Once again, I would like to stress that the gundam characters aren't mine... They belong to rich
people. I am not rich. Therefore, they do not belong to me.
This chapter was a bitch to write. I started it four times before I actually stuck with it. And then my
muse decided to kick in. *Glares at Puda*.
Puda: Wasn't my fault. You were stuck.
Cha: You're MY muse!! You're supposed to give inspiration!!!
Puda: I'm your computer!!!
Cha: SO???!?!!!!?
Puda: Computers can't think!!!!
Cha: SO?????!?!!!!!!
Puda: Whatever. Onto the fic.
______________________________________________
Trowa winced slightly as he dabbed antiseptic on the bite marks that adorned his
shoulder. He looked down on the wound, and sighed. He had replayed the scene over and over again
in his mind, and still, he couldn't come up with a rational explanation for what he did. Or Tyan's
reaction, for that matter.
"Need some help there, Tro?" Duo's vocalization as he entered into the kitchen broke
Trowa's train of thought. The banged boy shook his head, and went back to tending his shoulder.
"How did you get hurt anyway, Tro?" asked Duo, his voice escaping from the confines of
the refrigerator, as he searched for something to eat. Once he found the remains of a pineapple and
anchovy pizza, Duo leaned in to get a better look at Trowa's shoulder. "Are those bite marks?!
Trowa!! How kinky! Who bit you? Was she hot? Why'd she bite you anyway? Did you bite her
back? C'mon Trowa, I need details!!"
"Don't pester him, Maxwell," Duo and Trowa looked up the see Wufei standing it the
doorway, a towel around his neck, "It is none of your business what happened to Trowa at the rave,
just as it is none of Trowa's business as to how you came by those hickies on your neck."
"Oh, I'll tell you how I got 'em," Duo said, a wry grin spreading across his face, as he
chomped down onto a piece of cold pizza. "Ya see, Wuers," he began.
"Do not call me 'Wuers'."
Duo dismissed Wufei's complaint with a wave of his hand. "Whatever, Wuers.
Anyway," continued Duo, "I met this really, really, really, REALLY hot girl when we first got there.
Guys, you should have seen her. Long, rainbow coloured hair, gold eyes, all decked out in the tightest
leather pants, and the skimpiest top I have ever seen. And she was just dancing, with this, I don't
know, aura around her, all by herself. And I, Duo Maxwell, Love Machine Extraordinaire, just could
not let such a sweet, beautiful creature, get away from me." Wufei snorted and rolled his eyes at
Duo's description of himself, but the braided boy paid him no mind.
"So, I just came up next to her, and whispered in her ear, and she just turned around and
looked at me with this, like, wild gleam in her eyes, ya know, like she was some sort of animal that
was going to attack and rape me, and then the next thing I know, we were practically having sex in
the middle of the floor! And then, we kinda made it over to a semi dark area and just kept making
out, I mean, this girl was dead set on not letting me go for the rest of the night, and I was not
complaining.
"Me and her, kept kissing and touching and feeling each other up for, I don't know, at
least a couple hours. I bet it would have gone on longer, if those damned guys hadn't shown up.
'Cause the minute those lights came on, and that dude from wherever started talking, Jade, that's the
girl's name," Duo put in suddenly, "just disappeared!! Literally!! Like, she was kissing me one minute,
and the next, she's glaring at the dude that was talking, and then disappearing! Like a ghost or some
freaky shit like that. It was one of the freakiest things I'd ever seen!! And that," Duo finished
triumphantly, "is how I got the hickies." He noticed suddenly that Trowa had stopped tending to his shoulder and both he and Wufei had gone completely pale. "What? What'd I say?" Duo asked, taking another bite of his neglected pizza.
"The same thing happened with Tyan," Trowa said, his voice expressionless, and he put a
gauze pad over the teeth marks.
"What," Duo said, first swallowing a mouthful of pizza, "you were making out, or, should
I say, eating each other, and she disappeared?"
"We were dancing when the place was stormed, and she just stopped, froze up, and, like
Duo said, disappeared." Trowa bit a piece of medical tape off and stuck it to the gauze pad as he
finished with his shoulder.
"The same thing happened to me," Wufei said, his onyx eyes meeting Trowa's emerald
ones. "I was talking to a girl," he began, and Duo gasped in surprise, screamed, and promptly fell off
his chair.
"The horrors of it all!!! Wufei actually had to interact with a member of the opposite
sex!!!! And he's not dead!!! The Apocalypse is upon us!!! Batten down the hatches, seal off all the
door ways, and don't forget your towel(1), because we are all going to DIE!!!!!!!!" Duo screamed from
the floor. A second later, he popped back up, and smiled happily. "I'm done now, go on Wu-man."
"Thank you ever so much, Maxwell, for permitting me to continue," Wufei hissed to Duo,
the sarcasm dripping from his words. Duo didn't appear to notice, as he flashed Wufei a victory sign,
his mouth crammed with pizza. Trowa gave Wufei a sympathetic look, as the Chinese boy
continued.
"As I was saying, I was talking to a girl, whose name was Jordan, before the armed guard
showed up. Like both of your's descriptions, after the guards arrival, she disappeared. Then, the same
orange haired girl that originally dragged Heero off started screaming at the guard. She eventually
surrendered, and two other girls that weren't there before, appeared right behind her, and another
girl went to the front, too. Finally, Jordan, and a guy appeared near the back of the warehouse and
went forwards as well," Wufei finished.
"Heero was thrown across the floor by the orange haired girl," Trowa said, staring at
Wufei, his eyes serious.
"Her name was Con. The guard was part of the AOTC. The five girls and one guy are
important to the AOTC," Heero informed them, as he stood in the doorway alongside Wufei.
"So, lemme get this straight," Duo said, as he licked his fingers, "those six people are so
damn important to this AOTC group that they'd barge into a rave, ready to start a war, just to get
them back? I don't like this guys."
"Neither do I," agreed Wufei, "We should bring the matter up to the Preventers." Trowa
nodded in agreement.
"No."
"What do ya mean, 'no,' Heero?" Duo asked the Japanese boy.
"We don't take this to the Preventers. Not yet. Sally gave us a direct order that we are
not to do any work for the Preventers while we are on vacation," Heero looked sharply at Duo.
"So what are we supposed to do in meantime? Wait around like good little boys,
twiddling our thumbs and sit quietly until our vacation is over?!" Duo said, standing up.
"We investigate on our own," Trowa said, before Heero or Wufei had a chance to
answer. "We research the AOTC, find out what they are, what they do, and any possible motives.
Then, after our vacation is over, we take all we have found to the Preventers, and request a formal
investigation."
"And what about those people? What are they going to do? What about Jade? What
about her?" Duo asked, still angry. Wufei removed himself from the door, and walked across the
kitchen to tap Duo on the forehead.
"Think about it, Maxwell; if you went to all the trouble of bringing an armed guard to a
rave just to get six people back, would you be so quick to kill them? There's a reason the AOTC
wants them. They'll be fine," he said, sitting down in a vacant chair. Duo sighed, and fell back into
his chair.
"So the verdict's in? We don't do jack shit except research until after vacation? Oh man,
this is going to totally blow." Duo said, in an annoyed tone.
____________________________________
The little girl screamed in terror at the Storm that chased after her. She ran, ran, ran
away from it, trying to escape the whirling sands that cut and tore her skin. Finally, she couldn't run
anymore. The Storm was almost upon her! It was going to GET her, just like it GOT her parents!
The hail of bullets fell down around her, each one narrowly missing her small body.
"MAMA!!!! PAPA!!!" she wailed, as the storm fell over her, and then-
Silence.
She stood up, slowly, and looked around. The desert was calm again, the Storm, gone.
The girl wiped her eyes, and noticed shadowed figure standing before her. It walked towards her, and
she cowered back in terror.
The figure kneeled down before her, and held a hand out to her.
"Hello, my name is Mika. What's yours?
_____________________________________
Quatre felt sick. Very, very sick. He had woken up the next morning in his bed,
completely disoriented. He didn't remember going to sleep there, and didn't know how he had
gotten there when all he could remember was the rave. And why wasn't he wearing any underwear?
Quatre curled up in a tiny ball, trying to will the pain away. It didn't work. He grimaced,
and then sprang out of bed and bolted towards the bathroom. There, he fell to his knees in front of
the toilet, as bile rose up in his throat. His stomach heaved, and whatever Quatre had eaten in the
past twenty-four hours came back to haunt him. He threw up one two, three, four times, within a
fifteen minute time span, before he was finally able to lean away from the toilet.
He wiped away a strand of saliva that was trailing down his lip, and stood up, wobbling
slightly. Quatre flushed the toilet, washing away the stench of vomit that was beginning to permeate
throughout the bathroom. He grabbed his toothbrush, and began to brush his teeth with such fury
that his gums began to bleed. Quatre spat into the sink, and looked at the pink coloured foam for a
moment before rinsing it down the sink. He dropped his toothbrush into its holder, and gripped the
edges of the sink tightly. What the hell had happened last night?
He took off his leather pants, the only garment he still had on, and left them in a
crumpled heap on the bathroom's tile floor. Quatre climbed into the shower, and slid the door closed.
He turned the water on high, and reached for the shampoo, determined to eliminate all traces of the
previous night completely.
But one question still remained etched in Quatre's mind. Where had all of his clothes
gone, and *where* were his underwear?!
__________________________________
Dr. Teiru Achiwa leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples. He was exhausted from
dealing with the Chan project, and was ready to comfort himself with a brandy, when a hologram of a
scantily clad, teenage girl appeared in front of his desk.
"Yes, Minari, what is it?" Teiru asked, as the girl bowed to him.
"Caleb's team has returned, Achiwa-san," Minari said, and Teiru smiled.
"Good, good. I trust that they were successful?" He replied, and Minari bowed again.
"Yes, Achiwa-san. They are waiting for you in Room 73. Trinity has requested that you
meet with them immediately."
"Alright, inform them that I'll be along shortly. You are excused, Minari," Teiru said,
standing up from his desk as he did.
"Yes, Achiwa-san," Minari replied, and the holographic girl, disappeared. Teiru strode
out of his office, and down the hall, towards the elevators. He pressed his hand up against the print
pad, and waited until the door slid open. Teiru entered the elevator, and pressed in the numbers for
sub-level 12. The doors slid shut, and Teiru leaned back to wait until they reopened again.
As the elevator continued its descent from level 5A to sub-level 12, Teiru stared at the
closed doors, his brows furrowed with concern. Why had Trinity requested his presence? Why
hadn't Caleb, as he was the one in charge, asked for him instead? Teiru shook his head, and frowned.
Caleb, the eldest of the identical Hamilton triplets, was cheerful and a born leader. His brother,
Alexander, was more of an irresponsible punk that lived to cause trouble, while the youngest of the
three, Lang, was quiet and reserved, the brains of the trio. The triplets were the only remaining
original subjects from the Chan project, and were, in Teiru's mind, some of his best work.
The Chan project had originated from the AOTC's workings with the genetics of plants.
It had began as a hobby of sorts for Teiru Achiwa. Douglas Hamilton's, a close friend of Teiru's, wife,
Claudia, had died while giving birth to the triplets, and Douglas, overwrought with grief, committed
suicided soon afterwards, leaving Caleb, Alexander, and Lang in Teiru's care. Having already begun
testing with the genes of primates, Teiru had felt it time to move on to human subjects. And he had
three infant boys in perfect health right in front of him.
That was twenty-one years ago. Since beginning with the Hamilton triplets, there had
been a whole slew of orphans that had come into Teiru's care, one way or another. Out of the first
"batch" of children, only two had survived. One was Kyle Ramirez, a blond haired boy with amazing
physical abilities that rivaled the triplets and many of the newer subjects. The other was a girl
named Thalia "Savage" Krenigh, who had an almost inborn fighting ability that made her deadly to
all. Both were now adults of twenty, and proven members of Caleb's team.
The third second batch had elicited only one promising child, Trinity MacArthur. The
red-haired girl could only be described as one word; bad. Trinity had little use for rules and was often
in trouble as a child. Teiru had no love for her, and would have eliminated her long ago, if not for the
fact that she was the first subject to successfully display the chameleon gene, allowing her to
effectively blend into her surroundings, and securing her safety. Since her childhood, Trinity had
matured into a nineteen year-old killer, and developed an ongoing romance with Caleb, the eldest
triplet.
The third batch was more successful than the previous ones, if only because it had lead
to the creation of the AOTC's main computer system. Four active subjects were successfully
modified, one girl and three boys. The girl, a blonde beauty named Angel Audo, was an average
teenager. She worked well with others, and was the most social of all the subjects. With a gift for
computers, Angel earned a place with Caleb's team for her technical skills, which rivaled Lang's.
The three boys of the third batch, Dan Mikhail, Jason Fairfax, and Nadare Nomura, were all exactly
alike. With no stomach for action, and a dislike of interacting with others, the three began to work for
the AOTC's research labs, and came up with the idea of putting the inactive subjects to work.
Along with the four active subjects from the third batch, there were the five in active
subjects, a group of quintuplet girls called Minari, Miruna, Miyami, Mizuke and Mikata
Tanoshide. Though the girls were of exceptional intelligence, they were crippled. When they were
six, Teiru had originally planned on eliminating them, but the rest of batch three and Lang suggested
that they integrate the five girls into the AOTC's computer system, then called Quest. The
integration had been successful, and now the five young bodies were permanently wired into Quest.
The Quints were responsible for everything electronic in the AOTC, and had formed mental links
with the rest of the subjects, connecting them all at once and enabling any of the subjects to be
located at anytime.
The fourth batch was a small, but successful batch. Five children were modified to the
same level of the previous batch, and all had survived. The siblings, Thaddeus and Jordan Bryington,
along with India Black, Arconda Von Zarovich, and Tyan Shwei, were all very loyal to each other, if
not too loyal at times. The five teens were very well aware of what had been done to them as children,
and resented the AOTC for everything. Batch number four was notorious for causing trouble, and
was the bane of Teiru's existence.
The last batch, batch number five, was extremely small. Out of the fourteen children
that had been modified, only two were active. Mia Saanri and Eliza Mewberry, were only sixteen,
and the most advanced subjects that the Chan project had produced yet. The had all of the abilities
of their predecessors, yet their physical abilities were considered by Teiru superior to all. While Mia
had bonded with the fourth batch, Eliza attached herself to Alexander, the middle triplet, and was
accepted into Caleb's team partially for the new technology that had created her.
And then there was the AOTC's new project; the Kun project. It involved combing the
same techniques used in their plant experiments and the same modifications that had been used in
the Chan project to actually grow advanced humans. There had been great success so far in growing
pairs of children; the eldest, Mika and Desu, and then the younger ones, Ares and Eris, Mina and Ichi,
Remy and Artemis, and Gin and Xiao, yet they had been unsuccessful in creating one singular child.
Teiru shook himself out of his daze, as the elevator opened its doors. He exited it quickly,
and headed towards Room 73, where Caleb and his team were waiting.
__________________________________________
Duo stared at the laptop, his eyes burning. He hadn't slept in forever, and he was
exhausted. Yet Heero had insisted that they get started researching the AOTC immediately,
regardless of whether Duo needed his beauty sleep or not.
So there Duo was, at 10 o'clock in the morning, staring blankly at the laptop's screen.
Having already checked every possible place for information on the AOTC, he had finally resorted to
going to their web site.
As he scanned down through the page, barely comprehending what he was reading,
something caught his eye, a link leading to a projects page. Duo clicked on it, and after the page was
done loading, he began reading the first few lines. His eyes suddenly bugged out, and he screamed.
"Duo, what's the matter?" Quatre asked, as he entered the room from his hour long
shower.
"HORTICULTURE!!!! BOTANY!!!! THAT'S WHAT THE DAMNED AOTC DOES!!!
HORTICULTURE!!!! THEY'RE A DAMNED GREENHOUSE!!!!!" Duo finished his rant and fell
to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. "After all those hours of research, I find out they're botanists!!!"
he cried, and buried his face in his hands.
Quatre decided that it was better not to ask, and he stepped over Duo's trembling body
to go get his morning tea.
______________________________________
Teiru entered Room 73 and immediately noted several things. First, the absence of five
members of Caleb's team, including Caleb. Second, Teiru noticed that Lang was crying softly and
Angel was comforting him. Finally, he noticed that Trinity was smoking a Cuban cigar, and sure
sign that she was upset. The nineteen year-old was an avid smoker, but only turned to cigars when
she was upset.
The three young adults looked up at Teiru's entrance. He made his way over to a soft
leather chair, across from the couch that Angel and Lang were sitting on. In the chair next to him
was Trinity, the smell of her cigar permeating throughout the room.
"What happened? Where are the others? Was the missions successful?" Teiru began
rattling off questions to the group. Trinity snorted, and flicked the ash from her cigar into the dish of
the end table.
"Aye, ye fucken' mission was successful," she began, fishing a disk out of her pocket,
"'Ere's the damn disc we risked 're arses fer." She tossed it at him, and he caught quickly.
"But what happened? Where are the others? Where are Caleb and Alexander?" Teiru
asked again, dreading the worst.
"Ye know very well what 'appened. We got fucken' caught. An' as fer the others," Trinity
paused to take puff from her cigar, "they're dead."
Teiru nodded. That explained why Lang was crying; he had never been without his
brothers and was terrified. Angel looked pale and tired, exhausted from the mission.
"Angel, take Lang to his room and see that he's comfortable. Then, take this to the Quints for them
to examine. After you've done that, get some sleep. You have to show Mr. Adrian Crawford around
tomorrow," Teiru handed Angel the disc, and she helped Lang from the room, giving him a shoulder
to lean upon. Once they had left the room, Teiru turned to Trinity, his face troubled.
"Tell me everything. Now," he commanded. Trinity looked at him for a second, took
another puff on her cigar, and began.
"Th' mission began like ye said it should. We arrived separately, in pairs. Caleb an' me,
Lex an' 'Liza, Lang an' Savage, an' Kyle an' 'Ngel. We 'nfiltrated th' guy's mansion, an' that's when
trouble began.
"We all got to the center, but Lex arrived without 'Liza. 'E didn't say 'nything, just that
she was gone. Then, Kyle got shot 'n th' head twice 'n th' way out. Savage lost it then, went crazed by
Kyle's corpse. Damned sniper got 'er too 'fore we could get her out of there.
"Then, we 'ere almost out when Lex got hit in the spine with a bullet. 'E dropped to the
ground, paralyzed. Caleb ran back, t' shield 'im with 'is own body while Lex 'ealed 'imself. But th'
damn snipers kept shooting faster then Caleb and Lex could 'eal. 'Ngel an' me 'ad t' drag Lang outta
there 'fore 'e was killed as well," Trinity finished, her eyes dark.
"Why didn't you try to stay as well? If I am correct, you and Caleb are lovers. Surely you
would have cared to try and save your lover's life," Achiwa said, too upset to care if he angered the
red-haired assassin.
"Listen, ye greedy, cock-sucking, blighter, I know that yer upset with th' deaths.
Kyle an' Savage were some of th' best ye'd ever find! 'Liza was like yer own daughter! An' Caleb
an' Lex were ye pride an' joy! We all knew that ye favored them over th' rest of us! An' now that
Caleb an' Lex are gone, Lang's gonna fall apart! It's got t' be killing ye inside, bloody mother fucker!"
Trinity screamed in Teiru's face. He leaned back, and looked away. "I know that ye 'ate me, but ye
'ave t' admit that I'm right!"
"Trinity," Teiru sad cooly, "get out now." Trinity glared at the middle-aged Japanese
man in front of her, malice on her face. She ground the stub that now remained of her cigar into the
ash tray, and stormed from the room.
Once she was gone, Teiru broke into tears.
_____________________________________
Heero sat hunched over his laptop, typing furiously. He had breached the preliminary
traps and viruses that had been laid for hackers with some difficulty. Heero had never seen a system
like this before. It kept changing, like some one was constantly rewriting the defenses. He had been
going at a relatively continuous speed, when he hit a wall. Or, more specifically, a password screen
that could not be bypassed.
Heero sat for a few minutes, chewing at his lip. This had never happened before, not in all
his years as a hacker. Dr. J had trained him to be the best, and he was. But it seemed that even Heero
Yuy could be beaten. Heero sighed, and ran his hands through his permanently tousled brown hair,
and sighed. This was going to take some time.
________________________________________
Mika withdrew himself, at last, from Arconda's mind. He smiled softly, and looked over
at his constant companion, Desu. Desu smiled back, and turned his laptop's screen to show Mika the
face of Heero Yuy. The two exchanged a looked of agreement and a wink. A quick flick of the
fingers on the keyboard later, and the screen now displayed the very same password screen that
Heero was stuck at.
A few more keystrokes later, and a plain black screen was now visible. Mika giggled,
leaned over, and typed in two words.
________________________________________
Heero looked up as his screen suddenly went black. He moved the mouse around, trying
to bring the password page back up, but nothing happened. He hit the escape key, and then
Ctrl-Alt-Delete. Nothing happened.
Heero was about to restart his laptop when two words in white were typed onto the black
screen. Then, just as suddenly as his screen had disappeared, the black screen was gone, and the
password page had returned.
Heero sat there for a moment, thinking. If he was correct, the two words were the
passwords. He made his decision quickly. His fingers on the keyboard, Heero quickly typed in the
words, strawberry daiquiri.
/Welcome to the AOTC./
Heero smiled, and went back to work.
_______________________________________
Mika and Desu exchanged high-fives with each other, as Heero Yuy entered the
AOTC's main computer system. Now, they had to keep the Quints from bothering him while he
worked. The two seventeen year-olds hunched over Desu's laptop, and began to distract the Quints.
___________________________________________
Puda: THIS IS A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!!!! PLEASE PAY ATTENTION!!!!!
Cha: I want the readers to give me some help. Should I make Treize alive or dead? *Looks happily at
Treize-sama* I warn you though, if you wonderful people out there decide that Treize
should be alive, he will be MAJORILY out of character. This means no smooth,
sophisticated, suave noble. So, the power is yours to command....
Puda: And, by the way, the first footnote (1) is a reference to Douglas Adams' Hitchkier's Trilogy.
The trilogy is made up of "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy," "The Restaurant at the
End of the Universe," Life, the Universe, and Everything," and "So Long, and Thanks For
All the Fish."
Cha: If you have a towel with you, then you are considered a very together person.
Puda: Or you're just weird.
Cha: That too.
people. I am not rich. Therefore, they do not belong to me.
This chapter was a bitch to write. I started it four times before I actually stuck with it. And then my
muse decided to kick in. *Glares at Puda*.
Puda: Wasn't my fault. You were stuck.
Cha: You're MY muse!! You're supposed to give inspiration!!!
Puda: I'm your computer!!!
Cha: SO???!?!!!!?
Puda: Computers can't think!!!!
Cha: SO?????!?!!!!!!
Puda: Whatever. Onto the fic.
______________________________________________
Trowa winced slightly as he dabbed antiseptic on the bite marks that adorned his
shoulder. He looked down on the wound, and sighed. He had replayed the scene over and over again
in his mind, and still, he couldn't come up with a rational explanation for what he did. Or Tyan's
reaction, for that matter.
"Need some help there, Tro?" Duo's vocalization as he entered into the kitchen broke
Trowa's train of thought. The banged boy shook his head, and went back to tending his shoulder.
"How did you get hurt anyway, Tro?" asked Duo, his voice escaping from the confines of
the refrigerator, as he searched for something to eat. Once he found the remains of a pineapple and
anchovy pizza, Duo leaned in to get a better look at Trowa's shoulder. "Are those bite marks?!
Trowa!! How kinky! Who bit you? Was she hot? Why'd she bite you anyway? Did you bite her
back? C'mon Trowa, I need details!!"
"Don't pester him, Maxwell," Duo and Trowa looked up the see Wufei standing it the
doorway, a towel around his neck, "It is none of your business what happened to Trowa at the rave,
just as it is none of Trowa's business as to how you came by those hickies on your neck."
"Oh, I'll tell you how I got 'em," Duo said, a wry grin spreading across his face, as he
chomped down onto a piece of cold pizza. "Ya see, Wuers," he began.
"Do not call me 'Wuers'."
Duo dismissed Wufei's complaint with a wave of his hand. "Whatever, Wuers.
Anyway," continued Duo, "I met this really, really, really, REALLY hot girl when we first got there.
Guys, you should have seen her. Long, rainbow coloured hair, gold eyes, all decked out in the tightest
leather pants, and the skimpiest top I have ever seen. And she was just dancing, with this, I don't
know, aura around her, all by herself. And I, Duo Maxwell, Love Machine Extraordinaire, just could
not let such a sweet, beautiful creature, get away from me." Wufei snorted and rolled his eyes at
Duo's description of himself, but the braided boy paid him no mind.
"So, I just came up next to her, and whispered in her ear, and she just turned around and
looked at me with this, like, wild gleam in her eyes, ya know, like she was some sort of animal that
was going to attack and rape me, and then the next thing I know, we were practically having sex in
the middle of the floor! And then, we kinda made it over to a semi dark area and just kept making
out, I mean, this girl was dead set on not letting me go for the rest of the night, and I was not
complaining.
"Me and her, kept kissing and touching and feeling each other up for, I don't know, at
least a couple hours. I bet it would have gone on longer, if those damned guys hadn't shown up.
'Cause the minute those lights came on, and that dude from wherever started talking, Jade, that's the
girl's name," Duo put in suddenly, "just disappeared!! Literally!! Like, she was kissing me one minute,
and the next, she's glaring at the dude that was talking, and then disappearing! Like a ghost or some
freaky shit like that. It was one of the freakiest things I'd ever seen!! And that," Duo finished
triumphantly, "is how I got the hickies." He noticed suddenly that Trowa had stopped tending to his shoulder and both he and Wufei had gone completely pale. "What? What'd I say?" Duo asked, taking another bite of his neglected pizza.
"The same thing happened with Tyan," Trowa said, his voice expressionless, and he put a
gauze pad over the teeth marks.
"What," Duo said, first swallowing a mouthful of pizza, "you were making out, or, should
I say, eating each other, and she disappeared?"
"We were dancing when the place was stormed, and she just stopped, froze up, and, like
Duo said, disappeared." Trowa bit a piece of medical tape off and stuck it to the gauze pad as he
finished with his shoulder.
"The same thing happened to me," Wufei said, his onyx eyes meeting Trowa's emerald
ones. "I was talking to a girl," he began, and Duo gasped in surprise, screamed, and promptly fell off
his chair.
"The horrors of it all!!! Wufei actually had to interact with a member of the opposite
sex!!!! And he's not dead!!! The Apocalypse is upon us!!! Batten down the hatches, seal off all the
door ways, and don't forget your towel(1), because we are all going to DIE!!!!!!!!" Duo screamed from
the floor. A second later, he popped back up, and smiled happily. "I'm done now, go on Wu-man."
"Thank you ever so much, Maxwell, for permitting me to continue," Wufei hissed to Duo,
the sarcasm dripping from his words. Duo didn't appear to notice, as he flashed Wufei a victory sign,
his mouth crammed with pizza. Trowa gave Wufei a sympathetic look, as the Chinese boy
continued.
"As I was saying, I was talking to a girl, whose name was Jordan, before the armed guard
showed up. Like both of your's descriptions, after the guards arrival, she disappeared. Then, the same
orange haired girl that originally dragged Heero off started screaming at the guard. She eventually
surrendered, and two other girls that weren't there before, appeared right behind her, and another
girl went to the front, too. Finally, Jordan, and a guy appeared near the back of the warehouse and
went forwards as well," Wufei finished.
"Heero was thrown across the floor by the orange haired girl," Trowa said, staring at
Wufei, his eyes serious.
"Her name was Con. The guard was part of the AOTC. The five girls and one guy are
important to the AOTC," Heero informed them, as he stood in the doorway alongside Wufei.
"So, lemme get this straight," Duo said, as he licked his fingers, "those six people are so
damn important to this AOTC group that they'd barge into a rave, ready to start a war, just to get
them back? I don't like this guys."
"Neither do I," agreed Wufei, "We should bring the matter up to the Preventers." Trowa
nodded in agreement.
"No."
"What do ya mean, 'no,' Heero?" Duo asked the Japanese boy.
"We don't take this to the Preventers. Not yet. Sally gave us a direct order that we are
not to do any work for the Preventers while we are on vacation," Heero looked sharply at Duo.
"So what are we supposed to do in meantime? Wait around like good little boys,
twiddling our thumbs and sit quietly until our vacation is over?!" Duo said, standing up.
"We investigate on our own," Trowa said, before Heero or Wufei had a chance to
answer. "We research the AOTC, find out what they are, what they do, and any possible motives.
Then, after our vacation is over, we take all we have found to the Preventers, and request a formal
investigation."
"And what about those people? What are they going to do? What about Jade? What
about her?" Duo asked, still angry. Wufei removed himself from the door, and walked across the
kitchen to tap Duo on the forehead.
"Think about it, Maxwell; if you went to all the trouble of bringing an armed guard to a
rave just to get six people back, would you be so quick to kill them? There's a reason the AOTC
wants them. They'll be fine," he said, sitting down in a vacant chair. Duo sighed, and fell back into
his chair.
"So the verdict's in? We don't do jack shit except research until after vacation? Oh man,
this is going to totally blow." Duo said, in an annoyed tone.
____________________________________
The little girl screamed in terror at the Storm that chased after her. She ran, ran, ran
away from it, trying to escape the whirling sands that cut and tore her skin. Finally, she couldn't run
anymore. The Storm was almost upon her! It was going to GET her, just like it GOT her parents!
The hail of bullets fell down around her, each one narrowly missing her small body.
"MAMA!!!! PAPA!!!" she wailed, as the storm fell over her, and then-
Silence.
She stood up, slowly, and looked around. The desert was calm again, the Storm, gone.
The girl wiped her eyes, and noticed shadowed figure standing before her. It walked towards her, and
she cowered back in terror.
The figure kneeled down before her, and held a hand out to her.
"Hello, my name is Mika. What's yours?
_____________________________________
Quatre felt sick. Very, very sick. He had woken up the next morning in his bed,
completely disoriented. He didn't remember going to sleep there, and didn't know how he had
gotten there when all he could remember was the rave. And why wasn't he wearing any underwear?
Quatre curled up in a tiny ball, trying to will the pain away. It didn't work. He grimaced,
and then sprang out of bed and bolted towards the bathroom. There, he fell to his knees in front of
the toilet, as bile rose up in his throat. His stomach heaved, and whatever Quatre had eaten in the
past twenty-four hours came back to haunt him. He threw up one two, three, four times, within a
fifteen minute time span, before he was finally able to lean away from the toilet.
He wiped away a strand of saliva that was trailing down his lip, and stood up, wobbling
slightly. Quatre flushed the toilet, washing away the stench of vomit that was beginning to permeate
throughout the bathroom. He grabbed his toothbrush, and began to brush his teeth with such fury
that his gums began to bleed. Quatre spat into the sink, and looked at the pink coloured foam for a
moment before rinsing it down the sink. He dropped his toothbrush into its holder, and gripped the
edges of the sink tightly. What the hell had happened last night?
He took off his leather pants, the only garment he still had on, and left them in a
crumpled heap on the bathroom's tile floor. Quatre climbed into the shower, and slid the door closed.
He turned the water on high, and reached for the shampoo, determined to eliminate all traces of the
previous night completely.
But one question still remained etched in Quatre's mind. Where had all of his clothes
gone, and *where* were his underwear?!
__________________________________
Dr. Teiru Achiwa leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples. He was exhausted from
dealing with the Chan project, and was ready to comfort himself with a brandy, when a hologram of a
scantily clad, teenage girl appeared in front of his desk.
"Yes, Minari, what is it?" Teiru asked, as the girl bowed to him.
"Caleb's team has returned, Achiwa-san," Minari said, and Teiru smiled.
"Good, good. I trust that they were successful?" He replied, and Minari bowed again.
"Yes, Achiwa-san. They are waiting for you in Room 73. Trinity has requested that you
meet with them immediately."
"Alright, inform them that I'll be along shortly. You are excused, Minari," Teiru said,
standing up from his desk as he did.
"Yes, Achiwa-san," Minari replied, and the holographic girl, disappeared. Teiru strode
out of his office, and down the hall, towards the elevators. He pressed his hand up against the print
pad, and waited until the door slid open. Teiru entered the elevator, and pressed in the numbers for
sub-level 12. The doors slid shut, and Teiru leaned back to wait until they reopened again.
As the elevator continued its descent from level 5A to sub-level 12, Teiru stared at the
closed doors, his brows furrowed with concern. Why had Trinity requested his presence? Why
hadn't Caleb, as he was the one in charge, asked for him instead? Teiru shook his head, and frowned.
Caleb, the eldest of the identical Hamilton triplets, was cheerful and a born leader. His brother,
Alexander, was more of an irresponsible punk that lived to cause trouble, while the youngest of the
three, Lang, was quiet and reserved, the brains of the trio. The triplets were the only remaining
original subjects from the Chan project, and were, in Teiru's mind, some of his best work.
The Chan project had originated from the AOTC's workings with the genetics of plants.
It had began as a hobby of sorts for Teiru Achiwa. Douglas Hamilton's, a close friend of Teiru's, wife,
Claudia, had died while giving birth to the triplets, and Douglas, overwrought with grief, committed
suicided soon afterwards, leaving Caleb, Alexander, and Lang in Teiru's care. Having already begun
testing with the genes of primates, Teiru had felt it time to move on to human subjects. And he had
three infant boys in perfect health right in front of him.
That was twenty-one years ago. Since beginning with the Hamilton triplets, there had
been a whole slew of orphans that had come into Teiru's care, one way or another. Out of the first
"batch" of children, only two had survived. One was Kyle Ramirez, a blond haired boy with amazing
physical abilities that rivaled the triplets and many of the newer subjects. The other was a girl
named Thalia "Savage" Krenigh, who had an almost inborn fighting ability that made her deadly to
all. Both were now adults of twenty, and proven members of Caleb's team.
The third second batch had elicited only one promising child, Trinity MacArthur. The
red-haired girl could only be described as one word; bad. Trinity had little use for rules and was often
in trouble as a child. Teiru had no love for her, and would have eliminated her long ago, if not for the
fact that she was the first subject to successfully display the chameleon gene, allowing her to
effectively blend into her surroundings, and securing her safety. Since her childhood, Trinity had
matured into a nineteen year-old killer, and developed an ongoing romance with Caleb, the eldest
triplet.
The third batch was more successful than the previous ones, if only because it had lead
to the creation of the AOTC's main computer system. Four active subjects were successfully
modified, one girl and three boys. The girl, a blonde beauty named Angel Audo, was an average
teenager. She worked well with others, and was the most social of all the subjects. With a gift for
computers, Angel earned a place with Caleb's team for her technical skills, which rivaled Lang's.
The three boys of the third batch, Dan Mikhail, Jason Fairfax, and Nadare Nomura, were all exactly
alike. With no stomach for action, and a dislike of interacting with others, the three began to work for
the AOTC's research labs, and came up with the idea of putting the inactive subjects to work.
Along with the four active subjects from the third batch, there were the five in active
subjects, a group of quintuplet girls called Minari, Miruna, Miyami, Mizuke and Mikata
Tanoshide. Though the girls were of exceptional intelligence, they were crippled. When they were
six, Teiru had originally planned on eliminating them, but the rest of batch three and Lang suggested
that they integrate the five girls into the AOTC's computer system, then called Quest. The
integration had been successful, and now the five young bodies were permanently wired into Quest.
The Quints were responsible for everything electronic in the AOTC, and had formed mental links
with the rest of the subjects, connecting them all at once and enabling any of the subjects to be
located at anytime.
The fourth batch was a small, but successful batch. Five children were modified to the
same level of the previous batch, and all had survived. The siblings, Thaddeus and Jordan Bryington,
along with India Black, Arconda Von Zarovich, and Tyan Shwei, were all very loyal to each other, if
not too loyal at times. The five teens were very well aware of what had been done to them as children,
and resented the AOTC for everything. Batch number four was notorious for causing trouble, and
was the bane of Teiru's existence.
The last batch, batch number five, was extremely small. Out of the fourteen children
that had been modified, only two were active. Mia Saanri and Eliza Mewberry, were only sixteen,
and the most advanced subjects that the Chan project had produced yet. The had all of the abilities
of their predecessors, yet their physical abilities were considered by Teiru superior to all. While Mia
had bonded with the fourth batch, Eliza attached herself to Alexander, the middle triplet, and was
accepted into Caleb's team partially for the new technology that had created her.
And then there was the AOTC's new project; the Kun project. It involved combing the
same techniques used in their plant experiments and the same modifications that had been used in
the Chan project to actually grow advanced humans. There had been great success so far in growing
pairs of children; the eldest, Mika and Desu, and then the younger ones, Ares and Eris, Mina and Ichi,
Remy and Artemis, and Gin and Xiao, yet they had been unsuccessful in creating one singular child.
Teiru shook himself out of his daze, as the elevator opened its doors. He exited it quickly,
and headed towards Room 73, where Caleb and his team were waiting.
__________________________________________
Duo stared at the laptop, his eyes burning. He hadn't slept in forever, and he was
exhausted. Yet Heero had insisted that they get started researching the AOTC immediately,
regardless of whether Duo needed his beauty sleep or not.
So there Duo was, at 10 o'clock in the morning, staring blankly at the laptop's screen.
Having already checked every possible place for information on the AOTC, he had finally resorted to
going to their web site.
As he scanned down through the page, barely comprehending what he was reading,
something caught his eye, a link leading to a projects page. Duo clicked on it, and after the page was
done loading, he began reading the first few lines. His eyes suddenly bugged out, and he screamed.
"Duo, what's the matter?" Quatre asked, as he entered the room from his hour long
shower.
"HORTICULTURE!!!! BOTANY!!!! THAT'S WHAT THE DAMNED AOTC DOES!!!
HORTICULTURE!!!! THEY'RE A DAMNED GREENHOUSE!!!!!" Duo finished his rant and fell
to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. "After all those hours of research, I find out they're botanists!!!"
he cried, and buried his face in his hands.
Quatre decided that it was better not to ask, and he stepped over Duo's trembling body
to go get his morning tea.
______________________________________
Teiru entered Room 73 and immediately noted several things. First, the absence of five
members of Caleb's team, including Caleb. Second, Teiru noticed that Lang was crying softly and
Angel was comforting him. Finally, he noticed that Trinity was smoking a Cuban cigar, and sure
sign that she was upset. The nineteen year-old was an avid smoker, but only turned to cigars when
she was upset.
The three young adults looked up at Teiru's entrance. He made his way over to a soft
leather chair, across from the couch that Angel and Lang were sitting on. In the chair next to him
was Trinity, the smell of her cigar permeating throughout the room.
"What happened? Where are the others? Was the missions successful?" Teiru began
rattling off questions to the group. Trinity snorted, and flicked the ash from her cigar into the dish of
the end table.
"Aye, ye fucken' mission was successful," she began, fishing a disk out of her pocket,
"'Ere's the damn disc we risked 're arses fer." She tossed it at him, and he caught quickly.
"But what happened? Where are the others? Where are Caleb and Alexander?" Teiru
asked again, dreading the worst.
"Ye know very well what 'appened. We got fucken' caught. An' as fer the others," Trinity
paused to take puff from her cigar, "they're dead."
Teiru nodded. That explained why Lang was crying; he had never been without his
brothers and was terrified. Angel looked pale and tired, exhausted from the mission.
"Angel, take Lang to his room and see that he's comfortable. Then, take this to the Quints for them
to examine. After you've done that, get some sleep. You have to show Mr. Adrian Crawford around
tomorrow," Teiru handed Angel the disc, and she helped Lang from the room, giving him a shoulder
to lean upon. Once they had left the room, Teiru turned to Trinity, his face troubled.
"Tell me everything. Now," he commanded. Trinity looked at him for a second, took
another puff on her cigar, and began.
"Th' mission began like ye said it should. We arrived separately, in pairs. Caleb an' me,
Lex an' 'Liza, Lang an' Savage, an' Kyle an' 'Ngel. We 'nfiltrated th' guy's mansion, an' that's when
trouble began.
"We all got to the center, but Lex arrived without 'Liza. 'E didn't say 'nything, just that
she was gone. Then, Kyle got shot 'n th' head twice 'n th' way out. Savage lost it then, went crazed by
Kyle's corpse. Damned sniper got 'er too 'fore we could get her out of there.
"Then, we 'ere almost out when Lex got hit in the spine with a bullet. 'E dropped to the
ground, paralyzed. Caleb ran back, t' shield 'im with 'is own body while Lex 'ealed 'imself. But th'
damn snipers kept shooting faster then Caleb and Lex could 'eal. 'Ngel an' me 'ad t' drag Lang outta
there 'fore 'e was killed as well," Trinity finished, her eyes dark.
"Why didn't you try to stay as well? If I am correct, you and Caleb are lovers. Surely you
would have cared to try and save your lover's life," Achiwa said, too upset to care if he angered the
red-haired assassin.
"Listen, ye greedy, cock-sucking, blighter, I know that yer upset with th' deaths.
Kyle an' Savage were some of th' best ye'd ever find! 'Liza was like yer own daughter! An' Caleb
an' Lex were ye pride an' joy! We all knew that ye favored them over th' rest of us! An' now that
Caleb an' Lex are gone, Lang's gonna fall apart! It's got t' be killing ye inside, bloody mother fucker!"
Trinity screamed in Teiru's face. He leaned back, and looked away. "I know that ye 'ate me, but ye
'ave t' admit that I'm right!"
"Trinity," Teiru sad cooly, "get out now." Trinity glared at the middle-aged Japanese
man in front of her, malice on her face. She ground the stub that now remained of her cigar into the
ash tray, and stormed from the room.
Once she was gone, Teiru broke into tears.
_____________________________________
Heero sat hunched over his laptop, typing furiously. He had breached the preliminary
traps and viruses that had been laid for hackers with some difficulty. Heero had never seen a system
like this before. It kept changing, like some one was constantly rewriting the defenses. He had been
going at a relatively continuous speed, when he hit a wall. Or, more specifically, a password screen
that could not be bypassed.
Heero sat for a few minutes, chewing at his lip. This had never happened before, not in all
his years as a hacker. Dr. J had trained him to be the best, and he was. But it seemed that even Heero
Yuy could be beaten. Heero sighed, and ran his hands through his permanently tousled brown hair,
and sighed. This was going to take some time.
________________________________________
Mika withdrew himself, at last, from Arconda's mind. He smiled softly, and looked over
at his constant companion, Desu. Desu smiled back, and turned his laptop's screen to show Mika the
face of Heero Yuy. The two exchanged a looked of agreement and a wink. A quick flick of the
fingers on the keyboard later, and the screen now displayed the very same password screen that
Heero was stuck at.
A few more keystrokes later, and a plain black screen was now visible. Mika giggled,
leaned over, and typed in two words.
________________________________________
Heero looked up as his screen suddenly went black. He moved the mouse around, trying
to bring the password page back up, but nothing happened. He hit the escape key, and then
Ctrl-Alt-Delete. Nothing happened.
Heero was about to restart his laptop when two words in white were typed onto the black
screen. Then, just as suddenly as his screen had disappeared, the black screen was gone, and the
password page had returned.
Heero sat there for a moment, thinking. If he was correct, the two words were the
passwords. He made his decision quickly. His fingers on the keyboard, Heero quickly typed in the
words, strawberry daiquiri.
/Welcome to the AOTC./
Heero smiled, and went back to work.
_______________________________________
Mika and Desu exchanged high-fives with each other, as Heero Yuy entered the
AOTC's main computer system. Now, they had to keep the Quints from bothering him while he
worked. The two seventeen year-olds hunched over Desu's laptop, and began to distract the Quints.
___________________________________________
Puda: THIS IS A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!!!! PLEASE PAY ATTENTION!!!!!
Cha: I want the readers to give me some help. Should I make Treize alive or dead? *Looks happily at
Treize-sama* I warn you though, if you wonderful people out there decide that Treize
should be alive, he will be MAJORILY out of character. This means no smooth,
sophisticated, suave noble. So, the power is yours to command....
Puda: And, by the way, the first footnote (1) is a reference to Douglas Adams' Hitchkier's Trilogy.
The trilogy is made up of "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy," "The Restaurant at the
End of the Universe," Life, the Universe, and Everything," and "So Long, and Thanks For
All the Fish."
Cha: If you have a towel with you, then you are considered a very together person.
Puda: Or you're just weird.
Cha: That too.