Episode 2: Break Down

A few days after his Canyon conversation with Sylvie, Sean was in Hot Legs waiting for Priss and Sylvie to return from their latest cycling trip. He mused, [The past few days have been a mixture of relieved and nerve-wrenching. Sylvie and Priss are getting along great, and I like not having to worry about her and Anri as much, but at the same time, I'm really scared about what will happen when one of the Knight Sabers - Priss in particular - discovers that Sylvie's a Boomer. Priss introduced the others to her last night - thank heaven Sylia wasn't there, or the game would have been up! Heck, the game was nearly up anyway when Nene mentioned the 'Highwayman', as the A.D.P. are calling the D.D. after that night. I'm feeling lousy about not telling Sylia about all this. I gave my word, though. Without Sylvie's permission, I can't tell anyone about her nature or origin, and I can't explain why I trust Sylia with that sort of information without violating Article 1 of the Knight Sabers' Code, which I'm _also_ bound to by my word. I'm not fussy about 'honour' in most ways, but I won't go back on my given word, even when I didn't know all the facts beforehand. Still, I feel badly knowing that Sylvie doesn't really _need_ the D.D. anymore, and that if I'd told Sylia where it was hidden, the job would be over now. I think I hate being caught in the middle.] He came out of his reminiscing as Priss entered the club. "Hi Priss! Get ticketed on the way here, or is there another reason you took so long?" She gave him a sour look.

"I was off biking outside city limits with Sylvie, and we were stopped for a break when we saw that damn GENOM Production building - GPCC, I think they call it. She gave me this weird comment about 'I am free now', and didn't come back with me. She - hey, what's wrong?" Sean had gone very pale as he remembered Sylvie telling him why she and Anri had come down to MegaTokyo.

[She mentioned that the major GENOM research facility here had data on how a 33-S could make herself totally self-sufficient, not needing human blood plasma any longer. If she meant GPCC, and I think she did, she could be - oh, no.]

Standing suddenly without a word of explanation, Sean dashed out the door of Hot Legs and jumped aboard the Mackiecycle, roaring off into the evening toward the Canyons.

"Hey!" yelled the startled Priss as he ran, "What in the world-?" She stopped as a possibility occurred to her. [Hmm. He might have gotten a telepathic message from Sylia or Iczel. I'd better call in.]

A few minutes later, Priss was on the phone with Sylia. "-so I wondered if you'd called him - you know, your personal way." she finished. Sylia frowned.

"I haven't called him, Priss, so I don't know what disturbed him like that. One moment - " she frowned for a few seconds, then looked back toward the phone's screen. "Priss, he's not answering. I don't know what's going on, but we'd better be prepared. Come back here and get ready - I'll call the others." Priss nodded, hung up the vidphone, and jogged out to her bike.

*** ***

Sean stood staring at the D.D. in its sewer tunnel. [She didn't even take the D.D.! Is she crazy? ...Get a grip, Sean.] He took a deep breath. [Well, she's gone to GPCC, but what do I do now? Sylia was already 'sending' to me about this - she's gonna be furious that I didn't answer.] Sean thought at a frantic pace for a few moments, most of his plans colliding with his obligations and shattering. Finally, he came to a decision. [Okay. One way or another, Sylvie's probably gonna get in trouble at GPCC, so I synchronize and go give her whatever help I can. Then, one way or another, I get her to give _this_ thing up when we get back, give its location to Sylia, and end this whole mess.] Firming his resolve, he called to Iczel.

*** ***

[It can't be this easy, can it?] Sylvie thought. Her impromptu raid into GPCC had gone far better than she had expected. She had sneaked in without incident, and found the GPCC head, Flint, in his office alone. Her mesmerizing optics had quickly entranced him into pointing out the location of her objective - a data disk with full technical details of how to make a 33-S's systems fully self-sufficient. She'd then put him harmlessly to sleep, and was on her way back to her bike. Just then two _large_ men in dark suits and shades came around a hallway corner.

"Well, if it isn't the current hot topic of conversation! We must be lucky tonight."

Sylvie thought fast - she was strong, but not strong enough to subdue two men this size, and the mirrorshades they wore would block out her hypnotic abilities. [My best chance is to get the glasses off them,] she thought. "Why don't you take off those yucky shades and I'll show you a _real_ good time?" she asked seductively.

"Like this?" the second man said, and pulled off his shades...

...to reveal the red optics of a BU-55-C Boomer. [Damn!] Sylvie thought, [I can't hypnotize Boomers, and I have no chance at all of beating these two! I have to lose them or reach the D.D.!] She turned, and blessed her perfect Boomer memory as she smashed through a window two stories above where she'd parked her bike.

From the shadows, Largo watched her flee, and smiled.

*** ***

Sean, as Iczelion, was flying toward the GPCC building when Sylvie, followed by two 55-C Boomers bursting out of human disguises, leaped out of a third-story window. Sylvie mounted her bike and roared off onto the highway, making for the Faultline Canyons. {Whoa!} Sean sent to Iczel. {I guess that solves the problem of finding her inside a building! OK, Iczel, let's cut across to intercept the 55-C's.} Swooping across the skyline, Sean aimed carefully at the first C-class...

*** ***

Sylvie was near panic. [They're faster than the bike!] she thought. [I'll never survive all the way to the Canyons, and I've got no idea how to get down to the D.D. fast enough anyway!] As if to confirm her pessimism, a laser bolt flashed by, searing a gash into her abdomen. [Ahh! Oh well, it could be worse. I could have those Boomer-hunting mercenaries after me, the ones Priss talks about.]

An explosion from behind drew her attention to the rear-view mirror. One of her pursuers was down in a flaming wreck on the highway. [What in the...] Her unspoken question was answered as a yellow-and-red figure swooped down upon the second 55-C, cutting it in two with a translucent yellow blade. Panic set in. [Oh my god, I have to get out of here!] Hunching forward, she gave the cycle everything it had...

*** ***

Sean was pleased at his quick victory, but worried about Sylvie, and he'd just heard from Iczel that three more 55-C's had just launched from GPCC. {Guess they really want her, huh, partner?}

{I won't argue with that conclusion, Sean, but we need to catch up with her. She's approaching the Broken Overpass at a dangerous rate of speed!} Sean took one look at the velocity Iczel read and turned hard toward the Canyons.

*** ***

Sylvie had seen the armoured figure turn towards her and her fear had sparked a desperate plan. [When I reach the Canyons I'll just jump off the bridge, catch a piece of rebar or a sewer lip on the far side, and drop from handhold to handhold to the bottom! I *can't* die now, not now that I have the information we need to be free!] Gunning the motor again, she roared up to the edge of the broken overpass, then over it...

"Are you *crazy*? Priss will KILL you!" cried the armoured figure as it dove toward her, catching the bike before she could jump clear and lowering it toward the canyon floor. Sylvie was speechless for a moment as the cry echoed through her thoughts. [Priss? He knows Priss? Hey, wait a minute - he knows Priss gave me the bike! And I never told anyone about that, so the only one who should know is...]

"*Sean?* Is that *you?*" The yellow-and-red figure snapped its head around to her, then almost sagged as they touched ground.

"Oh, bugger, I blew it. Way to *go*, Kai."

"It _is_ you! I didn't know, I was rushing for the D.D.! Oh god, Sean, I might have killed you!"

"Ah - We'll talk later, Sylvie. There are three more 55-C's incoming right now. Go hide in the D.D., I don't think they can detect you in there. I'll handle the C-classes, you just stay hidden." Sylvie nodded and ran for a certain sewer pipe. Sean sighed. [Now _she_ knows. Great. Oh well, may as well make it a party,] he thought. 'Sending' to Sylia for the first time that evening, he called out, {Sylia! I'm sorry I haven't answered so far, I wanted to tend to personal business without involving you - but now I have three BU-55-C's coming at me in the Canyons near the inland overpass, and I don't know if I can handle them alone. Can you assist?}

{We're on our way,} came a terse reply. Sean could swear an arctic wind blew over him, the tone was that cold.

{I'm sorry, Sylia, really I am, but maybe I can _finally_ explain everything after this is over.} He could sense curiosity, but also unabated anger from Sylia.

{Sean, the explanation had better be a good one to account for three C-class Boomers chasing you. And there had better _not_ be a 'maybe' about the explanation. Our ETA is six minutes; Sylia out.} Sean shivered. [Oh, man. I don't think shutting her out was a great idea, but I didn't know what to tell her when she called me! Damn. I *really* hate this being caught in the middle!]

Just then, three bulky humanoids soared into the Canyon. Sean glared. "All right, I've had a lousy day that promises to get worse, and I'm going to work out some stress _right_ _now_!"

*** ***

Sylvie, watching the fight from inside the hidden D.D., stared in horror at her screens. Iczelion - [Sean,] she reminded herself - had foregone ranged combat entirely in order to swoop in and slash at the 55-C's with two swords that the D.D. informed her were contained energy of some sort. He turned, spun, swooped in and out, but the three Boomers were working to keep him at bay by guarding each other's backs. As she watched, Sean dove on one Boomer and double-slashed it into pieces, but a microwave shot from the second 55-C and a laser bolt from the third combined to slam him into the ground. The second Boomer closed its chestplate and grabbed Sean's arms from behind, pulling him up, while the third extended a set of wrist claws and stalked in. [I can't just let him die!] With that thought, she grabbed the controls and spurred the D.D. forward...

*** ***

Sean was just recovering from his crash landing. His ribs hurt, and the Boomer in front of him was saying something about 'tell me where she went'. Just then, a metallic clang sounded as the D.D. emerged from the sewers.

"Right there," he said. The Battlemover was in its rapid transit mode at the moment, resembling a mechanical red-and-gray twelve-foot panther with a vulcan cannon mounted on its back. That cannon swiveled to point at the claw-wielding Boomer and fired with a stuttering roar, shattering the BU-55-C with forty heavy armour-piercing rounds inside of three seconds. The last remaining Boomer let go of Sean to use its heat cannon, but Sean turned on it and blew it to bits with a two-handed energy bolt at point-blank range. He then turned to the D.D.

"Nice work! You could have a career in this business if you wanted one!"

Sylvie's reply was cut short by the --THOOM-- of an A.D. Police K-12 Armoured Trooper landing on the far side of the D.D. from Sean.

"All right, I'm not going to do anything to you! Just come out of there!," cried the voice of Leon McNichol.

[Oh, no. Why me, Fate? Why _him_, the one ADP Officer I appreciate enough that I won't just knock him on his tin butt? Why *now*, when in five minutes, we could have been gone!] Sean's mind babbled. [Okay, time for some fast talking...] Sean moved out from behind the D.D. and called to Leon. "Hey, Inspector McNichol! Long time no see!" The dumbfounded expression on Leon's face _almost_ made Sean's day worthwhile.

*** ***

Sylvie had frozen when Leon's K-12 had landed, and now she was calmer but feeling strange. Her vision was blurring, her side was numb, and she was getting flashes of the oddest feeling, like the D.D. _was_ her body instead of just _carrying_ her body.

Then shock and blood loss from her wound set in, and she faded down into darkness...

*** ***

"...so you see, we have it all under control. You can have the D.D. if you like - " Sean spun around as the D.D. began its mechamorphosis to humanoid - full combat - mode. "Sylvie?" No reply. "SYLVIE?!" he cried, Iczel broadcasting it over radio as well. Still no reply, and the scanners on the D.D.'s head deployed to survey the area. [Oh, shit!] Sean thought as realization set in. [She was _bleeding_ when I caught her... if it was bad she could have passed out and...] "McNichol," he growled in an undertone, "get out of here!"

"What!? Why? What's happening?"

"Dammit, McNichol, I think my partner was hurt and didn't say it! If she's passed out, the J-1 computer's in command now! I am _probably_ listed as non-hostile, but *you* are definitely not safe! Beat it so I can get her out of there!"

Leon had gone dead white. "I can't. I don't know if you know this, having the Battlemover 'third-hand', but the J-1 also activates a micro-neutron bomb! If we can't destroy the D.D. before the timer runs down, the whole city -" A shocked Sean never got to hear the rest of the explanation, because the D.D.'s arm came across in a vicious arc, smashing into Sean's abused ribs and launching him into a shattering impact against the canyon wall.

[So much for 'non-hostile',] Sean thought as he spiraled into blackness.

*** ***

"Priss? That is you, isn't it?" The words filtered in to Sean through a gray blanket. He wasn't hearing straight, his vision was fuzzy, his body felt like it was wrapped in cotton. He struggled to free himself from his stupor as the pleading voice - [Sylvie,] his mind labeled it - went on, pleading with Priss to kill her, severing her link to the D.D. and thus shutting down the J-1 with no explosion. [Hmm,] Sean mused in a detached sort of way. [like a lobotomy, cutting off part of a brain to limit its function without killing the patient.] Suddenly, the haze cleared from his mind, though his body was still limp. [Wait a minute! If that analogy holds...]

Fixing on this one hope of saving his newest friend, Sean struggled with his uncooperative body, levering himself to his feet. The pain of a broken rib lanced into his side, but he welcomed it - it helped to wake him up. Finally, he heaved his eyes open to see the D.D., cockpit open to reveal a horrified Sylvie, holding Sylia's hardsuit with one arm and raising the other to strike. In one sharp flash, the lethargy was gone and Sean was charging in, grabbing a beam sword as he went.

He slashed through the D.D.'s elbow, freeing Sylia, just as an explosion tore the D.D.'s other arm off above the wrist. Priss stared down at them through watery eyes and a shattered visor, crying "Sylvie... HERE I COME!!" as she leapt her Motoroid off the Canyon's edge and down into the battle.

"PRISS! NO! DON'T SHOOT! DOOON'T!" Sean cried as he also leapt into the air, up onto the D.D.'s torso, standing over Sylvie...

"What are you doing? *Get out of the way!*" Sylia screamed. There were less than 50 seconds remaining until the bomb went off, and Sean had jumped right into Priss's line of fire!

The J-1, confused by the dual threat, fired at the incoming Motoroid first. Priss dodged the first volley from the vulcan cannon, then screamed in shock as Sean plunged his beam swords down into the D.D.'s cockpit! "SYLVIE!"

Sean worked the beam swords down in an odd double curve, as if he were cutting around and under something, then let go of them, reached down, and pulled a man-size oval of slashed wire and gutted circuitry out of there, leaping away. Priss aimed her motoroid's cannon at the mecha as Sean crashed to the ground under his prize, but held her fire as Nene cried out a report.

"Sylia! It's stopped! The countdown's stopped, and..." The D.D. crashed to the ground. "...and the D.D. is shutting down." Everyone stared at the D.D. for a moment. "Sylia, what happened?" Nene asked.

"_We_ can answer that," Sean called from where he was still half-buried under the chunk he'd carved out of the mecha, "if someone could help turn Sylvie over."

"SYLVIE?!" Priss shrieked, and landed next to them. Reaching out, she turned the chunk over...

... to reveal a shocked, but slowly grinning Sylvie still locked into a cut-out cockpit chair. Sean grinned, although with his 'holofaceplate' up, no one could see it. "I thought that if removing Sylvie from the link was what we had to do, then cutting her free would also shut down the J-1, if it was that dependent on a linkage." By now, Priss and Sylvie were hugging, crying hysterically.

{That's only natural, Sean, when they've come so close to killing each other,} Sylia 'sent' to him.

{Oops! Did I let that leak out? Sorry, didn't intend to.} Sean replied.

{Right now, Sean, we'd better get your injured Sexaroid friend to Silky Doll - I can repair her in the basement lab. And _then_, we are going to discuss what you knew, for how long, and why you didn't even tell _me_.} Sean shivered. This was _not_ going to go over well, but he was done with lying. All his good intentions had gotten him was trouble.

*** ***

Sylia was actually finding it difficult to maintain her calm facade. Fortunately they were in a private room, but Sean's admission that he had known for _weeks_ about his house guests being from Genaros had started a burning sensation in her heart. It had only grown more intense with each new confession - Sylvie and Anri being Sexaroids, the 'Highwayman' being the D.D. with Sylvie at the helm, the blood purchases, all of it. She gathered her composure for a moment, then spoke, her voice glacially calm. "Sean, I know there is no article in the Knight Sabers' Code about withholding information, but I cannot believe you didn't trust us - trust _me,_" and her voice cracked, just on the one word, "enough to tell us about this. I know you explained about your oath, but you should have told us! The Knight Sabers are built on trust, Sean. If we don't have that, we have nothing. I have no option but to suspend you from the Knight Sabers." She held up a hand at his strangled cry of protest. "I know I can't keep you and Iczel apart, and I am not foolish enough to try. But until we have resolved this 'conflict of interest' problem you have, you will not be involved in Knight Saber operations in any way. This will make it inconvenient for you to stay here-"

Sean cut her off before she could finish, almost snarling at her. His broken rib was taped and set, but he had been under a lot of stress over this for weeks and the painkillers had lowered his emotional defenses somewhat. "Do you think I seriously _enjoyed_ being stuck in a damn moral dilemma? Particularly one that was not only life-and-death, but involved my closest friends? Fine. If my 'personal honour', as you put it during that two-hour grilling I just endured, is a problem, then fine. Sylvie should be mobile by now, so I'll just collect her and _she and I_ can go stay at _my place_ with _Anri,_ since I don't seem to be wanted around here!" And with that, he stalked out, leaving Sylia speechless with surprise and anger.

[How dare he!] she thought. [How dare he talk to me like that, especially when _he_ was in the wrong to put his word before all else in such a dangerous situation! And *most* especially when I was going to let him stay here despite the difficulty!] She was so furious that she was actually inarticulate. As a matter of fact, she wasn't sure she'd ever been this angry, even when she'd deduced the identity of her father's killer, Brian J. Mason. [What was that old saying again,] she mused through her anger, ["it's those within your heart that get farthest under your skin?"...]

*** ***

Sean was still seething. He'd prevailed upon Linna to give them a ride home, since both his and Sylvie's bikes were still in the Canyons. Linna and Sylvie had both been giving him nervous glances for the whole drive, but he ignored them. [Hmph! Trust! "And if I broke my given word, Sylia, how could you trust me then? Isn't this a double standard?" That's what I should have said. Aargh!] His thoughts continued in this vein until they reached Sean's house. Linna waited outside as Sean and Sylvie went to the door. He opened it...

And froze. The front hall was a shambles, with the doormats shoved about and the little cabinet overturned, and the kitchen at the end of the hall was in similar condition. {Shit,} he sent to Iczel, {the place is all messed up! Iczel, is Anri here?}

Sean's heart skipped a beat at the reply. {No, she's not, Sean, and I can't locate her anywhere within five hundred meters, beyond which I'd no longer be able to tell a 33-S from a human.} He spoke under his breath to Sylvie.

"Sylvie, go back to the van. Someone's been through here like a bull in a china shop and Anri's nowhere around. If someone took Anri, they might be here for you, too. Go tell Linna - she should let you stay with her for a while, and we really _can_ see about getting you your own space. I'll look after things here."

Sylvie stared for a moment, then burst forward, running for the door. "ANRI!"

Sean, caught unaware, tried to pull her back but was dragged forward instead. By the time they stopped, the two were halfway down the front hall. No Boomers leaped out at them, nor did any booby traps go off. Sean sighed. "Were you listening to me at _all_, Sylvie?"

She blushed. "I'm sorry, but I'm so worried -" He waved her off.

"No problem this time. I was just worried that *who* or *what*ever took Anri might be back for you. If she wasn't safe, you aren't either. So you go stay with Linna, and since I don't have to worry about 'Knight Sabers Business'," he paused, as that still stung, "I'll do all I can to find Anri. Priss will help, I'm sure, and Iczel and I can make sure that if the kidnappers come back, they get a very _nasty_ surprise. But first and foremost, we keep you safe."

"Sean - thank you. For saving my life when I thought I had to die, even though you _did_ scare me half to death doing it," Sean studied the floor, "and for giving us a home, and for this - and Anri would thank you, too." Wasting no more time, Sylvie walked out to the van and got in, and after a minute the two women drove off. Sean looked around at the shifted rugs and overturned furniture, and started to clean up.

{So do you have any ideas about how to find Anri?} Iczel sent.

{Yes, a couple. I'll stay at home for as long as possible in the daylight hours, on my theory that the kidnappers probably won't be satisfied with just Anri - I'll bet that it's someone that Kaufman creep hired to get his 'property',} and the sending seethed with Sean's fury at that designation, {back for him. With you nearby, as I said, anyone trying anything will get a shock!}

{That covers the daytime. I take it you have something in mind for the nights?} Iczel asked.

{I do indeed. You mentioned a five-hundred-meter range at which you can tell a Sexaroid from a human, correct? And this is a radius?}

{Yes, to both. Does this mean flying nighttime search patterns to locate Sexaroids?}

{Give the Iczel a prize! Yup, you got it. We'll cover the Canyons first, then the Aqua Cities, and then a grid pattern over the city each night until we find her, dammit! Sorry, didn't mean to let the anger slip out there. One thing right after another. How'd anyone find her here, anyhow?}

{I don't know, Sean. And as to 'one thing after another', doesn't Inspector McNichol say that he likes it that MegaTokyo's never dull?}

Sean laughed, but it was hollow.

*** ***

The next week was, in a word, awful. Sean's sweeps of the Canyons, Aqua Cities, and other areas where one might hide a kidnap victim were fruitless - the only Boomers there were standard Labor-types. The grid pattern was slow, and the team couldn't risk flying too near GENOM Tower or A.D.P. Headquarters, leading Sean to worry that their quarry might be inside one of those 'safe zones'. Sleeping during the day, dashing out for the minimum possible time to shop and rushing back home, worry, and nightmares about what could be happening to Anri were also taking their toll on the young man. Sylia called, concerned for his health, but he brushed her off.

"I'm minding _my_ own business, Boss Lady, you mind yours," was his response to each of her calls, whether vidphone, Email, or 'sending'. He was still fuming about her reaction to a situation where he felt he'd taken the only possible course of action. Still, he missed her badly, and was on the verge of depression.

Finally, on that Friday morning at 5 a.m., Sean came into the house through the basement sewer entrance, separating from Iczel before going upstairs. [Another worthless search,] he thought miserably. [I'm beginning to get the awful suspicion that Anri's captors didn't even stay in MegaTokyo. How'll I ever find them if that's true?] In the living room, he noticed the light blinking on the vidphone, signaling that a message had been taken overnight. [Hmm. Probably not Sylia or any of the Sabers - they and Sylvie know I'm not in after dark anymore. Oh well, better check it before -] he yawned. [-Before I crash.] He flipped the 'Play' button and sat back to watch the small screen.

A young woman with neat, shoulder-length brown hair looked out at him from the screen, wearing a business suit and looking nervous. The image was so different from Sean's last view of her that it took him several words to recognize Anri!

"Sean," she was saying, "I don't have long. I just wanted you to know I was safe and to apologize for the mess I made when I left - I thought it was GENOM coming to get me, but it was the man who made it possible for us to escape Genaros. I panicked and tried to run before he could explain. I - I don't know if you know about Sylvie yet: 'he' already told me she died. I - I'm sorry." Her eyes clouded up, and the message ended.

Sean was stunned. [Now what's going on!?!] he wailed in his mind. He was still careful not to let his thought leak over into 'sending', though. [Talk about thought control...] Before he could go over all that Anri had said, fatigue overtook him and he collapsed back onto the couch.

*** ***

When Sean woke up in the afternoon, he replayed the message. [OK, Anri's all right by her own admission, so unless she was being controlled or coerced somehow I can stop worrying about her well-being. The explanation also covers the mess in here - even a weakened 33-S can be damn strong when in fear of her life. But what's this shit about Sylvie being dead?!?] Picking up the phone, he tried to keep calm as he dialed Linna's number.

Sylvie picked up the phone. "Yes, Yamazaki residence, may I help you - oh, Sean, hello! Sean?" she asked as he visibly sagged in relief. "Sean, what's wrong?" She paused as an awful thought came to her. "It's not - it's not bad news about Anri, is it?"

Sean shook his head. "Not exactly. She left me a video message, saying she was all right and that she'd been picked up by the man who gave you the info to escape Genaros, but she thought at first that it was GENOM, hence the mess. Then she implied that he'd told her you were dead! I thought for a minute that she knew something I didn't!" He paused for breath.

Sylvie got over her shock at being declared dead quickly and asked, "But why would he tell her that? I'm _not_ dead!"

"I don't know, but there are two basic possibilities; One, he really doesn't know, he thinks you died in the D.D. or something. Or, Two, he does know, and he wants her to think you're dead so she won't try to contact you or leave him for you. Do you have any way to get in contact with this guy?"

"No. He only sent us the information about the shuttles, the D.D., and GPCC. There was no mention of meeting him anywhere!" A short pause. "Sean, do you think..."

Sean nodded. "I have a hunch he wanted you, some or all of the group you mentioned, down here for reasons of his own. I don't know why, but I'm going to keep looking for Anri, and when I find them I intend to find out!"