AutumnHime: I'm looking at all this empty space below me, and feeling kind of awed...
Anyway, brief chapter overview: We see old friends, new friends, and the G-boys in this chapter! (it was bound to happen sooner or later.)
Thanks to: Rogue I will do my best to put those couples together. I promise nothing. Zero Thanks for the support. Untouchable I will do my best to make it as descriptive as possible, (my problem is that I start getting into descriptions and then I don't leave anything up to imagination or I start forgetting that dialogue is important, too.); Sailor Grape All will be explained, although I agree that it is kind of hard to follow, and I'm the one writing the story; Danielle Maybe you should watch SM, Dani. You might begin to appreciate the finer points of this story...and if you e-mail me asking what finer points, I'm going to steal your HP stuff. Moonchild DJ thanks again( it seems to be all I can say when I get to you.) Faery Moon, Alaina, Miranda, and SilveryStar
Hands of Fate; Changes in Destiny
Chp 3: In which new faces are seen
Braid swinging rhythmically behind him, Duo scampered down the streets of Colony L2. His indigo eyes held a strange but familiar gleam in them. In front of him, the cold marble building of Preventer's HQ rose up to greet him.
"Finally," he sighed, thinking about his trip...a whole mile and a half. He smoothed out the wrinkles in his white linen suit and readjusted his shades, before he pushed through one of the revolving doors...And came out into the public wayfare again. Duo tried again, pushing at the gold striped glass door. Once again, he missed his exit, and found himself outside. "Last time, Shinigami," Duo muttered to himself. This time, Duo made sure to push slowly, and entered the cool dim foyer of the office building in which Lady Une had insisted that the Preventers be stationed.
"Good morning, Mr. Maxwell. The others are already gathered in conference room 5A. If you would be so kind as to join them?" The receptionist at the 'Welcome' Desk informed the former Gundam Pilot.
"Thanks, Stace!" Duo grinned, and strode off to the elevator bank.
He got off on floor 5. Floor 5, being the level on which the big shots of the Preventers (who were actually very down-to-earth people, in Duo's mind) inhabited. Plush red carpeting dulled the thud of his footsteps, and the paintings and other various decorations made him feel as if he were in the Louvre. Duo walked past the first few doors he came to, each discreetly lettered in gold as 'B' or 'C' or 'D'. The last door on the left in the hallway differed from the others. First off, the mahogany door was shut. Also, there was no distinction, no sign saying "This is room 5A", or even the simple 'A' of the rest of the doors. Duo took no notice of this, however, and walked in.
Four men, late teens or early twenties, it was hard to tell, sat around the table. The closest to the door looked up as Duo entered, and smiled. His soft, cornflower blue eyes, platinum blond hair, and general air of focused benevolence screamed innocence, kindness, and in general good will towards all. Duo smiled back. Quatre Raberba Winner, heir to the Winner corporation, Gundam Pilot of Sandrock, and Arabian Prince was hardly an innocent, and his soul had been tormented as few others, perhaps nobody else's except the other pilots in this room and a few close acquaintances, had.
The man to Quarto's left also acknowledged Duo's entrance into the conference room. Trowa Barton had also had a worried past. For several months he hadn't been able to remember who he was. A young woman named Catharine had taken him in as her brother, despite the strange light brown unit-bang hair-do and the fact that only a single emerald orb showed, giving Trowa a slightly aristocratic, extremely mysterious, and disturbingly unsettling look. Of course, that all might be due to the fact that Trowa had a European background, and appeared very much like a noble with his ability to look down his Romanesque nose. This also might have been due to the fact that Trowa topped 6'0" when standing.
The man across from Trowa, to Quatre's right, looked up and glared, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like, "Nataku save me, not the insane braided baka. I'm never going to survive." This was greeting of sorts, especially as Wufei had said nothing detrimental, Duo supposed. The Chinese man had long black hair, not as long as Duo's own hair, Duo thought vainly, but shoulder-length. Unfortunately, the tight, root-scraping way Wufei wore it might have been why the Wu-man could never get a joke. Wufei's ebony eyes and ebony hair also reminded Duo of a hawk, a very pissed off hawk, for the most part.
The last male, sitting opposite of Quatre, was Heero Yui, legendary Gundam Pilot of Wing Zero. Heero, Duo noticed, didn't even bother to wave, nod, smile, or even glare at him. The cinnamon-stick colored hair and Prussian blue eyed man was too busy typing away at his laptop. No doubt he was changing his e-mail address in an attempt to save his sanity from Relena "The Stalker" Peacecraft.
"Duo, if you'd please sit down, I'd like to begin." A voice that both cracked like a whip and dripped with sincerely meant sweetness instructed.
Lady Une stood near a window, facing him. Her auburn hair was half up, half down, allowing perhaps for both of the personalities that she carried around inside of her to meld into one. Her eyes were serious as she began.
"You have a new mission. The Preventers have received some strange reports of monsters in several areas." Une began, eyes briefly resting upon each of the five men sitting in front of her. "For the most part, the largest concentration of youma is on Earth. The most worrying thing is that they are concentrated around the Sanc Kingdom. We fear an attack on Relena. However, with each report we get and before any other security enforcement agencies can get there, the monsters are already taken care of. From reliable eyewitness accounts, we gather that there are at least eight people, all female. A ninth one has been sighted occasionally, but we have no real proof that she exists. They have a sort of uniform, a sailor's outfit, much like those worn in schools a millennia ago."
Wufei snorted, leaning back in his chair. "If onnas are defeating these monsters, they must not be so tough."
"Don't be too sure about that, Wufei. There are several indications that the monsters are becoming increasingly dangerous."
Heero interrupted. "Where have the rest of the monsters been located?"
Une glanced down at the notes that rested before her on the table. "Hmmm...L3 and L6 for the most part, it seems...although occasionally they have been seen on L1, L2, L4, and L5."
"Do we know anything more about these 'Monster Police' people?" Trowa spoke, voice husky from disuse. His friends looked at him in shock.
"Only a little." Lady Une replied, pressing a small red button on a remote. "This is what those we know about look like. From comments made by the few witnesses we've found, they call themselves after the planets. Also, they work in pairs."
In the middle of the table, eight figures appeared. The first one had violet-streaked black hair. She looked younger than the rest, but also as if she had had more horrible experiences in life. "This is Saturn. Her partner," another figure grew bolder, "is Neptune." The hologram of this woman put her at around the ages of 20-23. She had wavy aquamarine hair, and her face could be described both as severe and friendly.
"The next set," Une pressed the button again. This time two figures grew to life-size. "contains Mars and Pluto." Both seemed to be about the same age. Mars had raven hair and her eyes were indigo. Pluto was perhaps a few years older than Mars. Her hair was a dark maroon, almost alexandrite-ish with purple and green highlights. Her eyes held only timeless wisdom.
Duo whistled low. "Whoa, that Mars is hot!" Used to his comments, Lady Une simply carried on.
"The last four also work in pairs but they seem to switch with each other. These are the four that take care of the monsters on earth." She touched another button. "In order from left to right: Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, and Uranus." Jupiter had dark hair with a very English Rose complexion. Venus had blonde hair and blue eyes. Mercury was shorter than her compatriots, but the most notable feature was her hair. It was BLUE! Uranus...was a woman? The lady in the picture, despite the form-fitting bodice of her outfit looked very uni-sex.
"Hnnn..."
"What is your mission?" Une interpreted. Immediately, the attention of all the Gundam pilots rested upon her. "Your mission is to find these women, and find out why they are here. This is, of course, in addition to protecting Relena Peacecraft, from the monsters."
"Not the Pacifistic Stalker!" Duo whined. "Why us? Where're Noin and Marquis?"
Une smiled. "That's no way to talk about a dignitary, Duo." she chided, "although she can be annoying. And Noin and Zechs are on a different special assignment."
"Mission accepted." Heero grunted, detached.
"If that's settled," Une stood, her chair scraping back. "I'll leave you to divide up the duty."
"Lady Une?" Quatre stopped the commander of the Preventers from leaving.
"Yes, Quatre?"
"If necessary, can we call upon back-up?"
Une shook her head as if she hadn't heard him right the first time. The other pilots also looked at him as if he had lost a marble or two. "Excuse me?"
"Can we call upon back-up if we need it?" The Arabian pilot asked again.
"That's what I thought you said..." Une kept shaking her head disbelievingly. "If you feel you need it." With that, she turned and left.
When the door had closed behind the Lady, Wufei shouted. "We will NOT need back-up, Winner. I refuse to allow myself to be WEAK, and if I cannot be weak, then neither shall you! IT IS INJUSTICE!" He brandished the omni-present katana in Quatre's face. Just as Duo was about to add his own opinion to the general furor, Trowa asked a single question.
"Why?"
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AH: Will Trowa's question be answered? Can Quatre actually explain his reasoning? Do we ever see the SM girls again? Find out next time, in Episode 4 of Hands of Fate; Changes in Destiny.
(I'm a freak!)
I need ideas for couples. The only for sure couple idea that I have is Heero/Usagi or Trowa/Usagi. For those of you who don't like these choices, I will eventually be writing a Heero/Ami story (I promised Kaiya.) NEWAYS, Read and Review, and I want summer break to get here fast!
AutumnHime
