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Chapter 5
The Eyes of Evil

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"You've lost, Orange Star." A voice came through the communications link.

"Who is this?!" Sami was angry and a bit nervous. "Who the heck is behind all this?! Darn it!"

"Andy, duh." The voice replied with a hint of sarcasm.

"No, really, who are you?" She lifted her finger off the talk button. "Can somebody get me a visual feed here?!"

"Andy."

"I'm serious. Who are you?" She slowed down her speech pattern.

"Andy. Must we go around and around again and again?" Sami lowered her head. Of course they had to. She needed that video feed of his face, and the computers picked a good time to crash. She recognized the voice. It was Andy's alright. But hadn't she left him down with Max, Eagle, and Sonja. He couldn't have gone AWOL within that short amount of time.

"It's almost fixed, ma'am…There! Got it!" Sami looked up as the soldier gave his shouts of joy. She was horrified.

"Hm. You look beat up, Commander." The 'Andy' was looking straight back at her.

"Eagle wasn't lying… crap." She tried to hide the fear in her eyes. It looked just like Andy, but it wasn't. "Not as beat up as your about to be."

"I wouldn't be threatening me, Commander." 'Andy' made a slight frown.

"That wasn't a threat. It was a promise."

"Fine then, let the battle begin, Commander." 'Andy's' face disappeared from the screen.

"Who was that?" Sami turned and saw Nell, Eagle, and the rest of them, but she was sure Eagle had asked the question.

"It…it was…Andy."

"What?! But…but I'm right here!" Andy was quickly before Sami. "C'mon, you're joking r-right? It's not me, is it?"

"I-I, um, it's not you, but it is you."

"Wha-?!" He was confused.

"It was a clone, wasn't it?" Sonja spoke from the back of the group.

"Probably…"

"So, it was a clone I saw." Eagle crossed his arms in contempt…contempt of himself.

"Yeah," Sami and Sonja answered in unison causing them both to look up and quickly turn away from each other's gaze.

"Ma'am, the enemy troops are nearing the city!" Nell nodded and sent the soldier on his way.

"Sami, I thought you took care of this." Nell's voice was cold.

"I did." Sami turned to look back out of the battlefield. Suddenly, the roar of fighters and bombers came from above. "What?!"

"I guess it's good that Max let me make that phone call." Eagle gave a smirk.

"You sent for Green Earth troops?" Nell turned, surprised.

"Yeah, good thing too." His smirk got wider.

"Commander Eagle, come in, sir." Eagle grabbed the radio without looking down.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Sir, we have your fighter ready down in hangar nine."

"Thank you, I'll be down shortly." He re-hooked the radio to his side and looked back up at Sami. "Let my troops take care of this. Go see if you can find the son of a gun that made that clone!" Eagle turned and walk swiftly out the door.

"You heard him. Everyone get your troops ready to go!" Nell ordered. Sami gave an order to her troops and walked out the door, trying to catch up with Eagle. She finally found him in an empty hall.

"Eagle!" she shouted as she ran to catch up with him. He stopped and turned to look at her.

"Sami, what are you doing here?"

"You're not going alone." She breathed deeply. "I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not. You're going to help out the others. Now, go back to them!" Eagle pushed her gently back.

"No! I'm going with you!" She hit his hand away and moved closer to him. "You can't do it alone." Her voice was severely quieter in tone.

"Maybe not, but they need you here." He lowered his voice's tone as well.

"No, you'll…you'll…" She couldn't bear to finish the sentence.

"Die." He finished it for her. She looked up at him. "Is that what you're afraid of?" He placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I survived a fight with the toughest marine ever, and you think I'm going to die that easily?" Sami gave him a weak smile. She turned and walked back the way she came.

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Sami placed the drink on her tray and walked over to an empty table and sat down. She ate, but slowly and depressingly. She stared at her food as she ate it, not even looking up once. She didn't even notice when Drake sat down across from her.

"What's the matter, lass?" Sami jerked suddenly and looked up at the old sailor in front of her.

"Not-nothing. It's nothing," she replied sharply and quickly.

"Really, lass, you expect me to believe that?" He was right. It was a pitiful attempt at diverting him away from her and her feelings. "Now, what's wrong?" Sami gave no response, she just continued to swirl her food with her fork.

"Let me guess…it's about a certain bird, right?" She inhaled sharply.

"Perhaps…" She turned her gazed away from her food for a moment to all the other soldiers crowding the room. They were all talking and laughing together. Different soldiers from different countries. Orange Star, Yellow Comet, Blue Moon, and, yes, Green Earth.

"A bird named Eagle." Sami looked back at him. She looked him directly in the eye. "There's no reason for you to be worried about him, lass. He's the 'Prince of the Skies' after all." Sami looked down, not at her food, just down.

"I know." She looked back up at Drake. "I know in my mind I shouldn't worry, but I can't stop worrying about him."

"Because of your feelings…"Drake's voice trailed off. Sami let out a light gasp.

"How? How did he know? D-did I make it that obvious?"

"Your feelings for him." She gave up. It was out. There was no use denying it any more.

"Yeah." She looked to see Drake smiling back at her.

"Don't worry. The only ones that know are me and Sonja."

"So, she told you." Sami felt betrayed. Sonja had said she wouldn't tell anyone.

"No, I figured it out. Just like she did." Drake placed his hands on top of hers which were now on the table. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, lass." He got up, but turned back before he left. "By the way, he feels the same way." Drake turned back and walked away.

"I thought so..." She looked back down at her food. "Eagle…you'd better make it back…"

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