AN: I had a long AN written out for this, but I lost it twice. I'm going to act like an angry chibi for now and pout.

Perfect Opponent

"Never take advice from someone who just admitted being devious."

Stabilo - Flawed Design

In the pilot's lounge, Tieria watched with passive curiosity as Reverie attached a set of electrodes to her for the fourth time in a row. He knew that she knew how to apply them, but he'd had her do it again almost out of boredom. To continue making the system that she'd eventually be using they needed more data on her interactions with the pseudo drives, and they were about to get an excellent chance to gather it when they left the surface and returned to space.

"Done." She said, looking up at him with an assortment of wires attached to her face with soft adhesive pads. She had them all across her body, but the ones on her head made the annoyed look on her face resemble a caricature more than an actual feeling. He checked over each of the connections before booting up the monitoring system for the fourth time. He'd managed to alter an existing neurological testing program to record her brainwaves and physical responses to the pseudo drives, and he wanted to make sure that it would run without a problem during the actual collection process. Marie Parfacy had been instructed in the workings of the program and the process for the actual testing scenario. As he'd be piloting Seravee he'd need someone else to control the influx of data and to keep Reverie's pain in check. They couldn't have her tearing off her electrodes accidentally, after-all.

The hand-held computer beeped to let him know that the program's synchronization was complete and he shut it down. "That's it for today, then." He said, disconnecting the cables from the various palm-sized terminals that were sitting around her. She pulled the electrodes off one-by-one, her eyes not leaving him at all.

"Reverie Traum, is there a reason you're staring at me?" he asked, finally annoyed enough to address her glare.

She looked like she was weighing her response, and he didn't expect her to answer for some time when she suddenly blurted out her response. "What's an innovator?"

Oh no!

What should he do? Tell the truth or lie? He'd never been one to lie because he'd never seen the point, but suddenly he understood the urge. Did he even know what an innovator was? Of course he knew the technical definition of innovade, as well as the working definition that Regene Regetta had given him, but did he really know?

"A being created to add information to VEDA and help further Aeolia Schenberg's plan." He said. It was a definition of him more than anything else. He wasn't like the others, the ones who claimed they were made to lead humanity.

This didn't seem to appease Reverie though. She looked at him through narrowed eyes as she continued to pull electrodes off her skin. "If that's the case, why are they working with the A-Laws?"

She knew? How did she know? "Excuse me?" he asked, more spiteful than really interrogative.

"At the banquet I was saved by an innovator who called themselves Regene Regetta."

Cold electricity shot through him, and he tried his best to continue to stare at the screen in front of him in disinterest. "Is that so?" he asked. There was no way he'd avoid further questions. The resemblance between himself and Regene was enough to make his head spin.

She nodded. "She said that you're an innovator too."

"He doesn't know what he's saying." Tieria responded, correcting her gender mistake.

"So you've met him, then?" The smirk on Reverie's face was impossible to miss. Had she been speaking to anyone else he would have enjoyed her little gender-trap statement of incrimination, but his pride was suddenly inflamed. Damn that woman.

He sighed. "Yes, I have. We're the same type afterall."

"So you're an innovator then?"

Was there a point in lying to her now? Whether or not she could read his thoughts was irrelevant. She seemed to have gained an acute ability to play him. "Does it matter?"

She thought for a long minute before she shook her head. "No."

Just like that? "Aren't you worried that I'll betray Celestial Being and join my own kind?"

She shook her head. "Tieria, you're already with your own kind."

"What do you mean?" That wasn't possible. He wasn't human, he was an Innovade. He was created, not born. He didn't feel emotion the same way, and quite obviously his mind was different because the indignant brunette across from him couldn't hear him think.

"You may not be characteristically human, but you care about everyone on this ship, whether you admit to it or not. Biology has nothing to do with which group you belong to…your loyalty does. You're loyal to Celestial Being, and that makes you more human than you care to admit."

She's right, you know. Do you think the other innovators feel guilt over human death? Do you think they'd feel loss and mourning like you have?

Lockon. At the worst possible time. Why did he have to speak now, when Reverie could see his shocked distractedness? He had to get out of there. "I…believe I have work to do with Seravee before the mission. If you have any questions regarding the mission I can answer them at a later time." He said. The words were so transparent that even he saw through them. The expression in her blue-grey eyes told him that she'd picked up on it as well.

"Alright. I'll make sure to go through the plan again so I'll remember what's going on when I'm in pain." She said, playing directly into his avoidance. He was starting to like her more and more.

"Very well. I suggest eating and keeping well-rested until then."

She nodded and he left. He needed to get out of that room and into Seravee as quickly as possible. The strange feeling in his chest was foreign and disconcerting, and he needed to sit in the cockpit of his beloved Gundam and work on something that made sense.

Emotions aren't supposed to make sense, Tieria.

"Dammit Lockon!" he snapped "Not now!"

There was no response and he found himself walking alone to the hangar again. He couldn't have his dead comrade's voice in his head when his chest was constricting this way and when he was stuck in a moral dilemma. He couldn't have the long-gone Meister's words teasing him as he debated the meaning of his existence.

If not now, then when?

He didn't know. "At a later time." He said shortly to the air. Any time but right now. Ever since Setsuna had dangled his membership in the KPSA in front of the twin, he hadn't been able to get thoughts of the future out of his mind. There were two possible futures he could forsee. The one made by the innovators, his own kind, and the one made by Celestial Being, his friends. Which one was the right one? Could he ever know? What if he chose wrong and destroyed everything he and his friends had worked for? Could he ever really work with someone like Ribbons Almark, a man that he himself had called twisted?

No.

He couldn't.

He would find his way to the right future, he just needed time to figure out how.

Marie poked her head around the doorframe of the pilot's lounge. She was supposed to meet with Reverie, the telepath that Allelujah had told her about. She'd seen the woman on-board and they'd been present at meetings and such together, but they'd never actually said more than 'hello'. She wasn't surprised that they hadn't had a chance to talk yet though. It had only been two weeks since Marie had boarded Ptolemy, and the tall brunette had been gone for one of those, down to the surface with Tieria and Setsuna. The remaining days that preceded and followed the A-Laws banquet had kept both of them busy and running around the ship, and when they weren't running errands or going through training they kept to themselves. Marie was usually with Allelujah, while Reverie seemed to spend her time with Lockon, the Meister that Allelujah didn't really know.

"Miss Reverie?" she asked, stepping into the doorway when she saw the sky-blue uniform jacket slung casually over the back of the sofa.

The woman turned and smiled. "Marie Parfacy, right?" she asked. Apparently she was already ready and waiting, the multiple electrodes in place and the systems for the test already booted. They'd been instructed to be ready to go at a moment's notice, they weren't sure when the enemy's attack would come and they'd only have so much time to carry out the test.

Marie nodded and stepped forward timidly, taking a seat in one of the chairs that was across from the sofa. She wasn't really sure how to interact with others yet. It was something Soma hadn't done unless necessary, and even then it hadn't been in informal settings like this.

"Let me help you out then." the woman said. "You'll have to sit here to keep an eye on the screens and to keep updating my information." She said, motioning to the empty seat beside her.

"Right, I will." Marie took it, sitting and looking kindly at the wire-covered woman next to her. She felt tiny next to her. It wasn't so much their height difference. Three inches wasn't that bad, and she was used to others being taller than her. It was how long the woman's limbs were. Long arms, long legs, a long neck, and a long torso that somehow all came together to make her look more imposing than Marie was sure it was. She heard Soma snicker in the back of her head and she sighed. She was horrible at this social thing.

"I take it Tieria went over the steps of the test with you?" Reverie asked, motioning to the massive screen on the wall of the lounge.

"Yes." Marie nodded. "I'll relay the information about the enemy to you, at which point you will choose a specific machine and attempt to take it down. I'll monitor your brainwaves and pain, and I'll give painkillers as necessary." She said.

Reverie nodded. "Although, I have one small change to add."

Marie looked up, perplexed.

"I'd like you to use as little medication as possible."

"You'll be in pain, though." Marie pointed out. Surely she already knew, but she couldn't actually want the pain. No one wanted pain. Not even Soma.

The woman nodded. "I know. I'm prepared to deal with it. To be honest I need it to be able to take down the machines, I think. It's just a hunch, but I haven't been able to test it. There's never a good time to possibly not take down an enemy machine."

"As long as you're sure." Marie said.

"I'm sure. Even if I beg. You can use your own judgement of course, but please hold off as long as possible, or at least until you can get enough data to stop the trial. I'd rather risk interfering with my abilities once we already have the necessary information."

"I'll do my best." Marie said. To be honest she wasn't really sure what she'd be getting into. Tieria hadn't said much outside of explaining the various processes that she would be monitoring, and he'd cautioned her that if it came down to it she may have to sedate the telepath or even physically stop her from tearing off the electrodes. That alone gave her an indication of exactly how much pain the woman would be in.

They sat in an uncomfortable silence for a moment before the woman tilted her head and looked at her. "You have another person in you, just like Allelujah, don't you?"

"I…yes." She said, looking down and examining her hands. Why was she embarrassed?

"It's strange, I can hear both of you, but I can only hear Hallelujah when Allelujah is around." Ah, Hallelujah. Marie felt a pang of jealousy at the idea that this woman could hear the other half of her beloved, but she pushed it away. From what Allelujah had told her of his other half, he was something she was much better off not hearing. She couldn't ever imagine not wanting to hear Soma. Soma and she were as much a part of each other as they were independent friends.

"I think I know why that is." Marie said, looking down sadly. It was her fault for attacking Allelujah. She'd been the one to lock Hallelujah away in his inescapable prison in her lover's mind. As much as Allelujah said he was grateful that he couldn't hear the violent alter-ego, she could tell that he missed him, and at the same time she couldn't let go of the guilt. No matter what Allelujah said, she'd taken a part of him away.

"It's alright, you don't have to tell me. It's just an observation after-all." Reverie said. Marie sighed in relief and the woman smiled. "You don't have to worry about your social skills so much you know." She said, changing the topic. "I'm not hard to get along with, and you're doing just fine for someone whose been locked away for most of their life."

"I…It's just…" she looked down again. "It's just hard to know what to say."

Reverie nodded. "That will never go away." She said. "Take it from someone who's always been a little more social than necessary."

"But you talk so easily with everyone." Marie said. It was true. She'd watched the taller woman interact with the other crew, laughing and joking, comforting and just simply conversing. She even managed to get Setsuna to smile here and there. How could she say that interacting was hard?

"Not everyone enjoys my personality, though. Ptolemy is different, but back on the surface it was different."

"Why not?" Marie asked, surprised.

"A lot of reasons. I cross boundaries very easily for one thing, almost accidentally. A lot of people don't like having their personal feelings and beliefs examined."

She imagined it was true. She wasn't worried about crossing boundaries, she barely even knew where to begin to see them. She was worried about saying something wrong. She didn't really know what was right to say. After 'Hello' she was lost. Years of being alone and unable to interact did that, though. Allelujah was easy to talk to, but he hung on her every word and she thoroughly doubted that she could ever say something that would offend him. Other people weren't like that. Others who didn't love her. How did she go about talking to them?

"There's no easy way to go about it other than start." Reverie said, reattaching an electrode. "Once you start to talk you'll figure it out. I don't imagine that you could offend anyone on-board."

She'd already offended Feldt, and she hadn't spoken at all. "I already have." She said, watching the telepath with curiosity this time.

"It wasn't you that offended Feldt. It was her memories, and her loyalty to those who died years ago."

Could memories and loyalty create that reaction in a person? Feldt had been so angry and hurt, and Marie hadn't known what to do other than to stop Allelujah from going after her.

"You've already gotten over the hardest part." The brunette said. "You recognize other's emotions. If you've got that, you've got enough to work with."

Marie suddenly had the realization that the majority of their conversation had taken place without her really speaking. The woman had been responding to her thoughts, and Marie hadn't even noticed. Was she so used to someone else being in her head that she didn't pick up on her lack of speech? She sighed. "I'm sorry, I haven't been saying very much."

Reverie smiled. "You've been saying as much as you need to, I've just been filling in the blanks."

As much as she needed to. Filling in the blanks. Was that what she needed? Could she learn to communicate like this? She decided that somehow she liked the idea that the woman could hear her. It took away the pressure for her to speak her questions and sentences.

"Here we go."

Reverie's voice broke Marie out of her thoughts. "What?"

"I can hear them coming, the alarms will go off any minute. You'd better get geared-up" she said, her voice dropping to a tone that Marie couldn't understand. She slipped her earpiece in so she could hear what was happening on the bridge and she picked up the main monitoring console, setting it in her lap and activating the touch-screen that she'd use to input data onto the massive screen for Reverie to see.

"Enemy approaching! There's six enemy mobile suits!" Feldt's voice rang in Marie's ear. She only had to wait for a moment before the GN Radar information splashed across her screen and she saw the six approaching mobile armours.

Reverie groaned and lurched forward, holding her face in her hands. "So many drives…" she muttered through teeth that were already clenched.

"It's because they're trilobytes." Marie said, relaying Soma's information. "They have three GN drives each. I'm putting the radar image on-screen." She said, tapping at the command screen. The image covered the massive wall-mounted screen and Reverie looked up, supporting her head with her hands.

Reverie stared at the screen with frightening intensity before swearing and gripping her head again, crumpling and crushing her face against her knees. Marie heard a low whine tear through the brunette's teeth and she wondered if she should ignore her instructions regarding the pain medication. Could she really run the test if it was already hurting her this much?

"No!" she half-snapped. "It's not that….they're just too fast!"

As if a confirmation, they were thrown violently into their seats as Ptolemy started to shoot up through the water at breakneck speed. Reverie's head snapped up and her eyes locked onto the screen in front of her again. Her body remained rigid as she sat forward again, but she didn't seem in pain. She stared at the radar information with an eerie intensity, her eyes unmoving and steadily focused. Why?

"Trans Am…" Reverie said, her eyes not leaving the screen.

It was then that Marie noticed that a faint pinkish light was emanating from a spot on the brunette's head. She sat forward and pushed the hair aside.

A scar.

The scar was glowing along with the whole area around it.

It was glowing like Trans-Am.

Mr. Bushido had no interest in the current mission. Neither did Graham Aker.

He watched in boredom as suit after suit launched from the carrier and he couldn't come to terms with how ridiculously dull the mission seemed. Stop the ship. Attack before the Gundams launched. Overpower, not out-skill.

Totally, utterly useless.

He was frustrated to say the least. He'd never get a decent chance to fight the double-drive Gundam at this rate. Mr. Bushido told him to be patient and wait for his chance. Graham told him exactly where to shove his patience.

He didn't know exactly when he'd started seeing both sides of himself as separate, but he did. They didn't have their own will, and he knew what each was thinking, but they were so conflicting at times that he wondered if he'd actually split into two people and hadn't noticed.

He sighed.

"Which one's winning?"

He didn't have to turn to know who it was. The only other man who was identified by a mask. Identified by something meant to hide identity. It was enthralling. Ailin Gallagher, the other man with a license, the other man with a mask. He was his comrade as much as he was his adversary…the fact that he could read his mind just added to the intrigue.

"You have to be fighting to have a winner." He replied.

"It sounds like you're fighting to me." Gallagher said, leaning on the railing with him, looking out the expansive window. Somehow they'd become distant friends…not in the sense that an acquaintance was distant, but like a friend that you knew everything about but never spoke to. Respected and revered. By hiding their identities with masks they shared more of themselves with each other than Graham cared to think about. Of course, they wore them for different reasons. Graham wore his as a silent mark of dedication. Gallagher wore his for reasons unknown to anyone. Part of Graham wondered if the man wore the mask simply because showing his eyes would make him too human. He was too cruel to be human. Graham liked it.

"It's not a fight, it's a discussion." He replied.

Gallagher laughed. "Are you sure? That sounds deliberately boring." He mused.

Graham looked at him curiously. "Why?"

"If I could fight with anyone in the world, I'd fight myself." He replied. "Aren't you denying yourself the most interesting battle of all by discussing instead of fighting?"

Graham chuckled. He liked the idea. What if he could fight Mr. Bushido? It was an amazing question. Who would strike first? Who would land the final blow? Who would be afraid of their death? Intriguing, but not what he wanted. He shook his head. "No. My most prominent opponent is out there, running into space as we speak."

"I didn't say your most prominent. I said your most interesting." The man corrected. Graham's mouth pulled into a hint of a smile. Gallagher wasn't bound by right and wrong or fate. He was stuck in a continuing search for whatever was fun and seductively destructive. The more unexpected the better. Of course he would want to fight himself…he was the most unpredictable opponent that Graham had ever met, training or otherwise. Sometimes he wondered what that face would hold if the mask was lifted from it. Would he even be human? Would he be met with an assortment of wires and gears, eternally turning in search of ultimate destruction?

No.

The same thing that made his friend inhuman made him human. No machine could meld cruelty and compassion with such finesse. No machine except for the Gundam.

His Gundam.

His perfect opponent.

Graham examined his friend before changing the subject. "You aren't assigned to this mission?" he asked.

Gallagher shook his head and ran a gloved hand through his hair. "My perfect opponent isn't ready for our battle yet."

He looked at his friend and adversary. Who could he possibly believe was his perfect opposite?

"The original." His tone suggested that he wasn't talking to Graham at all but was musing to himself as he watched suit after suit leave the deck and chase the Gundam's ship. "Isn't it only natural for a copy to want to watch the original burn?"

Graham wasn't listening though. He'd long since zoned out and was now focused on the Gundam's mother-ship, a vibrant pink dot in the sky.

As it left he pondered what he would give to be on it.

Everything was entering Reverie's mind with frightening clarity and intensity. She felt like her whole body was alive and humming and she'd never focused so intensely in her life. She could hear everything. She could hear all the pilots, Celestial Being or otherwise. She could hear the humming of all of the drives, but somehow there was no pain. More than both of those revelations though, she could see what was happening outside the ship. She wasn't sure how many people's thoughts she was invading to do it, but she could see so many images of the attack that she felt as though she were hanging in the air outside the ship.

"Reverie, your head…"

She didn't know how, but somehow she knew that the whole area surrounding the piece of metal in her brain was glowing the coral pink of Trans-Am. She was strangely alright with it.

"I'm fine." She said. Her voice didn't sound like her own.

There was so much information. She was a humming data drive, synced to the world around her. Somehow though the information didn't overpower her at all. She could take it all in, analyze it, and store it away. There was no overload or pain, no fatigue or confusion, just extreme clarity.

She picked up something at the edge of the atmosphere. A mobile suit. Light green and white. It was charging, she didn't know why. She couldn't hear the pilot at all until they spoke. "…that won't be hard for my Gadessa!"

Gadessa. She picked through the information of all of those that she could access. It was like sticking her finger in a socket. So much information. Power output, operator, cost, schematics. Innovator.

"New model mobile suit Gadessa at point 0948 East aiming to change Ptolemy's ascent angle by .03 percent using GN Mega-launcher." She said. She couldn't even feel her lips forming the words.

She could hear Marie inputting the information, but she knew it would reach the bridge too late. The ship shuddered as the beam blasted into it. She was too lost in the haze of information to care. "Enemy mobile suits, six, awaiting Ptolemy's arrival along new trajectory path." She said, this time she could hear Marie relay the information verbally.

This was her chance. She closed off the incoming information and was suddenly left in complete silence, the screen ahead of her the only thing she was seeing. Little arrows moved along the screen to tell her where the suits were going. She focused on the one at the center of the formation. The image of it loomed in crystal clarity in her mind and she focused all of her mental energy towards its pseudo GN drive.

The little arrow moved, and moved, and moved.

Then disappeared.

So did the one beside it.

Her mind was processing information so rapidly that she didn't have to ask if she'd been the one to take them down. She already knew. The drives had died, and the suits hung useless in space, pilots cursing.

"We've reached the limit for Trans-Am, we'll lose the GN field until Ptolemy can recharge."

She felt the pain crash back into her mind.

Then she felt nothing.

"Ka...come back! Hahaha!"

She laughed as Deiter chased after her, bounding around on his five-year old legs. He'd grown so fast, it was just yesterday that Ma had handed him to her and told her that he was her new little brother. Hers to cherish and teach to be good. She watched as he picked up his fake fire extinguisher filled with water and started making siren noises. He chased her around, and she didn't want to get wet, she really didn't, but she gave in and hit the ground, pretending to roll. "Help! help! I'm on fire!" she said, flinching as the cold water hit her.

She was twelve and he was five but she'd never stop playing these games with him. Some of her friends were annoyed when their younger siblings tagged along after them or wanted to play, but she couldn't get enough of it. He was her little brother after-all, hers to protect and nurture.

"Karen! You know better than to keep him out this late. Deiter, come on, time for the bath!"

Her mother was standing on the porch. Her tone was chastising but even Karen couldn't miss the smile that was spreading across her face. She wasn't really mad, and Karen wasn't really in trouble, and Deiter wasn't really going to get in the bath. At least not until he surrendered his nightly fight.

"Come on Didi, let's head inside." she said, kneeling in front of him and ruffling his blonde hair.

"Ka, are you coming?" he asked, giving her his best puppy-eyes. He was so good at them.

"After I say hi to Pa." she said. "If Ma says you went in the bath without a fight I'll even bring candy."

"From your candy bag under your bed?" he asked. He knew about the incriminating bag of sweets, but he also knew better than to tell their mother about it.

She nodded. "Go see Ma." she patted him on the back. He gave her an inquisitive look before darting accross the lawn towards their mother.

"Ma! Lets go bath right now! Ka says she'll give me candy!"

Maybe she'd been too sure of his secrecy. Her mother sent her a glare as she hoisted her little brother up and into her arms, but she knew that her father would agree with her bribery. She suddenly remembered that her father was home. She jogged into the house and made sure to slip her house-shoes on. Her mother wouldn't be so forgiving if she trailed grass all across the carpet, and she already had a scolding waiting for the candy that her brother was no-doubt chatting about. She was twelve though, her mother wouldn't be too hard on her. She was almost a teenager after all!

She slipped silently into the kitchen and peeked around the corner that lead to the living room. She tried to hide her grin as she was as quiet as she could be.

"Karen, I know you're there." he said. He always knew, it was one of their secret games.

"How do you always know, Pa?" she asked, losing the childish tone that she had with her brother.

He laughed, the deep laugh that she'd become so used to. "Because you do it every day, Karen. You should try to change it a little, then I'll never know if you're hiding or not."

"Fine, but when I scare you, you only have yourself to blame." she said, sitting on the ground in front of him. She'd never tell anyone, but this was her favorite part of the day. She loved Deiter, she really did, but she missed the days when it was just her and her dad sometimes. Only sometimes though, only for a second. This was enough for her though, when he'd come home from a twenty-four hour shift and she'd sit and watch him empty out his pockets and sort through the assorted things he'd collected while in his casual uniform. Sometimes he'd bring her pieces of this or that. One time he'd brought her a light bulb that had been melted in a fire, and she'd kept it above her bed. It was the coolest thing she'd ever seen, and she'd often stare at it even now. She looked up at him.

"Pa?"

"Hm?"

"I love you."

"I love you too Karen."

AN: Alright. I'm done pouting now.

I'm sorry Anew wasn't in this chapter, but as usual I didn't get thorough as much as I wanted to. You have no idea how mad I get when I watch an episode and see that I've only written about half of it. Of course, it kind of helps that I'm not covering much that actually goes on in the show. Still, when I feel like I'm stuck in an episode I have to resist the urge to knock everyone out and timeskip. It hasn't happened yet. I was happy to write Marie in this chapter, and I think I'll be using her much more.

Thanks to PaperXTrain for stopping by! I'm not sure what you mean by wearier, but I'm glad that she comes accross as active and not passive. Thanks to Anne Fatalism Dilettante as well! I went through Chapter 11's document again to get all the little mistakes, so I'll be updating that and hopefully I haven't missed any new ones. Also, thanks to StormyMonday of course who was the person who convinced me to keep writing through the first couple of chapters. Also thanks for calling the story rare! It made my heart melt into a puddle (although my heart is quite puddle-y normally to begin with).

I didn't listen to anything specific to write the above, but on the other hand I've been listening to "Everybody" by Stabilo (yes I'm on a Stabilo bender, alright?) and it's got a line in it that has inspired me to change the ending direction of this story. A pat on the back to the person who can guess what it is.

Let me know what you thought!