Bubble Gum Crisis
An Alternate Story of the Knight Sabers
2034 Year of the Tiger
Neo No Armour Against Fate (Section 4 of 5)
Fearful Symmetry (6 of 8)
by Shawn Hagen(2000;2005)

Based on situations and characters created by Suzuki Toshimichi.

Daily watched as the D-class came, almost lumbering, down the street. A minute before the boomer had shot down one of the Firebees that had been attacking it. For the most part the larger boomers were making straight-line paths towards the Tower, or at least it looked that way. Daily might have been tempted to let the boomers get to their target, and then move into catch them between the Tower and the ADP's weaponry. Unfortunately the boomers' straight-line paths often had them tearing through whatever got in their ways.

"Control, this is Beta-Prime, we're going to try to take target D3 down."

"Understood Beta-Prime. We will monitor situation."

"Good," Daily said, and then switched to his squad's frequency. "Team A, B and C, hold position and wait. Arwen, you ready?"

"I was born ready," the corporal's happy tone rang out over the com.

"You better be," Daily said, lifting the GW-14 from his car.

The D-class continued down the road, a water-cooled .50 calibre Browning machine gun in its hand, fed by a large ammo-bin bolted to its back. It had been that weapon that had shot down the Firebee.

Behind it, shooting out from a side street, came a red, fourteen-wheel truck. The driver twisted the front wheels violently, flipping the truck onto its side. The truck slid across the road, coming to a stop nearly right behind the D-class. The boomer turned on the truck, its .50 cal swinging about, ready to deal with a threat, if it was a threat.

The truck was not a threat. It was just there. The threat came from in front of it. The boomer had almost realised that in time. It was a combat unit. It knew the value of distraction. Then again, it was fresh off the assembly line and it lacked experience. Also, its AI was not quite functioning at its full potential.

Teams A, B and C opened up on the boomer, firing the APDS rounds at it. The truck's cargo trailer had been filled with containment foam. The ADP had used that foam in the past to capture boomers, contain explosive devices, and even block off a subway tunnel once. It was being used to keep the APDS ammunition contained.

Controlled bursts tore into the boomer, but it stood there, hardly moving. The sabot rounds were fairly light, delivering less kinetic energy than standard rounds. Normally they easily passed through most materials, but the D-class had very good armour. Some of the rounds did manage to penetrate, but not all of them. The boomer's armour was pitted and the paint ruined, but that was cosmetic damage.

Daily had sighted on the boomer with the GW-14, using the sighting system to pick out the weak points in the armour. There were not many, and the ones there were were very small. Fortunately Daily was a very good shot.

He had held the trigger for a few seconds, building up the energy charge in the capacitors. When he fired the rail spike was moving several times the speed of sound. The weapon jerked back against his shoulder. The boomer was rocked slightly as the spike ripped into it. Between Daily and the boomer was a line of vapour that had begun to dissipate-the vapour came from the spike's heat shielding that was burnt off due to friction.

The D-class swung about towards Daily, perceiving him as the real threat. The .50 cal came in line with Daily, but did not fire. While the APDS rounds had not been able to do a lot of damage to the D-class itself, they had ruined the weapon.

There were other options the D-class had, and the laser it fired passed so close to Daily he could feel the heat from it.

He fired again, one shot destroying the laser, another taking out the mini-gun on the D-class' other shoulder. Then he held the trigger, letting the energy build up again. At the same time the boomer had started moving towards him, fast.

To Daily it was a little like having a tractor-trailer bearing down on him. He wanted to dive out of the way, to get clear. He held his position though and sighted on the oncoming boomer.

The weapon jerked as he fired, the spike making a cracking sound as it broke the sound barrier. The boomer's legs seemed to give way from under it as the round punched into it. It hit the ground and slid on the road for a few meters, raising sparks.

Daily moved around his car, watching as the boomer tried to get up. He raised the long weapon to his shoulder and pointed it at the combat boomer. He shot it three times, waiting a few seconds between each shot. On the third shot it stopped moving. He held the position for several seconds, then looked around. There was surprisingly little damage in the area.

"All stations, give me a report," Daily said into his boom mike.

"Team A, no injuries here."

"Team B, no injuries."

"Team C, no injuries."

Daily waited, then said, "Arwen, what about you?"

"I'm fine, just banged my head a little. So, what's our next target?"

"I'll find out," he said, then switched frequencies. "Control, this is Beta-Prime, target down. Where to now?"

"Beta-Prime, move to where Asakusa-dori and Edo-dori meet. We need you to set up a blockade on the Komagata Bridge."

"Understood control. We'll be there in two minutes. Beta-Prime out." Daily switched frequencies again. "Let's move out. They need us at Komogata Bridge."

As Daily moved back to his car he looked over at the downed D-class and then at the weapon he carried. No wonder Genom did not want these things in general circulation, he thought.


The Tower was busy. It was also sealed tightly and its automated defences were fully active. No one was quite sure what was going to happen, but they did know a large number of boomers were currently moving towards them.

Katherine, involved in Genom's security as she was, had taken a great deal of interest in what was occurring. She knew, well, was almost certain, that the boomers were a distraction. She had watched their initial actions and saw nothing that could really hurt Genombeyond the fact that Genom boomers were rampaging in the city.

She was tempted to ignore the boomers completely, but there was a chance that the boomers were the main threat.
In the crisis centre were the other executives. Katherine liked to keep them close so she could watch them. There was the possibility one of them might be behind the events, but she doubted that. She knew most of them had their own plots and hidden plans. Any of those things might be of use, and at a time like this infighting would not be tolerated.

If any of them could help, she was fairly certain they would.

"Where is Odotte-san?" Katherine asked. She had been wondering where the other woman was for quite some time now and decided it was time to ask.

"Oh," Marino said, sounding surprised. "I thought everyone knew. She's out with the combat specialists."

Domino had told Marino to wait until someone asked before dropping that piece of information. She had said it would throw them off balance a little. Marino could see that she had been right. None of the other executives would, even if they could, be out there, in the fighting. That Domino was forced them all to quickly reassess their previous opinions of the executive.

"She's with the combat specialists?" Noburo asked.

Marino nodded. "Yes. She thought she could be of more use out there than in here."

"Fine," Katherine said, refusing to let herself be thrown by Domino's actions. "Now, what do we do about this situation." It was time to start talking and see if they could make sense of what was happening.


Domino looked down her sight at the D-class boomer moving along the road. The unit showed the effects of a recent meeting with the ADP. Unfortunately the officers had not been able to stop it.

She was lying on the roof of an eight-story building; a helicopter had dropped her off there a minute before. She was supposed to stop the D-class before it got any further. Five hundred metres further along its path was an area that had yet to be evacuated.

She wore a body suit that covered her completely from foot to neck. It was neutral grey in colour allowing it to blend in well with most backgrounds. It was armoured, two thin weaves of kevlar, between which was a layer of ballistic gel. Hard impacts caused the gel to switch from liquid to solid for a fraction of a second. With her own, in-built hardiness, she could take multiple hits from battle rifle rounds and likely walk away from anything up to a .50 cal hit.

It was nice to know that someone had given a lot of thought to the Third Generation's protection. At some point someone had cared.

Her hair was braided, folded in half and within a sheath of the same material as her armour. She wore a helmet that completely covered her head and face. The goggles and breathing mask that made up the helmet gave her an alien appearance.

Switching the power of the sight caused her view to zoom in. She was now longer looking at the whole boomer and some of the area around it, but just its head and shoulders. Her rifle was not a GW-14 but a GW-15. The capacitors were better, allowing for more powerful hits, and the sighting system was an improved model.

The 15s also had the complete boomer recognition software loaded into them, unlike the 14s. Domino adjusted to power again, letting a large portion of the boomers right chest fill her view. There was a small tear in the armour, no doubt thanks to the ADP.

The computer in the sighting system projected information about the boomer and the location of its interior systems. As the boomer moved the angle of the shot changed, bringing new interior systems into line.

Domino stopped breathing, letting her housekeeping computer lock her body into an unnatural stillness. Gently squeezing the trigger to its first stage let the capacitors charge up. She waited until the shot she wanted came into line and then gently finished squeezing the trigger.

The boomer rocked slightly as the spike punched through its already damaged armour, then the interior systems, ripping through a main power coupling before finally exiting the boomer and embedding itself into the roadway beneath the D-class.

Even while the spike was still within the boomer Domino fired off two more shots, not giving much care to where she aimed. Then she was rolling to the side, springing to her feet and running off at a low crouch. A moment later a beam of focused light burnt into the area where she had been.

Domino dropped into a kneeling firing stance, swinging the rifle into line with the D-class. She watched as its movements slowed slightly. It would be trying to bypass the power coupling that had been destroyed, but that would take a few moments. She aimed again, squeezed the trigger to its first stage, let the capacitors charge up, and then fired.

The boomer rocked slightly in a way that had nothing to do with the force of the spike. Its power core had just been holed. While the secondary power source was still up, the loss of the power coupling made it impossible to get at that secondary source at that moment.

Domino fired again, hitting it in its main sensor unit. Her next shot took its laser cannon out. As the boomer began to fall she fired several more times, just to make sure.

She watched it for several seconds as it lay on its back, unmoving, then she switched on her com system. "Control, this is K-7, target D-Class five is down. Send in a team to take care of the boomer and transportation to get me to next target," she transmitted.

"This is control, understood K-7. Stay on site until the boomer disposal team arrives."

"Understood control, K-7 out."


The first surprise of the night for Priss was a squad of ADP officers taking out a pair of boomers quickly and efficiently. She had been heading into the area, expecting to have to bail them out. Her help had not been needed.

A little later it was. A D-class, the first real one Priss had ever seen, was causing a lot of trouble. Not surprisingly the ADP was having trouble with it. Priss and the Typhoon II moved in, adding their firepower and exceptional manoeuvrability to the fight.

A number of well placed rail spikes, a burst of fire from the Typhoon II's hand cannon, and the ADP's improved firepower finished the combat boomer off in under a minute.

There had been loses through and Priss left the scene as the wounded were being treated and the dead moved off to the side.

Not long after that fight Priss had run into the first of the monster boomers. It was a type she had never seen before. After her first head-on attack had almost killed herthere was a deep laser burn on the right thigh-armour of her hardsuitshe had switched to hit and run attacks.

Priss swung out from the corner of a building, firing on the Flecks' head before diving back into cover. Laser fire burnt through the wall just behind Priss. She was forced to leap up to avoid being caught by the sweep of the laser.

"All right, you're up," she said loudly.

As the Flecks boomer came even with Priss the Typhoon II fired on it from one of the roofs, the powerful laser cannons it carried cutting deep into the boomer's right arm, midway along the upper part. Even as it fired the Typhoon II lifted into the air, the powerful hover rotors taking it into the sky.

The Flecks responded quickly, firing at the fast moving Typhoon II, managing to catch it with a glancing shot that clipped one of the hover rotors. The motoslave, suffering from a partial loss of control, slammed up against the side of a building then fell onto the roof of another.

It had not turned out as she had hoped, but Priss used the distraction, leaping out from cover, going to the boomers right side and behind it. She took to the air, laying three of her contact mines on the boomer's back as she went.

The boomer's thrusters began to fire off, beginning to lift it into the air. Then the charges went off and super hot gasses burnt into the armour, taking the thruster unit out. The Flex landed badly, falling to its side, but it was quickly on its feet.

Priss remained in the air and behind it, targeting the holes that her charges had burnt into the armour. Three rail gun spikes tore into the softer interior of the boomer causing small secondary explosions. Priss thought she had it when it turned, much faster than she had expected, bringing its left arm up.

There was a flash of light and a beam of energy took the laser cannon part of the left arm off. The beam continued to sweep along, cutting a deep trench into the boomer's chest. A bigger explosion ripped through the body, one of the legs blew free and the boomer collapsed, unmoving.

Priss looked up to see the Typhoon II hovering above her, the recently fired laser cannon pointing down at the boomer. It began to come down. Obviously it had compensated for the hit it had taken to the hover rotor. The left side of its face had been partially crushed and one of its eyes had gone out. Priss looked up at it once it had landed.

"A lot of help you were, try not to get hit again," she said. "Come on, let's see what else we can find."

As she turned away Priss wondered if it was her imagination or if the motoslave had indeed looked hurt.


Leon was breathing deeply, a little scared, a little excited. A mixture that he had not felt in some time. It was something he had missed not that that made him happy. He would have thought himself better than some adrenaline junky.

He wore a pair of goggles, on the right lens was a projection of what the motoroid was seeing. Not that it was seeing much other than a wall much like the one Leon was staring at and a few vending machines. The bright lights and friendly lettering suddenly made Leon realise that he was thirsty.

Taking a small mirror from his pocket Leon used it to look around the corner. The boomer was making its way down the street, moving at what was probably its top speed. Not a terribly fast design, but so far unstoppable.

The monster coming towards him had already walked through his squad's earlier ambush and one SWAT team roadblock without being slowed. Leon had moved forward, using the motoroid's speed, in hopes of stopping the thing. He also hoped that the police and fire crews had evacuated everyone in the few minutes they had had. Anyone still in the area was not going to be safe. His squad was probably moving into place in case the thing made it past him.

"Okay Tartan," Leon saidhe had named the motoroid after a dog he had had as a kid. "It's coming down the street, when I give the word come around the corner, lock on, and put three shots into it. Then move back into cover. Three seconds later repeat that manoeuvre until it's dead or circumstances lead you to another course of action."

"Yes sir," the motoroid's computer-synthesised voice came over the radio in the goggles. It was a mid range voice, soft, perhaps chosen to sound relaxing.

He watched as the boomer marched up the street. It would soon come even with him. Up ahead of it was a building where the road branched. Leon wondered if it would simply crash through the building or go around. Previous behaviour gave a good chance that it would go right through it. Not very subtle, but certainly persistent.

He waited until the boomer reached a point almost even with where he was and then he gave the motoroid its signal to move. He stuffed the mirror into his pocket and readied his weapons.

The booming of the 46mm rounds as they broke the sound barrier told him that the motoroid had fired. He took a deep breath then spun around the corner, bringing his weapon to bear on the boomer.

The big boomer was turning quickly, its laser arms coming up to target the retreating motoroid. Leon opened up on itCat's rail gun tucked under one arm, an M42-A1 tucked under the otherspraying it with ammunition. The fire seemed to have little effect; the rounds, while more than able to pierce lighter armours, were simply unable to penetrate that carapace. He changed his point of aim to its head, hoping it might have more effect.

When the boomer noticed the new attack and began to swing towards its source Leon dove back into cover.

A moment later he heard the booming of Tartan's rail cannon. He waited a few seconds and moved out from cover again.

The boomer was not to fall for it twice. While it left arm was tracking the motoroid, Leon found himself almost staring down the barrel of the laser cannon on the right arm.

He managed to fall back into cover, firing his weapons wildly, before the boomer managed to target him. The laser ended up passing close enough that he could feel burns coming up on his shoulder and the material of his jacket was smouldering slightly. After running down the street several meters he threw himself flat. The beam, which had cut through the wall, passed over his head before shutting off.

"Change of plans," he said into the mike, hoping the motoroid was still functioning.

"I understand," it told him, same calm voice. "Parameters changing."

"What?"

"Air support on the way."

"Firebees?"

"Hai."

"When?"

"Now," it said and a moment later Leon heard the familiar chatter of the 20mm guns.

"Attack," Leon said sounding calmer than he felt, getting to his feet and moving back onto the street.

The four Firebees had come in from the westflying NOE more than likely. Now they had climbed and split up, moving as fast as they could, putting down as much fire as possible. While it was difficult to tell if the ammunition was causing any significant damage to the boomer, it was keeping it on the defensive.

Leon realised being out in the open was not the safest option, but he had committed himself. Also the boomer had moved forward so he was behind it, and for the next few seconds that was as safe a place as any. He wondered about that conclusion as a nearby vending machine exploded, haemorrhaging dark, carbonated fluids.

He and his motoroid opened up on the boomer, Leon finding the rents in the armour caused by the 46mm. The tiny flechettes from his rail gun seemed to be more effective once they got inside.

One of the Firebees went up in a ball of flame as the boomer got a solid hit and another spun out of control, crash landing on the roof of a building after its tail rotor was shot off. The other two Firebees had come around and kept firing. Leon and Tartan kept up their fire as well.

An explosion ripped from the left side of the boomer, its left arm suddenly hung uselessly by its side. Leon thought they had it, sure they could take it down, but instead the huge thrusters on its back opened up and it fled. The wash from the engines was enough to knock Leon over and send him tumbling down the street a few meters.

"Aare you all right sir?" the motoroid asked as it came to stand over him. Leon heard a crashing noise and wondered what it was.

"Yeah," Leon said as he got to his feet, looking around for his rail gun. He activated his com. "This is Alpha Leader to Alpha Team A. Tetsuya, it got a way. Got a visual?"

"You're not going to believe this," Tetsuya Kawasaki, Leon's second in command, said. "It landed on the roof of that building that was in its way, then it went crashing through the roof. Blasted out on the second floor and is coming this way."

"Set up the ambush. The thing is hurt. We can take it down this time. All we got to do is hold it."

"Yes sir," Tetsuya said.

"You ready to go Tartan?"

"Hai," the motoroid replied.

"Well then let's go. Motorcycle form," Leon ordered.


Linna could not recall having fought boomers armed with conventional weapons before. It was something of a pleasant surprise really. She doubted that the rifle rounds could breach the armour of her hardsuit, though she did her best not to put that theory to the test.

Moving amongst the four boomers she let her whips slice the barrels from the weapons, quickly disarming them. The boomers, quick to realise that their weapons were no longer functioning, switched to their metal fists. That played directly into Linna's hands, as it were.

She slipped their punches easily. Moving in quickly to return them. She was careful to conserve the charges in her knuckle bomber and used the hardsuit's strength and her ribbons to finish off the boomers instead.

Less than half a minute of the fighting starting, Linna stood among the downed boomers. Not a bad performance, she thought to herself. She could stand to keep her movements a little crisper, but other than that...

"Mistress Linna," the voice of the Tornado sounded in her ears.

"What is it?" she asked the motoslave.

"There are two enemy units in close proximity, though neither poses a threat to us if we reamain in our current location."

"What are they?"

"One is a Genom fire fighting boomer. It has been armed. The other cannot be identified."

"All right, let's take a look."

Linna moved off quickly, soon linking up with the Tornado. In a short time they were standing on a rooftop, looking down at the two boomers. The one that could not be identified was large, much like the boomer she and the others had fought during the events surrounding Reika and Dr. McLaren.

Thinking of Reika made her feel a momentary pang of regret. She still felt bad for not taking her up on her offer. It was only for a moment though. Reika may have needed her, but she was not the only one.

"I'll take out the fire fighter," Linna told the motoslave beside her. "Go after the other one, but be careful."

"I understand," the Tornado told her.

"Then let's go," Linna said as she stepped off the edge of the roof. She let herself fall for a moment before activating her flight units. She cut her speed enough to ensure a soft landing when she touched down. A moment later they flared again as Linna leapt high, then, at the apex of her jump, began falling towards the boomer.

The Tornado simply rocketed forward, like a missile, straight at the Flecks boomer.

The Flecks, being much more combat orientated, was the first of he boomers to detect the incoming attack. It sent a quick message to the fire fighting boomer as it turned towards the most immediate incoming attack.

It opened up with both of its laser cannons, trying to score on the fast and erratically moving Tornado. Its targeting software was not up to dealing with the improved motoslave, designed around Linna's fighting style. A moment later the Tornado and the Flecks came together.

The Tornado's fist, very similar in material and design to Priss' knuckle guard, slammed into the boomers right side, turning some of the Abotex to dust. Its other fist followed the first, but the Flecks was already turning so the Tornado's attack fell on a different part of the armour.

The Flecks lashed about, trying to get a hold on the Tornado, but the motoslave managed to evade the Flecks' reaching hands as it rained blows down on it.

If the fire fighting boomer had been able to help the Flecks things might be different, but even as it was turning to aid the other boomer Linna hit it. She had let herself drop right on top of it, hardly slowing her fall at all. Just before hitting she tucked one leg back, decreasing the surface area she was going to hit with.

The boomer's right shoulder armour was deeply dented and the mini-gun that had been mounted there was destroyed by Linna's landing. The shock absorbers in the hardsuit's feet helped Linna with the landing, but even so she felt needles of pain run up and down her leg.

She did not give the boomer she had landed on much chance to react. She jumped form its shoulder and twisted in the air so she landed in front of it, facing it.

It reached for her, even as the mini-gun on its left shoulder swung about to track Linna.

Linna kicked herself into a back flip, using her suit's thrusters to increase her speed. Her right foot smashed into the boomer's chest, ripping some of the heavy armour free. Her foot passed by the boomer as she continued the flip and her laser ribbons came into play.

They slashed up the boomer's chest, cutting deep as they went. The ribbon on Linna's right shoulder continued up, cutting through the barrels of the remaining mini-gun. A moment later Linna landed on her feet, facing the boomer once again.

While she was a little surprised that the boomer was still on its feet, she was more annoyed. She did not expect a simple fire fighting boomer to have that much fight in it.

When the boomer reached for her again, moving very fast, Linna ducked its hands and moved in close, priming the charge of her knuckle bomber. Her powerarm lashed out, slamming against one of the cuts her ribbon had left in the chest armour.

The force of the explosion slammed through the boomer, tearing into it and destroying its main power core.

The boomer's movements became erratic as its power faded. It almost fell onto Linna as it pitched forward, but she managed to get out of the way, if just barely. That would have been an embarrassing way to get hurt, Linna thought as the boomer hit the ground, cracking the pavement.

She turned towards the Flecks, watching as the Tornado sparred with it, avoiding its attacks and launching its own.

"Pull back," Linna ordered as she moved in towards the fight, priming another charge for her knuckle bomber. Time to end it, she thought.

The Tornado did as ordered, its thrusters lighting up as it climbed into the air, away from the Flecks. The Flecks used one laser cannon to track the Tornado, the other it swung around to target Linna.

"It's fast," Linna said as she jerked to the side, moving herself away from the weapon's line of fire. In that moment she changed her target from the boomers head to the place where the two lower right arms joined with the upper.

The Flecks was taken by surprise by the move, and Linna's powerarm slammed into the space. The force of the explosion was enough to cut many of the power and control conduits as well as damage the structure itself. Linna was about to pull away from the boomer when the two lower arms closed on her hardsuit, trapping her powerarm.

She did not have time to react. Suddenly she was swung about and held up between the approaching Tornado and the Flecks. She had just become a shield. The Tornado aborted its attack, loosing it manoeuvrability for a moment. The Flecks' laser cannon fired, catching the Tornado, burning part of the lower leg off.

Linna, not at all pleased with being a human shield, triggered another charge. The second explosion ripped through the already weakened area, blowing both of the lower arms free. She sprang away from the boomer as soon as she landed, turning so she could open up on it with the lasers in her powerarm.

The Tornado regained control and came in at the boomer. As the Flecks shifted its attention back to the motoslave Linna reversed her course and came back at it. The Flecks moved in such a way to defend from both attacks. Had it still had even one of the lower arms on its right side it might have worked.

As it was, Linna managed to get to its upper rear surface and slam her knuckle bomber into an exposed thruster port.

Both she and the Tornado moved back a moment before the fuel was touched off, blowing the entire thruster assembly from the rest of the body.

And still the Flecks stood, still ready to fight.

Linna jerked her head about as she moved in, letting her ribbons cut the second laser cannon from it. The Tornado came close on her heels, slamming its fist into the ragged wound on its back, punching deep into it. Its fingers' closed around something and it pulled.

There was a spray of cooling fluids as the Tornado tore the power core from the boomer. It then leapt away, tossing the corea number of cables still attached to itaway.

The Flecks rocked back and forth, slowly turning towards the Tornado. Linna hit it then, leaping onto its back, raising her powerarm, then slamming it deep into the boomer through the passage the Tornado had just created.

The blast of the knuckle bomber was enough to finish the Flecks off. It pitched forward; Linna remained on its back, riding it to the ground. If there was any life still left in the thing she wanted to be there to finish it off.

After a few seconds it became obvious that that was not going to be the case.

Linna looked up at the Tornado. The motoslave stood balanced on its remaining foot. "Status?" she asked after a moment.

"Still combat capable," the motoslave answered.

"Then let's go," Linna said as she pushed away from the boomer.


During the city's rebuilding a large number of shelters had been put in place. Places where the populace could go in the event of another quake, or similar disaster. They were built underground, mainly so they would not take up space aboveground. Each one had supports sunk down into a more stable rock strata.

They had been built to provide places where one would be safe from having things like broken glass, signs and roof air conditioning units fall on one. They would also protect against fire, were sealed in the case of tsunami, and were rated against conventional explosives.

The ADP had the codes to open them and had done just that when everything had started. The non-combative members of the ADP, and a number of other police officers that would, hopefully, not be involved in the fighting, were stationed at the shelters, making sure everything stayed orderly.

Naoko had found herself working at one such shelter. The work was a little like traffic duty, but more tense. She was not wearing the armour of the Tac squads, but ADP work dress. Combat boots, her tan trousers bloused at the tops of the boot, a white shirt where her badge was clipped, and a flack jacket. She wore a communication headset with a boom microphone, keeping her in touch with ADP control.

Not too far from where she stood was the patrol car she had come in. Inside the car was a pair of M42-A1s, loaded and ready to go. Under her arm was a .454 combat magnum, loaded with ammunition that she had been assured would be of use. Naoko was not happy about it.

A situation she was already not comfortable in was made worse by the people. They were scared, they wanted answers and they looked to Naoko to provide them. She was the one in a uniform after all.

"What is happening?" a middle-aged woman demanded of Naoko. "Are we going to be safe here?"

"Please, you have to calm down," Naoko said.

"Calm down? I don't even know what is happening? How can I be calm."

Naoko was wondering what to do when Kaneko Akamura stepped in. "Please ma'am," Kaneko said, "I have to ask you to calm down. At this point we are not sure of all facts ourselves. I don't want to give you information that might be in error. When we know all the facts we will be able to give you all the facts." As she spoke Kaneko had moved a little closer to the woman, and she had increased the volume of her voice.

The woman and the others gathered around looked as if they were willing to accept Kaneko's explanation.

"I'm sorry," the woman said after a moment, looking a little unsure about what she was apologising for.

"There is no need to be sorry," Kaneko told her, reaching out to put her hand on the woman's shoulder. "Please, wait in the shelter for now. You'll be fine there."

As if to add weight to her words, the sound of an explosion rolled over the area. People began to push forward towards the shelter entrance. Naoko and Kaneko had to move into the crowd to slow everyone down, keep them orderly, and ensure no one was hurt.

Finally the people who had been standing outside the shelter were inside, leaving Naoko and Kaneko alone.

"Well, that went well," Kaneko said, turning to look towards the direction the explosion had come from.

"Well?" Naoko's eyes were wide.

"Mob rule is a very unpleasant thing. It could have become very ugly." There was another explosion in the distance.

"What is that?" Naoko asked.

"Team Gamma, Captain Yamano's people. They are fighting a group of armed construction boomers."

"Oh. I guess Captain Yamano will deal with it."

"Some might say she could deal with it by herself, with her bare hands."

Naoko laughed. "She can be scary."

"She's angry, with reason. She holds herself together very well. Hard not to respect her."

"She doesn't think much of the communications staff."

"She doesn't think much of anyone, but you can't really hold that against her."

Naoko opened her mouth to reply but the sound of a nearby explosion shifted her attention away from the conversation.

"That is very close," Kaneko said calmly.

"Captaon Yamano's team?" Naoko asked hopefully.

"I don't think so." Kaneko ran to the car and pulled the door open. She unlocked the two M42s from their brackets and then grabbed a bag full of loaded magazines. When she returned to Naoko she held one of the weapons towards her. "Here, take this"
Naoko hesitantly reached out and took the weapon that Kaneko offered. It was heavier than she remembered. "What are we going to do?"

"You are going to remain here," Kaneko told Naoko as she reached into the bag, removing one of the magazines. "If trouble starts here," Kaneko pushed the magazine into place, "you will enter the shelter and seal it." She cocked the weapon, chambering a round. "Keep an eye on the monitors in case you have to open the door to anyone else."

"You are going to investigate alone?"

Kaneko nodded as she put her weapon on safe. "One of us has to stay back here to take care of things." She removed two more magazines from the bag and slid them into her jacket pockets. A third magazine she held out towards Naoko. "I'm sure everything will be fine."

Naoko nodded as she took the magazine. "Hai Lieutenant Akamura."

"Good," Kaneko said as she turned and walked off in the direction of the earlier explosion.

As Naoko watched her go she pushed the magazine into her weapon and the cocked it. The slide felt stiff and she had to exert a lot of force, for her, to chamber the round. She checked to make sure her weapon was on safe, then moved towards the shelter entrance.

She hoped everything would be all right.


Kaneko was not certain what she was going to discover, but she was not too worried. She had a number advantages that the other members of the ADP did not.

It did not take her long to find the source of the explosion. It was a boomer, she assumed. She had never seen such a boomer before, thought she had heard talk of some new, monster boomer over the Tac squad frequencies. It was likely that she was facing one.

She moved into cover, ducking down behind a low, decorative wall in front of an empty café. As she switched the fire selector from 'safe' to 'FA' Kaneko wondered just how effective the weapon she held might be. From what she had heard, the monster boomers were very tough.

There was only one way to find out, she thought, somewhat cavalierly.

She leapt up from where she had been crouching and dashed across the street. A moving target would be harder to hit, she hoped. As she ran she pulled the trigger, aiming low in preparation for the weapon's climb.

The APDS round stitched across the boomer, the entire clip. Kaneko kept the weapon under control and was almost certain that every round hit the target. Sixty-six rounds of armour piercing sabots kept in a fairly tight grouping. It should have done something.

As the boomer raised it laser cannons Kaneko realised she had made a mistake.

Then there was a strange sound, like multiple peels of thunder, and the monster boomer rocked, slightly even as it fired. Something hit Kaneko, driving her the rest of the way across the street and into an alley.

It all happened very fast, Kaneko was not at all sure what had happened until she landed on her back. Standing above her was a young woman. She looked to be sixteen, maybe a little younger. Long blonde hair, except in places where it looked as if it had been brunt off, leaving angry patches of red skin on her scalp. Her clothing, a combat body suit of some sort, was ripped. There was blood. She was trembling slightly.

She had saved Kaneko, or at least got her out of danger. Kaneko was not certain that she had been in a certain death situation.

As she watched the girl did something to the pistol like weapon in her hand, then turned towards the mouth of the alley. A few seconds later the monster boomer walked by. It looked towards where they were, but if it saw them it did not show any concern. A moment later it was gone.

The girl turned towards Kaneko. There was dried blood on her face. "Are you all right?"

"Hai," Kaneko said as she began to get to her feet.

"I'm Sheffield Akiko," Akiko said. "You can call me Kiki if you want. You're Lieutenant Akamura Kaneko." It was not a question.

"Yes," Kaneko nodded.

"I need your help," Akiko said.

"You need to get into a hospital," Kaneko told her. The girl's trembling had increased, and as Kaneko looked at her the extent of Akiko's wounds became obvious.

Akiko shook her head in negation. "I'm fine. My housekeeping computer is editing the pain, I'm suffering from no serious loss of function."

"You're a 33-S," Kaneko said, too loudly. She did not use the term, 'sexaroid'.

Akiko nodded. "As are you. I guess that makes us cousins," Akiko said, smiling slightly.

"How do you..." Kaneko started, then stopped. It was no time for such a question. "What are you doing here?"

"I work for Genom. I'm destroying as many of the Flecks as I can."

"Flecks?"

"The boomer that almost killed you. Flecks."

"I'm not sure it almost killed me. You're trying destroy that thing?"

Akiko nodded. "I have to. Will you help me?"

Kaneko looked at the boomer across from her, a 33-S like she herself was. It was hard to see that, Kaneko just saw a young woman who looked like she should be in high school. What did people think when they looked at her? Kaneko wondered.

"How can we stop it?"

"I think I've already put some cracks in its armour, and damaged the left laser cannon. We just have to work with that. Come on, we have to catch up to it."

"I don't think I can do much to it," Kaneko said. "This hardly seemed to scratch it." She indicated the weapon she carried.

"Here," Kaneko held the weapon she had been carrying to Kaneko. It looked like a heavy pistol, but the pistol grip was set towards the middle of the weapon. From the bottom of the pistol grip, curving up to the rear, underside of the weapon, was what Kaneko guessed was a magazine. "It's a magnetic launcher," Akiko explained.

"Genom make?"

Akiko nodded.

"You used this earlier, when you grabbed me."

"Yes. That will hurt a Flecks."

"Is this like those sniper riffles Genom gave the ADP?"

"Better really."

"Of course. How do we do this?"

"Hit it from the back," Kaneko removed a second magnetic launcher from a shoulder holster and handed it to Kaneko. "When it turns to deal with you, I'll move in close."

Kaneko took the second weapon and looked again at Akiko. The only weapons she had left were a pair of long knivesmore like short swords reallyin a holder/sheath at the small of her back. "Surely you don't plan to fight a boomer with knives?"

"I'm good with them. Trust me," Akiko said as she smiled. "We really have to go now."

Kaneko looked at Akiko for a moment, noticing the trembling had become worse. "Are you sure you are all right?"

Akiko nodded.

"All right, you're the expert."

Akiko turned and walked towards the mouth of the alley, Kaneko followed after her. "What did you mean we're cousins?" Kaneko asked.

"I'm a second generation."

"I did not think there were any left. I heard that they all..." Kaneko trailed off.

"Died?"

"I didn't want to say it."

"There are still a few of us left," Akiko said jovially. It sounded a little forced. She stepped out of the alley onto the road. "Follow me," she called, then she began to run.

Kaneko took off after her, wondering if there might be one less second gen before the night was out. She hoped not.


Akiko leaned back against a wall, using a vending machine as cover. In her dealings with the Flecks, and other units, she had come to the conclusion that their instructions were not to fight unless something got in their way. That did not make them any less dangerous. When something got in their way they tended to go through it. The Flecks were the worse for that, followed closely by the construction boomers and then the fire fighting boomers.

The additional programming that had been added to the boomers, and in the case of the Flecks constructed for, was obviously a bit of a mess. Not particularly subtle or flexibleshe had watched a Flecks rip through a building it could have gone around.

She listened to the pounding of the Flecks' feet as it came closer to where she was. Soon Kaneko would launch her attack and things would start. Akiko liked Kaneko, though they had only known each other for a few minutes. Maybe it was that they both were 33-Ss. Maybe it was that Kaneko had been surviving in what could be seen as an enemy camp. One had to respect that.

Maybe it was just that she wanted friends and would like anyone who did not treat her poorly. Akiko did not think that was the reason, however.

She reached behind herself and pulled both of her knives free. Each knife was almost as long as her arm, made of a milky, translucent, crystal. High grade Abotex, grown, not forged, in micro-gravity. The hilt was slim, curved slightly, it fit comfortably in her hand. The blade broadened after the hilt, curved along its length, and tapered to a chisel point at the end.

A good blade for slashing.

As she looked at the blades she could see them shaking, her whole body was trembling. It seemed that the shakes got worse every minute, that she could control them less and less. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. Relax, she told herself. Just relax; don't let the stress get to you.

When she opened her eyes again she pretended that the shaking had subsided a little. Of course it had not, but at the moment she was willing to ignore that. That moment was not the time for pessimistic thoughts.

The vending machine she was leaning against vibrated at the Flecks moved closer, its footfalls beginning to shake the ground. Any moment now, Akiko thought, crouching low, getting ready to spring.

The sound of multiple projectiles breaking the sound barrier rolled over Akiko. She counted to three, knowing the boomer would begin to turn towards Akiko. The three-gram ceramic wedge would impact with enough force to damage the armour. With a maximum rate of fire of 25 rounds per second it was quite possible that the Flecks could be taken down with just the magnetic launcher. Kaneko was a real threat to the boomer.

Of course Kaneko did not know the weak points in the Flecks carapace, did not know where the vital systems were located. Akiko was going to have to deal with it.

On three she propelled herself around the machine, straight towards the Flecks. It was presenting its side to her, turning to bring its laser cannon to bear on Kaneko. She locked her eyes on the joint where the lower left arms joined up to the upper part of the arm.

The Flecks caught her approach and was shifting into a more defensive position, trying to put its talon like fingers out as a barrier.

Akiko avoided the fingers, letting herself pass close to them, keeping up her speed. Speed was important. She lashed out with both her blades, right first, then the left, letting it cut through the trail the first strike had left.

She twisted, using the Flecks to push off of, then sprang away. She landed on the sheltering roof over the nearby vending machines.

The boomer was lifting its left arm, as if it planned to fire on her with the laser cannon there. It did not seem to notice that both of the lower arms had been cut free.

Kaneko moved out of whatever place of cover she had been in and fired another burst at the Flecks. From her high perch Akiko watched as part of the boomers head was ripped apart by the ceramic rounds.

Akiko leapt from the roof, back towards the boomer. The leap felt wrong, one of her legs had spasmed as she had jumped. She was off target.

The Flecks turned to protect its right arm, at the same time it lifted its leg, swinging it out. The massive leg slammed into Akiko. She did her best to twist about, making sure that she met the leg with as much of her body as possible, spreading out the force of impact over a larger surface area.

She was not sure if it really helped.

Akiko was sent flying back, crashing through the window of a store, smashing through a shelf full of household products before coming to a sudden stop against an interior wall.

"Ow," Akiko said as she slid down the wall into a sitting position on the floor. Her housekeeping computer was giving her a rather complete damage report. Lots of little fractures throughout her rib cage, a few actual breaks. Internal damage, all capable of being bypassed, but it would need attention. Micro-fractures throughout the rest of her skeletal system, and lots of damage to her skin.

A good thing she could not bleed to death easily. She had that up on the first generation 33-Ss.

She heard the crunching of glass and looked towards the sound. Kaneko had entered the store and was moving towards her.

"Sheffield-san, are you all right?" She sounded as if she expected a negative answer.

"Yes," Akiko said as she began to get to her feet. It hurt quite a bitshe was not editing the pain at that moment so as to better understand the extent of the damagebut she got her feet under her. She reached down and picked up one of her knives. "Where it the Flecks?"

"It's continuing down the street."

"Then we have to stop it." She knelt down to pick up the second knife. Her left hand would not close around the hilt of her weapon, her hand and then arm began to shake.

"You're not all right," Kaneko told her. "Come on, we have to get you some kind of help."

"There is nothing that can be done about me," Akiko said. "On the other hand we can still stop the Flecks." She placed the tip of the knife in her right hand against the palm of her left. She took a deep breath and then pushed the blade through her hand.

The shaking stopped, or at least subsided, and her fingers spasmed closed before relaxing. She pulled the blade free then reached down and picked up the second weapon. "Get up on a car or something, fire high. I'll hit it low."

"You can't do this," Kaneko said. "You can barely stand."

"I'll do it," Akiko said, wiping some blood from her face with the back of her arm. "Switch those weapons to full auto. Empty both clips. It should only take a second or two. I need some holes in its armour."

Kaneko stared at Akiko for several seconds. "Do you want to die?"

"No, but I accept it." Akiko turned and started walking towards the broken window.

Kaneko did not know what to think. Part of her thought that Akiko must have some faulty programming. Part of her was shamed by that simple bravery. She shook her head as she followed after Akiko.

On the street they could see the back of the Flecks as it walked down the street. Kaneko looked about then ran and jumped up onto the roof of a car. "Okay," she called to Akiko.

Akiko nodded and then turned and ran after the Flecks. At first her stride was jerky, and she almost fell, but as she gained speed her movements smoothed out.

Kaneko switched the weapons to full auto, lifted them, and squeezed the triggers. As Akiko had told her the magazines emptied in seconds. The Flecks' armour seemed to explode in places as the ceramic blades impacted.

As before when Kaneko had fired on it, the Flecks began to turn.

Akiko closed on the Flecks as it turned. She leapt up, driving her blade deep into one of the rents on its back, twisting the blade, letting it slice through interior systems. She had not damaged anything too important, but the damage would slow the Flecks.

She kicked back, landing on its left side, the side missing the lower arms. Now, all she had to do was wait for the boomer to give her the opening she needed.

She dodged an arm sweep and moved in close to the boomer, driving both the knives, chisel points first, directly into its abdominal carapace. The blade in her left hand was stopped, but the one in her right punched into the armour. The tip of the left blade slid into the cut created by its mate. Both blades slid into the boomer.

Akiko put all her strength into the strike, exerting more force than she ever had before. There were electrical discharges; some of it ran up the blades into her. Fortunately the material of the blades had been grown in such a way to minimise its conductivity.

She yanked both blades out, leaping back. She had severed the secondary power core as well as a relay system. One or two more hits like that and she was certain it would go down. It was at that moment that she felt her body lock up as very small, very strong convulsions began.

No, Akiko thought, trying to get her body to move, trying to stop the seizure by will alone.

It did not work.

The Flecks' hand swept out, its talon like fingers spiking her, driving through her chest and abdomen, spearing her like a fish. The pain, and its effect, ended the seizure, or at least decreased its effects somewhat.

The laser arm shifted about, lining up on Akiko's head. Akiko lashed out with her knife a moment before the weapon discharged. The hand was cut off from the wrist, allowing Akiko to fall. The laser, instead of burning straight through her head, burnt through the right side of her head, the eye, part of her skull, boiling away some of her brain matter.

As Akiko fell to the road she felt an incredible amount of pain. Strange, she thought, normally her housekeeping computer dealt with that. Then she realised her housekeeping computer had been destroyed. That explained it, she thought calmly.

The Flecks stared down at the woman at its feet, and then it turned and continued the way it had come. To it Akiko was no longer a threat.

Kaneko had watched it all, unable to do anything. She had run forward when Akiko had been speared, thinking she had to get close, to do something. What that something was she did not know.

By the time she reached Akiko the Flecks had already turned away and was walking off.

"Akiko-san!" Kaneko said, falling to her knees by the unmoving 33-S. She looked down at Akiko and felt a strange sensation that she suspected organics might call nausea. Her chest was a mess of blood, the large, deep holes passing through her torso. Her right eye and the side of her skull were burnt awayit looked so terrible.

Akiko was not dead yet. Her body shuddered, surprising Kaneko a little. "We have to destroy it," she said, her voice flat, no emotion in it at all. She was functioning on her AI chip and nothing else.

"Destroy it?" Kaneko asked, near hysteria.

"We have to," Akiko said, beginning to shift herself up. Blood began to pour from her wounds but she did not notice it; or did not care.

"We've nothing left."

Akiko turned her one remaining eye to Kaneko. "Load your weapon," she said, looking at the M42 that Kaneko still had slung over her shoulder.

"What?"

"Do it. Trust me."

Kaneko, tears in her eyes, reached into her jacket pocket, pulling free a loaded magazine. "Why are you doing this?"

"I promised oneesama," Akiko said softly.

Kaneko ejected the empty magazine from her weapon and slid the fresh one in. "What are we going to do?"

"Give me the weapon and sit down in front of me." There was so little left to Akiko, the organic part of her mind was dying off, leaving nothing but the cold, controlled part. There was a small part of the real Akiko left, though even it was dying. She had to hold onto that. Everything that was left of her was telling her to lie down and die, all but for that little part. The part that was loyal to Domino.

Kaneko did as she was told. She did not know why she did it, but she did. She sat down, facing Akiko, staring into her one remaining eye, wanting to know what was keeping her going.

Akiko cocked the weapon, then put it on Kaneko's shoulder. "Don't move at all," Akiko said to Kaneko, sighting on the Flecks' back. "I have a hard time aiming with my left eye," she said softly. "Though it's not really a physical limitation."

Kaneko brought her body to complete stillness, now knowing what Akiko planned to do. She stopped breathing, stopped moving, and became a perfect, stable firing rest.

Akiko shifted the weapon about, trying to find the hole she had opened up with her knife earlier. She just had to get its attention.

"This lack of emotions, I wonder if it is how a regular boomer feels?" she asked softly. "It's not that bad, not really."

She fired, a short burst.

The Flecks, behaving as Akiko knew it would, turned on them, its laser already firing.

"So stupid," Akiko said quietly as she squeezed the trigger.

A burst of the sabot rounds, in an impossibly tight grouping, went straight through the rent in the armour, the rent Akiko's knives had cut. Inside the boomer they ripped through the interior systems, then ricocheted off the interior armour, heading off on new vectors within the boomer.

It was enough to finish it off.

The Flecks went over, the laser cutting out before it could hit either Kaneko or Akiko. It hit the ground with a thump and lay unmoving.

"It's over," Akiko said softly, releasing her hold on the weapon as she fell back.

Kaneko moved quickly even as the M42 clattered on the ground, grasping Akiko to lower her softly to the road. Even as she did so she was wondering if there was anything that she might do to save the dying 33-S. She knew deep down there was nothing that could be done. In spite of herself she reached through the wounds, into Akiko's chest. She might be able to power her down safely, keep her alive.

"Kaneko-san," Akiko said softly, in a far away voice that held a hint of emotion.

"What is it Kiki-san?" Kaneko asked, trying to find the secondary power core. Hers was located in the lower lobe of her left lung. Would it be in the same place on a second-generation model?

"Tell Domino-nee... Tell Domino-sama that I would have liked another piano lesson," she said so softly that Kaneko almost missed it.

Kaneko closed her eyes, knowing that it was over. She pulled her hands from within Akiko before opening her eyes. The other 33-S lay so still, her remaining eye staring up at nothing. Kaneko gently closed that eye then took her jacket off and lay it over Akiko's upper body.

As she got to her feet she reached up to her headset. She was going to have to inform ADP control that another target was down.

BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK

Tech Notes: Third Generation 33-S combat armour - This very light, very durable armour was designed for use by the 3rd Gen 33-S. As a result only a few of these suits were ever made, and only one was ever used.

As stated in the text, there are two layers of improved Kevlar, padding, and between the layers a ballistic gel, like that in the gel-packs from Fields of Fire(tm). The entire suit also acts as a rating 6 chemsuit.

It comes with a helmet that contains a respirator with a pressure regulator, IR, Low Light, flare compensation, and smart goggles. Also contained in the helmet is a fairly comprehensive communications suite.

3rd Gen Combat Armour
Conceal: -
Ballistic: 8
Impact: 5
Weight: 4
Availability: NA
Cost: 8000000 yen
St. Index: 3
Legal: 6P-L

Magnetic Launcher (GW 21): These SMG sized weapons are quite powerful, with a very high rate of fire. They are quite deadly, though extremely difficult to use. The main difficulty is the recoil. The projectiles leave the barrel at quite a high speed; the force on the shooter's wrist is quite high.

Unfortunately there is no way to lessen this recoil, and keep the weapon so powerful. Shock pads on the pistol grip help somewhat and the weapon can be held in two hands, also increasing control (if used two handed there in an extra +1 to recoil compensation). Mostly what is used to keep this weapon under control is the shooter's strength.

What has been done to aid in recoil is the use of a ceramic projectile, with just enough ferrous material in it to allow the magnetic fields to effect it. These 'Ceramic Plate Blades' are designed to cut through armour of all types (treat as APDS). The lighter projectile reduces the recoil effect slightly. Of course that means the round hits with less kinetic energy, but that has yet to be a problem.

While of questionable use for un-augmented humans, the weapon may be of more use in the hands of a cyborg, or a boomer.

Magnetic Launcher (GW 21)
Conceal: 4
Ammo: 60
Mode: SA/BF/FA
Damage: 12S
Weight: 1.5
Availability: NA
Cost: 18000000 yen
St. Index: 4
Legal: 4-G
RC: 1

Length: 262mm Height: 165mm

Akiko's Knives/Swords: Made of high grade Abotex, created to some of the most exacting standards ever, there are only a handful of these weapons in existence throughout the world. They are extremely durable and can hold a very, very fine edge.

Abotex Small Sword
Conceal: 4
Reach: 0
Damage: (STR+4)S
Weight: 1
Availability: NA
Cost: NA
Street Index: NA
Legal: 5-B
Notes: These weapons are considered to be dikoted and as such can cut hardened targets.

"Though a warrior may be called a dog or a beast, what is basic for him is to win"
-Asakura Soteki