NOTES:
Tired of a sudden plethora of medieval AUs? Tired of mindless romance? Tired of fanfics that don't know what they're talking about? Tired of OOC fanfics, or "fanfics" as the case may be, and endless gushing about "Hiead-sama"?

...Oh, you're not?

Well, Kay Willow has returned with a fic that is none of those things ANYWAY. Here we are with more of the GW/MK crossover that refuses to go medieval, except on your ass if you don't read! That will involve only mindFUL romance! (Or something.) That will understand the universe of MK and GW, not to mention the laws of effect, consequence, and Murphy! That promises not to go [too blatantly] OOC, and will treat Hiead like HIEAD, because if Kay dared to drool on him, he would break her neck in six different places, and she likes living!

WARNINGS: er. Bit of violence in this part. More suffering. Lots of trouble. Veeeery busy this chapter. And you, personally, will probably have no idea what's going on here. But it's going on without you. Future yaoi and yuri AND het.

CRASH
[Into Me]
by Kay Willow

Part 1, Chapter 2

One moment, the Gundam pilots had been mere seconds away from the final battle. One moment, they had faced a battalion of mobile dolls primed to maximum by their hidden controller, with the Epyon, the Tallgeese, and the immense threat of the Libra compounding the problem into one almost certain suicide run. For one moment, the five Gundam pilots had finally found it within themselves to stand firm, together after a year of blundering errors and learning how to trust, and they stood united against what they knew would be the death of them... but it would be worth it, if only the war would end and Earth be saved.

That had been one moment.

This was the next.

The battlefield had shifted before his eyes, accompanied by a thinly distressed shriek as Sandrock's navigational systems failed to identify his location: the countless sea of stars beyond him had altered configuration ever so subtly to his mere mortal vision; the lifeless olive-colored mobile suits replaced with larger silver-gray mecha, each, as his trained eye could discern easily, moving under with its own will; the looming white hulk of Peacemillion had vanished from their backs; Epyon's menacing crimson presence had split into three distinct Gundam-like shapes, painted in far less foreboding shades of white and blue and green.

Also, there was a teeming mass of SOMETHING on the edge of Quatre's vision, retreating rapidly.

He could hear muttered exclamations of stunned surprise from his fellow Gundams, and felt reassured by their presence. Instinctively he drew closer to them, and they did the same almost in unison. They were finally united, finally five segments of the same unit... but what WAS this new challenge?

"What the fuck is going on?" Duo demanded under his breath.

To Quatre's surprise, that exact sentiment was echoed, much louder and in the voice of a stranger, only moments afterwards. The voice came from his speakers, so its owner had to be on the battlefield with them -- otherwise the Minovsky particles generated by their nuclear reactors would surely mangle the radio waves beyond recognition -- but before he could say anything, ask where they were and whose side these newcomers were on, the other person continued in an increasingly agitated voice.

"Hey, First! #88 reporting: I don't know WHAT happened after that explosion, but my contact with GOA has gone all fuzzy, and I can't get through to my Repairer. Requesting feedback--"

"#87, reporting similar transmission problems," interrupted another voice. "Permission to return to my troop--"

"All Candidates are to cease external communication immediately," cut in a third person, cool and unruffled and distinctly female. "Please exercise caution; we have entered a dangerous situation. Erts, relay the orders to the distant units."

Quatre's heart leapt into his throat.

He recognized that voice. He recognized that NAME.

He'd forgotten the dream he'd had earlier that day, had woken up from his power nap afterwards completely refreshed and unable to recall the nightmare that had made the others race in to check up on him. It wasn't the first time something like that had happened to him; on the contrary, it had started almost a month ago, while he and Heero had been staying at the Sank Kingdom's pacifism school -- he could still clearly remember, because Heero had assumed he was convulsing for some reason and jumped on top of Quatre while he'd still been asleep, and then had nearly shot Noin when she came in to see what all the screaming was about -- but he could never remember the dreams. It seemed like something that came and went; some alternate awareness that was there in one moment and gone in the next.

But that name brought it all back to him.

The woman was Teela. She was the leader of the Goddess Pilots, and those three great Gundam-like forms were the 'Goddesses', the colloquial name for the mecha known as Ingrids, although Quatre had the uncomfortable awareness that the term 'Goddess' was not altogether inappropriate. The planet that glowed gently in the darkness seemed exactly the same but inexplicably different, and Quatre knew that it was because that planet was not Earth, but Zion.

It hadn't been a dream. Somehow he'd known that it had never been a dream.

"Reneighd Klein, please answer," Teela insisted, and Quatre realized with some alarm that Erts -- the boy he'd been, the boy he'd somehow traded PLACES with -- had never responded to her call. Once more, she received no reply. He heard muttered cursing over the speakers at the ominous silence.

Teela seemed unfazed. Her voice was even and controlled as she stated, "Cockpit voice record system activated. In absence of contact with the command ships, I, Teela Zain Elmes, Pilot of Ernn Laties, am the highest authority. Five foreign vessels have appeared on the battlefield in the wake of an EX collision involving myself and Candidates Number 87 and Number 88, and they have not identified themselves. I will assume that they are unable to contact us and take appropriate action."

Quatre started guiltily, realizing that they'd remained silent this whole time, listening in on the transmissions going on around them. And, he figured furthermore, the others had probably been taking their cues from him, and it was his own shock that had kept them all quiet.

He began to stammer out an embarrassed disclaimer, but Heero beat him to it. Unfortunately, Heero was... Heero.

"We can hear you perfectly well," the other boy said coolly. "Who are you? Are you with Zechs or Treize?"

"With WHO?" demanded a gruff male voice, one that Quatre instantly recognized as belonging to the Pilot of the bluish Ingrid, which was called Eeva Leena. What was his name... Garas? Garu? That's it, and his full name was Gareas.> He also remembered, with some trepidation, that this man was not a patient and accepting man. "You flop down in the middle of our territory -- in the middle of our battlefield, as a matter of fact -- and demand to know which of two men we've never heard of we're fighting for? Who the FUCK do you think you are?"

"Ah, please!" Quatre jumped in quickly before one of his friends could say something they'd regret. "We are Gundam pilots, and up until a few minutes ago, we'd been fighting more or less non-stop for several days against the forces of White Fang, led by a man named Zechs Marquise, which were trying to win the independence of the colonies from their home planet by destroying the planet. Am I correct to assume that we're no longer anywhere near Earth and this battle?"

"Quatre, do you know what you're doing?" Wufei demanded quietly. Quatre glanced over at the Chinese boy's screen to find those black eyes boring into him. "You tell them everything--"

"This is so totally ABSURD!" Gareas snapped. "Gundams? White Fang? EARTH? That's the most transparent lie I've ever heard! They're obviously trying to put one over on us. Rio, Yu, are you guys hearing this crap?"

Silence. Gareas cursed. Quatre realized with some alarm that in the... whatever that had carried him and his companions to this place, a large amount of the Minovsky particles that littered his universe had been taken along for the ride. And as every schoolchild knew, the Minovsky particles generated by mobile suit power cores had the ability to cloud and eventually totally obscure long-range radar of all sorts... and long-range radio waves as well.

Quatre prudently decided not to inform Gareas that the severed communication was the fault of the Gundams.

Then Teela spoke again. A few simple words, delivered in a voice perfectly neutral and totally superior, as though she were already sure of the answer: "What is your name?"

"Okay, lady," Duo spat, bristling audibly, "I'm very sorry, but this is where we draw the cooperation line--"

"Quatre Raberba Winner." He absorbed the shock of his companions without comment. They didn't understand yet. It didn't matter what they told these people. This was not the same place that they lived in. They were in no danger of losing their anonymity to people who came from -- at the very least -- another solar system completely. "My name is Quatre Raberba Winner."

"I see." She sounded curious. "I see."

"You SEE?" Gareas demanded. "What's there to SEE? You can't BELIEVE them!?"

"Eeva Leena, please go to FL Quadrant and find out why Agui and Tellia have lost communication; inform all units along the way that they are to return to GOA immediately," Teela ordered crisply.

"But--"

"The enemy is gone. There's no point in lingering here." Quatre could feel her attention fixing on them again. "We have a new issue now."

Quatre noticed Trowa out of the corner of his eye, attempting to get a visual lock on whatever channel the others were using; from the vague frustration etched in the quiet boy's face, he wasn't having much luck figuring it out. Moving slowly, as if certain that their every move were being watched, Heero began to lend his efforts to the cause. Quatre nodded discreet approval of their efforts, and won a brief smile from Trowa for his support.

"Ah, if I may be allowed to ask, First--"

"Go ahead, Candidate 88," Teela said, a trace of amusement and something oddly affectionate in her voice, the first emotion that Quatre had heard from her, and which seemed extremely unusual to his odd, disjointed half-memories of this universe.

"What about Erts?" the voice demanded earnestly. "He's not responding to any of our calls, he hasn't spoken or moved since he was attacked, and he's clearly in no condition to be going anywhere without help."

"Good point. 88, 87, you two are to help bring Reneighd Klein back to GIS. I think we'll need to talk to you as well."

"Yes, sir!"

"Understood."

"Eeva Leena. Why are you still here?" For a single startled moment, there was absolute stillness in the wake of Teela's icy comment, and then the blue mecha recoiled as if struck, turned around, and zipped off without another word.

"Damn, this woman's like a less human version of Treize," Duo muttered. Quatre clapped a hand over his mouth to muffle startled laughter.

"And you," the chilly voice said, like vocal daggers penetrating skin. His amusement froze under that regard. "Gundam Pilots. You will come with us. Our communications are down, so we'll have to return to GIS before getting any sort of orders on what to do with you."

"Or maybe Heero," Duo amended.

Quatre sighed. He was starting to get a headache. "Of course we'll come, Teela-san," he assured her. Accepting this answer, the White Ingrid turned and addressed the other units on the battlefield, giving them the command to return to GOA -- the Goddess Operator Academy, Quatre's subconscious mind prompted him -- or follow her to GIS -- the Goddess Integration System.

While he pondered that, Wufei gave him a curious look. "Of course we'll come," he repeated mildly. Quatre could feel his confusion and frustration, and also the massive restraint he was exercising to keep it in check. "Is there any particular reason why this is a natural conclusion?"

Oddly touched by Wufei's unwillingness to be harsh to him, the Arabian boy smiled encouragingly. "I feel like I know these people," he said, one hand raising to his flight-suit, above his heart. "I've never met them before today, but I know them, and I know they won't betray us."

After a startled moment, the angry emotions slowed and calmed. Wufei relaxed and nodded. "I think you're correct. They won't betray us."

Pleased (if slightly puzzled) by the easy acquiescence, Quatre returned his attention to Teela, who had begun moving off with an entourage of a half-dozen of the gray mecha (Pro-Ings), two of which were toting carefully between them the battered green shape that Quatre knew had to be Reneighd Klein. Inside that Goddess, that boy...

"I'm turning off the navigational systems," Heero announced flatly. It didn't occur to him to ask how Heero had gotten the override codes for each of their Gundams. "Brace yourselves."

The incessant, whining beeps of the confused nav-computer suddenly came to a dead halt. Quatre jerked forward against the safety belt as the piloting interface went momentarily blank from the transition, and then Sandrock was back in his control, fully manual. He laid a hand gently on the control panel in silent apology for the brutal shift that had left his Gundam blind and lame, but Heero had done the right thing.

"Sorry, old pal," Duo said conversationally to his own Deathscythe, "but I'm with them on this one. Your shrieking was pounding nails into my skull."

"I hope you're not mistaken, Quatre," Heero intoned. Quatre heard the challenge in that statement and turned to meet the other boy's evaluating stare -- that stare that so many people foolishly assumed was cold or unemotional when Heero was crafted of the same living flesh and bone that they themselves were -- with resolution. He was not mistaken.

Heero nodded once and turned back to the task of flying.

"I still don't trust them," Duo said suspiciously once he'd noted Quatre's victory in that half-hearted match of wills. "Why are we listening to them? Why are we going with them? Why are we giving them all our secrets? How do we know that--"

"These people are from my dream," Quatre interrupted. Silence fell over their communication channels; he could feel the other four radiating disbelief at the very concept. He stared forward without flinching, confident in this, which he knew in a way that none of them could possibly know. "I've seen them all before, and I know their names, and some of their situations. These people wouldn't betray us, even if they could. And they couldn't. I don't think they're from the same plane as we are."

Another pause. Then Duo drawled dryly, "Riiight. Okay, so they're from a parallel universe. Whatever you say. But that doesn't change the fact that we need to go HOME, like, NOW, because we can't afford to be having tea and chatting with these people as meanwhile, Zechs' Libra is tearing jagged chunks out of the Earth!"

"She's tuning into our channels," Trowa warned, a trace of amazement in his voice.

No sooner had he said so than an image of Teela blipped into existence on the visual. Duo muttered an awed curse under his breath and then promptly shut up as the woman -- girl? she looked no older than they did, but somehow seemed so much older -- began to speak.

"Quatre Raberba Winner, as you have volunteered yourself as spokesman for your group, you will be held accountable for anything that may happen between now and contact with our superiors on GIS. I assume that you would like to know something about us now. We are--"

"Please, there's no need for formalities," Quatre interjected politely but firmly, and once again had to ignore the incredulous regard of his friends. But he already knew all the information that she would've given them, and one thing he'd learned from his father was that in politics, and in business, and in war, you never let your enemy know that you were ignorant. Besides, maybe if the others didn't KNOW anything, it would keep them tame long enough to start off this... whatever-it-was without any unpleasant incidents.

The others didn't contradict him, to his relief. He didn't want them to appear, on top of everything else, to be at odds with each other.

He continued, "Since first priority is to get aid to your wounded Pilot, it would be best if we simply hurried along, so perhaps we could just stick to the current situation?"

Teela almost smiled. "Very well. At approximately 0500 hours this morning we received long-range radar confirmation of the presence of Victim traveling through the Far Reaches at high velocity. Their arrival at Zion was extrapolated to 1100 hours; we decided to meet them halfway. At precisely 0800 hours this morning the Five Goddess met the Victim in proximity to the G-14 colony. By 0900 hours an R-Type swarm was confirmed, and the upper echelons of GOA had been called out to help with containment."

"I am SO lost," Duo said under his breath. Heero, on the other hand, had seemed more at ease the moment Teela began rattling off her facts, no doubt putting himself in her position and imagining the scenario as it panned out, and probably learning enough about this universe in the process that he could fill in some of the things that QUATRE was unsure of.

"Minutes ago, the Victim that commanded the swarm struck directly at Reneighd Klein. I attacked it, and my EX combined with that of Candidates 87 and 88, and killed the Top more or less instantly."

That's the end of the swarm,> Quatre thought to himself, shaking his head in vague surprise at the seemingly endless amount of knowledge that he hadn't even realized he possessed. A swarm of R-Types is motivated by a Top Victim, and if that Victim dies then the swarm returns to thousands of scattered and singular and, more importantly, DORMANT R-Types. They don't move unless something comes into contact with them, because they'll attack anything that touches them but otherwise won't move. Once the Top is killed, the whole swarm simply stops, and they can be picked off one by one at leisure from there on in.>

So where were all the dormant R-Types?

"However, the combination of our EX powers clearly had an unintended effect. The reason has not yet been ascertained, but there seemed to be some sort of explosion, and when it cleared, you were there." She continued to sound perfectly neutral, as if this was not a curious event at all and she had no interest in finding out the reasons why. "The explosion frightened away the R-Types. They scattered, and the firing line kept them from Zion. They should all have retreated beyond the Far Reaches by now."

Quatre nodded, filing this information away, but before he could ask a question, a sudden burst of static over his speakers made him flinch.

"... read... ...GIS... ...me, Ernn..."

"The GIS connection is restoring," one of the people in the gray mecha observed.

The gray mecha are called Pro-Ings; their specs are similar to the Virgo II's... Their pilots are called Candidates, not Pilots, because there are only five Goddesses to be Piloted...>

"...is GIS, do you read me, Ernn Laties..."

"GIS, this is Ernn Laties; I read you," Teela replied coolly. Her visual switched off and, oddly, their main audio as well. Apparently Teela didn't want them to hear what she was saying.

Quatre let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"Well, that was really fucking weird," Duo commented amiably. "But not really any more so than anything else that's happened since we launched earlier this morning."

"There's no time differential," Trowa observed. "It's still early morning here, just as it was when we left Peacemillion."

"Time IS relative in space, you know--"

Wufei crossed his arms and sighed. "I hope you're planning on explaining all of this, Quatre," was his only comment.

Feeling a bit guilty now for withholding the information, the blond said, "The moment we have a chance."

Ahead of them, behind three waiting Goddesses in shades of red and blue and yellow, was a slim tower of gray -- GIS, their destination.

There was a bit of trouble while they were docking; GIS was not a big ship, and about a quarter of its space was comprised of tunnels and maintenance hangars for the Goddesses, and there was barely enough room for that. It only had a very tiny bay for Pro-Ing containment, intended only for emergencies like this one, and after nearly ten minutes of debate, the technicians decided that the Gundams would go there temporarily (they would just barely fit) and the Pro-Ings would be towed manually to GOA, which GIS would be joining up with shortly.

Quatre didn't quite understand why, but the news that GOA and GIS would be reuniting caused a great commotion from the Candidates and Pilots around him.

Waiting for them -- rather impatiently -- on the catwalk was a slender young woman who Quatre recognized after only a moment's thought. Phil Phleira Deed, redheaded and redblooded, the Repairer for Agui Keimeia and Rioroute Vilgyna's partner. She stood with arms crossed, legs spread, and head tilted defiantly upwards to glare at the newcomers.

"Hurry up," she called, tapping her foot. "We're in the middle of a crisis here." After only a fraction of a second to allow them to respond to this information, she turned sharply on her heel and hurried towards the far door.

Quatre blinked. Beside him, Duo muttered, "Geez. Bossy much?" Heero ignored him, following in the girl's footsteps close enough to make her walk faster with something almost like nervousness; Quatre shrugged and hurried after them.

She hesitated in front of the door. "You'll have to fend for yourselves." Phil cast them a dark look over her shoulder. "It's going to be a bit messy on the outside."

They emerged from the small, peaceful hangar into chaos.

"What do you mean, the code lock is jammed?!"

"Access to psionic inducers is being blocked; the commands won't go through!"

"Somebody cut the third and fourth pressure seals!"

"It's no good; the cockpit won't open!!"

Phil cried, "What, STILL?" and darted ahead. She was instantly lost in the throng of panicking technicians that crowded the maintenance bay. Voices boomed over loudspeakers, biting out orders that never seemed to have any effect. The action was centered around the Ingrid called Reneighd Klein, green and lighter-built than the others, but badly damaged in the attack.

"What's going on here?" Trowa demanded, soft voice barely audible above the tumult.

Quatre's eyes were drawn to a handful of people that stood in a tiny clearing before the green mecha, somewhat akin to the calm before the eye of the storm; three men and five women (including the recently-arrived Phil) who had all featured at one time or another in his dreams. They were the Pilots and the Repairers of these giant mecha -- Ingrids, he had to remember to call them Ingrids -- and as soon as he identified them he realized who was missing, and what had happened, as vividly as though he were dreaming as Erts even still.

"He's still in there," Quatre breathed, and the others leaned in closer to hear him. He didn't notice. "Reneighd Klein won't let him out."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, SHE WON'T LET HIM OUT?!"

The cry tore through the air, shattering the tension and drawing everyone's attention to a single boy, strong-arming his way through the masses. Quatre realized, to his startlement, that he didn't know this boy, and with his wild brown hair and familiar black-and-white uniform he knew he'd have remembered -- one of the Candidates, he must be. In his wake trailed four boys in the same uniform, most of them looking very uncertain as the fever-pitch of tension dimmed and paused, all eyes on them.

"I ... I don't think we're supposed to be here," one of them whispered, voice breaking like a gunshot in the stillness.

"Where the fuck is Erts?!" the boy in the lead bellowed heedlessly. His voice was the same of Candidate Number 88 from earlier.

After another stunned silence, the man called Gareas snarled, "It's YOU!"

Teela stepped in front of her comrade and extended her hand, pointing to the unreadable figure of Reneighd Klein. "He's there," was all she said, watching the Candidate closely.

That boy in the lead slowed and looked up. "In her? Still?" he asked dubiously.

Without realizing it, Quatre had traveled, pushing past the mechanics and the technicians until he stood directly before the Pilots and their immediate entourage. He was so close that he almost imagined he could see something curious -- or hopeful -- in Teela's eyes as she answered.

"Erts is unconscious. And Heltage is afraid, because only weeks ago she lost her previous Pilot in exactly the same way."

"Heltage?" the orange-clad Rioroute repeated blankly.

Ignoring him, Teela continued explaining, "He's bleeding heavily, and she believes that if he leaves the encompassing gel of the cockpit, he'll bleed to death. It's not true, but she won't listen to us. She won't allow us to take care of him."

The Candidate's hands clenched helplessly, along with Quatre's. How can we help him? They can't force a Goddess to do anything, so nothing can be done until Erts regains consciousness and directs her to let him go...>

"Quatre, what are you doing, making a weird situation weirder by acting like you've been possessed?!" Duo hissed as the other Gundam pilots appeared at his side. "Really, I swear, Howard slipped something into our coffee before we went out, and now we're all having one giant hallucination and Zechs and Treize are going to bust in here any second now and KILL all our tripped-out asses--"

"What will you do?" Teela asked evenly, apparently ignoring everyone else entirely.

The stranger assumed a fighting stance and laughed shortly. "I'll make her listen."

Then he shoved his way past the Pilots and down the catwalk to Reneighd Klein.

"What does he think he's going to do, pry open the cockpit with his bare hands?" Rioroute muttered skeptically to Phil, at his side.

She shook her head mutely, but Gareas had an answer. "This is the kid who just FELL into my Eeva Leena THROUGH the safety rail," he snapped. "Let's NOT underestimate his capacity for screwing things up. Somebody get him AWAY from there..."

One of the two women at the control panel -- the blond -- made an aggravated gesture and called after the boy, "It doesn't work that way when a Pilot's already inside, Number 88--!"

But before she could finish that sentence, the seals locking the cockpit closed released, and with only a metallic squeal and the hiss of air rushing in to mark the submission, the Goddess that had been so unreachable only moments before now held her arms wide to welcome another.

Gasps of astonishment and shock radiated through the watching mob, but they hadn't even died down when the nameless Candidate grabbed hold of the support bar and swung himself through the improbable liquid barrier and vanished into the cockpit.

Even the Gundam pilots gaped.

"Umm. That wasn't supposed to happen, was it?" Duo said into the utter silence.

"In the sense that inter-dimensional travel 'isn't supposed to happen'?" Wufei asked in return, seeming a little short of breath. Heero was as stony-faced as ever, but his eyes...

"That same kid." Gareas staggered back a step, staring at the still-open cockpit. Its water-like surface rippled gently in response to motion within. "That same kid, AGAIN..."

"The resistance is gone," the girl with blue-green hair said from her place at the console, wide-eyed. "Reneighd Klein is responding to all my commands now."

The blond woman next to her -- Leena, she's Leena, Gareas' Repairer partner> -- shook her head, as if to clear it. "Manual eject," she stated as she pressed a button on the screen.

Hesitant quiverings that had rippled across the gel from movement inside the cockpit erupted into a storm of wavelets. Only seconds later, a head crowned with spiky brown hair emerged from the darkness, and the rest of the rebel Candidate followed shortly thereafter.

In his arms he carried a limp, unmoving figure covered in blood.

"Crap," Duo muttered in awe. "That kid's arm is barely attached to his shoulder."

"That's him." Quatre closed his eyes. He couldn't look at it, at the bloodied body that bore a face he had once seen looking back at him in the mirror, like looking at himself... "That's Erts."

The Candidate nearest them, all blue-green hair and expressive eyes, snapped out of his paralysis before anyone else, perking up visibly. "Wow," he said, whimsical voice ringing out into the silence. "Zero is amazing!"

His words shattered the motionless mob, which surged forward immediately; medics rushing to gather up the wounded boy, mechanics hurrying to take care of his Ingrid, and the Gundam pilots simply caught in the rush -- too much experience in too little time having worn them to threads.

Heero recovered first and seized the Candidate that had spoken. "What did you say his name was?" he demanded, sounding remarkably off-balance for someone who was normally as even-keeled as Heero was.

The thin boy eeped. "Ze-- Zero! He's Zero, Zero Enna!"

"That is not funny at all," Duo said faintly. "Not even a little. And I only say that because I've had such great experiences with sentiences called 'Zero'."

Quatre forced himself to relax from the initial, reflexive tensing of his muscles. After all, there couldn't be a correlation between the ZERO System and a totally random (if capable of performing impossible feats) boy from another dimension. He put a hand on Heero's shoulder, a silent reminder of this.

Although he didn't react, Heero's gaze darted to Quatre in brief acknowledgement before returning to his captive. The hostage made a distressed sound, eyes sliding hopefully to his companions. But there was no help coming from that quarter; all three of them were staring at the boy called Zero with varying degrees of respect, calculation, and--

--loathing?

Quatre blinked, but the image of the silver-haired Candidate with the burning red eyes staring at his (presumably) teammate with sheer malevolence wouldn't fade away. That stare was making his skin crawl, and he was neither its object nor in its path. Quatre shivered and backed away, not knowing why but instinctively aware that he didn't want to be anywhere near that boy...

He bumped into Wufei, and when he turned to apologize, something confused and helpless in Trowa's face -- something obscure that he never found when he looked for its source, but which he had been able to sense without fail since their very first meeting -- stopped him.

"Quatre," Trowa said, his voice soft but clearer than any of the chattering around them. "You know this situation better than any of us. ...what's going on?"

Heero released the unoffending Candidate to give his full attention to the explanation. Quatre took a deep breath, but before he could speak, that voice cut through the air again.

"And what's YOUR excuse?!"

The boy Zero had allowed Erts to be taken away on a stretcher, and now stood on the catwalk, glowering at Gareas. The incredulous Pilot had one hand at his head as though caught in the midst of massaging his temples, and was gaping unabashedly at the Candidate with the temerity to challenge him.

"Pardon me?" he said with exaggerated politeness after a moment.

Zero waved an arm dramatically. " 'If you need someone to protect you, Erts, you don't need to get Candidates to do it; that's what I'M here for!' " he mimicked. "Isn't it your JOB to keep the Victim from tearing off his limbs?"

Gareas had bristled after the fifth word, and by the end he looked so homicidal that one of the young women at the podium backed into Quatre and nearly fell. "Yes," he snarled. "AND?"

"Such a good job you did of it, too," Zero retorted. "It's that kind of amazing talent that got Erts' brother killed, right?"

A woman screamed almost before Gareas rocketed at the Candidate, and they went tumbling in a black-and-blue heap. The safety railing kept them from rolling right off the catwalk several stories above the ground floor of the maintenance bay, but the crazed look in Gareas' eyes was nearly as ominous. A clever girl in black and green slammed a button on the console that triggered a safety net underneath their level, and several others threw themselves at the brawling pair and separate them.

"Ze-- Zero!"

"Garu, please, leave that boy alone!"

"This is the last fucking straw, Leena--!"

"I think it's time for your meds, Garu--"

"You're NOT HELPING, Rioroute, but DAMNIT Gareas, try to be a responsible adult for once!"

They were hauled apart, Phil and her partner Rioroute keeping hold of Gareas as best they could, and the blond woman from earlier Leena wrapping her arms carefully around the struggling Zero, looking unsure whether she knew if she was protecting him from Gareas, or embracing him reassuringly. Or, just as possibly, keeping him safe so she could kill him herself.

Quatre found that his hand had fisted over his heart, pressed tightly against his flight-suit as though to soothe it. And yet, despite his own concern, he knew almost instinctively that the source of the greater part of the confusion and fear he felt -- sending adrenaline coursing through his veins, making his body quiver with the need to act, speeding his heart-rate ever so slightly -- wasn't his own.

Teela watched it all without getting involved, then turned almost casually to the front. Quatre was getting so used to being a spectator that he almost looked around to see who she was focusing on before realizing that it was HIM.

"And now," she said simply, "for you gentlemen."

It was more than Heero could take.

Wild-eyed, he seized the girl who had backed into Quatre only moments earlier, ignoring her tiny squeak of protest, and wrenched her flush against him. With his other hand he drew his gun, and had the barrel at her ear before anyone could react.

"Tune!" cried the blond woman, but when she took a step forward, Heero drew back the safety with an ominous click. The whole chamber froze stock-still in the echo of the sound, including the hostage, the blond woman, and Quatre's heart.

It started up again, far faster than it should've, as Trowa and Duo followed Heero's example and pulled out their guns with the resigned fatalism of people with nothing left to do but stand with their allies in a suicide run. They drew into a defensive clot in front of Heero, Wufei taking up a barehanded stance behind him. Quatre didn't move, didn't even turn around to observe the "enemy". He doubted they'd need to take him hostage to retaliate. No, no, this is all wrong! Heero, everyone, you can't do this -- they're going to help us, and we can't afford to lose their support!>

The technicians and assorted crew appeared at a loss for what to do. After a long, frozen moment in which they waited for Heero to give them demands or instructions and he gave them nothing but a steely glare, everyone's attention slid almost automatically to Teela. The tiny woman was staring at Heero, unmoving and totally focused on him, and Quatre was alarmed to note that it was actually making the Perfect Soldier NERVOUS: Heero backed up a step and wedged the gun firmer against the girl's temple.

The girl... Tune...?> Quatre suddenly remembered. She's... yes, she is! My -- no, not mine; ERTS' Repairer!>

He wished that he could be unbiased, but he found himself torn between pity and a sick sense of horror. She was the woman who had been forced to partner with Erts after the death of her original partner, so there had been no choice in the matter, and yet... Quatre couldn't forget actually being Erts, and wishing that he could blame her for his sudden uprooting from everything he'd come to care about, the sudden entry into a new world he didn't really want.

Teela closed her eyes. Heero made a startled draw backwards, as if expecting her to lunge for him, but she made no action. After a long moment, Quatre found his attention drifting almost against his will away from them, wandering to the others nearby -- Garu stood with Rio and Phil some distance away, all of them staring, unable or unwilling to move; beyond them were the stunned Candidates by the visibly anguished Leena, and beyond her...

Something caught the corner of Quatre's eye: Teela's hair, apparently at random, stirred as if in a breeze and began to swirl around her. There was no wind, however, and no cause that he could discern for the event. It was just surreal.

Quatre blinked, to clear his vision.

And in that fraction of a second, Teela was back to normal, but everything had changed so much that he had to blink again to make sure it was real.

Heero no longer held his gun, although he appeared to be only just noticing its absence -- Teela held the weapon loosely in her hands, but she hadn't moved at all from her previous position. Duo and Trowa had taken startled steps backwards as a stranger suddenly manifested in their midst: Wufei was on the ground, cradling his head in his hands, and a neutral boy in black and green -- Yu! I TOTALLY forgot about him!> -- had another gun pointed at the back of Heero's skull.

Pilots didn't carry weapons, and certainly not guns; such personal weapons were highly illegal in the Goddess system. Quatre glanced down at himself suspiciously, one hand flying to his vest, but the holster hidden underneath it was empty. His gun was missing -- probably because, somehow, Yu had it gripped expertly in his hands.

But... I never even saw him MOVE!> Quatre thought numbly.

"Let Tune go," Teela advised.

It didn't look like Heero was going to comply. He looked even less willing to cooperate than he had been before at this humiliation, instead tightening his grip on the girl, who made a strangled sound of distress. They were at a standstill -- Yu may have had the gun at Heero's head, but if he so much as twitched, Heero could snap his hostage's neck with his bare hands.

Praying that Yu had a steady grip, Quatre stepped in front of Heero and spread his arms to reassure the other boy. "Heero," he said evenly. "This isn't helping."

"We are in an unknown situation, surrounded by unknown people, and there is obviously a complete lack of trustworthiness to these strangers," Heero reported tersely. "This is the only thing that CAN help, Quatre. They're going to let us go back now, or this girl will die."

He wasn't bluffing, he certainly WOULD do it -- but Quatre could tell that he didn't want to. Something in his stance, or in his eyes, or perhaps only detected by Quatre's uchuu no kokoro, but there nevertheless. Heero didn't want to hurt her, and that was all that Quatre needed to know.

The blond half-turned, carefully not putting his back to Heero in a gesture that the hair-trigger boy or the dozens opposing him could take as a gesture of disapproval. Gathering his confidence about him like a shroud, he addressed Teela. "Can you swear that no harm will come to any of us? That you'll help us to find a way home, to where we were?"

Teela opened her mouth to answer, but then paused. She cocked her head, almost like she was listening to some dim voice. Quatre could hear nothing. Then, a mere second later, she had returned to her previous stance, straightening again and saying solemnly, "I freely swear."

With a sigh of relief, Quatre turned back to Heero. "There's no threat to us from these people. Teela is one of their leaders, and she wouldn't go back on a promise."

Heero relaxed minutely, but didn't let go of Tune. One eyebrow arched in elegant inquiry, and it took Quatre a moment before he realized that something else was necessary.

"Heero was only acting in self-defense," he added hurriedly to Teela. "He did this only because he perceived that his mission, no -- our goal was in danger. I understand that there must be some repercussion for what he's done, but it's vital to our goal that he return with us. So..."

That cool blue-green regard hardened. "If he releases Tune now, unharmed, we will place him under house arrest. This was a poor judgement he made, and we can not afford the chance that he might make it again without pause for consideration."

"But the rest of us..."

"Will be given the same reign as any Candidate while we seek to remedy your situation."

Quatre hesitated, taking a few steps closer to Heero. He was met there by the others, converging in a huddle all at once without the need to be called.

"Do it! Fuck, man, do it! Do you have any idea how much child's play it is to break out of a ROOM?!"

"No, Duo, not like that," Quatre said urgently. "We need their cooperation. If we agree to this, then Heero will have to STAY under house arrest."

Trowa added, "We're in their power. We don't have much choice."

With a curt wave, Wufei insisted, "I still don't understand how this even got to this point. Who ARE these people? What is going ON? And how could they MOVE like that?" He rubbed the back of his neck grudgingly and gave Yu a sour look. The other boy only looked back at him evenly, offering neither apology nor smugness for his earlier violence, which Wufei seemed to respect, as he relaxed for almost five seconds before snapping back to attention and grabbing Duo's arm.

"What the--?!"

"We are talking RIGHT on top of him!" the Chinese boy hissed, jabbing a finger at Yu. True enough, the Pilot stood only inches behind Heero, listening to everything without so much as a twitch, his hand remaining steady on the gun still pointed at the back of Heero's neck.

"Yeah, and the hostage too, what about it?!"

"Tune-san and Yu-san don't matter," Quatre said firmly, startling Yu. He's wondering how I know his name...> "We're not going to do anything that they shouldn't know about." He took a step closer to Heero, lowering his voice to speak more privately to the boy. "We're going to go along with this, Heero. It's the only way."

Stiffly, Heero nodded. "I know."

"Promise me that you won't violate the rules of their house arrest," he pressed further.

After a long moment, Heero nodded again, wordlessly. Yu instantly stepped away, handed Quatre his gun, and paused.

Trowa stared at Quatre's gun. "How did he--"

"Don't ask," the blond told him wearily.

Heero released his grip from Tune's neck, and she immediately darted away, into the arms of a frantic Leena, where she promptly burst into terrified tears. Yu resumed his movement, stopping near his sister.

Unnecessarily, Duo said aloud, "We agree to your terms, Miss."

Teela smiled, and an eerie premonition froze Quatre's spine. "Good," she responded pleasantly. "Now we can go visit Dr. C."

Duo shook his head. "Oh, good. We've got not-Gundams, not-ZEROs, and now a not-crazed scientist giving out the orders to the not-pilots. And we've still got an hour or so before lunchtime. This promises to be a very long day."


For those of you not acquainted with Gundam Wing, Quatre can often understand other people's emotions and intentions without needing explanation; his ability to know things and feel things he calls "uchuu no kokoro", which is a very obscure concept that translates loosely to "Heart of Outer Space". Quatre's uchuu no kokoro is going to be... important.

The ZERO System is a computer system installed on Heero's Gundam, the Wing ZERO, which is more advanced than the human mind can comprehend and feeds so much information to its pilot that he often begins to hallucinate and see the future. The ZERO literally talks to people, programmed to be a sentience in its own right, and one has to learn to see through its insanity before one can master it. In the course of GW, while everyone was exposed to the ZERO, only two people ever managed to master it -- Heero and Quatre, on their second tries. The ZERO will also be... important. *smirk*

Dr. Rivould is indeed called "Dr. C" the first time that his name is mentioned in the manga. In Gundam Wing there are five scientists, one behind each of the Gundam pilots -- Doctor J (who was Heero's), Professor G (Duo's), Doktor S (Trowa's), Instructor H (Quatre's), and Roshi O (Wufei's -- "roshi" meaning "master"). The scientists were incredibly secretive, and manipulate everyone without a second thought, and are generally regarded to be totally insane. Understandably, Duo isn't pleased to see another of them.

Coming up sooner or later: The GW boys meet Dr. C and learn a bit more about their situation. GIS docks at GOA as another emergency situation develops... one that promises to have everyone off-balance. Zero gets given his punishment for brawling with a Pilot, but why are Clay and Hiead being punished too?!

--Kay Willow, praying that the rest of her translations go up the day after tomorrow so she can get some peace of mind
MK Info Site: http://flash.to/dualpotential/
Blog: http://kay_willow.livejournal.com/
Email: kay_willow@hotmail.com
Contact: (AIM) Savinsilk, (MSN) see email, (Yahoo) kay_willow
Quote: an engineer and Ryudo, Grandia II

"Get out of here, Geohound! Nobody without technical skills is wanted in this town!"

"I can break a man's neck in seven places. THAT'S a technical skill."