A Different Side
By SariaSubi-kun
SariaSubi: Updates! I'm just bursting with plot here! But besides that, I would really like some reviews around now. My Gundam Wing stories are looking really good, but I need your input. Criticism, compliments, feedback, really any comment you have on the story would be great. Even a suggestion for something later in the plot would be great! Well, aside from all that, I want to thank those that have been reading this so far. It makes me want to keep on writing. Sorry if some things seem a bit enigmatic, but everything should clear up within the next few chapters.
Chapter (Is it Six now, or Nine? Whatever..Let's stick with..can I get a comment on that?)
Sato slammed her fist on the table at the base. "You failed?!"
She was furious. "I don't exactly see a Gundam pilot's head on our table from your side, either, Sato!"
"You were a hell of a lot closer to killing him than I was my target. What the hell stopped you?"
Naomi grimaced. Although all the Gemini pilots practically hated each other, they shared one base deep in the middle of the desert. They were all seated around the metal table in the kitchen. Arielle put a strand of dirty- blonde hair behind her ear and tilted her sunglasses down a bit to see the look on both their faces. Marissa sat up straight and quiet, hanging her head low.
"It was the weakling's fault." Arielle laughed bitterly and Marissa winced as Sato quickly directed her anger at her.
"So that's why Phuket's dirt isn't on your shoes. You didn't even go near it, did you?"
"I refuse to be called a weakling by all of you!" she stood up and looked at Sato and Naomi dead in the eye. Arielle, laid back in her chair, raised her eyebrows in amusement. "I'm sick of this! I'm a Gemini pilot as well. I'm strong as you all are when it comes to piloting, so I would shut my trap if I were you!" She directed her anger at Sato. "You mocked me at camp when no one was looking, and you mock me now. I don't get your bitchy attitude!"
She had hit a nerve. "Bitchy attitude? If you're as good as us, why haven't you killed anyone yet?"
"Oh, wait, I forgot, she killed someone. That spider she saw in the shower the other day," Naomi spat with sarcasm. Arielle thought it funny and started laughing.
"And I don't get you!" she turned on Arielle, who brought the small girl to her attention. "You always either make fun of me, or busy yourself muttering a curse on the world."
"Listen, ya wanna be like me for a day, you'll gladly see why," she retorted, and laid back in the chair.
"I don't care about any of that," Sato snorted. "You, or Naomi." Naomi cocked her brow a bit.
"Oh?"
"You heard me, Atsui. Just because you brought the wonderful Gemini plans to us doesn't make you special, or the leader."
Naomi put her hand on her hip. "And since when do you start acting like Shiori? I'm not a kid, Miratekaki, I pretty well understand, and no, I don't want to be," she spat, "'special.' I just want the Gundam pilots dead, overthrow our enemies, and then head on home."
"Head on home?" Arielle mused, "Naomi, just in case you haven't noticed, the whole friggin world thinks you're dead."
"Well, it's not like if you came, home, you'd have a welcome home party, either. The whole world thinks you're dead too, Arielle."
"Yeah, but I ain't no daughter of some fancy shmuck." She quickly regretted saying that. As soon as she finished, Naomi put a gun to her head.
"Say that about my father, AT ALL, and I swear, I will kill you."
She shrugged and smirked. "Can't. I'm already dead."
Naomi put the gun down and walked out of the room. "I'm checking my missions. Anyone feel like bothering me, wear a bulletproof vest."
~~~~~~~
"Roger that, Lady Phoenix. Mission accepted. Operation Relena will commence over the course of three days." Marissa leaned back in her chair and frowned. If living with the others wasn't bad enough for her, she had to do the same mission with the others. She did not like this. She didn't like it one bit.
It was even more confusing with who got their missions from whom. Naomi and Marissa both got their Missions from an old woman named Lady Phoenix. Marissa had actually spent a few years with the old squaw after she also had supposedly "died." All the Gemini pilots had been reported dead about three to five years ago. That's what made it so easy to be a Gemini pilot. If anyone had ever found out their identity, it would be "false" because that identity would be a dead one.
Naomi's death had been the most famous one, but that was because of her father's fame. Sato had supposedly "died" taking a bullet for her uncle, who owned a bar out in Utah. A murderer had come to kill the old uncle and his cousin, though he mistook his cousin for his brother. Sato's uncle's cousin was a scientist who genetically altered humans. Sato had supposedly been one of his test objects. It was a quality that made her one of the best pilots besides Naomi. She had escaped from the lab and took refuge at her uncle's bar. When her uncle's cousin came to the bar to look for her, the murderer found it the perfect time to kill them. He managed to kill the cousin, but since Sato had loved her uncle so much, she jumped in front of the bullet for him. She had been reported dead, but as the mortuary was packaging her up to be buried, she managed to escape the morgue and get herself healed. The body had been reported stolen after that, and Sato Miratekaki had disappeared from existence, dead or alive.
Arielle died a different way. She was a junkman, or woman for that matter, and grew up on the same colony as Duo did. She had even met him once or twice, but that was before he became a Gundam pilot. After her business went out, she decided to do secret investigations. Doing a mission one night with her computer giga-byte, Chiriko, her suspect had caught her and put her in prison, lying to the authorities, saying she was eighteen. With what she was charged with, she was grounded to Earth and served in a correctional facility near a cliff that overlooked the ocean. By the cliff, there had been a telephone pole that received communications from across the ocean. One of her community services to help her get out of prison faster was to maintain that tower. When Arielle had left L2, Chiriko's program had been confiscated by the suspect Arielle had been tracking that night. In order to make sure the private investigation department that Arielle had been working for would never get any information from her about him when she was released, he reprogrammed Chiriko and sent him into the phone lines, set to electrocute when Arielle touched the wire. Since she could no longer track Chiriko, the shock was quite unexpected. After she was electrocuted, she fell off the tower and straight into the ocean. She was never seen again to the public. She had cut her hair shorter by herself and streaked it, just to make sure no one recognized her.
Marissa disappeared from the world quite unnoticed, however, she was still recorded dead. Medical studies had always amazed her. Ever since she was young, she grew up with an old woman called by many titles, but they had always ended with Phoenix. Mother Phoenix, Lady Phoenix, Madame Phoenix. She used to work for peace, but ever since she got old, she became very friendly with Marissa's family. When Marissa was disowned because she betrayed the tribe that her family belonged to, Lady Phoenix took care of her and let her interests grow. When Marissa was invited to go to a laboratory on the L3 colony, Sector B, 005329, she gladly agreed. But, being a bit young and clumsy, she got lost easily. She wandered until she ended up in the wrong side of the lab. The explosives lab was under heavy watching because it had been acting out of order. Fate had picked the wrong time for the explosives to go completely haywire. The lab exploded violently, with Marissa in the middle of the chemical fireball. All they found was a burnt corpse. But Lady Phoenix did not give up easily.
Marissa had brought Naomi to Lady Phoenix after she found Naomi almost dead in the woods. It turned out that Lady Phoenix had a more brash sister who was the same age as her named Lady Osiris. Lady Osiris had a much rougher temper and gave orders to Sato and Arielle, who were just as intimidating. The sisters at times agreed, but with the girls, it was hopeless.
She sighed. "It's almost impossible for us to live under the same roof for one day!" Marissa held her forehead in her hands and tried to decide who to tell first about Operation Relena. Heero Yuy was going to be the hardest Gundam pilot to defeat; Gundam or not. They knew that all to well. Operation Relena was meant to draw him out, vulnerable, and destroy him.
"Guys! Dinner!" Naomi hollered through the desert base. Naomi was like that sometimes; she'd be mean and rough at one time and willing to please anyone at another. There was one thing that all the girls actually agreed on: Naomi was the cook of the Gemini pilots.
As the others slowly made their way into the kitchen, Marissa glanced at all of them. It was apparent they had all received the notice about the possible demise of Heero Yuy.
"Well," Arielle slumped in her chair after everyone had finished and Naomi was cleaning the dishes, "I think it's pretty clear we all have the same mission." She looked at Sato and Marissa, who nodded, and Naomi hummed a "yeah" from the sink, so she continued, "I think we should go three ways about this."
"What do you mean?" Sato asked.
"Well, one of us who looks the most innocent, namely Marissa, should go in and be a student on the campus of which Relena is heading the pacifism place thingy." She drifted off trying to find the name, but soon gave up. "Aaanyways, Marissa goes in as Anshi Shuukaku, a girl who comes from a pacifist family and who admires Miss Relena. She gains a good eye from Miss Relena. Meanwhile, Naomi, you put your hair up under a cap and look like a delivery boy."
"Right."
"And you come in," she looked at a map that Sato had laid out of the campus, "let's see. We'll have you come in the West entrance. That way, you can clear at the desk that you have a very important delivery you must speak to Miss Relena about. And you have that thing that makes you convincing, so you should do okay. As your heading past the desk, which should be exactly a kilometer and a half from Relena's office. Marissa, make sure when Naomi pages you when she gets past the front desk that you are exactly three-fourths away from Relena's office from where you are. Head to her office and ask if you may speak to her. By the time you start off some sweet talk, Naomi should be knocking on the door. Let her in. Naomi, you tell Miss Relena that you have some very important deliveries that you must clear with her and that she must sign something. Marissa excuses herself, but doesn't really leave the room. She goes to the door and locks it. Naomi, you keep her busy about a half-minute longer with the false notices which I'll type up. She gets suspicious and you put the package down, which really holds a gun. Marissa you need a gun too, so I made this." She handed her a textbook.
'What's this?"
"Open it up. Inside should be a large cut through the pages that should fit a gun." Marissa nodded, and when Naomi did as well, Arielle continued, "Who in Hell knows what Relena will do, so just corner her. If anyone comes to the door, leave it."
"So then what do we do, what's this third part?" Sato seemed annoyed.
"Well, we come in right now. You and I will take the helicopter with the Hyper-Jammer, which is like the model based on the Gundam Deathscythe, making it undetectable. Marissa, as soon as Naomi has Relena cornered, you page us. We'll have the chopper on the roof, but covered, of course. We'll descend from the roof. By that time, you'll have convinced her to become our hostage. Sato and I will have masks on of course, and when you two take Relena to the chopper hovering outside her office, you put on your masks as well."
"But why do we have them off when we first enter, THEN put them on?"
"Because, idiot, the way the Gundam pilots will be alerted is because they see a helicopter taking Relena away. When they report the helicopter, they can't see our faces. Marissa, you should have a change of clothes on under the uniform so you can take it off as soon as you and Naomi get on. If they see a student on, they'll immediately try to find the last student who went into her office." She took a breath and looked around. "How many days did you guys say this would be commenced within?"
Marissa was first. "Three days."
"Three."
"Two."
"By tomorrow." Everyone looked up at Naomi, who had her arms crossed over her chest.
"Tomorrow? We can't..okay, we CAN, but now we have to get everything ready. Atsui, you're the mechanic, get the copter ready then." Naomi nodded and put the last of the dishes away as she headed towards the desert base's hangar. "Marissa, you prepare the Gemini suits for standby."
"Why? How long are you guessing that we will hold Relena?" she cocked an eyebrow.
"Well, who knows. The Gundam pilots may get notice of it immediately. Of course, they won't know where we are, so we'll have plenty of time to get back here safely and on time. I say we should get back here by four o' clock."
Sato stood up and hollered down the hall, "YOU HEAR THAT, ASTUI?"
"Yeah," came an echo through the halls as she picked up another wrench and bolted the Hyper-Jammer into the chopper.
Arielle sweatdropped, but continued. "I also think we should have a radar ready as well," she smirked and said slyly, "just in case we need to put out any threats."
"YOU HEAR THAT, ATSUI? GET A RADAR READY!"
"Alright already!" Marissa and Arielle heard the clunk of metal against flesh.
"Well you don't have to hit me with a fucking wrench," Sato rubbed her head.
"Eheheheh, this is getting out of hand..I think Naomi can hear us from here, Sato."
"Well, ya think I'm supposed to know that while she's nailing away our getaway?"
"Either way," Arielle put her hands on the table and stood herself up, "my plan is as strong as Gundanium."
"YOUR plan?"
"Okay, OUR plan. Come on, guys, we need all the rest we got. Our life forces have to be at 100% or higher tomorrow. We also need to rise early."
"Wait," Marissa stopped them from leaving, "if I'm going to be a student.I should be there a bit earlier than you guys, right?"
"I think you, me, and Sato should leave at maybe.." She looked out the window at the blowing sand as if asking for it's opinion, "Around four thirty in the AM."
"Then I'm heading off to the sack," Sato growled as she headed to her room. She frowned as she saw Naomi leaning against the doorpost, blocking her way. "Out of the way, Atsui."
She ignored her and hung her head low, saying nothing. Her eyes were distant.
"Out of the way, Atsui!"
"That pilot.." she drifted off, her arms hugging themselves around her body. "Quatre..Rebarba....Winner."
"Yeah? What about him?"
Naomi looked up, a spark in her eyes. "He lives in the desert. His Maganac soldiers are built for the desert. Don't you think that they maybe, just maybe, might notice us as we're escaping with Relena."
Arielle shrugged. "I think we should put it this way: Sato takes the chopper to the campus with Marissa. I take a jet and put it in the woods, halfway home. That way, we ditch the chopper and hop on the jet, which will be faster and less undetectable. Of course, Naomi-"
"Right. I'll put a Hyper-Jammer console on the jet as well. Which one, though?"
"The brown one. The one that looks like sand."
~~~~~~~
The stars formed a quiet blanket across the sand as the desert slept. Through Gundam pilots' minds everywhere was the thought of the new MS attacks.
As they all drifted off to sleep, they never gave a thought that in the oncoming day, those new Mobile Suits would take it too far.
By SariaSubi-kun
SariaSubi: Updates! I'm just bursting with plot here! But besides that, I would really like some reviews around now. My Gundam Wing stories are looking really good, but I need your input. Criticism, compliments, feedback, really any comment you have on the story would be great. Even a suggestion for something later in the plot would be great! Well, aside from all that, I want to thank those that have been reading this so far. It makes me want to keep on writing. Sorry if some things seem a bit enigmatic, but everything should clear up within the next few chapters.
Chapter (Is it Six now, or Nine? Whatever..Let's stick with..can I get a comment on that?)
Sato slammed her fist on the table at the base. "You failed?!"
She was furious. "I don't exactly see a Gundam pilot's head on our table from your side, either, Sato!"
"You were a hell of a lot closer to killing him than I was my target. What the hell stopped you?"
Naomi grimaced. Although all the Gemini pilots practically hated each other, they shared one base deep in the middle of the desert. They were all seated around the metal table in the kitchen. Arielle put a strand of dirty- blonde hair behind her ear and tilted her sunglasses down a bit to see the look on both their faces. Marissa sat up straight and quiet, hanging her head low.
"It was the weakling's fault." Arielle laughed bitterly and Marissa winced as Sato quickly directed her anger at her.
"So that's why Phuket's dirt isn't on your shoes. You didn't even go near it, did you?"
"I refuse to be called a weakling by all of you!" she stood up and looked at Sato and Naomi dead in the eye. Arielle, laid back in her chair, raised her eyebrows in amusement. "I'm sick of this! I'm a Gemini pilot as well. I'm strong as you all are when it comes to piloting, so I would shut my trap if I were you!" She directed her anger at Sato. "You mocked me at camp when no one was looking, and you mock me now. I don't get your bitchy attitude!"
She had hit a nerve. "Bitchy attitude? If you're as good as us, why haven't you killed anyone yet?"
"Oh, wait, I forgot, she killed someone. That spider she saw in the shower the other day," Naomi spat with sarcasm. Arielle thought it funny and started laughing.
"And I don't get you!" she turned on Arielle, who brought the small girl to her attention. "You always either make fun of me, or busy yourself muttering a curse on the world."
"Listen, ya wanna be like me for a day, you'll gladly see why," she retorted, and laid back in the chair.
"I don't care about any of that," Sato snorted. "You, or Naomi." Naomi cocked her brow a bit.
"Oh?"
"You heard me, Atsui. Just because you brought the wonderful Gemini plans to us doesn't make you special, or the leader."
Naomi put her hand on her hip. "And since when do you start acting like Shiori? I'm not a kid, Miratekaki, I pretty well understand, and no, I don't want to be," she spat, "'special.' I just want the Gundam pilots dead, overthrow our enemies, and then head on home."
"Head on home?" Arielle mused, "Naomi, just in case you haven't noticed, the whole friggin world thinks you're dead."
"Well, it's not like if you came, home, you'd have a welcome home party, either. The whole world thinks you're dead too, Arielle."
"Yeah, but I ain't no daughter of some fancy shmuck." She quickly regretted saying that. As soon as she finished, Naomi put a gun to her head.
"Say that about my father, AT ALL, and I swear, I will kill you."
She shrugged and smirked. "Can't. I'm already dead."
Naomi put the gun down and walked out of the room. "I'm checking my missions. Anyone feel like bothering me, wear a bulletproof vest."
~~~~~~~
"Roger that, Lady Phoenix. Mission accepted. Operation Relena will commence over the course of three days." Marissa leaned back in her chair and frowned. If living with the others wasn't bad enough for her, she had to do the same mission with the others. She did not like this. She didn't like it one bit.
It was even more confusing with who got their missions from whom. Naomi and Marissa both got their Missions from an old woman named Lady Phoenix. Marissa had actually spent a few years with the old squaw after she also had supposedly "died." All the Gemini pilots had been reported dead about three to five years ago. That's what made it so easy to be a Gemini pilot. If anyone had ever found out their identity, it would be "false" because that identity would be a dead one.
Naomi's death had been the most famous one, but that was because of her father's fame. Sato had supposedly "died" taking a bullet for her uncle, who owned a bar out in Utah. A murderer had come to kill the old uncle and his cousin, though he mistook his cousin for his brother. Sato's uncle's cousin was a scientist who genetically altered humans. Sato had supposedly been one of his test objects. It was a quality that made her one of the best pilots besides Naomi. She had escaped from the lab and took refuge at her uncle's bar. When her uncle's cousin came to the bar to look for her, the murderer found it the perfect time to kill them. He managed to kill the cousin, but since Sato had loved her uncle so much, she jumped in front of the bullet for him. She had been reported dead, but as the mortuary was packaging her up to be buried, she managed to escape the morgue and get herself healed. The body had been reported stolen after that, and Sato Miratekaki had disappeared from existence, dead or alive.
Arielle died a different way. She was a junkman, or woman for that matter, and grew up on the same colony as Duo did. She had even met him once or twice, but that was before he became a Gundam pilot. After her business went out, she decided to do secret investigations. Doing a mission one night with her computer giga-byte, Chiriko, her suspect had caught her and put her in prison, lying to the authorities, saying she was eighteen. With what she was charged with, she was grounded to Earth and served in a correctional facility near a cliff that overlooked the ocean. By the cliff, there had been a telephone pole that received communications from across the ocean. One of her community services to help her get out of prison faster was to maintain that tower. When Arielle had left L2, Chiriko's program had been confiscated by the suspect Arielle had been tracking that night. In order to make sure the private investigation department that Arielle had been working for would never get any information from her about him when she was released, he reprogrammed Chiriko and sent him into the phone lines, set to electrocute when Arielle touched the wire. Since she could no longer track Chiriko, the shock was quite unexpected. After she was electrocuted, she fell off the tower and straight into the ocean. She was never seen again to the public. She had cut her hair shorter by herself and streaked it, just to make sure no one recognized her.
Marissa disappeared from the world quite unnoticed, however, she was still recorded dead. Medical studies had always amazed her. Ever since she was young, she grew up with an old woman called by many titles, but they had always ended with Phoenix. Mother Phoenix, Lady Phoenix, Madame Phoenix. She used to work for peace, but ever since she got old, she became very friendly with Marissa's family. When Marissa was disowned because she betrayed the tribe that her family belonged to, Lady Phoenix took care of her and let her interests grow. When Marissa was invited to go to a laboratory on the L3 colony, Sector B, 005329, she gladly agreed. But, being a bit young and clumsy, she got lost easily. She wandered until she ended up in the wrong side of the lab. The explosives lab was under heavy watching because it had been acting out of order. Fate had picked the wrong time for the explosives to go completely haywire. The lab exploded violently, with Marissa in the middle of the chemical fireball. All they found was a burnt corpse. But Lady Phoenix did not give up easily.
Marissa had brought Naomi to Lady Phoenix after she found Naomi almost dead in the woods. It turned out that Lady Phoenix had a more brash sister who was the same age as her named Lady Osiris. Lady Osiris had a much rougher temper and gave orders to Sato and Arielle, who were just as intimidating. The sisters at times agreed, but with the girls, it was hopeless.
She sighed. "It's almost impossible for us to live under the same roof for one day!" Marissa held her forehead in her hands and tried to decide who to tell first about Operation Relena. Heero Yuy was going to be the hardest Gundam pilot to defeat; Gundam or not. They knew that all to well. Operation Relena was meant to draw him out, vulnerable, and destroy him.
"Guys! Dinner!" Naomi hollered through the desert base. Naomi was like that sometimes; she'd be mean and rough at one time and willing to please anyone at another. There was one thing that all the girls actually agreed on: Naomi was the cook of the Gemini pilots.
As the others slowly made their way into the kitchen, Marissa glanced at all of them. It was apparent they had all received the notice about the possible demise of Heero Yuy.
"Well," Arielle slumped in her chair after everyone had finished and Naomi was cleaning the dishes, "I think it's pretty clear we all have the same mission." She looked at Sato and Marissa, who nodded, and Naomi hummed a "yeah" from the sink, so she continued, "I think we should go three ways about this."
"What do you mean?" Sato asked.
"Well, one of us who looks the most innocent, namely Marissa, should go in and be a student on the campus of which Relena is heading the pacifism place thingy." She drifted off trying to find the name, but soon gave up. "Aaanyways, Marissa goes in as Anshi Shuukaku, a girl who comes from a pacifist family and who admires Miss Relena. She gains a good eye from Miss Relena. Meanwhile, Naomi, you put your hair up under a cap and look like a delivery boy."
"Right."
"And you come in," she looked at a map that Sato had laid out of the campus, "let's see. We'll have you come in the West entrance. That way, you can clear at the desk that you have a very important delivery you must speak to Miss Relena about. And you have that thing that makes you convincing, so you should do okay. As your heading past the desk, which should be exactly a kilometer and a half from Relena's office. Marissa, make sure when Naomi pages you when she gets past the front desk that you are exactly three-fourths away from Relena's office from where you are. Head to her office and ask if you may speak to her. By the time you start off some sweet talk, Naomi should be knocking on the door. Let her in. Naomi, you tell Miss Relena that you have some very important deliveries that you must clear with her and that she must sign something. Marissa excuses herself, but doesn't really leave the room. She goes to the door and locks it. Naomi, you keep her busy about a half-minute longer with the false notices which I'll type up. She gets suspicious and you put the package down, which really holds a gun. Marissa you need a gun too, so I made this." She handed her a textbook.
'What's this?"
"Open it up. Inside should be a large cut through the pages that should fit a gun." Marissa nodded, and when Naomi did as well, Arielle continued, "Who in Hell knows what Relena will do, so just corner her. If anyone comes to the door, leave it."
"So then what do we do, what's this third part?" Sato seemed annoyed.
"Well, we come in right now. You and I will take the helicopter with the Hyper-Jammer, which is like the model based on the Gundam Deathscythe, making it undetectable. Marissa, as soon as Naomi has Relena cornered, you page us. We'll have the chopper on the roof, but covered, of course. We'll descend from the roof. By that time, you'll have convinced her to become our hostage. Sato and I will have masks on of course, and when you two take Relena to the chopper hovering outside her office, you put on your masks as well."
"But why do we have them off when we first enter, THEN put them on?"
"Because, idiot, the way the Gundam pilots will be alerted is because they see a helicopter taking Relena away. When they report the helicopter, they can't see our faces. Marissa, you should have a change of clothes on under the uniform so you can take it off as soon as you and Naomi get on. If they see a student on, they'll immediately try to find the last student who went into her office." She took a breath and looked around. "How many days did you guys say this would be commenced within?"
Marissa was first. "Three days."
"Three."
"Two."
"By tomorrow." Everyone looked up at Naomi, who had her arms crossed over her chest.
"Tomorrow? We can't..okay, we CAN, but now we have to get everything ready. Atsui, you're the mechanic, get the copter ready then." Naomi nodded and put the last of the dishes away as she headed towards the desert base's hangar. "Marissa, you prepare the Gemini suits for standby."
"Why? How long are you guessing that we will hold Relena?" she cocked an eyebrow.
"Well, who knows. The Gundam pilots may get notice of it immediately. Of course, they won't know where we are, so we'll have plenty of time to get back here safely and on time. I say we should get back here by four o' clock."
Sato stood up and hollered down the hall, "YOU HEAR THAT, ASTUI?"
"Yeah," came an echo through the halls as she picked up another wrench and bolted the Hyper-Jammer into the chopper.
Arielle sweatdropped, but continued. "I also think we should have a radar ready as well," she smirked and said slyly, "just in case we need to put out any threats."
"YOU HEAR THAT, ATSUI? GET A RADAR READY!"
"Alright already!" Marissa and Arielle heard the clunk of metal against flesh.
"Well you don't have to hit me with a fucking wrench," Sato rubbed her head.
"Eheheheh, this is getting out of hand..I think Naomi can hear us from here, Sato."
"Well, ya think I'm supposed to know that while she's nailing away our getaway?"
"Either way," Arielle put her hands on the table and stood herself up, "my plan is as strong as Gundanium."
"YOUR plan?"
"Okay, OUR plan. Come on, guys, we need all the rest we got. Our life forces have to be at 100% or higher tomorrow. We also need to rise early."
"Wait," Marissa stopped them from leaving, "if I'm going to be a student.I should be there a bit earlier than you guys, right?"
"I think you, me, and Sato should leave at maybe.." She looked out the window at the blowing sand as if asking for it's opinion, "Around four thirty in the AM."
"Then I'm heading off to the sack," Sato growled as she headed to her room. She frowned as she saw Naomi leaning against the doorpost, blocking her way. "Out of the way, Atsui."
She ignored her and hung her head low, saying nothing. Her eyes were distant.
"Out of the way, Atsui!"
"That pilot.." she drifted off, her arms hugging themselves around her body. "Quatre..Rebarba....Winner."
"Yeah? What about him?"
Naomi looked up, a spark in her eyes. "He lives in the desert. His Maganac soldiers are built for the desert. Don't you think that they maybe, just maybe, might notice us as we're escaping with Relena."
Arielle shrugged. "I think we should put it this way: Sato takes the chopper to the campus with Marissa. I take a jet and put it in the woods, halfway home. That way, we ditch the chopper and hop on the jet, which will be faster and less undetectable. Of course, Naomi-"
"Right. I'll put a Hyper-Jammer console on the jet as well. Which one, though?"
"The brown one. The one that looks like sand."
~~~~~~~
The stars formed a quiet blanket across the sand as the desert slept. Through Gundam pilots' minds everywhere was the thought of the new MS attacks.
As they all drifted off to sleep, they never gave a thought that in the oncoming day, those new Mobile Suits would take it too far.