Forgiving Vengeance
Part 1 Chapter 4:The Ways of War
"That's bullshit! No one can do that!" Wufei shouted as he looked out at the grounds that were used for training soldiers. It consisted of jagged, metal bars protruding from different angels that you had to weave yourself through, guns that followed your progress and randomly fired lasers at you and enormous gaps in the metal flooring which did not look as if anyone could jump them. In another section your vision was almost completely blocked by a white foggy substance that was sprayed in the air while little spherical devices that shot mock lasers at you, circled the area. Their beams did not aim to mortally wound as the previous guns did, but rather gave a sharp, lasting sting intended to immobilize it's victim rather than kill it.
Hiro smirked, "I'm curious, would the word weakling apply here or would coward suit better?"
Wufei turned furious eyes to him, "What did you say?" He demanded.
Hiro simply shrugged. "I'll show you." With a curt nod to an operator who looked on from high above the area, signaled for his time to start. Immediately he jumped in and ran through the bars seemingly without stopping skipping the holes in the floor easily. He dove and out maneuvered the guns that shot at him at the same time pulling out his own gun and methodically destroyed each one. When he came to a huge hole in the ground he lunged for the other side, and just when it appeared he would miss the other end of the floor he grabbed a small bar, which had been partially hidden and swung himself onto the other side. When he entered the area that was obscured with the white haze the Gundam pilots watched while the little round objects fired a flurry of yellow beams into the mist. For what seemed like hours when in actuality was only a few seconds there was only the sound of the yellow beams being fired, suddenly two shots exploded from the haze and two of the objects fell. Several more seconds of silence followed, again to more shots were fired and two more objects hit the floor.
"You still got it Hiro!" A loud voice blared above from a PA system.
Hiro walked out of the mist, dusting himself off. "What was my time?"
"Two minutes, forty-three seconds!"
He acknowledged that with a nod of his head.
"Wow, that was something!" Quatre said when he had reached the others.
Hiro chuckled, "I'm a little out of practice."
Heero stared at the training ground being set up once more with new guns and the new fog was being sprayed in the air. "I'd like to try it." He said plainly.
Hiro arched an eyebrow then nodded. "Tell him, " he pointed to the operator up above. "When you're ready so he can start your time."
Heero waited until the grounds were ready once more and nodded to the operator then jumped in. He moved through the area perfectly, until he came to the misted area. A short while after the round objects started firing, an agonized groan sounded through the room.
"Shut it off!" Hiro yelled to the operator while running down towards Heero, "And clear up this damn fog!" Heero was laying on his back with his hand clutching his ribs. Hiro knelt down to help him up.
"No!" Heero snapped, and tried without success to pull himself up. Giving an irritated sigh Hiro reached down and yanked Heero to his feet, "One lesson you learn pretty quickly here is how to trust each other." With that he turned his back on Heero and let him hobble back to the group.
"Anyone else want to try?" Hiro asked
They all did. And they all ended up hobbling back.
Dinner that night was filled with conversation and laughter, which had started off when Duo had walked in the dinning room and been given the semi-unique opportunity of being introduced to himself.
"What the hell?" The Duo from Hiro's world exclaimed. The Duo from Heero's world was far less subtle. "Holy shit, that's me!" The whole room erupted in laughter at the similar meeting that had taken place in Quatre's tent. It was then established from then on that Duo from Hiro's world would be referred to as Max, short for Maxwell. It was also the occasion that the Gundam pilots were given the opportunity to meet Yassa. A tall man with jet black hair and pale blue eyes whose foreboding looks contrasted with his friendly disposition, he was also Hiro's third in command. In addition to Yassa, they were introduced to his daughter, Johanna. A small girl with a cherubic face and disarming smile. She seemed to take mostly on her mother's side with one exception, her hair. Where Relena's had been a light, almost pale brown, Johanna's closely resembled her father's dark chestnut hair. Other than that, with her beautiful, deep green eyes and delicately framed features she was the very image of her mother, she had also completely won over the pilots in no time flat. Even Heero and Wufei had favored her with a pat on the head. When dinner had ended and Johanna had been put to bed, the conversation turned to more serious issues at hand.
"How much Gundanium have you mined?" Trowa asked.
"Not much I'm afraid, if I have my figures right, the most we'll be able to build right now is two. Three if we stretch it, which I don't want to do."
"When do we leave for the lab?" Quatre inquired.
"At eleven thirty, we'll get there around eleven fifty. We'll wait there until midnight when they change the guard, when this happens we'll have a window of exactly three minutes to get in."
Heero leaned back in his chair. "How many of us will there be, and how much time do we have there?"
"Approximately fifteen people, while we're there, we're going to take as much medical supplies and weapons equipment we can get, and you will have ten minutes. It take them twenty to send reinforcements but I don't want to spend any more time there than what's necessary and if it takes us three minutes to get in, it should take us three minutes to get out. That leaves us with a seven minute window to get as far away as possible." Yassa answered.
When he finished speaking Hiro stood up, "I know you all have questions you want answered, and in a few hours they will be. Until then, you may spend your time doing whatever it is you want, as long as you're here at eleven o'clock sharp." When all stood up to leave Hiro looked to Max, "I want to talk to you about something, " His gaze shifted to Yassa. "Excuse us please Yassa."
"Of course."
The moment he and Max were alone he asked, "Have you found out anything yet?"
Max shook his head, "No, not yet. We're trying to narrow the field down to who had access to the lab and who knew about its location."
Hiro wearily rubbed the sides of his head, "Sato said something about a scab, that means that whoever brought them to the lab, presumably is still with us since whoever it was hasn't been caught yet."
"I want them caught Max, I can't afford to lose anymore opportunities, we can't. Especially this one."
"I know."
"Let me know when you find out anything."
Max stood up to go, "You'll be the first to know."
When Max had departed, Hiro sat alone at the table. "Dammit!" His fist slammed down on the table. He did not need this. Not now. Not again. The first time Hiro had lost the only person he had ever loved, because of a scab, because he could not protect her, his own wife. Now it was happening again, and this time it was his daughter he was trying to protect.
The first time Hiro had ever held Johanna he knew she would grow to be a strong woman, like her mother. She had not cried when her mother had placed her in his arms, instead she had boldly stared at the man who had dared to take her away from her mother, and Hiro's heart had filled with pride.
That had been seven years ago and now Johanna was showing more and more promise of being a true natural-born leader. She had practiced shooting and swordplay ever since she could hold each of the weapons up, and now she excelled at both, she stood proudly by his side while Hiro watched his soldiers training and had recently asked to go with him on his night raids. That had been out of the question of course, but sooner or later it would not be.
He only hoped this war would be over before that time, and he sincerely hoped that he would catch whoever was leaking information, and when he did they would pay. They would pay dearly.