"Jesus Christ!" Noin cried as Sally was brought, unconscious, into the Preventor base. "What the hell happened?"
"Cassius shot her," Joel growled.
"Right through the stomach," Jasmine added.
"Dammit, where are the others?"
"Ma’am! We’ve just received word from Miss Helen, the other pilots are returning to base." A random soldier announced.
"That answer your question?" Joel snapped bitterly. Noin groaned, "Get the doctors down here! ASAP! Major Chang needs immediate attention!"
Noin paused and looked at the two anxious teenage twins. "You two should go down there with her," She said warmly, "But don’t get in the way."
"Thank you, Miss Noin," Jasmine bowed deeply and hurried off after her mother, Joel trailing behind.
"These people are going to send me into early labour!"
~~
It wasn’t long before the rest of the kids arrived, weary and disgruntled, but unharmed.
"What the hell went on down there?" Noin demanded.
"A heck of a lot," Helen groaned, "Where are the twins?"
"They’re with Sally, Cassius shot her, and it’s not looking good."
"WHAT!"
Noin nodded again sadly.
"Well, at least we have some good news," Jason sighed, trying to brighten the mood a bit. "Jeff is dead, so we have one less villain to worry about,
"Hold on a second! How did that happen?" Noin cried.
Carol blushed, "That was me…"
Noin looked at her and her eyeballs nearly fell out of her head. "You, Carol!?"
"Don’t look so surprised. After what he did to my sister he deserved it."
"Well!" Jason cut her off, as to not embarrass Carol further, "Indigo, Seth and David managed to retrieve the mainframe for Cassius’s little dream machine."
"Well that’s good at least. We’ll analyse it here and see what we can do to use it to our advantage. What about the Gundam?"
"Um…no, sorry, that’s where we ran into Jeff and Brittney. After Carol flipped out and killed him, we figured it was best to just get home fast."
"Alright, I guess you did the right thing. Indigo, hand over that mainframe, I’ll have a team look it over. The rest of you have free time until we come up with something."
Noin didn’t need to say anything more, and all the kids instantly scattered.
~~~
Wufei sat at his wife’s side, cursing himself for not being able to handle that little woman. His attempt to find her had failed, and so he returned empty handed when Maxwell had said she was going back…and taking the only shuttle off the base.
Now Sally lay unconscious in the starchy hospital bed, because of his weakness, his inability to protect her.
"Forgive me, Sally." He said softly as he gently stroked her hand. He knew his children were outside, waiting for him to finish. But he couldn’t leave her yet. He just felt too guilty.
He fell asleep next to her, and stayed there all night.
~~~
"Dad…Dad…" Wufei felt someone nudging him awake. He slowly opened his eyes and realized he had fallen asleep at Sally’s bedside. He glanced up and saw his daughter standing over him.
"Dad, you’ve been here for hours without food. Maybe you should go get some breakfast?"
Wufei silently shook his head, and Jasmine resisted the urge to chuckle. "Come on dad…Joel and I would like to talk to her before the doctors come to do some final tests and bring her to the OR."
Finally, Wufei nodded and got up. "I want to know when they find anything out."
"Of course," Jasmine watched Wufei leave and waited for Joel to join her.
He looked down at their mother, lying pathetically in the white sheets, connected to dozens of machines.
"What do we say to her?" Joel wondered.
Jasmine couldn’t say anything. From where she was standing, it looked like her mother was going to die. She tried to force back tears as she shook her head slowly. "I don’t know." She knelt carefully next her mother and grabbed her brother’s hand.
Joel was confused, but slowly got down on his knees next to her. It was all she could think of to do. She couldn’t find any words, so she just closed her eyes and prayed that her feelings and thoughts would reach her mother. She looked over and saw that Joel had had the same idea.
She couldn’t stand his war. There was just so much death; she wasn’t sure how much longer she could handle it.
It was then that the doctor chose to walk in, he paused when he saw the twins, but was not deterred. He had a job to do.
"I’m very sorry, you two, but I need to take your mother to the OR for surgery."
Jasmine looked up at him with tear-stained eyes. "You have the results of the tests?" She asked urgently.
"Yeah,"
"Well…?" Joel snapped.
"She’s suffered massive injuries to her spinal cord. We expect her to wake up within the week, but first we need to put her in the OR. She may…" He sighed as he raked his fingers through his hair.
"What?!"
"She may never walk again!"
At this Jasmine broke down crying. Joel sighed as he let her fall into his arms. "It’ll be OK," He promised her. "Mom’s tough, she’ll walk again."
The doctor sighed at the two, the chances of that were extremely slim. The bullet had passed through a critical area of the central nervous system. Still, he couldn’t stand to break their hearts.
"If you’ll excuse me," He motioned for them to leave, and started getting Sally prepped for the OR.
"We should go tell dad," Joel sighed as he led his emotional sister out of the room. He was surprised to see Seth standing outside.
"W-what’s going on?" He stuttered. Jasmine was incapable of answering, so Joel had to explain what the doctor had told them.
"My mom may not walk again…ever…"
Seth’s eyes widened considerably. "What!?"
Jasmine began to sob even louder.
"Yeah, I know," Joel sighed, "We were going to go tell my dad, he may not take it as well as Jazz and I." There was a bitter hint of sarcasm in his voice.
Seth looked down at his girlfriend sympathetically. He gently wrapped his arm around her and brought her over to him. Jasmine fell into him willingly. "I think I’m going to take her back to her room."
Joel nodded, "Good idea, I’ll find my dad."
~
Wufei didn’t take the news any better than Jasmine. Of course, he reacted a lot differently. After slamming his fist into the wall a few times, her recited a few choice words and stormed off, probably to his room. No one else could tell, but Joel knew that he was shedding tears. He didn’t know how he was supposed to react; sometimes he hated trying to be strong. He started to walk back towards the dorms when he felt a pair of slim arms wrap around his waist. He breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, someone he didn’t expect him to be strong and heartless.
He felt Indigo rest her head against his back. "I heard," She whispered. "You wanna talk about it?"
He shook his head slowly before answering, "I have to though," "Come on," She took his head and lead him off towards his room. "You can cry if you need to."
Joel shook his head. "I won’t…I can’t…"
Indigo sighed. When was Joel ever going to realize that he could trust her enough to let out his emotions? That’s what she was there for, to be his shoulder to cry on. She knew he needed to let it out, and she intended to help him do it.
~~~
Jason sat in the office attached to the gym, watching Helen through the window. She was shaken up, he could tell as well as Carol how scared she was when Jeff showed up. And he almost had her too. And he probably knew better than Carol how angry that made her.
She was pounding furiously at her favorite punching bag, letting it swing madly.
She had been avoiding him since his confession which ultimately got them and Sally into this mess they were in now. He sighed and sat back, trying to concoct ways to finally snag her. He loved her too much to just let her slip away again. He had to come up with something; he was Jason Yuy, dammit! He could have any girl he wanted…at least up until now.
It didn’t seem possible that the one woman he’d ever actually fallen in love could be the only one who wouldn’t fall for his ploys…
"You love her, don’t you?"
A soft voice cut into his musings.
"Huh?" He spun around and saw Carol Maxwell standing behind him, flashing that famous Maxwell grin.
"Why would you say something like that?" He muttered, not even bothering to ask what she was doing there.
"Oh please, it’s written all over you face! You are hopelessly in love with my sister! But…"
"But…?" He urged, "I’m guessing she’s not in love with you? Is that why you’re so down? Is that why she’s been avoiding you like the plague?"
"I dunno…" Jason admitted, "Most of the time it seems like she hates me, that she just wants me to leave her alone. But then…sometimes…I see something, like she’s lying to everyone, even herself…" He broke off there. He’d already said too much.
"Hm," Carol sank down next to him, finding her thoughts drifting more and more towards Saber. He had been her patient and kind instructor for weeks now, and just recently, there had been a flash of something more. She wondered if that was what had scared him away. It would seem that everything had gotten more complicated since she’d met up with these Gundam pilots.
"Well," Carol said suddenly, "If you want, I can talk to her…maybe find out…"
"What? How could you do that?" Jason cried.
"Oh come on! That’ what girls do! Especially since we’re sisters. And since you and I are buddies, I’ll do it free of charge!"
"You can’t be serious," Jason said, bewildered. He’d heard of this mysterious ‘girl talk’ type interrogation before, but he didn’t really think anyone, not even Jasmine, was capable of girl-talking Helen into confessing she had feelings for him. "What do ya say, huh?" Carol asked eagerly.
"Do what you must," Jason sighed, "But it’s not going to work."
"Oh, we’ll see…" Carol chuckled as she sauntered off just as silently as she had come.
~~~
"Hey Helen," Carol yawned as she fell into the room the two sister’s shared. She dropped down onto her bed and smiled at her sister.
"Hey," Helen replied without looking up.
"I was talking to Jason today," Carol said casually as she turned to hang upside down on her bed and smiled at Helen.
Helen remained sitting quietly at her desk, apparently doing some kind of work. "Yeah, and, so?" She said, somewhat nonchalantly. Carol knew she was interested though. Damn that sister’s intuition came in handy!
"He’s so nice, ya know?" Carol continued.
At this, Helen snorted. "Sure he is…"
"He is!" Carol cried in his defense. "I mean he’s always helping me out, he’s like a brother, almost. I’ve always wanted an older brother…"
"Is this going somewhere?" Helen asked in annoyance.
"Well of course it is," Carol blinked. She stared at her sister for a long time before she sighed. "You’re so miserable, I know you are? How come?"
"None of your business."
"Oh don’t give me that, I already know anyway, so you should just spill, it’ll make you feel better."
Now Helen finally did spin around in her chair and glare at Carol. "What do you know?" She hissed.
"I know it has to do with Jason…" She started with a grin, "And what he said to you…or confessed to you, should I say?"
"Helen leapt up from her chair in fury and grabbed Carol’s hair, pulling her off the bunk.
"Ouch! Hey! What was that for?" Carol whined.
"Stop being a brat Carol!" Helen growled. Carol laughed again "Hey, relax, I’m not gonna rat on my big sister. I just wanted to ask you about it."
"There’s nothing to say."
"Sure there isn’t," Carol rolled her eyes. "That’s why you’re so uptight about it, right?" Helen sighed, deciding that she had been caught. "Alright! So maybe it bothers me a little bit, but I can handle it myself. I’m a big girl."
"Helen, I maybe like…two and a half years younger than you, but I know when someone’s lying."
"OK! So it bugs me a lot! Are you happy!" Helen cried as she fell backwards onto the bed next to Carol.
"But you don’t feel the same way, right?" It was more of a statement than a question.
"Of course not!" Helen cried, as if the idea that Carol even had to ask was insulting.
"So then why does it bother you so much?"
"Huh?"
"Well, I dunno, it’s just that if something like that happens to me, and I don’t care about it, I just let it slide off my back."
"Well in case you haven’t noticed, he won’t leave me alone! He just doesn’t get it!"
"Oh really?" Carol raised an eyebrow at Helen. "Well he hasn’t said anything more than was absolutely necessary for the last three weeks. I know; I’ve been watching."
Helen sighed yet again, "I don’t know why it bothers me so much," Helen confessed finally.
It’s about time! Now we’re getting somewhere! Carol thought maliciously. She leaned in, giving Helen a silent urge to continue.
"I’ve always considered him a friend, and I knew he liked to flirt, but now suddenly he’s in love with me! And it…"
"It scared the shit outta you." Carol finished.
"Well…yeah…"
"Why?" Carol asked sincerely.
"I…I dunno…"
"You don’t know, or you don’t want to know?"
A hint of though sparked in Helen’s eyes. Was she actually thinking about what she’d said? It looked that way. Now it’s time for a hasty, but dignified retreat… Carol got up slowly, made an excuse that she wanted to go see Sally, and was off like lighting, leaving Helen alone to reflect on what she’d said.
Is Carol right…? Helen wondered, Am I afraid of what I’ll find if…if… She couldn’t allow her thoughts to go any further. She ran her hands through her thick, loose blue-black hair and groaned and she dropped her head against the pillow. She was beginning to feel the beginning of a major headache.
~~~
Joel woke up to an incessant nasal voice on the PA system, calling all those involved in the recent attack on the Matatara to come to the conference room. At least this time it wasn’t Noin booming over the system.
He moaned and opened his eyes slowly, and saw that he was in bed, with Indigo sleeping peacefully beside him.
"Indy, Indy wake up." He muttered as he prodded her with his index finger.
Indigo muttered something in her sleep and tried to turn over, but Joel would not allow her to go back to sleep.
"Indy, there’s a meeting, we have to go."
"Huh?" Indigo slowly woke up and stretched out her tight limbs and ended with a big yawn. "What time is it? She wondered sleepily.
"I don’t know, but I don’t think it matters. Get up quick and fix yourself up. We’ll grab coffee on the way."
"Fine," Indigo yawned. She rolled out of bed and adjusted her wrinkled clothes. She should have known better than to fall asleep in her clothes.
She took a few wobbly steps before regaining her balance and hurrying after Joel towards the conference room.
~~~
"Well it took you all long enough." Noin complained as Indy and Joel – the last of the kids – found their way into the room. Joel looked across the room at his sister. She was sitting on one of the small couches, hugging her knees to her chest and resting under Seth’s protective arm.
He hadn’t seen her this upset since…well, since she had lost her baby.
He sighed as he sank down into a chair and let Indy settle in next to him, -half sitting on his lap. He instinctively brought his arms around her and waited for Noin to start her speech. It looked as if Noin had already briefed everyone else on his mother’s condition.
"We’ve cracked the codes on the Dream Machine." She told them bluntly. "We plan to use it against Cassius and incapacitate her, making for an easy arrest. Once…" she paused when the monitor began to beep. "Excuse me," She sighed as she wobbled over to the screen and punched a button. "Yes, who is this?"
"Forgotten me already, Noin?"
Noin snapped to attention, as did the rest of the kids. A very familiar redhead teen was smirking dangerously back at them.
"What the hell are you doing, Brittney?" Noin hissed.
"Guess where I am, Miss Noin," Brittney laughed, ignoring Noin’s question.
It was obvious she was inside a mobile suit – most likely the Hell’s Angel – but her exact location was still a mystery.
Noin glared at the young teen mercilessly.
"No guesses? Well, I’ll give you a hint," She grabbed the controls of her Gundam and swung at something. Instantly the base shuddered, as if being attacked.
"Shit! She’s here!" David cried as he jumped to his feet.
"Thank you David, for overstating the obvious," Helen groaned sarcastically as she too, stood up. She looked at the screen and glared at Brittney. "If it’s a fight you want, Brit, you’ll get it. You name the time and place."
"Damn straight I want I fight. But I want a battlefield without any obstructions." She snickered, "I’ll be waiting for you guys in space. You had better make it a good fight." Then, without another word, she disappeared from the screen.
"Dammit!" Noin screamed, "Get that signal back, now!"
But they all knew it was hopeless. Helen balled her hands into fists at her sides. That bitch would pay for everything she’d done. She turned on her heel and started to storm off.
"Hey, wait a second, Helen! Where are you going?" Indigo called.
"To my Gundam, we can’t keep Brittney waiting, now can me. Anyone who wants to join me is welcome to."
Jason glanced at the others before jumping out of his seat and following her. Carol went next, and soon after the other kids got up.
"Hold on a sec, you two." Noin stopped Indy and Seth before they could go anywhere. "We need your skills to work this Dream Machine. You think you can handle that?"
Seth and Indigo looked at each other and smirked.
"You bet we can,"
