That one whole segment of my story done. Time to move into segment two. This is my Gundam story, not yours or Bandai's, so only I know what I'm talking about. (Basically means that there's going to be change in the pace of the story for a little while.)
Gundam:
The dark era:
Chapter 9:
Reassignment:
"The operation was successful." Said Treize, sitting at his desk. All the members of the J.T.M.S., including Doc., Rapter and Taylor, were standing at attention.
"However.." Treize paused. "The conduct of sergeant Fex Anderson was, according to those who were on the field with him, 'uncouth'. The behavior in question resulted in the death of one other fellow officer by the name of Dog man. Well, Anderson? Do you have anything to say for yourself or your actions?"
Fex just stood there, mumbling. It looked like he was about to say something, but he just couldn't get anything out.
Rapter elbowed Taylor. Taylor walked up to Fex and punched him really hard in the cheek. Fex's jawbone popped out of place. Taylor picked Fex up off the floor and started yelling at him.
"SPEAK, GOD DAMN YOU! FUCKING MORON!" He slammed Fex back into the ground.
Treize jumped at this. He knew everything about this unit. After all, he had helped to create it. But he didn't fathom how violent and how gruesome it would come across in real life.
Fex pulled himself up from the floor, wiping his bloody lip. "Sir... I can't... justify my action's right now. I went through some traumatic experiences in the operation. But the truth is... I don't know."
"DON'T YOU FUCKING LIE TO THE GENERAL! YOU KNOW GOD DAMN GOOD AND WELL WHAT HAPPENED! TELL GENERAL TREIZE!"
Fex just stood there. He didn't know what to do. Then Taylor's fist met his face again. This time the metal knuckles tore deep gashes in his forehead. He went flying backwards and landed on his back. His world went dizzy and he just lay there. The blood from the gashes in the head was seeping into his eyelid's. There was blood running from the corner of his mouth.
"Fex isn't going to be answering. It's okay. He can learn from this never to do stupid shit like that again." Rapter said. Fex was hearing all of this, but his sense's were messed up and it all was like an acid trip.
"Is he going to be okay?" Treize asked.
"He should be. I trained him to be tough." Rapter said, arrogantly. Taylor kicked Fex in the balls, but he could barely feel it. "I hope he doesn't start to cause trouble. If he does, he... Well, Kat's always causing a shit load of trouble for me. They'd be a nice pair."
"Yes, I guess so. Rapter, I've got a new assignment for the unit."
"Let's hear it. It's going to put us in some deep shit, isn't it?"
"Yes, but I know you can handle it. About two months ago, a Rebel garrison attacked one of our garrisons positioned in Paris, France. The attack not only left the city crumbled, but also left our garrison in bad condition. From what we can tell, they're short on weapons, food and equipment. And whatever they do have... let's just say it's in bad condition. You guys are going in there tomorrow. Re-supply them and reinforce them. They also have a hanger just outside of the city. Put some mobile suits there, just for insurance."
"How long are we staying there?"
"You are going to stay there until the top brass say you can come back."
"Are they expecting a counter-attack?"
"More than likely."
"Intelligence say how big of a counter-attack we can expect if we do get one?"
"No."
"Damn, we are screwed aren't, aren't we?" Rapter turned and looked down at Fex. "Doc., get this sac of shit out of here."
Fex felt someone grab his arm's and begin to drag him. Everything turned dark.
The next day...
Treize was surprised and somewhat relieved Fex came for letter exchange that morning. He had a huge, bloodied bandage wrapped around his forehead.
"Are you alright?" Treize asked.
"Yeah, but I've had a migraine since yesterday." Fex answered.
"Well, that's too bad." They gave each other their letters.
"Thanks." Fex said as he walked away.
Howie was looking for Fex. Rapter told him to find Fex. Howie hadn't seen him in the mess hall. Now he had to check the quarters.
"Fex, you in here?" He exclaimed as he opened the door.
"Here." Fex answered. Fex was sitting on his bunk, reading the letters he got.
"Fex, Rapter needs help loading supplies."
Fex didn't respond to that.
"You know what? I got another message from my mother. It says 'be strong'." Fex paused for a second, staring at the letter. Then he picked his pistol off the table, charged a magazine into the butt, and cocked a round into the chamber. Then he pointed the gun at the ceiling. "I wonder what that means, be strong? Could that mean endure to the end, perhaps? If that's what it means, she can fucking forget about it." Fex sat up, bringing his gun around in a full sweep. He had a creepy grin on his face that was out of place with Fex. Why was he grinning? "You wanna' know what the funny part is? The funny part is my mother died, what was it, ten years ago? Or, at least, she should have died. She should have been on that ship with my father when those fuckers blew it up. Is it possible she wasn't? Is it possible she survived?"
"I guess anything is possible." Howie responded.
"Anything, huh? Well, maybe you're right..."
"FEX!" Rapter's angry voice came on over the intercom. "GET YOUR FUCKING ASS DOWN TO THE LOADING BAY, NOW!"
"SHIT! FUCK UP!" Howie complained.
"Coming, ass fuck..." Fex muttered.
Fex and Howie went to the loading bay. The helicopter was in there and everybody was loading boxes into it. Rapter stood next to a pile of boxes.
"Took you long enough, Howie." Rapter picked a box up and handed it to Howie. "This goes in the back." Howie went to put it in the helicopter. "Mr. Anderson..."
"Yes... I know... I fucked up."
"Why did you do it?"
"I told you already. I don't know."
"Oh, yes you do. Is this your pacifist gene working? Is this some sort of act to sabotage both war efforts? A necessary evil in your mind to bring an end to all war? Don't you know? It's just like Kat said. War is never ending."
"So you did know what our conversation was about?"
"Yep."
Fex felt embarrassed. "Actually, sir, I really don't have a pacifist gene. Believe it or not, war is in my bloodline."
"Care to explain that to me?"
"Yes, actually. My family has a history of soldiers. In fact, my grandfather was a soldier. But he was killed in combat. My grandmother was told of this, but she kept that secret from my father. He was still young. She told him that my grandfather was going to be away longer. Then, bad things started happening. They were evicted from their house. Someone raped my grandmother. She became depressed and started drinking a lot. My father blamed the military for all of it. He envisioned the military as an excuse to get away from all the problems people have at home. He hated the military. He looked for any way he could away from the draft."
"Pacifism. Diplomatic immunity."
"Exactly. However, in Roman beliefs, the more you run away from your destiny, the faster it catches up to you."
"What significance does that have?"
"Apparently, somebody that knew my dad held those beliefs. He told him that to warn him. I guess it came true."
"I guess so. But that doesn't answer my question, Anderson."
Fex smirked. Taylor called to them.
"Hey guys! Get on the chopper! We're leaving!"
Fex started walking toward the chopper. Rapter put his hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"What?" Fex asked, annoyed.
"A transport is going to be dropping your mobile suit into the secret hanger near Paris along with Howie's leo. You do have the card key to start it up, right?"
Fex took his card key out of one of his pocket's and waved it in Rapter's face.
"All right, then."
They got on the helicopter. It took off, heading to Paris, France.
Virgil stared at his newest creation. It was perfect, or so he thought. It was a giant white cylinder attached to the ceiling of his shack. He had a lever with which he could raise or lower it. The bottom could generate extreme heat, kind of like those cigarette lighters found in cars, which he could control with the settings on his control panel. Below the cylinder, was a grill plating. So if any living thing was caught in between, it would be just like a barbeque...
"Virgil!" He heard the voice beckoning to him from the entrance of his shack. He turned around and saw The General's head sticking through the opening to the door. "It's time to go. Get your things." He pulled his head out of the door opening.
Virgil get his pack out of the corner, turned the lights off, and left the shed.
It felt almost like the flight had just started, but they had arrived in Paris. Or, just outside of it, to be precise. The pilot opened the cargo door.
"Okay guys. Go! Go!"
The J.T.M.S. members were in a small jeep loaded with supplies that had been packed into the cargo section of the helicopter. Rapter put the jeep in reverse and pulled out of the helicopter. Then he waited for the chopper to close it's door and pull away. And they got to see Paris for the first time...
"Wow... what an ugly fucking place..." Lee commented. Rapter threw the car into ignition.
"Well, Treize did say the Rebels wrecked the place."
"But look at this place! It's completely war torn!"
"Look! They even toppled the Eiffel tower!" Fex pointed out.
As they got closer to the city, the destruction left by the Rebels became more apparent. Entire city blocks had been destroyed. Rubble was everywhere...
Rapter pointed at something out to the left. It appeared to be the secret bunker.
"That's where Fex and Howies' mobile suits are going to be. The transport just hasn't dropped them off yet. Commit it to memory."
Chris pulled something out of his pack. It was a CD player. He started listening to it just as they entered the city. He was listening to some heavy metal band. As they got deeper into the city, he kept on looking at Rapter to make sure he didn't notice and turned it up. Eventually, though, Rapter heard the music. He reached back and ripped the headphones right off of Chris's head and threw them out into the city.
"HEY!"
"WARDROBE MALFUNCTION!" Rapter laughed.
"You know that I'm going to go find that later, right, Rapter?"
"Fine! Go ahead, I don't care."
They reached the designated building. It was a six story building with the front almost completely blown out. They could see many half-naked soldiers sitting around tiny fires. The place was just in really bad shape. They pulled up front and started unloading boxes.
"Damn, this place is a mess..." Howie said.
They came walking through the front door. The soldiers greeted them with applause.
"Oh, thank you... thank you..." Lee said jokingly.
One soldier came up to Rapter.
"Thank god you're here. Leave the supplies here."
"Doc., treat these guys." Rapter ordered, pointing at the injured. It was like he hadn't even heard the other soldier.
"Right! I'll get to it, right quick!"
Rapter put his box down. Then he looked at the soldier. "Where's your CO(commanding officer)?"
"That would be Major Tom, sir. He's up on the third floor."
"Show us to him. Doc., stay here. Keep treating the wounded."
"Right, sir!"
Lee patted Doc. on the shoulder when he passed him.
"See ya' later, pal."
They walked up two flights of stairs then turned to one of the side rooms. The soldier leading them peeked through the curtains.
"Major?"
A tiny light flickered on in the dark of the room. It came up and rested at one spot.
"Come in." Said a muffled voice from inside. The soldier opened the curtains all the way. The person behind them was a young, gruff, brown haired man reading a field manual and smoking a just barely lit cigarette. He waved the cigarette lighter out.
"Major Tom?" Rapter asked.
The man shook his head. "Depends on whose asking. If you're not the calvary, I don't want a fucking thing to do with ya'."
"Well... Yeah, we're the calvary."
The man grinned. "Well, then, yeah, I am Major Tom." He pointed at the guy who had led them to him. "Soldier, get Garry, Firenze, and Tina."
"Yes, sir!" The soldier went searching.
"Since you're the calvary, you must have brought me something." Tom assumed. "What did you bring me?"
"We've brought 100 assorted small arms, with a combined amount of 5,000 of ammunition."
"Okay. I've had to limit my men to one magazine each after the attack. What else?"
"We brought 250 grenades with us."
"Excellent! Among us, we currently have a total of three grenade. That's all."
"Our doctor has enough medical supplies for fifty men."
"That's roughly about our numbers..."
"And enough food to last us six months. If we need to, we can stretch it to last four times that long. We also brought a missile launcher with four shells, and our transports are going to be dropping some mobile suits into the hanger during the night, so we should be set for a assault with mobile suits."
"Good, good... My men could use the food. We've been prioritizing our limited food supply for the injured. The able bodied soldiers are getting this gross, mucky shit. It has maggots in it..."
The soldier came back with one guy.
"Oh! Garry! These are our reinforcement's!"
"Really?" Garry said. "I'm so thrilled."
Tom chuckled nervously. "Sorry about Garry. He's never enthusiastic about anything." Tom looked around. "Where's Firenze and Tina?"
"They're... um..."
"Doing it?"
"By doing it..." Rapter asked. "Do you mean...?"
There was pounding sound from upstairs and dust trickled down from the ceiling. There was woman screaming "OH, YES!". Some of the guys looked up and smirked.
"Ohhhhhh..." Rapter exclaimed. "So that's what you mean..."
"Yep. They're always 'doing it'. Let's go, we're gonna' need to slow them down."
As they climbed up the stairs, the pounding became much more intense and the cries became louder. Tom reached the top of the stairs. He gave his men a wry smile. Then he flung the curtains open.
"GET SOME DAMN CLOTHS ON, GUYS!" Tom's men started cheering and laughing and making whistling sounds. Firenze and Tina huddled up in a corner, embarrassed. Tom started back down the stairs.
"It's okay, let them be embarrassed. They need to learn that every minute is not for fucking. We don't have time for this. I need to show you something."
Later, they went on patrol of the city. Everybody was there, Tom, Garry, Firenze, Tina, and the members of the J.T.M.S. After a quick tour of the city, Tom stopped in front of a tunnel. It appeared that there were lights in the tunnel.
"This, you guys..." Began Tom. "Is the Underground. Never, ever go there. Some of my men went there. They never came back."
"What's down there?" Kat asked. Tom looked at her.
"Bad people." He answered. Then he looked back at the tunnel into the Underground.
In your review, tell me what you think Fex was really thinking when he killed Dog man, tell me what you think the Underground really is, and most of all, tell me what you think of the mood I've set in the story so far.