The American team ensured the way was clear while the original team drove the recovered and injured back to the mansion using the Jeep , the Hummer , the Accord and a few others that had been in the area or had shown up when the attack had quit which had gone well , thankfully Sally had treated the worst on the spot so it really hadn't gotten as bad as it could have.
The part that was of big concern was what to do with the Gundams now , with the base evacuated and half destroyed that left the machines exposed and they were not about to leave those open for attack.
"Maybe we could make it like a hatch now" shrugged Amy , having a few ideas about trying to fix it up.
"Glad someone has an idea cause it's gonna be nasty sweeping Death Fortress off during the winter" joked Jason.
"Not to mention the flooding problem come spring" joined Trel who was almost finding the humor in it even if they had just blown a hole in the side of their secret base.
"There is always the other base as well" added Matt who had not forgotten where they had popped into the second time they'd arrived.
"I'd rather not give them something else to destroy" was Savanna's chafed reply.
"Next time we send them the cleaning bill" snickered Jason , trying to lighten Savanna's mood which did not seemed to be working.
"This time lets install a dog house big enough for the three of us" embellished Nikita who was still on the brunt end of Wufei's anger for her earlier act.
"Ah they'll get over it , no harm no foul" said Trel as they looked over the hole wondering if they might have gotten just a little carried away.
"I'm not saying that you did wrong just next time wait for the whole group" Duo asked as he nuzzled his face into the back of her head , having quickly forgiven her and being one of the few that had.
Niki looked over at Wufei and wondered how long he was going to be mad , sure she understood that in his upbringing that the males were suppose to be the fighters but she wasn't about to turn in her keys over foolish pride.
"Heads up , looks like your gonna get your wish Duo" said Jason as he had just caught sight of a missile coming from across the landscape and headed in their general direction.
"Oh man , don't these guys ever give up" yelled Savanna as she ran for her Gundam , not even bothering to check where it had come from.
"Where's the fun in beating them if they give up?" laughed Jason , who had not gotten his fill of destruction by blowing a hole in the wall and was glad this time the target would be a challenge.
The first of the rockets hit just as the Americans had closed the hatches , launching 6 machines out of the smoke and right into the heat of battle seemingly to just have appeared as if it were magic.
The Black Zero systems were hard to locate in the night sky but the scanners picked them out easily , displaying them coming in fast and not expecting resistance.
"Great , well at least we know they're within an hour away" commented Niki as she opened fire with the Gatlin guns.
"Yeah , I can see that as helpful" announced Jason as the chest coverings opened to let the rockets hidden within fly at the two approaching machines.
"Not counting reload time , I'm sure that is the only reason they left in the first place" said Matt as the twin buster rifles took aim and he started his own attack.
That's when the lack of noise drew their attention to their depleted ranks , there were only three that had managed to immerge from the smoke they'd used for cover.
"Savanna , where'd you go" asked Jason , he couldn't pick her up on his scanner.
"I don't see any of them , did they come out of the base?" inquired Matt.
"I left after Trel so they must have but ..." the confusion resounded in Niki's voice.
The two black figures fired off shots but they weren't aimed at the group in the air , they'd been set to a target closer to base which was when Matt had finally found the downed Gundams. "Their down , what is going on?" was all he had managed to get out as he tried to maneuver his way into the path of the on coming attack.
Niki and Jason kept close to him but were just as puzzled , there hadn't been an attack that landed close to them so what had just dropped three Gundams. No one had time to even ask as the attack hit the three that were still air born , blowing them to the ground not far from the others that had been separated from them.
It was then and only then that the others realized the American's were actually in trouble and scrambled to their own metal partners.
The two figures shot off another round into the set that they had just taken down which took less time to impact this time as they had not stopped their swift oncoming attack and had successfully knocked them once again to the ground mercilessly.
Niki had once again managed to get Kodiac up much to it's disapproval and set off another blast from the guns. Jason screamed as he too managed to get back in the game , not exactly sure where the pain was shooting from but knew it was along his right leg. Matt had only managed to get his own half righted by the time the invaders swooped in , knocking Jason back to the ground and grabbing Kodiac between them.
Matt finally managed to bring it upright and pulled the Beam canon up to mark it's target only to find that it had become a close blob instead of two separate machines and almost targeted both before Jason had informed him that they had Niki. The unfortunate part was when his vision ran red in one eye which he closed trying to find what the problem was as he raised his hand to find his face growing wet.
Five moving blips drew his muddied mind back to where he was as he turned to get a lock on what ever was coming next.
"Matt , drop your arms and we will pull you back in" it was Heero , his face flashed across the screen which caused Matt to lower the beam canon to try and pull it all together again , looking over the remains of his own downed crew.
It seemed his was the only one still standing , Jason had been in the process of standing but relaxed when he heard the others coming their way as he had only gotten it half way up. "Last time I come bringing a knife to a gun fight , I want a beam canon , they sure ran when they seen that puppy pointed at them"
It was the last thing Matt heard as he let himself slip away , having felt two of the other Gundam's picking his own up to return it to base , most of the operations had shut down anyway which left him in almost total darkness.
They worked in pairs to return the downed machines to a safe bay for repair work , Wufei had refused to return to base as he kept searching the grounds hoping they had dropped Kodiac but did not find a single trace of them in his search.
Jason had been pulled from his Fortress with a piece of the interior plating having lodged itself into the lower calf , Matt had a good sized gash on his head and was out cold which had been thought worst at first by Relena and only after Sally checked him out did the serious concern finally pass , Amy and Savanna had managed to make it through with a bump her or a scrape there as the landing had not been anywhere near cushioned but Trel had managed to stay awake through it , with a lot of help from Ocasta who had taken her last comment literally and resumed it's scan when she returned , it had been able to dampen the signal but not to totally block it out.
It had only taken an hour before Trel shot across the room for the bathroom , losing her supper and likely part of her lunch to the sewer system , Jason had been awake but kept in his spot by Sally , Matt had come around but was not about to try moving his head which felt like it was inhabited by small green men with steel toed boots. Amy had snuggled up with Heero's jacket while Savanna still had not moved from where she had been laid upon her removal.
Between the doctors and the other pilots the whole bay was in full blown repair mode , bringing them upright and accessing the damages to each to which only two were even serious. Pieces were removed and replaced with older parts that barely even had a scratch from previous battles but the more extensive repairs would have to be done later as this was not the safest time still.
When Trel finally did re-appear it was in her space suit , snuggling into it as if she had been cold before but returning to where she had woke to watch the repair work for a moment then down to the watch she had removed as it would really do her little good concealed in her suit.
"What did we just do" she said to no one in particular as she looked at the watch , she knew it couldn't answer her without the interface she had managed to put into the V-box but she really didn't want one either as she dropped it , letting it land on Duo's shirt before walking out of the hanger.
Savanna woke with a jolt , sitting upright as she found once again she could move from the fetal position that they'd found her in without pain. "What the ... " she broke off as she looked around.
"Settle down , we're okay for now" commented Jason , he had managed to land near by to keep an eye over the whole group as the others where in a better position to do repair work.
"I'm glad someone is okay cause my head is killing me" she replied dryly , getting up from the floor and wishing she had a bottle of Tylenol to kill the headache.
"Here , try this , should take some of it away" offered Sally , dropping two pills in her hand and offering her the canteen she had been using to transport water.
Savanna threw the pills in to her mouth and washed them down , then returned the container before going to see if there was anything she could do to get everything up and running again.
"Not even a thank you , that has got to be killing her" Jason laughed , glad she'd finally gotten up but knew they weren't going to keep her laying down when she did finally wake.
Matt finally attempted sitting up after a half hour , thankful that they had a fully stocked pharmacy as his head had eased in it's pounding ways.
"And you wanted me to stay behind , you'd have been sore for a pillow if I had" was all Relena could say as she smoothed his hair back from his forehead , having been coddling him in her lap since they'd gotten him out of the disabled machine.
"Ah Sally , can we get you over here for a moment" Quatre asked as he approached the group , looking it over and was glad to see most of them were moving.
"Jason , you move and I'll amputate" she smiled back at Jason before going with Quatre , hoping Relena would keep an eye on them in her absence.
"Hey , it's not that bad , it didn't even hurt till you put stitches in it ..." he called after her , he was not about to let on that it stung before hand.
"Oh Jas , your loud" came Amy's sleepy voice as she rolled over and pulled the coat even tighter to her , ducking her face below the collar.
"Not my fault if my voice carries well" he replied , wondering how long he was going to be stuck to one place.
It was a little while before anyone came back to the group , it was Duo with a puzzled look on his face as he found Trel had not bothered to stay with the group. "Where'd she go off to now?" he mused as he retrieved his shirt from the floor.
"Got me , but that had to be about 20 minutes ago" answered Jason as he looked over what Duo had in his hand. "Wonder why she left her watch?"
Duo had plans to find out as he left in search for her.
"What do you mean , there is no way your going to go playing in my head" came a shout across the whole bay.
"Now that is loud" laughed Jason as he got up , taking his sweet time to cross the floor in order to find out what had enraged Savanna so much.
He could see Sally , Savanna and Trowa near the floor and none of them looked to happy.
"I don't care if it will save my life you are not going to put me out and play with my brain" she continued to yell , looking from Sally to Trowa and back again.
"Hey Savanna , you'll wake the dead like that , what's the problem?" asked Jason as he toddled over the group earning a glare from Sally.
"They've gone nuts , something about a radio jerry-rigged to my brain and they think I am gonna let them go explore in my head" she yelled exasperated back at Jason as she stormed away.
"Translation is...?" he asked the other two , no one was going to be doing anything without a damn good explanation.
Sally put a disc into a near by computer and let the results from the scan run for him to examine but after seeing his blank look she explained what had been found , and why it was that none of her own systems seemed to be working on the three taken pilots. It took a machine that could compensate for the Zero system to finally decipher the constantly changing disruption any other machine would experience.
The bad news was that it was connected directly to both the brain stem and nerve systems which made just pulling it out impossible , who ever had done this really did not care if the recipients had survived or not so long as he or she could control them.
He looked back at Amy who still had refused to sit up let alone come out from under Heero's jacket , then to Savanna who was walking out the door and looking no less steamed about their request and then though about Trel and how she'd just dropped her watch and took off.
"But how do we know when they are and are not being controlled?" he asked , now having an idea why Savanna had been acting very odd as of late.
"That's why we want to get them out cause if they don't drop we likely won't know till they fire on us" came Heero's voice , he had been in the shadows watching the whole thing.
"Well we can't lock them up either , those are our friends and they haven't done it yet" Jason rounded on Heero , he was having no part in this at all.
"That is all that kept us from doing it up till now , but it was close at one point" he added , watching Amy on the far side hoping her reaction to the news was going to be better then Savanna's had been.
Duo had found Trel after looking all over the place , she had gone down one of the destroyed corridors and was punching away at the ruined remains that was blocking her from going any further , she was moving to the beat played out from her discman which she must have retrieved from Sally's office and one would almost think it was a dance except the marks she was leaving in the walls.
"Trel ... can we talk a minute" he asked , wondering how long she had been at this before he found her.
There was no response from her , her eyes never left their spot as she continued to pound away , looking lost in her own thoughts.
He ducked in between her fists and almost ended up being narrowly missed as she flinched and her fist found a new spot to hit , a few inches from his head. "Hey ..."
It took a minute to register to her exactly who it was but she knew someone was in her way which puzzled her as she looked back at him with a tentative expression.
"I think you need a rest , lets sit down , just for a moment okay?" he smiled , at least she hadn't thrown another punch he thought as he raised his hand to brush her flushed cheeks.
Her eyes dropped but she didn't resist his directions to sit down , but the confusion still showed across her face as it looked like she was trying to figure something dire out.
"Oh , I found your watch ... I think you dropped it" he started lightly , feeling discomforted in the lack of her usual smile or sudden out bursts he had known.
"Did we fall into a trap or are we the trap" she evaluated , she had managed to keep awake but with the blasts landing all around her that had been all that passed her mind since it had happened , she knew they had been used as bait but twice was just to much.
"Trel , do you even know what is going on?" he asked , lifting her face and catching her eyes with his own.
"They've got us over a barrel on a thin thread , they've got Niki , can drop the rest of us without effort ... they've got all the cards don't they?" she inquired calmly , looking into his eyes much like she had at the ball and just glad something was there to fill the grey that she had been looking at before.
"Not if we have anything to do with it , we will get it out so don't worry" he was sure she knew now , after all it had been all in her Gundam.
She just sat there like she hadn't even heard him , the lost expression returning to her face as he continued to sit there beside her , still holding the watch which she had ignored as well.
Heero had come across and sat next to Amy who had refused to move from her spot , or to open her eyes for long trying to keep the light out of her head and the pain from coming back.
"Well we know where the problem is now" he quietly announced to her.
She moved closer to snuggle up to his leg , peeking out from under his jacket. "There was a problem?"
He looked down at her , surprised she had actually spoke. "Yeah , the answer as to why you don't remember what was going on"
"Is it something simple?" she cringed , hoping it couldn't hurt any more then it already did.
"In concept only , but it does explain a lot ... Sally wants to take them out" he watched her , hoping it was not going to blow up in his face if he tried smoothing it over.
"Take what out , we would have found anything by now wouldn't we?" was all Amy could say , her head coming out from under the coat like a turtle out of it's shell.
"That is one of the reason's it seems so simple , but it's connected to the brain which is why it is complex" he grimaced , still weighing the risks involved in taking it out.
"I don't like the sounds of that" countered Amy as she sat up and put a hand to the back of her neck , she had brushed her hair enough to know it wasn't there but where else could someone hide things , she found the bump which rested just under the skull at the back of her head and cast a worried look back at Heero. "I really don't like the sounds of that"
Trowa had let Savanna calm down , he knew he should have done it himself but the words to tell her had fled from him when she looked at him , he hadn't even been able to stand up for her when Sally's description had made it sound even worse but now he had to find her , he couldn't let her think he was against her in this.
She had changed out of the suit she wore earlier , her room being one of the few that remained in tact and was now in the training room having just moved from the large hanging bag on the side to start throwing a medicine ball around the room.
Trowa leaned up against the door and watched , letting her vent on the ball rather then disturb her , which she did continue for another 5 minutes before finally dropping to her knees in exhaustion.
He walked up and just stood there waiting for her anger to hit him again.
"What do you want" she barked out.
"Just following my heart I guess" he shrugged and looked down at her , seeing the shock register in her eyes as the words she had said so long ago just came back to her in the most unusual way.