"Welcome to the Preventors Airport." The voice over the intercom boomed.
"Please stay seated until we have completely stopped."
"Miss? Are you alright?" the person next to Mac asked. Mac looked at him.
"Hm? Oh, yeah. I'm fine." Mac hadn't even realized that she was crying. She wiped her face and blew her nose. She was determined to look her best when she got back.
"Is it a boy?" the man next to her asked. He handed her a tissue.
"Yes." Mac said.
"Oh, don't let it bother you. Boys will be boys. He'll get over it." The man said. "I'm Mr. Jack Baron."
"I'm Mackenzie Maxwell." They shook hands.
"So, Ms. Maxwell, what are you doing here?" Mr. Baron asked.
"Oh, I'm a Preventor." She responded.
"Really? Wow. I didn't know that they let girls in," he said.
"Well, they do now." Mac said.
"Do you pilot mobile suits?" he asked.
"Most people are learning, but I already know how." She said, not really even thinking.
"Are they training for gundams?" he asked.
"I." Mac started, but Heero's warning rolled through her head. Don't talk to anyone strange. Don't let out any personal information. "I'm not sure. Excuse me, I have to go."
Mac got up and grabbed her duffel and quickly got out of the plane. 'Don't so paranoid.' She mentally chided her self. 'He was just a nice middle aged man, curious about the Preventors.'
And yet, deep down, Mac wasn't quite sure that was all.
"Welcome back!" Duo said.
"Hi Duo!" Mac said, with false cheerfulness. Duo looked at his younger sister closely. He realized that she had been crying, but he wouldn't say anything. Let her come to him. Her eyes held a different emotion in them. He couldn't quite place it. She seemed sad, angry, and scared.
"How was it?" he asked, a little more worried now.
"Oh, it was fun! I missed being able to dance, so I danced up a storm." She lied. 'Well, I did one night.' She mentally excused her lie.
"Oh, that's great! We do have a dance coming up, so maybe you could show us your moves." Duo said, wiggling his eyebrows. Mac giggled. Duo threw an arm around her shoulders. While they walked, he considered her. She was lying about how fun it was. Obviously something happened while she was at home, but it was probably nothing.
"How are Milli and Noin?" Duo asked.
"Huh? Oh, Milli's over protective as always and Noin's pregnant." Mac said.
"Really? Good for them." Duo said. "So, did you bring me back anything?"
"Yes, and I hope you like it because it took a lot of time." Mac responded. Duo's eyes grew large.
"OH JOY! A toy! But, I was just kidding." Mac giggled at Duo's response.
"Believe me, you will be oh so grateful towards me forever more." Mac said, mysteriously.
"Oh, lemme see! Lemme see!" Duo said, bouncing around. Mac laughed.
"Nope, it's not here yet."
"Oh! It's big then!"
"Very!" Mac said.
"When will it get here?"
"Later today. Probably this evening." Mac walked into her hallway and said good-bye to Duo. She went into her room and started putting some of her stuff away. She had brought more girly things this time, including a bathing suit.
Soon after, a knock came on her door.
"It's unlocked!" she called. The door opened. Mac turned around. "Sam!"
"Hey." He said.
"Well, someone doesn't very happy to see me!" Mac retorted, hurt.
"Sorry, it's not that, it's just. Well, tell me. How was it?" he asked, putting in a little more enthusiasm.
"Well, I went dancing and I went shopping and I went dancing. and did I mention shopping?" Mac said. Sam laughed.
"Glad you're back." He said. Then he sobered up.
"Sam, I'm not blind, deaf or stupid. Anyone could tell that something was wrong by the way you're acting. Tell me." Mac commanded. Sam sighed.
"You'd better sit." Mac still stood and crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine, the instructors are pushing us even harder and more and more. They keep telling us that we need to be ready, but they won't tell us what for." Mac raised an eyebrow. "They are finding out what our best talents are, and making us do lessons in that all day. Our lunch, breakfast, dinner, and free time is cut down gigantically."
"Uh-huh. I know." Mac said. Sam raised an eyebrow and cocked his head.
"How?"
"Connections."
"Whatever. So, now, we're all beat and tired and a lot of kids are bailing."
"OH that's horrible!" Mac exclaimed. Then, a thought occurred to her. "Did Joe leave?"
"Nope."
"Damn. Well, I suppose I'd better go look for Duo and give him his present." Mac said. Sam nodded and went off in another direction. Mac first looked in the kitchen for her brother, then the office, then his room, but still couldn't find him.
As she was walking back to her room, she heard voices coming from a room in a corner that she had no idea was even there. She knocked on the door and it immediately got quiet.
"Duo!" Someone hissed. "I thought you said that this place was somewhere that no one knew about!"
"I thought so! Don't blame me!" Duo hissed back.
"I blame you!" the first voice hissed again. The door opened a crack.
"MACKEY!" Duo yelled. "EEP!" Duo yelped as his head jerked back.
"Maxwell! If you want to see this ugly rat tail live another few seconds, I would shut that big mouth of yours!" Duo's head snapped back up and he grimaced.
"Come in, and hurry." Duo whispered. Mac slipped through the door and Duo shut it almost before she actually was in the room.
"What's up?" Mac asked, looking around at all the ex-gundam pilots and their friends' solemn faces.
"Well, there have been attacks on bases around the world from an unknown terrorist group." Sally said.
"Right." Mac said, looking expectantly from face to face.
"What do you mean, 'right'? You sound as if you know this." Duo said.
"I do. Milli told me." Mac said.
"He did?" Sally asked.
"Yep. He also told me to give the boys their presents, since he knows how they can act like such babies when they are kept in suspense." Mac teased, grinning evilly.
"I hope you were only talking about Maxwell." Wufei said in a dangerous tone.
"Nope, I meant you too Wu-man." Mac teased again. Wufei growled.
"Oh, God help us all! Two Maxwell's who are exactly the same!" he muttered. Duo winked at Mac and she winked back.
"Let's go get your presents. You guys better get down on your knees and thank me and worship me for this one." Mac told them.
"Ha! I'll never get on my knees to a stupid woman!" Wufei scorned. He was immediately face to face with a very angry, indignant Mac.
"Take that back or your present will go." She said. Wufei just muttered something that sounded like an apology. Mac turned around again and started walking towards the hangar.
When they got there, she led them over to a metal door and she typed in the code to it. The door swung open and she walked through. The boys followed suspiciously.
"Hey! I can't see anything!" Duo whined.
"It's a bit dark to see any presents." Quatre pointed out.
"If you will hold on a second." Mac said from far away. The boys heard a THUNK followed by a variety of words that made even Duo surprised.
"Hey, Mac? You okay?" Trowa asked.
"Fine." Mac said, obviously through clenched teeth. Then an exclamation of triumph flowed over to the boy's ears, and the lights flickered on.
Several large figures were outlined by the flickering lights. The boys stood there, awestruck.
"Is that what I think it is?" Wufei croaked.
"One second more!" Mac called. She slammed her palm down on the wall right next to the light switch and the lights stayed on. The g-boys looked up at the tall figures in pure awe.
"DEATHSYTHE!" Duo yelled on the top of his lungs and then he ran over there and glomped it. The other boys were a little less loud, but none the less excited.
"Oh, Sandrock!" Quatre said, then fainted.
"Oh, Nataku! I missed you!" Wufei exclaimed.
"Good to see you old friend." Trowa said to Heavyarms. Heero walked over to the new Wing Zero and walked around it several times, checking it over. He opened a compact computer and checked the computer inside. When he was done, he nodded.
"Ahem!" Mac yelled. Everyone, including the now conscious Quatre, turned his head towards her. "I believe that thanks are in order here."
Wufei was the first one to go over to her and throw himself at her feet.
"THANK YOU! THANK YOU! You brought back my Natuku." He said as he all but kissed her feet. Duo came running over to her and threw his arms around her. She stumbled back.
"You're the best little sis anyone could ever, ever have!" he exclaimed like a two year old.
The rest of the thank you's were done quietly and decorously.
"So, where's yours?" Duo asked. "I thought you were a gundam pilot too."
"I am. Divinity's over here." Mac led them over to her gundam. The boys looked appraisingly over her gundam.
"Nice, very nice." Duo commented. "But, never as good as Deathsythe."
"I beg to differ older bro." Mac said. "Does Deathsythe have a radio/CD player in it that plays in and OUT of the gundam?" Duo's jaw hit ground level.
"Are you serious?" he asked.
"Yep." Mac said smugly.
"How?"
"A bastard named Zach put it in for me." Mac told him, her face darkening and her eyes flaming at the thought of Zach.
"Well, if he did that for you, I wouldn't call him a bastard." Duo said.
"It's a long story, but he had a crush on me and vice versa and so he did that, but we went out, and I left for two seconds, and he is already pulling moves on some other girl." Mac growled.
"Oh. Well, then I would call him a bastard." Duo replied.
"Right, so whose gundam is better now?" Mac asked. Duo didn't get a chance to reply because Sally came up to them.
"I think they're both wonderful. So, are they completely finished?" Sally asked Mac.
"Yes, we finished. We worked forever on them. You don't seem surprised Ms. Sally."
"I'm not. Milliardo told me about them awhile ago." Sally smiled at Mac. "So, I suppose you don't need to be in the Preventor classes if you already know everything."
"Actually," Mac admitted. "I would like to learn more. Not about gundams or mobile suits, but other stuff. Or I could just work here. Either one."
"Well, we'll see. I'm not sure how the boys would handle not only a girl, but a younger girl teaching them." Sally said.
"Speaking of which, Mac, you didn't happen to get in a fight, did you?" Duo asked.
"Maybe."
"Because we found Joe outside your room slumped and hurt. He was kinda vague about what happened."
"Probably didn't want to admit that he got beat up by a girl." Mac muttered.
"So you did fight."
"So what?"
"Never mind. You are just too difficult." Heero said. Mac beamed at him.
"And pig headed and weak and.." Wufei muttered.
"WHAT WAS THAT, YOU MALE CHAUVINST?" Mac yelled, whirling around to face Wufei. Wufei cowered down.
"Nothing." He whimpered. "I didn't say anything." Mac smiled smugly.
"Nuh uh!" Quatre protested. "You said that she was pig headed and weak and then you stopped because you were afraid." Quatre looked around smiling, but stopped as soon as he saw Mac and Wufei glaring at him. "What?" he asked innocently.
"KISAMA!" Wufei yelled.
"EEP!" Quatre yelped, his eyes growing wide. Wufei took after Quatre, and Mac ran after Wufei screaming. Duo cheered on a certain person then changed his opinion every other sentence. Heero and Trowa exchanged glances of disgust and went over to separate the fight that had started. Sally just chuckled.
Sally walked out the door, but before the door shut, she heard, "GET OFF ME! CAN'T YOU TELL I'M BEATING WUFEI TO A PULP!" and chuckled more.
"Gundam pilots." She murmured and shook her head.
"Ugh. Wufei, you suck." Mac said the next morning. Wufei looked up from his cereal. His face was decorated with several bruises.
"What, you only have one black eye." He protested.
"I know, but I also have a major headache." She whined.
"Weak woman." He mumbled.
"You wanna start that again?" she asked him. He shook his head. Duo came walking in the kitchen.
"Duo, you look worse than Wu-man." Mac said.
"I take offence to that." Duo said, insulted. "I could be run over by a truck and still look better than him!" Wufei growled through a mouth full of cereal.
Heero came walking in and looked at the three of them and shook his head.
"Mac what are you doing here?" he asked.
"I live here now. I get to live in the gundam pilots suites." She said smugly.
"Ugh, two Maxwell's. Not only in the same school, but in the same little apartment thing." Wufei said. "I don't know if I can handle this."
Just then, Quatre came walking in. Everyone looked up.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHA!" Mac laughed. Quatre blushed. As soon as Mac calmed herself down, she looked at Quatre again. His face was almost one big bruise and he had bruises all over his arms.
"Don't laugh, it hurts." He whined.
"Hehehehehehe, how on Earth did you get so beat up when you were only fighting Wufei?" Mac asked. Wufei growled more.
"Well, as I recall, you and Duo were in the pile too." Quatre said. Trowa came walking in the kitchen and looked at the four with bruises raised an eyebrow and walked over to the cabinet followed by Quatre. Quatre pulled out a box of granola and immediately was confronted with Mac.
"If you wish to live to see tomorrow, put down the box." She growled. He made a sad face at her and set down the box. She grabbed it and sat down again. Then, Quatre opened the cabinet and saw five more boxes of granola. He turned and looked at Mac. She was busy shoveling granola as fast as she could into her mouth. He turned back and reached for Lucky Charms.
Heero rushed over and grabbed it from Quatre's grasp and gave him a warning look. Quatre then grabbed a box of something very, very sugary and Duo barked, "Put the box down."
Then, Quatre got a box of Wheaties and got growled at by Trowa. He sighed. Then, tried the second to last box in the cabinet, oatmeal in cereal form. Wufei glared at him. Quatre finally got the last box in the cabinet, his only hope of breakfast. It was Grapenuts. That would never fill him up, but was better than going to the cafeteria. He pulled a bowl down and then grabbed for the milk, but Heero grabbed it first. Heero handed it to Quatre when he was done. He poured the milk on his cereal, but nothing came out. Quatre sighed, and went in the fridge, but there was no milk. He looked over at his dry cereal, on the verge of tears. There was no way he could eat that dry. Then, the bell rang and the pilots all put their dishes in the sink and walked out of the kitchen.
"Hey, baby. You free?"
"Aren't you the hottie!"
"Bring that over here!" Mac rolled her eyes at the catcalls. She just kept walking down the halls and reminded herself that they were only doing that because they had hardly seen a girl in about five months. She walked into the gym and everything got quiet, for a moment. She immediately saw why. Everyone was huddled in one circle and they were all listening to someone in the middle. Or at least they WERE listening to someone in the middle. The group parted for the speaker.
"Well, if it isn't the baby girl." Mac winced at the voice.
"Joe, who let you out of the zoo?"
"Funny. You think you're so big and cool. Well, I've got news for you: no one likes you. You're not wanted here. Go home."
"I have friends here. YOU are the one without friends. Do you actually think all these guys like you? Well, my guess is no. They're afraid of you so they do your bidding." Mac retorted.
"Look around, Mac. Do you see anyone coming to your defense?" He looked around and no one moved. Mac's eyes roved the crowd. Her eyes stopped and narrowed. She saw a certain person trying to hide in the crowds.
"You're right, Joe." Mac admitted. "Obviously, no one here is man enough to stand up to you. So, I have to be a woman and stand up for myself. I just want to take this time to point out how cowardly all men are. Joe, you won't even pick on me in front of teachers or fairly. You do so in back halls or when the teachers back is turned." Mac named off a few more people that she knew and they weren't standing up for her now and she insulted them. "And, finally, Sam. You must be the most coward of this group. That's right, Sam. I'm talking to you. You were nice to me and were my friend when I came here, but now, you bow down to the lesser. You are more cowardly than Joe. None of you will make it in battle."
"How would you know?" Joe asked. "Are you a gundam pilot?" He was, of course kidding, because no one knew that the gundams were back in the picture except for the exclusive few.
Mac just smirked. "I have experience," was all she said. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of hurting her. She turned to walk out the door, but paused. "Oh, by the way Sam. I hope you rot in hell."
With that, she walked out the door. She could hear the boys poking fun at Sam because she had ragged him down the worst. She managed to get to her room before she broke down and cried.
When she finished crying, she stomped around the suites and picked up unbreakable stuff and threw it at the walls. She had picked up a plastic vase that the school had provided, and just as she threw it, the door opened and missed the person by an inch.
"Whoa! No one told me the war started yet!" Duo joked.
"Not funny."
"What's your problem?" Duo stepped all the way inside and looked around at the mess.
"No one likes me." Mac pouted. Duo did all he could not to laugh, but it wasn't enough. He burst out laughing. "What is so funny, Duo Maxwell?"
"You!" he gasped. Mac put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips.
"Okay, okay. You just sounded like a little girl. It was just the absurdity of the moment." Duo explained. He sat down on the couch and patted the seat next to him and Mac sat down. "Okay, tell your big brother what's wrong."
"You're so cheesy." Mac said. Duo just chuckled. "Well, today I went into the gym, and all the guys were in a circle and talking about me and then Joe stepped out and told me to go home because no one liked me. Then, I of course did believe him, but he said that no one was coming to my defense and it's true. I looked around, and low and behold, Sam was trying to hide from me. So, I lifted my head up and told them all that they were cowards and would never make it in battle. Joe asked how I knew and I told him about-"
"YOU WHAT? You didn't tell him about the gundams, did you? You couldn't have told him that you were a gundam pilot." Duo interrupted.
"No, Duo. I told them that I had experience. That's all, and then I came here." Mac said slowly.
"Oh, my poor, poor little sister." Duo said in a cheesy voice.
"Duo, you have no emotions. Except of course for your humor and sarcasticness. I'm not even sure if that's a word, but oh well!" Mac said. She stood up and started for the door. "I'm going to go kick some butt."
She walked out the door and headed, once again, for the gym. When she got there, the boys were in class and she once again, caused another disturbance.
"Well, if it isn't the little girl." Joe sneered. "Go home, Mac."
"That's Ms. Maxwell to you." She said. "I'm your assistant trainer."
"What-how." Joe stammered.
"I have my reasons. Now, you lazy bums, get out there and start running." she commanded. They all got up and grumbled and ran. One guy came up to her and tapped her shoulder. She turned to face him.
"Hey, Mac."
"Well, well. If it isn't the cowardly coward himself! Sam! Wish I could say it's nice to see you, but it isn't."
"Listen Mac. I realize how you feel and-"
"No, you don't. See, as soon as you are rejected by almost everyone that you could trust, then you'll know how I feel, but for now, you're living the high life." She said, as cold as Heero. "You don't actually believe that Joe likes you, do you? I hope not. I hope you realize that he's using you to get to me, and soon as he realizes that you mean nothing to me, he'll drop you and turn everyone against you. Then, you can say you know how I feel. Oh, and don't expect me to come to your rescue and defend you because I don't forgive that easily." Mac turned away from him.
"Fine, I can recognize a dismissal when I see one, but you're wrong about Joe." Sam said, the hurt exposed in his voice. "By the way, I would have stood up for you, but you just had to."
Heero had walked in and disguised the surprise on his face to see the boys running already. Sam walked away as Heero came up to Mac. He looked at her.
"I'm surprised Sally didn't tell you. I'm your assistant teach!" Mac said. Heero's mask betrayed him for a moment, but was immediately back in place. Mac hid her confusion, but was surprised to see Heero look almost. Angry. "What? It's not like I did anything to you! I mean, come on! Is the whole world against me lately! Good God, the male population has seemed to turn against me and the female population has just ignored me!"
Mac, for reasons even unknown to her, stalked out of the gym for the second time that day, leaving Heero staring after her, clearly confused. Mac walked down the hall, outside into the cold winter air. 'What the hell am I doing?' she thought. 'It's not like he made fun of me or anything. I should turn around and go back in.'
But she didn't. She kept walking. She found herself back inside, but not by the gym. In fact, she wasn't even in the main building. She found herself in the private room in the hangar. The one that held the gundams.
Mac shrugged and figured while she was there, she would check on Divinity. She made her way between the gigantic figures over to her gundam and climbed in. When she got in there, she looked around.
"It's been too long." She ran her hands over the buttons and keys. She found a new one and read the words under it. Her eyes lit up. "Music." She pulled a special compartment out of her seat and checked to see if her good CD's were in there. "Good." She looked for one to suit her mood and found Meredith Brooks'. She smiled and put it in.
Little did she know, it was on the speaker too. She began to blast her favorite song, 'Bitch' and sat back and smiled. While she was sitting there, blasting the music, Duo had gone looking for her. He was beginning to get worried about her moodiness.
He had just found out from Heero about her outburst in the gym, and now was going to have a little 'chat' with her. He walked into the hangar on a hunch. He went into the secret room and was immediately confronted with blasting music.
I'm a bitch
I'm a tease
I'm a goddess on my knees
Duo not only heard all this, but his sister singing too as he approached her gundam. He knocked on her door and he heard the music go off and the door open.
"Duo!" Mac exclaimed, surprised.
"Yeah. Come on out. We can't both fit in there. Well, at least comfortably." Duo said.
"Okay. What's wrong? You seem mad." Mac said as she climbed out.
"Well, you're just worrying me. You've been awfully moody lately and you just walked out on Heero for no apparent reason."
"I know. He just seemed angry to have me as his assistant and I felt like he had no reason to be." Mac said. "Sorry, Duo. I know I've been moody and cranky, but it just seems to come out. I can't seem to stop it."
"Well, it must be the whole teen-age thing." Duo excused.
Mac laughed. "You make it sound as if you wouldn't know. You're only 21!"
"I know, but remember, I was fighting when I was your age."
"True, but you were still a pain." Duo nodded, then looked up.
"HEY!!" Mac laughed more.
"Listen, Macky. I thought about what you said about Sam. And, I think that maybe you were to hard on him." Mac's mouth dropped open.
"ME? Too hard on HIM?" Duo put his hands up in mock surrender.
"Hey, hey. Don't get all mad and hissy at me. I'm just sayin' that if I were a guy, which I am," Duo covered when he saw the questioning look on Mac's face. "Anyway, if I were the guy, I would be mad at YOU for pickin' me out of the crowd like that."
"Well, it's not like I wasn't singled out. He also didn't defend me." Mac said defensively.
"I understand that. You were hurt, but did you ever think that maybe you hurt him too? Like, maybe he didn't understand why you didn't tell him you were a girl before everyone else." Duo put up his hands again when Mac opened her mouth. "I know, you couldn't, but maybe he thinks that since he was your friend, you could." Duo took a deep breath. "Okay, that's all my sincere stuff for today." Then his face lit up in a mischievous grin. "Time to go bug Heero! Wanna come?"
"No thanks." Mac said. Duo walked off and left Mac to her thoughts.
"Miss? Are you alright?" the person next to Mac asked. Mac looked at him.
"Hm? Oh, yeah. I'm fine." Mac hadn't even realized that she was crying. She wiped her face and blew her nose. She was determined to look her best when she got back.
"Is it a boy?" the man next to her asked. He handed her a tissue.
"Yes." Mac said.
"Oh, don't let it bother you. Boys will be boys. He'll get over it." The man said. "I'm Mr. Jack Baron."
"I'm Mackenzie Maxwell." They shook hands.
"So, Ms. Maxwell, what are you doing here?" Mr. Baron asked.
"Oh, I'm a Preventor." She responded.
"Really? Wow. I didn't know that they let girls in," he said.
"Well, they do now." Mac said.
"Do you pilot mobile suits?" he asked.
"Most people are learning, but I already know how." She said, not really even thinking.
"Are they training for gundams?" he asked.
"I." Mac started, but Heero's warning rolled through her head. Don't talk to anyone strange. Don't let out any personal information. "I'm not sure. Excuse me, I have to go."
Mac got up and grabbed her duffel and quickly got out of the plane. 'Don't so paranoid.' She mentally chided her self. 'He was just a nice middle aged man, curious about the Preventors.'
And yet, deep down, Mac wasn't quite sure that was all.
"Welcome back!" Duo said.
"Hi Duo!" Mac said, with false cheerfulness. Duo looked at his younger sister closely. He realized that she had been crying, but he wouldn't say anything. Let her come to him. Her eyes held a different emotion in them. He couldn't quite place it. She seemed sad, angry, and scared.
"How was it?" he asked, a little more worried now.
"Oh, it was fun! I missed being able to dance, so I danced up a storm." She lied. 'Well, I did one night.' She mentally excused her lie.
"Oh, that's great! We do have a dance coming up, so maybe you could show us your moves." Duo said, wiggling his eyebrows. Mac giggled. Duo threw an arm around her shoulders. While they walked, he considered her. She was lying about how fun it was. Obviously something happened while she was at home, but it was probably nothing.
"How are Milli and Noin?" Duo asked.
"Huh? Oh, Milli's over protective as always and Noin's pregnant." Mac said.
"Really? Good for them." Duo said. "So, did you bring me back anything?"
"Yes, and I hope you like it because it took a lot of time." Mac responded. Duo's eyes grew large.
"OH JOY! A toy! But, I was just kidding." Mac giggled at Duo's response.
"Believe me, you will be oh so grateful towards me forever more." Mac said, mysteriously.
"Oh, lemme see! Lemme see!" Duo said, bouncing around. Mac laughed.
"Nope, it's not here yet."
"Oh! It's big then!"
"Very!" Mac said.
"When will it get here?"
"Later today. Probably this evening." Mac walked into her hallway and said good-bye to Duo. She went into her room and started putting some of her stuff away. She had brought more girly things this time, including a bathing suit.
Soon after, a knock came on her door.
"It's unlocked!" she called. The door opened. Mac turned around. "Sam!"
"Hey." He said.
"Well, someone doesn't very happy to see me!" Mac retorted, hurt.
"Sorry, it's not that, it's just. Well, tell me. How was it?" he asked, putting in a little more enthusiasm.
"Well, I went dancing and I went shopping and I went dancing. and did I mention shopping?" Mac said. Sam laughed.
"Glad you're back." He said. Then he sobered up.
"Sam, I'm not blind, deaf or stupid. Anyone could tell that something was wrong by the way you're acting. Tell me." Mac commanded. Sam sighed.
"You'd better sit." Mac still stood and crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine, the instructors are pushing us even harder and more and more. They keep telling us that we need to be ready, but they won't tell us what for." Mac raised an eyebrow. "They are finding out what our best talents are, and making us do lessons in that all day. Our lunch, breakfast, dinner, and free time is cut down gigantically."
"Uh-huh. I know." Mac said. Sam raised an eyebrow and cocked his head.
"How?"
"Connections."
"Whatever. So, now, we're all beat and tired and a lot of kids are bailing."
"OH that's horrible!" Mac exclaimed. Then, a thought occurred to her. "Did Joe leave?"
"Nope."
"Damn. Well, I suppose I'd better go look for Duo and give him his present." Mac said. Sam nodded and went off in another direction. Mac first looked in the kitchen for her brother, then the office, then his room, but still couldn't find him.
As she was walking back to her room, she heard voices coming from a room in a corner that she had no idea was even there. She knocked on the door and it immediately got quiet.
"Duo!" Someone hissed. "I thought you said that this place was somewhere that no one knew about!"
"I thought so! Don't blame me!" Duo hissed back.
"I blame you!" the first voice hissed again. The door opened a crack.
"MACKEY!" Duo yelled. "EEP!" Duo yelped as his head jerked back.
"Maxwell! If you want to see this ugly rat tail live another few seconds, I would shut that big mouth of yours!" Duo's head snapped back up and he grimaced.
"Come in, and hurry." Duo whispered. Mac slipped through the door and Duo shut it almost before she actually was in the room.
"What's up?" Mac asked, looking around at all the ex-gundam pilots and their friends' solemn faces.
"Well, there have been attacks on bases around the world from an unknown terrorist group." Sally said.
"Right." Mac said, looking expectantly from face to face.
"What do you mean, 'right'? You sound as if you know this." Duo said.
"I do. Milli told me." Mac said.
"He did?" Sally asked.
"Yep. He also told me to give the boys their presents, since he knows how they can act like such babies when they are kept in suspense." Mac teased, grinning evilly.
"I hope you were only talking about Maxwell." Wufei said in a dangerous tone.
"Nope, I meant you too Wu-man." Mac teased again. Wufei growled.
"Oh, God help us all! Two Maxwell's who are exactly the same!" he muttered. Duo winked at Mac and she winked back.
"Let's go get your presents. You guys better get down on your knees and thank me and worship me for this one." Mac told them.
"Ha! I'll never get on my knees to a stupid woman!" Wufei scorned. He was immediately face to face with a very angry, indignant Mac.
"Take that back or your present will go." She said. Wufei just muttered something that sounded like an apology. Mac turned around again and started walking towards the hangar.
When they got there, she led them over to a metal door and she typed in the code to it. The door swung open and she walked through. The boys followed suspiciously.
"Hey! I can't see anything!" Duo whined.
"It's a bit dark to see any presents." Quatre pointed out.
"If you will hold on a second." Mac said from far away. The boys heard a THUNK followed by a variety of words that made even Duo surprised.
"Hey, Mac? You okay?" Trowa asked.
"Fine." Mac said, obviously through clenched teeth. Then an exclamation of triumph flowed over to the boy's ears, and the lights flickered on.
Several large figures were outlined by the flickering lights. The boys stood there, awestruck.
"Is that what I think it is?" Wufei croaked.
"One second more!" Mac called. She slammed her palm down on the wall right next to the light switch and the lights stayed on. The g-boys looked up at the tall figures in pure awe.
"DEATHSYTHE!" Duo yelled on the top of his lungs and then he ran over there and glomped it. The other boys were a little less loud, but none the less excited.
"Oh, Sandrock!" Quatre said, then fainted.
"Oh, Nataku! I missed you!" Wufei exclaimed.
"Good to see you old friend." Trowa said to Heavyarms. Heero walked over to the new Wing Zero and walked around it several times, checking it over. He opened a compact computer and checked the computer inside. When he was done, he nodded.
"Ahem!" Mac yelled. Everyone, including the now conscious Quatre, turned his head towards her. "I believe that thanks are in order here."
Wufei was the first one to go over to her and throw himself at her feet.
"THANK YOU! THANK YOU! You brought back my Natuku." He said as he all but kissed her feet. Duo came running over to her and threw his arms around her. She stumbled back.
"You're the best little sis anyone could ever, ever have!" he exclaimed like a two year old.
The rest of the thank you's were done quietly and decorously.
"So, where's yours?" Duo asked. "I thought you were a gundam pilot too."
"I am. Divinity's over here." Mac led them over to her gundam. The boys looked appraisingly over her gundam.
"Nice, very nice." Duo commented. "But, never as good as Deathsythe."
"I beg to differ older bro." Mac said. "Does Deathsythe have a radio/CD player in it that plays in and OUT of the gundam?" Duo's jaw hit ground level.
"Are you serious?" he asked.
"Yep." Mac said smugly.
"How?"
"A bastard named Zach put it in for me." Mac told him, her face darkening and her eyes flaming at the thought of Zach.
"Well, if he did that for you, I wouldn't call him a bastard." Duo said.
"It's a long story, but he had a crush on me and vice versa and so he did that, but we went out, and I left for two seconds, and he is already pulling moves on some other girl." Mac growled.
"Oh. Well, then I would call him a bastard." Duo replied.
"Right, so whose gundam is better now?" Mac asked. Duo didn't get a chance to reply because Sally came up to them.
"I think they're both wonderful. So, are they completely finished?" Sally asked Mac.
"Yes, we finished. We worked forever on them. You don't seem surprised Ms. Sally."
"I'm not. Milliardo told me about them awhile ago." Sally smiled at Mac. "So, I suppose you don't need to be in the Preventor classes if you already know everything."
"Actually," Mac admitted. "I would like to learn more. Not about gundams or mobile suits, but other stuff. Or I could just work here. Either one."
"Well, we'll see. I'm not sure how the boys would handle not only a girl, but a younger girl teaching them." Sally said.
"Speaking of which, Mac, you didn't happen to get in a fight, did you?" Duo asked.
"Maybe."
"Because we found Joe outside your room slumped and hurt. He was kinda vague about what happened."
"Probably didn't want to admit that he got beat up by a girl." Mac muttered.
"So you did fight."
"So what?"
"Never mind. You are just too difficult." Heero said. Mac beamed at him.
"And pig headed and weak and.." Wufei muttered.
"WHAT WAS THAT, YOU MALE CHAUVINST?" Mac yelled, whirling around to face Wufei. Wufei cowered down.
"Nothing." He whimpered. "I didn't say anything." Mac smiled smugly.
"Nuh uh!" Quatre protested. "You said that she was pig headed and weak and then you stopped because you were afraid." Quatre looked around smiling, but stopped as soon as he saw Mac and Wufei glaring at him. "What?" he asked innocently.
"KISAMA!" Wufei yelled.
"EEP!" Quatre yelped, his eyes growing wide. Wufei took after Quatre, and Mac ran after Wufei screaming. Duo cheered on a certain person then changed his opinion every other sentence. Heero and Trowa exchanged glances of disgust and went over to separate the fight that had started. Sally just chuckled.
Sally walked out the door, but before the door shut, she heard, "GET OFF ME! CAN'T YOU TELL I'M BEATING WUFEI TO A PULP!" and chuckled more.
"Gundam pilots." She murmured and shook her head.
"Ugh. Wufei, you suck." Mac said the next morning. Wufei looked up from his cereal. His face was decorated with several bruises.
"What, you only have one black eye." He protested.
"I know, but I also have a major headache." She whined.
"Weak woman." He mumbled.
"You wanna start that again?" she asked him. He shook his head. Duo came walking in the kitchen.
"Duo, you look worse than Wu-man." Mac said.
"I take offence to that." Duo said, insulted. "I could be run over by a truck and still look better than him!" Wufei growled through a mouth full of cereal.
Heero came walking in and looked at the three of them and shook his head.
"Mac what are you doing here?" he asked.
"I live here now. I get to live in the gundam pilots suites." She said smugly.
"Ugh, two Maxwell's. Not only in the same school, but in the same little apartment thing." Wufei said. "I don't know if I can handle this."
Just then, Quatre came walking in. Everyone looked up.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHA!" Mac laughed. Quatre blushed. As soon as Mac calmed herself down, she looked at Quatre again. His face was almost one big bruise and he had bruises all over his arms.
"Don't laugh, it hurts." He whined.
"Hehehehehehe, how on Earth did you get so beat up when you were only fighting Wufei?" Mac asked. Wufei growled more.
"Well, as I recall, you and Duo were in the pile too." Quatre said. Trowa came walking in the kitchen and looked at the four with bruises raised an eyebrow and walked over to the cabinet followed by Quatre. Quatre pulled out a box of granola and immediately was confronted with Mac.
"If you wish to live to see tomorrow, put down the box." She growled. He made a sad face at her and set down the box. She grabbed it and sat down again. Then, Quatre opened the cabinet and saw five more boxes of granola. He turned and looked at Mac. She was busy shoveling granola as fast as she could into her mouth. He turned back and reached for Lucky Charms.
Heero rushed over and grabbed it from Quatre's grasp and gave him a warning look. Quatre then grabbed a box of something very, very sugary and Duo barked, "Put the box down."
Then, Quatre got a box of Wheaties and got growled at by Trowa. He sighed. Then, tried the second to last box in the cabinet, oatmeal in cereal form. Wufei glared at him. Quatre finally got the last box in the cabinet, his only hope of breakfast. It was Grapenuts. That would never fill him up, but was better than going to the cafeteria. He pulled a bowl down and then grabbed for the milk, but Heero grabbed it first. Heero handed it to Quatre when he was done. He poured the milk on his cereal, but nothing came out. Quatre sighed, and went in the fridge, but there was no milk. He looked over at his dry cereal, on the verge of tears. There was no way he could eat that dry. Then, the bell rang and the pilots all put their dishes in the sink and walked out of the kitchen.
"Hey, baby. You free?"
"Aren't you the hottie!"
"Bring that over here!" Mac rolled her eyes at the catcalls. She just kept walking down the halls and reminded herself that they were only doing that because they had hardly seen a girl in about five months. She walked into the gym and everything got quiet, for a moment. She immediately saw why. Everyone was huddled in one circle and they were all listening to someone in the middle. Or at least they WERE listening to someone in the middle. The group parted for the speaker.
"Well, if it isn't the baby girl." Mac winced at the voice.
"Joe, who let you out of the zoo?"
"Funny. You think you're so big and cool. Well, I've got news for you: no one likes you. You're not wanted here. Go home."
"I have friends here. YOU are the one without friends. Do you actually think all these guys like you? Well, my guess is no. They're afraid of you so they do your bidding." Mac retorted.
"Look around, Mac. Do you see anyone coming to your defense?" He looked around and no one moved. Mac's eyes roved the crowd. Her eyes stopped and narrowed. She saw a certain person trying to hide in the crowds.
"You're right, Joe." Mac admitted. "Obviously, no one here is man enough to stand up to you. So, I have to be a woman and stand up for myself. I just want to take this time to point out how cowardly all men are. Joe, you won't even pick on me in front of teachers or fairly. You do so in back halls or when the teachers back is turned." Mac named off a few more people that she knew and they weren't standing up for her now and she insulted them. "And, finally, Sam. You must be the most coward of this group. That's right, Sam. I'm talking to you. You were nice to me and were my friend when I came here, but now, you bow down to the lesser. You are more cowardly than Joe. None of you will make it in battle."
"How would you know?" Joe asked. "Are you a gundam pilot?" He was, of course kidding, because no one knew that the gundams were back in the picture except for the exclusive few.
Mac just smirked. "I have experience," was all she said. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of hurting her. She turned to walk out the door, but paused. "Oh, by the way Sam. I hope you rot in hell."
With that, she walked out the door. She could hear the boys poking fun at Sam because she had ragged him down the worst. She managed to get to her room before she broke down and cried.
When she finished crying, she stomped around the suites and picked up unbreakable stuff and threw it at the walls. She had picked up a plastic vase that the school had provided, and just as she threw it, the door opened and missed the person by an inch.
"Whoa! No one told me the war started yet!" Duo joked.
"Not funny."
"What's your problem?" Duo stepped all the way inside and looked around at the mess.
"No one likes me." Mac pouted. Duo did all he could not to laugh, but it wasn't enough. He burst out laughing. "What is so funny, Duo Maxwell?"
"You!" he gasped. Mac put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips.
"Okay, okay. You just sounded like a little girl. It was just the absurdity of the moment." Duo explained. He sat down on the couch and patted the seat next to him and Mac sat down. "Okay, tell your big brother what's wrong."
"You're so cheesy." Mac said. Duo just chuckled. "Well, today I went into the gym, and all the guys were in a circle and talking about me and then Joe stepped out and told me to go home because no one liked me. Then, I of course did believe him, but he said that no one was coming to my defense and it's true. I looked around, and low and behold, Sam was trying to hide from me. So, I lifted my head up and told them all that they were cowards and would never make it in battle. Joe asked how I knew and I told him about-"
"YOU WHAT? You didn't tell him about the gundams, did you? You couldn't have told him that you were a gundam pilot." Duo interrupted.
"No, Duo. I told them that I had experience. That's all, and then I came here." Mac said slowly.
"Oh, my poor, poor little sister." Duo said in a cheesy voice.
"Duo, you have no emotions. Except of course for your humor and sarcasticness. I'm not even sure if that's a word, but oh well!" Mac said. She stood up and started for the door. "I'm going to go kick some butt."
She walked out the door and headed, once again, for the gym. When she got there, the boys were in class and she once again, caused another disturbance.
"Well, if it isn't the little girl." Joe sneered. "Go home, Mac."
"That's Ms. Maxwell to you." She said. "I'm your assistant trainer."
"What-how." Joe stammered.
"I have my reasons. Now, you lazy bums, get out there and start running." she commanded. They all got up and grumbled and ran. One guy came up to her and tapped her shoulder. She turned to face him.
"Hey, Mac."
"Well, well. If it isn't the cowardly coward himself! Sam! Wish I could say it's nice to see you, but it isn't."
"Listen Mac. I realize how you feel and-"
"No, you don't. See, as soon as you are rejected by almost everyone that you could trust, then you'll know how I feel, but for now, you're living the high life." She said, as cold as Heero. "You don't actually believe that Joe likes you, do you? I hope not. I hope you realize that he's using you to get to me, and soon as he realizes that you mean nothing to me, he'll drop you and turn everyone against you. Then, you can say you know how I feel. Oh, and don't expect me to come to your rescue and defend you because I don't forgive that easily." Mac turned away from him.
"Fine, I can recognize a dismissal when I see one, but you're wrong about Joe." Sam said, the hurt exposed in his voice. "By the way, I would have stood up for you, but you just had to."
Heero had walked in and disguised the surprise on his face to see the boys running already. Sam walked away as Heero came up to Mac. He looked at her.
"I'm surprised Sally didn't tell you. I'm your assistant teach!" Mac said. Heero's mask betrayed him for a moment, but was immediately back in place. Mac hid her confusion, but was surprised to see Heero look almost. Angry. "What? It's not like I did anything to you! I mean, come on! Is the whole world against me lately! Good God, the male population has seemed to turn against me and the female population has just ignored me!"
Mac, for reasons even unknown to her, stalked out of the gym for the second time that day, leaving Heero staring after her, clearly confused. Mac walked down the hall, outside into the cold winter air. 'What the hell am I doing?' she thought. 'It's not like he made fun of me or anything. I should turn around and go back in.'
But she didn't. She kept walking. She found herself back inside, but not by the gym. In fact, she wasn't even in the main building. She found herself in the private room in the hangar. The one that held the gundams.
Mac shrugged and figured while she was there, she would check on Divinity. She made her way between the gigantic figures over to her gundam and climbed in. When she got in there, she looked around.
"It's been too long." She ran her hands over the buttons and keys. She found a new one and read the words under it. Her eyes lit up. "Music." She pulled a special compartment out of her seat and checked to see if her good CD's were in there. "Good." She looked for one to suit her mood and found Meredith Brooks'. She smiled and put it in.
Little did she know, it was on the speaker too. She began to blast her favorite song, 'Bitch' and sat back and smiled. While she was sitting there, blasting the music, Duo had gone looking for her. He was beginning to get worried about her moodiness.
He had just found out from Heero about her outburst in the gym, and now was going to have a little 'chat' with her. He walked into the hangar on a hunch. He went into the secret room and was immediately confronted with blasting music.
I'm a bitch
I'm a tease
I'm a goddess on my knees
Duo not only heard all this, but his sister singing too as he approached her gundam. He knocked on her door and he heard the music go off and the door open.
"Duo!" Mac exclaimed, surprised.
"Yeah. Come on out. We can't both fit in there. Well, at least comfortably." Duo said.
"Okay. What's wrong? You seem mad." Mac said as she climbed out.
"Well, you're just worrying me. You've been awfully moody lately and you just walked out on Heero for no apparent reason."
"I know. He just seemed angry to have me as his assistant and I felt like he had no reason to be." Mac said. "Sorry, Duo. I know I've been moody and cranky, but it just seems to come out. I can't seem to stop it."
"Well, it must be the whole teen-age thing." Duo excused.
Mac laughed. "You make it sound as if you wouldn't know. You're only 21!"
"I know, but remember, I was fighting when I was your age."
"True, but you were still a pain." Duo nodded, then looked up.
"HEY!!" Mac laughed more.
"Listen, Macky. I thought about what you said about Sam. And, I think that maybe you were to hard on him." Mac's mouth dropped open.
"ME? Too hard on HIM?" Duo put his hands up in mock surrender.
"Hey, hey. Don't get all mad and hissy at me. I'm just sayin' that if I were a guy, which I am," Duo covered when he saw the questioning look on Mac's face. "Anyway, if I were the guy, I would be mad at YOU for pickin' me out of the crowd like that."
"Well, it's not like I wasn't singled out. He also didn't defend me." Mac said defensively.
"I understand that. You were hurt, but did you ever think that maybe you hurt him too? Like, maybe he didn't understand why you didn't tell him you were a girl before everyone else." Duo put up his hands again when Mac opened her mouth. "I know, you couldn't, but maybe he thinks that since he was your friend, you could." Duo took a deep breath. "Okay, that's all my sincere stuff for today." Then his face lit up in a mischievous grin. "Time to go bug Heero! Wanna come?"
"No thanks." Mac said. Duo walked off and left Mac to her thoughts.
