Hm…Is anybody reading? It seems so futile, writing with no audience. But It's fun and it's something to do. Hopefully if someone is reading this, you'll leave a review. I cant believe the first time that I wrote this that the first chapter was 12 pages long. Goodness gracious me. What was I thinking? Heh, Ive since divided that chapter up….this is the third installment.

Like Melting Ice

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"Hey, Kita!" Elliot greeted.

"What's up, Ell?" Nikita greeted in return. Her older brother's brown eyes were alight with the excitement of achievement. Nikita could tell from the unkempt state of his hair and the stubble on his chin that he had been working at it for days. Elliot was a gifted engineer. It was his obsession. Sometimes things like brushing his hair---and shaving got overlooked in the heat of passion.

"I just designed a new MS you've got to see it, C'mon!" he said, practically dragging her to the computer. Elliot put the disk into the computer and typed in the password. A figure popped onto the screen.

"Oh God," Nikita complained. He always had to show her the new designs. No matter what she was doing, or what time it was. It was not uncommon to be roused from sleep to see a new design.

"Just watch!" Elliot urged. She kept watching. A blue and green mobile suit appeared. It had a streamline physique for optimum stealth, and the weapons were labeled. Nikita nodded her approval.

"It's good," she complemented.

"No, no, no! Just wait!" he exclaimed excitedly. Music began to play.

"Who let the dogs out?!" the speakers blasted, and the mobile suit on the screen began to dance. They both started to laugh.

"See isn't it great," Elliot said between laughs.

"Awesome," Nikita said also laughing.

A pang of grief brought Nikita back to reality. She missed her brother terribly. She missed her whole family. With Elliot gone, the only person alive worth anything was Julia. But Nikita had not seen her in years; the agency felt that that was the best way. She sighed and continued working on Zero. It was the only way to keep her mind off of Elliot. However, she could not keep her mind from wandering for very long…

"Hey, Kita," Elliot said.

"Tsuberov is back! He loved the Sergio Project! He wants to offer me a contract of sorts!" Elliot was excited. The two of them normally tried to keep their organization under wraps. But with Elliot's talent, it was impossible to keep word from spreading. With the War going on, the mobile suit business was profitable---but it was not what Elliot wanted to do. He had been working on the designs for a highly precise surgeon-bot, which could be controlled through a system very similar to "virtual reality." Elliot called it the Sergio project.

"We would have enough money to go get Li!" He exclaimed excitedly. Nikita smiled; she was genuinely happy for him. If he got the Sergio Project patented, he would no longer have to develop dangerous killing machines. They could save Julia.

An older man introduced himself as Colonel Tsuberov, and two soldiers trailed behind him silently. He gruffly asked for her older brother. She led them into the meeting room were Elliot sat waiting. Nikita stood outside the door where she could hear everything.

"Mr. Triqué, do we have a deal?" Tsuberov asked.

"Absolutely not! I was under the impression that you wanted to utilize the surgeon-bot due to a lack of medical professionals!" Elliot replied. Even through the door he sounded heated. Nikita bit her lip.

"The rewards will be great--" The older man promised, but Elliot interrupted him.

"But the losses will be greater! You are talking about a remote control army! I refuse to be responsible for such a catastrophe!" He was not yelling, but his tone was forceful. He was staunchly set against the offer. The argument continued, and escalated. Nikita remained outside the door of the room, praying silently that everything would work out fine. Her mind's eye only saw three armed soldiers---and one unarmed civilian standing between them and victory. A sudden case of the "Cocktail Party Phenomena" brought her attention back to the words of the debate.

"Nikita has nothing to do with this! You leave her out of it!" Elliot was yelling. Tsuberov was crossing lines; his patience was thinning. Elliot's blood was beginning to boil. She could hear it in his voice.

"Bring her in here!" Nikita's eyes widened in horror. She scrambled away from the door, but one of the soldiers grabbed her arm roughly. She winced, but said nothing. Elliot's entire face was deep red. He clenched his fist and took a step towards his sister, but the other soldier leveled a gun at his head. She gasped and lunged forward, but her soldier tightened his grip and pressed his handgun to her temple. The coldness of the metal made her gasp. Tsuberov neared Nikita. She shied away from his touch, but the soldier held her fast. He caressed her hair and face. Nikita felt physically sick.

"You know, you have such a beautiful sister. Perhaps, I should let the boys have a little fun with her," Nikita trembled at his tone at the word 'fun.' She knew exactly what he insinuated. With a small nod from Tsuberov, the soldier's hands began to wander over her body. Elliot became even more infuriated; he fought against the soldier. Her t-shirt was suddenly ripped off. Nikita shrieked.

"Get your hands off of her!" Elliot spat.

"Keep fighting. Just see what they'll do to her." Elliot dejectedly stopped struggling. He hung his head low, defeated. Tears squeezed out of Nikita's eyes as hands continued to roam. A choked sob erupted from her throat. She felt so powerless.

"Whatever you do, just spare her. She knows nothing, please," He begged.

"Give me the disk." Elliot nodded.

"In my left pocket," He said, the soldier retrieved the disk and tossed it to Tsuberov.

"The password is Julia," He informed the men.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you," the older man said through a smile. He leveled his own weapon at Elliot. Nikita's heart did not sink; it crashed through the floor. The world slowed down; she could almost see the bullets as they whizzed out of the fiend's gun. They sought refuge in her brother's body. Blood spilled out of his wounds as he hit the ground.

"What about her, sir?" A soldier inquired. Tsuberov shook his head.

"I'm a man of my word; leave her be. She's worthless anyway." The soldier grunted a "yes, sir" and pushed her to the ground. All of them strode out of the room, leaving Nikita and Elliot to pick up the pieces of their lives. Half naked and trembling, she crawled towards the crumpled figure of her older brother. The tears came in torrents. She pulled his head into her lap, oblivious to all the blood.

"Elliot, you can't die---you can't. I need you…" She sobbed. Elliot coughed up blood.

"Guard the disk," He managed to choke out.

"But I thought," she began confused

"It's a copy. The real disk is in my office. Use fingerscan. The password is the first 216 digits of pi, excluding the 3 before the decimal." The pool of blood around him was growing. The scene was completely surreal.

"No, hold on…Let me get help," She cried frantically. Elliot shook his head.

"Tell Li that I'm sorry, and that I love her. I love you too, Kita."

"I love you," She whispered. He inhaled once more, and never breathed again. Her lamenting wail pierced the air, and shook the sky.

The flashback left a sour taste in her mouth. She hated war, she hated OZ. Her only hope of vengeance lay with the Gundam pilots. She knew that she would not be able to sleep—no matter how comfortable Duo swore the guest room was. She worked through the night, bottling up her tears and memories. Nikita did not even realize it was dawn until Duo entered the hanger.

"Did you work all night?" Duo inquired. Nikita smiled, and wearily nodded. The all-nighter proved to be productive: The leg was fully functional once more.

"You've gotta be exhausted---and hungry," He commented. Once he had mentioned it, her stomach decided to growl very loudly. Duo grinned.

"Sounds like you are, come and have breakfast. I made pancakes and sausage! C'mon, I won't take no as an answer!" Giving him a half-hearted smile, she agreed and climbed down. She freshened up, and braided he hair. She changed into a gray tank top and denim cutoffs. Nikita splashed cool water on her face, grateful that there were no bags under her eyes.

She walked into the kitchen where Heero, Quatre and Duo were sitting. There were two boys that were completely unfamiliar to her also sitting at the table. The one farthest from her wore all white. His features were Chinese. He had smooth tan skin and silken black hair. It was pulled into a very severe ponytail. His eyes were slanted and dark. They regarded her with open confusion. Even sitting down, she could tell the other boy was the tallest of all of them. He had light brown hair. His long bangs fell over his left eye, completely obscuring it from her view. The eye she could see was forest green. His face was impassive, and though he looked at her, he displayed no reaction.

"Hello," She greeted warmly, "My name is Nikita."

"Hello, Nikita!" Quatre said cheerfully, he gave her a very welcoming smile, "I didn't get to see you yesterday; how are you doing?"

She returned the smile as she sat down in the vacant seat beside Heero, "I'm fine, yourself?"

"I'm great. I know you're here to work; but, please, don't work yourself to death, now! Duo said you were in the hanger all night!" He exclaimed. Quatre still wore a smile, but was offering serious advice. She smiled sheepishly, "I guess I get a little involved in work."

"Oh my, where are my manners? This is Trowa and Wufei!" He gestured toward the expressionless green-eyed teen, and the cold Chinese pilot. Each nodded at the mention of their names. Nikita offered a warm smile, but said nothing. She looked down at her plate, "Good morning, Heero."

"Hn," He acknowledged. She shrugged and began pick at her food. A few moments later, Heero decided to speak.

"How's the suit?"

"It should be a few more days, and then if you want I'll add special features," she answered. "What kind of features?" he questioned.

"I have them on disk; I'll show them to you after breakfast." she replied. He nodded, and then silence once again mushroomed at the table.

"So tell us a little about yourself, Nikita." Duo said trying to make conversation. The silence was beginning to make him uncomfortable—and bored.

"There's not much really. I own Elliot's Warehouse. I'm an engineer and mechanic," She replied, "What about you, Duo? What do you do for fun? What kind of music do you like?"

"Me? We'll let's see. I like playing video games, reading comic books, and practical jokes. I love vintage music. I really like the heavy stuff."

"Oh, you mean like System of a Down, Metallica, Aerosmith," She tapped her chin with her index finger as she rattled off names. Duo's eyes lit up.

"Yes! Exactly! That stuff is classic! Those guys really knew how to rock!" he exclaimed. Duo spent the rest of breakfast playing twenty questions with Nikita. He wanted to see how much they had in common. Apparently, they shared a decent amount of common ground. After breakfast, everyone got up and went their separate ways, except for Heero and Nikita.

"Where's your computer?" she questioned. He gestured for her to follow him, and led her to his room. He motioned towards the laptop sitting on his desk. She inserted the disk. Nikita's fingers flew over the keys as she entered the long passcode. The speaker's blared a generic 1980's tune. The mobile suit danced to the music for several bars.

"That's a new feature?" Heero asked. He was having trouble imagining the program being of any use in battle. Nikita giggled, "No, it's a security patch," Heero just nodded, as she pulled up a very long list of mobile suit upgrade possibilities. The blue light of the computer reflected off of her pale face. She highlighted the three that she had the parts for. "Okay, these are the new features," she said, gesturing at the screen. Heero knelt down beside her, to see the screen better. There was a list of weapons.

"These weapons are newly developed, however—they have been thoroughly tested. I would never offer anything that is still in its experimental phase," She began. Heero nodded, awaiting her to further describe the upgrades. Nikita clicked on the first highlighted feature. A detailed schematic and list of attributes immediately scrolled down the screen. There were also images of high level calculus equations and graphs. Heero recognized the Green notation "lambda." Her knowledge of science and engineering is impressive. Very useful, He mused.

"First, and easiest to install, is the cloaking device. Electrodes installed in various parts of the suit scramble radar waves and other forms of digital tracking," Nikita explained. She did not look away from screen, and continued scrolling through pictures and schematics. Heero grunted acknowledgement and she proceeded to the next feature on the list.

"The next is basically a radar system. However, it also detects heat and sound. Using the data received, the device projects a three dimensional map of your surroundings. The sensitivity is adjustable, and can be ideal in stealth or confrontation," She stated easily. There were more images, schematics and equations on the screen. Nikita typed quickly, brining up the next upgrade.

"Now, here is the last one. The Devestance. This one is particularly deadly, and I pray you'll use it wisely," She began. Heero was suddenly very interested. His eyes flickered with intrigue.

"What does it do?" He inquired.

"It emits three levels of destruction. The first is electromagnetic. Your suit will radiate a very strong electromagnetic pulse, it could— "

"Destroy an entire base's digital mainframe," He supplied for her. Nikita nodded and continued.

"The second level emits something comparable a thunderous sound wave. It travels along the ground, causing heavy damage to man and mobile suit alike. It is only effective up to a one thousand foot radius. The last is an extremely powerful explosion that incorporates both the sound waves and EMP. It is highly destructive up to a radius of 225 kilometers. However this feature is a last resort, and can be detrimental to the suit. It consumes a large amount of fuel, and incites overheating."

"Hn," Heero replied.

"Well? Which one would you like?" Nikita questioned. Out of the corner of her brown eye, she could have sworn she saw the ghost of a smirk. Heero sat back on his heels, with his arms folded across his muscular chest. She patiently waited his methodical deliberation.

"I'll take them all," He finally replied. Nikita's eyes widened noticeably. All of them? Her mind reeled, that's so much work! It would take weeks! She immediately regained her composure. Besides, she could not refuse. He saved her life--killed for her. She was in his debt.

"That's fine. It will take a couple of weeks, perhaps even a month, to have everything running at optimum performance," Her response was almost mechanical. She noticed the ghost of a smirk had become more defined. Several weeks? Perhaps by then I will understand why I can't stop thinking about her.

"Commuting with sensitive parts could be detrimental. Stay here until the job is complete," She nodded. His logic was sound. It would be costly and cumbersome to commute daily for a month. However, she would have to retrieve some personal affects from her apartment. She pondered this as she stood up, handing Heero his laptop.

"I need go pick up some of my things from my apartment, if I'm going to stay here. I won't take too long," She said. Nikita adjusted a misplaced tank top strap, and Heero idly thought of how easily he could remove the garment. It was a fleeting thought. He scolded himself silently.

"It would not be wise to go alone," Heero stated as he remembered the soldiers at warehouse. It would not be beneficial to lose her knowledge of the upgrades. He would be able to do the repairs—but the new features would be especially advantageous in the missions to come. Her attractive features clouded, and Heero's string of logical thoughts came to a screeching halt. He immediately disliked seeing her like that. He could not justify it, and didn't even attempt to. You can't justify emotions, you just follow them…but it's more difficult than I thought. I hate not knowing where they are leading me…

"I guess you're right," She said, "But I am already in your debt. You have saved my life once already, Heero."

"It was nothing," He responded calmly, but there was a very subtle hint of softness in his cobalt blue eyes. It was short-lived, like a candle's flame in the wind. Fleeting, it vanished as quickly as it appeared. Nikita smiled slightly. If she hadn't been paying attention she would have missed it.

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I know it's a tad slow, but things will pick up. I promise. I will write a short gift fic for the first person to review!

Sylver Secret