He had laughed at her when they had left the Earth's atmosphere, as she sat, staring, astounded, out of the window at the gleaming azure and emerald behemoth below their ship.
"But it's so beautiful from up here," she breathed, still gazing avidly at the planet she had been born to.
"I forgot you hadn't seen it before," he remarked, leaning over her shoulder and pointing outside. "You can see the Great Barrier Reef from up here, too."
Her nose pressed up against the thick perspex, she tore her eyes from the planet, to the stars, and the colonies. One seat in front, her solemn little brother contemplated their journey grimly. Suki had said it was a holiday that Wufei was paying for. How did he get the money? Trips to space were expensive, but he trusted his big sister to tell him the truth. But still, little whispers of doubt gnawed at his belief in his elder sibling.
"The stars are so much closer up here," Mika told Wufei, taking in the amazing beauty all around.
"I don't really notice so much."
Suki turned and stared at Wufei, unable to comprehend his being indifferent to the scenery.
"I was born out here, so I'm used to it."
"But still…" she watched the Earth drift out of her vision as the craft turned, and then looked at the moon, just coming into sight.
"The moon looks like a graveyard from so close," Mika commented, glancing back at the two teenagers behind him.
"It is, kind of- plenty of soldiers died in the war at the Lunar Base."
Holding Suki close, he sighed deeply. He and the other pilots had had the same thought about the Earth when they had first arrived, and Suki still didn't quite realise it, even when it was pointed out to her. The rolling grasslands, the perspiring jungles, the sun-cooked deserts, the sky, even…all of it was so natural, unlike the man-made colonies. That was put there by humans, and it was missing something. Something important. It wasn't so organic. So…alive.
"Look, we're docking," Suki told him excitedly, like a small child, taking him from his thoughts to look out of the round window. Indeed, they had arrived. He picked up his bag and they left the ship, with Suki still exclaiming about how strange and fascinating it all was, while he looked on carelessly.
^^^
Sally Po was waiting for them inside the spaceport, and walked forward to meet them. Smiling warmly at Suki and Mika, she pulled Wufei aside to talk to him, leaving the Chinese girl to amuse her younger brother for a moment.
"It's nice to see you again, Wufei." she said briskly. "You're staying with Quatre, in the Winner Mansion. He's taking part in the mission as well. Come on."
Walking back outside, rejoining Suki and Mika, they climbed into the car Sally had waiting outside and drove away with a smooth rush. Almost immediately Mika began talking animatedly about the Earth to the curious driver, who had never left space himself.
"Wufei, where are we staying?" the small boy asked, turning to see his sister held close to by the pilot's muscular form. He didn't mind, really, but it was nice when she actually paid him some attention for a change.
"With a friend of mine. Quatre Raberba Winner."
The little boy's eyes widened dramatically and his mouth stretched into an unbelieving grin. Another pilot! Cool!
Pulling up outside a large house, they climbed from the car, taking the luggage from the boot. The driver tried to take it, but was happy enough to let them carry their own in the end.
Quatre came to meet them, greeting Wufei happily and welcoming Suki and Mika warmly into his companionship. Any friend of Wufei's was a friend of his.
The blonde pilot took them to a sitting room, where he poured some tea and chatted aimlessly for a few minutes. Mika sat fidgeting for a while, but soon left to explore, having been warned to try not to break anything by Suki, and wandered off happily, meandering through the expansive rooms, wondering what a gundam pilot would have in his house.
"How much do you know about the mission?" Quatre asked Suki once they were sure Mika was out of earshot.
"Only that I'm taking part. I don't know what I'm meant to be doing."
"The front for the main recruitment operation is a Media School. They teach singing, dancing, modelling, acting and so on. We want you to go in as a student. Can you sing?"
Suki smiled, and launched into a wonderful heart rending version of 'My Heart Will Go On' in her light soprano voice. Her singing lessons had finally paid off. She stopped after the chorus, and grinned. "That answer your question?"
Grinning back, Quatre replied, "That'll do great. We were worried in case you didn't fit the bill. Guess you do."
"Good. When do I start?"
"Tomorrow's Monday, and we'll have you enrolled by tonight."
"And what am I supposed to do there?"
"Alright." Quatre stood up, and began to pace. "Hint at being interested in war. For your entry test, do something based on a battle. See if any advances are made towards you as to joining a rebel group. Try and find any information on mobile suits, and keep an eye open for soldiers. Pretty basic."
Suki gulped. It was a lot to take in. She stood and reeled off a mock salute, smiling lopsidedly. "Yessir!"
Wufei looked despairingly at Quatre and they shared a moment of amused masculine companionship.
"Ok," continued Quatre. "You'll have to learn a few things first…."
^^^
She woke early the next morning, and looked up at Wufei, still slumbering peacefully. Smiling, she moved his resting arms from around her and got up to have a quick hot shower with the power shower she had been dying to try. Towel drying her freshened hair, she pulled on the clothes she'd been given. Typical artistic stuff. A well-worn lilac sweater, some frayed hippie jeans and a loose beret. There were minuscule spy cameras hidden in the weave of her jumper and in her bag. She'd also been given some wide rimmed glasses with nil-strength lenses, and a camera in the hinge, so the watchers could see everything she saw. Small microphones with each camera completed her innocent array.
Adjusting her beret, she sloped downstairs and grabbed some slightly overdone toast on the way out. Wufei would be annoyed that she'd left without telling him, but Suki decided that she'd prefer to get there on time, preferring not to wait for him to wake up than face the dragon's wrath.
She caught the early train to school, as she had been instructed, and got off, staring at the large white building. They could easily hide mobile suits in the area it covered. Sloppily dressed girls and guys traversed the lawns, and she could see that her outfit blended right in. The "Indifferent to the luxuries of life and absorbed in art and or poetry" look was abundant. Suki went to the front door and entered slowly, absorbing her surroundings.
^^^
"Miss Suki Chang to see the headmaster."
They'd changed her surname to make it harder to track her, and Quatre had entered Chang with a grin. Suki didn't mind much. At least they hadn't said she was married.
"You're the new student? Go right in."
The headmaster was a tall, gaunt man, with a wild cloud of white hair that appeared never to have seen a brush in the whole of it's long, wind swept life. He frowned as she came in, looking her over, then motioned for her to sit down.
"Miss Chang, I presume?"
"Yes, sir." she replied politely
"We just need to clear which lessons you'll be taking. Do you sing?"
"Yes, sir."
"Which grade?"
"Grade 5."
Suki tried not to grin. That part was true, at least. She'd given up singing when she could no longer afford the lessons, but not before she'd got to her fifth grade.
"What else do you do?"
"I paint and act."
"Very well. Do you have a soliloquy prepared?"
"Yes sir. It's taken from 'The Glory of War'."
Suki stood up, and read with a clear voice. "The magnificent armies, shining red as the blood they had spilled, each collapsed upon the other in a mighty crash as of thunder. The battle was a dance, a dance of death, which could only compare to a storm of massive proportions." She continued, listing the glories of battle in a voice that sent shivers down Quatre's spine as they listened through the microphones. The headmaster seemed impressed. All was going to plan.
"May I see some of your artwork?" he asked when she sat again.
"Certainly." She handed him a sketchbook. In it were several pencil drawings of the gundams in battle, light streaming around them. These she'd done herself as well, from photographs taken at the time. It had been a project at High School last year.
"These are good, Miss Chang. Here is your timetable. You may go. Don't hesitate to tell me if you find anything too far below you."
Suki walked out, and breathed an inner sigh of relief. She seemed to have passed for now. Indeed, he seemed quite impressed. Looking at the timetable, she made her way to her first lesson. Literature studies. Here goes…
^^^
When the first tiring day was finished, Suki made her way up to her dorm room, no. 370. It was too dangerous to go back to the Winner house, in case she was tracked. So she sat at the dresser and began to write things down on a piece of paper, things the Preventors might have missed on the recordings. Tilting the glasses towards the paper, she made the writing big enough to be seen.
"What's she doing?" Wufei asked, looking over Quatre's shoulder at the screen.
"She's writing down information so we can get it! Genius!" Winner cried, whilst having someone note down what she'd written.
-Headmaster v. impressed by war drawings. Seems to like war.
-History lesson- based on wars.
-Electronics (where had to take off glasses) using circuit boards for high energy. Beam sabres?
-All boys v. athletic. All girls smart, most athletic.
-Art teacher spent most time with people doing war drawings.
-Miss you. Good luck.
There Suki finished, gave them a few seconds, and tore the notepaper into shreds, before throwing it onto the traditional open fire. Hearing footsteps coming down the hall, she began to half-sing quietly to herself, trying to keep up her act as an artistic person. 'Dum dum, my heart will go on…near, far, hmmm', Her paper pad and pencil were suddenly used to draw a doodle of the first thing that came to mind as a teacher stuck her head in, looked at Suki and left. Highly suspicious. Suki looked down at the sketch of Wufei she had begun. Smiling to herself and re-directing her glasses she finished the head and shoulders of the pilot and thumb tacked it to the wall next to her bed.
When it came to curfew, Suki took off the glasses, held them in front of her and waved goodnight, then pulled off the sweater and dumped them both in a drawer so they couldn't watch her change. She went to sleep gazing at her picture of Wufei.
^^^
Mika wondered to himself where Suki had gone. She'd vanished somewhere, and they wouldn't tell him where she had gone. This was no holiday, that was for sure. Something odd was going on.
^^^
The next day, Suki pulled her jumper back over her head and put on the glasses, tapping them twice as a signal that she was on the move, and headed to the dining room for breakfast. It was all high-energy food.
"Hmm."
Sitting down, she was immediately the focus of the group of people on her table, who animatedly began to ask her questions.
"Hi. I'm Mike; this is Tom, Sophie, Anna and Chris."
"Suki Chang. Nice to meet you all." She said briefly before attacking her meal, hoping they wouldn't ask her difficult questions.
"So, where you from?" Chris asked quickly, grinning. Suki didn't like the kind of attention he was giving her.
"L2, originally. Then I went to art school, but got transferred here." she reeled off the story she had been given about her past.
Sophie beamed happily. "I'm from L2! Do you know so and so…" and it continued, Suki bluffing wildly, trying to keep her story fresh in her mind. It turned out she had double art first with Anna, the quiet one. Smiling thankfully, she got up to turn in her tray and retreated to the relative safety of her dorm.
^^^
Art was in the advanced IT labs today, using a complicated computer package. Suki chose the powerful little laptop in the corner, where no one could see what she was doing. Using basic hacking skills learned from the pilots, (and from an old friend from primary school had they known it) she hacked into the computer's C drive and located and unlocked a suspicious looking file. She encountered a shock when a timed identification code was triggered, but she managed to twist her way past that and finally had access to her target file. It was named 'Operation MS.' ~ Bingo. ~ Anything so well locked had to be confidential and potentially useful.
Rapidly copying it and sending the file to the Preventors, she closed the hacked files, putting a scrambler on it so no one could tell who had done it, or even that it had happened at all. She turned back to the art program, and quickly brought up and re-saved a prepared picture she had done in her spare time, which was just completed enough to look as though it had been started today. She smiled, satisfied, to herself. And Wufei had been worried that she was in danger.
^^^
At lunch, Suki's eyes were drawn to a strange, shifty looking stranger in oddly smart, formal clothes in a hall of sloppy sweaters and jeans. He was surveying the chatting teenagers with attentive dark eyes. She looked at him long enough for the camera in her glasses to get a good view. He looked unusual, and therefore suspect. She reluctantly turned her attention back to her lunch, with her jumper-cam leaning carefully towards him. Even more over-sweet high-energy food. Great. She'd heard that it was gym today, and Mike had groaned, complaining that gym was more like army boot camp. That slip had drawn her attention, Why was Mike familiar with army boot camps? She hoped the Preventors had heard his comment. She'd seen the playing field- more like a military training obstacle course. Definitely more than a bit suspicious. She turned to her new 'friends' and smiled slightly uneasily. She hoped they wouldn't notice.
"Who's that?" she asked Chris, about a muscular man in a tracksuit sitting across the hall.
"It's Mr Summers, the gym teacher. He's always really interested in the athletic kids. He has his definite favourites."
Trying not to frown, she asked another question. "What's this obsession with turning us all into superheroes?"
"I dunno. Maybe they want to use us as guinea pigs." There was a carefully blank look on Chris' face- Suki realised that he must know something. She wondered how she could winkle it out of him without getting too close. She only had eyes for Wufei, and she didn't want to get into a compromising situation. Maybe she could get Chris drunk or somehow get him to trust her…
"Well, you already looks like a guinea pig," she joked to cover her mood, getting a mock scowl from the grinning blonde suspect.
Lunch was over with the harsh sound of the bell, and it was off to singing lessons before 'boot camp'.
^^^
The PE kit was terrible. Uniform grey? It made them all look like zombies. Tracksuits or shorts, with a vest or T-shirt. Looking at the pools of thick mud strewn across the field, Suki had opted for the lighter version. The athletic Mr Summers sauntered in, and scowled at them all, looking them up and down.
"Right, girls. We're here to get you all fit. No mucking about. I want to see you get warmed up as quick as you can, and then onto the course." He hit one fist into the palm of his hand. "Discipline and hard work!" he roared. The mixed class groaned.
"Mr Summers?" Suki raised a reluctant hand. "If we're going to be actors, why do we have to be fit?"
He turned an intimidating icy glare her way. Her question had caught him off balance for a second. He groped momentarily for an answer. "Because you're young and you should be as agile and strong as possible!" he barked.
Suki flinched, and started to warm up with the others, copying their stretches. Maybe she wasn't so safe after all.
^^^
The file she'd sent the pilots was interesting. Very interesting. Full of encoded documents. They'd sent it on to Heero- he was still the best at hacking. But even after his best efforts it didn't appear to reveal any names.
"I think I've got something." A monotone voice rang out, and Sally went to see what he'd discovered.
"The new Capricorn models. Fitted with a crude form of the Zero system."
Deeply drawing in her breath, Sally exhaled quickly. "That'll be hard to combat."
"Without the Gundams, certainly." Pilot 01 turned to look at her. "We have to stop them before their plans are complete!"
^^^
Getting Chris drunk hadn't been too hard. Everyone else was busy, and she'd begged him to be her drinking partner, flirting outrageously, professing a deep hate of drinking alone. And he'd finally accepted. She had spent most of the evening buying him and herself drinks. Now, he was sitting woozily at the bar, compliant and drowsy, with a big grin plastered over his face.
"Hey Chris," Suki said with a slight slur. She'd had to have a few herself, to coax him into drinking. Maybe too many, as it was worrying her slightly under a haze of alcohol that there appeared to be two of him. She remembered her task. "Why 'dya reckon they're trying to turn us all into some sorta superheroes?" she asked, hiccuping quietly.
"For the 'suits, stupid," Chris managed, trying to get her into focus, letting out a huge belch. "We can't fly without bein' fit."
~ Got him. ~ "Which suits?"
"The mobile ones, o'course," he replied, still not realising the importance of the information he was throwing away. He giggled.
"Will I get to fly one?" she was giggling too.
A sobering hand fell heavily on her shoulder, and Suki turned to find Mr. Summers standing behind her. Innocently, she turned a surprised gaze on him, questioning him silently. She couldn't quite get him into focus. How odd. She hiccuped again.
"What do you think you are doing, Christopher? Get back to your dorm."
The drunken blonde stood unsteadily, one hand on the bar stool. He swallowed uneasily, he wasn't feeling too hot, and left shakily, still drunk and more than a bit queasy. He ran the last few steps, reaching uncontrollably.
"So, Suki. Looks like you've learned more than you'd bargained for."
She didn't care for his smile. She wished she hadn't drunk so much.
She tried to look convincing. It was hard. "Yes sir. I was only wondering why-"
"Enough. We've been watching you, Chang, and we've decided you'll be perfect for our cause. Join us."
"Yes sir!" she put a shine into her eyes, an ardour for the war he was offering. "What are we fighting for?" she asked a little to quickly. She continued to cover it up. "Not that it matters. I love to fight."
"For freedom from the ESA's tyrannical rule. That good enough?"
"Yes sir! When do I start?" She didn't have to fake her enthusiasm.
"At lunch tomorrow, Chris will show you. At ease, soldier. Go home." The stiff 'teacher' walked off, and Suki breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, I hope you got that guys," she whispered into her sweater fabric. "You'd better have." She hiccuped again and walked a little unsteadily up to her dorm.
"But it's so beautiful from up here," she breathed, still gazing avidly at the planet she had been born to.
"I forgot you hadn't seen it before," he remarked, leaning over her shoulder and pointing outside. "You can see the Great Barrier Reef from up here, too."
Her nose pressed up against the thick perspex, she tore her eyes from the planet, to the stars, and the colonies. One seat in front, her solemn little brother contemplated their journey grimly. Suki had said it was a holiday that Wufei was paying for. How did he get the money? Trips to space were expensive, but he trusted his big sister to tell him the truth. But still, little whispers of doubt gnawed at his belief in his elder sibling.
"The stars are so much closer up here," Mika told Wufei, taking in the amazing beauty all around.
"I don't really notice so much."
Suki turned and stared at Wufei, unable to comprehend his being indifferent to the scenery.
"I was born out here, so I'm used to it."
"But still…" she watched the Earth drift out of her vision as the craft turned, and then looked at the moon, just coming into sight.
"The moon looks like a graveyard from so close," Mika commented, glancing back at the two teenagers behind him.
"It is, kind of- plenty of soldiers died in the war at the Lunar Base."
Holding Suki close, he sighed deeply. He and the other pilots had had the same thought about the Earth when they had first arrived, and Suki still didn't quite realise it, even when it was pointed out to her. The rolling grasslands, the perspiring jungles, the sun-cooked deserts, the sky, even…all of it was so natural, unlike the man-made colonies. That was put there by humans, and it was missing something. Something important. It wasn't so organic. So…alive.
"Look, we're docking," Suki told him excitedly, like a small child, taking him from his thoughts to look out of the round window. Indeed, they had arrived. He picked up his bag and they left the ship, with Suki still exclaiming about how strange and fascinating it all was, while he looked on carelessly.
^^^
Sally Po was waiting for them inside the spaceport, and walked forward to meet them. Smiling warmly at Suki and Mika, she pulled Wufei aside to talk to him, leaving the Chinese girl to amuse her younger brother for a moment.
"It's nice to see you again, Wufei." she said briskly. "You're staying with Quatre, in the Winner Mansion. He's taking part in the mission as well. Come on."
Walking back outside, rejoining Suki and Mika, they climbed into the car Sally had waiting outside and drove away with a smooth rush. Almost immediately Mika began talking animatedly about the Earth to the curious driver, who had never left space himself.
"Wufei, where are we staying?" the small boy asked, turning to see his sister held close to by the pilot's muscular form. He didn't mind, really, but it was nice when she actually paid him some attention for a change.
"With a friend of mine. Quatre Raberba Winner."
The little boy's eyes widened dramatically and his mouth stretched into an unbelieving grin. Another pilot! Cool!
Pulling up outside a large house, they climbed from the car, taking the luggage from the boot. The driver tried to take it, but was happy enough to let them carry their own in the end.
Quatre came to meet them, greeting Wufei happily and welcoming Suki and Mika warmly into his companionship. Any friend of Wufei's was a friend of his.
The blonde pilot took them to a sitting room, where he poured some tea and chatted aimlessly for a few minutes. Mika sat fidgeting for a while, but soon left to explore, having been warned to try not to break anything by Suki, and wandered off happily, meandering through the expansive rooms, wondering what a gundam pilot would have in his house.
"How much do you know about the mission?" Quatre asked Suki once they were sure Mika was out of earshot.
"Only that I'm taking part. I don't know what I'm meant to be doing."
"The front for the main recruitment operation is a Media School. They teach singing, dancing, modelling, acting and so on. We want you to go in as a student. Can you sing?"
Suki smiled, and launched into a wonderful heart rending version of 'My Heart Will Go On' in her light soprano voice. Her singing lessons had finally paid off. She stopped after the chorus, and grinned. "That answer your question?"
Grinning back, Quatre replied, "That'll do great. We were worried in case you didn't fit the bill. Guess you do."
"Good. When do I start?"
"Tomorrow's Monday, and we'll have you enrolled by tonight."
"And what am I supposed to do there?"
"Alright." Quatre stood up, and began to pace. "Hint at being interested in war. For your entry test, do something based on a battle. See if any advances are made towards you as to joining a rebel group. Try and find any information on mobile suits, and keep an eye open for soldiers. Pretty basic."
Suki gulped. It was a lot to take in. She stood and reeled off a mock salute, smiling lopsidedly. "Yessir!"
Wufei looked despairingly at Quatre and they shared a moment of amused masculine companionship.
"Ok," continued Quatre. "You'll have to learn a few things first…."
^^^
She woke early the next morning, and looked up at Wufei, still slumbering peacefully. Smiling, she moved his resting arms from around her and got up to have a quick hot shower with the power shower she had been dying to try. Towel drying her freshened hair, she pulled on the clothes she'd been given. Typical artistic stuff. A well-worn lilac sweater, some frayed hippie jeans and a loose beret. There were minuscule spy cameras hidden in the weave of her jumper and in her bag. She'd also been given some wide rimmed glasses with nil-strength lenses, and a camera in the hinge, so the watchers could see everything she saw. Small microphones with each camera completed her innocent array.
Adjusting her beret, she sloped downstairs and grabbed some slightly overdone toast on the way out. Wufei would be annoyed that she'd left without telling him, but Suki decided that she'd prefer to get there on time, preferring not to wait for him to wake up than face the dragon's wrath.
She caught the early train to school, as she had been instructed, and got off, staring at the large white building. They could easily hide mobile suits in the area it covered. Sloppily dressed girls and guys traversed the lawns, and she could see that her outfit blended right in. The "Indifferent to the luxuries of life and absorbed in art and or poetry" look was abundant. Suki went to the front door and entered slowly, absorbing her surroundings.
^^^
"Miss Suki Chang to see the headmaster."
They'd changed her surname to make it harder to track her, and Quatre had entered Chang with a grin. Suki didn't mind much. At least they hadn't said she was married.
"You're the new student? Go right in."
The headmaster was a tall, gaunt man, with a wild cloud of white hair that appeared never to have seen a brush in the whole of it's long, wind swept life. He frowned as she came in, looking her over, then motioned for her to sit down.
"Miss Chang, I presume?"
"Yes, sir." she replied politely
"We just need to clear which lessons you'll be taking. Do you sing?"
"Yes, sir."
"Which grade?"
"Grade 5."
Suki tried not to grin. That part was true, at least. She'd given up singing when she could no longer afford the lessons, but not before she'd got to her fifth grade.
"What else do you do?"
"I paint and act."
"Very well. Do you have a soliloquy prepared?"
"Yes sir. It's taken from 'The Glory of War'."
Suki stood up, and read with a clear voice. "The magnificent armies, shining red as the blood they had spilled, each collapsed upon the other in a mighty crash as of thunder. The battle was a dance, a dance of death, which could only compare to a storm of massive proportions." She continued, listing the glories of battle in a voice that sent shivers down Quatre's spine as they listened through the microphones. The headmaster seemed impressed. All was going to plan.
"May I see some of your artwork?" he asked when she sat again.
"Certainly." She handed him a sketchbook. In it were several pencil drawings of the gundams in battle, light streaming around them. These she'd done herself as well, from photographs taken at the time. It had been a project at High School last year.
"These are good, Miss Chang. Here is your timetable. You may go. Don't hesitate to tell me if you find anything too far below you."
Suki walked out, and breathed an inner sigh of relief. She seemed to have passed for now. Indeed, he seemed quite impressed. Looking at the timetable, she made her way to her first lesson. Literature studies. Here goes…
^^^
When the first tiring day was finished, Suki made her way up to her dorm room, no. 370. It was too dangerous to go back to the Winner house, in case she was tracked. So she sat at the dresser and began to write things down on a piece of paper, things the Preventors might have missed on the recordings. Tilting the glasses towards the paper, she made the writing big enough to be seen.
"What's she doing?" Wufei asked, looking over Quatre's shoulder at the screen.
"She's writing down information so we can get it! Genius!" Winner cried, whilst having someone note down what she'd written.
-Headmaster v. impressed by war drawings. Seems to like war.
-History lesson- based on wars.
-Electronics (where had to take off glasses) using circuit boards for high energy. Beam sabres?
-All boys v. athletic. All girls smart, most athletic.
-Art teacher spent most time with people doing war drawings.
-Miss you. Good luck.
There Suki finished, gave them a few seconds, and tore the notepaper into shreds, before throwing it onto the traditional open fire. Hearing footsteps coming down the hall, she began to half-sing quietly to herself, trying to keep up her act as an artistic person. 'Dum dum, my heart will go on…near, far, hmmm', Her paper pad and pencil were suddenly used to draw a doodle of the first thing that came to mind as a teacher stuck her head in, looked at Suki and left. Highly suspicious. Suki looked down at the sketch of Wufei she had begun. Smiling to herself and re-directing her glasses she finished the head and shoulders of the pilot and thumb tacked it to the wall next to her bed.
When it came to curfew, Suki took off the glasses, held them in front of her and waved goodnight, then pulled off the sweater and dumped them both in a drawer so they couldn't watch her change. She went to sleep gazing at her picture of Wufei.
^^^
Mika wondered to himself where Suki had gone. She'd vanished somewhere, and they wouldn't tell him where she had gone. This was no holiday, that was for sure. Something odd was going on.
^^^
The next day, Suki pulled her jumper back over her head and put on the glasses, tapping them twice as a signal that she was on the move, and headed to the dining room for breakfast. It was all high-energy food.
"Hmm."
Sitting down, she was immediately the focus of the group of people on her table, who animatedly began to ask her questions.
"Hi. I'm Mike; this is Tom, Sophie, Anna and Chris."
"Suki Chang. Nice to meet you all." She said briefly before attacking her meal, hoping they wouldn't ask her difficult questions.
"So, where you from?" Chris asked quickly, grinning. Suki didn't like the kind of attention he was giving her.
"L2, originally. Then I went to art school, but got transferred here." she reeled off the story she had been given about her past.
Sophie beamed happily. "I'm from L2! Do you know so and so…" and it continued, Suki bluffing wildly, trying to keep her story fresh in her mind. It turned out she had double art first with Anna, the quiet one. Smiling thankfully, she got up to turn in her tray and retreated to the relative safety of her dorm.
^^^
Art was in the advanced IT labs today, using a complicated computer package. Suki chose the powerful little laptop in the corner, where no one could see what she was doing. Using basic hacking skills learned from the pilots, (and from an old friend from primary school had they known it) she hacked into the computer's C drive and located and unlocked a suspicious looking file. She encountered a shock when a timed identification code was triggered, but she managed to twist her way past that and finally had access to her target file. It was named 'Operation MS.' ~ Bingo. ~ Anything so well locked had to be confidential and potentially useful.
Rapidly copying it and sending the file to the Preventors, she closed the hacked files, putting a scrambler on it so no one could tell who had done it, or even that it had happened at all. She turned back to the art program, and quickly brought up and re-saved a prepared picture she had done in her spare time, which was just completed enough to look as though it had been started today. She smiled, satisfied, to herself. And Wufei had been worried that she was in danger.
^^^
At lunch, Suki's eyes were drawn to a strange, shifty looking stranger in oddly smart, formal clothes in a hall of sloppy sweaters and jeans. He was surveying the chatting teenagers with attentive dark eyes. She looked at him long enough for the camera in her glasses to get a good view. He looked unusual, and therefore suspect. She reluctantly turned her attention back to her lunch, with her jumper-cam leaning carefully towards him. Even more over-sweet high-energy food. Great. She'd heard that it was gym today, and Mike had groaned, complaining that gym was more like army boot camp. That slip had drawn her attention, Why was Mike familiar with army boot camps? She hoped the Preventors had heard his comment. She'd seen the playing field- more like a military training obstacle course. Definitely more than a bit suspicious. She turned to her new 'friends' and smiled slightly uneasily. She hoped they wouldn't notice.
"Who's that?" she asked Chris, about a muscular man in a tracksuit sitting across the hall.
"It's Mr Summers, the gym teacher. He's always really interested in the athletic kids. He has his definite favourites."
Trying not to frown, she asked another question. "What's this obsession with turning us all into superheroes?"
"I dunno. Maybe they want to use us as guinea pigs." There was a carefully blank look on Chris' face- Suki realised that he must know something. She wondered how she could winkle it out of him without getting too close. She only had eyes for Wufei, and she didn't want to get into a compromising situation. Maybe she could get Chris drunk or somehow get him to trust her…
"Well, you already looks like a guinea pig," she joked to cover her mood, getting a mock scowl from the grinning blonde suspect.
Lunch was over with the harsh sound of the bell, and it was off to singing lessons before 'boot camp'.
^^^
The PE kit was terrible. Uniform grey? It made them all look like zombies. Tracksuits or shorts, with a vest or T-shirt. Looking at the pools of thick mud strewn across the field, Suki had opted for the lighter version. The athletic Mr Summers sauntered in, and scowled at them all, looking them up and down.
"Right, girls. We're here to get you all fit. No mucking about. I want to see you get warmed up as quick as you can, and then onto the course." He hit one fist into the palm of his hand. "Discipline and hard work!" he roared. The mixed class groaned.
"Mr Summers?" Suki raised a reluctant hand. "If we're going to be actors, why do we have to be fit?"
He turned an intimidating icy glare her way. Her question had caught him off balance for a second. He groped momentarily for an answer. "Because you're young and you should be as agile and strong as possible!" he barked.
Suki flinched, and started to warm up with the others, copying their stretches. Maybe she wasn't so safe after all.
^^^
The file she'd sent the pilots was interesting. Very interesting. Full of encoded documents. They'd sent it on to Heero- he was still the best at hacking. But even after his best efforts it didn't appear to reveal any names.
"I think I've got something." A monotone voice rang out, and Sally went to see what he'd discovered.
"The new Capricorn models. Fitted with a crude form of the Zero system."
Deeply drawing in her breath, Sally exhaled quickly. "That'll be hard to combat."
"Without the Gundams, certainly." Pilot 01 turned to look at her. "We have to stop them before their plans are complete!"
^^^
Getting Chris drunk hadn't been too hard. Everyone else was busy, and she'd begged him to be her drinking partner, flirting outrageously, professing a deep hate of drinking alone. And he'd finally accepted. She had spent most of the evening buying him and herself drinks. Now, he was sitting woozily at the bar, compliant and drowsy, with a big grin plastered over his face.
"Hey Chris," Suki said with a slight slur. She'd had to have a few herself, to coax him into drinking. Maybe too many, as it was worrying her slightly under a haze of alcohol that there appeared to be two of him. She remembered her task. "Why 'dya reckon they're trying to turn us all into some sorta superheroes?" she asked, hiccuping quietly.
"For the 'suits, stupid," Chris managed, trying to get her into focus, letting out a huge belch. "We can't fly without bein' fit."
~ Got him. ~ "Which suits?"
"The mobile ones, o'course," he replied, still not realising the importance of the information he was throwing away. He giggled.
"Will I get to fly one?" she was giggling too.
A sobering hand fell heavily on her shoulder, and Suki turned to find Mr. Summers standing behind her. Innocently, she turned a surprised gaze on him, questioning him silently. She couldn't quite get him into focus. How odd. She hiccuped again.
"What do you think you are doing, Christopher? Get back to your dorm."
The drunken blonde stood unsteadily, one hand on the bar stool. He swallowed uneasily, he wasn't feeling too hot, and left shakily, still drunk and more than a bit queasy. He ran the last few steps, reaching uncontrollably.
"So, Suki. Looks like you've learned more than you'd bargained for."
She didn't care for his smile. She wished she hadn't drunk so much.
She tried to look convincing. It was hard. "Yes sir. I was only wondering why-"
"Enough. We've been watching you, Chang, and we've decided you'll be perfect for our cause. Join us."
"Yes sir!" she put a shine into her eyes, an ardour for the war he was offering. "What are we fighting for?" she asked a little to quickly. She continued to cover it up. "Not that it matters. I love to fight."
"For freedom from the ESA's tyrannical rule. That good enough?"
"Yes sir! When do I start?" She didn't have to fake her enthusiasm.
"At lunch tomorrow, Chris will show you. At ease, soldier. Go home." The stiff 'teacher' walked off, and Suki breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, I hope you got that guys," she whispered into her sweater fabric. "You'd better have." She hiccuped again and walked a little unsteadily up to her dorm.