Chapter 13
Wufei was not happy. That baka Maxwell had almost killed him. Most things were forgiven a drunken pilot, so Wufei decided the blame lay on Duo. That wallop upside Duo's head helped his mood, but not by much. Plus, he did not care to have been saved by a women, much less one who worked in a circus. At least Trowa was a pilot, and had used the circus as cover, he could be forgiven that. But being saved by knife throwing female side show was simply injustice. There was no other word for it. Pretty much the best thing that had happened to him today was seeing that idiot Duo get punched, and it would have been so much more satisfying if Duo's face had been on the receiving end of HIS fist.
He continued down to the cafeteria to get some food. He'd been held up most of the morning with these immature bakas, and he needed to charge the generator. Then he would go meditate in the atrium, which was on the roof. There were actual largish trees up there, and a lot of aesthetically pleasing greenery. The sunset would help him work the knots in his muscles out, too, which would be in about…he looked at his watch.."Two hours."
He got down to the cafeteria, which operated more as a small restaurant than as simply an eating hall. He ordered his dinner, and brought it up to the roof with him in a couple of small take out boxes. He sat down at a low table near the railing and under a tree, and laid his dinner out along with a thermos full of tea.
'Ah…peace.'
He had peace for about an hour while he ate and watched the sun descend. Sunsets were so uniquely..Earth. You could never see one in space or in a colony. And each one was different. There were not many things you could say that about. He sipped at his tea, and took the last bite of his dinner while he watched. He heard someone coming up behind him, and knew instinctively who it was.
"What brings you here, onna?"
"My NAME is SALLY, Wufei." Came an exasperated voice from behind him, and he almost smiled. "Say it. Just once."
"Onna. If you're not going to leave, sit down. Now, once again, what do you want?"
Sally sighed, and rolled her eyes. "Oh, well. Here goes. Duo came into the clinic earlier to get an ice pack, he had a nasty bruise on his temple. Why do I think YOU had something to do with it?"
"Because I did, onna. Though not the something you thought I did. Yuy is profoundly drunk, and Maxwell had his gun. He virtually handed it to Yuy, and that weakling baka took off like a frightened doe. We attempted to follow, logically, but he set his sights on us. That braided baka came back eventually, with the other Yuy, and they managed to disarm her brother with the help of that onna from the circus. Before they did, however, the drunken idiot landed a beautiful backhand on Maxwell."
Sally stared at him. "HEERO. Is drunk. That just HAS to involve Relena."
"I had more respect for him. Reverting to narcotics over a woman." He sipped his tea again, and stared at the horizon.
Sally stared at him incredulously. "Well, not ALL of us are lacking emotions, Wufei." Every word dripping with sarcasm.
"Emotions are weak. A strong man is not ruled by his emotions." Another sip of tea.
Sally rolled her eyes again, wondering if he actually truly BELIEVED that.
"Justice was served today, and Maxwell deserved what he received."
"Wufei, do you have ANY compassion? ANY??"
"Of course. The Yuy onna struck Maxwell in a…manly area when we first arrived, and while I did laugh at him, I helped him to where he could sit down and not collapse indignantly on the floor in pain."
Sally processed this. "Let me get this straight. Jai….struck…Duo in the balls, and you laughed at him?"
"What are you getting at, onna?" He asked, taking another sip of tea.
"Oh, never mind. What are you up here for?"
"Some peace and quiet. This day has been one surprise after another. Quite inconvenient. I just brought some food and tea," he held up the thermos, "and was going to meditate for a while. Care to watch with me, onna?"
He got up and walked about fifteen feet away, sitting in a full lotus on the grass, still watching the sun, which was now bathing them both in shades of pink light. Sally walked over with him, and sat down a few feet away.
"Wufei, I didn't know you liked sunsets."
"What are you implying, woman?"
"Nothing." She said in exasperation. "You're just not the sunset type."
"And who IS this "Sunset Type"?"
"Well,…Quatre, for one."
"Don't go comparing ME to that baka. HE's shamelessly persuing the Yuy onna."
"Really?"
Wufei didn't answer. He simply closed his eyes and began to meditate. Sally took that as what he intended to be the end of the conversation, and watched to sky glow red until shadows overtook the city. She then got up and went in, knowing that, left to his own devices, Wufei would stay here as long as it took until she left, and THEN and ONLY then, he would get up himself. She hurried down the stairs, to the elevator, and rode down to the living quarters, reflecting on the fact that Wufei, despite being…Wufei, was actually polite to her this time.
Noin stared at the computer panel, typing. She had been monitoring some somewhat suspicious activity in an area Heero had specified some weeks earlier as a danger point. She had assigned several different people to surveillance, as well as herself. AH!….There it was! They were mobilizing another squad! Noin knew as well as anyone else that dolls were no match for the pilots, especially after the new upgrades Jai had put into them. She had to wonder what they were up to, sending dolls to Earth time after time, only to have them destroyed and sold back to them as raw materials. It made no sense.
She smiled as she walked to the intercom to announce the news. They had respectfully requested, and Lady Une had granted, that all six gundam pilots be known publicly as Unit Terra.
"Unit Terra, report to the suit hangar, on the double! This is not a drill!" She hurried out the door, heading for the area herself. She didn't want to be the last one there!
All pilots converged on the suit hangar, not five minutes after the announcement was made. Noin had managed to be there second, about ten seconds after an ecstatic and bruised Duo. The others arrived at the same time, give or take five seconds, all eager to test some gundams. Especially normally quiet Heero, whose eyes were gleaming with the rest of them. (Nothing like your purpose in life to snap you out of a hangover) The early morning sun had maybe done something?
Noin took the floor. "I'll be brief. I can see you're all anxious. Another, much larger squadron of gundamium mobile dolls is bearing down on us, a fourth again as large as the one you fought last time. That should be all you need to know. Preventers, scramble!"
All six pilots rushed for their suits, snatching the ripcords and launching upward simultaneously. Noin watched them, slight envy tugging at her. Those six were all that were really needed. She and Milliardo were no longer instrumental roles in anything except being commanders.
Duo leapt into his suit, powering up all systems and closing the cockpit. He chuckled with evil laughter. His first day as the TRUE god of death! Invisible and inescapable!
"Ohhhh, this is gonna be sweet!"
He launched himself into space with the rest of them, coming to rest ten minutes later in the direct path of the incoming mobile dolls. They waited, exchanging cocky banter back and forth. The anticipated group finally came into sight.
Heero watched the dolls come closer, and as soon as they entered range, He saw the Deathscythe's boosters kick in, and after that, nothing. The suit simply disappeared. They had all felt the shockwave of his rockets igniting, and then
"YEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" came a voice over the comm, followed immediately by a line of explosions traced across the enemies front lines. Heero had to smile slightly. How long did it take him to get that far? Three seconds? Jai knew her stuff. And he had just destroyed what, ten suits in about five seconds from starting the battle? Heero decided the time had come to test HIS new abilities, and bolted forward. The targeting system kicked in, and beams of energy shot from his suit in all directions as he drew both beam sabers. He understood Duo's rush even more, now. This was…fun, he thought, as he diced through their ranks.
Trowa had seen enough. He advanced on the battle, firing all four beam gatlings at once. As Jai said they would, each energy charge homed in on the closest target. And whatever it hit was completely obliterated. He tried the missiles. Same effect, though much more satisfying. He could fire these as many times as he wanted, he realized, and smiled. He was startled by a large explosion near him, not a result of his missiles. He watched, and the explosion transformed into a gigantic sphere of flame, incinerating a dozen suits. Altron whizzed by, hacking dolls to ribbons as they attempted to avoid the fire, trident, and tail cannon all at once.
"Nataku is REBORN!" Quatre heard over the comm as the others whizzed into battle. As he suspected, Starfire had surprises of it's own. The wrist blades were now almost as long as the beam sabers Wing Zero possessed. He fired one of the concussion charges at a group of dolls, and kicked in the thrusters. A VERY satisfying sound, almost like thunder, crushed the dolls, leaving them in glittering pieces. He hurled the left heat shotel, and attacked with the right, all the while watching the glowing red blade sweep across the battlefield, slicing the dolls in half, at times. The blade returned to his suit's hand, and he fired several more concussion charges.
The battle continued, all the while Duo cackling maniacally over the comm, and all the others let out yells of exultation. The battle was over far too quickly, and Duo finally reappeared, floating upside down in front of Wing Zero.
"Hiya! Race you back!" he called, and disappeared again, though they felt the aftershock of his thrusters as he rocketed back to H.Q. The only evidence of a battle was the charred and broken remains of over three hundred mobile dolls, floating in space with the occasionally still burning giant fireball.
A young cadet, 16 years old, watched the battle in a different light. Lightly built, with short black hair allowed to dangle slightly past his ears, his features were sharp, and well defined. He was virtually a squire to the rest of the commanders and lieutenants, and while he resented it, he did his best. He had to keep his cover. He watched from several feet behind the three Peacecrafts, Lady Une, the Shiebecker girl, and Catherine while they watched the gundams annihilate the dolls. A small smile, the kind that anyone watching would have thought almost shy at being at the presence of highborns and high ranking commanders, lifted the corners of his mouth. He turned to go back to his duties. No one seemed to notice him, and that was why he was chosen and trained for this infiltration mission. No one would suspect a 16-year-old Preventer in training of anything, especially when there were dozens of others almost exactly like him in this building. The only difference was that he was more helpful than they, more eager to please. If they wished it, he brought their meals to them, and that was exactly what he did for Relena. She had seen nothing strange about an apparently awestruck and shy young boy taking it upon himself to bring her dinner. He grinned to himself, thanking whatever gods that smiled on such as he for his genius.
"Segev, please gather the mechanics at the suit hangar. The gundams will need refueling."
Segev turned back to Lady Une, saluted, and swept her a bow before hurrying out of the room. He did as he was told, and had the required mechanics grouped in the hangar by the time the pilots arrived. They landed, and positioned their gundams, once again taking no notice of the young cadet. His orders were to either destroy or steal the gundams. Naturally, the reward for the actual gundams would be greater, so that was what he intended to do. As of yet, he did not know how. Fortunately, he had quite some time to try. Being in the favor of the Princess of Sanc would help as well, and he had plans for her. His duties done for several hours, he went back to his rooms. They were much smaller and far less luxurious than those occupied on the next floor, but they suited his needs. One such need was water, and another was ros'salath. Ros'salath was a synthetically grown herb engineered by the biological department of the organization he was sent here by. The leaves were dried, and then crushed into a fine brown powder. The result was not unlike an adrenaline shot, though it was not triggered by fear and lasted twelve to fifteen hours per dose, which was a pinch in a glass of water or sprinkled on food. It dissolved instantly, and once ingested, took effect instantly as well. The effects were hightened sense of smell, sight, hearing, touch, and reflexes surpassed only by the gundam pilots. There was a downside, however. It was highly addictive, and if one did not know in what amounts to use it, it would either make you very ill, or kill you. On the other side of the spectrum, once addicted, you were enslaved. Stopping the dosage meant death. Not in SOME cases, but in ALL cases. The body became so dependent, it would completely shut itself down, one system after the other.
He himself was addicted, but he not only had the supply, it would last him years, properly dosed. He also knew exactly what amounts he needed. He needed to be VERY careful during this mission, for if he were caught, he would be detained, if not killed, and only several days into withdrawal, he would die for lack of Ros'salath. He had been addicted for over three years, and one needed only two or three moderate doses to become addicted. He still remembered his own horror at realizing he had been tricked into addiction, for the drug could be anywhere. Food, water, wine, the only thing safe to eat was fruit, but only when it was still whole and was peeled before being eaten.
He poured himself a glass of water. He sat down in front of his small table, and drew a small velvet pouch from his pocket. He undid the knot at the top, drew out a pinch between his fingers, and dropped it into the water. He swirled the clear liquid for a moment, and took two long swallows. He leaned back, and closed his eyes as he felt the fluid power flow through him. It melted the tension he felt after only a couple of hours since the last dose, and he savored the feeling before downing the rest of the glass. He opened his eyes, and the world appeared sharper, brighter. He smiled again in anticipation, and leaned back to think on his methods.
Relena had gone to her rooms after making sure the pilots, especially Heero, would be coming back safe. She had the utmost confidence in all of their abilities, but it was still draining to watch them fight, knowing they could be killed.
A knock sounded, and she answered it.
Young Segev stood there, only slightly shorter than her, a tray with him, on which was a neat meal, and a cup of steaming tea.
"Why, thank you, Segev. You really don't have to do this kind of thing for me."
"It is my pleasure, Miss Peacecraft. I only thought you might like lunch."
"Well, I am rather thirsty. Again, thank you for your consideration." Segev set the tray on the nearby table, and Relena took the teacup from it. She took a small sip, and, to her surprise, it tasted nothing like the watery tea they served in the cafeteria.
"Segev, what is this? It's very good."
Segev blushed slightly, and shrugged. "Thank you, Miss Peacecraft. It's my own blend. I'm very glad it's to your liking."
Relena took another sip, and let the hot liquid flow down her throat. She closed her eyes for a moment, and savored it. Segev took his leave, and Relena thought back to Heero. She found herself leaning toward thoughts thought all too often about him, and flushed a little.
Segev took his leave, and chuckled to himself. He had started her down the path. The early doses awakened a strong yearning for the opposite sex, and if he were careful, and timed it right, he could associate those feelings with HIM, not the tea or food. He would let her go until tomorrow with no more Ros'salath. She would have effects not dissimilar to a mild hangover, and there would be Segev, ready to make her feel better with a nice breakfast and his pleasant person. Eventually, these effects would heighten, becoming more severe as her body became more dependent on the drug, and she would be in slight delusion. He would then have a willing pawn who would help him obtain the gundams and once he was gone, sicken and slowly die for lack of Ros'salath. Heero was the most dangerous pilot, and he would be out of the way as soon as Relena was. He had not missed their slight displays of affection, no matter how discreet they were. Segev grinned to himself once more, and headed to go about his afternoon duties and training.