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The Bubblegum Crisis Center > Extras > Fan Fiction

Instrumantatum Vocalle 2040 - To Hell In a Hand Basket - Part 1

Written by Christopher J Turley

The shades to Natasha's apartment opened at exactly six in the AM. As the shafts of light played across the room Linna stirred.
"Morning already?" She yawned.
"Sorry, I should've turned that off." Tasha apologized.
"Damn straight." Linna laughed lazily as she buried her head under her pillow.
Swinging her legs out of bed, Tasha padded over to the controls and shut the blinds than watched as Linna extricated her head from under the pillow, nestling contentedly back atop it, promptly falling back to sleep. Tucking her back in, and wiped some errant hair from her face, Tasha kissed her lightly on the cheek, eliciting a cute giggle. Silently she made her way to the living room and set about picking up errant pieces of wrapping paper and empty glasses of Eggnog from the night prior. Returning from the kitchen she sat down on the couch, massaging her temples. She hadn't wanted to bring it up, about Galatea. Linna seemed satisfied that everything would be all right once she'd seen her at the airport. What she hadn't mentioned was that when Linna had visited her at the HiC the day prior, was that she'd just finished up a one hundred page report to the CIA, Pentagon and Joint Chiefs, regarding what she had learned on Sulla, and from her. She had allowed herself to think of other things for the last twelve hours but without fail, her thoughts would drift back to what Linna had told her about Mason, Sylia, and Galatea. She needed more information, and more over, answers. Something big was on the horizon, and if it involved Brian J. Mason, it couldn't be good. Oblivious to the fact that she hadn't a lick of clothing on, she walked back into her room to get her laptop and as she turned to walk back out, noticed Linna, still asleep, pawing at the empty space where she had been laying. She laughed silently and put the laptop down, than slipped back into bed and into Linna's arms.
'I'm here.' She whispered as Linna wrapped her arms around her. 'I won't leave you.'

During breakfast after both girls had taken a long, badly needed, shower, Tasha's fidgeting finally drew Linna's attention.
"Something wrong?"
"Huh, oh, sorry." Tasha smiled.
"Tell me." Linna pressed gently.
"It's about Sulla, and what you told me when I got back."
"Oh." Linna said, visibly relieved, she'd thought that maybe Tasha had been having reservations about last night. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Actually yes, there is."
"What?" Linna asked.
"If she's feeling better, I need to talk to Sylia, her dad oversaw the Voomer project, and I'm hoping she can answer some questions."
Linna smiled, and here she thought that it had all gone in one ear and out the other.
"Why didn't you ask earlier?"
"Well, it seemed that you had other things on your mind." Tasha snorted.
Linna nodded.
"Can't argue with that."
"Besides, and don't take this the wrong way, but those few days, well, I needed them as much as you did. I needed time to think."
"About us?" Linna asked.
"Yes, that, but also about what happened up there." Tasha said, pointing upwards with her thumb.
"Oh, you're gonna tell me about it right?"
"Sure, of course I will. But not now." She smiled back.
"Figures." Linna snorted in turn.
"Hey, you know me, I'm not gonna start spouting off until I have something to spout about."
"So; that being said..." Linna replied. "What do you have?"
"A lot of questions, and it seems that only your fearless leader has the answers."
"Well duh! You can tell me a little can't you?"
"Well, yeah, but I don't want to scare you or anything."
"I'm twenty years old Tasha, I think I can handle it." Linna remarked.
Tasha eyed her, than smiled.
"Okay."
She told her about what Dr, Kilenack had said, about the Vastitium, and the unique properties it possessed, and about their thoughts about how it could be controlled. Without a word Linna stood and went to her day bag and withdrew her Navi.
"You calling Sylia?" Tasha asked.
"Yup. And you were right, this is scary."

Tasha waited for the call to conclude. She could easily have called her herself, or popped by the Silky Doll. More often than not, if a problem involved the ADP or other some such matter within their jurisdiction she would just have Nene pass it along. But with Linna calling, Sylia would know it was either personnel or otherwise critical.
"So, I mean, what are you gonna talk about? Aside from the obvious." Linna asked after she confirmed that Sylia could meet her.
"That's pretty much it, that's really what's been on my mind of late. If I get the answers I need from Sylia I'll be able to finish my report. I've already included what you told me."
"You did?"
"Don't worry, the names have been changed to protect the guilty." She laughed.
"So that's what you were doing when I came over, and last night before bed."
"Uh huh."
"How long?" Linna asked, she knew her girlfriend's reports were legendary in their length.
"One hundred pages so far, if I get all my questions answered it'll add another fifty."
"I'd hate to be the people that have to read it." She joked.
"Yeah, me too, but I always put a two page summery in front, the rest is just there to back my assessment up."
"Okay." Linna laughed, than pointed to the breadbasket. "Can you pass the bread please?" She smiled, rolling her eyes playfully.

The next few days were quiet, almost too quiet. Boomer incidents had dropped off sharply and that fact didn't make Natasha feel any better. Like the calm before the storm, she mused. Pulling up to the Silky Doll she made her way inside with her laptop and folder. This was her third visit in as many days. She nodded to Mr. Henderson as she walked past him upstairs, and then at Mackie as she passed him in the hall.
"Hi Tasha. How're you doing?"
"Not bad kiddo, your sister upstairs?"
"Yeah, she's taking a swim."
"Thanks."
"Oh, um...she has some more information for you."
"Excellent, thanks a lot, and thanks for your help too, I know what a pain it can be to dig up all this stuff."
"It's easy, when Nene helps." He smiled.
Jogging the last few steps up to the penthouse she set her computer and papers down and walked outside. Sylia was floating on her back, lazily propelling herself across the pool. Wispy tendrils of steam wafted off the water into the cool air.
"Hey there. How's it going?"
Sylia noticed her and breast stroked to the side of the pool.
"Fine. And you?"
"Not bad, I was able to look over that last batch you gave me."
"Anything interesting?"
"All of it really, but only a third of it was relevant to the situation. Mackie says that you have more?"
"Yes, over there on the bar." Sylia said as she pulled herself from the water. "Can you hand me my robe?"
"Yes Mistress Sylia." Tasha replied, quoting Mr. Henderson, accent and all.
Sylia smiled in sarcastic gratitude and stifled a slight laugh as she made he way to the bar.
"Something to drink?"
"Yes, please, whisky, if you have it."
Sylia poured for both then rose her glass.
"To better days."
"To better days." Tasha replied.
"So, how're the suits coming along?" Tasha asked. Tony had pushed and pushed and pushed to get her to call Sylia up to see if she would be willing to add jump jets to their new, more ridged, suits of body armor. Their original contact hadn't been able to solve the problem of safety and reliability, and since he'd seen footage of the Knight Sabers prancing around bouncing all over creation, he'd put two and two together. But really Tasha was asking about the girls HARDsuits.
"Which ones?"
"Yours, but if you have anything on the guys suits, I'll be glad to pass it along."
Sylia smiled, she was a smooth one.
"So far only one suit is near completion. Linna's"
"Oh great! She'll be tickled pink!" Tasha smiled.
"Yes, I'm sure she will. Nigel's been working overtime on hers, and the others."
"I can understand that."
"Here's the data." Sylia said, changing the subject some, as she slid the disk over the polished granite bar top.
"It has the information you asked for yesterday, as well as the schematics for your new armor."
"Schematics? I thought we were only grafting jump packs to them?"
"Yes, but in order to get it to work right we had to remodel the entire suit. Nigel came up with it, I suspect he's been wanting to do something like this for quite a while."
"Do what?" Tasha asked, noting Sylia's 'Cheshire Cat' grin.
"Build a male HARDsuit."
Tasha swallowed and had to fight the urge to both hug Sylia and slam the disk into her laptop and bring up the file.
"Th...Thanks. I...wow, they, the guys will be real happy."
Sylia smiled, maybe not that smooth, she mused.
"They're not finished as yet, Nigel has some final touches he need to finish."
"No problem." Tasha nodded enthusiastically, she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially after Sylia had told her, in no uncertain terms that, yes, while they would see about the modifications, that the technology behind the HARDsuits was strictly off limits.
"You mind if I ask you a question?" Tasha said.
"Please."
"Why the change of heart? Regarding the transfer of technology."
Sylia paused, choosing her words carefully.
"You. You were the change of heart."
"Me?" Tasha couldn't believe her ears.
"Yes, and the information you brought to the table regarding the Vastitium. You didn't have to tell me that, that, and all the other reports you had Nene forward. I also realize, now, that two heads are better than one, and that I can't do it alone."
Tasha nodded.
"I have a favor to ask of you now." Sylia said, swirling her cup absent-mindedly.
"Shoot."
"I'm really bad at giving praise, especially to the people who deserve it. But I'd like you to, just in case I don't, let Linna know that what she said the other day, before Galatea was released, about trust and loyalty, struck home; and that I appreciate it, and her, for everything."
"I think you're saying that already by having her new suit the first one off the rack, but yes, I'll tell her, if you don't." Tasha laughed, putting emphasis on the word 'if'.
"I brought you something, a belated Christmas present of sorts." Tasha said as she retrieved the manila folder she'd brought with her, and slid it over.
"What's this?"
"It's the proof for my book."
"Instrumenataum Vocalle?"
"Yeah, I sent a copy to an editor in the states. Keith, our resident embed, his cousin works at Berkley Books in New York."
"Well, I'm glad you finished it, how long did it take?"
"A year plus, I started it before I went Palace Chase."
"Huh?"
"Sorry, before I joined the Reserves." Tasha laughed.
"Have you shown Linna?"
"Yeah, actually I have, she's been reading it nonstop, she's almost half way done."
"Hmm, interesting." Sylia mused. "She's not the report reading type."
"Yeah, I'd noticed that." Tasha laughed.
"Shall I let Nene and Priss read this as well."
"That'd be great, and if Priss gives you any guff just tell her that I listen to her music, it's only fair she read my book."
Sylia found herself laughing and nodded in turn as Tasha stood to leave.
"I've got to run, and look this information over." She said, sliding the disk into her jacket pocket.
You know?" Tasha said as Sylia walked her to the door. "I just noticed that this was the first time we've had a real conversation that didn't completely involve business."
Sylia nodded and smiled.
"Yes, yes it was."

Natasha patted Nene on the shoulder in a sisterly fashion as she sat by Mackie. She'd gone to check on, and thank, Nigel for everything he'd done regarding the HARDsuits, and since Mackie had needed a lift to K's she obliged. Their conversation drifted towards the Sotai and the Great Kanto Quake, Tasha could tell that they'd been down this road before, while she was still on Sulla, but to her the topic was new. Linna had told her that both Mackie and Sylia had been all but laid out by Galatea, Sylia had recovered faster, although she was experiencing severe, almost debilitating headaches of late. She was putting up a good fight and Tasha was moved, that despite her pain, that Sylia was able to meet her over the last few days. Mackie had fared worse and Nene and Nigel had maintained a watchful vigil over him until her could move about, in fact, based on what Nene had filled in, she was sitting on the very bed Mackie had been on. As she silently listened she gained a lot more information about the Sotai Phenomena thanks to Nigel. A lot of questions she hadn't thought to ask were answered and this new information, coupled with what she had learned on Sulla, and gathered from Sylia was coming together to form the big picture. Nene seemed horrified that Genom had caused the Second Kanto Quake and looked to Natasha to gauge her reaction, surprisingly, she didn't seem bothered by it at all.
"How can you stand there and not be upset." Nene blurted.
"Because I agree with Nigel, and with Genom on this point."
"What!"
"I'm a soldier Nene, I look at things differently. If what Nigel said is true, and I have no reason to doubt it, then Genom initiating the quake was the right thing to do. The only thing in this situation that I can fault them for is proceeding with an experiment within the city without understanding the consequences."
"How can you say that? Thousands of people died!"
"Yes, and even more would've if the Sotai hadn't been stopped. It's just like WWII. When the United States bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
Nigel nodded but Nene shook her head.
"That was different, that was a war!"
"No, it's no different. If those bombs hadn't been dropped the US would've had to invade just like they did in Normandy. Hundreds of thousands of American troops would've been lost as well as ten times that number in Japanese. The Imperial Navy was already using kamikaze attacks, and the Imperial Army had conscripted every able-bodied civilian and had them lining the beaches with pitchforks. We had to use the bomb, it was the only way to convince the Emperor to surrender and avoid invasion, and that saved millions of lives."
Nene paused in thought, playing the numbers in her head. When she looked back up at Natasha she had understanding on her face along with the resignation that came with it. She turned back to Mackie, who shrugged.

Across town at the Hot Legs bar, Linna was in a heated argument with Priss.
"Look, I don't know about you, but I'm not giving up. This is too important to just quit!" She huffed. Priss was about to reply when they noticed Leon.
"Hey." He nodded.
"Hey." Priss said back.
Linna walked up to him and grabbed his collar and pulled him over.
"Good, I'm glad you're here. Maybe you can talk some sense into her." She bit, pointing at Priss.
"Woah, easy Linna. Don't drag me into the middle of this, whatever it is."
"She wants to quit! She's giving up!" Linna accused.
"You little bitch!" Priss snapped and took a step towards her. Linna followed suit and the next thing Leon knew they were nose to nose.
"What! You don't like me calling it like it is?"
"You're so full of it!" Priss huffed, turning her back.
"Oh really, well prove me wrong! So Sylia didn't tell us what was down there; who cares! We're a team."
"Sometimes teams break up." Priss sighed.
Linna blinked incredulously.
"You're impossible." She snorted as she turned to walk out. She stopped in her tracks and looked back.
"I'm not giving up, but you can do what you want, it's up to you. Seeya Leon, and I'm sorry you had to see what a BIG BABY SHE IS!" She finished as she stormed outside.
"Dumb bitch." Priss huffed as she tossed a rag to the ground and kicked it indignantly.
"I don't think you mean that." Leon said softly. "She's your friend, and she cares for you."
"Yeah, and who told you that?"
"Natasha did, after Linna told her."
Priss grumbled.
"She's not the only one." Leon said.
"Only one what?"
"That cares about you."
Priss turned around and noticed he was scratching the back of his neck, blushing slightly.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"God, you really are impossible. Do I have to spell it out?"
"No." Priss relented.
"Good, cause I'm real bad at that sort of thing." Leon admitted.
"You want to go for a ride?" Priss asked, gathering up her jacket and motorcycle helmet.
Leon nodded.

Back at Nigel's Natasha's phone rang. It was Linna, and she sounded miffed. Linna wanted to know if she would like to get dinner and of course she said yes.
After their dinner they decided to take a walk, it was risky, but Tasha had had enough of being cooped up indoors.
"You sounded angry on the phone."
"Sorry, it's just that Priss pisses me off. She wants to give it up, she's thinking about leaving the Knight Sabers."
"Oh, so I take it you two had words."
"To say the least." Linna sighed.
"Well, it's her call, not yours. No use beating yourself up about it."
"Nene and Mackie are doing all right by the way." Tasha continued, leaning up against a streetlight as they waited for the cross walk to say WALK. "I saw him today at Sylia's' and gave him a ride to K's. I didn't want to believe you when you said he was a voomer, but there it is, plain as day."
Linna nodded.
"Yeah, it was a shock. But I trust Sylia, she wouldn't have him around if he was dangerous, besides, he's a nice guy, a bit on the young side, but nice."
Tasha smiled, pushing off the light post, and patted Linna on the back.
"Which reminds me!" Linna said, dread in her voice. "I totally forgot about it, I mean after, you know, you left that day. C...Can Galatea, you know, hurt you?"
"Hurt? Maybe. Control? No. Mackie got knocked out cause he's the same as she is I figure. I'm made differently, more biosynthetic parts." Tasha laughed. "Sometimes it pays to be obsolete."
Linna blinked, uncomfortable at how Tasha had just referred to herself.
"Do you have to talk about yourself like that?"
"Does it make you uncomfortable?"
"Yes, very."
"Sorry, I won't do it again but now you know how I feel when you call yourself a screw up." Tasha winked.
Linna snorted than smiled.
"Point made Miss Teacher."
"Good, so, lets window-shop." Tasha said, pointing down the strip.
They walked and chatted; pointing at clothing and personal electronics when suddenly Linna felt woozy and started to stagger. Tasha had her hands on her shoulders immediately.
"Linna! You all right?" She asked as Linna cried out, images flooding her mind, and fell into her grasp, shivering.
"Why? Why am I seeing these things?"
Tasha knew she was seeing the same things now, a little girl screaming, a lab, betrayal, and pain. Linna sunk to her knees, curled up against her, grasping her jacket.
"I'm here sweetie, I'm right here." Tasha soothed, holding her head to her chest. Beneath the folds of Tasha's shirt and jacket her pendant started to glow.
"Get...get out of my mind dammit! Get out of my mind!" Linna cried as the Sylia's image flickered across her consciousness. Suddenly as quick as it had come, the visions were gone. Linna looked up into Natasha's eyes.
"I'm scared Tasha."
"Me too. Do you want me to take you to the Silky Doll?"
Linna nodded.
They pulled up to the Silky Doll, screeching the tires as Tasha brought the Corvette to a halt just shy of the main entrance. As they ran up the steps a bright light approached, than passed them. Priss brought her motorcycle right up to the door.
Linna ran over.
"Priss! Did you see it too?"
"Yeah, come on, we've got to go see Sylia. Hey Tasha, you too huh?"
"Yeah, me too." Tasha nodded, noting that Priss seemed rather peeved.
Stepping out of the elevator they noticed Sylia lying on the couch. Nene was already there as was Mackie and Mr. Henderson.
"What happened to her?" Linna asked, running over.
"Mr. Henderson said she just collapsed." Nene informed.
"Christ, she was fine when I left a few hours ago." Tasha chimed in as she walked over behind Linna and Priss. Linna leaned down just as a green glow appeared on Sylia's chest.
"Priss, you see that?"
"What's the hell?"
"Tasha...?" Linna asked, turning than noticed a bluish purple glow from underneath Tasha's shirt.
"Holy shit! Tasha! Your pendant!"
The light from Sylia's chest grew in intensity followed in turn by the light from Tasha's pendant.

"Sir! We're seeing a marketed increase in the Sotai Phenomena." A technician said as Mr. Mason entered the shielded bunker deep below Genom tower.
"Fine fine, bring up the elevator."
'Impetuous child' he huffed. 'Playing with her powers again.' The elevator deposited him onto a landing and he waited until the 'catwalk' initialized. It wasn't a physical structure, as it was too risky to connect the 'habitat' to the rest of the tower. Instead it was an invisible energy field. Galatea was sitting on her bed, a look of frustration on her face, her eyes glowing bright green, which cast an emerald hue throughout the room.
"She's fighting me." She snarled.
"Who, who's fighting you?" Mason asked but Galatea wasn't listening.

Suddenly Tasha doubled over, using Linna's back as a support, gritting her teeth, clutching the pendant with her other hand. She closed her eyes.
"Tasha too?" Priss blinked. "What the hell is going on?"
"It's the Sotai." Mackie offered. "They, she and Tasha, they're fighting."
"What? How?" Linna demanded.
"I don't know."
Tasha's eyes flew open, and yelled thru clenched teeth.

Mason stood back as Galatea screamed.
"What's going on?" He demanded, clicking the intercom.
"We don't know, something seems to be blocking the effect, wait, no, it's redirecting it."
"Where!"
"Back to the source."

"Oh no you don't you little brat!" Tasha hissed, closing her eyes in concentration. Galatea was resisting, trying to force her essence upon both Sylia and herself. The pendant was shielding her, the pure Vastitium resisting the Sotai, and was interfering with the Sotai's effect on Sylia, Tasha gritted her teeth; if she could focus she might just sever the link. There was a dull popping sound followed by a barely visible shock wave, like ripples in water extending in all directions in front of her, throwing her backwards, past Mr. Henderson, onto the sofa behind with a thud. Mason's head whirled around when he heard a similar pop echoing throughout the chamber as Galatea screamed and flew back over the bed and into the wall.

In two quick steps Linna was beside Natasha.
"Oh shit! Are you all right?"
Holding her hand to her head her eyes opened as she shook her head to clear her mind. Still very much in pain she blinked a few times.
"Oww!" She said, still sprawled over the couch.
"What happened?" Both Linna and Priss parroted, Linna in concern, Priss in disbelief.
Nene was half way out of her seat when she noticed that the green glow from Sylia's chest was disappearing.
"Hey guys, over here!"
Linna extended her arm to help Tasha to her feet but she waved it away as she rubbed her head.
Check on Sylia, I'll be fine."
"You sure?" Linna asked.
"Yeah, I just need a second to clear my head."
Linna nodded and followed Priss back to Sylia's side.
"Tasha broke the link." Mackie said.
"From whom?" Linna asked.
"The Sotai, one of the prototypes that was created at the same time I was." Mackie explained. "She's confined, and is looking for a way out."
"But I don't get it, how is she connected to Sylia?" Linna wondered aloud.
"It's an artificial life form, Sylia's father used her like a lab rat and grew it inside her head." Nene added.
"Inside her head?" Linna gasped softly.
"Yes, and that's where I was grown as well." Mackie said.
"In any case, that's the link." Nene bit.
"Hey, she moved." Priss noted.
Sylia stirred and pushed herself up. Linna was on her feet instantly.
"Sylia, don't move. Mr. Henderson! She's awake!"
Mr. Henderson brought out a flask of cool water and helped her drink.
"Are you sure you don't want me to call the doctor?" He asked.
"No, besides, how would I explain this?" Sylia sighed. "But I am feeling better."
"Thank God." Nene replied.
"I'm sorry to worry you, especially since you all seem to have seen the same memories."
Sylia looked around the room and was startled to notice Tasha sitting beside Linna, still rubbing her head absent-mindedly.
"Yes, we all saw it so vividly." Linna remarked softly, squeezing Tasha's hand. "How could that happen? It was like..."
"We were all dreaming wide awake." Priss finished for her. "But with your dreams." She looked at Sylia.
"Do those dreams mean we're all connected together psychically somehow?" Nene asked. "I mean, it can't be a coincidence, so it has to do with being Knight Sabers, right?"
"No, it's not a coincidence, and in the end it was probably inevitable." Sylia sighed. "I know that Priss has suspected this for some time now, but I think I should tell you, there was a team of Knight Sabers before you."
Tasha nodded, with her access to the ADP database she knew about them, even if the news and other sources had covered it up, it seemed that even the ADP had covered it up, most likely at the behest of Genom, but there had been hard copies, and other back ups, and Daley, he'd told her about them months ago. She'd kept it secret, not exactly sure what it meant, she supposed she was going to get her answer now. Sylia told her story, and while the others still seemed confused she understood perfectly.
"I realized that a HARDsuit needs more than a body to fill it, it needs a compatible mind." Sylia finished.
"The suits are boomers aren't they?" Priss huffed.
"So the HARDsuit allows the human mind to control a boomers strength and agility." Nene quipped. "But... that means."
"Yes, I know, and I'm sorry." Sylia interrupted. "I used only cores that I knew were safe, and limited the power to protect the wearer."
Tasha shook her head, part of her was annoyed that Sylia had been as shortsighted as Genom, but it passed, hindsight was 20/20, and it hadn't been until a few days ago that they had learned that no matter how well made a Vastitium core was made, it still possessed the ability to go rogue. On the other hand, she was relieved that this conversation had taken all the focus off her impromptu flying lesson.
"Can I ask you a question?" Linna said. "Was there a reason you only recruited only women?"
"Well, I'm a woman, and I designed the first suit for me, it just made sense to recruit women, it made the suits easier and faster to build for people with physics and abilities like mine."
"Hold on a minute, neither Nene or I are built like that." Linna noted. Maybe Tasha is, she mused, but us, no way.
"That's right, although the differences are really minor. What I learned was that I needed more than a body." Sylia said, standing and walking towards Nene, Linna, and Tasha and stopped, standing in front of Nene, and leaned over until she was nose to nose.
"What I needed, Nene dear, was someone with whom I share a very special physical compatibility."
Nene backpedaled and all but crawled over the couch away from her.
"Hold on a minute, just what are you saying!" She blurted. "I mean I like you and all that, but, but I'm not curious that way, not they way I think you and Linna are."
"Oh thanks a lot!" Linna blushed. Tasha snickered softly as Nene pouted.
"Let me try and explain, the suit not only reacts to your movements, but taps into your synapses to anticipate you next move." Mackie said. "But for that to occur you brain has to subconsciously allow the suit to enter your mind."
Tasha sat forward a bit. "May I add something?"
"Sure, go ahead." Sylia and Mackie nodded.
"Thanks." Tasha nodded. "When we were on Sulla, I found out that the material used in the original voomer core, Vastitium, possess a memory quality, Sylia, you know about this, so do you Linna, so bear with me if I sound like I'm repeating myself. Vastitium could be molded, much like steel or aluminum, but left alone long enough and it would revert to its base state. Dr. Stingray found out that the material could be kept in a particular form but it had to be taught. Hence the first core was created inside a human." She looked at Sylia, than back at the group. "Once the first sample was formatted it was only a matter of time before it could be mass produced that way. The problem was that the original sample was nearly pure, which made it unstable, Mackie, since you were the second prototype, they had figured out that issue and were able to take steps, still, the instability remains, in so much as that you have higher cognitive functions. However, since it's not good business practice to market something sentient Genom diluted the samples further, which is what you see in voomers now. Anyhow, since the original sample was created inside a human brain, it links with a human brain very easily. Control, my second point, is another matter. What you said about the brain needing to subconsciously allow the suit to merge is right on the money." Tasha said, looking at Mackie, than to Sylia. "But what you didn't, couldn't, know at the time was that a certain mindset will prevent a person from joining. You chose a martial artist, and a soldier, both of whom live their lives by strict code of discipline. They couldn't merge with the suit because they saw the suit as a tool, nothing more; they felt as much emotional connection to the suits as I do to my pistols. It was your inexperience and lack of any formal training..." She looked to Linna, Nene, and Priss in turn. "That allowed you to accept the suit. That and other factors, Nene you love machines and computers, so naturally you are able to relate with them better, Linna, your mind is always open to new things, and Priss, well, no offence, but it was your anger that allowed you to connect because the suit was a vehicle in which to vent it."
Nene and Linna nodded, it made sense to them, but Priss sat brooding, glaring at Sylia.
"How can you sit there and say that any of us mean anything to you. I used to think that your money was worth putting up with your games. You knew how I felt about boomers and you still lied to me you bitch!"
"I know how you feel about boomers Priss." Sylia began. "But I thought that once you knew what my goals where..."
"Spare me your GODDAMN explanations!" Priss exploded, shooting to her feet, her fists clenched her eyes wild with rage.
"I'm outta here. Bye Linna, Tash." She huffed, picking up her helmet than made for the door.
"Dammit Priss! Wait!" Linna called after her, but it was to late. Tasha put her hand on her shoulder and shook her head.
"She needs to deal with this in her own way." She said softly.
"Mackie? Can you call Nigel and tell him we'll need three new HARDsuits." Sylia asked.
Mackie nodded and Nene cringed.
"But are they still boomers?" She asked.
"YES! And if you don't like it you can quit!" Sylia bit. "I'll do it all by myself if I have to!"
"Sylia." Tasha said evenly, halting her tirade in mid-sentence. "Don't think for one minute that we won't help you in this, but don't you dare yell at Linna and Nene! You chose to keep the truth from them; you have to live with that. You have no reason what so ever to take it out on them if they have reservations."
Sylia glared at Natasha and her gaze was met pound for pound.
"You have a lot of nerve..." Sylia began.
"And you have a lot to learn about leadership Sylia." Tasha interrupted. "This isn't the military, nor the ADP, your team are volunteers in the truest sense of the word. They follow you because they believe in you, and you have to make sure that they can, even if it means compromise, and the sharing of information. Believe me, I had to learn that lesson myself; I'm still learning it. You can't make people trust you, you have to earn that, and blowing up on two loyal friends is a long step in the wrong direction."
Sylia took a deep breath and nodded.
"You're right. And, I'm sorry." She admitted, and looked at Linna and Nene.
"I'm sorry."
Nene smiled.
"It's okay, I'm still with you.
"Me too, I'm a Knight Saber remember?" Linna added.

Linna walked down the street, she'd just renewed her fashion magazine subscription and was looking for a new ensemble, every now and then she'd see an outfit that she'd like to see Tasha show off and would tap the top corner of the page, digitally dog-earing it. She was looking at a particularly nice pair of slacks and jacket when the mutated visage of a rogue voomer erupted from the open pages. Her eyes flew open and she yelped in surprise, backpedaling as she flung the magazine to the ground. A few passersby noticed and gave her odd looks.
"Holy shit!" She muttered. "What the hell was that?"
As she reached down to pick her property back up her question was answered. In her mind she heard, or felt, she couldn't be sure which, both Nene and Natasha. They were in trouble, big trouble. Stuffing the magazine into her day bag she hailed a cab.
'But how could they be in trouble? They're at the ADP building. It might be New Years Eve, but it's still manned.' She wondered, as the cab made it's way to the Silky Doll.

On the roof of the High Caliber one of the guards paused as he blew into his hands, producing a cloud of condensation. He checked his watch, and grumbled; 2000 hours, two more until his shift ended. It was a cold night, but luckily the wind was light and it wasn't snowing. Over the sounds of the city he heard a faint yet distinct popping. Gunfire? He brought his field glasses up and scanned the horizon. As he looked north his jaw dropped.
"Hey! Senji! Get over here!"
Senji walked over at a trot, more to keep warm than out of any urgency.
"What?"
"Take a look at this."
Senji took the glasses and looked in the direction his compatriot was pointing.
What he saw almost took his breath away. There was smoke and flame from the ADP building and a few RAH-66 Comanche gunships in UN regalia were buzzing around it like angry hornets, pumping fire into the building every now and then.
"What the fuck? Why is the UN shooting up the ADP building?"
"Hell if I know." He said as he keyed his headset. "Crown Four to Control!"
"Control, Crown Four, go ahead over."
"Can you get Big G up here. It's important."
"Roger that."

Bobo or 'Gatekeeper' fastened his trench coat as he stepped onto the roof. His men called him Big G, mainly because he was. At well over 6 foot, with a baldhead and broad shoulders he liked to think of himself as Big, Black, and Bad. "What a positively frigid night," he snorted.
"What've you got?" He intoned, his deep voice resonating through the din of the street below.
Crown 4 handed him the glasses and pointed out over the city.
"The ADP building looks like it's under attack."
That got his attention and he swiftly took the glasses and brought them to his face. He scanned the scene for a few minutes and satisfied that it wasn't a stunt, or filming in progress he handed the field glasses back.
"Gatekeeper to Key 1; come in."
Below, in the warmth of his room Tony was selecting what he would wear for the New Years party due to kick off in less than four hours. His room intercom chirruped and he heard Bobo's voice. Sighing he walked over and tapped the 2-way button.
"This better be good." He huffed sarcastically, he knew that if Bobo called him directly that something was up; he just hoped it wasn't an other patron throwing up in the planter again.
"It is. I think you need to come to the roof, and if Key 2 is around, bring him too."
Key 2, Karl, was lounging on the couch reading the latest issue of the Du Pont Registry, happily circling new finds.
"Hey, Bobo needs us on the roof, says it's important."
Karl nodded and set the magazine down, and reaching under the coffee table, withdrew an assault rifle and two bulletproof vests. He tossed one to Tony as they made their way to the stairwell.
Shivering against the icy air they walked over to Bobo and the two roof guards, their feet crunching the snow with each step. As they approached Bobo held the field glasses out to Tony, having taken them back from Crown 4 a few seconds earlier.
"Over there, the ADP building."
"Oh, what did Tasha do this time, drape a big 'Happy New Year' sign from the roof?" he joked as he focused. Karl saw him blink as a thin smile crossed his face.
"It's on." He said, handing the glasses to Karl.
Karl whistled softly as he took in the sight.
"I'll say. I'll get our stuff."
"Bobo." Tony said as Karl trotted downstairs. "Have the Huey pre-flighted and ready for dust off in..." He checked his watch. "Ten minutes."

The Huey, his Huey, was only one of a few new additions to their arsenal of democracy. A few months back, while Tasha had been fulfilling her Reservist obligations at Camp Zama Tony, with Karl and a few HiC security members in tow had flown down to Thailand to see about picking up some aircraft to replace the Aero-Pato lost in the Corner Club raid, as well as to offset the apparent refusal from the 'Tower' to allocate, or even allow, air support to Detachment 3. Tasha had gotten a line on an old Thai Air Force OV-10D-NOS Bronco as well as two antiquated UH-1N Huey Gunships. The night prior to the buy, Tony had been restless and had decided to augment his spending allowance by entering himself into a local blood sport competition. He'd won, having taken as many licks as he'd received and had almost tripled his available cash. He'd even called Tasha to see if she wanted to get in on it. The next day, at an old US Air Base that had been handed over to the Thai government sometime in the late 2020's, he and Karl's eyes had lit up. Sitting on the overgrown flight line, next to the dilapidated aircraft he'd been sent to pick up were the instantly recognizable airframes of two old Army AH-64D Apache helicopters. Despite the fact that they had small woodland creatures residing inside almost every nook and cranny he'd bought them up in what was clearly an impulse buy, and had carted them home with the rest of the loot. They had needed a lot of work, all the aircraft had. They'd been slated to pick them up almost three weeks ago but the blowing of the West Genom Bridge and the fallout from that had prevented them from leaving Tokyo. It hadn't been until the UN had showed up that they'd been able to retrieve the choppers, The OV-10 had had to stay, as there was no room left in the hanger for it.

"What's the status on our rescue teams?" General Fairweather asked, not two steps out of his staff car. Colonel Tabbot saluted and fell in next to him as they all but ran to the ad hoc command post set up in the intersection.
"We've sent in six teams, we've lost contact with two of them, the other four report stiffening resistance but they're getting our people out."
General Fairweather nodded as they entered the relative warmth of the command truck.
"Get Romanov in here."
"Sir." Colonel Tabbot's reflected his feelings of worry and his boss picked up on it immediately.
"Out with it Harold." He said, gruffly.
"Sir, Director Romanov is still inside."
"Jesus Tabbot! You let her go in!"
Col. Harold Tabbot bristled as he shook his head.
"No sir, she never made it out in the first place."
"Oh God!" General Fairweather sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
What a damn shame, she was a fine officer, dedicated too.
"She was in the CIC finishing up some reports when it started." Colonel Tabbot continued. "If I may sir, I don't think we should give up hope just yet, a few survivors say that they saw some officers head towards the roof before they were cut off."
General Fairweather nodded.
"I'll need to talk to Nick and Commander Sparks."
"Sir, Commander Sparks is on his way, but Chief Roland is..." Colonel Tabbot's voice trailed off.
"Trapped inside as well?" General Fairweather finished. "What a mess. What a God damned mess. She was right you know." He said, pointing at his aide. "She nailed it right on the head."
"Yes sir, she was at that." And I didn't believe her either, good thing she was persistent, or this would be a real mess.
As General and Colonel rallied the troops, dispatched runners and solidified the cordon around the area the unmistakable thwupa-thwupa of a UH-1 Iroquois caught his attention. Even over the unremitting high pitched wail of the Comanche's rotors he could pick out the distinct rotor slap of the older, venerable Huey.

Tony hopped off the skid before the Huey had even touched down and trotted over to Colonel. Tabbot who'd made his way over to greet him.
"Evening Colonel."
"Captain." Colonel Tabbot replied, using his military rank.
"What's going on?" Tony asked.
"Well, apparently an hour ago all the boomers in the evidence lockers decided to come alive."
"Wonderful." Tony quipped.
"Yeah, my thought exactly."
"So, where do you need us?" Tony asked, pointing to himself and Karl as he trotted over.
Colonel Tabbot looked over his shoulder at a group of UN troops, German he noted, trotting towards the building.
"Well, we've got the Krauts heading in now, they're heading to the fifth floor, and we've got a Marine platoon about to head in, can you link up with them and get them to the 7th?"
"Sure thing, where are they staged?"

After being briefed and setting up the order of battle, Karl and Tony, with ten Marine shock troops moved out and into the building. As they entered the upper-level parking garage they saw a detachment of Australian and British Marines lagered behind the overturned wrecks of ADP squad cars and troop transporters, Two USMC K-17's were providing overwatch, covering the bay door to the motor pool and the stairwell into the building proper as a few stragglers were led from the building, more than a few as walking wounded.

"So, where are we goin?" Karl asked.
"Seventh floor."
"I know that. How?" Karl scoffed.
"Stairwell, elevators are probably death traps right now."
Karl nodded.
Tony pushed forward at a subdued trot towards the stairwell, no use getting winded before the shooting starts he mused.
"Okay boys, remember, no communications outside of line-of-sight. Whatever those boomers are doing in there is causing a heap of jamming." Tony recapped.
Bounding up the flight of stairs they burst out onto the 6th floor landing, Tony covered high with Karl taking low; three other Marines took up positions nearby, with the other nine at the ready.
As they moved up they could hear automatic weapons fire on the floor above, lots of it.
"Shit! I guess we better check it out." Tony said, rolling his eyes.
As they poked their heads out the 6th floor landing they saw an under strength platoon of British and German MP's slowly moving back as they dragged their wounded away from a veritable horde of shambling boomers.
"That's a lot of boomers." Karl noted as he switched his weapon from burst to full auto.
Tony called the Marine sergeant to him.
"Detail half your men to assist here, I'll take the rest up to seven."
The sergeant nodded curtly and gathered his squad.
Further up they heard more weapons fire accompanied by heavy weapons. The 7th floor hallway was in the process of being flooded by boomers much like the 5th and a group of about ten Marines with two ADP K-11's were doing their best to stem the tide. Bounding up to them the Marines added their fire to the melee.
"Any survivors up here?" Tony asked the Marine lieutenant, yelling over the fire.
"No, just us!"
"Well, lets get the flock out of here!"
"Roger that!"
Tony tapped a Marine next to him.
"Get down to six and tell them to keep the stairwell open, we're coming down, and see if you can't get some ammo run up here, we're gonna need it!"
The runner returned way to fast for good news.
"Sir! Six has been overrun!" His statement was punctuated by the sight of four Marines behind him firing wildly into the stairwell as they backed up it. One of the K-suits stepped back from the fight.
"Dammit! I'm Winchester!"
Fuck! Tony cursed to himself, out of ammo, they could have used that big gun a little longer. He turned back to the young soldier.
"Run up the eight and see if that's clear."
"Lieutenant!" He yelled. "We're cut off, we need to move up!"
Karl looked over as he replaced his third clip of the day. He made his way over to Tony, being careful not to slip on the huge amount of spent brass that was accumulating around them.
"Going up?"
"Yup."

The runner returned, almost slipping as he skidded to a halt.
"Eight is clear!" He panted.
"Okay ladies, lets move!"
As the Marines and K-suits hurried up the stairs Tony and Karl started setting charges along the walls, hopefully this would by them time. Tossing the detonator to Karl as they hit the eighth floor landing Tony grabbed the four grenades he had and pulled the pins. "On three!" He called, counted, than chucked them down the stairs.
Karl waited until they'd clattered to the bottom than clicked the button. A fiery rush of debris and smoke billowed from the doorway and was followed by the screeching of collapsing metal framing as the stairwell collapsed in on itself. A series of hollow booms signified that the grenades had gone off.
"Post a rear guard here!" Karl yelled to the LT as Tony waved him over.
"What's up?" Karl asked.
"The CIC's on this floor; lets see if the Queen needs us."
The blast doors to the CIC were shut tight and, as Karl punched in his code key to no avail, locked.
"What's up?" Tony asked as he walked up behind Karl.
"No power."
Tony nodded.
"You, in the K-suit, over here."
The K-suit plodded over and Tony backed him into the doorway alcove.
"Lets see if we can't hotwire this thing." He said.
"Hmm, I dunno, this isn't like Tasha, if there were boomers to whack she'd still be here." Karl replied.
"Sir! Over here!"
Tony looked over at one of the Marines at the far end of the corridor. He trotted over to him and saw he was pointing to an open elevator shaft, the doors held open by spent clips wedged under the sliders.
"Guess they went up."

Across town Linna was pacing nervously as Sylia and Mackie watched as Nigel continued to work on their HARDsuits. The door of to their left opened and Priss ran over.
"About time." Linna quipped.
"Ok, someone tell me what the hell is going on." Priss replied.
"Nene and Natasha are trapped inside the ADP tower." Sylia informed. "All the rogue boomers have revived."
"Okay, so how do we contact Nene?" Priss asked.
"We can't, none of the phone line are working." Linna said.
"Well what about that secure phone Tasha gave you?"
"I already tried that, I can't get thru."
"So what are we doing here!?" Priss yelled. "Why aren't you trying to rescue her?"
"What are we supposed to do without our HARDsuits?" Linna bit back, she was as worried, if not more.
"Screw your HARDsuits!"
"Oh yeah? It's not like we're your friends or sisters is it!" Linna shot back.
"What about the Motoslave?"
"You can't use that without a HARDsuit." Mackie said incredulously.
"So what, it's a motorcycle. Do it Nigel!"
As Nigel went to rig the Motoslave Priss stared blankly at the wall.
"Okay, maybe a step-sister." She remarked surprising herself by her admission of concern.
Linna smiled warmly, knowingly.
A half hour later Nigel had finished the modifications and Priss straddled the monster motorcycle. Linna backpedaled and covered her ears as Priss spun the tires creating a cloud of Firestone smoke and sped out onto the street.
"We can't just sit here." Linna whined.
Sylia nodded.
As Priss flew down the streets, dodging traffic, she saw the ADP building looming in the distance. She immediately noticed an attack chopper, one of those, what had Linna called them, Comanche's, strafing the side of the building about ten floors up.

"SON OF A BITCH! I'M ON YOUR SIDE!" Tony yelled as he threw himself to the floor as 20mm rounds slammed into the desks and filing cabinets around him. Grabbing a long ream of perforated printer paper he swung it wildly above his head as he pushed himself to his feet. The chopper ceased its attack and hovered closer.
"Identify yourself!"
"It's Tony, Captain Mythos! Patch me thru to the TOC!"

Below, in the Tactical Operations Center, Colonel Tabbot passed a receiver to General Fairweather.
"Sir, it's Captain Mythos, he's on ten."
"Give it to me." He said, taking the phone. "Tony! What's going on up there?"
"We're cut off, can you get us off on the helipad?"
"Negative, it's fouled, can you get to the top level of the radio tower? We're pulling people off that way."
"I guess I have no other choice, unless you want me to BASE jump out the window?"
General Fairweather allowed himself a slight smile.
"I'd rather you didn't, get your men up topside and we'll get you out that way."
"Gotcha."

Priss screeched to a halt as a throng of people and vehicles blocked her way, most were passersby's that had decided to rubberneck at the conflagration going on. A few ambulances maneuvered their way thru the crowd and roared off, their sirens blaring as she pushed forward until she came to a barricade. Fuck! She swore; the ADP and UN had blocked off the road and beyond she could see a large assortment of military vehicles with soldiers running around in coordinated chaos.
'Priss." It was Sylia's voice on her helmet intercom.
"Go."
"The area is sealed off."
No shit, Priss thought.
"We're heading to a intersection a few blocks from here, the ADP has helicopters landing there." Sylia continued.
"On my way." She huffed, cursing a blue streak as she maneuvered her way back out of the crowd.

As Tony stepped from what had been an office Karl trotted up to him.
"We have Tasha sign." He smiled.
"Huh?"
Karl responded by holding up his fingers in a 'V' sign with a pair of spent 10g. shotgun shells over each finger.
"Must be heading to the roof. The pad is fouled, we gotta go up too."

As they entered the radio mast Tony was greeted by three gun barrels to his head.
A young CIC operator sighed in relief and lowered her gun, helping him up onto the catwalk.
"Where's the boss." He asked.
"Up there, level twelve, she's with the Chief."
"Okay, we're the last of it, hustle your ass on up, we'll cover down here."
The operator didn't need to be told twice and was immediately on the ladder up to the next level. The other two guns belonged to an office weenie, Human Resources by her name plate, and a German MP. Tony motioned for her to beat feet as well as he started directing traffic up. A low rumbling from below shook the tower.
"Everyone move!" He bellowed, than started to scale the ladder himself.
They had made it three levels when the floor at the bottom of the tower buckled and gave as a mass of semi-gelatinous metal oozed upwards. Two Marines at the bottom of the stack clutched the ladder as its lower supports were torn from their mountings. Suddenly a mass of metallic tentacles burst forth, grabbing them. Tony and Karl looked on in shock as one of the Marines hollered an obscenity and pulled the pin on his last grenade as he was pulled into the mass. There was a dull whump and the metal that had enveloped him burst open like a ripe bloody pimple, showering them in blood and gore.
"Holy shit!" Karl yelped.
"Semper Fi buddy." Tony said softly.

Daley, a good four city blocks away from the ADP building shielded his eyes as a van pulled up to the intersection. He was behind an ADP troop transporter away from the noise of the landing zone on the other side.
"What the?"
"Do you need help?" Sylia purred, her voice altered by a small sub-vocalizer affixed to her collar.
"What? Wait-a-minute! You, you're the Knight Sabers!"
"Are we looking a gift horse in the mouth?" Linna added playfully.
Daley scowled.
"Hi Linna." He said.
Sylia turned to her companion and blinked incredulously.
"What?" Linna shrugged. "You think Tasha was the only one who knew?"
Sylia rubbed her temples; she should've expected this, given the amount of time she spent at the HiC and the ADP building. Well, at least this ADP officer hadn't said anything about it.
All three shielded their eyes as an aerodyne touched down and disgorged its cargo.
"Come on." Daley said, motioning with his hand for them to follow.
They waited until some twenty people, ADP officers and UN military, most wounded, all terrified, yet relieved, debarked and passed them. Linna recognized one of them, one of the CIC operators she'd seen on her many visits.
"Excuse me?"
The young shell-shocked girl turned toward her as Linna walked up; she smelled like blood, urine and cordite.
"Have you seen Natasha?"
The girl nodded but was hustled away by arriving paramedics before she could say anything. Linna felt like throwing up, not at the smell, but at the thought of whatever it was that had made the girl so scared she'd wet herself. Daley tapped her on the shoulder, snapping her out of it and she all but leapt into the chopper.
"You okay?" Sylia asked.
"That girl, she, Jesus, I don't even want to think about it."
"I'm sure your friend is fine." Sylia offered.
Linna nodded absent-mindedly, than laughed slightly to herself, poor Sylia, she had no idea how far their relation had gotten, she sure as hell didn't know that they'd slept together. She'd surely flip out when she found out.

In the radio tower of the ADP headquarters Chief Roland was giving a verbal kick in the pants to his building engineer.
"I don't care what license you have or don't have, DO IT!"
The engineer nodded and continued his work.
"Tasha!" He called above him, a few seconds later Tasha in tattered ADP Class A's appeared at the roof air vent.
"Chief?"
"How many left up there?"
"Our Huey is picking up eight right now, that'll leave twenty! Including us!" She yelled. Nick nodded. Her uniform was haggard and stained in blood and hydraulic fluid and her sports bra was visible beneath a large gash in her shirt. She turned back; shielding her eyes as the Huey dusted off with is cargo aboard. Nene, sporting a uniform in better condition, if only slightly, trotted over; her assault rifle slung over her shoulder. She had a worried look on her face.
"Tasha, we're gonna be okay right?"
"Sure kiddo, they haven't built a voomer yet that can kill us." She smiled, her confidence was infectious and Nene beamed back, her fears, for the time being, assuaged. The building shook violently and the fear returned as they both struggled to keep from being thrown to the ground.
"Everybody to the roof!" Nick Roland yelled. "How long!" He demanded, looking over the engineers shoulder.
"Chief, we gotta go." Karl said as he approached.
"Get yourselves up there. If we can't get this working none of us are gonna make it out of here."
Karl nodded and joined Tony at the ladder.
"Are we having fun yet?" He mocked.
Tony only snorted as he started up.

Linna hed her face pressed up against the window as the aerodyne approached the ADP building.
"Sylia! Look!" She exclaimed, pointing.
She could see people on the roof, some waving their arms wildly. Below them she saw the building skin undulate and buckle, than turn a sickly red as the voomers within fused with the outer shell. Linna was mute as reddish tendrils scaled the side of the building, moving upwards. We're not going to make it. A large section of the building pushed outwards and began to mutate, Linna watched in horror as the pulsating mass took on the un-godly shape of a face, complete with steel I-Beams as teeth.
"Oh you're fucking kidding me!" She blurted amidst shocked blinks. The face gave a thunderous roar as Daley banked away from the grisly visage.

"General Fairweather!" A captain outside the TOC yelled.
He was pointing up at the building when his commanding officer and Colonel Tabbot pushed outside.
"Mother of God!" He exclaimed, almost rubbing his eyes in disbelief.
"You're orders sir?" This from Colonel Tabbot, who up until this point had thought himself ready to handle any circumstance battle could throw at him. There was a series of dull booms from within the building followed by a loud hissing. The face bellowed in rage, it's maw wide open. It seemed as if everything went into slow motion. The face froze, and a cloud of bluish white vapor cascaded from its mouth like a cobalt torrent of vomitus mass and flowed down the building as the tower itself frosted over. A plume of vapor erupted from the roof vent enveloping it in a fine, billowing mist.

"NOOOOOOO!" Linna cried helplessly, her arm outstretched in terror, as Natasha and the people and on the roof were instantly obscured by the cloud of vapor. Sylia had to haul her back inside as Daley banked the chopper hard to the right. Agonizing seconds ticked by before the mist dissipated and Daley could bring the aerodyne to a hover over the roof. Playing the spotlight over the ruins all that they could see was ice and frost encrusted steel and framework. Linna was white knuckled as she grasped the windowsill, her eyes wide in fear as she surveyed the rooftop for movement.
"There!" She yelled, startling Sylia. "Over there, I saw something move!"
Sylia focused and Daley maneuvered the beam of light to where Linna had indicated. From underneath a catwalk a figure crawled out, followed by another, and than another. On the opposite end of the roof more figures revealed themselves. Daley edged in closer and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the Chief first, than Tony and Natasha, followed by the others, all waving at the aerodyne. Nene was a bit more enthusiastic, hopping up and down excitedly.

Priss was leaning on the parked motoslave, grumbling angrily as the aerodyne returned. She'd been two minutes; TWO MINUTES late and they'd taken off without her. They could've waited. Her frustration and dour mood was shattered the second she saw that everyone she cared for had exited the chopper. Nene saw her standing there and ran up to her, throwing her arms around her waist, weeping uncontrollably. Priss spread her arms out and looked down at her friend. Her surprised look gave way to a warm smile and she put her hands on her shoulders.
"I was so scared!" Nene sobbed.
Linna noticed and nudged Tasha's elbow, than pointed to the two with a nod.
Tasha smiled at the scene. She didn't blame her one bit. She'd offered all the support she could inside the tower, but she wasn't Priss, she was her boss. Sometimes one just needed the reassurance of a good friend, and those two had been thru hell and high water as a team long before she donned ADP white. Tasha noticed Leon pull up on his Harley. He made his way over with a miffed look.
"What's with the face?" Tasha asked.
"Shit, what do you think? Biggest boomer incident in the city and I get stuck on the street babysitting the TOC. At least Daley here knew where the chopper jocks would be."
"Really, what did General Fairweather have you doing?"
"You name it. I got there after Tony and Karl went in with the Marines so Tabbot put me in the 'Box' with him."
The "Box" was the moniker for the communications and control van, all units linked thru that to update the commanders on what was going on, as well as to receive guidance and orders in a well orchestrated electronic over watch. Tasha had been in the "Box" before, it might be detached, but it was never the less, vital.
"Well, don't feel bad, Priss feels the same way, she missed it too." She noted, pointing at them, Nene was still hugging her.
"Uh oh!" Linna said playfully. "Looks like you've got competition."
Leon regarded her, she had one arm wrapped around Tasha's waist and was nestled against her side. Tasha had her hand on her shoulder and looked like hell. His eyes narrowed in chagrin as he flushed slightly.
"That's not funny." He deadpanned, which only made Linna giggle and Tasha smile. Taking his arm, Natasha gently turned him around and gave him a gentle push on the back.
"Well, get over there and say hi. That's an order."
Leon flushed again but smiled this time, giving her a two-fingered salute before he walked over to Priss and her blonde haired case of static cling.

Linna nestled closer to Tasha under the blanket offered by the paramedics, sharing her warmth as Natasha nursed a cup of hot cocoa.
"I'm gonna have to head back soon babe." She said.
Linna nodded.
"I know." Linna sighed; remembering a similar incident, except it was Tasha who had offered comfort to her. As if on cue a UN jeep rolled up and a runner made his way thru the survivors looking for someone. Hearing her name Tasha raised her hand and he trotted over.
"Ma'am. The General needs you and the Chief back at the TOC."
"Okay, the Chief's over there, by the ambulances, I'll be waiting in the jeep."
"Yes ma'am." He saluted and trotted off.
Linna walked with her over to the vehicle and stood by the door as Tasha sat.
"Are you going to go back into it?" Linna asked, meaning the ADP building.
"Probably not. There's not much point now." She sighed.
Linna nodded morosely.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?" Tasha replied.
"For not being there."
"It's okay, actually, I'm glad you weren't."
Linna thought back to the poor CIC operator she'd seen earlier and pursed her lips. The Chief walked up and Tasha hopped into the back to give him the front seat.
"Be careful." Linna said as the jeep pulled away. Tasha threw her a loving salute and smiled back at her.

When she returned to the TOC the city was in the throes of chaos, the ADP building hadn't been the only site effected and plumes of thick dark smoke could be seen, illuminated from the lights of the city and fires below.
"Tasha, what do you make of the situation?" General Fairweather asked, dispensing with the formality of greeting. She nodded and took a look at the situation map in the middle of the vehicle and the feeds from the probe-bots already deployed. The streets were filling with vehicles and people trying to escape the madness surrounding them, rooftops were filled as private helipads attempted to evacuate the desperate and terrified citizens. She felt her heart break as thru one screen she could see some fifty people fighting over six spaces on a landed helicopter.
"Where are our military choppers?" Tasha asked finally, referring to the large transport birds used by the American military throughout Japan.
"So far only those from near Tokyo have been deployed. We're having a hard time getting the word out to the other cities." Colonel Tabbot informed.
"Runners?" Tasha replied, still looking at the situation map.
"On the way." Tabbot nodded, looking over at his boss quizzically.
General Fairweather all but sighed and looked to Colonel Davidson, her direct superior; he nodded in understanding and walked over to her resting his hand on her shoulder, and spoke softly.
"Tasha, I know you are doing your best here, the General needs to know from you what do you think will happen with these boomers. Colonel Tabbot and his staff have already sent for reinforcements and evacuation equipment."
Tasha blushed, fully aware of her faux pas. She was not in command, General Fairweather was, and she had all but stepped up on his toes.
"I'm sorry sir, I was out of line."
"Understandable. Now, what can you tell us about this mess we are in." He replied.
She nodded.
"This is coming from the Tower, I'm going to have to give a bit of a back story here." She said looking at General Fairweather. He nodded, urging her to go on.
"Thank you." She continued. "Eight years ago the first voomer was made using a rare off world material called Vastitium..."
She outlined the cause, and now effect, is as much detail as she could while still keeping it short and sweet. Colonel Davidson came to her defense with copies of the report she had turned into him on the twenty-seventh. He had only read the summery, and had skimmed some of the supporting information, he knew that it would take some time for them to read over it, time they didn't have. He watched as Tasha finished her history lesson and moved on.
"What I suggest now is to slow them down as best we can, get as many people out as fast as we can and cordon off the areas with highest voomer concentrations. But, we're going to have to make sure we have a way out for our troops because they will be cut off within twelve hours as the rest of the city folds."
Tasha looked at the map and pointed to their location.
"We'll probably have to relocate as well, I figure this position will be overrun within four hours tops."
The evacuation of Tokyo would go down in history as the largest of its kind under fire. JASDF, USAF, USN, and USMC aircrews labored without sleep throughout the night and on into the next day. Rescue teams from the nearby cities as well as a generous gesture of five cargo aircraft from Korea helped move the populace to safe zones and refugee camps that had been hastily erected. The streets were in utter chaos, with everyday voomers plodding alongside fused vehicles.
Tasha aided in the dispatch effort as she and the command staff leapfrogged from command post to command post. The AH-64D Apaches that Tony had picked up were a great help, and for the first time in her career she had seen anti tank weaponry employed to stem the flow of voomers thru the street, it was a string of firsts, initially the Apaches would strafe targets, covering cargo choppers pulling people off the roofs of buildings that looked more and more like beleaguered islands amongst a sea of rogue machines. Shortly afterwards she was directing Navy fighters off of the USS Ronald Reagan into bomb runs over the streets wiping out scores of voomers with every lethal pass. Natasha realized that this was the first time since 1945 that American warplanes had bombed a Japanese city, and that thought alone was sobering. The UNADP had set up a cordon ringing the city, guarded by Armored Divisions of both the US and JSDF. The JSDF was having a hard time of it, most of their soldiers had been killed in their barracks as their military machines turned on them, and now there were at least sixty of those large thirty-foot battle boomers tearing up portions of the city. Tony and Karl had flown all over the city assisting the rescue efforts as best they could, and like her, three days into the fight, were frazzled, worn, and exhausted. She insisted they rest, but they turned it down, digging their heels in against the constant flood. Colonel Davidson suggested that she too get rest, but for the same reasons that Tony and Karl had cited would not allow it. There was too much to be done, and so little time to do it in.
During a lull as she rubbed her eyes she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up she saw her boss, Colonel Davidson, with a steaming cup of coffee.
"Got a little sleep I see?"
"Huh? N..no sir, I was going over the rescue plan for this afternoon."
"You were sleeping Major, and I'm glad you were, you need to be alert. Here."
He handed her the mug and she took it, blushing ashamedly, sleeping, on duty, how could she, how dare she. He noticed and pulled a fold up chair over and sat.
"Tasha, has it ever occurred to you that you're of no good to the effort if you're exhausted?"
"Yes sir, I know sir, but I..."
"Stop." He interrupted softly. "You need to slow down. We're going to move the command post to the Reagan tomorrow, they've already taken over most of the dispatch schedule."
Tasha looked around her and could see that some of the equipment had already been packed up for transit. She blinked; the radios and plotting boards were all in use the last time she checked, not more than five minutes ago.
"How long was I asleep?"
"An hour, hour and a half tops. I made sure nobody woke you."
"Thank you sir."
"You're welcome, now look, I want you to take a day pass and get some rest okay, than report to Narita for your flight to the Reagan. This is non-negotiable, not open to interpretation or any huff or guff. You're off duty for the next twenty-four hours. And don't give you're puppy dog eyes. I'm way to old to fall for that."
Tasha laughed slightly and blushed.
"Okay, I'll still be on call right?"
"You don't quit do you? Yes you'll be on call, but don't hold your breath for one. Now finish up your coffee so I can get my mug back." He smiled.

"Well, how'd it go?" General Fairweather asked as Colonel Davidson entered his tent.
"I ordered her to get some rest, she will."
"Good, good. You've a fine soldier Greg. Wish we had more like her."
"Yes sir, thank you sir."
"To bad she isn't a Marine, then she'd be perfect." General Fairweather smiled. Greg Davidson laughed; he couldn't help it. Leave it to an old Marine salt to make cracks about Army pukes in a situation like this.

Borrowing an Army HMMVW Tasha made her way towards the Silky Doll; it was close to what was left of ADP building, but that part of Ginza had yet to be overrun. She was relieved at that; Nigel still needed to finish the suits. It also meant that Linna, Nene and the others were still safe, although Priss had gone off the reservation after Sylia explained how their suits truly functioned despite her returning earlier when the ADP building had been consumed. Pulling into the underground garage she backed the jeep into a parking slot instinctively. That was the first thing they taught you about vehicles in the military, always have the nose out in case you have to move on short notice. Hefting her duffle she rang the buzzer on the service door. She buzzed again after a few minutes and was rewarded by the squawk box clicking to life a minute or so later.
"Yes?" It was Henderson.
"It's Tasha, may I come in?"

Upstairs Sylia greeted her as Linna glomped her from behind, almost throwing her off balance. Sylia and Nene giggled at the show of affection while Linna swung around in front of her and hugged her tightly.
"I missed you." She whispered into her ear.
When Linna finally let go Nene hugged her as well. Sylia shook her hand.
"How's it going out there?" Nene asked.
"Not good." Tasha admitted "I'm only off for a day, Greg all but booted me out of the TOC."
Linna looked at Sylia with expectant eyes and Sylia nodded.
"You're more than welcome to spend the night, I'll have Henderson make up a guest room for you."
"Thank you, I appreciate it." Tasha said, yawning unintentionally. "Sorry, I guess I did need a break." She laughed.
Later that night, after dinner and the girls had gone to bed Nigel walked into the computer room. Sylia was sitting at her terminal, watching the Sotai Phenomena as it spread inexorably throughout the city.
"Can I help you Nigel?" She asked.
"I need Tasha's data to load into her suit, it's finished, and so are the ones for Tony and Karl."
"Excellent, and the others?" Sylia was pleased, it had taken him almost no time at all to make the new male HARDsuits, gender biased motivation she mused, that and the challenge of making something new.
"Linna's is all but done, so is Nene's and yours."
"And Priss'?"
"Last."
"I understand." It made sense, since she wasn't here it was better to get the suits ready for the accounted members. Still, Sylia hoped she'd come back; she usually did, regardless of her outbursts. As Sylia pulled Tasha's data down she noticed an interesting anomaly.
"Nigel, what do you make of this?"
Nigel walked over.
"Data transfer is a bit high." He deadpanned.
It took a few more minutes of analysis until they both paused, and looked at each other.
"Oh great." Nigel huffed and lit a cigarette.
Sylia however was shocked. All this time, in her own home, and she didn't even know.
"We need to proceeded carefully." Sylia finally said. "Fetch an Anti Boomer Rifle from the armory please."
Nigel nodded, he didn't like it, but he understood the precaution.
"You sure about this?" He asked.
"Yes, you might need it."
"I meant the approach, not the weapon."
"I have no other choice, now do I Nigel."

Linna woke with a start. It took her a second or two to realize the cause was a knock on the door.
"Linna, are you decent?"
She looked at herself and sighed, recognizing Sylia's voice.
"Just a minute."
She reached for her shirt and had barely gotten it on when the door opened. Sylia walked in and froze.
"Oops, I guess not."
She threw her a cold gaze, why'd she have to be so pushy all the time?
"Sorry to interrupt but I need to talk to you about something. Um...by the way, where's Natasha? I can't find her anywhere."
Linna hesitated.
"Why, what's wrong?"
She noticed that behind Sylia stood Nigel. That was odd. Beside her, in bed, Tasha stirred. She could feel her arm wrap around her waist underneath the covers. Glancing down quickly she noticed that she was still asleep.
"Well, nothing. It's just that; I'm sorry Linna, but this is hard for me, Nigel and I have found some information about her and we were looking for her. That's all."
Linna snorted, boy that was a load of shit if she'd ever heard it. Three months ago that would have worked and she'd have believed it too. Now, well, she was wiser, if not a little more skeptical.
"Is that why he's armed?"
Sylia looked back at Nigel. Being the rugged type he had balanced the Anti Boomer Rifle he was carrying over his shoulder. Sylia looked back and nodded.
"Yes."
"Why?" Linna bit back.
"Because, we think, we think that there may be more to her than she may have led you to believe."
"Really." She responded contemptuously.
Linna looked past Sylia at Nigel and could see that his presence wasn't exactly his own design. Sylia on the other hand looked determined but was proceeding slowly, still very much aware of Priss's outburst when she'd divulged the true nature of their HARDsuits.
Sylia nodded.
"Well, what about then." Linna asked.
"Well..." Sylia paused. "I wanted to confront her about it, it would be better if she told you first."
"So you burst in here with Nigel and a BAR and than tell me nothing?"
Linna was pissed, now she knew exactly why they where here, and what they had found out, but that still didn't change the fact that Sylia was 'shit-disturbing' again. And what was worse; was that she'd brought Nigel along, against his will to boot. Sure, Linna was a guest in her home but still, this was just rude.
"It...it's more complicated than that." Sylia stammered.
"Why? Because we're close?"
"Well, yes. I know she's your friend but, but I've got a responsibility to the group. I'm only looking out for you."
"Looking out for me? How? By waking me up in the middle of the night to tell me Tasha's been lying to me."
Sylia looked to Nigel and he just shrugged; his way of saying 'you got yourself in, get yourself out'.
Sylia's try at a defensive posture had failed, miserably.
"Linna, I know you're close, and that's the problem. I just don't want to see you hurt."
"Hurt? Nothing she could say to me would hurt, now this, this hurts."
"You don't understand." Sylia pressed.
"Try me. Or am I too naive?"
"No! You're not, naive. It's just not my place to tell you, I just wanted to find Natasha."
"With Nigel and a BAR?"
"Yes." Sylia admitted.
"Why the hell would you need a BAR?"
"I know you're just trying to protect her." Sylia offered supportively.
"And why shouldn't I, she's my best friend. Why can't you understand that?"
"I do, and I also understand you. And if I tell you before she does you'll be devastated."
Linna was about to tear into her but Sylia's logic gave her reason to pause.
"Sylia, I think I understand, but you need to understand that Tasha and I are close, close enough that it really wouldn't matter."
"Ok, help me understand, how close?" Sylia asked.
Linna sighed and reached down and shook Tasha awake, amazed that she hadn't woken up earlier. The last few days must have really tuckered her out. Groggily Tasha rolled onto her side and looked up with sleepy eyes at Linna.
"Time to get up already?"
Sylia blanched and Nigel, well, if Nigel was surprised he hid it well. Tasha sat up and Linna handed over her shirt. Still out of sorts Tasha stretched and yawned, her breasts bouncing lazily as she dropped her hands to her lap. Nigel looked away as she slowly fumbled with the shirt Linna handed her and slid it over her head. Only then did she notice who was in the doorway.
"Oh shit." She breathed, instantly awake. Instinctively her hand slid under the pillow and fingered her Gong.
Linna put her hand on her shoulder in support.
Sylia couldn't believe what she was seeing. True Nene had let the cat out of the bag that Linna was at the very least 'curious', she also knew that they we're close, but not this close. She turned to Nigel who was showing the barely perceptible signs of embarrassment. Natasha was trying to avoid eye contact. The fact that she'd, well, they'd been caught like this was mortifying, and in Sylia's guest room no less, that just added insult to injury. Tasha was curious though, why were they there, and why the hell was Nigel hefting a BAR.
"Uh...Linna? What's going on? Why does Nigel have a BAR?"
"Just in case." He deadpanned.
"Oh" Tasha nodded. She patted Linna's hand and sighed morosely.
"I guess that means I've got to go huh?"
Tasha swung her legs out of bed and Nigel and Sylia both were surprised that she was wearing sweat pants. They'd just naturally assumed she'd be naked underneath. Tasha pushed her feet into her shoes and leaned back and gave Linna a kiss on the cheek.
"See you later sweetie. I'll keep in touch."
Linna nodded than shook her head and grabbed her around the shoulders. Pushing herself up onto her knees she pulled Tasha to her, protecting her.
"No! I don't want you to go. It's not fair!" She turned to Sylia. "How come Mackie can stay and she can't?"
"Mackie? What? You...you mean, you know she's a boomer!" Sylia stammered. She couldn't believe this. Linna knew?
Linna nodded her head, sobbing.
"Of course I know."
"But how? We just found out last night."
"Because she told me that's why. I've known since she came back from Sulla."
Sylia paced nervously while behind her Nigel lit up a fresh cigarette.
"Than why didn't she?" She paused and turned to Natasha. "Why didn't you say something?"
Tasha folded her legs and sat Indian-style next to Linna who was still holding onto her defensively.
"Because I wasn't dating you. And, I was afraid this would happen."
"You lied." Sylia said, glaring at Tasha before an indignant snort from Linna cut her off.
"Oh yeah! That's the pot calling the kettle black. Tasha's never lied once, never. Ask anyone."
Sylia opened her mouth to speak but thought better of it; Linna was right, and trying to deny that, semantics aside, would cause more problems than she was willing to deal with. Besides, with Priss gone she could ill afford to lose Linna. She turned back to Tasha and folded her arms in front of her.
"What model?"
"Sylia!"
"It's okay Linna. She probably wants to know if I'm one of daddy's models."
Sylia suddenly felt awful, but pushed it aside. This was a boomer, it looked and sounded human, but it was nothing but a machine.
"I'm a 33S." Tasha continued.
Sylia blinked and Nigel threw her a quizzical glance.
"33S? I thought they we're banned back in 2020."
"They were." Tasha offered.
"Are you rogue?" Sylia asked.
"No. I'm not. I'm free. Most of us are." Tasha said, putting proud emphasis on the word 'free'.
When she said that Linna smiled and gave her a hug from behind, nestling her chin on Tasha's shoulder and stared at Sylia with resolved determination. In no uncertain terms she had laid her claim, if Tasha left, so did she.
Sylia shook her head.
"I see."
"Look, Sylia. I think I have a good idea why you hate boomers. What your father did was wrong, but I'm not like that. I was made differently. I know it's not easy, Mackie's one thing; I'm completely different. All I want is to be treated fairly. I've never lied in my life, and, I've always tried to do the right thing, even if I didn't understand why."
She squeezed Linna's hand.
"All I'm asking for is for you, and Nigel to give me a chance. Please."
Sylia studied Tasha. There was no sense of falsehood and she seemed very genuine. No other boomer, old or new had ever articulated their desire to be free like that, or at least not in her presence. Glancing over to Linna she could see that she was pleading with her eyes for her to let Tasha stay. When she turned to Nigel all he did was shrug. She had read Tasha's work, this 'boomer' knew her limitations, and she understood, better than most, the overall feeling people had towards voomers. She knew exactly what she was asking for and what she was getting into.
"All right. I've learned to trust Linna's judgment of character. You may stay."
"Oh thank you!" Linna exclaimed and hugged Tasha tighter.
Natasha's smile covered her face and she hugged Linna back.
Nigel blew out sending a cloud of smoke down the hall and half smiled as he turned to walk away. Sylia nodded and turned to leave.
"Sylia?" Tasha called after her.
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
Sylia nodded again and walked out. As the door clicked shut behind her she whispered 'You're welcome'.

The following morning Tasha slipped out from Linna's arms and made her way to the pool having 'borrowed' a suit from the store. The cool water was invigorating and she swam a few lazy laps. On a whim she dove deep, trying to catch one of Sylia's fish, but the nimble creature was in its element and effortlessly swam out of her reach. How lucky it must be to be one with your surroundings she thought, unlike me, the proverbial fish out of water. Making her way to the surface she floated on her back gazing at the ugly sky above her. Scant patches of the morning sky were visible behind the black and gray pall of smoke, the faint smell of death and destruction hung in the air like a barely perceptible miasma. A cough to her right caught her attention and she turned to face the noise, treading water. Sylia was standing poolside, in a robe and slippers.
"Uh...hi. Sorry about the bathing suit, I'll pay for it." Tasha said.
Sylia nodded and disrobed, adjusted her swimsuit, than eased herself into the clear cool water. After ducking underwater Sylia swam slowly up to Natasha.
"Tell me something Tasha? Do you feel good doing what you're doing?"
"You mean my work?"
"No, I mean your life." Sylia replied, her voice distinctly cold.
Tasha narrowed her eyes; Sylia was baiting her.
"More often then not, yes, I do feel good about it. I know I'm doing good for others."
"What about Linna?"
Ah ha, there it was. Tasha thought.
"What about her?"
"Don't you think that your relationship is based on a lie?"
"What lie?" Tasha replied, controlling her temper.
"You're a boomer."
"I know; so does she." Tasha sighed. Sylia let her continue.
"I guess you're right in one way, I let her believe I was something else, initially, and that hurt, and when I told her it hurt even more, I always planned on telling her, I knew it was her choice, not mine, if she wanted to stay with me."
"Don't you think you stacked the deck in your favor by leading her on?"
Tasha nodded, which surprised Sylia.
"I love her Sylia, and pardon me for being selfish, but I didn't want to lose that. Can you imagine what it's like to have nothing but your work? When she told me she loved me it was the scariest moment of my life, I wasn't looking for a relationship, but one found me, so I made a choice, do I go on alone until I felt comfortable, or do I take a chance for some attempt at happiness."
"Sounds a bit selfish to me?" Sylia retorted, however some of the edge in her voice had receded.
"Sylia, nothing makes me happier than to see her smile or laugh, that's what makes me happy, her happiness. Not mine, hers."
Sylia stopped treading water and floated on her back.
"I see. What about your career?"
Tasha fought with herself, Sylia was asking some very personal questions, but she understood the need.
"Born of guilt I suppose, I was witness to some terrible things in my past, and I know it sounds idealistic, but I want to do some good in the world, maybe I'm taking the 'to serve mankind' thing a bit to far, but that's what makes me, me."
"Yet you kill your own kind." Sylia replied, trying a different tack.
"So, humans have been doing it to each other for centuries, what really chaps my behind is that they created a new race to do it for them. Don't blame the tools Sylia, don't even blame the maker, blame the user."
Sylia paused. She hadn't expected that answer.
"I'm not going to float here and try and justify what I do or why I do it Sylia, people made me, I have to accept that, but that doesn't mean I can't better myself, or others in the process." Tasha added.
Sylia mulled that over, but the point was well made and true.
"I have only one more question Natasha."
"Shoot."
"Do you resent humanity?"
Tasha laughed.
"No, actually I don't. You know, it's funny; you're the closest thing I have to a parent, you and everyone else out there, but you specifically. Your dad made boomers long before he invented voomers." Tasha paused to let that sink in, and then continued. "I didn't ask to be made, but never the less, here I am. Why would I resent that? It would be like asking if a child resented their parents, sure there may be differences in opinions, and not all parents are good ones, but deep down there is the realization that without your parents you'd never be here."
Sylia watched as Tasha swam to the edge of the pool, climbed out and put on her robe. She'd asked her questions in order to find something to validate her fear of boomers, something to let her know it was all right to be distrustful of them but now she wasn't sure. Like humans, it seemed that boomers had their moments of duality, Galatea on the one side, treacherous, conniving, destructive and consumed with an unbridled hatred towards her creators, and Tasha, caring, compassionate and dedicated to the well being of others.

"Linna, would you come here please?"
Linna nodded and walked over to Sylia holding a soda can. She'd been watching Nigel put some finishing touches on her new HARDsuit. Even though it didn't look like much now, just chest, leg, and arm plates awaiting compression. Hers was nearly done, and only needed to go thru the automated diagnostics. Sylia and Nene's suits needed maybe another day or two of work, and Priss' was coming along nicely. The only good thing so far about the Sotai was that spare boomers were easy to come by, all one had to do was wait for a UN patrol to leave the area after a firefight and you had three or four voomers right there.
"What's up Sylia?"
Sylia led her to a storage room and turned on the lights. The room was full of boxes and other articles. Sylia walked over to a box with a tarp over it.
"Natasha. We all know she's a good pilot and what with the Galatea tearing up the city; anyway, how do you feel about some competition?"
Linna betrayed some excited anticipation.
"Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"
Sylia answered by pulling the tarp off the box creating a cloud of dust. She undid the latches on a military style transport container and opened it. Inside was an old style HARDsuit. It was dark green with blue accents. It had two battery packs that stuck out like the balancers did on her old suit. Linna put her drink down and pawed over it.
"Oh man, Natasha's gonna flip! You're sure about this?" Linna knew Sylia was aware that Tasha was a boomer.
Sylia nodded. Her talk with Natasha that morning had stuck her deeply, she no longer hated her, or feared her for that matter, she was still wary, but a part of her said, trust her, give her a chance, and of course the rest of her motley band, in varying degrees, loved and respected her.
"It'll need some work, and a color change but I'm sure Nigel will make time."
Linna hugged Sylia.
"Thank you!"
"I see. You seem very happy, even though the suits for Natasha." Sylia stammered.
"That's why I'm happy. Um... I was just wondering, whose suit was this? The martial artist woman?"
"Yes."
"Are you going to pull the core and replace it?"
"I hadn't intended to. Why?"
"Well I was just thinking you could use my old backup core."
"I see, Ok, I'll do that."
"Oh, and can I help Nigel fix it up? He'll need someone to test it out if it's going to be a surprise."
"Of course, I was figuring you would. Seeing as you know Natasha better than any of us."

When Linna came down to the Pit later that day she had a manila folder in one hand and her skin suit in the other. She noticed that besides Natasha's new suit there were three other bulkier suits in the room. All looked deadly but very masculine.
"Hey Nigel. What are those?"
"HARDsuits."
"For us?"
"No, for Natasha."
But isn't that one for her?" Linna asked; pointing to the suit Nigel was working on.
"They all are. Sylia said it was okay to make HARDsuits for Natasha's pilots."
"For Karl and Tony? I thought you were just adding jump jets to their body armor?"
"Sylia decided to give them HARDsuits instead."
"Tasha has two suits?" Linna blinked.
"That's what the order was for, three suits total. Sylia decided to give her this one as well."
"I hope Sylia doesn't think she can give her rope to hang herself with?" Linna noted sarcastically. Nigel puffed out a cloud of acrid smoke.
"No, I think Sylia came to an understanding with your friend this morning."
"Really? That's good." Linna replied; sounding very relieved.
She walked over to one of the ADP HARDsuits and took a closer look. It looked like a cross between a HARDsuit and a K-suit. The upper-body opened up like a K-11, instead of splitting open like their suits, on the back there was a jet pack next to a communications array. The visor was recessed into the helmet and was covered in a gold laminate. Stepping up onto the knee of the suit she swung her legs inside and nestled into it, the suit was comfy and spacious in comparison, not skin tight like her HARDsuit. Nigel walked over and showed her the start-up procedure. She did as she was told and slid her arms down, made a fist and pulled back. The front portion slid back and closed. The helmet stayed up and Nigel pushed down on it causing it to clamp shut. Linna looked over the HUD displays. She moved her arms around and opened and closed her fist. It was as fluid and responsive as her suit but for some reason she felt safer with the additional armor. She felt the docking stands retract and Nigel moved off to a safe distance.
"Try jumping."
Linna did so and was surprised by the response. Rather than being lifted from her thighs and back like she was used to, she was lifted from her shoulders and calves. She almost lost her balance but her natural athleticism allowed her to recover. She landed harder than she was used to but attributed that to the heavier armor. She tried to execute a back flip and barely succeeded. The suit was just a little heavy, although to her it felt as if she was wearing her suit with a sixty-pound pack.
"What are the weapon systems on this thing?"
"It has a knuckle bomber array here and here."
He pointed at two circular plates semi-recessed into the lower arms.
"There's also a retractable spike on the shield arm and a flechette launcher on the trail arm."
Linna concentrated on the knuckle bomber and the circular plate swung out to rest in front of the fist. She opened her hand and the bomber swung back into its stowed position. She extended the spike and retracted it. On the other hand the barrel for the flechette launcher popped up. She laughed; this was defiantly cool. Nigel walked up holding a triple barreled gun and handed it to her. He hooked a hose and hydraulic latch up to the suit. As he was doing that Linna realized that the gun must be extremely heavy if she could feel the weight through the suit. Once the latch was attached the gun lost half its weight and a separate indicator popped up on her HUD displaying weapon status. She saw that it had four types of attacks, machine gun, grenade launcher, a laser cannon, and a flamethrower. She swung the gun about and was impressed at the accuracy. It seemed that whatever she looked at the gun tended to aim at it.
Nigel showed her how to open the suit and she stepped out.
"Now that's a cool toy."
"Your suits are much faster and maneuverable. These are made for strength and endurance, although your suits have about the same protection, even though it doesn't look like it. Not bad for a prototype suit for a male, all things considering."
"I'll say. Come on,' She smiled giddily. "Let's trick out Tasha's 'other' suit."

A few hours later they had finished the modifications. They replaced the arm units with manipulator's similar to Priss' old suit. The legs they kept the same although they added bombers to the lower leg and knee. Above the waist they added bombers to the elbows and shoulders. To the back they added a flight pack like the one on Sylia's suit, wings and all. The helmet they kept the same save for some upgraded avionics. When they had finished they changed the color to gloss black. Linna pulled out the folder she had and handed it to Nigel.
"What's this?"
"Open it."
Nigel undid the seal and slid out a disk. He put it in the computer and opened files showing the ADP and Det 3 patch, or rather the subdued versions.
"Where do you want these?
"On the chest like on the uniform. The Det.3 flash goes on the shoulder."
"Nice touch."
"Thanks, I think she'll get a kick out of it."
"You two are close. Aren't you?"
Linna nodded and suddenly realized that she didn't blush.
"You could say that. Come on Nigel, you where there, you saw."
"You complement each other well." Nigel said.
He loaded the emblems into the suit and watched it as it appeared on the arm and chest.
"There, all done."
He reached out and took the skin suit from her.
"I'll go alter this. It should be done in an hour or so. Check back then."
"Okay, and thanks. I really appreciate it."
She turned to walk away than stopped.
"Nigel?"
"Yes."
"About last night, would you have shot her?"
Linna turned to see Nigel's reaction. He took a drag from his cigarette and blew out slowly, all without taking his eyes from hers.
"No."

Linna made her way to the top floor and stood by the pool. She wondered where Natasha was right now. After she'd stayed the night and left the following afternoon she had all but disappeared. Most likely still assisting with the evacuation. She said she was going to the UNADP's new command post, but that didn't mean she'd stay there. She hoped she'd stay out of the fighting. Yeah right, she snorted, she'll be in the thick of things like always. None of the other cops in Det.3 knew where she was, than again how would they, they were too busy evacuating the remaining civilians and fighting a holding action against the ever-increasing hordes of voomers sweeping across town, still, she'd had Nene ask, just in case.

Thirty miles out to sea Natasha was leaning over a railing looking out towards Tokyo. She was nursing a cup of coffee, which was housed in a plain Styrofoam cup. She was aboard the USS Ronald Reagan at the center of a fifteen-ship carrier taskforce out of Yokasuka. The Army had deployed elements of the 2nd Ranger Regiment to the area and where preparing to move onto shore within the next few hours with more troops from Australia and the United Kingdom on their way. She'd reported to Narita International as ordered and had taken the COD (Carrier Onboard Delivery) out an hour later. Her first objective was an assault on the Skyhook array on the Bosa Peninsula. Removing that would hinder the Sotai by denying power and prevent the spread of the voomer phenomena into space. The USSD was already experiencing minor glitches in a few of their satellites orbiting over East Asia and were worried that should the voomer plague stretch into space they would lose control of their battle satt's, or worse yet have them turned against the planet, again.
The Chinese were up in arms as well, some of their satellites were acting up and they were blaming the UN and USSD for the problems. If things got out of hand the world was looking at the possibility of World War V. The United States had been quick to react; and the Pentagon was at DEFCON 3, two steps away from declared war and subsequent missile release. The Rangers had been sent in to reinforce the SEAL and Army Special Operations Forces already in country. The Soldiers and Marines stationed throughout the Japanese Islands had already begun mobilizing in support of the UNADP blockade of Tokyo and the Japanese military was still trying to pick up the pieces and were deferring to the UN and the US, for now. All pretence of national pride had been forgotten, the US military knew what they were doing so it was the smartest thing to sit back and let them do it.
She missed Linna and the others but she was still a member of the US Army and where they sent her she went. After the assault on the Skyhook she would be stationed in Tokyo Park with a few other units. She'd have to thank Col. Davidson for that. Their job would be to try and breach Genom Tower and stop the problem at its source. Barring that they would continue what the UNADP had started by conducting search and destroy actions against pockets of voomers.
Over the past few days she had noticed that the voomers within the city reacted to the UNADP attacks much like the antibodies of the human body. If an individual 'cell/voomer' was attacked, than all the nearby 'cells/voomers' would be drawn to its aide. Scientists would mull over that for years, but in the here and now it was a problem that had to be dealt with.
An individual dressed in Navy brown walked up behind her. She turned at his presence.
"Excuse me Major. They need you back in the Skiff."
"Thanks Lieutenant." She swallowed the rest of her drink and made her way into the belly of the carrier's island.
General Fairweather, Chief Roland, the Japanese minister of Defense and a smattering of other officers were hovering around a large holographic display of the Skyhook terminal.
"Since the Major here came up with this plan, I think I'll let her fill in the finer details." General Fairweather said, motioning for her to take his place in front of the display. She had come up with a theory based on the information Linna had provided her about their failed attempt to dispose of Galatea in her child state, but it wasn't until her battle of wills at the Silky Doll that the plan had come full circle. During the days following that incident she began to notice a trend occurring. There would be a sharp increase in voomer activity ever six hours, every time the Skyhook dropped off and retrieved its cargo. Lately the pattern had became more and more pronounced. Galatea was drawing power from the Skyhook. She'd been able to force Galatea out of her and Sylia's mind, but just barely, if Galatea kept drawing power she would become almost impossible to defeat. Her source of power had to be cut off, or at the very least hindered in some way. General Fairweather had listened to her plan and reasoning and had agreed with her. Now she was going to let everyone else in on her idea.
The briefing went well and she was dismissed so that they could finalize the details of who would go where, do what and when. She returned to 'Vultures Row', the long balcony just below the flag bridge where off duty sailors and pilots alike would go to watch flight operations. She noticed Tony and Karl with smokes talking to some of the pilots. As she walked up Karl nodded and smiled.
"Hey boss, what's going on?"
"We're going to be deploying on a strike mission tomorrow." She replied.
"Oh boy." Tony grumbled. "Where?" He continued. She regarded him, God he looked tired, so did Karl, not that she couldn't use a few more hours herself.
"The Skyhook terminal, Bosa peninsula."
"Sheeit!" Karl whistled. They don't pick 'em small do they?"
"So, whose harebrained idea was it to hit that?" Tony asked.
"You're looking at her." Tasha sighed.
"Mind filling us in?" Tony pressed.
Tasha did so and waited as they looked at each other.
"Okay, so let me get this straight." Tony said. "We fly out to the terminal, secure it, than load a bomb onto one of the pallets and leave."
"That's the abridged version, yes." Tasha replied.
"Hoping to hell that the bomb will blow the hook to hell and gone."
Tasha nodded.
"That's gotta be about the dumbest thing I ever heard!" He all but yelled.
Tasha bristled and clenched her fists.
"Well, what do you suggest we do instead?" She said, controlling herself.
"Okay okay, easy girl, look, I don't have a problem with blowing up the Skyhook, hell, it might even be fun, what I am saying is that why don't we have some of this firepower." Tony waved his arm, motioning towards the flight deck, just as an A/F-35 thundered into the air. "Do it for us."
"I'd thought about that, but it doesn't guarantee a solid kill."
"Doesn't guarantee?!" Tony blinked and was cut short by Karl's hand on his shoulder.
"Why not?" Karl asked.
"The Skyhook itself is almost twenty time larger than a 747."
"So, that just makes it a bigger target." Tony bit back.
"May I finish?" Tasha asked brusquely.
"Yeah, go ahead." He sighed.
"It's also heavily armored and durable because it has to fly in and out of the Earths atmosphere four times a day."
"Okay, what about the hook part, you know, the tube running up into space?" Karl asked.
"Equally armored and twice as durable." Tasha said. "From the outside." She finished.
"Outside?' Tony asked.
"Yes, any hit on the outside stands a better than average chance of being deflected, however, an explosion of sufficient power inside the tube, inside an enclosed area, has the best chance to sever the hook."
Karl nodded; it made sense. Tony however was not convinced.
"Well why not hit it with artillery, we've got about six destroyers out here."
"Same problem." Tasha retorted. "It might not kill it in one pass."
"Than we hit it again in six hours and finish it off."
"Tony; Galatea is drawing power from this thing, if we miss the first shot she'll undoubtedly swarm the fleet and us within six hours to keep her lifeline open. We have to do this in one fell swoop."
"Well fine, so why don't we do what you suggested, setting them up the bomb, and what we suggested, all together."
"Makes for a great backup." Karl added. "Hell, we can even have them bomb the hell out of the track just to be safe."
Tasha thought that over and could find no reason to deny the logic.
"Okay, I'll let them know."

Tony and Karl were waiting outside the skiff as she exited amidst a throng of officers; she pushed her way to the wall and flattened herself to allow the group to pass her by.
"So, how'd it go?" Tony asked.
"Very well, you're suggestions have been incorporated, actually, they helped sway a few votes. Thanks." She smiled.
"So now what?" Karl asked.
"We head on down to the flight deck and get our final briefing, grab some sack time and dust off tomorrow at 1600."
"Why so late?" Tony said.
"We wont have everything ready until 1200 hours, that puts us past the noon pickup, a 1600 insertion will give us two hours to secure the area and get the pallet loaded."
"Isn't that cutting it close?" Karl asked.
"Yeah, it is, but I figure once Galatea figures out what's going on voomers are gonna be coming out of the woodwork, I don't want to have to hold that ground any longer than we have to."
"Okay, that works, are you giving the briefing on the flight deck?"
"Part of it, than I gotta head over to crypto." She paused, watching them, and anticipated they had questions as to why she was going there. "I have to call Nene and get her to pound out some programs for tomorrow, I'll need them to bypass the security protocols on the hook."
"You're going?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, of course." She replied.
"Why the bypass?" Karl asked, he'd been boning up on his computer skill of late and this piqued his interest.
"The onboard security won't allow an explosive devise to be carried up the tube, it'll spit it out after it clears the track, so, I've gotta either lock out the security protocol, or fool it into thinking the bomb is something benign."
"Sounds like fun." Tony smiled.

Screaming ten feet above the waves, six Marine MV-22 Pave Low Osprey's approached the Skyhook Terminal. An orbiting Global Hawk was sending them real-time telemetry and it appeared, that at least from the outside, nobody was home. There were a few burned out cars and some bodies strewn about the employee parking lot, but aside from that, everything looked normal. Each MV-22 carried twenty-four combat ready Marines and or Rangers, or Sticks. The Osprey's veered off to their drop points and the individual 'Sticks' fast roped in, than secured the immediate area. Two would secure the pallet loading bay and prep it for deliver of the explosive. Two more would enter the facility itself and clear out any lingering resistance, backing up the first two Sticks. One Stick would hold the bridge to the mainland to hold off any reinforcements while the final Stick would take the control room and hold it while Natasha overrode the system. She felt bad for Nene, she hadn't told her what the programs were for, just that she needed something to punch thru security fast and give her total control of the system. She wasn't surprised to hear a clattering of disks from Nene's end of the phone, followed by her chipper voice playfully informing her to give her a challenge next time. The operation went smooth, at first. The teams slated to enter the facility did so first, with Tony at the helm, second to the Marine Captain in charge. The terminal area, complete with food kiosks and lounges, was devoid of life, with bodies of the Skyhooks security forces dismembered and strewn about in bloody heaps.
"Looks like we won't be fighting softies today." Tony chimed. Movement on the mezzanine caught his attention as a partially mutated voomer shambled across, the head of a security officer wrapped around it's wrist, most likely popping off and catching after he'd been punched.
"What a way to go." Karl noted.
"Probably didn't feel a thing." The Marine Captain added. They split their forces; twelve troopers would secure the terminal while the others would secure the mezzanine and the offices nearby. The Stick Tasha was with had fast-roped onto the roof and made their way in from there, making a beeline for the control center. The terminal and mezzanine was secured well before she and her security detail breeched the control center. There were five people in the control center; three appeared to be technicians the other two security.
"Army Rangers! Put your hands up!" She bellowed. The technicians obeyed but the security did not and drew their weapons as Tasha moved in to allow the rest of her men room to enter. She didn't have time for this and fired at the closest guard hitting him in the chest with a three round burst. The Marine that followed her in dispatched the second guard as he turned to fire on Natasha. The guard she hit staggered towards her and she watched in fascination as he grabbed her LBE with bloody hands and collapsed against her. With a swift crack she knocked the body aside with the butt of her rifle and paused to regard the dead men. "Sorry guys, you should have surrendered." As the rest of the troops entered, and the technicians were led out she sat at the security terminal. "Time to earn my pay." She thought to herself.
It was normal for her to deploy with her people on an operation like this, however she'd been stuck behind a plotting map running dispatch and battlefield coordination for the evacuation of Tokyo for the last week and she had been itching to get back into the action. She would've sooner snuck aboard one of the Ospreys than sit this one out. Galatea had to be weakened and this was the only way she could think of to accomplish that. A certain amount of fear was also involved, fear of what had happened at the Silky Doll prior to the ADP buildings consumption, fear of what Galatea might be able to do to her, or worse yet, make her do. She pushed her fears aside and concentrated; once she started hacking the system Galatea would more than likely attempt to block her, and barring that, send her minions to destroy them.

Tony was with a group of Marines in the cafeteria's kitchen; two workers had sought refuge in the meat locker and were being evacuated as the net lit up. Gunfire had erupted from the Pallet Bay and he could hear the battle chatter as the Marines responded to the threat. He looked to Karl and he nodded, bounding down the hall to assist.

Tasha registered the initiation of conflict and kept tapping away, keenly aware of an on-screen clock counting down the time remaining until the Skyhook passed overhead. She had less than an hour and a half left.
Karl kicked open the door leading to the pallet bay's upper level. The structure was reminiscent of a hanger, a very large hanger. The track ran thru the length of it leading from the pallet lager behind the building, to three-mile open stretch leading out to sea. Pallets would enter here to be loaded before being shot down the track for pick up, than the pallet would roll back for unloading on it's way back to the pallet lager for preventative maintenance and reinsertion into the queue. He surveyed his surroundings. On the far side of the track was a large storage area chock full of semi trailer sized containers. On the ceiling were a series of overhead cranes and other machinery. On the track below him was a pallet in the process of being loaded, by the looks of it, it was almost half way done. Immediately off to his right was a work office and control point for the cranes. It was empty save for a boomer, a rogue boomer. He brought his weapon to bear just as it turned towards him. Firing a double tap from his Uber Revolver he pasted it, spinning it sideways out the window and ten stories down onto the bay floor, landing with a metallic crunch. Hearing gunfire from below he made his way out onto the catwalk that connected both sides of the building. Three cargo lift boomers, big suckers, were engaged with a squad of Marines that had broken free of the fight in the cargo storage area.
"Marines! Above you! I'll cover."
"Rodger that ADP, they're all yours." The relieved squad leader replied.
Holstering his revolver he checked that his 40mm M-79 'Blooper' was loaded, he took aim and let loose an HEDP (High Explosive Dual Purpose) round. The round arced perfectly, impacting the nearest cargo voomer high up the back blowing a chunk out of it. The force of the detonation pushed the voomer face first onto the hard top as he brought the Blooper back, flipping the barrel forward to expel the spent shell. Reloading he took aim on the voomer about to pass in front of the pallet and let loose a snap shot. The round went high, showering the voomer with shrapnel, not even fazing it. As the Marines laid into target number two, Karl saw that the third voomer atop the pallet had lifted a cargo container and was plodding towards the end of the pallet. As Tony crossed behind him onto the catwalk Karl fired. Karl was beginning to wonder weather he should just stick to the M-79 from now on as the round hit dead center knocking out the hydraulics. Unable to carry the weight the voomers arms buckled and the container slammed down on top of it, pinning it. Tony skidded to a halt, noticing the hit, and turned back to Karl.
"Damn Karl! Way to go!"
Nodding, Karl reloaded again as Tony made his way to the catwalks over the cargo area.

Tony saw the remaining Marines pinned behind a cluster of boxes as two voomers hurled containers, than a forklift, at them. The flying vehicle splattered one of the Marines and the others scattered. He pulled out a LAW (Light Antitank Weapon) and fired, sending the rocket assisted warhead into the voomer that had hurled the lift. The voomers arm was ripped off and clattered to the ground as the voomer fell into some nearby boxes, spewing hydraulic fluid and sparks all over.
In the control center Galatea was reacting as predicted and it was getting increasingly more difficult to bypass her firewalls. Nene's disks were keeping her step ahead, but only just. As the gunfire around her intensified she had to force herself to focus, if she couldn't disable the security system it didn't matter how well the Marines did. As she typed Tasha was relieved to hear the calls of 'All clear!' from the pallet and cargo bay. She glanced at the clock, forty minutes to go.

"Tony, can you hustle on up to the roof, track side." The Marine captains voice asked in his earpiece.
"Roger that, I'm sending Karl." Tony wanted to be damn sure that the voomers in the cleared areas were not going to come back to life and was systematically dispatching their cores with point blank shots. Once they started moving that bomb onto the pallet things would get really dicey, and the last thing anyone needed was to load an explosive devise under fire.
Three Marines and a Ranger were on the trackside roof firing in controlled burst down the track when Karl approached.
"What have we got?"
"About thirty or so boomers heading towards us." A Marine corporal pointed.
Karl took it in a sighed, a lot of them were close to the track, any missed shot from a grenade launcher would foul it and all this would be a bust.
"Okay, concentrate our fire on the ones closest to the edge, see if we can't thin them out a bit."
The four soldiers nodded and took up their positions, loading 25mm grenades into the under slung launchers on their assault rifles, than the shooting started. They averaged a kill ratio of five voomers for every ten feet closer they got. At that rate they would need more firepower to stem the tide, if they got past them they were inside. Karl loaded another round and fired. The round hit in between a group of three voomers tossing two to the ground and another into the ocean as a rush of wind caught his attention. Turning he saw a CH-53N Sea Stallion with one of the largest bombs he'd ever seen hanging from a series of cables underneath. It was one the Air Forces MOAB MkV's, originally built in the early 2000's the MOAB or Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bombs was the biggest piece of non-nuclear ordinance in the inventory. Sporting a 20,000-pound warhead the overpressure alone would rupture the eardrums of unprotected personnel out to two miles and would be felt out to five. If anything would pop the skyhook in two, this was it.

Below, in the control room Natasha was almost thru the last firewall. Inserting Nene's next to last disk she opened the executable file and crossed her fingers. Agonizing minutes passed as the program worked its magic until finally, with twenty minutes to spare the long awaited "ACCESS GRANTED" appeared on the screen. Hurriedly she slammed Nene's last disk in and within seconds she had the system at her fingertips. She tapped Security, then Pallet Control, Disable. She moved onto Security, Hook Control, Disable. Finally she went back to Security Protocols, Lockout, and finally Enter. She sighed in relief as "SECURITY UPDATES ACCEPTED : LOCK OUT ENABLED" displayed.
Karl's reinforcements arrived in the form of Tony and three other Marines streaming out thru the pallet door way, pushing the few voomers that had managed to get thru out under a hail of bullets. Behind them the CH-53 dropped off the MOAB than hovered nearby as the Osprey's held station above, watching for trouble. Tasha packed up her disks and equipment and made her way to the door when something caught her eye. Taking a closer look she saw what looked like people near the track. Checking to see which security camera was taking these pictures she saw it was one almost two and a half miles down the track. Running back to the security consol she brought the camera up and zoomed in.
"Oh no!" She breathed.
"Domino 1 to Key 1! Come in!" She yelled.
Tony blinked; he'd never heard Natasha sound frantic before.
"Key 1 here. Go ahead."
"You need to get down the track, now! Voomers are ripping it up!"
"SHIT! I'm on it!" He waved at Karl. "On me!" Than to the Osprey overhead. "Lift 3, pick us up now!" As the Osprey landed Karl had rappelled down the side of the building with the Marines and Ranger in tow, Tony had gathered the four with him and all of them hustled aboard the MV-22.
"Head down the track! Move! Move! Move!" he bellowed.

Unit 23460-H had just ripped the stanchion plating away from the track and was preparing to tear the hold down away when a loud thrumming from above registered on his auditory sensors. His brother units had also noticed and were looking up at the new arrival. A dark gray machine was hovering over them as four ropes fell to the ground followed by men sliding down them. Bursts of yellow and orange erupted from their weapons and Unit 23460-H saw three of his brother units fall within a second. Intruders! Eliminate! He sprang into action.

Tasha looked at the timer, three minutes and fifty seconds. Red warning klaxons were blaring within the pallet bay for the ground crews to get clear for launch. Marines hurried outside, heading towards cover as the Osprey's and CH-53 cleared the area. In the distance they could see the Skyhooks running lights in the early evening dusk, approaching fast.

Tony and Karl had secured one side of the track and were keeping those voomers on the other side at bay.
"Here it comes! I'm moving off!" Came the Osprey pilots cry as the MV-22 banked hard and sped away. Tony fired one last shot, spinning a boomer onto its back before he and the rest of his men jumped for safety as the massive frame of the Skyhook barreled overhead followed seconds later by the pallet zipping past as it moved to catch up for docking.

Unit 23460-H lay on his back as a dark shadow crossed over him, a loud noise approached, and soon his auditory sensors were useless. A massive object passed over him, hurling him into the sea. The salt water finished what Tony's bullet had started and Unit 23460-H perceived nothing more.

Pushing to the surface Tony and the rest fought with the waves kicked up by the passage of the Skyhook and watched as it lifted away from the track, behind them the Osprey had returned and was hovering a foot above the waves. It took five minutes for the pallet to reach the halfway point, than detonated. The blast overpressure, combined with a salvo of cruise missiles from two of the Guided Missile Frigates of the Reagan Battle group tore thru the hook like tissue paper. The bottom half disintegrated as it tumbled into the ocean a good twenty miles downrange, showering the shore with debris. The portion in space would spin wildly until gravity pulled it to earth several hours later. Before the final bits from the lower hook had buried themselves into the landscape a flight of A/F-35's bombed the Skyhook terminals three-mile long track with a combination of 1000 lb glide bombs and runway cratering munitions, turning it into so much scrap.

Atop the Silky Doll building the Knight Sabers and company were having dinner and despite the events of the past few days were enjoying themselves. A series of bright flashes and the staccato sound of distant pops interrupted their reverie. As they made their way to the railing to get a better look a brilliant flash appeared in the sky a few miles out to sea followed by a sharp crack and concussion wave. A few seconds later all they could make out were the sounds of glass shattering and car alarms going off in the distance.
"Holy Shit! What was that?" Priss remarked.
"Sounded like explosions." Nigel answered.
"Looks like the UN is keeping busy."
Sylia went back to the table and sat down. A few moments later the others, satisfied that there wouldn't be any more detonations, joined her. Linna sighed when she sat.
"I swear; this place is beginning to sound like Tel Aviv."
"Yeah no kidding." Nene agreed.
"You see it on TV but you never think you'll live it."
After that Linna sat quietly in thought, occasionally looking out over the city when a muffled burst of machine gun fire would break the silence. Groups of the UNADP were still clearing out civilians and the clashes they were having with the boomers were getting worse. Nene stood up and paced to the railing and looked down. An ADP van drove by its lights and siren blaring.
"I should be down there helping."
Even Priss was sympathetic. She wanted to be doing something, anything other than sitting on her ass waiting. At least the ADP and Leon were doing something. Sylia noticed this and smiled reassuringly.
"Don't worry the new HARDsuits are almost done."
Priss snorted, she was still leery of wearing a boomer.
Nene was still leaning by the railing an hour later, just watching the city, when she noticed a military jeep pull up in front of the building. There was a heavy machine gun on top but no one was manning it. A soldier got out of the driver side and trotted towards the front door. She lost sight of the person as he disappeared under the awning.
"Hey Sylia! There's someone at the front door."
"Who is it?"
"I dunno; he just drove up in a jeep. American, I think."
Sylia looked to Henderson who nodded and left. Nene watched below as the person was leaving than turned around suddenly, apparently Henderson had opened the door. Satisfied she went back inside to meet the person with everyone else.
"We're probably gonna be told to evacuate." She grumbled.
When the elevator opened Henderson was talking to the person whose back was to the others. The soldier was loaded for bear; an M-31 with a grenade launcher was slung over the back and attached to the armor was an LBE (Load Bearing Equipment) rig with a few grenades and clips thrown in amongst a canteen and survival knife. When he turned they could make out a subdued American flag sewn onto the shoulder of the BDU's. A helmet, goggles and air filter covered the face. There was also a shoulder rigged pistol and knife.
To Linna the armor looked familiar, it was the type that Tasha used, but so did a lot of the other UN troops in the city these days, she noticed on her side that a patch on the other shoulder read Ranger and Airborne. She looked at the chest and read the nametape and was elated when she saw it read Romanov.
Before she could react the person took off her headgear to reveal a smiling Natasha. Her face blossomed with happiness. In a step Linna had cleared the distance between them and hugged her. She returned her embrace with a happy laugh.
"I told you I'd come calling."
"You said you'd call." Linna corrected playfully.
"Do you care?"
"No."
"Well, shut up then." Tasha reached out and batted her head playfully to the side.
Keeping one shoulder over Linna's she turned to face everyone else. Linna was ecstatic, and she'd never seen Tasha this pumped up before, well, maybe once.
"Hey guys. How's it goin?"
Nene moved up and gave Natasha a quick hug than stood back smiling. Priss and Natasha exchanged a smile and a nod while Sylia walked over. Her nose crinkled when the odor of gunpowder and cordite washed past. There was also a coppery smell she couldn't quite identify. When Linna and Natasha let each other go Nene pointed to Linna's side, which was smeared with blood.
"Oh my god!"
Linna looked down and spread her arms in shock, than looked over at Natasha with concern. Natasha looked down as well and grumbled in annoyance. She made a wiping motion with the sleeve of her uniform while an irritated look covered her face.
"Tasha! You're bleeding!"
Natasha waved with her other hand as she continued to wipe the blood away.
"Don't worry. It's not mine. Damn! This is never gonna come out."
Natasha looked over at Linna who had a very confused look on her face.
"I'm sorry about your jacket. I'll clean it. I promise."
The others were more than a little horrified that Natasha was covered in the blood of someone else just slightly less as they were about the fact that she wasn't bothered about it. They also noticed that the rest of her uniform looked as if she had been in one hell of a fight. She was covered in dust, more blood, and small flecks of concrete. Her normally pristine hair was matted and sweaty. Her personality hadn't been damaged however and she was as bouncy as ever. Linna was beginning to wonder if the reason she was so energetic and happy was because she enjoyed combat.
"That wouldn't have anything to do with those explosions we saw a half hour ago?" Sylia asked.
Natasha looked over and as if she had said it hundreds of times replied.
"What are you talking about?" He voice was genuinely surprised.
"Oh, you're good." Priss said. "Almost had me there for a second." She winked at her and snorted with a wry smile. Tasha smiled back, than turned back to the group proper.
"Seriously though, I can't talk about it."
"Why not?" Nene asked. "It's only us."
"Because I can't that's why. Anyway I just stopped in to say hi before I get back to work."
"Get back? I thought you were done." Linna protested.
"Sorry sweetie, but this is just the beginning. The Army's moving in to reinforce the UN and I'm in it up to my arm pits."
The others looked either worried or doubtful so Natasha flashed her trademark smile and gave them a thumbs-up. Priss looked around and noticed that apparently she was the only one who heard Tasha call Linna 'sweetie'. Either that or she was the only one that found it the least bit odd.
"Don't worry. Now that most of the civilians are evacuated we're gonna come in like Godzilla-his-own-bad-self, save the city."
"Hua." Linna added.
"Hua!" Tasha parroted with an admiring smile.
Even Priss had to smile at their confidence. Nene was worked up and happy and Sylia just nodded. Linna grabbed Natasha's hand and started to drag her from the room into the elevator.
"Woah! Where we goin?"
"I've got something to show you! We'll be downstairs Sylia, Ok?"
Sylia nodded as the elevator door closed. Suddenly alone Natasha and Linna looked at each other. Natasha reached over and put a gloved hand behind Linna's neck and pulled her in and kissed her. Linna put her arms around her and locked herself in. They finished their lustful indulgence scant seconds before the elevator door opened into the hanger. Linna pushed her out towards three tarp-covered objects and turned on the lights.
"Oh wow! No way! Are those what I think they are?"
Linna walked over and pulled the tarp off of the third one in line and stood back beaming in pride. Natasha walked over and started to look over the new ADP HARDsuit. She looked like a kid in a candy store. She circled the suit twice looking over every nook and cranny than stood in front of it and threw her head back and laughed aloud. The schematics Sylia had provided did no justice to the real thing.
"This is so cool!"
She stripped off her LBE then stepped into the suit. Before Linna could explain the boarding procedure Natasha had already buttoned the suit up and was busy popping all the hidden weapons in and out. Linna stood in front of her with a big smile. At least now she knew why the armor had been more spacious, it was made to allow the wearer to keep their body armor on inside. After a few more minutes of armor love Natasha opened the suit and debarked. She was about to say something when Linna pressed a finger to her lips.
"Follow me, that's not all."
Linna led Natasha to the training room. There was a HARDsuit positioned on the hanger in the center of the room. Linna turned on the lights to reveal a gloss black HARDsuit. Natasha looked at Linna.
"Is that your new suit?"
"No."
Linna tossed a skin suit to Natasha.
"It's yours."
"No way?"
"Yes way."
Linna grabbed Natasha's arms and dragged her to the dressing room.
"Come on, put it on."
Natasha figured that Linna was only there watching her because she wanted to see her naked, so, giving her a sardonic smile she removed her clothes. Linna blushed and when Natasha had the skin suit halfway on she helped put her arms in. As she pulled the neckpiece down over her head her hands came down and 'adjusted' Natasha's bust. Looking down both girls saw Natasha's harden through the fabric.
"Couldn't wait to feel a cop could you?"
Linna pulled Natasha's hands up and put them to her own breasts.
"Neither could you." She smirked.
Natasha obliged by giving Linna a loving squeeze causing her to close her eyes and turn even redder. When Natasha removed her hands Linna gave her a pouty look. Natasha gave her an apologetic look.
"You know if I had the time I'd be your skin suit in a heart beat."
"Yeah, I know. Maybe later okay."
Both of them walked back into the hanger to find that Sylia was standing there with the others. Linna blushed, apparently embarrassed at the tightness of Natasha's clothing, or maybe it was that she didn't want the others to see her like that, only her. Natasha did a pirouette and smiled.
"Linna was right, all it needed was to be taken out a little in the front."
Linna blushed again and Priss, Natasha, Nene and Mackie laughed. Nigel shook his head and Henderson smiled with aged warmth as Natasha walked over to her suit and stepped in. She was prepared for the cold so it didn't bother her, and leaning forward closed the suit like an old pro, only to experience the same woozy feeling assaulting her as the neural feeds synchronized her to the suit. When Nigel removed the docking clamps, releasing her, she felt the same bare feeling returning as she stretched like she would before a workout. She instantly knew what the suits armament and limitations were, also noticing a feeling in the back of her mind, a very familiar, and soothing presence. She smiled when she realized it was Linna or rather the core from Linna's old suit. Looking down she stomped her foot a few times, aware of a dull soreness in her lower left leg. Sylia cocked her head to the side.
"Is something wrong."
Natasha shrugged.
"I dunno, my leg feels a little funny."
Nigel walked over and gently pushed her back onto the docking clamp and she blushed when he touched her, feeling it on her skin rather than on armor. He wasn't rough, but he was strong and firm and she had to fight with herself not to break away, knowing he wasn't trying to hurt her, or worse. She debarked and he plugged in a diagnostic terminal, looked behind him in annoyance when he noticed everyone except Henderson was looking over his shoulder at the readings. His gaze fended off the majority but Natasha and Priss stayed. A few seconds later, he entered the needed adjustment and reset the leg.
"The leg servo was off by a thousandth of a inch." He noted.
Priss looked over at her with a 'how the hell did you feel that' look on her face. Natasha shrugged.
"A real-life pea and the princess neh?" Priss quipped.
Re-boarding the suit Tasha beamed.
"That did it." She said happily.
Looking behind her to make sure the area was clear she winked at Linna and launched herself into a series of back flips. Misjudged her proximity to the wall she flinched in anticipation to her inevitable impact, but just before she hit, the back thrusters kicked in, halting her momentum and gently placing her onto the ground an inch or so from the wall. She opened an eye followed by the other as the wince she had melted away when she realized she hadn't hit the wall after all. It took her a second to realize that the thrusters had fired instinctively, in response to her flinch. Linna and Nene, who had been running over to her expecting to pick her up off the floor, stopped part way and looked at her amidst surprised blinks. Even Sylia and Priss had taken a few steps. Natasha smiled and walked towards the group.
"Thank you Sylia. I...I don't know what to say."
Natasha noticed that Linna and Nigel had disappeared and that Nene was handing her the suits helmet.
"What's this?"
"Your helmet silly." She replied, tossing her a 'well duh!' look.
"Well yeah, but I need to head back to camp soon."
Linna, in her HARDsuit walked up behind her and put her hand on her shoulder.
"What's going on?" She asked in mock innocence.
Natasha looked over and smiled.
"Ok, one hop, but then I really have to head back. Okay?"
Linna nodded and gave her a thumbs-up.
"Okay."
"By the way, I like the new suit." Tasha purred, playfully scratching the clear section over her belly.
"Wh...what?" Linna retorted and looked down.
"Oh my God! I didn't know that was transparent! When were you gonna tell me that you little pervert!" She yelled, pointing at Mackie.
Tasha put her hand on Linna shoulder and made a 'come here' motion with her finger. Linna leaned down.
"Don't worry, I think it's sexy." She whispered with a wink. Linna couldn't help but blush and stifled a laugh.
"To bad Sylia didn't make a version like this for you neh?" Linna replied in hushed tones.
"Yup." Tasha winked back, than took her helmet and put it on, her head spinning as the data stream poured into her mind and Linna let her take first shot at the cat. They were well into their third bounce when Natasha noticed a few pings on her screen.
"Linna, three tracks below, off to the left. Range 300meters."
"Got it. Jeez, you don't have to be so uptight."
"Habit. Besides, you said you wanted to fight alongside me right? If we're gonna do it, lets do it right."
Linna laughed as they touched down. There were three mutated voomers ahead of them.
"Linna. I'll take right flank, you dog leg in left."
"Dog leg? What's that mean?"
Natasha made an "L" motion with her hand.
"You cut in like this, like a dogs leg."
"Oh."
Natasha was off like a shot and moved towards the right most voomer in an elegant shallow curve, which took her into its side. She body checked it squarely and the bombers in her shoulder fired, blowing the top of the voomer off into the air. She swore when she realized she'd used all three charges instead of one. Linna dog legged in from the left and trisected her target with her ribbon cutters while the third voomer charged after Natasha, since she was closest. Dodging off to the left Natasha brought her elbow down onto the small of its back, arming only one charge, which was sufficient to blow the voomer face first onto the pavement. In one fluid movement she followed through and sent her right fist into the voomer's head, crushing its core. Their action did not go unnoticed as more voomers appeared from within the abandoned buildings surrounding them.
A boomer that had fused with a chain saw entered the street first and Natasha snorted when she noticed that it was exiting a hardware store. Behind her she saw another two voomers exiting an electronics goods outlet.
"Jesus, it's like the 'Night of the living Dead' out here. Which side do you want?" She asked.
"I'll take Ash." Linna replied.
"Roger."
Natasha thrusted forward carefully, her radar couldn't penetrate the building so she wasn't sure if there were more inside. She did a systems check, she had 36 bomber charges left and her battery showed 85%. She liked this suit; it was almost like wearing Silket, and it was a brawler too, made for CQB (Close Quarter's Battle). If she could make contact with an enemy there was a good chance she could pop a bomber off. The two voomers separated and charged her simultaneously. Skimming off to the left she planted her knee into the nearest voomers midriff sending it sprawling back into the storefront. The other voomer pounced, landed on her center mass. In a last ditch effort she was able to use the thigh thrusters to shift positions before they landed.
The voomer, now on his back, swatted at her only to have his blow deflected. Punching down with two charges armed his head popped like a ripe melon. The warning pings from her radar told her that the second voomer was closing and pushing up into a handstand she saw that it right on her. She'd seen the move done in a video game a few times and figured 'why not', she was limber enough. Executing a perfect splits, and using her hands along with her thigh thrusters, spun herself around, sending her leg, bombers first, into its shoulder blowing its arm clean off, sending the rest of it flying into the street. Linna had finished with her target and had turned just in time to see the spin maneuver deposit the voomer at her feet and kicked it in the head, splitting it in two. Pushing herself up onto her feet Tasha did a three sixty, surveying her surroundings.
Apparently Linna had missed that step as a second voomer exploded out of the store behind her and launched at her exposed back. Natasha applied full thrust and tackled Linna, landing on top of her as the voomer sailed over both of them. Recovering, she spun around and faced the voomer as it picked itself off the ground. Closing the distance she crouched low and pivoted around it, kicking its legs out from underneath it, landing it on its back. Pivoting back she knelt down and popped it in the face with a single charge, blowing it off. Satisfied that the other voomers were out of commission she checked her battery and was satisfied that she still had 67% left. Linna walked over to her.
"Thanks Tasha, I didn't see him coming."
Natasha turned on her and flipped the visor on her faceplate up. Her face showed utter seriousness.
"Flip you're face plate up." She demanded.
"What?"
"Do it."
Linna flipped her faceplate up and looked into Natasha's eyes.
"If you EVER turn your back on an enemy, any enemy, again, I'm breaking up with you!"
Linna paused in shock.
"You...you're kidding right?"
Natasha sighed.
"Linna, this is serious, we both do a dangerous job, I have no problem with that, I do, however, have a problem when you don't remember to maintain you're spatial awareness. I don't want to lose another loved one on the field of combat. I just don't. It hurts too damned much, okay?""I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
"It better not!" Tasha huffed with a wry grin.
Linna smiled. In her own indomitable fashion Natasha had her own way of making her feel loved.
Natasha reached over and playfully slapped Linna's visor shut.
"We better head back to the barn. This area will be swarming with voomers soon."
"Okey dokey." Linna smiled.
A few jumps and minutes later they were back in the hanger and Nene rushed up all smiles with Priss following her at a more reserved pace.
"That was awesome Tasha! How'd you do that spin move?"
"Hey there kiddo!" She laughed, returning Nene's sisterly hug. "Well, for starters, you go into a handstand, than do a splits and engage your thigh thrusters, you gotta set them to a ninety degree angle, one facing forward the other back, in the direction you want to go, than you let 'em rip."
Priss' face betrayed her surprise and she smiled approvingly.
"That was pretty cool."
"So what did you think of the suit?" Sylia asked.
"I think if we had them we'd win every war. The setup you gave me is perfect for MOUT."
"What's mout?"
Natasha turned to Priss.
"Military Operations in Urbanized Terrain. It's a term used by the DoD to describe city fighting, securing buildings and the like. In fact all your armor is perfect for that."
Sylia gave her a stern look.
"I know, I know. I'm not suggesting you mass-produce these things, I was just thinking out loud. But if you did you'd never have to worry about money again. Every country on the planet would be beating your door down for the license to build."
Sylia allowed herself a smile, she'd never do it but was pleased to know that her work was appreciated and respected by someone qualified to make such an assessment. Natasha turned to Nigel.
"Um... What's the maximum altitude that these suits can make a recoverable drop from?"
"Why do you ask?" He grunted, taking a drag of his smoke.
"Well I was thinking of air dropping the ADP versions into combat the same way I deploy my K-suits."
Nigel smiled, he liked the way this women thought.
"One thousand feet depending on weapons load out."
"At what speed?"
Nigel had to think about that one for a minute.
"I don't know, I've never thought to do the numbers for something like that. I'd say anything below two hundred miles an hour would be safe."
Natasha bit her lip and they could see that she was crunching numbers in her head.
"So, with a standard rig if I drop at 1000ft going two hundred I'm guessing my landing would be in the neighborhood of 70 to 80 mph based on mass and velocity."
Mackie, who had overheard the question nodded.
"Actually that's right on the money!" He said, quite surprised.
Everyone was impressed at Natasha's ability to come up with such an accurate figure on the fly, although Linna and Nene never doubted it for a second and the nodded knowingly to each other.

A little while later Natasha had put her uniform back on and was waiting with the others in the store area. Well most of it anyway. Nene walked up with her BDU blouse, which she noticed had been washed.
"Thanks Nene, you didn't have to do that."
"Yeah, well, I figured you have to look good, even if it's in combat right?"
Natasha gave her a sisterly hug and ruffled her hair.
Linna and Nene smiled and Sylia nodded in approval.
"Must be nice to have your efforts recognized huh?" Priss remarked, throwing Nene a 'you're such a kiss-ass' look.
"Yeah, it does feel good. But believe me when I say this. None of what you've done for the city has been overlooked. In fact, the Army is very impressed with everything you've accomplished. I made sure of that." Tasha apparently hadn't caught the sarcasm of Priss' statement, or if she did, ignored it. Priss blinked and pursed her lips in surprise and approval.
"Thank you." Sylia said.
Natasha looked at her watch than back at the others.
"I'm real sorry but I've gotta leave. They're gonna start wondering where I've gotten off to."
"What about the suits?" Nene asked.
"I don't have room in the jeep, I'll have to pick them up later. Besides, if I took them now I'd have every Ranger in Japan twisting my arm for a chance to use them."
Sylia nodded her understanding.
"They'll be waiting for you when you come back."
"Thank you."
She took her guns from Nigel and did a quick check to make sure they were loaded and secured. Turning to leave she stopped and went back to Linna.
"What the hell." She smiled.
She gave Linna a kiss on the lips followed by quick hug and threw the others a victory sign before she went outside and drove away.

Linna noticed that everyone was staring at her, although Nigel and Sylia had knowing smiles; instead of the looks of shocked disbelief that adorned Priss and Nene's face.
"What?" She remarked, visibly flushed.
Priss elbowed her in the ribs.
"You naughty girl."
"Oh my god! No way, you and Natasha aren't...?" Nene blurted.
This time Linna blushed redder than she ever had in recent memory.
"You are! Aren't you?" Nene concluded.
Priss gave her a smile.
"You know. If I'd found out this juicy bit of gossip a few months earlier I probably wouldn't be talking to you today. But, you did good." She admitted, than paused, looking back at her.
"Look Linna, I have to ask. When did it become serious?"
Linna noticed that the others were waiting for her answer.
"Well, if you must know." She relented. "It was a week after she saved my life at work. I guess I'd already had a crush on her for a few months by then but after that, I dunno, I couldn't keep it a secret any longer. I had to tell her." Linna admitted.
"That long, that's almost five months. I mean I knew you liked her, but not that much." Nene added, still unable to believe it all.
Linna was very uncomfortable talking about this, even to her closest friends and it showed. Sylia put her hand over her shoulder and led her inside.
"Now, now. Don't worry about it. Things have a funny way of working out."

Priss and Nene were left outside, still dumbfounded.
"I can't believe I didn't see it. I mean I work with her for crying out loud. I never had a clue." Nene said, about Natasha.
"Fuck that! I'm just surprised Linna made the first move."
Nene put her hands to her mouth at the realization.
"Wow! You're right, I didn't think about that! But than again she is pretty unpredictable."
"True. No wonder she was so protective of her." Priss remarked.
"Which one of who?" Nene asked.
"Good point. Both I guess, can't believe we missed it though."
"So, um...did you mean what you said, about her doing good?"
Priss blushed this time but recovered quickly.
"Yeah I guess I do. I mean it could have been worse, she could have tried to make the moves on you."
"Eww, now you're just being mean." Nene whined.
"And that's different how?"
"Oh come on Priss."
Nene pouted for a little bit than turned and looked into the storefront.
"Anyway, I think it's sweet, weird, but sweet. I mean at least she, they, are happy, right?"
"I guess so. At least I don't have to worry about her trying to hit on me."
"Are you sure? You still like her, admit it." Nene retorted, regarding Linna.
Priss turned red from embarrassment and anger. Interestingly enough she wasn't mad at Nene, but at herself. Nene was right. She liked, and respected both women, highly. She was envious of Linna for her youthful naiveté, something she'd been forced to shed long before she was ready. She was envious of Natasha because of her skill and almost scary ability to do most anything well. She didn't hate her for it, just the opposite, she was in awe of it, but her inherent competitive nature wouldn't allow her to accept it lying down. The one thing that did irk her was that Natasha didn't seem to have a competitive bone in her body, as she had heard Nene explain it, 'She is good at what she does because her position demands nothing less of her'. Talk about motivation, and very linear when she thought about it. As for Linna, she'd never admit it, but she'd been attracted to her, and in some small way, still was. She shook her head pushing the thoughts from her head. There was no use getting jealous, she had her chance and blew it, but as Sylia had just said, 'Things have a funny way of working out', and if, by some small chance she and Linna had become the item she'd never have met Leon. He was a sweet guy, rough around the edges and about as egocentric as she was; she snorted, maybe that's what made them click.

Leon and Nene sat atop the Silky Doll building. Nene looked bummed, and Leon was fidgety in the extreme.
"So what's got you down kiddo?" Leon asked.
Nene glared at him for the 'kiddo' crack, than sighed.
"I'm tired of doing nothing while our suits are being rebuilt. At least you and the rest of Det. 3 had something to do until the Army took over. By the way," Nene turned to him. "Where is Det 3 now anyway?"
"Fairweather has them on the cordon, split here and there as advisors. They know more about boomer bashing than any of those Army guys combined, I guess it makes sense." He said, rubbing his hair.
Nene nodded.
"I wonder how the rest of Japan is taking this?" Leon asked.
"Yeah right." Nene huffed. "About the only people that do are us in the city, or nearby. The rest of the world knows, but outside of Tokyo everyone thinks we're just having a bunch of power outages and that the military is here to quell riots."
"What a crock." Leon snarled. "We're here dying and for what? So some pencil neck CEO can...GAWD it makes me mad!"
"To bad we can't get the word out." Nene sighed, holding her soda can out over the railing, as she rested her head on her arms. She let the can fall to the street. Who cares, it's a mess anyway.
"What if we could?" Leon asked, a spark returning to his eyes.
"Huh?"
"What if we could get the word out? You're great with computers, Daley's good with communications equipment, and Keith; that embedded reporter that was hanging around Det. 3 is still around. I'm sure he'd love a scoop like this."
"Um, you forget, he's already got the scoop, it's all over FOX News, and from what Tasha told me a few days ago, all the other networks are bidding like crazy to get permission to rebroadcast it all."
"Okay, I'll conceded that, but has he said anything to the rest of Japan, or anything about what you guys told me about the Kanto Quake?' He smiled.
"Well, no." Nene admitted.
"All right then, so instead of sitting around here like lumps on a log, lets go broadcast."
Nene smiled and nodded.
"You know, it's usually me that gets these harebrained ideas; you've been hanging around Det. 3 to long." Nene teased.

"Karl, Tony. Can I borrow you two for a second?" Tasha asked, having poked her head into the mess tent. They'd been flown back to Tokyo, and had taken up residence in Hama Rikyu Garden Park, just south of the Tsukiji Fish Market. At least the snow and the cold kept the market from stinking to high heaven. She held her BDU cap to her head as a Chinook lifted off, passing right over her as Tony and Karl looked over. The camp consisted of a hodgepodge of GP Small, Medium and Large tents with a few 5-ton expand-o trucks thrown in for good measure. Everything was under camo-netting, not really useful against boomers, but it helped morale, and gave the troops something to do as every time a helicopter would flit in or out a few camo-spreaders would invariably be knocked over. Picking up their trays of powdered eggs and watered down sausages they made their way out.
"What's up?" Karl asked.
"I need to ask you a favor."
"Oh boy. I don't like the sound of that. I just got my armor all dried out."
Tasha smiled.
"So, what do you have planned?" Karl continued.
"I'd like it if you could provide security for Leon, Nene, and Daley."
Tony grumbled, he'd rather trade two or three dips in Tokyo Bay than that.
"Why?" He asked simply.
'They're going to head to the NHK Building to get the word out."
Karl blinked.
"What do you mean, we're watching it on AFN (Armed Forces Network) all the time."
"That's AFN, it seems that the story isn't hitting Japan as a whole, that's why we aren't getting more support from nearby."
"You're kidding me right?" Tony blurted.
"Afraid not. We've been picking up some strong jamming, and until now we just thought it was a residual from the Sotai."
"Let me guess, it's not." Karl muttered.
Tasha shook her head.
"No, it's not. It's deliberate, and localized."
"The NHK Building?" Tony asked.
"We think so, at any rate, Leon wants to get Keith to tag along and help him punch thru the jamming, than as Nene put it, get the scoop out."
"And where do we fit in, in all of this?" Karl said.
"Well, if the jamming is deliberate, than whoever is doing it might not like it when they start broadcasting. Plus there are those thousands of rogue voomers to worry about."
"Makes sense to me." Karl quipped. "I'm in."
"Sure, why not." Tony smiled.
"Thanks, they're ready to go, I have them waiting by your Huey." She said, looking at Tony.
"We're gonna have back up right, if we need it." Karl asked.
"Yeah, it's all been arranged. I'll be watching over you from the TOC." Tasha replied.
"Ooo, I feel so much safer." Tony joked, even though, deep down, he did.

"We're ready when you are." Keith said, nodding to Leon.
"Nene?" Leon asked, looking down at her laptop.
"Yup, I'm all patched in." She smiled.
"Here you go." Keith said, clipping a microphone to Leon's collar. "Try not to think about the millions of people that are gonna be seeing this." He smiled as Leon blanched. Keith couldn't resist hazing him some, and Tony and Karl behind him snickered slightly at it.
Leon got six minutes worth of airtime before Nene registered that the jamming had shifted to block the outgoing transmission. The situation repeated itself for the next half hour. Isolate jamming frequency, bypass, transmit, get jammed, repeat. Sometime during the fifth go, Tony got a call from the TOC as he was checking in with two Det. 3 Officers that had been in the camp. He'd snatched them up before they could be sent to the cordon and had them set up Observation Points atop the NHK building.
"Go ahead." He replied.
"Tony, Tash here, we're looking at two inbound airborne tracks, heading your way."
"Ours?"
"No."
"Got it." He answered. "Karl! We're gonna have company!"
No sooner had Tony, Daley, and Karl repositioned than the dark shape of two large helicopters appeared over the skyline, heading right towards them.
Tony zoomed in with his field glasses and chewed his bottom lip. Gunships, big ones two, they were both painted black, no external markings, armed to the teeth and looking like a cross between a Mi-24 Hind and a Blackhawk.
"Karl, with me!" Tony yelled as he bolted to the Huey.
"Two choppers north. Let's get this thing up!" He urged the pilot. Tony and Karl cocked the miniguns attached to door mounts and readied themselves.

As the skids of the Huey left the rooftop there was a bright flash, trailed by a plume of smoke from the nearest chopper.
"Missile incoming!" The pilot shouted, and banked the Huey hard over, diving for the deck, trying to use the building as cover.

Aboard the USS Ronald Reagan a two-ship flight of F-18E Super Hornets shrieked into the air.
"Yankee Lead. This is Outfield 6" Tasha said.
"Outfield 6 Yankee Lead, go ahead."
"We have two bogies to the northwest. No IFF and hostile. Be a pal and ruin their day for me."
"Roger that Outfield 6, Yankee flight feet dry and hot."

The street was showered in glass and flaming office furniture as the Huey narrowly avoided the missile.
"I think this was a real bad idea!" Karl laughed.
Tony wasn't paying attention; he was desperately trying to find the offending choppers.
"Target! Dead ahead!" The pilot yelped and threw the Huey into a hard turn. Tony was able to squeeze off a burst before the Huey completed its rotation. Accelerating away, the Huey suddenly pitched forward as a missile from the second chopper separated the tail boom form the rest of the helicopter. The pilot didn't have time for a Mayday call as the Huey nose-dived into the pavement and caught fire. Karl was thrown from the wreckage upon impact and, his head still swimming, dragged himself behind a nearby car. Tony's restraints hadn't snapped, and the pain in his gut made him wish they had. Crawling to the cockpit he swore. Both the pilot and copilot were dead.

Above them Karl heard gunfire and saw the tail end of the first chopper as it hovered over the rooftop.
"Leon? What's going on up there?!"
"Those bastards just strafed the hell out of us and dropped troops. We're holding them back now, but that chopper's gonna murder us if we can't take it out!"
Chopper? There were two. So where was the other one? A deafening roar and a rush of wind answered his question. Peering around the cover he was behind he saw the matte black shape of the second chopper, hovering over the street disgorging troops. The sound of a miniguns opening up caught his attention as the debarked troops scattered and the chopper lifted up into the air, it's nose turret sweeping in the direction of the offending fire. Tony was hunkered against the wreckage of the Huey firing the surviving minigun at the hostiles, both ground based and airborne. As the hostile troopers sought cover and returned fire Karl loaded a grenade, swung out from around his cover and fired. The round impacted dead center, blowing the three remaining troops out of the chopper and onto the pavement below. Black smoke poured from the crew compartment as the chopper struggled for altitude.
Tony used the confusion to mow down the few enemy troopers that hadn't made it to safety. Unsure as to where the grenade had come from the chopper swung towards Karl. Reloading a second shot he fired at almost point blank range into the choppers underbelly as it passed over his position. The chopper heaved, as the explosive round disemboweled it. As the staccato chatter of Tony's minigun continued behind him he tossed the grenade launcher to the ground and sprinted to the downed chopper. The pilot and copilot were alive but dazed and were trying to undo their harnesses. In a moment of blind rage Karl swung his steady-cam mounted M-60E out, and leaping onto the nose, emptied an entire belt into both of them. Round after round shredded them until the only thing recognizable as human rested below the belt line. Karl never even heard his bloodcurdling yell over the din.

Tony trotted up to him, all but dragging the minigun along. He'd attached the power feeds to his armor and a half empty belt was scraping along the pavement.
"Holy fuck!" Tony remarked, as Karl hopped down off the ruined chopper.
"Key 1 to Outfield 6."
"Go ahead Key 1" Tasha answered instantly.
"One target down, it's an attack chopper of some sort, German make I think, but it's not UN. There's one more floating about."
"Roger that." Tasha bit her lip, armed troops not voomers attacking her men. Must be a black op. She turned to the plotting board and satisfied that there were no unaccounted for assets in the area keyed the mike.
"Outfield 6 to Yankee flight, target update. Your target is not, repeat not, a voomer, it's a gunship. You are clear to engage."
"Roger that six, we're less than a minute out and have the target locked. Engaging!"
"I think we better get up top side." Karl noted, motioning to the entry to the NHK Building lobby. Tony nodded, following him in. The second gunship was peppering the rooftop in support of the troopers it had dropped off. Keith's cameraman and a Det. 3 officer were already dead, cut down by a relentless hail of bullets.

Off in the distance a single trail of blue white smoke wove it's way closer. The missile's seeker head had identified its target and sent minor course corrections to the control surfaces. Aboard the remaining gunship the missile warning flashed to life, it was too late however, the missiles stealth features had shrouded its approach. Flying at three times the speed of sound the missile impacted the gunships engine housing, messily ripping the power plant from the helicopter. There was a brilliant explosion as the fuel lines sent flame to the tanks, detonating them. The split remains of the chopper rained down atop the building covering it with searing debris and burning fuel. Two of the troopers it had been supporting were doused in the burning liquid. Thrashing about uselessly they finally succumbed, still burning.
Inside the stairwell Tony and Karl felt the building shake and hurried their pace.
Leon, having shielded Nene with his own body struggled to his feet, surveying the situation. The rooftop was a charnel house, how any of them had survived was anyone's guess, but they had, and so had some of their assailants. He snapped off two quick shots as one of the enemy troopers dashed from one piece of cover to the next, dropping him with a bloody thud. His attack was met with precise gunfire and he threw himself back behind cover. His shoulder burned and as he pulled his hand away it was wet with blood. Beside him, Nene, in shorts and shirt, popped up and using the assault rifle from the fallen Det. 3 officer stitched a burst across the enemy position.
"Fucking bastards!" She yelled as her fire caught her target high in the shoulder and the head. Leon had to pull her down before she caught any return fire.
"Jesus Nene! You trying to get yourself killed!?"
Nene pouted.
"No, but I got one of 'em."

By the time Tony and Karl had huffed it back up to the roof they were exhausted, Tony having abandoned the minigun somewhere in the vicinity of the fortieth floor landing. The fight was over, and Nene was seeing to the wounded, Daley among them.
"You get the word out?" Tony asked Leon.
"Yeah, most of it, all our equipment got shot up early on."
"Seems like someone didn't want the message to get out." Karl bit sarcastically.
Nene nodded and Karl regarded her, she was covered in soot and dried blood and looked like hell, but the sparkle in her eyes hadn't diminished one bit. He couldn't help but feel better knowing that.
"You okay kiddo?"
"Why Karl-poo, were you worried about me?" She smiled up at him like a Cheshire cat. Karl rubbed the back of his head uneasily, than nodded.
"Yeah, I guess I was."

"How's the evacuation coming?" Karl asked. Tasha rubbed her eyes and looked up at him. He was standing at the entry to her tent, having rolled on of the flaps up. Swinging her legs off of the cot she deposited the OD Green wool blanket to the side and sighed. Her BDU pants were wrinkled and worn, and her brown undershirt had likewise seen better days. Running her fingers thru her hair she motioned to a foldout chair next to a fold out desk and he entered and sat.
"Close the flap please." She yawned as she turned on the lantern hanging from the center tent pole. There were two other cots in the tent, but they were unoccupied, their inhabitants still on duty. Obliging her request Karl sat.
"Man, you look beat."
She nodded.
"Could be worse." She muttered. "Sorry, you wanted to know about the evacuation."
"Not really, I was just trying to make conversation, oh, and sorry for waking you."
"I wasn't asleep." She smiled warmly. "Tony's Huey is back."
"I know." He nodded, he's having it fueled up now."
"Sorry about the other one. Armed gunships were the last thing I thought you'd face."
"Us too." Karl nodded.
"Going to be heading back out again?" She asked, knowing the answer was yes.
He nodded.
"Tony's drawing ammo too, guesses he wants to get some revenge for yesterday."
"Against whom?" Tasha replied.
"Nobody I guess." Karl smiled. "Probably just wants to vent some I suppose."
She could understand that, and if it weren't for her duties in camp she'd be in the air next to them.
"When was the last time you had a shower?" Karl asked.
"Do I reek that bad?" She laughed.
"No." He laughed. "Just asking."
"Oh, right. Three or four days ago, spent the night with Linna at Sylia's." She said as she stood, retrieving her BDU blouse from a makeshift hanger and put it on.
"Sure could use another one though." She added.
"Speaking of Linna. How're they holding up?"
"Well I suppose. Sylia and Nigel are working around the clock trying to get the new HARDsuits finished."
He nodded again.
"Have you seen Kaitlin?" Karl asked.
"Not lately." Tasha admitted. "She's probably out on the cordon somewhere patching together busted aerodynes."
The tent flap was pulled open abruptly letting a frigid gust of wind enter, driving the heat from the tent. Tony stepped in and stamped his feet depositing muddy slush at the entryway.
"Fuck it's cold out there." He noted.
"We noticed." Tasha said, shivering slightly.
"Ready to go?" Karl asked.
"Yeah, skids up in five."
Karl pushed himself off the fold up and hefted his assault rifle. Behind him Tasha was zipping up her field jacket and slung her rifle over her shoulder.
"I'll walk you to the pad." She offered.

Tony hopped up into the Huey first followed by Karl. Tasha said goodbye, informing them that she'd be monitoring their frequency while they were out, than retreated to a safe distance while the blade spun up. Abruptly Karl hopped out of the chopper and ran hunched over to her. Tasha leaned in to hear over the noise.
"Tash! If you hear from her, or see her, let her know I'm looking for her okay!"
Tasha nodded and gave him a thumbs up.
"I will!"

As they lifted off into the cold night air she trotted to the command tent. At least with all the people and equipment it was warm. She found Col. Tabbot looking over a city map with voomer positions labeled in red. There was a lot of red on the map.
"Colonel, got a minute?"
"Yeah, what can I do for you?"
"Do we have an updated list of survivors from the ADP building yet?"
"Actually yes, came in while you were sacking out."
He handed her a clipboard and she tanked him, than went to her terminal and hooked in, than started to flip thru the pages. Her heart sunk when she saw Kaitlin's name, listed as MIA.

Over the city Tony and Karl watched as gouts of flame erupted every now and then from within the buildings. A series of flashes would signify rockets fired from attack choppers at targets below and the running lights of cargo helicopters could be seen for miles around, picking survivors off of roof tops and hustling them into the safe zones.
"Sir, we've got a large heat signature, north northwest!" The copilot relayed.
"How many and how far?"
"About half a klick, looks like they're holed up in a small building, I can count at least twenty on the roof, possibly more inside."
"Take us in."

Frightened yet relieved civilians made room for the landing chopper and Tony and Karl hopped out. Tony pointed to the nearest person to him.
"How many inside?"
"Me?"
"Yes you, how many?"
"Um...another fifty, fifty five, I think."
"Women and children?"
"Yes, a few."
"Get them up here, they're going out."
As twelve women and small children were crammed aboard the pilot motioned to Tony.
"What about you?" He asked over the intercom.
"We'll hold here, you just get them dropped off and get your ass back here as fast as you can."
"Roger that sir."
As the Huey disappeared into the night Tony and Karl took stock of their situation. The building was five stories, and missing all it's windows on the north and east side. The insides were all but gutted; apparently this building had been on fire, one that had since burned itself out. There were another thirty-eight people, including two women who had given their seats up to get the youngsters out. Below them, in the streets were burned out cars and trucks, a battered school bus across the street, and a fire hydrant gushing water, which had turned the south side street into an ice sheet. It didn't take long for the first voomer to shamble towards the building. Looking down the street Karl knew they were in for a fight, there were at least thirty more behind it.
"Hey Tony, we've been made. I count forty incoming shamblers."
"Okay, get the stairwell mined and these people off the roof."
Karl nodded and hurried downstairs.
"Okay, so who here knows how to use a gun?" Tony asked the assembled civilians. Three hands rose, one from an old man, the other from one of the women, and the third from who could only be a street punk, in full Generation X regalia. Tony handed a spare pistol to the old man and a shotgun to the women. When Karl returned Tony had him hand over his spare automatic to the punk.
"I want this back.' Karl warned.
"They're getting closer!" A frantic civilian called from near the windows.
"Okay, time to kick some." Tony smiled beneath his armored facemask. Than turned to the three conscripts.
"Don't start shooting out the windows, you three cover the stairs, if anything gets past the Claymore's you pop 'em and call for one of us. Got it?"
The three nodded.
"Sheeit, I'll blast 'em man!" The hotheaded young tough smiled.
"No, you get one of us, or I shoot you myself." Tony replied. The ice in his voice was sufficient to quell any dissent.

The first shots were measured and deadly accurate but the mass of mutated voomers pressed on. Back at camp Natasha listened restlessly at the chatter.
"Nice shot, up six!"
"Three more to the left!
"Watch the store front, five more coming out!"
"Shit, ten more from the west!"
"Four down!"
As she listened she kept an eye out on the 'Traffic Board' to see when, if, any gunships were free to assist. The Huey was on its way back, having all but shoved its cargo out the door.
"Tony! To your left!"
"Three more to the east!"
"Why won't this guy go down?!"
"Repositioning!"
She could hear the constant gunfire and explosions from their grenades, first from their tube launched, than from their hand grenades. In the background she could make out the cries of the terrified civilians.
"Sir." She called over to Col. Tabbot.
"We're going to need air support, grid reference Tango Whiskey Five, just south of Phase Line Brooklyn."
He walked over and picked up the backup headset and held it to his ear. After a few seconds of listing he nodded than looked over to the 'Traffic Board'.
"Send Juliet 4 once he's back in the air."
"Roger that sir, thank you sir." She added than made her call to Juliet 4.

"I need ammo!" Tony yelled.
Karl ran over to toss him a spare clip when he all but froze.
"What?" Tony said, looking at him.
"Fuck! We've got a combat boomer!"
Tony whirled around and saw a thirty-foot tall combat boomer plodding up the street. That must have been one of those big ones' Tasha had told them about.
"Oh, not good! Not good!"
"Tasha! This is Tony! We need a fast mover NOW!"

Tasha whirled around from the 'Traffic Board', He'd called her name out and not a call sign, which meant whatever it was, was bad, real bad. There were two fast movers in the air, but they were en-route to other areas and Juliet 4 was still five minutes from dust off. To hell with it! She'd worry about the consequences later, her friends needed help.
"Zulu flight, flash override! Proceed to grid reference Tango Whiskey Five! Expedite!"
"Key 1, Domino, send visual now!"
Col. Tabbot had heard her countermanding order and was making his way over to her. She was standing her hands braced atop the radio set, her eyes wild. A small screen next to her terminal switched pictures and he saw, out a window, the thirty-foot tall behemoth lumbering towards the camera. He saw a rifle, he wasn't sure if it was Tony or Karl's, raise and saw a grenade fired at the monster, impacting it center mass. He saw the shoulder split open and the warheads of missiles pop threw the mutated sinew.
"Oh crap! Get these people downstairs NOW!" Tony bellowed.
"We can't! I've got the stairs mined up to the third floor!" Karl shouted back.
"Fuck! Everyone! Get over to the far wall! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!"
The massive boomer mercifully let lose with only one missile. The rocket shoot up, than arched over and came down into the corner of the building, where the offending gnat that had struck it had been.
Col. Tabbot noticed the color wash from Tasha's face and knuckles as the radio and picture were drowned out by static.
"Key 1! Respond!" She yelled, her voice pitching up an octave. A few other operators closest turned, and noticing the Colonel standing there, turned back to their terminals.
"We're still here." Came Karl over the radio agonizing seconds later.
The icy wind had cleared most of the dust to reveal the large voomer a scant five feet from the building. Bringing its arm up it slammed into the building tearing the entire corner away in one fell blow.
"Zulu flight, say status!" Tasha said, her voice, and emotions back under control.
"We're inbound. Holy shit! And we see your target."
Tasha knew that the lightest ordinance they were carrying was a 500lb glide bomb. That was sufficient to level the entire block, let alone the building.
"Zulu flight, we have friendlies in that building and your target is armed with SAM's" She informed.
"Roger that."

"Okay Mike, lets make this clean. One pop apiece, lets try and straddle this bad boy."
"Following your lead buddy!"
As the two F-18E Strike Hornets locked their target the voomer registered their presence and turned to engage.
"It's wise!" Zulu Lead blurted.
"Pickle's hot!" Came his wingman's reply.
"On two, ready! Drop!"
As two drab green ovoid bombs dropped from their wings the giant voomer unleashed a volley of missiles.
"Missiles in the air! BRAKE! BRAKE! BRAKE!"
Zulu 4 and 3 separated and climbed for altitude while dumping flare and chaff as four missiles rose into the black sky and sought their targets. Two missiles were fooled outright by the countermeasures and exploded, peppering the street below. The third missile tracked on Zulu 4 as he banked sharply to the south.
"Missile on my six, I'm going to try and shake it!"
As he headed for the hard desk the forth missile closed on Zulu 3.
Zulu 4 swerved his Hornet into a canyon of glass and steel and dumped his remaining flares. The reflected heat caused the missile to go stupid and it plowed into a nearby high-rise, blowing it in half sending the upper floors careening into the building next to it, toppling both. Above him Zulu 3 had expended his remaining countermeasures but still the missile clung to him.
"Jesus Christ! I can't shake it!" His warning indicator counted down the range till impact, one hundred meters and closing. Suddenly the missile accelerated and cleaved the right wing from the fuselage.
"I'm hit! Ejecting!"
As Zulu 3's Hornet erupted their bombs found their target. The massive voomer was bracketed squarely in the middle and the ensuing shockwave and blast pressure burst it like an overripe tomato. The ensuing conflagration sent all the smaller voomers nearby flying into the air, into buildings and down the street as the building shook horribly. With a screech of dying metal a large portion of the roof collapsed crushing those who had sought shelter in that part of the floor.

Tasha sank back into her seat, trembling. Colonel Tabbot decided now wasn't the best time to point out chain of command issues, and patted her on the shoulder with a non-committal nod. He could see thru the uplink to Zulu 4 that the area was swarming with voomers.
"Have Zulu 4 return to his posted flight path please." He said.
"Sir?" Tasha replied meekly.
"Juliet four will be on scene shortly." He explained and she nodded, than carried out his orders.

As the dust settled for the second time Tony could hear muffled cries of pain and horror. Karl was sitting next to him shaking the cobwebs from his head.
"I guess I better take a look." Karl said and staggered to his feet. Covering fire or no, being less than fifty feet from a bomb going off was not a pleasant experience. Tony nodded and took the other side of the building.

"Street's clear to the south, those planes really did a number on them." Karl reported.
"East and west side is clear for at least two hundred feet, shockwave must have swept them back."
"I saw a parachute to the north, looks like one of our buddies got knocked down." Karl added.
"Okay, try to raise him and give him our location, he'll have to get to us."
As Karl dealt with that Tony's radio crackled to life.
"Key 1, Domino 1, how copy over?"
"Hey girl! We're still breathing, but we lost some friendlies in the blast." Tony informed.
"I understand." Her voice sounded hollow.
"Look, there was nothing you could do, if they hadn't dropped we'd all be dead now."
"Roger that." She said, not entirely convinced, but now was not the time for self-doubt. "Your Evac bird is en-route with gunship escort. ETA five minutes."
"Right, we'll be looking for it."

"Tony! Our flyboy is on his way but he's got company!"
"All right, lets get a rope out the window to him. You! And You!" Tony pointed to the young punk and the woman.
"You're on the window, we've got a downed pilot heading our way so check your fire."
The punk nodded, their shared near death experience had tempered his bluff and bluster.
Weapons fire from the other side of the building caught Tony's attention. Karl was firing out the window.
"Report!"
"Boomers, lots of 'em!"
Tony nodded.
"Okay, I'll hold them, you get some of those claymore's up here, we can drop them on them as they get closer. Leave the one's on the first and second floor in place."
Karl nodded and went to work.
"I see him!" The young women called out.
"He's got company!" The punk added.
"Do what you can!" Tony answered as he pumped three round bursts out the window at the encroaching flood.

Over the city Juliet 4 and Tony's Huey were moving at best speed towards the fray when a call came in.
"Juliet flight, Golf three-three, you need a hand?"
To keep the confusion between aerial assets to a minimum, different types of aircraft were afforded different identifiers, Yankee and Zulu belonged to A/F-18E Hornets. Whiskey and X-Ray were A/F-35C's. Juliet, Kilo, and Lima were RAH-66B Comanche's. Echo, Foxtrot and Golf, were CH-47H Chinook cargo helicopters.
"Roger that Golf 33, glad to have you!"

In the street Capt. Kyle 'Mac' Mackenzie sprinted across the street towards the bombed out building. He could see two people at a window fire floors up and a rope, a lifeline more like it, dangling from it. He dared not look back; he knew that there were more than ten voomers after him. Movement to his left caught his attention as a pair of voomers closed on him. Gunfire from the window peppered them, allowing him to skirt past them. Reaching the rope he jumped and clutched at it, than started to drag himself up.
The young lady waved her arm at the dazed people near her, and pointed to the rope.
"Pull! We gotta get him up here!"
Capt. Mackenzie suddenly felt himself pulled upwards at a fantastic rate, and had to struggle not to lose his grip. No sooner had his head popped over the windowsill than three pairs of hands grabbed his flight suit and dragged him inside.
"Over here!" Came a call from across the room. He looked over and saw a lone soldier firing into the street. He trotted over.
"You in charge here?" He asked.
"Yeah, nice shooting by the way, you really saved our asses."
"You're welcome." He panted.
"You armed?"
"Yeah." He answered as he held his H&K MP5 up.
"Take a window." Tony said with a smile.
Underneath them the building shook and than shook again.
"What the fuck?" Mackenzie blurted.
"Directional mines."
"Fuck!" He retorted and fired his weapon into the street. 'And I thought the skies were dangerous.' He thought.
Karl had managed to retrieve four Claymores when rogue voomers suddenly inundated the lobby. As he raced up the stairs the claymore behind him exploded throwing him face first onto the stairs. He felt warm liquid on his back and swore. One hundred feet to the front, forty to the rear he repeated in his head. He'd completely spaced the Claymore's lethal range, and had gotten caught in the ass end of it.
"Karl!? What happened, that was close."
"No problem, looks like one took a window in instead of the stairs. Caught him on four."
Ammunition was running low, and more and more voomers were converging, each weapon was down to it's next to last magazine when the dull rotor slap of a helicopter pierced the night, followed by a rush of weapons fire.

"Juliet 4 to Outfield. I'm going hot!"
The Comanche banked away from the Huey and Chinook as she sped up clearing the distance to the building. In the time it took the Huey to reach the building she had expended nearly all her rockets and was eating up her 20mm at a fantastic rate. While she covered them the Chinook hovered next to the building, dropping it cargo ramp.
"Well I'll be!" Tony laughed. "All right lets go!" As the wounded were brought aboard first, followed buy still dazed and shell-shocked civilians the Huey provided additional gunfire from its twin door-mounted miniguns. The building shook again as a Claymore exploded on the second floor landing.
Mackenzie shoved the final Chinook passenger aboard, holding his arm out to the others in line. He made a pumping motion with his arm to the loadmaster watching him thru the bubble window on the side of the CH-47.
"Go! Go! Go!" He hollered, followed by the universal hand swirl and point, meaning; Get the fuck out of here!
As the Chinook cleared the area the Huey settled in to take its place. The young woman and young punk were still around, and still firing, single shots now, trying to conserve their ammo. Tony soon realized that there wasn't enough room for everyone. Once those that could fit were aboard he signaled to the pilot to leave.
"What about you?"
"We'll find a way out, now get these people out of here!"
Karl walked up to Tony as the Huey lifted off, Capt, Mackenzie saluted and tossed his MP-5 to them as they dusted off, and Tony caught it, and returned the salute. It had one magazine left, but it was better than nothing.
"Ok genius how are we getting out of here?"
"That bus, we hot wire it and bug out." Tony smiled, pointing out the window at the school bus down the street.
"Assuming we can hotwire it." Karl huffed.

"Juliet 4 to ground team. I'll remain on station as long as I can."
Tony looked up, and gave the female pilot a thumbs-up.
"We're going to make for that bus on the far side, can you cover us?"
"Will do."
"Ready?" Tony asked.
"Oh no! This is your idea, you go first, and I'll cover you." Karl replied, shaking his head.
"Fine! Ya wussy!" Tony grumbled as he hopped out the window onto the ledge. The plan was simple, Karl would cover him, and once he made it to the bus, he would cover Karl.
Plan's however, no matter how well laid, do not always work out the way one wanted them too. Tony rappelled to the street and made his way to the bus while Karl stitched the street up and down to keep the voomers at bay. The Comanche added in her fire as well and they were both able to carve Tony a path to the bus. Running around the side he tore open the hydraulic doors and jumped in, kicking the doors shut behind him, barring them with his body. He tried to make his way to the steering wheel but a large bang against the doors held him in place, he couldn't move to the ignition switch unless he left the doors, if he left the doors the voomers outside would stream in. Talk about your Catch-22's. Bringing his rifle's muzzle over his shoulder he fired backwards thru the door and whatever was beyond it. The banging ceased and he bolted to the buses ignition, smashing the covering away with a swift butt-stroke.
Outside Karl was running dangerously low on ammo, three more Claymores had gone off in the stairwell, which meant he had two left. He'd used all the others earlier, having tossed them out the windows as makeshift bombs. The Comanche was doing her best and by the looks of it, was conserving her ammo as well.

Tasha, directing assets to other areas, continued to listen in on the fight. What the hell were they doing? Why hadn't they gotten out of there? Why the fuck were they trying to start a bus? It'd be safer on foot for crying out loud.
"Juliet four Outfield six, say status over."
"I'm almost at bingo fuel, rockets expended, running low on twenty mike mike!"
Inside the bus Tony had just tore the wires from the housing when a metallic hand punched thru the windshield and grabbed him by the belt. He managed to grab onto the steering wheel as he was dragged out and kicking at the voomer that had grabbed him he broke its grip and scrambled back into the bus. He'd almost made it when another voomer snatched his ankle and pulled him back out again. Karl saw it and fired his last clip into the voomer, tossing it onto its side.
"Tony, this isn't gonna work! The bus is surrounded and I'm out of ammo here!"

"Juliet four Outfield six, can you get them out?"
"This ain't no troop chopper lady!"
"Do what you can."
"I'll try." Came Juliet four's reply.
Colonel Tabbot had been watching her ever since her snap call to Zulu three and four. He could sympathize and despite her earlier call she'd kept a level head and was doing her job.

The Comanche dropped it's landing gear and hovered near the rear of the bus, and cleared a path for Karl, who'd repelled out the window and was making a mad dash across the street.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! What the hell am I doing here!?" He yelled to himself as he dodged voomers and cover fire alike. As he skidded to the side of the bus he unsheathed his mono-katana, and swinging around the front side of the bus slashed at the voomers nearest him.
"Get out of there!" he yelled to Tony just as the side window burst out, followed by Tony as he landed in an unceremonious heap. The Comanche hovered lower and Tony and Karl got the hint. Making a leap of faith they jumped, and clung to the lowered landing gear.

"Outfield six, Juliet four! I've got 'em! I am RTB (Returning to base)!"
"Roger that Juliet four." Tasha replied. Slowly she took her headset down and with shaking hands, set it on the terminal before her and stood, walking dazedly outside. Colonel Tabbot followed after her and found her at the corner of the tent, doubled over, having thrown up.
"You all right Major?" He asked.
"Yes sir. I'll be fine." She coughed.
"Okay, take a few minutes and come back when you're feeling better."
"Thank you sir." She nodded, wiping her mouth.

As the Comanche cleared the scene Tony and Karl looked below them in shock and awe. The streets were covered in voomers, creating a sea of red eyes and ungodly shapes. There were two more of those large thirty-footers amongst them, as well as some smaller, fifteen-foot versions of fused vehicles dwarfing their mutated brethren.
"Reminds me of that scene in Starship Troopers!" Tony yelled.
Karl nodded, maintaining his death grip on the landing strut.

END PART 1
TO BE CONCLUDED

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