X
Chapter 3:
Chosen
Lea slowly opened her eyes. She was in a metallic room with the same three boys she had seen earlier... but where? That's right, they were the ones who had taken her to this abandoned hangar in the first place.
Lea was in an uncomfortable bed, with an equally uncomfortable headache. Lea rubbed her forehead where it hurt the most and found she was pressing against a bandage. She pressed a little harder and something wet touched her hands. Blood. How had she gotten cut? What had happened? Lea stirred worriedly. Duo looked up.
"Hey there, you gave quite a fight yesterday" he said happily and smiled. Then it hit Lea as if she had been slapped in the face. Of course! What happened yesterday, it was all coming back to Lea...
Lea gasped at the mere sight or the old decrepit hangar, and began to panic. Quatre reassured Lea that they wouldn't hurt her. That's what everyone says, until they have you right where they want you, then it's all over.
Lea shivered as a strange feeling washed over her. Trowa looked up and so did Duo and Quatre.
"Get out of the car." Trowa said.
"What" Lea asked.
"Get out of the car" Trowa then proceeded to open his car door and pull Lea along with himself out of it. Lea gasped as she watched the car burst into the flames.
Trowa half carried-half dragged Lea into the hangar. Inside were a few uniformed men.
"Trowa Barton, I presume" An older voice said from behind. A man with long black hair and a scar over his left eye stepped between the small army and Trowa. "And who is this young beauty" The man said and stared at Lea. Trowa pushed Lea slightly behind him.
"Stay out of the way." Trowa said and, without waiting for a reply, drew his gun. Once again Lea gasped. "What do you want"
"The girl." The man said coolly, ignoring the gun aimed at his head.
"Why"
"We need her for... experimentation." He said. Trowa stared and then started to move away. Lea was exposed. The man smiled, a horrid, evil smile. Lea's eyes widened in fright. The man began to walk forward. At that moment, Trowa kneeled down slightly in back of Lea and pointed his gun to her head. Everyone but himself gasped. "What do you think you're doing" The man yelled.
"Leave this place or the girl is killed." Trowa answered. Lea stared straight forward. Why did these people want her? What did she have, what did she do to deserve this? Lea clenched her teeth and closed her eyes. Trowa began to slightly drag her backwards, never moving his gun.
"Girl, Lea, please, come with us, we don't wish to harm you..." The man said. Trowa retracted backwards even more. "Don't you remember me? It's me, Sakio." he said. Lea gasped as a blurry image appeared in her mind. Lea was a tiny baby, held in the arms of...
"Sakio" She breathed. Sakio smiled. Trowa gripped Lea more tightly.
"Don't even think of running" Trowa began, but Lea was already thinking of a way out. Her mind buzzed as she looked about the room.
"Who are you! What do you want from me" Lea blurted out, hopeful to divert Trowa's attention. Trowa paused, and then pulled his gun away. Lea breathed a sigh of relief as Trowa loosened his grip. She ran all the way to the other end of the room, where Sakio was smiling devilishly. He lifted up a small gun and pointed it at Lea. He pulled the trigger, she felt herself fall, but it wasn't because she had gotten shot, Trowa had grabbed her legs and was pulling her downward. And just in time. The bullet skimmed her cheek but instead hit Trowa who was directly behind her. He quickly grabbed Lea and began to drag her away when something else hit her in the back. She instantly felt her body go numb with pain and she fell into unconsciousness.
Lea shook her head. "Forgive me, I caused so much trouble..."
"You had it coming, kid" Duo said energetically. "Don't worry about it, though, Trowa did get hit pretty badly, but he's resting now."
"Resting? Then who is..." Lea asked as the third boy's head turned and revealed that it wasn't Trowa, but someone else.
"Who? Oh, that's Heero." Duo said. Heero said nothing, but returned to tending his wounds. Lea stood up from her bed. Her head swam.
"What happened to me" she asked, holding her head.
"You were injected with something, right now Wufei is trying to find out what it was..." Quatre began, but was cut off when there came a knocking at the door. Wufei walked in and handed a piece of paper to Heero, who poured over it.
"So" Came Quatre's unsure voice.
"I have no idea" Wufei said flatly and sat down on the floor. "But it's entered her bloodstream, that's for sure."
Lea twitched slightly. "Wha"
"Ah, don't worry about it" Duo said happily and gave his reassuring smile. "It's not gonna kill you, right Wu-man"
"Don't call me that..." Wufei mumbled angrily and left the room.
"That means 'yes', for Wufei." Duo said. Lea looked around the room. It was small, and dark, and everything appeared to be metal bolted down. Lea then diverted her attention to the three boys, and, mainly, Heero. He gave her a side glance, but other than that appeared to take no attention of the girl on the bed.
"You should sleep" Heero said. Lea jumped at his words.
"What? Oh, right..." she then plopped down on the bed and closed her eyes. Lea heard Heero, Quatre and Duo stand as the door creaked open.
"Well? How is she" Trowa whispered.
"I don't know, Wufei hasn't been able to analyze what she's been injected with." Heero answered.
"Will it kill her" Trowa asked.
"Why are you still so intent on that" Heero lashed out. "We can't kill her"
"Why not? It's our mission." Wufei said as the door creaked open again. "After all, she is" Heero cut him off.
"She isn't important. As long as we can keep her away from Sakio and Romefeller, then we won't have to kill her."
"I still don't understand why we just can't kill her in her sleep" Wufei said. Lea felt his gaze upon her. "She's weak from that strange injection. It will be easy to kill her..."
"No" Heero intervened. "We're not going to kill her." Heero's footsteps could be heard growing fainter. "I'm going to talk with Doctor J." The door closed, and silence filled the room. Lea took a deep breath and fell asleep, wishing that her nightmare would end.
Lea awoke the next morning feeling light-headed. Groaning slightly, she lifted herself out of the bed and made her way towards the door. Before she could reach the handle, though, the door swung open to reveal a saddened looking Quatre. He looked surprised to see Lea out of bed.
"Oh, hello..." Quatre said absent mindedly. "How are you feeling today"
"Fine..." Lea lied and quickly brushed past Quatre and the awkward situation. Quatre stared after her for a moment, shrugged, and the pursued her.
"Hey, wait" he cried out. Lea paused to let the boy catch up. "You sure can run" Quatre said and started down the long dark hall, Lea followed. "I saw you racing, most people can't handle their cars properly once they hit 230 MPH..." he began. Lea looked on. Quatre, feeling once again uncomfortable, continued. "But then again, not very many people can hit 230 MPH in the first place. You're really something." Quatre stopped in front of a large door, input a code which Lea memorized immediately, and the door swung open to reveal a huge, elaborate hall. There were beautiful tapestries and paintings covering all the walls, and opulent furniture adorned with fresh roses stood neatly at either end of the room. Lea wondered what had just happened, and where she was now. Quatre, seeing her confused look, cleared his throat and called out"Duo". Just then the room seemed to flicker like a bad television screen, and then the whole room changed to look much like, (if not the same as) the room the two had just left. Another heavily bolted door opened and a cheerful Duo walked out.
"Whazzup, Golden Boy" he said happily. His large smile flickered slightly when he saw Lea.
"Duo, hasn't Heero told you not to mess around with the holographic projector" Quatre smiled.
"No..." Duo said, putting on his, Don't-Be-Mad-At-Me-'Cause-I'm-To-Cute-To-Be-Mad-At look. Lea looked up at the ceiling, which had an amazingly large crack going straight through it; only the crack was straight as straight could be. It was obviously some kind of opening. Then Lea remembered her brother telling her about places like these which had unusual cracks in the ceiling.
"Hey, isn't that" Lea started.
"Well, must be going" Quatre said and hastily pushed Lea into the room Duo had just come out of.
Tens of computer screens buzzed and illuminated the room. Three shadows sat in front of a few computers.
"Wait here" Quatre said and walked over to the shadow on the right. He whispered something and the shadow stood and turned to see her. "That's the girl" Quatre said nodding in Lea's direction. Lea closed her eyes as her head once again began to swim. The shadow slowly approached her.
"How are you feeling" came an unfamiliar voice.
"My... my head hurts..." Lea said and mentally shook herself. The shadow nodded and pulled something out of it's pocket.
"Take this" Lea nodded and took the two pills which were handed to her. The iron bolted door opened once again and Duo emerged, turned on the lights, and revealed Heero standing in front of Lea. Lea nearly jumped at how close Heero was to her. She quickly took a few steps backward. Heero nodded and went back to the many computer screens. Lea blushed and hurriedly swallowed her two pills. Duo stood in the doorway still, obviously waiting for Lea.
"Heero claims you need fresh air, kiddo." Duo said energetically and motioned for Lea to follow him. Lea jumped at the word 'kiddo' being said to her. Only Mai had said that to her before now.
Duo walked briskly through the long, dark winding halls. Lea could barely keep up, she wasn't in very good shape, mainly because of her headache.
A great pain shot through Lea's head. She paused, causing Duo to stop and look backwards.
"You okay" he asked, looking only slightly worried. Lea nodded and walked up to him. The two continued at the same pace down the hall. Duo whistled and put his hands behind his head. Lea glanced up at him, and then sighed.
About ten minutes later, the two reached an extremely large door.
"Here we are" Duo exclaimed happily and, throwing the door open, revealed what looked like the most beautiful, opulent park Lea had ever seen.
Lea gasped at the perfect scene before her.
"It's like walking into a painting..." she said and took a few steps forward. A warm breeze ruffled her hair and made the leaves on the trees sound like ocean waves. Lea smiled slightly and turned around to get a full view of the world around her. Duo was standing so close to her, she jumped.
"Yeah, I haven't seen much fine art, but this sure is nice." Duo turned and looked to where a small pond was situated quite comfortably amongst tall fountain grass.
Lea nodded. "Just seeing all this makes me happy... and sad."
"Why so" Duo said, turning in her direction, but never meeting her gaze.
Lea suddenly ran. "I feel like I could fly" She yelled happily and jumped up. "The clouds look so close, I swear I could touch them" Lea lifted her hands up into the air and grabbed at the white puffs above her. "If I close my eyes, maybe everything will go back to normal..." Lea closed her eyes. Duo sat down in the grass and watched the girl, puzzled. A small blue bird fluttered down from the nearest tree and landed on Lea's shoulder. She immediately opened her eyes and stopped jumping and sat down. "Why am I so happy now? Maybe it's because... this place reminds of where Damon used to take me when I was down..." The bird cocked it's tiny head and twittered. Lea closed her eyes again and envisioned Damon driving her to a small, beautiful park.
It's the nicest memory I have of him... and his smile.
Duo stood up and walked over to her. He outstretched his hand. "Feel any better"
The bird on Lea's shoulder twittered angrily, and then flew away. Lea took his hand and lifted herself off the ground.
"Yes... and..." Lea looked up into Duo's eyes. "Thank you."
Duo looked confused. When he had first met this girl, she looked sad and dull, now it would seem the sunlight brought some color into her face, some light into her eyes.
Heero was gazing out the only window in the entire hangar, watching Duo and Lea.
"Are you sure she's the right one" Heero asked uncertainly and turned to Trowa.
Trowa nodded. "If you had seen her at the tracks, you would be amazed. Her capabilities are incredible. She is the one we need."
Heero looked again out the window. What could he say? She came willingly, although she was a little frightened. He only nodded. "Alright."
The door opened and Duo and Lea walked in. The rush of cold air from the hangar made Lea shiver, but she didn't say anything. She sat down on her cot almost immediately, and none of the pilots paid any real attention to her again, although they were all aware of where she was. She saw that whenever she would shift in the bed or move, the boy's muscles would tense and they would stop immediately whatever it was they were doing to listen to what it was Lea was up too.
They're so restless. She thought and laid down. Almost as soon as she had shut her eyes, the conversation started up again.
"When are we gonna have her do it" Duo asked. Lea almost stopped breathing.
"Soon, don't worry. The X is almost built. But we have to keep her sheltered, just in case." Quatre said, sounding anxious and worried. "What if she can't... you know..."
"I'm certain she can." Trowa answered. "I saw her at the tracks. She can do it."
"And the Zero system" Wufei interjected. "Will she be able to handle it"
"Probably not." Heero said quietly. "But she's the only one who knows the man who built that stronghold... right"
"Yes. She ran right up to him. I'm sure she knows him. She's the only one left anyway, besides Sakio himself."
"Hey, do we know her name anyway" Duo asked attentively. Wufei rummaged around in a small drawer and pulled out a small piece of paper.
"Age: 16, Birth date: AC 181, Orphaned, no direct family members still alive, Name: Lea K"
Lea suddenly coughed. All the pilots jumped. She coughed again, and again. She thought she was drooling, a liquid was running slightly out of her mouth.
"What's wrong" Duo yelled and jumped out of his seat. Lea looked down as her eyes began to cloud over; a small red pool was developing on the bed, her chest stung horribly.
Is that... blood?
Lea closed her eyes.
Am I dying? What's wrong with me? I was fine a second ago...
The five boys rushed over and helped her to sit up. Lea felt tired and weak... she couldn't hold her head up.
What's... happening... to me?
In her mind she could hear strange sounds, like gears moving, and exhaust being pumped out somewhere. She slowly opened her eyes. They were slightly green-tinged, as if she were looking through a great glass. She tried to move her hand, and again she heard strange gear-like noises. She turned her head and saw she was in the hangar, only it was much larger. Her instincts told her she was underground. She moved her hand again; now it was in her range of vision. It was armored, or at least it looked slightly armored. She moved her fingers, the armored hand moved it's fingers.
So, you are the one.
"Who's there" Lea cried out, looking around for where the voice was coming from; it was as if the voice was directly in her mind.
You can hear me? I can hear you. This is good...
"Who are you"
I am X. And you are now my pilot.
"Pilot? What are you talking about"
They brought other people here, but they never found someone like you.
"Like me"
Yes. I have been searching for you for some time now. We are now linked, in body, mind, and soul. You and I are one, Lea.
"We're one"
Yes. From now on, when you pilot me, it won't be like a normal MS. I am special, and so are you. Though if you should feel any pain, I will feel it also.
"And what about you"
If someone begins disassembling me, you will also feel it.
Lea cringed at the thought of being disassemble. "Then I'll take care of you... X."
TO BE CONTINUED
AN: Thanks you all who've been reviewing so far, and please, review, review, review! Thanks for reading!
