The Knightwing swiftly soared across the city, soon arriving
at what appeared to be an old, long abandoned warehouse. A signal was
sent out and part of the roof smoothly pulled back, revealing a
concealed landing pad. They all disembarked once it landed, taking an
modified industrial elevator down into the massive warehouse itself.
On the outside it was abandoned, but within was a fully
equipped headquarters. One part of the floor was broken up into living
quarters, what looked like an armor repair/ upgrade section was
nearby, several moto- slaves were waiting to be used, and a
sophisticated computer center monitored the city of Megatokyo and
Genom.
"I think I'm impressed," Reika Chang noted, the normally cool
brown haired executive looking around her in surprise.
"I set up several backup bases like this a few years back,"
Sylia shrugged slightly, still dressed in her suit of armor but
carrying her helmet under her arm, "in case of just such an
emergency."
"You promised an explanation," Natsumi reminded her, the brown
haired private investigator smiling slightly. "We're all pretty clear
on you four being the Knight Sabers," she looked from Sylia, Linna,
Priss to Nene, "But I wouldn't mind knowing why."
"Genom ordered the murder of my father," Sylia said quite
simply. She looked a bit tired, somehow, as if the strain of the day's
events were finally showing on her, "Let's get out of these suits, and
I'll try to fill you in a bit better."
"C'mon," Priss nodded towards her Aunt Natsumi and friends,
"I'll tell you what I can." Natsumi, Miyuki, Yoriko and Aoi all
followed her over to a more private corner where the younger woman
began to strip her armor off.
"Why do you do this?" Natsumi looked over at her niece
curiously, "it seems like it would be extremely dangerous."
"Genom hurt someone close to me," Priss answered her crisply,
"someone I loved." She hesitated, thinking of Sylvie and Anri, "Not to
mention taking away a woman that I could have loved, if we were given
a chance."
"I'm sorry," Miyuki offered softly.
"I got over her," Priss smiled sadly, "but I'll never forget
what happened to her." Her eyes narrowed, "Or stop wanting to see
Genom pay for it."
"Are all of the Knight Sabers driven like Sylia and you are?"
Aoi looked over at her.
"We all have different reasons for doing this," Priss
answered, "you'd have to ask them."
Reika reached over, carefully taking the green helmet in her
hands. "Can I help?" she asked Linna with a slight smile.
"Thanks," Linna blushed a bit, reaching down to her sides,
disengaging the locks and slipping free of the suit. She could feel
Reika's admiring gaze on her leotard clad body and quickly grabbed a
set of clothes out of a nearby locker. Matching green sweatpants and
shirt were pulled on easily, slippers put aside for her feet.
"You're lucky green is a good color for you," Reika chuckled.
They stood there a moment silently, "Why do you put yourself at risk
like this?"
Linna smiled a bit wryly. "For money, originally," Linna
admitted, "Sylia paid very well, and I knew the risks." She looked
over at Reika, "Then was targeted, and it all stopped being a game for
me." A short pause, "Then I met you."
Reika leaned forward, gently pressing her lips to the startled
Linna's. "When we met, things changed for me as well," she said softly
before they headed back to the others.
"I meant to tell you about this after the party tonight," Nene
admitted sheepishly, standing by Akiko, Nuku Nuku and Emi in a pink
sweatsuit.
"I can't say I'm happy about the danger it puts you in," Akiko
admitted, the older woman taking Nene's hand and squeezing gently,
"but I understand."
"Can we help you thrash boomers?" Nuku Nuku asked eagerly.
"Yeah, can we?" Emi bounced happily.
Nene had to laugh, "You'll just have to ask Sylia, all right?"
Not far away Antonia Stark gave Biko a slightly rueful smile.
"I didn't intend to get the two of you involved with this, Cousin,"
Tony shrugged.
"I'm glad that we are," Biko smiled, "it gives me the
opportunity to avenge the employees of my fathers company that were
killed by Boomers." The blue haired woman threw her head back
dramatically, while keeping close to her redheaded companion.
Aiko nodded firmly, "And I'm sure my father would expect me to
help out."
Tony folded away the rest of her armor, packing it all away in
the silvery suitcase she always kept with her. "I'm glad," Tony sighed
softly, "because I think we might need your help again before this is
all through."
"We're in," Biko nodded firmly, Aiko joining in.
"I wanted to apologize," Linna walked over to smile shyly at
Misaki, Hotoko, Sai and Kaede. She took a breath before she started to
explain to the Angelic Layer Deus, "I didn't actually know what Sylia
had planned, but..."
Misaki beamed, her boyishly short brown hair a bit messy with
her enthusiasm, "Sylia let us operate life-sized Angels again!"
"Near enough, anyway," Hotoko grinned, taking her shorter
lover's hand. The black haired broadcaster added, "It wasn't my
Suzuka, but certainly good enough."
Kaede smiled gently at Linna, "Besides which, you couldn't
have known that boomers would attack the party and force the
activation of the Saber Dolls."
"And it was a hell of a fight," Sai added seriously. "I
wouldn't say it was better than Angelic Layer," she smiled suddenly,
"but it was close!"
"See," Reika chided Linna gently, "they aren't even upset."
Kaede looked at Linna thoughtfully. "By the way," she said
innocently, "is that a new shade of lipstick you're wearing?"
Linna went beet red, realizing that some of Reika's lipstick
had come off on her own lips.
Sylia Stingray emerged, dressed in her own set of gray
sweatpants with a slight smile on her face. 'I'm glad to see things
going so well,' she thought, having listened in covertly to the
various conversations that were going on.
"Ladies and gentleman," Sylia nodded to Mackie, "we have much
to discuss." She hit a switch, opening up a spacious meeting room just
off from the suites, "We'll be more comfortable doing that in here, I
think."
The mob filed in, surprisingly finding spaces for everyone to
sit. Linna looked around her thoughtfully, 'Did Sylia actually plan to
raise an army, or did she just expect to acquire allies?'
"All right Sylia," Priss stood up from her seat to ask, "why
were the Boomers out to kill you, and not the Knight Sabers?"
"I'm going to need to do a bit of a lead in before I answer
that," Sylia said just a bit apologetically. "You know my father
helped invent the Boomer, and that his designs would have produced a
safe, efficient model of Boomers."
"Unlike Genom's models," Akiko said dryly.
"Genom built a cut-rate model instead," Sylia explained
grimly. "My intention has been to provide a balance to Quincy's
criminal actions while hoping that he would be displaced from Genom's
board. Seeing no progress on that front, I resolved to remove him
myself."
Reika nodded thoughtfully, "You've been buying up Genom's
stock, trying to get enough to oust him from the board."
"And I used shell companies to conceal those purchases, to
keep Quincy from tracing it back to me," Sylia agreed. She frowned, "I
must have gotten sloppy somewhere, because it appears he has realized
I have the stock."
"Then the shareholder meeting must be pretty soon, to have
Quincy try something this bold," a frowning Nene noted.
Sylia took a casual look at her watch before saying, "Since
it's just past midnight, the shareholder's meeting is tomorrow
evening."
"So all you have to do is vote with your shares and Quincy's
gone?" Linna sat up in surprise.
"It's not quite that simple," Tony sighed.
Sylia nodded grimly, "The regulations that Genom set up are
quite explicit. To vote Quincy out, I'm going to have to be there in
person."
"Which means that Quincy is going to throw everything he has
left at you to keep you from attending the meeting," Natsumi noted.
"Then I guess we'll just have to make sure you get there,"
Aiko said casually, the room filling with murmurs of agreement.
"Thanks," Sylia smiled.
Quincy had his eyes closed, his face surprisingly pale, and
Madigan didn't look much better. The wiping out of one hundred Boomers
was bad enough, but their complete failure to eliminate Sylia Stingray
was possibly even worse.
"We need to prevent her from reaching the meeting," Madigan
said unnecessarily.
"We mobilize all the available Boomers," Quincy said grimly.
He paused, "And I want the combat models used as well."
"Sir," Madigan looked at him in alarm, "you know that use of
combat models in Japan is clearly prohibited! If we're caught.."
"The possible consequences won't be any worse than if Sylia
succeeds in ousting me," Quincy said to her grimly.
Madigan nodded thoughtfully, "Understood sir, I'll set things
in motion."
The office was quiet as Madigan left, her mind occupied with
her own thoughts. 'If Quincy goes down, he'll take me with him,' she
thought grimly. A cold little smile, 'Then I guess I need to make sure
that doesn't happen.'
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