Well, I'm still getting reviews so at least I know there's some interest in this. Thanks again to you reviewers and here's chapter 4.

As they lay in the after-glow, snuggled together on Nene's borrowed long coat on the hard concrete floor, both did their best not to think of the future or the past. For the moment, they clung to the now, just savoring each other's closeness wordlessly. But it couldn't last forever.

Sighing regretfully, Nene said, "Mackie, I have to get up."

"I know," he said in a quiet voice. "I know."

She smiled then, and said playfully, "I don't really want to, though."

He smiled in return, some of his old light-heartedness shining through, and said, "But you have to, right?"

She nodded, and said, "That's right. So! Can we-" and then she stopped abruptly, frowning.

Concerned, Mackie said, "What is it, Nene?"

"Somebody's here," she said in an odd, distracted voice. "Upstairs."

Mackie frowned, and said, "How do you know? None of the alarms have gone off."

She shook her head, and said, "No, they're not inside yet. They just pulled up in front. In a cop car."

Mackie shook his head in bewilderment. "Nene, where the hell is this coming from?"

"From the crow," she said distantly. "Didn't you notice that it was gone? It found one of the air ducts and headed for the roof when we… you know."

He blushed and muttered, "Actually, I was a little too busy to notice where the damn bird was…"

"Well," Nene said mildly, "It's on the roof right now, and there's an ADP road chaser outside. Oh, my God, it's Leon! And Sergeant Major Takashi! What the hell is she doing here?"

"Uh, Nene?" Mackie said in a bemused tone, "Are you telling me you can see what that bird sees?"

Nene nodded slowly, and said, "Oh, yeah. I can see everything…"

In wavering black and white, Nene watched as the two senior ADP officers exited the road chaser, and, oddly, was struck by how small the Sergeant Major seemed. Whenever Nene had thought about her in the past, she'd always seemed larger than life somehow, probably because of the sheer hell she'd put Nene through at the academy, ostensibly for her own good. But now Nene realized that that was just how she projected herself, and, in fact, she barely came up to Leon's chest. In truth, she wasn't much bigger than Nene herself, and though she'd always known that, this was the first time it really registered on her. Just more proof of the changes she'd undergone, she supposed.

Through the crow's eyes she saw them cautiously approach the building, and through it's ears, she heard Leon say, "Huh! Damn place looks even worse than the last time I saw it. Never did figure out who torched it, either."

Takashi nodded, and said, "In this neighborhood, it could've been just about anybody. So you think the arson was connected with the murders?"

Leon shook his head, and said, "Maybe. It happened a couple of months afterwards, just about the time I got pulled off the case. I guess it is a little convenient that the crime scene got sanitized just when the case got back-burnered. Then again, maybe we're just being paranoid. Not everything is a conspiracy."

Ami looked over at Leon and said, "No, not everything. Just the shit you'd least expect."

Leon grunted in acknowledgement, and, as they reached the building, both of them unconsciously moved out of the fatal funnel presented by the gaping bay doors, and fell into a semi-stack against the wall. Leon, in the point position, took a quick peak around the corner of the door frame and grunted again.

"Huh!" He said, "Dark as a damn pit. I can't see a thing in there."

"I told you I'm a fan of what works, Leon," Takashi said, tapping her right eye-socket. "Let me take a look."

Leon shook his head, sighed, and traded places with her. Reaching under her jacket to one of the paired shoulder holsters she wore, Takashi slipped out the Webley and, holding it in a close-in instinctive firing position, peeked around the corner. She took a quick scan of the room, maybe three or four seconds long, and then popped back out. Over her shoulder she said, "Well, it looks empty enough. But I thought I saw something on thermals. Faint, but I'd have to take a closer look to figure out what the hell it was."

Leon nodded, and said, "Well, hell, if it's empty, let's go."

Cautiously, weapons drawn but at a low ready, the two officers entered the building. Nene lost sight of them momentarily as they passed through the door, but with a squawk, the crow hopped from it's perch and glided in through the second door.

Pivoting instantly in the bird's direction, Leon said, "What the hell was that?"

Looking over her shoulder, Ami said, "Huh! Looks like a big damn bird. Probably looking for some roaches for dinner."

Shaking his head disgustedly, Leon said, "Yeah, well, lots of luck to him, then. You find anything yet?"

Moving very slowly and looking around frequently, Ami said, "I think so. Most everything's faded back to ambient temperatures, but there's a patch over here by the back that's just a little warmer than the rest of the floor. If I had to guess, I'd say that somebody spent a couple of minutes on their knees over here, maybe an hour or two ago. Pretty hard to tell, really."

"Damn, Takashi. A couple of minutes a couple of hours ago? Can you really tell that much through that damn thing?"

Frowning, Ami said, "With a little practice, sure. And I've had 'this damn thing' since right after I joined the force, almost eight years now. You remember. All you had to do back then was fill out a wish list for 'personal upgrades', and they'd write it off as a work-related expense. I never went in for a whole lot of that, but some of the guys sure did."

Leon shuddered, and said, "Yeah, I remember. And I also remember how many of those guys ended up in the rubber room. Cyber psychosis is nothing to screw around with."

Ami nodded, and said, "You're not wrong. But a lot of cyber psychosis is in your attitude. As long as you keep your perspective on it, and don't start thinking that a few little improvements make you more or less than human, it's not that big a deal. Or at least that's what my shrink tells me."

Leon snorted, and said, "A shrink? You? And just how many of them have you put in a rubber room over the years?"

Ami raised her eyes heavenward, and said, "Ok, laugh if you want, McNichol. But it works. I've seen it work, for people with a lot more metal and plastic in their bodies than I have. And like I keep saying, I'm a-"

"Fan of what works," Leon finished for her. "Yeah, I got that part. Me, I'd rather just make it or fail all on my own. Once you start putting that shit in your body, where do you draw the line? How much does it take before you aren't human anymore? Or do you give up being human with the first piece?"

"Seventy percent, McNichol." Ami said flippantly. "That's what the boomeroid laws say. But you know that as well as I do."

"Sure," Leon said sarcastically, "Seventy percent. That's a nice, round, politically correct number, isn't it? Do you really believe that shit?"

Ami laughed, and said, "Hell no! I've met people with a lot more cyberware than that who were perfectly fine, and I've also run into guys with a lot less who were complete friggin' psychos. And that's not even dragging boomers into the equation. I know how you feel about them, but over the years I've found that not all of them are as bad as most cops think."

Leon shook his head, and said, "Ok, Ami, this isn't the time or place to be getting philosophical. You see anything else in here?"

Shaking her head, Ami said, "No. If we'd gotten here sooner, there might've been foot- or handprints still visible, but we're too late for that. All I can tell is that somebody was here and now they're not."

"Alright," Leon said, "Then I guess there's no point to sticking around. You feel like taking a little trip tonight?"

Cocking her head slightly, Ami said, "Maybe. What've you got in mind?"

"Well," Leon said, "I thought maybe you and I could take a little stroll down to The Asshole of the World. I guess this place doesn't rate any lower than an armpit, but I'd have to see worse to believe it."

Ami snorted, and said, "Oh, you'll believe it all right. This place is the St. Regis by comparison. And the folks who hang out there redefine the term 'rough crowd'." She paused, and, sighing, continued. "But I don't think there's much point to going down there right now. It's almost morning, and all of the creatures of the night tend to crawl back under their rocks about this time. Besides, if we're planning on running into Moe or Delilah down there, I'd like to be a hell of a lot better prepared. The last time I saw either of them, they were cybered up pretty high, and that was years ago. God only knows what they've had done to themselves since, especially if the blood money for the Sabers hit was as good as I think it probably was."

Leon sighed tiredly, and said, "Well, hell, then. I guess we might as well call it a night. You planning on being in town for a while?"

Ami nodded, and said, "If, by that, you mean, 'will I hang around to take you there', then the answer's yes. I keep a little apartment here in Mega Tokyo just in case."

"Sounds good then," Leon said. "You need to go back to the station, or can I drop you-?" At that point, Leon was interrupted by the buzzing of his cell phone, and, whipping it out he said, "Ah, shit. I guess 'Dad' just figured out we took off for the night."

Pressing the receive key, he put the phone to his ear and said, "McNichol. Hey, what's up Chief. Where am I? And who am I with? Jesus, you make it sound like I snuck out to the school dance or some shit." And then, rolling his eyes, he said sarcastically, "No, Chief, we're not at a school. They're all closed up for Christmas, remember? Yeah, Takashi's here with me. We're down in Timex City checking out some weird shit that went on tonight, that's all. Why? Well, because we're cops, for Christ's sake! Yeah, I know investigations isn't really part of either of our jobs anymore but- Yeah, I know there's a bunch of shit I've got to wade through today. What? The Kurasawa packet? What about it? It was a line of duty death, so his widow gets the death benefit. What's hard about that? What do you mean, inconsistencies! It's friggin cut and dried! You want a friggin' claims investigation! You've gotta be shitting me! Alright, alright! I'll be down there in a couple of hours, and we can hash this out face to face. Yeah, fine, I'll let her know. Later!"

With that, Leon jabbed the end key and, shoving the phone back into his jacket angrily said, "Goddamn it! Can you guess what that spineless little son of a bitch just did?"

Ami shook her head resignedly, and said, "Thrill me."

Indignantly, Leon said, "He just told me that there's going to be an investigation on the Kurasawa claim! You know about that one?"

"Yeah," she said regretfully, "Another poor line trooper who got whacked last week by a kit-bash some asshole set loose, right?"

Leon nodded and continued. "That's right. Left behind a wife and two kids. And now the Chief says he reviewed the packet and found 'inconsistencies'. Bullshit! That rat-bastard just knows that there's no way I'll let him cheat that widow and her kids out of the benefits they're entitled to! He figures that'll keep me so occupied I won't have time for anything else until it's settled, and I'll be damned if he's not right! And then I'm sure he'll find something else to saddle me with after that! Goddamn him!"

Ami put a hand on Leon's arm, and said, "Trust me, I know the feeling. All you can do is deal with the shit, and try to run your own agenda on the side. I've been doing it for years. So what else did the old bastard have to say?"

"Oh, nothing you can't figure out on your own," Leon said with disgust. "Just that he wanted to see you first thing in the morning, and he expected an explanation as to what you were doing working the beat without his knowledge. And that he expected that you'd be on your way back to Kobe shortly after."

"Huh!" Ami said angrily, "That's not damn likely. I used to lock horns with Todo on a daily basis and, like you, I usually walked away with what I wanted. I'll be damned if I'll let this spineless, dickless little piece of dried up shit dictate to me. If nothing else, I've got a hell of a lot of vacation time saved up, and I'd just like to see him try to deny me around Christmas."

Leon shook his head, and, obviously still steaming said, "Well, I guess we'll just see what happens, then. Let's get the hell out of here, Ami."

As the two ADP officers left the garage, slamming the road chaser's doors and burning the tires off loudly, Nene was already getting dressed, an expression of grim determination on her face.

"What is it?" Mackie said, worriedly. "What did you see, Nene?"

Without slowing down, she said, "It was Leon and another senior officer named Takashi. What they were doing together, I don't know, but obviously they were looking for me. I guess I wasn't careful enough to throw two cops with that much experience off my trail. But that's ok. I think this has turned into a windfall for me."

"What do you mean by that?" Mackie said.

"Well," Nene said, "Toward the end, they mentioned the name of a place. The Asshole of the World, they called it. Judging by the name, and the way they talked about it, I'd guess it's somewhere in the Canyons." And then, face and tone hardening, she said, "They said they thought they might run into Moe or Delilah there, Mackie. And, somehow, they've figured out who we were. They said that what happened was a paid hit on the Knight Sabers."

Mackie nodded slowly, and said, "I've always known that's what it had to be. Those bastards didn't just wander in here, and the big black guy, Moe, made that crack about business just being business to him right before he killed Linna. That was the last thing I heard before Delilah dragged me into that damn closet." Then, frowning, he said, "Jesus, Nene. Leon's still trying to solve this thing. I never thought about it before, but with Priss and you… It must have hit him almost as hard as it hit me."

Nene shook her head slowly, pulling on the long coat, and said, "It's gonna get him killed if he's not careful. I don't think he or Takashi realizes what they're up against. From what I've heard, she knows her way around the Outer Districts pretty well, but as tough as Leon is, that's just not his turf. If they go around turning over rocks out there, something bad is gonna happen."

Trying to figure how to put it delicately, Mackie said, "Uh, Nene, I'm not exactly sure how to say this, but what makes you think you'll do any better? Have you ever even been to the Outer District?"

Nene shook her head, and said, "No, and that's not going to help matters any, but let me show you something, Mackie, and then tell me what you think."

Reaching into an inside pocket of the long coat, she pulled out one of the knives she'd taken from the punks on the train, a very well-crafted poly-ceramic survival knife with a seven inch blade. As Mackie stared apprehensively, she placed the tip between her breasts, right on the bullet hole in Mr. Smiley's forehead, and, before Mackie could react, jerked with all her might, burying the blade in her chest. The pain was shocking, but nothing compared to what she'd endured at her murderer's hands a year ago.

Mackie's eye went wide and he lunged for her, screaming, "Jesus Christ!" But as he grabbed a hold of her hands, still on the knife's hilt, she just looked into his eyes and said in a whisper, "Watch."

Bracing herself, she reversed her grip on the knife and, straining, ripped it from her breast. Again the pain hit her, worse this time, and she screamed. But only for a second. Blood gushed from the open wound, proof that her perforated heart still beat, but that only lasted for a second as well. As Mackie stared disbelievingly, the wound sealed up before his eyes, leaving not even a scar to mark it's passing.

Nene wiped the bloody blade on her pants leg, and said, "Do you get it now?"

Mackie shook his head slowly, and said, "Get it? I don't think there's any way I'll ever get any of this, Nene. But I see what you mean. I guess you don't have too much to worry about down in the Canyons."

"Hopefully not," she agreed. "I think I've got defense pretty well covered. But that leaves offense, now doesn't it?"

"What've you got in mind?" Mackie said curiously.

"Well," Nene mused, "I'm a lot stronger than I used to be, I think, but all of those bastards were armored in some way. I think I'm gonna need a can opener of some kind, if you know what I mean. And a much bigger gun than the one I took from those idiots on the train."

Mackie nodded, and said, "I think I can accommodate you on both counts. I haven't been completely idle for the last year, and every damn thing I've done has been done with getting back at those sons of bitches in mind."

Nene smiled, and, coming close, brushed her lips to Mackie's cheek. "My knight in shining armor. Speaking of which, there's something else I wondered about…"

"The hardsuits." Mackie said flatly. "Yeah, I've been doing some work there, too. But most of what I've done is cannibalize parts from the old ones to make something for me."

Nene's eyebrows went up, and she said, "For you? What the hell were you planning, Mackie?"

Mackie snorted, and said, "Probably just about what you are, I guess. I figured I'd just put it on once I'd finished it and go out there hunting them. I never got much past that, but I suppose I'd have been happy to just go out in a blaze of glory as long as I could take them with me."

Nene shook her head, and said, "Well, that doesn't have to happen now. You deserve more than that, Mackie, and once this is all done, you should try to get it. Promise me that."

Mackie sighed, and said, "Alright, I guess. But Nene, I-!"

"Shh." She said quietly, putting a finger to his lips gently. "Don't. Just show me the hardware you've been working on so that I can get going. Like the Sergeant Major said, it's already late, and if I'm going to have any chance of running any of them down tonight, I've got to go soon."

"You don't even know where this place is, do you?" Mackie said.

"No," Nene agreed. "But once I hit the Canyons, I'm sure I'll be able to- persuade somebody to tell me where it's at. If you know what I mean."

Mackie rolled his eye, and said, "Yeah, I think I can guess. Well, come on then. The new armory is this way."

"Great!" She exclaimed, and then said, "Oh! And I don't suppose there's any chance you might have a set of wheels I can borrow?"

Mackie shook his head, and said, "Women! Always wanting something. But yeah, I think I've got something that'll work."

With that, Mackie strode purposefully down the cold concrete corridor, Nene close behind, new determination on his face as he thought of how the equipment he'd labored on was about to be used.