Chapter 9

Omnitec Building Tokyo

"Sylvie?"

"Priss." ... the member of the Knightsabers in her full combat-suit and the just activated boomer Android said to each other.

"Is this really you or... I mean...?" Priss asked. "Are you... well, complete? Do you remember everything?" `Was this truly her friend - truly her? The woman she, she of all people, had bonded to and came close to so easily. Or were it just parts of her and memories, made from recovered software? She just needed to know for sure.

"I guess it is as much `me´ as you can get," the boomer responded. "I - I am different, I admit that. No wonder after what had happened... But essentially - yes, it is still me," she said.

She took a step forward.

"And yes, I think I do remember everything. As much as I can say at least."

Priss moved the visor of her helmet, allowing the 33S model to see her face.

"You remember how we met the first time?" she asked her.

`Sylvie´ now grinned.

"Of course I do. We met each other at that roadhouse and came into an argument about our bikes right away. And then we challenged each other to a street-race right away."

"That I won," Priss cut in.

"Just by a few meters... and that only because I had just learned to ride a bike a weak earlier," the boomer replied smiling.

Priss chuckled as well.

"That sounds like something you two would do," Linna commented.

"I guess they truly had the `wild type´ in mind when they had designed me," Sylvie remarked.

"I.. is really you," Priss said. In this moment she felt both, a warm feeling and a painful one as she remembered the past, rising up in her.

One second later, the boomer and the teammate of the Knightsabers embraced each other closely, despite one of them being in full armor.

As Priss looked downwards for a moment, she saw Sylvie´s body pressing against hers, especially her large breasts, exactly where her own would be if she weren´t in her battle-suit. And she felt herself blushing. For a split-second, she had completely other feelings rising up inside her, than just being happy to see and old friend again.

This body, she knew, was only a genetically and mechanically reconstructed copy of her original one. But it seemed identical in every way. Priss would know.

There was another aspect about the friendship between her and Sylvie. One she had not been thinking about so much in the last time. Mainly because up to just now, it had just been too painful... and connected with too much remorse on her part.

She and Sylvie had, if she was honest, been more than `just friends´. Even if they never talked about it to anyone else. Even so she believed that her comrades from the Knight Saber´s at least had some good suspicion about her feelings.

Priss admitted, she found out a long time ago that she sometimes felt attracted to both, men and - at least in a few cases - also women. And Sylvie? She had been attracted by everything about her. The way she looks. How she acted. Her spirit that wanted to be free.

There was also one little fact that Priss remembered: Sexarroids - being what they were - were generally programmed to be bisexual. This of course was only logical, given what their `use´ was.

She hated thinking about Sylvie like this. She and Anri were not just machines. They were... people - people she cared about, her friends... and both were dead. At least that was what she thought until a short time ago.

But this also meant at least that she was relatively sure that Sylvie returned her affection, every part of it. No - scratch that - she was completely sure she did.

... And then she had killed her. Yes, it was to save the town and millions of lives. But still, a person she loved died by her own hands. It had broken her up.

But now... when she was right here once again.

A part of her wanted nothing more than to strip out of her armor and truly press this body against her own.

But given the situation they were in, this would be completely idiotic. They were right in the middle of a mission and inside the base of an enemy. They had to expect being attacked in every second they were here.

Sylia would have her ass if she truly acted that incompetent and Priss would not even be able to hold it against her. So she would clearly not do something that stupid.

But there were also her feelings for Leon. She had denied it for a long time, especially sice he was part of the boomer-polica and she was basically a outlaw mercenary. But she and him and become close - very close. She didn´t deny that she had feelings for him. And now...?

But she pushed this thoughts out of her mind. She would need to sort this out later. Right now there were other things to worry about, many other things.

"Like I said, I am glad to be back with you," Sylvie said to her, "... in flesh and blood, I mean."

"I am too... in flesh and blood," she replied, "... and whatever else you are made of," she said with a bit of sarcasm, but with a friendly voice.

They both knew perfectly Priss would never in life ever think worse about her for being a boomer. Sylvie remembered how she was heart-broken when she was dieing in her arms, despite having just found out about her status and the terrible things she had been forced to do to save Anri´s life. Anri who had died a short time later anyway.

"Priss, I am sorry... for all the terrible things I have done. The people I killed. And for all the trouble I have caused for you."

"I - I know you had no real choice Sylvie. I hate what you have done. But... you were alone, by yourself, Anri was dieing and you would have been killed or send back into slavery if your were discovered. So I understand.

In the end it was all Largo´s fault. If he hadn´t manipulated you and then abandoned you..."

"Hmm - excuse me," it was Sylia who addressed both of them. "I am sure you two have much to talk about. But, if I have to remind you, we are still in the middle of a job here.

Priss grimaced a bit. Of course Sylia was right. They were here on a mission.

For a split-second she actually felt emberassed about letting herself go like this, even if it was just for a minute. But given the situation, it was all too understandable. Sylvie was here - alive.

xxx

At the same time however, on the other side of the room...

Nene was just standing close to and watching over one of their boomer allies, working on the computers. Or at least this was what she had done until a minute ago.

And it was for this minute that she had send Sylia a short coded message. It was something they had agreed upon before the mission had started, a warning. Just in case any one of them noticed something suspicious about their new allies. Exactly like it had happened just now.

Originally she had only been meant to watch the female boomer´s back, in case security forces arrived. It was then, when she had realized it.

The boomer calling herself Sarah was indeed working on the data of the project Omnitec was executing here - yes. But what she was doing right now was certainly not what they had agreed to. Instead of just erasing the data like they had agreed to, she was...

Nene´s gaze turned around, over to Sylia and she gave her a short look. Nobody else seemed to have noticed. At least they hoped so.

But they were boomers after all - cyberdroids - their mechanical senses were much more effective than any humans. So it would not surprise them if they had seen the small gesture after all.

But that didn´t really matter right now. Because in the moment Nene gave that sign, they were already moving.

Both she and Sylia lifted up their weapons... and then pointed them at their allies.

"Stop this right now," Sylia said. "Take your hands from the console boomer."

The eyes of all four of the boomers turned to her, seeing what was going on.

`John´ gave a short look to Nene, whose weapon was directly pointed at `Sarah´ and just gave a short nod, understanding.

"It seems you want an explanation," he stated, surprisingly calmly.

The remaining two boomers - both combat-models - had drawn two guns by themselves. But so far they had not shed their human skin. That was probably a good sign.

"You could say that," Sylia responded sarcastically. "Your boss said the goal of this mission was to erase all data about this project... And if possible to retrieve Sylvie. So why is your compatriot here downloading it instead? What do you want with this data?"

"As you can probably guess, we have not told you the entire truth," John stated, still completely calm.

"Really?" Priss said, equally sarcastically. "Who would have thought?"

She had now positioned herself in front of Sylvie - who gave her a more than a bit surprised look at her `rescuers´ suddenly turning on each other - shielding the unarmed 33S with her own body... just in case. Whatever happened, she would not watch her die again, she told herself.

"So you should better explain things to us," Priss stated. "Otherwise we just have to go by the idea that you have been screwing with us from the beginning."

"You want the mutated sofware for yourself," Nene surmissed. "So that your company can produce their own independent boomers for itself. Is it that?"

"You are close," the boomer replied. "But not exactly correct. You see, it is the other way around. And the truth is, Mister Brigan is not exactly my `Boss´ either. In fact... he is working for me."

To say that the Knight Sabers were stunned at this statement would be an understament.

"Moment - ... what?" Nene called out.

A businessman and company-owner working for a boomer? It was absurd. What in the world was going on here?

Still, why should he make an seemingly insane statement like this, if it weren´t true?

"Oh yes? Since when are international companies and their managers working for boomers?" Priss asked them sarcastically. "I always thought it was the other way around."

"Priss," the resurrected Sylvie said. "This is not helping."

"I guess there is more to it than that, right?" Sylia questioned.

"There is," `John´ stated. "You see - the truth is, the entire Weiss-Kreuz Company is more like a fassade for us. When we met Mister Brigan the first time, he had great ideas but was in a unlucky situation. We had helped him to build up Weiss-Kreuz and get where he is now."

`We?´ the Knight Sabers all thought. The question was: Who was `we´?

"Who are you?" Sylia asked now sharply.

"We are not your enemies. In fact, in case you have not noticed, we could have easily shot you all in the back just a minute ago, while you were dealing with your friend here." He gestured to Sylvie. "And then disappear with the data we wanted. But we didn´t," he explained.

The four Knight Sabers exchanged another short look. They admitted he had a point here. They had in fact been nearly completely off-guard for a short moment when they had first see the body of the now resurrected 33S. It was a sobering thought.

"We are a organization of boomers who wants to end Genom´s domination and the exploitation and abuse of our kind. We want to stop sentient boomers from being used as disposable tools or soldiers and being used against the human population. We want freedom. To put it simply, you could say we are a kind of Resistance movement."

The Knight Saber´s watched Sylvie´s reaction at hearing his speach, especially as he said the word `freedom´ and she visibly flinched. They all knew what this word meant to her.

But could they trust these boomers or anything they said? If you could free the boomers from Genom´s control, you could also use them to build up an army to use it against the humans. Exactly what the Black Circle was supposedly trying to do. The risk was just too great.

xxxxxxx

Meanwhile in another part of the wide building complex, the mysterious man calling himself Seth Newman was getting a report about the latest events. His assistent Diana - an upgraded 33C model, sometimes called `Razordoll´ - was standing right next to him, along with two similar boomer models.

"I am sorry Sir, but they have managed to completely breach our security and entered the lab area," the Omnitec Employee, one of the late Yamada´s officers informed him.

"I see," Newman answered with a light smile. "Don´t worry about it. Just tell our security forces to hold them in this area. I and my guards will take care of it personally."

"Yes Sir," the man replied nervously. He remembered what happened to his former Boss for crossing the plans of these people who were pulling the strings behind their company.

It were moments like this, as he saw the insane glee in Newman´s face, that he nearly wished he had never taken the job in this company. But the immense salary and the privilegues had just been too great. All you needed to do was `look the other way´ and ignore the strange things that were going on sometimes. This was a lesson he had learned pretty early in life, even back when he had just been a small employee for Genom.

"Oh and something else," Newman told him smoothly. "Inform the other officers of the company that we are holding a meeting. I have an announcement to make. I want them all ready in a half hour. Who is not here in person can take part per video link."

"As you wish," the man replied, before he turned around and left.

"So they have come," Newman said. "Both the Knight Saber´s and... them. And of course they have made it inside. Just as predicted."

"I am looking out to test myself against them Sir," Diana declared.

"Of course you do, just like myself," he said. "but be careful, testing and proofing yourself also always means risking to loose."

"Of course Sir," she replied.

What most people didn´t knew was that her official role as his `boomer bodyguard´ was actually a farce. His combat abilities and experience in fact exceeded hers. Just like most people didn´t know that he wasn´t a regular man, but genetically and cybernatically enhanced to be superhuman.

"These poor fools don´t know that we have in fact copied and already transferred the data they are after days ago and whatever happens, they have already lost," Diana commented smugly. "The only reason we are still here is that a fight with the Knight Sabers and the self proclaimed `Boomer Resistance´ is just too good as a chance for a field-test for our abilities to pass up."

"You are right of course," he said. "But whatever, I am truly looking out for this fight." For a moment, his smile turned into that of a predator who wanted blood.