Disclaimer: Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written.
AN1: Normally, I leave my author's notes for the bottom of the chapter aside from my copy/paste disclaimer and my beta notice but I felt it important to thank everyone up here. This story now has 400 hundred reviews, over 700 favorites/alerts, has been added to over 30 communities, and has over 65,000 views (after subtracting 12,000 from the first chapter since I know the site shunts everyone there first). Aside from my Pokémon series, this story has been the most popular story I have ever written and the responses from all of my reviewers and the number of views have all helped me get through the unpleasantness that was sprung on me back in August with my sanity intact.
If not for all of you, it is possible I might have stopped writing/updating during that entire time because of the negativity I was dealing with. So, THANK YOU, very, very much.
I'm also happy to say that the unpleasantness is officially over and that it ended in my favor, though I do expect some unofficial unpleasantness to be thrown my way from the others involved because of the way things ended. I shall endeavor to not let that affect my writing and posting though. I guess that's enough mushy stuff out of me for now and I'll leave my usual chapter comments at the bottom! Enjoy the chapter folks… ~ Jenn =)
AN2: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.
Chapter 26: A Secret Unraveled
Harry stood with his arms folded as he leaned against the wall and watched the scientists putting the last minute touches on the new prototype suits that Harry was supposed to have destroyed close to three months earlier. Wufei had managed to set back the completion of the two new Gundams by two months when he had managed to destroy the blueprints and research notes on the suits. Unfortunately, because Harry had been captured before he could destroy them, the scientists had been able to reverse engineer the suits so that they could be completed. Each time he saw the two suits it reminded him of his failure and added yet another thread of guilt to the tangled mess of his emotions.
At the beginning of his imprisonment, Zechs had tried to get Harry to tell him how the Star Suits were able to withstand most everything thrown at them but Harry simply told the man he was a pilot not an engineer; which was the truth – Harry just neglected to tell him it was his magic that protected the suits and not some fancy scrap of technology. Zechs had been more than a little put out over the lack of information but he didn't punish Harry for disobedience over that at the time because Harry had reluctantly led him to the three missing Star Suits (his abandoned rucksack having been completely ignored due to the charms he'd placed on it).
It also helped that Harry was fairly obedient so long as he wasn't being asked to supply information on his brothers, the Resistance, or about his past. He also refused to do anything that would benefit OZ directly in their fight against the rebels on earth and the Resistance in space. Anything else he was told to do was done with minimal fuss; including not vandalizing the facility and not threatening or attacking anyone on the base. His grudging cooperation was one of the reasons why Harry was free to move about the base, was allowed to carry his weapons, and openly displayed Seth. The other reason was so he could protect himself from those soldiers on the base that wished to get revenge on him for the deaths and injuries he'd caused during his capture (there had been three attempts on his life within the first eight hours after he'd been moved out of the secure bunker where he'd first woken up).
One of his first tasks after his injuries had completely healed had been to scrub the corridors of the third floor in order to remove the paint and blood stains. He'd also been forced to clean each and every one of the prison cells on the third floor and all of the storerooms and empty offices on the first and second floor as punishment for the messes he'd made throughout the entire base prior to his capture. After he'd finished those two tasks (which had taken the better part of two months because he couldn't openly use his magic) and it was apparent that he was following the rules Zechs had laid down for him, Harry was given the 'privilege' of piloting and testing various suits on the base; though never one of the Star Suits.
So far he'd wrecked six Taurus suits when ordered to test the various upgrades that were made to the suits in the hopes that they could match the Star Suits for durability and maneuverability. The suits never held up long under the abuse that Harry put them through though; helped in part by Harry's magic. Now that the two new Gundams were nearly finished, the next suit he was to test pilot was the one they called Mercurius; a suit designed for defense rather than offense.
"You are prepared to test the suit?"
"It's not like I have a choice," Harry replied as he tore his eyes away from where the red suit was undergoing last minute adjustments to half glare at Zechs as the man walked up beside him. "If I had any choice in the matter that suit, and the other one, would have been turned into a pile of fine dust three months ago."
"Such negativity does not suit you," Zechs admonished making Harry roll his eyes in irritation over the comment as he returned to his study the Gundam Mercurius. "I expect the Mercurius to be brought back in one piece and in working order when you are finished with it; unlike the condition you've left the Tauruses in when you'd finished with them."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah… I know; leave the big ugly eye-sore in one piece. I got the message the first ten times you told me not to break the expensive pile of junk during the past week after you first told me I was to test the damn suit."
"We're ready for the initial tests," Doktor S announced loud enough to get both Harry's and Zechs' attention.
Harry sneezed once as he pushed away from the wall and reluctantly made his way towards the towering suit. He hated crawling inside of the OZ suits; they felt so cold and alien when compared to the original five Gundams and the magic infused Star Suits. He'd begun to think that it was his brothers that had given their Gundams that warmth and he knew it had been his magic that had changed the Star Suits. Distaste curled Harry's lip as he climbed into the cockpit and settled himself into the pilot's chair as the systems slowly powered up; the suit currently being controlled by the computer instead of Harry.
Harry ran through the checks as required, offering feedback to the man known as Instructor H, for the next fifteen minutes. Once that was over, partial control of the suit was turned over to Harry and he began testing the suit's main functions; mainly testing the responses of the suit to his command as he made it walk, testing the propulsion jets, struggling to work with the round shield (something he'd never had to deal with before), and testing the only true weapon; a beam gun. He also had to figure out how to control what the scientists had called the Planet Defensers; a series of ten disc shaped devices that generated an electromagnetic current that was used to form a large shield or two slightly smaller shields that would protect the suit or another object.
Once the test was over, Harry couldn't drop down out of the suit fast enough; his stomach churning from having been inside it for over an hour due to his disgust over needing to help OZ and contact with the constant hostility and negativity that the suit radiated. He was told to report to hanger six for the first space test of the suit in three hours by Zechs once the scientists had passed the masked man the reports that had been generated during the initial tests. Slinking out of the research lab, Harry pulled Seth out from under his shirt and allowed the cobra to coil around his arm as he ran his fingers down the snake's back.
'You are agitated again, Speaker.'
'I hate what I am being made to do,' Harry replied in parseltongue as he headed towards the room he'd been assigned just a few weeks earlier after it became apparent that he was cooperating with them on some level.
'So don't do it.'
'We've discussed this, Seth, I can't just not do what they tell me to do because the others will be hurt and because Heero ordered me to do what Zechs tells me to do.'
'Life would be much simpler if you were a snake; we are not bound by our emotions to others the way you humans are.'
'I am not a snake though, Seth,' Harry reminded his oldest legless friend. The snake hissed out something derogatory in a tone that sounded half exasperated and amused over Harry's reminder that he was human and Harry changed the subject before the snake began his usual 'humans are stupid' rant. 'How long has it been since I gave you a nice fat rat to eat?'
'Nearly four moon turnings*… you've been feeding me those tiny little white mice that are hardly worth the effort to swallow and leave me feeling as if I never ate at all. And it's been days since you fed me last.'
'I will get you a rat when we reach my room. That should keep you occupied while I am out testing their Merlin cursed suit; I don't want to take any chances of you getting hurt if something should go wrong.'
They arrived at Harry's room just a few minutes later and nothing further was said as Harry headed to the one corner he knew was not monitored by cameras (he'd hacked into the security network in order to make certain of that) and slipped his supply trunk (where he kept the mice and rats he'd brought into space for Seth) from his necklace before restoring it to full size. He headed down into the trunk and placed the snake into a rune heated terrarium before grabbing one of the rats and putting it into the cage with Seth. Harry then grabbed the new spacesuit he been given (his old one having been ruined the day he was captured) and headed up to his room (he never liked watching or listening to the snakes eat). He left the trunk where it was sitting; knowing that even if someone stumbled across it they'd never be able to get into it or move it.
Harry spent a couple of hours doing his stretches, katas, and practicing with his enchanted cards and one of the wooden practice swords that Wufei had procured to teach Harry how to use a sword without risk of injury; the teen not wishing to grow rusty. Forty minutes before he was required to report to hanger six as ordered, Harry put his things away before taking a shower, changing into clean clothes, and putting on the spacesuit (which he'd discreetly warded the first chance he had after it had been given to him in order to protect it from his magic). He then tucked the helmet of the suit beneath his arm and reluctantly made his way to hanger six wondering what kind of test they intended on having him put the suit through. Zechs was waiting for him beside the red suit when Harry finally arrived.
"You will have ten minutes in which to further familiarize yourself with the suit before I will send out a number of mobile dolls to test the suit's defenses. You are to do nothing but defend for the first fifteen minutes of battle at which point you may counter attack to determine how effective the beam rifle is when used in conjunction with the Planet Defensers. If the Mercurius gets through both tests without taking significant damage than you will have another battle with two more advanced manned suits. Your main objective is to keep the suit in one piece. Any questions?"
"No."
"Very well then; make certain you at no time take the suit more than twenty miles from the surface of the moon as the control tower has permission to engage the self-destruct mechanism in the Mercurius should it appear as if you are attempting to escape."
"Understood," Harry fairly growled at the pointed reminder that he was nothing more than a prisoner regardless of Zechs' insistence otherwise as he jammed his helmet on his head and climbed up into the suit.
He was given clearance to take the suit out five minutes later and Harry engaged the jets, blasting out of the hanger like a bat out of hell. He set the sensors to warn him the moment he reached fifteen miles above the moon's surface before he put the suit through its paces. At the ten minute mark, his scanners picked up the ten mobile suits that had been dispatched to test the defenses of the suit and Harry spun around to face them as he activated the Planet Defensers to shield his back and sides while he used the crash shield to defend his front.
The first five minutes were fairly easy, the second five minutes were a bit of a pain as he was forced to dodge using a few fancy moves that were better suited to Dogstar or one of the other Star Suits, and the last five minutes were pure hell as the Planet Defensers lost power and he was forced to withdraw them in order to recharge them. His body was also taking quite a beating due to the fact that the suit wasn't warded to protect him from the speed he was forcing out of the suit or the hits the suit was taking from the dolls.
The moment the fifteenth minute was up; Harry happily sent out the now recharged Defensers, fired up the suit's beam rifle, and began mowing down the stupid mobile dolls with a vengeance. It took him over thirty minutes to destroy all of the unmanned suits; his responses far slower than usual because of the internal injuries his body had suffered over the course of the battle. When the last mobile doll exploded, Harry landed Mercurius on the surface of the moon and brought the Defensers back to charge once more as he ran through a systems check to determine how much damage the suit had taken from both the steady barrage of attacks and his reckless maneuvers.
"Mercurius, status report," Zechs ordered through the comm. system.
"Suit sustained minimal structural damage during initial battle, Planet Defensers (while effective) lose power quickly under heavy fire; making them practically useless during an extended battle. The suit is also ill-equipped to handle excessive defensive and evasive maneuvers without inflicting internal damage to the pilot. Mercurius's over all status is currently at ninety-one percent."
"Proceed with the final test; you are to engage the two suits deployed."
Harry prepared himself for yet another battle, monitoring the charges on the Defensers as he scanned the grid map for his opponents only for Mercurius to take two simultaneous hits from both front and back. Icy numbness spread through Harry as he rolled with the shock of the two hits. He immediately knew what suits were now attacking him and who it was that was piloting said suits; only the Star Suits possessed stealth capabilities superior enough to hide from the Mercurius's advanced systems. That meant that Zechs had sent two of his brothers to test the Mercurius's capabilities and they would be doing their damnedest to destroy Mercurius because they didn't want such a powerful suit in OZ's hands.
There was no way he could fight against his brothers; he would not fight against his brothers. Resignation filled Harry as he powered down Mercurius's systems and dropped the suit down onto the surface of the moon to wait for the next hit; not even bothering to deploy the Defensers to protect himself or the suit. He didn't have to wait long as a steady barrage of machine gun fire knocked Mercurius off its feet and drove the red Gundam across the surface of the moon for several meters and Harry let out a strangled whine as he recognized Superstar's main weapon fire.
"Mercurius you are to engage your opponents," Zechs ordered sharply.
"Fuck you, Zechs," Harry yelled back in response to the order. "I will not fight my brothers. You can not make me fight my brothers. I would rather die than allow you to force me to fight my brothers."
The fire raining down on Harry abruptly cut off and Superstar shimmered into view as Trowa's shocked voice called out, "Taliesin?"
Duo's Deathstar shimmered into view a moment later looming over the Mercurius, his scythe poised for a fatal strike (that would have sliced right through the cockpit of the red Gundam) as he demanded, "What da hell are ya doin' in that suit, kiddo?"
"You are to continue with the test as scheduled, Taliesin," Zechs repeated.
"You either call off the test or I will render this suit to dust; much as I did to the Gundam Wing on Earth," Harry coldly countered as his anger spiked. "I will not attack my brothers nor will I defend against their weapons. If you use the computers to retake control of the suit in order to attack my brothers; I will destroy it."
"Your insubordination will not go unpunished; return to hanger six immediately."
Not bothering to reply, Harry reactivated the suit's systems and picked the suit up off the ground where it had been driven by Trowa's attack. Alarms started blaring as the systems reported significant structural damage and a compromised life support system but Harry ignored them as he checked the current status of the suit's fusion reactor to make certain it hadn't been damaged.
"Taliesin, I didn't… If I had known, I never would have…" Trowa declared over the radio as he moved Superstar closer.
"I know, Trowa; I don't blame you. I blame Zechs."
"Ya ain't hurt, are ya, kiddo?"
"Just my heart, Duo, just my heart," Harry replied as he engaged the engine.
The suit's control was wrested from Harry at that point by the computer system back at the base and Harry dropped his hands from the controls as the suit was remotely guided back to the hanger. With nothing to do to take his mind off the pain from his internal injuries and what Zechs had just tried to force him to do, Harry curled up in the seat and fumed. He wasn't certain what hurt more; the pain from his bruised organs or the heartache of knowing that they'd tried to force him to face off against his brothers.
The systems powering down let Harry know that the suit was finally back in the hanger but he made no move to exit the cockpit of the suit; not quite ready to face Zechs least he lose control of his emotions and his magic as a result of what the man had just tried to do. The choice of when he faced the man was taken from Harry just a few minutes later when the door was opened from the outside and Zechs stepped into the cockpit. Harry glared up at the man he blamed for his current condition and his continued misery as a prisoner of OZ.
"Your orders were simple…" Zechs began.
Harry unbuckled his harness and shoved passed the older man before he could finish whatever it was he was going to say; in no mood to hear one of Zechs' lectures. He dropped down out of the suit without bothering to use the cable or stepping onto the catwalk that Zechs had used to access the suit. He landed heavily on the ground but ignored the stinging in his legs and feet and the hot lances of pain that shot through his torso from his damaged innards as he strode away from the Mercurius suit. He'd nearly reached the door when a hand fell on his shoulder and spun him around. Using the momentum to his advantage, Harry swung out with his right fist and punched Zechs on the chin.
"I told you to keep your Merlin cursed hands off of me, you putrid pustule of pogrebin piss," Harry spat out as he jerked his shoulder out of Zechs' hand.
Zechs recovered fairly quickly and wasted no time in shoving Harry up against the wall. Harry lashed out with a foot and kicked the man in the knee while at the same time delivering a sharp palm strike to the man's sternum with his left hand. Zechs' response was to knee Harry sharply in the stomach before slamming him against the wall a second time with one arm pressed against Harry's neck. The blow to the stomach caused Harry to vomit up blood; the hit aggravating his already bruised insides and he wrapped his arms over his stomach in response. Gasping for breath, Harry waited for the next blow to land only for Zechs to step back and release him for a brief moment before he grabbed Harry's left arm and began dragging him from the hanger.
They'd barely gone twenty steps before Harry got his second wind and began fighting back once more even as his magic thrummed in warning due to him purposefully ignoring Heero's order not to fight Zechs (not that he cared at that point due to his anger). Zechs had expected the attack this time though and the man easily blocked each attack with one hand while keeping hold of Harry's arm with his other. The two of them drew the eyes of every soldier they passed; the sight of Harry actively fighting Zechs somewhat of a shock after his fairly submissive behavior over the past three months (not counting the brutal battle to capture him in the first place). They ended up in Harry's room eventually and Zechs gave Harry a hard shove that sent the rather small wizard tumbling to the floor.
"Enough, Taliesin," Zechs ordered when Harry scrambled back up onto his feet intent on attacking again.
Harry pulled of the helmet of the spacesuit and threw it across the room where the tempered glass that made up the face of the helmet shattered from the extra force that Harry's magic had added to his throw due to Harry's anger. The small outburst of magic caused the lights to flicker for a moment in the room which forced Harry to reign in his anger least he shut the entire base down unintentionally.
Clenching his teeth, he sneered at Zechs before turning his back on the man as he began stripping out of the spacesuit as he snapped out, "Get out and leave me the hell alone; you've tortured me enough for one day."
"I'm not finished speaking to you yet."
"I don't fucking care; I'm not listening to another damned word you have to say."
"You will listen to everything I have to say; or have you forgotten that I am the only one protecting both you and those you call your brothers from Une and the rest of OZ?"
"That sure as hell didn't stop you from trying to order me to kill them out there just now, you sanctimonious sack of skrewt shit."
"I never ordered you to harm them; I ordered you to test the capabilities of the damned suit!"
"Bullshit, you told me to fight my brothers! What the hell did you think was going to happen? Did you think I would thank you for the opportunity to potentially harm them? Did you think I would appreciate facing off against them knowing that they were trying to destroy the suit I was in!? A suit, I might add, that is far inferior to the Star Suits when I was in no condition to face that kind of opposition? They didn't even know it was me inside that damn suit!"
"Une was supposed to have informed them that you would be piloting the suit," Zechs declared tiredly as he removed his mask and studied Harry critically. "Why didn't you tell me you were injured?"
"I did… or were you too stupid to understand what I meant when I said; the suit is ill-equipped to handle excessive defensive maneuvers without inflicting internal damage to the pilot?"
"How badly were you injured?"
"I would have said nothing more than a bit of internal bruising but thanks to you kneeing me in the stomach I'm pretty certain I can upgrade that to internal bleeding with possible ruptures."
"You should not have attacked me; you had to know I would defend myself."
"You wouldn't leave me alone and I've told you before not to touch me."
"Arguing over who is to blame isn't going to see your injuries taken care of," Zechs stated as he pinched his nose in exasperation. "Take yourself down to the infirmary so the doctor can determine the extent of the damage and make the necessary repairs."
"I can deal with it myself; I don't need one of your pathetic lackeys poking and prodding at me because their piss-poor medical skills would only end up making things worse than they already are," Harry snapped back as he wove his way over to his supply trunk and slipped inside before Zechs could respond to him.
A glance at the terrarium showed Seth happily dozing curled up over the under-tank heat generating runes, the large bulge in his belly indicating he'd had no trouble with his meal. Moving further into the shelves, Harry searched through his potion supplies to find the internal healing potion he recalled seeing at one point. Once he found it, he quickly drank a single dose and followed it with a strong pain reliever and a mild sleeping potion after checking to make certain the two potions wouldn't react negatively with the healing draught. He then used the trunks shower to clean off the blood he'd vomited on himself earlier and changed into clean clothes.
At that point, he reluctantly made his way back up to his room knowing that Zechs would most likely still be waiting for him. His supposition turned out to be true as he came face to face with the man almost the instant he lifted the lid of the trunk from the inside. Harry rolled his eyes and stepped out of the trunk before slamming the lid shut to prevent Zechs from getting a good look inside. If not for everything that had happened earlier, Harry might have smirked at the look of confusion on the man's face but Harry was still far too pissed with the man to appreciate his bewilderment.
"Taliesin…"
Tensing, Harry tilted his head slightly so that he could watch the man out of the corner of his eye as he waited for whatever it was Zechs was going to say. As he waited, he was a little surprised to note the bruise that had blossomed across the man's chin; he hadn't thought he'd clocked the man that hard. A frown pulled at Harry's mouth as Zechs appeared to be struggling over what he wanted to say; something that Harry couldn't recall happening before.
"You are restricted to your room for the next nine cycles," Zechs finally declared as he jammed his masked helmet back over his head. "You'll be locked in from the outside and you will receive no phone calls or visitors for the duration of your confinement. Your meals will be delivered once a cycle. If you ever pull another stunt like you did earlier or disobey a direct order again; your personal effects will be stripped from you and you will be moved into one of the prison cells for the duration of your stay on this base."
"I'm so scared," Harry drawled sarcastically only to gasp in shock immediately afterwards as Zechs backhanded him across the face for the first time; the pain of the blow thankfully numbed due to the pain potion he'd taken earlier.
"You seem to have forgotten your place; allow me to remind you. You are a prisoner and my ward whether you choose to recognize that or not. Any freedoms I have given you can be taken from you just as easily if you continue to be disrespectful and disobedient. Is that clear?"
"Crystal."
"Good. Do not forget it because any additional reminders will not be anywhere near as pleasant."
Harry watched the man stride out of the room as he reached up to brush his fingers across his numb face. He then growled and kicked his trunk in frustration before dropping his face into his hands. Exhausted and more than a little disgusted over everything that happened, Harry made his way over to his bed and dropped down onto the mattress. It didn't take him very long to fall asleep thanks to the combination of potions he'd taken just a short while earlier and he ended up sleeping for nearly three full cycles. He hadn't stirred once during that time; not even when Zechs delivered his first meal and brushed a hand over the dark bruise that had formed on the left side of his face.
Once he did wake, Harry spent most of his time juggling his knives and his cards or running through his katas. The only person he saw during his confinement was Zechs and Harry studiously ignored the man whenever he delivered Harry's meals. Harry also hadn't bothered trying to speed up the healing of the bruise on his face; a silent and constant reminder to both himself and Zechs that Harry was nothing more than a prisoner. The fact that Zechs flinched each time he laid eyes on the lurid bruise was only icing on the cake as far as Harry was concerned.
Just before his confinement was due to end, Harry gathered up anything he didn't want to risk being taken from him (including his throwing knives) and dumped them into his supply trunk. He then removed Seth from the terrarium and shrunk the trunk back down to a manageable size before threading it back onto the leather cord with the rest of his trunks. When he was finally released from his confinement, Harry was assigned a pair of guards to escort him wherever he went with the warning that if anything happened to either of them Harry would be held responsible and his brothers would pay the price.
His access to various parts of the base were greatly restricted now as well; limited to his room, the mess hall, and Zechs' office. He was also no longer being asked to test pilot the new suits and Zechs had expressly forbidden him from entering any of the research labs. Harry continued to spend the majority of his time in his room because he had no desire to visit Zechs in his office unless he was being allowed to speak with one of his brothers; a privilege that had been drastically reduced after Harry's brief fit of defiance. The other thing Harry continued to do was ignore Zechs; or rather he didn't acknowledge the older man unless he was giving Harry an order and Harry never spoke a single word more than necessary.
That changed on the day when Harry's tri-weekly video conference with his brothers (this time he was speaking with Wufei) was interrupted by an urgent report of a rogue Gundam destroying space stations. The Gundam's path of destruction indicated that it was heading straight for the moon and destroying everything that got in its way. Zechs immediately ordered two platoons of mobile dolls to be assembled and ordered for two of the Star Pilots to be transported down to pilot the two new Gundam suits. Harry's heart seized as the thought of two of his brothers facing a Gundam in the virtually untested and inferior suits and he willingly addressed Zechs for the first time since the disastrous test of the Mercurius.
"Send me in Dogstar," Harry demanded tightly as he turned away from Wufei to glance at Zechs.
"No," Zechs shot back without even looking at Harry before continuing his conversation with the soldier that had brought the news about the rampaging Gundam. "If you can, capture the suit and the pilot; if not, I want it completely destroyed before it gets within a hundred miles of this base."
"I can stop the suit cold with one shot," Harry admitted softly making Zechs glance sharply at him.
"One moment," Zechs commanded before he focused intently on Harry. "You have thirty seconds to explain."
"Dogstar is capable of shutting down a suit, even a Gundam, with one shot; the suit will remain in one piece and the pilot will be virtually unharmed. The systems will be completely shorted out but easy to replace or repair."
"Cancel that transport order for the two pilots and continue to program the two platoons," Zechs instructed the soldier before he dismissed the man and returned his attention to Harry. "If I allow you to leave this base in your suit in order to capture this unknown Gundam and you attempt to escape at any time; I will personally execute all five of the teens you call your brothers. Is that understood?"
"Yes."
"Good. You will have twelve hours in which to disable the suit and return to the base; any delays will see me carrying out the promised executions. Once you have returned you will come directly to my office and we will be discussing exactly just how much information you have been withholding from me about the abilities of the Star Suits."
Harry simply gave a curt nod before he headed towards the lab where four of the six Star Suits were kept when they weren't attempting to run tests on them. He scrambled up into the cockpit of his suit and pulled an extra spacesuit out from the storage bin; the replacement that Zechs had given him no longer useable because Harry had destroyed the helmet in his anger. He then started up Dogstar's systems to run through a quick system check to determine if there was anything wrong with the suit before he powered down and dropped out of the cockpit.
As he landed back on the floor, he saw Zechs watching him from the door and Harry tried to not to think about the threat the man had given to him just moments earlier. Harry quickly shrank his suit and cast a feather light charm on it while keeping his wand tucked out of Zechs' line of sight in the holster of the glove protecting his right arm. He then picked up his suit, trotted over to where Zechs was standing, and paused to see if the man had anything further to say.
"Use hanger two," Zechs instructed. "Does your suit require any maintenance?"
"No."
"Then you are cleared to take off. You are to remain in radio contact the entire time you are out there; use radio channel one-seven-five. If you can make contact with the pilot you are to attempt to talk him into surrendering both himself and the suit. If that fails, you have permission to engage the suit. I also fully expect you to record the entire battle so that we can see what the rogue Gundam is capable of before you shut it down."
"Understood."
Fifteen minutes later, Harry switched Dogstar over to flight mode as he left the moon for the first time in nearly four months; reveling in the freedom he felt behind the controls of his suit. As ordered, he gave frequent updates to the Lunar Base control tower regarding his position as he sped towards the coming confrontation. When he drew close to where the Gundam was next expected to appear, Harry cranked up his external speakers and began announcing his presence to the universe at large by launching into a very vocal rendition of the theme song from Futurama (with Seth hissing merrily along in the background).
His reasoning for the childish display; if the pilot of the other suit was part of the Resistance they'd recognize the song, Harry's voice, and Seth's hissing. If the pilot was not a member of the Resistance then they would either immediately attack Harry or be confused enough to make first contact.
While he waited for the suit to show, Harry put Dogstar through his paces; simply enjoying the thrill of being in space with nothing but his suit. It brought to mind happier times when his five brothers were first teaching him how to fly Dogstar in space. Two hours later, the Gundam finally arrived and Harry was shocked speechless as he looked out on the Gundam that looked yet did not look like Wing. He was further shocked when the pilot addressed him just moments after he'd stopped belting out various space related theme songs.
"Taliesin is that you?"
"Zayeed?" Harry queried almost in disbelief; his heart sinking at the thought that Quatre's father was the one rampaging through space.
"Gah! No more! It was bad enough you forced me to kill my son, must you taunt me with the child as well!?"
"Zayeed, what is wrong? What happened? Why are you piloting Wing and where did you get him from?"
"I built him to find my son! They took my son from me and then they made me fight my own son and I killed him. Please… no more. I don't want to kill you, Taliesin. Be gone."
"Quatre isn't dead, Zayeed; I spoke with him just thirty-six hours ago. We're all alive if not exactly safe."
"Liar!"
Harry was shocked when the Gundam fired the suit's custom buster rifle at him and he dropped Dogstar down and barrel rolled when a second the blast immediately followed the first as Zayeed tracked him through space. The Gundam was far faster than Wing Gundam and Harry felt grim determination set in as he listened to Zayeed continue to spout delusional nonsense. He knew something was wrong with the man but didn't know if it was a simple emotional breakdown because of Quatre's imprisonment or if it was something far more serious. The fire power of the Gundam was also far deadlier than expected and Harry was hard pressed just to dodge and defend against the repeated blasts from the buster rifle while at the time same trying to talk Zayeed into standing down.
"Please, Zayeed; I don't want to fight you but if I don't stop you they will execute Quatre and the others," Harry pleaded as Dogstar skidded sideways after nearly being hit by yet another overpowered blast from the powerful rifle.
"My son is already dead!"
"You're wrong! I can prove it to you. Please don't make me fight you; Quatre would never forgive me if anything were to happen to you."
"I will listen to you no more, demon! You are not Taliesin; he'd never try to stop me from avenging my son's death."
Harry felt tears slipping down his face as he dodged yet another blast and flipped Dogstar on his side before he sped up and began circling the Gundam so fast that Zayeed couldn't keep up with him only for the man to split the custom buster rifle in half and start firing wildly to either side in an effort to catch Harry. Spinning outwards in a reverse corkscrew, Harry felt Dogstar get clipped and his controlled spin ended in a tumble that would have destroyed any suit other than one of the Star Suits or one of the warded Gundams.
Harry corrected his trajectory and pulled off his right glove so he could insert his wand in the amplifier before he needed to take evasive action again. He then entered stealth mode and dodged the machine gun fire that Zayeed shot at his last location before moving in closer to the Gundam. When he was close enough, Harry attempted to switch Dogstar back over to suit mode only for the transformation to fail and he cursed as he was forced to modify his plan of attack. Still in stealth mode, he positioned Dogstar over top of the still firing Gundam so that the amplifier was situated directly over the other suit.
"I am sorry for your pain, Zayeed," Harry stated as he drew on his magic while Zayeed continued to try and find him by firing all of his weapons off in a circle around him (though thankfully he never fired above him). "I only hope that you will find peace once you learn the truth."
The red stunning spell washed over the suit and Harry watched as the suit began sparking for several seconds before the optic sensor on the head unit cut out and the entire suit froze. Harry sagged back in his seat, pulled his helmet off, and wiped the tears from his face before he slipped his wand back into his sleeve and put his glove back on. He then reattached his helmet and took a moment to collect himself before he addressed the Lunar Base for the first time since the Gundam had made contact with him (though they'd overheard his entire conversation with Zayeed and watched the video feed of the battle that Dogstar had been transmitting as ordered).
"Lunar Base, this is Dogstar; rogue Gundam has been successfully disabled. Requesting permission to drop out of radio contact for twenty minutes in order to extract the rogue pilot from the now non-functioning suit."
"Permission denied Dogstar; you are to return to base immediately."
"The life support systems will have failed on the both the Gundam's cockpit and the pilot's suit; if the pilot is not extracted immediately he could die. Please… let me at least pull him out."
"Colonel Une is in route to collect the suit and its pilot; your mission is complete and you are hereby ordered to return to the base immediately," Zechs ordered sharply.
"If he dies because you refused to let me…"
"If you do not head back to base immediately your actions will be seen as an attempt to escape and I will take immediate action. I repeat; return to base immediately."
"Understood," Harry snapped out as he carefully and reluctantly pulled away from the Gundam.
As he turned Dogstar's nose towards to moon, Harry prayed that Zayeed's spacesuit still functioned (knowing only a limited number of warded spacesuits had been left behind for the Resistance's pilots assigned to his squad to use during missions) and that Quatre would eventually forgive him. At least he'd protected his brothers from having to fight against Zayeed and possibly being killed piloting unstable prototype suits; the Wing-like Gundam far more advanced than OZ's experimental prototypes.
His radio check ins were short and curt as he made his way back towards the Lunar Base; his eyes glued to the flashing grey dot that marked the disabled rogue Gundam on his map. When a second, larger red dot, representing Une's command ship, slid to a stop beside the Gundam; Harry felt the knot of worry filling his belly loosen a touch as it meant that Zayeed would hopefully have the help he needed soon. Harry attempted to drop Dogstar back into suit mode one more time as he approached hanger two and growled when the suit failed to shift; knowing the malfunction could only be a direct result of the hit he'd taken. Cutting the engines, he allowed his forward momentum to carry him into the hanger where he settled the suit awkwardly on the ground (the Taurus suits not designed to land while still in flight mode) as the hanger door slowly dropped down behind him.
While he waited for the artificial gravity inside the hanger to reengage, Harry started running a complete diagnostic scan on Dogstar to determine the full extent of the damage received. Once his report had been generated, Harry grimaced when he noted that there'd been a significant amount of structural damage done to the back if the suit where he'd been clipped just before shutting down the Gundam (far more damage than what he'd received when his shield had failed to hold back the full brunt of the Colony's beam cannons during his efforts to protect the satellite). He was damn lucky that the wards hadn't degraded or destabilized as a result otherwise the suit would have exploded quite spectacularly with him inside of it the moment he'd used magic.
"That's going to be a bitch to fix," Harry groused as he saved the report to view again later and shut down the internal systems as he was given the green light to disembark from his suit.
He stripped out of his spacesuit and tucked it back into storage so that nothing would happen to it before he opened the cockpit door as far as it would go (given that the 'chest' portion of the suit was currently half sitting on the ground) and slithered out of the cockpit. Once out of the suit, Harry climbed up onto his feet and swayed a moment before he shook off the mild exhaustion he felt from the emotional battle and his overpowered stunning spell. Once he no longer felt as if he was going to fall flat on his face, he scrambled up onto Dogstar's back to do a visual inspection of the damage and grimaced again when he saw the burnt and melted section of the suit that had fused the magically enhanced suit in flight mode.
There was no way he'd be able to fix that on his own and there was no way in hell he was going to allow any of Zechs' men to touch Dogstar. The suit would have to be docked unless an emergency came up or he got a chance to escape; he'd have to avoid pushing the suit to its limits until it was repaired though. As he carefully shrank and lightened the suit, Harry considered asking the scientists to repair it for him but immediately nixed the idea when he realized that several of the outer panels would need to be replaced due to the amount of damage they'd received which in turn would require him to reapply the blood wards to that section. And the last thing he wanted to do was allow anyone in or around OZ to know about the blood wards because he feared they'd bleed him dry in an attempt to ward all of their suits or worse, experiment on him to see what else his blood could be used for.
Still considering what he would do about his suit, Harry headed for the lab in order to put his suit away when he recalled Zechs' orders to report to his office and Harry stumbled to a stop as he realized the man was going to once again try to extract a shitload of information about the Star Suits from him. Feeling ill to his stomach, Harry slowly turned around and headed towards the man's office; a growing feeling of dread pressing down on him with each step he took.
Seven minutes later, Harry was standing poleaxed in front of Zechs' office door trying to bring himself to knock on said door to announce his presence. Every cell in his body was screaming for him to run away as far and as fast as he could and it was only the threat of execution hanging over his brothers' heads that kept his feet glued to the floor where he stood. It took him a full two minutes to dredge up the courage to raise his hand to knock only for the door to be yanked open from the inside by a scowling Zechs before his hand connected with the door.
"You're late," Zechs stated as he loomed over Harry.
"Dogstar was hit towards the end of the battle and I had to determine the extent of the damage in order to learn whether or not it could be safely repaired without reducing the integrity of the entire suit; it can't. I'm surprised Dogstar didn't detonate shortly after being hit."
"I will have the mechanics take a look at the suit sometime over the next couple of days."
"No point… any repairs they attempted could set off the suit and level the entire base."
"Impossible."
"You were there the day I detonated Wing; now imagine a self-destruct device that is one hundred times more powerful… are you certain it would still be impossible?"
"And if I choose not to believe you?"
"I don't care if you believe me or not. S'not like any of your minions could actually mess with my suit without getting electrocuted anyway. That's one of my favorite things about Dogstar… he's loyal to a fault; even if I do push him to his limits."
"You will provide me with a complete list of specs for your suit and the other five Star Suits."
"No. I will not give you the information that may one day see my brothers killed. Besides, I'm not an engineer and I'm not a mechanic so I can't give you what you are demanding from me. Even if I was, I wouldn't give you the information; nor can any of my brothers provide you with what you want."
"You will tell me or I will…"
"You will what? Lock me in my room again? Lock me in a prison cell? Hit me again? Torture me? Or will you keep holding my brothers' lives over my head simply because I refuse to tell you how to kill them at some point in the future? Or will you give me to Une to break? Or maybe you wish to break me yourself? You continuously keep pushing me and one of these days I'm going to stop caring about the consequences of giving into my rage."
"I warned you that I will not tolerate any more insubordination from you…"
"And I've done everything you've asked of me over the past three and a half months unless doing so would place my brothers in harms way. I've allowed you to continuously push me around and limited my insults. I'm still your prisoner when I could have vanished the instant my injuries finished healing. Hell… I even went out there and captured my brother's father and spared not only two of my brother's lives but prevented the destruction of your precious prototypes in the process. Not to mention the fact that I did exactly as I said I would and as you ordered me to do."
"And yet you still sit here and argue with me and refuse to answer my questions."
"I told you that someone like you could never understand," Harry whispered as he cleared all emotion from his face.
"And what is it that you think I don't understand?"
"I know you don't understand because if you did, you wouldn't have to ask."
"Taliesin…"
Harry shook his head and half turned his back to Zechs. He'd spelled it out to the man a hundred different ways and if he couldn't even bother to listen, then there was no point in trying to explain it to him yet again. What Zechs would have said or done next Harry couldn't say as their argument was interrupted by a knock on the door. The soldier who entered reported the return of Une and the successful retrieval of both the suit and the pilot.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that Zayeed had survived the frying of the Gundam's systems and he once again had to brush tears from his face. The soldier also reported that the scientists had recognized the Gundam suit in question as they'd designed it prior to creating the Gundams that were sent to Earth and they called it Wing Zero. The soldier left some forty minutes later, after Zechs had been given a complete report and passed along orders for various individuals on the base and in orbit. The older man then sighed and returned his attention to Harry and Harry simply stared back silently.
"The weapon you used to short circuit the suit… you have used it before."
"Yes."
"Do all of the Star Suits and the Gundams that were sent to Earth have the same weapon?"
"No."
"Can it be installed in other suits?"
"No."
"How does the weapon work? Who created the weapon?"
"I don't know."
"You said you used it before; where?"
"Here in space; on the mobile dolls I've fought against before you captured me."
"They said that all of the systems of the Wing Zero Gundam were completely fried," Zechs mused as he leaned back against his desk and crossed his arms over his chest and Harry imagined that the man was eying him shrewdly beneath the mask. "The systems in the six Taurus suits you piloted were also fried and yet your suit was no where near them at the time. The weapon is not on your suit; you carry it with you."
"Yours suits are inferior and quite frankly they suck. You've seen all the weapons I carry," Harry countered as he struggled not to show the anxiety that was rising up inside of him as Zechs' guess hit far too close to home.
"No… your suit isn't that much different than the other Tauruses and while you've added a few upgrades and made a few changes; it is still essentially the same suit model. The suits that were salvaged from the immediate area around the site of our battle on the day you blew up the original Wing Gundam suffered system overloads; including my Tallgeese. There was also a large scale black out at Treize's Luxembourg castle the night you escaped, or were possibly rescued, that was caused by overloaded circuitry."
It took all of Harry's will power not to blanch or allow the fear to show in his eyes as Zechs finally connected Harry to those two events. He hoped that so long as he didn't show any of his distress that Zechs would pass it all off as coincidence but Zechs wasn't quite finished.
"The night that Colonel Une visited you in your cell, the same night of your escape; she said something that made no sense and at the time I passed it off as delusional ramblings because she'd received a rather nasty concussion. Right after ordering you to drop your weapon; she said you told her, word for word, 'I am the weapon'. There is also the fact that you insisted on being the one to disable the Gundam; that implies that you are the only one who could use said weapon."
"So, that leads me to the conclusion that the 'weapon' you speak of is actually a Newtype ability you have that you've been trying to pass off as a weapon built into your suit in order to hide the fact that you have such a powerful ability. It also explains why the others went to the lengths they did to hide you; only you probably refused to be left behind when they chose to take carry on fighting in space. That also explains part of the reason you've been cooperating; that ability could easily shut down this entire base, killing everyone inside."
This time Harry couldn't stop the blood draining from his face as he began backing away from Zechs. Fear trailed icy fingers up his spine as he recalled what Heero had told him about what OZ would do if they ever got their hands on Harry and learned that he was capable of taking out a Gundam (or any mobile suit) singlehandedly. Letting out a strangled whine, Harry spun on his foot and dashed towards the door; his entire being focused only on escaping. He never made it to the door as Zechs tackled him from behind; knocking the breath out of Harry as he hit the floor hard. Zechs wasted no time in cuffing Harry's hands behind his back and locking his ankles together with a second pair of handcuffs.
Closing his eyes, Harry pressed his face to the floor as the world crashed down around him beneath the weight of the knowledge that he'd just sold himself out with a few careless words and his own stubbornness.
Notes:
*Moon turning – is a reference to the phases of the moon and one moon turning equals approximately one month. For this story, that is how snakes keep track of the passing time aside from marking the seasons. Those months, of course, do not line up with the actual months because snakes do not have or need calendars.
AN: Oh what a chapter… this chapter practically wrote itself though it's also gone through several re-writes as I cleaned it up and made Harry's battle with Wing Zero more believable. More specifically, I made the damage Dogstar received from Wing Zero more visible in the way it affected the suit since the custom buster rifle on Zero is known to be more powerful than that of Wing's as it was powerful enough to destroy at least one Colony in the series.
I know quite a few reviewers had been asking about Zero since the boys first made it into space and it was obvious that I was going to save Zayeed and I hope I managed to surprise a few of you by having Zayeed be the one to build the suit. And as I promised a few reviewers, I spared Trowa from losing his memories as I didn't want him to lose his connection to Harry since I think that would have broken Harry far more than it broke Quatre in the series. Plus there's the fact that Cathy is no longer in the circus and therefore not in a position to find and save an amnesiac Trowa.
Aside from that, we got to see Zechs attempting to be parental again, witnessed Harry pushing Zechs' buttons more than once, and once again saw Zechs' intelligence as he pieced together Harry's secret by stringing together all of the little clues and coincidences. The next chapter will show the fallout from Harry's battle with Zero and Zechs' discovery about Harry's abilities. It will also have the promised explanation for the how and why the pilots ended up back in OZ's hands and why Heero felt it was necessary to use Harry's oath to get him not to fight Zechs.
I'll probably update again tomorrow, since I'm still in such a good mood, but no promises as I still need to finish fixing the next chapter of Haunted. I'm also going to start updating The Wishing Door today with the edits I made the other day while I was working on that series as I want the slight revisions up before I post the first chapter of the third story in the series. So anyway, that's what I'm going to work on for now (at least until I have to deal with the expected fallout from the results of yesterday's unpleasantness). Until then… thank you again for all of your support and hope that this chapter lived up to everyone's expectations (since my satisfaction over the chapter is rather biased because I was the one that wrote it). ~ Jenn