The Puppet

Disclaimer: Knight Sabers is not owned by me or anybody I know. Please don't sue.

It was your standard night in MegaTokyo meaning that another boomer had gone on a rampage and destroyed much property and many lives. The police were hopelessly outmatched and the task fell once again to the Knight Sabers. This would not be a problem normally. Most boomers would have been destroyed within minutes of the Sabers showing up, but not this one. It refused to stand it ground and kept leading the Sabers farther and farther from the core of the city. Finally, in the outskirts of an abandoned industrial park the boomer stopped running. It seemed to have reached whatever destination it was trying to achieve for now it turned to fight. The results of which were fairly predictable. The departing Sabers never noticed sparks coming from a damaged power relay, one that would have incredible impact on them in the days and weeks to come.

[Power Interrupted]
[Activate Internal Generator]
[Internal Generator Active]
[Activate Subsystems]
[Subsystems Active]
[Activate OS]
[OS Active]
[Activate Core Systems]
[WARNING: Core Systems Damaged]
[Active Personality Program]

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was an intense bright light. I quickly closed my eyes.

[Adjusting Ocular Settings]

Opening my eyes a second time revealed a somewhat dim room. A quick glance around revealed that either the cleaning lady was not employed or no one had been there in a very long time. This raised an interesting point, what was I doing here?

Searching the room had proved useless except to find a set of clothing sized to fit me. I guess at this point I should describe myself, well I appear to be around five foot five, black hair with Japanese features. Perhaps I should include the fact that I'm a women with a figure that leans more towards athletic than anything else.
Finding the clothes in my sizes meant that either they were mine to begin with or somebody was being VERY through. Since I had no clue as to the origin of the clothes I decided that I needed more information.
Since the only physical features in the room was a door and the bed I woke up lying on I decided to explore the door. It wasn't that massive or impressive nor was it locked. Opening it up I discovered why, the other side had been bricked up.
Now I'm not the kind of person to panic easily but seeing the brick wall where a doorway should have been really threw me for a loop and I slammed the wall with my fist. Seeing several bricks loosen from the impact quickly gave her an idea and with several punches I managed to create a hole large enough to crawl through.
"Must be cheap mortar."

I didn't recognise anything so I started wandering, three hours later I found myself in the shopping district of whatever city I was in. There were a number of shops and by snagging a discarded newspaper I was able to find not only the date but also the name of the city I had found myself in. The date seemed wrong for some reason I could not pin down. I found myself in a spot of trouble, no money, no friends, and low on information. The first two would take a while to rectify but the third could be done as soon as I could find a library.

It was just my luck that there was a library nearby and after selling the librarian a story about how I was a student from a nearby collage doing a paper on recent history for a class I was given access to both the library's computer and archival material. I proceeded to quietly work until the library closed for the night. Towards the end I was accumulating information at a pace that was starting to worry me. Now armed with information I needed to get money and a place to stay, strangely I wasn't hungry or thirsty and it suddenly dawned on me that I hadn't felt the call of nature since I woke up. Now I was really freaked.
Freaked or not I needed money and shelter for the night. I thought of mugging a few businessmen but discarded that as too high risk for the profit margin. Deep in thought I allowed my feet to lead me where they may. Too bad, if I had been paying attention I might have avoided that first battle.

The first indicator that I may have gotten into trouble was when the street in front of me exploded. If that wasn't a large enough sign the screams of the dead and dying would have alerted even the most unobservant. Father down the street was my first glimpse of a boomer, pretty ugly from what I could see. The damn thing had what looked like missile racks on its shoulders, clueing me into that this was a military model and that I was in serious trouble. When it turned its head to look straight at me I was pretty sure I'd be meeting god in a moment.

[Hostile Detected]
[Activate Battle System]

Suddenly as if someone had flipped a switch my rising panic disappeared, I began to study the boomer noting weak points and apparent strengths. The missile racks would have to go, hopefully the missiles had a safety range that I could get inside.
"What the hell am I thinking? I don't wanna get close to that thing!"
"Mommy! Mommiiiieeeee!"
It was the plaintive cry of a small girl, not understanding why her mother wouldn't move. When the boomer turned to face the crying child I knew my fate was sealed. Something in me wouldn't allow this little girl to come to harm from this monster. I made my views known with a kick to the boomers head.

The battle wasn't even into it's first minute and already I knew I was in trouble. This thing was tough and I don't think it was even feeling my blows all I was doing was buying time. Time for the girl to get away, time for help to arrive, and perhaps time for me to find a way to end this battle without dying. If there was such a way.
A moment of respite allowed me the chance to glance at here the girl had been, she hadn't moved. The boomer caught my glance and got this truly evil look in its eye.
"The girl will not survive." It's coldly modulated voice set my teeth on edge.
"Her fate is not for you to determine." I don't know where the words came from but they seemed right.
"She will die." A calm statement of fact was not what I had expected from a boomer that was just kicked in the head.

Authors Note: The dreaded cliff hanger makes its appearance. This was an idea that just wouldn't go away. If people like it I might add more, if you have C&C please e-mail me at:
big_scary_guy@hotmail.com

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