Chapter 2- OZ
Gilly stepped out of her room, and as she went to close her door, she was pushed back in. Heero stood there, gun in hand, and he closed the door softly behind him. "Now really," Gilly said, "you're not gonna kill me in the middle of a semi- public place." She smiled. "Don't put it past me." Heero said wryly, "The disc, please." He motioned for the case. Gilly pulled it out of her pocket, handing it to Heero. He grabbed it and slipped it in his own pocket. "It's not much," Gilly added, "but I hope it'll do."
"You don't know what you're getting into." He said plainly.
"What do you mean?" Gilly asked, "I didn't realize I was already involved."
"Well," Came Duo's voice, "to an extent you are, but don't get cocky," He said smartly, catching Gilly's eye, "and don't get involved anymore than you already are."
When Gilly looked back at Heero, he was already gone.
"He has it," Duo sauntered up to Gilly, "doesn't he?"
"Yeah..." Gilly half breathed.
"He's a little trigger happy, isn't he?"
"That's twice." Gilly said, walking out of her room.
"Oh, don't worry. You'll get used to it." He assured her as he followed.
"Great." Gilly said sarcastically, as she shut the door.
"Are you gonna eat breakfast?"
"No, I usually don't." They walked slowly down the hall.
"That's a bad habit."
"I know. I just find it difficult to eat in the mornings."
Duo checked his watch, "Well, I'm not anorexic, so I'll be going."
"See you in class, Duo." Gilly smiled.
"Alright." Duo waved as he headed for the cafeteria.
She walked into class steadily and sat down in the back. She looked through her Algebra II book as she waited for class to start. She noticed that Heero sat at the opposite and of the room, doing something with his computer. Soon, Duo entered and took the seat in front of her. Class started and immediately, it droned on.
The day flowed fairly smoothly, and Gilly found herself drawing sketches of a weird Gundam. When Duo looked to see what she was doing she hid the papers.
The last class of the day finally came and Gilly sat there, waiting for it to end when it happened.
"Ms. Gilly Hathaway?" Came a woman's voice into Gilly's mind.
"Huh?!" Gilly replied, startled.
"Ms. Hathaway, you're instructed to come with me." Said the woman in the red military uniform.
"One second." Gilly replied, as she began to gather her stuff.
"That's an OZ officer." Duo whispered as the woman spoke with the teacher.
"I know."
"If you need me to pick you up," He paused, "or help out just call this number." He dropped a piece of paper on Gilly's notebook.
"I'll be just fine, Duo." She assured him, "I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself." She walked up to the front where the woman waited.
"Yeah right." Duo muttered under his breath.
The woman led Gilly to the principal's office. Once there she gave Gilly strict instructions to go to her room, get rid of her stuff, and changed into something comfortable. Gilly did so hurriedly.
When she arrived at her room, Gilly unhooked her computer and put it neatly away, changed her clothes, and put her gun under her pillow. She had already deleted all files on OZ and the Gundams, so she didn't have to worry about them.
She heard a knock at the door. She answered it and there stood the young woman in the red, OZ uniform.
"May I come in?" The woman asked.
"Sure." Gilly smiled.
The woman walked in; "I am Lt. Sienna Troit. I have been instructed by my superiors to bring you to one of our bases for questioning. Do you know what for?"
"Uh-uh." Gilly shook her head.
"Neither do I. Although I believe it's highly unethical to bring an adolescent in to a military base, unless you did something really bad. Did you?"
"Not that I know of." Gilly assured her.
"Well, then. I'm terribly sorry to have to do this." Sienna smiled sourly, "Let's go." She motioned, "This way."
Gilly followed.
Gilly sat in the passenger side of the military car. It was a nice car, but Gilly felt uneasy. Lt. Troit seemed nice enough, but Gilly still didn't trust her. She starred out her window. The scenery was quite lovely, but she didn't enjoy it as much as she might have under normal circumstances.
"Where are we going?" She finally asked.
"To the Elizabeth Secured Facility." Lt. Troit replied.
They finally arrived. Gilly starred at the huge building. She felt queasy and didn't want to go in, but she had no choice in the matter.
"We're here." Troit announced.
They walked in to the building. At the front door was an office with very plain whit walls. Various awards hung on the walls, but still it was cold. Gilly watched as Lt. Troit signed a form and checked herself in, showing her I.D. and rank.
"The interrogation room is that way," The woman behind the counter pointed, "and I'm sorry to have to do this to Ms. Hathaway."
"It's alright." Gilly smiled naïvely, "Everything will work out, cause I'm innocent."
"Thank you." Lt. Troit said as she pushed Gilly on.
They walked to where the woman had pointed. The door was a pukey green, which made Gilly want to throw-up even more than before. Troit opened it and walked in. Gilly followed, acting as naïve as ever, even if she felt stupid, she'd no choice. Gilly sat down at the far end of the room, knowing it would do her no good.
"I won't be with you, kid," Troit said, exiting, "so, good luck."
Gilly laid her hands in her lap and watched door uneasily. A while passed, and she noticed the mirror. She laughed to herself. Than, another uniformed woman in red walked into the room. She looked at Gilly ominously.
The woman wore glasses, and had her hair up in braided buns.
"Ms. Hathaway, I presume?" She asked.
Gilly nodded.
"I am Lt. Col. Lady Une."
"Oh." Gilly said pleasantly, extending her hand.
Lady Une shook it firmly.
"May I ask as to why exactly am I here?" Gilly quizzed.
"To find out if you are guilty."
"Wouldn't that be better left in court?"
"Do you really want this public?" Une interrogated.
"What?"
"I know you took it. I don't care what Mr. Trieze says, I know you did." Une said as firmly, if not firmer than, her handshake.
"Trieze? Do you mean Trieze Kushrenada?" Gilly asked sweetly.
"Don't change the damn subject!" Lady Une snarled.
Gilly slammed her hands on the table furiously and stood up, "Than, what the Hell are you talking about?"
"Don't talk like that to me!" Lady Une stepped forward aggressively.
Gilly attempted to calm herself, but she was still quite irritated, "Than," She spoke nose to nose with Lady Une, "tell me why I'm here."
"You know damn well why you're here."
Gilly covered her eyes with her hands and sat back down in frustration, "No, I don't" She whispered in a rough voice.
"The stolen data on the OZ MD."
"MD? What's that? Is that like a mobile suit?" Gilly asked curiously.
"It stands for mobile doll."
"Doll?"
Lady Une mumbled something about "playing dumb" and walked out of the room. Gilly starred after her, confused. She waited a while, and when Lady Une didn't come back for a long time, she sat down in the chair. She zipped up her jacket and dozed in and out sleep, until the door opened again.
In walked a handsome young man. He was about 5'11" tall and looked to be about 25. He had charming, wavy, brown hair and intellectual, ice, blue eyes. He wore an ocean blue uniform, with black boots, and a fencing foil at his side. Seeing such a handsome man made her think of Duo, his boyish, brown hair and mischievous, cobalt, blue eyes.
"I," The young man said, "am Col. Trieze Kushrenada."
Gilly starred at him in utter disbelief. Why would OZ's top Specials officer be dealing with her? What had Lady Une said about her? Did Trieze actually believe that Gilly was innocent?
"And you are Ms. Gilly Hathaway?"
Gilly still starred.
Finally she snapped out of it, "Yes," She replied, "I am."
She heard him say something about being "so young". What was with these people? Did they have this thing about muttering stuff under their breath? Whatever they had to say, they could say it to her face, she decided. She watched him pull up a chair and sat across from her. She watched him intently as he did so. When he sat down he watched her, as well. She felt like running, but her legs wouldn't work.
Trieze couldn't help but wonder how this girl, only fifteen years old, had managed to get a hold of that data. There was a flicker of yellow spark behind her eye that caught his attention. It seemed to be some kind of synapse pulse. Had this girl's mind been tampered with?
Gilly remembered her manners, "Hello, Col. Kushrenada," She stood, "it's a pleasure." She extended her hand politely.
Trieze took it and shook it delicately, "Trieze." He assured her.
"Trieze." Gilly repeated, blushing.
"Would you like something to drink?"
"No thank you." Gilly replied suspiciously, she didn't know whether or not these people would drug someone her age or not.
"Shall we begin, than?" He motioned for her to sit.
"Yeah, I guess."
Trieze asked her typical questions to begin with. Questions like name, age, social security #, school, address, etc. Than he paused for a minute or so.
"Do you know why you're here?" He finally asked.
"You think I took some data about the," She paused, "mobile dolls?"
"Actually Lady Une is the one who had the hunch, I'm doing this for her sake."
"Oh."
"She's been tracing the hacker for some time now, and she believes it is you. Her instincts are good, but you just don't seem to be the one."
"Well, I'm not." Gilly blurted.
Trieze gave her a grave look. He again stood up and went to the door. He opened it and in walked Lady Une, once more.
"Lady," Trieze said, "will you please?'
"Yes, sir." Une smiled.
Great, Gilly thought, here we go again.
Une sat down where Trieze had been sitting and looked Gilly in the eye. Both scowled.
"Where are your parents, Ms Hathaway?" Une asked unexpectedly.
Gilly felt sick again, "They're dead." She managed.
"How'd they die?"
The lump in Gilly's throat grew as she looked at Trieze, "Something went wrong with their shuttle to earth, and it," She choked, "exploded."
"Was it really an accident?" Une crooned.
"I don't know," Gilly whispered, "was it?"
"What?"
"Why do you care about that?" She lowered her head; "You seem awfully interested in my parent's death." Her emphasis fell on the word, death.
"I just want to know your opinion."
"You really want my opinion?"
"Yes." Une replied and Gilly slowly raised her head as she spoke.
"Than," Gilly felt the lump grow, "I think you did it."
"Why is that?" Une said calmly, which took Gilly by surprise, for that's not what she'd expected her to say.
"Because," Gilly began, "you think I took some damn data from you, and I didn't!" She yelled, "You killed my parents in attempt to kill me! What the Hell is your problem?" Gilly began to cry.
She could sense the tension in the room. She than realized it, the data wasn't the only reason they had tried to kill her. Some thing in the back of her mind told her so. But, what?
Gilly covered her face with her hands and hung her head. She didn't want to cry. She hadn't cried. She couldn't. Yet, here she was crying her eyes out, breaking the promise she'd made. She wouldn't have cried hadn't Lady Une been flaunting her parent's deaths in her face, and being so cruel about it, too. How could she be so insensitive?
"Lady," Trieze sympathized, "that's enough." He put his hands on Gilly's shoulders, "Perhaps, you should go."
"Yes, Mr. Trieze." Lady Une left, agitated.
Both Une and Trieze knew that Gilly's tears were not an act. They were quite real, and made it very convincing that Gilly was innocent. He rubbed her shoulders as she cried. Gilly felt the warmth of his touch and it brought no comfort. She pulled away and wished for Duo to be there. He was the one she wanted to comfort her, to hold her. She carefully choked back her tears and dried her eyes with her sleeve.
"You are free to go." Trieze sighed as he walked towards the door; "There is a phone down the hall to the left if you have some one to call." He walked out the door leaving it open a crack, "I am sorry." He said.
Gilly took a moment to regain her sanity, and she stood up. She slowly walked out the door and down the hall, keeping her head low. She avoided the evil stare of Lady Une and several of her loyal soldiers. She arrived at the phone and picked it up. She pulled the note Duo had given her out of her pocket and unfolded it. She dialed the number and waited while it ringed. Someone picked up.
"Duo speaking." The voice said cockily.
"Duo?" Gilly asked.
"Gilly? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I just need you to come and pick me up. I don't have my motorcycle."
"How would you care for me to pick you up, milady."
No answer, except for a choke.
"Gilly? Gilly!" Duo yelled into the receiver, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Gilly gasped, "Will you pick me up?" Her voice than fell to a whisper, "I think there's a few people here who have it in for me."
"Than," Duo said confidently, "maybe Deathscythe shall be my escort."
"Deathscythe?" Gilly was surprised.
"See you soon."
"Wait!" But it was too late; Duo had already hung up.
Gilly stepped out of her room, and as she went to close her door, she was pushed back in. Heero stood there, gun in hand, and he closed the door softly behind him. "Now really," Gilly said, "you're not gonna kill me in the middle of a semi- public place." She smiled. "Don't put it past me." Heero said wryly, "The disc, please." He motioned for the case. Gilly pulled it out of her pocket, handing it to Heero. He grabbed it and slipped it in his own pocket. "It's not much," Gilly added, "but I hope it'll do."
"You don't know what you're getting into." He said plainly.
"What do you mean?" Gilly asked, "I didn't realize I was already involved."
"Well," Came Duo's voice, "to an extent you are, but don't get cocky," He said smartly, catching Gilly's eye, "and don't get involved anymore than you already are."
When Gilly looked back at Heero, he was already gone.
"He has it," Duo sauntered up to Gilly, "doesn't he?"
"Yeah..." Gilly half breathed.
"He's a little trigger happy, isn't he?"
"That's twice." Gilly said, walking out of her room.
"Oh, don't worry. You'll get used to it." He assured her as he followed.
"Great." Gilly said sarcastically, as she shut the door.
"Are you gonna eat breakfast?"
"No, I usually don't." They walked slowly down the hall.
"That's a bad habit."
"I know. I just find it difficult to eat in the mornings."
Duo checked his watch, "Well, I'm not anorexic, so I'll be going."
"See you in class, Duo." Gilly smiled.
"Alright." Duo waved as he headed for the cafeteria.
She walked into class steadily and sat down in the back. She looked through her Algebra II book as she waited for class to start. She noticed that Heero sat at the opposite and of the room, doing something with his computer. Soon, Duo entered and took the seat in front of her. Class started and immediately, it droned on.
The day flowed fairly smoothly, and Gilly found herself drawing sketches of a weird Gundam. When Duo looked to see what she was doing she hid the papers.
The last class of the day finally came and Gilly sat there, waiting for it to end when it happened.
"Ms. Gilly Hathaway?" Came a woman's voice into Gilly's mind.
"Huh?!" Gilly replied, startled.
"Ms. Hathaway, you're instructed to come with me." Said the woman in the red military uniform.
"One second." Gilly replied, as she began to gather her stuff.
"That's an OZ officer." Duo whispered as the woman spoke with the teacher.
"I know."
"If you need me to pick you up," He paused, "or help out just call this number." He dropped a piece of paper on Gilly's notebook.
"I'll be just fine, Duo." She assured him, "I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself." She walked up to the front where the woman waited.
"Yeah right." Duo muttered under his breath.
The woman led Gilly to the principal's office. Once there she gave Gilly strict instructions to go to her room, get rid of her stuff, and changed into something comfortable. Gilly did so hurriedly.
When she arrived at her room, Gilly unhooked her computer and put it neatly away, changed her clothes, and put her gun under her pillow. She had already deleted all files on OZ and the Gundams, so she didn't have to worry about them.
She heard a knock at the door. She answered it and there stood the young woman in the red, OZ uniform.
"May I come in?" The woman asked.
"Sure." Gilly smiled.
The woman walked in; "I am Lt. Sienna Troit. I have been instructed by my superiors to bring you to one of our bases for questioning. Do you know what for?"
"Uh-uh." Gilly shook her head.
"Neither do I. Although I believe it's highly unethical to bring an adolescent in to a military base, unless you did something really bad. Did you?"
"Not that I know of." Gilly assured her.
"Well, then. I'm terribly sorry to have to do this." Sienna smiled sourly, "Let's go." She motioned, "This way."
Gilly followed.
Gilly sat in the passenger side of the military car. It was a nice car, but Gilly felt uneasy. Lt. Troit seemed nice enough, but Gilly still didn't trust her. She starred out her window. The scenery was quite lovely, but she didn't enjoy it as much as she might have under normal circumstances.
"Where are we going?" She finally asked.
"To the Elizabeth Secured Facility." Lt. Troit replied.
They finally arrived. Gilly starred at the huge building. She felt queasy and didn't want to go in, but she had no choice in the matter.
"We're here." Troit announced.
They walked in to the building. At the front door was an office with very plain whit walls. Various awards hung on the walls, but still it was cold. Gilly watched as Lt. Troit signed a form and checked herself in, showing her I.D. and rank.
"The interrogation room is that way," The woman behind the counter pointed, "and I'm sorry to have to do this to Ms. Hathaway."
"It's alright." Gilly smiled naïvely, "Everything will work out, cause I'm innocent."
"Thank you." Lt. Troit said as she pushed Gilly on.
They walked to where the woman had pointed. The door was a pukey green, which made Gilly want to throw-up even more than before. Troit opened it and walked in. Gilly followed, acting as naïve as ever, even if she felt stupid, she'd no choice. Gilly sat down at the far end of the room, knowing it would do her no good.
"I won't be with you, kid," Troit said, exiting, "so, good luck."
Gilly laid her hands in her lap and watched door uneasily. A while passed, and she noticed the mirror. She laughed to herself. Than, another uniformed woman in red walked into the room. She looked at Gilly ominously.
The woman wore glasses, and had her hair up in braided buns.
"Ms. Hathaway, I presume?" She asked.
Gilly nodded.
"I am Lt. Col. Lady Une."
"Oh." Gilly said pleasantly, extending her hand.
Lady Une shook it firmly.
"May I ask as to why exactly am I here?" Gilly quizzed.
"To find out if you are guilty."
"Wouldn't that be better left in court?"
"Do you really want this public?" Une interrogated.
"What?"
"I know you took it. I don't care what Mr. Trieze says, I know you did." Une said as firmly, if not firmer than, her handshake.
"Trieze? Do you mean Trieze Kushrenada?" Gilly asked sweetly.
"Don't change the damn subject!" Lady Une snarled.
Gilly slammed her hands on the table furiously and stood up, "Than, what the Hell are you talking about?"
"Don't talk like that to me!" Lady Une stepped forward aggressively.
Gilly attempted to calm herself, but she was still quite irritated, "Than," She spoke nose to nose with Lady Une, "tell me why I'm here."
"You know damn well why you're here."
Gilly covered her eyes with her hands and sat back down in frustration, "No, I don't" She whispered in a rough voice.
"The stolen data on the OZ MD."
"MD? What's that? Is that like a mobile suit?" Gilly asked curiously.
"It stands for mobile doll."
"Doll?"
Lady Une mumbled something about "playing dumb" and walked out of the room. Gilly starred after her, confused. She waited a while, and when Lady Une didn't come back for a long time, she sat down in the chair. She zipped up her jacket and dozed in and out sleep, until the door opened again.
In walked a handsome young man. He was about 5'11" tall and looked to be about 25. He had charming, wavy, brown hair and intellectual, ice, blue eyes. He wore an ocean blue uniform, with black boots, and a fencing foil at his side. Seeing such a handsome man made her think of Duo, his boyish, brown hair and mischievous, cobalt, blue eyes.
"I," The young man said, "am Col. Trieze Kushrenada."
Gilly starred at him in utter disbelief. Why would OZ's top Specials officer be dealing with her? What had Lady Une said about her? Did Trieze actually believe that Gilly was innocent?
"And you are Ms. Gilly Hathaway?"
Gilly still starred.
Finally she snapped out of it, "Yes," She replied, "I am."
She heard him say something about being "so young". What was with these people? Did they have this thing about muttering stuff under their breath? Whatever they had to say, they could say it to her face, she decided. She watched him pull up a chair and sat across from her. She watched him intently as he did so. When he sat down he watched her, as well. She felt like running, but her legs wouldn't work.
Trieze couldn't help but wonder how this girl, only fifteen years old, had managed to get a hold of that data. There was a flicker of yellow spark behind her eye that caught his attention. It seemed to be some kind of synapse pulse. Had this girl's mind been tampered with?
Gilly remembered her manners, "Hello, Col. Kushrenada," She stood, "it's a pleasure." She extended her hand politely.
Trieze took it and shook it delicately, "Trieze." He assured her.
"Trieze." Gilly repeated, blushing.
"Would you like something to drink?"
"No thank you." Gilly replied suspiciously, she didn't know whether or not these people would drug someone her age or not.
"Shall we begin, than?" He motioned for her to sit.
"Yeah, I guess."
Trieze asked her typical questions to begin with. Questions like name, age, social security #, school, address, etc. Than he paused for a minute or so.
"Do you know why you're here?" He finally asked.
"You think I took some data about the," She paused, "mobile dolls?"
"Actually Lady Une is the one who had the hunch, I'm doing this for her sake."
"Oh."
"She's been tracing the hacker for some time now, and she believes it is you. Her instincts are good, but you just don't seem to be the one."
"Well, I'm not." Gilly blurted.
Trieze gave her a grave look. He again stood up and went to the door. He opened it and in walked Lady Une, once more.
"Lady," Trieze said, "will you please?'
"Yes, sir." Une smiled.
Great, Gilly thought, here we go again.
Une sat down where Trieze had been sitting and looked Gilly in the eye. Both scowled.
"Where are your parents, Ms Hathaway?" Une asked unexpectedly.
Gilly felt sick again, "They're dead." She managed.
"How'd they die?"
The lump in Gilly's throat grew as she looked at Trieze, "Something went wrong with their shuttle to earth, and it," She choked, "exploded."
"Was it really an accident?" Une crooned.
"I don't know," Gilly whispered, "was it?"
"What?"
"Why do you care about that?" She lowered her head; "You seem awfully interested in my parent's death." Her emphasis fell on the word, death.
"I just want to know your opinion."
"You really want my opinion?"
"Yes." Une replied and Gilly slowly raised her head as she spoke.
"Than," Gilly felt the lump grow, "I think you did it."
"Why is that?" Une said calmly, which took Gilly by surprise, for that's not what she'd expected her to say.
"Because," Gilly began, "you think I took some damn data from you, and I didn't!" She yelled, "You killed my parents in attempt to kill me! What the Hell is your problem?" Gilly began to cry.
She could sense the tension in the room. She than realized it, the data wasn't the only reason they had tried to kill her. Some thing in the back of her mind told her so. But, what?
Gilly covered her face with her hands and hung her head. She didn't want to cry. She hadn't cried. She couldn't. Yet, here she was crying her eyes out, breaking the promise she'd made. She wouldn't have cried hadn't Lady Une been flaunting her parent's deaths in her face, and being so cruel about it, too. How could she be so insensitive?
"Lady," Trieze sympathized, "that's enough." He put his hands on Gilly's shoulders, "Perhaps, you should go."
"Yes, Mr. Trieze." Lady Une left, agitated.
Both Une and Trieze knew that Gilly's tears were not an act. They were quite real, and made it very convincing that Gilly was innocent. He rubbed her shoulders as she cried. Gilly felt the warmth of his touch and it brought no comfort. She pulled away and wished for Duo to be there. He was the one she wanted to comfort her, to hold her. She carefully choked back her tears and dried her eyes with her sleeve.
"You are free to go." Trieze sighed as he walked towards the door; "There is a phone down the hall to the left if you have some one to call." He walked out the door leaving it open a crack, "I am sorry." He said.
Gilly took a moment to regain her sanity, and she stood up. She slowly walked out the door and down the hall, keeping her head low. She avoided the evil stare of Lady Une and several of her loyal soldiers. She arrived at the phone and picked it up. She pulled the note Duo had given her out of her pocket and unfolded it. She dialed the number and waited while it ringed. Someone picked up.
"Duo speaking." The voice said cockily.
"Duo?" Gilly asked.
"Gilly? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I just need you to come and pick me up. I don't have my motorcycle."
"How would you care for me to pick you up, milady."
No answer, except for a choke.
"Gilly? Gilly!" Duo yelled into the receiver, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Gilly gasped, "Will you pick me up?" Her voice than fell to a whisper, "I think there's a few people here who have it in for me."
"Than," Duo said confidently, "maybe Deathscythe shall be my escort."
"Deathscythe?" Gilly was surprised.
"See you soon."
"Wait!" But it was too late; Duo had already hung up.