Chapter Ten:
System Control
Paranoia is in bloom
The PR transmissions will resume
They'll try to push drugs that keep us all dumbed down
And hope that we will never see the truth around
So come on
Another promise, another scene
Another packaged lie to keep us trapped in greed
And all the green belts wrapped around our minds
And endless red tape to keep the truth confined
So come on
They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious
Interchanging mind control
Come let the revolution take its toll
If you could flick a switch and open your third eye
You'd see that
We should never be afraid to die
- Uprising, Muse
It's not as if Heero had forgotten about Misaki-san and the coffee shop; it was just that, in that moment, there were more urgent matters at hand. The Preventer remained on the phone with Une, carelessly throwing items into his duffel bag, as she secured a shuttle for him and arranged for a car to pick him up at his hotel.
He was beyond annoyed that he had to travel all the way to Preventers HQ just to see whatever it was that Une wanted to show him, but at least the organization had a traveling office. The Preventers had built their ship, the Aventinus, years ago to house many of their agents; it made it much simpler to dispatch them for various missions on earth and in the colonies. Heero's shuttle would meet them at the selected rendezvous point, and then they could get this – whatever "this" was – over with. Whatever secrets Une had kept hidden, Heero was dying to know. He had waited far too long for answers, for any clue into his past. That someone close to him had any insight, and had never brought it up before, irritated him more than he would say. Ever the perfect soldier, he of course masked his exasperation as he received the meet-up coordinates from Une.
It was only a matter of time before he would know the truth. His heart beat faster at the thought of it; he could all but hear it pounding in his ears. He might soon have the key to unlock the door to his past; and whatever frightening secrets were lurking in there, he didn't care. Heero would take the good with the bad and live with whatever there was to find out.
Hours ticked by as Heero took his cab ride to the nearest spaceport, boarded his private shuttle, and, finally, caught up with the Aventinus. His craft was swiftly ushered inside, and that thumping in his ears only grew louder as he finally came onboard.
Une was mostly silent in her greeting, a solemness that frightened Heero, although he wouldn't admit that to anyone.
"Come with me," she said without preamble, leading Heero down a long corridor and into a dark, round room that was largely empty, save for a large metallic chair with a matching helmet dangling above it, suspended by wires. It was highly unusual, but not quite as strange as when the chair swung around to reveal a petite, redheaded girl of about thirteen.
Mariemaia Khushrenada.
"Well, hello, Hee-ro Yu-y," she said in her thin, girlish voice, carefully annunciating each syllable of his name. "Long time no see." She giggled.
Six years had passed since the miniature, would-be dictator had tried unsuccessfully to take over the world; six years was quite a while in the course of a child's development, but Mariemaia had remained remarkably unchanged, except her hair was quite a bit longer than the pageboy style she wore it in as a child. She was still small in stature; perhaps her growth had been stunted by the gunshot wound she endured during the last battle in Brussels on that Christmas Eve years ago.
Heero wouldn't let himself get swept up in the memory of the night that essentially launched his long and complicated relationship with Relena, but instead focused on what Mariemaia was doing there— and why.
He looked to Une for an explanation. "What is this?"
"You may go now, Mariemaia," Une gestured to the girl to stand. She did so, but not without difficulty; Heero remembered that the girl was in a wheelchair for a while after the incident. Mariemaia complied and excused herself, but not without giving the former Gundam pilot a smirk and a tiny wave as she swept out of the room. The heavy metal door slid shut automatically behind her.
Heero looked at Une with his arms folded over his chest. "Are you going to tell me what that was about?"
The woman, in her early thirties, ran a hand through her long brunette tresses and sighed. "I've been looking after Mariemaia for a while now, as you know. She's here on vacation from school."
"And what's with this setup?" He gestured to the strange, spherical room. The Preventers had plenty of rooms for research and data mining filled with the latest technology, but nothing quite so stark and barren— not like this.
"That's where Mariemaia comes in," Une began. Now Heero was intrigued. "This is her father's work; she's been helping me to… carry it out. As you know, she's a very intelligent young girl. Remarkable, really." Une's brown eyes began to glimmer. "Her father was really something. But, anyway." She swept an arm toward the metal chair. "Have a seat."
Heero cocked a skeptical eyebrow. "Why? What is this?" He was a bit wary; the whole thing reminded him of the Zero System, and as effective a tool the deadly communication system was during a battle, it severely lacked in efficiencies, since it rendered its pilot a deranged killing machine. Basically, he didn't want to plug himself in and wind up going crazy. Again.
Une all but read his mind. "Treize was quite fixated on the Zero System. It had its, shall we say, quirks, but had so much potential in the way it could instantly deliver the best fighting tactics to its users."
Here we go, thought Heero. Into the fire once more. He opened his mouth to protest, but Une was still talking.
"What you're about to experience utilizes the same technology as the Zero System," she explained, "with none of the side effects, thank goodness. It merely scans its user's personal data and shows you what you want to see. A virtual magic mirror, if you will."
Heero already knew all about that. The Zero System seemed to know everything about its pilot, including the individual's future— it had even shown him his death, images that had quite a chilling effect on Heero when he saw them. And he recalled how Zero had showed him Relena, over and over again. The thing was a mind-reader, and Heero had yet to understand how it knew. He didn't know if he wanted to understand.
But knowing that it was here for his using, that it could somehow show him the past… Zero beckoned to him once more. His hands shaking, Heero lowered himself into the seat and allowed Une to place the helmet on his head.
She was also securing his arms to the chair. He instantly recoiled.
"What are you doing?" he shouted.
"Just a precaution," Une answered in a soothing voice. "Just in case you see anything… unpleasant. I don't want you to hurt yourself trying to get out of this thing. But rest assured, this version of the system can't hurt you. As you noticed, there are no weapons, controls, triggers or buttons of any kind in this room— nothing you can do to inflict harm or yourself, or anyone else. You're not in a Gundam, Heero; you can relax."
He squirmed uneasily in his seat. "Then why all the hyper-vigilance?"
"Again, just in case the system shows you something disturbing. I've tested it myself many times, and it would have been nice to have someone in the room with me to hold me down when I got upset, let me tell you. But, as you can see, I'm fine. No real damage done." She sighed, and Heero knew that she must have that faraway look in her eyes again.
"Why the anxiety?" he murmured. "What did Zero show you? What did you want to see?" He knew full well that she probably used this thing to "visit" with her dearly departed Treize.
Une cleared her throat uneasily. "I'm sure you can imagine, Heero. This will show you your past. And it's not mere fantasy; much of this data was culled by Treize before he died. He was a well-informed leader, that's for certain; he knew all about the major power players of the Eve Wars, his allies and enemies alike. He knew how everyone of us was interconnected… He held the key. He saved and deeply encrypted all of this data that's taken us years to recover. But I saw, through glimpses of my own past, that he knew much about who you were, too. Where you came from. How you were connected to Relena, long before either of you were even born."
That last statement piqued Heero's interest. "What? But… how?"
"You'll see soon enough, Heero. Are you ready? If so, I'll activate the sequence. Just say when."
What did he have to lose? Half-smirking, half-shaking, Heero quipped in the most sardonic tone he could manage, "When."
He was not prepared for what his old friend Zero was about to show him. Whatever he previously thought he could handle… the system pushed him to the very brink of his breaking point.
His childhood ravaged by fighting and fire. Ripped from his mother's arms, his home torn asunder. Being picked up by his pseudo-father, Odin Lowe. And then… seeing Odin with his mother. What?
But they were gone... They were both gone.
He saw Relena as a young girl, looking out at him over her school's balcony. Trying to befriend him, the little terrorist who came to earth using the codename "Black Alpha." He'd already used several codenames, including "Odin Lowe, Jr.," but his real name was still unknown to him.
Relena had seen him, had reached out to him even then. He was only there for his mission. He would return set out to destroy her, only to spare her, and then spend his life protecting her.
Zero continued to weave together corresponding images of his tragic childhood with Relena's. She, too, was traumatized at an early age, but being raised in privilege by two loving adoptive parents soon erased the wounds of the past. Besides, she had been too little to remember much. Heero was a little older when death came to darken his family's doorstep. But he was far too young to learn to wield a weapon; he learned anyway. Handguns, assault rifles, rockets, grenades… they became the toy cars, trains and action figures of his childhood. He learned to fend for himself, to not even have to rely on his "old man," who died shortly after assassinating the colonies' beloved leader, the "real" Heero Yuy.
Heero saw, too, images of what appeared to be him at an older age, perhaps in his early to mid-thirties, dancing with what looked like a blonder Relena. It confused him to no end, especially when he saw this version of Relena piloting a mobile suit. In a bizarre role reversal, that version of himself became a politician. Was this some strange alternate reality?
Little did he know that Zero was still showing him the past; then, it began to show him the future.
Heero sat there watching scenes unfold before him, terrifying scenes that he could not stop; there was no way to tear his eyes away. They lasted for what felt like years, although Une had plugged him in for mere minutes. He was trembling uncontrollably when she chose to deactivate the sequence, and the system gradually shut down. Heero felt like he had been dancing on the edge of death.
He didn't leap up or lunge or do anything of the things Une seemingly feared he would when she decided to restrain him. As she lifted the helmet off of his head, Heero just sat still, staring into space. She waved a hand in front of his eyes to see if he was indeed with her.
"Heero?" she spoke slowly, cautiously. "Are you all right?"
Hearing his name caused him to come to; then, he sprung out of his seat. Or tried to; his arms were still restrained.
"Relena," was the first word on his lips. "Where's Relena?"
"She's where you left her," Une began. "At the ESUN conference on L1. Remember?"
"I have to go to her. I have to see her." He swung his head violently toward Une. "Now." It was not a request but an order.
"I already sent Trowa," the Preventer leader explained. "He's going to act as Relena's bodyguard since you're taking a leave of absence. Remember?" she pressed again. "There's no need to worry; she's in good hands."
"You don't understand," Heero seethed. "I need to see her. I need to stop this conference from happening."
"It's already been happening, Heero, and Relena's fine. You know that." She tapped the helmet lightly. "What did you see in there? It's not supposed to show you the future; only the past. But you're acting like something is about to go down, any moment…"
"Cut the chitchat," Heero interrupted angrily. Une's voice was piercing his brain right now, and he didn't want to hear it. "Turn this ship around."
She shook her head. "I can't do that, Heero, I've got agents who need to—"
"Then tell Trowa to get Relena and bring her back here. She needs to see this. And she needs to get out of that hotel, now."
"Heero," Une sighed. "Honestly. Trowa will have the situation under control very shortly, and in the interim, Relena is with Quatre, who knows a thing or two about protecting a princess and navigating the current political climate. So what are you so worried about?"
"Don't tell me you don't know," Heero practically spat. "You play around in this thing all the time. Tell me you haven't seen what I just saw."
"I don't know, Heero. It shows different things to different people. The data is customized depending on the user. So I'm afraid I don't know what, exactly, you're talking about. You'll have to be very clear…"
"I'm talking about the reason why this conference can't continue," Heero said through gritted teeth. "Why the Mars terra formation project can't continue. Don't tell me you don't know what that means." He glowered at his superior.
"Oh," Une sighed wearily. "Are you talking about the virus?"
"Then you know."
She waved a hand dismissively. "Heero, that's over twenty, maybe thirty, years away. And we don't know if that's exactly how things are going to pan out—"
"So Zero does show you the future, then?" Heero seethed. "I thought you only saw the past. You lied."
Une shook her head. "You're misunderstanding; it is in the past. I know what you're referring to; the PPP vaccine. Plans for it began a long time ago, long before the Eve Wars."
Heero continued to stare her down. "And you know what it's going to do?"
"Yes, I know about the preliminary plans. But, again, it doesn't mean they're going to be fulfilled, especially any time soon…"
"You know," Heero cut her off, "and yet you do nothing?"
Une shrugged. "There's nothing we can do. Not now. And telling Relena about it isn't going to halt the project as a whole; the terra formation needs to happen. You know that."
Heero knew, all right. He had Relena's pitch to her fellow delegates pretty well memorized. Between the earth and colonies, the human population had swelled to nearly 15 billion over the past century. Both locations were bursting at the seams and quickly running out of energy and resources. Relena was a major proponent for alternate fuels, and the weapons ban she'd pushed had resolved much of the energy crisis as arms development had screeched to a halt. But water and oxygen were increasingly scarce. As people like Zechs and Noin were deeply immersed in preparing the red planet for inhabitants, it stood to reason that a small population could survive there— and soon. Relena didn't discuss it much with Heero since she knew it upset him, but he knew that she planned to be among the first group of settlers. She seemed to think it was her calling. Any notions he had that she was the type of girl to settle down and start a family in a lovely little house in her home country of Sanc were dispelled whenever she got a gleam in her eyes talking about Mars. Always dreaming of life among the stars, that one.
Heero, on the other hand, found himself years into a long-term love affair with the blue planet. And it all started when he met that crazy girl who made him feel things no one else ever had. That no one else ever could.
He spoke sharply to Une once more. "I'm not letting this nonsense continue. In case you haven't gotten it through your thick head, this initiative is dangerous. Preventer cannot allow this vaccine to be issued; the virus it contains is lethal. It's going to kill billions."
"Not billions," Une corrected. "Millions."
"One billion," Heero countered, still staring her down. "One billion people."
"One billion isn't 'billions,' Heero," Une retorted. "You're losing perspective. Think of the actual billions this vaccine will save."
He shook his head. "Unbelievable. You're actually going to support this thing, knowing full well what it's going to do?"
Une held up her hands helplessly. "It's above my pay grade, Heero. I suggest you discuss this with Relena. She's not in the dark about this whole thing, believe it or not."
"No way." Heero shook his head again, vehemently. "I know everything about that girl; there is no way Relena knows anything about this. She would never choose to sacrifice the few for the many, if that's the way you're looking at it; she wouldn't sacrifice anyone.
"And what's more," Heero continued, before Une could get a word in edgewise, "I doubt Relena would ever agree to be a trigger for a deadly super-virus. There's just no way."
Une's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What do you mean, 'trigger'?"
"There. I thought there might be something you didn't know. Now let me out of here. I'm going to tell Relena everything." He looked at Une pointedly.
Une complied and undid his restraints. Heero leapt to his feet and ran toward the door, calling to Une over his shoulder.
"I'm taking the shuttle back to L1. Tell Trowa to stand by in case I need him later. He's going to beat me there, barely. I'm going to pilot this thing like a bat out of hell."
Une looked shell-shocked but offered Heero a wave as he departed. "I… uh, we'll do what we can. Goodbye for now, Heero."
He grunted in response as he turned down the corridor.
"And Heero?" Une called after him, forcing him to turn around briefly. "I'm sorry about what Zero showed you… about the vaccine. I-I didn't know Relena was involved." She hung her head, seemingly ashamed.
Heero took a second's pause to calm down. His anger toward Une quickly relented. After all, it wasn't her fault. And though he felt crazed at the moment, and desperate to get back to Relena, he had a feeling that someday, he would be grateful Une had provided him with a portal to the truth.
He waved goodbye to the Preventer leader and made his hasty exit from the Aventinus, back to his shuttle and back toward the L1 colony, where Relena stood on the threshold of a pivotal decision that would impact generations. He had to see her and tell her what he'd learned, and make sure she understood it. He didn't know if she would believe him or even listen to him, but he had to try.
Whatever was about to happen at that conference would set in motion the next series of events that would dictate their future. It would alter the course of humanity for centuries to come.
And Relena, as always, was at the center of it all.
Heero steered his shuttle expertly back in the direction he had come from just a short while ago, although in his mind, it seemed that years had already passed since he left Relena in L1. He propelled himself forward, feeling as though he was racing against time itself.