Linna Yamazaki paused by the elevator, feeling a odd degree of nervousness as she waited for it to arrive. All she had to do tonight was drop off some files with Mr. Mason on the top floor, then she could go home. 'Why we can't just send data files I don't know,' Linna thought as the brown haired woman shifted uncomfortably in her suit, 'some old fashioned type at the top must want to keep paper around.' Of course, Linna had to admit there were some advantages to carrying printed data. It couldn't be intercepted electronically, for instance, nor altered in a similar fashion. Of course if you were sending data on paper you had better trust your courier, but Linna knew that Ms Chang trusted her. The elevator arrived with a soft sound and Linna stepped inside as a female model Boomer looked at her curiously. "Top floor, please," she addressed the elevator and the doors silently shut. With barely a shift the elevator rose, the female boomer looking forward with the oddest expression. As soon as the elevator stopped the boomer was off, it's simple one piece uniform hugging it'd body as it strode down the hall to the executive office. Linna hesitated as she watched it go, then walked the other direction to Mason's office. Dropping off the files she hurried out only to hear the sound of metal straining dangerously. "What on earth...?" Linna found herself hurrying over, concerned there might still be people in the executive wing. Coming around a corner Linna blinked in shock as she saw the boomer tearing at a door with it's bare hands, deforming the metal itself. With a final wrench it tore the door off, but before it could act a weapon fired nearly soundlessly and sent it crashing into a wall. Before it could recover two women rushed out, the smaller redheaded one carrying a ADP issue personal handgun, probably a railgun type by the nearly complete soundlessness. Beside her was Linna's boss Sylia Stingray, looking surprisingly unruffled by the situation. "Do you think that will stop it?" she asked in a surprisingly calm way. "It'll barely slow it down" Nene responded as they hurried towards Linna, "we've got to get ADP backup." "Miss Stingray, are you...?" LInna started to ask only to be grabbed by the arm as the other two ran by. "Running now, talking later," Sylia said tersely as they ran for the elevator. "Right," Linna agreed as the homicidal boomer leaved itself up from where the railgun projectiles had temporarily nailed it to the wall. It hurried after them,.thankfully slowed a bit by the damage to it's leg and side. "Have you phoned for help?" she asked quickly. "Something's interfering with the phones," Nene said grimly. "How would you stop one of these things normally?" Sylia quizzed Nene as they rushed to the elevator. "Massive damage, usually," Nene admitted, "boomers are built tough, and have so much redundancy that only heavy damage can stop them." Sylia scowled, looking at the elevator warily. "Too bad we don't have the means to do that here," she said grimly. Linna looked around them too, her thoughts racing as she considered what they said. "Maybe," she said quietly, "there is a way." "Eh?" both Sylia and Nene looked at her in surprise as she laid out her idea. Nene frowned, "It's dangerous..." "So's that thing," Linna noted. "Let's do it," Sylia moved away from the two women, "Whoo! Over here!" The Boomer looked confused a moment, then lurched after Sylia. Both Linna and Nene hurried down the other way, Linna leading the way. From previous visits she knew the top of the tower had a circular outer hall lined with windows showing a incredible view. They hurried along till they could hear Sylia coming, then made their preparations. "Okay, low power," Nene adjusted her gun then aimed at a glass panel, firing several carefully to weaken the moorings that held the armored glass in place. "Here it comes!" Sylia yelped as she ran by. Linna waited until the boomer shambled after the president before grabbing it by the arm. Using a move she had practiced many times in her self defense classes she shifted her weight and used the boomer's momentum against it. It slammed hard up against the glass, bending it outward. For a moment it held then with a pop the glass released, sending the boomer falling down the side of the tower to hit with a thud. "Do you think that stopped it?" Linna gasped as she leaned against the wall, adrenalin making her legs feel weak. "If not, it's probably too damaged to go after us again," Sylia said firmly, drawing out her portable phone once more. Linna felt a surge of relief as Sylia quickly reached someone else in the building, informing internal security of the attempted attack. In only a few minutes a mini-copter was outside filming the wreckage of the boomer as ADP staff interviewed everyone involved. Jeena Malso wouldn't normally have involved herself in a regular investigation, but an assault on the president of Genom drew the brown haired woman out. Listening to the story the older woman shook her head ruefully, "That may be the most innovative way I've heard of stopping a boomer with light weapons, Officer Romanova. Good work." Linna looked up as she gave the story to another officer, "It occurred to me from something Nene said... that and remembering my self defense courses." "Good work," Sylia nodded from where she had just finished giving her account, "I'll have to see if I can authorize a bonus this month." "You don't have to...," Linna protested, blushing. 'I was just saving myself, too,' she thought to herself wryly. "Thanks, Linna," Nene looked over at her with a ghost of a smile. "Miss Stingray," Jeena said quietly a few moments later as she stood by the other woman's side, "I'm so sorry. This shouldn't have happened." "Nothing you could have done," Sylia said as the ADV officers finished up collecting the evidence, a repair crew ready to fix the window "That doesn't mean it still isn't my responsibility," Jenna answered. She frowned, "Is there anything you can think of that might have been a trigger?" "No, nothing," Sylia answered promptly. 'Why do I get the feeling she's lying?' Linna thought, confused. Shaking herself she turned to the man interviewing her, "Officer Wong, can I go?" "Yes ma'am," Daley Wong smiled warmly, "you've been a great help to us." "Don't worry about him being too charming," Nene winked at Linna cheerfully as she explained, "Daley's gay." "You know," Leon McNicol rolled his eyes as the burly cop put his own notebook style padd away, "you really don't have to tell everyone that, Nene." "I find it prevents misunderstandings," Nene laughed softly. Excusing herself Linna made her way to the lifts, finally relaxing as she descended to the underground parking lot. Miss Stingray was a nice, seemingly down to earth person, yet she also hummed with a dangerous energy. It was so strong Linna had felt herself tensing up too, bracing for whatever might happen next. Stopping by her compact car Linna took her phone out, dialing the number from memory. "It's me," she said as it was answered. She winced at the burst of sound, "I'm sorry, I got delayed. I'll explain when I get home." With a sigh Linna got into her car, starting up the engine before driving out of the lot. As she neared the boomer manning the gate she felt a unreasoning burst of fear even though she knew he was harmless. He nodded as she showed her pass and raised the gate, his face as blandly polite as ever. 'I guess once one turns on you,' Linna thought as she moved her car into the light evening traffic, 'you never look at the rest the same way again.' Tokyo, like New York, was truly a city that did not sleep. As day shifters went home to bed the night side lit up, a whole other breed of people emerging into the artificial light. Like the day shift they worked hard but in different jobs set to a different pace, one that Linna herself was quite familiar with. Once, but not any more. The high rise apartment building was twenty minutes from the Tower, a steal even if the rent was steep. Still, the convenience was worth it, as well as the convenience of the other necessities of life. The security was also top shelf, with the standard monitors as well as boome security staff checking registries and vehicles at the gates. "Good evening, Miss Yamazaki," the female boomer nodded a greeting as it checked her pass, "welcome home." "Thank you," Linna smiled as she drove into the garage. The elevator ride took forever, but Linna reached her level and hurried down the hall to her suite. The door was open and as she opened it she called, "I'm home." "I was worried," Reika Chang said as she hurried over, the slightly older woman swiftly hugging her. "What happened?" she asked, drawing back to look at her in concern. "One of the Tower boomers went rogue," Linna said, "but everything turned out okay." Reika pushed Linna's hair away from her face with a tender gesture, "Why do I get the feeling you're downplaying things, love?" She bent forward, kissing her gently, "I thought of calling you earlier but..." "It's all right," Linna said, smiling up at her gently. Reika was her superior, and their affair was clearly against regulations. If it got out Reika at least would be ruined, and probably Linna's career would be too.
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