Explosions lit up the night in a sullen red glare as the Infinity lab burned, fires crackling along the hallways as people screamed and died. Along the hallways a figure walked, a slim young woman with black hair who was nude as the day she was born. Around the corner a security team came, armor gleaming as they brought weapons up, rifles ready. But before they could fire the woman gestured, eyes glowing purple as the bio-boomers jerked, bodies twisting and swelling amid their human handlers. With a painful roar they turned on their comrades, striking with inhuman strength as men screamed. Striding through the blood and gore the woman smiled, looking up at one of the few functioning security cameras. "Hello, sister," she smiled, her cold expression making her look all the more chilling, "I'll see you soon." 0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 Sitting in her office Hotaru Tomoe shuddered as she looked at her twin's face then shut the monitor off. Black hair fell into her violet eyes as she look at her assistant and asked, "What were our losses?" "Fifty men killed," Kaori Knight replied quietly, "and the facility is a total loss." The redhead put the papers down, "I've sent letters to the families, with our deepest apologies." "You didn't have to do that," Hotaru said quietly, "I would have..." Kaori smiled grimly, "It's all right, ma'am. I wanted to do it." Hotaru sat back, feeling tired. She had been woken from a sound sleep as the first alarms went off, hurrying in to headquarters only to find out that the facility had been destroyed in less than a hour. AD Police sealed off the building but only found mutated bio-boomers, dead workers and purged computers. Only one digital record survived in a sealed database, planted there somehow by their enemy. Hotaru frowned as she reviewed the record, "And Mistress Nine took nothing? She just destroyed the facility for no reason?" "We're still reviewing inventories and logs," Kaori said, "but yes, it appears she went in, destroyed the facility and left." "No," Hotaru shook her head grimly as she said, "there's one reason." "Oh?" Kaori looked curious at her superior. Hotaru gestured to the now dark computer screen as she said flatly, "She may have done this just to send me a message." "I hope not, ma'am," Kaori sighed softly. Just then the intercom buzzed. "Yes?" Hotaru asked. Outside her secretary nervously said, "Ma'am, the AD Police are here to see you." "Send them in," Hotaru ordered. Looking up at Kaori she smiled slightly, "Could you stick around, please?" Of course," Kaori smiled reassuringly. The two women who entered the office looked like near physical opposites, the tall slim blonde and the shorter, brown haired girl. Usagi Tsukino lead the way, presenting her identification to Hotaru, followed by Naru Osaka. "Ms. Tomoe," Usagi said briskly, "thank you for agreeing to see us so soon." Hotaru gave a cool smile as she waved them to waiting chairs, "I'm always eager to help the Police in their investigations." "Nice change of pace," Naru murmured softly. Kaori chuckled then covered it with a cough. "Sorry," she said, "dry air." Simply ignoring that comment Hotaru introduced Kaori, then met Usagi's gaze calmly. "How can we help you?" she asked. "As you can guess, we're investigating the attack on your research facility," Usagi said, "do you have any idea of why it would be attacked?" "We're still examining files and taking inventory," Hotaru admitted, "but so far we haven't found anything." Naru leaned forward and asked, "I understand there was some security scans recovered?" "Most of the cameras were destroyed," Kaoru said smoothly. Smoothly following that Hotaru said, "But we did recover a fragment." Kaori nearly said something, but restrained herself. 'What is Ms. Tomoe up to?' she silently wondered. Activating the monitor, Hotaru brought up the clip. There was a burst of static then a face similar to Hotaru's look up, "I'll be seeing you soon." Usagi made a note on her personal organizer, "She looks like you." "My father used some of my DNA in the creation of certain bio-boomer prototypes," Hotaru cooly explained, "it may be she's one of them." "Do you have any information on her design?" Naru wondered, her expression plainly skeptical of what Hotaru was saying. "Only partial data," Kaori interrupted smoothly, "but we'll forward that and any other relevant files to you." Usagi nodded, "Thank you." She studied both executives, "There's always been rumors about the 'planet' series... super advanced Bio-boomers. This woman wouldn't happen to be one, would she?" 'She's more informed than I thought,' Hotaru mused, mildly impressed. "It's just a rumor, I assure you," she said casually, "if there really was an advanced design, don't you think we'd be selling them?" "Thank you for your help," Usagi said formally as she rose leaning on the desk a moment, Naru following. "We'll be contacting you to follow up soon." Hotaru offered her hand, "Sorry for the trouble." "No trouble," Usagi shook it firmly then she and Naru left. "Ma'am..." Kaori started. Hotaru waved her to silence as she went around her desk to where Usagi had been sitting. Feeling under the top of the desk where Usagi had put her hand just moments before Hotaru produced a small electronic device. "Oh, someone must have misplaced this," she said loudly before crunching it between her fingers. "A listening device?" Kaori looked shocked. "Not unreasonable," Hotaru said as she sat back down, "considering my father's reputation I can't blame them for being suspicious." "Is that even legal?" Kaori wondered. "It wouldn't need to be," Hotaru shrugged as she sat back down, "as long as it provided them with some leads." She sat back in her chair as she considered the situation. "I've got new guidelines for our security forces," she said briskly. "Yes?" Kaori produced her notebook computer from her suit pocket. "No one is to attempt to engage Mistress Nine," Hotaru said, "instead I want a priority call to me, day or night. Also, all facilities are to be evacuated if she's spotted." "Isn't the last a bit excessive?" Kaori asked tentatively. Hotaru shook her head, "Frankly, we still know too little about what she's capable of. I am not risking any more employees until we have a handle on her." 0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 Usagi paused in the car, both she and Naru listening closely. "Very clever," Usagi admitted as they listened, "you planting a second device." Naru chuckled, "Thank you." She paused, "Ms Knight's right, tho. We won't be able to use any of this as evidence." "I'm not looking for evidence," Usagi said with a shrug, "I'm looking for leads." They listened to the evacuation plans with raised eyebrows. "She's not cut from the same cloth as her father," Naru noted. "She gave that thing a name," Usagi noted interestedly, "Mistress Nine. It looks like she DOES know more than she's telling." "Not that a name tells us much," Naru noted cynically as she added information to her notebook, "but I'll do a search on it, just in case." "Thanks," Usagi said as she listened. "Damn, they've stopped." "Sound like they've left the office," Naru admitted. "The bug will keep sending for awhile, so if something else comes up we'll get it." "All right," Usagi set the system on record, "let's head back out to the factory. Maybe the forensics people have found something." "And what do we do if the Senshi get involved?" Naru wondered as Usagi put the car into drive and pulled away from Infinity. "We are still under orders to arrest them," Usagi noted. "But..." Naru heard it in her voice. "If we're still blocked," Usagi admitted, "I might try to see what they know, too."
Back to Senshi Sabers Index - Back to Bubblegum Crisis Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction