Bubble Gum HYTE (Fan-fic)
Source: Bubble Gum Crisis/Crash
Author: LV426
Chapter 15: Insertion
"Hey, Sylia," Priss called out, "think this is the place?" She was pointing toward a door that had been taped off, but showed little more care then that. It was as if the people who were interested abruptly lost such interests.
Sylia did not respond immediately. She approached and looked inside. There was no doubting Priss had found what they had come looking for: the ground still even had the pool of blood, now dried to be a permanent fixture of the room. She nodded. "I don't see how it couldn't be," she added audibly. "Linna, Nene! We found the lab. Follow my signal and get down here." She listened till she heard both of her teammate's answers before she grabbed the tape and pulled it down with no effort before stepping inside.
* * *
Nothing happened, at least nothing he was waiting for. He was well aware the truck had stopped and that he had been unloaded. He couldn't tell where he was, but he wasn't worried. Had he been able to, he still would have known better; his destination would most likely be shielded from outside signals, so his own locator system could not reach out either.
Still, what he was waiting for had not happened yet, so he kept all his motor systems on stand-by. Presently, he felt he was moving slowly, probably being pulled down the hall to wherever they would open up the crate. He remained in waiting.
* * *
Before her was a room not entirely unfamiliar to her. She did not remember being here directly, but she did remember calling her father from home, and seeing rooms much like this one behind him on the vid-phone. For that alone, she shivered.
"Sylia..." a familiar voice hissed gently. She froze where she stood, eyes wide. "Sylia... Stingray..." The voice laughed in the same hushed tone as it spoke, but now there seemed to be a direction from whence it came.
She turned to slowly toward the sound. In front of her, the screen which had been previously off was now displaying a blank screen with a black background, but the cursor flashing in the corner gave away its ready status. Then she saw it. "Sylia" was suddenly on the screen. "Come to me, Sylia" followed afterwards.
Unable to look away from the screen, she whispered as much to the owner of the voice and screen as to herself. "It can't be you... I saw you die..." Her voice shook with fear, as she could not bring herself to accept such a man had returned.
The screen prompted back. "You saw what I wanted you too, my dear." That same laughter returned once more, though a little louder.
"Your DEAD!" Sylia yelled. The laughter only got louder and she had to cover her ears as the screen faded back to being off. As she felt a hand on her shoulder, she froze entirely. She turned slowly, half expecting to see those inhuman eyes of a boomer long-dead looking back at her.
* * *
"SYLIA! ANSWER ME!" it was Linna screaming at her, her voice almost breaking with fear for her leader.
"Linna?" came the question finally. Sylia looked around, but nothing had been changed in the room. That hand that had been on her shoulder was Linna's. "I'm sorry," she quickly got up, composing herself once again.
"What was the yell about? Are you ok?"
Sylia nodded. She knew already no one else saw what she did. It was meant for her, and only her, but he had played his hand and revealed himself. "I'm fine, Linna. Thank you." Before anyone could respond and question this, she turned the terminal ahead of her. "I'm going to start looking into this one. Nene?"
"Yes?" Nene responded. Her voice was uncertain, as if she was somehow aware that something had just happened, but she hadn't a clew what or if she might wreck it if she wasn't careful.
"Could you please look through the terminal over there?" she pointed to the metal table with a few parts nearby as well as tools. The terminal was attached. "I have a feeling that's where the boomer was made. Perhaps the professor left us a few notes."
"Yeah! I'm on it!" If she had saluted, it would have finished the picture perfectly. Getting into a computer system was her home territory. She would not let her team down.
* * *
Allen pressed the button on the crate and listened as the motorized door whirred to life. He half watched the door and half tried to not watch his companion. "This is going to sound odd, but I've been looking forward to checking this one out," he blurted, the quiet of the moment going on too long for him.
"Why? It's a homicide. Its not exactly a job that should be a joy," came the reply from the woman close by. She was tall with very dark long hair, and currently had her back turned to him as she prepared what looked like digital-memory extractor.
"Yeah, but from what I've heard in the office, this piece is incredible. To get a peak at it is just unreal!"
The woman replied with a sigh. "Yeah, yeah. If we were having this conversation right after the quake, I could understand. But these things are all over the place. Besides what it may have seen, what could there be to it?" She turned to face Allen, a slight irritation in her voice, "Can we just get this over with?"
Allen nodded and, despite the request, allowed himself a peak into the box. Immediately, he whistled. "Man, this one is a real masterpiece, Suvan," he commented, admiration in his voice.
"Well, it didn't help the good doctor any, did it?" Suvan replied, not turning around.
With a sigh, the man gave up. "I suppose not. Say, where's Able? This guy must weigh a ton!"
"You called, Sir?" came a synthesized voice that the crated boomer instantly recognized as another boomer.
"There you are! I need you to get this boomer out of the crate."
"Very well, Sir," came the reply without emotion. The off-grey chassis of a standard ADP guard came into his view as the hulking boomer knelt down and peered inside, his light blue LED eyes glowing into the interior. Able didn't speak as his hands extended and gripped the boomer within by the shoulders. With no resistance given, he had the boomer within out and dangling within his grip shortly. "Done, Sir."
"Thank you, Able." The man then took the time to investigate the boomer, now hanging limp before him. "Yes, Dr. Yoshida definitely put some effort into you, my friend. It's a pity it didn't save his life."
Only now did Suvan drop her work and turn to face her partner, her deep green eyes carrying a look of shock. "What do you mean, Allen?" She stormed toward him. "He was supposed to be incarcerated still when everything started to going crazy, yet here he was, sprawled in an old abandoned lab. Sounds a bit suspicious, don't you think?"
"Well, yeah, but..."
Suvan crossed her arm over her chest, her eyes going from shock to slight anger. "Allen, I know you don't care about manners all the time, but when you're talking to me, don't talk to my chest."
Allen blushed and tilted his eyes to look up into her growing rage. "Sorry, Suvan... but, please, think about it. Here you have a man whom by all rationality should be in a prison and without so much as a hushed rumor about it, he gets out and starts making boomers on his own spare time. Dr. Yoshida was never powerful enough to do such a thing on his own, so how did it happen? Without him, we lose a lot of evidence for it."
Suvan considered this a moment before sighing and turning away again. "Yeah, well... it doesn't matter anyway. He's dead and there is nothing to do for it." She turned her head to her two companions. "Able, bring the boomer here. We're about ready to begin."
"Yes, Ma'am." was all he said as he began with a steady stride to approach. "Shall I place him in for you?"
"Why thank you," she answered before turning to Allen. "See Allen? Able knows how to be a gentleman. Maybe you should learn from him." Her tone was a teasing one, her eyes revealing her amusement with herself.
"Yeah, yeah," Allen replied, not as amused. He muttered something to himself that from where Suvan stood, sounded like he was talking about forms wearing something. Knowing him, she had a good idea what he was talking about, but decided it would be better to ignore it.
She turned back to the reader and watched Able place the inert boomer into the restraints.
"We are ready, Ma'am," he added as a standard confirmation.
"Thank you, Able. You can go now."
"Negative." He approached her.
"Why not? Is everything functioning normally?"
Quicker then she could gasp, Able grabbed her under the shoulder, his other hand grabbing her by the top of the skull and twisting, snapping her neck. He dropped her to the ground. "Perfectly," he replied.
Allen blinked in disbelief. Able was strong enough, sure, but his programming was to protect humans, especially partners in the field, not twist their heads off. He now saw what was really going on: It was not the boomer they were looking into that was in the restraints, but Able. The "artwork" was standing where Suvan was just a few moments ago. "What... what the hell?" He bolted for the door, but it slammed shut before he could get to it, locked from the computer the killer boomer stood at.
"I'm sorry, but I cant let you go, Allen," it spoke hushed. "You have seen me, and are now represent an unacceptable risk." In the next few moments, that risk was silenced for all times.
* * *
Astis didn't bother putting the lights on when he got back to his apartment. When he first moved into this place, he would make a point to do so, even as he knew his eyes wouldn't need them. But back then, he had worried if humans would question why if he didn't. Time had made him lax on the practice as he figured out no one really cared.
Still, his thoughts were pre-occupied with what he had discovered this night: namely that the one person who could not possibly want to kill him on site was one of the Knight Sabers. "But how could she be the enemy? Yet, how could Armstrong lie to me?" he thought, "None of this makes any sense." He closed the door behind himself as the struggle continued within. "There seem to be two possible conclusions: either Armstrong lied, or Linna is a top-caliber actress, but both seem so improbable... and why would their leader willingly let me follow them, and when she had the chance to kill me, let me go?" Still, he hated to accuse the entity whom he owed his freedom to as much as the Hou Bang of lying to him about who to trust. "And even more disturbing, why would he do that? Why would he manipulate me?" In the next moment, he strode to the terminal in his apartment, and plugged himself in, but he only initiated his interface as far as the terminal's controls. "It would be easier to bridge myself directly into the net, but I cant without drawing Armstrong's attention." The words were for his own justification as he felt his mind take the role of the keyboard for the terminal, "and I cant afford to let him see me... not yet." In a moment, he added with more resolution, "I need to know who is telling me the truth first."
* * *
"Come on," Sylia thought to herself, glaring into the screen as if she could force it to display what she was looking for by pure willpower, "You have to be in here somewhere!"
"Sylia? Is everything ok?" The voice was Linna's, and by the sound of it, she still was a little shaken by how Sylia had behaved earlier.
Closing her eyes and breathing deep, Sylia recomposed herself entirely. "Yes, everything is fine. I'm just looking for something that has to be here... the access registry."
Linna blinked. "The what?"
"Access registry. Anytime anyone connects or logs on to the Wiz-labs computers, they were designed to record the connection. Security precautions, should something go wrong." She resumed her typing.
"Ah, I see," came the response with genuine understanding.
Sylia sighed, not letting the fact that Linna remained to watch for a moment distract her. "And any hints of what he might be doing," she added in her thoughts.
"Well this is interesting," piped the familiar voice of Nene from her own terminal. She looked up, as if asking who would care.
"What is?" returned Priss.
"Have a look," Nene pointed to the screen, on which was layout of a boomer. "The dates line up in the time-frame we had figured out. This is Dr. Yoshida's boomer."
"How do you know for sure?" came the skeptical reply.
"Well, I'm as sure as I can be. You see, this peticular system was not connected to the rest of the labs."
"What?"
Nene nodded. "Looks like it was removed relatively recently too. I would guess the doctor was a little paranoid his new 'boss' would steal his designs like the last one did."
"You can't assume he was working for someone, you know," Priss retorted.
"It seems to me there is no way he couldn't have," she glanced at something on the screen that drew her attention instantly. "Been?"
"What's wrong?"
"I... I don't know. The boomer is unique, though. The eyes are custom designed."
"Yeah so? Maybe the doctor wanted his killer to have baby blues..."
"Priss... the design is an internal one." She turned to Sylia. "Sylia? Could we switch places, please? I found the boomer's design, but this really isn't my specialty."
"Not yet, Nene," came the pre-occupied reply. "Download it and we will look at it later."
"Alright," was the reply as she plugged her hardsuit into the terminal, "Got it!"
Sylia nodded before backing away from her own terminal. "Alright. Let's get back to the van. I have something to reveal to you all, but it should be done in private." She let the silence sink in. "Let's move."
* * *
Brian smiled quietly to himself, or at least felt the feelings of such a smile creeping across his consciousness. "This should be much more interesting now that you know, Sylia," she spoke to himself. "Teaching you just how futile, will perhaps be far more fun then sneaking around you. You need to know you can not stop the plans of a god. Nor can you kill a god. Your actions are only delaying the inevitable scheme." He let himself chuckle once more, a small ripple echoing across the net. "You will realize soon, my dear. Then you will come to me..."
He watched calmly as Nene found the plans that Dr. Yoshida had even hid from his own eyes. "Damn you are a nuisance," he uttered, "but that won't last much longer. I have already set it in motion. But for now," he withdrew his attentions from the emptying room and out to the main city again, toward Astis' apartment, "my old friend has a few questions, and I must answer soon."
* * *
"So, Suvan, I know you like this Allen guy, but still... no that will never work. How about... dammit, why the hell am I even doing this?!?!?" Jake uttered under his breath. He had seen her once just across the hall, and instantly decided he should try for her. Still, this was the one place he was easily tongue-tied, so he took the one shot he had at trying to make it work... he made a bet with one of the other officers. "For once, I think I'm in over my head," he commented, but quickly grinned, his imagination racing. "But it will be worth it!"
His brain still not being the one to choose what he does, he stepped lively toward the forensics lab ahead of him. He already knew she would be there studying something-or-other, thanks to his connections with the janitalior staff. What she would be studying really didn't matter to him, only that she would be there, and perhaps pre-occupied. He wouldn't have to worry about approaching under the attention of such a beautiful young lady. "Still, I gotta have my approach ready..." and his mind went out the window once more into the realm of possibilities, effectively forgetting that he was trying to figure out what to say to Suvan when he got in the door.
He finally approached the door with still no clue what to say and waited there in a last ditch effort to draw up some line to spew to her and try to draw her romantic attentions toward him. Unfortunately, everything that came to mind was as crude and sleazy as the bar scenes back home where he had overheard them in the first place. "Dammit!" he muttered under his breath. "Guess I'm gonna have to try to do this cold turkey." He let himself linger and count to three before breathing deep and hitting the switch to open the door.
The doors opened with the usual lack of major noise as he stepped forward. "Hey, Suvan! How are..." he only now really looked around the room to see two massive amounts of blood, each surrounding a form laying on the ground at very weird angles and a boomer standing in the memory reader, it's head severely damaged, "you? What the hell happened here?"
Jake did not step into the room just yet, as he knew all about the chain of evidence, and also remembering how often he was removed from duty as a penalty for breaking this chain. Rather, he leaned in and decided to try to figure out who these two dead people were in front of him. The closest was easiest to figure out, as his face, or rather what was left of it, was facing him. "It's Allen! That expression, it's like the time I spilled the coffee on his hand, only much worse," Jake thought. "And if that's Allen, then..." his eyes widened as he focused on the body closer to the memory reader. He couldn't see her face, but he didn't need to. It wasn't her face, however pretty, that drew him to this room in the first place. "SUVAN!"
Now disregarding the chain of evidence, he rushed into the room, splashing in Allen's blood on the way. Immediately, he kneeled down next to Suvan's corpse and took her pulse, hoping against hope that she wasn't dead, but hope would fail him today. "Dammit!" He turned to the computer system nearby and turned on the intercom. "Security to Forensics lab 6 immediately! Two officers dead in the lab! Get security in here immediately." Jake waited for a response, but nothing came through. "This is Jake Boots calling security to Forensics lab 6! Get your asses over here, do you UNDERSTAND ME!" Still, no response.
Furious, Jake punched the speaker, out. "Dammit! Damn it all to hell! Well if they wont talk to me, I'm not waiting for them." Resolutely, he turned away from the computer, but now looked down on the face of Suvan once more, her eyes staring ahead parallel with the direction of her back. "I guess we simply were not meant to be, were we?" he spoke under his breath, before his eyes lit up with a new rage. "And who ever did this is going to pay dearly... I just lost 400,000 yen on that bet!" He stormed off, angry at whoever killed his would-be lover and whatever god commissioned the killer to cheat him of yet another bet.
* * *
He watched as this Jake Boots stormed away. It was a petty that his handy work had been seen by the man before he could clean it up, but it was convenient that he would reveal his name so freely. Not that he would have worried otherwise, when he got a glimpse at his eyes, he sent a copy of the face to his memory, where he could have used it to identify him later. Had he been human, he would have considered killing Jake on the spot, but his programming was to get inside and for no one to know he was there. Jake only knew that this girl was dead, not that he had killed her, or was even there watching. He may have to kill him later, but for now, he could focus on his real target still.
But before he did that, he had something else to do. He lifted each body in turn and placed each in the crate he had been shipped in with. He then got the cleaning supplies and cleaned up the blood, making the room look almost as it did before he came in. He closed the supply closet door and looked at the terminal, and if he could have felt the need to smile, he would have. Jake had not broken it, but it now looked like his work since he hit the speaker out. He picked up the crate and left the terminal as it was.
* * *
She stepped to the curb of the busy intersection, her gaze moving constantly, if not casually, from one area to the next. He said he would meet her here, here, but where she could not be sure. Still, she had to be careful as well as watchful. This meeting was not supposed to happen.
Movement caught her eye and they followed it instinctively. A man was ordering a hot dog and had waved to someone in the crowd. Who, she couldn't even begin dissect from the rest of them, but it didn't matter. She studied his face and found who she was looking for. She waited for the light to change and stepped among the people, heading toward her contact.
"Quite the punctual young lady, aren't you?" he inquired as she approached.
"Mr. Clax demanded it in anyone that would work for him, Kou," came her overly flat response.
"It suits you, Miss," Kou responded calmly, "we have a lot to discuss, and being late would have only delayed the work."
She nodded. "Yes we do. Shall we sit down somewhere?"
This time it was Kou who nodded. "Of course. Come with me." He took her hand and guided her through the crowd. "By the way, you seem to wish to call me by my first name. It is only fair that I come to know yours."
She looked into Kou's face, looking for what his current expression might tell her. Of course, Kou was a professional, much like Frenton Clax was, and just like his expression did most of the time, Kou's told her nothing. "My apologies. Call me Moria."
Source: Bubble Gum Crisis/Crash
Author: LV426
Chapter 15: Insertion
"Hey, Sylia," Priss called out, "think this is the place?" She was pointing toward a door that had been taped off, but showed little more care then that. It was as if the people who were interested abruptly lost such interests.
Sylia did not respond immediately. She approached and looked inside. There was no doubting Priss had found what they had come looking for: the ground still even had the pool of blood, now dried to be a permanent fixture of the room. She nodded. "I don't see how it couldn't be," she added audibly. "Linna, Nene! We found the lab. Follow my signal and get down here." She listened till she heard both of her teammate's answers before she grabbed the tape and pulled it down with no effort before stepping inside.
* * *
Nothing happened, at least nothing he was waiting for. He was well aware the truck had stopped and that he had been unloaded. He couldn't tell where he was, but he wasn't worried. Had he been able to, he still would have known better; his destination would most likely be shielded from outside signals, so his own locator system could not reach out either.
Still, what he was waiting for had not happened yet, so he kept all his motor systems on stand-by. Presently, he felt he was moving slowly, probably being pulled down the hall to wherever they would open up the crate. He remained in waiting.
* * *
Before her was a room not entirely unfamiliar to her. She did not remember being here directly, but she did remember calling her father from home, and seeing rooms much like this one behind him on the vid-phone. For that alone, she shivered.
"Sylia..." a familiar voice hissed gently. She froze where she stood, eyes wide. "Sylia... Stingray..." The voice laughed in the same hushed tone as it spoke, but now there seemed to be a direction from whence it came.
She turned to slowly toward the sound. In front of her, the screen which had been previously off was now displaying a blank screen with a black background, but the cursor flashing in the corner gave away its ready status. Then she saw it. "Sylia" was suddenly on the screen. "Come to me, Sylia" followed afterwards.
Unable to look away from the screen, she whispered as much to the owner of the voice and screen as to herself. "It can't be you... I saw you die..." Her voice shook with fear, as she could not bring herself to accept such a man had returned.
The screen prompted back. "You saw what I wanted you too, my dear." That same laughter returned once more, though a little louder.
"Your DEAD!" Sylia yelled. The laughter only got louder and she had to cover her ears as the screen faded back to being off. As she felt a hand on her shoulder, she froze entirely. She turned slowly, half expecting to see those inhuman eyes of a boomer long-dead looking back at her.
* * *
"SYLIA! ANSWER ME!" it was Linna screaming at her, her voice almost breaking with fear for her leader.
"Linna?" came the question finally. Sylia looked around, but nothing had been changed in the room. That hand that had been on her shoulder was Linna's. "I'm sorry," she quickly got up, composing herself once again.
"What was the yell about? Are you ok?"
Sylia nodded. She knew already no one else saw what she did. It was meant for her, and only her, but he had played his hand and revealed himself. "I'm fine, Linna. Thank you." Before anyone could respond and question this, she turned the terminal ahead of her. "I'm going to start looking into this one. Nene?"
"Yes?" Nene responded. Her voice was uncertain, as if she was somehow aware that something had just happened, but she hadn't a clew what or if she might wreck it if she wasn't careful.
"Could you please look through the terminal over there?" she pointed to the metal table with a few parts nearby as well as tools. The terminal was attached. "I have a feeling that's where the boomer was made. Perhaps the professor left us a few notes."
"Yeah! I'm on it!" If she had saluted, it would have finished the picture perfectly. Getting into a computer system was her home territory. She would not let her team down.
* * *
Allen pressed the button on the crate and listened as the motorized door whirred to life. He half watched the door and half tried to not watch his companion. "This is going to sound odd, but I've been looking forward to checking this one out," he blurted, the quiet of the moment going on too long for him.
"Why? It's a homicide. Its not exactly a job that should be a joy," came the reply from the woman close by. She was tall with very dark long hair, and currently had her back turned to him as she prepared what looked like digital-memory extractor.
"Yeah, but from what I've heard in the office, this piece is incredible. To get a peak at it is just unreal!"
The woman replied with a sigh. "Yeah, yeah. If we were having this conversation right after the quake, I could understand. But these things are all over the place. Besides what it may have seen, what could there be to it?" She turned to face Allen, a slight irritation in her voice, "Can we just get this over with?"
Allen nodded and, despite the request, allowed himself a peak into the box. Immediately, he whistled. "Man, this one is a real masterpiece, Suvan," he commented, admiration in his voice.
"Well, it didn't help the good doctor any, did it?" Suvan replied, not turning around.
With a sigh, the man gave up. "I suppose not. Say, where's Able? This guy must weigh a ton!"
"You called, Sir?" came a synthesized voice that the crated boomer instantly recognized as another boomer.
"There you are! I need you to get this boomer out of the crate."
"Very well, Sir," came the reply without emotion. The off-grey chassis of a standard ADP guard came into his view as the hulking boomer knelt down and peered inside, his light blue LED eyes glowing into the interior. Able didn't speak as his hands extended and gripped the boomer within by the shoulders. With no resistance given, he had the boomer within out and dangling within his grip shortly. "Done, Sir."
"Thank you, Able." The man then took the time to investigate the boomer, now hanging limp before him. "Yes, Dr. Yoshida definitely put some effort into you, my friend. It's a pity it didn't save his life."
Only now did Suvan drop her work and turn to face her partner, her deep green eyes carrying a look of shock. "What do you mean, Allen?" She stormed toward him. "He was supposed to be incarcerated still when everything started to going crazy, yet here he was, sprawled in an old abandoned lab. Sounds a bit suspicious, don't you think?"
"Well, yeah, but..."
Suvan crossed her arm over her chest, her eyes going from shock to slight anger. "Allen, I know you don't care about manners all the time, but when you're talking to me, don't talk to my chest."
Allen blushed and tilted his eyes to look up into her growing rage. "Sorry, Suvan... but, please, think about it. Here you have a man whom by all rationality should be in a prison and without so much as a hushed rumor about it, he gets out and starts making boomers on his own spare time. Dr. Yoshida was never powerful enough to do such a thing on his own, so how did it happen? Without him, we lose a lot of evidence for it."
Suvan considered this a moment before sighing and turning away again. "Yeah, well... it doesn't matter anyway. He's dead and there is nothing to do for it." She turned her head to her two companions. "Able, bring the boomer here. We're about ready to begin."
"Yes, Ma'am." was all he said as he began with a steady stride to approach. "Shall I place him in for you?"
"Why thank you," she answered before turning to Allen. "See Allen? Able knows how to be a gentleman. Maybe you should learn from him." Her tone was a teasing one, her eyes revealing her amusement with herself.
"Yeah, yeah," Allen replied, not as amused. He muttered something to himself that from where Suvan stood, sounded like he was talking about forms wearing something. Knowing him, she had a good idea what he was talking about, but decided it would be better to ignore it.
She turned back to the reader and watched Able place the inert boomer into the restraints.
"We are ready, Ma'am," he added as a standard confirmation.
"Thank you, Able. You can go now."
"Negative." He approached her.
"Why not? Is everything functioning normally?"
Quicker then she could gasp, Able grabbed her under the shoulder, his other hand grabbing her by the top of the skull and twisting, snapping her neck. He dropped her to the ground. "Perfectly," he replied.
Allen blinked in disbelief. Able was strong enough, sure, but his programming was to protect humans, especially partners in the field, not twist their heads off. He now saw what was really going on: It was not the boomer they were looking into that was in the restraints, but Able. The "artwork" was standing where Suvan was just a few moments ago. "What... what the hell?" He bolted for the door, but it slammed shut before he could get to it, locked from the computer the killer boomer stood at.
"I'm sorry, but I cant let you go, Allen," it spoke hushed. "You have seen me, and are now represent an unacceptable risk." In the next few moments, that risk was silenced for all times.
* * *
Astis didn't bother putting the lights on when he got back to his apartment. When he first moved into this place, he would make a point to do so, even as he knew his eyes wouldn't need them. But back then, he had worried if humans would question why if he didn't. Time had made him lax on the practice as he figured out no one really cared.
Still, his thoughts were pre-occupied with what he had discovered this night: namely that the one person who could not possibly want to kill him on site was one of the Knight Sabers. "But how could she be the enemy? Yet, how could Armstrong lie to me?" he thought, "None of this makes any sense." He closed the door behind himself as the struggle continued within. "There seem to be two possible conclusions: either Armstrong lied, or Linna is a top-caliber actress, but both seem so improbable... and why would their leader willingly let me follow them, and when she had the chance to kill me, let me go?" Still, he hated to accuse the entity whom he owed his freedom to as much as the Hou Bang of lying to him about who to trust. "And even more disturbing, why would he do that? Why would he manipulate me?" In the next moment, he strode to the terminal in his apartment, and plugged himself in, but he only initiated his interface as far as the terminal's controls. "It would be easier to bridge myself directly into the net, but I cant without drawing Armstrong's attention." The words were for his own justification as he felt his mind take the role of the keyboard for the terminal, "and I cant afford to let him see me... not yet." In a moment, he added with more resolution, "I need to know who is telling me the truth first."
* * *
"Come on," Sylia thought to herself, glaring into the screen as if she could force it to display what she was looking for by pure willpower, "You have to be in here somewhere!"
"Sylia? Is everything ok?" The voice was Linna's, and by the sound of it, she still was a little shaken by how Sylia had behaved earlier.
Closing her eyes and breathing deep, Sylia recomposed herself entirely. "Yes, everything is fine. I'm just looking for something that has to be here... the access registry."
Linna blinked. "The what?"
"Access registry. Anytime anyone connects or logs on to the Wiz-labs computers, they were designed to record the connection. Security precautions, should something go wrong." She resumed her typing.
"Ah, I see," came the response with genuine understanding.
Sylia sighed, not letting the fact that Linna remained to watch for a moment distract her. "And any hints of what he might be doing," she added in her thoughts.
"Well this is interesting," piped the familiar voice of Nene from her own terminal. She looked up, as if asking who would care.
"What is?" returned Priss.
"Have a look," Nene pointed to the screen, on which was layout of a boomer. "The dates line up in the time-frame we had figured out. This is Dr. Yoshida's boomer."
"How do you know for sure?" came the skeptical reply.
"Well, I'm as sure as I can be. You see, this peticular system was not connected to the rest of the labs."
"What?"
Nene nodded. "Looks like it was removed relatively recently too. I would guess the doctor was a little paranoid his new 'boss' would steal his designs like the last one did."
"You can't assume he was working for someone, you know," Priss retorted.
"It seems to me there is no way he couldn't have," she glanced at something on the screen that drew her attention instantly. "Been?"
"What's wrong?"
"I... I don't know. The boomer is unique, though. The eyes are custom designed."
"Yeah so? Maybe the doctor wanted his killer to have baby blues..."
"Priss... the design is an internal one." She turned to Sylia. "Sylia? Could we switch places, please? I found the boomer's design, but this really isn't my specialty."
"Not yet, Nene," came the pre-occupied reply. "Download it and we will look at it later."
"Alright," was the reply as she plugged her hardsuit into the terminal, "Got it!"
Sylia nodded before backing away from her own terminal. "Alright. Let's get back to the van. I have something to reveal to you all, but it should be done in private." She let the silence sink in. "Let's move."
* * *
Brian smiled quietly to himself, or at least felt the feelings of such a smile creeping across his consciousness. "This should be much more interesting now that you know, Sylia," she spoke to himself. "Teaching you just how futile, will perhaps be far more fun then sneaking around you. You need to know you can not stop the plans of a god. Nor can you kill a god. Your actions are only delaying the inevitable scheme." He let himself chuckle once more, a small ripple echoing across the net. "You will realize soon, my dear. Then you will come to me..."
He watched calmly as Nene found the plans that Dr. Yoshida had even hid from his own eyes. "Damn you are a nuisance," he uttered, "but that won't last much longer. I have already set it in motion. But for now," he withdrew his attentions from the emptying room and out to the main city again, toward Astis' apartment, "my old friend has a few questions, and I must answer soon."
* * *
"So, Suvan, I know you like this Allen guy, but still... no that will never work. How about... dammit, why the hell am I even doing this?!?!?" Jake uttered under his breath. He had seen her once just across the hall, and instantly decided he should try for her. Still, this was the one place he was easily tongue-tied, so he took the one shot he had at trying to make it work... he made a bet with one of the other officers. "For once, I think I'm in over my head," he commented, but quickly grinned, his imagination racing. "But it will be worth it!"
His brain still not being the one to choose what he does, he stepped lively toward the forensics lab ahead of him. He already knew she would be there studying something-or-other, thanks to his connections with the janitalior staff. What she would be studying really didn't matter to him, only that she would be there, and perhaps pre-occupied. He wouldn't have to worry about approaching under the attention of such a beautiful young lady. "Still, I gotta have my approach ready..." and his mind went out the window once more into the realm of possibilities, effectively forgetting that he was trying to figure out what to say to Suvan when he got in the door.
He finally approached the door with still no clue what to say and waited there in a last ditch effort to draw up some line to spew to her and try to draw her romantic attentions toward him. Unfortunately, everything that came to mind was as crude and sleazy as the bar scenes back home where he had overheard them in the first place. "Dammit!" he muttered under his breath. "Guess I'm gonna have to try to do this cold turkey." He let himself linger and count to three before breathing deep and hitting the switch to open the door.
The doors opened with the usual lack of major noise as he stepped forward. "Hey, Suvan! How are..." he only now really looked around the room to see two massive amounts of blood, each surrounding a form laying on the ground at very weird angles and a boomer standing in the memory reader, it's head severely damaged, "you? What the hell happened here?"
Jake did not step into the room just yet, as he knew all about the chain of evidence, and also remembering how often he was removed from duty as a penalty for breaking this chain. Rather, he leaned in and decided to try to figure out who these two dead people were in front of him. The closest was easiest to figure out, as his face, or rather what was left of it, was facing him. "It's Allen! That expression, it's like the time I spilled the coffee on his hand, only much worse," Jake thought. "And if that's Allen, then..." his eyes widened as he focused on the body closer to the memory reader. He couldn't see her face, but he didn't need to. It wasn't her face, however pretty, that drew him to this room in the first place. "SUVAN!"
Now disregarding the chain of evidence, he rushed into the room, splashing in Allen's blood on the way. Immediately, he kneeled down next to Suvan's corpse and took her pulse, hoping against hope that she wasn't dead, but hope would fail him today. "Dammit!" He turned to the computer system nearby and turned on the intercom. "Security to Forensics lab 6 immediately! Two officers dead in the lab! Get security in here immediately." Jake waited for a response, but nothing came through. "This is Jake Boots calling security to Forensics lab 6! Get your asses over here, do you UNDERSTAND ME!" Still, no response.
Furious, Jake punched the speaker, out. "Dammit! Damn it all to hell! Well if they wont talk to me, I'm not waiting for them." Resolutely, he turned away from the computer, but now looked down on the face of Suvan once more, her eyes staring ahead parallel with the direction of her back. "I guess we simply were not meant to be, were we?" he spoke under his breath, before his eyes lit up with a new rage. "And who ever did this is going to pay dearly... I just lost 400,000 yen on that bet!" He stormed off, angry at whoever killed his would-be lover and whatever god commissioned the killer to cheat him of yet another bet.
* * *
He watched as this Jake Boots stormed away. It was a petty that his handy work had been seen by the man before he could clean it up, but it was convenient that he would reveal his name so freely. Not that he would have worried otherwise, when he got a glimpse at his eyes, he sent a copy of the face to his memory, where he could have used it to identify him later. Had he been human, he would have considered killing Jake on the spot, but his programming was to get inside and for no one to know he was there. Jake only knew that this girl was dead, not that he had killed her, or was even there watching. He may have to kill him later, but for now, he could focus on his real target still.
But before he did that, he had something else to do. He lifted each body in turn and placed each in the crate he had been shipped in with. He then got the cleaning supplies and cleaned up the blood, making the room look almost as it did before he came in. He closed the supply closet door and looked at the terminal, and if he could have felt the need to smile, he would have. Jake had not broken it, but it now looked like his work since he hit the speaker out. He picked up the crate and left the terminal as it was.
* * *
She stepped to the curb of the busy intersection, her gaze moving constantly, if not casually, from one area to the next. He said he would meet her here, here, but where she could not be sure. Still, she had to be careful as well as watchful. This meeting was not supposed to happen.
Movement caught her eye and they followed it instinctively. A man was ordering a hot dog and had waved to someone in the crowd. Who, she couldn't even begin dissect from the rest of them, but it didn't matter. She studied his face and found who she was looking for. She waited for the light to change and stepped among the people, heading toward her contact.
"Quite the punctual young lady, aren't you?" he inquired as she approached.
"Mr. Clax demanded it in anyone that would work for him, Kou," came her overly flat response.
"It suits you, Miss," Kou responded calmly, "we have a lot to discuss, and being late would have only delayed the work."
She nodded. "Yes we do. Shall we sit down somewhere?"
This time it was Kou who nodded. "Of course. Come with me." He took her hand and guided her through the crowd. "By the way, you seem to wish to call me by my first name. It is only fair that I come to know yours."
She looked into Kou's face, looking for what his current expression might tell her. Of course, Kou was a professional, much like Frenton Clax was, and just like his expression did most of the time, Kou's told her nothing. "My apologies. Call me Moria."