Chapter Six:
'I wonder if they have any records stored here?' She thought, quietly creeping down the hallway, 'They should, probably in some high security vault.' Double-checking to make sure she wasn't being watched, Tiany disappeared into the wall next to her. On the other side there was a large metallic chamber, containing thousands of file cabinets it seemed.
"Nuh ugh, there has to be an easier way than this." Going through every file cabinet would take too much time. Tiany didn't mind a challenge, but tediousness was a different story. Sure enough, at the far wall was a small line of high-power computers. "Bingo." she whispered.
Reappearing at the computer seat she waited for it to boot up. "Come on, I don't have all day."
The mechanic voice of the terminal spoke, "Finger print identification, failed. Access denied. Please type in your name and password."
"I don't have one, aren't these things supposed to be user friendly?"
"Voice identification test, failed. Access denied. Access denied."
'Dumb computers.'
"Engaging retinal scan." A red beam came from the computer, aimed at her eye. Thinking this wasn't the best idea she had Tiany left the room…the quick way.
"Ouch, watch it Tiany." Heero grumbled as she collided into him with her reappearance.
"Sorry. That's a down side to this."
"Where were you?" Suspiciously he scanned the surrounding areas.
"Nowhere." she muttered before extracting herself from a slightly awkward situation.
When she left Heero leapt up. He was going to find where she went. Tiany bounced around the base, hoping to lose Heero, but because she was moving so quickly her landings left a very easy trail to follow. All Heero had to do was keep up with the crashes and bangs.
'Just keep going.' she told herself, 'the only way you'll fully recover is if you keep going. Not to mention this is fun.' She landed again but this time Tiany was met by a blonde with crazy curls that always have been untamable. Kind of like her personality. All Tiany needed to see was the talisman that hung around her neck to know who it was.
"Ena!" she hissed, "What are you doing here?"
"Tiany! You're alive!" Her electric green eyes were wide open with shock at the revelation.
"Yes, I'm alive. No thanks to you and your 'colony.'"
"Hey I couldn't do anything about it…I'm just stuck with them…that's it. What do you mean? Where have you been? Why did you leave in the first place, everyone's been in an uproar since you left." The questions were fired in rapid succession one after the other.
Nervously she glanced over her shoulder, "I'll explain later, right now we got to jet."
"Why?" Ena asked quizzically. "Hey, who's that?"
Heero had caught up to the pair. Launching into a flying tackle he tried to pin Tiany. She had been up to something that's for sure, and he wanted to know what. Although he was positive that it had to do with the record room.
Unfortunately for Heero, Tiany anticipated his move and disappeared at the last probable instant. Bracing himself Heero tucked and rolled, gently crashing into the wall before leaping at her again. A throaty growl escaped his lips as the anomaly slipped through his grip once again. All he had to do was keep this up. She would tire long before he would. All his attention focused on Tiany he didn't bother to acknowledge the crazy blonde looking on in interest.
A fatalistic error, Ena had no clue what was going on, but she wanted to be a part of it. Reappearing behind the strange boy she clubbed him heavily on the back of his head with her palm. "Nice to meet you." She beamed after he had fallen to the floor, "My name's Ena."
"Thanks." Tiany managed to gasp out. "I'm still going to get it though when he wakes up. Come on."
Ena didn't follow Tiany's lead, she was busy glancing worriedly at the knocked out boy. "Should we just leave him here? I mean, I did hit him pretty hard."
"Have you ever heard of the Gundam Pilots?"
"Of course I have," Like always her voice was bouncy, mixed with whatever emotion played on her face. This time exasperated, "That's all Trieze is concerned with, capturing the Gundams, or finding a way to capture them."
Startling both girls a deep intonation broke in the conversation, "What about the Gundams?" Duo joined Heero on the floor, Ena seemed to be very jumpy today.
Rolling her eyes Tiany muttered to Ena, "Meet me on the roof. I'll explain everything there."
"You better."
A few minutes later both girls met up on the metallic surface of the base.
"All right," Ena drilled, "What the heck is going on here?"
"Those two boys you knocked out?"
"Yeah, what about them?"
"They're Gundam pilots. Heero Yui (sp?) and Duo Maxwell."
"Oops." Ena hugged her knees sheepishly, "That second one was cute too."
"Duo." This was going to take a lot of patience to explain, but the beast place was always at the beginning. "You don't know why I left do you?"
"No, that's why I have no clue what's going on…I thought you were dead." Her eyes dropped following her voice's decrescendo. "I seriously thought you were dead. After I saw them take your necklace away, and throw you into the desert, I thought you were done for. You don't know what it's like to wonder everyday if your best friend is still alive, and every piece of news you get you both dread and welcome all at the same time. Katherine thinks you deserted, just when we needed you the most."
The memories of the past gave Tiany a glossed-over, distant look, "She's half right, if I hadn't been banished before I was, I would have left within that month. You really don't know what's going on." She paused collecting her thoughts. "You know about the Gundams, and you also know that the necklaces are the key to our power, but what you don't know is our history. Long ago our numbers were many and a single leap could span half the globe, we were on the verge of interstellar travel. That's what the talismans were for. However, the elders thought that if we became to powerful that we would be discovered and wiped away from the face of the planet. So they indirectly planned our demise. They destroyed documents, and took away our power, but with the help of the cats-eyes that were intended for intergalactic travel we could achieve a fraction of our talents.
"I didn't think it was enough, so I researched our history in documents that were carefully locked away. So I carefully retrieved them."
Ena instantly became defensive, "Wait, where was I?"
"Sorry, I had to be sure of absolute secrecy, I would have told you, but I didn't get the chance. They kicked me out before I could get a chance to talk to you."
"I see." She grumbled, "You still could have told me before."
"Yeah, and have the entire population know what I was up to before I even started digging up information? I don't think so. At any rate, I found out that our full powers were truly amazing, so I started experimenting, trying to get my own up that high. I'm still nowhere near it, but I can travel without the aid of that tracking device."
"Tracking device?"
"Another ingenious idea. That cats-eye allows the base to know where you are whenever they want. I didn't find out about that part until it was too late, that was how they caught me in the first place."
Ena had taken off the long chain and was swinging it back and forth like a pendulum. "Weird, I just thought it was a cool trinket that helped to boost our power."
"That's what the elders wanted you to think."
"But, I still don't see why they would banish you for knowing too much."
"It wasn't that I knew too much, it was that I was becoming too powerful, and I knew too much. Naturally I started practicing without the aid of the talisman, and then with the talisman I was becoming very strong, the farthest leaper in the colony. Well they put two and two together, and then realized what I was up to. But what they didn't know was that I knew they were intentionally killing off our race, for the sake of science.
"Oz wants to build a mobile suit that can teleport. They think that this way they can destroy the Gundams, so to do this they are studying our race. The elders gave me a choice, banishment, or Oz. I chose banishment, which meant that I would be stripped of my talisman, and all the powers I had gained. A wolf in sheep's clothing is still a wolf. Oz isn't what they seem, they don't care if we live or not, they just want enough knowledge to defeat their enemies."
For once Ena didn't have anything to say, "Man, I hate internal conflict. I'm supposed to bring you back to the base, and then destroy this one and all people in it. But, I don't want too, but I also don't want to betray the colony either."
"Well, make your decision fast, because the guys just found us."
Sure enough the five Gundam pilots had made their way to the roof, Heero and Duo were not looking overjoyed either.
"Uh, oh." Ena breathed, "Umm, hi guys. I'm in deep doo-doo aren't I?"
"Maybe, maybe not. Are you a friend or foe?" WuFei asked.
Nervously, Ena tried to make a quick decision, "Umm, how's undecided sound to you?"
"That makes you a traitor to both sides." explained Heero, "Are you a friend or foe?"
Darting like arrows, thoughts flew around her head, did she betray one of her best friends, or did she betray Katherine? Did she go against the colony to save it? Or follow orders and lead to its demise? Like her thoughts Ena's eyes scanned the people around her. "I'm a friend." she whispered, "I was only acting under orders, in coming here, but I betray my colony in order to save it." Then she glared at Tiany, "Don't ever say that I never do anything for you."
Tiany smiled, she was no longer an army of one.
~~~~~*****~~~~~
"…I betray my colony in order to save it…" Trieze turned off the screen,
"Did you see that Katherine? Now we have unearthed two traitors. I want you to eliminate them, take Zechs Marquise with you. And do not fail me."
Katherine bowed, "I will not."
'I wonder if they have any records stored here?' She thought, quietly creeping down the hallway, 'They should, probably in some high security vault.' Double-checking to make sure she wasn't being watched, Tiany disappeared into the wall next to her. On the other side there was a large metallic chamber, containing thousands of file cabinets it seemed.
"Nuh ugh, there has to be an easier way than this." Going through every file cabinet would take too much time. Tiany didn't mind a challenge, but tediousness was a different story. Sure enough, at the far wall was a small line of high-power computers. "Bingo." she whispered.
Reappearing at the computer seat she waited for it to boot up. "Come on, I don't have all day."
The mechanic voice of the terminal spoke, "Finger print identification, failed. Access denied. Please type in your name and password."
"I don't have one, aren't these things supposed to be user friendly?"
"Voice identification test, failed. Access denied. Access denied."
'Dumb computers.'
"Engaging retinal scan." A red beam came from the computer, aimed at her eye. Thinking this wasn't the best idea she had Tiany left the room…the quick way.
"Ouch, watch it Tiany." Heero grumbled as she collided into him with her reappearance.
"Sorry. That's a down side to this."
"Where were you?" Suspiciously he scanned the surrounding areas.
"Nowhere." she muttered before extracting herself from a slightly awkward situation.
When she left Heero leapt up. He was going to find where she went. Tiany bounced around the base, hoping to lose Heero, but because she was moving so quickly her landings left a very easy trail to follow. All Heero had to do was keep up with the crashes and bangs.
'Just keep going.' she told herself, 'the only way you'll fully recover is if you keep going. Not to mention this is fun.' She landed again but this time Tiany was met by a blonde with crazy curls that always have been untamable. Kind of like her personality. All Tiany needed to see was the talisman that hung around her neck to know who it was.
"Ena!" she hissed, "What are you doing here?"
"Tiany! You're alive!" Her electric green eyes were wide open with shock at the revelation.
"Yes, I'm alive. No thanks to you and your 'colony.'"
"Hey I couldn't do anything about it…I'm just stuck with them…that's it. What do you mean? Where have you been? Why did you leave in the first place, everyone's been in an uproar since you left." The questions were fired in rapid succession one after the other.
Nervously she glanced over her shoulder, "I'll explain later, right now we got to jet."
"Why?" Ena asked quizzically. "Hey, who's that?"
Heero had caught up to the pair. Launching into a flying tackle he tried to pin Tiany. She had been up to something that's for sure, and he wanted to know what. Although he was positive that it had to do with the record room.
Unfortunately for Heero, Tiany anticipated his move and disappeared at the last probable instant. Bracing himself Heero tucked and rolled, gently crashing into the wall before leaping at her again. A throaty growl escaped his lips as the anomaly slipped through his grip once again. All he had to do was keep this up. She would tire long before he would. All his attention focused on Tiany he didn't bother to acknowledge the crazy blonde looking on in interest.
A fatalistic error, Ena had no clue what was going on, but she wanted to be a part of it. Reappearing behind the strange boy she clubbed him heavily on the back of his head with her palm. "Nice to meet you." She beamed after he had fallen to the floor, "My name's Ena."
"Thanks." Tiany managed to gasp out. "I'm still going to get it though when he wakes up. Come on."
Ena didn't follow Tiany's lead, she was busy glancing worriedly at the knocked out boy. "Should we just leave him here? I mean, I did hit him pretty hard."
"Have you ever heard of the Gundam Pilots?"
"Of course I have," Like always her voice was bouncy, mixed with whatever emotion played on her face. This time exasperated, "That's all Trieze is concerned with, capturing the Gundams, or finding a way to capture them."
Startling both girls a deep intonation broke in the conversation, "What about the Gundams?" Duo joined Heero on the floor, Ena seemed to be very jumpy today.
Rolling her eyes Tiany muttered to Ena, "Meet me on the roof. I'll explain everything there."
"You better."
A few minutes later both girls met up on the metallic surface of the base.
"All right," Ena drilled, "What the heck is going on here?"
"Those two boys you knocked out?"
"Yeah, what about them?"
"They're Gundam pilots. Heero Yui (sp?) and Duo Maxwell."
"Oops." Ena hugged her knees sheepishly, "That second one was cute too."
"Duo." This was going to take a lot of patience to explain, but the beast place was always at the beginning. "You don't know why I left do you?"
"No, that's why I have no clue what's going on…I thought you were dead." Her eyes dropped following her voice's decrescendo. "I seriously thought you were dead. After I saw them take your necklace away, and throw you into the desert, I thought you were done for. You don't know what it's like to wonder everyday if your best friend is still alive, and every piece of news you get you both dread and welcome all at the same time. Katherine thinks you deserted, just when we needed you the most."
The memories of the past gave Tiany a glossed-over, distant look, "She's half right, if I hadn't been banished before I was, I would have left within that month. You really don't know what's going on." She paused collecting her thoughts. "You know about the Gundams, and you also know that the necklaces are the key to our power, but what you don't know is our history. Long ago our numbers were many and a single leap could span half the globe, we were on the verge of interstellar travel. That's what the talismans were for. However, the elders thought that if we became to powerful that we would be discovered and wiped away from the face of the planet. So they indirectly planned our demise. They destroyed documents, and took away our power, but with the help of the cats-eyes that were intended for intergalactic travel we could achieve a fraction of our talents.
"I didn't think it was enough, so I researched our history in documents that were carefully locked away. So I carefully retrieved them."
Ena instantly became defensive, "Wait, where was I?"
"Sorry, I had to be sure of absolute secrecy, I would have told you, but I didn't get the chance. They kicked me out before I could get a chance to talk to you."
"I see." She grumbled, "You still could have told me before."
"Yeah, and have the entire population know what I was up to before I even started digging up information? I don't think so. At any rate, I found out that our full powers were truly amazing, so I started experimenting, trying to get my own up that high. I'm still nowhere near it, but I can travel without the aid of that tracking device."
"Tracking device?"
"Another ingenious idea. That cats-eye allows the base to know where you are whenever they want. I didn't find out about that part until it was too late, that was how they caught me in the first place."
Ena had taken off the long chain and was swinging it back and forth like a pendulum. "Weird, I just thought it was a cool trinket that helped to boost our power."
"That's what the elders wanted you to think."
"But, I still don't see why they would banish you for knowing too much."
"It wasn't that I knew too much, it was that I was becoming too powerful, and I knew too much. Naturally I started practicing without the aid of the talisman, and then with the talisman I was becoming very strong, the farthest leaper in the colony. Well they put two and two together, and then realized what I was up to. But what they didn't know was that I knew they were intentionally killing off our race, for the sake of science.
"Oz wants to build a mobile suit that can teleport. They think that this way they can destroy the Gundams, so to do this they are studying our race. The elders gave me a choice, banishment, or Oz. I chose banishment, which meant that I would be stripped of my talisman, and all the powers I had gained. A wolf in sheep's clothing is still a wolf. Oz isn't what they seem, they don't care if we live or not, they just want enough knowledge to defeat their enemies."
For once Ena didn't have anything to say, "Man, I hate internal conflict. I'm supposed to bring you back to the base, and then destroy this one and all people in it. But, I don't want too, but I also don't want to betray the colony either."
"Well, make your decision fast, because the guys just found us."
Sure enough the five Gundam pilots had made their way to the roof, Heero and Duo were not looking overjoyed either.
"Uh, oh." Ena breathed, "Umm, hi guys. I'm in deep doo-doo aren't I?"
"Maybe, maybe not. Are you a friend or foe?" WuFei asked.
Nervously, Ena tried to make a quick decision, "Umm, how's undecided sound to you?"
"That makes you a traitor to both sides." explained Heero, "Are you a friend or foe?"
Darting like arrows, thoughts flew around her head, did she betray one of her best friends, or did she betray Katherine? Did she go against the colony to save it? Or follow orders and lead to its demise? Like her thoughts Ena's eyes scanned the people around her. "I'm a friend." she whispered, "I was only acting under orders, in coming here, but I betray my colony in order to save it." Then she glared at Tiany, "Don't ever say that I never do anything for you."
Tiany smiled, she was no longer an army of one.
~~~~~*****~~~~~
"…I betray my colony in order to save it…" Trieze turned off the screen,
"Did you see that Katherine? Now we have unearthed two traitors. I want you to eliminate them, take Zechs Marquise with you. And do not fail me."
Katherine bowed, "I will not."