Another Fortunate Accident

Ch. 10 – Solo Action


The Windmaster had been almost a greater assistance than Sylia thought possible. Still, the amount of ground she had to search was enormous. With his assistance, (including some high-tech and highly illegal equipment), the search wasn't impossible.

Returning from the Windmaster's sanctuary, Sylia called Nene on the car phone. She answered with a predictable question…"Did you find Priss?"

"Meet me in the lounge after work and I'll discuss it with you," Sylia replied evasively.

"I don't like the sound of that. What happened?"

"It will have to wait Nene. First I have a few things to prepare," Sylia spoke evenly, trying to remain calm even though she felt anything but.

"What about Linna? Did you find anything out from your contacts?"

"She's fine Nene. Don't ask any more questions though. I'll discuss this with you later, Please!" Sylia cut her off smartly.

"Fine. See you about six then," the defeated ADP officer spoke dejectedly before the connection was cut.

Sylia sighed at what she had to do next. Telling Nene about Linna and Priss wasn't going to be easy. She could only think of one way to make sure Nene wouldn't leave her all alone… but it was going to require some cooperation from a certain guest of hers first.


From inside the lounge of the Lady 633 building, Sylia looked over at the clock on the wall. She noted the time as 5:45… Fifteen minutes left in the legacy of the Knight Sabers if things don't go smoothly She recalled Mackey's enthusiastic acceptance of her offer to assist the Knight Sabers on their next 'mission'. I wonder if he will still be as enthused when he learns about the target of this mission… Using Mackey's help for this particular search was nearly her last resort, not that she had many options left. Sylia's main concern was just how closely 'tied' he was to this particular target. Maybe this is why he came back to Tokyo in the first place. He has to know this is why I originally formed the Knight Sabers…

The other problem was she still didn't know just how much to tell Nene. Too much and she would probably join the growing list of ex-Sabers. Too little, and Mackey might be tempted to 'fill in' the details as he knew them, which would lead to the same end result. Sylia wondered if she should have talked more openly with Mackey before. The door to the lounge slid open as one of the subjects of her troubles walked in.

"Hey Sylia! I hope I'm not too early," Mackey announced.

"No. I am actually glad you're early. I wanted to discuss the mission with you first now that I've considered your involvement further."

"Why is that?" he questioned, taking a seat across from his 'sister'.

Before Sylia could speak, Henderson's voice sounded over the intercom system in the lounge. "Mistress Sylia… I'm afraid we've detected another rouge boomer."

"Not now," Sylia whispered to herself… pent up frustration threatening to burst out of her voice.

"Shall I contact the others?" Henderson queried just as the door to the lounge slid open to allow a sprinting Nene to dart into the room.

"I just heard Henderson's announcement… what are we going to do Sylia?"

"That won't be necessary Henderson. The team is all assembled now," Sylia answered as an idea began to take shape in her mind.

"Wait, what about Priss?" Mackey questioned as Nene stopped next to him with a growing somber look on her face.

"There's no time to discuss this now," she said deflecting the question momentarily. "Nene, I want to you handle this assignment on your own. Do you feel ready?" Sylia calculated the challenge would be enough to hook Nene if she had any doubts.

"Of course I am!" the teenager shouted out reflexively.

"Good. Mackey, you and I will ride in the mobile pit. I want you to act as the primary support contact and I'll be in standby in case Nene needs any additional help."

Mackey gave a doubting stare at Sylia for a moment before looking up into Nene's face.

She looked down at the young 'boy' and smiled softly to him. "Don't worry. I'm sure I can handle this," Nene tried to reassure him.

"Come on then, let's get going," Sylia ordered out as the trio hurried down to the mobile pit.


In the mini-launch tube of the mobile pit, Nene began to have serious doubts about her own willingness to fight alone. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea

"Ready Nene?" Sylia asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be," she answered with a sliver of unease audible over the com system.

Sylia pulled the trigger launching Nene into the slowly darkening evening sky. She pulled her hand away from the trigger and leaned back in the control console's chair. She closed her eyes for a moment and let out a stress filled sigh. Have I lost my mind? Does she really stand a chance up there by herself?

The present dimmed away as the larger picture came into focus for Sylia. She has to do this by herself. If she fails, I've got no chance of stopping Genom from finding the lab first.

"Sylia, do you want me to take over now?" Mackey asked snapping her thoughts back from future concerns.

"Yes, please," she responded, standing up from the control chair and moving back to the change area to don her softsuit… just in case.


As Nene landed on the roof of the glass covered skyscraper, she couldn't hold back the sinking feeling of being alone… going solo against a rouge boomer. Her thoughts turned to the last time she had landed above a boomer incident. Linna rushing in first… only to wind up in a hospital bed. And then Priss… the now broken warrior. She was so strong… and look what happened to her! She had bailed out Nene time and time again. But I've gotten better lately… I can do this! she tried to steel herself. The lingering concern of Priss and Linna's fate stifled her attempt at self-motivation. If I only knew where they were… why wouldn't Sylia tell me what happened to them?

Nene's worries were dissolved by silent alarms flashing in her eyes. Her visor lit up with scans indicating the boomer was roughly in the middle of the building below. "I've got confirmation of the boomer on the 30th floor," she announced into the com system.

"Roger that Nene," Mackey's voice answered her. "I'm reading the same from here. The scans are preliminarily showing an office maintenance boomer."

"Sounds easy enough," Nene replied. The news itself wasn't nearly as comforting as the person who was communicating it. Mackey's voice was making a definite difference in Nene's fight to repel the feeling of isolation threatening to overwhelm her.

"Nene, the ADP are surrounding the building," he warned. Quickly formulating a plan of assistance for his teammate, he reported through the com system. "I'm going to try and shut off the elevators to slow their progress up to the boomer. That way, you'll have one less factor to worry about."

The worry in Mackey's thoughts translated to his voice and warmed Nene's heart even further. "Thanks Mackey! Hey, since they will be disabled, I can use the elevator shafts to get to the boomer. That way will be easier to sneak in and out without being detected," Nene reasoned as she entered the building through the roof access.

"Be careful Nene," Mackey cautioned.

"Aren't I always…" she answered a bit sarcastically. Finding the elevator doors, she forced them open with hardsuit enhanced strength and dropped down the shaft towards the darkness below…


Leon looked across the opening to the office area at his partner crouched low, back against the wall, shotgun locked and loaded. A cascade of crashing noises from the office space behind them was complimented by the sensation of motion… movement of the shaking walls around the pair of ADP officers.

"Sounds like it's busy in there," Daily commented.

"Well let's see if we can't interrupt it's fun then," Leon answered with a smirk. "Ready…" he started, placing his revolver at the ready "…GO!"

The pair spun around simultaneously to face the expanse of open office space… only to lower their weapons in a confused stupor. Before them was an expanse of empty office space that looked to be covered by a reflecting pool… the tiles of the floor reflecting everything just like a mirror… with a few notable exceptions. First was the huge pile of furniture gathered in a mangled heap off to the far corner of the room. Next were a few conspicuous holes in the otherwise pristine floor. Lastly was the absence of the perpetrator of the strange occurrences… the boomer was nowhere to be found.

"What the hell is this one up to?" Leon asked dumbfounded.

Just then, the subject of their investigations made its appearance from behind the pile of furniture. The mutating beast was on its mechanical hands and knees, scrubbing the floor with a buffered hand. The boomer didn't pay any attention to the two ADP officers staring at it in confusion as it continued to 'clean' away.

"Should we interrupt? He's doing such a great job so far," Daily joked to his partner

"Would you rather wait and see what he does when the floor is done?"

As if on cue, the boomer howled in rage as it screamed out a curse at the shiny floor, "WHY WON'T THIS SPOT COME OUT!" It raised the non-buffered hand and swung down at the pristine tiling, smashing a fist sized hole through the floor, shaking the walls all around the open office space.

"I've seen enough. How about you?" Leon asked his counterpart.

"Time to pull the plug on this one. Lets do it!"

Leon stepped forward as he tried to level out the revolver at the malfunctioning janitor… only to have his feet fly out from under him. The big man landed hard on his back and started to slowly slide forward. The crashing sound of his fall was drowned out by the rapport of the gun discharging accidentally from his hand. "…Floor's…like…ice… stay back!" Leon still tried to warn his partner despite having the breath temporarily knocked out of his lungs. Sprawling his arms and legs out, Leon managed to stop his slide, but not until he was almost five meters away from the steady ground still under his partner.

"Here it comes!" Daily shouted out. The ruckus apparently had attracted the boomer's attention as it started to lumber towards the fallen officer.

Leon looked up to see the boomer advancing on suction cups attached to its legs and feet. "This isn't good!" He tried to reach out to Daily's outstretched hand to pull himself back only to realize he needed an extra meter or two of arm length. "This isn't working… time to try something else…" he announced turning on his back and pointing the gun at the advancing target. Leon fired at the boomer, not so much for the effect the bullets would have on its hulking frame, but for the recoil. Three shots were enough to propel him back to Daily, who grabbed under his arms and hoisted up the bigger man with surprising strength. The bullets predictably had little impact on the advancing malfunctioning menace.

Daily snapped up his shotgun from the ground and leveled it at the nearing hulk. He was about to pull the trigger when the double doors to the right side of the room burst open to disgorge a red armored form.

"Don't worry… the Knight Sabers are heeeeeeeerrrrrrr….." the blurred streak screeched out as it slipped across the floor halfway between the boomer and the ADP officers. The Red Saber continued to slide on a straight path, still somehow standing upright, until she reached the far wall. Unfortunately, that wall was simply the outside glass surface of the building. The distinct sound of breaking glass echoed throughout the office space as Leon, Daily, and the boomer all watched in amazement. The tall pane of glass shattered on impact as the Red Saber flew completely out the window and into the night.

"Well… that was rather spectacular," Daily noted dryly, as he looked back at the boomer.

The boomer in turn looked back in their direction and resumed its advance.

"So where are the rest of the Knight Sabers?" Leon questioned.

"Hopefully reconsidering an attack plan at the moment." The sharps pangs of gunfire sounded through the office space as Leon joined Daily in leveling their firearms at the boomer.

"Try and aim for the suction cups! Maybe we can even out the playing…" the shotgun wielding officer started before the roar of incoming thrusters distracted his plans.

Both ADP officers turned their attention to the shattered pane of glass on the wall as the Red Saber flew back into the building, skipped twice on the floor (still on her feet), and delivered a wicked spinning sidekick directly to the boomer's mutated head. Her momentum carried her through the path of the boomer and into the wall. The red hardsuit quickly punched a hole in the wall and held on to keep her balance.

The suction cups of the janitorial assistant somehow held in place through the vicious attack. The boomer shook off the kick and turned its attention to the new assailant. It began to methodically cover the few meters separating the two metal-coated adversaries just as the lone Knight Saber tried to fire rail spikes in its direction. The process of bringing the arm-mounted weapon to bear caused one foot to slip out from under her, sending the spikes through the false ceiling above.

"Now would be a good time for reinforcements to arrive," Leon commented with a hint of concern in his voice.

Daily held one hand to his right ear and answered. "Our boys are twenty floors down and still climbing the stairs. All the elevators are disabled for some reason."

"I was more thinking about the Blue and Green Sabers… I don't think we're going to be of much help on this surface." Where is she? Leon thought to himself, mentally picturing the Blue Saber that had twice pulled him from harm's way during recent boomer incidents.

The Red Saber struggled to remain upright, as the boomer loomed ominously closer. Suddenly pushing off from the wall, she tried to throw a punch at the kneeled over boomer while sliding on two wobbly legs. The boomer saw the ill-advised attack and easily shifted to one leg to avoid the blow. The Saber's arm swung wildly around, twisting her whole body in a crazy pirouette right beside the boomer. Two wild circling motions of arms were followed shortly by two feet flying up in the air as the Red Saber crashed to the tiled floor.

The boomer took the advantage given it by pinning the Sabers arms to the ground. Next it placed one leg over the rest of her body to hold the Red Saber down while a barreled object materialized from a compartment within the hulking beast. The boomer shifted to point the object directly at the helmet of the prone Saber as she struggled unsuccessfully to dislodge the much heavier combatant from above her.

"This won't be pretty…" Daily shuddered.

"Damn, where's the rest of them?" Leon added. "Come on, we've got to try something to help!"

"Too late…" his partner said in doleful shock as the boomer fired it's gun-like object directly into the proneKnight Saber's helmet…

To be continued…