Blank Reflection-
Blank Reflection-

By Kurenai Archangel

                                     

                                                                                [Chapter Eight]

Michaelson Strategic Base

Base Quarters

September 11, 3085

2:45 am

                A large explosion rocked the base and jolted Merian out of consciousness as he got out of his bed.

// The hell?! //

Merian walked out of the small bunker to see rubble falling and officers running for their lives. Outside, Valkyries landed around the perimeter of the base. Soldiers in a mix of green and red uniforms rushed into the complex, holding machine guns, pointing the barrel at anyone who moved. Merian ducked behind the door, and peeked around the corner to see a soldier empty an entire clip of bullets into an offier's body.

// Tamanayu… //

Other EPO officers attempting to flee for their lives were shot execution style, as their bodies fell limp to the ground. Blood poured across the marble floor as gunfire erupted through the complex. Small officer-issued pistols were nothing compared to the M-16's that the Tamanayu soldiers had in their possessions. The bullets cut through and the Officers fought to no avail. Merian got into his room and pulled out his pistol, and he began to open fire upon the soldiers in the main lobby; catching them by surprise. Two fell to his bullets, and suddenly, a pain ripped through his left arm. Looking behind him, he saw a soldier running towards him. Firing a single shot, he brought him down easily as the fell limply to the ground.

"Get out!" A soldier grabbed him from behind as he was dragged out into the main lobby, followed by the other pilots. Sean kicked back the soldier who held him, but instantly, the other soldiers pointed their barrels at him and he froze in his tracks.

"Sean, stop." Merian shook his head; he was on his knees facing the wall. "It's no use." The soldier who was kicked by Sean put the barrel to his head, veins popping out of his head; His finger pushed up against the trigger.

"No!" A scream broke the tension as a flashy dressed man stepped into the lobby. "Don't shoot him. He can be of use to us." The soldier put down the gun, finger still against the trigger. Accidentally, a shot rang out and he shot Sean in the leg. He screamed out in pain as Merian's anger piled up.

"Fool!" the high-ranked officer screamed as he walked over to the soldier. He pulled out his pistol and shot him in the head, point blank. His body fell next to Sean, who's eyes were wide open.

"Do you think that's gonna happen to us?" Tara whispered to Merian, who was trying to keep quiet.

"No. I think that officer knows that we're pilots. They might use us to fight against the EPO." Alec sat quietly against the wall, his eyes glaring through the soldier standing next to him.

"Where do you think we're gonna be taken?" Merian shook his head.

"I don't know…" Taking a glance towards Sean, who was writhing on the floor in pain, he tried to move towards him but Merian felt a cold metal press against his neck.

"Halt!" Yelled the officer that was standing by Sean. His piercing glare cut through the young man who had his barrel pressed against Merian and he slowly stepped back.

"You may…" His gaze then fell to Merian, who was on his knees and helpless, trying to aid his best friend. Merian's cold glare returned, the look so similar to the one on the battlefield.

"You son of a bitch." His words felt like sharp daggers as he threw his gaze at the officer towering above him. He flashed a smirk, then turned on his heels as the clicking of his shoes against the marble floors faded into Merian's mind as he looked at his comrade's wound. Suddenly, an array of footsteps was heard as Anna was walking down the hallway towards the lobby.

'Shit…" Sean grunted as he tried to suck in the pain of trying to move his leg. Merian, trying to support his weight, kept shifting.

"Damnit, Sean!" Merian yelled. "Hold it in!" Alec could do nothing as he was forced against the wall. Suddenly, a young man came rushing through, and he ran to one of the higher officers. Saluting, he handed a piece of paper to the officer as he ran off from the way we came. Walking out of the lobby, he signaled the other officers to follow which lead to the dragging of the pilots.

                The walk was long; hard. Trying to walk a painstaking two miles with an over 200 pound body draped over your shoulder or trying to walk with a hole in your arm didn't make it any better. Strolling through the small forest that surrounded the area, the large group of Tamanayu came to a clearing and they began boarding larges ships from where they came. Abruptly, the soldiers just left the pilots, Anna, and Claude amidst a large sea of men. Merian, dazed and confused, tried to look around.

// Shit. Sean's weight isn't making any of this better… //

Seeing a familiar face in the crowd, he noticed that it was the high-ranked officer. Walking behind him were a few officers armed with what looked like automatic rifles.

"I see that you all survived." Pausing to take a look at Sean, he continued again. "I'm sorry for that matter. I've taken care of the soldier who shot him and he shall receive proper medical attention."

Anna's cold, stern face became like stone as her empty glare returned the officer's victorious look.

"Please do not look at me like that. I managed to save you and your pilot's lives, and I don't think you want me to do anything with them… especially him." He looked toward Claude, who was ignoring him and helping Merian tend to Sean.

"Follow these officers and they will take you to a shuttle. Follow their orders or else you will pay the price." Turning around, he started off, but he looked back. "One more thing, 'Curiosity killed the cat." Returning in the direction he came from, he left the pilots confused, as the other officers started away.

// What'd he mean by 'Curiosity killed the cat'? //

Following the soldiers, they were herded into the small cabin and the door was slammed upon them. Tara looked at the door, and then she looked around the cabin.

"Shit. We're trapped…" Suddenly, a light gas began to fill the room.

"What the… H..e…" Sean said, before slumping against the wall and sliding to the ground. Holding their breaths, Merian and Alec were still standing.

// Can… barely… hold on… //

His face was turning purple, as he let his breath out. Looking to the side of him, Alec was panting as well and suddenly he had collapsed. Suddenly, his eyes closed upon him and he fell to the floor. Blackness surrounded him.

                Merian came back to when he felt two strong arms dragging him across the floor. His eyelids hung heavy over him, ready to close any second. Looking to his right, he saw Sean being dragged next to him. Suddenly, he felt himself being put onto a bed and something landing on top of him.

"Oof!" Merian grunted as the large object fell and landed upon him. Pushing the object off, he looked at it.

"Sean?"

"Huh?" Sean sat up, and he began taking in his surroundings.

"Where the hell are we?" Merian questioned, standing up. Looking around, there were three cots in the corner, a desk with a chair bolted to the floor, and the door was on the other side of the room. "This looks like some kind of maximum security prison." Sean got up, following him.

"There's gotta be some way we can get to the others." Abruptly, the door opened and another young man was thrown into a room. Sean and Merian backed up into the corner, expecting anything.

"Who are you?" Sean questioned, as he watched the figure get up. Mumbling a number of curses in Chinese, he got up to see face to face with Merian and Sean.

"It's me." He coughed, and dusted off his uniform.

"Why did you take so long to get in here?" Merian walked over to a cot and lay down on it, then turned so he was facing Alec.

"I woke up before we even landed, so I started a fight with a couple of the soldiers." He chuckled. "I'm lucky I didn't get shot, either." Sean was off on the other side of the room, looking at the wall. Tapping it, he then put his ear against the wall. Getting up, Merian walked over to Sean and kicked him.

"What the hell are you doing? You look like an idiot!" Grabbing his side, he got up.

"I was checking for weak spots in the wall, moron!" Merian returned his glare as he looked over Sean.

"You expect to punch through over a foot of reinforced concrete?" He stopped for a second, checking over his thoughts. "I don't think you can. Unless you're 'Superman' or something." Raising his glare to the near ceiling, Merian saw that there was a small vent in the wall. Slowly pulling off the cover, he looked down the dusty passageway.

"Hello?" He heard his voice echo through the tiny vent and he waited for a response. Like a high pitched answer, he heard something.
"Hello? Merian, is that you?"

"Tara? Amy? Mena?" Merian called back, waiting for a response.

// A pause in time. Had something happened? Did they get walked in upon? Are they there? //

"It's Amy." She stopped. "All three of us are over here. Are they with you?"

// They?  Who's they? //

"Oh… oh yeah, they're here with me." Merian continued again. "Keep it low. They might be able to hear if we talk this loud."

"Yeah. Have you seen Claude or Anna?"

"No."

"Where could they be?"

"We don't even know where we are in this building!" Merian snapped, his voice tense. "Sorry. I'm not happy that we got our asses kicked back there."

"Yeah, neither am I." A sudden knock at the door startled Merian as he turned to see the doorknob begin to turn.

// Shit! //

"Merian, put the vent back! Put the vent back!" Sean whispered, as he ran towards the door, slamming into it and keeping the door shut. "Merian!" Sean yelled, which pulled him out of his gaze and he slid the vent back into place. Forgetting that Amy was at the other end, she was confused and scared, hearing the previous yell of Merian's name.

~~

Mena was sitting impatiently, watching Amy standing upon the cot, yelling Merian's name.

// Is he okay? Will he be okay? //

"Amy, stop!" Tara kicked into her conversation. "Maybe someone's in their room, and they can't talk… we have to wait and see. Put the cover back on and if Merian comes back we'll continue this." Amy returned with a glare towards Tara, but she agreed mentally and she slid the cover back and sat down upon the cot.

"I hope Sean's okay…"

~~

               

                With Sean struggling the door, he saw Merian place the cover back as he let the door throw him into the desk as the soldiers butted in. Alec at the door, Sean upon the desk in pain and Merian standing next to the cot, the soldier lifted his gun and pointed it at Merian.

"What were you doing?!" Merian froze, not knowing what to do. Standing still as a statue, he did know what to do and he was frozen. Alec walked up to him and pushed the gun away from Merian in it's aim.

"He was changing, you pervert!" Alec looked toward Merian, giving him a confirmation look. A sigh of relief came to him as Merian rubbed his shoulder.
"What is it that a guy can't get changed without some privacy!" The soldier put his gun back, but he looked toward the others that were sitting there like statues.

"Come with me." The soldier snapped, he turned to leave the room as the three pilots slowly followed him out the door. The slam of metal against metal was the sound once they left the room as they walked down a pale hallway. The full color of white was all over the ceilings, the floor, the walls, with the exception of the doors. Coming to a large room with tables and chairs, the pilots were directed to sit down. Suddenly a load of commotion came from outside as Mena, Tara and Amy were pulled into the room. Sitting down next to the guys, they waited. Finally, Tara got impatient.

"What the hell are we doing here?" A soldier turned around, and he had anger in his eyes as he yelled,

"Are you hungry? God damnit, shut the hell up!" Tara was pulled back into her chair as she was quieted by Mena and Amy. Suddenly, on the other side of the room, two other people were being walked in.

// Anna? Claude? //

Straining his eyes, he saw that it certainly was Anna and Claude.

"Jesus, they're alive…" Merian let out a sigh of relief as he saw them walk up to the table and sit down. Leaning over, he tried to talk to Claude.

"Any information that would contribute to our escape?" Suddenly, everyone came to life once Merian mentioned those few words.

"They come at Nine o'clock for breakfast, Twelve o'clock for lunch, and Eight o'clock for dinner. I heard them discussing that."

"The nearest entrance is next to here, but they have patrols all over the place."

"There aren't many guards that watch us, we easily could take them out." Merian looked over towards the group of guards that were getting them food. Most of them had submachine guns, but only one or two had pistols.

"If Tara, Amy, Sean and I could get our hands on a couple of guns, we could make it out of here alive." Merian paused. "If me and Amy ask to go to the bathroom, I'm sure they will send one guard to watch us. If two accompany us we're fine. Once we get a hold of a couple of guns we can get back here to take out the rest of the guards. After that we can improvise." Merian smirked, and sat back in his chair. Everyone was thinking, but nobody knew what to do.

"Most of the guards over there have a pistol, and a sub-machine gun. So we can get at least those and a couple of clips and we can fight our way through them to get to a near Votal bay or a Shuttle bay." Everyone nodded his or her heads in agreement. Suddenly Amy butted into the conversation.

"What about the time?" She paused. "If we strike in the morning, they may be half awake and easy to take out. Lunch would be a problem since they're all awake and ready. Dinner wouldn't be one since most may be asleep by then."

"Would breakfast be a problem?" Sean asked, his voice happy.

"Thing is, we should eat first, then spring our plan." Merian looked around, checking for any signs of disagreement. "Anyone? Questions?" Nobody responded, as he looked at his watch. "Seems we're eating dinner now. Tomorrow morning guys, be ready." His gaze floated upon everyone who seemed mentally ready.

// All we need to do is prepare. Prepare… //

In less than a few minutes, the guards came over to the table and gave the pilots what looked like trays of gray mush and a cup of water. Bidding their last goodbyes for the night, the pilots walked off back to the hell where they came from.

Tamanayu High Security Complex

Base 3655-X24

September 12, 3085

7:50 am

                Sitting ready, Merian, Sean and Alec were awaiting their fate, to escape and live, or to be left back and die. It was all in fate's hands to what happened to anyone that day. Suddenly, Merian stood up.

"Are you guys ready?" Both men nodded in agreement as Merian sat upon the desk. Looking at his watch, he said,

"It's all a matter of time now…" To his surprise, a knock from the cold metal door called the three men to stand up and open the door. The large man picked up his gun.

"Breakfast." He tried to sound out, but he waved his gun and the pilots took it to themselves to move. Walking back down the pasty white hall, they returned to the cafeteria. Appearing to plan, the ladies came in, followed by Anna and Claude. Giving each other nods, they acknowledged that they were to follow suit. After eating, Merian got up and Amy followed, and they approached the guards. Merian started.

"We need to go to the bathroom." One soldier laughed, and they went into a huddle.

// It looks like they're deciding who should go… //

Suddenly, one got up, and every other one was laughing at him.

"Let's go." The guard said, walking with them outside. When they were out of view of the cafeteria, Amy looked toward Merian. Giving him a nod, she stopped. When the guard turned around, Merian landed a roundhouse kick to his throat and he grabbed it, gasping for air. Letting Amy do something, she landed a barrage of punches over his chest, landing with two kicks to the kidney area which left him in pain. Merian dealt the finishing blow by silently breaking his neck.

"Any ammo on him?" Amy asked, standing guard.

"Shit." Merian slammed his fist upon the floor in anger.

"What's wrong?" Amy asked, patience draining from her voice.

"Only a pistol, and one clip that's half loaded." He paused. "Search his body for anything else, Grenades, you know what I mean."

"Yup." Patting him down, she found an extra clip, two explosive grenades and four gas grenades. "Tear gas?"
"You take the gun, You have better marksmanship." With that, they were off to pry their friends out of the cafeteria.

~~

                Sean looked at the watch Merian left him.

"Shit… it's been over ten minutes… something's wrong…" Sean's gaze moved over from Tara to the five guards. "They should have come back by now…"

~~

                Outside, Merian opened the door a crack and rolled in a tear gas grenade into the group of guards. Looking towards the Guards, he saw that smoke began to pour into the room.

"What the hell is that?" Suddenly, shots broke though the silence, catching the guards by surprise as they were each shot in the head one by one and killed instantly. Running up to the dead guards, Claude, Alec and Tara all got their hands upon sub-machine guns, automatic rifles and a number of pistols.

"Guys, follow me." Quietly sneaking through the hallway, the group was doing a good job of staying out of sight. All of a sudden, a siren broke though the entire complex.

"Shit!" Suddenly gunfire erupted from behind them as the pilots returned fire. Killing the attacking guards, they salvaged more explosive grenades and some more clips.

"We have to get to the Votal bay!" Merian yelled over the gunfire. Approaching a large garage door, they found to their hard work that the Votal bay was there, but there were many Tamanayu officers in the room.

"Cover me!" Yelled Amy, as she ran into the room amongst cover fire. Climbing up a ladder and capturing a large machine gun emplacement, she opened fire upon many of the open officers, killing some instantly. Merian, who snuck a peek over the garage door, saw Amy firing upon a bunch of officers. Yells of pain and suffering were heard as Black hurled two grenades into the hangar. Explosions rang out as orders of 'Kill the intruders!' were filling the small room.

"Guys, get to the nearest Votals!" Amy yelled, trying to raise her voice over the emplacement's fire. As the other pilots ran into the hangar with supporting fire from Merian, Tara and Amy, the pilots began hijacking the nearest Votals. Looking towards Tara, who had an automatic rifle, she looked like a robot placed on a direct order. Firing once in a while, she scored direct head shots as her victims fell limply to the ground.

// Shit… how's she gonna deal with that? //

"Get going, Tara! Everyone else's in a Votal!" She looked back at Merian, flashed a smirk, and then ran out. Following Tara, he looked up at Amy.

"We're getting ready to blow this place! Let's move!" Screamed Merian, looking at Amy. Pausing, she jumped down and she took her submachine gun and opened fire upon anyone else that was moving. Climbing into a Votal, he looked at the helmet that was on the seat, and it said Falcon. With a smirk on his face, he fit the helmet upon his head.

"Guys, switch your channel to 105.25."

"Roger."

"Gotcha."

"Yep."

Looking around the console, he was looking for the manual override switch upon the boards. Pressing a sequence of buttons, he activated the override and the control sticks popped out of the console.

"We ready guys?"

"Let's go!" was all he got in response.

"Weapons check." The readout popped up, showing a small sequence of weapons.

Beam Cannon x2 – 3 shots ea.

Beam Sabers x1

Gatling Gun x2 - 10.000 ea

"Okay guys, let's go…" Using the Beam Cannon, he blasted a hole in the airlock, which created a hole in the side of the base. With the vacuum of space sucking everything out of the hangar, the group of guards, which arrived too late, was sucked out into the bleakness of space, to suffer a horrible death. Suddenly, many volleys of laser fire came from the complex as the pilots were attempting to escape. "Watch your maneuvering guys!" Said Sean, who was quite tense. Suddenly, a shot came and struck Tara once, which set her up for another hit. Placing himself directly in front of her, Claude received a deadly hit which disabled his movement.

// No… //

Again, a large beam blast hit Claude's Votal, which made it explode.

"No!!!" Yelled Anna, who broke out into tears. Her Votal made a break for the smoking pile of metal, but Merian held her back.

"We can't stay here, otherwise somebody else could get taken down, Anna!" She hesitated before moving again, but the sadness in her voice was easily shown. Coming out of range of the battery fire, the pilots began to return fire with what was left in the beam cannons, reducing the structure into a smoldering heap of fire and metal.

// Never look back. Never look back. //

**Notes: Thank god! I finally finished the chapter, due to the outline I'm using! LoL, anyway… Yes… I would LOVE to see someone review my story, and please give me critique on my writing since I'm getting some people to look at my story. Also, please look for my other story I'm posting in the 'Gundam' section: 'Gundam Wing: Lost Souls Return.' Heh. Okay, I'll see you later!!! PLEASE R/R!!!