Bubblegum Crisis Fan Fiction ❯ Black Knights, Steel Hearts ❯ Chapter 3

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

**************************************************

The Bubble Gum Crisis OVA's (which this story is based on) are copyrighted by
Artmic Inc. and Youmex, Inc. I am just borrowing the characters for a little
while for non-monetary reasons. I can be contacted at the Email address above.
Serious 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 building them.

Please, enjoy my take on the Bubble Gum Crisis universe . . .

*************************************************

Ch apter 3

Over the Pacific Ocean
90 Minutes from MegaTokyo
December 21, 2035
4:12am MegaTokyo Standard Time


"Sir? The Knights are ready for the briefing."

Gregory Mallory opened his eyes slowly, and stared up at Brooks-Fenton's face. He nodded slowly, wiping the sleep from his eyes. "I'll be there in a minute."

"Yes Sir."

He slowly got out of the seat he'd spent the last four hours sleeping in, and stretched. His private cabin on the MALCORP plane was small, but comfortable. It was one of the very few items he enjoyed as the Megacorp's CEO. It sure beats traveling in first class on a commercial flight, he thought with a smile.In first class, they don't like you wearing green silk PJ's around the cabin.

He used the small bathroom, but didn't bother changing. He ambled back to the main cabin as if he was still at home. Nearly a dozen people were sitting around a large oval table, and he nodded to them as he sat in the empty seat at the head of the table. He waited until Brooks-Fenton placed a large glass mug of tea in front of him.

"Good morning, Knights," he said, trying hard to stifle a yawn. "Everyone did get some sleep, right?" Several half-hearted replies greeted him. Most of them were dressed no better then he was. He nodded. "If we're lucky, we get this done, and be home in time for Christmas."

He took a sip of the hot tea before he continued. "Time to get serious here, Knights," he said. "This is an ALPHA class mission briefing. Red and Blue teams have heard it before, but I want everyone on the same page before we hit MegaTokyo airspace." He glanced at each of the people around the table. "The first thing I want to do is introduce Mary Pierce, Mike Dawes, and Jose De La Cruz, from the West Coast Unit of the Black Knights." He motioned to the three sitting at the far end of the table. "They're filling for Fran's White Team, and will be designated as such."

"Now, the mission." Mallory pressed a button on the table before him. In the center of the table, a shaft of light formed. The three-dimensional image of a young girl appeared in the shaft and began to slowly rotate. She looked to be in her early teens, with long brown hair and a happy expression on her pretty face.

"Janie VanDell," said Mallory with emotion. "Fourteen years old. An excellent student, better then average athlete, and a polite, well-behaved girl. Her favorite color is blue, likes horses and reading, hates spinach and loud noises."

"Her father was Doctor Nathan VanDell, who was killed three days in an explosion at his lab located near New York City. The explosion wasn't an accident."

There was silence for a moment. Mallory continued. "Six hours after Doctor VanDell died, a small force of humans and Boomers raided the Doctor's house, eliminated or neutralize the security forces, and grabbed the girl."

Jose De La Cruz frowned. He was a wiry man with a hooked nose and a brooding expression. "Why? What value does she have if her father is dead?"

"Good question," replied Mallory. "We do know that Janie has a photographic memory, and she helped her father with his notes."

"Have we found out yet what was VanDell working on when he was killed?" asked Marcus Jackson, a tall, broad-shouldered man with skin the color of old leather. "We didn't know when we tried to rescue Janie in New York."

"We manage to locate one of Doctor VanDell's assistants five hours after the raid in New York," replied Mallory. "He had to attend the funereal of a relative in upper New York State, and was out of contact for two and a-half days. We managed to find him just before he went underground. He was scared, and after what he told us, I don't blame him."

Harland Grace growled, "So tell us already!"

"Doctor VanDell had perfected a viable personal force shield small enough to be worn by the average person."

There was silence for a moment, mostly blank looks from the people around the table, until Nicky Yashida whistled. "He finally managed to do it, didn't he?" he asked.

"You know about this?" asked Mallory.

Yashida shook his head. "The actual product? No. But It doesn't surprise me."

"Why not?" asked Grace.

"VanDell was on the development team that managed to create the first stable force shield. It looks like he continued development on his own after the project was canceled."

De La Cruz shrugged. "I don't see it. Force shields have been around as more then theory for what, ten, fifteen years, now. The ones I know about are clunky and not much use in a firefight. What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is," said Mallory calmly. "The low energy requirement of this unit."

Yashida nodded. "The biggest problem in using a force shield has been the incredible amount of energy it took to power it for any length of time. That's why they've been clunky and not much use in a firefight, until now. Looks like VanDell managed to finally solve that energy problem."

"According to the assistant," continued Mallory. "The force shield generator VanDell worked on could fit in the palm of my hand. But the shield it creates could withstand the full energy discharge of a BU-55C's mouth laser at point blank range without shutting down."

This brought a murmur of interest from the others. Yashida grinned. "I bet I could find a way to fit it into the Knights' hardsuits. Imagine being able to double the effective armor of the hardsuits without a major increase in weight."

"Well," replied Grace. "Think about this, techboy. Think of a BU-12 able to take the firepower of an entire team of Knights with no problems."

"Harland's right," said Mallory. "Boomers are tough enough now to take down. One equipped with VanDell's force shield would be almost impossible to take down short of massive firepower. A squad of them. . . ." He let the sentence hang there, and watched the faces of the people around the table.

"Back to the mission. We tried to intercept the kidnappers when they made to leave New York, but ran into stronger opposition then we expected. We managed to eliminate most of the security Boomers, but were forced to pull out when the enemy deployed half a dozen BU-12C's to cover his retreat."

Pierce nodded. She was tall, thin, with serious gray eyes and long red hair. "And Fran's team caught the ire of the Boomers."

Mallory nodded. "By the time we pulled back and regrouped, the female Boomer had managed to slip her and Janie out of the area. We found out later the pair took a flight to MegaTokyo."

"Do you think GENOM is behind this?" asked De La Cruz.

"We don't know. I won't lie to you, Knights. Quincy himself could be behind this, a faction inside GENOM independent of the Chairman, or an outside group. We have people on the street right now trying to scrap together some answers for us, but I have no idea how much success they'll have."

"So, we're going in blind?" asked Pierce in surprise.

"Essentially, yes."

"I don't like this," said De La Cruz.

"Neither do I, Jose," replied Mallory. He turned his head to look at Brooks-Fenton. "Who's the head of the MegaTokyo security office?"

"A Jeena Malso. She's a veteran of the MegaTokyo AD police - they handle their Boomer cases -" She glanced down at a reader in her lap. "Retired on a disability pension -- she lost an arm in the line of duty several years ago. She was hired six months after she left the force, became head of the security office two years ago. Her record shows she's smart, tough, and effective. If anyone can pull in a lead on Janie, she can."

"Thank you, Marla. Any other questions?"

Grace nodded. "What about the local talent, namely the Knight Sabers? I've read the reports our people have pulled together on them, and they could cause us trouble."

"We avoid contact with them - for now. I have several contacts putting out feelers in MegaTokyo, so I don't want us engaging in a full scale battle with them, if we can avoid it."

"Oh? What do you have in mind?"

Mallory shook his head slowly. "I'm not ready to reveal that yet. Any other comments?"

There were none, and Mallory said. "I want Blue and White Teams to make a final check on their hardsuits now. I want Red Team to stay for a couple of minutes. That's all."

The other teams filed out of the cabin, leaving Brooks-Fenton, Jackson, and Yashida alone with Mallory. He looked at them carefully. "Any comments?"

"Greg, I don't like the idea of being on GENOM's home turf," said Jackson slowly.

"Neither do I, Marcus," replied Mallory slowly, staring into his mug of tea. "But there's one scared fourteen-year-old somewhere in that city, and we are going to find her."

"But is that the real reason?" asked Yashida quietly. He was thin man in his early twenties whose Asian ancestry showed in his facial features, while his Anglo ancestry was shown in his shoulder length blond hair. "I mean, a chance to secure a prize like a compact force shield is real tempting, Boss."

"I know." Mallory took a deep breath. "Marla, care to add something to the discussion?"

"The current state of Force shields is five years behind Doctor VanDell's work," she said slowly. "The question is, are you willing to risk that fourteen-year old's life for the information, assuming she has it?"

Mallory shook his head. "My sole goal is to get Janie back home, safe and sound. Anything else takes second place. And I want you to remind me of that, should I start acting against that goal."

Jackson nodded. "If you do," he said with a grin. "I'll wallop you into next Tuesday like I use to do."

"Done." Mallory stood up. "Better go check the hardsuits one last time before we land."

**********

MegaTokyo Airport
MegaTokyo, Japan
Friday, December 21, 2035
7:17am


"Did we really have to be here THIS early?" asked Nene, trying hard not to yawn, and failing miserably.

"You're the one that wanted to come along," replied Sylia, looking up from her newspaper.

"But did Mackie have to catch such an early flight?"

They were sitting at a table in a cafe‚ inside the international terminal. Despite the relative earliness of the day, the terminal was crowded with passengers and airport employees.

Sylia sipped her cup of coffee. "It was the only flight due in today that any seats left. When are you due in to work?"

Nene glanced down at her AD police uniform, and grimaced. "Nine thirty."

Sylia glanced at her watch. "If the plane's on time, he should be here in about twenty minutes."

Nene sighed and sipped her tea. She looked around carefully, then whispered to Sylia "Anything on that Boomer attack last night?"

Sylia didn't look up. "Nothing we didn't already know."

"Leon looked pissed."

"I don't blame him. The AD police. . . ." Sylia stopped and stared at something over Nene's right shoulder, a note of interest in her eyes. Nene turned and looked behind her, but saw nothing but a steady flow of people.

She turned back to Sylia. "What's wrong?"

Sylia stood up. "I just saw an old friend of Leon's."

"Who, Daley?"

"No, Jeena Malso." She folded her paper and walked out of the cafe, trailed by a puzzled Nene. They quickly merged into the flow of traffic, with Sylia taking the lead.

"Leon's old partner?" asked Nene in a low voice. "Are you sure?"

Sylia looked at her. "There can't be too many one-armed women who are over two meters tall living in MegaTokyo, right?"

"Er . . . right. But why are we following her?"

"Because there's been a major attempt to locate a certain girl in the last twenty-four hours here in MegaTokyo. Jeena's working for the corporation funding the search."

"Maybe the CEO's hard up for a date," replied Nene with a shrug.

Sylia ignored the comment. "Not any girl, one fourteen year old girl by the name of Janie VanDell."

"Now, why would anyone want a fourteen-year-old girl?"

Sylia shrugged. "I don't know. Fargo filled me in last night, before our mission against those Boomers. MALCORP is bankrolling the search, and they're throwing around a lot of money to find this girl."

"How does Fargo know?"

"Because he's one of the ones involved in the search. He told me, just in case MALCORP wants us to retrieve her."

They stopped at an intersection. Sylia glanced around, but Nene spotted Jeena first. She tugged on Sylia's arm. "Over there!" she hissed.

The woman had just past through a door marked PRIVATE GATE: AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. A pair of security Boomers stood near the door, along with several humans that Sylia quickly identified as security types. Without slowing, Sylia guided Nene away from the door and its guard, and over to a waiting area with a large window overlooking the tarmac.

"Now what?" whispered Nene.

Sylia said nothing, but watched several planes until she spotted the one she was looking for. A large sleek design with the word MALCORP painted on the side was maneuvering into place. She whispered to Nene, "Over there."

They watched the passengers deplane quickly. There were over a dozen of them, both men and women. The analytical part of Sylia's mind noted that they were all human, no Boomers among them. Another thing she noted that several of them walked with the careful grace that only comes from spending time in a hardsuit. Sylia's eyes narrowed as she watched the rest of the passengers deplane. Her instincts were alert to the sight before her.

Jeena was standing at the bottom of the stairs, her hair blowing wildly in the wind. When a tall, lean man reached the bottom of the steps, Jeena stepped forward to meet him, her hand outstretched. The man took it, and they shook hands. They talked for several minutes, then Jeena led the man and the others to several cars that had pulled up while the passengers had been deplaning. Within minutes, the cars drove away, leaving the tarmac empty save for airport personnel.

"Now what?" asked Nene. "We watched a bunch of corporate suits get off an airplane. Big deal."

"It very well could be," replied Sylia, turning away from the window. "When you get into work, I want to dig up all you can on MALCORP and Janie VanDell."

"Well, OK. But I don't know why you want the info."

"Call it a hunch." Sylia glanced down at her watch. "We'd better be going. Mackie's plane lands in ten minutes."

**********

MegaTokyo Airport Highway
MegaTokyo, Japan
December 21, 2035
7:38am

Mallory waited until the small convoy had left the airport tarmac before he addressed Malso. "What's the latest on the search for Janie VanDell?"

Malso, sitting in the seat across from Mallory, looked tired. "We've got feelers out, plus my contacts inside the AD Police are working hard on it. But nothing yet."

Mallory nodded. "In a city this big, It would be difficult to expect immediate results."

Malso shrugged. "The word's out on the street that we're looking for the girl. It's a sure bet that the bad guys are busy burying themselves deep right now."

"It can't be helped," replied Mallory. "We're not playing this one in our own ball park."

Brooks-Fenton asked Malso "How's GENOM reacting to the search?"

"Hard to tell. Quincy's not one to advertise his next move."

"Increase the pressure," said Mallory, leaning back in his seat. "We can't back off now. I want to push as hard as I can before GENOM pushes back."

"Assuming they're behind Janie's kidnaping," replied Malso.

"Either way, it's a sure bet that GENOM will take an interest in the situation. So, we can expect trouble. What's the current security status of our holdings here?"

"Level Two Yellow."

"As of right now, it's Level One Red. I want our people ready for anything GENOM might throw at us."

Malso reached for the phone. "What about the people we have looking for VanDell?"

"I want all the freelancers on our list looking for her."

"All of them?"

Mallory nodded. "Also, Increase the reward for Janie to a million Yen."

Malso's eyebrows went up. "I may go out on the street for that."

Mallory shook his head. "I need you to ride herd on the search. What's the likelihood of the AD police getting involved should this turn into a shooting war?"

"Right now, the AD police are a joke," replied Malso, the disgust clear in her voice. "They've been saddled with more restrictions then a nymph in a nunnery. Right now, the pizza delivery guys have better firepower then they do. They're having problems with simple Boomer outbreaks they would've handled with no sweat two years ago. The current chief doesn't know his head from a hole in the ground, and morale so damn low, you'll have to dig to find it."

"That bad?" asked Brooks-Fenton with a straight face.

"If you're talking Personnel, they are the best. The senior field commanders, McNichols and Wong, are good at taking down Boomers. But the big boys don't want them doing too good a job."

"Make the call, Jeena," said Mallory quietly. "We have enough problems to deal with right now."

They rode in silence for the rest of the trip.

**********

MegaTokyo Airport
MegaTokyo, Japan
December 21, 2035
7:49am

Mackie Stingray looked around for his sister in the crowd, but the mass of humanity made it difficult to pick her out. He adjusted the carryall's strap, and began to look for a place he could sit for a couple of minutes. Where could she be? he thought, just as his eyes found a row of empty seats off to his left. Could she have gotten stuck in traffic, or -

"MACKIE!"

He turned just in time to catch sight of Nene dashing the last few meters between them. Before he could react, she barreled into him like a runaway truck. In an eye blink, Mackie was sprawled on the carpet, Nene lying on top of him. "Hi Nene," he said weakly. "Miss Me?"

Nene stared down at him. "Sorry, Mackie," she replied, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. "I sort . . . of . . . you know, misjudge the . . . er . . . distance."

In the past, Mackie might have enjoyed this, but the flight from Germany had been long. "Can I get up, please?"

"Let him up, Nene," said Sylia, a faint smile on her lips. Mackie knew her well enough that she was trying hard not to laugh. "You're drawing a crowd."

Nene shot to her feet like a rocket, the blush becoming stronger. Mackie got up on his own, slower then Nene. "Hey Sis," he said, brushing himself off.

Sylia still looked amused. "How was your flight?"

"Tiring. I want a shower, then sleep for several hours."

"Good. You have your luggage?"

"Yep."

"Then let's get out of here. We have to drop Nene off at work first."

"Aw, Sylia."

"Don't worry," replied Sylia, carefully putting on her sunglasses. "You can ride in the passenger seat with Mackie."

"Great!"

Mackie sighed. "How's things been lately?" he asked Sylia.

"Busy. In all areas. I'll fill in the details when we're in the car."