Chapter 44
Heero and Relena walked into the room, acknowledging the others who were already there. He noted the presence of Mariemaia, Jake, and Jaasalin with some confusion, but shrugged it off. As he shut the door behind him, Heero shot a glance at Duo, hoping to make eye contact, but Duo still kept his eyes reluctantly on the ground. Heero gave a little sigh, then made his way over to sit next to Relena, who looked at him sympathetically. Heero gave her a tight smile, then turned to Lady Une with mild puzzlement. "It seems like everyone else arrived earlier than we did today; I apologize if we made everyone wait."
Lady Une shook her head. "It's fine Heero. It's only been," and she checked her watch, "five minutes." Heero frowned. "Excuse me?" he asked.
Wufei glanced at him. "You sent us a memo asking that we be here at 1500 hours. It's 1505 now-"
Heero jumped up. Staring hard at Wufei, he demanded, "Wait a minute, Lady Une sent me a memo asking that I be here 1515 hours!"
Shocked stares were exchanged, then almost simultaneously, everyone jumped to their feet. Duo reached the door first. "Dammit! It's locked!" he shouted, banging on the door.
Lady Une yanked out her phone. "Reception's shot," she said through clenched teeth. "Someone's interfering with our-"
Before she could finish, explosions hit the compound and everyone was thrown to the floor.
…………………
Reena and Clare screamed as the roof rocked beneath them, while Jerry and Thomas reached for them protectively, fighting to keep their own balance. At the basketball court, Wuten and Wuli instinctively grabbed onto the nearest objects as Geoffry quickly grabbed Eva, who let out of a yell of fright. Jerry recovered first. "What the hell-?!" he growled, holding Reena protectively with one arm while hanging onto a railing and glancing around furiously.
Wuten winced as he picked himself off the ground. "An enemy attack…but how?!" he shouted over the noise, bracing himself again as another explosion hit.
"Doesn't matter!" Thomas yelled back, hanging onto Clare while fighting his way over to the twins. "We need to get out of here! Where are our parents?! Hell, where are all the Preventers even?! Shouldn't someone be on the lookout for something like this?"
Wuli's face was grim as he extended a hand to help Geoffry, who was struggling with Eva clinging to him. "They're at a meeting; probably rigged too now that I think about it. We need to get to lower ground before this place collapses!" he finished, racing towards the door, the others following.
…………………
Yuri, Aelis, Will, Riko, Rayan, and Giselle stared with shock and horror at the mobile suits that had appeared in front of them. Will glanced tensely over at Yuri, and saw the grim look on his face. "Yuri, those suits…"
"Yeah, I know," Yuri said tightly. Aelis started at the sound of his voice. "Yuri, what are you talking about?" she whispered.
Yuri didn't turn to look at her, but continued staring with anger and resignation at the suits. "Those are the Commander's most advanced units. They're dolls programmed with the data of all the best pilots, including yours and Geoffry's. The design is based on powerful, mysterious suits developed from the last war, and its stealth systems are unrivalled. In short…we don't stand a chance."
Giselle gasped at that. "But then…our parents…this practice…" she stuttered, eyes widening in realization.
"It was a setup!" Rayan exploded. "The meeting, this practice, everything! They set us up!"
Will nodded, putting an arm around Riko, who was shaking badly. As soldiers rushed towards them, he said darkly, "The only thing we can do now is pray that the others that were supposed to be here are faring better."
…………………
Reiming groaned, feeling the bump that was developing on her head as she struggled to stand back up. Trowa knelt before her, hand extended, and she gratefully accepted his help. Jaasalin was whimpering in terror, and Mariemaia was holding her protectively while glancing around angrily.
Heero was standing by the door. Stoically, he pulled out his gun and fired. The doorknob fell off and the door swung open, only to reveal the outer metal door. He stared at it for a moment, then he shoulders sagged a little. "The outer door's been locked. They must have hacked into our system and locked it remotely," he said flatly, turning around but not putting his gun away.
"How could this have happened?" Hilde demanded, standing up. She glanced at Duo, then turned her attention back to Heero. "The security system…Everything here has been developed by you personally. It's not even government-produced Preventer software, which is already top of the line."
"You Gundam pilots are only human, after all. Mere flesh and blood is no match for the likes of me," a voice grated. Everyone turned to the source of the voice: a screen usually used for presentations. The cyborg's image appeared, and it smiled cruelly. "Lillith and Veylona…so nice to see you again," it rasped.
Reiming and Meilai froze. "How did you…" Meilai whispered, staring. (1)
…………………
Eva screamed as another explosion rocked the building. Geoffry grabbed her hand. "It's okay Eva, just keep running!" he shouted. Eva sniffed, trying to fight back tears. Geoffry nodded at her in what he hoped was an encouraging matter, then turned to the others, who were running ahead of them. "Where are our parents? Weren't they meeting somewhere downstairs?"
"No point in going there," Jerry shouted back. Reena stared at him in horror. "No point…?" she whispered in terror.
Thomas nodded in agreement. "Whoever set this up…our parents must've been caught as well. If we go there, we'll just be walking into a trap!"
"But shouldn't we do something to help them?!" Clare demanded, then gasped as a few soldiers appeared. "Over here!" one of them yelled, running towards them.
Wuten and Wuli looked at each other, then nodded. Letting out simultaneous yells, they launched themselves at the soldiers, catching them by surprise and knocking them out. Quickly, they stripped them whatever weapons they had, tossing guns over to the Maxwell brothers. "They're right," Wuli said. Fighting to keep the frustration and tears at bay, he said, "The most important thing for us right now is to get away. Hopefully our parents will be able to make it out alive as well-"
He was abruptly cut off as an explosion hit, which was closely followed by a scream from Eva as she lost her balance and tumbled down a flight of stairs. "EVA!" everyone shouted. Geoffry lunged to catch her, but there was another explosion, this one bigger than the others. Concrete and dust rained down, and the remaining seven tried to take cover. When the dust finally cleared, there was a hole in the hallway leading to the outside. Standing outside was a mobile doll, with its gun aimed right at them. They stared in horror as the doll's sensor began to blink, a sure sign it was about to fire. "This…is it," Wuten whispered, frozen.
…………………
Riko let out a yell as a soldier grabbed her roughly, pinning her arms behind her back. Will saw and lunged. "Don't you touch her!" he snarled, then doubled over as he was kicked in the stomach. "Damn…" he swore, falling to his knees.
"Well well, look who it is," a voice said coldly. Will looked up. "Why, good day, 'your Excellency,'" he sneered, promptly being awarded with a kick to the head. Will spit out blood, but continued to glare at Nicolae, who was looking down at him smugly.
Nicolae snorted as he glanced around at the captive Gundam pilots and the others. "Let's see, there's two," he counted, looking at Rayan and Giselle, who glared at him angrily, "and then there's another…but you're useless," he said, acknowledging Aelis. "Then there's Yuy's daughter, but your skills are second-rate compared to your friends; there's YOU," he nudged Will with his foot, "And then there's…" and he trailed off.
Yuri's face was stony as Nicolae walked up to him. "Baron Wayridge," Nicolae said softly, a deadly look in his eyes. "You know, I expected more from you. That," and he jerked his head in Will's direction, "That came as no surprise, nor was it a loss. But you, on the other hand…" Glancing over at Aelis, who was looking at him with a mixture of fear and hatred, he chuckled. He turned back to Yuri. "So that's all it took, is it? A woman? A woman was enough to betray your true loyalties. Really, I should've thought of that sooner. It would've saved me the trouble."
Yuri smiled. "It seems as if my betrayal has caused you some trouble, Nicolae," he retorted, purposely leaving out his title.
The humor from Nicolae's face disappeared. "I would be more careful, if I were you," he said frostily. "You are," and he gave a meaningful look to Aelis, who avoided his gaze, "in no position to bargain with me."
"I wouldn't dream of it," Yuri snapped. Nicolae just smiled. "I wouldn't say that so quickly, if I were you…"
…………………
"You are…" Reiming whispered, staring at the cyborg. It made a semblance of a smile. "Why, Lillith…has it really been so long? You knew me quite…well," it smirked.
Next to her, Meilai had begun to shake, but it was in anger and not fear. "TJ," she hissed, glaring at the screen murderously. Reiming started, then immediately stared at the cyborg again to get a closer look. Suddenly, she went white with rage. "Why you…" she snarled, fists clenching. "How did you survive?!" she demanded.
Meanwhile, the others were watching the exchange tensely. Noin turned to Lady Une. "Who…?" she said questioningly.
"A demon of the past that should've died long ago," Trowa answered for her, his eyes flinty. "Now that he's shown his face, he must be the one responsible for the creation of the new dolls…right Wufei?" he finished, turning to Wufei.
Wufei nodded, teeth clenched. "That…thing," he finally made out. "That thing is responsible for causing much grief to them both in the past," he spat. "He was to have been disposed of a long time ago, but apparently we have all been mistaken."
In the meantime, Reiming and Meilai continued to have their staring contest with TJ. "Yes, how did I survive…I was quite lucky, really," he said. Narrowing his eyes at them, he said, "You two schemed to eliminate me, but unfortunately for you, you chose to get rid of the wrong person first-"
"Yes, Phillipe," Meilai spat out the name as if it tasted bad. "Skip the history lesson and get to the point!"
TJ laughed. "So impatient," he chided. "But like I said, you chose to detonate his mobile suit first before activating the self destruct device in mine. The time in between was just enough for me to eject. It obviously wasn't enough to preserve most of my limbs, but it was enough to preserve my life." He laughed again. "Really…I would've thought you would've known that thick-headed Phillipe probably would've been too dense to react as quickly as I did. Such a small mistake, and now, such a great price to pay."
Meilai narrowed her eyes. "And just what do you plan to do now?" she whispered. "You may have survived, but you're just a shadow of what you once were. What are you trying to do? Revenge?"
"Oh, revenge is just a small part of it. No, I'm out to destroy what you people have tried so hard to make: A stunted humanity with no hopes of survival."
Relena let out a cry of outrage. "Stunted?!" she demanded. Clenching her fists, she shouted, "You have no idea what you're talking about! How can you possibly argue that peace will doom mankind, when it is war that consumes lives?"
"Consumes lives, yes, but drives mankind forward!" TJ shot back. Gesturing to himself, he said, "Look at me. I can function far beyond the power of a normal human brain. With a few more modifications, I could be immortal. Look at my dolls. They have technology that rivals your Gundams, but unlike your Gundams, they can be easily mass produced. It is in the human nature to thrive on competition, on greed. Why are there wars? Humans constantly try to control other humans, because that is what gives them power. That is something you will never be able to change. True, this generation may have decided that the price of war is too high, but already people are starting to question. The most brilliant minds have begun to resent the lack of progress, because there is no motivation. Without the motivation of greed, of a lust for power, mankind cannot possibly progress! Those same brilliant minds rescued me, recreated me, and it is with those brilliant minds that I will drive mankind forward into a new direction that I shall control."
"And to what ends will you drive humanity forward like this?" Zechs demanded coldly. "Are you saying that you have simply fallen in love with the idea of progress?"
The cyborg laughed. "Oh no, the progress is only secondary." Smiling to himself, he chuckled and said softly, "It's the power I want, the power to control mankind to the way I want it to be. There's just something…addicting about it."
"Monster," Noin spat, glaring at him angrily. TJ turned to look at her. "Ah yes, Lucrezia Noin. You've always been a little self righteous, always insisting on stopping those who try to exceed in ways you deem 'dirty.' Just like what you did to," and here he paused, "Charles Nicolae."
Noin gasped. "How did you…" she began, then trailed off. Glaring at TJ in disgust, she snarled, "Let me guess: You found him, lured him in with your promises of power and glory as well as revenge, and now he's working for you."
"Very good. But enough of that. All the players are here, including that brat over there," he said offhandedly, referring to Jaasalin. The child cowered, and Jake and Mariemaia glared murderously at the cyborg. He continued, "Quite a successful experiment she was too, but now I'm afraid she's been rendered obsolete. So, like the rest of you, she's going to have to go."
"If you kill us, you know that our children will stop you," Quatre spoke up quietly, eyes filled with determination. "They may be young, but unlike you, they believe in a future where progress shall be attained a different way. I can assure you, they, along with the rest of the Preventer force-"
"Do you really think so? I can already tell you that whatever Preventer staff you had here has already been neatly locked up, thanks to my overriding of your system. As for your children, allow me to enlighten you," TJ countered. Immediately, the screen switched to the scene outside. "Look closely," TJ's voice narrated as the camera zoomed in on a figure. Relena fell to her knees, while Heero stared in horror. "Riko?" he whispered, eyes wide with shock.
Next the camera zoomed in on Will, who had his hands tied and was still on the ground. Trowa's fists clenched, and Reiming looked grim. The same thing was repeated for Yuri, Aelis, Rayan, and Giselle, and each time one of them appeared on the screen, their respective parents all had similar reactions. Finally, the cyborg's face came back on. "Still so confident, Mr. Winner?" he mocked.
Quatre was shaking, but he still fought to maintain his composure. "There are," he hissed, struggling to control his voice after seeing the image of his captured son. "There are still others!" he finally spat, glowering at TJ.
"Are you talking about the ones who missed practice and were playing basketball on the roof?" TJ asked almost casually. An image of the ruined basketball court came up, with nothing left intact except for the forgotten ball. It was followed by an image of the bombed out hallway. A bright cloth lay near a huge pile of rubble.
Meilai felt her knees buckle. "Wuten's…bandanna," she gasped, hands at her mouth.
"Yes, it's a pity you didn't teach them not to miss class," TJ sneered. "If they had been good little boys and girls, they would've been captured instead of…dead. But don't worry, you'll be seeing them soon. Because this is goodbye," and the screen switched off as gas began filling the room.
…………………
"So they've been taken care of? And the others? What?! Well never mind that. I suppose I will have to make do with what I have. Pity I couldn't have been there to see it though…Yes, yes, I know!" Nicolae snapped into his communicator, shutting it off irritably. Returning to where Yuri, Aelis, Will, Riko, Rayan, and Giselle were bound and surrounded by soldiers, he smirked and said, "I have news for you. Your friends and your parents are dead."
Giselle let out a shocked cry. "You're lying, you monster!" she cried shrilly, not willing to believe what she had just heard. Nicolae just laughed. "I must admit, I had wished to capture more of you alive, but apparently that was not possible. Your friends were dispatched by my dolls," and he waved to the bombed out building behind them, "And your parents have been gassed. A most painful death, I assure you," he finished with a laugh.
Giselle burst into tears. Aelis and Riko could only stare in numb silence. Rayan looked both heartbroken and murderous, and Yuri and Will were outraged. Ignoring their reactions, Nicolae turned to his soldiers. "Raid the compound for any useful technology they may have had. Be sure to be extra careful with the Gundams. Have the appropriate arrangements been made for their transport?"
"Yes sir!" they responded, saluting smartly. Nicolae nodded in approval. "Good, then go see to it. When you are finished, instruct them to blow up whatever remains of that place, including the Preventers still locked inside."
"Haven't you had enough?!" Rayan roared, throwing himself at Nicolae. Despite having his hands cuffed behind his back, he still managed to knock him to the ground before being pulled off by soldiers. "Bastard! How many more must you kill before you're satisfied?!" he demanded, struggling against his captors.
"I will do as I see fit!" Nicolae snarled, picking himself off the ground. "And as for you, I can assure you that-"
Nicolae's speech was cut off by an explosion in the horizon. When he finally recovered, he whirled around and snapped, "What was…" he trailed off, staring in shock.
What was left of the Preventer compound was gone, including the dolls and soldiers in and around it. "How could…how could this be?" he whispered, then abruptly recovered. Angrily yanking out his communicator, he spat into it, "What the hell happened?! What idiot set off the explosives before…" Suddenly, his face went white. "They did what?! How?! You had assured me that there was no way that anyone could have accessed the network…Well never mind! I want to know what happened, and I want to know now! Have our soldiers…" and he ground his teeth in anger and frustration. Regaining his composure, he continued, "Fine! Have what's LEFT of our soldiers immediately launch an investigation! Find out how they detonated those Gundams!" and he slammed his communicator to the ground, eyes smoldering.
"Things not going so well?" Will asked smugly, laughing in Nicolae's face. Riko turned to him hopefully. "Do you think this means our parents are still alive?" she asked.
"Don't count on it, Miss Yuy," Nicolae said coldly. "I promise you, your parents are dead. However, it looks like we might've missed one of your little Preventers, and they detonated your Gundams in a final, desperate, kamikaze attempt. Or at least, you'd better hope it was kamikaze, because if anyone's still alive in there," and he paused for the dramatic effect, "I will personally see to it that they experience the slowest, most excruciating death imaginable."
Despite herself, Riko looked away, eyes glittering. "Tousan…Kaasan," she whispered, tears finally slowly falling. Will saw, and inched his way over. "I'm sorry Riko," he murmured. Riko looked up at him with a tearstained face, and leaned against him as her shoulders began to shake and she began to sob.
In the meantime, Giselle kept crying, and despite Rayan's valiant attempts to console her, he himself finally let a few sad, angry tears fall. "Mom, Dad, Clare…" he whispered to himself, shoulders slumping. "I'm so sorry…I should've felt something! I knew something was wrong, and yet, I still failed you! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!"
Yuri looked uneasily at Aelis, who was still oddly silent. "Aelis…" he began awkwardly.
"You must be glad."
Yuri felt as if he had been slapped. "Wha…What?" he whispered in disbelief.
Aelis whirled to face him. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, and her eyes were crazed with grief. "I said, 'You must be glad!'" she screamed at him. "Mom and Dad, Geoffry, Heero-jiisan, Relena-kasan, you must be glad they're dead! Right? It's all perfect now, your revenge scheme-"
"Aelis, stop it!" Riko cried. "Just… stop! What has gotten into you?!"
"Why are you defending him? Just you see, I'll bet he's wishing you were dead too! I'll bet he's wishing we were all dead!" Aelis shot back. Riko shook her head vigorously. "No Aelis…No! Stop trying to blame him! If there's anyone to blame, it's HIM," and she jerked her head towards Nicolae, who was observing the scene with a contemplative look on his face. "Interesting," he murmured, but then he heard his communicator ring from where he had thrown it. "What?" he demanded, picking it up. His eyes widened. "I see…Have them come back immediately!" and he put it back into his pocket.
"Well, it looks like I was right," he said smugly. Rayan narrowed his eyes. "Right about what?" he asked suspiciously. Nicolae's smile only grew wider. "Oh you'll see…Ah, here they are," he finished, gesturing to a vehicle speeding towards them. It came to a halt, and two figures got out, one big and one small. The large figure, a soldier, had a firm grip on the smaller figure, which was struggling. Finally, the soldier lost his patience and delivered a sound slap to his prisoner. The prisoner let out a small scream.
Riko's jaw dropped. So did Rayan's and Giselle's, and even Aelis calmed down enough to stare. Will looked surprised, but Yuri was still too stunned by Aelis' outburst to react.
Riko recovered first. "Eva?" she whispered, straining to get a closer look.
Eva looked towards them. "RIKO!" she cried desperately, running towards her. "Ouch!" she yelped as the soldier grabbed her pigtails and yanked her back. "Let me go!" she cried, but then immediately quieted when she saw Nicolae looking down at her with a murderous look on his face. She tried shrinking away from him, but he grabbed her roughly and threw her onto the ground. "You, brat! How did you do it?! How did you manage to remotely control the Gundams?! Answer me!" he snarled, kicking her hard in the stomach.
Eva let out a cry of pain. "I said, answer me!" he shouted, readying himself for another kick.
"Stop it! She's just a child!" Riko cried out. "Leave her alone!"
"Girl, this 'child' has just cost me some of my most valuable men and equipment, and I WILL make my displeasure known!" Nicolae growled, kicking Eva again. Eva whimpered and curled up in a fetal person in an effort to escape his blows. Nicolae lost his patience and pulled out his gun. Aiming it at her, he said in a dangerous voice, "I am going to count to three, and if you do not tell me, I will shoot you in one leg. Fail to answer me again, and I will shoot your other leg. Next will be your arms, your sides, and your stomach. If you still do not answer, I will kill you, but I will make it slow, because by then, you will be desperately begging for your death, and I will not allow you that courtesy."
Eva could only stare, struck dumb with terror.
Nicolae switched off the safety. "One," he hissed, finger moving towards the trigger. "Two. Thr-"
"I'll tell you how she did it!" Riko shouted. "Look at her…you've terrified her so much she can't even speak! I know how she did it, just let her go. Please…" she begged.
"And how would you know?" he asked coldly, not looking at her but not shooting Eva either.
Riko slumped over. "Papa…" and she choked up. Regaining her composure, she said in a resigned voice, "He had been working on some advanced new system that would allow an individual to remotely control whatever was hooked up to the system. It was to be an advanced version of what had been used by the White Fang."
Nicolae snorted. Narrowing his eyes, he once again placed his finger on the trigger. "Yes yes, I already knew that. But a system of that caliber would be impossible for a human to manage. The only person rumored to have been able to handle it was…" and he trailed off. Putting the gun down, he reached down and yanked Eva to her feet. Realization dawned in his eyes, and as he smirked he finished his thought, "It was Maxwell's youngest child, am I right…Miss Maxwell?"
Eva finally summoned the courage to look at Nicolae in the face. "It wasn't easy, you know," she said sullenly. Continuing, she cried shrilly, "If I had had my way, I wouldn't have just detonated the Gundams, but I would've made them blow you away! But that's okay, 'cause Mommy and Daddy and Jerry and Thomas will-"
"Will what, child?" Nicolae laughed, cutting her off. "What will they do? Please tell me. Please tell me what can they do, now that they're dead?"
Eva went white. "No…" she whimpered. "No no no NO NO!" she screamed, beating him with her fists. "No…" she sobbed, sinking to the ground. Nicolae looked at her impassively, then gestured to the soldier that had found her. "Take this one back to headquarters," he said. "She may be useful yet."
"Leave me alone! Stop it! Riko! Aelis! Rayan! Giselle! Help!" Eva cried as she was dragged away, kicking and screaming. The others could only look at her with heartbroken looks in their eyes as she was stuffed back into the car and driven away.
"As for the rest of you," and Nicolae turned back to them. Looking at them critically, he snapped his fingers. A few soldiers came forward. "You may keep those two together," he said, gesturing to Rayan and Giselle, "And those two also," and he pointed to Will and Riko. "But keep the other two separate," he finished, referring to Yuri and Aelis.
"What will do with us?" Riko asked quietly as she was led away.
Nicolae just smiled. "You will soon see."
AN: (1) Reiming and Meilai are two original characters first introduced in Gundan Wing-Ghosts of the Past. Their specific histories are told in Operation: Natural Selection, including explanations behind the names "Lillith" and "Veylona." The origin of the character TJ is also explained in that story.
