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 4: Getting to Know You...
One evening, two months later, Sean wasn't sure whether to
bless his luck for eight uneventful weeks, or curse it for the
boredom and occasional anxiety that he was left with after the
action in April. He and Iczel had kept busy with training,
studying Iczel's memory files of his two real battles, and Sean
had practiced his marksmanship while Iczel tried to decrypt the
radio scrambling that the Knight Sabers had used. [It would be
nice,] Sean mused, [to be able to talk to them, or at least hear
them, next time we meet.] Iczel was morally certain that she had
deciphered the Sabers' code, but admitted that there were some
areas that still baffled her. Sean had also enjoyed limited
success. He could hit a man-sized target while he was dodging, or
while it was dodging, but not while both he and it were dodging.
[So for a while, I guess the beam swords are still my best
weapons.]
His mood was not great: earlier that day, Mackie and Doctor
"Don't call me Pops" Raven had given Sean an estimate on how long
it would take to fix the Mackiecycle, and it had not been good
news. Sean had been forced to take public transit to get around
the city, and there were still two weeks to go before Dr. Raven
could even *work* on Sean's wheels. [I wonder how they got so
busy all of a sudden? It was always so quiet around Raven's Garage.
Oh, well...] Sean, reclining on a chair in his basement, drifted
off into a reverie...
*** ***
Sylia, in armor and accompanied by the other Knight Sabers,
looked down from a rooftop upon the burned ruins of Wiz
Laboratories. Her father's home away from home. The place of his
death - at the hands of the greedy GENOM executive Brian J. Mason,
if her father's 'last words' were to be believed.
Two weeks ago, the Knight Sabers had received a job offer
anonymously, offering ten million yen in advance, just to come to
an in-person meeting and hear a proposal. Sylia would have
rejected the suspicious offer if the specified meeting place had
not been Wiz Laboratories; that could mean this mystery employer
knew that Sylia Stingray was involved with the Knight Sabers, and
she had to investigate the possibility. It was nearly certain,
however, that this was a trap, so all four Sabers were here and
Mackie was nearby with the large truck and the Motoroids if they
were needed. With a resigned sigh, Sylia leaped down from the
roof into a clear area in the wreckage - it used to be the central
foyer, if the floor plans were accurate. The other Knight Sabers
followed her down. Looking around, neither Sylia nor her
hardsuit's sensors could locate any trouble. She turned to the
team electronics expert. "Nene? Can you find anything out of the
ordinary?"
The pink - and - blue hardsuit shook its head. "Nope; too
much metal and concrete around to locate anything that's inactive,
and I can't find any active power sources yet."
A synthesized voice echoed from the darkness, startling the
Knight Sabers into a back-to-back defensive posture. "Welcome,
Knight Sabers. I hope you enjoyed the ten million that was
deposited into your accounts to gain your attendance, because from
now on, you will have very little liberty in which to spend it.
You may fight, if you wish: it will only make your defeat more
painful. Good-bye."
Nene broke the second of silence that followed this statement
with an alarmed yell. "Yikes! I've got four different energy
sources powering up, one each to the north, south, east, and west!
We're surrounded, guys!"
Out of the rubble of Wiz Laboratories rose four older-model
C-class Boomers, mouths gaping open to use their lasers as they
leapt at their targets...
*** ***
{SEAN!} The 'sent' exclamation jolted Sean from his half-
asleep state. Iczel was just coming out of the storeroom, and she
looked excited.
"Yeah, Iczel, what is it? Boomer attack?"
In reply, Iczel switched to verbal communication. "In a way.
I thought I'd detected those battlesuits going by again, but it
was at the edge of my range, so I wasn't sure. Then I picked up
four Boomers activating in the direction the suits went, and I'm
pretty sure they're fighting!"
"Wha - well, then what're we waiting for!?! CHARGING UP!"
Once again, Iczel disassembled herself, the parts flying
about Sean as his clothes disappeared, then attaching to his body
like a partial hardsuit, then materializing the red-and-white
'spandex', as Sean thought of it, to cover the exposed areas. In
seconds, Iczelion stood in the room.
"Okay, Iczel," he said, then switched to 'sending': {point
me in the right direction!}
*** ***
At Wiz Laboratories, the last Boomer of the four crashed to
the ground, the smoking hole in its head a surprising testament
to Nene's marksmanship. Sylia looked around; none of the Sabers
had even been damaged in the skirmish. [This was too easy,] she
thought. [This must have been a delaying action.] She shouted to
the other Knight Sabers as she opened her suit's jet wings. "This
was a delaying action! Everyone out, now!"
The synthesized voice spoke up for the first time since the
battle started. "Too late, Knight Sabers. Too late." Four BU-55-C
Boomers flew into view from nearby alleyways. Sylia squinted at
the chest assembly of the nearest one. [It's too bulky,] she
realized. [Whatever is in there, it's not the normal microwave
cannon-]
All four Boomers opened their too-large chest pauldrons to
reveal pairs of parabolic dishes, and then all thought flew from
the minds of the Knight Sabers as the high-frequency sound the
dishes generated tore through their ears in a torrent of pain...
*** ***
Sean, still two blocks away from the audio assault,
faltered in flight and clutched at his head. {YEAAGH! That hurts
all the way out here!} He continued to 'send' to Iczel, {Is there
any way we can adjust our "skintight" force field to screen that
out? I sure can't get any closer like this!} Iczel paused for
a moment, then the sound seemed to die away to a nails-on-
blackboard whisper. {Bravo, Iczel, that's incredible!} Sean sent
gratefully. {Now let's get in there and kick some Boomer!}
*** ***
Sylia couldn't take much more. She could barely move, and it
was an effort just to think in the middle of the unbearable noise.
She had to stop it, or they were all as good as dead. She pushed
off the ground, looking up to see the Boomers pulling loose steel
rebar from the ruined walls. She didn't understand why until one
of them picked up one of the other hardsuits - Sylia couldn't
remember who it was, she couldn't *think,* the suit was all blue,
anyway - pulled her arms behind her, and wrapped the rebar around
them, binding the suit's arms behind its back. Sylia pointed her
palm cannon at that Boomer, and was grabbed by another she hadn't
noticed landing beside her. [Nooooo...!]
Then, in rapid succession, two energy beams lanced into the
fray from above. One Boomer, the one that had just trussed up the
blue hardsuit, was hit in the head and collapsed. A second Boomer
twisted to meet this attack and took the next bolt in the chest,
which was unprotected with the pauldrons opened. There was an
explosion, and the BU-55-C fell. The Boomers holding Sylia and the
green hardsuit - [Linna?] - released their grips and jumped skyward
on their thrusters to meet the attack. A yellow-and-red figure
produced two gleaming, transparent blades from somewhere. He flew
to meet them as if carried by the wind, for he had no jets. Sylia
noticed that the noise was almost tolerable now, but she was still
addled. [He looks like a knight in magic armor, like in those
fantasy books I read when I was ten,] she thought. [The knight in
shining, flying armor coming to save his warrior princess.] Sylia
shook her head violently. [Ouch! That was painful. I *must* still
be confused, to be thinking like that. Knight in shining armor,
indeed!]
Still, as she looked skyward, watching him decapitate the
last two BU-55-C's, she realized that he did resemble that
storybook champion who she would NEVER admit had inspired the name
she'd given her team...
*** ***
Sean slashed the head off the last Boomer and looked down.
He was really pleased with his earlier shooting: he'd hit both
Boomers, although the second had only been destroyed because it
had opened up its chest armor to use that sonic weapon. Not all
the news was good news, though; two of the Knight Sabers had
their arms pinned behind them by the rebar the Boomers had pried
up, the blue one and the pink one with the wing-vanes. [They'll
need help,] Sean thought, [We'll all be better off getting away
from here before whoever was behind this trap sends
reinforcements.] The white Saber was staggering to her feet:
Sean flew over to her. "Are you all right, ma'am?" he asked. [Oh,
brilliant, I sound like something out of a western!] he then
berated himself.
The white figure shook her head, as if to clear it. After
a moment, she responded. "Yes, I am all right - thanks, it would
seem, to you. You're the same one who helped us with the
Superboomer, aren't you? You called yourself 'Iczelion'?"
Sean had a panicked thought that she might remember his
voice, but forced it down, reminding himself that her rescuing
him had happened months ago. "Yes, and the situation was rather
like tonight. I was - um - training in the area when I detected
a battle going on. Once I found the location, I acted to save
human lives from a Boomer attack. I wish GENOM would teach them
better manners."
*** ***
Sylia let herself smile slightly at the joke. "Yes, that
would be more convenient for all of us. I think-" She broke off
as the chest-shot BU-55-C rose to its feet behind Iczelion. She
pointed, yelling "LOOK OUT!" as she tried to bring her palm
cannon to bear...
*** ***
Sean whirled as the white Saber yelled, alerted a half-
second earlier by Iczel. He ducked under a roundhouse punch,
then spun around behind the damaged Boomer and grabbed it
around the waist. Arching backward into a wrestling bridge, he
destroyed the Boomer almost exactly the way his mother had
dispatched her first opponent as Iczelion. Not designed to take
the sort of impact that his leverage plus his boosted strength
could dish out, the Boomer's skull caved in, and it finally died.
*** ***
Linna couldn't believe her eyes. Had that guy really just
taken out a BU-55-C with a wrestling move? A German Suplex? He
wasn't half bad, either... There couldn't be that many people who
had that build and were good enough with martial arts to kill a
Boomer. [Sean Kai?] She thought, astonished. [No way, where would
Sean get a hardsuit? Still, he asked me that question that
reminded me of when Sylia recruited me... and he mentioned an
'ace up his sleeve' when he delayed the assassin Boomer... I'd
better ask him tomorrow.]
*** ***
Sylia deactivated her palm cannon and relaxed a bit. "I
apologize. I should have realized that this was a poor place to
talk. Could you come with us to our vehicle? I think we would all
benefit from joining forces." She ruthlessly kept the irrational
hope she was feeling out of her voice. [Never let anyone know
they have an advantage over you.]
*** ***
Sean was very tempted. The feeling - from his instincts, he
now realized - of the white Knight Saber being a kindred soul was
back in full force. He thought of what would likely happen to
Iczel, though - poked and tested and maybe destroyed to try to
'reverse engineer' her technology - and hardened his heart.
"I'm sorry, but I work alone." Then, in a moment of weakness,
he amended, "At least, for now." He turned, and flew off, dropping
towards the Faultline Canyon as he went. Behind him, the now freed
Knight Sabers rushed to their truck - but the white one kept
glancing over her shoulder.
*** ***
The next morning, Sean was awakened by the doorbell. His mood
didn't improve as he realized, in order, that he'd overslept, that
he'd gone to bed fully clothed last night, and that he still had a
touch of a headache from that sonic weapon. [I have to get Iczel
to make that defense a permanent feature,] Sean thought. [I'm
amazed that the Knight Sabers could recover so quickly after being
at Ground Zero for that sonic barrage. Then again, they might have
soundproofing in those helmets...] He made his way to the door and
opened it. Linna stood there, wincing as the door creaked. Sean
winced, too. His ears were obviously still sensitive after last
night. "Ow! Um, hi, Linna; what brings you here?"
Linna looked troubled. "Sean, I needed to talk to you in
private about something. It's really important. Can I come in?"
[Uh-oh,] Sean thought. [This can't be good news, the way
she's acting.] "Sure, come on in, Linna. Can I get you something
to drink? Coffee, tea, soft drinks?"
"Just some water would be fine. I have a huge headache, and
I don't want to aggravate it."
Sean got them each a glass of water, and they sat down in
the living room. "So," Sean asked, "What's the big deal that you
come out here when you're evidently feeling lousy?"
Linna coughed. "You're obviously not feeling too well
yourself," and her gesture indicated his clothes, his hand
rubbing his forehead, and the late morning hour in a single sweep.
"I got to thinking about what you asked me back in January. It
was about a month after that when this mystery battlesuit
appeared, with a penchant for destroying Boomers in hand-to-hand
combat."
"Sounds like the Knight Sabers," Sean replied casually, but
he'd been dreading this moment ever since Iczel had impressed him
with the need for secrecy; Linna was too perceptive to not notice
the odd behavior of a student. He pressed on, "maybe this mystery
man is a new recruit of theirs."
Linna frowned. "I don't think so, but that's beside the
point. You mentioned an 'ace up your sleeve' when you delayed that
assassin Boomer, you weren't afraid of it, the news reports this
morning mentioned _five_ armored figures fighting Boomers last
night, and you look like hell this morning. Sean, are *you*
this - this Iczelion?"
Sean sat frozen in the chair. [Oh, boy, how do I answer this
one and still keep my secret? Think fast, Kai...] "Um, Linna, I
hate to disappoint you, but I was terrified that night with Irene.
I just did what you taught me and controlled my fear. And I - I
wasn't exactly honest with that 'aces' wisecrack; I just wanted
to get you to leave before the Boomer attacked. And finally, I
was out walking near the Fault Canyon last night when I heard this
AWFUL screeching. It was like nails on a blackboard amplified a
million times, and it felt like my head split open. I staggered
back here after the noise quit, and went to bed. I didn't wake up
until the doorbell rang, and there you were."
*** ***
It was a reasonable explanation, but Linna wasn't convinced.
[My problem,] she thought, [is that we Knight Sabers aren't
allowed to give out information about our identities, even
indirectly. I'm almost sure that German Suplex was Sean in action;
he told me once that his mother taught him that move. But I can't
reveal that I know how Iczelion took out that Boomer without
giving away the fact that I was there last night, so I can't ask
him about it! Darn it!] Aloud, she said, "Oh. Well, If you _were_
him, I'd have told you to be careful. I'd also insist that you
tell your mother about what you were doing, and that you find some
help. The Knight Sabers seem to care about people; maybe them.
Nobody can survive alone forever." She stood up. "Well, I'm sorry
to bother you over nothing, Sean: I was just worried, that's all.
I'll let you get some rest." With that, she walked out, opening
and closing the door slowly so as not to make a noise.
*** ***
As soon as she was gone, Sean let out a huge breath. [Whew!
That was a close call. I sure hope I can keep all this secret; I'm
pretty sure she still suspects me, and there's a lot riding on me
here. Still, I am getting better at this; watch out, GENOM,
there's a new boy in town!] he thought with a smirk.
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 4: Getting to Know You...
One evening, two months later, Sean wasn't sure whether to
bless his luck for eight uneventful weeks, or curse it for the
boredom and occasional anxiety that he was left with after the
action in April. He and Iczel had kept busy with training,
studying Iczel's memory files of his two real battles, and Sean
had practiced his marksmanship while Iczel tried to decrypt the
radio scrambling that the Knight Sabers had used. [It would be
nice,] Sean mused, [to be able to talk to them, or at least hear
them, next time we meet.] Iczel was morally certain that she had
deciphered the Sabers' code, but admitted that there were some
areas that still baffled her. Sean had also enjoyed limited
success. He could hit a man-sized target while he was dodging, or
while it was dodging, but not while both he and it were dodging.
[So for a while, I guess the beam swords are still my best
weapons.]
His mood was not great: earlier that day, Mackie and Doctor
"Don't call me Pops" Raven had given Sean an estimate on how long
it would take to fix the Mackiecycle, and it had not been good
news. Sean had been forced to take public transit to get around
the city, and there were still two weeks to go before Dr. Raven
could even *work* on Sean's wheels. [I wonder how they got so
busy all of a sudden? It was always so quiet around Raven's Garage.
Oh, well...] Sean, reclining on a chair in his basement, drifted
off into a reverie...
*** ***
Sylia, in armor and accompanied by the other Knight Sabers,
looked down from a rooftop upon the burned ruins of Wiz
Laboratories. Her father's home away from home. The place of his
death - at the hands of the greedy GENOM executive Brian J. Mason,
if her father's 'last words' were to be believed.
Two weeks ago, the Knight Sabers had received a job offer
anonymously, offering ten million yen in advance, just to come to
an in-person meeting and hear a proposal. Sylia would have
rejected the suspicious offer if the specified meeting place had
not been Wiz Laboratories; that could mean this mystery employer
knew that Sylia Stingray was involved with the Knight Sabers, and
she had to investigate the possibility. It was nearly certain,
however, that this was a trap, so all four Sabers were here and
Mackie was nearby with the large truck and the Motoroids if they
were needed. With a resigned sigh, Sylia leaped down from the
roof into a clear area in the wreckage - it used to be the central
foyer, if the floor plans were accurate. The other Knight Sabers
followed her down. Looking around, neither Sylia nor her
hardsuit's sensors could locate any trouble. She turned to the
team electronics expert. "Nene? Can you find anything out of the
ordinary?"
The pink - and - blue hardsuit shook its head. "Nope; too
much metal and concrete around to locate anything that's inactive,
and I can't find any active power sources yet."
A synthesized voice echoed from the darkness, startling the
Knight Sabers into a back-to-back defensive posture. "Welcome,
Knight Sabers. I hope you enjoyed the ten million that was
deposited into your accounts to gain your attendance, because from
now on, you will have very little liberty in which to spend it.
You may fight, if you wish: it will only make your defeat more
painful. Good-bye."
Nene broke the second of silence that followed this statement
with an alarmed yell. "Yikes! I've got four different energy
sources powering up, one each to the north, south, east, and west!
We're surrounded, guys!"
Out of the rubble of Wiz Laboratories rose four older-model
C-class Boomers, mouths gaping open to use their lasers as they
leapt at their targets...
*** ***
{SEAN!} The 'sent' exclamation jolted Sean from his half-
asleep state. Iczel was just coming out of the storeroom, and she
looked excited.
"Yeah, Iczel, what is it? Boomer attack?"
In reply, Iczel switched to verbal communication. "In a way.
I thought I'd detected those battlesuits going by again, but it
was at the edge of my range, so I wasn't sure. Then I picked up
four Boomers activating in the direction the suits went, and I'm
pretty sure they're fighting!"
"Wha - well, then what're we waiting for!?! CHARGING UP!"
Once again, Iczel disassembled herself, the parts flying
about Sean as his clothes disappeared, then attaching to his body
like a partial hardsuit, then materializing the red-and-white
'spandex', as Sean thought of it, to cover the exposed areas. In
seconds, Iczelion stood in the room.
"Okay, Iczel," he said, then switched to 'sending': {point
me in the right direction!}
*** ***
At Wiz Laboratories, the last Boomer of the four crashed to
the ground, the smoking hole in its head a surprising testament
to Nene's marksmanship. Sylia looked around; none of the Sabers
had even been damaged in the skirmish. [This was too easy,] she
thought. [This must have been a delaying action.] She shouted to
the other Knight Sabers as she opened her suit's jet wings. "This
was a delaying action! Everyone out, now!"
The synthesized voice spoke up for the first time since the
battle started. "Too late, Knight Sabers. Too late." Four BU-55-C
Boomers flew into view from nearby alleyways. Sylia squinted at
the chest assembly of the nearest one. [It's too bulky,] she
realized. [Whatever is in there, it's not the normal microwave
cannon-]
All four Boomers opened their too-large chest pauldrons to
reveal pairs of parabolic dishes, and then all thought flew from
the minds of the Knight Sabers as the high-frequency sound the
dishes generated tore through their ears in a torrent of pain...
*** ***
Sean, still two blocks away from the audio assault,
faltered in flight and clutched at his head. {YEAAGH! That hurts
all the way out here!} He continued to 'send' to Iczel, {Is there
any way we can adjust our "skintight" force field to screen that
out? I sure can't get any closer like this!} Iczel paused for
a moment, then the sound seemed to die away to a nails-on-
blackboard whisper. {Bravo, Iczel, that's incredible!} Sean sent
gratefully. {Now let's get in there and kick some Boomer!}
*** ***
Sylia couldn't take much more. She could barely move, and it
was an effort just to think in the middle of the unbearable noise.
She had to stop it, or they were all as good as dead. She pushed
off the ground, looking up to see the Boomers pulling loose steel
rebar from the ruined walls. She didn't understand why until one
of them picked up one of the other hardsuits - Sylia couldn't
remember who it was, she couldn't *think,* the suit was all blue,
anyway - pulled her arms behind her, and wrapped the rebar around
them, binding the suit's arms behind its back. Sylia pointed her
palm cannon at that Boomer, and was grabbed by another she hadn't
noticed landing beside her. [Nooooo...!]
Then, in rapid succession, two energy beams lanced into the
fray from above. One Boomer, the one that had just trussed up the
blue hardsuit, was hit in the head and collapsed. A second Boomer
twisted to meet this attack and took the next bolt in the chest,
which was unprotected with the pauldrons opened. There was an
explosion, and the BU-55-C fell. The Boomers holding Sylia and the
green hardsuit - [Linna?] - released their grips and jumped skyward
on their thrusters to meet the attack. A yellow-and-red figure
produced two gleaming, transparent blades from somewhere. He flew
to meet them as if carried by the wind, for he had no jets. Sylia
noticed that the noise was almost tolerable now, but she was still
addled. [He looks like a knight in magic armor, like in those
fantasy books I read when I was ten,] she thought. [The knight in
shining, flying armor coming to save his warrior princess.] Sylia
shook her head violently. [Ouch! That was painful. I *must* still
be confused, to be thinking like that. Knight in shining armor,
indeed!]
Still, as she looked skyward, watching him decapitate the
last two BU-55-C's, she realized that he did resemble that
storybook champion who she would NEVER admit had inspired the name
she'd given her team...
*** ***
Sean slashed the head off the last Boomer and looked down.
He was really pleased with his earlier shooting: he'd hit both
Boomers, although the second had only been destroyed because it
had opened up its chest armor to use that sonic weapon. Not all
the news was good news, though; two of the Knight Sabers had
their arms pinned behind them by the rebar the Boomers had pried
up, the blue one and the pink one with the wing-vanes. [They'll
need help,] Sean thought, [We'll all be better off getting away
from here before whoever was behind this trap sends
reinforcements.] The white Saber was staggering to her feet:
Sean flew over to her. "Are you all right, ma'am?" he asked. [Oh,
brilliant, I sound like something out of a western!] he then
berated himself.
The white figure shook her head, as if to clear it. After
a moment, she responded. "Yes, I am all right - thanks, it would
seem, to you. You're the same one who helped us with the
Superboomer, aren't you? You called yourself 'Iczelion'?"
Sean had a panicked thought that she might remember his
voice, but forced it down, reminding himself that her rescuing
him had happened months ago. "Yes, and the situation was rather
like tonight. I was - um - training in the area when I detected
a battle going on. Once I found the location, I acted to save
human lives from a Boomer attack. I wish GENOM would teach them
better manners."
*** ***
Sylia let herself smile slightly at the joke. "Yes, that
would be more convenient for all of us. I think-" She broke off
as the chest-shot BU-55-C rose to its feet behind Iczelion. She
pointed, yelling "LOOK OUT!" as she tried to bring her palm
cannon to bear...
*** ***
Sean whirled as the white Saber yelled, alerted a half-
second earlier by Iczel. He ducked under a roundhouse punch,
then spun around behind the damaged Boomer and grabbed it
around the waist. Arching backward into a wrestling bridge, he
destroyed the Boomer almost exactly the way his mother had
dispatched her first opponent as Iczelion. Not designed to take
the sort of impact that his leverage plus his boosted strength
could dish out, the Boomer's skull caved in, and it finally died.
*** ***
Linna couldn't believe her eyes. Had that guy really just
taken out a BU-55-C with a wrestling move? A German Suplex? He
wasn't half bad, either... There couldn't be that many people who
had that build and were good enough with martial arts to kill a
Boomer. [Sean Kai?] She thought, astonished. [No way, where would
Sean get a hardsuit? Still, he asked me that question that
reminded me of when Sylia recruited me... and he mentioned an
'ace up his sleeve' when he delayed the assassin Boomer... I'd
better ask him tomorrow.]
*** ***
Sylia deactivated her palm cannon and relaxed a bit. "I
apologize. I should have realized that this was a poor place to
talk. Could you come with us to our vehicle? I think we would all
benefit from joining forces." She ruthlessly kept the irrational
hope she was feeling out of her voice. [Never let anyone know
they have an advantage over you.]
*** ***
Sean was very tempted. The feeling - from his instincts, he
now realized - of the white Knight Saber being a kindred soul was
back in full force. He thought of what would likely happen to
Iczel, though - poked and tested and maybe destroyed to try to
'reverse engineer' her technology - and hardened his heart.
"I'm sorry, but I work alone." Then, in a moment of weakness,
he amended, "At least, for now." He turned, and flew off, dropping
towards the Faultline Canyon as he went. Behind him, the now freed
Knight Sabers rushed to their truck - but the white one kept
glancing over her shoulder.
*** ***
The next morning, Sean was awakened by the doorbell. His mood
didn't improve as he realized, in order, that he'd overslept, that
he'd gone to bed fully clothed last night, and that he still had a
touch of a headache from that sonic weapon. [I have to get Iczel
to make that defense a permanent feature,] Sean thought. [I'm
amazed that the Knight Sabers could recover so quickly after being
at Ground Zero for that sonic barrage. Then again, they might have
soundproofing in those helmets...] He made his way to the door and
opened it. Linna stood there, wincing as the door creaked. Sean
winced, too. His ears were obviously still sensitive after last
night. "Ow! Um, hi, Linna; what brings you here?"
Linna looked troubled. "Sean, I needed to talk to you in
private about something. It's really important. Can I come in?"
[Uh-oh,] Sean thought. [This can't be good news, the way
she's acting.] "Sure, come on in, Linna. Can I get you something
to drink? Coffee, tea, soft drinks?"
"Just some water would be fine. I have a huge headache, and
I don't want to aggravate it."
Sean got them each a glass of water, and they sat down in
the living room. "So," Sean asked, "What's the big deal that you
come out here when you're evidently feeling lousy?"
Linna coughed. "You're obviously not feeling too well
yourself," and her gesture indicated his clothes, his hand
rubbing his forehead, and the late morning hour in a single sweep.
"I got to thinking about what you asked me back in January. It
was about a month after that when this mystery battlesuit
appeared, with a penchant for destroying Boomers in hand-to-hand
combat."
"Sounds like the Knight Sabers," Sean replied casually, but
he'd been dreading this moment ever since Iczel had impressed him
with the need for secrecy; Linna was too perceptive to not notice
the odd behavior of a student. He pressed on, "maybe this mystery
man is a new recruit of theirs."
Linna frowned. "I don't think so, but that's beside the
point. You mentioned an 'ace up your sleeve' when you delayed that
assassin Boomer, you weren't afraid of it, the news reports this
morning mentioned _five_ armored figures fighting Boomers last
night, and you look like hell this morning. Sean, are *you*
this - this Iczelion?"
Sean sat frozen in the chair. [Oh, boy, how do I answer this
one and still keep my secret? Think fast, Kai...] "Um, Linna, I
hate to disappoint you, but I was terrified that night with Irene.
I just did what you taught me and controlled my fear. And I - I
wasn't exactly honest with that 'aces' wisecrack; I just wanted
to get you to leave before the Boomer attacked. And finally, I
was out walking near the Fault Canyon last night when I heard this
AWFUL screeching. It was like nails on a blackboard amplified a
million times, and it felt like my head split open. I staggered
back here after the noise quit, and went to bed. I didn't wake up
until the doorbell rang, and there you were."
*** ***
It was a reasonable explanation, but Linna wasn't convinced.
[My problem,] she thought, [is that we Knight Sabers aren't
allowed to give out information about our identities, even
indirectly. I'm almost sure that German Suplex was Sean in action;
he told me once that his mother taught him that move. But I can't
reveal that I know how Iczelion took out that Boomer without
giving away the fact that I was there last night, so I can't ask
him about it! Darn it!] Aloud, she said, "Oh. Well, If you _were_
him, I'd have told you to be careful. I'd also insist that you
tell your mother about what you were doing, and that you find some
help. The Knight Sabers seem to care about people; maybe them.
Nobody can survive alone forever." She stood up. "Well, I'm sorry
to bother you over nothing, Sean: I was just worried, that's all.
I'll let you get some rest." With that, she walked out, opening
and closing the door slowly so as not to make a noise.
*** ***
As soon as she was gone, Sean let out a huge breath. [Whew!
That was a close call. I sure hope I can keep all this secret; I'm
pretty sure she still suspects me, and there's a lot riding on me
here. Still, I am getting better at this; watch out, GENOM,
there's a new boy in town!] he thought with a smirk.
