Bubblegum Crisis
Tech Wars
Chapter 2
Tech walked into the shadows of a nearby alley and used a mental command to activate the stealth function of her suit. To the Knight Sabers, however, it looked like she simply vanished into the shadows like a ninja. She leaped to the top of a building and watched the Sabers head off. A sudden wave of dizziness passed over her and the stealth units faltered. Placing her hand to her head she braced herself to keep upright. 'No, not now,' she thought. She quickly reestablished the stealth unit and quietly made her way to the pick up point.
She pretty much staggered onto the modified troop carrier and was assisted to a seat. Her helmet was removed and she gasped as she took in fresh air. Sweat ran down Sakura Tatchibana's face and she was breathing heavily. (I don't actually know about the spelling of her last name. If anyone knows the real thing, please let me know.) Sakura had shoulder length violet hair and jade eyes and stood about 5'8".
"Are you alright?" asked her teammate and long time friend, Tira Ashcroft, a British born young woman with a Japanese mother and British father. She used a cool wet towel to wipe the sweat from Sakura's face. Both Tira's hair and eyes were brown, though her hair had black highlights in it. Sakura nodded, "Yeah, I'll be fine. Just need to rest a bit." Tira watched her with a worried expression on her face as she helped Sakura remove the armor. Once removed Sakura sat down and fell asleep.
Tira sat opposite her and watched her sleep. They had known each other for years now, and couldn't help it when Tira fell in love with the brainy, yet withdrawn, young woman. Her only problem was that Sakura didn't seem to notice, not that she wasn't all that subtle about her feelings, so if Sakura did notice her she wasn't letting on. 'It probably has something to do with her father, Dr. Sai Tatchibana,' she reasoned. 'She probably doesn't want to become involved with someone so she doesn't end up losing them too.' Tira got up from her seat and sat down next to Sakura and placed her arm around the other woman's waist, resting Sakura's head on her shoulder. Sakura actually snuggled in closer and a small smile appeared on her face. Tira smiled down at her and likewise dropped off to sleep.
The Knight Sabers returned home and after tending to their injuries, mostly minor sprains, they all retired for the rest of the night. All, that is, except Sylia. She was in front of her computer accessing her father's database to search for information that she knew was in there. A sleepy Priss came into the lab wearing a robe. She and Sylia got back together a couple of months after Sylvie's death, finding that it helped to bring comfort to their damaged souls. With Priss' help Sylia had actually started coming back to life, so to speak, and began opening up a little at a time. Priss was slowly getting over the death of the person she was starting to love with only a few lingering nightmares disturbing her sleep. Both of them were learning one another's inner secrets and demons and making progress. Priss placed her hand on Sylia's shoulder, "Sylia, dear, come to bed. You can take care of whatever it is you're looking for in the morning."
Sylia had been ignoring how tired she now was but couldn't hold back her yawn. Giving in to her need for sleep she placed the computer on automatic with the data she had gathered on the new armor and closed down. She took Priss' hand in her own and let herself be led to their room. Priss got into bed first and Sylia slid in after her. Sylia snuggled into Priss' side, resting her head in her shoulder and Priss placed her arm around her shoulders. Sylia fell asleep almost immediately, but Priss stayed awake for a few extra minutes to watch her lover sleep. Sylia's face was reposed and child like to her eyes despite her age, reminding Priss of the childhood that was stolen from Sylia. Priss caressed Sylia's cheek gently and placed a kiss on her cheek. Sylia smiled in her sleep and for a second she looked like an angel with her silver hair fanned out around her. With that image still in her mind she too fell asleep.
Priss and Sylia got up early the next morning and got breakfast. Priss was reading about current events in the newspaper while Sylia was checking business news. They were drinking coffee and idly munching on whatever they had fixed to eat. Priss looks up from her reading, "Hey Sylia, how much longer do you think the computer will be in finding that data?" Sylia looks up for a moment, "I don't know. There's a lot of information to sort through. Could take a while."
The chimer inset in the table went off a few minutes later, just as they were putting away their breakfast dishes. "Guess it's time to go have a look at what the computer's found," Priss said. Sylia nodded, "Yep." They headed to the lab and activated the monitor. On command the information began scrolling across the screen.
"It's called the MS001X," Sylia said to the gathered Sabers. She had called the meeting at the earliest possible time when they could all be there. "The 'MS' stands for Modular Suit. It can be modified depending on the user and can utilize just about any weapon you could put on it. Without any modifications I would say the hard suites would stand a good chance against one of these suites. However if one of them were heavily modified we could be in trouble."
Linna raised her hand, "But that one helped us. I mean sure she didn't talk much, but she seemed more interested in making us her allies."
"Except we don't know what her true intentions are yet, so we must be cautious," said Priss. It was almost scary to Nene and Linna how much like Sylia Priss was starting to sound.
Nene spoke, "Is that one of your father's designs Sylia?"
She shook her head, "No, it's not." She looks at a hard copy printout, "According to this it was created by one Dr. Sai Tatchibana. This name doesn't sound familiar though."
Priss looked at her, "Never met him huh?" Sylia shook her head again. Priss looks over at Nene. "Think you can find something on him later?"
She looks up, "Actually I do recognize that name." She looks at Sylia, "Dr. Tatchibana died right about the same time as your own father." Nene turns thoughtful, "If I remember correctly he was found murdered in his own car, the killer was never found." She then turns her attention to the computer. "And something else strange. His daughter disappeared at the same time, she was never found though. No one knew if she was dead or alive."
"Do you remember what her name was?" asked Sylia.
Nene thought for another moment. "I think her name was Sakura."
Complete! This chapter is over! Tune in next time for the dramatic meeting.