Disclaimer: All unknown characters in this story are all mine except Niko,
J.C., and Daga who belong to Niko. I don't own GW, but I wish I did. This
is a long one, hope you enjoy.
Gundam Wing Episode 18 *Heart of the Dragon* 7:00a.m.
Mr. Lowe sits at his desk writing when a woman without knocking walks in. He looks up angrily, but it soon fades seeing her. He watches her body as she comes closer. Her brown eyes show her true age, but her silky black hair gives her the youth she needs to betray her eyes, somehow managed to keep her figure. She tosses a collar on his desk. He takes his eyes off her long enough to examine it.
"Are you implying something, Ms. Lan?"
"Maybe." he looks at her hard a moment. "It's a mind control device for animals a friend of mine made up about a while back."
"And you're giving me this because?"
"There's a little thing called mass production you can do without being detected."
"And what's in it for me if I do this little favor for you?"
"I give you as many splicers as you want. all on a leash."
"Isn't your son going to be furious?"
"Don't worry about that. He's been taken care of besides they're animals nothing more" she says bluntly. "We put one on each of the prisoners that got an injection from Achan and they're set to kill once activated."
******
The familiar blue glow of the girl's sunglasses starts to dim as she sits at the desk in pediatrics, she hacks into the computer. Tikki Rembu blurrily comes up on the computer screen. That's strange. why is it.? She looks away as it gets worse. Feeling something warm and sticky she looks down at her stomach. Her blue scrubs were being soaked with blood right before her eyes slowly, but surly.
Damn it! I must have irritated it. If I don't delete this information from hospital computer they'll easily find out that Fox and Sophia are the same person then I'd only have Wulan left as my last identify and I don't feel like making more secret identities right now. What's wrong with you!! You never put stuff off because you don't feel like it. Do it because you have to!! But. Can I risk Quatre finding out about me? If I stay here, however, I'll pass out. I have to delete this in case someone hacks into the hospital. Ignoring the dizzy spells she highlights the Tikki Rembu file and presses delete, but nothing happens.
"Huh, why isn't it." she tries it away and again, "What's wrong with this?" Two red eyes pop up on screen then the fox shows itself. "Mischievous. What are you doing! You know I have to delete this!"
The fox's eyes turn sad and blue shaking its head then it holds up a sigh which read, "Stay until your well."
"You know I can't risk that Mischievous," she says angrily.
"I'll watch your file." Mischievous says with another sign. Seeing that she wasn't moving his eyes gush tears like a fountain.
"Ok, ok. I'll stay," she says tiredly finally giving in, "But I only want Iria Winner to be able to access it." The room spins more, but she shakes it away and stands up. "Ok. no, no one else." She moves away from the desk. The room starts to spin again. She doesn't get two feet away before she collapses. She rests a moment before forcing herself up only for the spinning to worsen and collapse again. The floor now glistens with her blood. Though her eyes are open, her surroundings start to fade. Man, I can't die now. There's still soo much I haven't done. I was hoping to see your face one last time. I
******
Heero sits down next to Daga lost in thought as Trowa sets up the chess board. Wufei sits at the end of the couch reading. Shimi enters the room carrying a picnic basket. Seeing Trowa she races over.
"There you are." Trowa stands up when seeing her. "I was looking all over for you." She hugs him before he could move then holds the basket in front of him. "I hope you're hungry because I made lunch." Trowa takes the basket and looks inside.
"He doesn't want to be bothered by you, Shimi." Wufei announces flatly looking up from his book for only a moment.
"Looks appetizing," Trowa says seeing that Wufei's words have hurt her. "Maybe we should enjoy this in the cafeteria." Her eyes light up.
"Really," She takes his hand and leads him out of the room.
"Looks like I just lost my chess partner. so Heero do you want to play?"
I Wufei stands up startled. He literally starts to sweat as worry plasters itself on his face.
"Wufei, what's the matter?" Daga asks with concern, but he didn't seem to hear her. He quickly leaves the room leaving the two alone. "Ok." she turns to Heero noticing he also seemed a bit worried. "What is it worry hour? .What's the matter Heero?"
"Hum," he looks at her a moment before taking the black box from his pocket. He places it on the little table a few inches from the couch they were sitting for her to see.
"What's this?" she says picking it up and examining it.
"The memory system of a robot Fox made. If we decode it, I'm sure we can find the base where he's hiding the rest of the gundams." She looks at Heero a moment then hands the cube to him.
"If that's true then why are you so worried?" There's a long pause in the room.
"I forgot I had it."
******
"How do you feel, Master Quatre?" Abdul helps him sit up as Isra gets him his food tray.
"A lot better, I feel well enough to walk around." He plants his feet on the ground as a new smell almost overwhelms him.
"Is something the matter, Master?"
"I. I smell something. A heavy smell, I think it's. blood."
"Blood, Master?"
"Yes," Quatre stands up with the four Maganacs following him he follows the sent. The heavy sent of blood gets stronger as he goes to the front desk. No nurses or doctors are present. Following the sent leads him to the other side of the desk.
"That's the girl from the elevator." Isra says remembering the girl's lolly pop pony tails. Quatre and the others quickly go to her.
"Quick Amin get a doctor, and Asim get a towel to stop the bleeding." He takes the shades off the girl. "Huh, Sophia," He says in shock as her eyes stare back at him. "How did-" his throat swells with pain seeing her cutting him off. His eyes start to fill with tears. Suddenly her body heaves. He quickly turns her over as she throws up. A wave of relief washes over him. She breaths rapidly and her eyes close halfway as they focus on her surroundings. After resting her head on his chest, she grabs hold of his shirt like a baby clings to its mother. Just then Dr. Winner kneels down next to Quatre.
"Oh my God, that's why she looked so familiar." She says as Asim finally comes with the towel. She pulls on his shirt and clutches her teeth as the doctor applies pressure to the girl's wound. "I can't believe she got so big."
"You know Sophia?" Quatre asks in surprise.
"Yes, I do because I'm her family doctor."
"Family doctor?"
"Yes, but for some reason I haven't seen her in almost ten years." She places a hand on Sophia's forehead. "She's cold and she's lost a lot of blood she's going to need a transfusion. Quatre, would you mind giving blood for a transfusion? You two have the same blood type and it will be faster that way."
"Of course; she's been. more then just a friend to me." He says softly looking down at her.
******
Wufei hurries down the hallway. Calm down, you know she can take care of herself. You helped train her remember. but she never apologizes unless she's in trouble or. He picks up speed and is soon running down the hallway. If anything happens to her.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
A Chinese girl about five ran up the hill to where Wufei was reading. At the top she casually walked to him. He looked up into eyes that resembled his only with a hint of brown cut into it which disappeared when you weren't face to face. She had her hair in pig tails and wore a similar uniform to his.
"I had a feeling I'd find you here," she said sitting next to him. What you think about it my fight, yesterday?" she asked curiously.
"Hum. You've excelled faster then I first anticipated."
"Then, I'm going to enter the Jr. Tournament."
"You're not ready for a tournament yet," he said sternly. "You still have a lot to learn before you can enter, maybe in two or three years." She looked at him. After a moment of thinking she curls up in a ball.
"Are you still going to step up my training, Wufei? .I've been getting the feeling that. you've been avoiding me." She looked at her feet waiting for a reply. Wufei finally closed his book and looked at her.
".Since mother died and father sending us off to boarding houses. maybe I have been a bit distant lately. sorry about that. I didn't mean to be distant." Two boys around seven or eight came running up the hill with a ball.
"Hey, Wufei, you want to play?" the taller boy asked as Wufei stood up.
"I promised I'd train, Sophia." She stood up as the two glance over at her.
"Why waste your time training her for?" the shorter one asked coldly. "She'll just be a bother to you." Wufei ignores their comments and with his book in hand starts down the hill. He motions for Sophia to follow.
"Hey!" Wufei turned in time for Sophia to roll past him. On impulse he raced after her. When he got close enough, he jumped into the river that past behind the boarding house where he studied.
"Sophia, are you ok?" he asked turning her over. Her clothes were covered with grass stains and her hair was messed up from the fall. Her pants had a new hole at the knee. She looked up at his as thought nothing happened. She sat up facing him.
"Can we go now?" she said a bit impatient.
". of course we can." He said with a smile seeing that she was ok. On impulse he jumped up suddenly and knocked the ball away from her head. He glared angrily at the two boys. "Attacking someone from behind is dishonorable!"
"She's just a girl; she shouldn't be learning marshal arts anyway. Why waste your time training her?" the taller one said cynically.
"What I do is my business, Ahfu," Wufei said coldly. "I don't have to explain myself to you." He turned away aggravated while Sophia went to pick up his book. Both boys gang up on her, but she easily maneuvers herself out of the way of Ahfu then kicked him hard in the stomach. She tripped Ahfu's partner into the river as he went down. Wufei stopped and looked back hearing the sudden explosion of water. Ahfu grabbed at her, but missed grasping the book instead. He lifted the book high in the air, but she clung to it like a dog playing chew tug. Wufei quickly hurries back.
"Let gooo." Ahfu punched her in the stomach and she instantly released it. The force of the blow sent her flying into the river. Wufei quickly fished her out knowing she couldn't swim.
"Sophia, are you ok" he asked as she coughed up the water. She took a moment before she looked up at him.
"I failed; I'm sorry, Wufei ." she said low enough that only he could hear.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
The way she said it just now. was different. Something's wrong. I know it.
"Wufei" he turns at the sound of his name realizing he had stopped in front of Sally's office. "What's wrong?"
"So, you think she's close and she's hurt pretty badly." Sally says after checking his temperature for the second time. "You're worrying too much, Wufei."
"No. I know for a fact that she's hurt. I know it sounds strange to you, Sally, but Sophia and I. how can I put this?" He looks down a moment. "When I'm around her. we. we have a link. That we can speak to each other without talking. A few minutes ago she just spoke to me. It was brief and weak. That's how I know she's close, because it doesn't work at far distances." He pauses a moment then looks at her waiting for a reply. "You don't believe me don't you?"
"It's a little hard to believe., but you're not the type to play jokes. I don't know." She turns off one of the lights. His eyes give of a deep blue glow. "You wouldn't think black eyes would give off such an intense blue glow." She picks up the thesis scope then checks his ears.
"I'm not crazy, Sally." He says stopping her from checking his mouth by warmly taking hold of her chin. He kisses her. I don't need a check up, Sally; I'm fine.
The kiss ends and she looks at him stunned. There's no way he could have said that while he was kissing me, Sally thinks to herself still astounded by what just happened.
"You're. telepathic." He sighs shaking his head.
".but I prefer not to use it, so it's not exactly as strong unless Sophia's close by. She's psychic in the sense of having visions. I didn't want to tell. I was afraid you'd see me differently."
"It's. unlike you to care about what others think, Wufei." He wraps his arms around her; she does the same.
"I only care what the people I care for think, Sally." He says softly placing his forehead on hers before kissing her again.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
"Then it's true. I really am a bother to you." Wufei turned to face her. She avoided his eyes by gazing at her feet. "I'm sorry for wasting your time, Wufei." Her eyes weld with tears. She tried her best not to cry, but the tears spill over her tiny hands when she tried to rub them away.
"Who told you that? I never thought of you as a bother and I never will." He used his thumb to wipe her tears away cupping her face in his hands. "Come, it's time for bed anyway." She shook her head in agreement. "You want to take a ride on the dragon?" Sophia's eyes light up and quickly hoped on his back. With a steady fast pace he raced down the corridor which held a giant number of suits Sophia's father made. Oblivious of the suits the two continued on and laughed enjoying the moment together.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
Sophia gasps opening her eyes. Steadily she slows her breathing to normal as the room comes into focus. Seeing the snow white wall she remembers where she is. The off white blanket gives secondary coloring to the room. The straw like tubing of the IV catches her eye, tracing it from her arm to the machine on her left catches Quatre as he looks up on the bed next to hers. She sits up, but only partly due to the ripping, burning pain in her stomach. She quickly sees he's also connected to the same machine.
"Sophia, you should lie still. You're in no condition to move around." She grits her teeth as she lies back down eyeing Isra and Abdul on her right guarding the door.
"I'm glad to see you're doing better then me." She says weakly, "I wasn't sure if I should stay or not, but it seems I had not choice in the matter. It's bad enough my cyber partner wouldn't let me leave none the less my own body."
"So you finally woke up," Dr. Winner walks in to Sophia's bed then hands her something. "I'm guessing you put these little devices on many people."
"I bet you're the only one who actually found my little device, Iria." Sophia places the dime sized clear patch on her index finger. "I'm surprised it didn't explode on you like Quatre's did."
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
"No more. You're too weak!" Sophia pulls out a gun and fires. As the bullet grazes the tip of his ear, there's a small explosion that jerks him sideways.
"AH!" Quatre clutches his left ear and everything starts to spin. His vision starts to go out, but he looks up in time to see Sophia jumps off the other side of the building with some kind of yellow board in hand. He could hear Rashid and the others calling his name with great concern. When he feels himself slip, he tried in vain to get a grip on something.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
So, that's what that explosion was. Quatre continues to listen interested.
"It's funny how something as simple as changing she to he can change a person's perspective of things." So that's how she kept her identity a secret. Her device makes the person perceive a person as two people.
******
"Ok, Jeff your wrist seems to have healed fine." Sally carefully takes the cast off his wrist. "How does it feel now?" He moves his stiff wrist around after quickly turning his gaze from hers when their eyes met.
"Um. better" he says shyly. "Aren't you. I mean. Why did you help me? Aren't I your prisoner. since I've been here no one's pumped me for information."
"Do you want to be treated like a prisoner?" she asks looking at him.
"No. it's just that everyone's be either nice to me or not acknowledged me."
"Well, we'll most likely be asking you questions sooner or later. Things have just been a little hectic since you guys got back." She throws the cast away. "Can you take a seat, Jeff I'd like to do a full check up, just in case?" He sits down as she checks his pause and eyes. "Well you look-" she stops noticing something on his neck. "What's this?"
"Huh, what's what?" She reaches for his neck, but he moves away.
"It's ok Jeff. I won't hurt you; theirs something on your neck." As she touches it, it becomes visible. "Just hold still." She carefully takes it off. "It's. a collar," she says as they both look at it in flabbergasted.
******
"Thanks for getting me out of there, Quatre. I didn't know how long I could have taken that horrible hospital food." Sophia says as they exit the hospital with Quatre.
"Your welcome, but you have to promise to take it easy, Sophia. I already feel guilty for discharging you a day early." He says opening the limo door for her.
"I'd prefer if you'd still call me Tikki instead of Sophia, Quatre." She says as he closes the door sitting next to her. "Calling me Sophia might bring unwanted guests, Quatre though I think they'd given up on you for a while." She puts on her seat belt then sits back crossing her arms. Damn it! I don't want to bring Quatre into this. not again. It's because of me he's part splicer now. She sighs. But I have no choice. "The collar." Quatre looks at her as he buckles his own seat belt. She continues slowly. ".that I found on you. I think the others might have one on them as well. I want to go and check it out, but. I might need some assistance. if what you told me is correct about you all getting injected."
"You really think so, Sophia?" Sophia told me what happened when I was under the control of the collar. Even now I'm slowly remembering what happened. If it wasn't for her. who knows what I would have done. That's why I have to get her to train us, so we can help her, but how can I convince her?"
"I think I'd be best for my men if I went away for a while. I think they'd get caught up on construction if they'd knew I was safe else ware. Staying here only makes me a distraction."
"Distraction? You're not a distraction, Quatre, why is it that you always put yourself down?" She uncrosses her arms pausing as the limo starts to move. "But if you feel that way. your friends are the safest bet in my book."
"So. you do consider me worthy enough to be your partner, Sophia?" She looks at, Quatre a moment then turns away from him before he could see her blush knowing he was right re-crossing her arms.
"I didn't say that. I just need you to get me in the place, that's all." She says through clinched teeth. "I wouldn't have asked you otherwise."
"I guess." He stares at her a bit satisfied by her reaction. "I was wrong then." He sits back.
Gundam Wing Episode 18 *Heart of the Dragon* 7:00a.m.
Mr. Lowe sits at his desk writing when a woman without knocking walks in. He looks up angrily, but it soon fades seeing her. He watches her body as she comes closer. Her brown eyes show her true age, but her silky black hair gives her the youth she needs to betray her eyes, somehow managed to keep her figure. She tosses a collar on his desk. He takes his eyes off her long enough to examine it.
"Are you implying something, Ms. Lan?"
"Maybe." he looks at her hard a moment. "It's a mind control device for animals a friend of mine made up about a while back."
"And you're giving me this because?"
"There's a little thing called mass production you can do without being detected."
"And what's in it for me if I do this little favor for you?"
"I give you as many splicers as you want. all on a leash."
"Isn't your son going to be furious?"
"Don't worry about that. He's been taken care of besides they're animals nothing more" she says bluntly. "We put one on each of the prisoners that got an injection from Achan and they're set to kill once activated."
******
The familiar blue glow of the girl's sunglasses starts to dim as she sits at the desk in pediatrics, she hacks into the computer. Tikki Rembu blurrily comes up on the computer screen. That's strange. why is it.? She looks away as it gets worse. Feeling something warm and sticky she looks down at her stomach. Her blue scrubs were being soaked with blood right before her eyes slowly, but surly.
Damn it! I must have irritated it. If I don't delete this information from hospital computer they'll easily find out that Fox and Sophia are the same person then I'd only have Wulan left as my last identify and I don't feel like making more secret identities right now. What's wrong with you!! You never put stuff off because you don't feel like it. Do it because you have to!! But. Can I risk Quatre finding out about me? If I stay here, however, I'll pass out. I have to delete this in case someone hacks into the hospital. Ignoring the dizzy spells she highlights the Tikki Rembu file and presses delete, but nothing happens.
"Huh, why isn't it." she tries it away and again, "What's wrong with this?" Two red eyes pop up on screen then the fox shows itself. "Mischievous. What are you doing! You know I have to delete this!"
The fox's eyes turn sad and blue shaking its head then it holds up a sigh which read, "Stay until your well."
"You know I can't risk that Mischievous," she says angrily.
"I'll watch your file." Mischievous says with another sign. Seeing that she wasn't moving his eyes gush tears like a fountain.
"Ok, ok. I'll stay," she says tiredly finally giving in, "But I only want Iria Winner to be able to access it." The room spins more, but she shakes it away and stands up. "Ok. no, no one else." She moves away from the desk. The room starts to spin again. She doesn't get two feet away before she collapses. She rests a moment before forcing herself up only for the spinning to worsen and collapse again. The floor now glistens with her blood. Though her eyes are open, her surroundings start to fade. Man, I can't die now. There's still soo much I haven't done. I was hoping to see your face one last time. I
******
Heero sits down next to Daga lost in thought as Trowa sets up the chess board. Wufei sits at the end of the couch reading. Shimi enters the room carrying a picnic basket. Seeing Trowa she races over.
"There you are." Trowa stands up when seeing her. "I was looking all over for you." She hugs him before he could move then holds the basket in front of him. "I hope you're hungry because I made lunch." Trowa takes the basket and looks inside.
"He doesn't want to be bothered by you, Shimi." Wufei announces flatly looking up from his book for only a moment.
"Looks appetizing," Trowa says seeing that Wufei's words have hurt her. "Maybe we should enjoy this in the cafeteria." Her eyes light up.
"Really," She takes his hand and leads him out of the room.
"Looks like I just lost my chess partner. so Heero do you want to play?"
I Wufei stands up startled. He literally starts to sweat as worry plasters itself on his face.
"Wufei, what's the matter?" Daga asks with concern, but he didn't seem to hear her. He quickly leaves the room leaving the two alone. "Ok." she turns to Heero noticing he also seemed a bit worried. "What is it worry hour? .What's the matter Heero?"
"Hum," he looks at her a moment before taking the black box from his pocket. He places it on the little table a few inches from the couch they were sitting for her to see.
"What's this?" she says picking it up and examining it.
"The memory system of a robot Fox made. If we decode it, I'm sure we can find the base where he's hiding the rest of the gundams." She looks at Heero a moment then hands the cube to him.
"If that's true then why are you so worried?" There's a long pause in the room.
"I forgot I had it."
******
"How do you feel, Master Quatre?" Abdul helps him sit up as Isra gets him his food tray.
"A lot better, I feel well enough to walk around." He plants his feet on the ground as a new smell almost overwhelms him.
"Is something the matter, Master?"
"I. I smell something. A heavy smell, I think it's. blood."
"Blood, Master?"
"Yes," Quatre stands up with the four Maganacs following him he follows the sent. The heavy sent of blood gets stronger as he goes to the front desk. No nurses or doctors are present. Following the sent leads him to the other side of the desk.
"That's the girl from the elevator." Isra says remembering the girl's lolly pop pony tails. Quatre and the others quickly go to her.
"Quick Amin get a doctor, and Asim get a towel to stop the bleeding." He takes the shades off the girl. "Huh, Sophia," He says in shock as her eyes stare back at him. "How did-" his throat swells with pain seeing her cutting him off. His eyes start to fill with tears. Suddenly her body heaves. He quickly turns her over as she throws up. A wave of relief washes over him. She breaths rapidly and her eyes close halfway as they focus on her surroundings. After resting her head on his chest, she grabs hold of his shirt like a baby clings to its mother. Just then Dr. Winner kneels down next to Quatre.
"Oh my God, that's why she looked so familiar." She says as Asim finally comes with the towel. She pulls on his shirt and clutches her teeth as the doctor applies pressure to the girl's wound. "I can't believe she got so big."
"You know Sophia?" Quatre asks in surprise.
"Yes, I do because I'm her family doctor."
"Family doctor?"
"Yes, but for some reason I haven't seen her in almost ten years." She places a hand on Sophia's forehead. "She's cold and she's lost a lot of blood she's going to need a transfusion. Quatre, would you mind giving blood for a transfusion? You two have the same blood type and it will be faster that way."
"Of course; she's been. more then just a friend to me." He says softly looking down at her.
******
Wufei hurries down the hallway. Calm down, you know she can take care of herself. You helped train her remember. but she never apologizes unless she's in trouble or. He picks up speed and is soon running down the hallway. If anything happens to her.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
A Chinese girl about five ran up the hill to where Wufei was reading. At the top she casually walked to him. He looked up into eyes that resembled his only with a hint of brown cut into it which disappeared when you weren't face to face. She had her hair in pig tails and wore a similar uniform to his.
"I had a feeling I'd find you here," she said sitting next to him. What you think about it my fight, yesterday?" she asked curiously.
"Hum. You've excelled faster then I first anticipated."
"Then, I'm going to enter the Jr. Tournament."
"You're not ready for a tournament yet," he said sternly. "You still have a lot to learn before you can enter, maybe in two or three years." She looked at him. After a moment of thinking she curls up in a ball.
"Are you still going to step up my training, Wufei? .I've been getting the feeling that. you've been avoiding me." She looked at her feet waiting for a reply. Wufei finally closed his book and looked at her.
".Since mother died and father sending us off to boarding houses. maybe I have been a bit distant lately. sorry about that. I didn't mean to be distant." Two boys around seven or eight came running up the hill with a ball.
"Hey, Wufei, you want to play?" the taller boy asked as Wufei stood up.
"I promised I'd train, Sophia." She stood up as the two glance over at her.
"Why waste your time training her for?" the shorter one asked coldly. "She'll just be a bother to you." Wufei ignores their comments and with his book in hand starts down the hill. He motions for Sophia to follow.
"Hey!" Wufei turned in time for Sophia to roll past him. On impulse he raced after her. When he got close enough, he jumped into the river that past behind the boarding house where he studied.
"Sophia, are you ok?" he asked turning her over. Her clothes were covered with grass stains and her hair was messed up from the fall. Her pants had a new hole at the knee. She looked up at his as thought nothing happened. She sat up facing him.
"Can we go now?" she said a bit impatient.
". of course we can." He said with a smile seeing that she was ok. On impulse he jumped up suddenly and knocked the ball away from her head. He glared angrily at the two boys. "Attacking someone from behind is dishonorable!"
"She's just a girl; she shouldn't be learning marshal arts anyway. Why waste your time training her?" the taller one said cynically.
"What I do is my business, Ahfu," Wufei said coldly. "I don't have to explain myself to you." He turned away aggravated while Sophia went to pick up his book. Both boys gang up on her, but she easily maneuvers herself out of the way of Ahfu then kicked him hard in the stomach. She tripped Ahfu's partner into the river as he went down. Wufei stopped and looked back hearing the sudden explosion of water. Ahfu grabbed at her, but missed grasping the book instead. He lifted the book high in the air, but she clung to it like a dog playing chew tug. Wufei quickly hurries back.
"Let gooo." Ahfu punched her in the stomach and she instantly released it. The force of the blow sent her flying into the river. Wufei quickly fished her out knowing she couldn't swim.
"Sophia, are you ok" he asked as she coughed up the water. She took a moment before she looked up at him.
"I failed; I'm sorry, Wufei ." she said low enough that only he could hear.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
The way she said it just now. was different. Something's wrong. I know it.
"Wufei" he turns at the sound of his name realizing he had stopped in front of Sally's office. "What's wrong?"
"So, you think she's close and she's hurt pretty badly." Sally says after checking his temperature for the second time. "You're worrying too much, Wufei."
"No. I know for a fact that she's hurt. I know it sounds strange to you, Sally, but Sophia and I. how can I put this?" He looks down a moment. "When I'm around her. we. we have a link. That we can speak to each other without talking. A few minutes ago she just spoke to me. It was brief and weak. That's how I know she's close, because it doesn't work at far distances." He pauses a moment then looks at her waiting for a reply. "You don't believe me don't you?"
"It's a little hard to believe., but you're not the type to play jokes. I don't know." She turns off one of the lights. His eyes give of a deep blue glow. "You wouldn't think black eyes would give off such an intense blue glow." She picks up the thesis scope then checks his ears.
"I'm not crazy, Sally." He says stopping her from checking his mouth by warmly taking hold of her chin. He kisses her. I don't need a check up, Sally; I'm fine.
The kiss ends and she looks at him stunned. There's no way he could have said that while he was kissing me, Sally thinks to herself still astounded by what just happened.
"You're. telepathic." He sighs shaking his head.
".but I prefer not to use it, so it's not exactly as strong unless Sophia's close by. She's psychic in the sense of having visions. I didn't want to tell. I was afraid you'd see me differently."
"It's. unlike you to care about what others think, Wufei." He wraps his arms around her; she does the same.
"I only care what the people I care for think, Sally." He says softly placing his forehead on hers before kissing her again.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
"Then it's true. I really am a bother to you." Wufei turned to face her. She avoided his eyes by gazing at her feet. "I'm sorry for wasting your time, Wufei." Her eyes weld with tears. She tried her best not to cry, but the tears spill over her tiny hands when she tried to rub them away.
"Who told you that? I never thought of you as a bother and I never will." He used his thumb to wipe her tears away cupping her face in his hands. "Come, it's time for bed anyway." She shook her head in agreement. "You want to take a ride on the dragon?" Sophia's eyes light up and quickly hoped on his back. With a steady fast pace he raced down the corridor which held a giant number of suits Sophia's father made. Oblivious of the suits the two continued on and laughed enjoying the moment together.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
Sophia gasps opening her eyes. Steadily she slows her breathing to normal as the room comes into focus. Seeing the snow white wall she remembers where she is. The off white blanket gives secondary coloring to the room. The straw like tubing of the IV catches her eye, tracing it from her arm to the machine on her left catches Quatre as he looks up on the bed next to hers. She sits up, but only partly due to the ripping, burning pain in her stomach. She quickly sees he's also connected to the same machine.
"Sophia, you should lie still. You're in no condition to move around." She grits her teeth as she lies back down eyeing Isra and Abdul on her right guarding the door.
"I'm glad to see you're doing better then me." She says weakly, "I wasn't sure if I should stay or not, but it seems I had not choice in the matter. It's bad enough my cyber partner wouldn't let me leave none the less my own body."
"So you finally woke up," Dr. Winner walks in to Sophia's bed then hands her something. "I'm guessing you put these little devices on many people."
"I bet you're the only one who actually found my little device, Iria." Sophia places the dime sized clear patch on her index finger. "I'm surprised it didn't explode on you like Quatre's did."
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
"No more. You're too weak!" Sophia pulls out a gun and fires. As the bullet grazes the tip of his ear, there's a small explosion that jerks him sideways.
"AH!" Quatre clutches his left ear and everything starts to spin. His vision starts to go out, but he looks up in time to see Sophia jumps off the other side of the building with some kind of yellow board in hand. He could hear Rashid and the others calling his name with great concern. When he feels himself slip, he tried in vain to get a grip on something.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
So, that's what that explosion was. Quatre continues to listen interested.
"It's funny how something as simple as changing she to he can change a person's perspective of things." So that's how she kept her identity a secret. Her device makes the person perceive a person as two people.
******
"Ok, Jeff your wrist seems to have healed fine." Sally carefully takes the cast off his wrist. "How does it feel now?" He moves his stiff wrist around after quickly turning his gaze from hers when their eyes met.
"Um. better" he says shyly. "Aren't you. I mean. Why did you help me? Aren't I your prisoner. since I've been here no one's pumped me for information."
"Do you want to be treated like a prisoner?" she asks looking at him.
"No. it's just that everyone's be either nice to me or not acknowledged me."
"Well, we'll most likely be asking you questions sooner or later. Things have just been a little hectic since you guys got back." She throws the cast away. "Can you take a seat, Jeff I'd like to do a full check up, just in case?" He sits down as she checks his pause and eyes. "Well you look-" she stops noticing something on his neck. "What's this?"
"Huh, what's what?" She reaches for his neck, but he moves away.
"It's ok Jeff. I won't hurt you; theirs something on your neck." As she touches it, it becomes visible. "Just hold still." She carefully takes it off. "It's. a collar," she says as they both look at it in flabbergasted.
******
"Thanks for getting me out of there, Quatre. I didn't know how long I could have taken that horrible hospital food." Sophia says as they exit the hospital with Quatre.
"Your welcome, but you have to promise to take it easy, Sophia. I already feel guilty for discharging you a day early." He says opening the limo door for her.
"I'd prefer if you'd still call me Tikki instead of Sophia, Quatre." She says as he closes the door sitting next to her. "Calling me Sophia might bring unwanted guests, Quatre though I think they'd given up on you for a while." She puts on her seat belt then sits back crossing her arms. Damn it! I don't want to bring Quatre into this. not again. It's because of me he's part splicer now. She sighs. But I have no choice. "The collar." Quatre looks at her as he buckles his own seat belt. She continues slowly. ".that I found on you. I think the others might have one on them as well. I want to go and check it out, but. I might need some assistance. if what you told me is correct about you all getting injected."
"You really think so, Sophia?" Sophia told me what happened when I was under the control of the collar. Even now I'm slowly remembering what happened. If it wasn't for her. who knows what I would have done. That's why I have to get her to train us, so we can help her, but how can I convince her?"
"I think I'd be best for my men if I went away for a while. I think they'd get caught up on construction if they'd knew I was safe else ware. Staying here only makes me a distraction."
"Distraction? You're not a distraction, Quatre, why is it that you always put yourself down?" She uncrosses her arms pausing as the limo starts to move. "But if you feel that way. your friends are the safest bet in my book."
"So. you do consider me worthy enough to be your partner, Sophia?" She looks at, Quatre a moment then turns away from him before he could see her blush knowing he was right re-crossing her arms.
"I didn't say that. I just need you to get me in the place, that's all." She says through clinched teeth. "I wouldn't have asked you otherwise."
"I guess." He stares at her a bit satisfied by her reaction. "I was wrong then." He sits back.
