Cybaster
Delta
Roadkilled. Repeatedly.
Posts: 231
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Post by Cybaster on May 23, 2004 23:18:51 GMT -5
"What makes you think that you can win? What makes you think I'm not right, even!?" Jerid Albright, the UEG's Head of Counterintelligence and Gundam Aquarius MS Trooper, gloated arrogantly as he and Kouji stood off on the surface of the Moon, the two facing one another. Kouji glared at him, standing in a Toho Fuhai-ryu martial arts stance; Jerid merely crossed his arms. "Boy, I've seen more in years than you'll ever see in your life! Why're you fighting me? Because I did something bad? Because I was doing my job? No, or was it only because I killed that self-righteous b*stard Cybrionne?"
Kouji clenched his teeth in defiance behind the God Gundam's helmet. "I'm stopping you because what you're doing isn't what anybody deserves, Albright!"
"And who exactly are you to say that!?" Jerid spat in reply. "I will do whatever I need to do to make sure Earth continues to rule supreme, and Earth never will unless we teach these Spacenoid scum a lesson! I'm a soldier! I'm still a soldier! Cybrionne deserved to die because he thought we could still fight a war with honor. News flash, boy: you can't! To do that's to invite someone to hit you even harder. Don't tell me you actually believe in this honor stuff and righteousness and happy endings..."
"I do, Albright!" Kouji screamed back, holding back the urge to strike first. If he lost his temper here, he'll never defeat Jerid... "What's the point of fighting if nobody's happy in the end?"
If Jerid wasn't helmed, Kouji could tell that he was rolling his eyes in disgust. "G*d, you are so two-dimensional! Happy endings never exist, not in war. You might think you're fighting for someone's happiness, but you can't keep it even if you do succeed! Something else will just get in the way and you'll be back at Square One. You don't fight wars for happy endings; you fight it for power, and do what you have to do. What makes you think you can change this? What makes you think you can even make anyone happy with what you do and still be appreciated for what you're trying to do? For that matter...how can you be sure people want a happy ending, boy...?"
* * *
Nebin Cybrionne's death was a heroic one even if Jerid didn't think so.
It was Jerid, leader of the UEG Fleet that supported the Shining Hope on the surface but in reality seeking to forcefully control the AOL Colonies, that had brought along a very powerful EMP Cannon on his own flagship specifically for that purpose. It was a powerful gun; one blast from the cannon destroyed an entire colony and every million of its inhabitants, and at the heat of the battle Jerid wanted to turn the cannon on the Shining Hope in revenge for surviving Jerid's first attack against it much earlier. Cybrionne was the nearest to the cannon, and without another thought for his own life he charged towards Jerid's ship to destroy the cannon, but he was too late; the cannon fired at him point-blank, and the last Cyb could do was to use his Biosensor to erect a mental shield that protected the Shining Hope from that very first blast. Nevertheless, the cannon proved its deadliness in that, despite his actions, Cybrionne was killed instantly by the shutting down of his systems violently without fanfare...
Thankfully, despite a second blast disabling a good portion of the Yamato defence line as well as half of his own fleet, the third blast instead overloaded the cannon and Jerid's flagship blew itself up in turn. Of course, Jerid himself survived the explosions, but that was another story.
Eventually, Kouji and Fuunsaiki's wanderings took them in front of a bar; had he been with the Shining Hope earlier, he would've realized that this was the very bar where Malek and Liv were nearly killed during their previous visit to New Mexico, now repaired but with the same clientale frequenting it, all no less seedy. Kouji ignored it; Fuunsaiki whined once, and the two continued walking just as two burly men exited the wooden doors to talk.
"Hey, you see that red-haired woman that just moved into Newbury Street earlier? She's a cute one, ain't she?"
"Yah, you're tellin' me! What a hottie!"
"Hey, maybe after sundown, we can go look for her for a little...talk in the Moonlight, right, buddy? Heh, heh, heh..."
"Ooh, yeah. I prefer women to independence any day. Who cares if the UEG's gonna garrison this sorry town?"
Kouji closed his eyes.
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Cybaster
Delta
Roadkilled. Repeatedly.
Posts: 231
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Post by Cybaster on May 23, 2004 23:19:37 GMT -5
"Who has it, boy? Who has the will to truly live like you say? How do you know that's how you should live?"
"I do! And I'll show you yet!" After more than a hundred clashes, neither willing to give in to each other, Jerid and Kouji broke off for the first pause in the action. For now, neither had the advantage; Jerid's Heat Rods, Jamming Pods and one of his Planet Defensor Shields had been destroyed by Kouji's Bakunetsu God Slash attack, but both of Kouji's Beam Swords had been lost and his Machine Cannon was not working properly, leaving Kouji with only his fists. Still, the boy was not willing to give up, not yet. "Albright! I don't know how you came to feel this way, but nobody wants to be unhappy when they have a choice! I not only believe in this, I know it's true. I used to ponder about this long ago, I admit...
"When I was still on Earth after the first times I faced Yamato, I knew there was something missing despite knowing what to believe. I wasn't feeling confident, just like you said I wouldn't be." Kouji's voice softened, and Jerid's smirk appeared again underneath his mask. "It took meeting mother...Fuunsaiki...and then going back to the Shining Hope and seeing them fight that I finally found out why. Do you know why I felt empty, Albright-san? Not because I knew that what I was believing in was not possible, no. Rather...it was because while I knew what to believe in and that it was possible, I didn't know how I should believe in people's happiness."
"Ridiculous." Jerid sneered, arms crossed again. "And did you find your happiness with that pathetic ship, boy?"
Kouji's warm smile dreamily appeared in turn. "Yes!" His voice was confident, calmer, full of certainty. "I found it there. Everytime I see Cybrionne-sama and Yumi-san talking, everytime I see Souffle-chan full of life, when I see Wind-sama and Sara-sama together or Dai-san and Mel-chan or Liv-sama...I know. Most of all, when I saw Saki-san and Aya-sama living with each other, I found out why. Saki-san and Aya-sama, they..." Kouji nodded. "They didn't know the future, if they would have one, or if the future would be pleasant for them together, but they still lived and loved each other anyway, taking comfort in the moment. They made me realize that I didn't need to ask, either."
"...What!?"
"You heard me, Albright-san. I didn't need to ask about what kind of happy ending I would bring or how I would make sure it would come about in the absolute best way; Saki-san and Aya-sama taught me that enough. All I needed to do was to run forward, do my best as my heart tells me, and the best will come naturally either way. I won't try to predict the future because it's impossible, but I will fight my best for it anyway!"
Kouji's eyes narrowed at what seemed to be laughter eminating from Jerid's mouth. "And, boy, did that work for you?"
"It did."
Jerid moved. "Then all your fighting for fairy tales will now be in vain! Kouji Kamishima, son of Kamuri Kamishima...heir of the Avenger Unit..." With that, Jerid thrusted backwards sharply as if to attack long-range. It was the first time he's ever referred to Kouji by name. "...Die!" And even as Jerid spoke, something pivoted from his back armor into his right arm and, as his targeting systems came to bear, his Mega Cannon began to move and prepare itself.
Kouji didn't flinch, didn't doubt. He only stood his ground, and ran forward: "Jerid Albright! Even if happy endings don't last, as long as I can see a smile because of what is being fought for, as long as I can see people happy, that's enough for me to fight! And I'll prove it to you now...you won't hurt anyone else on the Shining Hope anymore!!!" Quickly, Kouji put his hands together, only inches apart, hovering above his chest as his God Gundam armor began moving, its Power Multiplier and binders activating upwards, and Kouji's heart began visualizing, running forward, only caring about fighting for the happy ending in absolute calm. And then he saw it... A waterdrop...the fading away of all hatred and sadness...
...The power of Clear Tranquility!!!
And as Kouji's heart settled into Mei Kyou Shii Sui --- the Clear Tranquility of Water --- he glared at Jerid, preparing himself, his power, and his faith for the final standoff. His body turned into a bright, blinding gold, as it had for the first time against Camilla Diamond before, and Kouji felt immense power surge through his essence, soul, and every fibre of his being...
* * *
At that conversation, Kouji stopped and, for once, forced himself to think in doubt. Fuunsaiki sighed softly, nuzzling Kouji again in comfort, but only managing to bring a nod from him.
"I love this world and I love what I believe in, Fuunsaiki, but..."
Fuunsaiki sighed again.
"Hey! It's Kouji Kamishima, isn't it?"
The voice, low-pitched but enthusiastic, startled Kouji out of his reverie and the God Gundam trooper turned to his right where a bunch of small children quickly ran up to him and Fuunsaiki. Kouji blinked in mute surprise; none of the boys or girls looked older than ten, and already they were crowding him excitedly, asking a variety of questions. What did they want? Kouji didn't know, and instinctively just let himself listen with a smile.
"It is him, it is him! He's one of the heroes who got those baddies from Yamaha!"
"Did you fight any battles lately? Did you win, did you?"
"Of course he won again, silly! He's a hero, isn't he? And he'll make everyone happy again!"
"Wow...can I have your autograph, Kouji?"
"I wish I could use Sekiha Tenkyoken! Can Kouji teach me Kung-fu?"
"Is your horse real? Can I ride it, pleeeeeeease---"
Fuunsaiki neighed in approval.
Kouji smiled at the scene, his heart warming up again; he couldn't believe this and, at the same time, he wanted to see this. He didn't mind the children not believing in him but, Kouji soon realized, they were believing in what he believed in --- making everyone happy. And if it was possible in the children, it was possible with him, Kouji realized right there and then. He looked down, smiling. Looking into the emerald eyes of one of the girls who crowded him, Kouji found his answer once more.
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Cybaster
Delta
Roadkilled. Repeatedly.
Posts: 231
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Post by Cybaster on May 23, 2004 23:22:52 GMT -5
"M-mother..." Kouji gawked, mouth wide open and blinking, as he stood with hands above each other in front of Jerid. In the middle of his hands, a bright yellow ball of bright, flarish energy began growing and gathering, searing around him. On the other side, Jerid was likewise charging his Mega Cannon for the final standoff, bolts lancing dangerously between the capacitors. Soon, both would fire, and only one would come out victorious. However, in the middle of charging his most powerful technique...Kouji had not counted on seeing his mother one more time, perhaps for the last...
It was indeed Miki. The apparition that was his mother stood beside Kouji, floating in space; she was indeed a beautiful woman, her black hair flowing and shining around her, black eyes soft and lovely, the kimono that she wore of silky pink and fluttering softly in the energy breeze. Kouji blinked some more. That was impossible, his mother was dead! Or was she? Had Fuunsaiki sensed Kouji's move and reached out to her son at this last hour?
"Kouji, my son..." Miki Masuda's soft voice whispered to Kouji, only audible to him. "Give him all your faith and will --- Blow Albright out of the water together!"
At that, Kouji smiled; he could feel his mother's warmth and love, and Kouji understood well why his father loved her, and she with him enough to continue fighting with him after she had died. His trust in Miki --- and Fuunsaiki --- was absolute, and together, he was confident Jerid didn't stand a ghost of a chance. What was the worst that could happen?
Feeling Miki's spiritly hands grasp Kouji's own wrists, Kouji turned back to Jerid with a sure look.
Jerid glared, narrowing his eyes, bracing himself for his own blast. "You can't win, boy!"
"In the name of Toho Fuhai-ryu, Albright!!!"
Kouji suddenly felt the blast of energy in his hands grow even more intense as both he and Miki chanted the words. The energy changed to bright pink; it was so hot now that even Kouji's own armor was beginning to scorch under the heat. He ignored it, only concentrating on his belief, his will to fight for happy endings, and his confidence that he and his mother could take anything on.
"I'm a veteran who's seen the world..."
"My hand is burning with the light of victory..."
"Who's seen all the evils men are capable of..."
"And it's telling me..." Kouji continued.
"And why wars never end until total annihilation is the end..."
"...To destroy you!!!"
"That is why..."
"Bakunetsu..."
"You can never, ever..."
"...God Finger..."
Kouji right arm, with Miki's left grasping onto him, began stretching out towards Jerid as the immense energy began moving from his chest to the tip of his arm.
"Ever make things happily ever after, boy!!!"
And then, Jerid's Mega Cannon fired, sending a sure, utilitarian but immense yellow beam of energy lancing towards Kouji and Miki...at the same time Kouji and Miki's own attack was completed:
"I'll prove it now, Jerid, whether you like it or not --- Sekiha!!! Love Love --- Tenkyoken!!!!!!!!!"
Then, Kouji's immense energy shot from his arm as well...and began changing in mid-flight. The flaming pink energy began condensing, taking shape, becoming a gigantic pink heart that was flying with all speed towards Jerid's Mega Cannon burst searing with everything it had. Then the attacks collided; first, there was a blinding flash of light as energy collided with energy...then, as the flash died down, there was immense clashing noise, and even more light. Kouji's eyes glimmered in triumph as the attack continued; Jerid, in turn, widened his eyes in surprise...
The Sekiha Love Love Tenkyoken was cleaving his Mega Cannon blast apart!
Hapless and feeling immense pressure paralyzing his body, Jerid could only look on helplessly as his Mega Cannon became defeated, the pink heart drawing quickly closer. For one split second, Jerid only saw pink light as his blast disappeared in entirety, and feel immense heat close in towards him; and then it finally hit, pummeling his armor, flesh and bone with the flame of faith. Jerid screamed; the roar of the blast drowned even him out, and he only had one more thing he could say.
"You can't win, boy...even if you won here, you'll just lose the next great war...I'll see you and Cyb in hell all the same..."
Then, with one final explosion of pink light, Jerid Albright ceased to exist.
* * *
There Kouji found his answer at last.
It's not a dream, mother...Fuunsaiki... Kouji finally concluded mentally, his heart clear of doubt. It's all about heart! As long as everyone still has it, Jerid could never be right. Everyone wants to be happy when given the choice...and I'll make sure they get one! I'll keep running forward...until everyone's happy. Kouji Kamishima, fighter for the Shining Hope --- kenzamu!!!
With that, lifting up the girl who asked gently, Kouji placed her onto Fuunsaiki's back to start fulfilling their dreams. This was going to be a good day---
"Kouji Kamishima, is it?"
With a surprised look as everyone else on the streets scattered, Kouji turned forward towards the voice; a challenger, another MS Trooper in Minaret Gundam armor, seemed to be standing in the middle of the street, glaring with him with twin Minaret Scimitars in his hands. Kouji narrowed his eyes and, as the children likewise turned to the challenger, Fuunsaiki stepped between him and the children protectively in turn. "Everyone's heard of your skill in the Martial Arts, former crewman of the Shining Hope...I, Destran Tosturou of the UEG 18th Middle East Division, challenge you to a fight!"
For a moment, Kouji looked from him to Fuunsaiki, biting his lip while crossing his arms, wondering if he should accept the challenge...but then soon realized that he didn't have to ask at all. The children blinked at him, excited and amazed, and Kouji knew what he had to do. He had to inspire them, tell them that what he believes in was possible. Kouji smiled; one of the children gave him a thumbs-up. He didn't need further encouragement.
"Destran Tosturou?" Kouji slowly walked to the center of the street with a confident look at Fuunsaiki and the children who rooted for him. "Yes, let us compete, and be friends afterwards if so possible. I, Kouji Kamishima of the Shining Hope, accept your challenge..."
And Kouji entered his stance, preparing to inspire once more.
Sore de wa --- MS Girls RPG! Ready.......GO!!!
* * *
(Lots of Garou: Mark of the Wolves inspiration there... ^^; )
-Cyb
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Post by Aegis on May 25, 2004 0:54:21 GMT -5
~ 5 months later ~
Almost immediately after she allowed Yumi to use her real name, Winnie began to have regrets.
“Heads up!”
POW!
SPLASH!
“Missed me, Yumie!” Souffle taunted, sticking her tongue out, and fired her paint gun at the Hi Nu girl.
Living with Yumi was difficult enough. Living with Yumi and Souffle… especially a hyper Yumi and Souffle…
“Ha! You shoot like a girl!” Yumi taunted back.
Souffle giggled at her ‘mother’… or ‘sister’ (since Yumi had felt like an old woman being referred to as a ‘mother’… perhaps ‘guardian’ would be more appropriate…), and quickly countered with another shot from her paint gun.
Silence is a difficult commodity to find, Winnie thought as she sat away from the two girls with her drawing pad on her lap, busy putting the finishing touches to the luscious scenery before her. Yumi was right about this place. It’s almost impossible to find a place with greenery, yet here it is, right before her eyes, a pseudo Garden of Eden filled with many different species of plants and animals. To describe such a place in mere words would only scratch the surface of how marvellous this forest is. It is best left for the people to see it, and experience it for themselves. Peace and tranquillity abound, the heart and soul no longer constrained by the noise of concrete and metal, but to be one with nature…
SPLASH! SPLAT!
“Uh-oh…” Yumi and Souffle said in unison.
…Nature that is now covered in blue and red paint.
“Eh-heh… Wei Li-chan… let me explain…” Yumi smiled fearfully.
Winnie dropped the now ruined drawing pad on the ground, and wiped the paint off her face with her hand. Souffle shivered with fright, dropped her paint gun on the grass, and inched slowly behind Yumi. So much for peace and tranquillity.
“We were just… uh… you know… training… and, uh… one thing lead to another, and… uh… we’re… sorry?”
“You…”
“Uh, Wei-Wei, you’re not… mad, or anything?” Silence…
“M-Miss Wei Li?”
“Wei-Wei? Wei-Wei-chan?”
POW! SPLAT! SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLAT!
“…”
“…”
“What?” Winnie whistled innocently, as she ‘tried’ to hide her paint gun from the girls. “My fingers… slipped?”
“Souffle…”
“Yes, Yumie?”
“Pick up the gun… and shoot her.”
“Yes, Yumie.”
Silence is a rare commodity…
POW!
SPLAT!
“Oh, you’re SO getting that one back!”
“Let’s see you try, Wei-Wei!”
POW!
SPLASH!
It certainly isn’t easy being around the likes of Yumi at times.
SPLAT! SPLASH! WHOOSH! SPLASH!
“You’re slow, Yumi! Maybe it’s the all the cookies and cream you ate!”
“Hush, you!”
Certainly, keeping a promise as great as Cho’s plead has been rough during the last few months.
POW!
SPLOOSH!
WHOOSH!
SPLAT!
“Who’s side are you on, Souffle!?!”
“Nyah!”
Still…
SPLAT! SPLASH! WHOOSH! BANG! SPLAT! SPLASH!
“Hey!”
“Serves you right for shooting me, Souffle!”
“Keep flapping that lip, Yumi!”
SPLAT!
Though peace may be fleeting, and though many years of tension may not cure all wounds…
SPLASH!
“Gotcha both!”
“Take her down, Souffle!”
“Yes, Miss Wei Li!”
POW! BANG!
SPLOOSH!
Time can heal all…
Giggle
“You’re so dead, girl!”
“Talk to the gun, Yumi!”
“Nyah!”
…Sometimes with unexpected results.
As the three troopers settled down after that romp, the three of them looked up into the sky, enjoying the beautiful sunshine as the paint dried against their skin. Though the world may not be a perfect place, it’s for special moments like these that it is all worth it.
“You know… Kouji is right about one thing…” Yumi muttered.
“Hmm?”
Yumi held the now sleeping Souffle in her arms, and smiled at Winnie.
“There is such a thing as happy endings.”
Winnie stretched her arms to the side, relieving her muscles of the kinks in her body, and slowly got up on her feet. She stared far into the horizon, admiring the beauty that is Mother Nature, and twitched at the sight of paint all over their little ‘yard’.
“I’m gonna clean up,” Winnie responded.
Yumi nodded, as she watched her ‘sister’ walk back to the house, picking up her paint-soaked artbook and drawing pad along the way. The Hi Nu Girl leaned back, as she watched Winnie enter the house, and close the door behind her. A sad smile crossed her face, as she looked back at the peaceful Souffle cradled against her body.
Cho… Cybrionne… I miss you so much… she thought. But now… I have a life. Cho, WeiLi and I are getting along for the first time in a long time. And Cybrionne…gosh, you left me with a little angel…
Yumi brushed her finger along Souffle’s face, a combination of joy and guilt in her expression.
They seem happy with me… she thought. What about you? Are you two happy? Happy where you are, I mean…
Yumi leaned back against the tree, and looked up to the sky, as though seeking approval from the heavens above.
Are you… proud of me?
As though in response, a gentle breeze brushed against the field, making the flowers dance, and the trees sway. A pair of butterflies fluttered from their perch, and flew to the sky, towards the red sun.
And at this very moment, Yumi Sonchiro, beloved sister, beloved fox, was at peace.
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Cybaster
Delta
Roadkilled. Repeatedly.
Posts: 231
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Post by Cybaster on May 25, 2004 15:01:09 GMT -5
Millicent and Gunther --- Dissonent Data
UEG Jaburo Military Headquarters, South America
Field Marshal Gunther Van Helsing did not earn his rank by succumbing to stress.
Despite the growing amount of paperwork and organization lately, the large-framed, middle-aged Van Helsing was nevertheless stoic, working on each and every document in stoic detail, even if he was beginning to show his age. In sharp contrast to his size was the greying short hair about his head, the small amount of wrinkles on his face and thick white beard around his mouth; neither of the above fitted his size and finesse. After all, war was never easy on both the elderly and the young...
And war, Van Helsing knew, was only a matter of time despite the peace earned only two weeks earlier. It had been so for his own ancestors, who had hunted the elusive Dracula and his legions of darkness for generations; so it shall be for him, who most likely would have to face the other threats to the Earth for a long time yet. All the paperwork, organization and inspections he had to face in the past two weeks was in preparation for another war, a war which although was unlikely now, would eventually return again sooner or later.
For the sake of the Earth, his people, his ancestors and himself, Van Helsing would presevere.
For the most part as he sat in his office inside one of the many buildings erected within the underground caves of the UEG's Jaburo Headquarters, Van Helsing worked alone, aided only by the light of a single bright desk lamp and the bustling noises of others around it. Built long before the War of Ages even began, Jaburo was a gigantic base located underground beneath the South American rainforests, housing many factories, administrative buildings, hangers and other military structures needed for a prolonged war against the Colonies. It was very well-defended and nicely hidden, spanning many strategic positions against enemy attack.
Jaburo, ironically, was where the military might of the UEG rallied around and the cause of its downfall; it was where the first of the Hunters was designed and built although fortunately, since Van Helsing had persisted that the Hunters be moved as far away from Jaburo as possible before the April Fools Massacre, the base and its personnel had been relatively undamaged by the incident. As the second-largest headquarters that the UEG held then, not even the AOL had ever managed to breach its inner layers, with only one incursion making it as far as inside the outermost perimeters; three weeks earlier, before the final battle against Yamato, was the closest any enemy ever got when a hastily-prepared large force of AOL Remnants led an attack against it.
Van Helsing was resolved never to let anyone else get any closer than they did.
But, eventually as Van Helsing continued to work, something wasn't right; he suddenly felt a dangerous inkling that, at the same time, his heart seemed to have expected. Whatever it was, it seemed familiar in a way. He knew he had to face it. He had detected it. Turning his chair around, Van Helsing was already long prepared before the sole footfall noise at the far side of the room, near the only door in, gave away her position.
Knowing what that inkling was now, Van Helsing smiled --- wistfully.
"Do be a lady and properly introduce yourself, Millicent," The aged Field Marshal quipped gently. "This isn't the first time you've gotten past Jaburo's defences."
Prompt and unrelenting, the figure whose outline then showed itself in front of the exit finally stepped forward, likewise smiling in exhilaration to herself. Purple, braided hair hung loosely from behind her head, while her eyes of the same color stared arrogantly forward; the large orange-and-white Knight GEAR Ohga armor she wore glittered slightly in the single desk lamplight. Van Helsing nodded in recognition. Millicent Sadalfas --- the AOL's 'Black Knight' and leader of the most recent attempt to attack Jaburo three weeks earlier --- had come for him.
Despite knowing Millicent's reputation, Van Helsing didn't flinch. "Viper Illusion Flash. I'm impressed. You've mastered your armor."
"As I am happy that you are, Field Marshal." Despite herself, Millicent Sadalfas curtsied politely. "It was unfortunate that due to the Shining Hope's interference we hadn't a chance to be formally introduced, my good Field Marshal, but you know how I can be when I am devoted to duty. My primary target then was the ship, not you. My sincere apologies."
Van Helsing shook his head. "No need to apologize; you're here now, anyway. So have you come to finally assassinate me, Lady Sadalfas?"
Millicent returned a lopsided look. "That was the initial idea."
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Cybaster
Delta
Roadkilled. Repeatedly.
Posts: 231
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Post by Cybaster on May 25, 2004 15:01:51 GMT -5
"I thought so." The Field Marshal sighed. Millicent Sadalfas, retainer to a noble Moonrace family, one of the first AOL Invasion Commanders. Fought loyally, proved her worth. Was killed in combat, revived only to exact vengeance. Now, it was Van Helsing's turn to face her --- just as he thought he would eventually. "I've always believed that the war never did end, and neither did Albright. Your presence here not only proves it, but apparently voices the same belief on the AOL side, does it not?"
"Perhaps," Millicent shrugged. "Perhaps not. Yamato had thoroughly weakened the Colonies, as it had your own forces. It had proved my own people corrupt, incapable of decision. You need not worry, Field Marshal; even if there is a war, it might not come any time soon. And having proved themselves unworthy of decisiveness, I will have no part of it. I have washed my hands clean of their double-dealing. Rather, I live now --- I've forcefully put aside my pride and grudge with the Shining Hope to concentrate on surviving Yamato and your forces then --- for one purpose, and that is to live as I will myself to life, to presevere and keep myself alive. And, if you want to put things in perspective as such, to ensure I live a life better than those of the victors."
"Then why are you even here?"
"You said so yourself, Field Marshal; you've never believed that the war had ever truly ended. I am here because, Field Marshal, you are a thorn in my side, a conflict begging for resolution. You and I are foils. Rivals. We were destined to meet in combat then, we are destined to fight eventually. I would rather get it over with now but, as long as you live, I can never begin my plans." Millicent gave a slight derisive sneer as she stepped forward. "You will never forget me, and you will never let me live freely as I wish. This, Field Marshal, is personal."
Van Helsing figured as such; with that, he stood up, kicking his wooden chair aside with one slight kick that sent it flying to a wall. "I'll tell you this, Millicent; you're right. For the UEG to regain Earth at last and make it secure, you have to die. I know you. It was I that killed you the first time. I would see to your second death personally, and I would rather you bring yourself to me now than you making me bring myself to you. I must commend you for your courage, Lady Sadalfas. You are indeed a worthy opponent."
"My thanks."
"I had never forgotten about you, and in fact...it was you who had encouraged me to take my power to the next level. You see..." And then, with a wave of his left arm, all the lights of the room itself switched on simultaneously in a bright flash of white. Millicent bit her lip sardonically; the reasons for Van Helsing's frame is suddenly apparent in the blue, red-and-white GEAR Trooper Armor he wore about him, slightly larger than Millicent's, no less heavily armored and functional. Millicent narrowed her eyes; the two armors were so similar, it wasn't funny.
GEAR Fighter Dendoh --- Knight GEAR Ohga's opposite twin. "...It was because of you, and the need to fight you eventually, that I turned myself into an MS Trooper, Lady Sadalfas." Van Helsing flexed his right arm; his armor flashed once, and the blue-and-silver Unicorn Drill Data Weapon materialized over his arm, protruding upwards in a sharp lance. "Data Command System...what a powerful weapon it is, Millicent! Imagine a Beam Machinegun or Shot Lancer or Beam Sword, all with a single thought..." With that, Van Helsing summoned again, this time calling upon a large red-and-white lance-like Chimera Katana that appeared, overwhelmingly, onto both his arms; then, in readiness, he lowered his form, crouched and entered a prepared stance with the Katana edge pointed towards Millicent.
"Then be fortunate..." Millicent entered her own stance and, quickly, summoned her own Data Command System as well; with a second flash, Millicent stretched out her hands as the GEARs on her own armor turned and revolved quickly, and two long, sleek katana blades formed on her hands as the power of the Phoenix Tail Data Weapon was summoned in response. Likewise, Millicent prepared herself and moved one Katana horizontally above her head while the other's blade was vertically placed between her and Van Helsing. "We are the only ones who mastered it, Field Marshal. Let us find out whose mastery is better!"
Van Helsing smiled. "Indeed. Millicent Sadalfas, self-styled Vampire Countess..." At the mention of her more recent reputation, Millicent nodded. "My family has been the bane of all dhampir for many generations. This one will be no different. In the name of my ancestor Abraham Van Helsing...perish and shatter into dust by my blade, Countess!"
Millicent likewise returned an arrogant smirk. "It will be --- the Van Helsing line shall end here!"
And the two GEAR Troopers battled.
* * *
Rio De Janeiro, three days later
"Yes, if you would be a dear and patch me through to overseas Communique Number 435-ENG3006418A, I would very much be grateful." The Rio Del Sol Cafe in the heart of the city was usually a very prosperous and bustling restaurant, packed most of the time, so when that day only one particular customer populated its patio it was immediately deathly unusual, and for good reason. The customer was a woman, pretty with purple braided hair; she was sitting politely straight at one of the plastic patio tables with a plate of biscuits in front of her, and her right hand was raised, holding on to a small cell phone. "Mmm? Am I talking to an operator in England? Of course. Patch me through to 435-4420, please. ...No, good lady, take your time. I have all of that in the world."
There was nobody else around; even passersby on the nearby sidewalk were quick to brush by the Cafe. The woman smiled to herself at the scene as two things happened: a waiter walked out of the Cafe at last, and as her phone call finally patched through to where she wanted to talk to. At that, the woman only betrayed one deep breath. It was time to relax for now...but not yet. Just a little longer...
"Yes? Do you not recognize your old mistress anymore, girl? I thought you wouldn't. If not, do be a perfectly good dear servant as you already are and put him on the phone at once?" The waiter walked up to her table and, gently and trying not to shake with fear, placed a fine glass of what seemed to be red wine on the table in front of the woman. The woman smiled, her eyes otherwise unimpressed. He'll do for now, but he's still a peasant. Never will finish with them, it seems...
"Ah, yes. It is a pleasure to hear your voice again and see you unharmed by the battle of all things, Colonel Orome..." A slight scowl that quickly disappeared. "I was wondering if you regretted missing out on all the action, really. No, no matter, only your safety matters to me in this case, that is not really my concern as much as it would be the Commander's..., ..., ...Now, onto more direct business, Colonel Orome, I would like the pleasure of being able to take hold in my estate again, and in at most no later than approximately three days, I will be returning to England whether you want me to or not..., ...I'm sure you'll be able to work out an arrangement quickly, should you survive long enough. With that, Colonel, I bid you farewell. I'll see you in a few days."
With that, the woman grinned, crushing the phone in her metallic palm and gently taking the glass of red wine with her other hand, bringing it to her mouth. Another few days, the woman knew with satisfaction, she would be back to where she started, having accomplished enough. If they were really intent on it, she also knew, the Colonies could deal with the rest all by themselves; after all, she did kill Van Helsing at last. The UEG won't be able to go after her or forget about the AOL Remnants still on Earth, and towards the Shining Hope she held no interest anymore. Either way, with Van Helsing's blood...she's finally washed her hands of this debacle altogether, and when she returns to England and reclaims her estate from that freeloading deserter who called himself a Colonel...
That is, provided that I myself survived the UEG Jaburo patrols long enough to do so, Millicent Sadalfas, former Black Knight of the AOL, smiled to herself in mischeviousness for the first time in quite awhile. But I think I most likely will. I just might make it back in one piece for once...
-Cyb
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Post by Fireball on May 25, 2004 17:28:14 GMT -5
OOC: Uh, Eliard Damodred is unknown to anyone outside of the elite of the Lunar military. Only Alec would know of him Cyb.
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Cybaster
Delta
Roadkilled. Repeatedly.
Posts: 231
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Post by Cybaster on May 25, 2004 18:21:36 GMT -5
(Bah. ><x Different Commander, same rank. That should solve the problem. Oh, and as for Millie's assessment...well, Alec had been pretty much sittin' in her estate freeloadin' from her and her maids while she was up there, out and everywhere huntin' the Shining Hope down, so 'freeloading deserter' would be the nicest thing Millie had to say about it... XD )
-Cyb
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Post by DarkAries on May 27, 2004 15:57:42 GMT -5
Three Weeks Later...
Samantha Piper hated more than anything the sight of her friend, Julius Whistler, in wrist restraints. However, the second he and the Tinde had stepped off the transport they had hijacked from Anaheim Spaceport to the moon, he had immediately been slapped in them and led to the stockade.
Rocky, who had been picked up by the Shining Hope and cared for by their medics, had asked in the name of the Tinde Jicarilla for sanctuary from the Colonial Government. On the spot, they had been granted a new reservation on the D-Capsule Colony out on Lagrange Point 2 by the Colonial envoy. That had been good, seeing the men, women and children, all the last of their race, being told the news. Everybody had been cheering or crying at the prospect of a new home, and protection and support from the Colonial government.
It had also been slightly strange. The envoy from the Colonial government had told them that they were actually the first Native American tribe to migrate into space.
It had stirred something in Sam’s Colonial blood to hear that.
She now stood in her father's office, wearing a white and blue Colonial Intelligence uniform, something practically nobody else had seen her in, at attention. Alanna stood next to her, shorter, wearing the same uniform, but radiating a good deal more presence than the blue-haired girl. While Alanna managed to keep her face straight with military discipline, Sam's face was a mask of guilt. Whistler, the Neo Shogi-Tai renegade, wayward mechanic and Sam's very good friend, sat in a chair, his restrained arms behind the back of the chair, looking straight at his antagonist, Colonel John Piper of Colonial Intelligence.
He was a huge man, his hair black and graying at the temples, a bushy mustache dominating his upper lip. He wore a more ornate uniform than Sam and Alanna, and different rank insignia. It was clear to see that Sam took more after her mother, although she loved her father dearly. And for how important Colonel Piper was, he was not above being a good father to his only daughter. She was the only child he had left, after all.
The colonel wet his lips briefly. “I regret the need for the wrist restraints, Mister Whistler,” he said politely. “I would personally prefer they not have to be used, but my Intelligence advisors tell me that for some reason, you’re a very dangerous man.”
Whistler smiled coldly, his green eyes locked on Piper’s. “Excuse me, sir, but I think you have the best view in the galaxy of how ‘dangerous’ I am.”
Piper’s mustache quirked in a smile. “I suppose. I am the best-informed man in the Solar System, putting things bluntly.”
Whistler rolled his eyes a little, sighing. “Let’s cut to the chase. What do you want from me?”
Piper’s eyebrows rose a little, and he pushed a small hologram projector plate across his desk, then activated it. A holograph rose to life above it, showing several men and women standing together, most in normal hardwearing clothes, all with a red bandanna tied about their necks, heads, arms, or in other places. There were two MS Troopers in the picture, too. One, a dark brown-haired man in Mercurius armor with his helmet off, smiled congenially at the holocam. She recognized him despite the fact that she had never seen his face before. Trevor Doyle, she thought, attaching the name to the armor that was probably still in the case in Whistler’s Tokyo workshop back on Earth. The other was a demure looking, pale girl with light blue hair and blue eyes, wearing Tallgeese III armor, and she had a slightly unsettling expression on her face.
Sam narrowed her eyes at the holograph. That girl had the same expression on her face that Vorn used to have...
I wonder who she was... she thought to herself.
“I’m sure you recognize the young teenager next to the Mercurius Trooper, there, Mr. Whistler,” Piper broke in.
Sam frowned, then looked at the holograph. Indeed, there was a black-haired youth standing next to the scarlet-armored trooper, his green eyes smiling and a lit cigarette in his lips. She smiled a little. So Whistler had started smoking early.
Whistler looked back up at Piper, silent. “Yeah. It’s me, obviously.”
“You were a member of the Neo Shogi-Tai?”
“I was.”
“An unfortunate and pitiable movement. It was ironic that they named themselves after the ‘False Army’ from ancient Japanese history. Do you know about that Shogi-Tai army, Mister Whistler?”
Whistler sat up straight. “Back in ancient Japan, the Shogi-Tai Army went from village to village during the Meiji Revolution, ensuring promises that supposedly came from the present government, that if the villagers would support them, they would be rewarded with lower taxes, increased food stores, protection, everything.”
“And you know what happened to them?”
“They were betrayed by the government they represented, all of them executed.”
“Correct,” Piper said, sitting back in his chair and folding his arms over his chest. “You were there when the Neo Shogi-Tai Army was destroyed. You, of course, should know better than most what happened there.”
Whistler turned away a little. “What’s there to discuss? The Hunters came on us in force and cut us to pieces. Doyle told me to run. I did. Everybody else, MS Trooper or not, stood their ground and died.”
Piper nodded. “Again, a very unfortunate fate. You were lucky to survive.”
Again, the mechanic gave him a cold smile. “You mean you were lucky I survived.”
“Then you know why you’re here.”
Whistler sighed deeply and shrugged his shoulders a little. “I’d assume it’s because you want to dissect me to pull out those little toys the Neo Shogi-Tai developed by accident and surgically implanted into most of its members to help in evading Hunters.”
“Well, yes, but ‘dissect’ is a decidedly harsh word, wouldn’t you say?”
“It’s what you’ll have to do to get them,” he said. “They’re wired straight into my vitals. Heart, brain, the works.”
“I think you know more about those ‘toys’ than you let on, Mister Whistler.”
He smiled a little. “How could I? I’m just a mechanic, Colonel, not a nanotech genius.”
“Mechanic, maybe,” Piper said, mirroring Whistler’s smile, his finger tapping the holograph plate, replacing the photograph with a rotating image of a set of green MS armor. Everyone recognized it immediately. It was the Quin Mantha, the same suit of armor Sam used. “You did design this machine, after all.”
Alanna looked at Whistler with wide blue eyes. HE designed the Quin Mantha armor?! she thought.
“Wait a minute, what ‘toys’?” Sam asked, interrupting her thoughts.
All three looked over at her. Alanna couldn’t quite believe that Sam would step that far out of line. Whistler was slightly humiliated. He didn’t talk much about his time with the Neo Shogi-Tai. Now the thought that he had been altered by them somehow seemed...humiliating. Something he didn’t want Sam to know. Something that could...jeopardize the relationship between them.
His brain squawked at him immediately for his choice of words. Wait, what do you mean, ‘relationship’? he asked himself. Damn it, man. Are you actually thinking about that blue-haired empty-headed twit of a Colonial who dropped into your lap all that time ago in Tokyo, in a romantic light?
He frowned. Why not? he retorted. For some reason, things had honestly been different between them once they met each other again in Anaheim. She had hugged him and cried when they saw each other, and for some reason, Whistler hadn’t pulled away or given one of his usual scathing comments or done anything short of hug her back and feel pretty good about being in her arms. For most of the trip to the moon, he had been thinking about her, the good things about her that he didn’t often see. The parts about her he actually liked. The parts about her that made her...
...attractive. Not just as a woman, but as a human.
Since Anaheim, he had found himself wanting to be with her. Wanting to...fall in love with her, a thought most of his mind still looked at as absolutely absurd.
He drew a breath, looking at the floor. “I...there are four different implant systems in me. One is a small rechargeable set of batteries in my ribcage. Another is a system in my left arm that disrupts all visible light reflecting off of me, clothing and all. A third is one that increases my visual acuity and forces my optic nerves and retinas to pick up more details, but that broke years ago and I not only never had it repaired, I have no idea how to. The last...the last is wired to my adrenal glands and forces them into overdrive without damaging them, producing severe amounts of adrenaline that increase my muscle strength, speed, reaction times...that’s the only one that isn’t triggered consciously. The rest are. It kicks up whenever my adrenal glands do.”
“I imagine those aided your cause a great deal when fighting Hunters,” Piper said, leaning forwards onto his desk.
“When trying to stay away from them, most of the time,” Whistler responded, looking up. “But that was back in the day when they were the real enemy.”
Piper smiled a little. He was obviously alluding to the Yamato Corporation, which Piper had quietly begun looking into following the reports from Alanna, Sam, and questionings from some of the Tinde. At first, Piper had been absolutely furious that he had known nothing about Yamato’s massive military buildup and their now-blatant abuses of power on Earth. Though Yamato had originated in space, they had wisely kept their activities there quiet, and had obviously paid off some of his operatives whose job it was to keep an eye on them. Which meant that he now had to insert new ones, and begin shifting his focus away from the Hunters and in towards a covert war against them. “Yes, their activity has been limited recently.”
“By Colonial operations?”
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Post by DarkAries on May 27, 2004 15:58:53 GMT -5
Piper smiled. “The only real superpower in this day and age is the Colonial Government, Mr. Whistler. The Earth Government, weak as it is, is constantly antagonized by the Hunters, and can’t even gather a military sufficient in strength to antagonize back. We at Colonial Intelligence deigned to aiding them by...roughing their bullies up a little. In fact, we just finished one of those operations recently.”
“Hm.”
“Fortunately for us out in space, Mr. Whistler, the Earth is but a fallen, faded shadow of its corrupted self,” Piper clicked off the hologram plate. “How many years did you spend hiding from them?”
“Nearly sixteen years,” Whistler replied after a moment.
The colonel nodded. “I have wanted to meet you for such a long time now, Mr. Whistler. You know what would have happened if they on Earth had caught you. You literally would have been dissected for those implants. However, we in space are a good deal more civilized than those on Earth.”
Whistler’s mouth bunched up a little in a mocking grin. “Is that so?” He immediately regretted those words as he caught Sam’s hurt expression.
“Of course,” Piper said. “While Earth would certainly treat you like a prisoner, and something other than human, my government and I are prepared to make you a deal for your assistance.”
“What kind of deal? What kind of assistance?” he asked.
“For one, we’re willing to give you full Colonial citizenship and will settle you wherever you wish. Second, of course, there’s a substantial monetary concession we’re willing to give you. We’re also ready to give you full military veteran status. That’s health care, money, tax concessions, special privileges, and because we Colonials are very, very proud of those who serve in our military, that’s instant status as a high-class citizen in public life.”
“For what?”
“Well, for life, of course.”
“No,” Whistler corrected. “What do you want me to give you for this?”
“We don’t need to take you apart for those implants. We can just as easily scan your body and create computer simulations of your implants that we can take apart over and over again with no damage to you or them. It’s a level of technology that the Earth forces don’t have and wouldn’t use if they did. We do. We just want your cooperation, and perhaps some of your technical expertise in this and other matters that you consent to.”
“Why not just kill me and take them out anyway?”
Piper took a moment to answer his question, then sighed. “That was my government’s first thought, Mr. Whistler. Someone with your brand of power is, of course, very dangerous in the wrong hands. The Neo Shogi-Tai implants in you, your expertise with MS mechanics, your ability to pilot one...however...after receiving Sam and Alanna’s reports...I convinced them to let you live. Work out a deal with you.”
Whistler was slightly puzzled. “Why?”
Piper locked eyes with the mechanic. “Because I owe you a debt of gratitude, at least, for the life of my daughter.”
That rocked Whistler back on his heels. “You sent Vorn after me in the first place, then we illegally pirated him to continue on Sam’s downright futile mission, a mission you knew was futile, and got him destroyed. She came to me. I don’t know why I went with her. I don’t know why I wanted to help her with that downright ridiculous mission you sent her on. I just did. And you think you owe me something?”
“Julius, I’m a father first, and a colonel in Colonial Intelligence second,” Piper said. “I love my daughter. And...” he turned to her. “No insult, honey, but she wouldn’t be back home now if it wasn’t for you, sir.”
Sam inwardly seethed a little at her father and Whistler’s words. ’Ridiculous mission’? ‘No insult, honey’? ‘Downright futile’? she thought. I am going to kill the both of you for this one!
“I want to be friends, Whistler.”
Whistler let a breath out through his nose. “Friends,” he repeated.
“Aside from Sam, Alanna, and the Jicarilla, I think friends are a thing you don’t have much of out here,” Piper said. “Did that sound like a threat? I’m sorry.”
Both Sam and Alanna turned to look wide-eyed at Piper. Neither one had ever heard him apologize to anyone before.
He smiled at Whistler. “Salvatore, take those restraints off. No matter what your choice, you’re no longer a prisoner here, Julius. I’m sorry for that treatment in the first place, but I needed that time to convince my superiors to keep you alive.”
Alanna produced a key from her pocket and walked around to the back of Whistler’s chair, inserting it into his wrist restraints and unlocking them. Twice now, Alanna thought. This must be serious. The mechanic brought his hands back around in front of him with a little sigh of relief, rubbing at his wrists.
He continued to do so, frowning as he mulled over his decision. He couldn’t see any problem with the plan, other than the idea that his new government-sponsored home here in space could be monitored by Colonial Intelligence. That he would be very closely watched. He dismissed that. Either way, he would be under surveillance, whether he was settled down in the Colonies or decided to take his own chances. Plus that, the data they gain from your implants could give them an edge on Yamato. Perhaps even create what’s never been accomplished before: an artificial Newtype.
And apparently, they were going to respect his rights. Not force him into anything he didn’t want to do like Earth might. He honestly could see no problem with Piper’s offer.
Not only was there no problem with it, there was something he was offering that he didn’t know he had offered, something very precious to Whistler.
A chance at a relationship with Sam. A chance to get what he wanted during the entire trip here. A chance to be with her.
His cynicism kicked in. A chance for HER to decide if she wants to be with YOU, Julius. This is a two way street, and you both can mess this up.
“I think I’ll need a little time to think about it, Colonel,” he said at last. “But, yes, at the very least, I want to be friends.”
“Call me John, then,” Piper said, standing and extending a hand to him. “As for the time, take as much as you need.”
Whistler stood as well, took his hand and shook it. “Then you can call me Julius.”
They let go and Piper smiled, then tapped his console. “Elizabeth?” he called, comming for his secretary, who, Alanna had heard, was an MS Trooper as well.
“Yes, Colonel?” she answered from outside.
“Please set up an apartment for Mister Whistler here inside Colonial Intelligence Towers. Make sure it’s furnished comfortably, please, then escort him there.”
“Yes, sir.” she said, then disconnected as she went to work.
Piper looked up. “Salvatore, would you please serve as Julius’s guide and show him about? I doubt he saw anything other than the brig and the entryway.”
“Yes, sir.”
“No matter your choice, Julius, you can always come to me for anything you need. I take care of my friends,” Piper said.
Whistler smiled. “Thank you, sir. And I’ll give you that decision soon.”
The colonel bowed his head. “I hope you’ll make the right one for you, whatever it is.”
He nodded, then turned and walked through the door Alanna opened for him. She followed him and it closed behind her.
Leaving Sam alone with her father.
Piper sat back down and let out a sigh. “And now I imagine you’ve got a few things to say,” he said to his daughter, who was slowly letting her fury slip beside him.
“Oh...you bet...” she said, coming around to the front of his desk, folding her arms over her ample chest.
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(What? Aries has the most ground to cover for his characters? Expect more.)
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Post by DarkAries on May 29, 2004 18:24:50 GMT -5
(Continued. Muwahahaha.)
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Samantha Piper stood before her father and superior officer, her fists knotted at her sides.
Colonel John Piper leaned back in his chair, preparing himself for his daughter’s tirade. “Go on. Speak freely.”
“I won’t ask what Whistler meant by ‘ridiculous mission’ and such, since the hell if I don’t already know. And I’m not mad that you think that without him, I wouldn’t have gotten back,” she started, her blue eyes radiating her anger. “I already know that’s the truth. I wouldn’t have. I just need to know, why did you send me to Earth on a futile mission?”
Piper sighed a little. “What, exactly, was your mission objective?”
“To eliminate all unfriendly MS Trooper activity on Earth, a mission I thought was possible, worthwhile, and could be a potential turning point for other Colonial operations on Earth. You even said it was.”
“And what made you think that you could kill every single unfriendly MS Trooper on Earth?” The question was asked without edge, without malice.
Sam paused for a moment. “I’m a Newtype. You gave me the best machine I could work with. With that firepower, and a little time, I figured I could hack my way through.”
“You know...” Piper smiled sadly. “Michael thought the same way you did.”
Sam forgot her rage for a moment. Michael Piper had been Sam’s older brother, one of three. He had been a Newtype as well, just like their mother, Mana Asakura Piper. In fact, only John and his oldest son Simon had been Oldtypes. But that didn’t stop Simon and his Newtype brothers Michael and Joshua from dying in action, all under their father’s orders, all MS Troopers, all in seperate conflicts.
Michael was John’s second son, while Sam was the youngest and the only girl. He had been her favorite brother, spending time with her, playing with her, helping their father pamper her. They had always been close. It had been heartbreaking for her when he died.
“I tried to keep him out of the fighting, and he always hated me for it,” Piper said. “Eventually, he finally got ahold of a set of Qubeley armor. I always remembered the day he called me down to the hangar to show me. And I remembered my absolute horror when I saw him in that armor, because I knew that after that, he’d think he was absolutely invincible. Beg me to send him out into the fighting.” He sighed. “I knew that if I didn’t send him out once he got that armor, it would crush his spirit. So I did.”
“And you were afraid you’d crush my spirit too?” Sam asked.
“Exactly that. Your brothers are dead. You remember how you were when you heard the news that Josh and Michael had died? You cried for days. Then you smashed just about half of the entire house. Of course, you were justifiably angry. Then you joined Colonial Intelligence after you got out of school. You wanted to fight more than anything, I knew it. So I gave you a few missions to increase your skill, pump up your Newtype abilities, then assigned you the meanest Newtype armor we had.”
“The Quin Mantha.”
“Right. What choice did I have? Though you were still angry, you hid it so well, and unless you did something you thought was worthwhile, you would never, ever, stop being angry. I know you,” he said, folding his arms over his chest. “I knew that you’d never kill every single enemy MS Trooper on Earth. You’d have to take on the renegade factions, the Earth Government’s meager military, and, now that I know they exist, Yamato. And you’re only human. You can only be in one place at one time. There’s only so many people anybody, including a Newtype, can kill.”
“So why did you send me?”
“I sent you so you could use up all that anger. And it came out, didn’t it? Took you over. Sam, I never expected you to be killed by any enemy. You’re much too stubborn to die by another’s hand. I’m the same way. But I did worry that the hate I sent you to expel would consume you. I’ve learned how to live with Newtypes, first your mother, then you, Josh and Michael. Though I never saw it with them, I know that with Newtypes emotions consume the soul, take over the mind, manipulate the body like a puppet on strings. If you didn’t release that anger, I was afraid that you’d no longer be my little girl.”
She remembered. During the fight in the junkyard, and again on the Shining Hope, before Alanna showed up. She had lost control. She had thought it was the Quin Mantha that had taken her over and used her for sating its unending bloodlust. She had never thought that it could be her own rage, her own hate at her being so ineffectual when her brothers had died. Not being there.
She sighed at last. “So you sent Vorn after me.”
“Not exactly. I sent Alanna after you, with her team. The Vorn unit was my honest attempt at obtaining Whistler. The fact that you showed up and reprogrammed him was really something I hadn’t expected. However, as it happened, I think it was the best thing that could have happened for you.”
She sighed. “It’s strange. Now that I’m back home, I can’t help thinking of him as just an android. But on Earth...when he was still alive...he was a person. He even had his own twisted kind of humor. He felt things, differently than humans do, but he did, I’m sure of it.”
Piper paused. “Sam, I’m going to tell you something now that I’ve been keeping track of since I got into this office. For the past few generations, the lines between human and android...have been getting blurred. They seem to be becoming more and more...well, human. Vorn was experimental. I never expected him to develop as much of a personality as your and Alanna’s reports say he did.”
Her anger gone, she closed her eyes and remembered that ill-fitting smile of Vorn’s. “I miss him. And now that he’s gone...I dont’t know if he’s in a better place or not.”
“Sam, how many have I sent to their deaths?”
The question caught her off-guard.
“How many have I sent to their deaths?”
“I...I don’t know.”
“It shames me to say that neither do I anymore,” he said, sadly looking over at a holograph on the wall of himself and other MS Troopers standing and smiling together, much like the picture he had shown Whistler. He was wearing a set of Zaku II Kai armor, and stood amongst other Zeonic-armored Troopers. Troopers that he had quickly outdistanced in the ranks, wound up commanding...and eventually got killed, along with his own sons, in the Valentine Massacres and bloody operations on Earth with Hunters and renegade MS Troopers afterwards.
“Sam, one of these days, you’re going to have this chair, my job. And you’ll have to get over yourself and forget about the men who die as a result of your orders. Otherwise, you can’t function, not even just as a person,” he said, then brought a hand up to forestall her comment. “And I know what you’re going to say. And I have never, ever forgotten your brothers. And if you had died on Earth, I wouldn’t have forgotten you either.”
He stood and walked about to the front of his desk, then hugged his daughter. “God, I’m so glad you’re home.”
She smiled, closing her eyes and leaning her head on her father’s shoulder. “I’m glad I’m home too.”
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Post by DarkAries on May 29, 2004 18:27:51 GMT -5
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Whistler smiled, tossing the martini shaker into the air, the metal container turning end over end in the low lunar gravity, until falling back into his hand. Boy, was he glad to be out of that cell. Granted, he had been in worse, but to go from that cell to this... “Fully stocked mini-bar and all. God, I love it. I doubt I ever saw one of these on Earth.”
Alanna smiled, her uniform jacket off, a white specter on an expansive black leather couch. “It’s what it means to be Colonial these days. A damn cushy existance that occasionally has to be backed up with a little muscle. You made the best choice of your life when you decided to go with Sam.”
He chuckled a little, then opened the shaker, pulled a martini glass from a shelf and filled it with Alanna’s requested martini. “You mean when I decided to tolerate her,” he joked, despite agreeing deeply with her inside his head. “You know, come to think of it, I think that’s the most I’ve ever heard you say at one time.”
The white-haired girl laughed out loud. “I’m a quiet girl on occasion.”
“And there you go back into your six-word sentances,” he said, picking out a glass tumbler and setting it next to the martini. Then he began scanning through the bottles of liquor on the shelves. “Ooh,” he said, impressed, taking one off the shelf. “Cavassiyer...”
“And I can personally assure you, Whistler, there’s not a bottle of the stuff on Earth,” Alanna said triumphantly.
“Can’t resist, then,” he said, unscrewing the cap and pouring some into his glass. “You were there even in Tokyo, right?”
She nodded. “My entire mission was to keep track of Sam. I was personally surprised she came across you.”
“And Vorn? I imagine you would have tried to stop him or something.”
“Well, at the time, I was slightly busy dodging other MS Troopers.”
“Yamato?”
“I thought so. You know, I was out there haranging them a lot more than you were.”
Whistler scoffed, then picked up the martini and stepped over to the couch, passing it to Alanna. She took with with a word of thanks and sipped at it. He cradled his glass and walked to the triple-paned window, looking out from the apartment Elizabeth the secretary had set up with every comfort he could imagine, and some he hadn’t even though of, such as that mini-bar, at the Lunar cityscape. “They’re still out there,” he said, taking a pensive sip of his drink. It burned a flavorful fire on his tongue and down his throat.
Alanna looked over at him. “Yeah, I know.”
“And I’m still plenty mad at them over the Tinde. And the junkyard, really.”
She sighed, frowning. “Quite honestly, Whistler, that’s not a stance you need to be taking if you’re putting any concern towards staying alive these days.”
“You mentioned them in your report to Piper?”
“They were most of the report, man.”
Whistler snorted. “So the Colonies are going to start getting pushy with Yamato. And the hell if that doesn’t lead into a damn war.”
Alanna shook her head. “Unprecidented. A nation making war on a company...”
“It’s going to happen. They’re stronger than Earth now,” Whistler said, taking another sip. “You know, I think I’m going to take Piper up on his offer. It’s the best way I’ve got now to get back at that Sonchiro-rapist character's ghost and make more out of his associates.”
Bemused, the white-haired operative looked at him incredulously. “I could tell you wanted to in the first place, man. Why didn’t you say so in Piper’s office?”
He turned to look at her. “Girl, you don’t make snap judgements when you’re just out of prison! At the time, you’re mostly just glad to bloody be out. Smart people can use that. I had to be damn sure.”
She smiled broadly. “It’s mostly for Sam, isn’t it?”
He frowned. “What, did she talk to you about me or something?”
“Actually, no,” she said, taking another sip of her martini. “To be perfectly honest, that was a complete shot in the dark.”
The mechanic rolled his eyes, slightly angry at himself for being caught so easily. “I’ve been thinking about her a lot recently. And, well...the more I do, the more I wonder to myself, ‘What would it like to be in love with her?’ Frustratingly...I find more and more that I don’t have an answer to that question.”
Alanna shrugged. “Maybe you should take a shot at it, then.”
“Alanna, look at me,” he said, despite the fact that she already was. “This is me we’re talking about here. Me. Julius Whistler. Falling for that blue-haired void-brain Samantha Piper.”
“She’s smarter than you think.”
“I know she’s smart! Hell, she’s smarter than me! And she’s so much less bogged down in emotional scar tissue and cynicism than me!”
“Well, if you look at it that way, Mr. Emotional Pincushion, yeah, you’re right. She’s perfect for you,” she said mockingly.
He snorted, running a hand back through his black hair. “The hell she is. I’d scream my lungs out arguing with her.”
“You don’t already?” Alanna asked, raising a white eyebrow. “Put to it, you two were downright made for each other. I knew that the second we got on that transport at Anahiem. The two of you couldn’t keep your eyes or minds off each other.”
He frowned, then looked back out the window. “You really think so?”
“God, yes. It’s really scary,” she answered, then stood and drained the rest of her martini, picking up her jacket as she set her glass on the coffee table in front of the L-shaped couch. “I know Liz pretty well. And if you think the living room’s kickass, try the bedroom. I wouldn’t put it past her if she’s already decked out an entire wardrobe in your size.”
The word ‘wardrobe’ rung in Whistler’s brain. “I’d imagine they forclosed on my shop back in Tokyo,” he remarked, remembering his dingy little motorcycle repair shop and illegal MS repair back on Earth.
“Actually, a few days after you left, a street gang broke in and got some new goodies,” Alanna said, as she headed for the door. “I know. I was the one who had to wrestle them away from them.”
He glanced back at her. She smirked.
“Oh, yeah. I’m bad,” she said. “Invite Sam to a formal-dress dinner tonight. That’ll give her time to cool down over those comments you made in her father’s office, and an atmosphere to see if you can’t pull off a romantic edge tonight.”
“You’ll convey the message for me?”
“Of course. If she doesn’t kill me on sight just for having heard what you said,” the white-haired pilot replied. “Make no mistake, Whistler, I fully expect you to mess this up.”
The mechanic scratched behind an ear. “Makes two of us, I guess, Miss Salvatore.”
--
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Post by Aegis on May 29, 2004 18:39:59 GMT -5
“It’s going to happen. They’re stronger than Earth now,” Whistler said, taking another sip. “You know, I think I’m going to take Piper up on his offer. It’s the best way I’ve got now to hurt that Sonchiro-rapist character and his like.” Clarify, please. Afterall, Cho is dead.
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Post by DarkAries on May 29, 2004 18:47:14 GMT -5
(Aries doesn't think Whistler'd know that. Granted, he was treated on the Hope but why would they treat him as anything but a very rude guest? He helped the assault on the ship. There probably wasn't any reason to tell him anything. Then being in space afterwards and prison after that...)
(Also, side note, yes, that is Aries's new character Two Liquer in the Tallgeese III armor in the holograph up there. Aries'll figure out how she manages to get ahold of it and wind up with the Neo Shogi-Tai later, if the series keeps progressing as prequels.)
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Post by Aegis on May 29, 2004 18:50:20 GMT -5
Unless Whistler left the Shining Hope before Yumi returned, I also highly doubt it. It's not a matter of treatment by the Shining Hope, but rather how fast news travels. If they know about Cho's death, sooner or later, Whistler will know, too.
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