She’s late… Cheryl glanced about, hoping she was at the right place. "Where is she…?" She sighed deeply and pulled on her fingers, trying not to shake. I’m here Brittney; you’ll be home soon…
She heard a twig snap behind her and she spun around. From out of the shadows emerged Cassius herself. Cheryl breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well, I must admit, I thought you wouldn’t show." Cassius smirked.
"Where is she?" Cheryl gasped. "Where’s Brittney?"
"Now, now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Cheryl. First, where is my Gundam?"
"It’s back in the bush, but you don’t get it until I see my daughter."
Cassius sighed, "Alright, alright, she’s just down there," She pointed off somewhere behind Cheryl and motioned for her to go. Cheryl turned and started to make her way through the trees.
Cassius watched and slowly reached down and took hold of her gun. She aimed it directly at the back of Cheryl’s retreating form.
"Very sorry, dear," She grinned as she squeezed the trigger. The shot echoed through the trees, and Cheryl’s lifeless body dropped to the ground.
~~~
Jason’s eyes shot open and he quickly looked around the dark room. As his eyes adjusted, he realised where he was. He was inside the pilot’s lounge, near the private gym. Only a faint trickle of light leaked in through the door crack. Lying under his arm was the single most amazing girl he’d ever known. Helen seemed so different when she was asleep. Aside from the scratch on her temple from one of Jason’s wild punches, there was no evidence of what had conspired earlier that day.
By some miracle they’d both managed to fall asleep on the tiny, uncomfortable lounge sofa. After a long fight (which Helen had won) they had collapsed on the sofa. Helen fell asleep almost immediately, and was (unfortunately) pinning him down. He hadn’t had the heart to wake her, so he lay down as well. He subconsciously wondered how long they’d been sleeping.
He didn’t care; he gently put his head back down on the armrest and stared into Helen’s face. She stirred only for a second and snuggled against him. It didn’t look like she was planning on waking up any time soon.
As much as he wanted to stay, Jason knew that Helen would freak if she woke up in that position. He carefully got up, making sure not to jostle Helen too much in the process. He slipped off the couch and headed for the door. He cast a weary glance at her before he stepped out the door.
He didn’t know what had happened to her, but he vowed that one day he would find out.
~~~
Saber was relaxing quietly against a tree, his feet were stretched out in front of him, and he had a book resting on his chest. He’d finally managed to sneak away to the Quad for some time alone. It was just far too noisy inside the base for his liking. He was really starting to enjoy himself when he heard someone coming. He hardly caught glimpse of the person before they tripped over his foot and fell right on top of him.
Saber sucked in his breath as he fell backwards onto the ground, and a heavy weight came down on top of him
Saber opened his eyes and found himself face to face with none other than Carol Maxwell. Their noses were touching, and she was so close he could actually feel her warm breath on his neck. Carol took one looked at Saber’s stunned expression and laughed. "We have got to stop meeting like this." She joked.
Saber was at a loss for words. Carol pushed herself up on his chest and laughed again. Saber could only blink at her.
"Saber, you look so funny!" Carol giggled.
"What are you doing here?" He asked finally.
"Well, I was hoping to get some time to myself, but then I ended up running into you."
"Hn,"
Carol shifted a bit, and suddenly became aware of their position. She was sitting on top of him, straddling his chest, and somehow his hands had fallen onto her waist. "Um…Saber?" She blushed.
Saber looked down and studied the situation. "Well, this is interesting…"
"Uh, yeah…would you mind letting go of me? Saber…?"
Saber didn’t seem to be listening. He forced himself to take a few deep breaths and process the situation. He should have let go of her already, but didn’t want to. Something in the back of his mind was stopping him.
Carol shifted again uneasily.
"Are you uncomfortable?" Saber asked.
"Well…yeah, a little…" Carol admitted, turning her eyes from him. Still, Saber did not move.
"Um…maybe I should go…" Carol started to get up, but Saber tightened his hands on her hips.
"Stay," He insisted.
Carol looked at him curiously, wondering why he wanted her to remain sitting on his chest. Then, for no reason, she laughed.
"What?"
"I can’t figure you out. I thought you were like, a loner."
Saber shrugged, "Maybe I’m tired of being alone,"
That comment caught her off guard, "Wha…"
But she didn’t have time to even finish that one word. Saber gently pulled her down and captured her lips. He was so gentle with her that she almost forgot he was kissing her. When she realised exactly what was going on, she was so shocked she pulled back and stumbled off of him.
Saber sat up as well; looking a little confused himself. What was he thinking? He should not have kissed her. Tech and Swift spent so much time training him to be a soldier, and he was betraying them, betraying his training, betraying his very nature. He wasn’t supposed to get involved with them. He knew his mission from the very start, and now it was almost over. He knew that in a few days he would be going home. Dammit! Why did he have to show weakness now?
Carol was looking at him; he could feel her eyes boring into him. He couldn’t stand it. It made him realise that he was a fool. He stood up and quickly regained his composure. He would call Swift at the base and tell her he was returning home. The sooner he got away from his weakness, the better.
Carol studied Saber, still too shocked to make a comment. Unfortunately, before she could even form one coherent thought, Saber stood up, glanced at her, and then walked away.
Carol brought a shaking hand up to her mouth and felt where their lips had touched. "What the hell was that?!"
~~~
Cassius whistled as she docked the shuttle in the Matatara base. Now Jeff could never question her again. Don’t trust her…huh! She snorted to herself. She opened the door to the transport and noticed that Jeff had come to see her arrival, and he’d brought Brittney with him.
Smirking, she started to step down This shall be my greatest performance yet. She forced a mask of anger and remorse onto her face and kept her head bowed as she stepped down.
"Cassius! Where did you go?" Jeff cried as he ran to meet her.
Cassius looked up at him with a stern glare. She didn’t bother to answer him; instead she stepped right up to Brittney.
"Wha-What is it?" Brittney stuttered.
"It was those brats again," Cassius hissed, "I really didn’t think that they would sink so low…"
"What?" Brittney urged,
"That asshole ex-boyfriend of yours shot her! Right through the head!"
Brittney gulped, "Who? Who did he shoot?"
Cassius looked down at the girl in concern. "Your mother, dear. It would seem that he really wanted you to suffer…"
"M-mom…?" Brittney’s hands began to shake. "He killed her?"
"I’m afraid so,"
"But why? Why would he…oh God…mom…" Brittney broke down into tears and sank to the floor. Cassius stood there and looked at her with fake sympathy.
Jeff watched from a fair distance, waiting to see how Brittney would react.
After a few minutes, Cassius turned and left, walking right past Jeff. As she neared him, she looked at him and said, "She’s all yours." Then she continued out the hanger.
Jeff sighed and approached Brittney, waiting until she finished crying. Brittney looked up, finally. Her eyes were tear-stained and red, but her face was set in a look of pure hatred.
"They’ll pay for this, all of them. I won’t let any of them live." And then she too, left Jeff standing all alone in the hanger.
"I gotta hand it to ya, Cassy," Jeff chuckled, shaking his head. "Not bad…"
~~~
"ALL GUNDAM PILOTS PLEASE REPORT TO THE CONFERENCE ROOM, I REPEAT, ALL GUNDAM PILOTS PLEASE REPORT TO THE CONFERENCE ROOM. YOU TOO, SABER AND CAROL. ALL OF YOU, GET DOWN HERE NOW!"
Helen woke up to the sound of the voice on the public address system. She snorted and shot up, only to fall down onto the floor.
"Ow…" She mumbled as she rubbed her sore bottom. She glared at the offensive box in the wall and grumbled as she stood up. "Why am I in the lounge…?" She wondered as she studied her surroundings. It was then that everything came back to her. "Jason…" She was surprised that he wasn’t still there. Sighing, she stood up slowly and headed out the door and towards the conference room. Noin sounded pretty urgent on the PA.
~~
"We have a huge, super bad problem." Noin announced once everyone had arrived.
"What is it now, Noin?" Seth sighed as he sank back in his chair.
Non glared at him and pressed a button, and a picture from a security camera came up.
"What is this?" Joel snorted.
"As you can see, it is the hanger." Noin groaned, "Anybody notice anything missing?" She glared around the room.
As Helen studied the picture, her eyes widened, "Where is the Hell’s Angel?"
"Exactly, the Hell’s Angel Gundam has been stolen."
"Damn…" Jason remarked,
"But…who could have possibly gotten past our security and stolen the Gundam?" Jasmine wondered.
"This is who," Noin growled as she pushed the button again. The group watched in awe as Cheryl climbed up into the Gundam and drove it right out of the hanger. Since she was well trusted around the base, no one was the wiser.
"That little bitch…" Helen hissed. "How could she?"
"Well, since Brittney has betrayed us, perhaps Cheryl has gone after her." Noin suggested. "But whatever the reason, the Matatara could easily have caught up with her by now and stolen the Gundam. And, if Cheryl reappears, we must consider her a hostile. In the meantime, if the Matatara does get a hold of the Gundam, we’ll have to act fast. I’ve been working to complete our next mission for a long time. We are going to need everyone’s help with this, so Helen, Saber, I want both of you helping Carol learn to use a mobile suit."
Helen nodded, while Carol and Saber both seemed a little uncomfortable. I wonder what’s up with them? Helen thought. She shrugged it off and concentrated on the rest of Noin’s instructions.
Wufei and Sally were included in the plan as well, there were going to be a lot of them, but still, could they really overthrow the Matatara?
One thing she knew for certain, the end was near, but for whom?
"We leave for the L3 Matatara base in exactly two weeks at 1200 hours." Noin’s sharp voice cut into Helen’s thoughts. "I expect you all to be ready. Dismissed."
Helen blinked; had she missed the entire presentation? Shrugging it off, she picked up her folder and headed out. It would be a long two weeks before the attack.
