Intruder - Part Thirty one
Mirror, mirror...
Wufei heard one of the others coming down the corridor. He didn't move. Listening carefully, he decided it was probably either Quatre or Trowa. The reasoning behind this was that the footsteps were light and quite rushed, and since Heero was busy working on the most recent attacker, it wasn't him, and it wasn't Duo or Hilde. Duo didn't rush, he either walked or he ran. His friend Hilde was pretty much the same. As they came closer he could tell it was shoes and not trainers. The only ones to wear shoes were Trowa and Quatre.
~ If it's Quatre rushing, it could be important, but it could be anything, as he doesn't like to be slow, it's impolite. If it is Trowa rushing, then it is more likely to be important. However, Quatre is more likely to volunteer for something. ~
He opened his eyes. As he had expected, it was Quatre coming over to him.
The blonde below stood and waited patiently by Altron's foot while Chang leapt off the platform and landed softly on his feet next to him.
~ Just like a cat. ~
"Heero's found something you might like to see."
He nodded. ~ So it was something interesting after all. ~
They set off for Heero's room.
Five minutes later all six of them were gathered in room 1 of the new pilot's wing. They watched quietly as their host connected a bunch of wires from his computer to the CPU of the miniature MS. He nodded, and booted up the new files. For a fraction of a second a virus message came up, but the security program of his computer annihilated it. Then he selected something from the menu script, and threw in a few commands. There was a beep from a previously unnoticed small black box on the shelf next to the desk, at about waist height. A red light flickered, followed by a green one as the projector came online. It did its job well.
A life size image of Zechs Marquise, now more commonly known as Milliardo Peacecraft floated in the center of the room. It made no movement, because it had no base or program to do so, but was still pretty impressive in its detail none the less.
"I think this one is for me."
The others heard Heero's words and nodded in agreement, but to busy regarding the duplicate of the Lightning Count, which was currently turning slowly, so they could get a better look.
"There are a few different ones on file, meant to confuse each of us. I'll go through mine first. I think we all recognize Relena's elder brother, Milliardo? Ready for the next one?"
"Yes."
"Uh huh."
"Sure."
"Yeah."
Wufei nodded.
The image of Zechs fizzled out, and was replaced with his sister, Relena.
"Hey, she's not that tall."
"You're right. That's probably because-"
"The Intruder calibrates the size to fit the data. The file's size data is kept with the voice files, which I am currently unable to access. The size isn't really relevant, but the voice information could be useful. I will find a way to process it later."
"Thank you, Heero, we get the idea."
He didn't reply, but Relena went fuzzy, and was replaced by a man, with gray hair and pale eyes. He was wearing a black jacket and uniform type gray trousers.
"This, is Odin Lowe, my former trainer, and the assassin of Heero Yuy."
They all looked at him.
Duo turned to talk to Heero.
'I bet that feels weird sayin' that, huh?'
"I've gotten used to it. Anyway, it's not like you're that different, Maxwell."
"Oh, yeah, I guess so."
Hilde was looking at this man, 'Odin Lowe'. The assassin of Heero Yuy.
~ I won't forget him in a while. ~
"Who's next then Heero? Another of yours? Or is it in code order? That means it'll be one of mine, right?"
"Wait a minute...There it is. There's an extra one. It's a hidden file. Hang on, I'll just- there. Hmm, lets go for...this one."
He selected the data file named '01Y-H', and they all stared, as suddenly there were two Heeros in the room.
~ There's something not quite right about it...~
"Hey, don't act so surprised! We all knew we had to be there somewhere. I mean, Trowa an' I sabotagin' Sandrock, and Me an' Chang saw Quatre in the Docking Bay before, when he was actually sleepin' in his room."
Quatre looked at Duo, then to the floating image of Heero before them.
"Really? What did it do?"
"Uh, you, I mean, the -, it, humph."
He stopped to get himself straight on what he was about to say.
"Right. The Quatre copy ran out from behind the heap of Gundanium and tried to escape, by climbing a ladder. Then it fell off, and rolled back behind the Gundanium."
"How did it fall?"
"What Maxwell failed to mention was that he shot at the Intruder, which then fell off the ladder." Wufei added
"You shot Quatre?" Hilde asked, surprised.
"I said he shot at. Although he knew that Quatre was asleep in his room, he couldn't bring himself to shoot him, but it fell anyway." Wufei finished.
"Oh, right." He stopped.
Trowa however was not content with this explanation.
"Then what did you do? After it rolled away?"
"I ran up the Gundanium, after it. Quatre wasn't there anymore, just this man in a black robe. I pointed my gun at him - it, and told it to turn around. Wufei came up behind me.
It turned around. It was just like Father Maxwell. But I knew he would never do what it did next. It pulled a pistol on us, and Chang shot the gun from it's hand then it exploded."
"Oh."
While they had been interrogating Duo, Heero had found the next hidden file, '02M-D'.
Duo folded his arms and frowned at the new image.
The others turned back around to face it.
Hilde was playing spot the difference, to try and cheer him up.
"Look, it's got the wrong clothes on, and the cap is bent. Yours isn't bent."
It wasn't working. "But it's wearing my priest's shirt."
She carried on regardless. "It's hair's too short. Yours goes all the way down to-"
She looked at him. She was sure it had gone down his back to the belt on his jeans.
"-here." She said, pointing at where it should have been.
Unfortunately he had noticed her brief pause, and he knew what she had now realized.
The others, being guys, hadn't recognized the fact that it was now at least three inches shorter than usual, Quatre had done a good job hiding it, but he'd known she'd pick up on it eventually, especially since she loved teasing him with it so much.
"Have you got our files in there too Heero?" Quatre asked, trying to change the subject.
Duo appreciated his effort, but he knew it wasn't going to work, Hilde wouldn't let it go.
So he decided if he couldn't play it down, he would show it off. She'd soon lose interest.
"Yeah, I lost the end of it when I was fightin' that Intruder guy down by the Medlab. Slashed it clean off! That knife was pretty sharp I'm tellin' ya. Caught my braid with it just before he raked it across my chest." Duo made a face just thinking about it.
Hilde ignored the floating copy and went over to her hero, giving him yet another cuddle.
"Aw, Hilde, y' ruinin' my performance..." He trailed off as she looked up to smile at him.
"Never mind, hey, I'm sure you needed a trim anyway."
Trowa frowned, and walked over to his double. He looked at it closely and found something wasn't quite right. It looked just like when he looked in a mirror. He got Heero to keep it still, then positioned himself next to it.
"Do you notice anything different?"
The others looked at them both. They were almost identical, except for one major thing.
"The hair is on the wrong side?" She suggested.
"That's what I thought. That's why Duo's cap seemed bent too. He always wears it slightly to one side, but if it was switched to the other side, to us, it would look wrong."
"So everyone's copy is reversed? But that's weird. I mean, wouldn't they have noticed?"
"They're machines. Computers. People see things upside down, right? So maybe, what if they 'see' things in reverse? Like some kind of dodgy periscope?"
"It's an idea. Put the next one, no, I don't think Quatre would show it up well."
"How do you know? Put it up and we'll check it out, huh?"
Heero closed '03B-T' and activated image '04W-Q'. Quatre appeared in Trowa's place.
"See, his fringe is going the wrong way."
"How can you tell? It all just goes everywhere."
"Oh, I see, the sides go outwards, but the middle bit usually goes to the right, his left."
"I'll take your word on that one, Hilde."
"So you should." She agreed.
The next one to be shown, was 05C-W, Wufei. He walked around it once, then stood with his arms folded as he inspected himself. He couldn't find anything wrong with it, but was sure there must be, to confirm their suspicions on the subject. Had the copy been wearing his dragon shirt, there would have been an obvious mistake, as the dragon on the left always goes over the one on the right. But this blue top was symmetrical, as were his white trousers with black band belt, no buckle. He realized it was also standing with its arms folded, it was probably his most common stance. He immediately dropped them to his sides.
"What's wrong Chang?" Duo asked, wondering why he was now circling the duplicate.
"Nothing, that's the problem." He stood back and crossed his arms again.
"Actually, there is." Trowa said
"..."
"When you fold your arms, the go this way. However, the copy's go this way. That's the difference between you and the copy."
Hilde was playing spot the difference between Duo and Duo again, and the others were sitting quietly on the couch. Heero was about to reopen the originally accessed folder, when Duo stopped him. Quietly whispering an excuse and requesting that he started a search for data image file 06S-H.
The search was issued, and surprisingly came up with a file.
"Go on, open it then."
Hilde was looking at the Duo copy, then to Duo. When she looked back a second time, she found more differences then she had expected.
"Hey, that's me." She said, surprised.
"So, wha' d' ya think about that one?" Maxwell smirked.
"But, why would they have one of me?"
"Why not?"
"I'm not a Gundam Pilot! I haven't done anything against any one of them!" She stopped as she realized she was whining. She mustn't whine or whatever she had done to gain Wufei's appreciation would be forgotten, and she would return to simply 'woman' status.
"Well, except that one this morning..." She smiled again.
Trying to convince herself as well as the others that she had just as much reason to be in the same position as they all were was more difficult than she had imagined.
"No problem, 06, I'm sure you can handle anyone of those rusty metal fools. You sure proved that earlier. An' I'm willing to bet my life on it."
"I'll go with that, Hilde."
"They obviously recognize you as a dangerous enemy." Heero stated, scanning through the information on the screen.
Wufei and Trowa merely nodded, but she could tell they meant it.
"Thanks guys, I really appreciate this."
A few minutes later Heero had finished re-organizing the memory systems on file.
"Duo. Are you ready for your file?"
"Go ahead, let's see who they've got in there."
"02M-F."
"Father Maxwell."
He was correct, as Wufei recognized the character from the Docking bay incident.
"Father Maxwell, protector and guardian, and priest of Maxwell Church. He was killed in AC 188, by the Alliance forces on Colony L2."
Once everyone had finished memorizing the kind looking old man, with white hair and the long priest's robes, they went on to;
"02H-S"
"Sister Helen. Also protector and guardian, from Maxwell Church. Died following the Alliance's attack, along with Father Maxwell and many other innocents."
Quatre was rather surprised at this one; although her cloak mainly hid her hair, it was clearly blonde. The pale eyes confirmed it. He thought it must be for this reason that she reminded him of one of his many elder sisters.
Then she was gone, replaced by an Alliance guard.
They looked at Duo for an explanation, but he had none.
"How'm I s'posed t' know?"
"He's in your file."
"I dunno who this guy is...Maybe they just wanna get me at him 'cause he's in an Alliance uniform?...He kinda almost looks like one of the guys who locked me up one time...but that's gotta be just purely coincidental."
He got a funny look from Quatre for that last remark.
"Whaat? You didn't expect a five-syllable word from me? Just cause I'm a street kid don't mean I didn't go to school y' know. How'd y' s'pose I got in so many fights? I will let you get it though, 'cause didn't finish school, Father Maxwell taught me everything he thought I needed to know, and after the attack, I just didn't feel like it anymore."
"I'm sorry Duo, it just didn't fit with your usual style. Please-"
"Hey, I'm sorry. No problem Cat, I guess I'm just a little edgy from all this stuff recently."
"I think it's got us all that way, it's just natural." Trowa tried to calm it.
"Natural? That's a good one, 'specially for us."
"Hmm..."
"Perhaps we should just continue with what we were doing."
"Yeah, good idea Chang."
Heero complied, and activated Trowa's file.
Mirror, mirror...
Wufei heard one of the others coming down the corridor. He didn't move. Listening carefully, he decided it was probably either Quatre or Trowa. The reasoning behind this was that the footsteps were light and quite rushed, and since Heero was busy working on the most recent attacker, it wasn't him, and it wasn't Duo or Hilde. Duo didn't rush, he either walked or he ran. His friend Hilde was pretty much the same. As they came closer he could tell it was shoes and not trainers. The only ones to wear shoes were Trowa and Quatre.
~ If it's Quatre rushing, it could be important, but it could be anything, as he doesn't like to be slow, it's impolite. If it is Trowa rushing, then it is more likely to be important. However, Quatre is more likely to volunteer for something. ~
He opened his eyes. As he had expected, it was Quatre coming over to him.
The blonde below stood and waited patiently by Altron's foot while Chang leapt off the platform and landed softly on his feet next to him.
~ Just like a cat. ~
"Heero's found something you might like to see."
He nodded. ~ So it was something interesting after all. ~
They set off for Heero's room.
Five minutes later all six of them were gathered in room 1 of the new pilot's wing. They watched quietly as their host connected a bunch of wires from his computer to the CPU of the miniature MS. He nodded, and booted up the new files. For a fraction of a second a virus message came up, but the security program of his computer annihilated it. Then he selected something from the menu script, and threw in a few commands. There was a beep from a previously unnoticed small black box on the shelf next to the desk, at about waist height. A red light flickered, followed by a green one as the projector came online. It did its job well.
A life size image of Zechs Marquise, now more commonly known as Milliardo Peacecraft floated in the center of the room. It made no movement, because it had no base or program to do so, but was still pretty impressive in its detail none the less.
"I think this one is for me."
The others heard Heero's words and nodded in agreement, but to busy regarding the duplicate of the Lightning Count, which was currently turning slowly, so they could get a better look.
"There are a few different ones on file, meant to confuse each of us. I'll go through mine first. I think we all recognize Relena's elder brother, Milliardo? Ready for the next one?"
"Yes."
"Uh huh."
"Sure."
"Yeah."
Wufei nodded.
The image of Zechs fizzled out, and was replaced with his sister, Relena.
"Hey, she's not that tall."
"You're right. That's probably because-"
"The Intruder calibrates the size to fit the data. The file's size data is kept with the voice files, which I am currently unable to access. The size isn't really relevant, but the voice information could be useful. I will find a way to process it later."
"Thank you, Heero, we get the idea."
He didn't reply, but Relena went fuzzy, and was replaced by a man, with gray hair and pale eyes. He was wearing a black jacket and uniform type gray trousers.
"This, is Odin Lowe, my former trainer, and the assassin of Heero Yuy."
They all looked at him.
Duo turned to talk to Heero.
'I bet that feels weird sayin' that, huh?'
"I've gotten used to it. Anyway, it's not like you're that different, Maxwell."
"Oh, yeah, I guess so."
Hilde was looking at this man, 'Odin Lowe'. The assassin of Heero Yuy.
~ I won't forget him in a while. ~
"Who's next then Heero? Another of yours? Or is it in code order? That means it'll be one of mine, right?"
"Wait a minute...There it is. There's an extra one. It's a hidden file. Hang on, I'll just- there. Hmm, lets go for...this one."
He selected the data file named '01Y-H', and they all stared, as suddenly there were two Heeros in the room.
~ There's something not quite right about it...~
"Hey, don't act so surprised! We all knew we had to be there somewhere. I mean, Trowa an' I sabotagin' Sandrock, and Me an' Chang saw Quatre in the Docking Bay before, when he was actually sleepin' in his room."
Quatre looked at Duo, then to the floating image of Heero before them.
"Really? What did it do?"
"Uh, you, I mean, the -, it, humph."
He stopped to get himself straight on what he was about to say.
"Right. The Quatre copy ran out from behind the heap of Gundanium and tried to escape, by climbing a ladder. Then it fell off, and rolled back behind the Gundanium."
"How did it fall?"
"What Maxwell failed to mention was that he shot at the Intruder, which then fell off the ladder." Wufei added
"You shot Quatre?" Hilde asked, surprised.
"I said he shot at. Although he knew that Quatre was asleep in his room, he couldn't bring himself to shoot him, but it fell anyway." Wufei finished.
"Oh, right." He stopped.
Trowa however was not content with this explanation.
"Then what did you do? After it rolled away?"
"I ran up the Gundanium, after it. Quatre wasn't there anymore, just this man in a black robe. I pointed my gun at him - it, and told it to turn around. Wufei came up behind me.
It turned around. It was just like Father Maxwell. But I knew he would never do what it did next. It pulled a pistol on us, and Chang shot the gun from it's hand then it exploded."
"Oh."
While they had been interrogating Duo, Heero had found the next hidden file, '02M-D'.
Duo folded his arms and frowned at the new image.
The others turned back around to face it.
Hilde was playing spot the difference, to try and cheer him up.
"Look, it's got the wrong clothes on, and the cap is bent. Yours isn't bent."
It wasn't working. "But it's wearing my priest's shirt."
She carried on regardless. "It's hair's too short. Yours goes all the way down to-"
She looked at him. She was sure it had gone down his back to the belt on his jeans.
"-here." She said, pointing at where it should have been.
Unfortunately he had noticed her brief pause, and he knew what she had now realized.
The others, being guys, hadn't recognized the fact that it was now at least three inches shorter than usual, Quatre had done a good job hiding it, but he'd known she'd pick up on it eventually, especially since she loved teasing him with it so much.
"Have you got our files in there too Heero?" Quatre asked, trying to change the subject.
Duo appreciated his effort, but he knew it wasn't going to work, Hilde wouldn't let it go.
So he decided if he couldn't play it down, he would show it off. She'd soon lose interest.
"Yeah, I lost the end of it when I was fightin' that Intruder guy down by the Medlab. Slashed it clean off! That knife was pretty sharp I'm tellin' ya. Caught my braid with it just before he raked it across my chest." Duo made a face just thinking about it.
Hilde ignored the floating copy and went over to her hero, giving him yet another cuddle.
"Aw, Hilde, y' ruinin' my performance..." He trailed off as she looked up to smile at him.
"Never mind, hey, I'm sure you needed a trim anyway."
Trowa frowned, and walked over to his double. He looked at it closely and found something wasn't quite right. It looked just like when he looked in a mirror. He got Heero to keep it still, then positioned himself next to it.
"Do you notice anything different?"
The others looked at them both. They were almost identical, except for one major thing.
"The hair is on the wrong side?" She suggested.
"That's what I thought. That's why Duo's cap seemed bent too. He always wears it slightly to one side, but if it was switched to the other side, to us, it would look wrong."
"So everyone's copy is reversed? But that's weird. I mean, wouldn't they have noticed?"
"They're machines. Computers. People see things upside down, right? So maybe, what if they 'see' things in reverse? Like some kind of dodgy periscope?"
"It's an idea. Put the next one, no, I don't think Quatre would show it up well."
"How do you know? Put it up and we'll check it out, huh?"
Heero closed '03B-T' and activated image '04W-Q'. Quatre appeared in Trowa's place.
"See, his fringe is going the wrong way."
"How can you tell? It all just goes everywhere."
"Oh, I see, the sides go outwards, but the middle bit usually goes to the right, his left."
"I'll take your word on that one, Hilde."
"So you should." She agreed.
The next one to be shown, was 05C-W, Wufei. He walked around it once, then stood with his arms folded as he inspected himself. He couldn't find anything wrong with it, but was sure there must be, to confirm their suspicions on the subject. Had the copy been wearing his dragon shirt, there would have been an obvious mistake, as the dragon on the left always goes over the one on the right. But this blue top was symmetrical, as were his white trousers with black band belt, no buckle. He realized it was also standing with its arms folded, it was probably his most common stance. He immediately dropped them to his sides.
"What's wrong Chang?" Duo asked, wondering why he was now circling the duplicate.
"Nothing, that's the problem." He stood back and crossed his arms again.
"Actually, there is." Trowa said
"..."
"When you fold your arms, the go this way. However, the copy's go this way. That's the difference between you and the copy."
Hilde was playing spot the difference between Duo and Duo again, and the others were sitting quietly on the couch. Heero was about to reopen the originally accessed folder, when Duo stopped him. Quietly whispering an excuse and requesting that he started a search for data image file 06S-H.
The search was issued, and surprisingly came up with a file.
"Go on, open it then."
Hilde was looking at the Duo copy, then to Duo. When she looked back a second time, she found more differences then she had expected.
"Hey, that's me." She said, surprised.
"So, wha' d' ya think about that one?" Maxwell smirked.
"But, why would they have one of me?"
"Why not?"
"I'm not a Gundam Pilot! I haven't done anything against any one of them!" She stopped as she realized she was whining. She mustn't whine or whatever she had done to gain Wufei's appreciation would be forgotten, and she would return to simply 'woman' status.
"Well, except that one this morning..." She smiled again.
Trying to convince herself as well as the others that she had just as much reason to be in the same position as they all were was more difficult than she had imagined.
"No problem, 06, I'm sure you can handle anyone of those rusty metal fools. You sure proved that earlier. An' I'm willing to bet my life on it."
"I'll go with that, Hilde."
"They obviously recognize you as a dangerous enemy." Heero stated, scanning through the information on the screen.
Wufei and Trowa merely nodded, but she could tell they meant it.
"Thanks guys, I really appreciate this."
A few minutes later Heero had finished re-organizing the memory systems on file.
"Duo. Are you ready for your file?"
"Go ahead, let's see who they've got in there."
"02M-F."
"Father Maxwell."
He was correct, as Wufei recognized the character from the Docking bay incident.
"Father Maxwell, protector and guardian, and priest of Maxwell Church. He was killed in AC 188, by the Alliance forces on Colony L2."
Once everyone had finished memorizing the kind looking old man, with white hair and the long priest's robes, they went on to;
"02H-S"
"Sister Helen. Also protector and guardian, from Maxwell Church. Died following the Alliance's attack, along with Father Maxwell and many other innocents."
Quatre was rather surprised at this one; although her cloak mainly hid her hair, it was clearly blonde. The pale eyes confirmed it. He thought it must be for this reason that she reminded him of one of his many elder sisters.
Then she was gone, replaced by an Alliance guard.
They looked at Duo for an explanation, but he had none.
"How'm I s'posed t' know?"
"He's in your file."
"I dunno who this guy is...Maybe they just wanna get me at him 'cause he's in an Alliance uniform?...He kinda almost looks like one of the guys who locked me up one time...but that's gotta be just purely coincidental."
He got a funny look from Quatre for that last remark.
"Whaat? You didn't expect a five-syllable word from me? Just cause I'm a street kid don't mean I didn't go to school y' know. How'd y' s'pose I got in so many fights? I will let you get it though, 'cause didn't finish school, Father Maxwell taught me everything he thought I needed to know, and after the attack, I just didn't feel like it anymore."
"I'm sorry Duo, it just didn't fit with your usual style. Please-"
"Hey, I'm sorry. No problem Cat, I guess I'm just a little edgy from all this stuff recently."
"I think it's got us all that way, it's just natural." Trowa tried to calm it.
"Natural? That's a good one, 'specially for us."
"Hmm..."
"Perhaps we should just continue with what we were doing."
"Yeah, good idea Chang."
Heero complied, and activated Trowa's file.