It, too, was a criminal, but the Zeros could
deal with it now. Batting it out of his way, he turned to once more run
after the traitor. There was an explosion a few feet away from his labor's
legs, but he didn't care. Sure, once he'd dealt with the traitor, he could
take care of the other criminals around here, but the traitor was the
number one priority.
He ran up and grappled with her, catching her unawares. Apparently, the
other criminals were too much of a distraction for her, and so he was able
to surprise her with his attack.
His headset crackled to life. "OHTA!" Noa's outraged voice broke in
through the speakers. "ARE YOU INSANE? DO YOU WANT US BOTH KILLED?" she
shrieked.
"Quit begging for mercy, traitor- you won't get it!" Ohta snarled. HE was
the betrayed one- she had no right to feel outraged.
"Ohta, you idiot!" Asuma's voice intervened. Ohta's eyes widened- so the
murderous criminal mastermind was somewhere nearby. "In case you hadn't
notice, you're being shot at by the same energy weapon which sliced the arm
off your labor about a year ago. If you don't start paying attention to
what you're-"
"SHUT UP, MURDERER!" Ohta screamed. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY ANYTHING TO
ME!"
"Stubborn, pigheaded, obsessive idiot," he heard being muttered, then some
shuffling, as if the headset was being given over to someone else.
"Ohta, this is Lieutenant Takeo! Listen up!"
Even though she couldn't see him, he snapped to a seated attention. "Yes,
SIR!"
"Noa is by no means a traitor. Maybe a little hot-headed in this case, but
you're ALWAYS a little hot-headed."
"Wha-" he started to reply. He hadn't ever heard Takeo talk to him this
way, before.
"We have reason to believe that Shaft Enterprises murdered Asuma's father,
framed him for the crime, and had made sure he would be assassinated while
in prison. Noa's breaking him out saved his life."
"But-"
"You will release Noa at once and turn your attention to the two labors
currently FIRING on you."
"Where's your evidence of this so called 'frame up?'" Ohta growled out, no
longer willing to trust his superior officer.
"We have the testimony of Mr. Richard Wong-"
"YOU BELIEVE THE MAN WHO HAD YOU SHOT!?"
"Oh, damn- the hybrids are closing in," Ohta heard Asuma say distantly.
"Give me the headset- I've gotta warn Noa..."
Ohta couldn't make out the rest of what was being said because suddenly
another radio transmission broke in. "Ohta, obey your superior officer.
And if you want to know about the evidence, I'm standing in a warehouse
full of it. See if you can't get some of your command car officers over
here, now. You guys are going to need me, and if I leave here now all the
evidence is going to disappear."
"Kanuka?! What are you doing here? What evidence?"
"I'm here investigating Shaft Security Systems for Interpol, and I'm
breaking radio silence to tell you what an idiot you're being! You want
evidence? How about if I said I found a fake labor shell, the murder
weapon, and, well, I just got a full confession from the pilot of the labor
which actually shot Mr. Shinohara."
Ohta blinked. "Are you... sure?"
"DAMMIT, OHTA!" Noa screamed in. "LET ME GO OR WE'LL BOTH BE DEAD!"
Ohta suddenly realized what was going on. Here he was, grappling with a
fellow cop, when all the REAL criminals were over there, shooting at him.
He released his grip on Alphonse, and turned towards the two hybrid labors.
"Attention, criminals," he announced through the speakers, stepping in
front of Noa and drawing his gun. "You are under arrest! This is your
only warning- leave your labors at once and you will not be harmed, but if
you try me-"
The flash of the electro-magnetic pulse striking his labor and scrambling
every electronic system in it stopped him before he could finish. The
other hybrid sliced off the arms, legs, and heads, quickly taking him out
of the action.
* * * * *
Kanuka was grateful to see Shinshi and Hiromi show up and take
responsibility for the people in the warehouse. The confession of the
murderer was an unexpected surprise- apparently, he had been feeling
increasingly remorseful for his actions, and her seizing the evidence gave
him the opportunity to accept the responsibility for his crime. Kanuka was
quick to get it in writing, and then turned her attention back to the
battle, with the hopes of finding someone to relieve her- or hopefully to
find that she wasn't needed in the fight at all.
Ever since she'd seen Ohta damn near get all of them killed, she'd been
getting more and more impatient to get involved. Thankfully, Ohta hadn't
succeeded in letting the hybrids take Noa out, for when he stepped in
between Noa and the two other labors he'd shielded her from their weapons.
Noa was able to use that to her advantage, and once more move out of range
and escape. She was still in a bad way, however- she needed someone to
distract her opponents badly. Now that Hiromi and Shinshi were here, she
could do something. She'd already broken radio silence, so there was no
reason she couldn't move actively any more. Time to strike.
Using her gun was a bad idea- it would attract their attention, yes, but
she'd be in the same situation as Noa and they'd be alert to a similar
attempt. No, she had to close in and attack. The Rumbler probably wasn't
good enough to take on both simultaneously, but she should be able to
distract them and then get away before they could eliminate her.
But get away to where? To run to Noa for support? Or... to lead them away
from Noa?
* * * * *
Noa hated running like this, but Asuma was right. It was impossible to
close in on both of them without being cut to pieces. If there was just
ONE, she might be able to zigzag in close enough for hand-to-hand, but with
both of them able to do significant damage to her if their weapons hit, it
was impossible. She needed support, and she just wasn't getting it.
She'd have to do something sometime soon, though. Her batteries had been
under a heavy drain since the battle started, and she had no idea how long
they'd last at this pace. Furthermore, she was being driven into a corner.
And when they cornered her, it was only a matter of time...
A flash of yellow appeared behind the two hybrids, and a bar of metal
flashed up and struck at both of them. Noa saw that one of them- the one
with the EMP weapon, she thought- received some hip damage, which would
slow it some. The yellow labor, which she realized was the American labor
Asuma had told her about, quickly turned and sped off, taking the other
labor with it in pursuit.
Noa's face hardened into a much more determined grimace. It was one on
one, now. She shouldn't have been so defeatist in the first place- she
knew she had at least one ally out there in the Griffin, and now it looked
like she had more than one willing to help her. It was time for her to
move in and seize control of this whole mess.
* * * * *
Bud grimaced, glancing at the damage control monitors for the Griffin. The
Zeros had been concentrating on his damaged arm, and by now it was
completely useless. Without it, he wasn't sure he could beat both of the
Zeros at once even if he COULD fight back against them. It appeared as
though they had realized Noa was still on their side, but had yet to
recognize that he wasn't against them, either. They still weren't doing
anything to help Noa, though, and until he got past them there was nothing
he could do.
Risking a glance in her direction, just to make sure she was still in the
action, he saw to his surprise that she was charging in against one of the
hybrids. He didn't see the other one- it didn't seem as though Noa could
have done anything, and that other Ingram had been sliced and diced
already, so its disappearance worried him. Where was it? Where had it
gone?
He was answered when a yellow labor- probably the Rumbler that he'd heard
Wong mentioning- came running between him and the two Zeros, being chased
by the other hybrid. The energy beams emerging from the hybrid's arm that
appeared aimed at every one of them convinced the Zeros that they might be
better off ignoring him for a while to deal with this aggressor. It was
the break he needed to step back and try and make stop-gap repairs to the
Griffin.
The arm was a total loss. He just ejected it, hoping to reduce the drain
on his systems. Additionally, there was some damage to his sensors that he
had to lock down, and one leg was sluggish for no reason he could tell.
The Rumbler was dealt the price of leading the hybrid into the other three
labors, having its legs cut out from underneath it by the energy cannon.
The Zeros were moving in to fight the thing, but already Bud could see
their strategy was futile. He had to hurry and lock down the damage before
something serious happened.
One Zero was behind the hybrid, trying to move in close. The other was
trying to distract it from the front, but wasn't able to give a very long
distraction. The energy blasts came too quickly, and soon the first Zero
was down.
The Zero behind the hybrid was actually able to engage in a little bit of
hand-to-hand. Unfortunately, most of that hand-to-hand was the hybrid
applying damaging force to the Zero. An elbow to the head destroying all
of the sensors in the patlabor was the first blow, and a karate chop
severing both legs was the last. Bud, repairs finally completed, knew that
he'd have his hands full. Especially with just one arm.
Charging in just as the music on his speakers changed from the overture to
The Flying Dutchman into the Ride of the Valkyries, Bud struck out with a
piercing spear-hand. The hybrid backed off faster than he had been
expecting, and the Griffin overbalanced. Still, his attack managed to
strike the knee, giving the hybrid a limp. Bud nevertheless knew the fight
was over even before he heard the plasma weapon pierce his armor, severing
the power supply from the rest of his labor.
The monitors went out, and a huge explosion in the distance signaled that
something had happened in Noa's battle. As things went black, Bud closed
his eyes.
"Good luck, sis," he prayed.
The speakers, running on a separate power supply, continued to play on in
reply.
* * * * *
"Asuma," Noa said, dodging a punch as she tried to hold the electromagnetic
pulse weapon away from her. "Power's running down fast, and this guy is
moving like the Griffin. I'm in serious trouble."
"Try to draw your baton," Asuma's voice chimed in. "It'll make whatever
attacks you get in that much more powerful. And step closer in- it may
move as fast as the Griffin, but I'm pretty sure it's not as strong and
you'd have the advantage if you get close enough to negate his
maneuverability."
"Roger," Noa acknowledged, taking a moment to draw her baton. It was a
moment she could ill-afford, however, because by the time it was out the
other labor had its weapon trained on her. "Shit!" she cried, reacting as
best she could- stepping in and striking out with as much force as she
could muster. Simultaneously, the pulse went off. Alphonse's computer
systems went haywire, and for a moment she feared she'd failed... until she
heard the sound of the baton, running on an internal power supply,
directing a disabling EMP of its own through the other labor. Maybe she'd
won.
"Asuma, I think we got each other at the same time. Anything I can do?"
* * * * *
"Try shutting down all of your systems and performing a complete reboot,"
Asuma suggested through the radio. "That worked with Ohta's labor last
time."
Kurosaki, looking through the binoculars, cursed. "Shit."
"What?" Takeo asked, her eyes burning into the man. She was starting to
hate him.
"Your Ingram out there just pierced the hybrid at a very vulnerable spot."
"Oh, is that all?" Takeo said.
"No, it isn't," Kurosaki added. "That spot just happens to be vulnerable
because it's the location of the explosives for the labor's self-destruct
mechanism. Usually, it wouldn't matter, but since that Ingram's weapon
just happens to be sending a continual electrical charge through that
system, I'm wondering how long it will take for the self-destruct system to
accidentally engage."
Asuma, who hadn't been paying any attention until he heard the words
'self-destruct mechanism,' looked at him in shock, his eyes widening.
"Noa!" he cried. "Forget the shutdown- just strap yourself in and brace-"
The explosion was harsh enough to temporarily blind everyone on the deck of
the Sangria. "NOAAAA!" Asuma cried, his voice barely heard over the din.
Takeo and Wong were blinking and rubbing their eyes, hoping to see better
what had happened on the shore. "Hell," Wong muttered, barely able to make
out the burning wreckage.
"Noa, come in!" Asuma shouted furiously. All he could see was the bonfire
in the middle of the dockyard. "Noa, do you read me?" he said desperately.
"Where's Alphonse?" Takeo asked, her eyes clearing up. "I only see the
wreckage of one labor."
Utsumi scanned the dockyard, finally spotting the Ingram. "Over there-
looks like it was knock almost fifty feet away. Just how powerful an
explosive did you think you NEEDED, Kurosaki," he growled, annoyance
finally showing in his voice.
"The charge in the Griffin was insufficient, last time," Kurosaki noted.
"There was some material that the police were able to salvage for study."
"NOA! COME IN!" Asuma screamed.
Takeo looked at him sadly, then glanced at Wong. He returned her gaze,
nodding slightly. Sighing, she approached the upset young man, raising a
hand to gently put it on his shoulder. "Asuma, maybe..."
"Noa, is that you!?" he said, an almost reverent whisper in his voice.
Takeo blinked, leaning in to see if she could hear what was being said.
"A...su...ma," she heard. "...love... you."
"NOA!" he shouted. Glancing out to the battlefield, he could see that the
other hybrid was limping over in the direction of the fallen Alphonse.
"Dammit," he snarled. "Noa, hold on- I'll be right there!"
Ignoring the others, he leapt over the side of the boat. Takeo, taken by
surprise, reached out just as he cleared the fence, but just missed
catching him by the back of his shirt. She closed her eyes, not wanting to
see him, in his sanity-depriving fear, fall to his death.
She heard no splat of his body hitting the concrete, however, nor a splash
from falling into the water. "Resourceful lad, isn't he?" Wong said.
Re-opening her eyes, Takeo saw Asuma clinging to a line between the boat
and the shore, probably burning the skin off his hands as he slid down it
to the shore. Giving out a huge sigh of relief, she turned to Utsumi and
smiled slightly. "Determined, more likely. He's quite attached to that
girl, even if he didn't realize it until recently."
Wong sighed, grasping her hand lightly. "I wanted to go back... when my
security man shot you. I REALLY did. I do love you, you know- I never
stopped."
"I know," Takeo said, rubbing his hand with her thumb. "Let's just hope
their story turns out better than ours has, so far."
Glancing over at the limp Alphonse, he nodded. "Let's hope they still have
that chance."
Kurosaki, however, had a different opinion. "Bah... that boy should have
learned long ago not to let his personal feelings get in the way of getting
the job done. He'd have been better off trying to contact the command
officers and getting them to investigate."
Wong's expression went cold. Takeo blinked- she hadn't seen him get that
angry very often, and was shocked that the comment Kurosaki made was what
triggered it. When Richard started speaking, however, she understood.
"Is that so? I did the sensible thing, going against my heart, years ago.
I've regretted it ever since. I damn near lost the woman I loved more than
anything in my life," he snarled. "And I'm damn lucky I got her back. You
want to know why I'm really here, Kurosaki? Asuma just couldn't believe I
was doing this to help him. And you know what? He was right. I was
willing to help him hide, but I probably wouldn't have done any real
investigating if I hadn't run into Takeo here. My job was SUPPOSED to be
to get rid of any evidence of Noa and Asuma's whereabouts... but I thought
it was much more important to try and get Takeo back into my life. And I
decided that, if that meant losing the Griffin, my position in Shaft, and
everything else I held dear, well, it would be worth it. And, so, to get
her back, I decided to get Asuma off the hook, using my inside sources.
And I don't regret it one bit."
Takeo looked at him, a little shocked. "I'd hoped you were actually
reforming," she said.
He looked at her, half-smiling. "I have. After all, this time, I decided
to act on my heart for you. Last time... my heart told me not to leave
you, last time, you know. I didn't listen to it, then."
"And you have, now?"
Wong's smile widened. "Well, I'm still working on it. I've been using
both my heart and my head, now. But I think I'm starting to trust my heart
just a LITTLE bit more."
Takeo said nothing, and turned to look out at where Asuma was climbing up
the shell of Alphonse. She desperately hoped that nothing had happened to
Noa. If Asuma and Noa didn't come out of this alive, intact, and
together... well, she feared that what little progress she'd made on Wong
would be gone forever. After all, why listen to his heart when all it did
was result in the death of his friends?
While she and Utsumi were busy sorting out their feelings, Kurosaki saw
that it was probably the only chance he would have to leave...
* * * * *
Asuma opened the hatch manually, scrambling madly in his panic. Noa HAD to
be all right- she just HAD to. He'd lost everyone else in his life- his
mother, his brother, his father... all had died. All had died suddenly.
And now, Noa... Noa couldn't be dead, could she? She just had to be
alive...
He stepped into the cockpit, and there she was. Blood was pouring from all
over, where glass shards from several monitors exploding had pierced her.
One arm was bent oddly, probably broken. She was quite plainly badly hurt-
the question was whether she was even alive.
Quickly, he fumbled for a pulse. Desperately, he felt her neck... and felt
nothing. No- it couldn't be. She was dead. She was DEAD!
Unable to deal with it all, he collapsed to the floor, tears running down
his cheeks. Everything he had was gone. What did it all matter, any more?
* * * * *
Takeo saw that the remaining hybrid had finally found where the explosion
had thrown the stunned Alphonse. She sighed, and glanced over at Wong.
"Richard... is there some way you can tune your communications equipment
into the same frequency of Asuma's headset? If he gets Alphonse running
again, he's going to need a command officer- I doubt the sensor equipment
will have survived all of that."
Wong frowned, observing the situation. "How long does it take to shut down
and complete a reboot in an Ingram?"
Takeo frowned. "An average time of around five minutes, if things work
right, why?"
"Then do you have another suggestion for someone to call? He doesn't have
time to reboot before the other hybrid strikes."
Takeo looked at the scene again. "Well... it won. It's not going to
attack any more, is it?"
Wong sighed. "Takeo... the only reason the Phantom and the Griffin never
killed anyone is because I didn't let Shaft talk me into the same 'leave no
witnesses' policy that got you shot. If it closes in on Alphonse... both
Noa and Asuma won't be allowed to live."
* * * * *
"Asuma?" a voice weakly said.
He twitched. Was that her ghost? Was she trying to communicate with him
from beyond the grave?
"Asuma!" her pained voice cried. That sounded too real. Maybe she was
going to haunt him- it was HIS bad advice that lead to the explosion which
killed her, anyway.
A weak hand touched his face, and he looked up. Noa's eyes were open. She
was actually alive? "Noa?" he whispered, wonder in his voice.
"Asuma..." she croaked again, then faded out. He checked, and found she
was still breathing after all.
"Heh... well, I didn't do well in the field medic class at the Academy," he
mumbled to himself, pulling out the labor's first aid kit and doing what he
could to help her. There wasn't much, though, because he didn't want to
make the glass splinters in her body get any worse. "Let's get Alphonse's
reboot restarted, and then see what we can do to fix you up while that's
going, okay love?" he muttered to her, not caring that she probably
couldn't hear it.
He ejected Alphonse's movement disk just in case there was a problem, and
began powering the labor back up. Thirty seconds later, just before he was
about to put the disk back in, a message flashed up on the only intact
screen in the labor.
"Insufficient power. Low Battery. Please replace or recharge battery
before continuing start-up sequence."
Asuma cursed. "Hell," he said. "We're sitting ducks, Noa. We have to
abandon him. We'll come back for him, though, I promise," he said. He
unhooked the one strap she was wearing- a shoulder strap which dislocated
her arm by probably saved her life. Glancing around for anything he could
salvage, all he saw was the emergency shotgun (used to keep people from
trying to enter the cabin unwanted, and as a back-up defense in case the
battery died) and the spent first aid kit. Grabbing the gun, he strapped
it to his back, knowing it was probably useless in his situation and had
only three shots if it came down to that. Re-opening the hatch, he gently
picked Noa up, cradling her to his chest, and left the wreckage. Slowly,
he made his way back to the ground, being careful not to jostle his
precious cargo.
On the ground, he glanced around, assessing the situation. The other
hybrid, limping badly, was making its way over to Alphonse. Asuma walked
off as quickly as he dared, knowing that the modus operandi of Shaft would
dictate it concentrate on the Ingram and leave the people alone. Noa could
kill him for abandoning Alphonse, later- her life was more important.
He was about sixty paces away from the fallen patlabor when he noticed the
hybrid was no longer targeting Alphonse. Instead, it seemed to be
following... him.
"Murderers," he spat, breaking into a run.
* * * * *
Kanuka applied a little disinfectant to a nasty-looking cut on Gomioka's
shoulder. He hissed slightly as the contact burned away any infection, but
Kanuka continued her treatment. Over his shoulder, Kanuka could see where
Ohta was bent over, giving the pilot of the other Zero a better angle to
draw a small piece of shrapnel from his shoulder.
Gomioka frowned. "Just what is that labor doing?"
Kanuka looked up from her ministrations over to where the hybrid was
continuing to pursue Asuma, who was cradling an apparently wounded Noa in
his arms. "I have no idea... I don't think they would-"
"Oh, I think Mr. Kurosaki was ordered that there be no mercy shown," an
unexpected voice broke in. "The labor is going to try and kill them. And
when it's done with him, it'll come after us."
"WHAT?!" Ohta snarled.
"I'm afraid he's probably telling the truth," another voice said. This
one, they all recognized- Takeo.
"Then what are we staying around here, for?" the officer treating Ohta said
in surprise.
"Where would we go?" the man who they had yet to recognize said. "We can't
leave the dockyard fast enough on foot, my ship isn't capable of getting
underway in time to escape. And that plasma beam will mow us down if we
try finding a car or something. No... we don't really have any options."
"Sis will handle it," a boy, who Kanuka recognized as Bud Reynard, said
with conviction. "She beat me."
"Your 'sis' doesn't have a labor," Takeo noted. "And she's unconscious.
Asuma is trying to carry her to safety, but he's in even worse shape than
we are."
"There must be something we can do," Gomioka said forcefully. "I will NOT
just sit here and die."
"We can pick up one of the labor guns," Ohta suggested, "And fire it by
hand. I've done it once, when I had Hiromi to help me..."
"I don't think we can kill it with one shot," Kanuka said. "Takeo, am I
right in assuming that man with you is Mr. Richard Wong?"
Both Takeo and the man looked a little surprised. "Well... yes. He is."
Kanuka nodded, unsurprised. The others, however, were startled- why was
Takeo hanging around the man who had shot her? "Mr. Wong, I assume you DID
come up with a back-up plan, some way to escape should this very situation
arise?"
"Escape? Not really," he said. "But, I wouldn't be surprised if my
contingency plan will be here in time to protect us." Wong glanced over at
the labor, still marching slowly towards Asuma- who had stopped running for
some reason and was setting Noa down. "THEM, on the other hand..."
* * * * *
"He's hobbled, but he's still moving a lot faster than I can while carrying
you, Noa," Asuma said. She was still unconscious, but it felt better to
talk to her. "And I'm really starting to tire out."
He gently set her down, carefully laying her out so as to not aggravate her
injuries. "I can't run any more, Noa. I don't know what I can do to stop
him, but whatever happens I won't let him at you. I promise."
Her eyes cracked open. "Don't lie," she whispered through pain-clenched
teeth. Asuma's own eyes widened in surprise. "If he gets you, I don't
care if he gets to me or not. So don't even try."
Asuma couldn't look at her. "I won't let him kill you. Not you, too...
they've already killed my father, you know? They killed my father... and
now they're going after you. I can't let that happen." He pulled the
shotgun off his shoulder. "I don't know whether this is supposed to be
effective against that thing, but it HAS to work. We don't have anything
else."
"Asuma," Noa whispered, her eyes closing again. "I don't regret it. Any
of it. I-"
"Shh," he hushed her. "I know, Noa. I know. I feel the same way. Save
your strength, love."
He looked at the labor. It had stopped, and was raising its arm.
Apparently, it had decided it didn't need to get any closer, and was going
to vaporize them with the plasma cannon. He sighted the gun along the
barrel. He was always a poor shot, but he didn't have a choice right now.
He had to find a weak point, and hit it.
But first, he had to get rid of that weapon.
He could see that the weapon had him targeted. He could see the red glow
of the gathering plasma. And he could tell he had already pulled the
trigger without realizing it.
With a massive explosion, the hybrid's arm became a ball of fire as the
plasma containment system was breached.
* * * * *
Ohta was amazed. "When did Shinohara get to be THAT good a shot?"
"It wasn't a good shot," Gomioka said. "It was a lucky shot. There was no
way he could have made a shot like that intentionally."
Takeo hesitated. "I don't know about that... if it's important enough to a
person, they can often do surprising things..."
"Hush!" Wong commanded. "I think my contingency plan has arrived, but... I
don't think this is over. Not yet."
Everyone returned their attention to the hybrid, and saw he was right. The
arm might have become a charred remnant of its former self, but the labor
was still moving. And was moving towards Noa and Asuma, too.
* * * * *
It took a few seconds for the shock of his very good shot to get over
Asuma. Then he noticed that the hybrid had taken it in stride, and started
walking over to them. Obviously, if it could vaporize them, it would try
to squash them.
He took aim and squeezed off a couple of other shots, but he really had no
weak points he could target. They hit, but were utterly ineffective. And
by now, it was too late.
"Run!" Noa's pained voice shouted up at him. He looked down at her, into
her tear-filled eyes. "I don't want you dead, too. Get out of here."
Asuma huffed. "I won't leave you. And I can't carry you any more... it's
over, Noa. It's over."
Noa closed her eyes and sighed, gathering her strength. Finally, she
slowly sat up. Her legs shuffled a bit as if she was trying to stand, but
she was unsuccessful. Asuma's eyes widened and he knelt down to her side.
Noa shook her head, grasping him in a powerful hug despite all the pain it
must have caused her. "I can't get up, Asuma. Not right now... my legs
won't work right. I'm sorry."
Asuma found his own eyes were tearing up, as well, and he hugged her back.
Maybe she was hurting, but it didn't matter. Just holding her was a great
comfort... they'd be together when the end came. He wouldn't be alone....
The shadow over his head signaled their doom. He clenched tighter, waiting
for it to come.
The large crunching sound he heard, however, was not that of his and Noa's
bones being turned into powder by the weight of the hybrid. Instead, it
sounded like metal crunching metal.
He looked up, and saw, much to his surprise, that there was yet another
Patlabor standing over them, protecting them. A Zero. It stepped past
them, continuing it's attack on the wounded hybrid, as he watched in
amazement. "Noa?" he whispered reverently.
"Yes, Asuma?"
"I think we made it."
A few seconds later, a command car drove up right beside them, and two
people stepped out. One of them was the slightly-pudgy Inspector Matsui,
who's attention was on the labor battle. The hybrid was obviously losing,
and it was only a matter of time.
The other man was their one-time captain, Gotoh. "Well, you two," he said,
smiling down on them. "Are you going to surrender, or will we have to add
resisting arrest to your charges?"
Asuma glared up at him, gathering his strength to once more pick Noa up.
"Not now," he snapped, not caring what happened to him. "Noa needs a
hospital. Get an ambulance here, now."
Gotoh's smile quickly disappeared, and he ducked into the car to radio the
hospital. Across the dockyard, the Zero piloted by Captain Shinobu
finished tearing the hybrid to pieces.
It was over.
They had survived.
* * * * *
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"Noa," Asuma ordered through the microphone. The eight labors he was
paying attention to were still in a standoff, and he was still unsure
whether the Rumbler was going to intervene. He hoped he could get
everything done before it did anything, but he knew that was unlikely.
However, until he knew which side it might come in on, he had to pay
attention to the more immediate dangers. "Draw your gun, and get ready to
use it. It won't do anything significant to those Brochens, but you might
be able to disable an Abraham with it."
"Roger," Noa acknowledged, directing Alphonse to draw its revolver. She
wasn't even going to argue for the preservation of the Abrahams- if it
stood in the way of her clearing Asuma's name, she'd get rid of it.
"Mr. Utsumi, sir," a young messenger said, running up to the man.
"Yes, Mr. Iguchi?" Utsumi said to the man, pulling away from Takeo. Iguchi
whispered a few words into his ear, and his smile grew devilish. "He is?
Well, welcome him aboard and escort him here! We shouldn't leave him out
of the party. After all, everyone ELSE has a representative here... well,
everyone but that American labor."
The messenger nodded, running off.
"Who's coming?" Takeo asked curiously.
"An old friend," Wong replied. "Who also has a stake in this coming
battle, if I don't miss my guess."
"You're being evasive," Takeo clucked.
"I just don't want to spoil the surprise!" he laughed.
Asuma, standing just within hearing range, glared at him. "Uh huh... why
do I get the feeling we won't LIKE this surprise?"
"Surprise?" Noa asked, not able to tell he was talking to Utsumi through
the microphone. "What surprise?"
"A friend of Utsumi's is coming aboard," Asuma explained. "I don't like
it. In fact, if a battle's going to take place, I'd rather it started
before he got here. Move in, but take no hostile action until they do."
"Roger," Noa replied, and Alphonse started marching into the line of
labors. A Brochen moved to step in her way, so she tried to turn and avoid
it, only to be cut off by the other one.
"We're being surrounded, Sis," Bud said through the Griffin's speakers.
When he spoke, Wong snapped his fingers.
"I almost forgot AGAIN! Hold on a moment," he said, dashing into the
control cabin briefly.
While he was away, the Brochen behind Alphonse started closing in. "Noa!
Look out!" Asuma cried.
Before Noa could react, the Brochen launched an attack, striking out with
its fist with the intention of punching a whole through the patlabor. The
Griffin intercepted the blow, deflecting it with a quick forearm and
shoving the military labor back several steps. As the Griffin started
moving into action, a sound sprang forth from the speaker.
"Music?" Asuma said curiously.
"Wagner," Utsumi explained, emerging from the office. "We put the speakers
on the thing just so it could play Wagner when it moved. We hadn't done
that until just now."
"The Flying Dutchman?" Takeo said, curiously. "Knowing you, I'd have
expected the Rings of the Nieberlung."
"Let's just say that if things don't turn out well in this action, I have a
feeling we'll be stuck at sea for a very long time," he explained.
"Why is that?" Takeo asked.
"Because," a new voice answered. "He knows that if Shaft survives this
little encounter, he won't be able to survive going anywhere Shaft has
offices. And Shaft has offices all over the world.
"Ah! Mr. Kurosaki!" Wong chirped. "I was wondering how long it would take
for you to get here."
Kurosaki, the man who had once posed as the chief negotiator for Holly
Security Systems, and who had one point been Utsumi's right hand man,
approached the gathering of people on the deck, escorted by Iguchi. "I
must thank you for this opportunity to be your replacement, sir."
Utsumi laughed. "You're only my replacement if there's a company to make
you one, Mr. Kurosaki. I don't think there will be one when this is all
over."
"Only if you win, Utsumi. And I don't believe that's going to happen...."
"You don't think so?" Utsumi said, turning his attention back on the fight.
"Why not?"
The forces had squared off. Alphonse, instead of being surrounded, was now
confidently facing both Brochens, which appeared to be slightly scuffed
from prior action. Meanwhile, Shaft Security Systems' four Abrahams had
encircled the Griffin, mimicking the former battle the two sides had
engaged in on the Babylon Gates. One of the Abrahams attacked, but the
attack was quickly countered by a shoulder throw into two of its
companions.
"If you're going to beat us," Takeo noted, "I don't think it will be with
these labors."
* * * * *
Kanuka watched the initial hostilities break out, and quickly realized that
Asuma had come here to find something important. For some reason, he had
formed an alliance with Utsumi to get it, too.
And Shaft Security Systems was trying to stop him.
Since she was investigating to see if the 3-S was involved in ANY illegal
activities, she had to know just what it was they were so anxious to
protect. And if, while doing so, she could find what Asuma was desperately
searching for, well, she wouldn't have any objection. And, considering all
of the fighting going on, it was unlikely anyone would notice her for a
while.
She started to move her Rumbler out, and got about halfway to the warehouse
before her sensors picked up movement on her right flank.
'Reinforcements!' she thought worriedly. Quickly, she found cover and
waited until they passed, drawing her firearm just in case.
When the two type Zeros and the Ingram passed by her, she realized that the
new arrivals weren't exactly reinforcements after all.
* * * * *
Gomioka whistled in amazement as he took in the scene. He'd seen plenty of
combat in his labor, but this was the most high-powered battle he'd yet
seen. One Ingram- Alphonse, perhaps the best produced Ingram ever,
considering how fine-tuned the mechanics squad had been able to make it-
two Brochens, four Abrahams, and, to top it all off, the god-damned GRIFFIN
were engaged in heavy combat not more than a hundred yards from his
position. And it was his duty to get in the middle of that fight.
He couldn't quite tell who was on who's side- though it seemed that the
Ingram and the Griffin were trying to work together. He didn't know who's
side he should go in on, either- the Ingram was piloted by an AWOL police
officer, but her apparent ally was one of the greatest criminal labor
pilots in Japanese history. Shaft owned the Abrahams and the Griffins, and
most people in the police thought of Shaft as being little more than a
business Yakuza, but this WAS their property and they did have the right to
defend it. And, for all he knew, the Griffin was a part of Shaft, too, so
didn't it have as much right to be here as Shaft Security Systems? Though,
now that he thought about it, Shaft had disavowed any knowledge of the
Griffin when they'd been questioned about it.
"Traitor!" Ohta roared over the radio, and charged in toward the Ingram
and, since they happened to be in that direction, too, the two Brochens.
One of the two military labors turned from Alphonse to face him down.
Well, that settled it, in Gomioka's mind. Obviously, Ohta was out for
Noa's blood, and he couldn't calm him down. He wasn't sure he SHOULD calm
him down at this point, anyway. Instead, he had to act... and since the
Brochen was a known enemy, the Griffin was, at least at one time, a bitter
enemy, and the Ingram was going to be an enemy whatever he decided, maybe
he should just take all of the labors down and sort it out afterwards.
* * * * *
"Uh, oh," Wong frowned. "Looks like your friends from the SV2 have arrived
earlier than I expected."
"Doesn't change anything," Asuma said, directing his voice away from the
microphone to make sure he did not distract Noa. His eyes did not leave
the battle, however. "I was hoping they'd get here before the fight was
over, myself."
"Yes," Wong said distractedly, fumbling with a radio microphone of his own.
"But I should make sure we don't hurt them too badly. Bud?"
A crackle of static came over the speaker on Utsumi's radio. "Yes?"
"A few new labors from Special Vehicles have shown up on the scene. Please
try to remember we're working WITH the police this time, not against them.
They just don't know it yet."
"What if they attack me?" Bud's voice asked.
Wong thought about that for a few seconds, and witnessed the Griffin
deliver a powerful blow which shattered the chassis of one of the Abrahams.
Two of the others were slightly damaged, but still battle capable. A
third had yet to actively enter the fight. And, it seemed, the two Type
Zeros were closing in.
"If they attack you, just be sure you don't hurt them any more than you
have to in order to survive. We want them happy, remember."
* * * * *
Noa was not a happy camper. The Brochens had not been trying to fight her,
yet. Instead, they were driving her away from the Griffin, isolating her.
Hoping, perhaps, to get her alone and finish her off quick.
They got her a considerable distance away, though the Griffin was still
visible in her line of sight, when one of the two labors broke off and
engaged... another Ingram. Asuma's voice in her ear informed her that the
SV2 had arrived, and was apparently going after everyone, and then she
didn't have time to think any more because the Brochen finally made its
move.
Rapidly directing Alphonse to duck the blow to its head, she started
thinking strategy. Drawing her electromagnetic baton, she charged through
the attack and clipped the other labor in the torso, staggering it.
Quickly pushing out Alphonse's foot, she hooked the Brochen's leg and sent
it to the ground. Spinning the baton around, she pierced the metal armor
of the military labor, disabling it.
"Brochen one has been dispatched, Asuma. I'm currently out of the action-
what should I do?"
"Ohta seems to be taking care of the other Brochen for us- though I think
it's unwillingly," Asuma's reassuring voice yelled out. "Helping him would
only get us into even more trouble at the moment. Why don't you help Bud
out? He's having problems trying to avoid the Zeros without hurting them."
"Roger," she agreed. Retrieving her baton, she turned her attention
towards the spot where the Griffin was still tangled with five labors.
Just as she was about to run into the action, a powerful energy beam passed
right in front of Alphonse, exploding the concrete not more than ten feet
away. "Ack! What was that?!" Noa cried.
* * * * *
"Where the hell did THAT come from?!" Asuma exclaimed, echoing Noa's
sentiments.
Kurosaki stepped over to Wong. "Well, I kind of agree with your friends.
I don't think two Brochens and four Abrahams would be enough to handle the
Griffin and the Ingram. So, when we saw that the Sangria was coming into
port, I brought along a couple of experimentals which may be a bit more of
a challenge. Meet the SRX-71 and the SRX-72. A hybrid, if you will, of
the technology behind the Griffin, the Saturn, and the Phantom."
On the battlefield, a pair of labors, both reminiscent of the SR-70
Saturns, appeared from behind a large set of crates.
Utsumi stepped back, slightly startled. "A hybrid?"
Kurosaki nodded. "Like I said, thank you for giving me your job. You're
too much of a loose cannon, so I was appointed to replace you in the
military labor research section by the Division Manager. I took those
lessons we learned from you all too well."
Utsumi frowned. "I thought we determined that hand-to-hand was the way to
go."
"That we did," Kurosaki agreed. "But that philosophy gave us the same
results as the heavy weapons of the Phantom did. No, in the end I realized
it wasn't the weapons that was the problem with the earlier version, it was
the lack of speed and maneuverability. What good is a weapon if you can't
use it? The Saturns were maneuverable enough, especially when enhanced by
the Griffin technological developments, but really were underpowered-
especially to handle all the technology we included on the Phantom project.
So we developed two variants, pulling in the technology you developed in
the Griffin project. We replaced the weapons ports for the firearms with
the power generation and distribution nodules from the Griffin, and
miniaturized the weapons of the Phantom project, placing them in the
electromagnetic combat knife storage system slot. In the SRX-71, you have
the Plasma Cannon. In the SRX-72, you have the Electromagnetic Pulse
Generator. The results, well... we'll see in this action how effective the
results are, won't we?"
Takeo frowned. "Why are you telling us all of this?"
Kurosaki laughed. "Because it doesn't matter. All we want is to see how
these labors do when facing the Ingram and the Griffin. By the time this
battle is over, anything you might have been coming here looking for will
be long gone."
As Asuma frantically relayed this information over to Noa, Richard Wong
looked at Takeo with an expression only she would know meant he was
worried.
* * * * *
Kanuka heard the explosion behind her- a sound which reminded her of a
certain snowy night almost a year beforehand- and shuddered. It sounded as
though something more powerful than she'd thought Shaft had available at
the time. She couldn't worry about it right then, though- her job was to
find out what Shaft was hiding in that warehouse. Then, if it was as
incriminating as she'd hoped, maybe she could join the fight and not get
into TOO much trouble when she got back to the States. Besides, it was
entirely possible that finding whatever it was that Noa and Asuma were
looking for would be the best help they could get.
Hoping the battle would be enough of a distraction that she could get into
the warehouse unobserved, Kanuka moved out from her hiding place and
started running in as fast as her labor could travel. Reaching the
warehouse's loading dock, she pried the door open.
To her surprise, there was a lot of activity going on in the building.
Dozens of people were running around, taking what looked like labor parts
and loading them into a truck as fast as they could. Additionally, one
group of people was carrying something quite familiar to Kanuka. A police
labor revolver.
Putting two and two together, Kanuka quickly realized what was going on.
The labor parts being loaded weren't labor parts at all, but a labor shell
which could be adapted as a disguise, making any labor look like a
patlabor- likely an Ingram, from the shape and color, though Kanuka
couldn't tell the make for certain in as many pieces as it was. The
revolver, obviously, was the murder weapon used to kill Asuma's father.
The evidence. Shaft was trying to get the evidence of their guilt out of
the area as fast as they could, hoping to avoid discovery by the police.
Well, they had been discovered. And Kanuka was angry.
"This is Interpol. I am using the authority granted me by international
treaty to put you ALL under arrest!" People started scrambling away,
until Kanuka drew her gun. "FREEZE!" Everyone stopped- no-one was willing
to chance a labor with a gun. With this evidence secured, Asuma's name
would be cleared.
The question was, though, how she could keep it secure if she needed to run
out and save Noa from whatever those two mystery labors were?
* * * * *
Bud Reynard directed the Griffin to rip the arm off of the labor he'd just
dispatched. Pivoting and thrusting out with the metallic limb, he pierced
the armor of the final Abraham, knocking it out of commission permanently.
Level one was complete.
He observed the rest of the field. Noa was having difficulty with the new
labors- she seemed to be on the run, mostly, unable to spend the time to
draw her gun or move in for fear of being struck by one of the weapons. He
started to move in to aid her, but the two Zeros cut in front of him. He
could easily pass through them, but not without causing them severe damage.
The other Ingram, however, which was also in serious trouble from the
Brochen it was facing, could probably be helped without too much
difficulty. Charging in from behind, he struck out. The Brochen was
heavily armored, but the hands of the Griffin were designed to pierce any
labor armor yet designed and Bud was intimately familiar with its layout.
Piercing the back of the military labor across its 'spine,' he ripped out
the power supply- both battery and connectors- before it had a chance to
react.
He could see Noa in desperate need of assistance. She was running out of
room to run, and she still couldn't move in on her opponents. She needed a
distraction, at least. Now that he'd rescued the Ingram and left the
Zero's behind, maybe he could give her that distraction.
He didn't count on the Ingram not being as grateful as he'd hoped it would.
Before he could move into action, a metal fist backhanded the Griffin,
knocking it back into the charging Zeros, damaging an elbow joint in the
process. While the Ingram charged off in Noa's direction, Bud found his
attention taken by the two other police labors.
As he watched the Ingram run off, he shook his head. "Ingrate," he
snarled, before trying to find a way of evading the two Zeros with a
damaged arm.
* * * * *
Ohta ignored the Griffin. It, too, was a criminal, but the Zeros could
deal with it now. Batting it out of his way, he turned to once more run
after the traitor. There was an explosion a few feet away from his labor's
legs, but he didn't care. Sure, once he'd dealt with the traitor, he could
take care of the other criminals around here, but the traitor was the
number one priority.
He ran up and grappled with her, catching her unawares. Apparently, the
other criminals were too much of a distraction for her, and so he was able
to surprise her with his attack.
His headset crackled to life. "OHTA!" Noa's outraged voice broke in
through the speakers. "ARE YOU INSANE? DO YOU WANT US BOTH KILLED?" she
shrieked.
"Quit begging for mercy, traitor- you won't get it!" Ohta snarled. HE was
the betrayed one- she had no right to feel outraged.
"Ohta, you idiot!" Asuma's voice intervened. Ohta's eyes widened- so the
murderous criminal mastermind was somewhere nearby. "In case you hadn't
notice, you're being shot at by the same energy weapon which sliced the arm
off your labor about a year ago. If you don't start paying attention to
what you're-"
"SHUT UP, MURDERER!" Ohta screamed. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY ANYTHING TO
ME!"
"Stubborn, pigheaded, obsessive idiot," he heard being muttered, then some
shuffling, as if the headset was being given over to someone else.
"Ohta, this is Lieutenant Takeo! Listen up!"
Even though she couldn't see him, he snapped to a seated attention. "Yes,
SIR!"
"Noa is by no means a traitor. Maybe a little hot-headed in this case, but
you're ALWAYS a little hot-headed."
"Wha-" he started to reply. He hadn't ever heard Takeo talk to him this
way, before.
"We have reason to believe that Shaft Enterprises murdered Asuma's father,
framed him for the crime, and had made sure he would be assassinated while
in prison. Noa's breaking him out saved his life."
"But-"
"You will release Noa at once and turn your attention to the two labors
currently FIRING on you."
"Where's your evidence of this so called 'frame up?'" Ohta growled out, no
longer willing to trust his superior officer.
"We have the testimony of Mr. Richard Wong-"
"YOU BELIEVE THE MAN WHO HAD YOU SHOT!?"
"Oh, damn- the hybrids are closing in," Ohta heard Asuma say distantly.
"Give me the headset- I've gotta warn Noa..."
Ohta couldn't make out the rest of what was being said because suddenly
another radio transmission broke in. "Ohta, obey your superior officer.
And if you want to know about the evidence, I'm standing in a warehouse
full of it. See if you can't get some of your command car officers over
here, now. You guys are going to need me, and if I leave here now all the
evidence is going to disappear."
"Kanuka?! What are you doing here? What evidence?"
"I'm here investigating Shaft Security Systems for Interpol, and I'm
breaking radio silence to tell you what an idiot you're being! You want
evidence? How about if I said I found a fake labor shell, the murder
weapon, and, well, I just got a full confession from the pilot of the labor
which actually shot Mr. Shinohara."
Ohta blinked. "Are you... sure?"
"DAMMIT, OHTA!" Noa screamed in. "LET ME GO OR WE'LL BOTH BE DEAD!"
Ohta suddenly realized what was going on. Here he was, grappling with a
fellow cop, when all the REAL criminals were over there, shooting at him.
He released his grip on Alphonse, and turned towards the two hybrid labors.
"Attention, criminals," he announced through the speakers, stepping in
front of Noa and drawing his gun. "You are under arrest! This is your
only warning- leave your labors at once and you will not be harmed, but if
you try me-"
The flash of the electro-magnetic pulse striking his labor and scrambling
every electronic system in it stopped him before he could finish. The
other hybrid sliced off the arms, legs, and heads, quickly taking him out
of the action.
* * * * *
Kanuka was grateful to see Shinshi and Hiromi show up and take
responsibility for the people in the warehouse. The confession of the
murderer was an unexpected surprise- apparently, he had been feeling
increasingly remorseful for his actions, and her seizing the evidence gave
him the opportunity to accept the responsibility for his crime. Kanuka was
quick to get it in writing, and then turned her attention back to the
battle, with the hopes of finding someone to relieve her- or hopefully to
find that she wasn't needed in the fight at all.
Ever since she'd seen Ohta damn near get all of them killed, she'd been
getting more and more impatient to get involved. Thankfully, Ohta hadn't
succeeded in letting the hybrids take Noa out, for when he stepped in
between Noa and the two other labors he'd shielded her from their weapons.
Noa was able to use that to her advantage, and once more move out of range
and escape. She was still in a bad way, however- she needed someone to
distract her opponents badly. Now that Hiromi and Shinshi were here, she
could do something. She'd already broken radio silence, so there was no
reason she couldn't move actively any more. Time to strike.
Using her gun was a bad idea- it would attract their attention, yes, but
she'd be in the same situation as Noa and they'd be alert to a similar
attempt. No, she had to close in and attack. The Rumbler probably wasn't
good enough to take on both simultaneously, but she should be able to
distract them and then get away before they could eliminate her.
But get away to where? To run to Noa for support? Or... to lead them away
from Noa?
* * * * *
Noa hated running like this, but Asuma was right. It was impossible to
close in on both of them without being cut to pieces. If there was just
ONE, she might be able to zigzag in close enough for hand-to-hand, but with
both of them able to do significant damage to her if their weapons hit, it
was impossible. She needed support, and she just wasn't getting it.
She'd have to do something sometime soon, though. Her batteries had been
under a heavy drain since the battle started, and she had no idea how long
they'd last at this pace. Furthermore, she was being driven into a corner.
And when they cornered her, it was only a matter of time...
A flash of yellow appeared behind the two hybrids, and a bar of metal
flashed up and struck at both of them. Noa saw that one of them- the one
with the EMP weapon, she thought- received some hip damage, which would
slow it some. The yellow labor, which she realized was the American labor
Asuma had told her about, quickly turned and sped off, taking the other
labor with it in pursuit.
Noa's face hardened into a much more determined grimace. It was one on
one, now. She shouldn't have been so defeatist in the first place- she
knew she had at least one ally out there in the Griffin, and now it looked
like she had more than one willing to help her. It was time for her to
move in and seize control of this whole mess.
* * * * *
Bud grimaced, glancing at the damage control monitors for the Griffin. The
Zeros had been concentrating on his damaged arm, and by now it was
completely useless. Without it, he wasn't sure he could beat both of the
Zeros at once even if he COULD fight back against them. It appeared as
though they had realized Noa was still on their side, but had yet to
recognize that he wasn't against them, either. They still weren't doing
anything to help Noa, though, and until he got past them there was nothing
he could do.
Risking a glance in her direction, just to make sure she was still in the
action, he saw to his surprise that she was charging in against one of the
hybrids. He didn't see the other one- it didn't seem as though Noa could
have done anything, and that other Ingram had been sliced and diced
already, so its disappearance worried him. Where was it? Where had it
gone?
He was answered when a yellow labor- probably the Rumbler that he'd heard
Wong mentioning- came running between him and the two Zeros, being chased
by the other hybrid. The energy beams emerging from the hybrid's arm that
appeared aimed at every one of them convinced the Zeros that they might be
better off ignoring him for a while to deal with this aggressor. It was
the break he needed to step back and try and make stop-gap repairs to the
Griffin.
The arm was a total loss. He just ejected it, hoping to reduce the drain
on his systems. Additionally, there was some damage to his sensors that he
had to lock down, and one leg was sluggish for no reason he could tell.
The Rumbler was dealt the price of leading the hybrid into the other three
labors, having its legs cut out from underneath it by the energy cannon.
The Zeros were moving in to fight the thing, but already Bud could see
their strategy was futile. He had to hurry and lock down the damage before
something serious happened.
One Zero was behind the hybrid, trying to move in close. The other was
trying to distract it from the front, but wasn't able to give a very long
distraction. The energy blasts came too quickly, and soon the first Zero
was down.
The Zero behind the hybrid was actually able to engage in a little bit of
hand-to-hand. Unfortunately, most of that hand-to-hand was the hybrid
applying damaging force to the Zero. An elbow to the head destroying all
of the sensors in the patlabor was the first blow, and a karate chop
severing both legs was the last. Bud, repairs finally completed, knew that
he'd have his hands full. Especially with just one arm.
Charging in just as the music on his speakers changed from the overture to
The Flying Dutchman into the Ride of the Valkyries, Bud struck out with a
piercing spear-hand. The hybrid backed off faster than he had been
expecting, and the Griffin overbalanced. Still, his attack managed to
strike the knee, giving the hybrid a limp. Bud nevertheless knew the fight
was over even before he heard the plasma weapon pierce his armor, severing
the power supply from the rest of his labor.
The monitors went out, and a huge explosion in the distance signaled that
something had happened in Noa's battle. As things went black, Bud closed
his eyes.
"Good luck, sis," he prayed.
The speakers, running on a separate power supply, continued to play on in
reply.
* * * * *
"Asuma," Noa said, dodging a punch as she tried to hold the electromagnetic
pulse weapon away from her. "Power's running down fast, and this guy is
moving like the Griffin. I'm in serious trouble."
"Try to draw your baton," Asuma's voice chimed in. "It'll make whatever
attacks you get in that much more powerful. And step closer in- it may
move as fast as the Griffin, but I'm pretty sure it's not as strong and
you'd have the advantage if you get close enough to negate his
maneuverability."
"Roger," Noa acknowledged, taking a moment to draw her baton. It was a
moment she could ill-afford, however, because by the time it was out the
other labor had its weapon trained on her. "Shit!" she cried, reacting as
best she could- stepping in and striking out with as much force as she
could muster. Simultaneously, the pulse went off. Alphonse's computer
systems went haywire, and for a moment she feared she'd failed... until she
heard the sound of the baton, running on an internal power supply,
directing a disabling EMP of its own through the other labor. Maybe she'd
won.
"Asuma, I think we got each other at the same time. Anything I can do?"
* * * * *
"Try shutting down all of your systems and performing a complete reboot,"
Asuma suggested through the radio. "That worked with Ohta's labor last
time."
Kurosaki, looking through the binoculars, cursed. "Shit."
"What?" Takeo asked, her eyes burning into the man. She was starting to
hate him.
"Your Ingram out there just pierced the hybrid at a very vulnerable spot."
"Oh, is that all?" Takeo said.
"No, it isn't," Kurosaki added. "That spot just happens to be vulnerable
because it's the location of the explosives for the labor's self-destruct
mechanism. Usually, it wouldn't matter, but since that Ingram's weapon
just happens to be sending a continual electrical charge through that
system, I'm wondering how long it will take for the self-destruct system to
accidentally engage."
Asuma, who hadn't been paying any attention until he heard the words
'self-destruct mechanism,' looked at him in shock, his eyes widening.
"Noa!" he cried. "Forget the shutdown- just strap yourself in and brace-"
The explosion was harsh enough to temporarily blind everyone on the deck of
the Sangria. "NOAAAA!" Asuma cried, his voice barely heard over the din.
Takeo and Wong were blinking and rubbing their eyes, hoping to see better
what had happened on the shore. "Hell," Wong muttered, barely able to make
out the burning wreckage.
"Noa, come in!" Asuma shouted furiously. All he could see was the bonfire
in the middle of the dockyard. "Noa, do you read me?" he said desperately.
"Where's Alphonse?" Takeo asked, her eyes clearing up. "I only see the
wreckage of one labor."
Utsumi scanned the dockyard, finally spotting the Ingram. "Over there-
looks like it was knock almost fifty feet away. Just how powerful an
explosive did you think you NEEDED, Kurosaki," he growled, annoyance
finally showing in his voice.
"The charge in the Griffin was insufficient, last time," Kurosaki noted.
"There was some material that the police were able to salvage for study."
"NOA! COME IN!" Asuma screamed.
Takeo looked at him sadly, then glanced at Wong. He returned her gaze,
nodding slightly. Sighing, she approached the upset young man, raising a
hand to gently put it on his shoulder. "Asuma, maybe..."
"Noa, is that you!?" he said, an almost reverent whisper in his voice.
Takeo blinked, leaning in to see if she could hear what was being said.
"A...su...ma," she heard. "...love... you."
"NOA!" he shouted. Glancing out to the battlefield, he could see that the
other hybrid was limping over in the direction of the fallen Alphonse.
"Dammit," he snarled. "Noa, hold on- I'll be right there!"
Ignoring the others, he leapt over the side of the boat. Takeo, taken by
surprise, reached out just as he cleared the fence, but just missed
catching him by the back of his shirt. She closed her eyes, not wanting to
see him, in his sanity-depriving fear, fall to his death.
She heard no splat of his body hitting the concrete, however, nor a splash
from falling into the water. "Resourceful lad, isn't he?" Wong said.
Re-opening her eyes, Takeo saw Asuma clinging to a line between the boat
and the shore, probably burning the skin off his hands as he slid down it
to the shore. Giving out a huge sigh of relief, she turned to Utsumi and
smiled slightly. "Determined, more likely. He's quite attached to that
girl, even if he didn't realize it until recently."
Wong sighed, grasping her hand lightly. "I wanted to go back... when my
security man shot you. I REALLY did. I do love you, you know- I never
stopped."
"I know," Takeo said, rubbing his hand with her thumb. "Let's just hope
their story turns out better than ours has, so far."
Glancing over at the limp Alphonse, he nodded. "Let's hope they still have
that chance."
Kurosaki, however, had a different opinion. "Bah... that boy should have
learned long ago not to let his personal feelings get in the way of getting
the job done. He'd have been better off trying to contact the command
officers and getting them to investigate."
Wong's expression went cold. Takeo blinked- she hadn't seen him get that
angry very often, and was shocked that the comment Kurosaki made was what
triggered it. When Richard started speaking, however, she understood.
"Is that so? I did the sensible thing, going against my heart, years ago.
I've regretted it ever since. I damn near lost the woman I loved more than
anything in my life," he snarled. "And I'm damn lucky I got her back. You
want to know why I'm really here, Kurosaki? Asuma just couldn't believe I
was doing this to help him. And you know what? He was right. I was
willing to help him hide, but I probably wouldn't have done any real
investigating if I hadn't run into Takeo here. My job was SUPPOSED to be
to get rid of any evidence of Noa and Asuma's whereabouts... but I thought
it was much more important to try and get Takeo back into my life. And I
decided that, if that meant losing the Griffin, my position in Shaft, and
everything else I held dear, well, it would be worth it. And, so, to get
her back, I decided to get Asuma off the hook, using my inside sources.
And I don't regret it one bit."
Takeo looked at him, a little shocked. "I'd hoped you were actually
reforming," she said.
He looked at her, half-smiling. "I have. After all, this time, I decided
to act on my heart for you. Last time... my heart told me not to leave
you, last time, you know. I didn't listen to it, then."
"And you have, now?"
Wong's smile widened. "Well, I'm still working on it. I've been using
both my heart and my head, now. But I think I'm starting to trust my heart
just a LITTLE bit more."
Takeo said nothing, and turned to look out at where Asuma was climbing up
the shell of Alphonse. She desperately hoped that nothing had happened to
Noa. If Asuma and Noa didn't come out of this alive, intact, and
together... well, she feared that what little progress she'd made on Wong
would be gone forever. After all, why listen to his heart when all it did
was result in the death of his friends?
While she and Utsumi were busy sorting out their feelings, Kurosaki saw
that it was probably the only chance he would have to leave...
* * * * *
Asuma opened the hatch manually, scrambling madly in his panic. Noa HAD to
be all right- she just HAD to. He'd lost everyone else in his life- his
mother, his brother, his father... all had died. All had died suddenly.
And now, Noa... Noa couldn't be dead, could she? She just had to be
alive...
He stepped into the cockpit, and there she was. Blood was pouring from all
over, where glass shards from several monitors exploding had pierced her.
One arm was bent oddly, probably broken. She was quite plainly badly hurt-
the question was whether she was even alive.
Quickly, he fumbled for a pulse. Desperately, he felt her neck... and felt
nothing. No- it couldn't be. She was dead. She was DEAD!
Unable to deal with it all, he collapsed to the floor, tears running down
his cheeks. Everything he had was gone. What did it all matter, any more?
* * * * *
Takeo saw that the remaining hybrid had finally found where the explosion
had thrown the stunned Alphonse. She sighed, and glanced over at Wong.
"Richard... is there some way you can tune your communications equipment
into the same frequency of Asuma's headset? If he gets Alphonse running
again, he's going to need a command officer- I doubt the sensor equipment
will have survived all of that."
Wong frowned, observing the situation. "How long does it take to shut down
and complete a reboot in an Ingram?"
Takeo frowned. "An average time of around five minutes, if things work
right, why?"
"Then do you have another suggestion for someone to call? He doesn't have
time to reboot before the other hybrid strikes."
Takeo looked at the scene again. "Well... it won. It's not going to
attack any more, is it?"
Wong sighed. "Takeo... the only reason the Phantom and the Griffin never
killed anyone is because I didn't let Shaft talk me into the same 'leave no
witnesses' policy that got you shot. If it closes in on Alphonse... both
Noa and Asuma won't be allowed to live."
* * * * *
"Asuma?" a voice weakly said.
He twitched. Was that her ghost? Was she trying to communicate with him
from beyond the grave?
"Asuma!" her pained voice cried. That sounded too real. Maybe she was
going to haunt him- it was HIS bad advice that lead to the explosion which
killed her, anyway.
A weak hand touched his face, and he looked up. Noa's eyes were open. She
was actually alive? "Noa?" he whispered, wonder in his voice.
"Asuma..." she croaked again, then faded out. He checked, and found she
was still breathing after all.
"Heh... well, I didn't do well in the field medic class at the Academy," he
mumbled to himself, pulling out the labor's first aid kit and doing what he
could to help her. There wasn't much, though, because he didn't want to
make the glass splinters in her body get any worse. "Let's get Alphonse's
reboot restarted, and then see what we can do to fix you up while that's
going, okay love?" he muttered to her, not caring that she probably
couldn't hear it.
He ejected Alphonse's movement disk just in case there was a problem, and
began powering the labor back up. Thirty seconds later, just before he was
about to put the disk back in, a message flashed up on the only intact
screen in the labor.
"Insufficient power. Low Battery. Please replace or recharge battery
before continuing start-up sequence."
Asuma cursed. "Hell," he said. "We're sitting ducks, Noa. We have to
abandon him. We'll come back for him, though, I promise," he said. He
unhooked the one strap she was wearing- a shoulder strap which dislocated
her arm by probably saved her life. Glancing around for anything he could
salvage, all he saw was the emergency shotgun (used to keep people from
trying to enter the cabin unwanted, and as a back-up defense in case the
battery died) and the spent first aid kit. Grabbing the gun, he strapped
it to his back, knowing it was probably useless in his situation and had
only three shots if it came down to that. Re-opening the hatch, he gently
picked Noa up, cradling her to his chest, and left the wreckage. Slowly,
he made his way back to the ground, being careful not to jostle his
precious cargo.
On the ground, he glanced around, assessing the situation. The other
hybrid, limping badly, was making its way over to Alphonse. Asuma walked
off as quickly as he dared, knowing that the modus operandi of Shaft would
dictate it concentrate on the Ingram and leave the people alone. Noa could
kill him for abandoning Alphonse, later- her life was more important.
He was about sixty paces away from the fallen patlabor when he noticed the
hybrid was no longer targeting Alphonse. Instead, it seemed to be
following... him.
"Murderers," he spat, breaking into a run.
* * * * *
Kanuka applied a little disinfectant to a nasty-looking cut on Gomioka's
shoulder. He hissed slightly as the contact burned away any infection, but
Kanuka continued her treatment. Over his shoulder, Kanuka could see where
Ohta was bent over, giving the pilot of the other Zero a better angle to
draw a small piece of shrapnel from his shoulder.
Gomioka frowned. "Just what is that labor doing?"
Kanuka looked up from her ministrations over to where the hybrid was
continuing to pursue Asuma, who was cradling an apparently wounded Noa in
his arms. "I have no idea... I don't think they would-"
"Oh, I think Mr. Kurosaki was ordered that there be no mercy shown," an
unexpected voice broke in. "The labor is going to try and kill them. And
when it's done with him, it'll come after us."
"WHAT?!" Ohta snarled.
"I'm afraid he's probably telling the truth," another voice said. This
one, they all recognized- Takeo.
"Then what are we staying around here, for?" the officer treating Ohta said
in surprise.
"Where would we go?" the man who they had yet to recognize said. "We can't
leave the dockyard fast enough on foot, my ship isn't capable of getting
underway in time to escape. And that plasma beam will mow us down if we
try finding a car or something. No... we don't really have any options."
"Sis will handle it," a boy, who Kanuka recognized as Bud Reynard, said
with conviction. "She beat me."
"Your 'sis' doesn't have a labor," Takeo noted. "And she's unconscious.
Asuma is trying to carry her to safety, but he's in even worse shape than
we are."
"There must be something we can do," Gomioka said forcefully. "I will NOT
just sit here and die."
"We can pick up one of the labor guns," Ohta suggested, "And fire it by
hand. I've done it once, when I had Hiromi to help me..."
"I don't think we can kill it with one shot," Kanuka said. "Takeo, am I
right in assuming that man with you is Mr. Richard Wong?"
Both Takeo and the man looked a little surprised. "Well... yes. He is."
Kanuka nodded, unsurprised. The others, however, were startled- why was
Takeo hanging around the man who had shot her? "Mr. Wong, I assume you DID
come up with a back-up plan, some way to escape should this very situation
arise?"
"Escape? Not really," he said. "But, I wouldn't be surprised if my
contingency plan will be here in time to protect us." Wong glanced over at
the labor, still marching slowly towards Asuma- who had stopped running for
some reason and was setting Noa down. "THEM, on the other hand..."
* * * * *
"He's hobbled, but he's still moving a lot faster than I can while carrying
you, Noa," Asuma said. She was still unconscious, but it felt better to
talk to her. "And I'm really starting to tire out."
He gently set her down, carefully laying her out so as to not aggravate her
injuries. "I can't run any more, Noa. I don't know what I can do to stop
him, but whatever happens I won't let him at you. I promise."
Her eyes cracked open. "Don't lie," she whispered through pain-clenched
teeth. Asuma's own eyes widened in surprise. "If he gets you, I don't
care if he gets to me or not. So don't even try."
Asuma couldn't look at her. "I won't let him kill you. Not you, too...
they've already killed my father, you know? They killed my father... and
now they're going after you. I can't let that happen." He pulled the
shotgun off his shoulder. "I don't know whether this is supposed to be
effective against that thing, but it HAS to work. We don't have anything
else."
"Asuma," Noa whispered, her eyes closing again. "I don't regret it. Any
of it. I-"
"Shh," he hushed her. "I know, Noa. I know. I feel the same way. Save
your strength, love."
He looked at the labor. It had stopped, and was raising its arm.
Apparently, it had decided it didn't need to get any closer, and was going
to vaporize them with the plasma cannon. He sighted the gun along the
barrel. He was always a poor shot, but he didn't have a choice right now.
He had to find a weak point, and hit it.
But first, he had to get rid of that weapon.
He could see that the weapon had him targeted. He could see the red glow
of the gathering plasma. And he could tell he had already pulled the
trigger without realizing it.
With a massive explosion, the hybrid's arm became a ball of fire as the
plasma containment system was breached.
* * * * *
Ohta was amazed. "When did Shinohara get to be THAT good a shot?"
"It wasn't a good shot," Gomioka said. "It was a lucky shot. There was no
way he could have made a shot like that intentionally."
Takeo hesitated. "I don't know about that... if it's important enough to a
person, they can often do surprising things..."
"Hush!" Wong commanded. "I think my contingency plan has arrived, but... I
don't think this is over. Not yet."
Everyone returned their attention to the hybrid, and saw he was right. The
arm might have become a charred remnant of its former self, but the labor
was still moving. And was moving towards Noa and Asuma, too.
* * * * *
It took a few seconds for the shock of his very good shot to get over
Asuma. Then he noticed that the hybrid had taken it in stride, and started
walking over to them. Obviously, if it could vaporize them, it would try
to squash them.
He took aim and squeezed off a couple of other shots, but he really had no
weak points he could target. They hit, but were utterly ineffective. And
by now, it was too late.
"Run!" Noa's pained voice shouted up at him. He looked down at her, into
her tear-filled eyes. "I don't want you dead, too. Get out of here."
Asuma huffed. "I won't leave you. And I can't carry you any more... it's
over, Noa. It's over."
Noa closed her eyes and sighed, gathering her strength. Finally, she
slowly sat up. Her legs shuffled a bit as if she was trying to stand, but
she was unsuccessful. Asuma's eyes widened and he knelt down to her side.
Noa shook her head, grasping him in a powerful hug despite all the pain it
must have caused her. "I can't get up, Asuma. Not right now... my legs
won't work right. I'm sorry."
Asuma found his own eyes were tearing up, as well, and he hugged her back.
Maybe she was hurting, but it didn't matter. Just holding her was a great
comfort... they'd be together when the end came. He wouldn't be alone....
The shadow over his head signaled their doom. He clenched tighter, waiting
for it to come.
The large crunching sound he heard, however, was not that of his and Noa's
bones being turned into powder by the weight of the hybrid. Instead, it
sounded like metal crunching metal.
He looked up, and saw, much to his surprise, that there was yet another
Patlabor standing over them, protecting them. A Zero. It stepped past
them, continuing it's attack on the wounded hybrid, as he watched in
amazement. "Noa?" he whispered reverently.
"Yes, Asuma?"
"I think we made it."
A few seconds later, a command car drove up right beside them, and two
people stepped out. One of them was the slightly-pudgy Inspector Matsui,
who's attention was on the labor battle. The hybrid was obviously losing,
and it was only a matter of time.
The other man was their one-time captain, Gotoh. "Well, you two," he said,
smiling down on them. "Are you going to surrender, or will we have to add
resisting arrest to your charges?"
Asuma glared up at him, gathering his strength to once more pick Noa up.
"Not now," he snapped, not caring what happened to him. "Noa needs a
hospital. Get an ambulance here, now."
Gotoh's smile quickly disappeared, and he ducked into the car to radio the
hospital. Across the dockyard, the Zero piloted by Captain Shinobu
finished tearing the hybrid to pieces.
It was over.
They had survived.
* * * * *
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