Hi Folks. After my last short stories I wanted to do something anime-based with a bit more complex plot than I usually do. This chapter is only some kind of prelude. So don't expect anything hot in this one.
The anime this story is based upon is BubbleGumCrisis. If you like Cyberpunk, Bladerunner or Shadowrun and you don't know BubbleGumCrisis I suggest you check it out.
If I don't get any feedback I think I won't continue this story in public.
So please let me know what you think until now. If the whole idea is too bad please tell me, I really depend on the feedback.
You can contact me at: anterion@gmx.net .
Thanks a lot.

P.S. For you guys who don't know BubbleGum Crisis, check out the bottom of this file. Some terms are explained down there.


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Chapter One

+-> 'There's a hurricane tonight' <-+

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The chairman walked through a long corridor that led into the depth of huge building that was the Genom Tower, by far the biggest building in whole Neo-Tokyo. He walked with the confidence of a man who commanded the world's biggest company. Genom Corp. practically controlled the world business. The legal part as well as the illegal.
In front of an armored door he stopped. A green beam of light slowly wandered over his face performing a face recognition and a retina scan at the same time. With the hiss of pneumatics the heavy door opened and Quincy stepped inside. The door instantly closed behind him. The procedure repeated itself again a few steps further down the way. Now he had reached his destination. An isolated laboratory hidden on lowest levels of Genom Tower. A crew of scientists in white lab coats worked furiously over computer terminals, test tubes and some watched simulations in virtual reality chambers. "Professor Utada?" Quincy's low voice boomed through the lab. Everybody looked at him instantly but quickly resumed their work except for a young man who just had stepped out of a VR chamber. "Ah, Sir. What an unexpected honor to have you down here." "Yes, Yes Professor. I'm a busy man. So what is the status on our project?" "Nearly finished, Sir. ..."

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Twenty minutes had passed since Sylia's computer had picked up an emergency on the AD-Police's frequency. It looked like boomers had gone berserk downtown.
When the Knight Sabers arrived the scene looked like a nuclear battle field. Exploded and burned out police vehicles lay around everywhere. The causalities looked serious. But the boomers were nowhere to be seen. "Sylia, I pick up three blips two blocks east from here." Nene's voice came over the radio. Her hardsuit was equipped with the best sensors of the team. Sylia watched the death and destruction and had no doubt that this was Genom's work. Despite all her work she never had been able to get Quincy for all this. "Hey, Sylia. You sleepin'?" "Sorry Priss. I was lost in thoughts." She took a deep breath. "Knight Sabers. Let's go."
All four took off towards Nene's direction. Soon they arrived at the battle site.

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"... We have analyzed the previous defeats of our boomers. It was necessary to find out why our boomers always lost, even Largo." "And what was the outcome of this analysis?" "Well, there are several factors to be recognized. To be exact there are..." "A summary will be enough Professor." "Yes Sir. It looks like the Knight Sabers have a slight technological advantage." "And that's all?" "Well, Sir, that's the only factor that can be measured. Additionally there are unmeasurable things like teamwork, fighting spirit and luck." "So what do you plan to do against it?" "The most efficient way to defeat the Knight Sabers is to minimize those factors. Since we can't manipulate luck and their fighting spirit we have to take advantage of their technology dependency and disturb their team work..."

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"Looks like two Type D battle boomers and one new design." "Right, Nene. We'll stay together and take them out one by one. Destroy the Type Ds first but look out for this new one. Nene, Linna. You two cover us. Priss, you and me go in for close combat." "OK, Sylia" three voices came over the radio at once." "Knight Sabers, it's show time!"
The four armored females launched their attacks on the first massive humanoid battle boomer. It moved slightly back, preparing for the attack. The Type D positioned itself on their flank, ready to attack. Nene tuned her sensors on the new design. Its maneuvers looked more like an evasive pattern than a commencing attack. Suddenly her systems picked up heavy electric activity in the unknown boomer. Now she knew what all those wiry extensions on that thing were. Antennas. "Sylia. This boomer, it looks like..." In this moment all communication went blank. Sylia immediately knew what was going on. "This new one is an ECM and tactics boomer. All it does is to coordinate the other two and block our communications".

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"... According to the simulations the Knight Saber with the blue hardsuit should engage a solo attack. Without their leader this one is the worst team player, although the most dangerous in infight. So the Type Ds will take this one out first..."

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"Shit! Sylia, do you read me? Sylia!" As soon as the communication died she knew that the team depended on her now. She was the solo player in this team. Without further hesitation she launched her attack at the Type D in front of her. Her targeting system locked on it."Now you finished" But before she could trigger the stinger gun the second Type D blasted her at full force from the side. She lost her target and was thrown several yards before she smashed into a wall. Her hardsuit protected her mostly from the impact but she still winced in pain. "Got to get up. Come on..." slowly Priss stood up only to be pushed over by another assault of the Type D. This time it hauled her right through the wall. Her systems blacked out shortly before coming back online and Priss felt as if every single bone in her body was broken. As she staggered back to her feet she looked around. Both Type Ds were in heavy infight with the rest of the team, the ECM boomer had turned its back to her. "Suckers. They think they've got me down. I'll show them. Yeeaaaaarrrr!!" With a loud yell Priss launched towards the ECM boomer ready rip it to shreds. In this very moment, the boomer's "head" turned around and fired a beam weapon at Priss. The EMP hit her full force. Instantly all displays went black as every system the hardsuit had short circuited. Electric sparks burned Priss' face and body and she screamed out in agony. The hardsuit's emergency system triggered the opening sequence to protect the user from even more damage leaving Priss totally unprotected. And the boomer was closing in for the kill.

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"Now with approximately 32% of their fighting power gone the second wave should wipe them out."

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"Oh no. Four more blips on the screen and I can't tell the others." Nene was busy dodging the incoming attacks. "I've got to tell them somehow, wait... my high speed laser... If I only could redirect my radar display to it's control system.... DID IT!" With her fast adjustable pointing laser, Nene projected her radar readings on the smoke like a light show on a festival. Sylia and Linna immediately knew what this meant. Sylia fired a blue flare high into the air. That was the signal for the Knight Sabers to retreat and for Macky, Sylia's brother, to come an get them. Shortly after that an vector-thrust aircraft hovered over the battle scene, laying an array of cover fire. Sylia was barely able to get the heavily injured Priss into the vehicle when the new boomers arrived. But then, they were safe.

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"Very well Professor. Although we did not destroy them it seems that your concept worked very well. You may proceed to develop it further." "Thank you very much, Sir. I think we will find interesting information in the salvaged hardsuit. The Knight Sabers' secrets won't be so secret any more soon."

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In Sylia's laboratory Priss lay in a stasis tube. Her body heavily injured, burned and crushed. The rest of the team stood quietly in front of her. Priss was in coma since the had arrived. "What should I do?" Sylia asked herself silently. "There is only one way I know of to save her. But it could as well kill her..."



Explanations:

AD-Police: "Armored Division" Police. Neo-Tokyo's high tech police. Its purpose is to deal with heavily weaponned criminals and boomers that are too much for the regular police.

Boomer: Some kind of robots with some organic parts. Some look like humans some like normal robots. They are used as workers, guards... or weapons.

Type D Boomers: Heavy combat boomer. They are incredibly strong, heavily armored and absolutely dangerous.

Knight Sabers: For female high tech mercenaries who fight against GENOM and other criminals.

GENOM: The worlds most powerful cooperation. They manufacture the boomers. So far no one was able to prove that GENOM is the source for the latest boomer rampages but some people just know it.

Hard Suit: An overall body armor with build-in weapons, targeting systems and mobility systems like jump jets and so on.