Legend: "(...)" Japanese dialogue. ------ The deer came out of the clearing, sniffing at the air as it looked around. Sensing no danger, it bent down and began to consume some of the berries growing on a bush. It never saw the attack coming. Moving almost faster than the human eye could see, the black figure leapt out of the woods at the animal, katana drawn. A single slash from his blade and the animal fell dead, a pool of blood slowly growing underneath it. Later, as he was eating the venison by the fire, he began to once again think of the bastard responsible for reducing him to this sorry state of affairs. If he had given him and his Iga Clan hunting party brethren more information, they wouldn't all be dead and he wouldn't be stuck out here in the middle of nowhere cold and alone. He didn't know how long it would take, but he would get back to Tokyo. And when he did, he would make sure Brian J. Mason wished he were never born. ------ Attacks against Europeans and Americans in Tokyo were continuing to escalate as the British Military found themselves overwhelmed trying to protect the innocent. Their supplies were dwindling even as the rabble in the streets were being armed by Genom International. At one school in the Otemachi district, all the foreign teachers were massacred and the native Japanese educators were beaten for collaborating with the gaijin. Meanwhile, in a British garrison near the heart of Tokyo, Captain Leon McNichol has just heard the first bit of good news in a very long time. "What? Nene's still alive? When did she contact us? How did..." "Maybe if you shut up for ten seconds time McNichol I'll be able to tell you." Colonel Roland answered. Daley pushed his glasses back as he watched Leon try to keep calm so the Colonel would continue his story. "I never said it was Nene, Captain. I said it was someone claiming to be Nene. The message came in about an hour and a half ago. She claimed to be in Osaka, and she claimed she was with the Emperor and the Knight Sabers. She said they were trying to get back to Tokyo, but that they needed help. Something to do with an assassin or something shadowing them." "Begging the Colonel's pardon," Daley broke in, "But if that's true, then why are we just standing around here talking about it? Shouldn't we be mobilizing some sort of task force to..." "We can't. Look around you; we're under siege here. We can't spare the manpower to go hunt down what in the end could turn out to be a false lead. Although I will grant you, operator Ellise Drake who took the message when it came in seems to believe it's real." "Colonel," Leon broke in, "The whole reason we are under siege is because of the disappearance of the Emperor. If there's even a chance that this message is true then we have a duty to pursue it." "We have a duty to protect the welfare of her majesty's people, Captain McNichol. Our top priority is their safety. Besides, things have recently become far more complicated in regards to the Imperial Throne." "More complicated?" Daley asked, "How?" Colonel Roland let out a sigh, "In the absence of Emperor Meiji Mutsuhito, a new claimant has come forward for the throne. A former daimyo I believe." Daley was stunned. "A daimyo? The Imperial blood line has never been broken. The people of Japan will never stand for this." The Colonel glared at him. "It was Meiji who brought in the westerners, and it was Meiji who ended the centuries old systems of feudal government. The imperial court is already trying to twist this to be all Meiji's fault. All they have to do is convince enough people that Meiji is to blame for everything wrong in Japan right now, and they'll back whoever is put forward as the new Emperor." "The Imperial court?" Leon asked, "They're backing this daimyo?" "Exactly, and both are being backed as well by Genom International." "Damn." Leon murmured, "Should've known." As they were talking, a knock came at the door, and a young soldier with a bloody bandage wrapped around his head came in. "Sir, I..." "Good grief, man. What happened to you?" Colonel Roland asked in concern. "Just came in from the streets, sir. Doc says it's only a flesh wound." Turning to Daley, "(Wong-san, there's a badly beaten man out in the infirmary who wishes to see you.)" Daley looked at Leon and Roland, then back to the young officer in front of him. "(How badly wounded?)" "(He isn't going to make it, sir. Said his name's Ken something or other.)" Daley's face suddenly took on a look of horror. "Wong?" Leon asked. "Wong, what's wrong?" Daley wasn't listening. He ran past the injured man out into the corridor and headed for the stairs. "Daley, wait!" Leon yelled behind him as he ran after his partner. He'd never seen Daley run so fast, or looked so scared before. Exiting the building, they both headed across the courtyard into the infirmary, overflowing with casualties. Daley finally stopped when he got to one man whose wounds were particularly vicious. Leon, gasping for air, finally caught up to them as the injured man spoke. "Wong-kun? Is... is that you?" he asked, trying to see through eyes that were swelling shut from the beating he'd received. As he spoke, Daley noticed the teeth now missing from his mouth and felt himself starting to loose it. "Shhh... Don't try to talk Ken. I'm here." he said, trying to be strong for the other. "They, they thought I was you." he gasped out, pointing to his chest where the characters for the word "collaborator" were carved into his chest. As he struggled for air, his death rattle grew worse. "They... said it was for... working with the British." Wong closed his eyes as his hands clenched into fists. Leon looked on, suddenly realizing that the bloody heap in front of him was the "family friend" he'd seen Daley hug that one day. The man reached up his hand to Daley, who firmly clasped it in his own. "Remember me..." he said, before breathing out his last. Daley removed his glasses and covered his face with his left hand, closing the man's eyes with his right. Captain McNichol knelt down by him. "The two of you... You were more than just childhood friends, weren't you?" Daley didn't answer. He was too caught up in his loss. He felt a hand on his back and looked up at Leon. "I'm sorry, Wong. I truly am, for everything." Daley nodded at him in appreciation. McNichol then stood up. "So, partner, what are we going to do about this?" The sorrowful police officer looked at him in surprise, "You still want to be my partner? Even now that you know..." Leon smiled at him. "Of course. Hell, who else is going to keep me in line?" Daley smiled. "Thank you... partner." He then looked back down at his dead companion, and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Let's get those bastards. Let's get Genom and Mason and the yakuza and..." "Whoa, calm down there, Daley. Sheesh, you're the one who's supposed to be reining me in, remember. What we need to do is get to Nene and the Emperor, and unfortunately the British military is a dead end as far as that goes. Which leaves Nene still out there with the Emperor and the Knight Sabers. Let's see what we can do about that." Daley's eyes widened. "Are you thinking of going AWOL to try to reach them alone?" "What? Are you crazy? Of course I'm not. We're going awol to reach them." Leon said with a grin. Behind a pillar, unobserved by the two men in the infirmary, Colonel Roland heard the whole exchange, and grimaced. ------ Mason looked out the window again, smiling as he did so. The crowd was hanging a British officer in effigy as... Correction; they weren't hanging an effigy. It was a real British officer. Drinking his port, he savored the moment. Even now, twenty-four men made up of ronin, yakuza and every type of lowlife cutthroat were on the road. Not as large a number as he had hoped, but seeing as how they would be coming at the Knight Sabers from the front, while a few survivors from the temple fiasco would be cutting off the rear, hopefully it would be enough to overwhelm them and put them and their precious Emperor out of his life for good. The one thing that was annoying him was the fact that there was still no news coming in of Chairman Rosenkreutz' demise. Also, the Genom gun ship had yet to arrive in port. Taking another sip of his drink, he also began to fret about Kiyoshi's ascent to the Imperial throne. There was no precedent in Japanese history for what he was about to do. His two major concerns were finding the Royal Family who were in hiding so he could have them assassinated, and keeping that fat Oriental toad sober long enough to be crowned. But these were considerations which could wait for another day. He watched a group of the natives set a turned-over carriage on fire, and smiled once again. It was times like these when Mason could truly say he loved his job. ------ The police chief sat across from the two young men and smoked his cigar as they laid all their cards out on the table. Leon observed the chief closely, remembering what Daley had told him about the man. He and his parents had belonged to an American mercantile sailor. They'd run away at the recently open port of Edo, eventually finding help at a Buddhist temple. In appreciation for the people and the land that had given them freedom, the parents gave their son a new Japanese name. Finally, Chief Toodou sat back and addressed them. "How certain are you of your information?" he asked. "Very certain, Chief." Daley spoke up for both himself and Leon. "Call it a hunch, but we both believe the lead to be real, and we are both willing to put our careers on the line for this." The chief looked at the men, and finally nodded. "We think so too." Daley and Leon looked at one another, then back at the chief. "We?" Leon asked. "The same message came in to the Imperial Guard's headquarters. Only one person was in the building at the time, but the message he received and the message you just gave me fit together perfectly." "Great, so how many officers are you sending with us?" "One: me." "You?" Daley asked. "What about the rest of the force?" Leon asked, knowing he wasn't going to like the answer. "They're either too busy with the chaos out in the streets or else they're having their injuries tended to. We can't afford to loose the manpower." "I see." Leon said with a sinking heart. The man looked like he hadn't been out from behind a desk in years. "So it's just you, me and Wong." "For the moment, yes." "Shit." Leon muttered. Regaining his composure he tried another avenue. "You mentioned the Imperial Guard earlier. What about them?" "They were contacted, but most of them have been either murdered or forced underground. Those that we have been able to make contact with are either too far away or in too much danger themselves to come to our aid. Even the elite ninth unit led by Chief of Guards Aramaki is nowhere to be found." "Terrific." Leon muttered. "Let's see, we have one AWOL British officer and two members of the civilian police force. Well that's just ducky, innit? I mean, we might as well send out some kids with bleedin' sling shots while we're at it." "Sir!" one of the junior officers ran in, "I think you should see this." As the police chief and the others followed the officer, they came to a side office. The man they saw standing in the room had his back to them. On the desk in front of him were a dark black riding coat, a dark black derby, and a Winchester '76. Two Colt ‘45s were in the holsters of his gun belt. As the men watched, he loaded two bullets into his small Derringer, and strapped it into an arm holster at his wrist. He then put the coat and hat back on, grabbed his riffle, and turned around. Captain McNichol's jaw dropped. "C... Colonel Roland? "What? Just because I've been cooped up in my office for the last two years doesn't mean I'm not still a soldier, lad." Roland looked over at the Chief of Police, "So how many members of this rescue party are there?" Police Chief Toodou smiled, "Including yourself, four." "Hmmm... Suicide mission, Eh? Bloody hell, haven't been on one of those since the Second Afghan War." "Hold on a minute." Daley said, "If you're here, and you're in civilian clothes, then..." Colonel Roland laughed. "That's right, lad." he said in his usual gruff voice, "I'm awol too." ---To Be Continued--- End Notes: What th... No Knight Sabers? No Galatia? Short chapter? What gives? Don't worry, they'll be back next episode, and the next one will be longer. I just needed at least one chapter though to tie up some loose threads. Also, for those of you playing at home (and those who are unfamiliar with the original Bubblegum Crisis OVA series)- Chapter Nine: The two Joro Madam Shizue called, Anri and Sylvie, were the sexaroids from OVA episodes five and six. Chapter Ten: Irene Chang was Linna's friend in episode two of the OVA who was killed by a boomer. And, of course, Chief Toodou was the head of the AD Police in the original OVA series. Finally, special mention should be made of Miss Megumi from episode fourteen, who I borrowed from Rorouni Kenshen when I found out the series took place in the Meiji era as well, and Chief Aramaki mentioned briefly in this chapter is borrowed from Ghost in the Shell.
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