1.1.1 Chapter 5
I woke up with a yawn as the familiar ring of the morning bells came annoyingly through the intercom. It was the day of the forth test, which I wasn't really interested in. I was too tired to do a good job anyway.
The group and I hadn't stayed to watch the eleventh test, but we knew Zechs didn't pass it. Maybe someday I would. After we'd left we went out to celebrate. Unfortunately we stayed up too late, which wasn't really a bad thing but I was much too tired. Every time I had mentioned heading back someone vetoed the idea, and we stayed at a club till about one in the morning, giving us about four hours of sleep all together.
I didn't pay much attention to the tests. After passing level five I purposely failed six and waited for everyone else to finish. Mike made it to level eight, Rob to nine, and Penrod and Nathan to level seven. All of which I congratulated, as did the rest of the group. We didn't party that night, knowing that tomorrow would be the first day of real work. From what I heard I was already to be placed in the mobile suit advanced training until I was suited to be a pilot. Zechs Matt and V would be there too, along with one other person I didn't yet know. I would say I was excited but I really wasn't. Another day having to deal with Zechs couldn't be that great, no matter what.
We were to wake up at 5:00 as usual, but I made myself get up at four instead. No one was awake then, which made me happy considering the fact that I could take a shower without worrying about someone seeing me. I took more time than I should have and used too much of the hot water, but I'd been taking cold showers for a while and I was happy with hot for a change. Afterwards I took my time getting dressed, wrapping my chest carefully beforehand. When I was done I starred at myself in a mirror.
The black jumpsuit fit me perfectly, and didn't look too bad, either. My blonde hair was a little longer than it had been when it was first cut, about a hundredth of an inch, but still longer. Maybe I should let it grow out, start a new style. I grinned to myself, envisioning my friends with long hair. Well, it could work for me.
On the way back to my room I saw a girl clipping notes to different doors. I asked her for the one to my room. I looked it over as I finished walking back, then set it on the table when I got there. The bell sounded about half an hour after. Everyone woke up to find me stretching. They had twenty minutes before they'd have to be at their assigned rooms I planned on using that time for a morning jog.
"Do my eyes deceive me or are you exercising and ready to go?" Nathan asked as he crawled out of bed.
I laughed softly. "Yeah, I'm half crazy and have spent the last hour getting ready and doing warm up exercises," I told him.
Penrod looked up and opened his eyes, not having gotten out of bed yet. "Warm ups for what?"
"For a jog I'm about to go on," I answered.
Not long after that I left them to stumble about as they attempted to wake up. I went outside and circled the courtyard. I jogged in place a moment afterward, trying to determine whether or not I should take the longer way back. I changed my mind about going either and headed in a different direction when I heard voices. Curious as I am I didn't really care whose conversation I would be interrupting.
It turned out I was happy I had interrupted.
Tarmine and Zechs were arguing in hushed voices, both looked irritated and mad. I stopped jogging, putting a hand on my hip. The sight of Tarmine angered me. I didn't want them here. This particular mission wasn't theirs. Didn't they have enough to do without watching me, too?
"Is there a problem here or do gundam pilots just show up for fun?" I knew my voice sounded angry, enraged really. I really didn't care about that, actually I kind of wanted it that way.
Both Tarmine and Zechs's heads snapped in my direction, surprised to find me watching them.
"What are you doing here?" Tarmine hissed as loudly as she dared. "You could get caught, or killed, or turned in by this… this…" she paused a moment, "I can't quite think of a name for him yet, but that's not the point."
"What are you doing here, Tarmine?" I asked blandly.
"I could ask you the same thing!"
"What are you doing here, Tarmine?" I repeated, my voice growing a shade colder.
"I'm looking for you," she snapped.
I gave her my best blank, emotionless face, my voice remained cool, calm and dangerously uncaring. "Tarmine, you found me. I'm safe, I'm healthy, I'm not going to get caught unless you tell the wrong person I'm here, and you would pay for it if you did. You can go back home and tell everyone to leave me alone. I've got this handled. Now you know it, now you can leave."
"But I-"
I cut Tarmine off, "No buts, I don't have time to deal with you, I have to be somewhere. Get off this base before I turn you in."
Glaring at me Tarmine turned and walked away.
"You got rid of her pretty quickly," said Zechs happily, "saved me some time."
I looked into his grinning face, not changing my cold expression. His grin faltered. "She was never here. If you mention even seeing her I will hurt you. If you say I saw her I will deny it. She was never here, never."
"Yeah, sure, whatever." Zechs turned away.
A red haze suddenly sprung up around me. I could see nothing, nothing but the outline of Zechs. He stopped and turned to me, I couldn't see why, couldn't see his face.
Zero? Zero System? Why are you here now? I'm not in RedZero, or Gemini for that matter.
Suddenly I could see Zechs again, but still nothing else.
Blinking I ask what Zero System meant. What does Zechs have to do with this? Then I understood.
He's my enemy. He's lying isn't he? I have to stop him, before he finds Tarmine.
"Zechs," I said as my mind returned to me.
He starred at me as if he, too, had just come out of a dream, or a message. "You Okay?" he asked.
"I meant it when I said not to tell anyone," my voice was soft, but my eyes held a note of madness brought on by the hint of the Zero System still in me. How I had become attached to it, or it attached to me, I didn't know how.
"Of course you did," he said, "don't worry."
"I'm not worried, Peacecraft," I assured him, "I'm just making sure you are. I don't make idle threats. If you slip up, and I will know if you do, I will make your life a living nightmare. I haven't been in a cell I couldn't break out of and I don't think you can hold me. If you try blackmailing me, as long as it's not important I'll play along with your game, but I warn you now not to push too hard."
Zechs starred at me very hard a moment. Then left. I wasn't worried about him, Zero System wasn't saying anything wrong. For now I was safe, or as safe as I could be with the System whispering in my ear.
When Zechs was gone I turned around and jogged back to my room, getting there just as V and Max walked out. I took a moment to change the look on my face, to appear normal when I felt anything but that.
Apparently I didn't change fast enough and Max noticed. "You okay, Conway? You look a little ticked off."
"Yeah, I'm fine. I've just got a rock in my shoe," I explained.
V nodded, "Well there's no time to get it out now, we've got to go or we'll be late. Docking bay three's on the other side of the building."
"Would you mind going for another jog?" Max asked.
"Not at all."
We jogged to the Docking bay, getting there just in time to take our seats without being late. Zechs was already there, along with Jet Fathom. We all looked at him questionly, causing him to push back into his chair, as if trying to rid himself of our stares. I tactfully looked away. I don't think V or Max got the hint. He was shy, but he had to be a good pilot to have gotten here.
"Hey Jet, I thought you were supposed to be at Dock one." Max said.
Jet nodded. "They made a mistake and fixed it by sending me here. I passed level eight, they said this was were I was supposed to be."
"So you were the fifth person," Zechs murmured curiously.
Before jet could respond the main doors burst open as V's dad came in, followed closely by two women. He stopped directly in front of us, sweeping his eyes over us quickly before he began his introduction.
"For those who don't know," he started, "my name is Mathew Barton, the commander of the Barton foundation and one of the chief commanders the new Oz. For those who know me on a personal level, I will treat you no different than anyone else." He glanced meaningfully at V.
"You five have shown yourselves to be some of, if not the best pilots in Oz. Each of you will be worked harder than the other, average pilots," he said average as if it were a bad things. "We will train you to perfection with every mobile suit weapon we have. If you have questions we encourage you to ask, if you have complaints prepare for more work.
"You'll be training for real, fighting against real dolls that can kill you. If you want to quit now is the time to do so. Docking bays one and two are open for more pilots. If you don't think you can beat the dolls, leave." No one moved.
"Starting tomorrow you'll also be using simulation rooms, fighting off suits of all kinds. If you 'die' in these rooms you go back to the dolls until we think you're ready to try again."
I raised my hand.
"Yes Conway?"
I was happy he'd remembered my name, the last teacher I had forgotten it. He wasn't a good teacher anyway. "What types of suits will we be fighting in?"
He paused, thinking a moment about her question. "You'll use all kinds of suits, starting with something simple." I nodded, wondering why he had to think about his answer. It wasn't a hard question. Maybe there was something he wasn't saying. For once I wanted the Zero System to show me something. And of course, nothing happened.
We got into suits next. We didn't fight anything, just worked on tactics and skills, all the boring stuff. Only Aries and Leos were available to us. We could choose which ones we wanted. We worked till nine o'clock, taking only two breaks, for lunch and dinner. Mathew and his helpers watched our every move, correcting us if we did just one thing out of line. It was annoying, but I had been through worse.
When we got back to our room we found everyone else already sleeping. It didn't take long for us to join them.
The morning was much like before, except I started my jog before everyone woke up, and had no interruptions. Again I walked with Max and V to our class. We went through more drills for the first half of the day, then he walked us over to a room, or rather a much wider hallway that had doors branching off into many rooms. All of them looked kind of like the old star-trek episodes' graph like rooms. I wondered if they were trying to recreate the show, maybe, but it was a couple hundred years old. I watched a lot of old stuff.
"These are the training rooms." Mathew said, as if talking about something much more casual. "They'll become basically anything we want, producing any atmosphere. You'll be in a cockpit. The catch to this is each of these rooms has a fighting system installed into them. It's called SYNZ. A play off of the gundam Zero System." That caught my interest. Based off of Zero?
"What does Synz stand for?" I asked, not bothering to raise my hand first. This whole thing was bugging me, but it did explain how I felt Zero System in the Gemini.
Mathew smiled, but it seemed some how twisted, without being different at all. I kept my face straight and resisted the urge to shake my head in confusion. "Well, it means System NeoZero. It's not that fancy of a name but it works. It's based off the Zero System, but it's… different. Easier to handle and control, and it doesn't work as well," he paused a moment, "unless of course someone uses it who has mastered the Zero system, then it works all too well."
I was happy I didn't have to ask the question when Zechs asked for me. "What does 'it works all too well' mean?"
Mathew's smile almost faltered. He didn't want to answer the question, but did anyway. "NeoZero will stick with a person, show them more, and tell them things. It doesn't exactly tell the future, but… warns you. Tells you where to move, uses examples from your past to tell you what will happen. It works most when directly connected to the system like in one of these rooms, or in our two gundams, Scorpio and Gemini."
I kept a blank face, not thinking about my expression. My face naturally goes blank when I'm hiding something; it naturally goes blank anytime, whenever I didn't tell it to do otherwise. NeoZero… that was what was bothering me with Zechs, but it helped me. It warned me… I didn't like that. I didn't like it being with me always. But it could help. Mathew obviously didn't think Zechs or I had been with the Zero system.
Or maybe it was a test and he wasn't sure.
I blinked at the thought, licking my lips nervously. I couldn't shake that thought off. It seemed wrong yet…
Red glittered around my eyes.
It was a warning. But not for me. It would hurt me if he found out Zechs had mastered the system. He wasn't supposed to have, I don't know why but he wasn't. I was just someone thrown in to keep him occupied, to keep him from realizing and activating the system.
I hated being someone's pawn and hated even more not being able to do a damn thing about it.
"What gundams did you take the system from? Or did you find it somewhere else." I tried to sound like a nobody, just a curious student who was a good pilot. He seamed to buy it, and as long as he didn't realize I was trying to figure out how serious a situation I was in.
"RedZero, Alex Yuy's gundam, and off a program. They were basically the same, but we found some differences," he stated. I held back a grimace and nodded. They stole something from my gundam, from RedZero. I seriously considered what I could do to Mathew before someone stopped me, trying to figure out how much damage I could cause.
Too bad he wasn't worth it.
He spent the rest of the time answering questions and explaining unimportant things. We didn't get to go into the rooms, and at eight o'clock we were dismissed for the day. All of us headed for the cafeteria. Funny thing was for once we were there when everyone else was.
The cafeteria was huge, with all kinds of furniture and tables. It was the in place to be, with ping-pong and foosball tables in the back. Latter I'd have to try my luck at foosball, but I wasn't worried at the moment. I was more concerned about other things, more practically how I was going to handle my current problem with NeoZero.
After I'd gotten my dinner I told Max and V that'd I'd meet them at our normal table, where the rest of the group was. Coldly I walked over to Zechs's table. I had to at least act as if he wasn't bugging me, I didn't want his friends to think I was intimidated. I wasn't sure what my feelings were at the moment, but I knew there was a sense of purpose to my actions.
Zechs's friends looked up at me, most smiling or looking confused. I probably would too, I couldn't think of a good excuse for me being here, I'd leave that up to Zechs. One of them whispered something that caused the others to stifle laughs.
"You here to lose another fight?" another said loud enough for me to hear.
I gazed at him blankly, giving him a very good devil-may-care emotionless mask. It was unsettling, I knew, it tended to have the wanted response, though. "Oh, I don't know. But if I'm fighting you, with anything, I'm sure to win. If you don't believe me care for a fight?" My voice was a perfect match to my expression.
The guy shut up.
I turned to Zechs. "May I have a word with you?" I gave credit to myself, at least I asked. It was better than I'd expected. I was worried I might yell at him, which I still might do. The night was young and for some reason I was ticked off.
"Oh I don't know…" Zechs murmured carelessly. "I don't really feel like talking."
I raised an eyebrow, time to push things. "I heard your dad had a new suit, kinda cool. Was it another Tallgese? I don't think so but it has the same system of the Epyon… I wonder what that was." I started off sounding curious, than faded into threatening venom. But he got the point.
"Really?" He asked, pretending to be interested while his eyes sang of annoyance. "That's something to talk about." He glanced to his friends, "If you'd excuse me a moment."
When we were out of everyone's hearing range I turned to him. "Why on Earth do they have the system? And how'd they get it morphed like that!" I hissed.
"Calm down Cat," he said, pretending not to be worried. "I'm having the same problem as you, and I can't answer your question. I'm not a spy. I don't know their business. A cat like you might be able to snuggle up with Mathew's son and get some needed info."
"Hello, I'm supposed to be a guy," I snapped, "I don't 'snuggle' up with anyone. And stop calling me cat."
He laughed. "Well then he's your friend. You can get more information than me, but I'll try. His dad likes you. You're a promising student who he thinks can be easily molded. Play along with him. You'll have to suck up to him, but hey, if it helps I'm sure even you can swallow a little pride. In any case we're both stuck with this 'SYNZ' thing."
I nodded and turned away with him, to annoyed to say anything else.
"Good bye Cat," Zechs called as he headed back to his table.
I swallowed a growl as I walked to my usual table where my friends were waiting. They didn't ask any questions, getting the idea I wouldn't answer. I was too busy being ticked off at Zechs.
The next day we went into the rooms. A chair was directly in the middle. It was the same type as you'd find in a cockpit. I sat down in it. Suddenly the room changed. I was in an Aries in the middle of a dessert. I blinked. There was a com system that hooked all five of us together, along with Mathew who was watching all of us. Our mission was clear. We were to destroy all the enemy suits around us, and after that we were to go into the base and grab some necessary files. We were to retrieve the files at all coast. I wasn't sure if this was a test on following orders or how well we could do. I didn't really care.
We flew out together. It was so familiar having four other people with me that I was worried. These weren't gundams, they weren't my real friends, they knew Conway, and with the exception of Zechs they liked him. I closed my eyes and relaxed. We were to destroy the suits, that's all. Easy. But why did I feel so nervous?
Because it's a trick!
I don't know why I thought of it but the truth in the words sunk in. This time I did growl. Synz shut up! I yelled to myself. I didn't know how well systems listened but I didn't want this one's guidance.
We were heading for a group of suits that quickly surrounded us. I was in the first test, fifty suits heading for us. I backed away, knowing I'd do better on my own. I growled again. Stupid system. But I backed away.
"Hey Conway, you okay? Why are you growling?" Max asked over the com.
I made myself relax. How would a person who never been with the system handle this? "Something keeps doing… something to me. It's hinting at something. Damn it I can't figure out what."
"Calm down Conway, you'll all feel something soon. Don't worry, maybe you should listen to it. Synz knows what it's doing," Mathew said. Sweet whispers in your ear, all lies. Sure it knew what it was doing, but it had no limit, it could trap you in the past. I didn't know how I knew but I did. Listen to this too much and you're gone. But maybe that's what he wanted.
V laughed, "So that's what it was. Well then, one thing taken care of." He charged for the suits.
My nose twitched and I licked my lips, but I fought them too. But there were too many, and even we lost.
You wouldn't win that way. You'll never win that way.
Then why don't you tell me how to win.
A picture flashed at me. The entire fifty suits in the try outs where attacking me. I stepped back, not in a suit. That was the right thing, they'll always attack, but only if you're in a suit. I was no longer in space, but a building. Files were lining the screen.
"Conway are you okay?" It was V's voice. He stood by the door to the training room.
I came out of a trance like state. The room was back to normal, and found that so were everyone else. They looked worried as they stood in my doorway. Mathew wasn't worried, impressed maybe, confused? I didn't know, I was too tired to care.
"You were… unconscious … for maybe fifteen minutes after we all came out," V said. He seemed to test the words. Unconscious just didn't seem to fit.
"I'm fine now," I said softly as I yawned. "But a bit tired."
The next day was the same test in the same rooms. I sat in the suit's cockpit as the suits came flying towards us. I glanced about outside. The building we were supposed to invade was right below us. The suites came charging. I was worried, trying to remember what Synz had shown me.
Ditch the suit.
"Cover me," I ordered through the com.
They obeyed, not knowing why. I flew strait down. Landing easily I opened the door.
Right before I left I heard Zechs yelling, "You're not supposed to go in yet!"
Suddenly I knew. It wasn't a test on skill, or on common sense, or taking orders. It was a test to see how well Synz worked. To see what all it knew, how it would respond in a situation you couldn't win in. The whole thing was a trap. They just needed to stay alive long enough for me to get the files. Synz was supposed to tell us that.
I ran to a room. We'd studied a map and I knew where to go. I threw a disk into the computer, downloading the data as quickly as I could, hoping the others were still 'alive' so I could escape with it. If they died I'd be too easy to knock out. After I collected the data I ran. I finished tucking the disk away right as I came outside. Jumping back into my suit I checked the screen.
"Who's still here?" I asked, gasping for breath.
After a moment there came several answers at once. "Let's get the hell out of here," –Jet. "What took so long?" –Zechs. "Did you get it?" –Max. "You really shouldn't have gone in there," –V.
"Does it really matter?" I asked, already moving away, firing back at the suits as I went.
Back in the room Mathew came barging in just as I stood up.
"What happened? Why weren't you following orders? That's why I give them you know!" he seemed just a little annoyed, not mad.
I just starred at him as once again everyone filed into my room. "Synz passed the test." Blunt and to the point, my kind of answer.
"Did he tell you that?" Mathew asked.
I sighed. "It's not a 'he' and no it didn't. It said it was a trap and showed me what it needed to do, but it didn't tell me anything. I'm smart enough to figure that out by myself. We'd never pass that test. It's like any one of us going up against the mock doll test for getting into Oz, alone. It's useless. The only way was to go into the compound, yet you told us not to. That's where Synz came in. It said it was the only way, and it was right. It passed your test, thanks for using me as a tool. I just love it when people do that."
I stormed out of the room.
Not exactly what I had planed, but I always seemed a little annoyed after using Synz. It didn't help that Mathew had used us. He had put us in there as pawns, to see how well his little prize system worked. So much for making friends with him, better luck next time, try being Conway instead of Alex.
It hit me then. When I was strong headed and blunt I was Alex. I was in trouble. I had to be careful, a rookie like me wouldn't be yelling at his commander. That was too suspicious. I stopped and started pounding my head against a wall. Stupid as it sounds it worked. I was suddenly clear headed.
"Conway, what's going on?" V came up from behind me.
I shrugged. "Life's a bitch, what's new. This system is bugging me, even after it's gone." I shook my head. "I don't know what's wrong. You're dad's probably pissed."
"More like impressed." V stated.
"What?"
V laughed. "He likes you. You've got guts and a good head." He grinned. "But it won't get you out of doing whatever punishment he assigns you. Speaking back to your commander isn't recommended." I frowned a little uneasily, but V's smile was reassuring.
"Yeah, it really isn't," I murmured. I sighed, but didn't hesitate to follow V back.
I woke up with a yawn as the familiar ring of the morning bells came annoyingly through the intercom. It was the day of the forth test, which I wasn't really interested in. I was too tired to do a good job anyway.
The group and I hadn't stayed to watch the eleventh test, but we knew Zechs didn't pass it. Maybe someday I would. After we'd left we went out to celebrate. Unfortunately we stayed up too late, which wasn't really a bad thing but I was much too tired. Every time I had mentioned heading back someone vetoed the idea, and we stayed at a club till about one in the morning, giving us about four hours of sleep all together.
I didn't pay much attention to the tests. After passing level five I purposely failed six and waited for everyone else to finish. Mike made it to level eight, Rob to nine, and Penrod and Nathan to level seven. All of which I congratulated, as did the rest of the group. We didn't party that night, knowing that tomorrow would be the first day of real work. From what I heard I was already to be placed in the mobile suit advanced training until I was suited to be a pilot. Zechs Matt and V would be there too, along with one other person I didn't yet know. I would say I was excited but I really wasn't. Another day having to deal with Zechs couldn't be that great, no matter what.
We were to wake up at 5:00 as usual, but I made myself get up at four instead. No one was awake then, which made me happy considering the fact that I could take a shower without worrying about someone seeing me. I took more time than I should have and used too much of the hot water, but I'd been taking cold showers for a while and I was happy with hot for a change. Afterwards I took my time getting dressed, wrapping my chest carefully beforehand. When I was done I starred at myself in a mirror.
The black jumpsuit fit me perfectly, and didn't look too bad, either. My blonde hair was a little longer than it had been when it was first cut, about a hundredth of an inch, but still longer. Maybe I should let it grow out, start a new style. I grinned to myself, envisioning my friends with long hair. Well, it could work for me.
On the way back to my room I saw a girl clipping notes to different doors. I asked her for the one to my room. I looked it over as I finished walking back, then set it on the table when I got there. The bell sounded about half an hour after. Everyone woke up to find me stretching. They had twenty minutes before they'd have to be at their assigned rooms I planned on using that time for a morning jog.
"Do my eyes deceive me or are you exercising and ready to go?" Nathan asked as he crawled out of bed.
I laughed softly. "Yeah, I'm half crazy and have spent the last hour getting ready and doing warm up exercises," I told him.
Penrod looked up and opened his eyes, not having gotten out of bed yet. "Warm ups for what?"
"For a jog I'm about to go on," I answered.
Not long after that I left them to stumble about as they attempted to wake up. I went outside and circled the courtyard. I jogged in place a moment afterward, trying to determine whether or not I should take the longer way back. I changed my mind about going either and headed in a different direction when I heard voices. Curious as I am I didn't really care whose conversation I would be interrupting.
It turned out I was happy I had interrupted.
Tarmine and Zechs were arguing in hushed voices, both looked irritated and mad. I stopped jogging, putting a hand on my hip. The sight of Tarmine angered me. I didn't want them here. This particular mission wasn't theirs. Didn't they have enough to do without watching me, too?
"Is there a problem here or do gundam pilots just show up for fun?" I knew my voice sounded angry, enraged really. I really didn't care about that, actually I kind of wanted it that way.
Both Tarmine and Zechs's heads snapped in my direction, surprised to find me watching them.
"What are you doing here?" Tarmine hissed as loudly as she dared. "You could get caught, or killed, or turned in by this… this…" she paused a moment, "I can't quite think of a name for him yet, but that's not the point."
"What are you doing here, Tarmine?" I asked blandly.
"I could ask you the same thing!"
"What are you doing here, Tarmine?" I repeated, my voice growing a shade colder.
"I'm looking for you," she snapped.
I gave her my best blank, emotionless face, my voice remained cool, calm and dangerously uncaring. "Tarmine, you found me. I'm safe, I'm healthy, I'm not going to get caught unless you tell the wrong person I'm here, and you would pay for it if you did. You can go back home and tell everyone to leave me alone. I've got this handled. Now you know it, now you can leave."
"But I-"
I cut Tarmine off, "No buts, I don't have time to deal with you, I have to be somewhere. Get off this base before I turn you in."
Glaring at me Tarmine turned and walked away.
"You got rid of her pretty quickly," said Zechs happily, "saved me some time."
I looked into his grinning face, not changing my cold expression. His grin faltered. "She was never here. If you mention even seeing her I will hurt you. If you say I saw her I will deny it. She was never here, never."
"Yeah, sure, whatever." Zechs turned away.
A red haze suddenly sprung up around me. I could see nothing, nothing but the outline of Zechs. He stopped and turned to me, I couldn't see why, couldn't see his face.
Zero? Zero System? Why are you here now? I'm not in RedZero, or Gemini for that matter.
Suddenly I could see Zechs again, but still nothing else.
Blinking I ask what Zero System meant. What does Zechs have to do with this? Then I understood.
He's my enemy. He's lying isn't he? I have to stop him, before he finds Tarmine.
"Zechs," I said as my mind returned to me.
He starred at me as if he, too, had just come out of a dream, or a message. "You Okay?" he asked.
"I meant it when I said not to tell anyone," my voice was soft, but my eyes held a note of madness brought on by the hint of the Zero System still in me. How I had become attached to it, or it attached to me, I didn't know how.
"Of course you did," he said, "don't worry."
"I'm not worried, Peacecraft," I assured him, "I'm just making sure you are. I don't make idle threats. If you slip up, and I will know if you do, I will make your life a living nightmare. I haven't been in a cell I couldn't break out of and I don't think you can hold me. If you try blackmailing me, as long as it's not important I'll play along with your game, but I warn you now not to push too hard."
Zechs starred at me very hard a moment. Then left. I wasn't worried about him, Zero System wasn't saying anything wrong. For now I was safe, or as safe as I could be with the System whispering in my ear.
When Zechs was gone I turned around and jogged back to my room, getting there just as V and Max walked out. I took a moment to change the look on my face, to appear normal when I felt anything but that.
Apparently I didn't change fast enough and Max noticed. "You okay, Conway? You look a little ticked off."
"Yeah, I'm fine. I've just got a rock in my shoe," I explained.
V nodded, "Well there's no time to get it out now, we've got to go or we'll be late. Docking bay three's on the other side of the building."
"Would you mind going for another jog?" Max asked.
"Not at all."
We jogged to the Docking bay, getting there just in time to take our seats without being late. Zechs was already there, along with Jet Fathom. We all looked at him questionly, causing him to push back into his chair, as if trying to rid himself of our stares. I tactfully looked away. I don't think V or Max got the hint. He was shy, but he had to be a good pilot to have gotten here.
"Hey Jet, I thought you were supposed to be at Dock one." Max said.
Jet nodded. "They made a mistake and fixed it by sending me here. I passed level eight, they said this was were I was supposed to be."
"So you were the fifth person," Zechs murmured curiously.
Before jet could respond the main doors burst open as V's dad came in, followed closely by two women. He stopped directly in front of us, sweeping his eyes over us quickly before he began his introduction.
"For those who don't know," he started, "my name is Mathew Barton, the commander of the Barton foundation and one of the chief commanders the new Oz. For those who know me on a personal level, I will treat you no different than anyone else." He glanced meaningfully at V.
"You five have shown yourselves to be some of, if not the best pilots in Oz. Each of you will be worked harder than the other, average pilots," he said average as if it were a bad things. "We will train you to perfection with every mobile suit weapon we have. If you have questions we encourage you to ask, if you have complaints prepare for more work.
"You'll be training for real, fighting against real dolls that can kill you. If you want to quit now is the time to do so. Docking bays one and two are open for more pilots. If you don't think you can beat the dolls, leave." No one moved.
"Starting tomorrow you'll also be using simulation rooms, fighting off suits of all kinds. If you 'die' in these rooms you go back to the dolls until we think you're ready to try again."
I raised my hand.
"Yes Conway?"
I was happy he'd remembered my name, the last teacher I had forgotten it. He wasn't a good teacher anyway. "What types of suits will we be fighting in?"
He paused, thinking a moment about her question. "You'll use all kinds of suits, starting with something simple." I nodded, wondering why he had to think about his answer. It wasn't a hard question. Maybe there was something he wasn't saying. For once I wanted the Zero System to show me something. And of course, nothing happened.
We got into suits next. We didn't fight anything, just worked on tactics and skills, all the boring stuff. Only Aries and Leos were available to us. We could choose which ones we wanted. We worked till nine o'clock, taking only two breaks, for lunch and dinner. Mathew and his helpers watched our every move, correcting us if we did just one thing out of line. It was annoying, but I had been through worse.
When we got back to our room we found everyone else already sleeping. It didn't take long for us to join them.
The morning was much like before, except I started my jog before everyone woke up, and had no interruptions. Again I walked with Max and V to our class. We went through more drills for the first half of the day, then he walked us over to a room, or rather a much wider hallway that had doors branching off into many rooms. All of them looked kind of like the old star-trek episodes' graph like rooms. I wondered if they were trying to recreate the show, maybe, but it was a couple hundred years old. I watched a lot of old stuff.
"These are the training rooms." Mathew said, as if talking about something much more casual. "They'll become basically anything we want, producing any atmosphere. You'll be in a cockpit. The catch to this is each of these rooms has a fighting system installed into them. It's called SYNZ. A play off of the gundam Zero System." That caught my interest. Based off of Zero?
"What does Synz stand for?" I asked, not bothering to raise my hand first. This whole thing was bugging me, but it did explain how I felt Zero System in the Gemini.
Mathew smiled, but it seemed some how twisted, without being different at all. I kept my face straight and resisted the urge to shake my head in confusion. "Well, it means System NeoZero. It's not that fancy of a name but it works. It's based off the Zero System, but it's… different. Easier to handle and control, and it doesn't work as well," he paused a moment, "unless of course someone uses it who has mastered the Zero system, then it works all too well."
I was happy I didn't have to ask the question when Zechs asked for me. "What does 'it works all too well' mean?"
Mathew's smile almost faltered. He didn't want to answer the question, but did anyway. "NeoZero will stick with a person, show them more, and tell them things. It doesn't exactly tell the future, but… warns you. Tells you where to move, uses examples from your past to tell you what will happen. It works most when directly connected to the system like in one of these rooms, or in our two gundams, Scorpio and Gemini."
I kept a blank face, not thinking about my expression. My face naturally goes blank when I'm hiding something; it naturally goes blank anytime, whenever I didn't tell it to do otherwise. NeoZero… that was what was bothering me with Zechs, but it helped me. It warned me… I didn't like that. I didn't like it being with me always. But it could help. Mathew obviously didn't think Zechs or I had been with the Zero system.
Or maybe it was a test and he wasn't sure.
I blinked at the thought, licking my lips nervously. I couldn't shake that thought off. It seemed wrong yet…
Red glittered around my eyes.
It was a warning. But not for me. It would hurt me if he found out Zechs had mastered the system. He wasn't supposed to have, I don't know why but he wasn't. I was just someone thrown in to keep him occupied, to keep him from realizing and activating the system.
I hated being someone's pawn and hated even more not being able to do a damn thing about it.
"What gundams did you take the system from? Or did you find it somewhere else." I tried to sound like a nobody, just a curious student who was a good pilot. He seamed to buy it, and as long as he didn't realize I was trying to figure out how serious a situation I was in.
"RedZero, Alex Yuy's gundam, and off a program. They were basically the same, but we found some differences," he stated. I held back a grimace and nodded. They stole something from my gundam, from RedZero. I seriously considered what I could do to Mathew before someone stopped me, trying to figure out how much damage I could cause.
Too bad he wasn't worth it.
He spent the rest of the time answering questions and explaining unimportant things. We didn't get to go into the rooms, and at eight o'clock we were dismissed for the day. All of us headed for the cafeteria. Funny thing was for once we were there when everyone else was.
The cafeteria was huge, with all kinds of furniture and tables. It was the in place to be, with ping-pong and foosball tables in the back. Latter I'd have to try my luck at foosball, but I wasn't worried at the moment. I was more concerned about other things, more practically how I was going to handle my current problem with NeoZero.
After I'd gotten my dinner I told Max and V that'd I'd meet them at our normal table, where the rest of the group was. Coldly I walked over to Zechs's table. I had to at least act as if he wasn't bugging me, I didn't want his friends to think I was intimidated. I wasn't sure what my feelings were at the moment, but I knew there was a sense of purpose to my actions.
Zechs's friends looked up at me, most smiling or looking confused. I probably would too, I couldn't think of a good excuse for me being here, I'd leave that up to Zechs. One of them whispered something that caused the others to stifle laughs.
"You here to lose another fight?" another said loud enough for me to hear.
I gazed at him blankly, giving him a very good devil-may-care emotionless mask. It was unsettling, I knew, it tended to have the wanted response, though. "Oh, I don't know. But if I'm fighting you, with anything, I'm sure to win. If you don't believe me care for a fight?" My voice was a perfect match to my expression.
The guy shut up.
I turned to Zechs. "May I have a word with you?" I gave credit to myself, at least I asked. It was better than I'd expected. I was worried I might yell at him, which I still might do. The night was young and for some reason I was ticked off.
"Oh I don't know…" Zechs murmured carelessly. "I don't really feel like talking."
I raised an eyebrow, time to push things. "I heard your dad had a new suit, kinda cool. Was it another Tallgese? I don't think so but it has the same system of the Epyon… I wonder what that was." I started off sounding curious, than faded into threatening venom. But he got the point.
"Really?" He asked, pretending to be interested while his eyes sang of annoyance. "That's something to talk about." He glanced to his friends, "If you'd excuse me a moment."
When we were out of everyone's hearing range I turned to him. "Why on Earth do they have the system? And how'd they get it morphed like that!" I hissed.
"Calm down Cat," he said, pretending not to be worried. "I'm having the same problem as you, and I can't answer your question. I'm not a spy. I don't know their business. A cat like you might be able to snuggle up with Mathew's son and get some needed info."
"Hello, I'm supposed to be a guy," I snapped, "I don't 'snuggle' up with anyone. And stop calling me cat."
He laughed. "Well then he's your friend. You can get more information than me, but I'll try. His dad likes you. You're a promising student who he thinks can be easily molded. Play along with him. You'll have to suck up to him, but hey, if it helps I'm sure even you can swallow a little pride. In any case we're both stuck with this 'SYNZ' thing."
I nodded and turned away with him, to annoyed to say anything else.
"Good bye Cat," Zechs called as he headed back to his table.
I swallowed a growl as I walked to my usual table where my friends were waiting. They didn't ask any questions, getting the idea I wouldn't answer. I was too busy being ticked off at Zechs.
The next day we went into the rooms. A chair was directly in the middle. It was the same type as you'd find in a cockpit. I sat down in it. Suddenly the room changed. I was in an Aries in the middle of a dessert. I blinked. There was a com system that hooked all five of us together, along with Mathew who was watching all of us. Our mission was clear. We were to destroy all the enemy suits around us, and after that we were to go into the base and grab some necessary files. We were to retrieve the files at all coast. I wasn't sure if this was a test on following orders or how well we could do. I didn't really care.
We flew out together. It was so familiar having four other people with me that I was worried. These weren't gundams, they weren't my real friends, they knew Conway, and with the exception of Zechs they liked him. I closed my eyes and relaxed. We were to destroy the suits, that's all. Easy. But why did I feel so nervous?
Because it's a trick!
I don't know why I thought of it but the truth in the words sunk in. This time I did growl. Synz shut up! I yelled to myself. I didn't know how well systems listened but I didn't want this one's guidance.
We were heading for a group of suits that quickly surrounded us. I was in the first test, fifty suits heading for us. I backed away, knowing I'd do better on my own. I growled again. Stupid system. But I backed away.
"Hey Conway, you okay? Why are you growling?" Max asked over the com.
I made myself relax. How would a person who never been with the system handle this? "Something keeps doing… something to me. It's hinting at something. Damn it I can't figure out what."
"Calm down Conway, you'll all feel something soon. Don't worry, maybe you should listen to it. Synz knows what it's doing," Mathew said. Sweet whispers in your ear, all lies. Sure it knew what it was doing, but it had no limit, it could trap you in the past. I didn't know how I knew but I did. Listen to this too much and you're gone. But maybe that's what he wanted.
V laughed, "So that's what it was. Well then, one thing taken care of." He charged for the suits.
My nose twitched and I licked my lips, but I fought them too. But there were too many, and even we lost.
You wouldn't win that way. You'll never win that way.
Then why don't you tell me how to win.
A picture flashed at me. The entire fifty suits in the try outs where attacking me. I stepped back, not in a suit. That was the right thing, they'll always attack, but only if you're in a suit. I was no longer in space, but a building. Files were lining the screen.
"Conway are you okay?" It was V's voice. He stood by the door to the training room.
I came out of a trance like state. The room was back to normal, and found that so were everyone else. They looked worried as they stood in my doorway. Mathew wasn't worried, impressed maybe, confused? I didn't know, I was too tired to care.
"You were… unconscious … for maybe fifteen minutes after we all came out," V said. He seemed to test the words. Unconscious just didn't seem to fit.
"I'm fine now," I said softly as I yawned. "But a bit tired."
The next day was the same test in the same rooms. I sat in the suit's cockpit as the suits came flying towards us. I glanced about outside. The building we were supposed to invade was right below us. The suites came charging. I was worried, trying to remember what Synz had shown me.
Ditch the suit.
"Cover me," I ordered through the com.
They obeyed, not knowing why. I flew strait down. Landing easily I opened the door.
Right before I left I heard Zechs yelling, "You're not supposed to go in yet!"
Suddenly I knew. It wasn't a test on skill, or on common sense, or taking orders. It was a test to see how well Synz worked. To see what all it knew, how it would respond in a situation you couldn't win in. The whole thing was a trap. They just needed to stay alive long enough for me to get the files. Synz was supposed to tell us that.
I ran to a room. We'd studied a map and I knew where to go. I threw a disk into the computer, downloading the data as quickly as I could, hoping the others were still 'alive' so I could escape with it. If they died I'd be too easy to knock out. After I collected the data I ran. I finished tucking the disk away right as I came outside. Jumping back into my suit I checked the screen.
"Who's still here?" I asked, gasping for breath.
After a moment there came several answers at once. "Let's get the hell out of here," –Jet. "What took so long?" –Zechs. "Did you get it?" –Max. "You really shouldn't have gone in there," –V.
"Does it really matter?" I asked, already moving away, firing back at the suits as I went.
Back in the room Mathew came barging in just as I stood up.
"What happened? Why weren't you following orders? That's why I give them you know!" he seemed just a little annoyed, not mad.
I just starred at him as once again everyone filed into my room. "Synz passed the test." Blunt and to the point, my kind of answer.
"Did he tell you that?" Mathew asked.
I sighed. "It's not a 'he' and no it didn't. It said it was a trap and showed me what it needed to do, but it didn't tell me anything. I'm smart enough to figure that out by myself. We'd never pass that test. It's like any one of us going up against the mock doll test for getting into Oz, alone. It's useless. The only way was to go into the compound, yet you told us not to. That's where Synz came in. It said it was the only way, and it was right. It passed your test, thanks for using me as a tool. I just love it when people do that."
I stormed out of the room.
Not exactly what I had planed, but I always seemed a little annoyed after using Synz. It didn't help that Mathew had used us. He had put us in there as pawns, to see how well his little prize system worked. So much for making friends with him, better luck next time, try being Conway instead of Alex.
It hit me then. When I was strong headed and blunt I was Alex. I was in trouble. I had to be careful, a rookie like me wouldn't be yelling at his commander. That was too suspicious. I stopped and started pounding my head against a wall. Stupid as it sounds it worked. I was suddenly clear headed.
"Conway, what's going on?" V came up from behind me.
I shrugged. "Life's a bitch, what's new. This system is bugging me, even after it's gone." I shook my head. "I don't know what's wrong. You're dad's probably pissed."
"More like impressed." V stated.
"What?"
V laughed. "He likes you. You've got guts and a good head." He grinned. "But it won't get you out of doing whatever punishment he assigns you. Speaking back to your commander isn't recommended." I frowned a little uneasily, but V's smile was reassuring.
"Yeah, it really isn't," I murmured. I sighed, but didn't hesitate to follow V back.