Disclaimer: All series, characters, and mecha mentioned herein are the properties of their creators.
This is not a challenge of any sort to their ownership, so don't sue me, because I have no money.

Explanations
Communication: In this fanfic, I have to deal with several types of 'speech'. I will type them as
follows:
"Talking",
[Thinking],
and {'Sending,' or using telepathy or mental communication.}

I will also use the usual Internet symbols for emphasis:
'slight',
_medium_,
*strong*,
and SHOUTING!

Chapter 3: Till Death Do Us Part

It was early April in MegaTokyo, and Sean Kai was riding his
motorcycle to a training session with Linna. [Odd, it still feels
strange to call her that. I may always think of her as "Yamazaki-
sensei",] Sean thought. [I'll still be glad to get back to
training. It'll help life get back to normal.]

Sean thought back to the last couple of months. Back in
February, a new model of C-class Boomer, a BU-55-C, had gone
berserk in the Tinsel City district. The A.D. Police had been
unable to stop it, and Sean (as Iczelion) and Leon had arrived on
opposite sides of the Faultline Canyon just in time to see the
Knight Sabers destroy the Boomer. [Just when I thought I'd seen it
all, four hardened mercenaries act to save lives, and if they got
paid for doing that, I don't know who'd have done it. Maybe there
is hope for our tired old city.]

It hadn't been more than a few days after that when the
U.S.S.D. had its horrific particle-beam satellite disaster. Sean
hadn't even _known_ about those things until Iczel told him what
was happening. By the time that they had reached Aqua City, the
whole place had sunk and the A.D.P. was already on the scene.
After a quick look underwater, Sean had known that there were no
survivors. Whoever had been squatting in there that night was
dead.

Sean shook his head. [Lighten up! We can't help everyone, so
we have to be satisfied with doing our best,] Sean told himself.
That was one reason he was looking forward to this session. He
was pretty sure he'd improved thanks to his private training with
Iczel, and he wanted to feel some accomplishment today.

Which was why he was so disappointed when Linna bowed out of
the session.

"Darn it, Linna, this was supposed to be our first practice
in almost two months! We'll get rusty if we can't train soon!"

"I know, Sean, but my friend Irene - Irene Can - just lost
her fiance in a GENOM accident, and she almost got killed about
it at Brian J. Mason's press conference earlier today. I really
think she needs cheering up if she's that desperate. Maybe we can
meet back here after hours to practice, okay?"

"Whoa. Well, what you're doing needs to be done, all right.
I'll just cruise on the Mackiecycle for a couple of hours, then
come back here. I'll see you then."

Linna shouted after him as he walked down the Fitness Bee's
front steps. "The 'Mackiecycle'? I don't understand how you get
along so well with that techno-lech!"

In response, Sean grinned. He was a definite motorcycle
lover, and so he'd hung around Raven's Garage a lot once he'd
found the place. Mackie Stingray worked there part-time, and his
sister, Sylia, seemed to be a part-owner or financial backer or
something like that. As it turned out, Mackie knew Linna from
somewhere, and had bet Sean that Linna wouldn't even need five
minutes to beat Sean freestyle. Sean had lost the match and been
sore all over the next day, but had held out for nine minutes,
eight seconds. As a result, Linna had taken an interest in Sean
and started to train him, and since he lost the bet, Mackie had
been obligedto retool Sean's beat-up old sport bike. Sean had
renamed the machine the 'Mackiecycle' in honor of the victory.
[Mackie did a great job, too,] Sean thought. [I think there are
pro racing bikes slower than this machine.] With a roar, Sean
gunned the engine and rode off into the night.

*** ***

Sean was riding back toward the Fitness Bee later that night
when he heard Linna scream.

"IRENE!"

Immediately he whirled the 'Cycle to aim toward the sound...
and stopped. [No. I have to do a couple of things first.]
Switching from thought to 'sending' he called to his partner.
{Iczel! I think Linna and her friend are in trouble! Come to me,
and follow me! I'm going to find them!}

{Got it, Sean. On my way!} Iczel sent back. Sean sighed. Now
for the hard part. Linna had been trying to teach him to
anticipate - to sense - how or where a battle would go. He hadn't
believed her, but lately he'd had flashes of- of something. He
closed his eyes and concentrated...

[The highway?] Sean blinked at the response his instincts
gave him. [That doesn't make any sense; there's no cover, no
concealment. The only way Linna would run there is if...] a chill
ran down his spine... [if she's being herded...] He gunned the
engine and careened toward the highway, reaching an on-ramp in
seconds and heading west, closer to where Linna had screamed.

*** ***

Near the Fault Canyon bridge, Sean came upon the trouble - a
woman in an Italian suit holding Irene up far too easily at arm's
length. [Gotta be a cyborg, or maybe] - he shuddered - [a C-class
Boomer. No choice, gonna have to play dirty.]

*** ***

The assassin Boomer (female chassis) was quite happy with its
progress so far. It had separated the target from her friend, and
easily herded her out to this isolated overpass for the kill. Its
first indication that all was not well was when a motorcycle almost
flew around the curve and rammed it, spilling the rider, jarring
the Boomer's target loose and causing structural damage to the
Boomer's torso area...

*** ***

Sean picked himself up from where he'd skidded to, thankful
that he hadn't bounced off the car parked at the top of the
stairs. He dashed over to Irene, who was just lying on the ground
crying. "Irene, are you okay?" No reaction. "IRENE!"

She jerked her head up. "Wh- who are you?"

Sean grinned. "I'm Sean Kai. I study martial arts with Linna.
Today, I heard about what happened to you, and I heard Linna scream
for you a couple of minutes ago. I saw that," gesturing to the
female figure under the motorbike, "guessed it was a Boomer, and
ran my bike into it. Are you okay?"

"I... um... I guess so..." As Irene answered, Linna ran up to
the bottom of the stairway, calling Irene's name. "Linna?" Irene
responded. "Linna, I'm up here!"

"We both are!" Sean called down to his teacher. "A little
shaken up, but we're both okay!" The sound of Linna's footsteps
came to a sudden halt, then sped up. She came up onto the overpass
with her eyes bugged out.

"SEAN? What... How... Why... oh, never mind. Let's just get
you," and she pointed at Irene, "to safety."

Irene smiled weakly. "I think that's a great idea."

Then the Mackiecycle sprouted a set of sharp points and
skidded off to one side as the Boomer freed itself. It stood,
fixed its eyes on Irene, and flexed its freshly-grown claws. Irene
fainted as Sean stood up.

"Linna, get her out of here. I'll delay that thing until
you're safe." [After all,] Sean thought, [given a corner to turn
and a few seconds' lead, it'll be Iczelion and not Sean Kai facing
this Boomer.]

Linna, for obvious reasons, didn't agree. "Sean, you'll get
killed! That's a murder machine!" she protested.

Sean placed himself between the Boomer and the stairs. "Linna,
trust me. I have some aces up my sleeve. Anyway, remember the
training Boomer?"

Linna wasn't satisfied, but saw Priss pulling up on her
motorbike under the stairs. "Don't you dare get killed!" she told
Sean, then carried her unconscious friend down to Priss, and used
the cycle's CB radio to call Sylia...

*** ***

Sean wasn't doing so well. He was sore from the tumble off
his bike, and worse, it had been several minutes since the Boomer
had apparently decided HE was its new target. Sean hadn't been
able to get any separation at all, the thing was so fast. He was
considering having Iczel distract it when his foot hit a stray
gear from the wrecked Mackiecycle and skidded out from under him.
[Shit!] He rolled sideways, avoiding one set of claws, but came up
against the embankment. He looked up at the second, poised set of
claws and rolled backward, not sure if it was far enough...

There was a noise like a sizzling gunshot, then an explosion.
As Sean looked up, he noticed the Boomer's head had become a
smoking ruin, evidently shot up by the winged white Knight Saber
descending toward him on hissing jets.

[My gosh! A Knight Saber!?] he thought. As she landed
before him, he had the oddest feeling, like he was meeting a
kindred spirit. [Whoa, Sean,] he cautioned himself. [Better not
assume before asking.] Suiting thought to action, he stood up and
said,

"Thanks. I think you just saved my life there. Um, you're
one of the Knight Sabers, right? I really don't have very much
money if you were after a reward..." Leaving the question hanging,
Sean stared into the face plate of the white battle armor, where
he imagined its user's eyes would be.

The Saber responded, in a quiet voice, "Despite the press
that GENOM circulates about us, money is not our primary
motivation. I was keeping an eye on the assassin Boomer, but was
too far away to engage it when it attacked its target. Your quick
action probably saved her life."

There was something oddly precise about the way she spoke,
as if she wanted to pronounce each word perfectly and distinctly.
It seemed familiar to Sean, as if he'd heard it before... [Oh,
well... no time to worry about that now.] "Well, thank you for
saving me. It's good to know that someone else cares in this city.
Now if only the A.D.P. were this effective!"

The Saber didn't laugh, but Sean got the distinct impression
that she smiled inside the helmet. She turned to leap away, but
called back over her shoulder, "There aren't that many people who
both care, and are also willing to act. Don't get killed; MegaTokyo
needs more people like you!"

To Sean's intense embarrassment, he blushed. The Knight Saber
who had saved him flew off into the night.

Iczel shattered Sean's reverie. {Sean, are you all right? I
got a detailed scan of the armor's energy signature; do you want
to synchronize and track it?,} she sent.

Sean shook his head for a moment as he focused on the here
and now. {No, I don't want to track her, Iczel: for one thing,
saving Sean Kai and then getting followed by Iczelion would show
some connection between the two. As for your first question, yes,
I am whole, healthy, and so wired on adrenaline that I'll need a
sedative to sleep tonight. I'll just tell Linna that I'm okay,
and then we can synchronize and airlift my poor Mackiecycle down
to Raven's Garage. After that, we can go home. Oh, wait: tell me
if you sense the energy of that battle suit again: we'll check
out what they're doing then.}

*** ***

It didn't take long to convince Linna that he was okay,
mostly because she looked him over top to bottom at VERY close
range for any slashes.

After that, the flight to Raven's Garage was quiet, and they
slipped back into the sewer tunnels to head home. It was an
excellent escape route: except maybe for the Knight Sabers, there
was nothing tough enough to handle them, small enough to fit in
the tunnels _and_ fast enough to keep up with them. Then, just as
they crossed under a main road, Iczel dropped a bombshell.

{Sean! I just sensed that armor! It just passed overhead, at
street level, headed for the GENOM Tower area!}

{Damn! She seemed too bright to go for whoever sent that
killer Boomer like this: oh, well. Let's follow them, Iczel, and
see if we can't keep her from getting killed.}

*** ***

As it turned out, their destination was not GENOM Tower
itself, but the Kawasaki Industrial Zone. It had been used by
GENOM some time ago, but abandoned due to safety problems; Sean
had read it in the papers some time back. Sean sent: {Iczel, are
you sure this is the place?}

Iczel's response was immediate. {Yes, I am, Sean; there are
multiple energy signatures moving in there: four like the white
armor's, two similar but larger that accompany two of the former
units, probably those transforming mechacycles of theirs that we
saw, three that resemble the assassin Boomer you met earlier, one
that I think is a 55-C, and one very strong one that I've never
seen before. They're going to meet soon.}

{Okay, Iczel, let's go: point me at the nearest Boomer.}

It took about two minutes for Sean to reach a battle site:
the white and pink Knight Sabers were faced off against a female
assassin Boomer and a BU-55-C. The white Saber was battling the
55-C with a nonchalance that Sean admired; a lot of the Iczelion
training had gone to improve Sean's aim, but he'd still be
nervous about tackling that monster. 55-C's were supposed to be a
lot tougher than the C-class that he'd destroyed in February. He
tore his gaze from the white Saber in time to see the pink armor
catch a heavy elbow smash from the assassin Boomer and go down.
As it extended its claws, drawing a shriek from the Knight Saber,
Sean landed between the two with both beam swords ready.

"Now that," he joked, "is NO way to treat a lady."

It took Sean just under thirty seconds to slash the Boomer
into small pieces, a fact he was perversely proud of after its
'sister' gave him such a hard time. He extended a hand to the
seated pink - [no, it's pink-and-blue,] he noticed - Knight Saber.
"Do you need a hand, miss?"

She did a double take. "You! You're the one in the report
from February, Ick-something! Oh, sorry, that sounded AWFUL!"

Sean laughed. "The name is Iczelion, actually. It's a
mouthful, so you're forgiven for not getting it right. I-" Sean
broke off as Iczel 'sent' frantically.

{Sean! That major energy source is coming this way, out of
the central building!} Sean looked up. Little arcs of electricity
were playing about the door, showing the frame of a red BU-55-C...
[No, wait, that thing's gotta be fifteen feet tall!]

The white Saber, having just finished her opponent, turned
to face this monster as it strode into the moonlight. Two more
Knight Sabers, one blue and one green, leaped into view and formed
up beside the white one. Sean stayed in the rear, with the pink
Saber, but got ready to move in if the other three needed backup.
The green suit was first to attack the monster Boomer, a melee
breaking out as the huge red figure charged, the Knight Sabers'
laser fire spitting ineffectively against its thick armor. The
Boomer batted the three nearby suits aside and yawned its mouth
open. Sean had just enough time to notice that it had three
lenses in its mouth instead of one parabolic dish, then it aimed
at Sean and the Knight Saber behind him, and fired.

Sean crossed his fists before him in a reflexive defense,
and concentrated. The spherical shield formed around him, but he
could _feel_ the awful force of the triple beam on his field,
pounding and tearing... and suddenly, it stopped. Opening his
eyes - he hadn't realized that they had closed - he saw the
reason. The three Knight Sabers in front of him had combined their
fire and destroyed the laser. [Whew! I owe them another one!]

Then all hell broke loose.

{Sean!} Iczel sent. {The particle-beam satellites - they're
targeting this area! That blast in March was no accident! GENOM
must have tested this thing!}

Sean swore aloud. [One thing's for sure, I've got to stop
this, *now!*]

Activating his energy blades, he charged. The Boomer had
just swatted the three Sabers away, and it saw him coming. It
braced, pulled back an arm, waited... and Sean snapped to a halt
just out of reach, and threw both beam swords with all of his
might. One lodged in the head, another in the shoulder. A second
later, outside of Iczelion's stabilizing energy field, both
exploded. Decapitated, the Boomer fell onto its back, dead. Unable
to quite believe it, Sean stood and stared. A moment later the
first particle beam struck down from orbit, and all five of the
armored figures in the old factory made a mad dash for escape. The
four Knight Sabers stopped beside a large truck near the complex;
Sean kept going, ignoring the beckoning arm of the white Saber as
she gestured him towards them. [The last thing I need is for her
to recognize my voice from earlier tonight!] Sean thought. Then,
'sending' to Iczel, he continued, {I think we've done all that we
can tonight, so let's head for home.}

Iczel replied, {We've done more than we really planned to
tonight! Oh yes, and don't forget to call Linna about Irene
tomorrow.} Sean had to laugh at that. Good old Iczel; she was
facing destruction right in there with him, and she never seemed
to get flustered.

*** ***

The next day, Sean phoned Linna almost as soon as he woke up.

"Hello, Yamazaki residence."

"Linna? Hi, it's Sean. I didn't realize until now that I
don't know what we can do to get Irene out of danger. Do you have
any ideas?"

"Sean! Yes, I do, and you're just in time. I can pick you up
on the way to MegaTokyo Airport: Irene wanted to say good-bye to
you before going to Hong Kong."

"Hong Kong! Why there?"

"Well, apparently she has family there, and the Chang Group
corporation runs Hong Kong..."

"Ah, so if GENOM tries funny business there, they'll have
problems. Good idea."

*** ***

Some two hours later, at the airport, Sean and Linna were
watching Irene's flight rise into the sky. Linna wore a
melancholy expression.

"Sean," she said, "I know it's better to have her gone than
dead, but I still feel like I've lost a friend. Does this make
any sense? I mean..."

Sean thought a moment before replying. "Yes, it does, Linna.
You've had her around for a long time, I gather, and now she isn't
here anymore. You'll see her again, but it may be a long time. I
had the same reaction when..." and he paused for a moment: "...when
I heard about my mother's injury. I know she'll be back, but she's
suddenly and without warning out of my life, and it hurts."

Linna nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Hey, wait a minute, who's
the sensei and who's the student here?!"

Sean laughed, as both of them threw off the dark moods
they'd been enduring. "I don't know, Linna. Why don't we get over
to the Fitness Bee and you can *try* to show me?"

"Oh-ho, you're on, buster, and will you ever regret that!"

"I don't know. Will I?"

The two friends jogged towards Linna's van as Irene's plane
vanished into the distance.