Chapter 22
Zechs glared at the smoking monitor, a gun in his hand. His fists shook, and he
felt like killing someone. Noin stood right by him, trying to decide whether to break
down and sob or join her husband on a killing frenzy. The other Gundam pilots were at
various consoles, each doing a different task, each filled with the same feeling of
desperation. They were so frantic that when Wufei and Meilai returned, the only one who
bothered looking up to acknowledge them was Reiming.
"Reiming, what's happened to Aelis?" Wufei demanded.
Reiming jerked her head towards a monitor. "45 minutes ago, the hangar cameras caught this
image," she said, indicating. "Here, we see Aelis in Epyon's cockpit. She jumps out and
leaves. Twenty minutes later, the computers record that a single shuttle has departed.
However, it did not read this data until we had taken a closer look at it. Originally, it
duplicated an entry from late last night, when an escort was sent to retrieve Mariemaia.
We wouldn't have noticed it until we saw that TWO entries were recorded: one in the
normal log; one hidden under a different name in a different file.
"I had noticed a few days ago that Aelis had become unusually quiet. After
thinking about it some more, I realized that her moodiness had begun almost immediately
after her first mission. Today, when I was combing through the logs and found this
double entry, I began to look for Aelis' images on the security cameras. If you zoom in,"
and Reiming did likewise, "you will notice the agitated expression on her face. So, being
the nosy person I am, I accessed all of Epyon's logs, which WERE displayed on that
monitor," and she gestured to the smoking one. "Here, I'll pull it up again."
Reiming tapped in a few commands, and a list popped up. She selected one. "Here's the
one that was sent today."
"To Miss Aelis Merquise, the little Countess of Lightning," Wufei read. "My dear
Miss Merquise, it really was quite clever of you to substitute your dear twin sister
Reena on your little mission today. My soldiers would like to extend their thanks; they
found her quite the delicacy. However, we can't always have what we want, and I have
made the difficult decision to return this delightful dish in return for a tastier one.
Therefore, I offer you this proposal: Come join me; I promise you that it will be quite
the experience. Of course, you may always decline, in which case, I can make no promises
about your sister's physical health, nor her mental health. After all, her cell door
can only last so long against the ardent admiration my soldiers experience for her. Who
knows, I may accidentally give away the password, and then who knows what would happen to
her? I cannot allow there to be distractions to my soldiers; I would have to eliminate her,
should the need arise. If you value your sister's existence in this world, you will depart
for the included coordinates immediately, where you will receive further instruction.
Please do not think me rude to force anything upon you; this is completely up to you.
Regards, your eternal admirer, Colonel C. Nicolae."
"DAMN HIM!" Zechs roared, shaking in pain and fury. "How could he...How DARE he
do this!"
Noin's reaction was not much better. "I'll kill him," she said quietly to herself. "I'll
kill him with my bare hands. I'll take that little neck of his and-"
"Miss Noin! Zechs! Please, control yourselves!" Quatre pleaded. "This isn't
going to help us get Reena or Aelis back safely-"
"Safe? Safe? Do you really think that Nicolae's going to let them out alive?"
Zechs said, his voice hysterical. "Do you even know what he's like? Nicolae's-" and he
cut himself of, cursing himself.
Heero looked up. "Zechs...Noin...Do you know who Nicolae is?"
They refused to answer. "Who is Nicolae?!" Heero repeated sharply, but then Wufei cleared
his throat. "If you won't answer that, then answer this: If this Nicolae had the
opportunity to hurt you personally, would he take it?"
"Yes," Noin said quietly. "Yes, he would; he wouldn't hesitate. Why?"
"Oh...shit..." Thomas murmured, realizing what Wufei had meant. "Geoffry..."
Reiming cocked her head. "Geoffry? By the way, where is he?" she asked.
"FUCK!" Wufei roared, furiously pounding commands into the console. "Geoffry...
where the hell are you?" he growled, his eyes frantically searching the contents on the
monitor. "Flight logs...Mech stats...Cameras! Inner cameras, perimeter cameras...Who the
hell made this so damn complicated?!"
"Wufei! Calm down! Just tell us what happened to Geoffry!" Duo said impatiently,
joining the fray. "Get it over with!"
"Geoffry...is...not...here..." Wufei snarled, still searching. "He ran off, and
no thanks to these young people here! Gave him a motorbike, food, and supplies my ASS!"
"WHAT? Are you saying that he's run away?!" Noin cried. "Oh no! Why now?!"
Zechs was frozen. "Geoffry..." he said hoarsely. "No..."
elsewhere...
"REENA!"
Aelis ripped her arm away from the soldier's grip and ran to her sister. "Reena, oh
Reena!" she moaned, burying her face in her sister's dirty hair. "Reena, speak to me!"
The soldier yanked her up. "She's sedated!" he snapped, dragging her away from her
sister's form on the grass. "Now get over here!"
"No! Not until I know she's okay! That was the deal!" Aelis cried, struggling
against him. "Oof!" she gasped as her rammed his knee into her stomach. Aelis
doubled over in pain and landed near her sister.
Reena's eyelids fluttered. "...Aelis?" she whispered hoarsely. Aelis gasped. "Reena?"
"Aelis...watch out...for him..."
"Him? The one...who's been sending me letters?" Aelis said fearfully.
"Yes...He's sick...a sick, sick pervert," she whispered, her head lolling back, the
sedatives refusing to relinquish their hold on her. The soldier grabbed Aelis again.
"No! Reena!" Aelis cried, reaching out for her sister. Their outstretched hands brushed
each other, clung to each other. "I love you," Reena murmured, then her eyes brightened.
"He...he will help you," she whispered fiercely. "Ask him...he's kind. He helped me;
he'll help you too. Look for him..." and her eyes closed.
"Him? Should I fear him, or trust him? I don't understand! REENA!" Aelis
screamed as four soldiers finally dragged her away.
a few minutes later...
Jerry's eyes opened. His blurred vision fogged up, then slowly started to clear.
"Reena..." he moaned. Groaning, he sat up and tried to clear his head of the nightmares...
nightmares of pain, of loneliness, of fear. "Oh Reena," he sighed, then began to sob.
"Reena...be safe. Please, stay alive!" Then his eyes hardened. "She's alive," he
murmured, frowning. "She's free...but where? Reena, where are you?"
at the same time...
"You promised to take care of her!" Aelis spat at the soldiers. Never mind she
was cuffed hand and foot; she would not let the scum who abused her sister so badly
intimidate her.
"She was quite the delicacy..." the words echoed in her head. "No!" she said,
shaking her head fiercely, then resumed glaring. "You said you would make sure she
was safe!"
A soldier slapped her across the face. Aelis tasted blood in her mouth, but she still
kept her defiant glare. "How is lying out in the middle of nowhere taking care of her?!"
"If your parents are as great as they make themselves sound, they will find her,"
he answered her coldly, then cuffed her again. "Now shut up!"
elsewhere...
Everyone in the room was in shock. "No..." Quatre choked in horror. "Geoffry too?"
Reiming stared at her brother. "It...it gets worse," she finally said. Wufei turned to
her wearily. "How? How could it possibly be worse?"
"Today's entry was not the only message Nicolae has sent her," Trowa spoke up.
"Here...see for yourself."
Meilai crossed over to where Wufei was. "But, this first entry arrived the day after her
first mission! In fact," she said, noting the time, "it arrived BEFORE she came back to
Headquarters!"
"My dearest, sweetest, Miss Merquise. You put on quite the show today, with your
little acrobat friend. While I have my suspicions on who your comrade in arms was today,
I have no definite proof of his or her identity. But you, on the other hand...my my,
aren't we the little beauty? I just love how dazzling your shining blue eyes look in this
camera image. Note the angle that it catches you at, with your tousled hair, smooth skin,
curvy hips and rounded breasts...imagine the fun I'd have all evening if you were mine,
with your sweet lips pressed against mine...But alas, you are so close, yet so far away.
Adieu for now, my sweet. I am sure we shall meet again. Sincerely, Colonel Nicolae," Duo
read with a disgusted sneer. "If there ever was any person in this universe that
deserved to go to hell, it would be this guy. Just what kind of sick-minded pervert is
he?!"
"And now he has her," Meilai said in a dull voice. She closed her eyes. "Aelis,
you poor thing..."
"Oh, Aelis, Reena," Noin said, choking back a sob. "My dear, sweet, children...Why
must you suffer such a fate?"
"We'll get them back," Heero said flatly, turning back to his console. His eyes
were cold. "We'll get them back, all three of them. And when we do," and his voice
became dangerous, "we'll help you kill the bastard."
Zechs glared at the smoking monitor, a gun in his hand. His fists shook, and he
felt like killing someone. Noin stood right by him, trying to decide whether to break
down and sob or join her husband on a killing frenzy. The other Gundam pilots were at
various consoles, each doing a different task, each filled with the same feeling of
desperation. They were so frantic that when Wufei and Meilai returned, the only one who
bothered looking up to acknowledge them was Reiming.
"Reiming, what's happened to Aelis?" Wufei demanded.
Reiming jerked her head towards a monitor. "45 minutes ago, the hangar cameras caught this
image," she said, indicating. "Here, we see Aelis in Epyon's cockpit. She jumps out and
leaves. Twenty minutes later, the computers record that a single shuttle has departed.
However, it did not read this data until we had taken a closer look at it. Originally, it
duplicated an entry from late last night, when an escort was sent to retrieve Mariemaia.
We wouldn't have noticed it until we saw that TWO entries were recorded: one in the
normal log; one hidden under a different name in a different file.
"I had noticed a few days ago that Aelis had become unusually quiet. After
thinking about it some more, I realized that her moodiness had begun almost immediately
after her first mission. Today, when I was combing through the logs and found this
double entry, I began to look for Aelis' images on the security cameras. If you zoom in,"
and Reiming did likewise, "you will notice the agitated expression on her face. So, being
the nosy person I am, I accessed all of Epyon's logs, which WERE displayed on that
monitor," and she gestured to the smoking one. "Here, I'll pull it up again."
Reiming tapped in a few commands, and a list popped up. She selected one. "Here's the
one that was sent today."
"To Miss Aelis Merquise, the little Countess of Lightning," Wufei read. "My dear
Miss Merquise, it really was quite clever of you to substitute your dear twin sister
Reena on your little mission today. My soldiers would like to extend their thanks; they
found her quite the delicacy. However, we can't always have what we want, and I have
made the difficult decision to return this delightful dish in return for a tastier one.
Therefore, I offer you this proposal: Come join me; I promise you that it will be quite
the experience. Of course, you may always decline, in which case, I can make no promises
about your sister's physical health, nor her mental health. After all, her cell door
can only last so long against the ardent admiration my soldiers experience for her. Who
knows, I may accidentally give away the password, and then who knows what would happen to
her? I cannot allow there to be distractions to my soldiers; I would have to eliminate her,
should the need arise. If you value your sister's existence in this world, you will depart
for the included coordinates immediately, where you will receive further instruction.
Please do not think me rude to force anything upon you; this is completely up to you.
Regards, your eternal admirer, Colonel C. Nicolae."
"DAMN HIM!" Zechs roared, shaking in pain and fury. "How could he...How DARE he
do this!"
Noin's reaction was not much better. "I'll kill him," she said quietly to herself. "I'll
kill him with my bare hands. I'll take that little neck of his and-"
"Miss Noin! Zechs! Please, control yourselves!" Quatre pleaded. "This isn't
going to help us get Reena or Aelis back safely-"
"Safe? Safe? Do you really think that Nicolae's going to let them out alive?"
Zechs said, his voice hysterical. "Do you even know what he's like? Nicolae's-" and he
cut himself of, cursing himself.
Heero looked up. "Zechs...Noin...Do you know who Nicolae is?"
They refused to answer. "Who is Nicolae?!" Heero repeated sharply, but then Wufei cleared
his throat. "If you won't answer that, then answer this: If this Nicolae had the
opportunity to hurt you personally, would he take it?"
"Yes," Noin said quietly. "Yes, he would; he wouldn't hesitate. Why?"
"Oh...shit..." Thomas murmured, realizing what Wufei had meant. "Geoffry..."
Reiming cocked her head. "Geoffry? By the way, where is he?" she asked.
"FUCK!" Wufei roared, furiously pounding commands into the console. "Geoffry...
where the hell are you?" he growled, his eyes frantically searching the contents on the
monitor. "Flight logs...Mech stats...Cameras! Inner cameras, perimeter cameras...Who the
hell made this so damn complicated?!"
"Wufei! Calm down! Just tell us what happened to Geoffry!" Duo said impatiently,
joining the fray. "Get it over with!"
"Geoffry...is...not...here..." Wufei snarled, still searching. "He ran off, and
no thanks to these young people here! Gave him a motorbike, food, and supplies my ASS!"
"WHAT? Are you saying that he's run away?!" Noin cried. "Oh no! Why now?!"
Zechs was frozen. "Geoffry..." he said hoarsely. "No..."
elsewhere...
"REENA!"
Aelis ripped her arm away from the soldier's grip and ran to her sister. "Reena, oh
Reena!" she moaned, burying her face in her sister's dirty hair. "Reena, speak to me!"
The soldier yanked her up. "She's sedated!" he snapped, dragging her away from her
sister's form on the grass. "Now get over here!"
"No! Not until I know she's okay! That was the deal!" Aelis cried, struggling
against him. "Oof!" she gasped as her rammed his knee into her stomach. Aelis
doubled over in pain and landed near her sister.
Reena's eyelids fluttered. "...Aelis?" she whispered hoarsely. Aelis gasped. "Reena?"
"Aelis...watch out...for him..."
"Him? The one...who's been sending me letters?" Aelis said fearfully.
"Yes...He's sick...a sick, sick pervert," she whispered, her head lolling back, the
sedatives refusing to relinquish their hold on her. The soldier grabbed Aelis again.
"No! Reena!" Aelis cried, reaching out for her sister. Their outstretched hands brushed
each other, clung to each other. "I love you," Reena murmured, then her eyes brightened.
"He...he will help you," she whispered fiercely. "Ask him...he's kind. He helped me;
he'll help you too. Look for him..." and her eyes closed.
"Him? Should I fear him, or trust him? I don't understand! REENA!" Aelis
screamed as four soldiers finally dragged her away.
a few minutes later...
Jerry's eyes opened. His blurred vision fogged up, then slowly started to clear.
"Reena..." he moaned. Groaning, he sat up and tried to clear his head of the nightmares...
nightmares of pain, of loneliness, of fear. "Oh Reena," he sighed, then began to sob.
"Reena...be safe. Please, stay alive!" Then his eyes hardened. "She's alive," he
murmured, frowning. "She's free...but where? Reena, where are you?"
at the same time...
"You promised to take care of her!" Aelis spat at the soldiers. Never mind she
was cuffed hand and foot; she would not let the scum who abused her sister so badly
intimidate her.
"She was quite the delicacy..." the words echoed in her head. "No!" she said,
shaking her head fiercely, then resumed glaring. "You said you would make sure she
was safe!"
A soldier slapped her across the face. Aelis tasted blood in her mouth, but she still
kept her defiant glare. "How is lying out in the middle of nowhere taking care of her?!"
"If your parents are as great as they make themselves sound, they will find her,"
he answered her coldly, then cuffed her again. "Now shut up!"
elsewhere...
Everyone in the room was in shock. "No..." Quatre choked in horror. "Geoffry too?"
Reiming stared at her brother. "It...it gets worse," she finally said. Wufei turned to
her wearily. "How? How could it possibly be worse?"
"Today's entry was not the only message Nicolae has sent her," Trowa spoke up.
"Here...see for yourself."
Meilai crossed over to where Wufei was. "But, this first entry arrived the day after her
first mission! In fact," she said, noting the time, "it arrived BEFORE she came back to
Headquarters!"
"My dearest, sweetest, Miss Merquise. You put on quite the show today, with your
little acrobat friend. While I have my suspicions on who your comrade in arms was today,
I have no definite proof of his or her identity. But you, on the other hand...my my,
aren't we the little beauty? I just love how dazzling your shining blue eyes look in this
camera image. Note the angle that it catches you at, with your tousled hair, smooth skin,
curvy hips and rounded breasts...imagine the fun I'd have all evening if you were mine,
with your sweet lips pressed against mine...But alas, you are so close, yet so far away.
Adieu for now, my sweet. I am sure we shall meet again. Sincerely, Colonel Nicolae," Duo
read with a disgusted sneer. "If there ever was any person in this universe that
deserved to go to hell, it would be this guy. Just what kind of sick-minded pervert is
he?!"
"And now he has her," Meilai said in a dull voice. She closed her eyes. "Aelis,
you poor thing..."
"Oh, Aelis, Reena," Noin said, choking back a sob. "My dear, sweet, children...Why
must you suffer such a fate?"
"We'll get them back," Heero said flatly, turning back to his console. His eyes
were cold. "We'll get them back, all three of them. And when we do," and his voice
became dangerous, "we'll help you kill the bastard."
