Chapter 49
It was early morning on the land battleship Bonaparte.
And even true most of the crew was still fast asleep in their beds, there was one certain person that was awake, and at this very moment making his way down to the ship's enormous hangar.
Once down there Neo instantly took a quick look around to make absolutely certain that he was the only person down there right now, and when he was completely sure that there was nobody around to disturb or asking him any stupid questions.
The mask man began making his way over to where the monstrosity of a war machine, that was on board this ship. But even before he could get close to the insanely huge mobile suit he kinda felt like a tiny insect that was just waiting for a human to step on it.
"I still can't believe that bastard wants me to use this thing, even if it's not using any of it's many weapons, bringing such a thing in to the middle of a city, will still kill a ton of innocent people!" He thought out loud.
Just as the many still unknown faces which he had actually gotten quite familiar with ever since he had first hit his head, each gave him a highly disapproval look which frankly made him feel even more guilty about using the Destroy gundam.
But what the hell was he suppose to do about it. He might not like the idea of bringing this damn monster in to a city. But he knew that there was more then a few Logos supporters on this ship.
And if he actually began questing Lord Djibril's orders, he was pretty certain that just about all of the Bonaparte's crew, would gladly tell the terrorist leader about his doubts, which would most likely result in him getting a few extra air holes either in his head or somewhere else on his body.
Which was most definitely not an idea he liked, but perhaps it was preferable then helping that bastard to Djibril destroy who knew how many ZAFT-occupied cities in Eurasia.
But as tempting as making a whole bunch of trouble was to him, there was a more logical part of his mind that told him that doing something like that would not really result anything. He would just end up dead while somebody else would lead the attack instead of him, and if he was around he could perhaps find away to make sure that not to many people got kill by this damn thing.
So while still thinking about that he slowly ran his eyes up over the enormous mobile suit next to him. "I seriously hate this damn thing, whoever came up with the idea of building a mobile suit this big really has to be out of his mind!" The blond man grumbled to himself, while thinking about the reports he had read about this monster of a mobile suit.
And just the thought that this one machine had ever more weapons then a entire squadron of Windams put together, was more then enough to make a light shiver run down his spine.
"Man this seriously is as mess up as it can be" he said, then slowly turned around and began making his way towards the exit of the hangar, frankly wondering who exactly of the two Extendeds would be the best choice for the pilot of that ugly monster.
He knew that Stella was still highly unstable after everything that had happened to her.
Even with all the work that had been done to make the blond woman forget all about being capture by Zaft.
Especially that boy piloting the Impulse, seemed to be lingering in her mind for quite a while. Seeing as she had already mentioned to him more then a few times that a person with dark red eyes, had been hunting her dreams every night since she got back.
It had practically seemed almost impossible to get that boy out of her mind. It was kinda like the boy's image was determined to stay inside Stella's confused mind no matter what. And what made the whole thing ever more alarming was that she apparently didn't know if she was suppose to be friends with that red eyed person or if she was suppose to fight him.
But seeing as the memories of the Zaft pilot refused to leave her mind completely, there was little doubt that she was definitely a very unstable person to place in front of the Destroy's controls.
And it was not like Sting was any better seeing as he was still utterly fixated on getting revenge for Auel, even true he had no idea about who the blue haired boy was any longer.
Yet under his last treatment Neo had made the foolish decision to let the green haired man keep his deep lost for revenge. But now that he was giving it some serious thought he was frankly starting to really regret that mistake.
And according to the reports about what was going on around the ship, Sting did not speak about anything else, other then how he was going to destroy the Minerva and the Impulse.
And that deep fixation frankly made Sting a bad choice for the pilot of the Destroy too.
Yet unfortunately as luck would have it, he would have to choose one of them to pilot that monstrosity.
But the big question now was who of them was going to cost the least death and destruction once they moved out. But one look at how unstable both of them where, made it pretty obvious that a lot of people was going to die, no matter who of the teens where piloting the Destroy.
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Yet as Neo was trying so hard to decide what the hell he was suppose to do.
One of the very people he was thinking so hard about, was sitting quietly on her bed looking out of the window, at all the snow which was blowing around outside of the huge ship.
But even true most would properly say, that the weather looked quite nasty and that it would be very unwise to go outside on a day such as this. The blond haired girl actually enjoyed watching all of the white stuff flying around out there, and there was a small part of her, that was wondering just where exactly it was going and what it was going to see along the way.
She kinda wish that she could go along with it and just forget all of those scary things that was happening around her. Especially the nightmare which had awoken her so early was really hunting her mind right now.
For some reason she had been inside some kinda of weird black four legged mobile suit, and even as she was sitting so calmly there on her bed she could clearly see herself doing battle against an orange mobile suit, which she kinda felt like was really getting on her nerves, yet when she succeed in shooting the annoying mobile suit down. She just didn't know if she was suppose to feel guilty about it or not.
The overly confused girl just couldn't figure out if her battle with that orange mobile suit was just a dream or if it was something she had actually done at some point in time, everything was just so weird and confusing it was like she had lost the ability to distinguish between her dreams and reality.
So while the images of the red eyed boy and many of the battles that she had contributed in ever since the first time she got in to the four legged mobile suit continued rummaging hastily through her mind, she turned away from the window and reached out after a bunny like teddy bear that was sitting just beside her on the bed.
And after looking in to it's star shape green eyes for a seconds, she tightly hugged the fluffy thing taking what little comforter she could get from feeling it's nice fur like body against her face.
"Stella do not understand what's going on. Stella is so confused about everything" she told the blue and pink rabbit, while she cried softly in to it's fur, trying her very best to figure out just what in the world was happening to her.
But no matter how hard the deeply traumatized girl tried to ignore and get rid of the many muddling thoughts that was going through her mind.
The only thing the confused teen actually succeed in doing was give herself an immense headache.
Which after a little while served to make her lay down on the bed where she hugged both the toy rabbit and her thick pillow. Not that any of those actions did much to ease the deep pain she was in, her head frankly did feel like it could explode at any minute now.
And it was only after ten long minutes of twisting and turning in pain, that the grieving headache slowly started disappearing again and that she was finally able to once more drift of to sleep.
Yet seeing as it did not take many seconds before the troubled blond haired girl was quite far away in dreamland.
There was of course no reaction from her when the door to her room slowly flew open as Neo Roanoke stepped in to the small chamber where he immediately took a quick look around, until his worried gaze landed on the sleeping girl.
And even true it was a bit hard to tell in the dim lighted room. He could easily tell that there was a lot of things troubling the pure girl right now. The pained expression on her face, made it pretty obvious that the brainwashing treatment the Extendeds got on daily basic wasn't as effective on Stella as it had been, which meant that she was most likely starting to remembering more then a few things from the past.
And that was definitely not a good thing, if she really did remember everything it was very unlikely that they would be able to control her any longer. And if that where to happen Djibril would properly tell him to get rid of her, seeing as she had lost her usefulness.
"Damn it, I really do wish that I could honor my promise to that Zaft pilot and take the pure girl away from here. But there is nowhere else she can get the necessary treatments, and without those she won't survive very long!" He thought out loud.
Still watching the girl as she slowly turned her back towards him, then mutter something about being scared.
Which instantly made Neo narrow both of his eyes underneath the mask. "I might not be able to carry out my promise to that brat. But perhaps I can keep her away from battle by putting Sting in the Destroy. It's not like he is in the lack of fighting spirit" the captain said, while thinking briefly about the green haired teenage's violent behavior.
And with that decision made he slowly reached out and picked up the cover which he carefully brought up around the sleeping girl. And after standing there watching her sleep so calmly for a short moment or two.
He turned around and walked back out of the room, leaving the sleeping lass by herself.
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Meanwhile elsewhere on the ship.
Sting Oakley quickly reload his gun then once more took aim at the human like target in front of him.
Trying his best to imagine that the white figure with the two black eyes was wearing a Zaft uniform. And once he had a pretty clear image of that, he instantly pressed down on the trigger making a single yet deadly bullet leave the gun, which hit the forehead of the target.
Yet even true a shot like that would normally be something he would be very proud off. It did nothing to lessen the deep frustration he was feeling right now, he might be doing his best to hide it.
But he honestly found it highly bothersome that Stella or whatever her name was, had joined up with them not long ago. He frankly saw that damn bitch as the biggest competition for the honor of piloting the Destroy gundam.
He just didn't get why Neo was treating that weak crybaby with so much kindness, in his eyes she was nothing more then completely useless. And he seriously thought that the best thing to do with that damn weeper, was to throw her out in the cold snow, maybe a few hungry animals would get a nice little dinner out of her, that way she would at the very least be of some use.
"Damn it all, I'm seriously starting to hate that girl. Seeing how much she whines, I can't believe that she can even pilot a mobile suit. But at least if I have to fight along side her, I wouldn't have to worry about find some sort of diversion, she is just perfect for that job!" The green haired pilot said to himself. Not even close to realizing that the blond girl, he was thinking so coldly about had actually been a close friend, at some point in the past.
But with all of his memories of her being removed. She was nothing more then a enormous irritation that he frankly didn't want anything to do with, she could rot in hell for all he cared.
And with that in mind, he fired two more shots at the target, the first one hitting the right side of the face while the second one brushed up against the left shoulder then impaled itself in the wall behind the target.
Seeing that happening, the young man immediately got a pissed of frown on his forehead then glared down at the gun, like it was actually the small weapon's fault that he had missed his intended target, which had been the left side of the face.
For some reason he found it impossible to believe that he was the one to blame for the bad shot. And with nobody else present down there he was forced to take his anger out at the gun, which he did by dumping the weapon in the small trash bin, that was located at the entrance to the shooting range.
After that he went over to find another gun which wasn't broken, which meant that it did not take many seconds before he was again busy pumping his next target full of holes.
He did however only do that for a short while before he placed the weapon back where it belonged then left the target range, now heading straight towards the mess hall.
Utterly and completely determined to get some food down in to his stomach, before the entire mess hall could be fill up with fools he did not want to talk with if there was away for him to avoid it.
Pretty much everybody on this damn ship was really starting to get on his nerves.
And he had been seriously tempted on more then a few occasions, to beat the living daylight out of more then a few of the Bonaparte's crew members who had made the dire mistake, of breathing when he was nearby.
It wasn't long after that before the green haired pilot arrived at the mess hall, where the first thing he noticed was Neo sitting by himself playing solitaire and eating the bacon and eggs standing in front of him.
And even true most would properly not be able to tell with the ugly mask on.
The pilot of the Chaos gundam knew the blond man well enough to tell that he had a lot on his mind at the moment. And if Sting had to guess he would say that it was most likely about the upcoming attack on whatever countries in Europe that was currently supporting Zaft.
But as curious as he was about what was going on in Neo's mind, it only took a small second or two, before he decided that getting something to eat was much more important, then talking with the captain, he could always do that when he had gotten his hands on some food.
And when he saw the ship's chef place another tray of food on the counter. He instantly made his way over there and grabbed the tray, where he hurried moved both of his eyes over the meal to make certain that everything he wanted was located on the tray.
Yet the only thing that was missing as far as he could tell was some beverage and Sting knew that the only way to get that was from the vending machine standing over by the entrance to the room.
And not wanting his food to get cold, he hurried went over to the vending machine where he got a huge bottle of chocolate milk, which he shook a few times like one where suppose to, then he made his way over to the mask man and dropped down beside him, where he took a look at the many cards that was laying spread out in front of the captain.
"Hmm black seven on red eight" he said, then took a huge bite of his food, chewing it slowly a few times before he finally swallowed it, after that he took a mouthful of the chocolate milk, while watching as the mask man follow the suggestion he had just given him.
Neo did however not mess around with the cards furlong before he turned and took a brief glance over at the pilot of the Chaos. The two of them hadn't really talked all that much since Auel had gotten killed by the Impulse.
So the mask man was honestly wondering quite a bit just what exactly it was, that Sting wanted to speak with him about now, the green haired man had after all been really anti-social ever since their last battle with the Minerva. So it was actually a bit of a wonder that the Chaos pilot was suddenly in the mood to talk after such a long time of keeping to himself.
And while still keeping a close eye on the other man, the Windam pilot moved a few more cards around before he reached out and picked up a piece of well roast bacon from his plate, then took a small bite of the tasty food while asking the other man if there was anything he could help him with.
Hearing the mask man ask that Sting reached out after the chocolate milk and took another mouthful of the liquid.
"Well actually Neo, I was curious about who you a planing on putting in the Destroy? I seriously think that it would be a really bad idea to have that weeping girl pilot that machine" Sting said.
Not doing anything to hide, that it was really important to him to be chosen as the pilot of the Destroy.
Glaring slightly at the green haired man. Neo didn't really like the cold way Sting was speaking about Stella.
But he realized that it just wouldn't do much good to began arguing about that now. It wasn't like Sting was actually going to listen to him anyway, the Chaos pilot did seem absolutely determined to hate and dislike Stella no matter what he said to him.
And knowing that there was not one thing he could do about that, he slowly reached out and picked up three new cards.
"You don't have to worry Sting, you will be the one piloting the Destroy. With the metal state Stella is in right now. I don't really think she will be able to handle such a complicate machine as the Destroy" Neo said, while placing the Queen of Diamonds on top of the King of Spades, then took a glance up at Sting to hear his reply to what he had just told him.
But Sting just gave him a big satisfied smirk. "All right that's really great, I guess we got something useful out of her being capture by Zaft" he said in a highly pleased tone, then stood up and left the mess hall, before Neo had the chance to say anything to that cold remark about the girl.
So in the end he just throw the cards down on the table. "Man I don't think I have met a more cold blood person then him" he thought out loud.
But just as he had finish that sentence a cold feeling suddenly ran through him, as he saw another mask wearing man, giving him a creepy smile.
"What the hell...who the heck is that...that...guy?" He asked, while holding on to his head, trying his best to get these creepy images out of his mind.
He could for some reason easily tell by the angry emotions that was going through his body right now, that he did not like this guy, as a matter of fact, he hated the bastard with a passion.
There was actually huge part of him that was practically screaming for him to pull out his gun and just destroy the creepy mask man. And when he saw the weird man point his own gun at him, he almost jumped up from his seat.
But before he could do anything he was properly going to regret, the many images began slowly disappearing again.
That however did not mean he could just behave like nothing had happened.
He had a very tough time, getting some much needed air back down in to his lungs.
It kinda felt like he had been running marathon the last three days in a row. And the large amount of sweat that was running down his forehead, was almost enough to make him tear the mask off.
"I need to get out of here before anybody sees me" he breath out to himself, while he carefully got back up on his feet, then began staggering over towards the exit of the mess hall.
Still wondering who the heck that mask man was, and why the mere sight of him was freaking him out so much.
To be continued.
If you didn't get it. The person with the mask Neo saw near the end of this chapter, was Rau Le Creuset.