THE BEGINNING OF A NEW END: The story of Cyborg 009 and Cyborg 003

CHAPTER #6- I Spy

The trip into town to get supplies, was fun thanks to Mari. What Françoise didn't know was that Joe had requested a few special items on the usual supply list, that only Mari knew about. He wanted to surprise his girlfriend once they returned home. Everything on the list was purchased and to Françoise's delight, she'd found ballet shoes. They made it back in time to see the second heat of combat. This time Ivan was present to watch and he stayed by her side.

"003 you don't need to fight today, but thank you for attending. You're analysis on the soldiers and UNG mecha is valuable."

"Thank you sir." To Pyunma she said, "008 how did the under water training go? I'm sorry I missed that."

"A few of the men rose too quickly from the deep water and have decompression sickness."

"How far down did you take them?"

He smirked, "just 130 feet. The UNG units prevented serious effects of the nitrogen buildup, but the mecha needs to be tweaked a bit more. And one unit didn't know which way was up or down, he got totally disoriented. The telemetry malfunctioned and that can be dangerous in itself."

"I see that 006 is working with 009 today. Does that mean that dinner tonight will be affected?" Mari asked.

Jet laughed, "no way. Chan says he's just barely whipping that kitchen into shape. He'll be there once his session is over."

Françoise watch the training. The UNG units were better organized today, but still no match for the cyborgs they battled. She saw the Director watching too. "Mari, the Director mentioned that our final selection would create the elite team. What does that really mean?"

"The elite pilots will be paired up and then use UNG's two man mecha. That mech is bigger, faster and much more advanced then the units you've seen today. It's also much more expensive. Since it's still classified, that's all I can tell you."

Ivan spoke up, linking telepathically to all cyborgs. "Even the tech given to us for new weapons, is perhaps not the best they have. UNG still has hidden cards to play, so don't get too confident during these sessions."

"You're right Ivan, they would never show us everything that they can do. But then, we haven't shown them everything either," Françoise added.

Albert grinned, "and they don't have any idea what we're like when working together, all nine as a team."

Mark saw Françoise and waved to her. "You made it back in time to see me fight!"

"Yes, be careful out there."

"I'll fight that much harder to gain your praise!" Mark shouted back, before climbing into his mecha.

"He's got a crush on you 003," Susan observed.

"Mark is nice and when he's focused on the task at hand, his skill is noticeable. If pairing him with someone for the double pilot mecha, I'd say Amy is a good match," Françoise recommended. She showed Susan the stats on the two in question.

"You've got a great eye and I'm not talking about being a cyborg. That's a perfect pairing, even personality wise."

The session with Joe and Chan ended. Fire extinguishers were brought in to put out the smoking UNG mecha. Joe observed, "they're getting better. Add Mike and Simon to the elite squad. One is a great strategist and the other can problem solve on the fly."

"Both remain calm, even under pressure. Their combat skill levels are above the rest," Françoise agreed.

"Noted. This is very valuable information and with you nine helping, the process has only taken three days, instead of three months. Our Director is a sly man," Mari said.