Shattered Reality Part 19
Determination
by
Sailor Janus
The six teens gathered around the small card table in the warehouse which once housed the newly rebuilt gundams discussing methods in which to escape to the L1 colony without discovery.
"I have an idea. Why don't we wear disguises as Trista mentioned but completely alter our appearances," Deidra exclaimed, brushing a curly strand of hair from her face.
"How do we go about that babe," Duo questioned as the girl grinned.
"Well, with wigs, hats, makeup, clothes and such. I'm a wiz at disguises! Trista could probably create some fake ids. All we really need are supplies."
Suddenly a sound of something hitting the ground caught the attention of the six teens who instinctively drew their guns. Cautiously, Wufei, Trowa, and Trista approached as Duo, Deidra, and Quatre stayed behind in case their friends were attacked and needed back up.
Silently the trio crept to the back of the warehouse as the others watched with interest. Oddly, the two L3 teens appeared to be slightly amused as Wufei began grumbling curses, marching back towards the others.
"What was it," the blonde curiously asked.
"A pathetic box of clothes and materials for creating fake identification cards," the Chinese teen muttered, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
Blinking Deidra chirped. "You know, I'm kinda getting creeped out about the scientists. They know everything! Including the items we need."
Nodding as Trista and Trowa dragged the box across the room, Duo agreed. "Yeah they are well, creepy."
*~*~*~*
Deidra sat on the floor, digging through the box of clothes and frowned. "Damn. There isn't much in the way of clothes for the guys and I don't even want to know why those strange old men have all this stuff!" Biting her lip she stared at a pink shirt and made a face. "Won't help much anyway; they are still looking for two girls and four guys." With a sigh she dug through the cardboard box and pulled out a pair of clip-on earrings which gave her a perfect idea. "Maybe if we don't seem to be in a group, things will not look so suspicious." Pausing the girl bobbed her head slightly. 'I just hope Duo isn't going to be too angry.'
Just then, the L2 boy bounced up from behind Deidra before taking a seat on the ground to her left. "Having fun?"
"Uh yeah. I have come up with disguises for everyone and Duo, please promise me you won't hate me? Pretty please?"
Chuckling the pilot tilted his head, peering in wonder at the girl. "Don't worry babe! What would give you the idea I could hate you?"
Wincing the ex-cat burglar pulled out a long black skirt and a blue sweater. "Because this is your disguise."
Duo's face immediately dropped, gaping in horror at what the green-eyed teenaged girl was going to make him wear. "But-but-but those are women's clothes! Deidra!"
"Sorry but there isn't much in the way of clothes for men in here and they aren't looking for three girls and three boys. Hey, we can even pair off to appear less suspicious!"
"Yeah, but Deidra!"
Cringing, she replied, "I'll make you look pretty. You won't even look like a boy after I'm done with you! Especially with that hair! Sorry but there isn't really another option. We can't get caught again."
Releasing a pent up sigh, Duo nodded his head with a small smirk. "Fine babe. I guess saving the world and Heero and Hotaru is more important than my own self-dignity. Just make me pretty. I don't want to be some ugly old hag."
Deidra grinned as she almost threw her arms around the braided-haired teen but restrained herself. She could feel herself growing closer to Duo and perhaps could trust him, but she still held a lot of fear. Bowing her head the girl softly said, "Thank you Duo."
*~*~*~*
Heero awoke to feeling his face slam into the cold floor. Blinking, he strained his eyes under the harsh light, trying to pick his head up. Thickly swallowing, he kept the rest of his body motionless. 'Where have they taken us now?'
"Get your damn hands off me," Hotaru growled as three men pinned her to the ground. Relentlessly she struggled against them, but found it useless since she was still groggy from whatever they used to knock her out.
The Perfect Soldier's eyes flared darkly, as he tried to climb off the floor, but found three guards him forcing back down, refusing to let the teenaged boy up. "Leave her alone you assholes!"
Chuckling, Prof. T made his appearance clear, slowly approaching his daughter with a vial of dark red liquid firmly in his grasp. "Glad to see you two are fully awake. At last, we can begin." Carefully he removed the cork from the glass container as he barked, "Hold them both still. Especially the girl."
"Why are you doing this? If you are indeed my father then why must you subject your only daughter and another innocent to torture?" Hotaru focused her steely violet gaze on the older man, demanding answers which she felt, she had the right to know.
"I am not your father," the white-haired man simply said, kneeling next to the dark-haired girl. "I have already determined the strength of your bodies, now I must test your minds. Unfortunately, you must take the concoction orally." Heero and Hotaru stared at the man debating in their heads what he meant until the scientist chose his first test subject, Hotaru. Harshly Prof. T forced the girl's mouth open, pouring the vile liquid down her throat before promptly closing it, covering her mouth and nose, so the teenager had no choice but to swallow as he pressed on her throat.
Cringing, Hotaru allowed the drug access into her body with one defeated gulp. Closing her eyes, she tried to prevent the tears which begged to flood them, feeling as though her throat were on fire.
"It's quick-acting so trying to force yourself to vomit will be useless. It's too late," the scientist coldly said, rising to his feet. Turning on his heel, the man gestured for the other guards to follow as well, knowing that the two teenagers were now helpless.
Once the door slammed shut, L1 girl clutched her neck with both hands as she rolled over to her side, pulling her knees tightly towards her chest. A wave of dizziness passed over her head. "Damn it."
"Hotaru," the teenaged boy said, gathering himself off the ground before weakly stumbling to the girl's side. Lightly he touched her shoulder which she promptly flicked away.
"It's too late, Yuy. I can already feel the drug taking effect. There is nothing you or I can do at this point. Our situation is useless," Hotaru gasped, her respiration increasing rapidly.
Nodding quietly, the Perfect Soldier swallowed thickly before commenting, "I thought you said they did not wish to kill us."
Wincing slightly as the room felt as though it were spinning, the teenaged girl shook her head. "They don't. They're trying to break us down so they can basically rebuild us. First will be tests, then our memories. We won't exist anymore." Raising her violet eyes to meet Heero's blue ones, a sad glimmer filled them. "You and I know what that is like. We will only be shells of our former selves. Heero Yuy and Hotaru Tomoe will cease to be."
The boy could feel his right hand ball into a tight fist. It was true, they did receive some of their emotions back. Years of mindless tests, experiments, drugs, and practically torture which erased almost every sense of humanity was about to be relived. Even though Heero could not remember what was done to him, he knew it was a least enjoyable experience.
Suddenly an ear drum shattering scream emitted from Hotaru as she pulled herself into a tighter ball, covering her ears with shaky hands. Breathing harder, she earnestly tried to shield herself from the maddening images flooding her head. First was her cruel reality during her training to be the Perfect Weapon, from the to heart-wrenching torture in order to make her stronger both mentally and physically. Often punished for failure. Then came the faces of her assassinated victims. Each death powerfully relived to the relevance that the violet-eyed teen could very audibly hear the screams, feel their blood wash over her clothes and body, each one to the same horrifying degree one after the other.
The Perfect Soldier was at a lost as far as even contemplating what Hotaru was suffering through. There was only one logical explanation why this method was being used and rather startling, it appeared that it was very efficient in its duty. To find and penetrate their breaking points. "Hotaru, don't give in! You have to fight it." Instead, Heero received no answer as tears streamed from the female assassin's face. 'Damn it. Prof. T is succeeding. She may not be able to last much longer.'
*~*~*~*
"Duo hold still or I'm going to end up poking you in the eye," the burgundy-haired girl ordered the boy whom she was applying eyeliner to. "And close your eyes!"
"I still can't believe I'm letting you do this to me," Duo mumbled, shutting his eyes trying not to lean back in the chair too far. He was now wearing a long black skirt over his black pants with a sapphire blue sweater and a thickly padded bra underneath. His chestnut brown locks were now flowing freely in soft waves with the sides pulled back into a pony tail. Duo's long bangs were also pulled off of his face, gelled back. A silvery blue eye shadow shade graced his eye lids along with black eyeliner and mascara. Lastly was the rose shade blush before adding lip stick as a final touch.
Examining the colors in her makeup bag, Deidra lightly bit her lip, pulling out three different lip stick shades. "Hmm, I think the Blood Rose might be too dark for you. Maybe if I mix Sunset Champagne and Burnt Sunrise together it just might work."
Just then Wufei walked by doing a double take at the self-proclaimed God of Death. "Maxwell? Ha! Maxwell, appropriately looks like a girl!"
"Wufei, don't make fun because I could very easily turn you into a girl as well. In fact now that I think of it, I found a bright pink skirt which should fit you perfectly! You have to shave your legs of course since it's knee length."
"You-you wouldn't," the Chinese teen said, staring wide-eyed at the girl which announced she could very easily mask his masculinity.
Smirking Deidra replied, "Try me."
Nodding, Wufei merely walked away muttering something under his breath about the injustice of being threatened over clothes.
A few hours later, everyone was ready to depart for the space port. Quatre was wearing a green pullover with dark blue jeans. His blonde hair was covered by a short dark-haired wig thrown under a black baseball cap. He was also wearing white sneakers. Wufei's dark hair was covered by the hood of his navy blue sweatshirt. He also wore gray nylon sweat pants with a pair of ratty sneakers. Trowa's hair was dyed red with washout hair coloring. His bangs were also gelled off his face. A beige sweater and light blue jeans with black boots was his new attire. Trista's dark green colored hair was temporarily dyed black and was now pulled completely on top of her head. A white blouse and dark blue jeans with her usual brown boots now clad her body. Deidra's customary wild burgundy curls were braided into two pigtails, hidden completely under a blonde chin length wig. She now wore a pink shirt much to her disgust and a black mini skirt which was even worse with knee length black boots.
"I'm Bambi West? That sounds like a porn star name! Someone shoot me," the ex-cat-burglar groaned, throwing a hand over her face after reading the plastic identification card.
Raising an eyebrow, Duo snickered before turning his attention to his own card. "Darla Jones. Nice."
"Lee Chan? It'll do," Wufei sighed shoving the card in his wallet.
"Nick Richards? Okay I guess," Quatre shrugged, adjusting his hat over the dark wig.
"Scott Winters. Interesting choice," Trowa nodded, turning his gaze from the card to the L3 girl.
Placing her ID card in her purse Trista announced, "And I'm Jessica Knight." Quickly she turned her attention to the Arabian teen. "Quatre, did you set our reservations?"
"Yes, we are due to depart in two hours. We should probably leave now." Blinking, the L4 pilot tried to advert his eyes from the dolled up Duo Maxwell. "Deidra, I have to say, you did a really good job making Duo look like a girl. He doesn't even look the slightest bit like a guy!"
"Wasn't that hard to do. Maxwell had enough feminine qualities," the Altron pilot chuckled, receiving a death glare from the L2 teens.
"Wufei......pink skirt," Deidra said warningly gesturing to the clothing box.
Crossing his arms, the teenaged boy shook his head. "Too late. You can stop threatening me."
Holding up another identification card, the green-eyed girl smiled. "I asked Trista to make another ID card just in case for you Anna Chan."
Wufei stared wide-eyed at the photo. "I need to check our supplies." Quickly, the Chinese teen rushed away.
Duo finally burst out laughing. Deidra knew exactly how to successfully win battles like a pro. Grabbing the makeup compact still on the floor he flipped it open, staring wide-eyed at his new appearance. "Wow! I'd date me if it weren't me!"
"Just try not to talk Duo. We'll pretend you have laryngitis," Trowa nodded as the group headed out to the van.
Glancing at the now blonde-haired girl Quatre asked, " Uh Deidra, I'm curious. You didn't choose that outfit yourself did you?"
"This? No way! Duo and I had a little agreement. Since I was dressing him up as a girl, he'd choose my disguise. Needless to say, I don't think he likes being a girl." The girl shrugged, grabbing a black back pack with her belongings which were hidden in Trista's car when the apartment exploded. "I have the suspicion, he also came up with my name too."
*~*~*~*
Hotaru was lying on her back breathing in and out slowly with her eyes closed. The nightmare was finally over and she knew she lost. Somethings should never be relived and the torment and horror she experienced through her life was one of them.
Silently, Heero sat with his back pressed against the wall in the tiny room which he and the L1 girl were held captive. It worried him greatly that Hotaru had fallen silent a lot sooner than he would have expected. He also wondered what exactly she had felt, seen, heard, whatever that drug affected. The Perfect Soldier anticipated the doors swinging open any second now. No matter how hard he'd try to fight them off, they would overcome him.
"Heero."
The unruly-haired teen turned, unsure whether he actually heard his name or not. Frowning he glanced down at the girl lying motionless on the floor.
Swallowing thickly, Hotaru took a deep breath. "Heero. I want you to strangle me."
"What?" Shaking his head, the boy thought, 'It must be the drugs. It's making her suicidal. It has to be.... but I thought they didn't want to kill us.'
"Strangle me. Kill me now.... before it's too late," she ordered in a raspy voice.
Staring at Hotaru's pale face, Heero once again shook his head. "Why?"
"Because they have defeated me. Iron Fist has won control and knows what weapons they can use to force me into doing what they want. I can no longer fight back." The violet-eyed teen paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. "Not to mention your friends will have a much easier time against one rather than both of us. Do it now before it's too late."
'Could I do it? Could I actually kill her? Would I actually kill her?' Dropping his Prussian blue gaze down the floor, Heero studied the thick jagged crack on the tile. Never had he felt so torn. The situation seemed to be growing increasingly worse every minute. He had no idea whether the other pilots were still alive or not, or what was going to happen to himself and Hotaru. If the others weren't already dead, then they would be soon except by his own hand. Perhaps Hotaru did have the right idea. Then again, maybe not. "There has to be another way."
Before Hotaru even had a chance to argue, the door swung open and suddenly Heero found himself trying to fight off five huge guards who appeared to resemble body builders at once. Two had him by the arms, One was kneeling on his legs, pinning them to the ground. Another had a fist full of hair with one hand and the other hand firmly against the boy's chest. The last one held The Perfect Soldier's head still as the maniac scientist made his decent into the room.
"Oh shit.... Back off you assholes!" the teenaged girl growled trying to pry the three guards off herself who accomplished in keeping her on the ground. Gritting her teeth, Hotaru dug her short fingernails into their skin, but they would not let go, even after she began to draw blood. "Heero! Don't drink it!"
Chuckling, Prof. T shook his head at his infuriated daughter. "My dear, don't you know that you can't always get what you want? Please watch your language. Such words should not come out of a young lady's mouth." Turning his attention to his next test subject, the man smirked, removing the cork to the top of the vial of liquid. "Your turn."
Suddenly, the rancid tasting concoction was forced into Heero's mouth. Relentlessly he struggled to spit it out even after the man had covered his nose and mouth before hitting his throat. Unfortunately, a strong blow to his stomach was all the power needed to make the Perfect Soldier swallow before, filling with a desire to double over in pain. A moment later, that wish was granted once Prof. T signaled for the bulky muscled men to release the two teens. Without another word they left.
Hotaru remained sitting on the floor, gently closing her eyes as she bowed her head. Unconsciously, she rubbed the blood on her hands, trying to remove its red stain from under her nails. 'Heero, I'm sorry. I think you would have been better off you had never met me. All I have brought you is torment. If you never forgive me, I understand.'
Trying to force air, into his lungs, the pilot sat hunched over taking deep breaths, one hand planted firmly on the tile floor as the other clutched his stomach. 'If they are bringing the steroid induced guards in then Prof. T much be getting close to whatever he is planning. This is looking really bleak.' Heero thought, feeling a numbing dizziness in his head. Coughing, it felt as though he were forced to drink acid, the liquid eating away at whatever it touched.
"I'm sorry Heero," the violet-eyed girl murmured, knowing exactly what he was about to endure, and needless to say, it would hurt.
*~*~*~*
The six teens finally arrived at the space port, each with a bag as their carry-on containing needed supplies such as their regular clothing slung over their shoulders.
"I have to be partnered her?! Injustice!" Wufei bellowed, pointing at Deidra who merely rolled her eyes in annoyance.
Trista was already growing tired of the Chinese pilot's bad attitude not to mention the fact that they were in an extremely dire situation. "Would you rather it be Duo?"
The blonde wig wearing teen giggled at the question which finally silenced the blue hooded sweatshirt wearing teen. "Come on Wuffy, I'm not that bad!"
"The name is....Lee." Suddenly a smirk appeared on his face. "Bambi."
Narrowing her gaze Deidra glared at the name. "Darla chose it."
"Can you two shut up for one minute? We are really pressed for time," Trowa practically ordered as he locked up the van. "We are split off into pairs. Stay with your partner. If we run into trouble, our first priority is to make it on the ship no matter what. Be as inconspicuous as possible."
With silent head nods, everyone headed towards the large glass doors of the space station, their only hope to save Heero and Hotaru as well as the entire world once again.
*~*~*~*
Inspection, check in, and even the metal detector were surpassed with flying colors. It appeared as though the six teenagers would be able to make it to Colony L1 without conflict. With only an hour to go, everything appeared to be very promising.
Trowa and Trista sat next to one another in the uncomfortable, thinly padded chairs each with a magazine in hand, talking quietly to each other.
Wufei leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, ignoring the green-eyed girl who was trying to sit in her chair wearing the little black mini skirt without flashing everyone.
Duo stood leaning against the wall across from the Chinese teen and the cynical girl, waiting for Quatre to leave the bathroom. Suddenly, the cross dressing teen received some very unwanted attention.
"Hey babe! Now that the weakling is gone, why don't you come with me? I'll guarantee you great time," an arrogant blonde wearing a black muscle shirt said with a cocky grin on his face to Duo who was staring dumbfounded at the teen.
'Aw man! This guy is hitting on me! Where the hell did Quatre go? The bathroom, right! My dumb luck....hurry up in there!'
Leaning over the chestnut brown-haired teen the guy continued on. "You're pretty shy huh? That's okay, your beauty speaks louder than words."
Just then a dark-haired guy approached the cobalt blue-eyed pilot. "Aw princess you don't need this guy! I'm the knight in shining armor that you seek."
"These guys are losers! If you want a real man then it's me you want!" The red-haired newcomer exclaimed with a flash of his pearly whites.
Duo swore his eyes were about to pop out of his head as he stood petrified against the wall. 'HEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLPPPP!'
With a sigh, Deidra adverted her attention from the black mini which she was despising, rising to her feet. Frowning, she noticed a rather large group surrounding Duo. 'Uh oh. Poor Duo. I guess I did a little too good of a job making him look like a girl!' Turning to Wufei she said, "Uh Lee, I think I need to give Darla a hand. I'll be back."
"Come on babe! Why won't you say anything?!" the blonde inquired as the jade green-eyed L2 teen approached the group.
The red-head grinned after seeing the girl wearing a pink shirt with a black mini and boots walking his way. "Hey another chick! What's baby?!"
"Hello boys," the girl smirked before laying her eyes on Duo who seemed to be pleading silently for Deidra to get him out of there. 'I hope this works,' she thought, taking a deep breath. "There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!" With a quick jerk of her hands, she shoved two of the egotistical boys out of her way nearing Duo who appeared to be plastered against the wall. "You see Darla, I have a confession to make." Bringing her face inches apart, Deidra whispered softly, "I like you." Closing her eyes, she passionately pressed her lips against Duo's as the three boys gaped with dropped jaws.
Slowly, Duo wrapped his around the girl's waist as he kissed her back, snapping out of his stunned stupor as Deidra encircled her arms around his neck. Blinking, the three guys finally left as the couple continued making out.
A moment later they pulled away. "They're gone. Hey thanks. I really appreciate it although you didn't have to," Duo said in between gasps.
Laughing Deidra, wiped her mouth. "I saw they were coming onto you pretty thick so I had to do something. Sorry I did too good a job with your make up."
"Thanks. Sorry that you pushed yourself so far. It was a great acting job though."
A smirk lit up Deidra's face as her green eyes dangerously sparkled. "Who says I was acting?" Slyly she kissed him again to Duo's utter amazement.
Pulling away Duo stuttered, "B-but Deidra! What are the other people going to think?! I mean I'm not originally a girl but you are and-"
Giggling, she placed a finger over the chestnut brown-haired boy's lips to end his rambling before removing it. "So I'm a lesbian. Who cares?"
"So you were honest about the whole 'you like me' speech? You just chose this moment to express that?" Upon receiving a head nod, Duo grinned. He had to give the girl points for bravery. "Are you sure you're being truthful I mean you don't have to pretend. I mean I like you too, but if you don't then-"
"Duo, shut up," Deidra said, before silencing him with a kiss. 'I have no idea why I feel this way, but I don't think you'll try to betray me. Maybe my instincts were correct fro the moment I saw you, I think I can actually trust you.'
Glancing around Trowa frowned, realizing that the L2 girl was not sitting next to Wufei has she formally had been. Just then Quatre joined the group after leaving for the bathroom to monitor the building for any explosive devices and reportedly found no trace of any. "Hey, where's Deidra?"
Gesturing towards the opposite side of the room Wufei muttered, "Coming out of the closet with Darla."
Puzzled, the three other teenagers turned in the direction their Chinese friend was indicating only to witness the L2 pilots making out against the wall.
Staring in wonder, the Sandrock pilot blinked finding the scene rather frightening in an odd way. He knew the two would find a way to each other sooner or later, that was inevitable but the fact that Duo was dressed as a girl and Deidra didn't exactly look like herself either was least expected.
A brief smile appeared on Trista's face which quickly vanished. "We better get them. We have company." Briskly, she began heading in the new couple's direction.
"What do you mean?" the green-eyed boy questioned as he followed in pursuit, the other two pilots lagged behind.
"I recognize some of Iron Fist's cronies here. They're going to try to stop us," the girl answered, her garnet eyes flashing with a spark of distress.
Tapping Duo on the shoulder Trowa quietly said, "We've got trouble." Those few simple words were all the L2 teens needed in order to snap back into reality. Wordlessly, they tried to cool down, blushing slightly at the fact they were caught by their friends.
"What is it," Deidra questioned, trying to fix her missed up blonde wig as she and the blue-eyed Deathscythe Hell pilot continued after their friends, concerned about what was wrong. Glancing around she winced. "Shit. Not them. Now what?"
"You can raise your hands above your heads because all of you are under arrest."
Slowly, the six teens turned around as they came face to face with several guards who began to draw their guns.
Grabbing Deidra by the wrist the long-haired boy cried out, "Everyone Scramble!" Swiftly he led Deidra towards the escalators. Trowa and Trista quickly took their own route to the find escape through the food court leaving Wufei and Quatre to once again team up and head towards the child care center.
*~*~*~*
"Deidra wait up! This skirt isn't exactly easy to run in!" Duo shouted, trying to catch up to the girl that just passed him as he tugged on the restricting garment.
Rolling her eyes she replied, "Then take the damn thing off Duo! You're wearing jeans underneath!"
"You try running and undressing at the same time!"
Just as Deidra was about to throw another comment, she ran face first into an Iron Fist moron who tightly grabbed her wrist. "Just what do we have here?" the burly man snickered.
Suddenly two other guys caught Duo and began trying to beat him up. Unfortunately, their blows hit every time.
"Duo! Stop! You're hurting him!" the girl cried out as she fought against the guy holding her. 'That's it! Poor Duo can't fight back in that stupid skirt and you guys seriously have some nasty B.O! You're going down....and I'm really going to hate this.' Gritting her teeth Deidra suddenly released her clenched jaw only to seconds later bite down hard on the guy's arm which was around her neck.
Loudly the man screamed as the ex-cat burglar refused to let go, sinking her teeth in deeper until she was sure she could draw blood. "LET GO OF ME YOU BITCH!"
Suddenly, the girl found the object of her desire, a hand gun. 'These guys must now be headed as the new law enforcement. Oh well. I was always called a rebel, time to officially be one.' Pulling out the gun, she opened her mouth with a gag, and turned the pistol on the now bleeding guard. "I said, leave him alone or else lefty here is going to get it."
Slowly, the other men back away from Duo who was curled up on the floor, trying to protect his head. Quickly, Deidra walked backwards towards the boy who slowly sat up, and took off the now torn skirt. Carefully, he stumbled to his feet and took the girl's outstretched hand.
"I don't know how much longer these guys will stay still. When I squeeze your hand, run towards the escalators. Ready?" Silently the green-eyed girl tightened her grip on the L2 boy's hand as she emptied the gun. Suddenly the two began sprinting as fast as possible for the escalators.
With a single leap, they made it, riding to the safety of the lower level. Panting the L2 teens tried to catch their breath. Wincing, Duo gingerly touched his throbbing jaw.
"You okay?" Deidra thoughtfully inquired, receiving a weak head nod.
"Yeah. Wasn't the first and sadly, probably not the last time I've pretty much had the shit beat out of me. What about you?"
Wrinkling her nose in disgust, Deidra admitted, "I have a really bad taste in my mouth from biting that one guard, but other than a few bruises from my struggle, I'm okay."
"You bit him?!" Duo exclaimed staring bewildered at the girl who merely smirked in response. Suddenly, the green-eyed girl's jaw dropped as fear shone in her eyes staring at the five grinning Iron muscle-heads who were awaiting them at the bottom.
"Oh no....up!" Quickly, Deidra climbed to the other escalator on the opposite side, heading toward the upper level. Just as Duo made it over he began pointing at a group of guards at the opposite end.
"Oh great," he sighed glancing over the railing. Exchanging glances with the girl who just threw off the blonde wig he said, "Think you can jump?"
Pulling her braided pigtails off the top of her head, Deidra replied. "Can you?"
Taking a deep breath, Duo took the burgundy-haired girl by the hand, as she jumped onto the railing. A second later he followed, and with a little help, managed to retain his balance. "1...2...3!" With one hop, they launched themselves off the moving railing, landing safely to ground on their feet. Soon they were running once again.
"That was fun but let's not do it again!" the girl said she suddenly winced in pain before hitting the tile floor, face first. Completely knocked out due to a tranquilizer dart.
"Deidra?!" Stopping in his tracks, the chestnut brown-haired pilot, bent down and checked to see he could feel a pulse. "Good. You're still alive just sleeping." Duo scooped her up, and ran quickly towards the baggage check.
*~*~*~*
Wufei and Quatre found themselves in the vacant children's center. This could be either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how they looked at the situation.
"Great, now what?" Wufei muttered looking amongst the various toys and small jungle gym for a place to hide.
"I think they went this way!" a loud voice boomed, startling the two boys.
Quatre's face grew pale when suddenly an idea struck him. Grabbing the Chinese teen by his shirt sleeve, he pulled him over to the large pool of plastic balls. Without a single word, the two pilots jumped in, burying themselves in the multi-colored pool of light weight balls. Silently, they sat at the bottom of the pit, completely motionless, awaiting to be found.
The troupe of Iron Fist cronies raced in the empty children's area but found no sign of life. After a few curses, they left.
A minute later the two teens surfaced, the blonde removed his wig hat and wig as Wufei pulled off his hood. Climbing out the pool Quatre sighed, "That was close."
Nodding, his friend replied, "Yeah, but it's not over yet. We better get out of here."
"Any ideas?"
"The gates." With that said, the two boys raced out of the room and into a growing crowd, hoping they successfully got themselves lost in a mob of people.
*~*~*~*
Trowa and Trista ducked into a long line at the food court, hoping they seemed to be ordinary customers in a dire need of a meal.
"We can't continue running or we'll miss the shuttle," the girl urgently whispered.
Nodding Trowa replied, "But how? We are being hunted down and everywhere we turn, there are more of Iron Fist's guards seeking to detain us."
"I don't know, but I'm growing tired of running. We don't have too many places left to go." Pausing for a moment, the girl contemplated an idea. "Does your team still have their wrist communicators?"
Darting his eyes around the room for a brief moment the Heavyarms pilot nodded again. "Why?"
"Send out a coded signal telling them to meet us at the launching base. We're fugitives already right? We're going to steal a shuttle and go to L1 as planned."
"Steal a shuttle?" Trowa repeated appearing rather surprised at the girl's plan. "I guess we don't have much choice. Let's do it." Raising his gaze to meet the Trista's he scowled slightly. "Damn it. We've been found out."
"Great....Now what?"
Assessing the situation, the L3 boy determined there were at least ten guards within the vicinity. "I'll distract them while you run."
Shaking her head firmly Trista replied, "And leave you here? There has to be another way." Taking Trowa by the arm, she pushed her way through the crowd of people and spun around, following a group of people into the kitchen. Ducking, behind a rack of bread, they hid for a few seconds before racing for the back doors where shipments were commonly delivered discovering that they had made it outside. Silently they crept through the night sky for their newly found chosen destination. The shuttle bay.
*~*~*~*
Author's Notes: I think this was good place to stop. I was going to do a cliffhanger, but with how time has been going, that might have been a bad idea. So at least now you know they are pretty much safe.
Sorry it took so long. Been extremely busy with school. Expect the next chapter in a week or two!