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

CHAPTER #10- Know Your Enemy

On arrival at the UNG, Françoise was pleasantly surprised that Mark had come to greet them. It didn't go unnoticed by her, that Joe immediately held her hand, after getting off the Dolphin.

"The Six came to attack again last night," Director Igarashi informed.

"Yeah and this time they took us on as both their animal and humanoid forms," Mark added.

Françoise asked, "Mark did they attack as a unit or one on one?"

"The Pig was everywhere, but the others had individual attacks. Like two of them on one of us, other than Piggy randomly getting in the way of the single battles."

"Thank you Mark. Did you notice anything else?"

"In animal form they are quicker, but their attacks and defences are limited."

Joe asked, "how many casualties?"

"Ten single unit UNG mecha and one of the new dual operator units. The Pig took out the dual operator unit, but that did stop it from eating more," Susan advised, joining in the conversation.

"It got indigestion, is my guess," Chang chuckled.

"When it eats things, does Piggy absorb the strengths of it's meal. Like does it get bigger or any other changes?" Joe asked.

"It doesn't get anything from the things it eats to enhance itself, but it's stomach does grow." Mark explained with hand gestures.

They were in the UNG HQ debriefing room and Susan pulled up a video. "We captured some of the fighting via the UNG mecha, this time."

Everyone watched, Françoise immediately noticed something no one else had. "The Goat and Rabbit don't fight often. It looks like the Goat might be their leader or at least the strategist."

Joe wanted to know, "do the other five always obey The Goat?"

Susan answered him, "mostly." She skipped ahead in the video. "Here you can say that maybe the Snake didn't obey like the others."

They saw that the Pig changed it's course and moved toward the dual controlled mecha, after a grunt from the Goat. The Snake seemed to ignore the command and continue fighting with it's target, instead of moving to the larger machine, like the others. However, the Pig got there first.

"Inconclusive, since we can't understand or translate grunt commands. What about when you fought them previously?" Françoise analyzed out loud.

"We didn't have video set up back then and the attacks were so sudden, that none of us remembered much," Mark explained apologetically.

"It looks like they attacked in the evening and left before sunrise," Françoise observed. "Have they ever attacked early morning or during the day?"

Susan, the Director, Mark and Mari all agreed, "no."

Pyunma asked, "does the Snake have unlimited venom?"

"Unknown," Director Iragashi stated.

Pyunma queried, "Françoise doesn't it look like the Snake is sucking something in from the atmosphere?"

"I can't answer that until I see it fighting in a live situation. There isn't enough data available from this video to see if that's what is happening."

Jet saw, "the Goat and Rooster look like they can fly. How they do it is a mystery."

Ivan spoke up in their collective minds, "when the aliens are in humanoid form it could be telekinesis or psychic flight. That lets them levitate, hover and fly. The speed depends on the user's power and skill."

Dr. Gilmore wondered, "do they fight every day or show up randomly?"

"It's not every day and we haven't noticed any pattern to it either. But, it's been total chaos when they do come, our sensors can't detect their impending arrival. It's like they just pop into existence."

"Thank you Director, this session has been most informative." Dr. Gilmore nodded towards Ivan, "it's time for a meal."

Director Iragashi thanked them for coming and requested that Mark and Susan show the cyborgs to their assigned rooms. Mark lingered in Françoise's room, explaining where to find the female shower room and equipment area. He also handed her a key card, that gave her access to the computer terminals and video feed. Before he could say something personal, Joe arrived.

"If you need anything else, just ask for me and I'll help out," Mark offered Françoise and then giving a nod to Joe, he left.

"Is that guy being a pest?" Joe asked, closing the door behind the UNG soldier.

"Who Mark? No he's being very nice," Françoise explained. She didn't notice that Joe was jealous.

"As nice as the UNG guys and gals might be, I don't trust any of them and that includes Director Iragashi."

Françoise turned to Joe and gave him a hug. "Are you being protective or just overly cautious?"

Joe returned the embrace and then kissed her. "Both when it comes to you. But still, the Director seems to not be telling us everything. At least that's what my instinct is saying."

"I'll keep that in mind. You know I don't like being here, but since it can't be helped, I promise to be vigilant with the UNG."