Bubblegum Crisis / Bio-Booster Armour Guyver:

THE SOUL OF THE BEAST

By Jeremy Phillips

(aka: Sailor Uranus)

Original Character designs by Sonoda Kenichi and Yoshiki Takaya

* Work in progress - last updated 10th May 1997 *

PROLOGUE

Edward Osaka whistled merrily to himself as he walked home from work. It was late afternoon, and already the sky overhead was fast becoming a deep blue. The halogen streetlamps slowly increased in intensity, illuminating the way as Edward made his way down a deserted side-street.

"Mr. Osaka?"

A voice behind him caused him to halt in his tracks and look over his shoulder. Two men in suits were climbing out of a stationary unmarked van.

"What can I do for you?" asked Edward, turning to face them.

"Would you please step over here? We have a few questions for you," spoke one of the men.

Edward shrugged and walked over towards them.

"What's this about?" he asked.

One of the men answered by slugging him on the back of the head. As the other man caught him as he slumped forwards, he checked Edward's pockets and pulled out his wallet. Opening it, he fished out his driver's licence and scanned over it.

"Edward H. Osaka," he read out aloud. "Age 34. Blood type A." He looked up. "Another candidate."

"Let's load him up," said the other man.

Both men hauled the unconscious Edward into the back of the van. Both men climbed into the front of the van and drove off into the night.

Both men were unaware that a figure was hiding in the shadows of a nearby alley, taking photographs the whole time.

CHAPTER ONE

"Come on, Priss! Hurry up!"

Priss groaned inwardly as she laboured under the weight of a box full of junkyard parts. The source of the bubbly voice, Nene, was walking a short distance ahead of her, carrying a motorcycle seat under one arm and a short length of piping under the other. Beside her walked Mackie, also carrying a box in front of him.

Priss shook her head in silent disbelief. How anyone could be so disconcertingly cheerful while being used as cheap slave labour was beyond her. At least it was a good sign. It was now one month after the fight with Chronos. There were concerns that Nene's exposure to the conversion process would have permanent effects on her. Fortunately, her periods of feral psychosis, or 'zoanthropy', were only temporary. The only incident in that month was very early on, when Priss, Sylia and Linna had to restrain her from attempting to tear the head off a waiter who accidentally spilled wine on her new blouse. Her screams of rage had drawn the shocked attention of the other patrons as the three of them grabbed her and hurriedly left the restaurant. After that, Sylia paid for Nene to undergo psychotherapy for three weeks. Nene took her vacation time during this period that she had been accumulating, as she didn't want Naoko and the others at AD Police to know she was seeing a shrink. After that, she didn't suffer another attack.

Nene and Mackie stopped to wait for Priss to catch up.

"Why did you give me the heaviest load?" grumbled Priss.

"Because you're the strongest of us," reasoned Mackie.

"This is the last time I get suckered into helping you digging around in junkyards."

"But it's important, Priss. You can score some good parts for free from places like that. Most of the parts I used to build the Highway Star were salvage."

"Yeah, and look how long it lasted."

"What, before or after you trashed it?"

Priss sighed.

"Okay, bad example," she said resignedly.

Mackie smiled.

"Come on, Dr Raven's garage is only one block away. We're almost there."

The group arrived at the garage to find a familiar yellow bicycle leaning against the wall. As they entered through the front roller-doors, they found Dr Raven busy performing a maintenance check on a motorcycle. Standing nearby watching was a dark-skinned girl with blond hair. She looked up at their approach and smiled.

"Hi, Nene," she beamed. "How's it going?"

"Lisa?" said Nene in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"She came over here insisting to see you," said Dr Raven, not even bothering to look up from his work.

"Well, I have to put these parts away," said Mackie, resting his box on the ground. Extricating the seat and pipe from Nene's grasp, he turned to Priss.

"Priss, could you help me please?" he asked.

"Do I have a choice?" she replied rhetorically, following him to the back door.

Lisa motioned Nene over to one side of the garage as Dr Raven continued his work undisturbed.

"I heard you were taking a few weeks vacation," began Lisa, "so I thought I'd find you here."

"I'm that predictable, am I?" smiled Nene. "It's a shame I had to use up my vacation time, but it was a matter of necessity."

"Why? Were you on some big undercover assignment for the Knight Sabers?" she asked excitedly. The sparkle in her eyes suggested she was already writing up the news headline in her mind. Realising she'd put her foot in it, Nene laughed nervously.

"No, I just meant that I really needed some time off."

"Oh," said Lisa dejectedly.

"Anyway, what did you want to see me about?"

Lisa became suddenly serious.

"There's something strange going on all over the city."

"What do you mean?"

Lisa reached into back pocket and pulled out a set of photographs.

"A few weeks ago, I stumbled across this van in one of the suburban sectors," she explained, handing Nene the photos. "Once every couple of nights or so it would appear and abduct someone. It's like it's almost at random. So far, the abductions have been spread evenly across the entire sector."

"Wouldn't someone notice so many people gone missing?" asked Nene, confused.

"That's the weird bit. A day or so later the people abducted always come back, without any sign of injury or mistreatment. I've talked to a couple of them, and they don't even remember what happened in those couple of days. Also, the abductors aren't making their efforts obvious. After I found out about them the first time, I had to keep watch every night to catch them in the act again. Their movements are deliberately random, and very hard to catch out."

Nene looked down at the photographs handed to her. They showed a man being knocked out and dragged into a van by two men in suits. The van was black and completely unmarked, and had no licence plates. She looked back up at Lisa.

"What do you want me to do? Relay this information to the police?"

Lisa shook her head.

"No. The police won't be able to do a thing without any hard evidence. I would like the Knight Sabers to investigate the matter."

Nene frowned.

"I... I don't know if I could..." she started.

"Please," interrupted Lisa. "I'm sure there's something major going on.

I just don't know what it is, though, or who's behind it. You have to find out."

"You're not doing this just for the story, are you?" asked Nene cautiously.

Lisa sighed.

"I know I've done some extreme things to get a story," she admitted.

"But Nene, I'm worried. This activity can't be restricted to just one sector. If this is going on across the entire city, there's no telling what they're up to. I can't do this on my own." She placed her hands together and bowed her head. "Please?"

Nene considered this for a moment.

"Well... okay," she said finally. "I'll ask. I can't guarantee we'll be able to do anything about it, though."

Lisa smiled.

"Thanks, Nene."

"I'm sorry, Nene."

Nene got up off the couch and approached Sylia.

"But Sylia, Lisa seems to think this is something big. And you have to admit that these kidnappings are a little weird."

"And I agree they are," reassured Sylia, leaning back on her chair.

"It's just that we have nothing else to go on."

"We could find out more," suggested Nene.

"Nene, we're not private investigators. If we had a name to go on, or some definite motives, we may be able to find something out. It's a waste of resources trying to find anything out from practically nothing. Also, we simply can't keep taking jobs without payment. That last combat proved to be quite expensive for all the repairs that were required afterwards.

We still haven't finished rebuilding some equipment, like Mackie's power armour. I know it sounds callous, but we can't afford the expense."

Nene sighed.

"The police probably wouldn't do anything about it either," she said dejectedly.

"Why should they? All they have are some random kidnappings of people who come back a day or so later. No ransom, no demands, nothing. I fail to see what someone would hope to gain from it."

"I know," agreed Nene. "But it's just so weird. Is there _anything_ we can do?"

"We can't do anything until more clues come to light. Until we have more to go on, we're going to leave it alone." Sylia pointed a finger at Nene.

"That means no solo actions."

"It never even occurred to me!" exclaimed Nene, feigning innocence.

Several miles outside of Mega-Tokyo, no-one even suspected the existence of Chronos' newest base of operations. Constructed in utmost secrecy, it was housed completely underground, away from prying eyes. The complex itself was relatively modest in size, designed to be a central point of operation for Chronos within Japan. Unlike the Mega-Tokyo branch, which was intended as simply a watchdog for the area, this base was equipped for more sinister purposes.

The base's control centre was situated at its heart. The massive chamber was filled with bank after bank of monitoring stations. Each station was manned by a Chronos operative. Supervising events as they unfolded within the control centre was Masaki Murakami, the most recent appointment to the ruling council of Chronos.

"What is our status?" he asked, approaching one of the console operators.

The agent looked up from his console.

"Sir, all remote units have reported in. The conversion level is now five percent of the total population."

"Excellent. Just enough to avoid raising suspicion."

"Shall we begin with the second phase?" asked the agent.

Murakami shook his head.

"No. I have one or two matters to take care of first."

Murakami heard footsteps approaching. He turned to see Gyro walking towards him.

"You summoned me?" asked Gyro, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Yes. What information do we have on the Knight Sabers?"

"We know there are at least five of them. One of their number is known to be a woman called Nene Romanova."

"What of this 'mystery woman', who you claim is the leader?"

"I saw her face briefly in the fight. After accessing the national database, she has been identified as Sylia Stingray."

Murakami nodded.

"I want you to send out a Zoanoid team to each and terminate them."

Gyro thought for a moment.

"My Lord," he suggested, "why not preserve miss Romanova for conversion?

She has already partly undergone the conversion process, and she does have some dormant Zoanoid genes."

"No," he decided firmly. "We have numerous other candidates. I simply want those two out of the way. That should throw the rest of the group into disarray, so as to discourage any further interference."

"Why are you so concerned about them?" asked Gyro caustically. "Do you fear them?"

Murakami gave him a cold look.

"I fear no human," he stated flatly. "The Knight Sabers have disrupted our plans once. They must pay the price."

"As you wish," acknowledged Gyro, giving a curt nod as he left.

CHAPTER TWO

Nene awoke with a start, sitting bolt upright in bed. Her breath came in ragged gasps as she tried to calm down. The nightmares had come again. It had been over two weeks since the last time she had them, but like before, it was always the same dream. She would be floating in the midst of some impenetrable blackness, and a voice would call out to her. The voice was sharp, commanding and pitiless. She fought an incredible urge pulling her towards that voice. As she did so, she could feel her body begin to mutate, to change into some kind of monster. She would look down upon her hands, watching them stretch and twist into demonic claws. She would scream out in pain, a scream that changed into an inhuman bellow of rage. At that moment, she would wake up.

Nene ran a hand through her matted red hair and took another deep breath. Her sheets and pyjamas were soaked with sweat. She needed a shower to freshen up. She glanced over at her bedside clock. The green backlit display, somewhat muted by the moonlight filtering through the drawn curtains, indicated it was nearly 3am. Cursing silently to herself, she climbed out of bed and padded over to the bathroom. The bathroom light blinked on upon her entry. Squinting under the harsh fluorescent light, she began unbuttoning her pyjama top.

A thump coming from the other room made her stop. She stepped back into the main room and peered around. Her night vision ruined, the only details she could make out clearly were those immediately next to her, illuminated by the light flooding through the bathroom doorway behind her.

Everything else was lost in a maze of shadows made by the moonlight streaming through the open window. Everything appeared to be in order. Then she realised that the window wasn't open before...

A large creature leaped at her from the darkness. Nene fell backwards to the floor with a shriek, causing the creature to go soaring over her head and land lightly on the bathroom floor on all fours. Nene twisted around enough to see it slowly stand upright. It was humanoid shaped, with sharp, feral features. Its well-muscled frame was covered in short fur. It appeared almost feline in nature.

It began walking towards her with slow, deliberate steps. Without a second look back, Nene scampered to her feet and dove behind her bed. As the creature charged at her, she flipped the bed over towards it with a heave. The creature crashed into the bed, just as Nene made a desperate dash for the front door. She had almost reached it when a claw connected with her shoulder and knocked her back. Sharp talons dug into her shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain. She landed on her back as the creature stood over her, talons extended to finish her off.

Suddenly, a dull crack sounded as the front door splintered inwards. The creature looked up to see a dark humanoid shape charge into the room. A hum filled the air as a curved blade appeared to extend from its elbow and was brought to bear on the creature's neck. Nene was sprayed with blood as the creature was decapitated. She crabwalked backwards quickly as the lifeless body crumpled to the floor. She felt strong hands grab her under the arms and help her to her feet. Nene craned her head around to see a familiar blue armour-clad face, moonlight glinting off a medallion mounted in its forehead.

"Sho!" she exclaimed.

"Are you okay?" asked Sho, releasing his grip.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

She looked back down at the corpse, now rapidly dissolving into nothingness.

"Was that... a Zoanoid?" she asked hesitantly.

Sho nodded solemnly.

"It was sent here to kill you. Another one was sent to kill Sylia. It seems Chronos want to get the Knight Sabers out of the picture. Luckily I managed to intercept this one in time."

Nene gasped.

"That means Sylia's in trouble!"

"Don't worry," he reassured her. "It's all been taken care of."

Sylia finished tallying up the spreadsheet and saved her work. She hadn't expected her finance calculations to take so long. She looked over at the analog clock mounted on the wall. It indicated that the time was a little past three. She finished powering down her computer and got up from the desk, picking up her empty coffee cup as she headed over to the kitchen.

The sound of smashing glass above made Sylia look up, in time to see a large shape hurtling towards her through the now-broken skylight. She threw herself to one side, out of its path. She turned to see a large humanoid standing where she had been but a moment ago. It was much taller than any human, and was covered in a hard, chitinous exoskeleton. It's head featured an elongated snout, and was adorned with various horns. It was identical in appearance to one of the first Zoanoids encountered by the Knight Sabers.

It presently peered down at Sylia through beady eyes. She quickly sprang into motion, running back towards her desk. The Zoanoid began to give chase, until it heard a door open to its right. It turned to see a bleary-eyed Mackie poke his head around the door.

"What's with all the noise, sis?" he mumbled. "I-"

Catching sight of the Zoanoid shocked him into being fully awake. He quickly ducked back into his room and slammed the door shut. Ignoring him for the moment, the Zoanoid turned back to face Sylia. It found her backed up against the desk, its top drawer pulled open, with her aiming a gun at the creature's head. Giving a grunt of amusement, it started walking towards her. Sylia squeezed off a couple of rounds, only to have them deflect off its armour plating.

The creature had only taken a couple of steps when another dark shape dropped through the broken skylight behind it. The Zoanoid turned to face the newcomer, only to have a black hand clamp on its head. With a quick squeeze, the Zoanoid's head was crushed into a bloody pulp. It collapsed to the floor, and the black armoured figure stepped forward over the corpse.

It was similar in appearance to Sho's bio-armour. The only major differences were the twin blades extending from each elbow, and a short set of horns adorning its head. Sylia slowly lowered her gun.

Mackie burst into the room again. He halted when he saw the newcomer.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"The other Guyver," surmised Sylia. "Agito Makishima."

The Guyver nodded in recognition.

"I see Sho has spoken of me before," he stated.

"He mentioned you once. What are you doing here?"

"Saving your life, by the look of things."

There was a soft 'pop', and the armour fell away from him. Before Sylia stood a tall youth with moderate build and straight black hair. His posture and facial expression suggested an air of superiority.

"Sho requested my appearance," he explained. "It seems Chronos is planning to stage a coup of Mega-Tokyo. One of their prime concerns is that you don't interfere."

He glanced over at Mackie, then looked back at Sylia.

"I'm surprised such a small group would give them any cause for concern."

"That doesn't seem to have dissuaded you or Sho," responded Sylia.

Agito smiled briefly.

"Touche."

"I called Linna and Priss," interrupted Mackie. "They're on their way now."

"Good. What about Nene?"

"Another Zoanoid was dispatched to eliminate her," answered Agito. "No doubt Sho has taken care of that one."

Sylia thought for a moment.

"Mackie, see if you can get in touch with Nene. We need to organise a

defence strategy for the city."

Mackie gaped.

"What? The five of us against all of Chronos?"

"Seven," corrected Agito.

"I'm sorry, but I can't ask you or Sho to endanger yourselves any further," she apologised, looking back at him.

Agito snorted in derision.

"Forgive my bluntness, but you would be a fool not to accept our help.

Chronos are not to be trifled with, a fact Sho and myself already know too well. Besides, we are Guyvers. We're a damn sight harder to kill than a normal human. And any fight against Chronos is also ours."

Sylia could not help but smile at the man's stubborn arrogance.

"In that case, we accept your assistance," she replied.

"To say that I am displeased would be a gross understatement," growled Murakami. "Do you mind explaining to me why you only sent out two Zoanoids rather than two teams?"

Gyro, who stood before Murakami in his office, simply shrugged.

"I did not feel it was necessary to expend eight Zoanoids on the targets," he explained matter-of-factly. "This way, we only lost two."

"Are you saying that you knew that even two teams would fail?" questioned Murakami.

"I'm saying that I was sure the Guyvers would show. Whether we sent two or eight Zoanoids, they would have been killed."

"You should have informed me of this possibility before they were dispatched."

Gyro smiled innocently.

"But I thought you already knew, my Lord."

Murakami tapped one finger irritably on the desk as he glared at Gyro through cat-slitted eyes. They had at one time been adversaries. Over forty years ago, Murakami had been an experimental Zoalord who had escaped destruction and joined Sho and Agito in their fight to destroy Chronos. He had fought Gyro on two occasions, and was defeated both times by Gyro's superior powers. The second fight had left him nearly dead, when he had been found by Arkanfael, the most powerful of all Zoalords and effectively Chronos' leader. Arkanfael re-processed Murakami into a fully-fledged Zoalord, and a much more powerful one at that. With his loyalties now bent towards Chronos, he became a member of the ruling council with a higher position than Gyro. He was now more powerful than Gyro, and Gyro hated him for that. Even though they now supposedly worked for the same cause, he was still his enemy.

"For both Guyvers to conveniently show up to save those two suggests information regarding the attack has been leaked," stated Murakami. "I thought all sympathisers had been weeded from our ranks."

"There may still be one or two hiding somewhere," suggested Gyro.

Murakami scrutinised Gyro. For all the hatred Gyro held for him, he still wouldn't go so far as to alert the Guyvers to stop his plans. It had to be someone else.

"We don't have time to conduct a thorough search to find the traitor. We will continue with the plan, but with one or two minor detours. We will create a diversion to draw the Guyvers away from our true targets. And relay these orders to as few Chronos agents as possible."

Gyro nodded solemnly.

"You realise," he pointed out, "that even with the Guyvers distracted, the Knight Sabers will undoubtedly respond when we make our move."

Murakami smiled coldly.

"Then we shall see how they fare against our Hyper-Zoanoids."

CHAPTER THREE

Dawn slowly approached the sleeping city. As the layers of darkness were stripped away with the glow of morning, buildings and houses came to life, one by one, in preparation for the day ahead. By the time the first rays of sunlight crept over the horizon, half the city was already awake.

In one particular apartment, a group of seven people had already been awake since early morning. Six of them sat in a group, discussing a common enemy, while the seventh person, Mackie, was in the room next door, monitoring police transmissions.

"So, how did you know we were in trouble?" asked Nene.

"I was informed through a contact within Chronos," explained Sho. "There are still a few people, mostly scientists, that are opposing Chronos in secrecy. They relay to either Agito or myself, when they can, any important information regarding Chronos' movements. They told me that Chronos were planning the first step in their Zoanification of Earth, and they wanted the Knight Sabers out of the way. They intend to take over Mega-Tokyo as a base of operations."

"What would happen after that?" asked Linna.

"They would repeat the process on a global scale," finished Agito. "The takeover of Mega-Tokyo will provide them with a good soldier base."

"What do you mean?" asked Sylia.

"Once the coup has succeeded, they can enforce a state of martial law.

Chronos agents can cut off all access to and from the city, leaving them free to march the entire population of Mega-Tokyo into Zoanoid conversion tanks. Once converted, their short-term memory can be erased, making them the perfect weapons - powerful creatures in the guise of normal humans, blissfully unaware of their predicament. The rest of the outside world will see it as a state of emergency having been declared in Mega-Tokyo, and they would happily relocate the population to new homes throughout Japan. Once that's done, Chronos would have a new Zoanoid population base spread across Japan. They can repeat the process to capture the entire country, until - "

Agito stopped as he noticed the looks of horror on the faces of the Knight Sabers. Sho simply looked down dejectedly.

" - well, you get the idea. Even as we speak, Chronos has already converted a wide spread of people across the city, in preparation for the takeover."

"You mean, they've been abducting people, turning into Zoanoids, and letting them go again?" suggested Nene.

"Exactly," replied Agito.

Nene turned to Sylia.

"So that's what Lisa had found," she said.

"So it seems," agreed Sylia. "It explains why the kidnappings were kept low-key."

"Anyway," continued Agito, "Chronos already have Zoanoids infiltrated into several key installations around the globe. The thing that they require now is an army of expendable Zoanoids for suppression purposes, as well as simply for mere presence. Once the UN is forced to declare an unconditional surrender to Chronos, the human race as we know it will cease to exist."

"And we'll all become Zoanoids?" exclaimed Linna. "Why?"

"Chronos developed Zoanoids as the next stage in human evolution. They are capable of all the normal functions of a living being, including reproduction. In fact, the mating between humans and Zoanoids was probably what led to the creation of such legends as werewolves."

"Werewolves?" said Priss, a hint of disbelief in her voice. "Just how long have Chronos been gene-bending, then?"

"We don't know for certain," admitted Agito. "It was originally formed by the head of the ruling council and supreme Zoalord, Arkanfael. No-one knows how old he is, but there is speculation within Chronos that he may be descended from the original Creators at the dawn of humanity."

There was a shocked silence which lasted for several moments.

"So, this attack on Mega-Tokyo is the start of their global conquest plan?" asked Linna.

"That's right," confirmed Agito.

"I'm sorry," said Sylia after careful thought, "but I can't see how the rest of the world could not be suspicious of first Mega-Tokyo, then all of Japan declaring a state of emergency in quick succession."

"They would see the loss of Mega-Tokyo as strange but unfortunate," he explained. "The time frame we are talking about here would be spread out, so as not to arouse immediate suspicion. When Japan falls to Chronos, _then_ they would be suspicious. But by then it would be too late. Their initial ground would have been secured, and the fall of the rest of the world would then be just a matter of time. Besides, who would believe a story about people turning into monsters?"

"But why Mega-Tokyo?" asked Nene.

Agito shrugged.

"Why not? They have to start somewhere. It may have something to do with the fact that many of the uncovered artefacts of the Creators came from this area. As a consequence, there are a few established bases in the area. In any case, this process would also be repeated in other key cities around the world. Strike hard, strike fast, and strike everywhere."

Priss' shoulders slumped.

"If this is going on all around the world, then stopping them here won't help at all," she protested.

"If we can stop them from taking over Mega-Tokyo, their momentum will be slowed," reasoned Sho. "They will have to re-think their attack strategy if their initial takeover step is thwarted."

"All right," agreed Priss, "but how do we stop them from taking over this city?"

Before anyone could hazard a suggestion, Mackie popped his head around the corner.

"A call just came in for the AD Police," he said. "There's been reports of strange creatures running riot in sector eight."

Agito stood up, and Sho followed.

"We'll take care of this," he responded.

"We could come with you," suggested Sylia.

Agito shook his head.

"It would be better for you to stay put, and not get in our way. We have to take care of this as quickly as possible, before any more problems occur."

He strode out through the front door of the apartment, with Sho walking just behind. He stopped at the doorway and turned around.

"We'll try to be back soon," he said apologetically. "Please don't worry about us."

"You know, I'm positive that I don't like that man," grumbled Priss after Sho left.

"Sho told me a bit about him earlier this morning," informed Nene.

"Apparently, Agito used to be a Chronos officer. He kept helping him as Guyver-III, before anyone knew that he and Guyver-III were the same person."

"But we still don't know his motives," warned Linna.

"Be that as it may," reasoned Sylia, "we have no other choice. At least he appears sincere in his offer to help. Anyway, we have other work to do, like planning the defence of the city."

"How are we gonna do that?" protested Priss. "Even if Sho and Agito are super-human, there's only two of them, and the seven of us can't cover the entire city."

"I do have one alternative," ventured Sylia, "but I would rather leave it as a last-ditch option. What I need now are immediate plans of action."

"It seems someone else has decided that one for us," interrupted Mackie again. "I just intercepted an emergency call from AD Police. Their HQ is under attack."

CHAPTER FOUR

Leon McNichol ducked back around the corner, moments before another blast of energy tore down the corridor. He quickly ejected the spent shells from his custom Earth Shaker revolver, and loaded three new rounds. He glanced over at the two AD Police officers huddled next to him. Both were leaning against the wall, holding standard issue automatic rifles. He gave them a quick nod and the two officers jumped back around the corner, delivering a burst of gunfire at the two reptilian Zoanoids down the corridor. Enraged, two Zoanoids charged towards them. At that moment, Leon stepped in front of the two officers and brought his Earth Shaker to bear. Firing twice in quick succession, the two Zoanoids toppled in mid-charge, dark blood flowing from fresh wounds in their foreheads.

Leon suddenly heard the two officers behind him give a short, cut-off scream. He whirled around to face a huge, horned beast, holding the corpses of the two officers by their crushed heads. He quickly fired his final round at the monster's head, only to have it ricochet off its thick armour plating. Baring its teeth, it took a step towards Leon.

A loud shot rang, and the front of the monster's head exploded. Leon jumped backwards as it fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Further down the corridor, Daley Wong was running towards Leon. He was carrying an anti-boomer rifle in both hands, with another one slung over one shoulder. Leon smiled as he stopped in front of him, putting his hands on his knees and trying to catch his breath. After a moment's pause he stood back up, unslinging the spare rifle and handing it to Leon.

"I got here as fast as I could," he said. "Sorry, but the munitions store is all out of armour-piercing. I loaded them with hollow-points."

"In a high-power rifle, that should be just as effective," replied Leon.

"Where are the others?"

"There's a group of officers holed up on the third floor. MacLeod is still on seventh, last I heard, with another group up there. As for those officers that were on their own..."

Leon's face hardened. It had been nearly fifteen minutes ago when, quite literally, all hell broke loose. Without warning, AD Police officers all over the building underwent a rapid and startling transformation into grotesque monsters. Those caught out in the immediate vicinity of these creatures were killed almost instantly. Leon was caught out in one such attack, when an officer in the same room as him suddenly changed into a tall, taloned creature. He fell backwards in shock as it tried to cut him to ribbons, after which reflexes took over. Before it had another chance to swipe at him, his Earth Shaker was out and there were three new holes in the creature's chest.

After the initial assault, those officers remaining managed to rally up some sort of defence, teaming up to fortify certain areas. But the damage had already been done. By some estimates, only as few as a quarter of the people staffed at AD Police headquarters remained alive. What's more, many of those still alive were simply clerks and support staff, the majority of which had never been in combat before. With the complete disarray prevalent throughout the HQ, and many of the other AD Police officers out on call, there was little they could do. The situation seemed hopeless.

Leon finished reloading his Earth Shaker, re-holstering it before picking up the anti-boomer rifle.

"Where to?" asked Daley.

"Up," answered Leon. "If we can group together with MacLeod, we can start working our way back down the building and clean these bastards out."

"Kind of like a bug hunt, huh?"

"Exactly."

"I hate to tell you this," Daley began, "but I doubt we'll have the ammo to make it all the way up to seventh."

Leon picked up one of the automatic rifles up off the floor. Slinging it over his shoulder, he handed the other one to Daley.

"Then only shoot if you have to," he said. "We can stop and scavenge for weapons and ammo on the way. And if we run into anyone else - safety in numbers, and all that."

Daley nodded slowly.

"Okay, then. Lets go."

Leon had only managed to take one step when the wall next to him and Daley exploded. Leon was thrown backwards by the explosion, against the opposite corridor wall. Coughing through the swirling dust, he looked over at Daley to see him unconscious on the floor, blood trickling from a bump on his forehead. He looked back to see a reptilian Zoanoid step through the newly-formed hole in the wall, identical to the two he had killed only minutes earlier. Its shoulder pods were open, and waves of heat rose up from them. Leon's rifle lay on the floor, just out of reach. He reached for his Earth Shaker, only to find it had been knocked from its holster in the blast. The Zoanoid faced Leon, and its shoulder pods began to glow. Suddenly, a figure jumped between him and the Zoanoid. He could hear the Zoanoid screech in pain, followed by a thump as it fell to the floor.

Leon looked up as his saviour turned around. She wore a blue power suit and helmet, with a rail gun mounted on one arm.

"Pri-"

Leon was cut short as Priss placed a hardsuit finger against his lips.

"Knight Sabers..." he said softly.

"You okay?" asked Priss.

Leon nodded slowly.

"But Daley got hit pretty bad. I gotta get him out of here."

Glancing over at where Daley lay, Priss nodded in understanding.

"Where's Naoko??"

Leon jumped back against the wall as a pink-suited Knight Saber appeared before him, seemingly from out of nowhere.

"Uh, she's on third floor with the others, I think," he replied hesitantly.

The pink Knight Saber went charging down the corridor towards the stairwell.

"Shit!" cursed Priss.

She turned back to face Leon.

"Linn- uh, I mean another Knight Saber'll be here in a minute to take care of you," she said quickly. "I've got to go help this one."

"Wait!" exclaimed Leon "MacLeod and the others are stuck on seventh.

They'll need help, too."

"I'll see to it they get help."

"Thanks, Priss."

Priss paused for a moment, captured by Leon's smiling face, before breaking into a run down the corridor.

Once around the corner, Priss switched on her comlink.

"Linna!" she called out. "Leon and Daley are on fifth, and they need help.

Can you make it there?"

"On my way," came the reply.

"Thanks. Sylia, there are also a group holed up on seventh."

"I'll take care of them," responded Sylia. "Where are you?"

"I'm heading down to third to meet up with another group there. Nene's ahead of me."

"Just remember, our first job is to get the non-combatants out of here. We can worry about engaging Zoanoids after they're safe."

"No problem. Nene, you copy that?"

"I got it, thanks."

Priss came to the stairwell door to find it knocked off its hinges. Shaking her head in disbelief, she fired her suit thrusters and flew down the stairs.

Another explosion rocked the entrance to the control room, knocking back several AD Police officers. One officer rushed up from behind a makeshift barricade, firing a grenade launcher back through the smoke into the adjoining room. The ensuing blast was accompanied by the demonic screech of Zoanoids, sending a rousing cheer through the AD Police ranks.

They quickly began reassembling the makeshift barriers and pulling the wounded before the next onslaught.

Naoko sat huddled with the other dispatch officers, who were nursing the wounded and distributing ammunition supplies. She watched in horror as the nightmarish creatures continued to advance towards the door. She knew that the officers were running low on ammunition, and the monsters appeared to be endless. She looked down at the handgun resting uncomfortably in her hand. While all AD Police officers and staff were given training in the use of firearms, she was still unsure if she could hold her own in a firefight.

The sound of another explosion made Naoko look up suddenly. Through the smoke, a group of four Zoanoids forced their way into the room. One was cut down by small arms fire from the AD Police officers, but the other three made it in. They proceeded to tear their way through barricade and defender alike. With the breach in defences, more Zoanoids began gathering at the door. The group of dispatch officers, Naoko included, moved to assist in filling up the ranks of the defenders. Every AD Police member in the room rallied together to make one final stand, as the hordes of Zoanoids continued to swell. Unable to hold their position against the overwhelming numbers, they slowly backed away from the door. With no other exits from the room, the situation looked grim.

One female officer standing next to Naoko was eviscerated by a large Zoanoid with swords for hands. She quickly turned away before she could catch sight of her intestines spilling across the floor, though she was unable to block out her dying screams. In desperation, she emptied her entire clip into the attacking Zoanoid's face. It reeled backwards in pain as she quickly ejected the spent clip. Hands shaking, she slotted another clip into place. She looked up in time to see the now enraged Zoanoid charge straight at her. She only had time to raise her left arm in a futile effort to stop the inevitable.

There was a quick burst of machine gun fire. All Naoko was aware of was a flash of pain as one of the Zoanoid's sword-hands, carried by its momentum, cut into her forearm. Then the beast fell on top of her. For a few moments she lay there, pinned down by the weight of the creature. Then the corpse was rolled off her and she found herself staring into the visor of a pink-suited Knight Saber.

"Naoko! Are you okay?" asked her rescuer, her voice touched with concern.

It took Naoko a moment to comprehend the question asked of her.

"Uh, yeah, I think..." Naoko replied hesitantly.

The Knight Saber looked down at her gashed forearm, which was losing a lot of blood. She tore a strip off Naoko's sleeve and tied it around the wound, compressing it. The pain made Naoko wince.

"You're in shock," the Knight Saber told her. "We have to get you out of here."

An AD Police officer helped Naoko to her feet. The Knight Saber turned to face the officer.

"Stay with her," she told him. "We'll get you all out of the building."

"Thank you, ma'am," responded the officer.

Nene returned her attention to the fight. During that time, Priss was fighting the Zoanoids almost single-handedly, with some assistance from those officers who were able. She had already used up all the ammunition in her rail gun, and was proceeding to bash them to death with her knuckle bomber. Nene gave another burst of fire from her machine gun pod, taking out the Zoanoid nearest to her. This gave Priss time to eject a small, semi-circular explosive charge from a storage sleeve in her right arm.

Throwing it into the midst of the Zoanoid horde, the blast sent several Zoanoids, and fragments thereof, flying in all directions. That earned them a small reprieve in the Zoanoid onslaught.

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the building. As if in response, Priss' comlink beeped.

"Priss, Nene, Linna, are you all okay?" asked Sylia.

"I'm fine here," responded Linna.

"Us too," answered Priss. "What was that?"

"The Zoanoids have started destroying the building's foundations," informed Sylia. "They've already started vacating the building. We have to withdraw. We can't stop this many Zoanoids. Just get the people out of here."

"Okay," came Linna's reply.

"Gotcha," said Priss.

She turned to Nene, who was slugging a remaining Zoanoid in the face with her machine gun pod. The anger with which she tore into the creature made her remember uneasily a similar scene one month earlier, where Nene was seized in the grip of Zoanthropy.

"We have to get out of here," Priss called out to Nene.

"I'm not leaving," Nene replied bluntly. "I can't leave the AD Police headquarters like this. I have to save it."

Priss walked sternly over to Nene's side.

"There's nothing more we can do. We can't save the building, but we can save these people."

"I can't leave! I just can't!"

"You want to kill yourself? How about Naoko?"

Nene stopped, and slowly turned to face Priss. Priss didn't have to see through Nene's visor to know the look of anguish that was on her face. It was the look a person had when they lost something close to them, and there was nothing they could do about it. Priss knew how fond Nene was of the AD Police. Outside of the Knight Sabers, they were almost like a second family. She placed a gloved hand on the shoulder of Nene's hardsuit.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "We can't do anything more. Let's just get these people out of here."

Nene nodded silently.

"It is done, my Lord," informed Gyro. "The AD Police threat has been neutralised."

Murakami looked up from the printed reports he held.

"So I see," he replied. "What is the status of the military bases in the area?"

"All military installations have been clamped down and sealed off by our internal operatives. As requested, no attention was drawn to the operation. Of course, the task was made easier by the confusion caused by the attack on the AD Police."

"Excellent. Now we can safely proceed to phase three."

"But what about Genom?" asked Gyro.

"We already have our operatives within their ranks, and they have reported no unusual activity. They appear unwilling to become involved in the situation, especially considering that they do not know who is responsible."

"That is true," agreed Gyro.

"Once phase three is complete, we will have complete control of Mega-Tokyo," instructed Murakami. "I trust you can handle that?"

"Of course, my Lord."

The Knight Sabers stood before what remained of the AD Police headquarters, watching as it burned to the ground. The fire trucks had arrived upon the scene, but it was already too late. Parts of the building had already collapsed, and it wasn't long before the whole structure gave way. The Knight Sabers themselves appeared somewhat battered, but otherwise none the worse for wear. Linna's hardsuit was dented in spots, and one of her monofilament ribbons had been torn out. Sylia's Kotetu blade, still extended, dripped of dark ichor. And Priss' hardsuit was scorched in places. Behind the Knight Sabers, the survivors of the massacre huddled together. Many were being rushed away in ambulances. The AD Police aerodynes were busily operating as makeshift medical evacuation vehicles.

Leon had already commandeered one to carry Daley and Naoko to the hospital.

"A... AD Police..." sobbed Nene, collapsing to her knees.

Sylia walked up behind her and pressed the palm of her power hand against a point on Nene's back. She mentally transmitted an override code, and Nene's hardsuit underwent a complete systems shutdown. Weighted down by the now unpowered suit, Nene lifted her visor and looked up at Sylia.

"W... why?" she asked, tears still streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry," said Sylia, "but I don't want you to be involved in any more fighting."

"Because I'm useless," said Nene miserably, looking down at the ground.

"No!" responded Sylia sternly. "Don't ever think that!"

Nene looked back up suddenly.

"I don't want you fighting because you're emotionally involved in this, and I don't want another Zoanthropy attack triggered," she explained.

"Right now, the last thing we need is another problem."

The group heard the sound of footsteps behind them. They turned to see Sho and Agito approaching.

"We just heard the news," said Sho. "I'm so sorry this happened."

"It wasn't your fault," Sylia reassured him.

Agito shook his head.

"I should have expected them to do a move like that. The diversion was just too convenient for them."

"In one simple move, Chronos have wiped out one of the best chances of an organised defence against them," stated Sylia.

"How come it was so simple for them?" asked Priss.

"As well as an invasion of Zoanoids from outside, the AD Police would have been heavily infiltrated by Chronos agents and converted Zoanoids," explained Agito. "It's a common practice of theirs."

"So, what can we do now?" asked Linna.

"On our own, absolutely nothing," said Sylia bluntly.

Agito nodded solemnly in agreement.

"Then we've lost?" asked Priss hesitantly.

"Not quite," added Sylia. "The situation is very bleak, but there is one sliver of hope. I loathe to use this option, but it's all we have. But first, Sho, I need a favour from you."

CHAPTER FIVE

"Sir, the Knight Sabers are here."

Quincy stepped away from looking out the window and turned to face the suited man standing in the doorway.

"Send them in," he said.

As the man left the spacious office, Quincy walked over to his chair and sat down behind the large desk. Moments later, three figures in power armour entered the office. The person leading the group wore blue and grey armour, while the person to her right wore blue with a touch of red. The person on her left appeared to be encased in some form of biological armour, and sported a fin curving over his head and a short blade from each elbow. Quincy was more than familiar with the first two, but knew nothing about the third person. If he was a Knight Saber, he was probably only loosely attached with the group.

"Under normal circumstances," began Quincy, "I would not agree to such a meeting as this. However, I understand that you have urgent matters to discuss."

The leader nodded.

"I take it you've heard about the attack on the AD Police headquarters earlier this morning?"

"I know of it," replied Quincy casually. "An unfortunate incident. The press say it was a terrorist attack."

"I'm afraid that it was much more than that. Have you ever heard of an organisation known as Chronos?"

"No. Should I have?"

"They are a secret organisation bent on world domination."

"And you think they're making their move now?"

"That's correct."

"Do you have any proof of this 'plot'?"

"Isn't this attack enough?" spoke up the second Knight Saber.

Quincy smiled.

"Unfortunately not. You see, this could all be some well orchestrated scheme on your part, or whoever you may be working for."

"We have no solid proof as such - " began the leader.

"None that would last more than thirty seconds, anyway," muttered the second one almost inaudibly.

" - but we do have some information for you."

The third person stepped forward.

"This is a list of names," he began, holding out a collection of papers.

"This came at great risk from sources working in secret within Chronos.

This list gives the names of those working in Genom are Chronos agents, either willingly or not."

Quincy took the list and glanced over it. A few of the names he recognised as being marked by his own internal security on the grounds of suspicious behaviour, especially after the ChryoTech incident last month.

This list was either a ruse, coincidental or geniune. He chose the third option.

"Very well," said Quincy, "what do you want from Genom?"

"We know that Chronos plans to stage the coup within the next 24 hours," informed the leader. "In order to prevent that from happening, we need some organised defence of the city. That is why we require your help."

"How?"

"Using the OMS system."

"Of course," smiled Quincy. The OverMind control System was designed to take advantage of the safety override built into every Boomer manufactured by Genom. A 'special' project that was initially conceived as a trump card, word of it was leaked during the Calahan incident. Since then, security clamped down on the leak and OMS was consigned to the back shelf.

"Very well," agreed Quincy. "But I shall require something in return."

"Name it," spoke the leader.

"To effectively employ the OMS will require our Boomers to be spread across the entire city. This will leave our defences of the Genom arcology relatively weak. When they inevitably find out the source of disruption, we will require support in protecting the arcology."

"Agreed," said the leader. "We will provide assistance."

"Good. Now, what defence strategy did you have in mind?"

An hour later Sylia, Priss and Sho left Quincy's main office. Escorted by two 33C-class Boomers, they strode towards the elevator.

"I don't get it," started Priss. "Why did he agree so easily?"

"Never mistake Quincy for an old fool," warned Sylia. "Despite any appearances, he knew very well what the situation was. He must have known we were involved in this morning's battle, and that we would require his assistance. In fact, he had probably already decided to work with us before we even arrived to ask for his help. He simply put on the appearance of initial disbelief in order to asist in protecting the Genom tower for him."

"You knew he was faking ignorance?"

"I figured as much before we even arrived."

"If both of you knew all this, why the Hell did we even bother with that conversation?"

Sylia glanced over her shoulder at Priss.

"We still had to confirm each other's thoughts and make the agreement. We aren't telepathic."

"Sometimes I wonder..." muttered Priss.

"But I thought you two were enemies," said Sho.

"We agreed out of mutual respect for each other."

"You respect him?" said Priss incredulously.

"Yes, I respect him. That doesn't mean I like him or his methods. It would be foolish not to be respectful of that much power."

"But why would he respect us?"

"Do you think we would still be here if he didn't?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think he couldn't effortlessly destroy the Knight Sabers if he wanted to?" asked Sylia rhetorically. "If there is anything more improtant to Quincy than power, it is maintaining the balance. Quincy knows this."

"What balance? Comparing us to Genom doesn't look very balanced."

"With the power and resources Genom have at their disposal, they could quite possibly do the same thing Chronos are doing. What do they do instead? Arms dealing and political puppetry. They tip the scales to keep it balanced, as do we. In fact, even though we never accept a job directly with Genom, there are times when we work towards the same goal."

Priss ran up alongside Sylia.

"I don't believe this! Are you saying our fight against Genom is a lie?

That we'll never win, so we may as well just help them?"

Sylia looked at Priss as they walked.

"The fight is about protecting Mega-Tokyo. If that means going against Genom, then so be it. But that does not mean we are specifically out to destroy Genom. That also means we will also employ whatever means necessary to protect Mega-Tokyo."

"Didn't you set up the Knight Sabers out of revenge?"

"Initially, perhaps. But the man responsible is now dead, and one person's revenge cannot motivate an entire group."

Sylia stopped walking.

"I know these may not be the answers you want to hear, but it's the truth. You deserve nothing less. You've been through a lot, as have all of us, an I hope you understand."

"I don't think I fully understand," admitted Priss, "but I trust you."

"Thank you."

They started walking again in silence, and shortly reached the main elevator.

"Uh, what about..." began Sho, gesturing at the two Boomers standing directly behind them, impassive as ever.

Sylia turned to look up at them just as the elevator doors opened.

"I haven't said anything that Quincy doesn't already know."

Gyro stepped into the resonance chamber, the door closing behind him automatically. The door itselft was dome-shaped and, except for a large throne-like seat at the very centre, completely empty. The chamber served to augment the existing powers of a Zoalord. Although impractical to use in combat directly, a Zoalord coulf use it to increase his sphere of influence in controlling Zoanids. Commanding a small group of Zoanoids was relatively simple, but orchestrating a city-wide invasion required immense power and concentration.

Gyro sat in the large seat and cleared his mind. His eyes fluttered closed as he mentally reached out to the nearby city of Mega-Tokyo, and felt the presence of countless Zoanoids. Some were in hiding, waiting, while others were unaware of their predicament. Slowly, he reached out with his mind and touched each presence one by one, establishing a connection.

His eyes snapped open as he commanded:

"Awaken!"

Edward Osaka dropped his fork as pain racked his body. He clutched his head as he stood up suddenly.

"Eddie? Eddie, dear, are you okay?" his wife asked, sitting across the dinner table. Her voice was touched with concern.

"Daddy, what's wrong?" said his young daughter.

Edward screamed as his body quickly contorted and mutated into the form of a large, insectoid creature.

"Dear!!" his wife cried out.

His daughter simply screamed as the Zoanoid that was once her father started moving towards her.

Nene cried out, sitting bolt upright on Sylia's couch. That voice. It was the same voice from her nightmare. Her whole body itched involuntarily, as if it were trying to respond to something. The door opened as Mackie burst into the room.

"Nene! What's wrong?"

Nene squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out that voice. A cold chill ran down her spine as fear seized her. She was deathly afraid of turning into a monster, just like in her nightmare. She whimpered as the pain became almost unbearable.

Then she became aware of a comforting sensation, driving back some of the chill. She opened her eyes to find Mackie hugging her tightly.

"It hurts, Mackie! It hurts!" she cried.

"I know," he whispered.

Nene gripped Mackie tightly, as if trying to transfer the pain away from her. All she could do was sob in his arms.

OVERMIND CONTROL SYSTEM V2.01 ONLINE

PLEASE ENTER USERID: quincy

PLEASE ENTER PASSWORD: ********

WELCOME, CHAIRMAN QUINCY. YOU HAVE FULL ACCESS.

INITIATING NEURAL LINK-UP ... DONE

TRANSMITTING OVERRIDE CODE ...

The insectoid Zoanoid emerged from the Osaka residence, an unconcious woman slung over one bony shoulder. In its other clawed hand, a young girl thrashed desparately, trying to get away. The Zoanoid looked up and down the street. Throughout the area, similar events were occurring. Zoanoids emerged from various residences, sheperding the local populace together.

Panic quickly ensued as people spilled out onto the street, fleeing in terror. The quiet of early evening had rapidly degenerated into pure pandemonium. Satisfied, the insectoid Zoanoid continued to move down the street.

On the other side of the street, a construction yard began to stir to life. A row of cubicles held numerous construction Boomers, powered down and recharging for the night after labouring all day. One by one, they awakened from their sleep cycle and burst from their cubicles. They were a generic humanoid shape, and steel grey in colour. Their normally lifeless eyes glowed a fierce red. Armed with an assortment of powered tools and construction debris, they moved as a group, unified in motion and set in their intent. Quickly, they emerged from the construction yard and moved to intercept the Zoanoids.

The insectoid Zoanoid turned just in time to see one Boomer charging it with a long section of pipe. It dropped the girl to free one hand, who scampered away without hesitating. The Zoanoid caught the pipe with its free hand as the Boomer swung it at it's head. In a surprising act of ferocity, the Boomer followed through with a kick to the Zoanoid's abdomen, sending both the Zoanoid and it's cargo crashing to the ground. The Boomer stood over the fallen Zoanoid, pipe raised to deliver the killing stroke. In a final act of retaliation, the Zoanoid spewed forth a stream of acidic liquid from its mandibles, hitting the Boomer square in the face. As the Boomer staggered back, the Zoanoid leaped to its feet and rammed its clawed hand through the Boomer's chest. Brown fluid poured from the large hole as the Boomer shuddered. Blinded and critically damaged, it dropped the pipe and clamped both hands on either side of the Zoanoid's head. Fibre bundles in its arms strained as it exerted a tremendous amount of pressure, crushing its head like an egg. The headless Zoanoid toppled to the ground, its hand still embedded in the Boomer. The Boomer fell over immediately after it, pulled down by the Zoanoid's weight. It shuddered one final time before deactivating.

In a motel room in another part of the city, a woman screamed out in terror as the man she had only moments been passionately embracing began changing into a large, bat-like humanoid creature. It stood up on the bed as she fell backwards, trying to escape the Zoanoid. As she got to her feet, it grabbed her by her hair, pulling her back. She cried out as it picked her up by the waist, ready to carry her out of the room.

Suddenly, her cries ceased as her eyes flashed a demonic red. In one fluid motion, she twisted around in the Zoanoid's grip and kicked herself away from it, tearing its arm from its socket. It screeched in agony as she reversed her direction the moment she hit the floor, propelling herself straight at the Zoanoid. She caught it squarely in the chest, sending both combatants flying out of the second storey window with a crash of glass. They hit the ground outside with a sickening crunch, the Zoanoid's head hanging off at a strange angle. Slowly, the 33-S Boomer got to her feet. She paused to momentarily check the dead Zoanoid, then the naked figure disappeared down the street in search of more Zoanoids.

Fighting between Zoanoids and Boomers spread throughout all of Mega-Tokyo. Just as Zoanoids activated and started rounding up the population, Boomers also activated and stopped them. Despite the complete chaos erupting throughout the city, both sides operated with a surprising amount of co-ordination. Consequently, the fighting was fast and fierce. Both sides were taking heavy losses, but it appeared as though the Boomers were holding their ground. The Zoanoids were simply unprepared for any sort of organised defence. The final outcome appeared to be inevitable.

Back at the Chronos base of operations, Murakami was furious. He paced the control centre, watching as reports came in on the events in Mega-Tokyo as they unfolded.

"Enough!" he shouted.

Two agents, arms laden with reports, stepped back out of harm's way.

"It's obvious where the source of this interference is located," he seethed. "Why were we not warned by our agents within Genom?"

"My Lord, we have not heard anything at all from those agents," stammered one agent nervously. "As far as we can tell, they never even became involved in the carrying out of phase three within the Genom arcology. It's as if..."

"As if they've all been eliminated," finished Murakami. "It appears as though that security leak is worse than we feared."

He turned to the nearest security agent, who instinctively flinched.

"Round up all those with access to the infiltration lists. We will 'interrogate' them later."

The security agent nodded before hastily leaving the control centre.

"Right now, Genom has its resources spread very thinly indeed, in order to cover all of the city. My guess is, the Boomers are being co-ordinated somehow by a source within the arcology itself. We must attack the arcology at once, before any further defences can be organised."

Murakami stepped forward to address the command centre.

"Assemble the entire base garrison! We will depart for the Genom arcology immediately! I will lead the assault myself!"

As the command staff busied themselves, Murakami turned to face the one agent left standing near him.

"Get me Commander Gyro, now!"

Atop the summit of the Genom arcology, two figures stood watching the fighting rife across the city. Several fires had started in places, and occasionally buildings were being demolished in an explosive blast. The fighting had been going on for many hours now, and it was already well into the night. From where they stood, the sight unfolding before them would have been spectacular were in not for the gravity of the situation.

The taller of the two figures turned to face the other.

"The fighting is drawing nearer."

"I know."

The first one turned back to watch the fighting. It was several moments before the first figure spoke again."

"Dammit, Sho, stop it with that look. You know better than anyone else in this city that it can't be helped. There's no way of reversing the Zoanification process. Those people who have been converted have to die."

"I know that!" snapped Sho. "It doesn't make it any easier for me, though.

It's still murder, Agito."

"No, it's compassion. We couldn't stop what's happened to them. The only

thing we can do is put them out of their misery."

"I know..." whispered Sho. "I just hope that Nene's okay."

"She'll be fine," reassured Agito.

Several more moments passed.

"You know he'll come here," stated Agito, "don't you?"

Sho nodded silently.

"You going to finish it this time?"

"If I can."

"You want me to fight him instead?"

Sho shook his head.

"Like you said, this is compassion. You only saw him as a compatriot, an ally. He was my friend. He saved me more times than I care to remember. I need to do this."

"Fine," conceded Agito. "Then Gyro is mine."

Sho turned to face Agito.

"Please be careful."

Agito grinned arrogantly.

"Aren't I always?"

Sho simply smiled.

"Well, let's get this show on the road," said Agito.

Sho and Agito both stepped up to the edge of the summit, looking down at the chasm below.

"GUYVER!!" screamed Sho.

"BIO-BOOST!!" yelled Agito.

Energy arced across the summit. The ground beneath their feet cracked as they became surrounded by an invisible sphere of force. From the shadows behind them, strange armour plates emerged and bonded themselves to their bodies. In an instant, Sho and Agito were encased head to toe in bio-armour.

Agito, now Guyver-III, turned to face Sho's Guyver-I.

"Sho, if you're going to activate the Gigantus, now is the time."

"Right."

Sho concentrated for a moment. From out of nowhere, a giant bio-armoured pod materialised behind him. It opened up and released the Guyver Gigantus. Standing over 10 feet tall with a large pod mounted on each shoulder, the Gigantus bonded to an existing Guyver unit to further enhance its destructive capabilities.

Guyver-I was absorbed into the Gigantus, which promptly sealed itself up afterwards. The Gigantus stood next to Guyver-III, looking down at him.

"Let's go," said Sho, his voice slightly distorted by the Gigantus.

Both Guyvers stepped off the edge of the summit and disappeared into the blackness below.

The main entrance to the Genom arcology was dominated by a large staircase leading up to the main doors. Two squads of 55-C Boomers stood on guard at the entrance, armed with heavy rifles. They scanned the darkness for any intruders. Suddenly, a figure stepped into the light. It was dressed in an alien-looking combat outfit. Its head was crowned in horns, with a large oval crystal mounted in its forehead. It was similar in appearance to Gyro in Zoalord form, but with more refined features. The two Boomer squads raised their weapons at the intruder. The figure simply held out one open hand, and a small sparkling vortex formed above it. The two squads became surrounded by a similar, larger vortex. Before any of them could react, they were torn to shreds before the vortex dissipated.

Murakami stepped forward and surveyed the wrecked Boomers strewn across the main entrance. He was quickly joined by Gyro, also in Zoalord form. Behind them stood several hundred Zoanoids and Hyper-Zoanoids. Murakami signalled and the entire garrison flooded through the main entrance and into the foyer. Just as they entered, they stopped short. The massive foyer was dominated by a large ornamental fountain right in its centre. Standing in front of the fountain was the Guyver Gigantic, flanked either side and in front by three Knight Sabers, kitted out in their Motoroids with 20mm autocannons. Guyver-III stood off to one side, leaning against the edge of the fountain with his arms crossed. Behind them, and lining the walls, were hundreds of black-market BU-12C combat-class Boomers. The lead Knight Saber took one step forward.

"Knight Sabers - Go!!"

To be concluded...

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