I'm not sure what I was expecting -- I dunno, actual vampires maybe? -- but it sure as hell wasn't this.
Well, I guess I should start from the beginning. The mission was simple enough: Investigate the so-called "vampire murders" in MegaTokyo.
I didn't really have very many options. Evidence was thin, and there were neither witnesses nor survivors. Judging from the way some of the vehicles were trashed, the vampire obviously had some serious extra muscle, so making myself look like a tempting target was not an enticing plan.
Unfortunately, it was the only one I had.
--Excerpted from the Operational Journal of Alexander L. Harris
Xander Harris sat in the rental car. The radio was on, but he wasn't listening to it at all. It was more for appearance's sake than anything else. Restlessly, he lowered the sun shade and glanced in the vanity mirror.
He shouldn't look this young. He shouldn't feel this young. His aging had virtually stopped since he'd intercepted that energy stream on Kingman's Bluff. Even now, at fifty-two, he was still physically in his mid-twenties.
He grimaced as his hand unconsciously reached down and met armor. The damn composite armor -- light enough to be unencumbering, yet strong enough to stop most small arms -- had kept him from scratching that maddening itch all night tonight and the the past four nights as well.
CRUNCH!
Xander jerked his head up, and a faint red glow appeared in his left eye as he activated the thermal overlay.
*Ohhhh shit...*
Of all the things he'd anticipated -- demon mercs, boomers, powered suits -- a battlemover was not among them.
Using a battlemover against civilian targets totally redefined the term "overkill."
He flung the door open and bolted.
Something slammed into his side and sent him flying. The armor bore the brunt of the impact, but it still hurt enough to make him almost pass out.
Somehow, he clung to consciousness. Eyes closed, he heard something hiss and snap, followed by a distinctly feminine grunt and the sound of someone landing. Footsteps approached him cautiously, and something prodded at his foot.
Xander swept his leg, tripping his attacker even as he lunged over to land on top of her, ramming his Super-Shorty against her neck as she struggled to throw him off. "At this range," he hissed, "this gun'll blow your head clean off your shoulders."
She froze, and he took a moment to look at her. She had dark hair and peculiar yellow eyes -- not necessarily a sign of vampirism anymore, considering the cosmetics technology available -- and she was, ahem, quite full-figured.
The shock and fear on her face vanished, replaced with anger as her eyes literally flashed. His other hand moved immediately to cover her eyes.
"Nuh-uh," he said. "None of that 'look into my eyes' crap."
It was then that something finally registered.
She was warm.
He blinked and reactivated the thermal overlay.
*What the hell is going on here?!*
Xander debated his options for a long moment. He'd originally been planning to question his assailant on accomplices, but her non-vampiness complicated matters. He doubted he'd get all the answers he needed before some passerby showed up.
He nodded to himself, and with a sharp blow, knocked her unconscious. His gaze swept over to the battlemover.
*Well, I can't exactly leave that thing lying around, now, can I?* he thought sourly, then sighed.
*I guess all those video games I played might be good for something after all.*
Sylvie groaned as her eyes fluttered open. She gasped when she realized she was bound to a chair and blindfolded.
*No. No!* she thought as fear welled up within her.
"Hey, calm down," came a gentle, masculine voice, but that didn't help her state of mind at all.
"Let me GO!" she howled.
"No one's going to hear you here," the voice said. "I don't want to hurt you. I just need some answers. Why are you attacking people? You're no vampire."
"I..." she trailed off. He didn't know? "Why did you kidnap me?" she demanded, struggling with the bindings.
An exasperated sigh burst from the darkness, "Because I want people to stop DYING! Is that so hard to understand? I'm not your enemy. I just want to stop the killing. Why are you killing these people?"
She didn't answer.
Her captor sighed, "All right. Let me see, I'm guessing you stole that battlemover, and I'm guessing you think I work for whoever you stole it from. Well, I don't. I really don't give a damn about that battlemover, so long as you stop killing people with it."
"I have no choice!" she snarled.
"Why not?" he shot back.
Again, she didn't answer. She was not going to betray Anri.
His voice became tired, "Look, I can't just let you continue this killing spree." Suddenly, the blindfold fell away, and the rope holding her soon followed.
She rose and turned, backing away slowly. It was the same man she'd attacked, and this time, he was wearing sunglasses. They were in what looked like a trailer home.
"I'm keeping the battlemover."
"You can't! She'll die!" Sylvie sucked in a breath as she realized what she'd blurted out.
Xander massaged the bridge of his nose. A pair of 33-Ss. He should have known. He'd been disgusted with their creation in the first place -- What kind of sicko created slaves for the sole purpose of raping them? -- but the mass extermination that came later was not what he'd wanted.
And now, he had two of them on his hands, one of whom needed a steady supply of unprocessed human blood to survive until her artificial equivalent could be synthesized.
There had to be an answer to this, and he had a sinking feeling as to that answer was.
Sylvie watched apprehensively as his hands clenched into fists and unclenched rapidly. She jumped when he suddenly slammed his fist into the wall.
"Fine," he said quietly, his voice flat. "If she really needs blood, she can have mine."
Sylvie stared. "What?"
"You'll be able to fix her properly, right? Well, then... until you do... she can take blood from me. Not enough to kill. Just... just enough for her to live on."
The words came almost unwillingly, but it was the only way.
All things considered, I'm amazed things went as well as they did. For one thing, no one died.
Well, no one stayed dead, anyway.
Yessirree, welcome to Xander's House of Resurrections. Fifty percent off if you bring the body at time of purchase.
Hell, if things had turned out just a bit differently, real estate values would be down the drain, as a fair chunk of Japan would've been vaporized.
Now, I just need to figure out what to do now. What I know now, what I've just learned... it's nothing the Slayers' Council needs to know.
--Excerpted from the Operational Journal of Alexander L. Harris
"Why are you doing this?"
Xander started and glanced at Anri. It was the first time in the days since he met her that the green-haired sexaroid had spoken to him. Sylvie was out; apparently, she'd made a friend or two since coming down. He looked away as he tried to figure out how to answer that.
"Is it... do you enjoy it?" she asked hesitantly.
"Hell, no!" he snapped angrily, glaring at her. "Riley might get his rocks off by having some bloodsucker bleed him dry, but not me!"
She cringed away, and he immediately regretted his knee-jerk reaction, his anger dissolving into nothing.
"Hey, I..." he stuttered to a halt, then paused and collected his thoughts. "I didn't mean you, Anri. I have... a history with vampires. Real ones. They hurt and torture people for fun." He looked at her, "You and Sylvie... you're nothing like them... and that's why I'm doing this. To save you as much as anyone else."
"I..." Anri trailed off.
Silently cursing her "owner" for whatever he'd done to her, Xander reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, not all humans are bigoted bastards, y'know. Some of us are actually pretty decent folks."
She flinched away slightly, and Xander pulled his hand back, holding his hands up. "Okay... don't touch. Got it," he murmured. Clearing his throat, he asked hesitantly, "Anri, I... is there any way I can help?"
Anri backed away from him, and huddled up against the wall, shivering, staring at Xander, her eyes wide. Door creaked open.
Xander turned and found himself with a very pissed off Sylvie on his hands.
"What did you DO to her?!"
"Gak!" he gakked as Sylvie hauled him up off his feet by his throat. His gaze tracked to the fist reared back, and he braced himself. Sure, sexaroids weren't as strong as Slayers, but they were plenty strong enough to break his face in.
"S-stop!"
Sylvie froze and dropped Xander, rushing over to Anri's side.
"Anri? Are you all right? What did he do?"
"I-I'm fine," she replied softly. "H-he didn't do anything." She looked over at Xander, then turned away and added even more quietly, "Except try to help."
"So," Xander said, "you're going to hit GPCC tonight?" Since the... incident... a few days ago, Anri had opened up a little -- a very little -- and Xander had grown even more inclined to help.
Sylvie nodded as she tucked the pistol into her bike suit.
"I'm coming too," he said, turning toward his suitcase.
"You're in no condition for something like this," Sylvie replied.
"I'm a lot tougher than I look," he snorted, rooting around in his suitcase.
He never saw the blow coming.
Anri stared at Sylvie, a horrified look on her face. The other 33-S shook her head and said, "It's better this way."
"Ohh, what hit me?" Xander groaned as he blinked his eyes open.
"Um, Sylvie did," came the timid reply.
Xander blinked a few more times at the green-haired young woman at his side. It took him a moment to match her face to a name, and then the events earlier fell back into place.
"Shit," he muttered, slipping to English for a moment. "How long was I out?" he asked, returning to Japanese.
"About an hour."
Xander cursed again, this time in Japanese. He rose to his feet and reached back into his suitcase, pulling out the hand cannon he'd been seeking. The revolver was of a large caliber, and it sported a laser sight/rangefinder mounted under the barrel. It fired custom rounds with second stage rocket accelerators that ignited based on calculations made by the rangefinder for optimum penetration. At the right range, it was capable of punching through even battle boomer armor with relatively low recoil.
Anri gasped at the sight of the weapon as he loaded its five-chamber cylinder. He pulled out a police-band radio from his suitcase as well and flicked it on worriedly.
//Firefight spotted on Highway Five! Heading north northeast!//
Images flashed in Xander's left eye as he brought up the map and tracked the reported location.
"Kuso," he muttered, bolting for the door. "That's Sylvie!"
"I'm coming too!" Anri called, a step behind him.
"Sylvie!" two voices chorused as the 33-S tumbled from the DD battlemover's cockpit and into the arms of the blue Knight Saber.
Sylia turned toward the other voice and silently cursed. Priss's faceplate had shattered, and she'd tossed the helmet aside. Her identity was compromised.
It was a man in his twenties, dark hair and eyes. Her sensors didn't pick up anything special about him beyond a cybernetic eye, but they did bring her attention to a large handgun of some sort in a shoulder rig.
She primed her laser. Just in case.
Xander raced toward Sylvie. The Knight Sabers. He was hoping he'd be able to avoid them, but once the DD entered the picture, that had seemed unlikely.
Still, one could always hope.
"Uncle Xander?!"
"Linna?!" Xander turned and found himself staring at the green Knight Saber. He waved a finger at her and scowled, "We're going to have a very long talk about this later, young lady!"
He whirled back to Sylvie, ignoring the stunned expression on the blue Knight Saber's face. He didn't recognize her, but that hardly mattered.
"Sylvie?" he asked tentatively.
"Xander... the disk..." she said, unzipping the top of her bike suit and pulling it out.
He took it and stared at it hard, "Sylvie, did you get everything?"
"Yes, why?"
Xander smiled, "Then don't worry, Sylvie. We'll bring you back. I promise."
Sylvie smiled back and slumped in the blue Knight Saber's arms. She looked at him hard, red eyes glaring at him, "'Bring her back'? How?! She's DEAD!"
"Never stopped me before," Xander murmured. He shook his head and said, "She's..." he hesitated, but plowed on, "she's not quite human, okay? With what's on this disk, we can fix her. We just need this data and the right equipment."
It was almost comical how fast she'd turned to look at Saber Prime. A very small part of Xander's mind wondered if one could suffer self-inflicted whiplash.
He turned and saw Anri walking up hesitantly and sighed.
He'd told her to stay in the car.
This was going to be interesting.
Did I mention that Dawnie's little girl is involved in all this?
Yes, that's right. Dawn's daughter, Linna Yamazaki.
She is SO grounded!
I mean, I know it's her life, and I support her decision. Hell, I might join her on this little crusade myself. I'm getting some seriously bad vibes from that Tower. I just wish she'd told someone. Like, I dunno, me?
--Excerpted from the Private Journal of Alexander L. Harris
Anri fidgeted and watched as Xander paced the room like a caged tiger. The room was spartan, utterly sterile of any personality, and shielded from at least basic scanning, as a quick scan from his eye had shown him.
Suddenly, the door opened, and Xander whirled.
"Hi, Uncle Xander," Linna waved tentatively, closing the door behind her.
"Linna," Xander scowled. "Why?"
"Why did I join the Knight Sabers?"
"No. Why didn't you tell anyone about it?!"
Linna scowled back, "It's a secret organization, Uncle Xander."
"You say that like it explains everything!" he sputtered, then blinked. "Huh. I guess it does, doesn't it?" He turned to look at her, shaking a scolding finger at her, "Still, you should have known better. How many stories have we told you about secrets that came back to royally bite us in the ass?"
"Yes, Uncle Xander," Linna gave a patient sigh.
Xander shook his head, "I should have known, though. The ribbons are definitely original, but the rest of that up-close-and-personal fighting style? Pure Summers girl." He smiled and spread his arms, "C'mon, how 'bout a hug, Linna-chan? I haven't seen you in, what, five years?"
"Six," Linna replied, giving him a hug. With an impish grin, she planted a kiss on his lips.
Xander recoiled, scandalized, "Linna!"
"Hey, I had a huge crush on you when I was twelve. I've waited years for that."
Xander groaned.
*Like mother, like daughter.*
"Anyway, Sylvie's about to wake up. We thought you two would like to be there."
Sylia looked at the world with new eyes. Initially, she had been quite skeptical with Linna's talk of vampires and demons, but the more she looked into it, the more proof she found.
For one thing, "Uncle Xander's" fingerprints and DNA matched records thirty years old, and he hardly looked a day older now than in the records, and while a clone -- for example -- would theoretically have identical DNA, fingerprints were not so easily duplicated.
It was disturbing, to say the least, and now, she had to decide what to do with the demon hunter and the two sexaroids.
Priss stared at the door. This was just too surreal.
"You're grounding me?!" Linna shrieked in indignation and disbelief even as she opened the door and backed in, outrage written all over her face.
Sylvie's friend, Xander, marched in behind her, "Damn straight I am, young lady!"
"I can't believe you said that!" Linna snapped. "You can't ground me! I'm a grown woman. I live on my own. I can take care of myself!"
"What the hell is going on here?!" Priss demanded.
Linna looked at her, still fuming, "He... he... he... ARGH!" Throwing her hands up, the Knight Sabers' hand to hand specialist turned and stormed off.
Xander shrugged, "Ah, she's just upset I grounded her, that's all." He shook his head, "Kids these days."
A giggle emerged, and he turned and folded his arms, looking at Anri.
"Well, well. I've been trying for weeks to hear that."
Anri blushed.
He looked back at Priss and extended a hand, "I don't believe we've been introduced. I'm Xander."
"Priss," she replied, shaking his hand numbly.
Way too surreal.
A gasp caught their attention, and the three of them turned to the figure resting on the bed.
"It... it worked?" Sylvie murmured, sitting up and holding a hand to her head.
Xander flushed and turned around.
He gulped when he felt Sylvie hug him from behind. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear.
There was a long silence.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing, really," he said, his throat dry. "But, uh, could you, I dunno... put some clothes on?"
She spun him around, stepped back, and pouted, "What's the matter? Don't you like what you see?"
"That's not what I meant!" he protested, slamming his eyes shut. "You're very attractive, Sylvie. Sexy, even," he blurted out. "But it just... I... uhh..."
It was Sylvie and Priss's snickers that tipped him off. Still unwilling to risk opening his eyes, he just hung his head and groaned, "Shoot me, stuff me, mount me."
"Well, I don't know about shooting and stuffing you, but I don't think I'd mind mounting you," Sylvie teased, pressing herself up against him.
"Ack."
Anri giggled again.
*Well,* Xander consoled himself, *at least some good's coming out of all this.*
Saber Prime looming over them was an imposing sight, but to be honest, Xander had seen scarier.
After all, though she might be encased in the latest armor alloys and armed with weapons that could wipe out an infantry division, he was fairly certain that, underneath the hardsuit, she was human and, therefore, unlikely to, say, breathe fire or fart lightning at him.
Anri sat to his left, while Sylvie -- fully dressed -- sat to his right, leaving him in the middle to receive the full brunt of Saber Prime's ominous attention.
"I find myself in a rather difficult situation," Saber Prime said coolly. "You three can identify two of my operatives and thus pose a significant threat to the security of this operation."
Xander glowered, "I would never do anything to endanger Linna."
"Perhaps," Saber Prime replied, "but I don't know that, nor do I know what you two," she swiveled her head to look at Sylvie and Anri each in turn, "will do."
Xander glanced to either side and looked back at her, "So what are you going to do? Kill us? Draft us? I'm sure you've already done a background check and come up clean, or we'd be dead by now."
Beneath her helmet, Sylia blinked. He was good. She'd have to make sure to keep his real age in mind. Despite his playful facade, he was as much beyond what he appeared as she was.
"Since you brought it up, would you be interested in joining?" she asked.
Xander rose and looked at her. She knew his cybernetic eye couldn't penetrate her hardsuit, but that didn't make it any less unsettling. It was like he was looking into her soul.
Sylia shivered.
Largo stood in the abandoned church, fists clenched.
The DD battlemover had been recovered by the AD Police, but there was no sign of the sexaroids.
Either of them.
Something unexpected had happened. He'd have to find another puppet if he was going to get his hands on the defense minister. At least he'd gotten what he'd needed from Flint and the GPCC.
"Perhaps I can be of assistance," a smooth, almost seductive voice interrupted his thoughts.
Largo turned, and his eyes scanned the intruder. "And who would you be?"
"Your kin, in a sense," the winged figure said, approaching him. "We have much in common, you and I."
"Well, then, 'cousin,'" the cyberdroid said, raising an eyebrow. "Do you have a name?"
"In my time, my kind did not believe in names, Largo," came the reply.
"Interesting."
"Indeed. But you may call me... Coldsteel."