Another Fortunate Accident

Ch. 19 – Priorities


Leon looked up into the eyes of the woman he had missed all night long, thought of constantly, couldn't get out of his head, and frankly never wanted to. Finding her just standing at the door of his hospital room, he could immediately tell that something wasn't quite right. "Hey there…" he began optimistically, trying to draw her open "…thanks for leaving me a message last night. I was really worried about you."

"No problem," she answered simply.

That's it? "No problem"? A bewildered expression crossed his face for a moment, before he shifted gears onto a different tact. "Any chance you rescued my bike before the rest of the ADP showed up and blew the place to hell?"

"Yeah, I've got it," she answered rather weakly, still standing next to the door, remaining distant.

Leon recognized her stubborn reluctance, and stubbornly decided to pry her out of it. "Come here for a second."

Hesitating for just a moment, the singer slowly drifted to his side. Up close, he could tell she hadn't slept very well, if at all. "It looks like you need this bed more than I do right now."

Priss stared blankly at him, making Leon wonder if she wasn't out on her feet. He slid over in the smallish bed and patted the little bit of empty space next to him. "There's room here if you want to rest for a moment."

A brief look of protest crossed the woman's face before Leon's pleading eyes drew her down to the bed with him. She naturally curled into his form, laying her head gently on his chest.

As soon as they came in contact, Leon could feel the tension pulsing throughout her whole body. Still only guessing at the exact reasons, he decided to work on calming her for now. Softly stroking her hair, he spoke reassuringly to her. "I'm glad you're OK."

"Thanks." Priss could feel her muscles begin to relax with the rhythm of Leon's heartbeat close to her ear. "How are you doing?" she finally asked, a hint of emotion returning in her voice.

"A couple of fractured ribs, one hell of a headache, but other than that never better," he added with a smirk. As he talked, the woman lying next to him continued her slow, calming trend. She seemed to be content to just listen to him since she didn't attempt to break the silence after his comments. Might as well keep going since it's helping… "The doctors say they'll release me this afternoon if everything looks good. They just wanted to make sure I didn't have any internal bleeding they might have missed. Kind of makes you wonder how good the doctors are when they go back and check their own work, huh?"

Priss didn't respond, but Leon could still see her glassy eyes opened, staring across his chest at the plain curtains drawn closed on the far wall.

The big man's own thoughts turned inward for a moment, causing him to let out a brief chuckle at one particularly painful thought. "Y'know, I'm glad the boomer got me in the stomach. I'd hate to think what my sex life would have been like if it had hit me any lower."

A flash of color appeared on the woman's cheeks as she perked her head up to look into his face for just a brief second. "Leon, just shut up," Priss ordered, turning her head back towards the wall and promptly dropping it on his very tender ribs.

Outside of a single but very pained grunt, Leon did as he was told. He still smiled outwardly at his ability to get a rise out of Priss. At least it let him know she would be OK, even if something were still bothering her for some reason… boomer related or otherwise.

Within a couple of silence filled minutes, Priss' breathing slowed considerably, body falling completely lax. Leon gazed down into her face, eyes closed, nostrils flaring regularly every few seconds. He let her slow, regular breaths help heal his own hurts, aiding in his own recovery.


A field of total blackness greeted Priss as she stood up from where she had been resting. Somehow the blackness, the emptiness comforted her soul. She began walking forward, exploring the surrounding darkness, unconcerned with what her eyes couldn't see. Why? Why does… it feels like… this is home… Taking solace in the protecting sheath all around her, the thoughts within her consciousness drifted into the unknown. Her eyes blinked, and suddenly she was floating in the black space around her. Still, it didn't unnerve her in the least… until the first flickers disrupted the uniform plainness.

A flash registering through her pupils snapped Priss' attention behind her. Spinning herself around, she faced a growing dot of approaching light. A wave of anxiety surfaced from the recesses of her subconscious, the light resolving itself into a single color… the dreaded, solid color… green.

She blinked again… and tried to scream, but couldn't. The emptiness was filled, flooded with the shimmering crests of green drowning out her words. She tried to move but couldn't. Any coherent thoughts scattered as the madness infected her once again.

Priss…

The distant words collected in her heart and sprang forth a ray of hope. The voice sounded as if it was above her, but she couldn't turn to look.

Priss…

The words grew closer, strengthening her resolve… until a giant liquid hand materialized directly in her locked vision. Unable to shift her eyes, she was forced to watch as the fingers curled into a "C" shape, aiming squarely towards her vulnerability. With a sickening burst, the hand shot at her chest, gripping around her frozen torso, crushing the life from her lungs…

Priss!…

"GAAH!… NO!" Finally finding her voice, Priss' eyes tore open, the green slowly dissolving from her vision to reveal Leon's hospital room. Her upper body now sat upright in his bed barely supported by two quaking arms. The singer's head jerked around to find herself still next to the ADP officer who was now decorated in a hospital serving tray complete with all the major food groups dripping from his hospital gown. "Wha… the… the green… Where… Leon, what… Oh God… oh god… please… god…" Priss collapsed back into the bed, her sputtering words becoming intelligible. Nearly ripping Leon's gown off, her spastic hands frantically gripped onto him, desperately clinging onto the reality now surrounding her.

Leon's momentary burst of anger from having his not-so-appetizing lunch served on his hospital wardrobe quickly evaporated under the emotional shock of the terror deep within Priss' voice. Her entire body shook with a ferocity that frankly scared the hell out of him. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear she just got pulled out of an ice bath… "Priss… Priss, are you OK?"

The unresponsive singer's eyes remained wide-eyed and unfocused, her shallow breathing coming in rapid-fire bursts.

The ADP officer swiftly deposited the emptied tray onto the floor and wiped off a good portion of the food off of his face and clothes with a nearby hand towel. Pulling up one of the blankets of the bed, he gently wrapped Priss up with him to try and comfortably warm her from the nightmare that had shattered her restless mind. "It's going to be OK, now. You're awake… it's all right. I'm here for you Priss." He continued to hold onto the trembling woman, lending her both physical and emotional support as best he could.

After a long while, Priss' shaking body finally calmed enough for her to acknowledge his presence. She turned her head upwards from his chest and shifted her terrified eyes into his own, blinking back tears of despair.

Leon no longer recognized the woman in his arms. She wasn't the powerful singer, commanding the crazed fans beneath her. She wasn't the street biker, the lone soul drifting into the night. She wasn't the fierce fighter, the one he suspected of wearing the blue armor of the Knight Sabers. She wasn't the passionate lover, the woman who had taken his heart from him. This was someone else… a frightened child… a cowering human… a nearly broken soul… "What happened to you?" He whispered out the words without realizing that he had even spoken them… until Priss started answering the question.

She shut her eyes tight, squeezing out the remains of the fear onto Leon's gown, staining the fabric with her pain. "I… it… I couldn't move… It was all around me… couldn't get away from it…"

"What was all around you?" Leon asked softly, stroking her hair with one hand while massaging her back with the other.

"Green… it was… I was swimming… drowning… it was like water… but… but…" The all too vivid memories threatened to overtake the shaky ground her sanity stood upon, halting her train of thought.

Leon's own memory perked up at the repeated mention of the color green. Groggy recollections of waking up next to Daily, looking up at the boomer standing motionless in front of him… bathed in a dull green glow… and then the scream… and the Blue Saber standing behind the now fallen boomer, her arm outstretched with the crushed core in her armored grasp… then the reaction afterwards, gripping the helmet as if to tear it off her head… he recalled the blue form before him almost shuddering for some unknown reason. "It's because of the boomer at the club, right?"

The woman lying next to him looked up into his face again, haunted eyes met his own. Indecisive, she shifted her gaze away while answering his question through her rattled voice. "I… don't think so… it's wasn't the boomer… not it… something else… something…"

"Then what?" Leon prodded. He regretted it a second later.

Priss' already tense body hardened up even more. "I don't know!" she fired out, pounding her fist on his chest in frustration, drawing out yet another pained grunt from the injured man. Falling silent again, her weakened frame continued to tremble under the pressure of the encroaching anarchy in her head.

The stubbornness in Leon's own mind came to the forefront, begging him to continue to try and wrench the truth from her. A go-for-broke idea sprang to life, born from the memories of the battle at the club. "I suppose it was just a coincidence that the Blue Knight Saber showed up for the first time in a couple of weeks. That wouldn't have anything at all to do with your nightmares, would it?"

Priss' body grew eerily still at his question, mirroring the silence falling across the hospital room.

A hundred frightening possibilities crossed the ADP officer's mind on what she might do to him next... but he decided to dive in anyway. "When I woke up, the boomer was standing still in front of me and Daily. It was glowing a greenish color at the time. I just thought that might have something to do with the green in your nightmares…" He paused for a second, drawing out the dramatic effect and focusing on the woman lying next to him to better gauge her reaction. "… especially since the Blue Saber was glowing the same green color according to Daily."

The body next to him started to shiver slightly again as she lay in silent introspection. "Funny coincidence," she denied rather weakly, her voice cracking as she tried.

"Yeah, I thought so too… kind of reminded me of the first time I met you in that restaurant a month ago… just before the Blue Saber saved the green one her first time out," he added with just a hint of a sly smile on his face.

The reclusive woman seemed to retreat back into her shell, relaxing her grip on his shirt and starting to turn away from him. Unfortunately, she ran out of bed before she could accomplish the feat.

Before she could get off the bed, Leon managed to catch her body and draw Priss back into his chest, holding on to her tightly. "Listen, please don't run away now. I… I'm just really worried about you. I've never seen you like this before…"

Her shaken mental state was the only thing holding Priss back at the moment, although still not at all comfortable with Leon's line of questioning.

The ADP officer knew he was walking on seriously thin ice, but he had to know… and being tactful wasn't his strong suit. "I want to know the truth though… I want to know for sure if you're one of the Knight Sabers."

Priss' struggles stopped, but she still didn't answer his questions. The aura around her turned dark, more the familiar woman Leon knew from before. "Why? So you can call an ADP squad to gun me down?"

"You don't think I'd actually do that, do you?" A tense silence was his only answer. Leon breathed out a pained sigh through his sore ribcage, taking a step back for just a moment. "Like I said, I'm worried about you… I just want to know what happened to you yesterday. Besides, the Blue Saber was never at the club last night…according to the official accounts from Daily and me anyway."

That statement drew Priss' curiosity back into Leon's eyes. "Just why is that?"

"Nobody else needs to know that the Blue Saber showed up at the club you were singing at. Especially considering that she hasn't been seen active for the last two weeks... ever since that incident around Hugh Geit. Apparently something pretty ugly happened back there, so I wouldn't blame the blue one if she wanted to take a few weeks off... if not more…"

Quiet introspection fell over both people lying in the small hospital bed. Priss' focus shifted to the far wall again, although Leon could see this was tearing into her. He began to regret the pointed questions, wondering if he had irreparably damaged their budding relationship now… until the singer let out her own sigh and began speaking again.

"So what if I am a Knight Saber… would it change the way you feel about me?"

A small grin grew out of Leon's previously nervous expression. "No, not at all. It's no big deal to me if you are one of them. Besides, the Blue Saber just saved my life… and that wasn't the first time either. I'd like to thank her personally for that."

Leon McNichol gazed down into the brown globes that now returned the message back to him… the message that he had waited impatiently for the last week to hear. In her eyes, he saw the wordless affirmation and was drawn even further into her soul by it. He caressed the side of her colored cheeks with one hand, smoothing out the lines of tears shed not a few minutes previous.

The dark mood dissolved between the bond that now joined the two of them. The short distance between their lips was methodically crossed in a few precious moments, raw energy flowing through the shared touch. As Priss leaned into the kiss, Leon was forced to break off prematurely because of his recent injuries.

"Umm… sorry," she added not to sympathetically with a sly smile.

"Tha… That's OK," he grinned through gritted teeth.

"Oh, and you're welcome… by the way."

Leon smiled at the verbal acknowledgement. He continued to gently hold Priss close to his hammering heart, happy that one hurdle had been virtually crossed, but now staring down at the next one in his mind. After a few minutes of sharing their new found closeness, the ADP officer decided to go for the next rung. "About yesterday… was that just a one time deal, or are you back with them full time?"

"A one night only show… had to save the band's stuff," she remarked smartly.

The big man breathed a sigh of relief that Priss noticed as well. "That's good." Another in the succession of questions he still had popped into his mind. "Anyway, you quit because of Linna, right?"

That statement tripped the singer from her careful balance, falling towards the rage trapped inside her soul at the mention of the traitor's name. Through clenched teeth, she answered the question. "Something like that."

"The song you performed the other night… the ballad… that was for her, wasn't it?"

"If you know so much, then why the hell are you asking me about it?"

"Sorry. I guess I should have thought about how much it would bother you to bring it up. I just wanted to make sure I was right. I want to know everything about you, and you've kept more a few secrets from me."

"That's one I'd prefer to leave dead and buried," she said with more than just one meaning in mind.

Leon noticed her tone. "Fair enough. Now about these nightmares…"

Priss tensed up again at their mere mention… the dreaded memories crawling back into her consciousness.

"I think it might have something to do with that green glow around both you and the boomer. What happened exactly?"

"I… I just don't know. I hit the core, but couldn't crush… I couldn't… the suit wouldn't…" she struggled with control as her mind erected mental blocks to keep the madness out, but at the same time cutting off her thoughts before they could reach fruition.

Leon sensed the difficulty through her voice and nervous body language. Hugging her tightly as he could without further damaging his ribcage, he attempted to transfer his confidence into her heart.

It partially worked… enough for the singer to continue to relay her ordeal. "The suit wouldn't move. Then, it felt like the suit started… it began to… meld… with… me," her voice growing distant as the meaning of the words corrupted her thoughts.

"That's happened with our K-suits too. From what I've seen, the guys who don't come back are the lucky ones," Leon added without thinking, until he felt Priss wince in his arms. "Damn… um, sorry. Guess I still haven't learned when to keep my big mouth shut." He thought about how to pull himself out of the hole he had just dug while Priss further retreated inside herself. He squeezed her tightly once before trying to speak again. "I wish there was a way I could help. It's not like you can exactly go to one of the ADP counseling sessions or one of our shrinks either… what about the other Knight Sabers though?" he threw out, thinking out loud.

That thought broke off the downward spiral Priss was locked in. "What?"

"I just thought that if anyone could understand what happened, maybe they could." Another thought spurned off of his mind. "Was the white one OK after the battle yesterday? Daily thought she was dead when he first got to the club."

Sylia… "She's… she was all right when I left."

"Did you tell her about what happened?"

"Yeah, we talked a little." Priss' body relaxed once more at the current topic of discussion, somehow comforting her to know she could confide the truth with him.

"Do you think it would help if you went back and just talked with her some more? Maybe she would understand what happened, because I sure don't."

A low smile cracked from Priss' pale features for just a moment. "That makes two of us."

A knock on the door disturbed both inhabitants of the room. "Hello, Mr. McNichol…" a male voice spoke through the now opened entranceway to the room. "… it's time for your exit exam… um, whoops! Sorry, didn't realize you had company in here!" The flush-faced doctor exclaimed not very discreetly at the sight of the two people intertwined with each other under the sheets.

Much to his relief, the ADP officer pulled the covers back to reveal the two of them still fully clothed. "You can stay if you want," Leon suggested to Priss, who stood up from the bed to give the patient his space.

"I've got something I need to take care of anyway," she replied, bending back over and planting a passionate kiss on his lips, bringing a hearty smile to the man's face. Priss turned and walked out the door, leaving the two men staring after her wake.

Suddenly, Leon shouted out after her. "Priss! Wait!" After a few seconds the now rideless man realized he was out of luck. "Well, I hope Daily doesn't mind waking up in the middle of his sleep to come get me out of here."


Sylia answered the call in the back of her store, not expecting anything out of the ordinary… until she saw the face on the other end of the line.

"Priss! How are you doing now?" Sylia greeted warmly, although she thought she saw the answer in the singer's glassy eyes.

"I've been better," she replied honestly. "Look, I just wanted to talk to you about yesterday."

"I see. I hope you've reconsidered your choice from last night," the Knight Sabers' leader spoke with more than a hint of hope in her voice.

Priss avoided answering the comment. "When can I come over to see you?"

"A personal visit. Now that does sound appealing," Sylia began toying enthusiastically.

I knew this wouldn't be a good idea… "Cut the crap Sylia. Just tell me when we can talk for more than five minutes."

"Alright. How about seven tonight?"

"Ok. See you then," Priss said as she hung up the line.

Well, things are certainly getting interesting now the light haired woman thought to herself as she headed back out to the floor of the Silky Doll to continue the ruse around her true operations. A few minutes later though, Sylia was back at the vidphone again… another idea springing to her mind about a way to tackle two problems simultaneously.


The ringing phone drew the exhausted Nene from the sleep she so desperately needed more of. Recognizing the face on the other end of the line, the other Knight Saber cringed inwardly about the likely topic of conversation. "Yes Sylia," she answered weakly.

"I'd like to have an early meeting this evening to discuss the future of the search, especially considering your 'issues' with me from yesterday."

She hesitated for a moment, contemplating not only what she had found out the day previous about the true nature of the search, but of the lack of information she had on the boomer incident at Hot Legs last night. "What time?"

"Is seven too early for you?"

"No. No, I'll be there."

"Good. I can have Henderson make you some breakfast if you would like."

"Sure, whatever."

"See you at seven then."

"Bye," Nene answered, disconnecting the line. She tried to fall back asleep but found her nerves not cooperating with the plan, her mind spinning with the depths of everything she needed to talk about with Sylia… and what they could mean to her and Mackey…


The door to the seemingly abandoned apartment opened up, letting the light from the hallway illuminate the dark interior of the studio apartment. A lone figure crossed the plane of the doorframe, struggling to recall the location of the light switch on the wall. With a silent click, the lighting responded to the flow of electrons, bathing the dusty interior surfaces with its unnatural glow.

"Guess I need to do a little spring cleaning," Linna encouraged herself as she inspected the results of two weeks of vacancy in her home away from home in Tokyo. "First though, I've got something a little more important to do..."

Picking up the phone, she noted with a small sense of relief that she still had a dial tone, her service not disconnected just yet.

Struggling with her memory again for a moment, her fingers eventually remembered the sequence she was trying to mentally recall. After a couple of rings the face of a young woman wrapped in head towel appeared in the screen before her.

"Sylia! I'm awake alread… uhh.., oh my god. LINNA!"

The vidphone was suddenly filled with a very ecstatic Nene, who appeared to be hugging the screen on her end. "Hi Nene," the brown haired woman smiled back.

The teenager on the other end of the line backed away from her own vidphone, a lone tear falling from her glowing face. "Oh my God! Where are you? Wait, that number… that's your apartment… You're in TOKYO!" she yelled out, noticing the caller-id information displayed in front of her.

"Yes. It's a little dusty, but everything still seems to be here."

"How are you? Did you get my E-mail?"

"That's why I'm here. I read your message… is it really that bad?" Linna queried darkly.

Nene's own face turned deadly serious at the question. "I really think so, but I haven't confirmed it with Sylia yet… hey wait, I'm meeting with her in less than an hour. Can you meet me there?" Nene asked, unsure if the other Knight Saber was really ready for this now.

Linna hesitated for a moment before deciding now was as good as any time. "Sure, but my scooter…"

"Hang on and I'll find a bus route for you," Nene encouraged.

After a couple minutes of coordination, Linna had written out a schedule to get to the Lady 633 building. "Thanks Nene."

"No problem."

"Um, one more thing Nene…" Linna began nervously. "… are you sure Priss… won't be…" she trailed off, unsure how to word her fears.

A flash of concern spread over the other woman's face as she spoke about the incident from last night. "I don't think she's coming back to the Knight Sabers, although something happened last night at her club…"

"What?" Linna asked worriedly.

"A boomer when rogue at Hot Legs and killed a couple of people."

"Oh no… Is Priss all right? She wasn't hurt was she?" genuinely concerned even through the other lingering emotions regarding the street biker.

"Sylia said she was fine, although she couldn't tell me anything else because of another migraine… she really shouldn't have tried to go out by herself last night…"

"Do you think Sylia's headaches getting worse?"

"I don't know. It kind of seems that way, though. Hey, I've got to finish getting ready… I'll meet you outside the store, OK?"

"Sure," Linna answered weakly, uncertain of what Nene had just told her. Gathering her purse, she headed towards the first bus stop on her route… and towards the looming storm now converging on the Knight Sabers' operational base.


The door opened to the lounge of the Lady 633 building, rousing Sylia from her personal introspection. She stood up to greet one of her fellow Knight Sabers… but the one she saw first nearly stopped her heart. "Linna!"

Nearly sprinting to the door, she met the two women just as the door behind them slid shut. "Why… why are you here? Did Nene…"

"Yep," the teenager answered the unasked question as she appeared from behind the taller woman. "All I had to do was ask, and our resident superheroine flew to our rescue," she added, barely able to contain a girlish giggle.

"Thanks Nene," Linna growled back at her. Turning serious, she shifted her attention back to Sylia. "Nene said that you repaired my hardsuit and still had it ready."

"Yes. I admit I really didn't think it would ever get used again, but I suppose I was hoping for some kind of miracle," she said with a smile. "So you really are back to help out with the search, right?"

Linna looked at Nene with a question on her mind. "Um, yeah. But I was wondering if you could tell me a little more about exactly what it is we're supposed to be looking for."

Sylia's shifty eyes moved from Linna's face to Nene's and back again. She let out a sigh and drooped her shoulders as she spoke. "I suppose I do owe a bit more of an explanation to you than I gave Nene before… besides, it'll be easier to tell all three of you together anyway."

"Three of us?" Nene asked a bit perplexed. "Mackey's coming too?"

"No, not Mackey," Sylia corrected.

"Then it's…"

"…Priss," Linna finished for Nene, ghostly voice full of dread that neither woman standing next to her understood. Her heart hammered out the numerous fears now running rampant through her mind.

"Yes, she should be here any minute. Linna, is there something wrong?"

Before the panicking woman could answer, Nene piped up first. "So just what happened last night? Did Priss say she would come back to the Knight Sabers?"

The sound of footsteps just outside the door drew the attention of all three women as it opened up, revealing the object of their discussion complete with her signature leathers, her pale face nearly emotionless… until she saw exactly who was already inside the room.

"Well, now that we're all here…" an unsuspecting Sylia started before a snarling voice cut off her introduction.

"What the hell is she doing here!" Priss growled out, ice-cold stare boring into the shaking woman standing just a couple of meters away.

Nene's head flashed back and forth between the two 'friends', trying to understand. "Wha… what's going on?"

The scowling woman ignored the questions as she verbally drilled into the hated one standing before her. "I told you never to come back to Tokyo again!"

The accusation broke the trance of anxiety Linna had fallen into the instant her eyes locked with the burning brown daggers of the woman still standing in the doorway. "You said you never wanted to see me again, so it's my fault that you decided to show up here tonight!" she fired back.

Priss' scowl deepened at Linna's pointed retort. "Show up here! Tell me you didn't know that I put on a hardsuit again last night!"

"What! I just found out an hour ago that a boomer attacked your club! I had no idea you wore your hardsuit!"

"You lying bitch," Priss seethed at her.

"What did you call me!" Linna challenged.

Ignoring the protest, one of the crueler ideas chiseled into the walls of hate erected in Priss' corrupted mind slunk into the forefront of her consciousness. The leather-clad demon began to stalk towards the plain dressed woman with sinister intentions at her fingertips.

Linna stood her ground as Priss strode directly to her face, both of them oblivious to the protests of the other two spectators in the room.

"So I suppose you think your ready to put on a hardsuit again, huh?" the former Blue Saber taunted.

"Y… Yes I am," Linna stammered, begin to struggle with the intimidation of her rival's proximity.

"We'll just see about that," Priss threatened darkly. With a lightning quick jerk, her right hand drew back and then struck down at the shocked woman's abdomen… the exact spot of her original injuries from the accident a short time ago.

Linna entire body flinched hard from the expectation of the hard fist slamming into her still healing body… except that it never happened. Her downward facing eyes opened to see Priss' hardened fist stopped just centimeters from the target… an evil grin plastered on her face as well. It didn't matter though… the damage was done. Just the act of tensing every muscle, and especially the ones still not whole around the injury, caused her to groan in agony almost as if she had been actually hit. Her legs began to falter as the former track star slumped over, both arms covering her pained midsection.

"Heh, didn't think so," the attacker gloated.

"Priss, what the hell are you doing!" Sylia screamed out.

The instigator turned towards her with a devilish grin that the Knight Sabers leader didn't recognize. Just as she was about to speak, the injured woman barely standing beside her spat out an insult that immediately drew the biker's insane ire.

"Y… You fucking bitch…"

Without a second though, Priss whirled around and drove a second blow deep into the scarred flesh of the unprepared woman, finding a narrow gap not covered by her shielding arms.

As Priss watched with dark fascination, Linna crumpled to the ground directly at her feet, coughing up drops of blood as she balled up onto the formerly pristine surface.

An equally impure thought of delivering a kick to her prone side was cut off by a tackle from Sylia who decided that physical intervention was the only way to stop the carnage from continuing.

"Priss! Stop this NOW!" the Knight Sabers leader shouted into the ears of the fierce warrior.

Priss' ears were closed off however by her corrupted mind still bent on revenge for the wrongs she thought she had been dealt. The former gang member tussled with Sylia's grasp, threatening more damage to the tortured body lying on the ground. However, a feral scream halted Priss' struggles as her disbelieving eyes transmitted the unlikely images to her brain… the woman she thought prone and helpless somehow sprung to her feet and flew past the stunned Nene.

With one arm still covering her stomach, Linna's other arm launched itself at the startled singer. The punch sailed just past Sylia's ear and connected to the side of Priss' face, driving her back through the still open doorway and out into the hall.

Priss staggered backwards from the force of the counterattack, falling despite her best efforts to stay upright.

Linna flailed behind a blocking Sylia as a near hysterical Nene desperately tried to hold her back.

The Knight Sabers' leader raised her voice yet another notch to try and regain control over the rapidly deteriorating situation. "Stop right this instant! Both of you!" she glared hard into first Linna and then Priss.

"I'm not quitting until her ass is mine!" Linna bellowed out from behind Nene, who was only able to hold back the bigger woman because of the damage already inflicted on her body.

"I'm not stopping until she's dead," the leather-clad one promised, shaking out the cobwebs and hauling herself upright.

Sylia caught her before Priss could start any momentum towards the other enraged woman.

Both combatants fought to free themselves from the two women struggling to restrain them until a piercing cry froze Linna in place.

"Please stop fighting! We need everyone to be able to stop this thing!" the blond teenager pleaded with wisdom beyond her years.

"… the earthquake…" Linna recalled out loud, her own anger evaporating under the fright that had chilled her soul after reading the E-mail two days ago.

The words paralyzed the light-haired woman still holding Priss back. "Wh… What did you say?"

Neither Linna nor Nene had a chance to respond as the she-demon knocked the taller woman to the ground with a sharp elbow and charged with bezerker rage directly at the woman now standing motionless in the doorway.

Linna saw the attack coming, but finally recognized the bigger picture. Thus she stood in place, waiting for Priss to knock her down yet again. The only way to end this… let her win… She closed her eyes and hoped it wouldn't be too long of a recovery… assuming she lived to recover at all…

Priss didn't particularly care if Linna just stood there or tried to defend herself… all she wanted was her blood spilled over the floor. Going for the known weak spot, the former gang member howled out the attack as she directed her strike around the blocking Nene and into Linna's marred body… that blow never reached the target.

Hearing the death-cry from Priss, Nene's head snapped around in time to see the fist streaking down into Linna's midsection. Reacting on instinct alone, the smaller girl tried to push Linna out of the way… but instead just placed her own smallish frame in harms way. An unsettling thud followed by a high-pitched grunt signaled the damage done to the youngest Knight Saber. The teenager's shaking arms covered her own stomach, her torso nearly doubling over from the ferocity of the assault… crippled body slowly sinking to the floor.

"NENE!" Linna dropped down to the ground and wrapped her own wounded body protectively over the top of her. "Nene, you idiot…" the young woman mothered the girl beneath her between her own agonized breaths. "…you should've just stayed out of the way."

The image of sacrifice along with the compassionate words burned themselves into the back of the leather-clad woman's mind. The hatred… all the bitter hatred… the loathing… the bloodthirsty desire for revenge… it all drained from Priss' blackened heart as the truth of what she had just accomplished hit home. Her head twisted back to see a groggy Sylia pulling herself up from the floor, gingerly covering her newly bruised ribs. The moaning of the girl below Linna drew her attention to the doorway again. "What… what have I…" Priss stammered, lifting her hands before quivering eyes, flexing her fingers as if they were possessed with their own twisted mind.

"Are you happy now Priss!" Linna shot out, now cradling the suffering teenager in her lap. "Why don't you just get the hell out of here!"

"no, wait," a weak voice interrupted from her arms. "we need her… we need her to stop Tokyo from being destroyed again…"

"Nene…" Linna softly called to her.

The youngest Knight Saber turned her head up to look into Priss' eyes. "If Genom had to use an earthquake device to stop this ten years ago, we can't let anyone find it again… we can't!" Nene cried out through pained tears streaming down both sides of her face.

"Earthquake… not the one that…" a disbelieving Priss stared down into the young woman, unable to fathom exactly what the implications of her statements meant.

"Yes, the same one that killed so many… and led to Genom's boomer revolution." Sylia's interjection drew the other women's attention towards her. "How did you find out?"

Nene, still wincing from the throbs in her own abdomen, sat up on the floor, wiping away the streaks on her face. "A single government file… the only record of the incident at the WizLab…" The hacker proceeded to reveal what she had learned from the file… the police action to contain the accident… the unnatural method of their deaths… Genom's blunt response… the aftermath… "The only thing I couldn't find out was…" Nene shifted her eyes up into Sylia's own haunted ones. "…just how you were involved," and instantly recognized there was much more she didn't yet know.

The Knight Sabers' leader nervously shifted her eyes away from the others, struggling with just how much she really could divulge about her 'involvement'.

"So it's true then," Priss interrupted, the fire returning to her eyes. "This thing… the thing you're trying to find now… Genom destroyed Tokyo just to try and stop it!"

"I know it's not easy…" Sylia tried to explain before being cut off.

"Why the hell didn't you tell us before!"

"How was I supposed to tell you Priss? You tried to kill me the only time I saw you," Sylia retorted angrily.

"But you hid the truth from me," Nene countered.

"Yes. Yes, I did… and I'm sorry for that Nene. But with both Priss and Linna gone from the Knight Sabers, I didn't want to risk losing you too… and I was afraid that once you heard just how serious this is, that you would quit as well."

"Two weeks ago… maybe… but not after all that's happened since. I couldn't leave knowing that we might be the only ones that could stop this thing, this 'her', from being used again." Especially knowing that Mackey is here with you she finished to herself.

"Her?" Linna asked confused from her sitting spot on the floor next to Nene.

"Look, why don't we finish this conversation in the lounge. We obviously have a lot to discuss and I think we could all use a more comfortable setting to recover from our 'injuries'," Sylia suggested with no hint of sarcasm in her voice whatsoever.

Nene and Linna helped each other up slowly, both grunting and groaning from the exertion. Gingerly, they walked into the lounge, only Nene looked back to see if Sylia or Priss were following.

The Knight Sabers' leader started to circle around the woman standing still, indecisive. Reaching the doorway, the Sylia turned back around to face her reluctant warrior. "Are you coming?"

Priss looked down into her hands, flexing them through the leather gloves she wore. Her mind swirled with the conflicting emotions she felt as if she had let run rampant through her resolve. Her control lost… her sanity in question… her purposes for seeing Sylia in the first place clouded by the presence of the one person who seemed to affect her more than anyone she had ever known…

"Priss," Sylia interrupted her internal review, stepping forward to let the lounge door close behind her, isolating their conversation from the two women recovering in the room beyond. "You didn't come here tonight to rejoin the Knight Sabers, did you?"

A motionless silence affirmed her assumption.

"One thing that came to my mind after you called today was that you may just be looking for more answers into what happened to you last night… and I've been wondering the same things myself." Sylia noted with hope that the sullen biker gazed up at her with a flicker of something in her eyes… that something close to a flash of deep despair crying out for relief… but just a brief flash… barely recognizable unless one had seen it in the mirror before as Sylia had herself countless times in the past.

"I'm beginning to wonder if what you… what we've both been experiencing isn't related to this search. The only way I know to deal with it is to find it… and eliminate it permanently. That's the only way. Running away now is only going to prolong the agony. And I know… from personal experience…" The daughter of Professor Stingray let her words trail off into the terrifying nightmares of her past for just a brief moment before regaining control over her own emotions… but it was enough to convince Priss as to her sincerity.

Priss nodded to Sylia to signal her acceptance, but still hesitated to move when Sylia turned back around towards the lounge.

"It's Linna, isn't it?" the light-haired woman asked, looking back over her shoulder.

"I… It's just…"

"I'm not sure what could have led to you hating her enough to do what you did, but if anyone was going to be so full of hate and bitterness, I would have thought Linna would have been the one… not you."

"Guess you don't know me very well then, do you?"

"There's a lot about you I don't know Priss my dear…" Sylia countered behind a sly smile, facing Priss once again, drawing one hand close to the singer's face. "…but that's why I find you so charming," she added, gently stroking a pale cheek.

Thrown off balance by the unpredictable temptress, Priss' face flushed with the unexpected contact as she reactively backed into the wall trying to avoid the touch.

"Hmm, interesting," Sylia noted with a sly smile, maintaining her distance.

"Grrr, Sylia!"

The light-haired woman headed back for the lounge, rubbing her bruised ribs with one arm… but not holding much of a grudge based on the next words she spoke. "The answers you're looking for will be waiting for you in here Priss."

The metal barrier slid shut leaving the confused woman to try and straighten out her puzzled thoughts alone. Staring into the door before her, Priss could feel the echoes of emotions that would ripple through her soul if she chose to follow Sylia this time. Distant pangs of guilt and remorse from her role in the accident with Linna drifted just outside the burning black flames of hatred for the betrayal of her heart's trust. Through those flames the ruined past of her earthquake ravaged childhood tormented her entire being… and the new knowledge of just how it had really happened. Along with that knowledge came the realization that the worse may yet be to come.

Her body chilled as Sylia's last words crept home… could my nightmares really be coming from it, from this 'her'? Ultimately the fighter within Priss rose up once again from the ashes of the streets she grew up on… emerging out of the chasm of the quake, pushing aside the specters of fear, doubt, hatred and regret… leaving one clear choice to her body. With purpose in her steps, Priss Asagiri stepped through the plane of the doorway and into the shadowy lair of the Knight Sabers once more.

To be continued…