The Beginning of the End, Part2
Keli found the ladder, and scaled it with ease. Duo and Kassy were right behind her. They were all on top of the DTC roof now. "Okay, you said it would be easy to get over to the gym. How does this look easy?" Duo demanded glancing across the roof to the gym. It was at least a fifty foot leap.
Keli grinned, "This is how," She pulled out a gun, and then pointed it at the gym roof. She fired, and a long metal cord shot out of it going over the side of the gym roof. They heard a clanking sound as the end of the rope hit something on the roof, and held.
Keli pulled on it, and it held. "Here goes. I'll send it back when I'm over there." she said as she held the barrel tightly and leapt off the ceiling. The wind rushed past her as she flew through the air, and crashed into the side of the gym wall.
"OWE!" she screamed out. She had hit her shoulder, the shoulder Kassy had shot. Her bad shoulder. She got a grip and began to pull herself up. Once she was at the top she tossed the end of the gun back to Kassy and Duo.
Once they were over, Keli began thinking of a plan, rubbing her shoulder absentmindedly. "What happened to your shoulder? You hit it that hard?" Duo asked.
"I have problems with this shoulder. It's the one Kassy shot." She thought that the words 'Kassy' and 'shot' might have been a little overemphasized. "It'll be okay."
He shrugged indifferently as Kassy stared at her, "Well, do you have anything else add before we continue with this mission?"
Keli sighed, walked over to the edge of the roof, and leapt off. She heard Kassy scream as she disappeared over the side. Keli landed on top of the ledge right above the window, and then looked back up. It was about a ten foot drop.
Kassy was still screaming, and Keli yelled up, "I didn't commit suicide you baka so shut up!"
"Huh?" Keli saw her face appear over the side, with Duo's next to her. Duo shrugged and jumped down, using the scythe to help him balance. Kassy came right after him.
"Geeze," Keli muttered after she had gotten down, "you think I'm that depressed?"
"Well, it didn't look like an innocent jump to me. God, you scared me."
Keli grinned, " It's what I do. Now shall we go in?" She grabbed onto the bottom of the ledge with both of her hands, and then leapt down, falling over the ledge, and swung forward to crash into the window feet-first. She let go, and swung down into the building.
It was another twenty-foot drop, and luckily no one was on the side she was falling on. Keli spun around, flipped, and landed just as Kassy and Duo swung down.
They could see that all of the students and teachers were on the other side of the stands, and they were all on the second floor. Everyone was quiet as the other two landed.
A voice boomed out. "The pilots of those suits out there, I presume?"
Keli nodded, "That's us all right. Now who the hell are you?"
She walked out over to the railing and glanced down. She could see him in the middle of the gym floor. The man was tall and built like an athlete, with bright red hair, and cold, ice blue eyes. He was holding a saber like hers, only larger.
He looked up and saw the girl gazing down at him, "Hmm, you look familiar, give me your name."
"Give me yours."
He smiled, "That I shall. My name is Shikaku Yami."
Keli grinned, "And my name is Akutenshi Keli. Now why are you here?"
He bowed, "You are familiar. And so is the other Gundam pilot; Duo Maxwell. I don't know about that other girl though."
Keli motioned for Kassy not to say anything. "No need for you to know. The only thing you need to know is that I don't pity my enemies. I'll kill you." She hadn't meant to borrow the expression.
He motioned to some soldiers standing by the doors at the floor, and they held up their guns, pointing them at the three. Keli shrugged, and backed up a few steps, just as more glass shattered, and four more people leapt into the room. Now Heero, John, Quatre, and Emily were standing on the second floor along with Keli, Kassy, and Duo.
Keli didn't bother to look back, and vaulted over the side, flipping around, and landing hard on her feet. Heero didn't wait or ask anything, he just leapt over, and landed next to her. Duo and John leapt down at the same time. Kassy looked a little scared, but she flung herself over the side, and landed more or less okay. Emily and Quatre ran for the stairs.
"Well, Yami," Duo stated, "we wanna know why you're here."
He smiled, "I'm here on a mission, just like you. Unfortunately, our motives are different. I'm here to eliminate anyone who has any type of chance to get in my way in the future. The six Gundams and the other five suits associated with them are the only threats I can see. That and Naiomi Akutenshi."
Keli glared at him, "What's she got to do with this?"
He stared at Keli, "Hmm, you don't look or act like her at all, but...Ah! I can see it now. Naiomi Akutenshi is your mother! I know where she is now, I can take you to her, if you want."
"Leave my mom out of this you jackass!"
Kassy's watch beeped. Keli heard her talking into it. `"Yes...they're all destroyed?... Good.... Do we need backup?... No, nothings happening right now, and the doors are all locked, so you won't be able to get in." She paused. "Naiomi Akutenshi is WHERE?"
Keli glanced back at Kassy, concerned, and Yami took the opportunity to lunge for her. Keli didn't see it until someone yelled out for her to move. She glanced back, and saw him almost at her.
He was too close for her to fight back, and he had his saber out as well. She shut her eyes tightly, and fell away from him as he swiped the saber into what would have been the middle of her body. Instantly her head felt lighter somehow as she landed on her hands and knees, then toppled all the way to the ground. He laughed insanely and swung the saber back around, but that time Duo stopped him with his scythe. The blade of the saber was being held only a few inches above Keli's head.
She rolled out of the way and leapt back up, while Duo was still holding him off. "You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fi-" She stopped short of finishing the sentence as the fans in the gym blew her hair around, which it never did, because her hair was too long and heavy. The small wind brought a piece over her shoulder, which it now wasn't even long enough to stay behind. She stared at it, disbelieving.
Keli grabbed the saber out of her pocket and lunged at Yami even before the saber was completely charged up. Duo barely made it out of the way as she swung the blade where he had been. Yami easily jumped away and laughed, "I seemed to have gotten you angry."
She didn't wait for him to stop talking, just leapt and swung again, not caring at all. She was beyond mad now. Yami had bought himself a one-way ticket to hell.
Keli swung again, and he ducked, but this time she hit a button on the saber's handle and another blade came out of the other end. She kept the swing going, and this time swung the other end down low. He managed to jump up and over it, but not fast enough to avoid it completely. The blade sliced the arm he was using to hold up his saber. It clattered to the ground.
He glanced down at the thick line of blood visible on his arm. A few drops landed on the floor. Keli's face was set with a frown. "I see you aren't so cocky now, huh Yami? I have the same weapon you do."
"I see something else as well. Frere is your stepfather. I worked with him in developing these sabers."
"Well, your own invention is going to kill you!" she practically screamed at him, lunging again. The girl was on overdrive. She bunched up the muscles in her legs and leapt above him, swinging the weapon down. He dodged as she landed, but couldn't dodge when she swung the saber back around and sliced his middle a few centimeters deep.
He held up his hand, which must have been the signal to fire, because all of the soldiers aimed and fired at the group in the middle of the gym. Keli didn't even bother to worry about it.
Immediately, Heero, John, Quatre, Emily, and Kassy all drew guns and started shooting. The soldiers' aim wasn't what it should have been, and the pilots' aim was better than on-target. Most of the soldiers fell after the first round of fire.
This time Quatre's watch beeped. Keli could hear him speaking. "Yes?.... You're unlocking the doors?... But Yami--I see.... Yes...." He smiled, "we'll keep her alive until then, no problem.... Actually, I think she's keeping herself alive just fine.... Over and out."
Yami began to look a little frightened at the moment. Keli grinned evilly, "I see you were full of yourself."
He pulled himself together and lunged again. She held up the saber, "What? You want more already?"
He growled and dodged as she swung low, trying to stay on balance. He tackled her, and the saber flew out of her hands. A few drops of blood got onto her jacket. She couldn't move.
Heero said something out loud to the others, but Keli couldn't hear it. Yami pulled his fist back and swung it hard at her face. She ducked the blow, and his fist made a small impression in the floor.
She slowly wedged her foot in between him and herself, and when she had better leverage, she threw him back, and he crashed against the wall. Before Keli could do anything else, Duo had the guy. His scythe was aimed at Yami's throat.
"Don't. Move."
Yami didn't flinch, and Keli got up off of the floor. her shoulder was hurting again, because of the way she had landed on the ground. She walked over to the other pilots. "Quatre, what did you say about Naiomi Akutenshi?"
"That she's here with some girl named Jenn Frere and a whole bunch of police. Trowa told me that they all hadn't been seen, because they're all above the clouds."
Keli didn't bother to say anything else, she just looked hopelessly down at the long ponytail of thick, dark brown hair, tied in the middle by a green ribbon. Kassy and Emily were looking at her funny.
"Keri-chan, are you gonna be okay?" Emily asked her.
"I didn't get hurt did I?"
"No," Kassy said, "but your hair. Umm, I thought you really liked it long, that's all."
Keli shrugged, trying to act like she didn't care. "It's just hair, Kassy-chan. It'll grow back. Unlike an arm, or something like that. So my mom's back in town?" she mumered, changing the subject.
"I guess putting the mental breakout in his place," Emily mumbled.
Keli stared at her, "What?"
She nodded slowly.
"Then how the HELL did he get his hands on that many soldiers?" Keli demanded.
"Apparently he was this big military leader that no one ever heard about during the war. He was turned in to a hospital after the war."
"NO FUCKING WAY!" She yelled out, looking over at the guy that was still staying away from Duo's scythe. She glanced up at the people who were still being held back by a few soldiers that were still alive.
Keli yelled up at the stragglers, "Give up now, you assholes! Your commander is goin' back to the nuthouse, and if you don't wanna join him, you better give up and let the innocents go!"
She was sure they didn't want the same fate as their leader, and was right. They all came marching down. Keli sighed and looked back up. Our cover is blown. Everyone knows who we are now. There is no way to avoid it. A few teachers began to take charge of the situation, and then organized the students so that they wouldn't get in the way.
Kassy took charge of the other two PL agents quickly. "John-kun, you go and make sure everyone gets out okay, and Emiry-chan, you go find a computer, and open the doors."
Keli looked up at Kassy. "Lemme do that. Since I did it once, I can do it again."
She nodded, and Keli walked out of the gym and into the lobby, trying to get to the main office as a whole herd of students went down the stairs. She took off her jacket and calmly threw it into the trash can, which basically made her unrecognizable to half the school.
She walked into the nearest office and accessed the computers there. It only took her a few minutes to get the doors unlocked that time. She hit the enter key after typing awhile, and heard the sounds of the doors opening, and a lot of yelling.
Keli got up and walked back into the gym, sort of eager to be back with the people she was most closely associated with. They were all still there, and Duo still had his scythe posed above Yami's throat.
"Once the gym's been cleared I'm sure a bunch of armed forces will be in here. What are we gonna tell 'em all?" Keli asked the group.
Heero walked over to her saber that was still lying on the ground and tossed it back to her. Keli opened it up and stood across from Duo, pointing the saber at his back.
Duo looked up, "I see you got a new look."
She stared at him and retorted coldly, "Do you mind shutting up?" He got quiet.
A few minutes later a bunch of police, military officials, and reporters burst into the gym, content in wanting to know what had happened. Yami was taken off of the pilots' hands without a word, and Duo and Keli closed their weapons.
"This is Channel Six news, reporting live, from a scene of devastation and turmoil."
Keli rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything. Only Duo and Kassy had seen it, and they tried not to laugh. They both knew her view of the news.
The lady spotted seven kids standing around in the gym and decided they were a good photo-op. Unfortunately she didn't know who they were. "I'm now standing here with seven students who had been held in this school gym for a few terrifying hours. Kids, how do you feel about this whole thing?"
Keli didn't say anything, she just reeled back her fist and punched the camera lens out so it would stop recording. "No comment."
The reporter stared at the girl with the bad haircut, appalled at the fact that she had just destroyed a thousand dollar camera. "What? You don't get it already? If you want to talk to people, go outside. There are things that need to cleared up in here." Keli told her coldly.
She glanced all of them up and down, and then asked, "Why do you need to get things cleared up?"
Keli's jaw dropped open, "You're dumber than a bag of shit, you know that?" She held up her communications unit, and let her get a good look at the label that read Peace Legacy. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to go talk to some of the soldiers about what happened here so I can clear myself and the other six."
She gasped in surprise, then held up a mini-recorder, "Any comment on this?"
Heero walked over to her, grabbed the recorder, and crushed it in his hands. "We don't talk to the press." She left quickly after seeing that.
After Yami had been put in an ambulance, a few police and paramedics walked over to the small group. "Were you seven the ones who did all this?" He motioned to the dead soldiers on the floor.
Quatre nodded.
"We've been talking to the students outside, and we've also tried to inspect the Gundams that are around here. From what it seems like, you're the ones that own them."
This time Duo nodded. The soldier changed his tone slightly, "You know that there have been warrants out for your arrest for some time now." It wasn't a question. They all knew.
Keli spoke up, "What you want us to beg you not to arrest us? We could always just escape."
He shook his head, "We're not going to arrest you, and for that mater we don't even want to question you." The whole little group looked shocked, even Heero.
Another one walked over to them. "What you did this time and last were helpful, and the police and military in this city have backed down the warrant. You've basically won your freedom."
Keli glanced over at the Gundam pilots. They were the most affected by the whole thing. So was she, but not nearly as bad, and not nearly as long.
Keli nodded in thanks and walked out of gym. She knew that her mom would be waiting for her.
Keli saw her and Jenn standing by Kassy's, Karen's, Emily's, John's, and Angelina's parents, talking to them, trying to make up for lost time. She could see that the Trowa, Wufei, Angelina, and Karen had already landed because Karen was standing by her mom, Angelina was talking to her own parents, and the two Gundam pilots were calmly conversing with Naiomi.
Keli smiled, because she looked almost exactly the same. Her eyes were still the same vibrant green, and her blonde hair had grown out a few inches, which now came down past her shoulders. She walked over to her, but didn't say anything.
She looked down, and saw her daughter. She smiled warmly, "Keli, your safe."
She nodded, and glanced over at Jenn, who was talking to Trowa, flirting like mad. Emily got there, and stared at her, "Hands off, he's mine."
Keli's jaw dropped, "You gotta be kidding. Are you kidding? Please be kidding."
She grinned, "Keri-chan, you may be good with technology, but you're cluleless in everything else."
She stared at Jenn, "Boy, you must be desperate. Last year you told me that you'd die before you talked to one of the Gundam pilots."
"I'm talking to you, aren't I?" she mumbled.
Keli turned around, and began ignoring her. Her mom hugged her, and bent over so that our faces were even, "Honey, I've missed you so much. I want to make up for lost time. How can I ever make it up to you?"
She smiled, "You already are."
Duo, Heero, and Kassy walked over. "Hello Miss Akutenshi. It's been awhile." Kassy stated.
She smiled, "Hello Kassy. I see that you've been helping out as well."
"Helping isn't the word for it," Keli muttered.
Kassy mumbled something about how she wished she was a better shot and walked over to her own mother. Heero greeted Keli and Naiomi with a slight nod, while Duo had the usual idiot grin on his face.
Jenn took a good look at Duo and Heero, and decided she liked what she saw. "Hi," she said, acting too peppy for her own good, "I'm Jenn."
Heero chose to ignore her, and Duo raised an eyebrow, "This must be the step-sis you've been talking about."
Keli nodded slightly, "That's the one."
Jenn glanced at her, then at her hair, "What the hell happened to you?" Naiomi had already noticed, but she hadn't said anything.
"Yami sliced it off with one of these," Keli told her, pulling out her saber, and opening the blade. She screamed, and Keli laughed. "Geeze, you sure are jumpy."
She stared at the blade with wide eyes until Keli closed it. She rolled her eyes, "I have to handle being shot and you can't handle a damned saber. What the fuck is wrong with you?"
Naiomi stared at her daughter, "Keli! Why do you use language like that?"
Keli sighed, "Mom, ya know I luv ya. I'm sixteen years old, I can use all the cuss words I want."
"Not in my house! I don't care if you're a Gundam pilot, you will not curse like that in my house."
"I'm not in your house, and I haven't been for over a year."
"Oh, yeah. I kind of forgot about that. But it still gives you no reason to use language like that. You're still young."
Duo stared laughing, "At least I don't have to worry worry about a mother that reams me for cussing!"
Keli lightly hit him on the head with the end of the saber. "What makes you think you don't have to deal with me? I can hurt you if I wanted to."
Duo held his scythe slightly off of the ground, "Wanna bet?"
Naiomi laughed. "This isn't surprising at all. You haven't changed."
Keli smiled. "Damned straight."
She stared down at her, "What did I just say?"
"That I can't cuss if I'm in your house."
"And why are you still cussing?"
"Because I'm not in your house right now. I'm living with Grandfather."
"He's the one that's been taking care of you?"
Keli grinned, "Maybe it's time you took a little tour of his lab..."
Epilogue:
A girl of about seventeen years old with very short dark brown hair and dark blue eyes walks towards a football stadium in the dark. The game started at 7:30, and it was 7:45. She paid for her ticket, and walked in, and into the stadium, looking for some of her friends.
She saw two of her best friends sitting above the band alone, as usual, and went up to where they were. She sat down beside a short blonde girl who was sitting beside a tall dark-skinned boy.
"It's about time you made it, Keri-chan. The game's already started," the blonde told her.
"Yeah, I know," Keli replied, putting on an old denim jacket three sizes too big. "But I didn't miss anything." She looked at the score-board. The game was still 0/0, no one had scored yet. "Hey John-kun, you came here too."
He grinned, "It's homecoming night. I had to come out and support Angelina."
Keli sighed, "You two have such a nice relationship."
He smiled, "I know."
When the second quarter started, Northview was winning.
"Hey, we might actually win our homecoming game," Emily stated, optimistic.
Keli shrugged, "Does it matter? We'll just loose all the games for the rest of the season."
John stared at her, "You're the great optimist today."
She grinned, "You know me, the girl with all the school spirit."
The three were quiet for awhile, just watching the game, well, actually, Keli was mumbling about why she even decided to come in the first place, and that it was a waste of five bucks.
"Umm, can I sit here?" a guy asked , motioning to the seat in front of them. They moved their feet, not paying attention to what he looked like. Four other guys sat down beside him.
John grabbed Keli's jacket, and pulled her closer to him, so she could hear him better, "Doesn't that guy sitting in front of you look familiar? And as a matter of fact, don't they all?"
She glanced down for a moment, noticing that the kid in front of her had on a black hat, and long brown hair tied in a braid down his back. The one sitting next to him had messy dark brown hair, and looked comfortable in a green tanktop and jeans. Next to him was a blonde, and next to him was a brunette with lighter brown hair, swept in front of his face. At the end was a Chinese boy with black hair in a small ponytail.
She nodded slowly, "Yeah. Okay, this is weird."
The band started to move out, getting ready for the halftime show. I heard the braided-boy say, "Hey, I can see Kassy, and next to her is Karen, and Angelina's playing the trombone over there. I can't see Keli, John, or Emily though."
Emily stared at Keli, then at John. She motioned for Keli to tap the boy on the shoulder. She did, and he turned around, "Yes-?"
Her jaw dropped open, "Why are you guys back on earth?" she asked just as he said
"Why are you guys here in the stands?"
"We're-" They both said at the same time.
"What I meant to say was-" they did the same thing again.
She stopped talking as the halftime show started, and he moved up and sat beside her. Trowa moved up and sat beside Emily.
"Well, this is a little odd," John mumbled, "What brings the five of you down here?"
Heero looked up at him, "We all decided to take a vacation for a few days, so we came here."
"Hmm, Keli sighed, "just like last year I guess..."