The group of Boomers that had managed to get inside the
building before the lockdown looked about them wildly for a moment,
their systems swiftly locking onto Sylia Stingray. But before they
could move, four figures smoothly stepped out of the crowd and into
their way.
Nuku-nuku shook her head, and what looked like metallic rabbit
ears suddenly popped up on either side of her face. "C'mon, Emi," she
waved to her sister android.
Lightning arched between Emi's hands as the blonde grinned,
"This is gonna be fun."
"Indeed," Biko flung her dress to the side, revealing the
light bathing-suit combat armor that she was wearing underneath it.
"For once I'm actually glad you're wearing that," Aiko
muttered, pushing up the sleeves of her own dress to reveal metallic
bracelets. She looked over her shoulder even as the sound of boomers
hammering on the outer barriers could be heard. "We'll hold them off
as long as we can," Aiko said simply, "but see if you can get us some
help soon."
"Got it," Sylia said with a crisp nod as the four young women
charged at the invading force of Boomers.
"What's the plan?" Linna barked.
Sylia pressed a switch on the wall, opening up a hidden
elevator there and knowing that she was revealing that there was much
more to the building than her guests had thought. "Everybody inside,"
she stepped aside from the door as she barked out the order.
There was a short moment of surprised hesitation. "You heard
the lady," Priss growled as she pushed her Aunt Natsumi, Aoi, Yoriko
and Miyuki forward. Right beside her, Linna hustled Reika and the four
Angelic Layer Deus in and Nene made sure Akiko was in before they,
Tony, Mackie and Sylia crammed themselves inside after them.
Sylia could barely reach over the mob to flip up a part of the
control panel on the wall, revealing a big red switch beneath it.
"Going down," and she hit it. The elevator didn't descend, it dropped,
sending them rushing to the lower levels. It seemed only seconds later
that the door opened, spilling the group out into the hidden base of
the Knight Sabers.
"I'm impressed," Reika managed, looking around the large open
chamber. Not far away were the hardsuits, standing in their racks
ready to go. Oddly, what looked like an Angelic Layer table sat
nearby, set up for four users.
"Something you wanted to tell me?" Akiko said softly, looking
over at Nene with an odd smile on her face.
Nene blushed slightly under her gaze as she confessed to her
lover, "I was going to tell you all about this later on tonight."
The older woman smiled gently. "It's all right," Akiko smiled,
"I rather wondered how the Knight Sabers got involved with helping
Nuku-nuku so quickly."
"Lets move Knight Sabers," Sylia said before turning to Tony,
"You get to brief the Deus on the new Layer we set up for them."
"Got it," Tony saluted.
"Mackie, Monitor things topside while we change," Sylia
ordered.
"Right!" Mackie ran to the security monitors set up on a far
wall.
Priss paused for a second, smiling sheepishly at her Aunt
Natsumi as she said, "I'll explain everything later."
"I think we've mostly got it," Aoi offered with a smile, "get
moving!"
Tony smiled at the four Angelic Layer Deus as she quickly lead
them over to the Layer table, "We were going to ask you about all of
this a bit more subtlely, but this has kind of forced our hands. You
all remember how Genom used to to fight the Knight Sabers?"
"Of course," Sai pushed her light brown hair back smoothly.
"Same idea," Tony gestured to the table, "except this time
you'll be controlling what Sylia likes to call the Saber Dolls." She
hesitated, "We won't press you into doing this, but I do think we
might need your help."
"Linna's my friend, and I have no fondness for Genom," Hotoko
said firmly. The dark haired woman smiled grimly, "I'm in."
"Where she goes, I go," Misaki reached over to take her
lover's hand, and Hotoko smiled down at her brown haired older lover.
"The chance to take on Boomers using life-sized Angels? Of
course I'm in," Sai grinned, while Kaede just nodded beside her.
"Not quite Angels," Tony hit a switch, splashing light on the
four sleekly female forms nearby. They looked almost like Knight
Sabers, but slimmer, obviously not carrying a pilot within. One in
red, one blue and white, one pinkish and one in a dark purple.
"The four of them actually took out the entire first wave of
Boomers," Mackie breathlessly reported from where he was keeping an
eye on the security monitors upstairs, "but the mob of Boomers outside
have broken in!"
"Lets get to it," Misaki said seriously.
Sitting at his desk Quincy frowned, trying to call up
information from the field. "Why aren't we getting any status
reports?" he scowled.
"Officially there aren't any status reports to get," Madigan
remarked from the doorway. She didn't look anxious, exactly, but just
a bit worried. She activated a station and tried to bring up the data,
"There's somekind of interference."
"I want to know what's going on," Quincy scowled.
"Sir, we've put well over one hundred Boomers into this
operation," Madigan said to him patiently. "Even if the Knight Sabers
were to show up to help them, those numbers would be overwhelming,"
she explained.
"And if their allies turn up?" Quincy asked pointedly.
"Even then" Madigan said to him confidently, "the Knight
Sabers and friends are going to be outnumbered by at least ten to
one."
"Then let us hope that will be enough," Quincy said grimly.
Aiko stood in the wreckage of the Silky Doll shop, wiping a
bit of blood from the corner of her mouth. It was pretty hard to
actually hurt her, but she had discovered she could be worn down,
eventually. Her allies all looked similarly spent, but the piles of
Boomer parts around them showed the success of their efforts. Only
problem was, there were a lot more Boomers waiting outside.
"Anyone have a plan?" Emi asked. The blond android was
slightly sooty, having been just a bit too close to an exploding
Boomer.
"We could always charge them," Nuku-nuku offered. The
redheaded android had an odd eagerness about her, as if she enjoyed
these battles.
"I don't think so," Biko said with a wry smile as she checked
her wrist missile launcher. It was still empty, just like the last
time she had checked. She looked over at Aiko and very softly asked
her, "Are you all right, love?"
"Yeah," Aiko smiled up at her, realizing that Biko had seen
her moment of weakness. She took a deep breath and sighed, "But we're
not going to be all right for very much longer if some help doesn't
appear very soon."
There was a soft rumble, as if the entire building itself...
shiftled, just slightly. The floor seemed to move under them, and the
four quickly jumped aside.
"What in the.." Biko blinked.
A section of the floor slid backwards near silently, and from
beneath the building a platform rose up, a group of figures riding on
top of it. Nine different armored figures rose up, with six other
people carrying some very impressive looking cannons riding along with
them. Four of them were quite clearly the Knight Sabers, and right
beside them the symbol of Stark Enterprises stood, the Iron Man.
Beside them four slimmer armored figues stood, obviously created by
the same creator as the Sabers, but of a very different design.
"Let's go, Knight Sabers," Sylia ordered them. The four
armored figures took up positions in a half circle, ready to move on
the appropriate cue. They stood balanced, ready, comfortable in their
refit suits and set to go at a moments notice.
"Just like we talked about," Misaki murmured to her three
companions, willing her own Saber Doll forward. Her Red Saber
gracefully stood by Priss' Blue one, the two of them swiftly joined by
the battered but clearly unbowed Aiko.
In moments Hotoko's Purple Saber backed up Linna and Biko,
Sai's Ice Saber joined Sylia and Emi, and Kaede's Pinkish Saber stood
by Nene and Nuku-nuku, the teams of three ready to launch the attack
into the army of Boomers.
"Are you all right, Nuku-nuku?" Akiko hefted the cannon with
a professional competence, as did the former police officers Natsumi,
Miyuki, Aoi and Yoriko. Beside them Reika Chang slapped an explosive
charge into her weapon's chamber with a loud snap.
"Be careful, Mama," Nuku-nuku called back.
Akiko hefted the cannon and lined up one of the Boomers in her
sights. Boom! The scrap fell to the ground in a burst of light and
fire. She smiled coldly, "Looks like these Boomer busters that Sylia
and Tony built work like advertized."
"Time to frag some Boomers," Natsumi smiled, the expression on
her face very like one Priss might have had under similar
circumstances.
"I'm going to enjoy this," Reika agreed.
"Go," Priss cried, and they moved out swiftly.
The merry band exploded out of the building into the massive
force of Boomers, Hotoko and Misaki leading the charge. Like a shot
Hotoko ripped into the Boomers, living up to the nickname she had
earned in Angelic Layer, 'lightspeed.' Just befind her Hikaru's Doll
was like a dancer, striking swiftly and moving away.
Priss fought like she sang, hard and passionate, tearing
through the Boomers like there was no tomorrow. But she also fought
smart, keeping an eye on her back up and especially watching her Aunt,
blasting Boomers left and right.
Aoi picked up Yoriko even as she lined up and blasted a
Boomer. She grabbed her lover's glasses and helped her get them on,
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah, thanks," Yokiko blushed.
"Heads up," Miyuki barked, shooting just over their heads to
blow another Boomer to scrap.
Sylia grinned, her twin swords gleaming as she ripped into
Boomers left and right of her. Up above them, Tony laid down a steady
cover fire, picking off some Boomers while Sai's icy blue Saber used
her strength and speed to watch Sylia's back.
Linna's cables sliced delicately, her movements almost like a
kind of dance. 'I've got to write a song about this,' Reika Chang
noted as she blasted a Boomer to ash. Biko used brute strength and an
odd powered whip to aide her, while Hotoko bobbed and weaved through
the mob.
"Watch yourself," Emi tacked a Boomer about to nail Nene.
"Thanks," the Pink Knight Saber managed to look
embarrased,"Uhm, I'm trying to do something, could you keep them off
me?"
Kaede nodded gravely, while Emi gave her an odd look.
Nene's suit extended it's communication panels, working to jam
transmisions even as she tried to decipher a piece of difficult code.
"I intercepted a communication," Nene excitedly broadcast to Sylia,
"they didn't come here after the Knight Sabers!"
"So who were they after?" Sylia asked.
"You," Nene admitted, "Quincy wants you dead."
Tony dropped down to Sylia's side as the sounds of battle
began to die down. "Over my dead body," she vowed, reaching out to
finish off one of the surviving Boomers.
All around them, for nearly an entire city block, the
shattered wrecks of Genom's Boomers littered the ground. Blasted, cut,
burned and pummled, the army of humanoid machines was now so much
wreckage.
"We actually did it," Linna murmured softly, only then
revealing any doubt that they might have not actually succeeded.
"Anybody got any idea how many Boomers there were?" Natsumi
asked casually.
"Well over a hundred," Priss swiftly got the information from
Mackie. She grinned under her helmet, "If we can do this much damage
when we're caught by surprise, I wonder what we could do in a planned
attack on Genom's tower?"
Tony turned, her armor gleaming red and gold in the fading
sunlight, catching sight of the ruined shell of the Silky Doll. "Oh,
Sylia," she murmured softly, "I'm so sorry."
"Shit," Linna cringed.
Sylia gazed at the gutted ruin of her home, standing there
silently. "It all can be rebuilt," she finally said, "I'm just glad
that no one here was hurt." She raised her head and spoke firmly,
"We'd best get out of here, before the AD Police see us. I'll seal off
the underground labs, the AD Police will never know they're there."
"I wouldn't mind getting some answers," Natsumi said softly,
looking over at her armored niece searchingly. Now that the adrenalin
was wearing off, they were all wondering about what was going on
there.
"And you'll get them," Sylia agreed, "later." She activated
her communicator, "Mackie, get the Layer table and Deus aboard the
Knight wing. We're moving out."
Moments later the Knight Sabers, Saber Dolls and Iron Man
launched into the air as the hybrid flying wing took off from the
concealed hanger on the roof of the Silky Doll building. Carrying
their friends the armored figures flew aboiard and the wing was gone,
leaving the wreck of the Silky Doll and the destroyed Boomers behind
them.
Madigan read the data from the terminal yet again, her
expresion one of numb disbelief, "It isn't possible..."
Quincy looked at her, knowing it was bad news.
"They've been destroyed," Madigan said softly.
"The Knight Sabers managed to destroy a great many of them
before they were taken down?" Quincy asked hopefully. Replacing a
large number of destroyed Boomers would be difficult, but not
impossible for a man of his resources.
"No," Madigan was still starting at the screen as if she could
change the information there by sheer force of will, "the Boomers were
destroyed."
"ALL OF THEM?" Quincy roared.
"Yes," Madigan visibly reigned in her temper.
"That's impossible," Quincy flopped bonelessly into his chair.
"Well, it seems they've managed it," Madigan rubbed at the
crease between her eyes, feeling a migraine coming on. "So what do we
do now?"
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