Several days later Scott knocked on the door to Julia Surd's house. He had a list of all the people who were known to have associated with the Phoenix in her alter ego, Rina Krace, and was visiting them one by one. It was an activity that the his superiors approved of, and one that was giving him a lot of information. Of course, he wasn't allowed to speak to Ambassador Krace, who was still suspected of having Rebel sympathies, especially now that his daughter had been revealed as one of them, but Andrews could still visit other people who had contact with her. He'd saved Julia until near the end of his list, wanting to see some other people's responses before he got to Rina Krace's best friend, or at least the equivalent. Rina Krace had no real close friends, with good reason. The responses from her acquaintances had varied greatly - some people refused to talk to him until he threatened to bring the Alliance military into it, and others spoke at great length about her. Some said that she couldn't have done what she did, others refused to make a judgment, while others believed the accusations. There were those who openly supported the Rebels, and others who outright condemned them, but no common belief. The only constant among all of them was their fear of the Alliance and of retributions for whatever they said to him. It was a fear that ran deep, a fear that had increased since he had left the colonies for his studies on Earth.
A maid answered his knock, and asked, "Can I help you?"
"Yes, I'm here to speak to Miss Julia Surd."
"May I ask who is calling on her?"
"My name is Dr. Scott Andrews and I work for the Alliance. I'd like to speak with Miss Surd about Rina Krace."
The woman gasped and started to close the door in his face. Well used to this performance, Scott stuck his foot in the door. "Mam, please inform Miss Surd that I am here or I will be forced to return with guards. Armed guards." He put a bit of an edge in his voice to make it sound threatening. She gave a startled squeak and then let him in.
"Please wait here," she told him, and hurried out of sight. There was an unusually long wait, then an older woman came out.
"I am Mrs. Surd," she said in a forceful voice. "Why do you want to speak with my daughter?"
"She's known to be an acquaintance of Rina Krace, who was arrested for treason against the Alliance a few months ago."
"Surely you don't believe my daughter had anything to do with those Rebels?"
Scott sighed. This wasn't the first time a frightened parent had tried to run interference for their children, and he was getting sick of it. The Alliance wasn't some monster that was going to snatch their children and run off with them. "As a matter of fact, she is an acquaintance of Rina Krace, who is a Rebel, and so she has had something to do with the Rebels. My job here is to gather information about Rina Krace, but if I can clear your daughter from any hint of suspicion, I would be glad to do that, too." Actually, there was no hint of suspicion about Julia Surd. If there had been, he certainly wouldn't have come here, but her mother didn't know that.
"It's all right mother," said a soft voice. An eighteen-year old colonist girl walked into the room. "I haven't done anything and Kelli said he threatened to bring back guards if I didn't cooperate." Andrews was impressed by her poise, that she managed to continue smiling even as she repeated this threat. It must be something that those whose parents were involved in politics learned instinctively, since several of the children he'd interviewed had similar mannerisms. "This way sir," she gestured gracefully with one hand, but he noticed it trembling a little and knew that she was as frightened of him as all the others.
She led him into a small study and gestured for him to take one of the seats while she took another. "What do you want to talk about?" she asked, glancing nervously at her hands clasped in her lap.
"I told your mother already. I'm here to discuss Rina Krace."
"What?"
"Rina Krace," he replied a bit louder, wondering if she was slightly deaf. The room was pretty quiet, and he hadn't spoken that softly. She blushed bright red and looked down at her hands again.
"Oh. What did you want to ask?"
"I wanted to ask what sort of person she was."
"Very nice. She never spread any rumors, even about people who told lies about her. She was kind of a loner... but I guess that makes sense now."
"So you had no idea about her Rebel leanings?"
"No."
"Tell me more about her."
"What do you want to hear? She was a good student... I had a good time when we went out together, but we hadn't done that in months before she was arrested..." Her face clouded up and a tear worked it's way down her cheek. "I'm sorry," she exclaimed, blotting at the tear with her handkerchief. "Ah, what else?" she murmured to herself as she reigned in her tears. "She... she was very kind to me when my father died, and she was just a little kid then..." she suddenly cut herself off. "I'm not going to tell you that I always was suspicious of her, or that I thought she might be a Rebel, even if I didn't have any evidence. I won't tell you anything that will get her convicted. She was... is my friend, if she's still alive," she added a little sourly.
He stared at her, refusing to confirm or deny her comment, and she looked away. "I'm sorry, I just miss her, and I'm worried about her. No one has seen or heard from her since she was arrested, and you hear these stories... I guess they're all just ridiculous. Is there anything else?"
"No, nothing else," he said with a sigh, wondering what on Earth he was doing here. Of course none of Rina Krace's acquaintances would know anything about the true her, about whether or not she was a killer. She'd been too busy pretending to be Rina Krace to let anything like that slip. He bade her a polite goodbye and managed not to comment on how her hands trembled when he shook them. She was worse than most of them, absolutely terrified of the Alliance.
As he walked out the front door and down the street, he wondered what else he should do. He'd spoken to most of Rina Krace's acquaintances, and learned nothing new about the Phoenix. The only thing he had learned was that most of the people living in the colonies had a great deal of fear of the Alliance. When had that happened? When he left, nearly ten years ago, people had been anxious but not outright terrified, not like that girl, not like several of the other kids and their parents too. When... and more importantly... why had things changed so much?
Scott still had several days left before he had to return to headquarters to continue his work with the Phoenix, if he didn't ask for a transfer before then. He decided to call his parents tonight. They lived in Bertin colony, and he hadn't spoken to them in months. They strongly disapproved of his decision to join the Alliance, and didn't talk to him much anymore. A wall had grown between them since he joined the Alliance - he couldn't talk about his work at all, and half of what they said could get them arrested if he'd ever reported it. He never would, of course. He'd never report anyone he knew. They could probably tell him why things had changed so much, if they'd speak to him. He could also call on some of his old friends - some of them were living in Alpha colony now - and ask their opinions. At the very least, it would give him something to do for the next few days.
----------
Julia Surd waited several minutes until after the Alliance agent left. She had almost managed to convince herself that he was gone and hadn't suspected anything when her mother opened the door, almost causing her to jump out of her skin.
"Juli, are you all right?" her mother asked worriedly. "He isn't going to..."
"No, he just asked me about Rina. I don't think they suspect me at all. I think he just wanted to make you let me talk to him. He knows I've never had anything to do with the Rebels. I just need some time alone to think."
Her mother nodded and closed the door, leaving her in silence. Julia thought, feeling very guilty about lying to her mother. But she couldn't tell anyone about this, at least not right now. She promised herself that as soon as it was safe she'd tell her mother everything. For now, she walked over to the base of the pedestal right next to where the agent had been sitting. With trembling hands she withdrew the tape recorder, reassuring herself that it was still recording. She stopped it and took out the tape, then put the tape recorder back where it belonged on the desk and replaced the tape that had been in it. Pocketing the other tape, she breathed a sigh of relief. Now there was no evidence that she'd done anything at all, except for the tape in her pocket.
She sat down at the desk and pulled out the phone. Dialing the number they had told her so many weeks ago, she remembered their instructions: "If you have anything, call this number. When it picks up you'll hear a click and nothing else. Say that you have something and then hang up. We'll handle the rest and it ought to keep you safe."
The phone rang once and then she heard a click on the other end as someone picked up the phone. "I have something," she whispered into the receiver. There was a pause on the other end, then a click and the dial tone as whoever it was hung up on her. She put down the phone and slumped back in the chair. she thought. she told herself. After a few seconds the other boy returned. "It's all clear," he hissed. "Come on."
"Wait, how will I know if I did any good?" she asked.
"Watch the news, honey," he replied as the Asian boy joined him on the sill.
"No, I want to help if I can," she replied, following them to the window. They exchanged another glance.
"We'll let you know if there's anything you can do to help," said the first boy. Then they disappeared into the darkness.
-------------
"So what do you think?" Herc asked in a low voice as they took a roundabout route back to the base, just in case. "Can we do anything with it?"
"It depends whether he's a regular staff member of the base," Kan replied. If he was, then they'd have no record of him, and it would be very difficult to find him. Basically they'd be back where they started, but Kan didn't mention that. "If he isn't, then they must have brought him in from somewhere. We know that he was in Alpha colony today, unless they're shuttling him back and forth every night, he must be staying somewhere. If we can figure out who he is, and if we can find out where he's staying, and if he hasn't returned to the base already..."
Herc sighed. That was an awful lot of 'ifs' and they both knew it. But this was the first time they'd had any sort of ID of a person who worked on that base. They had to use it. Especially after that girl risked herself to get them the information. She must have liked Rina a lot, to put herself in danger for them even though Heero had killed her father. Then it suddenly occurred to him that maybe she didn't know that Heero had killed her father. Heero and Arthur had made the first contact. Arthur had a way of not telling the whole truth at times, in order to get people's cooperation. Had he done the same here? Herc decided. He had a hard time picturing that girl knowingly helping people who had among them the person who had killed her father, no matter how good the cause or how long ago the incident was.
He heard footsteps behind him. "We've got company," he murmured to Kan, who nodded.
They picked up their pace a little, trying to force whoever was following them into revealing themselves. With a slight jerk of his head, Kan indicated a dead-end street. Without speaking, they turned at exactly the same moment and walked into the alley. It was done with an unconscious coordination that was the result of living and working together for more than sixteen years, for their entire lives. Knowing what the plan was without speaking, Herc retreated to the end of the alley, where he was closed in on three sides by tall walls. Kan flattened himself against the wall near the entrance and changed both his skin and hair to dark black. In the dim light he was almost invisible, especially if he kept his eyes mostly closed.
Sure enough, the Alliance soldiers that were following them fell for it. There were two of them, both fairly young, obviously inexperienced normal soldiers, not even elite. Nothing that either he or Kan couldn't handle while blindfolded. The lead soldier ran down the street, brandishing a large blaster. "Freeze!" he ordered and his voice trembled. Herc cracked a smile. The level of skill and confidence among the Alliance soldiers was certainly falling.
"Hey, I don't want any trouble here," Herc said, grinning broadly as he raised his hands in the air while Kan silently moved around behind them.
"Hey!" the second soldier exclaimed. "It's him! The one we're looking for!"
"Shut up!" the first one said. "Where's your buddy?"
"I'm right here," Kan said from behind them, returning to his normal appearance. Both men jumped and spun to face him, aiming their guns. In a few seconds they realized what a bad idea this was, and the second one turned back to face Herc, reinforcing his opinion that the quality of soldiers was dropping.
"How did he do that?" he hissed to his partner. Herc noted with some amusement how much the gun in his hand was shaking. This guy was really scared. Herc decided to have some fun.
"Hey, you want to take them, or should I?" he called to Kan.
Kan's eyes narrowed slightly as he realized what Herc was doing, then he also smiled. "You can have them," he said with a negligent wave of his hand, and both men went absolutely white. They almost looked like colonists, except for their colored hair.
"Really? Are you sure? You let me have the last ones too." Herc was making all of this up off the top of his head, and having a great time.
"No, it's no problem. They're not worth my time," Kan said with a slight shake of his head.
Herc shrugged. "If that's how you feel..." he launched himself at the nearer of the two as Kan launched himself at the other. Herc turned his body and slid to the right as a bullet passed through the space he had just occupied, then slammed his fist into the man's jaw. The helpless soldier immediately dropped to the ground. Herc grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him up off the ground, hand poised to strike if this was some sort of trick, but the man really was unconscious, so he held back the killing blow. The truth was that he felt somewhat sorry for these humans who had obviously been completely out of their league, and badly informed too. If they knew anything about their targets, they would have called in backup once they spotted them.
Herc thought as he completed a quick search of the man. He found nothing unusual - these were just two street men who had the misfortune to notice them. He stood up, noting that Kan had killed his man. "That was fun," he remarked.
"Speak for yourself," Kan replied. "This one's gun hand was shaking so much that I wasn't sure which way to dodge." He glanced at Herc's man. "You didn't kill him," he observed.
Herc shrugged. "Didn't feel like it. He'll give some of his comrades nightmares about us. That could be interesting."
Kan made a noncommittal sound. "Lets get back to base before we have anymore company."
They made it back to the base without any other problems. "Should we check this first or report to Heero?" Herc wondered out loud.
"Let's check it," Kan advised. "We don't want everyone getting excited over nothing."
They went to their room, which was empty. Kan seated himself at the computer they'd gotten installed in here. He pulled out the tape and stuck it into a slot reserved for this function. In a few minutes he had two distinct vocal prints showing on the computer. He got a quick match on one of them - it was the girl - which meant the other one was the Alliance agent.
"It would probably be easier to narrow the search first," Herc advised. "There can't be that many colonists working for the Alliance."
"I'll do that," Kan replied through clenched teeth. He was obviously irritated at Herc for telling him something so obvious.
"All right! Take it easy! You can take care of it, I know! It's just... this is Rina we're talking about here!"
Kan's expression softened slightly. "I understand," he said shortly. "Ah-ha. I have it. There are currently one thousand, seven hundred and fifty-three colonists working for the Alliance."
Herc let out a low whistle. "That many?" he asked, surprised.
"In an organization of several million, that's not very many," Kan said as he started trying to match up the voiceprint.
"Yeah, but still..." Herc fell silent as the computer flashed through hundreds of entries in just seconds. They'd know pretty quickly if he was located in the regular files or not.
Suddenly a file appeared on the screen, along with a picture of a colonist. "We have a match," Kan said, sounding more than a little stunned.
Herc was not so reserved. "Woo-hoo!" he shouted, raising a fist into the air. "Do they have a location on him?"
"Just a second, I'm checking," Kan told him. "His current post is classified... not surprising, that, but..." he actually smiled, sitting back in his seat. "They've also got him a hotel room here in Alpha. And it says that he'll be here for two more days. We've got him."
------------
The next night Scott was depressed as he returned from a friend's house. Things had changed greatly since he had left the colonies, and definitely for the worse. By everyone's account the Alliance had become even more militaristic and more flagrant in its disregard for people's rights. The Rebels had more sympathy in the minds of the colonists than anyone at the Alliance had realized, and they seemed to have good reason, too. By now Scott realized that while the girl might have been lying about some things, she hadn't been lying about everything, and her statements about the Alliance had been mostly true. He knew that he couldn't go back to the base tomorrow and help interrogate the Phoenix anymore, and he wasn't even sure if he could return to the Alliance at all. But what would happen to him if he attempted to resign?
He was feeling somewhat lethargic as he closed the door to his hotel room and reached his hand out to turn on the lights. The feeling fled rather quickly as a hand reached out and gripped his wrist, then twisted it up behind him and pushed him against the wall. He felt something cold pressing against the back of his head. "Freeze," ordered a low voice, "and you might live through this." Scott obediently froze.
He heard the sound of curtains being closed, and then a pair of handcuffs was tightened around his wrists, and his still unseen attacker threw him backwards onto the bed, and the lights were flicked on. Scott stared in shock and then growing horror as his eyes adjusted to the light and he could make out three figures. There were three boys, all about sixteen years old and all carrying a number of weapons. They wore expressions that didn't belong on any child he had ever seen. They were very, very threatening. "That's him," the boy standing farthest from him said. "Is he armed?"
"No," the boy standing closest to him said. This was the one who had grabbed him when he first came in.
Scott's eyes threatened to burst out of his sockets. "You're... you're the ones from Project Titan, the ones that got away! You're... you're One and Four and Five!" He recognized their pictures from the background data he'd been given on the girl.
One glanced at Four. "Will this be a problem?"
"Shouldn't be," Four replied. He opened a box and set it on the bed beside Scott. "It might even help. Put him in the chair."
Scott froze in terror as One walked over and easily lifted him off the bed and set him down none-to-gently in one of the chairs provided by the hotel. It was easy to look at a file and know intellectually how strong these genetically engineered children were, but it was quite another thing entirely to experience that for yourself. He'd never seen it with the Phoenix because of the way she'd been held, but now he could see the necessity of holding her that way. There was no way that ordinary handcuffs could have held her. His eyes widened in terror as Four pulled out a hypospray. He started to flinch away as Four reached for his neck, but was surprised when he felt a slight prick on his arm instead. "What are you doing to me?" he demanded, terrified.
"Calm down," Four advised in a bored tone, pulling over the other chair and sitting on it, straddling the back with his legs. He rested his arms on the back of the chair, looking completely calm and in control, as if he'd done this hundreds of times before. Scott realized what he was doing, how he was using a combination of drugs and attitude to establish his position before interrogating his prisoner - he'd used those methods himself - but he'd never seen it done so well, with such confidence, as if he knew that no prisoner could hold any secrets from him. Scott told himself, trying to remain calm, but all of the data he'd seen on them only served to heighten his terror.
"It's just your basic interrogation, something I'm sure that you're familiar with. It won't be so bad," Four continued. "This stuff isn't half as painful as the stuff I used when I was working for the Alliance, but it is more effective. This will go a lot easier for you if you don't try to resist. If we hear everything we want to know, we'll keep you alive as a prisoner, and you'll be relatively comfortable. If you resist..." he shrugged practically. "Then we'll have to start on the methods the Alliance prefers. I doubt you'll be able to hold out a day, but that's just my opinion. We'll see." And with those terrifying words in his mind, Scott slipped into a drugged stupor.
--------------
When he woke some time later, he didn't know how long, the first thing he remembered hearing was, "He's coming out of it, right on time." He saw the three boys sitting on the bed, looking at something.
"What happened?" he asked, trying to wake up.
"You cooperated," Four said, walking over and putting a glass of water to his lips. "Drink this, the drug dehydrates you."
"I... what?" Scott asked after he swallowed the water.
"You cooperated, otherwise you'd feel a whole lot worse. Good job."
"How... how long has it been?"
"Just under an hour."
"What did I tell you?" he asked, trying to remember what had happened.
"Everything we need to know," Five replied with a wicked grin. He was writing something.
"You're planning to attack headquarters," Scott said slowly, trying to draw some facts out of his muddled brain. "I remember... I told you the location, didn't I?"
"You didn't resist at all," Four said, looking at him thoughtfully. "Why is that?"
"I... I don't know," Scott lied, thinking of his earlier thoughts about whether or not to return to the Alliance at all.
"Don't lie, I know when you do." Four opened his mouth to say more, but a gesture from One brought him back to the bed to stare at whatever Five was writing. Scott saw One's mouth move, but no sound came out. Four stared at him, glanced at Scott, and then nodded. He picked up the paper and walked back over to Scott. "Is this the layout of the base?" he asked, holding up the paper so that Scott could see it.
"How did you know that?" Scott demanded in a harsh whisper before he realized he'd given himself away.
The boys exchanged a glance, and Five grinned again. "I designed the base's security when I was five. They didn't tell me the location, but they gave me the layout for me to design the security around. The fools haven't changed it since then."
Scott paled as he realized what this meant, that they knew every aspect of the security for the base, and that presumably they could bypass all of that security. The Alliance headquarters was at their mercy, now that they knew its location, thanks to him.
"You never answered my question," Four said, turning back to him. He studied Scott's face, then broke into a grin. The expression made his face seem impossibly young. "Rina's been working on you, hasn't she?"
"Rina? You mean the Phoenix?" Scott asked. "What do you mean, working on me?"
"Teaching you the truth about the Alliance, the same way she did with us," Four said, still smiling. "You were having doubts already, weren't you?"
"You're going to rescue her, aren't you?" Scott felt a hint of hope in his mind. Maybe the Phoenix wouldn't be broken, maybe the Alliance wouldn't take over the colonies completely...
"What should we do with him?"
"Bring him back to the base. We'll figure out what to do with him later."
"Wait! Did I tell you what they did to her? What they did to her legs?"
Four, who had been about to inject him again, paused. "Her legs? You mentioned that she was under heavy guard, heavier since she tried to kill herself." His hand drifted towards his own stomach.
"No, this is new," Scott told them hurriedly. "They locked these... these frames around legs. She can't even stand up, so she can't try to run at the guards and kill herself."
Four turned to look at the other two. "He's telling the truth." He fell silent, but the others stared at his face, then stared at Scott. Finally One nodded.
"Take him back to the base. See..." he fell silent again, moving his lips silently, and the others nodded. Then Four touched the hypospray to his shoulder, and he was instantly unconscious.
-------------
Arthur was much quieter than Heero would have expected, under the circumstances. They had a good shot of retrieving Rina now that they had this data, of doing major damage to the Alliance. Even Kan was showing signs of excitement, but if anything, Arthur was quieter now than he'd been on the journey to Scott Andrew's hotel room.
"There are some soldiers coming," Arthur suddenly said.
"I don't hear anything," Heero said, glancing around.
"They're coming," Arthur repeated. "Come on, put him between us."
Heero had been carrying Andrews' unconscious form over his shoulder - they could move faster this way. Now he slung him down, and positioned the body between himself and Arthur, making it look like two men helping a third friend home after too much partying. A few seconds later, he heard the well-timed footsteps of Alliance soldiers, and a minute after that he saw them marching down the opposite side of the street. The three boys kept their heads down, shoulders hunched, and the soldiers didn't even give them a second glance. Heero observed. If he'd been on duty he would have checked anyone out this late.
"How did you know they were coming?" he asked when they were out of hearing range.
"I don't know, I just did. I'm working on it," Arthur told him, his expression still distant. "Rina will have to hold out for a few more weeks," he said, almost to himself, but his comment startled Heero, who would have expected him to be in favor of running off to rescue Rina this very night.
"Why?" he asked.
Arthur glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "We're not just talking about a strike, Heero," he said in a tone that suggested that he was surprised Heero had asked him the question. "Rina and I talked about it a few times. It's not just a strike. It's *the* strike. The strike that will take out the Alliance in Alpha colony for good."
"Are you serious?" Kan asked him.
"We're going to be attacking the place where all of the Alliance's leaders in Alpha colony live. Also where they keep many weapons. Now we know the security system, and we know we can beat it. If we attack now and fail, even if we rescue Rina and just pull out, they'll change the security, and we may never have this chance again. Now, and only now, will we have only the soldiers stationed there to deal with."
"What about the Alliance soldiers in Alpha colony? That's where most of them are stationed, you know," Kan told him.
"If we can take out the leaders, the rest will fall," Arthur stated with confidence. "Our numbers have swelled since Rina's capture. We should be able to get enough volunteers together to strike both the base and later the Alliance bases in the colony."
"It has the possibility of success," Heero admitted. "But it's a major move. It will take time to organize."
Arthur nodded. "I know. That's why Rina's going to have to hang on for a few more weeks. We have to organize, to gather the soldiers... arrange to have all the government people together and ready for us..."
"Government people?" Kan asked with a frown. This time Heero saw where Arthur was going, but still allowed him to answer.
"Someone's going to have to run the colony after we get rid of the Alliance. Rina was planning for that eventuality, too, but it will still take time to bring it all together. I just hope she can last that long." Arthur took the full burden of Andrews' body from Heero, tossing him over a shoulder. "A lot of people are going to die," he said sadly. Heero wasn't sure if he was expecting an answer or not.
"But it's the only way that they're going to be free," he said, trying to comfort Arthur, a little. "This could mean an end to it all."
"I know," Arthur said, smiling a little, but there were tears in his eyes. "Freedom for the people, an end to the death, and getting Rina back. That's all that matters."
------------
The next day, they called a meeting of Rina's entire inner circle. "We've found their main base," Heero told the assembled. "Julia Surd was approached by an agent of the Alliance who was trying to find out more information about Rina. She managed to record his voice, and we made a positive identification. Last night we captured and interrogated him. We have the location of their main base."
They stared at him, shocked. He wondered, for a moment, whether they were going to question his judgment, or even suggest that the main base was beyond their reach. He was ready for all of those possible objections, so it came as a surprise when they all exchanged a glance, then Mike leaned forward and asked, "When is the strike?"
------------
TRANSCRIPT OF DIALOGUE FROM BASE 231.8 STATUS: SECURITY LEVEL 1 DATE: 22.08.22 TOPIC: EXTENSION OF AGENT 3458'S OFF-BASE MISSION
A: Andrews has just sent a request to extend his stay for two more weeks. He says that he is gaining a lot of useful data on the Phoenix. I have approved his request.
B: I see.
A: You're not happy. Displeased that your idea to try to get into her head didn't work?
B: Disappointed, slightly, but already Dr. Andrews has had some valuable insights. What worries me is your constant failure to break her. By your own admission, even your creations would have broken under what you've put her through. So what is sustaining her?
A: I have not determined that yet. But I will.
B: Until you do, I will continue to worry. Especially since I believe half of the reason you approved his request was to keep him away from the prisoner a little longer.
A: He asked for it.
B: Indeed. Just keep in mind our final goal is to break her, it doesn't matter who does it.
-----------
Another two weeks passed, and then one day right after school Kelli stuck her head into Julia's room. "Miss, there's a boy here to see you."
"A boy? Who is he?"
"He says his name is Arthur."
"I don't know any Arthur," Julia said with a frown.
"He said to tell you he is Heero's companion."
"Heero?!" Julia said, her head jerking up as if someone had pulled a string. "Send him in right away!"
Kelli shot her a worried look, then disappeared out the door. A few seconds later the boy whom she'd seen with Heero at Mr. Krace's house walked in through the door. He looked completely different in her brightly lit room in the middle of the day then he had in the shadowy study that night. He was wearing a pair of slacks, a white shirt, and a pale blue vest over it, and looked quite handsome. Julia thought, remembering who and what he was. The other three boys and Rina were all quite attractive physically.
He closed the door behind him, then, standing back from the window, said in a low voice, "How serious were you about wanting to do what you could to help?"
"What?" she asked excitedly, rising. "What's going on?"
He stared at her, then walked across the room and closed the curtains across her window. "We were able to put the information you gave us to good use, and we've located the position of their base. What's more, we've discovered that we have intimate knowledge of their security system. We're planning a strike. The strike."
Julia felt all the blood drain out of her face as she realized what he was saying. "You're talking about taking Alpha colony from the Alliance. Permanently."
He nodded. "We've been planning for this, but we didn't realize it would come so soon. We've made plans to defend the colony from any retaliation the Alliance might make, and plans to help the colony itself, but we can use you."
"For what?" she asked, and was ashamed when her voice came out as a squeak.
"After we take over, there's going to be chaos. All of the Alliance soldiers in the colonies will be confused, and they may start trouble. We've scattered people all over to take care of them, but we're also worried about the normal people who will just be afraid. We have good rulers, people the Alliance has chased out of office because of their sympathies for the colonies, but they're people the colonists trust. They'll be following us to the headquarters immediately after we take over, to make public announcements on the Chancellor's channel, to comfort people. We want you to make some announcements, too."
"Me?" she asked in a whisper.
"Yes. You have more influence than you let yourself believe. People respect you and listen to you, both because of your father and because of what you've done since then. It's common knowledge that you'll probably be a Representative in the next five years, and more than that, you're one of them. If you also spoke on our behalf, it could calm a lot of fears. You would be following us in with the other diplomats - the element of danger is slight, but it is still there. More than the danger of physical harm, though, is the fact that even if we fail, people will find out you have Rebel sympathies, if not that you're a Rebel yourself. If we fail, it could become *very* dangerous for you."
she thought, and then realized it was true. She was consorting with Rebels, had spied upon an Alliance agent and led to his capture... even if she'd only had contact with the four boys, she was a Rebel by any definition. She nodded. "I'll do it."
His expression, or lack of one, didn't change. "Thank you. Then you have to come with me now. I'll take you to one of our bases where you'll be safe until we make our move. Come on."
"What about my mother?"
He stopped to stare at her. "Your mother?" she remembered. "Leave a note for her, but hurry," he said impatiently.
Julia paused long enough to scrawl a note to her mother, saying that she was staying with friends for the next few days, then she followed Arthur... if that was his real name... outside. He stepped out the door, looked around, and a car pulled up in front of them. "Get in," he murmured, and when she hesitated, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside. The car sped off towards regions unknown.
-----------
Arthur took her to a building near the edge of the dome, took her to a largish room, and told her to stay there. Then he hurried off. She was left by herself, staring around wide-eyed as an impossibly large number of people moved in and out of the tiny base. Where were they all coming from? She found no answer to her question, and started seeing other unusual things. She caught glimpses of faces that she thought she recognized, politicians and diplomats that the Alliance had accused the Rebels of assassinating years earlier. Where had they been all this time? At one point a young man named Mike came over to ask if she needed anything, and to tell her he'd send someone to fetch her when it was time.
Then a plump, older woman came over and sat down next to her. "You're a newcomer, aren't you?" the woman asked.
"Yes mam," Julia said meekly, feeling somewhat overwhelmed by all of this.
"It's astonishing, isn't it?" the woman asked as if she could read minds. "I know, it was like that for me too, when I first arrived. The Alliance wants everyone to think that the Rebels are just a few hundred individuals, struggling for survival. Never in their worst nightmares could they imagine the level of organization we have here, and they have no idea of what we truly have." She laughed a little, then held out her hand. "I'm Emma Green."
"I'm Julia Surd. Arthur... one of the boys... brought me here."
"Julia Surd! They want you to make one of their announcements, don't they?"
"Yes. Do you know them well?"
"Fairly well. I met Arthur when the Phoenix first brought him here, before he was turned. I didn't even realize it. I never would have realized it, except that he came to me later, to apologize for my husband." She fell silent, blinking tears from her eyes.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand, apologize for what?"
"For doing the Alliance's dirty work."
Julia felt as if she was missing something crucial in this conversation. "I still don't understand. What did he do?"
Emma shot her a sharp look. "What do you know about the boys?"
"They were created by the Alliance, and Rina rescued them from the Alliance, and they've been working with her since then."
Emma suddenly sucked in her breath. "They didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"The boys... they used to work for the Alliance, as assassins, before they came here. I thought they would have told you before you came here."
"Assassins?" Julia felt faint, and her mind flew back to her original conversation with the boys, how Arthur had suddenly interrupted Heero before he said something about the assassin. What had he been about to say?
"Please, don't hold it against them," Emma said hurriedly. "You can't..." she trailed off.
"They lied to me," Julia murmured, rising. She walked across the room to the center of the activity, and found Arthur, Heero, and another boy she didn't recognize talking to a large group of people. She noticed Emma hurry off out of the corner of her eye, but was focused on her target. As the group of people broke up, she saw the other two boys arrive. They froze when they saw her. "I need to talk to you," Julia said to Heero and Arthur.
"Then talk," Heero said in an emotionless voice.
"In private."
"We're busy. Say it now or don't at all," he told her, not even glancing in her direction.
"Did you kill my father?" she demanded.
He blinked, then turned his eyes away from some building plans laid out on the table. "Yes."
She slapped his face as hard as she could. Her hand hurt a lot, and he didn't so much as move his head. "You shouldn't do that," he said mildly. "You might hurt your hand."
"Is that all you have to say?!" she demanded, tears running down her face. She was aware of all the other boys staring at her with identical emotionless expressions. "You're a bunch of murderers!" Now most of the room was staring at her, but she didn't care, she was too full of anger and hate and sorrow as she remembered her father's death. Suddenly someone grabbed her shoulders and dragged her out of the room. She suddenly found herself in a tiny room, sitting on a small cot with Mike sitting opposite her.
"What do you think you're doing?!" he demanded angrily.
"They lied to me!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. "Heero killed my father! They told me the Phoenix killed the man who killed my father!"
Mike just stared at her for a second, then squeezed her shoulder. "Oh, kid, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize." He left his hand there for several minutes until she got control of herself. "You're Julia Surd, aren't you?"
"Why did they lie to me?" Julia demanded as he stepped back.
"Julia, if I know Arthur, he didn't feel that he was lying to you."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"When Rina captured Heero, turned him against the Alliance, the person he was ceased to be. So she did destroy the person who killed your father, by turning him against his former masters."
Julia shook her head. "How could Rina do this to me? How can you trust them? They're all murderers!"
"Julia, they're loyal to us now. They've saved a lot of lives, fought against the Alliance, and now they're going to help us free this colony. We couldn't have done this without them."
"But how..."
"Julia, do you have any idea what the Alliance did to those boys?"
"They were Alliance soldiers. They probably just killed old people in their spare time for fun," she replied angrily.
"They were not Alliance soldiers. They have never been Alliance soldiers," he said, suddenly intense. "They were Alliance property. Slaves. They were told that they weren't human, and they believed it. Their masters told them what to do, and they did it. If they ever hesitated, if their masters even thought that they were thinking something wrong, they were tortured, the same way they're torturing Rina now, except for them it was years."
"They took my father away from me!"
"The Alliance took your father!" Mike snapped. "The same way they've taken other people's families, the same way they've taken other people's homes... I know, I also worked for the Alliance once. If anything, I'm worse than those boys, because I had a choice, and I chose to work for them for several years. When I left, they took whatever career in regular society I might have had. But none of that means anything when you compare it to what those six children have lost!"
"Six children..."
"Rina and the boys, all of them. They've lost an innocent childhood, and the boys lost the first fourteen years of their lives. Rina never was a child, and because of her upbringing she chose to become the Phoenix when she was twelve. Twelve, do you understand me? What were you doing when you were twelve? Listening to music and going out with boys. When she was twelve she was organizing strikes against the Alliance and doing commando missions. Those boys that you hate so much, they were created so that the only time they could be happy was when they completed a mission. Heero is still that way. Do you understand what that means? He can never be happy unless he's fighting, even if he hates it. If you have to blame someone, blame the Alliance, and if you can't do that, blame me, because they don't deserve it, and none of them will try to defend themselves!"
Julia stared at him silently, shocked by his outburst and the things he had told her. "Why didn't they tell me?" she asked again in a whisper.
"Would you have helped them, helped Rina, if you knew what they used to do?"
"I... I don't know. I guess not."
"Look, with any luck, by this time tomorrow we'll have Rina back, and the Alliance won't exist here anymore, and then you can have this discussion with Rina, all right?"
Julia nodded, unsure what she was feeling. "Why won't they defend themselves?"
Mike sighed. "They know that they've been conscious adults since the day they were born, responsible for their own actions. They refuse to consider extenuating circumstances. As far as they're concerned, if they were stupid enough to be tricked by the Alliance, then it's their own fault, and they're still responsible. No matter that they had no way of knowing they were being tricked, no matter that they were lied to from the day they were born. None of that matters to them." He paused. "Let me see your hand."
"Why?"
"Because I want to make sure you didn't hurt it, hitting Heero. I've seen brick walls that were softer." There was a soft knock on the door, and then it slid open. Arthur stood there. Julia unconsciously pulled back.
Arthur stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. "I wanted to apologize to you for lying to you," he said simply. "We needed your help."
"Heero..."
"Heero doesn't apologize for anything, he just fixes his mistakes. Some mistakes you can't fix, but he's doing his best by fighting the Alliance."
"Arthur, do they need you..." Mike asked.
"I'll get back out there in a minute. They'll need us to start loading the shuttles soon. They need you too, Mike."
Mike nodded and left the room, and Julia realized that Arthur had subtly asked to speak to her alone. "I just wanted to say that we're all sorry," he said softly.
"I... I've hated you... the people who killed my father... for so long, and then I found out that it was you, and I helped you, but it wasn't really you..."
"It was us. We were being used by the Alliance, but it was still us."
They always take responsibility, Mike had said.
"Mike told me... they used to punish you for disobedience."
"No, not for disobedience. None of us would have dreamed of disobeying, if we dreamed. And it isn't quite the way he said. I was the only one who was punished regularly, mostly because I did have dreams."
"They did do some horrible things to you, though."
"We survived and it made us stronger."
"You're not very good at pitying yourself, are you?"
"No."
"Is your name really Arthur, or is that just a code name or something?"
"It's my name."
"And the others..."
"The names we gave you are the real ones, the only ones we've ever had. We chose them for ourselves. The Alliance called us by numbers."
"What was your number?"
"Four. Arthur is my name, though. Please don't ever use the numbers, or any numbers for any of us. We left that behind. But those are our only names. Rina is the one with dozens of names and identities." He was silent for a few seconds, then said, "Will you still help us?"
"Yes. I wasn't doing this for you, not ever. I was doing it for Rina and my father and all of the people that he used to talk about helping, the ones the Alliance was hurting."
Arthur nodded. "Do you still hate us?"
"I'm not sure. Just don't let Heero get close to me. I don't know what I'd do, and it sounds like the Rebels still need him. And I'm a Rebel."
A maid answered his knock, and asked, "Can I help you?"
"Yes, I'm here to speak to Miss Julia Surd."
"May I ask who is calling on her?"
"My name is Dr. Scott Andrews and I work for the Alliance. I'd like to speak with Miss Surd about Rina Krace."
The woman gasped and started to close the door in his face. Well used to this performance, Scott stuck his foot in the door. "Mam, please inform Miss Surd that I am here or I will be forced to return with guards. Armed guards." He put a bit of an edge in his voice to make it sound threatening. She gave a startled squeak and then let him in.
"Please wait here," she told him, and hurried out of sight. There was an unusually long wait, then an older woman came out.
"I am Mrs. Surd," she said in a forceful voice. "Why do you want to speak with my daughter?"
"She's known to be an acquaintance of Rina Krace, who was arrested for treason against the Alliance a few months ago."
"Surely you don't believe my daughter had anything to do with those Rebels?"
Scott sighed. This wasn't the first time a frightened parent had tried to run interference for their children, and he was getting sick of it. The Alliance wasn't some monster that was going to snatch their children and run off with them. "As a matter of fact, she is an acquaintance of Rina Krace, who is a Rebel, and so she has had something to do with the Rebels. My job here is to gather information about Rina Krace, but if I can clear your daughter from any hint of suspicion, I would be glad to do that, too." Actually, there was no hint of suspicion about Julia Surd. If there had been, he certainly wouldn't have come here, but her mother didn't know that.
"It's all right mother," said a soft voice. An eighteen-year old colonist girl walked into the room. "I haven't done anything and Kelli said he threatened to bring back guards if I didn't cooperate." Andrews was impressed by her poise, that she managed to continue smiling even as she repeated this threat. It must be something that those whose parents were involved in politics learned instinctively, since several of the children he'd interviewed had similar mannerisms. "This way sir," she gestured gracefully with one hand, but he noticed it trembling a little and knew that she was as frightened of him as all the others.
She led him into a small study and gestured for him to take one of the seats while she took another. "What do you want to talk about?" she asked, glancing nervously at her hands clasped in her lap.
"I told your mother already. I'm here to discuss Rina Krace."
"What?"
"Rina Krace," he replied a bit louder, wondering if she was slightly deaf. The room was pretty quiet, and he hadn't spoken that softly. She blushed bright red and looked down at her hands again.
"Oh. What did you want to ask?"
"I wanted to ask what sort of person she was."
"Very nice. She never spread any rumors, even about people who told lies about her. She was kind of a loner... but I guess that makes sense now."
"So you had no idea about her Rebel leanings?"
"No."
"Tell me more about her."
"What do you want to hear? She was a good student... I had a good time when we went out together, but we hadn't done that in months before she was arrested..." Her face clouded up and a tear worked it's way down her cheek. "I'm sorry," she exclaimed, blotting at the tear with her handkerchief. "Ah, what else?" she murmured to herself as she reigned in her tears. "She... she was very kind to me when my father died, and she was just a little kid then..." she suddenly cut herself off. "I'm not going to tell you that I always was suspicious of her, or that I thought she might be a Rebel, even if I didn't have any evidence. I won't tell you anything that will get her convicted. She was... is my friend, if she's still alive," she added a little sourly.
He stared at her, refusing to confirm or deny her comment, and she looked away. "I'm sorry, I just miss her, and I'm worried about her. No one has seen or heard from her since she was arrested, and you hear these stories... I guess they're all just ridiculous. Is there anything else?"
"No, nothing else," he said with a sigh, wondering what on Earth he was doing here. Of course none of Rina Krace's acquaintances would know anything about the true her, about whether or not she was a killer. She'd been too busy pretending to be Rina Krace to let anything like that slip. He bade her a polite goodbye and managed not to comment on how her hands trembled when he shook them. She was worse than most of them, absolutely terrified of the Alliance.
As he walked out the front door and down the street, he wondered what else he should do. He'd spoken to most of Rina Krace's acquaintances, and learned nothing new about the Phoenix. The only thing he had learned was that most of the people living in the colonies had a great deal of fear of the Alliance. When had that happened? When he left, nearly ten years ago, people had been anxious but not outright terrified, not like that girl, not like several of the other kids and their parents too. When... and more importantly... why had things changed so much?
Scott still had several days left before he had to return to headquarters to continue his work with the Phoenix, if he didn't ask for a transfer before then. He decided to call his parents tonight. They lived in Bertin colony, and he hadn't spoken to them in months. They strongly disapproved of his decision to join the Alliance, and didn't talk to him much anymore. A wall had grown between them since he joined the Alliance - he couldn't talk about his work at all, and half of what they said could get them arrested if he'd ever reported it. He never would, of course. He'd never report anyone he knew. They could probably tell him why things had changed so much, if they'd speak to him. He could also call on some of his old friends - some of them were living in Alpha colony now - and ask their opinions. At the very least, it would give him something to do for the next few days.
----------
Julia Surd waited several minutes until after the Alliance agent left. She had almost managed to convince herself that he was gone and hadn't suspected anything when her mother opened the door, almost causing her to jump out of her skin.
"Juli, are you all right?" her mother asked worriedly. "He isn't going to..."
"No, he just asked me about Rina. I don't think they suspect me at all. I think he just wanted to make you let me talk to him. He knows I've never had anything to do with the Rebels. I just need some time alone to think."
Her mother nodded and closed the door, leaving her in silence. Julia thought, feeling very guilty about lying to her mother. But she couldn't tell anyone about this, at least not right now. She promised herself that as soon as it was safe she'd tell her mother everything. For now, she walked over to the base of the pedestal right next to where the agent had been sitting. With trembling hands she withdrew the tape recorder, reassuring herself that it was still recording. She stopped it and took out the tape, then put the tape recorder back where it belonged on the desk and replaced the tape that had been in it. Pocketing the other tape, she breathed a sigh of relief. Now there was no evidence that she'd done anything at all, except for the tape in her pocket.
She sat down at the desk and pulled out the phone. Dialing the number they had told her so many weeks ago, she remembered their instructions: "If you have anything, call this number. When it picks up you'll hear a click and nothing else. Say that you have something and then hang up. We'll handle the rest and it ought to keep you safe."
The phone rang once and then she heard a click on the other end as someone picked up the phone. "I have something," she whispered into the receiver. There was a pause on the other end, then a click and the dial tone as whoever it was hung up on her. She put down the phone and slumped back in the chair. she thought. she told herself. After a few seconds the other boy returned. "It's all clear," he hissed. "Come on."
"Wait, how will I know if I did any good?" she asked.
"Watch the news, honey," he replied as the Asian boy joined him on the sill.
"No, I want to help if I can," she replied, following them to the window. They exchanged another glance.
"We'll let you know if there's anything you can do to help," said the first boy. Then they disappeared into the darkness.
-------------
"So what do you think?" Herc asked in a low voice as they took a roundabout route back to the base, just in case. "Can we do anything with it?"
"It depends whether he's a regular staff member of the base," Kan replied. If he was, then they'd have no record of him, and it would be very difficult to find him. Basically they'd be back where they started, but Kan didn't mention that. "If he isn't, then they must have brought him in from somewhere. We know that he was in Alpha colony today, unless they're shuttling him back and forth every night, he must be staying somewhere. If we can figure out who he is, and if we can find out where he's staying, and if he hasn't returned to the base already..."
Herc sighed. That was an awful lot of 'ifs' and they both knew it. But this was the first time they'd had any sort of ID of a person who worked on that base. They had to use it. Especially after that girl risked herself to get them the information. She must have liked Rina a lot, to put herself in danger for them even though Heero had killed her father. Then it suddenly occurred to him that maybe she didn't know that Heero had killed her father. Heero and Arthur had made the first contact. Arthur had a way of not telling the whole truth at times, in order to get people's cooperation. Had he done the same here? Herc decided. He had a hard time picturing that girl knowingly helping people who had among them the person who had killed her father, no matter how good the cause or how long ago the incident was.
He heard footsteps behind him. "We've got company," he murmured to Kan, who nodded.
They picked up their pace a little, trying to force whoever was following them into revealing themselves. With a slight jerk of his head, Kan indicated a dead-end street. Without speaking, they turned at exactly the same moment and walked into the alley. It was done with an unconscious coordination that was the result of living and working together for more than sixteen years, for their entire lives. Knowing what the plan was without speaking, Herc retreated to the end of the alley, where he was closed in on three sides by tall walls. Kan flattened himself against the wall near the entrance and changed both his skin and hair to dark black. In the dim light he was almost invisible, especially if he kept his eyes mostly closed.
Sure enough, the Alliance soldiers that were following them fell for it. There were two of them, both fairly young, obviously inexperienced normal soldiers, not even elite. Nothing that either he or Kan couldn't handle while blindfolded. The lead soldier ran down the street, brandishing a large blaster. "Freeze!" he ordered and his voice trembled. Herc cracked a smile. The level of skill and confidence among the Alliance soldiers was certainly falling.
"Hey, I don't want any trouble here," Herc said, grinning broadly as he raised his hands in the air while Kan silently moved around behind them.
"Hey!" the second soldier exclaimed. "It's him! The one we're looking for!"
"Shut up!" the first one said. "Where's your buddy?"
"I'm right here," Kan said from behind them, returning to his normal appearance. Both men jumped and spun to face him, aiming their guns. In a few seconds they realized what a bad idea this was, and the second one turned back to face Herc, reinforcing his opinion that the quality of soldiers was dropping.
"How did he do that?" he hissed to his partner. Herc noted with some amusement how much the gun in his hand was shaking. This guy was really scared. Herc decided to have some fun.
"Hey, you want to take them, or should I?" he called to Kan.
Kan's eyes narrowed slightly as he realized what Herc was doing, then he also smiled. "You can have them," he said with a negligent wave of his hand, and both men went absolutely white. They almost looked like colonists, except for their colored hair.
"Really? Are you sure? You let me have the last ones too." Herc was making all of this up off the top of his head, and having a great time.
"No, it's no problem. They're not worth my time," Kan said with a slight shake of his head.
Herc shrugged. "If that's how you feel..." he launched himself at the nearer of the two as Kan launched himself at the other. Herc turned his body and slid to the right as a bullet passed through the space he had just occupied, then slammed his fist into the man's jaw. The helpless soldier immediately dropped to the ground. Herc grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him up off the ground, hand poised to strike if this was some sort of trick, but the man really was unconscious, so he held back the killing blow. The truth was that he felt somewhat sorry for these humans who had obviously been completely out of their league, and badly informed too. If they knew anything about their targets, they would have called in backup once they spotted them.
Herc thought as he completed a quick search of the man. He found nothing unusual - these were just two street men who had the misfortune to notice them. He stood up, noting that Kan had killed his man. "That was fun," he remarked.
"Speak for yourself," Kan replied. "This one's gun hand was shaking so much that I wasn't sure which way to dodge." He glanced at Herc's man. "You didn't kill him," he observed.
Herc shrugged. "Didn't feel like it. He'll give some of his comrades nightmares about us. That could be interesting."
Kan made a noncommittal sound. "Lets get back to base before we have anymore company."
They made it back to the base without any other problems. "Should we check this first or report to Heero?" Herc wondered out loud.
"Let's check it," Kan advised. "We don't want everyone getting excited over nothing."
They went to their room, which was empty. Kan seated himself at the computer they'd gotten installed in here. He pulled out the tape and stuck it into a slot reserved for this function. In a few minutes he had two distinct vocal prints showing on the computer. He got a quick match on one of them - it was the girl - which meant the other one was the Alliance agent.
"It would probably be easier to narrow the search first," Herc advised. "There can't be that many colonists working for the Alliance."
"I'll do that," Kan replied through clenched teeth. He was obviously irritated at Herc for telling him something so obvious.
"All right! Take it easy! You can take care of it, I know! It's just... this is Rina we're talking about here!"
Kan's expression softened slightly. "I understand," he said shortly. "Ah-ha. I have it. There are currently one thousand, seven hundred and fifty-three colonists working for the Alliance."
Herc let out a low whistle. "That many?" he asked, surprised.
"In an organization of several million, that's not very many," Kan said as he started trying to match up the voiceprint.
"Yeah, but still..." Herc fell silent as the computer flashed through hundreds of entries in just seconds. They'd know pretty quickly if he was located in the regular files or not.
Suddenly a file appeared on the screen, along with a picture of a colonist. "We have a match," Kan said, sounding more than a little stunned.
Herc was not so reserved. "Woo-hoo!" he shouted, raising a fist into the air. "Do they have a location on him?"
"Just a second, I'm checking," Kan told him. "His current post is classified... not surprising, that, but..." he actually smiled, sitting back in his seat. "They've also got him a hotel room here in Alpha. And it says that he'll be here for two more days. We've got him."
------------
The next night Scott was depressed as he returned from a friend's house. Things had changed greatly since he had left the colonies, and definitely for the worse. By everyone's account the Alliance had become even more militaristic and more flagrant in its disregard for people's rights. The Rebels had more sympathy in the minds of the colonists than anyone at the Alliance had realized, and they seemed to have good reason, too. By now Scott realized that while the girl might have been lying about some things, she hadn't been lying about everything, and her statements about the Alliance had been mostly true. He knew that he couldn't go back to the base tomorrow and help interrogate the Phoenix anymore, and he wasn't even sure if he could return to the Alliance at all. But what would happen to him if he attempted to resign?
He was feeling somewhat lethargic as he closed the door to his hotel room and reached his hand out to turn on the lights. The feeling fled rather quickly as a hand reached out and gripped his wrist, then twisted it up behind him and pushed him against the wall. He felt something cold pressing against the back of his head. "Freeze," ordered a low voice, "and you might live through this." Scott obediently froze.
He heard the sound of curtains being closed, and then a pair of handcuffs was tightened around his wrists, and his still unseen attacker threw him backwards onto the bed, and the lights were flicked on. Scott stared in shock and then growing horror as his eyes adjusted to the light and he could make out three figures. There were three boys, all about sixteen years old and all carrying a number of weapons. They wore expressions that didn't belong on any child he had ever seen. They were very, very threatening. "That's him," the boy standing farthest from him said. "Is he armed?"
"No," the boy standing closest to him said. This was the one who had grabbed him when he first came in.
Scott's eyes threatened to burst out of his sockets. "You're... you're the ones from Project Titan, the ones that got away! You're... you're One and Four and Five!" He recognized their pictures from the background data he'd been given on the girl.
One glanced at Four. "Will this be a problem?"
"Shouldn't be," Four replied. He opened a box and set it on the bed beside Scott. "It might even help. Put him in the chair."
Scott froze in terror as One walked over and easily lifted him off the bed and set him down none-to-gently in one of the chairs provided by the hotel. It was easy to look at a file and know intellectually how strong these genetically engineered children were, but it was quite another thing entirely to experience that for yourself. He'd never seen it with the Phoenix because of the way she'd been held, but now he could see the necessity of holding her that way. There was no way that ordinary handcuffs could have held her. His eyes widened in terror as Four pulled out a hypospray. He started to flinch away as Four reached for his neck, but was surprised when he felt a slight prick on his arm instead. "What are you doing to me?" he demanded, terrified.
"Calm down," Four advised in a bored tone, pulling over the other chair and sitting on it, straddling the back with his legs. He rested his arms on the back of the chair, looking completely calm and in control, as if he'd done this hundreds of times before. Scott realized what he was doing, how he was using a combination of drugs and attitude to establish his position before interrogating his prisoner - he'd used those methods himself - but he'd never seen it done so well, with such confidence, as if he knew that no prisoner could hold any secrets from him. Scott told himself, trying to remain calm, but all of the data he'd seen on them only served to heighten his terror.
"It's just your basic interrogation, something I'm sure that you're familiar with. It won't be so bad," Four continued. "This stuff isn't half as painful as the stuff I used when I was working for the Alliance, but it is more effective. This will go a lot easier for you if you don't try to resist. If we hear everything we want to know, we'll keep you alive as a prisoner, and you'll be relatively comfortable. If you resist..." he shrugged practically. "Then we'll have to start on the methods the Alliance prefers. I doubt you'll be able to hold out a day, but that's just my opinion. We'll see." And with those terrifying words in his mind, Scott slipped into a drugged stupor.
--------------
When he woke some time later, he didn't know how long, the first thing he remembered hearing was, "He's coming out of it, right on time." He saw the three boys sitting on the bed, looking at something.
"What happened?" he asked, trying to wake up.
"You cooperated," Four said, walking over and putting a glass of water to his lips. "Drink this, the drug dehydrates you."
"I... what?" Scott asked after he swallowed the water.
"You cooperated, otherwise you'd feel a whole lot worse. Good job."
"How... how long has it been?"
"Just under an hour."
"What did I tell you?" he asked, trying to remember what had happened.
"Everything we need to know," Five replied with a wicked grin. He was writing something.
"You're planning to attack headquarters," Scott said slowly, trying to draw some facts out of his muddled brain. "I remember... I told you the location, didn't I?"
"You didn't resist at all," Four said, looking at him thoughtfully. "Why is that?"
"I... I don't know," Scott lied, thinking of his earlier thoughts about whether or not to return to the Alliance at all.
"Don't lie, I know when you do." Four opened his mouth to say more, but a gesture from One brought him back to the bed to stare at whatever Five was writing. Scott saw One's mouth move, but no sound came out. Four stared at him, glanced at Scott, and then nodded. He picked up the paper and walked back over to Scott. "Is this the layout of the base?" he asked, holding up the paper so that Scott could see it.
"How did you know that?" Scott demanded in a harsh whisper before he realized he'd given himself away.
The boys exchanged a glance, and Five grinned again. "I designed the base's security when I was five. They didn't tell me the location, but they gave me the layout for me to design the security around. The fools haven't changed it since then."
Scott paled as he realized what this meant, that they knew every aspect of the security for the base, and that presumably they could bypass all of that security. The Alliance headquarters was at their mercy, now that they knew its location, thanks to him.
"You never answered my question," Four said, turning back to him. He studied Scott's face, then broke into a grin. The expression made his face seem impossibly young. "Rina's been working on you, hasn't she?"
"Rina? You mean the Phoenix?" Scott asked. "What do you mean, working on me?"
"Teaching you the truth about the Alliance, the same way she did with us," Four said, still smiling. "You were having doubts already, weren't you?"
"You're going to rescue her, aren't you?" Scott felt a hint of hope in his mind. Maybe the Phoenix wouldn't be broken, maybe the Alliance wouldn't take over the colonies completely...
"What should we do with him?"
"Bring him back to the base. We'll figure out what to do with him later."
"Wait! Did I tell you what they did to her? What they did to her legs?"
Four, who had been about to inject him again, paused. "Her legs? You mentioned that she was under heavy guard, heavier since she tried to kill herself." His hand drifted towards his own stomach.
"No, this is new," Scott told them hurriedly. "They locked these... these frames around legs. She can't even stand up, so she can't try to run at the guards and kill herself."
Four turned to look at the other two. "He's telling the truth." He fell silent, but the others stared at his face, then stared at Scott. Finally One nodded.
"Take him back to the base. See..." he fell silent again, moving his lips silently, and the others nodded. Then Four touched the hypospray to his shoulder, and he was instantly unconscious.
-------------
Arthur was much quieter than Heero would have expected, under the circumstances. They had a good shot of retrieving Rina now that they had this data, of doing major damage to the Alliance. Even Kan was showing signs of excitement, but if anything, Arthur was quieter now than he'd been on the journey to Scott Andrew's hotel room.
"There are some soldiers coming," Arthur suddenly said.
"I don't hear anything," Heero said, glancing around.
"They're coming," Arthur repeated. "Come on, put him between us."
Heero had been carrying Andrews' unconscious form over his shoulder - they could move faster this way. Now he slung him down, and positioned the body between himself and Arthur, making it look like two men helping a third friend home after too much partying. A few seconds later, he heard the well-timed footsteps of Alliance soldiers, and a minute after that he saw them marching down the opposite side of the street. The three boys kept their heads down, shoulders hunched, and the soldiers didn't even give them a second glance. Heero observed. If he'd been on duty he would have checked anyone out this late.
"How did you know they were coming?" he asked when they were out of hearing range.
"I don't know, I just did. I'm working on it," Arthur told him, his expression still distant. "Rina will have to hold out for a few more weeks," he said, almost to himself, but his comment startled Heero, who would have expected him to be in favor of running off to rescue Rina this very night.
"Why?" he asked.
Arthur glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "We're not just talking about a strike, Heero," he said in a tone that suggested that he was surprised Heero had asked him the question. "Rina and I talked about it a few times. It's not just a strike. It's *the* strike. The strike that will take out the Alliance in Alpha colony for good."
"Are you serious?" Kan asked him.
"We're going to be attacking the place where all of the Alliance's leaders in Alpha colony live. Also where they keep many weapons. Now we know the security system, and we know we can beat it. If we attack now and fail, even if we rescue Rina and just pull out, they'll change the security, and we may never have this chance again. Now, and only now, will we have only the soldiers stationed there to deal with."
"What about the Alliance soldiers in Alpha colony? That's where most of them are stationed, you know," Kan told him.
"If we can take out the leaders, the rest will fall," Arthur stated with confidence. "Our numbers have swelled since Rina's capture. We should be able to get enough volunteers together to strike both the base and later the Alliance bases in the colony."
"It has the possibility of success," Heero admitted. "But it's a major move. It will take time to organize."
Arthur nodded. "I know. That's why Rina's going to have to hang on for a few more weeks. We have to organize, to gather the soldiers... arrange to have all the government people together and ready for us..."
"Government people?" Kan asked with a frown. This time Heero saw where Arthur was going, but still allowed him to answer.
"Someone's going to have to run the colony after we get rid of the Alliance. Rina was planning for that eventuality, too, but it will still take time to bring it all together. I just hope she can last that long." Arthur took the full burden of Andrews' body from Heero, tossing him over a shoulder. "A lot of people are going to die," he said sadly. Heero wasn't sure if he was expecting an answer or not.
"But it's the only way that they're going to be free," he said, trying to comfort Arthur, a little. "This could mean an end to it all."
"I know," Arthur said, smiling a little, but there were tears in his eyes. "Freedom for the people, an end to the death, and getting Rina back. That's all that matters."
------------
The next day, they called a meeting of Rina's entire inner circle. "We've found their main base," Heero told the assembled. "Julia Surd was approached by an agent of the Alliance who was trying to find out more information about Rina. She managed to record his voice, and we made a positive identification. Last night we captured and interrogated him. We have the location of their main base."
They stared at him, shocked. He wondered, for a moment, whether they were going to question his judgment, or even suggest that the main base was beyond their reach. He was ready for all of those possible objections, so it came as a surprise when they all exchanged a glance, then Mike leaned forward and asked, "When is the strike?"
------------
TRANSCRIPT OF DIALOGUE FROM BASE 231.8 STATUS: SECURITY LEVEL 1 DATE: 22.08.22 TOPIC: EXTENSION OF AGENT 3458'S OFF-BASE MISSION
A: Andrews has just sent a request to extend his stay for two more weeks. He says that he is gaining a lot of useful data on the Phoenix. I have approved his request.
B: I see.
A: You're not happy. Displeased that your idea to try to get into her head didn't work?
B: Disappointed, slightly, but already Dr. Andrews has had some valuable insights. What worries me is your constant failure to break her. By your own admission, even your creations would have broken under what you've put her through. So what is sustaining her?
A: I have not determined that yet. But I will.
B: Until you do, I will continue to worry. Especially since I believe half of the reason you approved his request was to keep him away from the prisoner a little longer.
A: He asked for it.
B: Indeed. Just keep in mind our final goal is to break her, it doesn't matter who does it.
-----------
Another two weeks passed, and then one day right after school Kelli stuck her head into Julia's room. "Miss, there's a boy here to see you."
"A boy? Who is he?"
"He says his name is Arthur."
"I don't know any Arthur," Julia said with a frown.
"He said to tell you he is Heero's companion."
"Heero?!" Julia said, her head jerking up as if someone had pulled a string. "Send him in right away!"
Kelli shot her a worried look, then disappeared out the door. A few seconds later the boy whom she'd seen with Heero at Mr. Krace's house walked in through the door. He looked completely different in her brightly lit room in the middle of the day then he had in the shadowy study that night. He was wearing a pair of slacks, a white shirt, and a pale blue vest over it, and looked quite handsome. Julia thought, remembering who and what he was. The other three boys and Rina were all quite attractive physically.
He closed the door behind him, then, standing back from the window, said in a low voice, "How serious were you about wanting to do what you could to help?"
"What?" she asked excitedly, rising. "What's going on?"
He stared at her, then walked across the room and closed the curtains across her window. "We were able to put the information you gave us to good use, and we've located the position of their base. What's more, we've discovered that we have intimate knowledge of their security system. We're planning a strike. The strike."
Julia felt all the blood drain out of her face as she realized what he was saying. "You're talking about taking Alpha colony from the Alliance. Permanently."
He nodded. "We've been planning for this, but we didn't realize it would come so soon. We've made plans to defend the colony from any retaliation the Alliance might make, and plans to help the colony itself, but we can use you."
"For what?" she asked, and was ashamed when her voice came out as a squeak.
"After we take over, there's going to be chaos. All of the Alliance soldiers in the colonies will be confused, and they may start trouble. We've scattered people all over to take care of them, but we're also worried about the normal people who will just be afraid. We have good rulers, people the Alliance has chased out of office because of their sympathies for the colonies, but they're people the colonists trust. They'll be following us to the headquarters immediately after we take over, to make public announcements on the Chancellor's channel, to comfort people. We want you to make some announcements, too."
"Me?" she asked in a whisper.
"Yes. You have more influence than you let yourself believe. People respect you and listen to you, both because of your father and because of what you've done since then. It's common knowledge that you'll probably be a Representative in the next five years, and more than that, you're one of them. If you also spoke on our behalf, it could calm a lot of fears. You would be following us in with the other diplomats - the element of danger is slight, but it is still there. More than the danger of physical harm, though, is the fact that even if we fail, people will find out you have Rebel sympathies, if not that you're a Rebel yourself. If we fail, it could become *very* dangerous for you."
she thought, and then realized it was true. She was consorting with Rebels, had spied upon an Alliance agent and led to his capture... even if she'd only had contact with the four boys, she was a Rebel by any definition. She nodded. "I'll do it."
His expression, or lack of one, didn't change. "Thank you. Then you have to come with me now. I'll take you to one of our bases where you'll be safe until we make our move. Come on."
"What about my mother?"
He stopped to stare at her. "Your mother?" she remembered. "Leave a note for her, but hurry," he said impatiently.
Julia paused long enough to scrawl a note to her mother, saying that she was staying with friends for the next few days, then she followed Arthur... if that was his real name... outside. He stepped out the door, looked around, and a car pulled up in front of them. "Get in," he murmured, and when she hesitated, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside. The car sped off towards regions unknown.
-----------
Arthur took her to a building near the edge of the dome, took her to a largish room, and told her to stay there. Then he hurried off. She was left by herself, staring around wide-eyed as an impossibly large number of people moved in and out of the tiny base. Where were they all coming from? She found no answer to her question, and started seeing other unusual things. She caught glimpses of faces that she thought she recognized, politicians and diplomats that the Alliance had accused the Rebels of assassinating years earlier. Where had they been all this time? At one point a young man named Mike came over to ask if she needed anything, and to tell her he'd send someone to fetch her when it was time.
Then a plump, older woman came over and sat down next to her. "You're a newcomer, aren't you?" the woman asked.
"Yes mam," Julia said meekly, feeling somewhat overwhelmed by all of this.
"It's astonishing, isn't it?" the woman asked as if she could read minds. "I know, it was like that for me too, when I first arrived. The Alliance wants everyone to think that the Rebels are just a few hundred individuals, struggling for survival. Never in their worst nightmares could they imagine the level of organization we have here, and they have no idea of what we truly have." She laughed a little, then held out her hand. "I'm Emma Green."
"I'm Julia Surd. Arthur... one of the boys... brought me here."
"Julia Surd! They want you to make one of their announcements, don't they?"
"Yes. Do you know them well?"
"Fairly well. I met Arthur when the Phoenix first brought him here, before he was turned. I didn't even realize it. I never would have realized it, except that he came to me later, to apologize for my husband." She fell silent, blinking tears from her eyes.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand, apologize for what?"
"For doing the Alliance's dirty work."
Julia felt as if she was missing something crucial in this conversation. "I still don't understand. What did he do?"
Emma shot her a sharp look. "What do you know about the boys?"
"They were created by the Alliance, and Rina rescued them from the Alliance, and they've been working with her since then."
Emma suddenly sucked in her breath. "They didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"The boys... they used to work for the Alliance, as assassins, before they came here. I thought they would have told you before you came here."
"Assassins?" Julia felt faint, and her mind flew back to her original conversation with the boys, how Arthur had suddenly interrupted Heero before he said something about the assassin. What had he been about to say?
"Please, don't hold it against them," Emma said hurriedly. "You can't..." she trailed off.
"They lied to me," Julia murmured, rising. She walked across the room to the center of the activity, and found Arthur, Heero, and another boy she didn't recognize talking to a large group of people. She noticed Emma hurry off out of the corner of her eye, but was focused on her target. As the group of people broke up, she saw the other two boys arrive. They froze when they saw her. "I need to talk to you," Julia said to Heero and Arthur.
"Then talk," Heero said in an emotionless voice.
"In private."
"We're busy. Say it now or don't at all," he told her, not even glancing in her direction.
"Did you kill my father?" she demanded.
He blinked, then turned his eyes away from some building plans laid out on the table. "Yes."
She slapped his face as hard as she could. Her hand hurt a lot, and he didn't so much as move his head. "You shouldn't do that," he said mildly. "You might hurt your hand."
"Is that all you have to say?!" she demanded, tears running down her face. She was aware of all the other boys staring at her with identical emotionless expressions. "You're a bunch of murderers!" Now most of the room was staring at her, but she didn't care, she was too full of anger and hate and sorrow as she remembered her father's death. Suddenly someone grabbed her shoulders and dragged her out of the room. She suddenly found herself in a tiny room, sitting on a small cot with Mike sitting opposite her.
"What do you think you're doing?!" he demanded angrily.
"They lied to me!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. "Heero killed my father! They told me the Phoenix killed the man who killed my father!"
Mike just stared at her for a second, then squeezed her shoulder. "Oh, kid, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize." He left his hand there for several minutes until she got control of herself. "You're Julia Surd, aren't you?"
"Why did they lie to me?" Julia demanded as he stepped back.
"Julia, if I know Arthur, he didn't feel that he was lying to you."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"When Rina captured Heero, turned him against the Alliance, the person he was ceased to be. So she did destroy the person who killed your father, by turning him against his former masters."
Julia shook her head. "How could Rina do this to me? How can you trust them? They're all murderers!"
"Julia, they're loyal to us now. They've saved a lot of lives, fought against the Alliance, and now they're going to help us free this colony. We couldn't have done this without them."
"But how..."
"Julia, do you have any idea what the Alliance did to those boys?"
"They were Alliance soldiers. They probably just killed old people in their spare time for fun," she replied angrily.
"They were not Alliance soldiers. They have never been Alliance soldiers," he said, suddenly intense. "They were Alliance property. Slaves. They were told that they weren't human, and they believed it. Their masters told them what to do, and they did it. If they ever hesitated, if their masters even thought that they were thinking something wrong, they were tortured, the same way they're torturing Rina now, except for them it was years."
"They took my father away from me!"
"The Alliance took your father!" Mike snapped. "The same way they've taken other people's families, the same way they've taken other people's homes... I know, I also worked for the Alliance once. If anything, I'm worse than those boys, because I had a choice, and I chose to work for them for several years. When I left, they took whatever career in regular society I might have had. But none of that means anything when you compare it to what those six children have lost!"
"Six children..."
"Rina and the boys, all of them. They've lost an innocent childhood, and the boys lost the first fourteen years of their lives. Rina never was a child, and because of her upbringing she chose to become the Phoenix when she was twelve. Twelve, do you understand me? What were you doing when you were twelve? Listening to music and going out with boys. When she was twelve she was organizing strikes against the Alliance and doing commando missions. Those boys that you hate so much, they were created so that the only time they could be happy was when they completed a mission. Heero is still that way. Do you understand what that means? He can never be happy unless he's fighting, even if he hates it. If you have to blame someone, blame the Alliance, and if you can't do that, blame me, because they don't deserve it, and none of them will try to defend themselves!"
Julia stared at him silently, shocked by his outburst and the things he had told her. "Why didn't they tell me?" she asked again in a whisper.
"Would you have helped them, helped Rina, if you knew what they used to do?"
"I... I don't know. I guess not."
"Look, with any luck, by this time tomorrow we'll have Rina back, and the Alliance won't exist here anymore, and then you can have this discussion with Rina, all right?"
Julia nodded, unsure what she was feeling. "Why won't they defend themselves?"
Mike sighed. "They know that they've been conscious adults since the day they were born, responsible for their own actions. They refuse to consider extenuating circumstances. As far as they're concerned, if they were stupid enough to be tricked by the Alliance, then it's their own fault, and they're still responsible. No matter that they had no way of knowing they were being tricked, no matter that they were lied to from the day they were born. None of that matters to them." He paused. "Let me see your hand."
"Why?"
"Because I want to make sure you didn't hurt it, hitting Heero. I've seen brick walls that were softer." There was a soft knock on the door, and then it slid open. Arthur stood there. Julia unconsciously pulled back.
Arthur stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. "I wanted to apologize to you for lying to you," he said simply. "We needed your help."
"Heero..."
"Heero doesn't apologize for anything, he just fixes his mistakes. Some mistakes you can't fix, but he's doing his best by fighting the Alliance."
"Arthur, do they need you..." Mike asked.
"I'll get back out there in a minute. They'll need us to start loading the shuttles soon. They need you too, Mike."
Mike nodded and left the room, and Julia realized that Arthur had subtly asked to speak to her alone. "I just wanted to say that we're all sorry," he said softly.
"I... I've hated you... the people who killed my father... for so long, and then I found out that it was you, and I helped you, but it wasn't really you..."
"It was us. We were being used by the Alliance, but it was still us."
They always take responsibility, Mike had said.
"Mike told me... they used to punish you for disobedience."
"No, not for disobedience. None of us would have dreamed of disobeying, if we dreamed. And it isn't quite the way he said. I was the only one who was punished regularly, mostly because I did have dreams."
"They did do some horrible things to you, though."
"We survived and it made us stronger."
"You're not very good at pitying yourself, are you?"
"No."
"Is your name really Arthur, or is that just a code name or something?"
"It's my name."
"And the others..."
"The names we gave you are the real ones, the only ones we've ever had. We chose them for ourselves. The Alliance called us by numbers."
"What was your number?"
"Four. Arthur is my name, though. Please don't ever use the numbers, or any numbers for any of us. We left that behind. But those are our only names. Rina is the one with dozens of names and identities." He was silent for a few seconds, then said, "Will you still help us?"
"Yes. I wasn't doing this for you, not ever. I was doing it for Rina and my father and all of the people that he used to talk about helping, the ones the Alliance was hurting."
Arthur nodded. "Do you still hate us?"
"I'm not sure. Just don't let Heero get close to me. I don't know what I'd do, and it sounds like the Rebels still need him. And I'm a Rebel."
