There is a lot going on that's not being picked up in reality, or nightmares being seen by the zero system with the women's story parts. The zero manipulation system is almost over for them.
Quatre's Colony
Quatre answered the phone on the very first ring, just waiting. "Crystalia?"
"A deal." She sounded odd. "Umm. I killed Superior. The women are strapped in the zero system. I have some control, but I don't have all of it. I share it. So."
So? "We just want everyone back safe," he said. "That's all we want. Just, what do you want in exchange for them?"
"Um? There's a place in . . ."
"This is Blue Ruby." Another voice came over the phone. "We have your women now, and most of the babies, and their minds are in our complete control. Right now, Noin is losing it a little bit. Relena's definitely going to be tapping out of reality a little faster. Just, do what we want, and we will slow down the zero system."
"Then what do you want?" Quatre asked. "We'll do whatever you want, just give us them back before you tear their minds apart." Oh, that wasn't good communication, and he knew it. Too panciked. "What do you want?"
"There are a couple of gundams out there right now, with RTL members, not doing anything wrong." Another voice. "Leave them alone, or we'll increase the zero system."
"As long as they don't hurt anyone." They'd be able to stop whatever RTL was up to later.
"No promises what they are doing. Uh? Um. Look! Just, we don't know the deal yet. Crystalia is still a little out of it."
A different voice than the last one. "You should go to an address. We'll text it to you. And. One of you can check it out. Where are you?"
A place to check out? This is really weird. "In the colonies."
"Oh, I have an address over there. I'll text it to you. You need to get the residents from there to . . . somewhere? We'll know if you move them."
"He won't know where to move them to."
"Well, it's a start?"
These are really the people that got everyone away from us? Quatre sensed no professionalism at all. There was no real plan. "I'd like to talk to Crystalia again if I could?"
"I'm here." It was her voice. "Double mutiny today. Tell Duo Maxwell to go to the address we give you. For each task you do, we'll give one hostage up."
"No, no, no, that is not agreed upon Crystalia!"
"For each task you do," Crystalia repeated firmly, "we will give one up."
"You just gave them such a little thing to do, Crystalia!"
"That is an order. If you don't, then what are you worth, ladies? Complete your orders."
"Fine, but there is no choice on who it will be. You also will not interfere if you here about any gundam activity in the area!" Another voice was trying to take command.
"Both of you agree with this? Fine, but the next task is definitely a bigger thing."
While they rambled on, Quatre was already texting Duo the place and the deal. At least Superior is gone. It seems like just a couple of rabble rousers are around Crystalia. I'm sure we can work with this.
Near Duo's Colony
"Okay. The colony wasn't that far away," Duo said out loud to no one in particular. "No idea what I'll find, but as long as I can survive, I don't care." Quatre made it clear with the messages that it wouldn't be smooth sailing, but there would be some form of sailing.
Not a pretty environment. Steel door. One light? Yeah, the funnest ones. The ones that probably had physical guards instead of a fun security system. Whatever. Let's just get through this. He knocked on the door.
He waited. He heard a familiar scrambling, but not from the door. He moved around some trash cans and found the cause. "Hey."
There were a couple of kids that stared at him until they tried to take off. One managed too, but the other stayed.
"I'm supposed to help the residents. Here. Can you help me get inside?" he asked. "Do you live here?" That look.
"Got moved here last week." He shrugged. "There's a bunch of us that got moved here. Are you the Junior Camp dropper?"
That kid was pretty skinny. Pale. "Yeah."
The kid went over to the door and played 'twinkle twinkle little star' and the door opened. "JC Dropper!" He yelled to them as he ran inside.
When Duo went in, his jaw wanted to drop. The hell is this? There were like thirty kids and five beds. They had stacks of clothes on the ground. Some were older, some were young. All boys. Duo rubbed his bottom lip with his hand. "Okay. Are you all the ones living here?"
"Dropper," some of them muttered.
"We are down to like 60 cans, and they aren't the best of the stuff," one said to him. "We ate all the actual prepared food."
"Yeah? I'm supposed to be dropping off some food, huh? Who's watching any of you kids?" Oh yeah, of course. The older kids raised their hands.
Oh. There was one girl in the mix he noticed in the back. He heard someone coming from outside too. Two older kids were returning with a bunch of wet clothes. They stared at Duo.
"Are you the JC dropper?" He looked like the oldest one there, maybe fourteen?
"Yeah," Duo lied.
"Then what's JC stand for?" the kid asked.
What did the first kid call him? "Junior Camp."
"Okay." The fourteenish year old relaxed. "Shoot. We are catching up with laundry right now, but I'll help in just a second. Lucas, you take your half and start hanging up in the back."
"Why are all of you boys except one?" Duo asked.
"Sue wanted to come with her brother. Crystalia didn't want to force the separation." He passed Duo.
"Okay. How long you've been out here?"
"Does it really matter?" he said to Duo. "Where's the drop?"
"One second." Duo left the entrance way and called up Quatre. "So? You got room for like 30 homeless kids, Quat?"
"What?"
"That's the people who live here." No adults. "All boys but one. Wasn't too hard to get in, turns out they are running out of food soon and expected someone to come with it."
"Okay, I'll try to get some sleeping bags, I don't have that many beds. I have some guest quarters, some can have beds. Maybe the younger ones."
"I would say the youngest is about nineish, and the oldest is about 14 or 15. I'd also just check for who came from the hospital. There are some big racks of medication in the back. They are going to need food too. Real food, Quatre, like lots of it," he commanded. "Lots of meat. Lots of veggies. Lots of-" He paused. "Not a single soul watching them that's an adult."
"I'll get it prepared. I'll let Crystalia know you already got it. We'll see what happens now."
"They better keep their promise, that is what better happen now," Duo said firmly. "This better not be chosen for me, because it's part of their scheme to make me relive my god damn fucking childhood through this!" Nope, too loud. Some of the kids were starting to look out. He just tried to smile at them. "Have a variety, there will probably be some dietary restrictions on some of them." He went back inside. "So? I'm a different kind of JC dropper. You all ready to go to a better place with better food?"
Yes, a lot of cheering.
"Do we get to go back to our places?" an around ten-year-old asked. "Are we joining with the others now? Is the safety shelter reopening?"
"Is the hospital reopening? We are getting lower on that medicine."
Hospital. Safety shelter. "Hey, I know. Why don't you all tell me where you are from? Then I'll see what I can do."
These kids were pulled from everywhere, from Earth shelters, to hospitals in the colony. Duo checked out the facts. All of the places they named were- he smashed a roach nearby. Close to shutting down or shut down.
He also found out what a JC Dropper had been. Junior Camps were an organizational distribution that helped out younger kids in disaster situations. RTL didn't have just STL but the Junior Camp Organization?
"Is anyone older coming too yet?" The oldest one asked. "I get that things are hard, but we've been out here for two whole weeks without even one JC Guardian. It was just another JC member who brought more kids. Then more. There isn't enough room, Sir."
These kids weren't born homeless, they got pulled away from the places they needed. He heard coughing in the back and watched another older kid go over to some medicine on a cabinet wall, grabbed some, and brought it over.
"I know, I know." The older one held up his hands in a stop sign motion. "We aren't supposed to be dealing with the medication, but there's no JC Guardian, and the last person who dropped off more kids said we have to start giving it out on our own without one."
There was a lot of medicine on that wall too. Duo went to go inspect it. It was all good medicine, nonexpired, and plenty of it. The cabinets from the medicine looked like they used to have holes in them for deadlocks. JC Guardians used to lock it all up. There were also first aid kids in the back. There was lots of extra soap and shampoo but one shower. From its state, it got used plenty, but the beds mattresses were clean. It was decent, just overcrowded. Five beds. Limited cabinets. This was a place fit for four older JC kids, and one adult. It even had a washer. In its day, decent. But now?
Small space, large amount of kids, good medicine. It looked like trying from both sides. Maybe someone was supposed to come soon, but that was off the agenda now. "Hey, oldest ones," he said out to the room. "Show me how to stack this medicine." This was going to take several trips.
He needed to take a proportionate amount of young and old each trip, so the youngest didn't end up alone figuring out problems. The first trip would be the youngest, to relieve some of this burden. He took the first group by the age, and by whose medicine he grabbed.
One of the older kids started to bring over the actual tabs of doctor signatures to prove they could have the medicine. Duo pocketed the ones he needed for the first load.
Luckily, they were just moving from colony to colony and not colony to Earth. Soon, they should be getting one of their friends back. He was happy they'd be able to get anyone back but? Please, let it be my Hilde first. She already went through this once, just let it end on her.
At the Destination
"This is definitely the place," Noin said. "We'll have to be careful with the gundams."
"It was a good thing we had them though." Hilde popped open the Deathscythe. It would have taken forever to get there otherwise. Mobile suits were built for speed, especially the version of the Deathscythe built for Earth she was driving. "Ow." Hilde felt a large pain in her arm.
She twisted her other arm. "That stupid zero system they tried on us, really hurt my arms. Eventually, her arm started to feel better. But, ow.
She got out of the gundam with Noin still in hers. "You coming?"
"Yeah, I'm just a little sore." Noin started to come out. "That zero system, really hurt my arms. The seating is a tight squeeze."
"Yeah, it was a squeeze and my arms feel pulverized." Still hurt. "What do we do now?"
"One of us should scout for them, and we'll get them someplace safe until someone else from the group can get them," Noin said. "You stay with the gundams, and I'll help the civilians." She looked at Hilde. "Ooh, your kind of bleeding."
Hilde looked at her arms. "Yeah, maybe that's why they hurt." She looked at Noin. "You are too."
"It doesn't look like too much. We'll get it bandaged up later. Just stay with the gundams. Take out if anyone sees you, these couldn't be any more illegal in this world now."
"I know. But? At least if someone sees them, they are the mobile suits that stood more for peace for people."
They heard sounds in front of them, and both of them drew closer to their gundams.
"Are you them?" A woman came out carrying a child while another one was next to them. "Are you from Burner Enforcers?" She seemed shocked. "You can't be them. What are you doing out here like that?'
"We are the ones who were sent for you," Hilde went with. "Noin is going to take you to safety." Hilde would stay with the gundams.
"You have your reasons." She brought her children closer. "I know things are really hard right now. I don't understand or know what's going on with everything, I just need help from anyone right now. I'm really sorry it took these lengths."
"So who's after you?" Noin asked.
"One of their father's," she said looking toward her youngest beside her. "He won full custody because of his status, even though the kids swore to everyone he was a bad man."
"He hit," her youngest said. "I had a bruise this big." He held both hands in a circle.
"They heard my plea thankfully in STL, transported me with a group called RTL, and then sent me to something called a burner group in a different division, and helped us two years ago." She looked at Noin. "Obviously, I can't go to the law."
"Because you are running from it," Noin said.
Hilde looked at the young boy. She looked at the girl in their momma's arms. They were clinging to her so hard.
"I don't wanna get caught, I don't want to go back to him," the girl said. "Please, he's not nice. He's really not nice. I had to wear the thickest hoses to cover so people didn't see." She was starting to cry. "It's supposed to be over, I thought it was all over."
"Yeah. I see, it's okay." Noin looked toward Hilde and nodded. "Safety. Now."
Hilde went back up in the Deathscythe and connected back to RTL. She tried to move some of the controlling back up. "Hey, we found them. Noin is taking them to safety. You need to have someone nearby come pick them up."
"We have someone already on the way. She's going to meet you at a certain hotel." They gave the name of the hotel. "After that, you can come back."
"Good. Let's go." Noin didn't discuss the goods or the bads of what they were doing. She just helped navigate the mother and her children through the woods. She knew the system wasn't perfect, and sometimes a high enough status could win anything.
Noin heard a bullet nearby. She reached for a gun, but remembered she didn't have one. "Get down on the ground!" Okay, yeah, stuff like this really cemented things in the direction of belief.
"I don't know how to use this very well." The mother pulled a pistol out of her purse. "It's for emergencies."
Good enough. Noin took it as she heard another shot. "Stay down." She moved backward some, trying to get a good eye for the shooter. Next time, bring a gun, Noin. She held it steady but detected movement and shot toward it.
After that, she took back off with the mother and her children. That shot might have kept them away. She didn't hear anything else, and she didn't detect any movement. What kind of idiot fires on civilians?
She helped them across the street and kept the mother close in her view. She wasn't going to lose them. She led them to the hotel she needed to.
A lady in a lovely dress with a lovely hat waved at them. "Oh, hi there. My name is Ruth T. Lee."
RTL. Cute way to get it across. Noin watched behind her. "Someone's shooting at her. Make sure you lose them."
She tipped her hat. "I am more trained that I appear. I will be super careful." She looked at the little boy's injury. "I think it's just a sprain. Don't worry, Sweetie. We have people to look at it."
"Thank you," The mother said. "Honey, get inside," she told her oldest. "Thank you very much too, Miss Noin. I don't know what we would have done without you. Although, you still shouldn't have come. Are you coming with us?"
"Just take care of those kids," Noin said. She needed to get back to the gundam.
Ruth T. Lee just stared at her. "You should really come with us. You shouldn't be dealing with guns, Dear."
Grr! "I am not in the mood for this."
"I insist you come, in," Ruth T. Lee insisted.
People were shooting and after them. "I don't have time for this!" She pointed the gun at Ruth T. Lee. "Get them out of here!"
"Ooh, a crazy one, okay. Nothing I can do about that." She held her hat as she jumped into the car.
Noin watched as the car took off briefly. The connections had fallen apart that RTL had used to keep people like that safe. It was their own fault.
She headed back through until she reached Hilde. "Let's head back."
Her and Hilde started to take off.
"Oh. Noin?" Hilde asked. "Do you remember which way it had been?"
"No idea." Noin used the communicator. "Princess Relena, we are having troubles finding the place that we need to find." Oh, that sentence was all over the place. "Which way is home, can you send data?" She saw some data feed toward her. "Okay, follow me to home."
When Noin and Hilde came back to the base, they didn't get the warmest greeting.
"Hey, what are you? Quit that!" Hilde tried to fight off Blue Ruby. "We are trying to help, quit fighting with me!"
Noin tried to hold her back. "You need to reign yourself in," Noin insisted. Her eyes caught a strange chord though coming from Wing Gundam around the corner. "What's that?"
"You spotted Relena's chord to the zero system." Crystalia's voice came from the Wing Zero.
What? "You can't put the Princess through that!"
"I'm not doing anything, I'm in here too," Crystalia said to Noin. "I am just watching you through the cameras and guessed."
Guessed? Noin grabbed Blue Ruby. "We try and help you, and this is how you repay us?! People out there are in real trouble, people you were protecting and now they are all being killed because you couldn't stop using the zero system!"
"Noin," Hilde warned her. "Stop. Noin. Noin!"
Noin looked back at Hilde. "They are harming Princess Relena! All of these crazy zero systems!" She grabbed her head and staggered. "Damn Treize, creating Epyon, and those scientists. Princess Relena only ever wanted peace in the Sank Kingdom. How could they do this to her?"
She felt something get on her back. "Zechs, I couldn't protect your sister."
"Noin." She heard someone's voice near her. "Noin. She isn't a princess. Noin? Where is the convenience store?"
Blue Ruby and Sapphire got Noin back in the gundam and strapped in. Impressive. Of course, to actually rescue anyone, she had to break that connection. Meanwhile, Hilde looked like a bear through the monitors Crystalia watched through being stuck in the gundam again. "A bear with a beret. A bearet." Interesting. "I made a joke."
"Good job, yes, Crystalia!" She heard cheering from Dorothy of course. "What a nice joke that had been. Ah, the only thing is, this isn't the time for a joke."
True. She watched Hilde darting her eyes around, her fists were very tight, ready to punch one of them out. "You are not getting me into the zero system again, not happening!" Hilde was very much fighting against it. She was a decent fighter. She managed to land a hit on Blue Ruby, and hit Sapphire where it definitely hurt.
Yes, she was definitely a friend of a pilot who made sure she knew how to fight. She watched her coming toward her gundam, trying to yank it open.
Oh. She got it opened. Ouch, that hurt. Crystalia felt herself getting lifted out. She tried to help Hilde out with that. "That didn't help you. I am affected by the zero system. What is around me, might not be around me at all. Same for you, Bearet."
"I've been there," Hilde insisted, "but I get the feeling you are the only way we are getting out of here. Where exactly are we again? Somewhere bad, I just fought two people off."
"I made a joke," Crystalia said. "Did you hear my joke? Bear with beret? Platinum liked it."
"I most certainly did, it was a very funny joke. I mean you, you made the joke, and it was funny," Dorothy said.
Hilde looked at the chord going to Relena. "I need to follow that."
"Don't follow it Momma Bear," Crystalia warned her. "Stay, Bearet. Zero system has you. It's dangerous."
Hilde winced. "I am out of the zero system, I know I am, I know I am!" She headed over the corner to find Relena. "You! You are trapped in the zero system!"
Relena just looked at her oddly. "No, I'm not. You are, Hilde."
Huh? Hilde looked at the chord behind her. It was hooked to her, not Relena. Maybe. Crystalia watched as Hilde started to flip out and Blue Ruby and Sapphire grabbed her and dragged her back. Was she still hooked up?
Relena called out around the corner, still dragging her chords. "Why is she still hooked to chords?"
"Oh. Mutiny," Crystalia said.
"But what are those chords?" Relena demanded. "Why was that woman in chords?"
"Crystalia." Sapphire's warning voice. "Be good. Back to your gundam."
"You'll need to release one of them soon. The pilots will beat your task. Make your next one's tougher if you want, but you can't break your word or you fail." Crystalia walked away. "I recommend Dorothy."
"But Dorothy betrayed us!" Blue Ruby complained.
"Hold it right there." Relena tried to get them to tell her more, when . . .
Mother? What was she doing there? Her eyes so happy, her hair all put up in a lovely bun. "Mother?"
"Relena," she said sweetly. "It's okay." She held her arms out. "You can come back to me now, can't you, Relena? Don't you remember me?"
"Of course, I remember you." What an odd question. She saw a vision of herself hugging her mother, telling her she would always be her mother.
"You left. You found out you were a Peacecraft, told me I would always be your mother, and left." She shook her head in disappointment. "How could I not come here? I lost my husband and my daughter to the military and politics."
What? "No, of course you didn't. I'm here. I know that father isn't, but I'm here. There's no reason you would be in RTL." She wouldn't.
"Why didn't you ever come see me again?" she asked. "Afterward. You still didn't come back home, Relena."
"I have seen you again, I'm sure of it? I didn't need to live at home, I was more concerned about helping the state of the world, Mother." Mother. "Did I really never visit? Did I show you them?"
"Showed me who? You've showed me no one. I've never met the man that so completely captured your heart." She looked so sad. "You cut me off, I no longer meant anything to you."
"I didn't. I." Did she? Relena grabbed her head. "I didn't do that. I would never just leave you forever. I was growing up, figuring out things, but I never . . ."
"You never left me?" she asked. "Did you come back to me?"
"Why wouldn't I? I'm sure I did." Surely she did. "Mother? Mother!"
"Do you visit your father's grave?" she asked.
"Yes. I'm sure I do," Relena said. "I visit many graves."
"Do you visit mine?" she asked.
"You're not dead, Mother."
"That's what it took to get a visit? Then come visit me. I'm gone."
"You are not gone."
"Of course I am. When's the last time you heard from me?"
When was the last time she had heard from her? When was the last time? "I? You couldn't be."
"Relena. A pilot lost their mom not too long ago. RTL is still hurting Crystalia. You're ignoring the facts."
"No, but." Not her. "You wouldn't be dead. You wouldn't be. I'm sure of it."
"You would have to visit me to know. You'd have to call to know. I miss you, Relena."
"Don't talk like that, you are not dead, Mother!" No, she hadn't been. "I'm sure you aren't. I know you aren't."
"Which one do we send?" Blue Ruby asked Sapphire. "Crystalia wants us to send Dorothy, but she was a betrayer. She left the group, she was on her way to the colonies and everything."
"We can't send any of the others. The zero system hasn't done much. It would look like we weren't serious. If they think we aren't serious, they won't help anymore." Right now, 42 kids would be saved from one task alone. It was a drop in the bucket to what they needed.
"I don't know. Relena is in the next room talking to nobody like it's her mother. It could be hitting on her finally," Blue Ruby offered. "Then again, she is helping with things. I don't think she can help much longer if we leave her like that. We should remove her so she'll stay useful."
"Yes. Noin is losing it some too," Sapphire noted. "She's not there yet. Hilde is too wild, she almost pinned us down for good. Neither of them can see what's wrong yet. If she hadn't had after effects of the zero system, it could have ended bad for us."
"What about Mei-Lin and Middie? They have been really quiet lately." Blue Ruby went over to their gundams. "They might be excellent, they have little past to even remember involving the pilots. They both didn't join until they were supposedly pregnant."
"Middie's a fighter, she can be taught better. Mei-Lin wanted to help with cooking. She genuinely wanted to help. It's all falling apart."
"You know, Mei-Lin never even got a word of encouragment to hang on by Wufei. He couldn't find her. That's how easily breakable those two are." Blue Ruby smiled. "Unlike the others, she won't be able to find herself on the internet anywhere. Nobody knows her. She was no one. We can't let her go, she could be really loyal to us."
"Same for Hilde. Nobody knew her, and she's a really good fighter. Her and Noin both just saved someone without even being told to. Only thing wrong with that is obvious." Sapphire walked around the gundams. "This would work. If we give them proper ID's to let them wander around, this would work."
"What?" Blue Ruby asked.
"We won't destroy their minds. We won't even bother their intellect, let's focus on the brain where it matters." Sapphire smiled. "This'll work! I've got it." Yes. "We will give one back, just as promised. We'll give the one that we don't need anymore." The pilots would decide her fate. "We'll give them the key to find the others. Crystalia." The system was almost done with her anyway.
"Crystalia?" Blue Ruby groaned. "She knows all of the places that we could possibly go! She's the creator, the one who did everything. Are we going to destroy her mind?"
"Not completely. We'll let her guide them. Without Superior, we can end the zero system after this. They should already be starting, Crystalia called for emergency procedures. The more the pilots are seen to the average member? The pilots won't kill anyone, they swore it a long time ago. We can make it an order for the others not to kill or hurt them." Sapphire remembered that. "The pilots won't know who's bad or good. Using the ID's. They will just be looking for their family like crazy. They'll just keep searching and searching. One by one, clearing out everything involved in RTL's messes. Making sure the innocent survive this mess, before it's all fully dissolved."
Yes! She got behind the communications. "New Orders From Crystalia from her second in command, Sapphire! No one is to kill or hurt 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, or Zechs Merquise, Millardo Peacecraft AKA Relena Dorlain's brother! That is an ultimate order, and if you break it, you will be a failure! You will find the closest way to end your life and take it." She heard the basic agreement of mission accepted of course. No disagreement, like always. "We need to start making ID's for each group entrance they can be allowed into. We'll send them with Crystalia."
"I guess it's manipulation at it's finest," Blue Ruby sort of agreed. "They are helping their worst enemy. What tasks do we give them to get the rest?"
Blue Ruby still didn't understand. "We don't have to give tasks. We give them Crystalia, ID's, orders to RTL, and they can play puzzle searcher all they want. They'll be coming everywhere to find them. Even when they find them, we'll make sure they won't go easily."
Oh. That setting. It was a setting Sapphire didn't like to use, but it was commonly used. Especially with new people. "I'm tired of all this senseless death. I thought it was bad when we were sending unborn children and five innocent women to their death. That's nothing now, so many more have died. We need this to stop." A couple of days after the adjustment of the zero system they experienced. Then they'd use it.
"They need to get them though through tasks. It's an order." Blue Ruby was always much more conditioned than Sapphire. "We have to, it's Crystalia's order. I'm not failing. Besides, even if they don't remember them, it's fair if we give them back. We have to. It can be big, but-"
"Okay." Part of the order. "Let's get started. I want them to have the information within 24 hours. Pull the women from the zero system, and follow emergency procedures Crystalia had laid out."