Awakenings
Chapter 2 – Escape
"Everybody FREEZE!"
The OZ technicians manning the control room of the abandoned base whirled around as a grim-faced woman with purple hair stormed into the room, brandishing a pistol as another woman followed her in.
"Uh-uh!" the woman warned, pointing her gun at the head technician tried to discretely slip his hand under the desk. "Don't even think about it, genius – I was pulling stunts like that when your great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was still a glint in HIS great-great-great-great-grandfather's eye! Stand up – everyone line up against that wall, hands behind your backs. Move it!"
As the technicians shuffled over to the wall, Maya stepped forward, slipping into the decaying command chair with a grimace of distaste, biting her bottom lip in concentration, she began to type, her eyes scanning the screen as several of the techs gasped at her typing speed.
She was not Akagi's favourite for nothing.
"Oh no," she groaned, "they've already taken Unit 01 with them, and some of the other EVAs as well – and these people were scrambling the data! I can't ID which Units were taken, what's left, nothing."
"Thorough little bastards, aren't they?" Misato grumbled, casting a baleful eye at the now-nervous technicians. "Nothing to be done about it now, just clear a path to the cages for Heero to do his part, and unlock any of the cages that are still occupied."
"Yes ma'am," Maya nodded, typing for a moment before hesitantly saying, "Um Major?"
"Hm?"
"Do you think the Children will be alright with Quatre?"
"Don't worry," Misato said evenly, "he's given me his assurances they'll be okay."
"And you trust him, ma'am?"
Misato shrugged. "Yeah," she said softly, "but don't ask me why, because the best you'll get out of me is 'because I don't have anyone else I can trust right now.'"
Maya nodded. "No, that makes sense," she said, typing quickly on the keyboard. "If it wasn't for those two, we would have been taken captive like Unit 01 and whoever else those OZ people managed to get their hands on."
"I'm almost there," Heero's voice crackled over the liberated comm. link. "Five minutes."
"Roger that," Misato replied, slipping back into the role of Operations Director as easily as an old pair of jeans. "Not that I need to tell you this, but make sure you give us enough time to get out of here – I'm not a 'let's go down with the ship' kind of girl."
"Understood."
Silence fell for a moment as Maya tapped out a few more commands, but it was broken as she softy murmured, "Umm… ma'am?"
"Hmm?"
"…I don't believe he's a fisherman at all."
( 0 0 0 )
Heero worked quickly to place the bombs he was carrying around the remaining mecha. Wasteful, he thought, slipping into the shadow created by a huge red and white shoulder fin, these machines are enormous. Their power must be in keeping with their size. If only there was more time, we could actually secure one or two – these could inflict some serious damage on OZ, and they would never see it coming.
He waited patiently as the guard he was hiding from prowled past.
Time was of the essence… he did not have any to waste on taking care of a bunch of armed guards – not that he couldn't, of course, but there were other factors to consider.
As soon as the coast was clear, Heero eased out of the shadows, pressing the last of his bombs neatly under the arm of the machine whose shadow he was hiding in and wondering if the amount of explosives he was using would be enough. The armour looks thick, he mused, gazing up at the mecha's odd, four-eyed face. To be sure, I would have liked to have about twice this many mines…
Checking his watch, he shook his head.
"No time."
Stealing a glance around the hanger, he lamented the fact that retreat was their only option. If they'd only had more time, he was sure they could have taken at least one of the powerful-looking EVAs. Now his only recourse was to find the units that OZ had managed to obtain and make sure they met the same fate as these.
( 0 0 0 )
With a wince, Quatre struck the last remaining guard a glancing blow with the butt of his gun, watching the OZ trooper sag to the ground before quickly scanning the area for any more. "Shinji, Rei, Asuka," he called in a hushed tone, "it looks clear now… we're going for that transport right there. Hurry and get on board, I'll wait here for the others."
"Got it," Asuka said quickly, her eyes gleaming as she grabbed Shinji by the hand and hurried him towards the plane, not even glancing Rei's direction as she moved.
Quatre scratched his head.
There was clearly a lot of history between the three, but the dynamic was a bit hazy. One minute, Asuka seemed like she could not stand Shinji's guts, the next minute she was taking him by the hand to make sure he did not get left behind. Rei seemed almost as cool and brutal as Heero, though perhaps not as ruthless, and Shinji… Shinji just seemed scared.
I feel bad for him, Quarte mused, frozen for four hundred years, woken up in the middle of a war. That's gotta be hard. Maybe when we get somewhere quiet I can talk to him, kind of find out what he's-
"You've let your guard down."
Quatre nearly jumped out of his skin as Heero slipped out of a heating vent overhead, dropping to the ground less than four feet from Quatre's nose.
"If I'd wanted to, I could have snapped your neck before you got a shot off."
"G-good thing you're on my side, huh?" Quatre said weakly.
"Mm," Heero hummed, surveying the scene. "The charges are planted. We have ten more minutes."
"Well, the pilots are in the plane," Quatre said, thankful to have a topic other than his ineptness to discuss, "I'm just waiting for Misato and Maya."
Heero checked his watch. "Four minutes," he said levelly, "then we leave."
Nodding, Quatre said, "I'm sure they'll be here by then."
Though Heero did not say it, Quatre was sure he would leave the others behind in less than a heartbeat if it conflicted with his own goals. Ice, Quatre thought sadly, it's like his whole heart is made of ice.
"I'll be onboard, warming up the engines," Heero said briskly. "Three minutes, Quatre…"
"Yeah," Quatre said glumly, "I understand."
He checked his own watch, biting his lip nervously as the seconds ticked past.
"Come on," he muttered under his breath, "come o-"
"Hey, shouldn't we be going?"
Quatre squawked as a hand came down on his shoulder. "Oh, Miss Misato!" he blurted. "You scared me…!"
Misato grinned, dropping the young man a wink as she replied, "I do that to a lot of guys. Let's get the hell out of here – this place smells like old cheese…"
Nodding with relief, Quatre quickly agreed.
( 0 0 0 )
"Rei, Asuka, Shinji – everyone buckle up!"
Misato dropped into one of the seats on the small transport plane and followed her own advice, strapping the X shaped harness across her chest as Heero and Quatre climbed into the pilots seats.
"You boys can fly this thing, right?" she asked suddenly. "I mean, I don't want to insult you or anything… but you can fly it… right?"
"Don't worry," Quatre said assured her, "you're in good hands."
"We're going."
Shinji let out a squawk of surprise as the plane lurched forward.
"She told you to buckle up, idiot," Asuka muttered, wrapping her fingers tightly around her own seatbelt as Shinji scrambled to get into a seat. "Pay attention!"
Heero pushed the throttle further forward, and the plane began to pick up speed. "Runway looks clear," he murmured. "Are we armed?"
"Umm, side guns," Quatre reported, "two hundred cal."
"Man the right side."
Misato paled as she glanced out of the front of the plane. "Company?"
Coming down from the right were two winged shapes, heading straight for their location with obvious intent.
"Someone must have gotten loose enough to sound an alarm," Heero muttered, ramming the throttle all the way forward. "It's nothing we can't handle."
With the throttle open all the way, the plane roared forward, its wings quivering slightly in protest to the sudden acceleration.
"What are those…?"
Misato watched in fascination as the two winged forms closed on their position. They looked faintly humanoid… though far too small to be EVAs.
"Robots…?"
No one answered her curious musings.
"They're almost here," Quatre reported, "Heero… we've gotta go!"
"Yes, I know," Heero grumbled. "Get ready to open fire."
"…roger."
With a sickening shudder, the plane lurched into the air.
"They passed under us!" Quatre called. "I can't see them!"
"Understood."
"Wahh!"
Misato felt her lunch (was it lunch if it was four centuries ago?) nearly leave her stomach as the transport plane abruptly rolled on its side. Automatic gunfire burst from the right of the plane, rattling the entire transport.
"Got one," Quatre shouted, "the other one's moving around to the left!"
"Understood."
"Hurk!"
Somewhere behind her, Misato heard someone emptying their stomach… and considering the fact that the plane had just spun upside down, she could not blame them.
The plane's machinegun spoke a second time, and immediately, a huge roaring explosion filled the air.
"Quatre," Heero called, "we've been hit. Everyone brace yourselves."
"Damn…"
"What's going on?"
"We've been caught by a piece of shrapnel. We have to make an emergency landing."
"Oh why meeeee…!"
The landing proved very rough. The plane shook and bounced, rattling the passengers around and only coming to a stop after leaving a long, deep furrow of plowed earth in its wake. As soon as they were down, Heero and Quatre unbuckled themselves to check on the others.
"Are you alright?" asked Quatre
"I'm fine, Shinji?" Misato asked
"I'm okay, Ayanami are you alright?"
"Yes."
"Ibuki?"
"A few bruises I think…" Maya said. "You alright Asuka?"
Asuka simply grunted an affirmative.
"Well," Misato said, "you know what they say – any landing you can walk away from is a good one, and all that."
"Who says that, exactly?" Heero muttered, flexing his hand a few times as if making sure it was not broken before offering it to Rei. "My feeling is that a landing in which you ruin your craft cannot be considered 'good.'"
Misato rolled her eyes. "Maybe you'd prefer being blown to bits like those robots that were chasing us?"
"Those weren't robots," Quatre corrected evenly; "they were mobile suits."
"So they were piloted by humans?"
"Yes."
"…oh."
"Is that a problem for you?" Heero asked softly, helping Rei to her feet as he eyed the older woman.
Misato cleared her throat.
It was so much easier when it was angels.
"Kill or be killed, right?" she said quietly, a little unnerved by the sudden quiet her statement brought. "I know I don't really care for the 'be killed' option – especially not after surviving a few hundred years under ground… so I guess we do what we have to do, right?"
"Correct."
Rubbing her eyes, Misato was about to speak when Shinji's stomach let out a loud, angry rumble.
"Say," she said, thankful for a change in topic, "You guys don't have anything to eat, do you?"
( 0 0 0 )
Colonel Suboru Arakawa inspected the reports he received from his men. At least, he mused, the operation was partly successful. If they had walked away with absolutely nothing, regardless of the opposition they faced, the higher-ups would have had his head on a silver platter – or at the very least, his stripes.
He had already ordered the machine labelled Unit 01 and that Evangelion Scientist, Doctor Akagi, to be transported by convoy to the Villanova Base. The other Eva unit had been sent to Arclight Base in Russia, a tactic Arakawa felt was needlessly overcautious.
As if anyone would be stupid enough to attack one of their convoys.
"Orders are orders," he muttered, taking a final glance at the report on Akagi. It said she was supposed to be a very smart woman. He was glad he had instructed those travelling with her to keep her in the dark.
An uninformed opponent was a harmless opponent, in Arakawa's opinion, and until he had been given the chance to interrogate Akagi personally, he wanted her contact with the outside world kept to a minimum.
Better safe than sorry, after all.
Reluctantly, he picked up the phone and began dialling. It was time to make his two reports – one to Romefeller… the other to Lorenz.
( 0 0 0 )
They set up camp in some nearby woods, gathering firewood and chatting about light topics like favourite foods and weather conditions as Quatre mulled over just how to approach the topic of what to do next. It had been days since he and Heero had returned to Earth and had to leave Wing Zero behind. Trowa was most likely dead, though Quatre still would not give up hope, no matter how Heero insisted that he let the memory of the other pilot go.
They never heard what happened to Duo or Wufei.
When they had a nice, blazing fire going, Quarte and Heero broke out some of the emergency rations they had stolen from the base, sharing them around and watching curiously as the newly-reanimated NERV personnel tore into them, making them disappear in what must have been record time.
Suspended animation, Quatre reasoned, must create quite an appetite.
"So," Misato said, finally breaking the silence that had fallen, "what kind of tackle do you boys prefer? …when you're doing all your fishing, I mean."
Heero and Quatre exchanged glances.
"I prefer fly fishing," Heero said immediately. "Quatre is more of a-"
"Heero," Quatre cut in gently, "just stop." He sighed as the other pilot grunted and poked his stick into the fire, stirring the coals around with a very annoyed look on his face. "What do you think of us so far?" Quatre asked lightly. "I mean… you're not… scared of us, or anything, are you?"
Misato snorted. "No," she said dryly, "not particularly. Are you two… what, ex-military? Deserters from this OZ group or something? You're a bit young for that, but hey – it has been a few centuries since I was involved in combat action, and as you can see," she lifted her chin in Shinji's direction, "my soldiers were pretty damn young."
Heero assessed Shinji for a moment, rolling his eyes as the boy gave him a sickly smile.
Somehow, he took issue with designating this weak little boy a 'soldier.' The redhead? The blue-haired one? Misato herself? Absolutely – any one of them seemed perfectly willing and able to end the life of anyone that stood between them and their goals, but this Shinji character, and the technician girl, Maya, would no more be able to point a gun than single-handedly construct a Gundam.
"We're pilots."
When the young man said nothing more, Misato prompted, "Pilots of what, exactly?"
"Gundams."
Misato rubbed her eyes. "Ok, let's pretend, just for a minute, that I've been in cryo-freaking-genic suspension for oh, say, hundreds of years, and I have no idea what OZ is, what a Gundam is, and what's happening with the world in general, and then explain things to me, hm?"
Heero and Quatre exchanged another glance.
"This could take a while," Quatre said softly, "you might want to sit down…"
Misato stood at first, more out of simple stubbornness than anything else, but as Quartre carefully laid out the realities of the world as it was now – the colonies, the invasion, the oppression, the Gundams, the Gundam Scientists, their missions, and everything in between – she found that sitting was definitely a preferable option.
( 0 0 0 )
Ritsuko Akagi sat in the back of a large truck, surrounded by boxes with helpful labels like 'medical,' and 'armoury.' From what she could gather, she was being escorted to some military base, and while the answers she tried to get from the guard sharing the back of the truck with her were short and rather uninformative, she was at least able to ascertain that she was somewhere in the future, though just how far she was unable to reason out, as the calendar date the man gave her meant absolutely nothing.
At least they still speak Japanese, she thought as the truck continued to trundle along, that's something anyway… and there's still civilization of some sort – you don't get guns that well maintained in a nomadic society. Heh… guess the old men on the committee were wrong, huh? Colony of worthlessness or not, we still manage to sur-
Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud, rather close explosion.
The truck lurched to a sudden halt.
"What the-"
The harsh stutter of automatic gunfire tore the air, accompanied by the pinging of bullets on metal. Ritsuko instinctively covered her head, ducking down as low as she could get as the guard threw the back of the truck open and swung his rifle from left to right in a vain search for something to shoot.
A moment later, the guard was yanked out of the truck, leaving Ritsuko alone.
"I'm unarmed!" she called, raising her hands as a long barrel poked through the truck's door.
Cautiously, an oriental woman with her hair done up in twin braids poked her face into the back of the truck.
"Who are you?" the woman demanded, checking for other passengers with her eyes before returning her focus to the blonde in the back of the truck.
"Dr. Ritsuko Akagi," Ritsuko replied immediately, gathering from the woman's tense expression and rather heavy-looking assault rifle that she was not a person to be coy with.
"Sally Po," the woman said briskly, keeping the rifle trained on Ritsuko's gut. "Are you a POW, or a deserter? Quickly, woman, I don't have time to wait around."
Ritsuko pursed her lips, displeased by this rough interrogation, but knowing it would be best to reply quickly.
She did not, after all, have a death wish.
"Neither – I'm a scientist. I was in cryogenic suspension for… some time, I don't know how long exactly, and I was just awakened. I have no idea who these people are, I have no idea who you are, and my only concern at this point is seeing if any of my co-workers or subordinates managed to survive the hibernation process, or if I'm the only one."
Sally blinked. "Wow," she muttered, finally lowering the gun a bit, though keeping her finger firmly on the trigger, "you talk a lot."
Ritsuko shrugged.
"You asked."
Taking a quick look around, Sally said, "Alright… Doctor, let me explain your situation, and your options. I'm an enemy of the people who have you in custody, and I'm taking this truck and all of its contents as spoils of war. Now you can either get off here, or come with me, the choice is yours. You say you're from the past?" she waited for Ritsuko to nod. "Well, I don't know anything about that, but I do know that the people I work with could use the help of another doctor, medical or otherwise, and if you're being held against your will… I'm guessing our goals are at least similar, if not identical, for now anyway."
"Agreed," Ritsuko said, climbing out of the back of the truck as Sally backed up to make room for her. "Do you think you could point that thing somewhere else, though? I'm a non-combatant."
"Sure you are," Sally muttered. "Relax – I can't hold a gun on you and drive at the same time, but just so you know, I'll run the whole truck into a tree if you try anything funny, and make sure it hits on your side."
Ritsuko gave her a dry smile. "Don't worry," she said flatly. "If you can believe it, talking with you has been the most pleasant experience I've had since waking up, and as for doing anything funny… let's just say I left my sense of humour in the past. Literally."
Sally nodded, making for the cab of the truck as the blonde woman went around to the other side. They climbed in and Sally fired it up, giving the other woman a sidelong glance as she buckled her seatbelt. What a strange woman, she thought critically. Really, cryogenic suspension? Either she's a loony, or a terrible liar – but if she really IS a doctor, we can definitely use her.
"Sally," Ritsuko said suddenly, "may I ask you something?"
Sally shifted the stolen truck into gear, barely sparing the blonde a quick, cursory look before murmuring, "Sure, what is it?"
Ritsuko leaned a bit closer, wetting her lips in an almost seductive manner before whispering the only question that seemed to mean anything to her at that moment in time.
"Do you have anything to eat…?"
Continued…
Random's notes: Grey didn't get this chapter to me for a while, so I'll only take half of the blame for it taking so long, and I fully plan to use the dual excuses of school starting and being really busy with another project to account for the rest of the time. It's a little shorter than last chapter, I think, but I'm happy with it.
Grey's notes: In the original draft of this I had trouble with this chapter I am grateful for Random's assistance.