Chapter 1 Teaser
***********************************************************************
Inspector Leon McNickel was enjoying a nice quiet night in his
squad car when ADPolice headquarters radioed him. His partner Daley was
busy somewhere else right now so he was alone in the car.
*Damn. So much for a calm evening.* with a sigh, Leon picked up
the mike and inquired what was up.
Apparently, another renegade Boomer, *What else,* Leon thought
with a snort, had appeared near his position and he was requested to go
aid the other officers on the scene. He signaled his confirmation and
accelerated to get there as fast as possible.
As he dodged traffic, Leon frowned. *Another Boomer. Damn. Double
damn. We lose too many men to these things and the civilians...* His
mind stopped that thought as he spotted ADPolice cars barricading the
road up ahead. Driving up, he opened his window and flashed his ID to
an inquiring officer.
Leon was brief. "Where?"
The officer nodded his head towards the barricade. "It's headed
this way, sir. Fortunately, the street it's using is pretty deserted
and people are staying away from it. It should be here any minute."
Leon nodded, stepped out of the car to stand, and waited for the
Boomer to appear.
He didn't have to wait long.
Running faster than a normal human, the blue Boomer quickly came
into sight. The ADPolice barricade, which had police officers all
training their machine guns at the out-of-control 55-C class Boomer,
caused the humanoid robot to stop once it noticed the obstruction.
Despite the destruction it had caused, one had to marvel at what
man's technology had created. Biotech in nature, the Boomer moved
smoothly and quick, belying its bulky, armor-plated form. Even more
marvelous was the AI that lived within the red-eyed, skull face. It had
been a goal long sought after by scientists, made possible by the late
Dr. Stingray, and then stolen by Genom for the power it promised.
Rather than attack, the Boomer just stood there in front of the
police line of fire with an air of amusement about it, the puny humans
couldn't hurt it. The police opened up their weapons without any
prompting. To wait for an order was not wise when dealing with these
machines of mayhem. Its amusement was well founded.
Leon was not happy with the results of the storm of bullets
hitting the Boomer, but not surprised either. *Damn it! The bullets are
denting its armor, but it just reforms the slight damage done to it.
Bastard machine knew this wouldn't hurt it. We need heavier weapons!*
The police line soon ran out of ammunition and the Boomer was
virtually unharmed. Unfortunately, it seemed to have become bored and
decided to send some of its own fire back. Chest plates opened upwards
on the Boomer, revealing the multiple array of lens for its heat weapon
that was aimed at the frantically reloading men.
"Move out of its line of fire!" Leon shouted, knowing sickly that
the men in the police barricade wouldn't have the time to move. The
Boomer's weapon started to glow as Leon forced himself to watch what
would happen.
However, just before the weapon fired, a black figure landed
between the shooting Boomer and the police. The intense heat hit the
unknown form, and disappeared. The police officers who had seen sudden
death approaching watched in amazement and relief as this happened with
no harm to the being standing in front of them.
"What the...?" Happy that men hadn't died, Leon was amazed at this
new addition to the battle. For a brief moment he had thought the
Knight Sabers had saved them, again. But once he got even a glance at
it he didn't know what it was...
*Who, or better yet WHAT, the hell is that? It just saved our
butts but can it handle the Boomer?* Leon wondered.
The figure was around twelve feet in height and was roughly human
in shape. It was made of a dark looking iron like metal. No armor that
Leon knew of could withstand a Boomer's weapon like it that.
Said android wasn't taking the dramatic failure of it's weapon too
well however, and it roared at the interloper. The Boomer leaped high
into the air so it could land and crush the strange-looking figure. The
figure just opened its mouth and a roaring torrent of fire spewed
forth, engulfing the Boomer in mid flight. With a loud crash the boomer
crashed into the figure and knocked it back a few paces. A second crash
sounded when the humanoid grabbed a nearby lamppost and ripped it out
of the ground and hit the Boomer with it. The flames had apparently
worked a little better on the Boomer then the heat ray had on the
Humanoid but not much more. The Boomer was hurt however when it got hit
the lamppost, one of its arms was broken and leaking orange fluids onto
the pavement.
Furious now, the Boomer decided to end the fight by using the
laser beam weapon in its mouth. After carefully dodging the dangerous
lamppost as the Humanoid tried to hit it again, the Boomer leaped
backwards from the stranger and opened it's mouth to fire the particle
beam, causing the muzzle of the weapon to project out. The beam lashed
out and blew a piece off of the Humanoid's shoulder as it tried to
dodge, causing it to roar in pain. With a lumbering charge the figure
tried to smash the Boomer with its makeshift club only to get blasted
again. Suddenly a voice called out in a musical language and the figure
stopped trying to club the Boomer and instead threw the lamppost
impaling the Boomer into the ground. Badly disoriented and in critical
condition due to the overloading feedback from the lamppost in its
stomach, the Boomer thrashed unsteadily in the middle of the street. A
moment later the Humanoid had grabbed the lamppost and lifted it and
the boomer up and over its head, only to smash the Boomer head first
into the ground behind it.
"Jesus," one of the troopers said as the police watched the
finishing touch on the Boomer silently. Another musical command brought
Leon's attention to the figure in the ally. They were dressed in some
sort of black robe that had weird blue symbols all over it and a hood.
The Humanoid figure pulled the lamppost out of the Boomer picked it up
and lumbered over to the ally, were the figure jumped on top of it and
waved at the ADPolice while the Humanoid ran into the ally. The police
choppers finally arrived on the scene, but found no trace of the
strange person or their Humanoid helper who had handled a Boomer almost
as easily as the Knight Sabers.
Leaning on his patrol car, Leon smiled at the ally. *Well, well,
well. Looks like someone has decided to help the Knight Sabers to
destroy rampaging Boomer's. Arrived just barely in time too.*
Thoughtfully, Leon wondered at the abilities of the new appearance.
*Odd though. Didn't look like anything I've seen before. Even the
Knight Sabers have armor and weaponry that looked more familiar than
that thing. Hell, it didn't even appear to have any weapons other then
that flame-thrower, and why steal the boomer? Things are going to get
interesting.* He sighed as he climbed into his car.
*Time to do the paperwork for this mess.*
***********************************************************************
"...and then Leon said the armored guy threw the lamppost he had
ripped out of the street into the Boomer's Stomach!" Nene excitedly
said as she repeated what Leon had told her to Linna, Priss, and Sylia,
as they ate in a restaurant Linna had recommended. Continuing, Nene
finished her story. "The 'Iron Man', as everyone down at ADPolice are
calling him now, ended the fight by picking up the boomer with the
lamppost and smashed the Boomer head first into the ground, like it was
flipping pancakes. Then it picked up the lamppost and the boomer and
walked over to the guy in the robe and they disappeared into the ally,
when Leon got to the ally they where gone, just poof. Not even the
copters could find them and they where going towards them." She leaned
back in her chair and sighed. "They seemed to vanish into thin air when
no one was looking. The Knight Sabers definitely have some help
fighting rogue boomers."
"If he's blowing away Boomers he's got my vote," Priss chuckled.
"Yes, but what if it's just a trap to lure the knight sabers out
into the open?" Linna worried out loud. "I mean, they are mercenaries.
Someone might be using this guy to lure them out for revenge."
Sylia shook her head slowly with a thoughtful expression on her
face, "Not likely, the technology described isn't like anything on the
market. Plus it's stupid to equip a flame-thrower as the only weapon
and then send it out to hunt boomers. It sounds like either a prototype
or a spur of the moment decision. I will however look into this."
Linna wasn't very reassured. "But what do they really want?"
"Oh, don't make everything seem so gloomy, Linna!" Nene pouted.
"Maybe they just doesn't like Boomers, like Priss."
"Got that right. Now and forever," Priss stated firmly.
"Besides it sounds kind of like this 'Iron Man' isn't a man. It's
more like some kind of boomer of some sort. It seemed like it had some
sort of AI controlling it, but it definitely wasn't very smart," Sylia
added. A buzzing sounded from her side, reaching down she pulled a
ringing cellular phone from her bag and answered it. She listened for a
few moments before saying, "Good, we'll get started then."
Closing the phone she turned to the others, "We've got a job to
do, come on."
As the Knight Sabers left they passed a table were a beautiful
ebony-skinned women with long white hair sat slowly eating. As she ate,
Maya smiled internally at her successful first try against a Boomer.
The Iron Golem had worked but not as well as she had thought, but now
she had a boomer to study. It hadn't taken long to figure out that a
set of normal enchanted armor wasn't going to work. After tonight it
was readily apparent that she was going to have to figure out how to
replicate either the material used for armor on the boomer or design a
magical equivalent. The only reason the Iron Golem had done so well had
been because it hadn't been like anything Genom had programmed it to
expect. Next time she would need more then one to do nearly as well,
after that something as weak as an Iron Golem just wasn't going to
work. She was going to have to make some sort of magical construct to
fight. Hearing a quite sigh from across from her she looked up at the
young blond haired woman sitting there slowly pushing the food around
her plate.
"What's wrong, Irene?"
"Nothing." The blond answered in a dejected tone.
Maya raised an eyebrow, "When you say nothing like that, it's like
your screaming out that something's wrong."
She sighed again, "I want to tell my friends and family that I'm
still alive." She waved her hand at Maya before she could respond, "Oh,
I know we agreed to wait. But Mason is dead and he's the one who was
out to get me and it's been months since they thought I died. I want to
tell Linna and my sister that I'm ok. I can still see the pain in
Linna's eyes. She's here and I can talk to her without raising
suspicions, please let me."
Maya taking one look at her companions sad face sighed internally,
"Alright, I don't see what harm it could do."
"Thank you!" Irene chirped, a smile blossoming on her face.
"But only after I secure the place and it will be a while, I don't
have the time right now to change you back." She added after seeing the
look on Irene's face. "We're in this together, you're my only link to
the rest of this world."
"I know, I know. Why did you give in so easily."
*Because I'm a Sucker for beautiful woman in tears.* Maya smiled,
"Your unhappy and I'm curious as to how she got in contact with the
Knight Sabers."
"Me to."
***********************************************************************
Inspector Leon McNickel was enjoying a nice quiet night in his
squad car when ADPolice headquarters radioed him. His partner Daley was
busy somewhere else right now so he was alone in the car.
*Damn. So much for a calm evening.* with a sigh, Leon picked up
the mike and inquired what was up.
Apparently, another renegade Boomer, *What else,* Leon thought
with a snort, had appeared near his position and he was requested to go
aid the other officers on the scene. He signaled his confirmation and
accelerated to get there as fast as possible.
As he dodged traffic, Leon frowned. *Another Boomer. Damn. Double
damn. We lose too many men to these things and the civilians...* His
mind stopped that thought as he spotted ADPolice cars barricading the
road up ahead. Driving up, he opened his window and flashed his ID to
an inquiring officer.
Leon was brief. "Where?"
The officer nodded his head towards the barricade. "It's headed
this way, sir. Fortunately, the street it's using is pretty deserted
and people are staying away from it. It should be here any minute."
Leon nodded, stepped out of the car to stand, and waited for the
Boomer to appear.
He didn't have to wait long.
Running faster than a normal human, the blue Boomer quickly came
into sight. The ADPolice barricade, which had police officers all
training their machine guns at the out-of-control 55-C class Boomer,
caused the humanoid robot to stop once it noticed the obstruction.
Despite the destruction it had caused, one had to marvel at what
man's technology had created. Biotech in nature, the Boomer moved
smoothly and quick, belying its bulky, armor-plated form. Even more
marvelous was the AI that lived within the red-eyed, skull face. It had
been a goal long sought after by scientists, made possible by the late
Dr. Stingray, and then stolen by Genom for the power it promised.
Rather than attack, the Boomer just stood there in front of the
police line of fire with an air of amusement about it, the puny humans
couldn't hurt it. The police opened up their weapons without any
prompting. To wait for an order was not wise when dealing with these
machines of mayhem. Its amusement was well founded.
Leon was not happy with the results of the storm of bullets
hitting the Boomer, but not surprised either. *Damn it! The bullets are
denting its armor, but it just reforms the slight damage done to it.
Bastard machine knew this wouldn't hurt it. We need heavier weapons!*
The police line soon ran out of ammunition and the Boomer was
virtually unharmed. Unfortunately, it seemed to have become bored and
decided to send some of its own fire back. Chest plates opened upwards
on the Boomer, revealing the multiple array of lens for its heat weapon
that was aimed at the frantically reloading men.
"Move out of its line of fire!" Leon shouted, knowing sickly that
the men in the police barricade wouldn't have the time to move. The
Boomer's weapon started to glow as Leon forced himself to watch what
would happen.
However, just before the weapon fired, a black figure landed
between the shooting Boomer and the police. The intense heat hit the
unknown form, and disappeared. The police officers who had seen sudden
death approaching watched in amazement and relief as this happened with
no harm to the being standing in front of them.
"What the...?" Happy that men hadn't died, Leon was amazed at this
new addition to the battle. For a brief moment he had thought the
Knight Sabers had saved them, again. But once he got even a glance at
it he didn't know what it was...
*Who, or better yet WHAT, the hell is that? It just saved our
butts but can it handle the Boomer?* Leon wondered.
The figure was around twelve feet in height and was roughly human
in shape. It was made of a dark looking iron like metal. No armor that
Leon knew of could withstand a Boomer's weapon like it that.
Said android wasn't taking the dramatic failure of it's weapon too
well however, and it roared at the interloper. The Boomer leaped high
into the air so it could land and crush the strange-looking figure. The
figure just opened its mouth and a roaring torrent of fire spewed
forth, engulfing the Boomer in mid flight. With a loud crash the boomer
crashed into the figure and knocked it back a few paces. A second crash
sounded when the humanoid grabbed a nearby lamppost and ripped it out
of the ground and hit the Boomer with it. The flames had apparently
worked a little better on the Boomer then the heat ray had on the
Humanoid but not much more. The Boomer was hurt however when it got hit
the lamppost, one of its arms was broken and leaking orange fluids onto
the pavement.
Furious now, the Boomer decided to end the fight by using the
laser beam weapon in its mouth. After carefully dodging the dangerous
lamppost as the Humanoid tried to hit it again, the Boomer leaped
backwards from the stranger and opened it's mouth to fire the particle
beam, causing the muzzle of the weapon to project out. The beam lashed
out and blew a piece off of the Humanoid's shoulder as it tried to
dodge, causing it to roar in pain. With a lumbering charge the figure
tried to smash the Boomer with its makeshift club only to get blasted
again. Suddenly a voice called out in a musical language and the figure
stopped trying to club the Boomer and instead threw the lamppost
impaling the Boomer into the ground. Badly disoriented and in critical
condition due to the overloading feedback from the lamppost in its
stomach, the Boomer thrashed unsteadily in the middle of the street. A
moment later the Humanoid had grabbed the lamppost and lifted it and
the boomer up and over its head, only to smash the Boomer head first
into the ground behind it.
"Jesus," one of the troopers said as the police watched the
finishing touch on the Boomer silently. Another musical command brought
Leon's attention to the figure in the ally. They were dressed in some
sort of black robe that had weird blue symbols all over it and a hood.
The Humanoid figure pulled the lamppost out of the Boomer picked it up
and lumbered over to the ally, were the figure jumped on top of it and
waved at the ADPolice while the Humanoid ran into the ally. The police
choppers finally arrived on the scene, but found no trace of the
strange person or their Humanoid helper who had handled a Boomer almost
as easily as the Knight Sabers.
Leaning on his patrol car, Leon smiled at the ally. *Well, well,
well. Looks like someone has decided to help the Knight Sabers to
destroy rampaging Boomer's. Arrived just barely in time too.*
Thoughtfully, Leon wondered at the abilities of the new appearance.
*Odd though. Didn't look like anything I've seen before. Even the
Knight Sabers have armor and weaponry that looked more familiar than
that thing. Hell, it didn't even appear to have any weapons other then
that flame-thrower, and why steal the boomer? Things are going to get
interesting.* He sighed as he climbed into his car.
*Time to do the paperwork for this mess.*
***********************************************************************
"...and then Leon said the armored guy threw the lamppost he had
ripped out of the street into the Boomer's Stomach!" Nene excitedly
said as she repeated what Leon had told her to Linna, Priss, and Sylia,
as they ate in a restaurant Linna had recommended. Continuing, Nene
finished her story. "The 'Iron Man', as everyone down at ADPolice are
calling him now, ended the fight by picking up the boomer with the
lamppost and smashed the Boomer head first into the ground, like it was
flipping pancakes. Then it picked up the lamppost and the boomer and
walked over to the guy in the robe and they disappeared into the ally,
when Leon got to the ally they where gone, just poof. Not even the
copters could find them and they where going towards them." She leaned
back in her chair and sighed. "They seemed to vanish into thin air when
no one was looking. The Knight Sabers definitely have some help
fighting rogue boomers."
"If he's blowing away Boomers he's got my vote," Priss chuckled.
"Yes, but what if it's just a trap to lure the knight sabers out
into the open?" Linna worried out loud. "I mean, they are mercenaries.
Someone might be using this guy to lure them out for revenge."
Sylia shook her head slowly with a thoughtful expression on her
face, "Not likely, the technology described isn't like anything on the
market. Plus it's stupid to equip a flame-thrower as the only weapon
and then send it out to hunt boomers. It sounds like either a prototype
or a spur of the moment decision. I will however look into this."
Linna wasn't very reassured. "But what do they really want?"
"Oh, don't make everything seem so gloomy, Linna!" Nene pouted.
"Maybe they just doesn't like Boomers, like Priss."
"Got that right. Now and forever," Priss stated firmly.
"Besides it sounds kind of like this 'Iron Man' isn't a man. It's
more like some kind of boomer of some sort. It seemed like it had some
sort of AI controlling it, but it definitely wasn't very smart," Sylia
added. A buzzing sounded from her side, reaching down she pulled a
ringing cellular phone from her bag and answered it. She listened for a
few moments before saying, "Good, we'll get started then."
Closing the phone she turned to the others, "We've got a job to
do, come on."
As the Knight Sabers left they passed a table were a beautiful
ebony-skinned women with long white hair sat slowly eating. As she ate,
Maya smiled internally at her successful first try against a Boomer.
The Iron Golem had worked but not as well as she had thought, but now
she had a boomer to study. It hadn't taken long to figure out that a
set of normal enchanted armor wasn't going to work. After tonight it
was readily apparent that she was going to have to figure out how to
replicate either the material used for armor on the boomer or design a
magical equivalent. The only reason the Iron Golem had done so well had
been because it hadn't been like anything Genom had programmed it to
expect. Next time she would need more then one to do nearly as well,
after that something as weak as an Iron Golem just wasn't going to
work. She was going to have to make some sort of magical construct to
fight. Hearing a quite sigh from across from her she looked up at the
young blond haired woman sitting there slowly pushing the food around
her plate.
"What's wrong, Irene?"
"Nothing." The blond answered in a dejected tone.
Maya raised an eyebrow, "When you say nothing like that, it's like
your screaming out that something's wrong."
She sighed again, "I want to tell my friends and family that I'm
still alive." She waved her hand at Maya before she could respond, "Oh,
I know we agreed to wait. But Mason is dead and he's the one who was
out to get me and it's been months since they thought I died. I want to
tell Linna and my sister that I'm ok. I can still see the pain in
Linna's eyes. She's here and I can talk to her without raising
suspicions, please let me."
Maya taking one look at her companions sad face sighed internally,
"Alright, I don't see what harm it could do."
"Thank you!" Irene chirped, a smile blossoming on her face.
"But only after I secure the place and it will be a while, I don't
have the time right now to change you back." She added after seeing the
look on Irene's face. "We're in this together, you're my only link to
the rest of this world."
"I know, I know. Why did you give in so easily."
*Because I'm a Sucker for beautiful woman in tears.* Maya smiled,
"Your unhappy and I'm curious as to how she got in contact with the
Knight Sabers."
"Me to."
