14th Dump of it's Kind.
Mar. 10th, 2007 12:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kuribohEnd of the month now....*sniff*
Helicopter blades sliced through the air, sending dirt and dust flying. The large transport hovered over the pad for a few moments before slowly setting down. Hunched over on the ground, numerous people in long coats ran to the opening hatches.
Several marines jumped to the ground, and helped several more lift the medical gurney from the chopper. Five gurneys were taken from the chopper. Five gurneys, each carrying a badly injured TITAN.
The people in the lab coats rushed the marines inside the base, near shouting orders on what to do. Once in the medical ward, technicians began pulling bits of the armor from the soldiers. Bloodstained bandages gave credence to hastily mended wounds in the field. Gunshot wounds, knife cuts, and several broken bones littered the bodies of the lot.
__--||--||--__
In a dark room, nestled deep in the interior of Gibraltar, two forms stirred.
"They'll be coming for you, you know that, right?" whispered Weis.
Yeah. They won't find me though. The pale blue hologram flickered to life, illuminating the pair of humans. Who am I looking for?
Berdan shifted closer to the desk, and turned on the monitor. "One moment."
"Once you exit this system, Enzo, you won't be able to come back. Vanhar wants this project erased, and that includes you," Weis said.
Enough with the dramatics, sheesh.
"This is serious, Enzo. And we're running out of time. Get through to this contact," Nicole swiveled the monitor to face the hologram. "The faster the better. The log reports that 316, 336, 346, 366, and 376 made it back, though badly injured."
"The Vice Admiral will probably try and get the doctors to medically induce death. He doesn't know that their immune systems will reject any of those attempts. I figure after that, he'll use the pods."
Do those even work? That's a bit sci-fi, y'know.
Nicole tapped a few keys on the computer, "It's been proven to work twice before. On subject Jaques Johnson, and an unidentified individual."
The blue body looked down. This is really it then, isn't it? It's finally over?
"Not if we can help it. Now get going. You have your contact."
Don't do anything I wouldn't do, Doc.
The projector faded to black as the artificial intelligence left the system. A moment later, the monitor on the computer was turned off.
"If we make it through this, Enzo, you got it."
__--||--||--__
Enzo worked his way through the numerous computer systems. Hacking into personal databases was second nature to the construct, so it was easy to put out a message. With some tweaking to his code, Enzo attached a fragment of himself to the message, and sent it out.
__--||--||--__
From: 13375|<i115@gmail.com
To: not_a_virgo@serpenttail
Sub: Hey Sweetcheeks ^_~
Attachment Included
Open File?
Kazée shifted in the little white wicker chair on the patio of a quaint little café as she turned the page of the local newspaper. On the table in front of her was a large cup of fragrant Chai Tea, prepared as a latte and her open laptop.
She shifted again, still adjusting to the pull of natural gravity here on earth, and vaguely wished she was back up at home. Some legal business regarding her (now very) late Grandfather had brought her down to the small state - On the upside, she was now the apparent owner of a rather large villa nearby the Strait of Gibraltar. Fancy that.
She sighed and folded the newspaper, putting it on the table in favour of her latte, sipping that gently so as not to burn her tongue. She'd dyed her hair black for her stay, and wore large sunglasses to disguise her unnaturally bright eyes. There was no point in standing out as a Coordinator in the middle of an OMNI-controlled area.
She leaned back in her seat, pulling the drink into her lap, cradling it gently with both hands. it was a bright clear day without a cloud in the sky, and she was glad for her sunglasses - coordinated or not, too bright was too bright. she closed her eyes and inhaled the salty air as deeply as she could, for it was a scent she found herself greatly enjoying.
Between the lazy breeze, the warmth in her hands and the calm bustle of the world around her, Kazée found herself beginning to drop off until a little beeping from her laptop floated into her ears.
Kaz groaned as she sat up and replaced her drink on the table. She wiggled her finger over the touch pad to re-start the monitor and clicked on her e-mail. There was one new message.
~~
From: 13375|<i115@gmail.com
To: not_a_virgo@serpenttail
Sub: Hey Sweetcheeks ^_~
Attachment Included
Open File?
~~
She raised an eyebrow at it, but the virus scan turned up negative.
'Oh, fuck me,' she thought to herself and hit the 'enter' key to open it, 'I can just hack it out again....or get Micheal to do it.' Something quickly downloaded off the attachment and onto her desktop, opening itself a moment later.
To say she was surprised would be a sore understatement.
Why aren't you looking fabulous today, Miss Virgo? Enzo beamed once the attachment finished loading. I like the hair. Though, those glasses do not go with that top.
The pixilated image of Enzo moved about the screen, as if pacing. Miss Virgo, I shall get down to business. I'm Enzo, and a mutual acquaintance of ours needs your help. Consider this a mission proposal. Your reward would be immense gratitude on the behalf of my creator, as well as a potential ally. A very strong ally.
The mission is close by, actually, so there isn't need to travel. Should you accept, I can get you into the location, and back out. I can potentially provide a means to withdraw without pursuit, though that all depends on how slack security is. You'll need to attain a vehicle, preferably a large truck. There are many at the location for you to take.
What say you?
Kazée raised her eyebrow at the little personality that appeared on her computer screen, smiling at its sheer gall. The smile dropped, however, as he explained the mission to her.
She reached over to the side of her computer as he continued, switching on the built-in microphone. By the time he finished, she'd sat back in her seat, holding her drink again and chewing on her bottom lip.
"Well, my dear," she said after a moment, "I'll need a bit more information on the nature of the mission, as well as the location - what can I expect, will I need help, where the weapon stores are....you get the point. More importantly, I need a time frame for this. My business here is done, so I can get on this as quick as you please, but with the details you've given me, I can't be much help."
She reached forward to the computer again, this time, sliding something into a disk drive. "Could you download yourself onto the drive I just inserted? I can stick this in my palm pilot, and you can talk to me as I walk." In response, the blue man nodded, and the program closed. A status bar appeared on the screen, showing the progress of the movement. When it was completed, she withdrew the drive and shut off the laptop. Then she reached into her purse and pulled out a Palm-Pilot, and inserted the disk in there. Knowing the program would work itself, she pulled out a cellphone headset and pluged it into the jack on the side of the pilot, and sipped it in her purse.
"There we go," she said, when all was done, grabbing her latte off the table, "Now, tell me all."
~~
"You're fucking kidding, right?"
Uh, no? If I were kidding, I'd shamelessly flirt with you some more. I don't know the reasoning behind me being sent to get you for this, but I know that my survival depends on this as well.
Enzo waited patiently while Kazée went about her abode, gathering what supplies she would need. Likely to be numerous troops, though I can trigger an alarm and have them at the other end of the building. The medical wing, however, will be trickier, especially if they've been moved to phase two.
"What's phase two?"
No idea. I just know it's bad. With the alarms going off, the mobile suits will be on high alert, with those not on patrol starting up. The TITANs probably will be unconscious, though if we can pump enough GG into them, they should wake up.
"An awful lot of ifs and maybes," Kazée muttered as she headed out of the house.
__--||--||--__
Kazée parked the Yue's jeep a mile from the base, covered it in a tarp, and proceeded on foot. Nightfall was approaching as she crested the final hill before the base.
Wait for it....and....bang!
In the far end of the furthest warehouse, a fireball erupted. Almost immediately the alarms began blaring, and Kazée took off running.
Kazée had always found sneaky missions like this one the most fun. Maybe it was because of their rarity in her life, or maybe it was because she'd watched too many secret agent movies when she was little, but there was a certain thrill to things like this.
She could feel adrenaline beginning to course through her blood and rejoiced as it made her black-clad feet fly across the ground below her with a practised silence. As she approached the nearest building, she dove into a roll, landing against the wall and pressing her thin form against it.
"Is the door open?" she whispered into the tiny mic by her mouth. There were no weapons in her hands presently, but an AR was slug around her back and a pair of pistols were holstered within easy reach.
"It is now." responded the computerized voice of her new friend. "Just follow my directions and you'll get out looking just as fabulous as you do now."
The mercenary queen nodded and slipped through the door, being careful to close it after her. She took a moment in the quiet hallway to catch her breath, and adjust to the much cooler climate inside. She shifted inside her self-titled "Sneaky Suit" and unslung the rifle on her back. With luck, she wouldn't have to use it, but overestimation was often the safest course.
"Take the first left."
Enzo had barely finished speaking before the woman was silently flying down the halls again, pausing for scant seconds when she didn't know which way to go. After a time, the hallways began to blur into one, the droning of the sirens melded away and her entire world became Enzo and the path in front of her. Behind did not exist, lefts and right were moot - there was only forward.
"Stop here!"
Kazée stopped so fast she nearly fell. Her breaths came raggedly, and her heart thudded in her ears. Her arms and legs suddenly felt heavy, and she slumped against a wall as she willed her heart to slow and her breaths to calm.
"Are...whee...there?" she panted, finally taking stock of her surroundings.
"Almost," responded Enzo, "This is the part where it gets tricky."
"Wonderful," muttered the woman as she slung the rifle and withdrew one of her pistols, "Nice distraction, by the way."
If there was a reply from Enzo, she didn't acknowledge it, for a conspicuously white door across the hall attracted her attention. She rose and crossed the hall, pressing a button to open it.
~~
As one, a multitude of technicians and doctors looked up at the black clad stranger entered. Kazée cursed her rotten luck and levelled both guns at the crowd.
"Alright bitches," she said, turning one gun away to lock the door behind her, "If anyone tries to raise an alarm, consider yourselves dead. Got it?" the techs in front of her nodded, shaking a bit.
Kazée looked around the wing, spotting a larger room in the back, and a smaller observation room nearby. She nodded toward that one, "Alright everyone, in there."
Nobody moved.
Kazée bit back a growl and discharged a bullet into the floor. "MOVE!"
Amidts a multitude of yelps and cries, the small crowd moved into the side room, which Kazée promptly locked behind them and proceeded to flip them off as she moved into the back.
Her hunch was right - Before her were the five unconscious bodies of the TITANS.
"Alrighty. GG goes where?"
I'll handle that, hun. Enzo said. With a buzzing of electronics, the discarded DRIVE armor pieces activated. Put the helmets on. Be gentle though, they are kinda hurt.
While Kazée grabbed the helmets, the Enzo in the computer systems secreted a message to the two 'parents' in refuge. It was a risk, but the only one that could crack his security measures was himself. Maybe now the two would finally flee the place.
Once the mercenary fitted the helmets to the soldiers, the neural ports connected, and a small dose of the drug filtered in. Great. Next part, that big backpack thing. It's heavy.
Kazée rolled her eyes and hefted the nearest pack, and nearly buckled over. Enzo held back a chuckle.
Keeping an eye on the security monitors throughout the base, Enzo set off another explosion, this one more towards the mobile suit hangars.
“What was that?”
Backup plan. Enzo ‘smiled’ as he saw the OMNI soldiers surge towards the latest explosion. There was another hiss as the armor settled into place. With the wireless interface, Enzo connected the power supplies through the helmet and pack, and the GG began flowing into the middle Hawke.
A few moments passed while Kazée grabbed another pack, when Connors eyes fluttered open. They darted across the room, before widening greatly. “OW! Mother fucker!”
Kazée started and nearly dropped the pack in fright at the younger man's exclamation. She whipped around angrily, re-gripping the overlarge pack in an attempt not to drop it.
"Shut up, will you?" she hissed, "I don't want you to call any more attention to this room. We're on borrowed time as it is."
The injured soldier didn't respond, but when Kaz looked up from fitting the pack on the second soldier, she could just imagine his face. "What?" she to Connor asked after knocking on the still sleeping TITAN's helmet twice. "Like my hair or something?"
She was halfway to another pack when Connor responded. "What the fuck are you doing here?"
"Kidnapping the lot of you...God dammit, how do you walk around with these things..." she muttered as she hefted yet another pack and made her way over to the smaller of the two females. "If you don't believe me, ask your pixelated buddy Enzo. Regardless, don't just lie there. help me with your buds....if you can even get up."
“Right, up.” Connor winced as he struggled to achieve a sitting position. Wounds previously closed by the doctors started to bleed again, but as of yet nothing serious. Swinging his legs over the edge of the table, he motioned to Kazée. “If you bring this up ever again, I’ll deny it. But thanks.”
With that, he hobbled over to the stack of discarded armor, and grabbed the backpack to Sandra’s bed. Once each TITAN was being supplied with the GG serum, Connor began refitting his own armor, while the mercenary watched the door.
The docs in the next room are getting a little noisy. I shut down the computers in the observatory, but they might’ve gotten a message out beforehand.
“Let them come,” Connor said as he pulled his rifle from the bottom of the pile. He pulled the clip, checked the ammo, and replaced it. Then he grabbed one of the submachine guns and attached it to the back of his waist. “They’re going to regret this.’
__--||--||--__
Connor trudged along, Charlie’s arm around his shoulders to stay on his feet, with the other three TITANs in similar circumstances. Sandra and Trent kept the still unconscious Lisa aloft, and were lagging behind.
Only once did OMNI soldiers get close, but with the quick reaction of the Coordinator in the lead combined with the technical hijinks of the PDA-AI, the patrol was easily dispatched.
The corridors became a seemingly endless tunnel of dull gray as the group crawled along. When the gray turned to light, and eventually a greenish brown, did Connor collapse.
Good thing the Jeep was there to catch him.
Kazée winced as she saw Connor fall into the Jeep, and immediately ran ahead of the other three to help him into the jeep properly, then Charlie. As the last three approached, she quickly did a head-count. Five. She'd started with five. All was good.
When the last one was settled, she slid into the driver's seat, and was about to turn the key when the little AI in her pocket yelled at her to stop.
"What?!" she hissed back, the stress of the night beginning to show in her temper, "What is it?"
We're short one very big robot.
Kazée blinked at the little piece of machinery wondering what the hell he meant. It was Connor who figured it out the fastest. "The Infinite Justice! Fuck!"
Kazée looked at the state of the assembled party. She highly doubted even one of them could get up as it were, but Enzo was right - that thing was valuable. She muttered a curse and picked up the radio. "Yue, this is The Boss. Someone pick up."
A moment passed before the static cleared and the voice of Kazée's best friend sounded on the other end. "This is Snowflake. What's up?".
"Get the Med-bay set up for five critical," her peridot orbs travelled over the five TITANS in the truck, and she was mildly amused at the fact that the one sitting next to her had straightened when Ryley answered the radio. "Also....I'm going to need a very big distraction...."
~~~
False Dawn had given way to True Dawn by the time everything was set up. Kazée was perched on the crest of the hill closest to the ravaged base. Alarms were still blaring, and she could see the small figures of soldiers rushing about. Willy-nilly.
'Any moment now, sweetie...' she thought idly for herself, waiting for the "Distraction." She's re-outfitted herself with several more automatic weapons for her own ease and sanity - this part of the mission was much more dangerous than last time.
Less than a moment, she felt an unnatural *Whoosh* of air from nearby. Kaz turned her head right, vaguely making out the shimmering outline of a Mirage Colloid. Grinning, she pulled out her walkie-talkie "Everyone at Home?"
"Yup." Ryley's response was prompt. "I made sure of it before I left."
"Hot. Lets get this show on the road."
"Got it."
With another whoosh, the distortion moved toward the base. So did Kazée.
~~
The Hangar was an absolute mess. Kazée had waited for Mobile suits to launch against the Gold Frame, currently going for the hit-and-run tactics she so favoured. Still, the sheer amount of people in the OMNI hangar between her and the silent Infinite Justice was definitely going to make getting the blood out a pain in the ass.
With a long-suffered sigh, she unslung her automatic rifles and ran into the entrance, firing as she did so. The rapidly-fired bullets tore through the crowd like a hot knife through butter.
There were armed guards in there, too, she noted, and made sure to aim for their faces as she continued cutting her bloody swath through the room. She vaguely registered a pain in her gut, off to the left a bit, and knew someone had found a mark, but didn't stop.
As she approached the suit itself, she dove and rolled behind the nearby computer console for cover. The bullet fire stopped immediately. Curiously, she poked her head up over the top, but yelped and ducked as the two remaining guards tried to blow her head off.
The pain in her gut was beginning to burn now, and she bit her lip to keep from moaning. She had to end this shit fast, because if it came to a "Wait him Out" situation, she'd lose. She poked her head over the cover again once more, noting the approximate location of the pair and, after duckling, she threw an arm over the cover and squeezed the trigger, pivoting her wrist to fan the bullets out. A pair of yells told her of her success, and she rolled out of cover, and onto the MS elevator, crouching as she boarded so as not to make a target of herself.
As she reached the top, a rumble shook the area - probably the fault of her albino companion, and several more soldiers came in. Kaz shrieked and all but threw herself into the cockpit, looking wildly around for the startup buttons.
I'll handle this.
"Just turn it on and tell me where the "Kill Stuff" button is and we'll be fine."
A moment later, the cockpit panels blinked to life, and the Infinite Justice's eyes flashed green, the gunmetal grey hull taking on it's distinctive teal hue.
"Raziel is probably spinning in his grave..." she muttered to herself as she began to move the behemoth. Enzo was actually doing a lot of the work for her, which gave her a moment to relax as the IJ exited the hangar and brought it's arm up to flash a thumbs up to the Gold Frame, which was posed victoriously on a small mountain of disabled bogies.
Kaz rubbed her face with freezing hands coming to terms with the small massacre she'd just instigated. No she wasn't proud of it, but the ends justified the means....and she'd aimed for the knees.....mostly...
Hotstuff? Please to be getting us out of here now? I super-simplified the controls for you so it won't be hard.
"Thanks."
~~
Another full hour and a half had passed before Kaz found herself lying nearly shirtless on an infirmary bed with a wad of cloth in her mouth to bite on while the ship doctor stitched closed the angry gunshot wound in her side.
The other bed in the room was occupied by one of the TITANS, but Kaz had to crane her neck to see who the sleeping form was....
....but she could have sworn that Nicolai was still in space....
The Yue cruised the skies enroute to Scandanavia to use the Launch Bay, while quickly slipping away from any OMNI pursuit. Pursuit that happened to never come.
The TITANs were each strapped down so that they wouldn't get further injured in the trip through the atmosphere, and to also keep them from moving about the ship. They each slept soundly; the dosage of anesthesia pumped along with the GG was enough to drop a horse.
The trip to the Launch Bay lasted a few hours, and before long, the Yue was being fitted for launch.
It was about this time that Connor started moving. Slowly at first, as there was still quite a bit of pain, he woke up. Training instincts kicked in at the unfamiliar surroundings, and that he was tied down. The fact that he wasn't wearing his armor didn't help anything either. Clenching his teeth and bunching the muscles in his right arm, he strained against the cloth strap holding the limb down. Blood once again began seeping through the bandage on his arm before the cloth ripped, sending searing pain through his system. The adrenaline kept him going as he untied the remaining straps, and stole across the room to the other door.
Fumbling with the door release, he was surprised at what he saw as the door opened. Surprised enough to snap him back to reality, as a half naked chick, his brother, and a doctor were all staring at him.
“Uh...mornin?”
Kazée blinked, blushed, and pulled her shirt back down - something she was planning on doing anyways now that the doctor was done. She winced a bit as the doctor lifted up a corner again and rubbed something over the freshly-stitched wound. Her wince relaxed as the topical anaesthetic kicked in, and she sat up slowly, fixing her gaze on the redhead that had just entered.
"Hold on to something. Better yet, sit down before you fall down." She swung her legs off the side of the bed and stood, holding onto the bed frame and waving her thanks to the Doctor, who, upon cleaning up his tools, slipped past Connor and into the other room.
Kazée grabbed the chair that had just been vacated and pulled it over to Trent's bed before plonking herself down in it. "I was just getting to know Trent here," she said, leaning back in the chair and motioning for Connor to sit somewhere. He obliged and sat heavily on the foot of his brother's bed. Kaz reached over and undid the restraints around Trent's arms, allowing the mossy haired TITAN to sit up."I'm only doing this because I'm sure that I could floor both of you at the moment," the woman explained after both boys were sitting.
"If you haven't figure it out, we're on the Fallen Angels' flagship Yue, heading to Alecto." She explained, more for Connor's benefit, as she'd told Trent as much already. "If you're wondering why you're here, a little program that called itself Enzo emailed himself to me and charged me with the mission to rescue the five of you, though I was always under the impression that there were more. Regardless, I don't know why I was given this mission, but you can consider yourselves Fallen Angels now, as I get the feeling that OMNI doesn't miss you a bit. We're not being pursued at all."
She paused as the pair thought over what she'd said before continuing - "Enzo has given us details on how to keep the lot of you - and your Action Figure Suits healthy and working. The Doctor that just went in there, "she nodded towards the door Connor entered from, "is another defector from OMNI. He'll probably be taking care of you guys more often than not. He knows more about the Bio-CPUs than anyone else back home.
"But I'm rambling. I'm curious about you lot, so please, dit moi tout."
==Hours Later, Earth-L2 route==
To say that Nicolai was confused was putting it lightly. Just as soon as Kazée had informed him that the TITANS had defected to the FA, or had at least left OMNI, he had headed out in the Selene to meet up with the Yue . The ship's engines had been on maximum thrust for the trip, so he was glad to spot the Yue.
The ship's captain, a man by the name of Ades, was the first to speak.
"The Yue's in sight, commander. No pursuit forces from the Alliance detected. We're going to shut the engines down for a while in order to keep them from being damaged."
Nicolai was already inside of the Panzer and was on the linear catapault when Ades spoke to him through the comm
"Roger that, Ades. Tell the GINNs to keep a sharp eye for any trouble. Alex and Mina, would you mind coming along?"
Both his wife and her brother responded at the same time
"Not a problem" "Okay. Let's go."
The large door that covered the hangar lifted up.
"Nicolai Ginovaef, Panzer Gundam, taking off!"
"Mina Rogers, CGUE, launching!"
"Alex Rogers, CGUE, heading out!"
"Yue, this is Nicolai. I'm transmitting identification codes now. Request clearence to come aboard. My companions should be transmitting their codes as well."
"Codes confirmed, welcome aboard guys," Shasa's deep voice boomed over the radio in welcome, "Ryley's waiting for you in the hangar, and Boss-Lady's with the new kids."
The legs opened allowing access to the hangars so the three mobile suits could touch down. True to Shasa's word, the electric-white figure of Ryley was easy to spot as she waved them in and ordered the bay doors to close. When pressure had been returned, she raised the visor to talk properly to them.
"I suggest," she said, staring pointedly at Nicolai, "you brace yourselves. It's a bit of a shock, seeing them without armour... anyways, go on along. They're in the med bay." She waved them along before going back to barking at the technicians who populated the area.
Kazée met them at the halfway point, sparing a hug for all three before leading them off, explaining the circumstances of the situation.
"...so now we've got 5 more big shiny robots." she finished as they approached the infirmary. She stopped in front of the door and turned to Nicolai, "Brace yourself," she said before turning to open the door, revealing Connor reclined on the bed to the left, and a figure lying on the right that made Nicolai's party do a double-take, for they were identical.
"Nic," said Kazée, clearing the door for him to enter, "I'd like you to meet Connor and Trent Hawke..."
Connor was still upset about what he'd explained to Kazée, enough to not realize his fists were clenched tight.
In the corner or the room, Trent's black armor stood; a sentry watching over the two brothers. Burns covered a large section of the front plate, while bullet dents littered just about everything else. Faint buzzes and whirs could be heard echoing inside the suit as Enzo worked on small repairs to the software.
Voices filtered through the door minutes later, "...so now we've got 5 more big shiny robots."
Recognizing the voice as the Virgo woman, Connor and Trent looked toward the door and watched it open. Four people stood outside the room; two blonds, Kazée, and their long lost brother.
Connor and Trent both smirked as Kazée introduced them. Afterwards, Trent swung his legs over the side of the bed, and carefully walked over, followed soon by Connor.
Reaching out his hand, Trent continued smirking, "Long time no see, Nic."
Nicolai returned his twin's smirk and shook his hand.
"It looks like you're still alive, after all these years. Not to mention still sane, considering you had to put up with Tobias for a few months. Don't take what he might've done personally. He pulls all sorts of crap with people he likes, much less people he doesn't like. Chain Chomp, on the other hand, I'd rather see in pieces."
He thought for a moment. The document Shasa handed him had told him there were three Hawkes. He saw only two.
"Where's Ezekiel? I thought that you three were always together....nevermind. You don't have to answer if you don't need to. But why abandon the Alliance? As far as I can tell, everyone in OMNI saw you as heros."
The redheaded Hawke brother pushed off the bed he sat on and covered the distance to the door quickly. With a smile, he pushed the close button, shutting Kazée and the two Rogers' out.
"Well, isn't that a bit better," he laughed and waved his hand in the air as if swatting at a pesky fly.
Trent let a small smile slip while Connor floated in the zero gee, arms behind his head relaxed. "We'll get to that, Nic. But as for now, we've got some history to settle."
The mossy haired soldier moved back to his bed and sat down while the other mossy haired soldier pulled forward a chair.
"We want it to be known that we hold no ties to OMNI anymore. They betrayed us, and as a result, our brother and sister were killed. That's why you don't see three of us in here. OMNI killed Ezekial. They killed Billy. And the almost killed us."
Connor landed on another bed and crossed his legs. "The whole deal with Tobias wasn't our idea, either. It was just a mission. A very...annoying...mission, but just that. A mission. As were the times we tried to blow up your colony." He chuckled lightly. "Sorry about that, by the way."
Trent clapped his hands together, "So, now that that's out of the way, we've got some questions for you, Niccy. Who were our real parents? What were they like?"
Nicolai listened to Trent tell of OMNI's betrayal. He was mildly suprised, although not as much as one might expect.
"I'm not too suprised. OMNI tends to treat bio-CPU's such as yourselves more as equipment than people. We treat everyone equally, although enhanced naturals are extremely rare in the Serpent Tail, as we lack the facilities to make the conversion process, and most never betray OMNI"
When Connor mentioned Tobias, he smiled.
"Trust me. What ever Tobias did to you, It couldn't have been as bad as the time he somehow rigged 'It's Raining Men' to play during one of Frost's speeches. Ever see an entire room just crack up? I'll have to show it to you sometime. As for Alecto, well, I'm suprised your superiors were dumb enough to order a second attack, considering how badly the first one went."
He shook his head slowly at Trent's inquiry about their parents.
"I don't really have any memories of our dad. I vaguely recall mom saying that he dissappeared or something, but it's been at least 12 years since I asked her last. As for mom, she's very kind. I don't think she'd approve of our, ahem 'career choices'. But if you ever do get the chance, try and visit her. I can tell you where she's living."
He dug a small disk out of his uniform's pocket and took out a small computer that he had carried onboard.
"Take a look at the data on the disk. That's my new mobile suit, the Providence Nemesis. I hope to make a mass-produced model of it someday, but I highly doubt that it will exist beyond the drawing board. But, since I only saw the Infinite Justice onboard, I would bet that the rest of you need mobile suits. Unfortunately, OMNI built machines more advanced than a Strike Dagger are in short supply. That means until we can get some, you may need to use ZAFT-built mobile suits."
Day ago Kamon had a very life changing conversation with Brutus of the Redcoats. Much information had been left out of the conversation just to get Kamon to Earth. However, there were somethings he wasn't sure he wanted to find out. His past wasn't too clear to him with occasional pains and glimpses but never a full picture. Everything gave him the same feeling of emptiness. Soon after Kamon began having second thoughts about being a member in Orb, thoughts in the back of his mind.
Orb doesn't need a murderer like me...
Finally upon leaving to Earth, Kamon made one last detour.
--=+++=--
"Huh?"
That was the face and expression of Shasa as Kamon approached him different than his normal conduct. It was a first time, Kamon saw Shasa a little surprised in the least. Shasa could tell something was troubling him. After all the countless time of this guy tagging along he never had seemed to be the one depressed especially coming around here. Although, Shasa was already used to Kamon's presence around the Yue.
"I need to speak to her" Kamon looks directly at Shasa.
Satisfaction came to Shasa as his knowledge of Kamon was right as always.
"Well Ryley i-"
"No, not her" Kamon interrupts although his voice softened for a moment to Shasa recognition of Kamon's normal self.
Shortly after the person Kamon was looking for walks through the hallway. She notices Kamon walking with Shasa to the conference room/lounge and decides to meet with them.
"What's the matter has someone proposed?" Kazée appeared already beginning to taunt Kamon as she sometimes does.
A blush came out of Kamon as he turned his face; however, flashes of his past brought reality back to situation. For a moment a frown was seen as Kamon turned to Kazée then a small fragile smile.
The three entered the empty room as Kamon found the closest seat and walked toward.
"I came because I can no longer stay in Orb... I want to ask if I can join the Fallen Angels" Kamon turned to face Shasa and Kazée as the door remained open.
Kazée nearly choked at Kamon's proposal.
"You want WHAT?!" She exclaimed after recovering some breath. God knew, he'd been hanging around long enough, and she should have expected this, but she could only think of one thing to say to that.
"Wh-"
"-elcome aboard, Mr. Orcher," chimed in the arrogant and feminine voice of one Ms. Marrione as she walked in the room. Shasa just sighed and shook his head. Kazée looked from the dark man to the white woman and back again before regaining her composure. From a third person's perspective, the whole scene would have been rather funny.
Still....
Kazée ruffled her hair - recently chopped to hang a few inches past her shoulder and fixed her unnervingly bright eyes on the Ex-ORB soldier before her. "No seriously," she asked with a practised ease, "Why?"
Kamon thought back to his recent conversation with Brutus, thinking on why he was leaving. It was a large possibility Kamon was a murderer in his past life. It pained Kamon to think of the tragedies that could of been caused by himself.
"Why... well to make a long story short, I can't trust what i forgot in the past. Things right now seem to be catching up with me. I don't know if what I have been told is the truth or a lie but I feel that I need to back down from my position from Orb."
Kamon looked around to the three facing him.
"You were the only ones i can turn to"
Kamon already thought of what he was going to do or what he was going to say to Nicolas. Nothing would change his mind, not until he finds out. If he is the same as that man, Clay.
Pure beliefs do not guide you...
and without purity of belief and act is evil
Already, Kamon had dispatched his whole crew amongst Alecto or away to Heliopolis. He had already gave them a message to relay to Nicolas.
I do not wish to become your enemy but until I find myself and who I am. I can't return to Orb. Please don't hesistate to call me should there ever be trouble.
Maybe the light in me has faded but I believe in the strong light that is Orb. The troops in Gulnahan may remain if you wish I will give sanctuary where I can to all the refugees of the battles waged so far.
The next time you here from me I will be on Earth
Farewell my friend,
Kamon Orcher
Kamon didn't wait for a reply as he went from his thoughts to talking again.
"We've had our times together even though everything wasn't the best of times for each of us but since I've been back and forth here I believe I've come to know each of you better" Chains of memory unravel as Kamon relates to the times of being with the Angels from the first fight at Alecto to coming to see Ryley. Things had truly changed between their starting relations and now.
The tides of time flow as our emotions change and grow....
Nicolai had just entered the room when Kazée had spoken to Kamon. He waited until the former Orb pilot had finished speaking and walked over. Alex and Mina had also entered the room, standing off to the sides.
"As Ryley said, welcome to the FA. I must admit that I never expected you to leave Orb. Are you sure that you can handle being in close proximity to me and my family? I know that Alex had killed one of your subordinates during the last battle...but you wouldn't be here if you couldn't, but...."
He looked Kamon in the eyes as he spoke again.
"..who you may have been in the past doesn't matter. All that does matter is who you are now. As long as you can handle the fact that you may be called on to attack your former allies, either by circumstance or by contract, your past doesn't matter. If you can do that, as well as defend Alecto if necessary, I once again say welcome. You've proven yourself in battle as both a capable pilot and commander, so I think that you'll go far in the FA, Kamon."
Kamon turned to face the newcomers within the entrance. Nicolai and his family entered. Kamon thought of the past that was presented to the both of them to the even recent past of his ventures to the Yue. So much had changed and Kamon had no bitterness of Jarek's death. It was after all his choice to fight. He died without regrets.
"You're right... you're right, Nicolai. However like you said a long time ago to me. All soldiers know the consequences of defeat. Life can be cheap. I have thought this decision over before I came though. I will do all that I can for you all" Kamon walked forward to the Nicolai. The two were face to face something that would have been incomprehensible a year ago. After all both had tried their hardest to defeat one another at one point. Kamon exchanged glances with each of those in front of him.
"I'll fight for you all. I know what it means to put my life on the line for both you and Orb."
Kamon didn't hesitate in showing that he had no intent on fighting against his former government.
"If the time comes though I will do what I have to"
Kamon shook the awkward idea of fighting Orb though as he tried not to bring everyone else into his slump of melancholy bitterness.
"Well, I brought gifts of access to the base on Earth I was given and then my ship of course. The crew I've chosen are also former soldiers of Orb that went civilian awhile ago." Kamon gave a smile, his old crew from his times of the Rouge Squadron returned once again.
"So is there an initiation process or something?"
"Well, Kamon," Kazée said, "You have a choice in this matter: Initiation Night or Frosh Week. The former will involve a hangover the likes of which you've never known before, and will never know again, and the latter..well...it's a surprise. I went for the Night, way back when..."
Kazée got a faraway look as she threw her mind back to the night of partying, booze and...well, she vaguely remembered several Flamingos....
"Regardless," she continued, "they're both fun for you, and us as well, so...."
Behind her Ryley was mouthing "FROSH" while Shasa contested that with whispers of "NIGHT"
Rick Hunter had finally made it in the room where the orbie was and was watching him talk to Kazée. Rick waited until she finished, then Rick put his hand on the orbie's shoulder and said, "Beleive me when I say that you want the hangover."
Rick then patted the shoulder of the orbie and walked towards Kazée and stood beside her. He then turned around so that the orbie knew who just gave him some advice.
Rick then looked at Kazée and said, "There are alot of things that I might not remember but there is one thing i do remember....FA drinking games will fuck you up." Rick then let off a small chuckle.
Nicolai smirked at Rick's mention of the drinking games
"I agree with Rick. The initiation night is your best bet for keeping your sanity intact, Kamon. The Frosh week is something that even H.P. Lovecraft wouldn't write about because it's too horrible for words. Just trust me and go for the Night. Livers can be replaced, but your sanity...well that's irreplacable. You might want to look out for pranks, too. Kazée, Shasa and Ryley are masters at pranking."
"Lies and slander!" interjected Kazée, "Tobias and Jeimuzu are the Prank-masters around here. Moreover, someone in their completely right mind won't quite fit in...." she sauntered closer to the dark man, grinning wickedly, "We're all a little looney 'round here..."
Alex laughed at this
"Oh, what Nicolai said is quite true. I still have nightmares about plunger-wielding rabbits screaming 'DAAAAA!!!!' thanks to her" at this, he pointed at Kazée. Seeing a confused look on Kamon's face, he continued "Don't ask. It's far too strange and surreal for me to describe in words. I tried the week and ended up regretting it. It's partially the reason I carry a gun with me."
"This place has already gotten as lively as it usually is" Kamon shook off his confusion as he went back to his decision.
"Well, I suppose I'll have to follow my good friends choice over there" Kamon looked to Rick.
Orb doesn't need a murderer like me...
Finally upon leaving to Earth, Kamon made one last detour.
--=+++=--
"Huh?"
That was the face and expression of Shasa as Kamon approached him different than his normal conduct. It was a first time, Kamon saw Shasa a little surprised in the least. Shasa could tell something was troubling him. After all the countless time of this guy tagging along he never had seemed to be the one depressed especially coming around here. Although, Shasa was already used to Kamon's presence around the Yue.
"I need to speak to her" Kamon looks directly at Shasa.
Satisfaction came to Shasa as his knowledge of Kamon was right as always.
"Well Ryley i-"
"No, not her" Kamon interrupts although his voice softened for a moment to Shasa recognition of Kamon's normal self.
Shortly after the person Kamon was looking for walks through the hallway. She notices Kamon walking with Shasa to the conference room/lounge and decides to meet with them.
"What's the matter has someone proposed?" Kazée appeared already beginning to taunt Kamon as she sometimes does.
A blush came out of Kamon as he turned his face; however, flashes of his past brought reality back to situation. For a moment a frown was seen as Kamon turned to Kazée then a small fragile smile.
The three entered the empty room as Kamon found the closest seat and walked toward.
"I came because I can no longer stay in Orb... I want to ask if I can join the Fallen Angels" Kamon turned to face Shasa and Kazée as the door remained open.
Kazée nearly choked at Kamon's proposal.
"You want WHAT?!" She exclaimed after recovering some breath. God knew, he'd been hanging around long enough, and she should have expected this, but she could only think of one thing to say to that.
"Wh-"
"-elcome aboard, Mr. Orcher," chimed in the arrogant and feminine voice of one Ms. Marrione as she walked in the room. Shasa just sighed and shook his head. Kazée looked from the dark man to the white woman and back again before regaining her composure. From a third person's perspective, the whole scene would have been rather funny.
Still....
Kazée ruffled her hair - recently chopped to hang a few inches past her shoulder and fixed her unnervingly bright eyes on the Ex-ORB soldier before her. "No seriously," she asked with a practised ease, "Why?"
Kamon thought back to his recent conversation with Brutus, thinking on why he was leaving. It was a large possibility Kamon was a murderer in his past life. It pained Kamon to think of the tragedies that could of been caused by himself.
"Why... well to make a long story short, I can't trust what i forgot in the past. Things right now seem to be catching up with me. I don't know if what I have been told is the truth or a lie but I feel that I need to back down from my position from Orb."
Kamon looked around to the three facing him.
"You were the only ones i can turn to"
Kamon already thought of what he was going to do or what he was going to say to Nicolas. Nothing would change his mind, not until he finds out. If he is the same as that man, Clay.
Pure beliefs do not guide you...
and without purity of belief and act is evil
Already, Kamon had dispatched his whole crew amongst Alecto or away to Heliopolis. He had already gave them a message to relay to Nicolas.
I do not wish to become your enemy but until I find myself and who I am. I can't return to Orb. Please don't hesistate to call me should there ever be trouble.
Maybe the light in me has faded but I believe in the strong light that is Orb. The troops in Gulnahan may remain if you wish I will give sanctuary where I can to all the refugees of the battles waged so far.
The next time you here from me I will be on Earth
Farewell my friend,
Kamon Orcher
Kamon didn't wait for a reply as he went from his thoughts to talking again.
"We've had our times together even though everything wasn't the best of times for each of us but since I've been back and forth here I believe I've come to know each of you better" Chains of memory unravel as Kamon relates to the times of being with the Angels from the first fight at Alecto to coming to see Ryley. Things had truly changed between their starting relations and now.
The tides of time flow as our emotions change and grow....
Nicolai had just entered the room when Kazée had spoken to Kamon. He waited until the former Orb pilot had finished speaking and walked over. Alex and Mina had also entered the room, standing off to the sides.
"As Ryley said, welcome to the FA. I must admit that I never expected you to leave Orb. Are you sure that you can handle being in close proximity to me and my family? I know that Alex had killed one of your subordinates during the last battle...but you wouldn't be here if you couldn't, but...."
He looked Kamon in the eyes as he spoke again.
"..who you may have been in the past doesn't matter. All that does matter is who you are now. As long as you can handle the fact that you may be called on to attack your former allies, either by circumstance or by contract, your past doesn't matter. If you can do that, as well as defend Alecto if necessary, I once again say welcome. You've proven yourself in battle as both a capable pilot and commander, so I think that you'll go far in the FA, Kamon."
Kamon turned to face the newcomers within the entrance. Nicolai and his family entered. Kamon thought of the past that was presented to the both of them to the even recent past of his ventures to the Yue. So much had changed and Kamon had no bitterness of Jarek's death. It was after all his choice to fight. He died without regrets.
"You're right... you're right, Nicolai. However like you said a long time ago to me. All soldiers know the consequences of defeat. Life can be cheap. I have thought this decision over before I came though. I will do all that I can for you all" Kamon walked forward to the Nicolai. The two were face to face something that would have been incomprehensible a year ago. After all both had tried their hardest to defeat one another at one point. Kamon exchanged glances with each of those in front of him.
"I'll fight for you all. I know what it means to put my life on the line for both you and Orb."
Kamon didn't hesitate in showing that he had no intent on fighting against his former government.
"If the time comes though I will do what I have to"
Kamon shook the awkward idea of fighting Orb though as he tried not to bring everyone else into his slump of melancholy bitterness.
"Well, I brought gifts of access to the base on Earth I was given and then my ship of course. The crew I've chosen are also former soldiers of Orb that went civilian awhile ago." Kamon gave a smile, his old crew from his times of the Rouge Squadron returned once again.
"So is there an initiation process or something?"
"Well, Kamon," Kazée said, "You have a choice in this matter: Initiation Night or Frosh Week. The former will involve a hangover the likes of which you've never known before, and will never know again, and the latter..well...it's a surprise. I went for the Night, way back when..."
Kazée got a faraway look as she threw her mind back to the night of partying, booze and...well, she vaguely remembered several Flamingos....
"Regardless," she continued, "they're both fun for you, and us as well, so...."
Behind her Ryley was mouthing "FROSH" while Shasa contested that with whispers of "NIGHT"
Rick Hunter had finally made it in the room where the orbie was and was watching him talk to Kazée. Rick waited until she finished, then Rick put his hand on the orbie's shoulder and said, "Beleive me when I say that you want the hangover."
Rick then patted the shoulder of the orbie and walked towards Kazée and stood beside her. He then turned around so that the orbie knew who just gave him some advice.
Rick then looked at Kazée and said, "There are alot of things that I might not remember but there is one thing i do remember....FA drinking games will fuck you up." Rick then let off a small chuckle.
Nicolai smirked at Rick's mention of the drinking games
"I agree with Rick. The initiation night is your best bet for keeping your sanity intact, Kamon. The Frosh week is something that even H.P. Lovecraft wouldn't write about because it's too horrible for words. Just trust me and go for the Night. Livers can be replaced, but your sanity...well that's irreplacable. You might want to look out for pranks, too. Kazée, Shasa and Ryley are masters at pranking."
"Lies and slander!" interjected Kazée, "Tobias and Jeimuzu are the Prank-masters around here. Moreover, someone in their completely right mind won't quite fit in...." she sauntered closer to the dark man, grinning wickedly, "We're all a little looney 'round here..."
Alex laughed at this
"Oh, what Nicolai said is quite true. I still have nightmares about plunger-wielding rabbits screaming 'DAAAAA!!!!' thanks to her" at this, he pointed at Kazée. Seeing a confused look on Kamon's face, he continued "Don't ask. It's far too strange and surreal for me to describe in words. I tried the week and ended up regretting it. It's partially the reason I carry a gun with me."
"This place has already gotten as lively as it usually is" Kamon shook off his confusion as he went back to his decision.
"Well, I suppose I'll have to follow my good friends choice over there" Kamon looked to Rick.
Helicopter blades sliced through the air, sending dirt and dust flying. The large transport hovered over the pad for a few moments before slowly setting down. Hunched over on the ground, numerous people in long coats ran to the opening hatches.
Several marines jumped to the ground, and helped several more lift the medical gurney from the chopper. Five gurneys were taken from the chopper. Five gurneys, each carrying a badly injured TITAN.
The people in the lab coats rushed the marines inside the base, near shouting orders on what to do. Once in the medical ward, technicians began pulling bits of the armor from the soldiers. Bloodstained bandages gave credence to hastily mended wounds in the field. Gunshot wounds, knife cuts, and several broken bones littered the bodies of the lot.
__--||--||--__
In a dark room, nestled deep in the interior of Gibraltar, two forms stirred.
"They'll be coming for you, you know that, right?" whispered Weis.
Yeah. They won't find me though. The pale blue hologram flickered to life, illuminating the pair of humans. Who am I looking for?
Berdan shifted closer to the desk, and turned on the monitor. "One moment."
"Once you exit this system, Enzo, you won't be able to come back. Vanhar wants this project erased, and that includes you," Weis said.
Enough with the dramatics, sheesh.
"This is serious, Enzo. And we're running out of time. Get through to this contact," Nicole swiveled the monitor to face the hologram. "The faster the better. The log reports that 316, 336, 346, 366, and 376 made it back, though badly injured."
"The Vice Admiral will probably try and get the doctors to medically induce death. He doesn't know that their immune systems will reject any of those attempts. I figure after that, he'll use the pods."
Do those even work? That's a bit sci-fi, y'know.
Nicole tapped a few keys on the computer, "It's been proven to work twice before. On subject Jaques Johnson, and an unidentified individual."
The blue body looked down. This is really it then, isn't it? It's finally over?
"Not if we can help it. Now get going. You have your contact."
Don't do anything I wouldn't do, Doc.
The projector faded to black as the artificial intelligence left the system. A moment later, the monitor on the computer was turned off.
"If we make it through this, Enzo, you got it."
__--||--||--__
Enzo worked his way through the numerous computer systems. Hacking into personal databases was second nature to the construct, so it was easy to put out a message. With some tweaking to his code, Enzo attached a fragment of himself to the message, and sent it out.
__--||--||--__
From: 13375|<i115@gmail.com
To: not_a_virgo@serpenttail
Sub: Hey Sweetcheeks ^_~
Attachment Included
Open File?
Kazée shifted in the little white wicker chair on the patio of a quaint little café as she turned the page of the local newspaper. On the table in front of her was a large cup of fragrant Chai Tea, prepared as a latte and her open laptop.
She shifted again, still adjusting to the pull of natural gravity here on earth, and vaguely wished she was back up at home. Some legal business regarding her (now very) late Grandfather had brought her down to the small state - On the upside, she was now the apparent owner of a rather large villa nearby the Strait of Gibraltar. Fancy that.
She sighed and folded the newspaper, putting it on the table in favour of her latte, sipping that gently so as not to burn her tongue. She'd dyed her hair black for her stay, and wore large sunglasses to disguise her unnaturally bright eyes. There was no point in standing out as a Coordinator in the middle of an OMNI-controlled area.
She leaned back in her seat, pulling the drink into her lap, cradling it gently with both hands. it was a bright clear day without a cloud in the sky, and she was glad for her sunglasses - coordinated or not, too bright was too bright. she closed her eyes and inhaled the salty air as deeply as she could, for it was a scent she found herself greatly enjoying.
Between the lazy breeze, the warmth in her hands and the calm bustle of the world around her, Kazée found herself beginning to drop off until a little beeping from her laptop floated into her ears.
Kaz groaned as she sat up and replaced her drink on the table. She wiggled her finger over the touch pad to re-start the monitor and clicked on her e-mail. There was one new message.
~~
From: 13375|<i115@gmail.com
To: not_a_virgo@serpenttail
Sub: Hey Sweetcheeks ^_~
Attachment Included
Open File?
~~
She raised an eyebrow at it, but the virus scan turned up negative.
'Oh, fuck me,' she thought to herself and hit the 'enter' key to open it, 'I can just hack it out again....or get Micheal to do it.' Something quickly downloaded off the attachment and onto her desktop, opening itself a moment later.
To say she was surprised would be a sore understatement.
Why aren't you looking fabulous today, Miss Virgo? Enzo beamed once the attachment finished loading. I like the hair. Though, those glasses do not go with that top.
The pixilated image of Enzo moved about the screen, as if pacing. Miss Virgo, I shall get down to business. I'm Enzo, and a mutual acquaintance of ours needs your help. Consider this a mission proposal. Your reward would be immense gratitude on the behalf of my creator, as well as a potential ally. A very strong ally.
The mission is close by, actually, so there isn't need to travel. Should you accept, I can get you into the location, and back out. I can potentially provide a means to withdraw without pursuit, though that all depends on how slack security is. You'll need to attain a vehicle, preferably a large truck. There are many at the location for you to take.
What say you?
Kazée raised her eyebrow at the little personality that appeared on her computer screen, smiling at its sheer gall. The smile dropped, however, as he explained the mission to her.
She reached over to the side of her computer as he continued, switching on the built-in microphone. By the time he finished, she'd sat back in her seat, holding her drink again and chewing on her bottom lip.
"Well, my dear," she said after a moment, "I'll need a bit more information on the nature of the mission, as well as the location - what can I expect, will I need help, where the weapon stores are....you get the point. More importantly, I need a time frame for this. My business here is done, so I can get on this as quick as you please, but with the details you've given me, I can't be much help."
She reached forward to the computer again, this time, sliding something into a disk drive. "Could you download yourself onto the drive I just inserted? I can stick this in my palm pilot, and you can talk to me as I walk." In response, the blue man nodded, and the program closed. A status bar appeared on the screen, showing the progress of the movement. When it was completed, she withdrew the drive and shut off the laptop. Then she reached into her purse and pulled out a Palm-Pilot, and inserted the disk in there. Knowing the program would work itself, she pulled out a cellphone headset and pluged it into the jack on the side of the pilot, and sipped it in her purse.
"There we go," she said, when all was done, grabbing her latte off the table, "Now, tell me all."
~~
"You're fucking kidding, right?"
Uh, no? If I were kidding, I'd shamelessly flirt with you some more. I don't know the reasoning behind me being sent to get you for this, but I know that my survival depends on this as well.
Enzo waited patiently while Kazée went about her abode, gathering what supplies she would need. Likely to be numerous troops, though I can trigger an alarm and have them at the other end of the building. The medical wing, however, will be trickier, especially if they've been moved to phase two.
"What's phase two?"
No idea. I just know it's bad. With the alarms going off, the mobile suits will be on high alert, with those not on patrol starting up. The TITANs probably will be unconscious, though if we can pump enough GG into them, they should wake up.
"An awful lot of ifs and maybes," Kazée muttered as she headed out of the house.
__--||--||--__
Kazée parked the Yue's jeep a mile from the base, covered it in a tarp, and proceeded on foot. Nightfall was approaching as she crested the final hill before the base.
Wait for it....and....bang!
In the far end of the furthest warehouse, a fireball erupted. Almost immediately the alarms began blaring, and Kazée took off running.
Kazée had always found sneaky missions like this one the most fun. Maybe it was because of their rarity in her life, or maybe it was because she'd watched too many secret agent movies when she was little, but there was a certain thrill to things like this.
She could feel adrenaline beginning to course through her blood and rejoiced as it made her black-clad feet fly across the ground below her with a practised silence. As she approached the nearest building, she dove into a roll, landing against the wall and pressing her thin form against it.
"Is the door open?" she whispered into the tiny mic by her mouth. There were no weapons in her hands presently, but an AR was slug around her back and a pair of pistols were holstered within easy reach.
"It is now." responded the computerized voice of her new friend. "Just follow my directions and you'll get out looking just as fabulous as you do now."
The mercenary queen nodded and slipped through the door, being careful to close it after her. She took a moment in the quiet hallway to catch her breath, and adjust to the much cooler climate inside. She shifted inside her self-titled "Sneaky Suit" and unslung the rifle on her back. With luck, she wouldn't have to use it, but overestimation was often the safest course.
"Take the first left."
Enzo had barely finished speaking before the woman was silently flying down the halls again, pausing for scant seconds when she didn't know which way to go. After a time, the hallways began to blur into one, the droning of the sirens melded away and her entire world became Enzo and the path in front of her. Behind did not exist, lefts and right were moot - there was only forward.
"Stop here!"
Kazée stopped so fast she nearly fell. Her breaths came raggedly, and her heart thudded in her ears. Her arms and legs suddenly felt heavy, and she slumped against a wall as she willed her heart to slow and her breaths to calm.
"Are...whee...there?" she panted, finally taking stock of her surroundings.
"Almost," responded Enzo, "This is the part where it gets tricky."
"Wonderful," muttered the woman as she slung the rifle and withdrew one of her pistols, "Nice distraction, by the way."
If there was a reply from Enzo, she didn't acknowledge it, for a conspicuously white door across the hall attracted her attention. She rose and crossed the hall, pressing a button to open it.
~~
As one, a multitude of technicians and doctors looked up at the black clad stranger entered. Kazée cursed her rotten luck and levelled both guns at the crowd.
"Alright bitches," she said, turning one gun away to lock the door behind her, "If anyone tries to raise an alarm, consider yourselves dead. Got it?" the techs in front of her nodded, shaking a bit.
Kazée looked around the wing, spotting a larger room in the back, and a smaller observation room nearby. She nodded toward that one, "Alright everyone, in there."
Nobody moved.
Kazée bit back a growl and discharged a bullet into the floor. "MOVE!"
Amidts a multitude of yelps and cries, the small crowd moved into the side room, which Kazée promptly locked behind them and proceeded to flip them off as she moved into the back.
Her hunch was right - Before her were the five unconscious bodies of the TITANS.
"Alrighty. GG goes where?"
I'll handle that, hun. Enzo said. With a buzzing of electronics, the discarded DRIVE armor pieces activated. Put the helmets on. Be gentle though, they are kinda hurt.
While Kazée grabbed the helmets, the Enzo in the computer systems secreted a message to the two 'parents' in refuge. It was a risk, but the only one that could crack his security measures was himself. Maybe now the two would finally flee the place.
Once the mercenary fitted the helmets to the soldiers, the neural ports connected, and a small dose of the drug filtered in. Great. Next part, that big backpack thing. It's heavy.
Kazée rolled her eyes and hefted the nearest pack, and nearly buckled over. Enzo held back a chuckle.
Keeping an eye on the security monitors throughout the base, Enzo set off another explosion, this one more towards the mobile suit hangars.
“What was that?”
Backup plan. Enzo ‘smiled’ as he saw the OMNI soldiers surge towards the latest explosion. There was another hiss as the armor settled into place. With the wireless interface, Enzo connected the power supplies through the helmet and pack, and the GG began flowing into the middle Hawke.
A few moments passed while Kazée grabbed another pack, when Connors eyes fluttered open. They darted across the room, before widening greatly. “OW! Mother fucker!”
Kazée started and nearly dropped the pack in fright at the younger man's exclamation. She whipped around angrily, re-gripping the overlarge pack in an attempt not to drop it.
"Shut up, will you?" she hissed, "I don't want you to call any more attention to this room. We're on borrowed time as it is."
The injured soldier didn't respond, but when Kaz looked up from fitting the pack on the second soldier, she could just imagine his face. "What?" she to Connor asked after knocking on the still sleeping TITAN's helmet twice. "Like my hair or something?"
She was halfway to another pack when Connor responded. "What the fuck are you doing here?"
"Kidnapping the lot of you...God dammit, how do you walk around with these things..." she muttered as she hefted yet another pack and made her way over to the smaller of the two females. "If you don't believe me, ask your pixelated buddy Enzo. Regardless, don't just lie there. help me with your buds....if you can even get up."
“Right, up.” Connor winced as he struggled to achieve a sitting position. Wounds previously closed by the doctors started to bleed again, but as of yet nothing serious. Swinging his legs over the edge of the table, he motioned to Kazée. “If you bring this up ever again, I’ll deny it. But thanks.”
With that, he hobbled over to the stack of discarded armor, and grabbed the backpack to Sandra’s bed. Once each TITAN was being supplied with the GG serum, Connor began refitting his own armor, while the mercenary watched the door.
The docs in the next room are getting a little noisy. I shut down the computers in the observatory, but they might’ve gotten a message out beforehand.
“Let them come,” Connor said as he pulled his rifle from the bottom of the pile. He pulled the clip, checked the ammo, and replaced it. Then he grabbed one of the submachine guns and attached it to the back of his waist. “They’re going to regret this.’
__--||--||--__
Connor trudged along, Charlie’s arm around his shoulders to stay on his feet, with the other three TITANs in similar circumstances. Sandra and Trent kept the still unconscious Lisa aloft, and were lagging behind.
Only once did OMNI soldiers get close, but with the quick reaction of the Coordinator in the lead combined with the technical hijinks of the PDA-AI, the patrol was easily dispatched.
The corridors became a seemingly endless tunnel of dull gray as the group crawled along. When the gray turned to light, and eventually a greenish brown, did Connor collapse.
Good thing the Jeep was there to catch him.
Kazée winced as she saw Connor fall into the Jeep, and immediately ran ahead of the other three to help him into the jeep properly, then Charlie. As the last three approached, she quickly did a head-count. Five. She'd started with five. All was good.
When the last one was settled, she slid into the driver's seat, and was about to turn the key when the little AI in her pocket yelled at her to stop.
"What?!" she hissed back, the stress of the night beginning to show in her temper, "What is it?"
We're short one very big robot.
Kazée blinked at the little piece of machinery wondering what the hell he meant. It was Connor who figured it out the fastest. "The Infinite Justice! Fuck!"
Kazée looked at the state of the assembled party. She highly doubted even one of them could get up as it were, but Enzo was right - that thing was valuable. She muttered a curse and picked up the radio. "Yue, this is The Boss. Someone pick up."
A moment passed before the static cleared and the voice of Kazée's best friend sounded on the other end. "This is Snowflake. What's up?".
"Get the Med-bay set up for five critical," her peridot orbs travelled over the five TITANS in the truck, and she was mildly amused at the fact that the one sitting next to her had straightened when Ryley answered the radio. "Also....I'm going to need a very big distraction...."
~~~
False Dawn had given way to True Dawn by the time everything was set up. Kazée was perched on the crest of the hill closest to the ravaged base. Alarms were still blaring, and she could see the small figures of soldiers rushing about. Willy-nilly.
'Any moment now, sweetie...' she thought idly for herself, waiting for the "Distraction." She's re-outfitted herself with several more automatic weapons for her own ease and sanity - this part of the mission was much more dangerous than last time.
Less than a moment, she felt an unnatural *Whoosh* of air from nearby. Kaz turned her head right, vaguely making out the shimmering outline of a Mirage Colloid. Grinning, she pulled out her walkie-talkie "Everyone at Home?"
"Yup." Ryley's response was prompt. "I made sure of it before I left."
"Hot. Lets get this show on the road."
"Got it."
With another whoosh, the distortion moved toward the base. So did Kazée.
~~
The Hangar was an absolute mess. Kazée had waited for Mobile suits to launch against the Gold Frame, currently going for the hit-and-run tactics she so favoured. Still, the sheer amount of people in the OMNI hangar between her and the silent Infinite Justice was definitely going to make getting the blood out a pain in the ass.
With a long-suffered sigh, she unslung her automatic rifles and ran into the entrance, firing as she did so. The rapidly-fired bullets tore through the crowd like a hot knife through butter.
There were armed guards in there, too, she noted, and made sure to aim for their faces as she continued cutting her bloody swath through the room. She vaguely registered a pain in her gut, off to the left a bit, and knew someone had found a mark, but didn't stop.
As she approached the suit itself, she dove and rolled behind the nearby computer console for cover. The bullet fire stopped immediately. Curiously, she poked her head up over the top, but yelped and ducked as the two remaining guards tried to blow her head off.
The pain in her gut was beginning to burn now, and she bit her lip to keep from moaning. She had to end this shit fast, because if it came to a "Wait him Out" situation, she'd lose. She poked her head over the cover again once more, noting the approximate location of the pair and, after duckling, she threw an arm over the cover and squeezed the trigger, pivoting her wrist to fan the bullets out. A pair of yells told her of her success, and she rolled out of cover, and onto the MS elevator, crouching as she boarded so as not to make a target of herself.
As she reached the top, a rumble shook the area - probably the fault of her albino companion, and several more soldiers came in. Kaz shrieked and all but threw herself into the cockpit, looking wildly around for the startup buttons.
I'll handle this.
"Just turn it on and tell me where the "Kill Stuff" button is and we'll be fine."
A moment later, the cockpit panels blinked to life, and the Infinite Justice's eyes flashed green, the gunmetal grey hull taking on it's distinctive teal hue.
"Raziel is probably spinning in his grave..." she muttered to herself as she began to move the behemoth. Enzo was actually doing a lot of the work for her, which gave her a moment to relax as the IJ exited the hangar and brought it's arm up to flash a thumbs up to the Gold Frame, which was posed victoriously on a small mountain of disabled bogies.
Kaz rubbed her face with freezing hands coming to terms with the small massacre she'd just instigated. No she wasn't proud of it, but the ends justified the means....and she'd aimed for the knees.....mostly...
Hotstuff? Please to be getting us out of here now? I super-simplified the controls for you so it won't be hard.
"Thanks."
~~
Another full hour and a half had passed before Kaz found herself lying nearly shirtless on an infirmary bed with a wad of cloth in her mouth to bite on while the ship doctor stitched closed the angry gunshot wound in her side.
The other bed in the room was occupied by one of the TITANS, but Kaz had to crane her neck to see who the sleeping form was....
....but she could have sworn that Nicolai was still in space....
The Yue cruised the skies enroute to Scandanavia to use the Launch Bay, while quickly slipping away from any OMNI pursuit. Pursuit that happened to never come.
The TITANs were each strapped down so that they wouldn't get further injured in the trip through the atmosphere, and to also keep them from moving about the ship. They each slept soundly; the dosage of anesthesia pumped along with the GG was enough to drop a horse.
The trip to the Launch Bay lasted a few hours, and before long, the Yue was being fitted for launch.
It was about this time that Connor started moving. Slowly at first, as there was still quite a bit of pain, he woke up. Training instincts kicked in at the unfamiliar surroundings, and that he was tied down. The fact that he wasn't wearing his armor didn't help anything either. Clenching his teeth and bunching the muscles in his right arm, he strained against the cloth strap holding the limb down. Blood once again began seeping through the bandage on his arm before the cloth ripped, sending searing pain through his system. The adrenaline kept him going as he untied the remaining straps, and stole across the room to the other door.
Fumbling with the door release, he was surprised at what he saw as the door opened. Surprised enough to snap him back to reality, as a half naked chick, his brother, and a doctor were all staring at him.
“Uh...mornin?”
Kazée blinked, blushed, and pulled her shirt back down - something she was planning on doing anyways now that the doctor was done. She winced a bit as the doctor lifted up a corner again and rubbed something over the freshly-stitched wound. Her wince relaxed as the topical anaesthetic kicked in, and she sat up slowly, fixing her gaze on the redhead that had just entered.
"Hold on to something. Better yet, sit down before you fall down." She swung her legs off the side of the bed and stood, holding onto the bed frame and waving her thanks to the Doctor, who, upon cleaning up his tools, slipped past Connor and into the other room.
Kazée grabbed the chair that had just been vacated and pulled it over to Trent's bed before plonking herself down in it. "I was just getting to know Trent here," she said, leaning back in the chair and motioning for Connor to sit somewhere. He obliged and sat heavily on the foot of his brother's bed. Kaz reached over and undid the restraints around Trent's arms, allowing the mossy haired TITAN to sit up."I'm only doing this because I'm sure that I could floor both of you at the moment," the woman explained after both boys were sitting.
"If you haven't figure it out, we're on the Fallen Angels' flagship Yue, heading to Alecto." She explained, more for Connor's benefit, as she'd told Trent as much already. "If you're wondering why you're here, a little program that called itself Enzo emailed himself to me and charged me with the mission to rescue the five of you, though I was always under the impression that there were more. Regardless, I don't know why I was given this mission, but you can consider yourselves Fallen Angels now, as I get the feeling that OMNI doesn't miss you a bit. We're not being pursued at all."
She paused as the pair thought over what she'd said before continuing - "Enzo has given us details on how to keep the lot of you - and your Action Figure Suits healthy and working. The Doctor that just went in there, "she nodded towards the door Connor entered from, "is another defector from OMNI. He'll probably be taking care of you guys more often than not. He knows more about the Bio-CPUs than anyone else back home.
"But I'm rambling. I'm curious about you lot, so please, dit moi tout."
==Hours Later, Earth-L2 route==
To say that Nicolai was confused was putting it lightly. Just as soon as Kazée had informed him that the TITANS had defected to the FA, or had at least left OMNI, he had headed out in the Selene to meet up with the Yue . The ship's engines had been on maximum thrust for the trip, so he was glad to spot the Yue.
The ship's captain, a man by the name of Ades, was the first to speak.
"The Yue's in sight, commander. No pursuit forces from the Alliance detected. We're going to shut the engines down for a while in order to keep them from being damaged."
Nicolai was already inside of the Panzer and was on the linear catapault when Ades spoke to him through the comm
"Roger that, Ades. Tell the GINNs to keep a sharp eye for any trouble. Alex and Mina, would you mind coming along?"
Both his wife and her brother responded at the same time
"Not a problem" "Okay. Let's go."
The large door that covered the hangar lifted up.
"Nicolai Ginovaef, Panzer Gundam, taking off!"
"Mina Rogers, CGUE, launching!"
"Alex Rogers, CGUE, heading out!"
"Yue, this is Nicolai. I'm transmitting identification codes now. Request clearence to come aboard. My companions should be transmitting their codes as well."
"Codes confirmed, welcome aboard guys," Shasa's deep voice boomed over the radio in welcome, "Ryley's waiting for you in the hangar, and Boss-Lady's with the new kids."
The legs opened allowing access to the hangars so the three mobile suits could touch down. True to Shasa's word, the electric-white figure of Ryley was easy to spot as she waved them in and ordered the bay doors to close. When pressure had been returned, she raised the visor to talk properly to them.
"I suggest," she said, staring pointedly at Nicolai, "you brace yourselves. It's a bit of a shock, seeing them without armour... anyways, go on along. They're in the med bay." She waved them along before going back to barking at the technicians who populated the area.
Kazée met them at the halfway point, sparing a hug for all three before leading them off, explaining the circumstances of the situation.
"...so now we've got 5 more big shiny robots." she finished as they approached the infirmary. She stopped in front of the door and turned to Nicolai, "Brace yourself," she said before turning to open the door, revealing Connor reclined on the bed to the left, and a figure lying on the right that made Nicolai's party do a double-take, for they were identical.
"Nic," said Kazée, clearing the door for him to enter, "I'd like you to meet Connor and Trent Hawke..."
Connor was still upset about what he'd explained to Kazée, enough to not realize his fists were clenched tight.
In the corner or the room, Trent's black armor stood; a sentry watching over the two brothers. Burns covered a large section of the front plate, while bullet dents littered just about everything else. Faint buzzes and whirs could be heard echoing inside the suit as Enzo worked on small repairs to the software.
Voices filtered through the door minutes later, "...so now we've got 5 more big shiny robots."
Recognizing the voice as the Virgo woman, Connor and Trent looked toward the door and watched it open. Four people stood outside the room; two blonds, Kazée, and their long lost brother.
Connor and Trent both smirked as Kazée introduced them. Afterwards, Trent swung his legs over the side of the bed, and carefully walked over, followed soon by Connor.
Reaching out his hand, Trent continued smirking, "Long time no see, Nic."
Nicolai returned his twin's smirk and shook his hand.
"It looks like you're still alive, after all these years. Not to mention still sane, considering you had to put up with Tobias for a few months. Don't take what he might've done personally. He pulls all sorts of crap with people he likes, much less people he doesn't like. Chain Chomp, on the other hand, I'd rather see in pieces."
He thought for a moment. The document Shasa handed him had told him there were three Hawkes. He saw only two.
"Where's Ezekiel? I thought that you three were always together....nevermind. You don't have to answer if you don't need to. But why abandon the Alliance? As far as I can tell, everyone in OMNI saw you as heros."
The redheaded Hawke brother pushed off the bed he sat on and covered the distance to the door quickly. With a smile, he pushed the close button, shutting Kazée and the two Rogers' out.
"Well, isn't that a bit better," he laughed and waved his hand in the air as if swatting at a pesky fly.
Trent let a small smile slip while Connor floated in the zero gee, arms behind his head relaxed. "We'll get to that, Nic. But as for now, we've got some history to settle."
The mossy haired soldier moved back to his bed and sat down while the other mossy haired soldier pulled forward a chair.
"We want it to be known that we hold no ties to OMNI anymore. They betrayed us, and as a result, our brother and sister were killed. That's why you don't see three of us in here. OMNI killed Ezekial. They killed Billy. And the almost killed us."
Connor landed on another bed and crossed his legs. "The whole deal with Tobias wasn't our idea, either. It was just a mission. A very...annoying...mission, but just that. A mission. As were the times we tried to blow up your colony." He chuckled lightly. "Sorry about that, by the way."
Trent clapped his hands together, "So, now that that's out of the way, we've got some questions for you, Niccy. Who were our real parents? What were they like?"
Nicolai listened to Trent tell of OMNI's betrayal. He was mildly suprised, although not as much as one might expect.
"I'm not too suprised. OMNI tends to treat bio-CPU's such as yourselves more as equipment than people. We treat everyone equally, although enhanced naturals are extremely rare in the Serpent Tail, as we lack the facilities to make the conversion process, and most never betray OMNI"
When Connor mentioned Tobias, he smiled.
"Trust me. What ever Tobias did to you, It couldn't have been as bad as the time he somehow rigged 'It's Raining Men' to play during one of Frost's speeches. Ever see an entire room just crack up? I'll have to show it to you sometime. As for Alecto, well, I'm suprised your superiors were dumb enough to order a second attack, considering how badly the first one went."
He shook his head slowly at Trent's inquiry about their parents.
"I don't really have any memories of our dad. I vaguely recall mom saying that he dissappeared or something, but it's been at least 12 years since I asked her last. As for mom, she's very kind. I don't think she'd approve of our, ahem 'career choices'. But if you ever do get the chance, try and visit her. I can tell you where she's living."
He dug a small disk out of his uniform's pocket and took out a small computer that he had carried onboard.
"Take a look at the data on the disk. That's my new mobile suit, the Providence Nemesis. I hope to make a mass-produced model of it someday, but I highly doubt that it will exist beyond the drawing board. But, since I only saw the Infinite Justice onboard, I would bet that the rest of you need mobile suits. Unfortunately, OMNI built machines more advanced than a Strike Dagger are in short supply. That means until we can get some, you may need to use ZAFT-built mobile suits."
