Zeta Gundam Fan Fiction ❯ Harbinger of Darkness ❯ Berlin ( Chapter 13 )

Disclaimer: Don't…own…Gundam!

 

 

 

On the autobahn again. This time, however, Duo Maxwell felt none of the relaxing effects of cruising steadily over the miles of highway between Berlin and Vienna. Not when there were roving bands of terrorists loose in the European countryside. He had been lucky the smelter hadn't fined him for losing that truck a month ago; if he hadn't been with the Union, they probably would have found a way to make that horrible experience his fault.

To have been forced to pay would have pushed his family's budget to the breaking point. Even with the bonus Hilde had got for the designs of that new MS and the fact that no longer had to pay for Talia's education, they were just now getting back to being fully in the Black.

Fucking, no-good, terrorist bastards, he thought, clenching the steering wheel tightly. Didn't they know that what they were doing was no way to fight the Federation government? Hell, Duo didn't even really think that there was a way to fight he Federation government effectively. Terrorist acts would only lead to the Titans' stepping up their own repressive acts and increase the problems the `freedom fighters' were struggling against. On the other hand, though, peaceful protests never really worked either. Yeah, you got people mobilised alright, but mobilised for what? Action? Violence? That only lead to terrorism again and that whole self-destructive line of thought.

And now his adopted daughter wanted to get involved in that. Duo shook his head. What the hell had he been thinking, letting her go out like that? Jesus, he'd practically signed her death warrant.

But then…he had been the same way when he was her age. Idealistic. Hopeful.

Foolish.

He wasn't quite so political as she was, but when he heard about the threat to the Federation the Zeeks posed, and what they had done to their neighbouring colonies, he had wanted to fight (not that he had had much of a choice: he was in the ROTC in college). Fight he had too.

Fortunately, not many of the people he had been close to had died in the War, but nearly everyone had been injured or maimed in one way or another. He was no exception, he thought as he stared out into the grey world that was his reality now.

What would he do if something like that happened to Talia?

The Berlin exit came up with startling speed. Almost home, he thought, shaking off the imagery of possible fates that could befall his would-be revolutionary daughter.

Yet his relief evaporated as he got closer to the exit ramp. Traffic flow had been virtually halted as cars in not only the two exit lanes, but all six lanes of the autobahn. What the hell?

And then he saw the reason for the delay: about two dozen cars ahead of him, there was a massive roadblock marked off by cones and flares. It was a security checkpoint, so the massive temporary roadside marker declared.

Christ's nuts, Duo thought with a sigh. Out of all the bullshit stunts for the cops to pull—out of all the stunts the illustrious Berlin Police Department had pulled in the five years that he'd lived there—this one took the cake. Stopping all traffic not only into the city, but also around it? That was ridiculous.

Idly, he switched the radio over to a news feed. Maybe he could find out what was the reason for the holdup.

`…as local authorities and the Titans continue to sweep the area for insurgents,' the announcer was saying in rapid German. `This latest sweep of a major metropolitan area comes on the heels of last month's capture of key members of another European pro-colonist terrorist cell in Nuremburg. As the Titans continue to work to keep the Federation free from insurgents who would seek to bring about another catastrophic war, they are reminding citizens that all cooperation will be greatly appreciated and should expedite the sweep and allow for a return to normalcy.'

Duo stared agape at the radio. It took the horn of an irate driver to bring him back to his senses and continue to inch the truck forward along the congested roadway. The Titans were getting involved? He shuddered, knowing all too well what might happen if those bastards did anything more than a cursory check of his family's background.

Suddenly, the ride home seemed that it would take much, much longer…

 

`Mama!' Gene Maxwell cried as he burst through the door. School was out for winter holiday and he had been over at a friend's house. Hilde, who had just got home from work herself and was preparing to enjoy the silence of the house and unwind on the couch for a while had expected him to be gone much later and was surprised by his sudden appearance.

`What is it?' she asked, noticing the excitement in his voice. `I thought you and your sister were planning on staying until nine.'

`We were, but like, while we were over at Claus and Marie's there was this warning that came on the TV telling everyone to get to their homes on account of there was going to be an inspection this evening.'

She furrowed her brow and got up from the couch to walk over to him. `You could have just called and waited for me to pick you up. What do you mean, “inspection”?'

`I mean that the Titans are doing a house to house search in our neighbourhood and rounding up anybody they think might be a terrorist! Ain't that cool? I hope they come by our house.'

Hilde felt the colour drain from her face.

`Mama?' Gene looked at her. Apparently, he had noticed her fear after all. `What's wrong?'

Rather than list of the all too numerous things that were wrong with a Titans crackdown like this, she only shook her and asked, `where's your sister?'

`Anni `n me were racing back home. She was right behind me a minute ago.'

`You left her outside?' Hilde was fighting to keep her voice under control, but by now the excitement on Gene's face was giving way to fear and incomprehension.

`Sorry, Mama. She was like right behind me, I swear. We both left the Weinberger's at the same time, but when we got to Westphalia street, like I was ahead of her by a good twenty metres. Then I turned on to Schroeder and left her behind. What's wrong Mama? She should be here soon, I swear!'

Hilde bit her lip. Schroeder was only a block away; if they were racing, Annika should have been here by now. What if something had happened to her? Was that likely? Were the Titans pulling people off the street and questioning them? Would they question a child?

And what would she do if they came to the house asking about Talia?

`Gene, I want you to go up to your room and lock the door,' she snapped.

`Why? What's wrong?'

`Did you hear what I said?' her tone was half-concerned mother and half-non-commissioned officer; and odd mix of her personalities, but nonetheless, highly effective. `Get upstairs and don't come out unless I tell you to. Now go!'

Gene didn't question her again, but bolted for the stairs as fast as his legs would carry him. Hilde waited until she heard the click of his door lock, then she made haste up the stairs herself, ducking into the room she and Duo shared. She stopped on his side of their bed and stuck her hands under the mattress, feeling around until her hand closed on the cold metal butt of his nine-millimetre. It was foolish to take the weapon, the rational part of her mind screamed as she flicked off the safety and checked to make sure there were rounds in the clip, especially with armed Titans out on the streets `inspecting' the houses of friends and neighbours. The stories of their ruthlessness spread quickly among civilians(some people were even going so far as to say that the Titans were responsible for the deaths of the people on 30 Bunch); Hilde herself had no idea whether or not they were true, but while there was the possibility that they could be, and if her daughter might be in the hands of people like that, she would take no chances.

Thanking God for the coldness of Berlin winters, she pulled on a pair of sweats and a heavy jacket where she could conceal the weapon. She stopped at Gene's door and shouted, `I'm going out to find your sister, Liebschen! Remember, don't open the door for anybody.'

`I won't!' his voice muffled through the wood.

`I love you!' she said. Touching two fingers to her lips and pressing them to his door, she ran down the stairs and out into the streets.

 

Duo sat behind the wheel of the megahauler and glared down at the Titans officer who would inspect his vehicle.

The Titan was unfazed by the glare, and directed some of his comrades to look over the truck to make sure there was nothing out of place (it shouldn't have been hard, there was nothing on the truck! It was almost funny how both times he had been stopped had been on his way back from dropping off his cargo).

`Looks all clear, sir,' one of the officer's subordinates called from the top of the bed.

`Can I go now?' Duo asked in a measured tone. He was frustrated and beginning to get more than a little worried, but he knew better than to get hostile.

`No,' the officer said simply, `get out of the cab.'

`Get out of the cab?' he echoed incredulously, `why the hell for?'

`I'll ask you one last time; get out of the truck.'

`Fine,' Duo said, unfastening his seatbelt and climbing down to the street.

The officer looked him up and down, sneering at his greasy dungarees and splotched white shirt. Duo felt the waves of condescension from the Titan, but even though he had six inches on the soldier and was more heavily muscled, what the other man lacked in physical stature, he more than made up for in authority. Duo had been in the military long enough to know that command counted for a helluva lot more than brute force any day.

`Present your identification,' the officer said at last.

When Duo did so, the Titan ran the card through a scanner that was linked back to the database in Luxembourg which would be checked against the main archives in South America. The scanner showed that he was in fact who he said he was and he expected the officer just to wave him on just as his comrades were doing to detainees in the other lanes of the checkpoint, but the soldier surprised him.

`Says here you're a former Federation regular.' That condescending sneer returned.

`And?'

`“And”, why aren't you still in the army? You too good to help serve the Federation? Or were those Zeeks too much for the likes of you?'

Duo bit back his rage. That this punk would make such statements to him…he was fighting tooth and nail against the best the Duchy of Zeon had to offer when this little snot was waiting to get his driver's licence.

`I asked you a question, shitbag,' the Titan snarled. `You gonna answer me or what?'

`I fought at both Solomon and A Baoa Qu, and if you don't believe me, you can look the shit up yourself.'

The bold response caused the younger man to arch an eyebrow. It also drew piercing glares from several other Titans in the immediate vicinity. `Well, the members of the old guard do have balls. What do you guys think of that?'

A small crush of soldiers had gathered around the two of them. Duo's eyes darted back and forth sizing them up. He didn't want to fight because he knew that these thugs wouldn't want to play fair, but he had a sneaking suspicion that even if he had not given such a saucy retort, things were going to get violent as soon as they found out that he had been a regular. Titans and the Regular army were generally like oil and water, but when they did mix, the results were messy to say the least.

`Look,' Duo said, iron in his voice, `I just want to get home. It's been a long day and my family's waiting for me. I fought my battles and now you all are fighting yours. Let's call it a day.'

A left hook brought him to his knees.

`Yeah,' one of the grunts said with a smile, `we'll call it a day, but first, we'll extend a gesture of Titan hospitality.'

With that, five soldiers descended on him beating him with fists, nightsticks, and the butts of their automatics. Duo fought back as best be could and had he been able to go one on one with any of them, he would have trounced them soundly. As it was though, every time he started to get the upper hand on one, another would blindside him and send him reeling. Even a couple of female officers who had been drawn from their posts by the commotion got in a few choice hits. Within minutes he was a bloody mess left lying on the roadside.

After it looked like he wasn't going to be able to be of any more sport, most of his assailants went back to their duties. The officer who had originally called him down from the truck to begin the whole humiliating ordeal, however, walked over to his sprawled form and prodded his bruised ribs with a metal tipped jackboot. Duo, teetering on the edge of consciousness, winced in agony. `Times change, cocksucker,' he thought he heard him say.

The officer then turned away from him and began walking back to his post. `Berlin Operations HQ?' the he said into his personal radio, `yeah, this is Unit 436 out at the southeast autobahn checkpoint. Listen, I need you to put out a yellow alert on one Duo Maxwell and family. Uh-huh. The guy's retired Federation army; it could be fun to fuck with him and we need to catch somebody, right? Make a public example of our power. Just make up some generic bullshit reason—suspected ties to terrorists or something. Yeah. Lemme know how it works out. Over.'

`You sick fuck!' Duo howled.

The Titan stopped and stormed back towards him. Pulling out his sidearm, he jammed the weapon's maw deep into Duo's temple. `Bang,' he snarled. `Just know this, shitsack, I'd just as soon kill you as look at you, but if I did, it'd mean an ass-load of paperwork. Your type makes me sick, you fucking coward. All the Federation regulars do is sit around with their thumbs up their asses while the Zeeks and wannabes like the AEUG start mobilising, but you're even worse than the average Fed. Look at you. Barely thirty and already retired working some bullshit job at a gundarium alloy smelter like a little bitch. No wonder you got your ass handed to you when you fought us.' He holstered the gun and spat in Duo's face. `Somebody get over here and throw this trash in a ditch where it belongs!'

 

To Hilde Maxwell, the block and a half between her front door and where her daughter was supposed to have been seemed to take an eternity. Her mind was racing faster than her feet as she kept thinking of all the possible fates that might have befallen Annika.

Where in the hell was Duo? What a day for him to have to make that run to Austria; he might not be back for another two hours. By then…

She shuddered, lying to herself that it was only the cold.

Instead of dwelling on unpleasant hypotheticals, she forced herself to pay attention to her surroundings like a good soldier. Snow dusted the edges of the street, which, although in a residential block, was eerily silent. Of course, there would be few people actually outside in weather like this—the sky overhead was that peculiar shade of crude-iron grey that marked a late afternoon storm that threatened to visit even more snow upon the city. Her breath came in frosty clouds and the air felt like daggers going down her throat.

Where was Annika?

Then she heard the voices.

Hilde affected a casual stroll as she walked towards the sounds, willing herself not to run and see if the sounds had anything to do with her missing daughter. Just up the street, though, she spied a group of Titans were clustered about, talking and smoking within several feet of an armoured patrol vehicle.

Deciding to avoid looking suspicious if at all possible, she only threw a cursory glance at the party. It was brief, but enough to let her know that they hadn't surrounded a small girl. No, if anything they were just a bunch of grunts out bullshitting instead of carrying out the search orders that had no doubt been issued them by a haughty and careless officer. They were intimidating enough just by being there under the pretence of a dragnet, but if they could shirk duty for a few minutes, why the hell not? They were Titans for chrissakes.

But the sight of a civilian out on the streets was enough to call them back to duty. `Ma'am!' one of the called in a voice that made her heart skip, `You want to stop for a minute?'

Though veiled as a question, Hilde could tell that whatever slim hope there had been of getting through this without involving the paramilitary organisation had just evaporated. She stopped obediently and faced him as he and his comrades approached from the other side of the street.

`What seems to be the problem here?' the lead Titans soldier asked, `you know there's a curfew tonight—all civilians are supposed to be in their homes.'

`I know that, sir,' Hilde replied nodding so deeply that it was almost a bow (it rankled, but damned if she was going to let her pride be reason enough for her to be delayed more than was necessary). `I was out looking for my daughter. She was visiting a friend's house but she's terribly late coming home.'

Another soldier spoke up sounding strangely empathetic for a Titan. `What's the description of the girl? If she was out after the curfew was declared, she may have been picked up by another squad.'

`Why don't you tell us your name, and hers too, that way we can find out if anything has happened to her?' the first soldier said. `I'd hate to think something would happen to good Earth people just because the brass got a bit edgy about a terrorist cell. I mean, this is fucking Berlin; the assumption that former colonists could even infiltrate a city like this is not only laughable, but it's a big waste of our resources.'

Hilde nodded, surprised by his affability. It was the sign of a poor soldier, but, well, it was definitely interesting to see a member of the monolithic, brutal Titans organisation acting almost…human.

Still, the weight of the gun in her coat pocket reminded her that she could not take them too lightly. Human they may be, but humans were capable of very despicable acts, and although this particular squad might not have been the one to apprehend her daughter, it was not unreasonable to assume that another had.

The Titans soldier led her to the armoured patrol vehicle and sat down inside. He activated a computer monitor and flipped through a number of programmes until he came to the one that he was looking for. She was somewhat offended when he explained that it was part of the communications network that would allow him to speak to other Titans patrols—it was similar to the programme that had been in use during her term of service—but then she remembered that she looked like a simple house-frau and so let her indignation slide.

`If you could just tell me your name and your little girl's, I'll be able to see if anyone else has spotted her.'

`Thank you so much,' she said, relieved, `my name is Hilde Maxwell and my daughter's is Annika.'

The smile that had been on his face slipped for a moment. `Maxwell?'

`That's right. My husband is American and he moved over here after he retired from the army after the last war. It's funny how many people take a pause when they hear that foreign sounding name, but I—'

`Your husband was former Federation army? And your name is Maxwell?'

`Y-yes,' she said, her voice quavering as she took a step back. Something was not right. Her hand slid towards the gun…

In the time it took for her to turn and make ready to bolt, he was on his feet, setting the chair spinning, his arm at his holster. She flew from the back of the vehicle, two bullets just barely missing her. Wishing to God for two good legs, she ran as best she could down the sidewalk, throwing herself behind the hedgerows of a neighbour's yard.

As she crawled madly through the snow, she heard the soldier shouting to his comrades: `That was her! That was the fucking terrorist bitch!'

Terrorist? Hilde thought risking being spotted or shot to jump the high wooden fence that separated the front and back yards at this particular house. Why would they think something like that about me? If anything, they should want to capture Talia rather than someone named Maxwell. Why me?

…And what about Anni?

Then another thought hit her: if they were looking for someone named Maxwell, what would stop a squad from going to their house? What would stop them from finding Gene and doing something horrible to him?

She had to get back and help him…but what about Anni? Anni was still out there somewhere, and she may have already been caught. Could she find her in time? Would she be able to save Gene?

Hilde's mind raced and again she found herself wanting Duo to be there. She was all for that female empowerment stuff and not until she got married would she have ever admitted to herself that she would ever need any man's help, but she just couldn't fucking be in two places at once like she needed to right now!

She wondered if the Titans were going to try and pursue her…wondered until a torrent of machine gun fire began punching massive holes into the fence she had just jumped over. Her breath caught as the once charming plywood structure was reduced to splinters and a trio of fully armoured Shock troops stormed into the yard.

`Jesus!'

`Ma'am,' the lead Titan said, his voice muffled by his face obscuring gas-mask (the glowing infrared goggles and metal helm completed the dehumanising effect), `you will throw down your weapon and come with us.'

The hell I will! Her mind screamed. Aloud; `What have you done with my daughter? What will you do to my son?'

`If you come with us, I can guarantee their safety.' She imagined a sadistic grin forming behind his mask when he added, `if not…'

Hilde's knuckles were white from the grip she had on the pistol, and her hands were shaking in barely constrained rage, fear, and helplessness. The feeling, whilst truly horrible, also brought with it a strange sense of familiarity that made it seem infinitely worse. Unbidden, memories of the battle of A Baoa Qu flooded back to her; the battle against the mobile armour, her battered guncannon captured and held inches from death at the maw of the beast's mega particle cannon. Then Gene…Gene…she had begged him to stop, would have done anything to save him, to change places with him…

Tears rose to her eyes. Bitter, angry tears. Futile, sorrowful tears. Harsh, burning tears. She was caught. Her kids were caught. God only knew where her husband was.

 

`Execution duty?' Kiyone asked incredulously.

`Yeah, that's right,' Major Ramona Cassio, her superior said. `The higher-ups want you to take this opportunity as a test of loyalty. See if you've still got what it takes to be an officer in the Titans.'

Kiyone shook her head in utter disbelief. `Are you serious?' It had only been three weeks since she had been transferred back to Earth thanks to her nephew's industriousness, and she had hoped her records would be cleared soon and she'd be able to catch up with Ray as soon as possible, but this…

Major Cassio scowled at her. `You think that this is some kind of fucking game here, lieutenant? What you were involved with isn't exactly the kind of shit we want the public to know about and if we can't be sure of your loyalties, what reason should we keep you alive?'

The office they were in was on the fortieth floor of the Berlin headquarters of the Western European Titans Branch. The building itself was quite impressive, dominating the steel and glass skyline of downtown with its majestic curving architecture. Major Cassio glared at Kiyone from behind a desk positioned with its back towards the convergence of two floor-to-ceiling windows the effect was somewhat overpowering because she was somewhat silhouetted against the background of washed out whiteness that were the sun-gilded clouds of the winter sky. Overhead halogens diminished the effect somewhat, but still not enough to leave Kiyone feeling completely comfortable even though the other woman was but three years older than she.

Ramona Cassio twirled an expensive-looking pen through her supple bronze fingers, considering. `You should be dead now, by all rights,' she said abstractly, `all of you should. This was piss poor damage control and those bastards damn-well know it.'

That meant that maybe Mihoshi, Johnny, and the others had also managed to escape unscathed. Kiyone breathed a subtle sigh of relief with that knowledge, although she still knew that her current situation was thoroughly less than satisfactory. Less than satisfactory, less than reasonable, hell, less than sane too, come to that.

But she knew that Major Cassio wouldn't back down. Here was a woman who'd fought first hand against the Zeeks at their most foul, going up against the Lily Marlene and her contingent during the G3 gas attacks that had made Cima Garahau's name infamous even amongst her own side. Ramona had also been wounded in action on the North African front when her GM's armour had been compromised and shrapnel wounds had scarred two ribs and ripped into her intestines and uterus. Some would say it was a miracle that she'd survived at all; she, however, saw only the loss and damned the Zeeks to the blackest pits of hell because of it.

Thus,

`Today, in a raid on a suburban district of this city, we were able to round up several dozen Colonist sympathisers. You will carry out the interrogation and execution of five of these captives to redeem your loyalty and to remove the probationary status on your record. Do this, prove yourself to us, and you can be reinstated into the Titans proper. Fail to do so, and I will personally pick up what slack 30-Bunch command left loose.'

The twirling pen came to a sudden stop and eyes as cold and dark as an adder's locked on her. Kiyone felt a chill rake her spine as the major asked in clipped tones, `is that understood, Lieutenant LaVans?'

`Ma'am' Kiyone replied and snapped off a salute.

`See to it then,' Ramona Cassio said as she swivelled her chair to face the steel-coloured sky.

Kiyone shuddered as the door to the office clicked shut behind her. This was all so wrong. First Thirty Bunch and now this? How stained with blood must her hands be before she could see her husband again? What would Ray think of her after all of this? What had she allowed herself to become?

But orders were orders. She took the elevator down to sub-level five where the armoury and interrogation cells were set up. What else could she do? Defy the will of a ranking Titans Officer? Kiyone could think of a few other faster ways of committing suicide, but not many. And as soon as this probationary status was removed…

Was that worth this, though? Again, what would Ray think? In a similar situation, what would Ray do?

She snorted at that thought. Ray was with the Federation regulars, he didn't have to worry about sociopathic officers with genocidal vendettas the way she did. Not as much anyway.

Her reverie was broken when she approached the armourglass cubical at the end of the corridor. She told the attendant what her orders were and presented her ID. This was necessary both to gain access to the interrogation room and, in her case, to borrow a firearm from the armoury since she wasn't legally allowed to carry one anymore.

The attendant scanned her in, and walked to an unobtrusive white door at the back of the cubical, unlocked it, and disappeared inside. Kiyone could only guess that Major Cassio had already informed him of what type of weapon she was to be assigned and how many rounds to issue. Interrogation/Execution was a pretty standard practice so there had been no need for the major to give her much in the way of specific instructions in that regard. It boiled down to make the fuckers sing and then put a bullet between there eyes; how you got from point A to point B was a matter of personal discretion, but just so long as you didn't waste too much of the State's time in doing so. Kiyone had never done it herself, but she had sat in on several and once had to do clean up after them as PT.

The attendant emerged from the back room with a matte black Desert Eagle. `She said you've got five to do today, so I gave you two clips.' Deagles of this calibre held seven-rounds per clip. They must be feeling quite generous.

…or expect her to be.

The weapon was slid out of the cubicle through an armoured drawer located just above the guy's desk. She took it, the room key, and the two magazines, thanked the attendant and crossed the threshold into a corridor of soundproof green doors.

Cassio said that this raid was done out in the suburbs, she thought idly before stopping at door 0107, I hope Hilde and Duo didn't have to witness anything like that.

She sat at the steel chair in the room and tried to get a feel for the place. Off-white, slightly stained porcelain tiles on the floor and halfway up the walls. The ceiling and rest of the walls were stuccoed and a sickly shade of green. She assumed that there was heavy insulation behind the walls, and indeed, tiles on the floor aside, the acoustics in the room were terrible. As soon as the door shut behind her the absolute stillness of the air hit her and she felt as though she had suddenly been wrapped in a suffocating quilt.

The table before her was stainless steel, cold through the sleeves of her service greatcoat from the constantly whirring AC. It was as if everything about this room was designed to be as uncomfortable as possible.

At that thought a mirthless smirk crawled tentatively across her face. Everything in the room was designed to be as uncomfortable as possible, both for inquisitor and victim.

She propped her elbows on the table and steepled her fingers, staring intently at the door. The attendant in the cubicle would have alerted the guards to bring the first victim post haste, and within moments that door would open and she would be one step closer to her freedom. The irony was not lost on her, though, to get free herself, she would have to permanently take away someone else's freedom.

She sat and vacillated behind a mask of impassivity. There were cameras in here and she couldn't risk betraying herself to the attendant, the warden, or—worst case scenario, but one that was all too likely—Major Cassio. Otherwise, she might find herself on the wrong end of this table pretty damned quick.

When the door finally did creak open a few moments (hours? lifetimes?) later, it was an extraordinary act of will on her part that she refrained from flinching in surprise. `First one of the day for you, Lieutenant,' a grizzled-looking guard said in a quavering baritone. Not that he was nervous, just that the discoloured scar that stretched the length of the right side of his neck had probably been a wound that had done something to his voice box. Another scar was visible higher up on his left cheekbone. Most likely wounds like that meant that he'd been injured during the ground war—maybe Odessa or California—because those soldiers hadn't had the face shielding helmets those of the Cosmo Arma had needed.

He turned and forced the first victim into the office. Kiyone, for all her training and all the hatred that she bore for the terrorist and Zeek-wannabes, actually felt the blood drain from her face when she saw the prisoner. Cuffed at the wrists with a chain extending down and looping about another pair of manacles around his ankles, the kid—he couldn't have been more than fourteen, for God's sake!—stumbled into the room. If the guard noticed her reaction, he gave no notice, but offered Kiyone a congenial smile as he walked in after the prisoner and handed her the dossier with his information. Silently, he turned, walked out, closed the door behind him. The click of the lock had a grim finality to it.

Her hands shook a little as she opened the manila folder and thumbed through the information that had come from the processing department. Name: Roland Sera, age: thirteen, Johannes Fokker Primary School. Arrested for…

`You were caught with explosives on you?' she asked in shock as she looked up at him.

He hadn't taken a seat, but had stood in the far corner of the room and watched her as she read over his file. At her question, he started, but nodded gravely.

`What in the fuck is wrong with you?' Kiyone cried. `You're thirteen years old! You ought to be playing video games or some shit, not…not…'

Her tirade dissolved unfinished and she shook her head despondently. `Why would you do that?' she asked at last.

The kid, Roland, met her pleading eyes defiantly. He was scared, sure. The Deagle on the desk in front of her and her blue and black uniform ensured that anyone in his right mind would be standing in the same knee-knocking terror that he was no doubt willing himself to stop right now. But more than just being frightened, he…there was a strange resolve about him. Something that reminded her so much of herself back in those days in Old Tokyo when she had been caught by the Military Police after stealing a toy so that Kou might have a decent Christmas. Misato sure as fuck wasn't going to get him anything…

That, though, had been another lifetime ago. Another world. One where the crimes were petty and the worst you got was a slap on the wrists. Here, some twenty odd years later, she was the enforcer of the status quo, and this kid had done far more than swipe a toy.

`My…' the kid said at last, fighting to keep his voice from cracking, `my big sister was killed by you fuckers two years ago! Anya never did anything to anybody! Why would you take her from me?'

Anya Sera, Kiyone thought and flipped through the dossier again. There she was. Sixteen year old Confirmed Karaba insurgent caught and executed shortly after hijacking a megahauler on the Berlin-Vienna route two years ago last month. Hardly `not doing anything to anybody' but then again, the kid's parents had probably tried to shield him from the truth. Keep him from wanting to join up with the faction or another like it by keeping him ignorant of it.

Of course, it was obvious how much good they had done.

It was impossible to place the emotions warring over Roland's face when she looked up at him again. She thought she caught everything there from suicidal rage to naïve incomprehension to flat out disbelief. Not to mention the ever-present fear that permeated them all. It hurt her to the core to see him like that, him, a child, scarcely all that much older than Duo and Hilde's twins.

She sighed deeply and was about to ask him who it was that he was working with when the kid bolted. Leaping the best that his shackles would allow, he slid across the floor under the table and popped up behind where she sat. He threw his arms about her neck and managed to catch her in a choke-hold. Kiyone managed a gargled cry, and tried to stand, but the kid's lithe frame was all muscle and he yanked her back down into the metal chair, locking his feet about one of the legs to keep her from rising again. Kiyone tried to scream, and reached for the gun on the table, but the distance suddenly seemed to be miles rather than feet.

`Let me go!' she gasped. `Cameras…they're gonna see…'

`So long as I can kill one more before I go,' Roland snarled in her ear. He sounded suddenly like a full-grown man, and the strength of those lanky adolescent arms was unbelievable.

Kiyone LaVans felt her ability to fight back fading. Felt her desire to fight back fading. Maybe this is just she thought through the haze of fading consciousness. If I die now, I can at least do so with something of a clean conscience…to kill a child…Ray would never forgive me…

At the precipice of consciousness, she was dimly aware of the door flying open before her and the guard shouting something. Roland shouted something too, but it was all but unintelligible for her. Then there was a flat boom from the far side of the room and Roland's cord-like arms suddenly turned to water and slid away from her neck. The chair of the cuffs caught her at her throat, but dimly, groggily, she was able to slide it and the suddenly flaccid arms off of her. She coughed repeatedly, each a body-wracking tremor, but soon, she found herself swimming back towards the light of rationality.

`Lieutenant?' The guard was shaking her roughly by the shoulders.

`I—I'm okay,' she said. `The kid just caught me by surprise is all.' Her hands moved to her throat and gingerly probed what were sure to be bruises by this time tomorrow.

`I'll be damned if I'd've thought the little son of a bitch had it in him,' he murmured looking at the small form as it lay in a spreading pool of blood. One shot had entered just above the left eye and splattered greyish red mush all about on the tiles. Kiyone looked down at what had once been Roland Sera and felt her throat tightening for an altogether different reason.

`Thank you, sergeant Bazhukov. If you could send for someone to clean this room out before the next prisoner comes?'

`Ma'am,' the other Titan soldier snapped a salute and left down the corridor. His footsteps echoed for a few paces, then quickly grew louder as he returned at a brisk pace. `Lieutenant, are you sure that you'll be okay?'

Kiyone nodded and motioned with her hands for him to go on about his task. After he left, she could no longer keep the tears from spilling over and down her cheeks. She didn't sob, though, for which she was proud, (far be it for her to give whomever was watching the camera anything so overt a reason to suspect anything), but looking down at that boy…

He was only thirteen! she wanted to scream. It wasn't fair that his life should have been cut so short like that!

But…he had been carrying explosives. Even a child such as him could have cost many other decent innocents their lives had he planted them on a commuter train or in a crowded park or…

The tears on her face were hot.

 

Hilde Maxwell fiddled with the seam along the edge of her prosthetic ankle. It was the only exposed seam that there was—otherwise the craftsmanship was absolutely superb. Other than it being one or two shades paler than her actual skintone and that one seam, no one who looked at it could have possible told that it wasn't real.

It was a bad habit she had picked up over these past few years: whenever she was lonely or worried, she'd sit down with her artificial leg bent at the knee and fidget about by poking and prodding the seam. It only made the line deeper and more noticeable, but it didn't stop her from doing it.

Especially not now, now that she was in a detention block somewhere in the heart of the Titans' Berlin headquarters.

They had said something about interrogation procedures that would begin presently. How long ago had that been, though? An hour? Two? Four? There was just no way of telling in this room.