A Certain Point of View Chapter 5, a bubblegum crisis fanfic

Leon woke with a start and sat up. He immediately regretted it. Raw fire engulfed his chest and spread across his body. Falling back into his previous position hurt almost as much. Where was he? The last thing he remembered was the Knight Saber making an entrance. They must have managed to finish the job again. He sighed. Even that hurt. How many times had the Knight Sabers pulled the fat out of the fire in this city? Even before he saw them for the first time at the canyon, they had gotten a reputation in the AD-Police. A slow smile worked its way across the detectives face.

Where would AD-Police be without them? It had been silently agreed among most of the lower echelons that if the chance ever came to arrest one of the group, they would look the other way. Too many cops had gone home safe after being saved from a rogue boomer by the Knight Sabers. Leon looked around. Where was Daley? He was usually in here waiting for him to wake up. Leon smiled. With any luck his redheaded partner had finally managed to find somebody to shack up with. More likely his workload was too heavy to let him get away to see his partner. Still, flowers would have been nice. The door to the private room opened and a nurse walked in with a breakfast tray. Leon's eyes widened appreciably as they roved quickly over the nurses generous figure.

All business, the white clad beauty went straight to work. "So Mr. McNichol. Feeling better today?" she asked politely as she placed the tray on the table. She leaned forward as Leon began to answer, and shoved a vital sign tag in his mouth.

Leon put up with it. Only his expression gave away his disgust. Every time he'd gone to the hospital they'd stuck something in his mouth; even when they didn't have to. After a couple of seconds the tag beeped.

"That wasn't so bad was it?" she asked as she double-checked the information as it downloaded to her electronic pad.

Leon gave her a look. Then shrugged and reverted to his normal charming self. "So when am I going to get out of here?"

The nurse turned to look at him. "You'll get out when the doctor says you're well and not a minute before."

Leon leered. "Come here and we'll find out just how 'WELL' I am."

The nurse laughed. "I don't think so Mr. McNichol. I'm afraid you have something of a reputation in this hospital."

"Slanderous lies all of it," Leon quickly rejoined. "I never laid a hand on her, I wasn't even there and you can't prove anything anyway."

The nurse let out a peal of laughter, and then leaned over him in a seductive manner. "All of it? That's SO disappointing." She stood up suddenly. "Ah well. Another happy dream goes away." She quickly gathered up her pad and stylus. "I'll be back for your tray later Mr. McNichol."

Leon hurriedly gathered his wits. "Excuse me. Has my partner come by to check on me?"

The nurse paused at the door and didn't turn around. "No Mr. McNichol. Mr. Wong hasn't come by to see you," she said quietly and left.

Matter Over Mind Productions

Presents

Mega-Tokyo 2032

The Knight Sabers

"A Certain Point of View"

Chapter 5 "Repercussions"

Four hours later, when the chief walked in, Leon was pushing the fine edge of extreme irritation. "Chief. What is it with everyone?" He asked before the older man could sit down. "Everyone is walking on eggshells around me. No one from work has so much as sent flowers. Why. . ." He ran down as he looked at his boss. It seemed like he'd aged a century since the last time Leon had seen him. His normal healthy brown was underlined with gray and his eyes were red. "Jesus chief. You look like you should be in here. What the hell happened?"

The chief stared out the window. "There's talk about shutting down the AD-Police Leon," He said quietly. "The disaster with the HTRs has led certain people to the assumption that we cannot handle the job." He wearily looked back to Leon. "The reason no one has come to see you is that most of the people in AD-Police have been busy helping families get ready for funerals. We lost over a hundred men in that attack. Not to mention the wounded. We're still counting the civilian casualties."

Leon looked at the old man before him. This is the same man who had started AD-Police. This is the man that butted heads with Leon daily. Daley! "Chief... Even if everyone else was busy I would still have thought Daley at least would come by." The chief's sad eyes made Leon's heart go cold. "No," It was a denial. He was the one who got hurt. Daley never got hurt. Leon slowly began to shake his head back and forth. "No."

The chief turned back to the window. "He died last night Leon," The chief said sadly. "One of the boomers apparently snapped his spine and cracked his skull." He sighed. "We found him in an alley near the attack. He never had a chance."

Leon held it together. It was what Jeena and Daley would have expected of him. "Who's assigned to the investigation?" he asked.

The chief looked up. "No one is."

"What?"

The wearied chief shrugged. "The boomers were identified as belonging to USSD. They have their own investigation running." He paused. "That's about as much as I know. I was put on suspension pending my own review."

Leon looked at the chief puzzled. "What are you being investigated for?"

"Incompetence." The chief's expression changed to one of pure rage. "Those bastards in the assembly wanted to put your head on the block! They needed a scapegoat so that this wouldn't affect their reelection chances! When I wouldn't sign the papers asking for an investigation they threatened me."

Leon nodded. He knew where that had gotten them. Nowhere. The chief was impossible to intimidate. He would rather die than give in on a principle. "So what happens now?"

The chief shrugged. "Not much. After the investigation I'll be fired. If AD-Police survives the upset they'll put some political appointee in my place." He smiled. "We did have one surprise though. You know that girl in the computer section, Nene?"

Leon nodded again. "Sure. Cute kid. Little raw though."

The chief started laughing. "A little raw he says." He laughed so hard he couldn't talk for a couple seconds.

Leon stared. "What's so damn amusing?" How could he find any of this mess funny?

The chief sat up and straightened his glasses. "She's a member of the Knight Sabers. After the fight they came and collected her. No one knows why."

Nene? Little redheaded Nene? "You're kidding me."

The chief shook his head. "Nope. That's one of the arguments that they will be using in the investigation against me." He smiled again. "It's almost worth it. We always wondered how they seemed to know when we were in over our heads."

Leon thought he got it. "You mean whenever she was on duty she was feeding information to her partners?"

The dark-skinned man cleaned his glasses and checked them carefully before putting them back on. "Yup." It was obvious looking back. They had to have someone inside. "You should see those IA boys. They're going apeshit. Seems after she left someone dumped a tapeworm into the system. All the computer information on her has been erased and the backups have disappeared."

Leon smiled. That sounded like Nene. "So what do WE do now?"

The chief smacked the bed with his open palm. "WE don't do anything. I went to a lot of effort to keep you in AD-Police." He sighed. "They're going to need some continuity." He looked up at Leon. "Don't screw this up Leon." There was a long pause before he changed the subject. "Docs say you'll be out of here in a couple of days. Daley's funeral is Thursday. Don't miss it." He got up to leave.

"Chief. I'm sorry about everything." Leon didn't want him to leave without knowing how much he respected the old man.

The chief looked down at him. "I know Leon. It's part of the job." He smiled. "It isn't over yet."

A week later it was over. The promised review had been laughable. The chief had been relieved of duty and dismissed with no pension. He'd saved AD-Police at the expense of his career. His words had proved prophetic. The same day he'd been removed, the assembly had decided that Okada Fujiura would replace him.

Leon walked into work. Daley's funeral had been very depressing. Very few people had shown up. Most of the people who had known him were in his squad when it was wiped out. Leon had been in the hospital for a few days before he woke up. By the time he'd gotten out most of the other funerals had already been held. Daley's had been delayed until he could attend. The chief had been true to his word though. No one had questioned Leon about anything. Probably already known what he was going to say anyway.

He stepped out of the elevator and into the office. The usual noise stopped, as everyone looked his way. He suppressed a flash of irritation. Great. Now he was a Jonah. Not bothering to look up Leon made his way to his desk and angrily punched up his computer. Slowly the office noise picked up again.

All right Leon, get a grip. With a shake he threw himself into his work. All his old cases had been reassigned while he was in the hospital. Until something new came up he was pretty much free. Leon smiled despite himself. That probably meant for the next hour or so. Say what you like about Mega-Tokyo. It's never boring. Hmm. He was supposed to interview with the new chief today. That wasn't going to be fun. He'd already heard about this guy at the funeral. A political pensioner if ever there was one. Leon wondered whos ass he'd kissed to get the job.

He was also supposed to go through Daley's personal effects. Only made sense Leon supposed. He and Daley had named each other as executors and primary recipients. Neither of them had any real family to speak of. Still, he wished he didn't have to do it. Sighing he got up to go deal with the new chief.

Nene woke up. Where was she? The last thing she remembered was seeing Chaz's body lying on the table. Then everything was a blur. She shook her head to clear it. "Don't do that. You might give yourself a headache," Said a clear, warm voice from the other side of the room. Nene squinted. Without her contacts she couldn't see in the dimness very well. A shadow detached itself from the wall and drifted over. Nene looked up into the face of the most gorgeous guy she'd ever seen, and screamed.

What was the matter? "Nene! Are you okay?" Chaz asked worriedly. "Do you want me to get Sylia?" He scanned her quickly. Her heart was racing and her adrenaline glands were opened all the way. If he didn't know better he'd swear she was scared to death.

"Who the hell are you?" Nene asked as she inched her hand towards the lamp on the table. "How do you know Sylia?" Her hand grasped the lamp. "Where the hell am I?" With a wrench she brought the lamp around, and watched as his hand snapped up to grab it.

Chaz smiled. So that's what was bothering her. She had him worried there. He changed back to his normal face for a moment. "Relax Nene. It's just me." If he'd thought the first scream was loud the second blew that idea away.

"Chaz is dead! I saw his body lying on the operating table." Nene was beginning to panic. It had caught the lamp with no effort. Had to be a boomer. . . Chaz WAS a boomer or close to it anyway. "Chaz?" She asked in a small voice.

Chaz smiled at the recognition in her voice. Finally. "Who else did you think it was?" Well, maybe he could forgive her. He still got spooked looking in the mirror. "I had to change my face. Someone got a video of the old one." He grinned. "You like it?"

Nene was stunned. "I remember seeing you dead. What happened?"

Chaz laughed. "You should know. You're the one that saved me."

Behind him Sylia dressed in her usual immaculate style walked in carrying a breakfast tray. "Now Chaz, I told you that there might be some short term memory loss." Sylia looked down at Nene as she placed the tray across the redhead's lap. "How are you feeling?"

Nene stared at her boss. "What do you mean short term memory loss? How much did I lose?"

Sylia shrugged. "Nothing serious. A couple of hours that's all. After you finished writing a program for Chaz you passed out. You've been unconscious for a few days now."

Nene gasped. A few days? "What happened that was so serious?"

Sylia smiled. "You did about two months programming in two hours, Nene. The high level of activity stripped your neurons of receptors for a while."

Two months? "What the hell did I write?" Must have been something huge.

Chaz reached down and held Nene's hand. "I was dying Nene. Without power I had about four hours to live. You created a control program for my fusion plant." He smiled gratefully. "I owe you big for that." His voice hardened slightly. "BUT, when you're better you and I are going to have a talk about the OTHER program you wrote for me."

Nene didn't like the sound of that. "The other program?"

Sylia stood. "Later Nene." She reached down to Chaz's shoulder. "Let her eat and rest for now Chaz. She'll be out in a couple of hours."

Chaz got up with a grimace. "Yes dear." With bad grace he walked out.

Sylia watched until she was sure he was out of earshot then sat back down. "You really don't remember?" She asked in an amused voice.

Nene shook her head as she finished her toast. "Uh Uh. Why? What did I do to him?"

Sylia tilted her head back and laughed. "You did yourself to him. You reprogrammed his AI with a personality overlay. Your personality."

Nene didn't know what to say. This was worse then when she'd gotten drunk and couldn't remember what she'd done the next day. "A personality overlay?" Oh God. No wonder he was upset.

"Don't let it worry you to much. I think he's getting used to it." Sylia smiled. "But, I wouldn't remind Priss. She told me that she feels like you're looking over his shoulder at times." She patted the teen's leg. "After you get showered and dressed we'll talk about what we're going to do next."

Nene walked into the meeting room a half hour later. The only people there were Sylia and Chaz. Nene looked around. "Where is everybody?"

Sylia waved her to the sofa. "There's just us right now Nene. Priss is making an audition tape and Linna is setting up to teach a combat dance class." She waited until Nene sat before continuing. "What we need to talk about is you."

"Me?" Then Nene remembered. Priss and Linna had come for her at AD-Police. "Oh Shit." Her shoulders slumped as the repercussions hit her.

Chaz nodded. "Exactly. Your old life is over." He smiled. "Or rather your second one is. Ready to go for number three?"

Nene sighed. "I was just getting used to AD-Police." She said wistfully. She looked at Sylia with resignation. "What about my records?"

"I dropped a tapeworm into the net. Any attempt to access information about you anywhere will result in that information being deleted," Sylia answered confidently. "Even if they try to bring information up from a backup it will just be erased again." That's if they ever managed to FIND the backups. Her sources in ADP said that most of them had disappeared. If GENOM had them. . .Well, they'd deal with that when it came up.

Nene thought about it for a moment. She could probably have done it better. She sighed. Still, she trusted Sylia to do a good job. "So what do we do now?"

Chaz patted her shoulder. "Same thing I have to. Start over. Both our faces are too well known." Chaz smiled. "For me it was easy. All I need now is a little new identification."

Sylia groaned. A little new identification he said. At least Nene knew what they had to go through to get the old ID. Hmm. No reason he couldn't still use it really. Just change the picture and name.

Nene smiled. Chaz was okay but he didn't have a clue what it took to generate new ID like that. "So what about me?"

Sylia hesitated. "Nene. Chaz is right. Your face is too well known. Even after we erase all the records of your old existence people will still remember. The question is: Do you want to stay in the Knight Sabers?"

Nene thought she saw what Sylia was leading to. "You mean change my face?"

Sylia nodded. "And hair, eyes and fingerprints. Everything."

Nene laughed. "Where do I sign?" She'd always wanted to get bio-plas surgery done. Even hair color could be permanently changed that way. Lot's of people had that done. The full procedure Sylia was talking about, however, was VERY expensive. "Can Priss and Linna help pick out the new me?"

"I don't see why not," Sylia said. "But they'll have to do it before you leave tomorrow."

"Why tomorrow?" Nene didn't understand why there was such a rush.

Chaz grinned. "That's when Mackie is flying you to the US to have the procedure done." Chaz's overactive imagination was already filling in what she and Mackie would do while they traveled. "The Hou Bang already offered to pick up the tab for the procedure. They also agreed to arrange an American ID for you." Linna had assured Chin that Nene would appreciate this. "They wanted to give you a welcoming present."

Nene gasped. That procedure cost tens of millions and the Tiger Corps were going to give it to her as a gift? Some gift! "Why an American ID?"

"They thought it might be a good idea to move your records out of Japan to lessen the chance of someone looking for them." Chaz smiled. "You'll also have to learn how to speak English. Regardless, you'll be able to keep your first name. Irene and Reika volunteered to be your second cousins. If they can talk you into it, you'll become Nene Chang. You won't be directly related to the family on paper so the chances of anyone making the connection are pretty remote." He let Nene think about that.

"What does Mr. Chang think about that?" Nene asked tentatively.

Chaz grinned. "You'll have a chance to ask Chin about that yourself. He's meeting you at the airfield. Reika and Irene say they haven't seen him this active in years. Kou says that getting involved with the Knight Sabers seems to have given Mr. Chang new reasons to stay active."

Chin had said the things he had left to look forward to were the Knight Sabers giving Quincy a bloody nose and Reika and Irene getting married. He had smiled at Chaz when he said that. He was determined to hold on until then. Chaz was a little embarrassed. Chin had wanted to talk to him about the old days; like the 1970's and 80's. Chin had been born in the 1950's. Priss had jumped on that immediately and had taken to teasing him about his age.

"Really? Sugoi! Why do I rate the VIP treatment?" Nene asked excitedly.

Chaz's grin widened. "How else should he treat a member of the family?"

Family? Me? Nene was astounded. What about her own family? Granted she hadn't seen them since she'd run away to join the Knight Sabers. Still she had always had the comfort of knowing she could go back. Guess you have to accept responsibility sometime Nene.

"Nene. Unless you're trying to catch flies close your mouth," Chaz whispered, misunderstanding her expression. He continued in a more normal tone, "Chin says he regards the Knight Sabers as his foster family. I think he's over reacting. On the other hand, Irene seems to think that's just fine. Since she's the heir apparent to the Hou Bang. . " He shrugged and let the rest go unsaid.

Sylia hid a laugh at Nene's reaction. She had grown up an only child and was probably delighted by the idea. "I wouldn't worry about it, Nene. The morphing program is already setup in the computer. You can play with your body all you like within the set parameters. But DON'T use the direct access. Your brain probably is not fully recovered from the last time and I don't want a relapse," Sylia hadn't finished before Nene was out the door heading for the computer room. Sylia looked at Chaz.

Chaz shrugged expressively. "Don't look at me, I hate to go shopping for clothes. I don't understand why she's so excited," He replied to Sylia's stare.

Priss was in heaven. She'd gotten a letter two days ago asking if she'd send a record company in the US a demo. She'd been angry with Chaz at first. How dare he play games with her career? But he'd explained that the offer was only a CHANCE. NO guarantees. Chin had gotten her the introduction. That was ALL. Win or lose, it was all up to her.

She looked behind her at the band as they finished setting up. They had over a dozen demo tapes. Priss had decided that they needed one more. THIS one was going to be perfect. She was sure of it. She faced front again. The sound techs were checking levels and measuring echoes in the system. When they finished there wouldn't be an odd noise in the recording. She reached up and grabbed the isolation headset. The more things change the more things stay the same. No one had yet come up with a better way for musicians to gauge their own performance. She smiled. Time to see if we can't wipe those bored expressions off the tech's faces.

Linna leaned against a support pillar and watched Keith fight. The well shaped young Chinese-American really was coming along nicely. Despite appearances, his slender well-muscled frame was much stronger than most people would give him credit for. His reflexes were superb. Just about everything she wanted in a student. She grinned a little as he ducked his close-cropped head to avoid a blow from his opponent. It was just like she thought it would be when Chin approached her.

She'd smiled when Chin asked her if she wanted another chance at dancing. He'd been so surprised at her reply. Linna was a little surprised herself. Somewhere along the line she'd lost the need for an audience. She didn't need to see her name in lights anymore. She'd found something better. When she danced with an opponent it was perfect. She was sure she had their FULL attention right up until the end. Her dancing was free form and deadly. The rush she felt incredible. What did the stage have that Linna's combat dance didn't? Many of her favorite 'steps' couldn't even be performed without a hardsuit. She'd smiled and told him the only thing she wanted was a place to teach her new style of dance. He'd been skeptical but he said he'd send a few of his own people to her class. If they reported favorably he'd finance her school. Five of his best-powered armor people had come. Linna smiled inwardly at the memory. Four of the five had gone back in casts. Their powered armor had gone back as scrap. The fifth was her student now. Chin had held up his end of he deal. The money for the school had been sent the same day they returned. Linna's combat dance was the only way a person in conventional powered armor could expect to win against a combat boomer. Others had been tried but they didn't have a firm enough grasp of boomer psychology and mechanics to be effective. Linna had the advantage of working with Sylia while she developed her style. She winced as Keith missed a kick and the practice boomer slammed him into a wall, again. Sighing, she went to show him how to do it again.

Chaz was in the garage working on his hardsuit again. Sylia had said that there was nothing wrong with the design; it just needed a few refinements. So he was down here refining. Truthfully, he didn't like the chore. But Sylia wouldn't let him get away with just book learning. If it had been up to him he would've let Mackie do it, the technophile enjoyed it.

He frowned and double-checked the myomer power system. The whole operating system had been debugged by Nene, so he shouldn't have a problem with the link again. Just in case it did, they'd installed an override to unlock the myomers. He wouldn't have had nearly as much trouble dodging at the end if the damn system hadn't locked up. Frowning at the thought, Chaz took down the unsealing tool.

/Mackie's coming up behind you./

-Thanks-

His hand paused. He smiled. "Hello Mackie."

Mackie quit the attempt at silence and started walking normally. "Damn! How'd you know I was here?" He'd been as quiet as he could since leaving the stairs. The light was too dim to put his reflection in the hardsuit. So how had Chaz known?

Chaz turned and grinned at Mackie. "You keep forgetting. Until you remember and take into account WHAT I am you're never going to be able to sneak up on me." Still grinning Chaz turned back to his work. "What can I do for you?"

Mackie was disgruntled. Sometimes he envied Chaz. Other times. . . might as well admit it, he wanted to inflict major amounts of pain, or at least embarrassment on him. "I just came down to see how you were doing."

Chaz pointed at the terminal without looking up from his work. "See for yourself. Those are the changes that Sylia recommended."

Mackie looked and whistled. Those modifications and repairs were going to take a while. "What are you and Priss doing tonight?" he asked casually.

Chaz looked up. "Don't know yet. We'll probably do dinner and a movie. Maybe stay at home and dial up a video. Why?"

Mackie tried to hide his blush. "Nene was asking if we could do a double date. I was hoping you two wouldn't mind."

Chaz put down the sealer. "I don't see why not. After all, we aren't going to be seeing you for a few of weeks. I'll ask Priss when she gets back. No promises though." He turned back to work. "So what did you two want to do tonight?"

Mackie thought about it. "I really don't have any ideas. I was kind of hoping you could come up with something." He sighed. "I'm not really much good at that kind of thing."

Chaz nodded without looking up. "Okay. Tell you what you do. Go make reservations for four at La Maison Rouge then make sure we can get tickets to the Gilbert and Sullivan play the Pirates of Penzance. It's showing at the Ginza Theater tonight."

Mackie looked at Chaz in awe. "How can you put together an evening like that in your head?"

A shrug worked its way across the bioroids shoulders. "It's easy when you listen to the little clues they give. Priss said she wanted to see the play if she could get tickets and La Maison Rouge is the best restaurant that we can afford." He looked up and smiled at Mackie. "Or we can just go for a drive to Nikko and have a hanami party." Actually Priss had said she wanted to see the play after she had heard him singing 'I am a Pirate King' in the shower.

Mackie gulped. "You have got to be kidding. Who's going to drive? You and Priss only own motorcycles, Nene owns a moped, Linna's car is in the shop again and sis is out tonight." He prayed that didn't mean what he thought it did.

Chaz wanted to grin at Mackie's discomfort. He was obviously thinking that they were going to have to be driven by Priss and himself. Biting back the urge to torment Mackie he changed the subject. "Who's on boomer watch tonight then? Linna? Hand me that power converter will you please?"

Mackie looked around and put the asked for module in Chaz's hand. "Yeah. She's upset that she can't find someone to take her turn tonight though," Mackie whispered sotto voice. "I think she wanted to take her new student out."

Chaz sealed up the module. "Bad move. Never mix teaching and sex like that. It's usually a recipe for trouble." He stood up and started unsealing the sensor spike. "Ah well. I suppose if anyone can handle it she can." He looked up. "Make up your mind, Nikko or La Maison Rouge."

"La Maison Rouge," Mackie said quickly. No need to tempt fate, or in this case, Priss' and Chaz's driving.

"Good. Get going on those reservations. Middle of the week or not we're probably going to have to bribe the Maitre'd to get a good table." Chaz looked over at Mackie. "And I don't want to buy tickets from a scalper. So get moving."

Mackie got.

Chaz pulled the sensor module out of its socket. Damn! With a flick of his wrist he chucked the scorched module into the trash. Now he'd have to calibrate a new one. Chaz set his alarm and continued with his task. With any luck he could finish the majority of it before it was time to go.

Sylia finished her typing and watched the screen. In a few moments a three dimensional graph was drawn on the screen. Sighing, she filed the data and shut down the system. It had taken a while to put together but the evidence was pretty clear. Reaching out wearily, the leader of the Knight Sabers lifted her coffee to her lips. She didn't know why it made her so nervous. The changes in Priss's psyche profile were all for the better. In the past few months the formally raw nerved and touchy singer had become much more stable and less angry. If it weren't for the swiftness of the changes she wouldn't have noticed it at all. Stretching to relieve cramped muscles, Sylia got up and headed for the kitchen. The cause of the changes was obvious enough; Priss's relationship with Chaz. They spent so much time together that the action of his neural stimulator had probably slipped to the subconscious level. But, contrary to her expectations, it was still having a subtle effect on Priss. Sylia poured herself another cup of coffee. Now that she knew, the questions got a little harder. What was she going to do about it?

Nene looked up at the screen. No. Still not right. Maybe she could make it a little taller. The computer buzzed. Hmm. . That configuration wasn't possible. Okay shorten the whole body by five percent. Better. She sighed. When they had told her she was going to have this done it seemed like a dream come true. She could look like anybody! She could be prettier than Priss more athletic than Linna. Anything she wanted. After she had worked with it for a while Nene came to the realization that she really didn't want to change. As much as she sometimes complained, she liked the way she looked. It's not like she had a choice though. Turning her mind back to the problem, she tried changing the hair color again.

Mackie opened the door and walked in. What the hell had Nene done to the simulation? The image on the viewer wasn't half as cute as she was now. On the other hand, Mackie admitted to himself, he was a biased judge. Even still. Purple hair? He shivered and walked up behind her. Gently touching her shoulder he caught her attention. "How's it going Nene?"

Nene looked up at Mackie. Now there's a question. What kind of girl did he like? She smiled inwardly. Besides the obvious. "Not so well. There are so many choices that don't know what to do. I'm also becoming more and more sure I don't want to change." Mackie nodded for her to go on. "It took me a long time to get used to who I am. I feel that by changing I'm giving all of that up."

Mackie thought about it. "Let me sit down for a second." Nene got up and let him sit. Mackie reset the to default image. "What you have to remember is that you only have to change enough so that others don't realize it's you. Stage actors have been doing that with makeup for years." He made a couple small adjustments. "So you change things in slight ways. A nip here a tuck there." In the image, the hair grew longer and darker. "Small changes that add up." The legs lengthened a trifle and firmed into dancer proportions. The arms were changed to match. "The trick is to fool the subconscious into being SURE that it's a different person." The eyes deepened in color and a blue undertone was added. "Maybe add a little misdirection here and there." The bust size grew slightly and the chest broadened to accommodate it. "After that you adjust your mannerisms so that the conscious mind can't find similarities." The behind firmed and the hips pushed forward a little. "So that the total effect is that of another person." He finished his alterations. "Now what do you think?"

Nene just looked at the image. It was the body she always dreamed of having. Mackie had created it out of her own with just a few minor alterations. She looked at it. She could still see herself in there. None of her essential character had left the face. Everything seemed so familiar. She wrapped her arms around Mackie. "It's perfect!" With a bounce and twist she jumped the arm of the chair and landed in his lap. "Oh. Mackie. It's just perfect." With great feeling she reached around his neck and drew him in for a kiss. The kiss grew longer and longer. Finally she broke off. "Will you still like me when I look like that?" she asked him shyly as she laid her head on his shoulder.

Mackie reached out and saved the file. "Of course." He grinned. "A programmer should know it's not the hardware that counts. It's the software." He kissed her lightly on her cheek. Nene turned her head up for another kiss. Mackie obliged. Ignored on the screen in front of them the new Nene spun, with the legs and arms of Linna, the bust of Priss and a mix of Nene's and Sylia's face.

Chaz finished resealing the armor plating. Now all he had to do was calibrate everything. Yeah right. That's ALL. That took almost as long as installing the components sometimes. He sighed heavily. The new weapons should make it worthwhile. In two months he'd hopefully never have to do this again. If Chin came through with that nano-tank, all of this would have to be scraped. He smiled. There was already a set of design specs putting itself together in his mind. Sylia would have to do the actual design work of course. With any luck what happened in the last fight would never be a problem again. His thoughts paused as the intercom chimed. Reaching over from the computer he keyed it on.

Sylia's image filled the screen. "Chaz, Priss called. She's really busy at the recording studio so she's going to be late tonight."

Chaz wasn't too surprised. He just hoped Nene and Mackie would understand. "Thanks Sylia." Sylia's image smiled. "No problem. I'm leaving in a half hour, is there anything you need before then?"

Chaz thought about it. "Not really. If you see Mackie you might ask him to stop down to check out my hookups." If he ever got these things right on the first try it would be a miracle.

Sylia's smile got broader. "I'll leave a message on the computer for him. I think he's tied up with Nene right now." She broke the connection.

Hmm. That's interesting. Didn't think Nene was into bondage. He laughed at the thought. Wonder if they still want to go out. He shrugged. They'll call me if they do. Wiping the distractions from his thoughts he turned back to his work.

Let's see if the new vibrowire blades work. With a couple keypunches he extended the blades from the forearm housings. Damn. Left one extended but it's not vibrating. He typed in a quick diagnostic request. Hmm… He made a quick adjustment. Obligingly the blade started to hum. There we go. Just needed a simple software fix. Chaz smiled. Sylia had designed the new weapons systems around a close in fighting style. The only real long-range power came from his X-ray lasers. Not that they were anything to shrug off. With the actuation system finally tuned and the new myomers he guessed the combination of suit and wearer strength to be somewhere around 25 tons. The smile turned feral. Let's see a C-55 beat this! With the new knuckle bomber systems he'd installed, his punch should be able to blow a hole through a BU-12. With these he wouldn't have needed the KnightWing for those HTRs. Chuckling evilly, he worked on finishing the installation.

Linna walked up the stairs. Why did she have to be on duty tonight? The long limbed dancer groused. Keith had finally managed to get that pirouette down and he'd wanted to celebrate. Grumbling, Linna opened the door at the top of the stairs and walked to the situation room. Nobody here. That's odd. She sat down and checked the computer.

Sylia's note said that Nene and Mackie were in the computer room. Chaz was in his usual area. Linna smiled. Day or night, if he wasn't with Priss he could be found downstairs tinkering. As much as he complained about Sylia being a slave driver, he didn't seem to need much prodding. Linna sometimes wondered when he found time to sleep or if he slept at all. Mentally shrugging she punched up the to do list. Nope, there was nothing unusual there. Monitor AD-Police communications and keep tabs on Knight Saber's locations. Punching up the tracking system Linna quickly located Priss at a recording studio in Ebisu, Sylia at the theater and Chaz in the garage. Linna frowned. Where were Mackie's and Nene's beacons? They were built so you couldn't shut them off easily.

Linking the system to the intercom Linna headed for the computer room. Linna stood before the door and typed in her access code. With a click the door lock disengaged. Pulling open the door Linna looked inside. Four heartbeats passed before she recovered her wits and shut the door. Stifling a grin and a blush, she headed for the stairs. Well that answered that question. If they were going to go any farther though they really should move to Mackie's bedroom.

Leaving the computer room behind Linna walked down to Chaz and Mackie's sanctum. "Hi Linna," Came Chaz's cheerful salutation from across the garage.

Chaz turned and smiled at the young dancer. As she crossed the garage he admired her figure. Trim without being thin and athletic while still being DECIDEDLY female. The skintight slacks and navy blue blouse just served to accentuate her curves. God, she moves like a cat, he thought in admiration. "What can this poor, lonely soul do for you fair one?" he asked cheerfully.

Linna smiled back. Sometimes he could be so charming. Other times. . . well, she admitted it: he was a royal pain. "Just came down to see what you were up to," She returned as she walked to the intercom and turned it on. "I hooked the intercom to the alert system," she explained.

Chaz nodded. He'd pulled the chore his share of times. "I'm not really doing much at the moment. Just chasing down a few bugs in the system." He waved his thumb at the hardsuit behind him. "I DON'T want a repeat of what happened last time." He grimaced. "It's embarrassing." His expression went back to normal. "How about you? What are you going to do while you wait?"

"I was going to reschedule the curriculum for my class," Linna sighed. "I was hoping to have Keith ready to serve as an assistant instructor before the first group arrives." She shook her head morosely.

"No go huh? What's the problem?" Chaz asked intrigued. Linna was a superlative dance instructor. Keith was a martial arts expert if a little too intense. There shouldn't have been any trouble.

Linna tried a smile. "At first things went so well. He understands how the techniques work against the practice boomer. He just can't seem to develop a feeling for what it would take to stop a real one. He finishes one technique and immediately goes for a follow up. If he tried that against a fully powered boomer. . ." she trailed off.

Chaz winced. "He'd be squished like a bug. Even in Sylia's hardsuits you don't want to stay within grasping distance." Chaz began to see the problem. Most martial arts depended on moving in on your opponent and then going through an attack pattern designed to keep your opponent off balance. Try that on a boomer and it would rip your arms off. They ignored all but the most critical damage and they didn't feel pain. Hit one and it would keep reacting as if nothing had happened. Follow throughs were only good against a boomer when you had heavy momentum or major firepower neither of which most conventional suits had. "So what are you going to do?"

Linna shrugged. "I don't know. Sylia taught us the hard way. I don't have the time to wait for him to heal. If a job comes up in the middle of a class, I need to be able to drop everything in his lap and go." She leaned up against the table. "What I really need is a cyborg. That way he can learn how useless his normal attacks are against something that can just stand there and take the damage while still dealing with him." She sighed. "But, I don't know any that would hire out for something like that and I'd be worried about pushing them over the edge."

Chaz laughed. "What about me? I'm a lot stronger than any conventional cyborg. I could probably take him on in his powered armor and win. To make it fair all I have to do is limit myself to normal human reaction time." Seemed like an obvious solution to him.

Linna leaned forward. "You'd do that for me?" She asked earnestly.

Chaz tried to ignore the look down her blouse she was giving him. "Sure. Just tell him I'm a cyborg." The only people that knew Linna was in the Knight Sabers were the Chang family. "But, it's only for this one student okay? I'm not going to do this regularly." Hmm. . . Black silk. Mentally slapping himself he dragged his mind and eyes back to the conversation.

Linna jumped off the table and wrapped her arms around his head. "Thank you Chaz! This means a lot to me."

Chaz wasn't certain what to do at this point. If he shoved her away he might hurt her feelings. On the other hand if Priss saw him with his nose in Linna's blouse she might not be very understanding. The mental image of an enraged Priss decided him. Reaching up he gently untangled her arms from around his head. "No problem Linna. Anything for a friend."

Linna stepped back a little awkwardly. She was so demonstrative that she sometime forgot how much it could embarrass other people. She hung her head. "Sorry. I didn't mean to get carried away."

"Don't worry about it. I liked it." He smiled. "If I wasn't involved with Priss. . ." He let the sentence go unfinished. He decided to change the subject. "Are Mackie and Nene still in the computer room?" Linna blushed. "I see that they are," he chuckled. "So much for our outing tonight." He shrugged. "Probably just as well. Priss is likely going to be coming home tired tonight."

Linna's eyes widened. "You mean she stays here every night?"

Chaz rolled his eyes meaningfully. "I wish. You know Priss is too independent for that," he said ruefully.

Linna nodded. As far as she knew this was the first time since the Knight Sabers formed that Priss had a relationship of any kind. "I suppose. It's just the way you said that."

Chaz blushed. "I'm going to have to watch the way I think about her more carefully. I think. . . What?" he said as he caught Linna staring at him.

She smiled. "I've never seen you blush before. You really like her don't you?"

Chaz ignored the electronic laughter in his head. "Yeah, I do." He took a deep breath. "I just wish I knew how serious it was for her. It seems like every time we start to get close she does something to keep me at arms length. In many ways we're too different. If we want this relationship to last she can't keep doing that." He smiled briefly. "You know, I never used to blush. Now, unless I turn my skin darker or consciously override it the AI assumes I want the full range of facial expression."

"Have you tried talking to her about it?" Linna asked ignoring the attempt to sidetrack the conversation.

"Yeah. It's usually about that point that she changes the subject. I just don't know what to do. I really like her, but she seems unwilling or unable to move the relationship further." He shrugged. "She won't open up at all. At first I thought it was just me." He looked pointedly at Linna. "But, she's the same way with everyone. I know more about how Sylia thinks for god's sake. At least she's consistent."

"You know Priss loves you don't you?" Linna asked softly.

Chaz nodded. "Uh huh. But, that's not the same as being in love is it? No matter how she tries to hide it even a blind man could see that she cares about all of us. I think we're the only family she has. When she's around her band she talks about everything but herself. They know even less about her than we do. I don't mean her history. I know that well enough. I mean what's inside. The more I think about it the more I realize she's like me."

"What do you mean? You're very open about yourself," Linna asked puzzled.

Chaz smiled. "Everyone in the Knight Sabers has seen me at my most emotional. That's partly because of what happened. My life fell apart and the glue still isn't dry. Usually I'm MUCH more reserved."

Linna patted his hand. "I like that you're so open. I'm not sure how I'd handle it if you suddenly clamed up the way Priss does."

"Don't worry. It's not like I have anything to hide from you anymore. I'll just tend to be a little quieter that's all."

Linna didn't say anything. She'd gotten used to talking to Chaz. He always seemed to care. She wasn't sure she'd like it if he changed. She shrugged mentally. No use borrowing trouble. He might not change. "I hope not. You're one of the few male friends I have. It's tough to talk to anybody outside of the Knight Sabers about anything. Somewhere along the line they just. . ." She shrugged helplessly.

"I know. You don't see things the same way. To most people GENOM and the Chang Conglomerate are just multi-nationals. Being in the Knight Sabers gives you a much deeper look into the way the world works. It's tough to talk to people who can't see past the surface. That's probably why none of Sylia's rules work very well. If we followed them completely we'd be cut off from everybody including each other."

"Exactly. They just don't seem to see what's important." She paused. "Chaz, I'm going to tell you something I never thought I'd hear myself say." She leaned forward and looked him in the eye. "I would rather give up dancing forever than leave the Knight Sabers. What we do is too important. Right after you had your 'accident' Sylia hacked into the AD-Police database to destroy Nene's records. While she was in there she downloaded some statistics on the attack." Chaz nodded for her to go on. "There were an estimated 850 people killed in the rampage and the fires not including the ADP personnel that got killed."

Chaz looked at her in shock. "How many wounded?"

"Over four times that. But, that's not the important point. The report also gave estimates of the number of deaths that would have resulted if we hadn't stopped them. Assuming that USSD would arrive within twenty minutes there would have been another 1,000+ people killed. Neither of them had really used their missiles until you arrived. If they arrived later the estimate starts jumping. If they had arrived when we did the boomers would still probably have killed another hundred or so."

Chaz was speechless. He hadn't realized how many had been killed.

Linna smiled. "I guess I'm lucky. I get to do what I love and I make a difference. How many people do you know that can say that?"

Chaz returned the smile. "Not many. But if I want to continue to make a difference I have to finish getting this work done."

Linna took the hint. "All right. I'll let you get back to work. If you want to talk later I'll be in the situation room."

"Thanks for the talk Linna." Chaz said gratefully.

She turned and grinned. "What are friends for?"

Upstairs Priss stepped away from the intercom. Now what was she going do? First, she had better go back to the door before Linna came upstairs. She grabbed her helmet from the table and started walking. What the hell was she supposed to do now?

Chaz reached up and ran another test cycle. Hmm. Still only getting half the feedback he should be getting. Where the hell is the problem? Must be a software/hardware conflict. Bringing up the configuration system he changed a couple of the default parameters. Okay. Now let's see what we've got. A smile slowly spread across his face as the diagnostic and interpretation systems read 100. Excellent. Only took half an hour too. Reaching for the sealing tool he closed the panel. Just three more systems to check out and he should have a hardsuit again. He couldn't wait. He wanted to knock a boomer into next week. A noise from the stairs distracted him from his reverie. Boots. Slow steps. Swish of hair. Kevlar against leather. Sometimes he could beat the AI to the punch. "Hiya Priss." He turned around. The smile on his face slowly faded. Priss didn't look like her normal self. "Something wrong hon?" Priss flinched. Oh shit. That's a bad sign. He reached over and shut down the testing apparatus. "What is it?" He asked as he waved her to a seat on the table.

Priss didn't sit down. She reached over and set her helmet on the table. What was she going to say now? With an effort Priss forced a smile. "It's nothing. So. . .are we still going out tonight?"

What's eating her? Obviously something she doesn't want to talk about now. Leave it alone for now Chaz. "Sure we are. In fact, if you're up for it, Nene and Mackie want to double with us."

Priss felt the clamp around her chest loosen. Rouge boomers and street thugs she could handle easily. But she'd never felt comfortable talking about how she felt. With Mackie and Nene along she wouldn't have to deal with this now. "Great!" She said with more enthusiasm than she felt. "Where are they now?"

Mackie was in bliss. Nene seemed to be determined to keep him in here all night. He didn't mind. He'd been holding her for hours now. She'd almost dozed off at one point. He smiled. everything was right with the world.

Chaz gently put a finger over Priss's protesting mouth. "Shh." He quickly tapped in his access code and pulled the door quietly open. Creeping in Priss and Chaz worked their way up behind the chair. Mackie seemed oblivious to everything. Nene was curled up in his lap with her arm around his waist. She looked like she was sleeping. Chaz and Priss turned to each other and winked.

"What are you two doing?" They both yelled simultaneously. The reaction was everything they could have hoped for. Nene's and Mackie's eyes popped open and they immediately lost what little wits they had about them. Nene began to explain how she was in here working on her new body. Mackie tried to explain how he had only been helping.

"You were helping Nene with her body?" Priss came in quickly. "My, It seems that this relationship is progressing quickly."

Nene blushed and Mackie began babbling incoherently about the upcoming surgery.

Chaz and Priss couldn't contain it. With a burst the laughter poured forth. "Relax," Chaz soothed. "We were only kidding. Whatever you two do is between yourselves. I just came up to ask if we were still on for tonight."

Mackie blinked. He'd forgotten all about that. "Sorry. I forgot. Have you two been waiting on us?"

Priss pulled at Chaz's arm. "What were we supposed to do tonight?"

"Nene and Mackie are heading to the US for a month for her nano-plas remember? They wanted to go out to the theater with us tonight."

Priss smiled. "That would be GREAT! What did you have in mind?"

Mackie looked glum. "We were supposed to take you and Nene to La Maison Rouge and to that Gilbert and Sullivan play. I forgot to get the tickets though." He leaned back against the computer.

Nene frowned. "Is that what you came to talk to me about when you came in?"

Mackie scratched his head sheepishly. "Yeah. Guess I got distracted," he said with an impious grin. Nene stuck out her tongue.

Chaz smiled. "Not a real problem. You just leave it to me. Everyone hurry up and get ready. We have to be out the door in fifteen minutes to make the curtain."

Nene and Priss left to get changed. Mackie crept up to Chaz. "What about the tickets?"

Chaz frowned down at Mackie. His voice dropped into a parody of a Mexican accent. "Teekets? We don't need no steenking teekets." He laughed at the teenagers' shocked expression. "Don't worry. I'll take care of it. Go on and get changed."

Chaz smiled, as he got ready to go. Say what you like me boy, this body has some definite improvements over the old one. He looked in the mirror. Black leather boots surmounted by black slacks and a black silk shirt. Reaching down he picked up the black leather jacket. Despite Priss's trying to talk him into a fancier one he'd bought the plainest one they had. Perhaps the sunglasses were a bit much. Nah. Just one more thing. Reaching into the back of his dresser he pulled out a plain metal rod. At least to anyone else it was a plain metal rod. In his hands it was one of the best hand weapons in the world. With a quick movement he shoved it into his inside pocket. If Sylia ever found out he'd this made she'd kill him, then she'd kill Mackie for designing it. He was supposed to have been working on nano-tank mechanics at the time. On the other hand if he needed it he was in pretty big trouble anyway. Whistling, he left the dark room behind him.

"You want me to sit where?" Nene was flabbergasted. Riding on a motorcycle when you were in a hardsuit was one thing. Without was another. "No way."

Chaz was getting irritated. He looked over at Priss as she helped Mackie get on behind her. Leaning over he whispered in Nene's ear. "Get on the bike Nene. You'll be fine. Unless you'd rather ride with Priss?" He left just enough undertone in the question that the threat was clear. NO-ONE in their right mind wanted to ride behind HER. Mackie didn't know what he was in for.

Nene thought about it. Priss's bike driving was legendary. On the other hand so were her accidents. "Why aren't you wearing a helmet?" Nene asked as she got on behind him.

Chaz shrugged. "In the first place, a helmet for me is superfluous. The subdermal armor and my ceramel skull are a lot stronger than the material in the helmet. In the second, my brain isn't in my head." He started the engine and raced the motor. "In the third, I like the feel of wind against my face." He turned to grin at her. "And last, you're wearing mine." With that he gunned the engine and released the clutch. With the squeal of grip-tite on concrete, the bike sprang like an escaping animal from the garage.

Nene held her breath as the motorcycle hit the freeway. Chaz turned and smiled at Priss. With a conspiratorial grin they raced the motors. Nene felt a cold chill run down her spine. With a roar the bikes accelerated to their maximum speed. Cars on either side turned into multi-colored streaks as the seriously overpowered bikes flew by them. Nene leaned around Chaz and into the slipstream to look at the speedometer. God they were going almost 150 km/hr! She turned to look at Mackie. His head was stuck out around Priss as he watched the traffic whiz by. Nene risked a look down at the pavement whistling by and immediately clutched tighter to Chaz. She heard his calm voice from the front. "Relax Nene. The odds of us getting in an accident are practically zero. I can make this bike stop on a five yen piece and turn on a fifty." Nene tried to relax. He was right. There were unlikely to be any safer drivers anywhere. His reflexes and sensors made him about as good as you could get. Still, she would be glad when the ride was over.

Chaz opened his com-link to Priss. "We've got to get over. The next exit is the one we want." Priss didn't answer she just lifted her thumb and pulled over. Somewhere behind him Chaz could hear a siren. He smiled. It was probably the highway patrol trying to catch up to the reported speeders. No, the pitch was too high. He frowned and glanced in his mirror as they pulled into the cloverleaf. Shit! It's Leon! "Priss. We've got a problem. Leon is coming around the bend. If he sees you he's going to try to find out who you're with. That will link you to Mackie. If he sees Nene it'll be worse." That's an understatement. Wish he'd thought of that before they'd left. The quickie makeup job Priss had given Nene would fool people who just seen a picture but anyone who knew her well wouldn't be fooled. The two motorcycles leaned into the turn and began slowing down to city speed. Leon sped by them siren still blazing. That was close. Wonder where he's going? Chaz shrugged and parked the bike. Nene hopped off before the kickstand hit the ground.

"No offense." She said as she took off the helmet, letting her brown dyed hair fall. "But, I'm taking a taxi home."

Chaz smiled. "I don't think so. Cabbies are required to report fugitives you know and you just missed Leon going past. Imagine what would have happened if you hadn't been wearing the helmet." He grinned at her pained look. "Just kidding. If it came to that I'd knock him out until you could get out of sight." He reached down and flicked on the bike alarm. The silent alarm would release the most devastating anti-theft device in the world. Him. It was keyed to alert his AI. "Let's go. The curtain goes up in ten minutes."

Mackie turned to look back as they walked through the door. "How the hell did you get us in?" He whispered. Chaz had just gone up to the window and whispered for a few seconds. Then they had been given the red carpet treatment. Mackie hadn't thought Chaz was the threatening type. Must've used his neural stimulator.

Chaz smiled enigmatically. "I pointed out that we did in fact have perfectly valid tickets."

Mackie was puzzled. What did he mean they had tickets? The box office had a Sold Out sign posted and Chaz couldn't have ordered the tickets from home in the time he'd had.

"I then handed over four man-yen bills," Chaz continued.

Priss leaned over. "You mean you bribed him?" Just when she thought she had an idea of how his mind worked, he'd pull something like this.

Chaz grinned again. "Shh. It's starting."

Leon was pissed. He'd gone through Daley's things parceling out those that were supposed to go to other people, until he'd hit the pocket recorder. The date and time left no doubt as to when the message was taken. He'd tracked the serial number to GENOM. That was the point at which he'd run into a wall. Within minutes of asking for information on the serial number he'd been called into Fujiura's office. The pressure obviously hadn't been applied from above. GENOM had the man in their pocket. Leon had been told in no uncertain terms to drop it. No reason given. The asshole didn't even try to defend the action. He'd just stared at him and asked him if he wanted to resign. Bastard. Then he'd had the gall to send him out on a routine rogue boomer. A stupid serving unit for Christsake! He pounded the steering wheel until he regained control. It wasn't over yet. There were other people who could help with this. All he had to do was find them. GENOM had gone too far this time. They were going to pay.

Chaz stepped out into the cool November air. "So what did you think?"

Priss laughed. "That was hilarious. I especially liked the pirate king. I haven't laughed that hard since we had to pry you out of the simulator."

Chaz made a face at the memory. Even looking back it didn't seem funny. He was, however, in the minority opinion.

Nene and Mackie walked out arm in arm. "What about Frederick?" Asked Nene. "I thought he was cute."

Chaz and Priss gave her a raspberry. Priss grabbed her helmet. "The guy was a doof who knew people were taking advantage of his sense of duty and wouldn't do anything about it. He should have either left or fought. Instead he waffled."

Nene pouted. "I still thought it was noble."

Chaz tossed Nene the helmet. "Sorry Nene I have to agree with Priss. The guy was a neo-maxi-doomed-dweebie. No sense of morality just a sense of duty. I on the other hand liked the police chief. An honest coward who did what he thought was right despite himself."

Mackie grinned at him from under his helmet. "I liked him too. I really liked the line about 'How we should have thought of that before we joined the force.' It was hysterical." He'd especially liked how Nene held on to his arm throughout the performance.

Chaz smiled. "I know what you mean. That was one of my favorite lines when I saw it for the first time."

Priss raised an eyebrow. "And how many decades ago was that?" Not waiting for the answer she jumped on her bike.

Chaz started to answer. When his attention was dragged to the side. Four men were approaching. None of them looked particularly social. They looked in fact like your typical street gang. In order to get out of the parking lot they would have to go right by them. From the way they carried themselves Chaz could guess what would happen when they did. Waving Nene to stay on the bike he got off and approached them. Behind him he could hear Priss getting off her bike. He turned and waved for her to stop. The AI almost didn't catch it in time. The baseball bat would have caught a slower man. Chaz ducked slightly and the aluminum club swished harmlessly past. It couldn't have hurt him much but you didn't take chances. Spinning he scanned the quartet. Fuck. Goddamn cyborgs. Cheap equipment too. Probably one step from cyber-psychosis. "I take it that the time for talking has passed." The question was rhetorical. He didn't really want to hurt them, but it looked like they were determined to be a nuisance. He heard Priss running up behind him. "Priss don't!" he yelled over his shoulder. Too late. She sprang at the leader with her knife outstretched in her fist and a growl in her throat. The blade caught on the cyborgs kevlar coat and he casually picked her up with one hand.

The leader loomed over the slightly smaller bioroid, an ugly, unfixed puckered scar drawing his mouth up into a sneer. "Tell you what little man, leave the bikes and the girls to the Cybernetic Tigers and we'll let you go." Chaz looked at the hulking brute. He stood almost two meters tall; only twenty centimeters taller than himself. Probably spent all his money on myomered muscles and a reinforced skeleton. Priss struggled and swore as she tried to hit the man holding her. One of the other cyborgs started to move towards Nene and Mackie. Chaz looked up at the leader, a rictus like grin beginning to spread slowly across his face. "I'll make you a counter offer. Drop to your knees and beg forgiveness and you walk out of here alive." The big man snarled and made a grab for him. That's it. Chaz dropped and rolled at the cyborg holding Priss. "You first buddy."

Mackie took Chaz's drop and roll as a cue to start moving for the nearest gang member. This should be no problem. Using Chaz's bike as a springboard Mackie flipped his legs up and over to land on the thug's head. With a crash the hood hit the ground. Mackie stepped off the body. "All right. Who's next?" Behind him he heard Nene cry out a warning. The thug had shrugged off the blow and gotten to his feet. With a snarl he launched a kick at Mackie's gut. Mackie dodged back in time to avoid the cracked ribs the blow had promised. The heel clipped him and sent him stumbling back. Laughing evilly, the thug walked over to finish the job.

Chaz came up out of the roll quickly and punched heavily into the cyborgs chest. With a crunch, the cyborgs reinforced ribcage collapsed. The stricken thug's eyes widened in pain and disbelief. With a gasp he dropped Priss. Chaz picked up the incapacitated fighter by his shattered sternum and heaved him at the leader who was moving in. "Priss, give Mackie a hand." Stepping up to the leader, who was struggling with the body of his confederate, Chaz launched a kick into the formerly arrogant leaders gut. Squeaking and gasping the leader went down. That should finish that. Turning to the third thug he found the man just standing there. What the hell? Belatedly his AI informed him that the 'man' was a C-39 one of the oldest bodyguard boomers around and an early precursor to the C-55. Chaz smirked. Great! I don't have to deal with it. It probably won't do anything if it's not ordered to. With a croak the leader ordered the boomer to attack. Chaz's grin turned sour. Ho boy.

Mackie rolled to the side in a desperate effort to avoid the cyborg's dive. This was getting serious. Without a weapon he didn't have a real chance of doing this monster any real harm. Mackie flipped to his feet and repeated his double foot attack to the boomers chest. Pain sprang up his legs as the thug brought its arm down hard, deflecting the kick and nearly snapping Mackie's leg in the process. Mackie suppressed a yell and fought off the haze of pain. That hurt! Gritting his teeth he rolled with the blow once again came to his feet and faced off against his opponent. With a grin he saw Priss coming up quietly behind the cyborg, twenty centimeters of gleaming, razor-edged steel held lightly in her hand.

Where was the damn thing? Nene thought as she frantically searched Priss's bike. She knew Priss never went anywhere without her gun. It may not be able to kill a C-55 but it would sure as hell intimidate these guys.

Chaz grabbed the boomer's hands as it came forward. This model apparently doesn't break out of its skin, he noted idly. Its claws looked deadly enough though. Chaz grinned. Not as nasty as his. With a bit of a strain he picked up the boomer and tossed it into the sky. With a crunch the packed gravel under him gave way and he sunk a quarter inch into the parking lot. The passage through the rock-covered ground tore the fine leather of his boots leaving him standing on soles barely connected to the rest of the boot. Shit. Those boots had cost a fortune. With a growl of anger he watched the boomer hit the top of its arc ten feet up. With a movement too fast for most people to follow he swung at the descending boomer. The near-mindless combat-droid ignored the damage and leapt to resume the fight.

Chaz's angry growl grew to a roar. Extending his claws fully, Chaz did a crotch to chin swipe that eviscerated the boomer. The boomer dropped, twitching to the ground. As suddenly as the anger had come it was gone. He casually nudged the carcass as he walked away. Hmm. Now I see why GENOM discontinued that line. No armor, medium strength and no heavy weapons. If he'd tried that with a C-55 the claws would have broke.

Kira walked over to the boy, his cybernetic parts operating smoothly and powerfully. What a joke; normals trying to take on the Tigers. He stood over the boy. "Had enough punk?" the big man asked. The boy smiled and pointed behind him. The cyborg froze. Implants or not, a knife at one's jugular vein tends to have that effect. How the hell had the bitch gotten away from Mike? "You better put that knife down before someone gets hurt girl," he bluffed. The pressure on his throat went up. A thin, cold sweat started running down his neck. The voice from behind him was clear and ice cold. "You're right. Someone might get hurt. That someone is you." It's difficult to distract a man with a knife at his throat. The sound of the cannon going off in the small redhead's hand was just enough to do it.

Chaz dropped the weakly struggling leader at Priss's feet. "I think there's something you wanted to say to these people."

The leader looked around in a panic. Everybody was down. Mike was curled around his broken ribs, a gleam of metal and ceramic showing where one had broken the skin. Kira had a cannon leveled at his head. The boomer was twitching but was obviously in no shape to help. Gasping for breath he turned his face to the couple standing over him. Who were these people? The man looked lenient. The girl with the red eyes looked ready to kill. Throwing pride to the wind, the leader of the infamous Cybernetic-Tigers began to grovel for his life.

Chaz finished pulling on his new boots. A little loose but otherwise decent. "What do you think Priss?" He asked displaying his new finery.

Priss, still counting the money, glanced over briefly. "Not bad." "You know something?" she said as she finished the count. "It's guys like that give gangs a bad name."

Mackie and Nene looked up from their new car. "You mean they had a good name?" Mackie asked sarcastically as he closed the hood.

Priss frowned but decided to ignore the teasing. "What I meant was that those guys had more than enough money. They were just going to rob us for kicks. They probably were hoping to hire themselves out to a yakuza group as muscle." She shook her head. "I don't know ANY oyabun stupid enough to hire guys like that."

Nene smiled. "I'm sure they would MUCH rather hire someone like you Priss." She laughed at the look on Priss's face and turned to Chaz. "I still liked the way you left them naked in front of the police box."

Chaz bowed. "An artist always likes to be appreciated." He paused thoughtfully. "I think Priss's idea was better though."

Mackie frowned. "Even they didn't deserve that." Stripping them naked and leaving them for the police was justice. Leaving them naked in front of the nearest yakuza building would have been murder.

Priss slowly grinned. "I just thought we should let them know what it felt like." Although, she admitted, it may have been the last thing they felt. She dismissed the thought. "What did you do with the boomer anyway?"

Chaz looked up from his new boots. "That? I cut it up and dropped it down the sewer. Why?" He hadn't wanted any evidence of how he'd destroyed it lying around.

Priss grinned. "Just checking to make sure you got rid of it."

Chaz ignored the subtle dig and looked over at the cash. "So how'd we make out?" Priss had nearly choked when they had gone through the thugs' wallets.

Priss fanned herself with the sheaf of bills. "Almost eight-hundred-thousand. Those jerks obviously didn't believe in banks. Together with the car I'd say we cleared almost a mil and a half." She smiled. "Not bad for an evenings work. With my share I should be able to get my bike out of hock."

Chaz turned to look at Mackie and Nene. "You guys just wanted the car right?"

Nene nodded. "You bet. With this Mackie and I won't have to ride behind you two maniacs anymore."

Mackie had his own feelings about riding behind Priss but wisely kept quiet.

Chaz put on his best hurt look. "I am NOT a maniac. I'm a very considerate driver who cares about the well being of his fellow motorists." The look changed back to his normal Cheshire cat grin. "I just do it a lot faster than others that's all."

Priss sighed. Ever since she'd shown him how to ride competently he'd been an even worse speed demon than her. Than again he could afford to be. It would take a major accident to do him any real damage. She stood up. "Well if we're going to eat we'd better get going. La Maison Rouge is out anyway. There's no way we can get a table this late."

Chaz hooked a leg over his bike. "Who's up for take out? I'm buying."

As they finished putting away their meals it occurred to Chaz that the Knight Sabers were a lot like college students. They argued a lot, they drank a lot and they never, ever turned down a free meal. He sighed. He had asked for it after all. He looked down morosely at the bill. He had bought televisions for less. Oh well. He was still ahead for the evening. He looked around. Nene and Mackie were practically asleep in each other's laps. Linna was sitting by the lamp reading and Priss was just finishing her fifth take out burger. He looked up and caught her eyes. "Where do you put it all?"

Priss smiled. "I could say that I have a fast metabolism. But, I don't. I'm just really active." She patted her stomach. "That's just enough to keep me going for the rest of the night."

"Priss. It's two in the morning. What time were you intending to go to bed? I can stay up all night. But you get grumpy when you don't get enough sleep."

Linna looked up from her book unable to resist the setup. "Then she must not get enough sleep almost every night." Ignoring the withering look Priss sent her way, she went back to her book.

Looking back to Chaz's face Priss smiled seductively. "Actually I was thinking about going to bed right now." Just to make her point completely clear she licked her lips.

Chaz hadn't been born yesterday. "Okay." Stepping around the table he picked Priss up and strode off to his room.

Linna shook her head wearily. It was a good thing Chaz lived in the basement, she mused, or Sylia would never get any sleep.

Leon pulled up in front of the shop. The old fashioned, fading neon still spelled out the name. Hmm. Otter must replace it fairly often. Leon got out of the car and set the alarm. In this neighborhood even cop cars weren't safe. Using the light from the sign, Leon made his way down the alley to the abandoned shrine. He wasn't looking forward to this. He hadn't seen her in years. With a grunt of effort he bent down and lifted the trap door in the floor. The stairs were just as depressing as he remembered. Brushing aside old cobwebs Leon continued down. The first time he'd come here was back in 2027 when he and Jeena had been checking on another cop's death; a death that had been partly his fault. Jeena had forgiven him. He'd never quite forgiven himself. Reaching the bottom of the stairs Leon walked towards the blue glow he knew was coming off a monitor. He rounded the corner.

"Evening rookie. Long time." the person in front of the monitor said. Slowly the dark hared figure spun around.

Leon took a deep breath and let it go slowly before replying. "Evening Jeena. Yeah. I guess it has." The silence built.

"What do you want Leon?" Jeena finally snapped out. "You haven't spoken to me since I got kicked out."

Leon's shoulders slumped. "I know. I'm sorry Jeena." He breathed in slowly trying to postpone the moment. "I need help."

Jeena laughed humorlessly and turned slightly back to her machine. "You always did. Actually I'm surprised it took you this long." She punched up a record on the screen. "Your partner got aced over a week ago."

Leon looked over her shoulder and saw the gleaming emblem of the ADP mainframe on the screen. Somehow he wasn't surprised that Jeena had access to the AD-Police database. She'd had a lot of friends when she left. "Jeena. The boomers didn't kill him. There was someone there in a GENOM powered armor setup." Jeena waved for him to go on. "It took almost every favor I had to get that much."

Jeena smiled. "I know. Three of them contacted me to try to find out what I knew. I finally pinned Takezaki down and forced him to tell me who was doing the asking." She stared straight at him. "That's why he was able to tell you. I told HIM." She paused to let that sink in. Her voice softened somewhat, "So the question now is: What are you going to do?"

Leon shuffled his feet. Jeena was the only one who could make him feel like a rookie again. "I was hoping you could put me in contact with the Knight Sabers."

Jeena laughed humorlessly. "Even if I could. What makes you think I would?"

Leon sank back against a cluttered shelf dislodging a couple pieces of kipple. "I've got nowhere else to go. If you can't help me I'm screwed." And Daley goes unavenged he added to himself.

Jeena sat quietly for a few minutes. "How far are you willing to go for this Leon?" she asked softly. "Once you've done this you know there won't be any going back."

Leon knew what she was saying. This was the same way that she'd gotten kicked out. "I know Jeena. If the old chief was still in charge." He shrugged. The old chief would have backed him.

Jeena raised a chromed, metallic hand to her chin. "Yeah. I know." The old man would have ripped apart GENOM tower piece by piece if he'd thought he could and be damned to the cost. She ran an appraising eye over her former partner and finally nodded. "So you're determined to go through with this huh?" Leon nodded. Jeena reached across her desk, pulled a card from under a binder with two fingers and chucked it at him. "Here."

Leon looked at the cream colored stationary that seemed so out of place in the dismal cellar. The card had only a number on it. No name. No address. "Who should I ask for?"

Jeena gave him a tight smile. "You know better than that rookie. The person who answers is the one you want to talk to." She turned back to her terminal. "Good-bye Leon," she said in obvious dismissal.

Leon nodded and started walking out. Behind him he heard her voice once more. "Leon. I'm sorry about Daley." Leon paused and nodded again. Still silent, he finished walking out.

When Leon's steps had faded away a figure separated itself from the shadow. It looked down at Jeena. "You think he'll do it?" He asked.

Jeena didn't look up. "Listen. You wanted a replacement for Nene in AD-Police right? Leon's the best choice. If you don't like my choices than don't ask me for any more help Fargo."

"I get the feeling there's more to this than a job, Jeena." The sandy-hared man replied easily.

Jeena spun in a fury. "Listen, you asshole. I agreed to help you. I've done my part. You better damn well do yours. Now get out!"

"Okay. Okay. I'm going." Fargo brushed off his tan jacket and walked towards another exit. "But, I wonder how your boy will feel when he finds out what this is going to cost him." The sound of a door closing punctuated his last word.

Jeena stroked a hand against her headband. Leon you have no idea what you're getting into.

"Okay Chaz, try it again," said Sylia's voice over the intercom

Chaz, bouncing from foot to foot in his softsuit, grimaced. Sylia had been pushing him every day for weeks to practice with the simulator. He had to admit he was getting better but it was still a royal pain. "Okay Sylia, ready when you are." He called out with an enthusiasm he didn't feel. Every time he faced the damn thing it got better. He didn't know whether it was learning or whether Sylia kept reprogramming it. Probably a little bit of both. She'd stopped letting him seeing his scores and he couldn't practice with the others because it took too long to change the programs. He consciously moved his attention away from the window and to his opponent.

Sylia watched from the opposite side of the window. Hmm. . . might be time to reprogram the simulator again. Chaz's reaction time was decreasing again. She hated having to lie to the rest of the Knight Sabers but she really couldn't let them see this right now. The program switch was actually relatively minor, it was hooking in the extra processors that slowed the startup process. Chaz had outstripped the single combat processor after the first couple days. Pretty soon his reflexes would be down near his theoretical limit. His mind could process data even better but his body couldn't move much faster. She controlled a flinch as Chaz rebounded off the glass in front of her. She'd already had to replace it once. His style was definitely evolving. Much of what he did would have been impossible for any human even in a hardsuit. The most interesting thing was that his skill really wasn't improving. He just kept getting faster. Her analytical mind shrugged. Until he reached his maximum speed his skill probably wouldn't improve much. Every time his speed went up it took one more practice session before he was used to it. Then it would go up again. She looked down at the results terminal. Adjusted level was still six. The human comparison was eighteen. She sighed. It was going to take at least one more processor before he leveled out. At least the simulator wouldn't be damaged anymore. She, Mackie, and Chaz had taken a couple days and reinforced the walls. Now Chaz could bounce around to his hearts content. Her attention was diverted back to a blinking indicator on the monitor. Here it comes. Let's see how Chaz dealt with this. Against her will, the corners of her mouth turned up in a slight grin.

If Chaz had allowed himself to sweat he would soon have been dehydrated. As it was his myomers were actually beginning to heat from the exertion. He wasn't doing too badly though, he'd managed to hit two out of the three target points that had appeared. All he needed to do was hit two more. His eyes widened. "What the hell is this Sylia?" he asked in outrage. The question wasn't quite rhetorical. The damn hologram had split in two. Each was half the size of the original. But if they split up he wouldn't be able to keep track of them as easily. They moved too fast and they only showed up in the human visible spectrum. On the up side though, each of them had a vulnerable point showing. Doing a flip and roll over the head of the top one he swung at the elusive red dot. Damn her to hell! The point had actually moved as he'd swung at it. "That's not fair!" he yelled at the smirking form of his boss. Catching his weight on his arms he rebounded back towards the center of the room. Where the hell did the other one go? He caught the flash out of the corner of his eye just in time to avoid being pegged by a seeking tentacle. Stupid thing was on the ceiling! All right. That's it! The kid gloves are off! If they can cheat so can I. Bouncing off the floor into a back flip he pulled his palms into line and let loose with two carefully detuned laser blasts. The first beam passed neatly through the vulnerable spot of the first. With a chime it dissolved. What? He hadn't really expected that to work. Sylia must have changed the simulation parameters without telling him again. He grinned. Okay let's try it again. He turned his attention to the other one just in time to catch a simulated laser blast from his opponent full in the chest. The opponent dissolved with a buzz that sounded suspiciously like a raspberry. Damn! Still swearing inwardly, he stepped out of the training room. "Well?" he asked in a disgusted voice.

Sylia smiled. "Not bad. You actually managed to get close that time. You're still not dividing your attention enough though. You should have been able to avoid that last shot."

The disgusted bioroid took the comment with bad grace. "Hmp. How long has that particular booby trap been in the system waiting for me?"

"A couple of days," she admitted. "If you had managed to hit them both with your first strike instead of singling one out you wouldn't have had to worry about it."

Chaz was disgruntled. He'd thought he'd done pretty well right up until that last part. "What would you recommend next time?"

"I know this will sound trite. But you have to be prepared for the unexpected. It's usually not the expected that gets you." She smiled to take the sting out. "So what are you going to do with the rest of your day?"

Chaz shrugged. I'm supposed to go to Priss's concert. Until then I don't have any plans."

Sylia nodded as if ticking something off on an invisible checklist. "Good. Then we have time to go over primary AI interface and subprogram integration."

Chaz groaned. He'd thought when he'd first started studying that this stuff was interesting. Now all he wanted to do was chuck the whole thing. He understood the basic concepts well enough, but Sylia was determined that he understand them at the same level she did. Chaz was getting tired of trying to live up to such an impossible standard. What made it worse was that she seemed to expect him to absorb the material at the same rate she did and sometimes got exasperated when she had to go over the material again for the fourth time. His AI memory made it easy to remember what she had said and what he'd read. The problem, however, lay in understanding the material. She seemed to grasp it instinctively. It took him a while to absorb the concepts. With a sigh he watched as Sylia set up the instruction screen. Why me?

Priss was in the middle of her last set. For the first time since she started singing, her mind really wasn't on it. The company had accepted her tape. They wanted her to fly out to the states for a recording session and contract signing. The rest of the band was thrilled for her even though they weren't included in the offer. They hadn't really expected to be. Most of her original band had drifted away a long time ago. The current members were mainly part-timers who really didn't take music seriously.

But Priss wasn't sure just how she felt about it. Most of her life she'd dreamed about this. Now that she had it, she didn't know if she wanted it or more specifically if she wanted it NOW. Taking the contract was almost the same as giving up the Knight Sabers. No. She admitted to herself. It WAS the same. A full contract meant the end of her private life. That much was obvious. Reika managed to keep her secret because the Hou Bang devoted a lot of resources to it and the recording company liked the free publicity that a recluse generated. Priss wasn't willing to do that. She wanted the crowd calling her name. Even if she was willing to go into hiding, it would still mean the end of her membership. She'd be out of Japan for several months a year touring. Breaking a gig like Hot Legs was one thing, breaking a stage engagement with thousands of seats was another. She wondered what she was going to tell Sylia. Hell, what was she going to tell Chaz?

The end of the song came breaking her reverie. Grabbing a quick sip of water from her glass she looked around the bar. Where was he? Oh there he was at the back. Good. She was going to need someone to talk to tonight. Nodding to her drummer she caught the resulting downbeat and rode the surge of music like a pro surfer.

Chaz still felt uncomfortable. After his former persona had 'died' he'd had to be reintroduced to everyone. At least he hadn't had to change the name. Everyone had just assumed that Priss was still getting over her old boyfriend.

The second time was so very different. He never realized how much people reacted to a person's appearance until he'd changed his. Harry wasn't nearly as friendly and the manager seemed downright intimidated by his new appearance. He reached down and sipped his drink. When he'd selected the new body he really hadn't thought about the consequences. Now he was stuck with it. Sylia and Nene had nearly had a fit when he mentioned that he wanted to change to something more neutral. Before he could blend into the crowd. Not anymore. Now no matter where he went, people stared. He wasn't used to the attention and didn't really like it. Not to mention the trouble it caused between him and Priss. Back when he'd had a normal body it had seemed that every woman in the bar had wanted to sit with him. He smiled woodenly to himself. Now that he looked like an Adonis he knew that hadn't been so. It no longer SEEMED like it. Every woman and even some of the more iffy guys DID want to sit with him. Even keeping up a permanent glower didn't seem to slow the onslaught. When he was younger he used to dream about this sort of thing. Be careful what you wish for, he groaned mentally, you might get it. At least the leather jacket and gloves kept the neural stimulator under control. No one could accidentally brush his skin.

He looked down thoughtfully at his drink. Coke. Not even rum and Coke. Just Coke. Alcohol had stopped doing anything for him. Without it most of the drinks just weren't worthwhile. He'd never realized how much alcohol covered up a truly abominable taste. He chuckled hollowly. Twenty-one years he waited to drink. Four years later he didn't want to. Ironic. At least the music was good. Vintage retro-thrash. Which meant, from his point of view, it sounded like the music he'd grown up with. Hot, angry filled with a bass beat that you could feel on your ribcage. Hmm. I should check to see which bands and which songs actually were produced here. It was almost a sure bet they weren't the same. A few AC/DC titles would probably go over well here. With his enhanced memory he should be able to reproduce them. Assuming of course that things weren't the same. He'd ask Priss later.

A hand dropped onto his shoulder from behind interrupted his thinking. He replied automatically. "I'm not interested tonight." The grip increased. With a surge that knocked his chair to the floor, Chaz stood and turned. The man was huge. Why is it he kept running into James Bond's old sparring buddies? Typical street trash. Faded kevlar jeans, leather coat and attitude. No cybernetics to speak of. This guy obviously had absolutely no idea what he was dealing with. "What?" he asked mildly.

The face of the thug underwent a profound change as he tried to deal with the unfamiliar question. Usually by this time a fight was in progress. He finally appeared to come to a conclusion. "Mariko's been telling me all night I should be more like you. I'm going to show her what a real man is like."

Chaz saw Harry coming up from behind but it would obviously be a minute before he or any of the others could make it. The club was too packed. The boomeroid sighed. This evening was getting worse by the moment. He'd almost never had a problem in his original body. Even the first version of the new one hadn't generated as much trouble. Now that he looked like this, it was becoming a regular part of his workout. With a weary note to his voice he advised the behemoth to drop it.

Priss's attention was slightly diverted from her performance by the sound of breaking glass. Without missing a note she let her gaze trace the sound to its source. Of course. She should have known. Chaz, beer streaming down his face, was trying to calm Big John down. John and Mariko hadn't changed their routine in all the years she'd known them. Mariko would pick out a likely looking male usually one who showed a bit of class or money. John would attack the 'man who was making eyes at his woman.' John would then let himself be beaten and thrown out after a brief spat. Mariko would them gravitate to her 'savior'. It would wind up with him taking her back to his place because 'her parents would object.' After that she'd dope a drink and they'd rob the place blind. If it turned out that the drink didn't work then John would get his rematch. That usually ended up with his surprised opponent in the hospital.

Hmm. Didn't seem to be working on Chaz though. The well-built blonde was calmly avoiding the swings, both careful and wild, that John was throwing at him. In a couple of more seconds Harry would arrive. Priss nearly missed a chord trying not to chuckle. John, infuriated at his opponents unwillingness to fight, had missed a wild swing and clipped Harry. That was a mistake. Harry had taken the all Japan full contact championship two years in a row before he got kicked out for steroid abuse. He hadn't lost any skill or speed since then. In fact, it had been argued by those he'd evicted, he'd gotten faster since he got off the boosters. She hid a wince as Harry waded into Big John. Chaz had just stepped back and let the bouncer do his job. Will wonders never cease? Most men with his abilities would have put a guy like John in a hospital at the slightest provocation. She smiled to herself. One of the many reasons she loved him. And that, of course, was one more problem she was going to have to face. Putting everything from her mind she concentrated on finishing up her set.

Chaz settled back in his chair disgruntled. It would be hard for an evening to have a less auspicious beginning. Ah well. Priss's set should be finishing up in a minute or two, then they could talk. He felt another tap on his shoulder. He sighed. "I'm with someone." The beautiful young woman in the skintight jeans slid her hand down his arm to his hand as she sat down. She smiled brightly.

Mariko gave the tall blonde her best impish grin. "If that's true then where is she? Besides, I just wanted to thank you for rescuing me from that brute."

Chaz's ears perked. Just the stress analysis of her voice alone told him that was a lie. But it was a smooth one.

She gently caressed his hand, resisting his small effort to disengage. "My names Mariko. What's yours?" she continued easily.

He smiled. "Chaz. Really. It was nothing. I would have been glad to do it for anybody." Behind the girl's back he could see Priss coming down off the stage. Using a bit more force he finally managed to recover his hand. This should be good. "Actually I really am with someone. She's just busy right now."

Mariko, not used to being turned down, frowned ever so slightly. "What kind of woman would leave her man alone in a place like this?" she challenged.

Chaz grinned. Priss had heard her. With a wave he indicated the fuming Priss standing behind her. "That kind."

Mariko turned like a predator getting ready to fight for prey. Then she caught sight of Priss. "Priss?" she squeaked as the color ran from her face like cheap paint. "Listen Priss. I didn't know." The frightened woman stammered as she got unsteadily to her feet. "Really. If I'd known it was you. . ."

Priss smiled like a cheetah running down prey. "You made a mistake this time Mariko. If he'd hit John." She indicated Chaz. "Your boyfriend wouldn't have gotten back up for at least a week. Now, I think it's time you left." With a look like a cornered mouse Mariko scrambled free of the table and took off into the crowd.

Chaz snickered. "I expected you to come down harder on her Priss."

Priss slipped easily into the vacated chair. "I couldn't be too hard on her. They used to be part of the gang I grew up with." She shrugged. "They just never grew out of it."

Chaz sipped at his drink. "Is that why you left? You just outgrew that kind of thing?"

Priss nodded. "That and I was getting tired of cleaning up the other members shit. It seemed like every time I turned around one of them was getting into trouble." She picked up her glass idly. "Sometimes I wonder what would have happened to me if I had stayed in." She took a big swallow. "How come you ordered Sprite for me?" she asked nearly spitting out the liquid.

Chaz smirked and wagged a finger at her. "Ah Ah. It was either that or Coke. You told me not to let you drink when you were still singing. Remember?"

Priss made a face. "I forgot. But, I really would have preferred the Coke."

Chaz laughed. "I'll keep that in mind." He pushed his barely touched glass across the table. "Here. You can have mine."

Priss grabbed the glass and swallowed deeply. "Ah. That's more like it!"

Chaz sipped at the abandoned Sprite. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

Priss looked uncomfortable. "I really don't want to talk about this in public." She nodded towards the stage door.

Chaz nodded easily and rose from the chair. "No problem. I had a couple of things I needed to talk to you about anyway."

Nene lay in the tank. No matter how many times everyone told her this wouldn't hurt she still had a hard time believing it. When all was said and done this was still a major bit of surgery. With a flinch she felt the nutrient fluid start to flow into the tube. Through the clear plexi-alloy she could see Mackie smiling down at her. Without him she wouldn't have had the courage to get in. She'd been all right up to the end and then had a failure of nerve. Mackie had held her all night while she shook with trepidation and fear. In the morning he'd walked down with her. He'd even promised to stay with her until she woke back up. She gasped a little as the nutrient fluid rose over her face. She knew she couldn't drown but the inborn fears of the body were making it difficult to believe. With a last look at Mackie she closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. A spasmodic cough racked her as the warm heavy fluid filled her lungs. Through the haze of the fluid she saw Mackie still smiling down at her. The next time she saw him it would be with new eyes.

Sylia sat alone in the computer room. All around her screens and computers awaited her attention. For the past several hours she'd sat there not seeing them. The single report still glowing in the screen directly in front of her. Mason was dead. Had been dead for days. She still wasn't sure how she felt. Her first reaction had been rage. She'd wanted to kill him herself. Then came shame at the thought that she was capable of such a reaction. Then had come a kaleidoscope of reactions as memories and feelings mixed. Now several hours later she'd managed to calm herself. The only question now was: what did she do now? The main focus for her rage at GENOM was gone. She could and did hate Quincy but not with the same loathing she'd felt for Mason. Maybe it was for the best. With Mason gone she could keep a clearer head when she thought about GENOM. She did her best to ignore the flash of anger that belied the thought.

"You want to what?" Priss was aghast. "What do you mean you want to try writing music?" Of all the lame-brain and egotistical ideas he'd had. This was, by far, the topper.

Chaz shrugged. "You said that most of the bands I knew didn't exist here. That means that this world never got a chance to hear a lot of the music I grew up with. I just want to try it."

Priss leaned over the table. "And what makes you think that you'll be able to do it?" She hissed angrily. "It's not easy taking a tune out of your head and putting it on paper you know." Even given Chaz's special abilities he couldn't do that. Priss stopped for a moment to think. Could he?

Chaz shrugged. "I'm not talking about making a piece of music from scratch Priss. Most of the work is going to be done by my AI. All I have to do is play back the music in my head. After the AI gets done processing the melody and lyrics I'll just need a little help polishing it." He grinned sheepishly. "I was kinda hoping you could help me with that part."

Priss looked away. "I'm not sure I'm going to be able to," she said quietly.

Huh? "Why not?"

Priss took a deep breath. "EMI offered me a recording contract. I've haven't decided whether to take it or not."

Chaz sat back heavily into his chair. "I don't know what to say. . .I mean they would be fools not to offer you a contract. . .You'd have to leave the Knight Sabers though wouldn't you?" She have to leave you too, the selfish part of his mind added.

Priss leaned forward and put her elbows up on the table. "I don't know what I'm going to do! I can't have it both ways! If I take the contract I'll HAVE to leave the only family I've got. If I don't the chance may never come again. I don't know what the fuck to do!"

Chaz shrugged helplessly. "I don't know what to tell you Priss. This isn't the kind of problem I can really help you with. I'll support you either way. But, I can't pick or even recommend one without it blowing up in my face."

Priss's shoulders slumped. She hadn't really expected him to make it easier for her. "What are you going to do if I decide to take it?" she asked softly.

Chaz looked away from her soul searching eyes. "I.. . . I've got to stay here." His head drooped a little. "I owe Sylia too much to just up and walk away." He forced a small smile. "Besides, I've come to like being a Knight Saber. I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing."

Priss nodded slowly. She could understand that. She loved the adrenaline charge too. Besides what was he going to do in the US? Be a roadie? He could play but he didn't like the stage.

She sighed and sat back against the chair. So those were her choices. She could either give up the Knight Sabers and Chaz or give up her dream. What a fucking choice. "C'mon."

Chaz stood and followed her out of the dressing room. "Where we going?"

Priss shook her hair out as she took off her wig. "I don't care. I just think better on my bike."

Chaz rolled the power on as they raced through the curve. Priss hadn't said two words to him since they'd started riding two hours ago. Absently dodging a slower car he glanced over at her. Was it just his imagination or did it look like she was crying? He didn't dare offer a shoulder to cry on. Priss hated pity. If she needed it she'd ask. So what ARE you going to do if she decides to take the contract? Curl up and die? Why? It's not like you'd never see her. No, actually you wouldn't see her much would you? She'd be wrapped up in her music and you'd be here fighting the good fight. It wouldn't work. Too much stress, too much separation. Nothing to do about it until she decides. A corner of his mind pulled his attention back to the present. Priss's bike was slowing down. Easing up on the gas, he coasted to a stop beside her. "You need to stop for a while?" he asked supportively.

Priss turned a saddened smile on him and gestured to her dash. The electronic fuel gauge read dead empty for both the main tank and the reserve. Thoughts revolved in Chaz's head and quickly came together to form a conclusion. She must have ignored the telltale for over half an hour he decided. Snapping off the power on his own bike and removing his helmet, Chaz dismounted and started to push. A light touch on his arm stopped him. He turned to see Priss, helmet under her arm, looking up at him.

Priss felt the tears welling up in her eyes and for the first time in years didn't bother to hold them back. Wordlessly she leaned against the man she loved.

Chaz just held her. He didn't know anything else he could do. Anything he said now would be a mistake. For, what seemed like hours, they stood there, bathed in the light from passing headlights and streetlights.

Priss slowly pulled away from him and stepped back to look up into his eyes. Her eyes had long since dried and the weariness that follows a great release was beginning to drag her to unconsciousness. Hesitantly her hand reached out and cupped the back of his neck. With gentle pressure she brought his lips down to meet her own.

Sylia looked up from her console and stared into space while she organized her thoughts. She'd been researching the new trends in GENOM for days. Something was very wrong. She couldn't put her finger on it but the feeling was unmistakable. GENOM's ICE made it almost impossible for anyone too break in. But, if you knew where to look you could gather enough secondary data to get a good idea of what was going on in the towers. GENOM was humming like an angry hive. People that lived in the arcology hadn't been as active outside the tower. Those who didn't live in the tower came early and stayed late. But GENOM production hadn't changed or, more specifically, the number of shipments leaving the production facilities hadn't changed. Which raised a question. Why was GENOM stockpiling? Their high turnover was one of the foundations of their financial success. By stockpiling they were losing, according to her admittedly conservative estimate, on the close order of a four hundred million a day. It wouldn't hurt them financially much. But it went against company policy. What made it worse was that they appeared to be stockpiling combat boomers. What the hell was scaring Quincy so much? No-one else had the power to authorize something like this. She chewed her lip thoughtfully for a moment before she caught herself. She hadn't succumbed to that habit in years. She was missing something. Pushing the worry from her head she turned back to her terminal. If there was something out there she'd find it.

Chaz opened his eyes and looked down at the beautiful woman in his arms. For the last time? He didn't want to think so. Priss had been quiet all the way home. She'd parked her bike in the garage and led him to bed. They'd made love in silence and she had fallen asleep still clinging tightly to him. Moving slowly he pulled the blanket up around her shoulders. He watched her eyelids flicker and wondered what she was dreaming about. In sleep her face smoothed and the anger which always seemed to lie below the surface faded. Awake she was animated and gorgeous. Asleep her face took on the features of a slightly mischievous angel. His thoughts surprised him. Why did he love her so much? Despite what he'd said to Linna, he truly did love her more than just as a friend. Practically since the day he'd met he'd been asking himself that. He couldn't just write it off to hormones anymore. What was it someone said? 'Love is when anothers happiness is required for yours. When your life means less to you than anothers.' Certainly by those standards he loved her. Then again he'd come to love all of them. So why did Priss affect him so? Respondeth sayeth not. Sighing he pulled her closer. All he could do is wait and hope.

The old man slowly rolled the trash can to the curb and looked down the street expectantly. 'Any minute now,' he thought. A figure dressed in a skin-tight metallic silver leotard jogged up the street and passed the man who stood watching the fair female form in admiration. Wiping the sweat from her forehead with the towel hung around her neck she continued jogging down the street. The man's gaze followed her form and noted that her backside was in just as good shape as her front. He had been a widower for years but he still appreciated a finely tuned body. His eyes watched her until she rounded a corner four blocks away. Sighing heavily he wrapped his arms around his torso to fight off the cold and walked back to his house. There were good ways and bad ways to start a day. He considered getting up to see a body like that jog by one of the former.

As Linna jogged around the corner she checked her watch. Good she was still ahead of schedule. She only had five more kilometers to go. Her heartbeat was right where it should be and the weather, though a touch cold, was excellent. Smiling she increased her pace a little. On a day like today she felt like she could run forever. Cold air whipped down her throat to her lungs leaving a fresh, clean feeling behind with every breath. It must have been horrid jogging through Tokyo back before they had cheap electric and gasohol cars. The few gasoline engines left were so heavily taxed that they were only used in rare cases.

She finally rounded the final corner and started up the two and a half kilometer hill that led home. She had time to take a quick shower and eat before she had to drive to work. In a couple of weeks she hoped to be able to move closer to the dojo. Granted the area wasn't as nice but the convenience would make it worthwhile.

Clearing the thoughts from her head she concentrated on her lesson plan for the day. She was close to having a big enough core group to take over teaching the beginning students. She wished she could keep the students longer than the few months they were being sent to her for. It was going to be difficult to let the first group go and start from scratch again. On the other hand most of them had made enough progress to guarantee a good reception when the returned to the Hou Bang. Many of them would undoubtedly come back on their own time. Her thoughts were distracted by the familiar sound of breathing coming up from behind. She could slow down but he'd made such a stink about it last time that she'd rather eat glass than do it again.

Keith, dressed in a blue jogging suit, came up slowly on Linna. Three weeks of this and she was still running the pants off him. Gritting his teeth he picked up his pace and drew even with the younger woman. "Hiya Linna. See the old lech today?"

Linna frowned at her student and picked up the pace slightly. "He's not a lech Keith. He's just a nice old man. If he enjoys looking at me enough to come out in the cold then he's welcome to."

Keith shrugged, neither apologizing nor arguing. She'd made it plain enough she didn't care for his jealousy. But he was damned if he'd apologize for the way he was. He noticed he was slipping behind and picked up his pace again. Despite the time they'd spent together she refused to let him too deeply into her life. Friends, yes. Lovers, yes. Anything more? A deep and resounding no. He didn't even know where she went off to. Several times her beeper had gone off and she'd left. Just like that. No explanation, nothing. He'd been in the game too long not to get the hint. Whatever she did on the side was apparently even more dangerous than running a training school for the Hou Bang and it's associates. Which raised other questions he had been unable to get answers to. Setting his teeth he picked up the pace and passed her.

Linna growled to herself as Keith passed her and continued down the street. She could have passed him again and left him eating dust, but she refused to upset her routine for such a macho piece of bullshit. She was beginning to regret making him her co-instructor. He was good. There was no arguing that. But his ego had never seemed to get over the blow of being beaten by her. That was probably why he'd tried so hard and so earnestly to get her to go to bed with him. He must've figured that if he couldn't dominate her in class he'd dominate her in bed. It must've galled him to find out he couldn't do that either. In the past couple weeks his efforts to dominate her had become almost intolerable. In class he was meek as a lamb absorbing earnestly every word she said. Probably planning on using it against her as soon as he thought he could get away with it. Out of class his personality changed to that of a stereotyped sexist male.

Maybe she should allow him to go back to the Hou Bang. He wasn't going to be happy here until he felt he had her under his thumb. She was just going to have to find another co-instructor that was all. Until then she was just going to have to put up with him. One thing was certain though. She was damned if she'd go to bed with him again. She wished she had the kind of relationship the Priss and Chaz seemed to. Despite their personality conflicts they were as tight as could be.

Linna sighed and thought about her friends, her family. She loved them all without reservation. She often wondered if they knew just how much. Even before Chaz had shown up, she had often fantasized about going to bed with her fellow Knight Sabers. Since then he'd just been added to the list. She would trust any of them with her life. Against the standard they set Keith just didn't measure up. Thoughts of her friends pushed Keith from her mind and allowed her to finish her jog with a smile on her face.

Mackie woke and grabbed at the carafe of water sitting next to his cot. Having satisfied his thirst he crawled wearily from his makeshift bed and shuffled over to the bio-sculpt-tank. Deep in the blue-green nutrient fluid and swirling micro-machines he could dimly make out Nene's form. Only a couple of more days he told himself. Sitting back down on his cot he grabbed the sandwich that Irene had left for him last night. Quickly finishing the snack, he grabbed the carafe and finished the remaining water. Place was hotter than Hades despite the air conditioning.

The Changs would have been glad to have him over at their place while Nene's reconstruction was being done. But, he had promised her he would stay by her side until she came back out of the fluid. That she couldn't see him and wouldn't know the difference didn't matter. He'd promised. Giving a sigh, he opened a half-read technical journal and picked up where he'd left off the day before.

Priss curled closer to Chaz and refused to wake up. If she admitted she was awake she'd have to deal with the day and she wasn't quite ready to do that yet. She'd made her decision. It was already killing her, but she'd made it. Her dream could be put off for a while. The reasons she eventually choose had surprised her. It wasn't that what they did was important. It was. But in the end the reason she couldn't leave was she couldn't bear the thought of one of her family dying without her. She felt Chaz shift and pull the covers up over her shoulders. God she loved them! Denying it, even to herself, had become a waste of time. If one of them died because she wasn't there she'd never forgive herself. She clutched the warmth of the love close to her heart. It had been so long since she had loved anyone. What was she going to do about her music though? Having decided it was the second most important thing in her life didn't mean she could ignore it. Maybe Sylia would have some ideas. Smiling to herself she opened her eyes and looked up at Chaz. "Good Morning."