The New Betrayal
Daniel Ocean
WARNING WARNING WARNING: I don't own Gundam Wing or The Mole, though I do admire both quality television shows. Also, I borrow some games from both seasons of The Mole and I do not attend to take credit for either of them. I don't want to have to say whether the game is original or not before each one so presume it is not. Enjoy!
//host Anderson Cooper appears on the TV screen of hundreds of thousands of homes across the world and in the colonies.//
"Welcome to the Mole. Thirteen players try to complete missions across Europe to gain money toward the pot. Money is gained as games are won, however, one amongst them is the Mole, a secret agent planted by the producers to foil the players. Up to one million dollars hinges on the question: Who is the Mole?
//thirteen pictures and manes are thrown up, one my one, surrounded by random letters whizzing by.//
Heero, 19, Army soldier, Sapporo, Japan
Hilde, 18, Auto dealer, Munich, Germany
Trowa, 19, Circus performer, St. Petersburg, FL
Dorothy, 20, Auditor, Annapolis, MD
Wufei, 19, Museum curator, Chongqing, China
Lucretzia, 24, Test driver, Tucson, AZ
Zechs, 25, Air Force Lieutenant, Pueblo, CO
Sally, 22, Police officer, Preventers colony
Quatre, 19, Musician/Art dealer, Alexandria, Egypt
Catherine, 21, Performer, Las Vegas, NV
Duo, 19, Junk yard owner, L2 colony
Relena, 20, Doctor, Birmingham, England
Traize, 26, Appraiser, New York City, NY
//the scene cuts to an airplane over Spain as the last of the credits roll through.//
"No," said Duo. "I wanna wake up from this dream. I don't wanna be on reality TV anymore! I wanna go back to L2! No, no don't drop me out of the plane NOOOOOOO..."
Duo Maxwell was regretting the day six months before when everyone that was everyone from Gundam was at the Hard Rock Café and one of them noticed the casting call from ABC.
"Hey, it's for the Mole!!!!" said Catherine. "I LOVE that show!"
"Not a bad show," said Trowa simply.
"I'm going to get applications for all of us and maybe they will draft us as a group!"
"Riiiight."
"Damn you Cathy! Damn you to hell!"
//interview with Duo//
"This is the last time in my _life_ that I am going to do something that Cathy says. Jumping out of Gundams, going into battles-you had adrenaline to work on there. I had to jump out of that plane completely cold."
FOOSH. His parachute automatically opened. A little voice could be heard from his radio. "Look for a clearing in the woods beneath you."
"How? You started this in the night."
"You are to land there, find your bicycle, and petal to Pamplona, Spain per instructions. It is approximately two miles. You will meet the rest of the group and participate in your first game. Good luck."
"No I don't know any Spanish and I don't know anyone-wait. No. Not the other Gundams nonononono..."
//VO: "Unbeknownst to Duo or most of the others, nine of the thirteen contestants must make it to the plaza in Pamplona in a certain order. Each correct answer gives the group one thousand dollars.
"The four left to pick the order are Traize, Dorothy, Cathy, and Quatre. The order they selected is Heero, Lucretzia, Sally, Trowa, Wufei, Zechs, Hilde, Duo, and Relena. The first seven are all there and only Lucretzia and Trowa made it in the right order. Relena is now ahead of Duo; if she makes it to the square in eighth place, then only two thousand dollars is put in the pot."//
A gentle breeze carried Duo to the clearing. He struggled with his parachute for a minute, and he got out to his bike-which was in a huge wicker basket, with a flashlight and instructions. Duo turned on the light and looked at the map. "Of course it has to be blurry." He turned it over. "Ah. Written directions." He hopped on the bike and went out in concentric circles to find the road, and soon he was off.
To be clipped by a fruit truck.
"Hey! Look out there!"
Then he off to Pamplona.
Duo shined his flashlight ahead to the square he was entering. He squinted his eyes. "Huh. The rest of the pilots are here. And Noin and Relena and Sally. And Hilde-Hilde! And Dorothy. And..." He looked ahead, then accelerated to try to hit a pedestrian. "Cathy! Prepare to die!"
She hid behind the host. Anderson Cooper only shook his finger at Duo. "Shame. First you are last to come and then you are attacking others. I'd fine you if you guys had money."
"Super," said Dorothy Caledonia, right next to him. She thought for a moment. "Wait, none of us made it? I could swear one or two made it in the right order."
"Yeah, two of you. Two thousand dollars. Whee.
"So. I think everyone is here; let me take role call. Heero? Good. Duo? I know you're here. Trowa? Anyone seen Trowa? Ah, right there. Quatre is here, Wufei is here. Traize, Zechs, you both are here. Relena? Okay. Hilde? I saw you before. Cathy is behind me. Dorothy-okay, you're Dorothy. Sally? Perfect. Lucretzia? Are you there? Yes, and everyone is here.
"Let me explain the rules. You all will try to complete games in eleven rounds, and success would add money to the pot. There are thirty-two in all, and completing them all will result in a $1 million pot.
"One amongst you is the Mole. The Mole is going to try to repel your efforts, trying to reduce the pot size and trying to add strife to the group. At the end of the first ten rounds, there will be a test on the identity of the Mole. The lowest score will result in execution of the said player.
"In the final round there will be the three remaining players-two honest ones and the Mole. A final test will determine the winner and loser and the Mole will reveal themselves.
"The next game is tonight as well. Any questions?"
There were no takers.
"Cathy was glued to the tube every Tuesday," said Noin. "She'll clarify anything."
"Very good." Anderson reached into a bag at his feet and pulled out thirteen blank black books. "Here are your diaries. You are not to mutilate them and ABSOLUTELY DO NOT write your name in them. There will be an explanation of that later.
"Everyone ready for the next game?"
"Yes." "Yeah." "Grunt." "Let's make some serious money."
"Out of you thirteen, nominate three people who are good leaders but not very good shots."
"Relena," everyone answered instantly.
"Okay, two more."
"I'll go with Miss Relena," said Dorothy.
"No you are not," Relena replied.
"Yes she is," interjected Anderson. "We only need one more."
"You, Trowa," said Noin, from the back of the group.
"I can mow down everything."
"Yeah, but you have that machine gun thing in your Gundam, of course you can."
"Okay, okay."
"Very well." Anderson removed more stuff from his duffel-a laptop and ten homing devices. "All of you except the three here, put on these tracers. You three, go to the screen.
"This game is called the Shooter game and it is very simple. Everyone with a homing device, pair up and get a laser tag gun. Each group has three targets, and all must be shot by that group-anyone else will not count. All three targets must be hit in twelve minutes for $5000-therefore, a total of twenty-five grand is up on the line. The three left here will navigate via party line."
"Oh, I can see the confusion already," said Zechs.
"Your twelve minutes start now."
"They better be nearby," said Quatre, as he headed off with Wufei. Heero and Sally were partners, as were Noin and Zechs and Duo and Hilde. Traize and Cathy immediately asked directions for their target, but were pushed away ("Maybe you'll find them on your own.") They scattered into the night.
Heero saw one target with his name and got it with one shot. Half a block down the road Sally got one just as easily. "This is too bloody easy!" they shouted at each other.
//interview with Sally//
"That first game was so easy, I thought it was a trick. There had to be a catch. I guess they will all get a lot harder from here."
Across town Noin and Zechs were also having a ball. Moving swiftly together, they got two and then ran across the plaza for more targets brightly lit and six blocks away. They took the short cut near the three leaders, the producers and Anderson.
The host appeared to be drinking some sort of wine. "Having fun?"
"Of course," said Zechs.
Wufei and Quatre were having..problems.
"Relena, Relena." Wufei was radioing back. "Tell me the location of our targets. We haven't found any of them."
"Wufei, ten others are calling me at the same time. I can't tell. Um, to your north."
"How far?"
"Just GO!"
Quatre was shooting out a target. "I keep shooting and shooting and it isn't showing up."
"It's one of Traize and Cathy's target, ninny."
"Oh."
//meeting with Wufei//
"I've had some weak partners before, but the onna they call Quatre just takes the cake. Couldn't shoot anything and when he COULD he was aiming at the wrong thing. Thank God there was a time limit; we could have been there forever."
Anderson hopped into a motor scooter and rode off. He found Hilde, who had split up from Duo. "Hey there, how are you doing."
"Well and you?"
"Good. Listen, I have an offer with you. You know an exemption gets yourself automatically into the next round. Or you do now. Right."
"My God, you're already drunk."
"If you shoot Duo, you lose the five thousand for the group but you will get an exemption. We'll watch you." Anderson drove off, weaving slightly.
"Hey, Duo." Hilde heard no answer. "Get your butt on over here. Come on."
"I'm coming, I'm coming." She could hear him turn the corner and walk up. "What? Did you find a target?"
Hilde aimed for his gun, guessing that was where she had to shoot, and fired. Duo's gun began to beep wildly. "What the hell are you doing?" screamed Duo. "What is the meaning of this?" He shot back, but seemed to miss.
Anderson's voice cackled over a megaphone. "Come on back, Duo and Hilde, you are out and there will not be the five grand you were aiming for."
"Wow," said Hilde. "He got back to the plaza fast."
//interview with Relena//
"No one knew where they were going. For the ten of them there were the three of us and all ten were screaming for directions to the next target, PLUS Wufei was screaming that Quatre was an onna and Duo was bitching about getting shot, and there was Dorothy there over my shoulder...there wasn't enough aspirin in the world for my headache afterward."
Cathy was wired. She had finally made it to the show she was wishing for so long to be on. An ABC cameraman was on her and she could feel the spotlight on her. She had to do something memorable. She turned a corner and hugged the wall, and peered around the corner. A target of theirs, with Quatre and Wufei arguing under it.
"Hey Cathy."
She screamed and whipped around, firing shots in all directions. She heard something give a sort of siren sound, and saw something blinking. Squinting, she realized who she had shot. "Thank you very much," said Traize. "Why your partner, Cathy?"
"Uh...sorry?"
"Okay, everyone, it has been twelve minutes." Anderson had the megaphone again. "Game is over, please make your way back to the plaza."
Everyone did quickly. Quatre and Wufei were bickering and Sally decided to shoot the navigators for kicks, but for the most part they made it back successfully.
"Very good, all. Heero and Sally got their targets and Zechs and Noin theirs, for $10,000. Quatre and Wufei did not get theirs in time, Hilde shot Duo for an exemption, and Cathy...shot Traize. Why was that, Cathy?"
She felt twelve pairs of eyes on her.
"Overexcitement?"
"Okay folks, it is time to go back to the hotel and have dinner. You will all have to wake up 7:30 tomorrow for tomorrow's next mission."
//cutaway to a scene in a elevator, presumably in the hotel. Dorothy and Zechs are inside.//
"Hey, Zechs, you think she did it on purpose?"
"Shooting? Of course Hilde did it on purpose. She did it for an exemption. This was affirmed here, DC"
"Cathy, I mean. Did she do it to keep five grand out of the pot?"
"I dunno. Maybe."
//scene of a night in time-lapse, then a sunrise. The new scene then goes off to a bullring.//
Trowa was in the stands on the side of the street of the famed Running of the Bulls, with ten thousand screaming fans all around him. He was wearing the white pants, white shirt and red bandanna of a runner-but he didn't know he was in the running. He was just told to stay there by the producer.
"Don't worry, you won't be hurt."
"Of course not." Riiiight.
A loudspeaker crackled on. "Welcome to the Running With the Tiny Cars." This was immediately followed by the Spanish translation. "We at ABC are amazed so many people want to participate in this show, considering it is not airing here. Will this season's cast of The Mole please enter the streets." Anderson. Trowa could feel himself being pushed forward. He tried to jump up and "swim" farther from the street, but the opposite happened, he fell to the street.
He saw Noin run on by. "Oh my god," she said. "What are we doing?"
"I have no idea. We better run."
A firecracker was shot off, and from the bull gates at the start of the run several small toy cars-big enough to hold one person but too small to be real cars-whooshed out to the run. The chibi sports cars picked up speed and turned a corner, ushering the contestants forward.
"Don't get caught. If they tag you your group doesn't win five thousand dollars. Try to go all the way to the ring, and get into one of the chairs. Go quickly, 'cause those tiny cars are _fast_.
//interview with Quatre//
"The producers started me farther up than any of the others, so I stuck out from the rest of the group. Three cars were tailing me immediately. It was one of those impossible-to-do missions like last night's order game. At least this one was impossible for me."
Cathy looked back, pondering. They seemed familiar. The cars came a little bit closer, and she ran like a scared cat. "Not worth getting run over, here."
Safety areas were marked, and almost immediately Zechs and Cathy dived into one. Relena, immediately behind, saw them duck out of the race. "Cowards!"
"Uh, don't get hurt," was all Zechs could reply with.
"Hurt? I've never felt so aliiiiiiiive!"
Everyone thundered past two straight-aways and hard turns that ended each. Duo made it past the first part of the race ahead of everyone, but one rider was close behind. He looked back and said, or shouted, "You look familiar." Then, "Howard!"
"Hey, man! Look out at the road!"
Duo did, and he saw fifty yards ahead that the road seemed to end. "Look out for that hard turn," he heard over the loudspeaker. "Make sure you're not on the outside."
"Ahhhhhhh!" Duo let Howard move to the outside of him, then jumped across his hood, just before the turn. The turn had been greased down with butter- flavored topping, and Howard skidded and crashed. "Hey! I'll never get this dent out!"
Behind, Dorothy saw the crash and made sure she stayed well away from the fuming Howard, gliding on the topping through the turn. The road ahead went directly into the ring-as it narrowed from what it seemed to be an avenue to side-way width. Everyone was compressed together, and Heero popped into second place, dodging the thickening cars.
Looking ahead, Dorothy saw Duo pop into one oversized chair at the end of the run, then Heero.
"I'm gonna make it! I'm gonna make it!"
BOOM! One car swerving out of control and smoking turned right suddenly and knocked Dorothy to the ground. She got up and dragged herself into the nearest seat.
"You were tagged," said Heero, next to her.
"They don't know that." The three finishers to date disappeared under a shroud of smoke.
//scene moves to twenty minutes later.//
"Wow," said Anderson. "You guys did an amazing job on that one-nine out of thirteen making it. Only Trowa, Zechs, Cathy, and Dorothy didn't make it."
Heero sent an "I told you so" look to Dorothy as Trowa rubbed where Midii Une had whacked him with her windshield.
"Each of you who ran successfully earned five thousand dollars for the pot, for a total of $45,000. For being first, Duo is exempt from this round's execution. This was the last game of the first round, and you earned a total of $57,000."
Everyone gave Duo a dirty look.
"Tomorrow night will be your execution dinner where the first of you leaves the show. Good luck for tomorrow, and don't forget about taking notes."
//personal interviews.//
Dorothy: "I'm amazed that Zechs could not run a half a mile with those little toy cars. Kinda suspect for someone so fit. Also, Cathy watched this game a lot and did a big 'mistake' in the first round. I'm still suspicious of her."
Duo: "I trust no one with eyebrows as freaky as Dorothy's."
Relena: "Wow, I've never had as much fan as on the little run there. God, that as hilarious. And I had the adrenaline flowing and all that, and I was able to pull in five thousand."
Trowa: "Une just doesn't know how to play nicely."
//the execution dinner. All are seated at a large table and well-dressed, though Relena's outfit has an uncanny resemblance to the Running With the Tiny Cars game outfit.//
"Hey, I liked the game a lot, okay?" Relena was defending herself. "Don't have a lot of opportunities for fun as ruler of the world, you know?"
"I guess not." Sally looked around. "Someone shoot me if I'm executed, okay?"
"'Kay." Wufei took a sip of water.
Sally scowled.
"So, changing the subject," said Cathy as she noticed that Wufei and Sally were about to fight. "Who do you think is going to go later?"
"Duo," said many.
"I have an exemption." Duo looked around. "I'm not wearing you all out that quickly, am I?"
"Of course you are," said Trowa. "You just wouldn't be you otherwise."
//the quiz. Sally is shown answering the question, "Is the Mole male or female?"//
Sally: "That was a hard game to gauge, the car game. It's pretty tough looking, so people could look crooked diving for cover. And Quatre was a Gundam, how could he not be able to shoot at a simple target?"
//a few questions later, Zechs is focused on, "Did the Mole make it to the square in the right order?"//
Zechs: "It's impossible to do that right-we didn't know what the order was. But Noin and Trowa made it in the right order! Maybe one of them is a Mole."
//Heero is on, "Who is the Mole?"//
Heero: "Dorothy is throwing attention to others, which is suspicious. Also, when she was hit by the tiny car, she sort of rolled into the impact though it blind-sided her. It looked like she was expecting it."
//the execution. They are seated in what appears to be a basement.//
"Okay, well, here is the first execution. If the computer screen-" he motioned toward the laptop-"flashes green, you finished somewhere other than last on the test on the Mole you all just took. If it flashes red, then you got the lowest score and you must leave.
"All right, everyone ready?"
"No," replied Traize.
"Let's go, then." Anderson started the program. "Duo and Hilde have exemptions. Good thing, because Duo had the lowest score."
"Hey! You aren't supposed to say that!" Duo was not pleased.
"And so, therefore, the one with the second lowest score must leave. Let's go in alphabetical order." Anderson typed in "Cathy" into the computer.
It immediately flashed green.
Next-Dorothy. The screen stayed the same for a couple of seconds, then turned a blood-red.
//highlights of Dorothy's stay, even if it's for just one episode. Prominent highlight-her getting bumrushed in the Running of the Cars//
Dorothy: "Well...I guess it wasn't Zechs or Cathy all along. Ah well."
Quatre: "I'm not sad to see her go...I still got the scar from where she stabbed me."
Wufei: "I was not fond of the onna, but now I only have Sally and Duo to fight with."
//Dorothy goes out to the sunset//
You too can see how well you did at picking the Mole! Take the ten question quiz:
Is the Mole male or female? (male/female)
What does the Mole's profession involve? (cars/law enforcement or military/arts and music/performer/money profession/other)
Where does the Mole live? (United States/Outside U.S., on Earth/Outside of Earth, on a colony)
Was the Mole one of the ranked layers in Ordered coming, or a ranker? (ranked/ranker)
Was the Mole successful in getting into his/her correct rank? (yes/no/was a ranker)
Was the Mole a Shooter or Guide in the Shooter game? (Shooter/Guide)
Was the Mole successful in the Shooter game? (yes/no/the Mole was a Guide)
Did the Mole fire upon a player, or did a player fire upon the Mole, in the Shooter game? (The Mole fired at a player/The Mole was fired at by a player/Neither)
Did the Mole win during the Running With the Tiny Cars? (yes/no)
Who is the Mole? (Heero/Hilde/Trowa/Dorothy/Wufei/Lucretzia/Zechs/Sally/Quatre/Catherine/Duo/ Relena/Traize)
Author's notes: Sorry I've been inactive for so long. Tenth grade feels twice as hard as ninth, and I'm being buried alive in work. Also, I'm trying to join the baseball team, and I've got to work at that. I'm all but pinned to that now, as I just bought a $70 glove for pitching. The more I get into that, the less enthused I am about it, but I have to at least try now. Also I'm going to try to get into the Speech and Debate club in my school. And I got to do these fanfics.
Something had to give, and it was these.
So, don't expect too much from me until next June. I'll crank out stuff once in a while, but don't expect a masterpiece like "One Potato, Two Potato" or "Unwinnable" anytime soon.
Daniel Ocean
WARNING WARNING WARNING: I don't own Gundam Wing or The Mole, though I do admire both quality television shows. Also, I borrow some games from both seasons of The Mole and I do not attend to take credit for either of them. I don't want to have to say whether the game is original or not before each one so presume it is not. Enjoy!
//host Anderson Cooper appears on the TV screen of hundreds of thousands of homes across the world and in the colonies.//
"Welcome to the Mole. Thirteen players try to complete missions across Europe to gain money toward the pot. Money is gained as games are won, however, one amongst them is the Mole, a secret agent planted by the producers to foil the players. Up to one million dollars hinges on the question: Who is the Mole?
//thirteen pictures and manes are thrown up, one my one, surrounded by random letters whizzing by.//
Heero, 19, Army soldier, Sapporo, Japan
Hilde, 18, Auto dealer, Munich, Germany
Trowa, 19, Circus performer, St. Petersburg, FL
Dorothy, 20, Auditor, Annapolis, MD
Wufei, 19, Museum curator, Chongqing, China
Lucretzia, 24, Test driver, Tucson, AZ
Zechs, 25, Air Force Lieutenant, Pueblo, CO
Sally, 22, Police officer, Preventers colony
Quatre, 19, Musician/Art dealer, Alexandria, Egypt
Catherine, 21, Performer, Las Vegas, NV
Duo, 19, Junk yard owner, L2 colony
Relena, 20, Doctor, Birmingham, England
Traize, 26, Appraiser, New York City, NY
//the scene cuts to an airplane over Spain as the last of the credits roll through.//
"No," said Duo. "I wanna wake up from this dream. I don't wanna be on reality TV anymore! I wanna go back to L2! No, no don't drop me out of the plane NOOOOOOO..."
Duo Maxwell was regretting the day six months before when everyone that was everyone from Gundam was at the Hard Rock Café and one of them noticed the casting call from ABC.
"Hey, it's for the Mole!!!!" said Catherine. "I LOVE that show!"
"Not a bad show," said Trowa simply.
"I'm going to get applications for all of us and maybe they will draft us as a group!"
"Riiiight."
"Damn you Cathy! Damn you to hell!"
//interview with Duo//
"This is the last time in my _life_ that I am going to do something that Cathy says. Jumping out of Gundams, going into battles-you had adrenaline to work on there. I had to jump out of that plane completely cold."
FOOSH. His parachute automatically opened. A little voice could be heard from his radio. "Look for a clearing in the woods beneath you."
"How? You started this in the night."
"You are to land there, find your bicycle, and petal to Pamplona, Spain per instructions. It is approximately two miles. You will meet the rest of the group and participate in your first game. Good luck."
"No I don't know any Spanish and I don't know anyone-wait. No. Not the other Gundams nonononono..."
//VO: "Unbeknownst to Duo or most of the others, nine of the thirteen contestants must make it to the plaza in Pamplona in a certain order. Each correct answer gives the group one thousand dollars.
"The four left to pick the order are Traize, Dorothy, Cathy, and Quatre. The order they selected is Heero, Lucretzia, Sally, Trowa, Wufei, Zechs, Hilde, Duo, and Relena. The first seven are all there and only Lucretzia and Trowa made it in the right order. Relena is now ahead of Duo; if she makes it to the square in eighth place, then only two thousand dollars is put in the pot."//
A gentle breeze carried Duo to the clearing. He struggled with his parachute for a minute, and he got out to his bike-which was in a huge wicker basket, with a flashlight and instructions. Duo turned on the light and looked at the map. "Of course it has to be blurry." He turned it over. "Ah. Written directions." He hopped on the bike and went out in concentric circles to find the road, and soon he was off.
To be clipped by a fruit truck.
"Hey! Look out there!"
Then he off to Pamplona.
Duo shined his flashlight ahead to the square he was entering. He squinted his eyes. "Huh. The rest of the pilots are here. And Noin and Relena and Sally. And Hilde-Hilde! And Dorothy. And..." He looked ahead, then accelerated to try to hit a pedestrian. "Cathy! Prepare to die!"
She hid behind the host. Anderson Cooper only shook his finger at Duo. "Shame. First you are last to come and then you are attacking others. I'd fine you if you guys had money."
"Super," said Dorothy Caledonia, right next to him. She thought for a moment. "Wait, none of us made it? I could swear one or two made it in the right order."
"Yeah, two of you. Two thousand dollars. Whee.
"So. I think everyone is here; let me take role call. Heero? Good. Duo? I know you're here. Trowa? Anyone seen Trowa? Ah, right there. Quatre is here, Wufei is here. Traize, Zechs, you both are here. Relena? Okay. Hilde? I saw you before. Cathy is behind me. Dorothy-okay, you're Dorothy. Sally? Perfect. Lucretzia? Are you there? Yes, and everyone is here.
"Let me explain the rules. You all will try to complete games in eleven rounds, and success would add money to the pot. There are thirty-two in all, and completing them all will result in a $1 million pot.
"One amongst you is the Mole. The Mole is going to try to repel your efforts, trying to reduce the pot size and trying to add strife to the group. At the end of the first ten rounds, there will be a test on the identity of the Mole. The lowest score will result in execution of the said player.
"In the final round there will be the three remaining players-two honest ones and the Mole. A final test will determine the winner and loser and the Mole will reveal themselves.
"The next game is tonight as well. Any questions?"
There were no takers.
"Cathy was glued to the tube every Tuesday," said Noin. "She'll clarify anything."
"Very good." Anderson reached into a bag at his feet and pulled out thirteen blank black books. "Here are your diaries. You are not to mutilate them and ABSOLUTELY DO NOT write your name in them. There will be an explanation of that later.
"Everyone ready for the next game?"
"Yes." "Yeah." "Grunt." "Let's make some serious money."
"Out of you thirteen, nominate three people who are good leaders but not very good shots."
"Relena," everyone answered instantly.
"Okay, two more."
"I'll go with Miss Relena," said Dorothy.
"No you are not," Relena replied.
"Yes she is," interjected Anderson. "We only need one more."
"You, Trowa," said Noin, from the back of the group.
"I can mow down everything."
"Yeah, but you have that machine gun thing in your Gundam, of course you can."
"Okay, okay."
"Very well." Anderson removed more stuff from his duffel-a laptop and ten homing devices. "All of you except the three here, put on these tracers. You three, go to the screen.
"This game is called the Shooter game and it is very simple. Everyone with a homing device, pair up and get a laser tag gun. Each group has three targets, and all must be shot by that group-anyone else will not count. All three targets must be hit in twelve minutes for $5000-therefore, a total of twenty-five grand is up on the line. The three left here will navigate via party line."
"Oh, I can see the confusion already," said Zechs.
"Your twelve minutes start now."
"They better be nearby," said Quatre, as he headed off with Wufei. Heero and Sally were partners, as were Noin and Zechs and Duo and Hilde. Traize and Cathy immediately asked directions for their target, but were pushed away ("Maybe you'll find them on your own.") They scattered into the night.
Heero saw one target with his name and got it with one shot. Half a block down the road Sally got one just as easily. "This is too bloody easy!" they shouted at each other.
//interview with Sally//
"That first game was so easy, I thought it was a trick. There had to be a catch. I guess they will all get a lot harder from here."
Across town Noin and Zechs were also having a ball. Moving swiftly together, they got two and then ran across the plaza for more targets brightly lit and six blocks away. They took the short cut near the three leaders, the producers and Anderson.
The host appeared to be drinking some sort of wine. "Having fun?"
"Of course," said Zechs.
Wufei and Quatre were having..problems.
"Relena, Relena." Wufei was radioing back. "Tell me the location of our targets. We haven't found any of them."
"Wufei, ten others are calling me at the same time. I can't tell. Um, to your north."
"How far?"
"Just GO!"
Quatre was shooting out a target. "I keep shooting and shooting and it isn't showing up."
"It's one of Traize and Cathy's target, ninny."
"Oh."
//meeting with Wufei//
"I've had some weak partners before, but the onna they call Quatre just takes the cake. Couldn't shoot anything and when he COULD he was aiming at the wrong thing. Thank God there was a time limit; we could have been there forever."
Anderson hopped into a motor scooter and rode off. He found Hilde, who had split up from Duo. "Hey there, how are you doing."
"Well and you?"
"Good. Listen, I have an offer with you. You know an exemption gets yourself automatically into the next round. Or you do now. Right."
"My God, you're already drunk."
"If you shoot Duo, you lose the five thousand for the group but you will get an exemption. We'll watch you." Anderson drove off, weaving slightly.
"Hey, Duo." Hilde heard no answer. "Get your butt on over here. Come on."
"I'm coming, I'm coming." She could hear him turn the corner and walk up. "What? Did you find a target?"
Hilde aimed for his gun, guessing that was where she had to shoot, and fired. Duo's gun began to beep wildly. "What the hell are you doing?" screamed Duo. "What is the meaning of this?" He shot back, but seemed to miss.
Anderson's voice cackled over a megaphone. "Come on back, Duo and Hilde, you are out and there will not be the five grand you were aiming for."
"Wow," said Hilde. "He got back to the plaza fast."
//interview with Relena//
"No one knew where they were going. For the ten of them there were the three of us and all ten were screaming for directions to the next target, PLUS Wufei was screaming that Quatre was an onna and Duo was bitching about getting shot, and there was Dorothy there over my shoulder...there wasn't enough aspirin in the world for my headache afterward."
Cathy was wired. She had finally made it to the show she was wishing for so long to be on. An ABC cameraman was on her and she could feel the spotlight on her. She had to do something memorable. She turned a corner and hugged the wall, and peered around the corner. A target of theirs, with Quatre and Wufei arguing under it.
"Hey Cathy."
She screamed and whipped around, firing shots in all directions. She heard something give a sort of siren sound, and saw something blinking. Squinting, she realized who she had shot. "Thank you very much," said Traize. "Why your partner, Cathy?"
"Uh...sorry?"
"Okay, everyone, it has been twelve minutes." Anderson had the megaphone again. "Game is over, please make your way back to the plaza."
Everyone did quickly. Quatre and Wufei were bickering and Sally decided to shoot the navigators for kicks, but for the most part they made it back successfully.
"Very good, all. Heero and Sally got their targets and Zechs and Noin theirs, for $10,000. Quatre and Wufei did not get theirs in time, Hilde shot Duo for an exemption, and Cathy...shot Traize. Why was that, Cathy?"
She felt twelve pairs of eyes on her.
"Overexcitement?"
"Okay folks, it is time to go back to the hotel and have dinner. You will all have to wake up 7:30 tomorrow for tomorrow's next mission."
//cutaway to a scene in a elevator, presumably in the hotel. Dorothy and Zechs are inside.//
"Hey, Zechs, you think she did it on purpose?"
"Shooting? Of course Hilde did it on purpose. She did it for an exemption. This was affirmed here, DC"
"Cathy, I mean. Did she do it to keep five grand out of the pot?"
"I dunno. Maybe."
//scene of a night in time-lapse, then a sunrise. The new scene then goes off to a bullring.//
Trowa was in the stands on the side of the street of the famed Running of the Bulls, with ten thousand screaming fans all around him. He was wearing the white pants, white shirt and red bandanna of a runner-but he didn't know he was in the running. He was just told to stay there by the producer.
"Don't worry, you won't be hurt."
"Of course not." Riiiight.
A loudspeaker crackled on. "Welcome to the Running With the Tiny Cars." This was immediately followed by the Spanish translation. "We at ABC are amazed so many people want to participate in this show, considering it is not airing here. Will this season's cast of The Mole please enter the streets." Anderson. Trowa could feel himself being pushed forward. He tried to jump up and "swim" farther from the street, but the opposite happened, he fell to the street.
He saw Noin run on by. "Oh my god," she said. "What are we doing?"
"I have no idea. We better run."
A firecracker was shot off, and from the bull gates at the start of the run several small toy cars-big enough to hold one person but too small to be real cars-whooshed out to the run. The chibi sports cars picked up speed and turned a corner, ushering the contestants forward.
"Don't get caught. If they tag you your group doesn't win five thousand dollars. Try to go all the way to the ring, and get into one of the chairs. Go quickly, 'cause those tiny cars are _fast_.
//interview with Quatre//
"The producers started me farther up than any of the others, so I stuck out from the rest of the group. Three cars were tailing me immediately. It was one of those impossible-to-do missions like last night's order game. At least this one was impossible for me."
Cathy looked back, pondering. They seemed familiar. The cars came a little bit closer, and she ran like a scared cat. "Not worth getting run over, here."
Safety areas were marked, and almost immediately Zechs and Cathy dived into one. Relena, immediately behind, saw them duck out of the race. "Cowards!"
"Uh, don't get hurt," was all Zechs could reply with.
"Hurt? I've never felt so aliiiiiiiive!"
Everyone thundered past two straight-aways and hard turns that ended each. Duo made it past the first part of the race ahead of everyone, but one rider was close behind. He looked back and said, or shouted, "You look familiar." Then, "Howard!"
"Hey, man! Look out at the road!"
Duo did, and he saw fifty yards ahead that the road seemed to end. "Look out for that hard turn," he heard over the loudspeaker. "Make sure you're not on the outside."
"Ahhhhhhh!" Duo let Howard move to the outside of him, then jumped across his hood, just before the turn. The turn had been greased down with butter- flavored topping, and Howard skidded and crashed. "Hey! I'll never get this dent out!"
Behind, Dorothy saw the crash and made sure she stayed well away from the fuming Howard, gliding on the topping through the turn. The road ahead went directly into the ring-as it narrowed from what it seemed to be an avenue to side-way width. Everyone was compressed together, and Heero popped into second place, dodging the thickening cars.
Looking ahead, Dorothy saw Duo pop into one oversized chair at the end of the run, then Heero.
"I'm gonna make it! I'm gonna make it!"
BOOM! One car swerving out of control and smoking turned right suddenly and knocked Dorothy to the ground. She got up and dragged herself into the nearest seat.
"You were tagged," said Heero, next to her.
"They don't know that." The three finishers to date disappeared under a shroud of smoke.
//scene moves to twenty minutes later.//
"Wow," said Anderson. "You guys did an amazing job on that one-nine out of thirteen making it. Only Trowa, Zechs, Cathy, and Dorothy didn't make it."
Heero sent an "I told you so" look to Dorothy as Trowa rubbed where Midii Une had whacked him with her windshield.
"Each of you who ran successfully earned five thousand dollars for the pot, for a total of $45,000. For being first, Duo is exempt from this round's execution. This was the last game of the first round, and you earned a total of $57,000."
Everyone gave Duo a dirty look.
"Tomorrow night will be your execution dinner where the first of you leaves the show. Good luck for tomorrow, and don't forget about taking notes."
//personal interviews.//
Dorothy: "I'm amazed that Zechs could not run a half a mile with those little toy cars. Kinda suspect for someone so fit. Also, Cathy watched this game a lot and did a big 'mistake' in the first round. I'm still suspicious of her."
Duo: "I trust no one with eyebrows as freaky as Dorothy's."
Relena: "Wow, I've never had as much fan as on the little run there. God, that as hilarious. And I had the adrenaline flowing and all that, and I was able to pull in five thousand."
Trowa: "Une just doesn't know how to play nicely."
//the execution dinner. All are seated at a large table and well-dressed, though Relena's outfit has an uncanny resemblance to the Running With the Tiny Cars game outfit.//
"Hey, I liked the game a lot, okay?" Relena was defending herself. "Don't have a lot of opportunities for fun as ruler of the world, you know?"
"I guess not." Sally looked around. "Someone shoot me if I'm executed, okay?"
"'Kay." Wufei took a sip of water.
Sally scowled.
"So, changing the subject," said Cathy as she noticed that Wufei and Sally were about to fight. "Who do you think is going to go later?"
"Duo," said many.
"I have an exemption." Duo looked around. "I'm not wearing you all out that quickly, am I?"
"Of course you are," said Trowa. "You just wouldn't be you otherwise."
//the quiz. Sally is shown answering the question, "Is the Mole male or female?"//
Sally: "That was a hard game to gauge, the car game. It's pretty tough looking, so people could look crooked diving for cover. And Quatre was a Gundam, how could he not be able to shoot at a simple target?"
//a few questions later, Zechs is focused on, "Did the Mole make it to the square in the right order?"//
Zechs: "It's impossible to do that right-we didn't know what the order was. But Noin and Trowa made it in the right order! Maybe one of them is a Mole."
//Heero is on, "Who is the Mole?"//
Heero: "Dorothy is throwing attention to others, which is suspicious. Also, when she was hit by the tiny car, she sort of rolled into the impact though it blind-sided her. It looked like she was expecting it."
//the execution. They are seated in what appears to be a basement.//
"Okay, well, here is the first execution. If the computer screen-" he motioned toward the laptop-"flashes green, you finished somewhere other than last on the test on the Mole you all just took. If it flashes red, then you got the lowest score and you must leave.
"All right, everyone ready?"
"No," replied Traize.
"Let's go, then." Anderson started the program. "Duo and Hilde have exemptions. Good thing, because Duo had the lowest score."
"Hey! You aren't supposed to say that!" Duo was not pleased.
"And so, therefore, the one with the second lowest score must leave. Let's go in alphabetical order." Anderson typed in "Cathy" into the computer.
It immediately flashed green.
Next-Dorothy. The screen stayed the same for a couple of seconds, then turned a blood-red.
//highlights of Dorothy's stay, even if it's for just one episode. Prominent highlight-her getting bumrushed in the Running of the Cars//
Dorothy: "Well...I guess it wasn't Zechs or Cathy all along. Ah well."
Quatre: "I'm not sad to see her go...I still got the scar from where she stabbed me."
Wufei: "I was not fond of the onna, but now I only have Sally and Duo to fight with."
//Dorothy goes out to the sunset//
You too can see how well you did at picking the Mole! Take the ten question quiz:
Is the Mole male or female? (male/female)
What does the Mole's profession involve? (cars/law enforcement or military/arts and music/performer/money profession/other)
Where does the Mole live? (United States/Outside U.S., on Earth/Outside of Earth, on a colony)
Was the Mole one of the ranked layers in Ordered coming, or a ranker? (ranked/ranker)
Was the Mole successful in getting into his/her correct rank? (yes/no/was a ranker)
Was the Mole a Shooter or Guide in the Shooter game? (Shooter/Guide)
Was the Mole successful in the Shooter game? (yes/no/the Mole was a Guide)
Did the Mole fire upon a player, or did a player fire upon the Mole, in the Shooter game? (The Mole fired at a player/The Mole was fired at by a player/Neither)
Did the Mole win during the Running With the Tiny Cars? (yes/no)
Who is the Mole? (Heero/Hilde/Trowa/Dorothy/Wufei/Lucretzia/Zechs/Sally/Quatre/Catherine/Duo/ Relena/Traize)
Author's notes: Sorry I've been inactive for so long. Tenth grade feels twice as hard as ninth, and I'm being buried alive in work. Also, I'm trying to join the baseball team, and I've got to work at that. I'm all but pinned to that now, as I just bought a $70 glove for pitching. The more I get into that, the less enthused I am about it, but I have to at least try now. Also I'm going to try to get into the Speech and Debate club in my school. And I got to do these fanfics.
Something had to give, and it was these.
So, don't expect too much from me until next June. I'll crank out stuff once in a while, but don't expect a masterpiece like "One Potato, Two Potato" or "Unwinnable" anytime soon.
