The New Betrayal
Daniel Ocean
WARNING WARNING WARNING: I don't own Gundam Wing or The Mole, though I do admire both quality television shows. Also, I borrow some games from both seasons of The Mole and I do not attend to take credit for either of them. I don't want to have to say whether the game is original or not before each one so presume it is not. Enjoy!
//host Anderson Cooper appears on the TV screen of hundreds of thousands of homes across the world and in the colonies.//
"Welcome to the Mole. Thirteen players try to complete missions across Europe to gain money toward the pot. Money is gained as games are won, however, one amongst them is the Mole, a secret agent planted by the producers to foil the players. Up to one million dollars hinges on the question: Who is the Mole?
//twelve images appear, one of each remaining player.//
Heero, 19, Army soldier, Sapporo, Japan
Hilde, 18, Auto dealer, Munich, Germany
Trowa, 19, Circus performer, St. Petersburg, FL
Wufei, 19, Museum curator, Chongqing, China
Lucretzia, 24, Test driver, Tucson, AZ
Zechs, 25, Air Force Lieutenant, Pueblo, CO
Sally, 22, Police officer, Enforcers colony
Quatre, 19, Musician/Art dealer, Alexandria, Egypt
Catherine, 21, Performer, Las Vegas, NV
Duo, 19, Junk yard owner, L2 colony
Relena, 20, Doctor, Birmingham, England
Traize, 26, Appraiser, New York City, NY
//the scene cuts to a map, showing the new location of the layers: the tiny nation of Andorra. Viewers are told it is day four, the morning after Dorothy's execution. The players are shown at breakfast, as happy as the twelve probably could be.//
//personal interviews//
Relena: "It's going to be a lot easier, now with no Dorothy. I saw her as my major obstacle to the cash. I was going to bomb a quiz if she stayed too long."
Quatre: "Considering that she put a piece of metal in me, and IT'S STILL THERE, I'm not that upset to see her go."
Trowa: "Now we know who probably _isn't_ the Mole. Cathy is almost certainly not the Mole, if Dorothy thought so, or Traize."
//Anderson walks up to them as they finish off breakfast.//
"Hey, you guys. You all slept well, right?"
"Now Doro-chan is gone, sure." Duo stuffed the last of his mini-bagel home.
"You know what time it is?"
Noin looked at her wristwatch. "Ten-ten?"
"It's time for your third mission."
"So close to the end of breakfast?" Heero wrinkled his brow. "We don't have to eat five pounds of steak or jump out of an airplane right now, do we?"
"Actually, it is a double mission. Some of you will be going to a market on the Spanish border and some will be going to the French border for a mystery mission. Tell me, which one of you _really_ like to drink wine or other drinks?"
Duo immediately stuck his hand up. After a second, Noin does as well.
"Okay, two is fine. Lucretzia, Duo, you two get to go in the Mole Beetle, the same one stripped down in the last season. There, your driver will meet you. The rest of you get to go in the van.
//the scene cuts to the Beetle, driving up the hotel driveway. The driver sticks his head out the window, as does the navigator next to him. "You two the Mystery mission ones?"
//personal interview with Noin//
"When I saw the generals-Noventa and Dermail drive on up, it...it...not exactly a thing you expect. //shot of the four introducing themselves and the two players climbing into the back of the car.// What they have to o with the Mole...I don't want to know."
"I hope we don't have to stomp on grapes. I don't want to get my feet sticky and have to stick them back in my new sneakers. Besides, I have little tiny feet. Just size fours. Duo's gonna have to do most of it."
//back to the van, with several members lying in strange positions, as the seats were far to small. Wufei is heard to say, "Get off my hand, Yuy."
//Interview with Quatre.//
"If all of us have to work together to do something, then I predict some deaths here. Heero and Wufei won't work together, and Relena isn't welcome by either, and Zechs isn't that well liked by anybody really."
//Noin and Duo have arrived at the vineyard. They are standing with Noventa, as Dermail can be seen in the background, at a table with six jugs and a timer at 2:02:25.//
"Hello you two, whoever you two for this mission are. If you are playing this, you should be at the vineyard in the second round, for the Grape catcher game."
"Catching grapes.how?" asked Duo.
"Near the entrance of the vineyard , right there with Dermail, there should be six half-gallon jugs on a table with the Mole thumbprint on top." //cutaway to the table, right near the two.// "In two hours-we timed your trip and the clock should be about two-ten now--//cutaway to the clock at 2:00:43//--you will have to filled all eight jugs full of the grapes. He'll will make sure you do not start until the clock is at 2:00:00, and any green grapes or any stems will result in the exclusion of that jug in scoring.
"Each full-to-the-brim-with-perfect-grapes jug is worth $6,000, except for the last one, worth $10,000. Start at two hours and see you as the clock runs down."
//VO of Cooper: "Meanwhile, on the other side of the country:"
The real Cooper was standing before the remaining ten players, at a bustling produce market near the French border, on the northern part of the country. All of them are dressed like tourists.
"Welcome to the Market Search game, which is about as simple as the Shooter game. You guys have fifteen minutes and enough pesetas to cover the cost of what you are going to do. Each of you have to find an item in this market and bring it back to here in ten minutes. You must be right here then or else it won't count.
"Each returned item is worth $2,500. Any questions?"
"That's it?" asked Cathy. "No catch at all?"
"Nada, senorita."
"Uh-oh," said Duo. "Spanish."
From the ground Cooper put up a large canvas with each player's name on it, followed by an item name in Spanish. "There's a Spanish-English dictionary at my feet. Good luck. Your time begins.now."
Relena saw she needed aceite de oliva and headed off in a few seconds, as soon as she translated that in her head. Hilde headed right off for miel and Zechs for berenjenas. Cathy dug for her own dictionary feverishly, needing azucar. Trowa had an idea what café was and also headed off. Sally needed fresones and Quatre needed uvas, and they shared the former's dictionary. Duo, Heero and Wufei all crawled over each other for Cooper's dictionary, for, repectively, limones, mermelada, and cacahuetes.
//cutaway to Relena wandering through the corridors between stands, looking feverishly to both sides. Personal interview.//
"What I need is olive oil...it was kinda crappily translated by ABC...but this place is huge and I only got ten minutes. I'm looking and looking and my racing mind is making me see olive oil all over the place where there's fish, whipped cream...I think I'm getting psychotic."
//VO of Cooper: "Back to the vineyard, where the players have 1:53 left."//
Dermail and Noventa are cracking into a bottle of La Mole wine, wishing cheers to each other. Duo and Noin are not far away, trying to put the plump purple grapes through the thin neck of the first jug, which is slowly filling up. Duo has a handful of grapes, of which three or four go in the jug, the rest of which scatter all on the ground.
"Well done, Duo," calls Noventa from afar. Dermail applauds.
"Shut up!" The former Gundam pilot went to his hands and knees to pick his scattered handful up. Noin just watches. "Can't a guy get a little bit of help, here?"
"You spilled them."
//personal interviews//
Noin: "It's not a hard task at all, filling a jug up with grapes, but for some reason, Duo just can't do it. //shot of Duo spilling more grapes// "It's starting to look more suspicious. Maybe he's the Mole and bombed intentionally because he had an exemption."
Duo: "Noin just isn't helping out all that much. I get handfuls. She just stuffs them in one at a time. She doesn't even stuff them in that cleanly, so the jugs are really getting pretty slippery. She almost lost all the grapes dropping it //shot of this happening//."
//shot of Anderson, back at the market. "There's three minutes left," he shouts over a megaphone, "so you might want to consider coming back."//
Trowa is already there with a half-pound of coffee. Relena is beaming at her bottle of olive oil and Zechs is holding a pair of eggplant. Cathy rushes into the area they're all in, holding a five-pound bag of sugar over her head. "I'm back!" she shouts. "This is the azucar, right?"
"That is the correct item. Four out of ten, so far. Now we simply have to wait for the remaining players."
//interview with Zechs//
"When I first got back with my item, the three boys were still fighting over the lousy ABC dictionary, not at all realizing that Cathy and Sally were in such a rush to get what they needed, they both just dropped theirs to the ground and there's was one for each.
"Also, when I came back, I had to go back. I heard...whatever, and I got oranges instead of eggplant at first. But I was able to get back to the market and back-I remembered where an eggplant stand was."
A horn was sounded. "Okay, players, come on back, your time is over, and the market is closing. You got four out of ten items, for-"
"Five! Five! Five!" Wufei rushed around a corner and back to the group, a bag of peanuts held high over his head.
"Sorry Wufei, not in time. That was four items, for $10,000. The pot is now standing at $67,000."
Wufei threw his peanuts down and cursed.
//personal interviews//
Cathy: "Well it sure is very convenient that Wufei just made it out of the market in time to be two seconds late. With a fit of fake anger on the side, too."
Relena: "Wufei's like that, with that little outburst. I'm surprised at Hilde, though. She's a reasonably smart individual, but we had to search for her after the game. She hadn't even gotten her item yet. I find that simply...interesting."
Heero: "I spent the first nine minutes in the market looking for these." //holds up some limes.// "Then I have to be rescued and told that I needed lemons, not limes."
//VO: As the players from the Market Search head north to their two teammates, one jug is full and another is half full with 48 minutes left. The game's first alliance is forming.//
"An alliance with you, Maxwell? I don't think so. You were real clever in going in last place to almost get eliminated."
"Yeah-I didn't have to be out of the cellar if you got an exemption. I bombed it because I wanted players to underestimate me."
"I already underestimated you."
"Well.."
"Duo, I don't ant to go in an alliance with you for the sake of an alliance. What if you're the Mole, and what if you're going to just latch on to me and get info for me and not get any for you."
"How about this?" Duo stuffed five more in the jug. "I will ask you for information only if I have a good piece of information every time but once."
"Once?"
"Now, so we can compare the players so far."
"Fine." //a message pops up, "Coalition 1: Lucretzia and Duo."//
"Okay, Heero. Whadaya think about him, Noin?"
"A little too obvious suspect, besides, he's too good so far. Trowa?"
"We made it in the right order, which is amazing, and he failed the Running with the Tiny Cars. It's a maybe. What about Quatre-we wouldn't be suspected, he could slip under the radar."
"And he failed the Shooter game-he could very well be a Mole."
"What about Wufei?"
"No, he seemed too focused on money so far. Too hotheaded to be the Mole. But Relena-wow, she would be a great Mole. She did too good during that Tiny Car game. You know Hilde, what about her?"
"What about her?"
"I dunno, you know anything?"
"No. Yes. She shot me."
"Yeah, for an exemption. Maybe. Okay, uh, Cathy?"
"She shot Traize, which could make her a suspect. She's got to be included. Sally hasn't done anything, though." Noin plucked a big bunch of grapes and slid them in the jug one by one. "So, is that it, Relena and Cathy and Quatre?"
"And Trowa and Hilde in the background."
"Right."
//switch to Dermail and Noventa// "You know," said Noventa, "this La Mole wine, I found out a while back...it's really quite good."
"I'm sure you found that out after TEN glasses."
"You drank a lot of it too."
"Yeah. The author...what a kind person."
//VO: "The players from the Market Search have arrived at the site where the other two have been collecting grapes for an hour and forty minutes; twenty minutes remain."//
Accordion music plays as Dermail, Noventa, Cooper, and the players sit down to have a snack: Dove ice cream bars, the same kind that Darwin and Bill ate-as contraband-during the pervious season of the American Mole. (*)
"Oh, no you guys aren't." Noin was picking up more spilled grapes. "Do not tell me you are having food while we suffer."
"Oh, absolutely." Cooper bit out a hunk of ice cream. "You'll get some after you're done."
Duo was plucking grapes off the vine and stuffing them into his mouth, instead of the bottle. "Thebebes arb brealie goood." He took anoher bunch and ut its grapes one by one into the jug.
"Maxwell." Looking at the stuffed teenager, Noin let her voice trail off. "Kids. Jesus."
"Okay, your time is up," called Cooper. "Come on back so we can inspect your wares."
//personal interviews//
Zechs: "I feel for Lucretzia. She had to spend the entire afternoon with Duo. She was all sunburned and tweaked and she didn't seem to be a very pleasant person afterward."
Lucretzia: "We had two of those things full. If Duo hadn't of eaten half the grapevine we would have gotten the third-it was almost full. And he was fooling around all day. We could have gotten ten, fifteen thousand more dollars otherwise."
"You guys have two full jugs. Fortunately, both have no stems and all the grapes are good, other than being a little mashed in, which is fine. You get twelve thousand more dollars for this mission."
//shot of the van, with a VO of Cathy//
"If Duo hadn't been screwing around we would have gotten at least six thousand more dollars. They were so close to the third jug, I'm sure he ate the difference."
Duo: "Noin had the jug the whole time, and she picked very few grapes in the meantime. But when the others came she helped out more. It looks way too suspicious to me."
//one day later, on Day 5. It appears to be early evening.//
Cooper stands in front of the group, all of whom look more like tourists than they did the previous day. He himself has a camera slung around his neck.
"All right you guys," he said, "you've been fed dinner, and now you have four hours to do a little sight-seeing around the country. In each of your bag, we have inserted directions to a club FROM THIS HOTEL. You must be at the club at eleven, so try to get back here by around 10:30.
"It is seven o'clock right now, see you in four hours."
//VO of Cooper: "The group spins off in many directions, generally going off in pairs-Zechs and Lucretzia go in one direction, Relena and Heero in another. Cathy, Trowa and Quatre is one group, as is Duo and Hilde. Traize, Wufei and Sally all elect to go alone thorough the streets of the small kingdom alone.
Or do they?//
//shot of Traize wandering the streets, loitering about, an unmarked scooter behind him about a half block away. We are told it is Myra Brown, a contestant from last year. Traize stops at a stand and Myra saddles next to him.//
//11:03 PM//
Cooper looks around the small back room that had been rented for the night to hold all the contestants. Outside in the front, people are swinging about a small stage, inflicting karaoke upon each other. "Eight...nine...ten...eleven. One person is missing. Looks like it's Traize. Who was with him when you guys were sightseeing?"
Silence.
"I will take it that he was alone. All right, you all stay right here, I'll go find him. I know exactly where he is."
//Cooper, followed by cameras, goes through the front to the door. Outside is a bench, where Traize is sitting.//
"You coming on in or taking the exemption?"
"Taking the exemption."
"Very well." //Cooper returns.//
"Traize has elected to reduce the potential jackpot of the game by taking an exemption and not participating. The rest of you therefore must go on without him.
"We'll start with a secret ballot on who you feel.well, which player you like the least. Here's paper and pens, and get to it."
//a minute later, after a lot of scribbling//
"Okay, that's eight votes for Wufei, two for Duo and one for Relena. I'll tell you how this is significant in a moment.
"Each of you must pair up and tell the other of their favorite song, Then, one by one, each person must do their partner's favorite song on the karaoke machine. Wufei, you must do one of my favorite songs."
"What if it's not on the machine?" asked Duo.
"They're all on the machine as long as you use the song you told us is your favorite and the one listed as your favorite in the profiles all of you got."
"What song is _your_ favorite?" asked Wufei.
"You'll know when everyone pairs up, which everyone must do now. You got two minutes."
The pairs are Cathy-Trowa, Heero-Duo, Hilde-Relena, Zechs-Lucretzia, and because there no one is left, Sally and Quatre. Wufei has to go with Cooper.
Suddenly Wufei jumps up and backs away from Cooper. "No way. No way in hell I'm doing that song."
"Which?" asked Trowa.
"Oops, I Did It Again," said Cooper.
"That's your favorite song?"
"Now, we just said that to get the reaction out of Wufei here."
"So I don't have to sing that? I got something else?" asked Wufei tentatively.
"No. You have to do that one."
"NO WAY IN HELL!"
"Very well, don't shout. Now, the original jackpot was $24,000-two thousand a person-but now that Traize and Wufei are out, the maximum is $20,000. Each person who does their partner's song earns $2,000 for the group.
"Now. Who wants to go first?"
//personal interviews, mixed with shots of the players crooning songs.//
Sally: "Why didn't Wufei just sing the song? We all knew he didn't want to. Everyone else in the bar would know it was just for weird kicks, so why not?"
//Lucretzia is singing "Stairway to Heaven"//
Lucretzia: "That song is too damn long. They can cut out "If there's a bustle in your hedgerow." And everything else before that."
//Sally is singing "Pinch Me."//
Sally: "Now that Traize has failed two easy missions-well, three, but that was the Shooter game when he got shot-I'm starting to get quite suspicious of him. Also, I've eliminated some names to keep myself from getting spread too thin-Heero, Zechs, and Lucretzia. Maybe Hilde and Quatre too; they really haven't done anything."
//Sally going "pinch me, pinch me, 'cause I'm still aaaaaasleep, please God, telllll me, that I'm still aaasleep." Then, Heero singing Trust Company's "Downfall" and Duo singing Incubus's "Pardon Me."//
Heero: "He wasn't a suspect before, but suddenly Traize has become at least a bit of a suspect, even if his sabotage was minor cash-wise and he did it for an exemption."
//Cathy, Trowa, Hilde, and Relena sing their songs for the cameras. As Relena sings, The camera focuses on Traize, in the front row, with a beer in his hand.//
Relena: "I wanted so bad to kick Traize in the ass for him not doing this. But I actually don't mind him much; when I was doing my worst, and when I was a puppet of OZ, he pulled through and took the reins of the world so I could rest." (Pause.) "If I see Wufei I'm kicking his ass."
//Quatre has to sing Shania Twain, and Zechs the Dixie Chicks, but to their credit, both endure the songs and a total of $20,000 is earned.//
"That was very good, folks, all of you save Traize and Wufei completed their songs. There is an additional thirty thousand in the pot, which now stands at $99,000. You guys have gone off to an excellent start. It may be even better for some of you if three volunteer for a special mission like the one just done. Your prize will be an additional ten thousand dollars."
A murmur went through the group. "What do we have to sing?" asked Heero.
"You'll be told when you are ready to go."
"No thank you, I think I'll pass. I do not like the sound of that."
"I will go," said Sally. "Just to show all the rest of you up. Come on you guys, how bad can it be?"
"It can be so bad," said Hilde.
"No it can't. Come on up, Relena."
"Uh...okay..."
"What if it's 'MacArthur Park'?" Hilde was going on. "What if it's 'A Horse With No Name'? What if it's 'Muskrat Love,' for Christ's sake?"
Relena started to go back, but Sally grabbed her. "Even 'Muskrat Love' is worth five digits."
For a moment there was silence, ended by Cooper. "So, is that it? We need three people, if we do not get them, then the mission is failed automatically."
Tentatively Cathy stood up. "I'll go up."
"Very well. If you sing the song to completion and do not leave the stage prematurely, then you will win the group ten thousand dollars. Go to the dressing room, find an outfit and head to the stage in five minutes."
"Okay."
//VO of Cooper: "The rest of the group splits from there, allowing one member to have a chance at the round's second exemption."//
//shot of Cooper with Lucretzia.//
"How are you?"
"Well enough, considering I can't trust one of my friends."
"There's a kid out there with failure on their mind, to be sure, but there is a little offering we would like to give to you. In a minute Sally, Relena and Cathy are going to the stage in the mission, and will go through here on their way there. If you can rattle them enough to make at least one of then step off the stage, making the mission fail, you earn an exemption to the third round." Cooper looked at his watch. "Keep that in mind." He walked away.
A moment later, the three participants walked up the way to the stage. "Good luck, girls," said Lucretzia. Then almost directly to Relena, "Don't embarrass yourself if you don't want to."
//interview with Lucretzia//
"I knew Relena would have trouble with this. I thought talking almost straight to her would increase my shot at an exemption."
The three walked by Anderson. "The 'Hamtaro' theme song, you guys."
"WHAT?" screamed Relena.
It was far too late for her to turn back. The curtain was raised, and the almost hypnotic theme song began to play. Relena froze like a deer in the headlights. Cathy and Sally were able to do the little dance and sing the words, but Relena just stood there, feeling herself getting redder. At the halfway point she had enough, dashing off the stage before Sally could see her leave.
"Okay, that's it. As you all saw, Relena left the stage before the song was over, costing the team ten grand. All of you, unwind, go back to the hotel, we'll have the second execution on tomorrow night."
//shot of Relena hanging her head as personal interviews begin.//
Heero: "She can sometimes be a little bit thin-skinned by some things. She can be psychologically tough, but this put her off. I'm not too surprised by her giving up."
Sally: "It's not at all a long song. Maybe a minute. But she couldn't do it. Is it because she was too embarrassed or because she's the Mole?"
Traize: "She didn't have to do the song if she didn't want to. It's just one of thirty-two missions. There's plenty of ways to earn money other than this."
Lucretzia: "Well, I got my exemption, but I don't know if I did the right thing. Relena looked more dejected afterward than I thought she would."
Relena: "Noin outdid me. She tried to play me for an exemption and she got one. But I don't get why. Only one out of twelve is leaving; is it worth the ten grand?"
Wufei: "She did the right thing, I must admit. The name of the game is survival. An exemption is the most important thing of all other than knowing who the Mole is, and it's too early for that just yet."
Relena: "You have to take others into account, not just you."
//the execution dinner, the night after karaoke.//
"Anyone afraid to leave?" Zechs was just finishing up.
"I don't believe in fear." Heero took another bite of dessert.
"I do," said Duo. "Now I hope that I'm on the right track. The exemption last round saved my ass. Dorothy should still be here."
Relena raised her glass. "She isn't the most agreeable person...but a toast to Dorothy."
"Toast."
//interview with Duo.//
"It is scary to know that your head was on the chopping block, but it got out at the last minute. If Heero had beaten me out of that first seat on Running of the Cars.don't even want to think about that."
//the test. Duo is on, "Did the Mole play in the Grape Catching or Market Search game?"//
Duo: "Relena can be such a perfect Mole, as she'd have no suspicion coming in. She's dome badly or too well almost every game."
//Relena is on, "In which position was the Mole in while the group ate with the Grape Catching game still playing?" She clicks on "The Mole was still playing."//
Relena: "Lucretzia got my attention during karaoke, but there's Trowa, Hilde, and Traize to look after as well, too."
//Heero is on "In what place did the Mole sing in during Karaoke?"//
Heero: "Wufei probably wouldn't have done this outside the game, either.but maybe that's what he wants us to think."
//Hilde is on "Who is the Mole?"//
Hilde: "Zechs, Traize, Lucretzia, Relena, Trowa, Duo...all have done suspicious behavior. You have to pick out the ones pretending to be the Mole and the real suspects."
//the execution, in a clearing in the woods.//
Cooper got the computer to the ready. "Tonight, you, as a group, face your second execution. As I type your name into the computer, the screen will flash green or red. Green means you advance to the third round, and red means you have become the Mole's second victim. Lucretzia and Traize have exemptions and are not eligible for execution. No point in waiting further, let us begin. Heero."
Heero's name was typed into the computer. After a tense moment, the screen flashed green. He watched, then let out the breath he was holding.
"Hilde." The German girl watch with concern as Cooper typed in her name, and breathed in relief to the green flash.
"Trowa." He watched as Cooper typed in his name, and as Cathy put her hand on his. After a moment, the screen flashed green, and he gave a rare smile.
"Wufei." He had his hands folded over his mouth for his moment, and he tensed himself for execution. However, the screen flashed green, and he relaxed.
"Zechs." The former Lightning Count Stared anxiously at the screen. After a second, his name too flashed green. He gave no reaction at first, then leaned back and breathed.
"Sally." She swallowed as she watched her name put into the computer. It also flashed green after a second. She turned to Wufei and gave him a bump. "Not bad, huh?"
"Humph."
"Quatre." He was chewing his collar, like a linen tobacco plug, and watched, gnawing, as the screen turned green for him too.
"Well," said Anderson, "there are three left-Cathy, Duo, and Relena. Any volunteers?"
"No chance in hell," said Traize. Nervous laughter was exchanged.
"Okay.no volunteers?" Cooper looked around. "Then I shall continue in the original order. Cathy."
She squeezed Trowa's hand hard, and squinted to just be able to see the screen. After a moment, the screen began to flash red. She gasped and closed her eyes. When she reopened them, she looked like she was close to crying.
"I'm sorry, Cathy," said Cooper. She mournfully got up and Anderson took her bag to the waiting car.
//personal interviews//
Lucretzia: "She was so enthusiastic on being on the show, ten times more than anyone else. Some of the excitement of coming will leave with her."
Quatre: "You just couldn't dislike her. She was always happy, all the time."
Heero: "She was real upset on leaving, much more so than Doro-chan. The latter seemed to expect it, but for Cathy, this hit her like a bunch of bricks."
Relena: "Watching her go was terrible. She really wanted to stick around, and it was terrific to have met her, albeit she did not stay long at all."
Cathy: "Well, that was a shocker. After all the times I saw the show on TV I thought I had it down. Whoever the Mole is, they have taught me a lesson here." (Breathes.) "Hopefully I'll stay in touch or watch the show, and be able to find out the Mole then."
//Cathy rides off.//
* In the most amusing situation of "The Mole 2: The Next Betrayal," three players had to make pizzas, which would be their dinner. None knew how to cook, so little was made. Darwin and Bill saw an ice cream stand afterward, and Bill-the Mole-was too happy to buy ice cream for the both of them. They were docked, I think, five grand, or $2,500 per Dove bar.
You too can try to guess the Mole's identity! Take the ten question quiz:
Did the Mole play in the Grape Catching or Market Search game?
What did the Mole have to find in the Market Search game? (coffee/olive oil/eggplant/marmalade/lemons/peanuts/grapes/honey/strawberries/sugar/the Mole did not participate)
Was the Mole successful in that game? (Y/N/Did Not Play)
How many jugs of grapes did the Mole collect? (None/One/Two/Three/Four/Five/Six)
Not including Noventa and Dermail, in which position was the Mole in while the group ate with the Grape Catching game still playing?" (direct left, which is Relena/ second from left, Heero/ third, Trowa/ fourth, Quatre/ fifth, Cathy/ sixth, Sally/ seventh, Wufei/ eighth, Zechs/ ninth, Traize/ direct to the right, Hilde.)
Did the Mole earn an exemption during this round? (Y/N)
In what order did the Mole sing in Karaoke? (first through tenth, then "Did Not Sing." They went in the order outlined above.)
What did the Mole sing? (Dixie Chicks/Incubus/Trust Company/Lynard Skynard/Shania Twain/Barenaked Ladies/Staind (Cathy)/Backstreet Boys (Hilde)/Alanis Morisette (Trowa)/ K-Ci and Jo-Jo (Relena)
Did the Mole attempt the second challenge in the Karaoke game? (Y/N)
Who is the Mole? (Heero/Hilde/Trowa/Wufei/Lucretzia/Sally/Zechs/Quatre/Cathy/Duo/Relena/Traiz e)
Postscript: I knew Bill was the Mole! But then, I had seen many of the hidden clues from other methods than seeing them as they aired, so I suppose I cheated a bit. I did guess that Dorothy (not to be confused with the executed Dorothy Caledonia from this show) would win, so I figure I'm one-for-one here.
Daniel Ocean
WARNING WARNING WARNING: I don't own Gundam Wing or The Mole, though I do admire both quality television shows. Also, I borrow some games from both seasons of The Mole and I do not attend to take credit for either of them. I don't want to have to say whether the game is original or not before each one so presume it is not. Enjoy!
//host Anderson Cooper appears on the TV screen of hundreds of thousands of homes across the world and in the colonies.//
"Welcome to the Mole. Thirteen players try to complete missions across Europe to gain money toward the pot. Money is gained as games are won, however, one amongst them is the Mole, a secret agent planted by the producers to foil the players. Up to one million dollars hinges on the question: Who is the Mole?
//twelve images appear, one of each remaining player.//
Heero, 19, Army soldier, Sapporo, Japan
Hilde, 18, Auto dealer, Munich, Germany
Trowa, 19, Circus performer, St. Petersburg, FL
Wufei, 19, Museum curator, Chongqing, China
Lucretzia, 24, Test driver, Tucson, AZ
Zechs, 25, Air Force Lieutenant, Pueblo, CO
Sally, 22, Police officer, Enforcers colony
Quatre, 19, Musician/Art dealer, Alexandria, Egypt
Catherine, 21, Performer, Las Vegas, NV
Duo, 19, Junk yard owner, L2 colony
Relena, 20, Doctor, Birmingham, England
Traize, 26, Appraiser, New York City, NY
//the scene cuts to a map, showing the new location of the layers: the tiny nation of Andorra. Viewers are told it is day four, the morning after Dorothy's execution. The players are shown at breakfast, as happy as the twelve probably could be.//
//personal interviews//
Relena: "It's going to be a lot easier, now with no Dorothy. I saw her as my major obstacle to the cash. I was going to bomb a quiz if she stayed too long."
Quatre: "Considering that she put a piece of metal in me, and IT'S STILL THERE, I'm not that upset to see her go."
Trowa: "Now we know who probably _isn't_ the Mole. Cathy is almost certainly not the Mole, if Dorothy thought so, or Traize."
//Anderson walks up to them as they finish off breakfast.//
"Hey, you guys. You all slept well, right?"
"Now Doro-chan is gone, sure." Duo stuffed the last of his mini-bagel home.
"You know what time it is?"
Noin looked at her wristwatch. "Ten-ten?"
"It's time for your third mission."
"So close to the end of breakfast?" Heero wrinkled his brow. "We don't have to eat five pounds of steak or jump out of an airplane right now, do we?"
"Actually, it is a double mission. Some of you will be going to a market on the Spanish border and some will be going to the French border for a mystery mission. Tell me, which one of you _really_ like to drink wine or other drinks?"
Duo immediately stuck his hand up. After a second, Noin does as well.
"Okay, two is fine. Lucretzia, Duo, you two get to go in the Mole Beetle, the same one stripped down in the last season. There, your driver will meet you. The rest of you get to go in the van.
//the scene cuts to the Beetle, driving up the hotel driveway. The driver sticks his head out the window, as does the navigator next to him. "You two the Mystery mission ones?"
//personal interview with Noin//
"When I saw the generals-Noventa and Dermail drive on up, it...it...not exactly a thing you expect. //shot of the four introducing themselves and the two players climbing into the back of the car.// What they have to o with the Mole...I don't want to know."
"I hope we don't have to stomp on grapes. I don't want to get my feet sticky and have to stick them back in my new sneakers. Besides, I have little tiny feet. Just size fours. Duo's gonna have to do most of it."
//back to the van, with several members lying in strange positions, as the seats were far to small. Wufei is heard to say, "Get off my hand, Yuy."
//Interview with Quatre.//
"If all of us have to work together to do something, then I predict some deaths here. Heero and Wufei won't work together, and Relena isn't welcome by either, and Zechs isn't that well liked by anybody really."
//Noin and Duo have arrived at the vineyard. They are standing with Noventa, as Dermail can be seen in the background, at a table with six jugs and a timer at 2:02:25.//
"Hello you two, whoever you two for this mission are. If you are playing this, you should be at the vineyard in the second round, for the Grape catcher game."
"Catching grapes.how?" asked Duo.
"Near the entrance of the vineyard , right there with Dermail, there should be six half-gallon jugs on a table with the Mole thumbprint on top." //cutaway to the table, right near the two.// "In two hours-we timed your trip and the clock should be about two-ten now--//cutaway to the clock at 2:00:43//--you will have to filled all eight jugs full of the grapes. He'll will make sure you do not start until the clock is at 2:00:00, and any green grapes or any stems will result in the exclusion of that jug in scoring.
"Each full-to-the-brim-with-perfect-grapes jug is worth $6,000, except for the last one, worth $10,000. Start at two hours and see you as the clock runs down."
//VO of Cooper: "Meanwhile, on the other side of the country:"
The real Cooper was standing before the remaining ten players, at a bustling produce market near the French border, on the northern part of the country. All of them are dressed like tourists.
"Welcome to the Market Search game, which is about as simple as the Shooter game. You guys have fifteen minutes and enough pesetas to cover the cost of what you are going to do. Each of you have to find an item in this market and bring it back to here in ten minutes. You must be right here then or else it won't count.
"Each returned item is worth $2,500. Any questions?"
"That's it?" asked Cathy. "No catch at all?"
"Nada, senorita."
"Uh-oh," said Duo. "Spanish."
From the ground Cooper put up a large canvas with each player's name on it, followed by an item name in Spanish. "There's a Spanish-English dictionary at my feet. Good luck. Your time begins.now."
Relena saw she needed aceite de oliva and headed off in a few seconds, as soon as she translated that in her head. Hilde headed right off for miel and Zechs for berenjenas. Cathy dug for her own dictionary feverishly, needing azucar. Trowa had an idea what café was and also headed off. Sally needed fresones and Quatre needed uvas, and they shared the former's dictionary. Duo, Heero and Wufei all crawled over each other for Cooper's dictionary, for, repectively, limones, mermelada, and cacahuetes.
//cutaway to Relena wandering through the corridors between stands, looking feverishly to both sides. Personal interview.//
"What I need is olive oil...it was kinda crappily translated by ABC...but this place is huge and I only got ten minutes. I'm looking and looking and my racing mind is making me see olive oil all over the place where there's fish, whipped cream...I think I'm getting psychotic."
//VO of Cooper: "Back to the vineyard, where the players have 1:53 left."//
Dermail and Noventa are cracking into a bottle of La Mole wine, wishing cheers to each other. Duo and Noin are not far away, trying to put the plump purple grapes through the thin neck of the first jug, which is slowly filling up. Duo has a handful of grapes, of which three or four go in the jug, the rest of which scatter all on the ground.
"Well done, Duo," calls Noventa from afar. Dermail applauds.
"Shut up!" The former Gundam pilot went to his hands and knees to pick his scattered handful up. Noin just watches. "Can't a guy get a little bit of help, here?"
"You spilled them."
//personal interviews//
Noin: "It's not a hard task at all, filling a jug up with grapes, but for some reason, Duo just can't do it. //shot of Duo spilling more grapes// "It's starting to look more suspicious. Maybe he's the Mole and bombed intentionally because he had an exemption."
Duo: "Noin just isn't helping out all that much. I get handfuls. She just stuffs them in one at a time. She doesn't even stuff them in that cleanly, so the jugs are really getting pretty slippery. She almost lost all the grapes dropping it //shot of this happening//."
//shot of Anderson, back at the market. "There's three minutes left," he shouts over a megaphone, "so you might want to consider coming back."//
Trowa is already there with a half-pound of coffee. Relena is beaming at her bottle of olive oil and Zechs is holding a pair of eggplant. Cathy rushes into the area they're all in, holding a five-pound bag of sugar over her head. "I'm back!" she shouts. "This is the azucar, right?"
"That is the correct item. Four out of ten, so far. Now we simply have to wait for the remaining players."
//interview with Zechs//
"When I first got back with my item, the three boys were still fighting over the lousy ABC dictionary, not at all realizing that Cathy and Sally were in such a rush to get what they needed, they both just dropped theirs to the ground and there's was one for each.
"Also, when I came back, I had to go back. I heard...whatever, and I got oranges instead of eggplant at first. But I was able to get back to the market and back-I remembered where an eggplant stand was."
A horn was sounded. "Okay, players, come on back, your time is over, and the market is closing. You got four out of ten items, for-"
"Five! Five! Five!" Wufei rushed around a corner and back to the group, a bag of peanuts held high over his head.
"Sorry Wufei, not in time. That was four items, for $10,000. The pot is now standing at $67,000."
Wufei threw his peanuts down and cursed.
//personal interviews//
Cathy: "Well it sure is very convenient that Wufei just made it out of the market in time to be two seconds late. With a fit of fake anger on the side, too."
Relena: "Wufei's like that, with that little outburst. I'm surprised at Hilde, though. She's a reasonably smart individual, but we had to search for her after the game. She hadn't even gotten her item yet. I find that simply...interesting."
Heero: "I spent the first nine minutes in the market looking for these." //holds up some limes.// "Then I have to be rescued and told that I needed lemons, not limes."
//VO: As the players from the Market Search head north to their two teammates, one jug is full and another is half full with 48 minutes left. The game's first alliance is forming.//
"An alliance with you, Maxwell? I don't think so. You were real clever in going in last place to almost get eliminated."
"Yeah-I didn't have to be out of the cellar if you got an exemption. I bombed it because I wanted players to underestimate me."
"I already underestimated you."
"Well.."
"Duo, I don't ant to go in an alliance with you for the sake of an alliance. What if you're the Mole, and what if you're going to just latch on to me and get info for me and not get any for you."
"How about this?" Duo stuffed five more in the jug. "I will ask you for information only if I have a good piece of information every time but once."
"Once?"
"Now, so we can compare the players so far."
"Fine." //a message pops up, "Coalition 1: Lucretzia and Duo."//
"Okay, Heero. Whadaya think about him, Noin?"
"A little too obvious suspect, besides, he's too good so far. Trowa?"
"We made it in the right order, which is amazing, and he failed the Running with the Tiny Cars. It's a maybe. What about Quatre-we wouldn't be suspected, he could slip under the radar."
"And he failed the Shooter game-he could very well be a Mole."
"What about Wufei?"
"No, he seemed too focused on money so far. Too hotheaded to be the Mole. But Relena-wow, she would be a great Mole. She did too good during that Tiny Car game. You know Hilde, what about her?"
"What about her?"
"I dunno, you know anything?"
"No. Yes. She shot me."
"Yeah, for an exemption. Maybe. Okay, uh, Cathy?"
"She shot Traize, which could make her a suspect. She's got to be included. Sally hasn't done anything, though." Noin plucked a big bunch of grapes and slid them in the jug one by one. "So, is that it, Relena and Cathy and Quatre?"
"And Trowa and Hilde in the background."
"Right."
//switch to Dermail and Noventa// "You know," said Noventa, "this La Mole wine, I found out a while back...it's really quite good."
"I'm sure you found that out after TEN glasses."
"You drank a lot of it too."
"Yeah. The author...what a kind person."
//VO: "The players from the Market Search have arrived at the site where the other two have been collecting grapes for an hour and forty minutes; twenty minutes remain."//
Accordion music plays as Dermail, Noventa, Cooper, and the players sit down to have a snack: Dove ice cream bars, the same kind that Darwin and Bill ate-as contraband-during the pervious season of the American Mole. (*)
"Oh, no you guys aren't." Noin was picking up more spilled grapes. "Do not tell me you are having food while we suffer."
"Oh, absolutely." Cooper bit out a hunk of ice cream. "You'll get some after you're done."
Duo was plucking grapes off the vine and stuffing them into his mouth, instead of the bottle. "Thebebes arb brealie goood." He took anoher bunch and ut its grapes one by one into the jug.
"Maxwell." Looking at the stuffed teenager, Noin let her voice trail off. "Kids. Jesus."
"Okay, your time is up," called Cooper. "Come on back so we can inspect your wares."
//personal interviews//
Zechs: "I feel for Lucretzia. She had to spend the entire afternoon with Duo. She was all sunburned and tweaked and she didn't seem to be a very pleasant person afterward."
Lucretzia: "We had two of those things full. If Duo hadn't of eaten half the grapevine we would have gotten the third-it was almost full. And he was fooling around all day. We could have gotten ten, fifteen thousand more dollars otherwise."
"You guys have two full jugs. Fortunately, both have no stems and all the grapes are good, other than being a little mashed in, which is fine. You get twelve thousand more dollars for this mission."
//shot of the van, with a VO of Cathy//
"If Duo hadn't been screwing around we would have gotten at least six thousand more dollars. They were so close to the third jug, I'm sure he ate the difference."
Duo: "Noin had the jug the whole time, and she picked very few grapes in the meantime. But when the others came she helped out more. It looks way too suspicious to me."
//one day later, on Day 5. It appears to be early evening.//
Cooper stands in front of the group, all of whom look more like tourists than they did the previous day. He himself has a camera slung around his neck.
"All right you guys," he said, "you've been fed dinner, and now you have four hours to do a little sight-seeing around the country. In each of your bag, we have inserted directions to a club FROM THIS HOTEL. You must be at the club at eleven, so try to get back here by around 10:30.
"It is seven o'clock right now, see you in four hours."
//VO of Cooper: "The group spins off in many directions, generally going off in pairs-Zechs and Lucretzia go in one direction, Relena and Heero in another. Cathy, Trowa and Quatre is one group, as is Duo and Hilde. Traize, Wufei and Sally all elect to go alone thorough the streets of the small kingdom alone.
Or do they?//
//shot of Traize wandering the streets, loitering about, an unmarked scooter behind him about a half block away. We are told it is Myra Brown, a contestant from last year. Traize stops at a stand and Myra saddles next to him.//
//11:03 PM//
Cooper looks around the small back room that had been rented for the night to hold all the contestants. Outside in the front, people are swinging about a small stage, inflicting karaoke upon each other. "Eight...nine...ten...eleven. One person is missing. Looks like it's Traize. Who was with him when you guys were sightseeing?"
Silence.
"I will take it that he was alone. All right, you all stay right here, I'll go find him. I know exactly where he is."
//Cooper, followed by cameras, goes through the front to the door. Outside is a bench, where Traize is sitting.//
"You coming on in or taking the exemption?"
"Taking the exemption."
"Very well." //Cooper returns.//
"Traize has elected to reduce the potential jackpot of the game by taking an exemption and not participating. The rest of you therefore must go on without him.
"We'll start with a secret ballot on who you feel.well, which player you like the least. Here's paper and pens, and get to it."
//a minute later, after a lot of scribbling//
"Okay, that's eight votes for Wufei, two for Duo and one for Relena. I'll tell you how this is significant in a moment.
"Each of you must pair up and tell the other of their favorite song, Then, one by one, each person must do their partner's favorite song on the karaoke machine. Wufei, you must do one of my favorite songs."
"What if it's not on the machine?" asked Duo.
"They're all on the machine as long as you use the song you told us is your favorite and the one listed as your favorite in the profiles all of you got."
"What song is _your_ favorite?" asked Wufei.
"You'll know when everyone pairs up, which everyone must do now. You got two minutes."
The pairs are Cathy-Trowa, Heero-Duo, Hilde-Relena, Zechs-Lucretzia, and because there no one is left, Sally and Quatre. Wufei has to go with Cooper.
Suddenly Wufei jumps up and backs away from Cooper. "No way. No way in hell I'm doing that song."
"Which?" asked Trowa.
"Oops, I Did It Again," said Cooper.
"That's your favorite song?"
"Now, we just said that to get the reaction out of Wufei here."
"So I don't have to sing that? I got something else?" asked Wufei tentatively.
"No. You have to do that one."
"NO WAY IN HELL!"
"Very well, don't shout. Now, the original jackpot was $24,000-two thousand a person-but now that Traize and Wufei are out, the maximum is $20,000. Each person who does their partner's song earns $2,000 for the group.
"Now. Who wants to go first?"
//personal interviews, mixed with shots of the players crooning songs.//
Sally: "Why didn't Wufei just sing the song? We all knew he didn't want to. Everyone else in the bar would know it was just for weird kicks, so why not?"
//Lucretzia is singing "Stairway to Heaven"//
Lucretzia: "That song is too damn long. They can cut out "If there's a bustle in your hedgerow." And everything else before that."
//Sally is singing "Pinch Me."//
Sally: "Now that Traize has failed two easy missions-well, three, but that was the Shooter game when he got shot-I'm starting to get quite suspicious of him. Also, I've eliminated some names to keep myself from getting spread too thin-Heero, Zechs, and Lucretzia. Maybe Hilde and Quatre too; they really haven't done anything."
//Sally going "pinch me, pinch me, 'cause I'm still aaaaaasleep, please God, telllll me, that I'm still aaasleep." Then, Heero singing Trust Company's "Downfall" and Duo singing Incubus's "Pardon Me."//
Heero: "He wasn't a suspect before, but suddenly Traize has become at least a bit of a suspect, even if his sabotage was minor cash-wise and he did it for an exemption."
//Cathy, Trowa, Hilde, and Relena sing their songs for the cameras. As Relena sings, The camera focuses on Traize, in the front row, with a beer in his hand.//
Relena: "I wanted so bad to kick Traize in the ass for him not doing this. But I actually don't mind him much; when I was doing my worst, and when I was a puppet of OZ, he pulled through and took the reins of the world so I could rest." (Pause.) "If I see Wufei I'm kicking his ass."
//Quatre has to sing Shania Twain, and Zechs the Dixie Chicks, but to their credit, both endure the songs and a total of $20,000 is earned.//
"That was very good, folks, all of you save Traize and Wufei completed their songs. There is an additional thirty thousand in the pot, which now stands at $99,000. You guys have gone off to an excellent start. It may be even better for some of you if three volunteer for a special mission like the one just done. Your prize will be an additional ten thousand dollars."
A murmur went through the group. "What do we have to sing?" asked Heero.
"You'll be told when you are ready to go."
"No thank you, I think I'll pass. I do not like the sound of that."
"I will go," said Sally. "Just to show all the rest of you up. Come on you guys, how bad can it be?"
"It can be so bad," said Hilde.
"No it can't. Come on up, Relena."
"Uh...okay..."
"What if it's 'MacArthur Park'?" Hilde was going on. "What if it's 'A Horse With No Name'? What if it's 'Muskrat Love,' for Christ's sake?"
Relena started to go back, but Sally grabbed her. "Even 'Muskrat Love' is worth five digits."
For a moment there was silence, ended by Cooper. "So, is that it? We need three people, if we do not get them, then the mission is failed automatically."
Tentatively Cathy stood up. "I'll go up."
"Very well. If you sing the song to completion and do not leave the stage prematurely, then you will win the group ten thousand dollars. Go to the dressing room, find an outfit and head to the stage in five minutes."
"Okay."
//VO of Cooper: "The rest of the group splits from there, allowing one member to have a chance at the round's second exemption."//
//shot of Cooper with Lucretzia.//
"How are you?"
"Well enough, considering I can't trust one of my friends."
"There's a kid out there with failure on their mind, to be sure, but there is a little offering we would like to give to you. In a minute Sally, Relena and Cathy are going to the stage in the mission, and will go through here on their way there. If you can rattle them enough to make at least one of then step off the stage, making the mission fail, you earn an exemption to the third round." Cooper looked at his watch. "Keep that in mind." He walked away.
A moment later, the three participants walked up the way to the stage. "Good luck, girls," said Lucretzia. Then almost directly to Relena, "Don't embarrass yourself if you don't want to."
//interview with Lucretzia//
"I knew Relena would have trouble with this. I thought talking almost straight to her would increase my shot at an exemption."
The three walked by Anderson. "The 'Hamtaro' theme song, you guys."
"WHAT?" screamed Relena.
It was far too late for her to turn back. The curtain was raised, and the almost hypnotic theme song began to play. Relena froze like a deer in the headlights. Cathy and Sally were able to do the little dance and sing the words, but Relena just stood there, feeling herself getting redder. At the halfway point she had enough, dashing off the stage before Sally could see her leave.
"Okay, that's it. As you all saw, Relena left the stage before the song was over, costing the team ten grand. All of you, unwind, go back to the hotel, we'll have the second execution on tomorrow night."
//shot of Relena hanging her head as personal interviews begin.//
Heero: "She can sometimes be a little bit thin-skinned by some things. She can be psychologically tough, but this put her off. I'm not too surprised by her giving up."
Sally: "It's not at all a long song. Maybe a minute. But she couldn't do it. Is it because she was too embarrassed or because she's the Mole?"
Traize: "She didn't have to do the song if she didn't want to. It's just one of thirty-two missions. There's plenty of ways to earn money other than this."
Lucretzia: "Well, I got my exemption, but I don't know if I did the right thing. Relena looked more dejected afterward than I thought she would."
Relena: "Noin outdid me. She tried to play me for an exemption and she got one. But I don't get why. Only one out of twelve is leaving; is it worth the ten grand?"
Wufei: "She did the right thing, I must admit. The name of the game is survival. An exemption is the most important thing of all other than knowing who the Mole is, and it's too early for that just yet."
Relena: "You have to take others into account, not just you."
//the execution dinner, the night after karaoke.//
"Anyone afraid to leave?" Zechs was just finishing up.
"I don't believe in fear." Heero took another bite of dessert.
"I do," said Duo. "Now I hope that I'm on the right track. The exemption last round saved my ass. Dorothy should still be here."
Relena raised her glass. "She isn't the most agreeable person...but a toast to Dorothy."
"Toast."
//interview with Duo.//
"It is scary to know that your head was on the chopping block, but it got out at the last minute. If Heero had beaten me out of that first seat on Running of the Cars.don't even want to think about that."
//the test. Duo is on, "Did the Mole play in the Grape Catching or Market Search game?"//
Duo: "Relena can be such a perfect Mole, as she'd have no suspicion coming in. She's dome badly or too well almost every game."
//Relena is on, "In which position was the Mole in while the group ate with the Grape Catching game still playing?" She clicks on "The Mole was still playing."//
Relena: "Lucretzia got my attention during karaoke, but there's Trowa, Hilde, and Traize to look after as well, too."
//Heero is on "In what place did the Mole sing in during Karaoke?"//
Heero: "Wufei probably wouldn't have done this outside the game, either.but maybe that's what he wants us to think."
//Hilde is on "Who is the Mole?"//
Hilde: "Zechs, Traize, Lucretzia, Relena, Trowa, Duo...all have done suspicious behavior. You have to pick out the ones pretending to be the Mole and the real suspects."
//the execution, in a clearing in the woods.//
Cooper got the computer to the ready. "Tonight, you, as a group, face your second execution. As I type your name into the computer, the screen will flash green or red. Green means you advance to the third round, and red means you have become the Mole's second victim. Lucretzia and Traize have exemptions and are not eligible for execution. No point in waiting further, let us begin. Heero."
Heero's name was typed into the computer. After a tense moment, the screen flashed green. He watched, then let out the breath he was holding.
"Hilde." The German girl watch with concern as Cooper typed in her name, and breathed in relief to the green flash.
"Trowa." He watched as Cooper typed in his name, and as Cathy put her hand on his. After a moment, the screen flashed green, and he gave a rare smile.
"Wufei." He had his hands folded over his mouth for his moment, and he tensed himself for execution. However, the screen flashed green, and he relaxed.
"Zechs." The former Lightning Count Stared anxiously at the screen. After a second, his name too flashed green. He gave no reaction at first, then leaned back and breathed.
"Sally." She swallowed as she watched her name put into the computer. It also flashed green after a second. She turned to Wufei and gave him a bump. "Not bad, huh?"
"Humph."
"Quatre." He was chewing his collar, like a linen tobacco plug, and watched, gnawing, as the screen turned green for him too.
"Well," said Anderson, "there are three left-Cathy, Duo, and Relena. Any volunteers?"
"No chance in hell," said Traize. Nervous laughter was exchanged.
"Okay.no volunteers?" Cooper looked around. "Then I shall continue in the original order. Cathy."
She squeezed Trowa's hand hard, and squinted to just be able to see the screen. After a moment, the screen began to flash red. She gasped and closed her eyes. When she reopened them, she looked like she was close to crying.
"I'm sorry, Cathy," said Cooper. She mournfully got up and Anderson took her bag to the waiting car.
//personal interviews//
Lucretzia: "She was so enthusiastic on being on the show, ten times more than anyone else. Some of the excitement of coming will leave with her."
Quatre: "You just couldn't dislike her. She was always happy, all the time."
Heero: "She was real upset on leaving, much more so than Doro-chan. The latter seemed to expect it, but for Cathy, this hit her like a bunch of bricks."
Relena: "Watching her go was terrible. She really wanted to stick around, and it was terrific to have met her, albeit she did not stay long at all."
Cathy: "Well, that was a shocker. After all the times I saw the show on TV I thought I had it down. Whoever the Mole is, they have taught me a lesson here." (Breathes.) "Hopefully I'll stay in touch or watch the show, and be able to find out the Mole then."
//Cathy rides off.//
* In the most amusing situation of "The Mole 2: The Next Betrayal," three players had to make pizzas, which would be their dinner. None knew how to cook, so little was made. Darwin and Bill saw an ice cream stand afterward, and Bill-the Mole-was too happy to buy ice cream for the both of them. They were docked, I think, five grand, or $2,500 per Dove bar.
You too can try to guess the Mole's identity! Take the ten question quiz:
Did the Mole play in the Grape Catching or Market Search game?
What did the Mole have to find in the Market Search game? (coffee/olive oil/eggplant/marmalade/lemons/peanuts/grapes/honey/strawberries/sugar/the Mole did not participate)
Was the Mole successful in that game? (Y/N/Did Not Play)
How many jugs of grapes did the Mole collect? (None/One/Two/Three/Four/Five/Six)
Not including Noventa and Dermail, in which position was the Mole in while the group ate with the Grape Catching game still playing?" (direct left, which is Relena/ second from left, Heero/ third, Trowa/ fourth, Quatre/ fifth, Cathy/ sixth, Sally/ seventh, Wufei/ eighth, Zechs/ ninth, Traize/ direct to the right, Hilde.)
Did the Mole earn an exemption during this round? (Y/N)
In what order did the Mole sing in Karaoke? (first through tenth, then "Did Not Sing." They went in the order outlined above.)
What did the Mole sing? (Dixie Chicks/Incubus/Trust Company/Lynard Skynard/Shania Twain/Barenaked Ladies/Staind (Cathy)/Backstreet Boys (Hilde)/Alanis Morisette (Trowa)/ K-Ci and Jo-Jo (Relena)
Did the Mole attempt the second challenge in the Karaoke game? (Y/N)
Who is the Mole? (Heero/Hilde/Trowa/Wufei/Lucretzia/Sally/Zechs/Quatre/Cathy/Duo/Relena/Traiz e)
Postscript: I knew Bill was the Mole! But then, I had seen many of the hidden clues from other methods than seeing them as they aired, so I suppose I cheated a bit. I did guess that Dorothy (not to be confused with the executed Dorothy Caledonia from this show) would win, so I figure I'm one-for-one here.