CHAPTER XIV:
Heero was the last to climb down the ladder.
"Wow, Heero, what is this place?" Quatre asked. Everyone was exploring the hangar. Duo was checking all the computers and rummaging around through the file cabinets that lined the walls.
"It used to be an old hangar for some of the colonies' troops here on earth. Once it was found, the Earth Nation used it for communications."
"So THAT'S how you knew about it," Trowa said.
"I'm surprised the rest of you didn't," Heero said with a smirk. Duo shrugged.
"You know me, I don't like to do my homework."
"So what are we going to use it for?" Wufei asked.
"I need to keep in touch with Rae," Heero said. "She's working on the inside." The other four nodded.
"Yeah, we know," Duo said.
"I'm worried about her," Quatre said quietly. "What if they find her out?" Heero shook his head.
"She's a pretty self-sufficient person. Rae can take care of herself. She knows what she's doing."
"Well apparently you didn't think so earlier," Duo muttered under his breath.
"What?"
"Nothin'…"
By now the sun was setting, and both Lizz and Courtney were out on the balcony surrounding the top of the lighthouse.
"So what are you so mad at Duo for?" Lizz asked her friend. Courtney ignored the question.
"Isn't it beautiful?" she asked instead. "I love how the sunset reflects off the waves."
"Courtney, talk to me!" Lizz said, hitting Courtney in the back of the head.
"Ow! Hey, cut it out! Stop bugging me, ok?" Court walked around the beacon to the other side of the lighthouse. Lizz followed.
"Court, what'd he do?"
"Nothing really, he just played a stupid trick on me and I got mad at him…" Courtney gazed off across the hills. She sighed. "I dunno why I got so mad, but I can't apologize now, I really hurt him this time." Lizz shook her head.
"Nonsense. Just go down there and tell him you're sorry, and that you shouldn't have been so touchy," she said. Courtney smiled a little.
"I guess you're right," she said quietly.
"Aren't I always?" Lizz said with a grin. Courtney opened her mouth to make some smart remark, but Lizz cut her off. "Don't answer that."
"…and not a word of it to the girls," Heero was saying as Lizz and Courtney walked down the stairs to meet them. There was a rug in the middle of the room that hadn't been there before…
"Not a word of what, Heero?" Lizz asked accusingly. Heero scoffed and crossed his arms.
"If you're not supposed to know, then what's the purpose in telling you?" he said. Lizz clenched her fists and glared at the cocky young man.
"You're a real pain in the butt, you know that?" Courtney asked, putting her hands on her hips. She was also glaring at him.
"I take PRIDE in it," Heero said with a smirk. Both girls glowered at him for a moment before Courtney turned to walk out of the lighthouse.
"C'mon Lizz. Let's get out of here before I hurt him," she said, walking out the door.
"I have half-a-mind to kick him where it hurts the most," Lizz muttered as she followed her American friend out the door.
"You're a jerk, Heero." Duo got up to go after the girls. Quatre followed after a quick cold glance at Heero. Heero stared after them until the door closed behind Quatre, then turned to find Trowa was staring at him.
"Don't tell me you're on their side too!" he said in disbelief. Trowa sighed.
"That was very rude," he said, standing up. He headed for the stairs. "I'll be up here if you need me." Trowa walked up the stairs quietly with Pumpkin following. Heero sighed in exasperation and turned to Wufei.
"What?" the Chinese boy asked. "Don't look at me, I'm not on anyone's side."
"Hey, sorry about that, Heero can be a jerk sometimes," Duo said. He and Quatre had finally caught up with the girls.
"Yeah, just ignore him. We've learned to," Quatre said. Duo gave him an odd look. "Well, mostly."
"I know, but he's really starting to tick me off!" Lizz exclaimed. "And I don't get worked up very easily."
"Well, Lizz, if you think about it, they're not the only ones keeping secrets," Courtney said quietly.
"What do ya mean?" Duo asked.
"Ah, it's nothing," Lizz said. She shrugged. "Don't worry about it."
"Ok then, whatever you say," Duo said warily. The group continued to walk along the cliff.
"Hey Duo? I kinda need to talk to you," Courtney said finally. He looked at her with a puzzled look on his face. "I'm sorry about earlier. It was just a joke, and I shouldn't have gotten all mad." He grinned.
"That's ok. It was a stupid trick," he admitted, scratching the back of his head absent-mindly.
"So that's what that was all about!" Quatre exclaimed in revelation.
"Yeah, just a stupid joke," Court said. Lizz smiled.
"See, Court? I told ya he'd understand," she said. Courtney stuck her tongue out at her. Quatre laughed.
"C'mon, maybe Heero's cooled down enough to tell you what's going on," he said, turning back to the lighthouse.
"Yeah," Duo said, "and if he isn't, we'll do our best to tell you ourselves. You've got a right to know."
"Thanks, guys," Lizz said.
"Hey, Heero? Guys?" Duo walked into the living room. No one was there. "Hey, Trowa, Heero? Yo, 'Fei!"
"Where is everyone?" Quatre asked.
"I dunno… Maybe they went downstairs."
"Don't you mean upstairs?" Courtney asked.
"Not exactly," Quatre said carefully. "C'mon, we have to show you something." Quatre reached down and pulled away the rug to reveal the trap door.
"Where does THAT lead?" Lizz asked, pointing at the rectangular shape in the floor.
"Climb down and find out," Duo said coolly. Quatre lifted the door and started to climb down the ladder. Unsure of what to expect, the girls followed him, and Duo came after them, pulling the door closed behind them. The lights were already on downstairs, and the four of them heard voices. Suddenly Heero screamed.
"What is it, Heero?" came Rae's voice.
"What's Rae doing here?" Duo asked, jumping the last few feet down.
"I dunno, but something made Heero scream, and I plan to find out what," Courtney said. She marched off in the direction of Heero's voice with a strong determination in her stride.
"Guess we better follow her," Lizz said. "No telling what Heero might be up to."
"Yeah," Quatre said. They followed the hall to a room at the end. Heero's and other voices were coming from inside.
"THEY'RE BREEDING!!" The four of them jumped away from the door in surprise. Heero suddenly screamed again. It sounded like he was in pain.
"What on EARTH is going-" but Lizz stopped short as Heero ran from the room.
"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! THEY'RE MUTIPLYING!!!!!!" Duo stared after him.
"Is he talking about my bunnies? 'Cause they've always been multiplying."
"I didn't know you had rabbits," Quatre said. Duo chuckled a little.
"Heero could definitely tell ya about it." Lizz shook her head.
"I'm not going to ask. I want to, but I'm NOT going to ask…" Wufei appeared in the doorway.
"Heero, come back! They're just kittens!" Then he noticed the two couples standing there in confusion. "Oh, I didn't know you were down here."
"Kittens? What kittens?" Quatre asked. Trowa came into sight behind Wufei with a grin on his face.
"Apparently Pumpkin was pregnant."
"I was wondering why she weighed so much," Duo muttered.
"Really? Can I see the kittens?" Courtney asked eagerly. Trowa nodded.
"Pumpkin's a little sensitive right now, so be gentle." he said, gazing down the hall where Heero had run off earlier. Wufei started snickering. They entered the room to find Rae glaring at them. But she was huge! Then Courtney realized it was a vid-screen.
"How dare you leave me hanging like that! This is taking up a lot of line time, you know!"
"Oh, sorry Rae," Trowa said. "After Heero ran off…" Rae smirked.
"He is SUCH an idiot," she said, sighing. Rae looked down through the vid-screen at Pumpkin and her litter of six tabby kittens. Pumpkin meowed at her, and Rae smiled. "They're so little!"
"And adorable!" Court exclaimed.
"Yeah." Rae nodded. "I wonder who the father is…" Everyone was silent for a moment. Wufei looked at Trowa.
"I know you LOVE the cat, Trowa, but don't you think this is a little much?" It took Trowa a few seconds to figure out what he meant.
"AH! Wufei, that's is NASTY!" he exclaimed.
"You have a sick mind, Wufei," Quatre said, shaking his head.
"'Fei, you're demented," Rae said through the com. Trowa began to shudder violently. He sat down in the nearest chair and muttered things like "disgusting" under his breath.
"That's just nasty!" he said finally. Wufei smirked.
"I learned from the best," he said, looking at Duo.
"WHAT?!" Duo exclaimed. "What's that supposed to mean?!" Rae had to laugh.
"Yeah, well, anyway… Take good care of them, Trowa. I'm counting on you!" Trowa nodded with a smile.
"Don't worry, Rae," he said.
"Yeah, 'daddy' will take GOOD care of them," Wufei said. Lizz stifled a giggle. Trowa fought back the urge to strangle Wufei. Rae shook her finger at him.
"Ignore him, Trowa," she said. "You know he's just playing with you." Trowa crossed his arms and didn't respond. "So, care to go find Heero for me? I need to finish what I started."
"Oh, right!" Wufei ran off to go find Heero, who had run off in such a hurry a minute ago.
"So, Rae, how did you find us?" Rae grinned.
"You forget, I know Heero better than most of you."
"Which is actually an interesting thing, really," Quatre said, "since you've known him for the shortest time."
"Yeah, even Relena knew him longer than you have," Duo said. Just then, Wufei came back down the hall. His face was extremely red. "Wufei, what happened?" Wufei started to snicker and cleared his throat.
"Heero says he'll be here in a minute," he said, fighting back the urge to laugh.
"What's going on?" Court asked.
"Yeah," Lizz said, "I missed something here." Trowa winced.
"Yeah, you did." Someone opened the door behind them.
"Oh, Heero, you're… back…." Quatre stuttered. Heero's face was covered in scratches- and it wasn't just his face. The poor boy looked like he'd been in a fight with a briar bush.
"Good GOSH, man, what HAPPENED to you?!" Duo exclaimed. Heero flinched and pointed to Pumpkin, who was nursing her newborn kittens. "Pumpkin did that?!" Heero just nodded.
"You poor, poor boy," Courtney said, shaking her head.
"See Heero," Lizz said, "never underestimate a mother's love." Heero glared at her and looked at his feet.
"It's not like I was hurting them," he muttered.
"Really…" Rae said. Heero mumbled something under his breath and shuffled his feet. "So where were we before we were, um, interrupted?" Heero stopped staring at his feet and looked back up at Rae. He seemed to have regained his composure.
"The Aptimal," he stated.
"What? What about the Aptimal?" Duo said suddenly. His body was stiff and his eyes focused on the screen.
"Oh, that's right… you weren't here," Rae said, sounding a bit exasperated.
"What's the Aptimal?" Courtney asked.
"It's a very powerful Gundam that could easily blow up the earth," Rae answered. Both Courtney and Lizz gasped. Rae looked at Duo. "Maybe I should brief them on the story?" He nodded.
"Yeah, they're already mixed up in this, why not?"
"Right." Rae turned back to the girls. "My father, Professor Jonathan Hendricks, created a Gundam capable of destroying the sun. Because of the power needed to control the Gundam, only people born with certain skills can pilot it- but even if you have those skills, you must be trained for a long period of time before you can bring out its full potential (A/N: ZOIDS! BWA HA HA HA!!). I was taken away to a training center when I was four so I could bring out this potential. One thing lead to another, and eventually these guys got mixed up in it." Duo grinned, and Quatre smiled warmly.
"Eventually it came down to brain-washing, and I found myself in the Gundam, about to destroy Earth, when Duo knocked me back into my senses." Duo grinned even wider at this. "So I decided to destroy it, once and for all. So I blew it up and ended the whole mess. Or so I thought." Trowa nodded.
"And that's how this whole thing started," he said.
"Yeah. I've found that Grey is trying to rebuild the Aptimal. The power source WASN'T destroyed, and they're reconstructing that darned thing."
"You can't be serious!" Quatre exclaimed.
"I am," she said, nodding solemnly. "And we have to stop them."
"Again," Wufei said plainly.
"Yes, again."
"But how can you stop them without your Gundams?" Courtney asked. "It'd be nearly impossible!"
"We're not going to," Heero said, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.
"What are you babbling on about now?" Wufei asked irritably.
"We will have our Gundams."
"But Heero," Quatre protested, "they've been-"
"Destroyed, yes, I know. But think about it. If they can rebuild the APTIMAL…" He waited for them to figure it out on their own.
"Then we can rebuild my buddy!" Duo yelled happily. Heero nodded.
"Maybe you're not as stupid as you look." Duo shot Heero a dirty look.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that."
"It's probably for you own good anyway," Heero said smugly. "If you had made something of it, I might have to hurt you." Duo felt his hands ball up into fists as if someone were controlling him from the outside. Just ignore him, Duo, he told himself. Don't let him get to ya…
"And besides," Rae said, trying to avoid conflict, "I didn't blow up Lunar."
"Yes, but even if we had the plans to the Gundams, where would we get the parts?" Trowa asked. Rae winked.
"That's where I come in," she said with a smile. "You just worry about finding those blue-prints, I'll get the stuff you need."
"So it's agreed then. We build them here and stop Grey from doing what he wills. Any questions?" Heero asked.
"Yeah, just one," Wufei said. "HOW THE HECK ARE WE SUPPOSED TO FIND THE PRINTS?! It's not like someone would just leave them lying around for just ANY idiot to find!"
"That's why we're to start looking NOW," Heero said with a glare, "and maybe some IDIOT will."
"So THAT'S why you brought us here," Quatre said. "This station must have access to the original Barton Foundation files." Heero nodded.
"Yeah, and you guys have the room and equipment you need to rebuild the Gundams here," Lizz said. Heero nodded again.
"So let's go find them!" Duo exclaimed with a grin. "Any challenge is worth hitting head-on!"
"Yeah, let's do this!" Court yelled enthusiastically. "Guys, we'll help any way we can."
"Yeah, but adding you is like minus two," Lizz teased
"THAT'S NOT FUNNY!" Rae laughed.
"Well, that's all I have to say. I'll be in touch," she said.
"Bye Rae," Trowa said. She nodded.
"Good luck." The screen went blank as the connection was cut.
"Yeah, you too," Heero whispered.