"Are you going to talk, girl?" The overly confident leader of Neo Zion smirked. Neo Zion was what the latest threat to humanity called themselves.
General Norris prided himself on being very intimidating and thought that he was exceptional at getting his enemies to reveal things to him. But this girl was frustrating. She hadn’t uttered a single word to him, not even her name. The only time she spoke was the few times when she told him to go &*@# himself.
"How many are there?" He asked. "How many Gundams do you have?" he punched her in the ribs. She wheeled over in pain, but was unable to move because she was tied to a chair.
"I’m not telling you anything." She gasped, spitting out blood onto the floor.
"Stupid girl, I’ll kill you if you don’t tell me something!"
"Tell you something? Ok, I’ll tell you something. I think a porcupine sat on your head and stuck its tongue in the toaster. Oh, wait a minute! Is that your hair? I’m sorry," She started to chuckle.
Norris felt his face go red with rage. He slapped her hard across the face, but he didn’t even get a whimper. The girl was determined not to give away her friends or her allies.
General Norris sighed and signaled to his guards.
"Man," She laughed, "Your parents must have been a turkey and a sewer rat, cuz you’ve got one ugly face." She laughed.
General Norris could feel his face going red with rage. How dare she insult him like that! He signaled to his guards.
"Take her back to her cell and try something else." He smirked to the guard. The guard shared in his secretive smile and saluted. He grabbed Indigo off the chair and pulled her out of the room and to her cell.
"Bye, sewer turkey. Gobble, gobble."
Norris gave her a final kick in the shins before letting the guard drag her off. He was getting no where with that girl.
The guard dragged Indigo to her cell and threw her in. Then he, as well as five other guards, followed her in and formed a circle around her.
"You should have talked when you had the chance." The first guard smirked. "Now its too late." The door closed and Indigo forced herself to her feet. Whatever they planned on doing to her, she wouldn’t tell them anything. They couldn’t afford to give the enemy the upper hand at this point.
Suddenly, Indigo felt someone punch her from behind. She was thrown forward into another guard, who pushed her back and punched her in the face. Attacks were coming form every direction, and in the darkness of the cell, she couldn’t see where they were. And with six guards, it didn’t look like she would win this one. Helen or Jason may have been able to get that many guards, even in such a condition, but Indigo was not very skilled in hand-to-hand combat. But still, she would have to try.
One guard grabbed her and ripped her tank top. The next one grabbed her breasts, hard. Indigo screamed in pain, but refused to give up. She fought back. The guards closed in on her, all of them grabbing at her and punching her at once. Soon her shirt was gone and she was bleeding all over. She would be very sore once this was over.
Her pants were next, and once they had been successfully torn to shreds, she was standing there, trying to fight them off in her sports bra and boxers. Blows came to her stomach and legs, and her face was a favorite target. By the time she finally passed out, her face was a swollen mess and her arms and legs were almost completely purple with bruises and dried blood.
Joel raced towards the base. He was three hours away at a regular speed, but at this rate he could cut the time in half. He was only partially aware that three of the others were following him. It appeared that Jason was heading back to base, since Joel had ripped off his Gundam’s arm.
He didn’t care; they could follow him if they wanted, and if they could keep up. In a short time, he could see the base in the distance. He picked up speed and headed straight for the open hatch.
He landed inside just ahead of the rest of them, and he hopped out of his Gundam and started running down the halls. He had been looking at the map of the base on his way there, and he knew where the prisoners’ holding cells were. He heard Helen screaming at him to slow down as he ran, but he didn’t listen.
But Helen caught up and ran alongside him.
"Joel, I’m going to take the rest of them and set up explosives. You have half an hour. Be back here with Indigo before then. Do you know where you’re going?"
Joel nodded.
"OK, see you then," She stopped running and turned down another hall to set up explosives around the base. Joel was glad that they didn’t seem mad at him.
He headed straight to where he knew the holding cells were. First thing was first; he needed to find a way to get into the cells. A guard with a key would do nicely. He searched the halls for guard.
He found six, instead. Joel followed them for a while, trying to figure out which one had the key. He found out which on it was and never took his eyes off him. When the six separated, Joel took his chance and jumped the guard. He knocked him out with one swift, silent move and took his key card.
Once he was satisfied, he turned and ran down the halls, looking for Indigo.
He stopped at a door where he saw a figure lying on the ground in one of the cells. He quickly opened it.
It was Indigo, looking very beat up. She was covered in bruises and dried and fresh blood, and her clothes had disappeared. All she wore was a gray sports bra and black boxers. One of the straps on the sports bra was broken and hanging down.
"Indy?" He whispered, hovering over her. Her brushed her hair out of her face and examined the damage. She was in bad shape.
She moaned and opened her eyes as best as she could. They were swollen shut, but somehow she managed to recognize him and speak.
"Joel?" She whispered.
"Its me, Indy." He said. "Are you OK?"
"I didn’t tell them anything," She swore to him. "I promise."
"OK, that’s good Indy." Joel said quietly. "Come on, I’m going to get you out of here." He hooked his arms under her legs and the other arm under her arms. He slowly lifted her up off the floor and carried her out of the cell and started down the hallway.
"I’m sorry," Indigo whispered.
"For what?" Joel asked, surprised that she could find anything to apologize for.
"For causing so much trouble like that. I shouldn’t have gotten caught."
"Its OK, Indy." Joel promised her. "Its just matters that you’re back with us."
Indigo sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her head against his chest. "Did we get the device?" She asked so quietly that Joel almost couldn’t hear her.
"Yes, we did." He said. They were just arriving at the hanger when the alarms went off.
"Uh oh," Joel said. He hurried over to his Gundam, then looked at Indigo’s. How were they going to get Venus off the base? Indigo was in no shape to pilot it.
"Joel! We’re gonna load yours and Indigo’s Gundams onto a carrier." Jasmine cried from behind him. "Follow Helen!" She pointed to where the blue-haired girl was waiting.
"Thanks Jazz," Joel called back to her. He followed Helen to the carrier and carefully placed Indigo in one of the seats. After making sure she was all right, he jumped out and loaded his Gundam onto the carrier. Helen had already stolen back and loaded the Venus onto the carrier.
"You guys get outta here first. We’ll hold off the enemies until the carrier is a safe distance away. Then we’ll follow." Helen said.
Joel nodded and climbed back into the carrier.
He saw Jasmine and Jason climb into their mobile suits, a stream of soldiers running after them. Strange, he was sure he saw Jason’s Gundam heading back towards the base. He looked and saw Jason climbing into the Gundam Armageddon. He and David must have switched.
Joel typed in the coordinates of the base and set the shuttle on autopilot as soon as it was away from the base. Then he got up and went over to where Indigo was sitting, very close to passing out.
"What happened to you?" Joel asked, sitting down next to her and inspecting her injuries.
Indigo smirked. "The sewer turkey tried to beat me into talking, but it didn’t work. So he set a bunch of his soldiers on me. They took my clothes!" She was obviously tired and almost unconscious. Her words were slurred and slow.
"I look terrible," She muttered, "don’t I?"
Joel shook his head. "No, you look beautiful." He said.
"Really?" She asked hopefully. "I don’t look that bad?"
"Really," Joel said.
Indigo smiled and leaned her head back against the chair. "They didn’t get anything from me." She said. "Not even my name!"
"That’s good," Joel said, trying to keep her from getting too stressed. She was battered beyond belief, and it seemed that she needed reassurance that she had done well. "I’m proud of you." Joel said.
She was proud of herself too, she went on to tell him again how she hadn’t let the sewer turkey get anything out of her.
After talking nonsense and repeating a few things she started to doze off.
"I need sleep," She yawned.
"You can go to sleep." Joel said. "You need rest."
Indigo nodded and rested her head on his shoulder and soon was deep asleep. Joel sighed and arranged her so she was lying across the seats. Then he went over to the shuttle controls and got on the line with the base. As he connected, he saw the Neo Zion base explode into millions of pieces. He smiled; knowing that one of their main bases had been destroyed. But he knew the war was far from over. The Gundams would still be needed. It was too bad; he didn’t want to see any more of his friends gutting hurt.
Noin appeared on the screen and she looked relieved.
"Instructor Noin," Joel nodded, "I have Indigo, we’re on our way back."
She nodded, "We were starting to get worried, Joel. What possessed you to go after her all by yourself?" Her tone was scolding.
Joel shrugged, "She would have done the same for me." He answered simply.
Noin sighed and shook her head. "I don’t know why I put up with you. You’re almost as bad as your parents."
Joel smirked and waited for Noin to finish musing.
"And don’t think you won’t get a tongue whipping when you get back." Noin warned. "Trowa is about ready to kill someone."
"I’ll be careful," Joel promised.
Noin gave him a look and then changed the subject.
"How is she?" She asked.
Joel looked behind him at where Indigo was sleeping.
"She’s pretty beat up, but she’ll be OK."
"How much information did they get out of her." Noin sounded like she wanted to get it over with.
Nothing," Joel said, trying to hide his smirk.
Noin’s eyes practically popped out of her head. "Nothing?!?"
"That’s what she said to me. They didn’t even get her name."
"Wow, I’m impressed. The enemy is ruthless in interrogating prisoners."
"So was I," Joel said with a smile tugging at his lips.
"Well, I guess that’s it then. Try and take care of her as best you can, Joel. We’ll have Sally take a look at her when you get back." She saluted and Joel returned her salute. Then Noin disconnected.
Joel checked in with Jasmine, Jason and Helen, and then went to take care of Indigo. She had fallen into a deep sleep, so he went and got some medical supplies first. Then he cleaned her cuts and bandaged then, and checked for broken bones.
The most obvious place was the ribs, because they seemed to have gotten at her stomach a lot. He ran his fingers over her stomach, trying to remember the techniques for finding broken bones that his mother had taught him.
He blushed slightly when he got to the ribs under her breasts, but quickly pushed it from his mind. When he was done, he found two fractured ribs. Afterwards he checked for other broken bones, but found only a chipped tooth. Relieved that she wasn’t too badly hurt, he found some blankets and wrapped her in them. Indigo was still sleeping soundly, so Joel took his opportunity to get some rest as well. He settled into the seat next to Indigo and fell asleep.
Jason woke suddenly when he heard the com-link in his Gundam beep. Helen’s face appeared, looking like she was still in ‘soldier mode’. It was something Jason had discovered. If Helen was screaming orders and looking mean, you’d better stay away from her. However, when she wasn’t on a mission, she was very nice to everyone but him.
"Hey Helen." Jason grinned tiredly. "What’s up?"
"We’re getting close to the base." She answered. "I want you to tell Joel to get ready. Without entering the security codes into that unauthorized shuttle, the mobile dolls around the base might attack."
"Why can’t you or Jazz do it? I was having a nice nap."
"Because," Helen snapped, "Jasmine and I a re both busy."
"Doing what?"
"Noin has us on repair duty. We’ve already started on organizing the mechanics to fix your Gundam."
"Gotcha," Jason sighed, "anything else?"
"No, that’s all" She turned to disconnect.
"Hey Helen?"
"Yeah?"
"You think Indy’s gonna be OK?"
Now her face softened and she smiled. "I’m sure she’ll be fine. But you can ask Joel when you talk to him."
"Ok…" But Helen had already disappeared from the screen.
Jason contacted Joel’s shuttle and waited for an answer. There was none, so Jason turned on the screen so he could see where Joel was. He thought he saw two figures slumped over each other near the back of the shuttle.
"Joel? Joooooooeeeeeeelllllll…………" Jason called in an annoying voice. "Where are you, buddy? WAKE UP!" He screamed.
He saw one of the figures near the back jump up and the other one stirred. Jason immediately figured that they were Joel and indigo. A few seconds later, Joel came into clear view.
"What have you been doing?" Jason asked mischievously.
Joel glared at him. "Sleeping," He said, "And you?"
"Same," Jason grinned, "How’s Indy?"
Joel looked back at the sleeping figure. "Two broken ribs and a chipped tooth. Multiple bruises and cuts, she’s exhausted but she’ll be OK."
"That’s good. Helen wanted me to remind you to give your access codes so you won’t get attacked by the mobile dolls. They’re pretty dumb, ya know."
"Yeah, thanks Jason. I’ll do that. I guess I’ll see you on the base in about an hour?"
"OK buddy. Tell Indigo we wish her well, if she wakes up before I see her."
"Ok," Joel hung up and typed in the codes to authorize the carrier he was in.
It wasn’t long before the carrier was docking at the base. It felt so good to be back home again. After the shuttle had docked, Joel picked up once again, this time taking the time to make sure he didn’t hurt her even more.
He climbed down from the shuttle and headed straight for the infirmary. He was barely aware of Jasmine watching him, or Helen and Jason about to follow him.
He was halfway to the infirmary when Trowa ran into him in the halls. He rushed up to Joel and looked at his daughter. He brushed the hair away from her face and examined her cuts.
"Well?" He asked. "What’s the status?"
"Two broken ribs and a chipped tooth, as far as I can tell. As well as countless flesh wounds."
Trowa nodded and carefully took Indigo from Joel’s arms. Joel carefully handed her over and watched Trowa head down the halls in silent understanding. When Trowa was out of sight, he turned and went to help the others with the Gundams. No doubt Jasmine would have some questions for him.
"Brother dear," Jasmine cooed as she approached Joel from behind. "You have some explaining to do."
"I know," Joel groaned. "I know."
David watched as Trowa entered an empty infirmary room with Indigo in his arms. He waited for a few minutes until Sally had come and they had been in there for a while. He felt incredibly guilty for letting Indigo get captured like that. He could hardly stand himself, and the fact that he hadn’t gone with the others to help get her free was another decision he regretted.
But still, he had to see her and make sure she was all right.
He entered the room silently and approached the bed where Indigo was lying.
Trowa and Sally looked up from their quiet discussion bout Indigo’s condition.
"I-is she OK?" He asked quietly.
Sally smiled at him while Trowa’s expression didn’t change.
"She’s going to be fine, David."
David nodded and stepped up to the bed and looked at Indigo lying there, already connected to a million different machines. She looked tired and sore, and she was purple with bruises.
He looked down at her, aware of Trowa’s gaze, and stared at her for a long time.
"Sorry Indy," he whispered. She stirred and looked up at him with tired, swollen eyes.
"Hi Davie boy." She tried to smile.
"Hey Indigo. How are you feeling?"
"Terrible. But it was worth it. The sewer turkey didn’t get a word out of me."
David looked shocked. "Sewer…turkey?"
She nodded, "The General. The guy in charge, I think. He tried to get them to beat me into talking, but I showed him."
"Why would you call him sewer turkey?"
"Because I told him he looked like his parents were a sewer rat and a turkey." She chuckled, but stopped because of the pain in her side. Even Trowa, and David in his depressed state, managed to smirk.
"Sorry I wasn’t there to help." He sighed.
"That’s OK, Dave. How’s your arm?" She pointed at the bandage wrapped tightly around his upper arm.
"Not as bad as yours are." He chuckled. Indigo smiled and lay her head back on the pillow.
"Indigo, I feel really bad for not being there. I…I let you get caught. Its all my fault…"
Indigo looked at him with shock. David was on the verge of tears when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Trowa towering over him.
"You sound like Quatre," Trowa said. "He’s always blaming himself for circumstances that are completely out of his control. This isn’t your fault, David."
David stared at Trowa for a long time.
"I know, but I can’t help but feel a little guilty. I could have taken her place. Aren’t you upset that I’ve put your daughter in so much danger and then I couldn’t even go and help her?"
Trowa smiled ever so slightly and shook his head. "Indigo will be fine."
"I see," Indigo said quietly. "You think I’m not tough enough to handle it? Well, I showed you. I’m glad it was me and not you, David. I handled it just fine, don’t you think?"
"Hun?"
Indigo smirked and closed her eyes again. She was joking.
"I guess you’re right. I’m being dumb. But I’m still sorry, Indy."
"Fine with me," She yawned and snuggled deeper into the covers. David could tell, even by the way her voice was strained, that she was tired and in a lot of pain.
He looked at her for a long time before deciding to leave. "I guess I’ll go." He sighed and left the room.
Once David had gone, Trowa stepped up to his daughter’s side and took her hand. Sally discreetly slipped out of the room and left them alone.
"Hi daddy," Indigo sighed without opening her eyes.
"You need anything?" He asked.
She shook her head lightly.
"I’m proud of you, sweetheart." He whispered.
Indigo smiled but didn’t answer. Trowa kissed her forehead lightly and then stood up.
"Your mother is going to want to see you," He said. "I’m going to go find her."
"Ok," Indigo murmured. Trowa knew that the second he was out the door, she was asleep again.
Helen ran into Zechs in the hallway on her way to see Indigo, and he stopped her. "Helen," He said, "Where’s the database? Did you retrieve it from the base?"
"Yeah," Helen answered. "David gave it to me just before we left the base."
"Give it to me, I’ll take it to Noin so we can take a look at it."
"Sure," Helen fished out the tiny device and handed it to Zechs. By the way, do you know where they’re holding Indy?"
"Yes, in the infirmary ward, room 3."
"Thanks Zechs,"
"But…"
"Hun? But what?"
"She’s sleeping right now. I was just in there. Maybe you should wait until she’s feeling a bit better."
Helen sighed but, "OK Zechs, I’m going to go do some training if anyone’s looking for me."
"OK,"
Helen moved past him and headed for the gym. She had a score to settle with Jason anyway.
"Oh and Helen?" Zechs called after her.
"Yeah?" She turned, "Good work out there."
"Thank you commander." She gave him a playful salute and ran off to find Jason so they could finish their competition.
Jason took a deliberate bite of his sandwich as he watched the Chang twins argue. He loved watching Joel sweat; especially since he acted to high and mighty around him. It looked like Jasmine was having quite a good time torturing him today. Although she had not yet revealed why she had him blackmailed, Jason was sure that if he stuck around long enough she would let him know.
"Dear brother," Jasmine cooed, "Do you want these pictures to get out?"
Joel clenched his fists in an attempt to stop himself from lashing out at his sister.
"No," He growled.
"Is there something between you two?"
A girl, Jason thought, But who? Helen or Indigo?
"Of course not!" Joel snapped.
"Hey Jason…" Helen called to him as she approached from behind.
"Shhh!" Jason whipped around and slapped a hand over Helen’s mouth. "This is just getting good," He whispered fiercely.
Helen looked behind him curiously at Jasmine and Joel. "Do you really think it’s a good idea to be spying on them?" Helen warned, "I know how the Changs can get if you piss them off…"
"Relax Helen," Jason shrugged, "Just watch."
"I want some answers," Jasmine was saying.
"There’s nothing to tell," Joel replied.
"Sure there isn’t," Jasmine laughed. "Now what were you two doing while you were on that shuttle? Jason told me himself that…"
"SHUT UP!" Joel screamed finally. "I’ve had enough of this! You had me doing everything for you for nearly a week now! I’m not going to take it Jasmine! I don’t care who sees those pictures!" And with that Joel stormed off.
Jasmine watched him go and then shrugged. "Hey Jason," She called. "Come here and take a look at these."
Jason walked over and looked over her shoulder at a few pictures she had pulled out of her jacket pocket. When he saw the pictures he spewed food everywhere. Then he burst out laughing. "Helen! Come here!"
Helen, curious, walked over and looked at them as well. They were the pictures of Indigo and Joel hugging.
"Oh my…" Helen’s eyes went wide. "I had no idea…" Joel always seemed so…NO WAY!" Then she started to laugh as well.
"Trowa would kill…"
"Maybe," Jasmine replied, "Who wants to find out?" She grinned evilly.
"No," Helen said, "If Trowa doesn’t kill someone, Indigo will."
"True," Said Jasmine thoughtfully. "Maybe we should wait and see what happens."
"I agree," Said Helen, "Now Jason, we have some unfinished business."
Jason looked temporarily confused.
"Hey Jazz, you wanna help set up an obstacle course?"
Then Jason got it.
"Sure Helen, Come on Jason." She grabbed Jason’s arm and the three of them headed for the gym.
"This is incredible," Noin murmured to no one as she looked at the database the ‘kids’ had retrieved. "They got more than we expected, Zechs." She looked up at her husband with a happy grin.
"What did you find?" Zechs asked. He stepped up behind her and looked at the computer screen.
"Look at this," Noin brought up a few windows. "They’ve got material lists, blueprints, battle strategies, a complete analysis and suit performance test results for the enemies new mobile suits and even arms race data! With all this stuff, the war could be over in a matter of months."
Zechs read some of the data and then smiled as well. "Call everyone in for a meeting. We need to strike fast before they get a chance to recover from this blow."
Noin nodded and ran off to gather everyone for a meeting.
