Part Twenty
To: 02@colony.net
From: G@colony.net
Re: You might want to know this
I think you might be interested to know that White Fang has some plans in the making concerning the old trick of divide and conquer. Since OZ seems to be having some issues, you might want to keep an eye out.
G
****
“Oh, Heeeero . . .” Duo called out across the room Treize had given them. “You might want to see this . . .”
Heero peered over his shoulder. After a long pause, he said, “Interesting.”
“Should I get the others?”
Heero nodded.
“’Kay!” Duo bounded out of the room. He returned a minute later with Trowa, Rigel, and Xiaolong on his heels. “Here, read this,” he said, waving at his computer screen.
They all leaned over and looked at it.
“Just one more problem we didn’t need,” Trowa said with a sigh. “Better tell Treize, I suppose.”
The five of them trooped over to Treize’s office, where Une let them in. “Hey, Treize, we got problems,” Duo announced cheerfully.
Treize looked frazzled. “What?”
Heero decided to explain, to keep Duo from attempting to do so. “White Fang is planning to use the confusion and the factioning of OZ to make some sort of move.”
Treize’s head thudded against the desk. “Just one more thing I didn’t need . . .”
Duo hoisted himself up to sit on Treize’s desk. “So what’s our plan, Fearless Leader?”
“Find out what they plan to do,” Treize said.
Duo deflated. “That’s our plan? Geez, you’re not very adventurous, are you?”
“Ignore him, he’s an idiot,” Heero said.
“Duo, do you have a better plan?” Rigel asked, trying to be polite.
“We could sit around while Tsuberov’s faction of OZ and White Fang kicked each other’s asses, then swoop in and clean up the leftovers,” Duo suggested.
“Now that is a plan,” Xiaolong said.
“Tactically doable, too,” Rigel said, nodding.
“See?” Duo grinned. “I’m not that stupid!”
“I never said you were stupid,” Heero said.
Duo stuck his tongue out.
Treize looked up. “Between White Fang and Tsuberov, who do you think will win?”
The pilots all glanced at each other.
“Tsuberov,” Heero finally answered. “Unless some major changes have happened to White Fang, they’ll be completely outgunned. They don’t have any Gundams anymore, and that’s what they were relying on.”
“I don’t know,” Trowa spoke up. “They’ve lost the Gundams, so in all likelihood, they probably have some new weapon we don’t know about.”
There was a long pause.
“I’ll ask G,” Duo said with a shrug. “At least someone is still on our side. Course, I don’t trust him.”
“Probably all for the best,” Treize said.
“Anyway, if Tsuberov does win, how do we get rid of him afterwards?” Trowa spoke up.
“I broke his nose,” Xiaolong chimed in, sounding proud.
“That’s . . . great,” Duo said.
“It’s not a big stunning victory, but it made me feel better,” Xiaolong said.
“Wu, you’ve become so petty,” Duo said. “I like it.”
Xiaolong rolled his eyes.
Heero attempted to restore sanity to the conversation. “The problem is, we’d be outgunned as well. I can speak from personal experience and say that fighting against Mobile Dolls is . . . quite a challenge, even for a Gundam. And when you have as many as Tsuberov does . . .”
“But hey, I kicked their ass with Zero,” Duo pointed out. “I could just do that again.”
“No,” Heero said firmly. “You are never getting hold of that system again.”
Duo pouted. “Just because - ”
“No,” Heero repeated, a little louder. “I’m not peeling you off the floor again.”
“Um, guys?” Rigel interrupted, “What are you talking about?”
Heero turned to the others. “My Gundam has an advanced guidance system that . . . helped Duo fight some Mobile Dolls. It’s good for strategizing, but it didn’t mesh well with Duo.”
Duo made a face.
“Well, can we use that?” Trowa asked.
“We could,” Heero said. He looked speculatively at Rigel. “But I think Quatre would be better suited for it than I am.”
“What? Why?” Rigel asked.
“Because you were our strategist before all this happened,” Heero explained. “Why change?”
“Would I be able to use the system?” Rigel looked doubtful.
Heero considered. “Yes, but not right now. It tends to have a . . . strange effect on people. We might want to wait until you’ve recovered your memory.”
“I’m working on that,” Treize said. “Did you send a message to the doctor you wanted to bring in?”
Heero nodded. “She said she’d be here in a day or so.”
“Okay. After that it’ll probably be at least three or four days before they’re ready to do the operation, and at least a week before those two can pilot again.”
“Operation?” Rigel asked nervously.
Treize hesitated. “Yes.”
“Why wasn’t there an operation the first time?” Rigel asked.
“Things can be destroyed from the outside with a laser,” Treize explained. “Fixing something is always infinitely more difficult than destroying it. Takes more effort, more planning, more accuracy.”
“But . . .” Rigel’s voice trailed off.
Trowa put a comforting arm around his shoulders. “Rigel, we’re not going to do this without your permission. Either of you.”
“Well, I want my memory back, I just . . .”
“It’s perfectly safe, I promise,” Treize said.
“Okay,” Rigel said slowly. “Will I still have my memories of . . . of being Rigel?”
Treize nodded. “I’ll have the doctor explain everything to you. All of you.”
“Good,” Trowa said.
****
“You don’t need to be so nervous, you know,” Trowa said, watching Rigel carefully.
“I’m not nervous,” Rigel said immediately.
“Of course you aren’t.” Trowa sat down on the bed next to him. “You’ll be fine. You just have to trust that the doctors know what they’re doing.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Rigel said.
“Then what are you worried about?”
Rigel shrugged, picking at the blankets.
“Rigel . . .”
“Well, I, um . . . you’re . . . and I . . .”
“You’re worried about us?”
Rigel looked everywhere but at Trowa. “Yes?”
“Rigel, there’s nothing to worry about,” Trowa said firmly. “It’s not like you’ll be a different person afterwards. You’ll be a combination of Rigel and Quatre, both of whom I like. There’s no reason my feelings would change.”
“Oh,” Rigel said.
Trowa gave him a comforting hug. “So stop worrying. Okay?”
“Okay,” Rigel said. He pulled out of Trowa’s arms. “I had a question . . . well, more of an idea.”
“What?” Trowa asked.
“What’s with Heero and Duo?”
Trowa blinked. “What do you mean, what’s ‘with’ them?”
“Well, they’re drooling all over each other. Are they together?”
“Not that I know of.”
“They should be,” Rigel stated.
“Rigel, are you going to play Matchmaker?”
“Of course not.” Rigel smiled. “The match has already been made. I’m going to play ‘let’s-lock-them-in-a-room-together-and-see-what- happens.’”
“Isn’t that also known as locking them in a closet together and seeing who still has their clothes on when we let them out?”
Rigel grinned. “If I’m right, neither of them will have any clothes on.”
“Let’s not bring Xiaolong.”
Rigel laughed. “Good idea. But first I think I’ll talk to them and make sure I’m not mistaken.”
****
“So let me get this straight,” Xiaolong said. “You want me to stick a tongue depressor into my mouth and scrape up gunk from the inside of my cheek.”
“Got it in one,” Sally said.
“Why?” Xiaolong asked.
“Because we need a DNA sample.”
“Why?”
“So we can make stem cells.”
“Why?”
“So we can plant them into your major neural memory pathway so they’ll regrow and you can access your old memories.”
“Okay, then,” Xiaolong said. “Just checking.”
Rigel, in the meantime, had already done his job and given the tongue depressor to Dr. Roberts. (Formerly Dr. Insignificant, but he had a recent name change in accordance to his value in the plot. Can you tell we’re making this up as we go?)
“So how exactly does all this work?” Xiaolong asked, handing his tongue depressor to Sally.
Sally glanced at Dr. Roberts. “You can explain.”
“Well,” Roberts said, “your actual memories are all intact. What’s been destroyed is the pathway that leads to them. Your brain constructed a secondary pathway and another section to build and contain new memories. We aren’t touching that, so all your recent memories will still be open to access. What we’re going to do is use your DNA sample to grow neurons and implant them in the old pathway, where they’ll wire into the old neurons and bridge the gap.”
“Okay,” Rigel said slowly. “I think I get it.”
“How long will it take?” Xiaolong asked.
“Well, it’ll take about three days to grow the neurons,” Sally said. “The operation itself should be fairly short, then you’ll need about a week of recuperation time.”
Rigel grimaced.
“You have nothing to worry about,” Sally assured him.
“Doesn’t mean I like it,” Rigel grumbled.
“Okay, you two are free to go,” Sally said.
Rigel and Xiaolong left the room. “You wanna go grab some lunch?” Rigel asked.
“Sure. How do these people keep getting past the security?” Xiaolong wondered.
“I’m sure Treize is taking care of it,” Rigel said. “Oh, hey, Duo!” He called ahead to Duo, who was further down the hall. “I need to talk to you!” He grabbed Duo by the sleeve. “I’ll see you at lunch in a few minutes, Xiaolong.”
“Where are we going?” Duo asked.
“Somewhere we can talk,” Rigel said.
“Uh oh,” Duo said.
Rigel managed to find an empty hallway. “Okay. What’s up with you and Heero?”
Duo grinned.
“Don’t say what I think you’re going to say,” Rigel said firmly. “Anatomy aside. Let me rephrase. What’s going on with you and Heero?”
“Nothing,” Duo said. “Absolutely nothing. Other than some really weird dreams. And him taking a whole lot of cold showers.”
Rigel gave Duo a look. “And did it occur to you that maybe you should do something about that?”
“Yes,” Duo said.
“Then why haven’t you?”
“’Cause it occurred to me that in the long run, it would be a bad idea.”
“Why?”
“He’s probably going to want something silly like an actual relationship.”
Rigel frowned. “And why is this a bad thing?”
“I don’t do relationships.”
Rigel folded his arms over his chest. “Explain.”
“No.”
Rigel paused. “Explain a little?”
“No.”
“Please?” Rigel made puppy dog eyes.
“I don’t want to explain.”
“Damn, those work on Trowa,” Rigel said. “So you don’t want a relationship. Maybe Heero doesn’t either.”
“Maybe he doesn’t. But I don’t know that.”
“Look,” Rigel said, sounding frustrated, “could you just talk to him? Because you’re driving the rest of us nuts.”
“I talk to him all the time.”
“Duo . . .” Rigel said warningly.
“What am I supposed to say? ‘Hey, you want a quick bang?’ That’s hardly workable.”
Rigel had to admit that Duo had a point. “I’m just going to lock the two of you in a closet together and leave you there.”
“Go ahead,” Duo said. “I won’t stop you. Now c’mon, I’m hungry.”
****
Rigel hauled Heero aside for a similar heart-to-heart after lunch. “Hey, Heero, I wanted to talk to you for a sec.”
“What?” Heero asked.
“What’s going on between you and Duo?”
“Nothing.”
“Yeah, I noticed that. Why isn’t there something going on between you and Duo?”
“Because he’s twisted.”
“I noticed that too. How so?”
“Well, have you ever talked to him when he’s in a bad mood? I suggest you don’t. Things will be thrown at you.”
“What does that have to do with this?”
“I’m not sure, but I know that it does.”
Rigel resisted the urge to knock their heads together. “Look. The two of you are driving the rest of us crazy by trying to be suave about how much you’re drooling. Could you please do us all a favor and cut it out?”
“If you can figure out how to make it happen, sure,” Heero said.
“I wouldn’t even have to be involved if you two weren’t being such idiots,” Rigel said. “Why is this suddenly my responsibility?”
“Because I’m not braving Duo’s wrath.”
Rigel sighed. “Fine. I’ll just go back to my original plan.”
“And what is that?”
Rigel grinned angelically. “You’ll see.”
****
“Are you sure that you weren’t followed here?” Quinze asked.
“Positive. Why do you ask?”
“Because someone is trying to hack into our computer systems. And no offense, but you’re the most obvious traitor.”
“Why do you say that?”
Quinze gave him a pointed look. “You were a member of OZ. A high-placed, well-known member of OZ.”
“Don’t worry. Nobody suspects.”
“I’ll take your word on it. But we need to be careful.”
“You don’t need to tell me this.”
Quinze gave him a look. “We’re on the verge of victory,” he snapped. “We can’t afford to make mistakes now.”
“You are fond of speeches, Quinze.”
****
Relena, Princess of Sank, is a whiny little brat. Dorothy twirled some of her hair around a finger. Treize, I’m going to get you for this. The Gundam pilots were so much more interesting.
Still, she forced herself to sit through Relena’s classes on ‘why can’t we all just get along’ with a smile pasted on her face. She occasionally argued a point, just to make it look good. Unfortunately, due to her assignment, she had to spend most of her free time following Relena around. However, Relena didn’t notice.
Thus Dorothy came to be listening in when Noin came to visit.
She wasn’t sure how Noin had come to be working for Relena, and she also wasn’t sure she cared.
“Relena-sama, I was wondering if you could do me a favor.”
“Of course, Noin. What is it?”
“Could you have a word with your brother? He’s up to something and I’m not sure I approve of it.”
Hm. Treize was looking for Zechs. This might be interesting. Dorothy pressed her ear closer against the door.
“Sure. Where is Milliardo, anyway?”
Long pause. Then Noin said, “He seems to be working for White Fang.”
Excuse me? Dorothy’s formidable eyebrows raised.
“Excuse me?” Relena asked.
“I know,” Noin said. “It’s hard to believe. But I think . . . he may have been working for them for quite a long time.”
“I see,” Relena said after a pause. “Do you know what they plan to do?”
“No, but I’m sure that it’s not good.”
“Perhaps I’ll go pay him a visit,” Relena said.
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Noin said.
“I doubt he’ll be willing to talk to me otherwise,” Relena said. “I have to show that I trust my brother.”
Dorothy frowned. Relena, only you would come up with that logic. That has to be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard.
“I’ll prepare to go right away,” Relena said.
Damn it all, that means that I need to go with you! Dorothy sighed. Better go call Treize.
****
“Zechs is where?” Treize asked incredulously.
“That’s what Noin said, and she would know if anyone would.” Dorothy nodded.
“But . . . how long has this been going on?” Treize rubbed his temples.
“I don’t know, but it would explain an awful lot,” Dorothy continued. “How White Fang caught Rigel and Xiaolong when they were sneaking into an OZ base, for example. Why Zechs erased their memories. He was probably hoping to kidnap them and you got to them first. Why he’s suddenly disappeared, too.”
“This is a nightmare.” Treize closed his eyes. “A complete and utter nightmare. And now Relena is running off after him?”
Dorothy nodded. “Like the idiot she is.”
Treize paused. “I wonder if we could use that to find out their plans.”
“Don’t worry,” Dorothy said. “I’m already packed. I’ll talk Relena into letting me come.
Hopefully I’ll be able to contact you from there.”
Treize hesitated, then nodded. “Go ahead. Be careful, though. I wouldn’t send you if the situation weren’t quite so ominous.”
“I’ll do my best,” Dorothy said.
****
“Oh, Treize . . . we have yet another problem.” Duo stuck his head into Treize’s office. “Hey, you shouldn’t dent your desk like that with your forehead.”
The other four pilots were close behind him. They looked at Treize’s head, attached firmly to his desk.
“Um, maybe we should come back later . . .” Rigel suggested.
“It’s too important,” Trowa said.
Treize lifted his head. “What is it?”
“Well, G e-mailed me with White Fang’s plan,” Duo said. “And I really don’t think we can just let them and Tsuberov fight it out. See, it’s a little more complicated than that . . .”
“Just tell me what they plan to do,” Treize said.
The five pilots looked at each other, then Heero spoke. “They’re going to drop a colony on the Earth.”
****
There, see? More. Um, we'll try to get part twenty-one out soon... we hope... we swear... ::hides::