The Depths of Genom

Note: This is my first attempt to do any fictional writing in a long time.  Tell me what you
think.  This story is set after Bubblegum Crash, and after Sylia has returned from her trip
to Europe.
Gary

The Depths of Genom

Prelude

[At Genom Headquarters]

  As Ortiz entered Quincy's office, he was struck once again at just how ordinary the office
was.  Here was the man who came closer to ruling the world than anyone before him, and
yet he has a simple desk, a video screen, and a few other minor amenities.  None of the
trappings of power one would expect for one in this position.
  However, Ortiz's nerves were not lessened in any way by this lack of display.  He knew
that more than one loyal Genom worker had been destroyed by the man who sat in that
chair.  Not for betrayal, but just for failure, and when Quincy destroyed people, it wasn't
just running them out of a job, but they would truly be destroyed.   They would be no
more than a memory for their family, assuming their family survived their fall.
   Finally, Qunicy came to him.  "Ortiz, what is the progress on Project Neptune?"  Ortiz
shook himself out of his reverie and answered 'Chairman Quincy, Project Neptune is nearly
complete.  The prototype is finished, and we are preparing to go into mass production as
soon as possible.  Quincy smiled like a hungry shark, and then asked "What of this Dr.
Yamata, can he be trusted?".  "I'm not certain, but I believe so" Ortiz replied.  
   "Not being certain isn't good enough Ortiz.  Make certain.  If you are not 100% sure of
him, make sure he never has the chance to tell anyone what he has been doing.  Am I
making myself clear?"
   "Yes Sir, Mr Chairman.  I will deal with it immediately."

Megatokyo: Late 2034

   Linna jumped in behind the last boomer and hit it in the back of the head with her
knuckle bomber.  "Well, that's it" she said as the boomer fell to the ground.

  Sylia looked grim as she looked at the wreckage of 6 cheap boomers modified for
combat.  "Well, this job certainly paid well enough, but I don't like what I'm seeing here".
  
  "What do you mean Sylia?" Nene asked, confused by this sudden turn in events.  "We
were hired by the owner of this warehouse to safeguard these computer parts until he can
get them shipped out.  We did the job, and we'll get well paid.  What's not to like?"

  Priss looked at Nene "Do you ever use that head for anything other than holding your hair
up?"  What are a cheap biker gang like the Clowns doing with a whole pack of boomers? 
High level or otherwise?  Someone is arming the gangs in this town with boomers!"
   
  "That's right Priss I'm afraid that things are going to getting very difficult from now on."
said Sylia.  Suddenly the low thunder of distant explosions filled the air.  "Nene!" Sylia
cried.
  "I'm working on it Sylia...just a second"  Nene answered as she quickly worked the
readout on her hard suit..  "Yes, okay they are coming from 224 degrees, about 1.3
kilometers out."

  "Knight Sabers go!" Sylia cried out as she jetted off into the darkness.

  As the Knight Sabers came over the top of the a supermarket, they saw a man running. 
He was about 1.6 meters tall, and rather portly.  As soon as Sylia saw him she gasped. to
herself "Yamata-san...what is he doing here?"  Linna came over the comlink and asked
"Sylia, what was that, I didn't understand?"  Sylia quickly answered "Nothing.. but look at
that Boomer!"

  When the Knight Sabers looked down, they saw something out of a nightmare.  A
boomer, nearly 3 meters tall, with a dull metallic sheen like nothing they had ever seen
before.  In its right hand it carried a 30mm automatic cannon, linked to an ammunition
magazine on its back.  It was firing the gun at the wildly fleeing man.
  
  "Well, it may be big, but it doesn't seem to be too accurate with that gun" Priss observed. 
"Let's take it out!"  She jumped from the top of the building and took aim with her railgun
and fired 3 metallic spikes into the hip of the boomer.  They all bounced off with no effect
at all.  "My, you are a tough one, but there's never been a boomer built I can't take down!"

  "Priss, wait a second, there is something strange about this boomer!" Sylia cried, but to no
avail as Priss went in for another attack.  Priss weaved her way in and planted a rocket
assisted kick squarely on the chin of the boomer.   The Boomer rocked back a bit, but was
undamaged.  It reached for Priss, but with no effect as Priss jetted away.   When Priss
looked down at her foot, she was stunned to discover that the armor on her foot was
crushed in.  She knew that if that foot armor wasn't reinforced for kicking, it would have
been her foot that was crushed.

  "Okay, lets try a coordinated attack"  Sylia said to Linna.  So Sylia jetted down in front of
the monster boomer and fired her laser cannon into the boomer.  Again, no effect.  
However, the plan was not for Sylia to destroy it.  The second part of the plan became
apparent as Linna swept in and slashed her ribbon cutters against the boomers right leg. 
The leg stood, undamaged, unscratched.  The boomer, moving slowly finally raised it's
cannon and started firing off rounds, scattering the Knight Sabers.

  "Knight Sabers! Regroup!" Sylia shouted into the comlink.  As they ducked behind the
corner of the building, they saw the boomer resume it's pursuit of the man, who had taken
the opportunity to run down an alley.  Priss said "What is with this boomer? I've never seen
anything like it?"   Nene wailed "I can't get a good readout on it...give me some more time"
"We'll worry about that later, here's what we are going to do" Sylia responded.
  
  The Knight Sabers went back out into the street and approached the boomer cautiously. 
Linna and Sylia jumped in front of the boomer and fired at it while Priss snuck in behind
the boomer.  "Well, even if it is strong, it is very slow, and it's AI just isn't up to combat"
she said as she planted a S-Mine on the ammo magazine on the back of the Boomer.  As
she jetted off, she cried out  "get down".
  
  The explosion of the mine and ammunition rocked the boomer, surrounding it with fire
and smoke.  "Well, I'm glad that's over" Nene said.  "Over!  It's not like you did anything
little miss Cyberpunk!" Priss yelled.  Suddenly, as the smoke cleared, they saw that the
boomer was not destroyed, nor even really damaged.  It's gun was destroyed, and it had
scorch marks on it's armor, but it wasn't even really scratched.  "Stho" Priss cried out as the
boomer grabbed a car and threw it at the women.  
  
  From that point on the fight went from bad to worse, as the Knight Sabers just couldn't
find a way to damage the monster boomer.  Lasers, S-Mines, knucklebombers, railguns
were all tried with no effect.  Sylia was beginning to wonder if one of the particle beam
satellites could take the beast down when she heard a voice crying out "You'll never
damage it that way! It's armor can't be penetrated.  But it's not EMP shielded!"  "Nene!"
Sylia cried out "Try it!"
  
   Nene quickly adjusted her hardsuit to send out a max strength, broad band pulse of
electromagnetic energy.  "Now" she cried as she put every bit of power her suit had into it. 
The monster boomer began to stiffen, then suddenly it fell over, inactive.  

  "Finally" Priss breathed as she examined the corpse of the monster.  "What is it?" 
However, before they had a chance to do anything else, even before they talked to the man
the boomer was chasing, they heard sirens.  "Leon?" Priss asked.

  "No, Daley" Nene responded as she checked the ADP radio bands.

  "We best go then...Knight Sabers, go!" Sylia responded.

[Later]

  As Sylia dropped exhausted into her chair, she picked up the glass of brandy that was
becoming her all too frequent companion.   "Dr. Yamata...I haven't thought about him in
years" Sylia mused.  "What is going on here?"  She picked up the phone "Fargo?  This is
Sylia".

  Ortiz sat with his recovery teams looking at the wreckage of his boomer.  "I can't believe
this!"  He cried.  It was only by delaying the ADP with a Bu 12b attack on their convoy
was he able to reclaim the boomer before the ADP got mixed up in things.  Suddenly, one
of the men came up to him "Mr Ortiz, Chairman Quincy wants to see you back at
headquarters as soon as possible."