"Well, last night was a bust." Grizelda griped as she, Maria, and Kayla waited for the Limo.  She had brought out into the open what had been sitting like a vulture on the chandelier during breakfast.

"Strange." Kayla shook her head, "56 was coming regularly every night, smooth as clockwork.  So now we're here and she doesn't show."

"Makes one wonder." Grizelda said suspiciously.

"I locked out all of Meridiana from the family cellphones, and blocked calls to 37's house the moment Mama told me she was coming.  No way 37 would know and warn her." Kayla said, "Although I don't know if he'd do that if he knew."

Grizelda snorted, "If he knew, there'd be two dozen of Meridiana's finest circling this joint, shooting the birds out of the sky to make sure they wouldn't poop on mama."

Maria rolled her eyes, thankful that Grizelda had held back most of her profanity during the trip.

"By the way, nice costume" Grizelda commented, "Lot fancier than your black pajamas."

Kayla smiled, "Jose was modelling some battle armor he was cooking up.  I made some suggestions."

"No armor on the arms other than those fancy ribbons?"

"Yes.  I need my arms free to get to and swing the katana." she said, demonstrating by reaching behind her back to grasp its hilt, "It's not armored, just a design."

The limo pulled up.  Kayla took off her katana and slid in front next to Quaren, while Grizelda helped Maria into the back and sat down next to her.

"Are we ready?"  Maria asked as she settled comfortably into the thickly padded leather seat.

"Ready." Quaren said, slipping on what she hoped was a very cool looking pair of shades.  Kayla and Grizelda followed suit as she started the Limo.

"We are one bad-ass group!" she thought as she pulled out of the Trodden mansion, "We only need Six to make it perfect."
---------------------
Scylla got up from her customary back booth at Don's Snack Shoppe and walked to the counter.

"You ready?" Mr. Diortti asked her, grinning as he accepted her money.

"Yes.  Are you?  Last chance to back out." she said.

Mr. Diortti glanced upwards, "*I* want to see if that works!"

Her eyes joined his, "I do too." she agreed.

He rang up the sale and counted out her change, "When is Henrique coming?"

She smiled as if she was a cat who had eaten a bird, "Oh, he's around." she said lightly, putting her change in her purse before passing it over the counter to him.  He put it under the cash register.

She went outside and leaned against her lamppost.  She glanced up at the window to her apartment and smiled at the recollection of recent, pleasant memories.
-------------------------
"Excellent choice, Mr. Cornazon." Mr. Tanoji complimented Cornazon on the choice of limosine that was now bearing them to their appointment.

Cornazon nodded and opened the small bar between the seats, "Would you like some Sake, Mr. Tanoji?"

Mr. Tanoji's guards looked at each other, distain in their eyes after they both noted the two AK-27's lying on the floorboard between the two back seats that faced each other.  Raoul was also in the back, while Dinazo drove.

"Yes, I believe I would like some." Mr. Tanoji replied.
--------------------------
Kayla leaped easily from roof to roof along the street that her searches had turned up.  She stopped and critically looked at each of the streetwalkers, shaking her head and moving on.  Even though they weren't 356, their situation in life touched her and made her sad.  It also made her more determined to recover 356 and return her home to the family and a new assignment, where she belonged.

She got to the middle block, looked about, and smiled.  A black haired woman in a simple and sensible white strapless sundress was leaning against a lamppost outside of Don's Snack Shoppe, looking as if she was waiting for a ride rather than soliciting customers as a member of one of  the oldest professions in the world.  It was certainly a sordid business, but at least she was showing some class while doing it.  Looked in fine shape too.  Kayla decided to stay put and not raise an alarm, despite her desire to see the cyber's face to make sure.

"I think I see her," Kayla whispered into the short range radio.  "Middle block, in front of Don's Snack Shoppe.  I'm on the roof across the street from her, and she doesn't see me."
--------------------------
"Hmmm." Gordo thought as he looked at the limosine that had stopped on a side street, "I wonder if-" he walked closer, then backed away as the door opened.  A woman got out.  She had long white hair and looked very beautiful, even though she was obviously old.  Gordo was struck by the green eyes that scanned the street and rested on him for a moment, a look of pity and sadness appearing fleetingly in them.  He swallowed as the woman turned and walked toward the street that Scylla was on, the limo slowly following her to the corner, "Not that one.  Cornazon wouldn't have a nice lady like that in his big fancy car.  I hope she doesn't get into trouble!  She looks so nice and kind."
---------------
Maria hesitated when she reached the corner.  She knew which way to turn, but was starting to get butterflies in her stomach.

The use of brute force to bring 356 back home was never an option, despite Quaren's words in Von Richter's office.  Rather, her three daughters were there to prevent 356 from leaving before Maria could talk to her.  Like Techno 54, they all believed that a "talk with Mama" would get through and bring the prodigal back home.  For her part, Maria wished that she shared their confidence in the inevitablity of the outcome.

When her husband had first broached the idea to her of growing genetically enhanced beings to support the transition of the planet to a peaceful, mutually supportive community, she naturally was behind him from the start.  But the enormity of the task didn't strike her until she saw the first tottering steps of 500 young technos as they emerged from their tanks, the beginnings of the support staff and of a family that would exceed 10,000 members.  Lord knows, they had tried, and failed, to have children of their own, but she knew, deep in her heart, that these were just as surely her children as any born of her womb.  Biology dictated that humans should have one child at a time, at most two, with three or more just plain accidents that only technology and human society could support.

In one instant, at the end of 6 months of anxious monitoring and sleepless nights, Technology bestowed 500 boy and girl geniuses on the Von Richters.  Max, God bless him, could be their father and worldly guide, but these bewildered children needed a mother.   Maria knew that it was her job, even if Max didn't mention it, to forge a family in the middle of the Amazon.

Right from the start, Von Richter had known that programming was necessary to ensure that his creations would not turn on him or on mankind.  Yet, to program "love" into them would have created a sham and a lie at the core of their creations from the start.  Good behavior, yes.  Determination, yes.  Drive, yes.  But love?  Never.  They would have to develop it on their own, and the Von Richters would have to work to earn that love, like anything and everyone else.

So she had rolled up her sleeves, waded in, and loved them all as best she could.  As the batches came out of the tanks, she wondered how she possibly could keep up, but somehow she did.  It was as if the children knew that she was trying her best, and were responding to that.

Oh, there were challenges.  The normals who had to be transformed to save their lives were very difficult and took up a lot of time as they adjusted to their new state.  She still didn't feel quite fully recovered from the loss of her granddaughter, Genesis.  Grizelda proved to be the most difficult personal challenge, but she soon found herself showering the blue-skinned special with as much affection as any of the others.

But the most difficult, and paradoxically the least challenging, were the Cybers.  Max had sworn he had not programmed them to love, and she believed him, but they showed affection so easily and bestowed it so freely that one just had to wonder.  At the core of their programming was courage and self-sacrifice: the willingness to get out there and fight and die for others.  She had finally concluded that it was that willingness to take the risks that love requires that made them stand out.  It was easier to love and care for a 100 cybers than 10 of any other model.  Yet, it was so difficult looking into those adoring, onyx black eyes and wondering who would live and who would die on some far away battlefield.  This was the true reason for the high level of toughness and rigor of their training: Those who sweat in peace rarely bleed in war.

The Von Richters were not ones to stick their heads in the sand and ignore the obvious.  One day, they would die and have to pass the task and the dream on to others.  Von Richter had the luxury of having five or six likely candidates that would make excellent overall leaders, and Reba was the obvious choice for Chief Geneticist.  But who would replace her, the one dedicated to forging and maintaining the bonds that made the army of peace a family as well?

It took a while, but finally one showed herself to be worthy of the mantle, rising head and shoulders above her sisters.  Who would have guessed that it would be the defiant, unrepentant little Cyber girl-child who had started a riot in the cafeteria by punching out three of her brothers who had called Grizelda names?  That Cyber, who never apologized for that action, continued to weave in and out of the lives of the family, trailing behind her a rope of affection that she eventually jerked tight to pull everyone she touched together.

One night, Maria and Von Richter had shared who they wanted to succeed them, and had a good laugh when they both came up with exactly the same individual as their first choice.

Right now, Maria wished that that Cyber was here to retrieve her batchmate.

Of course, if that Cyber had not chosen to murder herself, then this problem wouldn't have come up in the first place.

Whatever it was that drove 356 to abandon her post and go on her own, Maria hoped that there was still some feelings of love and affection within that she could call upon to draw her back home.  Quaren, Grizelda, and Kayla were just there to introduce delays so that Maria could have a chance to talk.  Imprisoning her and returning her home would be unthinkable.  They were counting on the power of love.

For if love didn't really work in real life, then there would be no hope for this poor world, since all the other ways that could be used had already been tried by others, and had been found to be not worth calling upon at times like these.

Resolutely, Maria turned and walked down the street, eyes scanning the women of the night, comparing each face against the profile of 356 that was burned into her memory.
---------------
"Why aren't we there yet?" Cornazon demanded of Dinazo over the intercom.

"Getting close!  We'll be four or five blocks up from the place after this next turn!" Dinazon replied.

Raoul and Cornazon took the seats next to the window, picked up the AK-27s, and checked them out.  Mr. Tanoji smiled indulgently and shot a glance of amusement at his guards, who looked up at the ceiling in mock despair.  "Amateurish, but effective," he decided, "Whatever works."

The limosine made a slow, left turn.  There was the sounds of safties being flicked off.  Raoul looked across at Cornazon, "Like old times." he said

"Yeah.  I'd forgotten how it felt." Cornazon confessed, grinning.
--------------
Maureen frowned as the old lady walked on.  It appeared as if she was looking for someone.  This was NOT the day for business as usual.  She glanced down the street at Scylla, and wondered how the woman could look so calm.  She glanced back at Estella, who grimaced and faked fanning herself with her hand.

The old lady caught sight of Scylla and walked purposefully toward her.
-----------
"There she is!" Maria thought, heart thumping.  "Here goes nothing!  At least she doesn't LOOK like a hooker, thank goodness!"

She got within two meters of the girl when the sound of her footsteps made her turn her head.  The onyx black eyes widened as the girl realized who was walking up to her.

"Please don't run, 3-" Maria started to think, when suddenly, she realized that the face didn't match the description or the photos.  There were small, subtle differences that were within the variances set for members of a batch set.  From long years of experience, Maria began mentally subtracting, adding, and adjusting features like eye set, nose length and width, length and shape of the neck, set and size of the chin and cheeks, iris size, and a half dozen other factors, half wondering if a mistake had been made and they'd encountered a wild normal.  Yet, the girl's reaction meant that she, Maria, was no stranger to her.

"Mama!" The girl said, fear and terror in her voice.

Maria was the only woman on the planet who knew for a fact that those two syllables could be pronounced in 10,000 unique and different ways, and could recognize each and every one of them.

Shaking and incredulous, Maria walked up to the woman, put out her hand, and caressed her cyber's cheek gently.

"It's time to come home, Cybersix."  She murmured, her vision blurring from the tears welling in her eyes.
----------------
"Cybersix?" Kayla could barely hear the words, "Did mama just call her CYBERSIX?  But she's dead!  Is mama losing it?"  she got ready to leap down if necessary.
----------------
Julian was beginning to feel a bit dizzy, looking around in all directions, trying to identify a car that MIGHT contain Cornazon and blazing death for the woman he'd come to regard with more affection than he was willing to admit. "I sure hope she knows what she's-"

His instincts screamed danger the moment his eyes rested on the stretched limosine that was coming up the street.  He turned, ran into the middle of the intersection, put his fingers to his mouth, and cut loose with the loudest, longest whistle he could manage.
---------------
"Please!  You must get out of here!  It's-" Cybersix started, only to jerk her head at the whistle.  She caught sight of the limo also, and her instincts agreed with Julian's, especially when her sharper and keener vision noted that the car window on her side of the street was coming down, and two black tubes were sticking out of it a few centimeters.  She turned and whistled loudly also.

"EVERYONE!" Mr. Diortti's voice boomed out in the snack shoppe, "Please get down under your tables and stay here! GET DOWN NOW!"

Maureen, Estella, and the other prostitutes on the street began grabbing passersby and forcing them into nearby stores.
---------------
"Uh oh!  Something's going down!" Grizelda's voice came out from the back, even though nobody could be seen there.

"Gotcha!" Quaren started the engine, pulled out and around the corner, and caught sight of Maria standing next to a girl that sure looked like a cyber to her.
--------------
Kalya went on full alert, glancing around, trying to figure out from what direction the danger the cyber was clearly worried about was coming from.
-------------
"Cybersix, why-" Maria started, then stopped.  There would be time later for "Why".  Right now, she had to make sure there would be time later.  "No, forget that.  Please, just come home with me!  We've all missed you terribly!"

Cybersix struggled for a moment, then deliberatlely and calmly forced herself to lean back on the lamppost and said nonchalantly, "What?  Are you AC-DC?  500, take it or leave it."

"What??  What are you-" Maria was confused, then suddenly realized that Cybersix was acting as if she was a prospective customer!

"Must wait.  Must wait.  Can't let everyone down!  Must wait!" Cybersix thought to herself.
--------------
"There she is! Gotta be, right in front of a snack shoppe, lookin' like a girl waitin' for a ride!" Dinazon said excitedly, "Just like they all said!  Damn, they were right!"

"Pull up right next to the bitch!  Even if she ducks into the store, we'll shoot through the windows!" Cornazon ordered.

Mr. Tanoji nodded and leaned back smiling. "Yes, he'll do nicely to get things started, before we move our own people in here." he thought.
---------------
The moment Cybersix heard the sound of the tires on the pavement, she moved.  She grabbed Maria around the middle, lifted her, and ran into the shop.

"NOW!" She shouted, leaping upwards and rightwards, spinning around, just as the two AK's in the car opened up, shattering the pane glass.  She came down hard on the wooden floor on the other side of the bar, cushioning her mother with her own body.
---------------
"DAMN!" Kayla reached behind, pulled out her katana, and leaped down to the street.

"Ooooff!" Cybersix moaned, rolling and sliding Maria off of her, "Where is it?"

Mrs. Diortti quietly handed her the assault rifle Henrique had liberated from the heavy riot gear room.  She took it, pulled the bolt, flipped the safety off, then got into a crouch.

"NO!  Don't go!" Maria grabbed at her wrist.

Cybersix smiled dourly, pulled her wrist away, bent forward, and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead, "I love you, Mama." she said softly, before she jump-flipped over the bar and into the storm.
---------------
<<Well, look who's pretending to be a warrior!>> one of the ninjas chuckled as they both drew their swords.

<<Dishonorable dogs, pitting two against one!>> Kayla replied in flawless Nipponese, whipping her katana through an elaborate warmup as she approached.

They quickly threw glances at each other, then both leaped at her, their Katanas upraised.

With a whirl, Kayla struck one, then the other, making the blades sing as she weaved between them, "These guys are good.  Better not hold back." she thought.
---------------
"You're her mother?" Mrs. Diortti yelled over the gunfire.

"Yes!" Maria tried to rise, but Mr. Diortti forced her down.

"Wonderful girl you have!"  He yelled, "Good girl in a bad business!  We tried to get her out of it, but she's stubborn too!"

"Thanks!" Maria yelled back, too worried about Cybersix to wonder about the feelings those words stirred up in her.
---------------
"DAMN!  Can't shoot around those damn swinging-" Cornazon started.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" screamed Dinazo.  He had been facinated by the sight of the exploding plate glass and the splintering of the building stones by the bullets that he didn't notice what was happening right in front of him until he heard the roar of an engine approaching.  Cornazon jerked his head forward just in time to see a black limosine driven by a furious looking blonde teenager apparently intent on plowing it into his rented limo.
---------------
Quite safe once the plates had come down, Cybersix patiently waited for the plates to swing aside.  Catching sight of Cornazon in the limo through the gap, she pulled the trigger immediately, sending a short burst of bullets through the momentary gap right at his head.
---------------
The two ninjas spun and attacked again.  Again, Kayla's quick blows deflected the flashing blades and made their hands sting.  She darted around to one side and began to fiercely attack one of them, weaving to keep him between herself and his partner.
---------------
The impact of Von Richter's limosine on Cornazon's shoved the larger car two meters backwards.  Dinazo had braced himself for the collision, shoving his back up straight against his seat.

Cornazon fell forward, the seat jerking out from under him, making his head drop into Raoul's lap.

Raoul had been sitting in the rear facing seat.  The movement of the limo shoved the seat into his back, snapping his head backwards and against the headrest.  Thus, when Cybersix's bullets went through the window where Cornazon used to be, the movement of the limosine caused by the impact carried him through the deadly stream.  He took two in the head.  Dinazo was equally unfortunate, for the stream continued and went through his head also.

Mr. Tanoji, who had been sitting next to Cornazon, also fell forward as his seat left him behind.  He had been sitting across from the electronics center.  However, being older, his neck couldn't stand the impact against the miniature Sony TV that moved into his forehead.  He was left with a broken neck, paralyzed and unable to breathe.
---------------
Quaren kicked the door open, "Find out what's happened to Mama!" she shouted to Grizelda as she leaped out to assist Kayla.

"Oh Crap!" Grizelda thought as she kicked the door on her side open, "Daddy's gonna be real pissed about this!"
---------------
Cybersix blinked, "What happened?" she thought when she saw the open car window through which they had been shooting appear through the open door of the shoppe.  She ran toward the door and ducked behind the stone pillar between it and the large picture window, feeling quite exposed.

She had counted on them pulling up next to the lamppost and start shooting at her, which dictated the positioning of the steel plates.  The thugs had behaved exactly as expected, and the plates had worked to perfection.  However, the new position of the limo allowed them to shoot through the door into the shoppe.

She glanced behind her at the bar to make sure the Diorttis and Mama were staying behind it.
---------------
Raoul sagged down, pinching Cornazon's head between his belly and lap.  "Get OFF me!" Cornazon yelled as he struggled to push Raoul off of him, cursing.
---------------
"DAMN BITCH!" Henrique cursed as he fumbled through Cybersix's apartment, "She hid my gun SOMEPLACE in here!"
---------------
The ninja trying to get around his partner to add his blade to the battle stopped and threw a glance at the two limos at the sound of the impact.   His partner leaped backwards to buy time for a look also.  Thinking it safe, Kayla flung a glance at the two vehicles just in time to note the further destruction of the Von Richter limo as Quaren grabbed the door and yanked it off it's hinges.

"HEY PAJAMA BOYS!" She yelled, throwing the door like a frisbee at them.  One flipped into the air, the spinning door barely whipping by his spinning body and wrapping itself around a lamp post, while the other dove to the side and ran to Cornazon's vehicle to check the man he was responsible for.  The jumper came down and started parrying the blows Kayla began to deliver.
----------------
Cornazon finally got Raoul off of him, and was about to demand what was happening when he saw the two bulletholes in the side of Raoul's head.  He sat, momentarily stunned at the loss of a childhood friend, before being consumed with a blaze of anger that swept what common sense he had left away.
----------------
Cybersix heard Quaren's shout and Kayla's katana, "Great, if Quaren's here, she's in charge.  She'd pick Kayla and Grizelda, which means..."

She barely heard the light taps of approaching steps, "Grizelda!  Get OUT of the line of fire!" she hissed under her breath.

"CYBERSIX!!!???" Grizelda recognized the voice of her favorite Cyber immediately.

Cybersix groaned.  She waited half a second more, then stepped out into the open, fanned air with her left hand, felt the collar of Grizelda's uniform, grabbed a handful of it, jerked her sister off her feet, and flung her into the shoppe behind her.
-----------------
"YAAAAAAAHHHHH!" The furious Ninja turned on Quaren as the culprit responsible for the blue death of his charge.  He ran at Quaren, swinging his katana viciously.  Quaren bobbed and weaved about, the tip of the katana sometimes mere millimeters from her skin, and occasionally nicking her top.
-----------------
Cornazon heard Grizelda's cry.  Grabbing his AK, he popped up and began firing, sweeping the gun down.

Cybersix heard his gun and saw him at the same time.  She pulled the trigger of her own gun.
----------------
<<You are barely passable.>>  Kayla taunted her foe as they locked blades over their heads, literally looking at each other eye to eye..

<<AAAHHH!  I shall not be beaten by a woman!>> the ninja cursed, leaped backward,  then charged, screaming at the top of his voice.

She stepped lightly aside, knocking his blade away.  As the ninja ran past, she brought her katana back around and sliced at his back, neatly dividing him in half.  Both pieces fell to the street.

The last bursts of gunfire made her head snap around to the snack shoppe door.
-----------------
"Hey!  This ain't fair!" Quaren taunted her panting opponent.

His eyes crinkled, as if he was smiling.  Suddenly, he brought out a throwing star and threw it at her.

Quaren dodged it, reached out, and grabbed it in mid-air,  the spinning spikes slicing the webbing of her hand between thumb and forefinger, "Gee thanks!" she said, holding it up to show it to her astonished opponent, "Is THIS how you use it?" she asked, flinging it toward him.

It went through the ninja's throat and spinal column before burying itself three fourths of it's diameter into a telephone pole about 200 meters away.

Quaren didn't have time to say "Ewww!", for the last bursts of gunfire drew her attention elsewhere.
-----------------
"Now why the HELL did Six do that any-" Grizelda started to think irritably as she disentangled herself from the stacks of chairs at the back of the room when the last bursts of gunfire gave her a sudden chill.  Frantically, she scrambled out of the pile and ran to the door.

Cybersix was swaying, the gun having dropped out of her hands.  Grizelda glanced at the limo and saw the bullet-riddled head of Cornazon leaning back in the seat.  Glancing back at Cybersix, she gasped at the two bullet wounds in her right shoulder and lower left side.

"Mama.  Okay?" Cybersix asked in a whisper, sagging to her knees and touching the bleeding hole in her shoulder, "Just great!" she thought a bit woozily, "Now I've got a matching set!"  She set her back against the booths to support herself, winced, and reached down to feel the wound in her side, "Wonderful.  Went just under the floating ribs, which means..."

Grizelda looked wildly about, but couldn't see Maria.

"Everyone okay?" Mr. Diortti asked.

"I'm fine!" Maria said, rising, "What about my daughter!?"

Quaren banged against the doorjamb to stop herself.  She took one look at Cybersix and gasped, "Oh god, no!  Six??"

"Hiya." Cybersix said, smiling weakly.

Kayla arrived two seconds later, "Ahh!  It IS Six!" she gasped.  Both women fell on their knees beside their wounded sister.

"Quick-" Cybersix gasped, "Get-away."

The sounds of distant sirens filled the air.

"We're not leaving you!" Quaren insisted.

"Get-mama-away." Cybersix repeated, "Must-not-have-questions."Damn, hurts like hell in my side.  I wonder..." she thought.

"She's right!" Kayla whispered, "They'll detain us and ask questions!"

Biting her lower lip, Quaren glanced up at an ashen faced Maria, "Get Mama out of here!" she ordered.

"Six! No!!" Maria cried as Grizelda and Kayla rushed her out the door.

Quaren grabbed Cybersix's jaw with one hand and forced her to look into her eyes, "Live, damn you! Or I'll-I'll-"

"You'll-what?" Cybersix smiled wanly, face pale, her lips losing the red lustre they usually had.

"Aaahhh!" Quaren groused.  She turned and dashed out of the shoppe.  Running to the rear of Von Richter's limo, she grabbed the fender, lifted it up, and dragged it up the street in a half trot, ignoring the terrible burning in her heart that demanded that she return to her sister's side.
---------------------
Illustration is (C) 2001, by Nightflower.

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Chapter 14
Chapter 16