"You've got to be kidding me," Minagi said flatly a few moments later, the blue haired woman staring at their captive in shock. Her scarred cheeks normally gave her a oddly cheerful look, but her grim expression killed that effect. Mahoro shook her head, the combat android's black hair gleaming, "He's not lying. I could tell if he was." Lisa Valante looked around in confusion as the dusky skinned girl asked, "All right, I'm clearly not getting something. What's a third impact and why are these guys trying to cause one here in Megatokyo?" Mackie Stingray sighed, the brown haired man helping tie up their now unconscious captive. "Third impact was supposed to be humanity returning to it's innocent state," Mackie said to them cynically, "in reality it just converted everyone within a certain radius back into a kind of primordial ooze." Lisa's eyes widened., "And they want to do that to Megatokyo? Are they nuts?" "It makes a really nasty kind of sense," Sailor Venus said grimly. "If they have some way to keep their own people safe they could plunder the whole city while the rest of us were helpless," she mused. "Not if we can help it," Minagi vowed while looking out the hole blown in the side of the elevated train. "Got a plan?" Lisa asked Mackie quietly. "Other than get in there," Mackie nodded towards the swiftly growing pyramid that was NERV headquarters, "and stop them? Not a one." "Terrific," Lisa smiled wryly. The train slowed as it came into the dock, the broken doors wheezing as they fought to open. "Let's go," Sailor Venus said as they moved into the dimly lit corridors, "we probably don't have much time," There was resistance, of course. Nergal troops in heavy armor guarded the access ways, rifles ready, but the three warriors handled them wit rediculous ease. Mahoro struck first, firing away with her heavy pistol, then either Venus used her chain attack or Minagi dove in with her energy sword. Either way, they only left crippled armor and stunned enemies behind. "We really need a map," Lisa complained as they raced down the hallway, their feet thumping the dusty material. "We're just about to the command center," Mackie said, the group slowing down to advance forward more quietly. Light spilled out of a open door up ahead, lighting up the dim hallway. Within they could hear voices, men talking quietly. "We need more time, the boomers haven't made enough progress," one man protested. "We don't dare wait much longer," another man shot back grimly, "someone reactivated the light rail service, remember?" A nervous pause, "The AD Police or their allies could be here any minute." A third voice scoffed, "Our private troops caught the AD Police with their pants down. I personally saw to it that they won't be a problem." Sailor Venus visibly tensed up, her eyes narrowing with a barely contained anger. "Let's go," she hissed and with a almost inhuman grace raced through the doorway, the rest of them hurrying to follow. "Oh hell," a lone armored trooper serving as their bodyguard brought his gun up, finger squeezing on the trigger. "Venus Crescent Beam Smash!" a laser like beam lanced out from Sailor Venus's hand, blasting the gun away as her eyes swept the room. Three men wearing what looked like modified combat wear gazed at her in shock, while a young woman gazed at her with eerie blankness. "How did..." the grey haired man snarled, going for a pistol at his side. "Don't even think it," Lisa drew her AD Police issue pistol smoothly, "I am really not in a good mood right now." Not listening a third man wearing a Bioware corporate ID drew his pistol as he yelled, "Rei, code epsilon!" "Understood," the light blue haired girl said, her eyes eerily glowing red. BLAM! He fired, bullet whizzing through mid air only to stop cold as Mahoro stepped in front of it. "That wasn't nice," she said mildly, tossing the bullet she had caught aside easily, "now, what did you do?" "Damn it," he fired at her wildly, "stop!" Mahoro advanced relentlessly, striding up to him then tearing the gun from his hands. Minagi moved like a shot, her energy sword blazing as she intercepted the third man trying to slip out of the room, "Don't even think about it." The man who's name tag identified him as Reed carefully put the twin containers he was carrying down, one labeled Adam the other Lilith. "I'm just a technical consultant," he admitted, "just doing my job." "What did you do?" Mackie demanded grimly, grabbing the Bioware officer by the collar and slamming him up against a wall. "She's our Galatea," he sneered at Mackie, "Ayanami has been engineered to link to every boomer in the city. And now she's ordered them all to go insane." "What?" Sailor Venus growled. "Lisa, radio," Mackie ordered quickly. "AD Police units," Lisa started only to jerk her head back as she heard a scream, quickly cut off. Fragmentary messages of battle, death and chaos came over the airways, crackling through static but clearly horrible. "Stop this," Minagi grabbed the Ayanami clone by the shoulders, shaking the woman but she didn't respond. "She can't," Reed said quietly, "she's not sentient. That commend shut her down right after she gave the attack order." Mahoro gazed at the two officers in shock, "You must have had a shut down ready... what is your own people were caught up in the attacks?" "They're expendable," the first man sniffed coldly. "We've got to do something," Lisa said weakly, her radio still picking up the cries of terror and sounds of combat from above. "Didn't Tokyo-3 have a defensive system?" Mahoro suggested tentatively. Mackie's eyes widened a bit, "Of course." He rushed towards the control panels as he said, "Lisa, I'll need a hand!" "Damn," Minagi murmured admiringly as the two computer hackers wenbt to work, valiantly trying to bring the old systems on line. Lisa typed away, frowning in concentration before finally bursting out, "Where is the main processor, damn it?!" "Huh?" Sailor Venus asked, warily guarding their three guests. "The computers should have a central core processor," Mackie sounded frustrated, "in fact the Magi were supposed to have three. But I can't connect to any of them! It's like they're not there." "And without the core we can't bring the defences on line?" Mahoro guessed. "Maybe not..." Mackie paused, a odd look on his face. He seemed to wrestle with the idea a moment then said, "I need a access cable." "Right," Lisa scrambled around in her pockets then the experienced hacker hauled out the multipurpose cable. "Hope you don't want this back," Mackie muttered as he rolled up his sleeve then stuck the cable right into his arm. "Ewww," Lisa squealed as there was a splurt of red, then the unique boomer internal fluid coming from the hole. "Boomer?" Sailor Venus raised a eyebrow. "A unique one," Minagi noted, having some knowledge of his background, "he's human in all the ways that matter." "According to Nene, better," Mahoro smirked. "Sorry," Lisa apologized for her first reaction. "It's all right," Mackie said. He took a deep breath, "I'm going to try plugging directly into the system. Hopefully I'll be able to get access that way." "Is this safe?" Minagi asked, studying him seriously. "No," Mackie said with complete honestly as he plugged the cable into one of the terminal's access ports.
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