Senshi Sabers!
Chapter 46
"Wait... it was my SENPAI Nephrite?" Makoto blinked. She had been surprised that Setsuna called her in so soon, and now this?
"I'm afraid so," Setsuna said apologetically.
Makoto sat back in the chair. "I don't believe it," she said.
Setsuna continued calmly, "You probably were not aware, but he had a fairly severe gambling problem and was deeply in debt."
Makoto nodded, listening.
"I don't think he actually intended you to be hurt," Setsuna added, "but to get the bioboomer to fight you, they had to shut down the safety systems."
"But why...," Makoto started.
"The plan, apparently, was for you to be defeated, after your long winning spree," Setsuna said. "He bet against you, and expected the bioboomer to win. He would then recoup all his losses as well as pay off the official that helped him."
"Except I won," Makoto said flatly.
"The involvement of a bioboomer caused the bets to be revoked. Worse, the people he owed were caught up in this, and were very unhappy," Setsuna said.
Makoto had the oddest look on her face. "I hadn't heard from him since the fight... oh hell," she muttered. She looked at Setsuna, "What happened to him?"
"Officially, I don't know," Setsuna said rather grimly, "but he hasn't been seen in months. I suspect he owed money to the mob, and they decided to make an example of him."
Makoto shook her head as she tried to process all of it. "So why didn't Ami find this?" she asked Setsuna quietly.
"No disrespect to Ami," Setsuna noted wryly, "but she's not trained as a criminal investigator. Nor does she have my contacts."
"Well...," Makoto nodded after a moment's thought. She really didn't want to accept that a long-time friend (and one time crush) could have done that to her... but it all fit. Damn it. "What do I owe you?" Makoto asked.
"I'll keep the retainer and call it even," Setsuna said. Makoto opened her mouth to protest and she continued, "It mostly involved me sitting at my desk and calling. It's fine."
"Okay," Makoto accepted that reluctantly, "I owe you one."
"Fair," Setsuna said. "I AM sorry it was a friend."
"Thank you," Motoko shook her and and left.
Makoto left, and Setsuna sat down at her desk. After a moment, she picked up her phone and dialed a number from memory.
"Yes?" Ami Mizuno asked.
"Did you know who attacked Makoto?" Setsuna asked curiously.
"Not for certain," Ami said calmly. "And I didn't think digging into it deeper would necessarily be good for her, either."
'And if she didn't know, she'd still be driven to work for you in revenge,' Setsuna thought cynically. "At least now she has closure," she said.
"Well, thank you," Ami said seriously, "I didn't know the sort of people to contact to actually verify it all."
"Fair enough," Setsuna agreed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Hotaru Tomoe frowned as the pretty young woman asked, "This is verified?"
Her assistant Kaori looked unhappy but nodded. "We recieved the initial report anonymously, but I've confirmed it via records of Dr Tomoe's black projects," she said.
(In fact the supposed 'anonymous report' had been created and sent to Infinity by Setsuna. She had used a free email provider, false location data and public computers to obscure it's source. Couldn't be too careful.)
"So, we provided a disguised bioboomer to a known criminal that was used in the assault on the mixed martial artist Makoto Kino," Hotaru confirmed aloud then sat back with a groan. "WHY though?" she asked.
"Testing an unarmed combat design for covert ops," Kaori said. "The fight was intended to be a field test, I think."
"But Makoto Kino beat it," Hotaru noted.
"Nearly died in the process, but yes," Kaori agreed. She had seen pictures of the aftermath of the fight... it hadn't been pretty.
Hotaru picked up her coffee and drank a bit, then set it down. "Did we do anything to compensate her?" she asked flatly.
"We haven't even officially admitted it was us," Kaori noted. "Public relations and Legal pretty muvh muzzled everyone."
"Oh, even better. I guess father just claimed it fell off the back of a truck into the criminal's hands?" Hotaru mocked.
Kaori fought back a laugh.
"At this point we can't take direct responsibility," Hotaru conceded after some thought, "It's too late for that. However, as a company we can acknowledge that, through unknown means, one of out bioboomers ended up being used illegally, and we need to take responsibility for it."
Kaori made notes, "Should we contact Ms Kino directly?"
"Yes. Contact legal, I want to know what we'd typically pay out for this," Hotaru sighed. "Of course, knowing father we'd avoid paying..."
"Will do," Kaori nodded.
Hotaru changed the subject, "Any new activity of Nine and her forces?"
"Nothing since last week's attack," Kaori noted. "Gulf and Bradly have finally stopped blocking all access."
"Probably because the site was totally wiped out," Hotaru noted, having seen video of the level of damage.
"Yes ma'am," Kaori agreed. "At least Mistress Nine didn't get away with anything."
"We think," Hotaru added darkly. She thought a moment, "We support a few politicians... pass along to them I am NOT happy the Japanese Govt gave Gulf and Bradly total control of one of our islands to weapon test on."
"Will do," Kaori nodded.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"You know," Rei noted conversationally, "it's kind of nice having a normal bioboomer rampage to deal with."
"Don't say that, you'll jinx us," Mina noted as three suits deployed.
"So what's the plan?" Haruka asked, addressing Rei.
"It's rampaging over in old Chinatown," Rei noted. "We surround it, Mina scrambles it's system, you and I take it down."
"Nice and simple," Mina agreed.
Of course it was never that easy.
"I can't access it," Mina complained as the construction bioboomer rampaged.
"Huh?" Haruka asked.
"It's been grey market modified," Mina sounded disgusted. "Totally illegal too. Might be why it went rogue in the first place."
Rei targeted the bulky, annoyingly well armored body. "Well, we do it the hard way," she said as she fired a explosive needle into it.
The three spent the next twenty or so minutes dodging the thing's blows and picking the bioboomer apart. Eventually they stripped enough of the heavy metal plate off, then Haruka raced in and ripped out the core.
"That was awful," Mina groaned tiredly.
"Everyone okay?" Ami asked over the suit communicators.
"We're good," Rei replied. "That was a bitch," she added dryly.
"It was fun," Haruka offered brightly.
"I hate you," Mina joked.
"I'll bring the truck around," Ami just ignored that as she said, "we want you out of there before the ADP arrives."
"Got it," Rei agreed as they followed the GPS to where the pick up point was.
"So, how do we do better next time?" Ami quizzed them once they were in the truck.
"More people," Mina groaned, "I do NOT like going out without Mako-chan."
"Agreed," Rei nodded.
"Michiru's suit should be ready soon, too," Haruka noted.
"With everything going on, we need the reinforcement," Rei agreed.
"I'm also working on a new set of upgrades," Ami added as she drove, "but I'll need to take the suits out of service one at a time to do it."
"Which we don't want if something major hits while we're being repaired," Mina noted.
"Exactly," Ami sighed.
To be continued...
Notes: I need to figure out the 'special weapons' for Michiru and Haruka's suits. I'm thinking of a ice shooter for Michiru, and possibly a concussive burst weapon based off compressed air for Haruka.