Another Fortunate Accident

Ch. 3 – Counting the Cost


Sylia shut the door to the mobile pit and turned towards the computer console. Walking over to begin tracking Nene, she passed the opened hardsuit belonging to Priss. Her eyes drifted down to the discolored right arm… fresh questions erupted in her mind once more. I'll check on Linna in a minute; first I want some answers> she decided inwardly. She spun around to face Priss, who had slumped down into a chair. Priss leaned forward covering her face with her hands… elbows resting on her knees.

"I don't suppose you'd like to explain what happened up there?" Sylia interrogated. Silence was her only answer. "Alright then, but your suit's recorder will speak if your not willing to."

"Why did you tell me to hold back?" the singer growled through her hands. Sylia stepped back slightly from the sharp question. "I could've mopped up that boomer in less than ten seconds by myself," she said standing up from the chair with a new fire brewing in her eyes.

"Priss, that boomer wasn't even a threat to Nene!" Sylia countered. "None of you were in any real danger. In fact, I don't think Linna was hurt by the boomer at all." Sylia punctuated the accusatory tone of her statement with a stare directly at Priss' right knucklebomb.

Priss looked at Sylia and then over to her hardsuit. She started to voice out a reply, but got cut off by a hailstorm of accusations from the Knight Sabers leader.

"You didn't think she could get hurt that badly with a direct shot from a knucklebomb? What were you thinking!"

"What are you talking about!"

"Why Priss? Were you jealous? Afraid Linna would surpass you?"

"Shut the hell up!" Priss fired out, fists turning white, teeth clinched in fury. "It was an accident! I didn't mean for… she wasn't…" Her hands released and began shaking as she fell back into the chair, holding her head. Tears streamed down from her eyes as recollections flooded her mind.

Sylia stood frozen at the sight of her strongest warrior breaking down in front of her. This was not the reaction she was expecting.

"The boomer grabbed Linna when she was distracted. I tried to attack it but Nene got in my way. After that, all I could hear was Linna screaming over the com channel. I couldn't see what the damn thing was doing to her! I ran in to get a quick kill and then… then…"

"What happened?" Sylia asked, concern replacing accusation.

"I…I don't know," Priss' frustrated voice cracked audibly. "I thought the boomer had just turned its body to face me, but, it must have pulled Linna around through the smoke. When I swung at the boomer, my arm stopped sooner than I expected. That's when I opened my eyes and saw…"

"What do you mean 'opened my eyes'?" Sylia interrupted.

"I guess… I guess I was so damned determined to kill that thing that I must have closed my eyes when I clenched my arm back."

"So you didn't really see what happened." It was more of a statement than a question.

"No…I just remember opening my eyes after Linna's groan because of my… of my…" She couldn't continue as the protective shell shattered around her from the full realization of what had just happened.

Sylia moved over to the fallen Knight and placed her hands on Priss' shoulders in an attempt to reassure her.

"Get off me!" Priss yelled.

"Priss, I know…"

"Just stop it Sylia! I almost…I might have killed Linna tonight," she corrected. "Just leave me alone."

"Priss, I'm sure Linna's going to be OK." She didn't receive a response. Priss had withdrawn back into her shell.

Sylia stepped back from her giving some distance. Looking at the failed expression on her face brought painfully familiar memories to the Knight Sabers' leader, almost as if looking into a mirror from years past. The pain will fade with time, but it will always weigh on you heart. Sylia wanted desperately to vocalize her feelings, her experiences, to Priss. But, she knew that Priss wasn't ready yet.

Turning back towards the computer console with heavy thoughts on her mind, she began to monitor Nene's progress. Sylia had questions on just how her newest recruit would handle the physical attack. Also was the question of how Linna would respond to the realization that Priss delivered that blow. Sylia had a strange feeling that issue would work itself out naturally. However, the bigger question was would Priss ever be ready to face it, or would Sylia need to find yet another replacement for the Knight Sabers?


Nene fidgeted with her fingers through her hardsuit as Linna lay unconscious on the ground just beside a wall of the Hugh Geit building. She began talking to herself as the wait grated on her nerves. "What are we doing! I should've just flown into the hospital in my suit and dropped Linna off at the front door!".

"Nene, you know what would happen if we brought Linna to the hospital in full armor. If we were seen without the green hardsuit after that…"

"Sylia! I didn't know you were listening… I know… I know... It's not like we moonlight as an ambulance service. It's just… she looks so helpless out there right now." Waiting in the bushes concealed from sight, the teenager cursed as the seconds ticked away. "What the hell is taking those idiots so long! I put the tip in the system so even a boomer could find her!"

"We'll give them another minute, and then…"

"Wait! I hear something." Nene interrupted excitedly. The sound of footsteps rounding the corner of the cube shaped building brought a wave of relief over the young Saber. "Thank God! The emergency crews are here." Looking back over at Linna's naked form, she couldn't help but feel guilty.. If only she had changed in the mobile pit and not at Sylia's place… this is just so wrong!

"Look, over there!" an emergency tech yelled as he spotted a body lying next to a wall of the building. He quickly ran over to check on the fallen woman. "She looks like the one we're supposed to be looking for. Hey lady… can you hear me?" With no audible response, he began to examine the victim.

"Damn! What the hell happened to her… and what happened to her clothes?" A much younger tech joined the first as the two male workers began to treat the naked woman.

"She's unconscious. Breathing normal."

"Pulse is weak but steady," the younger one added.

"The bleeding from the abdomen wound isn't bad… looks like it went internal though… whatever caused it," the older man said flatly.

"Hey at least we don't have to rip any clothing to examine her."

"Yeah tell me about it! What a waste!" the older one commented as he began to treat the puncture wounds in the woman's midsection. "I think she's gonna be OK."

"Hey, you think I could ask her out after she gets out of the hospital?"

"Let's just get her there first."

"Hey! What was that!" the young tech yelled as a red flash streaked towards the sky out of the bushes.

"What? I didn't see anything," the veteran countered, intent on the work at hand.

"Your eyes were glued on her, weren't they?" the green tech suggested.

"Your full of it! How many women have I treated like this before! Too many to count… that's how many! Now let's hurry up… this place gives me the creeps."

"Yeah, anyplace that helps build those boomers freaks me out!"

The techs continued to work diligently as the sounds of approaching sirens filled the night sky around them.


Nene dragged down the hallway towards the private lounge in the Lady 633 building. Rounding the last corner before reaching her destination, she collided with another similarly exhausted zombie. "Hey!" she yelled as they both fell to the floor with a thud.

"Sorry… Nene…" Mackie said apologetically, face turning crimson at the sight of the sprawling blond girl on the floor.

Nene picked herself off the ground, briefly yawning despite the sudden excitement. " 's ok mackie" she slurred, too tired to even correct his manners at the moment. She circled around the other teenager and lumbered into the lounge.

Hauling himself up, Mackie let out a deep yawn of his own as tired eyes fought to stay open. Suddenly a light clicked on in his head as he spun around and practically ran into the lounge after her. "Nene, any word on Linna?" he called from across the room at the exhausted form now spread out on the couch.

"…uhhh, yeah. Wake me when Syl' comes in 'n I'll tell you both," she whispered weakly.

"So that means it's good news, right?" Silence answered his question for a few moments before a soft snore filtered across the room. "Nene?" he called out, not entirely surprised by her rather sudden collapse. He looked up at a clock on the wall. "I guess it has been over five hours since she was admitted."

Mackie cautiously crept over to where Nene was peacefully resting. Studying her face, he noticed dark circles that had grown considerably since she first ran into the computer room earlier in the evening. Those events replayed themselves in his mind…

Over at Nigel's place, he heard the call for the Knight Sabers to assemble over his self-repaired communications system. After asking if Sylia needed any help, she had told him it wouldn't be necessary this time. "It's just one office boomer. We'll be OK. Try and catch up on that work you were telling me about instead," she had suggested to him.

So Mackie had walked over to the Lady 633 building. On the way over, he reminded himself to check on the battle. But, by the time he walked into the computer room he had forgotten about the boomer entirely. He was preoccupied with planning the work on some computer files instead for some reason… he couldn't place exactly why it seemed so important though. After becoming lost in those files, and losing some indistinguishable amount of time along with them, Nene burst into the computer room screaming at him.

"Move it! Off the computer NOW Mackie!" The overstressed tone pulsing through the teenager's voice didn't go unnoticed.

He had fallen backwards out of the chair trying to get out of her way. "What's wrong Nene… um I mean Miss…"

"Linna's hurt bad and in the hospital! If you'd check for messages more often, you'd know that already!" Nene jumped over him and into the chair. Her fingers blurred almost faster than sight as computer files flew past the monitor in front of her.

Mackie just stared up at the blond hacker for a long while, trying to sort out everything she had told him. In the end, he decided the accusation was just Nene's way of dealing with her feelings… not unlike Sylia sometimes. The similarity had played on his mind for a time. He watched wordlessly for hours it seemed as Nene had cracked into hospital databases and pulled out information on Linna's condition.

A twitch of Nene's finger brought Mackie back to the present. He blushed furiously again as realization of the situation took hold. He noticed Nene's finger because he was holding her hand. While recalling the night's events he had sat on the floor next to Nene and unconsciously reached for her hand. Mackie found that he couldn't pull away. The warmth of her touch felt electric to him. The sensation was unlike any he had experienced before as curiosity won out over modesty. His eyelids grew heavy as exhaustion eventually conquered all a few minutes later.

The door silently slid open to a robed woman who entered the room. She smiled lightly at the serene scene by the couch. Deciding not to disturb their much-needed rest, Sylia left the two teenagers alone and headed back through the door to catch up on her own sleep.

I wonder how Priss is holding up? she wondered silently to herself. Priss had simply collapsed across from Linna's mangled hardsuit in the pit after they had it unloaded from the truck. Sylia found her in that same spot two hours later when trying to give her an update on Linna's condition. Priss didn't react at all to the news that Linna was out of surgery. It was as if Sylia was talking to a shadow.

She now found herself at the door to the pit once again. So much for sleep. Opening the door, a familiar scene troubled her once more. A softsuited woman sat on the floor, back against the wall, her head buried in folded up legs. Conflicting emotions pulled at the Knight Sabers leader. What can I do? Somehow Sylia could tell that Priss was sleeping. The most obvious sign was the tension she could practically feel herself in each of Priss' slow breaths. She was dreaming… and from all outward appearances, her dreams were anything but pleasant.


The night opened up to Priss again, and dread crept into her soul. Not again… it can't happen again! Around her were several members of her old biker gang. The familiar ruins of the city rose up like giants all around them, casting eternal shadows from the surrounding city lights. Voices echoed out from behind a nearby crumbling wall.

A lone figure emerged and pointed directly at Priss. "There's the bitch that took out Mitsu!" More dark figures crawled out from the wall to join with the first.

"Looks like they're back for more, eh?" one of Priss' gang challenged back.

No, not this time… not like this! Priss couldn't find the voice to her fears. It was as if she was not just watching a movie of the past, but a part of it, unable to stop the inevitable from happening.

"He's got a gun!"

Not again!

A single shot rang out from the wall as Priss hit the ground hard, breath momentarily leaving her body from the impact.

To be continued…