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Disclaimer: If you don't know this part, where the hell have you been? "Linna, have you heard about that girl Sylvie?" A petite redhead about nineteen asked the woman sitting next to her. "Yeah, I heard about her." The raven-haired woman answered. "She's the girl Priss is hanging around with, right?" "Yeah! She comes into town just the other day, and in no time she's causin' a sensation. She's so gorgeous." "Oh that's just because everyone finds a fresh face exotic. I mean, she can't hold a candle to me, right?" The redhead gave her companion a quick longsuffering glance before the two started chuckling over it. They turned at the sound of approaching footsteps to see Priss, lead singer of the Replicants, walking toward them, a towel draped over her shoulders. "Hi," she called out, lifting the soda can she was holding as if toasting them. "Priss, oh you were your usual, terrific self tonight!" the redhead exclaimed as she ran up and hugged Priss. "Thanks, Nene," Priss replied. "How 'bout I quit my job at Phoebe's and become your manager." Linna stated, walking up to the pair. "If you wanna sign with DMI, now's the time." "Oh, there you go again." Nene commented, then started whispering in Priss' ear, holding her hand up as if to hide her stage whisper. "Hey, Priss, did you know that Linna says her latest boyfriend is one of DMI's directors?" Linna merely smiled and giggled a bit as the other two women gave her an annoyed glare. "I don't wanna know." Priss said. "I've had it with you crying your heart out." "Oh, you're mean. It's serious this time!" Linna growled, ignoring the sound of a door opening. "And I deserve happiness too, y'know." "Being happy with Linna, what an awful thought," Nene sniped. "Ya got that right!" Priss agreed. "Ooh, you're both picking on me." "You look like you're having fun." An amused female voice commented. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything." The three turned toward the source of the voice to see a beautiful woman standing before them. She was about Priss' height with dark brown hair cut short in the front and left long to hang down to her shoulder blades in the back that framed a softly featured face with exotic golden eyes. The woman wore a form-fitting white and blue biker suit. "You're late, Sylvie." Priss said. "I already finished my last set." "Oh. I'm sorry. My brother and I had a little business." Sylvie seemed to notice Linna and Nene for the first time. "Hey, these are your friends, right?" "Yeah," Priss answered, putting her arms around their shoulders, "Nene and Linna." "You're Sylvie, right?" Linna asked. "Priss has been telling us all about you. About what a terrific biker you are. And she's right; you're so beautiful, I bet you've got tons of boyfriends." Nene glanced up at Linna, then looked back at Sylvie and frowned slightly. "You're too kind. Pleased to meet you." Sylvie extended her hand for a handshake. "Same here," Linna replied, grabbing Sylvie's hand. Nene laughed a bit and put her hand over Linna and Sylvie's. "Okay." Priss added, mimicking Nene's gesture. "Now that we're all here, howzabout we get going?" "Hey, Sylvie! Sorry I'm late. Took longer than I thought." The four women looked up to see a handsome young man about eighteen standing before them, a black motorcycle helmet held under one arm, his other hand stuffed in a pocket. He stood about five-foot-ten with a mop of shaggy black hair held out of his face by a wide, white headband. A pair of sunglasses similar to those Leon McNichol wore hid his eyes from view. He wore a blue jacket with white sleeves over a white T-shirt several sizes too big for him, a pair of light blue-gray cargo pants, and blue-green sneakers. "Max!" Sylvie exclaimed, pulling her hand from the other three. "I didn't think you'd make it! I want you to meet Priss and her friends! Priss, this is my brother Max." "Nice ta meet ya." Max stated, looking at Priss, then smirked. "So you're Sylvie's girlfriend, eh? Try not to keep her out too late." Linna and Nene's eyes widened in surprise, while Priss started sputtering denials. "MAX!" Sylvie snapped, blushing. "I've told you before! It's not like that!" "Uh huh, suuuure." Max grinned mischievously. "Then why are you blushing?" Sylvie growled at the teen and slapped him in the back of the head, making Linna, Nene, and Priss chuckle in amusement. "OW! Hey!" Max snapped, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand. "It was just a joke!" "You shouldn't joke about things like that, Max," Sylvie calmly replied. "So?" Max asked, looking at Sylvie, then smiled at Linna and Nene. "And who might these lovely ladies be?" "Oh, I'm sorry, you two." Sylvie gasped. "Max, I'd also like you to meet Linna Yamazaki and Nene Romanova." "A pleasure to meet you both," Max stated, bowing at the waist to hide the nervous tick that developed on his right eyebrow and the clenching of his fists. "You three wouldn't happen to know a woman named Sylia Stingray, would you?" The young man continued, straightening. The three Knight Sabers jerked slightly in surprise. "No, not to my knowledge." Linna lied. "How about you two?" When Nene and Priss both answered in the negative, Max's eyebrow twitched almost imperceptibly and his eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses. "Why do you ask?" Priss asked. "No reason." Max replied casually, then pulled his helmet on. "Unfortunately, I can't stay. See you later, ladies." Without another word, Max turned and walked out of the bar, leaving the four women speechless. Priss was the first to recover. "That was sudden." Priss snorted. "Is he always this rude, Sylvie?" "Huh? Oh... no, he isn't. I wonder what's wrong?" "Well, anyway, are we still on for later?" "Sure," Sylvie smiled. "Speaking of which..." Nene added. |Tell me, why was this Boomer banned?| Nene's image asked over a video phone. "They were initially designed to be Sexaroid toys, but they were augmented so they could synchronize to advanced weapons systems." A woman with short, blue-black hair answered on the other end, then added with a light blush, "That caused problems." |A sexaroid?| Nene gasped, then started grinning like an idiot. |So do they really exist?| "I thought you weren't interested in perverted things like that," Sylia Stingray asked, pressing her index finger against the screen and directly over Nene's face. |Why not?| Nene whined. |Hey, I wonder if they're as pretty as this girl I met yesterday.| "Who?" Sylia asked, curious. |Oh, this biker friend of Priss'. Her name is Sylvie and she's really hot, oh, with a body you could just die for! And Priss get's along with her unusually well.| "I see. Sounds like someone I'd like to meet. All right, inform me if anything else happens." |Okay.| Nene replied, then her eyes widened in surprise. |Oh! I almost forgot! There's this guy I met yesterday -| "Nene." Sylia interrupted. "Please tell me this is important." |You bet! Anyway, Sylvie introduced us to this guy, Max, saying he's her brother. They don't look a thing alike! Then after Priss gave him our names, he got real tense, like he was afraid of us or something! And get this: he asked for you by name, as if he *knew* we know you!| "Oh? Did you find out why he asked or how he knows me?" |No! He just brushed Priss off when she asked and then left like he couldn't get out of there fast enough.| "Hmmm... did you get anymore information on him?" |Nope. Sorry. Come to think of it, I don't know that much about Sylvie either.| "Well, keep looking. And keep me informed." |Okay!| Nene replied, then ended the call. Sylia stood up and walked over to the window-wall and looked out at the city. A super weapon and a 33-S. When will they learn? As you sow so shall you
reap. The question now is, what is his lady friend after? And who is this Max
person? "Come on, let's go." Priss stated, revving her bike. "I've got a rehearsal at the club." "Oh, thanks, but I'm going to stay here a little longer," Sylvie stated, turning toward her friend. "Hm?" "I'm free. I'm free now. Free." "Free?" "Right," Sylvie replied, winking. Priss stared at her blankly for a moment before speaking. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I'll catch you later." Priss stated, starting to take off. "Call me!" "I will," Sylvie replied, waving. Sylvie stood there, watching Priss shrink into the distance until a roar similar to the whining hum one generally associates with a jet engine caught her attention. She turned around to see Max approaching on Stingray, his motorcycle. Actually, tank would be a better description for the crimson bike. At 2.5 meters in length, though it was designed with only one rider in mind, it could somewhat comfortably seat two extra people and actually had a time or two. It was covered with enough armor plating to withstand a rocket explosion at point blank range with barely a scratch on it. The prototype fusion turbine engine easily compensated for the extra weight the armor created and still cranked out enough horsepower to outpace almost every vehicle ever made. A pair of air scoops hidden underneath the nose of the bike on either side of the front wheel kept the engine from overheating. The rear fenders were specially designed to protect the legs of the rider and the control handles were placed in a pair of recesses on the sides of the instrument panel that covered the driver's arms halfway up their forearms. A pair of spoiler fins stuck up at an angle from the rear of the bike. The front of the bike was fairly wedge-shaped when viewed from the side, but rounded, with the nose being the most heavily armored part of the motorcycle, allowing the bike to punch through steel walls up to a foot thick once it once it reached its top speed of around 423 kph. When the bike reached 200kph, the plating would extend from the recessed control sticks to cover the driver's entire forearm as the tinted, armored windshield raised up and extended as well, further protecting the driver. The bike came to an abrupt stop a few meters away from Sylvie and Max popped the kickstand down, pulling off his helmet in the process. "Going out again tonight?" The teen asked. "Do I have a choice?" Sylvie asked with biting sarcasm. "You know I hate this as much as you do, maybe even more." Max sighed. "But actually, yes you do have a choice." "What do you mean?" "I was doing some hacking earlier and located the data disk that has the info we need. However, I need some time to plan the raid and Anri needs more blood if she's going to last long enough for us to get the disk and perform the procedures necessary." "So it's almost over." Sylvie sighed, smiling. "I'm glad." "So am I." Max said, pulling his helmet back on. "I'll see you at home." With that, Max peeled out and spun around, heading back in the same
direction he came from, the Stingray roaring even louder than before. "Don't do it anymore." A green-haired girl about Max's age wearing only a pair of panties and a loose tank top said, looking up at Sylvie from where she sat on one of the two beds in the small apartment. "It's too dangerous now. If you're caught, you'll be eliminated! You've already done enough for me. You've got to live for your own sake from now on." Sylvie, clad in a black sports bra and panties, reached over and grabbed the girl's hand. "That's not true, Anri. Right now, this is the only way we have of maintaining your systems. But, Max says he knows the location of the data disk. Once we have that, we won't have to do this anymore. Soon... yes, in just a little while, we'll be able to live completely under our own power." Anri's teal eyes sparkled in joy as she smiled at Sylvie. "So where's the data disk located?" Sylvie asked, turning toward Max. "At the GENOM Production Control Center." Max replied from where he was leaning against the wall in a corner. "We'll hit it tonight at midnight. Almost nobody will be there then. I'll run interference while you grab the disk." "That's your plan?" A green-eyed, red-haired woman about Sylvie's height asked incredulously. "And how long did you have to come up with this?" "That's just the basic idea, Meg, not the full plan. I'm still working out the details. Besides, I'm no tactician. The only combat experience I have is that fight with the Doberman, remember?" "So why are you the one to come up with a plan and not one of us?" Another woman, this one blond with brown eyes, asked. "Because I'm the only one here who knows the floor plan, employee schedules, and guard patrols like the back of their hand. I downloaded all the relevant data into my memory. I can guide any of you through the building while keeping an eye out for Boomer patrols, the ADP, and the N-Police. Besides, Lou, you and Meg still owe me for saving your asses from that Doberman. So just go with it, okay?" Meg and Lou grumbled a reluctant acceptance and sat down on their bed. "Oh, Max." Sylvie stated, remembering something. "I forgot to ask you earlier... but why'd you act like you did when you met Linna and Nene? And who's this Sylia Stingray you asked them about?" "I don't believe in coincidence." Max answered "I never have and never will. They lied about not knowing Sylia. For those four people to know each other - and lie to cover for each other - there's no way they couldn't be who I think they are. As for who I think they are... well, the walls have ears and I'm not about to risk giving that away. I'm sorry I can't tell you more, but if I do, anybody listening will be able to endanger all four of their lives far too easily." Max glanced up at the clock on the wall and pushed off the wall behind him. "Look, there's something I need to get for our raid tonight. I'll be back in an hour. Half an hour after that, we'll start our raid." Without waiting for a reply, Max walked out the door. "Max!" Sylvie exclaimed, running toward him and her bike. "Two 55-C's -" "Go." Max cut her off. "I'll take care of them." Sylvie nodded and hopped on her bike, driving off at near-breakneck speed as the two Boomer's burst through the wall underneath the window Sylvie jumped through. Without warning, the left Boomer's head exploded only a second before its body disappeared in a small explosion. The other Boomer stood up from where it'd been thrown to the ground and looked around for the attacker. A sharp whistle caught its attention as its arms were torn free from its body a couple of small, high-speed projectiles. The 55-C looked over to see Max sitting on the Stingray, holding an oversized handgun. A gun similar to the MG-442 that the Hurricane model Motorslaves used but with a 76mm cylindrical barrel and a magazine that seemed to make up the rest of the gun was attached to the right side of the Stingray, a small wisp of smoke rising from the end of the barrel. "Hey, asshole. Lookin' for me?" With that, Max leveled the customized .454 Magnum Auto at the Boomer's head and fired as the 55-C opened its mouth. With a single press of the trigger, the Boomer's head disappeared as if it had never existed. As the decapitated and disarmed Boomer charged toward Max in a suicidal rush, Max smirked, reached in to one of the control handles on his bike and pressed a button. The gun on the side of the Stingray bucked slightly as a miniature missile shot out of the barrel, spiraling toward the Boomer, a trail of smoke marking its passage. The missile struck the charging Boomer directly in the chest, shredding the combat robot in the resulting explosion. "Heh." Max chuckled, sliding his gun back into its shoulder holster. "Too easy." |WARNING.| The Stingray's onboard computer droned. |TEN TARGETS INCOMING. DESIGNATE: TEN 12-B CLASS. ETA: 10 SECONDS.| Had Max not been wearing his shades, an observer would have seen his eyes shrink to pin pricks. "Oh, *shit*." Without another word, Max revved the Stingray and peeled out, heading in the same direction Sylvie drove off in. Unseen by him or anyone else, Largo stepped out of the shadows to watch him leave, a small frown on his face. That boy is becoming quite troublesome. The distinctive sound of the Stingray caught Sylvie's attention, making her look over to the side, where she saw Max signalling her to pull over. She nodded silently, knowing he wouldn't be able to hear her over the roar of his bike. Moments later, the two of them were sitting on their motorcycles on the side of the road. "That was a bit close, eh?" "Definitely," Sylvie agreed. "We can't stay long. Ten 12-B Boomers are probably on my tail. We'll stand better chances if we split up. The Boomers will probably follow me, so you hang on to the data disk. Once you get back to the apartment, login to my computer with username MStingray, password Voomer. Once you're in, insert the data disk, plug in the electrode contacts to the headset jack, and place the contacts against Anri's temples. A download prompt should appear, asking what you want to download. Select 'Data Disk Only', wait until the computer says 'download complete', then take the contacts off Anri and logout. Got all that?" "Yeah." Sylvie answered, nodding. "But what will happen when I tell it to download?" "It will download the data on the disk directly into Anri's brain. Her systems should automatically begin putting the data to use. That's why it's important to remove the contacts as soon as possible once the download is complete. You don't want to risk downloading anything extra. I don't know what the side effects might be for her, but the shouldn't be too bad. Probably just a killer headache or minor disorientation. Shouldn't last too long, either. I've tried it on myself a few times already and nothing serious has happened. Now go. I'll try to make sure the Boomers don't follow you." "All right, but you be careful." "Don't worry." Max grinned. "I don't plan on dying tonight. Hurry up unless you want the Boomers to catch you." Sylvie nodded her thanks and drove off, leaving Max behind to deal with the Boomers. |WARNING.| The Stingray's onboard computer droned. |TEN TARGETS INCOMING. DESIGNATE: TEN 12-B CLASS BOOMERS. ETA: 30 SECONDS.| "Here we go." Exactly thirty seconds later, ten Bu-12B Boomers came into view, skimming
along the ground like a cloud of death. Max turned the Stingray to face them
and fired off three missile as soon as he had target locks on the front trio. A
trio of explosions lit up the night sky briefly, scattering the remaining
Boomers. Before they could fully reorient themselves, Max was tearing off in
the other direction, toward the Canyons. Anri, Meg, and Lou jumped in surprise when the door to their apartment slammed open and Sylvie came running in. She made a beeline for Max's futon and grabbed his laptop off the top of it, ignoring everyone's questions. Sitting down, she clicked on the device, logged in, and inserted the data disk. After a moment of searching, she found the electrode contacts and slid the plug into the headset jack on the side of the computer. "Anri, come here." Anri did as she was told, gazing at Sylvie quizically. Her confusion only increased when Sylvie placed the contacts against her temples. Just as Max said, the download prompt appeared on the screen. "Now hold still. Max said this might hurt a bit." Sylvie arrowed down to "Data Disk Only" and hit Enter. "Sylvie, what are you -" Anri cut herself off with a gasp as data began directly downloading into her brain. After nearly a minute in which Anri sat frozen, the computer chimed and a small window popped up on the screen stating that the download was complete. Sylvie reached up to Anri's temples and pulled off the contacts, then logged out of the computer, removing the disk as she did so. When she looked at Anri, she saw that the girl was still frozen. "Anri? Are you okay? Did it work?" Anri shook her head, snapping out of her trance, only to hold her head in pain. "Ow... ow... ow... that hurt." Anri groaned. "What did you do?" "Well... if it happened like Max said it would, the entire contents of the data disk were just downloaded into your memory. Max also said your systems should start using the data to remove your problem." "So... I'm cured?" Anri asked hopefully, the pain in her head already fading quickly. "Yes, Anri." Sylvie replied, smiling warmly. "You're free. I have to go get Max. I think he might try activating the D.D." "What?!" the other three women exclaimed. "Why would he do that?!" Meg asked incredulously. "He doesn't know how to pilot that thing!" "He said there were ten Bu-12B's chasing him. Even with the gun he added to the Stingray, he won't be able to take on all ten without the Battlemover." "We'll wait here for you," Meg said. "Yeah, we don't have bikes, remember?" Lou added. "Besides, yours can only carry one person." "All right, I'll see you later," Sylvie stated, leaving the apartment. "Shit!" Max swore, jerking on the controls of the Battlemover to dodge a burst of bazooka shots from the remaining five 12-B Boomers. "Don't these bastards know when to die?!" Max's head was slammed into the back of the seat when a couple of shots tagged the D.D.'s shoulder. "Ah, screw this!" Max snarled, switching over to humanoid mode. "The beast form sucks." The Battlemover stood upright and slammed a fist into the chest of one Bu- 12B, crushing its body before it could react. Max spun the mecha around, backhanding another Boomer into oblivion. Leaping to avoid another set of bazooka and gatlin gun blasts, Max waited for a target lock on the closest one and hosed it down with gatling gun fire. The teen then unloaded a salvo of grenades at the next Boomer, blowing it out of the sky in a fiery explosion. Without waiting for the final Boomer to make a move, Max charged it as soon as he landed and caught its head in one of the Battlemover's claws. "Heh. Sucks to be you, don't it?" Before the Boomer could react, Max crushed its head, then tore its body in half a moment later. Setting the Battlemover to standby mode, Max winced and reached around to his right side, where blood flowed freely from a ragged wound in his side. "Lucky bastards. Tagged me... before I got to the... Battlemover. Hopefully it won't take much longer to heal..." Max grunted, fighting to remain conscious, "if I can just stay... conscious..." Just as Max was about to open the cockpit of the Battlemover, the mecha came alive again, all of the screens lighting up with tactical data. On the main screen, Max could see an ADP K-12 suit standing ten to fifteen meters away. "Okay, hold it right there! I'm not going to do anything, just come out of there." "Look, buddy, I'd love to right now," Max replied through the comm channel, "but this damn thing just went on auto-pilot. I'm trying to GYAAAAH!!" The world went white for Max as the shackles snapped into place around his wrists, ankles, and neck and the J-1 computer synchronized with him. Inspector Leon McNichol gasped in surprise as the transmission cut off and the Battlemover surged forward, slamming him through a wall. Daley's words came back to haunt him as he landed against the wall of the canyon, the K-12's "helmet" flying off, torn free by the impact. "Don't underestimate it, Leon. It's a next generation Battlemover, equipped with a J-1 auto-control system and highly intelligent onboard automation. Heh, heh. And to top it all off, those idiots installed a nuclear detonate destruct device." Leon struggled to stand up as the D.D. closed in on him. Once it was close enough, the Battlemover reared back and slammed its right fist into the lower torso of the K-12, crushing the armor. The ADP Inspector pulled himself upright as best he could and pulled back the K-12's fist to punch the Battlemover. The Battlemover wasn't of the same opinion and pushed its fist forward, nearly caving in Leon's ribcage, causing him to spit up a mouthful of blood. Officer McNichol's head snapped up a second later and he let loose with a right hook to the larger mecha's head, only to stare in shock when it caught the K-12's arm with its free hand and tore the limb off. The D.D.'s eyes glowed yellow as a manipulator claw shot out of the left intake vent on the Battlemover's chest and latched onto Leon's throat. Unless I put this thing down quick, the city'll go up in smoke. I've got to... Before Leon could continue that thought, the gatling gun took aim at his head, the barrels spinning in preparation. Only seconds before the gun was about to fire, a blast of energy tore through the manipulator claw's cable, distracting the Battlemover. "Over there, is it?" Leon managed to gasp out as the Battlemover dropped him, allowing him to slip into unconsciousness. The Battlemover turned to look up at the top of the canyon to see the Knight Sabers standing there just as Max woke up. Ugh... damn, that hurt. Wait a sec... this thing is on auto-pilot... oh, SHIT! Max was about to start panicking when he saw the Knight Sabers on the main screen. Well... I'll be damned. Maybe... While Max was planning his next move, the Knight Sabers had landed and surrounded the Battlemover. Hmmm. I doubt anything else would work. Oh, well. Here goes nothing. Max sent a signal to open the cockpit and smirked when he saw Priss' hardsuit step back in surprise. "Hey, Priss. Been a while, eh? You too, Nene. Where's Linn at?" The three indicated Knight Sabers gasped in surprise, but managed to recover quickly. "Max?!" Priss exclaimed. "What are you doing here?!" Damn glad I ditched my helmet when Stingray landed. "The what, how, and why don't matter right now. What does matter is that this thing is on auto-pilot right now and I can't regain control. It's locked me out. The designers added a goddamn micro-neutron bomb to this thing. When the power runs out, MegaTokyo becomes an irradiated crater." "My god..." Nene gasped. "He's telling the truth! And there's only 300 seconds of power left!" "Yeah, and I can't get enough leverage to tear free of these damn shackles. The only way you can shut it down now is to kill me." "MAX!" The Battlemover and Knight Sabers turned toward the source of the voice to see a woman riding a blue motorcycle toward them. "SYLVIE?!" Max shouted. "What the hell - never mind! Just get the bloody hell out of here before the Battlemover labels you as a target! HURRY!!" "Sylvie?!" Priss gasped. "Max!" Sylvie exlcaimed as she slowed the motorcycle to a stop a few meters away from Priss. "What -" "DAMMIT! The D.D. has gone on auto-pilot and synched with me! Now get out of - oh shit!" As Max was yelling at Sylvie, the Battlemover's targeting systems locked onto her. The gatling gun on the D.D.'s left shoulder swiveled down to aim at the motorcycle while the hatches on the grenade launcher flipped open. "STINGRAY!" Max shouted, catching Sylia's attention. "PROTECT SYLVIE! FULL COUNTERMEASURES!" Sylia turned from looking at Sylvie toward Max to see him looking at something else entirely. A large red shape burst from under a pile of debris and shot toward the Sexaroid. As it approached, the Stingray activated its ECM system, jamming the Battlemover's targeting system and Nene's scanners. The motorcycle popped a wheelie, somehow managing to halt its forward movement at the right moment and remain upright, placing itself between the D.D. and the Sexaroid just as the giant mecha fired. The rapid-fire bullets clanged off the armored bike as the grenades fell to the ground, their thrusters and detonators disabled by the ECM field. Seeing that its ranged weaponry would be useless, the Battlemover charged at Priss, pulling its right arm back. "LOOK OUT!" five voices shouted at Priss. The hardsuited woman turned just in time to see the D.D.'s fist coming toward her. The fist slammed into her hard enough to shatter her helmet's visor and throw her into a pile of rubble. As Max glanced at Sylvie to see her driving away to a safer distance with the Stingray following her, Linna was the first to react, leaping toward the Battlemover and whipping her head forward, the Ribbon Cutters reacting her her movement and slicing through the gatling gun at its base. Just as she fired her jumpjets to get away from the monstrous robot, its arm lashed out, catching her by the ankle. With almost negligible effort, Linna was thrown into one of the canyon walls. As she struggled to get up, Sylia landed in front of the Battlemover, extended her right Laser Sword, and stabbed the weapon into the mecha's chest. The blade cut through the main screen effortlessly only to stop a few inches from Max's chest as the D.D. reared back and grabbed Sylia's arm, crushing the manipulator hand and very nearly doing the same to Sylia's real hand. The monstrosity lifted Sylia off the ground, causing her to scream in pain, and tossed her into Linna, who'd just managed to stand up and turn around in time to see Sylia about to slam into her. Once it saw that the two Knight Sabers wouldn't be getting back up anytime soon, the Battlemover turned toward Nene. Max went pale when he saw the multiple targeting cursors lock onto the blue and pink hardsuit on the side screens. Dear God... please no... not again. Max silently prayed. Don't make me go through this again. Max began visibly trembling as the grenade launcher popped open and the Battlemover pulled its right arm back to punch at Nene. The redheaded Knight Saber shrieked in fear when she saw the pale red robot towering over her, its weapons starting to activate. Without warning, an explosion tore the right arm and shoulder from the Battlemover. The mecha was nearly knocked over, but quickly regained its balance and turned so that Max could see Sylvie sitting on the Stingray, smoke rising from the barrel of the missile launcher. "Damn it!" Max swore. "Even if you disable it, the bomb will still go off when the power runs out in forty-five seconds!" Before the Battlemover could make a decision whether or not to attack its previous pilot, its left arm was torn off at the elbow by some sort of projectile. Turning around, the Battlemover saw Priss standing approximately fifty meters away in her Motorslave, the MG-442 gun still smoking, her visor raised to allow her to see. Deprived of its main weapons, the D.D. opted for a suicidal charge at its latest attacker. "Priss! Do it now!" Max had to all but roar to be heard over the charging machine. "While there's still time!" Priss leveled the gun at Max, tears streaming down her face. The barrel wavered slightly as memories assaulted the red-eyed singer; memories of what Sylvie had said about Max. "He may only be adopted, but to me, that doesn't matter. He's still my brother." The mecha was only thirty meters away. Priss blocked out the sounds of everyone shouting; Max telling her to shoot, Sylvie telling her not to, Nene screaming at her to just DO something. "He and I are as close as twins. He's got his rough edges, but he's got a heart of gold when it counts." Twenty meters. "He saved my life once during a rogue Boomer incident. Max distracted the Boomer long enough for me to escape, then barely managed to get away himself. He nearly died that day, but it's thanks to him that I'm here today." When the Battlemover was only fifteen meters away, Priss made her decision. "Forgive me, Sylvie," Priss choked out, pulling the trigger. Don't ya just hate cliffhangers? C&C is welcome, flamers will be used as target practice by the Knight Sabers. |
Crossed Crisis
By: Raiu Kusanagi
Probably one of the first - if not the first - x-overs of its kind. Just read to find out.
Rated: Fiction T - English - Adventure - Chapters: 3 - Words: 11,574 - Reviews: 3 - Updated: Nov 5, 2002 - Published: Mar 22, 2002 - id: 672737
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Full 3/4 1/2 Expand Tighten
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