Bubblegum Ragnarok
------------------

A Bubblegum Crisis/Ah! Megamisama/etc crossover, sortof!


This story follows directly on from the end of The Ragnarok Agenda, a 
(sort-of) crossover tale set in the Ah! Megamisama universe.
If you haven't read it, then some of this story (especially the early 
parts) probably won't make much sense.

Very briefly; after helping Belldandy, Urd and Skuld in stopping Loki 
start Ragnarok (the Twilight of the Gods) rather earlier than planned, 
both David Smith and Iczer-2 are badly hurt. Unable (for complex 
reasons) to heal both of them directly, Urd devises a plan which gets 
around the restrictions imposed on them by merging the two, then using 
their power to heal one of them (Iczer-2) completely.
Unfortunately both are now sharing one body, Iczer-2's, and she isn't 
normally the one in control of it! Also, for political reasons it isn't 
safe for them to stay in the Ah! Megamisama universe longer than they 
have to.

So, the he/she/us/we tenses gets confused, but to keep things 
(reasonably) simple I will refer to the gender of the body whichever one 
of the two is currently occupying. Otherwise things are going to get 
_far_ too confusing! Also, Iczer refers to Iczer-2's body, usually with
David Smith in control.
Clear, isn't it? :)


Our story starts in the Tarikihonganji temple courtyard, soon after dawn
on a chilly November morning, with a still very confused David Smith in 
control of Iczer-2's body...

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Bubblegum Ragnarok
------------------


Chapter 1 - Departures & Arrivals
---------------------------------


Iczer looked around the temple courtyard. It was a lovely late autumn 
morning, the air crisp and clear, the pale sunlight casting sharp-edged
shadows across the light patina of frost covering the ground with a 
crystalline whiteness. She could hear the sweet tones of birds singing
and twittering in the trees surrounding the courtyard, far more clearly
than she had been used to. It was a very pleasant change from the last 
time she'd seen the place. Although she wished she was seeing the scene
in her own body, not that of Iczer-2, better senses or no.

She still wished she could stay. There was something magic about this 
place, which perhaps wasn't surprising given three of the 'people' who 
lived here, but she couldn't criticise the results. It annoyed her that 
she was effectively being kicked out, not just of here but out of this 
Universe, for the 'crime' of helping stop Loki from arranging Ragnarok 
rather earlier than scheduled.  

At least she'd recovered now from the embarrassment of dressing; it 
seemed that whichever body was changed into wore the clothes it was in 
the last time it had been 'active', and Iczer-2 had only been wrapped in 
a sheet. That time it hadn't really registered, after the shock of the 
operation and the change, but this time she noticed everything. It 
hadn't helped that Urd had been wearing a broad smile during the entire  
proceedings, she'd suffered through a blush that wouldn't quit the whole 
time, especially after some of Urd's more unsubtle comments.  She'd 
managed to persuade the goddess that casual clothes 'she' was familiar 
with were a much better idea, not just for her but in view of the fact 
she didn't really have any idea of where she was going to end up. It had 
taken a more forceful response by her to insist that she was _not_ going 
to wear a bra, but Urd had relented, and hadn't tried to force the issue 
after a token attempt. In any case, Iczer-2's body didn't need one, not 
with her muscle tone and hardly-overlarge measurements. Now she was 
reasonably comfortable in boots, jeans and a T-shirt; she refused to 
think about her underwear right now...

Looking across at the three goddesses, she sighed, settling the bag of 
spare clothing Belldandy had been kind enough to give her a little more 
comfortably on her shoulder. It still felt odd, she kept trying to put 
it where it would have balanced properly on her 'old' body, and that 
didn't quite work. With a gesture she knew was nervous, but couldn't 
help, she brushed a few errant strands of hair back from her face.

"I guess we'd better be getting on with it"

Belldandy and Urd smiled, and Skuld grinned.
"Don't worry", said Skuld, "I know what I'm doing"

Iczer thought about that, deciding that pointing out to Skuld that maybe 
it would also be helpful to know what was going to _happen_ as well as 
what she was doing might be a useful comment, but probably wouldn't get 
her anywhere. Well, not anywhere she wanted to be, anyway!

"I'm in the hands of engineers..." she muttered sotto voce.

It looked like Urd and Skuld had been busy again. Another of their 
complex circles was inscribed on the ground, and Skuld's mech was adding 
a few more pieces of equipment to an already-impressive pile next to it. 
Iczer wondered absently how much hi-tech equipment Skuld needed just to 
brush her teeth...

"Do I stand in the circle?"

Urd nodded.
"In a minute, Skuld has to finish setting her gear up."

Iczer nodded, torn between wanting to stay and not submit herself to all 
this, even though she knew that would lead to even worse consequences, 
and getting it all over with.

"You said yesterday about teaching me to do this under my own power?"

"Well, not you, Iczer-2. We briefed her last night, and Skuld uploaded 
all the data on how to do it into Iczer-Sigma. We wanted to let you 
sleep, you needed it."

Skuld looked up at that, grinning.
"Yes, and I added our co-ordinates as well, just in case! 
Its a lovely mech, take better care of it next time!"

Iczer smiled back at Skuld. Despite her worries, it was such a lovely 
day she couldn't do otherwise. Then she turned to Belldandy, who'd been 
standing there looking serene.

"The co-ordinates for here? I thought I was persona non grata 
hereabouts?"

Belldandy smiled.
"Well, not with us! You are welcome to come back and visit us if you 
wish, although it would be, well, politic to give things here a while to 
recover and for the entities involved to forget. But eventually, things 
will happen to attract their attention, and they'll stop worrying about 
you"

Iczer hoped she was right. She did want to come here again, but was 
still feeling more than a little traumatised by what had happened on 
_this_ little visit! And it would be far more pleasant if both of them 
could visit in their own bodies.

"Ah, this may be a silly question, but - where are you sending us?"

Urd looked over, thoughtfully.
"Well, as to that, we don't really know!"

Iczer barely restrained herself from facefaulting.
"You DON'T KNOW!!! You mean you're sending us off into another dimension 
and you don't even know which one..!!"

Urd grinned, making 'calm down' gestures with her hands.
"Now, don't get so upset. It isn't that bad. The reason we don't know is 
that the destination will be selected by you, mostly. You see, a major 
component of this type of transportation is the destination in the mind 
of the operator. That's you, even though you won't be doing the actual 
spell this time. Also, since you don't know exactly where you need to 
go, we've thrown in random factor. The end result is you should end up 
somewhere reasonably familiar to one of you two, and somewhere that will 
prove to be helpful in solving your particular problems. Clear?"

Iczer nodded, slowly and reluctantly. She wasn't at all happy with Urd's 
explanation, it still rather sounded like she'd be shot off like some 
sort of unguided missile, but she was hardly in a position to argue. She 
trusted them, and just hoped they knew what they were doing.

Urd smiled, trying to be reassuring.
"Just remember, there are an awful lot of parallel dimensions out there. 
Where you end up should be one you are familiar with, but that doesn't 
mean it will be identical to your ideas. Don't make any quick 
judgements."

Skuld's head popped up from behind her equipment right then, bearing a 
momentary uncanny resemblance to a hi-tech gopher.
"I'm all set!! Lets get this thing going."

Iczer licked her suddenly dry lips, and nervously resettled her bag yet 
again. Then she turned to Urd and Belldandy.
"I guess this is goodbye... I'll try to come back, if either one of us 
can..."

Belldandy nodded, and then put her arms around the slender girl, giving 
her a long hug.
"Take care - both of you."

Iczer nodded, not trusting herself to talk right now, as she walked 
quickly over to the inscribed circle, wanting to get inside it before 
she completely lost her nerve. Deliberately, she didn't look down at the 
circle or the writing surrounding it, as she readied herself in the 
centre, taking a deep breath as she tried to calm herself, with little 
success. She watched as the three goddesses took up positions around the 
circle, starting to chant as the lights on Skuld's equipment flickered. 
The air in front of her shimmering, reminding her of a heat-haze, but 
one which was centred and radiating from a point, rather than rising 
from a hot object, as she heard a faint singing noise which steadily 
rose in pitch as it got fainter. The sight was fascinating, and she 
concentrated on it, happy for the chance to distract herself from what 
was about to happen as the haze grew thicker and more turbulent, then 
with an audible *snap* a twisting, circular tunnel appeared in front of 
her, as the air forming it changed into a reflective mirror like a 
horizontal film of mercury, leading away _somewhere_.

She cast a last look around, wanting to hold the scene in her memory, 
then set her shoulders and stepped forward, trying not to stumble as she 
felt gravity twist about her and the wormhole's metrical frame took hold 
of her.

The three Norns waited, maintaining the field until Skuld's 
instrumentation *beeped* sharply, then dropped their hands, relaxing.
Belldandy turned to Urd, a small, almost accusatory frown on her face.

"You didn't tell her about that odd factor we found last night, when we 
were calculating possible destinations for her. The one that meant we 
couldn't seem to set a destination we wanted for her."

Urd half grinned, half grimaced back.
"No, I didn't. I didn't think it would help, she looked scared enough 
already; not that I blame her. And I don't think constantly looking over 
her shoulder for whoever started her off on this will help, it may get 
her killed. Anyway, Skuld loaded a full dataset into their robot, if 
they need it."

Belldandy nodded, still looking thoughtful and slightly worried.
"Well, we'll have to wait and see. I do hope that they will be all 
right. I'm glad she didn't wonder about all that gear Skuld had 
monitoring her, though, I didn't want to evade more questions than I had 
to. Thank you for keeping her busy, Urd, you got her flustered enough 
she didn't think to ask too many questions."

Urd didn't reply, she just gave her younger sister a slightly quirked 
smile.

Skuld beamed at Belldandy as she watched her mech pack her equipment 
away, ready to put back in her room.
"It's OK, Oneesama, I got it all! I know just where she went, its all 
down in the computer. I do hope they take better care of that mech this 
time, though."

Belldandy smiled at Skuld in appreciation, then gazed thoughtfully off 
into the distance, not really looking at anything, as if she was seeing
past what normal humans know as reality.
"I do hope they take care, there are so many factors still unresolved."
 
Urd stepped over to her younger sister, resting one hand gently on her 
shoulder for a moment in silent support.
"I'm sure they will. They both seemed sensible enough. Anyway, I have a 
feeling we haven't seen the last of them yet.

************************************************************************
************************************************************************

Mara smiled to herself, the tip of her tongue delicately worrying one 
fang as she watched the recording. It had been worth the effort of 
slipping that camera-imp in past Belldandy's defences during all the 
recent confusion, she decided. Well worth it!
She had an advantage over most demons, of course, in being present in 
Tokyo when Fenris had appeared. Most of the traffic on HellNet was from 
lower-ranking demons frantically trying to find out what was happening, 
and there was nothing but an ominous silence from their seniors. Based 
on what Mara had found out, that wasn't surprising. She wondered 
absently _who_ had been stupid enough among the demonic hierarchy to 
actually help Loki to bring on Ragnarok; that was the last thing the 
overlords of Hell wanted! Whichever way Ragnarok was _really_ going to 
turn out, they had no intention of giving up their fun before they had 
to. She grinned to herself; maybe she should monitor HeavenNet too, see 
if anyone was trying for asylum? 

But now she was in the very interesting position of having information 
only the most senior demons currently had. That was both a advantage and 
a disadvantage. The advantage being that she could make plans to get 
ahead using it; the disadvantage that if the Lords of Hell found out she 
had knowledge they hadn't authorised her to posses, she'd be in _big_ 
trouble. She pouted; some of her seniors hoarded information as if it 
was the soul of a Saint. And then they never did anything _interesting_ 
with it!!

Still, there had to be a way of using this to her advantage. A mortal, 
or two mortals, actually hurting two gods like Fenris and Loki was an 
event so rare that it must be usable for something. And she wondered if 
indeed she was the only demon to know they'd left this Universe? 
Belldandy's shields had been strong enough later; if she hadn't been 
close enough to get her imp in during all the troubles she'd never have 
got access. There might be certain parties that would pay well for that 
information. Or indeed, have an interest in pursuing or recovering those 
mortals for their own usage...

Mara smiled again, flipping the cork out of a bottle with her thumb as 
she curled herself up in her chair with her Filofax, pouring herself a 
glass of a suspiciously dark-red wine as she started to flip through the 
address section. So many _fun_, not to say profitable, possibilities, 
and all of them likely to upset those so-annoying, so-righteous Norns...

************************************************************************
************************************************************************

Space. The final frontier...

No it wasn't. Iczer had a strong suspicion that the medium 'we' were 
travelling through had a far better claim to that, if it had wanted to 
pursue it.
Although she had to admit, intra-universal transportation wasn't all the 
travel guides claim. After the initial exotic views of planets, stars, 
galaxies, and other fascinating astronomical phenomena that she had seen 
while falling through the wormhole exit to the Ah! Megamisama universe, 
sights that would have had astronomers and the Star Trek special effects 
team drooling in envy, things had settled down to a rather, well, boring 
sight of an off-white curdled background.

Indeed, the travel was so dull and so uneventful she was tempted to fall 
asleep. However when she closed her eyes, the scene she was 'seeing' 
didn't change in the slightest; she guessed she wasn't really seeing at 
all, that whatever medium she was moving through was affecting her brain 
directly, and  was merely interpreting it as sight as the closest sense 
she could relate it to.

She sighed, thinking that only a short while ago she would have found 
the idea of travelling between universes not only incredibly exciting, 
but also impossible. Funny how the mind acclimatises to things, now she 
was doing it she just found it boring and wanted it to end!

Next time I'll make sure to pack a portable CD player, she thought.

************************************************************************

It was impossible to tell just how long she'd been falling through this 
space; without any frame of reference, or landmarks, there was no real 
sense of time or duration. Indeed, the experience seemed to put her into 
a somnolent state reminiscent of highway hypnosis, but eventually she 
noticed something. Not see, exactly, but somehow she could sense a - 
well, a _curdling_ of sorts - in the medium a long way in front of her. 
She watched it with interest as it grew stronger, and felt that somehow 
she was moving faster as she dived into the swirling tunnel that was 
opening about her in the fabric of space, hoping that this was the exit 
she'd been waiting for. Especially since she didn't know any way of 
avoiding it...

As the wormhole finished opening, she fell through it. Fell being the 
operative word, as she suddenly realised she was a few feet above a hard 
surface and again subject to gravity.
Despite the rubbish and rubble strewn concrete under her, she managed to 
land with a reasonable imitation of agility, if not grace. Within 
herself she seemed to 'hear' a mental sigh, Iczer-2's opinion of her 
rather imperfect control. While she was certain Iczer-2 could have 
landed her (us?) with a catlike agility that wouldn't even have 
disturbed her hair, she was happy to settle for having missed the pile 
of bins filling most of the alleyway. She made a mental note to herself, 
though, that some time soon she was going to have to find time to 
improve her skills in this body, if she was going to be using it for any 
length of time. She had hoped not to have to, but after her experiences 
in inter-dimensional travel so far, she was determined to be 
pessimistic. Then she could tell herself 'I told you so' after it all 
fell apart.

Rising slowly from the crouched position she'd landed in, she reached 
for her travel bag with one hand while looking about her. Within her she 
could feel Iczer-2's eager curiosity, and mentally grinned at her.
* patience, give us/me a chance! *

Turning, she quickly looked around. After her previous adventures she 
wanted to make sure no-one unfriendly was about to attack her. Seeing 
nothing but a dingy, cluttered alley, her posture relaxed slightly.

She chuckled aloud, happy to have had made the transition unharmed, and 
nearly jumped as she startled herself; she wasn't used yet to the way 
she sounded in this body, and for a second had thought there was someone 
else here with her (as if Iczer-2 wasn't enough).

The noise of traffic, both a loud hum as of distant, busy streets and a 
harsher, occasional noise from the direction of the end of the alley 
that suggested local movement of powered vehicles. She wished she had a 
better idea of how much more sensitive Iczer's ears were than those of 
her natural body; she knew she had better hearing, but would have liked 
to have got an idea of the traffic level from its volume, it sounded 
like a lot.

Looking upwards she saw that the sky was quite bright, a dirty sodium-
yellow glow reflected off the clouds, the brilliantly (not to say 
garishly) lit shapes of skyscrapers and advertising signs seeming to 
float in a glittering cascade amongst the darkness. There seemed to be 
an awful lot of them, and if she could see them from a restricted 
viewpoint like this they had to be pretty tall. There were a lot of them 
in Japanese, enough to make her think she was probably still in Japan. 
Assuming any sort of parallel with her home world, of course, for all 
she knew this could be New York.

She wrinkled her nose as she realised what the alleyway smelt like. It 
was definitely less than salubrious, and she wondered if it was general 
or just local? She hoped it was only this area, wondering for a second 
why people always seemed to appear in deserted alleys like this? Better 
than turning up in the centre of Piccadilly Circus, she supposed.

It was cold, too, much colder than when she had left the temple. There 
was a faint rime of ice on some of the cans and her breath puffed 
cloudily. She wondered for a moment why she was noticing, not thinking 
Iczer-2's body was susceptible to temperature. Maybe she wasn't, it felt 
chilly, but not _that_ cold, especially since she was only wearing jeans 
and a T-shirt. Just as well it was, she didn't want to smell this place 
in the height of summer (unless, of course, this WAS the height of 
summer, she had no idea what time of year it was). There were clearly 
disadvantages to heightened senses.

She considered briefly trying to put up a forcefield to keep warm, but 
discarded that almost immediately. Not only would it probably draw 
attention she didn't want, she didn't have any real idea how to go about 
it! Now didn't seem like a good time to try experimenting, even though 
it would have been nice to have been a little warmer.
Instead, she dug through the bag, pushing aside some spare clothes; not 
many, she'd have to buy some when she found out how and where. And when 
she got some money. Determinedly not thinking about the sort of clothes 
she'd now have to buy, she dug out a padded jacket, shrugging it on. It 
fit her with plenty of room, and she guessed Belldandy had intended it 
to fit either of 'us' at a pinch.

Closing the bag and settling the strap on her shoulder, she gave a final 
look around. She was hoping there might have been a paper or something 
similar that she could have had a look at before she left the alley, to 
give her a better idea of what they were heading into, but no such luck. 
Still, Urd had told her that they should land in a Universe she was 
familiar with, hopefully she would recognise something. So she walked 
over to the end of the alley, keeping a close eye on what she could see. 

It isn't paranoia when they _are_ out to get you.

************************************************************************

After what seemed like hours, but probably wasn't, her semi-aimless 
wanderings took her to the entrance of what seemed to be a park, and she 
headed for it thankfully. She wasn't at all happy with the neighbourhood 
she had found herself in after leaving the alley; it looked like the 
state of the alleyway was pretty consistent with the streets surrounding 
it. Luckily she hadn't seen many people, and most of them seemed to be 
skulking about as though they didn't want anything to do with her 
either, but the predatory looks she had been given by a few had made her 
nervous. Fortunately it didn't look like any of them had taken more than 
a passing interest in her, but she badly wanted somewhere she could sit 
and think things through, try and work out where she was, and this park 
looked ideal. Besides, she seemed to have been walking for miles, her 
feet hurt and she'd be glad of the excuse to sit down; the constant 
changing of direction to avoid attention of people she didn't like the 
look of had left her feeling completely lost.

Looking around, she couldn't see anyone, so eased the gates apart. She 
slipped through the opening, the gravel of the path making soft 
*scrunching* noises underfoot. It was quieter in here, the trees and 
vegetation sheltering her from the noise of the city. She shivered, not 
so much from cold as from reaction; now she had a moment to think, it 
was coming home to her that she was in a different universe again. And 
one that didn't seem as nice as the last one, although she hoped the 
state of the streets she'd seen so far was just the bad area of town. 
Rubbing her temples she winced slightly, trying to ease her slowly 
growing headache; she didn't want to think yet about what would happen 
if that had been the _good_ area!

Looking around in the darkness, she scanned the park for people, just in 
case. She was interested to note that Iczer-2's night vision was 
somewhat better than her original body's had been; the handful of globes 
illuminating the paths were more than adequate for her to see that it 
did indeed appear to be deserted. She smiled, and turned her attention 
to the surrounding area, then froze.
Seeing the busy city skyscrapers surrounding the area, and then, further 
away, what must have been a truly huge building to be so easily visible 
above the already towering skyscrapers, its brightly-lit truncated cone 
thrusting up arrogantly.

* Oh shit... *
She only know of _one_ building that looked like that. The GENOM tower. 
It must be, the rest of what she'd seen suddenly fitted in as well. They
were in a Bubblegum Crisis Universe...

She sighed, deeply, and sat down heavily on a nearby bench, trying to 
think it all through, and trying to remember what she 'knew' about the 
Bubblegum Crisis series, wishing she'd paid more attention to the anime 
when she'd had the opportunity. Most of what information she could 
recall was less than reassuring to someone with no ID, no contacts, no 
money and no reasonable explanation of who she was and what she was 
doing here.

************************************************************************

The sound that caught her attention was the soft crunch of a booted foot 
on the gravel path. She looked up, startled. Iczer may have had better 
hearing than she had been used to, but that didn't help if she wasn't 
paying any attention to it.

Standing about 20 feet away was a group of six... well, punks sounded 
about right. Or muggers, they didn't seem too friendly, standing there 
in shabby clothing, all wearing the same type of leather or plastic 
jacket with symbols inset and painted on. The grins plastered across 
their faces weren't evocative of real humour, more the anticipation of 
some sick fun. 

She regretted the carelessness that had made her choose the closest 
bench to sit down on to reflect on her situation; it was reasonably well 
lit by a nearby lamp. She should have found somewhere quiet and dark 
where no-one would have noticed her. Trouble was, it was difficult to 
break old habits; even though she 'knew' that if this was a BGC Universe 
it was NOT safe to be out alone in some areas, she had subconsciously 
assumed she'd be OK. 
Well, BGC or no she was obviously not in a nice part of town, at least 
at night; the neatness of the park was deceptive. She kicked herself 
again, another reminder to find out about this world fast, and not make 
any more assumptions, especially since it probably wasn't like the anime 
anyway. No, knowing her luck it was a lot more dangerous. Hell, the two 
of them had been given enough problems with a _safe_ Universe like Ah! 
Megamisama...!

Her musings were stopped abruptly by a nasty chuckle from the leader of 
the gang.

"Well, and what's a lovely young girl like you doing out here all alone? 
Waiting for someone to _play_ with her, maybe??"

Her mind went blank for a moment, trying to make sense of his words; 
then with a rush it reminded her that she was in Iczer-2's body at the 
moment, and the site of her lounging on a park bench in the dark was 
liable to lead to rather different consequences than the sight of 
his/her original form would! 

She looked up at the gang leader, her eyes narrowing as she glared at 
him.

"Go away"

This led to nothing but a burst of laughter from the gang. Looking 
around his cronies, the leader grinned, then walked forward. She growled 
under her breath, standing up with a graceful agility she still wasn't 
used to, a core of anger growing deep inside her. She did _not_ need 
this right now! Especially since she really didn't have any idea how to 
use Iczer-2's fighting skills, if indeed she could. Still, they were 
only street punks, and she thought she could handle them. She hesitated 
for a moment, wondering why she didn't run away, but then she looked at 
the gang again and her anger rose to the surface.

"I said go away. Now leave me alone"

This statement proved less than effective. The gang leader stepped 
forward, one hand reaching out to her, looking as if he meant to grab 
her jacket. Behind him she could see his grinning cronies, as they 
nudged each other, as the reaching hand seemed to go into slow motion as 
it approached her. Narrowing her eyes, she reached up, grabbing the 
slow-moving wrist in her right hand. In the back of her mind, she 
realised that he hadn't slowed down, that this was the result of Iczer-
2's alien reflexes showing their speed, but she wasn't going to worry 
about it right now. She pushed the arm sideways, away from her, and 
*squeezed* down on the wrist she was still holding, feeling the bone 
flex as it bent and then broke under the pressure of her fingers.

The punk screamed, a loud and shrill sound that hurt her ears, as his 
wrist bent in a movement she knew was impossible to a whole arm, sagging 
to his knees with a look of sudden, wide-eyed fear and pain on his face. 
She hesitated for a second, surprised at the casual ease with which her
grip had shattered his wrist; she hadn't expected this, not realising 
just how strong Iczer-2's body was. Letting go, she stepped back, 
allowing him to collapse fully.

"I told you to leave me alone"

The man looked up at her, his fear changing as she watched to anger and 
hate. She realised belatedly that treating him like this, in front of 
the other members of his gang, was about the least likely way of making 
them go away and leave her alone. Well, that was their choice.

She stood in an easy, balanced crouch, waiting, as the punks gathered 
themselves into a rough half circle before advancing on her. It looked 
like they had no idea of how to fight as a team, which suited her. She 
didn't have any combat skills, but was trusting to her strength and 
speed; at least none of them had a gun out, although most of them had 
knives. She didn't think her skin was knife-proof; anyway, she had no 
desire to find out the hard way.

************************************************************************

Drill knelt on the path, holding his shattered wrist with his hand as he 
watched the strange girl take his gang apart with her bare hands. He'd 
never seen anything like it before. It wasn't even as if she was good, 
he'd seen one of a rival gangs members fight once, an ex-martial-artist, 
and that guy had been good, but also smooth, he'd made the whole fight 
seem easy, always in control. This girl didn't fight like that at all, 
she kept getting into positions where he was about to hope one of his 
guys would at last get her, then she'd dance or dodge out of the way 
with impossible speed. When she hit them, it was with hammer-blows that 
smashed the gang members down or across the ground with a casual ease.
The couple of hits they did get in against her didn't seem to worry her 
in the least.

He watched as the girl disposed of Chisel with that same awkward ease, 
nearly rising to his feet as he saw Hammer charge her from behind as she 
allowed herself to be distracted. Hammer was their biggest member, nearly 
two metres tall and built in proportion, he didn't see how even she 
could get away once he'd got his hands on her. Then his mouth dropped 
open as the girl whipped around at the last moment, grabbed Hammer by his 
jacket, then just picked him up off the ground and tossed him away to 
land in a crumpled heap some distance away, the sight even distracting 
him for a moment from the agony in his wrist that his small movement 
caused. She hadn't used his momentum, or anything, she'd just picked him 
up like a toy and tossed him away. It wasn't possible, no human could do 
that. Unless... she wasn't human... she must be some sort of Boomer, it 
was the only explanation. But why the hell had a disguised Boomer been 
sitting in the park, looking like an easy mark for his men? 

He winced as the final gang member standing was flattened by a 
backhanded swipe that was hard enough to lift him off his feet before he 
sagged unconscious next to Drill, and glared up at the bitch. In under a 
minute she'd turned his gang into a pile of broken and groaning bodies, 
and she didn't even seem to be breathing hard!

************************************************************************

Iczer looked down at the gang leader, the only one still left in an fit 
state to talk to her, grinning in relief as well as triumph. She still 
felt incredibly hyped up after that fight, as she brushed her hands off 
ostentatiously in front of him, the feeling making her realise one of 
the reasons Iczer-2 liked fighting. She'd have to be careful, she 
couldn't afford to let the intoxication get to her, fights were 
something she'd be far better off without unless she truly had no 
alternative.

"Give me your money."

He looked up, fear, anger and puzzlement mingling on his face.
"Money?"

She stepped forward, baring her teeth slightly.
"Your money. Now. Or shall I break your other arm as well?"
Not that she had any intention of doing so, of course, not with him 
helpless in front of her. Of course, _he_ didn't know that. She could 
almost taste his fear, and it sickened her slightly, bringing her down 
fast from the high she'd experienced during the combat. He wasn't any 
threat to her now, although she was sure he'd like to be, there was a
boiling, frustrated anger behind his fear.

He snarled at her, obviously hating the fact that he really didn't have 
any choice, then dug out a battered wallet, tossing it at her feet. She 
waited, then bent smoothly and grabbed it out of the air before it could 
touch the ground, watching his eyes widen as she rubbed in just how fast 
she was. 

Stepping back, and keeping one eye on the gang, she opened it. Some 
notes, not many, and some sort of credit cards. She left them, not 
knowing if they could be traced, or even the common usage of them, 
stuffing the cash in one pocket. Still moving carefully, she searched 
the fallen muggers, transferring their ready cash to herself. Finally, 
she finished, standing and looking at their leader again.

He looked back up, hatred on his face.
"We'll get you for this, boomer-bitch!!"

She chuckled softly. Interesting that he thought she was a boomer, 
though not really surprising. No need to disillusion him, let them keep 
thinking that.
"What, like you did this time? Dream on, punk. Now, tell me how I get to 
a decent district of this city.

He glowered up at her.
"Why should I help you?

Her smile grew wider.
"Because if you don't I'll tell everyone how a gang of big tough men 
like you was beaten up by a cute girl?"

His look convinced her that she'd read them correctly. Being beaten was 
one thing, but for the gang to be beaten like this by her would lose 
them all their credibility. Casually she wondered just how big a group 
would have beaten them up when they'd finished sorting out their story 
among themselves? Or maybe they'd say it was by a boomer.

"OK...I'll tell you. But we're still gonna get you!"

************************************************************************

Iczer sighed wearily, tossing her bag on the floor next to the bed as 
she shrugged off her coat, letting it join the bag. A typical Japanese 
hotel room. About enough room to swing a kitten, but it had a bed, 
shower and TV/entertainment unit, all she needed right now. She sat 
heavily on the side of the bed, brushing some strands of hair back from 
her face, shoulders slumped with exhaustion. She didn't know why she was 
so tired, but the gritty irritation in her eyes made it feel like she 
hadn't slept for a week. And the headache she'd had since before the 
trouble in the park wasn't getting any better; she hoped this body 
wasn't allergic to something here, that _would_ be helpful...

She bounced slightly, testing the bed, feeling the hardness of the 
mattress. Then yelped as she caught her hair, which she'd managed to sit 
on.

"Damn! I'm not USED to four-foot long hair!!"

She heard a mental *giggle* deep inside her.

"And you're a _great_ help!"

She grimaced as she realised she had unconsciously verbalised her answer 
to the voice in her head. She was going to have to learn to stop doing 
that, people would start thinking her odd. Then she grinned; they'd be 
right, wouldn't they!

She really wanted to change back right now. She wasn't _used_ to being 
this way, it felt - not right. Moving, walking, even breathing, all of 
them felt odd; uncomfortable, unbalanced. It wasn't so bad when she was 
busy, she tended to forget, but now... she kept twitching each time 
something else felt - not like it should. It was all hitting her again, 
very hard. But it was just so much effort, and she was so tired, she 
didn't think she could face the pain of a transition right now, not to 
mention that the hotel had let this room to a girl. She wasn't sure what 
they'd do if for some reason they found a sick man in here. Play it 
safe. Hah. Since she was dragged away from home, the whole experience so 
far had been about as safe as juggling nitro-glycerine on a unicycle.

She groaned, and eased off her boots, tossing them to the side with 
more hope than aim, then slowly and tiredly pulled off her jeans as she 
leant back, stretching out on the bed and trying not to catch her long, 
flowing hair under her. While she had to admit that it looked great on 
Iczer-2, she still couldn't work out how in hell to stop it getting in 
the way. Hopefully she could get something tomorrow to help keep it 
under control.

Frowning, she absently rubbed a spot on her arm where one of the gang 
members had connected with a steel bar. It throbbed faintly, and she 
suspected she'd have a bruise there tomorrow. Still, considering how 
hard he'd hit her with it, she'd happily settle for that.
She thought fuzzily that she really ought to look at that TV, find out 
more about where we were and how it related to the anime she was 
familiar with, but at the moment all she wanted to do was sleep...


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