Another Fortunate Accident
Ch. 9 – A War of Attrition
The blond haired ADP officer took her seat in the dispatcher's console, stretched out her arms, cracked her knuckles, and set up Uprio-chan over the monitor. "OK Uprio-chan, our tummy's full of lunch and were ready to surf! All right… now let's see if we can find out what Linna's up to… since Priss is still blowing us off."
Nene's fingers danced over the keypad, different screens flying past her field of vision. When she reached her destination, she stopped… staring at the blank emptiness in front of her. "Huh? Where is it?" More frantic typing was followed by a deepening look of concern. "Where the hell are Linna's files?"
"Who's Linna?" a familiar deep masculine voice spoke behind her.
"LEON!" Nene blurted out, reflexively switching the monitor quickly to standby mode. "Oh, just a file on someone I was trying to track down for the chief…"
"The chief, huh?"
So Leon-poo, what brings you down here today… and where's Daly?" Nene started, trying to quickly change the touchy subject.
Leon took the bait without thinking. "He's finishing up the report on the military boomer incident over the weekend. I'm here on unofficial business though," he snickered as he lowered his voice.
Nene's frown returned as she guessed the subject. "It's about Priss, isn't it?"
"Well, I haven't seen her for a few days, so I was wondering if you knew where she was hiding?"
"I wish…" Nene said under her breath.
"What was that?"
"Oh, I just said that I was wondering the same thing. I haven't seen her in oh… a week or so I'd guess," she said trying to sound as convincing as possible.
Leon was obviously disappointed, shoulders drooping at the news. "Oh. I see. Well if you do hear from her…" he trailed off walking up the stairs and out of the command center.
"…you won't be the first thing on my mind Leon-poo-head," Nene scowled to herself. "He's so full of it sometimes… not his fault though… he just doesn't know what he'd be getting himself into. Now what happened to those files…"
"Are you sure?" Sylia asked into the video screen with a look of concern.
"No doubt about it. The tracers are definitely Genom's. But why would they be tampering with Linna's files… unless…" Nene tensed up at the frightening thought on the tip of her tongue.
"I doubt they would have connected Linna to the organization, but just to be safe I'll check on it immediately. Keep me informed if you dig up anything else."
Nene wasn't going to be brushed off this easy. She continued on anyway as panic began to take over. "But Sylia, I tried calling her room… no one answered. I was just there yesterday! There's no way she was ready to leave the hospital that soon. If I hadn't seen her yesterday with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe she'd ever been to admitted to Kanto Memorial!"
"Just stay calm and keep an eye on things. Well find her," Sylia tried again to reassure the teenager.
"Well, what about Priss then? Have you heard from her either?"
"Not since last night. It's not surprising that she hasn't checked in though."
"I know that! But she promised me she would tell me how Linna was doing… she never called or stopped by or anything!"
Sylia's concerned look grew deeper at the growing disarray around her. "First let's concentrate on finding out about Linna. I'm sure Priss will turn up when she's ready," she said… although Sylia had her doubts about that.
Telling Nene that Priss had quit the Knight Sabers wasn't going to help keep the expert hacker focused, assuming Nene didn't already know. Somehow she didn't think Priss would have volunteered that bit of information to Nene considering she had yet to mention it. Besides, Priss probably wouldn't give Nene the time of day if she asked for it either. Not exactly the foundation for a solid team she thought to herself. That's why Linna was so important. She had become the glue that could hold it all together through the tough spots… and things were going to get rough. Especially rough after the next contact with Kuzui, she feared. Just before the office boomer's rampage was detected, he had started to talk about her father's old lab. If the topic she feared most came up, she would need Linna and Priss desperately. "Look, I'll check on Linna first and then we'll see about Priss. I'm sure everything will be just fine," she offered, not being completely truthful.
"If you really think so…" Nene trailed off, switching off the link.
Sylia sat back in her chair and closed her eyes, letting out a deep sigh. Rubbing her temples to try and relieve some of the stress, she prepared to contact the fixer… and to try and get some answers.
"Well, that's a request I don't normally expect from your team. Let me see what I can dig up in my files," Kuzui reported through Sylia's display. "Just a second… here we are… quite the looker this Yamazaki woman is."
Sylia held her breath as the fixer focused on the off camera information. "Hugh Geit employee injured by a malfunctioning boomer the other day… says here the boomer was one of her supervisors… no wonder it attacked her, look at all these demerits," he noted with a smirk.
Sylia bit her tongue to keep from snapping at Kuzui's tasteless humor. "So why has Genom tampered with her medical files and where is she now?"
"Can I ask why you are so interested?"
"No."
"Somehow I didn't think you would tell me. Anyway the records show she's on medical severance leave indefinitely, lists her current address as 'outside of Tokyo' officially. Unofficially I'd bet the accounting department has more of a record of her exact location if my suspicions are correct."
"Why is that?"
"With internal employees, Genom has a brief history of sending them 'away' to recover until the lingering memories of the attack have been mostly forgotten by the coworkers. Then, they usually bring them back into the company after a thorough counseling and reconditioning program… at least with better talent anyway. Ms. Yamazaki's record isn't the greatest though."
"What have they done in those cases?"
"I've only heard rumors, but none are very encouraging."
Sylia's frown grew at the confirmation of one of her fears. "See what else you can dig up then. I need to know for sure what happened to her."
"That could get rather expensive…"
"I'll pay double the usual fee," she answered quickly.
A look of pleasant surprise crossed Kuzui's face for a moment. "I'll expect the deposit in the usual account by this evening. Hold on… give me a minute."
The screen went blank as Sylia fidgeted with the cup of tea sitting on the control panel. After a few minutes, the screen flickered then resolved into Kuzui's face once again.
"I think I've got your answer now."
"That was fast."
"I've got some reliable high level connections. It seems that Ms. Yamazaki's parents were already in Tokyo when Genom's operatives paid her a visit. A decision was made to offer a generous severance package if they would take their daughter back to her home in Kumamoto."
Sylia breathed a sigh of relief at the news for an instant, before the full realization hit home. She's gone now… and Priss probably won't come back without her on the team. Maybe there's time to try and get Linna back somehow, if she'll even want to come back to the Knight Sabers.
Kuzui pressed on at Sylia's silence as another topic of more interest to him was next on the agenda. "Anyway, if that's enough on your friend, I have some other important information to discuss."
"Yes, go ahead," Sylia answered a bit distractedly, mentally reeling from the earlier news.
"It's in regards to your father's old lab…"
The fixer received Sylia's full attention from that point on…
A few minutes later, the screen went blank as Sylia smashed the half-full teacup into the console. "I've only got Nene left and NOW Genom is looking for the lab! Damit! Not now… Why now God, why now! I need to find Priss… somehow convince her to come back. How the HELL can I do that without Linna here? It doesn't matter… I've got to try, try to stop them from finding her… from finding… Galetea."
The fixer looked over at Mason with a smirk. "So was that what you were looking for?"
"…reliable high level connections…?" Mason queried. "Very sloppy. I'm afraid that's not up to our standards for confidentiality Mr. Kuzui," he stated pulling a pistol out and pointing it at the fixer's head.
The man was too stunned to move. Being in the business for long enough and cheating death more times than he should have, Kuzui could tell when the chips were up. "I always knew I'd get too cocky to keep this up forever… I just hoped I could make enough to retire to Tahiti for a few years," were the last words from his mouth before Mason ended his life with a single shot to the head.
The very out-of-place woman walked up to the run down trailer. Exceptionally dressed, her clothing was a stark contrast to her dark facial expression. She gave two knocks on the door and called out a name. "Priss? Priss, we need to talk." No response was heard from the vandalized trailer. Another series of knocks and another call… "Priss, your bike is chained up out here… I know you're in there."
"Take the damn tracer off my bike and get the hell out of here! I don't need your advice or your money so leave me the fuck alone!" came a dry, cracking voice from inside the trailer.
"Priss, listen to me… Please! I want to talk to you… I want to find out what happened to Linna." Only echoes answered her call this time. "Priss, Linna's gone now. She's back home with her parents. I thought you were going to try and…"
"Good. Now I can't hurt her anymore then," Priss interrupted with the response.
"Damit Priss, stop blaming yourself! Linna will be fine in a few…"
The door flew open as a very rough looking, pale skinned shadow of someone who Sylia once knew as Priss jumped out of the trailer right at her face. Her fists dug into Sylia's expensive jacket, slamming her back into the pavement with a thud. "No she won't! She's never going to be the same and it's my fault… and it's your fault too you selfish BITCH!"
Sylia stared up into the eyes of hell itself as she tried to make sense of what Priss was trying to express not so tactfully. Sylia's surprise turned to anger at the rough treatment she had received. "Get your hands off of me now!" Sylia ordered.
Something inside or Priss switched off as she released her grip and staggered back towards the trailer, turning her back on Sylia and bowing her head in resignation.
Sylia couldn't decide which was more unbelievable; the fact that Priss attacked her in the first place or that she actually backed off when Sylia told her to. She stood up and brushed herself off. "Just what the hell was that about?"
"Linna… she's… I took it away from her… from them… her family…"
"What are you talking about? What about her family?"
"She'll never be able to have kids anymore Sylia… I took away that dream from her… I know that's why she went back home. I don't blame her either."
"You didn't take anything away from her Priss, the boomer…"
"That Goddamn boomer didn't puncture her hardsuit… I did!"
Sylia didn't answer. She could see where Priss' line of reasoning was going and wasn't about to let it continue if she could help it. Unfortunately, Priss didn't give her the chance to rebuff. She trudged up the stairs and back into the trailer, slamming the door shut behind her.
Sylia's frustration boiled over at Priss attitude. "Dammit Priss! I need you… more than ever! Now is not the time to quit just because things get tough!"
She yelled out the reply through the closed door. "So I suppose you want to see if I can kill Nene next… or do you have a personal death wish?"
"Grow up Priss! Stop acting like a spoiled child!" Sylia's angry words echoed in her mind as she looked away in disgust at both her loss of control over the situation and Priss' depression laced stubbornness. As a consequence, she didn't see the door of the trailer open. She also didn't see the large object thrown at her… until it exploded right at her feet. Plastic chips and glass sprayed over the reeling woman as she stumbled back from the destroyed antique computer monitor Priss had hurled at her. She looked up in time to see what looked like glass bottles being hoisted through the open doorway next.
Deciding retreat was the better option rather than waiting to see what else Priss had hiding in the mess of a home she lived in, Sylia scampered away from the trailer. The sound of shattering glass followed her all the way to the door of the car.
Quickly shutting the door, Sylia looked back at the now quiet trailer. She fumed momentarily over the sudden attack before the consequences began to weigh on her. It's over now. Sylia's body began to tremble as she dropped her head on the top of the steering wheel. She reflexively wrapped her arms around her body to stop the shaking. Despair faded into depression as she thought of the internal pain Linna was probably suffering from. She felt at least as responsible for her injuries as Priss did, but she just couldn't let it show outwardly. She had to remain strong for the team… not that their was much of one left now anyway. In her thoughts, the blue and green hardsuits stood together, only to morph into an older pair of hardsuits, green and red in color, standing together. Four former Knight Sabers… and only two left… including myself… She thought of Nene, the other remaining Knight Saber… and just how close she had come to losing her from the team as well not two weeks previous. The only reason she was still a Knight Saber was the fact she defeated that boomer-eating monster created from her father's work. Fond memories of the celebration afterwards briefly lifted her spirits… images of Priss wearing a dress… smiles all around the group… better times. Maybe when this is all over, I can beg for their forgiveness… maybe they would understand why I've done all this… … perhaps if she could forgive herself first.
The engine screamed to life as Sylia tore away from the run-down section of the city, heading back for the relative solitude of civilization. Without Linna or Priss, I'm going to need all the help I can get… she thought out, trying to pick up the pieces of her long-standing plan. …and the best place to try and get a head start would be through the Windmaster…
To be continued…