Well, this is it, the big finish! Hope this meets up to your expectations and please let me know what you think, both about this chapter and about the story as a whole.

In the Hong building's basement, things had become even stranger. The walls themselves seemed to be in a constant, writhing, state of motion, and Nene had the queasy feeling that the floor was pulsing under her feet. As she walked down the hallway, passing side doors that she somehow knew didn't conceal her quarry, she could've sworn that, just occasionally, she saw faces in the walls. Or at least parts of faces. And not just static sculptures of faces either. The things she glimpsed from the corners of her eyes moved and twisted and writhed like everything else, and sometimes even cried out in mute agony. Nene shuddered in revulsion, and only hoped that the supernatural abilities she possessed would be equal to taking on the monster at the center of all this.

Finally, she came to a last door, the room housing the building's computer core, according to the sign on it. It figured, she thought.

With a final sigh, she kicked out at the metallic door with her hardsuited foot, intending to knock it from it's hinges. But instead, it crumpled under the impact, snapping with a sound like breaking bone and sprayed a reddish fluid that had to be blood all over Nene's armored leg. From somewhere nearby, there was a shriek of pain, almost human but just odd enough to raise the goose-flesh on Nene's hide.

Frowning, she strode into the room and yelled loudly through the suit's voicemitter, "Ok, Largo, enough of this haunted house crap! In case you've forgotten, I've already been dead once. Kinda' takes the edge off of stuff like this, you know?"

On the opposite side of the room, in a deep pool of shadows that remained strangely dark even in her HUD's multi-spectral mode, Nene heard a slow, deep chuckle. Eyes narrowing, she slowly walked toward the sound.

"Gonna come out and play, Largo? Or Tin Man? Or whatever you're calling yourself now? Or are you just going to keep hiding in the dark?"

Again she heard the soft laughter, and then, from all around her, she heard The Tin Man's voice. "Ah, child," he said. "I knew you'd return sooner or later. You really don't have any choice. But you still just don't understand, do you? You still think this is a fight you can win."

"Huh!" Nene said contemptuously. "I think I've got a pretty good shot. Unless you plan on talking me to death, that is. You've bored me half-way there already, and somehow I doubt you're ready to shut up yet."

Once again the laughter came, and then the voice said, "Touché. But allow me to prove you wrong."

With that, the walls practically exploded at her. It was like the night at Aqua City, only ten times worse. There, at least, there had been room to maneuver. In the cramped basement room, there was none. Still, drawing on her new abilities, Nene managed.

As the whipping tentacles and pseudo-pods groped for her, she dodged and twisted, firing laser blasts and extending Kotetu from it's sheathe to hack like a machete at the vine-jungle of horror around her.

She made slow progress across the room, hacking, slashing and blasting as she went. Finally, nearing the shadowed area, she leveled her laser canon and fired. To her dismay, the blast was swallowed up by the blackness to the sound of more laughter. And then The Tin Man emerged.

The blackness, whatever it was, parted around him, and he stood, sickly pulsing tendrils connecting him to the floor. He turned his metallic gaze on her and smiled a thin smile and said, "Better than I'd thought. But now it's time to end this." And he raised his hand in her direction.

Knowing what was coming, she considered dodging, but there was nowhere to go. Tentacles behind, writhing pseudo-pods and groping hands to the left and right, and The Tin Man in front. And so she charged, flight jets engaged.

The blast hit her full on, shattering sacrificial layers of ceramic-composite armor and her rib-cage as well, but the flight verniers' thrust kept her moving forward. Reaching The Tin Man, she lashed out with a savage yell, hitting him squarely in the chest with a knuckle-bomber strike. The shaped charges detonated on impact, knocking him back with a roar of pain. Looking down briefly at his injured chest, The Tin Man speared her with his shaded gaze and said, "Mortality is such a vulgar state, isn't it?"

Thrown by this non-sequiter, Nene said, "Huh?"

And then, back by the doorway, where the crow sat, watching impassively, a single thin pseudo-pod shot out. The crow cawed loudly and tried to launch itself out of the way, but too late. The slim tentacle, sharply barbed at it's tip, skewered the crow as it took off, darting in and pulling back quickly with a tiny gout of blood. Squawking plaintively, the crow fell and rolled out of sight.

Nene felt something fade inside her, and suddenly realized that her half-healed ribs were healing no more. Looking up at The Tin Man in horror, she said simply, "Oh, no."

Grinning ferally now, he struck her, slamming his fist into her already-wounded gut. What little armor was left there shattered, exposing her midriff, and she felt the impact all the way through to her spine. Blood gushed from her mouth as she folded up around his clenched fist and was thrown backwards to be caught by a writhing patch of tentacles.

Desperately holding on to consciousness, she deployed the suit's ribbon-cutters as well as Kotetu, and slashed out in all directions weakly. But it was no use. Faster than she could cut them, the tentacles re-grew, slowly covering her over and smothering her. As she began to go down under them, breath and sight leaving her, she heard his soft laughter once more from across the room.

And then there was a thunderclap and in a burst of bright light and pain, she was free, rolling to a stop against the nearest wall. At the same time, The Tin Man's laughter had turned into a roar of pain, and looking up through a red haze of agony, she saw that the hole she'd made in his chest had been substantially expanded, apparently by a large explosion. Behind her, she heard a familiar voice. "Leave her alone, you bastard!" Mackie yelled.

Pure terror lanced through her then, not for herself, but for him. With the last of her strength, she forced herself up, first to her knees and then to her feet. Her vision, already clouded with scarlet, dimmed as she stood, and she knew that she was dying yet again. But, she told herself, she'd be damned if she'd let Mackie be hurt or killed for her sake.

"Hey! Tin Man!" She yelled raggedly. "It's not over yet! I'm not quite done."

With that, she ran at him, not really able to call it a charge in her present condition, and he simply stood and let her. Drawing back as she neared, she activated the knuckle-guard system borrowed from Priss's suit, and launched a strike aimed at his grinning face. But in her weakened state, she wasn't fast enough, and his hand darted out, catching her wrist in it's grip. Desperately, Kotetu still extended, she stabbed in with the other hand, but again he caught her arm in his grasp. Flexing his metallic fingers, he slowly crushed the armored gauntlets, and would have broken both of Nene's arms as well if she hadn't lashed out with a sudden rocket-assisted kick to his groin.

The impact was spectacular, and the leg-bombers went off on contact. The Tin Man again roared in agony as his pelvic region disintegrated, both his legs flying off in opposite directions. As he fell, broken now but still terrifyingly strong, he took Nene with him. Grappling with her on the floor, he released her wrists, and locked his arms around her torso. She screamed as he slowly increased the pressure, cracking what was left of the hardsuit's breastplate, intending to crush the life from her as he had Priss a year ago.

Bending close to her agonized face, he hissed, "Unlike you, I'll heal. And even if you'd destroyed this body, I would have continued. I am the Net now. And this is over."

But Nene wasn't quite finished. In a strangled whisper, she said, "You're right, Largo. It is!" And, reaching up, she grabbed his face with her now bare hands, thumbs grinding into his eyes. As before, with Razz, she felt a connection forming, and, grinning wolfishly now, she dove inside.

For the Tin Man, it was over in an instant. There was a blindingly bright flash of light inside his mind, and then a shadow rising out of it toward him. As he watched, rooted in horror, the shadow solidified into a great, black, malevolent bird that snatched him up in it's beak as it soared past. And, screaming, it carried him on into an endless, black abyss of night. Eventually, even his screams faded, and there was only silence.

Back in the basement of the Hong building, The Tin Man's face froze in an expression of terror, mouth open in a silent scream. His arms had released Nene, and were held up, fingers curled in, as if to ward of some unknowable horror. As Nene rolled off of him listlessly, smoke began to pour from The Tin Man's mouth, and the tentacled walls began to sag.

"Nene!" Mackie screamed in anguish, skidding to a halt next to her on his knees. Cradling her head on his lap, he said, "Oh, God! Nene! Can you hear me?"

Her eyelids fluttered weakly, and in a wheezing voice, she said, "I hear you, Mackie."

Tears ran from his good eye and spattered her face as he said, "Nene, you've go to get up! We've got to go! This place is coming apart! And I think whatever passes for The Tin Man's heart is about to go up like a Stateside Fourth of July!"

Trying to draw enough breath to speak, Nene said, "Then get the hell out of here, Mackie. I've done what I came here to do. He's gone, Mackie. Not just here, but everywhere. Or he will be soon."

Eye widening in comprehension, Mackie said, "A virus! You hit him with a virus!"

Nene smiled weakly, and said, "Not exactly, but something like that. It'll propagate out through the Net, taking out all the little pieces of him wherever they are." Pausing for breath, she added on a final note, "Like I said. I'm done."

"No!" Mackie said fiercely, pulling her to a sitting position and then forcing her up with a shoulder under her arm. "I won't leave you here! If you're going to die again, it won't be in this stinking hole next to him!"

Nene cried out feebly as her shattered ribs and ruptured organs shifted inside her, but she didn't have the heart to tell Mackie he was killing her even faster by moving her like this. Instead, knowing now that he'd sit here and die with her rather than leave her, she did her best to help him. She hit the hardsuit's emergency release, dropping what was left of it, and supported as much of her own weight as she could, managing to stumble along beside him. As they rounded the doorframe, she spied a familiar black feathered shape, huddled on the floor in a slowly growing pool of blood. The crow, still clinging to life, looked up at her and squawked weakly.

"Hold up," Nene whispered. "One more passenger to pick up."

With that, she bent down, pain lancing all through her as a result, and scooped the crow up in her hand. It came without protest, and just hunkered down against her skin-suit clad breast as they slowly limped out of the building.

Nene found herself drifting in and out of awareness, so she wasn't really sure how long it took to reach the tractor-trailer, but when Mackie tried to talk her into using the auto-doc in the back she just shook her head and said, "We don't have time for this, Mackie. Just help me get into the cab, and let's go."

Protesting loudly, he did as she said, and, sliding over into the driver's seat, started it up and gunned it. As they rumbled away from the Hong building, it seemed almost to melt behind them, slowly folding in on itself and sinking toward the ground. Finally there was an eye-searing flash, and a rolling peal of thunder. Where the Hong building had stood there was only a crater, curiously shaped, if seen from above, in the outline of a great, dark bird.

When they finally arrived at the destination Nene had requested, the night was almost over. The sky had gone from black to that deep purple that presaged dawn, and there was already a hint of brightness on the eastern horizon.

As they rolled to a stop at the gates of the Yokohama Cemetery, a guardian boomer, one of the user-friendly, humaniform models, stepped from it's post to the driver's side of the big rig. As Mackie rolled down the window, it addressed him, saying, "I'm sorry, sir, the cemetery is currently closed. Visiting hours are from sunrise to-"

But, leaning over him, Nene said in a whisper, "Official business. Police officer needs immediate access. Code 3423-74-ADP187."

The guardian-type paused for a second, and then said, "Code accepted. Access granted. May I be of further assistance, officer?"

"No," she wheezed, "Just continue your duties."

"Thank you, officer," it replied. "Have a good evening."

"Huh." She said, smiling weakly. "Yeah, I think maybe I finally will." And then, to Mackie, "Will you help me?"

Tears flowing freely, Mackie said, "You asked me that a couple of nights ago Nene. I said yes then, and I won't let you down now."

Exiting the cab, he helped her drag herself out, noticing how pale and cold she was. As if reading his thoughts, with a slight smile she said, "Shock, that's all. It happens when you've got multiple fractures and massive internal bleeding. But it'll be alright soon."

Mackie shook his head and held back a sniffle.

As he got her to the gate, she said, "I think I can make it the rest of the way on my own, Mackie. You'd better check on Leon and Ami. They've been awfully quiet back there."

He smiled wanly, and said, "Large doses of barbiturates will do that to you. But they'll be fine, I'm sure. They're both too damn mean to die."

She nodded thoughtfully, and said, "Mackie, when this is over, do something for me."

Frowning, he said, "Is this some kind of last request, Nene?"

"In a way," she said slowly. "In a way."

"Well, ok," Mackie said, curious. "What is it?"

Drawing a wheezing breath, she said, "Get a hold of Vision. You know, Reika Chang? Irene's sister?"

Frowning again, Mackie said, "I know who Vision is, Nene. But why do you want me to get a hold of her? What do you want me to tell her?"

"Tell her," Nene said, smiling, "That you need her. Tell her that the Knight Sabers need her."

Bewildered, Mackie said, "Tell her what? Nene, the Knight Sabers don't need anybody now. They're gone."

Nene shook her head slowly, and said, "That's just it, Mackie. We're gone, but Mega Tokyo still needs the Knight Sabers. Can you deny that after tonight? Think about it."

Eye widening in comprehension, Mackie glanced back at the tractor-trailer and then back at Nene, and said, "You mean- me? And those two?"

Nene nodded, and said, "And Vision. Or, if she doesn't want to do it, get Daley. Or find somebody else altogether. But do it, Mackie. For all of us."

He looked at the ground briefly, and then looked up at her again with new determination. "Alright, Nene, I will," he said. "By God, I will."

She smiled again, and said, "I know you will. And now, I've got to go, I'm afraid."

"I know," he said sadly, and then, looking into her eyes, he said, "I love you, Nene. I know I already said that, but I had to say it again. And, even if I find somebody else someday, I'll always love you. No matter what."

Reaching out, she took him in her arms, and said, "I love you too, Mackie. And remember what we talked about before. Death isn't the end. We'll be there. Waiting for you. But don't be in a hurry to join us, ok?"

"Don't worry about that," he said wryly. "It looks like I'm going to be way too damn busy rebuilding the Knight Sabers to take a dirt nap anytime soon. Especially considering what I have to work with."

Letting her arms drop reluctantly, Nene said, "I'm glad to hear that, Mackie." And then, softly, "Goodbye."

With that, she turned, and, limping painfully, the crow cuddled to her breast, made her way out across the graveyard toward something she could only think of now as home.

As Mackie watched her go, tears blurring the vision in his good eye, the sun finally broke over the horizon, dazzling him momentarily. And as he blinked and looked again, he saw that Nene was gone, vanished without a trace.

Following some impulse he didn't really understand, he retraced her steps through the cemetery, coming eventually to the hard, gray slab with her name on it. In direct contradiction to the N-Police report Leon had uncovered, the grave was undisturbed and pristine, looking as it always had.

But on top of the head stone, apparently unhurt now, perched the crow, a shiny piece of metal at it's feet. As he watched curiously, the crow looked up at him, cocked it's head, and bent to peck softly at the metallic thing. Then, cawing loudly, it took to the air, leaving him alone at his lover's grave. Reaching out, he picked up the object of the crow's attention.

He swallowed back tears again as he saw what it was, an AD Police badge, number 718296. Clutching it tightly, he kissed his fingertips and then touched them to the grave stone in front of him, whispering, "I love you, Nene, and I'll never forget you. Goodbye." Turning, he left quickly, knowing that there was much he had yet to do.

EPILOGUE

As she lay her head on the ground, she felt herself slowly drift away, and she smiled as all of the pain receded, leaving her with a warm glow inside. And then she slept.

She awoke slowly, having no idea how long she'd slumbered, and realized that she wasn't alone. Looking up into a nimbus of light, she saw four silhouetted figures, three female and one male. Smiling broadly, she stood up and moved into their embrace.

"You waited for me!" she said joyously.

Sylia smiled at her and said, "Of course we did. Did you really think we wouldn't?"

Beside her, Linna shook her head and said impishly, "Oh, ye of little faith."

And Priss, putting a hand on her shoulder said wryly, "You did a damn good job, Nene. Don't think I could've done much better myself."

Finally, Dr. Raven stepped up, and said, "Well, ladies, I believe before we were so rudely interrupted, we were having a celebration. I think, all things considered, we have every reason to continue."

They all laughed, and Nene said, "Oh, yes Doctor. I think I'd like that very much."

If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever.

END