The Bubble Gum Crisis OVA's (which this story is based on) are copyrighted 
	by Artmic Inc. and Youmex, Inc. I am just borrowing the characters for a little 
	while for non-monetary reasons. Serious CandC will be accepted, out-and-out 
	flames will result in a Boomer or two being sent after you, once they get around
	to building them.


	Please, enjoy my take on the Bubble Gum Crisis universe . . . 




Chapter 36



Gulf and Bradley - Japan Headquarters
December 23, 2035
4:25am 

	"WHAT?"

	Ozu wasn't the type of man to flinch, but he made an exception this time. They were in 
Bradley's office and neither man looked rested or happy. The tension in the room was unmis-
takable, having shot up at the security man's news.

	Carlton Bradley was white with anger and his eyes burned with an intense fire. After 
several seconds, he said in a still, cold voice. "How bad is the damage at the refinery?"

	The security man shook his head. "We don't know. Things are too fucked up right this 
second to even guess."

	"What went wrong?" asked Cora, her voice low and hard. She was sitting on the sofa, 
watching the two men face off against each other over Carlton's desk. "Security was suppose to 
be tight, damn it!"

	Ozu looked at her. "Against human, or a small number of rouge Boomers, yes. But this was 
a deliberate, planned strike using military Boomers working in concert with each other."

	"What about the other locations?" hissed Carlton. "How bad have they been hit?"

	"Those reports range from minor damage to complete loss of the building and contents. The 
reports are scattered and several of the places are still under attack. Should we send out 
reinforcements from out security here?"

	"No," said Carlton, his voice cold and still. "That's what these attacks are designed to 
do - dilute our defenses here, then strike where were too weak to stop them."

	"Who's behind this?" Cora snarled. "MALCORP?"

	"GEMON." Ozu let the word hang in the air before he continued. "There was an incident at 
the GLAS complex about two and a half hours ago. Several Boomers went on a rampage, destroying 
one of the towers. At least eighty are dead, over a hundred injured and several dozen missing."

	"So?" snapped Cora.

	"One of the missing is Mr. Azamizu."

	Carlton's fist slammed down onto the desk. "Damn it! That bastard Quincy knows - he 
KNOWS!"

	"And he'll be coming after us," said Cora, her expression one of fury.

	"What do we do now?" asked Ozu.

	"Get out to Alpha Star One and take control," said Carson. " Use one of the helicopters - 
I want you there ASAP and I want a preliminary report by seven o'clock."

	"Right," replied the security man. "I'm on my way."

	After the security man darted out, Carson turned to look at Cora. "Get ready to move the 
girl."

	Cora frowned. "Doctor Kyso said the move could kill her."

	"I don't care. Quincy's coming and I'm not going to leave her dangling for him to pluck 
from us."

	"All right. Where are we going?"

	"We have a small research lab on an island about three hundred kilometers to the south-
west of here. We'll move the girl and our operations there for the time being."

	Cora rose from the sofa. "We should be ready to move in fifteen minutes."

	"Fine," snapped Carlton. "Keep the security detail to a minium. If we take too many, 
Quincy might get suspicious. Also, make sure the Boomers are operating under Zeta protocols."

	"Is that wise? Those protocols can't tell the difference between our men and the enemy. 
We could loose all of them!"

	Carlton straightened. "The longer Quincy is focused on this fight, the better chance we 
have of getting away. Besides, he'll spend time wondering why we had suicidal Boomers guarding 
an empty nest."

	"I don't like running," said Cora coldly.

	"It's not running, it's a 'strategic retreat'."

	"It's still running."

	Carlton shook his head. "Once we get situated, we'll launch our own attack against 
GENOM."

	"What about Mclaren and his team? If GENOM gets a hold of them...."

	"I'll make sure that loose end is taken care of. Their necessity to this operation is 
almost complete."

	"Pity we don't have time to do the job right," said Cora, almost wistfully. "I would have 
love to hear that bastard scream and plead for his life."

	"Get going," said Carlton sternly. "We're running out of time." 



Near Gulf and Bradley - Japan Headquarters
December 23, 2035
4:33am

	The tractor-trailer was ten blocks from the Gulf and Bradley headquarters building, 
parked in an empty lot. The few early morning denizens of the district gave the unusual sight a 
once over, but move on hurriedly at the trio of men carrying machine pistols who seemed to be 
guarding the vehicle.

	Inside, a small command center had been built that took up the first third of the 
trailer. Several techs, dressed in black jumpsuits, sat at consoles, tasked with coordinating a 
multi-pronged attack against Gulf and Bradley. Around a table in the center of the trailer, a 
final conference was being held. There were fifteen people there, seven in hardsuits, the rest 
in black jumpsuits. All were armed in one form or another, and there was a grim purpose in the 
air.

	"Any objections?" asked Knight One.

	Leon shook his head. He was dressed in a black jumpsuit over which a combat harness had 
been put over. He cradled a nasty-looking rifle in his arms. "What about the twins?" he asked. 
"Are they considered targets?"

	Knight One shook his head. "As much as I want to pay those two back for their actions, 
those two dead would be more trouble then alive. The last thing MALCORP needs is a feud with 
Gulf and Bradley."

	Sylia looked at Linna and Nene. "Are you ready?" she asked them over their private 
channel. As an unspoken agreement, neither side had opened their visors in the presence of the 
other hardsuit group, so with the exception of Greg, Sylia had no idea who the other members of 
Red Team looked like. On the other hand, only Greg knew who she was, and he didn't know the 
identity of the other two Sabers. A trust that was not exactly trust, an alliance that was only 
held together by a common enemy. 

	Linna nodded, while Nene said. "I-I think so."

	"Nervous?"

	"Yes," replied the redhead. "We've never done anything this big before."

	"Or this openly against a target," added Linna.

	"I know," replied Sylia softly. "But it has to be done." She looked up at Knight One, who 
was in conference with a fellow Black Knight. He turned to look at her, and for a moment, she 
wondered what Greg was thinking about. She put that thought aside; Their relationship, if there 
was one, would have to wait.

	"All right," Knight One said. "The other teams are moving into place now. We move out in 
exactly six minutes." He looked at the White Saber. "Any last minute changes?"

	Sylia shook her head. "I'm just worried about the ADP getting involved."

	"I don't think that'll happen," said Leon. "There's a nasty Boomer incident at that 
monster refinery G&B has on the outskirts of the city. The preliminary reports don't make it 
look good. Also, several other Boomer incidents are occurring all over the city. The ADP is 
going to tied down for a while."

	"GENOM," said Sylia softly.

	"With the firepower that being reported, it can't be anyone else."

	"We're running out of time," said Knight One. "GENOM is probably readying an attack 
against the headquarters building right now."

	"Do we change anything?" asked Sylia.

	"It's too late to do so. We're just going to have to be faster and luckier then the other 
side."

	Sylia frowned, quickly reviewing the plan in her mind. There were four teams attacking 
three targets. Team Gawaine, half of Skeeter's troops, backed by a Black Knight team and a 
Rattlesnake, was now moving against a G&B Boomer research laboratory which MALCORP intelligence 
asserts had identified as a possible source of the modified Boomers. 

	A warehouse complex several kilometers north of the lab was the target of Team Galahad, 
the other half of Skeeter's troops, another Black Knight team, and another Rattlesnake. The 
area was thought to be the ideal place to store deactivated Boomers, with enough evidence 
gleamed from Gulf and Bradley's computer system to make it a goal.

	The last two teams were getting ready to strike at the G&B headquarters building itself. 
Team Tristram, consisting of two Black Knight teams backed up by two Rattlesnakes, would make a 
frontal assult to attract and pin down as much of the defenders as possible. The last team, 
Team Lancelot, consisting of Knight One, Red Team, the Knight Sabers and a half dozen MALCORP 
troopers, would approach via the KnightWing, land on the roof and strike down from there. 
Because of the tight quarters on the KnightWing, the motoslaves were left behind at the 
warehouse base.

	Sylia was distracted by the sound of static, and a voice saying, //Galahad is in 
position.// coming from a speaker over her head.

	//Gawaine is in position,// the radio crackled several seconds later. Sylia recognized 
the voice as Skeeter's. The giant was leading the attack against the lab himself.

	//Tristram is ready,// said a third voice.

	Knight One nodded. "All units, this is Arthur," he said, his suit's radio patched into 
the common command frequency. "Operation Dragonslayer is green. I say again, Operation 
Dragonslayer is green. Good luck and good hunting. Arthur out." He looked at Sylia. "Time to 
board your craft."

	The white saber nodded. "Mackie," she said over the secure channel, "it's time."


GENOM Tower
December 23, 2035
4:43am

	Despite the earliness of the hour, Quincy still looked rested and relaxed. Madigan, on 
the other hand, felt tired and listless. She glanced at the clock on the chairman's desk, and 
suppressed a shudder at the time it displayed.

	"What is the latest on our attacks on Gulf And Bradley's assets?" the Chairman asked, his 
voice still strong and soft.

	Madigan glanced down at the report in front of her, willing herself to remember the facts 
printed there. "The early reports indicate that the corporation has suffered damage and losses 
of at least one hundred and fifty million US dollars," she said, trying to sound businesslike.

	Quincy raised an eyebrow. "That much?"

	"Yes sir. At least three of the target buildings are complete losses, and four others are 
going to need major repair work before they can be used again. Also, the damage to Alpha Star 
One will keep the refinery off-line for at least two weeks."

	"Ah." Quincy leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers so the index fingers 
touched his chin. "Is the boomers tasked with attacking the Gulf and Bradley - Japan 
headquarters ready to be activated?"

	"Yes sir."

	"Then do so. It's time to show the Bradley twins why their obsession with GENOM isn't 
healthy."

	"Yes Sir." Madigan turn and walked away from the Chairman. 

	Before she reached the door, the Chairman said, "Wait."

	She turned and looked at him "Sir?"

	"Do we have a picture of this Janie VanDell?"

	"I believe we do sir."

	Despite the darkness of the room, Madigan saw her boss smile. "Download the girl's 
description into the memory of the attacking Boomers. She is to be given a Grade Two priority - 
'live capture only.'"

	"You believe Mr. Mallory?"

	"Not completely."

	"Then why -"

	"I find it hard to believe that the only reason Mr. Mallory is concerned about this girl 
purely because she is her goddaughter. Let's see what he's willing to trade for her safe 
return."

	"Is that wise, Sir?" Madigan asked carefully. "While MALCORP does not have a lot of 
assets here, they are not without resources elsewhere."

	"True. But MALCORP's influence in several markets has been rising, and I'm curious to see 
how Mr. Mallory will react to the new situation."

	"I'm make the necessary arrangements."

	Quincy nodded. "What about Mr. Azamizu?"

	"The specialists feel that he won't last more then two day if they use Rabject-7, and 
doubt he'll be sane for half that time."

	"Who said anything about allowing Mr. Azamizu to continue after his betrayal?" The Chair-
man leaned forward. "Order the specialists to use Rabject-7. There are a few 'side-effects' 
that need to be worked out before we can ship the drug to out clients. Tell then they can 
considered this a 'field test', and I expect a detail report as soon as possible. We need to 
know all the details of his operation, and now."

	"Understood, Sir. What about the body afterwards?"

	"I expect there will be work on the GLAS condominium damage starting in the next couple 
of days?"

	"One of our companies is already beginning the surveying."

	"There's a lot of unfortunates who are currently buried in the rubble, isn't there?"

	Madigan bowed. "I understand, sir."

	"Go." After Madigan had left the office, Quincy turned his chair to face the 
window. There were several placed in the city were he could see fire and smoke that 
vanished into the night air. He leaned back and watched in silence.



Part 3 - Endgame



Chapter 37



Gulf and Bradley Biomechanical Research Institute
District 5
December 23, 2035
4:55am

	Skeeter glanced at his watch. "Gawaine Six to all units," he said quietly into his 
transmitter, "Move out on my command. Rattler Four, we need a foot in the door. South side, 
near the parking lot."

	//Understood,// replied the gunship's pilot. //One doorknocker coming up in thirty 
seconds.//

	From the alleyway, the giant stared across the street at the large, multistory building 
that rose up into the night sky. The Gulf and Bradley Biomechanical Research Institute was an 
ugly mass of steel, concrete, and glass that reminded Skeeter of a overweight pyramid. It 
occupied a three block section of the city among the slowly decaying apartment buildings and 
office towers of the district, like a diamond on a pile of rags. A five meter tall white wall 
separated the Research Institute from the surrounding decay, with watchtowers in each corner of 
the rectangular boundary. Almost like a fairy-tale castle.

	That image is about to change, the Gang leader thought. He stepped back into the 
alley and adjusted the modified heavy machine gun slung across his back. He looked at his other 
members of the strike team waiting with him in the alleyway. Twenty-five of his people were 
going in with the Black Knight team, while the two armored cars, their crews, and a squad of 
snipers would stay outside and guard their backs. He looked over at Doc. "They're still 
snoozing?"

	The weaponsmith looked up from a hand-held monitor. "What passes for defense patrols 
inside those walls has no conception that we're about to accost them," he said softly. "Their 
astonishment should be complete. Also, Rodent has communicated that his clansmen have severed 
the communications lines conveying out of the institute."

	"What about the jamming?"

	Doc gave him a look of suffering. "In position and arranged to commence on your 
utterance."

	"Are your people in place?"

	"Any vehicles that try to abscond from the complex will be eradicated."

	"Hey, Boss," said Hosokoawa, who was standing next to Doc. "What happens if the ADP show 
up? We've got enough on our plates without having to dance with them too."

	"If our luck holds we're be free and clear before those bums show up. If they or the N-
police show up, we pull the plug and get the hell out. Disengage and run, clear?"

	The troops nodded. Doc smiled. "Mr. Phillips is presently fabricating preparations to 
dampen any hasty rejoinder of our actions by the public constabulary."

	Hosokoawa scowled as he tried to make sense of what Doc had said. Skeeter smiled slightly 
at Hosokoawa's expression. "Phillips is setting up some delaying obstacles just in case the 
Police do show up."

	"Oh."

	Skeeter held out a fist to Doc. "Well, good luck and good hunting, brother." 

	The two friends slapped fists just as Rattler Four said, //Making my attack run now -- 
fifteen seconds. Still no reaction from the target's defenses.//

	Doc dashed down the alley, through the assembled strike team, heading towards the armored 
car at the far end. Skeeter watched him go, then turned and looked at the Research Institute 
with it's gleaming white walls and glittering glass.

	//Birds away!//

	"Everyone down!" shouted Skeeter, and the entire team dropped onto the damp concrete, 
patches of snow, and cold mud. Without being order to, they covered their heads and flattened 
themselves as much as possible.

	The first two missiles came screaming in from about Skeeter's head, sounding like 
banshees as the passed over the alley and slammed into the perimeter wall, taking a twenty 
meter stretch of the barrier and the corner watchtower apart in the blink of an eye. As the 
sound of the explosion tore through the night sky, two more missiles crashed into the wall, 
ripping another breach in the wall.

	//Knock, knock. Rattler Four to Gawaine Six, the door is open. Oh boy, is it ever open!//

	Skeeter surged to his feet. As he did so, he saw the Black Knight team dropping into the 
street and start charging for the first hole. He stepped out into the street and unslung his 
machine gun. "Squads One, Three, and Five -- take the far breach! Squads Two and Four with me!" 

	In a matter of seconds, the street was filled with armed warriors surging for the 
destroyed walls.
                                            


G&B Research lab G-46
MegaTokyo, Japan
December 23, 2035
4:57am 

	Mclaren felt someone shake him roughly out of a sound sleep. "What the hell is it?" he 
shouted. "Stop shaking me!"

	"We got problems," replied Jiro Kurokawa. "Explosion up at ground level."

	Mclaren opened an eye to glare at him. "So?"

	"The phones are dead, as are all communication links to the outside. Also, all access 
ways to the surface have been locked down. We're trapped."

	Mclaren sat up. "Are you sure?" Kurokawa nodded.

	"Damm it," Mclaren growled. "The first decent night's sleep I've gotten in six months, 
ruined because of some idiot set off an explosion! Where are the boomer guards? Their link with 
the fellows upstairs should still work."

	"We haven't seen any."

	"Then go find one! Where's the most secure place on this floor?"

	"Storage room in the northwest corner."

	"Start getting everyone organized, just in case it's something more then an accident. Any 
chance to maybe reviving a boomer quickly to give us a hand?"

	Kurokawa shook his head. "It'll take three hours minimum, and that's with cutting all 
safety measures."

	Mclaren ran his hand through his hair. "How many techs do we have down here?"

	"Close to a dozen."

	"Right. See if we can jury-rig a couple of the spare Boomer weapons, in case we need them 
to break out of here or to fend off an attack."

	A distant explosion occurred for somewhere over their heads. Kurokawa looked up. "That 
sounded closer then the first one," he said, looking worried.

	Mclaren felt his blood crow cold. "I think we are under attack."

	"But who?"

	"How the hell should I know?" snapped Mclaren. "But if it isn't related to those two damm 
fool idiot Bradleys, then I'll become a monk."

	Another explosion echoed thorough the building above them. Kurokawa heading for the door. 
"I don't know about you becoming a monk, my friend, but I think you might want to start 
practicing your praying. We may need it."
                                            


ARNPTSE Storage Compound
District 9
December 23, 2035
4:57am

	"Galahad Six to all teams -- status check."

	Chika Kamayawa waited for her squad leaders to check in. As she did so, she stared out 
over the compound before her through a broken window. She had chosen an abandon factory across 
the street from the main entrance of the warehousing complex for her observation post. The 
factory was a gutted eyesore, like so much of the area, but still sound enough for her 
purposes.

	 The storage area was near the docks, brightly lit and fairly secured. It was mostly just 
a large, level place where consignments that were in transit were stored in large, sheet-iron 
structures until the were loaded onto the next ship going to the shipment's destination. Around 
the boundary, a pair of thick, chain mail fences, four meters apart and topped with barb wire, 
prevented all but the most determined attempts. A pair of squat, three story-tall office 
buildings, dubbed Chalice One and Chalice Two in the plan, occupied the front two corners of 
the land.

	As an wholly owned subsidiary of Gulf and Bradley, ARNPTSE handled mostly G and B cargos. 
But the intelligence reports indicated that this was probably where the twins stored the 
Boomers they were stockpiling for their attack on GENOM. Chika's mission was locate all Boomer 
stockpiles and destroy them. Unlike her leader's attack, hers was suppose to be more finesse 
then brute strength. But Chika was a great believer in Murphy's Law, and expected trouble.

	//Galahad Red -- In place.// That was the attached Black Knight team, positioned in the 
wasteland to the south of the warehouses. They were making the recon run, their hardsuit's 
sensor systems superior to anything Doc could come up with.

	//Galahad Blue -- ready.// Two squads of her people, carrying C-9 and RDXI plastique
explosives charges, stationed with the Knights. Once the Knights had pinpointed a storage
location, Blue would move in and plant the charges while the Knights guarded them.

	//Galahad Green -- ready.// Four more squads and two of the homegrown armored cars, 
located in the factory below her. They were functioning as both security and a reserve force, 
in case things went to slime.

	//Galahad Black in position.// Chika couldn't see the gunship in the night sky, but she 
knew it was there, ready to supply an offensive punch if needed. Until then it would circle and 
watch out for any aerial threat to the operation.

	//Nightlight will be ready in one -- wait, Nightlight is green.// That was one of her 
people stationed outside the nearest electrical relay station to the storage yard. As soon as 
she gave the word, several blocks of plastique would turn the main relay board into electrical 
scraps, hopefully shutting down the lights and electrical alarms long enough for her team to do 
the job.

	"Anyone see the guard boomers?" Chika asked, peering through a pair of binoculars.

	//Negative, Six,// said the leader of the Black Knight team. //Do we wait?//

	Chika thought for a moment. "Negative. We go in one. Green, be ready to move on my say-
so."

	//We're close, Six.//

	//Blue to Six. Two-boomer patrol, at two-thirty, four hundred meters, near the crane.//

	The raven-haired women swung her binoculars over to where the report mentioned. She saw 
the pair almost at once, moving slowly and carefully on all four feet. "I've got them," she 
said. "They look like standard K-9 types. Can you avoid them, Red?"

	//It shouldn't be too hard, Six,// replied the Knight's leader. //I'm more concerned abut 
the ones I don't see.//

	"Red, is there any way you can tap into the storage system for this place to see if we 
can narrow down the area?"

	//Negative Six. The system is limited to the offices in the main buildings, plus these 
shipments are very likely not in the system anyway. We're going to have to do this the hard 
way.//

	"We've wasted enough time. Nightlight, go."

	There were several seconds of delay, then the sound of a distant explosion reached her 
ears. The light in the compound flickered, then went out, plunging the entire area into 
darkness.

	"Six to Red - go"

	//Already on the way.//

	Chika picked up night vision goggles lying on the windowsill in front of her and put them 
on. The view was eerie, a mix of black and green that outlined all objects in the goggle's view 
with varying success. A flicker of movement in the corner of the goggle made her shift her head 
slightly to focus on it. The flicker became a figure in a hardsuit, moving carefully along the 
roof spine of a warehouse. Two more hardsuited figures, on other warehouse roofs, came into 
view.

	"Six to Red," she said calmly. "I have you spotted."

	//Copy, Six. And sign of Boomers?//

	Chika scanned the rest of what she could see of the compound. "Negative, Red." She saw 
movement near one of the office buildings. "Hold it, I have unknown movement near Chalice Two."

	Not waiting for any acknowledgment, she watched the man walked away from the building and 
peer around with a flashlight providing him with a weak light to see by. Someone, probably one 
of the human security guards, had come out to take a look around. After several seconds, the 
guard turned and walked back to the nearest office building, speaking to something in his hand 
as he did so.

	"The guards are wondering what's going on."

	//I don't doubt it,// replied the Knight's leader. //Give then another three minutes to 
try and call someone before they start thinking of a possible attack.//

	//Red Two to Galahad Six,//cut in a new voice. // I'm picking up a possible concentration 
of deactivated boomers below me.//

	"Where's your location?" asked Chika, staring back out at the figures on the rooftops.

	//Building Alpha Four.// One of the trio stuck it's arm into the air and moved it back 
and forth. //Permission to investigate?//

	"Granted. Red team, cover her."

	//Understood.// The other two figures leapt to the target's roof and knelt next to the 
third figure. A brief flash of light from the middle Knight was the only signal that an opening 
had been cut into the roof of the building. One by one, the hardsuited team slipped inside.

	It was silent for ten seconds, then twenty. Chika continued to look at the warehouse for
any activity, but nothing happened. It was another minute before something happened.

	//Green Six to Galahad Six,// came the voice of Suyuri, Galahad Green's team leader, from 
the floor below. //We've got multiple bad guys coming out of the Chalices.//

	Chika directed her attention back to the office buildings just in time to see another 
half dozen armed security men come charging out of the main doors of each building, joining 
another dozen already out in the night. They were armed with rifles and machine guns, not 
standard issue weapons for the time and place. "What the hell...." 

	//The Knights might have set off an alarm.//

	More security types came running out of the office buildings. There was upwards of thirty 
now, in a complex that wasn't suppose to have more then six human guards at any time. "Where 
did these goons come from?" Chika growled.  

	//I don't know, Six,// replied Suyuri, as the Gulf and Bradley men started to spread out 
among the warehouses. //Somebody screwed up on the intel for this one.//

	Just then, several pops were heard, coming from the warehouses. Those were followed by 
several small explosions in rapid succession. Several of the guards still in sight slowed, then 
starting running hard towards the warehouse where the sounds were coming from. 

	"Damm!" Chika snarled. "Galahad Six to Red Six. Unwelcome company on the way. Can you 
abort?"

	There were several seconds of static, then Red Six snarled, //Negative! We are under 
attack from several C-class-type Boomers. We cannot withdraw right now!//

	It's a fucking trap! Her mind screamed at her. "Are the Boomers extra security?"

	//Negative!// Red Six shouted. A burst of static scrambled part of his next transmission. 
//...be setting some charges of their own!//

	Chika frowned. "Say again!"

	//The Boomers are setting demo charges of their own! They're planning to blow this place 
sky-high!//

	What the...GENOM! The Gang leader's mind raced furiously. She couldn't leave the 
Black Knight in trouble. Too many problems would occur if she turned tail and ran, the least of 
which would be Skeeter's anger. Which meant having to commit to an attack. But how, where? The 
answer came almost as fast as the question.

	"Galahad Six to all Galahad teams!" she shouted into her radio as she starting running 
for the stairs. "Orders as follow: Blue team is to move up and support Red. Use the demo 
charges if you have to, but Red needs the support ASAP! Green team, We're hitting the front 
gate and draw off the security goons. Black team, cover Green! All teams, EXECUTE NOW!"

	She hit the top of the stairs and started down, taking the steps three at a time. By the 
time she'd cleared the last step, the two armored cars were already clear of the building and 
charging for the warehouse complex's outer fence. Chika raced after them, her orders sharp and 
clear as she directed the improvised attack.

	The screams and battle cries of over a dozen people were mixing with deep throated roar 
of engines and the solid 'thud' of a heavy machine gun. At Chika's command, several of the gang 
members stopped long enough to arm and throw satchel charges at the fence. The roar and 
exploding light tore through the night air, tearing several large holes in the outer fence, but 
it didn't slow the charge any. A pair of security men staggered out of the smoke and darkness. 
They opened fire at the attackers, but were quickly cut down by return fire. A pair of K-9 
Boomers suffered the same fate as they tried to follow their programming.

	A black shape roared out of the night sky and fired several rockets at a warehouse 
closest to the office buildings. For a split second after the rockets slammed through the 
concrete walls and detonated, the walls bulged as if to try and contain the explosion. The 
effort failed and the entire building exploded in a ball of light and flame. The Rattlesnake 
swung around and held position over the attacking force, firing missiles and mini-guns at 
anything moving in the darkness near the office building.

	Several more satchel charges eliminated the inner fence as an obstacle and the attackers, 
led by the armored cars, stormed through and into the compound. The machine guns in the armored 
cars began to rake the office buildings with streams of lead, shattering windows and wreaking 
havoc on anything in their path.

	"Secure the buildings!" Chika shouted, then in radio, "Red Team, Blue Team, Status?" 

	A muffled thud of an explosion answered her first. //We're up to our asses in Boomer 
parts,// said the Knight's team leader.

	"Can you pull back towards the main gate?"

	//We can sure as Hell try. Blue team should meet up with us in about a minute. We'll move 
then.//

	"We're keep the goon squad and pet Boomers busy for as long as we can. Don't be late."

	//Wouldn't think of it, Six. I --"//

	A series of explosions ripped through several of the far warehouses, sending large 
fireballs of smoke and fire into the night air. Chika and most of the assault squad staggered 
as the ground shook and a fast moving wall of air flew by them, sounding like an express train. 
"What the fire of Hell is that?" she shouted, her own voice distant and weak.

	//Somebody must have set of some charges around the flammable materials bunker!// someone 
shouted back.

	"Who?"

	//It must be those damm Boomers!//

	"Shit," Chika growled. "Six to Black. Can you see anything?"

	//Only that the far end of the place looks like Dante's Inferno.// The pilot's tone was 
cold and brisk. //At lest five Warehouse are on fire and it's spreading rapidly.//

	"Any Boomers in site?"

	//Negative. Do you want me to make a low pass?//

	"No!" Chika shouted. "Between the fires and the Boomers, it's too great a risk. Stay 
clear and be ready to make strafing runs if I need them."

	//Understood Six. Black is standing by.//

	//Green Six to Six. Chalice one and two are secured. Do you want us to press on?//

	Chika looked at the flames that reached into the night sky. "Negative, Green. Have your 
people hold here. We're holding the door open only long enough for Red and Blue to dive 
through."

	//Understood Six. We're holding.//

	Tearing her attention away from the glowing sky, Chika dashed towards the nearest office 
building. As she ran, she wondered how the other parts of the operation were doing....
                                            


Above Gulf and Bradley - Japan Headquarters
December 23, 2035
5:00am 

	The KnightWing was packed with people and supplies, so much so that Sylia was forced to 
stand just inside the cockpit. Both Priss and Mackie were staying in the cockpit, Priss in her 
back-up hardsuit, while Mackie was wearing a flight helmet with the visor up. He glanced back 
at his sister. "Four minutes," he said softly.

	Sylia nodded, then looked back into the cargo area. There was Nene, Linna, Greg Mallory 
and his team, five of MALCORP's black ops people, and Leon. Everyone was making last-second 
check of their equipment.

	The leader of the Knight Sabers looked at the pod at the far end of the cabin. Cryotech-
nology wasn't an area she had much familiarity in, but she knew enough about the basics to 
understand the purpose of the device and why it was coming along with them.

	The idea of using Cryotechnology to place humans into suspended animation wasn't a new 
concept. The theories themselves were sound, but no practical systems were yet in place. 
MALCORP, a leader in the field, was the closest to the actuality. The pod, designed to 
transport critically injured people to advance medical facilities over a great distance, was 
less then eighteen months from going into production. The pod was Janie's one chance to get out 
of the building alive.

	"Are you all right?" asked Greg on their private channel. She looked over at him, but the 
visor hid his expression.

	She motioned with her head to the pod. "I'm worried about that. Are you sure that's 
the only way?"

	"If you have another way, I'm all ears."

	"A bit late for that," she said pointedly.

	"I'm not too happy about using it either," said Greg. "But my people have sworn up and 
down that it'll work, and I believe them." His tone changed slightly. "I have to."

	Sylia looked at the ugly rifle Red Four was making final adjustments to. "What is that 
weapon your EW member is carrying?"

	"EMP rifle," replied Knight One. "Shoots an armor-piercing shell that scrambles a 
Boomer's internal circuits. Red Four still has his EW capability, but he's geared up for Boomer 
hunting tonight."

	"An interesting concept," the White Saber conceded. "Any chance of you sharing the design 
with me after this?"

	She could hear the smile in his voice. "I think I can see myself clear to do so."

	 "Two minutes," said Mackie over the loudspeaker. "No sign of the diversionary attack 
yet."

	"How long can we hold?" asked Greg, his voice all business now.

	"No more then five minutes," replied Sylia, her voice also efficient. "With the extra 
passengers and cargo, I want at least ten minutes of fuel in reserve."

	"Right." He turned to one of his team. Sylia didn't hear the conversation, as it was on 
the Knight's private channel. After several seconds, the second Knight nodded in response to 
something Greg had said. Knight One looked back at Sylia. "Five minutes it is."

	Sylia nodded. All they could do is wait.

                                            


Gulf and Bradley - Japan Headquarters
December 23, 2035
5:01am 

	Cora came running into Carlton's office, her expression a mix of shock and anger. "We're 
under attack again," she said.

	Carlton looked up at her. "Where?"

	"The Biomechanical Research Institute. They hit the place about five minutes ago. The 
reports are sketchy, all land lines are down, and radio communications being jammed."

	The chairman of Gulf and Bradley stood up. "Is it GENOM?" he snarled.

	Cora's face harden. "MALCORP."

	Carlton strode around the desk. "Is the girl ready to move?"

	"She is, but Kyso thinks she has only a twenty percent chance of making it to the island 
alive."

	"In that case, Doctor Kyso has a twenty percent chance of reaching the island. Make sure 
she knows that."

	Cora's smile was chilling. "I already told her as much. There's a helicopter waiting for 
us on the pad."

	"Everything else in place?" asked Carlton, picking up a briefcase off the desk with one 
hand and a large semi-automatic pistol with the other.

	"Yes."

	"Good." He smiled at his sister. "We're not beaten yet, merely... delayed. Get the girl 
and I'll meet you at the helicopter."

                                            


Outside Gulf and Bradley - Japan Headquarters
December 23, 2035
5:03am

	Dailey watched as the large building that housed Gulf and Bradley's Japan headquarters 
grew even larger through the windshield. While it wasn't anywhere near the size and imposing 
presence of GENOM Tower, it was still a structure designed to impress the visitor.

	Dailey wasn't impressed. Rather, he was tired, irritated with a headache and a sour 
stomach, and in no mood for any grand gestures.

	"What makes you think the Bradleys will be here?" Ko asked as he turned into the
building's driveway.

	"Where the hell else are they going to be?" Dailey asked. "They live in the damm -" His 
sentence was cut short as he saw the group of armed men clustered around the building's front 
doors. If the rifles and machine guns weren't enough to send the message that somebody was 
nervous, the way they pointed their weapons at the unmarked police car make that point clear.

	Ko saw them too. "How do we play this?"

	Before Dailey could answer, a low rumbling started. Several of the guards started looking 
around. One of the pointed into the night sky, just as a spread of missiles came out of the 
night and slammed into the Gulf and Bradley headquarters building.

	Several explosions rocked the front of the building, turning night into day. Men and 
rubble went flying and sheets of flame rolled out what use to be the lobby. Ko slammed on the 
breaks and sent the car into a skid, as chunks of rock and metal bounced off the vehicle with 
sufficient force to dent and crack the windshield and hood. The car stopped short of the 
inferno.

	Get us out of here!" Dailey shouted, all trace of his mood washed away in a sea of 
adrenalin. Ko slammed the transmission into reverse, wheels skidding as the car shot away from 
the wreckage. Not until the car had reached a 'safe' distance from the explosions did he slam 
on the breaks and stop the car. 

	Eyes wide, he shouted, "What the hell was that?"

	"You're asking me?" counter Dailey.

	Something low and loud roared over their heads. Dailey managed to see the lean outline of 
a helicopter gunship as it came in for another pass. Another one joined it and they both turned 
and fired another volley of missiles into the maelstrom of fire and destruction. "Drive us back 
to the corner," he directed the younger man.

	Ko did so quickly, though not as fast as he done before. "Do we call for backup?"

	Several figures dropped out of the hovering helicopters and started up the stairs. Dailey 
peered hard at them, cursing under his breath as he saw they were wearing black hardsuits. A 
couple of the hardsuits were carrying what looked to be multi-barreled chain guns and short-
muzzled cannons. "Against a couple of military-grade gunships and heavily armed hardsuits?" 
Dailey pointed to the helicopter as it opened fire on the lobby with several cannons in support 
of the hardsuits. 

	"We have to do something!" Ko shouted back, his face pale and drawn

	Dailey exhaled slowly. I am getting too old for this shit! "You're right. Call Lars and 
get him and his people out here. Tell them to expect trouble and to bring any heavy stuff he 
can get his hands on."

	"Without the chief's permission?"

	"Fuck the chief's permission." He wanted a cigarette, but his mouth was too dry. "The 
city's going to hell and I'm getting sick and tired of it."  Now I know how Leon's feels.

	Ko nodded and started speaking into the radio. Dailey watched the hardsuits move in 
against the Gulf and Bradley security force. Finally, he opened the door and got out. Ko leaned 
over and asked, "Wait a minute! Where are you going?"

	Dailey pulled out a stomach rifle from behind his seat. "I'm going to check out the 
situation."

	"Not without me you're not!" He spoke rapidly into the microphone, and shut off the radio 
and got out.

	Dailey gave him a tight smile. "Then grab your rifle and come on. Maybe we can figure out 
something for Lars to do when he gets here."

	Ko looked at the fire wreckage and bodies. "Assuming there's anything left."

	Dailey nodded. "Assuming there's anything left."



Chapter 38



Gulf and Bradley - Japan Headquarters
December 23, 2035
5:05am 

	"Ninety seconds to landing."

	Everyone in the cargo section was up on their feet now, making the compartment seem 
smaller then before. Sylia stood near Nene and Linna, watching the others as they prepared for 
combat. Their holding pattern had lasted four minutes, four minutes that were uncomfortable and 
nerve-racking. But when the signal had been sent, Sylia felt relief flow through her. Whatever 
happened now, they were going in.

	"Listen up Knights and MALCORP troops!" Knight One said over the shared frequency. "We've 
just got word that Tristan has already started its attack. Figure we've got a window of about 
twenty minutes before the ADP show up. We get in, get the girl and get out -- no side trips."A 
few nods from the people listening made it clear they understood. "As for command issues," he 
continued, "Saber White and I are in joint command. If either one of us tells you to do 
something -- do it! Is that understood?" More heads nodded.

	"What about the G and B security troops?" asked of the MALCORP troopers.

	Knight One nodded in return. "We're not looking for body counts here, but if any human 
opponent push the issue, don't hesitate to take them down for good. Leave any Boomers for the 
hardsuit units. Your job is to carry and protect the pod."

	"How are we handling fire support?" asked a new voice. Sylia turned to see Priss in the 
cockpit doorway, visor down to conceal her identity from those who hadn't seen her at the 
warehouse. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Leon stiffen in surprise. He hadn't been 
anywhere near the cockpit since they had boarded, so this was the first time he'd realized that 
Priss was aboard.

	"We're going to keep it limited to keeping the roof clear of any opposition until we have 
Janie," replied Knight One. "After that, we'll play it by ear."

	"Fine by me." Priss conveyed the impression that she was looking right at Leon. "I can't 
say I'm thrill with being stuck up here, but I still wouldn't miss this even if you tied me 
down to a bed." Leon's face redden, but he didn't say anything as Priss turn and went back into 
the cockpit.

	"Knight One turned to Sylia. "Do you have anything to add?" he asked.

	Sylia shook her head. "You covered the important points."

	"Hey, guys!" Priss yelled over the intercom. "We've got activity on the roof!"

	"What sort of activity?" asked Sylia.

	"There's at least one helicopter warming up on the pad, with two more standing by, and -- 
oh shit!"

	"What?" snapped Sylia.

	"There's a group of people just came on the roof and are heading for the helicopter. 
Someone's being carried on a stretcher."

	"Any idea who it is?" cut in Knight One.

	"We're too far away. Should we take the chopper out?"

	Sylia and Greg looked at each other, waiting for the other to make the decision. Was that 
Janie on the stretcher?

	"How far is the group from the helicopter?" asked Sylia.

	Thirty meters or so. The cold isn't helping their footing any."

	Again, there was silence. Then, Greg said over the private channel. "I trust you to make 
the right choice."

 	After a couple of heartbeats, Sylia said, "Negative."

	Mackie spoke. "I think I can buzz them before they can reach the helicopter."  

	"Can you buzz the helicopter?"

	"I think so."

	"Then do it. Make one low, fast pass over the helicopter, then swing around and drop us 
off."

	"Right." Mackie managed to sound excited. "Everyone, strap in and hand on."

	Sylia barely had enough time to grab an overhead pipe before the KnightWing dropped into 
a screeching dive.
                                            


Roof Helicopter Pad Number Two
Gulf and Bradley - Japan Headquarters
December 23, 2035
5:06am 

	Carlton Bradley's head snapped around as he head a howl above the cold breeze that swept 
across the rooftop and the random sound of the battle taking place below. Beside him, Cora was 
also looking into the night sky, startled by the sound. Three of the bodyguard team did 
likewise, as did the pair of Boomers assigned to guard Cara and Carlton. The rest of the party, 
which included Doctor Kyso and four people carrying the stretcher continued towards the waiting 
craft.

	The helicopter was only twenty-five meters away, it's rotor spinning in readiness for a 
quick take-off. The two boomer guarding the craft had also turned at the oncoming sound, which 
was becoming louder and more high-pitched. As soon as the boomers began to expand out of their 
human disguises, Carlton knew there was trouble.

	"Stop!" he screamed to the group over the increasing wail.

	The group stopped. Kyso turned to look at him, but before she could ask anything, one of 
the helicopter boomers fired a mouth laser at something descending out of the dark sky. A 
shadow in the air twisted away from the laser beams, then replied with a pair of it's own 
lasers. Both smashed into the concrete near the Boomers, sending chunks of masonry and dust 
into the air, forcing the defending cyberdroids to move, continuing to fire at the intruder.

	As it got closer, the shadow became an aircraft of some sort. It continued trading fire 
with the boomers, neither side able to hit the other. A flash of metal announced it was coming 
out of the night and into the lights surrounding the rooftop. With a shriek, it roared over the 
roof at less then ten meters, the shockwave it generated sufficient to stagger both boomers.

	"Down!" Carlton shouted, grabbing his sister and dragging her down with him. Everyone 
dropped to the cold ground, those hauling the stretcher a bit slower because of what they were 
carrying. Looking up, Carlton watched as their escape plan unraveled before their eyes.

	The craft continued across the roof, passing over the waiting helicopter as it did so. It 
then went screaming up into the dark heavens. The helicopter pilot, surprised at the sudden 
appearance of the aircraft, had let his own airship drift up and off the landing pad. The 
resulting shockwave from the now disappearing aircraft smashed the helpless helicopter back 
onto the pad. Metal screeched, then snapped as the sudden impact proved too much for the 
landing wheels on the left side of the ship. Like a drunk, the helicopter sagged, then lurched 
to the left. The main rotor blades began to dig into the rooftop, sending out a hail of metal 
and concrete over a wide area. With a series of sharp cracks, the rotors shattered, adding 
larger chunks to the barrage. Several pieces struck one of the boomers, shredding it in the 
blink of an eye. With a loud crash, the helicopter landed on its side, shuddering as it engine 
still attempted to turn rotors that weren't there anymore.

	"Shit!" Cora screamed.

	"Back inside!" Carlton roared, waving his pistol in a gesture of command.

	"What do we do now?" Kyso wailed.

	Carlton pointed the gun at her face and cocked the hammer. "If you say another word," he 
hissed, "I will kill you here and now. Do I make myself clear?" The Doctor nodded, her face 
pale and her eyes never leaving the muzzle less then half a meter from her face.

	While her brother was staring down Kyso, Cora quickly recovered. "How long before we can 
get another copter ready?"

	"At least fifteen minutes," one of the bodyguards answered.

	"We don't have fifteen minutes." Carlton snapped. "If we stay out here, all we're doing 
is giving them targets. We'll have to use the subterranean escape route."

	"What about the fighting below?" asked Cora, an ugly-looking submachine gun in her hands. 
"We can't afford to get caught in that."

	"Then we better hurry." The CEO of G&B-Japan look at the surviving rooftop Boomer guard. 
"Come here!" he yelled at it.

	The boomer, one of Carlton personal protection units, lumbered over to him. "Yes sir?" it 
asked, it's voice tinny and distorted by the lack of disguise.

	"You are to come with us."

	"Yes, Sir."

	"The group started back towards the doors they'd come out of just moments before. Carlton 
was the last one in, even as the wail of the approaching aircraft told him that more intruders 
were coming back....
                                            


	Less then two minutes after the first pass, Sylia hit the rooftop with an easy grace, 
Linna and Nene behind her and off to the side. Off to her left, the Black Knights and the 
MALCORP troopers also left from the back ramp of the KnightWing, fanning out into a defensive 
formation.

	"We're clear, Mackie," she told her brother over the Saber's private channel "Take her 
up."

	//We'll be standing by. Good luck, Sis.// 

	//Nail some Boomers for me, Okay?// Priss added.

	With a high pitched whine, the KnightWing rose straight up into the darkness.

	"Red Two and Three follow me," said Knight One. "We've got the point. Red Four, you're 
the trailer. I want the pod in the middle.

	"Red Saber, Green Saber, go with Red Four," Sylia directed. "I'm going up front."

	"Any questions?" asked Knight One. "Let's move out!"
                                            


GENOM Tower
December 23, 2035
5:07am

	The city security control room was buried deep inside GENOM Tower. Tasked with handling 
and monitoring certain 'operations' that occurred in the city, the room was usually very quiet 
at this time of the morning. But this morning was an exception.

	Every seat was filled, as every sector of the city was being observed for reports of 
battle in the shadow war that had just erupted. Police communications were monitored for the 
latest information, while others tracked skirmishes via satellite. Incident reports passed on 
to supervisors, who passed them on to the lavender-haired woman in charge. Everything was 
handled by experienced processionals.

	Madigan was overseeing the operation from the glass-enclosed office overlooking the 
monitoring room. The only other person in the room was Wilson, the shift supervisor. He stood 
by the heavy glass and watched the controlled chaos happening below. Madigan sat behind the 
desk and glanced over the reports.

	"We've having a hard time keeping up with everything that's happening right now," Wilson 
said. He was a big, solid-looking man with a lined face and graying hair. "There's several 
major battles in progress right this second, a couple of those running-type fights that we're 
trying to track."

	"So I see," replied Madigan. After she had left the Chairman's office, she had come 
straight here. She sipped her coffee, about the only thing that kept her awake to this point. 
"Continue to monitor everything."

	Wilson nodded. "Can I have your permission to downgrade surveillance of the Alpha Star 
aftermath?"

	"What for?"

	"Between the fires, the smoke, and the ADP presence, we're not picking up a lot of new 
data. Also, we need to expand our surveillance of these battles. I the reports are right, we 
have a three-sided battle in and around target Nightshade and we need to upgrade our response 
there."

	"What do we have monitoring the refinery?" asked Madigan.

	"Four BU-288 stealth recon-boomers and a couple of undercover BU-55s."

	"Redirect two of the BU-288s and one of the Bu-55s to wherever they're needed. The others 
are to continue observing, but if they are challenged, they are to evade and escape. There can 
not be a hint of GENOM involvement in the night's work. Understand?"

	"Yes Ma'am."

	"What's the status on the strike unit tasked to target Lilly?"

	Wilson glanced at a large screen on the far wall. "ETA is about one minute."

	"Has the updated orders been downloaded to the strike team?"

	"Yes Ma'am. We received acknowledgment from all the boomers four minutes ago."

	Madigan nodded. A beep from the phone next to her interrupted the conversation. Wilson 
strode over and picked up the handset. "Yes?...How bad?...one moment." He cupped his hand on 
the receiver. "Ma'am, it appears there's already a battle occurring at the Gulf and Bradley 
headquarters building. The strike team is picking up explosions and fires on their sensors."

	"It doesn't change anything," the lavender-haired woman replied. "Their orders stand. If 
anyone gets in their way, it's their own fault. This isn't a night for subtly."

	"I understand." He relayed the orders to the other end of the telephone and hung up. 
"It's going to get real ugly for the Gulf and Bradley people in a matter of moments."

	The woman shrugged. "Maybe next time, they'll think twice about challenging GENOM."





Chapter 39



Gulf and Bradley Biomechanical Research Institute           
December 23, 2035
5:09am

     Skeeter stormed through the shattered glass doors, flanked by the Black Knight team and 
trailed by the rest of his strike team. Outside, an explosion signaled the destruction of the 
last watchtower.
                         
     The foursome scanned the large, formally glass-enclosed, lobby. The floor was tile, a cold 
grey in color, that gave the lobby a coldness that was more imagined then real. It was sparsely 
furnished with several chairs clustered around a pair of low tables, leaving a lot of empty 
space between them and the banks of elevators at the far end of the entrance hall. A large 
circular desk sat in the center of the lobby, guarding the space between the waiting area and 
the elevators. A sterile example of the modern corporation.

     But now, it wasn't immaculate. There was glass everywhere, mostly from the windows and 
doors that hadn't held up under multiple shockwaves. A couple of bodies, dressed in guards 
uniforms laid near the desk, with no way of telling if they were alive or dead. A decapitated 
boomer stood between the doors and desk, intermittent sparks mixing with the rancid stench of 
boomer fluid. Some floor tiles were cracked, chipped, or scarred by fire and shrapnel. A pale 
of smoke hung in the air.

     Skeeter glanced behind him. "Third Squad, check the bodies! Second and Fifth Squads, let's 
get some defenses set up in case we have visitors! First and Fourth Squads, with me!" He 
glanced over at the leader of the Black Knight team. "Okay, White. Where do we go now?"

     The Knight, a multi-barrel minigun on his arm where the right hand would be, glanced over 
at the other two members of his team, and pointing to the front desk. "Three, startcracking. 
Two, cover her. I want locations and any other data about security."

     Just then, one set of elevator doors opened and three Boomers charged out, shedding their 
disguises as they rushed the intruders, firing their built-in weapons. Four steps into their 
attack, a wall of lead, lasers and steel slammed into them. One went staggering back, fluid and 
smoke erupting from its shattered body, before it collapsed in a heap. The next boomer lost 
most of its head to a minigun blast, then both its legs to a grenade blast, all in a split 
second.

     The third boomer made it halfway to the group of intruders when Skeeter stepped forward, 
yelled, "COVER!", then triggered the grenade launcher mounted under the barrel of his machine 
gun. The launcher coughed and a grenade the size of a soda can slammed into the charging 
Boomer's chest. A sheet of light engulfed the Boomer as the thermite grenade ignited, eating 
through the Cyberdroid's armor with ease. The Boomer staggered, then crumpled as another storm 
of projectiles smashed into it.

     There were several seconds of silence as the intruders waited for any other reaction. 
Finally the Black Knight leader said. "The numbers are running, let's move!"

     "You hear the man!" Skeeter shouted, breaking open the grenade launcher and placing a 
fresh shell into the chamber. "You've got your orders, only I now want First to double-check 
those Boomers to make sure they stay dead! Move!"

     The combatants scattered. While a group grabbed the tables and chairs and started dragging 
then towards the reception desk, several moved towards the downed Boomers, weapons ready to 
continue what they had started. Another group checked the bodies, then dragged them out of the 
way. No one said anything, and the only sounds were that of furniture being dragged, the 
crunching of glass under boots, and the crackling of the thermite as it continued to consume 
the Boomer and the floor under it.

     The Knights and Skeeter walked towards the desk, trailed by one of Skeeter's squads. As 
they passed the third Boomer, Skeeter looked at the charring remains and said. "Those weren't 
C-55s."

     "GBS-33's," said the Knight's leader. "G and B's version of the C-55's. Not as heavily 
armed, armored, strong, or adaptable as GENOM'S models, but they don't go rouge nor can they be 
used against Gulf and Bradley. They used them solely as internal security and don't sell them 
outside of the conglomerate."

     "How many do you think there are?"

     There could be upwards of a hundred on-site, though I doubt there's more then twenty 
active right now."

     By now one of the Knights had reached the computer. A small compartment popped open in the 
hardsuit's left arm, and several plugs appeared. Moving with confidence, the Knight attached 
the plugs to the access port on the computer. "Cracking now," she said. "Shouldn't be more then 
twenty seconds."

     "Lobby secured!" shouted Second Squad's leader.

      "The Boomers are dead!" bellowed First Squad's leader.

     Skeeter tapped his mike "Gawain Six to Gawain Five, Status?"

     //Border is acquired,// replied Doc. //No one got out.//

     "Good. Objective TANGO is secured. Send in a car to bolster the rear guard and tell the 
snipers we're beginning phase two. Make sure their know their targets before they fire."

     //Understood. Gawain Five-Two is on her way. ETA, two minutes. Gawain Five out.//

     "Copy. Gawain Six out." Skeeter looked at the Black Knight leader. "With all the 
pandemonium going on tonight, we'll have about a thirty minute window to do the job."

     "We're in!" Said White Three excitedly.

     White One turned to look at his teammate. "Can you shut down the active boomer patrols?"

     "Negative, One, but I can block the access of anyone trying to activate more from 
storage."

     "Do it. How many active boomers are there right now?"

     Three scanned several screens before she answered. "There's forty-two listed as active, 
not including the four we've taken out. Twenty-three of them are on the floors above us. I 
figure it's going to take them about two minutes to get their electronic asses together and 
come after us."

     "What about the other fifteen?"

     "They're scattered through several levels below us."

     "How many sublevels?" asked Skeeter.

     "The systems lists seven, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's more."

     Skeeter looked at the hardsuited leader. "Which way do we go?"

     "Down," replied the Knight's leader. "That's where the labs we want are liable to be."

     "Right." The giant turned and shouted, "Fourth squad! I want those elevators immobilized 
now! Then I want those shafts wired for detonation! First Squad, cover them!" He scanned the 
lobby, nodding to himself as he saw the barriers his people had erected in the short amount of 
time. "Third Squad! Wire the stairwells for detonation! Second and Fifth squads, prepare to 
repel attackers!"

     The strike team scattered to their tasks. The Knights watched the actions in silence. 
"Your people are well trained," said White One quietly.

     "They had better be," growled Skeeter. "They've had enough practice at it."

     White One turned to White Three. "Can you degrade the Boomer's coordination links?"

     The EW Knight shook her head. "Not through the system. The best I can do is jam any 
coordination with units outside the links. It won't affect the boomers any, but it will make it 
impossible for a relief force to orchestrate an organized attack."

     "Do it." the Knight looked at the giant."How many squads do you want to keep up here?"

     "Two," Skeeter replied. "Second and Fifth squads. We'll take First, Third and Fourth with 
us. We have some short range EW equipment Doc cobbled together. It isn't fancy, but it will 
make the cyberdroids' job harder."

      "I suppose you have a way of getting us into those sublevels?"

     "Several, actually." the gang leader removed the magazine from his machine gun and 
replaced it with another. "Depending on what the enemy throws at us and how much damage you 
want to cause."

     "How long will it take to wire the shafts and stairwells?"

     "No more then two minutes. My people have had plenty of practice."

     "Then we move out in two minutes."

     "Good. I still have some aggression to burn off." With that, Skeeter walked away, shouting 
orders to his people.

     White Two watched the giant direct his people. "Remind me to never piss him off," he said 
over their team's channel.

     White One agreed silently.



Outside Gulf and Bradley - Japan Headquarters
December 23, 2035
5:10am 

     Daley and Ko were hunched behind a low stone wall near the steps that use to lead to the 
lobby. The lobby, as well as most of the ground floor of the building, was now a disaster area. 
Shattered glass, twisted metal, and stone fragments littered the area. Several bodies, intact 
and otherwise, were interspersed among the wreckage. As far as the two police officers could 
see, all the bodies were either unarmored security men or boomers that had taken too much 
punishment. There was still the constant clatter of gunfire, changing in loudness and pitch as 
weapons were fired, reloaded and fired again. Here and there, a black hardsuit could be seen 
for a handful of seconds before the smoke and flame covered the image. A haze hung in the air, 
the smell of death and devastation a sickening crown to the hellstorm around them.
                                             
     The situation was worse then the two ADP detectives thought. They had dashed as close as 
they dared to the battleground, but they found themselves still about ten meters from the 
building's front doors. Going any farther into the building without heavy armor or arms would 
be suicide for both of them, but neither one was willing to just stay there.

     "The next time I get one of the great ideas," growled Daley, "You have standing orders to 
shoot me."

     "That's a tempting thought." Ko looked at his superior. "For the record, I now think we 
should have stayed with the car."

     "You should have thought about that before we decided to do this," replied Daley.

     "I know." Ko glanced up over the wall to see if they was anyone out in or around the 
lobby, then dropped down again. "Can we get into the building though the front door?"

     "I wouldn't want to take the chance. Neither side knows or even cares about us right now, 
and getting shot at by both sides isn't a good idea in my book."

     "We could try the parking garage."

     "And do what, flash our badges and hope the people on duty fall over themselves to help 
us?" asked Daley mildly. "Right now, we're screwed. The best we can hope for is to get out of 
this alive. See if you can raise Lars over the radio and tell him to expect trouble."

     Ko keyed the small mike on his radio. "Mu Six, this is Command Five. Can you hear me?" he 
listened for several seconds, then repeated the message. After the third attempt, he shook his 
head. "I can't get a hold of them, not with this much interference in the air."

     "Right. We can't stay here and we can't just go home, as much as that idea appeals to me. 
That's means we're going have to get out of the way and fast."

     "We're pulling back?"

     "Hell, yes, we're pulling back. Somebody's got to warn Lars what him and his people are 
going to walk into, and we're it."

     "How do you want to do this?"

     Daley glanced up over the wall, then ducked down again. "I'll cover you while you drop 
back to the car," he said in a half-whisper. "Once you get there, you can cover me. Fair 
enough?"

     "I don't know," replied Ko. "Maybe you should go first, and I'll cover you."

     The Inspector shook his head. "We're here because I wanted us to be here. This is my fault 
we're in this. It's my job to get us out in one piece. Now, get going before I make it an 
order, OK?" The younger man didn't look any happier, but he nodded and adjusted his crouch so 
he could explode into a run with little warning, the stomach rifle clutched in his arms like a 
life preserver.

     "Now!" Daley said, jumping up form behind the wall, the gauss cannon ready to fire. He 
heard rather the saw Ko start his dash for the car, but his attention was focused on the 
surrounding warzone.

     A flash of movement off to his right snatched his attention. His head snapped around to 
look in that direction, his brain trying to match what his eyes had told them was there. 
Instead of being wrong, his eyes confirmed what his memory told him it was. "Oh shit," he 
breathed, forgetting everything else around him.

     The Boomer coming towards him was not a run-of-the-mill rogue Boomer. The average ram-
paging boomer was not armed with a 125mm anti-tank gun, ground-to-air and ground-to-ground 
missiles, grenade launcher and a 10mm minigun. No, the BU-12B Anti-Tank Boomer striding towards 
him was definitely not your average raging boomer.

     The war Cyberdroid was close enough for Daley to see it was painted in light tans, yellows 
and browns - clearly a desert camouflage of some sort. It moved with a slow, easy confidence 
born out by it's knowledge that it was the meanest SOB on the street by a long shot. Out of the 
corner of his vision, the ADP Inspector could see other Boomers flanking the Tank Killer. The 
BU-12 turned its head to survey the destruction around the G and B's lobby. After several 
seconds, the massive cannon swung toward the fiery entrance.

     Daley may have been surprised by the Boomer's appearance, but there was nothing wrong with 
his reflexes. Before he heard the 'poomf' of the cannon being fired, he'd dropped back behind 
the stone wall, rifle forgotten in the knowledge of what was coming. He wasn't disappointed.

     The resulting explosion tore the heart out of what remained of the lobby. A fireball the 
size of a small house lit up the night sky with flame and heat. Daley felt the pressure wave 
from the explosion pass over him, the wall shuddering as it did so. This model of Boomer was 
designed to kill tanks, and the steel and concrete of the building was neither strong enough, 
nor designed to, withstand a 125mm APDS round. 

     As he cringed behind the doubtful safety of the stone wall, Daley know things had just 
gotten worse.

     Someone had just up the ante big time.

     Someone who wasn't going to give a damn about anyone who got in their way.

     Someone named GENOM.

     It was time to move. Still staying low, Daley grabbed the stomach rifle and started duck 
walking towards the far end of the wall. At the last moment, he remembered his radio and turned 
it on.

     // -are you?// he head Ko shouting. //Damn it Daley, answer me!//

     Daley stopped and keyed the mike. "Sorry about that."

     //Are you all right?//

     "No. Some guests showed up to crash the party."

     //I saw. What the hell is going on?//

     "Looks like Quincy dealt himself into this game, and he likes playing with a stacked deck 
that's in his favor. I only saw a couple of boomers. How many do you see?"

     //At least five, all combat types.//

     "Where are you?"

     //In an alley about thirty meters from the car. Only there's a pair of Boomers standing 
next to it, and I think that all that my rifle will do is just annoy them.//

     "Stay put. I'm betting these guys have been programmed to secure the perimeter, then 
destroy the G&B building."

     //You don't have to tell me twice. What about you?//

     Daley glanced around. There were several parked cars nearby, light from the fires behind 
Daley glittering in the windows He scooted forward between two of the cars and glanced out into 
the street. No one. He keyed the mike again. "I'm going to make a run for it," he said to Ko. 
"I'll contact you once I'm clear."

     //Good luck.// 

     Daley released the talk button on his radio, glanced out into the street again, then 
started across the street, trying to combine speed with staying low. His destination was the 
black mouth of an alleyway directly across from him, separated by four lanes and a median strip 
lined with trees.

     He had just reached the median strip when he heard a whirling sound. Reacting on instinct, 
he threw himself onto his stomach just as the trees next to him were torn in pieces by a swarm 
of slugs. Splinters of wood, torn branches, and shredded leaves covered him as Daley tried to 
will himself into the short grass.

     After what seemed like a lifetime, but probably no more then ten seconds, the avalanche of 
minced trees stopped, as did the whirling sound. Moving slowly, Daley turned his head in the 
direction the he had heard the sound coming from. Through a small opening in the pile of brush, 
he saw another combat boomer standing maybe sixty meters away, the two large machine cannons 
that hung over its shoulders still pointed in his direction, wisps of smoke drifting from the 
muzzles. In the back of his mind, the boomer model and stats flashed up like an ghoulish 
reminder of his own mortality. BU-12B air defense model...two 35mm rapid-fire cannons, rate 
of fire for each cannon - 540 rounds a minute...if the SOB fires into this brush, I'm 
screwed....

     He froze as the boomer stood there for ten more seconds before it turned and started 
moving towards the fire-scorched building. Beyond it, Daley saw several other type of combat 
boomers advancing, ignoring the few steams of slugs fired at them by the defenders. Slowly, he 
reached for his radio and keyed the mike. "Ko, I'm going to be a while," he said softly, 
reaching for the stomach rifle.

     //Are you hit?//

     "No, but I don't want to give those things a target." He began to move carefully through 
the shattered limbs, trying to avoid the split wood and finger-length splinters that covered 
the grass. "If you can't get to the car, get to a phone and call headquarters. Tell Lars he has 
my direct orders to round up every single person he can get his hands on and get out here ASAP. 
I want everything and anything that's in the armory out here and ready to be used. Have all 
units currently out in the field to send anyone they can spare. I want a perimeter containment 
in place before we move in. And I wanted all done yesterday."

     //I'm on it.//

     "Good. I'll contact you as soon as possible. Daley out."

     It took Daley another minute to free himself from the foliage debris. The right sleeve of 
his coat was bloody from a splinter that has jabbed him in the forearm, and his stomach and 
chest was sore from moving across the uneven wood fragments. He ignored the sound of battle 
that were happening behind him -- the dominating crack of the tank-killer's gun, the tornado 
scream of the anti-aircraft boomers's cannons, and the higher-pitched snaps of lasers mixing 
with the sounds of explosions, people screaming, and the hungry crackling of the fires.

     My god, Daley thought, risking a look back at the battleground behind him. Quincy 
must REALLY be pissed off at the Bradley twins! Finally free from his wooden prison, 
he crawled down the slight slope until he was sitting on the edge of the road, out of direct 
sight of the war behind him. Part of him screamed for a cigarette, but he overrode that idea 
with a wave of self-survival. His eyes drifted down to the stomach rifle, and he took the 
opportunity to look over the weapon for any clear signs of damage. After seeing nothing that 
would indicate the rifle was useless, he looked around.

     Across the street, a figure detached itself from the alley's shadows and moved toward 
Daley. The ADP Inspector pointed his rifle at it just as the figure moved into the illumination 
of a streetlamp. The person was wearing a hardsuit, burnished black with dark gold highlights. 
Instead of a right lower arm, a short barreled weapon of some sort was there, its muzzle 
pointed at Daley. As the figure got closer, Daley could see a small insignia on the hardsuit's 
right breast, that of a black horse's head on a gold shield.

     Five meters from the Inspector, the Black Knight raised the muzzle of his weapon so it 
pointed above Daley's head. A voice asked, "Are you planing to stay there all night, or are you 
going to follow me?"



     When Madigan was ordered to attack the headquarters building of Gulf and Bradley, there 
was no time for an elaborate, complicated plan. Instead, she just split the attacking force up 
into two groups and had them attack two of the building's entrances at the same time. With the 
exception of the VanDell girl, the orders were simple -- destroy anything that came across 
their paths.  
             
     Each spearheaded by a single anti-tank model boomer, the attacking GENOM cyberdroids hit 
the already chaotic situation with all the power of a tidal wave. While the AT boomers would 
fire 125mm shells into the building, several of the AA boomers used their 35mm machine guns to 
rake the windows with storms of lead. As a precaution, the area of the building housing the 
infirmary was left alone. But between the fire and the continual impact of HE shells, the 
building was taking an intense pounding.    
    
     Under this covering fire, several commando versions of the BU-12 dashed towards the 
building, occasionally firing their own weapons at targets of opportunity. The return fire was 
scattered and uncoordinated, as confusion and causalities had taken their toll. The last of the 
G&B boomers still able to defend the flaming remains of the lobby was torn apart by the 
firepower of a trio of 12Bs. As the boomer went down in a flaming wreck, the last scatterings 
of the defenders retreated. The GENOM boomers moved in and secured the main entrance.  

     At the south entrance, the resistance has heavier. Here, the security consisted of 
desperate G&B security teamed with security boomer running on Zeta protocols. The result was a 
sharp, intense firefight with neither side willing to give a centimeter. The GBS-33s security 
boomers were like madden Samurai defending their lord's castle from an invader, throwing 
themselves into battle with no concept of self-preservation. The human part of the defense 
fought almost as stubbornly, using rockets, rifles, or even chunks of concrete in the attempt 
to keep the battle boomers from reaching the building.     

     But the GENOM boomer were designed for this type of combat, and step by step, the 
defenders were shoved back into the building. Shots, both large and small, ripped into the 
windows and stone, sending shards of both in every direction. New fires sprang to life and 
began to spread, adding to the maelstrom of anarchy that had descended on the area.

     When the last  GBS-33 was torn apart by a 125mm shell, the last guardians ran for their 
lives. Leaving the AT and AA boomers to defend the entrance, the commando boomers moved into 
the building on a search and destroy mission. Their mission parameters were downloaded into 
their silicon brains, and the orders already clear in the RAM, with no room for mercy or guilt 
and no feeling for anyone who got in their way....



Gulf and Bradley - Japan Headquarters     
December 23, 2035
5:12am 

     Carlton Bradley was not happy.        

     In fact, he was in a towering rage. "You cowards!" he shouted into the radio. "Stop 
running and start fighting, or I'll kill you myself!"

     Around him, the other members of the group were divided between the shouting match Carlton 
was having with a security man on the ground floor and looking uneasily at the walls as they 
rattled from explosions that seemed to be increasing by the minute. The only ones that looked 
unimpressed by the surrounding battle were the security boomers that occupied each end of the 
hallway they were in.      

     In the center of the hallway, the VanDell girl laid on the stretcher, Doctor Kyso worrying 
over her with the intensity of someone who didn't want to die. Cora leaned against the wall, 
her expression partway between hate and hunger to kill something. The other members of the 
small group were scattered between the three boomers. None of them looked happy.        

     They had reached the fiftieth floor, two floors below the helicopter pads, when the 
explosions had begun, causing an alarm among the group. Carlton had immediately grabbed his 
radio and started demanding to know what happened. It had taken him a minute to find someone 
who was coherent, and even then the news wasn't good.       

     //We can't fight combat boomers!// the security man on the radio was shouting back, not 
really caring that he was yelling at his boss. //They're got at least two fucking anti-tank 
boomers out there, for god's sake! All our security boomers are destroyed, and I think all 
we've done to them is piss them off! We can't hold them!//        

     "How many men do you have left?" Carlton demanded.

     //Six,// The security man replied, //and two of them are too badly wounded to fight.//
       
     Carlton's hand tightened on the radio until his knuckles were white. "Gather everyone you 
can find and cover the parking garage!" he snarled. "You are to hold at all cost! Do you 
understand? We're making our way there and will join you as soon as possible."         

     //I understand.// The man didn't sound happy, but Carlton didn't give a damn.

     "Then do it!" Carlton turned off the radio and looked at his sister. She was cradling her 
machine gun like it was a child. "We release Mclaren's boomers now," he told her firmly.
   
     "Are you sure we should do that?" Cora asked. "They're also running under Zeta protocols."

     "We have no choice. Those spineless yellowbellies wouldn't hold out for long."

     "Then why did you tell them to hold the parking garage? We're not going there."
   
     "I know that and you know that," replied Carlton, pocketing the radio and pulling his 
pistol from his waistband. "But they don't know that and neither does anyone who intercepted 
the conversation. With a little luck, most of the enemy will head for the garage to try and 
block our 'escape.' Between that and the shielded boomers, we continue with the escape plan."       

     "Right." Cora pulled out a bulky hand sized box, flicked open a small panel on the face of 
the box. "Boomers activated," she said cheerfully.

     "Good. We use the escape staircase. There's an access panel two floors below us."

     "I know the one." 

     "I want you to take up the rear with a boomer. If anyone can't make it...." He left the 
rest unsaid.

     Cora nodded. "No one left behind alive to tell where we've gone. You can trust me, 
Brother."

     "Good." He glared at the others. "Get ready to move out! No stragglers or complainers, or 
I'll shoot you where you stand.   

     Just then, the lights started flickering, a sure sign the power lines were taking a 
beating. "Move out now!" Carlton snapped, and started down the hall, his face an ugly mask of 
hate. He had to escape in order to continue his plans to kill Quincy, and no homicidal bucket 
of bolts was going to stop him....



     The combined Knight Sabers/Black Knight team met no resistance either on the way down the 
stairs or on the floor below the roof.

     Sylia crouched in the middle of the hallway, allowing her suit's sensors to sweep ahead of 
her for a possible ambush. Behind her, Nene and Red Four extended their own sensor suites 
beyond her own. Behind them, the rest of the team was strung out along the hallway, both Sabers 
and Black Knights watching for any other presence.

     "Floor's clear," said Red Four.
     
     "I agree," replied Nene.

     Just then the building shuddered as something struck it. "You were saying?" asked Leon in 
a tight voice.

     "We've got problems," said Knight One. "Tristram is reporting combat boomers are attacking 
the building."

     The building trembled again. The sound of heavy guns, muffled by the steel and concrete, 
was now audible. Knight One looked at the Saber's leader. "We're going to have to move faster 
then we thought."

     Sylia nodded. "How do you want to do this?"

     "I'll send Red team via the elevator shaft and drop three floor and start working their 
way up. The rest of us will start here and work our way down."

     "I have no problem with that." Sylia switched channels. "Priss, Mackie, what's your 
situation?"

     Mackie answered the question. //We're about two kilometers south of the target building 
right now, getting ready to swing around. Is there a problem?//

     "Possibly," Sylia replied. "We're getting reports of combat boomers are now attacking the 
target building."

     She heard Priss cursing in the background. Mackie said, //Understand. Do you want us to 
hold our position here?//

     "For now. We need you more for retrieval than fire support."

     //Understood. We'll stand by. KnightWing out.//

     During her short conversation with Mackie, Knight One had directed Red Team in the new 
plan of attack. The three Black Knights dashed past Sylia and Nene, heading towards the 
elevators. Greg nodded to Sylia. "We'll wait thirty seconds, then head for the stairs."  

     "Fine." Sylia turned to the other members of her team. "Red Saber, you're with me. Green 
Saber, you're at the rear."

     "I'll stay with Green Saber," said Knight One. He turned to the MALCORP men. "Keep one 
hand free for weapons at all times, and expect trouble. If any Boomers appear, leave them to 
the hardsuits."  

     Sylia started for the stairs. "Let's go."  



     The building half a block down the street from the now fire shrouded Gulf and Bradley 
building was a office building scheduled for demolition sometime in the near future. Because of 
the poor condition of the building, the only security were a pair of old guard boomers who were 
too out of date to be anything more then a nuisance to any would be thief. Of course, there was 
nothing in the building worth stealing, so real security wasn't needed.

     It was here that Carlton had stored the shield equipped boomers. A mixed group of BU-12s 
and BU-55Cs, this group of twelve was Carlton ace card.

     And the ace card was now being played.

     The activation signal was received, and in the darkness of an internal room, eyes began to 
glow red as the boomers' CPUs began to process their uploaded orders....



Outside Gulf and Bradley - Japan Headquarters
December 23, 2035
5:14am 

     The hardsuited Knight led Daley through several alleyways to a van idling in an alley a 
block down and an empty lot away from the battle. From here, Daley could see most of the Gulf 
and Bradley building's southern entrance, as well as the boomers standing near it. He filed 
away the questions he had when he saw who was waiting for him.

     Jeena Malso was leaning against the side of the black van, looking amused as the ADP 
Inspector walked up to her. Wearing a black jumpsuit that hugged her figure well, she was 
primed for the possibility of combat with the binoculars, radio headset and gunbelt she was 
wearing. She said something into the headset, then nodded to the Knight beside Daley.

     "Fancy meeting you here," she remarked as the Knight left them.

     "What are you doing here?" The ADP Inspector asked her.

     "Besides saving your ass?" Jeena shrugged a shoulder. "The boss told me to come here and 
wait."

     "Wait for what?"

     Jeena gave him a level look. "He didn't say," she said insincerely.

     Daley sighed. "I'm not looking to arrest anyone right now. For one thing, these people 
outgun me slightly. Second, you're a friend, and I know you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for 
something important you believed in. And third, anything I could arrest you for would never 
seen the inside of a court, so why waste my time?"

     The tall woman raised an eyebrow. "You've gotten cynical in your old age."

     "I've always been cynical, it's just Leon's better at expressing the feelngs." He glanced 
over his shoulder in the direction of the battle. Speaking of which, where is Leon?"

     "He's busy right now. The less you know the better."

     Daley looked back at Jeena. "He's inside the Gulf and Bradley building, isn't he?"

     "Like I said, the less you know the better off you'll be if the shit hits the fan."

     "I've got news for it, it's hit and it's a major shit storm." The ADP officer jabbed a 
thumb in the direction of the gunfire. "But even I didn't think things would move so fast, or 
become so violent."

     The tall woman shrugged. "We got late-breaking information on the girl's whereabouts."  
She frowned. "Looks like GENOM did too."

     "Tell me about. Quincy's not pulling punches here. He's sent combat boomers to clean up 
this mess."

     "We know. We've been forced to pull our own people back."

     "Am I a prisoner?"

     Jeena gave Daley a look of disbelief. "We're the good guys, remember? We were just doing 
our civic duty getting you out of a dangerous situation."

     "What about my partner?"

     "The cute one? We've got someone retrieving him too. He should be here in a couple of 
minutes."

     "In that case, you don't mind if I try and call headquarters, do you?"

     Jeena handed Daley a cell phone. "Use mine. It should be able to punch through any 
interference."  

     Two more explosions roared through the night sky from the direction of the G and B 
building. Suddenly, several more explosions blossomed into the sky from a building down the 
block. Before either observer could react, several figures stormed out of the detonations and 
started towards the smoke-hazed building. 

     "What the hell?" Daley yelled.

     The GENOM combat boomers reacted as quickly as their programming allowed, which was very 
fast. Before the first of the new figures had cleared the fireballs completely, they were met 
by heavy machine gun fire and missiles from the now defending GENOM boomers. As the bullets 
bore in on their targets, there was sparks as they struck something in front of the boomers. 
The missiles had almost the same effect, exploding before they hit their targets. None of the 
new boomers went down in the barrage and were now returning fire, scoring hits on their enemy. 

     "Goddamn!" Jeena had her binoculars up and watching the exchange of fire. "The shitstorm 
just went to typhoon strength," she said sharply, dropping the spyglass and turning her radio 
to transmit.

     "Are those shielded boomers?"

     "You got it! The Bradley's must have had them nearby!"      

     With the speed that only a war-programmed boomer has, the GENOM boomers changed tactics. 
The AT boomer charged into firing position, flanked by a trio of the AA types. Several of the 
commando designed boomers moved towards the empty lot, firing at the attackers as they went in 
an attempt to outflank the new attackers.

     A 125mm shell slammed into an attacking Bradley 55C, the explosion slamming through the 
shield and boomer with conclusive force, turning the boomer into a flaming pile of debris in an 
instance. Another Bradley boomer's shield gave out under the combined firepower of six 35mm 
machine guns and literally disintegrated in the plague of lead. But the rest of the new 
attackers were continuing their charge, heedless of any losses they might take.

     Daley dialed a number on Jeena's cell phone, trying to ignoring the war behind him. Jeena 
watched the fire rolling into the sky. "You better tell your people to bring a lot of friends," 
she said quietly, "and a hell of a lot of firepower."




Chapter 40

                     
ARNPTSE Storage compound
December 23, 2035
5:16am

     "Shit, shit, shit...." Chika muttered under her breath. The entire situation had became a 
sheep screw, and getting worse by the moment.

     Her people had managed to secure both of the office buildings, but at the loss of several 
of their own. The building on her right had a large hole in its side where a machine gun had 
been set up by the unusually large guard force. Several satchel charges and a number of 
grenades hadn't work, killing three of her fighters in the process. It finally took a laser 
guided missile from the Rattlesnake to remove the machine gun from the fight, as well as the 
floor it had been on and the one above and below it for good measure. Because of that, Chika 
chose to make the left office building her command center while they waited for the rest of her 
team to escape the battle among the storehouses.

     The Black Knight team and the members of the two demolition squads attached to them were 
trying to skirt the raging battle, but it was difficult as they ended up in short, brutal 
firefights with the guard force, then the boomers, then sometimes both guards and boomers at 
the same time. They were moving as fast as they could, but it would be at least another ten 
minutes before they could work themselves clear.

     Chika peeked out a third story window in the direction of the warehouses. From the sounds 
of gunfire, screams and the occasional explosion that mixed with flashes of fire and tracer 
rounds, Chika knew the fight was far from over. But the bulk of the warehouses made tracking 
the firefight difficult at best. The radio conversations were short and sometimes cryptic as 
everyone was more concerned with staying alive then proper communications protocols.

     Suyuri dashed into the office. "Chika," he said, looking worried. He was a tall, thin man 
with a bald head, dark skin, and a roman nose. He'd been a mercenary in Africa before he'd 
settled down in MegaTokyo and was no novice to combat.

     "What?" She snapped back at him, her eyes never leaving the half-hidden battle.

     "We found something you should see."

     Chika turn to look at him. "What?" she repeated.

     "The reason why this place was swarming with guards."

     The raven haired woman scowled. Suyuri wasn't the type to exaggerate. "Fuko!" She yelled.
                                             
     A muscular woman whose Mohawk was somewhere between teal and green in color poked her head 
around the door frame. "Yea?"

     "Keep an eye on the fight. I'm going with Suyuri."

     "Hokay, chief."

     After Fuko had taken her place at the window, Suyuri lead Chika down to the ground floor. 
He stopped near the bodies of a defender. "I had a couple of the boys pat these guys down for 
possible intelligence material when one of them noticed this." He reached down and yanked the 
dead man's shirt open. 

     Chika took one look and said "Shit."

     The dead man's entire torso was elaborately tattooed, the pattern running around the and 
under the arms. The centerpiece of the body art was a coiled dragon running from his below his 
belt up to his collarbone. The combat leader recognized the symbolism of the tattooing, and 
realized her mission had just taken a turn for the worse.

     "How many have you found like this?" Chika snapped.

     "We've checked a dozen bodies so far, and almost all of them are like he is."

     "Shit."

     "The question is, 'whose boys are these?'"

     "They looking like Sleeping Dragon Yakuza." Chika replied. She motioned to the body art on 
the dead gangster. "The tattoo there is a common motif among their rank and file. The question 
is, why is a couple of dozen of Sato's people doing here?"

     "I can explain that." At his leader's questioning glance, Suyuri continued. "On a hunch, I 
had a squad check the basement, and found the reason why this place was guarded by Yakuza 
gunmen. If you'll follow me?" Suyuri lead Chika on a quick jog to a stairwell in the far corner 
of the building. They descended down two flights of half-lit stairs and entered through a door 
marked 'Basement'. 

     As soon as the sharp tangy smell of chemicals hit her, Chika knew why the large guard 
force had been in place. Suyuri handed her a filter mask. She took the mask and put it on, 
holding her breath as she did so. Once the mask was in place, she looked around the room. "What 
the hell did I do to deserve this, Suyuri?"

     The room they were standing in was some sort of security room. A desk was set up next to 
the basement door, and a table was in one corner, the remains of a card game scattered across 
its surface. A gun rack hung on the far wall, still half filled with rifles. Several bodies 
were scattered around the room, all male, all Yakuza, and all dead.

     A door opened in the far wall, and a person Chika recognized as one of Suyuri's people 
stuck their head out. "We got the last locked room open," he announced, his voice muffled by 
the mask he wore. "You'd better come see this." Suyuri lead the way through the door and into 
the rest of the basement.

     The basement was a series of rooms, divided by cheap wooden walls and concrete floors. 
Each room was part of the process to make, package and ship illegal designer drugs. Some rooms 
were processing labs, while others were set up to weigh and package  the valuable merchandise. 
Here and there, a body laid, some Yakuza while others wore lab coats and appeared to be the 
chemists that manufactured the drugs. From the signs of haste and unfinished packing, they must 
had still been working up to the time of the attack.

     Chika held her anger in check as they walked through the rooms, but it wasn't easy. She 
had seen an older sister overdose on a new designer drug fifteen years back and the image of a 
helpless, twitching remnant of what had been once a bright and lively girl seared Chika's soul. 
With the death of her last living relative, the barely teenage girl found herself shipped off 
to the city's orphanage, a place where boys and girls were warehoused until they were old 
enough to be released on their own. 

     She's survived there, survived until Skeeter Karns had sensed that she was a kindred sprit 
and recruited her into the new organization he was forming. Her rise through the gang's ranks 
had been quick, but no one disputed her because she had done it on her own. She soon estab-
lished a reputation as being as tough as any man under her command.

     One of the things that had drawn her to Karns was his absolute refusal to have anything to 
do with illegal drugs. To her, drug dealers were the low of the low, making money off people's 
weaknesses, and not giving a damn what happened if their 'product' was bad. Skeeter had laid 
down the law early in his rule: no one in the gang was allowed to deal or manufactured drugs, 
and woe to those from outside that tried moving drugs into Skeeter's territory. The Red Cobras 
had tried, and they had paid for their stupidity.

     "How long to wire this place to blow?" she snarled.

     Suyuri snorted. "It's more difficult making sure this place doesn't blow. Anyone who 
strikes a match down here isn't going to last long enough to realize he fucked up."

     "How long?" she repeated.

     "Half a dozen incendiaries among the chemicals in the storage rooms, say three minutes."

     "Do it."

     "Already underway."

     They reached a thick door that had been smashed open. A trio of bloodied Yakuza gunmen 
laid sprawled around the door, the result of a frag grenade at close range. The gang member 
that had come and gotten them was standing in the doorway, along with two other of Skeeter's 
troopers. One of the troopers, a broad-shouldered man by the name of Mongo pointed with his 
thumb inside the room. "It's clear," he said. "Ramon thought we should let you look and make a 
decision before we trashed the place." The trio stepped aside and let Chika and Suyuri past 
them.

     The room was smaller then the others they had passed through, but the contents were more 
valuable and useful then the drugs outside. Shelves ran along three of the walls, neatly 
stacked with sorted bundles of cash, grouped according to denomination. A table sat in the 
center of the room, with another small fortune in bills waiting to be counted, along with a 
pair of counting machines.

     Chika's mind whirled. This was an unexpected windfall, and her mind wrestled with the 
possibilities. The gang could use a haul like this, and the fact they were taking to from the 
Yakuza would make it all the sweeter. "How long to clean out the room?" she asked.

     "Ten minutes," Mongo replied. He motioned to a bag in the corner. "There's enough bags to 
take all the cash."

     Chika activated her radio. "Fuko, anything happening?"

     //Nope. Just more fireworks. The tin suit leader thinks they can get clear in another five 
minutes.//

     "Any signs of an attack on the office buildings?"

     //Nope. Sy and Fowler have been out planting some Claymores between us and the warehouses. 
They say it's quiet.//

     "Get them back in here and send down anyone you can spare for the moment."

     //What's up?//

     "We've walked into something big. I'll explain later."

     //Hokay. Where are you?//

     "In the basement."

     //I've have people there in three minutes.//

     "Good. Galahad Six out." She looked over at Suyuri. "Did you check the other office 
building?"

     "Thomas reports the place is clean," the ex-mercenary replied.

     "Get his people over here and shore up the defenses in this building. I want the armored 
cars nearby in case we have to pull out in a hurry."

     "Right. What about the other building?"

     "I'll have Galahad Black level it. How many other of our people are down here?"

     "I've got two wiring the place with incendiaries. They should be finished real quick."

     Chika nodded. "I want you upstairs keeping an eye on things."

     "Right."

     The raven haired woman turned to the other fighters. "When the troops Fuko sends down 
arrive, you have five minutes to grab as much cash as possible. Anything left over is to be 
piled up and a thermite grenade dropped on it. Once you've out of the basement, I want the 
stuff carried over to our location across the street, with one man to guard it until we pull 
back. I want the rest of you back ASAP."

     The three nodded. "One other thing," Chika said, her face becoming hard. "All the money 
you guys take had better be in those bags. I don't want any bundles 'accidently' dropping into 
your pockets. Everyone who's part of this will get their cut, so there's no need to be greedy, 
right?" Left unsaid was Chika's promise to make sure any thieves would find themselves missing 
a hand or two, but these were people familiar with her style, respected her, and knew better 
then to cross her. They nodded again.

     "Good." Chika opened her mike again. "Galahad Black, this is Galahad Six I have a fire 
mission for you...."



Gulf and Bradley - Japan Headquarters
December 23, 2035
5:17am 

	Carlton Bradley peered around a corner. "Clear," he said, ignoring the sounds of the 
pitched battle going on outside. The fact that there were still explosions and gunfire told him 
that some of the security force was still alive. All they had to do was live long enough to 
allow him and the others to escape....

	The boomer behind him nodded and went around the corner first, followed by one the 
security men. The moved at a jog down the hall to a door on the left side of the hall, about 
halfway down. The door, marked 'JANITOR SUPPLIES', was an actual storeroom for cleaning 
supplies. But it also served as an access point for an emergency stairwell built in the core of 
the headquarters building, designed to allow executives to escape from a terrorist attack. The 
only people who actually knew about it in the city was limited to the Bradley twins, Ozu, as 
head of security, three of Ozu's people, and the quartet of boomers tasked with guarding 
Carlton Bradley.

	While the boomer stood guard, the human swiped his access card through the reader located 
next to the door. The door unlocked and the security man pulled it open. As soon as the door 
open, Carlton ran down the hall. He dashed into the closet, his eyes scanning for the spot he 
knew was there. He saw it almost at once - a small fuse box set against the far wall. Thrusting 
his pistol into his belt, he opened the faceplate and threw one breaker switch, waited two 
seconds, then threw another one. A soft 'snick' came from the panel, and the switch panel swung 
open, revealing a card slot, two small lights, and a small keypad.

	Carlton removed a card from his shirt pocket and shoved it into the slot. One of the 
lights came on, glowing green. Nodding to himself, the CEO punched in several numbers on the 
keypad. The second light glowed green and the a large section of the back wall opened.

	The senior Bradley turned and motioned to the security man in the doorway to go through 
the now open secret door. The man did so, his pistol up and ready to fire. After twenty 
seconds, he reappeared. "It's clear."

	Carlton nodded and went back to the door. "Move it!" he snarled at the rest of his party.

	Doctor Kyso and the stretcher bearers were around the corner first, followed by Cora and 
her personal bodyguard boomer. The third boomer and the last two security men stayed at the 
intersection, just in case.

	"Right," said Carlton, his voice low and clear. "Cora, I want you to go first. Make sure 
the way is clear. Wait for me at the bottom of the staircase."

	Cora nodded, though she didn't looked convinced. "What are you going to do?"

	"Leave our friends a little going away present."

	Cora's face broke into a grin. "The --"

	"Yes," replied Carlton quickly. "But that is between you and me."

	"Okay, Brother." she turned to the boomer beside her. "Come with me."

	As Cora and her boomer bodyguard went through the secret door, all hell broke loose.

	It was the boomer guarding the hall near the storage closet that raise the alarm first. 
With a sound that was somewhere between a shout and an animalistic roar, the boomer split out 
of it's human disguised and started deploying for battle. Carlton dove for cover inside the 
supply room, more concerned for his life at that moment then his dignity. The human security 
members moved at once to cover their leader, placing themselves between the attack and their 
boss. The other boomer turned to cover the rear, while the stretcher party flattened themselves 
on the carpet. Doctor Kyso, either out of deference for her healer's oath, or because she was 
scared of Carlton, threw herself onto her patient to shield the unconscious girl from any stray 
rounds.

	Even as the first boomer moved to attack, a burst of steel from the far end of the hall 
ripped into it with enough force to send the boomer reeling. Both the boomer's arms came up, 
firing several laser burst down the corridor. A 'crack', followed by a 'thud' knocked the 
guardian cyberdroid back a couple of paces. Almost at once, the boomer started trembling 
violently. The crackling of electricity and the smell of ozone were in the air, both emanating 
from the boomer. Another burst of lead decapitated the boomer, sending a fine mist of fluid and 
metal in all directions.

	As the first boomer's head exploded, the boomer acting as rear guard came under attack. 
It also exploded out of its human disguise, its mouth dropping open to uncover the laser that 
resided there. It fired at one, sending a bolt of ruby-red light in the direction of this new 
attack.

	The human security men were now adding their fire to the defense, their faces grim as 
they saw who their opponents were. While Doctor Kyso had thrown herself over the girl on the 
stretcher, the rest of the stretcher party drew their sidearms and looked nervously at the two 
prong battle.

	Carlton had gotten to his feet, his expression a mix of anger and bewilderment. "Who is 
it?" he snapped at the nearest security men, who was firing a pistol from the safety of the 
storeroom's doorway.

	"It's the Black Knights!" the security man snarled back. The slide on his pistol snapped 
back, so he thumbed the magazine release and replaced the spent magazine with a fresh clip.

	"The Knight Sabers are behind us!" another security man yelled, being close enough to 
heard Carlton's question. "We're trapped!" 

	Another explosion came from the area of the hallway that the last boomer had been 
defending, followed by the sound of something heavy and metallic falling onto the floor. That 
was succeeded by a shout of "Here they come!"

	For the first time, Carlton felt fear move into his awareness. He turned and covered the 
distance between himself and the secret door in two strides. His placed his card into the slot 
again, then punched in another set of numbers. Satisfied that the code had been accepted, he 
shouted at the security man, "Get every one in here no--"

	The last word was barely out of his mouth when a pair of hardsuits appeared behind the 
man, grabbed him by the arms and threw him into the wall across from the door. He struck the 
wall with a solid thud and slumped to the ground. 

	It was right then that Carlton Bradley knew his plans had failed, and these were the 
people behind that failure. But even as he took a step back, part of him gearing up to run, the 
analytical part of his mind was taking in details of the two in the doorway, filing everything 
away for further study.

	The one wearing the white hardsuit was a woman, he noted in the back of his mind, 
probably the leader of the Knight Sabers, or at least the hardsuit matched the description he 
had of her. The other one was wore the ebony armor of a Black Knight,presumably the one they 
called Knight One. Both well known for their work and neither one known for their mercy. And 
all Carlton had was a single semi-automatic pistol.

	Not very good odds at all.  

	Even as both hardsuited people turned towards him, Carlton throw himself through the 
doorway into the emergency stairwell. He bounced off the opposite wall of the narrow landing 
and use the momentum to shoved the door shut with a burst of fear-induced strength. He relaxed 
slightly when he heard the lock click into place, but he didn't know how long the door would 
hold. 

	From the landing below, Cora looked up. "What's happening up there?" she called out.

	"Our plans going up in smoke," Carlton replied sharply. "The Knight Sabers and the Black 
Knights."

	His sister nodded. "We're it."

	"We'd better get moving. I have no intention of being here when the devices goes off."

	Cora's eyes flashed with pleasure. "You managed to set it."

	"I did. We'd better get moving."

	Pulling out his pistol, Carlton started down the stairs, two at a time. Without waiting 
for him, Cora and her Boomer started down before him. As each flight of stairs passed under his 
feet, and with no sight and sound of pursuit, Carlton's bout of fear faded away, replaced with 
the anger again. It was clear that his plans had failed -- this time. But he only had to be 
lucky once. And he was patient, he would wait for the right time to strike.

	He couldn't be patient now, though. The timer had a ten minute setting and they needed to 
be free and clear before the entire building collapsed upon itself. A streak of vindictiveness 
hoped that they were still all up there when the devices detonated. It would solve more then 
one problem....



	Greg slammed a hardsuited fist into the wall Carlton had passed through. "Damn it!" he 
snarled.

	"Was that Carlton Bradley?" Sylia asked.

	Knight One took a deep breath. "Yes." he replied. "I wanted to give the bastard a down 
payment on what he owes Janie."

	"Worry about that later. Let's see how she is."

	The two of them emerged from the storeroom. The Knights and Sabers had quickly moved in 
before the stunned Gulf and Bradley people could recover. Now while Red Three and Four, along 
with Nene, watched the prisoners, one of the MALCORP troopers was examining the girl on the 
stretcher.

	"How is she?' Knight One asked, his voice hard.

	"She's breathing," replied the trooper, a fully qualified combat medic less then six 
months out of the service. "But I sure wouldn't want to have to move her."

	"We have no choice."

	The medic nodded. "I know. I just hope this capsule works as advertised."

	Just then Leon and a pair of MALCORP troopers came hurriedly around a corner, carrying 
the cryogenic capsule. "Here it is," the ex-inspector called out.

	Knight One turned to look at the prisoners. "Doctor Kyso," he said, his voice cold as a 
blast of arctic air.

	The woman sitting on the floor along with the other prisoners tried her best too look 
unafraid, but the past twenty minutes had wrecked any sense of courage from her. "Wh-what do 
you want?" she stammered. "Who are you?"

	Knight One walked over and looked down at the physician. "What happened?" he asked.

	"Wha-what do you mean?"  

	"What happened to Janie VanDell?"

	"I-I don't -- ugh!"

	Moving like a cobra, Greg reached down and grabbed Kyso by the lapels. In a flash, she 
was slammed up against the wall, staring directly into Knight One's visor, leaving her dangling 
more than a third of a meter off the floor. "I will ask one more time," he said, his voice 
barely a whisper. "What happened to Janie VanDell that caused her to be in this condition?"

	Sylia placed a hand on Greg's arm. "Don't," she said softly. "Don't take your anger for 
the Bradleys out on her. She isn't worth it."

	"Jesus and Mother of God," breathed the medic examining Janie.

	In one motion, Greg dropped the scared doctor, turned and strode over to the stretcher. 
The medic had thrown the covers back, uncovered the girl's body and the scars and burns that 
covered it. Several of the troopers looked sick, while even Leon, who had seen plenty of wounds 
and injuries looked pale.

	Before Greg could turn back towards the prisoners, White Saber said sharply, "Don't even 
think about it. It's not worth killing them for it."

	Knight One wheeled to look at his co-leader. Even though she couldn't see his face, Sylia 
know Greg Mallory was in a towering rage. "Why shouldn't I?" he asked her, his voice cold and 
intense. "This is a fourteen year old girl! She had nothing to do with any of this!"

	"It wasn't any of us!" one of the prisoners, a security man from his suit, shouted.

	Knight One's head swivelled to look at him. "Then who did?"

	"Co-Cora Bradley," the man spluttered, looking even more scared then Doctor Kyso had. 
"She was...." With an audible click, his jaw snapped shut as he found himself staring down the 
barrel of the Black Knight's arm laser.

	"Where is she?"

	"She went into the escape stairwell just before you attacked," the man replied, his words 
tumbling out of his mouth as fast as he could say them.

	"Where is Doctor Zin-Choon?"

	"No-no one's seen him si-since the attack started."

	Knight One took a step closer until the muzzle of the laser was almost touching the man's 
sweating forehead. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow a hole through your head right 
this instant."

	"That's enough!" Sylia snapped, stepping forward to push Knight One's laser away from the 
nearly panicky man. "To kill him here and now would be murder!"

	"And what do you call what they did to her?" he replied, his voice as hard as a diamond. 
"They allowed that poor girl to be tortured! Why should their lives be spared for that 
barbarity?"

	Red Two moved to stand next to his leader. "The White Saber is right," he said, his voice 
gentle. "These people aren't worth the waste of power to kill them."

	Greg turned to look at his teammate. "That does not apply to either Cora or Carlton. 
After this, they are walking dead people." He thought for a moment. "That also includes Zin-
Choon. All three have lost the right to be considered human."

	"You won't get an argument from me, or any other Black Knight, on that. If we see them, 
they are dead." Sylia noticed both Red Three and Four nodding their heads in agreement.

	"Fine," replied Knight One flatly. "Can Janie be moved?"

	"We're working on it," the medic replied, removing a syringe for a belt pouch. "We're 
injecting her with stabilizing drugs right now."

	Sylia looked at Greg for an explanation. "The drugs will keep Janie alive while she's in 
the capsule," he said in a distant voice, his eyes never leaving the rescue attempt.

	"Sylia," said Nene over the Saber's private channel. "I'm picking up some odd readings."

	"What sort of readings?"

	"I think it's a power build-up of some type."

	"Where is it coming from?"

	"The basement."

	Sylia switched to the private command channel. "Greg, Pink Saber has picked up a power 
build-up in the basement. Can your people confirm?"

	"Wait one." Knight One turned towards Red Four. After about fifteen seconds, he turned 
back to Sylia. "Confirmed. Do you think it's a bomb?"

	"It might be. I think we should get out of here."

	Greg strode over to the medic. "How long before she's read to move?"

	"At least five minutes, maybe ten. I have to make sure she's stable before we put her 
into the capsule."

	"I don't think we have ten minutes," said Red Four. "Those power readings are increasing 
awfully fast. I think we may have seven minutes before an explosion takes out this entire 
building."

	"He's right," the security man who had come within seconds of being killed said tiredly. 
"I saw Mr. Bradley enter a code into the security station right before he escaped."

	Sylia looked at Nene. "Do you think he's telling the truth?"

	"Possible," she replied, "I'd have to see the station first."

	"It's in the storeroom on the wall," the security man said helpfully.

	"What are you doing, Chasen?" one of the other security men asked him. "They're the 
enemy!"

	"Well, the only thing that's between us and being killed is them!" Chasen shouted back. 
He turned to the White Saber. "About three months back, Carlton Bradley installed a series of 
devices designed to take out all the building's supports in case of a successful terrorist 
attack and seizure of the building. Laser cutters, designed to slice through the reenforced 
concrete supports and collapse the building on top of itself."

	"That's a bit drastic," replied Red Four.

	"Some of the security people thought the same way, but Ozu overruled them. The devices 
were put into place and the detonating command sequence was hardwired into the emergency 
security computer system."

	"How long do we have?" asked Sylia.

	"Maybe seven minutes."

	"That's no good!" said the medic. "The stabilizing drugs are going to take at least five 
minutes to take effect, and we're at least another three minutes from the LZ!"

	Sylia turned to Nene, but the EW specialist was already heading for the storeroom, Red 
Four right behind her. They both darted in, with Sylia and Greg trailing them.

	The two computer experts looked at the security station. "What do you think?" Red Four 
asked his Saber counterpart.

	"Looks like a standard card reader and keypad combination," the pink and blue Saber 
replied.

	"You'd better take point on this," Red Four said. He held up his rifle. "I'm geared up 
more for combat then cracking right now. I can support you, but you're going to have to do most 
of the work."

	"Right."

	"You'd better hurry," said Knight One. "Tristan's reporting that there's GENOM combat 
boomers inside the building, evidently on a search and destroy mission." He was silent for a 
moment, then he said grimly, "Tristan's now reporting a new group of boomers, with energy 
shielding are attacking the GENOM boomers still outside the building."

	"I can confirm that," said Red Three. "I'm eyeballing the situation right now. If the 
situations wasn't so serious, it'd entertaining to watch."

	"So we're running into time pressures coming at us from all sides," said Greg. He turned 
to Red Two. "You'd better secure the stairwell and take out the elevators. "It won't stop them, 
but we'll need ever second we can squeeze out."

	"Right," replied the heavy weapons member of the team. "I'm going to need a hand."

	"Take Red Three and three of the troopers. I don't want anything fancy done with the 
elevators, just make sure the boomers can't use them."

	"Right."

	"I'm sending Green Saber along with your people," said Sylia. Linna simply nodded in 
agreement.

	"I have no problem with that," Red Two said. "We're going to need the help."

	Knight One motioned with his head. "Go."

	Red Two moved off, his electronically filtered voice calling out the name of three of the 
black clad MALCORP warriors. Red Three and Linna joined them, and the group dashed around the 
corner and out of sight.

	"This is going to be a tough ten minutes," Greg said to Sylia over their private channel.

	"I know, but it's going to be the most important ten minutes of the mission."

	"It doesn't make it any easier." There was some frustration in his voice that Sylia could 
sympathize with.

	"I know, but all we can do now is hold on and wait."

 
	

	

  	
Chapters 31 - 35
  	
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