The End of a Mystery
Chapter Seven
We're really cookin' now, aren't we? It is time for the great escape.
You know I don't own anything, which includes Gundam Wing. Enough said.
Chapter Seven--------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------
Wufei glared at the empty space in the hangar as he repaired a ding in Nataku. Two Gundams missing. It was appalling. Zechs-Milliardo-whatever his name was, was going to blow up the earth (he had no idea why he hadn't yet, no one was even attempting to stop him) and one by one the Gundam Pilots, the ones that were supposed to be protecting THE WHOLE UNIVERSE ran off to Treize to get themselves locked up. It was absolutely shameful! Hadn't Maxwell been there when he'd said Heero didn't need them? Hadn't he understood how true it was? Honestly, they were all too reckless to make any difference in the world. Not that it would matter soon. With their enemies closing in this way they would be lucky if there were three Gundam Pilots left by the end of the week and that wasn't even bringing the earth into the problem. It was absolutely maddening.
He knew he had to stop thinking about it or he was going to put himself into a rage. Finished touching up the paint on the now repaired ding; he leapt off the ladder, feeling himself falling in slow motion with the diminished amount of gravity on the ship. His feet hit the ground first and his stood up slowly again, staring intently at Nataku.
What would become of them? One by one they were breaking off, forgetting the overall good for personal whims; Heero for Relena, Duo for Heero. They couldn't last long this way. What would come next? Would Quatre suddenly realize he'd been in love with the Catalonia girl since childhood? Would he run away with her maybe? Wow. It was a scary thought. Two blond maniacs together; one nice but not quite stable, one about as evil as they come. He rolled his eyes, glad that no one could read his thoughts. They'd likely think him about as ridiculous as he thought they were. For allies.
Turning away, he tried to come up with a reasonable plan; how to save the world and the Princess with three Gundams and a bunch of random mobile suits.? On second thought, he'd leave tactics to Quatre, since he was a genius in that area. Clasping his hands behind his back, he left the hangar.
* * * * *
Pushing Treize ahead of him, Duo raced down the hall. It was time. He knew the room, knew the number. He knew how many people were watching and knew how to take them out. Of course, battles never went as you expected; that's what made them interesting. A thousand things could go wrong, a thousand and one. If he made too many mistakes, this time tomorrow he could be caged up with Heero or dead. Neither sounded like something he'd want to be doing, but the possibilities didn't bother him much. That's what he was for, right?
Shoving Trieze down a left hallway, he spotted the door at the end of the hall, two guards standing like cheap siding on either side of the door. The door, the blessed door, opened and two doctors walked casually out, chatting. They turned his way and stopped, eyes wide at the sight of their commander tied up and gagged-and being pushed toward them with a gun toting young man on his heels. Of course. They immediately panicked and let out a yell, in unison Duo noted, thereby alerting the guards immediately that 1) they weren't very observant guards at all and should not be charged with guarding a Gundam Pilot. 2) the doctors screamed like girls and not like any self respecting medic in the first place, and 3) Treize had been caught and held so easily by a KID?!
The guards, although not very observant, immediately cocked their big black guns directly at Duo. The doctors ran back into the room, which was probably not a very good idea-out of the frying pan and into the fire considering that's exactly where Duo and his guns were headed. The guards stopped, confused. Duo could actually see the wheels in their heads spin, and slowly too he added.
He had His Excellency tied up and at gunpoint. He was also known to be a Gundam Pilot-the braid helped them make the ID. He was in the enemy's camp with the enemy's leader and no backup, meaning he was desperate and desperate people did desperate things. Another thing; they were standing with their backs to a door that held yet another Gundam Pilot who could probably use mind games to get himself out of his restraints and break open the door with his evil eye (everyone knows that Gundam Pilots are dangerous you see). The odds were definitely not on their side and they had no idea what to do.
Duo laughed, his arrogant cocky laugh as he raised the gun in his left hand to His Excellency's temple and grinned cheekily at the poor young men in Oz uniforms.
"Drop your weapons now or see His Excellency make a mess on you nice tile floor." They did. Immediately. Risking a look at Treize's face, Duo almost laughed at the open incredulity that he saw there. Treize couldn't believe that his own loyal, intelligent men would give into such an obvious bluff so easily. They hadn't argued or even hesitated. It was humiliating!
"Yeah, boys. Now just kick the guns this way. And how about those pistols too that I see strapped to your shoulders. No funny moves now and no one will die. Now, open the door." They looked at each other and finally the one on the right opened the desired door.
"Get in. This may be a while." Making a mock bow, he kicked Treize through the open door. "After you, your Excellency."
Stepping into the room, his eyes took in the whole scene at once; the doctors huddling in a corner, the machines, the cameras. And of course Heero, looking pale as death, strapped to a hospital bed. And what was with all the white?
"Untie him." He motioned to the doctors to help out as the two "guards" immediately set to work on the leather straps. They hadn't taken any chances, which was probably good for them, but now they'd have to pay for it by being held under gunpoint for however long it took. Not long. They were too nervous.
As they were getting done untying and unhooking he motioned to the two guards, leaving the doctors to finish the job.
"I'm going to need a uniform over here, so if you don't mind, you two are going to have to play rock-paper-scissors and decide who's gonna strip- down." They stared at him with eyes like dinner plates and he realized that he probably shouldn't have put it in quite so bluntly. Or at least he shouldn't have mentioned stripping down.
"Make that two." And now their eyes were definitely popping right out of their heads. Duo looked over in surprise at Heero, who was now sitting up on the bed, rubbing circulation back into his wrists. He had a red indention on his forehead from that strap and he looked like a drugged up hippie with his wild hair and eyes. Well, maybe not, but it was amusing for a moment.
"I thought you were out cold. Don't tell me you've been awake the entire time."
Heero shrugged. Duo grinned cheekily and looked back at the guards. Now for some fun.
* * * * *
Relena felt refreshed. Finally Dorothy had remembered to have some fresh clothes brought to her; too-long blue jeans and a plain white tee-shirt. She didn't wear jeans often and she luxuriated in the comfortable freedom they offered. The cell was actually very well equipped with a bathroom and shower, and she only hoped to God that there weren't any hidden cameras there or she'd have to add another murder to her plan. Dorothy had stopped by every day since she had been imprisoned here, and each time Relena had played the part of a grief-stricken pacifist. If they only knew! She wondered now at her morals. How had she managed to keep the idea of pacifism for so long when now, a simple little thing happened-her crush died-no, that was too mild. Her possible soul mate, the only person she'd ever known who could make her feel-real-just by being there, even when he was set on killing her-had been brutally murdered for her sake. And that was all it took. Was it a measure of her devotion to him or her lack of devotion to true pacifism that was being illustrated by this sudden change? It didn't matter either way. They were, to be blunt, going to pay for their crimes; the murder of Heero Yuy, the attempted murder of the six billion people living on Earth, and wrongful imprisonment of her person. That should get them life. Or death, depending on who got to them first, her or the courts.
She regretted them now. Her ideals. She had been so sure that it was the only way-it could have worked if they'd listened to her, but now she realized that that was far too much to expect from mere human beings. Humans naturally fought-for foolish reasons certainly. By fixing all the problems one could not hope to end the ridiculous wars because they were not truly being fought for the reason that the people thought they were. No, she was not saying that it was because of people in high places that made them fight, for greed or slight to pride. They were fought because people naturally fought, even as they had once butchered each other in prehistoric days, even as they had squabbled over the holy land in the crusades, even as they had fought for freedom and religion and a fair chance to live throughout all of history-and history wasn't over yet.
But she regretted them just the same. She remembered sadly, bitterly, how sure she'd been, how devotedly and how lovingly she had fought for pacifism, because she had wanted the people to be happy. Even as her heart ached for Heero, so did it ache for that certainty. Dorothy had stolen that from her, that innocence. She did not want naivety-it encouraged ignorance-but she missed that beautiful faith in human nature that had first decided her to serve the public. And that too was because of Heero. Even as he had raised the gun, he'd hesitated and she'd known then as she would always know that there was a goodness in him despite the obvious forces that moved him to do what he did. And now she couldn't trust her own brother. As she stood scowling at her large glass window she felt that it would be so easy to pretend none of this had happened, that by some miracle Heero had survived and that everything was just as right as it had always been. It would be so easy to fall back into that thought pattern that had dominated her for over the course of the last year. But it would never be the same.
She would always feel it, like a cavity, tearing at her mind, if she refused to see the truth now. It would not leave her, and though she knew she could probably fool herself for a little time, perhaps a month or a year, it would gnaw at her until eventually the doubt would be all she had. It would destroy her and in the end, she would never be happy again.
She would never be happy again.
Never!
She could not trust now. She felt that she would never be able to trust again, and that was all right. This was what she was, what she had become due to circumstances, and although she wished with every fiber that Heero had not been killed, now that it had happened, she knew that this was the only course she could take. She'd be a fool to think that words could change the minds of those intent on destruction. The only person they'd ever worked on was Heero and well-enough said. Now was the time for action and she intended to be the one taking it. Hey, she was the queen of the world. She was fighting for the people, for the children of tomorrow that were going to be murdered so brutally. She had sworn her life to them and she would not fail them. Not ever. They were hers, to protect, to serve and to love. She would never love again, but she could at least serve them. She could do that much.
Running her fingers through her long blond hair, she smoothed it down and tied it back in a bun at the base of her head with a silk ribbon she'd found in her pocket. Studying her long manicured nails, she made a decision. She made a face as she tasted the clear elegant coat of nail polish and proceeded to bite every nail but those on her thumbs and forefingers down to the base; she could not afford them getting in the way. The last she left in case she needed to pick at something, what she had no idea. She took off her shoes and set them beside the bed, knowing well how they would hinder her when the time came, their elegant heels looking menacing to her knowledgeable eyes. And she rolled her jeans up to her ankles, not wanting to be tripped, but cautious about exposing too much skin to whatever she may find herself going through. This mission was hers. It was self-appointed and it would be accomplished by no one but her, simply because there was no one else. One way or another, if it meant her pride or her life, she would settle the score and save the world from its fate. And she would do it today.
* * * * *
Three boys sat in a dark room, their eyes glinting almost malevolently in the reflected sheen of many screens. Their voices were hushed, their bodies tense as harp strings; they exuded a feeling of ever-present danger and something-romantic-like ghosts of another time, placed in a world of technology and finding themselves as equal as they had ever been. These were the Gundam Pilots; Quatre with his soft, childlike features and a fierce compassion for everyone and everything, deceptive in all his vulnerable mannerisms; Wufei, with his fire, his convictions and his unbending definition of right and wrong, as disciplined and poised as a king; and Trowa, a mass of long sprawling limbs and a source of wise and simple words, hidden meanings tucked in every syllable, silent as a phantom and always watchful, his mind had long since become a morass of secrets that would never pass his lips. Young and hard, they sat now in darkness, two hearing one as visions of battle traced circuitous routes through the backs of their minds.
The room they hid in was the conference room, windows on every side making the dimmed lights imperative. Indeed, it was the very same room where they had first heard the message from Quatre's old friend to his new, a challenge and a death announcement spoken so mildly in a single sentence. And now they hid away from the soldiers, the crew, and their comrades as they planned. It would be simple of course, because battles were unpredictable; Quatre and Wufei, along with a number of mobile suits, would distract the enemy while Trowa destroyed the cannon. With that done, Wufei and Trowa would break through any resistance and board the ship while Quatre would continue to direct the battle. Wufei would find Relena Peacecraft and protect her while both he and Trowa found and destroyed any opposition on board.
A very simple plan, easy to follow, easy to explain. The hard job would be Quatre's; it was his duty to direct nearly 200 random suits in battle for however long it took for them to either quell the resistance on the part of the White Fang, or until all Mobile Suits and Dolls were eliminated. If the Suits and Dolls came first he would join his friends on the ship, if not, Wufei would take the princess to safety and then he and Trowa would both help Quatre finish off the Mobile suits and Dolls. When this was accomplished they would wait for some sign from Heero and Duo if not their very presence. If they never heard from them again, well, this was war and there were going to be casualties; they would grieve as they had for all their fallen comrades. And they would live and fight and in due time join them in death.
* * * * *
And that's the end of another chapter. All right, I know that it's time for everything to start moving, but it's taken me this long to realize how much preparation would be needed for everything. It'll be the next chapter, I promise. Does anyone have anything to say? I'm a little disappointed because I thought I did this very well; I planned it out, I used reason, I haven't written in any obnoxious love scenes. Honestly, you people should be happy I haven't made it any more obnoxious than it already is.
Well, be happy,
--------------StarChild*
Chapter Seven
We're really cookin' now, aren't we? It is time for the great escape.
You know I don't own anything, which includes Gundam Wing. Enough said.
Chapter Seven--------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------
Wufei glared at the empty space in the hangar as he repaired a ding in Nataku. Two Gundams missing. It was appalling. Zechs-Milliardo-whatever his name was, was going to blow up the earth (he had no idea why he hadn't yet, no one was even attempting to stop him) and one by one the Gundam Pilots, the ones that were supposed to be protecting THE WHOLE UNIVERSE ran off to Treize to get themselves locked up. It was absolutely shameful! Hadn't Maxwell been there when he'd said Heero didn't need them? Hadn't he understood how true it was? Honestly, they were all too reckless to make any difference in the world. Not that it would matter soon. With their enemies closing in this way they would be lucky if there were three Gundam Pilots left by the end of the week and that wasn't even bringing the earth into the problem. It was absolutely maddening.
He knew he had to stop thinking about it or he was going to put himself into a rage. Finished touching up the paint on the now repaired ding; he leapt off the ladder, feeling himself falling in slow motion with the diminished amount of gravity on the ship. His feet hit the ground first and his stood up slowly again, staring intently at Nataku.
What would become of them? One by one they were breaking off, forgetting the overall good for personal whims; Heero for Relena, Duo for Heero. They couldn't last long this way. What would come next? Would Quatre suddenly realize he'd been in love with the Catalonia girl since childhood? Would he run away with her maybe? Wow. It was a scary thought. Two blond maniacs together; one nice but not quite stable, one about as evil as they come. He rolled his eyes, glad that no one could read his thoughts. They'd likely think him about as ridiculous as he thought they were. For allies.
Turning away, he tried to come up with a reasonable plan; how to save the world and the Princess with three Gundams and a bunch of random mobile suits.? On second thought, he'd leave tactics to Quatre, since he was a genius in that area. Clasping his hands behind his back, he left the hangar.
* * * * *
Pushing Treize ahead of him, Duo raced down the hall. It was time. He knew the room, knew the number. He knew how many people were watching and knew how to take them out. Of course, battles never went as you expected; that's what made them interesting. A thousand things could go wrong, a thousand and one. If he made too many mistakes, this time tomorrow he could be caged up with Heero or dead. Neither sounded like something he'd want to be doing, but the possibilities didn't bother him much. That's what he was for, right?
Shoving Trieze down a left hallway, he spotted the door at the end of the hall, two guards standing like cheap siding on either side of the door. The door, the blessed door, opened and two doctors walked casually out, chatting. They turned his way and stopped, eyes wide at the sight of their commander tied up and gagged-and being pushed toward them with a gun toting young man on his heels. Of course. They immediately panicked and let out a yell, in unison Duo noted, thereby alerting the guards immediately that 1) they weren't very observant guards at all and should not be charged with guarding a Gundam Pilot. 2) the doctors screamed like girls and not like any self respecting medic in the first place, and 3) Treize had been caught and held so easily by a KID?!
The guards, although not very observant, immediately cocked their big black guns directly at Duo. The doctors ran back into the room, which was probably not a very good idea-out of the frying pan and into the fire considering that's exactly where Duo and his guns were headed. The guards stopped, confused. Duo could actually see the wheels in their heads spin, and slowly too he added.
He had His Excellency tied up and at gunpoint. He was also known to be a Gundam Pilot-the braid helped them make the ID. He was in the enemy's camp with the enemy's leader and no backup, meaning he was desperate and desperate people did desperate things. Another thing; they were standing with their backs to a door that held yet another Gundam Pilot who could probably use mind games to get himself out of his restraints and break open the door with his evil eye (everyone knows that Gundam Pilots are dangerous you see). The odds were definitely not on their side and they had no idea what to do.
Duo laughed, his arrogant cocky laugh as he raised the gun in his left hand to His Excellency's temple and grinned cheekily at the poor young men in Oz uniforms.
"Drop your weapons now or see His Excellency make a mess on you nice tile floor." They did. Immediately. Risking a look at Treize's face, Duo almost laughed at the open incredulity that he saw there. Treize couldn't believe that his own loyal, intelligent men would give into such an obvious bluff so easily. They hadn't argued or even hesitated. It was humiliating!
"Yeah, boys. Now just kick the guns this way. And how about those pistols too that I see strapped to your shoulders. No funny moves now and no one will die. Now, open the door." They looked at each other and finally the one on the right opened the desired door.
"Get in. This may be a while." Making a mock bow, he kicked Treize through the open door. "After you, your Excellency."
Stepping into the room, his eyes took in the whole scene at once; the doctors huddling in a corner, the machines, the cameras. And of course Heero, looking pale as death, strapped to a hospital bed. And what was with all the white?
"Untie him." He motioned to the doctors to help out as the two "guards" immediately set to work on the leather straps. They hadn't taken any chances, which was probably good for them, but now they'd have to pay for it by being held under gunpoint for however long it took. Not long. They were too nervous.
As they were getting done untying and unhooking he motioned to the two guards, leaving the doctors to finish the job.
"I'm going to need a uniform over here, so if you don't mind, you two are going to have to play rock-paper-scissors and decide who's gonna strip- down." They stared at him with eyes like dinner plates and he realized that he probably shouldn't have put it in quite so bluntly. Or at least he shouldn't have mentioned stripping down.
"Make that two." And now their eyes were definitely popping right out of their heads. Duo looked over in surprise at Heero, who was now sitting up on the bed, rubbing circulation back into his wrists. He had a red indention on his forehead from that strap and he looked like a drugged up hippie with his wild hair and eyes. Well, maybe not, but it was amusing for a moment.
"I thought you were out cold. Don't tell me you've been awake the entire time."
Heero shrugged. Duo grinned cheekily and looked back at the guards. Now for some fun.
* * * * *
Relena felt refreshed. Finally Dorothy had remembered to have some fresh clothes brought to her; too-long blue jeans and a plain white tee-shirt. She didn't wear jeans often and she luxuriated in the comfortable freedom they offered. The cell was actually very well equipped with a bathroom and shower, and she only hoped to God that there weren't any hidden cameras there or she'd have to add another murder to her plan. Dorothy had stopped by every day since she had been imprisoned here, and each time Relena had played the part of a grief-stricken pacifist. If they only knew! She wondered now at her morals. How had she managed to keep the idea of pacifism for so long when now, a simple little thing happened-her crush died-no, that was too mild. Her possible soul mate, the only person she'd ever known who could make her feel-real-just by being there, even when he was set on killing her-had been brutally murdered for her sake. And that was all it took. Was it a measure of her devotion to him or her lack of devotion to true pacifism that was being illustrated by this sudden change? It didn't matter either way. They were, to be blunt, going to pay for their crimes; the murder of Heero Yuy, the attempted murder of the six billion people living on Earth, and wrongful imprisonment of her person. That should get them life. Or death, depending on who got to them first, her or the courts.
She regretted them now. Her ideals. She had been so sure that it was the only way-it could have worked if they'd listened to her, but now she realized that that was far too much to expect from mere human beings. Humans naturally fought-for foolish reasons certainly. By fixing all the problems one could not hope to end the ridiculous wars because they were not truly being fought for the reason that the people thought they were. No, she was not saying that it was because of people in high places that made them fight, for greed or slight to pride. They were fought because people naturally fought, even as they had once butchered each other in prehistoric days, even as they had squabbled over the holy land in the crusades, even as they had fought for freedom and religion and a fair chance to live throughout all of history-and history wasn't over yet.
But she regretted them just the same. She remembered sadly, bitterly, how sure she'd been, how devotedly and how lovingly she had fought for pacifism, because she had wanted the people to be happy. Even as her heart ached for Heero, so did it ache for that certainty. Dorothy had stolen that from her, that innocence. She did not want naivety-it encouraged ignorance-but she missed that beautiful faith in human nature that had first decided her to serve the public. And that too was because of Heero. Even as he had raised the gun, he'd hesitated and she'd known then as she would always know that there was a goodness in him despite the obvious forces that moved him to do what he did. And now she couldn't trust her own brother. As she stood scowling at her large glass window she felt that it would be so easy to pretend none of this had happened, that by some miracle Heero had survived and that everything was just as right as it had always been. It would be so easy to fall back into that thought pattern that had dominated her for over the course of the last year. But it would never be the same.
She would always feel it, like a cavity, tearing at her mind, if she refused to see the truth now. It would not leave her, and though she knew she could probably fool herself for a little time, perhaps a month or a year, it would gnaw at her until eventually the doubt would be all she had. It would destroy her and in the end, she would never be happy again.
She would never be happy again.
Never!
She could not trust now. She felt that she would never be able to trust again, and that was all right. This was what she was, what she had become due to circumstances, and although she wished with every fiber that Heero had not been killed, now that it had happened, she knew that this was the only course she could take. She'd be a fool to think that words could change the minds of those intent on destruction. The only person they'd ever worked on was Heero and well-enough said. Now was the time for action and she intended to be the one taking it. Hey, she was the queen of the world. She was fighting for the people, for the children of tomorrow that were going to be murdered so brutally. She had sworn her life to them and she would not fail them. Not ever. They were hers, to protect, to serve and to love. She would never love again, but she could at least serve them. She could do that much.
Running her fingers through her long blond hair, she smoothed it down and tied it back in a bun at the base of her head with a silk ribbon she'd found in her pocket. Studying her long manicured nails, she made a decision. She made a face as she tasted the clear elegant coat of nail polish and proceeded to bite every nail but those on her thumbs and forefingers down to the base; she could not afford them getting in the way. The last she left in case she needed to pick at something, what she had no idea. She took off her shoes and set them beside the bed, knowing well how they would hinder her when the time came, their elegant heels looking menacing to her knowledgeable eyes. And she rolled her jeans up to her ankles, not wanting to be tripped, but cautious about exposing too much skin to whatever she may find herself going through. This mission was hers. It was self-appointed and it would be accomplished by no one but her, simply because there was no one else. One way or another, if it meant her pride or her life, she would settle the score and save the world from its fate. And she would do it today.
* * * * *
Three boys sat in a dark room, their eyes glinting almost malevolently in the reflected sheen of many screens. Their voices were hushed, their bodies tense as harp strings; they exuded a feeling of ever-present danger and something-romantic-like ghosts of another time, placed in a world of technology and finding themselves as equal as they had ever been. These were the Gundam Pilots; Quatre with his soft, childlike features and a fierce compassion for everyone and everything, deceptive in all his vulnerable mannerisms; Wufei, with his fire, his convictions and his unbending definition of right and wrong, as disciplined and poised as a king; and Trowa, a mass of long sprawling limbs and a source of wise and simple words, hidden meanings tucked in every syllable, silent as a phantom and always watchful, his mind had long since become a morass of secrets that would never pass his lips. Young and hard, they sat now in darkness, two hearing one as visions of battle traced circuitous routes through the backs of their minds.
The room they hid in was the conference room, windows on every side making the dimmed lights imperative. Indeed, it was the very same room where they had first heard the message from Quatre's old friend to his new, a challenge and a death announcement spoken so mildly in a single sentence. And now they hid away from the soldiers, the crew, and their comrades as they planned. It would be simple of course, because battles were unpredictable; Quatre and Wufei, along with a number of mobile suits, would distract the enemy while Trowa destroyed the cannon. With that done, Wufei and Trowa would break through any resistance and board the ship while Quatre would continue to direct the battle. Wufei would find Relena Peacecraft and protect her while both he and Trowa found and destroyed any opposition on board.
A very simple plan, easy to follow, easy to explain. The hard job would be Quatre's; it was his duty to direct nearly 200 random suits in battle for however long it took for them to either quell the resistance on the part of the White Fang, or until all Mobile Suits and Dolls were eliminated. If the Suits and Dolls came first he would join his friends on the ship, if not, Wufei would take the princess to safety and then he and Trowa would both help Quatre finish off the Mobile suits and Dolls. When this was accomplished they would wait for some sign from Heero and Duo if not their very presence. If they never heard from them again, well, this was war and there were going to be casualties; they would grieve as they had for all their fallen comrades. And they would live and fight and in due time join them in death.
* * * * *
And that's the end of another chapter. All right, I know that it's time for everything to start moving, but it's taken me this long to realize how much preparation would be needed for everything. It'll be the next chapter, I promise. Does anyone have anything to say? I'm a little disappointed because I thought I did this very well; I planned it out, I used reason, I haven't written in any obnoxious love scenes. Honestly, you people should be happy I haven't made it any more obnoxious than it already is.
Well, be happy,
--------------StarChild*