Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Reprieve ❯ Chapter 20 ( Chapter 20 )

Title: Reprieve 20/?

Author: Lethanon

Archive: www.geocities.com/lethanon and www.raygunworks.net

Warnings: AU, Gundams, Zero system, evil doctors, angst, general madness. 2+5, 3+4. blah.

Chapter 20

"What the hell are you doing on my bridge?"

Dorothy arched her brows at Howard, then proceeded to ignore him to the best of her ability as she stalked over to the main computer and pushed the man there from his seat.

"I'm doing what needs to be done," Dorothy finally replied as she cracked open the front of the tower and inserted a new hard drive. A very large, complex hard drive. Her fingers found the correct inputs with a small amount of difficulty and discomfort, but she found she didn't mind a little pain when the rewards were so large. Besides, she was enjoying the sense of tension in the air.

As she slammed the console closed, her job done, and stood to look about at the faces staring coldly at her, Dorothy could no help but wonder why she bothered. Here she was, to all intents and purpose one of the enemy, and she was putting her neck on the line to help them, and all that could do was demand to know why she would even consider allowing herself onto their precious bridge. It was all rather disconcerting. She had never been treated well by her family, but they had the right to treat her that way. These people didn't even know her!

Suddenly feeling much less pleased with the whole situation, Dorothy strode past Howard with a dark scowl that she liked to think made him jump, left the bridge and instead of returning to her rooms as was expected of her made her way to the hanger where she had crashed the damned shuttle. Now that had been fun! Oh for more days under Miss. Relena's wise council.

Stopping dead in her tracks, Dorothy was more than a little stunned to discover said politician sitting in the pilots chair of their shuttle. There was no sign of the crew originally sent to repair the two ships and Dorothy assumed that meant they had finished the job. Which also meant it was probably time for them o go. She was not sure how she felt about that.

"Miss. Relena." It was not a question, merely a statement of acknowledgement.

"They're going to fight again," was the wavering reply.

Sighing heavily, Dorothy took to co-pilots seat and studied the would-be Queen of the World's profile for a moment. There were lines there that should not have been, dark shadows where lights should have shone. There was a darkness to the soul that should have glowed. It was all wrong, and only she ever seemed to see it. Only she ever seemed to care.

"Yes, they are." Again, merely fact. Acknowledgement of something nether of them could change. They sat in silence for a long time, neither wanting to break it, lost in thoughts they knew they should not be thinking but unable to stop themselves. Dorothy wondered often what went on in Relena's mind, but it was a minefield she doubted she would ever learn to navigate. There were too many secrets between them, between all people, to ever understand someone else fully, and Dorothy knew her own secrets were so hideous none would ever learn of them.

"Will they win?"

Dorothy didn't bother to look at Relena, not wanting to see that hard blue gaze leveled at her; not wanting to have to face the pleading she knew would be there, because if she did she might have to lie, just to stop the pain. Instead, she took a deep breath, grounded herself and plunged.

"I do not think so, no. But…I have said that before." I said those pilots would die at that base, but they're alive. I said Heero would not help you, but he has. I said my father loved me, but he didn't, nor my grandfather or anyone else. I said I would spy on you for them, but I've fallen in love with you instead. Yes, I've said that before. So many things.

"Is there nothing we can do?"

"You mean short of flying over there with no guns blazing and stopping your brother with nothing more than cute words?" Dorothy laughed like a crazed woman, which she supposed she was to some level. "No, Miss. Relena, there is nothing we can do."

But Relena, Dorothy realized, was far too quiet. Far too subdued, and when Dorothy finally turned to see what was happening she found those dark blue eyes, not filled with tears as she had expected, but smoldering and filled with a recklessness unknown to either of them.

"You're not serious?" That was a question.

"Aren't I"

"Relena, that is madness! They will kill us! Worse, they'll use us against the Gundams!"

Relena seemed to think about that for a long time which gave Dorothy a chance to get over her sudden desire to have a heart attack. She refused to take her eyes from Relena's face, already afraid of what she was seeing there.

"We cannot be used against the Gundams," Relena finally said softly, eyes narrowed, mind ticking so loudly Dorothy could hear it echoing around the cockpit. "Where are we?"

Dorothy pushed aside her first snide thought of `the shuttle' and thought hard about what she had seen on the bridge.

"We're near the L5 colony cluster."

Relena nodded, skin suddenly cold as she shivered, small Goosebumps appearing on the pale flesh.

"They could use a colony against the Gundams."

Dorothy gaped. She could not be serious, and yet she knew this was perhaps the most serious the war had been yet. The Gundams would not risk a colony; they were fighting for the colonies! Yet they were not a hundred miles from one of the largest clusters out there.

"Screw me pretty…" Dorothy whispered under her breath. Hands wrapping around the controls. "Are we going then?"

"Yes, we're going."

Dorothy resisted the urge to groan, knowing this was something that had to be done. She didn't bother to delay their departure by gathering their meager possessions. They didn't really need anything more than the clothes on their backs, and their dress uniforms were still stowed somewhere in the rear of the shuttle. Still…

"Wait five minutes!" Dorothy ran from the shuttle, through the bright and crowded corridors to the hanger where she scaled the scaffolding to Wing in moments. There, scattered about were all the parts they had been using to create multiple copies of the Zero system. Dorothy didn't bother to tell them anything, just grabbed a hard drive from among the mess, grabbed a few memory boards and ran back to Relena; ran back to a person who needed her and more importantly trusted her. There was work to be done.

Relena didn't bother to ask when the components were dumped in her lap, just sat in passive silence as Dorothy booted up the shuttle and sent a request to open the launch bay doors.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Boomed Howard's voice from the small speaker box, and then his image appeared on the little screen on the dash.

"We're leaving," Dorothy grinned. "We know we're only getting in your way, and there is a battle coming, so I thought it best to remove Miss. Relena from the fighting."

Howard paused, considered her words and then the doors were opening. Dorothy switched off the video link and piloted the shuttle out into open space.

"You know Miss. Relena, I've always thought you would look gorgeous in traditional Chinese dress."

"You think so?"

"Yes, indeed."

*

"Wake up."

Quatre groaned as the slender finger jabbed him in the forehead. Honestly, there were kinder ways to wake him up, weren't there? But Trowa seemed to find this way much more amusing.

"What's happening?"

"The Shadowdiver just arrived."

Quatre leapt out of bed, pulled a shirt on over his trousers and was still pulling his boots on as he hopped out the door after Trowa. Trowa was already two corridors ahead of him when Quatre had an idea. Running back to their room, Quatre grabbed his rifle from under his bunk, loaded it, attached the silencer and clicked the safety on. A spare set of bullets went in his pocket. He swapped his shirt for a grey singlet and then limbed onto his bed and opened the air vent. It was difficult getting himself up that high, but once inside his small stature allowed him to move quickly.

The scratch marks were all there, but they led to the Gundam hangar, not to the starboard side of the ship where one of the older hangers would be used to dock the Shadowdiver. Quatre was not sure why Howard was allowing them to dock with them at all, but whatever the reason he intended to be ready for anything. He did not trust the scientists that made the Gundams, never had. Hs heart told him not to. But he saw the necessity of their presence as he saw the necessity of Gundams.

Still, he saw little reason to let them live now. Howard and his men could build a Gundam just as easily.

Using his memory of the Peacemillion's corridors to navigate, Quatre made his way slowly to the starboard side hanger, glad that he had, what seemed a lifetime ago, decided to go exploring in search of the other pilots. He had almost lost Duo's trust that day, but today it might just save their lives. Quatre thought it a fair trade. You couldn't rtust if you were dead.

Once at the right hanger, he found his way into the cage; a storage rack above the hanger where goods could be caged so they didn't fly out the doors when they were opened. It was old, rusted and the twisted metal caging tore through his trousers and scratched his knees, but Quatre did not care. All that mattered was getting into position.

From the cage Quatre had a full view of everything below, including the men Howard had placed all around the hanger, hiding silently, guns ready. So, the old man was not just letting them come aboard after all. Quatre had the feeling Howard wanted his ship back.

He sat in cold silence as the doors opened and five men came out to meet Howard and Sally, Jax and Harry behind them. They spoke, but Quatre could not catch the words. What he did catch was a glimpse of Duo, crawling like a damned spider down the back of the docking capsule, breaking through the thin latex covering and inside the doorway that led to the Shadowdiver. Quatre shuddered. They really were going to take the ship.

Guns were being drawn; the hidden men were coming forward to force the scientists where they wanted them to go, but Quatre saw one of the men shift subtly. There was something in his clawed hand.

Digging through his pockets, Quatre replaced the bullets in his gun with tranquilizers and aimed, shot, hit his target. Even as the first was going down another was shot, and as the others turned to see what had happened they too were falling. Quatre wasted no time. Once all five were down he moved swiftly through the cage, breaking through a particularly rusted area to the capsule and using the hole duo had made hurried inside.

He encountered several guards on his way in. Three were unconscious, two dead, but the last was all too alive. Quatre simply hauled a knife from his boot and tossed it, knowing it would not hit the guy. But the man had to raise his hand to deflect it, giving Quatre the split second he needed to load and fire.

There was another dead body left in the corridor. It all seemed too easy.

*

Relena scowled darkly at the old emperor, head of the dragon clan. He was too proud, too arrogant, too sure of his beliefs to see the danger they were in. They were happy to die for the colonies; happy to destroy themselves if they had to, to ensure Wufei could fight unheeded, unchecked. That was all well and good, but Relena could not stand to imagine such a massive loss of life when it was completely unnecessary. There were other ways; other roads to take to gain peace. Why was she the only one who seemed to think them viable? Had mankind really moved so far beyond all reason? Was this the true fte of them all?

"There is no hope."

Relena could feel Dorothy's shock as a palpable thing beside her, but she could not bring herself to renege the statement. It was the only truth she knew. A peaceful place; the world she had dreamed of all her life was just that; a dream. There was no such place.

"There is hope, Miss. Relena."

Relena turned then to look at her companion, wondering, not for the first time, why this woman should chose to remain by her side, against all logic and reason, when so many others had fled.

"Where?" She asked, desperate. The Chinese emperor was merely the last straw in a long line of disappointment that began, she thought, with her father. Or perhaps her mother. It was hard to say. At least her father had fought for something before he died. Her mother just…followed.

"Right here, Miss. Relena," Dorothy replied and took her hand, raising it between them ad placing a gentle, chaste kiss on her knuckles. Relena stared at her hand for a long time, but didn't think she quite grasped what Dorothy was trying to say. Yet, there was an awareness of something between them, of a bond of some sort. An awareness of camaraderie, of suffering together. Perhaps that was it. Hope was what was found between people, when they were not separate, but together. Perhaps that was where peace was to be found.

"Do you think I'm a fool, Dorothy?"

"A fool Miss. Relena? Of course."

Relena was more than a little shocked, but Dorothy was smiling, sincere for the first time in…well, forever.

"But a fool upside down makes the world go round."

Relena just stared at Dorothy, not sure what the hell anyone was supposed to reply to something like that. She supposed it was Dorothy's way of saying being a fool was a good thing, but it was decidedly…odd.

"Are you a fool?"

Dorothy actually laughed at that, winking.

"Me, Miss. Relena? Why, I would have to be the Queen of Fools, would I not?"

Relena supposed she must.