Tempest

Life was good in Megatokyo. The shadow of Genom had been lifted, and the mad boomer rampages had come to an end. For the first time in some years, we knew true peace, and we found ourselves looking to the future with hope. It was a pleasant change.

None of us knew where to go. We had been in the vigilante business so long, that it had taken over much of our lives. Free of the burden, we began to dream again. While we agreed that the Knight Sabers would remain as a deterrent against future activity by a revived Genom, none of us expected any problems. Most of the old Genom's executives would be in prison for years to come. The megacorp was back to building cars.

If any of us reveled in our new-found freedom, it was Priss. Always having to be paranoid had taken its toll on her, and she was weary of it. Shortly after our raid on Genom's headquarters, she released an album, and it was easily her best work ever. It seemed that she might even find her break this time.

Indeed, it was a better world in which we lived. We had survived our most difficult trial, and passed through our darkest hour. Though not unscathed, we were unbroken, and we truly believed it was all over. We could not have been more wrong.

It was less than a month before the uprisings began.

Priss throttled up her newly-boosted racing bike and slipped neatly into traffic. Scanning the highway for police vehicles, she revved it up further, downshifted, and grinned as the needle shot upward.

"Dr. Raven outdid himself this time," she thought. The ride was smoother than ever, and combined with the unmistakable power increase, it was the best-handling bike she'd ever ridden. Even Mackie's Highway Star couldn't beat it in that category, though she had to admit it was faster.

Seeing a light-bar atop a distant vehicle, she let off the throttle a bit. As she closed, she could see the AD Police markings, and eventually she could read the car number. It was Leon.

Laughing, she pushed the bike back up to speed and blazed by him. Looking back, she could see him gape as she shot by, just like always... teasing him could be so fun.

Fun. There had been times when the word was almost foreign to her, but of late life had been treating her well. Her album was soaring on the local charts, and it looked like she might even make the big time... if she wanted to. She wasn't quite sure about that one, yet.

Leon laughed as the familiar red-and-blue blur flashed by his left window, and he shook his head. "Show off."

"You given up on her yet?" Daley asked, knowing the answer already.

"Never," Leon responded, grinning.

Daley rolled his eyes. "You and your delusions. After all, what has she got that I don't have?"

Leon laughed long and hard.

Back at AD Police headquarters, Nene was listening to the usual dispatch communications for anything of importance. It was a habit she had formed back when boomer crimes were an everyday occurrence, but of late she had not heard much at all. In truth, she wondered if there was even a point to AD Police anymore.

She was mentally chastising herself for that thought when something grabbed her attention.

"...small force of boomers... westbound near the Airport... mixed types, all heavily armed."

"Holy--" someone's surprised shout drowned out the rest of the message. "BOOMERS?!"

Even Nene was admittedly surprised. Nobody had seen nor heard of a combat boomer in MegaTokyo in weeks, and it was easy to forget that they might still be out there. The memory came back fast.

"...looks like about 5 boomers... making a mess... THEY'RE COMING THIS W--" the transmission was cut off by the squeal of jamming.

"All AD Police units respond. 5 boomers in vicinity of International Airport. Subjects are heavily armed, mixed types. Advise extreme caution!" The dispatcher called out.

"What the hell?" Christine looked up from the comm board at the Sabers' headquarters. "We've got trouble!"

"I heard," Sylia answered.

"Nene's on her way... she says she was working late anyway," Christine added as more information came in on another channel.

"Call Priss and Linna. We've got work to do."

"Right."

"Boomers, huh?" Priss cracked her knuckles as she walked in to the hardsuit storage chamber. "Bet we can get em before AD Police does."

"Probably," Nene agreed. "It sounded like it was going to take time for them to put a Mobile Force together."

"It's just as well," Christine commented as she pulled her suit down from the rack it was stored on. "We're a lot less likely to get ourselves killed."

"Good thing we've kept in practice," Linna added nervously. "It's been a while."

"We're ready, though," Priss grinned confidently. As long as it wasn't an everyday thing, she enjoyed a good fight...

"Looks like I was right," Priss appraised, looking out the KnightWing's windows. "AD Police ain't here yet."

"What a mess!" Nene commented, glancing over Priss's shoulder. "I wonder why they're trashing the airport?"

"Don't know, don't care," Priss answered. "Airport Security's not going to stop them, so we may as well. Ready?"

"Ready!" Nene, Linna, and Christine responded in unison.

"Ok. Knight Sabers, sanjo!" Priss cried as she opened the aircraft's drop hatch and slipped through it. The others followed immediately, and they fell into the battle.

"There's fuel all over the place around here... be careful what you shoot," Nene cautioned.

"Right," Christine responded, looking for a target. At that moment, a 34-CX peeked around a corner and launched a surface-to-air missile at the KnightWing. "Sylia! Look--!" she screamed as the missile rapidly closed.

"Already on it," Nene interrupted with an unnerving calm, tracking the missile with her arm cannon. The suit's computers fed her targeting data, and she fired the laser only once.

Once was quite enough. The missile exploded in a brilliant ball of yellow-orange flame well behind its intended target.

"Nice shot, Nene," Christine called as she charged the offending boomer. It ducked back around the corner, expecting the building to shield it, but Christine simply targeted the corner where it had hid... "Cheap hangar... ought to work," she thought as she fired her pulse cannon.

The edge of the building disintegrated under the force of the blast, revealing the boomer standing behind it. Another burst of the blue-white energy beam struck the boomer's missile pack, and the warheads detonated in a spectacular fireball.

"One down," Christine commented.

"They're going to make us hunt them, it looks like," Linna assessed.

"Looks like it," Priss agreed. "Nene, this is your specialty."

"Right," the young hacker smiled as she powered up her sensor pack. Even she had missed the thrill of combat, and this sort was her element. "First one's over there," she pointed to a group of aircraft parked by the main terminal. "There's lots of lifesigns on those planes, so be careful."

"Great... he'll use them as a shield," Christine growled.

"Not if I can help it," Priss answered. "I'll keep him pinned down, and you try to get close."

"Fair enough. Nene, if any more of them pop up..."

"I'll let you know," she completed the thought, already scanning for more androids nearby. "According to reports, there should be three more of them."

"All right," Christine responded. "Let's do it."

Priss fired her jump unit, leaping to the top of the terminal building. Running at a dead sprint, she tried to make herself an appealing target. It worked; the boomer emerged from his hiding place to fire its machine gun at her, and she got a good look at it as she dodged.

"This one's a Bu-12!" she reported.

"Thanks," Christine responded, sneaking around the back of the planes. She was almost in range..."

"There's another one behind you, Chris!" Nene shouted.

Spinning, she found the second boomer and brought her pulse cannon to bear again. Realizing it had been spotted, the boomer ducked behind another parked aircraft... but this one was empty. Christine winced at the expense she was about to incur, then aimed for the fuel tanks and fired.

The resulting fireball was spectacular, claiming aircraft, boomer, and part of the hangar, and raining burning debris on the airfield. "Good thing I've got money," Christine sighed. "SoPac Air is not going to appreciate that."

Machine-gun fire sprayed all around her, drawing her attention back to the first boomer. Instinctively, she used her jump unit to leap clear of the shooting, then looked for the attacker. Finding him under the wing of one of the loaded jets, she brought her left arm up and fired an energy web. The translucent mesh enveloped the surprised boomer, pinning it to the ground, and she dropped next to it.

"Bastard machine," she grumbled, extending the short blade from her left arm. A backhanded slash beheaded the boomer, and the acrid smell of burned-out circuitry accompanied its demise.

"Three down, two to go," she called.

"We found the others," Linna reported. "Over by the control tower."

"On our way," Priss responded, using her jump unit to cover half the distance in a single leap. Following suit, Christine dropped in right behind her. They touched down just in time to see Linna's razor-whips sever the head of the first boomer, trailing sparks as they tore through its vital circuitry; scarcely a second later Nene's scrambler dropped the second. Walking up to the now-disabled android, she put the laser to its head and blew out its computer brain.

"Mission accomplished," Priss grinned, taking off her helmet.

"Hey, look, here come the AD Police now," Nene laughed. "They can be so comical sometimes."

"Heh... you work for them, not me," Priss shook her head. "Let's go home before Leon sees me."

At first, we thought that this short battle had been an isolated incident. We were wrong. Over the next week, more and more boomers of all types began to pop up all over the city, and before we realized it the situation had escalated seriously.

Leon McNichol sighed as he looked out across the front line. His Third AD Police Mobile Force was being pounded into the pavement by a ragtag but well-armed collection of boomers, and he could see few options.

"Prepare to fall back," he ordered. Another city block lost. These uprisings were getting out of hand, fast.

Suddenly, a familiar voice cut in on his radio. "Get your men down," it warned, "We're coming in!"

Taking heart, Leon gave the order. The AD Police scrambled for cover, ducking behind their barricades, and only seconds later the KnightWing blazed overhead with a demonic howl. A hail of missiles was released from her wingracks, wreaking havoc among the exposed boomers, and on its heels came the battlecry.

"Knight Sabers, sanjo!" Priss yelled as four armored figures dropped into the battle. Acting as one, they charged into the heart of the fray.

"Nene, start jamming," Priss ordered.

"Jamming active. Burn-through in fifteen seconds."

"Move quick!"

Linna needed no encouragement. Fifteen seconds of near invisibility was a precious gift to her style of fighting, and immediately she began to take advantage of it. Leaping forward, she deftly evaded the nearest boomers' blind fire and landed softly behind it. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she spun quickly, letting the razor-whips trail out from her body, and the boomer collapsed in pieces.

Christine smirked. She had never quite understood the way in which Linna's style more resembled dance than combat, but she could not dispute the lethal nature of her art. Still, she herself preferred the direct approach. Raising her right arm, she fired her devastating pulse cannon at a nearby boomer. Blue-white waves of destructive force pummeled the target and it crashed to the ground, armor plates shattered and smoking.

"Five seconds," Nene warned.

"Right," Priss answered, firing another pair of flechettes at a particularly agile CX-type. It leapt out of the way, and she cursed under her breath. "How can he dodge what he can't see?" she muttered.

"The jamming's not perfect," reminded Nene. Hanging back from the fight because of the power drain imposed by the jamming systems, she prepared for action. In just a second, the boomers' sensors would adjust for the interference . . .

"Burn-though," she cautioned, shutting off the now-useless jammers.

"Just in time!" Priss called out triumphantly as her target's midsection exploded dramatically under the force of one of her HEAP shells. Once rare, the High Explosive Armor Piercing rounds now comprised the bulk of her ammunition, and she used them anything but sparingly.

"Watch yourself, Priss," warned Sylia, far above in the KnightWing. "Two on your left."

"I've got one of them," Nene called, activating her synapse-scramblers. The target boomer, a Bu-12B, froze, then dropped to its knees. Even then, it struggled to climb back to its feet, but two quick bursts of laser fire decapitated it.

"Thanks." Priss said, bringing her own cannon to bear on the other. Firing another of her HEAP rounds, she smiled with satisfaction as the target staggered backward, then was consumed in a blaze of scarlet flame.

Slowly, deliberately, they began to advance on the boomers. Still, Leon realized, they could not keep it up indefinitely. Priss would run out of ammunition eventually, and without that striking power their assault would be considerably weakened. Still, the boomers were now on the defensive... "What are you waiting for?" he ordered his men... "attack!"

With a resounding cheer, the AD Police rejoined the battle. Immediately, a barrage of heavy-weapons fire smashed into the nearest boomers, creating a chain of explosions that staggered even the artificial warriors and gave the Knight Sabers yet another advantage to exploit. Christine was the first to take advantage, breaking through the enemy line to their command unit.

The boomers unleashed a potent barrage of their own... all directed at her. Finding herself surrounded, she took to the air. The boomers' weapons tracked her upwards...

... and found themselves firing straight into a web. The energy netting caught them off guard, pinning them to the ground, and Chris finished them off with her knife.

"They're on the run now!" Priss cried, physically smashing a boomer with a strength-enhanced punch. Hydraulic fluid squirted from the android's crushed midsection, and she tossed its limp form aside.

And indeed they were fleeing. Realizing they were beaten, the boomers had broken into a hasty retreat. Many more would fall as they fled, and what was certain defeat had become a stunning victory.

Once the battlefield was clear, Mackie flew back in to pick up the team. On their way home, they found many things to discuss.

"Well, we kicked some ass out there today," Priss grinned.

Nene sighed. "I suppose it's too much to hope that they won't be back."

Nodding solemnly, Sylia agreed. "This was only one of many flashpoints across the city today. More and more boomers are rising up in arms."

"Almost like a revolution," Christine observed ominously.

"That's a frightening thought," said Linna.

"Quite," agreed Sylia. "And seemingly accurate."

"But... why?" Nene asked.

"They want their freedom..." Priss whispered, memories flooding her mind, "remember Sylvie." She hung her head, "and Anri."

"But Sylvie wasn't like that!" Nene protested.

"Wasn't she?" Sylia asked softly, realizing how much the subject hurt Priss. "Though she hated herself for it, she was willing to kill for her freedom."

Priss bit her lip. "Yes. Besides, some of the combat-type boomers are just killing machines anyway. It's all they know."

"And with no masters..." Linna continued, her voice trailing off with realization. "This is partly our doing, isn't it?"

"Yes," Sylia sighed. "It is indeed."

"This is bad," Linna shook her head, looking at the newspaper. The headline told the whole story. "CONTINUED BOOMER UPRISINGS PLAGUE MEGATOKYO! AD Police suffer heavy losses."

"AD Police can't handle it." Priss scowled. "They should call in the military."

Linna shook her head, indicating another headline. "The military's got its own problems."

"Damn... their boomers, too?"

"Boomers everywhere. Megatokyo is going to be our war."

"We're not ready for this."

Linna looked up, worry obvious on her face, "I know."

Sylia looked apologetic as she addressed them. "I don't want to ask this of you, but events have given me no choice. The conflicts of the past few days are escalating into a full-scale war, and only we have the firepower to fight it. This will be a dangerous time for you all."

Priss sighed... she had been enjoying her escape from constant fighting. "So it's that bad."

"I'm afraid so," Sylia responded sympathetically. "We cannot expect much help--the Army's own boomers are more than a match for them."

"No way around it, then... we have to fight."

"Agreed," Christine said solemnly. "Someone has to stop this... and it sure won't be AD Police."

Nene scowled, but she had to admit that Christine's statement was true... the AD Police were overmatched. A return to the days of outright war was not a pleasant prospect, though, and she had hoped it would not come to this. "I suppose that's true. It's up to us."

"We caused this, in part. We need to end it," Linna commented, with a sad, yet determined look in her eyes.

"Very well," Sylia nodded, suddenly very proud of the strength and courage of the team she had assembled. "We will go to war."

Sylia stared at the image which rotated on the screen in front of her -- that of Priss's hardsuit. She sighed deeply as she realized what was to come. The Knight Sabers were to face their greatest challenges yet, and they would do it without her. A pang of guilt stung her soul; she did not want to endanger them... but she had no choice.

Through their years together, she had come to regard them as family. Sometimes they were as daughters to her, at other times sisters. Other than Mackie, they were the only family she had, and she treasured them. To see them in danger froze her heart, even when she had been in the midst of it. To be forced to watch from outside amplified the pain.

After a few moments, she wearily drew herself back to the task at hand. Over half the systems on the computer model were overlaid in red, indicating that they were to be redesigned. With the new battles ahead, they would have to be deadlier than they had ever dared, and the current suits were simply not up to the task. The new ones would be.

"If I will send you to war," she whispered, "You will be ready."

Still... there was more to readiness than combat capability. War was a devastating thing, demanding an ever-increasing part of the soul of the warrior. They had tasted freedom--freedom from fear, from pain, from fighting--and now it had been taken from them. So far, they had handled it well... but the worst was yet to come. She feared for them, as always.

"Here we go again... Knight Sabers, sanjo!" Priss cried, throttling up her Typhoon III motoslave and charging toward the battle.

"Be careful," Sylia's voice warned, "They seem to have appropriated some sort of superweapon."

"Wonderful," Priss thought sarcastically, remembering their experience with the D.D. "This'll be fun."

"This model lacks the nuclear self-destruct," Sylia breathed a sigh of relief as she looked up its specifications.

"Good thing to know," Linna said dryly. "Let's get this over with." Leaping from her motoslave, she watched it transform beneath her and press the attack. Using her jump unit to propel herself forward, she fell directly atop the first group of boomers. Unable to defend against both the motoslave and Linna, they trained their weapons on the larger target. It was a critical mistake. Electrified blades in Linna's heels drove through the head of the first boomer, filling the air with the acrid stench of burned-out circuitry.

The second tried to correct, turning to face her... but she was already gone. Disoriented, the boomer spun around just in time to see the glint of the Knuckle Bomber's emitters... only inches from its face. A brilliant flash of energy burst from the weapon, disintegrating the boomer's head and leaving its body badly scorched. It collapsed.

Seeing the two smoking hulks at Linna's feet and the battlemover occupied with Priss, Christine targeted a 55-C with her energy web. Catching him off guard, she pressed the attack with the blade in her gauntlet. The boomer tried to dodge, but was too thoroughly entangled and was struck across the torso. Sparks flew as the weapon neatly sliced through critical circuitry, tearing a swath across the android's armor. Massive power surges wracked its body with small explosions, and it fell at her feet.

"Nene?" Priss prompted, looking for any advantage she could find against the mammoth armor she faced.

"Jamming's not going to be effective with that battlemover here," Nene answered.

"Great," was the muttered response. Nene spotted an older boomer that looked like it was giving orders and powered up her scrambler. It fell, but two women came to its aid before she could finish it off. Hesitating to fire, Nene was at first confused until her sensors clarified the situation for her. "There are 33-S-type boomers here," she warned as she fired her laser at the triad, "Don't let them trick you."

"Probably one in the battlemover," Priss scowled as it dodged another of her attacks. This was getting thornier and thornier with each passing minute.

"Almost certainly," Sylia affirmed.

"Whatever it is, its doing things I didn't think armor that heavy could," Priss muttered as the battlemover dodged another of her attacks. "I'm going to have to fight it up close."

"Be careful!" Linna warned.

"Always..." Priss answered dryly, her voice trailing off as she jumped to the offensive. Firing two flechettes at point-blank range, she then ripped them out and dug her fingers into the monstrosity's armor. Slowly, she could feel the plate coming loose, but the battlemover thrashed around, trying to rid itself of her.

All around them, the battle raged on. A flare of Linna's Knuckle Bomber marked the destruction of another boomer, and Christine's pulse cannon felled still more. Priss was oblivious to all of this as she struggled to bring down the beast. Its arms flailed around, trying to grab her and tear her free, but somehow she managed to avoid its grasp. Finally, her tenacity was rewarded. With a metallic shriek, the rear armor of the superweapon tore free, and Priss fired a high-explosive shell into the exposed interior.

The battlemover's insides exploded through its front, spraying hydraulic fluid and shrapnel everywhere. For a few seconds more it thrashed about uncontrollably, then came crashing down in a heap. When the smoke cleared, Priss could see that the battle was over. With their vanguard destroyed, the boomers were fleeing. Looking at the smashed armor, she caught a glimpse of its dead operator.

It was, indeed, a 33-S boomer. One that looked a lot like Sylvie. Priss felt a little sick at her stomach, then slumped down beside the hulk.

"Damn," she whispered.

"Damn," Priss muttered, smashing her armored fist into a convenient bulkhead.

Sylia sighed. The KnightWing wasn't designed to take that kind of punishment from the INSIDE. "Priss, I know you're upset..."

"Of all the damn coincidences, why'd it have to look like Sylvie? There must be hundreds of different-looking 33-S's."

"I don't know... but looks don't mean anything," Linna pointed out. "It was trying to kill you, you know."

"I know..." she shook her head, collapsing into a chair. Fighting with anything that looked that HUMAN left a bad taste in her mouth... this had just brought it out a little more. "It's just bad memories... I'll get over it." Nagging doubts usually forced to the back of her mind came to her again... did they have something to fight for, after all? And who was she to deny them?

Then, the greater part of her spoke up. She was human, that was who she was... and as long as the boomers were killing people, she would fight them, and she would fight to win. No matter how it made her feel when it was over.