Chapter 20

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="95" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 46 WIDTH="91"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="46" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="91" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#003333" FACE="Arial" ><B>Ultra Symphony</B></FONT>  </div> <bR> <div> Chapter 20: Chaos</div> <div> ***</div> <bR> <div> Ai Sakamoto burst through the door of the sickbay, panting. Her eyes scanned the room for the presence of Masami Ikeda, because she knew she had heard Ikeda talking about being in sickbay for the evening. </div> <bR> <div> In the dim light of the room, she saw someone seated at the bedside of a shadowed person. </div> <bR> <div> "Masami!!" Ai called, apprehension in her voice. </div> <bR> <div> The person turned around, and she saw that it was not Ikeda. </div> <bR> <div> "Oh god, Shinkannou-san, where's Masami?!" She demanded, no time for pleasantries. </div> <div> She recognized Shinkannou-san as one of Ikeda's friends, supposedly a well-respected surgeon. </div> <bR> <div> "She's in her quarters, Amano-san. what's wrong?" Kakei asked, getting up.</div> <bR> <div> Ai took a breath, holding her head. </div> <bR> <div> "My god, they're crazy! Throwing rocks, bottles, yelling.. we've even gotten bomb threats! It's out of control!"</div> <bR> <div> "What?!" Kakei asked, shocked.</div> <bR> <div> "A mob outside.. it's a bloody riot!" </div> <bR> <div> "Who?" Kakei asked urgently.</div> <bR> <div> "I don't know who! I'm not going near them!"</div> <bR> <div> "Outside the building? </div> <bR> <div> "Yeah!" </div> <bR> <div> Kakei got up. "You go get Ikeda."</div> <bR> <div> "What are you gonna do?" </div> <bR> <div> "Find out what it's about."</div> <bR> <div> "Well, I can tell you that! It's about that stupid idol singer, Minoko whatshername.."</div> <bR> <div> He turned around, his eyes wide. "Mikono Hayagane?!"</div> <bR> <div> "Yeah, that's it. They supposedly found her passed out on heroin or something outside MEU headquarters. I mean, is that stupid or what? It's a publicity stunt, that's what it is, and we're the target. We were already unpopular, so they pick on us so no one with CREDENTIALS gets hurt." </div> <bR> <div> Kakei was unable to speak, a million thoughts were racing through his head. </div> <bR> <div> "I mean, Mikono Hayagane.. why the hell would SHE be here?! How can people even believe this?! I mean, they act like we experimented on her or something!" </div> <bR> <div> Kakei was about to speak, but suddenly Ikeda-san appeared from around the corner, running as fast as she could. </div> <bR> <div> "Captain..it's Haya-" She began, but then she saw Ai. </div> <bR> <div> "Masami! Did you hear?! It's crazy!" Ai shrieked. </div> <bR> <div> Ikeda nodded weakly, looking at Kakei. </div> <bR> <div> "We gotta break the crowd up, the cops aren't doing anything! We'll get the Marilyn." </div> <bR> <div> Ikeda looked at her, her eyes wide, shaking her head. "The Marilyn.. no, jeez, Ai, that's no good." she said tactfully, covering for the fact that the Marilyn was in several scorched pieces piled in the corner of the Vestibule. "We'll take the Melissa. It's bigger anyway. And, it has firepower."</div> <bR> <div> Ai stared at her. "Firepower? Are we going to..."</div> <bR> <div> Ikeda shook her head. "You never know." She met Kakei's eyes, and he nodded.</div> <bR> <div> The two of them took off, and Kakei ran to the front entrance. Several hundred feet away, he heard the commotion. The sound of hundreds of people screaming indiscernably, mixed with pounding, breaking glass, and vehicles chaotically rumbling was only a little louder than the screaming in his mind. </div> <bR> <div> <I>HAYAGANE...</I> </div> <bR> <div> As he drew closer, the shouting grew more clear, and he was able to pick out cries of "Pushers!" "Monsters!" and one or two "Who are you really with?!"s. </div> <bR> <div> The main entrance was, however, being covered by a lowering concrete wall, but people still broke through the glass windows and began attacking the MEU cadets who were unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity. </div> <bR> <div> In the midst of the chaos, a young man of about 23 had tossed a small pop can into the main hall, right under the window. It resembled nothing more than a half-assed attempt at vandalism, and as the concrete wall sank into its locked position, crushing the can, it seemed that the only damage really done to MEU was its broken windows and the ten or eleven crazed people who had managed to enter. </div> <bR> <div> Kakei raced over to the small fight, preparing to render the intruders inept, but before he knew what was happening, a blinding flash and a deafening roar flooded his senses; and a burning pain engulfed his body. He heard screams above the roar, and then everything went black.</div> <bR> <div> ***</div> <bR> <div> Mikono knew before opening her eyes that she was still in the hospital, and not the sickbay of MEU. And she felt a terrible sadness, an indescribable sadness as her eyes opened and she saw the bouquets of flowers on the table next to her. </div> <bR> <div> She suddenly heard a thundering crash, and sat bolt upright in the bed, whirling around to look out the window. Far in the distance, she saw a faint cloud of smoke swirling from a building near the bay. </div> <bR> <div> <I>MEU?</I> She thought, her eyes widening. She leapt out of bed and prepared to run to the window, but her arm was suddenly clasped by a firm hand. She screamed and whirled to face her manhandler, and found herself staring up into the eyes of Jerry, her manager.</div> <bR> <div> He smiled, an eerily serene smile. His eyes seemed to flash with a blue light for just a moment.</div> <bR> <div> "Where are you going, Mikono-chan?" He asked smoothly. "You took quite a good deal of damage, and should stay in bed." </div> <bR> <div> She swallowed, looking at him and then at the smoking building. "What's been going on?!"</div> <bR> <div> He tried to lead her back to bed, but she stood firm, even though she was feeling pretty weak and wavery. </div> <bR> <div> He looked at her seriously. "It's MEU, I gather. You've got the whole city pretty upset at them." </div> <bR> <div> He turned and walked away from her, her eyes wide. She turned to face him. "What do you mean?!" </div> <bR> <div> "The drugs, Mikono. Or whatever happened. You're damn lucky that most of the city's on your side.." </div> <bR> <div> Mikono stared at him. "Drugs?! What are you talking about?!" </div> <bR> <div> He began to speak, but Mrs. Hayagane cut him off. She had been sitting on the other side of the bed, and she stood up.</div> <bR> <div> "It's not drugs, Jerry. They... DID something to you, Miko-chan. Something horrible.. and they deserve whatever they GET!!!" Her voice cracked and she slammed her body against the window, sobbing and pounding on the glass. </div> <bR> <div> Jerry looked at Mikono with a bit of accusation in his eyes, and went over to pull Mrs. Hayagane off the window. </div> <bR> <div> Mikono was totally bewildered. Jerry said Drugs, her mom said 'something horrible'.. but neither one made any sense...</div> <bR> <div> ..But her mom had accused MEU..</div> <bR> <div> ..Which meant..</div> <bR> <div> ..It HAD been real. </div> <bR> <div> She sank down on the bed. What did they know? What had the doctor told them? About the green blood? About the operation? What was going on at MEU? </div> <bR> <div> She touched her breast, and looked at her mom. </div> <bR> <div> "When can I go home?" She asked.</div> <bR> <div> Her mom blew her nose, and Jerry answered. "They say about a week.. they still need to run some tests. And you may need another operation."</div> <bR> <div> Mikono frowned. "What the hell for?!" she asked.</div> <bR> <div> "They found some sort of.. object inside you..." He replied, looking at her skeptically. </div> <bR> <div> "What?!?!" She screamed. "What is it?!" </div> <bR> <div> "The X-rays aren't a very good indication, but it's inside you, right between your breasts."</div> <bR> <div> Mrs. Hayagane smacked him on the arm, but Mikono was too shocked to be embarrassed.</div> <bR> <div> "I.. ow.. it's some sort of oval shaped object.."</div> <bR> <div> Mikono's eyes widened, and she remembered how Captain Zoffy had had an oval shaped blue stone in the middle of his chest. She shook her head. </div> <bR> <div> "I'm.. sure it's nothing..." she said weakly. </div> <bR> <div> "It's something THEY did to you, and it's coming out!!" Mrs. Hayagane snapped.</div> <bR> <div> Mikono shook her head harder, clutching both hands between her breasts. "No... it.." She was overcome with the urge to scream. It had to be some sort of power source for Ultra powers. And it was there.. and if they found it, they'd find out... everything.</div> <bR> <div> "Miko-chan, do you know what it IS?" Jerry asked, intensity in his eyes. </div> <bR> <div> She opened her mouth, but was unable to do anything except whimper. She sank down into the bed, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Leave me alone.." </div> <bR> <div> Mrs. Hayagane reached over to put a hand on Mikono's shoulder, but Mikono shrugged it off. "Leave me ALONE!!! I want to sleep!" </div> <bR> <div> Mrs. Hayagane and Jerry looked at each other, and slowly left, leaving Mikono behind to cry into her pillow as she looked at the smoke in the distance and the petals falling off her flowers. </div> <bR> <div> *** </div> <bR> <div> Moroboushi awakened long enough to see a large drill and sparks flying from the area where his shoulder ought to be. </div> <bR> <div> "Goddammit, don't you know ANYTHING about anesthesia?!" an angry female voice screamed, and he felt a sting in his side, then nothing. </div> <bR> <div> Outside his office building, in the same parking lot that was still stained with Sairai Kawarinou's blood, the same young man who had tossed the can into MEU strolled casually, suddenly disappearing in a flash of blue. </div> <bR> <div> ***</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="id63.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 21: On the other side of the uni"><U>Chapter 21</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ultra Symphony"><U>Back</U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>