Bubblegum Crisis Post 2040 File 1: Dominant Species
Part 4: Hunger
Chapter 48: Best Laid Plans
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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Even though he was clearly displeased, Largo's handsome, smooth looks betrayed little raw emotion as he spoke into the phone screen. " - So imagine my surprise upon hearing about this 'terrorist issue' Genom Corporation has been having. I can appreciate you wanting to take care of such matters on your own, Mr. Rosenkreuz, however, when it results in damage to the property and safety of my clients, I would naturally like to be aware of such things. I trust you will not act without my input in the future on such far-reaching matters?"
Both men knew he spoke in code, showing that Largo had a greater awareness of the matter than the knowledge shared by the general public.
Quincy smiled at him from his spot at his desk and said, "I hear your concerns, Mr. Watanabe, and I assure you that this will not happen again. The matter has been closed satisfactorily with Commissioner Suzuki. And if anything in the future does come up, I assure you that you will be number one on my list of personal advisors."
"I'm honored to hear that. Have a good day, Mr. Rosenkreuz," the younger man responded, hanging up without waiting for a reply.
Quincy smirked and leaned back in his chair, picking up the newspaper to look at the headlines.
"He didn't sound too pleased," Madigan noted from her spot by the window, where she had waited for the call to end.
"He'll get over it. Rich, pretty boys like him tend to forget that the world doesn't always center around them," Quincy responded casually from behind the wall of newsprint. "Just to spare me some avoidable grief, if we ever conduct a public 'test' again, we should do a query of any Watanabe holdings in the area."
"'If'? So we are done with the Knight Sabers?" A subtle surprise was evident in her tone.
"Oh, hardly.... You know, these pictures are pretty thrilling. Get in contact with the photographer and see if we can get some blown-up framed copies. I think they would add a zing to the office décor.... Now, what did your team come up with?"
The woman nodded toward his terminal and said, "The full preliminary report has already been sent to your inbox. However, for the sake of highlights, my team agrees that the technology of those three Knight Sabers would be more than a match for Sylvie, so I think it's safe to assume they were indeed the ones responsible for her disappearance. At this point, we don't think we have anything that could match them in a confrontation, except perhaps Sylvie's sisters."
Quincy frowned as he mulled over Madigan's words. "That sounds too close for my liking. Are we convinced that these are indeed the Knight Sabers from four years ago?" He spread the paper out on his desk and tapped into his terminal so he could see the file in question.
Madigan nodded, "If not the originals, then something too close to be coincidental. Even though the styles of the suits are noticeably different, the color schemes and abilities correspond with the figures from when the boomer took over the factory."
Something clicked in Quincy's mind as he remembered the archive videos. "Weren't there four of them in that footage?"
"Yes. We're missing the green one. She may not be active with the group anymore, perhaps not even alive. Although there's a good possibility she could have been on stand-by, just as the white one seems to have been, given her late arrival."
"'She'? So you too are convinced they're women?" Quincy noted as he glanced at the newspaper photos. He focused in particular on the transparent abdomens of both Knight Sabers. "After all, we built belly-buttons into Sylvie and the girls as well."
Madigan knew he was joking and merely responded with a slight quirk of a smile. "Apart from the aesthetics, my team agrees that their movements were just too sporadic and uncoordinated to be A.I.-based. Even though we couldn't hear them communicate, it was clear each was affected by any team member who seemed endangered. That doesn't make sense if they were operating on boomer intelligence alone."
"True..." Quincy then glanced at the newspaper headline again and mused, "Well, the public seems to think they're women, too. The one thing I didn't foresee was this hero-worship that's obviously been created. We have to be careful of anything we do with the Knight Sabers in the future, especially if it's in public. Genom-related damage to these current media darlings will be a worse P.R. disaster than the boomer revolution."
"What would be next?" she asked, her curiosity now extremely evident. "After all, we achieved the goal of the test, which was to confirm that they were indeed active."
"Didn't you say that we had video blackouts on their arrivals, for the first two as well as the third? So we don't know exactly where they came from?"
She nodded. "For both local feeds as well as satellite. And when they left too. Even our eyewitnesses could only describe a general direction of where they disappeared to."
"Then our first priority is that you should have your team study every available video we have of the incident. I want as much information documented as possible on their abilities. This includes that four year old factory video, too."
"Do we have another priority?" Madigan prompted, knowing the way her boss thought.
Quincy smiled and leaned back in his chair as he stared out at the view of Tokyo Bay. "Yes, indeed. I'm authorizing you to take next month off as a well-deserved vacation. I believe you haven't had a chance to visit Fred Jr. in a while. In fact, I think I'll take my own family on a getaway while we're on the subject.
"When you come back, I want you to assemble the best and brightest available. If they don't currently work for us, then recruit them. Our goal is to exceed the Knight Sabers' combat and technical capabilities, in both our boomer girls and in our own version of those hardsuits. I know we currently don't have anything near that level of sophistication but I think our people are up for the challenge now that we've all seen what's actually possible. We might actually be able to get some assistance and good test subjects from Commissioner Suzuki's 'prized' Neo-Tech Crimes Division, especially given how poorly their combat unit performed against our modified construction boomers.
"The second priority is to develop a covert plan to catch one of these Knight Sabers so we can study those hardsuits. That factory footage should provide clues on what went wrong with that sting operation. When we have the secrets of their hardsuit technology, we will cement our position as the leaders in the field. If we manage to capture all of them, well that just ensures no more competition from them... And definitely continue the surveillance of Daley Wong to see if he has some connection to them. He clearly knows we're watching him; but it's just a matter of time before he'll forget we're there and slip up."
Madigan nodded in acknowledgement as she wrote down some notes on her datapad. "Do we have a desired closure time on capturing the Knight Sabers?"
Quincy shook his head. "They're local and still active after a four year absence. They're not going anywhere and neither are we. We can take the time to do this right. Unless we actually prompt a need, I doubt we'll see our Iron Ladies, given that they didn't seem too keen on publicity the first time around. And if they weren't in the picture, Genom Corporation would still be the leader in the world in boomer technology...." The President and CEO of Genom Corporation then broke out into a pleased smile and commented, "You know something, Madigan, it really feels good to have a challenge like this. Otherwise, I was afraid I'd actually have to take up golf if things had continued to be as boring as they were."
"If that were the case, sir, I would have joined you on the greens myself."
-- End Chapter 48 --
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