Chapter 11: Chanced Meetings II
She was late.
She was so very late!
After her identity was confirmed by the guards at the tower, her cab dashed straight into the car park of Professor Kato's lab. She bounced out of the cab the moment it stopped, and started running towards her destination.
She had not expected the long queue at the cab stand at the Science Academy, where she waited nearly twenty-five minutes for one.
"Miss!"
Alix screeched to a halt and whirled around, a lock of her long violet tresses slapping her flushed cheeks.
A chestnut-haired lady officer in orange suit approached her and gave her an once-over. By her sides flanked two more military personnel.
Alix's gaze rested on her badge clipped on her chest. 'Lieutenant Murrue Ramius. EA..F?'
"I need to see your ID please." Murrue stated.
Alix did as told and pulled out her pass from her bag.
They widened their eyes, seeing Alix in a different light the moment they saw the name on the pass.
"Alix Whitley." Murrue uttered before she could stop herself. She was surprised to see the daughter here when she missed the arrival of the mother earlier. She thought mother and daughters arrived together.
Well, wasn't that supposed to be for most families of the higher-ups?
"Yes." Alix nodded. "I'm supposed to meet my mother, Professor Whitley."
"Well, she's not where you're headed just now." Murrue pointed the direction on the other side of the facility. "She's in that facility inspecting the mobile suits."
Alix followed her gaze and hesitated when she thought of Cagalli. "Oh I see. Thanks for telling me but I'm looking for Professor Kato first."
"Professor Kato is with her." Murrue stated as a matter of fact.
'What!' "I see. Thanks for saving me a merry-go-round. I'll go to them now."
Her plan of slipping away when they were out of sight was crushed when she heard her mother behind Murrue.
"Alix?"
At the sight of the acclaimed Professor, Murrue and her assistants immediately attention themselves and offered their salutes at Gladys Whitley, who approached them with another group of military personnel trailing behind her.
Gladys hastily dismissed the show of formality with a wave of her hand and settled her gaze on Alix.
"Mother." Alix greeted. She smiled at Professor Kato, who gave her a wink beside her mother. "Uncle Kato."
"My my, look how much you've grown since the last time I saw you." Professor Kato remarked with a fatherly hug.
Alix hugged him back. Kato was a family friend. He was also a fatherly figure to Samantha and her.
Of course, he knew of their plan.
"What took you two so long?" Gladys asked. Then she looked around, thinking Samantha was near. "Where is Samantha?"
'!' "Uh.. She's in Uncle Kato's lab looking at some of the experiments." Alix lied, and gave a perfunctory glance at Murrue beside them. "I was about to go to you."
Murrue quirked an eyebrow at that. 'So she was rushing to see her sister just now?'
Gladys sighed and turned to one of her personal bodyguards. "Please get Samantha for me."
Alix's eyes flew to Professor Kato for help.
Of course, the Professor caught the hint. "Why don't we leave this simple task to Sai? He's going to my lab anyway."
Gladys shrugged.
It was then Alix noticed the bespectacled boy standing beside Kato. It was then she realized he has been staring at her.
Professor Kato gave the two youths a look and noticed the unfamiliarity between the two. "I almost forgot. Sai, meet Alix. She's Professor Whitley's second daughter. Alix, this is Professor Argyle's son, Sai."
Sai stretched his hand out. "Nice to meet you, Alix-san."
Alix took the hand with a smile. "Nice to meet you too, Sai-kun."
"Don't they look cute together?" Kato teased.
Both youngsters felt awkward instantly.
Gladys smirked. "I'm too late. Sai is already engaged with Flay Alister, aren't you, Sai?"
Sai nodded. "Yes."
Murrue sighed inwardly. She guessed the children of this clique of people were deprived of the freedom to choose their spouses the moment they were born. For a moment, she wondered who would be standing beside Alix for the rest of her life. She couldn't put her finger on it, but Alix does attract her in some way.
She looked nothing like her mother.
Different hair color.
Different eyes.
Different auras.
Mother and daughter were women of contrast in their own ways.
Gladys, with her bound-up blonde hair and cool blue eyes, possessed the autocratic dignified outlook while Alix, with her bluish-purple hair and clear green eyes, gave the impression of grace and strength within.
Murrue stopped her thoughts when Gladys spoke, "I'm taking Alix to see the Gundams again. Are you coming with me, Kato?"
Professor Kato shrugged. "Sure." Then he turned to Sai. "Sai, please get Samantha to Factory 37 of Sector S. Inform her that Alix is with us, in case she worries. Oh yeah, please also ask Kira to come by my lab. Drag him over if you have to. I have something to discuss with him." Professor Kato paused to pull out a diskette from his lab coat. "Pass this to him when he's here. Thanks for your help, son."
Sai took the diskette when the image of the brown-haired boy with his mechanical bird came into Alix's mind.
"Kira?" Alix interjected. "Kira Yamato-kun?"
Sai and Professor Kato turned to her surprised while Gladys narrowed her eyes.
"You've met the boy?" Kato asked.
"Yes. At the Academy gardens. I-We were there just now." Alix gave a furtive glance at her mother after that. Luckily her mother did not probe why they did not head straight to Morgenroete facilities as told.
Professor Kato chuckled. "Was it coincidence or was it fate? Fancy you meeting him out of all the students under me. "
Alix did not understand. "Hm?"
"He's one of my outstanding students." Kato explained. "The second one whom I find has extreme talent in the world of engineering."
"Who's the first one?" Alix couldn't help but asked.
Kato smiled. "You."
Professor Kato's bluntness drew a blush from Alix. "Ah..real..really?"
Kato nodded and rubbed his chin in thought. "Perhaps I should team you two up for a science project. It will be exciting to see the work." Kato nodded to himself. "Yes. Perhaps I should do that."
Alix shrugged.
"I think we should go." Gladys interjected.
Sai thought it was weird when Alix kept throwing backward glances at him as she trailed behind the adults. Then, she turned around when they were not looking and seemly engrossed in their conversations.
Murrue was about to get back to her work when she saw Alix gesticulated to Sai.
"Tell.. her to… wait there?" Murrue uttered, and raised an eyebrow at Alix's contradiction.
Didn't their mother summon for her sister's presence too?
She moved her focus to Sai, who hesitated for the briefest of second before he gestured the 'OK' sign. The youths shared a smile before Sai walked away towards the lab. Alix's gaze followed him worriedly until she noticed Murrue staring at her. She gave Murrue a polite nod before scurrying back beside her mother.
'Something was definitely going on with the Whitley sisters.' Murrue thought with a frown. But then, she shrugged it off. 'But what major disaster could these innocent lasses create anyway?'
"I wonder how her brain was different from ours." One of his assistants, Hamada, remarked beside her. "It's unbelievable that EAF's new vessels were the work of a child."
Murrue gave it a thought. Of course, she knew who Hamada was talking about. She glanced at the back of Alix Whitley, who was beside her mother walking quietly towards their destination.
She couldn't believe it herself either when she first got to know that the concept of EAF's new assault ship, Archangel, as well as the five new, if not first generation of mobile suits, came from a child of fourteen years.
Fourteen years old.
Now, that definitely raised eyebrows.
"This is what we called a child prodigy." Bryan, the other assistant beside her commented. "But I heard she's an adopted daughter. It's obvious, isn't it? They look so different."
Hamada laughed. "Who cares anyway? But Professor Whitley sure knows how to pick."
Bryan agreed with a hearty laugh of his own. "You're damned right!"
"Stop idling and get back to work!"
Bryan and Hamada perked up at the voice of Murrue behind them. "YES, MADAM!"
+ Destiny Child +
"Are you Samantha Whitley?"
Cagalli cursed her luck inwardly. The last thing she wanted was being approached. Nonethelss, she turned around to acknowledge the bespectacled boy. "Yes. Who are you?"
"I'm Sai Argyle. Your sister, Alix, is with your mother. She told you to wait for her here."
Cagalli bit her lip and looked away with a frown. "I should have known."
Sai thought the reaction of 'Samantha' was pretty weird. In fact, he found the behaviors of the sisters questioning. It was like they were hiding something. Nevertheless, he decided not to ask.
"Hmm.. do you want to wait inside the lab?" Sai suggested instead.
Cagalli thought she should do that. "Ah, Sure."
+ Destiny Child +
Kira watched Tori soared above them as their cab soared on the road. His mind involuntarily wondered back to his encounter with the violet-haired girl at the Academy's gardens – Alix Whitley.
The more he thought about her, the more he felt she resembled Athrun. At the thought of his childhood buddy, he wondered what he was doing now. It has been a while since they last contacted each other. Since the Junius Seven incident, to be exact. Kira brushed Athrun aside at the thought of the tragedy of the era, the reports of the news in his notebook a while ago at the gardens coming into mind.
War.
He hoped nothing like that would ever happen in ORB. But then again, why worry? ORB was a neutral country and Helipolis was part of ORB.
Yeah.
He had confidence in his government.
His thoughts wondered back to the present when the Morgenroete facilities came into view. He sighed, then decided to listen into the conversation behind him in the cab. He sighed again when he realized Tolle was still talking about the letter.
"Hmm.. But I really wonder about the contents of the letter." Tolle remarked.
Miriallia rolled her eyes beside Tolle. "You wonder about everything."
Tolle snorted. "Don't tell me you're not at all interested in what Sai wrote to Flay."
"No." Miriallia answered flatly.
"I don't believe you!" Tolle retorted. "Kira, what about you?"
"Enough already, Tolle." Kira chided, starting to feel somewhat annoyed by his friend's endless discussion about a mere letter that doesn't concern any of them. He swiped his ID pass on the reader when their cab halted at Gate 3 of Morgenroete facilities. Tolle and Miriallia followed suit. After the guards confirmed their identities and let them through, Tolle refused to let up and continued, "I'm going to ask Sai anyhow."
"Do what you want, Tolle." Miriallia drawled.
As they got out of their cab and started towards Professor Kato's lab, Kira smiled and shook his head watching his two friends bickering their wits out of each other.
Friends.
It was great to have them in your life.
+ Destiny Child +
A group of soldiers in red and green checked their watches.
"It's time." One of them said.
Another one stretched his hand out. "For ZAFT."
Others stacked their hands on his. "For ZAFT."
Nodding cohesively, they scattered.
+ Destiny Child +
Kuzzey Buskirk announced their presences the moment the entrance to Professor Kato's lab slid open. "They're here!"
Sai popped his head out the moment he heard the announcement. He caught Kira immediately "Ah, Kira! You've finally come!" in which Kira greeted back with a halfhearted smile.
Tolle graced the lab, with Kira and Miriallia behind him.
If Kira was curious about the unfamiliar blonde's presence in the lab, he didn't ask.
Instead, he merely gave him a fleeting glance.
Tolle, on the other hand, reacted just the opposite of Kira. "Who is that?" He asked Kuzzey furtively at the same time.
Kuzzey shrugged. "Professor's VIP. She was told to wait here."
"Where's Professor?" Kira chipped in.
"Entertaining other VIPs." Sai interrupted, coming up to him.
Kira nodded halfheartedly.
"I've been keeping this for you. Here." Sai handed the diskette to Kira, the one that Professor Kato wanted his outstanding student to have. "It's an appendix, I suppose."
Kira groaned in response, and took the diskette.
"What is it?" Sai asked when he saw the helpless look on Kira. "It's probably the work on Morgenroete."
Kira waved the diskette uninterestedly in his hands, as he knew what the content was. "Not interested. Improvement on the Frame Set Module. Anyway, it's program analysis."
+ Destiny Child +
Things were going as planned.
Explosives were being planted at designated locations waiting to be ignited.
All they had to do is to wait for the time to come.
+ Destiny Child +
Kira choked when Tolle came up behind him unexpectedly and locked him in the neck.
"Let's hear about the letter first!"
Sai couldn't quite catch on. "Letter?"
"It's nothing!" Kira hastily tried to dismiss.
But Tolle refused to let up as usual. He tightened his lock on Kira. "As if!"
With her arms folded, Cagalli's patience was wearing thin. She rolled her eyes at the childish behavior the boys were displaying, thinking she was somehow wasting her time here. When they finally settled down, Cagalli couldn't help but noticed the brown-haired boy was very good at what he was doing; Hitting the keyboard and coming up with those complex analyses and all in an effortless manner. Watching him somehow reminded her of Alix, who was also a dab hand in these areas.
At the thought of her second cousin, Cagalli let out a low exasperated huff. She glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, then at her own watch.
She was waited enough.
If she wanted to find out whether ORB was lending military resources to EAF, it has to be now.
As if on cue, her cell phone rang, making her the centre of attention all of the sudden. She ignored the stares and answered the call.
"Have you found Alix?" The anxious voice, which she recognized immediately, boomed through the line the moment it clicked.
Cagalli sighed, turning to a side for more privacy. "She's with Aunt."
The students caught her hint and returned to their work.
Cagalli heard Samantha heaved a sigh of relief on the other end. "What about you?"
"I'm stuck in the lab, of course!" Cagalli complained in a harsh whisper. "Alix told me to wait here!"
"Hmm…" Samantha's voice trailed off, and Cagalli was about to snap for a solution when Samantha finally spoke. "I can't hold up here much longer too. Uncle has called for you twice already."
Cagalli was about to snap again when Samantha again interrupted, "Since Alix's with Mum, I guess they would be taking the whole day. Well, I guess I just have to tell you the secret passageway."
Cagalli's curiosity immediately replaced her frustration. "Secret passageway?"
"Yup. The one that leads directly to the facilities' arsenal." Samantha answered as a matter of fact. "See the emergency door with Professor Kato's name on it?"
Cagalli's amber orbs swept across the lab. It stopped at the door with the words 'Kato' and 'No Unauthorized Personnel Allowed' on it.
Kira threw a suspicious glance at the blonde boy who just flipped his cell phone close. His amber gaze was directed on the door that everyone was told to steer clear of. He hastily returned his attention on his computer screen when the blonde boy caught him looking at him.
Cagalli narrowed her eyes at the brown-haired boy, then brushed him aside as she slowly and carefully edged her way towards the door of truth.
Making sure no one was paying her attention, Cagalli clutched the door knob.
She scowled the moment she turned the knob.
It was locked.
+Destiny Child+
In space, Commander Rau Le Creuset glanced at his watch. "It's time."
His Captain, Fredrik Ades, nodded. "Wateo, Vesalius, launch!"
