The New Betrayal
Daniel Ocean
WARNING: I own NOTHING in this chapter. Well, okay, I own the teddy-bear game, but nothing else but that.
//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?
//ten pictures, one of each remaining contestant, pops up on the screen//
Heero, 19, Army soldier, Sapporo, Japan
Hilde, 18, Auto dealer, Munich, Germany
Trowa, 19, Circus performer, St. Petersburg, FL
Lucretzia, 24, Test driver, Tucson, AZ
Zechs, 25, Air Force Lieutenant, Pueblo, CO
Sally, 22, Police officer, Preventers colony
Quatre, 19, Musician/Art dealer, Alexandria, Egypt
Duo, 19, Junk yard owner, L2 colony
Relena, 20, Doctor, Birmingham, England
Traize, 26, Appraiser, New York City, NY
//it cuts to a map of Europe, which eventually zoomed in to their Day Nine location: near Tours, France. The Mole hunters are eating a nutritious breakfast at a large roundtable, with pancakes, eggs, fruit, bagels, e cetera-good stuff like that. I like to make sure that my characters are well fed.//
"This is pretty pleasant," said Relena. She sighed contentedly. It was October, but it was fairly mild. The trees all had their leaves, which were starting to yellow, and the birds were still singing. She took a pitcher of maple syrup and poured a liberal amount not only on her pancakes, but onto her toast as well. "Oops."
"Relena, don't tempt the fates," said Sally.
"Nothing can ruin this."
Anderson Cooper walked in from behind a column. Duo screamed. "Relena! Look at what you've done!"
"Hello folks," said the host. "It's very nice to see you are all expecting me and happy to see me."
"We have a game right now?" For the first time in the trip Trowa had spoken with some emotion. "Wait. I'm only halfway through breakfast."
"Don't worry, you have ten minutes before the mission and you get to do it right here at the table. Just make sure that you have your journal with you when I get back. The Mole' sabotages are starting to add up now; there is no time to spare." Anderson reached over and took a sliced bagel. "See you then."
Cooper walked away. There was silence for a few seconds, ended by Relena taking the pitcher of syrup and pouring it directly into her mouth. She drank for a few seconds, then put it down and went face-first into her plate, with an audible splat.
"Sad," said Quatre.
Relena got her head up, a piece of toast stuck to her forehead. "Nine days. An execution or a game every single day. We need a rest."
Hilde patted her on the soldier. "I'm sure we'll get the rest of the way off. Now go flutter off to the restroom and clean up and get ready for the journal game." She watched her start off. "Don't forget that piece of toast."
//ten minutes later//
"Very good, all of you are ready to go. This is called, aptly, the Journal Game, and the rules are so simple that I want you guys to do a few things for me before we get started.
"First, get into alphabetical order."
They all did without any incident. "Now, I want you to open up the journal and make sure that you have not placed your name within." This took only a second. "Now, pass your journals three spaces to the left."
//passing to left means passing the journal up the alphabet, so Duo's journal was passed via Heero and Hilde to Lucretzia. The scene switches to a bird's eye view, with the journal owner's name over the new possessors.// "Switch with the person directly across from you."
Relena was a little small to get it cleanly to Duo, but no major hitches. "Now I want Duo and Lucretzia to switch. Then Lucretzia and Sally, and Relena and Hilde."
//all of the alliances switch. The birds-eye view shows the confusion from above.//
"Now I want the Gundam pilots who together total five to switch."
"Uh..." After a second, Duo and Trowa switched, as did Heero and Quatre.
"Pass the journals two more positions to the left." //shown from the bird's eye shot// "Now I want every left handed player to switch with the player to their left."
Hilde gasped in exasperation. Trowa, a southpaw, switched with Zechs, as did Relena giving to Sally.
"The two wealthiest players, switch." It was convenient, Relena and Quatre were right next to each other.
"Now, if the lefties will switch. Good. Now, the last move, move your journals another two spaces to the left." //Duo's journal now is in the hands of Quatre, Heero's was with Lucretzia, Hilde's was with Heero, Lucretzia's was with Sally, Quatre's was with Zechs, Relena's was with Hilde, Sally's was with Relena, Traize's was with Duo, Trowa still had his own journal, and Zechs's was with Traize. If you thought it was tedious reading that, think of me trying to figure it all out.//
"All right. Read as much of the journal that you want, and I'll be back in a minute."
The host again walked out. "That's all?" asked Hilde. "He's abandoning us again?"
There was no response. Everyone was reading, figuring out what someone else had said about them. "Hey!" said Duo. "Who said that I was annoying?"
Cooper returned. "All right. Before we begin, Trowa, name a teammate of yours."
"Relena."
"All of you will be trying to tell me whose journal you have. Each correct answer is worth five thousand dollars. However, after all of that switching, Trowa would up getting his journal again. Relena, therefore, will be playing for not only her share, but also Trowa's.
"Duo, why don't you start."
He flipped open the journal and read, at the top of the first line, "'Good journal...' Hmm. I would say that this was once the journal of...Relena."
"That...is not the correct answer. Next is you, Heero."
He flipped though the sparse notes and read, 'Relena is a fine person. An okay ally, if I never really faced her. But she could really very well be the Mole. Let me count the ways...' I'd say this sounds like Duo. Short too."
"That is also not the correct answer. Now you, Hilde."
She flipped in to find the top line of one entry, "Dear Dorothy..." The next: "Dear Cathy..." The third: Wufei.
"Huh." Hilde flipped a little bit more in. "I would say that this is from Relena."
"That...is the correct answer. Lucretzia."
"'The mission is to find the Mole and neutralize,'" she read aloud. "Sounds like everyone's favorite perfect soldier, Heero."
"That is also the correct answer. Now, Quatre."
He glanced inside. "'Dorothy, then Cathy, and then Wufei. Interesting choices for the Mole. Or maybe the Mole isn't that great of one. Cathy's the only player that could have been okay.' It could be anyone. Uh, Sally, I'll say."
"That is not the correct answer. Okay, now it is Relena's turn. This is for ten grand."
She read out loud, "'The Mole is creative. Behind people's cheesy sabotages, he or she really has put up brilliant plans that just don't get noticed all that much. The girl's coalition should help out, but maybe I can fly solo. Who knows? Not I-yet.'"
She closed it loudly. "I'd say it's Lucretzia's."
"That...is not the correct answer. Sally, now you."
"This was a giveaway," she said. She opened up to a dog-eared page. "'My coalition with Sally'...nothing else matters. This is Lucretzia's journal."
"That is the correct answer. Traize."
"Mine was blank except for each page, there was notes for one player. Looked like something from Trowa."
"That...is not the correct answer. Finish us off, Zechs."
He opened his and read aloud, "'It was so tough to see Miss Cathy go, her enthusiasm was so great...it'll drag all of us down...'" He closed it again. "Relena's been found, so it must be Quatre's."
"That is correct. You guys got four out of ten shares, for $20,000. Now you have the rest of the day off. Also, the journals you have right now are the ones that you will have for the rest of the trip. Trowa, you retain yours. The rest of you may right your name into your new journals, if you wish. Have a nice day."
//interviews//
Sally: "I wrote copious notes. I wrote enough for a novel already! And now Anderson is telling us that we lose it all for a little game and twenty grand...well, all right, the money is nice. But I'd have a better chance with my old journal."
Relena: "Sally's journal was nice. Very thorough. Maybe this could get me a couple of rounds farther in the game otherwise."
//shot of the players out on sightseeing in Tours. The players are wondering aimlessly about town, in shifts of five apiece. The shift-system makes the players suspicious, and for one of them, the suspicions are confirmed.//
//Anderson is shown knocking on a hotel room door.//
"Room service."
"Right." Trowa walked out, pointy hair first. "I'm not doing a mission."
"It is very simple, not physically rigorous and will be done in five minutes-for an exemption."
Trowa was silent, as usual. Cooper just went on. "You will have to sneak into Relena's room, take her teddy bear, Heeko, and bring it back to me. You may use someone to assist you. If you are caught, you do not get the exemption even if you get the bear to me. You have one hour starting now."
Trowa went back into the room, to consider.
//interview with Trowa.//
"Relena was in my shift and was at the hotel when I was. It would be tricky."
//shot of Trowa walking down the hall, passing Zechs, and asking, "What's your sister's room?" After getting the answer, he heads off, arriving at the room Zechs told him. (The room number doesn't matter.) Trowa knocks on the door.//
Trowa looked over his shoulder. He wasn't nervous-his years as a Gundam pilot had eliminated that emotion-but he didn't want to be asked why he was carrying a teddy bear.
Especially by Duo.
He waited a few seconds. After being satisfied that no one was in the room, he turned the handle and opened the door. It opened a couple of inches, and then there was a loud bonk. "Ow! That hurt!" Relena opened the door the rest of the way, rubbing her forehead.
"Oh, uh, hi there."
"Hi, Trowa." She looked up. "What are you doing here?"
"Uh...I was just asking if I could see your itinerary for the trip. I lost mine and I can't remember when the next execution is."
"Oh." Relena went back into her room and stayed there for a moment. She came back out with a piece of paper. "You know they don't tell us when there are missions, but here are the times and days of all of the executions."
"Thank you." Trowa went off. It was going to be harder than he thought. He was going to need an assistant. He passed one of his fellow Gundam pilots. "Hey, Duo, I need your help with something. For a little bit of cash for the pot."
"Sure. What do you want me to do?"
Relena was relaxing, for once. The previous week had been a little stressful, with the game going on. Also, losing her journal was a loss, but a small one-she got an upgrade in the manner of Sally's journal.
Right by her window, a car sputtered and growled, then began to cough.
She pushed open the curtains and lifted the window, to see a sedan by her window, with the hood up. "Hey, sorry about that." Duo peeped up. "I'm just trying to see the problem. Sounds a little dead, I think it needs a new spark plug."
"RIGHT OUTSIDE MY WINDOW?"
"Anywhere else that's better?" Duo palmed another spark plug with his rubber gloved hand, making the engine louder and more sputtery. (WARNING: Handling spark plugs from a running motor is dangerous. Don't even think about trying this at home.)
"How about the parking lot?"
"What?"
"HOW ABOUT THE PARKING LOT?"
"WHAT?"
Trowa was but a few feet behind Relena in her room, rummaging through her stuff. Under her backpack he found a small brown teddy bear-the one that Heero gave her at the end of Episode 49. (Remember?) He grabbed it and dashed out, to avoid detection and avoid Duo shouting "WHAT? WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU RELENA! WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?"
After Trowa had asked Zechs for instructions, the Lightning Baron had an idea of his own. He made his way to a random room and knocked on the door. He thought the best of it, said, "Never mind," and went to his room for something.
He came back to the same room and knocked on the door. After Quatre had opened the door, Zechs held up his bottle of wine and said, "We need to protect ourselves from coalitions. The drinking age here is low, we just need a couple of glasses..." a loud engine flared up, and both could hear someone screaming. After grimacing, "C'mon, why not a coalition?"
Quatre obliged.
Why wouldn't he? //a caption on the screen, "Coalition 4, Quatre and Zechs"//
In a couple of hours, Quatre had four glasses if wine. For the slim pilot, it was enough to make him intoxicated. Just as Zechs had wanted. "You want to know something?" he said.
"What, friend?"
"Would you believe me if I said I was the Mole?"
"Not with that hair." He giggled drunkenly.
"Seriously."
"I suppose."
"Okay, that's fine." Zechs took his bottle and started away. "Just believe, Quatre."
"Hey, wait up there. I want you to fill up my glass. Zechs? Aren't you going to? Zechs? Zechs? C'mon, coalition member person, I want some more..."
//the next day. Cooper has all of the players lined up in the parking lot, in front of two sedans. Neither is the one Duo mangled the day before.//
"Again, I would like you guys to break up into two groups. The dark green sedan will take you to a mental challenge, and the red one will take you to a physical challenge. Details will be available when you arrive, and I will go with the physical group. You have fifteen seconds, starting now."
//Relena, Traize, Zechs, Quatre, and Heero elect to go to the mental game. Sally, Noin, Trowa, Duo, and, much to her dismay, Hilde go to the physical challenge. The shot goes first to the mental challenge players, where they have pulled to a hotel in town. Tenchi from his series of shows comes out to greet the players.//
"Hello, you guys," he said. "Welcome to the Super Breakout game. This is a game normally played by three players, but it has been expanded to five. In a minute, all five of you will be blindfolded and lead to rooms here in the hotel. You will be locked into your rooms, and all five of you will have to escape within thirty minutes. Success earns $40,000. Even if one of you is still in your room at that time means you earn nothing. In a minute, you will be blindfolded and lead to your room, where a buzzer will tell you to begin."
//shot on the other side of town, where the other five players are with Cooper.//
"This game is called the Triathlon. Before we begin, I want one of you who you feel is less physical than the others."
They quickly elect Hilde, and off she goes with Cooper. A short distance away, Cooper explains the rules: "You will have to select who will win, who will be in second, who'll be in third and the loser. Upon the winner, you will bet $12,000, on the runner up $8,000 and on third place $5,000. On each one you get right, you earn the money for the pot. You have five minutes to pick your order."
He returned to the rest of the group, and explained the rules. He added, at the end, "You won't be told the order, you'll have to guess how you do. The events are a hundred-yard swim, a three-mile cycle leg and a mile run. You'll begin in five or six minutes."
//back at the hotel.//
In Room 213, Zechs had nothing except for a light bulb. There was no bulb in the chandelier above, and the room had blackout curtains covering window painted black. A key was taped to the wall.
In Room 214, Traize only had a carrot and an exercise bicycle.
In Room 215, Relena had just some sheet music, for "Mary Had a Little Lamb." In one corner, a cell phone was tucked under the carpet, accessible but not obvious.
In Room 216, Heero was in complete darkness like Zechs, al a blackout curtain, but a key was taped to the ceiling. A pole with a hook was also in the room.
In Room 217, Quatre had a xylophone.
A buzz was sounded, and the five players removed their blindfolds. All of them looked around in the room, thinking that there might be more, but all discovered that their sparse supplies were all they were going to get. A few minutes in, Traize discovered that his bike was powering one other room. With his pedaling, Heero's light bulb was powered. He found the key on the ceiling and peeled the key off of the ceiling, freeing him. He barged out into the hallway, almost running over Tenchi.
"Gahhhh..." Tenchi spun but stayed on his feet. "Look out there."
"Uh, sorry."
"Anyway, now that you're free, you get a clue as to how to free the next person. This is your clue: 'The musician's music is a powerful thing.' Got it?"
"Yes, in fact I do." Heero banged on rooms 213 and 214 at the same time. "Either of you got any music?"
"No."
"I have no bloody idea! It's pitch black in here!"
"Well, look."
A few seconds later, Heero heard a crunching sound. "Ow! I cut myself on some glass!"
"Never mind," aid Heero. "I'll ask the others." He went to Relena's room and knocked.. "Hey, you have any music in there?" No response. "Hello?" He knocked louder. "'Lena? You in there?"
He felt something brush his feet and looked down. It was the sheet music. "Oh." The Perfect Soldier looked at the music for a second, then knew what he had to do.
"Marrrrry had a little lamb/ its fleece was white as snoooowww..."
//on the other side of town, Trowa, Sally, Noin and Duo are lined up at the edge of a stream. On the other side was Cooper and Hilde; the host had an airhorn.//
"Ready, set, go!" The race was on. Sally, not a good swimmer, quickly fell behind. Duo, having plenty of swimming experience from CHROMUS's first Survivor fic, sped ahead. Trowa and Noin settled into a virtual tie for second. A caption on the bottom of the viewers' screens show Hilde's picked order: Trowa, Duo, Sally, and then Noin.
Duo makes it to the other shore in one minute, forty-five seconds, and hops onto one of four waiting bicycles. Trowa and Sally are both in at 1:57, and go for the same bike. Trowa backs off, and loses a few seconds, but is close behind in third. Noin makes it ashore as Trowa pulls out of view, in 2:26. She grabs the last bike and pedals furiously to keep up.
//interview with Noin.//
"I never knew how good the other three were at swimming. Or possibly how bad I was at it. I didn't expect to be in last place, but Duo made such a wake in crossing that he almost sank all of us."
//about a mile down the road, the cycle course straightens out. Duo is still in the lead, and behind him by a couple of hundred yards, there are the rest of the competitors in a group. The scene switches to the back group, showing Noin blowing by the other two.//
"Don't hurt yourself, Lucretzia." Sally looked up to see the group of two he was in turn to three, then two again as Noin passed.
"Sally," said Noin, panting, "I'd like to say this in the nicest way possible: Go to hell." She sped off.
"Interesting," said Trowa. He faced Sally. "Which one of us do you think Hilde picked to finish ahead of the other?"
"No idea. Could go either way, But can't talk. Gotta save breath."
"Right."
//interview with Relena.//
"Okay. Heero's right outside of my room and I give him the music. Then all of a sudden he bursts into song. And Heero does not have a good sounding voice."
Heero finished "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on a crashing chord, one any metal band would have been proud of. He looked at Tenchi. "Well?"
"Well?"
"Um okay..." Heero recounted the clue in his head. "Huh." He walked over to Quatre's room. "Here." He slid the music underneath the door. "Sing."
"Don't have to," was the response. In a few seconds, xylophone music poured out. Quatre went through the music, and said, "Now that was much better sounding than the singing."
"Shut up." Heero looked around again for any indication that this would free one of the trapped players, but nothing was seen...at first. Heero then felt someone tug at his pants. Looking down, he saw a little French girl of seven , with the key. She handed it to him.
"Merci." He tried the key in Quatre's door, but it wouldn't quite fit. He crunched his face, but then went down the line, to Relena, then Zechs, and then Traize.
In Traize's lock the key fit. "Ah." The door opened, and the second player was released. "There."
"Second clue," said Tenchi. "The room of the computer queen has the power to release someone." He looked at his watch. "Six minutes have passed, you have twenty-four left."
//back to the triathlon.//
Duo pulls into the second checkpoint after a total of 15:12. He put on running shoes and started off on his mile. Noin had maintained her lead over the other two for the rest of the cycling leg and made it to the start of the run in 16:05. Sally made it to the finish line after 16:48 and Trowa was only two seconds behind.
This day was far cooler than the day before, and Cooper and Hilde, in a car passing the contestants at the beginning of the run, are both wearing jackets. However, with the cool air and the cold water for the swim, the players are still sweating freely.
//interviews.//
Duo: "I went maybe half of the mile without looking back. I didn't want to know how close the other were. But halfway there, on another long straight-away, I looked back and realized that I almost had it in the bag."
Lucretzia: "I had started off the run in second, and I had started to catch up with Duo, until I realized that I had been pushing myself too hard for too long. My body had been shocked by the cold water followed by the bike ride and my legs just started to quit."
Sally: "Because he's taller, I let Trowa pass me and I stuck right behind him, to take advantage of the wind shear he created. Maybe a third of the way there, we had caught all the way back up with Noin and she got behind me. But then, maybe three or four hundred yards from the finish, she just started to drop way behind. I looked back and she looked terrible."
//Duo crosses the line in 21:51 as the winner. Behind, Sally and Trowa cross as a group, with Trowa in at 23:05 and Sally just three seconds behind. Walking up to the finish line was Lucretzia, in 24:42.//
Cooper greeted each of the racers as Lucretzia crossed the line. "Well, that was a good race everyone, I think you all did quite well. The order of finish was Duo, followed by Trowa, then Sally, and then Lucretzia. Hilde's order was..." After a short, pregnant pause, "Trowa, Duo, Sally, and Lucretzia. First and second place were wrong, but third was correct, for a total of five thousand dollars."
//interviews//
Hilde: "I only got two of the four wrong, but the last two were the ones that I got right. Five thousand out of a possible $25,000 was not what I had expected."
Sally: "Why did she put Trowa into first place? It seems a little bit unlikely to me. I almost beat him, and he was a full minute or two behind Duo."
//back to Super Breakout. Fourteen minutes have elapsed out of thirty. Interview with Traize.//
"The clue was this hazy mishmash in my mind. I didn't get it at all. Digital queen, or computer queen...I knew it had to deal with Relena, but how? And where did her hotel room number get into it?" //scene of Traize scratching the back of his head and Heero pacing.// "Then, all of a sudden, it hit me."
Traize pulled out his keys and faced a blank wall, facing away from the rooms where three were still trapped. He got the key that had freed him from his room and made a tiny scratch in the wall. Beneath the yellow paint, there laid a coat of deep green. "Perfect." He began to scratch a series of numbers into the wall:
128-64-32-16-8-4-2-1
Taking a second look at Relena's hotel number, he ended up with:
128-64-32-16-8-4-2-1
001-01-00-01-0-1-1-1=215 (It's hard to show this all on Microsoft Word, so I had to add in the extra zeroes in some places-Daniel)
Heero stopped to take a look at Traize was doing. He looked at the wall for a few seconds, and then said, "I know exactly what you are doing and nothing you are doing."
"Doesn't matter." Traize combined the ones and zeroes in the bottom row, and put in the dashes.
1-101-0111. A perfectly reasonable phone number. "Relena!" Traize hollered. "Relena! Look for a phone in your room!" He went to Zechs's room, echoed his statement to him ("How? I can't see a thing!") and to Quatre. Running back, he kicked the phone slid under the door by Relena to Heero.
Heero began dialing. "Mighty clever." He listened for several ring, then hung up. "Unfortunately they are not home."
"Somebody call?" From behind Heero, a waiter with the third key on a silver platter had gone up to the players.
"Third clue," said Tenchi, after they had freed Relena. "Respect the masked man."
"How?" asked Zechs, after the obvious part. "How can I help you? It's dark in here and I think I cut myself. A light would be helpful."
"I'm there." Heero streaked down the stairs. Relena, meanwhile, took his space in front of the door.
"Brother, feel along the walls. The floor and ceiling, after that. See if there's any strange lumps anywhere. There's a lot of hidden items in the rooms."
Heero went out the front lobby and into an alley, adjacent to the rooms. After picking out what he thought was Zechs's room, Heero picked up a large rock and threw it into the appropriate window. It cracked noisily, and with one more rock, the window was completely broken.
Heero was about to run back u, until he heard Zechs, two stories up. "Can you catch?" In his hand was the fourth key.
//23 minutes elapsed, seven remaining.//
Quatre received the final clue: "Around and around the players may go; the Mole can control all. And the Mole is hungry"
Heero smiled. At least, he gave the equivalent for him. "I know exactly what he's talking about." He looked around. "Who had food in their room?"
"I did." Traize went back into his room and retrieved his carrot. "Where do I go for this?"
"Down the stairs, out the door, and down the street right in front of the hotel half a block to the right. To the roundabout."
"Got it." Outside Traize began to jog. He didn't want to get the key and return too late. It wasn't apparent at first, but as he approached the roundabout, he saw the white SUV with the Mole logo on the side.
He jogged up to the window. Inside, Ayeka was petting Ryo-okayi. "Have you the carrot?"
"Yes."
The final trade went down: one carrot for one key. Traize bolted for the hotel.
"Congratulations, players." It was the next day at dusk, after dinner. Cooper was semi-formally dressed, and the players were also in sort of dress-casual wear. "You completely accomplished the Super Breakout Game, and even though you didn't completely win the Triathlon, an additional $5,000 out of $20,000 was won in the game. A total of $45,000 was won in this round, for a grand total thus far of $194,000."
//interviews//
Heero: "Traize's idea was so smart, and worked on the first time so well, he has flown up the list of suspects for me. The average person couldn't have figured that out with all of the time in the world. It would have taken *me* a while, too."
Zechs: "That was good teamwork there in the game. As Traize and Heero were trying to free Quatre, Relena was down stairs throwing rock at the window and giving me light. We had to work together to win that mission and we did, so I'm starting to doubt the Mole was even in that game."
Relena: "About the same time as the Diary game, my teddy bear disappeared. It just vanished into thin air." //shot of Trowa stealing the bear.// "It might jut be lost, or the Mole may be holding it for a ransom. I've torn up my room in trying to find out who took it."
"Tonight," continues Cooper, "you will have your final game before the fourth execution. As a couple of you know, two days ago Relena's beloved teddy bear was taken from her room by an operative working for an exemption on tomorrow's quiz. That agent was Trowa. Within the town, we have hidden Heeko the bear. For this game, you will split into two unequal groups: Relena, and the rest of you. And because she has a rather unfair disadvantage, she I getting dressed in a sweat suit. You all must stay in the clothes you have on now. Here, there are eight cycling legs; and a final leg. At the end of each leg you will get directions to the next, and in the final five leg, the location of the finish line will be further refined, until the exact intersection can be found. You each have maps where the original names of the streets are replaced by numbers. You will start in a few minutes; pick who's doing what. If the team wins, $20,000 is added into the pot, otherwise, Relena wins an exemption."
//in a few minutes, Sally lines up on her bike with Relena. A signal is sounded, and they are off. Personal interviews, with scenes of the chase shown.//
Relena: "Instead of the direction left or right, there were compass directions. The first leg of mine was north, east, north, east. No shortcuts allowed. I had a little bit of an edge because my legs at the end were shorter-the other team had fresh people at each-and I didn't have to be all dressed up."
//because of the length of this chapter, the race will only be quickly recapped here:
//In the first leg, Sally was restricted badly by her formal ware, and Relena was able to take a half-block lead. Quatre, seemingly, was reluctant to get sweaty in good clothes, and so was Hilde, the third rider. Relena's lead increased to two blocks, as each leg grew to five blocks in length.
//Trowa closed much of the gap in the fourth leg, and Relena only had about a block's lead heading into the fifth leg. Also, by completing the fourth leg, Relena knew, within a half-mile, where her finish line was. In the fifth leg, both she and Hilde took an accidental wrong turn, but not for long. Relena' lead stayed stable, even though she was growing very tired. The location was honed to within a quarter-mile.
//In the sixth leg, Traize turned Relena's lead into a two-block deficit, with a great time. However, starting with the seventh leg, the team's legs were seven blocks as Relena's stayed five. At the completion of her sixth leg, Relena had the quarter-mile cut in half. With the shorter legs, Relena was able to halve the lead the team had in the seventh, with Lucretzia cycling, and in the eighth, she stayed in it, still just a block back even after Heero's leg. Those two legs gave her the exact street and avenue of the intersection, and he peeled off, as well as she could, after it. Duo, the last cyclist of the group, did the same, but he mistook Street 14 with Street 13, and went to the wrong intersection and stayed there, thinking he had won. Relena pedaled to the correct intersection and won an exemption from execution. Not long after, Duo a mobbed by his team and was thrown into a pond.
//interviews.//
Relena: "Near the end there, I was all dizzy and on the verge of passing out...I was positive that I had lost, but I pedaled on to the finish line just to make sure. Then I find out about Duo. What a wonderful, nutty guy."
Hilde //VO over a shot Duo taking his post-race swim//: "How could he not get to the right spot? It was insane! Before now, I didn't have any suspicion of him, but now I'm going to look at him closer."
Quatre: "I noticed, at the end of my leg, that when Relena looked at her direction to the next stage, she hardly did so. She glanced at it so quickly that I think she might have had foreknowledge to where she had to go.//
//the following night, at the execution dinner. Unlike the other three up until then, no one is talking. A couple are making simple comments quietly, but nothing like the banter the previous few rounds.//
Hilde: "The first three of the dinners weren't so bad, but now everyone is starting to mesh together now. Cathy was fanatical and Dorothy and Wufei didn't get along so great, but now it's getting much harder to get rid of one of our own. There are no more outsiders."
//the group finishes and proceeds to the quiz, in a twilight-lit vineyard. Sally is on, "How many rounds of passing were there in the Diary Game?"//
Sally: "There was no shortage of sabotage or maybe-sabotage in this round, but you can't just look at that. You have to look at the games themselves and remember everything within."
//Zechs is on, "How many picks were correct in the Triathlon?"//
Zechs: "I was nowhere near the game, but you have to know everything. Having an alliance in this point in the game is so crucial so all bases are covered."
//Quatre is on, "Who is the Mole?"
Quatre: "Zechs claimed to be the Mole, but Hilde, Relena and Duo were so suspicious in the round, too. It's a crapshoot at this point in guessing who's the Mole."
//the execution. Anderson is in front of the players in the typical arrangement, with the execution computer.//
"Well," said Cooper, "All of you have survived the opening three rounds of the game, gaining $194,000 for the pot. However, one more of you must leave the game immediately, and become the game's fourth victim. We shall start with Trowa."
Cooper typed in the pilot's name into the computer and enters it in. After an eternal moment, it flashes green. Trowa gives an uncharacteristically big gasp of relief.
"Quatre." Cooper entered the name as Quatre clung to Trowa, petrified at what the result may be. It seems almost prophetic, as the screen flashed red, and Quatre became the Mole's fourth victim.
Quatre gasped, frozen. After a couple of seconds, he mournfully got up and picked up his bag. He hugged Trowa and Relena and made his way to the waiting limo, with Cooper.
"It's getting harder," Cooper simply remarked. Quatre went into the limo, and was ushered away.
//interviews.//
Trowa: "Quatre...what a friend. I cannot say anything more than that. He played well and hit bad luck far too early.//
Zechs: "When I told him I was the Mole, I knew that he could be eliminated, but...whoa. I didn't think that the result would be so...big. I knew and didn't knew."
//Quatre rides back to the hotel under the umbrella of stars.//
Now, you can play along. Take the players' ten question quiz:
Did the Mole get their diary back in the Diary Game?
How many rounds of passing were there in the Diary Game?
After the Diary Game, was the Mole in the first group to go sight-seeing? (See above for who went when.)
In what order did the Mole leave his/her room in the Super Breakout game?
At the beginning of the Super Breakout game, was the Mole in darkness?
What order did the Mole finish in the Triathlon?
How many picks in the Triathlon were correct?
In which order did the Mole go in for the Save Heeko game?
Did the Mole take a wrong turn during the Save Heeko game?
Who is the Mole?
Ah, the fourth round ends. If you have fallen in love with this story, I strongly urge you to read the fanfics of CHROMUS, Survivor Globie, and arpulver for more reality show action. Also, I will soon be beginning a fic on Big Brother, which has just ended here in the United States. Be sure to check that out, and my other fine fics.
Daniel Ocean
WARNING: I own NOTHING in this chapter. Well, okay, I own the teddy-bear game, but nothing else but that.
//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?
//ten pictures, one of each remaining contestant, pops up on the screen//
Heero, 19, Army soldier, Sapporo, Japan
Hilde, 18, Auto dealer, Munich, Germany
Trowa, 19, Circus performer, St. Petersburg, FL
Lucretzia, 24, Test driver, Tucson, AZ
Zechs, 25, Air Force Lieutenant, Pueblo, CO
Sally, 22, Police officer, Preventers colony
Quatre, 19, Musician/Art dealer, Alexandria, Egypt
Duo, 19, Junk yard owner, L2 colony
Relena, 20, Doctor, Birmingham, England
Traize, 26, Appraiser, New York City, NY
//it cuts to a map of Europe, which eventually zoomed in to their Day Nine location: near Tours, France. The Mole hunters are eating a nutritious breakfast at a large roundtable, with pancakes, eggs, fruit, bagels, e cetera-good stuff like that. I like to make sure that my characters are well fed.//
"This is pretty pleasant," said Relena. She sighed contentedly. It was October, but it was fairly mild. The trees all had their leaves, which were starting to yellow, and the birds were still singing. She took a pitcher of maple syrup and poured a liberal amount not only on her pancakes, but onto her toast as well. "Oops."
"Relena, don't tempt the fates," said Sally.
"Nothing can ruin this."
Anderson Cooper walked in from behind a column. Duo screamed. "Relena! Look at what you've done!"
"Hello folks," said the host. "It's very nice to see you are all expecting me and happy to see me."
"We have a game right now?" For the first time in the trip Trowa had spoken with some emotion. "Wait. I'm only halfway through breakfast."
"Don't worry, you have ten minutes before the mission and you get to do it right here at the table. Just make sure that you have your journal with you when I get back. The Mole' sabotages are starting to add up now; there is no time to spare." Anderson reached over and took a sliced bagel. "See you then."
Cooper walked away. There was silence for a few seconds, ended by Relena taking the pitcher of syrup and pouring it directly into her mouth. She drank for a few seconds, then put it down and went face-first into her plate, with an audible splat.
"Sad," said Quatre.
Relena got her head up, a piece of toast stuck to her forehead. "Nine days. An execution or a game every single day. We need a rest."
Hilde patted her on the soldier. "I'm sure we'll get the rest of the way off. Now go flutter off to the restroom and clean up and get ready for the journal game." She watched her start off. "Don't forget that piece of toast."
//ten minutes later//
"Very good, all of you are ready to go. This is called, aptly, the Journal Game, and the rules are so simple that I want you guys to do a few things for me before we get started.
"First, get into alphabetical order."
They all did without any incident. "Now, I want you to open up the journal and make sure that you have not placed your name within." This took only a second. "Now, pass your journals three spaces to the left."
//passing to left means passing the journal up the alphabet, so Duo's journal was passed via Heero and Hilde to Lucretzia. The scene switches to a bird's eye view, with the journal owner's name over the new possessors.// "Switch with the person directly across from you."
Relena was a little small to get it cleanly to Duo, but no major hitches. "Now I want Duo and Lucretzia to switch. Then Lucretzia and Sally, and Relena and Hilde."
//all of the alliances switch. The birds-eye view shows the confusion from above.//
"Now I want the Gundam pilots who together total five to switch."
"Uh..." After a second, Duo and Trowa switched, as did Heero and Quatre.
"Pass the journals two more positions to the left." //shown from the bird's eye shot// "Now I want every left handed player to switch with the player to their left."
Hilde gasped in exasperation. Trowa, a southpaw, switched with Zechs, as did Relena giving to Sally.
"The two wealthiest players, switch." It was convenient, Relena and Quatre were right next to each other.
"Now, if the lefties will switch. Good. Now, the last move, move your journals another two spaces to the left." //Duo's journal now is in the hands of Quatre, Heero's was with Lucretzia, Hilde's was with Heero, Lucretzia's was with Sally, Quatre's was with Zechs, Relena's was with Hilde, Sally's was with Relena, Traize's was with Duo, Trowa still had his own journal, and Zechs's was with Traize. If you thought it was tedious reading that, think of me trying to figure it all out.//
"All right. Read as much of the journal that you want, and I'll be back in a minute."
The host again walked out. "That's all?" asked Hilde. "He's abandoning us again?"
There was no response. Everyone was reading, figuring out what someone else had said about them. "Hey!" said Duo. "Who said that I was annoying?"
Cooper returned. "All right. Before we begin, Trowa, name a teammate of yours."
"Relena."
"All of you will be trying to tell me whose journal you have. Each correct answer is worth five thousand dollars. However, after all of that switching, Trowa would up getting his journal again. Relena, therefore, will be playing for not only her share, but also Trowa's.
"Duo, why don't you start."
He flipped open the journal and read, at the top of the first line, "'Good journal...' Hmm. I would say that this was once the journal of...Relena."
"That...is not the correct answer. Next is you, Heero."
He flipped though the sparse notes and read, 'Relena is a fine person. An okay ally, if I never really faced her. But she could really very well be the Mole. Let me count the ways...' I'd say this sounds like Duo. Short too."
"That is also not the correct answer. Now you, Hilde."
She flipped in to find the top line of one entry, "Dear Dorothy..." The next: "Dear Cathy..." The third: Wufei.
"Huh." Hilde flipped a little bit more in. "I would say that this is from Relena."
"That...is the correct answer. Lucretzia."
"'The mission is to find the Mole and neutralize,'" she read aloud. "Sounds like everyone's favorite perfect soldier, Heero."
"That is also the correct answer. Now, Quatre."
He glanced inside. "'Dorothy, then Cathy, and then Wufei. Interesting choices for the Mole. Or maybe the Mole isn't that great of one. Cathy's the only player that could have been okay.' It could be anyone. Uh, Sally, I'll say."
"That is not the correct answer. Okay, now it is Relena's turn. This is for ten grand."
She read out loud, "'The Mole is creative. Behind people's cheesy sabotages, he or she really has put up brilliant plans that just don't get noticed all that much. The girl's coalition should help out, but maybe I can fly solo. Who knows? Not I-yet.'"
She closed it loudly. "I'd say it's Lucretzia's."
"That...is not the correct answer. Sally, now you."
"This was a giveaway," she said. She opened up to a dog-eared page. "'My coalition with Sally'...nothing else matters. This is Lucretzia's journal."
"That is the correct answer. Traize."
"Mine was blank except for each page, there was notes for one player. Looked like something from Trowa."
"That...is not the correct answer. Finish us off, Zechs."
He opened his and read aloud, "'It was so tough to see Miss Cathy go, her enthusiasm was so great...it'll drag all of us down...'" He closed it again. "Relena's been found, so it must be Quatre's."
"That is correct. You guys got four out of ten shares, for $20,000. Now you have the rest of the day off. Also, the journals you have right now are the ones that you will have for the rest of the trip. Trowa, you retain yours. The rest of you may right your name into your new journals, if you wish. Have a nice day."
//interviews//
Sally: "I wrote copious notes. I wrote enough for a novel already! And now Anderson is telling us that we lose it all for a little game and twenty grand...well, all right, the money is nice. But I'd have a better chance with my old journal."
Relena: "Sally's journal was nice. Very thorough. Maybe this could get me a couple of rounds farther in the game otherwise."
//shot of the players out on sightseeing in Tours. The players are wondering aimlessly about town, in shifts of five apiece. The shift-system makes the players suspicious, and for one of them, the suspicions are confirmed.//
//Anderson is shown knocking on a hotel room door.//
"Room service."
"Right." Trowa walked out, pointy hair first. "I'm not doing a mission."
"It is very simple, not physically rigorous and will be done in five minutes-for an exemption."
Trowa was silent, as usual. Cooper just went on. "You will have to sneak into Relena's room, take her teddy bear, Heeko, and bring it back to me. You may use someone to assist you. If you are caught, you do not get the exemption even if you get the bear to me. You have one hour starting now."
Trowa went back into the room, to consider.
//interview with Trowa.//
"Relena was in my shift and was at the hotel when I was. It would be tricky."
//shot of Trowa walking down the hall, passing Zechs, and asking, "What's your sister's room?" After getting the answer, he heads off, arriving at the room Zechs told him. (The room number doesn't matter.) Trowa knocks on the door.//
Trowa looked over his shoulder. He wasn't nervous-his years as a Gundam pilot had eliminated that emotion-but he didn't want to be asked why he was carrying a teddy bear.
Especially by Duo.
He waited a few seconds. After being satisfied that no one was in the room, he turned the handle and opened the door. It opened a couple of inches, and then there was a loud bonk. "Ow! That hurt!" Relena opened the door the rest of the way, rubbing her forehead.
"Oh, uh, hi there."
"Hi, Trowa." She looked up. "What are you doing here?"
"Uh...I was just asking if I could see your itinerary for the trip. I lost mine and I can't remember when the next execution is."
"Oh." Relena went back into her room and stayed there for a moment. She came back out with a piece of paper. "You know they don't tell us when there are missions, but here are the times and days of all of the executions."
"Thank you." Trowa went off. It was going to be harder than he thought. He was going to need an assistant. He passed one of his fellow Gundam pilots. "Hey, Duo, I need your help with something. For a little bit of cash for the pot."
"Sure. What do you want me to do?"
Relena was relaxing, for once. The previous week had been a little stressful, with the game going on. Also, losing her journal was a loss, but a small one-she got an upgrade in the manner of Sally's journal.
Right by her window, a car sputtered and growled, then began to cough.
She pushed open the curtains and lifted the window, to see a sedan by her window, with the hood up. "Hey, sorry about that." Duo peeped up. "I'm just trying to see the problem. Sounds a little dead, I think it needs a new spark plug."
"RIGHT OUTSIDE MY WINDOW?"
"Anywhere else that's better?" Duo palmed another spark plug with his rubber gloved hand, making the engine louder and more sputtery. (WARNING: Handling spark plugs from a running motor is dangerous. Don't even think about trying this at home.)
"How about the parking lot?"
"What?"
"HOW ABOUT THE PARKING LOT?"
"WHAT?"
Trowa was but a few feet behind Relena in her room, rummaging through her stuff. Under her backpack he found a small brown teddy bear-the one that Heero gave her at the end of Episode 49. (Remember?) He grabbed it and dashed out, to avoid detection and avoid Duo shouting "WHAT? WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU RELENA! WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?"
After Trowa had asked Zechs for instructions, the Lightning Baron had an idea of his own. He made his way to a random room and knocked on the door. He thought the best of it, said, "Never mind," and went to his room for something.
He came back to the same room and knocked on the door. After Quatre had opened the door, Zechs held up his bottle of wine and said, "We need to protect ourselves from coalitions. The drinking age here is low, we just need a couple of glasses..." a loud engine flared up, and both could hear someone screaming. After grimacing, "C'mon, why not a coalition?"
Quatre obliged.
Why wouldn't he? //a caption on the screen, "Coalition 4, Quatre and Zechs"//
In a couple of hours, Quatre had four glasses if wine. For the slim pilot, it was enough to make him intoxicated. Just as Zechs had wanted. "You want to know something?" he said.
"What, friend?"
"Would you believe me if I said I was the Mole?"
"Not with that hair." He giggled drunkenly.
"Seriously."
"I suppose."
"Okay, that's fine." Zechs took his bottle and started away. "Just believe, Quatre."
"Hey, wait up there. I want you to fill up my glass. Zechs? Aren't you going to? Zechs? Zechs? C'mon, coalition member person, I want some more..."
//the next day. Cooper has all of the players lined up in the parking lot, in front of two sedans. Neither is the one Duo mangled the day before.//
"Again, I would like you guys to break up into two groups. The dark green sedan will take you to a mental challenge, and the red one will take you to a physical challenge. Details will be available when you arrive, and I will go with the physical group. You have fifteen seconds, starting now."
//Relena, Traize, Zechs, Quatre, and Heero elect to go to the mental game. Sally, Noin, Trowa, Duo, and, much to her dismay, Hilde go to the physical challenge. The shot goes first to the mental challenge players, where they have pulled to a hotel in town. Tenchi from his series of shows comes out to greet the players.//
"Hello, you guys," he said. "Welcome to the Super Breakout game. This is a game normally played by three players, but it has been expanded to five. In a minute, all five of you will be blindfolded and lead to rooms here in the hotel. You will be locked into your rooms, and all five of you will have to escape within thirty minutes. Success earns $40,000. Even if one of you is still in your room at that time means you earn nothing. In a minute, you will be blindfolded and lead to your room, where a buzzer will tell you to begin."
//shot on the other side of town, where the other five players are with Cooper.//
"This game is called the Triathlon. Before we begin, I want one of you who you feel is less physical than the others."
They quickly elect Hilde, and off she goes with Cooper. A short distance away, Cooper explains the rules: "You will have to select who will win, who will be in second, who'll be in third and the loser. Upon the winner, you will bet $12,000, on the runner up $8,000 and on third place $5,000. On each one you get right, you earn the money for the pot. You have five minutes to pick your order."
He returned to the rest of the group, and explained the rules. He added, at the end, "You won't be told the order, you'll have to guess how you do. The events are a hundred-yard swim, a three-mile cycle leg and a mile run. You'll begin in five or six minutes."
//back at the hotel.//
In Room 213, Zechs had nothing except for a light bulb. There was no bulb in the chandelier above, and the room had blackout curtains covering window painted black. A key was taped to the wall.
In Room 214, Traize only had a carrot and an exercise bicycle.
In Room 215, Relena had just some sheet music, for "Mary Had a Little Lamb." In one corner, a cell phone was tucked under the carpet, accessible but not obvious.
In Room 216, Heero was in complete darkness like Zechs, al a blackout curtain, but a key was taped to the ceiling. A pole with a hook was also in the room.
In Room 217, Quatre had a xylophone.
A buzz was sounded, and the five players removed their blindfolds. All of them looked around in the room, thinking that there might be more, but all discovered that their sparse supplies were all they were going to get. A few minutes in, Traize discovered that his bike was powering one other room. With his pedaling, Heero's light bulb was powered. He found the key on the ceiling and peeled the key off of the ceiling, freeing him. He barged out into the hallway, almost running over Tenchi.
"Gahhhh..." Tenchi spun but stayed on his feet. "Look out there."
"Uh, sorry."
"Anyway, now that you're free, you get a clue as to how to free the next person. This is your clue: 'The musician's music is a powerful thing.' Got it?"
"Yes, in fact I do." Heero banged on rooms 213 and 214 at the same time. "Either of you got any music?"
"No."
"I have no bloody idea! It's pitch black in here!"
"Well, look."
A few seconds later, Heero heard a crunching sound. "Ow! I cut myself on some glass!"
"Never mind," aid Heero. "I'll ask the others." He went to Relena's room and knocked.. "Hey, you have any music in there?" No response. "Hello?" He knocked louder. "'Lena? You in there?"
He felt something brush his feet and looked down. It was the sheet music. "Oh." The Perfect Soldier looked at the music for a second, then knew what he had to do.
"Marrrrry had a little lamb/ its fleece was white as snoooowww..."
//on the other side of town, Trowa, Sally, Noin and Duo are lined up at the edge of a stream. On the other side was Cooper and Hilde; the host had an airhorn.//
"Ready, set, go!" The race was on. Sally, not a good swimmer, quickly fell behind. Duo, having plenty of swimming experience from CHROMUS's first Survivor fic, sped ahead. Trowa and Noin settled into a virtual tie for second. A caption on the bottom of the viewers' screens show Hilde's picked order: Trowa, Duo, Sally, and then Noin.
Duo makes it to the other shore in one minute, forty-five seconds, and hops onto one of four waiting bicycles. Trowa and Sally are both in at 1:57, and go for the same bike. Trowa backs off, and loses a few seconds, but is close behind in third. Noin makes it ashore as Trowa pulls out of view, in 2:26. She grabs the last bike and pedals furiously to keep up.
//interview with Noin.//
"I never knew how good the other three were at swimming. Or possibly how bad I was at it. I didn't expect to be in last place, but Duo made such a wake in crossing that he almost sank all of us."
//about a mile down the road, the cycle course straightens out. Duo is still in the lead, and behind him by a couple of hundred yards, there are the rest of the competitors in a group. The scene switches to the back group, showing Noin blowing by the other two.//
"Don't hurt yourself, Lucretzia." Sally looked up to see the group of two he was in turn to three, then two again as Noin passed.
"Sally," said Noin, panting, "I'd like to say this in the nicest way possible: Go to hell." She sped off.
"Interesting," said Trowa. He faced Sally. "Which one of us do you think Hilde picked to finish ahead of the other?"
"No idea. Could go either way, But can't talk. Gotta save breath."
"Right."
//interview with Relena.//
"Okay. Heero's right outside of my room and I give him the music. Then all of a sudden he bursts into song. And Heero does not have a good sounding voice."
Heero finished "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on a crashing chord, one any metal band would have been proud of. He looked at Tenchi. "Well?"
"Well?"
"Um okay..." Heero recounted the clue in his head. "Huh." He walked over to Quatre's room. "Here." He slid the music underneath the door. "Sing."
"Don't have to," was the response. In a few seconds, xylophone music poured out. Quatre went through the music, and said, "Now that was much better sounding than the singing."
"Shut up." Heero looked around again for any indication that this would free one of the trapped players, but nothing was seen...at first. Heero then felt someone tug at his pants. Looking down, he saw a little French girl of seven , with the key. She handed it to him.
"Merci." He tried the key in Quatre's door, but it wouldn't quite fit. He crunched his face, but then went down the line, to Relena, then Zechs, and then Traize.
In Traize's lock the key fit. "Ah." The door opened, and the second player was released. "There."
"Second clue," said Tenchi. "The room of the computer queen has the power to release someone." He looked at his watch. "Six minutes have passed, you have twenty-four left."
//back to the triathlon.//
Duo pulls into the second checkpoint after a total of 15:12. He put on running shoes and started off on his mile. Noin had maintained her lead over the other two for the rest of the cycling leg and made it to the start of the run in 16:05. Sally made it to the finish line after 16:48 and Trowa was only two seconds behind.
This day was far cooler than the day before, and Cooper and Hilde, in a car passing the contestants at the beginning of the run, are both wearing jackets. However, with the cool air and the cold water for the swim, the players are still sweating freely.
//interviews.//
Duo: "I went maybe half of the mile without looking back. I didn't want to know how close the other were. But halfway there, on another long straight-away, I looked back and realized that I almost had it in the bag."
Lucretzia: "I had started off the run in second, and I had started to catch up with Duo, until I realized that I had been pushing myself too hard for too long. My body had been shocked by the cold water followed by the bike ride and my legs just started to quit."
Sally: "Because he's taller, I let Trowa pass me and I stuck right behind him, to take advantage of the wind shear he created. Maybe a third of the way there, we had caught all the way back up with Noin and she got behind me. But then, maybe three or four hundred yards from the finish, she just started to drop way behind. I looked back and she looked terrible."
//Duo crosses the line in 21:51 as the winner. Behind, Sally and Trowa cross as a group, with Trowa in at 23:05 and Sally just three seconds behind. Walking up to the finish line was Lucretzia, in 24:42.//
Cooper greeted each of the racers as Lucretzia crossed the line. "Well, that was a good race everyone, I think you all did quite well. The order of finish was Duo, followed by Trowa, then Sally, and then Lucretzia. Hilde's order was..." After a short, pregnant pause, "Trowa, Duo, Sally, and Lucretzia. First and second place were wrong, but third was correct, for a total of five thousand dollars."
//interviews//
Hilde: "I only got two of the four wrong, but the last two were the ones that I got right. Five thousand out of a possible $25,000 was not what I had expected."
Sally: "Why did she put Trowa into first place? It seems a little bit unlikely to me. I almost beat him, and he was a full minute or two behind Duo."
//back to Super Breakout. Fourteen minutes have elapsed out of thirty. Interview with Traize.//
"The clue was this hazy mishmash in my mind. I didn't get it at all. Digital queen, or computer queen...I knew it had to deal with Relena, but how? And where did her hotel room number get into it?" //scene of Traize scratching the back of his head and Heero pacing.// "Then, all of a sudden, it hit me."
Traize pulled out his keys and faced a blank wall, facing away from the rooms where three were still trapped. He got the key that had freed him from his room and made a tiny scratch in the wall. Beneath the yellow paint, there laid a coat of deep green. "Perfect." He began to scratch a series of numbers into the wall:
128-64-32-16-8-4-2-1
Taking a second look at Relena's hotel number, he ended up with:
128-64-32-16-8-4-2-1
001-01-00-01-0-1-1-1=215 (It's hard to show this all on Microsoft Word, so I had to add in the extra zeroes in some places-Daniel)
Heero stopped to take a look at Traize was doing. He looked at the wall for a few seconds, and then said, "I know exactly what you are doing and nothing you are doing."
"Doesn't matter." Traize combined the ones and zeroes in the bottom row, and put in the dashes.
1-101-0111. A perfectly reasonable phone number. "Relena!" Traize hollered. "Relena! Look for a phone in your room!" He went to Zechs's room, echoed his statement to him ("How? I can't see a thing!") and to Quatre. Running back, he kicked the phone slid under the door by Relena to Heero.
Heero began dialing. "Mighty clever." He listened for several ring, then hung up. "Unfortunately they are not home."
"Somebody call?" From behind Heero, a waiter with the third key on a silver platter had gone up to the players.
"Third clue," said Tenchi, after they had freed Relena. "Respect the masked man."
"How?" asked Zechs, after the obvious part. "How can I help you? It's dark in here and I think I cut myself. A light would be helpful."
"I'm there." Heero streaked down the stairs. Relena, meanwhile, took his space in front of the door.
"Brother, feel along the walls. The floor and ceiling, after that. See if there's any strange lumps anywhere. There's a lot of hidden items in the rooms."
Heero went out the front lobby and into an alley, adjacent to the rooms. After picking out what he thought was Zechs's room, Heero picked up a large rock and threw it into the appropriate window. It cracked noisily, and with one more rock, the window was completely broken.
Heero was about to run back u, until he heard Zechs, two stories up. "Can you catch?" In his hand was the fourth key.
//23 minutes elapsed, seven remaining.//
Quatre received the final clue: "Around and around the players may go; the Mole can control all. And the Mole is hungry"
Heero smiled. At least, he gave the equivalent for him. "I know exactly what he's talking about." He looked around. "Who had food in their room?"
"I did." Traize went back into his room and retrieved his carrot. "Where do I go for this?"
"Down the stairs, out the door, and down the street right in front of the hotel half a block to the right. To the roundabout."
"Got it." Outside Traize began to jog. He didn't want to get the key and return too late. It wasn't apparent at first, but as he approached the roundabout, he saw the white SUV with the Mole logo on the side.
He jogged up to the window. Inside, Ayeka was petting Ryo-okayi. "Have you the carrot?"
"Yes."
The final trade went down: one carrot for one key. Traize bolted for the hotel.
"Congratulations, players." It was the next day at dusk, after dinner. Cooper was semi-formally dressed, and the players were also in sort of dress-casual wear. "You completely accomplished the Super Breakout Game, and even though you didn't completely win the Triathlon, an additional $5,000 out of $20,000 was won in the game. A total of $45,000 was won in this round, for a grand total thus far of $194,000."
//interviews//
Heero: "Traize's idea was so smart, and worked on the first time so well, he has flown up the list of suspects for me. The average person couldn't have figured that out with all of the time in the world. It would have taken *me* a while, too."
Zechs: "That was good teamwork there in the game. As Traize and Heero were trying to free Quatre, Relena was down stairs throwing rock at the window and giving me light. We had to work together to win that mission and we did, so I'm starting to doubt the Mole was even in that game."
Relena: "About the same time as the Diary game, my teddy bear disappeared. It just vanished into thin air." //shot of Trowa stealing the bear.// "It might jut be lost, or the Mole may be holding it for a ransom. I've torn up my room in trying to find out who took it."
"Tonight," continues Cooper, "you will have your final game before the fourth execution. As a couple of you know, two days ago Relena's beloved teddy bear was taken from her room by an operative working for an exemption on tomorrow's quiz. That agent was Trowa. Within the town, we have hidden Heeko the bear. For this game, you will split into two unequal groups: Relena, and the rest of you. And because she has a rather unfair disadvantage, she I getting dressed in a sweat suit. You all must stay in the clothes you have on now. Here, there are eight cycling legs; and a final leg. At the end of each leg you will get directions to the next, and in the final five leg, the location of the finish line will be further refined, until the exact intersection can be found. You each have maps where the original names of the streets are replaced by numbers. You will start in a few minutes; pick who's doing what. If the team wins, $20,000 is added into the pot, otherwise, Relena wins an exemption."
//in a few minutes, Sally lines up on her bike with Relena. A signal is sounded, and they are off. Personal interviews, with scenes of the chase shown.//
Relena: "Instead of the direction left or right, there were compass directions. The first leg of mine was north, east, north, east. No shortcuts allowed. I had a little bit of an edge because my legs at the end were shorter-the other team had fresh people at each-and I didn't have to be all dressed up."
//because of the length of this chapter, the race will only be quickly recapped here:
//In the first leg, Sally was restricted badly by her formal ware, and Relena was able to take a half-block lead. Quatre, seemingly, was reluctant to get sweaty in good clothes, and so was Hilde, the third rider. Relena's lead increased to two blocks, as each leg grew to five blocks in length.
//Trowa closed much of the gap in the fourth leg, and Relena only had about a block's lead heading into the fifth leg. Also, by completing the fourth leg, Relena knew, within a half-mile, where her finish line was. In the fifth leg, both she and Hilde took an accidental wrong turn, but not for long. Relena' lead stayed stable, even though she was growing very tired. The location was honed to within a quarter-mile.
//In the sixth leg, Traize turned Relena's lead into a two-block deficit, with a great time. However, starting with the seventh leg, the team's legs were seven blocks as Relena's stayed five. At the completion of her sixth leg, Relena had the quarter-mile cut in half. With the shorter legs, Relena was able to halve the lead the team had in the seventh, with Lucretzia cycling, and in the eighth, she stayed in it, still just a block back even after Heero's leg. Those two legs gave her the exact street and avenue of the intersection, and he peeled off, as well as she could, after it. Duo, the last cyclist of the group, did the same, but he mistook Street 14 with Street 13, and went to the wrong intersection and stayed there, thinking he had won. Relena pedaled to the correct intersection and won an exemption from execution. Not long after, Duo a mobbed by his team and was thrown into a pond.
//interviews.//
Relena: "Near the end there, I was all dizzy and on the verge of passing out...I was positive that I had lost, but I pedaled on to the finish line just to make sure. Then I find out about Duo. What a wonderful, nutty guy."
Hilde //VO over a shot Duo taking his post-race swim//: "How could he not get to the right spot? It was insane! Before now, I didn't have any suspicion of him, but now I'm going to look at him closer."
Quatre: "I noticed, at the end of my leg, that when Relena looked at her direction to the next stage, she hardly did so. She glanced at it so quickly that I think she might have had foreknowledge to where she had to go.//
//the following night, at the execution dinner. Unlike the other three up until then, no one is talking. A couple are making simple comments quietly, but nothing like the banter the previous few rounds.//
Hilde: "The first three of the dinners weren't so bad, but now everyone is starting to mesh together now. Cathy was fanatical and Dorothy and Wufei didn't get along so great, but now it's getting much harder to get rid of one of our own. There are no more outsiders."
//the group finishes and proceeds to the quiz, in a twilight-lit vineyard. Sally is on, "How many rounds of passing were there in the Diary Game?"//
Sally: "There was no shortage of sabotage or maybe-sabotage in this round, but you can't just look at that. You have to look at the games themselves and remember everything within."
//Zechs is on, "How many picks were correct in the Triathlon?"//
Zechs: "I was nowhere near the game, but you have to know everything. Having an alliance in this point in the game is so crucial so all bases are covered."
//Quatre is on, "Who is the Mole?"
Quatre: "Zechs claimed to be the Mole, but Hilde, Relena and Duo were so suspicious in the round, too. It's a crapshoot at this point in guessing who's the Mole."
//the execution. Anderson is in front of the players in the typical arrangement, with the execution computer.//
"Well," said Cooper, "All of you have survived the opening three rounds of the game, gaining $194,000 for the pot. However, one more of you must leave the game immediately, and become the game's fourth victim. We shall start with Trowa."
Cooper typed in the pilot's name into the computer and enters it in. After an eternal moment, it flashes green. Trowa gives an uncharacteristically big gasp of relief.
"Quatre." Cooper entered the name as Quatre clung to Trowa, petrified at what the result may be. It seems almost prophetic, as the screen flashed red, and Quatre became the Mole's fourth victim.
Quatre gasped, frozen. After a couple of seconds, he mournfully got up and picked up his bag. He hugged Trowa and Relena and made his way to the waiting limo, with Cooper.
"It's getting harder," Cooper simply remarked. Quatre went into the limo, and was ushered away.
//interviews.//
Trowa: "Quatre...what a friend. I cannot say anything more than that. He played well and hit bad luck far too early.//
Zechs: "When I told him I was the Mole, I knew that he could be eliminated, but...whoa. I didn't think that the result would be so...big. I knew and didn't knew."
//Quatre rides back to the hotel under the umbrella of stars.//
Now, you can play along. Take the players' ten question quiz:
Did the Mole get their diary back in the Diary Game?
How many rounds of passing were there in the Diary Game?
After the Diary Game, was the Mole in the first group to go sight-seeing? (See above for who went when.)
In what order did the Mole leave his/her room in the Super Breakout game?
At the beginning of the Super Breakout game, was the Mole in darkness?
What order did the Mole finish in the Triathlon?
How many picks in the Triathlon were correct?
In which order did the Mole go in for the Save Heeko game?
Did the Mole take a wrong turn during the Save Heeko game?
Who is the Mole?
Ah, the fourth round ends. If you have fallen in love with this story, I strongly urge you to read the fanfics of CHROMUS, Survivor Globie, and arpulver for more reality show action. Also, I will soon be beginning a fic on Big Brother, which has just ended here in the United States. Be sure to check that out, and my other fine fics.