A/N: I've realized that having Mercedes hand gestures in quotations might make it slightly confusing...so her gestures are now in this format: -Mercedes' words-. Hopefully this will cut back on any confusion that may have occurred in the first chapter, which has been fixed by the way. And I can't stress this enough: Mercedes is using sign language to communicate now. Please keep that in mind. When she gets her voice back...if she does ^_~...I'll make sure it's perfectly clear. ^^
Chapter Two - Remnants
Mercedes sat down at the rickety old table on the back porch, hands curved around the mug of hot chocolate. The predawn morning was cool and somewhat misty. Thin shreds of fog hung over the fields, giving landscape a somewhat surreal quality.
'I don't have to do this,' She took a sip, her mind turning over the possibilities. 'I could try to find my uncle.'
She shook her head at that; the problem was that she had never met her uncle when she could visibly recognize him. All she could recall of him was a faded blur of a face with smiling blue eyes. And she wasn't even sure if he wanted anything to do with her. 'Mother always hinted at something that happened between them.' With a sigh of frustration she rose and went back inside, looking at her schoolbag that she had left on the kitchen table. Only it was now on the floor and Wufei sat at the table, a cup of tea in his hand and a book before him.
She nodded curtly, acknowledging his presence before she picked up her bag from where he placed it. 'Odd. I didn't have my laptop in it. Guess its Raven's.' She removed the slim black rectangle. Searching for a plug, she found it and started it up. Every once in awhile, she would glance up at Wufei before she looked back down at her screen and what she was typing. 'He doesn't look very happy.' She made a sound of exasperation as she spied the flashing icon in her system tray; it seemed that she had a mission of some sorts already.
Double clicking on it, a new screen popped up, the blue highlighting the white words. She paused, placing her mug back down as she read the words on the screen. 'This can't possibly be right. I thought we'd be activated as coverts, not...not this.' Frowning, she closed the screen and rose, walking back into the living room, mug in hand. It said to pull on the gnome on the mantelpiece. Sure enough, when she searched, a tiny little gnome sat tucked away in the corner, obscured from sight by the corner of the bricks.
With a frown at the thick dust, she grasped the gnome's hat and pulled. The entire fireplace pulled back revealing a descending set of stairs, faint light coming from lamps in the walls. She started down slowly, the smell of the cool, and somewhat musty, air making her wrinkle her nose.
'I should have put on slippers.' She disregarded the chill of the floor, as she stepped out onto a smooth floor. Pausing, she knocked on the side of the wall, an echo traveling through the massive darkness ahead of her. 'What was that? The echo ended sooner than it should have.' Curious, she knocked once more, hearing that peculiar sound of an obstruction. 'A rather big one from the sound of it.' She walked along the wall, running her hand against it until she brushed against the bumps of a light switch.
Taking a sip of her drink, she flicked them on, light flooding the wide area rapidly. 'Now what seems to be the problem?' She looked around until she found the source. The mug dropped from her hand, shattering into tiny pieces as she gazed at the two large towering creations. 'I don't believe it.'
Raven smiled as she stretched in the warm bed. It was certainly a nice change from being woken by surly servants at six in the morning just so she could get ready to attend her hellish school.
"What should I do first today? Take a jog? Have breakfast? Or just watch some TV?" she mused aloud to herself as she stood up. "I think I shall-"
She jumped as her door burst open, Mercedes framed by the hallway shadows. A relieved sigh coursed through her followed by a wave of anger.
"Don't you know how to knock? There's something to be said for...hey! What now?!" she protested as Mercedes took her hand and started to drag her off.
Yanking her hand back, she followed Mercedes down the living room. She gave a small smile and 'Good morning', seeing Trowa and Heero seated quietly in the living room, having a discussion. She sat down on the floor as Mercedes walked up to the fireplace.
"What are you guys doing up so early? Or are you both early risers?" she asked conversationally.
They all looked at each other before Trowa shifted slightly.
"We're-"
"What did she do?"
Raven looked up at Heero's words to see the fireplace moved back and Mercedes standing there with an anxious expression on her face as she motioned for Raven to come. She rose and followed her friend down with a sigh, wondering just what she was up to. Seeing the fireplace moved was a surprise yes, but what could be so important or urgent that it had Mercedes practically frantic?
A shiver passed through her as they descended further and further. Just what could have been down here? Was it something they were even supposed to see? She paused as she found herself facing a huge block of shadows.
"Um...Mer, what are we doing down here? And just how did you find this place?"
Mercedes made a motion, telling her to wait as she searched for the light switch once more. With a sigh, Raven leaned against the wall, waiting to see what could be so urgent. Glancing over, she saw the other five pilots, Duo and Quatre looking somewhat asleep, while Wufei had a somewhat irritated look on his face. She was about to stop Mercedes when the whole hangar flooded with light.
She blinked rapidly as her pupils dilated and then started to shrink. "Mer, give a little warning next time. Jesus, what now?!" she exploded with exasperation as she felt Mercedes hands lifting her head up sharply.
As her sight cleared, two large shapes loomed in her vision. Sleek black and blue stood beside red and black, in testament to the scientist skills. Her gaze drew almost instinctively to the red and black one; it looked amazing, the colours gleaming in the light, the chain whip coiled around in a holder while the hands almost looked like claws. The other one was more muted the blue and black gleaming just as brightly though. From behind, the handle of its weapons could be seen, hiding what it really looked like, while the hands hung loosely by the sides.
"I don't believe it." she breathed as Mercedes finally let go of her head.
"Are they giving them out so freely now?"
She looked back to see Wufei almost choking on disbelief while the other pilots had expression ranging from mildly surprised to amazement much like their own. Feeling a nudge in her side, she looked back at Mercedes.
-I think there was something wrong in the mission readout for us. It said that they were ours. - Mercedes motioned with a worried expression.
"I'm not complaining with that!" Raven said in a happy voice but quieted down seeing Mercedes glare. "Well, come on; did you really think that he would just leave us with no hardware to get the job done? Have more faith Mer."
Still the look didn't disappear from her eyes. - But look at them. If they fell into the wrong hands, then we would be a bad tactical disadvantage. -
"And they won't." she faced her. "Look, for once in your life, don't question things and just go with it?"
Mercedes frowned but nodded her head anyway. - Just don't make it so I have to bail your ass out. -
Raven couldn't help but laugh at that. "You wish. But I ain't gonna bail yours out."
- Eh heh. - Mercedes smiled slightly, as she looked back at the other five. - Look at them; they're astounded. Maybe they all think on some level that we can't do it? -
Raven arched an eyebrow as she looked at her best friend. "Then we're just gonna have to show them, aren't we?"
Mercedes watched as Raven went up with the rope. 'She'd better not fall and break her neck.' She couldn't stop the frown that descended on her face.
"Stop doing that!" Raven yelled down at her. "We get to try them out, would you smile for a bit? It's payback time!"
Mercedes crossed her arms and sat on the foot of her Gundam. The idea had occurred to her but she was extremely loathe to actually follow thorough with it; who knew what would happen if they acted far too cocky now that they had the most feared weapons of the war in their hands.
"Are you gonna get moving or what?!"
She rose slowly as she looked down at the footrope lying on the ground, waiting for her to step into it.
"Scared onna?"
She threw Wufei a withering scowl before she stepped onto the wire and tugged, activating the winch. She looked down at the other pilots who stood clustered around the computer console.
"Good luck!"
A smile came to her face at the sound of Duo's cheery voice. She stepped off lightly, pausing on the door, taking a deep breath. This was it; the start of something she wasn't even sure she was cut out for.
Hesitantly, she walked inside and buckled up as the door closed. 'Payback time indeed.' She sighed as she grasped the thrusters and readjusted her grip on them. The doors opened slowly, revealing the night sky. Firing up the thrusters, she flew out beside Raven and across the bare countryside. When the monitor gave a beep and a window popped up, she glanced to see her friend's face.
"You know what kind of weapons you got?" she asked with something of a grin.
Mercedes nodded her head, as she leaned forward on the throttle slightly. She honestly didn't know what they were but agreeing with Raven was sometimes the only way to get her off of her back. She didn't say anything more as they approached the base, just up ahead in the distance, the area still quiet. Even when Raven shook out her whip and cracked it once as they landed, nothing sounded. It was once she lashed it against a building, causing the structure to collapse, that alarms wailed out in a loud scream.
She didn't think, whipping her own weapons out and started over to the large hangar; the mission parameters read to destroy every single hangar that was there as well as the control building. She slashed and ripped alternately, feeling anger well up inside her, hot and fast. The suits came faster as the soldiers fought to save their base, explosions tearing through the once peaceful night air. Before long, the air was silent, filled with curling black smoke and smouldering ashes.
Mercedes watched out from her monitor before she unbuckled her restraints and opened her cockpit door. She looked around as she took in the devastation that they had caused to the base. She winced slightly as she felt the heat radiated up through the soles of her shoes before she walked forward. Husks of buildings remained the jagged beams of wood standing out against the sky like twisted corpses. She wandered through a frown on her face; this is what they were supposed to do? Granted, she could see the reason to fight Oz, they were becoming more oppressive by the day, but to his extent? This extent of elimination was required?
She could hear Raven's voice behind her, calling insistently for her to come back so they could leave the faint words of something coming reached her. She halted her steps and kicked up a pile of ashes. 'Just how many more times will I have to do this? Go to this level?' She sighed, turning to leave when she spied something out of place in the spot she had turned up. Bending down, she brushed away the cinders and looked at it more carefully.
The yellow metal was warped and bent out of shape, but the stone remained intact, glimmering beneath the flakes. She placed it in her hand ignoring the heat as she turned it over. Why would something like this be on a base? Turning it over revealed a section if the jewellery that had managed to escape the blast somehow.
A horrified look crashed down over her face as she read the partially erased inscription on the what was once the smooth back. 'To my dear M.M.K - J.S.' She gazed at it horrified as her brain refused to accept what it saw there, yet horribly flashing back to the breakfast that seemed so long ago.
"I'll…er…leave that up to you." Marie sipped her coffee. "Must you eat like it's your last meal? Chew, then swallow."
Mercedes felt tears well up in her eyes as she remembered her mother sitting with a regretful expression on her face, the sunlight coming in from the window, and shining on her necklace...her ruby necklace...the same one that now lay twisted almost beyond recognition in her hand. She fell to her knees, scrabbling in the debris, searching for another clue that would disprove her or worse yet, confirm her suspicions.
"Mer, come on!" Raven came up and grabbed her arm sharply. "We gotta get out of here! Now!"
She snatched her arm back and continued searching; she didn't care if she was captured or even killed at this point. She didn't want to live trough this without knowing, despite the part of her that was clamouring for ignorance. A hoarse sob came from her throat as she stopped with shaking hands, looking down at the half scorched steel watch face that was missing its bands, the small insignia on the side unmistakable; it was her family crest. She snatched it up and hunched over it, tears falling down her now smudged cheeks.
"Come on!"
She was forcibly hauled up and pushed back towards her Gundam; she stumbled at some parts moving like a dead person. She made it back in and numbly started up, not bothering to harness herself in. All through the trip back to the hangar, she felt a black pit open up inside her, wider and wider with each passing moment. Before she realized it, she was jarred by the sound of the doors closing with a resolute shut; they had arrived already. She opened the door and started down on the winch, her hand clutched tightly around the objects.
"So....how'd it go?"
She looked up as Duo stood there with a huge smile on his face. He was smiling for God's sake. Smiling after they, after she, had to go out there and cause such needed murder and massacre. Smiling....
She ran past him, as she looked away, the tears spilling down her face again. She tore up the stairs heading for the room she had to share with Raven. Making it in, she locked the door and collapsed on the bed, sobs wracking her body. Insistent pounding came on the door, followed by Raven's concerned voice. She ignored it. She held fast to the last things she had to remember her parents by, as anger and sorrow coursed through her; Oz would pay for this.