Bubblegum Crisis Post 2040 Fanfic Series

Bubblegum Crisis Post 2040 File 1: Dominant Species

Part 4: Hunger

Chapter 42: Once A Cop

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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"Man! You have no idea how much I missed good ramen!" Leon said between slurps as the three of them sat in the noodle bar perched on top of one of the tall buildings in the Tokyo shopping center.

"Given that that's your third bowl, it seems pretty obvious to me," Daley commented with a quirk of a smile. "You and Nene should have an eating contest one of these days."

The young woman in question frowned but didn't stop her own consumption of noodles.

"I'm actually surprised that you want to get back to work so quickly, Leon," Daley continued. "I would've thought you'd want to spend some time getting settled."

Leon shrugged, "I've spent the last three years feeling like I've been on vacation. I'm more than ready to come back to work. And I miss being a cop, and being around them. Musicians are a totally different breed, I tell ya. They're not bad guys, but there were times I felt like I had to turn a blind eye because they did things I used to arrest people for."

"Like what?" Nene asked, her ears burning for gossip.

"Oh, nothing big. Mild drugs. Some groupies who were questionably under-aged.... But I also miss the discipline and structure of a regular life. There would be weeks where none of us would wake before noon. And I missed having a real home. I actually wanted to come back a lot a long time ago, but Priss and the guys weren't there yet... Unless, Daley, you were making that crack so me and Priss'd get out of your home sooner."

Daley laughed and waved away Leon's concern. "You've only been there a couple of nights. Yuuji and I are rarely home as it is. So it's nice for the place to be lived in for a change. And since Yuuji's going to an international press conference Sunday for a week in Los Angeles, I appreciate the company."

Leon let out a sigh of relief and then looked at the view of the city before them. "You know, from up here, the city looks pretty recovered."

"Yeah, the city planners learned their lessons from the earthquake rebuild and put them to good use. There's still a heck of a lot of construction going on, but it's more in the back street areas, away from the eyes of the tourists."

"Hmm..." Then Leon looked at Nene and said, "So, kiddo, how are things going with you and Mackey? Have you taken him to meet your parents yet?"

"A couple of times in the beginning. Mom really likes him," she said with a noticeably dark statement. "But she keeps bugging me to bring him out there, which I haven't in the past couple of years because, well... you know. Plus she keeps hinting about marriage."

"What about this 'other woman' situation?" Daley asked, remembering their interrupted conversation from two days before.

Nene glared at him just as Leon's expression turned to shock.

"Is that little bastard fooling around on you?!" Leon declared angrily.

"No, no, no, Leo-Peo!" Nene said. "He just really gets along with their... cousin. I guess I'm just feeling a little insecure about how much they have in common. I don't think it's anything serious... At least it better not be."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure he knows what a good thing he has with you."

"So Leon," Nene said hesitantly, "Was Priss serious about turning down Sylia?" When Nene had received the news directly from Priss at dinner the night before, she was too stunned and disappointed to press the issue further, especially since they were in a public restaurant.

Leon nodded. "Yeah, it seems so. Besides, it seems she would've been just on stand-by status, along with you. And I'm sure you can handle anything that comes up by yourself."

Nene gave a weak smile but said nothing.

"Say," Leon said to both of them, "I have to admit I'm really impressed with what I've seen of the Neo-Tech Crimes Division so far. It seems like a pretty slick operation so far."

"Yeah, it is," Daley said proudly. "Unlike the A.D. Police where we were indirectly under Genom's thumb with Genom appointed leaders, we ironically have a lot more fire-power and autonomy being part of the regular Police Force. It's like we were able to pull together the best officers from both the A.D. Police as well as the regular police, and I think the top brass realize that. Both the public and our peers actually recognize us as a force to be reckoned with instead of uniformed clowns."

"Well, that's certainly a refreshing change. So what kind of cases have you been working on? Besides this Plaza Slaughter, I mean."

Daley smirked and said, "Well, Nene here just nabbed a 13 year old hacker who's been siphoning a hundred yen here and there from various bank accounts for the past three months. In the end, he managed to accumulate well over two hundred thousand yen."

"Yeah," Nene said with a giggle, "when we got him, he says he was saving money to run away from home. His parents naturally claimed no knowledge, and we think it's true. He's in juvenile custody but the point is we stopped him. The work is a heck of a lot more fun than being a dispatcher, I can tell you that."

Leon arched an eyebrow and said, "Well, that's certainly different from rogue boomers. Are the cases always so techie?"

"No, not at all," Daley explained. "The latest one we're trying to get our arms around is this new drug that's been showing up. Its street name is 'warp' and apparently it's some sort of bio-engineered steroid that speeds up a body's functions including brain activity. It was initially used in gang fights where the drug gives people quicker reflexes, as well as with thieves and burglars who can run up to three times as fast as normal to keep from being caught. The thing about it is that it also burns out of the system so quickly that there's no trace of it, at least as of yet with the drug tests we currently use.

"The draw-back is that it also burns out the drug users, sometimes pushing their body tolerances to a limit. Three people have already had heart attacks from an O.D. The problem is that this drug is strongly suspected of showing up in various athletic competitions, which as you can imagine is having impacts of international proportions.

"So right now we're working with the Drug Enforcement Agency since they don't currently have the technology and people power to help track this down. Right now, we can't even tell where it's coming from and how it's being distributed. Given that most of the reported instances were in Tokyo, we're guessing the source is local. In fact, we were just starting to sink our teeth into it when the Plaza Slaughter happened."

Leon looked noticeably intrigued as he asked, "So where are we -"

"THERE'S ROGUE BOOMERS ON THE STREET!" a voice screamed from nearby just as the sound of large metal objects crashing against each other could be heard.

The three officers exchanged a bewildered look and then immediately jumped from their seats to rush to the railing, along with the rest of the crowd.

Ten stories below, in the midst of cars frozen in traffic, two large quad-pedal construction boomers were wrestling over a car with the pinchers on their arms. The driver frantically opened the door and fell out, clearly injuring his leg before limping away to the sidewalk.

"They're rogue?!" Leon exclaimed, perplexed at the sight. "They're not morphed or anything. They look like regular construction boomers!"

"Morphed or not," Daley pointed out, "regular construction boomers don't act like that!"

Just as the words left his mouth, one of the boomers succeeded in twisting the car free from the other and tossing it into a nearby shop window, hitting the handful of people who had been watching from inside.

"Oh my God!" Nene blurted along with other horrified people in the crowd, as both boomers started to attack the other abandoned cars littering the street around them.

"Don't those damn people know to get as far away as possible?!" Leon growled at the collecting crowd of onlookers on the sidewalks and in the building windows.

Then remembering she could actually do something about it, Nene quickly blurted, "Um, got to go, guys!"

She forced her way through the crowd, sometimes having to use elbows and kicks just to make it to the elevator.

Taking the cue, Daley pulled out his phone and then paused, remembering that it was tapped.

"Switch phones with me!" Daley whispered to Leon. "Call headquarters for back-up. I'll call Sylia."

Leon frowned but did what he was told.

-- End Chapter 42 --

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