Human Nature - Chapter 2

[GM1]

Yeah, yeah. You know the drill. The GW plot, characters....yadda, yadda...ain't mine.


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Human Nature


Chapter 2 - Revelations


Year: After Colony 199


Day 2


Relena slowly opened her eyes. It took her a few moments to focus on the white blur in front of her. "Dr. J.?" She asked, surprise evident in her groggy voice. "Where are we?"

"In a holding cell - somewhere in Bartkusonete's underground bunker I think."

"Oh God, no!" She quickly jumped to her feet, pushing the aged man aside. On wobbly knees, she ran to the securely locked door and began pounding on it. "Let me out!" She
screamed hysterically. "Please, you have to let me out!" She rammed her body into the door three times before sliding back to the floor, sobbing.

A three pronged metal hand nudged her shoulder. "There, there now. We'll get out of here in plenty of time."

"I don't want your pity!" She cried. "I have to get out! I have to stop him! He'll find Noin and he'll take it and open it! I will not let that happen! I can't!" Relena screamed.

Dr J. was silent for a few moments watching her cry with a stoic face. Finally he spoke, in a tired, old voice. "I'm afraid that years locked in a lab making weapons hasn't done much for me in the way of teaching compassion. But I offer my assistance as I have before."

His words were touching. They were simple, but enough. He cared - granted, in an awkward, twisted sort of way, but she needed something. Relena had never felt so cold or alone in her life. She leaned her head against his sagging shoulder and wept.

Curling up the back of his spine, guilt slowly wrung its way around Dr. J's heart and squeezed with an agony he hadn't felt in over ten years.


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Zechs Marquise, formerly known as the famous 'Lightning Count,' grimaced, as Noin led him toward the huge striped tent. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail at the base of his neck. Zechs fought a losing battle with the flipped collar of his jacket.

Noin smiled to herself. "Having a bit of trouble?"

"Not at all." He bit. "Let's just hurry up and get this over with. If your suspicions are correct, the sooner it's out of our hands the better. Besides, I want to pay my sister a visit and find out just where she got the idea that she could hide something like this."

"My thoughts exactly." Noin glanced warily at the bag Zechs carried. "I just hope he's here. Bringing this out into the open is dangerous."


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They took their seats just as the show began. Several acts began at once. A few clowns began their act - riding unicycles, juggling pins, walking on stilts, and throwing pies. Next came the trapeze act. A beautiful redhead wearing a pink body suit and a feather in her hair took to the air. As she landed, thunderous applause greeted her from the audience.

Noin shifted uneasily in her seat. She cast a glance at Zechs. For once, he actually seemed as agitated as she was, except he was looking intently at the opposite side of the stands, rather than the center ring. "What is it?" She whispered.

"I'm not sure. Just keep looking for him."

Finally the ringmaster stepped into the spotlight with his red jacket, white pants, and black riding boots. "Ladies and Gentlemen. The Venadette Circus proudly presents one of our most dangerous and death defying acts! Once again I introduce the lovely Catherine Bloom and meet her assistant - the fearless clown!

"There!" Lucretcia pointed to the clown with the green shirt and white and blue, checked pants. "That's him."

Two workers strapped the clown firmly to the wheel and set it in motion. Catherine threw her knives, missing his body by only a few centimeters. At the conclusion of the act, applause greeted them once more and the two made their bows.

Noin sat frozen in shock as she watched Zechs suddenly jump up from his seat and run towards the center ring. For a split second she gazed up into the crowd and saw the yellow beam of a laser gun fired from somewhere in the far right section.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Zechs jumped in front of Trowa, pushing both him and Catherine to the ground.

"No!" She cried as the beam hit Zechs directly in the back.


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It had been many hours since she had stopped crying. Now she sat, lifelessly, with her head resting on her knees, staring as a drop of water fell from the ceiling and hit a small puddle on the floor. A thousand things spun through her mind. Her entire life seemed to pass before her eyes. She thought about her father and mother - how simple things used to be. What changed it? Was there an exact moment or time or?person? Yes. Oh yes. How could she even question it? The day Heero Yuy appeared in her life was a turning point. It wasn't soon after that she lost her father, became a princess of a kingdom forgotten only to lose it soon after - and there were so many more things.

There were many losses to be sure, but she always clung to her faith and hope in mankind - that they really didn't want war and that someday in their hearts, they would find the answer and have true peace. The war did indeed come to an end, only now the world will tumble right back into one.

But somehow, the weight of what was happening didn't seem to affect her. The ideals she held and pronounced to the world seemed so far away. She was simply unable to feel anything and the thought was frightening. She couldn't even take care of herself, let alone the ones she cared most for. Yet, she was not alone in her plight. "For when one loses their way, they lose their purpose and so lose their reason to live."

Madame Blanc's words rung so true now. But she never thought she'd apply them to herself. Suddenly it hit her. Was that how Heero felt? Was that why he was so eager to complete his mission? Fighting gave him a purpose. But?then, he lost it somehow. Why? Heero was such an enigma to her - he wasn't void of feelings or emotions, just extremely complex, yet dark? What made him that way?

Her eyes settled on the old man, huddled in the corner. The shadows covered his face and he was completely still. "Dr J?" He voice was hoarse and her words barely above a whisper.

"What was that, my dear?" He suddenly asked.

Relena was silent for a few moments and then cocked her head. "Dr. J? Who is?what is?Heero?"

He regarded her silently. After a short time, he stood and made his way toward her, his knees creaking loudly, before planting himself about a meter away. "He is exactly what I told you he was. Heero is a kind-hearted young boy?well?young man now. Granted, there are a few things that make him different from you and I, but he's virtually the same as the rest of us."

Her voice was quiet but filled with a stinging accusation. "What did you do to him?" She noted that the same expressionless guise crossed his face as did Heero's, before his shoulders wilted and his lips curled into a wrinkled frown.

"I changed him."

Relena lifted her head then and moved in closer. "Please. You wouldn't tell me before, but I must know. I have a right to know. You said once that I had the same look in my eyes as Heero did when you found him. Who is he?"

"Heero Yuy is Heero Yuy."

"What?" She asked, confused.

Dr. J. sighed and began again. "You know the story of the great leader of space, Heero Yuy. But very few know the history of his family - his wife and his son."

"I didn't even know that he had?"

"Most people didn't. Noriko Yuy was frequently ill and was kept away from the crowds
and the public eye. It was very rare indeed for her to make a public appearance. She usually faded into the background wherever she went. Plus due to The Alliance and Oz, almost all traces of Heero Yuy were removed from official databases, records, and history books. They didn't want anyone to remember the truth about what happened."

"Oz wasn't content to just assassinate Yuy, they wanted him obliterated from the people's memory. And the best way to do that is to get rid of everyone associated with him. I believe the same thing happened to your family. Pacifistic ideas were in the way of political and economic dominance over the colonies."

At the time of the Peace Convention, I was working on L1 in a laboratory not too far from the convention center. I was to present some of my new innovations for trans-colonial communications to the delegates along with a few of my colleagues. Heero Yuy's ideas for maintaining good relations between all the colonies and Earth were brilliant. It was at the end of his speech, right there, in front of everyone, a sniper from one the balconies murdered him."

"Everything was in chaos. My colleagues and I made it safely into the hallway. We ran for our lives naturally. We decided to use the freight elevator and slip out in the least conspicuous way. Just before I reached the elevator, a woman covered in blood grabbed onto the lapels of my jacket. In her arms, she held an unconscious little boy. It took me a moment to recognize her face. She was none other than Noriko Yuy. She was hysterical and in tremendous pain. She thrust the boy into my arms, begging for me to take him. Once I did, she turned around and began to stagger away from us. I reached out to stop her. That's when the shooting began. I lost my outstretched arm and Noriko had been shot again. Needless to say, she was dead. We barely escaped with our lives."

Relena shook her pounding head. Too much had happened in the past few months. True she had wanted to know of Heero's past but this?this was an information overload. Of all the things she had expected to hear, this was definitely farthest from it. The blood was rushing in her ears and her head pounded fiercely. "Are you saying that Heero was that little boy?was his son?"

"That's right."

"But that was over twenty years ago. He's too young to be?"

Again, Dr. J. answered with a tired sigh and his spirit wilted even further. "Times were dangerous. There was panic and fear on the colony. The people were shocked and did not pay attention as The Alliance swiftly and stealthily took over. The other scientists and I realized what was happening, but it was too late to warn anyone and we didn't want to make ourselves too conspicuous. Oz was still looking for the boy."

"The little rascal was in a coma. Apparently he had suffered a massive blow to his head. And so we were faced with quite a dilemma. It was hard enough to smuggle one's self off the colonies, but with the boy it would have been impossible. My colleagues and I came up with a simple solution. We placed him in a suspended animation chamber - one that was small enough and inconspicuous enough to hide among our equipment. We were to leave the very next day."

"But the alliance had other plans. The laboratory was raided that night and we along with our equipment were shipped to Earth - to the Lake Victoria Base. Septem had just given his first orders as captain. As the colonies were now the property of The Alliance, so were its citizens, and so were we. We were to begin construction on new weapons for the military. Once again, fearing for our lives, we began the prototype for all mobile suits - The Talgeese."

He took a breath and continued. "We never trusted the alliance form the beginning and had vague suspicions that they were behind the massacre. It wasn't long after that we discovered just who was behind it all - OZ. We were angry, but still afraid. You have to remember - we stayed away form the public doing work on our research for a great portion of our lives. Dealing with the military was a totally new and frightening experience, not to mention that Septem's units were exceptionally trigger happy."

"Still, we wanted to do something. The Alliance and OZ would pay for what they had done somehow, but at the time, no one powerful enough could rise to that challenge. So, we took the initiative on ourselves. We slowed down the construction of the Talgeese and began secretly construction a new gundam - Wing Zero. It could obliterate a legion of the Talgeese models if necessary."

That's when a new figure entered our lives - Marquise Weridge. He was sent by the Romefeller Foundation to analyze our progress. He pronounced the Talgeese to be too cumbersome and gundanium alloy too expensive to import in mass quantities. Based on the prototype, his engineers came up with a new, smaller, and more lightweight mobile suit - the Leo's. Of course, they were far inferior to the Talgeese, but we weren't going to say anything."

Relena interrupted. "What about Wing Zero? No one ever knew of its existence. How did you keep it a secret for so long? And what about Heero?"

"Wing Zero was completed a month before Weridge's scheduled arrival. We needed to get Wing Zero to a save place. It had to be offworld - somewhere that The Alliance wouldn't look for it. One of the guards in charge of us was a good young man and he agreed to help us. During a test run for the Talgeese, he secretly piloted Wing Zero to the Winner Mining Satellite and reported back that it was well hidden and all was well. Unfortunately, due to the effects of the Zero System, he went insane shortly after and we were left with a problem. We needed a superior pilot who could master and withstand the system. We were running out of time and there was no one we could trust."

"That was when I remembered the boy. The task was left to me and I began immediately before I could think twice. I eased the pressure on his brain and went to work. I altered his genetics, engineering his body to withstand super speeds, g-forces, and increased reaction times. But of course, more is needed to be a superior pilot. We needed someone who could outmaneuver and outsmart any pilot The Alliance would ever have. He was to begin training as soon as he awoke."

"But, it never happened. Weridge came early. We hid the boy as best we could, but as far as Marquise Weridge was concerned, we were dangerous and not to be trusted. He had his suspicions and when the reports came about an unidentified object blasted into space from the base, he pointed the finger at us. The Marquis ordered us to be separated and shipped to distant colonies, where we were to be kept in isolation working on new military technologies."

Of course, now that The Alliance was going to be using Leo Land units it seemed almost barbaric to unleash Wing Zero. Plus, now we might never be able to retrieve it. So, we came up with a new plan. Each one agreed to create separate, but equally powerful gundams to take revenge on OZ and destroy the Alliance. Their combined power could also destroy Zero if it fell into the wrong hands."

"First, I needed to get my pilot onto L1, before they shipped me out. The boy was bright and I hid him on a freight carrier bound for the spaceport. From there it would proceed to the colony. However, things didn't work out as planned and I was unable to retrieve him from L1's docks. The next time I saw him wouldn't be until 10 years later. By that time, I was highly connected with White Fang. They assisted in the construction of each of the gundams. They organized Operation Meteor. Heero showed up at the right place at the right time, and in 195, I sent him to Earth as a part of it. What happened to him in between that time I don't know."

Relena remained in a cold, silent, shock. What Dr. J did was so unbelievable, so inhumane. "You used him. You altered him to be a tool of revenge." The old man seemed to shrink back with each word she uttered. She felt sorry for him in a way. He had an awful lot to answer for. It was a shame that he realized it so late. She smiled wanely. "You failed, you know. There is no such thing as a perfect soldier." Relena stated in a distant voice. "The inner strength of the person determines the strength of the soldier.

"I've wanted to know and understand Heero for so long now. I can't imagine going through or having been subject to even half of what he has. I could see vague traces of his true feelings through his eyes, but he never relented. He's kept it all so well hidden. And now that I finally do understand how he feels and why, I don't know how I can ever compare to his strength."

"You don't have to. As you said, there is no such thing as perfection. Relena, we all fall short in so many ways. It is impossible to undo the past."

"That lays such a heavy importance on the future. And right now, I can't think of anyone else. Another war is going to start and I almost don't care." She sobbed. " I've made such a mess of everything and I don't know what to do fix it or if I can."

"Don't blame yourself."

"But I do! I just wish I knew where he is now."

Dr. J. chuckled a bit. "Not far. Not far."


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The audience was in an uproar inside the circus tent. People were in an all out panic - screaming, pushing, and literally running each other over to get out of the exits. With
strength she never knew she possessed, Lucretcia hoisted the bag onto her shoulder, gave a battle cry, and rammed through the wall of people around her. "Zechs!"

Finally making it to the center ring, she placed the bag on the floor and knelt next to his body. A pool of blood was spreading beneath him. "Oh God?"

"Miss Noin!"

She looked up to see Trowa, his mask removed. "I have something for the Gundam pilots. It's urgent that we get all of you together."

Zechs gave a grunt and she rolled him over. "Are you alright?!"

"Don't worry about me. Just get that package out of here. Someone's on to us. Go!"

"But?"

Catherine interrupted immediately, calling to some stagehands. "Hurry! We have to get him out of here!" She winked at Noin. "I'll take care of him. For now, you two better go."

"Thanks, Cathy." Trowa gave her a quick hug and picked up the green nylon bag. "I take it this is it."

"Right. Let's move. We have to find the others quickly."


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TBC...