A thanks to Ghosty who pointed out some errors in the pervious chapters. From this chapter fowards Quatre's name should be spelled correctly. Please forgive me! I would go change the previous chapters but I'm too lazy...
I dont own GW...
Chapter 10: Missing
Meika was in a stealth jeep. Upon reaching the compound, she stopped the jeep in the woods. The Gundams stayed well back to avoid detection. She crept through the underbrush, crouching low, too keep from being seen herself. The intercom on the headset she wore crackled to life.
"Meika, how are the conditions?" Heero asked her. Meika scanned the area.
"Three guards outside the door, they should be no problem as long as they don't sound an alarm." She whispered. She crept forward and threw a large rock at some bushes near the guards. Two went to investigate leaving one behind. Meika lifted up the tranquilizer gun and fired at the guard. It hit her target, and he fell.
Startled, the other two guards turned. One of them lifted a walkie-talkie and Meika took him down. Then she shot the other one and he crumpled as well.
"I'm headed in." Meika hurried thought the security camera to the door.
"The code is…"Heero started, "wait a minute, Duo, do you have the codes?"Evidently receiving a negative, Heero asked the others. Nobody else had the codes. Heero cursed, but his words were drowned out by an offices walkie-talkie.
"Report in Jackson." Came an officer's stern voice. When he received no answer, the officer guessed the situation correctly. Meika heard him tell the other soldiers that terrorists had arrived and they were to immediately report to the compound's entrance. Meika began to back up quickly.
"What's wrong?" Heero asked worriedly when Meika began backpedaling.
"An officer has found out our presence, I think we should leave." Meika answered. Barely were the words out of her mouth when shots rang out over her head. Startled she turned and bolted to the woods.
"It's one of the terrorists! Get her!" She heard someone shout.
"Run back and get the codes. We'll try to hold them off." Heero said. "Be careful Meika."
She agreed. "You too Heero."
Meika jumped into the jeep and fired up the engine. She fled from the scene taking a back trail. The soldiers were too preoccupied by the appearance of the five Gundams to follow her.
Meika drove as fast as she could, paying little attention to her surroundings in her urgency to retrieve the codes. In her hurry, Meika drove across a fallen tree. The jeep which was only used for stealthy movements and not heavy terrain became stuck. Since she could not waste however many hours it might take for the jeep to be freed from this fallen tree, she had to get out and go by foot. She estimated that she was around 40 miles from the base.
Meika made sure that the gun strapped to her right boot was secure and started off towards the base on foot.
She had walked for 15 minutes when she heard crackling in the bushes. Fearing it might be an OZ official that had followed, she drew her gun and crept closer to the bush. She knelt and peeked through the bushes.
Someone was sitting on the riverbank, muttering to themselves about the Gundam pilots doing something. The bushes obscured the person, so Meika couldn't distinguish who it was. She made sure the gun's safety was off and leaped out, hoping to catch this person unaware.
The unknown person gave out a startled yell and whirled to face her drawing out a sword. Meika halted when she came face to face with a panting Katsumi. She straightened up and regarded Katsumi for a few moments.
"What are you doing here?" Meika asked as Katsumi sheathed her sword.
"Coming to give you this." The girl held out the photocopied sheet of paper with the codes on it. Meika blinked absentmindedly, and accepted it.
"Mind if I go along with you?" Katsumi asked. Meika agreed. Katsumi stood up and the two of them started back.
Katsumi jogged alongside the taller girl to keep up with her long strides. She had a feeling that the Gundam pilots were in trouble since Meika had been sent back to get the codes by herself, instead of at least one of the guys going with her.
"So what were the conditions when you left?" Katsumi asked.
"Guards were pilling in, and they knew of our presence." She answered. Katsumi winced. They reached the jeep quickly. Luckily having two people made freeing the jeep a much simpler task. After several tries the jeep was set free, so they were able to drive the jeep back.
"I don't see them anywhere." Meika said sadly an hour later when they arrived back at the compound.
"They aren't hard to miss, where are they?" Katsumi wondered aloud. Suddenly they heard shouts and a scuffle in progress. Curious the two girls snuck closer.
Looking through a bush they could see OZ guards, but what they were doing was what caught their attention. Ayame was surrounded by the guards and was trying to fight all five of them off using a stick and her gun. Meika and Katsumi exchanged glances and drew their guns.
Ayame was having quite a bit of trouble. She'd only taken one guy down and already she was getting tired. The stick and the pistol kept the others at bay, but she knew it wouldn't be for long. Silently she cursed herself. If she had enough sense not to drive the jeep beyond the trees, they never would have found her. Gritting her teeth she kicked at one of them startling the others. He went out like a light. That's when they decided to stop playing around.
Ayame brandished the stick and hit another guy across the face with it. He reeled back, but soon recovered, grabbing the stick from her hand and breaking it in two. He raised his sharpshooter. That's when Meika and Katsumi burst from the trees and tackled the guards. With a three to five ratio, things were looking up.
Meika and Katsumi used their advantage of surprise to take down all the guards. When that was over Katsumi dragged the bodies into the bushes to hide them, while Ayame check to make sure no one had noticed the fight. Meika was still worried about Heero and tried to reach him on her headset to no avail.
"Where are they, there is no sign they were even here except a smoldering building." Meika sighed.
Ayame heard someone coming and ducked. The other two girls followed suit.
"It was rather easy to retain the pilots. Luckily the boss predicted their arrival and we were ready for them." One guard was saying to another, who agreed.
"Well now we know what happened to Heero and the others." Meika said when the guards were out of earshot.
"Question is, how are we going to get in there and rescue them? People are bound to notice three non official looking girls wandering around the halls. The codes are useless now. I'm sure they changed them when they found out we were trying to get in." Ayame said.
"I know. That means the only way in is through the front door, where we are certainty going to be noticed by about thirty guards or so." Meika responded.
"We could always go in as one of them." Katsumi interjected motioning to the unconscious guards she had hidden. Meika smiled and agreed it was a good idea. The three girls stripped the uniforms off three of the female guards and put them on.
"Well this is different." Ayame remarked as she straightened the name tag reading 'Anna Voski'. Meika had become 'Myra Spielin' and Katsumi was 'Jessica Hemmingway.' They tucked their hair into their hats as was protocol for women there. Adjusting the visors so their eyes were covered, the girls stepped out to go rescue the Gundam pilots. No one cast a glance their way.
They got into the compound and past the other guards easily, without raising alarm. They found a back room with no recording devices and relaxed.
"All right, we're in. How do we find out where Heero is being kept?" Meika whispered.
"What you don't care about the others?" Ayame asked slyly. Katsumi chuckled and Meika frowned.
"Shush, it's obvious that you're here for Duo, Ayame." Ayame blushed and said nothing. It was that obvious?
"All right now, let's stop bickering and find a way to rescue them all."Katsumi suggested.
"What about you and Quatre?" Meika and Ayame asked at once.
"What's going on between me and Quatre is none of your business! Let's get working on rescuing them please."Katsumi responded, blushing. Ayame smiled.
"Well, we could always walk up to the door and ask to be let in. If we've gotten this far then it's possible that we can go the rest of the way." Ayame suggested after several plans were rejected, counting the one that included blowing up the compound while they were still inside. This new plan was met with approval. Looking at the clock Ayame found that it was almost seven.
Deciding to wait another three or four hours, the three of them napped. Ayame set her watch to ten-thirty.