Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Magicians of Gundam Wing ❯ Damn Sprites! ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5: Damn Sprites!

Heero would never consciously admit that he kind of missed the other guys, but he did note that it seemed a little quiet. But he wasn't really thinking about that, because at the moment he was busily hacking into the L1 Colony central computer to look for evidence of rebellion.

This really is his idea of a vacation.

He'd been wandering around the Colony for two days, getting a feel for the station. Heero could always tell when the natives were getting restless. Even when everyone seemed to be happily going about their business, there would be this undertone of disquiet that always gave the rebels away. To anyone else, it would seem like there was nothing going on, but Heero was suspicious. There was just something in the air.

So he broke into an unoccupied government office in the Central Administration building and started hacking.

“These people,” Heero muttered, “need to instruct their employees on choosing passwords. This is way too easy.”

He rooted through files, looking for the telltale signs of rebels at work. As usual, he found stuff. He collected information carefully, both to hide the traces of his activity and to prepare a report for Lady Une.

Quite suddenly, the terminal lost power.

“What the hell?!” Heero stuck his head under the desk to see if he had knocked something loose. A little grey face peered back at him. “Shit!” Heero leaped backward, knocking the chair over.

A sprite crawled out from under the desk and grinned at him impishly.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Heero demanded angrily. “And quit messing with my terminal. Turn the power back on!”

The sprite made a face at him. “The Man with Many Faces still doesn't ask nicely!” it chirped.

Heero reached for his gun.

The sprite ducked back under the desk.

Heero groaned. “I'm s…s…sorry,” he finally creaked out. He took his hand away from his gun. “Will you please turn the power back on?”

The sprite peeked out. Heero held his hands up. The sprite came all the way out and grinned at him again.

“The Man with Many Faces came to a new place. We have never been here before.”

Heero righted the chair and sat down. “Really? Why not? Haven't you marked anyone who came out into space before?”

“Where is space?”

“Away from the Earth.”

The sprite blinked at him in confusion.

“Yeah, whatever,” Heero muttered. He pointed at the terminal. “Can you turn it back on now, please? I was right in the middle of something.”

The terminal beeped and the screen glowed back to life.

“Thank you. Now can you go bother someone else while I finish?”

“We like the Man with Many Faces. Other people are boring. The Man with Many Faces does interesting things.”

“Maybe you haven't marked enough people.”

The sprite tipped its head to one side and giggled.

Heero rolled the chair forward. “Scoot. I need to get back to work.”

The sprite stepped aside and then stood on tiptoe, gripping the edge of the desk with its little hands. “This is strange work.”

“I'm just keeping the universe safe for mankind.”

“And sprites?”

Heero chuckled. “Yeah, and sprites. So quiet now and let me finish.”

The sprite remained at his elbow and watched Heero type. Heero finished generating his report and copied it onto a recording disk. Then he opened a secure channel and called Lady Une.

“Preventer HQ, this is Preventer Zero.”

“Preventer Zero, report.”

“Preventer HQ, I have information on possible rebel activity on L1.”

“Is trouble imminent?”

“No, I think we have a few months.”

“Aren't you supposed to be on vacation?”

Heero frowned. “Do you want the information or not?”

“Of course. Ready to receive download.”

“Thank you.” Heero started the download and glanced down at the sprite. It was watching the screen with bright green eyes. “Is this making any sense to you?”

The sprite looked up at him and blinked. “Where does the voice come from?”

“Lady Une is on Earth. Her voice is coming from the radio.”

The sprite stared at him blankly.

“Download received. Now go on vacation.”

“I am on vacation.”

“Yeah, right. By the way, Vice Minister Darlian is on her way to L1. She may be there already. She seems to have an uncanny knack for figuring out where you are. That day you guys were missing, she barged into my office insisting you were dead because she couldn't `feel' you. She's got some kind of built in Heero Sensor Tracking System.”

“Shit.”

“Have a nice vacation.” Lady Une broke the connection.

“Like that's gonna happen now,” Heero grumbled. He stared morosely at the screen. “I gotta find a place to hide.” He looked at the sprite. “You should go home now. I don't want to have to explain what you are if Relena finds me.”

The sprite giggled and darted back under the desk. Heero looked under the desk, but the sprite was gone.

“I have a bad feeling about this.”

Heero left the Administration building as boldly as if he legitimately worked there.

Heero hated the feeling of being watched. The sprites never gave him that feeling, but the mere idea of Relena being on the same Colony had him looking over his shoulder every other minute.

“This is stupid!”

Heero fiddled with his armband, eyeing the passing people. He picked out a likely looking fellow whose general height and build matched his own, slipped into a nearby alley and twisted the armband. With a faint sense of relief, he continued down the street looking like someone else.

He hadn't gone two blocks when a crowd slowed him down near the old Alliance Headquarters. A limousine was pulling up out front and people began talking excitedly as none other than Vice Minister Relena Darlian exited the vehicle.

Heero stopped in his tracks. “Damn it all to hell!” he muttered under his breath.

The crowd parted to let Relena through, but she walked slowly, her eyes examining the people. Heero had to suppress the urge to back up. He felt something tugging on his shirt and looked down. A sprite stood beside him, one little hand gripping a fold of his shirt, the other pointing up at him. It had a wide grin on its face and its glowing green eyes were sparkling.

“That's not what you look like, Man with Many Faces!” it tittered.

Heero felt the armband twisting around his arm on its own just as Relena's eyes swept in his direction. “Oh, crap!”

Relena saw him and her face lit up. Heero immediately darted away.

“Heero!” Relena cried.

Heero turned up the first alley he passed and ran for his life, swearing all the way in half a dozen languages. Green eyes glowed at him from every dark crevice he passed and tittering laughter echoed at him from all sides.

“Meddling little buggers!” he growled. “This is not funny!”

The sprites clearly disagreed.

“Go back to Earth!”

Heero ran until he was well into one of the more poorly maintained sections of the space station. While station integrity was never allowed to deteriorate to dangerous levels, internal appearance was not always a high-priority item on the mechanics' schedules. The residential areas where the laborers lived resembled the slums in Earth cities. It always amused Heero that mankind had brought class inequities into the Colonies, but right now he was more interested in the fact that parts of the slum were uninhabited. He went to ground in the basement of a rundown building that had a sign out front indicating it was slated for reconstruction.

Some squatter had painted `Welcome' in bright blue letters across the `No Trespassing' sign and the fence intended to keep people out had more holes in it than cheesecloth.

No one appeared to be living in the basement at the moment, so Heero took up residence.

“How am I supposed to hunt for rebels if I've gotta hide from that damn woman?!” Heero flopped down on an old mattress that some previous squatter had left and stared at the ceiling. He could just imagine what Duo would say: There's no one around and nothing to do. Let's get naked! At this particular moment, Heero was ready to concede the validity of that logic.

“How does she always find me?” he grumbled. “She's as bad as the sprites!”

Heero stayed in the basement until hunger and thirst could no longer be ignored, and then he crept out during station night, sticking to the shadows like a very large rat. Woe betide the person who interfered with his quest for nourishment. He was armed and extremely irritated.

He ended up at a coffee bar, munching pastries and sipping espresso while he watched the news on the bar's video screen. The news was mostly about Vice Minister Darlian's unexpected visit and what it might mean. Heero scowled at Relena's image on the screen. He didn't want to think about Relena, especially now that he was armed, annoyed and wired on caffeine and sugar.

There were four other people in the bar: another loner like Heero; a young couple sitting close together; and the barrista, who appeared to be sleeping until someone sauntered up to the bar to place an order.

The loner, a jittery young man who probably should not have been drinking espresso at three in the morning, judging from the way his hands were shaking, kept talking back to the video screen.

“Peace is a pipe dream!” he cried out. “Queen Relena is promoting a fantasy!”

“She's not Queen anymore,” Heero muttered.

“What's that?!” the loner exclaimed. “Vice Minister? Queen? What difference does it make? She still thinks she rules us! But peace will never last!” He gulped the last of his espresso and skittered over to the bar for a refill. The barrista came alive just long enough to fill his cup and then slumped back down onto the bar. The man scurried over to Heero's table and plopped down in an empty chair. “You look like a man of the world. You know what I'm talking about.” He took a quick gulp from his cup. Heero wondered how he avoided scalding the inside of his mouth. The man pointed a shaking finger at Heero and dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “There're folks putting together an army right now. They got mobile suits; maybe even Gundams! There'll be fighting for sure, you mark my words! No one's safe anywhere.” He gestured wildly at the screen. “Queen Relena's just inviting rebellion by coming here. We don't need her telling us what to do.” The man emptied his cup in a quick gulp and staggered back to the bar for more. “Just wait and see!” he exclaimed, while the zombie-like barrista filled his cup again.

Heero glanced at the young couple. Although they were cuddled together appropriately, their eyes were following the other man as he flitted about the room, gesturing and talking wildly about the coming uprising. Finally, the young woman shifted slightly and spoke.

“You shouldn't talk like that,” she said calmly. “You'll frighten people. Nobody wants war.”

“Yeah,” her companion agreed. “You should shut up.”

The loner turned to stare at the couple and his eyes suddenly went round. “You!” he exclaimed in a shaking voice. He backed up abruptly and tripped over a chair, landing on his butt.

Without a word, Heero pulled his gun, walked over to the young couple and clubbed them unconscious. He pointed the gun at the suddenly wide awake barrista. “You didn't see anything!” The barrista nodded vigorously. Heero went over to the loner, grabbed him by an arm and dragged him to his feet. “Come with me.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“To Vice Minister Darlian, and you better not piss me off, because I'm already ticked that I have to go see her because of you. Jerk!”

“W…Why?! What did I do?”

“You know something, so now you can tell the authorities all about it. And shut up! I don't need you conscious, you know.”

The man sagged in Heero's grip and offered no resistance as he was dragged through the dark streets to Alliance Headquarters. A guard out front came to attention as they approached.

“I need to see Vice Minister Darlian!”

The guard lifted a skeptical eyebrow. “I don't think so.” Then his mouth fell open as he found himself staring down the barrel of Heero's gun.

“Just tell her Heero Yuy wants to drop something off.”

The guard fumbled for his communicator. “There's some guy here named Heero Yuy to see Vice Minister Darlian.” A surprised look crossed his face. “At once, Sir!” he barked into the communicator.” Come with me,” he said to Heero, and led the way inside.

The guard took them up to the second floor and let them into an office. “The Vice Minister will be right here.” He stepped out and closed the door.

Heero shoved his prisoner into a chair. “Sit there and keep shutting up.”

The man sank into the chair like a pile of wet laundry. His face was pasty white and he was exhibiting facial ticks, in addition to his shaking hands.

They didn't have to wait long. Relena barged into the office barely five minutes later, showing every sign of just having thrown on whatever clothes were handy. Her usually neat hair was in a rather mussed braid hanging over one shoulder.

“Heero! I'm so glad you're here!” she exclaimed. “I thought I saw you earlier, but…” She frowned at him unhappily.

“It wasn't me,” Heero said brusquely. He pointed at the man in the chair. “This fellow has information about possible rebel activity here on L1. You should have him thoroughly interrogated.”

The man moaned faintly.

Relena looked at him. “Who is he?”

“Don't know. Don't care. Pack him off to Preventer HQ and let Une deal with him. I'm on vacation.”

Relena looked back at Heero. “All right, I'll take care of it. But now that you're here, perhaps you'd like to stay?”

Heero paled. “Ah, no thank you, Vice Minister. I have other plans.”

“It's the middle of the night.” Relena stepped closer to him. “It's been so long since we talked. We could just sit and have a cup of coffee together.”

“I've, ah, already had enough caffeine today…”

“Herbal tea, then.” Relena stepped right up to him and looked into his eyes. “There's so much I want to talk to you about.”

Heero stepped back. “Some other time, perhaps.”

“That's what you always say.” She gripped his shoulder. “I want to talk now. How can we get closer if we never talk?”

Heero swallowed. “Um… Well…”

A sprite appeared next to Relena. It grinned wickedly at Heero and opened its mouth wide, revealing little sharp teeth. It leaned toward Relena's hand.

“No! Don't!” Heero shouted. He grabbed Relena and shoved her away from the sprite. He jumped between them and turned on the sprite. “Don't you dare mark her! Get the hell out right now!”

The sprite stuck its tongue out at him.

Heero scrubbed a hand over his face. “Please do not mark Miss Relena. Please go away. You can bother me later.”

The sprite grinned broadly and disappeared. Heero turned around and discovered Relena standing right behind him, looking over his shoulder with an astonished expression. The prisoner was hiding his face in trembling hands.

“What was that?” Relena asked breathlessly.

“Nothing!” Heero lied.

Relena just looked at him.

Heero tried to look innocent. “It's not important.”

Relena just looked at him.

He tried stern. “It's secret Preventer business.”

Relena just looked at him.

He gave up. “I can't tell you.”

“Why not?”

“It really is a secret.”

“But I suppose all your friends know.” She gave him a hurt look. “Why won't you let me be a part of your life?”

“It's too dangerous. You might get hurt.”

“From that… creature?” She pointed at where the sprite had been.

“No, they're not dangerous. Just troublesome. But Preventer business is dangerous. You're an important member of the government.”

“I'm not that important,” she pouted. “You just don't like me.”

“That's not true.”

“Yes it is.” Her lower lip quivered.

He put a hand over his face. “All right. I'll have breakfast with you in the morning, but only if you promise to go back to Earth with this guy.”

A big smile spread across Relena's face. “Agreed! But promise this won't be the only time.”

Heero suppressed a groan. “I promise.” He pointed at the prisoner. “You better lock him up. And maybe sedate him. He's pretty wired.”

“I'll have him attended to right now.” Relena stepped to the door and issued orders quietly to the guard outside. The guard came in and took the prisoner in tow. When he was gone, Relena turned back to Heero. “Now,” she said brightly, “what shall we do until breakfast?”

“Sleep!” Heero said immediately. “I've been up all night.”

Relena sighed. “Very well. I'll show you where you can stay.” She took him to a room which Heero suspected was just down the hall from hers. “Sleep well,” she said and kissed him quickly on the cheek.

“Good night.” Heero closed the door and locked it, praying that Relena did not have access to the key. “I'm getting off this station, whether she goes back to Earth or not.”