[Opening scene: As the opening credits are shown, a sleek, black van speeds down a highway. A close up of the speedometer shows the speed at 200 km/h and climbing. A highway patrol car gives chase, as do others, but the van evades them with a series of reckless moves: running lights, driving on the wrong side of the road, the safety island, the sidewalk. The van loses all its pursuers and pulls into a warehouse district. As the van parks, cut to the driver, a man with shoulder- length black hair, wearing a red shirt, leather jacket and jeans, who is asleep as the van drives itself. The van parks, an alarm goes off, the man wakes up and walks into a five-story warehouse. Cut to a lab at Genom. Work is being completed on a boomer while an aide in a business suit observes the operation. The boomer looks human, but its face is concealed by a device attached to its head. The Project Coordinator explains the situation to the aide as work continues.] COORDINATOR Of course, we've known for a long time how to fashion a boomer's CPU in the form of a human mind. Most boomers have at least an inkling of self- awareness. Some have had more, as with that regrettable affair at the GPCC. [The boomer's body is tested, and it clenches and unclenches a fist.] And, of course, we have had great success with programming knowledge into a boomer. Most of my staff here are boomer, for example. [The boomer bends a leg.] But until now, we've not been able to directly transfer the totality of a human mind, personality, memories, and everthing into a boomer. Now whoever made Largo obviously knew how, but whoever it was that copied Mason's existence into Largo's head, he isn't talking. We've scanned the few files that Largo forgot to destroy when he took over the GPCC, and we've finally found a solution. All that is needed is one final component. AIDE Excellent. The president will be pleased to hear of your progress. COORDINATOR Thank you. We do our best. [The device is lifted from the boomer's head, revealing its face. It is Brian J. Mason.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Mega-Tokyo 2033 ||| BUBBLE ||| GUM ||| CRISIS *** BURST *** by Ryan Mathews ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [Cut to the fifth floor of the multi-level warehouse. The driver of the van steps out of a beat-up elevator. He walks to a pair of large metal doors, swings one open, and walks into a storage area filled with crates. He waits impatiently for a moment.] RICK Are you going to show yourself or am I going to leave? I'm not getting any younger. [A muscular man in a suit and tie, carrying a briefcase, walks out of the shadows and stands at the other end of the room.] MAN Impatience does not become you, Rick Seminole. RICK Yeah, well, that suit doesn't become you. Did you bring the money? [The man opens the suitcase, revealing stacks of bills.] MAN Ten billion yen, as we agreed. Would you like to count it? RICK I think I'll stay over here, thank you very much-- [Rick suddenly whips a gun out of his jacket and fires at a crate. The bullet goes through the crate and a gunman slumps into view, dead. Rick trains the gun on the man with the money.] Boy, you Genom folks are fucking *cheap*, you know that? What's the matter, can't spare a few lousy billion? Or do I know too much? MAN rrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAH! [The man charges. Rick calmly changes a setting on his gun and fires. This time a laser shoots out and shears off the man's left leg at the knee, revealing him to be a boomer. Rick walks up and hold the gun on him.] RICK Tell me, does a boomer fear death? [Rick fishes in a pocket and pulls out two data chips.] This is what you wanted, right? Tell you what. I'll let you live. Hell, I may even give it to you. All you have to do is tell me what's on it. [The boomer's mouth drops open and he begins to hum.] MAN Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa... [Rick backs off.] RICK Don't tell me! You're under orders to self-destruct rather than tell me anything! Well, I'll be leaving now. [Rick runs into the hall and rings for an elevator. Realizing he doesn't have enough time, he looks around frantically and finds a window. Outside the window, on the neighboring building is a fire escape. Rick runs at the window, crashes through it just as the top of the buliding blows off, makes a grab for the fire escape, misses, and makes a painful catch of the escape on the lower floor. The chips are jarred out of his pocket and fall.] RICK Shit! Those were my favorite video games! [Cut to a busy street. A bruised, disheveled Rick limps along.] RICK Oh, well. I guess it could've been worse. At least I left the real chips in--THE VAN!! [A policewoman is writing up a ticket for his van, a sleek black model.] Aw, COME ON!! What the hell is this shit?! [The policewoman turns around. It's Nene.] NENE The sign says, "NO PARKING". Is that clear enough? RICK Well, I...er...uh... NENE What's the matter? You've never seen a policewoman before? RICK Not one as attractive as you, no. [Nene blushes.] NENE Oh! [The blushing is replaced by annoyance.] Nice try. Pay by the end of the month. [Nene tears off the ticket and hands it to Rick, who nearly has a heartattack.] RICK THIRTY THOUSAND YEN??!?! For a PARKING TICKET??! NENE For illegal parking, speeding, and reckless driving. The computer had quite a file on you. [Rick looks at the van, furious.] RICK YOU--!! [He gives the van a violent kick, winces in pain, and hops around as Nene looks on in astonishment. He regains control and turns to her, smiling.] At least let me take you to dinner. NENE Do you what the penalty for bribery is? RICK It's only bribery if I don't pay the ticket. [Nene looks at him doubtfully.] C'mon, what do you say? You can see the kind of day I've had. At least this way it won't be a total loss. NENE Where were you planning on taking me? RICK How about there? [Rick points. The van is parked in front of an elegant restaurant, the Blue Fox. Nene gasps.] NENE You mean now?? RICK Well, its a little early for dinner, and I doubt they'd let me in looking like this. Why don't I pick you up at eight? [Nene pauses then smiles.] NENE I'll meet you there. RICK Great! It's a date! See you then! Oh, uh, my name's Rick. NENE Nene. [Rick gets in the van and drives off.] What on Earth am I doing? [Cut to a room at the factory-headquarters of the Knight Sabers. Celia has set up a projector and is showing videos of the Knights in action. She, Linna, and Nene watch.] CELIA I've been meaning to do this for awhile now, but never got around to pulling the records out of your suits. It's lucky they have a lot of memory. [The battle in the Genom factory from BGC 2 is replayed. A boomer catches Nene and flings her away.] NENE Oh, that's embarrassing! Do we have to watch this? LINNA Don't worry about it, Nene. You've gotten a lot better since then. NENE Really? Thanks! [Priss comes running in, out of breath.] PRISS Sorry I'm late. The crowd wanted an encore, and the manager said I had to give them one-- Huh? What's this? I thought you said it was something important! CELIA This *is* important, Priss. It's high time we looked at past battles to improve our strategy. PRISS My strategy's just fine! [On the screen, Priss is getting her butt kicked by a boomer on top of the Genom building. (BGC 3)] NENE Oh, really? [She and Linna laugh.] PRISS Yeah, well, I took care of him, didn't I? Right there! [On the screen, Priss blows away the boomer with the new weapon.] Sha-BOOM! [Macky enters.] MACKY Sister? The modifications to your motoslave are done. CELIA I'm coming. PRISS I wanna see this! I'd rather check out the new stuff than watch reruns. CELIA [rolling her eyes] Suit yourself. [Macky and Raven display a new motoslave to Celia and Priss.] RAVEN As you can see, we've dumped the prop-fans on the back in favor of a rocket booster system. It gives the slave much greater speed and manueverability in the air. This is the first true aerial assault motoslave. [Priss checks out a small object on the back of the suit.] PRISS And this is the fuel tank? I'm not too impressed. MACKY Well, heh heh, that's the problem. RAVEN We need to build a custom tank for the slave. Anything larger than this will screw up the aerodynamics. As it is, it'll work, but even with a full tank, five minutes at full burn will exhaust the fuel. PRISS And without the prop-fans as a backup, they scrape you off the street. Thanks, but I think I'll stick to the slave I have. CELIA I think it's wonderful. I'll try it out on the next job. PRISS Wha--? Celia, this is a deathtrap! CELIA Don't worry, I won't fly too high. *You're* the impulsive one, remember? Now come on, you have some videos to watch. [Celia leads a grumbling Priss back inside. Cut to Rick parking his van. He slides behind a curtain into the back, where a complex, advanced computer lab is set up. He sits down at one console and turns it on. He talks as he types.] RICK So, let's see what progress you've made in analyzing those chips. [Screen: CHIP #1 : TYPE -- STANDARD GENOM-TYPE DATA CHIP CONTENTS -- UNKNOWN CONTENTS CONFORM TO NO KNOWN CODE OR PATTERN. CONTINUING TO ANALYZE. ] RICK Yes, yes, that's what you told me yesterday and the day before that, and for that matter every goddamn day since I plugged the thing into you! (sigh) Oh, well. What about the other chip? [Screen: CHIP #2 : TYPE -- STANDARD GENOM-TYPE DATA CHIP CONTENTS -- FIVE CODED DATAFILES TITLE OF ONE FILE HAS BEEN DECODED. ] RICK All RIGHT!! That's more like it! Let's see the title. [Screen: SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENT LIFEFORM PROTOTYPE: MODEL 1A SPECIFICATIONS ] RICK Well, I'll be damned. These must be the specs for the first boomer! Hmm. You know, the boomer in the warehouse seemed a lot more concerned about killing me than about retrieving the chips. Whatever's on these things, they must not want anyone to know. [Rick resumes typing.] Let's have a look at the contents of that file. [Screen: CONTENTS OF FILE HAVE NOT BEEN DECODED. ] [Rick pounds the keyboard.] RICK You're useless, you know that?! [Screen: SCREW YOU. ] [Cut to a retail district in Mega-Tokyo. Shoppers run for their lives as combat boomers maraud through the streets, firing everywhere and causing random destruction. An ADPolice helicopter surveys the situation. The pilot talks on the radio.] PILOT At least ten combat boomers are out of control in the retail district of section "R"! Inflicting massive property damage and casualties! Request three squadrons of-- [One of the boomers notices the chopper and fires a missile.] Holy CHRIST! EVADE! EVADE-- [The helicopter is hit and explodes.] [Cut to Leon and Dailey in their patrol car. Dailey drives. The dispatcher wakes Leon up from his customary riding position, seat leaned all the way back, hands behind head.] DISPATCHER (RADIO) We have reports of marauding combat boomer in section "R"! Brady, Leon, and Tomino squadrons, converge! LEON [into microphone] This is Leon, understood. [Leon hangs up the mike. Dailey hits the accelerator and they zoom off to the battle.] DAILEY Another day, another dollar, hmm? LEON Combat boomer. How many are we going to lose today... [Cut back to the factory. Celia is still showing videos, but her audience is somewhat less attentive than before. Linna has propped up her chin with her hands, Nene is examining her nails, and Priss appears to have dozed off. Celia shuts off the projector.] CELIA Oh, all right. I guess we've done enough review for one day. PRISS [stretching] We've done enough review for a month! [Macky enters.] MACKY Hey! There's a big disturbance downtown! Ten combat boomer are tearing the place apart! LINNA So? Let the ADPolice handle it. That's their job. MACKY They're trying to, but they aren't having much success, and if the boomer keep moving on their current course, they're going to enter a residential section! [Shocked stares from the Knights. Cut to the dressing room, as the Knight Sabers get into their hardsuits.] NENE Oh, no! I just remembered, I have a date in an hour! Awwww... PRISS Well, take off then. We don't need you. [Nene glares at Priss.] NENE What's *that* supposed to mean?! PRISS Hey, I didn't mean it that way! I just meant that we can get along without you--, no, I mean that if you want to meet the guy, we can manage--, oh, forget it... NENE Yes, please do! [She puts on the helmet.] LINNA [whispering to Priss] Tactful, Priss. *Real* tactful. [Priss fumes. Celia stifles a laugh. Cut to the battle, which is not going well for the ADPolice. Tanks, choppers, and assault forces appear to be inflicting damage on the combat boomer, but aren't slowing them down much. Leon is trying to direct his forces through a handheld radio.] LEON I don't care! Just keep hitting them! DAILEY Hey, Leon! I just got a report! The boomer have broken up into two squads and are trying to head in opposite directions! LEON I don't like this. They're too damned organized for berserk boomer. Come on, let's get closer to the action. [Leon and Dailey get in their car and head toward the fighting. Cut to the Knights' van on the highway. The cranes lower the Knights, riding their motoslaves, onto the road.] CELIA We'll break into two teams, and take on the boomer one at a time if we can. Nene and Priss, you stay in armor mode once we get there. Linna and I will fight with hardsuits only. Hopefully, with our greater mobility, we can distract the boomer enough so that our armored partner can destroy it with her motoslave gun. Got it? LINNA, NENE, PRISS Roger! [They approach a ADP roadblock, transform the slaves into armor mode and fly over it. Celia's rocket system performs well, and she easily beats her prop-fan driven teammates across. However, a boomer sights her and fires a brace of missiles her way.] CELIA Ahh!! [Whirling in mid-air, she shoots the missles down with the motoslave's gun. She lands and disengages from the slave. The boomer lunges at her, but she whirls and cuts deep into its chest with her blade-whips. Nene arrives, wearing her motoslave, and takes out the boomer with several shots into the cut. Cut to Leon next to his car, talking on his radio.] LEON Knight Sabers? Great! ... Well, are *they* shooting at us, too? ... Then don't worry about them! Leon out! Dailey, any reports from the other squadrons? DAILEY Brady claims to have destroyed one, and Tomino says he saw the Knight Sabers take one out. That still leaves eight. LEON I'm sick of waiting around. Go see what's holding up deployment of my suit, will you? DAILEY Sure. [He walks off.] [Cut to the entrance of a research lab that is built in an aircraft hanger. Two men walk up to the security gate and flash passes. As they walk through, a hidden X-ray scans them and a screen inside the security booth shows a view of the two men's innards, which are mechanical.] GUARD Shit. Boomer! [He hits a button, setting off an alarm, then rushes out the door with a large gun.] Hold it! Don't move! [The men switch to full boomer mode, bursting out of their skin and transforming into large blue metallic creatures. The man fires, making holes in one boomer. However, the holes must not be in the right place, because the boomer continues forward, crushing the guard's head against the wall. Cut to the interior of the laboratory. Large steel doors close off the entrances as white-suited technicians run about, concealing some devices, destroying others. One technician frantically works the vidphone.] TECHNICIAN Dammit! I can't get through to the ADPolice! All the lines are busy! [A second technician grabs the reciever away from him.] TECHNICIAN 2 SCREW the ADPolice! [He dials a number. The connection is made, but instead of a picture, the word "VIDLOCK" appears on the screen.] [Cut back to the battle. Linna and Priss are teaming up on one of the remaining boomer. Priss wears her motoslave and waits for a good shot, while Linna prances about in her hardsuit, distracting the boomer. As the boomer fires at Linna and misses, Priss gets off a shot and hits the boomer in the head, but damages it only slightly. The boomer lunges at Priss, but Linna leaps and gives it a powerful kick in the head.] LINNA Moron! Pay attention! [The boomer turns its attention back to Linna, and Priss hits it several more times, destroying its head. It falls flat on its back, and Priss and Linna do "high five". Suddenly, the boomer lurches to life, fires two compact missles into the air and falls back.] PRISS What was he shooting at? LINNA Nothing, I think. [The missles whirl around, looking for a target, then home in on Leon's idling car. Leon is still leaning against it, and is preoccupied with the radio.] PRISS LEON!! [Priss engages her prop-fans, swoops over to Leon, grabs him and shields him as the missles hit the car.] LINNA (RADIO) We always figured you cared for him! PRISS Shut up! [Cut to various views of the boomer as they do an about-face and head away from the ADP squadrons they were engaging. Tomino, a red-haired ADP officer, watches as they leave.] TOMINO What the hell...? [To his partner:] Grant, are they retreating the way they came? GRANT [looking through binoculars] I think they're all converging on Leon's squad. That's where the Knight Sabers were sighted. [Cut back to Priss, as she sets Leon down.] PRISS Are you alright? LEON Y-yes, thanks. [Leon squints, as if trying to see through her helmet visor.] RADIO Tomino to Leon! [Leon takes the radio off his belt.] LEON Leon here! [Cut to Tomino talking into his radio.] TOMINO All the boomer here are converging on your location. We think it may have something do with the Knight Sabers. Do they have any idea what the boomer want? LEON Hold on, I've got a Knight right here, I'll ask-- [Priss is gone.] her... [Leon sees four armored figures flying off.] They're leaving? [Cut to the Knights in flight.] LINNA We're leaving? CELIA I just got a call from Macky. Two boomer are attacking a research installation in sector "F". I think this action here is just a diversion. [Cut back to the laboratory. The two blue-metal boomer, having made short work of the few technicians who did not run off (and whose broken bodies remain on the floor), tear the cavernous lab apart searching for something.] Boomer 1 Have you had any success? Boomer 2 No. We must move quickly. Time is running out. PRISS' VOICE No kidding! [Priss smashes through a wall, catching the boomer by surprise. She grabs the nearest one and flings it across the room, smashing a hole in the other wall. The other boomer charges Celia and gets her off-balance, but she extends the sword from her right fist, thrusts it thorough the boomer, and fires several blasts from the right fist. The boomer collapses, then disintegrates. Linna, Nene, and Priss converge on the second boomer. It gets up to fight, then notices something concealed in the wall. It grabs the device, then deploys thrusters and heads for the ceiling. Firing blasts from its mouth to make a hole, it leaves the lab through the roof. In the meantime, Celia has donned her motoslave. She gives chase.] NENE Celia! LINNA Celia, wait! PRISS I'll go after her! [Priss runs to her motoslave, gets in, deploys the prop-fans and pursues. Celia begins to catch up to the low-flying boomer, dodging fire. Suddenly, an alarm goes off in her suit.] CELIA Oh, no! [Celia's slave runs out of fuel and she crashes. Cut back to Leon's squadron, surrounded by combat boomer. Just when it seems all is lost, the boomer simply shut down and disintegrate.] LEON What the hell...? [Cut back to Celia. Shakily, she gets out of the slave and gets up. Priss arrives.] PRISS Are you okay? CELIA Yes. The motoslave seems to be in fairly good shape too, considering... PRISS I don't *believe* you! I thought I was supposed to be the impulsive one! CELIA You never would have caught him with your prop-fans. I guess I just underestimated the fuel consumption. Give me a lift? [Back at the lab, the four Knights talk with the lab director as a crew surveys the wreckage.] CELIA What was that object the boomer stole? DIRECTOR That's none of your business. NENE What?! How are we suppose to investigate if-- DIRECTOR We didn't ask you to investigate. We asked you to defend this lab. You failed. End of story. Now I would appreciate it if you'd leave. [No-one moves for a moment.] CELIA Come on, let's go. [The Knights turn to leave.] DIRECTOR And don't think you're getting paid for this! [Priss backhands an expensive-looking device, knocking it off a table.] PRISS Whoops. [Back at the factory, the girls get out of their hardsuits.] LINNA Well, this night was a total loss. CELIA I don't like this. That diversionary attack was meant for us, not just the ADP. And I've never seen a boomer disintegrate like that before. If Genom is behind this, they must have wanted that stolen device very badly to have to gone to so much trouble. I just wish I knew what it was. MACKY'S VOICE I can answer that! Everyone HUH?! MACKY I hacked into the computer system at the lab. The thing was a medical device. It was supposed to stabilize brainwaves during surgery. NENE The security there was a little tight for just a medical device. MACKY Not really. These places are really paranoid about industrial espionage. Besides, the company made other stuff, too. LINNA What would Genom want with a medical device? PRISS [singsong] Ohhh, Mackyyyy? MACKY Yes? PRISS Turn the cameras off before we all come over and break your legs. MACKY Heh, heh, sorry... LINNA Hey, Nene! It's only 20 after 8! If you hurry, you may be able to catch your date! NENE Ohmigosh! You're right! I gotta shower! I gotta change! [Nene runs out of the room, throwing her clothes off as he goes, while the other three laugh. Cut to the Blue Fox. The clock on the wall reads 8:50 as Rick finishes his meal. An out-of-breath Nene comes to the table, wearing a elegant blue dress.] RICK Nene! Hi! Where were you? NENE Uh, police business. I can't believe you're still here. RICK Well, I would've left, but I looked out the window and saw this incredible fight going on between the ADP and some boomer just a few blocks away. I figured since you're ADP yourself, you might be involved, so I waited. Care to order? [Fade to later, as Nene finishes her meal.] So, what do you think of the Knight Sabers? NENE [surprised] Huh? RICK I figure they must get on your nerves as a policewoman, interfering all the time like they do. NENE Oh, I don't know. They haven't hurt anyone, and they've helped in quite a few cases. Why, don't you like them? RICK On the contrary, I think they're incredible! Not just in fighting ability, either. There's just something about them, a certain... honor, that I find refreshing these days. The police could learn from them. Uh, no offense. NENE That's okay. I agree with you. So, um, what do you do? RICK Oh. I'm sort of a... private investigator, except that I've only got one client and one case. NENE That's odd. RICK Well, it's a rich client and a big case. Who knows, one of these days I may even solve it. What about you? What do you do? For fun, I mean? NENE Well, I like to play around with computers... RICK Great, maybe I could show you some of the stuff in my van! I have this 50 gig auto-configuring system that... [sound fades as scene changes] [Fade to later in the evening in front of the restaurant. Nene and Rick come out, laughing. Nene stops laughing as she searches in vain for--] NENE Oh, no! My car! RICK You didn't park here, did you? This is same place you ticketed me! NENE I was in a hurry! [Rick cracks up, bending over with laughter.] It isn't funny! [Nene scowls for a moment, then starts laughing herself.] RICK Come on, I'll take you home in my van.