Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, as I'm pretty sure all of you know, BUT I'm just putting this here for the heck of it. Remember, Christy and the other new characters are mine, so if you want to use them, just ask! I more than likely will not bite your head off. Anyway, On with the fic!!
Team Gundam
Chapter 4
An Occupational Hazard
Christy groaned as the alarm clock by her bedside blared her wake up call. She quietly turned over on the hard dormitory mattress, and started to drift off to sleep. Suddenly, her eyes flew open as she remembered where she was and sat bolt upright in bed. She fumbled around in the dark until she found the switch on her lamp and clicked it on. Christy immediately squinted in the bright light, and walked over to the oversized chair, where she had laid out her Oz uniform. Scooping it up in her arms, she groggily made her way to the bathroom.
Thirty minutes later, she closed the door of her room behind her and entered the brightly-lit corridor, slipping the room key in the pocket of her uniform. It felt strange to be wearing such a tight, itchy uniform, but she had to play the part if she wanted to get her hands on that information. As she peeked around the corner of the hall, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Jumping, and whirling around, she realized it was only Trowa and Heero.
"A little jumpy, aren't we?" Trowa looked at her.
"I'm not really a morning person," Christy mumbled.
Heero narrowed his eyes at her, "Well, you'd better get over it."
Christy glared back. Who did he think he was, talking to her like a child? She straightened her shoulders and turned back around, "Let's get going."
Later that morning, Christy stifled a yawn in the meeting for new recruits. She was seated between Trowa and Heero, who looked equally as bored. However, she HAD to stay awake. If she fell asleep, she would run the risk of missing out on some important information. She carefully reached into her pocket, as to not attract attention, and made sure her tiny tape recorder was still on. It was.
"And now, soldiers of Oz, you'll be expected…" the officer droned on.
Christy slightly perked up when she heard the man talk about the places they would visit on the tour. 'Great!' she thought to herself. 'This is the perfect opportunity to check out the location of the data banks.' She glanced at Trowa who nodded, obviously thinking the same thing.
"Be sure to meet back her at 1500 hours for the Oz base tour." The officer concluded. "You're dismissed."
About fifty, half-asleep cadets stood up and stretched, slowly filing out of the conference room. Christy slowly reached into her pocket, switching off the recorder. Wordlessly, the three Preventers followed the rest of the crowd out the room.
Glancing at Heero and Trowa, Christy quietly asked, "So, what do you think? Think this tour will be beneficial or what?"
Heero nodded, "It will definitely give us a good start. At least we'll have some idea of where to look."
Trowa agreed, "Just keep a look out for where they are most likely to store their data. If its anything like the last Oz base I was at, the data rooms aren't really guarded. Christy, I'm sure you could lie your way in."
Christy shot back, "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you're pretty crafty on getting people to believe you."
Christy studied him for a minute. "I think I'll take that as a compliment."
He looked at her, "It was meant as one."
Christy turned back to Heero, "Let's find a quiet place to talk. The walls have ears."
Heero and Trowa nodded.
Christy felt exceptionally optimistic at the end of the tour and it showed. Her face absolutely glowed. The guide had pointed out all the places that would be helpful to her team. As she made her way down the hall, she met up with Trowa and Heero. The cadets had been divided into several teams, with Christy being on one and Heero and Trowa on another.
Heero and Trowa, who had been talking to each other, glanced up when they saw her.
"Hi," she chirped cheerfully. Heero just looked at her, but Trowa smiled when he saw her.
"I guess we aren't the only ones who found the tour helpful." Trowa said to Heero. Christy looked at Heero, who hadn't said a word.
"What's with you?"
Heero frowned, "Nothing. Just don't get too optimistic. It's not going to be that easy."
Christy's smile faded, "I wasn't."
Trowa looked at both of them. It seemed so strange, that they could be related when their personalities were almost complete opposites of each other.
Christy broke the silence, "Let's get going. We're done for the day. We need to discuss our next move before we get our first assignments in the morning." She turned and slowly walked down the hall. Heero and Trowa kept back a few feet.
"Do you really think it will be that hard to get the information?" Trowa muttered to Heero.
"I really don't know." Heero quietly admitted.
Christy looked out at the lights of the base from her balcony and sighed. Did Heero really think she didn't know the first thing about working undercover? 'I'll show him and Trowa that I know what I'm doing,' Christy thought to herself, silently leaning against the railing. A soft breeze blew, slightly lifting her hair from her shoulders. The lights of the base set off her face in an illuminating glow. As she gazed out into the distance, she realized why she liked coming out here. She could be by herself, as she had been for so many years.
A sudden movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She glanced over her shoulder to see her comrades.
"What are you thinking about?" Heero asked. Christy looked back out over the railing.
"Um, our mission. We need to get what we came for ASAP." She fibbed.
Heero seemed to buy her story, but Trowa looked a bit skeptical. However, he kept quiet.
Heero, cutting right to the chase, asked, "Are you going to try to get the info tomorrow?"
She looked at him, "Sure, why not?" Heero shrugged and turned to leave. He motioned for Trowa to go with him, but Trowa shook his head. Heero looked at him, puzzled.
"I…umm…want to get some fresh air." Trowa told him.
"If you can possibly get fresh air on an Oz base." Heero mumbled inaudible to the others and walked back into his room.
When she was sure Heero was gone, she quietly said, "He doesn't think I can do this does he?"
"I don't know. It's hard to read Heero sometimes. He could be scheming." Trowa answered.
"Tell me the truth, Trowa. You guys don't think I can do this do you? You think I'm over my head." She said, her jaw set and a looked of stubbornness crossed her face. Then, she slowly relented. "Maybe you're right."
Trowa suddenly put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. "You know that's not true. If you couldn't do this, you wouldn't have been sent on this mission. I don't know about Heero, but I think you can do this. Besides, who cares what we think? It's what you think."
Christy lowered her head and thought about his words. Suddenly, she forgot her usual reserve and hugged Trowa, startling them both. "Thank you," she whispered, then realizing what she had done, let him go, and in embarrassment, turned a deep crimson. She cautiously looked at Trowa, who still had a look of astonishment on his face.
"I'm sorry, I don't know where that came from." She started to explain but turned on her heal and ran back into her room, slamming the door behind her.
Trowa, still looking puzzled and confused, turned and went back to his room. When he closed the door behind him, Heero, who was sitting at the desk, reading a newspaper looked at him.
"I saw that," He said, solemnly.
"What?" Trowa asked, feeling slightly embarrassed by what had happened on the balcony.
"You know what." Heero told him, glaring at him.
Trowa didn't say anything as he picked up a magazine and sat down in one of the hard chairs. 'Great,' he thought. 'Now, Heero's going to become an overprotective brother over nothing. That's just what I need.'
Christy glanced down the hallway in the Central Database Headquarters. Nothing. Slightly smiling to herself, she pulled out an employee pass that she had carefully "borrowed" from an Oz officer. As she swiped the card through the scanner, the doors quickly slid open.
"Access granted." A computer-generated voice said. Luckily, everyone was on their lunch break, so the computer base would be deserted. 'Fools,' she thought. 'Are they so confident that they don't have any security here?' She quietly entered the room as the doors slid shut behind her. Christy pulled out a disk and quickly inserted it into the harddrive of the main computer. She pulled out a chair and quickly sat in it, searching quickly for what she needed. She didn't have a second to spare. Her eyes lit up as she found the file containing all the information on the mobile suit type that she could ever hope for. She clicked on save and frantically waited for the file to finish saving on the disk. Then, she quickly extracted it and quietly left the room. She pushed the tiny button on her watch that would tell Trowa and Heero that she had accomplished what she came for. Also, the Preventer's helicopter was on standby. They figured it wouldn't take Oz long to realize that something had happened.
She jogged down the long corridor, and stopped when she saw her comrades. She held up the disk victoriously and then slid it back down in her pocket.
"You got it?" Heero asked.
"Yup. Piece of…" She started to answer but was cut off by a blaring siren.
"Intruders have entered the Database. They are believed to be on the fourth floor." A loud voice came on the speaker over head.
"We'd better get going." Heero said taking off down the hallway with Christy and Trowa in hot pursuit.
When they reached the first floor they were still running but they saw the escape chopper ahead. 'What a welcome sight!' Christy thought as she dodged a shower of bullets. She was slightly behind Trowa and Heero was way ahead. Suddenly, an Oz officer ran out from behind a door and grabbed her arm, wrenching it out of the socket. She could practically hear the pop and cried out in agony as a searing pain shot down her arm like fire. Mustering all the strength she had, she wheeled around and kicked the officer in a rather sensitive area.
Hearing her cry, Trowa turned back just in time to see the Christy place a well-aimed kick. He made a mental note never to get her mad at him. Then, his look of amusement turned to alarm when he saw Christy catch up with him, and he realized something was wrong. For one thing, Christy was holding her left shoulder in pain and her left arm hung limply at her side. For another thing, her face was so pale it was almost white.
Heero was motioning for them to hurry up, as he climbed the rope ladder into the chopper. Trowa climbed up after him, and turned around to help Christy up, who was weak with pain. When the door finally closed behind them, and the chopper ascended, both Heero and Trowa looked at Christy in concern.
"Are you alright?" Heero worriedly asked, totally unlike himself.
Christy managed to weakly shake her head as her pain finally overtook her and blackness engulfed her. Trowa quickly reached out and caught the injured girl as she limply collapsed from her seat across from him.
Something was definitely wrong.
***There you go! Chapter 4! What do you think? Sorry about the cliffhanger, but I thought it would be a good place to stop. Please R&R people!!! Oh yeah! I almost forgot. Author's Question: Do you think anything's going to happen between Christy and Trowa? If yes, what? ^_^ Chapter 5 should be up soon.***
