A HUGE THANKS TO SSFSX17, and Mike Huang. Here's 13 Pt.1

BGC Episode 13: Hurricane Tonight, Part 1.

            "So what you're saying is that with the OMD locked on a certain frequency of brain wave, it then can tap into the person's will and make that person move like puppets?" Linna asked while trying to avoid a showing a deep frown. Frowning makes skin wrinkle. She thought.

            Sylia shook her head. "Not that. From what I can gather the Over Mind Drive is a psycho-linking/thought pattern-changing device specifically developed at sending messages into human minds. In other words, let's say Genom wants to persuade a certain government official to purchase more military boomers…"

            "Like the defense minister." Nene cut in.

            Sylia turned to glance Nene for a second. "So Genom would then activate the device, and send a certain signals into his or her brain, and change the thought pattern of the person, in term that person will began to think as if he or she wanted to buy Genom's products."

            Priss shrugged. "Sounds like hocus-pocus to me." She said.

            Linna bit her lower lip. "But that doesn't sound so harmful, I mean if Genom's only trying to get people to buy their products, then that means more illegal boomers to clean up, and more jobs for us."

            Sylia chuckled. "Always thinking about finance, aren't you Linna?" She paused, and then her face turned sour. "But here's another thing the OMD can do: It can persuade a large population into agreeing with Genom's policies. And that's not all, remember the killer headache we had at the research facility?"

            Linna swallowed, and then said in a low voice: "That wasn't pleasant."

            Sylia's face turned gloomier: "Theoretically, Genom can use the OMD to seize the minds of a group of people, and then destroy them, or shut down their body functions, or…"

            "That's enough." Priss sat up, and shot a look at Sylia. "So how were we affected? Does this thing automatically track all human minds, like the machine that X-something movie depicted?"

            Sylia stared at the ground speechlessly.

            "Well, do tell," Nene said. "This is about live and death." The tone of her voice conveyed impatience.

            "The OMD usually can't reach people's minds except when it's hooked up or linked to people, but with an uplink through a controlling device, a medium if you will, to the Orbiting Satellites above, then the range of its psycho wave can be increased, or changed to whatever degree the user wishes." (Author's note: that's obviously impossible, since human thought patterns changes a lot, even though from what limited knowledge I have I know there is a general pattern for each person, but a generalized broadcast of so called "psycho-waves" that affects everybody is probably a impossibility. But this is a fan fiction for an 80's anime, so…) She paused, and then said: "For instance, Largo could activate the Satellite Laser Defense with his thoughts. Now imagine if he had the OMD device, and with that he sent his thought waves into the satellite, and in term the satellite sent his commands and orders down to earth as psycho waves, and the waves hits the people…"

            "You just said that the OMD wasn't designed to turn people into puppets." Nene pointed out.

            "No, the OMD itself only sends messages into people's brains, but with the right type of messages, and a human mind behind these messages, who can guarantee that people won't listen and obey them?" Sylia said with a frustrated sounding sigh. "Think these religious programs they play on channel 170. Besides, it can be used to kill a small group of people."

            Everyone was quiet. That means us if the thing works again. Linna thought dourly.

            "Thanks to Nene, and the VR program we co-developed, there's a temporary stoppage to Genom's access to my brain and thoughts." She hesitated before speaking: "But we're not sure for how long."

            Linna turned her head and gazed at Nene, who was burying her head on Sylia's right shoulder. She looked rather gloomy.  Linna thought. Ordinarily she would puff up her chest a little and brag. "This is bad. What can we do?"

            Priss had turned on the TV a while back with the volume down. She turned to watch it. "I think we should charge into Genom building, and blow it all up. Now we got Reika back, we don't have to worry any more about her anymore. Anyway, we have to face them now, don't we Sylia?" She said without turning to watch Sylia.

            Trying to put a hand on Sylia's shoulders, Linna found herself stopping short. She sighed, and said: "You know I've never thought things could turn out this way, but the truth is even I don't think we have a choice any more. I mean, first it was Irene, and now they almost got Reika. Even what happened to Sylvie and Anri, and the creation of boomers like Largo was at least partially influenced by their doing, and then…"

            "And then guys on the AD Police Force, whose lives are being thrown away for boomer disposal," Nene said with disgust in her voice. "Oh the nerves on these Genom bastards…"

            "Guys, I think you may want to watch this." Priss' voice came and it made everyone turned to look at her, then at the TV. Her voice was really quiet.

            The whole room was deadly silent except the voice of the TV Announcer.

            The Announcer sounded too cheerful despite a typical grim look. "…Exploded in midair as the private jet was destroyed by an sudden and unusual formation of tropical storm formed out in the ocean near the Kanto area. The storm was classified as category 10…."

            "10? But that would destroyed the whole Kanto area if it ever hits!" Nene exclaimed rather loudly. She quickly looked around, shut up, and stared at the TV.

            Linna took a deep breath along with the rest of the Sabers. She wanted to look away from the TV, but found she couldn't.

            The Announcer continued: "Therefore, what is now being called 'the Final Concert of Vision' is never going to be performed. Many rabid fans are already flooding the record stores, malls, and souvenir shops to get their hands on whatever memorabilia of Vision…"

            Linna didn't feel anything, and she couldn't move. Her mouth felt like it was bolt shut.

            "Oh my God…" Nene whispered. "Oh my God…"

            Sylia stared at the fashionable cross she wore on her neck and said nothing.

            Priss didn't move. But as Linna dully lowered her gaze, she found Priss was gripping the remote so tight and it was starting to crack.

            The Announcer continued on: "The hurricane itself is heading toward Mega Tokyo as we speak. Although the meteorologists are still debating the possibility of such storm forming near the Kanto area, we advice all citizens to evacuate the city as soon as humanly possible, and we do not advice people to stay around and try to weather such storm, we also very strongly suggest the surfers to value their lives and leave the beach right now…"

            "They're coming to get us! They are coming to get us!" Nene screamed hysterically, and she started to run around in panic. "What…what should we do? What should we do?" She stopped suddenly in front of Sylia and gripped Sylia's arms. "Sylia, Sylia…our homes are here, and…I don't want to just leave all this…they…they are coming to get us!"

            SMACK!

            Linna and Priss turned to see Nene holding her left cheek.

            Sylia's right hand was still in the air.

            "Get a grip of yourself. Even Genom isn't that crazy. There is no way they would destroy a whole city just to get us." Sylia said sternly in a low voice.

            "Maybe not us." Priss said in an icy tone. "But for the price of controlling the whole world…it maybe worth it for them to get to you this way." She looked out of the window. Linna could clearly see the disgust on her face.

            "Look, I don't know about you guys, but I'm not going to stay around here and find out what's going to happen." Linna said frantically. "I'm going back to the country side to live with my parents," she paused, and curled her lips. "And get married."

            "How far can you go before the hurricane get to you, may I ask?" Sylia said in an oddly soothing voice.

            "As far as I can to get the hell away from here!" Linna shrieked. She began to charge toward the door. When she ran by Priss, Priss grabbed her arm, and the force made her stop dead in her tracks, as she jolted to a halt. "Stop! Let me go now!"

            "Linna…" Priss said in a low, hoarse whisper. "There is nowhere to run. Not in the short time we do have." She dropped Linna's arm, and smacked her left palm with her right fist. "These goddamned sons of bitches…" She muttered under her breath.

            Nene seemed to be breathless. She was still holding her cheek.

            "My guess is, Genom's abandoning the Tower here. As unlikely as that scenario is, that's what we have to assume." Sylia said in a calm voice. "The source of the hurricane is somewhere above the Pacific. We're going to find the source." Her voice was firm.

            "And then what?" Nene asked in a small voice. "We're going against a Typhoon!"

            Sylia stared at her face. "We're going to take it out."

            The room was deathly silent.

            Priss spoke first. "At least that gives us something to do."

            "Then let's get to it. Nene, you find info from the Central Weather Agency, and while you're at it, get into Genom's military Super Computers and find the location of the Weather weapon, Linna and Priss, you guys…"

* * * * * * * * *

            Quincy's angry face appeared on the screen of the main control room inside Central Weather Agency's weather report satellite/Orbital station. "Who the hell ordered the commencement of the weapon's testing program?" His eyes were wide and full of menacing anger. With a snarl he demanded again, pounding the desk.

            "Ah…" A fresh faced young engineer said with a trembling voice. "Y…y…you…you did, sir…you ordered it…two… two hours ago…" His teeth chattered.

            "Fucking idiot! I did no such thing!" Quincy's face threatened burst through the screen, even though the tech knew that wasn't going to happen. He cringed, and quickly ran, while saying: "I…I'll go get the Station Manager!"

            Manager Narita came and said the same thing. Quincy frowned while cupping his chin with the thumb and index fingers of his right hand. "Show me the communication record."

            "Y…Yes sir." The manager cowered and shook like a leave in a storm, then he pressed a button.

            "I order you to test the Hurricane generator immediately!" Quincy's voice filled the speakers, even though the Quincy on screen was silent.

            "But, sir this…this coordinate is…" The Manager's voice filled the speakers, while the real manager was bowing and scraping in from of Quincy's image on the screen.

            "Do as you're told, or your ass isn't just fired now, but for the rest of your miserable life, understand?"

            "Yes…yes sir! Right away, sir!" The Manager's voice paused for a second. "Began countdown! Initiating the Typhoon creation program! Remotely start the Storm generator above the Pacific!"

            The symphony of "Hallelujah" filled the speakers. The station Manager's face turned deathly pale.

            "What's with the music? Anyway, this is interesting…I didn't order the weapon to be used, and yet…" Quincy looked thoughtful for a second. "Shut it down, now."

            "Yes…yes sir…the music…I thought the music is cool…makes me feel powerful." The Manager said.

            "SHUT THE GENERATOR DOWN NOW!"

            "Yes sir, yes sir…ah, you see…we can't stop it for some reason…" The Manager looked scared and resigned at the same time.

            "What?" Quincy's face turned beet red. "Do something about this." His head turned to the side. "Madigan, have the programmers at the HQ shut down the program and the machine remotely right now!"

            There was a long pause.

            "Madigan! Do as you're told!" Quincy's face still turned sideways. He was barking toward someone off screen.

            "I'm afraid that isn't going to be possible, Chairman Quincy…" the boomer Madigan's voice came softly and deadly. "You see, Largo-sama said no stopping until the whole Mega Tokyo is wiped out, so that Genom's all important home base will be gone…"

            Bang! Bang! Bang!

            Quincy pulled out a gun, and shot the Madigan-boomer. "You bastard! Largo, you bastard!"

            "Ah, my dear Quincy. You may have trapped me and gotten away last time, but this time I have the upper hand…"

            The image on the screen split, and Largo's face appeared on the right, while Quincy's were shoved to the left.

            "Your clones certainly are useful, Quincy, and hacking into the Madigan clone was not as hard as I thought it would be…" Largo had a patronizing look on his face. "You maybe an slick old fox, but your toys are not quite as bright as you are." He paused long enough for Quincy let out a grunt between clenched teeth, and then continued with a condescending leer: "Nice plaything you got over the pacific by the way, and since Chang's daughter happened to be in the area, I thought I'd send some wind in their sails."

            Quincy's teeth gritted for a moment, before a smirk appeared on his face. "So what? What do you think that will do? I'm still alive and well, and Mega Tokyo and the Genom Tower can be rebuild." His eyes glowed. "You think you can get to me by using my weapon and my boomers against me? How naïve." He sunk back in his chair. "I'm already away. Somewhere you will never find me. Never."

            Largo's smile didn't change; it just turned colder. "You mean the super computer that contains the personality we know as 'Quincy Rosencroitz' has already been shipped into space, and probably implanted into a Ultra Boomer Final Version?"

            "What?" Quincy looked shocked. "But…how…"

            "Last time I was sure you were in that room. Every available source and all my sensors and mind scanners gave me the same answer, and yet I found a boomer clone in your place. I did some thinking after my temporary disablement, and the only conclusion I had was this – you have scattered yourself into your clones long ago, but you did save a original copy – which you incorporated into the main computer of Genom, which controls the minds of the clones. Now once the OMD was completely activated, all you needed was something to help you to broadcast your thoughts and will all over the world…" He paused. "I, on the other hand, already had the ability to uplink to the satellite, and I wanted the OMD so that I can control the world, and reach to all the boomers with my will…" He laughed coldly. "No matter. It seems like we're in the same shape, and having the almost the same goals. You thought by merely moving boomers around and giving them orders was good enough, I, however wanted to awaken them all to my cause." He sneered egotistically. "I think once again, we're at a stalemate here. I know where you are, and you have a good idea where I am, but we can't exactly attack each other without causing interstellar wars…"

            The whole Station beeped, and shook slightly with Largo's face on every view screen. Largo continued: "So here's the X-factor: The Knight Sabers. Their leader Sylia Stingray is the same as me in many ways. In fact, I would have to call her 'Mother'. For she's like the Eve to my race, and right now, she's trying to track down the Weather generator, and eventually, she will find this satellite…"

            Manager Narita was giving out evacuation orders.

            Largo continued: "Once she finds this station, I would have to confront her, but see, here's the fun part: she's going to find the information on your whereabouts."

            Quincy snickered: "I will long gone by then."

            Largo nodded: "Sure you will, my dear Quincy, unless all of the sudden you find the jets on your space battle cruiser disabled completely, and the generators to the engine gone." He pause and looked to the side. "Yep." He nodded again.

            Quincy's eyes widened, as he looked like he was staring at something in the distance. Then he clenched his jaws. "Damn you, Largo! You won't get away with this!"

            Largo took a deep breath and heaved it out. "Maybe. Then again, even in this practically immobilized state I don't expect to lose either. See you around, Quincy Rosencroitz." The image of his face fizzled slightly. "Oh, and I doubt you can really use the escape pod since you have now become the Central Computer Boomer of the ship." Largo's mug slowly disappeared, leaving only the sound trail of his maniacal laughter.

            Quincy's twisted face remained for a moment, before it disappeared off the screen.

            The personnel of the station were running around like chickens with heads cut off.

* * * * * * * * * * *

            Sylia tightened her grip on the private assault shuttle's control stick. "How's the search? Found it yet?"

            "I'm having some trouble pinpointing the exact coordinate of the hurricane generator. One thing I'm certain though, there's something in the atmosphere that's controlling it…there!"

            They arrived at the place.

            Everyone turned silent.

            There were huge and thick clouds in front of them. Strong gusts were shaking their craft as if it was made of thin plastic. The creaking sound was making everyone tense.

            "The machine is in the eye of the storm." Nene said simply.

            "There is no way we can get through that without being torn apart." Linna said with concern written all over her face.

            Sylia frowned. She turned to Nene. "You said there's probably something controlling the generator from somewhere else?"

            "Yes, probably from…" Nene paused for a second with her fingers busy typing and moving the tracking ball and clicking. "Up there in space." She pointed toward the ceiling.

            "From above…" Priss mumbled.

            "A defense satellite?" Linna chimed in.

            "Not likely. That's designed mainly for laser defense," Sylia said with some contempt. "I'm thinking probably the weather forecasting Space Station X-19999." She turned to Nene, who nodded.

"Ok, I'm on it." Nene said.

"How are we going to get into space?" Linna asked hastily. "This ship isn't designed for that, or for space combat."

Sylia pressed a button, a familiar broadcast came through: "…opportunities in the newly developed space stations and frontier colonies…" She shut it off.

"You mean…" Priss' eye widened. "But the space shuttle service is temporarily suspended because of the hurricane…"

"So let's just borrow it." Sylia said with a frown. "Priss, are you actually hesitating? Is Leon's law abiding ways influencing you?"

Priss groaned as everyone else giggled or chuckled. "Hell no! I was just wondering out aloud!" She blushed. "Well, then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"The calculation of the trajectory of the space station and our window of approach is complete." Nene said with a confident smirk. "I'm way ahead of you as usual." She winked at Priss, who stuck the tip of her tongue out at her.

"Very good Nene. Ladies, let's go get ourselves a private space shuttle service. First class seats with all the special accommodations!" Sylia said with a tight grin.

"Yahooooo!" Nene yelled.

"I hope this works." Linna wiped some sweat off her forehead.

Priss stared at the ceiling for a while. "Leon. Take care." She muttered under her breath. The scene that happened between them two hours ago appeared in her mind.

* * * * * * * * *

            "Leon." Priss said without looking at him. The two were having a drink at the now empty bar at "Hot Legs". The place had lost its usually rowdy crowd.

            "Priss." He nodded. "So I take it this is where you go alone?" He took in a lung full of air, and let it out slowly. "With the other Knight Sabers, I mean."

            "Yeah, looks like this is it." She waved. "I guess it can't be helped."

            "Let me go with you." Leon leaned toward her. "Actually, everybody at the force could help out…"

            "Forget it, Leon." Priss shrugged. "You guys don't have the technology to deal with this."

            "And you do?" Leon spread out his arms. "We're talking about a huge hurricane here!" He put a hand on Priss' shoulder. "Look, let me go ask Todo, and maybe we can get the national defense…"

            "And how are you going to get them involved?" Priss snapped back. "You think they would go against Genom?" She stared at him for a long time. Her eyes gradually softened. "There is nothing you can do." She turned her head. Her right hand went to cover her chest for the briefest second, before she formed a fist with that hand. "It's time for me to go."

            Leon stepped up to her. Pulling her close, he looked deep into her eyes.

            "Wh…wha…what?" Priss said with a blush on her face as her eyes widened. She looked like she froze completely.

            "Be careful, Priss. If you can't deal with this, then I…" Leon's voice dipped an octave. "Come back alive and we'll figure something out." He let go of her arm.

            Priss stared back at him for a moment, then she looked at her arm where he held her for a moment. She put a hand over that part for a moment longer. "See ya." She turned and walked out of the door without looking back.

            Try to stay alive. She pled silently.

* * * * * * * * *

            The fight for the space shuttle was surprisingly short, give the fact that the boomers surrounding the spaceport were older models that didn't have much firepower, speed, or agility against the Knight Sabers' newest versions of their hard suits.

            Priss tossed the half blown up green monster over the platform, and gave the area a quick survey. "Is that it, then?"

            Sylia looked thoughtful. "No Doberman series around. That is certainly strange." She looked up at the shuttle with the huge thrusters on the top of the platform, which looked like the starting point of a roller coaster. "Ladies, this is it! Looking sharp!"

            The Sabers uttered an acknowledgement. About 15 minutes later, they were in space.

            The velvet sea of blackness full of glittering stars that looked like diamonds had always fascinated Linna since she was a child. She turned to Sylia, who was in the pilot seat: "Hey, Sylia, can I look around? I want to sit in one of the passenger seats in back." She received an acknowledgement and she left the cockpit.

            She climbed the stairs and went straight into the first class area…

            "AHHHH!"

            The shriek startled Linna. She recoiled and almost screamed herself. She tightened her lips, and pointed her gauntleted hand toward the direction of the sound, which were behind a seat in the middle quite a few rows toward the back. "Who or whatever you're, stand up and raise your hands!" She shouted with a relative steady voice. "Or I'll start blasting!"

            She narrowed her eyes when after a heart stopping 10 seconds and no one responded. She curled her lips. "Alright, this is your last warning, I'll give you 5 seconds. 5, 4, 3, 2…"

            "Please ma'am, don't shoot, don't shoot!"

            Linna's eyes widened as a small child about 5 to 7 years old stood up from behind the seat, and slowly stepped onto the isle. "I…I mean you no harm, ma'am."

            "Ma'am…ma'am?" Linna's face scrunched up for a second, but she lowered her lethal arm. "Are you ok, little miss?" She slowly walked toward the girl with some hesitation. The incident about Cynthia wasn't too far away from her mind. "Hey, you alright? What are you doing here? It's dangerous to be here," she said.

            The girl looked at her Linna's gloved hand on her shoulder. "But you're here, too, ma'am. Isn't it dangerous for someone your age to be here?"

            Linna tried very hard to hide a grimace, she force her jaws to unclench. "I'm 20, thank you very much, and that wasn't a nice thing to say." She straightened herself up. Taking the little girl's hand, she started toward the stairs. "Come on, little missy, let's go see some of my friends."

            "Who are they? And who are you?"

            "We're the Knight Sabers."

            "Hmm…are you the bad guys?"

            Linna stopped briefly at the stairs before walking down slowly, holding the little girl's hands carefully. "No, we're the good guys. We fight for the good of everyone," she said.

            "So that's why you're putting people out of jobs?"

            Linna was at the bottom of the stairs, and she lifted the girl off, and put her down on the ground gently. "What?" Linna bent down.

            "I said you guys are putting people out of jobs." The little girl cocked her head to her right.

            Linna stood up. "Right. Let's go," she said.

* * * * * * * * *

            Sylia was looking at the coordinates Nene furnished when Linna came in with the child. The rest of Sabers gave sounds of surprise. "How cute!" Nene squatted and waved at the girl, who cringed and backed into a corner. "But I won't hurt you! See! I'm just a person like you." Nene popped her visor, and smiled broadly.

            The little girl frowned very briefly, and then looked down.

            Sylia cocked an eyebrow. "So this is the little missy that you found…" She lowered her voice. "Come here, Linna."

            Linna walked over, and leaned toward Sylia. "What's up?" she said.

            "Don't you think it's strange that everyone else left the spaceport long ago, but she stayed behind? Have we seen anybody came to look for her?"

            "Nope. When I asked her about her parents she just shook her head."

            "Just like Cynthia…" Sylia put a hand to her hip, the other hand typed something on the instrument panel. "Let's keep an eye on her. I don't like this."

            Linna merely nodded.

            On the other side, Nene gave a triumphant whistle. "Looks like we can get into the space station in two minutes thirty-seven seconds."

            "Everybody get ready, then. Linna, you take care of the little missy…" Sylia said. She turned to face the girl. "What's your name?"

            The girl drew herself to full height. "Setsuna Mason."

            Sylia narrowed her eyes. "I'll be sure to remember that," she said.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

            "All escaped…" Linna muttered under her breath. "Well, I guess they heard about our coming, and just left."

            Nene frowned. "Wait a minute…" She tapped a few keys on the control panel. "Here…there…there!" She punched a button, and the Knight Sabers gasped together with the young girl.

            Largo's face filled the screen.

            "No wonder we got in without any incidents," Sylia said.

            "It's probably a trap…" Priss swung her fist at the screen. She spat.

            "It's been a while, Knight Sabers…" Largo's voice boomed over the whole station, and the Sabers could feel it vibrate. "I…"

            "You're going to pronounce our doom, I'll bet." Nene said. She pouted with a hand on her hips, and the other hand pulled down her lower eyelid of her left eye. "I swear, that gets so old!" She sighed loudly. "I wish I wasn't the one who pulled your face up!"

            "Oh but it's already too late!" Linna said.

            "Yeah, great job there Nene!" Priss said. She stuck her tongue out at Nene, who returned the facial gesture.

            "Silence!" Largo yelled. "I will not tolerate such insolent behavior!"

            "Oh yeah? You know you sound just like Old Quincy!" Nene taunted with her right hand, waving her fingers. "Why don't you come on out and fight us!"

            Largo grinned with his teeth bare. "Who's the little girl behind you?"

            Setsuna Mason hide herself behind Priss, who seemed annoyed but didn't move.

            "Shouldn't you know?" Sylia asked icily. "After all, she's your daughter…or more precisely, your creation."

            The rest of the Knight Sabers simply stared Setsuna, then Sylia, then finally at Largo, who everyone now knows was Brian J. Mason. (Writer's note: sure…right…can you tell that 2040 TV is influencing me here?)

            "But that means…" Linna's jaw dropped.

            "This little girl?" Nene stepped back after mumbling to herself.

            Priss turned around immediately, took a few steps away from the child, and gave her a sharp glare.

            "Now Setsuna, why don't you show them what you can do?"

            The Knight Sabers turned to stare at one of the two arch-nemesis they faced. "How shameful! Using a little girl as your weapon!" Priss said. "How about fight fairly for once?"

            "Ha! This is a fair fight. Fighting Setsuna is as good as fighting me!" Largo grinned then sighed contently. "So, enjoy your last moment in this…"

            "Shut up! I've had enough of you!" Priss said. She turned to face the girl. "Come on kid! Give me your best shot!"

            Setsuna looked around for a moment, before focusing her eyes on the screen. "Can I kill them? Can I really?"

            "I'll be watching." Largo said.

            The Knight Sabers raised their hands, ready for battle.

            The shaking and the humming of the station never stopped; it just got stronger.