After a restless night of sleep, Heero awoke to the buzzing of Duo's annoying alarm clock from upstairs. It was five-thirty a.m. on a Monday morning, and on this particular morning the beep buzz cockadoodle-doo of Duo's picture-frame alarm clock wasn't the most welcomed sound to either himself nor Duo.
Rolling over once and putting a pillow over his head, he groaned. He wondered if Relena was up yet. Duo was probably doggedly pat-patting his hand around, looking for the button to turn the damn thing off and leave him in peace, which was a futile attempt since he stubbornly kept his eyes shut tight. When there was a big crash, he didn't really wonder and just took it for granted that Duo had thrown the thing on the ground though the beeping continued. But he hadn't.
"Will you please turn the ******* thing off?!?!" Relena screamed in what must be confessed as a very pissed and sleepy tone, banging her door to punctuate her statement. Heero listened intently, waiting to see what would happen. The alarm clock died promptly and a feeble and anything but sleepy voice muttered a brief sorry and there was another bang of her door. He was certainly awake now, and for the first time had heard a harsh side of Relena Peacecraft. If she needed to be, she could be cold, mean, harsh, and downright dirty. He grinned inside. She was perfect.
"Did you three have a good rest?" Dr. Jei inquired, looking over his three "students" with a little less than pride. Relena's hair was rather messy, and Duo's was in a state of "too long to do anything with it at the moment...I have rat nests all over!" and Heero was well, in his normal mood and normal expressionless way. [at least, on the outside]
"No, I did not," Relena said shortly, glaring at Duo who sort of minced behind Heero where he was out of the line of the glare. Heero glanced behind him and scooted to the side in one step, leaving Duo exposed to the line of vision once again. Duo just cringed where he was and waited for Dr. Jei to continue.
"No doubt it was a difficult transition," he remarked, rubbing his chin. "I have the new recruit to join you. She will be here within the hour. She hasn't been fully trained yet, however, and it will be up to you to train her to the best of her ability. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir," Heero answered, finishing tucking in his shirt. His hair was fine, though it took a lot of water and gel to get it straight. His belt was still dangling from his arm, and the shirt was a little crumpled, but he was in better shape than the other two. After the morning fiasco with the alarm clock, they also had coffee problems and some burning of toast that morning, not to mention bathroom hogging and a bit of rough-housing to get the ironing board to iron their uniforms. Then came the fight about cleaning up...that morning was just terrible.
Duo was curious, however, as to who this other recruit was. "Who is she? Do we know her at all?" he inquired, trying to undo a knot in one section of his extremely long hair.
"Oh, you know her. Although Relena will not get along too well with her, everything should go along just fine, I believe," Dr. Jei replied, digging into his pocket. "I do not remember her full name at the moment, but we call her Rinna. She is very close friends with Trowa and she has been made a backup for him since the beginning. Hilde and Noin were also backups, which is why when they saw both Heero and Duo would make it, they let go. They needed not to complete the track for their task was completed. But Quatre, however, is a great loss. We do not have a backup, but Duo shall do efficiently with the Candonite until the Opular is completed. It will prove to be difficult to find a match for Quatre." He paused, pulling out a little i.d. card featuring "Rinna".
The three gasped. It was Catherine! Catherine Bloom, from Trowa's circus; his older sister!
"Does he know about this?" Heero asked, a trifle upset that such a decision had been made for the two. Trowa would not be pleased with such a great change, especially becuase he would worry within his heart, deep inside.
Dr. Jei scoffed. "If we didn't tell him, do you think she would be able to come?" he asked sarcastically, peering at Heero. "Do you really think so, Heero Yuy?" He didn't expect an answer, so Heero did not bother to say what he thought. "She is not a perfect match; in fact she is quite different from Trowa, as you all know. But they were closer than anybody else and fact is, she has good aim. She will be an important asset on missions; she is also intelligent, as with the rest of you."
Duo looked off to the side. "So she'll be here within the hour. She will pilot the Retekar Wasiezl, correct? I know she doesn't know much about the piloting itself, but does she know the stats and features yet? And the main idea of these missions?"
Heero seconded the question. Relena just listened; after all, she was not best friends with this Catherine Bloom. She hardly even knew her, though she met her once at a little dinner party and was not impressed by her personality nor her type.
Dr. Jei had the answer to the ridiculously trivial question. "No, she does not know, for if she did, the New Alliance would have been in grave danger. And anyway, none of you are compatible to help her with such. You should know that a pilot learns and feels the Gundam; it is natural and cannot be taught. Now be off to practice! You must teach her the additional stats and features that all of them boast, which means you'll also have to learn them before you can teach them. I give full responsibility for her success to you." He shooed them off, gesturing with his hands towards the unlocked Gerdams.
"This is confusing," Duo complained, pushing first one button, then another, all the while reading an instruction manual and trying to listen to what Heero was explaining to do.
"Now you pull the lever...no! Not that one! The one to your left!" Heero quickly corrected Duo in the process of getting some auto-pilot compliance help system up for Catherine. [ACHS]
Relena was sitting on the double-cylix that was swung out in front of the Arabesque to form a seat, watching from above while the two young men fiddled with the controls. She sighed inwardly, contemplating what her future held. She didn't know what to think. She was friends with Hilde, and she had known Noin almost all her life. Trowa and Quatre were always with Heero, and same went for Duo so she was used to them. But Catherine, well, she didn't know. As Dr. Jei had said, she wasn't so sure she'd get along too well with her. Though it wasn't like they were complete enemies or someone she completely couldn't stand, she just didn't know if she could indeed become friends with her. But she'd have to, at least, for Heero and for the sake of the world.
"Relena! Come here and hold this lever, would you?" Duo called, waving a wrench to catch her attention. Heero was still absorbed in the instruction manual, but he looked up and waved when Relena called down that she would be there in a minute.
She looked around. "What do you want me to hold?" she asked, staring at the rows and rows of tiny little switches, buttons, touchpads, keys, and tiny levers.
Heero spoke aloud. "To operate the twin blaster, hold down lever T1 and the G-46 button at once, then pull the trigger on operation keypad 2." Relena glanced at the panel and threw her hands up, looking at Heero with a bashful yet disdainful expression.
"And in English, what does that mean?" she inquired haughtily, her eyes questioning.
Duo's eyebrows shot up at her impertinence and glanced at Heero. Heero's face was like a perfect mask. His eyes flashed for a moment, then dimmed out and grew softer, to Duo's extreme surprise. He looked quickly back at the panel when Heero turned.
"I guess it is confusing," Heero said thoughtfully, rereading the manual. "Well, hold this down, and Duo, hit the G-46 and pull keypad 2 trigger at the same time. Got it?"
Duo gave a thumbs up sign, and Relena put her hand near the lever, positioned for the instruction "go". Heero waited a few seconds before saying "go" so they would be in perfect synchronization for a one-time-and-first-time deal.
"Go." It was lacking in its entirety of enthusiasm, though the operation proved successful as a mobile doll got blasted to bits. The aim had been Heero's part, and he played it perfectly.
"Awesome!" Duo commented, viewing the stats and ranking of the hit. "Direction, 100%, timing, 100%, strength, 2G, therma, above normal, power, full power! That was fantastic!" He grinned widely, then looked at the other two.
Relena sighed and turned away. Duo didn't know her real well, but he knew people. He knew when to and when not to meddle. So he left her alone. Heero had gone back to reading the instructions and he also had that look of "don't mess with me". There was really nothing for Duo to do while Heero learned the figures to attempt the next attack, so he went through the computer system.
The pilot stats were listed within the operating system of the Retekar. Catherine's was pretty much blank except for her name and Trowa's additional stats. There was one empty slot, however, which was probably meant for Quatre. Duo, finding nothing new nor interesting in the stats, continued to fiddle through the computer's hardware systems. He found that the Retekar had a very different operating system than Wing Zero but had even greater effects, though it wore off much quicker than Wing Zero's.
Heero glanced up, but Duo did not notice. He was completely absorbed in the material he was reading. Heero looked at the screen, wondering what it was. When he read the first few lines, he continued to read it. This information would determine whether a small mistake or change in a pilot's emotion would fix itself or become a drastic problem. The Opular and Candonite systems were also different, according to the computer. Those would have to be re-evaluated, also. It ran on the basic lines of the personality and fighting tactics of each pilot, and also the emotional stress and adrenaline rush one got during battle.
Forty minutes later, a slender young woman with shoulder-length, curly brown hair and icy blue eyes that were warm and friendly walked in with Dr. Jay. She was wearing long black boots, a gray tweed skirt [that I might mention was rather short] with a black belt, and a white, knitted angora long-sleeved tee. She carried a small duffel bag and a garment bag that no doubt held her uniforms. She was chatting with Dr. Jei, and she laughed. It was a nice laugh, not hard and cold or harsh. It was almost musical.
She looked ahead and saw Duo waving. "Oh hello, Duo! And Heero!" she called, cupping her hands in front of her face. I mean, they were pretty high up. Then Relena turned, a look of confusiong flitting across her face. Catherine saw her and waved up at her. She did not wave back but she smiled a very small smile. Catherine was taken aback a little, but giggled and shifted her grip on her bags. "Nice to meet you again!"
Heero nodded reply. Relena grimaced inside, jealousy burning for not particular reason. Or at least, that was what went through her mind. She did not know the real reason.
That night at dinner, Catherine had settled into the condo complex and was actually the one who cooked the meal. [although Duo had wanted to...] The chattered normal dinner conversation like old friends. [which they actually were...]
"How is Trowa doing? What has he been doing?" was a popular question that night. Catherine hadn't seen him lately, actually, because he was sent off in recruit for training to be in the New Alliance board. That caused some major gaspings and shocked surprise within the walls of their cozy little "home", as you can imagine.
Catherine suddenly looked up from her chicken. "What do you call this place?" she inquired curiously, cutting her meat neatly.
Duo shrugged his shoulders and looked at the other two. "We haven't really thought about that much. I suppose we'll have to make one up for it."
Relena commented that it reminded her of something. "I have this odd feeling of deja vu, but I can't place where it could have been that I visited. The main atrium was so familiar, yet it was strange to me."
Heero did not comment, pushing some peas to the side of the plate. Catherine had made a Western-style dinner, and peas were just not on his menu for the night.
"I have that same feeling, Relena," Catherine said, looking at her with an understanding. Relena did not believe her, or rather, she did not want to believe her. She scooped at her mashed potatoes with force, splattering a few specks of gravy on the crisp cloth napkin settled neatly on her lap.
Catherine looked down again, feeling that strange feeling that you're not welcomed. Heero restrained from glaring at Relena. She had never been like this before, and he wasn't sure he liked working with someone that could do this. But what did it matter to him? Why did he keep thinking about Relena, Relena, Relena! Could he never shake her from his thoughts?
Heero now knew his destiny was complete. It was his fate to kill her, and he must. Relena would just have to die.....for him. He did not look up when Relena asked him a question, but told her teams work best when they are teams. It stung badly, and Relena smarted with hurt and beginnings of anger for a long, long time thereonafter.
Rolling over once and putting a pillow over his head, he groaned. He wondered if Relena was up yet. Duo was probably doggedly pat-patting his hand around, looking for the button to turn the damn thing off and leave him in peace, which was a futile attempt since he stubbornly kept his eyes shut tight. When there was a big crash, he didn't really wonder and just took it for granted that Duo had thrown the thing on the ground though the beeping continued. But he hadn't.
"Will you please turn the ******* thing off?!?!" Relena screamed in what must be confessed as a very pissed and sleepy tone, banging her door to punctuate her statement. Heero listened intently, waiting to see what would happen. The alarm clock died promptly and a feeble and anything but sleepy voice muttered a brief sorry and there was another bang of her door. He was certainly awake now, and for the first time had heard a harsh side of Relena Peacecraft. If she needed to be, she could be cold, mean, harsh, and downright dirty. He grinned inside. She was perfect.
"Did you three have a good rest?" Dr. Jei inquired, looking over his three "students" with a little less than pride. Relena's hair was rather messy, and Duo's was in a state of "too long to do anything with it at the moment...I have rat nests all over!" and Heero was well, in his normal mood and normal expressionless way. [at least, on the outside]
"No, I did not," Relena said shortly, glaring at Duo who sort of minced behind Heero where he was out of the line of the glare. Heero glanced behind him and scooted to the side in one step, leaving Duo exposed to the line of vision once again. Duo just cringed where he was and waited for Dr. Jei to continue.
"No doubt it was a difficult transition," he remarked, rubbing his chin. "I have the new recruit to join you. She will be here within the hour. She hasn't been fully trained yet, however, and it will be up to you to train her to the best of her ability. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir," Heero answered, finishing tucking in his shirt. His hair was fine, though it took a lot of water and gel to get it straight. His belt was still dangling from his arm, and the shirt was a little crumpled, but he was in better shape than the other two. After the morning fiasco with the alarm clock, they also had coffee problems and some burning of toast that morning, not to mention bathroom hogging and a bit of rough-housing to get the ironing board to iron their uniforms. Then came the fight about cleaning up...that morning was just terrible.
Duo was curious, however, as to who this other recruit was. "Who is she? Do we know her at all?" he inquired, trying to undo a knot in one section of his extremely long hair.
"Oh, you know her. Although Relena will not get along too well with her, everything should go along just fine, I believe," Dr. Jei replied, digging into his pocket. "I do not remember her full name at the moment, but we call her Rinna. She is very close friends with Trowa and she has been made a backup for him since the beginning. Hilde and Noin were also backups, which is why when they saw both Heero and Duo would make it, they let go. They needed not to complete the track for their task was completed. But Quatre, however, is a great loss. We do not have a backup, but Duo shall do efficiently with the Candonite until the Opular is completed. It will prove to be difficult to find a match for Quatre." He paused, pulling out a little i.d. card featuring "Rinna".
The three gasped. It was Catherine! Catherine Bloom, from Trowa's circus; his older sister!
"Does he know about this?" Heero asked, a trifle upset that such a decision had been made for the two. Trowa would not be pleased with such a great change, especially becuase he would worry within his heart, deep inside.
Dr. Jei scoffed. "If we didn't tell him, do you think she would be able to come?" he asked sarcastically, peering at Heero. "Do you really think so, Heero Yuy?" He didn't expect an answer, so Heero did not bother to say what he thought. "She is not a perfect match; in fact she is quite different from Trowa, as you all know. But they were closer than anybody else and fact is, she has good aim. She will be an important asset on missions; she is also intelligent, as with the rest of you."
Duo looked off to the side. "So she'll be here within the hour. She will pilot the Retekar Wasiezl, correct? I know she doesn't know much about the piloting itself, but does she know the stats and features yet? And the main idea of these missions?"
Heero seconded the question. Relena just listened; after all, she was not best friends with this Catherine Bloom. She hardly even knew her, though she met her once at a little dinner party and was not impressed by her personality nor her type.
Dr. Jei had the answer to the ridiculously trivial question. "No, she does not know, for if she did, the New Alliance would have been in grave danger. And anyway, none of you are compatible to help her with such. You should know that a pilot learns and feels the Gundam; it is natural and cannot be taught. Now be off to practice! You must teach her the additional stats and features that all of them boast, which means you'll also have to learn them before you can teach them. I give full responsibility for her success to you." He shooed them off, gesturing with his hands towards the unlocked Gerdams.
"This is confusing," Duo complained, pushing first one button, then another, all the while reading an instruction manual and trying to listen to what Heero was explaining to do.
"Now you pull the lever...no! Not that one! The one to your left!" Heero quickly corrected Duo in the process of getting some auto-pilot compliance help system up for Catherine. [ACHS]
Relena was sitting on the double-cylix that was swung out in front of the Arabesque to form a seat, watching from above while the two young men fiddled with the controls. She sighed inwardly, contemplating what her future held. She didn't know what to think. She was friends with Hilde, and she had known Noin almost all her life. Trowa and Quatre were always with Heero, and same went for Duo so she was used to them. But Catherine, well, she didn't know. As Dr. Jei had said, she wasn't so sure she'd get along too well with her. Though it wasn't like they were complete enemies or someone she completely couldn't stand, she just didn't know if she could indeed become friends with her. But she'd have to, at least, for Heero and for the sake of the world.
"Relena! Come here and hold this lever, would you?" Duo called, waving a wrench to catch her attention. Heero was still absorbed in the instruction manual, but he looked up and waved when Relena called down that she would be there in a minute.
She looked around. "What do you want me to hold?" she asked, staring at the rows and rows of tiny little switches, buttons, touchpads, keys, and tiny levers.
Heero spoke aloud. "To operate the twin blaster, hold down lever T1 and the G-46 button at once, then pull the trigger on operation keypad 2." Relena glanced at the panel and threw her hands up, looking at Heero with a bashful yet disdainful expression.
"And in English, what does that mean?" she inquired haughtily, her eyes questioning.
Duo's eyebrows shot up at her impertinence and glanced at Heero. Heero's face was like a perfect mask. His eyes flashed for a moment, then dimmed out and grew softer, to Duo's extreme surprise. He looked quickly back at the panel when Heero turned.
"I guess it is confusing," Heero said thoughtfully, rereading the manual. "Well, hold this down, and Duo, hit the G-46 and pull keypad 2 trigger at the same time. Got it?"
Duo gave a thumbs up sign, and Relena put her hand near the lever, positioned for the instruction "go". Heero waited a few seconds before saying "go" so they would be in perfect synchronization for a one-time-and-first-time deal.
"Go." It was lacking in its entirety of enthusiasm, though the operation proved successful as a mobile doll got blasted to bits. The aim had been Heero's part, and he played it perfectly.
"Awesome!" Duo commented, viewing the stats and ranking of the hit. "Direction, 100%, timing, 100%, strength, 2G, therma, above normal, power, full power! That was fantastic!" He grinned widely, then looked at the other two.
Relena sighed and turned away. Duo didn't know her real well, but he knew people. He knew when to and when not to meddle. So he left her alone. Heero had gone back to reading the instructions and he also had that look of "don't mess with me". There was really nothing for Duo to do while Heero learned the figures to attempt the next attack, so he went through the computer system.
The pilot stats were listed within the operating system of the Retekar. Catherine's was pretty much blank except for her name and Trowa's additional stats. There was one empty slot, however, which was probably meant for Quatre. Duo, finding nothing new nor interesting in the stats, continued to fiddle through the computer's hardware systems. He found that the Retekar had a very different operating system than Wing Zero but had even greater effects, though it wore off much quicker than Wing Zero's.
Heero glanced up, but Duo did not notice. He was completely absorbed in the material he was reading. Heero looked at the screen, wondering what it was. When he read the first few lines, he continued to read it. This information would determine whether a small mistake or change in a pilot's emotion would fix itself or become a drastic problem. The Opular and Candonite systems were also different, according to the computer. Those would have to be re-evaluated, also. It ran on the basic lines of the personality and fighting tactics of each pilot, and also the emotional stress and adrenaline rush one got during battle.
Forty minutes later, a slender young woman with shoulder-length, curly brown hair and icy blue eyes that were warm and friendly walked in with Dr. Jay. She was wearing long black boots, a gray tweed skirt [that I might mention was rather short] with a black belt, and a white, knitted angora long-sleeved tee. She carried a small duffel bag and a garment bag that no doubt held her uniforms. She was chatting with Dr. Jei, and she laughed. It was a nice laugh, not hard and cold or harsh. It was almost musical.
She looked ahead and saw Duo waving. "Oh hello, Duo! And Heero!" she called, cupping her hands in front of her face. I mean, they were pretty high up. Then Relena turned, a look of confusiong flitting across her face. Catherine saw her and waved up at her. She did not wave back but she smiled a very small smile. Catherine was taken aback a little, but giggled and shifted her grip on her bags. "Nice to meet you again!"
Heero nodded reply. Relena grimaced inside, jealousy burning for not particular reason. Or at least, that was what went through her mind. She did not know the real reason.
That night at dinner, Catherine had settled into the condo complex and was actually the one who cooked the meal. [although Duo had wanted to...] The chattered normal dinner conversation like old friends. [which they actually were...]
"How is Trowa doing? What has he been doing?" was a popular question that night. Catherine hadn't seen him lately, actually, because he was sent off in recruit for training to be in the New Alliance board. That caused some major gaspings and shocked surprise within the walls of their cozy little "home", as you can imagine.
Catherine suddenly looked up from her chicken. "What do you call this place?" she inquired curiously, cutting her meat neatly.
Duo shrugged his shoulders and looked at the other two. "We haven't really thought about that much. I suppose we'll have to make one up for it."
Relena commented that it reminded her of something. "I have this odd feeling of deja vu, but I can't place where it could have been that I visited. The main atrium was so familiar, yet it was strange to me."
Heero did not comment, pushing some peas to the side of the plate. Catherine had made a Western-style dinner, and peas were just not on his menu for the night.
"I have that same feeling, Relena," Catherine said, looking at her with an understanding. Relena did not believe her, or rather, she did not want to believe her. She scooped at her mashed potatoes with force, splattering a few specks of gravy on the crisp cloth napkin settled neatly on her lap.
Catherine looked down again, feeling that strange feeling that you're not welcomed. Heero restrained from glaring at Relena. She had never been like this before, and he wasn't sure he liked working with someone that could do this. But what did it matter to him? Why did he keep thinking about Relena, Relena, Relena! Could he never shake her from his thoughts?
Heero now knew his destiny was complete. It was his fate to kill her, and he must. Relena would just have to die.....for him. He did not look up when Relena asked him a question, but told her teams work best when they are teams. It stung badly, and Relena smarted with hurt and beginnings of anger for a long, long time thereonafter.