Trowa pulled up to camp late in the evening after having verified that Cathy had indeed been taken to the Sacred Omega base in sector twelve. He was tired; he hadn't slept at all the previous night and he'd been riding all day. He'd take a quick nap before he began preparing to kidnap Midii Une. It would be wise to be well rested especially when dealing with a group as ruthless as Sacred Omega; he'd need his wits about him.
After seeing the camp late that evening he quickly concluded that trying to get any sleep in that place would be a lost cause. It was a screaming madhouse. There were long lines of people coming in from every direction, even docking from the lakeside! It wasn't "everybody line up and we'll show you to your places" no there were people screaming out orders at the top of their lungs trying to be heard over everyone else doing the same thing. One thing caught his attention as he went to bask in the glorious chaos; Lady Une was standing on the pristine steps of the capitol building alongside Midii. They both wore matching expressions of dismay at the pandemonium going on around them.
Lady Une said something to Midii, and Midii turned to look at her dubiously. Lady Une said something else and made an urging gesture, Midii slowly nodded her head in reluctant agreement then climbed to the top of her mobile suit and stood on it shoulder and looked out over the crowd.
Midii amped up the volume on her suit to "earsplitting" and used it as an impromptu loudspeaker.
"People of Belterre," she said, he voice sounding a little frazzled even over the amplified electronics. "I have an announcement to make. As of this afternoon, Lady Une of the Preventors has agreed to share joint command of Homeguard with me. The Preventors Agency is like the Homeguard for the rest of the world; they protect the peace for the Earth Sphere civilians just as surely as Homeguard does for Belterre. My Homeguard, I want you to listen to and obey her as you would me."
Midii paused to take a look around her from the shoulder of her suit.
"For years Belterre has looked at itself as a single island, a small but shining star all alone in the night. We've fought hard to keep our independence and isolation but that time must end, and it must end now. We are not separate from the world, we are a part of that world and if we choose to ignore the task that is given us then we meanly loose our last, best hope for peace. We cannot afford to stand on our pride to fight alone; this denies us the help and comfort of people who could share our hearts. We have been strongest when things are at their worst; a warrior shines most nobly when the battle is a loosing one and every person out here has been that warrior. We have all faced hardships, and we have learned that by working together we are stronger than we could ever be apart. What we did not see was that this applies to nations as well as individuals. Belterre has the opportunity to join the world and work alongside all people as we work alongside one another. It is an opportunity to precious to let pass. My mentor once told me that each person carries within them the hope for the future as well as the despair of the past, he said that each soul has the power to change the universe; well think of a thousand souls, a million souls all united to shape the future. That is what we may become. We will become one people, one voice that sings the song of the universe, one heart that beats the hope of earth. We will step forward into the future with the knowledge that we are one."
With that every person who had stopped to hear what Midii had stepped up to say started applauding and cheering wildly. It was like the sound of a foot-ball stadium filled to the brim with the whole crowd celebrating a victory. But this victory was the triumph of a downtrodden people given a sudden lift of hope. Midii jumped down from the shoulder of her suit and walked back to Lady Une, shooting her a look that said "there; was that good enough for you?" Lady Une smiled and shook her hand. There weren't any flashes of photography but Trowa was certain that the scene would live in the memory of the people who'd witnessed it.
The only thing he was wondering was how this was going to affect his plan. If Midii suddenly went missing there would surely be some that would suspect the Preventors of foul play, of getting rid of their leader so that they could move in and take over. Easily remedied, he'd just leave a note behind that said she'd run off with him for a few days... they eloped or something. Trowa cringed inwardly. She wouldn't be happy about that.
He shrugged mentally and quietly worked on confiscating one of the Homeguard suit carriers. It wasn't all that hard, with all of the rushing to and fro and moving about no one noticed one more moving part, or if they did they just assumed that ti was supposed to be moving an left it alone.
He'd found a hollow in the woods nearby away from the lines of civilians marching in their steady way toward the city and there he hid the modified jeep complete with stolen mobile suit under camo netting. It reminded him of his time as a Gundam pilot, where keeping his suit a secret had been top priority. The habit, he discovered, was a bit like riding a unicyle, once you learned how you never forgot it. He reviewed his mental checklist of materials he needed and had acquired for the planned kidnapping and reviewed his plan and the current situation to search for any holes.
His conscience chose that time to start nagging at him unfortunately. It told him that Midii was officially a civilian and that he shouldn't be getting her involved. It told him that he was probably being vindictive and that might be able to infiltrate the place to find Catherine if he tried hard enough. It told him that an all out frontal assault was not entirely out of the realm of possibility. It told him that he had more resources to draw on to get Cathy out of danger. It told him that Midii was still so small. It told him that he didn't know what they intended to do to her once they got her in their possession. It told him that she looked delicate. It told him she needed protection too...
Shut it, he told his conscience. She needed protection about as much as she needed a second head, wit his luck a twin head with a mind of its own would be just as stubborn, suspicious, second-guessing and annoying as the original was.
Besides, Sacred Omega probably wouldn't do anything to her. That "Spooky" of theirs was probably nothing more than a local legend, and Sacred Omega probably just wanted to know how much she'd told the Preventors about Sacred Omega's man-power, weapons and base of opps.
His conscience replied to that thought with a reminder of how ruthless Sacred Omega could be. The massacre just showed the thoughtless waste of life they were capable of; if they were capable of open butchery without remorse it stood to reason that they could do worse. Torture...
He paused. They wouldn't harm Cathy while she was still valuable as a hostage, if she lost her value as a Hostage they would likely decide to harm her to increase the feeling of urgency and incentive for the Preventors or Homeguard to start cooperating. Lady Une wouldn't negotiate, the Preventors couldn't attack right then, but Trowa wouldn't allow Sacred Omega to harm his sister. Midii was the only viable alternative. But he'd be handing her over to her enemies.
Even at her worst Midii wouldn't do that, he thought. She'd tried to save his life, torn between honor and compassion. He wanted to save his sister, he felt torn between his love for his family and the worry of what they were going to do to the relatively innocent person he would be sacrificing to get what he wanted. Part of him wondered what he'd become. In another time he never would have even considered the course of action he was preparing to take; handing any innocent over to the enemy was not an honorable course of action.
This isn't right, he realized. The feeling of wrongness that had been growing inside of him since he'd first considered his plan crystallized and solidified. Yes, Midii had betrayed him a long time ago, yes he was still mad about it; but that didn't give him the right to turn around and betray her. That didn't make it okay for him to kidnap her and use her as a bargaining chip to get Catherine out of Sacred Omega's custody. He could be sending her into terrible danger; there was the very real possibility of death or torture involved, how could he even think about it!
He sighed a little... because it was the only way. The Preventors wouldn't be ready to mount and attack for at least another week, Lady Une wouldn't negotiate with sacred Omega even if there was a hostage involved. The only way to get Catherine out of there with little to hopefully no loss of life was to exchange her for Midii Une. He didn't like it, and it was probably going to get him fired if not court-marshaled, but it was the only way.
His preparations complete he finished up and headed back to the camp to go fetch the main piece. After a full hour it was still pandemonium in the grounds for the most part but the pandemonium was at least a little more organized, it now looked like people knew where they were supposed to go or had a general idea and were trying to get there but there was still a lot of rushing about and shouting. Trowa made for Midii's suit standing in front of the capitol building and knocked on the outside of the cockpit.
"Go 'way!" her voice grumbled tiredly from the inside. Well, at least she was in there and he didn't have to go looking for her.
"Midii?" he said. "I need to talk with you." Well, actually he wasn't going to talk, he was going to lure her away from the camp like some mate-devouring spider and then cover her mouth with a chlorophorm cloth so she fell unconscious. Then he was going to tie her up and put her in the front seat of the jeep, haul ass over to sector twelve and exchange her for Catherine by threatening to shoot her if they didn't bring out his sister.
Put that way, it sounds entirely ruthless, he thought with no small amount of shame.
Her cockpit snapped open instantly. and she tumbled out, forcing him to catch her by the shoulder before she fell off completely.
"Trowa?" she said eagerly. "Did you find her? Is she alright?"
"I found her, and she's alright for now," he said. A half-truth said to lead away from the real truth is often worse than the lie, his conscience nagged. Relentlessly he plowed on. He was somewhat in full soldier mode right then, nothing was going to distract him from his objective.
"That's what I wanted to talk with you about," he said. "In private."
"Oh sure of course," she said agreeably. "Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help."
Trowa felt horrible, like a farmer preparing to kill a pig he'd raised as a pet. She climbed down from the suit and he followed after surreptitiously slipping his note of explanation into her sleeping place. No one would follow them and no one would suspect that the Preventors were involved.
"Follow me," he said instead, leading her outside the partially assembled walls away from the safety of all of her protectors and deeper into the dark woods alone but for the two of them. Midii followed him.
Trusting as a lamb, his conscience whispered. And he was the one about to lead her the slaughterhouse.
"Trowa?" she questioned, rubbing the sides of her arms in chill and looking around her at the dark woods without a soul in sight or hearing. "I don't get it, if she's hurt and you couldn't carry her surely we should have brought the medic along with us. Or if her trailer's capsized we could go back and get a team to help us. I don't see what kind of use just the two of us could be."
"Just a little further," he said.
Her instincts must be raising alarms by now, and they were correct in doing so. She must have been having that feeling that something wasn't quite right. If she was smart, she balk then and there.
"Alright," she said instead. "I trust you." Trowa actually stumbled at that. Midii hurried to help him and he explained it as a tree root. He couldn't even look at her with her pretty face shining in the moonlight and her eyes dark and looking at him in concern. This was wrong.
"Hey, I see something ahead!" Midii said excitedly rushing forward to the jeep. Trowa doused the flashlight and let his eyes adjust as he readied the cloth he would put over her mouth and nose.
"Cathy? Cathy!" Midii called, walking over to the truck to peer inside. He silently stalked up behind her.
"Hey, i recognise this-" She was cut off as Trowa snaked his arm around her waist and head an pressed the cloth doused with knock-out juice over her nose and mouth. She struggled for a moment but soon fell limp into his arms. He scooped her up and deposited her into the passenger seat of the truck. Now that he held her he noted that she didn't weigh much. He stopped to examine her to make sure there were no truly ill effects from the chlorophorm, there was the remote possibility of an allergy after all, but she slept on peacefully.
He revised his earlier assessment; she wasn't merely unattractive, she was beautiful. He studied her resting against the side of the truck he'd stolen, long thick blonde hair shining like gold in the dark, her skin turned to translucent alabaster like the finest of porcelain, glowing pale white in the moonlight almost as if it was lit from within. The planes and curves of her face soft yet sharp somehow, unshadowed by the daylight demons of consciousness. Now was the time when all pretense was gone, when all of the masks that people wore and created to do them the most good were lifted and the persons true face was revealed. She looked soft and peaceful, like a precious doll that would shatter of she was handled too roughly. She looked like someone he'd fight to protect. Trowa closed his eyes. This was wrong, she didn't deserve this, no-one could possibly deserve this. Midii...
He leaned her against his shoulder and snapped the manacles around her wrists, then proceeded to methodically tie her ankles with cord. He'd already made his choice and he was going to follow through with it.
I'll find a way to make it work, he promised himself. I won't let anyone harm her. I'll come back for her... SHe might never forgive him for what he was about to do; come to that he might never forgive himself but he couldn't see any other way around it. Catherine was a civilian who couldn't defend herself, Midii was a civilian who understood battle. It was the better choice of two evils. He was certain she'd understand his decision even if she didn't like it. She was a military commander who understood the greater good, she was also a woman who understood what it meant to have family and be willing to do anything for them; she'd understand him he just knew it. He'd make sure that she was okay, he'd make sure that she knew he wasn't abandoning her. He'd come back for her as soon as Cathy was safe.
Trowa started up the truck and pointed it east. Throughout the long trip to sector twelve with Trowa taking most of the backroads keeping clear of the llines of Haven refugees he looked over at her sleeping form periodically. Memories came unbidden of how they had ridden in the front seat of the truck with the captain together so often; how she had sometimes gotten tired and fallen asleep resting against his shoulder, how he had sometimes leaned back against her and fallen asleep. In those times his dreams hadn't been as empty as they usualy were. Now she was sleeping with her head resting against the side of the door, turned away from him, and he suddenly wished they were the two children they had been then. He wouldn't let anything happen to her. Even if she hated him...
He tried to banish the thought. She'd have every right to hate him, but that wasn't what he wanted. He wanted her to understand, he wanted her to see that he'd take care of her. He wanted her to know that he was strong enough to protect her, and that he wasn't unhappy with her all the time. It was an unfortunate choice but one that only he could make. He nearly shook his head at himself, there's no way she could possibly understand, there was no way she'd want to . No-one could be that forgiving. But he wanted her to be, somewhere inside he hoped that she would greet him with a smile when he came back to get her out of the situation he was about to put her in. He didn't want to let her go now.
WHat a mess! They spent all of their time together fighting with each other. She got on his nerves, she made him angry, she argued with him over the littlest things, she was just the same as she had been when he'd known her as a child; she blew hot and cold, she taunted and provoked him, she wasn't the least bit frightened or intimidated by him and she never bothered to hide what she thought or felt around him either. She was obnoxious. If she had an opinion she told him so, if she thought he was an idiot she told him that as well. He'd never known anyone who had been able to make him...
Feel, he realized, brought up short. Feelings; that was what was wrong with him! He was for the first time beginning to feel normal emotions like everyone else bothered to. She was the only person he knew who had gotten under his skin and could get his emotions to heat up to such a state. Under Cathy's care he'd felt deep affection between siblings but his emotions had for the most part remained mild. They got along well, there was never any real conflict that wasn't quickly resolved so the deeper emotions remained untouched. Not so with Midii. He got angry at her when she insulted him, and upset when she fought with him about stupid stuff. He felt irritated when she belittled his skills and pissed off when she dismissed him as unimportant. He'd even felt... jealousy? Yes, jealousy because there had been someone else who commanded her attention instead of him. Odd, but undeniable.
He wanted her to notice him. He wanted her to feel differently about him than she felt about anyone else, wanted her to feel that he was special. Fully half of the reason he was so upset with her all of the time was because she... wasn't noticing him? He was upset because she treated him the same as everyone else. Put that way it sound rather petty not to mention stupid. What kind of man gets upset because a girl doesn't notice him?
A man in love.
Uh -oh, he thought looking over at her sleeping form out of the corner of his eye. This wasn't happening. This wasn't even possible. This was ridiculous! It couldn't be that. There was no possible way that he was in love with her, he barely even liked her. All they ever did was fight. She was arrogant, and stubborn, and utterly intractable and had on more than one occasion accused him of being the exact same way.
He looked at her again. But she was there; she was somehow woven into the fabric of his life not once but continuously. It had been more than a single action, part of her had stayed with him, crystallizing into focus precisely what he desired for himself; a place to go home to, someone to protect, a normal life, a family. She'd had all of these things and had made him realize he wanted it too. As for now... she no longer had a family but she still made him look at himself in a new way and wonder if he was indeed adequate. He'd saved the world, fought for peace, attained everything in life he'd ever wanted but now he wondered if he'd ever truly lived? Midii lived each day with a passion and tenacity that made everything else seem somehow artificial. She lived each day like it was truly her last. Trowa had always thought he had done the same but meeting with Catherine had made him realize that he'd been living each day like he didn't want to see another one. She was still desperate and fighting because of that desperation, but she was also brave and honest and noble and compassionate. Maybe out of the two of them she was the one...
She is the one. He suddenly froze in realization. She was the one, the one he needed to feel complete. They were the same but incomplete without the other. She was his other half, his soulmate. All feeling of conflict between the two of them faded away, they fought with each other because they were so much the same and yet so different and neither could vocalize what they really wanted to say.
It seemed a little strange to suddenly stumble across it that way; like getting hit by a bus when he wasn't looking. He would have thought that something like this would have been... more dramatic somehow. Driving along through the country in the middle of a very dangerous situation seemed like an inconvenient time to realize that one was falling in love with the person they were about to trade away in an hour or two. And falling in love with Midii Une of all people; they were enemies! Enemies and at one point the only friend he'd ever known until he'd met Quatre later on in his life.
She has always been here, he thought. Part of her had stayed with him throughout his life after they'd parted ways. As children he'd found it mildly irritating that she'd always seemed to go out of her way to provoke him; she'd deliberately say things to him designed to make him react as a normal person would have reacted. "Aren't you the least bit sad Nanashi?" she'd demand; or "Do you miss it?" "That crucifix was also a transmitter." "Will you just keep shutting down your heart?" She just kept pressing him, poking and prodding to see him make any form or reaction at all. Back then he'd been incapable of it, he'd truly believed with everything in him that he would live and die the empty life of an eternal soldier. When they'd been children there hadn't been much of a gap in genders so he'd hadn't cared one way or another... but now that they were grown it seemed that the field had changed. She wasn't just the occasionally annoying girl he'd known who tried every tactic she could think of to squeeze a reaction out of him; she was still annoying but there was a whole new dimension to it.
WHile he was having this little epiphany the sky lightened from true dark to the weak grey f a cloudy morning, and the base of Sacred Omega pulled into view. They had arrived. Now he had to choose to exchange the one woman he loved as much as he was capable of loving for the woman who was his family.
There was no time for hesitation now, he had to do what was necessary even if it wasn't entirely right. A soldier understood those things and he had always been a soldier... from the day he was born. He readied the mobile suit he'd stolen from Homeguard and stowed in the back of his truck with unhurried motions. He was reluctant to do what he was about to do but his inner turmoil didn't show in any of his actions. With an economy of movement he stood the suit up and leapt down to go fetch Midii.
He opened the passenger side door of the truck and reached over to wrapped his arms around her, shaking her gently to rouse her from the chlorophorm induced sleep.
"Hey," he said. She didn't stir. He tried again shaking her a little harder.
"Open your eyes Midii, look at me," he said. Her wide blue eyes cracked open a little hazily and she dreamily focused on him. She was still caught in the state between waking and dreaming so when she saw him, her face softened and glowed into a smile. She looked pale and fragile in the weak light of morning.
"Trowa," she murmured. The sound of her voice and the soft, caring look on her face were doing funny things to his heartbeat. She was looking at him like he was the sole center of her world and he suddenly wanted to keep her there looking at him like that more than he'd ever wanted anything before.
"Midii I want you to listen to me," he said intently, willing her out of the grip of the drug and into full consciousness so she would hear and remember what he was going to say. She just looked at him with a soft expression on her face.
"Remember this. I'm not leaving you, I won't leave you behind I promise. I'm going to come back for you; if you believe nothing else believe that; I'll always come for you."
Midii smiled the soft beatific smile of an angel and reached up with one hand to softly stroke his cheek, sleepily trying to reassure him.
"I need to leave you here in order to get my sister out but I'm going to come back for you so don't worry," he said his voice unusually intense. She had to remember this much, she had to know that he wasn't going to leave her. She was still in a fog, her eyes weren't quite focusing on him, and she would probably think that all of this was a dream. He gathered her up and pulled her out of the truck. She leaned against his chest trustingly, the warm breaths from her parted lips puffin over his collar. He didn't want this, but he was going to do it anyway. He caught the chain up from the ground and stowed them both in the cockpit. Then with reluctant resolution he turn the mobile suit east toward the base of Sacred Omega and set it to walking.
The base loomed on the horizon with threatening looming. The outer walls bristled with weapons exuding an aura of threat. Trowa wasted no time once he was within sight of the base. He amped up the com system on his mobile suit and called to the inhabitants.
"You have unlawfully taken one Catherine Bloom hostage. Bring her out. I am willing to exchange her for the one you have an interest in acquiring."
There was a small stir along the walls and one of the guards detached to go off and find someone in charge. A few seconds later two more figures hurried up to the fore of the walls.
"How do we know that you have the one we want?" someone asked using a hand-held loudspeaker.
"Number One of Homeguard correct?" Trowa asked. His grip unconsciously tightened on her tiny form. "Show me your hostage and I'll show you mine."
Catherine's pale and frightened face was brought forward to the wall. Trowa brought the hand of the mobile suit up underneath the cockpit, opened the door of the cockpit, shoved her out and then resealed it. For the sake of pretenses he had to make it look like he didn't care about what happened to Midii. If they knew he cared about her they'd up security, making it harder for him to come back and penetrate their defenses later. And he would come back for her later.
"Alright," the man at the wall with the loudspeaker said. "So you have her, hand her over and we'll give you your circus girl."
"No," Trowa said. He wasn't stupid, if he simply gave Midii over to them then there was no guarantee that they would give him Catherine, and then they would have two hostages instead of one. "The hostage first and then I'll give you the Homeguard leader."
"If we do that there's no guarantee that you'll not simply take them both and leave," the negotiator argued in turn. "Mind you it would be stupid since our numbers and forces outnumber you by at least a thousand, but there's always the chance you'll decide to play the hero and go and do something stupid."
Impasse.
"Send the hostage out of your gates, I'll leave the girl here on the ground. Once Catherine is in my possession I'll turn and leave the Homeguard leader behind," Trowa replied. "And if anything happens to the hostage between now and the moment she is safe with me I'll shoot your prize."
To show Sacred Omega that he wasn't joking, he set Midii on the ground and opened his gunports training his weapons array on her sleeping form.
In answer Catherine suddenly appeared at the opened front gate. Sacred Omega kept all of their guns trained on her as she walked forward. Trowa kept his attention half on her and half on the guards manning the wall with their weapons pointed at his sister. There was a tense moment as Catherine passed by Midii but she eventually obediently climbed onto the hand of his suit and let herself be picked up. Trowa slowly and reluctantly backed off, there was no guarantee that Sacred Omega wouldn't just decide to blow them all away (hence the need for the mobile suit).
He'd come back for her, but his primary concern right now had to be getting Catherine to safety, otherwise it was all for nothing. But he would be back.
Midii awoke in an uncomfortable and unnatural position. Her head was pounding and her eyes couldn't seem to stay open. At first she thought that she'd fallen asleep in her cockpit, but that didn't feel quite right. She tried to beat back the dense fog that seemed to cloud her mind and haze her senses; she lifted her head and forced her eyes to open and stay that way. Then she tried to force her mind into recognizing her surroundings or at least remember what had last happened to her.
I was... I was out in the woods, she recalled. Alone with Trowa.
Her heart had been pounding, he'd been taking her to see Catherine, but for that short while she'd been completely alone with him walking through the woods with him, just like when they had first met. When he'd turned to look at her out of the corner of his eye Midii had seen the little boy she'd loved so much superimposed on the man she loved to fight with. She still cared about him after all of this time, and seeing the good man that he had grown into had deepened that affection. Midii wasn't brave enough to say so though, she knew she'd only be disappointed by his rejection. Really, what could possibly happen between them, the best she could hope for would be that he'd feel sorry for her, there was no way he'd ever return her feelings; not after everything she'd done to him. Besides, he'd only end up leaving her, just like everybody else.
Someone... Someone snuck up on me from behind, she remembered. Oh, I hope Trowa is okay... whoever took me must have gotten him too because this place I'm in doesn't look like the haven.
She at last got her eyes to stay focused and her senses sharpened for long enough to get her bearings. She was secured to a sturdy chair made of metal, her hands were cuffed round the back and kept in place by a long silver chain bolted to the floor just as the chair was bolted to the floor. Her legs were lashed to each chair leg by metal cord and there was another metal cord wrapped around her torso, securing her to the chair. About the only thing she could move with any freedom was her head. She was in a bare cement room. There was a dingy light overhead, a single iron door, and a small drain no larger around than her arm in the floor. This was an interrogation room.
I don't think I could ever sleep comfortably in a room that can be hosed down, she thought. That thought led naturally to the thought of what would give them cause to hose it down; blood, and lots of it. Most likely her blood in the near future.
There was no place like this left in Belterre that she knew of. She didn't even know if she was still in Belterre. She could be anywhere because she didn't know how long she'd been out. Her stomach rumbled.
Only a matter of hours, she decided. If it had been days I would know it by the state of my body.
Perhaps living on the edge of starvation for so long had its advantages. She knew every nuance of her body very well and her stomach was telling her that, while she hadn't eaten in some time... it hadn't yet been days.
That doesn't mean that I'm still in my country, she reminded herself. There are modes of transportation that Belterre does not use that can get a person halfway across the world in a matter of hours. I wish I knew where I was and who has taken me captive.
A sudden hazy memory flashed to the fore of her mind. Looking up into Trowa's beautiful green eyes. He was bent over her, holding her in his arms and there was such a look of intensity on his face... he looked at her like she was the only person in the world to him right then, like he... like he loved her.
Definitely a dream, she decided. Trowa would never look at her like that; as a matter of fact she was beginning to think that Trowa would never look at anyone like that. His tearless mask hadn't changed from the first day she'd met him.
Insistently the picture reappeared. Those emerald eyes, the color of the leaves of the forests she loved so much when the sun shone through them, the most beautiful and vivid color of all. He held her in his arms with effortless strength but there was something about him that was gentle. He didn't look like the emotionless soldier that she knew him to be.
"I'll come back for you, I promise," she heard his voice say in her mind. It didn't make any sense. It had to be a figment of her imagination. Some kind of drug-induced hallucination. Trowa wouldn't look at her with that kind of look.
Midii closed her eyes. There was nothing she could do for now, all she could do was wait and see what happened. She hated to remain inactive but she had no choice. She couldn't get out of that chair and even if she could there was no way of knowing if she could get out of the room; she didn't know where she was or who her captors were so in the absence of any viable form of action there was no choice but to be patient in inaction and wait for her moment to strike.
In her drug-induced haze her defenses went down and she lost herself to the pull of memories past, her mind drifted down into a sea of memories and experiences and she sat there half awake and half dreaming drifting through her own mind.
"Nanashi! Wait!" she called to his retreating back; but he kept walking away never once looking back at her. Midii knew she deserved it, she deserved to loose him for her betrayal of him. He couldn't trust her so he was better off without her. Besides, she had a family to protect and they needed her at home.
Home, she thought longingly. She'd been wanting to go home since the moment she'd arrived at her mission objective. She'd wanted to be someplace safe, she wanted to feel safe, loved and protected. Papa would be angry at her for what she'd done but she'd done it for the sake of her family so she knew he'd understand. The Alliance had promised to come for her once she finished her mission, they promised they'd take her home and give her her payment that she'd earned. She sank to her knees and waited.
She waited there in that spot all day, busying herself by burying the corpses of the few soldiers who had remained intact enough to have enough left to bury. When night fell the Alliance still hadn't come. She started a campfire and crouched in the shadow of a half-mobile-suit for protection while she slept. By the next morning they still hadn't come for her, she waited until the sun was high in the sky and watched as it slowly moved westward and sank below the horizon. After waiting two days for them to return and pick her up she reluctantly concluded that they weren't coming back for her. They'd left her there and broke their word! It had all been for nothing. Everything was for nothing.
I might as well go home, she thought. There must be other work that I can do to get money. Who wouldn't want to use a trained spy? The whole of earth is a battleground and there's probably plenty of positions open, she thought hopefully. She wouldn't work for the Alliance that was for damned sure. She had quite a bit of a score to settle with them should she get the chance and it was going to serve them right that she was going to use everything they'd taught her against them. She also didn't want to be Nanashi's enemy if they should ever meet in the future, perhaps if they fought on the same side then someday she'd get a chance to make it right with him. If that was possible.
There was no their choice to get home other than walking. What followed was a nightmare journey for Midii. She walked through the cold and snow with only the clothes on her back. She dared travel only in secret and only at night for fear of not only the Alliance soldiers but also the roving gangs of desperados preying on war refugees, travelers, and villages alike. It was like the whole world had descended into madness. This wasn't the order that The Alliance had promised!
She slept cold and hungry in ditches, sifting through trash to find anything remotely edible to keep her going through her long journey. One time during the night someone had made off with her outer parka and her right boot wore through leaving parts of her open to the elements. Her exposure to the cold and the weather made her develop a small cough deep in her chest. She was forced to scavenge food and extra clothes from houses that had already been abandoned as it's inhabitants had left in a hurry to find safer ground. Still she continued her hellish trek with the only goal of seeing her home and family to keep her going. After twelve days on foot she at last arrived at the edge of her country to find it in a state of chaos much the same as the rest of the world. Refugees ran about in a panic trying to stay out of the way of the armies that raged across the surface of the land. Midii tried to hurry east and north to where her home, Lyons Peak, was but her progress was impeded by staying out of the way of the battlefields and the congestion along the roads filled with long lines of refugees.
She had to warn her family! She had to get them out of there and somewhere safe. That was the only thought in her mind as she wandered the frost-hardened earth, cold and turning feverish trying desperately to make it home to her beloved family. At last, at long last after what had seemed like an eternity in frozen hell she made back to her precious home. The memory was still vivid to this day and Midii shook with the recollection of it. She tried to tell herself that it was all in the past... but it still felt real to her.
She recalled hurrying up the path to her house calling to her brothers and her father that she was home, she was finally home! There was no response to her cries. The door to her house was left hanging open, just like so many of the doors on the houses she'd snuck into for food and temporary shelter. Unwilling to believe it Midii had dashed inside the house frantically looking around the living room, then calling out for her brothers or her father. Nothing. Only silence. She'd rushed from room to room, some of the rooms showed signs of being ransacked in a hurry she rushed upstairs to see her fathers room. All empty. They were gone. Midii searched everywhere calling out desperately for her family but there was no reply. They'd left without her, abandoned her. She didn't know where they were or how to find them.
"Where is it?" an unfamiliar voice asked from behind her. Silhouetted in the front doorway there stood a strange man she'd never seen before. He wore the livery of the Earth Alliance scientist team, one of their research and development units.
"Where is what?" Midii asked cluelessly. The Alliance officer backhanded her.
"Don't play stupid!" he snapped. "I know he told you. He had to have told you."
"I don't know what you're-" Midii fond herself being held up against the wall of her own livingroom by her throat. The man holding her there had such a look in his eye, he was no longer quite sane. Midii was scared, afraid for her life.
"Tell me where it is!" he demanded, squeezing her throat.
Desperate to breathe, Midii lashed out with her foot catching the man off guard so that he momentarily loosened his grip. That moment was all she needed, Midii wriggled out of his grasp and bolted for the open door. She was caught before she could make it. Midii lunged at him unexpectedly, if she was going down, she was going down fighting. By some miracle in the uneven struggle she managed to get a hold on the alliance man's gun that they all carried in a holster at their waist. She didn't think, she just pointed it upwards at him and squeezed the trigger. There was a thunderclap and the man she'd been struggling against suddenly stopped; his grip went slack and his eyes rolled back into his head. He slumped limply to the ground; dead.
I killed him, she thought in shocked horror. I've killed someone. She felt suddenly numb inside. Was this the way Nanashi felt all the time? She backed away from the sight of another too-still mound lying on the ground, running blindly out of her abandoned home. She didn't know how long or how far she ran, only that eventually she joined up with a stream of strangers, all refugees from distant towns. By this point she was numb through and through and too fevered to stand. No one cared about a strange little girl all alone, no one had cared whether she lived or died or how sick she was as long as she didn't do it near them.
Too weak with fever and hunger to go on, the last thing she remembered was slumping against the wheel of an unfamiliar jeep and loosing consciousness to exhaustion. Then she woke up to a kindly, yet unfamiliar face hovering over her urging her to drink something hot that tasted vaguely of herbs. Her body burned with fever and she couldn't move, she was too weak to even ask where she was. A week later she slowly started her recovery and she learned that she'd been discovered and taken in by Red Fox Kenly, the leader of the Belterre Resistance. He'd nursed her back to health and offered her a place to stay with him and his small band of rebels as they traveled. Midii smiled, she could accept this without feeling guilty.
Once she was feeling better, Midii told her rescuer about what had happened to her concerning her acceptance of a job and training by the Alliance and the fact that they'd left her to die alone once they were through with her; she told him of her journey and the sorrowful conditions in the world as well as their country. She wanted to look for her family, but had to concede that staying with the group would be better than searching alone. Besides, she still had a score to settle with the Alliance; self-defense killing didn't count. So Midii joined up with the resistance and at age ten became a full-fledged operative. Red Fox kept the details of her past to himself because she asked him to and she was accepted based purely on her skills.
She used her training and her knowledge of the way the Alliance military worked to ferret out their weaknesses in supply trains and outposts, she soon became one of the Resistance's most valued team members and the Red Fox's personal favorite. He treated her as part favored aide and part cherished granddaughter, teaching her everything he knew about tactics and strategy. He'd even taught her to play chess and they had spent many evenings engaged in a match. Still, despite her new sense of purpose and the camaraderie and the feeling of belonging that came with being part of the resistance Midii still felt the loss of her family as a desperate ache deep inside of her that never went away.
She soon attached herself to one Micheal Bryson, one of the other war orphans picked up by the resistance, and the two of them formed and inseparable and unbeatable team. He couldn't replace her precious family, but Bryson had certainly helped to ease the ache of loss. Over time she looked on Red Fox as a surrogate father and loved him just as much, and Bryson became her replacement brother. The resistance became her family and on that sad day when the Red Fox died in battle she mourned the loss like she had lost her own father and swore to herself that she'd continue on in his path, for the honor of his memory, for the pride of her family, and for the sake of the civilians like she had been she'd find a way to ensure that no-one else had to suffer like she'd suffered. From there to here had been a long road, and she sure as fire wasn't going to give in at this point in the game.
Catherine glared at her brother with disfavor as he hurriedly bundled her into the passengers side of the truck. Trowa could feel her anger and displeasure with him personally like a tiny sun beating down on him. He ignored it and started up the truck, leaving the suit behind hidden in another hollow in the woods. He'd need it later most likely. After a half an hour Trowa found the main road that led through the woods to the west. It could be followed all the way to the capitol city easily but it was more likely she'd meet the tail end of the refugee's fleeing to the city.
"I can't believe you did that Trowa!" Catherine said finally breaking the silence in the cab of the truck.
"It was necessary," he said tonelessly.
"I don't know what the big deal is between you two, but I can't believe that your enmity would go so far that you'd just throw her to the wolves. This isn't like you Trowa," she said, looking at him with worry and hurt in her eyes. She wanted him to make it all better, she wanted him to live up to her faith in him.
"It's not about that Cathy. This isn't just between Midii and me; she would understand my decision," he replied in his cool emotionless tones.
"I don't understand it!" Cathy said. She was working herself into one of her excited states, if Trowa didn't start explaining fast there was liable to be some slaps distributed.
"The choice was the logical one to make based on the circumstances. Exchanging Midii for you as a hostage was the only way to avoid a direct confrontation with the enemy when we are still unprepared to fight them. It is highly unlikely that Midii has what they're looking for, otherwise she would surely have used it by now to defeat them."
"But you handed her over to her enemies," Catherine said. "You don't know what they will do to her."
"Better her than you," Trowa said.
There was the sharp sound of flesh impacting with flesh. Catherine made an angry noise and turned away from him, folding her arms crossly over her chest. Trowa tried to ignore the dull angry throb from where she'd slapped him. He deserved that one.
After a few more miles the road evened out and was clearly drivable and clearly the right one. Trowa stopped the jeep and got out pausing at the open door.
"I never said I was leaving her there Cathy," he said. "You should be able to make it fine on your own from here, just follow this road. I'm going back for her so don't worry."
"T-Trowa...?" she said turning over to look at him. He was instantly forgiven. Trowa smiled the small smile he allowed himself and shut the dorr behind him, sticking his hands in his pockets he walked back down the road. He heard the sound of the jeep being started up again; Cathy trusted him to do his part so she was going to do hers by doing as he asked. It was going to be a long walk back, and at the end of his journey waited the task of infiltrating a well-armed enemy base, but he felt oddly light for the first time in a while.
Midii wasn't sure when she'd drifted back into sleep but she awoke instantly to the sound of the door opening. In walked three guys in para-military gear, a man dressed in fine, expensive robes with Sacred Omega's symbol on it, and a tall, huge heavy-set women who definitely worked out. The first three were obviously guards, she reckoned, they wore weapons slung over their shoulders and silly looking berets and had that military-type snap to them. The woman wore entirely black leather, with a lot of metal studs on herself, piercing, and Midii didn't miss the brass knucks she wore on each hand... some kind of an enforcer then. Boy, she got the sinking feeling that this wasn't going to be very fun. The final man was likely the real power in the room. The clothes he wore were a strange cross between military fatigues and a priestly robe, and they made of the finest fabrics, what she could only guess was real silk (she'd never actually seen real silk before) and she thought it might have been trimmed with real gold bullion. She could probably feed Homeguard for a month on the trims of his robe alone.
Robe-guy was tall and ascetic-looking but by the muscled build of his chest he was not only far from starving he was very active physically. He had an aura of vigor and command about him that Midii could only envy; from the top of his shaved head to the tips of his polished boots he looked every bit like the kind of man and leader that people would throw themselves off a cliff for. He was looking at her with dark, glittering appraising eyes and Midii felt oddly like a mouse caught in the gaze of a snake and unable to look away.
"So..." he said at last stepping forward and circling around her chair to with the air of a camel buyer looking to buy and inspecting hte merchandize before her haggled with the dealer. His voice was deep and sonorous, the kind of voice that could make a woman weep and do anything just so that he would keep talking.
"You are the little lamb that has caused us all so much trouble."
Midii was still feeling the ill-effects of whatever drug they had used to knock her out; he head was pounding too hard for her to even begin to articulate words so she just looked at him.
"No answer, little lamb?" he inquired. It sounded more rhetorical than curious. "Well, that's alright then. I'm sure that given time you'll become comfortable enough. In the meantime, why don't you just answer a few questions of mine, you don't have to say anything just nod your head yes or no."
Midii just looked at him, or tried to, he was circling around her again. She felt sick.
"You've gone and made a deal with an unholy group of fiends called "the Preventors" have you not?"
It's not exactly a state secret, she thought. If his people were a quarter the effectiveness of mine he'd still know the answer to that. Should I answer? I could be committing myself to being cooperate throughout his little interrogation.
"Having trouble making up your mind are we little lamb?" the man asked after a lengthy pause. "Perhaps I should show you the love a shepard shows one of his flock who has gone astray."
He signaled the woman in black-studded leather to come forward. The enormous broad covered the distance in one stride and casually reached down and backhanded Midii across the face. Midii's head exploded and she saw stars, her ears rang and her temples throbbed hard enough to split her head in two.
"Now, have you or have you not made an accord with those Hell-fiends the Preventors?" the man with the voice that seemed to cut through the fog and pan like a knife said. Midii could still hardly hear him or understand what he was saying. Her mind was too dense to process anything and her ears were ringing. She just looked at him uncomprehendingly. The woman reached down and instead of a slap, her fist was closed and it felt like a brick had hit her across the jaw. Midii's head lolled back on her shoulders and she surrendered herself to dizziness. Her mind swirled and thought technically still conscious she wasn't aware of anything going on around her. Dimly, like she had her head underwater, she heard the amazing voice say something else but it was too far away for her to understand.
She felt a sharp pain stab into the side of her neck. Within a few minutes she felt the effects of the drug fade from her body and her mind felt awake and alert for the first time in what felt like a long time. Her head still hurt but it had faded to a dull ache instead of a pain that was all encompassing. She blinked a few times and looked over at the assembly as if just now noticing them.
"Who are you?" Midii demanded. "Where am I? Why have you brought me here?"
"I am Father Beneficence, leader of Sacred Omega, Keeper of the Great Divine Truth, Bringer of the Holy Light and Defender of the Faithful." His sonorous voice seemed to re-echo in the tiny bare room and fill it to capacity with self-importance. Midii just shot him a look that clearly said she wasn't impressed.
"That answers the who and the where Father Booby-hatch, but how 'bout a "why" while you're at it?" she muttered.
"Impertinence will not be tolerated," he said. Big Bertha, as Midii had come to internally call her, stepped forward again and delivered another one of her brass-knuckle blows; this one went into Midii's rib causing her to cry out in pain from her previous injury. Why did they always have to find her previous injuries?
"Got it," she gasped.
"Good," he said. "Now, to business. I have brought you here because you have information I want and you will share it with me, one way or another."
"Bite me," she said succinctly.
"Oh, no child, stupidity might be catching."
Midii glared at him, but she doubted that she looked very impressive with her right eye swelling up.
"Whaddaya wanna know?" she asked. "I would say that you already know the answer to the first question you asked."
"Ah, but I want details," he replied. "What did you tell them about us and our operations, what was the deal that you made with them?"
"What does it matter?" she shot back.
"It matters, especially to you. Cooperation is rewarded, intransigence is punished. As my lovely associate here has just demonstrated."
Associate eh? she thought cannily, reappraising her evaluation of Big Bertha. She'd thought that the woman was one of Sacred Omega's goons but apparently she was merely in their employ and not a "true believer." Probably just someone who enjoyed delivering pain and would work for anyone who would delight in her skill at doing so.
"Well as it so happens, I told them everything I know about you," Midii said with sweet obnoxiousness. "It wasn't much really, your numbers, resources and man-power to date and everything we had gathered about your base previously; the layout, weaknesses, entrances, exits, bunkers and so on."
There, let him chew on that for a while. The Preventors knew everything she could tell them about Sacred Omega; the lines had been drawn so to speak.
"I see," the man said, frowning. "Well in that case, I suppose we're truly enemies."
"You doubted?" Midii replied, with another obnoxious look.
"Tell me about this Spooky I've heard so much about."
"It doesn't exist, that's all I can tell you," Midii said scornfully. "It's only a myth, something someone made up and it got popular."
"On the contrary I have reason to believe that it does indeed exist. In fact I have seen it," he said.
"Really," Midii said, going out of her way to show her skepticism.
"Indeed. A silver suit that appears from thin air and destroys its opponents like Gods own vengeance. I want it."
"It doesn't exist, so why are you asking me about it? You may have seen something and I can't dispute that since I wasn't there, but that doesn't mean I know anything about it or where to find it if you're right and I'm wrong... which I doubt is the case."
"Your denial is most convincing, but I know you lie," he said. "You cannot hide the truth from one who is touched by the holy light of our lord."
"You're touched alright," she agreed. "Touched in the head."
That, of course, earned her another love tap from big bertha in black leather.
"Midii Une, agent 8472," the so-called Father Beneficence said. Right then, Midii wished he would have lived up to his name a little more. Those blows by Bertha certainly didn't tickle and she was very hungry. Her eyes widened when he mentioned her old Alliance designation.
"Trained as a spy, were you?" he inquired.
"It was either that or the Hokey-Pokey... heeyyy, that's what it's all about!"
"Very amusing," he said, Bertha leaned forward and nailed her rib again. Apparently she didn't find it so funny. Bitch.
"Your father was a scientist," he continued. "A mobile suit scientist."
"That's not true," Midii replied. "He was a particle field scientist. He worked mostly on contained-shielding devices and artificial weather, which you would have known if you'd read his papers."
"But it was his research and development which led to the very first planet-defenders... the energy shields around mobile suits that block plasma weapons if I am not mistaken," Father Beneficence replied.
"My father always regretted that the projects he'd developed to help people were used in war," Midii said in return.
"He worked for the Alliance at one point, his resume was impressive... part of their weapons research and development team if I'm not mistaken."
"He was coerced into it and he got away as soon as he could. I don't see what that has to do with anything."
"He was working on a very classified top-secret project. Even I could find out very little about it except for the fact that the main scientist in charge, your father Miss Une, supposedly made off with the project in question and then burned all of his notes and covered his tracks so well that the Alliance could not find him."
"Yippy-skippy, good for him," she said sarcastically. "Ugh!" she grunted when Bertha nailed her again. This was starting to get old.
"I have a theory," said the good Father.
"And I suppose you're going to tell me what it is. My heart pounds with anticipation."
Bertha not only nailed her rib, but dug her thumb into the still-healing wound on Midii's shoulder and gave her another right hook for her trouble. That was it, as soon as Midii got free, that bitch was going down.
"I think," the Father continued as if she'd not spoken. "That this project of his may have something to do with the mythical Spooky. After all, it is Belterre that your father fled to. And if he had kept his project instead of destroying it it logically follows that he would have hidden it somewhere; somewhere in this country."
"That's a lot of supposition doc, and even if you're right and it actually exists there's no way to know that he invented it or that it was he that made off with it or that he kept it around if he did indeed make off with it. If he felt it was enough trouble to take out of the hands of the Alliance he'd have destroyed it."
"But you see, scientists often suffer the weakness of becoming too attached to their little projects. They spend so many long hours toiling away on it, putting their minds hard at work to figure out a way to make their goals a reality that when it comes time to push the button... they can't do it."
Midii sighed tiredly and looked at him in annoyance.
"This is all fascinating I'm sure but what the heck would I know about any of this? I was only ten years old the last time I saw him and not too horribly curious about whatever the hell he was working on. So why bother to ask me?"
"Why because I think you know more than you're letting on of course," the Father sid in mock surprise. "You could have used Spooky's destruction of the Alliance bases as a way to confirm that God was on your side, and yet you continued to deny the very fact that it existed."
"That's because only a crackpot like you would make such a claim and only a bunch of lunatics like your sheep-followers would believe such a load of crap," Midii replied.
"Oh... that wasn't very nice. Not very nice at all."
Two of the guards strode forward and unwrapped the cord around her torso, then took the chains securing each of her wrists to the floor and strung them through pulleys in the ceiling lifting her up off from the ground. Her shoulder screamed in agony at this treatment. The chair was removed. Midii had a bad feeling she wasn't going to like what came next.
I won't break, she thought urgently. I can't break. For everyone's sake I have to stay strong.
"You know where it is," Father Beneficence said. "Tell me where to find it."
"It doesn't exist," Midii replied. She'd been singing the same song for so long that she half-believed it herself, but she knew better.
"Perhaps there is a way to change your mind."
Bertha hauled out a long, wiry, flexible length of cordage. Midii's unswollen eye widened. A nerve-whip. She'd heard of them, but never actually seen one. From what she had heard about them they do any physical damage, there were no lacerations or burns on the skin. The reason they were so effective was that they operated under the skin, they sent a jolt along the nerves that could reach through almost the entire nervous system. The kind of pain they delivered to the nervous system could be altered, on one strike a person might feel like their entire body was being burned away by flame, on another strike it might feel like they were having their skin shredded from them, so it was very versatile. Not only that but the degree of pain delivered could be increased or decreased, and the area of pain could be localized or spread throughout the body. But the most worrisome thing about the nerve whip was the rumor that if anyone were ever struck with one fifty times in a row it would stop their heart and they would die.
"You know what this is, don't you?" Father Beneficence said rhetorically. "Of course you do. It really doesn't have to be this way you know, just tell us where we can find the suit and we'll let you go."
"I told you," she said, bracing herself. "It doesn't exist."
Shutting her eyes and tightening her body didn't help. When the first wave of pain crashed through her she cried out in agony. She'd been injured several times in battle but she'd never experienced anything quite like it. Her skin ached and burned, like someone had taken it and twisted it in two opposite directions. It faded quickly, which was a relief but for that one second it lasted Midii was very glad that she couldn't do anything other than scream otherwise she would have told them everything she knew.
"Well, what do you think of my little toy hm?" the good Padre questioned her. Midii was left gasping for breath and the skin along her body was tingling in an unpleasant way, like pins and needles all along her body.
"I think you're still fucking nuts," she spat at him. "And I think your suit still doesn't exist."
"Well, perhaps the lowest setting was too easy for you," he said gamely.
That was the lowest setting! Midii thought, her body seizing in panic. She was caught of guard by another wave of pain. It rushed past her face and over her skin like a hot wind and Midii felt like she'd been blasted by tiny shards of glass, tingling and cutting along her nerves, abrading her flesh. She sobbed. it just didn't seem to end. It crashed over her again and when it finally left her she was left shaking and weak with a lingering residual burn along the surface. She groaned, unable to do anything but hang there and wait for the last of it to fade.
"This can all be avoided," Beneficence said cajolingly. "Just tell me what I want to know and we'll set you down; you'll be free to go."
"Again, I can't tell you what I don't know," she insisted. The pain was incredible but she wasn't broken yet. She wasn't looking forward to the next wave which was certain to be even worse than the last but the fact was she couldn't afford to break. Putting that Thing in the hands of an unscrupulous man like this Father Beneficence was not an option in her mind. She wished she were dead already.
Well, forty eight more to go, she thought wryly. If she could hold out that long.
As predicted the next lash was a burst of fire over her nerves a chemical nova all along her body. Her whole world consisted of nothing but agony, from her very fingertips to the soles of her feet she was awash with flame, like she dived into a pool of lava. She screamed until her voice cracked and she ran out of breath and from there was reduced to pathetic quivering sobs.
"I don't know anything dammit!" she screamed at him. She tried to kick him but her feet were still bound to the ring in the floor and she was too weak by then to physically struggle. To her anger she felt tears seep out of her eyes and stream down her face.
Father Beneficence seemed pleased by that however and said
"We'll let that stand for now. I'll leave you for one hour, give you some time to reflect on your level of cooperation when next we meet."
He turned and strode out of the doorway followed by bertha and the three guards. Midii was left alone in the silence of her cell, still hanging from the ceiling by her wrists. If this was supposed to make her cooperate they were going about it the wrong way. It was like with the story of Job, the Devil took away everything he'd owned, heaped trial after trial upon him, until all Job'd had left was his faith in God. If the devil had really wanted to win that bet, he'd have given the man paradise, everything he could ever want or ask for, a perfection of a world in which nothing ever happened... and waited. It wouldn't have been long before Job would have gone to him begging for some excitement, something to break up the monotony. They'd threatened her, harmed her, and by so doing had secured her eternal non-cooperation. She wouldn't help them if it would give her back her own family. Then again, she probably wouldn't have helped them if they'd made nice with her either; but now her dislike of them was intensely personal.
Trowa looked out from the edge of the forest at the massive base that Sacred Omega had built for themselves. It was an unfortunately well known fact that the greatest weak point of any base or fortress-type establishment was the fact that they had to discard waste, either trash or human excrement. It was a horrible movie stereotype, one that he'd always had a bit of a problem with... infiltrating an enemy base through the sewer or the trash was going to make the infiltrator smell like sewage or trash. Your enemy's nose was always keener than yours; there was no point in trying to sneak around if your enemy was going to smell you coming! Trowa had always wondered why, in all those old movies, there was never a guard or a random character sniffing the air and going "what the hell is that smell?"
He'd always favored infiltrating as a potential test pilot or new recruit; his skills made him readily accepted and if his age was unusual no-one remarked on it much. Unfortunately he did not have the time to actually infiltrate the troops of Sacred Omega to get to the prison barracks so he'd have to sneak in directly.
It was high noon now; trying to sneak over the walls in broad daylight would be monumentally stupid. He could wait for nightfall but there was this urgent guilty little voice in his ear whispering "hurry, hurry hurry" so he wanted in as soon as possible. If he could find a way to lure just one of the guards out alone so that he could overpower him and steal his uniform for a swifter infiltration that would be ideal. Perhaps he could go in as a prisoner, it had always worked well for Duo. It would probably take him close to where they were holding Midii. The only problem with that would be that there would be no one on the inside to break him out he'd have to connive his own escape and then find and rescue Midii as well. It shouldn't be so very difficult really, all he had to worry about was them finding his lock-picks and hidden drug antidotes.
He didn't like walking into a situation that unprepared but time was of the essence. He wanted her out of there; he wanted her safe with him. Trowa checked the magazine on his handgun and strode up to the wall. No time like the present. His first few shots injured the guards on the wall and allowed him entrance should he choose to take it; it also roused a party of counter attackers to bring him down and they came boiling out of the main gate like a nest of hornets that had been hit with a rock. It was only a matter of time.
Now, how the hell do I get out of here? she thought, looking around her, testing her chains. With her full cognizance restored she was more than ready to figure her way out of this mess. They'd chained her to the ceiling using two different chains and a manacle for each wrist, her arms were spread apart in opposite directions and it was physically impossible to join them. Her feet were merely bound by wire cording that was looped into a ring bolted into the floor. She rather resembled those paintings on the churches near her home of an ancient crucifixion, but there was no cross.
She couldn't move much, but the metal manacles cut into her hands painfully. She was so thin her wrists were bony and they really wasn't much flesh on her, the cuff was already halfway off. SHe could probably squeeze out of it. She pressed her thumb towards her hand on her left hand and started pulling. She could get out of here. Dislocating her thumb (if it came to that) would be a small price to pay to avoid another session like the one she'd just endured.
Trowa was thrown into a cell after little more than a cursory examination and someone slapping some handcuffs on him. He'd always been on the delivering end of the cell-tossing thing, acting as a soldier for OZ and tossing all of his comrades into their single cell, being thrown into a cell was a bit of a novelty for him. They didn't know who he was so that meant that they wouldn't be expecting it when he escaped.
He started working on the lock to his cuff. Perhaps when this was all over he could talk the circus into some kind of escape artist act. It could be very profitable. The lock was open in seconds. His cell was going to be a little more complicated... it was bare cement, no windows, only one door... Nevermind. The door had the hinges on the inside. What idiot had designed this cell? Trowa calmly walked over to the door after checking from the wall beside it to make certain that no-one was looking in on him he started working on loosening the bolt from the top hinge. Piece of cake, he'd be out of there in no time.
Piece of cake, she'd be out of there in no time. If she could get her damned hand free, that was. She continued pulling on the hand she was trying to get free. The hard metal edge of the cuff bit painfully into her tender flesh. Her skin was still stinging all over. She hoped that the Nerve whip wasn't going to do permanent damage... She stood stock still as she heard the lock of her door click over. She was still hanging in her cell and her time was up. She felt a wave of fear and despair run through her, stealing her breath.
She inhaled sharply when she saw the person who walked into her cell. Her heart rose into her throat with hope and relief.
"It's you!" she gasped. She would have shouted with joy, but she didn't want to call attention to who had come to rescue her.
"I'm sorry," he said. Midii had never been so happy to see a familiar face in all of her life, aside of perhaps the time that Nanashi had come back to rescue her from the explosions.
"Whatever it is, it doesn't matter," she said almost crying in relief. "Just get me down. Hurry Bryson, before the guards come back."
"They said they wouldn't hurt you," he continued, not moving from his position by the door. Midii paused, an unpleasant sensation running through her. She pushed it aside... this was Bryson after all, he was like her own brother.
"Come on Michael," she urged. "Help me get out of these cuffs. This isn't the time to be standing around, someone's going to notice you're here."
"Midii," he said seriously, walking closer to her. "I can get you out of here."
"Not if you keep standing way the hell across the room you can't," she said in exasperation.
"Just tell me about the suit Midii," Bryson said. Midii stopped struggling with the chains. She froze and turned to look at her "brother" with dawning shock and comprehension on her face. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be.
No. Not him. Not Bryson. Michael wouldn't do that to me, she thought with wavering conviction.
"Hey, stop joking around," she said, forcing her tone to a light quality she didn't feel. "Let's get out of this place."
"Tell me where it is Midii," Bryson said, not moving a muscle. "You can tell me, don't you remember all those times when I said I needed a stronger suit? You'd never confide in me, but I can forgive you for that. Just tell me now and I'll take good care of it. You won't need to worry about anything."
Midii's world seemed to freeze slowly start unraveling as she hung there looking at someone she'd loved like her own family, like her own flesh and blood, as he betrayed her. He'd always been there for her, he'd promised he'd always take care of her... he was... he was...
This can't be! her heart screamed in anguish.
"It's not true," she whispered. "You're not..."
"I'm on the winning side Midii," Bryson said with a seriousness and implacability she'd never seen in him before. Even in the midst of the most life-threatening situations he'd always been making bad jokes. This was impossible.
"Michael..." she whispered. Her mind couldn't accept it, didn't want to accept it. The one person she trusted the most in all of the world had betrayed her. Her heart insisted on trying to find a way to believe in him.
A reason," she thought. There has to be a reason.
"Michael... why..?"
"You're such an idealist Midii, you think that all anyone has to do is just try their hardest and everything will work out for them. You think that getting everyone to work together will change everything. Well it doesn't work that way. The only way to get by in this world is to be the strongest, if you're on the winning side no one can challenge you. I intend to be on the winning side Midii. I'm not going to loose my chance to become rich and powerful to silly sentimentality. Tell me what I want to know."
That's not it. This isn't the Michael Bryson I know. His eyes are so cold, it can't be him. This is impossible, she thought. She refused to accept it.
"I don't know what's going on here," Midii said clearly and defiantly. "But you're not the Michael Bryson I know. Michael Bryson is as close to me as my own blood kin and he would never ever sell me out to the enemy just so he could be on some winning side. I won't accept it."
The young man standing before her sighed a little and gave a gallic one-shouldered shrug. Out of no where he brought out a syringe filled with a clear yellowish liquid.
"Just relax," he said swabbing her neck with an astringent. Midii struggled to get away and he warned her that if she didn't cooperate the guards would hold her down while he administered the sodium pentothal.
Good, it's only that then, she thought. The so-called "truth serum" was only a calmative/ speech inducing compound. It would make her relax and make her more inclined to talk, but it wouldn't necessarily make her tell the truth. If she was careful, that was. The combination of that drug and the cooperation of someone she trusted on a deep and instinctual level was a dangerous one for the secrets she held inside of her mind. Midii hadn't been part of the alliance espionage training program for very long as a child; really it had just ben long enough to give her transmitters give her a few pointers and send her out into the field. If she'd stayed around for the full training she probably would have eventually made it to anti-interrogation measures provided she lived that long but entry level espionage spies were "expendables," people who didn't really matter. She'd picked up a lot because she'd been around and into some dangerous places and situations but this one was probably the worst she'd yet seen. At every other time the promise of death had been a quick one if not painless, with this there was the real possibility of a slow lingering and painful death.
Midii felt the prick of the needle entering her flesh. She hated needles. She felt her body relax and her senses slowly dull. A foggy lethargy crept back over her. Midii forced her mind away from what she knew, forced her mind into the lie she'd perfected so hard that she wouldn't slip up. She could make herself believe it. That was a skill she had, she could on occasion lie to herself so well that she came to believe the lie even if she already knew it wasn't true.
There is no suit. It's just a legend. It doesn't exist.
"Tell me the location of the EX-01341," she heard Brysons voice say. Her tongue felt slow and heavy in her mouth. So tired.
And so, it begins.
"It doesn't exist," she slurred.
Next time on Legacy: In which Trowa mounts a rescue, the rescue gets out of hand, and he makes some surprising discovery.