Bubblegum Crisis Fan Fiction ❯ Ultimate Bubblegum Crisis ❯ Ties That Bind - Part 4 ( Chapter 7 )

Ultimate Bubblegum Crisis - Ties That Bind Part 4

 

MegaTokyo, 2032

 

The electronic landscape sprawled before them in an array of pulsing white data lines with various web pyramids of multi-colored light set against the faux sky that was the color of a television tuned to a dead channel. Upon a small platform of light stood three figures, a black metallic house cat, a petite pink faerie, and a liquid metal samurai.

 

“Ready to hit GENOM again, guys?” The little black cat asked her companions.

 

“Yeah, but let's go in from another side, Kitty. The ICE at our last entry point is probably still active.” The pink faerie icon replied with Nene's voice.

 

“Let's get going then!” the samurai responded with a voice that seemed out of place for so imposing a figure.

 

“Ok, Mackie. Follow me guys, I know a back door into the GPCC we might be able to use.” Nene replied, a happy lilt to her voice evident to any who listened. She was in her element. Here on the `Net she was a master with the ability to react and anticipate faster than thought possible for a human. In here she didn't have to worry about being the weakest Knight Saber in a fight against a combat boomer.

 

With the confidence of someone who was immersed in their element, Nene led her companions through a series data lines until she came to the pixilated version of the GENOM research center located on the coastal highway. The huge pyramid rose into the static sky as the three `Net surfers stopped at a section of the defensive wall that had a faint pink glow to it.

 

“My backdoor.” Nene said with confidence as her icon placed its' hand on the glowing portion of the `fence'. A smiley face appeared on the wall and the glowing section slid open as a tiny voice greeted them with a “welcome to the GPCC intranet.”

 

The three companions entered the data archive through the hole that Nene provided, moving carefully so as to keep from tripping any of the security programs known as ICE. With practiced ease the three rode the data stream to a core node that had a pipeline to the main data cache of the entire GENOM Corporation. The core node had the appearance of a miniature GENOM Tower.

 

“Open it Mackie.” Nene ordered. The samurai icon that represented Mackie stepped forward brandishing its katana. With a stylized cut that would make any kendo master proud, Mackie sliced through the minimal defenses surrounding the node and made up the representative appearance. Inside the sliced open tower were multiple streams of pulsating lights; denoting data transfers within the corporation.

 

With precision belying their icon, the three hackers connected with the main trunk of the GENOM network. They went to separate sections of the network as their icons danced along the information pathways inside of GENOM proper. Each carefully sifted through terabytes of data as quickly and carefully as possible looking for leads on the black box, knowing that each passing second could bring GENOM's strongest ICE down on them. According to rumors, that ICE could send a pulse back to where you jacked in and do actual physical harm to your brain. That was the rumor, and none of them wanted to test just how true they were.

 

“I've got something!” said an excited Nene.

 

“What did you find, Nene?” Mackie said as his samurai moved to her side.

 

“A black project headed up by none other than Brian J. Mason, that makes a mention of a newly `developed' black box. And the dates for the production of the first prototype box match when the explosion occurred in that lab. Coincidence? I think not. There's also a shipping order for parts to a factory in the Yamaha Industrial Complex. We've got them, Mackie!” Nene exclaimed.

 

“It looks that way. Let's get Kitty and get out of here, ok?” Mackie suggested. They made their way over to where Kitty was dancing along an arm of the GENOM intranet. When they reached Kitty they found her ignoring her surroundings, completely engrossed by some records that she was downloading into the system she had jacked in with. Kitty's attention was so focused on the information that she hadn't noticed the watchdog ICE that was closing on her.

 

“Kitty!” Nene and Mackie yelled in unison, waking the X Man from her study.

 

“Watchdog program Kitty! Get out of there!” Nene ordered, a lump forming in her throat.

 

Kitty looked from side to side and caught sight of the enormous bulldog icon bearing down on her position. Moving with the grace of a real cat Kitty avoided the watchdog on its first pass, and landed gracefully beside her friends back on the main trunk.

 

“I found something I think both teams will be interested in guys.” Kitty said.

 

“We'll have to talk about it later, Kitty. Both of you save your recent data, we've got company.” Nene said as she pointed up and down the trunk. All along the backbone of GENOM's network were the images of watchdog programs like the one Kitty had just avoided. These had been joined by what were obviously the icons of GENOM Network Security team.

 

“Jack out, NOW!” Nene shouted as the icons began to get closer. She knew that if they didn't get out now all the information they had gathered would be lost, at the very least.

 

The real world came into focus and Nene could see Mackie and Kitty pulling off their VR helmets as they sat in their chairs across from her. Kitty had a look of excited dread in her eyes as she keyed in the retrieve command on her keyboard. As the X Man gazed at the data the look of dread became one of pure horror. Nene could hear her new friend gasp out a strangled, “Oh my God.” Before she could reach her side.

 

“Kitty? What is it, Kitty?” Nene asked as she placed a hand on Kitty's shoulder, concern evident in her voice.

 

“This.” Kitty said as she turned the monitor so that Nene could view it. Printed at the top of the page, in large block letters was:

 

 

`Project: Next Step'

The melding of mutant and boomer kind.

 

 

“Oh no.” was all that came from Nene as her mouth suddenly became very dry.

 

 

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“That waitress was just rude.” Linna complained as she and Irene exited the restaurant.

 

“I know, but at least the food was good.” Irene put in. Just then the two noticed the tow truck pulling away with Linna's car.

 

“Hey! That's my car!” Linna yelled as she vainly chased the truck for a couple of steps. “Well I guess I'll call us a taxi.”

 

“Don't bother for me Linna, I can walk home from here. I think the walk would do me some good.” Irene said to her friend.

 

“Are you sure, Irene? Do you really think it's safe? You did try to publicly embarrass GENOM, and considering what they did to your fiancé, they may want you quiet, permanently. We haven't been able to arrange for you to get out of Japan yet, y'know.” Linna replied, concern evident in her voice.

 

“It's only a few blocks, so I should be ok.” Irene responded.

 

“I guess…” Linna trailed off. She would have pressed the issue, but Chris had just come out of the restaurant and had acknowledged he would follow her home as he made a pretense to be examining a flower at a curbside stand.

 

“Linna? Thanks for caring. I'll see you tomorrow, ok?” Irene said as she gathered up her shopping bags from earlier in the day.

 

“Good night, Irene.” Linna said as the younger girl left and she turned to see Chris still smelling the flowers.

 

“I'll be right behind her, Linna, I'm just keeping my distance. That girl knows when she's being tailed. She's had some kinda training.” Chris said as she walked up beside him.

 

“How do you know that, Chris?” Linna inquired.

 

“Logan trained me in surveillance and before becoming an X Man, he was one of the top operatives in the wor- LOOK OUT!” Chris screamed as he grabbed Linna and dove away from a black sedan as it drove through the flower stand and kept on going.

 

“You ok?” Chris asked Linna as he helped her to her feet. She nodded yes and he continued, handing Linna his phone, “I'm going after Miss Chang to make nothing happens. Here, take my cell and get us some back up.” And as the last words were spoken, Chris ran off down the street in the direction Irene had gone.

 

 

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“Sylia! Sylia, have we got some information you're going to interested in!” Nene said as she burst into the Knight Sabers communications center, followed closely by Mackie and Kitty Pryde.

 

“Settle down, Nene. Take a breath and start over.” Sylia replied calmly.

 

“Sylia we found out where the black box is, and discovered what GENOM wants the mutants for.” Nene responded in a more composed voice as she handed the leader of the Knight Sabers a stack of documents.

 

Sylia began to peruse the documents that pointed to the location of the black box when the phone rang.

 

“Hello, Stingray residence.” Sylia answered.

 

“Sylia, it's Linna. An attempt was just made on my life after Irene left me. Chris pulled me out of the way and is now trying to catch up with Irene.” Linna said. “I'm following Chris and Irene now. They appear to be in the vicinity of 145th and the overpass of highway nine.”

 

“Alright Linna, help is on the way.” Sylia replied just before she heard Linna hang up. “Mackie, get on the radio to Priss and have her head over to the intersection of 145th and highway nine.”

 

Her brother immediately rose and headed over to the communications equipment, trying to raise Priss.

 

 

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Chris rose from the ground, his TK enveloping him in psionic flames as he ran down the alley. The fiery form of his phoenix effect blazed to life as he cleared the rooftops, throwing stealth to the wind. He knew he had to find Miss Chang soon or it could be too late, so Chris gained altitude to see into the various alleys.

 

His strategy paid off almost immediately, as he spotted Irene climbing a long flight of steps leading to an overpass. The girl was obviously running from something, her movements hasty and desperate. Chris scanned the area to see what had spooked her as he began to descend, spotting the same black sedan at the base of the steps. It turned around, obviously heading for the ramp that led to the overpass where Chang was headed.

 

 

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Irene reached the top of the steps, exhausted from the exertion of fleeing the black sedan. She collapsed into a hysterical heap, to tired to go on as the black sedan pulled to stop just meters from her. The sound of a car door opening and closing came to her ears as she balled up into a fetal position. < Oh god. I'm going to die now. > She thought. In the distance she could hear the sound of someone calling her name, but she had no energy left to even lift her head and see who was calling out to her.

 

A powerful hand gripped her by her neck and lifted her from the ground. Irene flailed against the iron grip of the strange woman who had lifted her into the air without effect; all the while she stared into the eyes of a predator. An overwhelming feeling of dread gripped Irene as she screamed incoherently into the face of death.

 

 

_________________________________________________________________ _______

 

 

Chris dove towards the scene below him. An assassin boomer had lifted the hysterical Miss Chang from the ground, toying with her before applying the coup-de-grace. He could see the boomer unsheathe its claws from the housings inside its fingers, the blades gleaming in the minimal light cast by a nearby street lamp. A short swipe of the claws and a trickle of blood flowed from a shallow cut on Miss Chang's cheek.

 

“Stop!” Chris commanded as he pulled up from his dive, his phoenix wings flaring out, as he tried to distract the boomer.

 

The killing machine turned its head to face the newcomer, not releasing its grip on Miss Chang. It cocked its head to one side, the way a raptor would as it studied prospective prey, as it gazed at Chris. The boomer's right hand flashed towards Miss Chang's left leg, gouging long furrows into her hamstring, effectively stopping her from fleeing as it finally released its grip on her. She fell to the ground into a crying heap, blood and tears mingling on the sidewalk.

 

Chris saw the opening and struck swiftly with a fiery talon of telekinetic force, driving the boomer away from the prone Miss Chang and into the retaining wall. The force of his attack increased as he closed on the boomer's position, the faux skin melting from the cruel feminine face as Chris increased the surface temperature of the monstrosity, while trying to crush it with his telekinesis.

 

Struggling against the forces being applied to it the assassin boomer tried in vain to struggle towards its target, trying to complete its mission and eliminate Irene Chang. An audible snap resounded through the area and the boomer fell to the ground, a melted and misshapen pile of alloy and semi-organic parts. Chris released his hold on the boomer, his sheath of psionic fire going out as he moved over to the injured young woman's side.

 

“Miss Chang?” Chris asked as he knelt beside Irene's side. No answer came from her and Chris believed that she was going into shock from her injuries, as well as the stress of staring death in the face. He pulled his jacket off and wrapped it around the incapacitated girl, then seeing the depth of the wounds on her leg, Chris removed his t-shirt for a makeshift bandage and his belt to use as a tourniquet. Gently Chris lifted Miss Chang from the ground with his TK, just as Linna made her way up the steps to the overpass. He could also see Priss pulling onto the overpass ramp heading towards him.

 

“Irene! Chris is she alive?” Linna questioned as she saw the blood covered girl and headed to her side as she floated beside Chris.

 

“Yeah, she's alive. We need to get her help quick; I think she's going into shock. Still got my cell?” Chris asked. Linna reached in her back pocket and handed it back to him. He hit a couple of buttons and waited for a moment.

 

From the other side of the connection he heard a, “Hello?”

 

“Mariko, it's Chris. I've got a badly injured young woman with me, and I think she's slipping into shock.”

 

“Get her over hear ASAP and I'll work on her. In the meantime I'll get the first aid kit ready.” Mariko responded.

 

“Be there in ten.” Chris said closing the phone.

 

Priss had climbed off her bike and joined them. Her eyes had grown large when she saw the blood that was on Chris' hands and arms, a quick stab of fear gripping her stomach, until she saw that the reason for the blood and him being shirtless was the unfortunate girl that hovered beside him.

 

Chris looked over at the two Knight Sabers and said, “I'm getting Miss Chang over to Mariko to work on her.”

 

“Why aren't you taking her to the hospital, Chris? She seems hurt pretty bad to me.” Linna asked, concern etched on her pretty face.

 

“Mariko is the rarest of mutants, Linna; she's a healer. I've seen her bring people back from death's door. There's no time to debate this, I need to leave now, ok?” Chris asked.

 

“Go, I'll come over right away.” Linna replied, obviously torn. “Call me if anything changes before I get there, Chris.”

 

A heatless psionic fire flared up around Chris and the injured Irene Chang and they began to lift off the ground. “I'll be in touch, you two.” Chris said, trying to reassure the worried Linna just before his firebird began to move swiftly across the MegaTokyo night sky.

 

 

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“Where the hell is he going?” a man in black fatigues complained as he arrived on a rooftop overlooking where the assassin boomer had made its failed attempt on Irene Chang's life. Just rising into the night was the fiery form of the Phoenix, two forms encompassed within the flames. With a silent cry, the firebird headed towards the bright lights of Tinsel City.

 

The man punched a button on the bracer encircling his left forearm and a voice came through on the headgear he was wearing. “Maverick, report.”

 

“The subject has left the area ahead of schedule, sir. I am going to pursue momentarily.” The man called Maverick replied.

 

“Affirmative. Do not fail us Maverick, the results could be unfortunate.”

 

“Yes sir, I will acquire the subject shortly.” Maverick said in response. The channel closed with an audible click and the man named Maverick gazed at the retreating outline of Phoenix. < I will bring you in, Phoenix. I have never failed and I'm not going to start now. >

 

 

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“Linna, stop worrying. Chris will take good care of Irene and if Mariko is half as good as he says she is, then she'll be up and around in no time. Besides, don't you want to take a shot at those bastards who ordered the hit?” Priss asked her friend as they changed into their soft suits in the back of the Knight Sabers armored transport.

 

“I know, Priss, but Irene has been through a lot and I feel bad for her. You're right about one thing; it's going to feel good to hit back at them for what they did to Irene.” Linna responded.

 

The door to the locker room opened and Kitty Pryde walked in. “Excuse me? Sylia asked me to give you two a message from Chris and that we'll be at the factory soon. Is it a good time?” she asked politely.

 

“Go ahead, um, Kitty, right?” Linna said.

 

“Ok. Chris called and said that Mariko is working on Miss Chang and he expects her to be ok. He also said he's on the way to help with the fight.”

 

“Thanks, Kitty.” Priss said to the senior X Man, and she turned to Linna. “See, I told you she was in good hands.”

 

“You know that saying `I told you so' is rude, don't you Priss?” Linna asked, exasperated.

 

“Yeah, I know. But, I did tell you.” Priss replied with a laugh.

 

“You are impossible sometimes.” Linna shot back.

 

“ETA at the factory is 3 minutes. Suit up, Knight Sabers.” Sylia ordered as she entered the suit bay in the back of their transport.

 

The four women climbed into their hard suits, pneumatic hisses filled the air as the suits pressurized, the teasing banter over as they all got down to work. Priss and Linna stepped over to their waiting motoroids and climbed aboard, awaiting launch. Nene joined Sylia as the leader of the Knight Sabers made her way to the roof of the tractor-trailer.

 

“All right, Knight Sabers, it's Showtime!” Sylia said as the transport crashed through the barrier surrounding the factory.

 

 

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Phoenix rocketed through the still night air, his firebird lighting the darkness as he passed by at near mach speeds and shaking the windows in their sills. His face was set in an unmovable mask as he closed on the coordinates that Kitty had relayed to him. The Knight Sabers were moving against a covert GENOM operation that is involved with that black box that controls the satellite weapons and could be connected to this `Project: Next Step' that Nene and Kitty had uncovered, so he wanted to be there, desperately.

 

Suddenly, a sharp, quick prick like that of a mosquito, struck the side of his neck, that sent an intense burning through his neck directly into his brain, where it exploded with a white hot intensity. Concentration broken, Phoenix plummeted earthwards, his fiery sheath of telekinetic force dissipated to nothingness.

 

Without the protection of his force field, the sudden stop Phoenix experienced as he landed on an apartment building's roof caused all the air to leave his body in one great `whoosh', as well as intensify the already unbearable pain tearing through the young X Man's head.

 

“Oh God…” escaped Phoenix's lips in the barest of whispers.

 

“God ain't gonna help you, but if you stop trying to use your TK, the pain won't go away, but it won't hurt quite as much.” A modulated male voice said.

 

His brain on fire, Phoenix stopped trying to wrap himself in the protection he had always had since he was a child, his telekinesis. True to the voice's promise, the pain eased up, but did not completely go away. With a Herculean effort, Phoenix opened his eyes, peering up at a heavily armored form that bristled with weaponry. “Who? Why?” Phoenix was able to croak out, as he realized this was more than likely his assailant.

 

“I'm called Maverick, and the answer to why is simple; I'm being paid. Now say good night little X Man.” The armored man called Maverick said as he leveled the barrel of a gun at Phoenix and pulled the trigger. Spewing from the mouth of the weapon, a stream of electricity slammed into the prone mutant. A spasm shook Phoenix as all of his muscles contracted at once and he then fell back to the rooftop in a smoking, unmoving heap.

 

“Target acquired.” Maverick said into a miniature microphone that he had just keyed open.

 

“Secure the target, we will retrieve you shortly.” A voice replied into his earpiece.

 

 

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End of Ties That Bind Part 4