Bubblegum Crisis Fan Fiction ❯ BGC: Mecha Wars ❯ Chapter 23

Mecha Wars: Chapter twenty-three

End Run: Part One

The morning sun was just rising as they all gathered as quietly as possible at the apparently abandoned old warehouse. Sylia Stingray directed them over to the large meeting room, looking as supremely confident as she usually did with her lover Antonia Stark standing by her side. They settled into their seats, the Knight Sabers, Priss' Aunt Natsumi and her friends, Reika Chang, Akiko and her android daughters, Misaki, Hotoko, Kaede and Sae and finally Aiko and Biko.

"All right Sylia," Priss finally asked the question that was on everybody's mind, "what's the plan to get you into Genom's Tower?"

Sylia smiled, giving Tony a fond look. She gazed back at the group as Tony dimmed the lights and activated the viewscreen behind Sylia, "Here's what I propose we do.."

... and hopefully that will do it," Sylia finished a few minutes later. As she finished speaking Mackie stepped up to get the lights, grinned slightly.

Reika Chang looked at Sylia admiringly, "You know, you have quite the evil streak."

"Thank you," Sylia smiled.

"I like your plan," Natsumi stood up, "but it might help if you had a larger group of people to help confuse things."

"In fact," Aoi smiled wickedly, "we have an older armored troop carrier that we bought used, one we usually just use to haul our more extreme bodyguard clients. Supposedly it can even take combat Boomer fire."

"It would help," Sylia admitted, "but it would put you in substantial danger."

Priss was looking over at her Aunt and friends thoughtfully. "You're determined?" she asked crisply. They all nodded and Priss looked at Sylia, "I'll go with them. One of us would need to anyway, for your plan to work."

"We'll form another group," Akiko spoke up, Nuku Nuku and Emi nearly jumping with eagerness. "Nene?" she looked over at her lover.

"I'd better go with you," Nene agreed with Akiko, a gentle smile on her face, "just to keep you all out of trouble."

"Where Linna goes, I go," Reika said crisply.

"Cousin?" Tony looked over at Biko.

"Aiko and I can accompany Linna as well," Biko nodded.

"Should be fun," Aiko agreed, cracking her knuckles loudly.

Sae stood up to speak for the other three Angelic Layer Deus, "Would you like us to accompany you with the Saber Dolls? You'll be Genom's primary target if this fails."

"It won't fail," Sylia said firmly, "and I want the Saber Dolls mobile, causing as much chaos and confusion for Gemon's forces as possible."

"I don't know if I like the fact that you and Tony are going to be out there on your own," Linna finally admitted.

"It's a risk," Sylia admitted, "but I think it gives us the best chance of success." She paused, looking over the group, "I have to remind you all of the dangers involved. This is a purely volunteer mission, and I won't think less of anyone who backs out."

Priss got out of her seat, walking over to Sylia's side. She smiled slightly, meeting her friend's eyes as she took her hand, "I was here at the beginning, I'll see it through to the end."

"That goes for me, too," Linna placed her hand over the other two.

"The Knight Sabers always stand by their own," Nene agreed with the others firmly, laying her hand over theirs.

"I think they speak for all of us," Miyuki rose up with a smile to speak for the others there, "we're in this till the end."

"Then let's do it," Sylia agreed. She looked over at Mackie with a fond smile, "You get to start work early, little brother. You and Nene are going to hack Genom."

Mackie grinned evilly, "Let's go."

Nene smiled back, "They'll never know what hit them."

With that, the two computer hackers hurried over to the main data banks. Each grabbed a seat, and with a long-time familiarity they went to work. Despite their levity they knew how serious this situation was, and how little time they had to do this before they moved out.

"The suits are all prepared," Tony smiled. Four silvery boxes waited over by the side, about half the size of a person standing. "I'm still trying to talk Sylia into reducing the suits down to a suitcase container," she explained.

Linna grabbed the handles on the top of one box, grunting as she picked it up about a foot, then thumped it down. "Not light," she managed to gasp.

Aiko reached out, hefting it easily. "Oh, I don't know," she smirked.

Everyone rolled their eyes at that. "You've got a bit of an advantage, you know" Biko pointed out to her lover wryly.

"So we just have to get to our positions around the city, and we'll all go at the same time." Priss tapped one of the cases, "And the new modules are on them, right?"

"Yes, they are," Tony smiled wickedly. "There'll also be modules on the Saber Dolls, too. I just wish I could see Quincy's face one we activate them all," she chuckled.

The upper floor office had a expanded viewscreen against one wall, a tactical display of the entire city showing on the screen. Boomers across the city showed as bright green spots on the gray background, and sensors planted on those Boomers were all set to detect one thing: the unique biological information of Sylia Stingray.

Madigan looked up at the screen, then over to her employer behind his desk and came to a simple realization: he was desperate. This entire strategy was dangerously volatile, and if any of the Boomers went rogue it would be a disaster. Not to mention what would happen if any of this was leaked to either the media or the board.

"When is she going to move," Quincy growled, staring at the screen.

As soon as Sylia's unique bio-signature was spotted, it would appear on the screen as a red marker. The data would then be instantly passed on to the Boomers now patrolling the city, and they would all converge on the target. With the mix of military and regular Boomers that were out there, it would be a massacre.

"There's still two hours before the meeting," Madigan kept her voice calm and steady, "and if she's smart, she'll stay under cover for as long as possible."

"True," Quincy sighed. From the look on his face, he seemed to be deeply in thought. "How could I have underestimated someone so completely," he murmured, "I never even suspected that she might be moving against me."

Madigan decided to answer that as seriously as she could. "Sylia's occupation was the perfect cover," she pointed out, "I don't think anyone would have considered the operator of the Silky Doll lingerie shop to be a major player in Megatokyo."

"She is her father's daughter," Quincy murmured, still staring at the viewscreen.

There was a loud chirp, and both looked up. A red mark had appeared, on the north part of town. Madigan smiled grimly as the Boomers began to move, "We've got her."

Another loud chirp, and a red mark appeared to the south of the city. Then a blip appeared on the west side, then four more blips began to move out from seemingly nowhere, creating even greater chaos. The small army of Boomers seemed unable to choose a target, as the blips all began to converge on Genom's Tower.

The two of them gazed in surprise at the screen, then Quincy began to laugh. "Sir?" Madigan looked over at him in concern.

"Sylia deduced what we were going to do," Quincy chuckled softly, "and she's parried us. We've got to split up the Boomers, try to stop all of the blips."

Madigan grabbed a terminal, working to reassign the boomers to attack each target in their respective sectors. "Who could she have gotten to pretend to be her?" she asked, typing quickly on one of the control panels.

"The Knight Sabers," Quincy said to her grimly, "she had to have hired them to do this. Them, and three of their allies."

"Dividing our forces means we have less chance to stop them," Madigan finished the programming, her finger hovering over the execute key.

"Do it," Quincy said simply.

The blue Knight Saber stood on top of the armored transport, the vehicle bumping a bit as they raced down the street. "Look's like it's working," Priss reported in over her suit's radio, "the Chameleon modules has the Boomers thinking all of us are you."

Sylia's voice came through loud and clear, "Watch yourselves, everyone. The boomers won't stay confused for very long."

"Called that right," Priss murmured as the first few Boomers appeared in their path.

Before she could even move her Aunt Natsumi stuck her head out of the passenger's side. The Boomer-buster coughed once, even as Yoriko popped the sidedoor and opened up. The Boomers fireballed, the armored carrier bouncing through the flames.

"Save your firepower," Natsumi ordered crisply, "we're going to need it when we get nearer to the Tower itself."

"More Boomers coming," Yoriko yelled, light glinting off her glasses.

"I see them," Miyuki yelled, twisting the wheel hard as she reached over to help brace her lover Natsumi. "It's going to get rougher before we reach Genom's Tower."

"I know," Aoi murmured, hefting a Boomer-buster awkwardly

In another part of the city a motorcycle came around a corner, two figures riding together. Before the Boomer waiting there could even react a missile shot from the bike, reducing it to scrap. "I have to ask Sylia how she designed these Motoslaves," Reika grinned, handling the bike like a pro.

"Good luck," Linna murmured, riding just behind her lover on the cycle.

Biko curved back, flying down to their side to report, "More Boomers are coming, though I dropped out Aiko to deal with another group." There was a loud series of explosions and the armored woman smiled, "I think she has the situation under control."

A few moments later Aiko came running around the corner. The redhead's clothes were trailing smoke, but other than that she was unharmed. "That was fun," she beamed.

"Oh, grow up," Biko muttered.

"I don't see you holding back," Aiko shot back.

"Do you think Tony asked us to take them along as some kind of punishment?" Linna whispered to Reika, and the other woman shook with laughter.

Meanwhile, in another part of the city a battered jeep barreled along, Akiko and Nene sitting in the front seat together. "Gotta watch out for those near misses," Akiko muttered as she used her fist to clear out the remaining broken glass from the windshield.

Nene's pink armor had it's antenna array spread out, the pilot listening intently to what was going on around them. "The Boomers are badly scattered," she reported, "and the Saber Dolls are confusing things even more."

"Yeah!" Nuku Nuku beamed as she ran along beside the jeep, the android's long hair flowing behind her like a banner.

"We'd better stay ready," Emi cautioned, flying just above them, "there's still a ways to go until we reach the Tower.

"Oh, shit," Nene murmured, seeing the flight of Boomers that were now heading towards them, "combat models."

"Whee, fun," Nuku Nuku beamed, even as Akiko and Nene both sweatdropped.

To be continued...