A Man's World
Chapter 7: Mission One– the Mole
by terre nymphe
as aforementioned in the summary, this piece borrows both characters and storylines from Gundam Wing, Sailor Moon, and Dark Angel. I do not own, nor have any claim to, any of these shows and/or comics. I apologize for any perceived plagiarism and assure readers that it is not intentional.
Usagi walked around the compound for a while– eavesdropping on conversations and 'making friends' with the rest of the largely predominantly male crew. During that time, she'd managed to narrow the list of suspects to three. There was the circus strongman, Arnold Costa, who was definitely a Society trainer. The next suspect was the mousy and quiet popcorn vendor, Edward Benedict, one of the lab techs on Master O's "perfect" staff. And then there was the ever-elusive star, Trowa. She didn't know who he was or what he did for the Society, but his presence, or lack thereof, was too suspicious not to investigate. She looked down at her watch and excused herself from a conversation she was having with Arnold, but not before coming away with a dinner invitation. She only had an hour before the show and there was still one area left to visit– Charles Bloom's office.
As she neared the trailer, Usagi's senses went on alert, her instincts screamed for her to stop. She melted into the shadows, looking about for signs of danger. Her gaze finally landed on a cage near Bloom's office. Inside, pacing restlessly, were four beautiful lionesses. Her curiosity aroused, Usagi crept to the cage. She stood at the door, watching them. The largest lioness also stopped and stared at the creature outside her cage. Their eyes locked and, for five minutes, neither female moved. To an outside observer, 'Sera' must have appeared frozen in fear. In actuality, she was really fighting for her position as a supreme alpha female.
Finally, the lioness lowered her neck in submission. A roar emanated from the next cage– there was the pride's leader Usagi's head jerked up and she began to emit an almost imperceptible growl. He too lowered his neck in deference. Usagi's growl turned into a purr, that is, until she heard thundering footsteps headed her way. The lioness began pacing again and Usagi reached in the cage to pat her head. She wasn't going to let anything happen to them.
Usagi's super extraordinary senses, calming down from her challenge, returned to their merely extraordinary status. The footsteps and the breathing of the intruder quieted down to a tolerable volume. She turned her head slightly and saw Catherine approaching with an armful of green fabric– no threat to her pride.
"Wow, Sera! I thought you said you'd never tamed a lion. This is so great! Oh god, Trowa will be so jealous!" Catherine babbled excitedly.
Usagi's hackles rose again, "Why would he be jealous?"
"Well, the lions won't behave for anyone else besides him– he always seemed so proud of that."
Now, Usagi was jealous. She stared at the lions as if for an explanation, but all she found were ten pairs of eyes watching her with total devotion. While she thought about that, something Catherine said stuck out in her mind.
"You said he will be jealous. Does that mean he's back?"
"He just called to say that he'd be here tomorrow. Now, come on; you've got a show to do."
Usagi followed the girl to the big top and allowed herself to be pushed into the dressing area. Catherine dumped the mountain of green into 'Sera's' hands and turned her back so the girl could dress. Usagi stared at the garment in her hands– it was hideous. Once a full-body unitard, it was now a bodysuit with a three-tiered skirt. The back was tied with yellow corset lacing and a huge yellow bow, and to complete the creation, Catherine had added horrendous balloon sleeves. There was no way in hell that Usagi would ever wear it. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to find a new costume before the show– an idea struck her. With a bit of dismantling, she deemed the costume wearable and put it on. The sounds of ripping fabric were not pleasing to the designer though. Catherine turned to Sera, mouth agape.
"What happened?"
"I'm just so clumsy and some of the seams ripped and . . . Can you ever forgive me?"
Catherine looked at her masterpiece and felt like crying. The sleeves had been ripped off, and the thin green straps were all that held it on. The beautiful bow was gone and the amazing yellow ruffled skirt had been downsized. It only covered enough of Sera to keep her decent. Crushed, Catherine lowered her head. She had seen the tears in Sera's eyes; she knew the younger girl was truly sorry. There was nothing she could do about the costume now; the show was set to start within minutes.
"It's okay. I know you didn't mean to," she told Sera with a tiny smile, "I'll just have to fix it tonight."
Usagi groaned inwardly. If she finished the mission soon enough, she wouldn't have to wear the costume again, an added incentive. As a precaution though, she was going to hide it from the overzealous artiste. Suddenly, a fanfare began to sound.
"That's your cue," Catherine squealed.
She gave Sera a quick hug and pushed her into the arena. 'Sera' once again adopted her wide smile and peppy personality. The spotlight that had been trained on Bloom as her announced his new star, now followed her to the top of the trapeze platform. Usagi smirked to herself as she heard the whistles and catcalls from the men in the audience. Flipping her hair and blowing a few kisses in their direction, 'Sera' began her first swing.
Seven minutes later, she was back on the ground– applause still ringing in her ears. 'Sera' was glowing with pride and perspiration. Usagi, on the other hand, was bored. She could have done so much more, but the circus was partially staffed with Society employees and at least one "perfect." It would not serve her purpose to be found out– yet.
As the evening wore on, the crowds thinned and circus packed it in for the night. Usagi had disappeared right after the trapeze routine and reappeared only moments before her tightrope act. She was busy doing recon. She located Benedict, the shy lab tech, and managed to manipulate an offer for a drink later that night. Having both dates in one night would definitely cut down on the time she would have to spend at the circus. She'd already informed Director A that she was closing in on the mole; she wanted him to be proud of her, and she wanted to prove that he was right– women could be soldiers.
Usagi returned to her trailer, changed her clothes, and headed out to meet the strongman/trainer, Arnold Costa. He took her to the only restaurant within miles, which was really more of a bar than anything else. A few drinks later, Arnold was plastered and Usagi only wished that she could be too because he was truly insufferable. At first he droned on and on about his physical fitness regimen and offered to give her some tips– like she really needed them. Then, he moved on to . . . well, she wasn't sure what he was saying because she was no longer listening. That is, until he made his first slip. He had been regaling her with tales of winning . . . something when he started to talk about being recruited. Usagi was paying attention now. She encouraged him to talk and got him another drink. He talked about his recruitment, his big paycheck, and the satisfaction he got from ordering around kids. As infuriatingly dense as he was, Usagi decided that Arnold was not the mole she was looking for. He was too stupid to come up with such a complex plan for selling information and he was too pleased with his life to risk screwing it up. Dinner was over soon and Usagi drove them back to the circus. Arnold wanted her to "go back to my place," but she just left him sitting in the truck.
Taking a few minutes to change and freshen the horrible make-up she was wearing, Usagi headed toward Edward Benedict's trailer. He was now one of her two remaining suspects. She raised her hand to knock on the door, but paused when she heard angry shouting. Blending into the shadows so that she could eavesdrop uninterrupted, Usagi honed in on Benedict's voice. He was yelling at someone, on the other end of his phone, about money. He told the voice that if he didn't get his money within the week, he would "peddle his wares elsewhere." Usagi smirked. She'd found the identity of the mole in less than two days; it had taken the other "perfect" a year to narrow the suspects down to five.
After making a quick stop to the lion cages, Usagi returned to her trailer. Now that there was no need to have drinks with Benedict, she could plan his assassination. She finalized her plans, packed her things, and contacted Director A to give him the good news. His voice was practically bursting with pride as he congratulated her on her shrewd thinking and quick, decisive action. He informed her that G0-0372 was on his way back to the circus and that he knew that another "perfect" was already infiltrated in the circus.
"Make sure you stay 'Sera' and are not revealed to be G0-0630."
"Sir, yes Sir!"
She turned her communicator off and lay on her bed. She reviewed her new mission specs for hours until the sun rose. She'd decided that the unassuming popcorn vendor/traitor would be killed in an accident as ridiculous as his mistake to betray the Society. His popcorn machine was going to 'short circuit' and blow him into tiny pieces. She knew that the other Society members would see through the accident façade, and that actually worked out well; they would have an example of what happened to traitors.
Usagi headed toward the big top. She wanted a workout and decided that it would be too suspicious if any of the Society trainers saw her warm-up regimen; she'd have to settle for the tightrope. A loud yowl froze her steps. Her head shot up, and she blurred to the lion cages. A man was standing in front of the cages, throwing meat between the bars– or trying to; it mostly fell to the ground. Usagi was pissed.
"What are you doing?"
The man turned to her, startled, "I'm feedin' the beasts; what's it look like?"
"You're just throwing it at the bars. It's a wonder they haven't died of starvation!"
"Look, lady, I don't wanna lose my hand; these beasts would kill me! I got stuck doin' this because that good for nothin' knife-thrower disappeared again. You got a problem with the way I do this, you can do it yourself," he threw the bucket of meat to her with possibly more force than necessary and stalked off.
Usagi watched him go, and then realized that the bastard hadn't left her the key to the cages. It was fortunate, then, that she was an expert lock-pick. She picked up the bucket from the ground and murmured soft reassurances to her pride. She was going to have to leave them soon, no matter how much it pained her. These last few moments were precious.