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The Bubblegum Crisis Center > Extras > Fan Fiction

Instrumantatum Vocalle 2040 - Choices

by Christopher J Turley

Linna had gotten over most of the terrible events of that night, her shacking and tears had subsided and she and Elise were asleep on the couch, resting their heads against their shoulders when Tasha, Tony and Karl arrived back at the HiC. She'd been sent there earlier after she'd been rescued from a fate worse than death from a dingy hate filled cellar strewn with various devises of torture and rape. Above had stood a stately mansion with immaculate grounds and fancy trimmings. Owned and operated by the Shinjuku Group cadre of Japanese yakuza. She and Elise and been taken there hours ago, both of them carted off in the night against their will. Tony, Karl, and Tasha had come to their rescue in an outbreak of violence infused justice just as their guards had decided the they had been left alone long enough. She'd maintained her emotions for a short while after, but as she had more time to think about it the more the trauma of the night had surfaced in her sleep and she'd been unable to control her weeping and trembling. They'd woken when their rescuers had entered and as she groggily wiped the last vestiges of her tears away Tony helped Elise, now his fiancé, to the kitchen barstool and poured her a drink of anything over 100 proof. Tasha sat down next to her, her body armor scorched, shot up, and splattered in drying blood. She threw her arms around her, buried her head in her chest and wept openly. Natasha comforted her as best she could, rubbing her back, telling her that it would be all right.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Tasha whispered as she hugged her. Linna looked up at her with red eyes, her face full of pain and terror.
"Where were you?" She cried, pleading for an answer.
"I...I can't, I can't say."
Linna sat up straight and punched her.
"Don't tell me that! Don't tell me that!" Her hands had grabbed Tasha's collar as tears flowed down her cheeks.
Tony looked over from the kitchenette and sighed.
"Might as well tell her."
Linna looked over to him and saw his expression, sadness and concern. Elise seemed to be taking it better and was pouring another shot. Turning back to Tasha she waited, her face a mask of determination.
"We we're in Macedonia, we were following Dr. Stephenopolous."
Linna saw the truth in her eyes, truth and guilt. She didn't need to ask why, she knew already. She stood and took Tasha's hand and led her from the room and to the roof.
"Linna, I..."
She was interrupted by a loud and powerful slap. Which was followed up by a tight and tearful hug. She wanted to lash out, at anything, and her hug was apology for choosing her.
"I forgive you. And, thank you, thank you for saving me and Elise."
Linna looked up when there was no answer and saw that she was crying. Tasha felt horrible, she'd said she'd always be there for her, and when the moment of truth had come she'd been in a Lear jet somewhere over China. Her knees failed her and she slumped to the ground. Linna followed her down and a guard nearby trotted over while his partner started to scan for a sniper, but Linna waved him away. He stood for a moment, and convinced his boss was at least physically all right nodded and continued his rounds. Linna helped her to a nearby bench and wrapped her arm around her.
"Don't cry; you saved me."
"I abandoned you. I wasn't there when you needed me." She sobbed.
"Yes you were."
Tasha looked up and saw that Linna was smiling supportively at her. She burned inside, but smiled and allowed Linna to help her to a nearby bench.
"I'm sorry I hit you." Linna said.
"I deserved it."
"No, you didn't, and I'm sorry. Are you going to be all right?"
Tasha looked over.
"Are you?"
"I was when I saw your face."
Tasha looked away, crossing her legs at the ankle and sighing. After a few minutes of awkward silence Linna looked over.
"Tasha?"
"Yeah?"
"How did you know?"
"Know what?"
"Where we were?"
Tasha reached into a hip cargo pocket and handed her Gamad to her.
"I put a tracking chip into it, Elise's too."
Linna looked incredulously at her pistol, she'd fired only one shot when the Yakuza had taken her, and missed.
"You knew?"
"No, well, I knew something might happen."
"Wow. I...I don't know what to say."
Tasha put her hand on hers and looked at her with pain.
"Linna, you're wrong. It is my fault. The only reason they attacked you was because they know that you and I are close. They tried to use you to get to me and, and I'm sorry. I never meant for you to be in any danger."
Linna slid the pistol into her jacket pocket and turned her face to hers.
"If you say that you think we should break up, or not see each other, I will never forgive you."
Tasha opened her mouth to speak but stopped. Linna was looking right into her soul and she knew she wasn't kidding.
"You mean it don't you."
"With every fiber of my being. I don't want to be without you, you saved me, you kept me from being raped, or worse, and I will never, ever, forget that, not in a million years."
"God I love you." Tasha wept and hugged her.
Linna returned it as the realization that this was the first time Tasha had ever said the "L" word sunk in.
"And I love you." She smiled, kissing her on the cheek.
"Do you want to stay the night tonight?" Tasha managed.
"I'd like that." Linna blushed. "You're still coming to my parents this weekend right?" She asked worriedly.
"Of course." Tasha nodded.

They made there way back downstairs and Linna followed Tasha into the office.
"Wait here, kay." She smiled.
"Okay." Linna nodded, and sat on the couch.
Stealing into the kid's room, she snuck to the closet and pulled out a spare blanket and a few pillows and without so much as a sound padded back.
"Here." She said as she handed a pillow to Linna. She smiled as she took it and laid back.
"Um, by the way, what time is it?"
"A little after four." She answered as she folded out the office couch into a bed.
Linna blinked, they'd been rescued around one in the morning, and had been sent here shortly after.
"What kept you so long?"
"Just had to secure the area." Tasha smiled, tucking her in.
"You still blame yourself, don't you?"
Tasha frowned and looked away, nodding slowly. Linna sat up and put her hand on her cheek.
"Don't. Okay. I don't." She smiled.
Tasha snorted and smiled sheepishly.
"You sure make it easy for me, don't you?"
"It wasn't your fault." Linna replied matter-of-factly, nestling back onto the bed, pulling the cover over her. Tasha leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.
"G'night sweetheart."
"Night."

She stayed by her side until she fell back to sleep than retreated to the living room, now abandoned and changed. Returning to the office she stayed up for another half hour writing a report that she'd have Linna deliver to Sylia the next day, and made two copies, one each for the other Knight Sabers. The language was professional, and a tad cold, but; she wanted it devoid of emotion, as too many things could go wrong if she let her heart dictate her typing. When she finished she padded over to the bed, and saw her sleeping soundly, twitching every now and then, her face contorted in spasms of fear as she tossed and turned. Sitting down she rubbed her leg affectionately and was amazed as Linna responded to her touch with a smile as her fit subsided. Funny, even asleep she knew she was near her.
Taking the other pillow she sank down on the other end of the bed and slid her legs up, careful not to wake her, hung her holster within easy reach and settled in. She was so tired, not having slept for a good twenty hours. Sometime during the morning, maybe around five thirty she opened her eyes and noticed that Linna had migrated over to her side of the couch, her head against her chest, the offered pillow long forgotten, laying haphazardly on the floor. Snorting in amusement she put her arm over her shoulder and closed her eyes. She didn't deserve her, she knew that, but there was little she could do, or willing to do; she loved her, and if her presence made her happy; than who was she to deny that.
Tasha didn't sleep much; it seemed every little noise woke her but she managed to get her rest, and after what felt like an agonizingly short amount of time it was time to get up. Linna was a tad more chipper, having slept through the night, not waking once.
"I need to talk to you, after my shower, okay." Linna said. She didn't sound angry, but Tasha knew that whatever she was going to say, whatever was on her mind was important. She nodded and smiled as Linna ruffled her hair on her way to the bathroom. A cute gesture; but one that made her feel better.
They met in the office, and rather than sit on either side of a desk they sat on the couch, well, Linna did, Tasha plopped herself down on a chair in front.
"Before you start..." Tasha began. "I...I want to say I'm sorry..."
Linna sighing cut her off and she smiled, looking at her.
"Goddammit Tasha! Will you cut it out! It wasn't your fault. Let it go, please!"
"Than why do I still feel so inadequate?" Tasha asked, her eyes full of tears, her voice pleading for a sane, logical answer.
"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe they did what they did when they did it because they knew you were out of town?"
"Yes." Tasha replied.
"Well so what. They did what they did, and you did what you did. It's over."
"I should've known better." Tasha whispered.
Linna stood and took her hand and all but dragged her over to the couch, than pushed her down onto it. Placing her hands on her knees she leaned in and put her nose to hers. "Look darling, I'm only gonna say this once more. I forgive you; now stop with the self-inflicted guilt trip. You should've known better? Yes, maybe you should've, but you didn't, big deal, what matters is that when push came to shove you where there, and you did save me. You told me yourself that this was dangerous business that you were involved in, and only a fool would say that you haven't done everything humanly possible to protect me from it. I don't know what else to say to you to make you understand that. I really do forgive you, I wasn't kidding. I love you Tasha, even when you beat yourself up for no good reason. You're not perfect, and I don't want you to be. That would be boring and I don't want that. I want you, just the way you are. Do you understand?"
Tasha blinked and bit her lip. Linna noticed and sighed slightly.
"Okay how about this. I believe you did see it coming, why else would you have put a GPS tracking chip in my gun, as well as that 911 chip to let you know if I fired it huh? Tell me now that you weren't thinking ahead?"
"I guess." Tasha said, as what Linna had just said sunk in. Slowly she smiled, and looked up at her. Linna beamed, finally she'd gotten thru to her.
"Um...thanks Linna. For everything, I know I can be a pain sometimes, but I worry about you."
"I know." She smiled. "Anyway; what I wanted to say was thank you, again, for bailing me out. This is a little hard for me you know, I mean, you're six years older than I am, and god knows you've seen more and done more than I can imagine, but, and talking to you like this feels really, really odd, but, well, I've been thinking about this and I..." She laughed, blushing.
"Go on" Tasha prodded, apprehensive, but ready to deal with; well, whatever she might say.
"I've been thinking about, us. And I want it to work out, I really do." She paused, gathering her thoughts. "I know you blame yourself; and, whatever justification you've given yourself, I just want to tell you that you're wrong."
"Huh?" Tasha was actually surprised.
"Two hours and fifty-six minutes babe. That's how long it was from when I was nabbed, to the time I heard the first shot."
"What? How?" Tasha asked.
"I counted the minutes. What else could I do, I was so scared; I had nothing else to do."
Tasha was about to say something but Linna hushed her.
"To be honest, I didn't expect anything to happen for a day or so. I guess I've seen to many TV shows, you know, hostage negotiations, NYPD Blue re-runs, that kind of thing. But you got us out in less than three hours. It still amazes me. You amaze me."
Tasha blinked. She'd fully expected to truly catch it from her. But here she was thanking her again. She wondered to herself why, of all things, she couldn't accept the fact that she'd done everything right. She came to the realization that the guilt was at not being there when the yakuza first struck. That she'd changed her plans to go to Macedonia instead of hosting Halloween night at the HiC; she knew if she'd stayed that this would never have happened.

Linna lowered her head and leaning forward, reached out and squeezed her hand.
"Um...How did you know, I mean so fast?"
"Air assault."
"Huh? You mean, you mean you parachuted in!" Linna wracked her memory and couldn't remember seeing chutes, spent or otherwise.
Tasha noticed this and smiled.
"We were on our way back when your gun went off. So, we had the pilot divert on the way back to the airport."
"You jumped out of a Lear jet? Isn't that dangerous?"
"I don't know; it's never been done before."
"You're fucking insane you know that babe." Linna laughed, than looked back at her.
Tasha nodded, quite frankly, she didn't know what else to do.
"So. What do we do now?" Linna asked.
"I don't know." To which Linna snorted with a look that said 'bullshit'.
"Don't lie sweetie, I know you have a plan."
Tasha nodded and bobbed her head as if to say 'yeah, well.'
"Well, I do, but; it's nothing I care to tell you."
"Look, if you're gonna get after them I don't care. I saw what you all did at the mansion. Well, some of it anyway, the rest was strewn all over the floor on the way out. But..."
"But, what?" Tasha asked.
"But, I know you're gonna do what you're gonna do. I can't stop that, or you, or Tony. And I'll be honest when I say I really don't want to know. But, I want you to know that whatever you do, well, I just want you to know that I won't think any less of you."
Tasha almost cried, and smiled as a weight, an incredible weight, slid from her shoulders.
"Thanks sweetheart. You don't know what that means to me."
"Actually, I think I do; that's why I said it."
Tasha paused, and looked at her friend, her best friend.
"You're one in a million, you know that don't you."
"I know." She smiled cutely.
They laughed at that. An understanding had been reached between them. Linna knew that no matter what that Tasha would be there for her, no matter what, no matter when. And she resigned herself to the fact that she'd support her in whatever she did. She knew that Tasha wouldn't go to far, that she'd do what needed to be done, and that was good enough for her. She only wished she could do more for her, to make her feel more at ease, and to assuage her fears that she might scare her away, or do something so horrible that she'd fear her, or worse, rethink her convictions towards her. Tasha seemed to sense that and patted her hand.
"Don't worry. I won't let you down. Okay."
"Okay." She smiled.

After their 'come to Jesus' conversation Tasha retreated behind the desk and returned with three disks, and asked that she deliver them to the other Knight Sabers. When Linna asked what it was, Tasha told her that it was a report of the evening's events. She nodded and stuffed them into her pocket.
"I get to see it right?"
"If you want; it's up to you."
Linna nodded. She figured there might be some hard to stomach stuff in the file, and that Tasha was giving her the choice. She nodded and said okay, and promised to deliver it that evening when she went in.

* * *

As Linna walked into the dressing room in the "Pit" Nene turned, closed the distance between them and hugged her tight around the waist, stunning both her and Priss, who had been chatting with her.
"Are you all right?" She asked, her eyes wild with concern and relief. Linna smiled and hugged her back fondly.
"Yeah, I'll live. Thanks by the way, Tasha told me what you did for us."
"Us?" Priss asked, narrowing an eye at her.
"Her and Elise." Nene defended, stepping back, turning toward Priss, and put her arms akimbo. Linna smiled and set her things in her locker. 'Jesus.' Priss thought, 'Making nice with all the cops are we?'
"Where's Sylia?" Linna asked as she pulled her skinsuit on.
"In the computer room." Nene answered.
"Thanks. Oh, here." She reached into her day bag and pulled out three disks that were rubber banded together. Sliding two out she handed one to Nene, and tossed the other to Priss.
"What's this?" Nene and Priss parroted.
"After action report." She replied as she padded from the room towards the computer room.

"After action report for what?" Priss asked.
"From the kidnapping." Nene informed.
"Kidnapping? What kidnapping?" Her voice betrayed her shocked confusion.
"Linna and Elise were kidnapped last night by the Yakuza. Tasha had to rescue them."
"What!" She blurted, her eyes blazing with real concern.
Nene moved over to her locker and pulled out her PDA. She slid the disk in as Priss walked up behind her. Nene noticed and held the PDA out so they could both see.

Downstairs Linna knocked on the door jam and padded inside. Sylia was sitting, her back to her as she walked up beside her.
"Ah, Linna. What can I do for you?" Sylia asked, turning to face her.
"Here." She said, handing the last disk to her.
"What's this?"
"Its the after action report from last night. Tasha wanted me to give it to you."
"After action report? Hmm, I wasn't aware of any boomer incidents last night."
Linna paused.
"There weren't any boomer incidents last night Sylia. I was kidnapped. So was Elise Drake, Tasha's aide."
If she wasn't sitting, she would've been and her face betrayed that.
"Wh...what? How? By whom?" she sputtered, then almost as an afterthought: "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, everything else is in there." She said, pointing to the disk. "Um...I'll be in the launch bay, okay?"
"O...okay." Sylia blinked as Linna walked out.

Whirling around she jammed the disk into the 'A' drive and cued up the file.
A few seconds later the text began to scroll down the screen:

MEMORANDUM FOR: KS / CO

FROM: Director Natasha Romanov

SUBJECT: Kidnapping of KS operative on or about Oct 31 2040

Last night! What the hell? She hadn't heard about anything. Not from Nene, not from any of her other sources. She continued to read:

1. On or about Oct 31st, 2040, one of your operatives (Linna Yamazaki) was abducted from her vehicle at approximately 2215 Tokyo time (LCL). This was concurrent to the abduction of one of our operatives (Elise Drake). Due to pre-positioned tracking and security devices on weapons of self-defense the DIO 18th ADP (Natasha Romanov) and XO Det. 3 ADP (Antonio Mythos) were informed shortly thereafter. GPS tracking placed both operatives at 35º 45' 10min E / 139º 50' 25min N. This location was identified as a Yakuza safe house operated by the Shinjuku Group. Planning for a CSAR (Combat Search and Rescue) operation commenced immediately en route. At approx 0115 Nov 1st 2040 detached elements of Det. 3 conducted a HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) airborne assault. Over the period of time covering 0117 to 0122 hours, the defenses of the location were reduced and the operatives secured.

As she read she was stunned, not only by the language, cold and professional, but by what it was telling her. If this could be believed, she'd been sitting in this very seat, finishing up some research when this had happened!
"Tracking devices?" She repeated. But if they knew why didn't they call her? She got her answer as she read further.

2. Command decision NOT to notify you or your organization was based on four factors.
a. Distance from target area.
b. Insufficient time to coordinate plan of attack and Intelligence assets.
c. Dissimilar and incompatible doctrines of maneuver and command structure.
d. Lack of training and experience by KS (Knight Saber) forces.

She nodded at item a. and understood item b. and even c., but when she read item d. her expression soured and she felt a rush of heat wash across her. Lack of training! Lack of experience! Bullshit! Her people were far and above the ADP, it was her people that kept them from being overrun! Lack of training indeed! Then, as if to add insult to injury...

3. Recommended courses of action to remedy items b. through d. Specifically items c. and d. To elaborate briefly: The only member of the KS that has been trained in Det. 3 SOP was the operative that was captured. Thereby reducing combat strength by 40% and combat experience by an order conservatively estimated at 45 to 55%.

Sylia was fuming, and above her in the dressing room Priss was struggling to keep herself from throwing Nene's PDA across the room.
"Fuck Natasha!" She spat.
Sylia however, slammed her fist down on the console, shattering a bank of controls and stood, huffing angrily.
Inside the launch area Nigel and Linna heard Priss' outburst and Linna stiffened. Priss was free to her own opinion, but hearing her talk about Tasha that way made her mad. Nigel noticed and blew a cloud of smoke from his nose and mouth.
"Am I missing something?" He asked nonchalantly.
Linna sighed and nodded.
"I got into some trouble last night, and Tasha bailed me out."
"Ah. Hand me that." Nigel pointed and Linna obliged.

"What else does it say?" Priss grumbled, the venom seething from her voice; Nene had tucked the PDA away at her outburst and slowly held it back out as a floor below them Sylia, the wave of rage passing, regarded the numbers Natasha had provided. She swore when she came to the realization that they were accurate. She swung the chair around, sat and continued to read the offending document.

4. Additional issues of security for KS operatives also need to be reviewed (and implemented) by you and your staff. I cite lack of overwatch over KS personnel, and base facilities. Lack of knowledge of KS operative's whereabouts in event of recall. And lack of solid preplanned, flexible contingencies in event of an incident.

She had them there, and the truth of it only made the pill that much harder to swallow. Upstairs, Nene nodded in grudging agreement and Priss looked down at her.
"You're not actually buying into this are you?"
"Well it's true; you know that." Nene whined. ""I mean aside from our phones, what other way does she have to get in touch with us?"
"Shut up!" Priss bit, but kept reading regardless.

5. Courses of action and resources available from 18th ADP / Det. 3 staff include but are not limited to:
a. Training
b. Plans assistance
c. Communications integration.
d. Intelligence integration.
e. Command structure review, and
f. Physical and Base facility security review

There it was, the olive branch. Sylia poured herself a triple shot of Bourbon and quaffed it in one swift gulp. She couldn't believe what she was reading. Here Natasha had come out and said their training was substandard, and now they needed to have their command looked at, and on top of that she was accusing her of not providing enough security to her people and her base. She paused. But Linna had been kidnapped. Her thoughts flashed to the two girls that had been her original Knight Sabers, and how they had died. No! That was different, that was because of the suits. She glanced down at the last portion of the document.

6. Attached Files:
a. Appendix 1: Pre-planning summery
b. Appendix 2: Recorder footage of assault
c. Appendix 3: After action report and Lessons learned.
d. Appendix 4: Security breaches of KS Base Facility from 3 Sep, 2040 to 21 Nov, 2040

Priss and Nene looked back at each other as they saw the attachments. The only one that really sparked Priss' curiosity was the footage of the assault. She half expected it to be edited to present the ADP in the best possible light. However, she had crossed Natasha physically, they all had, and from what she heard on the street and from Linna and Nene, Tony and Karl were even better than she was at fighting, that's why she employed them, Linna had said. Nene said that the other officers considered Tony and Karl to be Natasha's own personal Pit Bulls. Priss thought it might be interesting to see just how good they were.
"Well, if we're going to watch this, let's find a bigger screen." Nene chimed, breaking Priss' chain of thought. Priss said nothing, but followed her out and downstairs.

Sylia turned when she heard Priss and Nene enter.
"Hey, Sylia. Mind if we plug this into your monitor? Nene's screen's to small." Priss said, and Nene blushed sheepishly, it was true, but why'd she have to make it sound like it was her fault?
Priss looked at the screen in front of Sylia and snorted.
"Figured Linna gave you a copy."
"Yes. She did. By the way, where is she?"
"In the launch bay, with Nigel."
After calling Linna and Nigel in over the intercom Sylia cued up the footage as they waited for then to arrive. When they did Priss was leaning against Sylia's chair, her arms across her chest and a scowl across her face. Sylia looked no less amused although Nene smiled supportively. Nigel wiped the last remnants of hydraulic fluid from his hands and lit up a fresh cigarette.
"So?" He asked.
"It seems that Linna's friend has given us some food for thought." Sylia said, pressing 'play'. The wide screen monitor divided into six frames, each with small readouts along the bottom complete with their abbreviated names. A separate screen displayed a 3D wire frame display of the grounds and lines connected to dots illustrated their positions. The first into action were Karl and Tony, who assaulted a small guesthouse to the rear and left of the mansion. The opening shots didn't impress Sylia and Priss; anyone could shoot someone thru a window. But as they proceeded into the structure everyone began to take note of their efficiency. They entered a room, with Karl slicing the lock and Tony swiftly kicking the door down. On the screen the Knight Sabers could see a well-appointed Meth lab staffed by two surprised Yakuza. Sylia noted the absolute horror on their faces, neither, apparently, had been expecting two armored killers to interrupt their work. One reached for a gun and was gunned down before he could even get it from his holster. Karl finished the other by slicing the Yakuza's right arm off, and following thru, running his Katana into the back of his neck, and out the front.
Nene gasped and Linna flinched, as did Sylia and Priss. Nigel sat back, and puffed on his cigarette. Nene couldn't believe what she had just seen. Karl had just killed someone on the most gruesome way she'd ever seen. He seemed like such a nice fellow, but now she saw that he was capable of utterly ferocious lethality. Priss bit her lip; she'd seen Linna slice parts off of boomers with her ribbon cutters. But up till now she'd never seen what it looked like on flesh and blood, outside of movie special effects. The sight of white bone protruding from rendered flesh bothered her, and her arm ached in sympathetic pain. On the monitors the lights suddenly went out and the visual display was replaced by a low light overlay coupled with image enhance. Linna remembered that moment; she'd been huddled in a corner, a Yakuza thug eyeing her maliciously. She'd heard shots and had cried out because she thought they'd killed Elise and she'd known she'd be next. Looking to two other screens they could see that the SEAL's had landed on the roof and were silencing the patio and balcony guards with deadly and accurate weapons fire. The battle chatter was clipped, and precise, the brevity of the SEAL's far and above their own when they went into combat against boomers.
In Tasha's screen they could see her motioning to two other soldiers, soldiers that didn't have a little frame showing their vantage point.
"Who are those guys?" Priss asked.
"I can't tell you their names." Linna said. "But they're SAS."
"As in British SAS?" Nigel asked. Linna nodded. He whistled, impressed.
"What about those two?" He said, pointing to the other two screens with names they didn't recognize.
"Those are two of their guards from the HiC. Ex-SEAL's"
Even Priss gaped.
As they watched thru Tasha's eyes they saw her and the two SAS men move up towards the driveway. There were four targets, two under cover, the others running towards the main building. There was a burst of weapons fire from her left and one of the Yakuza dropped, scant feet from the cover he was seeking. The two under cover turned and opened fire and Tasha and her comrades dropped for cover, Tasha behind a tree, the SAS prone, one on either side. Linna looked over at her compatriots, knowing that had they been there; their inexperience and their lack of teamwork, not to mention their desire to be deemed the operations MVP, wouldn't have bothered with cover and would have charged in blindly, oblivious of the danger. They could see Natasha's hand signals, insanely fast, but out of the corner of the frame they could see that the SAS had understood. They saw as Natasha swung out from behind her cover, saw the SAS fire spacking across the driveway, into cars, shattering windows and punching neat holes into their sides, forcing the enemy using them as cover to displace. They saw Natasha's hands come up, saw her take aim and fire, her shots hitting dead center; and saw her targets chest explode, sending his stomach out his back as he staggered, his intestines dribbling from the wound as he sunk to his knees, and flopped to the side. Priss closed her eyes and Nene buried her head in Linna's arm, clutching her as she whimpered. Sylia blinked, aghast. Priss wondered if even a HARDsuit would've stopped those rounds. The Yakuza, and the car and wall behind him, hadn't.
From Tony's frame they saw four guards run towards the rear door. Two made it inside and from both Karl and Tony they could see them take simultaneous shots. One was lucky, he made it in, the other was tossed forward as a shot hit him square in the back, sprawling him forward into a pool of his own guts. Priss took note that the gun was slightly different to the one Tasha had used earlier, and unlike the thunderclap from hers, his hadn't made a sound.
"Jesus Christ!" Linna breathed, this was turning into a massacre. Karl's frame shifted up and a Yakuza could be seen in the window. The Yakuza fired. Nigel tightened his grip around his cigarette and inhaled sharply. Suddenly Tony's frame went everywhere, as thru Karl's frame they saw him get hit. Nene cried out and Linna closed her eyes momentarily; then continued watching. She had seen the aftermath, she knew Tony had survived, but up until now, never knew how close he had come to death. Priss looked away slightly, almost snorting at the fact that she was actually rooting for the ADP.
From Karl's frame they saw two quick shots, both hitting center mass, and a bright day-glo cloud of green appeared courtesy of the low light enhancements. The Yakuza toppled out of the window and crumpled to the ground. Nigel gave a curt nod as the body hit the floor as if to punctuate the kill. From the SEAL's frames they saw them enter the top floor, pushing their way inside by force of arms. Sylia tried to keep up, alternating her focus from one frame to the other as they leapfrogged down the hall way; there was no wasted movement, no idle conversation, not even had signals. They moved with the practiced precision of someone who'd done this so often they could do it in their sleep. Their positioning was flawless, always covering, never over-reaching, and never rushing, even as they moved with lightning speed. Tasha and her people had entered the garage; there was a flash of motion and Priss straightened, almost pointing in warning before the target was cut down mid-stride, his right side shattered by a burst of machinegun fire. Priss blinked; she hadn't even seen him until he'd moved.
Around back, Tony had gotten up and Karl moved with him to the door. A quick pan down showed that Tony was checking on the body at his feet. It remained motionless, blood pooling from his wound. Someone yelled: "fire in the hole!" Then a bright flash came from inside the room. As Tony and Karl poured in, one covered high, the other low, but the anteroom was empty. Tony shifted to thermal imaging and spotted two heat signatures in a room ahead of them. Tony and Karl made their way towards them. Sylia was biting her lip as she watched. Even when she was in full control of a situation, she realized that she rarely if ever switched between the myriad of image enhancements she'd built into the suits, and almost never if she was in combat. They paused, and over the net could hear them discussing the nature of the targets, afraid they might be Linna, or Elise. They concluded they weren't and Tony tossed a flash-bang then followed the explosion in. The target that had been behind a couch was shot, thrown back against the coffee table, dead. The other could be seen jumping head first out the window. Nigel, seeing this, began pondering ways to add on weapons to the HARDsuits that could be used to distract, witnessing them in use and their effectiveness gave him new respect. Truth be told, he'd considered them in the original suits, but had declined to mount them to save space.
Karl followed, stopping by the wall, peeking out quickly in case it was a trap. Seeing it wasn't he took aim and fired. The Yakuza's head disappeared, replaced by a bright day-glo cloud of mist. The headless body took two more steps than collapsed. Sylia looked away and Priss covered her mouth. Nene, who had been peeking from her hands, still holding onto Linna's arm, buried her face again at the carnage. The fact that he'd fired, despite the fact that his target was without question running for his life struck Priss as ruthless, almost barbaric. The SEAL's progress was halted by stiff resistance in the hallway leading to the bedroom on the far west side of the house. Tasha's people could be seen leapfrogging up the stairway to the middle floor. They turned the corner into what looked like a lounge and bar and then all hell broke loose. The SAS men opened up, stitching a Yakuza behind a chair and pinning the ones behind the bar in place. As Tasha fired movement out of the far corner of the frame caused Linna to shout to the screen for her to look out. As if in response to her cry Tasha's off hand reached down and there was a flash of metal and the Yakuza staggered back, his left arm severed below the elbow. She didn't wait for him to recover and sliced again, severing his head from his body. Nene almost lost it, as did Linna. Priss coughed it back and Sylia stared, unable to take her eyes from the footage before her. A tear ran down Linna's cheek, not wanting to believe the love of her life had just beheaded someone, and felt guilt wash over her. If she hadn't been kidnapped, Tasha wouldn't have had to do that. She was also hit face first with the realization that while she knew that Tasha would do almost anything for her, she now knew that involved taking life. She was as comforted as she was horrified. Nene had turned white, she worked with this woman, joked with her, and laughed with her, she had to look again to confirm that the frame she'd seen this thru was really hers, but when she looked, it was, and she shuddered. During the decapitation they could hear fire from the SAS and heard them call out 'clear!'

The battle chatter informed them that Tony and Karl were about to link up with the SEAL's, they could hear the pain in Tasha's voice as she responded, letting them know they were in the midst of clearing the rest of the floor that Karl and Tony had left behind. Priss was struck with the fact that had she been in her place she would've ran to the action, she knew it, and felt ashamed. She knew that Tasha wanted to save Linna, but she stayed in position, and never abandoned her post. Maybe that was the discipline she had talked about, the discipline she'd have to learn. Sylia watched and heard the same thing, but came to a completely different conclusion, trust, Tasha trusted her people, trusted them with Linna's life, and Elise's, and here she was with three girls who put their lives into her hands every time they suited up, and she hadn't even bothered to tell them her reasons for creating the Knight Sabers, the truth about the suits; she hadn't even told them that they weren't even the first Knight Sabers. As the tape progressed they watched as Karl took position next to the SEAL's and Tony as he scanned the room, seeing two huddled figures, and two with guns. Priss looked to Linna with sympathy, as everyone watching knew she was one of those on the floor with a gun to her head. She swallowed, but didn't turn away. Tony moved outside, stepping over a freshly dead corpse onto the balcony and moved himself to get an angle. Karl and the SEAL's were in position and they could see thru Tasha's frame as she hurried to clear the floor, working in precise harmony with her SAS shadows, never once, from the first shot till now had she; or Tony and Karl for that matter, slacked; they kept up with, if not exceeded the ability of their men, it dawned on Sylia and Priss that these weren't weekend warriors, that they hadn't joined the ADP because they couldn't hack it in the real soldiers military. They were every bit as sharp and fit as the best the American and British Special Forces had to offer.

The chatter between Tony and Karl identified the one guarding Linna and Elise as a boomer. The size of the gun he had leveled at them was a dead giveaway. From Tony's frame they could see him looking thru the window, could see the boomer, and could see their friend and Elise clutching each other, horror in their eyes. Linna swallowed, she felt her heart race as she relived the fear of those moments, remembered the fear from the Yakuza man as he came to grips that he was the last one alive. She'd been petrified that he would order their death out of sheer panic, but Tony fired, blowing the boomers weapon in half and saw thru Karl's frame as he fired thru the wall into it, spinning it off balance. There was a burst of fire and Tony ducked as the frantic man by the door finally did panic and put his entire clip thru the wall that Tony was behind. His fire was ineffective, his aim spoiled by his terror. The SEAL's moved in, catching the Yakuza frantically trying to reload and emptied a minimum of twenty rounds, each, into him; separating his torso from the rest of his body. Karl fired as he moved into the room, hitting the boomer twice more, knocking it onto the bed closest the window; it's weight splintering the frame as it fell. Calls of 'clear' emitted from all in the area in turn as their areas of responsibility were swept. Thru one of the SEAL's frames, Tony climbed inside and put a final round into the boomer at point blank range. Then the frames went blank as each picture was replaced by the words, "End of Record." Throughout Sylia's computer room sighs of relief erupted from all present as they all sagged their shoulders, releasing the building tension that had accumulated as they'd watched.
In all, five minutes, six tops had elapsed from the first shot to the last. And every Yakuza seen had been killed, not one wounded, not one surviving. Despite the short length of the record, all those in the room felt as if it had been a lifetime they had witnessed, and all, even Priss, and Nigel, were sweating as if they had actually been there.
Sylia clicked the monitors off and the lights came on, and they all looked back from each other, and then to Linna with sympathy. She had been there, had been right next to the death and gore, and all felt in some way sorry for her. Nene hugged her and Nigel squeezed her shoulder before he turned and walked out. Priss excused herself and gazed deeply into Linna's eyes, as if to say, 'I'm sorry', before she too left the room. Sylia shooed Nene out and reluctantly, she left, looking back at Linna with as supportive a smile as she could.
"I...I didn't know. Is... is there anything I can do?"
Linna looked up at her, her eyes burning into Sylia's.
"Trust her." Linna said in a horse whisper. "Please!"
Sylia stood and walked up to her, kissed her on the forehead and nodded.
"I'll try. For you; I'll try." It was the best she could manage.

In the launch bay Priss watched as Nene walked to the steps leading up to the launch platform and sat, slumping forward, wrapping her arms around her knees.
"I think I'm gonna be sick." She muttered. Priss nodded. Nigel had lit a fresh cigarette; his previous had burned to the filter as he'd watched. All heads turned to Sylia as she walked in, with Linna following her a few feet behind, her elbows in her hands, her head bowed at the neck as she walked over to and sat next to Nene.
Each Knight Saber was lost in their own thoughts. Linna was horrified at what she had seen, but knew it had to have been done, and knew it had been done for her and Elise. Not because they'd wanted to, but because they'd been forced to. Nene was shaking, she knew that Tasha, Tony, and Karl were kind people, rough around the edges sure, but until now, had never known how lethal they could be when pushed, and she was frightened, relieved that they were on their side, but scared none-the-less. Priss stood, propped against the wall, her eyes closed. She now knew how close to death she had come, that day when she had lunged at Tasha out of pride and spiteful anger. Knew now that had she pressed her attack that Tasha wouldn't have hesitated to pull that trigger, and that fact alone made her shiver. Sylia looked to her friends and compatriots as they digested what they had just seen. She had killed, but only boomers. She couldn't fathom what it must be like to take a human life, and wondered what strength, fear, or desperation would be needed for her to do the same. Even when the ADP had attacked them, she hadn't killed, only disarmed, and even then she knew that the ADP officers on the scene wouldn't have hesitated to kill her. She also felt guilt, for not having been there when one of her own had needed her the most. For not having done enough to protect her friends. They were her responsibility; in or out of their HARDsuits, they were her responsibility. And she had utterly failed one of them, and for the first time since meeting Natasha Romanov, was happy that she was around.
"If you want, you can all stay here tonight. I...there won't be any patrol tonight." She whispered. Linna stood, and every eye watched as she walked from the room, down the hall to the changing room. When she returned she was dressed, her day bag over her shoulder. She looked at everyone and smiled bravely.
"I...I'm going to go home. Thank you Sylia, for the offer, but; I can't live in fear. Last night taught me that." She waved. "Night." And turning slowly, made her way down the hall to the elevator. Not to be shown up, but in truth inspired by Linna's bravery, Priss pushed herself from the wall.
"Me too; uh...thanks Sylia." She whispered.
"Wait for me, I need a ride!" Nene blurted, following Priss. She stopped at the door jam and smiled at Sylia.
"Thanks." Then she all but ran after Priss.
Sylia looked at Nigel and he regarded her. He'd never seen her afraid before, even though she hid it extremely well, but, he knew her better than the others, and could see past her mask.
"I'll stay." He said, than turned back to his work.
Sylia breathed a sigh of relief than made her way upstairs and, digging into the liquor cabinet, pulled out her best bottle of scotch and attempted to drown her fear, turning on the television to the nightly news. The news-lady was recapping a story from earlier that day about a mysterious explosion in high-rise condo complex in Shinjuku. Apparently one of the flats had been obliterated early that morning, sometime around 0200. The picture in picture showed the apartment; or rather what was left of it, from the vantage point of a news-chopper. The footage was about eight hours old, so there was still smoke billowing from the gaping hole in the side of the building. Surprisingly enough, the rest of the building looked fine.
"As the investigation continues into the cause of the explosion, Police spokesmen have admitted that the apartment belonged to an alleged member of the Yakuza. Investigators have also confirmed that his body has been identified at the scene along with another, as of yet, unidentified male. We go now to a press conference in progress at the scene."
The scene switched to an officer with about five microphones in front of him. The building in question served as the backdrop and fire and other emergency services could be seen milling about behind him.
"...don't know exactly what caused the explosion although at this time we know it was some sort of rocket or missile. Witness's reported seeing a plume of smoke from the building across the street and that the explosion occurred right after. There are also some reports that state that there were at least one, possibly two more rockets fired as well as some automatic weapons fire. So far we have no suspects, but it's only a matter of time."
Sylia muted the TV and poured herself another drink. Apparently Tasha hadn't waited very long to exact revenge. Three rockets; was she just being thorough, or was she making a statement? She figured a little of both. Either way, it was overkill, plain and simple. She felt sorry for the investigators, knowing that even if they did find something, none of it would lead them to the ADP.

In her trailer, on the other end of town Priss was watching the same newscast and found herself transfixed. She, like Sylia, knew who was behind it, and wondered who else was going get it before Linna's buddy was done. She watched for a few more minutes, listening to the talking heads attempt to put their spin on it; their speculation running the gamut from a possible gas explosion to a hit by rival gangs, or other enemies. She snorted. 'If you really knew you'd sure be shocked.' She mused. She was about to switch the TV off when an other story, this time international news, popped onto the screen under the title; "Massacre in Macedonia!" The title alone made her pause and she decided to see what this story was all about.
The Channel 6 foreign news correspondent was standing out front of a large building some where in the city of Valesta, she couldn't tell how tall, but it was big. In front were Macedonian police and military as well as a slew of that countries EMT and fire personnel. She also noted that a few of the people moving in and out of the building had INTERPOL emblazoned on the back of their windbreakers.
"In what appears to be a blatant attack that has left some twenty people dead and countless more wounded, unknown assailants assaulted the Pompadour Club at around ten o'clock in the evening the night before last in a manner that has lead the Valesta police department to conclude that the attackers were highly trained, possibly military, but most likely mercenaries. The Valesta Police have stated that while the identities of the attackers remains unknown that they are almost certain that this incident is linked to the death of Baby Luka, son of Luka, a white slaver that operated a large ring here in Valesta during the late 1990's and early 2000's; and a renown underworld figure known for white slavery, gunrunning and prostitution. Baby Luka was found dead at the location of one of his other night clubs on the river not more than a mile from here and reports have come in that two of his other properties, the Fire Cracker club in the east side and a dacha some eighty miles north of the city were also hit. INTERPOL has admitted that they were informed that the these location were going to be hit about ten minutes prior to ten last night. They also have stated that the attacks on all four locations took place within five minutes of each other. As you can see behind me they are removing boxes of evidence, evidence that I might add had apparently been boxed, sorted and left for them."
Standing beside the newsman as the camera panned out was an INTERPOL agent. The reporter turned to him and held the microphone between them.
"What can you tell us bout, this evidence. And how you came to acquire it?"
"Ah yes, um...when we arrived the local police told us that there were some boxes, but not here."
"You mean the evidence was not located here?"
"Some; that you see us removing behind you. Ah...the other evidence apparently had been removed from the site along with large sums of money and articles from some of the guest."
"So where did you find this evidence?"
"I can't tell you, exactly, but it was north, upriver. We arrived on scene and found a variety of vehicles and inside one of them, linked to explosives was about six boxes of evidence, um...I can't go into detail, but we disarmed the bombs and have taken the boxes to an undisclosed location."
"How did you disarm the bombs? Did you have to call in the bomb-squad?"
"I can't really say. But we're assessing the validity of the contents as we speak."
"Does that have anything to do with the removal of more from this location?"
"We're just being through." The INTERPOL man evaded.
"Is there anything you'd like to say to those who did this, after all, it looks like they severely disrupted an organization that's been in the INTERPOL's crosshairs for some time? Not to mention they killed a man on your top 10 most wanted list."
"Ah, heh heh, yes. It's true that we've been trying to break up Baby Luka's smuggling ring. But we lacked the evidence..."
The newsman's face lit up at that and he smiled.
"Evidence that you may now have, is that right?"
"Um...well, as I said, we're attempting to confirm the validity of what we've found."
"Well, it seems like somebody did you a favor."
"Yes, maybe. But I'd like to say, for the record, that INTERPOL does not condone vigilantism, even if, even if it might seem beneficial."
The newsman turned back to the camera.
"Well there you have it...oh wait." He leaned his head to the left and pushed his ear mike in tighter, listening.
"We've just heard that the Valesta Police report that an AV-6 was seen fleeing the scene of the Pompadour Club and was also seen by and attacked Valesta River Police as they pursued four small boats heading away from the Kitty Kat club apparently after they attacked there. The AV-6 was found upriver in a clearing along with an old 1960's vintage Russian helicopter that was owned by Baby Luka and that apparently came from his dacha. This lends credence to the claim that it was the same people that hit all four locations. This is also most likely the location that had the boxes left for INTERPOL. Also the Valesta Police is claiming that their dispatch computers were tampered with, which, they say, allowed the assailants to conduct their raid without police intervention. Investigators and witnesses also report that the Kitty Kat and Pompadour Club's were flooded with a highly potent knock out gas and that the security tapes had been removed or otherwise erased. This they claim will greatly hinder any effort to identify whoever conducted this daring and deadly assault."
Priss picked up her cell phone and dialed Sylia as the newsman turned it over to the news desk.
"Hey Sylia, are you watching Channel 6?"
"Yes."
"Did you get a load of that stuff in Macedonia?"
"Yes, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Damn straight."
Sylia paused in thought.
"That might explain why Nene had to work late the other night."
"No shit?" Priss blurted.
"Yes, and I've been looking over the rest of the attachments on that file, the pre-planning, Tasha called Nene into work to tap and jam all the communications in and out of the mansion."
"Hey wait a minute? Didn't Nene say something like that went down on that one raid, that one against Honda or something like that."
"Hanza, but yes, now that I think about it you're right. And the Corner Club as well."
"No wonder Nene likes her so much, she lets her hack the fucking planet."
"You know, it occurs to me; if there were SAS with Tasha at the mansion, and they did a parachute drop, they must have been on their way back from Valesta."
"So..." Priss said.
"Well, don't you see, that means that Tasha and the British government are working together."
"No way!"
"I think so. It all fits."
"How'd she swing that? What about INTERPOL, are they working with them too?"
"I don't know." Sylia admitted after a brief pause.
"Well fuck, if she's working with the SAS and INTERPOL, why the hell does she need us."
"I guess we'll have to ask her."
"Yeah, right." Priss scoffed. She didn't relish asking Tasha anything, even the time.
"Well, in light of current events I think I'm going to do some digging."
"Great, but, and I hate myself for saying this, do you think that's a good idea. That cunt's already reamed us for crappy security, what if she catches on that you're looking?"
"Hmm, I hadn't thought of that, good point. And if she is working with the Brits' they might catch on too."
"What a fucking mess." Priss breathed.
"I guess we will have to ask her."
"Well that's all on you cause I ain't doin it."

* * *

The train ride was relaxing, with Linna napping occasionally and Tasha reading a magazine. A lot had happened between the shootings and the trip, the trip to Macedonia, tracking down the doctor that had escaped; he was no longer a threat to anyone, anymore. Than the kidnapping, Linna and Elise had been picked up off the street by Yakuza members, taken to a safe house north of Tokyo and held as bait or leverage, truth be told Tasha and Tony hadn't waited to find out which. Linna had born up well despite the trauma she'd endured. Tasha guessed that the vicious revenge they'd wrought upon them had allowed Linna to feel safe, no God, or Buddha faring individual would want to precipitate a repeat of that bloody night. At any rate, she Karl and Tony had settled everything between them and the Yakuza the next night. Using the phone numbers and other Intell they'd gathered they'd decided on an additional action, intending to cause even more harm to the Shinjuku group. They'd followed a known member, and had lucked out when they'd overheard the conversation. Apparently one of them was the scumbag responsible for the incident, and that they were going to go to a meeting to hash out how to deal with the unforeseen airborne reprisal they'd endured. They'd tailed them to a dockside warehouse with a few fresh security personnel.
If the mansion was a slaughter the warehouse was a massacre. Twenty plus yakuza dead in under five minutes, with only two casualties on their side, but they'd be fine, the HiC medical coverage would see to that. However, one of the unforeseen turn of events was that during the interrogation of the survivors, they'd actually taken some this time around, was the kernel of knowledge that the Shinjuku groups boss had been opposed to the kidnapping, and that gave Tasha room to maneuver diplomatically. She, like the boss saw this as an annoyance, a useless fight that would only lead to massive loss of resources and time. The only difference was that the Shinjuku group were to only ones taking losses, and Karl Tony and she were all eager to 'quit while they were ahead' as it were. They had all but demanded a meeting with the mobster and scant hours later they were rewarded with just that. There was posturing, that was to be expected, but in the end a deal had been struck. In return for a cease-fire, a signed affidavit that the origin for the kidnapping had come from none other than Genom Tower, and a large cash payout, Tasha agreed not to end their miserable lives. And so it ended, the Shinjuku group threat had been nullified. Now they only faced Genom, only. That had brought a laugh, but all agreed that it was better to face that goliath without having to worry about a crime family waiting in the wings.

Glancing out the window she could see Osaka Castle behind the trees, looming over the cities cultural center. If they had time, maybe they could visit it she hoped. Shortly thereafter the train slowed and she gently nudged Linna awake.
"Hey there." She said, sleepily. "What's up?"
"We're here." Tasha informed.
"Huh? Really." She said as she checked her watch. "Wow, that was faster than I thought."
"Does that mean we're early?" Tasha asked as she stood and gathered her belongings.
"Yeah, by about an hour or two."
"Oh, um, well, I was wondering, do you think we could see the castle before we head over?"
Linna's eyes brightened and she smiled.
"Sure; I didn't know you were into Japanese history."
Tasha shrugged and smiled as Linna slid across the seat and stood.
"Well..."

Osaka castle was even more impressive than she'd thought it would be. She especially like the observation deck on the top floor, it offered a commanding view of the city and Linna was able to point out all the major features, up to and including her home, well, not specifically, but she was able to point out the major street that led up into the hills where her home was. After an hour and many pictures they hopped a bus and were rewarded by the bus stop being no more than fifty feet from her "driveway". It was dusk when they arrived and a little cold. Linna had her orange jacket and Tasha pulled over her ADP field jacket. Linna looked over and giggled, covering her mouth.
"What?" Tasha asked, smiling.
"Nothing, it's just that well...mmm, never mind." She said.
"What?" Tasha laughed, now curious.
"It's very you." She smiled.
"Oh ha ha."

As they entered the genkan they could hear jovial and boisterous voices from the dinner room.
"Guess they started without us."
"Uh huh." Tasha agreed as she sat down and undid her combat boots, setting them next to Linna's sneakers. Suddenly Linna didn't look so excited anymore, it was more like trepidation.
"You okay?"
"You'll see in a minute." She deadpanned, than closed her eyes and took a deep breath; than slid open the rice paper doors.
"Hello. I'm home." She said as the gathered throng halted in mid-sentence and turned towards her.
Her father set his napkin down.
"Is that anyway to greet your guests?
Linna sighed again and bowed, reciting the traditional greeting. Her mother walked up to her and smiled.
"Why didn't you tell us you were here, we could have picked you up at the train station."
"Sorry, we got here a little early so we went to Osaka Castle."
"We?" her father asked.
Linna stepped into the room and motioned for Natasha to follow and smiled sheepishly.
"Mom, dad, everyone. I'd like to introduce my best friend. Natasha."
Tasha bowed and presented Mrs. Yamazaki a small gift as was customary.
"Tsumaranai mono desu ga." She said in flawless Japanese, a little miffed at her dad's treatment of her. Linna blinked, wow! One of the guests set his glass down.
"To bad she isn't a boyfriend, god knows she didn't have any here." He quipped, prompting laughter from all present.
Groan. "I'd rather deal with a rouge boomer than my family any day." Linna muttered miserably under her breath. Tasha noted that, but said nothing. Her mother walked over and ushered them in and brought out a place for Tasha, seating her next to Linna.
"So, how's the big city?" She asked. "Are you eating all right?"
"It's okay, and yes."
"I hear you've got an office job at a large firm." One of the female guests interjected.
"Maybe there's a cute guy working there." Another guest offered.
Linna blushed and hung her head and Tasha was tempted to pat her on the back but knew better. Instead she picked up her chopsticks and made a few practice grabs before moving onto the food. Her mother walked up behind her and tapped her shoulder.
"Would you like me to take your jacket?"
"Umm..." Instinctively she'd already cased the area and knew that she'd have ample warning to act should any one try to assault the three entrances. She studied everyone at the table and took stock, No one was armed and no one save one male guest looked like they'd pose much of threat in hand to hand. Satisfied she could survive without her armor she looked over at Linna. She nodded, giving her a 'might as well' look.
Setting her chopsticks down she undid the cuffs, zipped it down and handed it up to her. Her mother wasn't expecting the weight and almost dropped it.
"My goodness, this sure is heavy."
Tasha just smiled and picked her chopsticks up again. Than she noticed that everyone had stopped talking and was looking at her. Linna noticed as well and looked to see what everyone was on about, and groaned, covering her face in her hands, smiling underneath.
Tasha had her holsters on, both her shoulder and her hip rig. And anyone who bothered to look at her back, such as her mother, could see she had her 12in K-bar on a strap nestled in between her shoulder blades.
"What?" She said, blinking a few times at the confused and horrified stares. Linna's father was about to get verbally upset when Linna stepped in and diffused the situation.
"I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you. Natasha's a cop. An ADP cop."
Her father nodded slowly, noting the pride in his daughter's voice.
"I see." And turned to Natasha. "Aren't you off duty?"
"Only when I'm sleeping." She explained with a playful wink.
He blinked, than cleared his throat.
"Are you one of those, what do they call them?"
"Frontline officers." Another guest offered.
"Yes. Frontline officers."
Tasha smiled and Linna did as well, hiding it behind her hand.
"No sir."
"Than what do you do?" Asked a female guest, who seemed genuinely curious.
"I'd rather not say, you might get the wrong impression."
"Oh, well I understand; if the ADP is anything like the city police."
Tasha tilted her head sideways at that and regarded her.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked.
"I uh, um, well, nothing. It's just that, well, well I have a friend in the Osaka Police department and she doesn't really get to do much, eh heh."
"Aside from serve tea to the male officers and keep up the place right." Tasha finished for her, her tone even and polite.
"Yes." She admitted.
"Well, truth be told, doing that would be a welcome break for me." She replied.
"I see." Another female guest asked.
"You know," A male guest began. "I've heard some interesting stories about the Tokyo ADP."
"Really, such as?" Tasha asked in between bites. She was getting a little annoyed, why wouldn't they leave her alone, but than again, she was new there, and the Japanese loved to gossip, plus, she was deflecting all the prying talk from Linna.
"Well for one, that they've well, how should I put it, run amok."
Tasha nodded.
"I agree, we've been getting some pretty asinine orders from on high of late, sometimes I wonder how these guys get their jobs in the first place. To many hands in the cookie jar, if you ask me, I think they should all just pipe down and let us do our jobs." She said, smiling evilly at the last part, daring him to press on.
"Ah hah, I see." He managed. A few of the female guests snickered and even some of the other guys smiled as he crashed and burned; he wasn't the favorite uncle.
"By the way, this meal is excellent." She said to Linna's mom, changing the subject.
"Oh, um, why thank you." She nodded.
Deciding he wanted to know more about this feisty and heavily armed women at his table Linna's father took a bite and then turned back to her.
"Linna hasn't mentioned you before; when did you meet?"
Tasha finished the morsel she was eating and nodded.
"Let's see, I think it was about ten days after she arrived in Tokyo. The 5th was it." She said, looking at Linna, who nodded, with a barely perceptible smile. When she looked back to her father she saw he had a worried look on his face.
"She didn't do something illegal did she?"
"I let her off with a warning." Tasha smiled. Beside her Linna groaned.
Technically what Tasha said was true, she had done something illegal, well, two things, first the hack into the ADP server, and of course her involvement in a vigilante group.
"What did she do?" He father asked, fixing a critical eye on his first-born.
Tasha thought for a second than smiled at Linna, than turned back to her father.
"She hacked into the ADP mainframe looking for our files on the Knight Sabers." She replied as if she'd been asked the time.
"Tasha!" Linna yelped, blushing with worry and shock.
"Oh honey, you know they aren't real." Her mother lamented.
"Well, actually, they are." Tasha interjected, looking at Linna's mother and father in turn.
"In fact." She continued. "Since Linna had been doing all that research she was able to help me."
"Help you? How?" He father asked.
"Well, to learn more about them, her input's been very comprehensive."
Inside Linna allowed herself to sigh silently in relief. She hadn't seen where she was going with this, she was well aware of Tasha's honest streak; boy was she relieved, and a little miffed that she'd doubted her.
"I thought the Knight Sabers were a myth?" A guest said.
"Oh no, they're real, I've seen them myself." Tasha shook her head, nodding at the end.

Her mother, relieved, and a little surprised, mostly proud, smiled and knowing that talk about the Knight Sabers at the table, fiction or fact would only make everyone awkward; changed the subject.
"So tell us about your job."
Linna looked visibly relieved and smiled softly.
"Not bad, I'm in the 2nd sales section and I'm doing pretty well. The office boomers a pain but aside from that everything else is fine."
"Well just be glad they haven't let you go. From what I hear Genom is downsizing a lot of folks from their subsidiaries, what with the American's and all." A guest said.
"I know; it's awful. Can you believe they did that? And the Russians and British too. All because of that space station falling into the sea."
Tasha noticeably bristled but maintained her bearing. Linna blushed bright red and looked at her friend, half expecting her to explode.
As she took a glass of water Tasha glared at the guests that had spoken. A bead of sweat forming on her forehead, and her leg throbbed.
"Did I say something to upset you?" One of the guests asked, the other remained silent.
"Yes." Tasha replied and turned her attention back to her food.
"May I ask what."
Tasha regarded her, the female guest, was she genuinely concerned, or was she playing a game.
"I can't talk about it." She replied sighing. "Sorry."
Linna sighed, that could've gotten ugly; and she tossed a disapproving glance to the two guests as well, shaking her head and snorting in disgust.
The atmosphere became very cold and Tasha felt horrible for it. This was the last thing she wanted to happen. She set her chopsticks down and pushed herself back from the table. "Mrs. Yamazaki, may I use your facilities?"
"Of course, follow me."
Using Linna's shoulder as a support she pushed herself up and squeezed gently.
"I'll be right back." She said in English, and Linna nodded.
As Natasha was led out by her mother the two guests blushed and a few others groaned, no wonder she'd been offended, she was an American. The male of the pair drank from his tea to keep from having to apologize but the women looked over at Linna.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know."
"Do you even know why the US took those towers?" She bit.
Most of the guests murmured amongst themselves.
"Wasn't it something to do with that space station, American I think? They just wanted to get reparations for it, after it fell out of the sky." Another guest retorted, garnering nods and agreement from the table, including her father. Linna noticed this and turned to her dad.
"Is that what the news media said?"
Before he could answer she took a deep breath, calming herself.
"I guess the news didn't say anything about the fact that that space station was the USSD's command and control facility for all the orbital satellites. Or that a boomer took over the station and killed the crew; or that they had to send troops to scuttle it. I guess they also failed to mention that during all this that the boomer made the satellites fire; over fifteen times. Or that those shots killed hundreds of thousands in Phoenix, and Guatemala and in Russia. Must be nice to live in such a clean little bubble."
Her father had never seen her so miffed before, part of him was angry at the outburst, the other part was proud of her for standing tall. The table erupted into murmurs as they digested her revelation.
"How do you know all this?" Her father asked.
"Natasha. She was there" She huffed, trying her best to clam herself down.
Returning with Natasha in tow Linna's mother sat down and regarded the more animated conversation at the table. Tasha instantly picked up on the subject matter, and the amount of skepticism it was being given and figured Linna' must have gotten upset and dropped a bombshell. She smiled inwardly, she'd hadn't needed to, but she'd defended her from her family and guests. She patted her knee in stealth after she sat down, smiling at her.
"Inciting a riot are we?" She joked.
"Kinda, sorry."
"What for?" She deadpanned, laying her napkin back across her lap.
Linna nodded.
"Thank you."
"That's my line."
"So, what did I miss?" Mrs. Yamazaki asked.
"Linna here was informing us as to the real reasons behind the American seizure of our, I mean, Genom's, assets in the US." Her father answered, a hint of pride in his voice.
"Oh, I see."
"I'll tell you later." He finished.

The rest of the dinner went better; the conversation was guarded but slowly returned to the same joviality they had heard before being seated. After dinner Linna and Tasha elected to do the dishes together to give mom and dad time to see the guests to the door and to take care of any post party politics. When her mother came in Linna was using a plate as a shield deflecting a spray of water from the extendable faucet in Tasha's hand, both girls giggling like children. Linna noticed as did Tasha her entrance and both went back to 'work'. Linna dried the plate and then motioned with her head towards her mother and Tasha nodded.

She sat down on the outside porch next to her and sighed.
"Thanks for letting Tasha stay mom. I really appreciate it."
"You're welcome honey. So, are you really having a good time in the big city?"
"Sometimes, I mean, there are times when it's pretty rough, but it's okay, I like it more than I don't."
"I'm very proud of you, so is your father."
"He sure shows it funny."
"I know dear, but he's still proud."
"Mom? Remember when I said that I was looking for something but I wouldn't know what, and you told me that I'd know when I found it?"
"Yes."
"I think I did. It's hard to explain, but I think I did."
"Well that's wonderful, I'm so happy for you. And I'm glad to hear about the Knight Sabers, being real and all. Are you still looking for them?
Linna snorted, and smiled.
"No, not anymore." Well, it was partly true.
"I'm glad, it was consuming you."
Linna nodded, crossing her legs at the ankles.
"I know this is a silly question but, well, what do you think of Tasha?"
"I don't know, she seems nice, a bit withdrawn maybe, but nice."
"Oh. I've noticed that too."
Her mother patted her on her knee.
"Your father has a surprise for you tomorrow night, will you be able to spend the night?"
"Yeah, but I have to leave on Sunday, I have to get back to work, I don't want to get fired."
"Oh, that's a shame, I was hoping you could stay a little longer."
"So what's this surprise?"
"Well, a client of his has a son, and..."
"Mom! No! Come on, this isn't fair. Not another Omai."
"Honey, you're a bright beautiful girl, we only want you to be happy, please, come to dinner, meet him."
"I knew this was going to happen, I just knew it. What about Tasha, she can't come, can she." Linna bit.
"No, I suppose not."
"You know I hate it when you do this."
"I'm sorry, but you're almost twenty one years old, you need to start thinking about settling down."
"But I don't want to settle down."
"I know sweetie, but please come to dinner, your father will be embarrassed if you don't."
Linna huffed and crossed her arms in front of her.
"I'll think about it."

Inside, Tasha had just finished the dishes and had started the washer when Linna and her mom came back in. Linna looked forlorn and her mother apologetic, so she decided to keep her mouth shut.
"Thank you for the dishes." Her mother said.
"You're welcome, it was my pleasure."
"I'm sure you're both tired, let me make up the guest room for you. Linna, could you go grab some extra blankets."
"Yes mom." She nodded as her mother led Tasha to the guest room.
"I didn't want to mention anything while the guests were still here; but I suppose it still needs to be said." Her mother began, and Tasha swallowed.
"Is it really necessary to carry your guns around inside?"
Tasha sighed, relieved that that she wasn't referring to their 'friendship'.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude or to frighten anyone. I guess I've gotten so used to wearing them that I've stopped seeing it as odd. I just don't feel dressed without them, sorry."
"Oh, I see. Well, it is an unusual habit."
Tasha shrugged and smiled sheepishly.
"Here we are. You'll have to use the bathroom down the hall."
"Thank you, this is more than enough."
Linna trod in a minute later with a bundle of blankets and pillows in her arms.
Her mother took some and started to lay the bedspread out and Linna placed the pillows when she was done.
"Well, you girls better take a bath and get some rest, breakfast will be around nine."
"Thank you Mrs. Yamazaki, I really appreciate the hospitality."
"Thanks mom." Linna said, all smiles.

"Come on, let's get cleaned up." Linna said after her mom had left, taking Tasha's hand as she led her to the bathroom.
"Um, you're not gonna be in there with me are you?"
"Of course I am silly."
"B...but." Tasha stammered.
"You're in my home, and we go by traditional rules here."
"Uh huh, and I'm sure you're gonna enforce every one of them aren't you?" Tasha scoffed.
"You betcha!" Linna giggled.
Drawing the bath water Linna pointed to the small stool and buckets nearby and Tasha nodded. She'd read about the Japanese way of bathing, but up till now hadn't elected to try. Linna was already removing her clothing and wasn't being that shy about it. Tasha sighed as she undid her holsters and reluctantly shed her clothes.
Sitting down on the stool Linna padded up to her and smiled, Tasha was covering her chest with her arms and her legs were clamped shut. Her face was red and she looked miserable. Linna instantly felt bad, remembering the helplessness and shame she'd felt in the Yakuza's not so tender mercies. She put on a robe and handed another one to Tasha. Noticing the offered garment she looked up and saw that Linna had a very apologetic look on her face and had donned a robe too. Smiling, she took it and quickly put it on.
"I'm sorry. You forgive me?" Linna asked, kneeling next to her, putting a nervous hand on her shoulder.
Tasha nodded, smiling softly, her look of mortification gone.
"I'm really sorry." Linna reaffirmed.
"I know."
"Are you angry?" Linna asked.
"A little." Tasha sighed, looking over at her.
Linna hung her head very much ashamed. It hadn't been fair of her to impose herself like she had; she knew she had issues with her sexuality. And, she'd pushed to hard.
She stood and kissed her on the cheek ever so softly, and Tasha could make out the beginning of a few tears.
"I...I'll wait okay." Than, bravely, she made for the door.

Tasha looked over her shoulder as Linna's hand reached for the doorknob.
"Linna?"
"Yes?" She turned, her voice eager.
"Is it really a tradition, bathing together?"
Linna paused, she wanted to say yes, but she knew that it wasn't really.
"Not really." She muttered, not wanting to lie to her.
"Not really?" Tasha asked.
Linna took a step closer and fidgeted with her hands.
"Well, I mean it's accepted, that strangers will bathe in the same bath-house. A lot of westerners are shy about it, but..."
"But what?" She asked.
"Well, friends will bathe together too, I mean, it's kind of like western locker room mentality."
Linna looked up and saw that Tasha was removing her robe, not showing anything, but removing it none-the-less.
"T...Tasha?"
"Look, I can't go around being afraid all the time, I love you, you know that, and you wouldn't have done what you did if you weren't, interested."
"Tasha, I, I don't..."
"I'm a big girl, I shouldn't be phobic, least of all with my girlfriend."
Both women blushed and Linna looked up sheepishly.
"I really am sorry, I shouldn't have forced you. I should've known better."
"Yeah, I know, and you know if I didn't want you to see me like this I wouldn't; just don't gawk okay."
Linna laughed nervously and smiled.
"Okay.

Tasha had discarded the robe and sat, guarded, still covering herself, but with a more relaxed expression on her face. Linna padded over and set her robe atop hers and picked up the wash bucket chancing a glance over her shoulder. Tasha wasn't looking at her; instead looking off at nothing in particular. Linna smiled, falling in love all over again. She was absolutely gorgeous, her skin, her hair, everything. She felt tightness in her gut, and knew what that meant. Smiling inwardly she turned and walked with the bucket towards her friend. At her approach she looked up at her and she blushed when she saw Tasha do the same. She couldn't get over how toned and athletic her body was, not an ounce of fat anywhere. She shivered in anticipation, knowing that soon, very soon she'd be able to touch her, even if it was to wash her. Suppressing the tingling in her loins she knelt down to fill the small wooden bucket and when she happened to look over; she gasped. In addition to the healing burns on her back there where two baseball sized bruises near her shoulder blades. They looked fresh, black and blue.
"Jesus Tasha, I didn't know you got hit?"
"I didn't. Those are from earlier."
"When?" Linna asked, very much concerned.
"The Corner Club. And the hospital."
"I know about the hospital but, but...why didn't you tell me?" She pleaded.
Tasha took a deep breath and blew out noisily.
"Didn't want you to worry that's all."
Tenderly Linna dabbed at the new, to her anyway, wounds, gently moistening the scabbed skin.
"Is that why you always lock the bathroom door?"
"Yeah, well, one of a few reasons."
Linna nodded and sighed bravely.
"They didn't go in did they?"
"No, the armor stopped them."
Linna sighed in sad frustration and bit her lip; any and all traces of erotic anticipation had been wiped away by the sight of the wounds on her friend's otherwise flawless body. She worried, so much so that at times it kept her up at night. She'd had her share of bumps and bruises but gunshot wounds were another matter entirely. Finishing her back she made her way around front and her eyes widened and Tasha could see a pained expression cross her face.
"More?" She cried as she saw two similer wounds on her chest, one above her right breast the other below her left in addition to the one she'd taken center mass in the Hospital's garage. Linna shivered, she'd remembered the pain she'd felt when she'd seen her get hit, thrown back against the wall, and the reckless abandon she'd displayed rushing to her to pull her to safety, despite the pitched firefight going on around her. She'd pushed the danger aside; the only thing that had mattered then was to get Tasha back under cover. Tasha smiled bravely.
As she washed her arms she looked into her eyes.
"No more okay."
Tasha laughed.
"It's not like I wanted this to happen." She said supportively.
"I know, but you, Christ, I don't want to sound domineering but, well, can you be a little more careful out there. Please, for me?"
Tasha nodded.
"I promise."
Linna nodded and smiled. If Tasha made a promise she'd keep it, come hell or high water. Tasha looked at the ground as Linna washed her with the warm towel and part way through she lifted her head by her chin and smiled.
"You know, it's okay if you want to look." She whispered; her face flushed slightly.
Tasha opened her mouth to say something but smiled apologetically instead. Linna's body was likewise lithe, and tightly knit, the only difference was that she wasn't hiding any of it from her. When she was done she wrung out the towel and refilled the bucket and set them aside.
"Okay, my turn, than into the tub." She smiled.
Tasha slid off the stool and knelt next to the bucket as Linna sat.
She realized that it would be uncomfortable to wash her with only one hand and resigned herself to that fact. Unlike her however Linna didn't shirk from looking, although she was careful not to gawk. They made idle conversation as Tasha's strong hands played over her flesh, and despite the presence of the towel Linna could feel her blood boil and flushed bright red as she noticed that she had Goosebumps, no doubt Tasha had taken note as well, although she said nothing to that effect. She closed her eyes, losing herself in these wonderful sensations, not wanting them to stop, but they did. She suppressed a pout and stood to enter the tub. The water was extremely hot but she slid in without so much as a whimper as did Natasha although she did wince when the water touched her wounds. They sat across from each other, submerged up to their necks in the steamy water.
"Thanks again for coming." Linna said.
"I'm happy to do it. So, what's on the schedule for tomorrow?"
Linna sighed and flicked the water with her finger.
"I have to go to an Omai. My dad has this client who's got this son, and I have to go meet him."
"Sounds like you don't want to."
"Duh! I don't want a boyfriend. I don't want to settle down."
"What about us?" Tasha asked.
"That's different."
"How so?"
"I don't know, look can we talk about something else, I just don't want to think about it right now."
Tasha nodded.
"You're going to have to eventually."
Linna sighed.
"I guess. It's just that they want me to get married and have a family, you know, the old traditional thing, it makes me so sick sometimes."
"Uh huh, like this tradition."
Linna blushed. She'd just called the kettle black and Tasha knew it. Tasha smiled.
"Don't worry, I don't mind really, I guess tradition makes as good an excuse as anything. Beat's sneaking into the shower when I'm at your place."
Linna laughed. Tasha did love her, she'd point out her goofs but she knew she was happy to be around her.
"Thanks." Linna managed. "Besides, I already have a family, so why do I need to get married right?"
"You asking me?" Tasha said.
"No, just being rhetorical."
"Well, I'm sure the others would be happy to know you think of them as family."
"Yeah, I guess so." Linna admitted. She looked at Tasha, her beautiful face, her striking eyes, her damp hair flush against her bronze skin like shiny rivers of gold. Her thoughts drifted to more carnal imaginings and felt her belly tighten. The sound of Tasha getting out of the tub snapped her out of her libidinous visions and she watched as her friend padded across the room and wrapped a towel around herself.
"You coming?"
Linna smiled.
"I'll be along, I just need to think."
"Okay. I guess I'll see you at breakfast then."
"No, I'll stop by before I go to bed and say goodnight." Linna promised.
When Tasha left Linna sniffled. She didn't want anyone else, she was happy with her, she made her feel complete, made her feel special. She never talked down to her, never made fun of her for the sake of it. Even when she stepped out of line, way out of line. She treated her like an equal plain and simple, and now her folks, who said they only wanted to make her happy, were threatening to take that all away from her, and they didn't even know it.

True to her word Linna padded into the guest room about a half hour later. She was dressed in her pajama top, undies and headband. Tasha was sitting in bed reading a book to the light of the bed stand lamp, the room lights out. Tasha noticed that Linna had a pillow under her arm. Hopping up onto the bed Linna laid down next to her, propping her head up on her elbow.
"Whatcha reading?"
Tasha dog eared the page and closed the book, showing her the title.
"Assessing the Potential for Using Reserves in Operations Other Than War." Linna read, than looked back up at Tasha and laughed softly. She held out her hand and Tasha handed it to her. She flipped thru a few pages, the only pictures were charts and tables of organization, and the few lines of text she did read were dry but informative.
"Is this the kind of stuff you write?" She asked.
Tasha nodded.
"Different subject but yes."
Linna handed the book back to her and scooted up a tad, stuffing her pillow under her arm.
"Don't tell me this is what I have to read if I want to have a conversation with you."
Tasha paused, not sure how to answer. Setting the book aside she looked over at her.
"What kind of books do you read?" She asked, genuinely curious.
Linna thought about that one.
"I dunno, nothing like that, maybe a novel or two, that and what they make you read in school."
"You should read more."
Linna blushed.
"I know, I did get this book a while back, Autumn Fall, it's a romance novel, but I haven't read much of it. I still can't believe I picked it up."
"Why did you?"
"It's silly."
"No really, I want to know." Tasha laughed.
"Okay but I'm telling you it's silly." Linna looked around, to make sure her parents weren't listening in than looked back. "I got it cause the girl on the cover looks a lot like you."
Tasha blinked and nodded.
"Oh."
"I'll show it to you when we get back. So this book." Linna said, pointing to it. "Is it any good?"
Tasha picked it back up and flipped to a page a little ahead of where she marked it.
"Yeah, this chapter here talks about what situations a reserve component would be good for. Here."
She handed the book over with her finger pointing to a paragraph about half way down the page. Linna nestled in and started to read as Tasha settled into the bed so their heads were next to one another and read along with her.

Linna's mom, having 'lost' her daughter, went to the guest room to see if she was there and found them laying next to each other reading a book. They looked positively cute together and seemed to be enjoying themselves. Spying her husband down the hall she waved to get his attention and beckoned him than made a shushing gesture to keep him quiet.
"What is it?" He whispered as he walked up next to her.
"Look." She pointed and he saw what she was looking at.
"Look at her, I've never seen her so happy before."
"Maybe." He supposed.
"Come on, let's let them rest." Her mother shushed as she walked back down the hall towards their room.
"I'm not sure I like her hanging out with a cop." Her father said.
"Oh come now, at least we don't have to worry about her not being safe. Tokyo is getting to be a rough place."
"I guess." He replied, still wary.

A few pages later Tasha noticed that Linna had fallen asleep, her head against her shoulder. Quietly putting the book away she shut off the light and laid back, gently, so she wouldn't wake her. She stayed up for a few more minutes, staring at the ceiling, feeling Linna's warm breath against her cheek and neck. She analyzed the bathing incident and smiled. If there was anyone she'd like to show herself off to it was her, but she didn't want to go to far to fast, what really bothered her was that she didn't want Linna to get the wrong idea, She also didn't want her to make an uncomfortable move, and worried that any openness she might display would make Linna think she had the green light. Sighing she looked over at her friend, soon, she'd have to tell her soon, but she was so afraid.

When she woke the next morning at around six thirty Linna was still conked out accept that there was a cover over her, her arm laying across her chest, and there was moisture on her shoulder. Smiling she brushed some hair from her face and dried her cheek. Then sliding, ever so carefully, out from under her arm she pulled the covers back over her shoulders and tucked her back in. She stirred slightly and murmured in her sleep as Tasha swung her legs out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. On her way she passed by Linna's room and feeling curious, walked inside. It was decorated in Early Hello Kitty but there where awards and trophies along one wall and a few sports posters on another. Leaving her room untouched she noticed some pictures of her high school days along the hall, she looked so young and innocent in them, not a care in the world.
She dressed in her army sweats and laced up her running shoes and fastened her shoulder rig, than, like a ghost, slipped out into the cold Saturday morning air.

Linna woke later, around eight and stretched and yawned.
"Morning Tasha." She said, as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. When there was no response she reached over to shake her awake but felt bedding instead. Padding down the hallway she looked for her.
"Mom?"
"Yes dear." She heard, from the kitchen. Following the voice she walked in, still yawning.
"Morning mom, have you seen Tasha?"
"Isn't she in the guest room?"
"Uh uh. I woke up and she was gone."
"Well, I'm sure she's taking a bath or something."
"There she is." Linna announced.
"Where?"
"Out there." She said pointing out the kitchen window as she walked up the walk, reaching down to grab the paper on her way. She was in her sweats, her top wrapped around her waist, her shirt drenched, her hair as well. Noticing that her approach was being observed she detoured to the kitchen door rather than the front. Linna opened it for her and had a cross look on her face.
"Morning Linna, Mrs. Yamazaki. Got the paper." She said as she walked in, setting the paper down on the counter.
"Where'd you go?" Linna asked, a little concern in her voice. Her mother noticed but continued to prepare breakfast.
"Running. Woke up around six thirty, I didn't want to wake you."
"Well, I wish you'd have said something, I completely freaked out." She fussed.
"Sorry, if I'd have known I would've mentioned it."
"It's okay; you have fun?"
"Loads. Reminds me of Ft. Lewis. Nice and cold."
Her mother turned around.
"And if you want breakfast nice and hot you better get ready." She said as she shooed them out of the kitchen.
"Yes, ma'am." They chorused, which only made them laugh.
Tasha offered dibs on the shower to Linna and she nodded, she understood. It hadn't taken a rocket scientist to see that last night Tasha had felt very awkward, their relationship was just now, within the last week, beginning to take on a more serious note, both regarding outside factors and their own growing intimacy. They had overcome the hurdle of compatibility, they got along; of that there was no argument. But Tasha still had her issues that she wasn't quite ready to deal with, yet Linna could tell that as time went on she was visiting them more often, which in her minds eye explained her almost prudish behavior last night. And her desire to take a separate bath this morning. But she knew that there was a positive side to that as well, it obviously meant that Tasha was forcing herself to deal with the pain and hurt she'd endured, for her.
Breakfast began soon after Tasha had finished dressing. Linna was wearing a set of casual clothes, jeans, t-shirts, socks, and Tasha was similarly attired. What neither Tasha, nor her parents had counted on was that Linna had seen what Tasha had laid out for herself and had donned matching colors and styles from her wardrobe as a joke. The fact that Tasha's hair was damp and therefore darker only magnified the situation. So it was when Mrs. Yamazaki turned around to set the plates on the table froze when she saw what looked like two Linna's sitting side by side. Her father, walking in from behind made the same mistake and walking up behind Tasha, patted her on the shoulder and kissed her on the cheek.
"Morning sweetheart."
Natasha flushed bright red and Linna covered her mouth is amusement. Mrs. Yamazaki was again frozen in surprise.
"Good morning to you too Mr. Yamazaki." Tasha managed, rubbing her cheek.
Turning around he flinched with astonishment and in turn flushed red at his gaffe.
Linna was by now laughing so hard she was tearing. Her father sat, embarrassed, Tasha didn't really know what to make of it and Mrs. Yamazaki shook her head in bewilderment.
"Uh, I'm very sorry about that Natasha." Mr. Yamazaki said.
"Sure, no problem. It was an honest mistake."
"Linna?" Her mother admonished.
She considered playing it off as coincidence but knew better; she might be able to fool her parents, maybe, but Natasha, no way.
"Sorry, I couldn't help it." She said, trying to keep from laughing any more.

The fun went out of the house when Linna was reminded of the Omai she was obliged to attend. She'd protested, but family won in the end. They had offered to let Tasha stay at the house until they got back but Tasha would have none of that.
"Don't worry, I've got some friends down here I can hang out with until dinner is over with."
"Friends?" Linna asked.
"Yeah, I've been meaning to visit those SWAT fellows, I mean they've let us borrow their Osprey twice, I figure I can treat them to dinner or something. At least that way I can write the trip off as an expense. Besides, Tony's got a gig coming up down here, and I wanted to check on the venue." She winked.
"Okay, well, here's the address of the restaurant we're eating at. You know, if things don't work out."
Tasha took it and slid it into her pocket.
"Look." She said patting her on the shoulder. "It'll be all right, heck he might even be cute."
Linna flushed red and sighed.
"Jeez, you're not helping. I mean what if I do fall for him, what then, I made a promise."
Tasha studied her, inside she was crying, she didn't want her to go, even despite all that Linna had said and done in the past month she still felt that it was to good to be true and here she was a witness to the possible end to their relationship, and it hurt. But deeper than that was the fact that Tasha wanted Linna to be happy, and if that happiness came from another than so be it. It didn't matter, so long as Linna was looked after, treated right, and happy. She also knew that Linna had very little say in the matter, she had to go, and it would be in very poor taste to make a fuss.
Tasha sighed.
"I know, but I want you to do what's right for you, not for me, not for your mom or dad, but for you. Meet this guy, decide for yourself, if you do, fall for him, don't worry, I'll still love you."
Linna almost cried, and a tear ran down her cheek.
"Really?"
"Of course."
"But I don't wanna choose. I want you."
Tasha sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"I don't envy you this decision, and if I could make it all go away I would but I can't, you can't either. The only advice I can offer you is to follow your heart. Okay?"
"Okay." Linna sniffled.
Tasha smiled bravely as she straightened Linna's bow, than patted down her blouse, wiping away the wrinkles with her hands.
"There you go. All pretty. Knock him dead kiddo." She said, with a playful chuck on the chin.

In the hall, just outside the door to her room, Linna's mother closed her eyes. She understood now.

Later that night Natasha's cell suddenly went off, she was sitting on a park bench next to the lake while Linna and her 'date' Misaki chitchatted away on a footpath by the shore. She'd just come back from the city. She'd treated the entire SWAT team to dinner, her treat, her way of saying thank you for all the help they'd given her. It'd been a good time, and she'd gotten to know a few of them better. Dinner had finished up early and on the way back Tasha had called the house but there was only the answering machine. She didn't dare call Linna on her cell; she was feeling awkward already, no use making that worse. Hailing a taxi she arrived at the restaurant a little while later.

She found them walking out back, along the lakefront. He was handsome that was for sure, maybe about a foot taller than her. Blonde hair; he was to far to make out eye color. So she had decided to watch for awhile; out of sight of course, with two guards from the HiC nearby as well, incognito and unobtrusive. She'd have to give them a bonus, enduring that cold night in the weeds outside the house. She'd brought them breakfast and some hot coffee on her run, and they'd thanked her for that, but she owed them more than that, after all, they were there for her, and Linna.
She answered the phone and was immediately deafened by a frantic voice.
"Tasha, Nene! We have a military boomer tearing up Shinjuku!"
Natasha switched to work mode and began calculating options in her head, but first she needed more information.
"Ok I'm here. Calm down. How many and of what type?"
"Ok ok, Um. Only one, very large, about thirty feet!"
Shit that's big she thought.
"Ok here's what I want you to do, get Det 3 moving fast! Level 1 deployment, I want that plane in the air in five minutes. I'm heading back now; I should be there in about forty-five. Get with Metro and coordinate the evacuation of any civilians. And have a driver with my combat gear waiting at Shinjuku Station. I'll be arriving on track four from Osaka."
"Rodger that."
Natasha heard Nene start to relay her orders as she shut her phone off. She looked over and saw that Linna was talking on her phone and Misaki while was standing at a polite distance. Good, she thought, she's got the message, I'll meet her at the station, it probably wouldn't look good for me to run down there and drag her away. But she knew she had to let Linna know she was going, and she didn't want to run out on her again. She trotted down to them and up to Linna.
"Uh...hi Tasha!" She stammered.
"Hey, look I know this is awkward, but I have to go, I just didn't want to run off without telling you."
"Okay." Linna whispered.
"I gotta go." Tasha said, and then turned on her heel and ran back up to the street.
Finding the nearest intersection she picked out a car that was heading in the direction she wanted and walked up to the passenger side window. She checked the door and was surprised to find it unlocked. She opened the door and sat inside than looked over to the horrified driver, an elderly male, about sixty-five, with balding hair and wrinkles all over. Great Tasha thought, Driving Mrs. Daisy. She flipped out her badge and pointed down the street.
"I'm with the ADP, police business. I'm commandeering this vehicle. I need to get to the train station now!"
The elderly man nodded and pulled away from the crosswalk.
"A little faster please, like eighty." Natasha offered with a hint of urgency.

On the way back to Tokyo she went over a few things on her Palm Pilot and called her guards, and told them to keep an eye on Linna until she got back to Tokyo. She confirmed that Yamaguchi had broken open the heavy weapons and that all the squads were so equipped. She double-checked the deployment positions, made a few adjustments and transmitted them. Only then did she rest, looking longingly out the window at nothing in particular.
She knew her parents setting her up had miffed Linna; her mom had been apologetic but her father hadn't cared, or if he did it hadn't showed. Misaki was handsome, she had to admit that, and by the way they had been talking before she left the must be getting along. She figured this is what it felt like to be jealous but she came to the conclusion that there was much more to all of this. Linna was being forced to make a very tough decision, a decision she wasn't ready to make. She knew what Linna must have been thinking, that she'd screw everything up. She knew Linna wasn't a screw up; she just had doubts.
After an agonizing forty-minute ride she exited the rail car and saw that Nene had sent a driver for her as she'd asked. She walked up to her and nodded.
"We ready?"
"Yes Ma'am, were in position but the Ministry of Defense's told us to standby, seems they want to take a whack at it first."
Tasha nodded.
"I see. Do we have a lead on the make?"
"No, but Nene is trying to access that right now, seems Genom is refusing to release the schematics."
"Figures, the bastards."
Just before they left the platform Tasha turned around and scanned the crowd in the slim hope that Linna had gotten on the train. After a few seconds she sighed sadly and turned back and left with Dawn by her side.
"Something wrong Ma'am?"
"No, I'm fine, I was just looking for somebody."
"Oh, I see. Um...your gear is in the back."
Tasha nodded again.
"Great, get us there as quick as you can."
Tasha changed on the way and when they got there she learned that the MoD was sending in two more boomers to tackle the rouge. Just as she got out of the car she could see the other two approaching from behind. She regarded the rouge combat boomer, it was huge, but for the moment was just standing there. She knew that once the MoD attacked that all that would change. She checked in with the on sight commander and learned that it was Leon.
"Leon! Everything ok?"
Leon looked back and his face betrayed the fact that he hadn't expected her to be here.
"Natasha? I thought you went out of town?"
"I did, now I'm back. I know my positions, where's everyone else?"
"Right. Det. 1 and 2 set up along the roadside. Det. 4 is assisting with the evacuation and we have Firebee's inbound."
"Heavy weapons?"
"Your people are the only ones fully equipped, the only other heavy guns are the few Gerlich's we grabbed on the way out, I think only ten."
"Tens good enough, where do you have them?"
He pointed them out and she nodded her head. Nice positioning, if you were fighting a mob.
"Ok I need you to move those three back and put them on that roof." She pointed to a building behind her past the blockade.
"And move that one over there about fifty feet to his left, he'll never get a clear shot if the boomer moves behind that building out there. As for the rest I want them to lay down a base of fire here and support the K-suits."
"You're not seriously thinking about assaulting that thing in power armor are you?" Daley interjected.
"Well if the Army blows it we'll have no other choice, at least we'll be able to pin it long enough for an air-strike."
"Say what?" Leon exploded.
"You want to call an air strike down on the city?"
Tasha threw him a steely glare.
"What else would you suggest, use harsh language? Anyway I'm sure the Knight Sabers will swoop in and save the day." She mocked.
"Right, it's about that time anyway?" Daley retorted.

Their conversation was interrupted by the sounds of missiles being launched from the two Army boomers. The rouge lurched forward but maintained its balance than slowly turned to face its attackers. While most of the ADP officers were extremely jumpy she calmly walked up to Antonio's K-suit.
"Tony! What do you think?"
The suit popped and she blinked when she saw Cpl. Hideki instead.
"I think we're fucked." He replied.
"Where's Tony?" She asked, still shocked.
"I dunno. He wasn't at muster."
"And Karl?"
"No, he wasn't there either."
"Shit! Okay, hold here and await further instructions." She breathed and pulled the K-suits canopy shut. She trotted to the command van, and throwing open the door picked up an unused headset.
"Nene! I want you to find out where the hell Tony and Karl are, and get Elise down here on the double."
"Yes ma'am."

Things were going from bad to worse. Here she was facing a military boomer she'd hadn't even heard of before, and now her best men were AWOL. Well girl, you've been learning from them for upwards of three months. Time to put your lessons to the test. She huffed, okay, calm, you must be calm. She turned to the command display and took in her positions and those of the adjacent units. Yamaguchi had placed their assets well and she allowed herself a slight smile.
"So when do we attack?" An operator pressed.
"Soon, hold fire for now, lets see if the Army can handle it. Oh, and give me a line to Misawa and Iruma Air Bases."
"Great! Those jokers couldn't fight there way out of a paper bag." The operator scoffed as he obeyed.
"Yeah I know, but it's their show, either way, we get to watch the fireworks."
"Holy shit! It changing color!" yelled a trooper off to their left.
"Great, they pissed it off." She observed and jogged to the back of one of the transporter nearby and hopped into her K-suit.
By the time she'd suited up one of the Army's boomer's had been taken down and the second was in the process of getting it's butt kicked. The rouge was just to fast, and angry. Tasha walked up to where Leon was standing and popped her cockpit.
"Looks like we're gonna have to go in after all."
"What are you nuts?"
"Hey, it's not just a job, it's an adventure." She smiled.
Daley shook his head.
"Crazy wacko." Leon muttered under his breath.
She watched as the second Army boomer toppled to the ground and the rouge began to seek out more targets. Spying a house that looked inviting it opened fire sending round after round into the structure. The building exploded sending a shower of flaming debris in all directions and covering the area in dust and smoke. She pulled her cockpit closed and sighed as a few chunks of building pranged harmlessly off the armor plate.
"OK That does it! Tell the general the Army had their shot and blew it! We're moving in!"
She looked over to her side and saw that Chief Roland was there.
"Chief?" Leon asked.
"You heard me. All units attack."
"Do we know what it's armed with yet?" Natasha demanded.
"No just that it has cannon and SAM's" Replied Daley.
"SAM's? Oh Christ!"
Just as she said that the Firebee's overhead opened fire with their mini-guns.
The chief had heard the conversation between Tasha and Delay and was already on the move.
"Firebee's pull back! Disengage now!"
But it was too late, the boomer arched it's back and everyone saw the tips of missiles push through the armor and watched in horror as they launched. The boomer then opened up with everything it had sending a shower of cannon fire and missiles in all directions. Homes, cars, all the Firebee's and a few unlucky APC's were all wasted in seconds.
"Son of a bitch! Now what?" Leon yelled.
"Our turn, that's what. Open fire." She replied, her voice unnervingly calm. As she depressed the firing stud on her suit, sending a salvo of rockets into the fight, her radio chimed.
"Romanov, go!" She answered. It was Tony.
"Hey there. What's going on?" Came his chipper voice amidst a background of subdued music.
"Where are you?" She hissed as she maneuvered off to the left, keeping the house-sized boomer squarely in her sights.
"Vegas."
"Vegas!" She all but yelled. "Goddammit Tony!" And cut the transmission off. Son of a bitch! Of all the stupid places he could have been he had to be in Nevada! The boomer reared and returned fire, luckily its aim was impeded by its rouge state but it came close.
Her radio chiming again in her ear frustrated her, she knew it was Tony calling back, probably offended that she'd hung up on him. Of course he'd be offended.
"Romanov."
"Hey shit, look, what do you want me to do?" He said, exasperated, and if she wasn't mistaken, a little concerned.
"Well there isn't much now is there." She bit, trying to control herself.
"Yeah, so, what's going on?"
"Boomer, thirty feet tall, military model, rogue, I've never seen one like this before. I've got Nene working on it. I'm assuming you've got Karl and Elise there as well."
"Yeah." He replied.
"Great." She grunted as she threw her K-suit to the right narrowly dodging a burst of cannon fire.

Off to her left a strange sound, like that of an errant missile caught her attention. A blue streak flashed past them and landed on the boomers side. It was the blue Knight Saber and it had driven its fist into the armor plate. There was a pause followed by a tremendous explosion as the Blue Saber thrusted backwards out of the blast radius. The big boomer reeled but kept it's footing as the Blue Saber back-flipped and landed some fifty feet away. Tasha scanned the skyline for the signs of a Green mech. Nothing.
The big boomer took a step side ways and it's neck extended out like a huge grotesque tentacle and headed straight for the Blue mech. Catching it in it's mouth the big boomer began thrashing her about, smacking her into building after building.
"Well, here's an update for ya. A Knight Saber showed up."
"Super." He mocked, although she could hear relief in his voice. "Which one?"
"The blue one."
"Well, you should be all right then neh?"
"Yeah, I hope. I gotta go, it's getting ugly."
"Right, um...good luck." He managed, than hung up.
She snorted, smiling inwardly. Such an ass, but sometimes he could surprise you. Turning her compete attention back into the fray she saw that the big boomer had turned the tables and that Priss was on the defensive.
"Fuck this. Det 3! LAY INTO IT!" She yelled.
At that even Leon hefted a Gerlich and started to provide covering fire.
Round after round of AP and Incendiary ammunition poured from her men and the rest of the massed troops.
"Yamaguchi! Hideki! Move your suits up and engage with missiles!"
She turned to Leon and the two other gunners near her.
"Leon, aim for the neck, lets give that monster something else to think about!"
Tasha raised her 35mm autocannon and laid off a burst hitting the boomer right in the cheek. Her fire combined with Leon's was enough to make the big boomer drop the Knight Saber and focus elsewhere.
"God! I can't believe I'm covering for a Knight Saber." Leon remarked.
"Believe it! Keep firing, try to keep it off balance, don't give it an inch!"
As the rain of lead pounded the big boomer Tasha contacted the CIC.
"Nene! Where's the specs on this thing! We're getting nowhere."
"Just a minute I've almost got it."
"Well hurry."
The big boomer by now had moved further back and had taken cover behind a building. Tasha gauged the situation, where was he going to appear from. She decided that it would attack from the left, as its right side had been chewed up and it would most likely shy away from it.
"Yamaguchi! Move Section 1 around to support 4th. I think this things gonna pop out to our left."
"Rodger that!"
Behind her and to her right she saw Section 1 begin to reposition. The Blue Knight Saber had resumed her attack but was getting nowhere fast, the armor was just to thick and it was apparent that she had no idea where the core was. Jumping up to get an over head shot the blue mech was swatted out of the air and thrown through the upper level of a nearby building only to come out the other side and wind up on the roof of the next one down. She zoomed in on the rooftop and could see that Priss was moving slowly, her armor losing power.
"Section 2! Suppressive fire! Quickly!"
"On it!" Came Hideki's reply.
"All units! Concentrate fire on the head and limbs. Keep it off balance."
All the other sections on scene relayed acknowledgment and immediately a fusillade of automatic weapons fire started to chew into the boomers exposed right flank. Feeling the hurt the boomer withdrew back, into the gun sights of Sections 4 and 1. Suddenly her radio blared to life.
"Attention all ADP units this is the CIC. The boomers core is located inside the boomer pilot, repeat, boomer pilot. Transmitting the location of the cockpit now!"
"Great. How the hell do we get at that?" Leon snorted.
As if to answer his question a green streak played across the sky. Linna! Tasha had never felt so overjoyed as she did right now. She came back, a little late, but she had come back! She watched as the Blue mech jumped sluggishly away from the boomer and ejected her power core. Catching her in mid air Linna plopped a spare battery into place and they separated just before landing. She smiled to herself, now they could do something about this boomer.
"Attention all units! Sustain your fire on the boomer; we're covering for the Knight Sabers today. Lay it on heavy boys!"
Linna and the Blue mech ducked instinctively as rounds and missiles continued to pepper the large boomer, knocking chunks off of its less armored parts, keeping its concentration focused on its own damage levels.
"We got you now." Tasha muttered, smiling grimly.

Linna swung left and took a chunk off with her ribbon cutters as Priss made full use of the covering fire and latched herself onto the back of the monster like some armor plated tick. Winding up she punched deep into the remnants of the pilots hatch, pushing through semi organic flesh and sinew. Using her body as a fulcrum she pushed her fist into the back of the pilots head and detonated her remaining knuckle bombers. The boomer howled in pain and reared up on its hind legs, which only made it a larger target. Natasha only gave the order to cease-fire after she saw the boomer shudder and its eyes go dark.
"Cease fire Cease fire. We got it!" Her voice was rich with glee.
Around her ADP officers began cheering and Leon sat back on the hood of his patrol cruiser and smiled. The Chief walked over, all but wading through the thousands of smoking shell casings and nodded to Natasha.
"Good job, Det 3 did a good job, keep it up."
"Yes Sir!" She saluted with a smile.

She looked off to her left and saw the two Knight Sabers watching from a rooftop. The blue one was holding her back in pain and Linna was looking at the scene, a few seconds later they both flew off. Tasha ordered Sections 4 and 3 to assist in the cleanup, as they hadn't been involved in any heavy combat. They would also take photos and document the area, hopefully getting in close to the boomers for a closer inspection. The rest got to go home, with Commander Sparks's approval of course. Later, after she'd poked thru the debris and than shooed off by freshly arrived military units she arrived back at the station. She showered and dressed in a fresh set of fatigues then left. She was on duty now, her vacation done and over with, but she decided not to hang around this time. She checked in with the CIC on her way out and found out that Nene had already left. She figured she'd hightailed it to the Silky Doll building. She wanted to go but part of her told her to keep her distance but the other half said that this would be a missed opportunity if she didn't.
When she arrived she saw a motorcycle parked out front and recognized it as Priss'. Better to keep on keeping this secret, especially from Tony, she didn't know how his ego would handle that one. The door was unlocked and she made her way inside. The lights to the store were all off but there was light coming from the stairwell. It was an hour after the incident and she wondered if she was doing the right thing. Then again, she hadn't done anything wrong, it wasn't like she broke in, and the door was unlocked. As she climbed higher and higher she could make out the smell of dinner, Italian, Fettuccini Alfredo to be exact, and heard muffled voices. She made her way past a richly appointed dinner room, which was empty, so she figured they were on the roof, poolside. Hesitantly she made her way to the door and saw them all sitting there at a table. Well most of them anyway, she didn't see the butler or their mechanic. The sound of someone clearing his throat behind her caused her to freeze. Putting her hands out to her sides she turned to see Henderson standing there holding a silver tray loaded with food. She chided herself for not noticing his approach.
He had an annoyed look on his face.
"May I help you?"
"Director Romanov, ADP. Linna's friend." She offered.
His expression brightened and he smiled.
"Ah yes. Linna and Nene can't seem to stop talking about you. Please wont you come outside."
"I... I mean, is it okay. I've got some things to say and well, it's just that I had, arrgh, maybe I should go." Natasha was very frustrated; she wanted to go outside but knew it wouldn't look good, besides she wasn't invited.
"Nonsense, please, I insist."
"What about Sylia? Won't she be angry?"
"Maybe, but she'll understand."
"Okay, cause I'm gonna come off kinda strong at first."
"She'll listen, but be mindful, she may not show it but she is sorry for assaulting you that day."
"Thanks, thanks for mentioning that. That's important." She said genuinely, nodding.

Henderson walked out in front of her and motioned with his head to follow. She did so and fell in behind him. As they walked up she could hear Nene finishing up her account of the evening's events and by the tone of her voice she was very pleased with herself. And well she should be, her actions had saved a lot of lives.
"Mistress Sylia, we have a visitor."
"Really? And who might that be?"
"A Natasha Romanov I believe. Director, ADP."
Both Linna and Nene froze and stared, Priss just glared. Sylia was trying to formulate a rational thought when Tasha tugged on Henderson's shirt. Why on earth did he have to use her title?
"I told you this was a bad idea." She said in low whisper.
"You let her in?"
"Yes Ma'am. I hope you don't mind?"

What was he playing at, Sylia wondered, and Tasha too. He very rarely took a liking to someone with out her knowing it. And to her recollection she had never heard mention of them meeting. Apparently he also trusted her because she knew that he'd never bring anyone dangerous near her, he loved her too much to endanger her.
"No, that's all right. Please, join us."
"For dinner." She added when Priss gave her a questioning glare.
Tasha looked quickly over at Linna and noticed she was blushing and was trying not to stare. Nene was happy, like she always was but was still surprised Sylia had said okay. Priss looked at Tasha uneasily. She still didn't know about her, every fiber of her being told her to hate her but for some small reason she was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, besides, she still had the images of her and her cohorts raid on that yakuza mansion still burned into her head. Than again, maybe for Linna's sake, she didn't know. She just nodded curtly.
"If I might ask, Miss Romanov, what brought you here?"
Natasha turned back to Sylia.
"I wanted to say a few things, about tonight."
Oh shit, here it comes Linna thought. We're dead.
"You..." Tasha began softly, looking at Priss. "Attacked government property without authorization, and engaged in combat with a Type 39 Battle Field Assault Boomer. And the only reason I know what that is, is because you..." She turned to Nene, her voice still even. "...Hacked into the JASDF mainframe located in the Ministry of Defense, a building, I remind you, that sits less than six blocks from where we work, and you..." She turned to Sylia. "...Sent them out to do it. And you..." She turned finally to Linna. "Came back."
She crossed her arms over her chest, paused and let that all sink in, than a broad smile crossed her face.
"God I'm proud of you!"
No one, not even Henderson had expected that, Nene's eyes bulged and blurted out "Oh my God!" Priss blinked a few times in amazement and nearly lost her balance when her elbow slid off the table. Sylia, quite simply, dropped her glass. Linna had covered her face expecting the worst and was now moving her hands away with a bewildered look. Henderson coughed.
"You don't believe me?" She dared with a wild smile.
"Okay, up till now you've been doing so-so, your proficiency has improved but your teamwork needed work, but tonight you apparently hit your stride because whatever you did worked, and worked well. You two..." She pointed to Nene and Priss. "Know no fear..." Priss looked at Nene as if to say 'yeah right, how' and Nene beamed, bouncing slightly in her seat. "...I mean it, what you both did took immense courage especially knowing the consequences if you failed. And Linna, you're the best support unit this team has ever had." Linna gulped. Tasha was looking right into her, and she understood immediately, she saw right thru the semantics, the cover text, she was talking about them.
Her gaze lingered a second or so longer than usual, and Linna could swear she saw her blush, ever so slightly. Tasha then turned to Sylia. "And you, have made a team out of all of them, I don't know how; truth be told I would never have put together a mix like this, and well, quite frankly it blows my mind." She looked over the group, pointing at all in turn. "And yes, I know you all think I have an ulterior motive, and I do." That was leveled at Priss and Sylia, as was her next statement.
"I know that some people here are rather pig headed and at best stubborn, and just the tad bit closed minded, myself among them. However one thing separates us, and that's a martial background, and the training to use it. Every fiber of my being says that I will not back down, I will not surrender, and I will not compromise. Yet my training tells me that the path to victory is dependant on flexibility, and compromise. I'm a soldier, and I trust my training, even though it feels otherwise, and my training tells me to offer a cease-fire. Hopefully a truce, and..." Tasha looked up towards the sky and crossed her fingers "Oh God please." She looked back down. "A joint support agreement."
Linna and Nene looked at Sylia hopefully, Priss' jaw dropped and she shook her head, unable, or unwilling to believe she'd just heard that. Sylia was likewise stunned.
Tasha took a step forward, her combat gear making only the slightest of noise and extended her hand.
"Please. I'm not above asking for help when I need it." She explained earnestly.
Sylia looked around the table; Linna and Nene were in, Priss looked dubious but willing to see where this lead to, she, on the other hand, had begun to earn a kind of respect for the woman, so young, even though, technically, she was two years older than she was. If there was a way to get protection, legitimacy and one big fat gorilla off your back, this was it.
She stood and took her hand and clasped down.
"Truce."
Tasha returned her grip pound for pound.
"Truce."
Linna couldn't help but be moved. Looking at these two women, one whom she respected and looked up to, Sylia, and the other whom she loved and admired. It wasn't the UN, but the event felt even greater than that. Sylia's technical know how, all of them, and her seemingly endless cash flow coupled with Tasha's experience and martial prowess, not to mention Karl, Tony and all of Detachment 3's, made for one hell of a powerhouse.
Sylia motioned toward the table.
"We were talking about tonight's events as well and were about to start dinner. Please, join us."
For the first time since that phone call Tasha relaxed. Her shoulder sagged slightly as if a burden had been removed.
"Thank you." She smiled as she sat.
Sylia sat in turn and turned to Linna.
"So, Linna, how was your trip?"
Linna lowered her head and played with her food.
"I dunno, I guess it set my parameters straight."
She looked over to Tasha real fast and smiled.
Tasha almost leapt for joy but maintained her bearing although it took her a minute to stop smiling. She felt giddy, a feeling she'd never felt before but had heard a lot about. Regaining her wits about herself she straightened up and rejoined the rest of the table.
"You girls did do well out there tonight." Sylia said to Linna and Priss.
"Yup, that one was pretty tough." Priss breathed.
"Yeah, no kidding." Linna added.
"Have you ever seen anything like that before?"
Tasha looked up from her food and realized that Linna had just addressed her.
"Nope, that was a first for me."
"You gonna tell Col. Davidson?"
"I don't know, I'll have to see if it would be considered espionage first. I can see the headlines now "ADP cop spies for the US military." Great publicity." She said sarcastically. Nene giggled, as did Linna.
"So, were you leading the ground troops tonight?" Sylia asked.
Tasha blushed, she felt conflicted, on the one hand she enjoyed the attention, modesty aside, and on the other she didn't want to be the focus of the conversation.
"My unit had tactical command, if that's what you mean?"
"Well, not exactly. I'm just curious as to why the change in ADP tactics, normally you shoot at my girls at every chance you get."
"Well, Det 3 is under strict orders not to engage in hostilities toward your girls or your organization. The 18th maintains four combat platoons. I can't speak on their doctrine, but mine is well known. And as far as I can tell the other Det's are following our lead, in that regard."
"I see." Sylia replied, she nodded and smiled.
"That being the case, I thank you."
"Yeah! Third heard really knocked the stuffing out of that boomer." Nene exalted.
Tasha laughed, as did Linna. Clearing her throat Tasha looked at Priss. She decided to extend an olive branch.
"Speaking of which, Priss, That kill shot, that was really something."
"Thanks." Her remark carried no emotion and her face remained a mask of defiance.
"You're welcome." Tasha remarked with a smile. Priss seemed disarmed by that and declined to answer back. Natasha looked around and gauged the people sitting at the table, it seemed that the only people that really had a problem that she was there was Priss, and now, to a lesser extent Sylia. Those were the ones that still needed convincing, despite everything. She took a final bite of food, which by all accounts was fantastic and set her fork on the table and her napkin beside it.
"I really enjoyed the dinner Mr. Henderson, it was fabulous."
He nodded and Tasha turned to Sylia.
"But, I really feeling like I'm intruding so, if you'll excuse me. Um, Sylia, can I speak to you in private, just for a moment?"
Sylia paused, than set her napkin aside and stood.
"Yes, of course, follow me." She said as she walked past her towards the lounge.
Sylia turned on the lights and brandished a flask of bourbon and held out some glasses. Tasha took one and Sylia poured.
"Please, go on."
"Right, um, about that report I sent you. Well, I just want to say sorry if it came of as, well, caustic. I...I was still very angry when I wrote it."
"I see."
"I just want you to know that I feel very strongly about Linna's safety. She's a good kid, and I'd hate to see her hurt."
Sylia nodded and took a drink.
"I understand, and I feel the same, for all the girls."
"I see. Well, that's good to hear. And the offer I made still stands. Your group has unbelievable potential, and being the efficiency obsessed person I am, well, I'd hate to see that potential wasted."
Sylia nodded and smiled.
Natasha stood and set her glass down.
"Thank you for the meal and hospitality but, I really must leave."
Sylia nodded. She watched as Tasha made her way to the door.
"Natasha." She said, and Tasha turned.
"I want to say thank you, for rescuing Linna. I did read your report, and we all saw the footage. I have a better understanding of you and your men because of it. And, I will admit that there was sufficient food for thought; again, thank you."
Tasha nodded and smiled.
"Any time."

Henderson followed her to let her out and when they were in the elevator he noticed that she was hanging her head in thought and her smile had long since faded.
"What seems to be troubling you milady?"
"Huh? Who me?"
"Yes, milady."
"Mr. Henderson you're very sweet and I appreciate you letting me in, and I know you're just being kind, but to be honest I don't know how to articulate what I'm feeling right now. I need time to think."
"I see. You know it is refreshing to see that some people are still honest with themselves, sometimes I wish more were like you."
Tasha turned her head toward him slightly and caught him gaze upward as he finished his statement.
"Thank you Mr. Henderson."
"For what madam?"
"For understanding."
"You're welcome milady."

Mr. Henderson walked her to the door and opened it for her. Before she walked out she turned to him.
"Mr. Henderson. May I ask you a question?"
"Yes, of course."
"Why did you let me in, you could have told me to leave."
"Would you have?"
"Well; yes."
"That's why I let you in. I see that you are honest and honorable, two traits uncommon in today's day and age."
Tasha looked a little skeptical and smiled wanly.
"How do you really know I'm honest and honorable? I could just be a talented actor."
"I don't think so, from what I've heard honest and honorable suit you just fine."
Tasha was curious now and her expression betrayed that. Mr. Henderson smiled.
"Nene and Linna talk about you often, much to Priss's and Sylia's chagrin might I add. I'm not suggesting that they dislike you, but they need time to understand you, time that Linna and Nene have had. Besides, mistress Yamazaki's face lights up at the very mention of your name, I fear she's quite fond of you."
"You think so?"
"Yes milady, I do."
"Yeah, well, I'm kinda fond of her myself. Well, thank you, I needed that."
"You're quite welcome. Please, do have a good night."
"I will thanks."
Tasha waved as he closed the door and made her way to her car and drove home.

Around ten o'clock her cell phone rang. Stretching from a semi reclined position on the couch she snatched the phone up and let herself fall back into the sofa.
"Romanov here."
"Hi Tasha, it's me Linna."
"Oh hi! What's going on, you ok?" Tasha replied happily and rolled onto her chest her legs crossing at the ankles.
"Yeah, I'm fine, what about you, was anyone hurt?"
"Uh huh. We lost a few Firebee pilots; we still don't know what the civilian casualty count is. The MoD clamped a lid down on the whole thing, complete lockdown."
"Wow, that bad huh? I guess they don't want egg on their faces."
"To late for that, but at least they can save some face, I understand their position, the people need to be able to trust in the people that protect them."
"God you're more of an idealist than I am." Linna laughed.
Tasha laughed too, her statement did carry an air of idealism in it. But that's not what she meant. She paused and decided to ask the sixty thousand dollar question.
"Linna I'm really happy you came back."
For a moment there was no reply from the other side.
"Linna?"
"I'm here. Say, do you mind if come over and talk to you about this instead?"
Tasha pushed herself up and sat Indian style.
"Um...how bout if I come over there?"
On the other end Linna smiled and sighed. She'd have to wait some more before Tasha would let her see her place she guessed. She understood, or rather in her minds eye believed, that she still wanted some place where she could be alone, where no one would bother her.

Some time later Linna opened the door for her friend and they embraced in needy passion.
"Some night huh?" Linna flushed as she released her grip.
"Yeah, it sure was."
She watched as Linna sat beckoning her to sit next to her, but she paused, blushing, but immobile.
"Something wrong?"
"Yeah, kinda?"
"Kinda?"
Tasha shifted her weight uneasily from foot to foot.
"I want to say I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"The other night."
"The bath?"
"Yeah."
"Well, don't, that was all my fault, I pushed to hard and I shouldn't have. The last thing I want you do to do is compromise yourself for anyone, especially me. I promise I won't do that again, okay?"
"Okay." Tasha smiled and took Linna's outstretched hand allowing herself to be pulled down onto the couch next to her.
"Now stop apologizing for the stupid shit I did and kiss me before I pop!"
Tasha laughed softly and blushed.
"I don't deserve you, you know that don't you?" She said with a smile.
"Yeah, well, I could say the same about you, but here we are, none-the-less."
Tasha craned her neck up a tick and Linna was there to meet her lips, eager, and full of passion. She followed thru by sitting on her knees and putting her hands around her, moaning softly as they indulged.

Giggled gleefully Linna slid off her lap and onto the couch next to her.
"You're staying the night." Linna informed. Resting her head on her shoulder.
"I know."
"In my bed."
Tasha gave her a pleading glance.
"Look it goes like this, if you sleep on the couch I'm sleeping on the couch with you, so you might as well sleep in the bed."
Tasha paused, not sure how to answer.
"Hey, it's fine, I won't try anything. I didn't when we were at my parents didn't I?"
"No, you didn't, but you also fell asleep before I did."
"And I woke up three times to use the bathroom, so? Look, the mansion gave me a healthy respect for what you must feel being close to me, you had it really rough, and, now I understand why it's hard for you; I felt helpless, and scared and I never felt so awful in my life. I won't try anything, I promise, but I'm also not gonna let you out of arms reach either."
"Fair enough." Tasha said, and felt bolstered by the fact that she meant it.

They snuggled under the covers and made out for a little, but Linna stuck to her word, and Tasha for the first time, felt completely at ease next to her. When she woke the next afternoon she would recall that it was the longest and most relaxing sleep of her life, she didn't even have nightmares.

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