Jason and Brittney went back inside the house after an hour. It was too cold out there in the dark. Brittney seemed unusually nervous to Jason, even though he had only known her a day. He wanted to ask her about it, but Brittney quickly excused herself to make a phone call.
Jason was curious as to what was wrong, so he followed her into the den where she picked up the phone. After a few minutes, a man with light brown hair and glinting blue eyes popped up on the screen. He had an even weirder hairstyle than Trowa, and it stood up on end.
"Ah! Brittney! So good of you to call!" The man exclaimed with a bit of an undertone in his voice.
"Hello, Armand." She answered him. "I just wanted to tell you that you can come down now."
"Ah wonderful!" Armand said excitedly.
What was that in his voice that made Jason so nervous? Jason decided to question Brittney about it. If she lied, he would know something was up.
He stood next to the doorway as Brittney came out.
"So who did you call?" Jason asked casually as she passed him.
Brittney hadn't noticed him there and nearly jumped through the roof. "Oh, you scared me Jason! I just had to call Armand. He's coming over for a visit. Maybe you'll meet him if you're still here." She smiled brightly.
"Yeah," Jason breathed a sigh of relief. At least he knew now that she wasn't up to anything.
"So when will he get here?" Jason wondered.
"Probably by tomorrow. But until then, we can just chill. Maybe Armand can help us get you back to where you belong."
"Yeah," Jason smirked. "Maybe he can."
~~~
Helen looked ahead of her at the glinting light in the distance. She ignored the Northern Light's display as she continued towards it. She was too tired, cold, and hungry to bother with sightseeing. She had to get to that house; but she knew it would take her a while still to get there.
With her fingers, toes and ears clearly frostbitten now, she needed to warm up soon or she might loose a few toes. So, it was a miracle when she stumbled out of the forest and onto a road.
Helen looked at the clear signs of a car in the snow. The tracks were fresh still, so there had to be people nearby. She found that her energy quickly returned to her as she followed the tracks. Eventually, they had to lead her somewhere.
She followed the car tracks until she saw a gas station in the distance. Thanking God, she picked up speed and ran towards the gas station. She saw that it also had a small coffee shop attached to it. Grinning, she burst into the coffee shop and shook the snow from her hair. She ignored the odd looks the other customer in there was giving her and walked up to the counter.
The thin woman behind the counter gave her a sympathetic look. "Are you alright honey?" She drawled. "You look like you've been stuck out there in the cold for days."
"Probably because I have." Helen grumbled. "Get me some coffee, please."
The woman looked at her strangely before going to get Helen's drink. Helen collapsed onto a stool at the counter and let her head drop to the hard surface.
"Here honey," The thin woman said when she came back. "It's on the house."
"Hun? Oh, thank you!" She muttered as she took an eager sip.
"When was the last time you ate, dear?"
"Uh, about two days ago, Why?"
"Because you look like you haven't eaten or slept since your last birthday! What were you doing out there in the snow?"
Helen chuckled at this. "It’s a long story."
"You're a soldier, aren't you?" The woman asked as she eyed Helen's Preventor uniform.
"Yeah, a Preventor." She answered absently. She was much more content to pay attention to her coffee.
"A Preventor! At your age?"
"Mm hmm," Helen nodded.
"What are the Preventors doing way up here?"
"Nothing," Helen snorted. "Absolutely nothing. Hey, what’s the special in this place?"
"Now don't you worry about that dear. It's not every day we have the military in here. I'll fix you right up. All on the house."
"Are you sure?" Helen asked, finally lifting her eyes from her coffee.
"Of course I am dear." The woman winked at her and rushed off into the kitchen. Behind her, Helen heard the other customer cough. She looked at him, and then turned back to her mug. She knew instantly that the man was getting up and walking over to sit next to her."
"How did you get here?" He asked.
"Hun?"
"How did you get here?" He repeated. "You get shot down in a mobile suit or something?"
"Y-yeah…" Helen stuttered. "How did you know that?"
"Because me and my friends found it, your mobile suit. We thought it was a meteor, so we went to check it out. Imagine out surprise when we found a mobile suit instead of a hunk of space junk."
"Is that where your friends are now, at my mobile suit?"
"Yes ma'am. But we didn't touch it, we promise. But then again, it was already in rough shape."
"Yeah," Helen sighed. "Did you see them both?" Helen asked.
"Both? No, we just found one. Why is there another one of you Preventors running around here in this cold?"
"Yeah, my…my friend, Jason. Did any of you guys find him out there in the snow?"
"No, we didn't find any people."
"Shit," Helen cursed. For all she knew, Jason could be buried under a ten-foot snowdrift, freezing to death.
"But hey, we saw tracks in the snow. We followed them for a while, but the snow covered them up."
"Tracks? How many?"
"Just one set for a while, but then another one joined it. I think someone might have picked him up."
Helen cursed again and furrowed her brow as she tried to think of a solution. "Where were they headed?"
"Well, they were headed east. They might have gone up to that big log house up on the hill."
"The log house, that must have been what I saw." Helen murmured to herself. "Maybe that's where he is…"
"Well, hey, I can take you up there if you'd like."
"Really!" Helen shot up out of her seat.
"Yeah, no problem ma'am. But, you should probably get some rest first. You look like you had a run in with a polar bear." He started to laugh at his own pathetic joke.
"So, what's your name?" He asked
"Helen," She sighed.
"Well Helen, my name's Roman, it's a pleasure to meet you." He held out his hand and Helen shook it lightly. She looked down and noticed that his other hand was only a hook.
"Like it?" Roman grinned, showing off his hook for a hand. "I lost my hand to cancer, and this is what I got instead."
Helen nodded, "It's cool." She said uncertainly. That caused Roman to laugh. They were interrupted when the woman came back out with Helen's food.
"Here you go honey." She smiled. "On the house, just like I promised."
"Thanks." Helen said again. She eagerly dug into her food, not even bothering to see what it was.
~
The next morning, Helen and Roman climbed into his blue pick-up and started towards the log house in the distance. With all the snow it would take at least an hour and a half to get there.
Helen has stayed with the woman who worked in the coffee shop, Madeleine, the night before. The woman lived on the second story of the building all alone, so she was glad to have some company. She was very charming and kind to Helen, and she was almost sad to leave.
Roman talked non-stop on the car ride, he was almost as bad as Jason was! But surprisingly, Helen didn't mind, she was caught up in her own thoughts anyway.
When they got close to the hill, they pulled out the snowmobile from the back of the truck. The road wasn't shoveled and the truck wouldn't be able to make it any farther.
"Hold on tight," He warned her. Helen did as she was told and held on to Roman as they sped off. The snowmobile would have been fun if there wasn't snow blowing her face, and she couldn't see a thing past Roman. She took to looking to the right instead, studying the trees as they whizzed past.
She was studying the forest when she spotted something unusual.
"Hold on Roman! Stop!" She called to him. Roman stopped the machine and followed her gaze.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Shhh," Helen hissed. She got off the snowmobile and crept forward through the snow. Peering through the trees, she saw something that definitely didn't belong. There was an armored military truck stopped off the road, only a few dozen feet from the log house. There were a bunch of men in military uniforms standing around talking, and one man in civilian clothes. Helen studied them for a long time, trying to figure out their intentions.
"You men keep watch outside until I'll get him." The civilian ordered. "I'll go inside, stay out of sight until you get the signal, is that clear?"
"Yes sir!" The other men saluted and ran off.
"They yours?" Roman asked.
"No," Helen growled lowly. "You should go back, Roman. It's going to get dangerous from here." She drew her gun.
"But…"
"No buts! Don't forget, I'm a top Preventor, I can handle this."
"Alright," Roman said uncertainly. He got back onto his snowmobile. "Good luck," He said to her before he disappeared.
The man was obviously as superior officer off the enemy military. She had to make sure he wasn't going after Jason.
Helen ran ahead of him to the log house, and let herself in the back door. She silently thanked her father for teaching her how to pick locks. She could hear voices the instant she entered the house. She recognized one of them as Jason's.
A wave of emotions washed over Helen; including both fear and relief. She made her way as silently as possible through the rooms until she found who she was looking for. Of course, she wasn't expecting what she saw…
~~~
Jason spent the next night at Brittney's as well. And to tell the truth, he was getting attached to her. The girl was definitely way better than Helen was. Helen always acted like she had a stick up her ass around him. Of course, that could be because of how he was always being a jerk to her.
Brittney made breakfast for him in the morning, and spent the next few hours sitting next to him by the fire and listening to absolutely anything he had to say. But still, something in the back of his mind still pulled him away from her. Of course, he took it as his conscious and chose to ignore it.
Jason had been sipping on hot chocolate when it happened. He didn't mean for it to happen, it just…did. He had stood up to bring the dirty mug to the kitchen just as Brittney was leaving it.
They hadn't noticed each other until they had run right into each other…literally. Brittney shrieked as Jason bumped into her, sending her hot chocolate flying and spilling all over both of them.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" She gasped. "I didn't see you!" She started to laugh.
Jason grinned at her. "It was my fault," He said sheepishly, starting to laugh as well. He looked down at her and flashed her his best smile. Brittney blushed.
"You've got hot chocolate all over you." Jason snorted. Brittney blushed even deeper. Jason unconsciously lifted his hand and wiped away some of the chocolate off her cheek. When he realized what he was doing, his hand stopped where it was, cupping her face. Brittney looked up at his looking slightly like a scared rabbit, but also strangely excited. Jason grinned; he knew what she wanted.
Leaning forward, he quickly captured her mouth. To say that he was ecstatic when she opened her mouth to him was an understatement. Jason was overjoyed. Although there wasn't much of a return kiss, she was eager to let him do whatever he wanted. She didn't even protest when his hands darted to her back and crushed her against him, making the kiss deeper.
Jason was pleased with himself, but also slightly disappointed. Helen was always more aggressive and responsive in her kisses, even when she was trying to fight him off. Dammit Jason! Stop thinking about her when you're kissing someone else! He scolded himself. Especially when it's someone who actually likes you in return. He did his best to ignore his sub-conscious and concentrate on Brittney.
It was then that a sudden shot echoes through the walls, causing Brittney and Jason to jump apart. They both stared at the smoking hole in the wall behind them. The shot had missed only by a few millimeters.
Jason turned quickly and looked for the source of the shot, and saw the last person he expected.
"Helen!" He gasped as he saw Helen standing in the doorway, holding a smoking gun. "What the hell are you doing? You could have shot me!"
"I should have shot you a long time ago." She said as she reloaded her gun. "Do you realize what the penalty is for collaborating with the enemy?"
"Hun? What are you talking about, Helen?" Jason demanded. Helen aimed her gun again, this time at Brittney. "Who is this little slut you were kissing Jason, hun? Do you even know?"
"Helen! Stop! You don't what you're doing!" God! She had jealous girlfriend syndrome; and she wasn't even his girlfriend!
"Don't I?" Helen started to squeeze the trigger when she was interrupted.
"Well, well, well, I didn't expect to see two Preventors here." It was the man Helen had seen outside.
Brittney's face lit up at the sight of him. "Armand!" She cried. She ran over and gave him a big hug. Armand returned it only slightly and then aimed his own gun at the two Preventors.
"I did just what you told me to do, Armand." Brittney explained, "He was easier to manipulate than I thought."
"M-manipulate?" Jason stuttered. He could…he wouldn't believe it! Brittney had seemed so real!
"Well, let me take a wild guess at who you are. General Norris, correct?" Helen smirked, moving her gun to point at Armand.
"That's right," Armand said, "I hope you aren't as foolish as your friend was."
"You were the one that hurt Indy!" Helen cried. "You'll pay for that!"
It was Brittney that first realized what Helen was planning to do. Even though she knew about the men waiting outside, Helen took careful aim with her gun and pointed it at Armand. She had a secret weapon anyway.
"NO!" Brittney cried. "She leapt in front of Armand and pushed him out of the way just as Helen pulled the trigger.
The shot took her right in the shoulder, and Brittney fell to the ground in a heap. Helen glared at the girl, but showed no remorse for hitting her. Armand growled and sent the signal to his men to invade. Helen was ready for them. She tossed Jason her gun and pulled another one out from her ankle.
"Noin has already sent troops over to help us." She told him as she took aim at the back doorway.
Jason looked at Brittney helplessly. He didn't know what to think of her anymore. How could he have been so stupid?
Brittney was lying helplessly on the ground, in a pool of her own blood. She looked at the blood with absolute horror. He hated to just leave her there, even if she was the enemy.
"What about them?" Jason nodded towards Brittney and Armand. They pushed over the couch and ducked behind it as Armand fired at them.
"Backup will be here shortly. There's a Preventor base in Whitehorse not far from here. We'll take them both in."
Jason nodded and watched as a swarm of enemy troops marched in and started open firing at them.
Jason and Helen returned fire immediately. This was no time to chat; they were both in business mode.
"How did you get a hold of Noin?" Jason asked as he ducked under some enemy shots. Helen shot two enemies dead before she answered. "I used their truck," She said with a grin. The idiots only left one guy to guard it."
Jason only nodded and shot down one more enemy soldier before backup finally got there by way of helicopter.
While the fighting had been going on, Armand was trying to urge Brittney to get up. But she was losing too much blood to help him. When the backup soldiers arrived and his soldiers retreated, he paled considerably.
"Put down your weapons and surrender." The leader of the backup troops commanded to Armand. "There is no escape for you. It's over."
Armand looked down at Brittney and sighed. "Screw you," He muttered. And with that he ran off.
The Preventors took off after him, ignoring Brittney for the moment. Jason couldn't believe what he was seeing. Armand Norris, the man who had taken care of Brittney for most of her life had just left her in the hands of the enemy.
"That selfish bastard," He growled. Helen didn't hear him; she was busy talking to a few of the Preventors that had stayed behind to help them out.
Jason walked over to Brittney and grabbed her arm.
She jerked away roughly. "Don't touch me, Preventor scum!" She shouted. Jason was taken aback, but grabbed her again anyway, roughly this time.
"I don't know what your problem is Brittney, but you'll have plenty of time to explain where you're going." He pulled her to her feet, but she was still struggling. "You're hurting me, you jerk!"
"I don't care," Jason hissed.
"Oh, so are you mad at me now? For what I did?"
"Damn straight I am! You used me!"
"And I don’t regret it either! If it means I could help destroy you stupid Gundam pilots and all those damned Preventors, I'd do anything!" She winced as a sharp pain exploded in her shoulder.
Jason was a little shocked as to why anyone could hate the Preventors so much, but he was too pissed off to care. He handed her over to the backup soldiers and stalked past Helen and outside into the frigid air.
"Jason?" Helen called after him. But he ignored her. He was confused at the moment, why would Brittney do such a thing? Well, they would find out soon enough when she was interrogated.
~~~
"It was Noin who was on communications duty when she got the call from Helen. At first, she thought it was the enemy calling to make demands, because it was coming over an unknown signal.
But her face brightened when she saw Helen's tired, stern face on the screen.
"Helen! You're OK! You're parents have been going nuts…"
"No time Noin, Jason may be in trouble. I'm calling from an enemy vehicle; Jason and I are just outside of Whitehorse, in the Yukon Territory. I'm sending the coordinates now. We'll be needing immediate assistance. We may have General Norris from Neo Zion."
Noin was momentarily shocked, and then sprang into action. "We'll send backup immediately. There'll be a shuttle ready for you at the Preventor base at Whitehorse. Good luck."
"Thank you Noin."
Helen switched off.
When Noin announced the news to the rest of the Gundam pilots, they were ecstatic. Duo and Hilde cheered Relena and Midii cried, and Trowa, Wufei, Sally, Dorothy, Quatre and Heero smirked. The kids also started dancing around like idiots. They were all happy to hear that Helen and Jason weren't dead, not to mention that they may soon have the leader of the Neo Zion in their hands.
"It's about time they found them." Jasmine laughed to her brother and Seth. "Things were starting to get boring around here without Jason making an ass outta himself all the time."
Seth chuckled and Joel glared.
"Alright everyone! Calm down! I've sent a shuttle to pick them up. Sally, I want the infirmary ready for any injuries they may have. I've got the mechanics team preparing the hanger for them. As for the rest of you, get back to your normal routine. They may not arrive until tomorrow, there's no reason to slack off."
Seth was the first person out the door. Since he didn't have a regular schedule, and because he hardly knew Jason and Helen, the excitement passed over him quickly. He was out of the door quickly and looking for something to do. Not to mention he was still a little too embarrassed to look at Jasmine, even though she didn't have a clue about how he kissed her…
"Oh Seth…" Jasmine's sweet, sultry voice drifted to his ears. He froze. "Y-yeah Jasmine?"
"Why did you run off so fast? I was really hoping to talk to you…"
"Really? About what?" He was almost afraid to ask.
"I think you know…"
Seth squeezed his eyes shut and tried to quickly come up with a reasonable explanation for his actions.
They heard Catherine approaching from behind them. Seth thanked God for the lifesaver.
"What are you two doing just standing out here?" She scolded. "You should be helping out with someone. You know that Helen and Jason are bringing back a prisoner, right?"
"Of course we do, Cathy!" Jasmine smiled at the woman. "In fact, we were just heading down to the research lab to get some work done. Even in all this excitement, Zechs is still assigning homework."
Catherine giggled. "Well, you guys get going then. I won't get in the way. I have to get Trowa back in shape for our next performance anyway. Did you know he promised to do a special show for the circus's fiftieth anniversary?"
"Really? That's great!" Jasmine cooed.
"Yeah, and Seth, you'd better get in shape too, you're going to be in the act too, I hope."
"Sure thing Cathy," Seth nodded. The two teens watched the woman go. He had hoped Catherine would give him an excuse to escape from Jasmine.
"Come on now Seth, we can't talk out here in the hallway." She grabbed Seth's arm and dragged him towards his doom.
~~~
Indigo left the conference room in her wheelchair, she knew that Joel was behind her. She tried her best to hide her giggles with little success. She felt him grab the back of the wheelchair and start pushing her. She let go of the wheels and allowed him to steer her through the hallways.
"Um…where are we going…if you don't mind me asking?"
Joel shook his head. "I can't tell, it’s a secret."
Indigo chuckled but didn't push any further. She would find out soon enough.
~~~
"But didn't Noin say that you had to get back to work?" Alexis protested as David dragged her towards the Quad.
"She doesn't care," David insisted. "Besides, I've hardly had any time to hang out with you since we got back."
Alexis sighed and followed him until they reached the vast gardens and grassy fields of the Quad. She was really impressed with the large park-like area of the base. Considering that they were in Outer space on a military base, it was interesting that they would have such an extensive place to relax.
"What are we doing in here?" She asked.
"Well…I haven't thought of that yet." David confessed. Alexis stared at him and sweatdropped. "David!"
"Sorry," David grinned sheepishly.
"Never mind," Alexis sighed, "I can figure something out." She looked around and spotted a small pond near the other end of the quad. She grinned and pulled David towards it.
David followed without protest. They stopped in front of the pond and sat on the end of the tiny wooden dock. Alexis pulled off her shoes and socks and dangled her feet in the water.
"Is this all you want to do?" David asked skeptically. Alexis usually wasn't the type to just sit around and do nothing. He stood beside her and watched her stare out over the water.
"I can think of a million fun things to do with a pond." She grinned. The glint in her eyes made David nervous; he knew she was up to something. He started to take a step back, but Alexis grabbed his legs and pushed him into the water.
David fell in with a splash, but didn't resurface for a while. Alexis was starting to get nervous. "David?" She called.
David stifled his laughter as he hid underneath the dock. When Alexis was in a near panic, he appeared from nowhere, according to her, and pulled her in as well.
Alexis screamed as she fell on top of him. They broke the surface together, laughing.
"You jerk!" She splashed him in the face. David chuckled and grabbed her and pulled her under, giving her a quick kiss. Alexis stared at David wide-eyed before she grinned as well. "You sneak!" She scolded. She swam up to him and wrapped her arms around him. She pulled him in for a more passionate kiss, while at the same time, dunking him under the water. Of course, David pulled her down as well.
"You are such a jerk!" Alexis squealed as she pulled duckweed from her hair. The swiped her hand across the water, sending a wave of pond water into David's face. David quickly returned the attack. Soon, the couple was engaged in an all-out water fight, neither of them allowing for the other's escape. They stared in the dirty pond for nearly an hour, before it began to get cold. The two climbed out of the water and lay stretched out on the dock to dry off.
"We should do that more often," Alexis commented. David merely stared at her before he burst out laughing.
"What!"
~~~
Gary heard the news about his son and was relieved. He had waited outside the conference room while the others talked about the return of their two lost pilots.
He glared at Heero as he left the room. Heero stopped to return the look. "What are you doing here?" Heero demanded.
"Just wondering about my son," Gary snorted.
"He's not your son," Heero snapped, "he never was."
Gary glared at the younger man for a moment. He decided it wasn't worth a fight with the Perfect Soldier, so he turned and stalked off. Heero watched with a triumphant grin.
"We'll see about that," Gary muttered once he was out of earshot.
~~~
"OK Jason, spill!" Helen snapped once the shuttle was safely on its way. Brittney was getting emergency medical attention in one of the holding cells on the shuttle, and Jason and Helen were being escorted by the Preventor in charge at the Whitehorse base back to the headquarters in space.
"Hun, spill what?" Jason mumbled.
"Well, for one thing, you don't look that happy to see me, which is very unusual for you. Second, why don't you explain to me why you were making out with the enemy?"
Jason snorted and averted his eyes away from Helen.
Helen watched him with slight amusement. "Well, that is interesting, Yuy. What else did you do while I was gone. You really can't go a day without babysitting!"
"I'm just having a hard time believing that Brittney was part of Neo Zion, OK, Helen?" Jason snapped.
"Wow, you are in a bad mood." Helen laughed at him.
Jason sighed, "I'm just a little confused, that's all."
"Well, that's no surprise." Helen mumbled.
"Helen! I'm serious!" Jason cried.
"Ok, OK, sorry!"
"And they say I'M the annoying one!"
"Ok, I give up Jason. You're obviously upset about this. But you have to face the facts sooner or later. This Brittney girl was General Norris's daughter! She's part of the Neo Zion, and she is our enemy, whether you like it or not."
"I know," Jason sighed. Then he groaned, "I feel so betrayed! Have you ever been used like that before?"
"Mmmm, yes," She answered.
"I don't like that feeling. It makes me sick to my stomach."
"I know,"
"And she was deceiving me all along!"
"So she was,"
Jason tightened his fists in anger. "I can't believe that! I hope she gets sent to penal colony 1975, you know, that really bad one?" "She probably will…"
"Good," Jason nodded to himself and leaned back in his shuttle seat. "I hope she rots in hell…" He closed his eyes, his face set in a constant glare.
Helen looked at him curiously. She had never seen Jason so…uptight. It worried her. Shrugging it off, Helen sat back as well and tried to get some sleep. She had had a long couple of days and she was dead tired.
