ZERO
By: Sakura Lena Yuy
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Gundam Wing; they are products of Bandai and Sunrise.
Author's Note: This is an AU, so if things seem strange hopefully that fact will clear things up. The setting is a post-apocalyptic world. Pairings: 1xRP, 2xHS, 3xDC, and 4xCB, with slight 5xSP.
Warnings: Blood and gore.
Chapter 5: Unexpected Revelations
Trowa rushed up to Treize creating a barrier between him and a young injured girl. "Stop it! Can't you see that she's already hurt, you're going to kill her?"
"That is the point Trowa. Only the strongest survive in this harsh, unrelenting world and if she can not survive here then she will not be able to handle anything outside these ivory walls."
Trowa looked at his comrade and shook his head. He turned his gaze to the girl behind him and cringed. She remained somewhat conscious despite her horrid condition, which surprised him. He couldn't help but wonder how she was dealing with such pain and did not even vocalize it. Her right arm was ripped out and nothing remained; both her legs were battered beyond recognition and the left one remained attached by only a thread.
Trowa continued to plead on for her. "Treize please stop this is insanity. How can you do this to your own cousin?"
"Because the same was done to me years ago," Treize replied untouched by his friend's compassion.
Dorothy shook her head at the offending images trying to remove them from her mind's eye. She wrapped her arms around her body attempting to seek shelter from the nightmares of her past. She didn't understand how these thoughts resurfaced after so many years of repression. Dorothy had done a wonderful job hiding from her demons, but her encounter with Trowa had made them return with a merciless fury. She fought against the tears that welled up in her eyes, but the pressure was too much. All she could do at the moment was cry and curl into the shelter of her arms.
"Damn you Treize," she choked through her tears.
As she continued to cry images of the past through flooded her mind, each one more powerful and painful than the last. She recalled how her grandfather sat back and allowed the onslaught of men to beat her. The sound of grandfather's voice entered her mind. The lessons of battle strategies, various fighting techniques, the performing of instant kills, and warped philosophy of Romerfeller screamed in her ears. The tortuous training sessions she had to endure. The many images of bloody battles she had to fight in engulfed her. Then the faces of each enemy that she was forced to kill to protect her own life flashed in her eyes; including that of her grandfather. The image of Treize standing above her for the final kill played in her mind once again. Suddenly through all her pain and fear a gentle voice spoke out trying to sooth her.
The cling of metal hitting against metal ran in her ears. As she reached out to her nightstand from her fetal position in her bed and blindly grabbed something. Dorothy lifted herself up from the bed and stared in her hand. The glam of metal tags winked at her. Two battered dog-tags lied bare in her hand, with the name BARTON engraved on the top along with other information.
"Take these," Trowa held out his hand, hanging from his fingers was a set of his dog-tags. "Remember me and this day. Whenever you get scared or lonely pull them out and I'll be right there with you, Dorothy Catalonia of Romerfeller."
The gentle image of Trowa standing tall and proud in his military uniform filled her mind, pushing away all the horrid and frightening images that were there. She fingered the dog-tags thoughtfully and sighed. Then the words from earlier that morning rang in her head. "If I wanted you dead, you would be. But be grateful I still owe you too much."
"That I do Trowa Barton. I owe you my life and that is why no matter how much of a puppet you are I can't take away yours," she whispered gently to the tags.
Suddenly a knock rapped on her office door. Dorothy shouted at the guest to enter, as she got off her bed and placed the dog-tags on the nightstand. She checked her makeup and clothing. Dorothy nodded in satisfaction at her appearance. Her makeup was clear of runs, and her scandalous dress free of wrinkles. Then she past the curtain of her bedroom and saw a young woman standing by the window.
"Doctor Sally Po," Dorothy commented in approval. "Glad to see that you could make the house call."
The young doctor turned to her. Her hair pulled by in her signature braids on either side of her face. She wore a sleek pair of black pin-striped pants, a white crisp shirt whose sleeves were held up with straps through links on the elbows, and her black pea coat placed neatly on a chair. Although she looked young and inexperience Sally Po was far from that assumption. Sally was the world's most renowned scientist of kinetics, cybernetics, and nerve-link technology. Her skills in these fields made her the most expensive doctor that money could buy. But no matter how high the pay was Sally never worked for the World Military Government, it was simply against her beliefs. That simple philosophy made Sally Po lose her title as the best, and forced her to work underground doing simple medical procedures to keep her business afloat. But World Military Government's mistake led to the Resistance favor, because Sally had become the unauthorized doctor to the fighting opposition.
She smiled and held out her hand to Dorothy. "Well anything for you Dorothy, you have given good business in the past five years."
Dorothy grasped onto her tightly. "I guess I have, haven't I. Take a seat so we can talk shop, care for anything to drink?"
"Thank you, but your staff saw to my needs before I came up."
"Well you do get what you pay for," Dorothy replied.
"Yes that is true," Sally laughed. "Anyway so what are you in the market for now? I have some interesting upgrades that you may what to take a look at. They will help boost your speed, reaction, and strength outputs, you made need them if you're really interested in getting the General's way."
"Why's that?"
Sally sighed. "Well his marriage with Peacecraft will leave him limitless access to their sites and research. And you must have heard of their experiments with old cyber technology, trying to improve it without damaging the nervous system. It is a giant step in field. Everyone knows that the older cyber models have been the root cause of damaging the user's health and nerve outputs. Leaving the wearers to be nothing more than immobile shells bedridden with pain and forced to be neglected because there is no way to treat them."
"Most definitely a marriage of convenience that is what we all began to think. But do you really think that such things will work?"
"P.T.I has the technology, and Peacecraft has been spending more of his time there than ever," Sally added thoughtfully. "That is what Lucrezia Peacecraft told me when she came to my office."
"Why was she there," Dorothy questioned cautiously knowing that Sally could deny her an answer.
Sally smirked. "She had another abortion. Noin, as she likes to be called, refuses to have his child because she doesn't want to bring a child into that environment. I don't know what she means, but it seems that Peacecraft's need for an heir is too great for some reason or another."
Dorothy eyed the young doctor. "Perhaps he doesn't want his future brother-in-law to take over the reigns when he passes on."
"Or quite possibly to prevent his sister," Sally added thoughtfully.
Dorothy nodded in accordance. "So what else do you have, I want to make this upgrade as drastic as possible."
"In that case do you have a couple of hours," Sally joked.
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Next Morning…
Hilde rushed into BoTech with a cup of stemming herbal tea in one hand and Liberty Press in the other. She sipped tea cautiously as she maneuvered her way through the rows of cubicles to her desk. Her head bopped slightly to the music playing in her earpiece. As she neared her own cubicle she noticed something odd. Hilde stopped in tracks when she saw all her belongings in a box on top of the desk. Hilde blinked several times to make certain she saw things correctly, and looked around the office to see if anyone else was around.
Suddenly the supervisor came into view and she raced up to him. She pushed up her glasses as she neared the extremely annoying man.
"Alex," Hilde shouted.
"Schbeiker is there a problem," the blonde-hair man asked without moving his gaze.
"Yes is there a problem. Alex my stuff is a box on the desk. What is going on?"
He shrugged his indifferently. "I don't have the faintest idea Schbeiker."
Hilde opened her mouth then closed it. She turned around to gather her box and leave, but something made her turned back. "Listen here you pompous ass. The only reason you're the supervisor of this floor is because you were here before I showed up."
Alex looked at her. Just as he was about to respond to her statement, Hilde held out hand to motion him not to speak.
"My programming skills surpass everyone on this floor and you know it. When we had that problem that the system refused to boot-up who was able to reconfigure the startup. Me not you buster. And who has to deal with your proverbial sexual innuendos all day. Me not you. If work wasn't so hard to find in Neo New York, I would have had your job the moment I walked through those door. Now my stuff is in boxes and you, the all mighty supervisor, doesn't even have the faintest idea why. Alex you're nothing but an annoying bastard; who sits on his ass all day doing nothing but look at porn, while masturbating in your mother's basement."
"Are you done Schbeiker?"
Hilde readjusted her glasses and stood up tall. "Yes I am."
"Okay. Now can you go away I have work to do."
Hilde growled under her breath, but continued back to her desk to retrieve her stuff. As she rounded the corner to her desk she blindly ran into someone, a rather large someone. The force of the impact knocked her off her feet, and the only reason she remained standing was because he grabbed hold of her.
Damn I hate being the damsel in distress, Hilde cursed to herself.
He indeed was a rather large man, much larger than most of the programmers on the floor. Hilde breathed deeply and was immediately assaulted by the scent of his cologne. It was strong, manly, and musky, very much like the man that was holding her up. She looked up at him and soon realized that he was not only big in size, but in height as well. When she finally came in contact with his face, he smiled at her widely with a pair of playful puppy eyes and instantly knew who the young man was.
"Okay there beautiful?"
Hilde gulped as she pulled away from his grasped. "Yes. I'm sorry that I bumped into you Mr. Maxwell, but…"
"Nah," Duo interrupted. "It was my fault. I heard some yelling and I wanted to see what was going on."
Hilde looked down on to the floor and bit her lip guiltily.
"Oh," Duo's eyes widened in realization. "It was you."
"Yeah, well guess that's why I'm getting fired."
"Oh damn. Wait a minute you're Schbeiker?"
Hilde narrowed her eyes. "Yes I'm Hilde Schbeiker. Why do you seem surprised?"
Duo ran his fingers through his chestnut bangs. "Look I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting a fine young lady like you to be Schbeiker."
"Fine young lady," Hilde hissed through clenched teeth.
"Um," Duo muttered. "You see, boss send me to look for you. He told me to bring you to him and all, and to pack up your stuff."
"Heero Yuy."
"The one and only babe."
Hilde turned to the elevators, but looked over her shoulder and raised her index finger to Duo. "One thing, DO NOT call me babe."
A deep chuckle caught their attention. Heero Yuy just stepped out of the elevator and after a few steps he reached them.
"See Duo, not all women fall for your charm," Heero chided as he extended his hand to Hilde.
Hilde took it with excitement. "Heero Yuy it's an honor."
"No actually the honor is mine. I'm sorry for the inconvenience that this situation may have caused. But I heard that you were known to arrive here earlier than the rest."
Hilde nodded. "It's okay, but Mr. Yuy why is my stuff packed up. I still haven't gotten a straight answer from anyone."
"You mean Alex didn't tell you," Duo questioned from behind.
Hilde shook her head. Duo's eyes widen in glee, while Heero shook his head in disapproval.
But after a moment he looked up to his assistant and waved his hand. "Duo you know what to do."
A sinister smile came across Duo's face. "With pleasure boss."
Hilde watched as Duo ran off to Alex's office in utter joy. She raised a questioning eyebrow, but shook her head in defeat.
"There is no use in understanding him," Heero spoke up. "Duo is rather odd, but quite efficient."
"My stuff," Hilde sang out.
"Oh yes your stuff," Heero cleared his voice before continuing. "Miss Hilde Schbeiker you just been promoted to our advance development team, specifically to the nerve output cybernetics hardware research. The research team needs someone who can handle the pressure of designing the hardware and schematics for our experimental program that may enable naturals a chance at obtaining cybernetic technology."
"Naturals," Hilde sputtered out.
"Yes naturals; those who are unable, because of their genetic makeup, to use the advancements of cybernetic technology. And perhaps even allow the most known natural, Commander Trowa Barton, a chance to be a true asset to the military instead of being the General's little lackey."
Hilde's eyes gleamed with excitement. "Thanks for explanation, but I do know what naturals are. But you, Mr. Yuy, use such interesting phrases to explain the situation. I'll do it, but at the risk of sounding too greedy, what's the pay?"
Heero surveyed the area, before looking at her directly in the eye. "At least five times of what you're already earning."
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Evening…
Quatre stood impatiently in front of the Sheraton Hotel. He looked around hoping that his date would arrive soon. The cold night was being relentless, a bitterly cold wind continued to blow without any signs of ending. Quatre vigorously rubbed his leather clad hands together in a failed attempt of keeping them warm.
"Damn women take forever to get ready," he growled under his breath.
He pulled out a box of cigarettes from his pocket. Then he tapped the bottom of the box in his palm causing a cigarette to pop up. Quatre grabbed the piece of tobacco with his lips, and then lit it. He breathed deeply savoring the taste before blowing out a puff of smoke.
He took hold of the stick and looked at it. "Women. Damn it I swear their only good for one thing and that is to fuck. And incredibly enough they can even mess that up."
Quatre sighed and shook his head. Suddenly his genetically enhanced ears caught the tap of heels in the distance. He turned around hoping to see his lovely and willing date coming up the block, but then reality hit with a ton of bricks.
"Bloom," he sputtered out in disbelief.
Catherine smile wickedly at him. "What Winner, expecting someone else?"
"Yes," he shouted not caring that the security personnel were staring. "Howard said that I was going to a beautiful babe, not a front-page stealing bitch."
"Oh that's right," Catherine mused mockingly as she placed a finger on her chin. "I saw Howard after he gave you the assignment, and he suddenly came up with the idea that two reporters are better than one for this case."
"Shit."
"Look I'm not too happy with the arrangement either, but we do look at things from different perspectives. Maybe that is why Howard made us both go on assignment," Catherine sighed.
Quatre shrugged his shoulders. "Well now that you put it that why. But listen Bloom I will be on the front page so don't think about stealing my story."
Catherine shook her head as she entered the hotel lobby, with Quatre hot on her heels. They looked around the lobby observantly, noting the lavish décor and elegant atmosphere. Then they followed the signs to the main ballroom where the engagement party was being held. After passing security checkpoints which were obviously issued by the General, they were able to check their coats. Once they entered the Princess Ballroom they were surrounded by the elite of Neo New York. Old money, new money, actors, politicians, government agents, along with numerous member of the press were among the crowd of people. Quatre was very busy checking his surrounding and the guests at the party that he hadn't realized Catherine was still tagging along with him. He knew if he was going to get any work done he had to lose her. Her reputation as a susceptive Resistance operative had tainted her career, and therefore would prevent him for getting any real information.
"Look Bloom," he turned around and caught sight of her. "Wow."
Catherine turned to him and giggled. "Surprised, Winner?"
Quatre ran his eyes over the length of her body several times, making sure that she was the same woman he worked with. Her red hair was pinned back in an elegant knot and her lavender eyes were highlighted with smoky hues. Her burgundy colored dress was slinky and hung off every curve. The top was sheer several flowers were strategically placed on the bodice, which gave a peak of what lied beneath them.
"To be honest thought Winner," Catherine whispered softly. "You look pretty good yourself."
Quatre watched as she took off with a glass of champagne. He looked down at his tuxedo and grinned. Little does she know I actually own this thing, he thought smugly.
He tugged on his mandarin collar as he walked deeper into the ballroom. Quatre slowly began to mingle with the crowds of people, hoping that they could point him in the direction of the General or Relena Peacecraft. After a fruitless discussion with Millardo Peacecraft's assistant, Quatre went over to the bar to get an apple martini. He sighed in frustration; Quatre could not believe how difficult it was to get near the host of the evening. As his surveyed the great hall, Quatre finally caught sight of General Khushrenada. The young General stood tall in his formal uniform giving him an unapproachable appearance. Treize was surrounded by several of Neo New York's elite, all of them more beautiful and wealth than the last.
How in the world am I going to get near him now, Quatre thought hopelessly.
Suddenly like a shout in a silent night, Quatre's ears caught something odd. It was distant but very clear to him. It was a piano. He couldn't stop himself from following the sounds of the music. Something beyond reason and common sense pulled him to the source. As he neared the lounge of the hotel, where a black piano stood and at its keys was a beautiful young woman. Her honey blonde hair hung straight down her back, accented with crystal butterflies. She wore a satin pale pink strapless gown, with a train that pooled around her satin strapped shoes. When she lifted her face up to the audience, Quatre immediately realized that the player was Relena Peacecraft.
As she stuck the final keys the audience applauded loudly. Relena stood up and gave them a graceful bow. Quatre slowly approached the young pianist and placed a gentle kiss on her hand.
Relena blushed. "Thank you."
"No thank you," Quatre insisted. "That was beautiful Ms. Peacecraft."
"You know me," Relena questioned shocked.
Quatre shook his head in disbelief. "Everyone knows who you are Ms. Peacecraft, its common knowledge."
Relena giggled softly. "I wouldn't know why anyone would want to know me. I'm nothing more than a pretty doll on display, for my dear brother and now my fiancé."
"Excuse me," Quatre responded taken back with her response.
"Now don't take as a quote Mr. Winner, I was just kidding."
Quatre shook his head in confusion and muttered out in shock. "You know me?"
"Everyone knows who you are Mr. Winner," Relena repeated. "Well anyone who read Liberty Press at least. You're one of two of the greatest mind that graced our fair city in long time. Now can ask what you're doing here instead of buzzing around my fiancé."
Quatre ran his fingers through his hair and smiled. "I…I heard the music and was compelled to come. You play beautifully. I didn't know you play professionally around the city."
"I don't," Relena answered sadly.
"But you have studied professionally right?"
Relena brighten up immediately. "Of course. I studied in some of the world's finest conservatories, and I was taught by some world's greatest pianists. But that was when my parents were alive."
"And now you don't?"
"My brother doesn't see the importance of music in my life. He feels that I should be more concerned with making a family for myself."
Quatre nodded in realization. "And that is why you're marrying the General?"
"Partly," Relena answered directly. "The other reason is to help the business. You know better than anyone how P.T.I. is failing in its profit margin; and this merger by marriage will allow the company to climb up again. BoTech has taken away a lot of our partners because of their continuing advancements and new developmental research. And at the same time Treize may finally be able to stop all those so-call rumored ailments he has been suffering from. Treize is hoping to finally get new upgrades that he has been dreaming of but hasn't been able to get. Our advancements need a test subject and Treize is the best candidate for the observation. Although his cybernetic parts are old he is still in top physical condition, which is the candidate we have been searching for. So hopefully with the success of this marriage and those tests, the World Military Government may finally take an interest and become our new financial partners. And sign us with an official contract to be there distributors, but those are my brother's long term goals."
"You do realize what you just told me, don't you Ms. Peacecraft," Quatre asked cautiously.
Relena nodded as she walked away from the piano. "Oh and if you want to use that information, just quote it as an anonymous source. I would hate for my brother to think that I know anything about the business."
"Of course, you would rather remain that simple pretty doll on display."
Relena turned to Quatre and outstretched her hand. "Now we are on the same page Mr. Winner."
Quatre nodded curtly and firmly shook her hand. He watched as the train of her dress swayed with her footsteps. As he watched her disappear into the crowded hall he couldn't help but wonder how Peacecraft only saw his little sister as nothing more than a doll, when in reality she was much more.
Author's Word: No one is probably reading this but I'm writing this for me and a few friends out there.