Bubblegum Crisis: Stage Three

Chapter 33

Saeko Busujima strode into Genom headquarters, dressed to kill. The tall, dark haired beauty was in a woman's business suit, but with a slit in the skirt showing off plenty of leg, and a blouse unbuttoned to reveal sexy cleavage.

"Uh, I..." the receptionist blinked, then tried to recover.

"Saeko Busujima," she introduced herself as she smiled at the woman, "I have an appointment with Nene Romanova."

"Yes ma'am," she blurted. She checked the appointment book, "Yes, got it. Here's a pass card, do you need an escort?"

"Please," Saeko smiled sweetly.

A few minutes later and Lisa Valante arrived, taking over the escorting job. "Miss Busujima," she nodded respectfully.

"Call me Saeko, please," she said as they headed to the elevators. Curiously she asked, "How is it, working for Ms Romanova?"

Lisa ave her a cool smile as she said diplomatically, "It's very satisfying. The work is interesting and varied."

Saeko clearly was amused by the non-answer.

"Are you here to see the boss on a work matter?" Lisa countered.

"Sort of," Saeko said mildly, "it's complicated."

"Ah," Lisa accepted that.

They reached the cyber-security floor, and Lisa lead her by the cubicles where the team's pet hackers worked away. They reached Nene's office, and Lisa knocked on the door briskly.

"Yeah?" Nene called.

"Miss Busujima is here for your appointment," Lisa replied.

"Come on in," Nene said, the door opening.

"Thanks for escorting me," Saeko nodded to Lisa.

"All part of the service," Lisa casually went to her desk.

Nene was working on something as she said, "Welcome, is this a follow up from the time you and Sylia got attacked by boomers?"

Saeko smiled wryly, "Well, something like that..."

"Oh?" Nene looked intrigued.

"I presume you know I'm interested in Ms Stingray?" Saeko asked brazenly.

Nene gave her a wary look, "Well, yes..."

"How are you with threesomes?"

"WHAT."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"BWA HA HA HA!" Linna nearly choked laughing.

"You're enjoying this FAR too much," Sylia noted as they drove to a remote Boomer manufacture site.

"Saeko sure has guts," Priss noted, up front driving the armored car. It LOOKS like a high end corporate car, but had armor glass, and steel reinforced doors.

"What did Nene do?" Linna had to ask.

"Told her she'd talk to me then booted her out," Sylia shrugged.

"Nearly there." Priss noted. "Let us check things out before you get out, Sylia."

"As usual," Sylia agreed as they pulled up to the ultramodern factory.

Priss and Linna swept the area cautiously, and only then did Sylia get out. "We'll go first," Linna said, using the sensors in her sunglasses to tag potential Boomer targets.

"FUCK this is a target rich environment," Priss muttered.

"Do what we have to do," Linna shrugged as they escorted Sylia inside.

"President Stingray! It's a honor!" the slightly weedy head of the facility beamed as he shook her hand.

"Director Matsuda, nice to see you again," Sylia smiled as she shook his hand.

"Please, come this way," Matsuda beamed. "The new design Boomers are starting production this week, and we already have the first batches done."

The new batches looked basically like earlier Boomers, but were built without the redundant antennas that had allowed their unknown enemy to control them. One of the first things Sylia intended to do as start 'retiring' old models and replacing them with these.

"Any issues with the new designs?" Sylia checked.

"No, not at all," Matsuda said. "In fact we're using the increased cranial area to update the heuristic programming."

"Heuristic?" Priss muttered questioningly.

"Imitating people," Linna replied quietly.

"Ah," Priss nodded.

"Whoop," Linna paused, touching her ear-piece.

"Trouble?" Sylia asked.

"Not boomers," Linna listened, "human protesters at the gates."

"Huh?" Priss blinked.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Jobs not Boomers!"

"Boomers are bad for Business!"

"No Boomer Mater Race!"

Various protesters milled about as they watching, blinking.

"Why...?" Linna had to ask.

"Most of them are in the service industry," Sylia noted, "Boomers are displacing workers there, though we're hiring for manufacturing jobs..."

"And the Boomer Master Race guy?" Priss wondered.

Sylia sighed. "There's a crackpot belief that Boomers are going to take over the world," she explained dryly.

"Clearly you're plotting with our New Boomer Overlords," Linna joked.

"Should we go out there and kick ass?" Priss asked, cocking her pistol.

"No!" Sylia yelped, "That would look terrible. No, we call the police and let them handle it."

"Awww," Priss pouted but they ignored that.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Jeena Malso arrived with the rent-a-cops not long after. "Ladies, Gentlemen and others, please disperse," the older woman ordered.

Predicably, they ignored her.

"Okay, boys. Go get em," Jeena ordered.

Within minutes the protesters were rounded up and made to move away from the gates. They DID boo and yell loudly as Sylia as well as the staff left.

"Thank you," Sylia nodded.

"All part of the job," Jeena said dryly.

"Yo," Priss nodded. "I just wanted to shoot 'em."

"PLEASE, no," Jeena laughed.

"One thing," Linna started.

Jeena had a BAD feeling, but still answered, "Yes?"

"How did they know Sylia'd be here? This wasn't a publicly announced event," Linna pointed.

Jeena paused then sighed, "Shit. It was leaked."

"Not necessarily at headquarters," Sylia noted. "Could have been the factory."

"I'll look into it," Jeena promised. Plaintively she added, "Now could you PLEASE get out of here before something else happens?"

Priss laughed, "We're going, we're going."

Both women made sure the car hadn't been tampered with, then they got in and drove off. "I saw reporters there too," Sylia sighed.

"Yay, we're in the news again," Priss deadpanned.

"I was hoping we were done with this minor crap," Linna noted, taking a moment to check over her pistol, then holstering it.

"Guess not," Sylia sighed as she wondered who had leaked the info. There were more than a few board members pissed at her...

To be continued...