Chapter 2:

Sole Survivor

 October 14, 2033, : 2:30 A.M:  Scene of  RX-71 Boomer incident

“This is Angela Nakamura reporting live in Tinsel City. We are at the scene of another vicious boomer attack. Less than four hours ago, ten A.D. Policemen where slaughtered by the machine.” The reporter walked among the burnt out shells of cars.

 “Ten is the total count of A.D. Policemen killed in tonight’s skirmish.” She paused for effect and continued. “However the Knight Sabers destroyed the rampaging machine.”

 Leon watched the reporter give her report and looked as his men searched for clues.

 Angela  noticed Leon.   “Let’s see if  we can get any questions answered. Inspector?”

 "No comment.” Leon said.  “This incident is under investigation.”  He turned, and walked off.

 Inspector Daley Wong met him part way. “These guys are almost done.” Daley yawned.

 “What a night.” Leon watched as the ambulances carried off their fallen comrades.

 Daley nodded.  “You can say that again.”

 Leon thought back to when he was a rookie, and it depressed him. All of the recruits that he started out with where dead or  retired.   He pulled on his sunglasses. “Let’s go.”

 AD Police Infirmary: 3:00 A.M.

Michael woke up in  Leon and Hunter were with him.

 "Welcome back to the land of the living, buddy." Hunter said.

 Leon nodded. "We thought that you a goner."

 "Yeah." Michael reached up and touched his head. He felt the bandages. "Ouch!"

 "You got a nasty bump on your head. Must've been when the boomer dropped you." Leon said.

 "What about my team? Are they..." Michael asked, already knowing the answer.

 "Only you survived." Hunter said. "Sorry, buddy."

 "Shit! I could have saved them."

 Leon nodded. "You tried, but come off of it Michael. These things happen."

 "Like hell! I lost my first partner to one of them! And it's all GENOM's fault. One day they are going to pay. I swear!" Michael started to yell.

 "Calm down buddy. I'm taking you home." Hunter said. "You need some sleep."

 Leon handed Michael his jacket. "Here. I've got to go back upstairs.” Leon saw a lot of himself in the young  lieutenant. 

 "Thanks Leon." Hunter said to him.

 Leon didn’t say a word, he headed back upstairs.

Michael got off the bed and put on his jacket. He started to feel woozy. "Shit. I'm going to need some time off."

 "It's already arranged. I took care of it for you."

 "Thanks Hunter. I need to stop by my desk before we go okay?"

 "Sure. Let's go."

 Nene was at her desk, typing her reports up into the computer when Michael and Hunter came in

 "Hey Nene." Michael said.

 "Hi Mike!!" she smiled and got up. "I saw your show tonight. I loved your set!"

 "Thanks. After Priss left we were going to go back onstage. Then I get called back into work."

 She lowered her head. "I heard about that. I'm sorry about your team."

 "Yeah." Michael nodded. "Luckily the Knight Sabers came and saved my ass."

 'We saved Michael?' Nene thought and then spoke. "You better get some sleep Mikey!"

 "He will." Hunter jumped in. "I'll see to that."

 "Thanks, Mom." He muttered.

 Nene hugged him. "Well I hope that you'll be back soon! I also hope you have another performance too!"

 "I'll call the rest of Magma Diver later and find out what's going on." Michael smiled. "I'll be lucky if I still have a band."

 "C'mon, enough talk. Your gonna get some sleep." Hunter said. "Even if it kills you."

 "You always have a way with words, Hunter." Nene grinned.

 "Bye, Nene." both of them said as they left.

 "Bye guys!" Nene called after them.

 **********

 Hunter drove to Michael’s apartment.  Hunter took notice of  road and glanced over at Michael. Michael had his head resting against the leather headrest of the seat.

 Hunter breathed. “You’re lucky to be alive.” He’d seen A.D. police survivors of boomer rampages missing arms, legs, or other body pieces.  “And in one piece.”

 Michael winced. “Tell me about it.”  His head was hurting and any little noise aggravated it.

 Hunter kept driving. “It could have been worse…..”  He brushed a strand of his  blond hair out of his eyes. “Right Michael? Er… Michael?”

 Hunter glanced over at his passenger.  Michael had slumped into his seat and passed out.

 “Poor kid.” Hunter frowned. 

 7:30 AM – Silky Doll, Sylia’s Apartment

 Sylia and the rest of the Knight Sabers were in Sylia's apartment.

 "As for the boomer, it was an RX-71. The newest in GENOM's line of machines." Sylia spoke. "It's a construction boomer created for work on the moon and GENEROS."

 "What's it doing here? Shouldn't it be on GENEROS?" Linna asked.  "If it's for those types of jobs..."

 "The labs on GENEROS weren't well equipped for creating this boomer. The assembly and testing were going to be done here and then it was going to be shipped to the space station next week." Sylia spoke. "But it went rogue and trashed an A.D.Police squad before we stopped it."

 "As always. The A.D.Police can't shoot in a straight line..." Priss said leaning back onto the sofa. "They always fuck up. One way or another."

 "That's not true, Priss! At least one of our guys tried to stopped him!!" Nene squealed.

 "Well Nene, would you like to tell us what you found out about that squad and the reports?" Sylia asked.

 "Surely! Only one guy, Michael,  survived in that squad survived.  We saved him before the boomer could kill him. Michael is okay, he does have a slight concussion and some bad bruises on his head." Nene spoke.

 "Luckily he survived." Linna said. "And in one piece."

 Nene nodded. "We don't have the right equipment to fight boomers at A.D. Police headquarters. Luckily, we as Knight Sabers do."

 “Thanks to my father’s work.” Sylia  added.

 Mackie entered the room. “Sis?” he asked.

 "Oh, Hi Mackie!” Nene blushed.

 “Hi guys, Hi Nene.” Mackie smiled and looked toward his sister. “Here’s the morning paper. Anyways, I’ve got to get these repairs done.”

 Sylia excused her brother and looked down at the paper and read a little bit about her group’s ‘early morning performance.’

 Sylia scanned the article. She stopped in her tracks when one name appeared in the course of the report.

 Lt. Michael Kyle Mason.

 ‘Could it be Michael?’ She quickly thought.

 “Yo Sylia? You okay?” Priss asked.

 “You look like you've seen a ghost!” Linna added.

Sylia nodded. “There’s a name in the paper that looks familiar.”

 “Which one?” Nene asked.

 “Michael Kyle Mason.” Sylia said. “I knew someone with that name, when I was younger.”

 *****

 GENOM Tower  8:00 A.M.

Quincy looked out his office window. The expanse of the mega-city below him. Some words floated into his mind. These words were spoken by Largo, that damned super-boomer that nearly destroyed this office two years ago. Largo's saying was something like this "Once one has attained these heights, they find it hard to go back down."

 "How right you were, Largo or shall I say, Brian J. Meison...you bastard." Quincy muttered under his breath. This was the real Quincy, not an android that stood looking out the window. He turned and returned to his desk.

 A voice spoke from the intercom. "Mr. Quincy? Mr. Dickinson is here with the morning reports."

 Quincy pressed the button on the intercom. "Send Reginald in."

 "Yes sir, Mr. Quincy."

 Dickinson straightened his tie and walked into Quincy's plush office.

 Reginald Dickinson, a 24 year old corporate executive was hoping to fill Meison's and Madigan's empty chair in the corporate ladder. He stood before Quincy's desk.

 "Good Morning, Mr. Chairman."

 "Morning Reginald. Please, have a seat."

 "Thank You Sir." Reg seated himself into the fine leather chair in front of Quincy's oak desk.

 "So what's in this morning's corporate news?" Quincy asked immeditaly

 "Well, Mr. Chairman, the building of  GENOM Baltimore is starting construction today. It will be completed in 2036."

 Quincy smiled. "What else?"

 "The reconstruction of GENOM Sidney and GENOM Chicago have been finished and so have the reconstruction of both cities."

 "Excellent, what is the setback in dollars?"

 Reginald glanced down at his papers. "Only $40,000,000,000   for each city sir."

"Pure pocket change." Quincy said flatly.

 'How Much money does GENOM have?' Reginald wondered to himself.. GENOM had money coming in from virtually every corner of the market.

"What about last night?" Quincy asked, pulling Reginald from his daydreaming.

"The Knight Sabers had a run in last night with the experimental RX-71 last night and destroyed it. It broke out of the testing facility last night. There's no explanation why it activated.  In its wake it killed eight A.D. Police members."  Dickinson explained.

Reg handed the reports to Quincy. "Sir, I believe that me should pay homage to the fallen police officers. Also, perhaps we should give a considerable sum of money to the families of the fallen officers, to give us a good  image with the public. Also the A.D. Police want to see the lab."

Quincy nodded. "Fine.  I'll personally take care of the donatations. You will be in the lab when the A.D. Police get there so they can't wonder off into the resricted areas. Quincy read through the reports and turned his chair toward the window behind his desk. "How long does this set back our project?"

"Well, we have the RX-71 in the lab. We can start replacing parts and upgrades as early as tomorrow. We are probably set back by month or two." Reg said.

 "Okay. That's all for now. Mr. Dickinson." Quincy was not admused. He wanted to use the RX-71 in orbit replacing parts of GENEROS.

 "Thank you, Mr. Chairman." Reginald left the office. The oak doors closed.