Standard Disclaimer - The original series characters are owned by Artmic, AIC, Youmex, Sonoda Kenichi and whoever else has a claim to Bubblegum Crisis. The character SkyKnight/Bert Van Vliet is copyrighted 1996 by Bert Van Vliet and used with his permission. Gabrielle Connors and Danielle Summers are products of my own imagination. Any resemblance to anyone presently living, dead or not yet born is purely coincidental. This story is written in fun and no copyright infringement is intended. Gabrielle Connors, Danielle Summers and this story are copyrighted 1998.

Violence Disclaimer - Yes Virginia, there is violence in this story. This is taking place in Mega-Tokyo 2034 and there will be death, destruction and collateral damage in this town. I think Priss has it written into her contract that she gets to break something every few days.

Comments are welcome and I can be reached at: mailto:Asagiri@usa.net

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The Past, 1997 - It was late and the gym was empty of visitors, except for two people who stood near a sparring mat. At a first glance they both appeared to be dressed similarly, as they were both wearing mismatched sweats. However, a closer look revealed the first was a man with short, curly brown hair with brown eyes and a slim build. The other was a young woman about five feet tall with her reddish-blonde hair in a ponytail, and green eyes.

"That's enough for me Sam, I'm tired"

Looking over at her Sam stopped drying his face with the towel. "You're tired? I'm the one you've been throwing all over the mat tonight Bree. Getting beat up by a girl does not do wonderful things for my ego you know."

"Why not? It does wonderful things for mine." Zipping shut the gym bag; she picked it up and shouldered it. "Seriously though, I want to get back to the apartment early tonight. I'm planning to surprise Danielle for her birthday tonight."

Sitting down on the mat Sam draped the towel over his shoulder. "Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow then. Don't forget you have that exam in psych class tomorrow."

"I remember, and I'll see you tomorrow in class." As she spoke Gabrielle started walking towards the exit and left the building. Walking towards the parking lot she saw her red & blue Kawasaki Ninja and headed towards it. Getting on the bike Gabrielle put on her helmet, started the engine and drove out of the parking lot and school and towards her apartment.

Arriving home only ten minutes later, Gabrielle parked the bike in the back of the building. As she walked towards the building's front door Gabrielle removed her helmet and shook her hair to untangle it.

Opening the door Gabrielle stepped inside and headed up the stairs quickly reaching the second floor. Moving to the door with the letters B-5, she unlocked the door and stepped inside closing it behind her. Turning on the lights Gabrielle walked quickly to the kitchen, moving to the refrigerator she opened it, removed a tray with two stuffed Cornish Game Hens and placed it in the oven.

Setting the temperature to 450 degrees, she closed the oven door and looked up at the built in clock on the oven. The time was 7:45pm and Gabrielle knew that Danielle should be getting home by 8:30 tonight. With that thought she stood up and hurried out of the kitchen and towards the bedroom.

As Gabrielle entered the bedroom she kicked off her sneakers and sat down on the corner of their queen-sized bed. Pulling off one of her socks, she started on the other one when there was a sudden, loud BANG!! from the kitchen.

Jumping off the bed Gabrielle ran towards the kitchen expecting to find the game hens exploded in the oven, 'Cooking is just not one of my strong points.'

As she turned the corner leading to the kitchen, Gabrielle stopped dead in her tracks. There just a few feet in front was what looked like a large, black hole in the very air itself. Without warning the hole started to grow, turning to run Gabrielle took two steps before she felt something slam into her back and knocking her down. Before she could move there was a blinding flash and then blackness.

The Present, 2034 - 'Tonight had started out so routinely' Sylia thought, 'and it had just gone straight downhill from there.' With that thought Sylia leaned forward and pressed a button on the KnightWings' communication panel.

"Saber Prime to SkyKnight, come in." Time passed without an answer, "Damn it SkyKnight, will you bloody well answer me!!" As soon as those words were out Sylia regretted them, mumbling to herself. "As soon as we get back tonight, I am going to take a nice, long, hot bath and relax."

The comm. panel beeped with an incoming message. "SkyKnight to Saber Prime. I'm a little busy now Sylia, the neighbors have brought some new toys and they don't feel like playing fair." Sighing, Sylia closed the channel and looked across the cabin to where the others were seated.

Nene was seated a little forward over at the KnightWings' ECM and Sensor Array controls; her pink armour was pockmarked and dented as if she had been standing in a meteorite shower. Priss was sitting near Nene, holding her helmet in her lap and leaning against the cabin wall with her eyes closed and Linna was lying on the floor stretched out.

Both Linna and Priss' hardsuits showed numerous burn marks and dents on them, Priss' helmet was cracked and missing both the antennae that swept up the sides of it.

**********************************

Bert felt the sweat dripping down his face, he'd started this fight facing only three rogue C-55 boomers, which he'd taken care of in short order. However, just after finishing the last C-55, three more had shown up.

These newcomers were the army's new A-15E2 Combat models and GENOM's latest achievement. The A-15's were designed for urban and guerrilla combat, and had better armour, weapons, ECM and ECCM. All of which made them tougher than the B-15's.

Destroying one of them early in the fight had lowered the odds, however, from that point on everything had gone to hell in a hand-basket. Suddenly the threat indicator started flashing, <Missile Lock Acquired!>. Bert threw himself forward into a diving roll, narrowly avoiding the missile strike that pulverized the spot he was standing in a moment ago.

Scanning the area around him, Bert searched for the A-15 that had been continually sniping at him, but their ECM was jamming his sensors keeping him blind. As he looked around, an A-15 popped out from behind a ruined building about 50 meters away and with its missile covers flipped open to fire.

Quickly Bert fired his dual paired particle lasers at the boomer and saw three of them hit. The boomers left arm was sheared off at the shoulder by one particle laser, two other lasers punched through the boomers armour and caused one of the launchers to explode knocking the boomer sideways and out of sight.

Kneeling down, Bert ran a quick check on his systems and frowned at what he saw; 38% Main power remaining, flight system off-line, and weapons were down to minimum power.

Making an easy decision Bert opened up a comm. channel, "SkyKnight to Saber Prime. Sylia, I seem to have run into…"

A burst of light suddenly blinded Bert, <Warning!! Unknown energy surge> The computer voice said calmly

'Shit, what the hell is going on?' Before he could do anything Bert felt something hit him hard in the chest, throwing him backward onto the ground and then the darkness swallowed him up.

**********************************

Nene frowned as she ran a sensor scan of the area Bert was in, the sensors seemed to be picking up something strange, but she couldn't seem to lock onto what exactly it was. Her hands started to dance across the keyboard as she tried to make sense of the information that she was getting.

The only consistent thing she was able to get was that it seemed to be a very, large energy buildup. But there were no power sources in the area and her sensors couldn't identify what type of energy it was. 'It is just a GENOM construction project, isn't it??' thought Nene.

"Sylia, there is something weird going on over by Bert."

"What else is new?" Sylia had just opened her eyes when the KnightWing abruptly shook violently, as if it were being tossed around like a ball between two rambunctious giants.

Electrical flashes could be seen dancing along the cabin walls, there was a small explosion and a scream and as quickly as it started it stopped.

Inside, the only light in the cabin was the eerie, red glow of the emergency lights, while smoke could be seen drifting about.

"Priss, Linna, Nene, are you all right??"

"Oh we're just fine back here Sylia" Priss's voice answered sarcastically. "What the hell just happened?"

"One moment Priss" Sylia answered back as she pressed the intercom switch. "Sylvie, What is going on up there?"

After several moments Sylia heard static and coughing on the intercom.

"I've just gotten the KnightWing back under control and flying relatively stable, but both the primary & secondary controls are fried and we're flying on manual right now. We've also lost Stealth capability and we've been 'painted' by four ground radar and lidar systems." Her normally light soprano voice was tight with worry.

"Anything else I should know?" Sylia asked.

"We've got about ten minutes before somebody comes up here looking for us and with all the red lights on my status board, we are not going to be outrunning anything, including a flock of geese."

Sylia was about to speak when the KnightWing suddenly lurched and seemed to slow.

"Oh hell, what else can go wrong now" Sylvie's voice echoed from the intercom. "Sylia, things just got worse. I've just feathered engines #2 & #4 and I've lost several more systems." Sylvie started switching off any non-essential system and rerouting several others.

"I've got enough red lights on my board to light the sky right now, we need to get back to the hanger before something fails that I can't fix."

"Hold her together for a few minutes more." Sylia replied. Closing her eyes Sylia started mentally reviewing their options. "Nene, where is Bert?" Seconds passed without an answer.

"Nene.."

"Sylia she's over here on the floor and she's unconscious." Priss's voice was tight with worry, "I can't tell what's wrong with her for sure, but it looks like she took a nasty electrical jolt when the panel blew."

**********************************

Bert woke up slowly and saw he was lying on the ground, trying to shake the cobwebs from his head he moved to his knees. A wave of pain hit him in his right side as he moved, gritting his teeth he looked around to see what had hit him. There was no sign of anything except a large crater where he had been standing.

Looking down at his right side, Bert saw the armour was torn and blood covered his armour. Moving slowly, he got to his feet carefully and felt his several ribs shift as he did, a wave of pain forced him to stop and wait for the pain to subside. 'Damn, it feels like I broke some ribs, again. Why can't this happen to someone else for a change??'

Running a diagnostic on his suit Bert waited for the results, a minute later the computer beeped and a list began scrolling down the screen. <Main power off-line, reserve power 22%, sensors & flight system destroyed, weapons - particle lasers - partial power available> The list continued on describing more system failures, until Bert canceled it.

Opening a channel to the KnightWing, "SkyKnight to Saber Prime. Sylia do you copy me??" Several minutes went by and the only sound to be heard was static on the comm. channel. Bert looked around briefly and saw no sign of the boomers.

Trying the emergency channel, "Priss, Sylvie, Linna. Does anyone hear me!!"

There was a burst of static and suddenly Priss' voice came over the emergency channel. "Bert, I hear you." Bursts of static could be heard every few seconds over the normally clear channel. "Right now we have a few problems up here, the KnightWing is in bad shape and Sylia is in the cockpit with Sylvie and Linna is helping Nene."

"Is she okay??"

"We think so, she took a strong electrical jolt, but her suit absorbed a lot of it. What got through knocked her out though."

Shifting to his weight to his left slightly, the throbbing in his chest eased slightly. "I'm going to need a pick-up over here, my flight system is a pile of junk right now and I'm not going anywhere."

"Alright then, our ETA is about 5 minutes. Can you hold out till then?" Priss's voice betrayed a note of concern.

"Yeah, just don't make it too much longer than that."

"Oh and Bert, you watch yourself. You know that I'm not there to get you out of whatever trouble you dig yourself into out there." Priss answered.

Bert could see the small smile he knew would be on her face as he heard the channel close. Sighing, Bert started looking for any sign of the two boomers. Seeing nothing except for the crater, he decided to go and check it out.

As he approached the lip of the crater, Bert could see what looked like a young woman lying in the center of it. She appeared to be in her twenties with reddish blonde hair in a ponytail, and very pretty. Just as he was about to step into the crater and check on her, the woman abruptly started to move and moan quietly.

Gabrielle's first sensation as she woke was that of a pounding headache and the feeling that her entire body felt like one giant bruise. Sitting up slowly she carefully started to move about, checking to see if anything was broken and to her surprise it seemed she was in one piece.

Looking around Gabrielle suddenly saw that she was no longer inside her apartment, but she was outside somewhere. She also saw a figure over six feet tall that was wearing some sort of silver techno-armour standing only a few feet away from her. His armour had dents and burn marks on it, as well as a large rent in the right side and a good deal of blood on that side.

Getting to her feet Gabrielle felt her sense of balance abandon her and wobbled uncertainly for several moments before it returned and she could stand without falling. Looking over at the figure, she saw that he hadn't moved towards her. Feeling nervous Gabrielle backed up several steps and moved into a defensive stance.

"Who are you and where am I?? And how did I get here"

Seeing that she was uninjured startled Bert, that and where he found her to begin with. If it weren't for the fact that he could hear her heartbeat, he would have thought that she was a boomer. Bert had watched her as she stepped back from him and into a defensive stance.

"I'm SkyKnight, one of the Knight Sabers, and you're in Mega-Tokyo. As to how you got here, I have no idea. I just found you here." As soon as he finished speaking Bert saw a look of confusion cross the woman's face.

Gabrielle began to move to her right and out of the crater, as she moved Gabrielle thought about what he was talking about. 'He's obviously a man to judge by his voice, but what he was talking about made no sense. What was a Knight Saber and where is Mega-Tokyo??'

Stepping over the crater's edge Gabrielle caught her foot and fell sideways. Twisting herself to avoid falling, Gabrielle felt a sharp pain in her lower back. "Aw damn." Gabrielle muttered. Closing her eyes, Gabrielle concentrated pushing the pain aside. Opening her eyes she felt the pain still, but it was more tolerable now. She also saw that SkyKnight had not moved towards her.

Bert had watched the woman move out of the crater and now stood several feet from him. Keeping his movements slow he took two steps towards her and stopped. 'I wish I knew how she got here. I'm not sure if she's the reason the A-15's showed up or not.' Bert thought.

Before he could do anything, there was a strong gust of wind and the low hum of engines behind him, announcing the arrival of the KnightWing. Turning to look Bert saw two figures arrowing towards him, 'Priss and Linna.' Bert thought. As he turned back towards the woman Bert saw one of the boomers charging towards them.

Bert brought both arms up to get a shot at the boomer and felt a blow hit him on his broken ribs. Staggering backwards Bert tried to keep from falling, when a second blow hit him in the same spot and felt the darkness swallow him for the second time tonight.

***************************************

Gabrielle watched 'SkyKnight' move slowly to avoid spooking her and stop only two feet away. Before he could do anything else a large, black, military looking aircraft landed a short distance behind him and two figures shot out towards them. Looking back at SkyKnight Gabrielle saw him suddenly bring both arms up, aiming his weapons at her.

Scared he was going to do something, Gabrielle dodged to her right and landed a kick where his armour was torn and bloody. As he staggered backwards she landed a snap-kick to the same spot and saw him fall. Just as he fell the first of the figures arrived.

***************************************

Priss had seen Bert and another figure that looked like a young woman standing near each other. She had also seen two destroyed boomers further away. Slapping on her helmet Priss was out the door before the KnightWing landed. As she flew towards Bert, Priss pushed her flight system to maximum. <Danger! Systems damage serious> the suit's computer intoned.

'Screw it. I have a bad feeling about this.' Priss thought. A feeling that was suddenly justified when Priss saw two things; an A-15 pop out and head towards Bert, and the woman suddenly move and land a kick to Bert's right side knocking him backwards.

"Bert!!" Opening a comm. channel to Linna. "Linna, take care of the A-15 headed towards Bert. I'll take the other one."

"Okay."

Arriving by Bert moments later Priss hovered as she armed her railgun. "Your ass is mine." Priss growled. Firing three railgun spikes at the boomer, she saw two hit it; one in the left shoulder and the other in the right thigh.

All of a sudden the boomer screamed in agony and fell to the ground, blood covering its' shoulder and leg. "Oh my god, what have I done!?!" Cutting her jets, Priss dropped to the ground and ran over to where the woman lay unconscious. Picking the woman up carefully, Priss looked her over to see how badly she was hurt.

"Sylia I need a medi-kit over here pronto."

"What happened? Is Bert alright?" Sylia answered.

"Bert's unconscious. But I shot a civvie by accident and she's in bad shape. I thought she.."

Tightly controlled anger colored Sylia's voice, "I don't want to hear it. Just get back to the KnightWing, now!!"

"NO!! I'm staying here." Priss yelled back. Opening a private channel, "Sylvie, I need you to get over here with a medi-kit quick. You're our best medic with Anri not here and there is somebody hurt over by me." Shifting the woman in her arms slightly, Priss saw the woman look up at her.

I'm already on my way. I'll be there in just a few seconds, just hold on." Sylvie answered back.

Sylia's voice suddenly cut into the channel, her voice was cold as ice. "No more games Priss, get back here now!"

Several Hours Later…

Priss kicked the door to the emergency room open and walked inside carrying the injured woman in her arms. "I need a doctor over here, this woman is badly injured."

Everyone in the room stood still staring at the figure in the blue hardsuit.

"Goddamnit!!!" Priss yelled. "One of you lazy ass doctors get over here, now!"

Two nurses finally moved over with a gurney, gently Priss laid the woman down on it. Looking up Priss touched the shoulder of the closest nurse and in a soft voice. "Nurse, please take good care of her." With that she turned away and quickly left the emergency room.

Three Days Later…

Her first sensation as she woke was that of lying in a bed. Opening her eyes, Gabrielle saw that she was in a hospital and in what looked like a private room. Inside the room she saw only her bed, a computer on the left and some monitoring equipment on the other side.

The door to the room opened suddenly and two people entered the room, an older man and a woman. "It's just as I told you Dr. Yamada." Exclaimed the nurse. As the nurse moved over to the monitoring equipment, the doctor moved to the right and started looking over the chart in his hands.

"There is no need for hysterics, now hand me her EEG for the last hour." Frowning as he looked the sheet over for several minutes, he finally looked over at the patient. "Good morning Miss Connors, my name as you already heard is Dr. Yamada. I've been your physician since you were admitted to the hospital. If you don't mind I'd like to ask you a few simple questions."

"Sure, go ahead." Gabrielle replied.

"Do you know where you are Miss Connors?" the doctor asked.

"I believe I'm in a hospital, but I don't have any idea of how I got here to begin with." Looking at both of them Gabrielle waited for a reply.

"Well that's partially what I meant. Yes, you are in a hospital, St. Christopher's General Hospital to be specific, but that's not what I meant." Leaning forward slightly, "Can you tell me what year it is and what city you're in?"

Gabrielle looked at both of them nervously for a moment. "Before I answer you, what are you asking these strange questions?"

"There is no cause for any concern, but please answer the questions Miss Connors."

Shaking her head in confusion. "The last time I checked it was August 4^th, 1997 and as for where I am. I'm in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Where else would I be?? Now I admit a lot of things are jumbled up in my head, but what is going on here?" Looking at the doctor Gabrielle noticed him looking at her strangely, before he started writing something on her chart.

Shifting nervously, he shifted from side to side before answering the young woman. "Well you see, we were unsure if you had suffered any amnesia due to the coma induced trauma you had suffered. Now as far as your disorientation goes, that is a fairly common reaction in these type of cases."

Sitting up quickly Gabrielle winced as she shifted her left arm. "Excuse me, what do you mean by coma induced trauma?? What exactly is going on here?"

"Perhaps you should speak to the two detectives first, I really shouldn't be saying anything."

With that the doctor quickly stepped away from the bed and headed towards the door. Opening the door he motioned for someone to enter as he stepped out.

Entering the room was a man and a woman. The man was dressed in a pair of dark pants and shirt, and over those he was wearing a wet, black raincoat. The woman was wearing a conservative, dark-blue suit and slacks. As she walked in she motioned for the nurse to leave the room and took a notepad and pen from her jacket.

"Miss Connors." The woman's voice was a light soprano. "I'm Detective-Sergeant Fuchida and this is my partner Inspector Sandoval. We're from the ADPolice, Boomer Investigation Division. We'd like to ask you a few questions about what happened the night you were brought into the hospital. First off, what do you remember about that evening?"

Shifting her position slightly, Gabrielle took a moment to look at Detective Fuchida before answering. The detective was in her thirties, medium height and her black hair was cut stylishly short.

"Well as I've already told the doctor, I don't remember much. Most of what I do remember is all jumbled and confused, I do remember seeing a tall figure in what looked like armour. The armour was colored silver and I think he called himself SkyKnight." Looking at the woman Gabrielle saw her writing in her notepad. "The only other thing I remember was hearing two voices and being held by a woman wearing a similar armour, except that it was blue with red trim. But those are the only memories that are clear to me."

As Detective Fuchida was about to speak, Sandoval cut her off. "Miss Connors, there are a few things that bother me about your story. You see, I would like to know what you were doing in an abandoned section of Mega-Tokyo that was slated for construction and why we are unable to find any record of you??"

Moving closer to the bed Sandoval leaned forward intently. "And I want to know why the ID you were carrying indicates that you are 60 years old and living in the U.S., but you have no passport showing how you entered Mega-Tokyo in the first place. Although, I must say that for a woman of your advanced years you seem to be wearing your age quite well."

Inside Gabrielle felt her insides start to squirm, since she had no idea where Mega-Tokyo was or who the ADPolice were in the first place.

Sandoval continued acidly, "Additionally Miss Connors, I would like to know why one of the Knight Sabers brought you to the hospital and what connection you have with those mercenaries. And I want some answers now!!"

"What do you mean you want some answers, what about me? I wake up in a hospital after being shot, everyone keeps telling me I'm in Mega-Tokyo and I don't even know where the hell I am!! Now I've got you putting me through the third degree over things I can't even answer."

Shifting her weight off her leg, she leaned forward until she was inches from Sandoval's face. "Now I'm tired, my shoulder is killing me and I've answered your questions as best I can. So stop treating me like I'm some kind of criminal, because I'm not going to put up with it or you! Let me let you in on a few things Inspector, I don't know who or what a Knight Saber is or who any of them are and I'm the victim here. Lastly, I'm 23 years old, not 60."

Before the argument could continue, Dr. Yamada walked into the room. "I'm sorry Inspector, but you're upsetting my patient and she needs her rest, not verbal harassment. If you do not leave I will have no choice but to contact your superior regarding this matter."

Laying back down Gabrielle closed her eyes and started to relax as Sandoval walked out of the room. The last thing she heard was his voice, "This isn't finished."

Two Years Later…

'It had been a long, hard struggle to get where she was, but she had finally made it.' Gabrielle thought to herself. Checking her uniform one last time, she smoothed out any wrinkles on her uniform jacket and knocked on the door in front of her.

A woman's voice called from behind the door, "Enter."

Opening the door Gabrielle stepped into the Section Chief's office. The office itself was medium sized with a large oak desk dominating the center of the room. On the desk could be seen several stacks of papers and a nameplate in the center-front of the desk that said, Noriko Yammamoto, Section Chief, ADPolice.

Seated behind the desk was an Asian woman in her mid-forties, her once black hair had streaks of gray in it and was pulled pack in a ponytail with a silver hair clasp. Crows feet had taken up residence around her eyes and she was dressed similar to herself, except for her jacket, which was hanging on the wall behind her.

Closing the door behind her Gabrielle came to attention, "Officer Harrington reporting for duty Ma'am."

Looking up at the officer in front of her Noriko closed the file on her desk. "Well Officer Harrington, let me say congratulations on your graduation from the academy. Now that that has been said, I've been looking over your academy file and I have found it to be quite interesting."

 Gabrielle felt her stomach churn as she listened to the Section Chief, all the word she had gone through inorder to create a new identity for herself had taken a good deal of time and money. The money she had found was waiting for her to claim it.

During her hospital stay she had found out that her parents and both sisters had died in 2017, during the Second American Civil War. However, her parents had left all their money in trust for her and while it waited it gathered interest, lots of interest it seemed. This had basically left her fairly well off financially, and it had enabled her to create a new identity after she had made the right contacts.

"Uh, interesting how ma'am." Gabrielle asked.

"Well it seems that according to one of your instructors, you excelled at computer programming." Opening the file on her desk she began to read aloud one passage. "Cadet Harrington seems to have a solid grasp of both basic and advanced programming techniques, as well as an intuitive mind. I have noticed a tendency of hers to slip into old habits, as if she has had previous experience with computers. Yet she denies any prior knowledge or experience. Regardless, I believe that she has a strong potential to accomplish much within the ADP. Unquote."

"I'm not sure what to say ma'am. It was just something that I found easy to pick up."

"Interesting, I am going to follow your Academy instructors recommendations and assign you to the Dispatch and Threat Evaluation division. You will also be getting a partner who will be evaluating your performance for the next 12 months. She will also be showing you the ropes in order to acclimate you to the real world of police work."

Closing the file, Noriko reached over to the console on her desk and pressed a button. "Sgt. Romanova, please step inside."

The door opened and a short, young woman stepped inside. Her uniform was identical to her own; a dark blue skirt and waist length jacket, white blouse and a pink sash. The only difference were the sergeant's pins on the collar of her shirt and the two gold stripes on her sash. Each stripe represented 4 yrs. service.

The most startling thing about the woman was her reddish-pink hair and large green eyes. Closing the door behind her she came to attention, "Sgt. Romanova reporting ma'am."

"Sgt. Romanova, this is Officer Harrington. She just graduated from the academy and is going to be your new partner."

Turning her head she looked over at the new officer. "Officer Harrington that will be all for now, wait outside for Sgt. Romanova."

As soon as the officer had left the office Noriko picked up the file on her desk and held it towards Nene. "Nene, this is her academy file, I suggest you read it. While she was at the academy she was something of a round peg trying to fit in a square hole."

Sitting back down, "I believe that she can eventually fit in, if she has someone to help her. Sort of like someone you know, yes?" Noriko saw a small smile of understanding flit across Nene's face in understanding.

Nene walked over to the desk, "So you want me to take her under my wing and help her the way you did for me?" Nene saw Noriko nod.

Nene turned and headed towards the door, stopping as she reached it. "Anything else I should know?"

"No, just take a look at he file though. By the way, are we still on for dinner Thursday night?" Noriko asked.

Turning to look at Noriko, "Of course we are. How could I break a five-year tradition? I'll see you at Roberto's at eight o'clock." Roberto's was a small café nearby where they met for dinner. It was a way for them to stay in touch as well as vent the week's frustrations harmlessly.

Waiting outside the Chief's office Gabrielle paced as she waited. Several minutes later the door opened and Sgt. Romanova stepped out of the office, in her hands she was carrying a file.

Gabrielle quickly came to attention. "Yes sergeant."

Nene saw the young officer standing in front of her. 'My God, was I ever that young once?' she thought. Clearing her thoughts, "Officer Harrington, my friends call me Nene. Which by the way is a lot shorter than calling me Sgt. Romanova all the time."

Gabrielle listened to the sergeant or Nene as she preferred to be called. "Well Nene, my friends call me Gabrielle."

"Gabrielle, I thought your name was Christina? It is a lovely name though. I'm just about to go off-duty and you aren't on the duty roster until Monday. Why don't we go have dinner together? I know a really nice steakhouse near here."

Without thinking about it Gabrielle answered Nene. "I'd love to and right now I'm starved. And yes Nene my name is Christina, it's just a long story about the other name. Maybe I'll tell you about it sometime."

Four Months Later..(Sunday)

It had been an interesting four months for Gabrielle, she had Nene had become best friends and were almost inseparable. Wherever one could be found, the other would inevitably show up or already be there.

She had begun to forget the pain inside at the loss of her family and Danielle. And in Nene she had found someone who was a sister, best friend and confidant rolled up in one little package. What amazed her most was the fact that she cared about Nene, something she thought had died inside her.

Recently though, Gabrielle found herself on several occasions almost telling Nene the truth about her past, but she was afraid. Afraid that Nene's friendship meant more than she wanted to admit and that by telling her the truth she could lose everything, again.

Looking at the clock by her bed she saw that it was already 2:00 and today's shift began at 3:30. Walking over to the closet Gabrielle pulled out her uniform and laid it on the bed. Unbuttoning her skirt she let it fall and stepped out of it, just then she heard the vid-phone ring and with a sigh walked over to the kitchen to answer it.

Picking up the receiver Gabrielle hit the Accept Call button, the screen came to life and a young woman could be seen on the other end. The woman was slim with black hair and blue eyes, with a yellow headband that kept the hair out of her eyes. She was wearing a black and white pattern sweater that brought the image of a cow to mind.

"Hello. Can I help you?" asked Gabrielle.

"Hello, my name is Linna Yamazaki and I'm a friend of Nene's and I was just looking for her. Is she there?"

Gabrielle came to a decision to try something before telling this woman anything. "Well it's nice meeting you Linna, but Nene has never mentioned you before and she wouldn't just give out my number without telling me first. So I don't think I'll tell you anything."

Linna frowned at the rude tone this woman was using and decided to take the offensive in this conversation, whether she was a friend of Nene's or not. "Excuse me, but…"

Gabrielle heard the doorbell ring and smiled as she cut Linna off. "Sorry someone at the door, hold on." Hitting the HOLD button she got up and quickly headed to the front door. Opening it partially Gabrielle saw Nene standing outside and quickly opened the door.

"Nene, I thought that you had forgotten today or even disappeared on me like you do sometimes." Gabrielle saw Nene blush and start to stammer.

"Uh, well. You know I mean…It's just sometimes.."

Smiling at her friend, "That's one of things I love about you Nene, you blush so easily. By the way, do you know someone named Linna?" Gabrielle asked as she motioned Nene to come in. "She is on the phone right now asking for you and I left her on hold."

Hearing that Nene rushed across the living room towards the kitchen and to the phone. Sitting down in front of the phone Nene pressed the HOLD button and Linna appeared on the screen. "Linna what you doing calling me here?? I thought I told you that this number was only to be used in emergencies, my friend values her privacy."

Linna started to fidget under Nene's harsh gaze. "Well Sylia has called a meeting and we couldn't find you. I knew about this number, so I decided to give it a try." Linna retorted. "Besides, your 'friend' is very rude, I mean you should have heard how she was speaking to me."

Gabrielle walked into the kitchen just in time to hear Linna complaining about her to Nene. As she walked up behind Nene, Gabrielle put her hand on Nene's shoulder and gave it a squeeze to let her know she was there. Turning away, Gabrielle put a kettle of water on the stove to heat up and took out a mug and tea bag.

"Tell Sylia that I'll be a little late, I have some things to take care of first. Bye." Before Linna could reply Nene cut the connection. Turning around towards Gabrielle, "I'm sorry I gave your phone number out, but it was important that if my friends really needed to get in touch with me they could."

Picking up the kettle Gabrielle poured the water into mug. "I'm not sure I understand why it is so important, but don't worry about it. Just do me one favor, don't give it to anybody else, especially Leon." Gabrielle teased.

Walking towards the bedroom Gabrielle began to unbutton her blouse, by the time she reached the bedroom door she stripped off her shirt and put it over the back of a nearby chair. From behind she heard Nene gasp.

"What happened to your shoulder and leg Bree?? It looks like you were shot!!! Were you attacked?" Nene asked.

Turning around as she put on her uniform blouse Gabrielle saw Nene standing in the doorway. She started buttoning the shirt before replying.

"No, it happened two years ago and I was able to regain all of my mobility thanks to the doctors and a mysterious benefactor. I don't really remember much about what happened, the only thing I do know is that I woke up in a hospital with these wounds."

She finished buttoning the blouse and picked up her skirt. "The only thing I do remember is a woman in a blue hardsuit with red trim holding me at some point."

Nene felt her thoughts race as she considered the implications of what Gabrielle said. "Really? Do you remember anything else?" Nene asked, almost afraid of the answer she might get.

"No, just what I told you Nene." Gabrielle replied quietly. "Why don't you have my tea while I finish dressing."

Several minutes later Gabrielle finished putting on her uniform and grabbed her jacket as she left the bedroom. Calling out to the kitchen. "Are you almost finished with your tea? I'm ready to go now."

"Yeah, I'm just about finished. Let me get one last sip and I'm all set." Pulling the mug up for one last swallow, Nene finished off the remaining tea and placed the mug in the sink. Nene headed towards the front door, as she exited the apartment she turned to Gabrielle.

"Do you still want to go out for dinner tonight??" she asked.

As she closed and locked the door, "Yeah, but it's you're turn to buy dinner tonight." Gabrielle replied and headed down the stairs towards the white scooter.

"My turn? I'm doing you a favor by driving you to work." Hurrying down the stairs Nene reached the bottom and moved over to her scooter. "You should be buying me dinner for me, not the other way around." Picking up a white helmet off the seat Nene handed it to Gabrielle. "Here's your helmet."

Getting on behind Nene, Gabrielle settled herself in the seat. "We'll settle this at Roberto's, just don't leave me waiting in front of the station because you forgot." With that Gabrielle put on her helmet ending any further discussion, at least for right then.

Later That Night…

Gabrielle paced back and forth trying to stay warm as she waited in front of the ADPolice building. Looking at her watch for what was probably the millionth time she saw that it was now 1:50am. She had been waiting since 12:00 for Nene to pick her up after her shift had ended. Sighing to herself Gabrielle buttoned her coat, slung her Steelers gym bag over her shoulder and began to walk home.

Looking at her watch, Gabrielle saw that she had been walking for about half an hour, which meant that she was halfway home. As she continued walking Gabrielle noticed up ahead that there were tow small fires in the road about two blocks away. Starting towards them in a quick jog, Gabrielle closed the distance quickly.

As she approached the fires she saw that one of them was a Tokyo Highway Patrol cruiser, and nearby was another THP cruiser, except that it was flipped over and this one was not on fire. The other fire was what a car or what was left of one, in the middle of the street about 30 meters away.

Moving towards the flipped over cruiser Gabrielle dropped her bag and pulled out her sidearm, a GENOM Hunter 10mm automatic that was loaded with caseless SLAP (Standard Light Armour Piercing) ammo. Looking at the area around her, she saw three dead THP officers and several more civilians, but no sign of the boomer that did this.

Ducking down, Gabrielle looked inside the car and saw a dead officer inside, his body riddled with large caliber bullets. Leaning through the window Gabrielle grabbed the man under his arms, pulled him out of the car and over to the side. Moving back to the window she crawled into the car. 'Well so far so good. I'm inside and now all I need to do is call dispatch and have them send over the cavalry.'

Looking around for the radio, Gabrielle found it and grabbed the Mic. "AD Dispatch, this is Officer Harrington. Badge #76391."

Static first greeted her, and then a man's voice answered. "Officer Harrington, this is Dispatch."

"Dispatch, I am near the corner of 3^rd and Broadway, Yokohama District. I have officers down, repeat, officers down. I need immediate back-up for a rogue boomer, possibly a combat model."

"We are alerting Captain McNichol and the 3^rd Mobile Combat Section, but they are presently engaged with two BU-12's and cannot reach you for at least 15-20 minutes."

Gabrielle moved herself out of the puddle of blood and looked outside. "Is there any backup available?? I need some help over here, I'm armed with a sidearm and there are no heavy weapons here."

"You'll ha…" The radio abruptly went dead in mid-sentence, Gabrielle tried adjusting radio frequencies but nothing worked. There was an explosion and the sound of heavy gunfire from around the corner. Then Gabrielle saw the source of the gunfire, as two B-15B Combat Boomers walked around the corner heading towards the car she was in.

One of the boomers was heavily damaged, its armour was heavily cratered and it was missing one of the sensor booms on its back as well. The other was untouched and had stopped walking and turned to face the direction it had come from.

Quickly Gabrielle wormed her way out of the car and onto her knees, shedding her blood soaked jacket. Taking a quick look at the boomers Gabrielle saw the damaged one still walking towards her. 'Shit, it can't be more than 50 meters away. If I stay here it'll see me and I'm dead, and my chances of getting to those parked cars on the side of the street aren't much better.'

Taking another quick look, she saw that the boomer had suddenly turned away. 'Well, this is as good as it is going to get. So here goes nothing.' With that thought Gabrielle darted out from behind the car and ran towards the parked cars. Just as she neared the closest one Gabrielle dove over the trunk of the car, landing hard on the pavement.

*******************************************************************************************

B-15B - Primarily created for ground combat, as well as defense of military installations. The B-15's are vaguely humanoid in appearance, minus a head. The torso is heavily armoured and they are armed with a 46mm grenade launcher and a 35mm heavy-machine gun which replace the right arm and two mini-missile launchers with 12 racks each. Two 1' booms extend horizontally from either side of the back and have a small sensor 'eye' on the end that allows them to gather and process information. The B-12 carries similar weapons as the 15, however it lacks the missile launchers and carries less armour.

*******************************************************************************************

Behind her the car shook under the impacts of the boomers heavy machine-gun. Moving back towards the car Gabrielle leaned against it, keeping low she drew her gun and checked the clip. "I have to got to get into a less dangerous line of work." Gabrielle mumbled.

Counting to three Gabrielle moved out from behind the car onto one knee and started firing at the boomer that was only 25 meters away. Firing eight times, she saw her shots hit the boomer, but miss the remaining 'eye'. As she ducked back behind cover Gabrielle heard the bullets whiz by her head and felt the car rattle and shake.

As soon as the bullets stopped Gabrielle started running towards the next car, firing at the boomer as she ran, Gabrielle hoped to put a little distance between her and the boomer. Hiding behind a mailbox, Gabrielle ejected the empty clip and put in a fresh one. Popping up she saw the boomer standing where she had been by the car, facing her.

Aiming carefully she squeezed off four rounds before it started to fire. As soon as she dropped behind the mailbox Gabrielle heard a loud CRACK above her, looking up and just above her head was a large hole. 'What the hell is that thing using for ammo?'

Suddenly a voice from above called out. "Knight Sabers, GO!!" And six armoured figures leapt down from the rooftop above and landed surrounding the two boomers. Five of the figures were female and the sixth was a man. His armour was Silver with dark blue stripes, the women's armour were colored White, Blue, Olive-Green, Pink and Red with gray stripes.

The Silver Saber leapt into the air, opening fire on the damaged boomer with a barrage of laser fire, destroying the remaining eye and cratering its armour. As it backed up to escape the heavy fire the Blue Saber slid around behind it and punched it from behind. A large fist-sized hole blew out the front spilling wires, armour and a greenish liquid.

The boomer turned around swinging its' right arm like a club, missing the Blue Saber. As it turned around to face its' unseen attacker, the Silver Saber unleashed all his weapons at the boomers back. The lasers cratered armour and blew multiple holes in its torso, driving the boomer to its' knees before it collapsed at the feet of the Blue Saber.

The Red Saber opened fire with a heavy autocannon on the other boomer destroying its' left sensor boom, while the Green Saber destroyed the other. The Pink Saber, who was actually the shortest among them, had the electronic gear on the back of her suit open up and start to hum. The boomers' missile launcher opened to fire and 12 missiles launched at the Pink Saber. As the missiles closed to strike, they suddenly veered up and then back towards the boomer striking it.

When the smoke cleared the left side was a smoking ruin and the boomer was struggling to remain standing. Moments later the boomer fell to the ground, moved once and then stopped moving.

In a matter of just minutes, the Knight Sabers had destroyed two combat boomers, an effort that would have cost the ADP severely, both in equipment and lives. Looking closer at the Sabers Gabrielle noticed that the armour they wore was not as bulky as the K-11 or K-12 Armoured Combat Troopers the ADP used. As a matter of fact, the suits seemed to be close fitting and carried more firepower, and probably carried better armour as well.

After staring at the Sabers for several moments more Gabrielle holstered her weapon and then started walking onto the street towards the Blue Saber just as she was starting to turn and walk away.

"You, Blue Saber. Stop right there." Reaching out Gabrielle grabbed the Blue Sabers' right arm. "You're not going anywhere, I have a few questions for you." The memory that had eluded her as she watched the previous fight suddenly sprang out crystal clear. She finally remembered what had happened that night two years ago.

Turning to face the woman who grabbed her arm. "And I suppose that you're going to stop me?" Priss asked sarcastically. With little difficulty Priss removed the redhead's hand from her arm, as she did the women's jacket moved and Priss saw an ADPolice badge on her belt. 'It figures, we save a cop and an ADP cop at that.' Priss thought angrily.

Looking at the woman up close, Gabrielle saw that the armour was slimmer than she first thought and that the helmet was sloped, and had two antennae that swept up the sides of it. Looking around her, Gabrielle saw that the other Knight Sabers now loosely surrounded her.

Turning back to face the Blue Saber, "You don't remember me, do you? Try thinking back about two years then." Looking at each of the Sabers. "Well this little incident has jogged my memory about you, Green Saber, and I remember you SkyKnight." Gabrielle's voice dripped with anger and hate. "You three were all there when I was injured and you are somehow responsible for what happened to me."

Everyone started talking to each other at the same time, causing the comm. channel to just repeat garbled noise, when Sylia's voice cut through. "Everyone be quiet, let me handle this."

Stepping in front of the young woman Sylia opened her external speaker. "I don't believe that we know what you are talking about officer."

Gabrielle noticed that the White Sabers armour was similar to the others, except for the cannons in the palm of her hands and the antennae on her helmet were smaller and slimmer. Gabrielle also had the feeling that this woman was the leader of the Sabers. Looking at her intently. "You really don't remember me then?" Some of the anger seemed to leave her with only a feeling of frustration filling its place.

Pointing at the Blue Saber, "Do you remember a night about two years ago? It was when you shot me, and I'll tell you that no matter what good things you've done, it doesn't matter." Stepping around the White Saber she walked over to the Blue Saber, poking her in the chest. "Because of you I lost everything that was important to me; my parents, my sisters and someone I loved. No matter how long it takes me, I will find out who you are and I will make you pay for bringing me to this time."

Gabrielle stopped as she felt the pain in her soul at the loss tear at her self-control. Tears started to fall down her cheeks as she started to speak. "I could forgive you for shooting me, but not for taking me away from Danielle. When she needed me, I couldn't be there and I lost her."

As Gabrielle was about to grab the Blue Saber, she felt a hand grab her arm stopping it from moving. Turning, she saw that it was the Pink Saber and she was shaking her head. "What do you mean no?"

From behind her Gabrielle heard running footsteps and a whoosh of jets. Turning back again Gabrielle saw that SkyKnight and the others had left. And only SkyKnight was visible in the night sky.

Sylia stood silently for several moments contemplating the events that had led to this confrontation, as well as the pain and anger that were etched on the woman's face. "Perhaps Officer Harrington you should consider the fact that hate feeds only upon itself. It doesn't keep you warm at night. It doesn't answer your question, why me?" Turning away from the young woman Sylia started to walk away, in a quiet voice she continued speaking. "Trust me, I know what the cost of hate can do to you." With that she and Nene leaped onto the roof of the nearby building and away from a very angry and confused young woman.

Gabrielle watched the last two Sabers jump onto a rooftop and disappear from sight, with a sigh she turned around and headed back to get her jacket and bag. As she reached the car and sat down, sirens could be heard in the distance.

Two Days Later…

In an office high atop the GENOM Tower was a woman with lavender colored hair, narrow features and violet eyes. She was seated at a large desk reading a report on her desk when a green light began to blink insistently on a panel on the left of her desk.

With an air of extreme irritation she flipped the switch just below the blinking light and the vid-screen came to life. On the screen was a man, he was dressed in a dark, conservative, single-breasted suit and tie.

"Ms. Madigan, I'm sorry to be disturbing you. But Operative #731 has just sent in his report."

Violet fire flashed in Kate's eyes. "Oyama, you're disturbing me just to tell me that? I left you strict instructions that I was not to be disturbed unless it was something from Chairman Quincy. This incompetence is not something that I will tolerate, you do know what happened when my last assistant showed such a complete inability to follow instructions??"

Oyama shrank back in fear when the fate of his predecessor was mentioned. The man he had replaced had died in a skiing accident, there was a brief investigation and the matter was closed. Except that it was known that he had never gone skiing a day in his life.

The reason for the accident was widely speculated on, however it was generally believed that it was better to follow Ms. Madigan's orders than to end up having an 'accident'. "But Ms. Madigan, the report was marked Omega-3. You had said that.."

Cutting Oyama off with a slashing gesture of her hand, "Be silent Oyama. I want that report transmitted to my terminal immediately, and then if you can manage it this time I want there to be no more interruptions. Is that understood?"

Kate leaned forward in her chair and activated the terminal on her desk. The screen came to life and Kate entered her password, Loyalty, and called up the surveillance file KS-Surv12/1/36.doc

Opening the file Kate began to scroll down the report giving the text a cursory look, when she came to the 15 attached surveillance .jpg's and saw what she expected. The .jpg's were pictures of the Knight Sabers fighting and destroying two Bu-15 boomers.

'I see that they have upgraded their suits again, interesting, considering it was only six months ago that they were previously upgraded. So the question is, are they upgrades or new suits entirely?' Kate thought silently.

Near the end of the photos Kate saw something that she didn't expect, an ADPolice officer talking to them. And it was neither Captain McNichol nor his partner, Inspector Wong. Kate had long suspected one of them as having ties to the Sabers, but she had never been able to prove her theory that the Knight Sabers either had an ally or one of them worked for the ADPolice. Only circumstantial evidence and her own theories suggested a link, but she was unable to obtain the information needed to prove her theory correct.

As Kate continued looking at the various pictures, she saw that this was not a conversation between allies, but a confrontation of some sort. 'How very interesting. It seems that you don't like the Knight Sabers very much. But the question is who are you?'

Moving to a wide-angle picture of the officer, Kate used the mouse to zoom in on the upper torso where a nametag could be seen. 'So Officer Harrington, you don't like the Knight Sabers. The question is why and how can it be used to my advantage.'

Saving copies of the officer's face and name Kate sent them to her assistant and then activated her vid-screen. "Oyama, contact Operative #731 and inform him that he now has a new target for surveillance. The information he requires should be downloading to your terminal now."

"Yes Ms. Madigan." Oyama replied nervously.

"Oh, and Oyama," Kate spoke softly, "I have been tolerant of your mistakes in the past. But fail me in this and they will not have a body to find. Do you understand?"

"Yes. I will not fail you Ms. Madigan."

The connection was cut off before he could say more. Leaning back in her chair, 'Chairman Quincy will reward me greatly if I can remove this particular thorn in his side.' Kate thought pleasantly. The Executive Vice-President of Special Projects smiled and considered her options.

***************************************

'It had been a long day work and now this meeting with a member of the Investigation Board, this day is just going from bad to worse.' Gabrielle thought morosely. The room was medium sized, with a door at the far end, a two-way mirror on the wall to her left, a scarred and battered table and two chairs, of which she was seated in one.

She had been here for the last fifteen minutes waiting for the Investigative Officer to come and question her about the events of two days ago. When the door opened and in walked a man of average height and build and pink colored hair, 'Inspector Wong.' Gabrielle recognized him from the academy.

Seating himself opposite the female officer in front of him, Daley looked the young officer over, studying her demeanor for a minute. She seemed calm and relaxed, a reaction most rookies didn't have when dealing with the IB. 'Interesting, let's see how she reacts.'

"Officer Harrington, I'm Inspector Daley Wong. I'll be questioning you regarding the incident two nights ago, do you have any questions regarding your rights before I begin??"

"No, I wave my right to counsel and understand my rights Inspector." Gabrielle replied calmly.

"Very well then, let's begin." Daley placed the recorder on the table between them and pressed Record. As he did, Daley saw the officers' eyebrow lift slightly and then relax. "Officer Harrington, you called Dispatch at 1:27am and informed them of your situation. Two minutes later the transmission was cut off. What happened next?"

Two hours later with the interview finally over Gabrielle stretched as she worked the kinks out of her back. Inspector Wong had already left, between retelling the story fifteen different ways to him and having to answer Juno and her inevitable horde of questions all day about what 'really' happened that night.

Gabrielle knew before going into work that the grapevine would be going full tilt about what happened, but it had not prepared her for the constant questions from her co-workers. After everything today all she wanted to do was forget it, go home and take a nice hot bath. Getting up Gabrielle gathered her coat & bag and headed out of the building and towards the bus that would get her home as quickly as possible.

***************************************

Walking back to his desk Daley saw Leon sitting in his chair with his feet on the desk. "That was an interesting interview."

Looking up at his partner, "Interesting? How's that?" Leon asked.

Sitting down at Leon's desk Daley leaned forward. "Well I spent two hours being told what I wanted to hear, now what actually happened or at least not all of it. She's a rookie and apparently on the way home she ran into a pair of rogue combat boomers." Daley said quietly.

Opening one eye to look at his partner. "So, what's so interesting about rogue boomers. The whole city is full of them." Leon asked.

Daley got up, walked over to Leon and spoke softly into his ear. "She ran into your girlfriends."

Sitting up suddenly, Leon looked at Daley with a puzzled look on his face. "My girlfriends?"

"Yes. The Knight Sabers made an appearance and as soon as I pressed for any details after they destroyed the boomers, the details become rather sketchy. If I was a suspicious person, I'd say she was hiding something."

"So you think there's something she's not telling then. What are you going to put in your report?"

"There's definitely something there, as far as the report is concerned, the Board isn't asking for my suspicions just what occurred. But it does make you curious." With that Daley sat back down at Leon's desk.

Turning to face Daley, "It's probably best, considering how the Chief feels about the Knight Sabers. I think I'll make some discreet inquiries about our rookie though."

***************************************

Finally reaching home Gabrielle walked up the stairs to her apartment, unlocked the door and closed it behind her. Heading towards the bedroom she started to remove her uniform, emerging from the bedroom several minutes later in a thick, white, terry cloth robe. Entering the bathroom Gabrielle started a bath and as the hot water ran, poured some scented bubblebath into the water.

Dropping her robe onto the nearby hamper, Gabrielle slowly entered the tub and turned the water off. Laying back Gabrielle closed her eyes and let the hot water do its magic on her back, after relaxing in the hot water for several minutes she felt the tension in her body start to leave, but her anger at Nene wouldn't go away.

Thinking to herself to just put the problems aside and relax, she slid back further into the bubbles and water. Just then the doorbell chose that moment to ring. Gabrielle waited a minute hoping for the person to just go away and leave her alone. But when the doorbell rang several more times Gabrielle stepped out of the tub dripping water and bubbles, shrugged on her robe and went to the front door to see who was bothering her now.

Dressed in a short, blue skirt and frilly, white blouse, Nene waited in front of Gabrielle's door nervously. Because running through her mind right then were the thoughts that if not for her, her best friend in the world would have been killed by those boomers. What was also bothering Nene were the wounds she had seen on Bree, that and her description of Priss' suit.

So she had decided to look into the incident, what she had found was flimsy at best, and when she spoke to Sylia and the others they refused to talk about anything. What Nene did find were the hospital records, which recorded Gabrielle's admittance, surgery and rehab. Just as she finished that last thought the door opened to reveal a wet and soapy looking Gabrielle in a white robe.

"Hi Gabrielle. How are you?" Nene asked nervously.

Seeing Nene at the door Gabrielle frowned. "I'm fine Nene, what is it that you want? As you can see I'm trying to take a bath." Gabrielle's voice was full of irritation.

Looking at her feet for several moments Nene allowed herself to look at Gabrielle. "Give me a chance to explain what happened, please?"

Thinking, Gabrielle mulled over Nene's request, coming to a decision she stepped aside to let Nene inside. Closing the door behind Nene, Gabrielle walked past her to the kitchen. Gesturing towards the kitchen table, "Have a seat Nene. I'm making some tea, do you want some?"

"Uh yes, that would be nice." Sitting down at the kitchen table Nene chose a chair facing Gabrielle and sat down. Moving her hands to her jacket pocket and removed a small, black, circular object smaller than a dime. Carefully she attached it to the bottom of the kitchen table, near the vid-phone.

Several quiet minutes passed while the tea was being made, finally both women were seated at the kitchen table across from each other, a teapot in the center.

"Well Nene, you asked me to let you explain, so here's your chance. Start." Gabrielle's voice was abrupt and cold.

Nene took several long sips of tea while she tried to organize her thoughts and think of where to begin. "Well it all started later that afternoon, you see after I dropped you off at work I went to my friend Linna's house. When I arrived she told me that she had an emergency, her mom was in an accident and she needed a ride to the hospital."

Gabrielle leaned back in her chair as she thought about Nene's words. "You mean you drove her to the hospital on your scooter? Come on Nene."

Even though Gabrielle had kept her words quiet and her tone soft, Nene could sense anger, hurt and something else behind her words as well. "No, what I did do was drive Linna in her car to the hospital and wait with her."

"I understand that." Finally taking a sip of her tea, Gabrielle felt a little calmer. "But what I'm saying is that you didn't even try to call me at work to tell me that you weren't going to be able to pick me up or cancel our date. Were all the phones in the hospital broken??" The last sentence came out harsher than she intended and regretted it when she saw Nene flinch.

"OK, I admit that I forgot and I'm sorry about that, more than you realize." Nene said angrily. "But I wasn't the one who attacked two combat boomers armed only with my sidearm." Nene's voice began to rise with her temper, "And then after the Knight Sabers arrived and destroyed the two boomers, you have to head off and go confronting the Blue Saber!! What were you thinking or were you thinking at all?"

Trying to catch her breath and some calm, Nene tried some more of the tea. "If the Knight Sabers hadn't heard your call for backup where would you be right now?"

Gabrielle had continued to sip at her tea as listened to Nene speak, when suddenly warning bells went off in her head about what Nene had just said a moment ago.

Her eyes narrowed and as she stood up she leaned forward toward Nene. "Excuse me, but how do you know that I was talking to the Blue Saber last night???" Gabrielle's voice was angry and full of suspicion. "You see I didn't put that in my report or tell the board. So how do you know what happened Nene??"

Suddenly panicked Nene realized what she had inadvertently done and that if she was not careful, her friend might start to piece certain things together. "Well I happen to know what happened because a friend was nearby when she saw the commotion and she told me about it, that's all. Why, do you think I'm one of the Knight Sabers?"

Sitting back down Gabrielle refilled her mug and decided to let the matter drop, 'Maybe I'm just being paranoid.' Gabrielle thought morosely. "I'm sorry if I overreacted, it's just I'm tired. I've had a long day and the meeting with the Sabers brought up some memories that I thought were buried and forgotten."

Reaching for the teapot, Nene poured the tea into her mug while she considered what Gabrielle had told her. "Would you like to talk about it? Sometimes it helps to get it off your chest."

"Sometimes it does Nene, but I can't right now. I need to sort things out first, before I start talking about them." Reaching over Gabrielle squeezed Nene's hand and found herself reluctant to let go. Standing, Gabrielle started to move toward the sink when the vid-phone rang, turning she walked over to the phone she hit the Accept button.

The screen remained dark, but a low, bass voice spoke. "Miss Harrington? I am calling on behalf of a client who has asked me to speak with you regarding a private matter."

"Well right now is not a good time, I have guests over right now. Can I contact you in half an hour?" Gabrielle replied evenly.

The voice spoke again, his tone was dark. "I will contact you in exactly thirty minutes from now." There was an audible click as the connection was cut.

Gabrielle backed away from the phone and turned to Nene. "I'm sorry but you have to leave Nene, something has come up. I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, but who was that?? What is going on??" Nene felt herself being ushered out of the kitchen and towards the front door. When she got there she stopped and turned around to face Gabrielle. "Are you okay Bree? I can help you with whatever it is, you have to trust me."

Putting her hands on Nene's shoulders, Gabrielle squeezed them gently. "I do trust you Nene, but this is something I have to do by myself."

"Alright, but…" With those words uttered, the next thing Nene saw was the front door closing in front of her.

After getting Nene out of the house, Gabrielle walked to the bedroom and started to change into some clothes. Several minutes later Gabrielle was dressed and waiting by the phone, which started to ring exactly thirty minutes later. Gabrielle answered the phone, a black screen and the same voice greeted her.

"Well I see that you can be punctual, this is good." The voice said smugly.

"What exactly is it that your employer wants??" Gabrielle asked irritably.

"My, my, what a temper. Taped to your front door is manila envelope, inside are some pictures that my client wishes to discuss with you. And to answer the thought that is running through your mind, no, this is not an attempt at blackmailing you."

Gabrielle thought about what the voice was telling her or choosing to tell her. Taking a moment, Gabrielle chose her next words carefully as this was dangerous territory she was entering. "Then why has your client gone through with all this? And why all the mystery then?"

"My client would like to meet you, after you have taken a look at the photographs. You will be contacted again tomorrow at the same time." There was a click as the line went dead.

Gabrielle was left staring at a black screen for several moments and then she closed the channel on her end. As she walked to the front door Gabrielle thought about what the pictures could be. Reaching the door she opened it and found the envelope taped to the door. Closing the door she started walking towards the kitchen, opening the envelope and removing the pictures.

As she started to look them over she saw that the pictures were of her talking to the Knight Sabers. This was something that she had left out of her report because she had not want any attention focused on her. And with the charges of murder, destruction and theft of property being pushed by GENOM, as well as Chief Honda insisting that the Knight Sabers be brought in at any cost since they were mercenaries and criminals. She didn't want that kind of attention focused in her direction.

Moving to the sink Gabrielle pulled a lighter out of her pocket and lit the pictures on fire one by one, dropping them into the sink to burn. Staring into the flames Gabrielle saw the seeds of her destruction.

The next day…

Nene sat in her room listening to the conversation she had taped between Gabrielle and the unknown caller. The 'bug' she had planted in the kitchen and the other two in the living room were working perfectly, enabling her to hear almost everything that went on in Gabrielle's apartment. Planting the 'bugs' in Bree's apartment was wrong, but the strange phone call Gabrielle had received changed her mind and convinced her that she was in trouble.

After listening to the conversation Nene realized that Bree was in some major trouble, even if she didn't. Turning off the recording, Nene set the system to continue recording any conversations automatically, as she had a meeting with the other Sabers and she was going to get some answers.

***************************************

Gabrielle picked up her holster and clipped it onto her belt, and put on a thigh length, brown suede jacket. Stopping in front of the door outside, Gabrielle drew her pistol, checked the magazine and then holstered it, satisfied that she was ready. Stepping outside she saw a black limo waiting in front and walked down the stairs towards it, as she neared the limo the rear door opened and Gabrielle stepped inside and sat down.

The ride was short and uninteresting, she had noticed that she could not see either outside or the driver. The limo came to a stop and the right door opened. 'I guess this is where I'm supposed to get out, well I guess I better not keep them waiting.' Stepping out of the car Gabrielle looked around and saw that she was inside what looked like an empty warehouse, and about 10 meters away was a small group of people near a second limo.

Facing the other group, Gabrielle folded her arms and waited for the people inside to react and make the first move. Several minutes later two figures started walking towards her and stopped about 1 meter away. Both men were tall, heavily built and dressed in dark suits and wearing sunglasses. The left man moved forward from his colleague and stopped just before her.

"Miss Harrington I presume," his voice was low and gravely, "my name is Takagi. The reason your presence was 'requested' here is because my employer believes that you have something in common, a desire to be rid of the Knight Sabers."

Before the man could continue, Gabrielle interrupted him. "These Knight Sabers, I've met them only once and that was three nights ago. I hardly think that qualifies them as my enemies, so if that is all you wish to discuss." As she spoke Gabrielle backed up several steps, opening her jacket as she did so. 'Coming here was not a good idea.' Thought Gabrielle.

From behind the two men, the third figure took several steps forward, staying in the shadows. "I believe Miss Harrington that you are mistaken." The woman's voice was soft and accented. "You can fool those idiots you work with about what occurred, but I know the truth. And the truth is you hate them for what they did to you and you want revenge."

"Perhaps I do feel this need for revenge, but why should I help you? I can still accomplish whatever it is I want without your help."

There was some movement by the woman and a flicker of light from a lighter briefly revealed a narrow face and lavender colored hair before the flame went out. "The way I see this, it is a matter of pooling our resources. Together we can accomplish more than we could separately."

Gabrielle considered the woman's offer, as well as her reasons for why she was doing this. 'It's obvious she has her own agenda about the Knight Sabers and where I fit into her little plan." One of the things that came to mind was the fact that there was a good possibility they would want to end the relationship in a permanent manner, with her dead. But the one thing that was in her favor was that she could help her accomplish her goal. The only problem that remained was how to avoid getting killed by either the woman or the Knight Sabers.

"If, and I say if, I were to agree to help you, this seems to be something of a one-sided relationship.." Gabrielle never saw the fist that slammed into the right side of her face knocking her back. Before she could recover Gabrielle felt two more blows hit her in the kidney and she fell to her knees, clutching her side.

"Naughty, naughty, little girls shouldn't talk like that to their betters." Takagi growled.

Spots continued to flicker before her eyes for several more moments before her eyes cleared for her to see. When her eyes finally cleared Gabrielle saw Takagi standing over her. Gabrielle felt her temper start to flare and slammed her fist into the bodyguards' crotch feeling something break under her knuckles. Screaming in agony Takagi fell to his knees, bent over forwards.

Drawing her gun Gabrielle shoved it against Takagi's chest and fired four times. As she had fired, the other bodyguard who was 12 feet away leapt at her. The black suit he was wearing tore apart, along with his synthetic skin, as the large, blue body of C-55 boomer burst out of his human guise. Gabrielle tried backing away as she started to move her gun from underneath the body that lay against her. Just as she freed her arm the boomer landed just in front of her and Gabrielle fired five times, hitting the boomer in the chest and knocking it down. As soon as it hit the ground, the boomer started to get back up.

Backpedaling away from the boomer Gabrielle saw brownish fluids leaking from the large holes where she had hit it. But that wasn't going to stop it from attacking.

Before the boomer could take a second step, a woman's voice rang out. "STOP!! Dangerous as well as beautiful, you seem to a woman of many hidden talents Gabrielle. I believe that I could like you, is there anything else that I should know about you?"

"No, but I do want to know if this incident has changed your mind about working with me." Gabrielle asked.

By now she could feel the bodyguard's blood had soaked through her clothes, making them stick to her skin. The copper smell of the blood on her started to make her feel queasy, that and the knowledge she had killed someone. Fighting her rebellious stomach Gabrielle quieted it and holstered her gun. 'I have to stay calm and act as if killing someone didn't mean anything. I get the feeling this woman only respect's strength, if I fall apart now I'm dead.' Gabrielle realized darkly.

"As a matter of fact, what occurred does not matter. The fool attacked you without orders and he paid the price for his rashness. It does show you the value of a boomer over a human bodyguard, at least in most situations. Gorm, go and get the envelope from the vehicle and give them to Miss Harrington."

Moving back towards the other limousine, Gorm soon disappeared into the darkness for several minutes before reappearing and stopping before the female he had been ordered to give the envelope. The female was a low-level threat, but a threat. Following his orders Gorm extended the envelope towards the female and waited for her to take possession of it.

Taking the large, manila envelope from the boomer Gabrielle stepped back and opened it. Inside could be seen photographs and other documents, looking up towards the woman. "My, I see they have been something of a pet project for sometime now, haven't they??" Gabrielle's voice was sweet and slightly malicious.

'You have all the information that we have accumulated up till now. You may have from today to next Wednesday to look over the information. By Wednesday you will be contacted again, and we will discuss our options in dealing with the Knight Sabers."

Closing the envelope, "One thing actually. Why are you giving me this information and not asking for anything in return? That hardly seems like something a smart business person would do."

There was a long silence before the woman answered, "I'm just sharing information with an ally, and as for being a one-sided relationship, you're mistaken. You see we have to get you up to speed regarding the Sabers and if you don't have everything you need, then we will not accomplish our goal. Besides Gabrielle, you will have your chance to repay the debt you owe me in your own special way, trust me."

***************************************

Arriving at Sylia's building/townhouse Nene paused at the door for a moment to collect herself before entering. Sylia's building served several purposes; one was for her lingerie store, Silky Doll, the other was for her townhouse which took up the top two floors for both herself and her brother, Mackie. Lastly, it was used for the Knight Sabers meetings, training sessions and the computer center.

Taking a deep breath Nene entered the building and headed towards the private elevator that would take her up to Sylia's townhouse. A minute later Nene was inside the townhouse itself, which was tastefully decorated and entered the living room. As she walked inside Nene saw the large bay window overlooking Mega-Tokyo and staring out the window was Bert. Today Bert was wearing a long, brown duster over his jeans and sweater, his unruly red hair was looked as if he had combed it with a pitchfork.

Priss was sitting on the couch wearing her usual red leather jacket and pants with a white blouse buttoned at the neck, her brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, except for two strands of hair that always managed to frame the sides of her face. Linna was seated on the couch across from Priss with an intense look on her face; she had a cup of tea in one hand a portable computer for the Nikkei Stock Market in the other. Sylia on the other hand looked as calm as always, standing near her overstuffed chair she was dressed in a fashionable light, blue skirt and a white blouse that came down near her midriff.

"Sylia, where are Sylvie and Anri?? Aren't they going to be here??" Nene asked as she looked across the room at Sylia.

Sitting down Sylia took a sip of her tea, "No. Sylvie is downstairs running the store with Mackie, and Anri doesn't need to be here for this. Why is it that you called this meeting Nene?" Sylia asked curiously. Taking another sip of her tea Sylia leaned back into the chair as she waited for Nene's response.

Walking towards the couch by Linna, Nene looked at everyone before speaking and saw a variety of looks; uncertainty, curiosity and confidence. "I've called us together today for several reasons." Turning to face Priss, Nene saw that Bert had seated himself next to Priss. "Priss, I want to know what happened two years ago, on the night that I was knocked unconscious and the KnightWing was damaged. The night that you won't talk about, I know that you're not exactly a chatterbox Priss, but whatever happened that night is affecting things right now." Nene walked over to the couch and sat down next to Linna.

"Just what exactly are you talking about Nene, I do remember the woman we ran into last week, but I don't know what's going on and since you seem to know so much how about telling me." Bert asked.

Looking over at Priss, "I don't know everything, but let's start by telling you what I do know. You see it started two years ago, when a woman wearing a blue HardSuit carried another woman into the emergency room of St. Christopher's Hospital." Pulling out a pair of 8x11 photos from her pocket Nene dropped them on the table in front of Priss. "After I found these pictures on the hospital security records I decided to dig a little deeper, and guess what I found. That an anonymous person had paid the bills for a Gabrielle Connors while she was at the hospital, this individual had paid for reconstructive surgery on her shoulder and leg, as well the physical rehab. Now the bills came to $200,000 dollars, but there is no record of who paid, only that payment was received."

Priss reached over and picked up the photos, looking at them briefly she stood up and tossed them back at Nene. "Back off Nene. I don't know what reason you have for this, but you're sticking your little nose into my business and I don't like it!!"

Standing up Nene found herself looking up into a pair an angry brownish-red eyes. "Well that's just tough, because neither this problem or myself are going to just go away. I know that you don't like anyone butting into your personal life Priss, but this is serious. I know Gabrielle and once she has her teeth set into something she will not let go. She is the second most stubborn person I know, coming in only second to you."

Turning towards Sylia, "And don't think I didn't notice your fine little hand in this either Sylia." Nene's voice had risen with her temper, and her tone was angry and sarcastic. "The computer records of the payment to the hospital were erased quite nicely so as to avoid any backtracking where it might have originated except for two things. One, I'm one of the best hackers in Mega-Tokyo Sylia, and two, you didn't know to erase the Bank of Stuttgart's long term RAM shunt when it started the transfer process to the hospital. I'll admit you made it difficult to follow the string of bank transfers, but not impossible if you know what you're looking for."

"That is quite enough Nene, Priss. Both of you sit down now. Sometime later Nene you are going to show me how you managed that little feat. However, that will wait for later."

Grabbing her red jacket from the sofa Priss turned and brushed past Nene when she felt herself being yanked backwards and turned around to face an angry Nene. Before she could do anything to Nene, Linna and Bert separated them, Bert then took her by the shoulders and steered her to the far side of the room.

Using his 6' frame, Bert stood in front of Priss blocking her from everyone's view. "What is going on here Priss?? You know I respect your privacy, but something is wrong here." Looking into her eyes Bert saw the anger in them fade as she looked back at him.

Sighing, "Bert, I'll tell you about it, but not here. You should know the rest of what really happened that night, just back me up on what I do next…please?" Putting on her jacket Priss looked at Bert and wondered what he saw in her sometimes. She was nothing like Nene and their relationship was at times stormy to say the least. But through it all they had stayed together and still managed to work their way through everything.

Walking around Bert she headed back towards Sylia and the others, stopping several feet in front of Nene. "Look Nene, you're a friend, but this is something private so I'll say this once, back off." Turning on her heel Priss strode out of the room and out of Sylia's townhouse. It was not until she noticed Bert was no longer walking next to her that she came to a stop. Turning around Priss saw Bert standing 10 feet behind her, taking several step brought Priss next to him.

"So was it that you're a little steamed or was it just a desire to take in the fresh city air?" Bert teased.

"Let's go back and get the bikes and head over to your house. You should know what happened, besides I feel a craving for hot cocoa coming on."

Back inside Sylia's townhouse…

"Nene, Linna please sit down." Sylia asked tiredly. "This is not what I thought would happen, but considering the topic I would venture to say that it could have been worse. Now Nene, have some tea and relax, I will answer all your questions when you're ready." Sitting back down Sylia leaned back, made herself comfortable and took a sip of tea. 'I was afraid that this might come back to haunt us, but I thought that after two years of quiet we had managed to dodge this potential bullet. I should have known better. It seems that this is going to take some work, because if that officer decided to pursue our identities this could present me with some options I would rather avoid.' Sylia thought irritatedly.

Nene was back at the sofa where she had started, this time facing Sylia. As she looked over at Sylia, Nene saw her mask slip for a moment and uncertainty war across her features. Then just as quickly as she had seen it, it was gone and her mask of dispassion was back in its place. Of all her friends, Sylia was the one person Nene understood the least and the most. In many ways Sylia, who was only 26 yrs. old seemed far older than her years as she was constantly weighed down by her responsibilities and fears, as well as being a friend to them all.

"What I want to know is exactly what happened that night two years ago?"

Looking into her mug, Sylia was quiet for several minutes before answering. "Do you remember about two years ago, it was several months after SkyKnight had defeated Quincy's SuperBoomer, HeadHunter, for the last time?? On that night there were a rash of boomer rampages all over Mega-Tokyo, the ADPolice were stretched to the breaking point trying to stop them. Well that night everyone had taken quite a beating, it seemed we were just going from one fight to another. Since SkyKnight's armour was in the best shape, I sent him out on what should have been a mop of three C-55 boomers at an empty GENOM construction site."

Taking a long sip of her tea, Sylia paused before continuing. "Shortly after you found a strange energy reading in the area where Bert was fighting, as you were telling me about it something overloaded almost every circuit and system on the KnightWing. You were knocked unconscious when the sensor panel blew up in your face, however no-one else was hurt and then Bert called in for assistance. When we arrived I sent Linna and Priss to help Bert deal with the A-15's. Now this is where your friend comes into the picture Nene."

Nene raised her hand to interrupt Sylia, "I remember most of what happened before, but what has that got to do with anything?"

Leaning forward Linna looked into Nene's eyes, "Well you see the two of us flew towards Bert and I saw one of the A-15's on my screen and moved to intercept it. As I passed Bert I saw a woman and Priss told me to take care of the A-15. From what Priss would tell me afterwards, the woman attacked Bert and thinking that she was another boomer, Priss shot her with her railgun."

Linna looked away and refilled her mug with more tea and then looked back at Nene. "You know how Priss feels about boomer's Nene, even now after everything that happened. But once she realized that she shot an innocent person, well, she took it very badly. And although Sylia will deny it." Linna turned her head to look at Sylia, noting that her demeanor had not changed. "I think that Priss managed to get Sylia to pay for Gabrielle's medical costs."

"There is one other piece of information that you should know," Sylia voice was subdued, "actually it is in two parts; the first piece is that I went over the sensor logs in the KnightWing from that night, specifically what you had picked up over by Bert. It took a while to reconstruct the damaged files but what I found was simply put, an unknown type of energy and one that went completely off the scale."

Nene stopped the mug before her lips, her eyes were wide with disbelief. "What do you mean by an unknown type of energy?? And what do you mean by off the scale? Did you talk to Dr. Raven or Mackie about what you found??

"As a matter of fact I did speak to Dr. Raven about it and I sent a copy of the information to Mackie while he was studying in Germany and neither of them were able to identify it in any way. What I meant by off the scale is just that, according to the comparison tests no power source or weapon could generate the power level that was recorded."

"So your telling me that you found an unknown type of energy, okay, I can accept that because I remember scanning it that night. But what does this have to do with Gabrielle?" Nene asked as she took a sip of tea and waited for an answer.

Sitting up in her chair, Sylia leaned forward and placed her mug on the table in front of her. "Mackie does have something of an unusual theory and one I'm willing to discount. He feels that whatever it was may have been strong enough to tear a hole in our dimension, possibly similar to what happened to Bert. Except while Bert's trip here was a freak of nature, whatever caused Gabrielle to travel here may not have been an accident."

Sylia grabbed her mug and took a sip to wet her dry throat. "The other thing you should know Nene is that when I tried to find any records on your friend, Christina G. Harrington, there weren't any before two years ago, she simply did not exist. Even Fargo with his sources had no success in finding anything more than what I found."

Standing up suddenly, her eyes filled with anger. "Wait, you're telling me that you had Fargo investigate Gabrielle? Who do you think you are Sylia? And just what were you looking for anyway? Why couldn't you come and ask me??"

Standing up next to Nene, Linna put her hand on Nene's shoulder. "Nene, Sylia didn't ask you because I asked her not to. You see I didn't want to put you in a position where you had to choose between your friend and us. I didn't think that was fair, so if you're going to be angry with someone it's my fault so blame me."

"Linna I appreciate the fact that you didn't want to put me in an awkward position. But what right did either of you have investigating her like she's some sort of criminal??"

"Nene, it's not that we believe she's a criminal, but I have to protect the Knight Sabers. You may not like what I found, but you need to hear this. I checked against the copy of her drivers' license and social security the night we found her and according to the records I could find, she was born Gabrielle Connors on October 31, 1974. And while she was attending the University of Pittsburgh she disappeared in 1997. Until two years ago when she resurfaced as Christina G. Harrington."

"What are you talking about Sylia? There is no way that my friend is the same person who disappeared 40 years ago. She'd be an old woman and Gabrielle is only 25 years old." Nene replied angrily.

"Nene if you will look at the copy of her drivers license and your friend's police photo, they are the same person. And unless she is just a 33-S who just happens to look like your friend, and the odds of that occurring are astronomical." Standing up Sylia walked over to Nene, "You have to realize that this woman could be very dangerous and I don't believe that you understand this or what possible danger you're getting yourself into. What are you going to do if she starts asking around about your 'disappearances', she could piece together the fact that you are one of the Knight Sabers."

"I'll have to deal with that as it happens Sylia, I don't believe that you understand though. I understand what you're saying and what you've told me has filled in a lot of gaps about what happened that night, and I'll need some time to sort everything out that you've told me. But Gabrielle is my friend and I will not just back off and leave her, especially when she is in some sort of trouble, no matter what the consequences."

Nene placed her mug on the table and started walking towards the door, as she reached it she stopped and turned around. "I can see by the expression on both your faces that you don't understand, but helping her is something I have to do."

"Do you realize what you are saying Nene and are you prepared for the consequences of what may happen??" Sylia asked softly. 'Nene you don't understand, if your friend pushes to hard I'm going to have to push back, permanently and I don't want to do that, but I will if I have to. God help me, but I'll do what needs to be done.' Sylia thought uncomfortably.

"Yes, perhaps I understand more than you do Sylia." Nene turned and walked quietly out of the building, her thoughts raced as she considered what she had learned and what she was going to do next.

*******

HOME

Continued in Part 2