Author's notes:
Before starting this chapter, I would like to thank Cylon One for his continuing attention and support, not to mention correcting a certain mistake of mine. Domo arigato gozaimasu, thank you very much! I believe that this chapter of this story of my will address your thoughts and speculations better then any author's notes would, so without farther ado…
Tonight… Hurricane!"Why are you doing this?" Nana demanded, as she landed on her feet before the stone wall, which was now partially melted by intense heat.
Avoiding getting hit by the boomer's heat cannon was far easier then it has been in the closed space of the laboratory room: all Nana had to do was to push herself off the ground with her Vectors, then use them to get hold of one the nearby ledges and thus slow her descent, turning what would have otherwise been a fall into a perfect landing.
The boomer didn't reply, instead, he activated his back-mounted thrusters and charged at Nana; although the boomer's A.I. was somewhat primitive in many ways, it was still programmed with some basic combat tactics, and the boomer quickly realized inefficiency of his heat cannon at this range and decided to engage his target in close combat.
But unbeknown to the boomer, this decision was a fatal mistake, as it fully exposed him to Nana's Vectors. Or at least it would have been a fatal mistake, if Nana didn't hesitate. Though for a few moments the boomer was fully within range of her Vectors, Nana only starred at his swift approach.
"He doesn't listen! I… I have to run!"
It was no sooner thought than done, and the next moment Nana shot vertically upwards, narrowly dodging the punch the boomer threw at her. This time, instead of getting back to the ground Nana continued her ascend by getting hold of nearby ledges with her Vectors and pushing herself off them. And within but a few moments, Nana was standing on the building's roof.
Her plan has been simple: once she is on the high ground, she will use her Vectors to push the boomer back to the ground, and by the time he recovers, she will be long gone. Good luck with finding her again in this labyrinth of streets!
The next moment, however, Nana realized that she doesn't hear the sound of boomer's thrusters. Has he already given up or something?
Nana stepped to the roof's edge to see what her opponent was up to at about the same time when a powerful laser beam struck the upper part of the building, causing a part of its wall and roof to collapse. And unfortunately for Nana, this part also included the part of the roof she was currently standing at.
The next few seconds were absolute chaos for Nana, as she was desperately trying to get hold of something, anything with her Vectors. But combination of surprise and quick fall made it impossible for her to concentrate her attention on anything, and within a few seconds she painfully landed back on the asphalted ground among the stone rubbles.
The fall was long enough to be fatal for the most humans, and even though Nana was much stronger then that, it was painful for her nevertheless, stunning her for a few seconds. But for good or ill, the events that lead to Nana's fall didn't went unnoticed.
'This is Patrol Chopper 69. There was something like an explosion in Sector 8 of Tinsel City; we are going there to investigate.'
'Roger that, Patrol Chopper 69.'
Meanwhile, Nana somewhat recovered from her fall and looked up, only to see BU-55C standing over her. She was still prone and there was maybe a meter between them, and the boomer already had his torso plates opened, revealing the white slots of his heat cannon. Even with her Vectors, there was no way for Nana to get away quickly enough to dodge the boomer's heat cannon this time. There was but one way for her to get out of this alive, and Nana knew it too well…
(Flashback)
"Why are you doing this?" Nana demanded again, but like the first two times, the boomer didn't seem to pay her words any attention.
But if before she tried her best to sound confident in her ability to avoid any attack the boomer could throw at her, this time she couldn't keep desperation out of her voice, and not without a good reason: after some ten minutes of jumping and dodging, the boomer finally managed to corner her. The boomer himself stood a little over meter away from her with his torso plates opened, ready to fire his deadly heat cannon.
'Nana, destroy it!'
"Papa!"
The sound of Papa's voice, although distant, lifted Nana's spirits, but instead of attacking the boomer with her Vectors she used them to push herself off the floor, jumping upwards and to the right just as the boomer fired his heat cannon.
At first it seemed like her maneuver worked and she managed to dodge the boomer's attack again, but the next moment a pain far more terrible then anything she has ever experienced shot through Nana's body even as her jump was broken and she fell to the floor.
For several seconds, the immense pain kept Nana completely paralyzed, but eventually she gathered enough will to try to get up, though only to fall back to the floor with pain only intensifying. After a few more unsuccessful attempts, the best Nana managed to do was to turn over on her back, and she could only look in horror at the source of her pain: a melted stump at where her left leg once was.
The next moment, a new source of pain was added to it, as the boomer, who took his time approaching his now-helpless opponent, stepped on her right arm, crushing it under his heavy metallic foot. With tears of pain in her eyes, Nana could only look up at her tormentor, who leaned over her with his heat cannon ready for the final shot; the immense pain she was in wouldn't allow her to concentrate on using her Vectors, even if she choose to do it now.
"No… This cannot be happening. Papa… Papa, save me."
"Enough. Number Seven is obviously unable to continue combat."
At the sound of the voice, BU-55C stepped away from Nana, even as new footsteps approached her. And the next moment another figure leaned over Nana, a figure she would recognize regardless of the state she is in.
"Papa…"
"Nana…"
He kneeled before her, and she could feel something cold pressed against her neck. It was surprising that she could still feel little things like that when her world seemed to consist entirely of pain.
"Nana, it is going to hurt a little, but everything will be okay in the end. Trust me, okay?" He realized the meaninglessness of his words even as they left his mouth; there was no way Nana could feel more pain then the one she already was in.
"Okay… I trust you, Papa…" Nana responded weakly; as pain seemed to be only increasing, she found it harder and harder to concentrate on listening, let alone speaking.
The next moment she felt a sudden jolt, as Electromagnetic Pulse went through her body, which, however, paled comparing the pain she was already in. And then, the merciful darkness finally engulfed her…
She didn't know how long she spent in seemingly endless darkness, or when the conscious thoughts returned to her, only that she suddenly heard a familiar calling her.
"It's okay, Nana. You can open your eyes now."
A little hesitantly she did so, and saw that she was lying on a metal table in some room, with Papa standing over her. For several seconds she was just starring at him, the most beautiful sight she has ever seen, before she suddenly recalled the events of last… "How long ago was it?.." in her mind.
But as Nana looked over her body, she almost immediately noticed with some surprise that her left leg and right arm were fully intact. A little hesitantly a first, she moved the toes of her left leg, then, getting more confident, lifted it and held up it in the air.
"We had to replace your arm and leg, Nana," the man Nana called "Papa" explained, as he watched Nana's confused expression, "But they should be as good as old ones. Are they?"
"Yes, yes!" Nana replied cheerfully, as she put her leg down; the past pain was quickly forgotten now when she felt completely fine again, and even more importantly, Papa was here with her!
He studied Nana's happy face for a few long seconds, before finally asking the question he wasn't sure he wanted to hear an answer for.
"Why didn't you defend yourself, Nana?"
In a blink, the happiness was gone from Nana's face as she looked up at her "Papa" in worry.
"Are you angry with Nana, Papa?"
"Angry? Of course I am! The tests indicate that your Vectors have developed to the range of four meters, and they are capable of cutting titanium alloy BU-55C are made of with relative ease. And yet you refused to attack it. Why, Nana?"
"I… I am sorry Papa. But he was just like me, wasn't he? Why did we have to fight? Why did you want me to kill him?"
"Nana," the man's voice was forcedly gentle, as that of a father who tries to explain some simple truth to his child, "BU-55C are nothing like you. They have very limited A.I. and don't show any signs of personality or individuality. Essentially, BU-55C are nothing but weapons made with a single purpose of fighting and killing. You shouldn't view them the same way you view humans or yourself."
"But I still don't, I don't want to kill," Nana replied in a very small voice, even as she mentally asked herself, "Besides, am I not the same? Why was I born… to kill?"
(/Flashback)
Instead of striking at the boomer with her Vectors, Nana closed her eyes, preparing for the inevitable. At the distance, she could hear the sounds continuing, as if nothing was amiss, and she found it both sad and strangely comforting that these humans will be able to go on with their lives regardless of what would happen to her…
(Did you know?) I could never share the pain
(Did you dream?) Burning in your heart
(Did you lie?) If you keep saying everything is all right.
(Did you know?) No more secrets in the pouring rain
(Did you dream?) Keeping us apart
(Did you lie?) Tell me how to help you through the night (sin, sin, sing your heart).
Big city, torn and tattered Heart to heart
We're tired of dancing around in the night.
Big city, empty Day by day,
We long for even a little warmth.
Nana was just lying there, ready for pain and inevitable end, but instead of it, a sound of rapid machinegun fire suddenly filled her ears. She opened her eyes just in time to see BU-55C stumbling backwards, with sickly orange liquid oozing from his chest before his torso plates slid back in their place, covering now-useless heat cannon. And as Nana raised her eyes upwards, she saw a large blue shape of an ADP Combat Chopper hovering above the square.
For a moment the helicopter just hovered there, but then its Vulcan cannons came back to life, firing round after round of bullets at BU-55C. But as Nana returned her gaze back to her enemy, she saw that bullets could but graze the boomer's armored body; with the boomer's torso plates back in their place, his titanium alloy skin seemed to lack any vulnerable spots whatsoever.
For a few seconds the boomer completely ignored the fire aimed at him, as he just stood there with his small red eyes locked with Nana's. Then his back-mounted thrusters suddenly came to life, and in a blink, the boomer turned around and disappeared in one of the alleys, leaving Nana stunned on the ground, and helicopter's crewmen cursing: their machine was too large to follow the boomer through the narrow streets of Tinsel City, and the fact that the boomer stubbornly refused to show on their radar made any kind of pursuit all but impossible.
'This is Patrol Chopper 69. We have a rogue BU-55C in Sector 8 of Tinsel City, but the damned thing doesn't show on our radar! What the hell is going on here? And send some ground troops here at last!'
The woman frowned as she was watching the combat scene from different angles. First, Unit 1 cut off direct communication with her, which wasn't a good sign in itself, but then an ADP Combat Chopper showed up, and Unit 1 choose to flee rather then proceeding with his instructions, and with communication cut off, she couldn't remind him of them.
The woman's information indicated 90 percent possibility that the target will try to flee rather then to take battle, and because of it, she positioned her team to cut off target's most likely escape routes rather then to attack it at once. But now, with an unexpected obstacle which was the A.D. Police, this plan has backfired upon her. All she could do was to try to salvage what was left of it.
'Unit 2, remove the threat of A.D. Police, then proceed with exterminating the target. Units 3 and 4, approach and engage the target, be ready to cut off target's escape route if it tires to escape from Unit 2. Proceed with your orders.'
'Alright, we are coming to you, Patrol Chopper 69,' a young red-haired man spoke into a radio as he drove his Road Chaser through the streets of MegaTokyo.
With his modestly muscular frame, that looked even less impressive in the suit he wore, the man would hardly make an impression if it wasn't for five ADP Troop Transports and an ADP Chopper Truck that followed his lead. For in fact, the man was none other but Detective Daley Wong, the second highest ranking field officer in A.D. Police.
'Roger that, Detective Daley Wong,' Patrol Chopper 69's pilot replied even as his co-pilot continued to monitor the radar in futile attempt to see any signs of boomer on it.
Two Patrol Chopper 69's crewmen never saw another BU-55C Combat Boomer, as he landed on the building's roof some distance away from them. And the next moment a beam of light pierced MegaTokyo's night sky, going straight through Patrol Chopper 69. It was immediately followed by a blazing flower blooming above MegaTokyo, as Patrol Chopper 69 exploded in mid air, with its crewmen never knowing what hit them.
'Daley, we've lost contact with Patrol Chopper 69!' A feminine voice exclaimed over the radio a few seconds later.
'Damn it! And what about our radars? Did you catch anything, Nene?'
'Well, I HAVE been trying to localize the boomer's signal for some time now, but at looks like somebody is blocking it through the Net. There is… Well…'
The girl named Nene went quiet. Technically, there WAS something she could do, but tracing and disabling ECM signal through the Net wasn't something she was legally supposed to be able to do. She wasn't supposed to discuss things like that through ADP's communication network either, that was certain.
'Do your best, Nene.'
'Ryokai!' a data analyst with bright red hair exclaimed cheerfully back in ADP Headquarters, even as she reached into her bag and took a CD labeled with bright pink marker as "Nene's Special" out of it.
She really couldn't help it: she just didn't have enough time to handle things the nice way, and it meant that something was SO gonna get fried! Yup, you could bet on that!
Meanwhile, in Hot Legs night club, the events that took place just outside its wall went completely unnoticed; the sounds of distant shots and nearby building's partial collapse were hopelessly lost in loud music and singing.
Big city, standing here we're Heart to heart,
Children lost, seeking love out in the dark.
Big city, Day by day
Will you ever ease the pain
Tears won't take away?
Tonight… Hurricane!
I want to… Hurricane!
Spend this lonely night loving you (loving you).
Tonight… Hurricane!
Touch me… Hurricane!
Show me your love with TOUCH!
Burning touch.
Give me touch.
Burning touch.
Just as the song ended, one of the men in the crowd that gathered in the night club let out a regretful sigh and turned his eyes from a beautiful and very provocatively dressed singer to his beeping watch, which was blinking with red light.
"Yeah, so long for the night out. At least, I got to hear this song through for once."
The was only one reason why such a high ranking field officer as him would be bothered with alert while he was off duty, and this reason was a rogue boomer…
Meanwhile, outside the club, Nana finally got up from the ground, still shocked by everything that has just happened, and in such a brief space of time at that. And just in time too, for even as Nana was looking around in confusion, uncertain about what to do now, she heard a sudden roar of engines as another BU-55C Combat Boomer dropped at her from the top of the ruined building.
"Is there no end of them?"
Nana felt like crying, but instead she lunged forward and dropped to the ground, narrowly avoiding getting crushed under the boomer's metallic feet. And the next moment she repeated her earlier maneuver: pushed herself off the ground with her Vectors to make a swift and otherwise impossibly high jump, then use them to get hold of one the nearby ledges and thus slow her descent as she landed to the ground and turned to face a new opponent. And as it turned out, Nana's intuition didn't fail her, for as soon as she turned to face the boomer she immediately noticed a melted spot on the asphalted ground: the only result of the boomer's attempt to catch her with his heat cannon.
Like the previous one, this boomer quickly realized inefficiency of his heat cannon at this range and activated his back-mounted thrusters to charge at Nana, but suddenly froze in the air, as if he was held back by some invisible force. Nana has had enough.
The boomer's surprise at his sudden inability to approach his target lasted for but a few seconds, but by the time it passed, the same invisible force that held the boomer back threw him backwards, crushing him hard against the wall of one of nearby buildings. But even the blow was monstrously powerful, it mostly did only a slight surface damage to the boomer's heavily armored body. The wall proved to be far less durable, however, and it broke under the boomer's weight coupled with strength of the blow, and the boomer fell through it into some forsaken storage area.
For a several seconds the boomer just lay there, as his A.I. needed time to adjust to very sudden change of situation and position: a state as close to being stunned as a BU-55C could experience. And when the boomer finally recovered enough to get up and step out into the square, his target was already gone, forcing the boomer to send a signal back to his leader in order to reconfirm his target's current location. But even as the boomer received the information he requested…
Daley almost startled, as the radar, which remained unhelpfully quit until now, suddenly screamed full alarm. Nene performed her unofficial job quickly and with top-notch effectiveness.
"Cute," Daley muttered under his breath, as a single look at the radar confirmed his worst suspicions: it wasn't a single rogue boomer they were dealing with; instead the radar showed four unregistered boomers in the nearest area.
Two of the boomers were very close, and apparently were moving in their direction, while the third on the contrary was much farther and moving away from them. And the last boomer was…
"Oh, crap!" Though known for his mild temper, Daley couldn't help swearing mildly as he realized where the last boomer was, 'Units Alpha and Beta, remain on this position and be ready to stop approaching boomers as soon as they get there; seek and destroy them if they change their course. Unit Delta, take position in point 8-H16. Unit Air, try to chase the boomer that is moving away to Unit Delta as soon as they are in position.'
With the orders given, Daley turned the Road Chaser's turbocharger on, and with a pair of airscoops and a spoiler extending from its body, the car dashed ahead at the speed nearing 300 kilometers per hour…
At his twenty-six years, Detective Leon McNichol was quite certain that there wasn't a thing left in the world that could surprise him. But even he didn't expect to see a BU-55C Combat Boomer standing at some distance away from him as he exited Hot Legs night club.
The boomer, on his part, paid zero attention to Leon, as his A.I. seemed to be preoccupied with his back-mounted thrusters: some of the engines looked damaged and didn't seem to be working properly, and the boomer needed to synchronize his engines in order to fly straight. That was it. Leon didn't like to be ignored, including by combat boomers.
Wasting only a couple of seconds to put his shades on, Leon drew his weapon of choice: .60 caliber "Earth Shaker" revolver. Two shots quickly put an end to the boomer's dilemma, as they hit two more engines, disabling the poorly-protected systems.
In a truly heroic pose with a self-confident smile upon his face, Leon waited for the boomer to turn, before putting the final bullet right between his eyes. He really felt like he was trying to take a tank down with bow and arrows. His smile became somewhat strained.
"Why can't everything happen like it does in those old movies for once?"
Even with his back-mounted thrusters all but disabled, the boomer was still inhumanly fast, the fact that Leon became keenly aware of as he dashed for his bike, which was still parked just outside Hot Legs night club. Leon wasn't really sure what he was trying to accomplish, for while he still got to his bike much quicker then the boomer caught up with him, it was clear that he didn't have enough time to start it up. Well, at least he got to reload his Earth Shaker while he was running… For what it was worth. At this point it really looked like he tried to be a hero one time too many.
But luckily for Leon, the next moment an ADP Road Chaser suddenly darted out of one of the alleys, and before the boomer could reach him, the car's door opened and a loud shot was fired out of it. The shot stopped the boomer dead in his tracks, and the reason for it was plain to see: there was now a hole going through the boomer's body where railgun shell went through it.
On his part, Leon didn't hesitate to take advantage of a temporary disabled boomer and immediately stepped towards him, quickly emptying his Earth Shaker's entire magazine right into the boomer's face at the point blank range, managing to blast both of boomer's eyes out. The combined force of three successive shots was enough to knock severely damaged boomer out of balance, and the next second he fell backwards to the asphalted ground, where he remained lying still, with sickly orange liquid oozing from his chest and head wounds.
"Aw, why do you always get the last shot, Leon-chan?"
"Well," Leon took his shades off and glanced at his red-haired partner who was peeking out of the car, "I guess this comes with being a hero and all. But this time I really owe you one, Daley."
"Well, you know, you can repay me for this later tonight…"
"Ugh, that's not what I meant, Daley! And anyway, what's going on?"
"Oh right, we still have some three rogue boomers to take care of! By the way, the big wigs in head office want you to take command of Delta squad. Rendezvous with them in point 8-H16. And here, take this…"
As Leon came closer, Daley handed him the railgun he shot the boomer with. It was too large and heavy to comfortably carry it while off duty, but the railgun was far more powerful weapon then even Leon's "Earth Shaker", and it was one of the few weapons in A.D. Police's arsenal that could penetrate BU-55C's armor with relative ease.
"…I have a spare one in case I need it."
Leon doubted he would, though; while Daley was an excellent shooter himself, he always said that he doesn't particularly like shooting things down, and that he has had enough of it back when he was a frontline officer. He would still never hesitate to personally come to friend's aid, though, as today's events perfectly illustrated.
"Unit 2 lost, Unit 1 is leaving the combat zone, Units 3 and 4 unable to enter combat zone due to A.D. Police's resistance…"
The mission was in shambles, and the woman understood it. Her orders for such an occurrence were clear: return back to GENOM Tower. There were always more and better boomers to be sent after the rogue BU-07V, as long as she would be able to track her through the satellites.
The woman turned to leave, but suddenly froze as she saw a large black battlesuit standing on the roof with her. She immediately identified it as a G-1 GENOM Battlesuit, and considering that its pilot didn't identify himself, his hostile intentions were obvious. A quick consultation with her tactical computer told the woman that her chance of survival this encounter was approximately 1.5 percent, a knowledge that evoked some unfamiliar emotion in her.
The woman didn't waste time to dwell on it, though, and the next time she jumped sidewards in attempt to get out of battlesuit's line of fire and reach the roof's edge at the same time. But the battlesuit pilot seemed to predict her maneuver before she even performed it, and two laser shots caught the woman in mid air, breaking her jump and making her fall to the roof.
The woman slowly got to her feet…
"Serious damage in left side, left arm and leg's movement functions are down by 65 percent."
…But the moment did it, four more laser shots went through her chest, and she once again collapsed to the ground.
"Critical damage in central area, movement functions disabled, system shutdown in 30 seconds…"
The woman could only look up at her killer, who now stood over her, with one of his arms pointed at her head.
"I'm sorry," were the last words BU-33-CX2 heard, before the final two laser shots reduced her head into pieces.
In one of the darkest and all but unpopulated parts of so-called Tinsel City, an area that was devastated by the Great Quake of 2025 and was still partially in ruins, two men stood in long-forsaken church; their features darkened by the gloom of the room. The first man was critically studying the large crucifix that hang on the church's wall, seemingly all but ignoring the second one, who was left with nothing to do but to stare at the first man's back.
"So I understand you have failed…" The first man finally spoke in a matter-of-fact voice, neither angry, nor particularly surprised.
"Everything should have worked! If only that Kurama didn't…"
"…And we have some other V-type Cyberdroid at large instead of Lucy," the first man continued, seemingly paying no heed to what the other one was saying, "Can she be of any use to me?"
The second man thought over this question carefully before answering. At one hand, it would have been better if he has brought at least some good news to his superior, but on the other hand, he knew that lying to the first man would only result in his death the moment his lie will be discovered.
"I'm sorry, but I doubt it," the second man replied finally, "Throughout all the tests, she displayed extreme aversion towards killing and fighting in general, and even should it change, her… state of mind makes it unlikely that she will appreciate your vision."
"Unlikely, huh?" The man gave another critical look to the crucifix; he didn't like the Human Messiah much, he appeared to be too meek in his opinion, but then again, one shouldn't expect any more from a race as pathetic as humans are.
"I shall see about this… But first, I want Lucy to be mine. And you shall deliver her to me."
"Of course. I've already set another plan to get Lucy in motion. I will not fail this time, I guarantee it."
"I hope you won't. You are dismissed."
The second man was about to turn to leave, when the first one suddenly turned to face him, and the second man couldn't help shuddering: in the gloom of the room, a pair of slightly gleaming red eyes created a truly diabolic sight.
"And one final thing. I didn't forget everything you've done for me, but… Try not to disappoint me too much."
Author's notes:
Now when this chapter is done, I must admit that I am somewhat dissatisfied with how it turned out to be. Indeed, the action seems to be somewhat inconsistent, at least in my opinion, but at the same time I must admit that I honestly couldn't think of a better way to handle the situation; if I didn't add various behind the scenes parts, the entire chapter would make very little sense, I believe.
Also, I guess I somewhat surprised some of the readers by giving the leading role in this chapter to A.D. Police rather then Knight Sabers, and I would like to explain my reasons for doing so. Firstly, I would like to note that by this chapter, nearly two years have passed since the first OVA episode "Tinsel City", where we see BU-55C appearing on the streets of MegaTokyo for the first time. By now, A.D. Police would be far more capable of dealing with somewhat outdated BU-55C (in the third OVA episode "Blow Up", we can see A.D. Police bringing down BU-12B, who is superior to BU-55C in many ways, even though they pay a rather high price for this victory), and Sylia would be far less compelled to take Knight Saber on a free mission against BU-55C, especially at night, when Priss and Nene are at work, and Linna is sleeping (and probably not alone too). And secondly, since the rest of this story will mostly focus on Nana and Knight Sabers, with A.D. Police fading into the background for the most part (at least, that's how it most likely will be; I haven't planned everything thoroughly yet), I decided to give A.D. Police their chance to shine while they still had it; these hard-working frontline officers who pay high price for every boomer they bring down deserve some spotlight, don't they? And last but not least, I wanted to "save" Knight Sabers for the later confrontation… I hope you will stay tuned for it!
And finally, Cylon One, sorry for somewhat misleading you about my intentions in the previous chapter. The thing is that I just wanted to use "Tonight… Hurricane!" as a background song for this chapter (and the end of the previous one), but why add it as background song or a musical fill-in when I can have Priscilla perform it on the background :D (Like how it was done in the beginning of the first OVA episode "Tinsel City")