"There!" NeNe came down the ladder and examined her handiwork. The tree
was beautifully done in holiday reds, greens and whites, with a touch of
colorful blues and gold mixed in. One hand pushed away strands of pink
hair that clung to her forehead from her hard work.
"Very interesting," Priss came in, sipping a soda. Her eyes examined the tree as she swirled her drink with the straw, ice clinking in the glass. "You did a good job NeNe."
"Thanks Priss!" NeNe beamed. "I helped," Linna protested from her couch position. "Did not!" Nene protested with a giggle. She went over to tug the ladder out of the way.
"Good job girls," Sylia came in, entering the room with her usual style and grace. NeNe had always wondered how one woman could carry such an air of elegance and refinement about her. Even fighting, Sylia seemed never to lose her cool or give away anything to the enemy. "With this holiday season, it will be hard not taking any vacations, but there are still boomers out there for us to keep in line," Sylia's calm voice reminded them, "So let's not forget to still train and work hard."
"Which means you NeNe," Priss said, "Not eating too many sweets because you'll put more centimeters on your suit." She snatched a cookie from NeNe's hands, just as the pink haired girl had gotten one from the tray on the table about to put it in her mouth.
NeNe blinked. Fingers that had previously held a cookie stared now at empty hands. She looked over at Priss a few tears decorating her green eyes. Her face became downtrodden. "I won't gain weight from one little cookie!" she sniffed.
"Not from one, but since you've had sixteen you better quit now," Linna warned with a smirk. A favorite game of Priss and Linna was to tease Nene about her weight which swung up and down much more than their own.
NeNe looked ready to cry save for Linna's words. Then she looked guilty. She HAD in fact eaten nineteen, three before Linna had found her. They were right! She was going to blimp up if she wasn't careful. Her face cleared up. "You're right!" she said. "I'm going to lose those centimeters!"
"In your dreams," Priss said under her breath still smirking.
* * *
*Beep Beep Beep*
NeNe yawned and hit the button on her alarm clock as it suddenly beeped. She snuggled back under the pillows ready to sleep in through the day.
"YOUNG LADY OUT OF BED THIS INSTANT!"
"Yes Ma'am!" NeNe shot up at the sound of her mother's voice. She continually forgot, her alarm was attatched to the phone at her parent's house. If she hit the snooze button her mother was always there to wake her up. Green eyes blinked sleepily staring at the vid screen that held an image she knew well as her own. Some said Nene looked exactly like her mother.
"Morning darling," her mother greeted in a better mood, as her daughter got ready. "Mfmmg," NeNe said around her toothbrush and toothpaste. She rinsed, combed out her hair and then splashed water on her face to wake herself up. A little bit of gloss had herself ready, all she needed to do now was put on her shirt and skirt to dress. Sometimes being a police officer really helped, when it came to the decision of what to wear in the morning. A standard uniform was assigned to each and every one of them.
"Take a good lunch, and eat a healthy breakfast for once, would you dear?" Her mother reminded. "You want to look great when you catch that certain man." Her face smiled on the video projector at Nene.
"Right," NeNe downed a glass of milk and held a piece of toast in her mouth while she tried to get her uniform jacket on. She gnawed on the bread as she did this, a usual routine in the morning when she felt she might be late.
"And don't forget to ask your chief not to let you out on the highway today. You'll be much safer at a desk job," were the last words she heard, before NeNe shut the door to her apartment and drowning out the sound of her mother.
She let out a breath outside of her apartment. Every morning it was the same thing. Her mother would ask if she'd found a boyfriend yet. But her parents' standards were so high she wasn't able to find anyone to meet their qualifications. She doubted she'd ever find a man who she could bring home. And with her two jobs, she never had time to date.
NeNe rode her motorscooter into work, carefully navigating the dangerous highways. She signed in at the desk and received the paperwork she was supposed to finish from the night before. She had left it, in favor of decorating the tree.
She worked through lunch then slipped into the back security area. NeNe checked around, head peeking for extra personnel who might see her, before slipping into the secured area, using the chief's passwords. He changed them, but she was adept at hacking into the newest and latest password.
NeNe searched for information regarding the boomers that had come out two weeks ago. They were a new prototype. They could move quicker than lightning, as NeNe had found out when she missed her well-placed kick to his chest.
Priss had said she was slower from all her weight but NeNe had watched Priss have a hard time with a similar boomer. NeNe used the police computer to look up all the information Gencom had on new boomer prototypes. Her fingers worked rapidly across the keys as she attempted to find a back door into the Gencom programming at their headquarters.
"Aha," she smiled nudging the Gencom system gently with her hacker programs, "Let me in baby. Come on let me in."
ACCESS ACCEPTED.
"You darling you!" NeNe hugged the ADP computer. She flicked through files of no interest, searching for the trash file she knew had information from top securities. No one ever thought to lock those files well.
It took a few minutes but then, NeNe printed out the information she needed and logged off the Gencom system.
She folded up the sheets and smiled to herself. She was such a computer genius. NeNe stepped out of the computer room.
"What are you doing in there?"
NeNe jumped six feet high, scattering her papers everywhere, at the sudden male voice that spoke to her. "Oh Leon it's you," she started breathing again when she saw it was the detective from her department. She kneeled down, picking up the scattered sheets.
Leon leaned down to help her. "Prototype S 560 MEL," he read.
NeNe snatched the sheet from him. "Just doing research for the Chief you know," she giggled nervously. She hurried to pick up the rest of the sheets before he could see what they contained.
"The chief wants to know about Boomers?" Leon scratched his chin suspiciously. The chief usually left that information up to him. The only thing he ever wanted to know was if Leon had caught the rogue boomers that escaped.
"He likes to keep updated," NeNe nodded solemnly. Inside she was chanting a small prayer for him to believe her.
"Right.." Leon gave her a funny look. "So when are you and I going to paint the town red?" Nene was at a good advantage with Leon. He didn't suspect the bit of fluff Nene could hold a computer genius mind. Nene liked it that way although now it seemed he was flirting with her. Leon considered himself a ladies man, stretching his flirtations to any woman even Priss, although the singer shot him down all the time.
NeNe's eyes widened, "My mother wouldn't let me out of the house," she refused him. Leon was a bit much for her. He was cute, to be sure, but his cockiness really turned her off. Plus, Priss had a crush on Leon, even if she did deny it.
"You always say that," Leon laughed, "I might just begin to think you didn't like me." He grinned down at her, for that was her excuse every time the bad boy of the detective department asked her out.
"Never," NeNe smiled with a small tease, flirting back for a moment. She separated from him, at her desk and sat down to do more paperwork, hiding her own papers in her stuff to take home.
The next few hours passed by in a blur of paperwork. NeNe stretched occasionally, rubbing her neck. Police paperwork was one of the few drawbacks for working this job. That, and her mother driving her nuts.
~Police officer is a man's work~ the words echoed in her head, sounding just like her mother, ~You'll never catch a husband because no one wants a woman who is a cop.~
"Go away mom," NeNe muttered.
"Hmm?" her friend, Naoko, who sat at the next desk looked over at her, peering over the small partition that separated them.
"Oh nothing," NeNe giggled. She sweatdropped.
"Very interesting," Priss came in, sipping a soda. Her eyes examined the tree as she swirled her drink with the straw, ice clinking in the glass. "You did a good job NeNe."
"Thanks Priss!" NeNe beamed. "I helped," Linna protested from her couch position. "Did not!" Nene protested with a giggle. She went over to tug the ladder out of the way.
"Good job girls," Sylia came in, entering the room with her usual style and grace. NeNe had always wondered how one woman could carry such an air of elegance and refinement about her. Even fighting, Sylia seemed never to lose her cool or give away anything to the enemy. "With this holiday season, it will be hard not taking any vacations, but there are still boomers out there for us to keep in line," Sylia's calm voice reminded them, "So let's not forget to still train and work hard."
"Which means you NeNe," Priss said, "Not eating too many sweets because you'll put more centimeters on your suit." She snatched a cookie from NeNe's hands, just as the pink haired girl had gotten one from the tray on the table about to put it in her mouth.
NeNe blinked. Fingers that had previously held a cookie stared now at empty hands. She looked over at Priss a few tears decorating her green eyes. Her face became downtrodden. "I won't gain weight from one little cookie!" she sniffed.
"Not from one, but since you've had sixteen you better quit now," Linna warned with a smirk. A favorite game of Priss and Linna was to tease Nene about her weight which swung up and down much more than their own.
NeNe looked ready to cry save for Linna's words. Then she looked guilty. She HAD in fact eaten nineteen, three before Linna had found her. They were right! She was going to blimp up if she wasn't careful. Her face cleared up. "You're right!" she said. "I'm going to lose those centimeters!"
"In your dreams," Priss said under her breath still smirking.
* * *
*Beep Beep Beep*
NeNe yawned and hit the button on her alarm clock as it suddenly beeped. She snuggled back under the pillows ready to sleep in through the day.
"YOUNG LADY OUT OF BED THIS INSTANT!"
"Yes Ma'am!" NeNe shot up at the sound of her mother's voice. She continually forgot, her alarm was attatched to the phone at her parent's house. If she hit the snooze button her mother was always there to wake her up. Green eyes blinked sleepily staring at the vid screen that held an image she knew well as her own. Some said Nene looked exactly like her mother.
"Morning darling," her mother greeted in a better mood, as her daughter got ready. "Mfmmg," NeNe said around her toothbrush and toothpaste. She rinsed, combed out her hair and then splashed water on her face to wake herself up. A little bit of gloss had herself ready, all she needed to do now was put on her shirt and skirt to dress. Sometimes being a police officer really helped, when it came to the decision of what to wear in the morning. A standard uniform was assigned to each and every one of them.
"Take a good lunch, and eat a healthy breakfast for once, would you dear?" Her mother reminded. "You want to look great when you catch that certain man." Her face smiled on the video projector at Nene.
"Right," NeNe downed a glass of milk and held a piece of toast in her mouth while she tried to get her uniform jacket on. She gnawed on the bread as she did this, a usual routine in the morning when she felt she might be late.
"And don't forget to ask your chief not to let you out on the highway today. You'll be much safer at a desk job," were the last words she heard, before NeNe shut the door to her apartment and drowning out the sound of her mother.
She let out a breath outside of her apartment. Every morning it was the same thing. Her mother would ask if she'd found a boyfriend yet. But her parents' standards were so high she wasn't able to find anyone to meet their qualifications. She doubted she'd ever find a man who she could bring home. And with her two jobs, she never had time to date.
NeNe rode her motorscooter into work, carefully navigating the dangerous highways. She signed in at the desk and received the paperwork she was supposed to finish from the night before. She had left it, in favor of decorating the tree.
She worked through lunch then slipped into the back security area. NeNe checked around, head peeking for extra personnel who might see her, before slipping into the secured area, using the chief's passwords. He changed them, but she was adept at hacking into the newest and latest password.
NeNe searched for information regarding the boomers that had come out two weeks ago. They were a new prototype. They could move quicker than lightning, as NeNe had found out when she missed her well-placed kick to his chest.
Priss had said she was slower from all her weight but NeNe had watched Priss have a hard time with a similar boomer. NeNe used the police computer to look up all the information Gencom had on new boomer prototypes. Her fingers worked rapidly across the keys as she attempted to find a back door into the Gencom programming at their headquarters.
"Aha," she smiled nudging the Gencom system gently with her hacker programs, "Let me in baby. Come on let me in."
ACCESS ACCEPTED.
"You darling you!" NeNe hugged the ADP computer. She flicked through files of no interest, searching for the trash file she knew had information from top securities. No one ever thought to lock those files well.
It took a few minutes but then, NeNe printed out the information she needed and logged off the Gencom system.
She folded up the sheets and smiled to herself. She was such a computer genius. NeNe stepped out of the computer room.
"What are you doing in there?"
NeNe jumped six feet high, scattering her papers everywhere, at the sudden male voice that spoke to her. "Oh Leon it's you," she started breathing again when she saw it was the detective from her department. She kneeled down, picking up the scattered sheets.
Leon leaned down to help her. "Prototype S 560 MEL," he read.
NeNe snatched the sheet from him. "Just doing research for the Chief you know," she giggled nervously. She hurried to pick up the rest of the sheets before he could see what they contained.
"The chief wants to know about Boomers?" Leon scratched his chin suspiciously. The chief usually left that information up to him. The only thing he ever wanted to know was if Leon had caught the rogue boomers that escaped.
"He likes to keep updated," NeNe nodded solemnly. Inside she was chanting a small prayer for him to believe her.
"Right.." Leon gave her a funny look. "So when are you and I going to paint the town red?" Nene was at a good advantage with Leon. He didn't suspect the bit of fluff Nene could hold a computer genius mind. Nene liked it that way although now it seemed he was flirting with her. Leon considered himself a ladies man, stretching his flirtations to any woman even Priss, although the singer shot him down all the time.
NeNe's eyes widened, "My mother wouldn't let me out of the house," she refused him. Leon was a bit much for her. He was cute, to be sure, but his cockiness really turned her off. Plus, Priss had a crush on Leon, even if she did deny it.
"You always say that," Leon laughed, "I might just begin to think you didn't like me." He grinned down at her, for that was her excuse every time the bad boy of the detective department asked her out.
"Never," NeNe smiled with a small tease, flirting back for a moment. She separated from him, at her desk and sat down to do more paperwork, hiding her own papers in her stuff to take home.
The next few hours passed by in a blur of paperwork. NeNe stretched occasionally, rubbing her neck. Police paperwork was one of the few drawbacks for working this job. That, and her mother driving her nuts.
~Police officer is a man's work~ the words echoed in her head, sounding just like her mother, ~You'll never catch a husband because no one wants a woman who is a cop.~
"Go away mom," NeNe muttered.
"Hmm?" her friend, Naoko, who sat at the next desk looked over at her, peering over the small partition that separated them.
"Oh nothing," NeNe giggled. She sweatdropped.