The auburn haired looked to the door, as the two black haired teens entered.
"You're feeling better?"
"Yes, I do. Thank you, Éclair." Éclair nodded shortly and made some space for the two new arrivers to sit.
"Now then", Eclipse started and looked at the five E.S. teams. They all have been called there in the morning for something important. And with exception of A-ou and Un-ou, who were away on a mission, all E.S. Members where present, even Armbrust and Mercredi.
"What do you want from us, Eclipse?"
"To make it short: Queís." The eyes of most of the E.S Members widen. They were all quite aware that the newest happenings were directly connected to the bomb years ago on Queís, but until now Eclipse held most needed information, which wasn't really more than the common knowledge about it.
"Chief, why now? Why not before?" The other E.S. members nodded slightly, thinking the same thing as Éclair. The last time Eclipse held things back was back then with the Nouvlesse and she had had a good reason and was also ordered to do so, but now…
"She didn't say a thing because of the deal." Now all Heads turned over to Tweedledum, confusion clearly shown on the faces of most of the E.S members.
"What are you talking about, 'dledum?"
"About the reason why the Chief didn't tell you everything by now. It's because the deal." By now all eyes were on Tweedledum, even those of the five who knew the story.
"What deal?" Asked Eclipse right-hand man, Dextra.
"The deal Eclipse, no the GOTT and the Nouvlesse made three years ago concerning the Queís event…and I guess you can say concerning the true circumstances of Sho's death."
"The true circumstances…? But you told me yourself that he's-"
"I believe I should interfere here and tell you guys a little story beforehand." Now all heads wandered over to the dark blue haired man who just interrupted Tweedledee.
"We're not here for a fairytale."
"Oh, believe me Éclair, it's everything but a fairytale…" Armbrust started to trail off as he recalled the old memories.
-Line Break-
"I'm not going to rejoin that crushed Organization." Growled the nearly thirteen year old while biting off a small octopus ball from the small wooden pick.
"Oh, I'm not here to ask you to rejoin, just to consider it."
"I already told you off the last four times, I will not rejoin it. And why should I? I remind you that I would be useless without a partner, so the Nouvlesse wouldn't care until you find a new one for me with matching abilities and that's gonna take years."
"Actually that's not true."
"What do you mean?"
"Easy, there is someone matching your abilities, not as well as Kan, at the moment, but there is someone"
. . .
"I'm still not coming back, Armbrust. I want to be with my family…at least until they are not anymore…" Armbrust sighed and looked down at the boy next to him eating his octopus balls. He swore that the boy could be just as thick headed as the woman who once saved him as he himself was a child many years ago. The boy's stubbornness really managed to stop him from acknowledge the bigger problem there.
"Then we have a problem."
"I don't see one."
"I know, you are too stubborn to acknowledge it, but deep down you know what I mean." The boy glared at the older man and Armbrust knew he hit a wound point there and. Even if the boy didn't act like it, Armbrust did see that the younger one did acknowledge the problem already and just tried to hide it, not wanting to believe it.
"You're already aware of it, aren't you? That, if there is a possible partner for you, the Nouvlesse will not stop at anything to get you to work for the GOTT again. And if you refuse because you want to be with your family they will take care of it."
"Shut up."
"Oh, me? Or the voice of reason? You know it's true. The Nouvlesse will stop at nothing to get what they want."
"Shut up." The younger one hissed again and glared down at the ground under his feet.
"And there's also still the Organization of-"
"I said SHUT UP! I do not want to hear it Armbrust! I just…don't want to have anything to do with it…not with Queís…not with the GOTT...not with him…not with what I did…"
"I see." Armbrust looked down at the boy glaring at the ground. He could understand him somewhat, he also didn't like it. He didn't like it that he was the one who had to tell the child these things, not liking having to use the kid's own distress against him. But in the end he was like the others nothing more than a slave, an attack dog of the Nouvlesse and he had to carry out their orders. Just like Eclipse, the boy next to him, the two absorbers or the two female G-classes E.S members that at the moment had been held in a coma for over twenty years now…
"Tell me, did I ever tell you the story of how the GOTT lost their two most powerful forces for the moment?"
"Nani? What are you talking about, Armbrust? Aren't Dvergr and Eclipse the most powerful ones?" The boy looked up to the Inspector a slight confusion was seen on his face.
"No, actually they aren't. The two most powerful forces behind the GOTT are…were G-class E.S members." The eyes of the younger one widen. G-class? But those were only a rumor, they didn't exist. But…Armbrust maybe had a shady personality and the kid still wasn't sure which side he was on, but Armbrust also didn't lie, whatever you may believe, Armbrust didn't lie.
"Over twenty years ago they had enough of being treated like slaves and dogs by the Nouvlesse. They decided that they would take their lives into their own hands. They wanted to change something in the galaxy…but even though they were the most powerful E.S members they weren't able to do something…even worse. Eclipse herself had to go against the two in the end, completely against her own will, but she knew that this was the only way to save the two from the Nouvlesse rage…you surely learned in school about how the planets Glacies and Ignies were freed from the Nouvlesse rule, haven't you?"
"Sure, I did. It was called a revolution, that soon the Nouvlesse would lose their influence in the galaxy. That was until fifteen years ago, were both planets were destroyed through Geo-sort bombs. They blew themselves up as they tried to make Geo-short bombs to attack earth and the Nouvlesse, at last officially it was. Unofficial many believe it was the Nouvlesse themselves destroying the two planets, stopping others from following the example those plants made."
"Yes, quite correct. Just what most don't know is that the planets were freed by two people alone." The boy looked up to Armbrust in mild surprise. Two people were able to free two planets on their own? Was that the power of the G-class? Impressive…
"You know, after the two freed the planet the Nouvlesse wanted their heads, wanted them dead. But no one gets the title 'the E.S. member that can't die' for nothing and moreover they are the most powerful force in the GOTT and, next to Eclipse, the oldest. In the end Eclipse managed to convince the Nouvlesse to let her go and take on the two, but not to kill them. Eclipse managed to beat them…the souls of the two were transferred into new bodies after that and from that day on they had been held in a coma."
"Why are you telling me this? To show me how weak I am compared to the two? That if they didn't manage to free themselves from the Nouvlesse I wouldn't either?"
"Actually I am telling you this, because there maybe finally is a little piece of hope."
"And what? What would that piece of hope be? If not even G-class members were able to disobey the Nouvlesse without facing the consequence what hope would there be?" Armbrust smiled slightly, he himself had asked that question as Eclipse told Dvergr, Alv, Mercredi and himself of this. If the two most powerful forces were able to do something against the Nouvlesse for more than a few years, who or what else could?
"Because there is a new generation of E.S members. And even more interesting this new generation all fulfill the conditions needed for Eclipse to be able to transfer the soul of someone into a new body."
"In other words it's a new and the final E.S Unit of the GOTT."
"That's right. And even our two G-class members will return, with their power being limited and memories maybe whipped out, but they are going to return."
"You seem more than happy over their return…why are you telling me this?"
"Because I want you to see that the GOTT is not only a crushed organization, as you put it. And that there maybe is still a chance of doing something good while working for the GOTT."
"You know more than you are telling me, don't you? There's something bigger behind it, isn't there?" A dry chuckle escaped Armbrust. To believe that the boy was only your average kid, when it didn't have to do with martial arts and something connected to it.
"I told you what I know, maybe there's more maybe there isn't, maybe Eclipse won't tell us the whole plan, maybe she will. I don't know. The only thing I didn't tell you until now is that it's planed that I will transfer into the GU E.S. Unit for the time being, but's that pretty much all." The boy was deep in thought as he looked down onto the tray, which held the last few octopus balls, while he was chewing on the wooden pick he used to pick off the eatable balls.
"So in short", started the boy slowly after being silent for some moments, "I have two choices." Armbrust nodded slightly, waiting for the boy to continue.
"Either I do not come back and have to worry about the Nouvlesse threating my family and maybe even this stupid Organization that thought they could go and blow up a planet or I come back and only have to worried about what this Organization could do to my family but the Nouvlesse are somewhat out of the picture…but they could still use my family against me." Another nod from Armbrust and the boy gave a small sigh before he stood up and walked over to the trashcan near the bench the two males were sitting on, throwing the tray and the rest of the octopus balls away.
"I have two conditions, if I rejoin the GOTT."
. . .
-Line Break-
The E.S members looked all at Armbrust, some with a raised eyebrow other indifferent and others with a slight frown or glare.
"And what does this little story of yours have to do with this deal Tweedledum was talking about?"
"My, Éclair didn't you figure it out?" The dark blue haired raised his hands in defending manner, as the auburn haired wanted to shout something at him, before he continued with what he wanted to say.
"Tweedledum talked about a deal that prevented her from telling you about Queís. I just told you that that boy had two conditions before he would rejoin the GOTT. Now you only have to put two and two together to figure at least one of these conditions out." A slightly annoyed growl was heard from Tweedledum as the room remained silent, no one daring to give an answer.
"One of the two conditions was that no one would, no one who didn't already know everything, would gain knowledge of the full events on Queís. The second was the death of Sho." With Tweedledum's last words a heavy silence was felt in the Chiefs office. No one who didn't know the whole story could believe their ears.
"You are kidding, aren't you? Eclipse, tell us that you did not agree to that condition!" Éclair looked at the blond Chief, mentally begging her to say she did said no. Eclipse closed her eyes and shook her head slightly, telling the group in her office that she indeed agreed to the condition.
"No…you…you agreed to let somebody get killed?! Without a real reason?! Eclipse!"
A dry laugh was heard and again all heads turned back to Tweedledum, who just laughed at what Éclair just nearly screamed at Eclipse.
"There's nothing funny about it, Tweedledum…"
"Are you sure about that, DeeDee? I personally find it quite funny", started Tweedledum after he stopped laughing and only a smirk remained on his face, which brought him some horrified looks from his co-workers.
"After all Éclair just accused the Chief of letting somebody get killed without a reason, not thinking about that there actually is a reason behind that condition."
"What reason would justify killing someone?"
"Can't think of one? I can think of multiple reasons behind that condition. After all what happened on Queís-"
"But that's no reason to want somebody's death!" Éclair glared angry at Tweedledum, not understanding how he could agree with that condition.
"Didn't you do something similar to it? Your memories were whipped out on your request-"
"But that's totally different! I-"
"It is? You whipped your memories to run from your past, because you couldn't live with what you did in the past anymore and a similar reason is behind the condition. I couldn't live with what happened on Queís anymore, neither could I live with my family being in possible danger through me, so I made this request. I asked for myself to be killed. So the GOTT helped me faking my death. In the end I didn't really lie as I said that Sho is dead…I just didn't mention that he's actually me and that his death was just a fake…" The last part was directly directed towards Tweedledee, pleading for her to understand, for her to not be angry or hurt by his lie.
"Tweedledum…you are an idio.t" Tweedledum eyes widened slightly as his partner hugged him and a small blush showed on his face as Tweedledee gave him a light kiss on the forehead.
"Aw, isn't that cute? Our very own love birds-" A ringing sound interrupted Éclair and all heads turned around to Eclipse, who just answered her phone.
"What?...Yes."
Dextera was the first one to ask after Eclipse hung up again. "Chief what is it?"
"There's an attack on the high security prison of Aineias, it seems someone wants to break the prisoners free. Go and aid the police getting the situation back under control." A round of 'Yes, Chief's was heard and all present E.S. members left the office quickly.
-Line Break-
"Damn it, where did those bastards got those ships from?!"
"They got money, surely they could buy everything possible under the Nouvlesse." Éclair cursed silently at Lumieres answer, as she ducked behind a corner to escape on of the ships shots.
"Go and take care of the north wing, Éclair and leave the ships to Cesario and Viola."
"Understood, Alv. You are taking care of the south wing?"
"And Armbrust and Pfeilspitze took the west wing, mom the east and 'dledum went to check on the underground cells under the tower." Éclair nodded slightly, before she remembered that the other woman couldn't hear her and replied a quick 'yes', before she started to move into the direction of the north wing.
-Line Break-
Shouts and screams from prisoners and attackers were heard as they tried to shot the short haired woman, without much of an effect, as she only absorbed all the attacks and reflected them to the attackers. It wasn't much work for an E.S Member to take care of a situation like this, the only real problem was the number of the attackers, paired with the number of the prisoners, but even that was easy to deal with, as soon as the security system and the automatic lock of the cells worked again.
"How long does it take you two to remove the virus and reactivate the system?"
"Around two minutes to remove the virus and three to reactivate the whole system."
"The system in the tower is the important one, as soon as that's reactivated you can use the emergency system to look the wings." A short answer of the two technology experts was heard through the communicator, followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground.
"Hurry up, those flies are getting annoying."
Alv smirked as she knocked another attacker out, letting him fall with a thump onto the already on the floor littered with bodies.
-Line Break-
"I'm restarting the system of the tower now, Lumiere." The lavender haired girl nodded shortly, while her eyes were glued to the screen in front of her, trying to find some logic behind this attack. Whoever planed it didn't do a good job. The prison wasn't even far away from the GOTT, and it was no secret that the GOTT would be called for help when there was an attack.
Fifteen minutes, that was the longest time span they had to move unhindered around, before the situation would be back under control. It didn't make sense to why they would attack here and waste ships, men and weapons. The only logical reason Lumiere could think of was-
"Someone has to check the cell of the former E.S member who activated the bomb on Queís!"
"I'll go. I'm closet", came the replay of Tweedledum through the communicator of the E.S, before his went off again.
-Line Break-
"That was good work, from all of us. We'd managed to put the prisoners back into their cells and to arrest at last half of the attackers." Éclair grinned, happy that they managed to get the situation back under control so fast, while she, Dvergr, Alv, Armbrust and Pfeilspitze walked into the main control room of the prison, where Lumiere and Tweedledee sat. Not far behind those five Dextera, Sinistra, Viola and Cesario followed them.
"Any trouble?"
"Not in the slightest, it was easy. Their ships were nothing for Dexi's and Sini's one dimensional blade." The youngest of the group grinned while hugging her big yellow dragon.
"Where's Tweedledum? He still got a lot to explain about the whole Queís thing."
"We…he doesn't react. We tried to call him over the communicator and Tweedledee also tried it over Austausch but he doesn't react." A loud bang was heard as the door hit the wall and Alv rushed out of the room, to the last location the red eyed male said he would go, followed closely by Tweedledee.
-Line Break-
"Damn it!" The fist of the short haired woman hit the wall, as she and the black haired girl stood in front of the bloody corpse of the cell's prisoner.
"This whole attack was only a fake, to get Sho alone!"
-Line Break-
He felt dizzy. Where was he? Surly not in the prison anymore. Or did one of the water pipes break and he laid in the water? No…this liquid was thicker than water…blood? He could vaguely remember how someone…his blood father…got killed by a sword…how he gotten slashed by the blade of a sword…a Katana…but after it…nothing just nothing…it was as if his mind went totally blank after it…the only other thing he could remember before he lost his consciousness was how the Katana came at him… He tried to open his eye and tried looking around. He merely saw some thick, green liquid in front of him.
He was in some kind of tank, which seemed to stand in the middle of a dark room. The only light came from the screens around the tank. As dizzy as he was, he could feel a breathing mask over his mouth and that his hands were tied together behind his back. One thing was clear in his dizzy mind, he was clearly not in the prison anymore, neither was he in the GOTT's medical room.
So…just where the hell was he?
Hope you guys liked it.
And thanks to FunahoMisaki for beta-ing it
BlackRose015