After Colony 197: Reflections
Episode 2: The Perfect Solider Returns
"Wing Zero?! No way!"
All Duo and Trowa could do was stare. It was Wing Zero, neither doubted that, but what was Heero doing there? And why was he helping those girls? But more importantly, Trowa wondered, what had they stolen?
"W-was that what I thought it was?" Chance whispered.
Duo frowned. "It was Wing Zero all right. K'so! I hate it when Heero pulls stuff like this and doesn't tell us, I thought he'd grown out of this habit when the war had passed."
"In either case we need to find out what they stole, and what happened to Quatre."
"Quatre? What do you mean? By the way, where is he?"
Trowa cast a worried look toward the house. "I tried to wake him when the alarm went off but he didn't respond."
"Oh man, and just when I was starting to get used to a normal life, all of this has to blow up in our faces. Tell me something, Trowa, why us?" Duo shook his head sadly.
Trowa didn't answer.
**
Quatre's eyes slowly opened, barely. The room around him was hazy and he could hear voices but couldn't understand what they were saying. Something dark moved in front of his face and suddenly a sharp smell shot up his nose. Quatre sat up quickly and coughed, his eyes shooting open. The haziness disappeared in a flash as he coughed, trying to get the strong smell out of his system. About a minute later the coughing subsided and he wiped the dampness from his eyes. He blinked and glanced around the room.
Trowa and Duo stood near his bed while Chance stood off near the door, glancing back into the hallway every so often as if she were watching guard. Trowa held a jar of very strong smelling salts.
"What happened?" Quatre coughed out, still trying to shake off the leftovers of the hazy feeling.
"You were drugged." Trowa held up a small piece of plastic which held a light silverish residue.
"And while you were catching up on your beauty sleep a few of your guests hacked into your computer system. It took me a while, but it seems they were looking for information on us. Us and the gundams."
Quatre rubbed his head and leaned back against the wall, lightly sipping the glass of water Trowa offered him. "Did they get the info they were looking for?"
"Without a doubt." Trowa muttered.
Quatre set the glass down. "What else? There's something else you aren't telling me. What else happened?"
Neither Trowa nor Duo answered, Quatre directed his gaze toward Chance, but she didn't offer him any information. He looked back to Duo.
"Duo..."
"Wing Zero helpped them escape," Trowa said softly.
"What?! But that doesn't make any sense. If they have Heero on their side why would they need to steal information on us? They could just get it from him right?"
Trowa nodded and fixed his gaze on Chance, she met his gaze evenly, but they could see her waver slightly. "They're your friends."
"What are you suggesting?" Chance frowned. "Oh, never mind, I see. They are my friends so I should know what's going on right?" She sighed. "I wish I knew, but I'm more confused then you guys are. Who you call my friends are just three girls I met at the orphanage, and we've talked a few times."
Trowa mused over this. "What exactly happen before you were kidnapped?"
Chance shrugged. "You heard about the problems on earth with war orphans right? Well, there are problems everywhere with war orphans. As far as I know they figured they'd send us all to one colony where we could all be together, least I think that's what the bigwigs were planning, they don't usually tell us everything. The ship I was on met up with theirs and we ended up on the same transport.
"I usually stick to myself and close friends so I didn't talk to them much. All I really know is that the blond is named Sky, the black haired one is Reese and the darker one is Jare. I know their names and that they are closly knit together, but other than that I couldn't tell you much."
"Hm, the other kids didn't seem to reconize those three either, they were the only ones from their colony on that ship weren't they? I smell a set up. Someone planned this, and they used the Preventers to get to us." Duo's grin was gone, this was serious!
Quatre shook his head. "But how did they know Sally would call you and ask to use your ship? Planning can only go so far. That's too much of a conincidence."
"Maybe, maybe not." Duo crossed the room and picked up Quatre's phone.
"Who are you calling?"
"Sally, I want to know if they found that ship yet. Cause if they did it has my name written on it. I'm going to teach them not to mess around with Duo Maxwell."
Quatre turned his attension to Trowa who was standing up and heading for the door. "You going to be ok?" Trowa asked softly, Quatre nodded. "Then I'm going to check on the other kids, see what else I can find out." And he left.
Chance cocked her head and looked at Quatre silently. "I thought I reconised you and your friends from somewhere. And that thing that landed in your front yard confirms it. You're the gundam pilots aren't you?"
Quatre nodded. "Yeah, we were. But the gundams were destroyed when the war ended. Least ours were, but it appears Heero kept his." Quatre frowned at this thought. "I guess we were hoping that such weapons wouldn't be needed anymore."
"It IS a nice thought. But apparently peace makes humans restless."
"Yeah."
Duo walked back over after hanging up the phone. "She says they found the ship, it docked a few hours ago at a research satillite to get fuel and repairs. Sally says they expect them to be there for a while and then head off toward their destination, if we hurry we can catch them before then."
Quatre nodded. "Lets go then."
Duo headed for the door, Chance grabbed his arm. "I'm coming with."
"No, this is too dangerous." Quatre tied the belt on his robe as he spoke. "We're trained for this thing, you aren't."
Before Chance could protest Duo pulled her out of the room and shut the door to give Quatre some privacy. She frowned, her purple eyes burned with anger and determination. "I'm coming with you," she repeated.
"You heard what he said, and I agree. This is our business."
"I know that. But it's my business too, those orphans out there are the children I grew up with. We're all left overs from the OZ and Marimeia wars(1). People may not completely remember what happened those years ago but we do, and I am not about to let my friends be used to start or fuel what could turn into yet another war! And if that means me stealing a ship and going after those three myself I'll do it. The wars have ended and I am personally going to make sure it stays that way, with or without the help of you and your friends." Chance crossed her arms to make her point.
Duo couldn't help but smile, in fact he chuckled softly.
"What?"
"Oh nothing, it's just that you remind me a lot of a younger me."
"You?" Chance's eyes widened. "It never ocurred to me that-"
"Yep, some of us gundam pilots are war orphans too, which may be why we fought so hard back then. Either way, if you're anything like me I know you're not making an idle threat to go out there on your own. so I guess we'll just have to take you along for the ride."
Chance smiled. "Thank you for understanding."
"No problem, just don't make us regret it ok? Messing up could start another war."
"That, Duo, is the last thing I want."
**
"Ms. Dorian(2)."
Relena Dorian looked up as her secretary poked her head in the room. "Yes, Rebecca?"
"There's a young man here to see you."
Relena set down her pen. "Show him in."
The secretary nodded and stepped back, opening the door. Relena drew in a sharp breath as a familiar form walked into view. She couldn't believe it, after a year of no word and suddenly he was standing here in her office?
"Heero?"
Heero Yuy stepped into the room silently, glancing only briefly at Relena then turning back to watch the secretary with sharp eyes as she shut the door behind him. He turned back and met eyes with her, but said nothing.
"Heero? Is it really you? Where have you been?" She stood up and walked over, embracing the silent boy tightly. "You left without a word after what happened with the Barton foundation. Why didn't you tell us where you went? Why didn't you tell me?"
Heero shrugged and gently pulled out of her embrace. She smiled to her self and took the hint, taking a step back. He hadn't changed one bit. He was still the Heero she knew, dressed in his tight blue jeans and green tanktop, wearing a loose jean jacket over the outfit. Still the same deep blue eyes, the same musstled hair. Still the same perfect assassin who refused to show his true feelings for her. She didn't care, she was just happy to finally have him back.
"So what brings you here? Where have you been staying? What have you been doing for the last year?" Relena contiuned her questions as she walked back over to her desk to pack up her things. Paper work could wait, she wanted to spend the rest of the day with him, learning about all that had happened and where he'd gone. The world would understand if she took one day off, lord knows she needed the vacation from the unrelentless flow of mundane paper work.
"Relena."
Relena paused for a second, surprised and happy to hear him say her name. She didn't turn to face him, her back to him, but just stood there silently, letting the sound of his soft voice echo in her head. But then she heard a strange click from his direction.
In a single second her body froze and the papers dropped from her hands, spreading out across the desk and the floor. Relena spun around and gasped, her body trembling. Heero stood completely still in the middle of the room, his left arm raised and his left hand clutching a gun. A gun that was aimed at her.
"H-Heero... why?" Why was he aiming a gun at her? Why? She didn't understand any of this. "Why? What's going on? Heero?!"
His cold gaze didn't waver, not one bit. Strangely, though, the edge of his mouth lifted slightly into a smirk and then the shot rang out, filling the room with its deafening shock. The bullett flew through the air and caught Relena in the shoulder, throwing her back against the desk. She gave a small cry as her back slammed into the desk then she crumbled forward to the ground, completely silent.
Heero hid the gun back under his jean jacket and moved quickly over to her body. Kneeling down he checked her pulse and gave a small nod. Seeming satisfied he stood back up and headed for the door. And he walked right out of the office, no one to stop him. He'd taken care of all the guards on the way in, and the secretary was asleep next to the door thanks to a well placed punch before he'd entered Relena's office. He exited the office without incident and disappeared with Wing Zero into the sky.
**
Trowa stepped into the cockpit of the shuttle and walked over to where Quatre sat piloting. Duo and Chance were in the back preparing the supplies. Trowa watched the display of stars for a second, his face completely blank, Quatre glanced up at him briefly.
"You don't trust her, do you?"
Trowa shook his head. "Duo was right, this is all too convenient."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Still, despite the fact that we don't know who's side she is on I feel better about her being with us on this 'mission' then leaving her back on L4. I'd rather have her with us where we can watch her."
"Even if she leads us into a trap?"
"That's a chance we'll have to take. We don't have the luxury of being able to read her mind or discover if she has different motives. For the moment we'll have to trust what we know and go with that. I hate not knowing but it can't be helped right now. We'll have to do the best with what we know."
Trowa only nodded his agreement as Duo and Chance entered the room. Neither showed any signs of having heard the previous conversation. Duo walked over and dropped into an empty chair next to Quatre.
"How long 'til we get there?" He asked, leaning back and shutting his eyes.
"About another hour," Quatre responded.
"And Wufei?" Trowa asked.
Quatre shook his head. "I sent several messages to the terraforming headquaters but no one has responded yet. It doesn't look like we'll be seeing him this time, we'll have to make due on our own."
"Fine by me," said Duo without opening his eyes. "I'm still not so sure about him from before(3). I know he was on our side in the end but... the less we have in the group here the faster we can get in undetected."
Quatre and Trowa nodded at that, still Quatre wasn't so sure. He glanced back at Chance who was leaning against the back wall silently. He wanted to trust her, it was perfectly possible she had nothing to do with this. Still, there were too many conincidences already. The only thing he knew for sure was that if she was leading them into a trap they would know soon enough. They just had to wait and watch out.
End of Episode 2
Episode 3: The three pilots and Chance arrive at the station and almost immediatly meet up with Heero. In the confusion they are forced to flee, leaving one of their ranks behind to fend for himself as the entire station hunts him down.
Notes:
(1) The OZ and Marimeia wars, yeah I know they most likly have more offical names but she is a teenager and teenagers who live through things tend to give them their own names.
(2) In Endless Waltz Relena declared she was no longer a Peacecraft and had gone back to being a Dorian. In the movie she also stopped being a complete pacifist, so I am saying she stayed with the name Dorian in light of that fact.
(3) For all who don't remember Wufei fought on Marimeia's side in Endless waltz and then in the end switched back to being a 'good guy'. However he didn't speak with the other pilots, I'd imagine they wouldn't jump straight to trusting him again after that.
Episode 2: The Perfect Solider Returns
"Wing Zero?! No way!"
All Duo and Trowa could do was stare. It was Wing Zero, neither doubted that, but what was Heero doing there? And why was he helping those girls? But more importantly, Trowa wondered, what had they stolen?
"W-was that what I thought it was?" Chance whispered.
Duo frowned. "It was Wing Zero all right. K'so! I hate it when Heero pulls stuff like this and doesn't tell us, I thought he'd grown out of this habit when the war had passed."
"In either case we need to find out what they stole, and what happened to Quatre."
"Quatre? What do you mean? By the way, where is he?"
Trowa cast a worried look toward the house. "I tried to wake him when the alarm went off but he didn't respond."
"Oh man, and just when I was starting to get used to a normal life, all of this has to blow up in our faces. Tell me something, Trowa, why us?" Duo shook his head sadly.
Trowa didn't answer.
**
Quatre's eyes slowly opened, barely. The room around him was hazy and he could hear voices but couldn't understand what they were saying. Something dark moved in front of his face and suddenly a sharp smell shot up his nose. Quatre sat up quickly and coughed, his eyes shooting open. The haziness disappeared in a flash as he coughed, trying to get the strong smell out of his system. About a minute later the coughing subsided and he wiped the dampness from his eyes. He blinked and glanced around the room.
Trowa and Duo stood near his bed while Chance stood off near the door, glancing back into the hallway every so often as if she were watching guard. Trowa held a jar of very strong smelling salts.
"What happened?" Quatre coughed out, still trying to shake off the leftovers of the hazy feeling.
"You were drugged." Trowa held up a small piece of plastic which held a light silverish residue.
"And while you were catching up on your beauty sleep a few of your guests hacked into your computer system. It took me a while, but it seems they were looking for information on us. Us and the gundams."
Quatre rubbed his head and leaned back against the wall, lightly sipping the glass of water Trowa offered him. "Did they get the info they were looking for?"
"Without a doubt." Trowa muttered.
Quatre set the glass down. "What else? There's something else you aren't telling me. What else happened?"
Neither Trowa nor Duo answered, Quatre directed his gaze toward Chance, but she didn't offer him any information. He looked back to Duo.
"Duo..."
"Wing Zero helpped them escape," Trowa said softly.
"What?! But that doesn't make any sense. If they have Heero on their side why would they need to steal information on us? They could just get it from him right?"
Trowa nodded and fixed his gaze on Chance, she met his gaze evenly, but they could see her waver slightly. "They're your friends."
"What are you suggesting?" Chance frowned. "Oh, never mind, I see. They are my friends so I should know what's going on right?" She sighed. "I wish I knew, but I'm more confused then you guys are. Who you call my friends are just three girls I met at the orphanage, and we've talked a few times."
Trowa mused over this. "What exactly happen before you were kidnapped?"
Chance shrugged. "You heard about the problems on earth with war orphans right? Well, there are problems everywhere with war orphans. As far as I know they figured they'd send us all to one colony where we could all be together, least I think that's what the bigwigs were planning, they don't usually tell us everything. The ship I was on met up with theirs and we ended up on the same transport.
"I usually stick to myself and close friends so I didn't talk to them much. All I really know is that the blond is named Sky, the black haired one is Reese and the darker one is Jare. I know their names and that they are closly knit together, but other than that I couldn't tell you much."
"Hm, the other kids didn't seem to reconize those three either, they were the only ones from their colony on that ship weren't they? I smell a set up. Someone planned this, and they used the Preventers to get to us." Duo's grin was gone, this was serious!
Quatre shook his head. "But how did they know Sally would call you and ask to use your ship? Planning can only go so far. That's too much of a conincidence."
"Maybe, maybe not." Duo crossed the room and picked up Quatre's phone.
"Who are you calling?"
"Sally, I want to know if they found that ship yet. Cause if they did it has my name written on it. I'm going to teach them not to mess around with Duo Maxwell."
Quatre turned his attension to Trowa who was standing up and heading for the door. "You going to be ok?" Trowa asked softly, Quatre nodded. "Then I'm going to check on the other kids, see what else I can find out." And he left.
Chance cocked her head and looked at Quatre silently. "I thought I reconised you and your friends from somewhere. And that thing that landed in your front yard confirms it. You're the gundam pilots aren't you?"
Quatre nodded. "Yeah, we were. But the gundams were destroyed when the war ended. Least ours were, but it appears Heero kept his." Quatre frowned at this thought. "I guess we were hoping that such weapons wouldn't be needed anymore."
"It IS a nice thought. But apparently peace makes humans restless."
"Yeah."
Duo walked back over after hanging up the phone. "She says they found the ship, it docked a few hours ago at a research satillite to get fuel and repairs. Sally says they expect them to be there for a while and then head off toward their destination, if we hurry we can catch them before then."
Quatre nodded. "Lets go then."
Duo headed for the door, Chance grabbed his arm. "I'm coming with."
"No, this is too dangerous." Quatre tied the belt on his robe as he spoke. "We're trained for this thing, you aren't."
Before Chance could protest Duo pulled her out of the room and shut the door to give Quatre some privacy. She frowned, her purple eyes burned with anger and determination. "I'm coming with you," she repeated.
"You heard what he said, and I agree. This is our business."
"I know that. But it's my business too, those orphans out there are the children I grew up with. We're all left overs from the OZ and Marimeia wars(1). People may not completely remember what happened those years ago but we do, and I am not about to let my friends be used to start or fuel what could turn into yet another war! And if that means me stealing a ship and going after those three myself I'll do it. The wars have ended and I am personally going to make sure it stays that way, with or without the help of you and your friends." Chance crossed her arms to make her point.
Duo couldn't help but smile, in fact he chuckled softly.
"What?"
"Oh nothing, it's just that you remind me a lot of a younger me."
"You?" Chance's eyes widened. "It never ocurred to me that-"
"Yep, some of us gundam pilots are war orphans too, which may be why we fought so hard back then. Either way, if you're anything like me I know you're not making an idle threat to go out there on your own. so I guess we'll just have to take you along for the ride."
Chance smiled. "Thank you for understanding."
"No problem, just don't make us regret it ok? Messing up could start another war."
"That, Duo, is the last thing I want."
**
"Ms. Dorian(2)."
Relena Dorian looked up as her secretary poked her head in the room. "Yes, Rebecca?"
"There's a young man here to see you."
Relena set down her pen. "Show him in."
The secretary nodded and stepped back, opening the door. Relena drew in a sharp breath as a familiar form walked into view. She couldn't believe it, after a year of no word and suddenly he was standing here in her office?
"Heero?"
Heero Yuy stepped into the room silently, glancing only briefly at Relena then turning back to watch the secretary with sharp eyes as she shut the door behind him. He turned back and met eyes with her, but said nothing.
"Heero? Is it really you? Where have you been?" She stood up and walked over, embracing the silent boy tightly. "You left without a word after what happened with the Barton foundation. Why didn't you tell us where you went? Why didn't you tell me?"
Heero shrugged and gently pulled out of her embrace. She smiled to her self and took the hint, taking a step back. He hadn't changed one bit. He was still the Heero she knew, dressed in his tight blue jeans and green tanktop, wearing a loose jean jacket over the outfit. Still the same deep blue eyes, the same musstled hair. Still the same perfect assassin who refused to show his true feelings for her. She didn't care, she was just happy to finally have him back.
"So what brings you here? Where have you been staying? What have you been doing for the last year?" Relena contiuned her questions as she walked back over to her desk to pack up her things. Paper work could wait, she wanted to spend the rest of the day with him, learning about all that had happened and where he'd gone. The world would understand if she took one day off, lord knows she needed the vacation from the unrelentless flow of mundane paper work.
"Relena."
Relena paused for a second, surprised and happy to hear him say her name. She didn't turn to face him, her back to him, but just stood there silently, letting the sound of his soft voice echo in her head. But then she heard a strange click from his direction.
In a single second her body froze and the papers dropped from her hands, spreading out across the desk and the floor. Relena spun around and gasped, her body trembling. Heero stood completely still in the middle of the room, his left arm raised and his left hand clutching a gun. A gun that was aimed at her.
"H-Heero... why?" Why was he aiming a gun at her? Why? She didn't understand any of this. "Why? What's going on? Heero?!"
His cold gaze didn't waver, not one bit. Strangely, though, the edge of his mouth lifted slightly into a smirk and then the shot rang out, filling the room with its deafening shock. The bullett flew through the air and caught Relena in the shoulder, throwing her back against the desk. She gave a small cry as her back slammed into the desk then she crumbled forward to the ground, completely silent.
Heero hid the gun back under his jean jacket and moved quickly over to her body. Kneeling down he checked her pulse and gave a small nod. Seeming satisfied he stood back up and headed for the door. And he walked right out of the office, no one to stop him. He'd taken care of all the guards on the way in, and the secretary was asleep next to the door thanks to a well placed punch before he'd entered Relena's office. He exited the office without incident and disappeared with Wing Zero into the sky.
**
Trowa stepped into the cockpit of the shuttle and walked over to where Quatre sat piloting. Duo and Chance were in the back preparing the supplies. Trowa watched the display of stars for a second, his face completely blank, Quatre glanced up at him briefly.
"You don't trust her, do you?"
Trowa shook his head. "Duo was right, this is all too convenient."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Still, despite the fact that we don't know who's side she is on I feel better about her being with us on this 'mission' then leaving her back on L4. I'd rather have her with us where we can watch her."
"Even if she leads us into a trap?"
"That's a chance we'll have to take. We don't have the luxury of being able to read her mind or discover if she has different motives. For the moment we'll have to trust what we know and go with that. I hate not knowing but it can't be helped right now. We'll have to do the best with what we know."
Trowa only nodded his agreement as Duo and Chance entered the room. Neither showed any signs of having heard the previous conversation. Duo walked over and dropped into an empty chair next to Quatre.
"How long 'til we get there?" He asked, leaning back and shutting his eyes.
"About another hour," Quatre responded.
"And Wufei?" Trowa asked.
Quatre shook his head. "I sent several messages to the terraforming headquaters but no one has responded yet. It doesn't look like we'll be seeing him this time, we'll have to make due on our own."
"Fine by me," said Duo without opening his eyes. "I'm still not so sure about him from before(3). I know he was on our side in the end but... the less we have in the group here the faster we can get in undetected."
Quatre and Trowa nodded at that, still Quatre wasn't so sure. He glanced back at Chance who was leaning against the back wall silently. He wanted to trust her, it was perfectly possible she had nothing to do with this. Still, there were too many conincidences already. The only thing he knew for sure was that if she was leading them into a trap they would know soon enough. They just had to wait and watch out.
End of Episode 2
Episode 3: The three pilots and Chance arrive at the station and almost immediatly meet up with Heero. In the confusion they are forced to flee, leaving one of their ranks behind to fend for himself as the entire station hunts him down.
Notes:
(1) The OZ and Marimeia wars, yeah I know they most likly have more offical names but she is a teenager and teenagers who live through things tend to give them their own names.
(2) In Endless Waltz Relena declared she was no longer a Peacecraft and had gone back to being a Dorian. In the movie she also stopped being a complete pacifist, so I am saying she stayed with the name Dorian in light of that fact.
(3) For all who don't remember Wufei fought on Marimeia's side in Endless waltz and then in the end switched back to being a 'good guy'. However he didn't speak with the other pilots, I'd imagine they wouldn't jump straight to trusting him again after that.