Bubblegum Crisis Post 2040 File 1: Dominant Species
Part 5: Blood Trails
Chapter 57: Rock 'n Roll!
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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Sylvie's voice was suddenly gone along with the pounding.
Priss blinked back to reality when she felt the thud of Sylvie's body collapse on top of hers.
"Sylvie?!" she cried in horror at the unseeing eyes and blank expression. She smacked the metallic cheek and yelled, "Please, answer me!"
"Priss! She can't hear you!" Sylia said.
Realizing that her voice wasn't coming from inside her helmet comm-link, Priss looked up to see two figures standing before her.
Nene in her hardsuit stood quietly to the side while an unfamiliar figure captured their attention.
Sylia was almost unrecognizable in her black, military-style jumpsuit with combat boots and gloves. Her gray hair was pinned up under a black baseball cap and her eyes were hidden behind thick black visors. She wore a radio headset with mini-microphone and an armored vest. At her waist was a double holster with a pistol at each hip. A stylized sniper's rifle with an unusually thick barrel was gripped in her left hand while her right one held a small remote control. The only other thing about Sylia's attire was a strange metallic collar around her neck, which had small red buttons that glowed, indicating that it was an electronic device of some sort.
All of those details were absorbed by Priss and immediately discarded once she saw that Sylia's remote was the reason behind the lifeless form in her arms. Priss remembered seeing Sylia tinkering with the gadget when she came to the Silky Doll the day after her return and knew what it signified.
"DAMN YOU!" Priss roared as she lunged, her rage blocking out everything except the need for immediate vengeance. She didn't even notice that her arms were fully functional again.
In a flash of an eye, Sylia dropped the remote and whipped out a pistol to shoot Priss in the shoulder.
The bullet didn't scratch the hardsuit but it was enough to knock the enraged Knight Saber back a step and to her senses, which was Sylia's intent.
"Priss!" Nene cried as she rushed to her friend, who was down on her hands and knees.
"You've got company!" Nigel's voice announced through their various comm-links.
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the trio heard the sound of a helicopter zoom over the hilltop.
"Nene, get into position!" Sylia ordered as she zoomed in on the helicopter with the binocular mode of her visor. "Priss, this is the time we need your rage!"
Priss fought back her turmoil as she tried to focus and get up. She watched Nene rush over and plant herself with her back towards Sylia as the helicopter drew near. She knew she should get ready to fight, but she looked down at the fallen Sylvie and couldn't bring herself to move away from her.
The aircraft swooped low over the clearing and three figures in blue jumpsuits without parachutes dropped like bombs from the open door. They dropped down at the other edge of the clearing and charged forward, each wielding a machine gun and firing away.
The only person at real risk from the charge of gunfire and boomers was Sylia, who looked incredibly calm as she readied her rifle, aiming over Nene's slightly crouching form. With precise aim, she fired.
The lead boomer was hit right in the eye, her head and body snapping back from the force. She had only stumbled back a step when the projectile lodged into her eye socket exploded. The force wasn't enough to do more than warp the opening her cranium, but it was enough to disconnect and rupture the wiring and circuits in her brain cavity. She fell to her knees helplessly as her companion was also hit with a shot to the eye.
"Nene, they're yours now!" Sylia yelled, giving the youngest Knight Saber the signal to charge. Also seeing that now she had no cover against the barrage of gunfire, she dove to the ground, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her ribs triggered by the gun recoil. "Priss, that last one's heading for you! I can't get a clear shot at her!"
Priss didn't hear Sylia and she didn't need to. All she could focus on was this petite woman in a blue jumpsuit suit charging at her with a blazing machine gun. The bullets bounced off her hardsuit but were forceful enough to knock her back off her feet. The last thing she saw before she went down was her attacker running in a direct line towards Sylvie's fallen form.
"Stay away from her, Bitch!" Priss roared as she scrambled to her feet and lunged, using her thrusters to add impact to her tackle.
Sylia smiled as she saw her friend and teammate unleash her full fury on the combat boomer.
The hits weren't precise enough for a quick, clean kill - but that wasn't the point of rage. Priss repeatedly hit and slugged the struggling boomer with such force and repetition that it was clear who the victor would be even if the fight lasted a while.
Nene, meanwhile, had an easy time dispatching one partially blind boomer and then the other crippled one.
Sylia looked up at the helicopter circling overhead and zoomed her visor in on it to see if there were any figures on board. "Nigel!" she yelled into the microphone, "Do you know if there are any people on board the chopper?"
"Negative! It's on autopilot, being controlled by one of the boomers. Most likely the one Priss is fighting since the other two are down."
"Good! Take control of it and land it at the edge of the clearing!"
"Roger!"
Sylia looked to see Priss standing victoriously over the twisted form of metal, cloth and artificial skin that had been a top-model combat boomer. Seeing that all of the boomers had been taken care of, Sylia turned off her collar. It was a dampener against white noise since she wouldn't have been insulated in a hardsuit like the other two. She picked up the fallen remote control and slipped it into her pocket as she got to her feet.
"What do we do now?" Nene asked as she approached her.
Priss also walked towards them, or more precisely, towards Sylvie. Her posture was that of someone whose soul had been ripped from her despite the victory that she had just had.
"Priss! She's still alive. I only shut her down!" Sylia said reassuringly.
Obviously amazed, Priss whipped her helmeted head towards her. "Then she's not dead?"
"Not yet! But we need to get her back to the Pit and on life support as soon as possible. Do it now while Nigel and Mackey still have the satellite blackout in effect!" Sylia smiled as she saw Priss immediately scoop up her fallen comrade and proceed to jump away.
"What about us?" Nene asked.
"Do you mind gathering the boomer parts and putting them back in the helicopter? I want to send a special present to Genom," Sylia said as she wearily pressed her hand against the intense pain at her side. "Meanwhile, I need to take some aspirin and figure out what I have to say."
"You mean to me?!" a clearly displeased Reika announced as she stepped out of a car that had pulled up to the edge of the clearing. Behind her were two more cars full of her security team.
Sylia peered over the black visors and flashed a weak smile. "Ah, your ears must have been burning!"
Reika dangerously narrowed her eyes at her before giving the order to her team to help with the cleanup.
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" -- Anri's signal just went out," the nervous technician reported once the reading went flat on the final active boomer. "The chopper's signal has also been knocked out."
The room was quiet as twenty people were afraid to breathe wrong given the way their President and CEO stood stone-still and stared at the large black screen before them.
"Madigan," he finally said through gritted teeth, clearly trying to keep himself calm.
"Sir?"
"I strongly recommend you go on your vacation right now," he said in a low voice. "There is going to be plenty of work to do when you get back."
"Yes, sir."
-- End Chapter 57 --
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