To say that Zack wasn't in a very good mood was the understatement of the year. He was downright pissed off. There was a permanent scowl etched across his face that seemed to scare all those around him away.
'Stupid Flyheight,' he thought thinking of what had been happening. It was like no matter what he did to stop it; Fiona always kept her faith in Van. He did everything he could think of to put doubts of Van in her head while he was in prison and yet she would still be seen trying to see Van every day he was in there.
'Van, Van, Van,' Zack thought with a growl. 'He takes everything that rightfully belongs to me and he even has the gall to take what was most pure about her. I should just kill him but then Fiona won't even look at me,' he thought walking into his room and slamming his fist against the wall.
"What the hell does he have that I don't? Why does she only think of him when I can give her everything she could possibly want!" He growled slamming his fist even harder causing a few cracks to appear in the wall.
'I really need to find some way that will really get him out of my hair all together. I have so many plans, not just with Fiona, and he is the one thing that is capable of stopping it," Zack growled leaving his room even though he'd just walked into it a minute earlier.
Zack walked towards the hanger and was about to head to his zoid when he saw the blade liger come into the hanger. He smirked when he saw that Fiona climb out of it but scowled when Van came out right after her. 'She was with Flyheight all day!' he said deepening his scowl even more.
He watched as the two of them walked happily right by him without even saying a word. He then noticed something that he knew wasn't there before. A small diamond ring that was on Fiona's left ring finger. 'No, that can't be right!' he said watching them with shock before his expression turned deadly. 'You've sealed your fate Flyheight,' he thought turning towards his zoid and leaving quickly to plan his next move.
"Oh wow!" Moonbay said as she admired Fiona's ring. Van had been practically making sure that everyone saw it. She was an expert with stuff like this and she knew this was the real thing. It must've cost Van a fortune. "Where did you get the money for this sort of ring?"
"I had some money from my parents but I've also been saving up my money for several months. I just saw it and knew that it was perfect for Fiona. I didn't care how much it cost," Van explained wrapping his arm around Fiona and kissed her cheek.
Moonbay couldn't help but admire Van and Fiona's relationship. Both of them would be willing to give up everything for one another. She sometimes wished that she could have that. She knew that McMann would do that but she wasn't sure if she'd be able to do the same even though she cared about him.
Moonbay continued to gawk at the ring. There were several times that she even tried to convince Fiona to give it to her but everyone knew that she was fooling around. "So when's the wedding?" she asked curiously.
Van was stumped. He'd asked Fiona but the two of them had yet to even talk about any of the details. "No idea. We haven't talked about it yet," Van said although he knew that he'd rather have it as soon as possible rather than wait. "How about you decide Fiona," he said as more of a statement than a question.
"Me?" Fiona asked and she saw Van just nod his head. "Well… I'd kind of like it to be as soon as possible but I wouldn't care about waiting a hundred years as long as it's with Van," she said lightly caressing his face and her stomach at the same time.
Moonbay rolled her eyes. 'Then again, there's a point between the sight being nice and a little too mushy,' she thought as she stood up. "Well when you decide, tell me. I better be the maid of honor though," she said with a grin before she disappeared from the room.
Van sighed and stood up as well. "I have a few things that I need to take care of. Do you think that you'll be fine on your own?" he asked and she nodded her head. "Get some sleep Fiona," he said since they'd been back several hours and hadn't had any time to properly rest up.
"Okay," Fiona said as she too stood up. The two of them left the room together but eventually turned in two different directions, Van towards the Crougar's office and Fiona towards their room.
Fiona walked silently along the nearly empty corridors. She was just about to their room when a figured suddenly stepped out of nowhere blocking her path. She looked up and wasn't really happy to see who it was. "What do you want?" she asked annoyed trying to walk past but he blocked her path.
"I'm hurt Fiona," Zack said in a teasing voice. "I only wanted to talk with you. There's nothing wrong with that is there?" he asked taking a step forward but frowned when she took a step back. "What's wrong Fiona?" he asked almost looking like he was concerned.
"I have absolutely nothing to say to you lieutenant," Fiona said in a voice that said she was doing her best to control her anger. "I believe what Van said. I know you were the cause of it all," she said trying to get by again but he still wouldn't move. "Please get out of my way," she said sternly.
"Fiona," Zack said with a sigh rubbing his head. "I never did anything to Van. He just attacked me for no reason. You have all this faith in him when even he's capable of lying like everyone else," Zack said softly as he tried to approach her again. He smirked when he saw that she didn't move quite as much.
"Everyone's capable of lying?" Fiona asked and he just nodded his head. "I guess that means that you are capable of it as well," she said and had to fight the urge to laugh when she saw him gaping at her like a fish. He looked like an idiot.
Zack then smirked. He loved how feisty Fiona could get. 'All the more reason that she should be mine,' he thought as he approached her but frowned again when she stepped back. "I'm not lying. This is the second time he's attacked me Fiona. How much longer are you going to stand up for him?" he asked with a pitiful look on his face.
"I'll trust Van as long as I'm still alive," she said trying to get by but she felt him grab her left arm and held it up staring at her finger. "Let me go!" she said struggling to get out of his grasp.
"He proposed to you?" Zack asked in a calm voice as he let go of Fiona's arm. He just saw her nod. "You deserve much better than him Fiona. I'm just worried about you. Your trust is misplaced in him," he said before he walked past her.
Fiona watched him with a worried look on her face. She rubbed her wrist before continuing on into her room. "He's wrong. Van would never do anything to make me not trust him… would he?" she asked but then shook her head of the ridiculous thoughts. She knew Van better than anyone and knew that he was not capable of doing what Zack was accusing him of doing.
Fiona took a quick look back at the man she was really beginning to despise. She then turned towards her room and walked in. She looked at her engagement ring and then placed a hand upon her stomach. These were the two most important things of Van's that she had. She knew that he would trust him forever and nothing could change that.
Van knew that he was only making it harder on himself. Crougar expected him to apologize to Zack for hitting him. Van downright refused the next second. He wouldn't apologize for something that wasn't his fault to begin with.
Crougar wasn't too happy about Van's decision. He'd always expected better out of Dan's son. He couldn't understand why all of this was happening. Van never had problems before then of this magnitude. He was curious as to what was really going on between Zack and Van.
"You can't expect me to apologize for something that isn't my fault," Van said with a sigh. The stare he was getting from Crougar was really intimidating but he would not submit. He had to make people see that Zack wasn't as great as people made him out to be.
"If that is your decision than so be it. I expected much better of you Van," Crougar said with a disappointed sigh. "I'm sorry to say but on top of the jail time you served, I am also going to have to demote you back to a lieutenant," Crougar said not like the option but he had no other choice.
Van sighed but nodded his head. "I understand sir," Van said as he stood up with a frown. He started to walk to the door with a salute to Crougar. He then stopped and turned to Crougar. "I'm not the only one at fault. I may have hit him but he was the one that started it in the first place," he said to Crougar before he left the room with another salute.
Crougar rubbed his forehead as he watched Van leave. He never wanted things to turn out this way. He had such high hopes for Van, but because of all the mishaps he was seeing all that hope dwindling away in front of his own eyes.
He was brought out of his thoughts when the door opened again but this time it was Thomas that came walking through the door. "You wanted to see me sir?" he asked as he walked into the room.
"Yes have a seat," Crougar said pointing towards the seat that Van had occupied earlier. "I have something that I want you to see," he said pulling out a remote and pointing it towards a screen which lit up with several pictures of an iron kong. "Remember the discussion we had about the man named Ryan?" Crougar asked as a picture popped up of a man.
"Yeah. I remember the heated debate between Van and the new guy about whether he was the one pulling all the strings or not. Has more evidence come up?" Thomas asked looking over the stats on the screen.
"There have been several attacks recently committed by him. We have a recording of it and all of them keep saying the same thing. 'My armies are the best. This world shall be brought into chaos and I shall control all.'" Crougar recited from his memories of the recording.
"He appears to be making it way too obvious that he's in charge. That settles it in my mind that he really isn't. It appears to be nothing but a ploy to take our minds off the possibility of another," Thomas said and Crougar just nodded his head in agreement. "It was stupid of them to make it so obvious," Thomas said looking to be deep in thought over the situation.
"I agree," Crougar said nodding his head. "I appreciate you input into this. I can't ask Van or Zack about it because of the fact that the two of them are firmly on different sides of the argument and could turn the words into their own ideas," Crougar said and Thomas nodded his head. "Dismissed," Crougar said and Thomas saluted before he left the room.
Van walked along the corridors sadly. Right now the only thing he really had to look forward to was his future with Fiona. 'Maybe I can just quit the guardian force and just go somewhere far away with Fiona,' Van thought in despair.
'And leave the guardian force in the hands of someone like Zack?' his mind taunted him which just made him feel worse. 'No one believes the truth and people are finding it harder and harder to trust you the last few weeks,' it continued which only made Van want to punch a wall.
Van walked into the hanger and looked up at his blade liger. Even with it's repairs long since complete from that one battle, they weren't able to recover the data from the battle he was seriously injured in. Everyone was believing now that he really did try and kill Zack.
'How long will my friends believe me? How long until Fiona stops believing in me?' These questions just started to pop into his head. He wondered if it was possible for it to get any worse. 'How could a day that started so wonderfully end so awfully?' Van asked himself as he just walked past the blade liger and towards a car. He needed to get out and get some fresh air before getting back to work.
Little did Van know but Zack was standing off to the side watching Van's internal battle. 'It's amazing how fast those that originally trusted him can just suddenly turn against him. How long will Fiona last? Let's test that theory,' he thought with a smirk as he turned around and left.
'My plan so far has been perfect. Let's just hope my current key player is ready for their part. Let's see if she has faith in him after this,' he thought heading towards Fiona's room ready to break all of her trust in Van with one attempt.
It had been an hour or two since his last attempt at talking to Fiona and he hoped that she'd be a little more willing to talk to him this time. He had everything planned out and it would all be ruined if she wasn't willing to come with him to see the important event.
He was in luck because just as he was approaching Fiona's room she was coming out of it. "Fiona," he said trying his best to sound hesitant to talk to her about it. He wanted her to see him as sympathetic.
Fiona just ignored him which wasn't what he wanted. "Please Fiona. You need to listen to me. This is serious!" he said and smirked when he saw her stop and with obvious reluctance, turned around to face him. "Thank you," he said putting on a smile which was hard for him.
Fiona scowled and looked at him. "Just tell me what you want and then get away from me," she said angrily as she watched him cautiously as if she was expecting him to do something any minute and she wanted to be ready for it.
"I need to show you something Fiona. I don't want you to get hurt but I know that you'll need to see this," he said in a pleading voice but frowned when she just turned and left him without another word. 'Playing hard to get huh?' he thought to himself with a smirk.
Fiona grew more annoyed than before when she found that he wouldn't stop his pestering. She actually wished that Van was there to punch him again. 'Where is Van?' she couldn't help but ask herself. She thought he would've come and joined her when he was finished. She didn't think it would take that long.
"Please Fiona," Zack said almost pleadingly. He was glad that he could be such a good actor when he wanted to. He almost sounded genuinely distressed. He just hoped that Fiona would see that because he wouldn't know exactly how much time his window of opportunity would last.
Fiona finally took all that she could. "Fine! If it will get you off my back then I'll go!" she saying wishing she hadn't but she also knew that he wouldn't stop until she said what he wanted her to. That was one of the things that she hated most about him. He never tried to give her an option.
"Thank you," he said with a smile but on the inside he was grinning victoriously. 'I hope that you enjoyed it while it last Van,' he thought as he walked towards the hanger with Fiona reluctantly following behind him.
"I discovered this a few days ago. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about it until now," Zack said as the two of them pulled into a nearby town. Zack walked in front of Fiona. He didn't want to give her the wrong opinion of him right then because she would need comfort with what she was about to see.
"Just tell me what it is so that I can leave," Fiona said not really caring what he had to say. She just wanted to get back to Van soon and was only doing this because he wouldn't leave her alone until she went with him.
Zack remained silent as he led her towards a small park. "There," he said moving out of her way pointing towards something hidden behind a few trees. He smirked as he watched Fiona approach and her eyes widened in confusion and hurt with what she was seeing.
In front of her was Van and he appeared to be in a heated lip lock with some woman that she'd never seen before. 'How could he!' she asked as she turned around quickly dropping the ring that Van gave her and ran as fast as she could to get away from the area. She couldn't take the sight anymore.
twenty minutes earlier
Van was walking through the town that was nearest to the base. He just wanted some fresh air to help him cool down his head and allow him to clearly think things over after a day that started great turned disastrous in just a few hours.
'I know the truth but no one seems to want to believe me,' Van thought as he walked into a small restaurant. It appeared to be crowded for that time of day but it also appeared to have a rather friendly environment.
Van walked over to an empty seat and sat down while ordering the strongest cup of coffee that they could make. He knew that he needed something strong to help him get through such a day.
His coffee came a minute or two later and he just relaxed into the seat while taking a sip of the strong coffee every once in a while trying to understand what had become his life and about how bad it has become ever since Zack became a member of the guardian force.
"A good looking guy like you should be so stressed. It only makes you look older than you actually are," a chirpy voice said breaking Van out of his thought and making him look at the person who had just spoke.
It appeared to be a young woman about his age. She had deep sapphire eyes, long raven black hair that was pulled into a low ponytail. She was about five feet five inches wore clothes that seemed to show more skin than Van thought was needed. To anyone else, she'd be a rather attractive woman. Van knew he had someone even better than that thought.
Van looked at her for a second while taking a sip of his coffee. "Can I help you?" he asked as she took a seat across from him. He looked around and noticed that there were still a few open seats all over the place since the place cleared out a bit from the way it was when he first came in.
"I just saw you sitting here all alone and thought that you could use some company. It's no fun sitting all alone. I should know since I was just doing that. Do you mind if I join you?" she asked but didn't wait for an answer before she got comfortable in the seat across from Van. "You know, you're really handsome," she said admiring him.
"Yes and I'm also engaged as well as having a kid on the way," Van said trying to mind his own business but she kept trying to start a conversation with him even after he said that. He didn't mean to be rude to her but he wanted to be alone or with Fiona right then.
Five minutes later Van finished his coffee and stood up to leave as she continued to talk. It was unfortunate for him that she too got up and continued to follow him. "Can you please leave me alone, I'm really having a bad day," Van said but groaned when he saw her just smile at him.
She still jogged after him as he continued to try and walk by himself. "If you're having a bad day than you should talk to someone about it," she said as she ignored his request and followed him as he walked towards the far edge of town through a park that was in the very center of the small town.
Van just wanted to be left alone. He didn't understand why she wouldn't leave him alone when he kept pleading with her. He got tired and stopped and turned towards her. He opened his mouth to speak when she flung himself at him and locked her lips to his.
Van was shocked. He didn't understand what was going on for a few moments before he finally regained his senses and pushed her off. "Why the hell did you do that! I told you I was engaged and you still kissed me!" Van said feeling really angry at the woman across from him.
'That was the point,' she thought but put on a smile anyways. "I really like you though," she said putting on a pleading look but he didn't even look at her as he walked away. 'Too late anyways. I did exactly what Zack wanted. Pity I couldn't have you though,' she thought with a smirk before she disappeared from view so as to not incur more of Van's wrath with what was about to happen.
Van was glad to see that she finally gave up. He felt really bad that he let that happen even if he didn't want it. He just hoped that Fiona wouldn't find out about it. He knew it would hurt her even though he never wanted any part of it.
Van suddenly felt something hard under his foot and lifted it and his eyes widened when he saw what it was. 'It can't be! She couldn't have!' he thought growing in panic as he set his eyes on the engagement ring he just gave Fiona earlier that day.
He looked around rapidly as if trying to find some glimpse of Fiona so that he could explain to her what actually happened. 'Please let her still be here,' he thought as he started to run in one direction out of the park.
Just as he was about to run past this one building, a figure stepped out of it blocking his path. It was Zack and he didn't look happy at Van. Van didn't have to be told to know that it was because of Zack that Fiona was here in the first place to see that. "Get out of my way!" Van growled out in anger.
"I can't believe you Flyheight. Fiona had all this trust in you and then you go and kiss some other woman right in front of her. I said it before, you don't deserve her!" Zack yelled before punching Van in the stomach sending him flying into an alley and into a wall.
Van groaned as he picked himself off the ground and coughed a bit since he had the wind knocked out of him. "it was you wasn't it. You set her up to doing that making sure that Fiona was there," Van said as he picked himself off the ground and glared at the man standing in the entrance to the alleyway.
"You're quick to figure that out," Zack said sticking his hands in his pockets and staring at his feet. "It was awfully easy turning everyone against you," he said with a chuckle leaning his back against the wall of the alley. "Now even Fiona won't trust you. It will be all too easy to get her now if I wanted to. I wonder how good she is in bed. I guess I'll find out soon enough," he said breaking out in laughter.
"You bastard!" Van said lunging for him before two shots were heard and Van was thrown back again. He hit the ground hard and clutched his stomach where there was a hole in with his good arm since his other arm was shot as well.
"I'm afraid I can't have you going back Van. It will ruin all my plans. I don't think you'll be able to go back though at least not when I'm done with them. No one trusts you anymore as well. I want you to suffer knowing that you have nothing left in this world," Zack said before he shot Van once more and watched as his body fell limp to the ground.
Zack smirked and then turned and left the alley leaving the near dead Van lying there. Zack didn't care if he actually died but he'd rather see Van suffer. Dying was still a very pleasant option to him. 'Time to finish this,' he thought.
Fiona was in tears long after she got back to the base. Even when she got there she wouldn't even get out of the car and just cried for just about everyone to see. She didn't care though. The pain in her heart was just too much for her to care about anything else.
Moonbay walked by and noticed her friend's distraught state. "Fiona!" she yelled running over and getting into the seat next to Fiona. "Are you ok?" Moonbay asked but Fiona just started crying harder into Moonbay's shoulder as Moonbay held her in a comforting hug.
"I-I went to town and found V-V…" she said but somehow found it hard to even say his name. "He was kissing this other girl!" she said crying even harder into Moonbay's shoulder. "Why'd he do it Moonbay?"
'I swear once I get my hands on Van I'm going to murder him!' Moonbay thought angrily wondering how it was even possible for Van to be able to hurt Fiona in such a way. "It's ok Fiona. We're going to get some answers when he gets back," she said trying to comfort Fiona to the best of her ability but it didn't seem to be having much effect right then.
The two of them were interrupted when another car came speeding quickly into the hanger. There didn't seem to be much control to it as it slammed into a bunch of equipment and came to a stop without much damage to it.
Everyone rushed over to the car just as the door opened and a badly beat up Zack fell from it looking half-dead. One of his arms was at an odd angle and his body was bleeding everywhere and there were many more bruises besides that.
"What happened here?" Crougar asked as he came running onto the scene with several doctors. He kneeled before Zack and looked at his wounds. "Who did this to you lieutenant?" he asked and he heard a few words but couldn't make them out. "What?" he asked again leaning closer.
"It… it was… it was Van!" Zack finally managed to say loud enough for everyone to hear him. "He… attacked me when I just wanted to talk to him about all that happened," Zack said before he passed out on the floor.
Crougar couldn't believe this. "A third attack on the lieutenant," he muttered to himself. He knew that he couldn't ignore it anymore. He stood up and looked towards everyone. "Attention! Next time that Van Flyheight is found… he is to be placed under arrest by orders of the Guardian Force!"