Firebird
Chapter 3
Evacuation
The girl leads Catherin and I out into the backstage portion of the tent. She takes the gun away from Cat's head.
"What are you doing back here? Trowa, Catherin, what's happening?!" The ringleader yells. He starts to walk forward but then the girl levels her gun at him. The other circus-folk start gathering around.
"Ok, listen to me an' listen good! I don't want to hurt anyone and I'm sorry to have ruined your show. I'm Shareena, and since I kinda dragged y'all inta this, I'm gonna explain." Everyone watches intently, anxiousss to know why the show has been ruined. "Oz isn't gone. It's got a new leader and has been operating in secret since the end of the war. The only people to have fought back is a small organization, of which I take part in. Unfortunately, our strength has been steadly falling and now we need help..."
"That's why your here, you want a Gundam pilot." The ringleader says.
"No, we want them _all_. We need all the help we can get. We won't force anybody though. We have to continue this some other time, right now, we gotta get those people outta here! My 'friend' is gonna blast this place apart!"
"I know exactly what to do..." Cat offers. She explains her plan and Shareena gets a wicked smile.
The Commander's not gonna like this... I lift my radio, a primitive thing, but people don't expect a military group to use something soooo..... AD. =This is Ghost. Commander, she got away. Hostage situation.=
=Then get them! I'm handing control over to you.=
The crackle fades away as the Commander drops the line. We must be experiencing problems elsewhere. I quickly change my Radio's tuning from the Commander's private line to the Captain's line.
=Captain Luke, this is the Ghost. I'm taking command of this operation.=
=G...g....g.....g....ghost? You're here, sir?! Where...?=
I see the man looking around. I let myself be forced further into the crowd until I'm right at the edge. I can no longer be seen by him, but using my mirror, can see him from under the banister. =I'm here. Now, send three squads down to the floor with four circled around in sniper position. And, for Heaven's sake, get the other one on crowd control!=
=Y...y...y...y..yes, sir!= "Squads one, two and three down to the center ring. Squads four to seven, sniper positions around the ring. squad eight, work on this crowd!"
I sneer. Says it like he came up with it. The fool. I'll talk to the Commander about him...
My thoughts are distracted as one of the soldier on sniper duty push me out of their way. After some scurrying, I manage to find a spot to continue my observation from, still out of view.
From backstage, a ruckus starts up. I think 7's got her work cut out. Maybe some of the circus-freaks got the drop on her. Suddenly, as the last of the three squads reaches the ring, a gun shot rings out and many screams follow.
=Shots fired, your men are now authorized to use lethal force. Continue your operation=
=Yes, sir!=
One soldier from Squad three reaches the flap to the backstage area, then topples backwards with a huge lion on him. The lion lets loose a mighty roar as more shots are fired. More animals follow, several lionesses, tigresses, tigers, bears, horses, elephants, gorillas, all unleashed upon the forces in the ring. Two more elephants were somehow let loose into the crowd. Some snipers managed to get off someshots before either the animals or the crowds swept them away.
I can't blame them though, I myself am forced to follow the crowd or be trampled underfoot. The lion roars again...
"Yee Haa!!! Now _that_ was a hoot! Someone tell me that wasn't a hoot! Anyway, I'm sorry again for dragging you all into this. Is everyone out?"
"Yes."
"Good, cuz Heero..." A large blast is heard and the wind from the attack blew at hair and loose clothing. All turned to see the huge tent burn down. Shareena winces. "When Heero's out to blow the house down, he really puffs, don't he? Anyway, down to buisness. Trowa, are ya commin' or not?"
"Ye..."
"Trowa, I thought you promised me that you were done with fighting! Besides," Catherin turns furiously to the girl in the baseball cap. "What exactly is he agreeing to, here!?"
"All he's agreeing to is coming to the base and hearing our Commanders plea with the others." Shareena tosses her hat to Cat, revealing green streaks in the hair that had been hiden beneath the cap. "Then he decides from then on. All we're askin' for is a chance to talk."
"Than talk. Why can't you do it here in front of his friends?"
Cat argues. She really doesn't want me to go.
"Cuz I ain't the one who's gonna be doin' the talkin'. Now, Trowa, you commin' or not?"
"No, he's not!" I look around to notice that the other people from the circus have all ready scattered. In the distance, I see the Wing Zero shop a carrier in half as three more land. Armed soldiers come out, about fifty per carrier. No wonder everyone's leaving so fast.
"Why you still here, chika? Ain'tcha gotten it inta your head that this don't involve you?"
"This is Catherin, my older sister. It's all right she can come."
"Uh no. Listen Trowa, my instructions were to get you, not some circus chika." Shareena argues.
"She's comming or I'm staying."
"Trowa?"
"Jeez-louise! You're more difficult than Heero and Duo put together! Speakin' of which, Heero should get here soon and Duo should be getting the carriers."
"Trowa, I can't _BELIEVE_ you're gonna listen to this lunatic! How do you know she's not just leading you into a trap!"
"Ooh, we're just one BIG _happy_ family, aren't we? You sure you want her to come?" The girl puuls out her pistol and fires it up inbto the air. She smiles and states in a perky voice. "I could always kill her."
"No way, missy, you ain't gettin' rid of me that easily. If Trowa's going than I'm comming!"
"There's Heero, get down!"
Shareena drops into a duck. I pull Catherin down. Heero's gundam changes from jet form to mobile suit. The hatch opens and Heero Yui himself jumps to the ground. "Shareena, where's Duo?"
"How'm I s'posed ta know? I psychic now? Figure it out yourself, sheesh!" She looks at her watch. "Damnit, Duo's late!"
"We have to leave soon, my gundam's not very conspicuous."
"Unless this chika can use her magical circus freak powers to turn it into a cat, we're pretty messed. And, speaking of conspicuous, nice outfit, Cat."
"It's my stage clothes." Catherin insists.
"God, I should _hope_ so!"
"Shareena, do you have anymore extra clothes?"
"No, and my flight suit's about as conspicuous as the Deathscythe-hell painted purple! Is it just me or have we said conspicuous a lot?"
Catherin laughs. "You've got some sense of humor, there, for a soldier."
"The three most important things to know about me: one; I got a _strange_ sense 'o humor, two; I have a slight obesesion with the word chika, and three; everytime you call me Shareena 'stead of Shar gets ya one step closer to the nozzle of my gun."
Ignoring her rambling, I remark, "Duo must be in trouble. It's not like him to be late."
"Speakin' yet again 'bout fashion, you need help."
"I'll go with Zero."
"Hey! Is everyone just ignoring me!?!"
"Shar, Heavy Arms is right over there. You take it and help Heero. I'll take care of Catherin."
"Fine. Hope you don't object to women's driving. Not like I care. We'll be back soon. Let's go, Heero."
Shareena disappears off into the tree-line and Heero boards his Gundam. The wing Zero lifts off the ground, changes from suit to plane, and zooms off. Moments later, my own Heavy Arms lifts off and follows afterwards."
Chapter 3
Evacuation
The girl leads Catherin and I out into the backstage portion of the tent. She takes the gun away from Cat's head.
"What are you doing back here? Trowa, Catherin, what's happening?!" The ringleader yells. He starts to walk forward but then the girl levels her gun at him. The other circus-folk start gathering around.
"Ok, listen to me an' listen good! I don't want to hurt anyone and I'm sorry to have ruined your show. I'm Shareena, and since I kinda dragged y'all inta this, I'm gonna explain." Everyone watches intently, anxiousss to know why the show has been ruined. "Oz isn't gone. It's got a new leader and has been operating in secret since the end of the war. The only people to have fought back is a small organization, of which I take part in. Unfortunately, our strength has been steadly falling and now we need help..."
"That's why your here, you want a Gundam pilot." The ringleader says.
"No, we want them _all_. We need all the help we can get. We won't force anybody though. We have to continue this some other time, right now, we gotta get those people outta here! My 'friend' is gonna blast this place apart!"
"I know exactly what to do..." Cat offers. She explains her plan and Shareena gets a wicked smile.
The Commander's not gonna like this... I lift my radio, a primitive thing, but people don't expect a military group to use something soooo..... AD. =This is Ghost. Commander, she got away. Hostage situation.=
=Then get them! I'm handing control over to you.=
The crackle fades away as the Commander drops the line. We must be experiencing problems elsewhere. I quickly change my Radio's tuning from the Commander's private line to the Captain's line.
=Captain Luke, this is the Ghost. I'm taking command of this operation.=
=G...g....g.....g....ghost? You're here, sir?! Where...?=
I see the man looking around. I let myself be forced further into the crowd until I'm right at the edge. I can no longer be seen by him, but using my mirror, can see him from under the banister. =I'm here. Now, send three squads down to the floor with four circled around in sniper position. And, for Heaven's sake, get the other one on crowd control!=
=Y...y...y...y..yes, sir!= "Squads one, two and three down to the center ring. Squads four to seven, sniper positions around the ring. squad eight, work on this crowd!"
I sneer. Says it like he came up with it. The fool. I'll talk to the Commander about him...
My thoughts are distracted as one of the soldier on sniper duty push me out of their way. After some scurrying, I manage to find a spot to continue my observation from, still out of view.
From backstage, a ruckus starts up. I think 7's got her work cut out. Maybe some of the circus-freaks got the drop on her. Suddenly, as the last of the three squads reaches the ring, a gun shot rings out and many screams follow.
=Shots fired, your men are now authorized to use lethal force. Continue your operation=
=Yes, sir!=
One soldier from Squad three reaches the flap to the backstage area, then topples backwards with a huge lion on him. The lion lets loose a mighty roar as more shots are fired. More animals follow, several lionesses, tigresses, tigers, bears, horses, elephants, gorillas, all unleashed upon the forces in the ring. Two more elephants were somehow let loose into the crowd. Some snipers managed to get off someshots before either the animals or the crowds swept them away.
I can't blame them though, I myself am forced to follow the crowd or be trampled underfoot. The lion roars again...
"Yee Haa!!! Now _that_ was a hoot! Someone tell me that wasn't a hoot! Anyway, I'm sorry again for dragging you all into this. Is everyone out?"
"Yes."
"Good, cuz Heero..." A large blast is heard and the wind from the attack blew at hair and loose clothing. All turned to see the huge tent burn down. Shareena winces. "When Heero's out to blow the house down, he really puffs, don't he? Anyway, down to buisness. Trowa, are ya commin' or not?"
"Ye..."
"Trowa, I thought you promised me that you were done with fighting! Besides," Catherin turns furiously to the girl in the baseball cap. "What exactly is he agreeing to, here!?"
"All he's agreeing to is coming to the base and hearing our Commanders plea with the others." Shareena tosses her hat to Cat, revealing green streaks in the hair that had been hiden beneath the cap. "Then he decides from then on. All we're askin' for is a chance to talk."
"Than talk. Why can't you do it here in front of his friends?"
Cat argues. She really doesn't want me to go.
"Cuz I ain't the one who's gonna be doin' the talkin'. Now, Trowa, you commin' or not?"
"No, he's not!" I look around to notice that the other people from the circus have all ready scattered. In the distance, I see the Wing Zero shop a carrier in half as three more land. Armed soldiers come out, about fifty per carrier. No wonder everyone's leaving so fast.
"Why you still here, chika? Ain'tcha gotten it inta your head that this don't involve you?"
"This is Catherin, my older sister. It's all right she can come."
"Uh no. Listen Trowa, my instructions were to get you, not some circus chika." Shareena argues.
"She's comming or I'm staying."
"Trowa?"
"Jeez-louise! You're more difficult than Heero and Duo put together! Speakin' of which, Heero should get here soon and Duo should be getting the carriers."
"Trowa, I can't _BELIEVE_ you're gonna listen to this lunatic! How do you know she's not just leading you into a trap!"
"Ooh, we're just one BIG _happy_ family, aren't we? You sure you want her to come?" The girl puuls out her pistol and fires it up inbto the air. She smiles and states in a perky voice. "I could always kill her."
"No way, missy, you ain't gettin' rid of me that easily. If Trowa's going than I'm comming!"
"There's Heero, get down!"
Shareena drops into a duck. I pull Catherin down. Heero's gundam changes from jet form to mobile suit. The hatch opens and Heero Yui himself jumps to the ground. "Shareena, where's Duo?"
"How'm I s'posed ta know? I psychic now? Figure it out yourself, sheesh!" She looks at her watch. "Damnit, Duo's late!"
"We have to leave soon, my gundam's not very conspicuous."
"Unless this chika can use her magical circus freak powers to turn it into a cat, we're pretty messed. And, speaking of conspicuous, nice outfit, Cat."
"It's my stage clothes." Catherin insists.
"God, I should _hope_ so!"
"Shareena, do you have anymore extra clothes?"
"No, and my flight suit's about as conspicuous as the Deathscythe-hell painted purple! Is it just me or have we said conspicuous a lot?"
Catherin laughs. "You've got some sense of humor, there, for a soldier."
"The three most important things to know about me: one; I got a _strange_ sense 'o humor, two; I have a slight obesesion with the word chika, and three; everytime you call me Shareena 'stead of Shar gets ya one step closer to the nozzle of my gun."
Ignoring her rambling, I remark, "Duo must be in trouble. It's not like him to be late."
"Speakin' yet again 'bout fashion, you need help."
"I'll go with Zero."
"Hey! Is everyone just ignoring me!?!"
"Shar, Heavy Arms is right over there. You take it and help Heero. I'll take care of Catherin."
"Fine. Hope you don't object to women's driving. Not like I care. We'll be back soon. Let's go, Heero."
Shareena disappears off into the tree-line and Heero boards his Gundam. The wing Zero lifts off the ground, changes from suit to plane, and zooms off. Moments later, my own Heavy Arms lifts off and follows afterwards."