Bubblegum Crisis Post 2040 Fanfic Series

Bubblegum Crisis Post 2040 File 1: Dominant Species

Part 4: Hunger

Chapter 40: Setting The Stage

by P. Kristen Enos (bgcpost2040@aol.com)

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A Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 English Dub Version Fanfic. All rights belong to AIC, ADV Films and the other creative powers that be. I just want credit for writing the story. Contains spoilers! Rated PG13. Yuri warning! Nothing in here should be a shock if you've watched the episodes and paid attention. All I'm doing is filling in the gaps with my own interpretation of events! Special thanks to Greenegret for betaing!

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"Sir, I've received word that the special boomers have been put into position and have responded positively to our test signals," Madigan reported as she scanned her data pad. The two of them were once again in the privacy of Quincy's office. "The crew just needs the word from you of when to start."

"Oh, tell them... 1:23 p.m. tomorrow should be the test beginning time," Quincy said as he glanced at his calendar on his own data pad. "The rest of us should all be in the middle of the all day company meeting at that time, ensuring minimal risk of Genom employees accidentally being in the test area."

"Yes, sir."

"By the way, Madigan, I just got off the phone with Largo Watanabe. He's going to place an order for one of the current models after all. Make certain he gets the first one rolled off the assembly line, so to speak."

"Yes, sir. Do you think they're going to do their own tests on it?"

"Oh, no doubt about it. And I don't think they'll get very far beyond the performance basics. After all, top level boomer technology as well as encrypted programming expertise is needed to crack open the deeper secrets of our boomers. And the only team remotely qualified just happens to be employed with Genom," he said with a smirk. "Did anything come up yet on your search about Mei Asakawa?"

"Some interesting pieces, sir. She is the youngest of seven children of a Japanese industrialist, and apparently showed incredible natural martial arts abilities as a teenager, winning first place in tournaments around the country in karate and tae kwon do. The only other interesting fact about her from her youth was that she attended the prestigious all-girls Shimizu Academy in the same class as Reika Chang and Ms. Watanabe, who was their class president. It's very possible that's how she originally met Ms. Watanabe, whom she has been living with in Rome for the past five years."

"'Living with' as in 'intimately'?" Quincy guessed.

"There's nothing confirming such a relationship such as domestic partnership documents but it's very possible," Madigan said.

"Is it just me, or do we keep coming across a lot of lesbians these days?" he mused out loud as he scratched his beard thoughtfully. "Ah well. I guess that's what happens when you send these rich girls to be schooled in an environment devoid of boys."

"I wouldn't know, sir," Madigan answered with her utmost patience.

"Sorry, I'm digressing. -- Anything else about her?"

"Actually, no, and that's the odd part. In the time between graduating high school and moving in with Ms. Watanabe, there are absolutely no records of her. Not even residential addresses."

"Hmm. Well, if her connection to the Watanabes goes as far back as high school, then it's possible for her to go under the radar of the public and private records. Still, she was there at the demo as a boomer combat specialist. That's pretty odd given that she's got a martial arts background. I would think those two forms of combat would be about as opposite from each other as one could get."

"Should I tell the team to continue their research on her?"

He shook his head. "I doubt we're going to find anything else given who she's connected to. What about Yoshiko Watanabe? Anything else on her?"

Madigan scanned the data for a moment and said, "She moved to Rome shortly after graduating high school, and has maintained that city as her primary address since then. She is extremely well connected internationally in the darker side of her family's business and it's rumored that her brother rarely makes big decisions without consulting her first. She has quite a reputation as an expert in combat technology, a superb marksman in a variety of weapons, and a master in various forms of hand-to-hand combat. Like Asakawa, she showed exceptional talent in various forms of martial arts, including traditional weaponry. However, our research teams couldn't find anything concrete to substantiate her modern weaponry skills or how she got her training and knowledge to begin with."

"Well, it's not as if there are college courses that one can take for credit, yet people somehow get trained in these things. Especially if they're connected to the mob." Quincy smirked and said, "A reputation in those circles is sometimes scarier than the real thing. At the demonstration, did she seem knowledgeable to you?"

"Yes, very much so. Asakawa as well even though her questions were rather limited."

"Well, just add them to the list of people we need to be aware of," he said as he stood to get himself a drink from the bar. A long time work relationship kept him from offering anything to Madigan because he knew she was not a drinker of alcohol. "What else do we have updates on?"

"Let's see... The scanning for Sylvie has turned up nothing, which could further support the theory that she's not local, and if she is, she isn't functional. We are now putting the scanners on auto-alert so we can re-deploy our staff to other things. The other girls and the male prototype are progressing well. And the production of the version one models for customer orders is on track. I think the biggest project at the moment is our pending Knight Sabers test."

Quincy smiled as he took a sip of scotch and said, "Yes, it should flush them out. After all, downtown Tokyo in a mid-weekday offers a lot of innocents that need to be protected and rescued. It's an embellishment on their previous M.O., but it should do the trick."

"What if they never show up? Should I give a target time to the staff of when to call off the test?"

Quincy mulled it over for a moment and then said, "When they destroy each other, or when their batteries run out. Whichever happens first will do."

-- End Chapter 40 --

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