Welcome to my attempt at a mobile suit Gundam Wing fic. I don't know all that much about this series. So don't yell at me if I mess something up. If I do mess something up, please let me know and I'll change it. I don't own Gundam Wing. I know the TV show is copywrited to Sunrise and Bandai Entertainment. I also do not own Kaylynn. She is Pop Flower Millennium's. I do not own Lita. She is Anthy Kilik's. I do not own Catana. She is Pop's little sister's. I do not own Li. He belongs to Demon of Shadows. Also I would like to add that I have never met him, but I needed a space filler. So I hope I am doing him justice. I hope you enjoy my fic. See you on the flip side.
Kaylynn stared hard. Hate was in her eyes. She was ready to start killing everyone. Lita watched her nervously from the other side of the room. She glanced at Jetta, who was directly behind Kaylynn. Jetta was positioned to tackle her at any given moment. All they could do was wait for her to try an attack and do the best they could to stop her. There was no telling what the consequences of her actions would be. When the bell rang to end the class, Lita and Jetta stopped holding their breaths. They knew the teacher's lecture would have made Kaylynn snap if it had lasted any longer. They collected their books and headed to the door with the rest of the students. "Miss Kushrendada," the teacher called, "A word" Kaylynn cringed. Lita smiled a weak smile to try to lighten the mood. She put her hand on Kaylynn's shoulder. "Good luck," she said and walked away. Jetta poked her in the shoulder. "Remember what we've been working on," she said, "Self control. Don't speak, just nod. Do not speak" She backed away, out the door. Kaylynn stalked up to the teacher's desk. 'Do not speak. Do not speak,' she reminded herself silently. She clenched her teeth. "Kaylynn," the teacher said, "I'm getting the impression that you don't enjoy my lectures" She paused and waited for Kaylynn to respond. When she didn't, she continued, "Miss Kushrenada, I realize that your constant traveling makes it difficult for you to commit to things, but I wish you would put more effort into your studies. The information is the same no matter what school you attend. And I have considered that other schools do teach differently and perhaps you were at a different point in this topic. However, I keep my lessons simple. If you are having problems, please ask me for help. Or one of the friends that transferred with you. They seem to understand. Do you understand what I'm telling you?" Kaylynn still had her teeth clenched and she was simmering. 'No speak,' she coached herself, 'No speak' But she was about to pop. She managed to nod at the teacher. "So, can I expect to see improvements on your part?" the teacher asked. Kaylynn nodded. Hopefully they wouldn't be there too much longer, so if she could just tell the teacher what she wanted to hear for now she'd be home free. "Alright," the teacher concluded, "You are dismissed" Kaylynn grumbled as she left the room. Jetta and Lita were standing in the hall, looking all too uninterested. She knew they had been pressed against the door the whole time. "I'm hungry," she told them, "Let's go" They followed her down to the mess hall. They found their friends Li and Catana who were waiting for them at a table. "Took you long enough," Li said. Kaylynn made a face at him as he dropped his feet from the bench where they'd been saving space. "We gotta get out of here soon," Kaylynn said, "The teacher expects improvement. Have you guys even been looking?" Catana gave her a look. "Come on," she said, "You know we don't want to stay here either. My classes aren't going so well either you know" Jetta, Lita and Li glanced at each other. They knew that Li and Jetta were doing better than half of the normal students and Lita was a touch above average grades, but they weren't going to mention it. Jetta made an attempt to switch the subject. "You wouldn't think that it would be this hard," she said, "One of them was even on the news while ago. We don't have to start screening do we?" Li frowned as he ran his fingers over the tabletop. "We probably should," he said, "but we'd have to start quickly. We don't know how long they'll be here. They might even be gone already" Lita looked thoughtfully at them. "How can we know for sure?" she asked. "We can't," Jetta said, "I'm not hungry. I think I'll spend this lunch hour at the computer lab. And Lita, I might not be feeling well next hour. Please tell the teacher if she asks" She winked at them as she stood up. "Same here," Li said as he rose. They walked out of the room and down the hall. The others continued their normal schedule and kept up their search for the other five Gundam pilots. They needed to find them and unite. Together they could to reveal the truth. But first they had to find them.
The sound of keys quickly filled the comp lab. Li and Jetta were hard at work, hacking into the school's database to screen the students. "What do you think they're like?" Jetta asked Li suddenly. The question took him by surprise. "Huh? I guess they won't be too different from us," he answered, "Lost somewhere between childhood and adulthood. Trapped in the vicious cycle of war that seems to have no end and doing the best they can to find peace in all of it" Jetta had stopped typing and was looking blankly at him. "All I'm saying," he explained, "is that they're probably as crazy as us. And probably hate humankind as much as we do" Jetta nodded and went back to what she was doing. She itched the side of her face as she waited for some search results. "It's weird, you know?" she said rocking backward in her chair, "We all hate humankind so much, and yet, they're what we're risking our necks for all the time. Not to mention that they don't appreciate us. I hate them, yet I feel like I have to protect them. It's a love-hate relationship. You know what I mean?" Li grinned. The two of them often were thinking on the same wavelength. He knew he didn't have to answer. He knew what she meant and she knew it. Jetta sat straight again when her results had loaded. She squinted at the tiny print. She thought for a moment, and then punched in a command. All they knew was that the other pilots were all boys about their age and would have been recent transfers. One of them had been on the news. He had long brown hair. That's really all they got out of the news reports. As she started another search she quickly asked St. Anthony (the saint of missing things) for a little help. He must have been listening. The search she had made on sheer hunch turned out to be a success. "Yes," she said. She had used process of elimination on a list of all the boys at the school. She had managed to bring the list down to nine possibilities. She printed out info and pictures of each of them. Li looked over the possibilities as Jetta erased any memory of her searches from the computer's drive. "We got one," Li said, handing her the picture of the pilot from the news. He had a long brown braid and a big dopey grin. "Duo Maxwell," Li read, "Age fifteen. Transferred here two weeks ago. His record is too spotless to be real. The rest, we've got a fifty-fifty" Jetta studied the picture, memorizing his features. The braid would be a dead give away, but if it was tucked away or something, she'd have to know his face. They checked his class schedule. Neither of them had a class with him. Li checked his watch. "If we're still going to be sick next hour," he said, "We could probably catch him before his class" Jetta nodded. It was their best shot. But they had to hurry if they wanted to get to his class before him. They hurried down the hall to the room he was due at for his next class. They stood by the door and waited. He came ambling down the hall. "Duo?" Jetta said when he got close. He was shocked to hear someone address him. "You're Duo Maxwell aren't you?" she asked, now that she had his attention. He eyed them suspiciously and nodded. "Can we have a word with you please?" she asked politely enough. He nodded slowly. They turned down a hall where no people were. "I'm going to be really to the point with you," Li said, "We know that you're a Gundam pilot" Duo's books hit the floor and fell back into a defensive fighting position. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded. Li stared at him then turned to Jetta.
"Jumpy, isn't he?" he asked in a monotone. Jetta nodded almost wistfully. Duo's glance shot back and forth between them. "As he should be," Jetta said then turned to Duo, "You don't have to worry. We're pilots too. We're trying to find the rest of the pilots so the ten of us can combine our efforts and really show OZ who's boss" Duo looked at them with a mixture of surprise, confusion, doubt, joy and amusement. "Who are you?" he asked again, letting his guard down. "We're pilots 10 and 09," Li said, "I am Li Shinjuka and this is Jetta Raynnes" She had stooped and gathered Duo's fallen books. She smiled warmly at him as she handed them back. "Ten, huh?" Duo asked, receiving his books, "And you guys have been looking for us? You're a little out of luck. You found me in time but the other four that I hang around with already took off. Don't ask me where they went cause I don't know for sure" Jetta and Li weren't sure whether to be glad that they found this one or be upset they found THIS one. "So,' Jetta asked, "They just left you here?" Duo gave her a sideways look. "Eh," he said, "Its no biggie. We always manage to find one another. How many of you are there? I know you said ten total, but how many have you gathered so far?"
"There's five of us," Jetta told him, "We knew the five of you were together. We just had to put the two halves together" Duo nodded. He was beginning to understand. Jetta and Li were already forming new plans. Li pulled out the papers with the eight suspected pilots. "Can you tell us which of these are the other pilots?" he asked holding out the papers. Duo flipped through them and casually tossed four of them onto the floor when he saw them. "These are the guys you're looking for," he said giving them back, "But watch out for this one. He might kill you if you don't give him the information in the right order" He was pointing at the top sheet. "Heero Yuy?" Li asked, "Little mean, is he?" Duo gave a laugh and nodded. He was already late for class, but he'd about stopped caring. "So you guys have been around this whole time?" he asked. "Yup," Jetta said, "We've been doing our share of fighting, but we hardly ever get noticed" Duo nodded. "So do I get to meet the others?" he asked pleasantly. Jetta had a thought. Kaylynn. This Duo guy was pretty cute and he was the type she was interested in. She was going to try to wing it on a prayer because he wasn't a blonde. "Two of them," she told Duo. Li looked at her. He knew what she was thinking. Duo was puzzled. "You'll get to meet them all," Li corrected, "One just might be bound and gagged. She's a little excitable" Duo nodded. They decided to avoid authorities until class ended then meet up with the others. They found an empty room and locked them selves in. Li took out his laptop and entered the information on the other pilots. Suddenly Jetta remembered that they had left the papers Duo had dropped on the floor. She jumped off the desk she'd been sitting on and ran for the door. The two boys watched her as she slowly opened the door to check the hall. "We left the other papers on the floor," she said as she slipped out quickly, locking the door behind her. "Oh man," Li groaned at their carelessness.
Jetta ran down the hall with silent steps. She skidded to a stop at a corner. She looked down both ends of the hall and listened for any noise. She saw and heard nothing. She had almost reached the turn into the hall where the papers were, when she heard a door. She skidded to a walk in hopes of not attracting as much attention as she would have while running. She still tried to hurry. Someone called after her as she turned the corner. She found the papers and shuffled them into a pile. She heard running and flipped out a lighter. She lit the stack, as the man behind her demanded that she stand up. She pocketed the lighter and rose to face him. He moved to grab the papers, but she stepped into his way. To give it more time to be destroyed. "Now Missy," the guy said, "You're looking for trouble. What were those papers?" She turned and looked at the pile of ash. "Those papers?" she asked innocently, "Those were just old tests that I didn't like my score on" He didn't believe her act. She hadn't expected him to. She knew she was in trouble. She just hoped the other two were staying put.
When too much time had passed for Li to be comfortable anymore, he began to pace the room. "It shouldn't be taking so long," he growled, "Why isn't she back yet?" He hadn't been talking to anyone but himself, but Duo responded. "Do you think she got caught?" he asked. Li looked pure venom at him, not meaning to be rude to Duo, but he was edgy. He knew he might be blowing this way out of proportion, but he didn't want to take the chance of something serious happening. Just when Li thought he couldn't stand to wait one more second, the buzzer sounded to end class. The two of them took off down the hall to where the papers were left. They found the pile of ash. "Well," Duo said, "she accomplished what she set out to do"
"But where is she now?" Li pointed out. They went off to find the others.
"She's what!" Kaylynn hollered at Li. She had indeed noticed Duo, but the Jetta issue distracted her. "We have to find her!" she screamed. Li just stood there and watched her blow off steam. He itched the side of his nose. "Are you finished yet?" he asked, "But even if you're not, we don't know what happened. So we just wait. She may just have detention. We can't do anything yet" Duo, Lita and Catana sat there, watching.
Jetta sat casually back in her chair, with her lips pursed and her feet up on another chair. There were three staff members standing around, glaring at her. "So," one man said, "You don't have parents, grandparents, family or guardians of any kind that we could contact. We can't send you home because you don't have an address. What are you?" She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. She had been feeding them an excuse for a while now. "I already told you, I can't go home because my parents are in the process of transferring everything to a new house on a new colony," she said, "So I have no home and my parents are currently gone. The rest of my family is dead or on a different colony. You got that, or should I repeat it again?" They were all pretty angry. She still hadn't told them what the papers were. They were trying to expel her, but finding it difficult to get rid of her. "If you want," she suggested, "I'll just go away"
"We need to contact a guardian," they said, "Until then you'll be under our surveillance. We'll be relocating your room and all your belongings. Your books will be returned and you will stop attending classes. This will be going on your record. It will be known to all schools on other colonies" She had to stop herself from laughing. It was amazing how powerful mentioning your record made people feel. If everything ever put on her record was still there, no one would allow her near their school. That was nothing compared to the others she traveled with, but still, a collection of destruction, concealment, and disciplinary issues would not be cause for welcome. It bit that she would be separated from the others. It would be hard for her to get out. She started thinking on a figuratively suicidal wavelength. She would be trapped there forever if the school was waiting to talk to a guardian. She formed a plan.
When Jetta wasn't in the mess hall for dinner, they were almost over the edge. They decided to go to her room that evening. Surly they would allow her to sleep, even if she was in big trouble. When they got there they found an envelope wedged in the door. They grabbed it and went inside for secrecy. The room had been stripped. The drawers were empty, the sheets were gone and all signs of inhabitance were gone. They sat around the room as Li tore open the envelope. He began reading to the other four:
Guys,
Destroyed the evidence, but got caught. Facing expulsion. They want to talk to my guardian before they let me go anywhere. Been moved to new room, under supervision. You guys leave. I'll get out somehow and find you. Just be gone by Friday. Be gone, all five of you! Can't say more. Wrote while packing.
Jet
"She must have left it when they weren't looking," Lita said, "We can't just leave her by herself" They were all thinking. "Then we won't," Duo said forming an idea of his own. Catana spoke up.
"She'll kill us if we don't leave though," she pointed out, "And if we get too much attention it'll be too hard to get us all out" Kaylynn agreed. But they still hadn't heard Duo out yet.
"I know," he explained, "But what if most of us leave and some stage a rescue" They saw logic in it and stared at him. "Do you think it's possible?" Lita asked. Duo gave a cheerful shrug.
"Heck," he said, "If one guy can stage a rescue and succeed, a couple of us can. And besides, this time we're not facing people who are trying their best to kill us. It'll be easy. Two of stay for the rescue, the other three can take off and wait up for us. We just have to decide who stays and who goes. Each group should have a leader though. I don't know you guys real well so you can assign missions. I don't care myself"
They all nodded. It was a good plan. "Well," Lita said, "Kaylynn has to be part of the away team. She's to clumsy to make a rescue" Kaylynn whacked her in the back of the head. Even though it was true.
"I want to go with him," Kaylynn said pointing at Duo. Duo pointed to himself quizzically. He didn't know why that was so important. "Then Catana can be part of the away team headed by Duo," Lita said, "Li and I will stage the rescue. Any objections?" Duo, Kaylynn and Duo shook their heads, but Catana raised her hand. "Why did you pick for me?" she demanded, "I never get to choose. I always get screwed over cause I'm younger" Lita and Kaylynn gave her a look and Li nodded.
"Get used to it," Kaylynn instructed. Catana pouted and didn't speak. They decided to do some scouting that night. First they had to find her, and then learn the security barriers. No one was allowed out after curfew so they knew they'd run into some. Duo and Lita did the scouting when Li found her using the computer and they sent the other two to bed. When they were satisfied, they went to bed. All they had to do was live through a few more classes and fine-tune their plan during meals.
Jetta lied down in her new bed. She hoped the others would get the message. She didn't like having to sleep with a light on so the video camera could see her. She had plans for the camera though. While pretending to sleep, she kicked something off her bed right under the camera where it couldn't see. She rose to retrieve it. When the camera couldn't see her, she began to mess with the interior wiring. When the camera was dead, she worked on the light. Then she slept in peace, but very aware that someone had been posted outside her door after the camera failure.
The next day the five pilots got up and went to class. The anticipation was killing all of them. All they could think about was their escape.
Jetta spent the day in solitary confinement. They had replaced the camera and the light in her bedroom. She spent her time planning an escape. It was Wednesday. She had at least a two-day wait. There was no way she was going to leave before the others. But something in the back of her mind told her that something was going on. She'd heard someone poking around outside last night, and it wasn't the guard.
"I'm gonna die," Kaylynn shrieked at lunch, "It's only 12:15. I still have three classes to go through like this. And to top it off I have to go through dinner and wait in my room until 11:00. This is killing me"
None of them were happy with the wait either. And it seemed a rather hollow attempt to bother showing up for class. They weren't worried about their records. Records were easy to change. But to be safe, Li would be leaving dinner to erase all files the school had on any of them. The last three classes of the day dragged by slowly. At dinner, Li left for the comp lab. A staff member came in and got a tray full of healthy food. As he passed, they stared. Lean turkey on rye bread, some soggy green beans, a lemon slice, a piece of cheese and a glass of water were on the tray. "You gonna eat all that?" Kaylynn asked, semi-grossed out. He laughed. "No way," he chuckled, "This is for someone who deserves it" As he walked away the four of them looked at each other. "They're feeding Jetta that?" Kaylynn said, "That's just evil. Evil!" She couldn't eat her food after thinking of Jetta eating that. It felt like she'd be backstabbing Jetta by eating decent food. She had beef with a roll, buttered corn, a piece of watermelon, some pudding and chocolate milk. She felt awful. She couldn't wait for them to be out of there.
This was the fourth disgusting prison meal Jetta had to choke down. Breakfast had been plain and slimy oatmeal with some wheat crackers, water, and a small bowl of cottage cheese. Lunch had been unseasoned mashed potatoes, with a mystery lunchmeat, piece of cheese, and as a special surprise weak apple juice. Now she had this. The same thing she had last night, the water, bland food and the cheese. Always cheese. So much damn cheese. She hated cheese, with a passion. And it was always the same guy. He always got cheese then laughed at her. When she asked if he was eating the same meal, he confessed that he was allergic to dairy but still wasn't eating anything like she was. She wasn't sure she could wait until after Friday to escape.
That night, she dismantled the camera again. And again there was a guard placed outside her room. She was really starting to hate it there, but she still hadn't figured out how to get away.
While Jetta was worrying about the video camera, Duo was silently leading Catana and Kaylynn out of the school. They had learned all the security measures and were going to sneak out of the basement with their things. They were also carrying Li and Lita's stuff. When they got out of the school they headed for where they hid their transportation. They all got to their own crafts and took off for space. It was almost too easy. They killed the engines and drifted around the colony, waiting.
Li and Lita had to climb part of the way through a vent shaft. There were several security checkpoints that they had to avoid. When they got close, they saw the guard. It was the guy who had brought Jetta her food. They faced each other. "Silent and deadly?" Li asked quietly. Lita nodded. At a timed point she ran at the guard like the wind and clonked him good on the head. The sound of his body hitting the floor wasn't loud enough to alert anyone. They got the key from the guard and opened the door. There was no one in there. Any stuff she had was gone, but her full dinner tray remained. The two of them stood in the doorway, dumbfounded. They were suddenly aware of someone standing behind them. They turned to find Jetta with her bag on her back. She has some dust on her clothes, the same kind of dust that was on them. She had escaped through her vent shaft. "Took you guys long enough," she said, "I told you to leave" She said with a slight level of disappointment in her voice. She crossed her arms and waited for an answer. "Hey," Li said, "You told us to be gone by Friday. We still have half an hour until Friday. And you never said that we couldn't bring you with" Lita nodded in agreement. Jetta couldn't help but smile. "I'll try to be more specific from now on," she said. Just as they were about to leave, the guard began to stir. He rose and blocked their way. "All three of you want to be expelled?" he asked. Jetta got angry. She picked up the piece of cheese from her tray. She strode up to him and jammed it in his mouth. "Eat cheese, bastard," she said then punched him on his butt. They walked past him and down the hall.
Before long, they were all in space. Over the intercom they decided to split up, three groups of two. They all now knew who the pilots were. They would search for them on different colonies. Now that they had Duo, it would be easier. Kaylynn insisted on going with Duo, Lita and Catana would stick together, and Li and Jetta would make the last team. They planned their locations and sped off to continue the search.
Well I hope it was all right by you. If it wasn't…so what, go suck on a lemon. This concludes the first part of my epic. I am happy to share with you that it only took me two days to finish. Be sure to tune in next time (whenever that is) to catch the next exciting chapter of my story. Please review. It's good for my self-confidence.
