Bubblegum Crisis: Stage Three
Chapter 22
The attack on Nene Romanova's apartment in the city was sudden and decisive. The Rocket Propelled Grenade or RPG went into the window, flew across the room, hit the back wall and detonated in fractions of a second. The explosion blew out the walls and windows, as well as punching through the inner hall and splattering an empty room with molten copper from the shapped explosive charge.
At roughly the same time across the city, the penthouse apartment of Sylia Stingray was rammed by a privately owned jet. The airplane was launched without permission from the city airport, ascended to a maximum height over the city, then came down like a missile onto the top of the building. Unlike in most disaster films, it did not burst into flames or take the building down. It did, however, pretty much wreck the top two floors and mildly tilt the tower itself.
Thankfully, neither woman was home at the time...
"Holy shit," Priss swore as they watched Nene's building burn.
"Ditto," Nene agreed weakly.
The Tokyo fire department got a call literally seconds after the attack. Interestingly the voice had been distorted and the call was from a phone number in old Hong Kong. Which had been nuked. So clearly SOMETHING was going on with that too. The fire fighters got the blaze contained reasonably soon, but just looking at the wreckage the room was a total loss.
A tap that Nene had put on emergency communications 'tripped' when the alert of the hit on her home & Sylia's went out. They met at the wearhouse base, then split up to see both locations. That was a gamble, as these attacks could have been a elaborate trap, but...
"Do you think it was a warning, or an actual hit?" Priss asked, keeping a wary eye on the crowds watching the fire. Someone had actually gotten a RPG here and fired it, which would not at all be easy to do in Japan.
Nene made a face. "They couldn't have been sure I'd be in there, so I'm thinking warning. Like their wrecking Sylia's home," she said flatly.
Priss noted that Nene and Sylia had called everyone from their werehouse base. Apparently the 'enemy' didn't know about that, yet. And Priss suspected that the two women hadn't been 'working' there that night. Or at least not THAT kind of 'working.'
"Is there anything you want to try getting in there for?" Priss asked her doubtfully.
"No," Nene sighed, "my stuff is almost certainly toast. Thankfully all my computers auto-back up regularly..."
"All right, let's go hook up with Sylia," Priss said as they walked over to Nene's waiting car.
Nene sniggered softly.
"I'm sure you know ALL about hooking up with Sylia," Priss added wryly.
Over in another part of the city, Linna, Reika and Sylia were looking up at the building with mildly stunned looks. Emergency services scurried about as residents were evacuated and building inspectors tried to tell if the structure was even stable.
"I still can't believe the building is actually TILTED," Linna shook her head.
"Well, it was hit by a jet," Sylia sighed. She considered trying to explain the amount of force a falling jet produced at terminal velocity, but decided it would be a waste of time.
Reika gave the other woman a sympathetic look. "I hope your losses weren't too bad," she said to Sylia gently.
"The penthouse is a loss, but thankfully the heirlooms and such are still at the family home," Sylia noted tiredly.
"Do we need to stay around here and talk to the cops?" Linna asked Sylia, while keeping a wary eye on their surroundings. Someone had crashed a JET into the building. Who knew what else they could do?
"Other than a general statement and that it's likely related to my position at Genom, there's not much I can say," Sylia noted.
"Other than the whole people are using boomers to try to kill you thing," Reika noted dryly as they climbed in a armored SUV.
"I did neglect to mention that," Sylia conceded.
Reika rolled her eyes. Still... even she had to admit the police, overall, weren't equipped to investigate something like this. They didn't have the knowledge or gear. And worse, the ones who could look into it, the ADP, were very likely compromised...
"Let's head to the wearhouse," Sylia said, "we need to talk."
The team took somewhat circuritous route to get to the base, as a precaution. Their vehicles put out false identification signals, and had been purchased with 'laundered' money, but no reason to take chances.
"Thank you all for coming," Sylia said, standing at the head of the table. "When this started, I pretty much blackmailed you into assisting me..."
"And paid us obscenely. There's also that," Priss noted casually.
Sylia gave Priss a look, then continued to say, "I think things are escalating to a point I'm no longer comfortable with forcing you to be involved with this. If you want to walk away at this point, you are free to do so."
"I'm staying. I want the ass of whomever wrecked my stuff," Nene said flatly.
"Me too," Priss agreed, "though I want some added protection for my girlfriend, now that they may be hitting our homes."
"I'll take steps," Sylia agreed.
"Sylia, please don't delude yourself about this. We have no choice but to stick with you," Reika noted dryly.
"Reika," Linna started.
Ignoring that Reika continued, "In the eyes of whomever is targeting you, we're connected to you. They have no doubt observed us in the Genom Tower, and I've gone on record supporting you." She shrugged, "Even if we WANTED to walk away, we'd be targeted."
There was a beat of dead silence then Nene noted, "She's got a point."
"Not that I'm trying to guilt you or anything," Reika added, "but that's how I see the situation."
Sylia looked visibly tired, an unusual thing for her. "True enough. Even if I transfered you and Linna to a US branch, I'd have no way to be certain you'd be safe." She shrugged, "We have no good idea of our enemy's possible reach."
"If it helps, I think Sylia and I were specifically targeted because of things happening in Genom," Nene pointed out.
"Sylia seizing control and you put in charge of cyber-security?" Linna observed.
"I think it was a very loud back off warning," Sylia agreed.
Priss leaned forward, "That reminds me... what ever happened with that data search that started this whole mess? Did you and Nene ever get anywhere on it?"
Sylia looked faintly pained. "Nene, do you want to repeat the report you gave me earlier this week?" she asked dryly.
Nene also made a face. "This is just a initial report, as I haven't had full access for that long," she added as a caution. Nene waited until everyone reacted then continued, "Genom's computer systems are SO compromised, I wouldn't even load my dayplanner on them."
There was a LONG beat of silence as everyone digested that. "THAT bad?" Reika had to ask.
Nene shrugged, "We knew things were bad when someone bombed the data center and invaded the system," she said, "but we didn't realize HOW bad until I could get root access. Someone has changed the whole system architecture, in ways that should require creator permissions."
"Above what access you and Sylia have?" Linna noted.
"Yes," Sylia said. "Nene grabbed a un-corrupted copy of the system data and we're going over it, but it's slow going."
"Ugh," Reika sighed. She changed the subject, "Have you figured out where you and Nene are going to be staying after this?"
Amusingly both women blushed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Fargo was waiting on a contact, the private investigator slash facilitator slash underworld contact waiting in the parking garage. He had gotten a very worried call from one of his people, demanding help. Someone, interestingly connected to Brian Mason.
"Madigan? You there?" he asked over his wireless connection.
"Yes, just like the last time you asked," Madigan noted. "Why are you out there checking on Koizumi? I thought you didn't even like the weasel."
"I don't," Fargo admitted, "but I did business with him, and he was dependable. Scummy, but dependable. So if he called for help, I had an obligation to respond."
Madigan grunted, unimpressed. "Well, I've scanned the lot, no active heat signatures. I AM getting activity from a car in space 325."
"Activity?" Fargo asked, as he headed towards the parking spot.
"No life signs, but I'm reading active communications and electronics, not the standby of a inactive car," Madigan replied.
Fargo reached the older hatchback, looking over the car warily. A man lay sprawled across the seat, his brown hair falling around his face. He looked like he could be sleeping, but Fargo felt certain he wasn't. Donning gloves, he felt at the man's neck. Dead.
"Boss?" Madigan asked.
"We got trouble. I'm heading back to the office," Fargo said tersely.
"There's another problem," Madigan noted.
"Oh?" Fargo asked as he hurried to his own car, knowing his driver Gibson was already starting the engine.
"Saeko Busujima is here to see you..." Madigan added, sounding amused.
"Oh, even better," Fargo sighed.
To be continued...
Notes: I haven't actually had the lead characters acknowledge the computers at Genom are totally fucked, in story. Which REALLY is about time, considering the stuff they know is going on, not to mention the stuff they don't know.
Been meaning to bring Fargo back, just hadn't decided how. He'll be directly connected to Sylia, eventually...
