I have a message from another time... THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2409 NEW AVALON, ZETA CYGNI Guy Morgan had been down in the unused defense tunnels below New Avalon many times - his brother, Corwin Ravenhair, essentially owned them and used them as a combination workshop and storage facility for his many projects, most of them of a size somewhat unwieldy for your average surface garage. Guy had never known the complex -had- the place he was in now, though. The five of them had ridden one of the complex's larger turbocarriers, the big, fast ones halfway between subway cars and turbolifts in size, to a section of the tunnel system that Corwin hadn't gotten around to using. Their destination, Corwin told his guests, was located precisely beneath the center of the city, directly under the Entire State Building. They came to a stop and emerged from the carrier onto a small version of a subway platform. On the platform, Corwin turned to the ones who had come with him and said in a serious tone, "OK, look. New Avalon needs protection - what happened back on prom night makes that clear. The WDF is repositioning some ground and air forces to bases in and around the city already, but enemy forces like Big Fire's new kaiju units requires a special sort of defense, one that even the WDF doesn't have the assets for." "Enter," said another voice from behind Corwin, "the newest IPO Irregular Project, an official version of the Robot Response Team." Priss Morgan leaned over and nudged Sylvie Daniels. "(Mom really knows how to make an entrance, doesn't she?)" All of those gathered at the station had seen this woman - Kei Morgan, the Red Lensman, IPO Deputy Chief for Tactical Division Operations - many times before, and so none of them was really surprised that she'd turned up. She and four other people had emerged from one of the doors leading onto the platform. "When we talked a couple of weeks ago," said Kei with a grin, "You guys volunteered to help out with the defense of the city." She clapped a hand down on Corwin's shoulder and said, "Corwin here has been working night and day to get everything you're going to need ready, and it's almost time for you to see the new toys he's cooked up for you - but first we need to do some introductions. "The new RRT is a cooperative project - you'll be coordinating your efforts with the WDF and the New Avalon Police. Also, while you're all eager and all talented, none of you have any real experience - and that's fine, the Irregular Projects Division is all -about- talented-but-not-experienced, but it means you'll need a bit of guidance, and someone seasoned to back you up." Kei grinned and gestured for everyone to gather around. "So, here we go. You all know Noriko Takaya, of course." "Hi, everyone!" said the diminuitive WDF flag officer, beaming. "Noriko will be your WDF liaison officer," Kei informed the newly-gathered team. "Pretty high-level liaison," said Sylvie, impressed. "I'm the only WDF officer we could find with any kaiju-class mecha combat experience," Noriko explained. "Plus, my office is in the city anyway, and I can back you up with G-Kaiser if need be." She leaned toward the half-circle of young people and added with a confidential grin, "And I hope it be's, 'cause I'll take any excuse to get out of my office for a while." They all laughed, and Kei, chuckling, went on, "Now for the ones most of you don't know. This is your New Avalon Police liaison officer, Major Dan Dastun." Dastun, a big, burly, balding man with bushy sideburns and a nasty-looking scar on one side of his bald pate, nodded. He was a twenty-year cop with a pre-police background in armor; he knew his way around tanks and conventional Destroids, which was as close as the NAPD could come to providing a liaison officer with kaiju-level experience. "My job will be to provide you with any intelligence the Police Department may come up with on any problems that might threaten the city," Dastun said in his gravelly voice. "I'll also arrange for support services from the NAPD, including traffic control and panzer or Destroid backup from the Armored Police. (And I'll do my best to see that none of you fool kids get -killed-,)" he added under his breath. "Hey, don't sweat it, Pop," said Sylvie. "We know what we're getting into." "Sylvie, go easy on Major Dastun," Kei admonished her with a smile. "He's not used to this kind of thing yet. Give him time. He's a good guy to have watching your back - right, Dan?" Dastun actually smiled a little at the verbal nudge, but said nothing. "Finally, we have your IPO supervising officers," Kei went on. "Hello, everyone," said the next in the group, a slim, very pretty brunette a little shorter than Kei, wearing a smart-looking business-type suit. "I'm Rain Mikamura. I'll be your command center coordinator, maintenance chief and medical officer - though I hope you won't be needing my services much in the latter two categories," she added, and her blue eyes twinkled as she smiled around at the new RRT members. "(... wow,)" Guy murmured, earning himself a stomped-on toe from Priss. The last person who'd entered with Kei chuckled. "So I'm last, huh?" he observed. "OK." He took a step forward into the half-circle. "I'm - " " - DOMON KASSHU!" Sylvie blurted, causing the man to skid to a verbal halt and give her a puzzled look. "Uh, yeah," he said. He was a tall, rangy humanized Salusian with black hair somewhat longer and slightly less disorderly than Corwin's, held out of his eyes by a red band across his forehead. His face was narrow and a bit battered, and he had small, black, wary-looking eyes, but his aspect was friendly enough. "Wow!" Sylvie went on. "Domon Kasshu, the King of Hearts! What are YOU doing here? I thought you were an Expert." "I am," Kasshu replied, showing her his Lens. "I'm your senior combat officer. I'm here to give you guys the benefit of my experience in robot battles, coordinate you in the field, help you kick giant monster butt... " He cracked a grin. "... And provide a thin veneer of adult supervision... " Rain snorted. "That's -my- job, Domon," she told him. "For you to do that, you'd have to have grown up yourself at some point." "... ouch!" said Kasshu sheepishly. "I used to watch your show all the time," Sylvie said, referring to the very popular Friday-night gladiator-robots program "Mobile Fighter G-Gundam", which Kasshu and his Shining Gundam had dominated until he'd retired two years before to take up a new career as an Expert of Justice. "I'm -really- looking forward to learning from your example," Sylvie went on in as sultry a tone as she could muster. "Uh... thanks," said Kasshu, while almost everyone else in the room concealed snickers except Priss, who didn't bother concealing hers, and Guy, who was too busy rolling his eyes. "I guess it's our turn to introduce ourselves," said Priss. "I'm Priss Morgan, and this is my twin brother Guy. The girl who's drooling on your shoes is Sylvie Daniels." "(I'm not drooling on his shoes!)" Sylvie muttered in a stage whisper. "(Bitch.)" "(Your tongue was hanging out any farther, you'd be able to tell how clean the floor is,)" Priss replied. "(Slut.)" "How do you do, everyone," said the fourth member of their group politely, bowing her curly blonde head. "I'm Mary Broadbank. Don't mind the twins, they do that all the time." "Guy wasn't doing anything," Rain protested, making the wiry redheaded boy's cheeks pinken a bit. "When anyone in our group says 'the twins'," he explained (a trifle shyly), "they usually mean Priss and Sylvie. I'm kind of an afterthought," he added with a grin. "Oh, and speaking of afterthoughts, let's go see the control room," said Corwin. "There are a couple more personnel waiting there that you need to meet." From the platform, it was a short trip through one of the tunnel complex's characteristic metal-clad corridors and through a power door into a room which reminded them all of a starship's bridge. It was a large round room whose walls were studded with control consoles; it had a central station like a captain's chair (though the captain's chair on most ship bridges lacks a desk) and two forward stations like those of a ship's helmsman and navigator, all of them looking toward a large expanse of blank wall bordered at floor and ceiling by the distinctive black tracks of holographic projector matrices. "Wow," said Guy, impressed. "Cool. What is it?" "It was -intended- to be the city defense coordination center," Corwin replied. "And that's pretty much what we'll be using it for." The main viewer field suddenly glowed to life, presenting them with the disconcerting image of a hugely magnified face. It was a pretty enough face, with big, bright green eyes and framed by honey-gold hair, but its sheer size was a little startling. It grinned out at them, revealing teeth that were even except for the lower left canine, which sat higher and poked out at a slight oblique angle, breaking up the face's symmetry. "Hi hi HI!" the face's rather grating voice blared from the room's PA speakers. "I'mgladyoufinallymadeitdownhere, wewerestarting- towonderifyouwereevergonnashowup! My name's Excel XL and I'll be your Facilities and Deployment Coordinator, whichmeansIrunthetunnelsystem! I'm sure we'll all work well together and become a great team to defend our city!" "Some of you have met Excel before," said Corwin with a faint air of fatigue. "She's the complex majordomo. Don't mind her voice, you'll get used to it." Excel backed away from the "camera" so that she could be seen from the waist up, put her fists on her hips, and made an offended hmphing noise. "I'll have you know I have a -lovely- voice!" she declared, then, to the horror of everyone involved, burst into "song": "OHHHH IIII've got a FEEEELing - that LOOOOOVE is HERE to STAAAAAY... " "Excel," said a soft voice from the "captain's chair", making everyone else jump, since with the seat turned with its high back toward them they hadn't realized anyone was in it. Excel stopped singing as though someone had thrown a switch, snapped to attention, and said with sparkling eyes, "Yes, my lord!" "Shut up," the soft voice replied. "Yes SIR! Excel is now SHUTTING UP, sir!" "Good girl." There was a rather awkward silence. "Uh," said Priss. "I know that voice," said Sylvie. Noriko Takaya unsuccessfully stifled a giggle. "Silence!" Excel barked. "You will KNEEL in the august presence of the Supreme Commander!" "Excel," said the soft voice again. To the consternation of everyone standing in the group by the door, a tassel-ended rope suddenly dropped from an opening in the ceiling, hanging within reach of the chair, and the grey-gloved hand of the person in the command chair appeared, almost but not quite grasping it. Excel gulped, virtual sweat breaking out on her forehead. "Yes, my lord?" "That memory wipe which you so desperately need is only a pull away," the voice, silky smooth and faintly dangerous, informed the machine intelligence. Sylvie Daniels hammered at her forehead with the heel of her hand, until Guy caught her wrist. Kei leaned against Dan Dastun, grabbing hold of the belt of his police trenchcoat in her attempt to remain standing. Noriko did the same with a handful of Domon Kasshu's red cloak. "Uh... y-yes, my lord," said Excel hurriedly. "On the other hand," the voice went on casually as the rope retracted into the ceiling, "it wouldn't hurt them to welcome me properly." Excel returned to attention (joggling interestingly - Priss cocked a glance at Corwin, wondering how much he'd had to do with that aspect of his virtual assistant's icon design), saluted snappily, and said to the group behind the chair, "Atten-HUT!" Some of them came to some semblance of attention, but most didn't (or couldn't - Noriko could still barely stand up, and Kei wasn't much better off) bother. Undaunted, Excel barked, "TREMBLE in the presence of the Supreme Commander... " With a soft whir of servos, the command chair rotated. Though, thanks to the room's half-lighting, it was in shadow, the new robot team could make out the shape of a man seated in it, a man wearing a broad-brimmed hat. As the chair finished turning, the man stood - and stood - and stood! - towering over the group. In the shadow of his hat brim, his eyes glittered coldly. Except for the eyes, he seemed, when standing, like a towering, featureless monolith, everything from hat to cape swathed straight to the floor in an all-concealing cloak. Then, in a sudden, explosive gesture, the man threw back his cloak with a sweep of one long arm, revealing a double row of gleaming buttons. As he did so, a pin spotlight in the ceiling above him snapped on, revealing him in a blaze of bright purple and making his coat's golden buttons sparkle as Excel, with a combination of reverence, awe and harsh command, pronounced his name: "LORD ILMARTELLO!" Martin Rose, the Grey Lensman popularly known as "The Hammer", towered there in silence for just a moment, his arm still extended from hurling back the sides of his cape, before his voice boomed through the command center. "THIS SPHERE IS CORRUPT!" he declared grandly, as a fanfare played in the background and Excel, eyes sparkling, fought bravely to keep from swooning outright. "Enemies from without and within daily scheme for our downfall, their every thought, their every effort aimed to dominate or destroy all which we hold dear! The people of this fair city seek refuge from the unceasing tides of evil, and cry out for JUSTICE! And, indeed, their cries have been heard - and have brought you here today. "For this day marks a new dawn in the Republic of Zeta Cygni! We stand at the threshold of a new age, an age of heroes, of champions, of hope reborn! And this hope is now given form - in -you-, my friends, the Avalon County Robot Offensive Support Service!" On the screen behind Hammer, Excel grinned and helpfully held up a sign bearing the corresponding acronym, and Sylvie palmed her face as he continued, "Together, we shall stand fast for all which is right and true! Together, we shall fight for justice - for the people - and for the GLORY of ACROSS!" With that said, he stood in silence once more, frozen in his final, flourishing gesture, letting them all bask in his impressiveness. /* Yoshifumi Ushima "Flying in the Sky" _Mobile Fighter G Gundam_ */ [ANIMATION NOTE: You've probably seen opening sequences like this before, on shows like "Dai-Guard", "G Gundam" itself (well, except the Toonami version - sigh), and so forth. It's got shots of the characters above fighting giant monsters with giant robots and hanging around headquarters and playing pranks on Guy and so forth. It's all very much in line with the whole "Hey guys! Let's go save the world! All RIGHT!" vibe I'm going for here. --G.] Eyrie Productions, Unlimited in association with Flying Yak Productions presents UNDOCUMENTED FEATURES FUTURE IMPERFECT KNIGHTS of AVALON h e a v y m e t a l s u p e r d e f e n s e f o r c e Episode 1: Great Justice! Rise Up, Magnificent Brave King! Benjamin D. Hutchins Martin F. Rose (c) 2003 Eyrie Productions, Unlimited "Together, we shall stand fast for all which is right and true! Together, we shall fight for justice - for the people - and for the GLORY of ACROSS!" With that said, he stood in silence once more, frozen in his final, flourishing gesture, letting them all bask in his impressiveness. Then everybody in the group cracked up laughing. His shoulders slumping comically, Rose reached up, tugged his scarf down to his chin, and grumbled, "I don't get no respect." "Ah, don't let those ingrates bug ya, Chief," Excel chirped helpfully. "ExCEL thought you were SUPER-awesome!" When the new group could breathe again, Rose smiled and said more conversationally, "Well. Now that we've got that out of the way: Welcome, one and all, to ACROSS Headquarters, nerve center for the city's last line of defense. When I'm not off playing Where In the Hell is Carmen Sandiego, I'll be here, helping Miss Broadbank, Miss Mikamura, and, of course, Excel coordinate their support efforts, in addition to serving as the group's charismatic and sharply-dressed spokesman." "-There's- your adult supervision, Rain," Noriko giggled. "The galaxy's tallest teenager." Hammer harrumphed mightily, gesturing to straighten a necktie he wasn't wearing. "I tell'ya, no respect. No respect at all." "Hold on a second here," said Priss. "We're supposed to provide mecha support on a scale that the WDF can't field, right?" "Right," Hammer confirmed with a nod. "Well," said Priss, "far be it from me to express doubts about the size of your equipment, Mr. Kasshu - " (here Sylvie made an odd choking sound) " - but isn't a Gundam a little -small- for our purposes?" Kasshu grinned. "Corwin, that sounds like a cue to move the meeting to the hangar." "Doesn't it, though," Corwin agreed. "OK, everybody, this way!" SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2409 OVER LAKE DANIELS AVALON COUNTY, ZETA CYGNI Three specialized aerospacecraft streaked low across the shimmering waters of Lake Daniels in the noonday sunlight, flying in a tight formation out across the lake. In the lead was a sleek scarlet arrowhead; following that came a spindly white craft with long trailing thruster modules, like a flying capital V; and bringing up the rear was a rounded, bulky yellow vehicle. Two experimental fighters escorting an experimental bomber, that would've been most observers' guess, seeing the three of them aloft; but there was no one to see them this far east of New Avalon. Well, almost no one. Back in New Avalon, in the ACROSS control room deep beneath the Entire State Building, Martin Rose, Rain Mikamura, Mary Broadbank, Kei, Noriko, Major Dastun, Corwin, and Kozue Kaoru watched the three vehicles on the master monitor, which was picking up the signal from a remote test observation camera being controlled by Excel. Noriko leaned over to murmur to Corwin, "These aren't the same ones Kozue used last month, are they?" Corwin shook his head. "They're a new set. Getter Robo G, the one Kozue used, was a prototype. Actually, it was the second set I designed, but I never built the first one - I tested the GS-Ride power core design and some of the main weapons on fixed-config units, you remember, a couple years ago, then went right to Getter G for the first full-up prototype." "We're taking the G-series machines with us on tour," Kozue noted, leaning across Corwin's chest to whisper to Noriko. "This is the third model." "It's an update of the original designs, adding in some things we learned during the G series test runs," Corwin added. "Hold on - here they go!" "Getter Eagle, this is Control," said Rain as she checked some readings on her left-front console. "We're ready when you are. All systems are showing green." "Roger that, Control," replied the voice of Domon Kasshu. "Getter Machines, check in." "Getter Jaguar, standby OK," Sylvie Daniels's voice crackled. "Getter Bear, standby OK," agreed the voice of Priss Morgan. "Getter Eagle, standby OK," said Kasshu. "Awaiting final test authorization." Rain turned in her chair and looked at Hammer, who stood in front of his command station with his arms folded. He nodded. "Let's get dangerous." "Getter Eagle, this is Control," Rain announced. "Commence Get, I repeat, commence Get." "Copy," said Kasshu. "Let's go, girls!" On the monitor, the three craft pulled up to a vertical climb, staying in their straight-line formation. "You think they can handle it?" Kozue murmured. "We'll soon find out," Corwin replied. She glanced at him and saw that he was fixed on the screen, his ice-blue eyes intent, as if he could help his half-sister and the other two testing the machine by sheer force of will. Then again, maybe he -could-. He -was- the god of mecha... Kozue shook her head. That aspect of her boyfriend always made her brain hurt a little. A moment later, Kasshu's voice crackled through the comm channel again: "CHANGE! GETTER ONE!" Instantly, the three Getter Machines' thrusters flamed out. Momentum carried the telescoping formation together, and as the machines approached each other, they began to transform. By the time they met, they had changed to radically different shapes, their components almost seeming to flow organically as exotic memory alloys and nanoreconstructed joints shifted into new configurations; then they crashed together, one-two-three, and all detail in the video signal was lost for a moment as a surge of bright green energy swept over the whole assemblage. When the glow faded, there was a giant red-and-white robot falling toward Lake Daniels. In general configuration, it resembled Getter Dragon, the form Kozue's Getter G had assumed after her heart-stopping change of mounts in the middle of the prom night battle, but it was clearly a different unit. Its lines were rounded - like its components' transformation, almost organic - and its coloration had rather more white. Its head had a V-shaped pair of "horns" atop rather than the Dragon's crown of spikes, and protruding from its scarlet-armored forearms were three gleaming, razor-edged, wickedly bent dagger strakes. Before anyone could note that Getter 1 was apparently plunging toward the water at terminal velocity, Kasshu's voice gave another call over the comm net: "Getter Wing!" A pair of great black bat wings appeared from the robot's back, spreading wide before tucking in close to the body, and Getter 1 pulled smoothly out of its dive. "Wow, Corwin," Noriko murmured. "That's kind of... satanic- looking. Not what I'd expect from one of your designs... " "Getter Machines are... weird," Corwin replied. "The way their reactors interact with their transmorphic systems, the final configurations are partially an expression of the G-stones that power them, and every G-stone is a little different. My designs for this set look almost identical to the original Getter Robo designs, which I showed you back when I drew them, but the stones in these machines came from a mine pretty close to Tenjou Academy... I think they might have been affected more than most by all the weird energy that got thrown around there a few years ago." "That didn't happen to Dai-Guard, though. It still looks the same as before you put the GS-Ride system in." "Right, that's because Dai-Guard isn't a Getter Machine. His configuration is fixed, he doesn't transform. Same with G-Kaiser and the early GS-Ride testbeds. And the Gao Machines only transform mechanically, they don't have any morphic technology in them like the Getters." "Oh. Weird." "I'm still understanding the technology myself," Corwin agreed. "One thing you can count on, though, is that any semisorcerous construct is going to have a few surprises... " "OK, you guys," said Priss's voice on the comm net. "Let's get busy - we've got a week to get this right or Corwin, Dorothy and Kozue will have to stay here to do this job for us!" Corwin grinned. "That's the spirit," he said, chuckling. The tests went on for days. The new crew of the machine Noriko rather darkly nicknamed "Getter Robo S" (which Sylvie prudently suggested they change to "Super Getter Robo" for the PR materials) tested all three modes and honed their skills at switching from mode to mode, which was trickier than it looked, especially on the fly. They also ran a lot of deployment tests; in the early attempts, Excel routed them to some truly creative places in the New Avalon area, including at one point setting up a tunnel route which disgorged Getter Jaguar two miles offshore at the bottom of Lake Daniels. (Even Gryphon, consulted by telephone, couldn't remember what the hell there was a tunnel way out there for.) Corwin, for his part, spent the week partly observing the tests of the Getter Machines and partly down in the ACROSS mech bay performing final static tests and adjustments to the -other- mainline combat system to be deployed by the service that summer. He wasn't actually certain he'd be able to have that system fully operational by the time he left New Avalon - the telescoped timetable for the S-Getter development following the prom night disaster had thrown everything out of whack - but if it wasn't ready, it wouldn't be for lack of effort on his part. THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2409 9:45 PM ACROSS EQUIPMENT HANGAR #17 UNDER NEW AVALON Kozue leaned against the doorframe and smiled at the familiar sight of Corwin at work. The engineer's head and arms were buried in the inner workings of a big double-bitted drill tank, one of the four odd pieces of machinery parked in this particular hangar. From inside, the sounds of metal on metal and occasional quiet curses could be heard as Corwin attempted to adjust something that didn't really want adjusting. The blue-haired girl didn't speak, didn't do anything to attract his attention or distract him. She merely leaned there in the doorway and watched him work, smiling fondly. She knew the Gao Machines weren't quite finished - their construction was complete, but they hadn't been tested except in simulation. Judging by those simulations, the machines would be pretty spectacular when they went into action. It was a strange system even by Corwin's standards, and that was causing more than the usual number of headaches in the development process. There was really nothing that could be -done- about that; the weirdness of the system had been dictated to Corwin by circumstance, more so than usual. At any rate, Kozue was confident that he would overcome these difficulties and succeed. After all, the alternative would have been to fail in a promise - a thing for which Corwin was not known. Over in the far corner of the hangar, the machine which had sparked all this in the first place slumbered, waiting. FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2409 10:15 AM GALLERY ISLAND, LAKE DANIELS AVALON COUNTY, ZETA CYGNI "OK, Guy. This'll be a simple operation test," said Corwin over the comlink. "We just want to make sure this is going to work." Out at the edge of the Gallery Island Test Range, Guy Morgan stood, arms folded, atop the head of his mecha-lion Galeon. He nodded, remembered that the com was audio only, and said, "No sweat, Corwin. Ready when you are." "OK. Proceed with Stage 1 at your discretion." Guy grinned. He was wearing his G-Armor, non-powered protective plating which he could summon at will using a system similar to that which his father used to store his infamous Griffin powersuit. This was the new model G-Armor he and his father had developed for ACROSS, and, though it still wasn't powered - power armor would just have slowed Guy down - it did contain a few fun surprises that the original suit had lacked. For instance, it had a thrusterpack built into its backplate. The pack was based on the standard thrusterpack used by the New Avalon Police Department's galactically famed jet cops, though it was neurally controlled instead of relying on hand controls like the standard NAPD pack. Guy now used it to throw himself into the air, speeding forward along the central track carved into the island's turf by decades of WDF Destroid and tank tests at an altitude of about a hundred feet. Galeon thundered after him, following him with a gait so smooth and natural that it could have been the movement of a real lion rather than a gigantic leonine robot. After covering about a quarter-mile this way, Guy pulled up into a vertical climb, then killed his thrusters and called Galeon's name. Galeon obediently dug in with his huge golden claws and leaped after him, the fusion turbines mounted at the mecha-lion's waist adding their thrust to his jump. "FUSION!" Guy commanded, and, in a maneuver which always startled uninitiated observers the first time it happened, the lion intercepted his aerial course and swallowed him whole, its golden jaws slamming shut behind him. Galeon's structure then began to transform, shifting mechanically into a new configuration so that by the time the combination of lion and man hit the ground again, it was in a humanoid shape about the size of a Gundam-scale Destroid. "GAIGAR!" the combined mechanoid cried in a metallic version of Guy's own voice as it skidded to a halt on the turf and took up a Panzerkunst ready stance. "Good!" said Corwin. "OK, now we'll start you out with some easy stuff." He nodded to Mary Broadbank, who was seated at the second of the two main consoles in the ACROSS command center. Mary grinned and punched a key which activated several range target drones. They came out of the trees on either side of the roadway, half a dozen old WDF RX-7 Machine Weapon light Destroids with equally old GU-11 gunpods. The gunpods were loaded with paint rounds and the RX-7s themselves were operated from the command center by computer (a dedicated battle simulation computer, fortunately, not Excel). As they moved in, Gaigar's flex-metal face grinned a perfect analog of Guy's cocky grin, and then the mechanoid burst into motion, Galeon's golden foreclaws swinging down and locking into position over his fists. Within a few seconds, all six of the target drones were disabled, parts of them scattered all over the surrounding landscape, and Galeon was moving on to the next area. "All righty," said Corwin, watching the master monitor with satisfaction. "Let's move on to Phase 2." Rain Mikamura, at Console 1, nodded and plied the keyboard of her master command station. "Gao Machines operational and ready." "Excel, if you please?" "Roger!" Excel replied perkily. "Now planning optimal tunnel delivery paths for Gao Machines 1, 2 and 3! Lesseelesseelessee... how about the Carver's Island Tunnel for Liner Gao!" Below the city of New Avalon, people standing on the N subway platform at Lakeshore Drive Station were momentarily puzzled when protective barricades of decorative steel grating popped out of the floor at the platform's edge, sealing the waiting people off from the train tracks. Then they noted the large train-status display monitors turning red and flashing the word "EXPRESS - NOT STOPPING THIS STATION", and some of them felt enlightened. They were more puzzled a moment later, when, with a blare of its horn, a 500-series maglev bullet train - not the sort of equipment one tended to see in the subway - roared through, sending a blast of wind through the safety grating which set hats and newspapers to flying and citizens to cursing. "Lookout Mountain sounds right for Stealth Gao!" Excel continued, pushing a large button on the virtual "wall of buttons" she'd caused to resolve "behind" her. Up at the top of the rather small mountain overlooking New Avalon from the west, a young couple who had been enjoying the view watched in awe as a door opened in the side of the mountain a short way downslope from their vantage point. Holographic projectors drew guidelines in the air, extending outward from the corners of the opening which resulted - just like the system found on many starfighter carriers. A moment later, the dark wing shape of an old-fashioned stealth bomber shot out from within the mountain and soared over the city, heading out over Lake Daniels. "And Drill Gao... well... Drill Gao will take care of itself," Excel mused. "All right, Guy," Corwin said into the com. "Proceed to second phase." "OK!" Guy replied. Then he raised his voice to a shout and called, "GAO MACHINES!" Within moments, the three machines answered his call. Stealth Gao swooped low overhead, then winged over, sunlight sparkling from its row of green-tinted cockpit windows, and began to circle expectantly. Liner Gao emerged from the WDF Proving Grounds railway tunnel and paced Gaigar, who was running alongside the tracks at this point. At the south end of Gallery Island, the drill tank Corwin had been working on earlier suddenly burst from the side of a hill, trailing rocks and tree roots behind it as it raced down the road to catch up with Gaigar. "All right," said Corwin. "Let's try the secondary modes first, and if everything goes well and Guy's up for it, we'll test the final phase today." 9:17 PM HANGAR 17 Corwin frowned up at the damage he saw on the mecha in the disassembly rack - buckled plates, stripped spline connectors, bent structural shafts - and jotted a few notes on one of his ever-present sketch pads. "The system's even more powerful than I thought," he mused, shaking his head glumly. "Powerful enough that it can do damage like -this- just by doing everything -right-. I'm going to have to retool most of the join points, make the connectors out of even sturdier materials... the power systems need a lot of work too. It's still drawing on Guy's own energy more than I'm comfortable with." He sighed. "There's no way I'm going to be able to leave with things in this kind of shape. I'd better call Zed and see if he can - " He stopped not because he'd had another thought, but because Rain Mikamura had reached over and casually plucked the notepad from his hands. Then, smiling, she put a hand on his shoulder, turned him, and propelled him toward the door. "Go on with you," she said. "I can see what needs to be done too, and I'll make sure it -gets- done. You've done your part by just getting the system operational in time. We can handle the refinement process from here out." Corwin blinked. "Are you sure?" he asked as she continued pushing him gently toward the door, walking along behind with her hand on his shoulder. "I hate to run out and leave you with a half-working weapons system - " Rain bopped him good-naturedly on the head with his notebook. "I've got your notes, and I don't want to affront you, Lord Corwin, but I -am- a passable mech-tech myself," she said wryly. "I didn't mean to imply you weren't," Corwin said, "but I promised Guy - " "You promised Guy you'd build him the strongest robot in the world, and I think you've delivered," Rain replied. "The fine details you can leave to us." Corwin stopped at the small door leading to the subcorridor with the elevator. "Well," he said, turning to face her, "if you're sure... " Rain grinned. "I'm sure," she said firmly. Then, to his mild surprise, she ruffled his hair, then leaned and kissed him on the cheek before saying, "Now go pack and have a good time this summer. We'll see you in September." Corwin, persuaded, acquiesced and left. Standing by the side of the Drill Gao, Sylvie Daniels folded her arms and made a disgruntled little noise. "Look at that. Putty in her hands," she grumbled. "What's Rain got that I haven't got?" "Domon," replied Priss Morgan offhandedly from the other end of the drill tank, where she stood perusing a fusion turbine maintenance manual. Sylvie threw a wrench at her, knowing as she did so that Priss would do exactly what she did in response, which was to reach up without looking away from the manual and snatch it out of the air long before it ever reached her head. Testing and training went on for the next few weeks, while a truly beautiful summer unfolded in New Avalon. Hammer set up an on-call schedule, once Excel got the hang of routing people and equipment properly through the system, and Rain worked on correcting the problems with the Gao Machines. Until such time as she was satisfied in the Gao System's performance, Getter Robo S would be the preferred response machine in the event of a kaiju incident. By July, there hadn't been any, and, though he wasn't particularly inclined to wish for trouble, Martin Rose had to admit that his troops were getting bored, and they had a right to be. It was a bummer being on call all the time, especially when nothing happened. So, one beautiful morning, Hammer bit the bullet, called every emergency backup he could think of and put them all on standby, and then gave his permission for the Getter Team to go to the beach. This, of course, sent a sub-etheric signal for every gigantic force of evil in the Cygnus sector to attack New Avalon. Well, all right, that might be an exaggeration; but it was the first thing Lord Ilmartello thought of when the alarms started going off. TUESDAY, JULY 7, 2409 NEW AVALON, ZETA CYGNI Rain Mikamura was already in her seat at the master control station when the center platform with the command seat on it dropped out of the ceiling with a hydraulic hiss, bearing with it the cloaked and hatted figure of the Supreme Commander. "Agent Mikamura, report the situation," he inquired as he made his appearance. Rain sighed just slightly - the boss was getting a bit too much into the whole play-along-with-Excel thing - and replied, "High-energy event in the dockyard district. Computer analysis makes it a 60% probability of being a K-unit activation." "Only 60?" "The energy signature is different from the ones recorded on prom night," Rain noted, punching a few keys and comparing the field diagrams by eye, "but those aren't very good recordings, really. They were picked up by dynanodes at NAIS, but the experimenters weren't actually -trying- to monitor the city for strange energy events. We're lucky we have them at all." "I see. Have we received any backup data?" "Checking now... " A moment later, the main screen flashed and Excel appeared, looking excited. "Lord Ilmartello!" she blared. "There's a priority call for you on the - " She was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Dan Dastun, whose image blotted her out; as he began to speak, she elbowed his window into a corner of the viewer with an annoyed expression. "ACROSS Control, this is Major Dastun," he said. "A kaiju-class hostile has just appeared in the waterfront district." "Backup data confirmed," said Rain wryly. "Very well. Major, mobilize your conventional forces and contain the threat as best you can. ACROSS shall assist immediately." "Roger, Control. Dastun out." With Dastun's window gone, Hammer returned his attention to the screen's remaining occupant. "Excel, get me Admiral Takaya." Excel (suddenly dressed in the brass-buttoned blue-and-white uniform of a WDF vice-admiral) snapped to attention and saluted, then conjured a window which showed ... an empty desk. As Rose cocked an eyebrow in puzzlement, Excel patched into the camera in Grand Admiral Noriko Takaya's datastation and panned it up, then slowly across the admiral's office. By this process, the ACI eventually located the office's owner, who was standing on what looked like three Avalon County telephone directories and leaning forward with her elbows on the ledge of her office window, presenting the most flattering possible view of the seat of a WDF flag officer's uniform trousers to the camera. "Whoa!" said Excel, recoiling in surprise from the comm window. "Grand Admiral got -back-!" Back ain't all what Grand Admiral got, Ilmartello did not say aloud, but instead cleared his throat with a mighty harrumph and queried, "Admiral?" She didn't appear to hear him; very quietly, since she was some distance away from the audio pickup, he heard her making an impressed sort of "ooooh" noise. He tried again, a little louder: "Admiral?" Again she didn't hear him, now craning to see whatever she was looking at a bit better. "'RIKO!" Hammer bellowed, then winced as the diminutive figure jumped in surprise, causing the stack of phone books she was standing on to shift and collapse. As it collapsed, however, she jumped up, kicked lightly off the window ledge, turned a graceful backward somersault, and landed off-camera on something that didn't make a crash. A moment later she slid behind her desk, readjusting the camera by hand, and said, "Sorry, Marty, I was just about to call you. This one's a nasty-looking bruiser. I think it's bigger than the ones we fought in May." "Dandy," said Hammer, slumping. "Just dandy." "What's the matter?" Noriko asked. "I let the kids go to the beach this morning," said Hammer with a sigh. Noriko sat back in her desk chair with the sort of indulgent but chiding look women reserve for men and particularly dumb dogs whom they love anyway. "Oh, -Marty-," she said. "Yeah, yeah, I know," he protested with a hand clenched over half his face. "But you can't leave that crew on an on-call tether all summer when there's jack for diddly going on. They were bored outta their gourds and I don't blame 'em! It was either let them go to the beach," he added darkly, "or they were going to get rid of all their nervous energy some -other- way." "Mm. Good point. Well, OK, no problem. I'm on the backup list for a reason, right? Gimme five minutes and I'll - " "That won't be necessary," another voice interrupted, and the screen divided (much to the consternation of Excel, who had to duck to avoid being bisected by the diagonal break-line) to show the face of Guy Morgan. His face was framed by the gold of his G-Armor's helmet, and slightly distorted by the fisheye effect of his wrist comm unit's video pickup. "I'll go, Commander," said Guy. "I'm ready." "I don't doubt that -you're- ready," said Hammer, "but it's my understanding that your equipment... " Guy's expression was so fierce and determined that the Supreme Commander trailed off, then turned to Rain with a questioning look. "I'll take him with Gaigar," Guy replied. "I should at least be able to hold him until you can get the others back." Sensing Hammer's hesitation, the redhead went on, "Commander, we need to show the world - the galaxy! - that we can handle these things. Big Fire, or whoever else may be controlling these things, has to know that ACROSS is up to the task of stopping them here without running to Grand Admiral Takaya for help every time." With that to chew on, Lord Ilmartello rested his chin thoughtfully in the crook of thumb and forefinger for a moment, scowling; then he nodded. "Very well," he told Guy, adding with a cape-furling flourish, "Go, and let our foes feel the wrath of ACROSS!" The redheaded young man's face broke into a bright, triumphant grin before sobering again as he declared, "GALEON! FUSION!" Green light started surrounding him as his comm window vanished. Isolating his channel to WDF Headquarters, Rose added to Noriko as an aside, "I think you'd better warm up G-Kaiser anyway. He's a good kid and his heart's in the right place, but his determination might be writing a check his gear can't cash. It's genetic." Noriko nodded. "Gotcha - but I won't go into action unless he's in serious danger. He's right about ACROSS - we have to prove that the main force is credible." "Agreed. We'll keep you posted, Admiral. ACROSS Control out. Excel! Though they may not return soon enough to assist young Mr. Morgan, we'd best recall the others, just in case. Patch me through." Sylvie Daniels lay on the beach on the northwestern shore of Lake Daniels, almost but not quite asleep, her semiconscious mind plotting and scheming. She had just about figured out a method by which she could finally get everything she wanted out of life without messing anybody else's up -too- bad when something nearby made an annoying beep and woke her fully up. When that happened, of course, the whole plan vanished like smoke in a stiff breeze, which left her in a slightly irritable mood as she rummaged in her beach bag for the beeping thing. Eventually, she found it, a silver disc about the size of a makeup compact (not that Sylvie would ever have owned such a thing, or taken it to the beach if she had). She pressed her thumb down on the blinking red face of it, then, as a demonstration of her annoyance, tossed it in a random fashion onto the sand in front of her. Priss and Mary both sat up (Priss rising to a sort of semi-lotus position while Mary remained mostly on her back, just propped up on her elbows enough to see) as the disc glowed and then manifested an image of the Supreme Commander of ACROSS from its face. Unfortunately, since the disc had landed rather haphazardly on the churned-up beach sand, said image was canted at a jaunty twenty-odd degrees to port. Also unfortunately, it was facing the wrong way. "(are we on?)" the flickery holo of Ilmartello, its colors washed out by the bright sunlight, muttered. "(on as you get, Chief!)" replied the stage-whispering, unmistakable raspy squeak of Excel. "(you're sure?)" "(transmitting as we speak!)" "(oh.)" With that, Ilmartello cleared his throat explosively again, straightening into a declamatory pose. "FAITHFUL MINIONS OF ACROSS!" he declared to the trackless vastness of Lake Daniels with a grand, sweeping gesture that did impressive things to his cloak. "Much as it -pains- me to make this announcement, I fear that your long-overdue vacation has been - " "(uh, Chief?)" "(what -is- it, Excel, can't you see I'm busy addressing the troops?)" "(you gotta remember to look at your direction indicator. the beach is thataway.)" "(... crap.)" Rose made an adjustment to something outside the holopickup's field of view, and a moment later the pickup panned around so that the image of the Supreme Commander was facing his subordinates instead of the lake. (That's the problem with a one-way-image communication system.) Repeating the sweep of his arm for the benefit of his presumed audience, he began anew. "FAITHFUL MIN - " "We got that part," Sylvie interrupted. "And we got the 'day off's been canned' part, too, dammit." "So what's the deal?" Priss chimed in. "Something finally happening down there?" "...er. Indeed there is," Hammer resumed after a moment's falter. "It appears that the first serious challenger for our illustrious fighting force has chosen today for its debut. Major Dastun is doing what he can to contain it until ACROSS can intervene." "Well, -fuck-," Sylvie hissed, pushing herself up only moments behind Priss. "Figures, turn your back for a minute and everything goes to Hell." "What do we know about it so far?" Mary asked, slowly taking to her feet. "Precious little, I'm afraid," Ilmartello replied. "An energy emission was detected that would indicate our foe is another K-unit, like the ones that appeared after the prom. However, an eyewitness report from the Admiral claims this one is larger than those." "Eyewitness report?" Priss quirked an eyebrow. "She's already out fighting it?" "No, she could see it from her office. G-Kaiser is presently on standby." "I'd hope she's not still standing by," Mary noted as she folded her beach blanket, "or we won't have much of a city to get back to. Dastun's tanks won't be able to hold back a K-unit." "Which is why we need you back at HQ with all speed," Hammer nodded. "In your absence, I'm afraid our only active response unit is going it alone." "Wait," Priss said, turning away from the task of repacking her beach bag. "-What- response unit? Domon's still asleep right where I buried him!" "But that just leaves Rain," Mary said quietly. "Well, her and - " Sylvie began, but then abruptly choked on the next word as she shared a look of wide-eyed panic with Priss. "Yes," Hammer noted darkly. "Guy Morgan has volunteered to tackle the K-unit to the best of Gaigar's current ability. However, since Gaigar is still in the process of being fitted with compatible weapons systems - a task which, sadly, Agent Mikamura hasn't had the time to complete in Corwin's stead - I fear our intrepid young warrior may be rushing into a situation he cannot properly handle. Your assistance would be appreciated with due haste. " ..... Hello?" "I think they left, Chief." "Oh. ... Well! We await your quick return, then. ACROSS Control out." With those parting words duly accepted by the trio of abandoned beach bags, the hologram winked out. As such, the holo unit was dormant when Sylvie came racing back, grabbed it, threw it into her bag, scooped up the bags, and then, cursing semicoherently, went to kick Domon awake. ----->EYECATCH [STING MUSIC: Last 14 seconds of Loudness's "Soldier of Fortune"] KNIGHTS of AVALON h e a v y m e t a l s u p e r d e f e n s e f o r c e [IMAGE: Domon, Sylvie and Priss in Dynamic Action Poses, kind of like that one bit of the "Excel Saga" opening credits, with Star of Avalon and S-Getter Machines in background ] ----->ACT 2 Noriko was right, Guy mused as he moved Gaigar into position against the new K-unit. It -is- bigger than the ones they fought in May. It was fancier, too. The original series of K-units had been mostly featureless grey things, with smooth armor roughly the color of weathered asphalt and no real features that could be called part of a deliberate external design concept. This one had the suggestions of shapes and angles to its plating, and hints of a face where the originals had just been blank. Its color was darker, with just a hint of blue, and it sported some vestigial stripes and accents of a dull, muted gold hue. It seemed an odd sort of thing for the designers of such a thing to focus on, but there it was. The thing was also enormous, towering over Gaigar in a most intimidating fashion. Undaunted, Guy put his machine in motion, banking on his advantages against those of the K-unit. He was confident of several, all of them in the speed/agility category; against that, it was obvious that the K-unit would have the advantages of much greater strength and durability. The K-unit turned toward him, its head cocking quizzically as it sized him up. For a couple of seconds nothing happened; then it seemed to satisfy itself that he was, in fact, a threat of some kind, and moved to attack. The attack came faster than Guy had expected; the unit's right arm lashed forward and three cables shot from ports above its hand, streaking across the space between the two robots with incredible speed. Gaigar lunged sideways; the nearest of the three cables glanced off the white robot's left pauldron with a WHANG and a burst of sparks before all three carved ugly furrows up the front of an office building. "I'll try and lure it back toward the lake," Guy announced; then he sprinted toward the monster. It retracted its cables and then tried again. This time Gaigar extended the golden claws over his right hand and deflected the cables around himself, continuing his charge - - they reacted to the deflection by wrapping around Gaigar's shoulders, converting instantly from ranged attack to grappling maneuver. Guy's charge ended in a cry of consternation as the K-unit reared its arm back and then flung Gaigar overhand, releasing him at the peak of the throw and propelling him a good distance toward the waterfront. Gaigar tumbled in midair and stopped his headlong flight with a blast from his waist-mounted thrusters, making a controlled landing on the roof of a low concrete building. Guy had noticed it earlier and wondered what it was; it was slab-sided and squat, built almost like a bunker, and generally not the sort of thing you tended to expect on a waterfront. "Guy, get it away from that building!" Rain's voice rang through the comm system. "That's a WDF Armory ammunition storage facility, it's full of high explosives!" When Guy and Galeon underwent Fusion, Guy had no sense of being in a cockpit controlling a machine. His perceptions blended with Gaigar's entirely, so that it was as if he himself had become a metallic giant. This made the transition of his personal battle skills to his robot even more efficient than that experienced by Mobile Trace pilots, and it also meant that Gaigar's Transformer-like flex-metal face wore whatever expression Guy would have worn under the circumstances. As such, the robot's face had a look of mingled consternation and horror as the K-unit rounded the corner at the end of Shoreside Drive, raised its left hand, and fired at him with what looked, by its discharge, to be a cluster of particle projection cannons. As Gaigar leaped, thrusters howling - the robot couldn't really fly, but its thrusters could propel it in some very impressive jumps - Guy's voice screamed over the commnet: "STEALTH GAO!" "Lookout Mountain, route clear OK! Stealth Gao, launch!" Excel replied in a tone so businesslike it visibly startled both Rain and Hammer in the control room. The cluster-PPC barrage tore into the WDF Armory ammo bunker, which had mainly been designed to safeguard what was -outside- against the stuff -inside- blowing up. Cracked like an egg, the structure didn't even serve that purpose very well when the stockpiled General Purpose Missiles inside cooked off. Gaigar, still ascending, vanished inside the ensuing fireball. An instant later, a wing-shaped shadow flickered through the blast, almost too fast for the naked eye to pick it up. The K-unit turned away from the burning corner of the waterfront, intending to resume its march downtown, when it found itself headed off by a platoon of New Avalon Armored Police Panzer anti-gravity tanks, the sleek Asgardian-hybrid war machines almost everyone in the Standard-speaking world called Game Tanks. These, as befit their police ownership, sported blue highlights and a bit of gold trim. Standing up in the commander's cupola of the lead Game Tank, Major Dan Dastun picked up the handset mic for his tactical radio and roared, "Don't let that bastard get downtown! ALL TANKS - OPEN FIRE!" The tanks did as instructed, their C-Hellbore plasma cannons spitting chevrons of destruction at the monstrous K-unit. The unit hesitated for a moment as though assessing the impact of these weapons; they were damaging its armor, but not terribly much. It would take a good long time for Hellbore fire to chip away enough to amount to any significant damage. It started walking again. Cursing, Dastun ordered his tanks into a firing retreat, backing away from the advancing unit while still blazing with all the Hellbore fire they could muster. The K-unit seemed to be annoyed by this; it paused again, then raised its arm and lashed out with those three cables, sending them streaking toward the tank on the left wing of the V formation. The wing shape flashed by overhead, and from underneath it plummeted a familiar form. Gaigar, a bit scorched but intact, intercepted the cables before they reached their target, his golden claws flashing down to deflect all three downward into the pavement. They tore into the street, screeching and sparking against Gaigar's claws; then the shrieking sound reversed itself as the K-unit retracted the claws again. The unit turned, presenting its PPC cluster. "DRILL GAO!" Gaigar roared. "Tunnel 264, emergency! Drill Gao - GO!" Excel barked, and an instant later, the pavement underneath the K-unit's feet shook, then buckled, then crumbled. The unit lost its footing, stumbling backward, as the black and scarlet form of Drill Gao burst up from the ground, its twin golden drills spinning and shedding great sprays of gravel and torn asphalt. Then, engines revving, the drill tank reversed, backing rapidly toward Gaigar, who ran foward to meet it. As they converged, the tank divided into two narrow, single-track, single-bit tanks; panels and hatches slid aside, reconfiguring them, and booster jets caused both to hop into the air as Gaigar reached them. They clanged into place and locked onto the robot's forearms, converting into massive drill-tipped gauntlets. This was a trick which had been added during the second retooling, based on the effectiveness of Getter 2's drill attacks. It had never been used in battle testing. Guy energized both drills and drove himself forward with all possible speed. Gaigar's gold-clawed feet tore chunks out of the damaged street as the robot charged the K-unit, drills screaming. At the last moment, he threw on a burst of thruster power, driving the right-hand drill forward with all his might. It rammed into the K-unit's lower chest, sending chunks of the unit's armor scattering in all directions as it bit in with a deafening growl. The K-unit twisted, bringing its right arm down in a sweeping attack, but Gaigar blocked it with his left-hand drill, whose spinning bit chewed a jagged furrow in the K-unit's forearm. That unfortunately still left the unit with one free arm, which it brought down heavily upon Gaigar's head. Staggered, the white robot stumbled back. The K-unit coiled and delivered a street-shaking side-on kick which send Gaigar bouncing down the street, the halves of Drill Gao automatically detaching to prevent massive connector damage as Gaigar rolled and tumbled uncontrollably. Gaigar rolled to the end of his flight, nearly crushing one of Dastun's tanks, and then got slowly to his feet, his structure heaving as though he were winded, one arm folded over his chest while the other hung at his side. "Tough bastard, aren't you," Guy muttered, his voice metallically amplified by Gaigar. "Well, I'm not out of tricks quite yet. LINER GAO!" "Liner Gao, rolling! Shoreside Bypass clear!" Excel snapped. Gaigar charged the K-unit again, evading the cables, then booster-leapt over a blast from the unit's PPC cluster and took a swing at its head. It took a step back to avoid the claws, retracting its attack cables for another try, and stepped exactly where Guy wanted it to. A moment later, with a blare of its whistle, a blue and white 500-series maglev bullet train streaked down the rail tracks crossing Shoreside Drive - tracks normally used for waterfront freight handling, not passenger trains - and clipped the K-unit's right heel with its armored prow. The unit hadn't been standing with its foot fully across the tracks, so the damage was minimal, but the impact was unexpected; as Liner Gao raced the rest of the way past, sporting only a scuff mark or two on its nose cone, the K-unit crashed to the ground on its back. Gaigar sprang in to capitalize on the opportunity, but the K-unit moved too fast. The next PPC-cluster blast caught Gaigar square in the lion's mouth on his chest, sending him up and over backward to skid down the street. He lay crumpled against the facade of a bank for a moment, smoke rising from under his bent-over form. Then, as the K-unit got to its feet, so did Gaigar, slowly and painfully but steadily. Galeon's golden face was streaked with soot but otherwise appeared undamaged. "I don't like the looks of Gaigar's energy consumption rate," Rain mused worriedly. "We still don't have that feedback problem in the GS-Ride energy interface solved." "ETA of Getter Team?" "Six minutes." Hammer nodded. "Tell him." "Guy, just hang on. Domon, Priss and Sylvie will be here in six minutes. Just slow it down as much as you can." "Roger," Guy replied. For four masterful minutes, Guy Morgan proved why he was an able student of the Panzerkunst, Alita Ironheart's Armored Arts. He used every bit of his skill, training, agility, and luck; every bit of help that the three Gao Machines, operating semi-autonomously, could give him; and every bit of Gaigar's power, to dance just on the edge of disaster against the K-unit, keeping it away from the tanks and the buildings while giving up ground on Shoreside Drive only slowly. His luck couldn't hold forever, though, and at last, the cables caught him again - only this time, instead of winding Gaigar up and throwing him, they seized him, constricting, while searing energy poured down them. This was the same attack which had been used with such great effect against Big O, nearly immobilizing the Rune God of Iron before Kozue Kaoru could intervene with Getter Robo G - and Big O was a much more powerful robot than Gaigar. Gaigar screamed, dropping to one knee, as he clutched at the cables and tried ineffectively to pull them away. Back at ACROSS Control, Rain's panel went mad with alarms, every display flashing red. "Guy, get out of there!" she declared. "Your energy consumption level is rising out of control! Decouple and -get out-!" "No!" Guy replied, his voice charged with emotion. "I won't abandon Galeon! I will NOT LOSE to this THING!" A moment later, one more red flashing light and howling alarm joined the chorus. This one was different, and signified not a malfunction but a command input. The light that flashed with this siren was not just a light, but a button under a glass panel marked WARNING. Her eyes wide with worry, Rain turned to the command podium and said, in a voice that barely carried over the sounds of the alarms, "Commander, we have a Final Fusion request from Gaigar." Martin Rose tapped at his chin with his forefinger again, scowling deeply. "Chances of success?" Rain turned back to her screens, shook her head, and turned back. "Of the three computer models, the best shows 71%. Average is 57%. Too low, -much- too low. We've never achieved Final Fusion except under -ideal- conditions - the system still needs too much work." Lord Ilmartello considered for a second longer, then nodded once, sharply. "Approve the request." Rain blinked. "WHAT?! Sir, at these power consumption rates, it may -kill- him, and the chances of success - " "Are -irrelevant-," Ilmartello replied, his voice soft but commanding all her attention nonetheless. "Your models account for the factors they know, but they cannot cope with the one great unknowable - the indomitable flame of courage burning in Agent Morgan's heart!" The Supreme Commander went on, his voice rising as he warmed to the topic. "The odds are heavily against him, but they only exist so that he may rise to -beat- them! Guy will prevail, Agent Mikamura - for he is a HERO. He will make up your missing 43% because he MUST!" The Supreme Commander drew himself up to his full, impressive height and seemed somehow to widen slightly the span of his chest as he drew his shoulders back and declared, "FINAL FUSION... " Then he threw his cloak back, drawing briefly into himself before expanding again and extending one rigid finger toward the Tech Officer's console. "APPROVED!" (On a corner monitor, Excel swooned, hands clasped under her chin, eyes huge and liquid, tears of ecstasy streaming down her face in twin rivers.) Rain looked troubled for a second, then shook herself out of it and replied, "Roger, Commander." She tapped a sequence of keys on her master control, causing the five lines next to Guy, Galeon, Stealth Gao, Liner Gao and Drill Gao on the main status monitor to switch from "FUSION" (in the case of the first two or "IND. OPERATION" (in the case of the latter three) to "PREPARATION". "Final Fusion... " said Rain; then she seemed to gather herself before taking the final step. Suddenly exploding into motion, she raised her fist above her head, and with a furious shout of "PROGRAM DRIVE!" she brought it smashing down on the glass WARNING panel, crushing it and pressing the button beneath. Instantly all five lines on the master monitor went red and switched to DRIVE; then the master monitor diagram was replaced by a flashing alert graphic: PROGRAM DRIVE GAOGAIGAR Dan Dastun honestly believed that he was about to see one of ACROSS's kid pilots get killed in the very first engagement, proving all of his fears about the advisability of the organization. Gaigar was visibly sagging, his optics dimming, his struggles against the constricting cables becoming weak and fitful. All of that changed suddenly and dramatically when (though Dastun didn't know it) Rain smashed her fist down on that button. Deep inside Gaigar, the GS-Ride system pulsed, then flared, delivering huge quantities of energy. This energy was matched by greater power outputs in the three Gao Machines' reactors as well, and all of it resonated across the gaolith which sorcery had made part of Guy Morgan's own being. Dastun's eyes flew wide as the power suddenly and visibly rushed through Gaigar's frame. The beleaguered mechanoid wrenched himself backward, pulling the cables as taut as possible, and suddenly his arm had more than enough strength to shear them clean off with his gleaming gold claws and free him. Jets blaring, he leaped into the air, hands open at his sides, and the defiant cry of "FINAL FUSION!" rang out in Guy's metallic voice. Dastun saw little more of the process, since at that call, Gaigar seemed to become a tornado of greenish energy, the GS-Ride energy bursting outward in a visible wavefront to surround and protect the mechanoid during the last phase of his transformation. The K-unit lunged forward, but its attack bounced away from the swirling vortex of energy as though it had struck an adamantine wall. Inside the maelstrom, Galeon's mouth swung wide on Gaigar's chest, roaring out a signal. Outside, the three Gao Machines reacted. Drill Gao dove into the street near the hole from its original appearance. Liner Gao, appearing on the Shoreside Bypass again, jumped the tracks, crashed through the fence, and came straight down the street. The train and the diving Stealth Gao both passed through the barrier which barred the K-unit's way as though it weren't there. In the eye of the storm, Guy exulted as Gaigar's body transformed, changing from a stand-alone robot to the core of a larger creation. The three Gao Machines joined with it. Drill Gao divided to form the legs; Liner Gao drove through Gaigar's center body to form broad, up-canted shoulders; Stealth Gao settled onto Gaigar's back like a cape, covering up the mechanoid's folded-back arms while its engines joined with struts from Liner Gao to form powerful new limbs. Components meshed, reconfigured, outgassed and drove together in an arcane technological dance which Dastun, outside the vortex, could only hear. It sounded like a bit like a train wreck and a bit like he imagined a building's construction would sound if you sped it all up to take only a few seconds. He tried to imagine what was going on in there and failed completely. A moment later he no longer had to wonder, as the vortex suddenly blew away, vanishing in a cloud of short-lived sparkling motes to reveal a titan standing where Gaigar had, moments before, been seconds away from utter defeat. The machine standing where Gaigar had been was primarily black, not white, but it sported just enough common design features to be recognizable, the most prominent being the unmistakable golden lion's head on the chest. This was now surrounded by an elaborate mane of gold and scarlet plates. Stealth Gao's nose-down wing shape was unmistakable on his back, and Drill Gao's golden drills now jutted up from the knees of his blocky black lower legs. Chunky round forearms cuffed with red stripes ended in powerful-looking fists. Though the head was now a black helmet reminiscent of some giant techno-samurai, the six-sided G-stone on the forehead and the gleaming scarlet optics above the segmented half-mask were clearly Gaigar's. This immense machine, roughly the same size as the kaiju-class defenders who had preserved New Avalon from the first K-units in May, was still not as large as the unit it faced now, but it was a great deal closer to its opponent's scale as it bashed its green-lightning- wreathed fists together and roared in Guy's metallicized voice, "GAO - GAI - GAAAAR!" The K-unit stepped back, raised its PPC cluster, and fired. Gaogaigar's left hand snapped up palm outward, projectors glowing and vents outgassing on his barrel-shaped forearm, as Guy cried, "PROTECTIVE SHIELD!" The braided skein of PPC fire hit nothing a few feet out from the giant robot's palm. Deflected through a series of complex contours in the layered shield effect projected by it, the bolt drew a five-pointed star afterimage on Dastun's retina before exploding back out of the field and ripping into the K-unit's own upper arm. The unit stumbled back, smoke rolling from the wound, as the PPC cluster sparked and then burst. As it fell back, Gaogaigar's right fist and forearm began to rotate in opposite directions, slowly at first, then faster and faster until details blurred away and the whole assembly started to glow with a bright yellow light. Then the robot brought the fist around as if throwing a punch, and as Guy let out another mighty yell ("BROKEN MAGNUM!"), it rocketed free from Gaogaigar's upper arm on a fountain of green-tinged thrusterfire. The counter-rotating spin element was an innovation which had come to Corwin while he was developing the modular weapons systems that turned Gaigar into Gaogaigar. It increased the range, power and accuracy of the standard "rocket fist" attack by almost double, albeit at the expense of being able to do anything clever with the hand in flight, as Noriko Takaya had done with G-Kaiser's during the prom night battle. It also made the projectile harder to intercept. That last advantage served Guy well as the K-unit, retreating as fast as it could, unleashed its cable weapon in an attempt to knock down the fist en route. The cables hit unerringly, lashing against the flying projectile, but they only sparked and skidded away from the rapidly spinning armor, fanning disjointedly outward as the Broken Magnum bored remorselessly in. It hit the K-unit square in the chest, skidded down to the abdomen with an ear-splitting shriek, then punched clean through the unit's midsection before flying up in a great arc and returning to Gaogaigar's shoulder with a clang. "Too low, Guy!" Rain called on the tactical band. "The core is probably in its chest, and you won't stop it unless you destroy that!" Gaogaigar set himself and nodded, mimicking what his pilot would have done. "Its chest armor's too thick for the Broken Magnum!" he replied. "Whoever makes these things learned something from the last battle too. I'll try to take it close-in!" he added, charging in to hand-to-hand range. The robot's agility was inevitably reduced by the great tonnage and bulk of the extra parts that made him Gaogaigar, but that reduction was surprisingly lower than the most informed observer, Dastun, had expected. He could still fight with more subtlety and style than the simple straight-ahead bashing one would expect from, say, a standard assault Destroid like an Atlas or Hauptmann. As was the convention in the substyle of the Panzerkunst which Guy favored, he did most of his defending with his left hand and most of his attacking with his right, a style Corwin had designed Gaogaigar's asymmetrical arm systems to favor. The armor of his left arm was stronger, the actuators of his right more powerful. The right fist wasn't his only weapon, of course; the drills on his knees were brutally efficient weapons in close combat as well. Gaogaigar and the K-unit battled most of the way back to the waterfront, hacking and bashing. The K-unit tried another entangling attack with its cables; Gaogaigar interposed his guarding hand and caught the cables in it, letting them wrap around his forearm. The energy which had so nearly defeated Gaigar sizzled around the arm, but got no further, and didn't seem to bother the black-armored titan at all; he used the connection as an anchor and kept slugging away at the K-unit's chest armor with his right fist. After a minute or so of this, though, he'd made little progress against the new K-type's much heavier chest armor, and Rain's alarmed voice told Guy what, being intimately linked with the machine he commanded, he already knew: "Guy, your energy consumption level is getting -way- too high! You've got to disengage! Domon and the twins are launching now, just back off and let them - " Guy cut off his receiver, raised Gaogaigar's right leg, and kicked the K-unit as hard as he could, sending it thundering back almost to the water's edge. The grappling cables unwound from Gaogaigar's left forearm, leaving bright scars in the armor, as the black titan backed away as well, his body language that of a fighter who is winded, but not beaten. "All right then," Guy growled, his eyes narrowing with total concentration as he summoned up all the strength his own gaolith-imbued body and the mighty GS-Ride system within Gaogaigar could give him. "We'll do it THIS way!" Then, as a visible corona of energy surrounded Gaogaigar, he threw both his hands open at his sides and bellowed, "HELL - and - HEAVEN!" Again the mistlike green energy sprang up, whirling like a cyclone, around the huge black robot, obscuring him from Dastun's view. This time, rather than excluding Gaogaigar's opponent, the whirling wall of light encompassed it as well. Within the suddenly constricted battlezone created by the barrier, the K-unit froze, its limbs straining helplessly, as Gaogaigar bent into a combative semi-crouch and forced his sparking hands together into a brightly glowing doubled fist. Louvered vents on Gaogaigar's back popped open, spewing forth green-edged shock cones, and the black titan lunged forward, crossing the distance between himself and the K-unit in an instant. The unit's reinforced chest armor, constructed to withstand double the forces that had dispatched the prototype units back in May, held for about two seconds, then crumpled like a sheet of aluminum foil as Gaogaigar's fists plunged completely through the thickest part of the unit's body. The wall of energy dissipated again, and this time Dastun saw Gaogaigar step back, wrench his fists free of the sagging K-unit's chest, and brandish them high, the still-glowing K-core pinned between them. Unlike the prototype K-units, which simply disintegrated when relieved of their cores, this one exploded, demolishing a chunk of the waterfront and completely obscuring Gaogaigar for a few seconds. As Dastun stood in the cupola of his tank, his jaw at half-mast, the enormous black-armored robot, his armor scuffed, dented and soot-streaked, stalked out of the fireball with slow, measured strides, crushing the pavement beneath his feet. Gaogaigar stopped about halfway between the blast center and the Armored Police tank formation, the now-dark K-core still held in his left hand, and stood in silence for a moment, regarding the tanks with his glowing red eyes. Then the eyes flickered and went dark, and Gaogaigar slowly sank to his knees, then slowly, terrifyingly toppled forward to smash down on his face in the middle of the street. Guy Morgan came slowly to, and found himself looking up at a ceiling with an unfamiliar pattern. He sat up gingerly, feeling a little dizzy but otherwise OK, and looked around in puzzlement. He quickly deduced that he was in the sickbay in the part of the underground complex being used by ACROSS, which he'd seen once on a tour but never had occasion to use. There was a group of people over by the door, engrossed in a conference, such that they didn't notice him sitting up. "Wha... what happened?" he asked. Immediately he was mobbed by people, all of them talking at once. Guy caught some stuff about "big idiot" in there from his sister, Sylvie and Mary, and something else about "serious ass-kicking" from Domon, but it was all too jumbled for him to make much sense of. A moment later it had all been silenced as Rain Mikamura rather imperiously ordered everybody to let GO of Guy, stop YELLING at him, and GET BACK OVER BY THE DOOR, RIGHT NOW, UNLESS YOU ALL WANT TO WAIT IN THE HALL. That taken care of, Dr. Mikamura proceeded to shine an unpleasantly powerful penlight into Guy's eyes, prod him experimentally in a couple of places, time his pulse and respiration, and then nod with satisfaction. "Well, you don't seem to have done yourself any permanent harm," she told him, "but you gave us all quite a scare." She put her fists on her hips, regarded him sternly, and went on, "The Supreme Commander is going to let you get away with it, because he's a sucker for flashy heroics, but I'm going to tell you this right now, young man - if you ever ignore a tactical directive from your combat operations officer again, you're going to be out of the robot hero business for good. Understand?" Guy blinked into the lovely doctor's angry face, dismayed, then nodded, downcast. "I understand. I just... didn't want to fail. Especially not in front of Major Dastun." To his surprise, Rain smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. "I understand. Just don't do it again, all right?" She winked. "At least not until we get the Gao System running at 100%! By the way, your little 'field test' may have given us enough data that we'll finally be able to iron out the last of the bugs, so in the end, I guess it all works out." Guy smiled, then looked concerned and said, "Galeon?" "Galeon's fine," Rain assured him. "It's the Gao Machines that aren't ready for the two of -you- yet." Guy opened his mouth to respond, but just then the sickbay door opened and Hammer swept in, looking mightily pleased. "Excellent work, Agent Morgan, -most- outstanding!" he declared grandly. "Truly, your heroism has demonstrated to all concerned what the young men and women of ACROSS can do. No longer will the police or the civil defense authorities doubt our power or our commitment! Thanks to you, the city sleeps safely tonight, secure in the knowledge that ACROSS can protect them!" Guy again looked momentarily taken aback, then got into the spirit of things, grinned, and said, "Thank you, sir!" Ilmartello looked around, went to the system monitor on the wall and shut it off to prevent Excel from possibly wandering in, then took off his hat, dropped the schtick, and said, "Seriously, Guy, well done. You even impressed ol' Dan, though he does wish you could have found a way to make a bit less of a mess." "I did the best I could; it's hard when you're fighting on that kind of scale," Guy noted. Rose nodded. "Sure is. Skuld's working on something which may help in future engagements. In the meantime, kids, if I could get the lot of you in the main conference room in an hour, we've got some debriefing to do, and then I have an announcement for you. If that's OK with the good Doctor, of course?" he added, waggling his eyebrows for her benefit. Rain managed to not laugh, but couldn't contain the smile. "He seems fully recovered," she replied. "Rest and boredom are all he'd get being kept here any longer." Hammer put on his hat, reassumed his persona, and nodded sharply. "Then I shall see you all in Conference Room A in one hour! Until then, remember - ACROSS shall prevail!" Then he turned and swept out, pointedly ignoring Sylvie, who was making a cross-eyed googly face and twirling a fingertip next to her temple while Domon Kasshu struggled to restrain his laughter. One hour later, in Conference Room A, the staff of ACROSS were sitting around the table waiting for the boss to show up. Well, most of them were waiting for the boss to show up; Sylvie was furiously engaged with some GameZark Portable cartridge or another, which was filling her end of the room with tinny little "zap" and "squonk" noises and the occasional muted snatch of music that leaked out around her headphones. The others were just starting to wonder whether the boss was going to show -up- or not when the door opened and Lord Ilmartello swept in, quickly taking his post at the head of the table, standing before the high-backed leather chair. "My sincerest apologies to one and all," he opened. "Though I should point out that my tardiness is linked to the core purpose of this meeting. As such, we'll save the debriefing for another time." Sylvie saved her game, put her GZP down, and cocked an eyebrow. "So what's going on?" she asked. "Well." Hammer straightened his jacket slightly and said, "It appears my old nemesis, the ineffable Carmen Sandiego, has announced her intention to launch another one of her campaigns of terror and larceny - well, mostly larceny, really - on the Cygnus Sector next week. The most noteworthy outcome of this will be a heavy strain on my day-job workload, if you will, particularly since Sergeant Murphy is going offline for an overhaul soon. So, while I will retain supreme command of ACROSS, I find it necessary to appoint a deputy commander to manage affairs on a day-to-day basis." On the conference room's master viewscreen behind Hammer, Excel adopted a shimmery-eyed hopeful look, abruptly clad in a costume almost identical to his. Without looking at the screen, Hammer said patiently, "...And no, Excel, it's not you." Excel slumped dejectedly, her clothes returning to normal. "Awwww." "I spent much of this morning, before our alert, perusing the personnel files of the Wedge Defense Force, the International Police, and anyone else that came to mind, seeking the perfect candidate. Finally, on recommendations from the Grand Admiral and the IPO Chief, I spent the last hour or so in an emergency job interview, and it pleases me to report that I've found an excellent fit. "So, without further ado -" at this he gestured back down the table, toward the conference room's double doors "- members of ACROSS, may I introduce your new day-to-day operations commander: Major Misato Katsuragi of the Wedge Defense Force 13th Armored Cavalry." She came through the door with the easy, sauntering stride of a pilot - a woman of about thirty, by the look of her, with long violet hair, a cheery smile, and (as neither Guy nor the twins could avoid noticing) a body that just wouldn't quit. That body was wrapped up in the trim red-jacketed grey uniform of a WDF Armored Cav MechWarrior, complete with the Cav's distinctive red beret. It wasn't the day duty uniform, either, but the optional semi-dress job with the skirt and low boots. The boots sported rowelless spurs, another sign that she was a pilot and not just an Armored Cav rear-area officer. "What?!" Excel blurted, appalled. "Her?! Oh, c'MON, Lord Ilmartello! What's she got that I haven't got?" "Well, aside from years of experience in Destroid operations command, the best tactical response scores in the last ten annual WDF irregular-mecha unit ops evaluations, and the legal right to occupy a command position ... I suppose not that much," Hammer replied dryly. Excel subsided, fuming for a moment before wilting in renewed dejection; her costume deteriorated again, this time into rumpled denim coveralls over a stained cloth tee with a dull kerchief tied atop her head, her hands covered by yellow kitchen gloves and clutching what looked like a toilet brush. "Oh, once again poor neglected Excel is overlooked when the time for promotions has arrived! Nevertheless, Lord Ilmartello's most faithful AND supportive minion will never shirk her sacred duties, remaining ever vigilant and honor-bound in her unacknowledged efforts to direct and maintain the vast underground infrastructure that is the very heart and soul of ACROSS! YES! The ever-loyal Excel shall persist in her endeavors..." As the CI continued to rave on the screen behind the seemingly-impassive Hammer (whose only physical response was to tap the volume-down button on the remote control he was carrying), Misato noted all this byplay, but didn't remark on it except to chuckle slightly to herself. As she looked around the table, she noted that, as she'd been warned, the pilots were very young - too young for WDF line service, except with a whole raft of special waivers. That gave her slight pause, but she read the papers, and knew that the IPO Irregular Projects Division had had good luck with exceptional young people before. It sounded like this was going to be the place to be, anyway, and she was willing to try almost anything to get into a job with as much potential to be cool as this one had. "Hi, everyone," she said pleasantly, now that Excel's ongoing blather had been reduced to a background murmur. "It's a pleasure to meet you all. I hope we'll do a good job together." "(... Wow,)" said Sylvie and Guy in quiet unison, drawing an annoyed little glare from Priss. The disgruntled redhead leaned over and murmured to Mary, "(This summer job is looking worse all the time.)" "(You could always try for the counter help position at MacCready's,)" Mary replied pleasantly. Across town, Clarissa Broadbank sat in her own version of a high-tech command center - her second one, since she'd lost the one she was most fond of in the aftermath of the prom-night debacle - and reviewed the data her newest test unit had gathered during its run. Not a bad day's work, all told. It had shown the people of New Avalon that what could happen once could happen again; and though the unit had been defeated, it had collected a great deal of useful data on the new ACROSS response unit. Clarissa looked over some of the video feeds with interest, noting particularly the way the armor plating on the black robot's upper arms had started to buckle during the later stages of the battle. Obviously they didn't quite have that one working correctly yet. Their response time had also been of interest. She would bet that the Magnificent Ten would, in fact, find the whole package quite useful. Humming happily to herself, she spent the rest of the afternoon compiling all the data into a presentation report, then encrypted it and double-relayed it to a Big Fire online dead drop disguised as a few dozen spam messages from different sources around the galaxy. Another fine day's work. /* John Williams "1941 March" _1941_ */ Eyrie Productions, Unlimited in association with Flying Yak Productions presented UNDOCUMENTED FEATURES FUTURE IMPERFECT KNIGHTS of AVALON Episode 1: Great Justice! The Cast (in order of appearance) Gai "Guy" Morgan Corwin Ravenhair Priscilla K. Morgan Sylvie Daniels Kei Morgan Noriko Rose Takaya Dan Dastun Rain Mikamura Domon Kasshu Mary Broadbank Excel XL Martin Rose Kozue Kaoru Misato Katsuragi Clarissa Broadbank Launch Director Benjamin D. Hutchins Personnel Manager Martin F. Rose With All the Usual Suspects NEXT EPISODE: (VO: Excel) Darned if we know! This might be a one-shot, which would really be a shame since I was just getting used to having so much screen time, but Mr. Gryphon's so darn BUSY that we're lucky if we get anything at all done around here. Anyway, this might be all you get, but if it isn't, then expect next episode to have giant robot action and as always lots of hot, hot women. Maybe we'll just skip right to the hot springs episode and save a lot of time! Anyway, -I'm- just about -out- of time, so I'll see you -next- time, if there -is- a next time! Oh, I hope there is! Lord Ilmartello, please don't let them leave us hanging like this! Your beautiful Excel is too young and pretty to go to the Dumpster of Seldom-Used Characters!! E P U (colour) 2003