Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo: 2033
A BGC Fanfiction: Urban Discord
by Daniel Power
Chapter Three: Pain, My Unwanted Bedfellow
(MegaTokyo: 2033)
Ashley reholstered his magnum and turned to Sylia then, seeking an answer to his question. "Well, are they?"
Sylia smiled and motioned for her three visitors to come in and have a seat. "They most certainly are."
"Ah, I see, friends are a good thing to have." He took his time to inspect the three ladies that had come to visit with Sylia. He assumed that these three were her "associates". Two of them were very familiar. One was the pink- haired cop that had tried to arrest him and another was his racing partner from one of his botched attempts at having a good time. The third girl was one he had yet to have the pleasure of meeting.
Slyia broke the silence in the room. "Well mister Asakiri, let me introduce you to Priss..." A brown- haired girl in biker leathers stood.
Ashley nodded. "We've met."
"...Nene." The pink- haired girl in the police uniform stood and bowed while looking at him coldly.
Ashley nodded once again and smiled openly. "We've also met."
"...and Linna." A black- haired girl in a green business suit stood and bowed solemnly. Ashley returned the bow modestly. "...who I've yet to meet." He smiled devilishly and winked at Linna, who still stood, her eyes downcast.
Ashley made an attempt at playing the cassanova. Bowing once again, he said, "Good evening, my dear. Pardon my rudeness for having aimed a weapon at you."
"Oh, please." Priss said in annoyance. "To think that you would have anything remotely resembling charm."
"Think? One does not have to think where a little charm is concerned. It comes naturally and either you have it or you don't. I guess it's one of the few things I don't have." Having said this, he sat down on a couch, waiting for Sylia to say or do whatever it was she had planned.
Sylia coughed to break through the nervous tension that filled the room. "Okay. Mr. Ashley Asakiri is our new client. We're to protect him from being taken by the Genom corporation. The meeting to discuss this is to be held here now, since there has been a change in Mr. Asakiri's plans."
Each girl gave Sylia an open wide-eyed stare as they realized who, and what, Sylia was referring to them as. No one was supposed to know the identity of the Knight Sabers, clients especially. Sylia at once gave them a glare that brought their open shock to a standstill.
"We can feel safe to give Mr. Asakiri knowledge of our true identities." She sighed. "Besides, he figured it out on his own anyway."
"Poor us." Priss added.
Ashley continued where Sylia had left off. "I'm being hunted by a company called BioCite which is based in Canada. While I'm fighting them off I need the three of you to stave off any heat that I might take from Genom."
"Why is it they're after you?" Nene asked systematically.
Ashley turned to Nene, not sure of whether he should answer the question. Having made up his mind, he complied. "I'm the sole possessor of a technology that BioCite is trying to either destroy or retrieve and Genom would do anything to get their hands on."
"Oh, and you most likely stole it." Priss added without remorse.
A hurt look passed across Ashley's features. "Stole it? You're not giving credit where it's due. That credit belongs to BioCite. They stole my life! They snatched me from my home and did experiments on me, effectively implanting a technology in me that I want nothing to do with at all. All I want is to get back to my wife and two daughters." Ashley put his head in his hands as if he were reliving a lifetime of painful moments in surgery.
He then raised a finger at Priss. "Word to the wise, miss personality, make fewer accusations of this employer."
Priss looked both shocked and ashamed at the same time, while the other girls could do nothing but sympathize for the man.
Assuming the role of the police officer once again, Nene spoke up. "Just because your life has been tampered with doesn't give you the right to go around blowing things up and putting this city's citizens in danger!"
"You misunderstand." said Ashley. "I've been attacked by both companies now. I was just defending myself."
Linna, who had remained quiet until now, assessing the situation, spoke up. "Mister Asakiri, if you don't mind, could you tell us what this technology is supposed to do...please?"
Ashley looked at her sypathetically since the only answer he could give was "no." "Sorry miss. No can do. I would if I could, but I can't, so I won't. A large part of it should be obvious from now on, though. Well, it's been nice chat-"
"-Shh." Priss cut him off midsentence. "What's that noise?" A low thrumming filled everyone's ears then, getting louder as it seemed to get closer.
Glass shattered as shell sprayed into the room, splitting and ripping apart belongings and furniture. A tiltritor helicopter swung back and forth just outside the limits of the suite, sitting in plain view where the windows once were.
"Everybody down!" Ashley shoved two of the women to the floor, but the others had gotten the idea on instinct and were running from danger.
Several shells from the helicopter's twin chain cannons cut into Ashley's flesh. One in the shoulder, another in the leg, and one in the stomach. Ashley was knocked back and flipped head over heels by the impact of the shells. His blood, equally in dissaray, sprayed over the carpet and the surrounding furniture. He hit the ground with a sickening "thud!".
"Target has been dealt with. Send in the recovery team to get him." The pilot of the helicopter spoke into his headset with obvious satisfaction. This satisfaction was short lived as Ashley stood up from the blood soaked carpet and glared at him from behind eyes and face stained with red.
The pilot froze. Of course he knew what the guy was capable of, but this was too much! He was told by higher powers that he'd have more time to make his escape before the containment team came. Several minutes he was told, not mere seconds! He swerved the helicopter into an ascent without thinking twice.
Ashley was only vaguely aware of people shouting out to him from somewhere near.
Like a beast after its hapless prey, Ashley watched the vehicle climb. Then he shot forward with tremendous speed and hurled himself out of the window and towards the helicopter. He jumped the full forty feet to the copter and grabbed its landing gear. Bringing his fist up through the underbelly of the flying machine, Ashley wrapped a fist around the pilot's ankle and pulled...hard. Creaking and cracking metal could be heard as he pulled the pilot clean through the bottom of the helicopter, and not in such good condition either as metal is slightly harder than human flesh.
Ashley hurled what was left of the man into the air where it fell to its resting place. "Son of a bitch!" He called after the quickly falling corpse.
Using his arms as a leverage, Ashley began to swing until he gained enough momentum to reach the building. Hurling himself away from the helicopter, he smashed through a set of windows and shot to his feet. The room tenants screamed and ran through the front door or their home as the tiltrotor fireballed into the side of the building, setting waves of destruction loose starting at its point of impact.
Running after them through the door to be free of the confines of the room, Ashley made his way to the front entrance of the building.
:::Elevator's bound to be guarded.:::
After travelling down several floors, he was greeted by the familiar sounds of alarms and sirens ringing in warm recognition of his being there.
Two combat boomers, their metallic exteriors shining in the glare of emergency lighting, smashed cleanly through a wall near Ashley. Before he could react, another came from the floor beneath him, effectively grasping his ankle with inhuman strength and pulling him down through the floor. Flinging him with minimal effort, the boomer let Ashley fly from its grip. Ashley swore as he began to smash through set after set of stairs. His fall was then broken by the floor, and all too painfully at that.
Ashley lay on the floor of the building, feeling none too good considering most of his bones were probably broken. He waited in moment after moment of silence as his body began to heal itself, his bones knitting and flesh repairing itself while the boomers sailed towards him to finish whatever job it was they were here to do. He didn't give them the chance as he struggled to stand. Regaining his composure, he ran out of the building through a side entrance, only seconds before the combat boomers reached the ground floor.
Outside with guns aimed and at the ready, the AD Police waited for their target. They unleashed a volley of fire at Ashley as he exited the building. Ashley caught a blast of gunfire in the chest and glared at the officers, annoyed and in pain.
"Not me you cock-eyed excuses for dictators of the law! Them, not me, them!" Ashley motioned towards the door where the three combat boomers had rushed out meet a volley of gunfire themselves. Ashley gave a thumbs up to the nearest man in blue. "Nice job! Bad shooting, but nice job nonetheless." He gave the confused officer a hearty slap on the shoulder and was off, the boomers and police gunfire in hot pursuit.
* * * * * *
Ashley's breathing was severly laboured as he rounded another corner. The boomers, who didn't bother to use the sidewalk as Ashley had done, careened through obstacle after obstacle which, as it turned out, weren't much of obstacles after all.
One of them finally caught up to him due to his being winded. It grabbed him by the hair and gave him a much unappreciated punch in the back. Ashley felt his spine bend under the onslaught of the fist. He sprang forward most unwillingly and got acquainted with the side of a nearby building, also most unwillingly. Ashley stood back up and hobbled away from his pursuers. "That's going to leave a bruise. No black and blue bruises for this cowboy, only uncomparable pain."
Walking off his injury, Ashley turned to confront his most recent attacker. He didn't get the chance to assault the target as help had already arrived, and in his benefit. The Knight Sabers, in all their self-proclaimed combat glory, landed silently next to him as he stopped his charge on the closest boomer.
"That was fast." Ashley turned to one as they began the defense of their client in earnest. "I haven't even paid you yet."
The green hard suit turned at his words. "We usually don't accept payment until after the job is done."
Ashley mumbled under his breath as he left the scene of the fight, the sound of energy hitting what would eventually be scrap metal as he walked farther away. "I'd like to know how you're going to get payment if I'm accidentally killed, but who am I to complain about not paying? Certainly relieved, that's for sure, seeing as I don't have the money promised...yet."
Chill winds swept in waves across the late nights streets that Ashley followed on his way home. He had just recently drawn the conclusion that, since Genom had attacked him while at the Lady633 building, they probably didn't know where he lived yet. He hoped that this was the case as he fumbled in his coat for an apartment key. He opened the door to his hastily acquired, ramshackle, pig stye of a house to the sound of his radio blaring. He relaxed visibly, loud music was a normal thing and not at all painful either, as opposed to Genom combat boomers. It was a pleasurable change in setting.
Twenty minutes later and Ashley was seated comfortably in his leather reclinable chair, eating a hastily prepared supper. His apartment was moderately furnished, tacky, but comfortable nonetheless. Wallpaper was peeling off in places along one wall in the large room that served as his bedroom, living room, and kitchen. The dining area was dispersed throughout his house since he ate pretty much where he pleased. A bathroom sat opposite the front door and electronics of various levels of technology littered the small, cluttered apartment. Opened manuals and informative texts, in different states of disorder, lay around the room along with the occasional chocolate bar wrapper.
So, as it was, Ashley sat watching TV contentedly on his very large satellite Televiewer. He watched the news with mild interest upon seeing himself battling fierce blue tin cans that passed for evil. He had to give the combat model boomers credit though, for they were a complete pain in the ass.
Ashley then stood while he watched the news, answering the door as its bell rang repeatedly.
When he opened the door he was greeted by his own reflection in the mirrored sunglasses of one, Leon McNicole.
:::Damn.::: It had urked him to the extreme that he had to give his address to the AD Police when applying for a bounty hunter license.
Rather than seem annoyed, Ashley placed a far from happy, but unmenacing grin on his face and asked a question minus the pleasantries. "What are you doing here?"
"Hiya Ashley." Leon flashed his badge out of habit and levelled a gaze at his newly acquired suspect. "May I come in?"
"Uh...sure, but give me a moment, will you?" Ashley slammed the door and raced around his apartment putting away anything that might bring suspicion to his doorstep. Snatching a shotgun off the kitchen counter, he stowed it away in a cupboard while grabbing several stacked data disks labelled "Security level 4 Info." and threw them under his couch.
Running back to the door, he opened to invite his guest in. "Alright, come on in."
Leon looked at him suspiciously, but then shrugged it off and walked in. He said nothing of the mess he encountered, or of the high technology parafanalia that was littered about. Ashley offered him a seat on the couch which he graciously accepted.
Ashley looked at Leon from his standing postion. "I'd offer you a drink, but I have nothing to offer you. I don't have much of anything at the moment."
"What you do have, though, is a lot of attention." Leon spoke while turning an intricate looking machine over in his hands. "This is a voice encrypter! Don't see many of these around."
"Um, actually I modified it. Now it analyzes and copies voice patterns." Ashley spoke mater-of-factly.
"Oh, anyway I'd like to know what you've been up to tonight. I just saw you on the news being chased by three BU-55C combat boomers. Care to explain that?"
"Uh, I owe Genom money?"
"Okay, well if you don't have an answer to that right now how about you tell me why you've made the top ten most wanted list and have the biggest bounty on your head I've ever heard tell of?"
"Yeah, I only just recently found out about that myself. I can't quite explain that."
"Seems to me that there's a lot that you `can't quite explain'."
"Honestly, I don't know why I have a bounty on my head." Of course he knew why, but he wasn't going to lay his case down in front of a police officer of all people. He wondered if Leon overruled his duty as an officer at all in any situation. Still, he didn't want to trust his secret to anyone else right now.
A blow to the front door sent it flying off its hinges and into the far wall. Ashley, in a blink of feral instinct, brought his twin magnums up to take in the target. A female assassin boomer stood in the door, its fingernails extending into blades.
Leon pulled his Kruger Magnum free and leapt from the couch to stand beside Ashley. The boomer stood, assessing its opponents, and feigned to the left. At its sudden movement, Ashley let his shell fly. Bullets flew past the thing while others caught it in the torso, sending it back out the door and into the dimly lit street.
"Jesus! Not another One!" Ashley dashed out the door after it, rolling into a crouch after hitting the bottom of the doorway stairs.
Leon simply stood where the boomer had been. :::Holy shit, but he's fast! I couldn't even follow!:::
Ashley rained shell upon the intruder, bring it to its knees and its destruction. Parts spilled onto the black street and the thing `bled'.
"Dammit! My door!" Ashley said in defeat.
Four forms hit the ground in front of Ashley to stand before him. Ashley turned and spoke to them before fulling seeing them. "I was wondering when you guys were going to finish up." Getting no anwer, he looked closer at the newcomers in the night.
These were not the people he was expecting. In actuality, they weren't people at all. Four more female assassin boomers stood, guns at the ready, pointing them at Ashley.
:::Genom must be serious this time.::: This was one fight he wasn't going to win.
Leon stood trying to get his mind past what was happening. :::What would Genom want with Ashley. It's obvious they're after him for something.::: "Um, Ashley. What exactly is going on?"
The question was left unanswered. A volley of gunfire reached Ashley in an angry wave, casting him into blackness there was so much pain and gunfire. Strangely, just when he thought he was dead, he had the odd sensation of being lifted and carried. He heard a muffled shout from nearby who he guessed was an irrate Leon.
:::The better question...::: Ashley pondered in his pit of blackness. :::...is, what am I going to do now?:::
* * * * * *
Ashley woke to the sounds of a humming and beeping veritable jungle of machinery. Things blinked and buzzed in accordance with others while he stood, pinned quite well to a veriticle metal slate with metal cuffs on both his wrists and ankles that were effectively unbreakable by him at the moment. He struggled in vain to pull himself free from the wall.
A tall man man in a long, white lab coat who was working at one of the many consoles scattered about the room, noticed this sudden movement, and turned to Ashley.
He tapped a colleague on the shoulder to his attention. "Amazing! The drug has been neutralized by his system in record time!"
The other man, who was considerably shorter than the first, simply nodded and flipped a few switches to his right. A faint blue light poured forth from the ceiling, eveloping Ashley. "Not quite, there's till another thirteen percent to go."
Ashley guessed they were talking about the dreamless sleep he had just woken up from. It had been induced with drugs and he had just regained conciousness.
Other than this faint realization, Ashley's mind was in complete turmoil. :::Not another lab! No more experiments, I couldn't endure it! No more, no more!:::
"Hmm, brain activity is through the roof." The technician had an amused look on his face. He looked from a computer monitor to Ashley's naked, hanging form."He's scared."
The shorter technician seemed indifferent to this and shrugged noncommittedly. "Afraid, angry, even happy...it makes no difference once we get BioCite's latest implants out of him."
"Yes, but before we do that we'll need to test the limits of the technology". The taller man pressed several buttons on a keyboard in sequence and several mechanical arms containing bladed instruments descended out of the ceiling. "For example, pain threshold..."
* * * * * *
Sylia stared over the rim of her coffee cup at nothing, though the daily goings on of MegaTokyo could be clearly seen through the cafe window she was looking through.
:::Where is he?::: After finishing their fight with the combat boomers that had been trailing Ashley a night two days ago, neither member of the group called the Knight Sabers could find any trace of their client. It was as if he simply disappeared. Sylia had known the strange man only a few days and she thought, at first, that maybe he didn't want to be found. Given what she had seen him do, she didn't doubt that he could bring himself to perform a disappearing act. Normally, this would be the case, but something ate at her persistant belief that Ashley was okay and content. Still, something didn't seem right. Ashley had come to her at the first sign of trouble. It should still hold true that he would again.
:::Maybe he doesn't need my help?::: No, that wasn't right either. Sylia didn't pretend to know everything about the man after only just meeting him, but she knew one thing. He would come to her without delay. She had called the other girls earlier and neither of them had seen him either. Something was definitely wrong.
* * * * * *
Ashley's tormentor stood triumphantly over a rather large container that held Ashley's blood, and that was quite a sight considering that it was all of the man's blood. It had been discovered that Ashley's implants weren't the type that they had anticipated. Tiny nanites, microscopic sized machines, were found to fill the lab escapee's blood. These nano-machines could manipulate bodily tissue in innumerable ways. They could increase the biomass of someone without increasing their size. They could heighten the muscular density of a subject with amazing ability. They could make a person receptive to pain at such a high level that fighting things much stronger would pose no problem. The small machines could, to the delight of the two victorious scientists, regenerate human flesh and material. The only drawback to this was that the subject's bodily fluids were consumed by the nanite fairly quickly. This meant that the body's amount of water had to be replaced constantly. Still,
this was a biological weapon worthy of the highest form of admiration and respect.
As for Ashley, a complete blood transfusion had been done on him. Ashley's body had been sucked dry of its liquids and was then pumped with new ones, identical except for the coveted nanites. Ashley still didn't understand why he'd been left alive.
Emotions of many kinds floated around the laboratory that was Ashley's hell for several days. The victim, now fully clothed and strapped to an office chair, felt completely drained as he stared on in defeat at the many technicians who celebrated their victory over their enemy, the dreaded BioCite.
Ashley fully realized his situation. He was nothing but a pawn. He was a piece to be placed, a toy to be traded and played with. He had successfully turned the tables on a world power by being caught. His abomination of a transplant was a means to an end for one side of the war over a future that was unclear. Ashley's misery meant nothing to those in power.
He looked at his current situation as having two heads, one horrifying and the other pleasant. He was human once more and was no longer the thing that BioCite had turned him into. On the other side of things, he could no longer defend himself as well against BioCite who would still be relentless in their pursuit of killing him. To them, he was still a threat and he could tell them no different without giving them what they wanted, his life.
At least....at least he would be able to experience humanity for a moment before being killed. He was steadily sure that they were still going to kill him. Quietly, one of the technicians separated from the celebrating group to greet a man in a wine colored buisiness suit with slicked back, black hair.
The technician greeted him with a handshake and a smile. "Mr. Mason, everything went perfectly. We can put it to use for Genom in a matter of days! You won't believe what we found...it was, amazing to say the least..." The technician continued to talk away, unaware that Mr. Mason, the company's second hand man, was paying no attention. His attention was entirely focused on the ragged looking man in black across the room. He was strapped tightly to a chair, being unable to do much about it without the nano-technology and in his weakened state.
Brian J. Mason strode quietly over to the text subject. Mason knew that Ashley had been the test subject of project Sync, a high profile top secret stage of testing within the boundaries of BioCite. He knew this and many more things about BioCite, having many informants within their ranks.
Now, as Mason stared at Ashley and as Ashley's gaze rose to meet his, he saw a soul in need of restructure and with that he saw possibilities, many of them.
"Mr. Asakiri, I presume?" Mason maintained a calm, cold, and detached sounding voice. He wore these vocal qualities like badges of honor since they marked him as the businessman that he was.
Ashley lowered his gaze back to the floor. "I have nothing to say to you."
"That makes my job easier actually, since I have much to say to you." Mason pulled up a comfortable enough looking office chair and sat down.
Ashley continued to stare at the floor.
"You hate them don't you?" Ashley looked up at the man as he said those words. Ashley thought that he could see something in his eyes that could almost pass for sympathy. Immediately realizing that the man in the wine colored business suit was setting him up so that he could play him like a fool, Ashley left the question unanswered.
"By "they" I mean BioCite." The man continued.
Still getting no response, the man moved on to the point of his introduction and this one sided conversation. "I'm going to put it to you straight, Mr. Asakiri. I have a proposition for you. One that involves getting sweet revenge on those who have pained you for so long."
The curiosity of the restrained man was peaked, though he felt bad for it being so. :::The last thing I want to be is obvious to read.::: Ashley pondered how he should react to the man's next words, however promising they were.
"I'm proposing that Genom hire you on as an infiltrator, someone to break through BioCite's defenses so that our competition can be hampered by things that take them away from development. I'm talking about sabotage. I'm talking about having your desire for revenge satiated again and again and again..." Having said that the man leaned back in his chair. "You'll be fully supplied with weaponry, provisions, and accomodations by Genom, of course."
He had tried to hide his feelings, but now surprise and a lust for something bordering on chaotic revenge shone in Ashley's eyes. "Having a chance to ruin those who ruined my life. Very tempting." Making his mind up to comply with the offer, Ashley let the ropes that had been "holding" him fall to the floor from his body. Stretching, he stood and looked down at the surprised business man. "I'm your man...mister?"
Mason stood and the both of them shook hands with Mr. Mason looking up at the towering Ashley. "Mason, Brian Mason."
:::Brian Mason.::: He would remember that name, but not for the same reasons the business man was hoping.
Ashley strode towards the door, but stopped midstride and turned back around, needing to confirm something. "Mr. Mason, you're the boss around here, aren't you?"
"Yes." Came the response. This wasn't entirely true, but Mason prided himself on his power. At the time, however, he didn't quite realize what he was condemning himself to.
"Alright. I'll have a list of what I'm going to need dropped off tomorrow morning. Give me a day or so to get things in order." :::The man in black walked out the door in a rush. I'll be back for you and your fucking scientists!:::
Leaving the large building, which, as Ashley looked around, turned out to be a warehouse in the Timex City District. After walking for awhile, Ashley took a seat on the side of the sidewalk to collect his rampaging thoughts. :::I don't think Genom knows quite what they've done. They've unpackaged and armed a time bomb.::: The hell that Ashley had experienced for the past four years had given birth to something monstrous. This hell had concieved a hatred so deep and complete that it was empty save for a nothingness that swallowed all light. His soul screamed at him to deal back the injustice a hundred fold. :::I will do as Genom asks, and gratefully too. I will still visit hell upon both companies. They will share my hell as I shove them head first into it.:::
Suddenly filled to the brim with ample purpose, Ashley, hands in pockets, whistled a happy tune and continued on down the street, the night enveloping him like a second skin.
He would not back down and allow Genom to control his anger's direction. He would be the downfall of both companies and only then would he be satisfied enough to return home to his family.
*End Chapter Three*
A BGC Fanfiction: Urban Discord
by Daniel Power
Chapter Three: Pain, My Unwanted Bedfellow
(MegaTokyo: 2033)
Ashley reholstered his magnum and turned to Sylia then, seeking an answer to his question. "Well, are they?"
Sylia smiled and motioned for her three visitors to come in and have a seat. "They most certainly are."
"Ah, I see, friends are a good thing to have." He took his time to inspect the three ladies that had come to visit with Sylia. He assumed that these three were her "associates". Two of them were very familiar. One was the pink- haired cop that had tried to arrest him and another was his racing partner from one of his botched attempts at having a good time. The third girl was one he had yet to have the pleasure of meeting.
Slyia broke the silence in the room. "Well mister Asakiri, let me introduce you to Priss..." A brown- haired girl in biker leathers stood.
Ashley nodded. "We've met."
"...Nene." The pink- haired girl in the police uniform stood and bowed while looking at him coldly.
Ashley nodded once again and smiled openly. "We've also met."
"...and Linna." A black- haired girl in a green business suit stood and bowed solemnly. Ashley returned the bow modestly. "...who I've yet to meet." He smiled devilishly and winked at Linna, who still stood, her eyes downcast.
Ashley made an attempt at playing the cassanova. Bowing once again, he said, "Good evening, my dear. Pardon my rudeness for having aimed a weapon at you."
"Oh, please." Priss said in annoyance. "To think that you would have anything remotely resembling charm."
"Think? One does not have to think where a little charm is concerned. It comes naturally and either you have it or you don't. I guess it's one of the few things I don't have." Having said this, he sat down on a couch, waiting for Sylia to say or do whatever it was she had planned.
Sylia coughed to break through the nervous tension that filled the room. "Okay. Mr. Ashley Asakiri is our new client. We're to protect him from being taken by the Genom corporation. The meeting to discuss this is to be held here now, since there has been a change in Mr. Asakiri's plans."
Each girl gave Sylia an open wide-eyed stare as they realized who, and what, Sylia was referring to them as. No one was supposed to know the identity of the Knight Sabers, clients especially. Sylia at once gave them a glare that brought their open shock to a standstill.
"We can feel safe to give Mr. Asakiri knowledge of our true identities." She sighed. "Besides, he figured it out on his own anyway."
"Poor us." Priss added.
Ashley continued where Sylia had left off. "I'm being hunted by a company called BioCite which is based in Canada. While I'm fighting them off I need the three of you to stave off any heat that I might take from Genom."
"Why is it they're after you?" Nene asked systematically.
Ashley turned to Nene, not sure of whether he should answer the question. Having made up his mind, he complied. "I'm the sole possessor of a technology that BioCite is trying to either destroy or retrieve and Genom would do anything to get their hands on."
"Oh, and you most likely stole it." Priss added without remorse.
A hurt look passed across Ashley's features. "Stole it? You're not giving credit where it's due. That credit belongs to BioCite. They stole my life! They snatched me from my home and did experiments on me, effectively implanting a technology in me that I want nothing to do with at all. All I want is to get back to my wife and two daughters." Ashley put his head in his hands as if he were reliving a lifetime of painful moments in surgery.
He then raised a finger at Priss. "Word to the wise, miss personality, make fewer accusations of this employer."
Priss looked both shocked and ashamed at the same time, while the other girls could do nothing but sympathize for the man.
Assuming the role of the police officer once again, Nene spoke up. "Just because your life has been tampered with doesn't give you the right to go around blowing things up and putting this city's citizens in danger!"
"You misunderstand." said Ashley. "I've been attacked by both companies now. I was just defending myself."
Linna, who had remained quiet until now, assessing the situation, spoke up. "Mister Asakiri, if you don't mind, could you tell us what this technology is supposed to do...please?"
Ashley looked at her sypathetically since the only answer he could give was "no." "Sorry miss. No can do. I would if I could, but I can't, so I won't. A large part of it should be obvious from now on, though. Well, it's been nice chat-"
"-Shh." Priss cut him off midsentence. "What's that noise?" A low thrumming filled everyone's ears then, getting louder as it seemed to get closer.
Glass shattered as shell sprayed into the room, splitting and ripping apart belongings and furniture. A tiltritor helicopter swung back and forth just outside the limits of the suite, sitting in plain view where the windows once were.
"Everybody down!" Ashley shoved two of the women to the floor, but the others had gotten the idea on instinct and were running from danger.
Several shells from the helicopter's twin chain cannons cut into Ashley's flesh. One in the shoulder, another in the leg, and one in the stomach. Ashley was knocked back and flipped head over heels by the impact of the shells. His blood, equally in dissaray, sprayed over the carpet and the surrounding furniture. He hit the ground with a sickening "thud!".
"Target has been dealt with. Send in the recovery team to get him." The pilot of the helicopter spoke into his headset with obvious satisfaction. This satisfaction was short lived as Ashley stood up from the blood soaked carpet and glared at him from behind eyes and face stained with red.
The pilot froze. Of course he knew what the guy was capable of, but this was too much! He was told by higher powers that he'd have more time to make his escape before the containment team came. Several minutes he was told, not mere seconds! He swerved the helicopter into an ascent without thinking twice.
Ashley was only vaguely aware of people shouting out to him from somewhere near.
Like a beast after its hapless prey, Ashley watched the vehicle climb. Then he shot forward with tremendous speed and hurled himself out of the window and towards the helicopter. He jumped the full forty feet to the copter and grabbed its landing gear. Bringing his fist up through the underbelly of the flying machine, Ashley wrapped a fist around the pilot's ankle and pulled...hard. Creaking and cracking metal could be heard as he pulled the pilot clean through the bottom of the helicopter, and not in such good condition either as metal is slightly harder than human flesh.
Ashley hurled what was left of the man into the air where it fell to its resting place. "Son of a bitch!" He called after the quickly falling corpse.
Using his arms as a leverage, Ashley began to swing until he gained enough momentum to reach the building. Hurling himself away from the helicopter, he smashed through a set of windows and shot to his feet. The room tenants screamed and ran through the front door or their home as the tiltrotor fireballed into the side of the building, setting waves of destruction loose starting at its point of impact.
Running after them through the door to be free of the confines of the room, Ashley made his way to the front entrance of the building.
:::Elevator's bound to be guarded.:::
After travelling down several floors, he was greeted by the familiar sounds of alarms and sirens ringing in warm recognition of his being there.
Two combat boomers, their metallic exteriors shining in the glare of emergency lighting, smashed cleanly through a wall near Ashley. Before he could react, another came from the floor beneath him, effectively grasping his ankle with inhuman strength and pulling him down through the floor. Flinging him with minimal effort, the boomer let Ashley fly from its grip. Ashley swore as he began to smash through set after set of stairs. His fall was then broken by the floor, and all too painfully at that.
Ashley lay on the floor of the building, feeling none too good considering most of his bones were probably broken. He waited in moment after moment of silence as his body began to heal itself, his bones knitting and flesh repairing itself while the boomers sailed towards him to finish whatever job it was they were here to do. He didn't give them the chance as he struggled to stand. Regaining his composure, he ran out of the building through a side entrance, only seconds before the combat boomers reached the ground floor.
Outside with guns aimed and at the ready, the AD Police waited for their target. They unleashed a volley of fire at Ashley as he exited the building. Ashley caught a blast of gunfire in the chest and glared at the officers, annoyed and in pain.
"Not me you cock-eyed excuses for dictators of the law! Them, not me, them!" Ashley motioned towards the door where the three combat boomers had rushed out meet a volley of gunfire themselves. Ashley gave a thumbs up to the nearest man in blue. "Nice job! Bad shooting, but nice job nonetheless." He gave the confused officer a hearty slap on the shoulder and was off, the boomers and police gunfire in hot pursuit.
* * * * * *
Ashley's breathing was severly laboured as he rounded another corner. The boomers, who didn't bother to use the sidewalk as Ashley had done, careened through obstacle after obstacle which, as it turned out, weren't much of obstacles after all.
One of them finally caught up to him due to his being winded. It grabbed him by the hair and gave him a much unappreciated punch in the back. Ashley felt his spine bend under the onslaught of the fist. He sprang forward most unwillingly and got acquainted with the side of a nearby building, also most unwillingly. Ashley stood back up and hobbled away from his pursuers. "That's going to leave a bruise. No black and blue bruises for this cowboy, only uncomparable pain."
Walking off his injury, Ashley turned to confront his most recent attacker. He didn't get the chance to assault the target as help had already arrived, and in his benefit. The Knight Sabers, in all their self-proclaimed combat glory, landed silently next to him as he stopped his charge on the closest boomer.
"That was fast." Ashley turned to one as they began the defense of their client in earnest. "I haven't even paid you yet."
The green hard suit turned at his words. "We usually don't accept payment until after the job is done."
Ashley mumbled under his breath as he left the scene of the fight, the sound of energy hitting what would eventually be scrap metal as he walked farther away. "I'd like to know how you're going to get payment if I'm accidentally killed, but who am I to complain about not paying? Certainly relieved, that's for sure, seeing as I don't have the money promised...yet."
Chill winds swept in waves across the late nights streets that Ashley followed on his way home. He had just recently drawn the conclusion that, since Genom had attacked him while at the Lady633 building, they probably didn't know where he lived yet. He hoped that this was the case as he fumbled in his coat for an apartment key. He opened the door to his hastily acquired, ramshackle, pig stye of a house to the sound of his radio blaring. He relaxed visibly, loud music was a normal thing and not at all painful either, as opposed to Genom combat boomers. It was a pleasurable change in setting.
Twenty minutes later and Ashley was seated comfortably in his leather reclinable chair, eating a hastily prepared supper. His apartment was moderately furnished, tacky, but comfortable nonetheless. Wallpaper was peeling off in places along one wall in the large room that served as his bedroom, living room, and kitchen. The dining area was dispersed throughout his house since he ate pretty much where he pleased. A bathroom sat opposite the front door and electronics of various levels of technology littered the small, cluttered apartment. Opened manuals and informative texts, in different states of disorder, lay around the room along with the occasional chocolate bar wrapper.
So, as it was, Ashley sat watching TV contentedly on his very large satellite Televiewer. He watched the news with mild interest upon seeing himself battling fierce blue tin cans that passed for evil. He had to give the combat model boomers credit though, for they were a complete pain in the ass.
Ashley then stood while he watched the news, answering the door as its bell rang repeatedly.
When he opened the door he was greeted by his own reflection in the mirrored sunglasses of one, Leon McNicole.
:::Damn.::: It had urked him to the extreme that he had to give his address to the AD Police when applying for a bounty hunter license.
Rather than seem annoyed, Ashley placed a far from happy, but unmenacing grin on his face and asked a question minus the pleasantries. "What are you doing here?"
"Hiya Ashley." Leon flashed his badge out of habit and levelled a gaze at his newly acquired suspect. "May I come in?"
"Uh...sure, but give me a moment, will you?" Ashley slammed the door and raced around his apartment putting away anything that might bring suspicion to his doorstep. Snatching a shotgun off the kitchen counter, he stowed it away in a cupboard while grabbing several stacked data disks labelled "Security level 4 Info." and threw them under his couch.
Running back to the door, he opened to invite his guest in. "Alright, come on in."
Leon looked at him suspiciously, but then shrugged it off and walked in. He said nothing of the mess he encountered, or of the high technology parafanalia that was littered about. Ashley offered him a seat on the couch which he graciously accepted.
Ashley looked at Leon from his standing postion. "I'd offer you a drink, but I have nothing to offer you. I don't have much of anything at the moment."
"What you do have, though, is a lot of attention." Leon spoke while turning an intricate looking machine over in his hands. "This is a voice encrypter! Don't see many of these around."
"Um, actually I modified it. Now it analyzes and copies voice patterns." Ashley spoke mater-of-factly.
"Oh, anyway I'd like to know what you've been up to tonight. I just saw you on the news being chased by three BU-55C combat boomers. Care to explain that?"
"Uh, I owe Genom money?"
"Okay, well if you don't have an answer to that right now how about you tell me why you've made the top ten most wanted list and have the biggest bounty on your head I've ever heard tell of?"
"Yeah, I only just recently found out about that myself. I can't quite explain that."
"Seems to me that there's a lot that you `can't quite explain'."
"Honestly, I don't know why I have a bounty on my head." Of course he knew why, but he wasn't going to lay his case down in front of a police officer of all people. He wondered if Leon overruled his duty as an officer at all in any situation. Still, he didn't want to trust his secret to anyone else right now.
A blow to the front door sent it flying off its hinges and into the far wall. Ashley, in a blink of feral instinct, brought his twin magnums up to take in the target. A female assassin boomer stood in the door, its fingernails extending into blades.
Leon pulled his Kruger Magnum free and leapt from the couch to stand beside Ashley. The boomer stood, assessing its opponents, and feigned to the left. At its sudden movement, Ashley let his shell fly. Bullets flew past the thing while others caught it in the torso, sending it back out the door and into the dimly lit street.
"Jesus! Not another One!" Ashley dashed out the door after it, rolling into a crouch after hitting the bottom of the doorway stairs.
Leon simply stood where the boomer had been. :::Holy shit, but he's fast! I couldn't even follow!:::
Ashley rained shell upon the intruder, bring it to its knees and its destruction. Parts spilled onto the black street and the thing `bled'.
"Dammit! My door!" Ashley said in defeat.
Four forms hit the ground in front of Ashley to stand before him. Ashley turned and spoke to them before fulling seeing them. "I was wondering when you guys were going to finish up." Getting no anwer, he looked closer at the newcomers in the night.
These were not the people he was expecting. In actuality, they weren't people at all. Four more female assassin boomers stood, guns at the ready, pointing them at Ashley.
:::Genom must be serious this time.::: This was one fight he wasn't going to win.
Leon stood trying to get his mind past what was happening. :::What would Genom want with Ashley. It's obvious they're after him for something.::: "Um, Ashley. What exactly is going on?"
The question was left unanswered. A volley of gunfire reached Ashley in an angry wave, casting him into blackness there was so much pain and gunfire. Strangely, just when he thought he was dead, he had the odd sensation of being lifted and carried. He heard a muffled shout from nearby who he guessed was an irrate Leon.
:::The better question...::: Ashley pondered in his pit of blackness. :::...is, what am I going to do now?:::
* * * * * *
Ashley woke to the sounds of a humming and beeping veritable jungle of machinery. Things blinked and buzzed in accordance with others while he stood, pinned quite well to a veriticle metal slate with metal cuffs on both his wrists and ankles that were effectively unbreakable by him at the moment. He struggled in vain to pull himself free from the wall.
A tall man man in a long, white lab coat who was working at one of the many consoles scattered about the room, noticed this sudden movement, and turned to Ashley.
He tapped a colleague on the shoulder to his attention. "Amazing! The drug has been neutralized by his system in record time!"
The other man, who was considerably shorter than the first, simply nodded and flipped a few switches to his right. A faint blue light poured forth from the ceiling, eveloping Ashley. "Not quite, there's till another thirteen percent to go."
Ashley guessed they were talking about the dreamless sleep he had just woken up from. It had been induced with drugs and he had just regained conciousness.
Other than this faint realization, Ashley's mind was in complete turmoil. :::Not another lab! No more experiments, I couldn't endure it! No more, no more!:::
"Hmm, brain activity is through the roof." The technician had an amused look on his face. He looked from a computer monitor to Ashley's naked, hanging form."He's scared."
The shorter technician seemed indifferent to this and shrugged noncommittedly. "Afraid, angry, even happy...it makes no difference once we get BioCite's latest implants out of him."
"Yes, but before we do that we'll need to test the limits of the technology". The taller man pressed several buttons on a keyboard in sequence and several mechanical arms containing bladed instruments descended out of the ceiling. "For example, pain threshold..."
* * * * * *
Sylia stared over the rim of her coffee cup at nothing, though the daily goings on of MegaTokyo could be clearly seen through the cafe window she was looking through.
:::Where is he?::: After finishing their fight with the combat boomers that had been trailing Ashley a night two days ago, neither member of the group called the Knight Sabers could find any trace of their client. It was as if he simply disappeared. Sylia had known the strange man only a few days and she thought, at first, that maybe he didn't want to be found. Given what she had seen him do, she didn't doubt that he could bring himself to perform a disappearing act. Normally, this would be the case, but something ate at her persistant belief that Ashley was okay and content. Still, something didn't seem right. Ashley had come to her at the first sign of trouble. It should still hold true that he would again.
:::Maybe he doesn't need my help?::: No, that wasn't right either. Sylia didn't pretend to know everything about the man after only just meeting him, but she knew one thing. He would come to her without delay. She had called the other girls earlier and neither of them had seen him either. Something was definitely wrong.
* * * * * *
Ashley's tormentor stood triumphantly over a rather large container that held Ashley's blood, and that was quite a sight considering that it was all of the man's blood. It had been discovered that Ashley's implants weren't the type that they had anticipated. Tiny nanites, microscopic sized machines, were found to fill the lab escapee's blood. These nano-machines could manipulate bodily tissue in innumerable ways. They could increase the biomass of someone without increasing their size. They could heighten the muscular density of a subject with amazing ability. They could make a person receptive to pain at such a high level that fighting things much stronger would pose no problem. The small machines could, to the delight of the two victorious scientists, regenerate human flesh and material. The only drawback to this was that the subject's bodily fluids were consumed by the nanite fairly quickly. This meant that the body's amount of water had to be replaced constantly. Still,
this was a biological weapon worthy of the highest form of admiration and respect.
As for Ashley, a complete blood transfusion had been done on him. Ashley's body had been sucked dry of its liquids and was then pumped with new ones, identical except for the coveted nanites. Ashley still didn't understand why he'd been left alive.
Emotions of many kinds floated around the laboratory that was Ashley's hell for several days. The victim, now fully clothed and strapped to an office chair, felt completely drained as he stared on in defeat at the many technicians who celebrated their victory over their enemy, the dreaded BioCite.
Ashley fully realized his situation. He was nothing but a pawn. He was a piece to be placed, a toy to be traded and played with. He had successfully turned the tables on a world power by being caught. His abomination of a transplant was a means to an end for one side of the war over a future that was unclear. Ashley's misery meant nothing to those in power.
He looked at his current situation as having two heads, one horrifying and the other pleasant. He was human once more and was no longer the thing that BioCite had turned him into. On the other side of things, he could no longer defend himself as well against BioCite who would still be relentless in their pursuit of killing him. To them, he was still a threat and he could tell them no different without giving them what they wanted, his life.
At least....at least he would be able to experience humanity for a moment before being killed. He was steadily sure that they were still going to kill him. Quietly, one of the technicians separated from the celebrating group to greet a man in a wine colored buisiness suit with slicked back, black hair.
The technician greeted him with a handshake and a smile. "Mr. Mason, everything went perfectly. We can put it to use for Genom in a matter of days! You won't believe what we found...it was, amazing to say the least..." The technician continued to talk away, unaware that Mr. Mason, the company's second hand man, was paying no attention. His attention was entirely focused on the ragged looking man in black across the room. He was strapped tightly to a chair, being unable to do much about it without the nano-technology and in his weakened state.
Brian J. Mason strode quietly over to the text subject. Mason knew that Ashley had been the test subject of project Sync, a high profile top secret stage of testing within the boundaries of BioCite. He knew this and many more things about BioCite, having many informants within their ranks.
Now, as Mason stared at Ashley and as Ashley's gaze rose to meet his, he saw a soul in need of restructure and with that he saw possibilities, many of them.
"Mr. Asakiri, I presume?" Mason maintained a calm, cold, and detached sounding voice. He wore these vocal qualities like badges of honor since they marked him as the businessman that he was.
Ashley lowered his gaze back to the floor. "I have nothing to say to you."
"That makes my job easier actually, since I have much to say to you." Mason pulled up a comfortable enough looking office chair and sat down.
Ashley continued to stare at the floor.
"You hate them don't you?" Ashley looked up at the man as he said those words. Ashley thought that he could see something in his eyes that could almost pass for sympathy. Immediately realizing that the man in the wine colored business suit was setting him up so that he could play him like a fool, Ashley left the question unanswered.
"By "they" I mean BioCite." The man continued.
Still getting no response, the man moved on to the point of his introduction and this one sided conversation. "I'm going to put it to you straight, Mr. Asakiri. I have a proposition for you. One that involves getting sweet revenge on those who have pained you for so long."
The curiosity of the restrained man was peaked, though he felt bad for it being so. :::The last thing I want to be is obvious to read.::: Ashley pondered how he should react to the man's next words, however promising they were.
"I'm proposing that Genom hire you on as an infiltrator, someone to break through BioCite's defenses so that our competition can be hampered by things that take them away from development. I'm talking about sabotage. I'm talking about having your desire for revenge satiated again and again and again..." Having said that the man leaned back in his chair. "You'll be fully supplied with weaponry, provisions, and accomodations by Genom, of course."
He had tried to hide his feelings, but now surprise and a lust for something bordering on chaotic revenge shone in Ashley's eyes. "Having a chance to ruin those who ruined my life. Very tempting." Making his mind up to comply with the offer, Ashley let the ropes that had been "holding" him fall to the floor from his body. Stretching, he stood and looked down at the surprised business man. "I'm your man...mister?"
Mason stood and the both of them shook hands with Mr. Mason looking up at the towering Ashley. "Mason, Brian Mason."
:::Brian Mason.::: He would remember that name, but not for the same reasons the business man was hoping.
Ashley strode towards the door, but stopped midstride and turned back around, needing to confirm something. "Mr. Mason, you're the boss around here, aren't you?"
"Yes." Came the response. This wasn't entirely true, but Mason prided himself on his power. At the time, however, he didn't quite realize what he was condemning himself to.
"Alright. I'll have a list of what I'm going to need dropped off tomorrow morning. Give me a day or so to get things in order." :::The man in black walked out the door in a rush. I'll be back for you and your fucking scientists!:::
Leaving the large building, which, as Ashley looked around, turned out to be a warehouse in the Timex City District. After walking for awhile, Ashley took a seat on the side of the sidewalk to collect his rampaging thoughts. :::I don't think Genom knows quite what they've done. They've unpackaged and armed a time bomb.::: The hell that Ashley had experienced for the past four years had given birth to something monstrous. This hell had concieved a hatred so deep and complete that it was empty save for a nothingness that swallowed all light. His soul screamed at him to deal back the injustice a hundred fold. :::I will do as Genom asks, and gratefully too. I will still visit hell upon both companies. They will share my hell as I shove them head first into it.:::
Suddenly filled to the brim with ample purpose, Ashley, hands in pockets, whistled a happy tune and continued on down the street, the night enveloping him like a second skin.
He would not back down and allow Genom to control his anger's direction. He would be the downfall of both companies and only then would he be satisfied enough to return home to his family.
*End Chapter Three*