Wyvern Gold: Chapter 10
Fras groaned inwardly. "Dei… she's been gone for days…"
Resia wasn't nearly so emotional. "Don't tell me you're losing faith. You'd better not be."
"No… um… agh, I'm going back to the battlefield. I need to work out some aggression." Fras pushed past her and headed for his friend and Guymelef.
Resia read him and kept her mouth shut. She really did feel sorry for Fras. Ever since Fras had met her sister, the love was thick. Dei didn't really care too much. That probably bothered Resia more than it bothered Fras. It also bothered her that if Dei survived after the war, he'd never see her again anyway.
Did she say 'if'? Damn Neuill. A few hours ago, his immediate response rocked the camp and nearly got the both of them killed. His animal instincts to anger kicked in and he jumped over the table at Resia for not doing anything. As if she could do anything. She did have a flight Melef, but it couldn't go that high. Resia knew she'd get it again later anyway, so she jumped out of the way and elbowed him in the back with speed rivaling Neuill's. Fras jumped out of the way since he did not have Resia's speed or Neuill's power. If he got in the way, he'd either be crushed or have his head knocked clean off. He hopped over the now downed Neuill and tried to rush out of the tent, but was caught around the ankle.
"And where the hell do you think you're going?! Between you and the demon sisters, the Mystic Moon is the least of my problems!" Neuill barked. His claws dragged him back into the fray, just as he got up and flipped him over on the ground. Resia was behind his table and snickering at the both of them. When her eyes met Neuill's, she straightened up and returned in hissing tone.
'Demon Sisters' hit a chord with Resia. "How about you lay off, you son of a bitch?! Neither of us could've done anything. As long as I'm so far away, I can't influence her at all! If anything, YOU sentenced her to die when you sent her up there! It was your pathetic idea to think she could do anything about the gate in the first place! Only the Cursed Ones can manipulate the pillars of light! You're the one who tried to mix technology, and YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S GOING TO PAY FOR IT ALL." She hardly raised her voice, but when she did, the ground vibrated from the volume and her anger.
'Resia, he still has my leg. Now he's going to tear it off!' Fras braced himself for the inevitable, but it didn't come. Neuill let him go and stomped over to Resia.
"You know exactly why you're not dead right now. But. If she doesn't come back in three more days, you're mine." All of his sharp teeth were centimeters away from her face, and she knew if he finally let go, he'd break every bone in her body.
'You've done it now, sister…' Her eyes narrowed. "She'll be back here. She can take care of herself."
"You two are re-assigned to the active regions. Now get the hell out of here." His low growl did not phase Resia. Fras had managed to leave during their face-off.
"You've got three days, Dei. And then I fight a new war." She gritted her teeth and tried to keep composed as she headed back to her tent.
"We have a few questions about WyvernGold. And you better be straight with us." Kai leaned over closer to Dei and narrowed her eyes.
"I wouldn't be able to tell you much since you people built the stupid thing, and I'm just a pilot." Dei frowned up.
"But we didn't build the silver and white machinery attached to that mobile suit. That mess is yours. Now. How does it work?"
"Can't tell you that. My people didn't build that either." This was fun. She could see they were getting frustrated already.
"Tell us who did then, brat." Kai was wondering where her gun went.
"Like it would help you. You don't know them. Hell, we don't even know who or what they are."
Jeremy didn't believe her. "So let me get this straight. You've mastered a mobile suit in a month, that you have absolutely no idea who built, is comprised of two completely different and I'd assume conflicting technologies, and has the ability to drive its pilot-" Kai slapped her hand over his mouth and whispered in his ear.
"You IDIOT! Don't tell her about that!"
"Insane." Dei finished almost absently. "All I know is that the Guymelef is dangerous and you should tell your people to keep away from it."
"We won't until you tell us why. And how do you know about the insanity? You look fine to me." Jeremy was really getting into this mystery.
"I'm not telling you any more." Dei sat back on the couch and was strangely drawn to put her finger on her marred eye. She wanted to force it open, but it was as if something had fused it shut. Also for some reason, she couldn't focus. She felt she should have already started on a plan of escape, but her mind couldn't put one together, and her life did depend on it. Although… she felt like she wasn't in any immediate danger…
"You do realize that if you don't spill at least something, you're not getting back, AND Kai's probably going to beat you to death." Raion hoped she'd find these to be good reasons so they would get out of his apartment.
Dei looked Kai up and down for a few seconds and sat back again. "I've been beaten by worse. And you probably know a hell of a lot more than I do about that Guymelef. I told you, I only know how to control it."
Kai was insulted and her instantaneous fuse had her wrap her hands around Dei's neck. "THAT DAMN MACHINE HIT ME WITH A BOLT OF PINK LIGHTNING, AND I DO THINK YOU KNOW HOW IT WORKS. YOU'RE GOING TO TALK, OR I'LL MAKE DAMN YOU NEVER GET BACK ACROSS THAT GATE." Kai's eyes reflected something different than when Neuill would threaten her. They weren't right. And that set Dei on edge. Dei put her hands around Kai's wrists and pulled her away from her neck.
"A-a-All I know is that whatever the technology is, it fused me with the machines. Anyone else who pilots it goes insane or dies. Whatever happens outside, happens inside. I don't know how it works and I don't know where it came from. I wish it had killed me like it killed all the others."
"So it was trial and error until someone could withstand the pressure?! Where the hell were your elite pilots?!"
"They were the first to die. Believe me, I tried to get out of it, but my ….general… was ready to slit my throat and kill my family if I didn't. I'd happily give the piece of crap back if my soul wasn't attached to it."
"That makes no sense! It's a machine! It can't have your soul! And it is NOT a piece of crap! That machine is one of the most powerful mobile suits on Earth, and it was destined for ME!" Kai felt they were getting nowhere by just asking questions. Her hands clenched into fists.
"Our machines can't. But it also makes no sense how they're able to defeat our machines even though Guymelefs are technically decades behind our technology." Ideas began to race and couple together in Jeremy's mind. Guymelefs couldn't possibly be on par with mobile suits, since at the core they were only steam and gears. What's so special then about their machinery that it can recognize and choose a pilot? And what could they possibly use that could deflect beam particles?
"You're gonna come with us, and you're gonna diffuse that thing so we can get inside and figure out what you did to it. And then, if we haven't been caught and brutally executed, we could see about getting rid of your troublesome butt."
"Hmph. As long as I don't have to go back to the military, I can take my time." She thought it'd be a good vacation against her other captive, but then she remembered the threats he made to get her to pilot the Mystic Guymelef. 'Although without me, he'll probably kill Resia, and my family…' "Never mind! I have to go back now! Where is WyvernGold?!"
Dei jumped to her feet and reeled for a few seconds. Having only one eye made her judgement impaired and she toppled over on Kai since she was right in front of her on the table. Kai screeched and pushed her off like she had the plague, and Dei ended up on the floor. The sheet she was wrapped up in came away from her, and Dei noticed the terrible draft.
"WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES?!?!" She picked at the light hospital gown.
"Err… since you bled all over them, I guess the hospital got rid of them." Jeremy didn't want another girly tirade. Kai was more than enough.
"I WAS IN THE HOSPITAL?! How did we get here then?! And where the hell are we, for that matter?" Her eye drifted over to the giant window that took up the entire wall.
What vision she had was totally fixed on the artificial world. She noticed that the landscape had no horizon, and actually went UP the farther it went out. There also happened to be no sky.
"This is a space colony. We're at the half-way point between Earth and Gaea. Humanity's outgrown Earth and we were pushed to live up here." Raion moved the curtains and blinds so she could see better.
'They can't even live on their own planet?' Dei was growing less sympathetic by the minute.
"And to investigate what happened to WyvernGold, we had to make you an early outpatient." Jeremy snarled.
Dei looked from the bedsheet to her hospital gown. "… You … kidnapped me. From the hospital."
"Kai's genius, not mine. You'd still be there in a drug induced coma if it were up to me."
"It was either get you now, or after the 'authorities' were done torturing you and turning your brain into a pile of mush."
Dei thought she'd been tortured enough the past months. "My gratitude. But I can't go out like this. … Do you always demean the sick by dressing them like this?"
"Do you always complain this much?" Jeremy muttered.
"Only when there's gross incompetence around." Dei snarled and wrapped herself back in the sheet. "So, when am I getting some clothes? Or are you going to sneak me around like this for the rest of my time here?"
"If you keep it up, brat, that won't be very long." Jeremy was fast becoming ticked at her attitude.
Raion looked her over. "I have just the thing, but it's probably going to be a little big."
Kai only needed a millisecond to know what he was talking about. "If you give her my clothes, you're a dead man, and they'll find parts of you in your work."
"It's not like you can wear any of it anymore." He grinned at her, as if he mildly enjoyed making her angry. He walked towards his bedroom.
"Blehh… And I need to clean up. I smell like chemicals." Dei wrinkled her nose at the healing wound on her hand.
"Shower's back here, 3rd door on the left!"
"Yes, and after this, we can go out to eat at some fancy restaurant, show her around the colony, and then we can give her all the ESUN's top secret information." Jeremy muttered under his breath.
Dei smirked and got up from the couch. "I really don't care what you do, as long as I get WyvernGold and go home as quickly as possible."
Jeremy watched her back as she retreated towards the bathroom and his eyes narrowed. 'How in the world could she have heard me…?'
Colonel Willis had two fingers pressed up against his temple. "I don't suppose there are any other infractions in their records that you failed to tell me about?"
He really didn't need this today. As the saying goes, 'when you're in charge, everything's your fault.', even if it isn't. Vell and Lison were back in his office, Vell wearing a scowl and Lison looking incredibly nervous. General Fritz found out, and was now sitting at the other end of the short conference table, with Vell and Lison beside each other. The specs for Wyvern Gold, Dragon Silver, and KinNoTatsu flashed on the screen PowerPoint style on the screen across form the two inferior officers.
"There are no infractions on Major Or's record. Major Kai Tyson however is noted for being rebellious and one of the more, … loud, officers. Though that is how she was promoted that far. Her strategic thinking and leadership skills are far beyond those of her class. That's why she was chosen." Vell pushed her glasses up and read a sheet from a manila folder.
"I don't care if she's Duo Maxwell's kid! Someone like that you do not trust with highly delicate operations!"
"I would like to point out that Hellen Maxwell is much more subdued than Duo."
"Shut up, Lison." Willis growled.
"In all due respect sir, while Tyson and Or are to say the least an unlikely combination, as long as someone is with her, Tyson can form a semblance of self-control. Major Or should actually have had very little trouble keeping Tyson in check." Lison pulled at his collar as he tried to speak.
"Now that was some great self control today as they managed to kidnap that girl and escape." Fritz was mostly disinterested in their arguing and just wanted to know how they planned to correct this mess. "All this finger pointing is just going to end up as more paperwork for all of you getting court-martialed. Tell me your plan to fix this whole mess NOW."
"They can't escape from the colony, and it happens to be Tyson's home colony, so we can easily get information about where she goes and if anyone's seen her. We also have an active search for her, Or, and the Gaean soldier. The fort on that side is keeping us updated." Vell kept composed as usual.
"I want the three of them in the next 24 hours or it's your heads. That Gaean soldier, especially. Dismissed." Fritz stood up and left the room. He kept his temper the best he could and left before his blood pressure went up.
"Making calls now, sir." Vell took her disks and papers and left for her office.
Willis then looked over to Lison and grinned. "So, what are you planning to do to make this worse?"
"Actually, sir. I was planning on going up to the colony myself. Despite Vell's sentiments, I am not an incompetent. I happen to know X74 as well as, if not better than Major Tyson, and I believe I could actually be of great benefit to their arrest. I can be there in as little as 4 hours with the next shuttle."
"You know what? I'm going to give you a chance. It'll get you the hell out of my office. GO!" Now his blood pressure was going up.
"Yes sir." He dismissed himself and ran to the launch pad. Maybe if for catching them, he could get a promotion and then he could step on Vell's toes for a change.
He was in luck, and a shuttle for the outer colonies was leaving in an hour. This gave him just enough time to make arrangements for when he arrived. He would need his mobile suit just in case, and there were circumstances around his return to X74. The first order of business was to get the armor and base suit back into military custody…