Bubblegum Crisis Fan Fiction ❯ Bubblegum Avatar #1 -- "Tin-Sell City" ❯ Chapter 2 - "Here we are in MegaTokyo, and all the homicidal boomers we can dodge." ( Chapter 2 )

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

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

Chapter 2 - "Here we are in MegaTokyo, and all the homicidal boomers we can dodge."

**************
"I don't believe this stuff," said Mackie Stingray, looking up at his older sister. "How?"

There was just the two of them sitting in Sylia's living room. Their 'guest' was strapped to a bed in another part of the building, a sedative added to keep him under for several more hours. He wasn't badly hurt, but Sylia wasn't going to take any chances until she had her answers. At least she had ruled out the possibility that it was a Boomer. Whoever he was, he was human, at least according to her medical scanners.

Sylia looked at the small pile of items on the table in front of her. Half a dozen books, several disks, and other items sat there. Some of the writing was in English, some in Japanese, but it all had a common theme: It all related to the Knight Sabers.

Not only related to the Knight Sabers - it exposed them. Their identities, the Lady633, Doc Raven's garage, the motoslaves, EVERYTHING that might hurt them was there. There were even some things that had never been more then a concept in Sylia's mind, ideas that she had discussed with no one. If GENOM had gotten a hold of these items, she had no doubt that they all would have been dead within a week -- no, within a day.

She looked out the window. It was only a couple of hours before dawn, yet she didn't feel like sleeping. There were too many questions she had no ready answer for. "What does this all look like to you?"

"That's the weird thing," her brother replied, picking up a book with the word 'B-CLUB' on the front. "Three of these books are written for some sort of role-playing game. And the other stuff...." He waved a hand at all the items. "It's weird."

"Did you notice that the books talk about events that haven't happened to us yet?"

"Yep." Mackie didn't look happy. "It's creepy."

"I want you to check over the disks. A couple of them appear to be video disks of some type. Find out what's on them."

Mackie didn't answer her. Sylia turned and looked at him. He was looking at something in the book, a familiar half-smile, half-leer on his face. Sylia walked over and glanced down at the page. She snatched the book away with one hand and rapped Mackie on the head with the other. "Ow!" Mackie howled. "What did you do that for?"

"We have work to do."

Mackie rubbed his head. "I was just looking."

Sylia glanced at the open book in her hand. The drawing, while not actually indecent, was highly suggestive. Drawings of her and the other three Knight Sabers in clothing that she knew they had never worn, if lingerie could be considered clothing. Too many questions, she thought.

"I said check out the disks, while I go look in on our guest."

"Sure." He stood. "Are you going to tell the others?"

"Not yet. Not until I have something to actually tell them."

"All right." Mackie scooped up several disk and walk out of the room. After several seconds, Sylia also left.

******

The Medical section of the Knight Sabers headquarters was small, but well-equipped. From the doorway, Sylia watched the unconscious man. They had removed the coat, leaving him in a black sweater and blue jeans. As a precaution, heavy black straps secured him to the bed at the ankles, thighs, waist, wrists and upper forearms. All in all, he was lucky. He could have easily been killed, but beside a concussion and a lot of bruises, he'd managed to survive intact.

But he was still a mystery. He wasn't carrying any ID or money, and there was nothing in the backpack that gave any clue. She had already taken his fingerprints and was planning to send them off to a contact in the national police force in the morning. Whoever he was, he wasn't a bum: the clothes were too clean, he himself was clean shaven, and the backpack was almost brand new. He didn't seem to know any of the Japanese language, and English seem to be his native tongue. About the only thing she thought she knew about him was that he was an American.

Beyond that, why did he have that stuff in his backpack? That question was a bigger worry then his identity. Other questions peppered her mind -- why he happened to come out of that alleyway, just as SHE was driving by? Why was the information written in such a strange fashion? What exactly was going on here?

She wasn't sure how long she stood there, mulling over the situation. It wasn't until her thoughts were interrupted by Mackie that she broke of her preoccupation. "Sis?" he asked, his tone alerted her something was wrong.

She looked at him, aware that he'd come into the room with out noticing him until he spoke. "What is it?"

Mackie shifted from foot to foot. "I found something I think you should see."

"What?" she asked, sounding exasperated.

Mackie looked even more uncomfortable. "I have to show you. I-it's kind of hard to explain."

After taking one more look at their 'guest', Sylia followed Mackie to the computer room. Mackie sat down in a chair. "These disks are in an outdated format," he said, pushing a couple of buttons. "It's one that's been in disuse for about fifteen years. Fortunately, our computers can read it."

"What is it?"

Mackie nodded to the large screen. "This."

The first thing Sylia saw was the words 'YOUMEX PRESENTS' flash up on the screen.

"I check," said Mackie, looking serious. "I can't find any record of such a company ever existing."

Sylia didn't answer, but continued to watch the screen. The next thing that appeared was a building, silhouetted against an amber sky. A small explosion happened in the building, then another. As she watched the building being destroyed, Sylia realized she was some sort of animated sequence. It wasn't until she saw "GENOM - GENOM REPAIR GROUP - 1' did she begin to feel uneasy.

Mackie must have seen her look. "It gets worse," he said quietly.

The building finished collapsing, showing a huge building under construction behind it. Then, it was suddenly nightfall. In the lower right hand corner of the screen, the words 'BUBBLEGUM CRISIS' appeared, but the words in the upper left were the ones that turned Sylia's unease into dread.

MEGATOKYO, 2032
THE STORY OF KNIGHT SABERS

A collage of scenes followed, but Sylia's attention was now focused on the screen. Shots of the Lady633 Building flashed by, then pictures of someone that looked a lot like Linna leading an aerobics class and Priss polishing her bike. Sylia gripped the back of Mackie's chair as she continued to watch in silence.

It didn't get any better. Sylia's jaw tighten as an exact duplicate of her voice was used for a character that look very much like herself. In the back of her mind, she noticed the words that appeared at the bottom of the screen, translating the spoken words into English. Part of her wanted to turn away, to walk out of the room, but she continued to watch, frozen as the impossible flash across the screen..

It was all there - Quincy, USSD, GENOM, Brian J. Mason, all the Knight Sabers, in and out of their Hardsuits, her father's death, and the ADP. The Boomer designs were new, but when she hard them called C-class Boomers, she shuddered. Most of the events hadn't happen, but they could still happen, very easily. She watched the entire program in silence, struggling to keep her expression cool. After the ending credits finished, Mackie stopped the disk.

For several long seconds, neither one of them spoke. Then, Sylia asked quietly "How many of these shows are there?"

"Eight," Mackie replied somberly. "With another three under the title 'Bubblegum Crash.'"

His sister nodded slowly. "Do you have any ideas about what we've just seen?"

"No and it scares me. Do you know what it's like seeing a character with the same name, looks like you, your personality, and even SOUNDS like you, doing things that you do, yet involved in events that haven't happened?"

"You're not the only one. Have you look at any of the others yet?"

Mackie shook his head. "I was too wrapped up in this one to do more then take a cursory glance at the rest."

Sylia placed a hand on his shoulder. "Do it in the morning. Our guest should be able to explain most of this tomorrow."

"You hope."

"Shut it down. We're too tired to think straight. We'll get a good start in the morning."

"OK, Sis." Sylia turned and started to walk out of the room, but Mackie's question stopped her. "Do we still keep the others in the dark?"

"We don't know that much more now then we did before."

"But they could be in danger."

Sylia looked back at him. "I don't think so." She held a hand to forestall an argument. Let's get some sleep, then we'll figure out what to do next." She continued out of the room. As she walked away, she could hear the silence grow as Mackie shut down most of the computer system before he went to bed. That was where Sylia was going, but she doubted she'd get much sleep before morning.

**********

The lab was one of a number of places within GENOM Tower that were considered 'High-security'. These labs were where GENOM did research that was deemed too sensitive or critical to be farmed out to a subsidiary. Security on the sub-basement level was handled by BU-12 programmed to kill any intruder. Other Boomers handled any physical repairs and the floor's computer system wasn't connected to the Tower's powerful mainframes Only ten people in the entire tower had access to the lab, and six of them were currently in it.

Brian Mason stood, arms crossed, as he watched Doctor Ming and his three assistants as they monitored the large clear cylinder set in the canter of the lab. In the cylinder was the remains of the Boomer that had crashed onto GENOM's room three nights ago. The cylinder was angled at about a forty-five degree angle relative to the floor and walls, and surrounded by several pieces of equipment that inspected everything about the cyberdroid.

Mason scowled, but the man standing next to him seemed amused. "Patience, Mason. The good Doctor knows what he doing."

Mason glanced over at him. "I hope he has better luck then I did, sir. None of my people have found anything on this Boomer."

Quincy, the Chairman of GENOM, hadn't made his corporation the dominating power it was in the world by making emotional decisions. He could be surprised, but he would recover quickly. "Isn't it a magnificent design?" he asked.

Mason shrugged. "There's not enough left of it to tell," he said. He looked at the remains in the cylinder. Both its legs were gone, the right one at the knee, the left one at mid-thigh, The left arm was gone at the elbow, while the right was mostly intact. The head and torso had taken multiple hits from weapons fire and explosions, including a large hole in the center of the forehead.

"Oh, but there is," replied Quincy. "Doctor Ming is a well known expect in the area of Boomer material design. He will tell us who built the design."

Just then, Ming walked over to the two executives. Short, stout, and bald would be the quickest way to describe the doctor, but he wasn't an idiot. "Gentlemen," he said in a deep voice, "It appears we have a puzzle."

"What sort of puzzle?" asked Quincy.

"To put it bluntly, sir, that Boomer is an impossibility."

"In what way?" asked Mason.

"Because GENOM designed and built that boomer."

Mason's frown. Quincy arched an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" the Chairman asked slowly.

"I am very sure. In face, if I didn't know any better, I would say that boomer is from Project Lazarus."

"Impossible!" snarled Mason.

"Indeed," Quincy said softly.

"I just checked Project Lazarus. Everything is accounted for."

"Everything?" asked Mason harshly.

Ming gave him a cold look. "Everything. None of the shells have been moved in the last week, nor are there any materials missing. None of my team have left the Tower in a month, and there's been no outside contact with anyone in the same time period."

"Could have the work been done here?"

Ming shook his head. "It would have taken half a dozen people six months to build and test one."

"That's not beyond the realm of possibility."

"With GENOM security agents part of my team? That's not including the fact that the labs necessary for such a convert construction are accessible only at selected times, under boomer guard. No, it wasn't a rogue operation using GENOM supplies and equipment."

"But you said GENOM built this boomer!" Mason glared at the Doctor, who ignored him

"I did."

"What proof do you have of such a claim?"

Ming shrugged. "The skeletal system for one. Our tests show it is the same metallurgic make-up as the ones used in Lazarus. The muscular system is the same as the one we came up with."

Mason pounced on this. "So this is from Lazarus?"

"No, it did not."

"But you just said -"

"It would be impossible because we only completed the muscular system design two days ago. It should be on you desk right now for your final approval." Mason stepped back, his expression unreadable.

Quincy nodded slowly. "Any ideas where this boomer came from?"

"No sir."

"You realize that there will be a security investigation into Project Lazarus."

"Yes Sir, and I welcome it. The sooner we can remove any doubts about the project, the better off we will be."

"Then, I suggest that we continue this discussion tomorrow morning." Quincy turned to Mason. "Under the circumstances, I am placing Madigan in charge of the investigation. You will render her any assistance she needs. Is that clear?"

Mason bowed his head. "I will comply, Sir," he said meekly. Inside, he was seething. How dare he put that bitch in charge of the investigation? Lazarus was his project, not hers.

Nodding in satisfaction, Quincy walked out of the of the lab. After giving Ming a cold stare, Mason followed the chairman. The hall was wide, but looked crowded with the Chairman's quartet of boomer bodyguards. Mason worked hard at keeping his face impassive. The last thing he wanted to do was to alert the bodyguard of any possible ill intentions towards their patron.

The Chairman turned to Mason. "Do not attempt to block or interfere with Madigan's investigation in any way."

"Sir?' asked Mason in surprise.

Quincy gave him a cold smile. "The answers are necessary if Lazarus is to go forwards with minimum delay. This is not the time or place for corporate politics, or character assassination. I will inform Madigan of the same when I give her the responsibility. I want answers, not finger pointing. Is that clear?"

Mason nodded weakly. "Yes, Sir."

"Very well. I will speak to you tomorrow. Be in my office at ten-thirty." Without waiting for a response, Quincy walked away, the phalanx of boomers surrounding him in a mobile fortress of steel alloy. Mason watched through half closed eyes, his growing anger at the chairman held under tight check. He waited until the he was alone in the hall before he turn and walked in the opposite direction. This investigation would upset his plan, but it was still early enough so he could deactivate it without causing an alarm before Madigan and her team started. After a period of time, the plan could be reactivated with a couple of keystrokes.

He would wait. It might take another six months, or another year for the plan could unfold, but he could wait. In the meantime, he would do nothing that would cause suspicion and watch for a chance. He allowed himself to smile a little. All too soon, Quincy would find out that the enemy that succeeds is the one you don't expect....