Author's note: Just one more chapter (after this one) and the epilogue to go! -Swordy

Til the Clouds Roll By

Part 8 – When The Rain Finally Stops.

We're playing a waiting game. Here in the Lyndberg church we sit, surrounded by armed Oz troops who are supposedly looking after our best interests; protecting us from the gundams, the scourge of the colonies. Somewhere to my left a baby is crying but it is not alone in its anguish. Others, a lifetime away from being that babe in arms, weep quietly despite Oz's assurances that there is no reason for tears. Maybe they are afraid of the gundams but more likely they too are suspicious of Oz's motives, as am I. As a resident of Lyndberg, Bryn Fletcher is deeply mistrustful; he explains in a low voice that Oz is well aware of the many colony sympathisers within the town so their desire to protect the citizens seems dubious to say the least.

The church is cold and uncomfortable as we huddle together, waiting for something to happen, unsure exactly what that something will be, but fearing the worst. The troops move around constantly; striding up and down the rows of people and according to Tyler, they are watching us as opposed to watching over us. My friend is restless and agitated and I wonder how long it will be before he attracts the attention of the Oz soldiers with his fidgeting.

From what Tyler has told me, there are six troops positioned around the nave, each bearing automatic weapons and grim expressions. The general atmosphere is tense to say the least and I am fearful, as my experience tells me that keyed up troops, particular those who have had little experience of face-to-face combat can often prove to be trigger-happy. In our huddle, and when the circulating troops are out of earshot, Bryn informs me that we would be able to hear any battles taking place at the base, so we can only assume that nothing has happened so far. In our state of confusion, we can only pray that this is a good thing, but we all agree that we need to know what is going on in order to decide if we need to act. As silence descends, I recall that my cell phone is still tucked in the pocket of my track pants and I inform Tyler and Bryn of this fact.

"Excellent," Tyler says, his voice barely more than a whisper, "pass it to me and I'll try and get a message to Howard."

I do as he asks and almost as soon as I have relinquished the device, I hear the sound of fingers on the keypad.

"Okay," he says after a pause no longer than thirty seconds, "I've sent Howard a text message to see if he can shed any light on what's going on."

We wait in anticipatory silence as the minutes tick by. The baby has stopped crying, the sound now replaced intermittent bursts of muffled conversation.

I think of something and realise I need to tell Tyler straight away. "You have turned off the…" I say but before I can finish, the phone beeps to signal an incoming message.

"Shit!" Tyler mutters, frantically trying to conceal the phone before the troops are alerted. The beeping stops but the sound of approaching footsteps grows more prominent. When I hear them pass by and fade away I let out a breath I wasn't aware I was holding.

"What does it say?" I ask when I'm sure we're safe.

Tyler duly relays the message Howard has sent. "It's true the gundams are confirmed to attack the base. He's gonna do some more checking, says he's got right on it." He lets out a quiet snort of laughter as he erases the message.

"What?" I say, puzzled.

"Howard's spelling. He spelt 'right' r-y-t-e."

I lose myself in thought as Tyler and Bryn start to converse. Tyler's last comment has perplexed me and it takes several moments before the information, like a jigsaw puzzle, rearranges itself in my mind and forms a coherent picture.

"No wait," I say, pausing in case anyone wants to warn me about an approaching enemy, "He doesn't mean 'right' as in 'right away', he means 'Ryte' as in Darius Ryte, the hacker."

A brief silence. "Shit, you're right," Tyler replies, ignoring his unintentional pun as he reprocesses Howard's message with this alternative interpretation.

"Huh?" is Bryn's response to which Tyler explains, "Darius Ryte, spelt r-y-t-e is an A-grade hacker who occasionally hooks up with the Sweepers. I'm guessing he must be there now if Howard's got him running some checks."

"Is he good?" Bryn asks, his question greeted by simultaneous snorts of laughter from Tyler and me.

"Good?" Tyler replies, "The man's a fucking genius!"

I nod my head in agreement, picturing the wiry twenty-three year old who operates with the handle 'Chaos'; an appropriate pseudonym considering that amount of damage he can do in cyber-space. I just hope my interpretation of Howard's message is correct and we can rely on him to find out exactly what is going on.

The minutes continue to roll by until another hour has passed. People around us are starting to get restless; the baby is crying again and I hear several older children complaining to their agitated parents that they're hungry. The adults respond anxiously, trying to placate and explain to their offspring why they cannot just walk out of here and go and find some food. Further up towards the altar, an old man is bemoaning our incarceration with deliberately sufficient volume to attract the attention of the troops. Conversation has stopped as others listen, awaiting Oz's explanation as to why we have to stay here when quite obviously there isn't anything happening.

"Listen, sir," one of the troops is saying, hoping that his attempt at respectfulness will shut the old geezer up, "We've already explained that the town is at risk…"

"Ah shit," the octogenarian snaps back, "I've seen a lifetime of crap like this, frankly I think I'm old enough to decide whether I want to put myself at risk or not!"

The altercation provides a crucial distraction to the troops as another text message comes through on my phone. This time it only vibrates as Tyler has switched the ring tone off.

"What does it say?" I ask as I pass the phone to Tyler. I'm hoping it's good news but I know damn well that won't be.

"Shit, Howard wants us to ring him. Apparently it's too complicated to explain by text."

"Is that possible?" I ask, turning my head to listen to what's going on around me.

"It will be if Granddad keeps it up," Tyler replies, referring to the old man who is still arguing with the troops.

We listen for a moment longer and to our good fortune, other disgruntled citizens begin to join in. Fearing an uprising, all the troops head to the front of the church to combine their military muscle.

"Do it now, Tyler," Bryn says, urging my friend to make the call. In response, Tyler slips off the pew beside me and lies at our feet, keeping his body and voice low. The shouting at the altar drowns out most of the ensuing conversation and I hear only snatches of words from Tyler's end of the exchange, which sounds both tense and hurried. When he has finished, he climbs back onto the seat beside me and hands me my phone.

"Well?" Bryn asks before I can voice a similar enquiry.

Tyler sighs; a long weary response to unwelcome news as he pats his clothing in the search for a cigarette. "Hell, where do I start?"

He's evidently found a cigarette as the smell of smoke fills my nostrils.

"Okay, Darius has managed to hack into Oz's systems at the Lyndberg base and uncovered a plan called 'Operation Parasite'. Apparently Oz became aware that some troops were selling mobile suit parts to outside parties and decided to check into exactly where those parts were going. They realised the Sweepers connection to the gundams and concocted a little plan to take advantage of those enterprising soldiers."

"Which was?" I ask doubtfully.

"They've released specially doctored parts."

"Whoah," Bryn says, realising where this is leading, "I didn't know!"

"Chill, Bryn," Tyler replies, irritated, "You weren't to know those parts were funky. Anyway, the parts come complete with a programme that acts like a parasite, hence the name of the operation. The programme itself is heavily encrypted; even Darius had a hell of a time finding it. Once inside a gundam it activates and lies dormant until it comes into contact with a transmitter located in the base."

"Then what happens?"

"It freezes the controls, allowing them to take complete control of the gundam."

I inhale sharply, knowing how serious this could be. "Do we know where the parts are now?"

"They've been installed. Darius has confirmed that the parasite is active."

"Okay," I say slowly, "Do we know which gundam they're in?"

"Wing," comes the hesitant reply. Tyler knows about mine and Heero's history so he's aware that this will be seriously unwelcome news.

I have to steel myself for my next question, knowing now that it is Heero in danger. Tyler's one word reply is enough to send a flood of emotions coursing through me. I know I'm still mad with Heero, but love tends to be a stronger emotion than anger and my instinct to protect my lover takes precedence.

"So what exactly is the purpose of Operation Parasite, I mean, once they have control of Wing what do they intend to do?"

Tyler lets out a long, smoke-filled breath. "They're hopeful that with a gundam alongside their mobile suits they'll be successful in destroying any other gundams in attendance."

"Oh God," I mutter, picturing the others going on the mission oblivious to this plan.

"There's more," Tyler continues, his voice leaden. "You remember how the Church withdrew their support of Oz a couple of months back? Well apparently that support was financial as well as moral and the cutback in funding has meant the cancellation of a few projects. Oz intend to win back the support of the church with this little exercise."

"But how?"

Tyler pauses, reluctant to put voice to Oz's heinous plans. When he speaks, he sounds weary. "They intend to have Wing attack this church and kill everybody inside. I mean, how could they fail to outraged by a gundam attacking innocent civilians inside a place of sanctuary?" He spits the last sentence out with pure venom-laced sarcasm. "Jesus, I didn't think even they could sink so low. Anyway, they intend to make themselves look like the heroes of the piece because they were trying to protect the innocents when the 'tragedy' occurred and thus, win back the endorsement of the Church. Neat eh?"

There is stunned silence as we process this news and for a moment, I cease to be aware of the bickering that is still going on at the front of the church. Heero is in danger, as is Quatre, Trowa, Wufei and all the people around me. "So has Howard been able to warn him?" I ask.

"No," Tyler replies, "Heero requested he remove their link to free up memory for other programmes."

"Shit," I say, mentally cursing Heero for being so efficient. There has to be an alternative but my brain is slow to find it.

"This is hopeless," Bryn mutters.

"No wait," I say, holding my hand up to halt his complaining as my brain finally engages. "There is a way to get hold of him." I tell them about the Wing Link programme although I purposely omit to explain the reason I installed it in the first place. "There's only one problem though."

"What?" Tyler asks.

"It's only accessible through my laptop, which is back in the car."

"So all we need is your laptop and then we can warn Heero not to go on this mission until the parasite can be removed?" Tyler says, getting everything clear in his head.

"In short, yes."

Silence descends once more. Probably a worse thing than having no solution is having a solution with no way to get to it. I am pulled from my musings by the sound of Tyler's voice.

"I'm gonna go."

"What?"

"I gonna go get your laptop. Give me your passwords and I'll go and warn Heero."

"Tyler you can't!" I say, almost forgetting to keep my voice low but unwilling to let another friend put himself in danger. "It's too risky."

"Look, if you can create a diversion I can slip away."

"No…"

"Duo, do you see any alternative?"

"No but…"

"It's settled," he says firmly, "so I suggest you turn your attentions to thinking up a diversion."

I nod in defeat before my attention is drawn back to the uprising at the altar. The old man has ceased complaining but others have taken his place. The baby is crying again, adding to the cacophony of unhappiness resonating around this holy place.

"Leave it to me," Bryn says quietly and I turn towards the sound of his voice.

"What's your plan?" Tyler asks, sounding hopeful.

"I'll go and join in with the row. Go and throw my two cents in. All that arguing is bound to play havoc with my bad heart if you know what I mean."

I imagine that comment has been punctuated with a wink, as Tyler laughs, the sound reassuring in this bleak moment. "That's good enough for me," my friend says and I hear a familiar clicking as he checks his handgun.

"Tyler…" I say, unsure what I can say to stop him from going.

"Don't worry about me," Tyler replies with heartening calmness. "You've got plenty of people here that need protecting."

Despite everything I manage a slight smile.

"Here," he says pressing a smaller gun into my hand, "take this."

"But I've got your knife."

"I know, but I'll feel better if I know you've got a gun. Now, Bryn are you ready?"

"Sure thing," the older man replies.

A hand squeezes my good shoulder firmly. "Stay safe, Duo and I'll see you soon."

"You too, Tyler," I say quietly, silently praying that it will be soon. I've heard too many friends utter similar words and never return and I don't want Tyler to end up another statistic in my short, yet eventful life. The pew creaks as Bryn stands up and as he passes in front of us, Tyler takes the opportunity to slip onto the floor.

"Wish me luck," he mutters as he moves on hands and knees to the far end of the row, away from the central aisle where he is most likely to be seen.

And then he's gone. Bryn has joined the heated discussions at the front, as I hear his gravely tones protesting loudly above the voices of his fellow townsfolk. To add credibility to his heart-attack stunt and give Tyler time to get towards an exit he has to spend several minutes joining in with this verbal tussling, seemingly getting more and more enraged by Oz's actions. As I sit, now alone on the church bench, the irony of my present situation isn't lost on me. I left Heero because I felt he couldn't give me the independence I craved but now here I am, expected to fend for myself and I don't like it one iota. Call me a hypocrite if you like but it doesn't change a thing.

I'm alone and vulnerable and yes, I'm scared.

TBC…