Bubblegum Crisis Fan Fiction ❯ Black Knights, Steel Hearts ❯ Chapter 40
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Trboturtle 
War rages across the city. . . . (Pt 2)
Anime/Manga: Bubblegum Crisis Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Mecha / Cyberpunk / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 01.17.2008 | Pages: 5 | Words: 5.5K | Visits: 535 | Status: Completed
War rages across the city. . . . (Pt 2)
Anime/Manga: Bubblegum Crisis Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Mecha / Cyberpunk / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 01.17.2008 | Pages: 5 | Words: 5.5K | Visits: 535 | Status: Completed
=================================================
Bubble Gum Crisis is copyrighted by Artmic Inc. and Youmex, Inc. I am
just borrowing the characters for a little while, and promise not to
bend, fold, or staple them - unless I can come up with a good reason to
do so. I can be contacted at the Email address above. C&C will be
accepted, out and out flames will result in a Boomer or two being sent
after you, once they get around to inventing them.
Please, enjoy my take on the Bubble Gum Crisis universe.....
=================================================
Chapter 40
ARNPTSE Storage compound
Sunday, December 23, 2035
5:16am
"Shit, shit, shit...." Chika muttered under her breath. The entire situation had became a sheep screw, and getting worse by the moment.
Her people had managed to secure both of the office buildings, but at the loss of several of their own. The building on her right had a large hole in its side where a machine gun had been set up by the unusually large guard force. Several satchel charges and a number of grenades hadn't work, killing three of her fighters in the process. It finally took a laser guided missile from the Rattlesnake to remove the machine gun from the fight, as well as the floor it had been on and the one above and below it for good measure. Because of that, Chika chose to make the left office building her command center while they waited for the rest of her team to escape the battle among the storehouses.
The Black Knight team and the members of the two demolition squads attached to them were trying to skirt the raging battle, but it was difficult as they ended up in short, brutal firefights with the guard force, then the boomers, then sometimes both guards and boomers at the same time. They were moving as fast as they could, but it would be at least another ten minutes before they could work themselves clear.
Chika peeked out a third story window in the direction of the warehouses. From the sounds of gunfire, screams and the occasional explosion that mixed with flashes of fire and tracer rounds, Chika knew the fight was far from over. But the bulk of the warehouses made tracking the firefight difficult at best. The radio conversations were short and sometimes cryptic as everyone was more concerned with staying alive then proper communications protocols.
Suyuri dashed into the office. "Chika," he said, looking worried. He was a tall, thin man with a bald head, dark skin, and a roman nose. He'd been a mercenary in Africa before he'd settled down in MegaTokyo and was no novice to combat.
"What?" She snapped back at him, her eyes never leaving the half-hidden battle.
"We found something you should see."
Chika turn to look at him. "What?" she repeated.
"The reason why this place was swarming with guards."
The raven haired woman scowled. Suyuri wasn't the type to exaggerate. "Fuko!" She yelled.
A muscular woman whose Mohawk was somewhere between teal and green in color poked her head around the door frame. "Yeah?"
"Keep an eye on the fight. I'm going with Suyuri."
"Hokay, chief."
After Fuko had taken her place at the window, Suyuri lead Chika down to the ground floor. He stopped near the bodies of a defender. "I had a couple of the boys pat these guys down for possible intelligence material when one of them noticed this." He reached down and yanked the dead man's shirt open.
Chika took one look and said "Shit."
The dead man's entire torso was elaborately tattooed, the pattern running around the and under the arms. The centerpiece of the body art was a coiled dragon running from his below his belt up to his collarbone. The combat leader recognized the symbolism of the tattooing, and realized her mission had just taken a turn for the worse.
"How many have you found like this?" Chika snapped.
"We've checked a dozen bodies so far, and almost all of them are like he is."
"Shit."
"The question is, 'whose boys are these?'"
"They looking like Sleeping Dragon Yakuza." Chika replied. She motioned to the body art on the dead gangster. "The tattoo there is a common motif among their rank and file. The question is, why is a couple of dozen of Sato's people doing here?"
"I can explain that." At his leader's questioning glance, Suyuri continued. "On a hunch, I had a squad check the basement, and found the reason why this place was guarded by Yakuza gunmen. If you'll follow me?" Suyuri lead Chika on a quick jog to a stairwell in the far corner of the building. They descended down two flights of half-lit stairs and entered through a door marked 'Basement'.
As soon as the sharp tangy smell of chemicals hit her, Chika knew why the large guard force had been in place. Suyuri handed her a filter mask. She took the mask and put it on, holding her breath as she did so. Once the mask was in place, she looked around the room. "What the hell did I do to deserve this, Suyuri?"
The room they were standing in was some sort of security room. A desk was set up next to the basement door, and a table was in one corner, the remains of a card game scattered across its surface. A gun rack hung on the far wall, still half filled with rifles. Several bodies were scattered around the room, all male, all Yakuza, and all dead.
A door opened in the far wall, and a person Chika recognized as one of Suyuri's people stuck their head out. "We got the last locked room open," he announced, his voice muffled by the mask he wore. "You'd better come see this." Suyuri lead the way through the door and into the rest of the basement.
The basement was a series of rooms, divided by cheap wooden walls and concrete floors. Each room was part of the process to make, package and ship illegal designer drugs. Some rooms were processing labs, while others were set up to weigh and package the valuable merchandise. Here and there, a body laid, some Yakuza while others wore lab coats and appeared to be the chemists that manufactured the drugs. From the signs of haste and unfinished packing, they must had still been working up to the time of the attack.
Chika held her anger in check as they walked through the rooms, but it wasn't easy. She had seen an older sister overdose on a new designer drug fifteen years back and the image of a helpless, twitching remnant of what had been once a bright and lively girl seared Chika's soul. With the death of her last living relative, the barely teenage girl found herself shipped off to the city's orphanage, a place where boys and girls were warehoused until they were old enough to be released on their own.
She's survived there, survived until Skeeter Karns had sensed that she was a kindred sprit and recruited her into the new organization he was forming. Her rise through the gang's ranks had been quick, but no one disputed her because she had done it on her own. She soon established a reputation as being as tough as any man under her command.
One of the things that had drawn her to Karns was his absolute refusal to have anything to do with illegal drugs. To her, drug dealers were the low of the low, making money off people's weaknesses, and not giving a damn what happened if their 'product' was bad. Skeeter had laid down the law early in his rule: no one in the gang was allowed to deal or manufactured drugs, and woe to those from outside that tried moving drugs into Skeeter's territory. The Red Cobras had tried, and they had paid for their stupidity.
"How long to wire this place to blow?" she snarled.
Suyuri snorted. "It's more difficult making sure this place doesn't blow. Anyone who strikes a match down here isn't going to last long enough to realize he fucked up."
"How long?" she repeated.
"Half a dozen incendiaries among the chemicals in the storage rooms, say three minutes."
"Do it."
"Already underway."
They reached a thick door that had been smashed open. A trio of bloodied Yakuza gunmen laid sprawled around the door, the result of a frag grenade at close range. The gang member that had come and gotten them was standing in the doorway, along with two other of Skeeter's troopers. One of the troopers, a broad-shouldered man by the name of Mongo pointed with his thumb inside the room. "It's clear," he said. "Ramon thought we should let you look and make a decision before we trashed the place." The trio stepped aside and let Chika and Suyuri past them.
The room was smaller then the others they had passed through, but the contents were more valuable and useful then the drugs outside. Shelves ran along three of the walls, neatly stacked with sorted bundles of cash, grouped according to denomination. A table sat in the center of the room, with another small fortune in bills waiting to be counted, along with a pair of counting machines.
Chika's mind whirled. This was an unexpected windfall, and her mind wrestled with the possibilities. The gang could use a haul like this, and the fact they were taking to from the Yakuza would make it all the sweeter. "How long to clean out the room?" she asked.
"Ten minutes," Mongo replied. He motioned to a bag in the corner. "There's enough bags to take all the cash."
Chika activated her radio. "Fuko, anything happening?"
//Nope. Just more fireworks. The tin suit leader thinks they can get clear in another five minutes.//
"Any signs of an attack on the office buildings?"
//Nope. Sy and Fowler have been out planting some Claymores between us and the warehouses. They say it's quiet.//
"Get them back in here and send down anyone you can spare for the moment."
//What's up?//
"We've walked into something big. I'll explain later."
//Hokay. Where are you?//
"In the basement."
//I've have people there in three minutes.//
"Good. Galahad Six out." She looked over at Suyuri. "Did you check the other office building?"
"Thomas reports the place is clean," the ex-mercenary replied.
"Get his people over here and shore up the defenses in this building. I want the armored cars nearby in case we have to pull out in a hurry."
"Right. What about the other building?"
"I'll have Galahad Black level it. How many other of our people are down here?"
"I've got two wiring the place with incendiaries. They should be finished real quick."
Chika nodded. "I want you upstairs keeping an eye on things."
"Right."
The raven haired woman turned to the other fighters. "When the troops Fuko sends down arrive, you have five minutes to grab as much cash as possible. Anything left over is to be piled up and a thermite grenade dropped on it. Once you've out of the basement, I want the stuff carried over to our location across the street, with one man to guard it until we pull back. I want the rest of you back ASAP."
The three nodded. "One other thing," Chika said, her face becoming hard. "All the money you guys take had better be in those bags. I don't want any bundles 'accidently' dropping into your pockets. Everyone who's part of this will get their cut, so there's no need to be greedy, right?" Left unsaid was Chika's promise to make sure any thieves would find themselves missing a hand or two, but these were people familiar with her style, respected her, and knew better then to cross her. They nodded again.
"Good." Chika opened her mike again. "Galahad Black, this is Galahad Six I have a fire mission for you...."
**********
Gulf and Bradley - Japan Headquarters
Sunday, December 23, 2035
5:17am
Carlton Bradley peered around a corner. "Clear," he said, ignoring the sounds of the pitched battle going on outside. The fact that there were still explosions and gunfire told him that some of the security force was still alive. All they had to do was live long enough to allow him and the others to escape....
The boomer behind him nodded and went around the corner first, followed by one the security men. The moved at a jog down the hall to a door on the left side of the hall, about halfway down. The door, marked 'JANITOR SUPPLIES', was an actual storeroom for cleaning supplies. But it also served as an access point for an emergency stairwell built in the core of the headquarters building, designed to allow executives to escape from a terrorist attack. The only people who actually knew about it in the city was limited to the Bradley twins, Ozu, as head of security, three of Ozu's people, and the quartet of boomers tasked with guarding Carlton Bradley.
While the boomer stood guard, the human swiped his access card through the reader located next to the door. The door unlocked and the security man pulled it open. As soon as the door open, Carlton ran down the hall. He dashed into the closet, his eyes scanning for the spot he knew was there. He saw it almost at once - a small fuse box set against the far wall. Thrusting his pistol into his belt, he opened the faceplate and threw one breaker switch, waited two seconds, then threw another one. A soft 'snick' came from the panel, and the switch panel swung open, revealing a card slot, two small lights, and a small keypad.
Carlton removed a card from his shirt pocket and shoved it into the slot. One of the lights came on, glowing green. Nodding to himself, the CEO punched in several numbers on the keypad. The second light glowed green and the a large section of the back wall opened.
The senior Bradley turned and motioned to the security man in the doorway to go through the now open secret door. The man did so, his pistol up and ready to fire. After twenty seconds, he reappeared. "It's clear."
Carlton nodded and went back to the door. "Move it!" he snarled at the rest of his party.
Doctor Kyso and the stretcher bearers were around the corner first, followed by Cora and her personal bodyguard boomer. The third boomer and the last two security men stayed at the intersection, just in case.
"Right," said Carlton, his voice low and clear. "Cora, I want you to go first. Make sure the way is clear. Wait for me at the bottom of the staircase."
Cora nodded, though she didn't looked convinced. "What are you going to do?"
"Leave our friends a little going away present."
Cora's face broke into a grin. "The --"
"Yes," replied Carlton quickly. "But that is between you and me."
"Okay, Brother." she turned to the boomer beside her. "Come with me."
As Cora and her boomer bodyguard went through the secret door, all hell broke loose.
It was the boomer guarding the hall near the storage closet that raise the alarm first. With a sound that was somewhere between a shout and an animalistic roar, the boomer split out of it's human disguised and started deploying for battle. Carlton dove for cover inside the supply room, more concerned for his life at that moment then his dignity. The human security members moved at once to cover their leader, placing themselves between the attack and their boss. The other boomer turned to cover the rear, while the stretcher party flattened themselves on the carpet. Doctor Kyso, either out of deference for her healer's oath, or because she was scared of Carlton, threw herself onto her patient to shield the unconscious girl from any stray
rounds.
Even as the first boomer moved to attack, a burst of steel from the far end of the hall ripped into it with enough force to send the boomer reeling. Both the boomer's arms came up, firing several laser burst down the corridor. A 'crack', followed by a 'thud' knocked the guardian cyberdroid back a couple of paces. Almost at once, the boomer started trembling violently. The crackling of electricity and the smell of ozone were in the air, both emanating
from the boomer. Another burst of lead decapitated the boomer, sending a fine mist of fluid and metal in all directions.
As the first boomer's head exploded, the boomer acting as rear guard came under attack. It also exploded out of its human disguise, its mouth dropping open to uncover the laser that resided there. It fired at one, sending a bolt of ruby-red light in the direction of this new attack.
The human security men were now adding their fire to the defense, their faces grim as they saw who their opponents were. While Doctor Kyso had thrown herself over the girl on the stretcher, the rest of the stretcher party drew their sidearms and looked nervously at the two prong battle.
Carlton had gotten to his feet, his expression a mix of anger and bewilderment. "Who is it?" he snapped at the nearest security men, who was firing a pistol from the safety of the storeroom's doorway.
"It's the Black Knights!" the security man snarled back. The slide on his pistol snapped back, so he thumbed the magazine release and replaced the spent magazine with a fresh clip.
"The Knight Sabers are behind us!" another security man yelled, being close enough to heard Carlton's question. "We're trapped!"
Another explosion came from the area of the hallway that the last boomer had been defending, followed by the sound of something heavy and metallic falling onto the floor. That was succeeded by a shout of "Here they come!"
For the first time, Carlton felt fear move into his awareness. He turned and covered the distance between himself and the secret door in two strides. His placed his card into the slot again, then punched in another set of numbers. Satisfied that the code had been accepted, he shouted at the security man, "Get every one in here no--"
The last word was barely out of his mouth when a pair of hardsuits appeared behind the man, grabbed him by the arms and threw him into the wall across from the door. He struck the wall with a solid thud and slumped to the ground.
It was right then that Carlton Bradley knew his plans had failed, and these were the people behind that failure. But even as he took a step back, part of him gearing up to run, the analytical part of his mind was taking in details of the two in the doorway, filing everything away for further study.
The one wearing the white hardsuit was a woman, he noted in the back of his mind, probably the leader of the Knight Sabers, or at least the hardsuit matched the description he had of her. The other one was wore the ebony armor of a Black Knight,presumably the one they called Knight One. Both well known for their work and neither one known for their mercy. And all Carlton had was a single semi-automatic pistol.
Not very good odds at all.
Even as both hardsuited people turned towards him, Carlton throw himself through the doorway into the emergency stairwell. He bounced off the opposite wall of the narrow landing and use the momentum to shoved the door shut with a burst of fear-induced strength. He relaxed slightly when he heard the lock click into place, but he didn't know how long the door would hold.
From the landing below, Cora looked up. "What's happening up there?" she called out.
"Our plans going up in smoke," Carlton replied sharply. "The Knight Sabers and the Black Knights."
His sister nodded. "We're it."
"We'd better get moving. I have no intention of being here when the devices goes off."
Cora's eyes flashed with pleasure. "You managed to set it."
"I did. We'd better get moving."
Pulling out his pistol, Carlton started down the stairs, two at a time. Without waiting for him, Cora and her Boomer started down before him. As each flight of stairs passed under his feet, and with no sight and sound of pursuit, Carlton's bout of fear faded away, replaced with the anger again. It was clear that his plans had failed -- this time. But he only had to be lucky once. And he was patient, he would wait for the right time to strike.
He couldn't be patient now, though. The timer had a ten minute setting and they needed to be free and clear before the entire building collapsed upon itself. A streak of vindictiveness hoped that they were still all up there when the devices detonated. It would solve more then one problem....
**********
Greg slammed a hardsuited fist into the wall Carlton had passed through. "Damn it!" he snarled.
"Was that Carlton Bradley?" Sylia asked.
Knight One took a deep breath. "Yes." he replied. "I wanted to give the bastard a down payment on what he owes Janie."
"Worry about that later. Let's see how she is."
The two of them emerged from the storeroom. The Knights and Sabers had quickly moved in before the stunned Gulf and Bradley people could recover. Now while Red Three and Four, along with Nene, watched the prisoners, one of the MALCORP troopers was examining the girl on the stretcher.
"How is she?' Knight One asked, his voice hard.
"She's breathing," replied the trooper, a fully qualified combat medic less then six months out of the service. "But I sure wouldn't want to have to move her."
"We have no choice."
The medic nodded. "I know. I just hope this capsule works as advertised."
Just then Leon and a pair of MALCORP troopers came hurriedly around a corner, carrying the cryogenic capsule. "Here it is," the ex-inspector called out.
Knight One turned to look at the prisoners. "Doctor Kyso," he said, his voice cold as a blast of arctic air.
The woman sitting on the floor along with the other prisoners tried her best too look unafraid, but the past twenty minutes had wrecked any sense of courage from her. "Wh-what do you want?" she stammered. "Who are you?"
Knight One walked over and looked down at the physician. "What happened?" he asked.
"Wha-what do you mean?"
"What happened to Janie VanDell?"
"I-I don't -- ugh!"
Moving like a cobra, Greg reached down and grabbed Kyso by the lapels. In a flash, she was slammed up against the wall, staring directly into Knight One's visor, leaving her dangling more than a third of a meter off the floor. "I will ask one more time," he said, his voice barely a whisper. "What happened to Janie VanDell that caused her to be in this condition?"
Sylia placed a hand on Greg's arm. "Don't," she said softly. "Don't take your anger for the Bradleys out on her. She isn't worth it."
"Jesus and Mother of God," breathed the medic examining Janie.
In one motion, Greg dropped the scared doctor, turned and strode over to the stretcher. The medic had thrown the covers back, uncovered the girl's body and the scars and burns that covered it. Several of the troopers looked sick, while even Leon, who had seen plenty of wounds and injuries looked pale.
Before Greg could turn back towards the prisoners, White Saber said sharply, "Don't even think about it. It's not worth killing them for it."
Knight One wheeled to look at his co-leader. Even though she couldn't see his face, Sylia know Greg Mallory was in a towering rage. "Why shouldn't I?" he asked her, his voice cold and intense. "This is a fourteen year old girl! She had nothing to do with any of this!"
"It wasn't any of us!" one of the prisoners, a security man from his suit, shouted.
Knight One's head swivelled to look at him. "Then who did?"
"Co-Cora Bradley," the man spluttered, looking even more scared then Doctor Kyso had. "She was...." With an audible click, his jaw snapped shut as he found himself staring down the barrel of the Black Knight's arm laser.
"Where is she?"
"She went into the escape stairwell just before you attacked," the man replied, his words tumbling out of his mouth as fast as he could say them.
"Where is Doctor Zin-Choon?"
"No-no one's seen him si-since the attack started."
Knight One took a step closer until the muzzle of the laser was almost touching the man's sweating forehead. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow a hole through your head right this instant."
"That's enough!" Sylia snapped, stepping forward to push Knight One's laser away from the nearly panicky man. "To kill him here and now would be murder!"
"And what do you call what they did to her?" he replied, his voice as hard as a diamond. "They allowed that poor girl to be tortured! Why should their lives be spared for that barbarity?"
Red Two moved to stand next to his leader. "The White Saber is right," he said, his voice gentle. "These people aren't worth the waste of power to kill them."
Greg turned to look at his teammate. "That does not apply to either Cora or Carlton. After this, they are walking dead people." He thought for a moment. "That also includes Zin-Choon. All three have lost the right to be considered human."
"You won't get an argument from me, or any other Black Knight, on that. If we see them, they are dead." Sylia noticed both Red Three and Four nodding their heads in agreement.
"Fine," replied Knight One flatly. "Can Janie be moved?"
"We're working on it," the medic replied, removing a syringe for a belt pouch. "We're injecting her with stabilizing drugs right now."
Sylia looked at Greg for an explanation. "The drugs will keep Janie alive while she's in the capsule," he said in a distant voice, his eyes never leaving the rescue attempt.
"Sylia," said Nene over the Saber's private channel. "I'm picking up some odd readings."
"What sort of readings?"
"I think it's a power build-up of some type."
"Where is it coming from?"
"The basement."
Sylia switched to the private command channel. "Greg, Red Saber has picked up a power build-up in the basement. Can your people confirm?"
"Wait one." Knight One turned towards Red Four. After about fifteen seconds, he turned back to Sylia. "Confirmed. Do you think it's a bomb?"
"It might be. I think we should get out of here."
Greg strode over to the medic. "How long before she's read to move?"
"At least five minutes, maybe ten. I have to make sure she's stable before we put her into the capsule."
"I don't think we have ten minutes," said Red Four. "Those power readings are increasing awfully fast. I think we may have seven minutes before an explosion takes out this entire building."
"He's right," the security man who had come within seconds of being killed said tiredly. "I saw Mr. Bradley enter a code into the security station right before he escaped."
Sylia looked at Nene. "Do you think he's telling the truth?"
"Possible," she replied, "I'd have to see the station first."
"It's in the storeroom on the wall," the security man said helpfully.
"What are you doing, Chasen?" one of the other security men asked him. "They're the enemy!"
"Well, the only thing that's between us and being killed is them!" Chasen shouted back. He turned to the White Saber. "About three months back, Carlton Bradley installed a series of devices designed to take out all the building's supports in case of a successful terrorist attack and seizure of the building. Laser cutters, designed to slice through the reenforced concrete supports and collapse the building on top of itself."
"That's a bit drastic," replied Red Four.
"Some of the security people thought the same way, but Ozu overruled them. The devices were put into place and the detonating command sequence was hardwired into the emergency security computer system."
"How long do we have?" asked Sylia.
"Maybe seven minutes."
"That's no good!" said the medic. "The stabilizing drugs are going to take at least five minutes to take effect, and we're at least another three minutes from the LZ!"
Sylia turned to Nene, but the EW specialist was already heading for the storeroom, Red Four right behind her. They both darted in, with Sylia and Greg trailing them.
The two computer experts looked at the security station. "What do you think?" Red Four asked his Saber counterpart.
"Looks like a standard card reader and keypad combination," the pink and blue Saber replied.
"You'd better take point on this," Red Four said. He held up his rifle. "I'm geared up more for combat then cracking right now. I can support you, but you're going to have to do most of the work."
"Right."
"You'd better hurry," said Knight One. "Tristan's reporting that there's GENOM combat boomers inside the building, evidently on a search and destroy mission." He was silent for a moment, then he said grimly, "Tristan's now reporting a new group of boomers, with energy shielding are attacking the GENOM boomers still outside the building."
"I can confirm that," said Red Three. "I'm eyeballing the situation right now. If the situations wasn't so serious, it'd entertaining to watch."
"So we're running into time pressures coming at us from all sides," said Greg. He turned to Red Two. "You'd better secure the stairwell and take out the elevators. "It won't stop them, but we'll need ever second we can squeeze out."
"Right," replied the heavy weapons member of the team. "I'm going to need a hand."
"Take Red Three and three of the troopers. I don't want anything fancy done with the elevators, just make sure the boomers can't use them."
"Right."
"I'm sending Green Saber along with your people," said Sylia. Linna simply nodded in agreement.
"I have no problem with that," Red Two said. "We're going to need the help."
Knight One motioned with his head. "Go."
Red Two moved off, his electronically filtered voice calling out the name of three of the black clad MALCORP warriors. Red Three and Linna joined them, and the group dashed around the corner and out of sight.
"This is going to be a tough ten minutes," Greg said to Sylia over their private channel.
"I know, but it's going to be the most important ten minutes of the mission."
"It doesn't make it any easier." There was some frustration in his voice that Sylia could sympathize with.
"I know, but all we can do now is hold on and wait."
**********
Bubble Gum Crisis is copyrighted by Artmic Inc. and Youmex, Inc. I am
just borrowing the characters for a little while, and promise not to
bend, fold, or staple them - unless I can come up with a good reason to
do so. I can be contacted at the Email address above. C&C will be
accepted, out and out flames will result in a Boomer or two being sent
after you, once they get around to inventing them.
Please, enjoy my take on the Bubble Gum Crisis universe.....
=================================================
Chapter 40
ARNPTSE Storage compound
Sunday, December 23, 2035
5:16am
"Shit, shit, shit...." Chika muttered under her breath. The entire situation had became a sheep screw, and getting worse by the moment.
Her people had managed to secure both of the office buildings, but at the loss of several of their own. The building on her right had a large hole in its side where a machine gun had been set up by the unusually large guard force. Several satchel charges and a number of grenades hadn't work, killing three of her fighters in the process. It finally took a laser guided missile from the Rattlesnake to remove the machine gun from the fight, as well as the floor it had been on and the one above and below it for good measure. Because of that, Chika chose to make the left office building her command center while they waited for the rest of her team to escape the battle among the storehouses.
The Black Knight team and the members of the two demolition squads attached to them were trying to skirt the raging battle, but it was difficult as they ended up in short, brutal firefights with the guard force, then the boomers, then sometimes both guards and boomers at the same time. They were moving as fast as they could, but it would be at least another ten minutes before they could work themselves clear.
Chika peeked out a third story window in the direction of the warehouses. From the sounds of gunfire, screams and the occasional explosion that mixed with flashes of fire and tracer rounds, Chika knew the fight was far from over. But the bulk of the warehouses made tracking the firefight difficult at best. The radio conversations were short and sometimes cryptic as everyone was more concerned with staying alive then proper communications protocols.
Suyuri dashed into the office. "Chika," he said, looking worried. He was a tall, thin man with a bald head, dark skin, and a roman nose. He'd been a mercenary in Africa before he'd settled down in MegaTokyo and was no novice to combat.
"What?" She snapped back at him, her eyes never leaving the half-hidden battle.
"We found something you should see."
Chika turn to look at him. "What?" she repeated.
"The reason why this place was swarming with guards."
The raven haired woman scowled. Suyuri wasn't the type to exaggerate. "Fuko!" She yelled.
A muscular woman whose Mohawk was somewhere between teal and green in color poked her head around the door frame. "Yeah?"
"Keep an eye on the fight. I'm going with Suyuri."
"Hokay, chief."
After Fuko had taken her place at the window, Suyuri lead Chika down to the ground floor. He stopped near the bodies of a defender. "I had a couple of the boys pat these guys down for possible intelligence material when one of them noticed this." He reached down and yanked the dead man's shirt open.
Chika took one look and said "Shit."
The dead man's entire torso was elaborately tattooed, the pattern running around the and under the arms. The centerpiece of the body art was a coiled dragon running from his below his belt up to his collarbone. The combat leader recognized the symbolism of the tattooing, and realized her mission had just taken a turn for the worse.
"How many have you found like this?" Chika snapped.
"We've checked a dozen bodies so far, and almost all of them are like he is."
"Shit."
"The question is, 'whose boys are these?'"
"They looking like Sleeping Dragon Yakuza." Chika replied. She motioned to the body art on the dead gangster. "The tattoo there is a common motif among their rank and file. The question is, why is a couple of dozen of Sato's people doing here?"
"I can explain that." At his leader's questioning glance, Suyuri continued. "On a hunch, I had a squad check the basement, and found the reason why this place was guarded by Yakuza gunmen. If you'll follow me?" Suyuri lead Chika on a quick jog to a stairwell in the far corner of the building. They descended down two flights of half-lit stairs and entered through a door marked 'Basement'.
As soon as the sharp tangy smell of chemicals hit her, Chika knew why the large guard force had been in place. Suyuri handed her a filter mask. She took the mask and put it on, holding her breath as she did so. Once the mask was in place, she looked around the room. "What the hell did I do to deserve this, Suyuri?"
The room they were standing in was some sort of security room. A desk was set up next to the basement door, and a table was in one corner, the remains of a card game scattered across its surface. A gun rack hung on the far wall, still half filled with rifles. Several bodies were scattered around the room, all male, all Yakuza, and all dead.
A door opened in the far wall, and a person Chika recognized as one of Suyuri's people stuck their head out. "We got the last locked room open," he announced, his voice muffled by the mask he wore. "You'd better come see this." Suyuri lead the way through the door and into the rest of the basement.
The basement was a series of rooms, divided by cheap wooden walls and concrete floors. Each room was part of the process to make, package and ship illegal designer drugs. Some rooms were processing labs, while others were set up to weigh and package the valuable merchandise. Here and there, a body laid, some Yakuza while others wore lab coats and appeared to be the chemists that manufactured the drugs. From the signs of haste and unfinished packing, they must had still been working up to the time of the attack.
Chika held her anger in check as they walked through the rooms, but it wasn't easy. She had seen an older sister overdose on a new designer drug fifteen years back and the image of a helpless, twitching remnant of what had been once a bright and lively girl seared Chika's soul. With the death of her last living relative, the barely teenage girl found herself shipped off to the city's orphanage, a place where boys and girls were warehoused until they were old enough to be released on their own.
She's survived there, survived until Skeeter Karns had sensed that she was a kindred sprit and recruited her into the new organization he was forming. Her rise through the gang's ranks had been quick, but no one disputed her because she had done it on her own. She soon established a reputation as being as tough as any man under her command.
One of the things that had drawn her to Karns was his absolute refusal to have anything to do with illegal drugs. To her, drug dealers were the low of the low, making money off people's weaknesses, and not giving a damn what happened if their 'product' was bad. Skeeter had laid down the law early in his rule: no one in the gang was allowed to deal or manufactured drugs, and woe to those from outside that tried moving drugs into Skeeter's territory. The Red Cobras had tried, and they had paid for their stupidity.
"How long to wire this place to blow?" she snarled.
Suyuri snorted. "It's more difficult making sure this place doesn't blow. Anyone who strikes a match down here isn't going to last long enough to realize he fucked up."
"How long?" she repeated.
"Half a dozen incendiaries among the chemicals in the storage rooms, say three minutes."
"Do it."
"Already underway."
They reached a thick door that had been smashed open. A trio of bloodied Yakuza gunmen laid sprawled around the door, the result of a frag grenade at close range. The gang member that had come and gotten them was standing in the doorway, along with two other of Skeeter's troopers. One of the troopers, a broad-shouldered man by the name of Mongo pointed with his thumb inside the room. "It's clear," he said. "Ramon thought we should let you look and make a decision before we trashed the place." The trio stepped aside and let Chika and Suyuri past them.
The room was smaller then the others they had passed through, but the contents were more valuable and useful then the drugs outside. Shelves ran along three of the walls, neatly stacked with sorted bundles of cash, grouped according to denomination. A table sat in the center of the room, with another small fortune in bills waiting to be counted, along with a pair of counting machines.
Chika's mind whirled. This was an unexpected windfall, and her mind wrestled with the possibilities. The gang could use a haul like this, and the fact they were taking to from the Yakuza would make it all the sweeter. "How long to clean out the room?" she asked.
"Ten minutes," Mongo replied. He motioned to a bag in the corner. "There's enough bags to take all the cash."
Chika activated her radio. "Fuko, anything happening?"
//Nope. Just more fireworks. The tin suit leader thinks they can get clear in another five minutes.//
"Any signs of an attack on the office buildings?"
//Nope. Sy and Fowler have been out planting some Claymores between us and the warehouses. They say it's quiet.//
"Get them back in here and send down anyone you can spare for the moment."
//What's up?//
"We've walked into something big. I'll explain later."
//Hokay. Where are you?//
"In the basement."
//I've have people there in three minutes.//
"Good. Galahad Six out." She looked over at Suyuri. "Did you check the other office building?"
"Thomas reports the place is clean," the ex-mercenary replied.
"Get his people over here and shore up the defenses in this building. I want the armored cars nearby in case we have to pull out in a hurry."
"Right. What about the other building?"
"I'll have Galahad Black level it. How many other of our people are down here?"
"I've got two wiring the place with incendiaries. They should be finished real quick."
Chika nodded. "I want you upstairs keeping an eye on things."
"Right."
The raven haired woman turned to the other fighters. "When the troops Fuko sends down arrive, you have five minutes to grab as much cash as possible. Anything left over is to be piled up and a thermite grenade dropped on it. Once you've out of the basement, I want the stuff carried over to our location across the street, with one man to guard it until we pull back. I want the rest of you back ASAP."
The three nodded. "One other thing," Chika said, her face becoming hard. "All the money you guys take had better be in those bags. I don't want any bundles 'accidently' dropping into your pockets. Everyone who's part of this will get their cut, so there's no need to be greedy, right?" Left unsaid was Chika's promise to make sure any thieves would find themselves missing a hand or two, but these were people familiar with her style, respected her, and knew better then to cross her. They nodded again.
"Good." Chika opened her mike again. "Galahad Black, this is Galahad Six I have a fire mission for you...."
**********
Gulf and Bradley - Japan Headquarters
Sunday, December 23, 2035
5:17am
Carlton Bradley peered around a corner. "Clear," he said, ignoring the sounds of the pitched battle going on outside. The fact that there were still explosions and gunfire told him that some of the security force was still alive. All they had to do was live long enough to allow him and the others to escape....
The boomer behind him nodded and went around the corner first, followed by one the security men. The moved at a jog down the hall to a door on the left side of the hall, about halfway down. The door, marked 'JANITOR SUPPLIES', was an actual storeroom for cleaning supplies. But it also served as an access point for an emergency stairwell built in the core of the headquarters building, designed to allow executives to escape from a terrorist attack. The only people who actually knew about it in the city was limited to the Bradley twins, Ozu, as head of security, three of Ozu's people, and the quartet of boomers tasked with guarding Carlton Bradley.
While the boomer stood guard, the human swiped his access card through the reader located next to the door. The door unlocked and the security man pulled it open. As soon as the door open, Carlton ran down the hall. He dashed into the closet, his eyes scanning for the spot he knew was there. He saw it almost at once - a small fuse box set against the far wall. Thrusting his pistol into his belt, he opened the faceplate and threw one breaker switch, waited two seconds, then threw another one. A soft 'snick' came from the panel, and the switch panel swung open, revealing a card slot, two small lights, and a small keypad.
Carlton removed a card from his shirt pocket and shoved it into the slot. One of the lights came on, glowing green. Nodding to himself, the CEO punched in several numbers on the keypad. The second light glowed green and the a large section of the back wall opened.
The senior Bradley turned and motioned to the security man in the doorway to go through the now open secret door. The man did so, his pistol up and ready to fire. After twenty seconds, he reappeared. "It's clear."
Carlton nodded and went back to the door. "Move it!" he snarled at the rest of his party.
Doctor Kyso and the stretcher bearers were around the corner first, followed by Cora and her personal bodyguard boomer. The third boomer and the last two security men stayed at the intersection, just in case.
"Right," said Carlton, his voice low and clear. "Cora, I want you to go first. Make sure the way is clear. Wait for me at the bottom of the staircase."
Cora nodded, though she didn't looked convinced. "What are you going to do?"
"Leave our friends a little going away present."
Cora's face broke into a grin. "The --"
"Yes," replied Carlton quickly. "But that is between you and me."
"Okay, Brother." she turned to the boomer beside her. "Come with me."
As Cora and her boomer bodyguard went through the secret door, all hell broke loose.
It was the boomer guarding the hall near the storage closet that raise the alarm first. With a sound that was somewhere between a shout and an animalistic roar, the boomer split out of it's human disguised and started deploying for battle. Carlton dove for cover inside the supply room, more concerned for his life at that moment then his dignity. The human security members moved at once to cover their leader, placing themselves between the attack and their boss. The other boomer turned to cover the rear, while the stretcher party flattened themselves on the carpet. Doctor Kyso, either out of deference for her healer's oath, or because she was scared of Carlton, threw herself onto her patient to shield the unconscious girl from any stray
rounds.
Even as the first boomer moved to attack, a burst of steel from the far end of the hall ripped into it with enough force to send the boomer reeling. Both the boomer's arms came up, firing several laser burst down the corridor. A 'crack', followed by a 'thud' knocked the guardian cyberdroid back a couple of paces. Almost at once, the boomer started trembling violently. The crackling of electricity and the smell of ozone were in the air, both emanating
from the boomer. Another burst of lead decapitated the boomer, sending a fine mist of fluid and metal in all directions.
As the first boomer's head exploded, the boomer acting as rear guard came under attack. It also exploded out of its human disguise, its mouth dropping open to uncover the laser that resided there. It fired at one, sending a bolt of ruby-red light in the direction of this new attack.
The human security men were now adding their fire to the defense, their faces grim as they saw who their opponents were. While Doctor Kyso had thrown herself over the girl on the stretcher, the rest of the stretcher party drew their sidearms and looked nervously at the two prong battle.
Carlton had gotten to his feet, his expression a mix of anger and bewilderment. "Who is it?" he snapped at the nearest security men, who was firing a pistol from the safety of the storeroom's doorway.
"It's the Black Knights!" the security man snarled back. The slide on his pistol snapped back, so he thumbed the magazine release and replaced the spent magazine with a fresh clip.
"The Knight Sabers are behind us!" another security man yelled, being close enough to heard Carlton's question. "We're trapped!"
Another explosion came from the area of the hallway that the last boomer had been defending, followed by the sound of something heavy and metallic falling onto the floor. That was succeeded by a shout of "Here they come!"
For the first time, Carlton felt fear move into his awareness. He turned and covered the distance between himself and the secret door in two strides. His placed his card into the slot again, then punched in another set of numbers. Satisfied that the code had been accepted, he shouted at the security man, "Get every one in here no--"
The last word was barely out of his mouth when a pair of hardsuits appeared behind the man, grabbed him by the arms and threw him into the wall across from the door. He struck the wall with a solid thud and slumped to the ground.
It was right then that Carlton Bradley knew his plans had failed, and these were the people behind that failure. But even as he took a step back, part of him gearing up to run, the analytical part of his mind was taking in details of the two in the doorway, filing everything away for further study.
The one wearing the white hardsuit was a woman, he noted in the back of his mind, probably the leader of the Knight Sabers, or at least the hardsuit matched the description he had of her. The other one was wore the ebony armor of a Black Knight,presumably the one they called Knight One. Both well known for their work and neither one known for their mercy. And all Carlton had was a single semi-automatic pistol.
Not very good odds at all.
Even as both hardsuited people turned towards him, Carlton throw himself through the doorway into the emergency stairwell. He bounced off the opposite wall of the narrow landing and use the momentum to shoved the door shut with a burst of fear-induced strength. He relaxed slightly when he heard the lock click into place, but he didn't know how long the door would hold.
From the landing below, Cora looked up. "What's happening up there?" she called out.
"Our plans going up in smoke," Carlton replied sharply. "The Knight Sabers and the Black Knights."
His sister nodded. "We're it."
"We'd better get moving. I have no intention of being here when the devices goes off."
Cora's eyes flashed with pleasure. "You managed to set it."
"I did. We'd better get moving."
Pulling out his pistol, Carlton started down the stairs, two at a time. Without waiting for him, Cora and her Boomer started down before him. As each flight of stairs passed under his feet, and with no sight and sound of pursuit, Carlton's bout of fear faded away, replaced with the anger again. It was clear that his plans had failed -- this time. But he only had to be lucky once. And he was patient, he would wait for the right time to strike.
He couldn't be patient now, though. The timer had a ten minute setting and they needed to be free and clear before the entire building collapsed upon itself. A streak of vindictiveness hoped that they were still all up there when the devices detonated. It would solve more then one problem....
**********
Greg slammed a hardsuited fist into the wall Carlton had passed through. "Damn it!" he snarled.
"Was that Carlton Bradley?" Sylia asked.
Knight One took a deep breath. "Yes." he replied. "I wanted to give the bastard a down payment on what he owes Janie."
"Worry about that later. Let's see how she is."
The two of them emerged from the storeroom. The Knights and Sabers had quickly moved in before the stunned Gulf and Bradley people could recover. Now while Red Three and Four, along with Nene, watched the prisoners, one of the MALCORP troopers was examining the girl on the stretcher.
"How is she?' Knight One asked, his voice hard.
"She's breathing," replied the trooper, a fully qualified combat medic less then six months out of the service. "But I sure wouldn't want to have to move her."
"We have no choice."
The medic nodded. "I know. I just hope this capsule works as advertised."
Just then Leon and a pair of MALCORP troopers came hurriedly around a corner, carrying the cryogenic capsule. "Here it is," the ex-inspector called out.
Knight One turned to look at the prisoners. "Doctor Kyso," he said, his voice cold as a blast of arctic air.
The woman sitting on the floor along with the other prisoners tried her best too look unafraid, but the past twenty minutes had wrecked any sense of courage from her. "Wh-what do you want?" she stammered. "Who are you?"
Knight One walked over and looked down at the physician. "What happened?" he asked.
"Wha-what do you mean?"
"What happened to Janie VanDell?"
"I-I don't -- ugh!"
Moving like a cobra, Greg reached down and grabbed Kyso by the lapels. In a flash, she was slammed up against the wall, staring directly into Knight One's visor, leaving her dangling more than a third of a meter off the floor. "I will ask one more time," he said, his voice barely a whisper. "What happened to Janie VanDell that caused her to be in this condition?"
Sylia placed a hand on Greg's arm. "Don't," she said softly. "Don't take your anger for the Bradleys out on her. She isn't worth it."
"Jesus and Mother of God," breathed the medic examining Janie.
In one motion, Greg dropped the scared doctor, turned and strode over to the stretcher. The medic had thrown the covers back, uncovered the girl's body and the scars and burns that covered it. Several of the troopers looked sick, while even Leon, who had seen plenty of wounds and injuries looked pale.
Before Greg could turn back towards the prisoners, White Saber said sharply, "Don't even think about it. It's not worth killing them for it."
Knight One wheeled to look at his co-leader. Even though she couldn't see his face, Sylia know Greg Mallory was in a towering rage. "Why shouldn't I?" he asked her, his voice cold and intense. "This is a fourteen year old girl! She had nothing to do with any of this!"
"It wasn't any of us!" one of the prisoners, a security man from his suit, shouted.
Knight One's head swivelled to look at him. "Then who did?"
"Co-Cora Bradley," the man spluttered, looking even more scared then Doctor Kyso had. "She was...." With an audible click, his jaw snapped shut as he found himself staring down the barrel of the Black Knight's arm laser.
"Where is she?"
"She went into the escape stairwell just before you attacked," the man replied, his words tumbling out of his mouth as fast as he could say them.
"Where is Doctor Zin-Choon?"
"No-no one's seen him si-since the attack started."
Knight One took a step closer until the muzzle of the laser was almost touching the man's sweating forehead. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow a hole through your head right this instant."
"That's enough!" Sylia snapped, stepping forward to push Knight One's laser away from the nearly panicky man. "To kill him here and now would be murder!"
"And what do you call what they did to her?" he replied, his voice as hard as a diamond. "They allowed that poor girl to be tortured! Why should their lives be spared for that barbarity?"
Red Two moved to stand next to his leader. "The White Saber is right," he said, his voice gentle. "These people aren't worth the waste of power to kill them."
Greg turned to look at his teammate. "That does not apply to either Cora or Carlton. After this, they are walking dead people." He thought for a moment. "That also includes Zin-Choon. All three have lost the right to be considered human."
"You won't get an argument from me, or any other Black Knight, on that. If we see them, they are dead." Sylia noticed both Red Three and Four nodding their heads in agreement.
"Fine," replied Knight One flatly. "Can Janie be moved?"
"We're working on it," the medic replied, removing a syringe for a belt pouch. "We're injecting her with stabilizing drugs right now."
Sylia looked at Greg for an explanation. "The drugs will keep Janie alive while she's in the capsule," he said in a distant voice, his eyes never leaving the rescue attempt.
"Sylia," said Nene over the Saber's private channel. "I'm picking up some odd readings."
"What sort of readings?"
"I think it's a power build-up of some type."
"Where is it coming from?"
"The basement."
Sylia switched to the private command channel. "Greg, Red Saber has picked up a power build-up in the basement. Can your people confirm?"
"Wait one." Knight One turned towards Red Four. After about fifteen seconds, he turned back to Sylia. "Confirmed. Do you think it's a bomb?"
"It might be. I think we should get out of here."
Greg strode over to the medic. "How long before she's read to move?"
"At least five minutes, maybe ten. I have to make sure she's stable before we put her into the capsule."
"I don't think we have ten minutes," said Red Four. "Those power readings are increasing awfully fast. I think we may have seven minutes before an explosion takes out this entire building."
"He's right," the security man who had come within seconds of being killed said tiredly. "I saw Mr. Bradley enter a code into the security station right before he escaped."
Sylia looked at Nene. "Do you think he's telling the truth?"
"Possible," she replied, "I'd have to see the station first."
"It's in the storeroom on the wall," the security man said helpfully.
"What are you doing, Chasen?" one of the other security men asked him. "They're the enemy!"
"Well, the only thing that's between us and being killed is them!" Chasen shouted back. He turned to the White Saber. "About three months back, Carlton Bradley installed a series of devices designed to take out all the building's supports in case of a successful terrorist attack and seizure of the building. Laser cutters, designed to slice through the reenforced concrete supports and collapse the building on top of itself."
"That's a bit drastic," replied Red Four.
"Some of the security people thought the same way, but Ozu overruled them. The devices were put into place and the detonating command sequence was hardwired into the emergency security computer system."
"How long do we have?" asked Sylia.
"Maybe seven minutes."
"That's no good!" said the medic. "The stabilizing drugs are going to take at least five minutes to take effect, and we're at least another three minutes from the LZ!"
Sylia turned to Nene, but the EW specialist was already heading for the storeroom, Red Four right behind her. They both darted in, with Sylia and Greg trailing them.
The two computer experts looked at the security station. "What do you think?" Red Four asked his Saber counterpart.
"Looks like a standard card reader and keypad combination," the pink and blue Saber replied.
"You'd better take point on this," Red Four said. He held up his rifle. "I'm geared up more for combat then cracking right now. I can support you, but you're going to have to do most of the work."
"Right."
"You'd better hurry," said Knight One. "Tristan's reporting that there's GENOM combat boomers inside the building, evidently on a search and destroy mission." He was silent for a moment, then he said grimly, "Tristan's now reporting a new group of boomers, with energy shielding are attacking the GENOM boomers still outside the building."
"I can confirm that," said Red Three. "I'm eyeballing the situation right now. If the situations wasn't so serious, it'd entertaining to watch."
"So we're running into time pressures coming at us from all sides," said Greg. He turned to Red Two. "You'd better secure the stairwell and take out the elevators. "It won't stop them, but we'll need ever second we can squeeze out."
"Right," replied the heavy weapons member of the team. "I'm going to need a hand."
"Take Red Three and three of the troopers. I don't want anything fancy done with the elevators, just make sure the boomers can't use them."
"Right."
"I'm sending Green Saber along with your people," said Sylia. Linna simply nodded in agreement.
"I have no problem with that," Red Two said. "We're going to need the help."
Knight One motioned with his head. "Go."
Red Two moved off, his electronically filtered voice calling out the name of three of the black clad MALCORP warriors. Red Three and Linna joined them, and the group dashed around the corner and out of sight.
"This is going to be a tough ten minutes," Greg said to Sylia over their private channel.
"I know, but it's going to be the most important ten minutes of the mission."
"It doesn't make it any easier." There was some frustration in his voice that Sylia could sympathize with.
"I know, but all we can do now is hold on and wait."
**********