"What the heck is that noise?" one of the guards muttered at the sounds of battle outside the building. The Crey Protector on duty moved to one of
the covered windows and moved the blinds for a quick look.
"Just some heroes fighting Nemesis," he replied. "No big deal."
"Could always blast all of them," one of the other guards commented. "Merely doing our civic duty, what a shame we hit the heroes too."
The Protector turned, regretting that his disgusted glare was muted considerably by the full face helmet. "Newbie, in case you've forgotten, this
place doesn't legally exist. We don't make heroes take a second look at it."
"I was just saying-"
"Newbie, shut up," the Protector snapped. God, he was looking forward to getting back into the RWZ and Venice. Anything was better then dealing with
the new recruits.
Any further thoughts were cut off by the wall behind him exploding inwards, the massive form of a Fake Nemesis crushing him to the floor. The rest of the
guards all looked at him for a moment, too surprised to move. "Get up tin-can!" ordered an irritated female voice. "I'm not done with you
yet!" The guards blinked at the purple haired catgirl appearing in the new doorway. Purrfect Archer paused, looking at the Crey goons. "Huh..."
Next to her, Purrfect Scrapper leaned in. "Oh hai!" she smiled. "Whatcha doin' here in this dark, obviously abandoned building?"
"Evil, I'll bet," Archer replied. "Secret evil that they don't put on those cheesy tv ads."
"I hate those ads," Scrapper said.
"Yeah, me too. You guys mind if we find the evil and beat it up?"
"Don't just stand there you idiots!" the Protector yelled as he tried to get out from under the Nemesis. "Shoot them!"
***
Two floors below, a scientist looked up from his work as the building shook from explosions. "What's going on?" he asked the Agent on duty, who
had a hand up against her ear, listening to radio chatter.
"Heroes just entered the building," she reported. "They've been identified as Legendary." As the three researchers looked at each
other, she took her sidearm out, a serious look on her face. "Prep for evacuation, Delta protocol." With that said, she moved to the door, hit the
open button, and had just enough time to notice the studs on the blue armored gauntlet before it connected with her face with enough force to actually flip her
over and out of the way.
"Everyone behave and you won't get hurt," Street Sabre ordered as she stepped into the room. One of the research assistants responded by pulling
out his cyro pistol and firing off a shot at her. She raised her arm and blocked it, coating her fist and forearm in a block of ice. Before the others could go
for their weapons however, Lady of the Peace stepped into the room behind the Sabre, flames launching from her arms. The other two scientists went down fast as
Street marched up to her attacker and grabbed him by the apron. "Now, what'd I tell you?" she growled, shattering the ice with his face.
"Nice," Lady chuckled.
"I warned him, didn't I?" Street replied, shaking the last of the ice off as Net Sabre came in. "Where's the others?"
"Some power suits were coming this way," she answered, heading over to a glass vat mounted on the wall. "Yep... One 33-S growth tank, Crey
style," she said, pulling a cable from her gauntlet and plugging it into a USB port on the computer attached to the vat. "Now then, let's see if
the intel was right," she said, beginning to type.
Lady walked up to the vat, trying to see through the murky green liquid. "And if Silicon's source was wrong?"
"Then this poor girl isn't fully grown and is either a blank slate or incapable of surviving on her own, or she's fully programmed and we're
too late," her lover replied. There was a crash from outside, and a Juggernaut flew past the open door.
"... I'm gonna go help them," Street said.
"Yeah, go get your violence fix," Net teased. "It must be nice to enjoy the simple things." Street smacked her over the helmet as she went
to the door. Lady rolled her eyes, moving over to look at the Sabre suit in the corner. This one was an orange and grey mix, with heavy cables on the chest and
arms.
"Looks like a new design," she commented, unhooking it and fetching the helmet.
"According to this, they were going to register... Typhoon Sabre as a double-rad defender," Net replied, before pumping a fist in the air. "Yes!
Perfect timing on our part. Stable mind, all set for Crey brainwashing!"
"Then get her out and lets go," Lady ordered. "The catgirls won't keep the majority of their attention forever." There was another
explosion from above that sounded like one of Alices exploding arrows.
Nets hands moved across the keyboard, giving the required passwords and usernames. After a moment, the vat began to drain, the liquids beginning to drop
rapidly.
"All done out there," Dance Sabre said as she, Street and Silicon all stepped into the room. "This one good?"
"We got to her just in time," Net said, a grin in her voice, before jerking in surprise as the fluid level dropped below the new Bumas face. The
short black hair, the face... both were instantly recognizable to the four original Sabres.
"...Mackie?" Silicon whispered, moving towards the vat slightly, stunned by the sight of her little brother, who she'd long since assumed
she'd never see again, even with Crey developing a habit of basing their Scimitars off people from her original life. Lady of the Peace blinked, placing
the name and working the rest out quickly.
Then the liquids dropped below chest height, and all five women stared.
"That's..." Dance managed.
"Pretty good sized ones," Street responded, taking a long look at the breasts of the girl in the tank.
"Oh, the little pervert is gonna love this," Net grumbled. Her girlfriend nudged her in the stomach. "Ow. I stand by my comment."
Silicon pulled herself back to reality as the vat opened. Quickly, she moved over and checked her sister(?). "She's pretty out of it. We'll have
to carry her," she said, pulling off her cape and wrapping it around the smaller girl.
"Hold this," Lady said to Street, dumping the new hardsuit in her arms and going to the door to clear a path if needed.
The blue Sabre grumbled, balancing the weight, before opening a private channel to Silicon. "Sylia, are you..."
"I don't know Priss," she admitted softly. "I've got Mackie back, but... how is he... she going to handle this? He was always the normal
one."
"We'll work it out. Heck, have Ifrit talk to her. She's been there." The original Sabre nodded slightly, conceeding the point.
"You're... stealing Crey... property... stop or I use violence," the agent on the floor mumbled. Dance kicked her in the face, putting her out
again.
"Alice," Lady said, tapping her earpiece.
"Yeah mum?"
"We're on our way up. What's it like up there?"
"Calming down actually. They got the message after Sammy started sharpening her claws on their armor."
The fey snickered as they headed for the elevator.
***
"Well, no mention of any attack on a Crey facility," Ifrit said as she walked into the medbay. "Officially anyway. But given what we got out of
there, they don't want the exposure this time."
"This time," Sylia said softly, watching the sleeping form on the bed. "That won't last."
"Mmm," Riot Forces founder agreed. "Where's the others?"
"Nene's at work, Linna had a job interview, and Priss is getting me food," she replied. "Said I had to eat." She sighed. "I almost
feel like I'll throw up if I tried." She ran a hand through her hair. "I never thought I'd see him again. Whoever Crey stole us from made
copies of the original four, and it makes sense for them to have Sylvie and Anri, given they were likely behind that fiasco as well... but Mackie? He was our
support. The one that was outside the battle, checking the radio, keeping us updated, helping with repairs. Compared to us, he was... normal. Even if he did
hack the cameras for a peek on occasion," she said with a faint laugh.
Ifrit smiled softly as Sylia sighed. "Now... they've put his mind in a frame like that. They probably never thought about what he was before. Just
another weapon to be reprogrammed and aimed at the Countesses enemies," she said bitterly. She was silent for a long moment, before speaking again.
"How did you handle it?"
The Fey shrugged slightly. "Easier then I expected," she admitted. "Which would freak Rob right out if he ever knew. But from the moment I was
created, I knew I wasn't him entirely. I had a purpose, a function. It helped me get started... Nene helped the rest of the way," she added with a
slight smile. "Knowing she loved me for who I was did a wonderful job of getting rid of the other issues."
Before Sylia could respond, Mackie moved slightly, beginning to stir. "And I better leave you to it," she said softly, patting her on the shoulder.
"I'll be in the workshop if you need me," she added, moving out of the room.
Sylia nodded absently, moving up to the bedside. "Mackie?" she said softly.
"Mmmm... Sis?" came the soft reply.
"It's me. How do you feel?"
"Awful... weird dreams...what's goin' on?" she mumbled, opening her eyes. "... And where are we?" she added. "This isn't
our medbay..."
"No, it isn't," she admitted as Mackie sat up and shook her head, forcing herself awake. "Mackie, this may not make much sense at first
but... We're not quite who we think we are." The younger girl gave her an odd look. "Someone that learned our identities managed to copy us, as
part of a plan to publicly discredit the Knight Sabers."
"Clones?" Mackie said, sounding dubious. "But you can't copy memories onto a human brain."
Actually, there were ways that GENOM hadn't known of, but that wasn't the point right now. "No, not a human brain," she admitted, pausing as
Mackie sat up straight.
"Sis... Why do I have a Heads Up Display?" she asked in a voice of worried understanding.
"Because they found a way to... work around that limitation," she said softly.
There was a thump as Mackies head dropped against the pillow. "Bumas," she said softly. "We're Bumas."
"Yes," Sylia answered.
Laughing quietly, Mackie closed her eyes. "Dads ghost must be loving this," she muttered. "His creations 'merged' into one," she
said bitterly. She lay there for a moment, eyes closed. "Anything else I should know?"
"A few," she said softly. "The body you're in now... is a 33-S, and it... follows the usual rule for that model." Mackies eyes snapped
open, she looked at her sister for a long moment, pulled the bedsheet up and looked. She stared for a moment, then let the sheet fall and dropped against the
pillow again.
"This is so messed up..." she groaned.
***
the covered windows and moved the blinds for a quick look.
"Just some heroes fighting Nemesis," he replied. "No big deal."
"Could always blast all of them," one of the other guards commented. "Merely doing our civic duty, what a shame we hit the heroes too."
The Protector turned, regretting that his disgusted glare was muted considerably by the full face helmet. "Newbie, in case you've forgotten, this
place doesn't legally exist. We don't make heroes take a second look at it."
"I was just saying-"
"Newbie, shut up," the Protector snapped. God, he was looking forward to getting back into the RWZ and Venice. Anything was better then dealing with
the new recruits.
Any further thoughts were cut off by the wall behind him exploding inwards, the massive form of a Fake Nemesis crushing him to the floor. The rest of the
guards all looked at him for a moment, too surprised to move. "Get up tin-can!" ordered an irritated female voice. "I'm not done with you
yet!" The guards blinked at the purple haired catgirl appearing in the new doorway. Purrfect Archer paused, looking at the Crey goons. "Huh..."
Next to her, Purrfect Scrapper leaned in. "Oh hai!" she smiled. "Whatcha doin' here in this dark, obviously abandoned building?"
"Evil, I'll bet," Archer replied. "Secret evil that they don't put on those cheesy tv ads."
"I hate those ads," Scrapper said.
"Yeah, me too. You guys mind if we find the evil and beat it up?"
"Don't just stand there you idiots!" the Protector yelled as he tried to get out from under the Nemesis. "Shoot them!"
***
Two floors below, a scientist looked up from his work as the building shook from explosions. "What's going on?" he asked the Agent on duty, who
had a hand up against her ear, listening to radio chatter.
"Heroes just entered the building," she reported. "They've been identified as Legendary." As the three researchers looked at each
other, she took her sidearm out, a serious look on her face. "Prep for evacuation, Delta protocol." With that said, she moved to the door, hit the
open button, and had just enough time to notice the studs on the blue armored gauntlet before it connected with her face with enough force to actually flip her
over and out of the way.
"Everyone behave and you won't get hurt," Street Sabre ordered as she stepped into the room. One of the research assistants responded by pulling
out his cyro pistol and firing off a shot at her. She raised her arm and blocked it, coating her fist and forearm in a block of ice. Before the others could go
for their weapons however, Lady of the Peace stepped into the room behind the Sabre, flames launching from her arms. The other two scientists went down fast as
Street marched up to her attacker and grabbed him by the apron. "Now, what'd I tell you?" she growled, shattering the ice with his face.
"Nice," Lady chuckled.
"I warned him, didn't I?" Street replied, shaking the last of the ice off as Net Sabre came in. "Where's the others?"
"Some power suits were coming this way," she answered, heading over to a glass vat mounted on the wall. "Yep... One 33-S growth tank, Crey
style," she said, pulling a cable from her gauntlet and plugging it into a USB port on the computer attached to the vat. "Now then, let's see if
the intel was right," she said, beginning to type.
Lady walked up to the vat, trying to see through the murky green liquid. "And if Silicon's source was wrong?"
"Then this poor girl isn't fully grown and is either a blank slate or incapable of surviving on her own, or she's fully programmed and we're
too late," her lover replied. There was a crash from outside, and a Juggernaut flew past the open door.
"... I'm gonna go help them," Street said.
"Yeah, go get your violence fix," Net teased. "It must be nice to enjoy the simple things." Street smacked her over the helmet as she went
to the door. Lady rolled her eyes, moving over to look at the Sabre suit in the corner. This one was an orange and grey mix, with heavy cables on the chest and
arms.
"Looks like a new design," she commented, unhooking it and fetching the helmet.
"According to this, they were going to register... Typhoon Sabre as a double-rad defender," Net replied, before pumping a fist in the air. "Yes!
Perfect timing on our part. Stable mind, all set for Crey brainwashing!"
"Then get her out and lets go," Lady ordered. "The catgirls won't keep the majority of their attention forever." There was another
explosion from above that sounded like one of Alices exploding arrows.
Nets hands moved across the keyboard, giving the required passwords and usernames. After a moment, the vat began to drain, the liquids beginning to drop
rapidly.
"All done out there," Dance Sabre said as she, Street and Silicon all stepped into the room. "This one good?"
"We got to her just in time," Net said, a grin in her voice, before jerking in surprise as the fluid level dropped below the new Bumas face. The
short black hair, the face... both were instantly recognizable to the four original Sabres.
"...Mackie?" Silicon whispered, moving towards the vat slightly, stunned by the sight of her little brother, who she'd long since assumed
she'd never see again, even with Crey developing a habit of basing their Scimitars off people from her original life. Lady of the Peace blinked, placing
the name and working the rest out quickly.
Then the liquids dropped below chest height, and all five women stared.
"That's..." Dance managed.
"Pretty good sized ones," Street responded, taking a long look at the breasts of the girl in the tank.
"Oh, the little pervert is gonna love this," Net grumbled. Her girlfriend nudged her in the stomach. "Ow. I stand by my comment."
Silicon pulled herself back to reality as the vat opened. Quickly, she moved over and checked her sister(?). "She's pretty out of it. We'll have
to carry her," she said, pulling off her cape and wrapping it around the smaller girl.
"Hold this," Lady said to Street, dumping the new hardsuit in her arms and going to the door to clear a path if needed.
The blue Sabre grumbled, balancing the weight, before opening a private channel to Silicon. "Sylia, are you..."
"I don't know Priss," she admitted softly. "I've got Mackie back, but... how is he... she going to handle this? He was always the normal
one."
"We'll work it out. Heck, have Ifrit talk to her. She's been there." The original Sabre nodded slightly, conceeding the point.
"You're... stealing Crey... property... stop or I use violence," the agent on the floor mumbled. Dance kicked her in the face, putting her out
again.
"Alice," Lady said, tapping her earpiece.
"Yeah mum?"
"We're on our way up. What's it like up there?"
"Calming down actually. They got the message after Sammy started sharpening her claws on their armor."
The fey snickered as they headed for the elevator.
***
"Well, no mention of any attack on a Crey facility," Ifrit said as she walked into the medbay. "Officially anyway. But given what we got out of
there, they don't want the exposure this time."
"This time," Sylia said softly, watching the sleeping form on the bed. "That won't last."
"Mmm," Riot Forces founder agreed. "Where's the others?"
"Nene's at work, Linna had a job interview, and Priss is getting me food," she replied. "Said I had to eat." She sighed. "I almost
feel like I'll throw up if I tried." She ran a hand through her hair. "I never thought I'd see him again. Whoever Crey stole us from made
copies of the original four, and it makes sense for them to have Sylvie and Anri, given they were likely behind that fiasco as well... but Mackie? He was our
support. The one that was outside the battle, checking the radio, keeping us updated, helping with repairs. Compared to us, he was... normal. Even if he did
hack the cameras for a peek on occasion," she said with a faint laugh.
Ifrit smiled softly as Sylia sighed. "Now... they've put his mind in a frame like that. They probably never thought about what he was before. Just
another weapon to be reprogrammed and aimed at the Countesses enemies," she said bitterly. She was silent for a long moment, before speaking again.
"How did you handle it?"
The Fey shrugged slightly. "Easier then I expected," she admitted. "Which would freak Rob right out if he ever knew. But from the moment I was
created, I knew I wasn't him entirely. I had a purpose, a function. It helped me get started... Nene helped the rest of the way," she added with a
slight smile. "Knowing she loved me for who I was did a wonderful job of getting rid of the other issues."
Before Sylia could respond, Mackie moved slightly, beginning to stir. "And I better leave you to it," she said softly, patting her on the shoulder.
"I'll be in the workshop if you need me," she added, moving out of the room.
Sylia nodded absently, moving up to the bedside. "Mackie?" she said softly.
"Mmmm... Sis?" came the soft reply.
"It's me. How do you feel?"
"Awful... weird dreams...what's goin' on?" she mumbled, opening her eyes. "... And where are we?" she added. "This isn't
our medbay..."
"No, it isn't," she admitted as Mackie sat up and shook her head, forcing herself awake. "Mackie, this may not make much sense at first
but... We're not quite who we think we are." The younger girl gave her an odd look. "Someone that learned our identities managed to copy us, as
part of a plan to publicly discredit the Knight Sabers."
"Clones?" Mackie said, sounding dubious. "But you can't copy memories onto a human brain."
Actually, there were ways that GENOM hadn't known of, but that wasn't the point right now. "No, not a human brain," she admitted, pausing as
Mackie sat up straight.
"Sis... Why do I have a Heads Up Display?" she asked in a voice of worried understanding.
"Because they found a way to... work around that limitation," she said softly.
There was a thump as Mackies head dropped against the pillow. "Bumas," she said softly. "We're Bumas."
"Yes," Sylia answered.
Laughing quietly, Mackie closed her eyes. "Dads ghost must be loving this," she muttered. "His creations 'merged' into one," she
said bitterly. She lay there for a moment, eyes closed. "Anything else I should know?"
"A few," she said softly. "The body you're in now... is a 33-S, and it... follows the usual rule for that model." Mackies eyes snapped
open, she looked at her sister for a long moment, pulled the bedsheet up and looked. She stared for a moment, then let the sheet fall and dropped against the
pillow again.
"This is so messed up..." she groaned.
***