At 1700 hours everyone was ready to go. They were split up and were travelling on three different shuttles. Seth was on with the Chang twins, Noin had enough decency to put Jason with Indigo and Helen was with David. Since they would be staying in a small cabin for a while so they could watch the enemy movements, they weren’t taking just their mobile suits. Not to mention that on missions someone always managed to get hurt and the shuttles would be useful.
"This is it guys," Helen said while licking her lips. "This is our last mission so don’t screw up."
"Great pep talk Helen." Seth said sarcastically.
"I don’t see you doing any better." She shot.
"Uh…"
"My point exactly."
Seth grumbled something and left the Com Link alone. Helen continued along and checked on everyone, making sure they were all ready. It was a habit she had developed. She called Indigo and Jason on shuttle three and saw Indy come up on her screen.
"Indy, you two all ready?"
"Well, I am, but Jason’s being very quiet again…"
"Hun? Why?"
"I’m not exactly sure. I asked him about it but he just mumbled something about ‘her being dead’ and wouldn’t talk to me."
"He must mean Brittney…"
"Brittney’s dead?" Indigo cried. "Why don’t I ever know these things? Wow, no wonder he’s so depressed. I think maybe he had a thing for her."
Helen snorted at this.
"What?"
"Nothing," she sighed, "I’ll see you when we get there, OK Indy?"
"Alright, I’m out." She closed the link.
Helen looked behind her at David, who was saying some sort of long goodbye to Alexis.
"Come on Davie! We don’t have all day!" She called. David looked back only for a second and signaled that he could only be a second. Helen groaned and got back on the shuttle to get it ready.
~
"Will you be OK?" Alexis pouted. She clung to David’s arm and refused to let him go.
"I’ll be fine Lex, and when I get back the war will be over, and we can all go home." He grinned,
"Don’t worry about me,"
"But…"
"DAVID!" Helen cut her off. "Hurry up we have to go!"
David sighed and nodded. "I’ll see ya in a couple weeks OK?"
"Fine," Alexis pouted, "You go and play hero, but don’t blame me when you get killed."
David laughed at her, "Bye Lexy."
"Bye…" She watched him turn and meet up with Helen at he shuttle. Helen scolded him for taking so long and he made some comment that made her turn red. Helen smacked him as they got on. David waved to Alexis from the shuttle before they took off.
~
"What took you so long?" Helen grumbled as David finally made it over to the shuttle.
"Relax Helen, you’re just jealous."
"Jealous! Of what?"
"Well, maybe that Jason is paying more attention to Brittney the deceased than he is to you…"
Helen turned red, although he couldn’t tell if it was with anger or embarrassment. She smacked him upside the head as they got on he shuttle. "Brat, he must be taking lessons from Jason." Helen mumbled to herself as she got the shuttle in motion and they blasted out of the base.
~~~
The shuttle ride was long and boring for most of the kids, so when they finally arrived on Earth in Germany it was a major relief. They landed far from the base, where their landing would not be noticed. From there they were to head to the cabin that had been set up for their use.
"So Helen, where are we going from here?" Seth asked over the Com Link as they landed.
"There’s supposed to be some sort of underground hanger where we can hide our shuttles." She replied, "But these instructions are kinda cryptic."
"What’s that supposed to mean?"
Helen ignored him as she punched in to code for the underground hanger. When she was finished, the ground opened up and she steered the shuttle in.
"Cool!" David remarked. "A hidden entrance, very clever."
Inside, the hanger was huge, and they easily found space for the three shuttles and the mobile suits.
The seven teens piled out of the shuttles and looked around. "Where to now?" Jason wondered.
"We follow the tunnels," Indigo said.
"What tunnels?"
"Don’t you ever pay attention?" She pointed up to a door in the hanger, which probably led to the cabin. "That’s the tunnel up there."
"Ah,"
~
It took two hours to get through the tunnel, even though they had been provided with dirt bikes. After seeing the elaborate underground system, they were expecting the cabin to be a bit more than it was.
"This isn’t a cabin, it’s a shack!" Indigo cried as she dropped her things on the ground.
"Well…" Helen started, "Maybe it’s because we’re less conspicuous this way."
"Less conspicuous my foot," Jason grumbled, "This sucks. Where are we supposed to sleep?" He looked around the dreary, tiny cabin with the dirty windows and cracking floorboards.
"I think over here," Joel said as he opened a door and it fell off the hinges, blowing up a cloud of dust.
Jasmine made her way into the tiny kitchen and tested the water, which ran yellow for a moment until she hit the faucet.
"The sooner we blow up this base and get out of here the better. Who has the means to complain to Noin? Seth, aren’t you in charge of communications?" She asked.
"Yes I am, and as soon as I get this equipment set up, the sooner we can yell at her." He set his things down next to the couch and started searching for a power outlet. "This could be a problem," He grumbled when he couldn’t find one.
"So…how many batteries did you bring?" Jason chuckled.
"Oh! Here it is Seth!" Indigo cheered, pointing at a dusty, half-hidden outlet behind the yellowing couch. She blew the dust out of it and helped Seth set up the equipment.
Jasmine flopped down on the couch, and quickly jumped off again. "Ouch!" She cried, "I sat on a spring!" She whined as she rubbed her behind.
Seth laughed at her, only to receive a glare from the Chinese teen. Helen muttered something and checked out the bedrooms. "Problem guys, there are only four beds here."
"Isn’t there another bedroom?" David asked.
Helen peeked in to the other rooms and shook her head. "Just this bathroom." She grimaced. There were bugs in the toilet. "If I wake up tonight with spiders crawling on my face I am ditching this mission." Indigo seethed. "Seth! Is this stuff set up yet?"
Seth winced and paused before he finally smiled. "Done and done! Who wants to vent first?"
~
"Noin, what exactly were you thinking when you sent us to this place?" Jasmine cried. She had won the draw and got the privilege of screaming at Noin.
Noin smiled, "Sorry guys, but you can handle it for a little bit can’t you?"
"Noin! The entire place is about to fall apart!"
"Would you rather I cause suspicion by building you a big mansion?"
"It would at least be better than this dump!"
"Come on guys! The enemy will never see this little place even if they were looking straight at it."
"I think she’s enjoying this," Helen muttered. "Who thinks she’s enjoying this?" They all raised their hands.
"Toughen up you guys, this is a very important mission. Just think that this small sacrifice will help us win the war."
"Small!"
"Sorry guys, I have to let you go now. Get to work! Noin out…" she disappeared.
"Noin!" Jasmine cried, but it was already too late. Jasmine mumbled something under her breath and stood back up. "Well, we might as well deal for now... It doesn’t look as if Noin is going to budge."
"Fine," Helen sighed. "I guess the first thing we need to work out is sleeping arrangements. Since there are only four beds some people will have to share, and I guess someone can sleep on the couch."
"I’ll share with ya Helen," Jason volunteered. Helen glared at him, "I think Jason can have the couch."
The others agreed and Jason pouted.
"Just be careful not to sit on that spring." Jasmine chuckled.
"Well Joel," Indy smirked, "What do you say?"
Joel blushed, "W-what do you mean?"
Jasmine smirked at her brother, "What do you think silly?"
Indigo laughed at him as well and gave him a hug. "You don’t mind sharing with me, do you?" She pouted.
"Uh…" Joel stuttered, "I-I guess not…"
"Well, that’s settled," Helen sighed, that leaves three more beds for Seth, Jasmine, David and myself, since Jason is on the couch."
Jason grumbled something under his breath.
"Well then Jazz, I guess it’s you and me," Seth grinned.
"Oh, heck no!" Joel hissed.
"Oh please Joel," Jasmine rolled her eyes, "It’ not like he’s going to try anything, are you Seth?"
"Of course not," Seth laughed as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
Joel seethed and Helen had to head off the carnage. "Alright!" she cried, "That’s enough, if you’re done here, I’d like to get some sleep. We get up early tomorrow."
"Yeah, yeah," Jason sighed and yawned; "I’ll see you guys in the morning." He grabbed a blanket out of the closet and fell down on the couch. The rest of the kids headed to the bedroom to get some sleep.
~~~
"Come on guys! Get up!" Helen growled as she kicked at David’s bed. She was the only one actually awake. She had tried to get Jason up, but she just succeeded at pulling him off the couch and onto the floor. He had only mumbled something and went back to sleep.
"I’m not sleeping," she heard Jasmine moan, "But I don’t want to get up." Helen looked over at Jasmine, who had her face buried in Seth’s chest.
"Seth! Jasmine! Both of you get up! Seth, if you keep acting like this you’ll never make it into the Preventors!"
"OK! OK! I’m up!" Seth groaned as he sat up.
"No, I don’t want to get up," Jasmine mumbled. "I couldn’t get to sleep. This mattress smells like old boots." She wrapped her arms tighter around Seth and tried to go back to sleep.
"Nope, sorry but we have to get up." Seth said. He fell out of the bed and onto the floor.
"Idiot," Jasmine mumbled as she pulled the pillow over her head.
Helen groaned and went to make up the other couple.
"Go away," Joel hissed before she could even get close.
"Guys," she whined. "We really need to get up. The sooner we can get this over with, the sooner we can leave this dump."
Joel mumbled something inaudible.
"Don’t worry Helen," Indigo chuckled, "We’re getting up."
"Thank you,"
"No we’re not!"
Helen turned around and saw that David was getting up. Now she just had to wake up Jason so they could go.
"Jason, get up you lazy jerk!" she kicked him lightly and he slowly opened his eyes. "I’ll get up for a kiss," He grinned.
"Not on your life."
"Ok then, I’m going back to sleep."
"Why is everyone so lazy today? Usually I’m the last person up."
Jason smiled and refused to answer.
~
Eventually Helen managed to get everyone up, and soon they were off on their stakeout. They split up into teams to observe the enemy routines. It would be their routine for the next few days.
~~~
"This is so boring," Helen complained as she flicked a beetle off her arm and looked back through the binoculars. They had been watching two soldiers stand outside and talk about their girlfriends for the last 45 minutes. Indigo sighed from beside her and dropped her arms to the ground. "We’ve been watching them for a week now, don’t you think we’re ready to go in yet? Seth has all the information on their routines…"
"Hold on!" Helen snapped suddenly. She leaned forward and paid more close attention to the soldiers. She spoke out loud as she told Indigo what they were saying. "General Norris is arriving. Right now! You’re right Indy, maybe we are ready to fight." She looked at the other girl and grinned.
"You’re serious?" She squealed. "He’s here?"
"He’s on that shuttle, arriving right now." She pointed up at the shuttle moving in for a landing. Indigo grinned at the shuttle. "Come on Helen! We need to get the others and go over our plan of attack!"
~~~
"This is Jazz, we’re on the roof." Jasmine said softly into the transmitter. She and Joel were assigned to sneak in at the roof and plant bombs in the north and west wings of the buildings.
"Roger that Jazz, David and I are heading to the communications room to jam their communication signals. Wait until my signal to go." Helen answered.
"Got it,"
Indigo and Jason were the other team; they too were planting bombs around the base and knocking out the security systems in the base.
"Just checking in guys," Jason said cheerfully. "We all ready?"
"We’re set here, Jason," Helen answered. "Remember, go straight for the mobile suits, we don’t want any resistance."
"I remember," Jason said, rolling his eyes, "I’m not stupid you know."
"Are you sure about that?"
Jason snorted and refused to answer.
~
Helen and David made it in through the ventilation system. It was the oldest way in the book, and was now only used in spy movies, but it worked. They moved through the vents as quietly as they could, looking for the right place.
"Seth, can you give us the location of the communications room?" David asked.
"Uh…yeah, hold on a second, I’ll see if I can get a picture."
David sighed and waited for a minute or two while Seth found some directions for them. "I knew I should have studied the map myself."
"Here we go; you’re almost there guys. Just up ahead and to the right."
"Thanks," Helen started moving again until they were directly over top of the communications room.
"You think we can take ‘em?" David asked nervously.
"Absolutely," Helen grinned impishly as she removed a grenade from her pouch.
"Stay back and cover your face." She ordered. She kicked the vent out and chuckled as the shocked Neo Zion soldiers looked up in confusion. She threw the grenade in and the soldiers scattered and fell to the ground. When the blast was over and before the smoke could settle, David and Helen jumped in and fired into the chaos.
They heard to soldiers falling and when the smoke finally settled the soldiers that were left were already running away, not even bothering to see who was attacking. Wouldn’t they be surprised when thy learned it was only two kids?
"They’re probably warning the rest of the base. We need to hurry up and kill these communications." She sat down at one of the computers while David took another. Helen slipped the headphones on and began typing furiously. "We have to get this stuff down before Jasmine and Joel can get in."
"I just hope Jason and Indy are having an easier time than we are."
"What are you talking about? This wasn’t that hard."
"Not yet, look at this."
Helen looked at David’s screen and cursed. They were in for a fight.
~~~
Jason hummed merrily as he sabotaged the base’s security systems.
"Will you knock that off?" Indigo hissed.
"Sorry," Jason sighed. He and Indigo had had quite a fight with all the soldiers in the security office, but they managed to get rid of them. However, Indigo had a nasty cut as a result of the fight. She wiped the blood off her forehead and away from her eyes as she continued working.
"Almost done here," She announced as she finished with the security cameras and infrared beams.
"Ditto over here," Jason sighed. He slammed down on the last few keys and sighed with relief. "Now for the fun stuff. We get to plant the big stuff." He grinned like a maniac as he patted his bag lightly. It was packed with explosives.
Indigo nodded, "Let’s go then."
~~~
"Everything’s clear, oh twin dragons," Jason said teasingly over the fuzzy Com Link.
"Where did he get that?" Joel grumbled as he and his sister moved to blow a hole in the roof.
Jasmine shrugged, "Who knows and who cares?" she ducked behind some crates and pressed the detonator. The roof blew in right over the shuttle hanger and Jasmine made her way for it. "Help me down, Joel." She said to her brother. Joel grumbled and helped her down and then followed. The twins dropped to the ground below and ran to find a decent place to plant a few bombs. Joel chuckled as he placed one on an escape shuttle belonging to Armand Norris.
"Hurry up Joel!" Jasmine told him over the link, so she would not attract any unwanted attention.
"Coming," he answered as he raced back to her. They sneaked unnoticed out of the hanger and started down the hall, finding weak points in the base and setting bombs up. All the explosives were linked to a remote detonator that would be set off after all the teens had made their escape.
~
Helen and David were not having it so easy. Heavily armed soldiers swarmed into the room and surrounded them.
"Surrender yourselves and the Gundams and we will spare you." One of them ordered.
Helen laughed at him. "No way are you amateurs getting our mobile suits!" She threw a kick at the closest soldier’s head, sending the room into chaos. The other soldiers instantly started firing and Helen had to pull David behind the equipment to protect them. She pulled out another one of her grenades and threw it into the mass.
The soldiers scattered but not many were even injured. Helen decided to switch to her gun and fired blindly.
"Come on David, help me out here!"
"Right," David nodded and took a deep breath. He too found a weapon and shot down a few soldiers, then loaded another clip. They were having a hard time keeping them back.
"They’re like cockroaches!" Helen complained. "They don’t die!" She tried to find another grenade but soon discovered that she was out. She cursed again and switched to a semi-automatic weapon.
"Should we call the others for backup?" David screamed over the noise.
"No! That will jeopardize the mission. We aren’t that bad off yet."
"But you will be," Someone chuckled.
Helen realized that the firing had stopped and she looked up. She cursed loudly when she saw that Armand Norris was standing here and there were a whole bunch of guns pointed at the two teens’ heads.
"So, how do we get out of this one?" David wondered.
"You don’t," Armand smirked.
"Planning to kill us the way you killed Brittney? Or would you rather use us to get to the Gundams first?"
Armand snorted. "You’re a feisty one."
Helen glared at him.
"I suppose you’re the one who has the detonator? From the information I have on you, Helen Maxwell, you are a likely choice."
Helen’s eyes widened. How could he know what they were planning?
"Well, it’s pretty obvious you see. How else would you destroy my organization?" He turned to his guards. "Search her."
The soldiers hastily grabbed Helen and searched her for the detonator. They found it in one of her pouches. Helen growled at them as they pushed her away and she fell into the arms of more soldiers who eagerly cuffed her and David. They ripped the communicators off them and crushed them. Helen muttered under her breath as the guards began to drag her away and the unneeded ones filed out.
The two teens were just being led out the door when a shot fired between them and the guards.
Armand turned angrily towards the direction of the shot and suddenly went pale. "But…but that’s impossible…"
