ºDeceiving Fateº

CHAPTER XI:

  "Morning everyone," Trowa said.

  "Hey, Trowa! Sleep well?" Lizz asked.

  "I suppose." He paused for a moment. "Where's Quatre?" Wufei scoffed.

  "He and that baka are still sleeping." Duo shrugged.

  "They had a hard night, what can I say?"

  "And the rest of us didn't?" Heero asked. Duo frowned.

  "I didn't say that."

  "But that's what you meant," Wufei said.

  "That's unfair and untrue!"

  "QUIET!!!" Lizz screamed. Everyone immediately shut up. "That's better." Quatre shuffled into the kitchen at that point.

"What's with all the noise?" he asked drowsily.

"The boys were arguing, that's all," Lizz told him.

"Oh, okay," he said. "Well, I'm going back to bed."

"At 9 in the morning?" Trowa asked.

"It's only 9?" Quatre asked, a bit surprised. "I thought it was later than that." Duo and Trowa looked at each other, knowing something was wrong.

"You ok, Quat? This isn't like you." Quatre shrugged and yawned.

"I'm awfully tired. Looks like I won't be going to the base like I'd planned."

"All right. Court'll be AWFULLY disappointed though," Lizz said teasingly.

"Not if she doesn't get up soon," Duo said with a snicker.

"She's still sleeping too?"

"Yeah. She never was a morning person," Lizz said. Quatre laughed.

"Well, if she does get up, give her my apologies for me, will ya? I'm off to bed."

"Sure, Quatre," Lizz answered him.

"Thanks." Quatre left the kitchen and soon they heard his bedroom door shut.

"Man," Lizz said. "He MUST be tired." Heero nodded.

"Must be."

"Well, if she wants to go, you'd better go wake her up," Duo told Lizz.

"Me?"

"Well, you're her best friend…"

"That doesn't mean she appreciates me waking her up!"

  "Well, she doesn't even LIKE me," Wufei stated.

  "Gee, I wonder why…" Heero muttered, making Duo and Lizz snicker. Wufei glared back at the three of them.

  "And she doesn't really KNOW us," Trowa said. Lizz sighed.

  "Fine, I'll do it. But if anything happens, I'm kicking you butts."

  Lizz crept into the bedroom carefully. "Courtney… Courtney, wake up!" She grabbed Court's shoulder and shook her gently. "C'mon Court, wake up already!" Courtney groaned and flipped over.

  "What time is it?" she asked softly.

  "About nine o' clock." Courtney jumped out of bed, eyes wide.

  "NINE? OH MY GOSH! And I still haven't eaten or gotten dressed or ANYTHING!" Lizz was nearly run over as Courtney grabbed her clothes for the day and ran into the bathroom.

  "Well," Lizz said. "That wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be."

  "Hi guys!" Courtney said, rushing into the kitchen five minutes later, out of breath. Duo laughed.

  "That didn't take long," he said. Court grinned a little.

  "I didn't realize what time it was," she explained. Wufei rolled his thin eyes and left the room.

  "No kidding," Lizz said. Courtney didn't reply. Instead, she popped in a pop-tart and leaned against the counter.

  "So where's Quatre?" she asked. Duo and Lizz looked at each other for a moment.

  "He's, well, still sleeping," Duo told her. Court looked confused.

  "But I thought he was going with us."

  "Yeah, so did we. But he told us that he was going to sleep in."

  "Oh." Courtney was obviously disappointed, but shook it off. Her pop-tart popped out of the toaster, and she snatched it up before it landed. "Well," she said, taking a bite. "We gonna go or not?"

"This is the perfect opportunity for us sir," McGregor said. Grey thought about it a moment.

"I see where you're coming from." Grey narrowed his eyes. "You know what to do." McGregor nodded.

Duo had arranged for a guide for the girls while he attended to 'other business.' "Hi," said the young man at the door. "You must be Lizz and Courtney. I'm Tim Goebel. Nice to meet you." (a/n: I COULDN'T HELP IT! I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!!!) He shook both their hands. Duo thanked him before leaving. "No, thank you. Got me outta desk work for a while," he said with a laugh. Duo nodded.

"I know whatcha mean. Well, I better get going. See ya later, girls!" He waved as he jogged off down the hall.

"Bye Duo!" Lizz called.

"Well, shall we?"

"Attacked?" Duo nodded. The older man furrowed his brow.

"You think this has anything to do with-"

"I'm not sure. I'm really not sure." Both men walked into one of the control rooms. Several workers were monitoring various sections of the base. "We'll do all we can to decipher this puzzle. I won't be able to rest in peace until we get to the bottom of this. You can be sure of it."

"Thanks, General Whitman. We need all the help we can-" One of the alarms cut Duo short.

"Sir, intruder in Area 12!"

"What?" exclaimed Whitman. He and Duo rushed over to the young man. "Get me a visual!" The recruit searched the halls.

"I can't, sir! Cameras are out!"

"Blast! Get down there and stop him, then!"

"Yes, sir!" Half the soldiers in the room threw down their headphones and ran out the door, gun in hand. Not five seconds had passed when young Tim Goebel ran in the door, out of breath.

"Goebel! What are you-"

"What's going on?"

"Where are the GIRLS?" Duo asked. A look of surprise came over the soldier's face.

"They're- but- they were right behind me!" Horror-stricken, Duo ran out of the room immediately.

"Great, now which way did he go?"

"You lost him?" Lizz exclaimed.

"Well, excuse me! It's not my fault he disappeared!"

"He didn't disappear!"

"Then you find him!"

"Ok, I will!" Lizz looked down both of the halls, trying to figure out which way Tim had gone.

"Hey! Hey girls! Lizz! Behind you!"

"DUO!" He was running towards them down the hall from behind.

"I've been looking all over for you! What happened?"

"Courtney couldn't keep up."

"Hey, I didn't see YOU on his tail the whole time!"

"Ok, ok, cut it out. We've gotta get outta here."

"But why? What's going on, Duo?" Courtney asked.

"Someone's broken into the base. He's taken out all the cameras. We can't track him!"

"Great. One thing after another. My life is SO peaceful," Lizz said sarcastically.

"C'mon, let's-" Duo stopped as the lights went out.

"Wonderful."

"Don't worry, I've got a flashlight. Let's get lost."

"Yeah," said Court, "before we're found…."

"What was that?" Court had jumped at every sound so far.

"Courtney, if you say that one more time…"

"Sorry. Won't happen again." There was silence for another few feet, until one of the coins in Duo's pocket fell through the hole in his black pants. "What was that?" Lizz sighed, frustrated.

"If we get out of this, remind me NEVER to take her camping." Duo nodded.

"Don't worry." The light of the flashlight darted across the hall, from wall to wall, as Duo kept a look out for whoever their uninvited guest was. They kept silent for a while as they made their way through the base.

"Kinda funny how we haven't come across anybody yet," Lizz said.

"Yeah. Wonder where everybody went," Court added. "You don't think-"

"Don't even think that way," Duo said. "Let's just focus on getting out of this maze.

"K," Court said, nodding. Suddenly, Duo stopped and turned around, shining the flashlight down the hall behind him.

"What's wrong?" Lizz asked.

"I thought I heard something," he said quietly. He narrowed his eyes as he searched the hall again. "Hmmm…" Hesitating a moment, he turned around and continued down the hall. They kept going for a while in silence. Then, without warning, the flashlight went out as a yelp of surprise came from Duo, and the girls were left in complete and utter darkness.

"Duo? Duo, where are you?" Lizz cried. They heard struggling, and then Courtney screamed.

"Hey, leggo!"

"Courtney?" Lizz heard a thud, and then someone grabbed her from behind. She cried out in a mixture of surprise and terror. Lizz felt a sharp pain in her neck, and slowly, her struggling weakened, and she finally lost all consciousness.

When she awoke, Courtney was being dragged down a dimly-lit hallway. She looked up at the two young guards that were carrying her. They wore a dark blue shirt with a gray stripe across the chest, and a cap to match. Their pants were of some khaki material. On the hat, as well as over the heart, was an emblem- a dark lightning bolt that sat on one side of an embroidered ring. On the top, bottom, and right inside edge of the ring were three triangles. It looked strangely familiar to her. She just knew she'd seen it somewhere before… One of the guards looked down to find she was staring up at him.

"Hey look," he said to his partner with a smirk, "she's awake."

"She'll wish she were asleep for GOOD when Grey's done with her," said the other.

"What? Where are you taking me? Where are my friends? And who is GREY?" she demanded. The two just laughed.

"You'll find out soon enough, babe," said the first.

"Don't call me 'babe'!" she shouted at them. They continued to laugh and ignore her.

Duo was still asleep when Lizz woke up. The first thing on her mind was to find out who had hit her Duo and who had the nerve to knock her out with some drug. Then she noticed the two guards dragging her down the hall. They were in uniform, meaning they were in league with someone, and this wasn't just a random hostage situation. Of course, she might have been better off as a hostage. "Hey, you!"

"Oh, she's awake…" One of the guards looked down at her. "Wonderful."

"Don't you get smart with me! Now answer my question: where are you taking us, and what in the world is going on here?" Lizz wanted to know. The guards just sighed and rolled their eyes.

"Are we gonna have to put up with this the WHOLE way?" asked one of them.

"Hey, don't ignore me! I asked you a question!" Someone groaned behind her, stopping her yelling. She craned her neck to see if the young pilot was waking up. "Duo?"

"Ow…" Duo muttered. "What hit me, a truck or a school bus….?" He looked lazily around the room and his vision slowly came into focus. "The heck…? Lizz what in the heck is going on here? Leggo of me!"

Duo began to struggle, and he was soon free- but not for long. One of the soldiers took out a gun and hit Duo over the head with the hilt, knocking him out.

"Crap…" Duo muttered before falling to the ground. The two guards that were previously holding him picked him up and began to carry him down the hall again.

"Oh, and by the way- if he ever wakes up, I'd advice him to NOT try that again," one of them said to Lizz with a cold stare. Lizz just glared at the back of his head as best she could and muttered something under her breath.

"Hey, let me out of here!" Courtney screamed in frustration, pounding on the door of her dark cell. There wasn't a single bit of light in the room, and there weren't any lamps at all. It was beginning to make her nervous, as she couldn't tell how much time had passed since she had first been placed in here. "I said LET ME OOOOOOOOUUUUUTTTTTTTT!!!!!" she screamed again, pounding the door harder. Suddenly, a panel in the door slid back, revealing two menacing eyes. Courtney jumped back with a yelp of surprise and horror, and shielded her eyes against the burst of light coming from the hall outside.

"I'd shut my big mouth if I were you, Ms. Richards."

"What have you done with my friends! How do you know my name? And what do you want with us? Let me out of here!"

"I said BE QUIET!" Courtney jumped at the sharpness in his voice. "You do want your friends to live longer, don't you?"

"What do you mean, longer?" she asked warily. The panel slid shut, the door opened, and a man in his mid-forties stepped into the room. He closed the door behind him, holding a lantern.

"Well, you're all going to die anyway, once we have no more use for you," he said. "And I mean all of you. All five Gundam pilots included. And that blonde one you love so much will be the first to go."

"NO! You can't!" she shouted in objection.

"I can, and I will," he said, smirking at her. "In fact, I plan to. See, once I send them a little message telling them we have you three-"

"NO! I won't let you!" The man laughed.

"Do you honestly think you can stop me?" he exclaimed. "Ha! Once they come to the rescue, I'll have them! And then you'll ALL die. Just like one big happy family!" He started to leave.

"Wait a minute! Come back here!" Courtney rushed for the door, but he slammed it in her face and laughed.

"By the way, even if you manage to escape your cell and avoid all the guards, you won't be able to find your friends- they're in different parts of the base. Happy hunting!" He laughed again and Courtney could hear him walk away down the hall. She slammed her fist into the closed door.

"Darn it!"

Quatre walked sat at the kitchen table with a cup of hot tea cupped between his hands. "Mmm… smells good…" he said to himself. He took a sip as Trowa walked into the kitchen.

"Morning, Quatre," he said.

"Hello, Trowa," Quatre replied, taking another sip of tea. "Is Duo not back yet?" Trowa shook his head and leaned back in his chair.

"Shouldn't he have been back by now?" Trowa was about to answer when, suddenly, a loud THUD THUD THUD came from the direction of the stairs. "The heck is that?" Wufei came running into the kitchen and slid into Trowa's chair, causing Trowa to fall out ("HEY!") and hit the floor. The impact caused a few magnets to fall of the refrigerator door.

"Wufei, what are you trying to do, kill me?" Trowa shouted at the young Chinese boy angrily as he stood up.

"There's- something you- need- to see," Wufei panted, leaning against the table for support while he caught his breath. His face was a little more pale than usual.

"What's this all about, Wufei?" Quatre asked, setting down his tea.

"Just COME." There was a seriousness in his voice that sent a chill down Quatre's spine. He got up and quickly followed Trowa and Wufei up the stairs and into Heero's room (A/N: See?! I TOLD you everything goes on in Heero's room!).

"Alright, we're all here, now tell us what you want," Heero said crossly.

"Ah, so the famous Gundam pilots are all assembled now, are they?" someone's sly voice said. It appeared to be coming from the computer. "But I think one is missing, isn't he?" Wufei's face went even paler.

"What do you know about Maxwell?" he asked quietly. He didn't show it much, but even though the young American frequently got on his nerves, Wufei still had a soft spot for Duo.

"Plenty," the voice said coldly. "In fact, he's paying us a visit right now. Say hello, Duo."

"I won't take orders from you!" Duo shouted in the background.

"That's Duo!" Quatre exclaimed. The sinister voice laughed.

"Yes, it's your precious Duo Maxwell. He's rather tied up at the moment, but otherwise I'm sure he'd LOVE to talk to you." (A/N: Why do evil dudes ALWAYS say that about their hostages?!)

"Wait a minute," Trowa said. "If he's got Duo then…" His voice trailed off.

"Yes, we've got them as well, you fools."

"What?!" Quatre exclaimed.

"Took 'em long enough," a new voice said.

"Shut up, both of you!" Heero shouted. "Look Grey-"

"So he remembers…" Grey sighed.

"Impressive memory, th' kid's got," said the other voice.

"Shut up, McGregor," Grey said sternly.

"Sir." Duo took this opportunity to shout:

"Guys, don't worry about us, don't tell him anything!" Suddenly, he yelped in pain.

"You want me to hit him again, sir?" McGregor asked.

"No, that's alright," Grey said. "Ms. Thompson!" he shouted. Someone opened a door on the other end of the line and walked into the room where Grey, Duo, and McGregor were.

"Sir?"

That voice… Heero thought.

"Tell the good people what they've won," Grey said. He sounded like he was getting bored.

"Yes sir. Attention Gundam pilots: do not interfere. We, the Grey Organization, will not tolerate any interruptions. We will kill all hostages if anything should disrupt our project. So don't do anything stupid," she added with a smug tone. "If you value your friends' lives."

"You heard the lady! No interfering with our top-secret plan!"

"McGregor?" Grey said, sounding quite jaded.

"Sir?"

"SHUT UP!"

"Yes sir…" McGregor muttered something under his breath. Grey sighed.

"So in other words, Yuy, keep out of the war and keep your friends alive. A little longer, that is." Grey began to laugh and suddenly their connection was cut.

"Darn it, Grey!" Heero screamed, slamming his fist onto the table.

"What do we do now, Heero?" Wufei asked.

"Go after Quatre…" Trowa muttered.

"WHAT?!" Both the other two boys turned to find Quatre was gone, his spot on the bed empty.

"That IDIOT! What is he thinking?!" Heero exclaimed, pounding the table again.

"So are we going after him or not?" Trowa asked, already knowing the answer. He stood up and walked out the door as Wufei stood up to join him. Heero muttered something under his breath about "utter stupidity", grabbed his gun, and walked out of the room after them, snatching his jacket off the back of the door as he left.

"So tell us what you know," an officer said, glaring down at Duo, who was tied up in  a chair and beaten up severely. Despite his cuts and bruises, Duo managed to grin.

"What I know? Heck, I know lots of things! Want me to sing you my ABC's?" The other soldier, obviously under the other in rank, punched him hard. (A/N: Hmm… we must give this soldier a name…. I know! We shall call him "WEDGE!")

"Quit playing around and you might save yourself some unnecessary damage," the other soldier said with a smirk. (A/N: He needs a name too… BIGGS! *chanting* Wedge and Biggs, Wedge and Biggs!)

"I'm not telling you anything," Duo snarled through clenched teeth. "Except maybe that that's the UGLIEST uniform I've ever seen. Did they make that for you or did you do it yourself?" Biggs clenched his fists.

"Enough!" he shouted, punching Duo himself this time. "I've had just about enough of your wide-cracks, funny-boy. Someone get me the girl!"

"Lizz?!" Duo exclaimed. "Leave her out of this, you idiots! She didn't do ANYTHING to you!"

"Then are you willing to talk?" Biggs asked with a superior tone in his voice. Duo hesitated. His thoughts trailed off and he suddenly saw himself looking deep into Lizz's eyes. She was smiling at him, like she always did. Gosh, how he missed that smile… "I said are you willing to talk!" Biggs shouted, knocking Duo back to his senses. He nodded slowly.

"On one condition- don't hurt her," he said quietly. Biggs stared at him with contempt. Duo sighed. "Ok, ok, I know all about the illegal gundanium shipments to the colonies, but I don't know where they were headed. You guys are trying to start another war, aren't you?"

"I don't make the rules, I just follow them," Biggs said coldheartedly. He turned to Wedge. "Call Grey and tell him we have what we need."

"Sir!" Wedge picked up the phone. "Sir, we got him to talk, what do you want us to do? ….. …. I understand. Good day, sir." He hung it back up. "Grey says to take him back to his cell. Commander Kildole is to execute him and the two girls tomorrow morning."

"WHAT?!" Duo exclaimed, jerking his head up and glaring at the two soldiers. "Now wait just a minute, do what you want with me, but let the girls go! They don't know anything!" Biggs rolled his eyes.

"Do you honestly think we can just let them go? They know too much now. Take him away!" Wedge nodded and had just called for an escort when a young woman with short red hair and wire-frame glasses walked into the room.

"Ms. Thompson!" Both Wedge and Biggs stood erect as she walked in front of Duo and stared down at him. He glared up at her at first, but as he studied her face she suddenly looked so familiar…

"Is this the Gundam pilot I was told about?" she asked coolly.

"Yes ma'am," Wedge said, nodding. "He's a loud-mouth AND an idiot."

"Look who's talking, Rat Face!" Duo snapped back. Wedge clenched his fists and glared at the braided boy.

"ENOUGH!" Ms. Thompson shouted, shooting a look at the young soldier. "Untie him, please."

"Are you out of your mind?!" Biggs yelled.

"I have new orders from Grey. I will take him back to his cell. If you have a problem, why don't you go report it, SOLDIER." Biggs shook his head vigorously.

"I don't have a problem, ma'am, it's just… Are you sure you can handle him?" Ms. Thompson pulled a pistol out of her purse as Wedge began to untie him.

"Oh, I think I can handle, him," she said, looking down at Duo.

"Alright, then. Good luck, Ms. Thompson." She nodded and pushed Duo out the door ahead of her. As soon as they were out of sight, she suddenly spun Duo around and handed him the gun.

"Go get your girlfriend, Duo. She's in the 5th sector, 2nd floor. I'll go find the other girl," she said sternly. Duo grinned.

"I thought you looked familiar, Miss Renee Hendricks."

"Yeah, yeah, now get going. We can talk later," Rae said, turning and walking away in the direction she had come.

"Hey Rae?" She turned to face him by way of answer. "Thanks." She smiled.

"Meet me in the old computer lab on the 5th floor," she called, running off down the hall.

Lizz began to pace in her cell. It was dark, and there weren't any windows- she couldn't tell if it was night or day. It felt like forever since they had locked her in this dank room. She leaned against the back wall and closed her eyes. Where had they taken Duo? And where was Courtney? She just had to get out of here and find them. She stood up and walked over to the door.

"Hey!" she shouted, pounding the door. "Is anyone out there? Let me out of here!" As if on cue, the door swung inward and knocked her down. She shielded her eyes from the sudden light and squinted out into the hallway. The silhouette of a young man stood in the doorway.

"Did ya miss me?" a familiar voice asked.

"Duo!" Lizz cried in her happiness. "What are you doing here? How did you get out! And how did you find me?" Duo grinned.

"I had help from a friend," he said. "That, and I followed your pathetic screaming." Lizz hit him and crossed her arms.

"That's not funny!" she said.

"C'mon, let's get out of here." Lizz nodded and followed him out into the hall.

Courtney sat against the wall and stared at the door to her left. There had to be some way to get out of here… But she couldn't very well examine her prison- it was too dark. Maybe that was why there weren't any lights. She sighed. She was helpless to do anything to help herself, much less her friends. I guess I'll just have to wait it out, Court thought.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a scuffle outside. Her heart skipped a beat as she stood up. "Hey, is someone out there? Hey, in here! I'm in here!" She began to beat on the door.

"Shhh!" someone hissed through the door. "Don't want to get me caught, do you?"

"QUATRE?!" Courtney exclaimed. What was he doing here?

"Just hold on a second, I've almost- There!" The door began to swing inward, and Courtney backed up to avoid being hit. She squinted to see her rescuer through the sudden glow, and slowly her eyes began to adjust. Quatre stepped into the room wearing one of the guard's uniforms and without warning, he had wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight. "I came as soon as I heard! Are you alright?" he said, looking down at her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. A little shaken, I guess, but I'm fine." Court smiled at him. Then she frowned. "But how on earth did you know where to find me? I mean, I don't even know where this is!" Quatre frowned.

"This isn't the first time we've dealt with these guys," he said crossly. She looked up at him, confused.

"What do you mean? I know you're a Gundam pilot and all, I mean, everyone SHOULD, but you know who did this?" Quatre nodded.

 "Well, to make a long story short, we thought we stopped them a few years back. Then there was the Marimea incident…" Courtney nodded. "But anyway, we thought they were gone for good, but apparently it's not as we thought." Quatre looked at her sorrowfully. "I'm so sorry we got you into this."

"It's ok. I kinda got myself into it," she said, grinning. Quatre gave her an odd look. "Well, um… yeah. So where are the guys? Shouldn't we go meet them somewhere?" The young pilot looked around the room and avoided her eyes. Her eyes got wide with a sudden realization. "You came ALONE?!"

"Shh! Not so loud!" he whispered. "C'mon, we have to find Lizz and Duo and get out of here. I brought you this," he said, holding up another uniform.

"Quatre! Did you steal this off some poor girl?!" Courtney exclaimed. Quatre's ears turned red.

"No!" he protested. "I found it in a locker room! You wouldn't think I'd stoop that low, do you!? C'mon, don't you trust me?" Courtney looked him over.

"Hmm… I suppose you're right. Sorry."

"That's ok. I'll be outside, you go ahead and change."

"Just don't peek!" she said, shooing him out of the room.

"Hey, I thought you trusted me!" he exclaimed, closing the door.

"Just leave that panel shut!"

"WHAT panel?" He was silent for a moment. "Oh!"

"QUATRE!"

"Heheh… Just kidding!"

"Better be," she muttered.

"What?"

"Would you be quiet?"

"Heh… Sorry."