Her Destiny Tenet insanabile multos Scribendi cacoethes et aegro in corde senescit (Many suffer from the incurable disease of writing, and it becomes chronic in their sick minds) The four figures deftly danced the apparent safety of the shadows. Although darkness may have shielded them from human eyes, they knew only too well such veil was useless against the inhuman senses of their true enemies. Relentlessly, they moved on, quickly advancing until they reached the perimeter of their objective. Suddenly their leader lifted a clenched fist, and all four froze. For a few moments all stood still, until a low voice broke the static which continuously whispered through their hardsuit's radios. "Priss, Linna, hold your positions. Nene and I will secure the perimeter." A weak, almost inaudible protest echoed in their helmets, but otherwise the orders were obeyed to the letter. With catlike stealth the pink- and white-suited women broke the tight formation, slowly advancing towards the menacing tower of metal and steel. "Work your magic, Nene," came the female voice. Nene grinned, noting the slightly nervous edge in Sylia's words. She should have known her better by now. Nene quickly wiped the smile from her face. She was a professional, after all. The redhead proceeded to scan her surroundings, carefully activating and tuning short and long range sensors with uncanny precision. Delicate electromagnetic pulses spread out, creating a pervasive wavefront which swept the landscape in front of her. Using frequencies invisible to the human eye, she could nonetheless see the sensitive cone of radiation through her visor. A false-colour image indicated the relative wavelengths of the multifrequency radar. Although the amount of information which bombarded the redhead was nearly beyond comprehension, Nene easily digested and interpreted the data on the fly. She had, after all, written the software which controlled Sylia's admittedly extraordinary hardware. A blip suddenly registered on the very edge of the scanner. It wasn't quite heading towards them, but it was moving fast. Very fast. Nene suddenly realized it was moving towards something behind them. "Priss! Linna! Incoming at one o'clock!" she screamed. Nene and Sylia both spun around, only to see a dark grey streak nearly miss the light-green hardsuit about a hundred metres away. They both began to run as the bogey made a u-turn to continue its onslaught. "Nene, what is that?" cried Sylia, as Linna prepared herself to fend off the attack in the distance. The redhead was way ahead of their leader, having already sent an FoF pulse. Deftly manipulating the optical computers in her helmet, she ran an exhaustive ID subroutine which she had hand-coded herself, while simultaneously computing their attacker's most likely course of action based on the heuristic defense program she had also written. In spite of the tremendous complexity this multitasking involved, Nene noticed an even more serious problem. "Sylia, I can't find Priss." An exasperated curse came through the speaker. Sylia's frustration, however, was quickly interrupted as they arrived to the scene of the battle. They both gasped as the monstrous figure renewed its attack against Linna. The dancer barely managed to evade the V-II SuperDoberman. With uncanny ability she was able to deflect a powerful blow and counterattack with her monomolecular filaments, but these barely made a mark on the mecha's heat-resistant armour. Instead, the boomer managed to grab one of the filaments and violently yank the Saber off her feet. "Linna!" Sylia screamed, dashing towards her companion as she unsheathed her suit's built-in blade. Nene tried in vain to stop her. The heuristic's output clearly indicated that a brute-force attack against the SuperDoberman was useless, and her programs were theoretically infallible according to Knuth's algorithmic theories. Her worst fears were confirmed as Sylia's charge was quickly cut short by a powerful laser blast which sprouted from within the mecha's snout. Although the hardsuit managed to deflect most of the energy it was clear that Sylia was dazed. Linna weakly tried to break free but a powerful blow quickly put her down. The situation was desperate, leaving Nene no choice. The redhead focused the EMP with uncanny ability, but it still managed to burn out her teammate's electronics in the process. Had Sylia listened to her she could have spared her, but it was too late for that. The invisible blast fried every microchip in both hardsuits and boomer, stopping the SuperDoberman on its tracks. The monster fell heavily to the ground, twitching in the final throes of positronic brain-death. Sylia and Linna lay still on the ground, immobilized within their suits, but alive, as Nene's bio-indicators continued to flash a comforting bright green. She would take them to safety, after which she would begin searching for Priss. Nene wasn't sure what had triggered the attack, but Priss's disappearance was a clear indicator that her foolish brashness had once again endangered all their lives. As she approached her comrades a brutal blow from behind knocked the redhead to the ground. The bone-shattering impact temporarily blinded her with pain, but she managed to incorporate herself and face her attacker. She realized she had carelessly neglected her scanners while she was busy saving her friends' lives. As she faced her opponent a cold shiver raced down her spine, momentarily blocking the raw, white-hot pain pulsing at the base of her neck. Two SuperDobermans stood side-by-side, fully armed and prepared for battle. The redhead took a step back, but quickly decided it was all the ground she was willing to give them. It would take a few minutes for the pulse generator to recharge, so she had no choice. Tightening her fists she prepared her attack. The heuristics program gave her one chance in the millions, but she was prepared to take it. "You want a piece of me?" she growled, grinding her teeth. Suddenly, for a microsecond, one of the boomers hesitated. Perhaps it was a quantum fluctuation, or maybe a tiny error in the behavioural reflex code of the mecha, but it was all Nene needed as she pounced on the mechanical monster with barely controlled fury. The SuperDoberman fired its laser, but it was too late, as Nene had already smashed her right fist against the robot's snout, making its head twist towards its companion's direction. The blue pencil of light cut the air in a blinding flash, passing through the other boomer's neck, immediately decapitating it. As oil and hydraulic fluid gushed from the severed torso Nene spun around and plowed a powerful roundhouse kick into the remaining SuperDoberman's midsection. The mecha reeled backwards, but quickly regained its footing. Nene also regained her stance, noting that the pulse generator was almost fully recharged. She grinned within her helmet, preparing her final attack. "Stop!" a voice yelled. The boomer froze. Nene, unfazed, slowly turned towards the voice. Something in the back of her mind stirred, but it remained clouded by the still-pulsating pain. She almost gasped as she saw four figures approaching. When she saw two more SuperDobermans she knew it was all over. It didn't matter, however, she would go down fighting till the bloody end. But then she saw the blue hardsuit, dented and bruised, Priss's withered face peeking through the smashed faceplate. She was being held from behind by yet another figure wearing a shiny, bright silver hardsuit. "Very impressive, I must say. I warn you, however, that the life of your friend here depends on your next move." "That voice," Nene thought, as she held her stance. "It can't be..." "Nene, please, do as he says..." Priss whimpered, painfully moving her swollen lips. She had taken quite a beating, and Nene knew she had no choice. Slowly, the redhead let her guard down. The boomer slapped her with such force that her own faceplate shattered, driving tiny pieces of plastic into her cheeks and forehead. The pain shot directly into her brain, but she would not bow down to a piece of metal. Blood began snaking over her features, but Nene simply licked it when it reached her lips. "I see you haven't changed, Natasha. You were always too proud for your own good, always the stubborn one." Nene's left eye twitched once. "Yuri," she hissed, nearly spitting out the name. The faceplate of the silver suit slid open, revealing the handsome features which had once enraptured her. The chiselled jaw, the prominent cheekbones which framed those mesmerizing blue eyes. Nene could tell that he too was intently studying her face, and for a tiny instant she could clearly see that passionate spark in his eyes. In spite of everything, it was clear he had not forgotten those days of ardent youth. "It's been a while, Natasha," he continued, his tone softening ever so slightly. "Nine hundred and twenty eight days, plus thirteen hours, to be exact." Nene was breathing very quickly now. "You remember..." The man smiled, a sad, bitter grin. "How could I forget? How could *you*? I've counted the hours and the days! At the Academy, since the graduation, I..." "Yuri, please!" Nene interrupted, biting her lip. "You *know* I had to go, I had no choice! I told you to forget me!" "Silence!" Yuri screamed, throwing Priss aside like a sack of potatoes. He rushed forward, stopping mere centimetres from where Nene stood. Even though he was wearing a hardsuit, it was unable to hide the contours of the strong muscles which lined his powerful frame. "Can't you see, Natasha? Don't you understand? The money, the power, even the computers, they are meaningless without you. I've become an empty shell, I... I..." He choked, fighting back the tears. Nene felt that her own heart was about to burst, and simply stood there, unable to speak. Yuri suddenly took his helmet off, long strands of golden hair falling over his wide shoulders. Nene took off her own helmet, liberating her beautiful red hair, and looked into Yuri's eyes. "I love you, Natasha," he said, with lush, trembling lips. Nene noticed his face approaching hers, but made no effort to avoid him. Within her a storm raged, an all-consuming fire which engulfed her very soul. As their lips bridged the cold gulf between their eager bodies Nene again felt that tantalizing, long-forgotten tingle. "I love you Yu..." BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! HEEEHEEEEHEEEEEE!! --- At this point Nene pretty much hit the ceiling. The colour of her face became many wavelengths longer: a deep, blushing red. For the first time in her life she banged the "OFF" switch on her computer before typing "shutdown -h now". She turned around to face her quickly-becoming ex-friend. Priss, however, has dangerously close to suffering a massive stroke, as she squirmed like a salted slug, barely managing to remain standing. Her face was nearly as red as Nene's. HOHAHAHA!!! HEEEEEEEHEEEEEEE! NA-NA-HEEHEE-NATASHA!!! OH GOD, PLEASE STOP! HAAAHAAAA! "That's not funny Priss!" the redhead whined, impossibly turning redder still. HEEEHEEEHEEE! I...I... LOVE YOU TOO... BPPGHT... YURI!!!! HOOOOHAAAAHAAA! AN-AN-AND AND THE "TINGLE"!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU'RE-YOU'RE KILLING ME HERE!! HEEEEEHEEEEEBWAAAHAAAHAAA! I-I CAN'T BREATH! BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! "Well, I hope you CHOKE!" Nene shouted, storming out the room, only to run into Linna. "What's going...?" "MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!" Nene roared, rushing past her and entering the bathroom across the hall, slamming the door shut. Linna shrugged and entered the room. "Priss, what's wrong with...?" NATASHA!!!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! NATASHA!!!! HEEHEEE! Linna stood there a few moments waiting at first for Priss to calm down, and then a bit longer in hope that she would blow an artery somewhere. Failing that, she silently proceeded to turn around and leave the room, as Priss continued her manic spectacle. "Fucking lunatics," Linna thought, as she calmly walked down the hall and towards the kitchen for a nice cup of hot tea. --- Late that night Nene lay wide awake in her bed. Although she was unable to remain mad for any length of time, she knew she would never be able to forgive Priss. Well, not for a year, at least. Two months if she kept the secret. Oh, what the hell, she had already soaked her toothbrush in toilet water. Still, that wasn't nearly enough to compensate for the humiliation. But then again, maybe it was a bit silly. She had never been all that good at this fanfic stuff, and everyone knew self-inserts are tacky. And pretending to be "Natasha" *was* kinda funny. And that "Yuri" fellow, all mushy and handsome... Nene blankly stared at her roof, sighing. "Yuri," she whispered. Suddenly, she seemed to make up her mind. Silently she got up, and put on her robe and Pikachu slippers. Making sure the door was locked this time, she turned on her computer and waited for fsck to finish. "Thank God for Emacs" she thought, as she logged in and started the editor. Slowly, the redhead began typing, reluctantly at first, but then quickly increasing the pace... "I love you Yuri, you know that," Nene replied, turning away, "but it *can't* be, you know this as well as I!" "For once, heed your heart instead of your brain!" Yuri suddenly pressed his lips against hers. Nene feebly tried to resist him, but it was no use. She had no choice now, she knew it was... her destiny! _________________________________ marco@chinook.physics.utoronto.ca Gunnm: Broken Angel http://128.100.80.13/marco/alita.html