Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ BGC 2055: Megatokyo Burning ❯ Chapter 6

Bubblegum Crisis 2055: Megatokyo Burning

Ignition: One

THOOM!

The silent night was disturbed by a powerful explosion! It ripped the side of the building right out, the precisely placed charges removing the obstacle without damaging the rest of the tall building in the middle of downtown. Several trucks that were waiting nearby, labeled for shipping, food, and garbage, opened up their sides to reveal several figures dressed in armored suits.

A bit taller than a average man, painted pitch black, the suits were bulky, with weapons mounted on shoulders and arms. Boot thrusters flaring the hovering suits moved in, swarming over the facility and evading the internal defenses of the building. In moments they were done, carrying modules of equipment out even as sirens wailed off in the distance.

Not much later that morning an older blonde officer pushed her round glasses up, taking in the damage thoughtfully. "Well, we did try to warn them," Nene Romanova finally muttered to herself softly, the AD Police lieutenant observing her people as they moved around the crime scene to collect the evidence and interview witnesses.

"That we did," Lisa Valente agreed, her dark skin making her stand out in the crowd. She looked over at her boss, "The place is mostly automated, we don't have many witnesses."

"And the internal security systems?" Nene asked calmly.

"They haven't granted us access yet," Lisa answered.

A muscle in Nene's jaw jumped slightly as she clenched it. "Let's go see who's in charge," she said, leading her younger companion through the maze of people towards the building itself.

Burned debris were scattered around, carefully being collected by lab techs. Another was plotting where the pieces had rested and was putting together a computer schematic of the wrecked wall. Thermal scanners plotted the course the armored suits took, and several armored compartments in the walls had been torn open by the immense physical strength.

"Stop photographing that," the slim, redheaded executive tried to stop one of the AD Police officers, "you don't have authorization...."

"Something I can help you with," Nene took in her name tag, "Ms. Harrison?"

"Catherine," she frowned, looking Nene over, "and who might you be?"

"Lieutenant Nene Romanova," she showed the woman her identification while maintaining a pleasant smile, "I'm in charge here."

Catherine scowled, "Then maybe you can get these people out of here. This is a top secret research facility, our shareholders will have a fit if this information leaks. I want the AD police out of here in five minutes!"

Nene kept that pleasant smile on her face as she said, "I'm afraid I can't do that, ma'am. Now, will you give my officers access to your internal security systems?"

"Of course not," Catherine bleated, "that would...."

Nene calmly interrupted, "Then I'm afraid I'll have to arrest you for obstruction of justice." As Catherine gazed at her in shock she continued, "I'm well aware your employers have pull and can get you out, but it would take several days where I'm sure we can find someone to let us in the system."

"You wouldn't dare," Catherine hissed.

"You've heard of Chief McNicol of course," Nene continued on cheerfully, "he distrusts the corporations with a passion and would fight to keep you in jail even longer." She smiled sunnily, "So you can let me in the system now, or I can arrest you and get in anyway."

"You'll get your access," Catherine grit out, "but you haven't heard the last of this." With that she stomped off to where several AD Police techs stood waiting and used a terminal to bring up the security system.

"I hope you don't regret that," Lisa commented, but there was admiration in her voice. The two began a casual walk around, observing the damage intently.

Nene smiled wryly, "I'm happy where I am in the force, I'm not looking to be promoted." Her voice hardened, "So I don't have to worry about brown-nosing or sucking up to people like her."

"Think we'll get anything useful out of the security system?" Lisa asked, the two stooping to peer at a vault that had been completely torn open. Oddly most of the compartments inside were still intact, only one had been ripped open.

"This was done with armored suits," Nene climbed in the vault, peering at the compartment, "we might be able to get the name of the manufacturer, at least." She reached out but didn't touch the tag, reading off, "Ayanami."

"Ayanami?" Lisa peered over her shoulder.

"It does sound sort of familiar," Nene punched the name into her personal organizer then slid the flat microcomputer away into a coat pocket. "So what does this company specialize in?" she asked Lisa curiously.

"Re-genex," the smiling Lisa recited the information from memory, "are a developer in custom boomer technology. They, along with certain major competitors, are working on producing the next generation of boomers."

"Lovely," Nene muttered, "like the AD Police doesn't have enough trouble from the current brands of boomers."

In the aftermath of Quincy's removal as head of Genom the exclusive patent they held on the production of boomers expired. Many other companies soon stepped forward to produce their own variations and while Genom held onto much of it's market share, some competitors flourished. Sexaroids became a popular cult item, as were the gray market ones designed to resemble certain popular idols and actresses.

Sadly, quality control remained a problem with all the boomer designs. Not all companies had adopted the improved boomer design championed by Sylia Stingray, instead choosing to use the much cheaper designs initially used by Genom, so rogue boomer incidents still happened. In addition the unique boomer variations, including boosted intelligence and other skills, often made the lives of AD Police officers that much more difficult.

"So how much progress have they made, I wonder?" Nene speculated aloud.

Lisa looked thoughtful then she quietly said, "Enough that someone else had to break in to steal their research?"

"Makes you wonder," Nene agreed.

The two women walked back towards where her techs were downloading information from the security system while Catherine watched nervously.

"Is this really necessary?" Catherine looked at Nene worriedly.

"Yes," Nene said simply. She looked at the business woman thoughtfully before asking, "So how's work on the new boomer designs coming along?"

"No comment," Catherine said with a scowl.

"Someone launched an attack on your facility," Nene said dryly, "possibly for data or samples. For certain they took something labeled Ayanami." She saw a flicker of alarm on Catherine's face and said, "I see you recognize that."

Catherine did not look very happy about hearing that piece of news. She sounded much more respectful as she said, "I'm going to have to talk to my superiors."

Nene noted the tech teams were mostly done. "You do that," she turned to walk back to the cruiser, "we'll be in touch with more questions."

The two officers went back to the car, Lisa climbing into the driver's seat, pulling out into traffic and driving away. Lisa looked over from watching the road to quietly remark, "I almost expected you to push her harder than that."

"I want to go over the security data first," was Nene's quiet answer, "we need to know everything they got away with before we go back to ask more questions." She smiled slightly, "And I want to look into this Ayanami, too."

"That makes sense," Lisa nodded slightly in agreement. She hesitated for a moment before quietly asking her superior officer, "Do you think that Re-genex will try to launch a reprisal attack on whomever they think did this?"

"I hope not," Nene scowled, "but probably."

Lisa looked worried, "If that happens what do we do?"

Nene sighed softly, "There's not much we can do, just try our best to keep things from escalating any further."

Lisa was about to say something more when the onboard computer chirped. Lisa called up the data quickly, frowning as she read the initial report. "Those were military grade suits that attacked Re-genex," she reported.

"Marvelous," Nene muttered, "just what we needed."

To be continued....