"You’re joking, right?" Indigo gawked at her nervous friend. Jasmine slowly shook her head.
"But…but…" Jason stammered. "How…?"
Jasmine rolled her eyes. "How do you think, Jason?" She snapped.
"Man, no wonder you’ve been moody lately." He snorted.
Joel was silent during their discussion.
Helen cursed, "We could really use your help though Jazz, are you absolutely positive?"
"My mother did the tests herself." Jasmine pointed out. "I’m pregnant guys, there’s no way around it." She looked at her silent twin and sighed. She hoped he wouldn’t react the same way her father did. She glanced at Seth and figured he was thinking the same thing.
"Joel…?" She started.
Joel didn’t answer her. Instead he stood up and left without a single word to any of them.
"Joel wait!" Jasmine ran after him. Seth got up to follow them as well, but a gloved hand grabbed his arm. "Sit down, Seth." Brittney hissed.
"But Brit…"
She glared at him and he sighed. He sunk back down into his seat and focused his eyes on the door.
~~~
"Joel please talk to me," Jasmine begged.
"No," Joel growled as he kept walking.
"Joel!" She ran after him, trying to keep up. "I know you’re angry with me." She sighed, "I know what I’ve done, I’m not about to deny my part in it."
Joel stopped and spun around to face her.
"I used to think you were smarter than this, Jasmine."
Jasmine winced; she was used to Joel calling her ‘Jazz’ all the time. "I know…it was stupid, a dumb mistake!"
Joel was walking again. "Come back here and listen to me!" Jasmine screamed furiously. He stopped, but didn’t seem disturbed by her tone.
"This is probably the hardest thing I’ll ever go through in my life. I don’t want you to be mad at me, Joel. We’re not just brother and sister; we’re twins! We’ve been together since before birth. That’s got to mean something to you Joel. I need you right now."
Joel studied her for a moment. Was she…crying? He was stunned. Never before in his life had he seen his sister be anything but strong and proud. And now suddenly she was showing him humility, she was exposing her feelings to him, she was vulnerable. "Everybody hates me right now. I didn’t want to disappoint you all. I need someone who’s going to stick by me, someone who isn’t going to judge me."
"I don’t judge you," Joel said finally. He stepped up to his sister and pulled her into a tight hug.
Jasmine smiled and returned it. She was glad to have her brother on her side. "Thanks Joel, I owe you one."
~~~
"Well, this has been a very interesting day." Helen sighed as she, Jeff, Jason and Brittney sat down at their table in the cafeteria.
"Why, what’s happened?" Jeff wondered. Helen shook her head. "A lot of things. How much longer until you rookies are finished training?"
"Two weeks,"
"Well it’s about time," She sighed.
"I’m confused. What’s going on?" Jeff asked.
The other three just looked at him. It wasn’t right of them to start spreading rumours, so they kept their mouths shut.
"Come on guys, you can trust me." He whined. Still, they said nothing.
"Fine! Be that way!" Jeff cried. He stood up and left to sit with a bunch of the other rookies.
Helen watched him go and then turned back to her friends.
"Well, some boyfriend you have there," Jason snorted.
"He’s not my boyfriend." Helen hissed.
"Oh really? Then what were you two doing yesterday?"
"Just because I went out with him does not mean he’s my boyfriend." She snapped.
"Ok, ok!" Jason sighed. "Whatever you say." He turned to Brittney and started up a conversation. Helen was lost in her own thoughts. With Jasmine off the team for an extended period of time, they needed a replacement. She would have suggested Saber, but lately he had been acting suspiciously and they needed someone trustworthy. Noin had told her of Saber’s trip to the conference room.
She was still trying to come up with something when another person approached their table. He cleared his throat and brought Helen abruptly out of her musings.
"Saber? What do you want?" She asked.
"Miss Noin asked me to get you. Since Jasmine has been eliminated from any further attacks on the Matatara Foundation, she suggested a meeting to straighten things out."
"Oh…" Helen paused, "Did Noin happen to mention why Jasmine was leaving?"
He paused for a moment and then shook his head. "She mentioned something about her being sick."
"Oh…" Helen glanced at the other two and stood up. Jason and Brittney were close behind her. They followed Saber to the conference room, and were surprised when he entered after them and sat down.
Helen was about to question his actions when Noin started. "Please sit down guys, we have a lot to talk about."
Helen sighed and slowly took her seat.
"I’ve heard that Jasmine has explained her situation by now."
The group nodded and Helen glanced wearily across the room at Saber. Was it really any of his business to know? It didn’t matter, she decided, the entire base would know soon enough.
"Jasmine will probably be useless to us in the battlefield for a year or more, and by then hopefully the Matatara will be under control. Because of this, I have asked Saber to join us for the next missions. He’s been given a White Taurus to pilot, and will be a part of this team as her replacement. I trust there are no objections." She looked around the room. Only Joel had the nerve to speak up.
"I don’t mean to subordinate, Miss Noin, but are you sure Saber is trustworthy?" He asked.
"What are you talking about Joel?" Noin asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Saber is an excellent pilot and is very knowledgeable about military procedures. He’d be very valuable to us…."
"Yes, but don’t you wonder where he got those skills in a peaceful world? He didn’t learn them from us! I just don’t think it’s a good idea to…"
"Joel!" Noin snapped. "I’ve checked into Saber’s records myself. Saber’s father was an active soldier. He got his skills from there. Anyone else have anything they need to say?"
"Um…Miss Noin?" David said anxiously, standing up. "I think I might have to agree with Joel. This is a very important war here and I don’t know if..."
Noin groaned, "I don’t have time for this! Didn’t anyone here what I just said? Saber’s clean, and I make the orders, not you!"
David sighed and sat down. Saber seemed undisturbed by all the questioning regarding his honesty.
"Anything else?" Noin growled before she continued. No one dared to speak up. She nodded in approval and started her lecture again.
"Now, this war is going to be a little different from the one against Neo Zion." She said, "In fact, it’s going to be a lot different. Each of you is at the top of what you do, and are excellent in many different areas. For this reason, we’re going to have you split up for an…undefined amount of time."
"What!"
"Hold on a second!"
"Miss Noin I…"
"You’ve got to be kidding me!"
Noin sighed, she was hoping for a better response, but she certainly wasn’t expecting one.
"I know you guys are close, but remember the cause always comes before your personal lives. Besides, it’s not really going to be for a long time. Probably no more than a month. We just need you to be doing different things…"
More grumbling was heard from the group.
"Miss Noin, I’m not going to leave my sister in this situation." Joel said stubbornly.
"And I’m not going to leave my girlfriend when she’s pregnant!" Seth cried. Helen kicked him under the table and motioned with her eyes towards Saber. Seth sighed and sat down but made no attempt to correct himself; and Saber didn’t seem surprised.
"Trust me, both of you, Jasmine will be well taken care of. She doesn’t need you around to protect her. Now, does anyone want to hear their assignments? Or shall I just let you wait until departure?" No one said a word.
"Fine then," She lit up a map on the screen which showed a picture of Africa and the Middle East. "Helen," She spoke up, "This is where I’m sending you and Saber." She pointed to an area in Egypt. "I’m expecting you to meet up with a group of Preventors camping out near the Nile River. Details are in your individual assignments." She pointed to the white folders in front of them.
Helen nodded and picked up the folder and flipped through it. Saber did the same.
Next, Noin brought up a map of Asia. She pointed at former Vietnam. "Joel will be here."
"Alone?" He protested. "Not entirely. We have a base there that could use your piloting in infiltration skills."
She tuned to Indigo next. "You’ll be with Jason, Indigo. Keep an eye on him."
Indigo chuckled, Jason sneered, and Joel glared. "No way is that player going near my girlfriend!"
"Sit down Joel," Noin sighed. Indigo rolled her eyes and ignored her boyfriend’s outburst. "We’re sending you to the base in Anchorage, Alaska."
"Oh no, not more snow!" Jason complained. He couldn’t help but remember he last visit to the northern reaches of that particular continent. Of course, it hadn’t been all bad, he had met Brittney.
"Yes more snow," Noin growled. "We believe there’s a Matatara base there, and we want you two to keep an eye on it. That left David, Brittney, and Seth to still receive their assignments.
"Seth, Brittney, I’m sending the two of you to Brazil. We could use you to gather information on a known Matatara Foundation base."
The siblings didn’t seem to be too upset about this pairing, so Noin continued with the last person to receive his assignment.
"And lastly, David. We’re keeping you here in Zimbabwe. You’ll be working with Jasmine with hacking into Matatara computers and handling communications, organising the rookie placements, and other odd jobs. Let me stress that no one assignment is more important. We’re counting on all of you to do your jobs, and do them well. You leave at 0600 hours Saturday, Eastern Time. You’re dismissed."
The kids talked amongst themselves as they filed out of the conference room.
"I’ve got to talk to Noin." Seth started. "I don’t want to leave Jasmine here! What if that psycho bitch decides to attack."
Helen sighed; she knew how Seth felt. None of them like these new assignments, but the sake of the rest of the world was more important than their own petty concerns. Unlike the others, Helen decided to head for the gym to train instead of complaining. Afterwards she would look at the details of her orders.
~~~
"You’re leaving?" Jasmine whined when she heard the news.
"Sorry Jazz, Noin’s orders."
"But…but how long will you be gone?"
Seth smiled and kissed her softly, "Too long. I’ll miss you every day."
"Well that doesn’t help!" Jasmine cried angrily. "You still won’t be here!"
"Yeah I know…take care of yourself, OK?"
Jasmine just glared at him.
"So uh…how far along are you now?"
"Don’t try and change the subject on me!" she snapped. "And I’m two and a half months for your information!"
"Oh…so will you be bigger when I get back?"
She didn’t like him questioning her future weight. "Not really," She growled.
"Oh, ok then!" Seth grinned, "Don’t worry about me though, I’ll be back in a month or less."
"How can you leave me!"
"I told you! I have to!" Seth cried. He slid over next to her on the couch and wrapped his arm around her. Jasmine shrugged it off.
"Hey, I’ll call you every day, I promise!"
"Twice a day!" She insisted.
Seth groaned, "Fine twice a day, and you can yell at me all you want if I miss one."
"OK," She agreed finally, "I’ll let you go…this time. But only because ending this war is important for our kid."
"Yeah, think of some names too, will ya?" He winked and leaned over and kissed her still flat stomach. "It better be one he likes." He patted her abdomen gingerly.
"Just for that, I think I’ll name him after Hitler."
"You wanna call him ‘Hitler’?" Seth blinked a few times, "You’re sick…"
~~~
"Observation, research and infiltration. Classic espionage." Helen muttered to herself as she looked over her mission assignment. She flipped through the multiple pages in the folder for a second time, making sure she hadn’t missed anything. She would be meeting up with the Preventor group on the edge of the Nile River and investigating an enemy base. According to reports from that group, the base was half underwater, and was a main production plant for underwater mobile suits.
She would be going with Saber as well. She knew as well as anyone that Saber ought to be under heavy suspicion, so why was Noin trusting him with such a mission…? It didn’t make any sense. There was a soft knock on hr door.
"Come in…" She called. She was surprised to see Jeff let himself in.
"Hey gorgeous," He greeted her, "What’s going on? Why was that loser guy talking to you a lunch?"
Helen rolled her eyes at his greeting, but decided to answer his question anyway.
"I’ve got a new mission, Saber came down to call us to the meeting."
"Why would he care?"
"Because he’s part of it."
"What!"
"I know, ridiculous, isn’t it? And Saber is not exactly what I’d call trustworthy."
"Well you didn’t think that a little while ago." Jeff pointed out.
"What do you mean?" Helen asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Well, you were the one who promoted him, weren’t you?"
"Yes but…now I’m not so sure it was a good idea. Moving him up in rank only served to give him greater access to Preventor mainframes and areas of the base that are restricted to rookies."
"Well, the rest of us ‘rookies’ have almost made Preventor status now anyway."
"I guess you’re right." Helen sighed and ran her hands tiredly through her loose midnight hair.
"So where are you going?" Jeff asked, trying to steer the conversation in another direction.
"Egypt, to the Nile river." Helen sighed.
"Cool, take some pictures of the pyramids for me, will ya?" He winked.
Helen glanced up at him in confusion. "There’s hardly anything left of them, after the war of AC 195, and the Barton incident, not to mention that war last year. All they are is ruins." "So? The ruins in Greece are a big tourist attraction. Why can’t ruined pyramids be?"
Helen sighed and stifled a laughed; Jeff could be so strange sometimes. "Ok," She agreed. "But only because you asked nicely."
Jeff grinned, he opened his mouth, as if to say something more, but Noin chose that moment to barge into the room.
"Helen I have…" She paused and looked at Jeff.
"What are you doing in here?"
"I…" Jeff started, but couldn’t finish.
"I need to have a private conversation with Lt. Maxwell, if you don’t mind."
"Oh…right…" Noin glared at him as he retreated the room quickly.
Once she was sure he was gone, Noin smiled at Helen and started again. "Helen, I have some more details for your mission."
"Really, like what?" Helen asked.
"First, there’s the issue of Saber."
"Ah," Helen didn’t want to get into her doubts about Saber at the moment. She wouldn’t say anything unless Noin brought it up.
"There’s a reason I’m sending him with you on this mission."
"And that would be…?"
"Because I don’t trust him."
‘Oh, well that makes perfect sense."
"Hold on a minute Helen, let me finish. "
"OK…"
"As I was saying, I’m sending Saber because he’s been acting suspiciously lately, and if he tries anything on this mission, I want to be able to catch him. I’m not sending anyone away without good reason. The reason he’s going with you is because he seems to like you…"
"What!"
"Not like that Helen!" Noin grinned, "I just mean he respects you, being his former instructor and all, and I figure that you could handle this better than anyone else."
"Well, I’m honoured that you have so much faith in me, Miss Noin." Helen chuckled. "S you want me to keep an eye on him, is that right?"
Noin nodded, "A very close eye on him Helen, don’t let him leave your sight."
"Got it,"
"Get ready Helen, you leave in less than two days."
"I know…"
~~~
"Bye," Seth kissed Jasmine softly on the lips as they prepared for departure.
"Bye babe," She smirked. "Don’t’ get killed."
He laughed, "I’ll try," He turned and headed for his shuttle where Brittney was waiting
"Do you always have to take such a long time?" She complained.
"Hey!" Seth cried defensively. "I saw you and Jason just a few minutes ago! You have no right to complain!"
"Hn," Brittney snorted. She climbed up into the shuttle and started to prep it for launch. Seth lingered a minute and walked over to David.
"You," He said, "I’m counting on you to take care of her for me. If anything happens to them, it’ll be on your head." Seth glowered at the other boy long enough to make him gulp and then nod. Seth smiled and headed back over to here his sister was tapping her foot impatiently.
"Cut it close enough?" She snapped. "We leave in two minutes!"
Seth only rolled his eyes and eased into the pilot’s chair.
He looked around to see who remained in the hanger. Most of their parents had made a point to stop by at one point or another, as well as a few curious rookies. Helen and Saber were just leaving the hanger as he climbed in, Joel was long gone, and Jason and Indigo were arguing over something outside their own transport.
He called Helen on the Com Link. "Hey Helen? What’s up with Jason and Indy?" He asked.
Helen sighed, "You know Jason, he made some smart comment about Indy’s accent and attempted to speak French with absolutely no success. Next thing you know Indy is trying to lecture him on proper pronunciation and Jason doesn’t give a shit!"
"Which of course only makes Indy more frustrated." Seth finished.
"You guessed it," Helen sighed, "Indy’ very proud of her heritage and language skills."
Seth laughed, "Well, you have fun down in Egypt with that Trowa wanna-be there."
Helen chuckled at this. At times Saber’s quiet and withdrawn yet intense nature reminded her of Trowa.
"Frankly," Seth continued, "He gives me the creeps."
"Yeah I know, why do you think they didn’t put him with you? I think maybe you’d have nightmares."
Seth snorted, and behind Helen he was sure he saw Saber look up and glare at them. "Well, I should go, keep in contact, and uh…I guess I’ll see you guys when I see you!"
"Yeah, bye Seth."
The screen went black and Seth sank back down into his seat. Brittney steered them out of the hanger and soon they were blasting over the desert. Behind them, he saw the last shuttle take off.
He’d never before been on a mission without his new friends. It was going to be weird being separated from them for so long. It was hard enough at the circus without the crazy antics of Helen and Jason, or his girlfriend to keep him entertained. He would just have to find something else to keep him busy while he was in Brazil. At least they would have some good coffee.
