Charles yawned, covering his mouth in unconscious politeness as he did so. It had been a long four hours... even for him. Some people thought being an interrogater was easy... that all you did was ask questions and make the perp sweat until they cracked and told you everything. They didn't realize anything about the intense battle of wills that characterized each and every interrogation. Even if the perp caved within the first few minutes, it was still mentally exhausting to drag all the facts out of them, then go back over them several times to make sure everything added up correctly... of course it was exponentially harder on the perp. Especially when he was authorized to use any force at his disposal in order to wring the information from the perp, like he was for this job. But when he was restricted from harming the interrogee... and the interrogee was a hard as granite cold hearted bastard Coordinator, like this Ysak kid was... well sometimes it really felt like he was fighting hand to hand rather than will to will.

Charles finished his yawn and wiped a few beads of sweat off his forehead and neck and took another sip of water. He was currently on his fourth pint... something of a record for him... usually the perp cracked by the time he was halfway through the second bottle. His clothes were starting to feel clammy and even the plush armchair was making his back and ass hurt abomidably. He wanted to go home and see his wife and eat dinner with his kids. It was time to call it a day. The perps needed time to recover too, or else they'd be too fragile for the next session. Well, in Dearka's case anyway... Ysak was as pristine as he'd been the entire time. That was one of the reasons Charles was sweating so much... it was harder to be icy cool when the perp wasn't bleeding all over the place, moaning in shock and pain.

"I think we've covered as much ground as we are going to today. I'd usually say it's been pleasant talking with you... but it really hasn't. You've been most uncooperative, Ysak. I am very annoyed with you. I'm sure Dearka will be too... once he regains consciousness. Not very friendly of you, to let him catch the heat from your willful stupidity. All you had to do was answer a few questions... but you consistently refused. And sadly, I believe this is the last time you and I will be seeing each other... by the time our next session is scheduled, Captain Asmodeus will be here. He wants to talk to you, personally. I doubt we'll be meeting again... most people Asmodeus requests by name go the way of the Dodo bird."

"Bastard. When I get out of here... you are going to regret it. And so will your family." Ysak snarled. He looked over at Dearka, sittingly limply in the chair next to him and his anger re-intensified. His best friend's face was so damaged that both eyes were forced shut, the nose was smushed to the side and the cheeks were swollen to twice their normal size. Fist shaped and sized bruises were mixed in with large patches of dried blood to make a checkerboard across his face, down his neck, onto his chest and back around his torso and up to his scalp. The guard's hadn't actually ended up breaking any bones... they may have cracked a rib or two and they'd certainly knocked out a few teeth... so the wounds looked worse than they really were.

But that didn't make things any better. Ysak had been forced to watch his best friend get the crap kicked out of him by a team of sadistic guards for hours... just because the damned guy behind the table wouldn't accept any answer but what he wanted to hear. Even when Ysak broke down and told them about Antartica and everything else he could think of, they still thought he was lying. He'd eventually just stopped talking because he was so mad he was just making things worse by shouting insults at the interrogater. Charles's eyes went as cold as Ysak had yet seen an the unprepossing man got up from his chair and walked over to Ysak with slow, deliberate steps.

"Don't you dare threaten my family, Coordinator. Hate me if you want... but you had better not even dream of hurting my wife and kids. I will kill you and everyone you care about so fast..." Charles trailed off, suddenly reaching forward and grabbing Ysak's head by the hair. Shocked at the sudden physical touch after hours of being left alone, Ysak froze. Long enough for Charles to line up and execute a very professional straight right jab to his nose, which broke loudly and sent blood spraying everywhere.

"Thaught you waren't supposad to tauch me?" Ysak said bitterly, turning his face to absorb most of the force of the blow.

"I didn't touch you... you tripped when you were being escorted out of the room. I'm not responsible for your own clumsiness. Everyone here saw it, right?" Charles asked. The guards all nodded, turning their faces away. "I'll remember you threatened my family when next I see Dearka. The kid gloves are going to come off, I promise. I'll be sure to tell him why his agony has been so greatly intensified. I'm sure he'll appreciate your little verbal jab at his expense." Charles turned away and gathered up his briefcase. "I'm done with them... we'll pick up again at the same time tomorrow. Return them to their cells... and tell medical to send someone to check on Dearka... I need him to be physically capable of withstanding phase IV interrogation techniques." Charles turned to Ysak and smiled grimly.

"Today was phase I techniques... in case you were curious." Charles stalked out of the room and left the prison block area. As he was walking out he noticed the maintainence man working on the door control panel... which was stove in and smashed rather well. Charles privately wondered when that had happened... it had been pristine when he'd walked in. Another man, dressed in a business suit like him and carrying a similar briefcase, gave a small wave as they passed in the hall. "Tim." Charles acknowledged the fellow interrogator.

"Charles." Timothy Vagne, senior interrogator of the JIHAD facility, replied evenly. "You look like you've been through a memorable session."

"It was the rules, Tim... I couldn't hurt the talking perp and it's just not the same to see someone else get punched... doesn't get to them nearly as much as it could. And they were both Coordinator elites... they'd had training in resisting a lot of the techniques. Asmodeus is seeing Ysak... the talker. I've got another session with Dearka... the punching bag... tomorrow. I'm taking him to phase IV for the first round... maybe I'll break his shell with that."

"Not usual for you to be so heavy handed, Charles." Tim said, stopping and looking back at his co-worker. "I thought you preferred the chisel to the sledgehammer."

"He threatened my family. I don't envy you your session... files indicated I had the two easier guys. Have fun... see you tomorrow." Charles said, walking around the corner and heading for the elevator up and out of the base.

"Interesting. Well, Mr. Zala and Mr. Hibiki... this should be most exciting, methinks." Tim cracked his knuckles and rounded his own corner and walked into the cell block. There were twice as many guards as usual waiting for him. "Bring them... and don't mark them yet... I must have unflawed clay to work on." Tim ordered.

-----------------------------------------------

Athrun was dozing in his cell... he was exhausted to tell the truth. At first he'd worried when he woke up... but after investigating the cell and finding it quite beyond his current means to escape from, he'd resolved himself to trying to think of a plan... something coherent that would get all of them out of this terrible situation. It had been a chore initially to block out the sights and smells of his cell... it looked and smelled like someone had been beaten repeatedly to within an inch of their life in here... though there was no-one but him there now. It didn't help that the place was completely bare of all furnishings... not a cot or even a tin can for a toilet. That was going to become a problem in a few hours... but he pushed that aside for the moment. It was part of the psychological war he was currently in.

The enemy was denying them even basic amnenties in an effort to break their will. No doubt there would be questioning too... likely under less than lawful circumstances, if he knew anything about Blue Cosmos. He'd been trained as an elite in what to do and expect if captured by the enemy... but somehow he didn't remember seeing Blue Cosmos sign the various articles and treaties that governed the treatment of POWs and civilians during wartime. Anything could happen... up to and including torture and summary execution... though if they were going to be killed they probably would have done it already. That they hadn't meant that Blue Cosmos thought they could be used for something... despite what Cervantes had said about honoring Sai's wishes... that was a load of bullshit... the man would have killed them with his bare hands if he hadn't thought of something worse to do to them.

Thinking of Cervantes and Sai caused him to grimace in distaste. Sai in particular. He hadn't known the guy well... but he'd been directly responsible for Cagalli being declared a fugitive and the peace talks breaking down... thus a part of the reason why the war started at all. Indirectly responsible if what Cervantes said about his daughter luring the information out of him after sex... but Athrun didn't fully buy that. He and Cagalli had sex quite often... he still didn't tell her about the secret things he knew of Ysak and Dearka and even Kira for that matter. God know's she'd asked... sure it was innocent curiosity about her only sibling... but there were some things you should only get direct from the horses mouth... not secondhand. The intent to tell had to be there before anything was told, in Athrun's opinion. Athrun wasn't mad at Sai for the blow to his own reputation... which was abysmal as things were. He didn't care what the world thought about him. All he cared about was the terrible damage done to Cagalli... and indirectly the world...by the intolerance and betrayal of one young man, a friend of his own best friend... a friend of the brother of the person he'd brought down. If and when he got out of here... after he'd remonstrated with Kira a bit about his too trusting nature and incautious impulses... if he ever met Sai again... well... he wouldn't kill him. But he'd make damn sure Sai realized just what a mistake he'd made, dragging Cagalli's entire life through a latrine like that.

Thinking of Cagalli, likewise imprisoned by Blue Cosmos, likely held not too far from his current location, also made him angry. Angrier than he'd been since the death of Nicol. He didn't so much care what Blue Cosmos did to him... but the thought of them hurting Cagalli tore like a knife through his heart. The thought of Lacus and the other girls being similarly abused hurt as well... they'd done nothing besides fall in love and yet here they were, suffering for the alleged genetic sins of Athrun and Kira and Dearka and Ysak. It was so stupid that he almost cried out in frustration. Little wonder the Coordinators fought back, when the enemy was hatred and ignorance like this. You couldn't reason with these people... you could only fight them. And just defeating them didn't work either... they'd always be back, in bigger numbers, with worse atrocities at hand. Of course, killing them all wouldn't solve anything either... it'd just make them popular heroes and martyrs... spawning the cycle all over again. He tried to stop thinking about it... the endless cycle was making his head hurt. It was while he was doing this that he'd dozed off... getting what sleep he could while he could.

Sleep ended when the reinforced steel door sprung open with a shriek of metal on metal and four large and heavily armed naturals charged into the room. They grabbed him by the upper arms and hustled him out of the cell. They didn't quite rough him up in the process... but they weren't gentle either and he got the impression that if he'd resisted even slightly they would have been more than glad to make him regret it. He did not resist in the slightest... he thought he could probably take the four who grabbed him... they weren't the most alert people he'd seen. But they had lots of friends out in the hall... at least eight more guards were standing around looking twitchy mean with fingers on triggers or metal batons hefted in hand. Them he could not take. The guards did not waste time... without even saying a word he was dragged or carried... depending on your definition of the word... down the hall and into a small room equipped with camera's hanging from the ceiling and an automated gun projecting from the wall.

The sentry gun tracked him closely... barrel looking big enough to fit his thumb into. Something else to remember... this place was probably well equipped with similar sentry guns... it wouldn't do to go blindly running around corners in here. Athrun was hustled through another door into what looked like a dungeon, with a metal table and four metal chairs all bolted to the ground roughly in the middle. A plush armchair faced the bolted down chairs across the table. A small wooden table well stocked with water bottles stood at the side of the armchair. Athrun was pushed into one of the two chairs in the center of the room and was handcuffed arm and leg to the chair. The guards left, except for two who stood to either side of the door, watching him coldly. Athrun looked around the interrogation room.

The chair to his right was smeared with recently dried blood... whoever had shed it had done so not more than a few minutes ago, if that... some of the clots still looked to be flowing slightly. Athrun grimaced... it appeared that interrogations had already been underway... he wondered who'd been unlucky enough to go first. He studied the gore besmirtched chair... somewhat to his relief there wasn't an overwhleming amount... whoever had been in the chair had been hurt and not lightly... but it didn't look like they'd bled enough to indicate serious or life threatening wounds. He supposed that was a good thing, in a way. Blue Cosmos not only wanted to keep them alive, it wanted them relatively unhurt as well... though that did bode ill for the reasons behind the generosity, such as it was. Anything Blue Cosmos needed Coordinators to be reasonably healthy for was not likely to be anything wholesome... the organization much preferred to just gun their enemies down indiscriminately. This patience and planning was unlike them... another indication of just how serious the situation was. Athrun did not doubt for a moment that this facility... wherever it was... was one of the nerve centers of the entirety of Blue Cosmos... if not the beating heart itself.

Athrun was not left to contemplate long... within minutes the guards were back in force, dragging Kira. Kira looked slightly worse for the wear... he too had also not struggled but the guards seemed to regard him with a special sort of loathing. A Coordinator was bad, taboo and evil. A Coordinator like Athrun Zala as all those things squared. But the Ultimate Coordinator... a child birthed entirely without biological input... that apparently was the greatest monstrosity imaginable. The guards indicated their displeasure at handling Kira by shoving him as roughly as possible, causing him to bang himself up more than a little as they secured him ruthlessly to the chair next to Athrun's. Athrun's restraints were tight enough to be uncomfortable... Kira's were locked so tight that they cut the flesh of his wrists and ankles.

"Not exactly how I wanted the day to turn out." Kira commented with a meagre smile as the guards, finally happy with his restraints, left the room again. The door watchers glared at him fiercely but did not stop them from talking. "I'm sorry Athrun... I was stupid to expect that my words could have gotten through to Sai. It was plain that he'd changed considerably since I last saw him... I just didn't want to believe it. He was my best friend, after you. I just can't believe he's a member of Blue Cosmos."

"Kira..." Athrun said sharply. Kira looked up from where he'd cast his eyes down in apology. "That isn't the issue right now. We can all agree on how stupid you were later. Preferably after we get out of here." Athrun ignored the amused snorts of the guards, who plainly didn't give much for their chance of escape. "I'm willing to forgive you... it wasn't all your fault... Sai did take advantage of your somewhat too trusting nature. Just... don't make a habit of being so trusting... okay? Once I can forgive and forget. If you put Cagalli into another situation like this through blind faith in your expectations of others... we'll have more than words."

"I understand. I can imagine that most everyone is pretty angry with me." Kira nodded. "No doubt there will be very harsh language directed at me once we escape."

"If that's all that's directed at you, you should count yourself very fortunate." Athrun muttered. "I'm one of your best friends, Kira. And if I wasn't chained to this chair right now... I'd smack you. Hard... repeatedly. Think on that. Then think of Alkire and Vladimir and Raine. And Kisaka."

"Yeah, I get the picture. There's no need for threats." Kira retorted. "I'm not an idiot... I can figure out for myself that a lot of people are going to want to take a swing... or a shot... at me. I'll deal with it." Kira cranked his neck around to look Athrun in the eye. "If you need someome to blame you can blame me... sure. But smear some of the blame on yourself too. You're supposed to be more sensible than me, by all accounts. Why didn't you stop me?"

"Stop you? I would have had to punch your lights out to stop you." Athrun hissed.

"Then do that next time!" Kira snapped back.

"I will, thank you." Athrun paused. "You just remember you said that... I don't need Cagalli and Lacus on my case just cause you need a few ounces of common sense drilled fistfirst into your head."

"Oh, like you've never needed that? What was with that little stunt in the Justice I heard about? I asked you to protect Cagalli... I didn't ask you to blow yourself up and leave her to fend for herself in the process. Or that trip to the PLANTS... even you said it was a stupid idea to go see your father. If Lacus and Mr. Waltfeld hadn't rescued you you'd probably still be in jail. I oughta smacked you then, but you know me... always the nice guy." Kira shot back.

"Fine, that's how you want it, eh, Mr. Nice Guy? You got some nerve, bringing up stuff like that. Sure, I may have made some rash decisions... but they're nothing compared to the crap you do regularly. Don't talk to me about stupid ideas... you're the prince of stupid ideas."

"That's it... you are my friend, Athrun. My best friend. I can put up with a lot. But stop calling me stupid! I made my decisions because I thought they were the best thing to do at that time. If you've got a problem with that, we need to address it."

Athrun sighed heavily. "Let's just drop it... this isn't the time or the place." he said with a head shake. Stupid idiot. It wasn't until he heard Kira draw a sharp intake of breath that Athrun realized he'd whispered that as well as thought it... and of course Kira's hearing was as good as it ever was.

"Oh... I'm done. That is it! Once we get out of here... good and gone, safe all of us... I'm going to kick your ass, Athrun. I've had it with everyone criticising me for the things I've done! You aren't me... you don't know how hard making the decisions is. You may make hard decisions of your own that I don't understand... but I don't shove them in your face all the time!"

"Whatever. I'd personally really like to see you try to kick my ass. Frankly, I don't think you can. Ysak... maybe. You... no. Not going to happen."

"We'll see about that."

"We will, won't we?"

They were cut off mid argument by the sound of a man chuckling in honest amusement. They both looked around to the door, where a middle aged man with a thick mane of slightly curly black hair stood casually in the door. The man wore a business suit of fine make and carried a metal briefcase easily in one hand. "Teenagers and their tough talk. It never fails to amuse me... you always have to talk so much shit before you really get down and dirty and into the fight. An interesting psychological phenomenon but not currently relavent... you two have far more to worry about than a fist fight that will probably never take place."

"And who the hell are you?" Kira asked, still very pissed off. It felt good to let his anger flow for once... usually he kept it under tight rein. It wasn't something he wanted to do often but right now he really had had it as far as he was willing to take it. Maybe fighting wasn't the way to solve most problems... but some things just couldn't be resolved without fighting for them. He dimly recalled Alkire giving him advice similar to that a long time ago back in Switzerland... something about provoking a fight and feeling better about things afterwards, win or lose.

"My name is Timothy Vagne. Around here I am better known as Terrible Tim. For reasons which should become rapidly evident to you. I am the interrogator in charge of extracting every last scrap of potentially vital information from you... before you are turned over to Doc for his experiments. You two are very valuable intelligence assets... there is much that Mr. Hibiki can tell us about the workings of Orb and the Archangel and an even greater volume of things Mr. Zala has inside his head regarding the ZAFT forces. I expect to be seeing a lot of you two... both together and individually... over the next few days or weeks. I certainly hope for the former... if you force me to take weeks to extract what I want to know... well, I'm Terrible Tim. I'll do terrible things to you." the man replied casually.

"Unlike most of the interrogators here, I prefer a more personal touch. The others utilize the innate talents of the guards... such as they are. But I find that people are more willing to talk when their words actually might stay the blows of the man hitting them, rather than be forced to trust that they will appease someone slightly detached from it all. And the same applies to the more esoteric torture techniques as well... all of which I am sadly sure I will be introducing to you two. You strike me as the sort who are loyal unto the end to their friends, their ideas and their morals. Too bad the rest of the world is not like you two, eh?"

"So you're going to try to torture information out of us... surely you know that is pointless. Athrun and I won't tell you anything. You must have studied us a little... you know my birth name after all. I find it hard to believe anything even a casual perusal of our lives could grant you would indicate that I... or Athrun, would be at all cooperative, no matter what you do to us." Kira said icily.

"There is truth in what you say. But it never hurts to try. Well... it never hurts me." Tim replied with a sunny smile. "After all, we won't know what stimulus it takes to crack your defiant shell until it actually cracks and you spill everything I want to know, will we? And, distasteful as it is to an artist like myself, if you do prove as resilient as you think you are... why I can merely arrange for a special joint session with Lacus and Cagalli... maybe your tongues would loosen when it is them who is hooked up to the electric chair, hmm?"

"You would NOT want to do that." Kira said very firmly.

"Oh... pray tell, why not?"

"Because if you hurt even a single hair upon Lacus's or Cagalli's head... I would forget myself and KILL you where you stood."

"And if he didn't, I would." Athrun added, voice deadly serious.

"You might find it hard to accomplish my death while chained to your chairs like you currently are."

"If you really believe that these chains would stop me if you hurt Lacus..." Kira just trailed off and shook his head in a pitying manner.

"Hmph." Tim shrugged, recovering as much poise as he could... he wasn't used to being so comprehensively threatened by his subjects... he was actually slightly intimidated by the monsters. They certainly made good threats... as someone who made threats for a living he could recognize quality when he heard it. "Why am I not dead now, then? I may not have touched them myself, but it is my understanding that the female prisoners underwent a group session with Nervous Angie several hours ago... those who walk out of Nervous Angie's clutches tend to do so missing bits of themselves... and not in the metaphorical sense."

"Lacus wasn't hurt... she was scared and confused but not hurt. Not even by the pain of others, which always hurts her as well. I don't know who this Nervous Angie is... but she hasn't lived up to her reputation so far as I can see." Kira retorted calmly.

"How can you be so sure?" Tim growled wrathfully... he was of course briefed on Ashino's intervention on behalf of the female prisoners, who were now being treated with more respect... very slightly more, but it was an admission that he was not happy with at all. To give in to the perp was the worst sin he could imagine... a fatal weakness no interrogator could ever afford to fall prey to. But there was no way Kira Hibiki could know of the outcome of the failed interrogation. Utterly no way.

"I would know if Lacus was hurt. I don't know how, but I would. I'm certain of it." Kira replied.

"You sure?" Athrun muttered.

"Completely. I don't know why... but if Lacus or the people around her were hurt I'd know about it. Trust me."

"Of course."

"Thanks."

"Okay... now that you're done male bonding... I suggest we get on with some metal to flesh bonding!" Tim snarled, angry at being ignored. He opened his briefcase and removed a heavy pair of gloves, which he donned, and then took out a heavy soldering iron... usually a tool he reserved for the endgame but right now... terrible things were going through his mind. Terrible things. He activated the tool and smiled teresly as he smelt the air heating up around the tip. He eye'd Kira's hand meaningfully. "Where are the Archangel and Kusanagi hiding? Where is your main base? You have ten seconds to answer. Ten... nine... two... one... oh, out of time..." Tim strode forward. Kira just stared at him impassively, as did Athrun. Tim grimaced... this wasn't any fun at all. He couldn't get into it if they didn't show fear. He gritted his teeth... Charles had it right... he'd gotten the easy pair... this was not going to be a fun session.

-------------------------------------

Asmodeus groaned as he tried to stretch his back to work the kinks out. He really was getting too old for this sort of crap. It may have been a luxury travel jet... but it had still been an eighteen hour flight and he never slept well on airplanes... especially unarmed ones. But he was as fresh as could be reasonably expected given his tight schedule. He had his business to take care of here at JIHAD, after which he was due for another ten hour flight to rendevous with the Purifier and an AF fleet due to take part in the Australian Maneuver, for which the opening missile salvos would be launched in... approximately... twenty hours time. Five hours after the missiles were launched... or whenever the last missile impacted or was destroyed, whichever came first... the land, sea and air attack would commence. Five hours after that... or as soon as Carpentaria engaged with its full forces, the space fleet would launch it's deathstrike.

If all went according to plan... Asmodeus for once could not see any reason why it should not... in a little more than a day the war would be over and he could get back to his normal life of dealing with security matters... retirement, for a man like him. He tugged his uniform shirt into a more comfortable position and adjusted the pistol holster on his belt so it hung more securely from his hip. His uniform was cut in the same style as a Naval Commander's... but instead of white and grey his uniform was dark grey and black with crimson splotches... the special uniform of the Hellhound unit. He wore the rank insignia of a Colonel... he'd retired a Captain but Cervantes had felt him deserving of a more upper tier title and had him reinstated as a Colonel at the beginning of the war. Asmodeus didn't particularly care... he was a Captain as far as he was concerned and everyone who knew him always referred to him as Captain, so that was all that mattered.

"All right... time to get this done with so I can finally sleep at night." Asmodeus muttered. It was true that sometimes his sleep was troubled with visions of his son, Ray. They'd never been particularly close as father and son... he'd kept tabs on the boy, who had tried to avoid him as much as possible... an independent streak acquired during Asmodeus's extended absences during the boy's childhood no doubt, since there was no other parent around... his wife had died soon after bearing the boy. But Ray had still been his son, damn it... he wasn't always proud of the boy, but they were blood. And blood cried out for blood. Ray always appeared in his nightmares with a hole fleshly blown in his temple, eyes weeping blood as he clawed at Asmodeus's legs, begging to be told why he had to be killed... by a Coordinator of all things.

Asmodeus had never been an ultra Blue Cosmos fanatic... he was a dues paying member and he killed Coordinators for a living at times... but he did not hate them as a people. There were many of them he did hate... Rau Le Creuset... Patrick Zala... most of ZAFT high command... but Coordinators as a whole... they were just people. And he hated this Coordinator... this Ysak Joule... like he hated no other. The boy would pay for killing Ray. Asmodeus swore it. He felt the jet touch down with a gentle bump at the concealed runway that serviced the civilian side of JIHAD... there was also a military airstrip but it mostly serviced mobile suits... it was not big enough for the jet to land on. The civilian entrance was closer to his goal anyway... the military side had all the factories and storage areas.

"Captain Sark, sir... we've landed and there is a vehicle waiting for you. We'll be refueled in two and a half hours... Mr. Cervantes wants you back onboard before then." the pilot said over the intercomm.

"I understand. This won't take that long." Asmodeus pulled on his uniform cap and waited impatiently for the drop down door-stairs to deploy. The moment it touched the ground he was down and walking at a brisk pace towards the camouflage painted humvee parked a few meters away. He had buckled himself into the passenger seat before he recognized the tall and slight blond haired driver. "What are you doing here, Cray?" Asmodeus demanded, putting one hand cautiously on his pistol.

"I live here, sir. You may have noticed that." Cray Thresher replied with a grin at his own sarcasm. His grin died when he saw the very unamused look on Asmodeus's face. What the hell is bugging him? Isn't he here to kill someone in a messy way? He should be smiling. I would be. "Fine... the Doc ordered me to give you a hand... you may think yourself perfectly capable of handling them alone but these people are Coordinators... and you're getting up there in the age department. It'd be pretty embarrassing if the Coordinator managed to off both your son AND you, don't you think? I'm just along for your protection."

"Very well. Now shut up and drive. And don't talk about my son."

"Yes SIR!" Cray cried in mock fear. "Yeesh... so grim." he murmured to himself as he shifted the vehicle into drive and quickly drove up the winding path through the mountains that led to one of the vehicle access ports to JIHAD. The facility was enormous... about half as big as the old JOSH-A site in Alaska... massive for a non-government owned facility. It had factories for producing mobile suits and a year round staff of 5000 civilian technicians and scientists, plus a Blue Cosmos military presence that was quite strong as well. It was here that all of the advanced weapon technology utilized by the cream of Blue Cosmos was designed and built. Cray drove into what looked like a cleft in the side of a mountain... and kept driving down the spiraling ramp for a good two hundred meters, descending about a quarter that distance in the meanwhile.

He finally parked the humvee in a garage filled with civilian cars of all makes and models... many of them luxury vehicles owned by the scientists themselves. Asmodeus was out of the vehicle before Cray had fully finished parking it... across three lines... but who was going to give HIM a parking ticket anyway? Clearly the intelligence director was in a hell of a hurry. Cray could understand... he was going in with the main force of the Australian Maneuver too... he couldn't wait. Though he wasn't going to leave for another ten hours or so... he was just going to fly straight through with the Merciless, along with the Bane and the Fury and a complement of Crusader's from JIHAD. Cray pocketed the keys and strode after Asmodeus... his long legs making catching up depressingly easy.

"I'll need you to collect the Coordinator and bring him to the waste disposal pit. I'll meet you there... I've got to collect some collateral items." Asmodeus instructed without looking as soon as Cray caught up.

"What sort of items?" Cray asked.

"That's not your concern. Your concern is meeting me at the waste pit in fifteen minutes with the Coordinator... fully alive, unharmed and conscious."

"Me or him?"

"Him... I don't give a damn about you."

"Bastard... I should kill you. I can, you know... there's no way you can move fast enough to trigger the self detonate control... I'm right next to you. I can tear your head off before you can blink... hehe, yeah." Cray smiled viciously, imagining the blood spray. It would be glorious. He started to bring his hands up. Then his eyes met Asmodeus's. He stared into the ice blue chips for what felt like forever... feeling his murder intent drain away like blood from a artery. "Or not." Cray ripped his gaze away and shivered... what was with those freaking eyes? Cray was a stone cold murderous bastard... evil to the core. But those eyes scared him... as much as Frost did or more. Frost was just plain fucked up crazy... you knew that going in. Asmodeus was just a guy... a forty something year old guy, a natural. But those eyes... they weren't at all human... he didn't know what they were but he was glad they were looking elsewhere.

"Don't mess this up, Cray." Asmodeus admonished.

"If I don't?" Cray asked, interested.

"You can have point when we attack Carpentaria... you go in before Frost." Asmodeus told him.

"And if I do?"

"Frost goes into you, fists first... and I take your limbs and have them made into candlesticks."

"That's fucked up. I like it. But I don't wanna experience it. I'll get you your Coordinator... Ysak right? The guy with the scar."

"That's him. He's in cell Alpha 4. Now git." Asmodeus strode into the elevator, leaving Cray standing up in the garage, cut off by the closing doors. By the time he'd gotten down into the confinement levels, he only had five minutes left of his time. Cray muttered nastily to himself... but forced himself to move faster. The waste pit was on the same level as the detention facility, so getting there would not likely be a problem. He didn't want to go to the waste pit though... that was where the dumped the useless biological waste parts of the BCPU's that failed to perform to spec. It was like visiting your own open grave... he'd be tossed in there eventually, when he finally died. Whenever that far away date was. But he wanted to go on point in the next attack more than his fear could compensate for... he strode briskly into the cell detention area like he owned the place.

He'd certainly spent enough time in here to own it. He'd always been something of a problem child, even before becoming a fiver. THE fiver, now. The guards stayed well out of his path... his expression was stormy and he was like as not to kill the first person to cross his path... except for Ysak. Cray reached Alpha four and ripped the door open so hard he bent the hinges. Ysak... the tall silver haired Coordinator with the pale scar across his face, leapt off his bed in a small splash of shit effluent from the crap caked all over the floor. He was dressed in a mostly spotless dinner tuxedo... except for the few spots of blood that had fallen from his freshly broken nose, which was clotted with dried blood. Someone had busted it but good... within the last day too. Cray licked his lips.

"What do you want?" Ysak demanded, his anger burning white hot and close to the surface... if this was another interrogation session they'd have to drag him in unconscious... and mising a few of their number as well. It was strange though, there seemed to be only the one abnormally tall and somewhat emaciated looking soldier in an unremarkable uniform. The guy had lank blond hair and flat grey eyes like those of a decaying corpse. His uniform hung off him like rags on a scarecrow. A devilish smile was plastered on his face and as Ysak watched the man licked his lips in a suggestive fashion.

"I want to kill you." Cray replied. "But I can't. Orders, you see. So I'm just going to take you with me somewhere."

"Like hell. You're not taking me anywhere, you skeletal freak. Not without a few broken bones on your part anyway."

"Ooh... that's a laugh. Here... give it your best shot... but hurry... we're on a deadline here." Cray mocked, holding out his right arm. Ysak eyed him warily and then grabbed the arm and twisted it around so it would snap at the elbow joint. Well... he grabbed it anyway. With all his weight and muscles straining, he couldn't move the thin arm more than a few inches back and down. It was impossible that such a thin limb... no thicker than Chanel's, certainly... could withstand his attempts to break it. He even had leverage on his side. The sudden realization hit him like a bucket of ice water.

"You're one of them. Like the girl... she was tall and bony too. You're one of Frost's things."

"A BCPU. Yes. But I'm not like Frost... yet. Yet. I'm the next best though. And you're coming with me, Ysak. You've got a date with death. Yours, if I'm not mistaken. But not at my hands... there's a bereaved father waiting at the other end of the line for you. Now, c'mere... we need to hustle." Cray suddenly oozed into the room... agile despite how ungainly he looked, he seemed to scuttle his way around rather than walk, like a giant human spider. Within a second he had lifted Ysak from the floor like a featherweight and flipped him around into a half nelson wrestling hold. Holding the struggling and cursing Coordinator like a large misbehaving child, Cray quickstepped out of the detention facility and towards the waste pit. He should have enough time... he didn't want to be late.

--------------------------------

The sensation was like sitting on a warm beach, surrounded by gently lapping waves and rustling palm trees, in some tropical paradise somewhere. Chanel imagined herself sitting on the soft white sand, cross legged, just soaking up the heat from the sand. There was no sun... just nonspecific light that filtered down from somewhere above. The water appeared next, aquamarine blue, even lighter than her eyes... a blue that was so pure it could never exist in nature. Slowly her mind filled in the familiar illusion, mapping it out and blocking out the cell she knew was actually around her. She was actually sitting on her cot thing in the tiny cell which stunk like death and pain and resonated with the screams of children... but in her mind none of that existed... no walls, no doors, no smell, no screams... though those were harder to ignore, since they weren't actually physically present. Her breathing slowed and became deeper... even deeper than sleep.

The outside world faded almost entirely from perception as the sun warmed lounge chair grew out of the sand under here, along with an accompanying side table complete with iced fruit drink and a straw sun hat to cover her head. The hat she'd always found odd... not quite sure where in her mind it came from or what it represented. It was definitely out of place here... in this land of dreams clothing was not even a concept, much less a reality. She was just getting settled when she felt the approach... as usual Katie wasn't as practiced as her... she spent too much time in the real world exercising her real muscles, rather than here, exercising the mind muscles. Within moments her twin sister appeared, walking out of the water that had been empty a moment before.

Always the beach... I would have thought you'd have changed it after Hawaii. Katie commented. She didn't speak exactly... her mouth didn't move. Or rather, Chanel could not see it move... Katie's facial features were hazy and indistinct and her voice did not always come from her present location. It had taken getting used to, but now it was just the way she expected them to be. She wasn't awake right now, in the traditional sense... the dream world didn't have to follow the laws of physics.

You've improved your shielding... I can't tell what you're feeling with that haze over your face. As for the beach... well, unlike you I don't fixate on a new thing every few days... this beach is my next best friend after you... I'm not going to just change it on a whim. Chanel replied. She could not feel her own mouth move and did not hear her own words... but she knew what she said. More strangeness that at first had been frightening but now was just matter of fact.

You mean after Ysak and me. Katie corrected, walking around and sitting on the lounge chair beside Chanel. Chanel did not move but she allowed the chair to stretch a little to accomodate both of them... it was her mind, her dream, her place... she could alter it pretty much how she wanted.

Of course. Speaking of... could you feel him a while ago? I could almost swear I felt something from him.

It was another echo from Lacus and Kira. He's latent, you know.

I do know. She isn't... she's an Active, like us. She doesn't know it and probably wouldn't believe us if we told her, but she is.

Belief... a sore subject... Ysak just won't listen to us about this.

I don't blame him... if I didn't live it I probably wouldn't believe it either... this sort of thing is usually consigned to the pages of fiction novels. Chanel said with a pang of mixed embarrassment and anger. Why was it her fault she'd been born with this ability? Why was it so strange that she and her twin sister had had to be taken from their parents and reared like animals in captivity, in a lab somewhere that studied the Newtype mutation? What had she or Katie done to deserve that? Why them?

Why not us? Would you rather it was someone else... another waif like the ones at the center? Katie asked, eavesdropping on the private thought. She was getting good at that... Chanel would have to watch it. At least we have the strength to use it... rather than live in fear of it, not understanding the voices we hear around us... the thoughts not our own that we sometimes stumble across... can even direct at times.

Of course not. I was just thinking that... well, sometimes I wish we didn't have this power, you know?

Sometimes? All the times, sister. It's made a bloody hash of our life... we don't like to admit it but we both know what I'm thinking.

We are our own people, Katie. You have to believe that. We aren't one mind... no matter what those scientists said. They don't know... they just theorize. None of them are Actives... none were even Latents. I'm Chanel. You are Katie. Keep it together. If we freak out... well at the least neither of us will get Ysak... and that would be worse than death. Love for us doesn't just fall out of the blue sky... I wasn't even sure we could until I saw him.

Now we... I... know we can though. We can make it work. It won't be fun or easy, but we can make it work. Thanks, sis, for the backup there. This place is getting to me... so many bad flashbacks.

Want some help with those? I've got mine pretty much locked down.

I can maintain my own mind, thank you. If you're really looking for something to do you can try looking for the others... I know it's hard to sense them through the walls, but you're far better at that than I ever could be.

I've been trying... it's not easy, like you said... but I think everyone is within this one cell block... we're all right next to each other... as much good as that does us with the walls and doors and guards everywhere. I've tried beepcalling them... but you know as well as I how hard it is to beepcall even a Latent... much less a Stump. They've just been dismissing me as this place getting to them as well.

Have you tried to beepcall Lacus? As a fellow Active, she'd probably receive you no problem. Sure... it might be a little strange but...

A little strange? Just sitting in your cell, worried stiff when suddenly a familiar voice pops out of nowhere into the back of your head after a sudden loud "BEEP!" and says "Hi... this is Chanel... I'm an Active Newtype, like you. I'm communicating with you telepathically. It's called beepcalling, like the cell phone stuff. You can do it too, you just don't know how. Bye... call back in a minute." ... she'll probably think she went crazy. The only thing worse than beepcalling an unknowing Active would be inviting her straight into the trance... forcing her in this case. I know you know what can result from something like that. I wouldn't wish that on any friend of mine... I'd hold off on some mortal enemies for that matter. I'm not beepcalling either her or Kira until we can explain to them in the real world first. And I'd strongly suggest you don't do so either.

Yeah, yeah... I hear you... hold on... what the...? Katie's trance image suddenly blinked out, pulled instantly from the dream world. Chanel blinked and dispelled the trance herself... when an Active disappeared from the trance so suddenly it was usually because they'd just been woken by some outside stimulus... and any outside stimulus in this place was not a good thing. Chanel did not have long to wonder about what was going on... she could already feel Katie moving closer to her. If she closed her eyes should could almost see the pulsing blue spark representing her sister's mind moving closer to her from around the corner. The blue spark was surrounded by three flickering yellow sparks... Stumps. Normal people, who for the most part had no idea the mentally talented even existed... and could be contacted by Actives only with the greatest difficulty.

Ninety nine point nine nine nine for several iterations percent of humanity... Naturals and Coordinators both, were Stumps. Most of what was left were Latent Newtypes... in Chanel's mind they would be red sparks... there was only one she could detect within her radius and that was Kira, currently asleep in his cell on the opposite wing, recovering from some moderately burned hands... wounds from his own interrogation. He was having a nightmare about something... Chanel took care not to look... Latents were much more receptive to mental efforts... for a practiced Active like her, Kira's subconscious mind was like an open book that she could read whenever she wanted. Of course she didn't... she respected him too much to do so... but she could if need be. The tiniest fraction of people remaining were Active Newtypes, like her and Katie and Lacus. Most Active Newtypes were unaware of their talents, like Lacus was... they either manifested not at all or subconsciously. The Stumps and Katie stopped in front of her door.

Chanel spared one last check around... she exerted herself and checked in on Cagalli and Miriallia... both were sleeping fitfully... it was hard to get a good read on them... it was like looking into a shaded room through thick gauze... but they were as all right as they could be, given the circumstances. She did not have to exert herself to check Lacus... on the contrary she had to shield herself a bit so she didn't disturb her. Chanel had only a limited sense of newtype power... she knew she was about as strong a Newtype as there was, and so was Katie... but she sensed a great depth to Lacus that wasn't immediately obvious to the physical senses. Maybe that meant she was an exceptionally strong Newtype... maybe it just meant she had a lot more to her personality than the nice girl everyone saw on the surface. Chanel wouldn't be able to tell for sure until she tranced with her... a faraway event if anything. She was just about to check Ysak when the door opened and a man walked in. She started and her eyes flew open... she'd heard his steps on the floor but hadn't sensed his mind at all. That had never happened to her before. The man was familiar... she'd seen him at least once before. She leafed through her memory for the image, finding it within nanoseconds. "Captain Asmodeus Sark. What do you want?"

Asmodeus had a very grim look on his face. "You are coming with me, Chanel Belaruse. We have business to conduct. You can come quietly or my men can carry you... your choice."

How could she not sense him? It was like his mind was a fire banked so well not even the heat shimmer was visible... she knew disciplined people could shield their minds... Katie had just done it to her during the trance... but there was no way Asmodeus could be a Active... if he was he'd already be trying to get into her head by now, she was sure... she wasn't hidden at all, he would have been sure to have sensed her. Could it be that a Stump with a sufficiently disciplined mind could become practically invisible to mental detection? She'd never heard of such a thing... but that was little surprise... she was making most of it up as she went along... there wasn't exactly a manual on being a Newtype. "I'll go quietly."

"Excellent. I don't particularly like manhandling young girls. Hold out your wrists, I'm going to cuff you." Asmodeus instructed. She did as she was told... he cuffed her wrists together and then chained the cuffs to a canvas belt he looped around her waist with a very short chain, in effect binding her hands to her waist. She was grateful for the belt in a way... her makeshift dress-skirt didn't stay on very well and the belt went a long way towards preserving her privacy. Not that it mattered much to her if she went nude... but the guards around here seemed to have trouble keeping their hands to themselves and that she definitely did mind. She stepped out into the hall and sidled up close to Katie, who was bound in a similar fashion.

BEEP. This is strange... I can't feel Asmodeus at all. Katie flicked her head slightly in irritation at the close range beepcall from her sister. She didn't know why the messages always arrived like that... it was like someone flicked her on the forehead with their forefinger just prior to every message... not hard enough to hurt, but definitely hard enough to get her attention.

Tell me about it. And can you keep it down... it's like you're yelling? Chanel blinked in apology at the grouchy reply from Katie. She felt the announcement flick-beep as well... it was just part of the system... everyone she'd ever successfully beepcalled had felt it... maybe it was a mechanism of the brain being stimulated that usually remained unused... she didn't know and didn't really care. "Where are we going to conduct this business? And what business can you have with Katie and I? What could we tell you..."

"...That Uncle Alkire, Raine and TEMPEST could not?" Katie finished, butting in to the thought. "I mean, they're the commandos... we're..."

"...Just two teenaged girls with a few hobbies that have to do with special forces stuff." Chanel stole the conversation line back.

"Do you always talk in sequence like that?" Asmodeus asked.

"Only when..." Chanel began.

"...We're together." Katie finished.

"Then I'll have to ask you to stop speaking... you're making my head hurt worse than usual."

"I'm sorry." they chorused in perfect unison. Asmodeus glared at them from over his shoulder as they walked, his ice blue chip like eyes meeting their cerulean blue orbs. They did not back down... he could respect that... few could stare him down or even resist being stared down by him.

"Don't do that either." he warned them. Both girls opened their mouths to apologize again... he forestalled them with an upraised finger. "Ah... we're here. You men can leave... I won't be long." Asmodeus ordered, drawing his pistol. He gestured through the doorway that lead into the cavern over the waste pit. "Ladies first." Chanel and Katie walked through the doorway and down the short rocky tunnel. The room was quite dim. "Keep walking straight and do not stop or turn until I say so." Asmodeus ordered. "If you do not do exactly as I say I'll blow either one of your heads off." Chanel and Katie looked at each other and shrugged in snychronity. They walked together, side by side, into the middle of the room. It wasn't long past the tunnel when their feet rang on mesh decking rather than stone. The very faint smell of decaying rubbish wafted from somewhere.

"Where are we... I can't see more than a few feet in any direction." Katie asked.

"I don't..." Chanel started to say when Asmodeus hit the room lights... not more than crude spotlights bolted to rocky outcrops on the walls, but more than enough to illuminate the room. What there was of it. The girls were standing on a mesh walkway that was suspended by ceiling cables over a great dark chasm that took up three fourths of the floor of the room. The walkway formed a "Y" shape, with the base towards the room exit and the two forks ending at opposite corners of the far wall. The chasm went down farther than the spotlights could illuminate... more than four hundred meters all told, straight to the bottom of the roots of the mountains. It was here that all hazardous waste and biological byproducts of JIHAD... including most of the bodies of guards, technicians and especially BCPU's...were disposed of in complete security. It was here that Asmodeus would exact his revenge. He moved out onto the catwalk and pushed Chanel to one end of the Y fork, chaining her chains to the decking, forcing her to kneel with her back to the wall. He did a similar thing for Katie on the other fork. Preperations were complete. Now he just needed Cray to show up with the star and he could get on with things.