9. INTO THE LIGHT

According to the news reports, only seven people had died before we got to the convention center area and took on the boomers. Only seven. Tell that to their families.

I pushed a button on the remote, changing the radio to another station, then sat back and sipped more tea. In the hour or so since I'd arrived home, the media had managed to work itself into a frenzy. They didn't know what to make of it. We were being described as everything from a 'new type of boomer' to 'corporate mercenaries' to 'heroes of the people'.

Nene's laser etching "Knight Sabers" into a section of pavement wasn't helping matters. That was being described as 'the calling card of a new vigilante army, ready to take back the night.' I was going to have to have a little chat with her about that.

The government was quiet so far. So was the AD Police. Chairman Quincy of Genom, though, was calling us 'terrorists.' Figures. What's the old saying? "It takes one to know one."

The suit systems had worked well, but not as well as I'd hoped. The weapon's systems arming sequence was too complicated and took too long. That was going to have to be addressed immediately. Fortunately, it should not be too difficult to deal with.

Nene's electronics systems were going to require a major redesign effort, though. She was going to have to have to be given more flexibility of action in case of changing conditions. I was kicking myself for forgetting this simplest of lessons. You cannot restrict your options to fit your plans, and by limiting the capabilities of her systems I had almost gotten us all killed.

Physically, the suits had handled the stress of battle fairly well. With the exception of Priss's helmet, it was just a few easily dealt with scrapes.

The helmet was another story. When that car exploded behind her, it blew her head first into the side of a building, breaking the outer liner and cracking the inner. Luckily she got away with only a concussion, but it could have easily been much worse. I wasn't looking forward to the many hours of examination it was going to take to find out why this had not happened during laboratory testing.

I looked up as yet another radio newscast made reference to the evening's activities, and smiled slightly. At least we could look forward to a rest. The 'mystery vigilantes' were not going to be making another appearance for a while.

Maybe by then Dr. Raven would be able to develop usable shades of red and black paint for Priss's suit. Then we wouldn't have to listen to her complaining about wearing blue and pink "kiddie colors" any more.

Still, they were coming together well as a team, and, more importantly, were becoming strong friends.

I yawned and got up from the couch to go to bed. Halfway across the room I stopped in my tracks. What was I thinking?

I had had my doubts about how it would work out, at first. They were all so different, so... at odds with each other. And then, despite all the personality clashes, all the friction, something happened. I still don't know what the trigger was for certain. It could have been any number of things.

Perhaps it was something that happened during the first pellet matches. Or maybe it was when someone put pepper flakes in the air filter of Linna's helmet. Or when someone reworked the circuits on Priss's motorcycle so that the sound system kept repeating "I'm an ape- woman!" at full volume.

But whatever the trigger, they'd started to come together. There was still some friction, but now they were beginning to work as a team. My team. And now, perhaps, my friends?

It dawned on me that somewhere along the line I'd stopped thinking of them as Romanova, Yamazaki, and Asagiri. They'd become Nene, Linna, and Priss. And I had called them by those names to their faces.

And they had accepted it.