Story: Knights and Ghosts: BGC meets GITS (all chapters)

The tower rose above the skyline of Megatokyo, casting a long shadow over the sprawling city around it. GENOM Tower was the hub that the whole the city turned around, people said, and it was the focus of the love and hatred of the majority of the citizens. Composed of the latest alloys and armored glass it was one of the tallest structures in the world, as well as one of the best defended.

That was why Sergeant Motoko Kusanagi wasn't even trying to break in there. The red haired young woman moved over the roof of the Genom research facility on the edge of the city, green eyes sweeping the concrete for any security features she might have missed. The plans she had hacked on the cyberdive into Genom's systems should have been up to date, but you never knew what might have been added.

Carefully she secured the cable to the roof then eased herself over the side, the gun-metal grey bodysuit that she wore blending seamlessly with the structure. Carefully she slid down the sheer surface, silently counting off the floors until she finally reached the one that she wanted. A small device was attached just above the window frame, accessing then overriding the local security system. It wouldn't work for very long, feeding pre-recorded false data on the room into the system, but it would last her just long enough.

A thin strip of material was laid down on the seamless glass and Motoko reeled herself back up, triggering it with a small remote. The low powered explosive shattered glass, the difference in air pressure inside blasting the glass out into the air above the city. She smoothly dropped into the window, moving past several of the humanoid robots over to a nearly completed one.

The skull like face was slumped on the wide metal neck, the upper body eerily mimicing a human's muscles and structure. Round, lidless eyes stared out as Motoko eased it forward, cursing softly when she saw the open back and the missing components. The lights in the room came up suddenly even as a loud alarm rang out.

Motoko was almost out the window when the first security Boomers burst into the room, mouths distending to reveal the laser cannons housed within. Throwing herself out the window Motoko drew her pistols and fired, perfectly placed armor piercing rounds striking in both of the laser ports, the malfunctioning systems fireballing both Boomers.

"Damn it, where did she..." Brian J. Mason ran to the broken window, his almost perfectly neat hair and clothes a odd sight amid the damage.

Motoko dropped into the gap between the buildings, the wind ruffling her hair as she tossed a mocking salute even as she drew a matching hood up over her head. There was a shimmer, almost a distortion around the young woman then she simply seemed to disappear.

Of Knights and Ghosts: A Bubblegum Crisis: Ghost in the Shell crossover.

Part One

Nearly three hours later in another part of the city Motoko looked into a dirty, cracked mirror before nodding to herself just slightly. Her eyes were now a robin's egg blue and her shoulder length hair was back to it's defaut color of black, the woman's business suit she had picked out earlier making her look sleekly attractive.

'I really didn't want to use the thermo-optic camouflage,' Motoko thought, 'but I really didn't have much choice.' She walked out of the bathroom at the small night club, not caring about all the gazes she was drawing. The street was crowded, people packing the sidewalk, cars racing along the road while she tried to consider the situation.

'That was far too quick of a reaction,' Motoko mused even as she warily scaned her surroundings, 'the standard response time is a minute, not the twenty seconds they managed.' A grim smile, 'Not to mentio that the target was deliberately removed. Somehow, they must have known that I was coming.' She felt certain that the cyberdive hadn't triggered any flags, which meant that the leak must have been at the Ministry.

Motoko felt her lip curl in disgust. Her fondest dream was to lead a elite counter terrorist team, answerable only to the highest authorities, but right now that dream was a long way off. For now she was stuck taking on the sort of dirty jobs her boss over in the Interior Ministry gave her, like this bungled up operation.

The mission briefing had made it sound straight forward, if not actually simple. Genom had been developing a military artificial intelligence, one that might ultimately be used in tanks and advanced armored suits. However it appeared that Quincy was getting greedy and planned to sell a prototype of the system to a foreign power, something the Ministy wouldn't like.

Motoko's mission could be summarized in two points: first, to acquire the prototype AI before it could be sold and second, if possible catch the individual or individuals that were going to be carrying out the sale. Both jobs were something she could handle, it was the other factors that were going to make it complicated.

The noodle place was quiet as she slipped into a chair, placing an order and setting the coins on the counter. At this time of night only a few people were there, each eating quietly as lovely scents wafted over them. The steaming bowl arrived a few moments later and she snapped apart her chopsticks and began to eat, savoring the taste.

'I don't dare call for back up,' Motoko mused, 'if there is a leak it'll just give Genom a heads up on what's going on.' She slurped more noodles, 'Not to mention requesting any more equipment. Just glad I brought enough to start, I think.'

A young man with a crude artificial eye walked in and Motoko felt herself tense up a bit, before making herself relax. She occassionally felt a little guilty on how advanced the artificial body that housed her own mind and ghost was, compared to what was available on the street or even in regular government service. The members of the intelligence community got all the bleeding edge tech, the very best, and her body reflected that.

'Time to go,' Motoko smoothly got up, the night air hitting her face as she slipped out onto the street, 'I still have to try and make contact with her.' Boots tapped softly as she walked a familiar looking street, the building she wanted rising up not to far away.

It wasn't as tall as some buildings, but it certainly was a busy one. Copters rising up from the roof top pad, people in uniform streaming in and out, vehicles coasting out from the underground and heading out on patrol. The advanced or AD Police, the only real police force in Megatokyo these days, and she was here to see an old friend.

She walked up the front steps and into the building, noting the loose security that let her go by unchallenged and frowned slightly. Flagging down an officer in the hall Motoko read her name-tag and said, "Officer Romanova, could you help me with something?"

Nene Romanova smiled up at the taller woman, "Yes, miss?"

'Pink hair? Wonder where she got that done,' Motoko thought with ausement. "I'm looking for someone, Jeena Malso," she said.

"Oh, Jeena," Nene smile widened, taking on a impish edge as he said, "I think she just got in. If you'll just wait here I can go get her."

Motoko felt a certain amount of amusement as Nene trotted off, finding a chair to sit down in. Ther building and faces were relatively new, but the feeling of the place was the same, a group of people who were trying to do a job and being in way over their heads.

"I'll be damned."

Motoko smiled as she looked up from her thoughts, having easily heard her coming up the hall. Short redish-brown hair was held back with a headband, her body clearly muscular underneath the AD Police uniform she wore and her smile as oddly gentle. When Motoko rose they could nearly see eye to eye as she said, "It's been a while."

"I'll leave you to to catch up.' Nene smirked before leaving.

"What was all that about?" Motoko her asked as the two women headed to the front doors, again unimpeded by any security presence.

"Because I don't date coworkers the rumor mill says I'm gay," Jeena sounded more amused than offended by the idea, "and since Romanova's one of the biggest gossips, you'll probably be thought of as my love-slave by morning."

"Well, there are worse fates," the twin doors swished aside as Motoko lead the way out. They walked down the front steps then a short distance away before they stopped, the neon lighting the night as she asked, "How's the arm?"

Jenna flexed her left arm, a flash of metal appearing beneath the uniform and gloves she wore. "Still gone, but I figure I'm lucky the rest of me didn't follow," she replied. She looked over at Motoko thoughtfully, "You calling that debt due?"

"I'm not sure," Motoko said honestly, "I just want to talk about something with someone who's outside my chain of command."

Jenna chuckled softly, "I know how that feels."

Making sure that they were unobserved Motoko sketched in the situation for her old comrade, of course leaving out any of the more classified details. In essence a illegal arms deal, with Genom selling privilaged information to a third party. "I don't know if we've got a leak," she finished, "but the possibility limits my options."

Jenna looked thoughtful as she leaned up against the wall, "The way I see it, you've got two problems. The first is finding the item and recovering it, and the other is distracting of fighting the GENOM security forces while all this is going on."

"Too bad I didn't bring a tactical team with me," Motoko said, "and there's no way I can get the AD Police to lend me one,"

"Maybe not, but there might be something local you can use in it's place," Jenna smiled slightly, "if you can figure out how to point them where you want them to go."

"Oh?" Motoko asked, suspecting where Jenna was going.

"The Knight Sabers," Jenna simply said.

To be contined...

Notes: Jeena Malso is a character from the AD Police manga, though her backstory with Motoko is something I've added. This series is set sometime before the events of the Ghost in the Shell manga or Stand Alone Complex, back during Motoko's younger, less experienced days.

Chapter 2

Of Knights and Ghosts: A Bubblegum Crisis: Ghost in the Shell crossover.

Part Two

"Aaahhh!" Priss Asagiri angrily cried as she charged, leading with a swift kick then the sandy brown haired woman following up with a short hard punch. The skimpy leotard she wore clung to her athletic body, the blue cloth soaked with sweat from the previous bouts.

Linna smiled as she gracefully ducked beneath the kick, the black haired woman back-pedaling to dodge the punch, then returning to the attack. Priss didn't bring skill or finesse to fighting, what she brought was pure, driven rage. That could be a powerful weapon, letting her smash her way through most kinds of defenses, but right here and now it was going to be a liability.

"Would you hold still...!" Priss swung out angrily, and Linna was ready.

Smoothly Linna caught the other woman's forearm, turning slightly even as she slipped behind Priss, pulling the arm back painfully. Slapping her other hand on the middle of Priss' back Linna said to the now weakly struggling woman, "In this position I can dislocate your arm, and popping it back with be very painful."

Priss froze for a moment, then very reluctantly said, "I give."

Linna let Priss go, wisely stepping back to give Priss a moment to recover. "Do you want to keep going?" she asked, taking on a guard position.

"No thank you," Priss shook her head tiredly, "I think you've kicked my ass enough for one day." She sighed, "Remind me not to irritate you."

"Oh, I thought you did pretty well," Linna flashed a smile.

"Gee, thanks," Priss scowled. She looked up to the control room of the training center that they were standing in, "Sylia, did you get enough data yet?"

Sylia Stingray touched a few screens, studying the information recorded in the small room as well as the specially made leotards. "Thank you, yes," she answered coolly, "this should help me improve the flexibility of both your suits."

Priss eagerly led the way out of the room, part of a hidden facility beneath Raven's Garage, and Linna chuckled softly. "So eager to get away from me?" she asked curiously, finding her gaze following Priss' walk.

"I don't much like losing," Priss said honestly as she led the way towards the cramped change room and showers.

"If it helps any," Linna said as she began to strip her sweaty clothes off, "I'd have a much harder time doing something like that to you in our hardsuits."

"Yeah," Priss paused a moment, standing there topless, "you still giving lessons?"

Linna nearly made a rude suggestion, a bit distracted by the view, but restrained herself. "If you want to do some sparring I'm willing," she said seriously.

"I'd like that," Priss flashed a smile, wiggling a bit to get the bottoms off.

Up in the control room Sylia was smoothly slipping data disks away into a folder as she said, "Nene, you really need to take a turn, too."

Nene sighed, her pink hair drooping, "Do I have to?"

Sylia kept her expression grave, "You may need to defend yourself in your hardsuit, as well it would help me prepare for your suit upgrades."

Nene brightened a bit at the idea of a upgrade, then drooped again at the idea of sparring. "Could I fight against Mackie, maybe?" she offered.

Sylia's lips twitched up just slightly, "Do you really want to give Mackie the chance to get his hands on you?"

"Urk," Nene made a face. "All right, I guess I pick Linna," she sighed.

"Wise choice," Sylia agreed.

A few minutes later a damp Linna and Priss walked into another back room in the garage where Sylia and Nene were waiting along with Mackie Stingray. The young man's brown hair was messy and a thick smudge of grease marked his cheek, clearly he had been working on something mechanical earlier.

"I'm still working on helping Doctor Raven get the bugs out of the Motoslaves," Mackie reported, "the basic systems are a go, but the AI is still buggy."

"AI?" Priss scowled, "I don't much like the sound of that."

"A non-adaptive, purpose driven AI," Sylia said crisply, "designed to assist us in the field."

"I'll try to lend a hand," Nene eagerly said to Mackie, "if it's a programming fault, I should be able to find it."

"Thanks," Mackie smiled back.

Linna shook her head slightly, muttering, "Little miss cyberpunk is at it again."

"Hey!" Nene protested.

"If you're done playing?" Sylia raised an eyebrow. Once everyone quieted down she continued, "We have business to discuss, another job."

Priss' eyes narrowed slightly as she drawled out, "Well, well, I've been waiting to take my hardsuit out again."

Linna smiled wryly at the other woman's eagerness, "I could use the money."

"What are we going up against?" Nene asked, "Who's hiring us?"

"Genom," Sylia said with a dangerous chill, "and our patron chooses to remain anonymous." She smiled slightly at their frowns, "The first half of our fee has already been deposited, the rest on completion of the job."

"You're taking a gamble that they'll pay up," Mackie offered nervously.

"Hey, I'd do a job against Genom for free," Priss said dryly.

"Speak for yourself," Linna grumbled.

"The individual covered their tracks well in contacting us," Sylia said calmly, "but I'm confident I can track them down if needed."

"I'll help too," Nene offered cheerfully. "So what's the target?"

"The Genom tower," Sylia said seriously, "the research wing, specifically."

"The Tower!" Linna blurted.

Sylia kept her face carefully blank as she said, "I wouldn't take the job unless I thought we'd be able to do it." With that she turned, "I'll meet you all back at the Silky Doll tomorrow at 20:00 hours, to review our strategy."

"We're dead," Nene moaned.

"Sylia will figure out how to do it," Mackie said confidently then sighed, "somehow." He followed Sylia out, hurrying a bit to catch up with her.

Linna looked over at Priss thoughtfully, "You've known Sylia longer than any of us, do you think she can do it?"

Priss smiled slightly, almost as if she had been reminded of something. "She's surprised me before," Priss shrugged, "yeah, I think she'll figure out how we can do it."

Nene nodded, but her expression was still troubled. "I'd better get to work on my computer," she said thoughtfully as she headed to where her bike was parked, "we'll need the best interior schematics I can get."

Priss and Linna followed her out to the parking area, the one woman striding over to her bike. "Hey Priss," Linna called from her car, "do you want to try some sparring tonight?"

Priss paused, helmet in her hands. She smiled slowly and asked, "What kind of sparring did you have in mind?"

"Stop by my place," Linna looked impish, "and find out."

"I'll do that," Priss drawled.

To be continued...

Chapter 3

Of Knights and Ghosts: A Bubblegum Crisis: Ghost in the Shell crossover.

Part Three

Sergeant Motoko Kusanagi waited patiently, the black haired woman laying stealthily on top of a rooftop. The intense young woman would occasionally raise a set of binoculars to her blue eyes and survey the Genom Tower in front and above her, studying the movements of vehicles and personnel going in and out. She had been perched here for several hours and was prepared to continue to wait, as long as it took.

'I almost wish I had been able to specify an exact time for the Knight Saber's attack,' Motoko thought wryly, 'but I think that'd make them suspicious.' Two days ago she had finished transferring the funds through shell accounts and various alias, receiving confirmation that the raid on Genom's research wing would go ahead today.

In Motoko's professional opinion whomever was running the Knight Sabers was a professional paranoid. Just contacting the Knight Sabers had involved some fairly ridiculous steps, and whoever was running the organization had used some of the best computer evasion tech she'd ever seen. Even Motoko herself was having a difficult time tracing them, and she had the latest bleeding-edge tech in software and hardware.

'Makes me glad I'm working with them,' Motoko admitted as she got up cautiously, moving over to where her cache of equipment waited. A modified briefcase, loaded up with arms and ammunition, her covert entry gear, explosives and finally a glider module. She sorted it all with half her attention then smoothly packed it all away once again.

"Movement on the perimeter," the voice came in on her ear plug, Motoko's tap on Genom's communications working perfectly, "unidentified vehicles on the south fence."

Motoko moved to the edge of the roof, pointing her binoculars to take in events around the south side of the facility. A big, older armored truck barreled along the road, ignoring the speed limit as it ran through the twilight. Suddenly it swerved towards the main gate, racing towards the guard's shack even as the men fled.

BOOM!

The vehicle obviously contained explosives, there was no other reason the gate would have gone up so spectacularly. Even as debris rained down Motoko was on the move, grabbing her briefcase even as she listened to the chatter on Genom's security system.

'They're all racing right to the explosion,' Motoko thought wryly, 'how amateurish.' Clearly the blast was intended as a distraction, and the Genom personnel were falling for it easily. 'Too bad I don't know the Knight Sabers' frequency,' Motoko mused as she pulled her back pack on and raced for the steps downstairs, 'I'd love to know where they're really going in.'

Disregarding that thought Motoko reached the elevators and headed down to street level even as she adjusted her uniform cap. The borrowed Genom security uniform fit her body perfectly, the identification she had perfectly matching the corporate design the company used. Blending in with the other security personnel she used the chaos to get by the outer layer of defenses and into the facility.

'So far so good,' Motoko thought as she entered the massive Tower, nodding to a young man still at his security post. The key to this sort of deception was confidence, voice and manner utterly convincing those you dealt with that you belonged.

Another squawk of static as she listened in to the security network and Motoko smiled slightly. "Unusual activity on the East side, I..." the woman started then she was cut off by a burst of static, a very familiar tone.

'Jamming the internal systems,' Motoko smiled slightly, now knowing where the Knight Sabers were probably going in.

The eastern side of Genom's Tower was primarily devoted to R&D, and was therefore likely the location of her target. With the Knight Sabers publicly attacking she could quietly make her way over to the main computer room, try to find out what was really going on.

Using her false security passes Motoko made it to the computer center without too much difficulty, logging in with an illegally acquired and expensive password. 'This job has been hard on my budget,' she thought to herself as she typed away, 'I still don't know how I'm going to pay the other half of the Sabers' fees.'

Disregarding that thought Motoko scrolled through the files, swiftly working her way through subdirectories until she found the janitorial files. A casual look at Genom's budget documents had shown a suspicious amount of money going in there, far more than they could really use. An earlier cyberdive confirmed her suspicions, and even showed her how to access the data.

There was a soft hiss as Motoko pulled out the link cable from the back of her neck, then she plugged in, accessing data as fast if not faster than human thought. The military artificial intelligence project was buried in with several other black project files, some of which Motoko made note of later for possible blackmail purposes. Speed reading she found the location, pleasantly surprised to see the module that she was looking for had indeed been moved to headquarters before her abortive raid on the R&D facility a few days ago.

Brian J. Mason's personal notes made Motoko smile wryly and shake her head. "Our Ministry snitch reveals that they're sending in a retrieval agent," he wrote, "but I'm confident that we can send her home in a bodybag."

"Overconfident, maybe?" Motoko mocked, though she wished that Mason had actually listed the name of the snitch. "Of course," she murmured, "that would have been too easy."

Motoko downloaded all the relevant data, including internal maps of the facility then plugged in a virus of her own devising. A Trojan-horse type it would wait, quietly, until someone else accessed the AI project data then cascade through the system, wiping random data as well as destroying everything on the project.

With a grunt Motoko unplugged, accessing the security net as she did so. Just from the motion sensor feed she could see the chaos that the Knight Sabers were causing in another part of the facility, coupled with the frantic and confused radio communications from the security staff. Even more amusing the security cameras in the area were showing looped footage from some concert, not what was going on in the building itself.

'The Knight Sabers' hacker has been busy,' Motoko thought as she strode calmly by the racing, confused figures, keeping her own expression remote enough to discourage conversation. Her research had shown the woman in the pink armor was both capable and dangerously unpredictable, much like most hackers.

"Where are you going?" the tall, purple haired woman frowned at Motoko entered the elevator with her, studying her warily.

'Madigan,' Motoko recognized her from briefings, 'possibly third in the hierarchy in Genom, maybe more. Ambitious, but not quite as clever as she'd like to think she is.' Looking up at her respectfully Motoko answered, "Security post f-23, ma'am, the chief is concerned the attack may be a feint of some kind."

"He really doesn't think that the intruders could penetrate to F level?" Madigan asked her disbelievingly.

'She doesn't even know that the attackers are the Knight Sabers,' Motoko thought with a grim pleasure. "I don't think he wants to take chances, ma'am."

"Fair enough," Madigan acknowledge with a sour smile. She stopped the elevator on the right level and Motoko got off, feeling the woman's thoughtful gaze on her back.

Walking as coolly as possible Motoko strode down the hall, trying not to rush until the elevator doors closed. 'Did she wonder,' Motoko thought as she headed for the lower level bunker, 'or are the other rumors about her true?'

Security post f-23 was manned by a boy who could only have been in his twenties, if that. "Ma'am?" he blinked as she approached. Scratching his head he muttered, "I didn't think it was time for me to be relieved..."

Whack!

The karate chop dropped the boy to a puddle on the floor and Motoko stepped up to the control panel. Her earlier 'dive had gotten her the codes, and with a few quickly pressed keys she was inside. The lab was cluttered, finished and incomplete projects scattered about but she was focused on one thing, the square data module sitting on a table nearby. It matched the images she had been given, as did the code numbers,

'Mission accomplished,' Motoko thought as she stowed the module in her pack, 'now I just have to get out with it...'

The floor shook beneath Motoko and she grabbed at a table for support. The sounds of battle, explosions and she raced out into the hall, gazing around her in pure disbelief. Badly organized security forces were trying to organize a defense, but it looked like a lost cause already.

'They couldn't have actually gotten this far in...' Motoko thought in disbelief.

The doors to the elevator shaft blew out and the blue armored figure emerged, arm cannon at the ready Right behind her a green armored woman, then two more took up positions as they readied themselves for battle.

'The Knight sabers are here and I'm dressed in a Genom security uniform,' Motoko thought. There was only one thing she could think to say, "Crap."

To be continued...

Chapter 4

Of Knights and Ghosts: A Bubblegum Crisis: Ghost in
the Shell crossover.
Part Four

"We have to break through to F level," Sylia
commanded, the silver armored Knight Saber leading the
charge down the elevator shaft. Twin wings extended
out from her back, thrusters flaring as they smoothly
descended down the shaft.

Linna leapt smoothly, using cutting blades mounted on
her green armor to slice through the doors to reveal
the hallway beyond. Waiting a moment she let Priss go
first, her blue armor's arm cannon ready to fire then
they followed her out onto the glossy floor. "Where is
their security?" Linna wondered aloud.

"Hopefully still on the far side with our
distraction," Nene said a bit crossly. "Are you really
looking forward to a fight?"

"Yes," Priss answered, sweeping the hall with her gun.

"Dumb question," Nene sighed.

"We're near our target," Sylia said to them firmly,
"let's move."

Together they moved down the hall, Linna and Priss
taking point. Nene stayed in the middle, the hacker
maintaining her link with Genom's security systems,
while Sylia took the rear, ready to deal with anyone
coming from behind.

Once they reached the next elevator Nene followed the
others down, running through the security protocols to
help make sure their entrance was going to be a
surprise. Using her knuckle-bomber Linna blasted the
doors off then Nene softly squeaked out, "Oh shit."

"Yes!" Priss cheered, taking in the assembled security
forces who looked almost as startled to see them
standing there as they were to see them.

Switching to internal radio communications Sylia
ordered, 'Break through, the labs we want are just
beyond this section."

Priss didn't need an order, her first shots blasting
guns out of their opponents hands even as she charged
forward. Linna followed her in, blades lashing out at
weapons even as she delivered precise blows to drop
her foes. Priss fought more wildly but both sought not
to hurt their enemies too badly, just to break
through.

"Looks like we get to fight, partner," Linna murmured
to Priss, a slight smile on her face as they battled
on, side by side.

"Just like always," Priss agreed.

The black haired officer ducked, scrambling forward
even as she slugged another Genom officer in the head.
Nene blinked, watching the woman hit another security
officer with a roundhouse as she wondered, 'What is
going on?'

Looking right at Sylia the woman cried, "Rook! Rook
rook rook, damn it!"

Just for a moment Sylia froze, taking in what the
woman said then she overrode the communications of all
the Knight Sabers. "Our original mission is canceled,"
she said as she grabbed the black haired woman, "this
just became an extraction operation."

"What?!" Priss and Linna blurted out together.

"We have to get this woman and what she's carrying out
of the tower," Sylia said coldly. Quietly she looked
at the woman, "And you and I are going to have a talk
later, Miss....?"

"Motoko," she answered crisply as they retreated back
towards the elevator. She dropped her voice, "I'm glad
I arranged that recognition phrase with you."

Sylia extended a blade to slap bullets out of the air,
moving with a deadly sort of grace. "Considering I
wasn't expecting you to be even here you're lucky you
weren't shot," she said. They reached the open doors,
"Up stairs or down?"

"Up," Motoko answered promptly, "they'll be expecting
us to go down." The slim officer leapt out into the
open shaft, grabbing at a ladder on the far side and
climbing up smoothly even as she asked, "Coming?"

Off in the distance they heard a roar, and on the air
there was the faintest trace of jet fuel. Genom
security officers sudden broke to run away, scrambling
wildly to get out of the area as fast as they possibly
could.

"Boomer," Nene murmured, then squealed in surprise as
she was bodily tossed into the shaft after Motoko.

"Follow her up to the roof," Sylia ordered as she
turned to look down the now empty hall, "Linna, Priss
and I will delay them then follow you both on up."

"We can handle a few boomers," Priss cut Nene's
protests off, "but I bet if that lady gets hurt or
killed we don't get paid."

Swearing under her breath Nene climbed up the shaft
even as the other three Knight Sabers turned to face
their foes. Two combat boomers, Doberman types, raced
down the corridor at them, artificial flesh burning
away to reveal bulky armor. The jaw slid downward,
laser canon moving forward, glowing as it readied to
fire.

Priss fired smoothly, one needle directly into the
first one's mouth, the explosion taking out most of
the head and in the process sending both of them
crashing into a wall. "Nice," Linna murmured, even as
two more came around a corner.

"We're just getting started," Sylia purred, blades at
the ready.

Priss smiled slightly, "You got a plan?"

"We kill the boomers then go join Nene," Sylia
answered, cutting down the first boomer that reached
her with a almost unearthly skill.

"Short, simple and to the point," Linna announced, "I
like it."

Nene winced as she heard more explosions coming from
down below, idly wondering how much property damage
her friends were doing, then shook her head as she
puffed her way to follow the other woman to the top.
'I think I'm gonna die,' she whimpered, 'climbing this
in a Hardsuit!' They reached the top of the shaft a
few minutes later, though to Nene they felt like
hours.

Motoko kicked out the panel with surprising strength
then slipped out, standing atop the Genom tower and
looking over the city of Megatokyo. She turned as Nene
squeezed her Hardsuit covered body through the whole
and smiled wryly, "You can tell your employer that I
consider the mission accomplished and I'll pay her in
a few days."

"Why do I have to tell her?" Nene blinked, standing up
and trying to brush off the long smears of grease and
oil on her suit.

Motoko silently pulled a small device out of her pack,
slipping the harness on smoothly. She pressed a switch
and there was a soft hiss as the eerily thin wings of
her glider pack deployed. Before Nene could react she
leapt, the breezes filling her wings and carrying her
up into the night sky.

Racing forward Nene activated her scanners then
gasped, Motoko shimmering faintly then simply
disappearing from sight as she activated some form of
cloak. "I should be able to scan through anything,"
she muttered, "how can she have better tech than the
best military issue?"

Before Nene had too much time to think about it the
top of the elevator shaft blew off, sending her
ducking for cover. Priss, Linna and Sylia swarmed out,
the battered and blackened Knight Sabers running
towards her even as the sound of weapon's fire grew
even closer. Running by her Priss bodily snatched Nene
up as they went right over the edge of the roof, leg
thrusters flaring to help slow their descent.

"I take it Motoko is already gone?" Sylia asked calmly
as they plummeted.

"Yes," Nene squealed, "she'll pay you in a few days."

Laser fire streamed by them as they zigged and zagged,
intentionally bouncing off of the side of the building
itself to help make their course even more erratic.
Priss tried to return fire as they fell, a few lucky
hits lighting up the darkness with boomer explosions
as she asked, "Think we'll be able to pull this off
again?"

They reached ground level with a thump, racing off at
high speed even as Linna commented, "They'll have to
upgrade security after this."

"Mason is arrogant enough he might think he
successfully drove us away," Sylia said, the group of
four racing along the road past the guard station they
had totaled getting in.

Around the bend and not that far from the Tower the
Silky Doll van waited, Mackie running the engine
nervously. "Is everyone all right?' the brown haired
young man asked worriedly, helping them in, slamming
the doors then taking off at a sedate pace.

"Yes," Nene pulled off her helm with a relieved sigh,
"why aren't you hurrying?!"

"Security is more likely to notice a hurrying vehicle
than one that's calmly obeying the traffic laws,"
Mackie pointed out calmly, though his knuckles were
white on the wheel.

"There were a couple of mistakes we'll discuss later,"
Sylia said as she efficiently began to strip off her
armor, "but overall good job."

"Praise from Sylia, who'd have thought?" Priss
muttered,, slumping after stowing away her suit, Linna
sitting beside her.

Linna hesitated, then let her hand come to rest on
Priss', squeezing gently. "Now comes the hard part,"
she said, "collecting payment."

Epilogue: Three days later.

The Knight Saber waited at the pre-arranged meeting
place, Sylia Stingray warily watching her
surroundings. The rooftop was in a bad part of town,
much of the buildings around it gone to rubble making
it much harder to arrange a ambush.

The door to the roof opened and Motoko emerged, this
time dressed in more casual street clothes. She was
bare handed, and the sleek dress she wore didn't
obviously have pockets. "Right on time," Sylia called,
"now where is the rest of our payment?"

Motoko walked over to Sylia, smiling slightly. "I have
it," she nodded, "if you're willing to take it in
trade." With that she snapped her fingers....

... and a gust of wind nearly knocked Sylia off her
feet even in the Hardsuit. From out of the clouds the
combat craft descended, massive rotors mounted in each
wing keeping it aloft, the alloy painted black to help
in night operations.

Sylia braced herself for an attack even as she
demanded, "What is this?" Looking it over she quickly
realized there wasn't a pilot, it had descended by
remote control.

"It started out as a military K-suit dropship," Motoko
said to her calmly, "before certain unofficial and
extra-governmental black projects got ahold of it.
It's seen a lot of action and was going to be retired
before I... diverted it to here." She gave Sylia a
smile, "Even used I think it covers the remainder of
what I owe?"

"I don't trust you," Sylia said flatly, "it's a
trick."

Motoko just shrugged, "I'm well aware that you'll take
it to a safe location and disassemble it. I couldn't
arm it for you, but I'm certain someone of your
resources can manage that." A smile, "Other than that,
I wish you well."

"Aren't you concerned what I'll do with this?' Sylia
asked as Motoko began to walk away, already plotting
how to get it out to Raven's garage.

"You'll use it to go after Genom," Motoko paused in
the doorway to the stairs, "and from what I've seen of
those double-dealing bastards I can only wish you good
hunting." And with that she was gone.

End

Notes: this started out as a idea on one of the
Bubblegum Crisis discussion threads, where we were
tossing around ideas about where Sylia Stingray got
the Knightwing aircraft that appears about halfway
through BGC. The idea of the 'wing being government
issue germinated in my head a bit, then it occurred to
me to tie it into Ghost in the Shell... I may or may
not do a sequel to this, we'll see.

Story: Knights and Ghosts: BGC meets GITS (all chapters)

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4