Sorry this took me so long.
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????There was a commotion going on outside. The four girls heard it from the edge of the hanger, and were hesitant about going to the entrance of the yard.
"Look you bitch," they heard Melina say. "It's written clear as day. 'Failed to meet requirements. Does not pass.' See?"
"Of course I did," an annoying, high-pitched voice shrieked back. "My parents paid for me to enter and pass!" She looked at the gathering crowd. "I paid thousands of dollars to them-"she pointed to the doctors- "to get me in!"
"Money?" Instructor H asked.
"Did we receive any money?" Master O looked at Doctor J.
"I believe we did," Doctor J said.
"Oh yes." Professor G nodded. "I believe we were given an anonymous sum of money that we spent it on the new Gundams."
"How generous," said Doctor S, nodding.
Megan looked like she was about to explode. "That money was for me to pass! Mommy and Daddy gave it to a messenger to give to this organization! I remember! He was part of ACME Delivery Agency, and his name was Solo."
"Solo?" Heero asked. He turned to Duo." Isn't that one of your alias's, Duo?"
"I believe it is," said Duo, grinning. "Funny how that happens."
"And we don't take bribes," said Doctor J, sternly. "You're thousands of dollars would have meant nothing to us except as a means to fix the gundams." He started to hobble away. "Come gentlemen, let's leave the new pilots alone." He and the rest of the scientists walked away.
The five old and new pilots stood out in the morning light, their arms crossed and a bored look on their faces. Never did they imagine that they would have to put up with such a disgruntled young woman. Anita, in order to exaggerate her disgust, sighed loudly and slumped against Heero, resting her head on his shoulder. Heero arched an eyebrow but didn't say anything.
"Look," Duo sighed. "You didn't pass. Just give it up and go after a new dream."
"I understand." Megan looked down at her sandals. Duo was relieved that she got the message. "You like Melina so you gave it to her." She glared at him. "You played favorites 'cause you want to get in her pants!"
Duo groaned and stomped away. The rest of the pilots left as well.
"You fucking bitch!" Melina made a diving leap and Megan. The younger girl tried to get away, but found it hard to run in her sandals. Melina tackled her to the ground and attacked her before anyone could react. She straddled Megan and tore at her hair and face, leaving angry red marks. Megan screamed and screamed and tried to fight back, but was helpless.
"Melina!" Duo raced over to pull the vicious young woman to prevent her from doing more damage. He grabbed her under the arms and pulled up. But Melina wasn't going anywhere. She shifted her weight to her legs and refused to stand up. She stopped attacking Megan, but was now crushing her pelvis under her weight.
Duo struggled to pull her up. When had she gotten so heavy? "Could use some help here!" He lost his grip as Melina went for Megan's throat to save hers. Both girls now had their hands at each other's throats and were trying madly to knock the other out. Melina could have snapped Megan's neck with one twist, but was being kind due to the fact that Megan had a family and people who loved her. She wanted revenge, not death.
A slight choking noise, and Melina had her hands around Megan's. Two slender streams of blood ran down her neck where Megan's thumbs pressed in. Unlike Melina, who had no nails, Megan's were long and sharp. Duo got a good grip under Melina's arms and pulled her up. But Melina shifted her weight again and was crushing Megan's pelvis while trying to keep herself from dying.
Heero rushed in and helped pull Melina up. Quatre and Trowa pulled their strength together to pry Megan's hands from Melina's throat. They had to pull Melina's hands away first, who was grabbing madly at the attacking hands, which were slowly squeezing her throat. More blood ran down her throat.
"We can't lift you up unless you shift your weight," Heero told her. Trowa and Quatre had gotten Melina's hands away, and were slowly pulling away Megan's hands. Melina shifted her weight to the top of her body and allowed Heero and Duo to pull her up. It in turn allowed Quatre and Trowa to release the grip Megan hand and pull her to her feet. It took both of them to restrain her.
Melina was coughing madly, trying to get enough air back in her lungs. The blood drawn from her neck had run down and stained the front of her green tank top. As soon as she recovered, however, she made a mad rush at Megan. Heero grabbed the back of her slate grey jacket and stopped her from causing even more damage.
"Call a taxi," said Heero. "Get her off the premise and Melina a restraining order against her."
Quatre nodded and let Trowa take care of the rabid girl.
"Get me some handcuffs," Trowa called after him.
"Already taken care of." Anita walked up with a pair of shiny metal cuffs. "The doc gave 'em to me." She helped Trowa cuff Megan to a chair.
"Let me go!" she screamed. "I'll sue! I'll make you pay!"
"She could go to the press with this," Duo murmured.
"She knows too much," Heero replied. "She shouldn't be allowed to live."
"We just need to erase her memories."
"A brain wash?"
Duo nodded. They had never done it before, but it was necessary. They would need to give her a tranquilizer to calm her down, and then proceed to slowly manipulate her until she forgot everything. Not simple, but very effective.
"We need to knock her out," Heero commented. "And we can't give her a needle. She'll panic."
"So how do we do it?" Anita asked, staring at their prisoner.
"Freak her out," Michelle replied.
"Make her faint," Joann finished.
"Simple procedure." Winona shrugged. "A child could do it."
"Let me at her," Melina growled. "I'll scare her so bad she'll repress the memory of ever being here."
Duo and Heero were amazed at how vicious these young women were. And how calm they were about it. These women had no reserves about hurting to protect what they valued. And right now, their career as a gundam pilot was most important to them. And if that meant killing, Duo and Heero were sure they would not hesitate.
"Let me at her," Melina growled, a wild look in her eyes. "Come on. I won't hurt her in any physical way."
Duo looked uncertain, but let her go anyway. Melina slowly walked, no, stalked toward Megan, one foot in front of the other. She saw Megan wince; almost cower in either fear or pain. She continued to stalk around the helpless girl, catching her eyes, slowly circling her. She undid one of the cuffs before walking around to face her. To afraid to do anything, Megan winced again.
"You're bleeding," she said.
"Don't like blood, bitch?"
Megan smirked. "Watching your blood run is most enjoyable. It's pain I don't like."
"Well then, good night Princess." She grabbed Megan's arm hard enough to make the girl gasp and exposed the smooth, pale underside. She stroked it gently, making Megan wince in fear. Drawing her dagger, Melina traced the blade up and down the same spot her finger had traveled, cutting in slowly each time.
Megan winced and cried out as the blade cut into her skin. Tears streamed down her cheeks and mixed with the beads of sweat running down her face. She fainted before Melina could even hit the vein.
"Do what you need to do, and leave me out of it." Melina folded up her knife and managed to quickly walk away without making it look like a run. She left the cuff keys on the table. Anita picked them up and unlocked Megan's limp wrist. The other one was slowly bleeding, the drops of blood running down her arm and onto the concrete.
"Better bandage her before she bleeds to death," she said.
"I'll handle that," Michelle said. "You need to check on Melina."
Anita nodded and ran after her older friend. There was one place she knew Melina would go in a time of crisis, and that was her only friend in the world. The hanger was dark, but all Anita had to do was follow the sound of the muffled crying.
"Melina?" she called out. She heard a small gasp and the crying stopped. She jogged over to Hellspawn and looked behind the left foot. "Are you okay?"
Melina lifted her head from her knees. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot. "I always told myself it was easier to kill a human than an animal. Everyone knows I would rather kill a human being than an animal. So why am I crying?' she demanded. "Why? It should have been easy! Why am I crying over her?"
Anita crouched down and rubbed Melina's back like a mother would with a child. "Because you're human, Melina. You can't help yourself."
"I've killed before," she whispered. "But it was always from afar. When I saw the pain, the fear in her eyes, I wanted to stop and let her go. I could stand to watch her suffer."
Anita didn't know what to say that would help her confused friend. She just continued to massage her back and shoulders.
"She deserved it," she cried. "She deserved every mark I left. But I still cry! Why, Anita? Why? I'm not supposed to feel guilty for something that was deserved!"
"It's your conscience," a deep male voice said. "It gets to all of us. But you shouldn't let it haunt you."
Melina looked at Duo. "Will it always hurt?"
"Every life you take hurts."
"But that pain shouldn't keep you down," Anita piped up. "If you think of nothing but the pain in your life, then the pain will eat you away. And we like you too much to idly sit by and watch that happen." She gave her a thumb up. "Buck up, 'kay?"
Melina nodded and stood up. "How is she doing, anyway?"
"Michelle has bandaged the wound, and Dr. Heero sedated her"- Melina laughed at Dr. Heero- "and they're taking her into one of the rooms to brainwash her. But I don't think she'll need much. What you did scared her pretty bad."
"How's your neck?" Duo asked, eyeing the dried blood.
"Hurts like hell. I think I need to wash the shirt so it won't stain." She stripped off the tank top. "You got a wash sink around?"
Duo couldn't peel his eyes away. He nodded dumbly and pointed to the back of the hanger. Melina cocked an eyebrow. "Thanks." She jogged away.
Anita nudged him in the ribs. "How much you bet the panties are matching?"
He glared down at her. "Aren't you her friend?"
She shrugged, "You're the one who almost fainted just by looking at her bra. Figured you'd be interested in the match."
"You're sick."
"And your nose is bleeding."
Duo brought his hand up to his nose and wiped. He checked his hand and growled. "Bitch."
"That's Ms. Bitch to you."
"So do you just like to piss people off or does that just come naturally to you?"
Anita grinned. "It's a natural talent."
He growled at her once more and stormed off, grumbling. She snickered and went to join Melina, who was furiously scrubbing the blood off her shirt. She too was muttering to herself and cursing out her shirt, the water, and, of course, Megan. And Duo. It seemed like the root of all Melina's problems were Duo related. At least, that's what she thought.
"Stupid Duo," she muttered. "He started this, flirting with everything female." She rubbed the soap harder on the shirt. "Making everyone love him. What's so great about him anyway?"
"He's tall, got a great body, and has a braid you can yank," Anita replied.
"How do you know about his body?" Melina snarled.
"'Cause if he's in the same line of business as Heero, then you know it's great."
She paused for a moment, then blushed and went back to furiously scrubbing her shirt. Her new friend smirked and watched her furiously scrub away. She wasn't about to tell her that the shirt needed to soak to get the blood out. She watched Melina grunt and she furiously worked the soap and water into the collar with a brillo pad. She suddenly stopped and glared at Anita.
"Are you going to stand there and smirk or are you going to help?" she growled.
Anita leaned on Melina's shoulder. "You're funny when you're mad."
"I'm also vicious."
She took a few steps away. "Then maybe I should back off before I tell you that the shirt needs to soak."
She looked down at the scrubbed shirt and groaned. "I knew that." She slapped her head. "I knew that."
Anita rolled her eyes. "Right. Come on, let's go outside and face the world." Melina looked down at her shirt, then back at Anita. She sighed. "Just zip up your jacket. No one will notice."
"Except the braded baka. He'll just stare at my chest."
"To hell with the braided baka. You're probably the only one here that can keep the peace."
"You did okay with Heero earlier." Melina zipped up her jacket. She grimaced at how tight it was. "This is uncomfortable."
"Deal with it." Anita grabbed her hand. "Come on. Everyone is wondering what happened to you."
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Ugh. This took me forever. Sorry for the wait.