Chapter Thirty-Three: Welcome to the Underground, Watch Your Head
Trowa was trying to catch up on sleep, but he wasn't getting much accomplished. He had been restless for hours before finally dozing off, and once asleep he was plagued by nightmares.
He was standing in the dark. It wasn't so bad; he was used to the dark. A bright flash of light caught his attention and he looked up into the distance. Quatre was standing there, close but far away. Trowa started walking towards him, but the faster he walked the further away his friend got. He tried calling out to him, but his voice wouldn't work. Finally in desperation, he broke into a run. Quatre gazed at him sympathetically. He eventually got close to the smaller man. Quatre's expression never changed; he simply gazed at his friend. Trowa reached out and his fingertips had almost brushed across Quatre's cheek when he changed. Anna took his place, with dark eyes filled with hate and a gun pointed at his head. He took a step back and held his hand up as if for defense. It changed yet again and a sword came at him from out of the darkness. He could not see the person wielding it, but he had a fairly good idea of who it was.
To his horror, the image changed one last time. Trowa sensed something else there, and he was right. Jack fell out of the shadows, his eyes dull and lifeless. His uniform was soaked in blood and he was falling. Automatically, Trowa reached out and the younger man fell against him. Trowa collapsed to the ground with Jack in his arms, too stunned to move or think. A strong wind made his shoulders shake so hard he was pulled to the edge of oblivion before his mind realized the shaking was happening on the outside. Startled, Trowa forced his eyes open to meet the concerned gaze of his First Lieutenant.
"You okay? I could hear you thrashing around in here from in the hall." Jack Avis said with a small grin.
"Jack," Trowa said, calculating that this was the real Jack, and the other had been just a dream.
"Good, you remembered my name. It's a step in the right direction." Jack replied. He looked surprised as Trowa gripped his arm.
"This has gone to far," Trowa murmured.
"What has?"
"This guise. I'm going to get one or both of us killed."
"No you won't. You're doing what you have to do."
Trowa looked up at him. "Anna murdered Quatre. Even if I haven't really killed any of them yet, I'm as guilty as she is. I don't want you to loose your life for this, Jack. The only reason you're hear is because of me."
Jack rolled his eyes. "You think too much of yourself. Or not enough of me. Friendship means something, and you know it better than anyone. You're just protecting them your way. And of course, the 'bigger' picture."
"The universe."
"Right."
"I'm going to find her though, and bring her to her knees. Maybe we'll bring each other to our knees, but I'll find her."
"God help her."
The laptop program malfunctioned at the unsuspected addition of a third party. As a result, the world came into focus as usual, only five feet above the ground, and inside a store. Three bodies crashed to the ground in a tangled heap.
"What the heck!" Anna exclaimed, attempting to extract herself from the pile.
"I didn't do it." Sparky muttered, getting hit in the face with a shoe.
"Good to see technology is still working." The third party muttered.
Anna stood and brushed herself off. "Wufei Chang! I should have known! What do you think you're doing?" she shouted.
"Coming with you, what does it look like? You didn't give a very polite exit, Anna. No goodbye or anything." Wufei replied.
"I didn't ask you for your help! Oh, by the way, thank you for my fan."
"You're welcome."
"I'm confused," Sparky said.
Anna helped him up. "You met Wufei, I believe, when he interrogated you. Wufei, you remember Sparky."
Wufei was giving her the cutthroat signal, but stopped as Cavel looked at him. "No, I don't believe we've ever met." Wufei said. Cavel looked back at Anna and Wufei made a motion of injecting something into his arm.
Anna blinked. "Oh, that's right. It wasn't you. Sorry! Cavel, meet Wufei, Wufei meet Cavel."
They shook hands while Anna tried to figure out where they were. There were three mirrors on one side of the room and a bench attached to the wall on the other. There was a door on one side with a metal lock and the door had slats in it. Several bras were hanging on a hook on one of the walls. Wufei and Cavel had noticed.
"Anna?" Wufei questioned.
She started laughing. "We were supposed to land in front of a motel whose owner I know. I think we're in a dressing room of the lingerie shop across the street."
Cavel immediately blushed a deep scarlet and Wufei closed his eyes with impatience. "Of all the places, Anna," he muttered.
"Not my fault. If you hadn't been so hasty, I could have done this the right way. Come on, gentlemen, this is 2013. No one will think anything of two men and a woman coming out of a dressing room together."
Wufei arched an eyebrow. "Oh really?"
"Well…maybe just a little…"
"I refuse to sacrifice my dignity for this. Use the laptop and get us out of here." Wufei demanded.
"Come on, it's not like we're coming out of a closet."
Cavel blushed again and Wufei looked as if he were going to take her head off. "Anna!"
She grinned. "I can't use another jump. It'll be too much of a power drain. We all might not make it. You don't want to wind up in the display case of animal print wear, do you?"
Wufei glared at her. "Very well, woman. But, we're going one at a time. I'm going first."
"As you like." Anna agreed.
He stuck his head out the door and glanced around. As soon as he was sure no one was looking he dashed for the street. Anna rolled her eyes.
"Why did he call you woman?" Cavel asked.
"His male pride's been hurt. He calls every woman 'woman'. It's his version of an insult."
"But you are a woman."
"Tell him that. You're up, kiddo."
"I don't mind if you want to go too. It doesn't bother me."
"All right then. Let's get out of here."
Casually, they exited the dressing room and found themselves in the main part of the store. Anna smiled at one of the employees and continued walking, showing she wasn't interested in help. As they got near the front of the store, they saw Wufei. He'd been detained by a perfume sales lady and hadn't been able to get away from her. Anna grinned devilishly, and picked two items off one of the racks.
"Wufei!" She called.
He looked up.
"Which do you think, the black or the red?"
Anna was still grinning as she knocked on the door of the place across the street. Cavel was trying not to laugh at the smoldering Chinese man, who was glaring daggers at the woman in front of them. The sign above the door said "Mirek's Inn" and the sign on the door said, "Knock for Service."
No one was answering, so Anna pounded louder on the door. "Mirek! I know you're in there! Somewhere!" she shouted.
"How do you know that?" Wufei asked.
"Because he never leaves." Anna replied. "He might be underground."
"We're in Tokyo, Anna. There isn't anything underground but sewers and the subway*."
She grinned. "Whatever you say, Fei-chan. Mirek! Some time this year, buddy!" she called.
They heard footsteps approach from inside the building. A second later, the door swung open and a tall man stood in the entrance. "As I live and breathe, if it isn't Anna Maxwell. I thought I scared you off?"
She laughed. "Not quite. Can we get a room from you?"
"You running from something?"
"Naturally."
"Then step right in, lady and gentlemen. Because one thing I have plenty of is rooms." He grinned.
He led them inside before shutting and bolting the door.
"Mirek, before you help us, there's something you should know."
"We've had a conversation like that before."
"Not exactly. You remember Trowa Barton?"
"You told me about him, yes."
"He killed Duo."
Mirek looked surprised. "Duo was already dead."
Anna shook her head. "He was alive, and now he's dead again."
Mirek sat on one of the couches in what looked like a lobby area and motioned for the rest of them to sit as well. "He was alive? Son of a gun. I'm sorry Anna."
"Don't be. I didn't have long enough to get used to it."
"Nevertheless,"
"Don't, Mirek, I can't handle that right now. Anyway, Trowa Barton thinks I killed Quatre. I didn't, but that's beside the point. If he finds me, he'll try to kill me and the rest of us, I have no doubt."
"I'm not worried. The last person that tried to kill you wound up with six bullets in him. Besides, if you hide underground, he won't find you. You can get better information underground anyway. I'll help you, Anna."
"Thank you. I really appreciate it."
"Six bullets?" Sparky repeated incredulously.
Mirek grinned. "I'm protective of my friends."
Wufei frowned. "What is this underground you two keep talking about?"
"Mirek, this is Wufei Chang, and my assistant Cavel."
"Pleasure. I'm Mirek Sloan. The underground, Mr. Chang, is the world's best kept secret." Mirek replied.
Cavel and Wufei exchanged glances.
"I don't understand."
"You remember I said the one thing I had plenty of was rooms?"
They nodded.
"Look around. This isn't anything more than a three-bedroom house with an open foyer. Follow me, and I'll show you a world only seen by a lucky few."
"You're so dramatic." Anna remarked.
"I try."
Mirek stood and led the group to the end of the hall and stopped in front of a window. He bent and pulled a section of carpet up, revealing a trap door. He opened the door and a staircase led into a dark hole.
"Stay close now, it's dark until you hit the main floor." He said.
Wufei went followed by Sparky, and Anna went last, pulling the door shut behind her. Mirek led them deeper and deeper down, until they reached a second door. He opened it and they stepped into a hallway that resembled what a hotel hallway looked like. Indeed, it was a hotel hallway; it was a hallway in Mirek's Inn.
"Welcome to my world." He grinned. "You're on the eighth and top floor of my inn. I charge no fee to whomever travels with Anna Maxwell."
Wufei's mouth dropped open and Cavel stared in disbelief.
"You're entire hotel is underground?" Wufei asked incredulously.
"Not just my hotel." Mirek pushed a curtain aside on the hall window. "That outside there is Underground Tokyo. It spans under about half the city, and seven thousand people live and work here. Most of them never have to leave. We have all the same things an above ground city do: restaurants, shopping malls, clothing stores, movies, clubs, bars, anime stores, grocery stores, everything. You name it, it's here."
Cavel was plastered to the window. "This is incredible! A whole world that is safe from above. Is this still here in my time?"
"As far as I know." Anna replied.
Wufei looked at her. "How did you find this place?"
"I didn't. I found Mirek."
He grinned. "This place is impossible to find unless you are sent here. There are only four entrances. Some people work on the surface and just live here, other people haven't been out of here in over three years. I do a little of both."
"How long has this place been here?" Wufei asked.
"About seven years. Its structure is a little bit strange, because part of it is in this world, and part of it is in a computer generated alternate universe. If we didn't have that computer, we'd only have about one fourth of the space we do."
"Where did you get this technology?"
"From the future. Most of the people here are from the AC era. They're either hiding from something, or were innocents convicted of crimes they didn't commit, or just people that didn't have anyplace to go after the Eve wars." Mirek said.
"Like you?" Cavel asked.
"Just like me." Mirek answered.
"You didn't work for Oz, did you?" Wufei murmured.
Mirek laughed. "No, my friend. I didn't."
"Can I go explore?" Cavel asked. Excitement shone in his young eyes.
"Sure. It's not like you can get lost. If you do get lost by extreme means, just ask anyone for directions back here." Mirek answered.
"I'll go with him." Wufei said.
They disappeared down the elevator and into the underground marvel. Mirek turned to Anna, and grinned.
"I really never thought you'd come back."
"I planned too. In fact, I was going to come back last weekend, but something came up."
"And what was that?"
"Heero Yuy showed up in my bathroom."
Heero Yuy was in the loft in Chicago, and Heero Yuy was not happy. Not that it was anything new, there had been few times in his life when he had been happy. He had been happy when he was very little, he was happy when he married Chase, he was happy when he found a friend in Duo Maxwell. His problem was the fact that all of these things were being taken away from him. He'd lost his childhood to Odin Lowe, Duo Maxwell to death, and he was loosing Chase to Ryuujin. He glared at the laptop screen murderously. He wondered vaguely what he'd done to deserve it. Besides murdering innocent people for the sake of the mission.
He brought up the transport program. It was a prototype, and it hadn't been used since the initial testing. It could malfunction in mid send and land him anywhere, anytime. It was a risk he was willing to take. He brought up his traced coordinates of Trowa Barton. He was in a small town in Germany, AC 209. He'd made a promise to his dead friend, and he was intent on keeping it. He grabbed his bag and hit the start button.
As the white light surrounded him, he smiled grimly. "Mission accepted." He murmured.
Trowa was trying to catch up on sleep, but he wasn't getting much accomplished. He had been restless for hours before finally dozing off, and once asleep he was plagued by nightmares.
He was standing in the dark. It wasn't so bad; he was used to the dark. A bright flash of light caught his attention and he looked up into the distance. Quatre was standing there, close but far away. Trowa started walking towards him, but the faster he walked the further away his friend got. He tried calling out to him, but his voice wouldn't work. Finally in desperation, he broke into a run. Quatre gazed at him sympathetically. He eventually got close to the smaller man. Quatre's expression never changed; he simply gazed at his friend. Trowa reached out and his fingertips had almost brushed across Quatre's cheek when he changed. Anna took his place, with dark eyes filled with hate and a gun pointed at his head. He took a step back and held his hand up as if for defense. It changed yet again and a sword came at him from out of the darkness. He could not see the person wielding it, but he had a fairly good idea of who it was.
To his horror, the image changed one last time. Trowa sensed something else there, and he was right. Jack fell out of the shadows, his eyes dull and lifeless. His uniform was soaked in blood and he was falling. Automatically, Trowa reached out and the younger man fell against him. Trowa collapsed to the ground with Jack in his arms, too stunned to move or think. A strong wind made his shoulders shake so hard he was pulled to the edge of oblivion before his mind realized the shaking was happening on the outside. Startled, Trowa forced his eyes open to meet the concerned gaze of his First Lieutenant.
"You okay? I could hear you thrashing around in here from in the hall." Jack Avis said with a small grin.
"Jack," Trowa said, calculating that this was the real Jack, and the other had been just a dream.
"Good, you remembered my name. It's a step in the right direction." Jack replied. He looked surprised as Trowa gripped his arm.
"This has gone to far," Trowa murmured.
"What has?"
"This guise. I'm going to get one or both of us killed."
"No you won't. You're doing what you have to do."
Trowa looked up at him. "Anna murdered Quatre. Even if I haven't really killed any of them yet, I'm as guilty as she is. I don't want you to loose your life for this, Jack. The only reason you're hear is because of me."
Jack rolled his eyes. "You think too much of yourself. Or not enough of me. Friendship means something, and you know it better than anyone. You're just protecting them your way. And of course, the 'bigger' picture."
"The universe."
"Right."
"I'm going to find her though, and bring her to her knees. Maybe we'll bring each other to our knees, but I'll find her."
"God help her."
The laptop program malfunctioned at the unsuspected addition of a third party. As a result, the world came into focus as usual, only five feet above the ground, and inside a store. Three bodies crashed to the ground in a tangled heap.
"What the heck!" Anna exclaimed, attempting to extract herself from the pile.
"I didn't do it." Sparky muttered, getting hit in the face with a shoe.
"Good to see technology is still working." The third party muttered.
Anna stood and brushed herself off. "Wufei Chang! I should have known! What do you think you're doing?" she shouted.
"Coming with you, what does it look like? You didn't give a very polite exit, Anna. No goodbye or anything." Wufei replied.
"I didn't ask you for your help! Oh, by the way, thank you for my fan."
"You're welcome."
"I'm confused," Sparky said.
Anna helped him up. "You met Wufei, I believe, when he interrogated you. Wufei, you remember Sparky."
Wufei was giving her the cutthroat signal, but stopped as Cavel looked at him. "No, I don't believe we've ever met." Wufei said. Cavel looked back at Anna and Wufei made a motion of injecting something into his arm.
Anna blinked. "Oh, that's right. It wasn't you. Sorry! Cavel, meet Wufei, Wufei meet Cavel."
They shook hands while Anna tried to figure out where they were. There were three mirrors on one side of the room and a bench attached to the wall on the other. There was a door on one side with a metal lock and the door had slats in it. Several bras were hanging on a hook on one of the walls. Wufei and Cavel had noticed.
"Anna?" Wufei questioned.
She started laughing. "We were supposed to land in front of a motel whose owner I know. I think we're in a dressing room of the lingerie shop across the street."
Cavel immediately blushed a deep scarlet and Wufei closed his eyes with impatience. "Of all the places, Anna," he muttered.
"Not my fault. If you hadn't been so hasty, I could have done this the right way. Come on, gentlemen, this is 2013. No one will think anything of two men and a woman coming out of a dressing room together."
Wufei arched an eyebrow. "Oh really?"
"Well…maybe just a little…"
"I refuse to sacrifice my dignity for this. Use the laptop and get us out of here." Wufei demanded.
"Come on, it's not like we're coming out of a closet."
Cavel blushed again and Wufei looked as if he were going to take her head off. "Anna!"
She grinned. "I can't use another jump. It'll be too much of a power drain. We all might not make it. You don't want to wind up in the display case of animal print wear, do you?"
Wufei glared at her. "Very well, woman. But, we're going one at a time. I'm going first."
"As you like." Anna agreed.
He stuck his head out the door and glanced around. As soon as he was sure no one was looking he dashed for the street. Anna rolled her eyes.
"Why did he call you woman?" Cavel asked.
"His male pride's been hurt. He calls every woman 'woman'. It's his version of an insult."
"But you are a woman."
"Tell him that. You're up, kiddo."
"I don't mind if you want to go too. It doesn't bother me."
"All right then. Let's get out of here."
Casually, they exited the dressing room and found themselves in the main part of the store. Anna smiled at one of the employees and continued walking, showing she wasn't interested in help. As they got near the front of the store, they saw Wufei. He'd been detained by a perfume sales lady and hadn't been able to get away from her. Anna grinned devilishly, and picked two items off one of the racks.
"Wufei!" She called.
He looked up.
"Which do you think, the black or the red?"
Anna was still grinning as she knocked on the door of the place across the street. Cavel was trying not to laugh at the smoldering Chinese man, who was glaring daggers at the woman in front of them. The sign above the door said "Mirek's Inn" and the sign on the door said, "Knock for Service."
No one was answering, so Anna pounded louder on the door. "Mirek! I know you're in there! Somewhere!" she shouted.
"How do you know that?" Wufei asked.
"Because he never leaves." Anna replied. "He might be underground."
"We're in Tokyo, Anna. There isn't anything underground but sewers and the subway*."
She grinned. "Whatever you say, Fei-chan. Mirek! Some time this year, buddy!" she called.
They heard footsteps approach from inside the building. A second later, the door swung open and a tall man stood in the entrance. "As I live and breathe, if it isn't Anna Maxwell. I thought I scared you off?"
She laughed. "Not quite. Can we get a room from you?"
"You running from something?"
"Naturally."
"Then step right in, lady and gentlemen. Because one thing I have plenty of is rooms." He grinned.
He led them inside before shutting and bolting the door.
"Mirek, before you help us, there's something you should know."
"We've had a conversation like that before."
"Not exactly. You remember Trowa Barton?"
"You told me about him, yes."
"He killed Duo."
Mirek looked surprised. "Duo was already dead."
Anna shook her head. "He was alive, and now he's dead again."
Mirek sat on one of the couches in what looked like a lobby area and motioned for the rest of them to sit as well. "He was alive? Son of a gun. I'm sorry Anna."
"Don't be. I didn't have long enough to get used to it."
"Nevertheless,"
"Don't, Mirek, I can't handle that right now. Anyway, Trowa Barton thinks I killed Quatre. I didn't, but that's beside the point. If he finds me, he'll try to kill me and the rest of us, I have no doubt."
"I'm not worried. The last person that tried to kill you wound up with six bullets in him. Besides, if you hide underground, he won't find you. You can get better information underground anyway. I'll help you, Anna."
"Thank you. I really appreciate it."
"Six bullets?" Sparky repeated incredulously.
Mirek grinned. "I'm protective of my friends."
Wufei frowned. "What is this underground you two keep talking about?"
"Mirek, this is Wufei Chang, and my assistant Cavel."
"Pleasure. I'm Mirek Sloan. The underground, Mr. Chang, is the world's best kept secret." Mirek replied.
Cavel and Wufei exchanged glances.
"I don't understand."
"You remember I said the one thing I had plenty of was rooms?"
They nodded.
"Look around. This isn't anything more than a three-bedroom house with an open foyer. Follow me, and I'll show you a world only seen by a lucky few."
"You're so dramatic." Anna remarked.
"I try."
Mirek stood and led the group to the end of the hall and stopped in front of a window. He bent and pulled a section of carpet up, revealing a trap door. He opened the door and a staircase led into a dark hole.
"Stay close now, it's dark until you hit the main floor." He said.
Wufei went followed by Sparky, and Anna went last, pulling the door shut behind her. Mirek led them deeper and deeper down, until they reached a second door. He opened it and they stepped into a hallway that resembled what a hotel hallway looked like. Indeed, it was a hotel hallway; it was a hallway in Mirek's Inn.
"Welcome to my world." He grinned. "You're on the eighth and top floor of my inn. I charge no fee to whomever travels with Anna Maxwell."
Wufei's mouth dropped open and Cavel stared in disbelief.
"You're entire hotel is underground?" Wufei asked incredulously.
"Not just my hotel." Mirek pushed a curtain aside on the hall window. "That outside there is Underground Tokyo. It spans under about half the city, and seven thousand people live and work here. Most of them never have to leave. We have all the same things an above ground city do: restaurants, shopping malls, clothing stores, movies, clubs, bars, anime stores, grocery stores, everything. You name it, it's here."
Cavel was plastered to the window. "This is incredible! A whole world that is safe from above. Is this still here in my time?"
"As far as I know." Anna replied.
Wufei looked at her. "How did you find this place?"
"I didn't. I found Mirek."
He grinned. "This place is impossible to find unless you are sent here. There are only four entrances. Some people work on the surface and just live here, other people haven't been out of here in over three years. I do a little of both."
"How long has this place been here?" Wufei asked.
"About seven years. Its structure is a little bit strange, because part of it is in this world, and part of it is in a computer generated alternate universe. If we didn't have that computer, we'd only have about one fourth of the space we do."
"Where did you get this technology?"
"From the future. Most of the people here are from the AC era. They're either hiding from something, or were innocents convicted of crimes they didn't commit, or just people that didn't have anyplace to go after the Eve wars." Mirek said.
"Like you?" Cavel asked.
"Just like me." Mirek answered.
"You didn't work for Oz, did you?" Wufei murmured.
Mirek laughed. "No, my friend. I didn't."
"Can I go explore?" Cavel asked. Excitement shone in his young eyes.
"Sure. It's not like you can get lost. If you do get lost by extreme means, just ask anyone for directions back here." Mirek answered.
"I'll go with him." Wufei said.
They disappeared down the elevator and into the underground marvel. Mirek turned to Anna, and grinned.
"I really never thought you'd come back."
"I planned too. In fact, I was going to come back last weekend, but something came up."
"And what was that?"
"Heero Yuy showed up in my bathroom."
Heero Yuy was in the loft in Chicago, and Heero Yuy was not happy. Not that it was anything new, there had been few times in his life when he had been happy. He had been happy when he was very little, he was happy when he married Chase, he was happy when he found a friend in Duo Maxwell. His problem was the fact that all of these things were being taken away from him. He'd lost his childhood to Odin Lowe, Duo Maxwell to death, and he was loosing Chase to Ryuujin. He glared at the laptop screen murderously. He wondered vaguely what he'd done to deserve it. Besides murdering innocent people for the sake of the mission.
He brought up the transport program. It was a prototype, and it hadn't been used since the initial testing. It could malfunction in mid send and land him anywhere, anytime. It was a risk he was willing to take. He brought up his traced coordinates of Trowa Barton. He was in a small town in Germany, AC 209. He'd made a promise to his dead friend, and he was intent on keeping it. He grabbed his bag and hit the start button.
As the white light surrounded him, he smiled grimly. "Mission accepted." He murmured.
