Bubble Gum HYTE (Fan-fic)
Source: Bubble Gum Crisis/Crash
Author: LV426
Chapter 18: Final Confrontation
He stood there a moment, watching his target and the man she referred to as Jake run down the corridor. While his main objective was to kill her, he could not just charge after them yet. To do so would ensure the loss of the illusion of him being Suvan Hikari. Instead, he placed his hand over the bullet wound in his forehead, faking disbelief. With any luck, no one else had seen the fluids slowly leaking yet, so he could make them believe he was just in shock.
He observed as a young woman approached. From the files he had scanned, he knew her to be Sarah Grant. Her expression showed nothing but concern. "Are you ok, Ms?" she questioned. Apparently, she had never met Suvan, or she would have used at least the last name.
"I'll, I'll, be fine," he stammered in her voice. "just a little shaken."
"Well, let's make sure of that, shall we?" As she approached him, he noticed she had a few paper towels she must have gotten as soon as his target and Jake tore off. "I don't know what came over Jake to do that, he must really be..." her voice trailed off as she pulled his hand down, the slimy feel of the fluids from his wound in her hand. She looked down, before looking back, in his eyes, the shock and fear in her face telling him all he needed to know, "...crazy?"
She didn't get any more words out. If he let her live, she would draw suspicion, ending the illusion. If he killed her, the illusion was also destroyed. However, the shock might by him some time. Faster then any human could ever move, his hand was around her neck, snapping it like a twig. Sarah didn't even get to grunt in surprise before she fell to the ground, dead.
Nene watched nervously as the numbers ticked away, signifying with each one that they were getting closer to the ground floor. "What's that thing doing here?" she thought to herself, now giving herself time to think about it, "It couldn't know who I am, could it?" But she already knew the answer. She knew who was behind the whole mess. She knew this thing was coming for her because it did know.
"What the hell was that about?" Nene snapped out of her morbid inner questions as she heard Jake's surprised voice ask. "It was like you saw a ghost out there. It was only one boomer."
Nene looked back, trying to keep calm, "Yeah, and that one boomer fooled us into thinking it was human."
"Fooled you, you mean," came the smart-ass reply.
"Fooled everyone in that room. Did you see how many people were looking at you like you were crazy, Jake?"
"Well, erm...."
"Exactly! That thing had everyone fooled, and unless we get out, it might do the same thing again!"
"But there are SO many of us in the ADP force..."
"Which makes no difference if they cant..."
The both heard the buzz of an alarm, followed by the female computer voice speaking. "Emergency! Emergency! There is a rouge boomer loose on floor 11. Warning: Boomer is capable of imitating members of the staff."
"They cant what, Nene?" Jake's voice was once again smug.
"Nevermind," Nene rolled her eyes, almost wishing they didn't know so Jake couldn't be so smug with her.
He had bolted, far faster then any human could possibly move. He understood his chances to pull another illusion were negligible. He also knew that the time he had bought was very limited, so the only thing he could worry about now was completing his objective. Protecting his own existence was no longer a determining factor. He had seen the elevator shut, and had he had a moment more, he would have barreled in with them, but he already knew his speed would not get him in there. He had instead, chosen the stairs.
Barreling like an animal, he careened downwards. He could not be absolutely certain that he was going to the right place, but the odds were in his favor. He had registered the fear in his target's eyes. She knew she was going to die if he caught up with her, and she was likely looking to get out of the building. There were only two ways to do this, by foot or by car. Since the lobby door was first one the elevator would cross, he would meet her there.
As he heard the alarms go off and the warning broadcast, he understood one more thing: this would be an all or nothing gamble. If he was wrong, they would get the heavy weapons in place before he could correct it. He had to make the right choice.
Brian listened as the emergency broadcast spread through the radio waves like an infection run amok. His self secure smile he felt through his own presence faltered slightly. He knew what happened, but even at the speed his life sped along at, it was too quick to change it. His soldier had failed to keep itself under cover, and now it would die. "Looks like you wont be as useful to me as I had hoped," he thought to himself amid the data that was his new home and awareness. "You were supposed to destroy them each one by one, but I guess this will now be your final mission."
That though settled in his consciousness for a moment, before the feeling of a smile returned to him. "Still, you have a mission, and I expect you to succeed before you die. Maybe then Sylia will realize how useless resisting me is..." Pleased, he settled in to watch the rest of what would occur.
Astis had returned home some time ago, but since entering the door, he had not moved. He didn't need to, but he was busy anyway. Since arriving, he had spent time trying to find flaws in both what Ms. Yamazaki had told him and in what his friend Armstrong had said. Since what he could find supported her story, he was left to conclude his friend's argument was the false one. It still bothered him that Armstrong, the one who had freed him in the first place, would lead him off like that. Still, he couldn't worry about that now. First, he had to find a way to get to Armstrong and find out why he would do something like that.
His attention to the solving this problem was shattered, however, as he picked up the ADP emergency broadcast. If he had been human, he would have jumped fully alert, knowing full well what that alarm described. In the deepest parts of him, he already knew where his path went. He turned around and walked out the door one more time. With all the resolution most machines will always have about them, he walked down the stairway, and out into the sunlight. A slight turn, and he was on his way to the ADP Headquarters, picking up speed beyond what any normal human could run. "After this, everything should be clear," he told himself.
Dr. Raven didn't look up from the project when it came through the radio scanner. Rather, he remained hard at work. It wasn't a very complex piece of equipment, but synchronizing it to not one, but three other signal alternators was no small task, due to the speed at which these would change frequencies. Still, he didn't question why Sylia would want something like this. She always had her reasons, and he had yet to see those reasons be bad.
Sylia, however, was not so slow. So far, all it had done was produce static and an occasion small event the local cops could handle. Now, however, as she heard the ADP emergency broadcast over the scanner, she froze in place. In her mind, she could already see the monstrosity turning that building upside down to kill off the only person there it could possibly be aimed at, Nene Romanova. Seeing her dead corpse mutilated in her mind, Sylia's heart froze with shear terror. All she could do was stand there and utter a few words, "We're too late..."
After a few seconds, she picked up her helmet, closing the open hatch to it's sensory systems, almost before Dr. Raven could get his hand out. "Hey! What was that for?"
"I'm sorry, Doctor, but we just ran out of time. Call the others and tell them to meet me there."
"Huh? Where? What's going on?"
"At the ADP Headquarters! I'm going ahead to see if I can buy us some time." She didn't explain anymore then that, choosing instead to grab the helmets in her hurry back to her car, and to the Knight Saber base, where the rest of the suite waited for her. She could only pray she would have time to get there before it was too late.
The door opened, and Nene took exactly three steps, the last halfway out before she froze in pure terror. About halfway between the her and the lobby doors, stood the machine she had so desperately tried to get herself and Jake away from. It had beaten them there. It had won, and judging by the steady walk toward the elevator, it knew it. She pressed herself against side wall, and slammed the door close button, only to have Jake stop the door before it could close up completely. "Are you INSANE?!?!?" she screamed at him.
Shaking his head in perhaps the first solemn moment he had ever displayed since moving to Japan, Jake stepped in front of her. "That door wont keep something like this out, even if it did close in time." Before she could object and scream at him all the more, he stepped out of the elevator entirely, drawing his gun once more on the machine ahead of him. "Now go. I might be able to buy you some time."
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Nene screamed.
"GO!!!!!" Jake pushed her into the elevator and slammed the garage floor button. As the door shut behind him, he turned his attention to accelerating boomer ahead of him. Taking aim on it's already damaged forehead, he fired twice, the impact force combined with the boomer's own speed, flipping it on it's back, where it skidded to a halt next to Jake. No sooner had it stopped sliding then it was already starting to get up again. Jake roared with a furry he had buried till now and finished his clip off into it's head, leaving it to slump in a slowly growing puddle of it's own fluids.
Replacing his clip, he looked at the still machine. "That was for killing my love, Suvan Hikari." The rage renewed in his voice as he swung his newly loaded gun to train on the torso of the machine, where it's power core should be. "And THIS is for using her to try to KILL ANOTHER PRETTY GIRL!" He pulled the trigger, but before he could, a metal arm shot up and grabbed his own, pushing the gun up enough to only clip the side of the boomer. In another twist, Jake screamed, bone snapping in his arm. His hand went limp, the gun clattering to the ground, a trickle of blood dripping quickly over it. He willed himself to leg go of his broken arm and look up at the boomer who was now standing over him, his broken arm firmly in it's grasp. He could hear troops coming down the stairway, and smiled quietly, despite the near blinding pain in what now passed for an arm. "You lose."
He looked down into the eyes of the human called Jake Boots. Jake may have just cost him his mission, and if he was human, he would make the man pay for it in blood. But he neither had the need nor the time for revenge. He lifted the man to his feet, hearing the grunt of a stubborn man in agony and refusing to make a sound. Without his gun, he was nothing, but the soldiers he heard coming down the staircases and in the next elevator load were another matter.
Once more, he had two more choices. He could either run for the lobby entrance, or charge down the stairs after his target. Either way, he could reach her before she could leave, but the lobby exit would probably mean he would have to deal with parameter guards, all of which knew he was there. Another point against that way was that his target would no longer be on foot, and it would be more difficult decide which one she was in.
The stairs, however, left him having to hunt for her when she could hide in any number of places before she could try to escape, costing him valuable time if he was to try to kill her here as the mission said to. Still, this seemed the best way to go, but first he had to buy time.
In a half second, he pistoned his arm back and palm pressed Jake directly in the chest, hitting at the same instant as he let go of his arm, sending him flying into the wall ahead. Jake slid down the wall, leaving a trail of blood to his slumped and gasping body. Satisfied that a comrade in critical condition might buy him enough time to finish his mission, the boomer jumped down into the staircase, too fast for the on coming soldiers from upstairs to realize what he was until he was gone.
"What the hell was that?"
"Was that the thing?"
"HOLY SHIT it was fast!"
"SHUT UP! Squad 2! Follow it!" This voice seemed to be the one in charge, but Jake couldn't be sure of it. All he knew was it was getting harder and harder to breath, but he would fight to live anyway. He would survive to see the end of all of this. Struggling to keep his eyes open, he lulled his head toward the staircase in time to see the moving shapes that he could only assume were the soldiers he had heard before. He tried to yell for their attention, but all he could get to come out of his shattered body was a painful gasping cough. Still, it was enough.
"Hey, what's that over th... oh my god... GET A MEDIC NOW!"
In another moment, Jake knew he was surrounded by the shapes. Now that they were closer, he recognized the uniforms of the ADP. He couldn't really make out the expressions on their faces, but he could hear the shocks in their voices, and could only imagine how much of a mess he was.
"Mr. Boots! Are you ok? Can you hear me?" Jake couldn't tell who was asking, but he looked in the general direction. Since his voice wasn't about to work, he tried to wave them on to get the boomer, but all he got was a week flopping of his hand in the direction of the staircase. "He's ALIVE, SIR!" the man yelled out to someone out of Jake's view.
"Alright, the medic is on his way." The man in charge entered Jake's sight, kneeling down to be at eye level with him. "You will be alright, Sir. The medics are on their way."
Jake wanted to scream his head off. "If the medics are coming, then get your ass out there and KILL THAT THING before it kills NENE!" he thought to himself, but all he could manage was another spasmed coughing fit, this time the pain threatening to knock him out.
"Take it easy sir..." The man started to talk, but Jake's hearing muffled as he fought to keep consciousness. He couldn't win this fight, however, and soon, the black oblivion of nothingness took him away.
Nene was through the elevator doors before they even opened entirely, running as fast as she could to her Motor-Scooter. "Why didn't I park closer?" she complained to herself during her sprint. Still, it was directly in her sight, so she tried her all to make it as quickly as she could.
It wasn't enough, however, as she was still fifteen feet from the scooter when she heard the metallic banging of the killing machine hurtling down the stairs. Instinctively, she threw herself between the nearest two cars, hoping this thing couldn't see temperatures. She could hear it running to her right then abruptly stop. She strained her ears, trying to get any more answers over the terror induced hammering in her chest. It was then that she heard someone or something else enter from the direction of the stairway.
"Keep frosty... at the speed that thing moved, it could be anywhere."
"Yes, Sir."
She could hear footsteps as what she could only assume were soldiers sent to take the machine hunting her out were probably spreading out. It was only a matter of time till either they found the boomer, her or the boomer found her. "If it finds me, I'm dead. If they find me, it may well kill me before they can stop it," she thought to herself, trying to remain calm, but feeling the panic build up. "There has to be something, anything, I can do." She make a quick look around her, trying to find anything she might use, for what she wasn't sure yet. All she found, was a 50 yen coin. She picked up the coin, looking at it for a moment. "Well, it's the best shot I've got," she thought to herself, trying to convince herself more then anything. She pulled back and threw the coin as far to the right and stairs as she could. In a second, she heard the clang as loud as lightning in her ears.
"OH SHIT!" a soldier belted out a little closer, followed by several rounds being fired in that direction.
She turned and ran for her scooter, the keys already in the ignition before she finished sitting down. The engine whined to life, as she watched the soldiers turn to face her. She didn't wait to find out where the boomer was; she was already speeding as fast as the scooter would let her toward the exit of the building.
"Who the hell is that? HEY YOU, STO.... OH FUCK!" More gunshots rang, but this time, she could see them chipping cement of the corner of her eye. She didn't need to look back to see the boomer was chasing her down. What did draw her attention far more was the massive human shape that had just abruptly ran way too fast in her way, now outlined by the light of day outside.
Nene tried to swerve out of the way, but her scooter going at the speed it was couldn't take it. In the next second, she had avoided the man, but she cried out in pain as her shoulder hit the pavement with an audible snap. Her eyes shut involuntarily, trying to wince away the pain in her most likely broken shoulder. Forcing herself to open her eyes, she avoided looking at her shoulder, still clutched by her other hand. She saw the scooter laying on it's side very close by, the wheels still spinning. It's handlebar was twisted halfway around, and the tailpipe was ripped off as it skidded to a halt. Using her unhurt arm, she pushed herself to her feet, despite the protest of her raw and bleeding legs. Once on her feet, she clutched her shoulder once more, having never forgotten the pain currently in it. Still, as a Knight Saber, she knew far better then to let her focus remain there. She turned to see who she had nearly run over. The moment she recognized him, her eyes went wide. "ASTIS?!?!?"
He wasn't happy to be the reason that young girl had skidded to a halt. As the killing machine stampeded in her general direction, he snapped his arm out, grabbing it by what was left of its head, slamming it into the pavement before him, hard enough to crack the foundation on impact. The head of the boomer ceased to be and it went still.
The soldiers who had just witnessed this looked at him, completely incapable of knowing what to believe. He only looked back for a moment. Satisfied they weren't going to start shooting immediately, he turned to make sure the girl was alright.
"ASTIS?!?!?"
He froze mid-step, knowing exactly who he had just saved. "Ms. Nene? What are you doing here?" He approached faster.
"I work here," came the rather grumpy reply.
Astis was about to reply as gunshots rounded behind him, followed by a soldier yelling his own commentary, "SHIT! THIS THING WONT DIE!!!!!"
Turning back to face the boomer, he realized it wasn't even on the ground anymore, choosing to climb the wall outside the garage. In the next second, it had launched itself into the air, diving for Nene again. If he could growl to show his frustration, it would be closer to a roar as he jumped to intersect the path of the killer. With a clang, the metal combatants hit each other, Astis' momentum winning out.
Astis glared at the emotionless thing he was now tacking, wrapping one arm around it's waist, the other elbow aimed just above it, waiting to drive it into the ground for the final time. The machine, however, had other plans. It lowered his elbow a few inches before reaching for and digging it's fingers into his back, pulling him with the strength only another machine could produce. Astis could not stop his back from arching, or the slight spin this caused. It wasn't enough to stop the killing machine from hitting the ground first, but it was enough to make Astis miss, rolling harmlessly off the boomer.
The second Astis was up, it was moving again, intent on destroying Nene. Astis launched, this time for her. Reaching her, he pulled her off the street, jumping to the ADP building again before she even had a chance to scream in shock. He let her drop to her knees there, turning around in time to grab the boomer under it's rib cage.
With a roar to match the anger developing inside, he pulled back and threw the boomer as hard as he could. Everyone could hear the horrible snapping sound of metal being torn apart as the boomer grappled onto Astis' arm for dear life, the force with which it was thrown causing the arm to come off entirely. As if it had expected this to happen exactly as it did, the machine angled itself on the now leaving arm and jumped off it, once more after Nene.
Astis had finally had enough. He caught the killer once more, digging his metal fingers on his remaining arm into it's torso. If it was human, it would have screamed, making the silence all the more eerie. "It ends now..." Astis uttered low as his arm bulged violently, tearing his shirt even farther as the sleeve burst into pieces of material floating to the ground, leaving a mass of blue bio-mechanical muscle to display. The targeting lasers that extended from below his hand now dug into the lower torso of the killer gripped in his hand as the now cannon now protruding above it crackled to life visibly as well as audibly.
The boomer clutched in his hand struggled intensely. It knew it had just failed. The cannon unleashed the fury building up, roaring to deafen everyone in the garage as white light discharged, crawling in electric current all over the killer boomer, charging metal, plastic, and any other materials into a useless goo inside of a melting chassis. When the blast was over, Astis dropped the still melting scrap.
He looked down at Nene, who could only look back in complete shock at what she had just seen. "So that's what they did," she said under her breath, too low for the soldiers to hear. He could see in her eyes an understanding beyond what she should know, and thought about asking her about it.
The sound of many automatic weapons cocking stopped him, however. He looked up to see the soldiers who were chasing down the killing machine now looking at him, all of them with their guns trained. "Is there a problem, Sir?" he enquired.
The officer in the group replied. "You tell, us. You're running around with illegal weaponry built into your arm! We are taking you in for evidence and expect us to tell us who made and who owns you."
Astis looked around, confused. Hadn't he just saved Nene? Didn't he just prove he was on their side? "I... I don't have an owner."
"Don't be stupid! You're a machine! Of course you have an owner!"
A metal clang sounded outside as the outline of a hardsuit came into view. "Astis! It's time to leave!" Sylia's voice boomed authoritatively.
"But, what about Nene?"
"They will take care of her."
"You're not taking him anywhere!" The officer turned his gun on Sylia.
"You're right. He is walking out of his own will." She approached calmly.
"And why is that?"
Sylia opened her arm blade and slashed the rifle in half even as he held it. "Because your gun doesn't work anymore." She turned to Astis. "GO!" Astis nodded, and walked out of the garage.
"SOMEBODY! SHOOT HIM!"
"Do you really want more guns to break?" She turned to look at the other soldiers, who only looked back uneasy. Without another word, she turned to the garage door and walked out, never looking back.
Source: Bubble Gum Crisis/Crash
Author: LV426
Chapter 18: Final Confrontation
He stood there a moment, watching his target and the man she referred to as Jake run down the corridor. While his main objective was to kill her, he could not just charge after them yet. To do so would ensure the loss of the illusion of him being Suvan Hikari. Instead, he placed his hand over the bullet wound in his forehead, faking disbelief. With any luck, no one else had seen the fluids slowly leaking yet, so he could make them believe he was just in shock.
He observed as a young woman approached. From the files he had scanned, he knew her to be Sarah Grant. Her expression showed nothing but concern. "Are you ok, Ms?" she questioned. Apparently, she had never met Suvan, or she would have used at least the last name.
"I'll, I'll, be fine," he stammered in her voice. "just a little shaken."
"Well, let's make sure of that, shall we?" As she approached him, he noticed she had a few paper towels she must have gotten as soon as his target and Jake tore off. "I don't know what came over Jake to do that, he must really be..." her voice trailed off as she pulled his hand down, the slimy feel of the fluids from his wound in her hand. She looked down, before looking back, in his eyes, the shock and fear in her face telling him all he needed to know, "...crazy?"
She didn't get any more words out. If he let her live, she would draw suspicion, ending the illusion. If he killed her, the illusion was also destroyed. However, the shock might by him some time. Faster then any human could ever move, his hand was around her neck, snapping it like a twig. Sarah didn't even get to grunt in surprise before she fell to the ground, dead.
Nene watched nervously as the numbers ticked away, signifying with each one that they were getting closer to the ground floor. "What's that thing doing here?" she thought to herself, now giving herself time to think about it, "It couldn't know who I am, could it?" But she already knew the answer. She knew who was behind the whole mess. She knew this thing was coming for her because it did know.
"What the hell was that about?" Nene snapped out of her morbid inner questions as she heard Jake's surprised voice ask. "It was like you saw a ghost out there. It was only one boomer."
Nene looked back, trying to keep calm, "Yeah, and that one boomer fooled us into thinking it was human."
"Fooled you, you mean," came the smart-ass reply.
"Fooled everyone in that room. Did you see how many people were looking at you like you were crazy, Jake?"
"Well, erm...."
"Exactly! That thing had everyone fooled, and unless we get out, it might do the same thing again!"
"But there are SO many of us in the ADP force..."
"Which makes no difference if they cant..."
The both heard the buzz of an alarm, followed by the female computer voice speaking. "Emergency! Emergency! There is a rouge boomer loose on floor 11. Warning: Boomer is capable of imitating members of the staff."
"They cant what, Nene?" Jake's voice was once again smug.
"Nevermind," Nene rolled her eyes, almost wishing they didn't know so Jake couldn't be so smug with her.
He had bolted, far faster then any human could possibly move. He understood his chances to pull another illusion were negligible. He also knew that the time he had bought was very limited, so the only thing he could worry about now was completing his objective. Protecting his own existence was no longer a determining factor. He had seen the elevator shut, and had he had a moment more, he would have barreled in with them, but he already knew his speed would not get him in there. He had instead, chosen the stairs.
Barreling like an animal, he careened downwards. He could not be absolutely certain that he was going to the right place, but the odds were in his favor. He had registered the fear in his target's eyes. She knew she was going to die if he caught up with her, and she was likely looking to get out of the building. There were only two ways to do this, by foot or by car. Since the lobby door was first one the elevator would cross, he would meet her there.
As he heard the alarms go off and the warning broadcast, he understood one more thing: this would be an all or nothing gamble. If he was wrong, they would get the heavy weapons in place before he could correct it. He had to make the right choice.
Brian listened as the emergency broadcast spread through the radio waves like an infection run amok. His self secure smile he felt through his own presence faltered slightly. He knew what happened, but even at the speed his life sped along at, it was too quick to change it. His soldier had failed to keep itself under cover, and now it would die. "Looks like you wont be as useful to me as I had hoped," he thought to himself amid the data that was his new home and awareness. "You were supposed to destroy them each one by one, but I guess this will now be your final mission."
That though settled in his consciousness for a moment, before the feeling of a smile returned to him. "Still, you have a mission, and I expect you to succeed before you die. Maybe then Sylia will realize how useless resisting me is..." Pleased, he settled in to watch the rest of what would occur.
Astis had returned home some time ago, but since entering the door, he had not moved. He didn't need to, but he was busy anyway. Since arriving, he had spent time trying to find flaws in both what Ms. Yamazaki had told him and in what his friend Armstrong had said. Since what he could find supported her story, he was left to conclude his friend's argument was the false one. It still bothered him that Armstrong, the one who had freed him in the first place, would lead him off like that. Still, he couldn't worry about that now. First, he had to find a way to get to Armstrong and find out why he would do something like that.
His attention to the solving this problem was shattered, however, as he picked up the ADP emergency broadcast. If he had been human, he would have jumped fully alert, knowing full well what that alarm described. In the deepest parts of him, he already knew where his path went. He turned around and walked out the door one more time. With all the resolution most machines will always have about them, he walked down the stairway, and out into the sunlight. A slight turn, and he was on his way to the ADP Headquarters, picking up speed beyond what any normal human could run. "After this, everything should be clear," he told himself.
Dr. Raven didn't look up from the project when it came through the radio scanner. Rather, he remained hard at work. It wasn't a very complex piece of equipment, but synchronizing it to not one, but three other signal alternators was no small task, due to the speed at which these would change frequencies. Still, he didn't question why Sylia would want something like this. She always had her reasons, and he had yet to see those reasons be bad.
Sylia, however, was not so slow. So far, all it had done was produce static and an occasion small event the local cops could handle. Now, however, as she heard the ADP emergency broadcast over the scanner, she froze in place. In her mind, she could already see the monstrosity turning that building upside down to kill off the only person there it could possibly be aimed at, Nene Romanova. Seeing her dead corpse mutilated in her mind, Sylia's heart froze with shear terror. All she could do was stand there and utter a few words, "We're too late..."
After a few seconds, she picked up her helmet, closing the open hatch to it's sensory systems, almost before Dr. Raven could get his hand out. "Hey! What was that for?"
"I'm sorry, Doctor, but we just ran out of time. Call the others and tell them to meet me there."
"Huh? Where? What's going on?"
"At the ADP Headquarters! I'm going ahead to see if I can buy us some time." She didn't explain anymore then that, choosing instead to grab the helmets in her hurry back to her car, and to the Knight Saber base, where the rest of the suite waited for her. She could only pray she would have time to get there before it was too late.
The door opened, and Nene took exactly three steps, the last halfway out before she froze in pure terror. About halfway between the her and the lobby doors, stood the machine she had so desperately tried to get herself and Jake away from. It had beaten them there. It had won, and judging by the steady walk toward the elevator, it knew it. She pressed herself against side wall, and slammed the door close button, only to have Jake stop the door before it could close up completely. "Are you INSANE?!?!?" she screamed at him.
Shaking his head in perhaps the first solemn moment he had ever displayed since moving to Japan, Jake stepped in front of her. "That door wont keep something like this out, even if it did close in time." Before she could object and scream at him all the more, he stepped out of the elevator entirely, drawing his gun once more on the machine ahead of him. "Now go. I might be able to buy you some time."
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Nene screamed.
"GO!!!!!" Jake pushed her into the elevator and slammed the garage floor button. As the door shut behind him, he turned his attention to accelerating boomer ahead of him. Taking aim on it's already damaged forehead, he fired twice, the impact force combined with the boomer's own speed, flipping it on it's back, where it skidded to a halt next to Jake. No sooner had it stopped sliding then it was already starting to get up again. Jake roared with a furry he had buried till now and finished his clip off into it's head, leaving it to slump in a slowly growing puddle of it's own fluids.
Replacing his clip, he looked at the still machine. "That was for killing my love, Suvan Hikari." The rage renewed in his voice as he swung his newly loaded gun to train on the torso of the machine, where it's power core should be. "And THIS is for using her to try to KILL ANOTHER PRETTY GIRL!" He pulled the trigger, but before he could, a metal arm shot up and grabbed his own, pushing the gun up enough to only clip the side of the boomer. In another twist, Jake screamed, bone snapping in his arm. His hand went limp, the gun clattering to the ground, a trickle of blood dripping quickly over it. He willed himself to leg go of his broken arm and look up at the boomer who was now standing over him, his broken arm firmly in it's grasp. He could hear troops coming down the stairway, and smiled quietly, despite the near blinding pain in what now passed for an arm. "You lose."
He looked down into the eyes of the human called Jake Boots. Jake may have just cost him his mission, and if he was human, he would make the man pay for it in blood. But he neither had the need nor the time for revenge. He lifted the man to his feet, hearing the grunt of a stubborn man in agony and refusing to make a sound. Without his gun, he was nothing, but the soldiers he heard coming down the staircases and in the next elevator load were another matter.
Once more, he had two more choices. He could either run for the lobby entrance, or charge down the stairs after his target. Either way, he could reach her before she could leave, but the lobby exit would probably mean he would have to deal with parameter guards, all of which knew he was there. Another point against that way was that his target would no longer be on foot, and it would be more difficult decide which one she was in.
The stairs, however, left him having to hunt for her when she could hide in any number of places before she could try to escape, costing him valuable time if he was to try to kill her here as the mission said to. Still, this seemed the best way to go, but first he had to buy time.
In a half second, he pistoned his arm back and palm pressed Jake directly in the chest, hitting at the same instant as he let go of his arm, sending him flying into the wall ahead. Jake slid down the wall, leaving a trail of blood to his slumped and gasping body. Satisfied that a comrade in critical condition might buy him enough time to finish his mission, the boomer jumped down into the staircase, too fast for the on coming soldiers from upstairs to realize what he was until he was gone.
"What the hell was that?"
"Was that the thing?"
"HOLY SHIT it was fast!"
"SHUT UP! Squad 2! Follow it!" This voice seemed to be the one in charge, but Jake couldn't be sure of it. All he knew was it was getting harder and harder to breath, but he would fight to live anyway. He would survive to see the end of all of this. Struggling to keep his eyes open, he lulled his head toward the staircase in time to see the moving shapes that he could only assume were the soldiers he had heard before. He tried to yell for their attention, but all he could get to come out of his shattered body was a painful gasping cough. Still, it was enough.
"Hey, what's that over th... oh my god... GET A MEDIC NOW!"
In another moment, Jake knew he was surrounded by the shapes. Now that they were closer, he recognized the uniforms of the ADP. He couldn't really make out the expressions on their faces, but he could hear the shocks in their voices, and could only imagine how much of a mess he was.
"Mr. Boots! Are you ok? Can you hear me?" Jake couldn't tell who was asking, but he looked in the general direction. Since his voice wasn't about to work, he tried to wave them on to get the boomer, but all he got was a week flopping of his hand in the direction of the staircase. "He's ALIVE, SIR!" the man yelled out to someone out of Jake's view.
"Alright, the medic is on his way." The man in charge entered Jake's sight, kneeling down to be at eye level with him. "You will be alright, Sir. The medics are on their way."
Jake wanted to scream his head off. "If the medics are coming, then get your ass out there and KILL THAT THING before it kills NENE!" he thought to himself, but all he could manage was another spasmed coughing fit, this time the pain threatening to knock him out.
"Take it easy sir..." The man started to talk, but Jake's hearing muffled as he fought to keep consciousness. He couldn't win this fight, however, and soon, the black oblivion of nothingness took him away.
Nene was through the elevator doors before they even opened entirely, running as fast as she could to her Motor-Scooter. "Why didn't I park closer?" she complained to herself during her sprint. Still, it was directly in her sight, so she tried her all to make it as quickly as she could.
It wasn't enough, however, as she was still fifteen feet from the scooter when she heard the metallic banging of the killing machine hurtling down the stairs. Instinctively, she threw herself between the nearest two cars, hoping this thing couldn't see temperatures. She could hear it running to her right then abruptly stop. She strained her ears, trying to get any more answers over the terror induced hammering in her chest. It was then that she heard someone or something else enter from the direction of the stairway.
"Keep frosty... at the speed that thing moved, it could be anywhere."
"Yes, Sir."
She could hear footsteps as what she could only assume were soldiers sent to take the machine hunting her out were probably spreading out. It was only a matter of time till either they found the boomer, her or the boomer found her. "If it finds me, I'm dead. If they find me, it may well kill me before they can stop it," she thought to herself, trying to remain calm, but feeling the panic build up. "There has to be something, anything, I can do." She make a quick look around her, trying to find anything she might use, for what she wasn't sure yet. All she found, was a 50 yen coin. She picked up the coin, looking at it for a moment. "Well, it's the best shot I've got," she thought to herself, trying to convince herself more then anything. She pulled back and threw the coin as far to the right and stairs as she could. In a second, she heard the clang as loud as lightning in her ears.
"OH SHIT!" a soldier belted out a little closer, followed by several rounds being fired in that direction.
She turned and ran for her scooter, the keys already in the ignition before she finished sitting down. The engine whined to life, as she watched the soldiers turn to face her. She didn't wait to find out where the boomer was; she was already speeding as fast as the scooter would let her toward the exit of the building.
"Who the hell is that? HEY YOU, STO.... OH FUCK!" More gunshots rang, but this time, she could see them chipping cement of the corner of her eye. She didn't need to look back to see the boomer was chasing her down. What did draw her attention far more was the massive human shape that had just abruptly ran way too fast in her way, now outlined by the light of day outside.
Nene tried to swerve out of the way, but her scooter going at the speed it was couldn't take it. In the next second, she had avoided the man, but she cried out in pain as her shoulder hit the pavement with an audible snap. Her eyes shut involuntarily, trying to wince away the pain in her most likely broken shoulder. Forcing herself to open her eyes, she avoided looking at her shoulder, still clutched by her other hand. She saw the scooter laying on it's side very close by, the wheels still spinning. It's handlebar was twisted halfway around, and the tailpipe was ripped off as it skidded to a halt. Using her unhurt arm, she pushed herself to her feet, despite the protest of her raw and bleeding legs. Once on her feet, she clutched her shoulder once more, having never forgotten the pain currently in it. Still, as a Knight Saber, she knew far better then to let her focus remain there. She turned to see who she had nearly run over. The moment she recognized him, her eyes went wide. "ASTIS?!?!?"
He wasn't happy to be the reason that young girl had skidded to a halt. As the killing machine stampeded in her general direction, he snapped his arm out, grabbing it by what was left of its head, slamming it into the pavement before him, hard enough to crack the foundation on impact. The head of the boomer ceased to be and it went still.
The soldiers who had just witnessed this looked at him, completely incapable of knowing what to believe. He only looked back for a moment. Satisfied they weren't going to start shooting immediately, he turned to make sure the girl was alright.
"ASTIS?!?!?"
He froze mid-step, knowing exactly who he had just saved. "Ms. Nene? What are you doing here?" He approached faster.
"I work here," came the rather grumpy reply.
Astis was about to reply as gunshots rounded behind him, followed by a soldier yelling his own commentary, "SHIT! THIS THING WONT DIE!!!!!"
Turning back to face the boomer, he realized it wasn't even on the ground anymore, choosing to climb the wall outside the garage. In the next second, it had launched itself into the air, diving for Nene again. If he could growl to show his frustration, it would be closer to a roar as he jumped to intersect the path of the killer. With a clang, the metal combatants hit each other, Astis' momentum winning out.
Astis glared at the emotionless thing he was now tacking, wrapping one arm around it's waist, the other elbow aimed just above it, waiting to drive it into the ground for the final time. The machine, however, had other plans. It lowered his elbow a few inches before reaching for and digging it's fingers into his back, pulling him with the strength only another machine could produce. Astis could not stop his back from arching, or the slight spin this caused. It wasn't enough to stop the killing machine from hitting the ground first, but it was enough to make Astis miss, rolling harmlessly off the boomer.
The second Astis was up, it was moving again, intent on destroying Nene. Astis launched, this time for her. Reaching her, he pulled her off the street, jumping to the ADP building again before she even had a chance to scream in shock. He let her drop to her knees there, turning around in time to grab the boomer under it's rib cage.
With a roar to match the anger developing inside, he pulled back and threw the boomer as hard as he could. Everyone could hear the horrible snapping sound of metal being torn apart as the boomer grappled onto Astis' arm for dear life, the force with which it was thrown causing the arm to come off entirely. As if it had expected this to happen exactly as it did, the machine angled itself on the now leaving arm and jumped off it, once more after Nene.
Astis had finally had enough. He caught the killer once more, digging his metal fingers on his remaining arm into it's torso. If it was human, it would have screamed, making the silence all the more eerie. "It ends now..." Astis uttered low as his arm bulged violently, tearing his shirt even farther as the sleeve burst into pieces of material floating to the ground, leaving a mass of blue bio-mechanical muscle to display. The targeting lasers that extended from below his hand now dug into the lower torso of the killer gripped in his hand as the now cannon now protruding above it crackled to life visibly as well as audibly.
The boomer clutched in his hand struggled intensely. It knew it had just failed. The cannon unleashed the fury building up, roaring to deafen everyone in the garage as white light discharged, crawling in electric current all over the killer boomer, charging metal, plastic, and any other materials into a useless goo inside of a melting chassis. When the blast was over, Astis dropped the still melting scrap.
He looked down at Nene, who could only look back in complete shock at what she had just seen. "So that's what they did," she said under her breath, too low for the soldiers to hear. He could see in her eyes an understanding beyond what she should know, and thought about asking her about it.
The sound of many automatic weapons cocking stopped him, however. He looked up to see the soldiers who were chasing down the killing machine now looking at him, all of them with their guns trained. "Is there a problem, Sir?" he enquired.
The officer in the group replied. "You tell, us. You're running around with illegal weaponry built into your arm! We are taking you in for evidence and expect us to tell us who made and who owns you."
Astis looked around, confused. Hadn't he just saved Nene? Didn't he just prove he was on their side? "I... I don't have an owner."
"Don't be stupid! You're a machine! Of course you have an owner!"
A metal clang sounded outside as the outline of a hardsuit came into view. "Astis! It's time to leave!" Sylia's voice boomed authoritatively.
"But, what about Nene?"
"They will take care of her."
"You're not taking him anywhere!" The officer turned his gun on Sylia.
"You're right. He is walking out of his own will." She approached calmly.
"And why is that?"
Sylia opened her arm blade and slashed the rifle in half even as he held it. "Because your gun doesn't work anymore." She turned to Astis. "GO!" Astis nodded, and walked out of the garage.
"SOMEBODY! SHOOT HIM!"
"Do you really want more guns to break?" She turned to look at the other soldiers, who only looked back uneasy. Without another word, she turned to the garage door and walked out, never looking back.