Hey, people. I'm back on the computer after being kicked off for the whole of Christmas break- congradulate me! Here, as a celebration of the event, is chapter 7 of the newly renamed Gundam 06 Mirage. Hope the name change didn't throw you... Neway, read on!

Chapter Seven:
Contacts and Explinations

Rae's grin widened as she watched the other two get over their shock (faster then before- they must be getting used to it) and start to study Gundam 06. Mirage was shorter then the others by a good ten feet, and noticeably slimmer, as well. There was less of the block construction that characterized Gundams 01 through 05- the various joints and pieces connected smoothly without many hard corners. And the deep blue of its coloring reflected very little light back, even considering that it was standing in the cliff's shadow.

Rae gave them another few seconds to stare, then turned back to her Gundam. "Active Chameleon Mode," she stated, and the Gundam shimmered back into invisibility.

-Not quite invisibility,- Duo realized after a moment of studying the area in front of him. Now that he knew where the Gundam was, he could see its edges, very faintly. But it wasn't something that anyone would see if they weren't looking for it.

"There's communications equipment inside, so you can talk to the others and to the Docs, if you want," Rae stated. "Also food, cloths, beds, and toilets, and showers- though not necessarily in that order or in good condition."

"Heh, it's better then where we came from. That little shit-hole barely had room to move two steps in any direction, and the closest thing to indoor plumbing was what the rats did on the floor," Duo began to move towards the cabin, Heero a pace behind and silent.

"Charming, I'm sure," Rae drawled in a perfect high society voice. "You must invite me over some time."

"Gundam 06 had a highly radical design when compared to Gundam's 01, 02, 03, 04, and 05. Why?"

Rae broke off the bantering with Duo to glance over at Heero. "Because her purpose isn't quite the same as Gundam's 01, 02, 03, 04, and 05," she informed him. "Further, Mirage was designed after Wing, Deathscythe, Heavyarms, Sandrock, and Shenlong- sorry, Nataku. And the person who designed her had different specialties, ideas, and made no move to consult the five Doctors as she designed and built it. Of course she looks freaking different- she is."

"Different purpose?"

Rae sighed. Reassuring as the suspicion was, this was getting slightly old. "Part of my overall mission- I promise I'll tell you all about it after you've contacted J and he's told you that I won't fucking rig your pillow to blow while you get your damn beauty rest. In the meantime, check your freaking paranoia at the door."

By this time, the trio had reached the door of the safe house and went inside. Out of habit, Heero and Duo scanned the room as they entered, looking for escape routes, weapons, and anything that might be out of place. Rae noticed, but didn't say anything- she'd done the same thing.

Once everyone's mutual paranoia had been satisfied, Rae moved over to one of the doors that went off from the main room. "Comuni-junk's in here- call who and what you will, and order pizza while you're at it." With that, she strolled over to another door and disappeared into it, leaving the two boys alone.

Duo blinked after her. "Think she was kidding about the pizza?"

"Hn." Heero was already deep in the communication equipment.

"Right," Duo muttered. "Translating from Heero-grunt-speech: Insignificant. Get your ass in here and help. Natch." He moved after Heero.

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

Half an hour later, Pilots 01 and 02 left the room with a semi-expanded idea of who and what the new addition to their group was. J had informed them that 'Lady A' really existed, that she really had sent another Pilot, and that there really was a sixth Gundam. Not in so many words, of course- most of the communication had consisted of a rant about how 'that aggravating, immature female didn't see fit to inform me of this bit of vital information.' Duo had been about to make a remark questioning whether J was sure that O had been the one who trained Wufei, but thought better of it. This was someone who was involved in giving him life-threatening jobs as a matter of course- there was no need to tempt the man any further.

G had been a little more helpful- he seemed resigned about the whole thing, and had muttered something about 'should've expected it.' He'd also sent them what information he'd managed to get from this 'Lady A' about Pilot and Gundam 06. It didn't amount to much- just Rae's name and description, the fact that she was a master of disguise, and a description of her Gundam. Nothing about her Gundam's abilities or anything from their past experiences. The only bit of new information from that file was the fact that Pilot 06 also possessed very high rankings in hand-to-hand combat, but there was nothing specific about that. Taken together, it told them little more then they already knew- it merely confirmed that she wasn't as OZ trap.

When they had left the room, the first thing they saw was smoke. Both of them instantly fell into one battle of their battle patterns, pressing up against opposite walls and pulling out their guns. Where there was smoke there was usually was a fire... and with this job, where there was a fire, there usually was an attack.

This, however, was no attack- when they reached the kitchen at the back of the house, where the smoke was coming from, they saw the real source: a pan that had been left on the stove.

Heero and Duo stared at it and put their weapons away. What was going on?

"Hey, what's- oh, fuck!" Rae darted out from behind them and grabbed the pan off the stove, then opened a window to wave the smoke out of. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Turning to her audience she aimed a glare at the snickering Duo. "One comment, and I promise that you'll be walking very gingerly for a long time to come! I can cook..." she added moodily, redirecting her glare at the pan. "...as long as it comes from a can. This was supposed to be eggs, which I'm normally okay at."

"So what do you do on missions, eat bark?"

"No, I eat freshly caught rabbit that somehow manages to be simultaneously raw and burned."

"Wow. Really?"

"No, idiot. I store canned food and some damned nutrient bars in Mirage."

"You have storage space in your Gundam?" Heero interrupted. He was exerting a decent part of his control to stop the envy he felt at the easy banter and friendship that had sprung up between Duo and Rae. It was something that he knew instinctively he'd never be able to emulate.

"Yeah, more then in yours, I think- you two will be able to ride with me in the cockpit, but it'll be kinda cramped."

Duo restrained himself from grinning like a loon at this news. While grinning was in his character, there wasn't really a good reason in that sentence to spark a grin of that size- he really did not want to explain that it was because he was going to be pressed up against Heero for an indefinite length of time.

Rae noticed the look of suppressed glee from Duo, but ignored it in favor of going on about her Gundam. "I promised you two I'd tell you about Mirage after you knew I wasn't about to try and turn you into OZ burgers, and I never break my promises. Whaddaya want to know?"

"The different purpose?" Heero prompted.

"Right." Rae leaned back against the counter, crossing her arms as she spoke. "Gundams 01 through 05 were made, first and foremost, with the idea of blasting things in mind. They differ in speed and firepower, as well as weapons and other specialties, but their basic purpose is the same: to turn what's in front of them into so much freaking slag.

"Gundam 06, my Mirage, is different. While she's fully capable of dealing some fucking serious damage to whatever's around her, that isn't her primary focus. She's made to hide. Nobody and nothing can detect her in the sky, thanks to her jamming abilities, and you saw her camouflage bit. She can sneak past almost anything, which for a robot over two stories high is a fucking good trick. She's just under Deathscythe when it comes to speed, and her firepower's about even with Sandrock's- but she doesn't have any powerful distance weapons. She wasn't made as a distance fighter. Does that answer some questions?"

"How'd she turn out so different?" Duo questioned, his attention drawn back from happy fantasies of being pressed up against Heero in the cock pit, in the bed, anywhere... -Bad Duo!- he chided himself, catching his thoughts before they wandered off again. -Focus!-

"Well, for one, Lady A has long believed that the Docs are suffering from severe testosterone poisoning, and that the big, bad Gundams were a result. Boys and their toys, and all that. Further, she's a great believer in the whole 'mind over matter' bit- subtly over force. She didn't consult the Docs once during the construction, just made it as she pleased. Finally, her specialties are way different then any of the other's."

"Specialties?"

"You know- O focuses on using machines to help and further martial arts and other such shit, G is pure mechanics, H just kinda teaches his knowledge without delving deeper into it- stuff like that. Lady A is really interested in how technology effects and interacts with the world around us. That's how she came up with the camouflage- there's cameras looking in every angle from Mirage, and they program the screen-skin on her to look like what's on her other side. She also spends a lot of time on machines that do different things to the human body."

Duo wanted to ask more about those machines- they sounded like something he should try to avoid- but Heero asked another question before he could get out the request.

"Why are you volunteering so much information?"

"Two reasons," Rae smirked. "One, the more you know about me, the less suspicious you'll be because you won't be able to imagine all sorts of fucking horrible things about me when you've got the facts." Duo almost chocked. Heero imagining? If only... "Two," Rae continued, "I promised you I'd tell you what you want to know, and I always keep my promises."

A glace at Heero's face told Duo that Pilot 01 was skeptical of this (after all this time, he'd learned to read Heero, a bit) but Duo didn't doubt her. He recognized the look in her eyes- it was the one that was in his own when he told people that he never lied. "One final question," he spoke up. "What was that about an 'overall mission?'"

"Ah-hah, the thief picks up the most valuable gem!" Rae cackled. "It's the eventual goal of my dressing up in so many bloody costumes. My job is to get as much information about the leaders- of OZ, of the Alliance, of Romafeller, of anyone of influence, really- as I possible can. But I'm only supposed to focus on the ones who're actually good at what they do, or the ones that are war hawks, and leave the idiots and peace advocates alone. The eventual goal is to use the information to force smarter ones to surrender or give up- failing that, to start personal attacks on them and drive them absolutely up-the-wall fucking crazy. The game plan is a complete and total break down of OZ leadership.

"That type of work means I'll be in cities and other places where it's be freaking impossible to hide a 'traditional' Gundam- but Mirage is perfect.

"And that, I think, concludes this game of Twenty Questions," Rae stated, standing up from her position against the counter. "I'll take you over to your own safe-house tomorrow. In the mean-time, do either cook?"

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

A/N: Well, everyone, that was it. Hope ya'll liked it... and on to my reviewer notes!

gundam06serenity:
Thanks for the compliment on the Gundam (Mirage is fun to write). My goal was to make everything about this new pilot DIFFERENT- and how original would she be without an different Gundam? And I'm sorry- but PINK? Who the hell is doing their decorating, Relena? Gundams are supposed to strike fear into the hearts of Ozzie flunkies, not send them into fits of hysterical giggles! And what I meant about the Gundam was that they'll know at least part of her story is true, and that makes them more inclined to beleive the rest. Besides- they've got a long history with Zechs, and they don't with her. I'm really sorry if Duo seemed stupid- that was NOT my intention! He was supposed to be chattering, going on about nothing. Man thanks for the feedback though- it really helps. She'll be messing with Fei-chans head soon, don't worry! Hope you liked the chapter!

M-python-girl:
NOO! Don't sic the fanatics on me, I beg you! Here's an update, see? I hope you like it, and thanks for reviewing!

Windy River:
I'm not really good with the soon part for this fic... but here's an update. Hope you like it!

Disturbed And Hostile:
Thank you, thank you, and thank you! This chapter was information dropping, too- there might be a more of the same in the next chapter, but that'll be about it. And I don't mind long reviews- to the contrary, I LOVE 'em! So thanks to Melissa, TPT, and Dave, and I hope you liked the latest chapter as well.

kidishcaresh:
Thank you. A school comupter? Lucky- the computers in my own school ban this and most other fanfic sites. :sigh: And I don't know enough about hacking to get around it, so I just have to put up with it. I hope you manage(d) to get the chapters done, and thanks for reviewing!

chibi luci:
I hope that this is enough content to inspire reivews... :giggle: The chapters of this story are about medium length, unlike the ones in Kitsune Twins. I agree with you full heartedly that the original Gundams should be a little more... ah... blendy in their color scheme. I mean, bright red? In a guriella war? The 'hiding under one's nose' comment gave me an interesting idea. but you'll see it later on. I think Wufei's reaction is going to be more interesting then Trowa's but it'll be cool all the same. Thanks for the review, and I hope you liked the chapter!

Th-t-th-t-that's all folks! See ya next time!