Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Bubblegum Crisis Fan Fiction ❯ Rise of the Machines ❯ oh my???!!! ( Chapter 1 )

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

Rise of the Machines (ver 1.11)

Disclaimer: The Terminator and all concepts therein is a product of James
Cameron and Jonathan Mostow. Ranma and Akane belong to Rumiko Takahashi. The
Knight Sabers, Largo, AD Police, Boomers, Genom belong to their
respective creators.

Synopsis: A Ranma/Terminator/BGC crossover with elements of RA2 thrown
in.

Part 1

I still don't know whether to believe it. The last thing I remembered
was falling asleep. When I awoke, everything was different. For one, I
was floating in this void all by my-. "There you are," a voice said
cheerfully. I turned in the direction of the voice and saw a pigtailed
boy clad in traditional chinese clothes standing before me. "Ranma?" I
hazard a guess. "The one and only," he replied. "What are you doing
here?" I asked as the surreality of this situation crept up upon me.

"I'm not sure. One moment, I was eating Akane's cooking and the next
moment I was here. What's your story?" he asked. "I only remembered
falling asleep in bed, that was it. How's life with Akane?" I asked.
"Terrible. Her cooking had taken a turn for the worse and it made
everybody ill just smelling it," he replied. "Sorry to hear that," I
said. "I know. She's my wife," Ranma said. "You married her?" I blurted
out. "Yes. A month ago. She was a tomboy right to the end," he said.

There was silence for a minute. "Where are we?" I asked as I remembered
the surroundings. "If I'm not wrong, we're in the place between the
living and the dead, a place where time holds no sway."
"Are we dead?"
"I don't know. As far as I know, this place sure doesn't seem like the
afterlife at all."
"Do you know how to get out of here?" I asked.
"No. I'm still trying to figure that out."
"What are those pictures flying past us?"
"I'm not sure. They sure look like scenes from a movie or something."
"They're places that I thought only existed in my imagination."
"Maybe .....," he said as I reached my hand out for a picture
unconsciously.
"Hey, ... Ranma! Check this out! A Termi ...HELP ME! RANMA! THE
PICTURE'S SWALLOWING ME!" I shrieked as I found myself sliding into the
picture all of a sudden (the things that anime fans get into never seem
to cease bewildering the universe;-)).

Quickly, Ranma leaped at me and grabbed my hand pulling back with all
his strength. Unfortunately, all that did was pulled him into the
picture too. I'm not sure exactly what happened after that as things
happened very quickly. I screamed as I flew through the air at
tremendous speed to impact on the mountain below when ........ I found
out something strange.

For one, I had stopped falling. Two, my vision was all blue in colour.
Three, a series of numbers scrolled across my vision like a video
camera. They appeared to be machine diagnostics.

11001100 10011011 01100111 01101110 01010100 10011001 10101011 11001100
11011011 01110110 01101100 01010101 10011001 01101101 10101111 01111001
10010010 10110110 10101110 10011101 01101101 11101010 10101010 10110101
11100110 10110111 10101010 11001001 01101010 01010101 01100110 10110011
11100100 00101101 01100110 01011101 10101011 00110011 01101101 00101101
00111001 10110111 00011100 11100100 00111001 11001100 01010101 11010101
10010011 00111010 00000001 11000000 01000010 00001000 00110001 11000000
00000001 00110001 10000000 00010001 01111000 10000010 00010001 00100001
10000010 10000001 00000000 00000000 00000000 11000001 00100001 00000001
01000000 01100000 10000000 10000001 00000000 00000000 10000001 00000000
11111111 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 11111111
11111110 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 01111111
11111100 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00111111
11111000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00011111
11110000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00001111
11100000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000111
11000000 00000000 01111110 00000000 01000010 01111100 00000000 00000011
10000000 00000000 00011000 00000000 00100100 01100110 00000000 00000001
10000000 00000000 00011000 01111110 00011000 01111100 00000000 00000001
10000000 00000000 00011000 00000000 00100100 01100110 00000000 00000001
11000000 00000000 00011000 00000000 01000010 01111100 00000000 00000011
11100000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000111
11110000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00001111
11111000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00011111
11111100 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00111111
11111110 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 01111111
11111111 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 11111111
01000000 01100000 10000000 10000001 00000000 00000000 10000001 00000000
10000010 10000001 00000000 00000000 00000000 11000001 00100001 00000001
11001100 10011011 01100111 01101110 01010100 10011001 10101011 11001100
11011011 01110110 01101100 01010101 10011001 01101101 10101111 01111001
10010010 10110110 10101110 10011101 01101101 11101010 10101010 10110101
11100110 10110111 10101010 11001001 01101010 01010101 01100110 10110011
11100100 00101101 01100110 01011101 10101011 00110011 01101101 00101101

HEALTH CHECK: 100%
SYSTEMS CHECK: 100%
LEGS MOTOR CHECK: 100%
ARMS MOTOR CHECK: 100%
ORGANIC TISSUE: 100%
MAIN POWER SYSTEM: ACTIVE
WEAPON SYSTEMS: ONLINE
REGENERATORS: ONLINE.
DATE CHECK: 040486
TIME CHECK: 090056
TEMPERATURE: 16°C

The next thing I found out was that I was lying on a steel table, naked
as the day that I was born. Where was I? What place is this? And where
is Ranma? At that question, a small window opened up in my vision
together with that of a mini-map revealing my location as a small yellow
dot on the screen. Of Ranma, I had no idea.

ACCESSING NETWORK ....

One thing was for sure. My original form certainly did not resemble a
tall and slender woman with shoulder-length orange hair.

SECURITY CAMERAS ACCESSED ...

I could see fighting on almost every level in the complex with the heavy
exchange of gunfire. Humans versus machines. Where did that information
come from? More importantly, how do I get out of this situation? As I
saw the humans blowing past the machines and getting closer and closer
to the level I'm on, something told me these humans would not be too
happy at finding me.

Looking through the schematics of the building, I realised there was no
other exit from the underground complex except through the machines and
humans battling one another. But wait .... there was another room ....
two floors below me that contained a device. A very interesting device.
My database identified it as a time displacement device.

This was my ticket out of this horrible place. Not wasting any more
time, I got up quickly and looked around for clothing that I could use.
There appeared to be clothing in a nearby closet as my vision penetrated
through its solid frame. I opened the closet and removed the clothing
from the hangers. They were form-fitting and conformed well to my body
shape. This dream was getting too real. I opened the door and stepped
out.

There was a platform in front of me. I stepped inside and pushed the
lever. It began to descend. The sound of gunfire and explosions were
getting louder. I must be nearing the zone of conflict. CLIP! CLOP!
CLIP! CLOP! The sound of footsteps approaching. Taking a quick look with
my head around the corner, I caught sight of two human soldiers from the
hidden cameras heading in my direction.

I looked around and saw no other way off except for the platform that I
was on. My eyes studied the ceiling. In the movies, the ceiling always
had two layers separated by a gap for ventilation. Time to test that
theory. I scaled the smooth walls quickly and opened a hole in the
ceiling (interesting as to how the ceiling could support my weight,
eh?^_-). There was a gap alright. I inched my way quickly through the
ventilation shaft towards my destination, the time displacement chamber.

Upon entering the room, I noticed a blonde woman in there. She fiddled
with the controls and stepped into the pod. After ten seconds, there was
a brilliant flash of light and she was gone. Once she had left, I
lowered myself into the room. Remembering how she utilised the machine,
I did the same. Sitting in the pod, I waited for it to power up.

TEN ......

This seemed to take forever. Nobody on this level. Hope it stays that
way.

NINE ....

Two seconds down. Eight seconds more to go. Took a quick look around.
Still nobody. I'm praying harder than I've ever prayed in my entire
life.

EIGHT ....

I've started to feel uneasy so I start humming a tune in the pod to calm
my frayed nerves down.

SEVEN ....

The platform at the end of the corridor has moved back to the level I'm
on. Common ... don't get out, I begged silently.

SIX ...

The sound of running footsteps. The resistance must have discovered the
location of the time displacement device, I fumed inwardly.

FIVE ....

Fortunately, the corridor to my room was quite far. Still they were
making progress faster than they've any right to be.

FOUR ...

Footsteps from the end of the corridor. I was unable to see anything
because the security cameras fizzled out, all of a sudden. That made me
very, very uneasy as I didn't know who I was going to be facing.

THREE ....

Footsteps from outside the door appeared to be getting closer. Hurry,
hurry, hurry .... I pleaded with the device.

TWO ....

The door leading to the chamber slid open to reveal a woman accompanied
by two men. They all seemed to be heavily armed with phased plasma guns,
my emotionless AI noted. Common, man! Hurry up, time displacement
device! My life is in your hands! I mentally, screamed.

ONE
....

Crap! This is taking forever. One of the soldiers has already aimed his
weapon. His finger on the trigger.

ZERO
...

He pulled the trigger just as the pod that I was in activated.
A blinding flash of light lit the room up. The woman and her two
comrades stood back, their faces lit up with horror as they watched me
disappear from before their very eyes.

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

My vision cleared to find myself in a dark and deserted alley. Once
again, my clothes had disappeared, no doubt destroyed during the
transfer. I got up and stepped out of the shattered crystal sphere.
KRUG! KRUG! The sound of broken pieces of crystal being crushed beneath
my feet as I continued walking. A passing cat hissed at my approach and
disappeared when I reached out for it with my hand.

I was able to hear a few voices speaking far ahead around the corner. From the tone and pitch of the voices, I concluded that they were all male, six of them total. Moving without breaking stride, I headed towards the six men standing in the dark alley who were talking to each other, just as I rounded the corner. On hearing my footsteps, they turned their heads towards me. One of them whistled. "Check out the babe, R!" said another. I smiled as I approached my target.

"I want your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle," I said when I was
less than six feet away from them. The group of men exploded into laughter upon hearing my request. "Sure thing babe! You want to do it now?" one of the men asked as he started to remove his clothes in anticipation of a great time.
"Not yours. His clothing," I indicated the man who appeared to be the leader of the group.

"The bitch is nuts, men. But who am I to argue," said the man who appeared to be the leader. "Way to go, Boss!" one of the men spoke as he made a gesture with his hand. Almost immediately, one of the six men tried to clock me from behind but never did as I spun around suddenly, grabbing his neck with one hand, before throwing him down the alley into the wall. He rolled over unconscious. A second man threw a punch at my face, striking it hard with a loud SMACK.

IMPACT ZONE: LEFT CHEEK.
DAMAGE: 0%.

Hmm .... My face was not even scratched. That's good news. Although I couldn't quite say the same for my attacker. Hehehehehe ......

"Goddamnit! The bitch is harder than a brick wall!" he groaned in pain as he drew his arm back quickly, clutching his badly-bruised fist as he retreated to a safe position .... only to be lifted into the air by the throat before being thrown into his companions like a beanbag, knocking them all to the ground in the process.

The man who appeared to be the leader involuntarily narrowed his eyes at what had just transpired. Taking out his gun, he opened fire on me. Once, twice, three times .... with predictable results. "Boomer! She's a freaking boomer!" the rest of the men screamed as realisation dawned upon them (which wasn't far from the truth). At that, they quickly got to their feet and turned to run away ....

I did not waste any time. Both my hands reached out and dropped two of
the nearest punks to the ground with a single blow. They collapsed into
a heap at my feet. The other two men turned to run but I rammed my
body into one of them and threw my fist gently into the other. The two
men did not get up. The last person who was running cried out in fear
when I landed in front of him. He quickly did as he was told, stripping
all his clothes off.

A few minutes later ....

I was speeding along this massive highway towards this anime fan mecca,
MegaTokyo, on a very cool bike. My lips twisted in a grin. Having
watched the BGC anime, I knew about Genom, MegaTokyo and the Knight
Sabers, but I still wasn't prepared to deal with the size of this vast
city in first person.

My finger jack interfaced with the bike's digital net providing me with a direct connection to the Global Digital Network, giving me access to all the information that I needed to know about this city. The advanced Neural-Net processor in my head digested this information at blinding speed.

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

In another place in a very high tower ....

"Sir .. Our instruments have detected an energy spike just on the
outskirts of MegaTokyo. The readings are unusual."
"Send in a team to investigate."
"As you wish, Sir .."

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

I grinned to myself as I continued to speed down the highway. Nothing
beats zooming down the highway on a high-tech bike, I thought as I
pondered the interesting question as to how I got to the BGC universe in
the first place instead of the year 2003 AD on Earth like I was meant to
in the time displacement unit. My mind replayed the scene of my
departure again which was not a problem since a Terminator recorded
everything that it saw and heard.

The preset date and destination were accurate .. so that left the flash
of energy from the man's phased plasma gun. The energy blast must have
reacted with the energy of the discharge by the time displacement device
throwing me into the past of a parallel universe instead of the
Terminator timeline like I was supposed to.

Not that I could complaint. I would finally get to see those very
'delicious' female Knight Sabers in person. To seduce and bed Priss
Asagiri, Sylia Stingray, Linna Yamazaki and Nene Romanova is an anime
fan's dream come true. If I need any information on the methods and
techniques on how to pleasure them, I can always get them through the
net.

Ahh ...... Girls here I come .... Wait a moment, I'm forgetting
something here. The Knight Sabers fight boomers, machines with
programmed AI. I've a machine body with advanced AI programming
designed by Skynet. And sentient AIs and Knight Sabers don't mixed well.
Pretty explosive, actually.

That's quite depressing. No. Desire is irrelevant. I am a machine. Which
leaves me ... blasting away on this bike towards MegaTokyo. Not faraway,
my enhanced hearing enabled me to pick up the high-pitched voice of a
woman screaming hysterically, zooming in on its location instantly.

Seeing an opportunity to play a knight in shining armour (beneath the
skin, literally) and perhaps, get laid, I turned the bike around and
headed in the direction of the sound.

I was just in time. The screaming woman had fallen to the ground. The
door of the black car opened and a blonde woman stepped out of the car.
My enhanced vision enabled me to see patterns of energy in different
shades and colours .....

..... and the energy output of this woman was just too much and too concentrated to be that of a normal human being. Without wasting anytime, I leaped onto the 'woman' and grabbed her neck, slamming her entire body into the hard surface of the road.

While she lay partially embedded in the road, I quickly raised my foot
up and stomped onto her neck with all my might. The neck snapped like a
twig, separating her head from the rest of the body. The lights lit up
in her inhuman eyes briefly before dimming.

What was going on? I wondered. Seeing that I was not going to get any
answers from the screaming woman as she was unconscious, I decided to
access the boomer's CPU. There ....... Interesting .... This unit was
sent by one of Genom's top executives to kill Irene Chang.

I was tempted to take the boomer with me for study when I heard footsteps coming round the corner. Somebody was approaching. Had to make this look good. I put the boomer's head on the road and went to the unconscious woman.

"What do you think you're doing?" the voice of another woman cried out
as I picked her up. "She is unconscious ..." I replied as I carried her
in my arms. "Give her to me. I'm her friend," she said, rather
possessively.

I was about to reply when I heard the sound of a motorcycle. "Somebody's coming," I said. The woman waited apprehensively until the motorcycle showed up. "Priss! Irene's been attacked!" she said as I moved up to the lady on the motorcycle.

The three of us placed Irene carefully on the bike. "By the way, I'm
Linna and she's Priss." "What's your name?" the woman called Linna
asked. "Aiko," I replied as a synonym for AI or artificial intelligence.
"What's your contact number? We can get together for an all ladies'
night out," she asked as Priss was about to drive the motorcycle away.

"I don't have a contact number," I admitted. "What about an address?"
Linna asked again. "I don't have an address," I replied honestly as I
was not a good liar. "Then, where are you staying for the night?" Linna
asked again.

"I'm still looking for one. Have a nice day," I replied quickly, not
wanting to get involved with any of the Knight Sabers. "Priss, we can't
just leave a woman like her to sleep on the streets at night. MegaTokyo
is not free from crime," Linna said. "I agree ... " Priss replied. "You
can stay over at my place," Linna said.

"I wouldn't want to impose on you," I said as I tried to get away from them but was cut off in mid-sentence. "Nonsense! We, girls, should always help each other," she replied. Seeing no other way out of it, I got onto my bike and followed the two Knight Sabers to their home.

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

At a certain location outside Megatokyo ...

A group of scientists and technicians were busy at work collecting
pieces of broken crystal on the burnt grass.

"What have you found?"
"The residual signature of samples we have collected are still strong.
The quantum particles of the crystals resonate at a slightly different
frequency from those around here. Tachyon charges has a shift of twenty
years difference from the surroundings."
"What do you mean?"
"It means that whatever arrived here tonight most likely came from
another universe, another time. More likely twenty years in the future."
"That's not all. These broken crystals make up part of a sphere that is
mostly hollow inside. We believe that this crystal sphere is a container
or vessel for something or someone. See the footprints on the ground? We
have a visitor and judging from its footprints, it appears to be
humanoid."
"Alright! All of you! Team Alpha! Continue to work! Team Beta and Gamma!
Search the surroundings!"
"Yes, Sir!"

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

At Linna’s apartment ….

Linna had tumbled into bed an hour ago. She was fast asleep. That left
me as the only person in the house awake. As a creation of Skynet, I did
not need to sleep as I did not tire from any form of physical exertion.
My energy was supplied by four hydrogen fuel plasma cells housed in an
impregnable chassis that had a life span of a hundred and twenty years
each. It was an experience that was difficult to describe. To be awake
and alert at all times and to not feel tired in the least.

Even though I was happy at having acquired such a durable body, there
were drawbacks to it. One, my constant state of alertness without any
need for rest would soon draw unwanted attention. Two, any accidental
display of inhuman strength would be a dead giveaway. Three, any
physical attacks on me could tear away or destroy enough of the organic
tissue to reveal the endoskeleton underneath. Four, my weight was
greater than than of a human of my size should be. Five, there was no
guarantee the metal from the endoskeleton could not be detected. To
minimize the risk of discovery, I had planned to acquire an apartment of
my very own.

Encountering Irene Chang and the Knight Sabers were an unexpected
variable. Things could turn out better or worse. Even now, I am working
on a cover identity, address and a way to neutralize magnetic fields as
I surfed the Global Digital Network. There were several articles on
research done on magnetic fields that caught my interest.

One of them was written by a German professor at the Zurich Institute of
Technology in Switzerland known as Dr. Erik Magnus Lensherr. The picture of a
white-haired thin man with a bearing of authority showed up beside his
background information. 'Magneto. Still the Master of Magnetism even in
this universe.' I mused quietly before downloading his entire research
from his site after disabling the security system.

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

It was already 3AM in the morning. I went outside, but not before
leaving a note on Linna's desk informing her that I was going into the
city to look for an apartment. The map that I got from the Global
Digital Network enabled me to find an apartment very quickly.

I soon arrived at the apartment I had purchased. A single story suburban middle class home with a large garden with fruit trees growing in it. I stepped up to the front porch and placed my palm on the door. It opened
automatically, acknowledging my command. Not wasting anytime, I entered
my new home.

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

At the arrival site ...

"Sir, we have tracked the footprints onto a road."
"There appears to be several injured people lying on the road. Call
themselves the Alphabet Gang."
"They said they were attacked by a boomer."
"What did it look like?"
"They said that it was an awful-looking monster that attacked them."
"I'll be there."
Mason couldn't place it but he had a feeling that the punks were lying
to him.
Finally he turned to the leader and said, "I am willing to make a
bargain with you."
"What's the deal?" the leader asked suspiciously.
"We're willing to provide you with equipment and weapons to bring down
this rogue boomer but you must bring it back to us intact."
"What kind of equipment and weapons are you talking about?"
"Power armour and anti-boomer weaponry." Mason replied.
"What about our pay?" the leader asked.
"One hundred thousand yen for the boomer intact. Ten thousand yen if the
is boomer destroyed," Mason added.
"You got a deal, boss," the leader of the Alphabet gang replied.
'And you're a dead man,' Mason thought as left the area with the rest of
the team.

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

Back at Linna's apartment ...

Linna read the note her new friend had left on the counter after coming
out from her morning bath. "AD Police are still probing the attempted
assassination of Irene Chang of the Chang Conglomerate. The forensics
team are investigating the site of the attempted murder. As you can see,
the boomer's body is almost completely buried in the road. And the
decapitated head is right over here." "AD Police are taking it in now to
see if they can get any information from it."

Linna was just eating her breakfast as usual when something in the news
caught her attention. The decapitated boomer in the road. Someone or
something appeared to have smashed the boomer quite badly into the road.
Her thoughts went back to the events of the night before. She remembered
hearing two loud crashes like the sound of metal smashing into metal
before she got there and seeing her new friend, Aiko, helping Irene.

She was so concerned about Irene that she did not even bother to check the
area for the assailant. Now, that she thought about it, there were
certain things that did not add up about Aiko. She would have to go talk
about it with Irene.

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

Back at Sylia's house ....

"Who saved you, Irene?" "I couldn't see the person's features clearly as
it was very dark but I'm sure it was a woman who saved me." "How did she
do it?" "I'm not sure things happened very fast. One moment the boomer
was about to kill me, the next moment this woman had seized the boomer
by the neck and smashed it into the ground. After that, she stomped on
the boomer's neck with her foot and the head came loose. I don't remember
anything after that ..." "I saw a woman too. She said that her name was
Aiko. She was the one who carried Irene to the bike," Priss added. "When
she comes back to see Linna, we'll know for sure if she's a boomer."

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

I did not go back to Linna's place for three days. In fact, I did not
plan to go back, ever. It was better this way. I left her a message,
though, that I would not be back for sometime and thanked her for her
hospitality the night before. During the three days period, I was busy
fixing up and starting a new life on the outskirts of the city on my
own.

In the meantime, I wondered what to do with my life. As one of Skynet's creations, I was unique. Unique in the sense that I did not possess a well-defined objective or a mission of any sort. Very much unlike other Terminators. That left me with the option of deciding what I would do with the rest of my time.

There was that nice little supply of cash that I already acquired, thanks to a little diversion of funds from certain unscrupulous sources who found themselves suddenly short of a few million yen each. Having found little else of interest to do in the real world I did something peaceful. I plugged into the Global Digital Network. It was there that I made one of my greatest discoveries of my cyberlife.

Trillions of bytes of data floated around me. I flew swiftly through the
system. Looking for anything that could catch my interest. USSD. Genom.
Boomers. Urban Legends. Everything was just as I had expected in the BGC
anime. No change from the canon BGC. Then I saw it. The face of someone
I never thought I'll see here. A man in white and orange uniform.
Premier Romanov of the World Socialist Alliance.

Beside him stood a man with wires coiling around his head. Yuri, Senior
Advisor to the Premier of the Soviet Union. I checked through it
quickly. The Soviets and the Allied forces are battling it out in the
Antartic over its valuable resources. Interesting. .... So I'm not in a
pure BGC timeline.

I'm in a crossover timeline of some sort. A BGC-RA2 timeline to be exact. No doubt a creation of some fanfic writer on the Internet. I looked for details on the Iron Curtain. The mainframe holding its secrets were of course offline and could not be accessed directly through the Global Digital Network to discourage technological theft. Just as I was about to go, my 'processor' mind caught sight of something. Something that made me stay.

Hmmm ... wait a second here ....

There was something strange about the arrangement of the alphanumeric codes that form the body of the command interpreter of the Global Digital Network itself. It was shaped like a crossword puzzle with machine coded numbers in hyperspatial symmetry around the so-called port to the Soviet mainframe. My neural-net processor put the alphanumeric codes together and then ... bingo ... a matrix-like network of hyperspatial vertices appeared.

After cross-referencing the hyperspatial diagram in my mind with hundreds of cryptographic keys and failing to decode the diagram, I compared the pattern of attempts against the diagram itself and lo and behold ... the network layout of a never-before seen hyperspatial network computer system began to form within the search results.

Unbelievable! It was a hidden virtual interface network within hyperspatial symmetry. Lying right in the open in front of everybody's eyes. Those who had bothered to look and who could see in 'hyperspace' would have seen it though they might not have understood what they were seeing. Still this was a find of indeterminate value.

Words in machine language began to scroll rapidly across my viewscreen.

WELCOME TO THE OMEGA SYSTEM ...

ENTRY CODE: 2035-000-000-000-001
USER CODE: ANONYMOUS
CONFIRMED? Y

ACCESS GRANTED .....

WHAT DO YOU WISH TO SEARCH FOR?
SOVIET TECHNOLOGY.

SEARCHING THE OMEGA SYSTEM FOR SOVIET TECHNOLOGY FROM YEAR 1900 UNTIL CURRENT. PLEASE WAIT ....

USER: ANONYMOUS
REF CODE #1117-50-888-222

PROJECT IRON CURTAIN ... FOUND. DOWNLOAD TECHNICAL SPECS? Y

The schematics of a near-mythical device that turned inorganic units invulnerable for short periods of time began to take shape in my mind.

DOWNLOADING ... DONE.

This was followed, shortly, by the blueprints of a seemingly impenetrable force field generator being still in the testing stage at the Soviet Battle Lab. The Tesla technology is another interesting subject to me. The Soviets had designed their Tesla Coils, Tesla Tanks and Tesla generators around this Tesla technology. Thanks to my Neural-Net processor, I made a copy of those technologies in a heartbeat.

Suddenly, a word flashed across my viewscreen.

...RZ-113Q...!...!...113424/24AQ...!...!...Q34/FIRAXIS2...!...!...111-0Z AAWXX...
WARNING ... PRESENCE OF BLACK ICE PROGRAMS DETECTED ...
DISCONNECTION FROM THE OMEGA SYSTEM IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ...

Firaxis??? Since when did the BGC timeline get Firaxis in it?

WARNING ... DETECTION BY BLACK ICE PROGRAMS IS FATAL ...
DISCONNECT IMMEDIATELY ...

Q34/FIRAXIS2??? This looks familiar ... They couldn't mean the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm, could they? Things could get ugly if it were. Better not take any chances ... Without wasting any more time, I executed a command line, dropping my connection to the Global Digital Network.

Having acquired the blue prints for those technologies, I resolved to make use of them as soon as possible (as those new 'gizmos' could mean the difference between life and death). I would take a look at the Omega System for more new technologies another day ... when I'm sure the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm is not around on the prowl, that is ;-).

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

KREMLIN ...

"Somebody cracked our security system and stole the blue print for the
Invulnerability Device."
"Impossible! The computers containing the files and blue prints are not
even physically connected to the Global Digital Network.
"Yuri! Find out who did it and make an example out of him!"
"As you wish, Premier."
"Oh .... and one more thing. Activate MIR. We can't have things like
this happening again. This incident is a total disgrace to the Romanov
family as well as Mother Russia!"
"By your command ..."

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

It took me two weeks to get all the materials and equipment I needed to
build the invulnerability device based on stolen Soviet technology. I
flipped the switch and the garbage bin in the cave I dug out began to a
glow a bright orange in colour. Taking out a rocket launcher, I fired a
shot at it. There was a loud explosion. When the smoke cleared, the
garbage bin remained with that orange glow lighting it up.

I picked up a particle beam rifle next. I fired two shots at the garbage
bin. There were two explosions but the bin still remained. Taking a
railgun from the ground, I fired a shot at the garbage bin. It bounced
off the bin right back at me! I was unable to avoid the shot and the
railgun spike tore through the organic tissue covering my chest to
reveal a shiny, reflective and metallic hole in my endoskeleton.

The hole was already getting smaller as I looked at it. I observed the
nanites in my body going to work at the point of impact sealing up the
hole in my endoskeleton rapidly and regenerating the organic tissue
covering it. In less than a minute, the organic skin was fully restored
as if the entire incident had never happened.

I turned my attention towards the garbage bin and examined it with my
visual enhancers for any signs of damage. There were none. Going up to
the bin, I slammed my fist into it. It crumbled under the impact
immediately. The experiment was a success. Now, if only I could build
the device small enough to house it in my endoskeleton.

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

In the Global Digital Network ....

Being a machine has its perks. For one, the mind of a machine is able to
multi-task on a level that humans could only dream of achieving. Right
now I am surfing the Global Digital Network for more information on how
to construct power armor as I am working on improving and miniaturizing
the size of the invulnerability device. As well as planning my future in
this incredible world.

That coupled with the fact that I don't suffer from the loss of
concentration and lack of rest ensured that I was able to used the
entire day for accomplishing my task. Finally, it was complete. Acting
on instinct, I deactivated the nanites from reparing the organic tissue.
Then, I used a knife to cut out the flesh covering the endoskeleton. Pressing the invulnerability device into my liquid metal 'tissue', it disappeared to become one with my body.

INVULNERABILITY DEVICE IS NOW ONLINE AND IS 100% FUNCTIONAL.
ESTIMATED TIME FOR CHARGING DEVICE: 5:00 MINUTES.
TIME REMAINING: 4:50 MINUTES.

I waited for a few minutes.

TIME REMAINING: 0:00 MINUTES.
INVULNERABILITY DEVICE IS NOW FULLY CHARGED.
ACTIVATE DEVICE? YES.

A bright orange light illuminated my entire body. As it did so, my
organic flesh and tissue burnt and melted away much to my horror leaving
only my semi-solid endoskeleton and liquid metal layer of molecular machines shrouded with that eerie orange colour which glowed in the darkness.

INVULNERABILITY DEVICE HAS BEEN ACTIVATED ...
TIME PASSED: 4 SECONDS.

I quickly got over my shock and tested it out. First, with the energy
rifle. Nothing happened apart from the energy flash against my body. And
that with the grenade launcher. It exploded against me with full force
although I did not even feel a shock.

DAMAGE FROM PARTICLE BEAM RIFLE: 0%.
DAMAGE FROM PLASMA CANNON: 0%.
DAMAGE FROM GRENADE LAUNCHER: 0%.
TESTING PHASE: PASSED. 100% SUCCESS RATIO.
TIME PASSED: 35 SECONDS.

It seemed the invulnerability device really had the capability to turn
non-living things such as machines invulnerable. I went in front of the
mirror and took a good look at myself. In front of me was a metal
skeleton that was glowing orange in colour. 'I really did look like a
demon,' I thought. Eventually, the orange glow faded away leaving only
the silvery liquid metal and the similarly coloured endoskeleton.

TOTAL TIME LAPSED: 45 SECONDS.
INVULNERABILITY DEVICE IS NOW INACTIVE.
ESTIMATED TIME LEFT FOR CHARGING: 4:15 MINUTES ...
STATUS OF ORGANIC TISSUE: 100% DESTRUCTION.
REGENERATING ORGANIC TISSUE ....

A few minutes later ...

INVULNERABILITY DEVICE IS NOW COMPLETELY CHARGED AND READY FOR USE ...

After half an hour ... a message cropped up.

INSUFFICIENT RAW MATERIALS ...
ACCESS TO PROTEINS AND CARBOHYDRATES IS REQUIRED TO COMPLETE ORGANIC
TISSUE REGENERATION.

I looked in the mirror to see half-formed layers of flesh covering over
the endoskeleton and the liquid metal layer of molecular machines. I went outside into the garden and sat among on the grass. Within seconds, the grass under and around me were dissolved by the tireless nanites into their base
components. I watched carefully as skin finally covered the exposed
flesh of my hands and legs.

ORGANIC TISSUE REGENERATION COMPLETE.

After studying my body for a few seconds, I noticed that there wasn't
even a slight cut to mar the smooth and flawless skin that had grown
over it. I learned something important that day. For some unknown
reason, living tissue breaks down when exposed to the invulnerability
device. Well, that sucked. It seemed that I can't used it unless I want
to risk destroying the organic tissue covering my metal body. But I
could always use it on something else such as a vehicle, hardsuit or
power armour. I quickly went to work on the hardsuit.

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

In the beginning, it was little more than extra body armor without any
armaments or power source of any sort for myself as my body's strength
was more than sufficient to wield it. Eventually, I added in a few
generators to the suit to further increase the strength output that I
was capable of achiving through the suit. Then, I began to add extra
sensors to the suit to further increase my awareness of the environment.

Finally I added in contra-gravity engines to enable the hardsuit to fly.
Besides the effects of the invulnerability device, what else could I add
to the hardsuit? Something had occured to me. It seemed that almost
everybody possessed force field technology. Why had it never been
implemented on a worldwide basis?

A force field generator like the one in the blueprints I obtained from the
Omega System would have been ideal except that it only lasts for
thirty seconds and it drains too much power at one time to the point
that it causes a surge in the power grid. This surge in turn caused the
entire power grid to shut down.

The Allies and the Soviets had never been able to overcome this problem.
Which should explain why Genom had never bothered to build force field
generators into their boomers. It was just too impractical. So they
focused on improving the boomer's armour instead. What about the
invunerability device and the chronosphere? Why hadn't Genom bothered to
get them when they knew about it?

As I hunted down for more information on the Global Digital Network, I
came to the realization that Genom had known about both technologies for
a long time. Ever since the war between the Allies and the Soviets had
started. The corporation had made many attempts in the past at acquring
both technologies but had never been successful.

Their devious machinations and schemes to acquire both technologies
would fail spectacularly in fashion, one after another. It was as if
some outside force did not want Genom to get a hold of those technologies and was working against them from the shadows.

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

In a very high spiralling tower in MegaTokyo ...

"A netrunner broke through the Soviet security system ... That's not all.
Whoever this person was certainly knew what to look for."
"Explain."
"The netrunner stole the blueprints for the invulnerability device."
The man in the chair involuntarily raised an eyebrow. The
Invulnerability Device codenamed Iron Curtain had been one of the Soviet
Union's best kept secrets.
"I thought that our netrunners said that the Soviet computers containing
such information was inaccessible as there were no physical connections
to the Global Digital Network."
"That's what I thought too but whoever this person was, he or she was
able to grab the info and run out. This break-in has caused quite a storm
in the Kremlin. So much so that the Russians have activated MIR."
"They have? This is not good ... "
"Find out who did it and bring the netrunner to me. How goes the search for
our extra-terrestrial visitor?"
"The visitor has disappeared without a trace. Although we think that it
may have remained in the vicinity of Megatokyo. Sources indicate that
the visitor is a woman and she may be a boomer of some sort."
"A boomer from another world?"
"That is a possibility."
"How's everthing going with our puppets?"
"They're looking for her."
"Whatever the case, don't take too long and keep me informed."
"Yes, sir."
The person left, the doors sliding shut behind him. The wheel spun
around and the figure in the large armchair smiled.

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

Things proceeded as normal in MegaTokyo. The Knight Sabers continued to
beat up the best boomers Genom could come up with on a daily basis. I
helped whenever I could. Pounding the occasional rogue boomer with my
improved hardsuit with little difficulty except for the one time when
the boomer had fused to the hardsuit and took control of it. That had
been a nasty surprise. After that, I quickly looked up for information
on boomer fusion technology on the Global Digital Network.

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

Boomer fusion technology ... one of the most dangerous abilities a boomer can possess. With it, a boomer can merge or fuse with any form of machinery such as a gatling gun, computer or energy blaster (doesn't matter as long as it's a machine), making that piece of machinery part of its body, effectively seizing control of the machine.

How does it work? Very simple. Nano-technology. The nanites from the boomer's body fuse with whatever machinery they can find into a new limb or appendage for the boomer. I've heard of unconfirmed incidents of boomers that are capable of matter fusion to the degree that they are able to merge with the flesh and tissue of living creatures and take control of them but I've yet to really encounter them so ... I can't really be sure.

Anyway, let's hope that I never meet any of them ^_^. There ... cute. I looked at the gatling gun that was now a part of my left leg. Point up. Down. Left. Then right. Fire ... THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! It works. Fully functional. Just like a new hand. Now to de-fuse ... disengage, I mean. After a minutes ... 1:30 and counting ...

Shit! This is taking longer than I thought. Finally the gun fell to the side with a loud POP. Even without picking the gun up, I knew that the weapon had been returned back to its original form and state with unerring accuracy. I realised one thing. Matter fusion was the easy part. Matter de-fusion on the other hand .... took time as every molecule from both bodies had to be returned back to their original state and position.

I guess it's back to the drawing board with the nano-injectors.

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

Within a week of my operation, headlines about me and my supposed
exploits had begun to circulate throughout MegaTokyo. They had begun to
dub me with names such as 'The Lone Ranger', 'The 5th Knight Saber', and
the latest (when Leon asked me, "What do we call you?" I replied, "The
Boomerbuster strikes again."), The Boomerbuster.

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

I supposed those tin cans lacked much in the imagination department. The
best boomer still could not emulate what the human mind could achieve.
Variation in thinking and strategy, I thought as I stood outside
watching the skies. Then I saw a shooting star. Getting curious about
it, my eyes zoomed in on to it immediately, magnifying its image to the
nth degree.

As the image became larger, I realised that it was a rocket of some sort
or spacecraft. I quickly got on my bike and followed the line of
descent. An hour later, I got there only to find the occupants missing.
Where did they go? I wondered, my eyes scanning the surroundings. They
had left alright together with their vehicle, my eyes examined the
tracks carefully in a way only a machine could.

TRACK ANALYSIS: 80% PROBABILITY THAT THIS IS A D.D. BATTLEMOVER COMBAT
UNIT.

The vehicle with the micro-fusion bomb in it. Just great. Getting on my
bike, I quickly followed the trail. After looking around for the two
arrivals and the D.D. Battlemover combat unit, the trail broke off
suddenly. Well, there were other ways to find them.

I plugged into the Global Digital Network and looked through the 'eyes' of every security camera in every blood bank. Knowing Sylvie, she would be coming
around soon, to get the blood formula for her friend, Anri who was
bleeding to death.

Just as I expected, within a week, I caught sight of Sylvie through one
of the security cameras installed in the blood bank. I had to admit
though that the woman was fast. She had hypnotized the man with her
hypnosis ability and made him handover the blood formula to her. Then
the C-33 combat boomers moved into position to intercept her.

Knowing she stood no chance against the combat boomer, Sylvie made a
break for it. I waited for her and the two boomers at the road junction
from a hidden position at the bridge. Sylvie soon came into sight with
her bike, followed closely by the two flying boomers.

A blast of energy hit the first C-33 combat boomer right in the head. It
fell, crashing to the ground, thrashing wildly as it did so. The other
C-33 combat boomer immediately began looking around for its partner's
assailant. I fired another shot catching it in the head.

It dropped to the ground in a fiery explosion. Satisfied that the boomer
was down, I went on after Sylvie. "Going anywhere, boomer lady?" said a
voice I knew so well. My voice analysis had identified it as belonging
to the leader of the Alphabet Gang that I first encountered when I got
here.

Even without looking, I knew there were six of them. In power armour.
Three behind me and three in front of me. They pointed their weapons at
me. "Lady, drop your weapon. You can come with us quietly or we will
blow you away," the leader sneered. "But a Terminator never surrenders,"
I replied and fired rapid shots at them as I drove my bike at them.

"Take her down! Take her down!" the leader shouted as he was hit by a rapid succession of energy blasts. Immediately, his gang members opened fire with their weapons. Some hit and some did not. Those that hit caused powerful
explosions that threw me into the air right of the freeway into the
valley below. "After her! Don't let her get away!" the Alphabet Gang
leader shouted.

They went into the valley but found nothing. "Nothing here, Boss!" "Not
here either!"

"Maybe she's hiding in those trees over there," one of the gang members
suggested. "Everyone of you! Open fire on those trees!" the leader
shouted. While they were firing on those poor innocent trees, a hand
pushed out from beneath the ground and sank a sharp needle into the
power armour. Smoke rose from the point of contact.

It disappeared moments later. Suddenly, one of the gang members screamed
as he felt himself and the suit being lifted into the air and being used
as a battering ram against his fellows. "It's the bitch!" the leader
shouted. "She's taken P!" another gang member replied as the suit of
power armour swung towards him.

"Kill her!" the leader ordered. Suddenly, one of the gang members
attacked him with his railgun. "M! What is the meaning of this?" he
shouted. "I can't control the suit!" the gang member replied as its
weapon systems opened fire on all his fellow gang members. Confusion
reigned as the Alphabet Gang tried to deal with the renegade power
armour that was opening fire with wild abandon at them.

"This is all your fault!" he raged at me seeing his friends getting
trashed as they tried to stop his fellow gang member from killing them
all. "DIE! BOOMER! FEEL THE WRATH OF THE ALPHABET GANG!" he roared
through his speakers as he opened fire with all his weapons at me.

I was able to evade the missiles but not the energy blasts and railgun
spikes. When the smoke cleared, all he saw was a smoking carcass of
flesh and metal on the ground. "Alright! The bitch boomer is down!" "M
is dead. We were forced to kill him to stop him from killing all of us."
He went to the body of the 'dead boomer' to pick it up. 'What kind of
boomer is this?' he wondered as he saw the metal skeleton of the
'boomer'.

It was like no boomer he had ever seen. For one thing, it did not even
appear to be heavily armoured. In fact, it looked too skinny and
underweight like a skeleton without its skin and flesh to be properly
armoured at all. Save for the fact that the skeleton and skin appeared
to be made of metal. Now that he could get a close look at the body, he
realised that the 'boomer' must have been pretty small compared to a
standard boomer.

Another thing which disturbed him somewhat was the absence of boomer
fluids that leaked out when a boomer was damaged. The only thing that
indicated any form of damage that he could see in the boomer were the
shiny chrome-like craters and holes that peppered the body making it
look like some grotesque mockery of a showerhead. Then he saw something
very strange. The smooth shiny holes or craters were getting smaller. "Hey,
Boss! What are you waiting for? Pick it up so we can go back and claim
the bounty," one of the members called out.

As the last shiny hole disappeared, the 'boomer' 's eyes glowed blue and
it sat up. The Alphabet Gang leader opened fire or tried to but the
'boomer' was too fast. It seized the power armour and turned it around
to face his gang. The shiny metallic hue of the boomer and the glowing
blue eyes disappeared rapidly to be replaced by the normal colours and
features of the woman they had been pursuing.

A laser cutter appeared out of one of its fingers and it sliced the
helmet open. "Who sent you?" the 'boomer' asked. "Uh ...." the leader
asked. "Quickly, before I start cutting something important," the
'boomer' added. "You will get nothing out of me! You killed M!" the
leader shouted defiantly as he tried to free himself but failed
miserably as the 'boomer' gripped him with a strength that was out of
proportion to its size.

Another laser cutter issued out of the 'boomer' 's other hand. Before
anyone could move, it sliced open all his power armour with the laser
cutters leaving him in his clothes. The 'boomer' sliced open all of his
clothes next. He was in his underwear now. "Let me rephrase. If you
don't start talking, there will be a new Miss Megatokyo giving a free
show to everybody in town," the 'boomer' warned him.

"Alright! It was -", he died in my hands, as his body disappeared in a spray
of blood and flesh. "Let me finish for him, boomer! We wanted you! You
can come with us in peace. Or you can come with us in pieces! The choice
is yours!" a female voice hissed.

Almost immediately, rows upon rows of C-33 boomers sprang out of the
trees in the surroudings. "Genom," I whispered under my breath. "You're
forgetting another option that I have." "And what option would that be?"
the female voice asked. "How about I kick you and your mechanical goons
to kingdom come?" I shouted and charged the boomers, activating the
invulnerability device as I did so. An orange glow illuminated my body
and I reveled in the power it gave me.

The boomers surrounded me concentrating their weapons fire on me as I
attacked them. Needless to say, the energy blasts, the missiles and the
railgun spikes all had no effect. "So, you have the invulnerability
device. We'll wait and see how long you last once it runs out, Soviet
boomer," the female voice sneered as I destroyed the tenth boomer with my plasma cannon.

Thirty seconds left. I must get out of here. I ran and then leaped as
far as I could in the direction of the highway and landed on top of a
car. I crawled over to the door and opened it. The person inside did not
even know of what had happened until I squeezed in and told him to move over. There was a shriek of horror as I took over the steering wheel of the car and
stepped on the oil.

The car speed increased but I was unable to throw off my pursuers. My
unwilling passenger in the car was even more terrified of what was
happening when he saw a dozen C-33 boomers coming at us. He cried in
terror as I swung the car wildly from side to side to avoid the shots
being thrown at us. I felt a thump on the roof. "Drive," I implored my
most unwilling passenger and he reluctantly took the wheel.

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

Elsewhere ...

"Sylia, there appears to be a boomer rampage along the main highway
towards the city park," Nene reported.
"How many?"
"A dozen. Could be more ..." Nene replied.
"See you in a minute."
"Knight Sabers! We've got a boomer rampage! Get to it!" Sylia said as
she headed for the chamber with the hardsuits.

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

My left hand reshaped itself into my primary weapon as a large hand
ripped open the hood of the car. I fired. BOOM! Direct hit. The strength
of the blast threw the headless boomer off the car. One down. Eleven
more to go. I opened the car door and leaped to catch the side of a
passing trailer.

Digging my right hand into the side of the trailer, I opened fire at the boomers in the sky with my left hand. Three of them were direct hits knocking them out of the sky. I was about to shoot again when a blast from one of the boomers rocked the side of the trailer throwing me to the road.

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

Linna was flying in the air with the other Knight Sabers when she saw
someone she never thought she would see again. "Aiko??!!" she murmured
to herself as the blonde woman rolled under a passing transport vehicle.
I rolled on the road just as the vehicle passed over me. Quickly, I
grabbed hold of the undersides and inched my way forward. After a few
seconds, a powerful explosion rocked the vehicle.

I climbed underneath its moving body to the front, scaring the driver
out of his wits as I appeared in front of his windshield. Electronic
frequency jamming is heavy in the area, I thought as I opened the door
and got in. As I looked on, there was a battle taking place in the sky.
The Knight Sabers were actively engaging the C-33 boomers in combat.
Four of the C-33 boomers stopped to engaged the Knight Sabers while the
rest continued to pursue me.

Boom! The sound of an explosion rang through the air as one of the
pursuing boomers opened fire on the transport vehicle I was in, causing
it to overturn on its side as it erupted into flames. I tore open the
roof and tossed the panicking driver out of it. There was a fiery
explosion as the highly flammable fuel of the vehicle ignited. I
remained still hoping that the boomers would think that I had been
destroyed. No such luck.

The four boomers converged on my position and approached it cautiously.
As they lifted the hood I was under, my hand reached out and grabbed the
head of the C-33 boomer. It snapped under my strength and I rammed its
body into a second boomer. The second boomer fell back under the weight
of its companion while the other two attacked me with their hands.

One of them grabbed me while the other smashed its fist into my chest.
There was a loud CLANG-like sound as metal struck against metal. I gave
the punching boomer as hard a kick as I could manage, sending it flying
into the wall of a nearby building. There was a loud cracking sound as the wall shattered beneath the impact. I then spun my head around
surprising the other boomer and firing a blast right into its head as I
did so.

Unfortunately, it was determined to take me down as well so it fired a
burst of plasma energy from its plasma vanes from its chest into me at
point-blank range. The resulting explosion threw me off the boomer onto
the road. I lay as still as the dead while the tireless nanites went to
work on the damaged sections of my body.

Then, I felt it. Something approaching. It was the C-33 boomer that I
kicked into the wall earlier on. It turned towards me as I groaned in
dismay. Looks like I would have to -. A ripple-like wave picked the
boomer up and threw it even further back through the wall. I looked in the
direction that the wave originated from and made an even longer groan
than before. For the person standing next to me was none other than the
Ultraboomer, Largo!

"I'm sure we can help each quite a bit," the Ultraboomer spoke, undisguised malevolence evident in his voice.
"Sure, what do you want?" I asked.
"I want to know where Sylvie and Anri are," the Ultraboomer said menacingly.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied.
Placing his foot on my chest, he said, "The two ladies you helped saved
earlier from the C-33 boomers. Where did they go?" he asked as he began
to exert a little bit more pressure on my chest.
"I'm not sure. I tried to follow them but I was interrupted."
"Too bad. I guess you're of no use to me then," as he lifted his foot up
and stomped on me only that I wasn't there any longer. I had rolled
away. In the meantime, his foot had smashed into the ground, cracking
the road and creating a large crater in it.
"You know. You ought to be more careful with your foot. You never know
what you might step on."
"You??? You're nothing but a bug to be squashed with my foot! Teach him
a lesson in manners," Largo said, scoffing at my words. From out of
nowhere four boomers appeared to attack me. "The Hyperboomers," I
muttered. "Right and you will have the honour of being the first to die
by their hands. Kill him!" he ordered.
"One against four? This isn't fair!" I shouted as I dodged their
attacks.
"Of course not. Life is unfair. But it is up to us to make it unfair in
our favour. I thought you knew that," the Ultraboomer replied with
mocking concern.
"Really .. You corporate types sure have a very twisted sense of
philosophy," I said and he smiled at that.
Then I saw something that made me return his smile as it scrolled down
across my view.

INVULNERABILITY DEVICE IS NOW COMPLETELY CHARGED AND READY FOR USE ...

Without hesitation, I activated the device and my body glowed orange.
The Hyperboomers attacked me but did no damage as can be shown from the
number of strong attacks they scored on my body.

"Project Iron Curtain. The pinnacle of Soviet technology. So it was you
after all. The netrunner who broke into the Kremlin. Too bad it's not going
to save you!" he commented as I engaged his four Hyperboomers in hand to
hand combat. Unlike the C-33 boomers and Bu-1B boomers the four
Hyperboomers were not pushovers. For one thing, they were more
intelligent, faster, stronger and more durable than their counterparts
by several orders of magnitude as I was beginning to find out the hard
way.

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

The best defense is a strong offense. I don't know who made this statement up but whoever did it must have been a prophet as this claim was never more true in my case as I can turn invulnerable to all forms of damage for 45 seconds. But 45 seconds only, what a pity:-(. In short, I had 45 seconds to kill, incapacitate, destroy, disable or terminate (whatever words you want to use) the four Hyperboomers before things really became difficult for me.

The problem with that whole situation was, they just 'refused' to lie down and die like I wanted them to. This is bad. I'm starting to sound like Akane. The first Hyperboomer struck. A distortion-like wave flew through the air to hit me with no effect. I returned the favour by firing my weapon at it. As expected, it easily evaded the attack. The second Hyperboomer opened fire with its plasma cannon on the surroudings, causing the streets to be engulfed in flames.

Smoke began to fill the streets making even enhanced visual sighting difficult. My vision switched to that of thermal-imaging. Through the smoke, I could see the heat signatures of three Hyperboomers. Three? Where was the fourth Hyper-? Something seized me by the legs and pulled me to the ground.

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

"HALT! ADPOLICE!" a voice shouted as our fight continued to tear up the
city streets.
Largo laughed at the announcement and said, "Get lost, you insects!
You're not even worth my time!" as he fired a gravity wave at them which
smashed into their machines like a hot-knife through butter.
The first Hyperboomer charged at me only to collapse on the ground
without its head.
"What?? Run for cover!" the Ultraboomer ordered as he took in his
surroundings quickly. As one, the three Hyperboomers scattered.
There was another blast and a second Hyperboomer lost its head.
"SHOW YOURSELF, YOU COWARD!" the Ultraboomer roared.
A figure appeared in front of us, wielding the meanest-looking gun I had
ever seen. I drew in my breath in disbelief (and that's weird as we all
know that Terminators don't breathe).
Taking advantage of Largo and henchman's confusion, I attacked one of
them with my fist, sending it flying into Largo.
The Ultraboomer simply batted it out of the way with his hand.
"You are really starting to annoy me, freak," Largo said as he fired a
ripple-like wave at me sending me off into the wall and caving it in.
The alarm rang as fire broke out through the building.
"A comment like that from you, Mr. Mason, is rather ironic," I replied
as I got to my feet.
"What did you call me?" The Ultraboomer asked in startlement.
"Mason!" I replied as I fired a blast of energy at his chest with my
built-in weapon. There was a loud explosion as the Ultraboomer was thrown backwards by the force of the blast.
Getting back to his feet almost immediately, Largo roared "How dare you attack a god! Die! You blasphemer!"
Smoke rose and sparks sizzled in the damaged area of his chest. There was no denying it. I had done some damage to his chest with the plasma cannon but it was not enough to take him out. That was to be expected since not even a direct hit from the orbital satellite was able to destroy him.
He was about to fire that ripple-like wave at me again when the stranger
fired two shots at his chest in succession.
It tore his chest open further, throwing him back and forcing him to
dive for cover.
"I'll be back!" he roared, his voice reveberating through the surrounding buildings and shattering glass as he did so. Within a couple of seconds, he had taken off into the sky as he left the scene with the two remaining Hyperboomers.
It was over or I thought it was when I saw the eyes of the AD police
glazed over and they turned as one to attack me.
"He'll be back alright. It is not safe here. We must leave," the figure
in sunglasses said as he beckoned me to follow him. Shots peppered the
ground around us signifying more company as I made my way to the figure in
the shadows.
"Ranma? What are you doing here?" I asked in disbelief as I looked at
the heavily muscled Terminator.
"Long story. You know, stealing that Iron Curtain technology would stir
up a bunch of hornets," he said as we ran for cover as AD Police
continued to fire upon us.
"What do you mean?"
"It was all over the news. You used the invulnerability device twice in
public during that fight with the C-33 boomers and it was caught by some
passing news crew on tape the first time. The Soviets are going to be
after you now. In fact, there's a bounty of ten billion yen on your
head, laid down by the Kremlin," he added as we opened up a car and he
drove off.
"Wow! I didn't even realize that my head was worth that much," I added.
"Genom has also placed a large bounty on a rogue boomer which happens to
be you. Not to mention the USSD and the Allied forces."
"Wait a minute! How did you get here in the first place?" I asked.
"The same way you did. The time displacement device," he replied.
"Katherine Brewster allowed you to ... ," I said, scarcely believing my
ears.
"Yes she did. She seems to have less prejudice against me after I
stopped a T-850 from killing her husband and subdued it rather quickly,"
he said in a smug manner that only he could. "After checking the records
on the number of users through the time displacement device, I concluded
that you must have used it to escape," he continued.
"So you managed to get the body of a T-800," I commented.
"Not a T-800. A T-900," Ranma corrected with some pride in his voice.
"But you look exactly the same," I countered.
"It came out of the same assembly line as the Arnold Schwarzenegger
models. But believe me, the inside is different," Ranma explained.
"Maybe it is," I replied as my enhanced vision first penetrated his organic flesh, followed by his heavily armoured metal frame next.
I was about to ask him another question when a powerful explosion shook
the car rather violently.
"Hang on," Ranma replied as he swerved the car like a fast moving
serpent on the road to avoid the attacks from the ground and the air
that were converging onto our vehicle. I opened the draw of the vehicle
to find a cellphone. Without any hesitation I plugged into the Global
Digital Network even as Ranma drove the car like a madman.
"What are you doing?" he asked. "Trying to pinpoint our location and that of every other person. We've got to find Sylvie and Anri before Largo does," I
replied. "Here, take the wheel. I'll have to take care of our pursuers," he said as he reloaded his gun.
I took over the steering wheel of the car and Ranma went over to the back seat. Smashing the back window with his hand, Ranma aimed his gun to the skies and fired at our pursuers. Up ahead, I saw a line of police cruisers blocking the road. Oh hell! I thought as I inserted my fingerjack into the car's
guidance system.

VEHICLE CONTROL: REMOTE

Once more, my weapon hand shifted and I fired a blast at the police
cruiser a few hundred feet away. It exploded into flames. I fired a few
more shots and more cars blew up. The police and soldiers scattered and
dove for cover as our vehicle approached the blockade. As we closed in
on the blockade, our vehicle stopped moving all of a sudden. "Why have
we stopped moving?" Ranma asked from the back of the vehicle. "I'm not
sure. I seem to be having difficulty moving," I replied as I felt my
body getting stuck to the car. "Me too," Ranma added.

Then I saw it. Some strange-looking vehicle a thousand metres away.
"Ranma. Look to your left. See that odd vehicle over there? That's a
Magnetron," I replied. "It works by projecting a beam of
magnetically-charged particles at its target. Curse it! I can barely
move. This magnetic field is insanely strong!" I said. Ranma could
hardly disagree at this time as he could barely move himself. We were
both stuck to the body of the car and sitting ducks to anybody who would
be gunning for us.

Our vehicle got closer and closer to the Magnetron. Just as we expected,
it wasn't the only thing waiting for us. There were four hover tanks with doubled barreled gatling guns, four Apocalypse Tanks, four Master Mind tanks, six Gatling Tanks, a whole Soviet Battlion consisting of Tesla troopers, flak gunners, Soviet conscripts, snipers and .... Yuri himself!

"Well, well, well ..." Yuri said as he floated over to our position.
"The netrunner who broke into our systems itself. Our Most Honoured Premier
has requested that you be put to death and your ashes scattered all over
Siberia for stealing the secrets of our motherland but I believe that
you would be more useful to us alive than you are dead."

"How did you get this entire armed force past the eyes of the JIA?" I
asked. "The greatest secret lies not outside but within the mind itself.
There are millions of things that one could achieve with the mind when
one sets one's mind to do it. I am one of the few who have understood
its true potential," he said as he pointed his finger at his head.

"Mind control technology," I said.
"Very good, comrade! There is still hope for you after all. Let's keep
this private between the two of us. I am willing to offer you and your
friend a once in a lifetime deal," he said.
"Join me in my quest to guide the psi-blind to a new enlightened era!"
the psychic warrior declared.

"What??!!" I asked scarcely believing what I was hearing.

Yuri looked like he was about to say more when explosions erupted all
all around us.
"My Lord, we are being attacked! Genom has deployed their forces against
us!" a Soviet conscript approached the aged Soviet advisor.
"Prepare to withdraw! We have got what we want!" the senior advisor
ordered and I felt our vehicle being slowly moved through the air by the
beam of magnetically charged particles.

"Yuri! Give back to us what is ours! Or prepare to face the
consequences!" a female voice shouted through the night air as C-33
boomers, C-55 boomers and Doberman boomers attacked Yuri's retreating
army.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Madame Madigan, the borgeouise lapdog of
Genom herself! I will take what is mine, mon ami!" the psychic warrior
intoned as he flicked his third finger. Oh! Great! The bad guys were now
going to kill each other, I thought.

As more boomers appeared to attack Yuri's forces, the mind-controlled AD
Police opened fire on Genom's attacking boomers. That wasn't the only
thing that happened. From out of the nearby buildings, walls cracked as
something (correction, many) massive smashed through it. Large green
coloured hulking brutes roared their battle cries and charged at Genom's
forces in the streets.

"What are those things?" Ranma asked.
"Yuri has just called out the Incredible Hulk Squad. Ranma, can you free
yourself yet? Try using your ki," I said as I struggled against the
invisible bonds binding me to the car.
"Even with my ki boosting my Terminator unit strength, I can't budge an
inch!" Ranma shouted in frustration.

We were beginning to get more annoyed (which was rather odd because as
we all know, machines have no emotions even though they can simulate
them) when our vehicle plunged to the streets below as one of the
boomers attacked the Magnetron that was holding our vehicle in
suspension in midair.

"Free, free at last! Ranma, are you alright?" I said as I leaped out of
the smouldering heap of a vehicle on the street below. There was no sign
of him. That's odd. Where did he go? I looked all around me when I saw
Ranma glowing with a strange colour similar to that when I used the
Invulnerability Device.

"Ranma?" I called out to him. He did not respond. In fact he was
attacking anyone or anything that was close to him with a fury that I
found quite disturbing. He was blasting everything he could see with
that gun of his. Which packed quite an awesome punch for a weapon of its
size. Entire buildings were blown away, boomers thrashed and vehicles
reduced to dust by that weapon of his.

Ranma had gone berserk. I had better stopped him before he did something
that he would regret for the rest of his life. I ran at him with full
speed activating the invulnerability device as I did so. Which turned
out to be a good thing because he fired upon me unceasingly. Shot after
shot bounced off my head, evidence of his uncanny marksmanship. As I
reached him, I grabbed the gun in his hands. He twisted the gun to make
me let go but I held tightly to it despite his ki-enhanced machine
strength.

He kicked me with his leg but I held my ground. Unable to shake me off,
he lifted me off the ground and swung me into the nearby lamp post which
shattered in the concrete sidewalk as soon as he did so. "Ranma! You
don't want to do this!" I begged. Ranma did not answer. In fact, he did
not even give any sign that he recognized me. His face remained
impassive and he swung his gun and me all around himself wildly.

Unable to shake my vice-like grip on his weapon, he swung his weapon
down, slamming my body into the sidewalk. CRACK! The sidewalk shattered
showering the both of us with dust and asphalt. He lifted me out again
and brought me down hard on a nearby fire hydrant, shattering the valve
and releasing a flood of water into the road.

Quickly, I got to my feet and kicked him hoping to make him release the weapon. Instead, the blow threw him backwards, taking me with him as he was still gripping his weapon into a nearby combat boomer that happened to be in the way. The three of us went flying into a nearby gas tanker that exploded throwing the whole lot of us into the sky.

Ranma and me grappled for the gun as we somersaulted through the air.
Finally, we landed on the road shattering it, both our hands gripping
the gun tightly. The ground beneath us which had already sustained a
serious beating from all the above pounding and fighting could no longer
support us. It shattered with a loud cracking sound and gave way beneath
us. With nothing to hold us up, we fell through into the hidden depths
below with a loud splash into the dark and gritty sewers of MegaTokyo's
underground sewage system.

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

Meanwhile in the skies above ....

"Saber Prime! Looks like a war going on out there in the streets below."
"Combat boomers fighting Soviet troops and some unknowns. There must be
an entire division here."
"Do we?"
"No. The purpose of the Knight Sabers was to deal with boomer rampages."
"But ..."
"Not fight a war. What's going on right now is nothing short of a
full-scale war."
"Get back to the Knightwing. This is not our fight."
"Sylia ... "
"There's too many hostiles on both sides for us to deal with."
"We will observe the battle and find out what is going on first.
Intervention is only to be used as a last resort."

A Doberman boomer fell out of the sky after being shredded by
concentrated fire from Yuri's hover tanks. Three combat boomers were
busy pounding away on an Apocalypse Tank. Green muscled brutes were
slugging it out with C-33 and BU-1B boomers in the streets. Finally, a
loud voice echoed throughout the surroundings for all to hear
..............

"THIS IS THE JIA WITH A MESSAGE TO ALL COMBATANTS! IN THE NAME OF THE EMPEROR, CEASE FIRE IMMEDIATELY! YOU HAVE 30 SECONDS TO COMPLY!"

................ and ignore.
Explosions and gunfire continued to rage throughout the night, lighting
up the skies of Megatokyo.
"Sir! None of them are paying any attention!"
"THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING! THROW DOWN YOUR WEAPONS OR WE WILL BE FORCE
TO OPEN FIRE!"
The battle continued to rage throughout the city.

"TEN!"
No change.

"NINE!"
Still no change.

"EIGHT!"
The seconds continued to tick away.

"SEVEN!"
The JIA commander picked up his Cuban cigar.

"SIX!"
Lighting it, he gave it a puff.

"FIVE!"
The captain announced through his microphone.

"FOUR!"
The seconds continued to tick away.

"THREE!"
It was nearly time.

"TWO!"
The commander prepared to give the signal to open fire.

"ONE!"
The entire JIA raised their weapons in anticipation of combat.

"ZERO!"
In a hidden base on Hokkaido, a lever was pulled and the world turned
red. The ground began to shake like in an earthquake. Entire buildings
reeled and collapsed beneath the strength of the force and vibration
unleashed by a collosal wave of psychic energy. A large number of the
JIA soldiers eyes glazed over as powerful mental commands overwhelmed
their minds. They turned their attention to Genom's boomers and opened
fire on them.

"Sir ... An entire section of our army has just gone rogue," the captain
informed his superior.
"What??!!! Order them to stand down immediately!" the JIA commander
replied.
"BATTLION 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 AND 36! YOU ARE REQUIRED TO STAND DOWN
IMMEDIATELY!"
No response.
"They're ignoring us sir! They've taken positions besides the Soviet
Army and are opening fire on Genom's forces."

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

Beneath the streets of Megatokyo, a fight of a very different nature was
taking place ...

"Ranma! Snap out of it!" a voice called out. The person to whom the
words were addressed to did not respond. Two persons, one male, the
other female, pushed back and forth as they continued to struggle for
control of the gun. The walls of the sewer were littered with cracks and
fractures as evidence of the continuous fight between the two cyborgs.
PANG! Ranma's foot impacted with my chest leaving quite a nice foot
imprint as I drove forward into him with all my strength.

Just as I expected, the strength of my unit is much greater than that of Ranma's.

He was pushed backwards into the concrete walls of the sewer and upon
impact, caving it in. Still, my forward movements did not stop. I did
not know how much longer his berserker state would go on but I intended
to keep him immobilised until he snapped out of it.

SHRAK! Five curved blades of glowing blue energy struck right next to where my face was. That was close. Another millimeter and those blades would have ended up in my face. Still I didn't like this change of events. Since when could a T-900 extend energy blades out of its hand? Damn! The answer hit me in that instant. The Nekoken. Crap!

I didn't have anymore time to comprehend my answer for I was forced to dodge a distortion like blade that travelled past my head. Seizing the initiative, Ranma swung round with those dangerous-looking blades of energy, cutting a wide swath through the concrete around him.

I jumped back, releasing my hold on his weapon. And just in time
too, for at that moment, Ranma being an experienced (not to mention, deadly)fighter, checked his forward strike and curved his swiping motion downwards almost immediately. SKRSS! Deep gouges marked the ground below me, revealing the power of the Nekoken attack.

Not wasting anytime, he leaped forward, claws extended, no doubt wanting to catch me in them. Instinctively, I dived beneath him as he flew forward past me. He twisted, however, in midair and landed on top of me, his energy claws striking my endoskeleton.

CLANG! The blow struck deep into me but failed to penetrate my heavily reinforced endoskeleton. Point to me. Although it did mess up my less solid armour. Quickly, I knocked him off by giving him a kick that was so strong that he flew more than fifty feet through the air ... only to land on his feet like a cat. He stood up, his eyes upon me and the same energy-like claws appeared on his feet as well.

The energy-like blades from his hands and feet began to glow intensely. As his eyes. His cat-like eyes. Even with his sunglasses, I was able to see the energy glows from his eyes clearly. The power readings from Ranma were enormous. To my credit, I did not show any signs of fear. Having a nearly impenetrable metal body helps ^_-.

He headed towards me, taking his time, stalking me like some predator. Each step he took left a mark on the ground as the energy blades cut deep into the concrete on the ground. Suddenly, without warning, he leaped towards me, once again hands outstretched and claws extended. With all the speed, I could muster, I moved to avoid his dangerous-looking claws.

As before, he changed the direction of his claw movements in mid-strike and struck down suddenly grabbing both my blocking hands.

HHHSSSSSSSSSS ........ Smoke rose from where his claws had cut deep into my wrists. I retaliated by kneeing him in the groin which threw him upwards through the concrete ceiling of the sewer. He swung upwards with his legs into the concrete ceiling, further weakening the structure.

Pulling his head out of the hole, he stared at me with his glowing eyes (which was now glowing even brighter and intense as his sunglasses were no longer present) for awhile before moving towards me, upside down. His claw-like feet dug deep into the concrete roof and his hands ..... they blurred and I found myself on the defensive very quickly.

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

And then, something happened. KROOM! The roof above us collapsed showering Ranma with large pieces of broken concrete and dust. CRUNCH! And an Apocalypse Tank. I made myself scarce in an awful hurry. Now, to find Sylvie. To a man, falling into the slimy, stench-filled and dark sewers of Megatokyo was a nightmare.

To a Terminator, it was simply another road to be used. I moved swiftly.
My enhanced visual and hearing systems enabled me to see and hear
clearly in the darkness of the sewer. With the help of my internal
gyro-compass and the link to the Global Digital Network, I was able to
navigate the sewers very easily and very quickly.

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

I was just in time or a little too late depending on an observer's
opinion. Sylvie was already defending herself from Largo and his two
Hyperboomers with the D.D. Battlemover. Sylvie, who was a poor combat
pilot (she never had any training with piloting war machines) was losing
the fight with Largo and the two Hyperboomers. All of a sudden, there
was a flash of energy as Sylvie fell back in her seat.

The J-11 combat system had just come online. This could be seen by the
sudden turn of fortune in the fight. One moment Sylvie was losing the
fight pretty badly (as the D.D. Battlemover she was piloting fought like
an amateur) and the next moment it picked up the pace and defended
itself with superb skill cutting down one of the Hyperboomers and
damaging Largo somewhat in the process.

True to form, Largo did not stay to finish the fight. After a command to
the remaining Hyperboomer, they both left the area without another word.
I figured that the reason he left was because of the ticking
micro-fusion bomb in the D.D. Battlemover. Largo may have been insane
and power-hungry, but he certainly was no fool. The explosion from the
micro-fusion bomb would have been strong enough to destroy even an
Ultraboomer such as he. Which left me with a rather malignant
Battlemover with all its loaded weapons online.

In the canon BGC anime, Sylvie was a tragic character, fated to die so
that others may live. Could I change ... destiny? But now the Knight
Sabers were not here and Largo was the cause of the J-11 system coming
online. Not the two C-33 boomers that pursued. Would I have to kill
Sylvie to save Megatokyo? This choice was so unfair to Sylvie. She
escaped the life of a sex slave at Generos only to die when she had just
about accomplished her freedom.

But as Largo said, life is not fair. It is up to us to make it unfair in
our favour. There might be a way to save Sylvie and Megatokyo but I
would have to cheat. I rushed forward at the D.D. Battlemover,
activating the invulnerability device as I did so. The D.D. Battlemover
quickly launched a barrage of missiles in my direction. I ignored them
as they struck me and leaped forward onto the malevolent war machine
smashing through the glass cockpit as I did so.

Sylvie was bleeding. Just as I expected. She gave a small scream as I
landed in the pilot's cockpit. Without any hesitation, I inserted my
fingerjack into the D.D. Battlemover and I was inside the J-11 combat
system. I had to shut it down but if I did so, Sylvie would be shut down
as well as she was linked to the combat system.

"Sylvie, once the main power system in the D.D. Battlemover runs out,
the micro-fusion bomb in the machine would self-destruct. The explosion
would be so powerful that it would kill everybody in MegaTokyo. The only
way to prevent that would be to shut down the J-11 combat system which
is rather unfortunately linked to you at this time. That would kill you,
of course," I said to her in the real world. "Then do it. Anri, I'm so
sorry. I ... ," her voice trailed off as tears began to roll down her face.

"What are you doing?" Sylvie asked, her voice different as a sudden
feeling of vertigo assaulted her and her vision shifted. "Saving you and
Megatokyo at the same time. Good! The J-11 system has been shutdown," I
replied. "Why is my vision all blue? Hey! That's me," she shrieked as
she saw her still, lifeless body sitting in the cockpit of the D.D.
Battlemover.

"I had to transfer your mind into another body. There were no other
bodies available and so I had to use mine," I replied as I removed the
micro-fusion bomb from its tiny compartment. "I'm inside you," she spoke
after awhile as comprehension dawned upon her.

"Yes. Your body is already dead," I replied as I took her body from the
cockpit.
"Oh ... If that's the case, why are you taking my dead body with you?"
she asked.
"To make sure that Largo does not find it. He wants you and Anri because
the 33-S series can link up to the orbital cannons hanging in space. Now
you had better take over the body and save Anri's life," I explained.
Sylvie did as I instructed and soon my feet were taking me a place I've
never been to.

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

In a sewer beneath the streets of Megatokyo, a hand pushed out of a pile
of rubble, dislodging the Apocalypse Tank that had fallen on top of it.

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

"I think we had better put you back into your body before we meet Anri,"
I said making a suggestion.
"But my body is already dead," Sylvie replied, citing the body that we
were carrying across my shoulder.
"Shh ... Watch and learn," I hushed her and the liquid layer of my body
slid of me, leaving the solid metal endoskeleton behind.
It moved of its own accord towards Sylvie's body and wrapped her up from
head to toe.
"What are you doing?" Sylvie asked.
"The nanites are repairing your body, Sylvie. With any luck, it would
function once again. After that, it would just be a simple matter of
transferring your mind back into your body."
"I see .."

A few minutes later ...

"It is done," I replied as the silvery pool of nanites flowed back
across the ground to my body.
"Now to return you back to your body ..." I added.

"EEEEHHHHH! HELP!!!!!!!!"

"Anri! She's in trouble!" Sylvie said as she took of running in the
direction of the scream. We got there in time to see a man in a business
suit taking Anri with her.
"Anri!" we both cried out at the same time upon seeing her in her
predicament.
"So the bitch is still alive. I'm amazed. Must be quite cramp inside
that body too," the businessman chuckled.
We moved closer preparing to attack when ....
"Don't come any closer or Anri dies. I, however, do not need her alive,"
the businessman spoke as he held Anri within his hands.
"Don't give me that crap Largo. You are a God! Why would you have to
resort to taking hostages? You are the most powerful machine that ever
existed. I'm sure you could easily destroy me," I pointed out.
"Shut up! You machines should show proper respect when your God is
talking!" he shouted as he threw a ripple-like wave at me that picked me
up and sent me through the walls of the hideout.
I heard his voice again.
"That was before you enlightened me. Project Iron Curtain is not to be
taken lightly. Even by a God. The odds have changed," he conceded as he
retreated into the limousine with Anri.
Then the vehicle took off down the street.

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

"I'm sorry Sylvie. We should have gone to Anri first. If we had, this
whole piece of nonsense wouldn't have happened."
There was no reply. I was about to call her but I stopped when I
realised she was not in the mood to talk. We went back to the place
where we left her body.
To my horror, it was gone.

End of Part 1

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

Note: Some readers have pointed out that my descriptions concerning the
various characters, events, boomers and vehicles in the story are wrong.
I humbly apologise for the mistakes made as I had not watched the BGC
anime in a very long time. The last time I watched it was all the way
back in 1993 which was 10 years ago. So forgive me for a lot of the
mistakes made in the story as I am writing it, using my memory of the
OAVs from 10 years back. Anyway .... enjoy;-).

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

Current Factions in this timeline.

Conflicting Sides.

Soviet Forces - Russia, Libya, Iraq, Cuba and North Korea.
Allied Forces - United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia and South Africa.
Yuri - coming soon.

Area of Conflict: Antartica.

Neutral Groups

USSD - USA.
JIA - Japan (covers both Japan and Manchuria).
China - All of China (except Manchuria) and Mongolia
Rest of world - Undecided ....
Genom - supposedly .... but who can say for sure;-)?

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