"If the Boomers are gonna go crazy, they could at LEAST have the decency not to do it in the middle of a snowstorm!!" I grumbled, pulling on my hardsuit helmet.
"Yumeko, ever heard of the saying, 'Evil knows no night or day'?" Nene asked me. "It's basically the same with weather."
"I can tell."
"Let's move out," Sylia ordered.
On our way to Ota district, where the Boomer rampage was this time, Sylia filled us in. It wasn't one or two Boomers like it usually was. This time, it was four 55C Combat Boomers. The usual, I thought, rolling my eyes when she said it was that type that had supposedly gone nuts. Genom could've at least given a variety when it came to the kind of Combat Boomers they sent out. When it came to fights, even this was getting a bit old.
"You'd think after all this time, the Police or SWAT team or somebody would've figured out how to defeat these things on their own," I mumbled.
Nene sighed at my comment. "Yes, but the trouble is that they don't have the funding to obtain the necessary weaponry."
"Genom has enough money, but nooo, they don't want to give the cops enough money to adequately protect the city because they're greedy asswipes." Mom smirked in response.
"Ain't it the truth though," she said.
"Um, Sylia?" Linna spoke up. "I don't think the van's been moving for the past ten minutes or so. What's going on outside?"
Mackie turned to us and answered for her. "Traffic's backed up because of the storm AND the Boomers. You guys will have to get out and head for 'em on foot."
"Foot? Who needs to go on foot when you can go by air?" I said, opening up the roof hatch.
"You honestly think you can use your flight wings without being noticed?!" Nene asked, very skeptical. "Visibility in this storm may only be two meters or so in front of your face, but the light from your wings will give you away."
I smirked. "You're right. I'll just go car-hopping." Before anyone could answer, I climbed onto the roof of the truck, and immediately, snow started whipping me from seemingly all directions. Luckily, my scanners still worked just as well as they would've without the snow, so I could still detect the Boomers, and even the cars in the street, even though I couldn't see them too well, except for the headlights. I ran forward and leaped off the van, landing on a car a few meters down.
"Whoops. Sorry," I said out loud when I saw I'd left a dent in the roof. Putting that matter quickly aside, I leapt to the car in front of the one I had landed on, and then the one in front of that, and so on. I ended up making a lot of drivers angry, judging from the barrage of honks that ensued, but they couldn't actually see what was jumping on their cars, so it didn't matter to me. And since the other Sabers weren't too far behind me, I'm sure the drivers were even more pissed off, especially after the dents in the roofs they'd see once they got out of this horrendous traffic.
Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity of car-hopping, I reached the roadblock. The cops on guard didn't seem to be too happy with having to hold back so many cars, but I didn't have a problem passing the roadblock at all; I just leaped from the last car right over it.
"Hold it!!" I heard a cop yell as I leaped over it and ran towards the Boomers. My scanners told me they weren't too far away, which wasn't exactly a good thing. If they got much closer, the innocent people in the cars would be in the way. I knew I had to drive them as far away from them as possible. And since this place was close to Tokyo Bay, it seemed like there might be some water fighting, as well. I hoped that if I did end up going under, the hardsuit wouldn't freeze on me.
"Damn snow," I muttered to myself; I could hardly see a thing. I put my HUD on Low Vision Mode, designed for such a situation, and looked around. Everything around me – buildings, cars, lampposts – was then indicated by a green outline. After a few seconds, those weren't the only things that showed up on my scanner.
"There you are!" I exclaimed when my scanner suddenly showed that one of the Boomers was just ten meters from me. Immediately afterwards, out of the white fog of snow came a mouth cannon blast. I leaped out of its path and charged towards its origin. The Boomer growled, picked up a car, and threw it at me. I dodged it by doing a few back-handsprings, and the car landed with a crash just mere feet in front of me. That was too close, I thought. If my helmet hadn't been on, I would've wiped the sweat from my brow.
"I'll handle this one, Yume!!"
I turned around and saw a blue hardsuited figure standing there with her arms crossed. Mom.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"There's some other ones near the Bay!" she said. "Get them! I'll take this one!" I nodded slowly and started to run towards east, towards where the scanner said two of the Boomers, Nene, and Sylia were.
I didn't get very far before running into the fourth Boomer, which Linna was fighting. It seemed to be jumping all over the place, with Linna in close pursuit. As it flew in the air, she tried firing a few shots at it, but they missed. She jumped into the air as it sped toward her, and with her Knuckle Bomber, punched it in the chest. The Boomer fell to the ground a short distance from me, orange fluids spilling from its chest onto the snow-covered pavement. I ran to finish it off, but then it got up and grabbed me by the head, taking me by surprise. As Linna yelled my name, the Boomer squeezed tighter, and I tried to pull away, but to no avail.
And then, I heard a huge crack, and quickly realized that it came from my helmet. I knew that if I didn't want my head squished by the Boomer, I had two choices: take off my helmet, or cut off the bastard's arm. I opted for the latter, of course. Popping out the lasersword on my right arm, I raised it and was just about to slash through its arm when the Boomer suddenly picked me up off the ground – by my head! – and threw me. As I was flying through the air, I reached out my arms and grabbed onto a lamppost, swung my body around it, and kicked the charging Boomer right in the chest with my Leg Bombers. I stood there, getting ready for the next attack, when all of a sudden, two long ribbons slashed through its torso. I blinked rapidly as the Boomer – or more like three pieces of it – slumped to the ground and saw Linna standing there.
"Thanks for the help," Linna said gratefully.
"Actually, I was going to go help Nene and Sylia, but well, this took top priority," I said.
She walked over to me and ran her finger over my helmet. "You have a huge crack on the top of your helmet. Are you ok?"
"Oh, I'm ok. It's not that big of a deal."
"We should go help Sylia and Nene now," she said, and using her jumpjets, leaped onto the roof of a nearby building and starting heading in that direction. I followed, but not before asking Mom over the comm if she was ok.
"I'm fine. Just finished the Boomer," she said. "I'll be over there in a sec."
When Linna and I reached Tokyo Bay, we immediately saw one of the Boomers and Sylia dueling it out. While Linna went to aid Sylia, I went down to the harbor to aid Nene, who was fighting – or at least attempting to fight – a Boomer on her own. She fired rapidly at the Boomer with her laser gun, but it kept coming at her, and even though her visor was concealing her face, she looked scared out of her mind. When I arrived on the scene, she breathed a sigh in relief.
"Thank God you're here," she said wearily. The Boomer turned around and focused its attention on me. As it charged towards me, I jumped over and behind it, and popping out my lasersword again, I stabbed it in the back. I withdrew the sword and tried to slash it in half, but the Boomer quickly turned around and slapped me out of the way and charged towards Nene.
"Get away, you jerk!!" she yelled, firing more lasers at it, but the Boomer was unfased by them, and instead punched her in the stomach. As Nene fell to her knees, holding her stomach in pain, the Boomer went to finish her off, but I wouldn't let it.
"You bastard!!" I yelled, speeding towards it. "Don't you touch her!!"
Running towards the Boomer, I took aim at its head with my MDD, but the Boomer noticed, turned around, and fired its mouth cannon at me. I quickly jumped over the blast and fired my laser gun; I couldn't have possibly used my discs on the Boomer when Nene was right there in the line of fire, I had quickly realized. I popped out my lasersword again, ready to cut the Boomer in half as I was coming down, but its next move I hadn't expected.
Just before I would have cut it in half, it grabbed Nene in a headlock and leaped out of the way, and I ended up cutting into the ground instead. I turned quickly, only to see Nene and the Boomer go under the surface of the water.
I gasped. "NENE!!" I screamed. There was no way Nene could last very long in that situation!! I had to save her, whether my suit would shut down because of the water or not. I had no choice but to go in after her.
"Shit, here goes," I said to myself. I held my breath and dived in, immediately launching my flight wings. Instantly, the freezing-cold water flooded into my helmet, and I very nearly let go of my breath, it was so cold. I struggled to keep holding my breath as I ran the scanner for Nene and the Boomer at the same time. After a second or two, it found them: 30 meters down. I pushed my flight wings to their limit, and sped after them as fast as I could. In the murky water, it was hard to see anything, but then I saw them: the Boomer holding a flailing red-and-pink hardsuit. I took aim again with my MDD, and making sure I wouldn't hit Nene in the process, I fired two discs. They both went through the Boomer's right arm – the arm that held Nene in that headlock – and through its torso. It released Nene, and I quickly scooped her up in my arms and sped towards the surface.
The moment we broke through the surface of the water, Nene and me both gasped and started coughing. I set us down on the harbor and let Nene go. She immediately dropped to her hands and knees, practically coughing up a lung, but after what she had just gone through, I didn't blame her one bit for that.
"That…was…too close," she gasped, and coughed again. I chuckled, coughing a fair bit myself, but not for long. Behind me, I heard a huge splash, and turned around to see the Boomer had jumped out of the water and was coming right at us.
"God damn Boomer!! Don't you ever give up?!" I yelled, starting to run towards it, when Mom arrived and slammed into it, kicking it with her Leg Bombers. The Boomer grabbed her by her left ankle and threw her aside, making her yell in surprise as she went crashing through the brick wall of a nearby building.
"You son of a BITCH!!" I cursed, about to go after it, when Nene stopped me.
"Watch your suit power," she cautioned. I widened my eyes; I hadn't thought about that, and decided to check. On the HUD – which was getting a bit fuzzy every few seconds from the water damage -- it said "SUIT POWER: 70 PERCENT."
"It went down that much just from me going scuba-diving after you?" I remarked.
"The hardsuits weren't built for water combat. It's amazing your flight system didn't give out after a few seconds, I'd say."
"As much as I'd love to stay and chat…" I stopped talking, and jabbed my thumb in Mom's direction. The Boomer had only one arm and had a huge gash where my discs had pierced it, but it was still going at it like there was no tomorrow. It was so ferociously swinging its fist and firing its mouth cannon that Mom didn't even have time to attack; she was too busy dodging the attacks. I locked on to the Boomer's head and fired one of my discs. It went whistling through the air, and before the Boomer could react, the disc went right through the side of its head, and out the other side, and it collapsed in a heap on the ground.
"Gee, thanks," Mom said dryly, turning and looking at me. I grinned.
Linna and Sylia arrived on the scene, having done away with the last Boomer. "Well, that was fun, wasn't it," Linna asked sarcastically.
"Best workout I've had in a while," I answered back, half-joking.
Suddenly, we were interrupted by a blaring searchlight. I squinted my eyes, looked up to its source, and held my hand up in front of me to block out the light. It was a police helicopter. How the hell did they see us in this storm?!, I thought. Of all the luck…the one time they caught up to us was in a huge blizzard, when they couldn't even detect us in fair weather!!
"Knight Sabers!!" an officer yelled over the speaker. "Give yourselves up, now!!"
"SCATTER!!" Sylia ordered quickly. All five of us quickly split up and ran in all directions, away from the helicopter. I heard Mom fire one of her needles, and a split-second later, I heard the searchlight shatter. Hopefully, that would buy us enough time for us to get away.
I ran across a nearby street and between a pair of buildings, my heart pounding so much it felt like it was going to burst out of my chest, even with my hardsuit on. I looked up, and saw the silhouettes of several more helicopters amid the blowing snow. I quickly tried to think of a plan of escape, but what could I do? There were cops probably swamping the area by now, and if I used my flight wings, the light from them would give me away. Even worse, I didn't know if the others were ok or not. I didn't think it would be safe to try to contact the others via our comms, because the police's tracking devices could possibly pick up the signals. I let out my breath – I hadn't realized I'd been holding it for a while now – and tried to think reasonably. What to do, what to do…
"Oh, screw it," I said aloud, and using my jumpjets, leaped to the top of one of the buildings I was hiding between. I looked around, and using my HUD, tried to figure out which direction was northwest; that was the direction that Sylia's building was in. The HUD pointed it out for me, and I immediately started jumping from building to building, in spite of the fact my suit was now at 65 percent power. Please, please don't shut down before I get back to Sylia's place, I prayed silently. Several helicopters were scanning the area with their searchlights, and I had to jump out of the way of the light as they flew overhead. A couple times, I thought they had spotted me, because my foot or something was caught in the spotlight, but the choppers just kept going. I breathed a sigh of relief and kept going.
Eventually, my legs started to get extremely sore from all the building-hopping I was doing, but I didn't dare use my jumpjets or flight wings. I felt conspicuous as it was; I didn't need my jumpjets or anything making me feel even more so. A purple hardsuit against a white blizzard of snow didn't exactly make me blend in with the scenery. At least Sylia had a good chance of getting away – her hardsuit was greyish-white, she'd blend in better.
I decided to stop and catch my breath; I felt like I'd gone on like this for an eternity, and still Sylia's Lady 633 building wasn't in sight. It could've been the snow, or the fact that time seemed like it was going in slow motion, but it felt like the closer I got, the farther away it became. After a few seconds of at least attempting to catch my breath, I decided to push on. A Knight Saber couldn't let a little snow or a few cops get in her way; she had to surpass all obstacles and keep going, no matter what.
As I was jumping onto another building, I accidentally cut it a little close; my foot landed on the edge of it instead on the roof, and because of that and the fact that there was a layer of ice and snow there, I lost my footing and fell. I managed to grab onto the edge and hang on, but then, I saw another helicopter coming. There was no way I could get out of the path of the searchlight in this situation, so I did the one thing I could do: I let go, and dropped into a dark, dingy alley. I ducked behind a dumpster, and so avoided being spotted by the cops, albeit just barely.
As I squatted there behind the dumpster, I heard police sirens and a few cars whizzing by. I sighed and stood up. How was I possibly going to last much longer like this? I was willing to bet the others were having much more luck than I was. I looked around to make sure there were no more police cars or choppers around, but then, another one drove by, and I ducked back down again.
"Having a rough day, I see," I heard a husky voice remark, and I spun around to see an old man sitting there a few feet from me, wrapped in a filthy blanket, which looked like it hadn't had a good wash in years. My heart pitter-pattered for a moment, then I sighed relief.
"Only an old geezer," I sighed.
"You're not very popular with the authorities, are you."
"You could say that," I said, starting to panic again. This little old man, with a thin, wrinkled face, white eyebrows, mustache, and beard, scrawny body, and the softest blue eyes I ever saw…he could yell for the cops if he wanted to, and then I'd be totally screwed over. And yet, I somehow felt sure that he wouldn't. I couldn't explain why I felt that way, but I did.
"Aren't you one of them Saber Knight gals that run around and kill Boomers?"
"It's Knight Sabers," I corrected. "Look, as much as I'd love to stay here and chat, I gotta get going."
"You better stay here for a couple minutes more," he warned.
"Why's th—" I started to ask, but then I heard some more helicopters passing overhead, and I ducked down once more as the glow of the searchlight passed over the dumpster and the old man, but missed me by mere inches.
"How did you hear that coming?" I inquired. "I didn't hear anything." The old man lowered the hood that covered his head, and then I saw why he had heard it coming: he had cybernetic replacements where his ears would have been. I gasped.
"When I go out asking people for some money, they ignore me when they see the implants," he said, "but if I cover my head so no one sees them, I fare better." He put his hood back on.
"I'm…sorry," I said.
He looked up at me with those soft blue eyes of his, and said, "Your voice…you sound like you're just a child still."
I fumbled for an answer. "Well…I don't think a child could handle a job like killing Boomers, do you?"
He chuckled. "I suppose you're right. I have heard 50-something ladies that still have little squeaky voices, so you have a point there." I chuckled with him, then remembered the current predicament I was in.
"I gotta get going. The cops are probably still looking for us."
"Better duck again," he warned, and I ducked just in time before another cop car whizzed by the alley.
"Maybe I should get implants in my ears too," I quipped. The old man shook his head.
"It's not a walk on easy street, having these things. I sometimes have strange visions, like I'm losing my mind, and being able to hear every little thing isn't exactly a blessing."
"Well, despite the situation I'm in, it was…nice talking to you," I said softly, and leaped up to the top of the building I'd attempted to jump onto a few minutes earlier.
"Good luck to you, and God bless," he called as I started my long journey back to Sylia's place again.
I continued leaping from building to building, wondering when the hell I would reach Sylia's place again. I hoped it wouldn't be too much longer; my suit's power was in slow decline, and with each leap I made, it was a little more difficult to move. I couldn't afford a suit shutdown now, not when I was still trying to get away from the cops. The snowfall had eased somewhat, which made things all the worse. True, I didn't stick out like a sore thumb against all that blowing snow, and my visibility was better, but now so was theirs.
And then, it happened. The lights from Sylia's penthouse came into prominent view, and the red Lady 633 sign glowed as brightly as ever. I went from near-exhausted to jumping for joy when I finally saw it. Seeing that building was like seeing an old friend again. I had made it!! Finally!!
"I did it!!" I cried out in happiness as I jumped down between the building I had just been on and the adjacent building. After making sure there were no police cars or people in sight, I ran across the street, down to the parking garage, and leaped over the automated roadblock that blocked access to the garage. I ran to the door next to a closed-off garage, practically wheezing and puffing, I was so out of breath. The screen on the voice identification device said, "VOICE VERIFICATION PLEASE."
"Just…let me in, dammit," I said, panting, and the device beeped and unlocked the door. I opened it and stepped inside, closing it behind me. I pulled off my helmet and dropped it to the floor, and wiped my half-sweaty, half-frozen bangs from my eyes.
"Took you long enough," I heard a familiar voice half-quip. I looked up and saw Mom standing there, in her regular clothes. After looking at her for a moment, I smiled weakly and hugged her. She accepted it and even hugged me back. I swayed for a moment, for I felt like I had used up all my energy just trying to get away from the police.
"You ok?" she said, stepping away and holding my chin in her thumb and index finger.
"I'm…ok," I said, and dropped to my knees, trembling from both exhaustion and cold. I hadn't noticed it while I was running from the cops, but the coolant system in the suit had shut down, so there was no temperature regulation or anything.
"You better get out of that suit," she said, kneeling and putting her hand on my armored shoulder. I nodded, slowly stood up again on wobbly legs, and disengaged the locks on my suit. Almost as soon as I stepped out of it, I dropped to the floor again. "You're freezing!" she said, and started rubbing my upper arms with her hands.
"Just…wondering," I said, my teeth chattering. "How…did you g-get a-away?"
She sighed. "I ran for a while, and then I found Mackie with the van, and hitched a ride."
"What a…about the others?"
"Same thing."
I looked up in shock. "Y-you mean I ran all…all that way for nothing?!"
She looked at me with much the same expression. "No wonder you're worn out!! You ran that whole way here!! And here I was, wondering what was taking you so long." She shook her head. "I'm surprised you weren't spotted."
"I would've scanned for…for Mackie's van, but I thought…the police would pick up the frequency."
"If they had done that, we would've been in prison long ago. Nene was jamming their radar systems."
"She was?!" I slapped myself on the forehead. Duh!! She was the computer specialist of the Knight Sabers, of COURSE she would have been jamming them the whole time!! I felt like such an ass now!!
"Lemme help you up." Mom took my hand and pulled me to my feet. I felt better now, but my legs were still extremely stiff, and my hair had little icicles in them from the water when I had dived to save Nene, but I did feel much better than I had before. As she stepped back, I barely noticed her wince.
"W…what are you looking at?" Mom asked, looking a bit confused at the way I was looking at her. I held my chin in my hand and cocked my head to the side, trying to think of what could be bothering her. In the many gymnastics competitions I'd been in, more than a few times, I had seen girls try to compete despite what injuries they might have had. The instructors eventually figured out when they were hiding something, and I eventually learned, too.
I pointed down to her foot. "Take off your boot."
She blinked. "Why?"
"This is why," I said, and bent down. With still-numb fingers, I grasped the boot on her left leg and yanked it off with one swift tug. She yelled in pain and grabbed her ankle.
"What the hell?!" she snapped. I smirked and pulled off her sock and pushed her pant leg up so I could get a clear view of her ankle. I grimaced when I saw it; it was puffy and swollen, and black and blue to boot.
"How DID you manage to even get your boot on?" I quipped.
"It's…nothing, just a sprain," she groaned, snatching the sock out of my hand and slowly easing it back onto her foot. I looked over to her hardsuit, and saw that the left ankle, where the Boomer had grabbed her, was totally crushed.
"Looks like more than a sprain to me," I observed, and pulled her sock back off. "I'll be right back." I walked over to the garage where Mackie kept the equipment van, and climbed in. I quickly found the first-aid kit, grabbed the Ace bandage and some clips out of it, and went back to Mom, who was attempting to get her boot back on. "Leave it off," I said.
"I'll be fine!!" she insisted, but yelled again when she couldn't get the boot back on. I got an ice pack, bent down, took her sore ankle in my hand, and held the ice pack to it. She jumped.
"Does that have to be so cold?" I nodded.
"Helps get the swelling down," I said.
"I've seen a few girls with injuries similar to this one before," I went on. "One of them had a dislocated ankle, and the other one had a hairline fracture. Your ankle doesn't look as bad as those ones were, so I'm guessing that Boomer cracked it. Of course, you might want to have Sylia check you out just to make sure it's nothing worse than that." I removed the ice pack and started wrapping her ankle in the bandage.
"You still cold?" she asked. "You're still shivering."
"I'm ok," I answered, and continued wrapping the ankle. "How was Nene doing on the way back here?"
She chuckled. "She was wondering if you were all right. She was also ranting and raving, saying that as soon as she got home, she was gonna take a hot shower because after that dive she took, she was freezing from head to toe."
I smirked. "That's Nene, all right." I secured the bandage with the clips. "All done. You should probably stay off the foot for a few days at least, though."
Mom pulled on her boot – albeit with a bit of difficulty – and said, "You sound like a doctor."
"I'm not planning on being one," I laughed, "but after I've been with the Knight Sabers for a while, I'll probably know about all types of injuries." I stopped talking and let out a huge yawn.
"That reminds me," she said, indicating my exhaustion, "we should get you home."
"No, I'm ok," I said, shaking my head vigorously. "I'm not tired at all…" I yawned again, and blinked a few times; my eyelids were starting to feel heavy.
She grinned. "You sure you don't want to stay the night at Sylia's place? I don't know if you'll survive the ride home. You're already starting to nod off."
"If anybody should stay the night, it should be you. I don't see how you'd be able to drive your bike home with that ankle."
"I got you here, didn't I? You'd rather walk home?" I paled. She smirked. "That's what I thought. Now let's get going."
"Damn you!" I said, and laughed as I got dressed and walked – and Mom limped – out to the parking garage and to her bike. After she started it up and let it warm up for a minute, we started the drive home, me practically falling asleep on the way. So what if I'm a little tired, I thought. After all that marathon running I did tonight, wouldn't anyone else be tired too?
After a quiet drive home – and no police cars or choppers in sight – I trudged up to our apartment and changed back into the large shirt and boxer shorts that I usually slept in, and was asleep before my head even hit the pillow.
I woke up the next day a bit later than usual; after being woken up at 11 at night to go fight Boomers, I was dead tired. Mom obviously felt the same way: she didn't get out of bed till almost noon. After I got out of bed, I printed out the newspaper and read the article about the Boomer rampage, and also looked for info about the Knight Sabers.
"The Knight Sabers, the mysterious mercenary group that comes out of the dark of night to fight rampaging Boomers, once again fled after the Boomers were dealt with," one paragraph read. "Police gave chase, but the mercenaries outran them and disappeared in the storm." I smiled at that last sentence. The old man in the alley hadn't given me away after all. I sat there and thought for a moment, drumming my fingers on the table. How could I pay him back for helping me? He deserved something nice. Even if he didn't know who I was if I walked up to him, I was sure he would accept a gift of some sort.
"Morning," I heard Mom mumble. I looked up and saw her standing there, her hair rumpled, looking like she hadn't slept a wink. I looked down and noticed she still had the bandage on her ankle. It didn't seem to look any different from the night before, but then again, the bandage was covering it up, so I'd have to get a closer look…
"I still think you should go get your ankle checked out by Sylia, just in case," I reminded her, pouring a cup of coffee for her.
"I'll manage," she said, taking the steaming cup from me and taking a swig of the coffee.
I had an idea. "You know, I was planning on going up to Sylia's place today anyway. I could take you there while I'm at it. It's not any trouble."
She shook her head. "I just need to take it easy for a few days, and it'll be fine."
I stood up and looked her right in the face, and said, "Think of it this way: what if it's not just a sprain? What if it's cracked or dislocated or something worse? You'll want it to be properly healed so in case something happens during the Boomer summit, you'll be able to fight. Am I right?"
Mom closed her eyes, smiled, and shook her head. "All right, Yume. You win. I'll go to Sylia's place with you. But the next time you get hurt, I get to bug you about it, ok?"
I smiled. "Ok. But I get to drive this time."
Mom and I walked into the Silky Doll and looked around for Sylia. She wasn't in sight, and neither was Nene.
"Heather," I asked the cashier, using the name that was on the tag pinned to her blouse, "Do you know where Sylia and Nene are today?"
"I think they're on their lunch break," she said. "They're up in Miss Stingray's penthouse. May I ask why you're looking for them?"
"We just need to talk," Mom interrupted.
"Don't need to use that tone of voice with me," she complained.
"We're not," I said. "We just need to talk."
She raised her head, practically sticking her nose in the air, and said, "She told me that she and Miss Romanova are not to be disturbed."
"Well, we're the exception. She'll talk to us."
"Hold on a sec," Heather snapped, and picked up the phone and dialed up Sylia. "Miss Stingray? Two ladies would like to see you… Yes. Yes, they're being very persistent… Uh-huh." She turned to us. "What're your names?"
"Priss and Yumeko," Mom said, getting impatient.
"They say they're Priss and Yumeko. Yes. Oh! Yes, Miss Stingray. I apologize for disturbing you." She hung up the phone and turned to us, looking angry, and grumbled, "She said she'll see you."
Mom smirked. "Like Yume said, we're the exception." As Heather scowled at us, we walked -- Mom actually doing more limping than walking -- around behind the counter and walked up the stairs to the second-floor restaurant. There, we took the elevator to the top floor, and walked to Sylia's front door.
"Come in," we heard her say before I even had a chance to knock. I opened the door and let Mom go in first, then I followed.
"So what brings you two here?" Sylia asked, smiling.
I patted Mom on the shoulder. "Mom wants to have her ankle checked out."
"Come with me," she said, standing up and leading us to the examination room. "Priss, take off your boot and sock, and sit on the table." Mom grudgingly did so, removing the bandage while at it, revealing her ankle, which was even more swollen and bruised than the night before. "I'm guessing Yumeko persuaded you to come?" she asked.
Mom grunted.
Sylia turned to me. "Yumeko, could you wait outside for a moment? This will take a moment."
"Ok," I said, stepping out to let Sylia do whatever tests she needed to do on Mom's foot. I sat down in the living room, folded my arms behind my head, and leaned back. I hope her ankle's ok, I thought. We can't afford her to be unavailable for the summit, even IF it isn't for another month. I sighed and got up, walking out of her apartment and down the hallway. As I passed a door, I heard the humming of a computer and some frantic typing. I opened the door and saw Nene sitting there, typing away.
"Oh! Yumeko!" she exclaimed, standing up and rushing to me, throwing her arms around my neck. "I'm so glad you came back all right!!"
"I just came in here to see what you were doing," I said.
Nene sat down in front of the huge supercomputer and started typing again. "Oh, nothing much, just hacking into the police database."
I raised my eyebrows. "Why's that?"
"I need to delete any files they have on the Knight Sabers," she explained. "Gotta make sure they don't get too much info about us."
"Won't they track you?"
"Not if I do my job and log out quick. This is a tame task compared to some that I've done before." She chuckled evilly and opened up the database. "See this?" she asked, pointing to a file she was just opening. "I have to delete this. It has info about the weapons on our hardsuits, so it's gotta go." She typed a little more and then the file disappeared.
"This was easier when I was part of the AD Police, because I could delete the files from the inside; no one would have suspected one of their own was the person deleting them. But since I'm not part of the force anymore, I have to do it the hard way."
"You call this hard?" I asked sarcastically. She cackled.
"There goes a few more," she said, grinning as three more files disappeared. "I think that's about all of 'em." She logged out and leaned back in her chair, stretching her arms and legs.
"You do this after every battle?"
"Yup. It's safest to do it right afterwards, because not many people will have looked at it, and they won't be able to accumulate information about us."
"I think it's neat you know how to do that stuff, Aunt Nene. And you taught yourself, too! I couldn't do that to save my skin. I know next to nothing about computers."
"So why are you here anyway, Yumeko?" Nene asked. "Just stopping by?"
"Sorta. I need to talk to Sylia about something, and I brought Mom in to have her ankle looked at," I said.
"And Priss didn't fight you tooth and nail on the way here?" she said dryly.
"We made a deal."
"Ah." She took me by the hand and led me back to Sylia's apartment. "Let's see what they're up to now." We walked into the apartment and walked back to the examining room. Mom was sitting there on the table, her left leg stretched out. Sylia was bent over her ankle, fitting it with a walking cast.
"Done that quick?" I asked.
Sylia turned to me. "Yes. I did an x-ray on Priss' ankle and it's cracked in three places."
Mom looked away. "Hmph. I woulda been fine without this damn cast."
"I told you, Mom," I reminded her. "Good thing I brought you in here, or you would've done some serious damage to that ankle with all that running around you do."
"I can't believe I'm saying this," Nene piped up, "but little Yumeko here actually has some good advice you should follow, Priss."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I inquired suspiciously.
"It means," Nene said, looking at me and grinning, "that you must've gotten your common sense from somewhere other than from your mom."
Mom jumped off the table, wincing at the pain that caused her ankle, and strided towards Nene, glaring daggers at her. "What kinda sick joke are you trying to pull?!"
The freaked-out redhead raised her hands in front of her, as if in surrender. "It…it…it was just a saying, Priss!!"
"I don't care!! Yume didn't get her common sense from her bastard of a father, that's for sure!!"
"The way you act, it doesn't seem like she coulda gotten it from you!!"
I looked over at Sylia to see if she was going to step in, but she just stood there with her arms crossed. She looked over at me, as if she knew what I was thinking, and had that look in her eyes that said 'don't step in to defend her.' I slowly nodded and looked back over to Mom and Nene.
"Priss, you need to open up about this!!" Nene yelled. "You can't keep it bottled up forever! You know it's just gonna eat away at you!!"
"It's none of your business whether I talk about it or not!!" Mom shot back, her voice starting to waver a bit. "You don't have a damn clue what I went through!!"
Nene sighed. "I know that, and I'm sorry you had to go through something like that, but you gotta open up eventually. I'm sure Yumeko's wondering what exactly went on. She's your daughter, Priss. She has more of a right to know than any of us."
Mom fumbled for something to say, but the words got tangled up on her tongue. Finally, she just stormed/limped past Nene and me, and out the door.
"M-Mom?!" I called to her.
"She'll be fine," Sylia said, walking over to me and putting her hand gently on my shoulder. "She's just overwhelmed."
"I don't understand," I moaned. "Why doesn't she ever talk about it? Linna told me yesterday that she's probably just trying to protect me, but…"
"So, you came to talk to me about something?" she asked, abruptly changing the subject.
"Yeah." I walked out to Sylia's living room and flopped down on the couch.
"What did you want to ask me about?" she asked, sitting down next to me.
I fidgeted. "Well, you know how I dived in to save Nene from that Boomer last night, right?"
She nodded. "Yes."
"I was wondering if you could upgrade the flight system on my hardsuit."
"Why?" she inquired. "Your flight wings are just as powerful as mine."
"It barely managed to get me to Nene in time. If the wings had shut down on me, Nene and I would've been goners. Maybe with a power boost, I could get there faster next time, if there is a next time, anyway."
Sylia lowered her eyes and nodded slowly. "I see. You do seem to have a good reason for wanting an upgrade, but if I do upgrade your wings, it won't be for a while. Mackie is still working on repairing the water damage done to your and Nene's hardsuits, not to mention the fair-sized crack on your helmet."
I flushed. "Well, I didn't mean for THAT to happen." She smiled and stood up.
"You and Priss should get going," she said. "Nene and I have to get back to work."
"With Heather down there, I'd think you'd never want to leave your apartment," I quipped. She chuckled.
"She's a handful at times, but she's trustworthy when it comes to watching the Silky Doll."
"No kidding. When we first got here, she looked at us like we were gonna rob the place or something."
I walked outside to the patio to get some air before Mom and I had to leave. Leaning on the rail was Mom, looking at the buildings surrounding the Lady 633 building. She was trembling slightly, almost as if she was…crying?
"That…damn…Nene," I heard her mutter. "She hasn't a clue. Can't get anything through that mop of pink hair…"
"Mom?" I said. She jumped slightly and turned to me.
"Hey, Yume," she said with a sad tone in her voice. I walked over to her.
"I don't think that Nene meant to hurt you," I said, shaking my head. "She just said the wrong thing at the wrong time. I'm not surprised you blew up at her, but you can't really hold it against her. She's just naïve in that sort of way, I guess."
She sighed and looked out at the horizon. "Naïve… You're naïve in your own way, you know, Yume."
I frowned at her comment. "How am I naïve?!"
"I mean it in a good way. You've had a pretty easy life compared to the one I've led so far. You've never had to watch your back wherever you go, or fight to survive on the streets. You never…had to watch your parents get crushed underneath the rubble that used to be the place where you lived… You didn't have to run with a biker gang in order to survive…" Her voice started cracking. "And…you've never had to have almost every person you've gotten close to end up dead before your eyes."
I let out a sigh and just stood there, looking at her. Maybe she was right. I HAVE had it pretty easy compared to her. I'd always thought Nene was the perfect definition of a naïve, airheaded girl, but…then again, maybe I WAS naïve, after all. A lot of people had come up to us over the years, and said that Mom and I could be sisters, we were so much alike, in personality as well as some physical characteristics. But the truth is…Mom and I were two completely different people underneath the surface. She was a woman hardened from her life experiences; she knew if something was going to happen even before it took place. And me, I was the wide-eyed optimist, trying to see the bright side of everything, even if it seemed like there wasn't one. But then again, if there is a shadow somewhere, then a light mustn't be too far away…
