Bubblegum Crisis Post 2040 Fanfic Series

Bubblegum Crisis Post 2040 File 1: Dominant Species

Part 5: Blood Trails

Chapter 63: With A Bang

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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Daley crouched down on his knees and spied the tiny black disk under his desk. He motioned to Nene to hand him their equipment for the task, which she did with her hand over her mouth to suppress a giggle. The man aimed the opening of the whistle at the bugging device and blew with a full lung of air.

He and Nene then collapsed on the floor in laughter just as Leon walked in with a wince and his fingers pressed into his ears.

"Just what the hell are you two doing? I almost thought it was a new alarm system they installed!"

"And a good Monday morning to you too, Detective McNichol. We're only saying a proper farewell to our unwanted guests," Daley said as he plucked out the device and tossed it onto the desktop with the ten others they had found. He then slammed a hammer onto them, satisfied with amount of plastic pieces they broke into.

"There were that many?" Leon said as he took off his jacket and tossed it on the coat stand. "How many were in your apartment?"

"Don't know yet. We'll get rid of them tonight," Daley answered with a smug look. "A Mr. Akamatsu finally came home from Los Angeles Saturday and we had a noisy celebration of his return, as well as of the end of the lack of any privacy for the weeks before his departure. Chances are that whoever was on surveillance duty for us that weekend didn't enjoy their shift too much."

Leon's face turned red as he muttered, "Geez, is that why you helped me move out Friday?"

"A man's got to have his priorities, you know. And with the official closing of this case, I quickly realized that there are certain things I didn't have to put up with anymore."

"So have you and Nene here been basking in the glory of solving the Plaza Slaughter this morning?" Leon remarked.

His coworkers grimaced, showing that the merriment was one-dimensional after all.

"Don't even touch that one," Daley muttered. "It just sickens me that when they pulled the big 'raid' of the so-called terrorist headquarters that everyone was killed, if they weren't already dead before our officers got there. Those poor guys were just there to feed a hungry public and it worked."

"Still, if you had followed the real path, Yuuji'd be a widower. After all, we had no idea there was a Yakuza connection to all of this."

Daley winced and said, "Don't remind me. The fear works both ways when you're married to an investigative reporter."

"So, Leonardo, how's the new bachelor pad?" Nene asked as she packed up the bugging device scanner she had borrowed from Sylia. "Heard you've got a great view of the bay."

"Yep. I'm going to have a housewarming party this weekend. You two are invited of course."

Daley smirked and said, "You should also invite Aya in Records. She perked up quite a bit when she heard you were back. And she just about jumped up and down when she found out you were single again."

"Ah, I don't want to rush things," Leon said with a wave of his hands. "It's only been a couple of days. And this one's going to take a while to get out of my system, if she ever does... So, um, Nene, have you seen her?"

She shook her head as she bit into her donut. "Nope. All I know is that she's settled into Linna's place and that her band finally arrived. So we just assumed that she's been hanging out with them, especially since they've got show dates at Hot Legs next month… Um, did you want to go with us?"

Leon opened his mouth to answer but then paused. "Let's wait and see when the concert comes closer. Okay?"

"Okay," she said with an understanding smile.

Suddenly, their attention was snagged by the sound of loud banging and some heavy things crashing in the hallway.

"God Damn IT!" an angry female voice bellowed clearly through the open doorway of their office. "Piece of a crap that should've been flushed down the toilet a long time ago!"

Leon immediately groaned, Daley smirked and Nene just looked at them in bewilderment.

"Come on, Cowboy. It's only proper to go out and greet the new neighbor," Daley said with a wink as he got up.

Even though Leon lagged behind, the three of them got up and rushed to see what had just happened.

In the hallway was a woman in a female officer's uniform struggling with a slightly tilted motorized dolly that had its front wheels wedged into the wall of her office. From a brief glance, it was easy to tell that the dolly had been stacked with ten cardboard boxes worth of items, half of which were now spilled on the floor.

The officer in question was on her knees as she started to gather her spilled contents, but it was clear to see that she was a solid, athletic woman with short red hair. She seemed to be in her late twenties and would have been pretty if her features hadn't been contorted with the grim frustration that was currently occupying her thoughts.

"Hey, Malso," Daley called out, "would you like some help?"

She paused at his voice and looked up at the three of them. It was obvious that she lingered the most on Leon, which caused a deeper frown, before she turned her attention back to Daley.

"Dunno how much help you could be, Wong. The girl looks like she could lift more than you can." Even though there was a certain gruffness in her response, it was clear that a genuine tease was underneath her words.

Daley merely grinned back and replied, "Well, it was her help that I was offering. I never said I was going to lift a finger. Sergeant Jeena Malso, let me introduce you to Assistant Detective Nene Romanova."

Nene saluted, recognizing the fact that this was the new commander of the NTC Combat unit. "Please to meet you, ma'am!"

Jeena stood and saluted back. "Likewise. So you're the whiz kid I've been hearing about!"

Nene immediately frowned and snarled, "You don't look old enough to call me 'kid'!"

The other woman chuckled. "I'm only repeating the nickname I've heard. And your spunk is part of the legend, too. Don't call me 'ma'am' and I won't call you 'kid'. Jeena works fine for me."

"Then you can use 'Nene'," she grinned as they shook hands.

"And I'm certain you remember Detective Leon McNichol," Daley said with an undisguised grin.

"Malso," Leon greeted the woman with a tense twitch of his cheek. The redness in his face betrayed more discomfort but his voice was level.

"McNichol," she answered coolly. "So are you going to help or not?"

With a grunt of reluctant compliance, Leon dropped down on his knees to start collecting the spilled contents of the box nearest to him. He paused when he realized it was a container of personal knick-knacks. He held up a cracked picture frame and looked at the picture of a young, redheaded boy posing with his baseball cap and bat.

He was clearly stunned at the photo and blurted, "Hey, I didn't know you have a kid!"

She reddened and snatched the picture from him. "Of course not! I just like putting pictures of other people's children on my desk! For crying out loud, Cowboy! If you're going to snoop, then don't bother helping!"

"How the hell could I be snooping if I saw something that you would have had out for everyone else to see?!" he retorted as he followed her into the office.

"Do they hate each other?" a concerned Nene whispered as she and Daley stayed and cleaned up more of the items from the spill.

Daley just grinned and said, "You know, I think they probably believe they do."

-- End Chapter 63 --

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