5

Most of the conversation was between the two lovers. Elise spent most of her time watching with bored eyes, taking a piece of food into her mouth every minute or so...

Good thing they're not eating spaghetti, she thought. She knew the classic scenario. Her thoughts of freedom and independence gradually retreated to allow the hope of a boyfriend - or even better, a husband. In front of her cameras was the dancing image of her in a beautiful dress, welcoming her soul mate after his hard day of work. There was a child or two somewhere in the apartment. Be them androids or humans or mutants or natural or adopted or whatever... A heaven where she could settle down and enjoy true peace. Somewhere in a closet, deep down in the basement of her fantasy, a punk was screaming for attention...

She took a piece of pork and swallowed it whole, helping it further with a good dose of water. Everything seemed out of place here. She was completely away from her usual scenario. She sent the last bit of her crazy thoughts into the abyss and stood up, ready to go clean her plate.

"Huh?" She turned her head around. "Oh - sorry. I had to process a little something and lost you in the middle of it. Expect that to happen often until I fetch myself a new hard drive. Anyways, what was it again?"

Masahito swallowed his piece of food. "I was asking how the adaptation was coming along."

"Number one." Elise quickly rinsed the plate and carelessly let go of it as soon as it was at a safe height over the counter. "As I said, once I get an extra hard drive, I'll be top notch." Her head suddenly turned to face the telephone.

"Got it!" Alexanne picked it up. "Hello? That's me... Uh, right now? Okay, I'm there, bye... Hey guys, we need to rush over to the Crate like there's no tomorrow. Works has caught a message from the department and they're planning on kidnapping Dream!"

"I'll explain in the car." She reached and pulled Elise's arm to get her moving. "Come on, let's go!"

Masahito had gone to the back to allow Elise to get as much view as possible during the ride. However, the android's attention was mostly taken by Alexanne's orchestra of driving techniques. Two hands on the wheel, one on the shift stick, one on the handbrake, one held up to check the wrist watch, and the last one taking a break on the door armrest.

"Dream is a pop singer." Alexanne began. "She is a naturally-born mutant with a very beautiful voice and was discovered at an early age. Her trademark is not only singing her parts, but also lip-synching along with the supporting team of twelve back-up singers. What they do is hide the chorus behind the curtain. Everyone knows the trick, but it's done so well, we all forget about it after the first song. Dream is in perfect synch every time. It's such that she's being called by marketers who ask her to use multiple voices in an ad to push the trademark as far as it'll go. Hey, you listening?"

Elise had turned away. Though the mutant had a good advantage in timing, she wasn't as wild or as skilled as Shrike was. Even though she didn't know the car model, she was sure any of her fellow Insas would have done a better job at getting to a point quickly.

Well, that took shorter than expected... Without any further ado, she dashed out of the car and into the main hall. At least thirty Crate members were waiting.

"Good evening Elise." Works waved at her from the far table. "Where's Exi and Masahito?"

"Okay. Everyone listen carefully! I intercepted a message from the Department, and it has two very important pieces of information. Number one: Dream is an artificially-created mutant, from scratch. Number two: the Department wants its subject back. I'm not going to let that happen. Dream's fortune can be a very valuable asset to the Crate and could help us get better weapons. Therefore, she has to be brought back alive. We'll sneak in through the back, and wait until the first entracte. I believe it's safe to assume the Department guys won't go get her in front of thousands of spectators. You'll each carry a backpack with a mask and a change of clothes. Enter using regular street clothes, find an empty room and get your gear in place. Then, wait for my signal. Make sure you know where you are, because I will say where Dream's going and thus who will get to intercept her. Questions? All clear?... Great! Let's go."

"Good luck Ragie! Elise, you're coming with me." Alexanne said. "Fermit! Whistler! You'll be in my car! Everyone else as usual. Maintain radio contact at all times. Elise, you got an integrated transmitter?" She then said at lower volume.

"Then it's no good for us. Grab this for now." She handed a small black device to the android. "Press the button, hold while speaking. Simple as that. Ah! There's the gear."

Alexanne grabbed a pair of jeans, a jacket and six pistols. Elise reached for her saber and shotgun but doubt entered her mind.

Alexanne shrugged. "Don't worry. Act like a drone until I tell you otherwise. If anyone asks, I'll just say you're with me and I've been called over by the sound technician to fix a fault in the hardware. For the shotgun, I think this backpack will do. Everyone seems set. Let's get rollin'!"

I was about to call it quits and then I got saved by the bell. Finally it's getting interesting! Quite frankly I was expecting the plotline to die at day one and then the next thing I know is that I'm gone into a routine around the lines of doing the same type of operation every few days... But then, I was speaking with the mindset of someone who hadn't fought for a hundred years and who didn't feel like it. But, the thrill is back!

I suddenly felt the anxiety of using my shotgun once again. I took care of it like a man took care of his family jewels - I am not kidding. I wouldn't change for anything else. If it's managed to survive until this day, it can survive twice as much time!

The car was going way too slow in my opinion. And even then, I think Alexanne was flooring it. I felt even better when I caught sight of the palace where Dream was supposed to sing. The Reli part within me was begging for a kill or two. Hopefully, things would get violent and then I'd have my fun. There's nothing more boring than operations that go perfectly well.

Oh the hell with it. If everything goes nice, I'll cause a little wrong to spice it up. They won't mind me fragging a Department guy or two. I recall it's a war, right?

Alexanne got out of the car, put on her jacket to conceal her extra arms, and pointed at the three doors on the side of the building. "One door each. Elise, you're coming with me."

The mutant banged at the door. "Hey, open up! We're locked outside!" After two more attempts, a technician came and opened, whom Alexanne thanked with a little kiss.

"Okay. We'll head for the star rooms right away." She whispered while pointing at a corridor. "What I'll do is hide in one room, you hide in another. We don't want to get too close to Dream's own room because there will be bodyguards waiting. Elise, you won't need to change. I, however, will get into combat gear while we wait for the entracte. It'll be up to you to tell me if the way's absolutely clear, so that we may sneak in Dream's room without being seen."

"That's Masahito's job. Mine is to spread around Dream's room and also get in there. We're the big key for this operation. There's a third team scattered into the palace and used as peeping eyes to warn us of any dangers or suspicious movements. We need to be quick and stealthy."

They came to the target corridor, which was lined with a dozen doors on each side, and the bodyguards talking among each other at the far end. Elise took the right door and ended up in an unused dressing room, where all the lights were turned off.

She turned around to notice a man in combat suit just as she closed the door behind her. Without a word, she quietly stepped to the other end of the room and waited for the signal...

Man, the Crate really must like to keep me in check to stick a guy in every place I go!

"Cool, up to us now!" The other fighter stood up and opened the door. "The bodyguards have already left. Quick, follow me!"

She ran along behind him with puzzlement in her mind... The man opened the room's light and Elise closed the door behind her.

His grin disappeared - or rather was completely smashed away - when Elise gave him a hard punch into the face, followed by an instant high-heel kick into his left eye. Quick follow-up consisting of one second of screaming, during which the Insa forced him to turn away, after which she slammed her shotgun on top of his head.

Alexanne entered the room wearing the most superb navy blue armor the android had ever seen. It consisted of a swimsuit-like piece, along with a pair of armored shoes, knee pads, and shoulder pads, all in perfect condition of course. Formalities aside, the mutant was now looking at the dead man like a kid not exactly getting the Christmas gift he wanted.

"He thought I was on his team. Was in the same room as him. He's one of the Department guys?"

"I guess so. Can't be anyone else. At least it's not one of us. You checked before, right?"

Elise mentally thanked the gods. In her rush, she had forgotten to even check if she knew the guy or not. Well, on second thought, she didn't know anyone called 'Justin' in the Crate.

"We'll hide there until Dream comes. Afterwards we come out, and I mean it both ways."

Elise did as commanded while Exi took a piece of thick black cloth and covered the blood stain with it. Hearing footsteps, she rushed inside the closet with Elise.

The two were lucky; the closet had sliding doors with angled horizontal bars, allowing them to get a view of what was going on in the room.

"Shh!!" Alexanne glared at the Elise even if she doubted the android could see her face anyways. The teammates suddenly froze in place as they heard a door click...

#53

Shrike said this once: "You can recognize a good ally or a tough enemy by the manners and gestures he does. If he seems cheery, active and young, then he can be easily beaten. If he looks stern, determined and confident, then all you need to do is overwhelm him and he'll explode. And last, if he sings on the job while keeping a straight and serious face, then he is part of the strongest ones you'll see."

So I looked at her and said "What about the one who seems crazy and thinks dangers are just plain fun?"

She said: "Smile and laugh as well, and give him your best shot. The sooner he becomes serious, the better suited he is for the job. The sooner he becomes angry, the sooner you will beat him. Finally, the sooner he attempts a cheap shot in desperation, the sooner you can expect him to stab you in the back."

I then said: "Does this apply to everyone."

"Yes." She replied. "There's a bit of fine tuning for every person you analyze, but overall, they obey to the same psychological laws. This is why I'm not afraid of the mercenary chasing after me. I know he has been under a lot of pressure lately. His work has been frustrating. His superiors hate him. His girlfriend's dead. If I bump into him, he'll die. If I don't, he'll end up killing himself anyways."

I took a moment to think... Then, I turned to her and - just as little Sierra was coming out of the parts room - I said "Why don't you sing on the job?"

Shrike's face suddenly hardened. She was the prey to a quick hesitation before quickly saying: "You try singing a techno song."

It's easy: 'Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom-chik, boom-chik, boom-chik, boom-chik et cetera.

Shrike had spoken wisely though. And therefore, I applied this method of psychology to Dream, the goddess.

I had before my eyes one of the must stunning and graceful creatures to ever gift the Earth. I evaluated her height to be a mere five feet and five inches, yet, her figure was slim and slender, showing signs of light training coupled with an excellent diet. She had appendages for hair - thick tentacles of sorts, which she sweppt back and kept there using a padded hair band covered with jewelry of all colors, the arrangement a bit less than shoulder-length. Her rainbow-colored eyes seemed to glare at me for a split-second, but her look continued past my hiding point, ending its course on the center of the large mirror on the other side of the room.

She walked over to her seat, her long rainbow robe flowing after her like currents of air suddenly visible, the rainboe fabric constantly changing hues at various places, slowly taking on hot and cold tones, bright and dark, high and low contrast, and every levels of intensity. It was, as I would come to know later, a miracle of the latest in technology. A robe derived from military stealth gear capable of making someone almost invisible. The combination of all beauties of the world had created her - and I, the android who admired men, suddenly felt compelled to take her alone.

And the best detail, the one that put everything together and kept it in place, was her light blue skin. It was to me the essence of calm, peace and serenity. Like those people who get a near death experience. She was the personification of the all-knowing and all-loving Being of Light. I wanted to get on my knees and pray for my salvation, if it meant being next to her.

She took a complex black dress out of its support and laid it on a side chair while taking every care not to fold it the wrong way. Then, she turned around and undid a zipper hidden in her colorful robe. Her mouth slowly opened. Thirteen voices chimed their melody into the room as she undressed. She was singing. Singing on the job. And she wasn't smiling nor frowning. She was doing it by force of habit. She loved to sing. She loved her job.

Her left hand closed into a fix except for her index and middle finger, and she began tilting those fingers up and down, following a beat. She repeated a lyric a few times, and only after she was sure she had it right, did she take the black dress and put it on. She was definitely an old soul.

I looked at my mutant teammate. She wasn't as much in awe as I was, but she was frozen in place nevertheless.

That's my opportunity. I won't miss my chance to shine brighter than the Crate's top operative!

In one swift move, I slid the door open with one hand and grabbed my shotgun with the other. She had barely turned around when I spun her in my hands and covered her mouth.

Alexanne followed Elise out of the closet with her guns at the ready. With a quick motion to her teammate, she took the job of holding the singer, using two arms to restrain hers while two others had guns pointed on the neck.

"Nice job." Exi said. Elise went in front of Dream and examined the dress with some concern in her face.

"This will hinder you." Without any further word, she proceeded to grab the fabric and tear it to reduce the dress to knee length. "Okay, let's call up and go home."

"Got it. Everyone on my team, we're out. You, don't say a word until I tell you otherwise. Elise?"

Alexanne dragged the star out of the room and forced her to run along. Elise ran ahead and gave a check to each intersection, making sure there wasn't any ambush waiting for them. The way was all clear up until the tech corridors. There, the team had to more more slowly due to the numerous wires and screens populating the place.

Six other mutants caught up and readied their guns. Alexanne smiled at her teammates and motioned them to keep on moving.

"Wait - the exit's blocked." Elise spread her arms and put the team to a dead stop. "They can't see us yet since we're far away and the place is dark, but I'm getting stuff in my infrareds and it looks like people holding guns."

A teammate put his head between the two. "We're good enough to punch through this."

"No!" The mutant pushed her teammate back. "They must know there's a bunch of Crate guys in here. If they put only five people in front of the door we came through, then they must have a good reason to do so. Probably grenades or heavy shotguns. Something that could blow up an army if done properly."

"Grenades, my ass." Elise grinned and took her saber in her left hand, without activating it. "Try my proof on for size."

A press of the trigger and the five balls of energy were on their way, striking every opponent in the chest. She activated her saber and put her shotgun into beam mode, immediately followed by another trigger press, sweeping the corridor with a bright pink ray, and once in range completing the move with a horizontal slash-backslash with her Red Blade saber. She spun around and saw four of the men were still standing and pointing their guns at her!

A flurry of bullets suddenly pierced through the air and massacred the rest of the commando. This time, they were most certainly dead.

"Warn us next time." Alexanne said. "Had you been alone, you'd have been done for, considering your energy armor is done using technology a century old."

"In your time, you'd have killed those guys as you had planned. Technology's gone forward while you were asleep. It's like trying to destroy a tank with arrows."

A teammate tapped on Exi's shoulder. "Guys, the outside is completely blocked. The Department's covered every exit!"

Elise glanced at Dream. "Can't we display her as hostage?" Alexanne shook her head.

"Last time someone did that, they fired anyway. We need to try something else." She grabbed her communicator. "Works, the Department got here quicker than we thought. See anything we could do to get out of here?"

"I can't find anything so far. Masahito's team got its hands full with Department guys popping up from everywhere. Looks like we and DT used the same strategy... It's up to you to get Dream to a safe place. If you can find a way out, tell me when you're secure. Else, just wait for my report on where to go."

"This is gonna take way too long." Elise commented with a frown. "Let's get moving and do the looking job ourselves. Personally, I doubt the Department will watch over an obvious exit like the front door..."

"We can't underestimate them." Alexanne interrupted. "Our cars are on this side of the building and there are three doors. There's none on the back side. Our best chance would be to punch through this one since it's closest to the cars and it's not the middle one. Next up is that we need someone to shield Dream from enemy fire since she doesn't have an energy armor like we do."

"Not you Elise. With what you have right now, they could punch through you like butter. Since you have a shotgun, you'll help Whistler blanket the enemy while we make a run for it. Once we reach them, I'll whistle and you two dash over while we start the engines. I'll take the soft top off to allow you to jump in just as we begin our roll-out. Any questions?"

Alexanne looked at the android, who shrugged. She twisted the singer's head around to gaze into her eyes. "Tell?"

"My limousine is parked in a garage on the other side of the building. If we can make it over there, you can drive back to this side, retrieve your cars, and run away without getting too much fire."

"I understand myself. Okay, let's do it! Exi, you know how to do the wave-leapfrog maneuver?"

"Yes so fast; we're in the heat and it's not the time to cool down!" Elise grinned once again as she clicked her loaded shotgun. "It's called adrenalin. Learn how to use it! One, two three, GO!"

I don't know what came over me at that moment. I was so full of life, so pumped, I bet I could've conquered the world with my bare hands. I didn't like sitting down or waiting or just standing there. I had to do something. I had to get moving, get the job done, whatever had to be done had to be done, oh yeah, dun-deen-dun!

It's with a heightened pleasure that I took off into a sprint, followed by my other teammates who had their weapons at the ready. I had to call up the technique twice more to make sure they knew what I was planning. Little Alexanne the mutant had nothing left to do except follow along and carry Dream. If it had been just me, I would've let the girl just follow along instead of restraining her. If she's good enough to tell us where to go, then that means she's ready to tag along with us. I don't believe she thought were were bluffing when we said the Department shot hostages as well as the people who held them.

Third intersection. Department guy standing with his back turned to me. One shotgun beam into the back, followed by a spike heel into the eye, down he goes on the ground with his head shattered by my hard sole. I stop and wait for the shotgun to ready itself for another salvo. I move to the back of the team, everyone goes in front of me.

Fourth intersection. Alexanne stops and shoots both ways. I hear screams. The teammates check the corridors and confirm the enemy is dead. I run up one position and Alexanne follows behind. I took the opportunity to tell her she should give some freedom to Dream but I don't think she was listening to me.

Alexanne suddenly turns around and fires at two Department fighters who had tried to catch up with us. Four teammates turn around as well and shower the enemy with bullets, lasers and energy. Perfect score, no one's hurt so far.

Seventh intersection. I suddenly bump into a Department guy coming our way and tackle him into the wall. The teammate called Whistler points a gun at his head and fires. Moving on.

Ninth intersection. Another Department fighter at close range. I give him an upperslash with my Red Blade, smash his head on the wall with a swing of my shotgun, and finish him off with a spin-kick in his face. Hmm, weak point's the face. Why do they invest so much on energy armors when they should protect the facial area first and foremost? It's too easy to squish their brains right now.

Eleventh intersection. Alexanne makes a firing by-pass, so do the teammates. I duck and dash, taking a quick look to my left and seeing a mountain of troops with my infrareds. Shit!

Twelfth intersection. The Department is behind us now. I turn around and fire a spray of energy bullets while the rest of the team opens the door to the garage. I rush in after them and close the door behind me...