A/N

This is starting to round in, it'll probably be done at 15 chapters or so.

Taking a bit of a break with the drama and the angst, this chapter includes (but not limited to): fighting, roadtrips, getting sloshed, duct tape, a kick in the pants, and, of course, lingere for world peace. I've been sick for the past week and this was written in my mostly lucid moments so it's a little... weird, but I kinda like it.

Hmm... as the real place this story takes place isn't really important as it's a few hundred years in the future, I randomly chose Australia. Mostly because for some reason it amused me to put OZ's headquaters in a country nicknamed OZ, but also because it sounds like a cool place with excellent surfing, hot guys and cute accents. Umm.. The point of this is that I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO AUSTRALIA so all I've got is a book I once read based in Australia, so if I'm totally off I hope all you'll forgive me.



Chapter 12:





Hotaru woke up looking like hell and not feeling much better. Her eyes were swollen and puffy from the crying she's going to insist never happened, her clothes are wrinkled, her hair is mussed and she has the pattern of the seat fabric pressed into her cheek. She tries to sit up, but she bangs her head on the gearshift before she remembers that she slept in the jeep. She sighs, rubs the sleep from her eyes and turns the key in the ignition. Nothing happens. She stops, waits thirty seconds, then tries again. Still no movement under the hood. She punches the empty passenger seat in supreme frustration with the world, trying to distract herself from the fact that she still wants to cry and her neck is sore.





*****



"What do you mean they're gone?" Duo bellowed from inside the MRI machine.

"Quatre, get out! I'm running the tests!" Iria interrupted.

"But..." Quatre began.

"Are we under attack?" Iria asked, crossing her arms over her chest, her clipboard dangling from her hand.

"Well, no..."

"Is the building about to collapse?" She leaned close to him, causing Quatre to step back nervously.

"Not exactly."

"Did Prince Zaphod ask for my number?"

"Uh..." Quatre stepped away from his advancing sister. "No."

"Then," She smiled sweetly, "It can wait FIVE MORE MINUTES!" She shoved him bodily out the door.



*****

(Five minutes later)



Iria opened the door with a glare and gestured for Quatre to enter the room as she left. Duo was struggling with his pants. Iria estimated that it would take Duo at least three days to recharge his energy stores, but Duo seemed intent on going after his sister and friends right now.

Quatre tugged at his collar, it wouldn't help the situation at all to get Duo even MORE riled up with his own agitation, but what was he supposed to think when you kiss a girl and then an hour later she runs away with Heero and Hotaru? True, Mina and Heero never seemed to like each other, Quatre couldn't help but feel jealous.

Setting his own feelings aside he set to work at calming Duo. With an immoble, irate, and anxious Duo three days was just enough to drive them all insane. They'd better be back before then, or he might just have to kill them for not leaving a note.







*****

"Turn off the radio." Heero grunted. The whining of the singer's voice and the repetitive bass beat was beginning to annoy him, intruding on the single-minded concentration he applied to most things he did. Driving was no different. Mina, however, ignored him, staring out the window, half-heartedly bopping along to the beat. Heero grit his teeth, telling himself that to shoot her he would have to take his eyes off the road, and that wasn't very safe at all. Fumbling, he reached for the radio and pressed the power button.

"Hey." Mina protested, turning to glare at him. "I was listening to that."

This time Heero ignored her.

"Hey! Heero! Are you listening to me?" Mina demanded.

Heero didn't reply, fixing a steely gaze on the road ahead, tightening his grip on the steering wheel, and clenching his jaw.

"Fine." Her back went rigid and her eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back into her seat, staring ahead. "Be that way, you big baby, fuck you too."

"Name calling?" Heero replied casually, as if his grip wasn't beginning to warp the steering wheel. "Rude and childish."

Mina's cold front heated up rapidly as her face turned tomato red and firgurative steam came out of her ears. Her fingers curled and fists balled, and rose of their own accord, itching to crack the hard line of Heero's jaw. It took every ounce of self-control she had to not hit him but instead reply, "Rude? I'M the one being RUDE? I think you're mistaking me for yourself."

He shook his head, "I'm not rude," he replied, "You're just insignificant."

If it was at all possible, Mina's face got redder, he fists rose a little and were trembling slightly. "You, you, you... ARGH!" She screamed, then twisted around to face the window again. "I hate you." She hissed icily.

"The feeling is mutual."



*****

"Of all the places to break down!" Hotaru exclaimed as she looked around. Apparently the mansion was quite secluded, an oasis in the middle of the bush. Around her stretched a desert-like setting, only different due to the orange tinted dirt and occasional scrubby foliage. "Great, this is just great." It had been two hours since she had woken up and she had exactly one car had passed. As of the moment, she felt her chances of hitching a ride were only slightly higher than inventing lingere that caused world peace.

She sighed and sat on the trunk, then lay back, looking at the sky. She licked her lips, and winced as they cracked painfully, she needed water. Well, maybe it would rain? No, the sky was clear blue, cloudless, and seemed to be mocking her. She closed her eyes, could this get any worse?

She heard something whoosh past, screech to a stop, then back up slowly. Great, she thought, now I'm hallucinating too. I must be more dehydrated than I think.

Something poked her in the shoulder, her eyes flew open. That had hurt! This was no hallucination!

She sat up, nearly knocking heads with a tall blonde. The strange woman stepped back, placing her hands on her curvy hips and tossing her long hair over her shoulder. "Car trouble?" She asked, pointing to the hood of the jeep which I had propped open in the universal signal for help.

"Yeah," I relpied, squinting in the bright sunlight, envying her expensive looking mirrored sunglasses.

"Hop in." She replied tilting her head in the direction of a flashy yellow ferrari.

Hotaru hesitated, "Why are you helping me?" She asked, suspicious of this "OZ", the organization that the negaverse seemed to rule.

The woman snorted, "Now that's gratitude, do you want to stay out here and die of thirst?"

No, Hotaru replied silently. She certainly did not. But... she extended her senshi magical senses to the strange blonde. Curious, she thought, her face scrunched up in confusion, the stranger definitely wasn't of the dark magic, but she had a sense of power that floated about her in a haze that was dark blue with bits of gold at the edges, it felt...familiar, somehow.

"Hello?" The woman interrupted, jolting Hotaru back to normal vision. "If you're done making faces at me, I'm leaving, with or without you."

Hotaru nodded, still pondering her new companion. She climbed into the all-leather interior and they sped away.

Hotaru looked around, nervously chewing on a fingernail. It was silly, even without Duo, she had an incredible amount of power, not to mention a century or two of hand-to-hand experience, she'd never before, in all her incarnations, hitch-hiked. She glanced behind her seat and was surprised to see a number of labelled boxes.

"So..."

"Dorothy." The blonde supplied.

"So Dorothy, what's with the boxes?"

"Oh," Dorothy chuckled, "Just some lingere for world peace."



*****

"You crossed the line Yuy!" Mina yelled, pointing to the line drawn in red magic marker down the front seats.

"I most certainly did not." He replied.

"Are you calling me a liar?" She said through gritted teeth.

"I didn't have to say it."

"There! Look! You did it again!" Mina crowed, pointing at his hand.

Heero's hand was, indeed on Mina's side of the line, he was, however, using it to shift gears at the time.

"Look, you stupid girl, I need to shift gears, you can just move the bloody line." Heero had been driving for hours with Mina kibitzing and playing with the radio. Even Heero's steel nerves and icy temperament were beginning to fray. He needed to recharge soon. His monthly ritual was interrupted by the mobile suit attack. Without his programming being reinforced he was beginning to lose the absolute control he had over his emotions and his ability to suppress them. He shuddered, he was beginning to FEEL again.

Even if it was anger. Intense anger.

Mina was grumbling and re-drawing the line with blue pen. She glanced up at him, her eyes boring into his, holding her stare even after his eyes flicked back to the road.

"What?" He growled.

"I love not being you." She replied sincerely.

A piece of the steering wheel snapped off in his hands.



*****



"So, tell me if I've got this right: You design lingere and some of the proceeds go toward funding the peace movement?"

"Yeah," Dorothy replied around the cigarette in her mouth. She was frowning down at her lighter, the lighter fluid was nearly gone, but she was still trying to coax a flame out while driving at high speeds. The roadster swerved dangerously close to the ditch, Dorothy swore. Her eyes flicked back up the road and took a corner on two wheels, skidding around a metal pole and screeching to a stop about to inches from the only building Hotaru had seen in the last fifty miles or so.

Dorothy threw the empty lighter to the ground, and hopped out of the car, crushing the shiny yellow plastic covering with the metal tip of her stiletto heel. She yawned and walked toward the dusty building, which appeared to be a gas station of sorts. "You coming?" She called over her shoulder.

"Yeah..." Hotaru replied trying not to let her voice shake. 'Just as soon as my legs work again' she added mentally. "That was... interesting." She mumbled, fumbling to undo her seatbelt.

When Hotaru got inside, she saw Dorothy haggling cheerfully with a dusty middle aged man over a lighter and a pile of supplies on what Hotaru took to be a counter. As she eyes adjusted to the dim light she noticed this wasn't exactly the typical gas-station convenience store. Instead of cheap nudie magazines and junk food, weapons lined the walls. Grenades were piled according to size and blast radius in one corner, while smoke bombs and detonators lined another shelf. M-16's, Hotaru noticed dimly, were on blue-light special all this week.

Dorothy and the man paused in their conversation, "Hey," Dorothy said, "You need anything here, or can you wait 'till we get to town? I noticed you didn't have much on you."

"Err... okay." Hotaru replied, "What do I need?"

"For where we're going? Bruce, see what you can set my friend up with." Dorothy winked at the men who grinned toothlessly back at her and swaggered into the back room. Suddenly Hotaru wished she was back, dying of thirst at her jeep.





"Where are we going anyway?" Hotaru asked.

"Dorothy smirked, "You don't know?"

Hotaru frowned.

"This road leads to only one place. Nowhere." Dorothy replied, looking very much like a cat that had gotten into the cream.

"Nowhere? What do you mean? It's got to lead somewhere!" Hotaru replied, chewing on her nail again.

Dorothy threw her head back and laughed. It wasn't a nice laugh. "No, Nowhere is the name of the city at the end of this road. It's not exactly the best place for tourists, I thought you going there, seeing as it's the only big city in this direction."

Bruce came back to the counter, staggering up the weight of a cardboard box full of guns, knives and other unpleasant things.

Hotaru frowned and turned back to Dorothy. "But I thought you were trying for world peace?"

Dorothy laughed again, a cold chill ran up Hotaru's spine, "It doesn't mean I'm stupid. Going into Nowhere unarmed is a veritable death wish. Besides, I never said I wanted world peace. War is my game," She grinned nastily, "It's no fun if everybody gets to play."



*******

"What do you mean we're out of gas?" Mina screeched, slamming the car door as she stepped out.

"It means: We're. Out. Of. Gas." Heero replied, gritting his teeth as he grabbed a gas can out of the trunk. Mina had become even more unbearable than before. Ever since they found Hotaru's stolen jeep abandoned by the side of the road, Minako had become frantic with worry. On top of all her other stresses, the fact that their own car had just died did not go over well with her. He mentally kicked himself for not remembering that this was the car in which Duo had sabotaged the fuel gage.

Mina, however, was not satisfied with mental kicks. No, she kicked the trunk , the seats, the doors, and , getting a little carried away, Heero's shin, swearing violently the whole time.

She drew her foot back sheepishly from Heero, wincing slightly. She hadn't exactly been restraining the use of her senshi strength. "Oh! God! Uh... shit! Heero, I'm really sorry, oh jeez, are you okay?" She looked up to meet his angry blue eyes in an otherwise placid face.

Grunting, and not limping at all (which Mina found puzzling) walked to the back of the car and reached into the back seat, coming back with a roll of duct tape. "Maybe they don't know HOW to shut up in your time." He peeled a long strip of silvery tape off the roll with a harsh ripping sound. "It is my duty to show you."



*****



"What do you mean, they're all dead?" I growled, my voice dangerously quiet. The screens flicked around me, fizzing out of focus as I got angrier. The air crackled with electricity as I forced myself to breathe, calm down, calm down. "How did this catastrophe happen?" I growled.

Trieze motioned to his aide who brought his a folder. He opened it, and began to speak. "It seems..." He trailed off and frowned. "It seems that one of the girls produced a shock wave that vaporized the formation. From the last transmissions and readings we got, it seems she has the power of a small atom bomb.

Memories flood my mind:

Purple eyes, black hair, purple light warring with silver. Mother's blood.



"Saturn has enough power to destroy and remake the entire universe if she so chose."

"But that's impossible." Mama's voice is cool and calm.

"I never said it was possible, I only said it was true*"



Father's blood is dripping on me from above, the portal's closing Mama, we need to go. Mama? Mama? Mama, wake up, wake up! I want to go home! Please Mama wake up! Wake up!



"General? General? Are you alright?" Une asks. She doesn't really care, but I'm annoying her with my inattention, I know. She can't scold me however, I outrank her.

"Yes, I'm fine." I reply, a thin smirk gracing my lips, calculated to annoy her even more. "Enough." I snap, as I realize Trieze is still reporting. I wave my hand and the folder catches fire. Trieze swears and throws the folder to the ground. Oh my, I probably shouldn't have done that, but apologizing wouldn't be of any use, they would just use it as a weakness to be manipulated.

I know I haven't earned my position, but that doesn't mean I will allow myself to become a puppet. No one pulls my strings. Still, "You are all dismissed." I'm tired and empty, I need to recharge badly. "Not you Trieze, I need to speak to you." However, I still have an empire to run.

I strap the electrodes back onto my body and start searching for the elusive psi-signature of the killers I had picked up on before.

"General? What's going on?" Trieze asked, shifting from foot to foot. It seems the good general is not at all accustomed to not being in complete control.

"What does it look like you nitwit? I'm finding the scouts. Since your sources obviously can't be relied upon....I'm...going...to..urg...do it..." I gasped, just a little farther, I don't need to get in, just get a location, just a name girl, think of where you're going. Come on, damn it, come on, "Do it... myself." I grunted, blood trickling from my nose, wait, my face was more wet that that. I looked at Trieze through blurry eyes. He was gazing at me with a sort of horrified fascination. Lifting a hand to my head I found I was bleeding not only from my nose, but my eyes, mouth and eyes, damn, must have ruptured something important. No matter, I had broken through, I had a location, my technicians could fix me later.

"The Spitting Cat, Nowhere. Find them Trieze, make sure of it personally." I hissed as my vision went awry from pain.

Trieze nodded a shaky affirmative and opened the door. "Oh, and Trieze?" I called as her left. "If you fail I will be very, very disappointed in you."



*******



Heero smiled as motor turned with a faint purr. He nodded, luckily he'd been able to acquire gas from a small, dusty building a mile or so up the road. It was strangely filled with weapons, but they'd been able to provide him with gas (at an extortionate price, but being the only building in miles, Heero didn't complain) and confirmation of their direction.

"Mmmmmph! Leeeeeeemmmgggggg! Nnnnntttttmmmmyyybbbsstrrrd**!" Mina squealed as she glared banefully at him. Squirming in her seat.

Exhaling in great exasperation, Heero leaned over to rip the duct tape off her mouth.

"Ow!" Minako exclaimed, "Untie me you asshole!"

Heero ignored her, letting her rant for a few more minutes before interrupting in a quiet voice, "If you don't shut up, I won't tell you what I learn from Bruce."

Mina's mouth flapped silently for a few seconds before, "Bruce? Who's Bruce?"

"The man who sold me the gas. He says Hotaru was with a regular of his. They were heading for a motel/tavern called The Spitting Cat in Nowhere."

"Nowhere?"

"Where we're going."

"Well, I always knew you were going Nowhere."



******



The little roadster squealed to a stop a few millimeters from the concrete parking barrier. I gulped, it seemed to be a habit of Dorothy's.

"Well, this is it." Dorothy grinned, hauling a box of lingere out of the back, gesturing for me to the same. As I grabbed a box, I looked around. The seedy buildings were grimy and graffitied and sagged drunkenly against each other, much like the residents of the street. The sporty yellow ferrari looked quite out of place. It didn't seem like the good part of town, much less like where someone of Dorothy's obvious status would deign to enter. Then again, rest of the city, at least what I'd seen speeding around it, didn't look any better than this. Was it possible for a town not to have a good side?

Problem. I'm here, in town, but what do I do now? "Hey Dorothy, uh, thanks, so, um, is there somewhere you know I can stay, just for a few days, until I can find a job or something?"

Dorothy appeared to think about it for a few minutes. "You say you got kicked out?"

"Yeah," I replied, my mouth tightening.

"Well, it's not the poshest digs, but you can stay with me." She cocked her head toward the tavern door. "Come on."

"Why?" I replied, the retort slipping out before I had the presence of mind to cover a rude response and praise my luck. Dorothy was a little weird, but hey, a free room's a free room.

Dorothy snorted, and one side of her mouth quirked up in a smirk. "Because I know what it's like." With nothing else to say for once, I followed her up the stairs, I was looking forward to a good sleep in an actual bed.



******

"Finally, Oh my God!" Mina sprang out of the car, "That was way too long."

Heero raised and eyebrow at her and snorted. 'SHE thought that was way too long?'

Mina, however ignored him in favor of locating her erstwhile friend. Heero suppressed the urge to groan and entered the tavern. Mina, noticing he wasn't beside her, bounced back to him, whispering: "You get the bartender, I'll see if the clients have seen her." Then she bounded away before Heero could nod. All of a sudden, Heero could have sworn that she was enjoying herself.

Heero sat at the bar and waited for the bartender. After about ten minutes a tall, slender brunette approached him, "What'll it be short stuff?" Heero stiffened. He was NOT short.

"Water," He replied cooly, "I'd like to ask you a..."

"Sorry kiddo," The bartender interrupted, "Anyone who sits, drinks." She replied, her brown eyes sparkling in amusement.

"Okay, I'll have a beer, now about this girl, have you seen..." Heero began.

"Sorry," The bartender interrupted again, "A REAL drink, sweetheart, or are can't you drink?"

Heero's eyes narrowed, and, not having access to a computer to stabilize the chemical levels in his body, his testosterone level sky-rocketed. Suddenly he was convinced he could out-drink every man in the room. "I'll have... that." Heero replied, pointing to a steaming, neon-blue noxious-looking concoction.

The bartender's eyes widened considerably, "Brave lil' fella ain'tcha? One Blue Death on Wheels comin' right up." She replied grinning. Her hands flew to numerous bottles, pouring, mixing, shaking, without even looking at the bottles, and moving so fast that her hands blurred. As the final touch she added a metal stir to the mixture, which promptly dissolved.

"Drink up, sugar." She said, placing the drink on the table in front of him.



*****



"'Nother one." Heero slurred.

"Are you sure kid? You've had six already." The bartender raised an eyebrow.

Heero's eyes narrowed and his bottom lip jutted. "Want. 'Nother. One."

"Okay kid, It's your funeral." The bartender shrugged setting another drink in front of him. She hadn't seen the girl he was looking for, but the bartender was pretty sure he'd be seeing her after another one or two shots of blue death on wheels.

Mina bounded up to Heero, "We're in luck! The manager said she came in with a girl called Dorothy. They're staying upstairs! What a relief! Oi! Barkeep! A gin and tonic for me, and a shot of Drano for Mr. Personality over here."

The bartender slid Mina's drink down the bar to her, actually, I think Drano would be better for him than what he's been drinking."

"M' a lil' teapot." Heero mumbled.

"What?" Mina asked, not quite catching Heero's slurred words.

"M' a lil' teapot." He insisted. "M' shor' an' stout. Here's m' handle, h're's m' spout."

Mina bit down her laugh. Her face turning red at the effort.

"M' a lil' teapo'!" Heero insisted, turning suddenly to face her, grabbing both her arms. Unfortunately, this meant the bar was no longer supporting him.

"Oof!" Mina exclaimed as Heero fell on her. "Yeah, sure Heero, you're a little teapot." She looked back up to the bar, "What the hell did he drink?" She asked.

"It's called Blue Death on Wheels, record is for five in one night, but if he lives, it'll be seven." She flipped them a thumbs up. Heero was groggily singing to himself, insisting that he did TOO have a handle and a spout.



Mina groaned under Heero's weight, the boy might now be all that tall be in felt like his bones must be made of iron or something. She dragged him outside, shoving him into the back seat. "Okay mister," Minako panted, "You're going on a diet when we get back." She hefted his legs, and slammed the door behind them. "Okay, let's just hope Hotaru's not passed out as well." She groaned to herself.

"Oh, I do hope she is, Senshi Venus." A voice, cool and silky came from behind Mina. She whipped around. "Who are you?" She hissed, crouching instinctively into a defensive position.

"You don't know? Tut-tut, what ever happened to know-thy-enemy? My name is Trieze, and you, the boy, and Saturn will be coming with me."

"Oh?" Mina replied, "You and what army?"

"I should think that obvious," he chuckled, drawing his katana. "I believe this is the obligatory fight scene Miss Venus."

"I believe you're right." A slow, evil grin spread across her face, "But it won't last very long." She sprang forward, moving faster that Trieze would have thought possible. He realized, much too late, that, though he was a highly trained and skilled swordsman, she had superpowers.

Trieze twisted desperately out of the way, but due to her senshi speed, she was just too fast. Her hand darted forward and latched onto his belt buckle, pulling him toward her and causing him to nearly drop his katana in shock. This was not what he had expected. The katana, however, soon became the least of his troubles. "Rochambeau!***" Mina cried cheerfully as her foot contacted squarely with Trieze's groin.

All color immediately left his face as his mouth opened in a soundless scream. He collapsed in slow motion with a faint hiss, like a deflating balloon.

"Hey! Cool!" Mina exclaimed, "Magical restraints!"

She fit them to his wrists and ankles, hog-tying him with duct-tape for good measure, using the method Heero had used on her a few hours previous.

"That's it," Trieze thought as the duct tape covered his mouth, "This is war."



* Quote, can't remember who from... uhh.. Sorry, please don't sue

** Translates roughly to: Hey! Let me go! Untie me you bastard!

*** Rochambeau, as far as I know is a game where boys try to sack, (and not in the football sense) or kick each other in the groin area. They play this because they find it amusing to grab each other's genitals and watch their friends squeal in pain. I have never been more grateful to be female.





Okay! One month! Not so bad eh? I'll try and get the next chapter out a week or so into January, before exams, but I can't guarantee it. Reviews and vigilant e-mail harassment does, however make me write faster, so if you want to have the next chapter quickly, tell me and I'll do my best!



Btw, I AM one of those authors who actually LIKE constructive criticism, I'm fine with you hating my story, just please tell me why!



Anyhoo, thanks for reading and please review as well as recommend any fics you think are good, I'm too lazy to wade through everything these days!