BU-07V "Nana" stood in the middle of the room, flexing her arms and legs a little uncertainly. It was one of rare occasions when the chains that kept her bound to the wall most of the time where taken off, but instead of being happy, for the first time since Kurama met her, Nana looked doubtful.
"What… What is Nana to do?"
"This is your enemy, Nana. All you have to do is to destroy it. Unlike other tests it doesn't have to hurt: you just have to destroy your enemy before it can hurt you. You can do it, Nana."
Unlike BU-07V, the figure that motionlessly stood opposite to her was obviously inhuman. BU-55C stood taller then any human, and was almost half again as wide. His heavily-armored skin was metallic blue in color, and eyes were two small red dots. And yet…
"But Nana… Nana cannot kill people…"
Kurama almost couldn't believe what he was hearing… Though as much as he came to know Nana during the month he knew her, perhaps it shouldn't have come as a surprise.
"Nana," Kurama said through the speakers with even voice, "BU-55C is only a boomer, a machine made with a single purpose of fighting and killing. It will kill you as well, unless you destroy it first."
This last statement took Nana by surprise. She didn't want to die, since it would mean that she will never see Papa again, but…
"But I still don't, I don't want to kill."
Kurama had to suppress a sigh; it really looked like it wasn't going anywhere. If it was in his power, he would have stopped this "test", but he was painfully aware of the fact that no matter how sweet and innocent Nana appeared to be, she was made for exactly the same purpose as BU-55C: to fight and to kill. And a combat boomer that was unable to fight would be… Useless.
"Alright, initiate the combat procedure." Kurama said to one of the operators, and a quick command switched BU-55C from standby into combat mode, assigning to him an order to destroy his target.
And as BU-55C quickly came to life, Kurama addressed Nana again, "Nana, prepare yourself for battle. You have no choice in this matter."
"I'm sorry."
Nana took a few cautious steps towards BU-55C as he slowly advanced towards her, smiling nervously as she spoke, "Ano… We don't really have to…"
Nana's voice trailed off even as her eyes widened in fear; instead of replying, BU-55C simply made his torso plates slid aside, revealing a dozen of white slots beneath. And her artificial brain immediately registered their purpose, even though Nana didn't want to believe it…
The next moment Nana jumped backwards and to the side, narrowly dodging the streams of fire poured from them onto her. It didn't escape her attention that the fire left melted dents in titanium-alloy floor where the fire touched it: BU-55C's heat cannon was a powerful weapon indeed.
Nana took another cautious step away from the boomer, but he simply followed her, slowly and methodically – he was not in hurry. Nana wildly looked around, but all in vain: the only door from the room was sealed shut, and Papa specifically ordered her not to even try to break it. There was no escape.
On his part, Kurama could do nothing but watch as Nana continued to dodge BU-55C's attacks, without even attempting to fight back. Nana's speed and reflexes were excellent, among the best the modern technology could achieve, and when they weren't enough, she used her Vectors to push herself off the floor with full force, increasing her speed tenfold.
But no matter what, such one-sided battle couldn't last forever, and after some ten minutes of jumping and dodging, the boomer finally managed to corner Nana.
"Why are you doing this?" Nana demanded, obviously trying her best to sound confident in her ability to avoid any attack the boomer could throw at her.
It already was her third attempt to address BU-55C after their battle started, but like it was with her previous two attempts, Nana's question remained unanswered: BU-55C was here to do what it was made to do, nothing more, nothing less. And to top it all, this time Nana's attempt to sound confident in her ability to avoid any attack the boomer could throw at her sounded particularly unconvincing.
BU-55C moved to stand a little over a meter away from Nana; he may have been only a machine, but he wasn't completely mindless, and he was quick to recognize the opportunity he had right now: if he missed now, it would take him quite some time to corner Nana again. But what BU-55C was completely unaware of was what Nana was capable of doing with her Vectors aside from boosting her speed, and that he unknowingly put himself into situation that was not advantageous, but no-win for him. If only…
"Nana, destroy it!"
But she didn't. Instead Nana used her Vectors to push herself off the floor, jumping upwards and to the right just as the boomer fired his heat cannon, and for a moment, it looked like she managed to dodge the boomer's attack against all odds. But only for a moment, because the next moment Nana's jump was broken and she fell to the floor. And with shock and horror that almost matched Nana's, Kurama could only stare at the melted stump at where Nana's left leg once was.
BU-55C slowly approached his now-helpless target, but instead of moving to finish Nana off right away he clearly took his time; instead he stepped on Nana right arm, crushing it under his heavy metallic foot and adding to her pain. And despite the situation, Kurama could help feeling surprise at BU-55C's behaviour: he was only a standard-issue combat boomer, a machine that wasn't programmed for even basic human emotions… But if so, why did BU-55C look like he was thoroughly enjoying his victory?
But as of Nana, whatever BU-55C felt or didn't feel was obviously the last of her concerns, as she looked up at him with tears of pain in her eyes; the realization of what fighting was about hit her harshly and cruelly.
"No… This cannot be happening. Papa… Papa, save me."
"Enough. Number Seven is obviously unable to continue combat."
At the sound of his voice, BU-55C obediently ceased his attack and stepped away from Nana, even though he wasn't given explicit order to do so; BU-55C were smart enough not only to act flexibly within their orders, but they were also perfectly able to recognize and obey indirect orders.
Kurama didn't pay any attention to this well-known fact, as he stood over Nana. Boomer or no, it was hard to imagine anyone in so much pain as Nana was in to pay much attention to what was going on around them, yet Nana recognized him immediately.
"Papa…"
"Nana…"
Kurama kneeled before her, even as his right hand went into his pocket and produced a small pistol, which he pressed against Nana's neck. It was a cruel thing to do to her, especially after what she has just gone through, but no more cruel then leaving her in the state she was currently in. Even so, Kurama wished there was some other way… But there wasn't. Despite all the appearances, V-type Boomers weren't truly living beings, and they just couldn't be put to sleep the same way living beings could be.
"Nana, it is going to hurt a little, but everything will be okay in the end. Trust me, okay?" Kurama realized the meaninglessness of his words even as they left his mouth; there was no way Nana could feel more pain then the one she already was in.
"Okay… I trust you, Papa…" Nana responded weakly; her pain was obviously only increasing.
Kurama didn't hesitate to push the trigger, sending an Electromagnetic Pulse through Nana's body. Normally it wouldn't be anywhere near enough to take Nana out, but now when it was added to all the pain she already felt, Nana's artificial brain detected pain overload and in order to avoid permanent neuro damage went into temporary shutdown. Or, in other words, Nana fell unconscious.
As he looked at Nana lying on the operating table, Kurama caught himself on a thought that this was one time she was lucky to be a boomer. Her right arm was completely shattered by under BU-55C's foot, and even with the best medical treatment available these days it wouldn't completely heal in less then a month. As of her left leg… It was essentially vaporized by BU-55C's heat cannon, and no medical treatment could make a new leg grow in its place.
But with her being a boomer it was… Not easy, but perfectly possible to replaced the limbs she has lost with their perfect copies. And this was what had been done.
For a moment, Kurama took his eyes off Nana to look at one of the monitors, which confirmed that Nana has finally regained consciousness, even though she didn't move or even open her eyes.
"It's okay, Nana. You can open your eyes now."
He watched as she did so, visibly hesitantly. For a moment her gaze lingered on him, before looking over her body. Kurama almost smiled as he watched her moving the toes of her left leg, a little hesitantly a first, then, getting more confident, lifting it and holding up it in the air. Almost, because the events that led to it were still fresh in his mind.
"We had to replace your arm and leg, Nana. But they should be as good as old ones. Are they?"
"Yes, yes!" Nana replied cheerfully, as she put her leg down; if she was in any way troubled by what has happened to her, she didn't show it.
Kurama studied Nana's happy face for a few long seconds, before finally asking the question he wasn't sure he wanted to hear an answer for.
"Why didn't you defend yourself, Nana?"
In a blink, the happiness was gone from Nana's face as she looked up at Kurama in worry.
"Are you angry with Nana, Papa?"
"Angry? Of course I am! The tests indicate that your Vectors have developed to the range of four meters, and they are capable of cutting titanium alloy BU-55C are made of with relative ease. And yet you refused to attack it. Why, Nana?"
"I… I am sorry Papa. But he was just like me, wasn't he? Why did we have to fight? Why did you want me to kill him?"
"Nana," Kurama forced his voice to sound gently, almost as though he was indeed a father who tries to explain some simple truth to his child, "BU-55C are nothing like you. They have very limited A.I. and don't show any signs of personality or individuality. Essentially, BU-55C are nothing but weapons made with a single purpose of fighting and killing. You shouldn't view them the same way you view humans or yourself."
"But I still don't, I don't want to kill," Nana replied in a very small voice, and as Kurama was looking at her saddened face, he realized that she was not convinced.
"I don't understand it." Kurama admitted aloud.
"Nobody does."
Ever since his new assignment, Yuu Kakuzawa hanged around him even more often the he used to, to which Kurama didn't really object. Although there were times when he didn't welcome his former friend's company, usually it was better then being alone.
"Number Seven is the first case of a V-type Boomer able, but refusing to use its Vectors for combat. We are still not sure if the way you treated it is to be blamed here, or if it was made with some defect, or perhaps even both… But in either case, it is no longer an issue. Here."
Yuu handed Kurama a note, which he quickly looked through before raising disbelieving eyes back at Yuu.
"It isn't some stupid joke of yours, is it?"
"No, it isn't. On my father's personal orders, Number Seven was marked for termination, and all the responsibilities for overseeing its development were taken away from you." Yuu flashed him a quick smile, "Don't worry, it won't affect your career here in GENOM in any way, and like I said, this experience will only benefit you."
Looking at Kurama's shocked expression, Yuu sighed and continued, "And don't feel bad about this either. You know, if Number Seven will be useless in combat, it will be of no use to us. Who needs combat boomer that refuses to fight?"
"But surely there would be no harm…"
"There would be harm, and you know it." Yuu said with another sigh. "With any boomer, there is always a chance of it going rogue, and the percentage of boomers going rogue is incredibly high among V-type Boomers, which is likely linked with their highly advanced A.I. The entire range of cases in which a boomer has a chance of going rogue has never, and most likely will never be completely listed; it can be almost anything, from virus attack or A.I. malfunction, to something as trivial as receiving conflicting orders. And once Number Seven goes rogue… Who can tell what it could probably do? Well, most likely its already established thoughts pattern and artificial personality will remain unchanged, but we can't entirely dismiss the possibility that they will be shattered along with our control over it, turning Number Seven into a killing machine it was made to be. Oh well, I think I better get going. Oh, and I've almost forgotten to mention, you don't have any specific assignments right now, I believe, so… Feel free to do what ever you want."
Kurama just sat there as he watched Yuu stand up and leave his office. He knew what he wanted to do...
Kurama took off his neuro-helm and allowed himself to let out the sigh of relief: for good or ill, it has been done. GENOM's network was much poorer protected on the inside then it was on the outside, but even so, Kurama was glad that back in his college days he learned more about hacking then the basics necessary to hack into some porno site for free access.
'A-level alert! A-level alert!'
"Discovered, so quickly?"
'Number 1 went rogue! All personal is suggested to remain calm and stay on their work stations! Repeating, Number 1 went rogue! All personal is suggested to remain calm and stay on their work stations!'
Kurama almost couldn't believe his luck. First Yuu accidentally hinted on a way for him to at least try to break through Nana's pre-programmed obedience, then Number One, Lucy escaped at exactly the same time as he instilled his last orders into Nana.
If Kurama had thought more about it, he would have realized that there was too much for a mere coincidence in all of it, but Kurama didn't dwell on the question of his incredible "luck", instead, he decided to reap all the possible benefits from it. Not only Lucy's well-timed escape would likely cover Nana's own escape, but it could also provide him with a good explanation of what he was doing during all of it.
For a moment, Kurama wondered if what he was about to do was exactly fair, but he pushed his moral doubts away. In striking contrast to Nana, everything he has ever heard about Lucy suggested that she was nothing but ruthless killer.
With his mind set, Kurama logged into GENOM's security network, now openly, but it was quickly proved to be fruitless, as GENOM's security network appeared to be all but down. That was when the realization struck him: Lucy didn't go rogue and escaped on her own, someone must have helped her, like he helped Nana. But what kind of madman would want out-of-control Lucy at large?.. Kurama shuddered to think about it.
But that wasn't a priority right now. The priority was to stop Lucy, and now when he had even more reasons to do it, Kurama hastily considered the remaining options. There were two main ways to escape the tower-shaped laboratory: the main entrance, and through the roof. The later was the way he instructed Nana to go, and Kurama hoped that Lucy didn't go the same way: he had no idea how two V-type Boomers would feel towards each other, but taking all he knew about Lucy into account, Kurama thought that it would end in violence more likely then not, with potentially lethal for Nana results. Of course, he couldn't entirely the possibility that Lucy will just cut through some window and jump out of it, thus escaping into MegaTokyo where it would be all but impossible to find her, but in that case, she already was as good as out of their reach; and although it would quickly warn everyone about her escape, it seemed like Lucy didn't care much about discretion. And so, since there was no way to surround the whole laboratory building on such a short notice, and since he had no wish to block the route Nana will be using if she follow his instructions, Kurama decided to act under assumption that Lucy will take the most direct escape route – through the laboratory's main entrance. And with his mind set, Kurama quickly dialed the number of GENOM's nearest "security" depot.
"This is Doctor Kurama from GENOM Research Laboratory Number Three. We have a…"
'We are already aware of the situation, Mr. Kurama. We have already dispatched a number of BU-55C to cover both the laboratory's main entrance and as much of the laboratory's perimeter as possible.'
It didn't come as a surprise to Kurama, in fact, it would have been surprising if somebody in the laboratory hadn't requested heavy military assistance by then. But…
"I'm afraid that it will not be enough. We are dealing with a highly dangerous boomer here." Kurama paused; V-type Boomers were GENOM's most recent development, and there were few things they had to offer that could stand in their way, except for… "Do you have a Fusion Boomer on standby?"
'Mr. Kurama, we are not authorized to…'
"I will take the full responsibility. Send Fusion Boomer to the laboratory's main entrance; I will come personally to instruct it on this mission."
Kurama stood before the laboratory's main entrance, more then a little nervous, and in fact, afraid. The laboratory's security network was just partially brought online, and its operatives confirmed that Lucy was heading towards the laboratory's main entrance, and in fact, nearing it. With these news, Kurama quickly sent "security" team placed in his disposal inside: four BU-55C to keep Lucy occupied for at least a short while, and a Fusion Boomer to do the real job. The next minute was definitely one of the longest in Kurama's life, before his comlink finally beeped.
'Confirmation: Fusion Boomer number 117 directly connected BU-01V to GENOM Research Laboratory Number Three's network.'
With it confirmed, Kurama quickly dialed the number of the laboratory's main control room again.
"Fusion Boomer number 117 directly connected BU-01V to your network. You are to retake control over it."
'None of our override codes are working! This thing went rogue, don't you in the Tower get it?!'
"High priority override code has been sent to you. Don't ask any questions, just load the code into BU-01V. Understood?"
'Understood, sir.'
It took anther full minute before another message came to Kurama's comlink, 'Confirmation: BU-01V was temporary put under 100 control. Fusion Boomer number 117 was lost.'
With it confirmed, Kurama gathered his courage and walked through the doorway. He didn't really have to do it, technically, his position allowed him to send somebody else to check on Lucy in his place. But he was the one to start it, and Kurama saw it as his duty to see it through.
And as Kurama approached Lucy, her head suddenly dropped in submission. He couldn't see her eyes, but he knew what they looked like right now: completely blank and devoid of any thoughts and emotions. Lucy was under 100 manual control, for a time, at least.
"You gave us quite some troubles, Lucy."
"But as for me, you actually did me a favour. Sorry, Lucy, but I cannot let you go free, not you."
(/Flashback)
"Mr. Kurama."
Kurama returned back to reality to find Kate's icy-blue eyes upon him. They didn't show even the slightest hint of emotion, and Kurama involuntary caught himself on a thought that if the eyes were indeed windows to the soul like some people said, it almost looked like Kate had none.
A little unnerved, Kurama turned away from Kate and cast another look at the massive titanium-alloy doors marked as "BU-35V".
"So, is everything ready?"
"It is. Everyone await only your command."
"I see," Kurama paused, knowing the implications of what he was about to say. But as it seemed to be most of the times, choice was simply taken away from him. "Release, Number Thirty-Five."
"At least you, Mariko…"
In the gloom of the room, a pair of pink eyes suddenly opened to the low humming of machinery. And as their owner looked over her surrounds, the first question that came into her mind was, "Where am I?"
(Musical fill-in – Remember)
machi wa BE-RU wo nuide
tsuka no ma sugao wo miseru
aoi tobari ga
shizuka ni orite kuru
nemuri wo wasureta makurabe ni
namida hitohira sakasete
anata wo omou
hitoribocchi no yoru
Je t'aime. donna ni tooku
Je t'aime. hanarete-ite mo
Remember. anata wo
Remember. wasurenai wa
aenai jikan ga kono mune ni
ai no omosa kizamikomu
shinjite-itai
ano hi no hohoemi wo
Someday. kanashimi wo koe
Someday. tadoritsukitai
Remember. yasashii
Remember. ude no naka e
Je t'aime. donna ni tooku
Je t'aime. hanarete-ite mo
Remember. anata wo
Remember. wasurenai wa
Someday. kanashimi wo koe
Someday. tadoritsukitai
Remember. yasashii
Remember. ude no naka e
Someday...
Someday...
-------------------------------------------------------------
The city lifts its veil,
And for a moment, shows its true face.
A blue curtain
Silently falls over it.
On my pillow which has forgotten sleep,
A single teardrop blossoms,
And I think of you,
On this night when I'm all alone.
Je t'aime. No matter how far apart...
Je t'aime. We are...
Remember. I will not...
Remember. Forget you.
The times we aren't together carve
An impression of love's heaviness on my heart.
I want to believe
The smile you gave me that day.
Someday. Overcoming my sadness...
Someday. I want to find my way...
Remember. Into your...
Remember. Gentle arms.
Je t'aime. No matter how far apart...
Je t'aime. We are...
Remember. I will not...
Remember. Forget you.
Someday. Overcoming my sadness...
Someday. I want to find my way...
Remember. Into your...
Remember. Gentle arms.
Someday...
Someday...
(/Musical fill-in)