MegaTokyo, Nightfall Wars

Flashing lights stabbed through the smog ridden night's air, bringing
dim illumination to ramshackle buildings and sleazy bars. Whores hawked
themselves, calling out into the night tiredly. A group of toughs leered
appreciatively, but kept their hands near hidden guns. Nervous eyes
watched for other gangs and the far less likely cops.

Asian, African and European ethnicities rubbed shoulder to shoulder with
each other, stoically ignoring each other. The occasional transient
watched nervously, begging for a few hundred yen. Frozen puddles of
unclean water showed the chillness of late January, in the cramped
canyons of the slums.

And striding from a nearby parked car, as if a rose in a patch of weeds,
a tall and elegant young women walked towards a nearby bar. Short, but
perfectly coiffed, dark hair contrasted with a pale woman's suit, black
ruffled shirt and high heels finished off the ensemble, mostly hidden
beneath a long winter coat.

One of the toughs looked over, a wide grin of malice on his face. Her
gaze barely drifted over him, cold and calculating. He blinked, suddenly
feeling that strange emotion of prey, being ignored because he was too
weak, too... insignificant. Her grace was unconscious and lithe, as that
of a predator.

She walked down the steps and into the bar, breaking her eye contact.
The ruffian's attention was brought back to his fellows acts. In mere
moments, he would convince himself that he must have been imagining
things.

Sylia Stingray's eyes flitted across the bar's patrons. Less than normal
and probably mostly gang members to boot. They fit in easily with the
damaged furniture and peeling walls of this dump.

Fargo was in one of the most rumpled and nondescript brown suits in
existence. He was talking to an unfamiliar face behind the bar. Sylia
glided up to the bar.

"A martini." Sylia waited a moment for the bartender to procure the
drink.

Fargo nodded to her, signaling an almost empty corner where he usually
did his business. He walked over and sat down, fidgeting with his own
drink in its shot glass.

A minute later, Sylia sat next to him. "Did you find out anything about
Genom's involvement with emergency landing of Shuttle Flight number 286-
A?" she asked calmly. She pulled a drag off of her cigarette daintily.

Fargo nodded. "Yeah. Scuttlebutt is that Genom rigged the ship to crash
near a location of their choice. Five hundred million Yen in
experimental data and prototypes from the United States Military, en
route to an undisclosed base here in Japan. The Minister of Defense
can't put out a hue and cry about the missing equipment, as ninety
percent of it was illegal here in Japan."

"You're positive that it was Genom? Not another multi-national?" Sylia
asked. She hadn't had much luck finding out about what it had actually
contained.

"According to my source. He claims to have seen which warehouse they
stored it in," Fargo replied. He took a swallow from his drink, licking
his lips.

"Where?" Sylia tapped her finger on the side of her glass. Why would
Genom bother to steal prototype weapons. Most of their own designs were
years ahead of the competition.

The rest were merely comparable.

"He wouldn't tell me. Says he doesn't like dealing with middleman."
Fargo shrugged for effect.

"How much is he asking for?" Figurative little warning bells started
going off in Sylia's brain. Her face played straight and calm.

"Six hundred thousand yen by midnight tonight." Fargo's eyes blinked
every few seconds.

"And he'll only deal with me?" Sylia's leg muscles tensed, her eyes
darted to the opening of the booth. Her mind catalogued each and every
person in the bar.

"That's what he said," Fargo said woodenly. The tense atmosphere seemed
to thicken in anticipation.

"I'll have to think about it. Your payment will be in the normal place."

Fargo nodded, his hand tightening unconsciously around his glass. He
could not raise his eyes to look up at her as she left.

Sylia stood up and started to walk towards the door, when three tough
guys stepped into her way. She didn't even slow down while she snapped
her small handgun out of her ready purse, letting loose four shots into
two of them and snapping a kick at the final one.

Her gun arm was grabbed abruptly while she was balanced mid kick, her
arm up in the air. Shock showed on her face as she looked over her
shoulder at one of the thugs that had been in the far corner only a
moment ago, easily forty feet away.

He pulled the gun out of her hand professionally as he started to talk.
"Now, now. That's enough of that," he said, charm oozing off of his
voice. "You're a feisty one, aren't you? Can't have you shooting up me
boys though. You're good, really good."

Sylia twisted as she punched him in the stomach twice and then planted
her palm under his jaw. She was starting to become unnerved, as she
noted that he seemed to not feel the blows at all, standing unmoved.
Boomer! "Let me go." Perhaps words would work better, now that her
escape options were untenable.

The dark red haired man thought about it for a second. "No."

"If it's money you want, I don't carry more than a thousand Yen."

He smiled nastily, lips tight in a grinning rictus. "Yup. That's what I
want. And your boss's access to military hardware."

Sylia blinked in surprise. She must be getting sloppy, if he knew that.
"I don't know what you're talking about."

He backhanded her into a table, splitting her lip and loosening her
teeth. He walked over and picked her up by her throat as casually as if
she were a small child's doll. "Wrong answer." His eyes seemed to become
pits of darkness, sucking in her gaze along with all of the existing
light. "Tell us where you store the stuff and how to get all of your
money."

Sylia felt the compulsion flitter across her mind, demanding adherence
to his command. She blinked in surprise and stopped her voice from
illogically blurting out the address to the Silky Doll. "I'm just an
intermediary. I don't know where they keep the equipment they have me
procure."

Those eyes seemed to bore into her eyes. "Is that the truth?"

"Yes," Sylia said, shrugging off the compelling voice again. Was he a
new boomer, with some sort of hypnotic power? That would not work on
her.

"Who do you work for?" His smiling face had turned grim. He couldn't be
so wrong about this women could he? He snorted. It didn't matter, in the
long run.

"I am currently employed by EMS Engineering's Mateo Dupont. He is
already aware of what is happening here," Sylia bluffed, her expression
flat.

"Really?" the man said in a conversational voice. He jerked his thumb at
one of the people surrounding her, who was holding up a device of some
sort. "Jackie says that you aren't wired. So I bet you're boss doesn't
know, yet." He grinned suddenly. "So you're going to join my team."

"I'm not available for hire." Beads of sweat started to drip down her
back.

"Who said anything about hiring you?" he said, grinning. "My name is
Devlin of Clan McQueen. And... I am a vampire." He suddenly bared his
very real looking fangs. "And now, so are you!"

Sylia had but a moment to be shocked as she saw all of the thugs and
ruffians bare their own teeth. Her neck was suddenly twisted sideways as
pain stabbed two points of unbelievable ecstasy into her supple neck.

She struck and punched frantically, her mind fighting against her own
body's lethargy and Devlin's incredible strength. Slowly, her hands quit
struggling as her gaze started to fog over. The last thing she saw was
Fargo looking at her with sad, tortured eyes as her own eyes rolled up
into her head.

Slowly, oh so slowly, her heart beat. Longer and longer it paused.

She barely felt Devlin release her from his bite. One moment, then two
moments and her heart no longer beat. Sylia could not even scream aloud
as some liquid was poured down her throat, burning as if the most potent
of acid, sickening salty.

Devlin smiled as he felt her take her first active sip of his blood. He
cradled her carefully as she suckled unconsciously, her body betraying
her to the darkness of night. After just a few moments, he pulled his
wrist away, the blood stopping its flow.

He watched in anticipation for a few minutes. The first few moments of a
vampire's existence were usually the most traumatic that a person ever
experienced. It was important for them to see their sire and understand
their helplessness.

Sylia twitched continuously, her body uncontrolled by any motive force.
Devlin started to frown. She should have become conscious by now.

Slowly, the twitching subsided. Jackie started to lean down to whisper
something in Devlin's ear, when he was suddenly knocked aside by Devlin.
He lifted her into a limp sitting position, opening her eyes with his
fingers.

"Her mind does not dwell in this vampires body. The flesh is quickened,
but I can not see her within it." He stood suddenly and walked away.
Just as he was about to the door. "Fargo. Clean this mess up. Make sure
she isn't found."

Fargo nodded mutely. As the vampires left the empty bar, he carefully
picked up the flaccid body. "I'm sorry, Sylia. But... he owns me, body
and soul. I... I can't fight him. I don't even want to try anymore,"
Fargo said finally, his voice choking.

He carefully lifted her, one of her arms over his shoulder. He was soon
driving down into an even worse section of Tokyo, leaving the bright
lights of life behind.

Broken rock walls and shattered buildings lined the precarious road he
took deeper into the canyons. His unobtrusive dark blue sedan pulled in
between two shattered buildings, hiding from prying eyes. At the end of
the alley lay a black chasm, one of the many remnants of the Second
Kanto earthquake.

With no fanfare, he released the body, hearing it crash to the ground
far below. "Goodbye." Fargo turned his back and drove off into the
night. He just couldn't force himself to destroy the body. Even under
the compulsion.

Sylia screamed in her mind again, desperately praying that someone could
hear her. Help me! Don't leave me here, she entreated. I'm still alive!
Her mind tried to reach out to someone, anyone; striving vainly.

But the night only answered her with cold indifference, a mocking laugh
at her and her efforts.

-

Priss belted out one of her new songs as she gyrated her hips on stage.
She was wearing her trademark leather skirt and halter, pale blond wig
and pale face paint. Flashing lights and her booming music filling the
nightclub that she was performing in. During one of the quick pauses in
between sets, a sudden chill swept over her, causing her to look around,
as if she expected an attack at any moment. Reddish brown eyes swept the
room, taking in all of the patrons. "What?!" Priss muttered to herself.

In a corner, Leon McNichol watched his favorite singer avidly. He
slammed down his drink, his eyes meeting hers for just a second. As she
watched, he raised his mug and cheered with the rest of the audience,
jolting her back into action.

Nene slumped over desk, a pile of paper work threatening to take it
over. She yawned hugely and then smiled in abrupt anticipation, as a
huge ice cream Sunday appeared in front of her. Her desk partner gave
her a thumbs up as she turned back to her desk after delivering Nene's
favorite treat.

"Thanks, Naoko!" Nene chimed. She was just about to dig in, when a sense
of dread filled her. Blue-green eyes blinked nervously, looking around
the office in confusion.

Linna laughed as she walked along with her dinner date, a handsome young
man who was dressed quite snappily. He held open the door for her, when
she too felt a strange, dreadful feeling wash over her. Her dark eyes
looked around, trying to see what was out of the ordinary, totally
ignoring the questions being directed at her for a second.

In a huff, her date closed her door and entered on his side of the car.
Linna belatedly realized that he was leaving her as his engine revved
up. He pulled out and away, ignoring her as she waved for him to wait.

"Damn! What a jerk!" Linna yelled out. "Grrr. How am I going to find a
taxi at this time of night?"

Mackie turned and tossed in his bed, as nightmarish images of death and
suffering filled his sleep. Finally, he drifted off to a deeper sleep,
untroubled by strangeness once more.

-

Night was burned away by the day and day was swallowed whole by the
night. Sylia's body had lain dormant the entire day, in a crumpled heap
in the snow, only a small piece of dark gray sky had been visible from
the hole that she lay in. But with the night, Sylia's body awoke with a
ravening hunger with no conscious control, twitching silently again.

The first sign of consciousness was her eyes opening. Sylia could have
shouted in relief, if she'd been able to. A moment later, her voice
gurgled in triumph. Her hands and feet started to tremble, as Sylia
became aware of an overwhelming hunger. As with any bodily functions,
she pushed them to the background, until she could take charge of the
situation.

Minute by minute, she relearned to use her body at an amazing speed. She
crammed in the experience of growing from child to adult in less than a
half an hour. Still stumbling, she finally managed to crawl to her feet,
looking up into the air at her possible escape. Almost seventy feet of
sheer rock.

Not in her current shape, she decided. She scanned the crevice that she
had fallen into. To her left, it fell off sharply. To her right, it
curved out of sight. If she had landed just a little differently, she
would have kept falling, dashing herself on rock the entire way.

Stepping carefully, keeping one hand on the wall, she worked her way
forward. Each step became more confident, sure of itself. Soon she came
to the ruins of what looked to be some sort of underground garage. It
had mostly fallen in on itself, but she thought she could see a possible
pathway. She struggled until she finally heard off in the distance the
sound of loud, angry music and shouting.

Creeping slowly forward, she saw lights down a passage. As quiet as a
mouse, she approached the lights

"Hey! Micha! What's taking so long? We can't start a party without
entertainment!" a voice called out loudly.

"Shut your trap, Jamal. They'll be here in an hour. You can wait,"
another voice called out.

Sylia's eyes narrowed as she came close to a doorway. Little light
reached her eyes as she looked into the room. Trash and mattresses lay
on the ground, blankets thrown haphazardly here and there. Sylia saw one
of the only two figures leave the room. She had to get out now, while
the getting was good.

Sylia took stock of her situation and capabilities. No gun, but her
knife on her hip slid easily into grasp. She had no illusions, that one
punk would not stop her. Settling her suit coat on her body a bit, she
slid the knife into her sleeve, ready to be retrieved in a moment.

As if she didn't have a care in the world, she stepped out into the room
and started to walk towards the other exit.

Jamal blinked in surprise, spitting out some of his whiskey. "What the
fuck?" The clothing she was wearing looked like it had been nice at one
time. It also looked as if a gang had attacked her. And then dropped her
onto a very large pile of dirt.

Sylia ignored him and continued walking.

"Hey! I'm talking to you. What the hell are you doing down here?" he
demanded, starting to catch up to her.

Sylia didn't stop walking, but did turn to look at him. "I am leaving.
That is all."

"Look, bitch. This is the Weasel's turf. You don't just walk in here and
expect to leave without talking to me, Jamal the ruthless." For
emphasis, he twirled open a butterfly knife expertly.

"I don't want any problems," Sylia said, showing no concern, but turning
towards him, slowing as she spoke.

"Hell, lady, you're already a problem. If you aren't careful, you're
gonna be dead," Jamal said threateningly. "Why don't you sit you ass
down and you're gonna tell me what you're doing here." He leered at her
as he got a better look at her. Sweet!

Sylia noted the expression, realizing that further talk would be a waste
as he built up the courage to attack her. With a negligent flip of her
wrist she snapped her blade out and cut his knife hand faster than Jamal
could blink.

Jamal blinked stupidly at his bleeding wrist as his knife clattered to
the ground. "ARGH! You bitch!"

Sylia blinked as her hunger almost seemed to roar in her ears, demanding
that it be sated. The smell of blood seemed to be intoxicating. Her body
took a step forward, almost of its own violation. She clenched her jaw,
feeling a tightening of new muscles above her canines. With a sickening
surety, Sylia knew that she had just unsheathed her own fangs.

Jamal roared as he charged her, swinging his good fist at her, trying to
knock her out quickly. Sylia stepped past the punch, jamming the knife
into his chest right next to his sternum.

The smell of blood assailed her. This was what her body was craving, she
realized. Not surprising, but still unnerving, all the same.

The thug's expression changed to horrified surprise ever so slowly, as
he realized the mortal wound he had just taken.

Sylia coldly and analytically went over what little information she knew
of vampires. The only thing that she could safely say that she knew for
sure of them, was that they needed blood to feed, to survive, and that
they had fangs.

And survive she would. From a little girl that had plotted her revenge
against Genom when she was twelve, to the young woman who had sworn to
protect her father's technology from abuse, to the mercenary who led the
Knight Sabers, one thing had been constant. Sylia was a survivor who
succeeded.

In that one moment of Jamal's realization of his death, these thoughts
flashed through her mind. With shockingly little remorse, she pushed the
knife deeper, while suddenly biting into his throat, her other arm
curling around him as she sucked greedily at his lifeblood. The salty
liquid tasted like the nectar of life to her, unlocking some nameless
recess in her mind.

Jamal struggled for a moment, until he blacked out from shock and blood
loss. A minute later, Sylia let his cooling body slump to the ground.
For one long moment, she stared at him, the second human to die by her
hands.

She stripped her suit jacket off, using it to clean her lips off. She
dropped the cloth off on top of the corpse. She hurriedly dowsed him in
the potent liquor that he had been drinking. Slipping into his leather
jacket, she lit him on fire with a cigarette lighter.

She hid in the shadows near the entry for a moment. The other gang
member trotted in, a gun in his hand, obviously expecting trouble, her
patience rewarded by waiting for him to appear.

As he tried to deal with the blazing body, she disappeared the way he
had entered, seeking an exit.

Minutes later, she was on the deserted streets of the Canyons. In
seconds, she was knew where she was and was walking purposefully towards
the nearest location where she could call a taxi.

-

Sylia watched as the robotic taxi drove off, turning back to walk into
the back entrance of her store. Her keys let her in to the business
receiving area. She tapped in her key code to unlock the penthouse
elevator, putting her hand up against the sensor plate.

"Error," a cheerful voice chirped.

Sylia stared in surprise at the small screen. Invalid biological
reading? She typed in a much longer pass code. Her hands danced along
merrily. In moments, she had the reason for the error.

Her palm had been too cold, the hand of a dead corpse. Her security had
been set up in place to make it so that even in death, none of the
Knight Sabers could betray her.

Nodding to herself grimly, she opened the elevator. When she had stepped
out upstairs, she headed for her room.

-

Mackie was startled by the sound of his sister's door closing down the
hall. He jumped to his feet, ignoring the metal components of the small
engine as they fell to the ground. He was down to her door as quickly as
humanly possible. Without even knocking, he walked in, calling out,
"Sylia! Where have you been?"

Mackie stopped, as he realized that Sylia was in the process of
disrobing. She was down to bra and panties, holding her shirt to her
chest.

Sylia looked over her shoulder at Mackie. "Mackie, what have I said
about knocking before entering?" she chided lightly. "I'll be out in a
minute. I need to clean up."

Mackie nodded, stumbling back out to let her clean up. He slumped up
against the door after he closed it. He'd been so worried, but
everything was fine.

-

"So, what happened? You usually tell someone when you disappear." Mackie
was flopped on the couch, vaguely listening to the news. He noted in the
back of his mind that Sylia was even paler than normal. She really did
need to get more sun.

Sylia sat herself down and turned towards Mackie. She had a bathrobe on
and a towel wrapped around her head. "I was attacked, but I managed to
escape."

Mackie looked shocked. "Attacked? Who? Was it Genom again?" He suddenly
realized that his fist was clenched.

"No, it wasn't Genom. It was... something else. Something that I had not
been aware of." Sylia drummed her fingers on the chair's arm.

"So let's get the Knight Sabers over here and deal with the situation!"
Mackie exclaimed.

"No." Sylia speared him with a glance. "The Knight Sabers are not a tool
of retribution. That is not why I created them."

Mackie gulped. Sylia sounded serious! "But what about Mason?"

"Mason was an obvious threat to our organization. He was in the process
of preparing to destroy us." Since when had the fans become so loud? And
what was that disturbing beating sound?

"That isn't how I heard it!" Mackie exclaimed.

"Priss was lucky in that I was preparing to deal with Mason and that I
felt it important enough to keep the Knight Sabers together to back her
up." Sylia pursed her lips angrily. Well, at least as angrily as she
would normally show.

"So you're just going to ignore them?" Mackie asked.

"No, I am not going to ignore them. But I'm not going to run in
unprepared, either. This new foe could prove to be quite as deadly as
Genom." Sylia stood up and walked over to the window, staring out into
the dark night.

"Are you all right, Sylia?" Mackie asked, unnerved by her behavior. He
stood up and put his hand on her shoulder.

"No, I am not all right." Sylia paused for just a moment. "Please, don't
touch me. Not right now."

Mackie pulled his hand back. "Ah, sorry."

Sylia stared into the night, without really seeing anything. "Mackie, I
may need to... have you put off you going to college for a year." She
glanced at him in the reflection of the glass. "At least not off to
Germany like you planned."

"But Sylia!" Mackie exclaimed.

Sylia bowed her head, closing her eyes so that she wouldn't have to see
his agitation. "If... if I could do this without you, Mackie, I would.
But I really... need your help right now. I need you to take over the
day to day operation of the Silky Doll, while I prepare to deal with
this new threat."

Mackie opened his mouth, but stopped himself before continuing to argue.
Sylia almost never admitted needing help. Ever. She must really be
serious.

Mackie shivered unconsciously. Genom controlled many aspects of multiple
governments, was wealthy beyond imagination and could test military
grade weapons in a major metropolis with impunity. Sylia was worried
enough that she didn't even want him to know their identity.

"I guess I could look at going to a local university," Mackie replied.
He schooled his face to hide his disappointment. Family was more
important than college.

"Thank you, Mackie." Sylia looked out into the darkness, trying to
fathom just how little she really knew.

Far too little, she decided. She would have to arrange to have Mackie
and all of the Knight Sabers flown somewhere if she were captured or
discovered.

She didn't want them dragged down into this new hell of hers.

-

State of the art armored doors swished open, allowing Sylia access to
her laboratory and manufacturing shop. A quick glance revealed that
nothing had been moved since she had last been down here. In moments she
had several sensors attached to herself after disrobing. Without any
fanfare, she lay down on a thin slab of metal that stuck out of the
wall.

Sylia quickly tapped some keys on the bench. A round opening irised open
and slowly slid the bench in. Brilliant lights swirled and danced, going
over every square inch of her body.

Minutes later, she was released as the bench slid out into the room. She
slowly sat up, her mind in agony, as always when she used the EMR
scanner. In careful steps, she slid off and put on her fluffy bathrobe.
She collapsed into her chair, waiting patiently for the computer to
process the readings as she recovered.

Ten minutes later, she had the unsurprising data. According to it, she
was dead. No heartbeat, no appreciable living body temperature. She was
also a bit lighter, which was because she had almost no body fat. No
food in her stomach. Her intestines looked atrophied already.

Some things were surprising. Some sort of tissue had grown around her
brain. No respiration was occurring at all. It made no sense. Where was
the energy coming from to move around? She continued to ponder the
information for the few hours left of the night, lost in thought as she
went over the specifics of the data.

Sylia felt a sudden lethargy seep into her bones. She looked around in a
panic, expecting to see Devlin or one of his group. Nothing greeted her
gaze. With fingers that felt as if they were mired in setting epoxy, she
turned on several camera views around the building. Nothing unusual met
her eyes, until a camera on the roof showed her the brightening orange
of the Sun peeking above the buildings to the east.

Fear arose in her breast. Sunrise! Of course. Vampires are creatures of
the night, they can not exist during the day, so they... sleep?
Hibernate? She had lost track of time. Would she be safe here?

Sylia forced her flagging body to rise, staggering over to the door.
Fingers tapped at buttons unsteadily, typing in a long and complex code,
shutting herself off from the outside world.

As her body collapsed, she determined to herself that she was going to
bring a pillow and blankets down here in the future.

-

"What do you mean, she's fine? Why isn't she here to tell us herself?"
Priss demanded.

Nene nodded her agreement. She was sitting stiffly, still in her uniform
as she had to go to work in an hour or so.

Mackie shrugged helplessly. "I don't know what's going on. She showed up
last night, out of the blue and acting all weird."

Linna looked up from where she had been reading a magazine on the couch.
"What do you mean? Sylia's always been a bit, well, different. Reserved,
if you know what I mean."

"Ah, well she mentioned that she'd been attacked. She thinks it might be
something almost as bad as Genom." He held up his hands to forestall any
questions. "Don't ask. She didn't tell me who or what. I think she's
trying to protect me or something."

Nene blinked and her expression changed to show a bit of fear. "A-
anything else?"

Mackie replied without thinking, "Not much, except for asking me to put
of going to college in Germany to help her out here."

Linna and Priss exchanged a worried glance. Sylia asked someone to help
her out?

"Germany?" Nene burst out in surprise. "When were you going to go to
Germany?!" Her face couldn't help to show how betrayed she felt over
that bit of information.

Mackie looked like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"Ah, I was, uh, going to college there in a couple of weeks."

Nene stared at him as she cogitated on that information. "A-and you
weren't going to tell me?"

"Er, no. Uh, maybe! Wait, of course I was! Well, I wasn't sure how to
tell you. I didn't think you'd understand," Mackie replied hurriedly,
looking uncomfortable and panicked.

Priss slammed her hand down on the table. "Look, that isn't important
right now! Sylia needs us! You can have your lover's quarrel later!" She
glared at each of them in turn. "The important thing is to find her!"

"I'm right here," Sylia said, walking into her living room at that
moment. She was still clad in her fluffy bathrobe from last night,
looking slightly disheveled.

"Uh, Sylia! Er, how much did you hear?" Priss asked abashedly.

"Considering that you were shouting loud enough to wake the dead, quite
a bit," Sylia said wryly. At least some of her sense of humor had
survived, she noted. "Thank you for all coming over. There are some
changes that we need to go over."

"What's going on, Sylia?" Linna asked pointedly.

"I'm not sure at this time. I need more information. One thing that all
of you need to be aware of is that Fargo has been compromised. I am not
sure how much he knows, but if you see him, I want you to leave
immediately and tell me."

All of them nodded in response. Sylia continued, "I don't think he knows
any of you, so you should be fine. However, he could be in the company
of some very unfriendly people."

"So what other changes are going to be happening?" Priss asked.

"We are going to be making some changes in how the Knight Sabers are
run." Sylia turned to look at Priss. "I am going to be giving you more
access and control in the running of the Knight Sabers. Mackie will be
helping out with the Silky Doll and some daily business dealings."

"What will you be doing, Sylia?" Nene asked worriedly.

"I am going to be busy reworking the hardsuits and some changes to
internal security," Sylia lied easily, her face calm and passive. "So
don't be surprised if you don't see me around as much."

"Oh! Cool! Are you going to be able to add some better weapons to my
suit?" Nene asked excitedly.

Sylia smiled, slightly amused. If only Nene could get her self
confidence up, she would see that she does just fine. "We'll see. I have
some ideas. I don't think I'll have time for some of the more esoteric
devices, unfortunately."

"Crud. I was wanting to be able to help more in combat." Nene pouted.

"If you'd quit being a wimp you'd do a lot better," Priss pointed out
snidely.

"And lose some weight," Linna pointed out helpfully.

"You guys!" Nene looked on the verge of crying.

"Hey, quit it! Nene does a lot for the team!" Mackie spoke up hotly.

Nene jumped to her feet, her blue eyes almost flashing angrily. "I don't
need you to defend me, Mackie! I can do fine all by myself!" With that
she turned and stalked off.

Mackie just stood there for a second, pushed back into action by the
slamming of the door as she left. "Nene!" Mackie called out.

He was interrupted from following by Sylia's hand gripping his arm.
"Mackie, I think she needs to calm down right now. Why don't you... try
to make up to her tomorrow. Take her out to dinner or for a treat."

"But..." Mackie looked torn. "I guess so." His shoulders slumped.

Sylia turned back to Priss and Linna. "Priss, I will see you tomorrow
about seven o'clock. Thank you both for showing up tonight." Sylia
turned and walked out of the room, heading for her private rooms.

Priss frowned and looked a Linna and Mackie. Linna just shrugged. That
had been oddly curt, even for Sylia.

Mackie just looked off in to infinity, his thoughts miles away, worried
about a certain red-head.

-

Leon whistled as he walked towards the dispatch office. He'd chat with
Naoko about this little problem with prioritization during combat
situations. Then he'd bounce it off Nene when she showed up in about a
half an hour, late as usual. He didn't know how she kept her job, other
than she seemed to be an absolute wiz on the phones and at directing the
TAC squads to track down rogue boomers.

Leon was suddenly twisted as a shorter person pushed by him in a rush,
her shoulder catching his tricep painfully. "Hey, you! Watch where
you're going!" he barked out immediately without thinking.

The doors slid open as Nene stopped almost mid stride. Nene whirled on
him, "Shove it Leon! I am not in the mood to deal with you right now!"
She stomped over to her desk and slammed into her chair. She was only
sitting for a bare second before she stood up and stomped off to the
bathroom.

During the entire time, everyone who wasn't on the phones (and a few who
were) watched her stalk off as if she had grown two extra heads and was
breathing fire.

Leon slid his sunglasses down his nose, looking at Nene blankly. "Uh,
maybe I'll come back later." What had brought that on?

Naoko nodded wildly. As if Leon's voice were a cue, everyone in the
office suddenly jumped back into their jobs.

-

Sylia weaved in and out of the crowd in the club. This was the third
club that she had visited this evening. And this was only one night out
of a long week of nights. A quick bit of checking around had garnered
which clubs opened late and stayed open until nearly dawn. She figured
if there was anywhere vampires could be found, it had to be something
that was open all night. If clubs didn't work, she was going to start
checking bars and all night movie theaters.

The only problem was, she wasn't sure what to look for other than pale
people with fangs. She sighed as she put up with the itchy, long black
wig and overly tight, black pants and hot pink tank top. She hadn't had
the opportunity to go 'clubbing' in forever. It was a bit disturbing
first. But after several days, it was just laborious.

A new man moved in front of her, looking to start dancing to the next
song. He was wearing a white ruffled shirt and tight black pants. Knee
boots finished off the outfit, which accented his darker, Mediterranean
heritage. "Hey ya! Been in the city long?" he yelled to her.

Sylia put a smile on her face. Stick to the truth as much as possible.
"I was born here," she yelled back.

Sylia felt a tendril seep across her consciousness, inviting her to
trust him, like him. "Really? How long have been a part of the night
crowd?" he asked, still smiling, fangs just barely peeking out through
his lips.

Sylia let her smile drop. They had found her? "Not long." She had
contingency plans in place this time. She was not going to be caught off
guard.

"Hey! How about I introduce you around?" he asked, starting to dance
under the strobing lights.

"I don't know," Sylia answered truthfully. "I'm a little... nervous."

"Don't you fret you're head, chica! You'll be under my protection for
tonight." They danced for a minute or so. He continued, "My names
Anton!"

"Sylvie!" Sylia responded.

The song finally finished up. "Follow me, Sylvie. I promise that you
won't be attacked for at least this night."

Sylia nodded slowly, walking behind him. Anton walked on unconcerned, a
casual grace evident in each step. He walked to the back of the club,
where a sign proclaimed that the area they were entering was for 'The
Parapet - Private Club, Members only'.

Anton waved aside two large men who were wearing security jackets. They
nodded to both of them as they stepped through. Sylia blinked as her
eyes adjusted to the dimness of the club. Softer music, almost classical
drifted across the room.

Faded and peeling paint did not give the room a fun atmosphere. Two men
in a corner argued quietly, one of them was wearing an expensive suit.
About four people watched them as they continued on with their
discussion.

Sylia was struck by how normal or drab all of them were, except for the
man in the suit. None of them would ever stick out much in any crowd.

Anton gestured over to a drab pool table and some chairs that were lying
around. "We can wait over here."

Sylia kept her eyes half on the group in the corner. Anton looked on,
his face a mask of indifference.

The minutes passed slowly, until some sort of agreement was reached. The
man in the suit glanced around as he walked off, barely giving Sylia a
glance.

The rest of them walked over to her and Anton. "So, Anton, any luck?"
The leader of the new group asked warily. His hair was so blond as to be
almost white, cut fairly short and neat. Two men and one woman followed
him, while the last went into a different room.

Anton shrugged. "She's not violent and she came along peacefully. I
decided to wait for the rest of the posse before getting more
information." He stood up, gesturing grandly. "Posse, meet Sylvie.
Sylvie, this is James, Jito, Sayuri and Rumio."

Sylia nodded. "I'm not sure why you brought me back here."

"Oh, that's simple. We want to know who sent you and what you want," the
leader responded, he was the one pointed out by James with the blond
hair.

Sylia blinked. "No one sent me. And... I'm not sure what I want. I'm a
little lost."

"Not sure? Who and what are you, Sylvie?" James asked intently.

Sylia felt something crawling around for purchase on her mind, but it
washed over her soundlessly to no effect. "My name is Sylvie Axari. And
I'm not sure exactly about anything else," Sylia said, shrugging her
shoulders to show that she didn't know.

James blinked once. "Oh? Who created you? How old are you?" Odd, she
didn't respond automatically and woodenly. She reacted like he hadn't
been able to control her. That could be bad. That would mean she was
more powerful than him!

"I... I'd rather not say. I'm afraid he might try to take me or kill
me." Sylia looked puzzled. "Why do you want to know how old I am?"

His eyes seemed to bore into her soul. "Answer my questions."

Sylia frowned at him as she had that crawling feeling across her mind
again. "Quit that. It won't work."

Anton blinked. "Really? Why not?" he asked conversationally. His eyes
seemed to be riveted to her.

Sylia turned her head slightly to look at the other man. "I don't know.
I feel something but it can't force me to do anything."

Anton whistled, slightly stunned by that revelation. "You can feel his
mind trying to control yours?"

Sylia stared at him a second and then nodded. "It's like the one that...
made me. He couldn't control my mind either. That was when he drained me
dry and... made me a vampire, I guess."

James nodded, as if to himself. "Who?"

"How do I know you won't turn me over to him?" Sylia countered calmly,
looking straight in his eyes.

"You don't." James eyes showed no emotion in return. They almost seemed
to glint in the darkness.

"Anton guaranteed my safety for tonight," Sylia informed him primly.

Moments passed and then James smiled, his face suddenly alive and sunny.
He looked over at Anton. "Bad Anton!" He waggled his finger at him.
Anton just shrugged back. "Now, as Anton is a good friend of mine, I'll
agree that for tonight, here, you're safe. I won't promise anything
after you leave."

Sylia's eyes flickered to the other vampires. "And them?"

"They'll follow me or they get to go through me!" James said forcefully,
pinning each of his group with his piercing stare.

They all nodded in response. Rumio nodded last, eyeing Sylia curiously.

Sylia stared directly at James. James met her gaze, a thoughtful
expression on his face.

"He said his name was Devlin McQueen," Sylia said finally.

James narrowed his eyes. "Hmm."

All of the other vampires shuffled their feet nervously.

They both watched each other for some hidden clue, some fragment of
meaning that would give them that important tidbit. James finally
replied, "He has a reputation for a certain... ruthlessness. You could
say that he's even a bit infamous, here in Tokyo."

Sylia looked at him intently. "Really?" Sylia said dryly, a hard edge of
sarcasm evident in her voice.

James smiled thinly. "Rumor has it that he had a good line on some
military hardware, but his contact didn't work out. You wouldn't know
anything about that, would you?"

"Maybe." Could they know who she really was? Was Devlin that big of a
'noise' in this vampire community?

Anton snickered appreciatively. At least she wasn't stupid. "So how long
have you been embraced, Sylvie?"

Sylia's eyes flickered toward the Mediterranean dandy. Embraced? That
was probably being made a vampire, she guessed. "A week."

"And you managed to survive all by yourself?" James said to himself,
almost under his breath as he leaned forward in his chair. "You're one
tough lady. So, have you killed yet?" His eyes seemed to be looking for
something.

"Yes. I was attacked and I... fed. He would have died anyways."

Anton narrowed his eyes. "So, you feel no remorse?"

Sylia shrugged. "He was going to do worse to me, I'm sure. I had to do
it to survive." Her voice betrayed none of the anguish she felt.

Rumio looked up suddenly, her eyes riveted to the doorway that the
suited gentleman had left through. The door opened, admitting three new
people.

Sylia's eyes met Devlin's from across the room, challenging him by her
mere presence.

Devlin unzipped his leather jacket casually. "My, my! I'd thought you
had been destroyed. Fargo had said he had taken care of that little
mess, Sylia dear."

Even as Devlin entered and started to walk towards her, Sylia had jumped
to her feet and raced to the other door. Her padded purse disgorged two
parts of a large, broken down handgun. With practiced movements, she had
it snapped together in a flash.

Devlin just shook his head. "You should know that that isn't going to
work..."

Sylia didn't even pause in her run, snapping off a thundering shot that
staggered her two steps sideways and spun him around from the shot's
force, almost disintegrating his left shoulder in the process.

Two more shots followed as Devlin fell to the ground, hitting him in the
stomach and right thigh. His cohorts looked on in surprise, finally
overcoming their surprise to pull out their own guns to pepper some
shots back at her.

Sylia dashed through the door and made a sharp right, heading for the
exit. She dropped a small cylinder behind her as she ran for her life.
Two security guards barred her exit from the building. They seemed to
react slowly, barely reaching for their stun guns.

With a flash of brilliant light, the concussive grenade she dropped
exploded, catapulting the first vampire out into the dance floor, while
flinging the others back into The Parapet. People started screaming in
panic, unsure of what was going on. Someone started screaming boomer.

The guards at the exit had finally recovered enough to pull out their
guns and had them leveled at Sylia as she ran towards them. One of them
yelled out, "Freeze! Or I'll fire!" as he dropped to his knee in a
classic firing position.

He was stopped from following through with his threat as a large
motorcycle crashed through the door, knocking him over as it roared on
by. The big blue bike's tires squealed as it spun to a halt, right in
front of Sylia. Without any fanfare, she hopped on the bike and spun it
out, going back out the destroyed door in roar of its engine and the
squeal of burning rubber.

Just a flicker of motion in her mirrors and Sylia ducked low at the very
last second, as a baseball bat swished through the air where her head
had been. The vampire had already gotten to its feet and almost caught
up to her, while she was driving off on a motorcycle! She twisted the
accelerator as hard as possible.

By the time she had hit the street, she was doing eighty kph and
accelerating on one wheel. In her rear view mirror, she saw Devlin's two
vampires hop on their own street bikes and take off after her. She
opened up the engine all the way. Turning suddenly, she curved around a
corner and onto a highway, where she could open up the big engines of
the motorcycle.

"Damn!" Sylia hissed, passing a Normal Police cruiser on the freeway
traffic while doing over three hundred kph. She glanced back in
frustration. She didn't need police problems on top of everything else.

The officer in question just blinked in surprise as the bike rocketed by
his police cruiser with a roar. He set his coffee cup on in the console
and flicked on his lights, his engine whining to life as it sped up. Two
more bullet bikes zipped on by him right as he accelerated.

"Punks! I'll show you!" He flicked his radio on. "Control, this is squad
car 251 on Highway 6, driving west past Tinsletown. I am in pursuit of
three motorcycles in violation of numerous traffic laws and driving
recklessly. Possible gang activity. Request backup and oversight, out!"

"Roger, Car 251. Affirmative on backup and oversight," the voice over
the radio responded.

-

Devlin groaned on the spattered floor. He grit his teeth as the blood in
his body flowed at his command. Impossibly, miraculously, his wounds
started to heal. The dark fluid magically transmuting into muscle and
bones in soundless horror.

"God damn that witch! I'll see her burn in hell!" Devlin roared out,
staggering to his feet. His hunger screamed its agony, its demands to
him. Devlin hissed, looking around the room, his eyes wild and
dangerous. Several of the vampires understood his frantic gaze and
stepped back unconsciously. A hungry vampire is a very dangerous thing.

Rumio had slowly slipped to the back of the room where a small fridge
was kept stocked with blood in different liquor bottles. She felt,
rather than saw the crazed vampire abruptly head towards her. Her
fingers scrabbled frantically at the bottle cap. At the very last
moment, she turned and threw the bottle lightly into the air and watched
in morbid fascination as Devlin snagged it and drank the entire wine
bottle in one obscenely large gulp.

Sentience reasserted itself in Devlin's eyes, his angry glare
encompassing the entire room. "Where is she?" he demanded quietly. His
tone of voice promised death.

James stood lightly on his feet, poised to fight or flee at a moments
notice. Each of his people had guns out and ready. He suddenly relaxed
marginally. "Sylvie? She took one look at you and ran off while shooting
you with the biggest damn handgun I've ever seen. Professional lady you
embraced there, old chap. She covered her own exit and took off on some
AI controlled motorbike from hell."

McQueen snarled deep in his throat. "She's mine! I claim her life for
her attempt to kill me!"

James nodded. "I won't fight you over some unknown child." The rest of
the vampires nodded their agreement in that. "I won't help you, either.
I'm not going to get sucked into some private vendetta." He grinned
suddenly. "You might want to warn your men who went after Sylvie. She's
a dangerous little hotty."

Devlin smiled, his expression made ghastly by the smeared blood on his
lips. "Perfectly fine. And her name isn't 'Sylvie,' it is Sylia, Sylia
Stingray."

Behind Devlin, Anton frowned. She lied to him, even as he stared into
the depths of her soul. His frown disappeared as suddenly as it
appeared. Perhaps he should find out what was so different about her
before turning her over to Devlin and his crowd.

James had seen that quick change go over Anton. Inwardly he felt sorry
for the young woman, thrust so suddenly in the midst of centuries old
predators.

She would be lucky to live out a week.

-

Sylia swerved in and out of traffic on the highway, headlights strobing
the night as the night's wind tore at her with chill fingers. A quick
glance showed the two bikes slowly closing on her. For just a second,
she wished that she had Priss's skill with bike riding. They were only
barely gaining. If she had been just a bit more skilled, she could
probably lose them on her own.

He eyes narrowed, as she saw an exit to one of the abandoned upper level
roads coming up fast. The engine screamed as she pushed the engine to
the max, cutting off two cars and almost causing an accident. She needed
to get away from the police and any innocents who might get hurt in a
crossfire. The barricade in front of her didn't even slow down her
heavily armored bike.

The two bikes behind her slid smoothly up the incline, not even missing
a beat. Hunched over they coaxed every last bit of performance out of
their monster bikes. They had to admire their prey's choice of
motorcycle, as they were having to really push themselves to catch up.

High above them and straining to keep up, an ADP helicopter trained its
cameras on the three bikes. "Control, this is flight 52-Hornet, in
pursuit of suspects on motorcycles, now turning off on too... elevated
Highway 24-D. Over." With practiced ease, he brought the speedy
helicopter up behind them. His military helmet's pickup zoomed in on the
one bike in the lead.

The ADP dispatcher hunched over her desk, her fingers flying across her
keyboard and screen. "All units, the suspects have left Highway 8. The
lead suspect has been tentatively identified as being involved in an
armed confrontation, possible boomer incident number 16-2. Suspect is
considered to be armed and dangerous. Over."

An officer leaned over her desk, studying the screens. He touched a
button on his headset. "All units, lead suspect appear to be trying to
escape or evade the other two motorcycles. How long until those high
speed chasers can catch up?"

Leon grinned as his cruiser bounced off the ramp a bit, turning up the
on ramp. Squealing tires complained about the stress loudly. Time for
another tune up, Leon thought to himself. As soon as he had a straight
of way, his fingers stabbed at four buttons in sequence. His engine's
roar turned into a scream as fins and air intakes turned the car into
the fastest turbine charged police chaser in Japan. The two other ADP
police chaser's followed suit, falling in behind Leon, lights and sirens
blaring.

Daley just sighed and picked up the microphone. "Control, this is
Detective Wong. We should be catching up to the suspects in about a
minute. Over."

"Roger. All units, Highway 24-D is partially demolished and ends twenty-
five clicks in front of the nearest units. Be warned and watch for the
end of the road. Over."

Sylia's motoslave's console started to flash a warning, showing a
collision warning, six kilometers ahead. She gripped the brakes while
sliding the bike to a stop. By the end of the slide she had spun the
back around toward her pursuers. Her thumb toggled a safety screen off
on her grip and fired almost immediately.

The two vampires were grinning as they saw her up ahead, until two
plumes of smoke exploded from the undercarriage of Sylia's bike. The two
missiles acquired their targets instantly as they spiraled in, signaling
each other on which missile was targeting which bike.

One of the vampires reacted quicker than the other and leaped just
before the missiles hit. He was flung into the air, his momentum
throwing him over the curving edge of the highway. His partner didn't
even have the chance to scream as he and his bike was engulfed in a
blistering explosion that melted asphalt.

Sylia nodded as she brought up the mini-computer console on the bike.
There was only one way out of here on ground and that was going to be
blocked by the cops any moment. The whirring roar of a helicopter
interrupted her.

"Control! The lead suspect has fired what appear to be missiles at the
other suspects. Both pursuer bikes are hit and down! Asking for
permission to unlock weapons and take her down! Over!"

The controller looked up at the commanding officer for his decision. He
nodded curtly back. "Roger, 52-Hornet, take him down, hard!" she said, a
hard edge on her own voice.

"Confirmed!" the pilot responded, flicking several toggles and freeing
the gun to follow his helmet finder.

Sylia saw the helicopter come back around, it's gun swing around to
target her. She spun out and angled away towards the helicopter as it
flew overhead, spitting a stream of bullet that just missed her bike.

Leon swore as he saw the target heading towards the end of the highway.
It jogged back and forth, bullets just barely missing the fleeing
figure.

Sylia laid the bike on its side just a mere thirty feet from the edge,
sparks flying from the armored carapace as she shed as much speed as
possible while trying not to be hit. Her wheels wavered back and forth,
as she struggled to control the bike.

Daley gripped the dashboard as he saw the bike go over the edge, the ADP
attack helicopter attempting to turn and follow the strange maneuver.
"What the hell?" he cried out.

Sylia felt the bike starting to slip out of her grasp. One last twist of
the controls and a frantic cybernetic command shifted the bike into its
motoroid form. Its arm caught her as the shoulder mounted jet engines
turned it to fly back under the bridge, still losing attitude. In the
few seconds available, it rocketed behind a building and turned down a
side street. In a moment more, it was again a motorcycle, cruising along
the road. Soon, not even the shadows could see her, as she disappeared.

"Control! I have lost the target! I have negative contact and no
confirmed hits!" the pilot called out, after managing to turn around.

Leon skidded the car to a stop and popped open his door. He trotted to
the edge while pulling out his gun, his slicked back hair being mussed
by the high winds. Nothing but slums and deserted buildings met his view
for thousands of feet.

"Control, I can confirm that. We've lost the bogie!" Leon glanced at his
partner in confusion. What had they been chasing, a ghost? Something
nagged at him, gnawing at the edge of his conscious. Whatever it was,
maybe it would come to him later.

Daley just rubbed his chin in thought as he nodded absently back to
Leon.

-

Sylia turned her motorcycle into an alley near the Silky Doll. At the
end of the alley, a concealed elevator took Sylia down into the hidden
recesses of the building.

For the next few hours, she maintained the motoslave, restocking its
munitions and patching up the armor and paint while tuning it up. On the
off chance that someone might recognize it, she painted it a much darker
blue. When it was done, it gleamed like new.

Looking up from her work, she looked at the different support robots
that she had here. Nene's almost never used original pink motoslave lay
under a tarp, right next to a failed prototype. Sylia pulled the tarp
off and slid her hand down its length. It had been a serviceable unit.
Nene had just never been very comfortable with riding it. It had been
almost a year since she or Nene had used their motoslaves.

Sylia smiled as she realized the only one who really liked the devices
was Priss, who was already on her third one. She glanced over at the
monster motorcycle, easily half again the size of any other bikes in the
garage. Its guns and missile loads were stashed in the crates next to
it. A true monster also when it came to maintenance and cost. It should
be useful again.

Sylia loosened the collar of her jumpsuit and headed up to clean up
before dawn. She stepped out of the elevator into the living room. Her
senses told her almost immediately that someone else was here. Sylia
grit her teeth as she heard the drumming sound of a heartbeat, coming
from her kitchen. She felt a consuming hunger at the sound of that
heartbeat, that shook her minds foundations.

"Yo! Sylia! I've been trying to track you down!" Priss said, sticking
her head out of the kitchen.

"Hello, Priss. I'm going to take a quick shower. I'll be right out,"
Sylia said as she walked down the hall.

"Sure!" Priss leaned up against counter, sipping at the coffee that she
had just finished making.

Sylia was back out in a surprising short amount of time, toweling her
hair dry. She might not sweat anymore, but smoke and oil grease still
made her stink. "What are you up to, Priss?"

Priss glanced around. Mackie had gone to bed, complaining about being
too tired to stay up and work on one of his projects. Her eyes finally
met Sylia's. "What's going on, Sylia?"

Sylia arched her left eyebrow in feigned surprise. "What do you mean?"

"This new enemy has you spooked, bad. When are you going to tell us who
they are?" she asked.

"When I have enough information. It would be too dangerous to say
anything prematurely." Sylia wrapped the towel around her neck loosely.

"Well, you've been having me do a lot more with helping on the Knight
Sabers. Meeting people, buying equipment and going over schedules and
security. You almost sound like you're afraid you're going to disappear
or something."

"Not at all," Sylia lied. "I'm just too busy finding out information and
redesigning the hardsuits again. When I feel I have enough useful
information, I'll inform you and the rest of the group."

"Sylia! That isn't going to cut it anymore! Nene looks like she might
quit the group, you've got Mackie worried silly and you're putting
yourself out of the loop!" Priss said loudly.

"We'll discuss this later," Sylia replied calmly as she started to feel
the sun starting to rise. She stood up and walked out the door.

Sylia was spun back around by Priss as she jumped to her own feet. "No,
we'll discuss it now, damn it! This is too important for you to pull
your damned 'I'm too mysterious' shit, Sylia!" Priss stared up at the
taller woman, their faces inches away. She had forgotten that Sylia was
so tall! She noted an odd muscle tick in Sylia's face.

Priss's sweat and leather smell filled Sylia's nose as her hunger seemed
to roar loudly in her ears. Unconsciously, her eyes traced her face,
down to the curve of her neck as the sound of her beating heart seemed
to fill her ears, resounding within the vaults of her mind.

"Sylia! Sylia! Snap out of it!" Priss cried out. Sylia was unnerving
her, just staring at her like that. It was like she was in a trance.

Priss pulled her hand back to slap her when Sylia's hand snaked out and
held it fast. Sylia's iron grip didn't sway in the slightest as Priss
tried to break free.

"We will discuss this later," Sylia said tightly, her lips pressed
tightly together, trembling slightly. Hunger, urges, none of these
things had threatened her control so horribly from before she was made
into this monster. Did she need to feed again? She released Priss's hand
with a jerk, almost bowling her over from the stress.

Without a backwards glance, she stalked down the hall towards the
elevator. Lethargy suddenly encompassed her as stabbing light filled the
living room in front of her. As she realized what that light was, fear
and horror arose in her breast. She had waited too long! The sun had
risen and she was merely feet away from something that stories said that
could destroy her utterly!

It took all of her willpower to not flee screaming into the bathroom and
lock the door. "Room - blinds, full closure," Sylia said, her voice
strained to the limit. The room was suddenly swallowed in near darkness,
only small beams of sunlight leaking through.

As if her fear had been the only thing keeping her standing, she
staggered drunkenly, almost falling to the ground.

Priss stared in mute astonishment from behind her, rubbing her sore
wrist. "Sylia?"

Sylia squelched the impulse to turn and look at Priss. She focused on
taking one step after another, slowly walking with stilted steps. Her
body felt like lead, until a single beam of sunlight burned her leg. She
jerked as if shot, sprinting into the elevator. The door slid shut
behind her, framing Priss's surprised expression just before slamming
shut.

The elevator ride seemed to take an eternity, during which she fought
her bodies overwhelming desire to collapse had to be fought with an icy
determination. She focused on her burned leg. It looked as if acid had
been splashed on it, muscle and even a bit of bone visible. Finally, she
staggered out of the elevator and into the sub basement. Sixty feet had
never felt so far, such a hard hurdle to leap before.

Finally, she entered her secure laboratory and shop. The door locked,
with her being the only person that could open it. Not even Mackie would
be able to enter it until night! With the last of her strength, she laid
out on a table that she had set up with blankets and a head rest.

With comforting darkness around her, she let her body succumb to its
daily stasis. She was safe, at least until night. She let her mind turn
to other things.

-

Priss just stared in surprise. What the hell was going on? Sylia was
acting all weird and then almost collapsing as she... fled! Why had
Sylia had to leave? Maybe it had to do whatever this crap that was
messing up everyone's life.

With renewed determination, she strode across the darkened living room
to the elevator. She watched as the elevator supposedly went down to the
basement. The basement light flickered three times for a second.

"The lowest sub basement, huh? Well, Sylia, you and I aren't done
talking just yet!" Priss said to herself. When the elevator returned,
she boarded it and went all the way down.

It took her about an hour, but she found only one area that she was
unable to enter. It was supposedly where Sylia designed their hardsuits,
robots and other combat vehicles. The door was thick and solid metal, no
ordinary intruder would be able to breach that forbidding armored
entrance.

"Hmpf. If that's the way you want to play it." Priss stomped off.

-

Mackie yawned as he made himself breakfast. His tussled hair showed that
he had attempted to make himself presentable. He glanced at his watch,
noting that he only had a half an hour to get to the ADP and track Nene
down. He'd been hoping that she would at least call or drop in to talk
to Sylia or himself. But she'd been aggressively unavailable, her
answering machine telling anyone that she'll return their call shortly.
And it had been a week and still no sign of change.

He'd been surprised at how hurt he'd been by her cold shoulder tactics.
Belatedly, he'd realized that was probably how she felt when he'd told
her that he was planning on going to Germany without telling her. The
toaster jarred him back to business as it spat out his single slice
bread.

After a lot of thinking the last couple of days, he'd come to realize
that he had to apologize to her. Sighing, he started to munch on his
toast as he walked to the elevator. In just a few minutes, he was
driving along on a custom motorcycle that he'd been working on to
replace his lost and very lamented Highway Star. It had never been the
same after Priss had wrecked it. This one was just as powerful, but was
able to be toned down enough for a normal person to ride, with some
added control circuits.

He was a mere minute away when an alarm in the building started to go
off, indicating an intruder in the basement.

-

Priss grunted in effort, sending the armored shod fist of her motoslave
slamming into the deformed door in front of her again. Her next punch
loosened the robot's foothold, sending the armored behemoth sliding
back. Doggedly, she crawled it back up to the door and braced its legs
again. Even hunched over, the Typhoon II motoslave nearly didn't fit in
the hall.

Seeing a gap, she gripped the edge of the door and pulled. In just a few
moments, it finally gave out, showing the interior of the dimly lit
room. Sylia was laid out on a table, covered with a blanket. The sides
of her head was in some sort of contraption, LED's blinking on and off.

"Son of a bitch!" Priss whispered. It was like some sort of high tech
Frankenstein movie set. Was Sylia some sort of... ? Priss didn't even
want to think about that.

Sylia turned slightly, her eyes opening. After she had seen that it was
Priss breaking in, she had laid back to wait for her. She didn't have
any way to stop her even if she had wanted to.

"Okay, Sylia! Get up! You've got some explaining to do!" Priss commanded
as she stepped out of the exo-frame of the motoslave.

As if it were a struggle to even speak, "I... can't," Sylia whispered
out.

Priss blinked in surprise. "Well, you can talk! Tell me what the hell is
going on! Or I trash this room!"

Sylia struggled against her body's inability to function. "No! Please...
don't!" She weakly raised her arm.

"Okay, then! Talk... Omifuckingod. The suit's sensors... they say you're
dead!" Priss exclaimed. According to her thermal imaging sensors, Sylia
was as cold as that table! Priss lifted the visor of her hardsuit in
mute astonishment.

Sylia's eyes closed. Priss watched in mute terror as tears, terrible red
tears, slowly cascaded down her face, disappearing into her dark hair.

Priss suddenly felt as if she'd been punched in her stomach. Boomers
didn't cry blood. "Aw, shit. Vampires."

-

Nene walked out the door and outside to the parking lot, her head bowed
down. She had a set of folders in her hands. She was almost to her motor
scooter when someone attempted to get to her attention by clearing their
throat. Nene glanced up apathetically. What she saw set her heart
racing, whether from surprise, anger or something else, she could not
say.

Mackie stood by his bike which was parked next to hers, a curiously
pensive expression etched on him. "Uh.... hi, Nene!"

"What do you want, Mr. Stingray?" Nene replied frostily.

Mackie winced. "Just to talk, um, apologize actually." His left hand
fiddled on top of the fire-engine red bike.

"Oh? What, you aren't going to bribe me with ice cream?" Nene said
tartly.

"What?" Mackie stuttered out. He stared at her in surprise. He blushed
as he realized that she was aware of one of his favorite tricks to get
her to help him.

Nene just glared at him, which Mackie found to be quite disturbing. The
opening in the conversation stretched uncomfortably wider. Mackie
blinked nervously. He had thought this was going to be easier than it
was turning out to be.

Opting to say something, he replied, "Um, Nene, do you want to go out
somewhere to eat? Or something?"

Nene's face softened slightly. "It's nice to see that you're actually
asking me, instead of just making all of our decisions, Mackie!" She
took a deep breath and then expelled it. "Yes, you can. That doesn't
mean that you've apologized yet, mister!"

Mackie nodded vigorously.

"Hey! Nene! Glad I caught you before you managed to leave!" a jaunty
male voice called out.

Nene wilted even below her normal five feet. Oh, no! Leon! "Hello, Leon.
What can I help you with today?"

"I was trying to get some old footage we have of the Knight Sabers, to
check something, and the video records in the mainframe are all messed
up. I've got hardcopy backups from the vault on their way, but I thought
I might ask you to try and wiggle your magic fingers to clear them up
enough so that I can take a look at them." Leon smiled as he slid on his
glasses. It was way too bright out here. Nippy too. He zipped up his
jacket.

"Uh, Leon? Can it wait till tomorrow?" Nene looked over Mackie.

"Now, Nene, this is pertaining to an investigation concerning a possible
homicide! Surely you're dutiful enough to stay behind at work for a mere
half an hour?" Leon poked her shoulder for emphasis. "It could make a
very favorable impression in your next review!"

Nene winced and then glared at Mackie. This was all his fault! Leon had
been holding that one incident last week above her to get her to do
extra computer work. "I guess."

Leon noticed the glare and finally took stock of the young man standing
there. "Oh, ho! So is this the young man that's been causing you all
sorts of grief?"

Mackie blinked. "What?"

Nene just wished the floor would swallow her whole. "Le-on! That's none
of your business!" Nene whined.

Leon smiled predatorily suddenly. "Well, don't you fret your little
head, Nene!" Leon put his arm over Mackie's shoulder. "I'm sure he'd be
more than happy to wait for you. Say, kid, what's your name?" Leon said
conversationally as he directed Mackie back inside.

"Uh, Mackie. Mackie Stingray!" Mackie looked down at Leon's hand and
then pleadingly back at Nene.

"Detective Leon McNichol. Pleased to meet you."

Nene managed to squelch the urge to snicker at Mackie's problem. "Why,
thank you, Mackie. You're so kind."

Mackie managed to not grumble at all on the way to a secured terminal
room. Leon waved them on through any security checkpoints as if he
hadn't a care in the world.

Making a show of cracking his knuckles, Leon proceeded to bring up some
records. "See these are the ones I need you to fix, if you can," he
said. On the screen where two motorcycles driving up the spiral road to
the top of Genom Tower. "I remember them being a lot clearer, so I think
someone's tampered with them."

Nene nodded quite stoically. Yeah, she said silently, someone did! Me!
"I'll see what I can do!"

"Perfect! Hey, Mackie, wasn't it? You drink coffee? Come on, let's leave
Nene to finish this as quickly as possible!" Leon was suddenly dragging
Mackie outside, letting the door to close behind them.

Nene sighed and looked at the image that Leon wanted fixing. Well, she
couldn't lose her 'magic' touch, could she? Perhaps she could fix only
part of the image, maybe the motorcycle and some of the building behind
it. Sylia said that the old motoslave design was kind of obsolete. So
that shouldn't hurt. Whistling, she went back to work.

Back outside, Mackie found himself scrutinized by the very large and
intimidating detective. "So, you're Nene's boyfriend, huh?" Leon said
quietly.

"Uh, yeah. I guess so. Well, maybe." Mackie was a bit confused. Leon had
his arm back around him as he guided him back down the hall.

"Now, I don't know if you realize it, but Nene's almost considered our
little sister, here at the ADP. We really don't like it when she's
upset," Leon spoke as if he was talking about the weather. His grip on
his shoulder tightened, almost painfully.

Mackie looked down at the hand, the meaning becoming blatantly obvious.

"So we want you to treat Nene as if you were a perfect gentleman, okay?"
Leon continued on as if he was discussing some boring news with a
friend.

"Uh, huh!" Mackie managed to get, his eyes a little wild.

"Good, good! It's nice to see that you understand!" Leon stopped
suddenly. "Oh, wait! The nearest coffee machine is all the way in the
cafeteria. Maybe later, huh?"

Mackie nodded his agreement.

Leon seemed to think something was funny as he escorted him back to the
room Nene was in, laughing joyfully. Nene looked up as the two entered.
Nene just stared at them oddly. Mackie seemed to be very nervous for
some reason. And Leon laughing was just plain odd.

"I'm just about done, Leon. See?" she said, pointing at the screen.

Leon nodded appreciatively. "Yeah, that's it!"

On a screen right next to it, he pulled up another picture, more recent
and one that neither Nene nor Mackie had seen before. It was a snap shot
of a woman on a motorcycle, a good side view. The motorcycle was quite
distinctive. It was a bright blue motoslave. The woman riding it had
long black hair that was partially hiding her face. Bullets sparked on
the ground around her.

Nene suppressed her instinct to gasp. That was Sylia's motoslave!

Sylia's Hurricane motoslave? "What!" Mackie exclaimed softly, his eyes
wide. He couldn't quite stop himself.

"Eh? Is there something wrong?" Leon asked inquisitively.

"Ah! No! Wow! That's a neat bike! And, uh, who's that on it?" Mackie
tried to reply glibly. "I, uh, build motorcycles, you know!"

"Now that is a million yen question. That picture is of a young lady who
evaded the police in the wee hours this morning. Well, after shooting
some missiles that blew up two bikes and we think one driver of said
bike. And with this little bit of info, I'm now positive that she is
riding the same vehicle that the Knight Sabers use!" Leon proclaimed
grandly.

Nene and Mackie looked at each other in puzzlement.

"So she might be another Knight Saber!" Leon said, as if explaining a
very simple thing to small children.

Nene's watch started to beep. She quickly turned off the signal.

"Oh! Wow! We're kind of late. Uh, say, Leon? If you don't mind, we're
going to get stuck in traffic if we don't leave soon!" Nene blabbed out
quickly.

Mackie nodded agreement. "It was, uh, nice to meet you Officer
McNichol!"

They both beat a hasty retreat out the door.

Leon shook his head. Jeez, kids some days. He walked out of the room
after saving his screens and down to the front windows where he watched
Nene and Mackie get on their respective vehicles. Leon nodded
approvingly. The kid was right, he noted. He did build a really hot
bike.

Leon frowned suddenly, squinting down into the morning light. He didn't
recognize the brand, but it really looked really familiar. He tapped the
window. Damn. Now he had another thing that would nag him until he
remembered it. Leon turned away and started to walk back to his desk.

He was halfway there, when he idly mused, it's not like it could be
another Knight Saber motorcycle.

Leon stopped so suddenly that an officer behind him almost ran him over.

"Son of a Bitch!" Leon exclaimed. Without an explanation, he took off
running and slid into his desk, leaving a befuddled mass of officers
behind him. Leon in a hurry and heading to his office?

Daley looked up in surprise. "What's up? Did you just get a
breakthrough?"

Leon looked up. "Maybe! Let me dig up some information and I'll let you
know!"

Leon started to pull up records from the Griffin case and that last
climatic chase. Just as he'd thought, the motorcycle that caught the
monster car did look oddly familiar. It wasn't the same bike of course.
Leon could go downstairs and check out the remains they had found.

Leon tapped his screen for a second. Maybe he'd better check on that
first. He had the evidence file pulled up, looking for the remains of
that bike. He blinked in surprise when he saw that it had been sold in a
police auction... three days after the Griffin incident? "What the
hell?" Leon exclaimed softly. No way, that shouldn't have happened.

A bit of poking around and he discovered that a Dr. Raven had purchased
the remains. Just one of his many purchases. Just an old junk collector,
Leon mused. Maybe.

A computer glitch? Not likely, Leon decided.

"All right, Mr. Stingray, let's see who you are," Leon said to the
screen. He had the name tapped in a short time (all of the names
variations) and his computer searching. These searches could take quite
a while.

Leon was about to stand up to go get coffee, when the machine beeped at
him, asking him if it wanted it to continue searching using the Normal
Police's and other external databases. Leon blinked and looked at the
screen in surprise. Huh, only three matches, all actually older than the
ADP. He almost hit the key to continue, skipping them by, when he opted
to look at those records on a hunch.

Leon's eyes widened as the obituary showed on the screen. Katsuhito
Stingray? The supposed father of boomer technology, whose body had never
been found when his lab burned to the ground? His eyes scanned down
until he found the highlighted text. Hmm. Survived by two children.
Mackie Stingray and Sylia Stingray. Mackie had been seven, when his
father had died eleven years ago. So that could have been him,
downstairs. He did sort of look like the kid in the picture.

Leon blinked as he stared through the screen. He tapped a pen on his
desk. It was an odd link, a hundred to one said that it wouldn't pan
out. He started to tap on his keyboard, inputting two searches. These
would take longer, even with the specific information he now had.

Leon stretched and stood up. He finally went after that coffee. By the
time he had returned, the information was on the screen. Mostly school
records, he noted. Leon whistled as he skimmed them both.

Sylia Stingray had graduated top honors from the new MegaTokyo
University at the age of nineteen, with a double masters in engineering
and robotics/AI. Mackie hadn't been quite academically inclined, but
he'd gotten good enough marks to win a full scholarship to a prestigious
German university, after completing most of his beginning college
courses. Before his eighteenth birthday.

Leon scrolled through more data, discovering that Sylia had evidently
decided to enter into business for herself, as she owned and operated a
lingerie shop not that far away. Leon pursed his lips. A double Masters
degree and she sells clothes? Something smells fishy, Leon thought to
himself.

Leon couldn't help gasping at the latest bit of information as it
flashed across the screen. Those two kids owned five percent of Genom
Corporate's actual stock? That made them beyond rich! It was in a trust
fund for the younger sibling, until he was twenty-one, but Sylia was
supposedly worth in excess of a hundred billion yen. And she only had a
two percent share! All tied in with their father's giving Genom the
right to build whatever sort of boomers they wanted with his
intellectual rights.

Leon's mind churned through the information. He now had several possible
links of the two Stingrays connection to Genom, boomers and the Knight
Sabers. They even had the resources and the ability to create those
hardsuits now. So, along with Priss as a Knight Saber, he could possibly
identify the brains and money behind the outfit, also possibly the
leader, the White Saber. That left the Green Saber and the Red Saber.

Leon leaned back in his chair and propped up his feet on his desk. The
Green Saber was some sort of agility and weapons specialist, probably a
trained soldier. The Red Saber wasn't much of stand up fighter, but he'd
heard some rumors linking her to the destruction of the boomer that had
taken over the ADP building, melting it with an electrical surge when it
had been ordered to destroy the ADP building.

An ugly realization suddenly occurred to him. That indicated technical
know-how and intimate familiarity with the ADP's systems. Something that
Nene Romanov had in spades, a young lady that just happened to know one
Mackie Stingray on good terms. A certain Mackie Stingray that was
driving the same style motorcycle that Priss had been riding during the
Griffin incident.

"Nah, couldn't be, could it?" Leon muttered to himself. Inescapably, he
found that Nene couldn't be the Red Saber, after all, she worked here
quite late most of the time, during quite a few boomer incidents.

Leon had the computers pull up the times that the Knight Sabers had been
active and when Nene had been on shift. The computers response indicated
that Nene had been on shift at least eight percent of the time. Leon
sighed and then bit off the breath sharply. A quick change to the query
listed Nene as having been on shift zero percent of the time that the
Red Knight Saber had been seen and active.

In fact, the Red Saber was most likely of the Knight Sabers to not be
there, Leon noted. Just as if she wasn't able to make these impromptu
fights like the others.

Leon scowled deeply. Now, what was he supposed to do with his newfound
knowledge? With a chill, Leon realized that he could easily destroy the
Knight Sabers. It had been pure happenstance that he'd tumbled on
Priss's identity during that 'vampire boomer' incident.

He was an officer of the law. True, the ADP mostly turned a blind eye
towards the Knight Sabers, as they did deal with boomers the ADP just
wasn't properly equipped to deal with.

Mason was a slime and his death had been something akin to a duel.
Manslaughter charges could have been brought up against them, but had
been deemed, unofficially, by the ADP's lawyers as unreasonable for the
lives that would be lost trying to apprehend them. If the Knight Sabers
were ever brought in for other crimes, those older charges could always
be tacked on top.

But Leon drew the line at murder. And shooting a kid on a motorcycle
with a rocket wasn't just 'defending yourself,' it was excessive use of
force. The ADP helicopter had good video of her shooting the victim.

Clothing and the bike had been found, but only ash residue had been
recovered from the scene. The coroner was labeling the incident as
anomalous. No body had been found, so no death had been recorded. Ergo,
no death, no murder charges. As of yet.

Something stank, Leon surmised. But what was it exactly? Leon cleared
his computers searches, committing the information to memory as best as
possible. Leon suddenly didn't trust his computer quite as much as he
used to.

His paperwork piles had grown over the last hour as he'd sleuthed. Leon
looked over the pile morosely. Damn.

Grinning fiendishly, Leon had an idea occur to him. He already knew
Priss was a Knight Saber and he know knew that Nene probably was, too.
He could put her in a position where he could watch her. And if he could
get her to help with his and Daley's paperwork, that was just all the
better.

"Hey, Daley? Are you drowning in paperwork as bad as I am?" Leon asked
suddenly.

Daley massaged his forehead. "Yes, mostly because I have to clean up
yours."

Leon looked back over his shoulder. "Yo, Chief! How the hell are Daley
and I supposed to do our job when we spend more time filling out forms
rather than doing our job?"

Chief Toto glared at Leon. "That requires a hotshot like you to actually
know your job!" He rubbed his bald head aggrievedly. Why did he have to
put up with hotheads like Leon?

Leon slammed his land down on his desk as he stood up. "Just because I
don't do the job the way you like it, doesn't mean I don't carry my
load!"

"Oooooh! If you did your job like I wanted, my blood pressure wouldn't
be nearly so high!"

"So, if I asked you for someone like say Nene Romanov to help out with
me and Daley's paperwork so I was out of the office 'working,' you'd say
yes?" Leon said with a sudden grin.

Toto looked at Leon long and hard, trying to see if he was trying to
pull a fast one. "This isn't an excuse to get out of doing your
paperwork, is it?"

"Nope!" Leon said truthfully. I'm putting her right under my sights so I
can keep track of her!

"Hmph. I'll think about it."

Which was Toto-ese for I'll do it in my own good time, Leon thought to
himself.

-

Nene and Mackie rode the elevator up to the penthouse. When they headed
to the living room, they found Sylia, Priss and Linna waiting for them.
Mackie blinked in bafflement, horror crossing his face as he saw Sylia
slumped over in her chair, looking deathly pale and not moving. She was
wrapped up in a blanket. Priss was standing near her in her hardsuit's
inner suit.

Mackie looked at Priss as he trotted over to Sylia. He gasped as he felt
the clammy coldness of her skin as he held her hand. "Sylia!"

Sylia's eyes opened and her head slowly turned to Mackie. "You're here.
Don't... don't let me go." Her eyes seemed to be reddish, as if
something had gotten in them.

Priss almost snorted, but held herself back. "All right. We're all here.
So, do you want to tell them, or do you want me to?" Priss said angrily.

Sylia just couldn't muster the courage to tell it herself. "No, you go
ahead," she muttered softly. Her eyes closed tiredly.

Mackie, Nene and Linna looked back and forth in consternation. Mackie
had a slightly terrified look on his face.

Priss just looked down on Sylia for a second. "Sylia's dead."

The other three people looked at her strangely.

Nene finally giggled and then laughed, cutting off abruptly. "Oh, you
guys! You're trying to pull my leg again, aren't you?"

Priss just massaged her forehead. "No, I'm not. Sylia's dead and has
been for a week. She's one of the living dead, a vampire. Just like
Dracula."

Mackie just looked confused. "Vampires don't exist." It wasn't what he
feared.

Linna nodded her head in agreement.

"No, she's right. I am a vampire now." Sylia's eyes had opened and she
was looking at the group.

Mackie suddenly realized what was so odd about her eyes. She had gotten
blood into them. And her hand was so cold. With a gulp, he turned her
hand over, putting his fingers to her wrist. He checked for a pulse for
almost a minute. "Sylia? How... is it father's..."

Sylia interrupted him curtly. "No. A vampire did this. He killed me and
made me into one of his kind."

Linna concentrated for a second. "What does your father have to do with
vampires, guys? I thought he invented boomers."

Mackie gulped audibly. He looked over to Sylia, but she could only
return his stare. As if at an unspoken agreement, Mackie turned to the
group. "You might want to sit down for this."

Priss narrowed her eyes, almost closing them. "What, you're going to
tell us you're actually boomers?"

"We are not boomers!" Mackie shouted, surprising almost everyone. "We
were not made!" He clenched his fist unconsciously.

"Our father is hardly a saint, but he was a visionary. He dreamed of
transforming humans into a higher life form. Much of his research was
based on not just recreating the human, but in remaking us. Advancing
the human race, so that we had no weakness, no frailties," Sylia said
from the couch.

"But what does this have to do with you two?" Nene asked, looking around
at both of them. Mackie couldn't meet her gaze. He suddenly found the
carpet to be extremely interesting.

"Son of a bitch... he used his own kids as guinea pigs?" Priss exclaimed
in surprise.

Mackie shook his head. "No, not guinea pigs. He'd already fully
developed the process. He just inflicted it on us. We didn't even have
any idea that he'd done it, really, until he was killed. I don't even
really remember from before, because I was so young."

"I learned in ten minutes more about boomers, hardsuits and his theories
than he'd told all of his colleagues combined. My father's dead hand,
pushing me from beyond the grave." Sylia was looking at the ceiling.
"His process enhanced our minds, replacing them with molecular
computers."

Nene looked from Sylia to Mackie, not sure what to think. "So you've
been following his plan?"

"I... am not my father. No. He wanted to spread the change across the
whole world. But Genom would pervert those ideas, using it to foster
their own power. So we've hidden, trying to check Genom's excesses.
Mason must have uncovered that information to use it to become Largo."

Silence stretched uncomfortably. Mackie looked down at Sylia. "So, what
are you doing about this... vampire business, Sis?"

"I don't know. I was hoping to find out more before he found out that I
had survived. He will probably be on his way here tonight, to either
kill me or to make me his slave." Sylia had never felt so helpless, her
death seemed to be impending and nothing she could do would stop these
events.

"I think we might have to argue with him a little bit about that. The
Knight Sabers stick together, no matter what." Priss nodded her head
once.

Linna concurred, "Me too! I bet this bloodsucker's never met the likes
of us before!"

Nene finally nodded. One of the foundations of her life had just shifted
under her.

-

Rumio whistled tunelessly as she walked along. She turned down an alley
and opened a door hidden behind a dumpster without knocking. "Hey, Star?
You there?"

A man relaxed, dropping his money back to the table. He pulled out a gun
and laid it on the table. He shoved his thick glasses back up his pug
nose. "What do you want, Rumio? Trying to give me a heart attack?" he
yelled out.

Rumio rolled her eyes and headed into the small room that Star was
using. The greasy little man might be contemptible, but he knew things
that most other people only dreamed of. "What happened to your guards?"

"Stupid idiot got hungry and ran to the corner to get some fast food."
He grumbled something under his breath.

"You're going to get yourself killed someday, you know that?" She waved
of any response he had. "Never mind, I need to know where someone is and
I want you to stall anybody else from finding this person for a day."

"That's dangerous. My clients expect truthful and timely information."
He squinted at her, beady little eyes watching the classically pretty
Japanese woman with long hair.

"Anything else costs extra, I know, I know!" Rumio lit a cigarette and
dragged in a deep breath through it. She blew a small ring of smoke.
"Her name is Sylia Stingray. She's into some corporate espionage and gun
running. Military grade weapons."

"Sounds like a dangerous woman." Star clutched his hands in front of
him.

"Yeah, you could say that. But we live in a dangerous world, you know?"

Star nodded. A dangerous and profitable world. A smile grew on his face.

-

Rumio stared into the lingerie shop from across the street. This has to
be some sort of joke. Her attention was jerked to a young man behind the
counter. In the distance, it had looked like the Sylia Stingray that
Devlin had described. Rumio curled her lips in a smile. Perhaps it
wasn't such a long shot, after all.

Kid brother? Rumio mused. Could be. Her attention was dragged to a red
haired young woman who was dressed in some sort of police uniform. The
two talked for a little while, until the girl waved goodbye to the boy
and walked off towards the parking.

Nene stretched and yawned again as she walked to her scooter in the
public garage. Suddenly a presence of a friend struck her, demanding her
attention.

Nene turned around to see Rumio walking up to her. Rumio waved and said,
"Hello! How're you doing, girlfriend?"

Nene found herself waving back. "I'm fine. I was just going to go grab a
bite to eat. Want to join me?"

"Sure. How about that little noodle joint right around the corner?"
Rumio inquired.

"I... guess. I'm just about a regular there, it seems." Nene blinked,
trying to remember that she had been growing tired of the little eatery.
But it felt so remote from herself, unimportant. Bemusedly, she let
herself be led off, even though she had wanted to... go home? Change
before... work?

Nene blinked her eyes tiredly. It had been a great dinner with her old
friend Rumio. Imagine that she and Sylia had actually had an old friend
in common. Rumio had met her at school, years ago and had lost contact.

Nene looked down at her empty plate morosely. "Wow, I don't even
remember eating."

Rumio's eyes twinkled. "You wouldn't remember your head if it wasn't
attached, Nene."

Nene pouted. "You're just as bad as Linna and Priss! Everyone is always
picking on me!" A couple of the patrons in the small restaurant looked
up, smiling at Nene's outburst. Realizing that she was being watched,
she blushed in embarrassment.

"Say! Nene-babe, do you think you help me with a prank?" Rumio asked as
she leaned over conspiratorially.

"Oh?"

"Like I said, I haven't seen Sylia in forever and I want to surprise
her. How about you sneak me into her apartment so I can really freak her
out?" Rumio's eyes twinkled in merriment as she smiled broadly.

Nene almost blurted out yes, but some of her caution reasserted itself.
"I... I don't know. Sylia would... be upset at me. I'm not supposed to
bring... friends to her place." Bullets of sweat glistened her forehead.

Her smile hardened slightly. Nene acted like an airhead, but she was
proving remarkably hard to bend to her will. It had been a grueling half
an hour to get her to this point. Rumio wished she were better at this.
"Don't worry! I'll take the blame for it. I'll say that I talked you
into it."

Nene blinked as Rumio's full mental force pushed her mentality. "I...
I... guess so," Nene said woodenly. A smile lit her face suddenly. "Come
one, Sylia will be so happy to meet you after so long!"

Rumio followed Nene outside after paying the bill. Mentally she
rehearsed several courses of actions as they walked back to the Silky
Doll. The business had closed, but that didn't stop Nene from accessing
the building from the garage. Nene tapped in a code and let her palm
print be identified.

Nene was standing at the front of elevator doors as they swished it
open. She blinked in surprise at Sylia and Priss as they pointed
handguns towards her from twenty feet away.

"Nene, get down!" Priss shouted.

"W-what?" Nene stuttered. She was in the totally wrong mode of thinking
and unprepared to fight.

Rumio, on the other hand, was completely prepared to fight. The moment
the door opened and she'd seen Sylia and the stranger with guns out and
ready, she'd reacted.

Priss saw the stranger literally blur behind Nene, using her as a human
shield. She blinked as she realized that the woman had pulled a gun and
pointed it at Nene's temple while holding her off the ground with one
arm, all in one blindingly fast move.

"Stop! Or I splatter her brains all over this elevator!" Rumio shouted.
Not bad, they'd have only lost one friend to Devlin's group. She bared
her fangs to let them know that she was serious.

"What do you want?" Sylia demanded. She was dressed in a snazzy blue
dress and white blouse combination, hair perfectly done up as normal.
She was bent on one knee awkwardly, both hands holding up the same gun
she used to shoot Devlin with last night. It would punch right through
both of them, if it came down to it.

"I came to talk! I am not here as an enemy!"

Nene whimpered and tried to struggle as her mind suddenly cleared. How
could she have been so stupid? Vampires really were real!

Priss almost growled. What was she supposed to do? She felt so helpless.
"Release Nene and then we'll talk!" Priss shouted back. Maybe they'd be
lucky and she'd be reasonable enough to deal with.

Rumio whispered into Nene's ears, "No sudden moves." She slowly let her
down and slowly pulled her arm away while holding the gun up to show
that she wasn't going to shoot.

Nene plastered herself on the hallway wall, getting as much out of the
crossfire as possible. Her eyes looked left and right as she expected a
firefight to start any moment.

Rumio just stood there in her jeans and t-shirt, winter coat open in the
front. "Well, are you going to shoot me already?"

Sylia debated for just a second with herself. "No. Why did you come
here?" She cradled the big gun.

"You made yourself an enemy last night. Devlin McQueen has claimed your
life for attempting to kill him. No other vampire will stand in his way.
He's seen to that." Rumio holstered her gun under her coat.

Priss started to take her gun apart and slip it into various places in
her leather jacket. Nene released the breath she'd been holding, sagging
up against the wall. Maybe if she stayed quiet Sylia wouldn't yell at
her for bringing a vampire here. Nene's throat started to itch at the
thought of those fangs only a few inches away from her.

"And you are just telling me as an act of kindness?" Sylia arched her
eyebrow to show her disbelief at that thought.

"Not even! No, I'm here because if I give you a little information,
maybe you can kill him!" Rumio snarled as she clenched fists, her
shoulders tight with bent up anger.

Priss was taken back by the shear hatred encapsulated in that statement.
"Kill him?"

"Yes, kill him before he kills you! But you won't survive if you don't
know how to fight," Rumio replied, visibly gaining control of herself.
"How much of being a vampire do you know?"

"Almost nothing. I know that sunlight burns and that I need to drink
blood. I have fangs and I seem to be a bit stronger and faster. But that
is all," Sylia responded slowly.

"So you don't even know of the secrets within your blood, your vitae?"
Rumio couldn't believe this, she was lucky to even be alive. She noted
Sylia incredibly pale skin. "When was the last time you fed?"

"What? Six, no seven nights ago. When I first awoke, I was attacked by a
street thug. He was going to kill or worse. I was forced to kill him and
I fed. I drained him of all of his blood and then burned his body."
Sylia's face went flat as she tried to control those roiling feelings of
disgust with herself.

"And you haven't fed since? You're lucky that you aren't a raving
monster that's killed all of your friends! You must feed!" Rumio burst
out in shock.

"Who am I to say who lives and dies? I couldn't stop myself!" Sylia
turned suddenly and walked around the corner and into the living room.

Rumio, Nene and Priss all followed quickly. They sat down immediately,
Nene and Priss unconsciously sitting nearer to Sylia.

"Fool! Feeding does not have to kill the victim, unless you have no
control!" Rumio declared as she sat down across from Sylia.

"I just couldn't stop myself! I drank every last drop within him." Sylia
paused to take a breath. "Vile! It should not been so good! Tasted so
sweet!" Sylia spat out vehemently. Suddenly she curled herself up, hands
covering her face. But tears would not come anymore.

"Yes. It is. The blood calls to us, because without it, we are nothing
but ash in the wind." Rumio looked at Sylia with a sad smile. "You must
feed or you will fall into a sleep that might last centuries. Or become
a ravening monster." In her mind, she was thinking of where to go to
feed her.

Priss spoke up suddenly. "She can take just a little, right?" This was
insane, she didn't want to go back down that road.

Liar, she said to herself. A part of her, deeply repressed, remembered
the ecstasy of being fed upon. It had been terrifyingly scary and
intensely euphoric at the same time. It had been one of the few good
feelings that she could remember from that horrific time after the
second Kanto Earthquake, after her family had been killed and she'd been
so alone.

Nene blinked in confusion. What was Priss driving at?

Sylia looked up at Priss in horror. "No. I won't do that to you!" she
said, jumping to the correct conclusion.

Priss snorted. "What's the big deal? It's like donating blood. You take
just a little and I get to eat steaks for a week." Priss smiled
rakishly. "You are going to buy me a steak dinner or two, aren't you?"

Indecision warred on Sylia's face as she tried to find some reason not
too take Priss up on her offer. Rumio nodded and spoke up, "You will try
harder to stop and she won't struggle. It's better all around as a
solution for the moment."

Nene had grown quite pale. "If she doesn't feed, you said she'd become a
monster. How can you be worse than a vampire?" she asked timidly.

Rumio stared down her nose at Nene. "She'll become little better than a
rabid animal, attacking and feeding on anything that comes near her."

Nene shuddered under that gaze.

Priss stood up and shed her jacket. "So it's settled. And with Rumio
here, she can pull you off if you don't stop." Priss sat on the small
couch next to Sylia, offering her wrist, oddly enough.

Sylia stared at the arm in front of her as if it were a viper. Priss
watched in fascination as fangs unsheathe in Sylia's half opened mouth.
Moving slowly, as if afraid to act, Sylia brought the wrist up mouth.
With bared teeth, she bit down suddenly. Her lips gathered around the
flowing blood, greedily suckling it.

Rumio watched dispassionately. "Once your done, lick the bite and it
will heal instantly."

Sylia nodded as she felt vigor and energy flow back into her. It was
easier this time to fight the urge to keep feeding and feeding, draining
Priss until she was dry.

Nene's stomach roiled and she felt faint. A chill ran up her back as she
finally took note of Priss's face. She'd seen that look on druggies,
when she'd ran away from her parents home and lived on the street for a
few scary weeks. Rapture, bliss, all rolled in one.

Sylia released her bite from Priss, holding the hand and examining the
skin. It appeared unblemished, only a smudge of red blood coating the
surface. "How odd."

"It makes it easier to feed. Luckily for us, the feeding is not
unpleasant for the victim. In fact, many find it enjoyable," Rumio
watched Priss recovering her wits and glanced slyly at the red head. An
odd smile flashed briefly on her. "And you, Nene-babe? Will you feed
your friend so she doesn't have to hunt in the dangerous night?"

Nene's eyes widened at the question. "Ah. I guess, uh, if Sylia needs
to."

Sylia opened her mouth to nay say that, when Rumio talked right over
her. "Most vampires feed nightly merely to survive. Sylia has been
starving herself for over a week and needs to make up for that."

"O-okay." Nene let Sylia feed on her with little fanfare. Nene's wits
were shaken by the pleasure racking her.

As Sylia fed, Rumio spoke up. "Now for the reason that I came. Devlin is
going to come for you. You should be prepared to try and kill him
tomorrow night."

As Sylia finished, she gave Rumio a hard look. "I understand. Why do you
want him dead? Explain that before I'll agree to anything else." Her
skin had taken a slight blush, looking almost alive.

Nene just sat kind of sat there woozily, an odd smile fading off of her
face.

Rumio countenance changed from fear to irritation to anger almost
instantly. "He killed the only person I cared about and did it without a
thought or care. We're related, in an odd way, Sylia Stingray. My sire
was created by Devlin, you see. And when he dared to stand up against
him, Devlin killed him. Luckily, Devlin doesn't know that I am his
grandchild, so to speak."

Sylia blinked in surprise. "Ah. You said you would tell me of his
strengths, weaknesses."

Rumio smirked. "I did, didn't I? Devlin's almost seven hundred years
old. He's got a slew of mind powers that just won't quit and he's fast
enough to take down a normal street car. He's also strong enough to
probably lift that car and toss it easily."

Priss whistled appreciatively. Rumio nodded acknowledgement to the
implied respect. "He's no ancient vampire though, no matter his wish.
Sunlight and fire still burns. And if you take his head he will die! A
stake through the heart will paralyze him, just as it will with any
vampire. Inflicting massive damage will drop him into torpor, a coma-
like state."

"Hmm. He seems to be a very hands on person." Sylia drummed her fingers
absently.

Rumio nodded. "Yeah, he'll kill you with his own hands. You're right
about that."

Sylia smiled grimly. "He'll try. Will he accept a challenge? For one on
one combat?"

"Yeah, he will, but it's your funeral. He'll rip you apart like a piece
of paper in a shredder. You haven't even mastered the ability to speed
your actions beyond that of a mortal."

Priss suddenly grinned. Then she turned somber as something occurred to
her. "Are you sure you want to do that, Sylia?"

Sylia's eyes narrowed dangerously. "They can obviously find me. I want
to put the fight on my terms. And I don't want to put all of my friends
in unreasonable danger." Sylia stood up gracefully. "Rumio, I want you
to let Devlin know that I wish to fight him one on one in what is known
as No-man's Land in the Canyons."

Rumio just sneered. "It that's the way you want to go, be my guest. I'll
be sure to let your brother know, so he can bury your remains."

"Mackie will know what I'm doing." Sylia looked as unconcerned as a cat
sunning on a summer day.

Unnerved by the unswerving decision and the looks of understanding from
her friends, Rumio just nodded. She stood up and bowed slightly and then
walked to the elevator.

After she was gone, Sylia spoke up. "Nene, I'm going to need your help
in setting up some things. You'll have to call in sick. Priss," she
said, turning to the singer, "I'm going to need your help too. There are
some things that I'm going to need before the end of the day."

Both girls nodded and replied in unison, "Yes!"

-

Priss adjusted the engine on her big red bike. Stopping for a moment,
she adjusted the lamp to shine in better. She wiped her greasy fingers
on the towel on her shoulder. She reached in her jump suit's pocket for
another tool.

"Um, Priss?" Nene asked as she walked up.

Priss grunted an acknowledgement. Stupid engine wasn't giving its best
output. She'd have to drive it out Doc's later. After she napped out.
Damn, I'm turning into just as bad a night owl as Sylia, Priss thought
to herself.

"Did you... No, you knew what it would feel like! How? Why?" Nene's hand
drifted to her throat.

"Go away, Nene." Priss stoically ignored the girl.

"No! I think I deserve to know! I saw you're face, before Sylia bit you.
You knew that it was going to feel... good. How?" Nene set her shoulder,
an almost cute expression of determination on her face.

Priss's jaw muscle worked. "Yeah, I knew."

Nene stood watching expectantly. "You wanted it, didn't you?" Nene
accused.

Priss slammed the wrench into the tool box while jumping to her feet.
Two quick steps had her towering over Nene. "Yes, I knew it would feel
good. And yes, I wanted it. What do you want to make of it?"

Nene had never quite had the feeling of impending violence come from
Priss be directed at her. She flinched and the stood up straight. "It's
wrong! You're acting like its some sort of addiction!"

Priss glared at Nene. She grabbed the front of Nene's blouse, dragging
her up to glare at her, eye to eye. "Don't you dare pull that holier
than thou, attitude shit, Miss Snitch. We aren't the white hats in some
kids fairytale. You aren't some pure as snow princess. You know how good
it felt. It's better than sex. You want it right now, don't you? Now
imagine that you'd been fed off of for months and it was the only thing
that made you feel good?" Priss released Nene, letting her step back in
fear. "Yeah, it was addictive. So what?"

"And you knew it was addictive and let her... had me... Months? You've
known about vampires for that long?" Nene squeaked out.

Priss snorted in disgust. "I was fourteen, Nene. Remember a little thing
called the Second Kanto Earthquake? It left a lot of kids homeless and
orphans. Easy prey for things in the dark, when you're just trying to
live. And keep away from the cops and teachers." An expression of pain
crossed her face. "There was a woman, a vampire, that protected a lot of
us. Kept the gangs away from us. And kept other things away too. All she
asked for was a little blood, maybe once a week at the most. And the
Kiss, its like a hit of a drug like you've never felt before. It wasn't
a bad life."

"Oh." Nene looked shocked.

"She warned me about the other vampires, how they'd just make people
disappear. A lot of my friends thought she was joking, until that last
night, when one of them showed up to kill all of us." Priss balled up
her fist and slammed it into the bike's armor. "Nancy must have learned
about it, because she showed up and they fought. Nancy beat him in the
end, but she lost it."

Priss flexed her hand, unconsciously making sure she hadn't hurt it too
bad. "Rumio wasn't lying, Nene. Nancy became a monster, feeding off him
and then the last girl, other than me, because of her hunger."

"I, I'm sorry Priss. I didn't know." Nene felt like a heel, smaller than
an inchworm.

Priss didn't even seem to notice Nene. "She came out of it and saw what
she'd done. Vampires cry blood tears, you know. She cried as she held
me. And when dawn came, she let it burn her to ash."

Nene put her hand over Priss's. "I'm sorry, Priss. I didn't know."

Priss stared down at the small hand as if it were a viper. "My friends
all die, you know? Eventually. Remember Sylvie?"

"Bull! We've been your friends for years!" Nene said with feeling. "And
we'll pull through this too!"

"Nene, Sylia's dead. She's one of them. It's happening all over again."
Priss's voice sounded so hollow, so devoid of any feeling.

"We're the Knight Sabers! You don't see Sylia just waiting for this guy
to kill her. She's going to fight." Nene turned and started to walk
away. "I'm going to fight too."

Priss stared at her as she walked off. She chuckled after a moment.
"Thanks, Nene. I guess I needed that."

Nene smiled brightly. "That's what friends are for."

Priss got a grin on her suddenly. "Hey! Nene! Remember what I said about
you not being some pure princess?"

Nene stopped at the door to the garage, turning back. "Yeah?"

"Isn't Mackie up right now?"

"Um, yes. I think so."

"So what are you doing down here?" Priss asked innocently.

"What? You want me to... with him?" Nene blurted out in shock. "I don't
know if I'm ready for that!"

"You might not get another chance. And besides, he might try running
away again." Priss turned away to hide her smile.

"Oh!" Nene fled, a blush covering her entire face.

-

Leon quietly cleaned his revolver, polishing it until it shown.
Something was up with the Knight Sabers. Priss hadn't shown up to do her
show last night. Nene had skipped work last night and then called in
sick at the last moment, again. And Sylia's place was locked down
tighter than the Imperial Palace.

And the last time that there had been problems that the Knight Sabers
had been involved in, someone nearly blew up the ADP. The time before
that, they managed to blow up an artificial island. The time before that
they stopped a maniac after he killed almost a million people.

Leon's nose was almost twitching. "Hey, Chief! I'm going to go
patrolling in one of the choppers. When Daley gets here, tell him I'll
be back in the morning bright and early to work on that Jiang case."
Leon hopped to his feet and grabbed his jacket.

Chief Toto looked up in surprise from his coffee. "What?" He almost
called out after him, but Leon was far gone.

Leon zipped up his jacket as he stepped onto the roof. He nodded in
thought as he saw them loading up the large patrol helicopter with a K-
suit. The Chief would yell and scream at him later, but it wouldn't make
it into his record unless he screwed up really bad.

Though he had had to talk to accounting after the he trashed his second
K-suit. Leon slid his glasses on and boarded the helicopter.

The pilot looked over at Leon. "I'm not going to get in trouble with
this, am I?"

Leon had the decency to look offended. "What?"

"You're going to trash another suit aren't you?" he accused the
detective.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Leon said, leaning back in
his seat in preparation for a nap. He opened one eye. "Aren't we
supposed to be going on patrol?"

The pilot rolled his eyes. "Yes, sir."

-

Devlin McQueen walked confidently into the blasted ruins of the canyons.
His light sensitive eyes took in the entire area. On the top of a two
buildings, two of his shadows drifted into place. Devlin couldn't see
anything incongruous, or out of place. Would Sylia actually fight him?
Or was she taking this opportunity to try and flee to some safe haven?
Behind him, another shadow moved, hiding itself from view.

Devlin snorted. He hadn't seen a real warrior born in almost a centaury.
Mankind had become coddled, weak. Depending on boomers to fight their
wars. Although, even he could find uses for these interesting toys.

Several thousand feet away, his ears picked up the roar of a very large
engine. Turning, he saw a motorcycle rolling slowly into view. The red
paint almost glowed with the moonlight on it. The figure on it seemed to
be almost a shadow, rippling blackness shrouded it.

"My, my, Sylia. You do seem to like your toys. I thought you might do
something like this, so I brought my own along this time." Devlin
toggled a switch on his watch. His massive form was covered in a large
black trench coat, suspicious bulges evident. The wind blew through his
hair.

Sylia frowned in thought in her hardsuit. What was he talking about? Her
HUD suddenly flashed a warning, directing her to look to her left.
Thundering around the corner on its jets, a blue gray boomer opened its
mouth wide, firing its mouth cannon.

Reacting instantly, Sylia leaped off the back of the bike, landing
lightly thirty feet away. The bike fell over, deeply scored by the laser
blast to its side. "Damn!" Sylia muttered as she looked over her
shoulder.

The boomer's sensor played out, trying to get a decent lock on the black
figure in front of it. Needle actuators around its eyes moved back and
forth. It landed on the ground, approaching the figure carefully.

Devlin frowned as he started to walk towards the fight. Something about
this just didn't seem right. She was taller than he remembered.

Sylia upped the stakes, bringing her palm particle beam blaster into
play, peppering the unsuspecting boomer, gouging into its chest and
shoulder.

The boomer launched itself at her, going for a quick kill. Threat
analysis changed upwards for the figure in front of it, change to at
least as dangerous as itself. It seemed to just stand still, until at
the last moment it leaped up and over him. The boomer's shoulder
disintegrated from a punch, making it roar in anger.

Devlin's eyes narrowed as he saw metal wing-like protruding out of her
back. As she landed behind the boomer, they folded out of sight. "A
hardsuit? Or her own boomer?"

The BU-55c decided to up the ante as it spun around. Chest plates and
shoulder pads moved to the side as a wash of heat, brilliant red, strove
to strike the dodging figure. The black cloth-like substance on the
outside of her armor ignited from the near strike, burning merrily.

The boomer stepped back in almost awe. Devlin's eyes widened from the
shadows. "A Knight Saber! Hiring them was a cunning move, Sylia!" Devlin
muttered to himself.

Sylia ignored the burning remains of her stealth sheathe, dashing
forward as her blades snapped into place. White light glimmered brightly
from them. The boomer lashed out in a powerful one-two combo, trying to
keep her as far away as possible.

The white Knight Saber dodged both blows while leaping over it again.
She gouged its back, the boomers armor managing to somewhat protect it.
She ducked under its lethal backhand that smashed a light pole. Her left
blade retracted abruptly as she stepped within its reach and hit the
boomer's head with an uppercut, triggering her knuckle bombers. Their
armor piercing capabilities sundered the boomers head from its shoulder,
gore flying for feet.

Before it could react to the loss, Sylia shoved her right blade deep
into its chest, where she knew its backup AI was hidden. With a groan of
metal and the breaking of concrete, the boomer collapsed on it front.

"Bravo, bravo." Devlin clapped his hands. Poised to flee at the first
sign of her attack, he quipped, "But I thought this was supposed to be a
fight between Sylia Stingray and myself?"

Sylia wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug smile off his face, but
she had to respond, lest other vampires seek her friends out in revenge.
She raised the visor of her helmet. "Yes, it is, isn't it, Devlin
McQueen?"

Devlin's eyes widened in surprise. "You know, in retrospect, that makes
perfect sense. So, you are the leader of the Knight Sabers."

Her face held her steely determination. "I'm here to kill you for what
you did to me."

"I'm wounded. Here I have given you the ultimate gift, eternal life, for
the mere pittance of your human scruples," Devlin said, grinning. His
trench coat was loosened now, guns and other ordinance visible. "Or are
you upset at not being 'human' anymore?"

Both of Sylia's blades snapped into place with a metallic 'jing' sound.
"I have not been fully human since I was seven. No, I will kill you
because you made me a monster and took my life." Sylia suddenly dashed
at her full speed, her backpack rocketing her towards the vampire.

Devlin sidestepped the attack as if she was a clumsy rookie. As the
armored figure skidded to a halt, Devlin had pulled out two guns and had
peppered her back with shots. He didn't seem surprised at the lack of
damage, as he dropped his guns immediately after emptying the clips.

Sylia snapped off some of her own shots with her palm blasters. She
blinked in awe as she saw him lean out of the way of each shot, left and
then right, completely at ease. As the last shot faded into darkness, he
dashed forward and planted a strong punch to her face, rocking her
backwards.

Devlin stared at his fist in frustration. He'd barely dimpled that
armor.

Sylia shook her head to clear it. Only ten feet away, Devlin had pulled
out a sawed off shotgun and started pumping rounds into her.
Instinctively acting with her training, she raised her arms to block the
relatively week neck of her armor. Small chips appeared, showing the
damage the armor was taking from the solid slugs.

When his gun finally gave out, he pulled out an old pistol, large and
mean looking. He snapped off two shots, cursing as he saw them bounce
off. He really missed his old three shot revolver that he'd had last
century. That thing had stopping power.

Sylia unleashed a barrage of lower power burst, spraying after the
suddenly weaving and dodging figure. It was a dangerous tactic, being an
intense drain on her batteries. First one shot and then more started to
find their target, burning him and finally knocking him to the ground.
Two full power burst caught him as he was jumping to his feet, knocking
him squarely up against a chain link fence. He groaned as he collapsed
to the ground on his knees.

Devlin stared daggers at her as he struggled to heal the grievous wounds
that he'd inflicted. He just needed time!

Salvation was had by an unexpected interruption, as a large hardsuited
figure landed heavily, jet blaring and kicking up dust. Power claws
gripped an oversized rifle expertly. The new hardsuit, angular and blue,
had white decals announcing to anyone who could see, that this was an
ADP K-suit.

"Back away, slowly!" Leon barked out. He had the white hardsuit
bracketed. "Don't try anything funny, Knight Saber. This gun fires
depleted uranium slugs and it will penetrate your armor like it wasn't
even there!"

Sylia had turned in case it was another attacker. The ADP K-12 was no
slouch on the combat field and if that was the gun she thought it was,
he wasn't joking. How had he gotten permission to carry that? Those
could punch through buildings! "You don't understand! He's a monster!"

"He may be a monster, but he doesn't deserve to be murdered! Back away,
now!" Leon yelled out. "Control, I need backup ASAP to help apprehend
the Knight Sabers! Home in on my location." Leon nodded at the
acknowledgement that he received as he clicked off the radio.

Sylia took one step back, trying to figure out how to deal with the
situation. "You idiot! He's really a monster!"

Priss slammed her fist onto the console of the Knight Sabers portable
base. "What the hell does he think he's doing?" She and the rest of the
Knight Sabers were within the truck, in their inner suits, ready to jump
in to the fight at a moments notice.

"Stingray! Don't do it!" Leon yelled out.

"I dunno, Priss. It's not like him to go off like that," Nene said,
shrugging. She blinked when she heard Leon's last comment come across
the radio.

Linna looked over at Priss with an unreadable expression. They were all
surprised at the sudden sounds of armored plates slamming into place.
They all spun to see Mackie closing the head plate, sealing himself in
his bulky hardsuit.

"Mackie, what do you think you're doing?" Priss called out.

"What does it look like?" Mackie said, toggling the door open.

"Mackie!" Nene called out, running to the door as the hardsuit landed on
the ground.

"Suit up! The shit's about to hit the fan!" Priss followed her own advice
and stepped into her own suit. Easy, practiced motions slid the suit
around her body. She slammed her helmet on as she bounced out the door.

Linna and Nene weren't quite as quick, but they weren't far behind.

Devlin smiled, noting the distracted Knight Saber standing next to him.
All at once, Leon finally looked over at the prone figure. Eyes met and
locked.

"Save me," Devlin said. His dark eyes demanded obedience, submission.

The words echoed in Leon's mind, seeming to gain strength. Woodenly,
responding as if he were an automaton, "Save me."

Sylia blinked in surprise. Mind control? What could Devlin be...

"Kill her! Destroy her!" Devlin shouted, his will encompassing Leon's
mind.

Sylia rocketed out of the way as Leon opened fire, gouging out the earth
behind her.

"Kill her. Destroy her." Somewhere with himself, Leon railed against the
commands that forced him to do the very thing he came here to stop. But
the part that was in control acted with precision and speed, stomping
after the smaller armored figure. He let loose burst when he thought he
might have a chance to hit her.

Sylia relaxed slightly, as she saw that Leon had exaggerated. Slightly,
anyways. The gun seemed to be mostly regular tracer rounds, with only
one in ten actually being the heavy armor piercing rounds.

Sylia had never really considered the ADP truly dangerous. Their weapons
were not as advanced, the tactics sometimes laughable. But as she dodged
and tried to counter him, she had to grudgingly admit that Leon was no
slouch, even if he was outmatched. But she didn't have time to deal with
him!

Devlin was trying to escape! Sylia suddenly changed direction, angling
along a wall, near where she had entered the area. As Leon followed, she
turned suddenly, to dash away.

Leon skidded to a halt as his thrusters died. He turned to follow the
Knight Saber when the wall behind him exploded as Sylia's forgotten
motoslave came through it.

Leon yelled out, "Oh, shit!"

The Typhoon II entered the battle as an ace up her sleeve, changing the
whole field of battle. The big mecha slammed into the slightly smaller
K-suit, body-checking it to the ground. Sylia nodded in satisfaction.
The Typhoon II should more than handle the ADP hardsuit. She turned back
to Devlin, just in time to react to a sword being swung at her neck!

-

Priss skidded to a halt in front of Mackie's bulkier and (thankfully)
slower hardsuit. "Mackie! Think damn it! If you go charging in their
like a bull, you might get Sylia killed!"

"Priss, get out of my way!" Mackie said in a determined tone of voice.

"Mackie, I'm not going to stop you, but I want you to think about what
you do." Priss stepped to the side. "We don't want her hurt either. But
it's her fight."

"Guys! We've got other problems!" Nene called out from behind both of
them.

They swiveled around to look at the red hardsuit, for some odd reason
giving the impression of irritation. Linna just looked on in her own
green hardsuit.

"The ADP is sending several TAC squads, the first group's ETA is only a
minute away!" Nene gulped as she listened to the data feed. "They are to
assist Detective Leon in capturing us. They've already got K-suits on
their way! Chief Toto sounds really serious."

"Oh... shit," Priss said eloquently. She thought frantically for just a
second. "Mackie, go make sure Sylia's all right, but don't interfere if
it looks like she's holding her own. Nene, Linna, you're with me. We
have to buy some time. Nene, be ready to blow the truck if it comes down
to it!"

"Okay!" came the acknowledgements.

The red hardsuit watched the bulky orange suit trundle off, bazooka
cannon at the ready. She was torn for a second. She didn't want to fight
the ADP and she really wanted to go with Mackie, but Priss and Linna
were going to need her.

In moments the three Knight Sabers had intercepted the first caravan of
the ADP. "Okay, let's do it!" Priss said, her dark blue hardsuit
gleaming as she crouched down to leap.

"Priss, I, I can't do this!" Nene said plaintively.

Linna looked over in consternation and then understanding. "Oh, crud."

Priss's visor hid her expression as she turned and looked at Nene.
"Nene, I won't force you to fight. This isn't a fairy tale. These guys
are going to be using lethal force." She launched herself into the air,
Linna a mere moment behind.

For a heart wracking moment, Nene didn't know what to do. Then, as if
she had just had an epiphany. Friends. That was what was important. She
took a breath and then launched herself after them, mini thrusters
blaring to land softly behind the blue and green hardsuits, forming a
triangle. Acting in unison, they dashed towards the oncoming vehicles.

The drivers had just a moment to be shocked as the hardsuits in front of
them sprang into action. The two lead armored troop carrier's engines
had a catastrophic failure as shaped explosive punches destroyed them.
Communication suddenly ceased as a deathly static over took the radios.

"Don't kill them if you don't have too!" Nene called out.

Priss snorted. "Like these jerks are threats!" She leaped up and over
the large, square vehicle and landed in the back of the just opened
doors, unloading ADP troops. Each trooper carried his snub nosed rifle
and wore their standard soft armor. Helmets, gas masks and goggles gave
them the appearance of some sort of storm trooper.

Without even asking, they unleashed a barrage of bullets at the blue
hardsuited figure as it charged them. They were forced to stop as the
figure plowed into them like a bowling ball into ten pins. The worst
injury among them was only a few broken bones, but their dignity would
take some time to recover.

Linna dealt with the other group of trooper in a similar manner as
Priss, going hand to hand to knock them out. At the third and final
troop carrier, Nene leaned into the double doors in the back, pushing
them closed against the combined weight of the troops. As soon as she
had the doors closed, her laser worked quickly to wield the doors
closed.

Priss looked up, seeing a swarm of lights headed this direction.
"Company! Take out their guns and they can't shoot at us!"

Nene and Linna responded, "Right!"

"Go!"

The three hardsuits moved out again taking a moment to deal with some
police cruisers smashing their hoods and engines casually. The small
fire-bee fighter copters had just a moment to realize that they were
under attack as the Knight Sabers all leaped a hundred feet straight up
into the air.

-

Sylia blocked and dodged frantically, trying to keep her head attached
to her body. She had never considered him using a melee weapon as a
serious threat. Whatever the sword was, it was holding up to his inhuman
strength and battering up against her armor. Her own double blades,
protruding from her gauntlets was barely keeping the sword from her
neck.

Devlin snarled gleefully. He had her on the ropes now! He was driving
her back. When her wings snapped out, he swung his sword in a vicious
overhand blow, smashing it and disrupting her attempt to gain some
distance.

Out of control, she cork-screwed in the air, abruptly terminating as she
impacted into a wall. Sylia's vision cleared to see Devlin, sword in
hand up against her throat. With a dread certainty that she wasn't going
to live, she released her last plan. She had to stall!

"It was a good fight. The best I've had in ages. But you lose! Just like
everyone else!" Devlin crowed, gloating over his victory.

He barely had a moments warning when a shell exploded the ground behind
him, shredding his jacket and flinging him at the prone figure in front
of him.

Seizing the opportunity, Sylia ignited her thrusters to get to her feat
in one burst and grabbing Devlin in a bear hug. Staggering drunkenly,
Sylia walked back out into the open.

Mackie looked on in confusion. What was Sylia doing? Uncertainly, he
lifted his bazooka cannon up. In the back of his mind, he noted that the
larger robot was slowly disassembling Leon's K-suit quite viciously.

Sylia watched on her HUD as numbers counted down. "And the Lord spoke
and said, 'Let there be light'," Sylia said to herself.

Devlin didn't understand what she was saying. His eyes widened in
surprise, for in the night's sky, a ring of light appeared in southern
quadrant of the sky. For some reason, this ring seemed to strike deep at
his fears. As he watched the ring seemed to expand inward. Single
brighter stars appeared within that shimmering, shining bright and
white.

The ADP chopper pilots flying into the area looked around in confusion.
Odd lights were illuminating the city, dancing across it as if alive.

Far above, in the cold of space, satellites turned and rotated. Mirror-
like solar collectors angled according to a preset signal that overrode
their computers and continued it methodical overtake of all of the
solar collectors and reflectors that it could in orbit.

Devlin jerked as the first touch of light struck him. It didn't hurt,
but it was incredibly bright. No matter what he could do, he couldn't
break Sylia's titanium clad grip. His head was above her own, with his
arms pinned to his side. In horror, he saw more and more lights
converging on their spot, illuminating the area.

"Gheagk! AAAAAAH!" Devlin screamed, as daylight was focused on this
small section of MegaTokyo. His skin started to smolder and smoke,
burning away. Muscle and bone started to show as his flesh turned to
ash.

Leon could only stare in mute horror as the vampire burned in the bright
light only thirty feet away. The red mecha had finally destroyed his
power train, leaving him at its mercy. His poor K-suit's helmet and
shoulders were broken, leaving him almost defenseless. He squinted as
the bright light struck his bare face. It was warm, but only about as
much as a sunny day in spring.

As Devlin crumbled to dust in her grip, Leon felt the strange compulsion
break and fragment leaving him confused and stunned. "W-what? What's
going on?"

Sylia looked away from the clothing and dust at the exclamation. She
walked over and stared into Leon's eyes, calculating, planning. "Leon
McNichol. What do you plan to do?"

"Eh?" Leon squinted at her. His whole body tensed. He was at her mercy.
"What do you mean?"

"You know who I am. What do you plan to do?" Sylia stared at Leon
through her cameras, trying to judge what he would do, what actions she
must take.

"I came here to stop you from stepping out of line. I saw you as you
were about kill a man. So I had to act to stop you." Leon squinted as he
saw the light illuminating the area starting to fade. "That guy on the
bike, he was one of them, wasn't he?"

"Yes. He was a vampire." Darkness encompassed the area, leaving Leon to
stare at the dark shape.

"A vampire. A real live vampire, eh?" Leon just couldn't fit such a
creature into his world view that quickly. "And they are after the
Knight Sabers? So you are just defending yourself?"

"Not the Knight Sabers, Leon McNichol. He was after me. The Knight
Sabers have chosen to stand behind me."

Leon heard the sound of a heavier mecha tromping toward him, obviously
not one of the Knight Sabers. Leon pursed his lips in thought. "I was
here to stop you from killing someone. But I'm never going to convince
anyone higher up the chain about vampires. And it sounds like he was the
real life monster that you were trying to tell me about."

Sylia flipped her visor up. "And my secret? The other Knight Sabers
identities?"

"The ADP has always cut you guys a lot of slack, because of all the
things you've done to help the city. I've kept the secret for a while.
As long as you don't cross the line, I'll keep my mouth shut. Besides, I
haven't figured out who green is yet." Leon smiled roguishly. He was
rewarded with a small start of surprise out of her.

"You know who Red is?" Sylia said coolly. She had hoped that he hadn't
guessed that one.

"Yeah. Surprised the hell out of me when I did figure it out. Nene
doesn't really seem like Knight Saber material."

Sylia seriously considered killing Leon, right then and there, but no,
that would be cold blooded murder. Not only that, but the Normal Police
and ADP would spare no expenses to hunt them down for that. She did not
relish living as a wanted fugitive. Or to do that to her brother and her
friends.

There was no choice, it left only one avenue open. Trust, in a person
unknown to her. A person that just tried to arrest her and kill her.

Sylia agonized for a second. "I have no choice then. I guess the Knight
Sabers exist at your sufferance." Sylia ended the conversation by
closing her visor and turning while walking away.

The big red mecha set the K-suit down as gently as possible. Leon
started to scramble out of the ruins of his armor. He blinked in
surprise at the three figures taking off. He didn't remember seeing that
big bulky yellow suit before.

-

"Knight Sabers! Status?" Sylia called over the radio.

Priss watched the sky up ahead. "Oh, about two dozen K-suits are about
to be air dropped in on us."

"Well, why don't we leave? Regroup at Raven's. Make sure not to be
followed," their leader said.

Priss turned to Linna and Nene. "Nene, blow the truck. We'll hoof it
back to Raven's."

"Roger!" A specially encoded instruction was transmitted through the
static she was generating.

The Knight Saber's faithful mobile base ignited spectacularly , as
special charges set the very metal of the vehicle afire. By the time the
special combustibles would finish burning in an hour, a forensic
scientist would have a tough time telling more than that it had been a
vehicle of some sort.

The large helicopters in the air had their pilots blinking as they saw
the incandescent flames off in the distance. "K-suits? Are you ready?"
After a chorus of affirmatives, the pilot pulled the eject toggle,
launching the ADP's K-suit arsenal into the air behind it.

The leader of the ten K-suits started to cheer as he saw the Knight
Sabers rocket towards the cliffs that surrounded the area, heading away
from them at high speeds. "We've got them boxed in, there's no way they
can escape... DAMN! How the hell can they do that?"

That was in reference to the three hardsuits rocketing up the side of
the cliff, hundreds of feet straight up. A small crowd of onlookers was
watching the scene from the top of the cliff.

"Look out!" cried one of the men, taking his own advice and diving to
the ground, just as the three sleek hardsuits came over the edge.

The blue and green one landed easily, while the red one stumbled a bit,
almost stepping on a fallen pedestrian. "Oops! Sorry!"

"The subways! Follow me!" Priss said, pointing towards the nearest
subway entrance.

Nene waved as she called out "Bye, bye!" A jet assisted leap landed her
right behind the other two hardsuits.

A moment later, a thundering roar broke the stunned silence as the ADP's
large carrier helicopters crested the cliffs edge. "Where did the Knight
Sabers go?" its PA system yelled out. Many of the crowd pointed towards
the subway entrance. "Damn it! They've gone into the subway system," the
PA blurted out, as the pilot didn't realize that he was still on the
loud speaker.

"We've lost them, control! They led us around like we were amateurs!"
the pilot relayed privately back to headquarters.

-

"What the hell do you mean, you made a bad call while out there? Do you
have any idea how much that cost us in equipment and morale?" Chief Toto
yelled at Leon. Daley and Nene were the only other two people present.

Daley winced. Leon was in deep trouble. Nene just tried to keep her
cool.

"At first appearance, it looked like the Knight Saber was about to
murder a human. At that point, I called for backup that could deal with
the Knight Sabers! The unidentified assailant then did something to me,
forcing me to attack and try to kill the Knight Saber. I was
incapacitated while the Knight Saber dealt with the threat." Leon took a
deep breath. "It wasn't human, whatever it was! It was back on its feet
in less than a minute, after having taken enough damage to actually down
one of our K-suits."

"So where's the evidence? Where's the boomers body?" Chief Toto snarled
right back.

"I don't think it was boomer. I don't know what the hell it was, but it
burned to ashes!"

"And you said it was using this sword to damage a hard suit?"

"Well, yeah?"

"Chief, I've had the forensics boys take a look at it. The sword isn't
normal. It's tempered titanium steel, sharpened to a razors edge. The
thing has nicks in it, just like it had been used to chop into heavy
armor," Daley said helpfully.

Toto spun towards Daley. "Are you collaborating his story?"

"Hey! I'm just bringing you the facts. If you had the strength, you
could possibly damage a combat hardsuit or boomer with that thing."

Nene let out an 'eep' from where she was taking notes.

"Do you have something to add, Romanova?" the Chief blurted out angrily.

"Uh, no Sir! But it is possible that it could be some sort of bio-
weapon, isn't it?" Nene squeaked out. She and Sylia had worked that out
as a possibly 'theory' as to what happened.

"Possible? Not likely! And when is someone going to tell me why the hell
did someone feel like pointing every single damn satellite in orbit at
the battle? I've had calls from the UN and the DIET for the last several
hours! They've been riding my butt to get this investigation done ASAP.
Telecommunications was interrupted across the entire eastern hemisphere,
costing millions!"

"I don't know, chief!"

"Well, until we finish this investigation, you're suspended!"

Leon winced. This was starting to look ugly.

-

That next night, just after sunset, Mackie was sitting on the couch,
using a portable terminal to work out a repair schedule for the
hardsuits and their other equipment. The loss of the truck was going to
take weeks to replace and they'd have to be very careful when they did.

"Hey, Nene? When you're done with checking out your hardsuit, do you
want to come up and grab a bite to eat?" The little window in the corner
of the screen showed the bouncy red-head. Mackie failed to notice a red
dot moving across the floor towards him. He blinked in surprise as it
darted across the table in front of him and then disappeared. What had
that been?

"Sure, Mackie! What are you cooking?" Nene asked.

The red dot steadied itself on the young boys back, as crosshairs lined
up. Three muted coughing sounds barked out, shattering the window and
traveling through his body and the screen on his lap, splattering
blood everywhere.

Nene blinked in surprise as the screen blanked out even as it
transmitted the sound of breaking glass. "Mackie?" Her screen started to
flash an intruder alert in the penthouse. A little status bar indicated
armed intrusion, weapons fired.

Sylia jerked at the sound of shattering glass and metal, echoing from
the living room. She glided out of the shower and slipped on her
bathrobe. A small panel slid open in the sink cabinet, letting her grab
a small pistol. She had a bad feeling that it wasn't going to be enough.


She flung open the door and dashed into the living room, where a
nightmare awaited her. Blood was splattered everywhere, Mackie's prone
form was crumpled on the ground. She barely heard the sound of breaking
glass, as a black commando garbed figure stepped in through the ruined
window.

Goggles and a face mask hid his expression, but didn't muffle his voice.
"Damn! Shot the wrong target." His hands snatched two hand guns from
shoulder holsters as Sylia's gun shot him three times, dead center.

She had but a moment to realize he must be armored, when his shots rang
out, striking her in the stomach and legs. She collapsed in pain,
scrabbling to try and shoot him back. She was flipped back over and her
gun was slapped out of her hand with brutal efficiency.

"I can't believe that you were the one that killed Devlin. You're weak
and slow." He slid the mask and goggles off with one hand. Sylia
realized it was one of the dead vampire's henchmen. "But your blood will
still taste sweet. And with it, I'll have your strength to challenge
anyone who stands in my path!"

"What are you... glergk!?" Sylia tried to struggle, but his fangs were
in her throat as he sucked the blood out of her. "Stop," she managed to
get out. Her hands struck futile blows against him.

Slow seconds passed as she felt herself weaken. So this is how it would
end?

"Mackie!? Sylia! Get away from her you monster!" Nene's muffled voice
yelled out from the elevator. Her red hardsuit's laser discharged,
sending the smell of burning flesh into the air.

Jackie rolled to side, managing to dodge the second laser burst. Damn!
Where the hell had she come from? "Stay out of this mortal!" He tried to
force her leave, to submit. But he couldn't see her eyes.

"You bastard! You killed Mackie!" Nene charged at him, landing a weak
punch into his stomach.

Jackie grabbed and threw her outside, where she skidded past the
swimming pool in a trail of sparks. He dashed after her to try shooting
her in weak points in the armor. He was about half way there, when her
jets flared, flinging her into the air, while spinning her around. Her
laser stabbed out from her right arm, clipping him again, burning away
most of his shoulder.

He couldn't help himself as he screamed in agony. The damn thing burned
like fire! He was surprised when she landed right in front of him,
grabbing him and smashing them both through the wall, back into the
living room.

Nene was possessed by an insane, righteous fury. Normally the most timid
and weak of the Knight Sabers, she fought in a berserk rage. Again and
again, she smashed him into the reinforced concrete of the floor.

She had almost succeeded in smashing him through the floor when her
concentration was broken. "Nene! Stop! He's down!"

"M-Mackie? B-but how? You were dead. At least hurt really bad?" Nene
stopped striking the battered and broken flesh on the ground before her
in confusion.

Mackie leaned down to her. His clothes were splattered with his blood,
but she could see sickly bruised flesh beneath it, oddly discolored with
veins of gray-silver. "Something else my father left behind. I'm going
to be fine," he managed to say, between grit teeth.

"Mackie!" Nene cried out, grabbing him in a tight embrace. "I thought...
I thought you were dead."

They were startled back to the current situation as Sylia jammed a
katana through the chest of the vampire, pinning it into the gravel so
that it couldn't move.

"Argh, you bitch!" Jackie cried out. He'd needed just a minute or two
more to heal his wounds.

"Talk! Or I'll kill you right now!" Sylia declared in a voice that
alluded to an arctic wind.

"What? What do you want to know?"

"Why did you attack me? Why did you shoot Mackie?" Sylia asked, twisting
the sword slightly.

"Thought he was you! I attacked you for revenge and to take your blood
for my own." Jackie sucked in air as if he needed to breath, the
reflexes of his life coming back to him.

"What do you mean, take my blood?"

Nene moved over and put her laser up against his forehead. She wasn't
taking any chances.

"Devlin's blood was strong, powerful enough to create potent childer. If
I take your blood, I become at least as strong as you!" He gasped as she
turned the sword a bit. "You're a hunted woman, Stingray. Your nights
are numbered! And just because of your blood."

"I won't be easy to kill."

"You won't be able to hide or run, Sylia Stingray! They'll come after
your friends, your family!" His hands suddenly shot out in a blur and
grabbed Nene's right arm and tossed her on top of Sylia. Not even
pausing to remove the sword he dashed to the edge of the roof and flung
himself off, into the night.

"Nene! Don't let him escape!" Sylia cried out.

She needn't have even ordered as the Knight Saber flung herself after
the vampire. He was about to strike the ground, when she unleashed her a
full spray of lasers into his back, riddling his body full of holes. His
body bounced with a sickening thud off the mostly empty sidewalk as the
sword imbedded in him shattered.

The onlookers were treated to the unusual sight of a Knight Saber
landing lightly next to the body. Even as she dashed towards the body,
it jerked itself to its feet. Barely recognizable as a man, he bared his
fangs and leaped at her, his insane beast awakened and demanding death
and blood.

She ducked his hands and smashed a punch into his gut, triggering a
powerful burst, almost like a knuckle bomber that Priss and Linna
favored. Her helmet was covered in blood as he sprayed blood from his
mouth.

The bystanders gasped at the savagery of the exchange and then again as
the man seemed to crumble into himself. By the time his bones would have
hit the ground, there was a cloud of dust that drifted away.

Nene felt numb and tired. Moving woodenly, she looked around at the
gathering crowd. Shaking off her lethargy, she took off, bouncing and
gliding down the street and turning corners until she felt she had lost
any pursuers. A back entrance to the Silky Doll took her back upstairs.

"Is... is everyone all right?" Nene asked finally. That had been a
fairly traumatic event for her.

Sylia looked up from where she was checking on Mackie. "We're fine. Did
you stop him?"

"Y-yeah."

"Nene, go get out of the hardsuit and come back up here. I'll need your
help as 'Nene Romanova: ADP police officer," Sylia looked up from where
she was bandaging Mackie. "Take his shirt and trash it in the secure
area."

Nene nodded and followed the orders. She had a sinking feeling that this
night was going to be another long night.

-

Linna looked around the trashed living room, seeing small piles of
debris. "Oh, that's why she wanted to meet downstairs. Brrr. I should
have brought my sweater." Sighing theatrically, she turned back into the
elevator and hit the button for the sub-basements. It was always so cold
down there.

A minute later, she stepped out of the elevator and into the cold and
sterile base that the Knight Sabers operated out of. A bit of walking
finally found the other Knight Sabers sitting at the break table,
sipping coffee. Well, except for Sylia, of course. "Hello!"

"'lo Linna. 'bout time!" Priss said as she slouched in her chair. She
had her hands in her leather jacket's pockets.

"Some of us hold a full time job during the day! I need my beauty
sleep," Linna replied, sticking her nose up in the air.

"You got that right!" Nene said, brightening up considerably.

It took a moment for the put down to dawn on Linna. "Hey! That's not
nice!"

"Ha! You're just upset that I got you with that one!" Nene crowed.

Priss ginned, trying to fight down a laugh that just wanted to be
released. "Y'know, she might be right."

"Not you too?" Linna started to scowl.

"Poor picked on Linna. I mean, she gets half the crap that Nene gets but
whines twice as much." Priss's smile was so wide it threatened to break
at any moment.

Nene, Mackie and Sylia all started to giggle until they couldn't hold
back and started to laugh themselves breathless. Priss joined in just a
moment later.

Linna put on a dignified and wounded expression. "I swear. I thought you
were my friends."

Her comment just set them to laughing even harder. Finally, Sylia
coughed, bringing everyone back down to the earth.

"Thank you for showing up, Linna." Sylia saw Linna perk up in
expectation. "As you might be wondering what happened upstairs, a
vampire made an attempt on my life. As he put it, he wanted to take 'my
blood' for his own and for 'revenge.' He seemed to think that drinking
my blood would make him more powerful."

"Eww. Cannibal vampires." Linna's comment seemed to sum up Priss's
thoughts.

"Nene dispatched the vampire, but they are likely to be more that will
attempt to kill me in the next few nights. We have to come up with some
plan of attack, or some idea of how and where to flee." Sylia paused a
second, lost in deep thought.

"Nene?! What have they been feeding you? Klingon Wheaties?" Priss asked
incredulously.

"Hey!"

"Later! This is a matter of grave importance to all of the Knight
Sabers. Do we fight or flee?" Sylia asked the group pointedly.

"I'm not going to let any blood sucker push me around. I say we fight!"
Priss exclaimed.

"Uh, exactly how many vampires are we talking about?" Linna asked. "I'm
all for fighting battles that we stand a chance at winning, but I'm not
going to walk into certain death. This is starting to sound like a
really bad episode of that old American vampire hunter show from about
thirty years ago."

"We don't abandon our friends! If that means fighting, then we fight!"
Nene exclaimed, her grip on Mackie's hand tightening convulsively.

"I'm not convinced that we can fight them. I need more data," Sylia said
tiredly.

"What if we took away their reason for attacking you?" Mackie asked
seriously. He had a very hard look on his too young face.

"Huh? What are you thinking about, Mackie?" Nene asked.

"That guy from tonight, he wasn't really here for revenge. He was here
to 'eat' you." Mackie noted Sylia's shudder of horror. "He was sloppy
and got himself killed because he was in a rush. They must think that
because you're new, that if they hit you when you aren't in your armor,
they can kill you. They're probably right too."

Sylia nodded slowly in agreement. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"We get rid of your old body. We know it's feasible. Look at what Mason
did. Trick everyone into thinking that you 'died.'"

Priss's chair slipped out from beneath her, letting her fall to the
ground in a crash. She looked up from the ground, shocked horror on her
face. "What the hell are you talking about? You can do that? Why didn't
you tell us?"

Sylia blinked in surprise. "By the time we had figured it out, Largo was
dead."

"Sylia, what does Largo have to do with Mason?" Linna asked, looking
between the two siblings.

"There is a very great likelihood that Largo was, in most ways, Mason.
The technology is a subtle application of boomer AI technology." Sylia
tapped on the table, slowly and steadily. "I think the risk is
unacceptable."

"Eh? Why?" Linna asked.

Priss had a very hard look of concentration as she sat back down on the
chair that she had overturned.

"Mason became the monster Largo. I... won't let that happen again."

"I don't see what the difference is between what your father did and
being in a boomer body." Linna tried her best to keep calm. "Besides,
Mason was pretty monstrous to begin with."

"The Fanword Syndrome is well documented. A human mind needs a certain
level of physical stimulus. If it doesn't get it, the mind begins to
fragment into different psychosis's." Sylia shrugged.

"A 33-S boomer is pretty humanlike and can 'feel,' can't it? " Priss had
a very hard frown on her face.

Sylia nodded slowly. "That is true. There sense of touch and smell are
about sixty percent as good as a humans. Later models were even better."

"Does anyone have a better idea?" Nene asked.

"We could try to disappear, but my attacker made a comment that 'I
couldn't hide or run.' He could have been bluffing, but they found me
rather easily. First Rumio and then the attacker from tonight." For
people who knew her, you could easily see her agitation as she tapped
the table.

"So they're probably watching right now." Linna frowned. She wasn't
usually the most paranoid of people. But then again, what was that
phrase? You're only paranoid if they aren't out to get you.

Sylia seemed to sink into herself. "I've dragged you into this. I just
don't see another way out, some way to fight them effectively."

"So we 'fort up' and lock down. How hard is it going to be to get you
into a different body?" Priss couldn't believe they were going to do
this. It sounded like something out of a sci-fi show. Or an old
Frankenstein movie.

Sylia looked strained but finally nodded. "I guess it is the only
option. It's going to take a few days to prepare everything. We'll have
to steal a body. I don't have the facilities to make an S type android
body. It will take that long to grow a 'brain' for it, anyways."

"Great, Genom." Priss looked very unhappy at her voiced thought.

-

The next two days were spent in frantic preparations. Finally, on the
Second night, Sylia brought them together to tell them that she was ready.
Sylia stood over what would hopefully be her new body. It lay on the bed
quietly, but more alive than herself. She had just finished installing
the new 'brain' and hooking it up to the battery of computers with a
four inch wide band of optical cables. It was going to be shorter than
her old body, but of more classical proportions. The blond hair seemed
wrong, as did the violet eyes.

Priss, Nene and Linna were standing in their hard suits, helmets off but
prepared to act instantly. "So, how long is this going to take?" Priss
asked.

"Downloading will take approximately a half an hour. Uploading to the
new AI will take about half that." Sylia took a deep, unneeded breath .
She laid down on the table, resting her head in between a complicated
apparatus. Bands of steel wrapped around her, binding her to the table.

Mackie sat on a stool over by the computer. "Ready when you are, Sis."

She still almost called it off, right then. But, in the hallmark of true
bravery, pushed past her fears. There will be no Largo. Nor Reika
either. In a very real manner, she was just following her fathers dream
to its ultimate conclusion. Man, controlling his evolution via
technology.

"Go."

Priss nodded to the other two Knight Sabers. "That's our cue. Time to
take out their eyes and ears."

Linna and Nene nodded in understanding. It hadn't been too difficult to
spot the spies that were watching the building. Luckily, they had no
idea that Sylia also owned the buildings behind the Silky Doll.

-

They surrounded the last spy in fairly short order. He looked quite
upset as he kept asking for status updates through a walkie talkie. A
large semi-auto rifle was leaned up against his leg. His dark eyes
danced around the roof top as if he expected to be attacked at any
moment. So he wasn't too terribly surprised when three figures came
bouncing over the edge of the room.

"This one's alive!" Nene called out. That didn't stop her from pointing
her laser at him.

"So we give him the option of leaving." Priss also had her right arm
pointed at him. Whether she planned on using her plasma cannon or rail
spikes, only she knew.

Linna didn't say anything, but almost danced on her toes in readiness.

"I'm going to give you five seconds to drop your weapons and leave.
Quickly."

The guy smiled cockily and put the rifle to his shoulder. "Can't do
that, I'm afraid." With a startling quickness, he fired as full spray of
bullets at the blue hardsuit in front of him.

"That wasn't too bright, buddy." Priss took carefully measured steps
toward him.

The gun clattered to the ground. "Nah, I was just told that I'd better
at least put up a fight. If you don't mind, I'm going now."

"Orders, huh? Life sucks for you."

"Please don't say that."

-

"Sis, your pattern is in a highly agitated state. I'm going to have to
abort for now," Mackie said suddenly. His hands typed and reversed the
process in just a minute. He looked over at the figure lying on the
table. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

The silence stretched out longer and longer, widening uncomfortably
between them. "Come on, Sylia. You know that this can't work unless
you're calm."

Sylia stared at the metal ceiling. "I know." The silence stretched out
even further. "I'm scared." That had hurt to admit. She was supposed to
be the one in charge, the one who didn't need help.

Mackie looked at her with worry written all over him. "I think I
understand."

"No, you don't."

"How can I help you if you don't tell me!" Mackie threw up his hands in
disgust.

Sylia didn't respond. Her eyes were closed as her mind raced for some
solution to the problem. She almost jumped in shock when she felt a warm
hand take her own in its grasp. She turned and looked in surprise.

"Please, tell me. I'm your brother. I want to help."

"I... I've always been scared of what father did to us. Making us part
machine." It felt like she was opening an old wound, the pain tearing at
her. The pain was almost debilitating.

"And this is worse, because you're choosing to become one of your own
free will."

Sylia nodded slowly. "Ever since Largo, the dreams came back.
Nightmares, really. They're always the same." She gulped loudly,
swallowing a breath she really didn't need. "I wake up and go to have
breakfast. You or one of the girls is there and we are chatting, when I
realize something is... wrong. Sometimes, it is red or gold eyes. Or
maybe I can see silver veins under their skin."

"My god..." Mackie hadn't thought that Sylia had any fears like this.
She was always so calm, so collected, even during combat.

"But that isn't the worst. I realize that they... they've become
monsters, soulless creations. Sometimes, it seems like I fight and even
win, k-killing the... other times I can't get to the hardsuits and...
and they chase me, catch me. And I can feel them stripping me of flesh.
When they're done, I hear... him. Laughing and mocking me."

She stops for a second, as if trying to gain her courage back. "S-
sometimes it's Mason. Most of the time, it... it's Largo. He's laughing
and talking about 'the look of the victor.' And in his eyes, I see
myself. I... I've become some sort of monstrous boomer, that looks
barely human. But it has my face, with glowing red eyes!" Sylia took in
a sobbing breath of air.

"Sylia, you would never do that!"

"I didn't think Mason would kill thousands of people just to try and get
the OMS either."

"Mason was a monster. He murdered and killed dozens of innocent people.
Becoming a boomer just let him do the things that he'd only dreamed that
he could do. I have faith in you Sis. You're stronger than Mason." He
squeezed her hand again. "If you like, I'll stay here, holding your
hand."

For the longest moment, she didn't say anything. Almost sobbing, she
nodded. "Please. Don't let me go."

"Just a moment. Let me get set up." He moved the keyboard and monitor so
that he wouldn't have to leave her side. He then gripped her hand
tightly and started the process. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw
that Sylia was finally calming down. The process would work.

Almost an hour later, Mackie yawned. Hopefully, they were finally seeing
the light at the end of the tunnel. Three more minutes and they were
done. And it looked like they had cleared out all of the watchers. A
small rustle of clothing was his only warning of an attack, as his head
was struck savagely, smashing his face against the screen. For just a
moment, the screen hung on the edge of the table before it crashed to
the ground.

Rumio looked around at the different advanced looking electronics. The
young man groaned on the ground and then collapsed fully into
unconsciousness. "Timing is everything," she said to herself with a wry
grin. She looked behind herself to see the portal in the air fading out.

It would cost her a pretty penny to replace the item she had just used.
But, if it advanced her in the Jihad, it would be more than worth it.
Rumio looked at the two figures laying on the ground. One was obviously
a boomer. The other was Sylia, laying still, as if one of the truly
dead.

Her eyes plumbed the comatose figure with senses far different than
merely mortal eyes. Sylia's aura looked oddly muted, almost nonexistent.
Shrugging, she turned the chair around, sat down and bit deeply into her
neck. Within a minute, she felt the blood was fully drained from the
body.

Focusing deeply, she continued to drain the body. Even though she had
drained her dry of all blood, to gain her essence, her power, she would
have to take Sylia's soul into herself. After just a few moments, there
was nothing left except for a corpse. A decaying corpse without a spark
of life left within in it.

Rumio frowned. She had thought that she would feel something after
diablorizing Sylia. It could be possible that she had not done the act
correctly or that it had just failed. It was supposed to be quite hard
to accomplish at times. She shook her head in frustration. To take such
risks with no reward was disheartening.

Suddenly, the metal bands holding the boomer snapped from behind her as
she broke free. Cables snapped free as Sylia jumped to her feet
clumsily. "What did you do to Mackie?" Anger welled up in her. How dare
she attack her brother.

Rumio looked on the boomer with disdain. "He's merely unconscious. He
will have to live with her death on his conscious. That is far more
punishment than he deserves for being dragged into this hellish
nightmare that I live in."

Sylia's eyes narrowed and then relaxed. "Fine. You killed her, so why
don't you leave."

Rumio eyed this strange boomer warily. This one was not acting normally.
She blinked in surprise as she noted the vibrant aura, rich with the
texture of feelings and life around it. "What are you? No... who are
you? You couldn't be..."

Sylia tightened her muscles in preparation for to fight.

"How? How can you be free of this cursed existence!" Rumio screamed,
eyes flashing with an eerie scarlet hue. She struggled with the monster
within her, almost attacking Sylia in a frenzy as she was so infuriated
about her escaping the torture of being a vampire.

Long seconds passed. "I do not know if it would work for a normal
vampire. As I told Devin, I haven't been fully human since I was a girl.
My father created the original boomer, you know. Most of the actual
designs for their minds are based on his technology. The same technology
that replaced my flesh and blood brain with a neural computer."

"A cyborg? But most cybernetics are useless after being embraced. The
vampire body does not know how to use them." Rumio looked confused. The
cybernetics boom from a few years ago had taught the vampires a few
things about technology that they had been unprepared for.

"That term will have to suffice. And for over a day, my mind did not
know how to control that body. I finally adapted. But, because of that
unique situation, I could transfer my 'programming' to a different body.
The risks were less than staying a vampire."

"You... how dare... I'll crush your heart in my hands, you abomination!"
Rumio face distorted, her fangs extended. Her hand we curled into claws
as she hunched over.

"BACK OFF." The high pitched whine of capacitors charging broke the
stillness, as the dark blue hardsuit bracketed the vampire in her
sights.

Rumio cursed to herself. The three hardsuited figures standing at the
doorway put her at a severe disadvantage. The olive green one stepped
into the room carefully, her own arm cannon raised and primed. Behind
them stood the much smaller red suit.

Her decision was taken from her by this damned circumstance of fate.
"Fine. I'm out of here."

Sylia stepped carefully, making sure to stay out of the line of the
heavy weapons. "Stop. I want your word of honor, that you will never
come back here, that you will never attack us. Also, that you will tell
them that I died at your hands."

"No."

"You won't leave this room alive unless you do."

The two women glared at each other, determined figures carved by harsh
events into strong willed antagonists.

"You have my word of honor that I will abide by all of your demands.
Damn you." Rumiko grit her teeth in anger, her fangs showing.

"Hopefully not. MegaTokyo does not need another Largo."

Rumiko narrowed her eyes at that odd pronouncement. Her back stiff, she
pushed her way beyond the armored warriors.

-

Leon slipped his shades on as he latched his helmet to his bike. The sun
glared off of a light layer of snow, making the midwinter day seem
brighter than even summer. He'd stopped by headquarters to see how Nene
and Dailey were dealing with the mess that he'd dropped on their lap.

But Nene hadn't been there, having called in sick... again. This was
unsettling him. He'd stopped by her apartment, but there had been no
answer.

Priss's trailer had been empty too. He'd avoided going there since that
night, fearing (possibly correctly) that he'd burnt that bridge behind
him trying to stop what he'd thought was a murderer.

He stuffed his hands in his jacket and walked the half block toward the
very banal and bland exterior of the Silky Doll. The wind tugged at his
hair as the door opened. Leon looked around the interior, spotting a
young lady behind the counter.

She smiled warmly. A ringing phone, calling her attention away,
interrupted her from greeting him. "One moment, sir!"

Leon tuned her out for just a moment. He was brought back to the present
as the sales clerk spoke up, "Excuse me? Miss Stingray wishes to speak
to you and cordially invites you upstairs."

"Umm? Sure. Lead the way."

"Just take the elevator up to the penthouse. She's expecting you
momentarily!" She gestured to the elevator behind the counter.

Leon ticked off the seconds as the elevator took him up. A small burst
of colder air greeted him.

The sight that greeted him struck him as... ordinary. Four young women
and one teenage boy, sitting around a living room. Papers were laying
across the tables, graphs and diagrams being easily evident.

"Stingray." Leon nodded his head and he loosened his jacket.

"Please, take a seat, Mr. McNichol." The dark haired woman in front of
him matched the photos and description of Sylia Stingray.

The only unknown was the woman with slightly longer dark hair, held back
out of her face with a head band. Leon felt a wave of uneasiness as he
realized that the woman (even Nene) seemed to all being wearing some
sort of exercise suit under their bathrobes. If you discounted the odd
sensor net connections that were visible.

"Thanks. I figured it was about time that we got some sort of an
agreement hammered out."

Off to the side, Nene let out a breath of air explosively. Relief was
stamped all over her face.

Sylia smiled, like the cat who had just eaten a mouse. "And what do you
suggest? We are mercenaries, after all. We get paid to do illegal jobs
most of the time."

"Yeah, well, I figured that the ADP can cut you some more slack. There
weren't too many casualties from the little tussle a week ago. Your
organization has done this city a great service." Leon took a small
breath. "If it weren't for you, Largo would still be running around,
leveling cities until he got whatever he wanted."

"So we get some slack... if we don't cross a certain... line?" Sylia
asked pointedly.

"I don't hold to murder. And you seem to try to keep your messes small."

"You don't have a problem with what happened to Mason?" Sylia said, over
stressing the words sarcastically.

Leon dragged his hand through his hair in nervousness. "Sounds to me
like it was some kind of duel. There were a lot of high explosive
craters that matched what his suit would do. You don't just hop into one
of those suits unprepared. He knew what he was getting into." Leon
smiled disarmingly. "'sides, at the worst, all they'd be able to pin on
you is involuntary manslaughter. At least, according to the ADP legal
hounds."

"If Genom lets us live to go to trial, of course."

Priss snorted in disgust. "Yeah, right."

"Priss! I want to make some things clear, Mr. McNichol. You aren't part
of our organization. This is as far as our agreement goes."

Leon stared at her for a long moment. "I can live with that." Something
was odd. That little bit of intuition was pinging in the background,
screaming for him to notice something right in front of him.

"Good." Sylia stood up and held out her hand.

Leon stood and gripped her hand, staring into her eyes. He blinked in
surprise, shock evident. "You... you... Boomer!" That's what was wrong.
Her eyes, they weren't her normal brown, but just a slightly off purple
brown, hiding their true color behind contacts.

Sylia held his hand tightly as she squinted at him. She released him
just as suddenly. "You have some very keen eyes, detective."

Leon looked around carefully. His probing eyes looked for any hint of
what he suspected. "I, uh..."

"Relax, cowboy. Sylia's human. She's just not in a human body." Priss
glared at him with her dark red eyes. "I happen to know of a few boomers
that are lots better people than some I could mention." Priss finished
her words softly, as if she had pulled at old wounds.

"I'm not the first person to make the leap to a boomers body, McNichol.
If you think back, you might even..."

"Mason! That bastard! That's what Largo meant!"

Nene emitted an "Eep!"

"Very astute. Yes. Obviously, this isn't anything I want to let become
common knowledge."

"Hey, you can trust me!" Leon used his thumb to point at himself. "I'm
pretty good at keeping secrets. I've known that Priss is a Knight Saber
for months."

"Months? How the hell did you know that, you creep?" Priss yelled as she
grabbed him by the front of his shirt.

"It helps to keep your helmet on top of your cute head. It doesn't
protect your identity if you aren't wearing it." He held up his hands to
forestall hurricane Priss. "It was during that DD mess. I wasn't totally
out of it at the end."

Sylia rolled her eyes. "Priss, let him go. Leon, don't you have
somewhere to be?"

"Eh, not until tomorrow. I've got a hearing to see if I get my badge
back."

"Ooh." Nene suddenly stood up and stomped on his toes. "Get a clue and
grow up."

Everyone stared at Nene. Under their gaze, she started to sweat.

"What?"

Linna grinned widely. "Nothing much, Nene poo. Just the kettle calling
the pot black."

"You guys are mean!"

Leon couldn't help it. He tried to hold it back as long as possible, but
finally he just burst out laughing. Everyone except Nene soon followed
him.

Nene shared her angry glare around. Her gaze finally came to rest on
Mackie. "Do you have a problem, Mr. Stingray?"

Mackie just smiled. "Nope."

Nene's left eyebrow twitched. "Are you sure about that? Or do you like
the couch?"

Mackie gulped suddenly.

"Nene? You didn't, did you? You sly dog! You did! And here I didn't
think you'd ever get the guts to go after him!" Priss started to
chuckle.

"I didn't just say that out loud did I?" Nene asked very quietly. Her
face was rapidly turning the same color as her hair.

Laughter was her only answer.