Pilot 06- Code name: Mirage By Silver Cateyes

Notes- READ THEM!!!

Disclaimers: OC! OC! OC! And no, not that stupid teenage soap opera! I have a darling OC of mine who is kinda the star of this series, though of course the others feature big. She will have a rather big impact on all and sundry, and will severely alter- if not demolish- the timeline. If you want to know any more, read the fic! (And this fic will actually have a plot!)

The only things I truly own in this fic are my darling girl and the plot. And any other OCs I come up with... they're mine! Mine! MIIIINNNNE! Mwa ha ha ha! Ahem... Er, anyway, everything else is not mine. If you're want to sue, please pick a target who will give you more than cat-hair, crumbs, and old romance novels. Pick a rich girl who can afford to have a team of lawyers fry your ass for coming after her.

There will be violence here- this is, after all, a war-fic, though pretty AU-ish. This includes deaths, battles, some abuse, and rather bloody brawls. As for the AU bit, I introduce this during a random bit from the war (way TWT), and take it off into my own imagination from there.

My language in here is a bit rougher then I usually use. And that's putting it politely. To be frank, I should probably be washing this fic out with soap. Not to mention my brain, because this is how I tend to think. Welcome to the insane, logic-less, limitless wilderness known as my reality.

YAOI will be here, as will threesomes. Little or no yuri, but at least one major het relationship. Lemon/lime amounts will depend on the studio audience (you).

There is also a scene, pretty far down the line, which has attempted NCS. This is NonConsensual Sex, and that means RAPE, people! Though it doesn't succeed, and the rapers get exactly what they deserve in the end... heh, heh, heh... Yeah, I'm evil- but that might be Catclaws. She's escaped her closet again, so I can't tell where she might come up.

You should know the drill- if you couldn't understand what I just said, don't like what I just said, or are under legal age and your parents don't like what I just said, please leave. I don't want to be flamed 'cause you (or your parents) don't know what you're getting into. If you feel you simply must discover definitions to the warnings, or offend yourself (for some reason unknown to sanity), or defy the tyrants that are your parents, please do so elsewhere. I really don't want to deal with hysterical parents claiming that I'm 'corrupting' their babies.

Please Do Not Flame Me. I don't like flames, think flamers themselves are barely half a step up from Cro-Magnons, and have a variety of creative uses for flames that I receive. You have been warned.

Lastly, several segments, chapters, and events might really just be excuses to torture various characters, but they are usually important to the plot, so please bear with them. (And they're so freaking funny!)

Chapter One:

A New Player In The Game

Duo focused his attention on the people entering the cell where they were holding him and his partner. The lineup was not encouraging. Most of them were large, bulky, and had obviously ignored OZ's regulations regarding steroid abuse. Their purpose was rather obvious, but their movements were not coordinated enough to make them a real menace- both he and Heero could withstand a beating from them.

It was their leader that was worrying. He was clean-shaven, with slicked back hair and an oily expression, as well as shifty eyes that darted around the cell. His every move screamed 'Politician! Toady! Ambitious ladder climber!' Meaning he could and would do anything to achieve his goals- and not give a shit about the well being of anyone who might help him, so long as they could still provide that help. He was the one to watch out for.

Duo felt Heero tense against the chains that were holding them in the chairs where they had been shoved. How the hell had they gotten into this, anyway?! There shouldn't have been an OZ patrol anywhere near where they were headed- but for some reason there had been, and they had been ready for the appearance of Gundam pilots.

Duo and Heero had been in the woods due to a cryptic message from Doctor J. Apparently there was a possible ally they needed to meet. J had given very little information about this ally, apart from a code phrase that they could recognize each other from. The exact phrasing he had used regarding the new man had been 'another number.' Actually, J's tone in the e-mail had been rather put out about the guy who they were supposed to meet in general, possibly because he didn't have any information on him. J's pride demanded he appear all knowing of all things, and he got distinctly pissy when he couldn't live up to this. Though J pissed was better then J in a good mood. The man's sense of humor was even more warped then Duo's.

Duo had spent most of the hike to the meeting place trying to get a reaction from Heero by coming up with as many wild speculations about the new guy as he could. Among the more lurid ideas were an alien from Mars who sympathized with them, an underground mob boss who wanted to make a 'business deal,' and a rich noble man who wanted to recruit a harem of gorgeous boys. Actually, there might have been a reaction to this last one, but that was when they had walked strait into the sedation gas spray from the Ozzies, and any reaction had been hidden in the shock and attempt to regroup. Damn. He'd been trying to get a reaction, any reaction from Heero for so long... Another reason to hate OZ. At least the Gundams were hidden in safe places, so there was little or no chance of OZ getting their hands on them. Of course, this meant they would need some transportation when they got free...

Slimy Politician cleared his throat in a huge racking cough of phlegm, calling wandering attentions back to the here and now. Duo, always believing that the best defense was a good offensive remark (second was a fabulous hiding place) didn't let this pass. "You swallow a bottle of the hair gel you use on that rug, or is it just the flu season?"

Slimy turned a light pink, but several of the muscles behind him had to work to keep their chuckles muffled. So the 'gang leader' wasn't all that popular...

"You're not in any place to criticize another's fashion choices, pilot." Marks to Slimy, he was keeping his voice even. "I'll be frank." Yeah, right. Always take a second, third, and fourth look at anything a piece of shit like this said. Street life might not have been cozy, but it sure as hell made you a good judge of character... which gave the added benefit of knowing exactly what to say to raise a person's blood pressure. "Your lives are worth only the information you can give us. We don't care what happens to you, what people do to you, or what your fate is. This can change, if you give the right information to the right people. If you want to keep anything even vaguely resembling a life, talk."

Hmmm. More interesting dynamics... some of the muscle was looking smug, but the rest of it was looking like the only thing they wanted to pound was Slimy's sense of ethics. Huh. So some of the guards had morals after all. Will wonders never cease. Duo opened his mouth to reply, something along the lines of the fact that the oil he was using had apparently seeped into his brain if he thought that they were going to tell him anything, but before he could start the phrase there was a knock at the door.

Now, this was a dungeon. It might have taken on the modern name of 'prison,' or 'holding blocks,' or something else more politically correct, but it was still a dungeon.

You do not knock on dungeon doors.

If what's behind them is a prisoner, you barge in.

If what's behind them is your own, like an office, you walk in.

If what's behind them is above your level, you avoid that door at all costs.

You do not knock on dungeon doors. Especially not in a polite, soft tapping that was more suited to checking to see if the person in the bedroom was awake.

Whoever was on the other side of the door apparently didn't know this.

The effect of this small action was nearly enough to cause Duo to burst out laughing, but he controlled the urge. Laughing would draw unwanted- and probably hostile- attention to himself, and he wanted no more bruises then strictly necessary.

Slimy had been completely thrown off his groove. He no longer looked even slightly menacing, or powerful, or anything likely to compel information from reluctant captives. He now bore a far greater resemblance to a stunned eel. After quickly pulled himself together, he told one of the brutes to open the door and see who was interrupting this intimidation/information session. From his face, the person was about to be grilled on a spit- if they were very lucky.

The man who strode over was one of the ones who seemed to dislike Slimy. He looked almost gleeful at this interruption, like opening the door was going to be a singular pleasure.

The girl on the other side of that opening door was as out of place in this pit as her knock had been. She was short, only slightly taller then Quatre- and that was in a pair of very high heels. Her figure was curvy but slender, and dressed in a showy uniform, with a tight skirt to her lower thighs. Her uniform jacket was decorated in braiding, which meant that she reported to someone fairly high ranking. Her boots blatantly valued style over function, with those spiked heels- and the tops almost reached her knees. Her expression, looks, attitude, and burdens only enhanced this impression. Her hair was jet black, loose, and fell longer then Duo's braid- past the tops of those boots. Not practical in a fight, which was one of the reasons Duo had his braid. Her eyes were light green, and had a wide-eyed innocent look that would've done any Disney animator proud. Completing the image of 'office girl,' one of her hands cradled a folder, and the other was clasped around a briefcase handle. All in all she looked like she should be following after some General, playing tag along girl and gopher. Everything about her screamed that this dungeon was not the place for her. And the image was too complete; it was impossible for Slimy to do anything to chastise her; she'd obviously been sent here by someone else. An important someone else, by the looks of things.

"Yes?" he not-quite snapped, motioning for the girl to come in.

"Please, sir," she said, holding out the folder, "General Fox needs you to sign these." Even her voice didn't belong! Voices in cells were bellows, moans, screams, or threats. Hers was medium pitched, and it gave the instant impression of a shy schoolgirl asking her teacher a question. As she spoke, she minced across the cell to stand in front of Slimy, still offering the folder to him. She now stood between Slimy's gang and the two prisoners, with her back to the two in chains, as Slimy tried to decide if papers from General Fox were important enough to interrupt a 'meeting.' It was a little late; the mere presence of the girl had interrupted already.

"When you get back to him, tell Fox that he should give me papers at our meetings, not whenever he finds them," he finally growled, taking the folder.

"Yes, sir," was the meek reply. She looked down, studying her shoes, as Slimy sighed and opened the folder, with the muscles looking at it with interest. The pilots couldn't glean anything from a glimpse of the papers, though- the girl was standing in their line of sight.

Which was very fortunate.

As the folder came open, the girl slid her hand under her hair and hit something. Only the pilots saw the movement, as she was facing the gang. The goons couldn't see much of anything, anyway, because at the movement, the folder let off a blast of blinding white light. Slimy and the goons had all been looking right at it- they were instantly blinded. The girl had been looking down- and had been in the line of sight for the two prisoners. They were the only three who could see clearly. This let Duo and Heero see- and gape over- what happened next.

The instant the flash faded, the girl was moving. She whirled through the men in front of her, chopping, kicking, and dodging their clumsy swings- they knew they were being attacked by now, but were too blind to hit their attacker. In 10 seconds, the only three conscious in the room were Heero, Duo, and the girl.

And she wasn't done with her surprises yet. As the last man fell (and as the two in the chairs gaped in shock, or at least, their versions of it) she turned to the pilots. "The alphabet teachers say hello," she said cheerfully.

The looks of stunned confusion on Duo and Heero's faces got deeper, if that was possible. That had been the code phrase that the new 'guy' had been supposed to give. Their new ally was a girl?!? And what was she doing here?

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Typical Heero, go right to the heart of the problem, then beat, shoot, or blow the crap out of it 'til there wasn't a problem. The girl seemed to think the first question sensible, and the second stupid. As she answered, she knelt by Slimy and started patting through his pockets, looking for something.

"My name's Rae Carrow, hi, nice to meetcha. I already know who you are. And as for the second question, that should be rather obvious. I'm helping you get out of here. Ah!" Rae stood up, holding a key ring that had formally been in Slimy's possession. "I love it when they're stupid! Hold still for a moment, I'll get you out of the chains. Then you'll have to put on the uniforms."

"Uniforms?" demanded Duo. "What uniforms?"

"The OZ uniforms in the briefcase. This facility has several levels- after we get out of the dungeons, there's an area that is mainly for high-class recreation, and then the MS bays. I've got transport out of there, but we need to reach there without an alarm going off. Hence, the uniforms."

"Still not getting it," Duo griped as she started checking the keys for one that fit his locks. Heero wasn't responding. Rae went into further detail.

"The base is too big to blast out off. If we bulled our way through, they would have enough warning and time to call in reinforcements to cut off any retreat routes. So- no alarms are to be triggered, meaning we need disguises. In about 10 minutes, two OZ guardsmen are going to escort a female prisoner up to one of the Generals for her own interrogation session. This will get us past the checkpoints and into the higher class areas." Duo's chains fell apart as Rae found the right key. She tossed him a very uncomfortable looking uniform and moved on to Heero, still talking. "Once in the higher class areas, we pull another costume switch and make it to the bays. Once we're there, we can grab my ride and haul ass out of here. Questions?"

"Why are you helping us?" Heero's deadpan question came out as he accepted his own uniform from her.

Duo's attention had wandered towards the end of the explanation. It was currently occupied with the idea of Heero changing into the OZ uniform. And how Heero would look in the OZ uniform pants. And all the fantasies those boots called to mind.... Fantasize after we get out! He ordered his mind and refocused on Rae's answer.

"What, you don't know?" Rae looked genuinely startled. But then, her acting skills had already been proved. "Oh..." her face suddenly relaxed. She actually looked more exasperated then anything. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. The Docs and the Lady don't like each other much, so they tend to hide info bits from each other to feel superior. And my mentor, Lady A, has some especially large pet peeves about J. So of course she wouldn't mention the little fact that she's got a sixth Gundam pilot."

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

A/N: Well? Comments? Criticisms? Encouragement? Reviews, pleeeease!

I'll tell you this, though: nothing said here about Rae's looks was true, except for her height and general shape. So don't be put off by the longhaired sweetheart look- it was 100 percent bullshit. And I will do my best to avoid the trap of having everything go perfectly for my character. She will have problems that she'll have to deal with, just like everyone else.

Again, about Rae's looks- you won't find out what she really looks like until the fourth or fifth chapter. Bwhaha! Oh- and everyone with a sense of humor needs to be around when she meets pilots 03, 04, and 05. Be prepared!