Bubblegum Crisis Fan Fiction ❯ Bubblegum Avatar #1 -- "Tin-Sell City" ❯ Chapter 19 - "End of the Beginning" ( Chapter 19 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

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Chapter 19 - "End of the Beginning"

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It took the Sabers about five minutes to load up the truck and get together for a final meeting. Priss, who had taken the opportunity to change back into her street clothes (after throwing a clean towel over Craig's head, turning his chair so it faced the opposite direction, and threatening bodily harm if he tried to peek) had chosen to ride the bike she'd purloined after announcing that she was going to return the bike. That earned a snicker from a now toweless Craig.

"What's so funny?" she asked

"How are you going to return it without getting arrested?" He'd asked with a smirk. "Leon's isn't going to be happy if your first date is behind bars."

"It's not a date!" Priss snarled. "I told him I'd meet him so he'd back off with the questions!"

"You're not going to meet him?"

'Of course not!"

"I think you should meet him," said Sylia.

Priss glared at her. "Why?"

"It will allay his suspicions. If you do not, he will keep digging, and he might find something we do not want him to find."

"Sylia's right," said Nene seriously. "Leon can be very aggressive if he thinks he's onto something."

I ain't dating him!" Priss shouted.

"Of course not," said Craig with a straight face.

"Meet with him tomorrow," said Sylia calmly. "If you can placate him, he's less likely to get into trouble."

"I ain't sleeping with him!"

Craig snicked again, then grimaced as the pain of his ribs flared up. He turned towards the small bank of screens and his eyes fell on one showing several of the nearby rooftops. "Someone moving on one of the nearby warehouse roofs," he said.

Nene quickly slipped around Craig and started typing. "Which one?' she asked.

"Camera four."

"Right."

"Let's get going," said Sylia. "We can figure out who it is while we're on the move."

Priss left, and the truck quickly got underway. Linna helped Craig out of the chair he had been using, letting Nene sit in his place. Linna took Craig over to a cot on the other side of the compartment. "Any luck yet?" he asked Nene.

The redhead shook her head. "I'll have to check the recorders."

Sylia walked over to Craig. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm still breathing, so it could have been worse."

Sylia claimed an empty seat. "You all did well," she said in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. She looked back at Craig. "You didn't do too badly considering it was your first active combat mission."

"I should have done better," Craig replied. "But those boomers...I mean, it's one thing fighting them in a simulator, but real life...."

Sylia nodded. "The combat boomers were a surprise. But you handled it well. Nice teamwork with Linna on that first BU-12."

"Thanks."

"I'll discuss some other factors with you later, after you've gotten some rest."

"Like 'Tinsel City'?"

Sylia nodded. Just then, Nene yelled, "Got him!"

"Who?" asked Linna.

Nene pointed towards the screen. "Our watcher."

Sylia looked at the still figure on the screen. "Leon," she said slowly.

"What did you expect?" said Craig. "He's a cop. He wanted to know what was going on."

"He's going to start digging," said Nene. "From that position, he probably saw the entire meeting with USSD."

Sylia nodded. "We can't have him digging too close to us."

"You're not going to kill him, are you?' asked Linna.

There was silence in the trailer for several seconds, then Sylia shook her head slowly. "That is not an option at this moment."

"Then what?" asked Nene. "He's going to be asking Priss a lot of questions on their date."

Sylia's eyes narrowed. "Not if he already knows the answers." She turned and looked at Craig. "Can you find the place Priss and Leon are suppose to meet at tonight?"

Craig nodded. "What for?"

"It's time to start establishing Mr. Johansson's credentials with the ADP...."

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Mason had managed to get his anger under control by the time he entered the lab that held the new Largo. "It didn't work," he said flatly, glaring at the immobile superboomer. "The Knight Sabers managed to seize the package and eliminate the entire force sent to guard it."

[Really? Interesting.]

Mason felt his control slip. "We lost a dozen boomers!"

[Relax, Mason. We have lost only the first round in this fight.]

"Why are you so calm about this?"

[This was only a test of our opponents. If they had failed the test, they wouldn't be a factor in our calculations. But they have show us something.]

"What?"

[The Avatar is with them. Were he not, it would have been the Knight Sabers who died tonight.]

"What does that tell us?"

[It means that the Sabers are aware of what happened before.]

Mason frowned. "What did happen before?"

[The Sabers stopped the transference of the black box, but the resulting battle resulted in Frederick going into fusion mode, and he tried to fuse with the boomer carrying the black box. The boomer didn't react well to the attempt, and the result was Aqua City was destroyed by a particle beam strike. The Mason from my time was forced to retrieve the black box from the wreckage.]

"Then there's a chance I could do the same thing?"

Largo was silent for a moment. [I doubt it. Since the Sabers were smart enough to avoid the trap you laid, it would stand to reason that they have made sure that you cannot retrieve the black box this time.]

The executive nodded. "Then we are left with the just the plans."

[Come now,] Largo said pleasantly. [There is an advantage to having the plans. First, it shows the Old Man that you are a man who can still be trusted to carry out his orders. As long as you can demonstrate that, it will be harder to undermine you in his eyes. With GENOM's resources, it will take very little time to reproduce the trigger mechanism. You can produce as many as you want, and it is easier to make changes and improvements to the design.]

"It will delay the 99CX1 project."

[Not excessively. See it as an oppetunity to do some planning. You must see beyond you immediate goals and plan for the long term. Do not allow yourself to be distracted with petty concerns and plotting revenge on people who are interfering with your operations.]

"What do you mean?"

Largo sighed [The Mason from my time was very much like you. He allowed his obsession with the Knight Sabers to affect his judgement, and he died because of it.]

"He died? When? How?"

[He challenged the Knight Sabers in open combat. He lost.]

"How do you know this?" asked Mason, his eyes narrowing.

['Rebirth' wasn't the only project the Mason from my time was working on,] Largo lied smoothly. [I am a result of his preoccupation with the Knight Sabers.]

Mason opened his mouth to ask another question, but Largo said, [I think I should shut down and run a few tests. My reactivation day is the day after tomorrow. I want to be ready to serve you and GENOM as soon as I can.]

Mason scowled, but he nodded. "Very well," he said curtly. "Good night." He turned and walked out of the lab.

You fool, Largo thought to himself. You will ignore my advice and allow yourself to make the battle with the Knight Sabers a personal one. I cannot allow that. So, you must either work with me or be eliminated.

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The truck rolled into the garage under the Lady633 with no other problems. After helping Mackie put away the hardsuits, Linna and Nene left. On Sylia's insistence, Craig was in the infirmary, sitting on the table, trying not to groan as Sylia checked the left side of his ribcage.

"You are very lucky," Sylia said. "If you hadn't been wearing the hardsuit, the entire side of your ribcage would have been pulverized."

"If I hadn't been wearing the hardsuit," Craig replied, "I wouldn't have been within ten miles of that techno-Cthulu."

She gave him a small smile. "Point taken." She walked over to a small refrigerator, opened it, removed a vial, then closed it again.

"Can I ask you a question?' Craig requested.

"If I can." Sylia opened a drawer, pulled out a small pistol-like device, inserted the vial into a semi-cylinder in the back of the device and put it on the counter.

"Why did you allow tonight to happen?"

Sylia turned to look at him. "You mean, why didn't I take the team and go immediately out to Aqua City?"

Craig nodded. "We might have avoided the extra firepower."

"Maybe, but I needed to analyze some factors."

"What factors?"

Sylia picked up the pistol-like device and walked over to the table. "First, I wanted to see how much influence Largo had with Mason."

"A fair amount, if the extra boomers are any indication."

'True." Sylia placed the device against Craig's arm and pressed a button. He felt a small sting as something entered his bloodstream. "I now have to take that into account in future operations. Second, I don't want Mason and Largo to discover how much we actually know about the future right now. Later on, when I have my plans in place, it won't matter."

"You have plans?"

"I have some things in the works, but nothing definite." She removed the device from Craig's shoulder. "The last reason is that I didn't want to answer questions from the others about my knowledge."

"You've been rather adamant about that."

"Because they are my friends, and I want to shield them from what is coming."

Craig gave her a dark look. "How are you going to protect Linna when Iris dies? What about Sylvie and Anri? Sho's mother?" He grimaced in pain, then continued. "What about them? They're innocents. Don't they deserve a chance?"

Sylia took a deep breath. "I haven't been idle. I've had Fargo investigate these people, and I have been putting plans into place. But I couldn't just go in and change events for the better until I knew I could. I am not a god, nor do I want to be one."

Craig shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"For what? For being concerned for others?"

"For thinking you would allow people to die if you could prevent it."

Sylia smiled. "I would be that person you thought I was if I did nothing. As it is, you have allowed me to put into place plans that will not only save these people, but it will also hurt GENOM's ambitions."

"Oh." Craig stood. "What about Leon? What do you want me to tell him about tonight?"

"Let me worry about that. I want you to get some sleep. Use the guest room."

Craig's face took on a pained look. "I don't know if I'll be able to ride the bike tonight."

"You will."

"How do you know?"

Sylia held up the injector. "I just gave you some Nanites to speed your healing along. They will take a couple of days to do what would have taken weeks. You'll feel better in the morning. By tonight, you should be well enough to ride your motorcycle."

"Okay," said Craig slowly. "I'll get that sleep as I do feel kind of beat."

"Go get some sleep, you've earned it."

"Right, Boss." Craig walked to the door. He stopped and turned. "Before I forget, I want your permission to activate Project 'Cry-Baby'."

Sylia arched an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. I'm sure Mason won't be able to think straight after that."

"I'm not sure I would be able to think straight if you ever pulled that stunt with me."

"Oh, you would recover quickly, but by then, I'd be on the first spaceship out of the solar system, because that would be about the only place I'd be safe from your wrath."

"You can go ahead and activate 'Cry-Baby'."

Craig smiled. "Thanks, Boss. Good night."

"Good night."