**********

I see the world through bloodshot eyes

Streets filled with blood from distant lies

Dogs of War never compromise

No real time for rearranging

"Help me Jesus, help me Clean My Wounds"

He said he cannot heal that kind

Bleeding soul becomes a bitter mind

He said it happens every time...

(Knock it down!)

That's how the story goes

(Knock it down!)

In the land of a 1000's no's

(Knock it down!)

In all over you

In time my mind is changing

Oh, Knock it down

Black on black gives me a heart attack

And the silence makes it deadly

Some choose to kill with simple will

I've seen 'em fall fast and steady

"Help me Jesus, help me Clean My Wounds"

He said he cannot heal that kind

Bleeding soul becomes a bitter mind

He said it happens every time...

(Knock it down!)

That's how the story goes

(Knock it down!)

In the land of a 1000's no's

(Knock it down!)

In all over you

In time my mind is changing

Twist of fate won't give me a break

And myself I'm slow and tired

I've got to rise with these bloodshot eyes

But I keep falling when I'm higher

"Help me Jesus, help me Clean My Wounds"

He said he cannot heal that kind

Bleeding soul becomes a bitter mind

He said it happens every time...

(Knock it down!)

That's how the story goes

(Knock it down!)

In the land of a 1000's no's

(Knock it down!)

We are bleeding sins

But our sins are always fading

Oh, fading

Oh, fading

Oh, fading

Oh, knock it down, knock it down

Oh, knock it down, knock it down

Oh, knock it down, knock it down

Oh, knock it down...

**********

Chapter Three

**********

There were many thoughts going about to and fro in Rune's brain at this point. As a day had passed since the absurd failure that was her last mission, a whole puzzle had been laid before her. Yet it was one that refused to be answered with the little pieces of it she currently had at her disposal. Yet it seemed something was staring her in the face about it... it was like when you were trying to remember a song or a book title or something, having it hanging off the tip of your tongue, but still not quite able to remember what it was. That was how she felt about everything since the LeCroix/Clarence case. And because of her failure on this one, she once more had to speak to another frightened couple and break their hearts by telling them that their daughter was dead. The reaction was the same. Tears. She'd have to write another report concerning this one (unfortunately she didn't have an assistant to foist that kind of work on). Yet despite all that... she didn't want to waste time thinking about the case.

As insensitive as it was Rune had a `date' tonight.

Maybe it was a little naοve to think of it that way. But to be perfectly honest, Rune didn't think she could regard it in any other way. And so she found herself doing something she'd never done before – priming. Dressed in only a pair of deep-sea blue jeans and a white tank top, she brushed her hair as she sat at the footstool of her vanity mirror. Rune was never one for pampering herself or going out of her way to look feminine – far from it – but for some reason she didn't want to look haggard in front of Jenna.

And that was exactly the effect she was cultivating. There were no cosmetics or anything, after all, she was no L.L. (lipstick lesbian) but that didn't stop her from brushing her hair and using a bit of perfume and such and such. Before she knew it she was finished. And thus Rune grabbed one of her small black jeans jackets from her coat rack, as well as her apartment and car keys, and left her bedroom. She checked the rooms to make sure that everything was turned off and then bolted out of her door out into the building.

Rune descended through all floors of the apartment building via the stairwell until she reached the ground level. She strode around the complex to reach the car park and entered her car, slamming the door behind her. In minutes she was off down the streets of Kentish Town, joining the busy early evening traffic. As usual she was forced to pass through the guarded checkpoints by showing her CSMB badge. Yet soon she was well on her way to Jenna's district (and by extension, her home) Willow Hill. It was yesterday that Rune had called her, and Rune remembered her being as adorably forthright as ever. And this night was the night they had arranged to `get to know' each other. For some reason Rune didn't feel the need to be nervous or awkward about it, either. So she drove nigh a fifth of the way across Junk Town and ended up in the 92% female district known as Willow Hill.

Soon enough she drove up to the house at which Jenna lived. 232 Sycamore Avenue, Willow Hill, Junk Town. It was a nice little street that she lived on. It was a cul-de-sac surrounded by a thin layout of grass knolls and water fountains. Nothing particularly elaborate or anything – but it had its own flavour. Rune pulled up at one of the parking spaces ahead of Jenna's two-floor house. The door opened and Rune stepped out with the keys in a grip. A moment was taken to breathe a readiness before she strode up the cobblestone path toward Jenna's door and rang the bell.

A few seconds later Jenna stepped out – and Rune absorbed her in all her glory.

She was dressed in a delicate spaghetti-strap evening dress, thinly laced and running less than half of the way down her thighs. A pair of club-heel sandals elevated her small feet and dangling from her neck was a sparkling sapphire pendant. It was no secret that Jenna looked good but when she put actual effort into it she was simply stunning. Rune pulled her shades down whilst staring at her. And you know, being honest in her thoughts, Rune conceded that Jenna looked even more beautiful by moonlight.

Jenna tilted her head to the side with a giggle. "I think I can tell by that slack-jaw stare of yours that I look all right, right?"

"I still don't have to tell you you're beautiful."

"And I still won't know unless someone tells me."

Rune shoved one hand in her jeans pocket and with the other she adjusted her shades. "Okay then. You look beautiful. Even more so than usual."

"Why thank you, Miss McNeil," Jenna interlocked one of her arms with one of Rune's. "And if you will be so kind as to show me to your humble convoy, I shall direct you to the handsome restaurant I plan on having us dine at."

"What are you, a nineteenth century Englishwoman?"

Jenna smiled at her as they started walking toward her car. "Well you know I've always wanted to visit Britain at least once in my life. If I ever do leave Junk Town, it'd by my first stop. Perhaps somewhere like Liverpool or Manchester. What do you think?"

"I've never been to the UK before," Rune broke arms with Jenna and got into the driver's seat of her car. "So I wouldn't have a clue about it."

Jenna slid into the passenger seat and strapped on her seat belt. "Doesn't that give you all the more reason to go?"

"Maybe if you're going," Rune remarked.

And the younger woman blushed at that. "That's unusually sweet of you to say."

"Whatever. So where are we headed?"

"A cute little restaurant on the other side of Willow Hill called Cartel. I used to go there a lot last year after my political science course with a few of my friends from the university, but..."

Rune looked at her whilst sticking her key in the ignition. "But what?"

"Never mind. Lets just get going. I'm sure you'll love it there."

It was all a bit distant but Rune was willing to believe it. The CSMB agent put her foot on the accelerator and drove off under Jenna's ushering. The car paced across the southeast streets of Willow Hill and kept on toward the lower north of the district. She drove up a particular street that was a far cry from the sexual, leisurely image that Willow Hill was usually associated with. Eventually she pulled up into the car park of a large and busy restaurant, the one that Jenna has spoken of, Cartel. Many more cars had been parked in spots around them. Rune and Jenna stepped out of the car and closed its doors behind them.

"This is the place." Jenna affirmed.

Rune took a look at the brightness of the stars above and then glanced at Jenna. "Sure you're not cold in that?"

"Why Miss McNeil, are you concerned about me?"

"...How do you always do that?"

"Do what?" She asked with a shrug.

Rune just exhaled and muttered `C'mon' to her, gesturing at the restaurant. Jenna shuffled after her and they strolled together toward the marble arched entrance. As they approached the red velvet ropes, Jenna hooked arms with Rune again and beamed a smile at some of the couples passing them by as they left. Rune sighed and walked with her into Cartel. They passed by a small podium and a well-dressed youngster in a suit behind it.

"Welcome to Cartel. How may I help you?"

Jenna turned to him. "We have a reservation. Woodworth, for two?"

The snappily dressed youth went through the list before him until he found the name Woodworth. "...Ah, yes. Miss Jenna Woodworth, party of two. Smoker section."

"I thought you don't smoke." Questioned Rune.

Jenna smirked at her. "I don't but you do. And if you want kill yourself inch by inch I won't stop you. A little second-hand smoke won't hurt me too much."

"That's... morbidly considerate of you..."

At that point the youth grabbed two menus and came out from behind the podium. "Follow me, please."

Rune and Jenna did just that. And he led them from that reception-like area into the restaurant itself. The cinnamon-haired one took a look around as she did. It was a nice place. The sixteen or so tables she could see from that point were all well laid out. Pure white dinner table linen, six pieces of cutlery per person, unfilled water glasses with serviettes, smooth and quite untarnished china and so on. Many of the people here, mostly women but a few of them men; were casually dressed. Normally Rune didn't like overly public places like this. Even now the sounds of light banter and laughter and cutlery scrapping plates grated on her nerves. But the climate of Cartel was nice. Neither portentous nor patronizing, she could see why Jenna had liked this place so much. Soon the youth led them to a circular table for two at the far left corner. The women seated themselves and the young man handed either of them the two menus he'd picked up.

"Someone will be with you to take your orders shortly," he said. "But for now, what drinks can I get for you?"

"Well I already know what I want," Jenna said cheerfully. "That nice 2041 Zinfandel I always have when I come here."

"Excellent, Miss Woodworth. That happens to be a good year. And your friend?"

Rune thumbed through the menu. "You got a wine list?"

"At the back of the menus, Ma'am."

So she turned to the back of the menu and scanned through the list just until she realized, "...There's no Irish Cream on this list."

"...Uh, no Ma'am."

Jenna frowned. "What is it with you and that stuff?"

"Ugh," Rune looked up at the boy. "You don't have any Baileys or anything?"

He shook his head. "If it's not on the list then we don't carry it, I'm afraid."

"Fine. This is a terrific start. Look, you know what, just gimme a beer."

"What kind?"

"Surprise me, Junior."

He took out a notepad from his pocket and the pencil behind his ear and scribbled something down. "Okay, that's good. Someone will come with your drinks in a few minutes then you can tell them what you'd like to eat. Enjoy yourselves."

Rune watched the boy head off back to the front of the restaurant. Then from the corner of her eye she noticed Jenna staring at her with a face full of child-like innocence. It was surprisingly adorable for a woman in twenties. Rune narrowed her eyes. "What?"

Jenna pulled a little grin. "You're actually kind of cute when you whine, did you know that?"

"I don't whine." Rune put forth.

The grin on Jenna's face enlarged. "You're doing it right now. But it's cute. I like it. Makes you seem more human."

"Or childish."

"Oh, ho, ho. Now you're pouting! I think I like that even more."

Rune stared at her hands, a little blush across her cheeks. "Do you enjoy embarrassing me?"

"Like I said, it makes you seem more human."

"So I'm not human, huh?"

"In a way," she said as she pulled some of the stray strands of her raven black hair behind her ear. "You obviously don't let yourself enjoy the pleasures of life. Otherwise you wouldn't be so particular about one kind of drink."

Rune frowned at her. "Having a preference makes me less human?"

"That's not what I'm saying. It's not about being human, per say. It's about making the most of being human. I mean you hate bioandroids, right? But from what I've seen of you -- you don't go out of your way to exploit the things that separate you from them. It might sound a bit shallow coming from me, but... like a certain Japanese man once said, `I'd prefer to burn brightly rather than not at all'."

"You're right. That DOES sound shallow coming from you," Stated Rune. "Aren't you the one talking about treating the pseudo-humans like real people?"

Jenna stared at her. "They are real people. But they don't have a choice. You do. You can't call them worthless for not being able to feel and enjoy things in the same way that you can, especially when you're choosing to ignore those same things. Don't you see? People have to make the most out of being alive. Bioandroids are never going to have that joy... so they should at least have the one thing any ordinary person can give them – equality."

"Equality is a fiction," Rune stated. "You keep up wild hopes like that and you'll find yourself broken-hearted."

Yet the singer only smiled at her. "Remember what I said. `I'd prefer to burn brightly rather than not at all'. To me, regret is a hell of a lot worse than disappointment. Besides. Only actions provide results."

"Humph. You really would make a good activist."

Jenna grinned at her again. "Thank you."

Just then a waitress came up to their table with a tray and two drinks, a pint glass of beer and a wine glass of a rather dour looking Zinfandel. She placed both drinks on the table, which were taken by their respective owners, and then she held the tray under her arm and took out a notepad.

"Hello, ladies. What can I get for you?" she asked.

Rune opened the menu. "Hm. I hadn't thought about it yet."

"Well, I know what I'm having," Jenna sipped some of her wine before saying, "I'll have the `Julius' with a little Thousand Island dressing alongside that wonderful salmon you guys are so famous for."

"Excellent, Miss." Said the waitress, writing that down.

Yet Rune still had her nose in the menu. "What's a `Julius'...?"

"You know, Julius? As in `Caesar'?" Jenna replied.

"...Yeah, I get it. A salad. Well forgive me if I don't jump onto the lingo right away." She searched through the menu once more. "But I guess I'll have... that 10 ounce rib-eye steak. That comes with a peppermint sauce, right?"

The waitress nodded. "Yes. Is that all?"

"Should be."

"Okay then. I'll be back in about fifteen minutes."

Moments later the waitress was gone. Rune exhaled and gulped down some of her beer, while Jenna dreamily ran the fingertip of her right index finger around the rim of her own glass. There was a slight pause before Rune called her on it.

"Something on your mind?" Asked the former soldier.

"Nothing," Jenna whispered. "Just feeling a bit nostalgic. This place holds a lot of memories for me."

"Good or bad?"

"Both."

Rune leaned back. "You haven't come here with your friends recently?"

"...I don't really have any `friends' anymore." She admitted. "I'm not even sure I could have called them `friends'."

"You expect me to believe someone like you doesn't have any friends?"

Jenna pulled a grim smile. "I don't expect you to believe anything, that's just how it is. As you well know, you're not the only person in the world resentful against bioandroids. A lot of my friends from the university were that way too. I guess after a while they just couldn't put up with my views anymore."

Rune watched Jenna pull that same melancholic expression she'd seen of her that night they'd first met, the one that didn't suit her. Now it was beginning to make a little sense. Even so, it still didn't suit someone as beautiful and open-minded as Jenna Woodworth was.

"They abandoned you...?"

"Something like that, I suppose."

Rune stared at her a moment. "...I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry. You said it yourself. Bioandroid rights are a wild hope that'll probably lead to more trouble than good. But at the time I thought of them as my friends. I also thought they felt the same about me. But I was wrong. So a lack of friends is the price I have to pay for having pro-BA views."

"You sound lonely, Jenna."

"Yeah? So do you."

There was that candid spirit again. "I've been alone for years now. I'm used to it. But you..."

"...I'm accepting that life doesn't work out the way you want it to all the time. There's nothing I can do about it. It can only get better from here on in, anyways... nothing's worse than loneliness."

"I beg to differ."

Jenna finally smiled again. "...I wonder if you and I will ever agree on anything?"

"We've got plenty of time to find out."

And so the evening went. The two were knee-deep in their banter when their meals arrived and they rarely stopped talking the whole way through eating them. As the evening wound down Rune sipped a mug of coffee while Jenna ate a chocolate soufflι, extremely light. They were nice and calm moments that had Rune more relaxed than she had been in quite some time. Before long the cheque arrived.

"Eighty-nine bucks?" Remarked Rune. "Are you sure you can afford this?"

When she finished her soufflι Jenna's spoon clattered against its chocolate-stained plate. She took the receipt and eyed the cost up and down. "Hmm. They're charging a little more than they used to. Oh well. It's not a big deal, Rune. I can afford this. The tips I get at Pulsa diNura alone are enough... but it's a little patronizing when you consider that I'm a singer, not a waitress."

"Are you sure?"

Jenna rustled through her purse. "Yeah, I got this."

When the waitress came back around, Jenna took out some bills from her purse and handed them over (apparently she didn't like to use credit cards) and after Rune dropped the girl a 9% tip at Jenna's ushering, the two of them left their seats and walked together through the restaurant and back out into the cool night air. They walked together silently, though before long Jenna found a way to lock arms with Rune again, bringing her close. Rune tensed but kept walking as she felt the singer lowering her head against her shoulder. Jenna was such a tactile, warm person. It struck Rune like lightning, in a way that she didn't even know possible.

"I had a really good time tonight," Even her voice was perfect. "Even though I paid."

Rune smiled a tad. "I did offer."

"I know. But I wanted to thank you properly, you know? It's not like you had to get involved when those guys were hassling me. I really appreciated that. But more than that... I realized after the night you and I were together, that I just wanted... to spend more time with you."

"You probably wouldn't guess it but... I felt the same way."

Both women stopped just as they reached the car but they turned to each other rather than to it. Jenna found herself smiling very gently, more subtly than she usually did, as she stood before the slightly taller woman. And quite suddenly all appeared to fall quiet, emphasising the quieter sounds of the car park around them. Everything was enhanced. The beating of the wind, the rattling of the stray leaves, the distant chorus of traffic, and the light laughter of those entering and exiting Cartel. Rune and Jenna stood in the centre of it all, both bathed in it and completely oblivious to it. For Rune it was a decidedly unnerving and yet... very tranquil moment. All she could perceive at that one precise moment in time was Jenna. Her long black hair, her dazzling aquamarine eyes, her pearly alabaster skin, her full and pouting lips, everything that made Jenna so beautiful and so spectacular. Everything about her was magnified and everything beyond her was diminished all in an instant. And before she even knew what she was doing, Rune's hand rose up and clasped Jenna by the jaw.

"You've got a little chocolate on your cheek."

"...Do I...?" Whispered Jenna, breathlessly.

Rune's thumb was delicately rubbing it off before she'd even realized it. And that rubbing softly transformed into a caress. It was a caress so tender and light that you could hardly imagine someone as hardcore as Rune performing it. It was one of those moments that spoke more clearly and abruptly than any set of words could.

Which was why Jenna was utterly stunned when Rune released her.

"We'd better get going," She mumbled, awkwardly. She unlocked the car door and leaned into the car seat, only to stop when seeing Jenna frozen in place. "Are you coming?"

"I..." Jenna shook herself out of her reverie. "...Y-yeah..."

For the first time since being assailed by those thugs, Jenna actually looked unsettled. But she said nothing and climbed into the passenger's seat of Rune's car, closing the door with a slam and buckling her seat belt. When Rune's hands came to rest on the leather of the wheel there was a silence.

Jenna broke it thereafter. "...I want to see you again."

"And if I said no...?"

"You don't have a choice in the matter."

Rune smiled to herself again. "Let's go."

The very fact that she was feeling this way now, this quiet happiness, was such a far cry from what she'd known thus far, that all she could think of was the period in her life in which this kind of feeling would have seemed so unpromising to hope for. Those times during the Civil War...

**********

Considering how little jungle terrain there was in South Africa, it was utterly confusing how big this jungle was. It had been nearly three hours since the truth had been revealed, three hours since their last communication with Team Eight, three hours since the death of Venomous. Ever since learning of the naked and disgusting truth – that the country that had shaped them, the Garden of Gethsemane, had abandoned them -- #003, #087 and #227 had been trudging across the damp grassy marshes of the region alone. By now the night was falling to the morning. The stars had disappeared and the dull orange glow of the sunset was rising fast. The cracks of automatic fire in the distance had calmed down a little, become less focused, probably indicating that the majority of the rebel forces had scattered. If that was the case then either the UN forces had already arrived or the SANDF had managed to repel them on their own. Either way, the cover up of the US involvement was naturally be accelerated, thus the very actions of the US Jungle Corps were bound to get a lot more aggressive.

#227 cocked his M16 in the direction ahead of them. The three of them moved through the marsh-like gaps between the trees with him at the helm, their boots wading in and out. #227 sighed, shrugging off all the irritant mosquito bites he'd gotten in this humid tropical heat. "We're almost to the alcove that Number Eight was talking about."

"How can you be so sure?" asked #087.

"Just a feeling."

#003 followed after by just a few paces. In one hand she had the M16 she was able to retrieve from the one of the corpses of Team One. She covered up her arm wound with the other one. Blood still dripped from it even though she'd torn off a piece of her trousers to tie it up. Venomous' knives were sharper than she'd imagined. But that wasn't their only legacy. As she took each step ahead she felt more and more woozy. Her skin felt hot. Her cheeks flushed. Her sight blurred slightly. Her limbs felt heavy and her back ached for some reason. As strenuous as it was to defeat Venomous, #003 knew that had nothing to do with it. Before long #087 noticed something was up.

He stopped and lowered his M16. "Hawwa, is everything okay?"

"I don't know..." She bowed her head. "...I feel dizzy."

"An infection? It's pretty sticky out here."

She shook her head. "I don't think so... I think it was Venomous' knives. I think they were... coated with something. Some kind of chemical or drug maybe..."

"Just take it easy, okay? I'll get you outta this. Even if the others are all dead, the three of us are gonna make it out alive, just like you wanted. Count on it."

#003 smiled at him. "Thank you."

"Alright then," he swung his M16 around his head and neck by its strap and gave her his hand. "Throw one of your arms around me. I'll help you get the rest of the way."

#003 nodded and brought her arm around his neck. He put his arm around her waist and helped walk her the rest of the way toward the alcove. Just as before #227 took the helm of the unit, prowling ahead with his gun handy. Eventually the three of them inched their way through a large build up of bush ahead. They waded through the area it sealed off until they came out on the other side. It was a new part of the jungle and it was from here that the jungle was beginning to thin out into a landscape better known in South Africa. The area directly ahead of them was flat, consisting mainly of a few trees and the usual high blades of grass. That flat bit of land continued on for about twenty metres until the ground rose up into a hillock, were denser proportions of grass and tree points. To the east of the flatland was a small cave, an artificial one made out of the foot of the hillock. To the west of that was a large path that led deeper into the western part of the jungle that they had just come out from. #227 sneered though, when he and the others saw more dead bodies, all of them from the Garden, without a doubt they were members of Team Eight.

"Shit," #227 seethed. "Are we too late?"

#003 lifted her head up. "...Team Eight...?"

"Looks like it," said #087.

An incensed #227 strode out of the bushes and jogged up to the corpses that lay in the grass. He kneeled down to the first one he came across. According to her dog tags she was #066. #227 pressed his hand against her lower neck to check her pulse, just in case she used a fake death pill or self-induced suspended animation. No pulse could be found. She was definitely dead. And more importantly she was cold. She'd been dead for some time now. Moments afterward #227 turned her over and saw why. There was a gaping and bloody wound smack bang in the centre of her skull. And when she looked at the other corpses they were all the same way.

Then, suddenly, a figure shuffled in the shadows of the cave. "Don't stand there! Look out!"

As #227 realized that the person yelling at him was #008, he failed to notice the luminous red laser-targeting beam moving up his body and marking him in the forehead. #003 and #087 cried out with the crack of gunfire. #008 winced at the flash of light thereafter. The resonance of energy piecing flesh sounded out. #227 spluttered up blood and dropped lifelessly. His body toppled over the torso of the dead #066, his pulped cranial tissue leaking from the freshly made hole in his skull.

#087 grit his teeth. "Bastards!"

Then #008 revealed himself at the mouth of the cave. "Quick! His gun has a eight second reload time! Run!"

#087 and #003 wasted no time and the two hobbled together across the clearing, past the corpses of their dead comrades, until they made it into the shadows of the cave. #087 and #003 parted from each other and lowered themselves against the walls of the cave, while #008 ran an agitated hand through his long blonde hair.

"Some of you managed to make it then..." He said.

#087 caught his breath and nodded. "Yeah. A member of the US Jungle Corps killed Number Ninety-One and Number One-Hundred-and-Seventeen before we could reach you, though. Number Three took care of him but this guy's right on our tail too, huh?"

"It's driving me mad," Seethed #008. "This man picked off every single member of my team. No one is left here except me. But I can't make a move knowing he's out there just waiting with bated breath to gun me down. As a sniper... he has the perfect vantage point to shoot from up on that hillock."

#003 looked up. "Wait. Aren't you surprised to find out the US Jungle Corps is behind this?"

"Nope," he said as he crossed his arms. "Commander Kinborough told me."

"You've been in touch with the commander?"

"Yeah. The reason you couldn't get through to him was probably because the other teams had been sending so much burst transmission his way. But once the Jungle Corps started picking the teams off, channels became clear. I got through and he told me what was happening. They're liquidating the Garden of Gethsemane in its entirety. That includes its staff, as well."

#087 frowned. "You mean the Commander? And Nana? And everyone else?"

"They're all targets as well. Thankfully they've managed to find a place to hide out in the city... they're waiting for us to get there. Apparently he's arraigning for a convoy to take what's left of us to the nearby airport for a plane to Athens when we do. But he's still in the process of finalizing everything. But none of that will mean squat for us unless we take care of this goddamned sniper."

#003 put her gun down. "Does anyone have any ideas?"

"If I knew something about him, maybe." #087 admitted.

#008 exhaled. "Commander Kinborough told me a little about this one. His codename is Doomshot. He's by and large one of the US military's greatest ever snipers. Apparently he was born deaf but he had an AESFU (Audio Enhanced Sonar Feedback Unit) implanted in his brain not only to interpret sounds but also to track the precise movements of anything and everything within a 250-metre radius of him. Thanks to that AESFU he can perceive things well beyond his sniper sight. But that's not all. Because of the AESFU, Doomshot doesn't even need a spotter. And he can literally last days in the same sniping position without water or provisions. He has near-limitless patience. It's not suited to this kind of mission... after all they need to kill us before the UN get here... but it's validated by the fact that we ourselves can't be patient. And more than that he's using a very accurate weapon, too. It's a custom-made laser-based sniper rifle designed by the Groph-Hauser Company that people in the military nicknamed `God Save the Queen'."

#087 sighed. "This sounds like a toughie. If we step outside of this cave, we're dead. But we can't stay here forever... and especially not if the Commander and Nana are in danger. We gotta think of something."

"If there were a way to distract him..." #003 ruminated. "Then we could try and pinpoint him. If at least two of us were about halfway up the hillock and Doomshot took aim at both of us, we'd have a general idea of his position. An eight second reload period gives us a guaranteed sixteen seconds worth of movement should he miss his second shot. That's more than enough to reach the top of the hillock."

And #087 grinned grimly at her. "Unfortunately, there are a few problems with that plan. First of all, he's already got one shot ready for the first person to step out of this cave. Your idea doesn't cover that one. Second of all, it's unlikely that he'll miss his second shot to give us the full sixteen seconds we need to make it to the top of the hill. And third of all... we don't know for sure that's he's still alone out there. There's the other member of the Jungle Corps, Ark-Angel, to think about. And if everyone else in the Garden is already dead then he or she is gonna be coming for us next."

"To be honest, Number Three's plan makes sense," Admitted #008. "Although we can't account for that first shot we only need a minimum of two people on the hill to make it work. Yet since there is no easy way to distract him with that AESFU of his... one of us is going to have to be the distraction. I guess that someone should be me."

"What are you talking about?" #087 shouted. "We're all supposed to make it out of this together!"

#008 picked up his M16 with resignation. "Do you have any better ideas? You two have stronger knowledge of the layout of this place than I have. You've got a much better chance than I have of making it out of here. And if my guess is right then we're the only ones left. So you two have to at least make it out of this thing alive... if not to protect Nana and the others... then to make the Garden worth something. Lets prove to those bastards in Washington that we're worth a damn. Lets show them they can't wipe the Garden of Gethsemane off the map like shit from their boots. If only ONE of us makes it out alive, it'll be living proof that our existence had meaning."

The tears were already reaching #003's eyes. "...Number Eight..."

"Don't go soft on me now, guys," He said with a defeated smile. "Remember what the Commander always said. `A true soldier doesn't fear any death other than that of their spirit'. I'm gonna go down fighting. Now you two, as soon as you hear the first gunshot, whether I'm killed or not, run as fast as your asses can carry you up that hill. Got it?"

Neither #003 nor #087 answered.

"We've only got one shot at this, guys. Don't blow it. Grab your M16s and get ready."

New silence descended between the three of them for that moment. But they readied themselves, taking the M16s into running assault positions. #003 took a deep breath and shook off the lingering effects of Venomous' drugged knives. #008 paused briefly, with his index finger curled around the trigger of his gun, taking a moment to breathe and to find calm. A quick gesture of readiness and he bolted for the entrance. He passed into the dawn light that enfolded the alcove and brought up his M16, immediately firing upwards at the bushes at the top of the hillock.

"Payback for killing my friends, you motherfucker!"

The transparent targeting beam of God Save the Queen manifested at the feet of him. It travelled up his body as he continued to fire erratically at the bushes lining the hill. It inched its way upward until it was pointing directly at his forehead. Then the burst of his automatic fire was broken when a louder, single shot of laser energy sounded out.

8 seconds left

A dying groan followed the dissolving of the gunfire. He dropped lifelessly to the ground, a bloody hole in his skull, still crackling with the energy of the laser shot.

7 seconds left

#003 and #087 held back their emotions and ran out of the cave, charging towards the hillock.

6 seconds left

Both of them jumped straight over the first line of bushes that stood at the foot of the hill.

5 seconds left

When they landed upon the lower levels of grass they climbed towards the top.

4 seconds left

As she ran for dear life, #003 looked back over shoulder.

3 seconds left

#008 was dead.

2 seconds left

"Keep it together, Hawwa!" #087 shouted as he ran.

1 second left

#003 lifted up her M16 to shoot. "There's no time left!"

0 seconds left

Immediately the red laser of sniper sight appeared. It moved shoddily across the grass of the hill directly ahead of the pair of them. And it came up #003's leg. Both soldiers kept running but #087's attentions immediately turned to the sniper IR beam that was rising up his companion's torso. Time seemed to slow down for a brief instance when #087 started running into her direction. He dove a second later. In the very instance that the targeting beam reached #003's forehead, #087 shoved her out of the way. A gunshot pierced the air. A hole was blown straight through his chest. His blood splattered over #003's face. He dropped out of the air into a skid. #087 rolled paces back down the hill until his torso hit a bush. A trail of blood followed him the whole way down.

#003 bellowed out a ferocious war cry, seeing the direction from which the sighting came, and fired. And she didn't stop until she saw someone at the top of the hill flop backwards amid a haze of blood. It was Doomshot. With him disabled, she turned on her heels and quickly ran down that bloodstained bush to reach #087. When she reached him she crouched down and touched him at his already bloody cheek.

He was alive... but clearly dying.

"...You moron..." She couldn't stop the tear from falling. "Why'd you do that? Why'd you save me?"

He coughed hoarsely as he tried to smile. "...H-how could you... even... ask me that...? Y-you're my buddy..."

"...Number Eighty-Seven..."

"...Don't... call me that... anymore. You and I... we're not... numbers... not... weapons... or experiments... we're people... who've been... fucked over... by our own... government..."

"Then... what should call you...?"

#087's mouth was bloody, gargling his words. "...David..."

"...That's a dull name, `David'." #003 said, chuckling in sobs.

He pulled a weak smile for her. "...What'd you... name yourself...?"

"I... I didn't..."

"...I... hope... that... you... do... some... day..."

By the time he'd uttered the last syllable he was dead. She held him in her arms and she wept, harder than she had ever done before. She simply sobbed, as any vulnerable, inexperienced eighteen-year-old girl would have. A girl who had just lost every single friend she had ever had in life. Her crying went on until she could cry no more. All the tears she could shed would be shed no more.

#003 wiped them from her eyes.

She exchanged her M16 for David's, then stood up and marched back up the hill in slow, powerful, focused steps, the hot morning wind blowing at her flushed face. When she reached the top of the hill she walked up the point at which Doomshot had fallen. And she saw him for herself. The great sniper Doomshot was nothing more than a scrawny, longhaired, lanky-looking bastard, perhaps less than a decade older than #003 herself. He lay in the grass with six bloody wounds in his body. One in the right leg, two in the left, two in his left shoulder and one in the left side of his stomach.

He chuckled weakly in the grass. "You couldn't hit any vital spots... you're a poor marksman."

"Oh yeah?" #003 aimed her gun at him. "Well it's hard to miss at point blank range..."

"He, he, he, he, he, he..." He grinned at her. "...Even if you kill me, it won't make a blind bit of difference. You don't honestly think you can make it out of this place alive, do you? I may die here but you'll never stop Ark-Angel. She'll kill you and the Garden of Gethsemane will be extinguished. So come on, Rookie. Shoot me. Get some real good fun out of it. Weaklings like you... not even worthy of being soldiers... can only last so long... against us..."

So she pulled the trigger.

When #003 was finished blowing bullets into his head all that was left of it were mangled bits of blood-soaked bone and pulped brain matter. In her cold anger she tore God Save the Queen out of his hands and strapped it across her back. It was bound to come in handy later on. And by shank's pony she strode away from his remains, her face cold as stone as she passed into the next layer of this jungle of death. And whilst walking so silently along it hit her. She was alone. She was alone in this life. Everyone else was gone. And she was the last of the Garden of Gethsemane, the last of America's attempt to raise an army of child supersoldiers. It brought the most horrifying fact out of the darkness. She'd never been so lonely in her life.

She was merely... a girl without a name.

**********

Three days after Rune had brought down Jackson James, three days since the death of Mimi Pritchard, the time had come to write up a report concerning the events of the Pritchard case. For the most part there were no causes for concern here. It was a standard re-account of what happened three days ago. The only thing that made it seem unusual was the presence of Kagedo. It would be hard explaining this since she'd known very little about cyborgs outfitted with artificial powered exoskeletons. At the very least, she could explain how Kagedo had killed Mimi, but the whys of the situation were just as elusive. That happened to be what Rune was occupying herself with now. And in the one place she liked to spend the least time – her office at the CSMB's headquarters.

She sat behind her desk with a cup of coffee in one hand and her fingers tapping the keyboard with the other. She sipped from her cup (Jamaican Blue Mountain, amazing) then went on to write about what had happened after the killing of Jackson James. To be completely honest, she didn't want to go overboard on the way Kagedo had handled her – after all she had completely been unable to stop him from killing Mimi. And she had been unprepared to defend herself against him too. Had Kagedo been ordered to kill Rune instead of Mimi there would have been an older death in that warehouse.

That wasn't something she took pleasure in admitting.

Yet Rune went on to describe Kagedo and his actions, writing about his murder of Mimi and the obvious deficit they had in a motive for such an action. However she was clear on stressing that there clearly was a motive, and the `Boss' that the metal ninja had mentioned was bound to be the ringleader of this whole act. A few moments later she heard a knock at her door.

"Come in," she told them.

The door clicked and opened. The commander in chief of the Civil Stability Maintenance Bureau himself, the stern Frank Kinborough, walked into the office, closing the door behind him. Rune looked up from her computer screen and nodded to him, muttering, "Morning, sir."

"Good morning," he grunted. "At work on your report for the Pritchard case?"

"Uh huh."

"Very good. It was unfortunately what happened."

Rune held the rip of her cup to her lips. "...I suppose."

"Zophie told me what appeared before you," Frank admitted. "That metallic ninja. And she also told me you have your suspicions about him."

"They're not suspicions. I know for a fact that that guy is just a puppet. He's a tool for a higher power. Problem is... if I have to face him again... how will I beat him...?"

The Commander paused for a moment. "He had EMS technology, correct?"

"Correct. And he was fast, too. Even faster than Venomous was."

She didn't intend to bring him up. But the moment she did the tone in that room changed. Both she and Frank went silent at the though of him and the other members of the US Jungle Corps, all of which had been vanquished in the chaos of the 2069 South African Civil War. They had both seen the hell that that war had turned into. The hell that man had created for himself, its fires running deep in their hearts ever since.

Frank crossed his arms and sighed nostalgically. "I can't believe it's been more than five years since the war. Half a decade has gone by so quickly... and yet everything about those events stands so strong in my memory. I will never forget those moments of my life."

"The war is over," Rune uttered.

"No war is ever over. Not as long as the flames that helped to build it still exist in someone. And that spirit had yet to die I fear. The rebels who attempted to bring down government in SA still live on. They still hope for the chance to seize power by force. Besides... you can't tell me you've forgotten the events of five years ago?"

If only he'd known. For the past few weeks, all Rune could do was think about the civil war. "I lost all my friends in that madness. My country betrayed me. And yet here I am, working for one of its cities. Sounds pathetic, doesn't it?"

"Neither one of us had a choice in the matter. But we got out of it alive. And you're still here. Gethsemane lives on with you, doesn't it?"

Rune put down her coffee mug and rubbed her shoulder. "I don't want that responsibility anymore."

"You'd rather forget about it?"

"If possible."

Frank pulled a small smile. "And is it?"

"Apparently not," replied Rune.

"Exactly. As much as we'd like to bury the dirty past... the past has a habit of clinging tenaciously to us, especially the bad memories. I'm sure Martha told you the same at some point."

The brunette girl looked at him evenly. "She has."

"I see. And how is she? I should make a point of visiting her one day."

"Nana's fine. She went back to the orphanage, like she always said she would. I visit her from time to time." Just bringing her up made Rune feel nostalgic. "Everyone in the Garden loved her back then – even me."

"Or rather, especially you," Frank proposed.

And she winced at that, looking away. "Everyone was possessive of Nana back then. She was the closest thing any of us had to a real mother. But things have changed now. She's found people who truly need her help. She shouldn't have been involved in Gethsemane in the first place – how someone like her got embroiled in one of the Pentagon's dirtiest little projects is beyond me."

Frank frowned. "She had her reasons... none of which were her own fault."

"...What does that mean?"

"Save that for another day. I did have a reason for coming here now. I came to tell you that all the data, items and bodies pertaining to the Beth Evans/Lambert Simnal case have been released from the coroners and evidence analysis teams. So her parents are here to collect her things."

Rune blinked. "Why would they want to? Isn't that a little...?"

"Morbid, yes. But for some people what matters more is closure. I guess that rule applies here. Anyway, they are here and they would like to thank you for at the very least, stopping the one whom had killed her."

All at once Rune witnessed the holes in the understanding of the situation by Beth's parents. Not only had Rune not been able to kill Coconut (because Eileen had beaten her to the punch) it wasn't even him whom had killed Beth (again, that had been Eileen). But they'd never believe in the existence of a psychokinetic so this was the best way forward – to deceive them. And in all honesty, because of that, Rune did not want their thanks. Yet it was what they wanted. The faster she got it over with the faster she could get back to her report, finish it, then leave and see Jenna.

So Rune exhaled and went back to her computer and the report she was working on in her word processor. She clicked on file, brought down a window thusly, then clicked on save. Then she closed the program and shut down the computer entirely. Thereafter Rune rose and walked with Frank out of her office.

"I'll speak with you later on," he said before turning down the corridor and leaving for his own office.

Rune turned the opposing corridor and walked down its length towards the elevator, passing by her co-workers, both human and bioandroid alike. She took the lift down to the third floor where the waiting bays were. When its doors opened again she strode out into the more hospitable environment of the waiting bays. This place contained the citizens who were awaiting news of the operations they had hired the CSMB to handle for them. It was nothing extremely elaborate.

Standing beside one of the vending machines at the back of the room were the two people that Rune recognized as Beth's parents, Charles and Dinah Evans. The latter drank for a chilled bottle of water while the former fiddled with her thumbs. But the nervousness of both eased when they saw Rune approaching them.

"Ah," said Mr. Evans. "You must be Officer McNeil."

Rune shook hands with him. "Yes. It's... nice to see you and your wife again. And I should... apologize if I seemed a little short when we first met."

"That's fine." He said.

Mrs. Evans nodded. "We only came here to collect Beth's things and to thank you for stopping that maniac. Our daughter can rest now. No one deserves that more than she does."

"She's had a rough life?"

"One can only imagine," Mr. Evans admitted. "Beth had no memory of her life before our adoption of her."

The very instance she heard that, it struck a chord with Rune. "...Beth was adopted...?"

Mrs. Evans bobbed her head. "Of course. Charles and I had problems conceiving, so we chose to adopt. Two years ago we did just that. Beth had been found abandoned near the orphanage about three weeks before we adopted her – but she didn't have any memory of what happened to her before then. You can only guess what she went through if it caused her to lose her memory."

Suddenly there was an itch of suspicion installed in Rune. The young woman stroked her chin and quickly wormed her way out of this to explore it. "Well, it was... nice seeing the two of you again. But I'm afraid I've got a lot of work on right now so, if you'll excuse me."

The married couple said and nodded their goodbyes and Rune bolted across the room toward the elevator again. She pressed a button and entered alongside a few bioandroid secretaries but paid no attention to them. Seconds later she was knee deep in thought, especially about what Beth's parents had said of their late daughter. It was an almost identical story to that of Mimi Pritchard. They had both been adopted and they both had no memory before 2082. That had to be more than a coincidence.

So once the lift reached the second floor Rune jogged to the records department and marched up and down the many long rows of steel file cabinets until she could find the personal info of both Beth Evans and Mimi Pritchard. Once she did that she found a table in the corner of the quiet chamber and read through both of them. The next fifteen minutes were spent reading the files until she could gain a picture of the lives of both girls. And though they were quiet different people with different situations in life, there were anomalies. It was true that both girls were recorded as having no memories before 2082. It was true that they were both adopted. But what made that small link significant was that members of Dark Christ had killed them both. There had to be a connection, and that connection had to be part of a bigger picture that she was still in the dark about.

"Come to think of it," Rune whispered to herself. "Just why was it that, of all people, Coconut would have targeted Beth? There are plenty of kids that were closer to the Cactus Jack Amusement Park than she was. Hmm..."

Moments later Rune opened communications with Zophie via NNTL. "Zophie. I need a favour."

"Rune? I'm a little busy right now..."

"C'mon, it won't take long."

"...All right, what is it?" Zophie asked with a huff.

Rune paused briefly. "I need the names of the most recent murders ascribed to Coconut the Clown. All the ones before Beth Evans... preferably within the past two years."

"Uh sure, just give me a second." There was a seventeen-minute wait after that. But eventually Zophie came back on with the information Rune had asked for. "Rune, are you still there?"

"Fire away."

"Okay then. I searched our records on Coconut's list... and two names turned up. Ashley Heck and Stephanie Richardson. They were two of the bodies the forensics teams found when they scanned the place over. According to the reports Ashley was killed a week before Beth was. And Stephanie was killed three weeks before that."

Rune nodded. "Thanks. Over and out."

She cut off transmission and immediately stood up. She walked around the filing cabinets again and dug up two older files for their information, one for Stephanie Richardson and the other for Ashley Heck. Rune took both files back to her table and read through them. Yet again appeared the same anomaly, just as Rune expected. Both Ashley and Stephanie were adopted and both had no memory of their lives before 2082, according to their files. Now some things were starting to make sense.

"There is a connection," Rune whispered privately. "This isn't random. These girls, being hunted and killed and then that memory thing... there has got to be something going on here. And whoever Dark Christ's Boss is, he/she had an agenda that involved those girls somehow. But what is the secret? What is the motive...?"

But then she thought back to the LeCroix/Clarence case, those two men whom had stolen a data CD from a city databank. Rune remembered them talking about `that bastard's plan' and Dark Christ. Not only that but they were employees of a satellite company of the Mahrem Conglomerate, the Wong Trading Company. And the first thing they asked her when she burst in to kill them was `are you working for Mahrem?'.

The pieces of part of the puzzle started falling together in Rune's head. "They were on the run from Mahrem and Dark Christ, not the CSMB. A company that big could very easily pay the amount Jackson James and his gang were supposed to get for delivering Mimi to Kagedo. That must mean Dark Christ is part of the conglomerate, or working for someone who is. And I'll bet that someone is the leader of the group, Drake Mahrem."

Rune smirked a little.

If her guess was right then she'd just gotten one hell of a breakthrough.

**********

Yet some things could wait.

Rune's thoughts on the Drake Mahrem issue were never far from her mind but they were taking a backseat. Less than an hour after making this discovery she was already in her car and driving across districts to make it to Willow Hill again. The night that Rune and Jenna had had their `date', at the point of her dropping Jenna off, she'd told Rune to call her later. Then the following day she called her and they talked. Not just about the night but what more they wanted in the future. Apparently the general consensus was that they liked each other. So Jenna had made a point of inviting her over to her house for dinner later on the in week.

"Come to my place Thursday afternoon," Rune remembered her saying, "I'll whip something up for you."

Rune could see right through that one, though. It wasn't that hard to figure out that Jenna wasn't much of a cook. But at the least it meant being together again. Despite this cracking link she'd discovered in her previous three cases (something she would have been all over, like, a month ago) that was all she wanted right now. So Rune drove across the city from East New Coast to Willow Hill (kind of a long drive for a little meal but at this point there was very little could sway Rune from wanting to see Jenna) until little less than an hour before high noon, she was pulling up in Jenna's empty driveway. She exhaled and locked off the engine, removing her keys and exiting the car before slamming the door closed behind her. Rune jogged across the cobblestones of the pathway and rang the doorbell.

Moments later Rune could hear pans rattling in the background. That was followed by sloppy footsteps across a soft carpet and Jenna's ire-filled whisper of `Oh for God's sake! Who in the hell is that now?' accompanying it. The pea green and wooden door then swung open with an angry bolt. Cool green eyes met with irritated aquamarine ones. But when those aquamarine eyes recognized the woman standing ahead of them they mellowed with warmth.

"Rune..." Jenna sighed with a smile.

She raised her hand. "Hey."

During that brief interlude Jenna soon became aware of just how she looked. A dripping wet towel bound up her hair, her face was smeared with an as yet un-rubbed moisturizer, and her white bathrobe clung to her fresh-from-the-shower body. Jenna blushed a red hue and slipped her hand over her mouth. "Oh God, I'm a mess."

Rune beamed at that. Even high-and-mighty Jenna could get self-conscious sometimes. And yet she had no reason to. Because even now she looked stunning; and in a quiet and natural way, she was almost perfect.

"You look fine," Rune reassured. "Can I come in?"

Jenna winced. "I thought you were gonna come a little later on. My place is a mess, my cooking's a mess; I'm a mess."

"I don't mind."

"Yeah, of course YOU don't mind. You're not the one who's gonna end up looking like some giant slob."

"Jenna, I said I'm fine about it."

The singer mulled over it a bit more. "...Well, all right. But don't laugh! My place isn't always... like this."

So she stepped out of the way and Rune walked in. By the time Jenna shut the door, Rune understood just what Jenna was talking about. Her place WAS a mess. Along the corridor alone there were crinkled food wrappers and old magazines scattered about the carpet arbitrarily. A mop and bucket stood seemingly needlessly against the doorway of the kitchen. The stairs had unwashed jumpers and tee shirts hanging off its zinc railing. Steam could also be seen seeping out of the door into the bathroom. The chipping jingle of water droplets striking compartment tiles joined in for effect. Rune glanced at Jenna for an instance and saw her look down at her wiggling toes, still blushing.

"I told you it's a mess." She uttered, sheepishly.

The CSMB agent shrugged, taking off her sunglasses. "And I told you, I don't mind. Your house is a hell of a lot different from my apartment though. You probably spend a lot of time here, right?"

"Pretty much," Jenna's smile fell. "When you don't have friends..."

"Yeah. I know the feeling. The result's a bit different though..." Rune closed her eyes. "Look, forget I said anything."

"I don't mind talking about it with you. I mean, I don't mind if you don't."

Not surprisingly Rune quickly sought to distance herself from the subject. She walked down the wall, stepping around all the sauce-stained burger wrappers, saying, "Why don't I just sit down for a little while so you can finish doing... whatever it was you were doing."

"Taking a shower."

"Right."

Jenna heaved her shoulders. "Okay then. Well, make yourself comfortable... if you can. I'll be done soon, okay?"

"Yeah."

So the singer quickly peeled up her stair into the clouds of steam that were seeping out from her bathroom. A second later Rune heard the bathroom door slam and lock. Girl was in a bit of a rush. Nevertheless, the ex-soldier stepped carefully from the ground floor corridor into Jenna's living room. And naturally it was as untidy as the rest of the place. Junk was laid about all over the floor; old TV guides, empty CD cases, books, even some of her panties and bras. The television had been turned on at a low volume, displaying some classical sitcom about a radio psychiatrist. Yet hanging off the top of that TV was a cloth, held in place by the cleaning agent on top of it. Jenna must have been cleaning the screen before being distracted by something else. You could tell this room was well lived in. Rune exhaled and stepped her way around the stray bras and juice cartons on the floor before sitting down on one of the sand brown sofas. She pushed aside some of the stray pillows and eventually found the TV remote.

So Rune began flicking through the channels. Nothing much was on. She paced through a cooking show, a reality dating show, some kind of programme about historical stock exchange fluctuations, a Post-Civil War era soap opera called `The Gold and the Glory', a news report about the rapidly deteriorating situation in Unkulunkulu, an anime about a cute cyborg martial artist from Mars and so on. Rune wasn't very interested in any of this right now. But she didn't stop flicking through the channels until her nose caught onto a distinct whiff. Smoke.

Smoke, not steam, started wafting into the room from the open door. Rune stood up and strode up to it, looking out into the corridor. The smoke itself was coming from the kitchen. At that point Jenna came back downstairs. All the steam was gone and she was now dressed in a knee-length blue skirt and pink top. She came down the steps with yet another sheepish grin.

"This is a little better, right?" She asked.

Rune pointed at the smoke clouds coming from the kitchen. "I think you have a situation?"

Jenna's eyes shifted from Rune to the kitchen door. Her eyes widened when she realized it. "Damn, my roast!"

Rune stepped aside as Jenna bolted into her small kitchen, her bare feet slapping against the tiled floor. The singer coughed and waved the smoke out of her face, quickly marching up to a drawer and pulling out a set of oven mitts. Amid the smoke she coughed and she squinted to open the oven door. Her hand carefully reached in and pulled out the metal tray on which rested a blackened Cornish hen. Jenna dropped it on the hob and closed the oven door once more before switching off the flame.

"Damnit...!" Jenna turned toward Rune. "...I burned it."

Then it happened.

Honestly, both of them were surprised when Rune paused in one instance... and burst out in laughter the next. She chuckled so heavily she leaned back against the wall and slapped a hand over her mouth to suppress it. Jenna frowned and pouted like a child. Then she softened when she realized it. This was the first time she'd heard Rune laugh. And little did she know that it was the first time anyone had heard her laugh like this in quite some time.

Jenna smiled grudgingly. "It's not that funny..."

"Yes it is...!" After a bit she calmed down. "...I'm sorry. I don't mean to laugh at you."

"It's okay. You're even prettier when you laugh." Jenna confessed. "Your eyes kind of... sparkle."

The blood rushed to the agent's cheeks. "...Thanks. I think."

Jenna then gestured to the charred black hen. "What now? We can't eat this cluster of ashes and to be frank, I don't know how to cook anything else."

"You don't cook very much, do you?"

"Uh huh," Jenna said, shaking her head.

"Well, I have to go back to work in a couple of hours. But that's more than enough time to order out. How would you feel about a takeaway?"

"Hmm. Okay. I've got a few leaflets on ones I like. There's a cute little Taiwanese place not three streets down from here that delivers fast. How would you feel about that?"

Rune tilted her head and looked up. "Taiwanese? I'm... not sure how much I'd like it."

"It's gotta be better than a chicken that's been completely scorched ebony though, right?"

She giggled again. Just a bit. "I suppose."

"Alright then. Go sit down while I order something. You'll have the same thing as me."

"How do you know I'll like it?" Asked Rune.

Jenna winked at her. "Because I do. And I won't steer you wrong. Even if my cooking skills beg to differ..."

Rune chuckled her way out of the kitchen and went back into the living room, while Jenna walked out into the corridor with the leaflet of a restaurant called `Gung-Il' in her hand. She spent a few moments ordered something over the phone, the names of which Rune didn't know, but recognized that they came off of Jenna's tongue with amazing fluidity. She got the feeling that Jenna studied languages at university, too. Soon after that Jenna padded into her messy living room. She took a seat next to Rune on the sofa and folded her legs underneath her.

"It'll be here in fifteen minutes."

"Pretty quick." Rune observed.

Jenna took the remote from her and started channel surfing. "Yeah, well, like I said their shop's only a few streets away from here. I order from them at least once a week so they know me as a good customer too."

"High fat diets have their perks, apparently."

Jenna playfully slapped her across the shoulder. "Don't be mean. Places like Gung-Il are lifesavers for people like me. When you can't cook, or at the very least can't cook well, you don't have a lot of alternatives."

"I guess," Rune shifted closer to her. "But if that's the case then why did you bother to try it today?"

The brunette singer stopped flicking through channels via the remote and turned to her expressionlessly. "...Do you really have to ask me that? Don't you already know?"

"...Jenna."

Rune let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding. The same thing that had happened that night happened again. Everything other than Jenna fell out of focus and everything about Jenna took the forum without question. Her darker eyes found themselves trapped by Jenna's lighter ones, and thus she became oblivious to everything else. Rune was so caught up by them that she didn't notice Jenna inching closer to her over the couch, moving subtly, her legs still folded underneath her. It was when she felt cool breath on her lips that she snapped out of her reverie. Rune blinked and jerked away involuntarily. Even in a poignant moment like this, memories of what that druggie Louisa did to her came screaming back, as well as all the baggage that came with being who she was.

Jenna swallowed. "Rune? What's wrong...?"

"...I..." She looked away. "...I'm not the kind of person who could..."

"Could what?"

"...Make you happy. I-I can't... do that. But you deserve to be and I just... I'm not..."

The songstress affectionately held the ex-soldier by the cheeks and smiled at her. It was that same heart-piercing smile that she always gave. But this one was a little different. It was for Rune, for her reassurance. And nothing could have enhanced its beauty more than that did.

"...Jenna..."

The girl in question tilted her head to one side. "...Please don't say anything. Just... let me do this..."

And so silenced descended around them as Jenna tenderly pressed her lips into Rune's. For a moment Rune froze, paralysed by the softness of Jenna's lips, the sweetness of her kiss, the compassion of it. And then the desire within that she didn't even know she'd been suppressing took over her. Her hands reached out for Jenna's hips and she unconsciously brought the smaller woman closer to her, pressing them together. Jenna whimpered into Rune's mouth and slowly leaned back into the couch, shifting her legs and knocking off pillows. Rune maintained their kiss and threw a leg over Jenna's thighs and mounted her. The two women moaned together and everything else, the distant sound of passing cars, the low voices of the TV, the faint lingering smell of smoke, everything, became absent of mind. All that mattered was the now and the kiss that was taking place within it – shattering every little bit of doubt, fear and worry that the mind could muster in one precise instance of what can only be described as bliss.

Then it began to snow outside.

And as Rune and Jenna kissed, oblivious to it though they were, that cold whiteness descended from the heavens, creating a blanket of itself across a horrible city, and yet it was a city that two people of millions were able to find happiness in.

**********

When Rune returned to work later in the afternoon she was on cloud nine – or as close as she could be without skipping up and down. It caught several officers at the CSMB off guard when she passed by some of the many bioandroid workers without so much a negative comment. Any everyone who knew anything about her could only gasp and debate the fact that she had a genuine smile on her face. Despite having new suspicions concerning the last three cases she'd worked on she was beaming. Yet they all went about their business, assuming enough about Rune to guess that she'd tell them to just mind their own if they asked about her newfound happiness. This would be one of the few times in which they were wrong.

Just like them Rune had plenty of work to do. The report for the Mimi Pritchard hadn't even been completely and her gruff old commander would be expecting it sooner or later (with a preference for sooner). Even so she was only on call to be here, not do anything. So did the opposite and went down to the underground levels into the shooting gallery. It was a large set of 67x85 metre rooms fixed into sub-level B of the Civil Stability Maintenance Bureau Headquarters. They were seven room all fixed together in a hexagonal shape, each one holding a different form of gun training. Three of them (SG Rooms 1, 2 and 3) were just general firing ranges where agents and troopers of the organization honed and perfected their accuracy at wooden targets. Senior officers used SG Room 4 for lectures on gun safety and use. SG Room 5 was devoted purely on lectures concerning tactical reloading and gun use in close range combat – this was mostly for the newer and younger recruits. SG Room 6 was used as a ballistics lab – not one where actual guns were tinkered with – but rather one where the complexities of them were explained to those who wished to know more. The final room, SG Room 7, was allocated to authorized agents only, an organized form of firing range. But unlike those used by the grunts of the CSMB this one was well furbished and attended to be six worker-model bioandroids. It even had a little juice bar.

That was where Rune was headed.

Most people went to shooting galleries when they had a lot on their mind or when they were in a bad moon. For Rune it was the complete opposite. Whenever in a good mood (which didn't happen often) she liked to shoot around down here. It was odd and she didn't understand it... but then she didn't need to either. She strode down the hall with a grin; passing by some of the younger troops carrying unloaded Heckler and Koch 416 Carbines. When she came across it she opened the door to SG Room 7 and walked to the desk of one of the bioandroid coordinators at hand. He gestured to her and asked pleasantly, "How may I help you?"

"I'd like to reserve one of the shooting boxes for about forty minutes," she answered. "Are any of them free?"

He searched through a list and nodded. "Yes, Agent McNeil. Follow me."

The bioandroid stood up and led her from the desk toward a second door across that carpeted section of the room. It brought them to a separate hallway inside SG Room 7 that had another twenty doors fixed into its walls, ten on either one. The worker-model BA led her to the door of the nineteenth shooting box.

"Please, enjoy your time here, Agent McNeil."

She let him go and walked inside. It was a small box-like compartment, about two-by-two metres in size. The sidewalls consisted of a thick layer of bulletproof (and soundproof) glass that partitioned each compartment from the other but allowed one to see what was going on elsewhere. There was a metal audio unit built into the panes of both walls that let the user speak to those in adjacent compartments. At the head of the room was another glass pane that had a square cut out in the middle for the shooting of the targets that emerged approximately twenty metres ahead of the compartment itself. Below that pane was a thin shelf that held a small selection of firearms to choose from. A Beretta 92F, a Colt SSP, a Heckler and Koch USP, an FN P90, and some kind of AK variant that Rune couldn't identify.

The woman grabbed the sound-suppressing headphone earmuffs hanging from the right wall and took up the USP. Just as she positioned herself at the front of the room to take a shot at one of the targets, someone in the eighteenth compartment gunned down a humanoid wooden target in their lane. Rune turned and saw the woman. She was a woman that Rune knew fairly well here. A tall and beautiful blonde woman with piercing sky blue eyes and a calculating sneer. Her name was Nastasia Stepanovich, a Russian national who worked for the Civil Stability Maintenance Bureau with the same job Rune performed -- a career agent. But while Rune specialized in close-range armed combat, Nastasia specialized purely in marksmanship, in both short and long distances. Officially she was the best markswoman in the CSMB – unofficially she was known as the best markswoman in the city.

She lowered the firearm in her two-handed grip, a modernized Zastava M76 sniper rifle; her favourite weapon. She loved it so much that she'd named it. Just as Rune's Desert Eagles were called Solidus and Liquidus, so too was Nastasia's M76 called `Nizhlogg'.

"Nice shooting," Complimented Rune. "But it's kind of moot using a sniper rifle for that, don't you think?"

Nastasia turned and saw Rune through the glass. Her chilly Russian accent struck into the compartment via the audio unit as she spoke. "Rachelle McNeil. I have not seen you in a while. I am glad that you could come. Quite frankly the new agents they have here are worthless. We need to show them how it is done."

"And the Zastava?"

Nastasia cast her another smirk. "I do not like using the cheap firearms on offer here. Besides, my birth mother was a Yugoslavian. And I can tell you that there is not a single place in this wretched city at which I can practice any actual sniping. Anyway, enough about my Nizhlogg and I. How are you? You seem more... as you Americans call it...`peppy'... than what is usual. At least in your case."

"...No special reason," Rune lifted the USP in her grip and shot at the human-shaped target fifteen times. Three shots to the head, four to the chest, two the left arm, four to the right arm, one to the right knee and one straight through the crotch. "Nothing other than finding myself a good woman."

Nastasia smirked again. "Oh that is right, I forgot that you were a lesbian. Well who is this girl whom has melted the heart of the Ice Queen?"

"Her name's Jenna. And she's... she is wonderful. She calls me on my views, she's bubbly and she's beautiful. But she's smart and heartfelt too. I've never met anyone like her."

"So you have found someone you can love, eh?"

Rune blushed a bit. "I wouldn't go so far as to say that I love her, but... who knows?"

"Humph. Those are famous last words if ever I heard them. It is always the same with female soldiers like us. Falling in love is the first step towards the deterioration of a woman's military skill. And there are few enough of us as it is. I cannot tell you the amount of women I have seen fall out of the loop because they put a gold one around their finger."

"Are you telling me you never plan on falling in love?"

"No man is man enough for me," Without using the sighting Nastasia pulled Nizhlogg's trigger and blew the head off of a new target dummy on her plane. "The only man worthy enough to receive my heart will be the one strong enough to put a bullet through it."

Rune reloaded her USP, still grinning. "I forgot what a dark sense of humour you have."

"Call it a bonus of being a true and tried soldier. Even love and death can appear comical."

"I'll make a note of that. By the way, can I ask you something?"

Nastasia nodded. "Sure. `Fire away'."

"A few days ago I was working on a case concerning a missing girl."

"I know, the Mimi Pritchard case. I had heard about it."

"Okay then," the younger one continued. "You see while I was at the warehouse I came across a man who manipulated pretty keen technology. But what bugged me about it was the EMS tech he had on him. Because of that I couldn't stop him from killing Mimi. What I wanted to ask was-"

Nastasia shut her eyes. "I know what you want. You wish to know how to deal with such technology should you come across that man again... or someone else who has it. Is that not so?"

"Yeah."

"Very well," the blonde Russian put Nizhlogg down for a moment and pulled a journal out of the back pocket of her trousers. She ripped out a leaf of paper from it and used its accompanying pen to jot something down. Once finished she pushed the paper through one of the slots in the glass of the wall. Rune caught it in her free hand.

"What is this?"

Nastasia pulled the bangs from her forehead. "You primarily wield Desert Eagles, do you not? Go to the armoury in Sub-level C when you are done here and ask for those two things I wrote down. They will explain the details. Electromagnetic Shields can be quite troublesome but they are not invincible. Like practically everything ever made by human hands it has weaknesses. 21^st century tech is no match for 21^st century ingenuity."

"Thank you."

"Think nothing of it. I just hope that this newfound love of yours does not cloud your judgement on the battlefield. Defending this city is a war in and of itself. Yet if you are concerned enough about your performance to ask for my help then maybe I am being a tad premature."

"Quiet possibly." Rune said, putting down the USP.

The voice of a bioandroid boomed from the PA system around them. "WILL AGENT MCNEIL PLEASE REPORT TO COMMANDER KINBOROUGH'S OFFICE?"

"Looks like my time's been cut short," Rune said. "I'll see you later, Nastasia."

The blonde woman lifted Nizhlogg into a shooting stance. "Same to you."

Rune exited the compartment and SR Room 7, going through the corridors of Sub-level B until she made it to one of the elevators. It took her straight up to the upper levels. When Rune reached the floor she wanted she left the lift and marched past all the other offices and file rooms until she came to the door of her Commander's room.

She knocked.

"Come in," he declared.

Rune opened the door and stepped inside. Waiting for her were Frank and Zophie. Frank sat behind his desk, poised in his usual stance of deep thought and reflection, whilst Zophie sat on one of the chairs in front of the desk. Rune noted that she had a disk in her hands.

"You called for me?"

Frank nodded. "Yes. I'll be brief. Do you remember the LeCroix and Clarence case you were on a while back?"

"Yes. Two former employees of the Wong Trading Company – and by extension the Mahrem Conglomerate – whom had stolen a data disk from a databank in the city and gone on the lamb. I killed them, retrieved the disk and gave it to you to analyse for evidence before we hand it back to the databank it was stolen from."

Zophie bobbed her head. "That's right. We've figured out some more things concerning the disk but to be honest they have us quite baffled in the computer labs."

"What is it?"

"This disk has very high-levels of encryption and even a faux firewall-like program that disables the computers that try to decode it. It took us a while but we managed to break through that encryption and learn more. Just as we thought, the disk contained files pertaining to the Mahrem Conglomerate's mother satellite, Merkabah. Its weight, height and technological specs, orbit arrangement and so on. But you see that's not the significant part. The significant part is that inside this disk is something LeCroix and Clarence placed there themselves."

Rune frowned. "What is it?"

"We aren't sure but it seems to be a kind of worm cluster."

"A worm cluster? But what purpose would that serve?"

Frank chipped in. "My guess is that it was intended to destabilize the Merkabah satellite in someway. Since they're dead it's impossible to know what their motives were for doing this. But one thing is clear. They had a vendetta against the Mahrem Conglomerate and I'm sure they planned on interfering with Merkabah because of it."

"So what happens now?"

Zophie handed the disk over to Rune. "We made eight copies of the disk so we can submit it to further analysis and maybe find out what it was that LeCroix and Clarence intended to do with that worm cluster program. But we can't put off sending back the original any longer. Could you deliver this to the databank it was stolen from?"

"Do I look like your delivery service?" Asked the brunette.

Frank shut his eyes. "That disk contains highly sensitive information that the Mahrem Organization wouldn't be best pleased to know we have. Best to keep things low for now. And I don't much like the idea of a normal officer handling that disk. So I want you to hand it over to them."

"Fair enough," Rune stopped and stared at the disk in its case. "Seems like a bit much for this little thing though. But I do have one favour to ask. Might be a big one."

"What is it?" Zophie asked.

Rune slotted the disk in her trenchcoat pocket. "Is there any way you could get me into some sort of function that the Mahrem Conglomerate is hosting or sponsoring? Perhaps something that can get me close to Drake?"

Frank's eyes thinned out. "Why are you asking for this?"

"I have a few suspicions about that company. I can't prove anything yet though, so... allow me this. Allow me to see if what I'm guessing about them is true. If I find out anything concrete then I'll tell you everything."

"Well... alright I'll see what I can do. I can make any promises though."

Rune gestured to him. "Thank you, sir."

**********

Officially the building was known as the Municipal Data Preservation Building (or in short, the MDPB). It was responsible for the conservation of all the random bits of information that happened to be processed through Junk Town. Mortality rates, birth rates, crime statistics, demographic data, known legal imports and exports, etc. It wasn't a large building considering the sheer amount of information that was stored inside – this was mainly because all records collected there were stored in sizeable cavernous halls underneath the structure itself. The data was stored both on paper and disk format, one existing as a replacement for the other in case one of them should happen to be lost or destroyed. The building was used mainly for the managing and administration that came with the files themselves. The Municipal Data Preservation Building lay deep in the heart of West New Coast. That was where Rune was driving now.

Her Benz drove along the grand and technological Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge that crossed over the Tubman River and interlocked this part of the district, the residential part, to the larger business fraction of it. She didn't like driving from one place to the next just to drop off a disk but a job was a job. Besides the bridge gave off a wonderful view of the river. It was one of the few interesting sights in this city beyond seedier liberties.

Yet as she drove across the MLK Bridge her cell started ringing. It was actually illegal to use a phone whilst driving, but it wasn't like she could be arrested for something like that. Being a member of the Civil Stability Maintenance Bureau meant having the leeway to get out of sticky legal situations. Being `above' the law was just another perk. Rune kept one hand on the wheel and the other she used to fish her phone out of her one of her trenchcoat pockets. Its little digital screen flashed with the name `Jenna'.

It flipped open and she held it to her face, remarking, "Jenna?"

"Hey, Rune!"

It was good to hear her voice, but... "I'm working right now."

"I know, I know. I'm not checking up on you or anything. I just wanted to let you know that I'm singing at Pulsa diNura tonight. Tia just called and asked me if I'd come around later on for another night. Apparently I'm in high demand."

Rune heard her giggle a little on the other end. "I'm pleased for you."

"...Aren't you worried someone might make a move on me?"

"Oh I'm quite sure they will," she answered. "But that doesn't mean I worried."

Jenna sighed. "Damn. I was hoping I could make you jealous."

"I don't do jealousy. Moreover, Tia told me about the constant attention you rejected there. Between that and the stronger fact that I trust you, I'm not worried."

"I'm glad that you feel that way," Said Jenna in all seriousness. "I'm glad you trust me. You're all I want. By the way... I didn't just call you to tell you about that. I was wondering if maybe you'd want to come with me tonight? I actually can't wait to see Tia's face when I tell her you and I are together."

"Sure. What time do you want me to pick you up?"

"You don't have to do that, Rune."

She smiled. "But I want to."

"Well, all right then. My girlfriend does drive a flashy car, after all. Pick me up about eleven, okay?"

"Gotcha. I'll see you later, Jenna."

She giggled childishly at that. "Can't wait."

Rune cut the call and flipped her cell closed, grinning. It pleased her even more to hear Jenna referring to her as her girlfriend. Things were moving fast but it had a sort of rightness to it, or rather a feeling of such. Just at that moment her car completed its crossing over the MLK Bridge and into the commerce-based sector of West New Coast. From then on it was a short ride to the Municipal Data Preservation Building. Before long she was passing it by on one of the busy main streets that cleaved their way between the soaring glassy-metallic skyscrapers and office towers that lined the district. Rune turned a corner road astride the building and drove into one of the thirty or so parking spaces it had. She chose a free one across the street and parked. Then she hopped out of her car and locked it behind her. Rune shoved her hands into the pockets of her trenchcoat. A brisk walk took her across the street but she was careful not to walk too fast. It had stopped snowing a few hours ago but a thick build up of snow had been left behind. Her boots had good traction but she wasn't one to push her luck.

Rune walked onto the pavement of the opposing streets and strode up the twenty or so snow-laden marble steps that lead to the Municipal Data Preservation Building. She came to its two large pine wooden doors (more for show than anything else, if they had any sense here they would have made them out of metal) guarded by two worker-model bioandroids armed with Groph-Hauser semi-automatic pistols known in the popular vernacular as Nienhalt Siegers. Apparently these BAs acted as security for the databank.

Rune ignored them for the most part and pressed a little button on one of the doors, waiting. She breathed out, that same breath becoming visible, and ran her hands up and down her arms to keep warm. She shivered. But they didn't. The doors then opened. She walked inside with her wet boots squeaking against the marble floor below. It was a hall. Three staircases stood on the right wall, centre wall and left wall of it. An elevator was fixed between each of them. One went up to the top floor and the other went to the underground vaults, according to the signs that hung over their doors. Across from her was a reception desk with a middle-aged male receptionist sitting behind it. Aside from a few potted plants and wall scrolls this didn't strike her as a casual place. It was obviously never intended to.

She marched up to the reception desk and took out her badge. "My name's Rachelle McNeil. I'm an agent of the Civil Stability Maintenance Bureau and I was sent here to return an information disk that was stolen recently."

"Ah yes," The receptionist scoped out the badge. "Thank you, Miss McNeil."

He pressed a yellow button on his desk and spoke into its nearby receiver, `Raphael, Gabriel'. One of the automatic doors behind the desk opened and two more worker-model bioandroids stomped out, both of them also carrying Nienhalt Sieger pistols. Raphael and Gabriel stopped before the desk and awaited the receptionist's next command silently.

He opened his hand. "If you will be so kind?"

"Right," Rune pulled out the disk and handed it over.

The receptionist nodded his thanks and presented Gabriel with the disk. "Take it. Put it in the sorting bay for now."

"Yes, sir." Replied the chiselled BA.

Suddenly Rune heard sleek metal passing through air at a high speed. Gabriel groaned and juddered back. Raphael, Rune and the receptionist turned and saw him drop dead to the marble of the hall with a Japanese metal throwing knife, a kunai, lodged in his temple. The sound cut through the air again. And a second kunai came screaming down from above and went straight through the disk in hand of Gabriel's corpse, shattering it into tiny plastic fragments. Rune growled, strafed backwards and ripped Solidus out of the holsters beneath her trenchcoat. Raphael pointed his Nienhalt in the direction of the ceiling, whilst the receptionist shrieked and scuttled underneath his desk.

"What the hell is this?" Rune shouted. "I can't see anyone!"

A now familiar and technologically ethereal voice reverberated around them. "A true shinobi conceals himself from human sight only until the point at which he intends to kill."

"Bastard! Show yourself!"

From the high ceiling as spinning object descended swiftly towards the desk. The metal item slashed straight through Raphael's jugular, causing him to gargle up and spurt bloody from a hideous wound as he collapsed. The item hit the marble floor forcefully and cracked it. It was a metal throwing star – a shuriken. Rune grit her teeth and stared at the direction the shuriken had come from. Those ninja weapons made it clear who this was. It was the man that had routed her at Jackson James' hideout, Kagedo of Dark Christ.

But she couldn't see him.

Her deep green eyes scanned the ceiling and the rafters coming down from it. There were few shadows lying there but wherever Kagedo was he had hidden himself extremely well. But somehow she could feel that he was here. Not just from his killing of Raphael and Gabriel, but from almost literally `sensing his presence' – as one warrior to another. And so she searched. Her eyes rolled over the ceiling and studied every inch of its expanse. All the observational powers of enhanced perception and acuity given to her by the Gethsemane Project were put into use. Not since her battle with Venomous five years ago did she use them this much.

Then it hit her.

Approximately 38.7m ahead and above of her, between two upper metal rafters and atop a slightly lower one, was a slight anomaly to the look of the stone ceiling itself. She could see outlines of a lean yet proto-muscular figure even though there appeared to be no one there. Then that anomaly moved... slightly. It was Kagedo, without a doubt, using technology she didn't even know he had – that exoskeleton of his could produce a PCCP (Phase Cloaking Camouflage Phenomenon). It firstly bent and reflected light from and around the body by use of electromagnetics. With those same electromagnetics it produced an optical effect that obscured the user from the human visual spectrum – causing the user's to appear entirely transparent and thus almost totally invisible. It was a very new form of stealth technology that had been developed and completed by the now defunct DARPA in 2066. But because of costs it had only been, thus far, mass-produced by the Mahrem Conglomerate.

Her eyes enlarged. If Rune needed any more proof that Kagedo and Dark Christ were working with or for the Mahrem then that was it. She pointed Solidus in that direction and paused, bellowing, "I can see you!"

The visually obscured Kagedo stood up from the crouched position he was in. by moving Rune could far better see him, the outline of his exoskeletal figure overlapping the background quite tellingly. "Well now. It seems as though I may have underestimated you. But the chase isn't over. In fact... it's just begun."

Kagedo bolted off the rafter and landed with crash into the marble floor below, the impact of his descent crushing the very marble of the floor beneath him. He vaulted from that cracked part of the ground with an agile pounce and dashed down one of the corridors leading away from the meeting hall. Rune grit her teeth and ran straight after him, passing through the doorway and into the corridor. As she ran she pressed her fingers against her temple and opened up NNTL.

"Zophie!"

"Huh? Rune? Is something wrong?"

"I need an Overdrive secretion!" She thought as she ran.

"...Really? Well okay... just hang on."

In moments the Overdrive drug was secreted into her bloodstream through her trans-bodily nanomachine colony. All the latent abilities of the human body were awakened with it. Suddenly Rune started running faster and she charged across the cold marble of the corridor in direct pursuit of the nigh-invisible Kagedo. His form smashed through the thick double-glazed window at the end of the corridor and jumped outside. Whilst running Rune slotted Solidus back into its holster and flung herself through the window in direct pursuit of Kagedo. She rolled into the snowy pavement at the back of the Municipal Data Preservation Building. Across the alleyway the cloaked metal ninja leapt from railing to railing up the fire escape of a taller building. Rune dashed to its steps and charged up after him. Kagedo kept bouncing from each wet iron railing, the metal of his feet clanging against them, until he was able to jump off the last one and cross over onto the rooftop. Rune ran as fast as her Overdrive-enhanced muscles would let her and leapt the rest of the way up.

She landed on the snow-covered rooftop in a crouch and looked up.

Kagedo was gone.

Or at least he appeared to be. Rune focussed herself and kept her eyes trained on her surroundings. The rooftop of this building was wide – a good 50x75 metres wide. The stone of it had been completely covered over with snow. Along the edge of the roof the stone had been elevated by about half a metre. In the centre of the rooftop was a compartment block for the stairs into the edifice. A gas pipe ran along the back. A few withered old wooden crates had been left behind. But beyond all that there was nothing there.

Rune stared ahead of her. Then her eyes darted to their right corners when she saw something appear in the snow just sixteen metres away from her. A footprint. And it was followed by second a short distance of ahead of it. Then a third one just ahead of that. And yet again a forth one was cast just ahead of the third. The rate of the footprints speed up and they zeroed in on Rune. She shut her eyes with a smirk. Then the forceful sound of metal whipping through air rang out. The CSMB agent forced her arm and blocked something almost impossible to detect, a kick. With the leg of her assailant trapped she pressed her hand into his invisible shoulder and dragged him forward whilst pushing her knee up. It batted back the skull of the transparent skull of the metal ninja and threw him backwards. Rune landed once more and saw him crash into the snow with a thud, scraping it up from the stone floor. The visual effect of the Phase Cloaking Camouflage Phenomenon juddered. Bolts of electricity crackled across his body and it malfunctioned. The PCCP disappeared entirely and revealed the man behind it, the metal ninja, Kagedo.

He chuckled in that wraithlike-techno voice and stood up, coming face-to-face with Rune once again.

"How did you detect me?" He asked.

"The footprints."

"Excellent," Kagedo said knowingly. "You truly are that fabled child, the one who defeated the US Jungle Corps."

Rune assumed a fighting stance. "How do you know me?"

"You are my Boss' shadow. How could I not enquire about you? Besides. I wanted to see for myself. How true was the legend? How true was the legend of the Garden of Gethsemane? And you. The one person out of all 400 of them that was not considered a total failure. You may be my last true chance to test out my abilities..."

She frowned at him. "Test your abilities?"

"That's right," Kagedo raised his fists also. "Thus far I have met only two people in my life I consider to be stronger than me. One of them is my Boss. The man I work for, the greatest warrior of this generation. And the other is the assassin that caused me to rely on this cyborg body himself. I can fight neither at this point. And so YOU shall be my opponent."

"Is this all a game to you? Kids are dying...!"

Kagedo chortled once more. "This life is full of so many contradictions. And it supports so much sadness, misery and loneliness. The weak bemoan that and complain. While the strong accept it and adapt. My adaptation is the acceptance of a cause, one that takes precedence over my own life. That cause is duty to my Boss, my Master. He is the one who will shape the future. I'm merely acting as His tool to that end. Morality is not an absolute force but merely a malady of clustered and dismal assertions that have no real meaning. A strong will can surpass that. Killing children, killing adults, neither one matters to me or to Dark Christ. That is the nature of our true strength. A strength that I wish you to push... to its very limits."

"I'm not your joy ticket," Rune seethed. "What is Drake Mahrem planning? How does it involve those kids?"

The metallic warrior spread his feet. "If you wish to know more... you'll have to defeat me first."

Rune pulled back her fists.

"...That's right," Kagedo uttered. "Show me your Close Range Arts once again."

She didn't have to be told twice. Rune dragged one of her hands closer to her side in a fist and raised the other close to her chin. Then launched herself directly at Kagedo. She thrust a punch at the iron shinobi and dodged around it, tilting his skull to one side. She raised her leg, cried out and pelted a fierce roundhouse kick from the hips. The speed of Kagedo was apparent as he forced himself down onto all fours, ducking under the kick. He extended his leg therein and span around with all the leverage pressed into the ground by both hands. His foot snatched at Rune's ankle and caused her to flop backward. She collided with the snow of the floor and Kagedo immediately jumped up from his crouched position. The distance between them widened with Rune grounded and Kagedo airborne. Then it shrank as the metal ninja somersaulted acrobatically in midair and plummeted for the CSMB agent. Rune broke her eyes open and looked up. Instincts kicked in and she pressed both hands into the snow behind her shoulders and launched her legs up and over her, back flipping out of the way. An instance afterward his fist smashed the head print Rune's skull had left in the snow. The stone of the roof cracked into the shape of a fist and the waves of the impact shook loose the surrounding snow. Rune kept back flipping until she could perceive herself putting some distance between them. Twenty metres were enough. One last flip sprung her aerially and she landed into another fighting stance, right fist at her side, left fist at her jaw.

She scowled at Kagedo.

Even with Overdrive, she could see that this man was faster and more agile than she was. That exoskeleton of his wasn't all that bulky but she never would have expected him to be this quick. She watched him pull his fist out of the dent it had made in the floor and stand upright. He cracked his knuckles before chuckling in that techno-spectre voice once again. But she wasn't intimidated. Thus far she hadn't met a single person who could best her in hand-to-hand combat.

Boots expressed their traction as Rune bolted across the gap between her and Kagedo again. She watched the Dark Christ soldier spread his hands before him in a stance as the distance closed. The two came within contact proximity with each other and Rune swung a punch at her enemy. With the back of his wrist he slapped it away and cast a reprisal punch straight into her stomach. That was when she felt it – his power. Her eyes bugged out and the breath was knocked right out of her. Droplets of blood were forced from her throat and she coughed them into the smooth metal plate that acted as Kagedo's near featureless face. He slowly pulled his fist from her stomach and twisted his body around with flamenco-like precision. An uppercut followed that batted the woman's jaw backward like a snapped twig. She stumbled away, perceiving only a blur of swift, metallic movement that she felt once more through the haze. Kagedo snapped a kick into her stomach and forced her into a backwards skid across the snow. Rune squinted and kneeled down before she skidded back any further, pressing one hand into the snow and wrapping the other around her stomach. She coughed and wheezed just as she heard Kagedo's steps. He was running towards her again. Rune opened her eyes in time to see his silvery figure rushing into her space. He threw a punch. Split second action caused her to swerve to one side, avoiding it, and throwing her own body into his. The brunette's shoulder rammed into his metal chest plate and cut him off in the middle of his momentum. With the one opening that counted, she grabbed his unfurled arm and turned, leaning over and manipulating all leverage, hurled him into the air. Kagedo was tossed clear metres into the crisp air above the rooftop erratically until he curled himself into a ball and somersaulted repeatedly. He landed to the ground on his hands, performing a brief handstand before he pounced upwards and re-landed on his feet.

Rune shut one of her eyes and winced.

Not only was this man fast and agile but also strong. His punches were like compressed lightning bolts and his precision went without saying. She had no idea what his hand-to-hand fighting style was called but it was clearly superior to Close Range Arts in terms of direct blows. He was attacking explicit spots at her body, most prevalently the stomach. And those strikes were so powerful that she actually felt a certain amount of disorientation when she suffered them.

There was no way she could beat this man in hand-to-hand battle.

So Rune grimaced and wiped the blood and spittle from her lips with a fist. The other hand reached into her trenchcoat pocket and pulled out Liquidus. Kagedo stared at her, cracking his knuckles aggressively. "Did you not learn from our last encounter? Bullets will not work on me. Not while my Electromagnetic Shield protects me from them."

"Oh yeah...?" Rune held the Desert Eagle in a two-handed pose, left hand cupping her right. "Well these bullets are a little different from your average stock, cyborg."

Kagedo scoffed and started running at her. Rune didn't move an inch even when the cybernetic fighter narrowed in on her. She retained her focus and calm, even in the centre of the whirlwind, all for that single and sole instance when her actions counted the most. All the abilities of perception that Rune had been given as a member of the Garden of Gethsemane came into play again. She had to wait for that one unguarded moment. And she saw it. The way Kagedo's sleek steel ankle twisted on his last footsteps towards her. He was about to pounce.

THAT was the moment.

Rune pulled the trigger and the gun fired. Time seemed to slow down just at that moment. It was almost as if both she and the metal ninja could see the bullet itself phasing through the air between them. But Kagedo's reaction was the harshest when it hit him across the chest and exploded. The sound of combustion burst to life atop the roof, drowning out the beeps and wrenching of traffic below them and the beat of the wind around them. Light and fire blazed and Rune looked away, hearing only Kagedo's startled cry. That cry was followed by the clanking sound of his exoskeleton dropping into the snowy floor. Rune looked across and saw him lying prone, the armour of his chest blackened by the blast, but essentially undamaged.

Kagedo breathed in and out heavily. "What... was that?"

"Plastic Explosive Rounds," Rune told him, re-aiming Liquidus. "A friend of mine told me about them. They're made with the same substances that compose C4s. That shield of yours is electromagnetic, right? It might be effective against metals but it's useless against plastics."

He laughed. "Very good."

"Are you going to talk now?"

"Heh, heh, heh," Kagedo swept himself up into a stand as if he'd never been hit. "We're not done yet!"

Rune saw him swiftly clutch his hands into fists and pointed both of them at her. Twin squared plates on top of his hands opened and arose to reveal thin slits. He jerked his hands and fired two more of his razor sharp shuriken from them. Rune fired Liquidus again and the bullet exploded in contact with the throwing stars. When the smoke settled the two shuriken clattered to the ground, blackened and bent, but Kagedo was gone. Then Rune heard more metal moving through the air and from directly above. She cranked her neck back and cast her eyes to the sky. Kagedo had jumped skywards and was coming right back down again. But this time he had only one of his arms pointing in her direction and the other hand pressed against it. The compartment atop his hand opened up again. And Rune knew what was coming the second he started reciting that chant, "Rin! Pyou! Toh! Sha! Kai! Jin! Retsu! Zai! Zen!"

The sky flashed blue for an instant as a thin beam of compressed mercury shot out through the equally cold air. Rune dove out of the way and rolled over the snow ahead of her. The beam hit the snow prints she had made on the floor. In less than a few seconds the wet droplets of melted snow began to re-crystallize. Rune rolled to a stop and took aim at Kagedo as he plummeted from the air. The second she pulled the trigger Kagedo fired another one of his rocket-powered shuriken. The two met with each other in mid-air and exploded upon that contact. Rune launched herself up onto her feet and Kagedo landed gracefully onto the rooftop.

The metal ninja smiled as Rune pointed Liquidus at him. "Your movements... and your shooting style... they are just like His. I see it now. You truly are His `shadow'. I am going to enjoy this, `Tomoe Gozen'...!"

He started chuckling again in that cyber-willowy voice of his. And as he did he stepped back towards the edge of the roof, as well as that gas pipe that Rune had first observed when she got here. Kagedo kept laughing as he walked backward toward it, even as he reached behind his back and pulled out something. It was a short pole object, clearly made from a sparkling titanium alloy, which was about half a metre long. The tech-shinobi twisted the pole with his fists and it extended by about 0.8 metres to give it a total length of 1.3 metres. It was a metal extender quarterstaff. Kagedo continued laughing until he stepped next to the pipe and raised the weapon into the air, spinning it around his body aggressively.

"If you have luck, we will meet again!" Kagedo shouted in cheer. "Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh...! Arrrraaaaaaah!"

Rune stared and saw Kagedo's quarterstaff begin to crackle with a potent electrical energy at either one of its tips. Then he swung the weapon into the pipe with furious zeal. A furious explosion burst through the rooftop, blowing at the wind and snow, flames towering into the skull, vibrations rattling the windows of the building until they cracked and shattered. Rune covered her face and dove for cover while Kagedo, whom had been the crux of the detonation, couldn't be seen. Had he killed himself? The agent squinted with her green eyes and stepped back towards the fire escape. Kagedo had obviously come here to destroy the data disk that LeCroix and Clarence had stolen as per his orders as an assassin of Dark Christ. Their fears of the group were well founded. And so was Rune's belief that something bigger was going on. And it all centred on the one giving Kagedo and Eileen their orders... the probably master of Dark Christ. Rune walked away from the flames and smoke of the explosion to descend the steps of the fire escape. During that only one name came to mind.

Drake Mahrem.

**********

As Jenna got up on stage, and Rune saw the lusty stares that many of the women in the crowds were giving her, she couldn't help but wonder if she'd looked like that the first time she saw Jenna in action. Tia had been the first (and the only) to really make her see how sad it was. But then being in the position that she was in, Rune could understand why they would be interested in her. They didn't know anything about her personality or her views towards bioandroids (if they did they might not have been so warm to her here in Pulsa diNura) but they were completely captured by her looks. Was she like that when she first saw Jenna? It did make her wonder.

Even so it was just nice to see her up on stage from a distance again. The background music had slowed to a stop and all the women on the dance floor huddled around the stage or paired off at the tables as Jenna prepared to sing. Rune herself sat across from the stage and the dance floor at her usual corner table compartment. On the table rested a glass of Irish Cream (on the rocks of course) alongside a basket of nuts. With her fingers she held a cigar to her lips. It was somewhat more calming at Pulsa diNura this time around. It was just as busy and lively as it always was, but... for some reason Rune found it far easier to unwind at this point than to any other before it. Maybe it was because she needed it. Her fight with Kagedo hours earlier wasn't tiring but the Overdrive drug's effects on her were similar to the ones coffee had on her; if she had a little too much of it then she'd feel more tired than anything else. No matter what the reason though this was Jenna's night and she was happy (yes happy) to be there for her.

Rune's eyes kept focus on the stage where Jenna was standing, wearing a long white dress with a small red rose attached to her upper right chest like a corsage. She'd swept her long raven-black hair across the left of her head behind her ear while the right side spilled over her shoulder as normal. She looked more beautiful than ever.

Behind her was a backing band had been given to her specifically for this night and that was apparently the work of Tia. Well, she was the best one to know what her customers wanted. There was a tall and muscular-looking Latino woman manning a base guitar on Jenna's left, a slightly older and slightly smaller woman sitting behind an electronic keyboard to Jenna's right. Finally there was a young, shaggy-looking boy sitting surrounded by a drum set a short distance behind Jenna on stage. He looked a little uncomfortable, probably because he was the only guy in the club. A little ways ahead of him was another young woman carrying a small version of the microphone that Jenna had. She was obviously a back-up singer (at least in this case). The lead singer stood at the centre of it all with a set of sheets in one hand and a microphone in the other. She was flicking through what appeared to be music sheets. She stopped for a second and seemed to be frustrated about something, until she looked out into the club and saw Rune staring (and smiling) at her secretively. Jenna smiled back with a wink.

Then someone else's voice called out to her. "Well, well, well! What do we have here?"

When Rune looked up she saw everyone's favourite redheaded bar maiden, Tia. And standing next to her was a beautiful young black woman, probably about nineteen or so, perhaps a little older, with her smooth and elongated ebony hair inching all the way down to her back and swiping at the khaki-enclosed cheeks of a bubblegum butt. Rune noticed immediately that Tia had an arm wrapped around the slightly shorter girl's waste.

"It's good to see you again, Miss Cop," Tia said with a smirk. "And with a brand new smile, no less."

"Nice to see you too," Rune turned to the girl on her arm. "And who're you?"

She smiled somewhat bashfully. "...My name's Alice..."

"Baby, you don't have to be panicky," Tia said, stroking Alice's long mane of hair. "Just do it like we talked about with one step at a time. `Member that I'm here, right?"

Alice blushed and bobbed her head timidly. "Okay, Tia."

"All right then. Tell you what, why don't you go ask one of the girls for a couple of drinks? They know who you are now so they'll give you whatever you want for free. Just get me a pina colada and go get yourself anything you want. That sound okay, baby?"

"Yeah. I-I'll be back soon."

Alice gently pressed her lips against Tia's cheek and stepped off towards the bar as Tia had directed. The redheaded woman exhaled and parked herself on leather seat next to Rune, crossing one of her legs over the other and snagging a nut from the bowl. Rune glanced over at Alice, standing at the bar now, nervously avoiding the glances she was receiving from some of the other clubbers. She clearly wasn't familiar with this kind of environment.

"Let me guess. That's your fiancιe?"

Tia grinned. "Bingo."

"...She's good-looking... and she's sweet, but... she doesn't seem your speed."

"She's just nervous. She only came out a year ago and since then her family's abandoned her. It's gonna take time for her to open up. I think that's the one thing they can't teach Alice at that university of hers. But she's coming around."

Rune looked at her again. She was waiting for one of the bar girls to sort out Tia's pina colada. As she waited Alice did her best to avert the lusty stare of one particular butch looking, buzz-cut blonde. Both Tia and Rune came to watch as Alice awkwardly tried to avoid meeting her eyes, waiting for the barmaid to give her the drink.

Tia giggled. "Maybe I'm doing this because I like seeing her so flustered. She's so goddamned cute sometimes."

"But do the two of you... even have anything common...?"

"Of course we do. I know we're different. You'd have to be fucking blind not to see that we are. She's an undergrad smart enough to be a rocket scientist but for some goddamned reason chose to study law. And I just work at a dyke bar. She could leave this shitty city one day. I'm pretty much stuck here. But none of that matters when I just want her and she wants me. I'm not gonna try and explain it away any more than that. We love each other. That's all we need."

Rune smiled at her. "...You're sounding different from the nihilistic bitch I met all those months ago."

"Oh yeah?" Tia snagged another nut. "Thank Alice for that."

The lights started to dim once more. A spotlight fell on Jenna and the band that would be supporting her during her songs. All of the women in the crowds started to silence themselves with a little hush. Then sweet Jenna put down the all the song sheets and faced the groups of women less than a metre below her.

"Thanks for coming everyone," Jenna declared, her voice resonant through mic. "I'm Jenna and these three behind me are The Carolingians. I hope you'll like them just as much I'm going to like working with them. But to start off... I just wanted to say that I recently met a person that I like very, very, very much. Maybe more than she understands right now. And so this first song is gonna out to her, perhaps so she'll see where I'm coming from. Please enjoy."

Rune and Jenna immediately locked eyes as The Carolingians kicked up a tune. So much so that she was oblivious to Tia kissing an anxious Alice as she returned from the bar with a pina colada and a mineral water. And soon enough, as The Carolingians put down a funky beat, Jenna opened that wonderful mouth of hers and sung out in passion-ridden decibels,

"I need your love; I need your love,

I need your love; I need your love,

I need your love; I need your love,

I need your love; I need your love,

I need your love; I need your love,

You... give me light, so tonight... take me there,

I... feel your sun, start to glow, and I know it, let me show you that,

I want you love; I need your touch, for the rest... of our time together, baby

Come fly with me, eternally, you and me...

We were meant to be

Yeah, heh!

Alright (right now)

We'll spend the night together,

Wake up and live forever

Yeah, heh!

Alright (right now)

We'll spend the night together,

Wake up and live forever

Yeah, heh!

Oh!

We've got to come together, Baby...

It's all right now.