The Beehive: Ch 6 (In the Dark)
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2003 9:26 pm
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters associated with it. I am not making any money off of this; I’m just doing it for fun.
AN: First, I would like to mention that I have been able to read the actual Episode Zero manga myself since I wrote the first few chapters; which not only helped me write this chapter (and likely chapters to come) but also helped give me some more insight into Heero’s character.
If you’ve kept up with this fanfiction I doubt I really have to warn you that this chapter contains things that small children probably shouldn’t be exposed to.
The Beehive
Chapter 6: In the Dark
DATE: Feburuary 17(?), 203 AC
LOCATION: Unknown (in transit)
~*~*~ TIME: Unknown ~*~*~
If it was possible to measure the buildup of sexual tension in a given space; it is likely that the fifty cubic foot compartment that the former pilot of Wing Zero and the former queen of the World Nation were encased in would probable hold the record. Hours had passed, how many was unknown since Heero couldn’t find his watch. In that time they’re conditions changed however, instead of suffering from the extreme cold of winter waters, their combined body heat had eventually warmed the small chamber up; so they were suffering from the heat and clamminess. The air brought in by the small vents helped to curve the problem slightly, but generally the atmosphere was stagnate, hot and humid. To distract themselves from the fact that they were in such intimate position, stripped down to their undergarment, hot and sweaty and illuminated only in a dim eerie red light above their heads – which they’re eyes had adjusted to more completely in the course of their experience – they had tried playing all sorts of mind games. Of course, these games had bore little fruit; they both found it impossible not to think about sex. It was physically impossible for the two young adults not to be in extensive physical contact with each other; each movement was an act of foreplay; the movement of a body part could rub against another sending erotic shivers down the spine of the second prisoner.
Relena held what felt like a wet sock up to the small light source, noting that the sock still seemed dark even right in front of the crimson glow. “I think this one is yours”, she commented before tossing it on Heero’s face.
They had been trying to sort the haphazard arrangement of wet cloths that they had scattered all about their confinement. It was mostly, a simple matter of holding them up to the red light, since most of Heero’s things were dark while Relena had been mostly wearing white.
A little annoyed Heero stuffed the sock into the soaking jumble closest to him. “Do you know where my gun belt is? I may need it later”, he inquired.
Relena shuffled her feet a little to try an feel around, until she came across something hard; “I think I found it”, she commented. She used her feet to pinch the belt in a grip and then leaned into Heero to give her legs room to bow upwards and put the belt in reach. Her heart fluttered as he reached over her arm to grab the weapon; his warm breath trailing across her neck soft neck while every inch of their upper front bodies tightly pressed together; repressing her nature built impulses to try and hold his strapping flesh to hers. She gasped a bit, realizing that she hadn’t been breathing, as they broke away from the embrace.
‘Death, pain, blood, dismembered limbs, cold showers………’, Heero distracted his mind, with little effect on his overall mental state. Despite his efforts, his head still bounced with a collage of indecent ideas, further agitated by the swirl of pheromones in their sweaty coffin. Heero took a big gulp of humid air, “Anything else down there?”, his monotone voice weakly asked.
“Y,yeah”, a still recovering Relena responded after. “Heero?”, she continued, “is that jacket behind you yours or mine?” Her hand retreated when she realized that it was still resting on Heero’s muscular chest.
“Mine”, he replied, feeling it up with his hand just to make sure.
Had there been more light Heero would have better seen the expression of puzzlement on the young president’s face, “How can you tell? You didn’t even hold it up to the light?”
“I just know”, he shot back, something about her question seemed to upset him.
“Well then this one must be mine”, she verbally thought, trying to figure out why Heero was upset while at the same time trying to think of a method to bring it up to her arms which wouldn’t put them in such an awkwardly intimate position.
This whole ordeal, so far, had been a dream come true for either of them, at some level at least; yet, at the same time, a total nightmare.
Relena, decided to drop the idea of retrieving articles of clothing down at her feet, for the time being at least. “I think it was my turn?”, she half stated half inquired.
“Yeah, I think it was”, Heero responded, more then welcoming back the distraction of their trivia game.
“Okay, um………”,the desperate young woman stuttered, “how about European History……?”, she trailed of to think of a question, “Charles II of England, what did he do?”
“Kind of general, don’t you think?”, the shadowed half mocked.
The experience of being within inches of one of an abnormally physically fit young man, whom she just happened to carry a torch for, for the past several years; both of them being scantily clad and having to restrain herself from doing a single thing to satisfy her instincts because it had recently been made clear to her that he didn’t love her the same way she loved him, for several hours, had worn Relena’s patience thin; “Just answer the damn question Yuy!”
Heero’s mind raced for an answer; though it was heavily distracted by the red outline the light reflecting off of his employer’s moist hip, it still computed quickly. ‘Charles II of England……… tough one……… I don’t………’, then an answer hit him, he didn’t know if it was the right one and he had no clue where he found it out either, nor what it was until it escaped his mouth, “Wasn’t he the guy that had the condom invented?”
Silence, an uneasy silence settled as the two perverse minds of a man and a woman who had been pushed to their limits were incited to think about Heero’s answer.
“Well……… um……… I don’t know Heero”, the blond girl could feel the heat of a deep blush in her cheeks, “I don’t know if he had anything to do with that or not. I was thinking something more along the lines of taking modern day New York from the Dutch, or something else political.”
“I see………”, a particularly embarrassed Heero Yuy responded. ‘I must be associating with Maxwell too much’, he muttered under his breath.
“Heero”, an almost depressed sounding feminine voice wearily sighed, “I don’t think Duo had anything to do with it.”
Heero was a little surprised, he hadn’t realized he had said that out loud. His astonishment was lost in the darkness, however.
“I think we need to talk about this, this………”, she trailed off for a moment to find a good word, “issue we’re having.” Without her even realizing it she pulled her body closer to his and held his hand.
“I didn’t know there were any issues besides the fact that we’ve been captured by some unknown terrorist organization”, Heero dryly replied, trying to ignore the seductively inviting body that was drawing closer to him.
“Heero”, Relena sighed, “You’ve been poking me in the leg with that issue ever since we were stuffed in this stupid coffin. There’s no point in trying to pretend it isn’t there, it’s going to drive us insane.”
The blonde woman’s mouth was getting uncomfortably close to his neck and from the angle in which her breath traveled he could only assume that her head was tilted downwards. “What are you saying Relena?”, Heero’s tone suggested mix of any number of emotions; from surprise, to nervousness, to guilt, to anxiety, to an irrepressible desire, as well.
“I………”, she started, “I wish I knew”, she finally admitted.
“Relena, we’re in a life threatening situation”, Heero factually pointed out after taking a deep breath and analyzed his thoughts, “I have to keep my guard up. I can’t be distracted.” He put his hand on her shoulder with the intent of pushing her away but found that it was exceedingly difficult to order his arm to exert any significant amount of force against hers.
“You’re distracted already!”, an emotionally confused and aggravated Relena shot back.
There was a torturous silence that elapsed for several hour long seconds.
“Heero, what are our odds?”, she asked, as she embraced the object of her eight year obsession, “Please be honest.”
Heero ran his hands through her, still somewhat moist hair, hoping she might be soothed. “Judging by this mobile suit, it’s likely a fairly powerful organization. The Earth Sphere might even be thrown into another war.”
“Our odds?”, she cried, tightening her grip and began lightly nibbling at his well toned shoulders.
“They’ll probably use you as a hostage”, he assured her, “You’ll be safe.” He felt an unusual sensation from just under his rib cage hindering his breathing pattern, like something was growing and trying to escape. He couldn’t quite bring himself to telling that beautiful young woman to stop.
Relena buried her face in Heero’s chest, “I know that. What about you?”, her muffled voice pleaded.
Heero’s heart seemed to stop at that moment and he didn’t say anything for a while. “That’s not important”, he finally answered.
“Yes it is Heero!”, she protested, “I don’t want to………”, she started again, “If I, if this is the last time we have……… you have……… I want you to……… not feel guilty. I want to do this.”
“You want this?”, repeated a questioning, mouth quivering and half submissive bodyguard, “here?”
“Men aren’t the only ones with sex drives, Heero”, she teasingly whispered back.
“But………”, he began but cut himself of as she began pecking at his neck.
More silence passed as Heero soaked in what Relena just told him and calculated on what to do. Needless to say, his conclusion was heavily tainted by the events of past several hours and the fact that the girl in question didn’t seem to mind that they couldn’t even see each other clearly. He would have never thought that his employer was so kinky. “Are you sure?”, he asked.
“Yes”, she meekly answered. ‘Why am I doing this?’, a small voice in the very back of her mind silently berated her as she continued pecking at her obsession’s neck.
Heero had to admit, that felt pretty good; he tightened him embrace dipped his head down to the proximity of hers. He took a deep breath, “Relena, I can’t, I………”, his thought process was interrupted however by an old memory from his past:
“Here’s one last bit of good advice. No matter what happens, follow your feelings.”
Odin’s last lesson. Somewhere, it had always stayed with him. Even after the training, that last lesson of his always popped back into his mind at the most inopportune times. And almost every time, it always trumped the most logical course of action to take. Heero had a love hate relationship with those words. On one hand it always forced him to do things he felt were a bad idea, on the other, he had yet to have any serious regrets about actions caused by it. It was the reason Relena was still alive to begin with, after all. ‘She is a grown woman’, he concluded, ‘if she really wants her first time – at least, I think it’s her first time – to be here that’s her decision.’ He planted a delicate kiss on her cheek, and jerked back as he realized he’d never really done that before.
Relena’s hand came up to his jaw line, “It’s all right Heero, I want this.” It was a lie. What she wanted was his heart; she had already claimed his time, loyalty, skills, strength trust, respect, friendship and from the looks of it, was about claim his body too. It was a shame she couldn’t get the whole set, but she could at least take pride in the fact she had everything else. ‘Why do you do this to yourself?’, that annoying voice in the back of her mind continued to chastise, ‘Why are you always making yourself his victim? This man, it’s been eight years, why do you still throw yourself at him? Really now Relena, you make it impossible for him to do anything but hurt you. Why are you enjoying this so much? Are you that accustomed to heart ache?’
Heero’s mouth broke away from it’s heated lock with his want-to-be lover. “Are you sure?”, he asked again in surprise, still out of breath.
Another forceful kiss was her response. ‘Bastard; why does he have to be so nice about it? It just makes you want him more, doesn’t it? Has it ever occurred to you though that he could just be doing this because you’re his superior?’
He hadn’t made a move to remove her remaining clothing items yet; he was content enough to just hold her and kiss her, wishing he had done this earlier. Before this continued he had to tell her though. It wasn’t fair, he shouldn’t be telling her this when there’s no guaranty he had another day to live, he shouldn’t be telling her this when they were in the hands of the enemy. It shouldn’t happen like this, not to her, to him maybe but not to her.
She could see the silhouette of the man she loved, outlined by the dim red light, probably eyeing her like the piece of meat she was offering herself as. ‘Why did he have to come back into your life? You used to be fine without him, you were actually getting over him, until he became your bodyguard that is. There’s just something about him, isn’t there? The moment you saw him, that first day, you were addicted all over again, right? No, it wasn’t even then, was it? You fell for him all over again once you saw his papers. The moment you knew he was with Preventers you couldn’t resist it, could you? You had to place a special request for his assignment. You had barely even spoken for a year and you couldn’t help yourself, you didn’t even bother looking at the others, did you? It’s ironic, isn’t it? Who would have thought that Relena Darlian, the ‘Princess of Peace’, is such an obsessive, love sick, wanting little whore in private? And just think, women for years to come will look up to you as a role model.’
“I wanted to ask……… No, first, I want to explain something to you, Relena.”, his mouth gently sounded as his hand stroked her cheek. He wished there was enough light to see her face. “I think you should know that I think………”, his hand had come across something unusually wet. “Relena, are you crying?”, Heero suddenly interrupted himself in puzzlement.
“No, I just have something in my eye”, she choked out, apparently she had been crying.
Heero wasn’t quite sure what to do, and quite frankly, was a little annoyed. ‘What does she expect from me?’ he silently pondered. “Relena, I wouldn’t have………”, he paused for a moment to think of a good word, “I wouldn’t have kissed you, if you didn’t ask me to?”
The woman under him was trying to hide it but her answer was still a sob, angry too, “I know!” She forcefully pressed her mouth up against his again and tightened her grip.
Heero tried to shuffle off of her but he found that her legs had been hooked around him. Emotions, thoughts and theories raced in the former pilot’s head. Something about this didn’t add up; she was the one instigating this, he could even hear her soft moans of satisfaction and contentment stirring the suppressed passion he held for her. Yet, for some unknown, she was crying. He knew he had to stop this somehow; which he soon realized was a lot easier thought then done, noticing that his hand was already picking at what felt like her bra straps.
“Relena”, he was finally able to gasp as he felt her hand sliding underneath the elastic of his boxers, “What is your problem?”
A silencing kiss was her response.
Heero could already feel his will begin to wane as her tongue slid into his mouth; he couldn’t miss this small window of control though, he’d have to use force.
Relena wasn’t particularly out of shape, there were a few small pockets of fat tissue on her belly and legs that she fret about but she was still a very healthy female specimen. Compared to Heero though, who had trained long and hard in the arts of war and assassination from his youth, she was a twig that could be snapped at leisure. And the fact that she had turned into a malleable puddy in Heero’s arms didn’t help her situation as she found her arms pinned above her head and her lip bond with the former Gundam pilot severed. She knew it made no difference in the darkness but she shot Heero’s outline a questioning glare of discontentment.
“What is wrong with you?”, he finally sputtered out as he began to truly realize exactly how thin the fabric of his boxers and her panties really were.
“What’s wrong with you?”, she angrily echoed back, emotions still chaotically flaring like someone lit a match in a fireworks depot. “I know you want this; I can literally feel it!”, she continued.
After a few moments, taken to gather his thoughts – a cesspool of angry, naughty and generally irrational ideas – he decided to ignore most of them and continue with what he was planning on saying when this whole indiscretion started. “Relena, I wanted to tell you something………”
Just then the padded floor dropped out from under them and they rolled out onto a large much larger padded platform, in a tangled heap with their drenched, discarded clothing.
As the platform began moving the two disoriented lovers managed to untangle themselves and get to their feet. The air was, thankfully, cool and of a tolerable humidity. There was light too; it was dim light but it was enough to see. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a settling sight they beheld. The platform they were on was square, about three yards on each side, and being carried away from the mobile suit that they had just dropped out of by clusters of tentacles and mechanical arms, at a not entirely slow, yet not entirely fast pace. The platform was kept amazingly steady, considering how it was always being passed from one set of arms to the other. What was also amazing was the room they were in, it was enormous. It seemed to be some underground mobile suit hanger, initially at least, but there were so many mechanical hands and tentacles hanging from the walls and ceiling it was hard to see most of it.
A chill took effect on Relena, whom wrapped her arms around her mostly bare body in an effort to keep warm. Heero was cold too but their cloths were still too wet to be of any use. As they continued to move, Heero had begun digging through his pile of cloths until pulling his gun out.
The platform had finally been snapped up against a small catwalk – extending to an unseen point in the distance – where it settled, still held up by the tentacles.
Heero’s deep blue eyes wondered the area, gun ready to shoot at the first sign of trouble. For a moment those eyes couldn’t help but rest on the woman he was meant to protect, he hadn’t really been able to see her before. For an instant his eyes tracked up the smooth skin of her gorgeous legs to where they met and disappeared under a laced fabric. He eyeballed her even tummy indented on the sides before meeting the rib cage where her arms folded over her chest and shoulders. Her head cautiously turned from side to side, apparently as taken back by their ghastly surroundings as he; her disheveled honey blond tresses flowing from side to side. This lovely moment was short lived, however, and as quickly as it had trailed off, his mind was back on track. He cautiously stepped off the platform, to the catwalk scanning the long, narrow bridge to its end at, what looked like, a small doorway; no one was there.
He still held his firearm carefully but relaxed slightly before turning to his charge; “This doesn’t make sense”, he verbally pondered, “There’s no one here.”
Relena looked up at him, blinking in uncertainty, “Maybe we’re supposed to walk over there”, she suggested.
“Either way, we’re holding our position”, Heero assessed as he noticed one of the small orbs that tipped several of the tentacles above them, glowing an unsettling shade of robin’s egg blue.
“An act of wisdom”, echoed an unidentified, yet strangely familiar voice.
Both nearly naked captives thrashed their heads about, looking for the source of the voice.
“Who is this?”, the now firmly composed female president demanded.
“Oh come now, ‘princess’, you recognized me before. Or has the notion of jumping your poor bodyguard so completely consumed you mind that you no longer recall your old friend.”, the voice smugly cackled.
“T, Tyler……?”, Relena sputtered in disbelief.
“Precisely”, the voice answered back as an almost human figured dropped down, in front of the platform. He was extremely pale, lined with metallic blue veins. His chest and legs were covered in a black, tough looking fabric, integrated with an array of circuitry and other devices. His arms and legs were mounted with pods, which sprouted tentacle like devices similar to those networked around the gigantic hanger. On his back was mounted a large, black, metallic, backpack, sprouting even more tentacles and feeding a number of wires into the back of Tyler’s metal grafted skull. Two metallic brown eyes, also implanted with circuitry, narrowed on the two prisoners in amusement.
Heero immediately unloaded two shots into the arrogant figures chest but they seemed to have little effect. The impact didn’t even seem to phase him and once the bullets were lodged in, the wounds seemed to fade.
“Not a good idea”, Tyler interrupted Heero as he changed his aim for Tyler’s head.
Heero paused for a moment in surprise.
“If you shoot me in the head it may hinder this particular vessels computing power but I have a backup”, he calmly informed, “and this installation’s computer system is programmed to load my backup into a compatible vessel if this one is destroyed.” A pallid smile bowed on Tyler’s lips, “I think hers will do.” He didn’t need to gesture to Relena, he knew Heero knew what whom he was talking about.
Heero’s pause continued as he tried to absorb what his target just said. He was cut short, however, as a pointy tentacle shot through Heero’s weapon, tearing it away from his hand.
“It’s a good thing you hesitated”, Tyler mocked, “No such system exists. Had you pulled the trigger you would have undermined this whole operation.” The tentacle crushed the gun in two and let the pieces drop to the floor, far below the platform. “Of course”, Tyler continued, “The Beehive would no longer have a coherent direction so there’s no telling what would happen. It might have even consumed the whole world.”
While a fuming Heero restrained his urge to jump that cocky bastard right then and there, the coolheaded politician stepped in-between the two to prevent Heero from doing something stupid.
“The Beehive?”, she asked, “What’s going on?”
“Well, its quite simple”, the cyborg answered, glad to finally be able to talk to someone who was still thinking rationally, “The Beehive Project was actually intended to be used by the Darter Corporation, for military purposes, in a planned coup, which aimed to conquer the Earth Sphere more completely then ever before imagined. Through my own genius, I was able to subdue Mr. Darter and the other scientists involved with the original Beehive Project and turn the Beehive to my own devices. Any questions?”
The bluntness of his response left the two dumbfounded. Something about the way he proudly presented the information as if it were some every day event that they actually understood demanded a queer look.
“Isn’t the Beehive that thing with the microscopic machines?”, Heero finally commented.
Tyler’s annoyance was apparent in his tone, “Yes, it’s a supercomputer that organizes and coordinates the activities of trillions of specially made nano-bots, known of Bees.”
The two of them stayed silent for a few more moments before Relena finally broke it. “Why did you bring us here?”
“Where is here?”, Heero dryly added.
“You’re in a hidden underground section of the Darter Corporation’s Desert Lab in Africa, which they were planning as using for a base of operations”, was his immediate response. He gestured to Heero, “I wasn’t on planning on any stowaways. Which reminds me, I’m terribly sorry for the discomforting trip. I didn’t design that thing to account for two people.” He looked at Relena smuggly, “As for you, First, being the president of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation you’re an effective hostage; second, for my own personal entertainment; it’s so very lonely down here.”
Heero glared at Tyler while protectively pulling Relena back behind him.
“Oh come now”, Tyler patronized, “I’m not a barbarian; that would be against my very purposes for doing this in the first place. And even if those were my intentions its not like you could stop me. I just plan on tormenting you, gloating and the like.
“Now if you’ll excuse me; I have a few demands to make. If you follow the catwalk there it will take you to the restroom facilities and remind me to feed you later.”
Tyler’s voice was, to say the least belittling. ‘Bastard’, Heero silently commented.
“I heard that!”, Tyler piped up mockingly. “Oh, one last thing. I know you’ve noticed those blue spherical objects; you see, they let me read your mind.”
Relena was pretty angry at this point as well, “W, what? You’re telling me that you can invade our most private thoughts.”
“Well, sort of………”, the mechanical maniac replied straightforward, “I can only read what you’re thinking about but that’s about as good. This for example, bed wetter!”
Silence, only tainted by the echoes of mechanical sounds in the background, stretched between them for several minutes as the two enraged young adults tried to comprehend what he meant by “bed wetter”.
“See”, Tyler tauntingly broke the silence, “Now I know that you”, he looked at Relena, “had an incident where you wet the bed at the age of seven. Really now, I thought you were a big girl.”
Relena sheepishly shrunk back as her face turned several shades of red.
Tyler responded with a menacing grin of self satisfaction. “Anyway, don’t try anything funny or I’ll know about it.” As he began to be carried away by the tentacle devices around him he stopped for a moment; “Oh, by the way, put your cloths back on for Peat’s sake! I’m trying to induce evolution here, not reduce humanity back to savagery.”, he commented before disappearing in a see of darkness.
A little embarrassed, now that they were reminded of their state of undress, the confused and somewhat disoriented couple began laying out their cloths to dry.
“Ass hole”, Heero snorted, not surprisingly a resentment was already clear and present on his part.
Relena, on the other hand was much more hushed. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She had only been Tyler’s friend for a week or so, and that was years ago, but he seemed like such a nice kid. And the way he talked about Mr. Darter and the other scientists, it was as if he thought he wasn’t guilty of the same crimes. It was all very confusing. What did he mean by ‘induce evolution’? ‘What are you up to Tyler?’, she pondered as her bare feet began carrying her to the catwalk.
Heero looked up at her in concern, “Where are you going?”
“We were cooped up in that mobile suit thing for hours; I have to go”, she answered, somewhat annoyed to be questioned by her bodyguard right now. “Unless you want to come too, that is.”
Heero sighed a bit as he stood up and followed his employer down the long dark bridge; He wasn’t about to leave her alone in a place like this. Besides, he was realizing about then that he could use some relief himself.
DATE: February 17, 203 AC
LOCATION: Preventer Headquarters
~*~*~ TIME: 1:00 PM ~*~*~
It had been the worst security breach since the Mariemeia incident. Someone, somewhere had developed and produced a new and powerful model of mobile dolls. To make matters worse, they were able to abduct the president of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation, and all of this, right under the noses of the Preventers. Needless to say, Lady Une’s office was in an uproar.
“Okay, Earth, We’ve confirmed their location.”, the red headed Preventer handed Une a clipboard and scurried out of the office. No one wanted to stand idly unless ordered to when a situation like this happened.
The long haired brunet scanned the document in front of her with her contact fitted eyes before turning back to the vidphone monitor. “They’re in Africa”, she informed, “It looks like a lab of the Darter Corporation.”
“The Darter Corporation?”, projected the voice of Sally Po from the phone, “So is the Darter Corporation behind these attacks? What else do we know?”
Une was skimming the second page, “The Darter Corporation had been working on something called The Beehive Project. It was government funded; not secret but they don’t appear to have made much noise about it either. It looks like it has something to do with nano-bot technology.”
“Well, we definitely didn’t encounter a nano-bot, that’s for sure.”, Sally commented.
The woman behind the desk sighed, “But you said that mobile doll was able to repair itself?”
“Yeah, that’s right”, Sally confirmed, slightly confused by what her commander was trying to get at, “What does that have to do with anything though?”
“It says here that The Beehive could use nano-machines, called Bees, to as regenerate an arm on a human being.”, replied a more then mildly concerned Lady Une.
Sally considered this for a few seconds, “So you’re saying, that the Darter Corporation may have found a way to apply this to mobile suits?”
“I sincerely hope not. Water, return to HQ before going to Africa, and tell your partner. They haven’t made any demands or declarations yet but we may need to pull the “emergency supply” out of storage before this is over.”
“Roger”, replied the blonde Chinese woman, “We’ll return to headquarters immediately, Water out.”
Another line on Lady Une’s vidphone began ringing and was likewise opened by her graceful index finger, “Earth, we have a transmission from the terrorists. They say they want to speak with you.”
‘Speak of the devil’, Une mumbled under her breath, pumping herself up to speak with the most vile and manipulative of terrorists imaginable. “Patch it through”, she ordered.
“Yes ma’am”, the voice answered back.
As the commander of the Preventers and a former ranking member of Oz, Lady Une, was well trained and experienced in dealing with the most violent and vile of terrorists as well as hostage situations. She didn’t even feel it was necessary to ask for their demands; they were likely money, power or both. In the old system the answer would have been simple; the Alliance and Oz never made it a common policy to negotiate with terrorists but The Earth Sphere Unified Nation prioritized human life over victory, making these situations so much more complicated. Another problem was that the main hostage was the president; furthermore, since the Earth Sphere Unified Nation didn’t have an organized military it could very well be that the enemy had more fire power too.
“Greetings”, sounded an unsettling voice from the speaker, “I hope you don’t mind that I’m not sending a visual; I didn’t see the necessity in it.”
“Who are you and what are you after?”, demanded the Preventer commander.
A sigh resonated from the speaker, “Oh come now, no chit chat? Oh well, I’m sure by now you’ve determined my location. My first demand is this; the general public doesn’t know much, if anything about the Beehive, see that it stays that way. There’s no need to start a panic.”
Lady Une narrowed her eyes and double checked to make sure the conversation was being recorded, it was. ‘What’s the point in that? Why would terrorists want to keep people from panicking?’, she pondered. “We’ll see what we can do”, she answered, “But you must understand, we have certain policies that we have to follow; we can’t keep everything from the public.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll find a way”, replied the self-confident, half mocking voice, “according to this you’ve done a fine job keeping that emergency, store of mobile suits a secret. A rather measly force over all, but still highly illegal by your own laws. But what I really love is how you hid them in the open; clever, no one would expect a working military force to be showcased in a museum, now would they?”
This situation was new; never before had she come across a situation quite like this. First, the enemy wasn’t trying to incite a panic; second, the enemy had somehow been able to find out some of the most confidential information the Preventers held. It was true, they purposely kept most of the mobile suits displayed in certain museums in almost full operating condition.
“As for demand number two”, the voice continued, “I’ll be sending you a list of certain supplies and individuals I would also like delivered to said locations”
“You should be well aware that we aren’t about to give you more hostages to bargain with”, interjected the firm and cool headed brunette.
“They aren’t hostages, neither will I be bargaining with them, nor should you be concerned. At least consider my offer. I doubt that you want to see what I’m capable of doing with the Beehive.”, the voice paused for a moment as Lady Une considered the threat, “Oh, one last word of warning. Any attempt to infiltrate or attack this facility will be met with resistance. Don’t throw away the lives of your men.”
The connection ceased leaving Lady Une to ponder the unusual demands. The moment was short lived however, and she was soon issuing orders to agents worldwide.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
AN: I almost have Ch7 done. All what's needed is some proof reading and revisions.
AN: First, I would like to mention that I have been able to read the actual Episode Zero manga myself since I wrote the first few chapters; which not only helped me write this chapter (and likely chapters to come) but also helped give me some more insight into Heero’s character.
If you’ve kept up with this fanfiction I doubt I really have to warn you that this chapter contains things that small children probably shouldn’t be exposed to.
The Beehive
Chapter 6: In the Dark
DATE: Feburuary 17(?), 203 AC
LOCATION: Unknown (in transit)
~*~*~ TIME: Unknown ~*~*~
If it was possible to measure the buildup of sexual tension in a given space; it is likely that the fifty cubic foot compartment that the former pilot of Wing Zero and the former queen of the World Nation were encased in would probable hold the record. Hours had passed, how many was unknown since Heero couldn’t find his watch. In that time they’re conditions changed however, instead of suffering from the extreme cold of winter waters, their combined body heat had eventually warmed the small chamber up; so they were suffering from the heat and clamminess. The air brought in by the small vents helped to curve the problem slightly, but generally the atmosphere was stagnate, hot and humid. To distract themselves from the fact that they were in such intimate position, stripped down to their undergarment, hot and sweaty and illuminated only in a dim eerie red light above their heads – which they’re eyes had adjusted to more completely in the course of their experience – they had tried playing all sorts of mind games. Of course, these games had bore little fruit; they both found it impossible not to think about sex. It was physically impossible for the two young adults not to be in extensive physical contact with each other; each movement was an act of foreplay; the movement of a body part could rub against another sending erotic shivers down the spine of the second prisoner.
Relena held what felt like a wet sock up to the small light source, noting that the sock still seemed dark even right in front of the crimson glow. “I think this one is yours”, she commented before tossing it on Heero’s face.
They had been trying to sort the haphazard arrangement of wet cloths that they had scattered all about their confinement. It was mostly, a simple matter of holding them up to the red light, since most of Heero’s things were dark while Relena had been mostly wearing white.
A little annoyed Heero stuffed the sock into the soaking jumble closest to him. “Do you know where my gun belt is? I may need it later”, he inquired.
Relena shuffled her feet a little to try an feel around, until she came across something hard; “I think I found it”, she commented. She used her feet to pinch the belt in a grip and then leaned into Heero to give her legs room to bow upwards and put the belt in reach. Her heart fluttered as he reached over her arm to grab the weapon; his warm breath trailing across her neck soft neck while every inch of their upper front bodies tightly pressed together; repressing her nature built impulses to try and hold his strapping flesh to hers. She gasped a bit, realizing that she hadn’t been breathing, as they broke away from the embrace.
‘Death, pain, blood, dismembered limbs, cold showers………’, Heero distracted his mind, with little effect on his overall mental state. Despite his efforts, his head still bounced with a collage of indecent ideas, further agitated by the swirl of pheromones in their sweaty coffin. Heero took a big gulp of humid air, “Anything else down there?”, his monotone voice weakly asked.
“Y,yeah”, a still recovering Relena responded after. “Heero?”, she continued, “is that jacket behind you yours or mine?” Her hand retreated when she realized that it was still resting on Heero’s muscular chest.
“Mine”, he replied, feeling it up with his hand just to make sure.
Had there been more light Heero would have better seen the expression of puzzlement on the young president’s face, “How can you tell? You didn’t even hold it up to the light?”
“I just know”, he shot back, something about her question seemed to upset him.
“Well then this one must be mine”, she verbally thought, trying to figure out why Heero was upset while at the same time trying to think of a method to bring it up to her arms which wouldn’t put them in such an awkwardly intimate position.
This whole ordeal, so far, had been a dream come true for either of them, at some level at least; yet, at the same time, a total nightmare.
Relena, decided to drop the idea of retrieving articles of clothing down at her feet, for the time being at least. “I think it was my turn?”, she half stated half inquired.
“Yeah, I think it was”, Heero responded, more then welcoming back the distraction of their trivia game.
“Okay, um………”,the desperate young woman stuttered, “how about European History……?”, she trailed of to think of a question, “Charles II of England, what did he do?”
“Kind of general, don’t you think?”, the shadowed half mocked.
The experience of being within inches of one of an abnormally physically fit young man, whom she just happened to carry a torch for, for the past several years; both of them being scantily clad and having to restrain herself from doing a single thing to satisfy her instincts because it had recently been made clear to her that he didn’t love her the same way she loved him, for several hours, had worn Relena’s patience thin; “Just answer the damn question Yuy!”
Heero’s mind raced for an answer; though it was heavily distracted by the red outline the light reflecting off of his employer’s moist hip, it still computed quickly. ‘Charles II of England……… tough one……… I don’t………’, then an answer hit him, he didn’t know if it was the right one and he had no clue where he found it out either, nor what it was until it escaped his mouth, “Wasn’t he the guy that had the condom invented?”
Silence, an uneasy silence settled as the two perverse minds of a man and a woman who had been pushed to their limits were incited to think about Heero’s answer.
“Well……… um……… I don’t know Heero”, the blond girl could feel the heat of a deep blush in her cheeks, “I don’t know if he had anything to do with that or not. I was thinking something more along the lines of taking modern day New York from the Dutch, or something else political.”
“I see………”, a particularly embarrassed Heero Yuy responded. ‘I must be associating with Maxwell too much’, he muttered under his breath.
“Heero”, an almost depressed sounding feminine voice wearily sighed, “I don’t think Duo had anything to do with it.”
Heero was a little surprised, he hadn’t realized he had said that out loud. His astonishment was lost in the darkness, however.
“I think we need to talk about this, this………”, she trailed off for a moment to find a good word, “issue we’re having.” Without her even realizing it she pulled her body closer to his and held his hand.
“I didn’t know there were any issues besides the fact that we’ve been captured by some unknown terrorist organization”, Heero dryly replied, trying to ignore the seductively inviting body that was drawing closer to him.
“Heero”, Relena sighed, “You’ve been poking me in the leg with that issue ever since we were stuffed in this stupid coffin. There’s no point in trying to pretend it isn’t there, it’s going to drive us insane.”
The blonde woman’s mouth was getting uncomfortably close to his neck and from the angle in which her breath traveled he could only assume that her head was tilted downwards. “What are you saying Relena?”, Heero’s tone suggested mix of any number of emotions; from surprise, to nervousness, to guilt, to anxiety, to an irrepressible desire, as well.
“I………”, she started, “I wish I knew”, she finally admitted.
“Relena, we’re in a life threatening situation”, Heero factually pointed out after taking a deep breath and analyzed his thoughts, “I have to keep my guard up. I can’t be distracted.” He put his hand on her shoulder with the intent of pushing her away but found that it was exceedingly difficult to order his arm to exert any significant amount of force against hers.
“You’re distracted already!”, an emotionally confused and aggravated Relena shot back.
There was a torturous silence that elapsed for several hour long seconds.
“Heero, what are our odds?”, she asked, as she embraced the object of her eight year obsession, “Please be honest.”
Heero ran his hands through her, still somewhat moist hair, hoping she might be soothed. “Judging by this mobile suit, it’s likely a fairly powerful organization. The Earth Sphere might even be thrown into another war.”
“Our odds?”, she cried, tightening her grip and began lightly nibbling at his well toned shoulders.
“They’ll probably use you as a hostage”, he assured her, “You’ll be safe.” He felt an unusual sensation from just under his rib cage hindering his breathing pattern, like something was growing and trying to escape. He couldn’t quite bring himself to telling that beautiful young woman to stop.
Relena buried her face in Heero’s chest, “I know that. What about you?”, her muffled voice pleaded.
Heero’s heart seemed to stop at that moment and he didn’t say anything for a while. “That’s not important”, he finally answered.
“Yes it is Heero!”, she protested, “I don’t want to………”, she started again, “If I, if this is the last time we have……… you have……… I want you to……… not feel guilty. I want to do this.”
“You want this?”, repeated a questioning, mouth quivering and half submissive bodyguard, “here?”
“Men aren’t the only ones with sex drives, Heero”, she teasingly whispered back.
“But………”, he began but cut himself of as she began pecking at his neck.
More silence passed as Heero soaked in what Relena just told him and calculated on what to do. Needless to say, his conclusion was heavily tainted by the events of past several hours and the fact that the girl in question didn’t seem to mind that they couldn’t even see each other clearly. He would have never thought that his employer was so kinky. “Are you sure?”, he asked.
“Yes”, she meekly answered. ‘Why am I doing this?’, a small voice in the very back of her mind silently berated her as she continued pecking at her obsession’s neck.
Heero had to admit, that felt pretty good; he tightened him embrace dipped his head down to the proximity of hers. He took a deep breath, “Relena, I can’t, I………”, his thought process was interrupted however by an old memory from his past:
“Here’s one last bit of good advice. No matter what happens, follow your feelings.”
Odin’s last lesson. Somewhere, it had always stayed with him. Even after the training, that last lesson of his always popped back into his mind at the most inopportune times. And almost every time, it always trumped the most logical course of action to take. Heero had a love hate relationship with those words. On one hand it always forced him to do things he felt were a bad idea, on the other, he had yet to have any serious regrets about actions caused by it. It was the reason Relena was still alive to begin with, after all. ‘She is a grown woman’, he concluded, ‘if she really wants her first time – at least, I think it’s her first time – to be here that’s her decision.’ He planted a delicate kiss on her cheek, and jerked back as he realized he’d never really done that before.
Relena’s hand came up to his jaw line, “It’s all right Heero, I want this.” It was a lie. What she wanted was his heart; she had already claimed his time, loyalty, skills, strength trust, respect, friendship and from the looks of it, was about claim his body too. It was a shame she couldn’t get the whole set, but she could at least take pride in the fact she had everything else. ‘Why do you do this to yourself?’, that annoying voice in the back of her mind continued to chastise, ‘Why are you always making yourself his victim? This man, it’s been eight years, why do you still throw yourself at him? Really now Relena, you make it impossible for him to do anything but hurt you. Why are you enjoying this so much? Are you that accustomed to heart ache?’
Heero’s mouth broke away from it’s heated lock with his want-to-be lover. “Are you sure?”, he asked again in surprise, still out of breath.
Another forceful kiss was her response. ‘Bastard; why does he have to be so nice about it? It just makes you want him more, doesn’t it? Has it ever occurred to you though that he could just be doing this because you’re his superior?’
He hadn’t made a move to remove her remaining clothing items yet; he was content enough to just hold her and kiss her, wishing he had done this earlier. Before this continued he had to tell her though. It wasn’t fair, he shouldn’t be telling her this when there’s no guaranty he had another day to live, he shouldn’t be telling her this when they were in the hands of the enemy. It shouldn’t happen like this, not to her, to him maybe but not to her.
She could see the silhouette of the man she loved, outlined by the dim red light, probably eyeing her like the piece of meat she was offering herself as. ‘Why did he have to come back into your life? You used to be fine without him, you were actually getting over him, until he became your bodyguard that is. There’s just something about him, isn’t there? The moment you saw him, that first day, you were addicted all over again, right? No, it wasn’t even then, was it? You fell for him all over again once you saw his papers. The moment you knew he was with Preventers you couldn’t resist it, could you? You had to place a special request for his assignment. You had barely even spoken for a year and you couldn’t help yourself, you didn’t even bother looking at the others, did you? It’s ironic, isn’t it? Who would have thought that Relena Darlian, the ‘Princess of Peace’, is such an obsessive, love sick, wanting little whore in private? And just think, women for years to come will look up to you as a role model.’
“I wanted to ask……… No, first, I want to explain something to you, Relena.”, his mouth gently sounded as his hand stroked her cheek. He wished there was enough light to see her face. “I think you should know that I think………”, his hand had come across something unusually wet. “Relena, are you crying?”, Heero suddenly interrupted himself in puzzlement.
“No, I just have something in my eye”, she choked out, apparently she had been crying.
Heero wasn’t quite sure what to do, and quite frankly, was a little annoyed. ‘What does she expect from me?’ he silently pondered. “Relena, I wouldn’t have………”, he paused for a moment to think of a good word, “I wouldn’t have kissed you, if you didn’t ask me to?”
The woman under him was trying to hide it but her answer was still a sob, angry too, “I know!” She forcefully pressed her mouth up against his again and tightened her grip.
Heero tried to shuffle off of her but he found that her legs had been hooked around him. Emotions, thoughts and theories raced in the former pilot’s head. Something about this didn’t add up; she was the one instigating this, he could even hear her soft moans of satisfaction and contentment stirring the suppressed passion he held for her. Yet, for some unknown, she was crying. He knew he had to stop this somehow; which he soon realized was a lot easier thought then done, noticing that his hand was already picking at what felt like her bra straps.
“Relena”, he was finally able to gasp as he felt her hand sliding underneath the elastic of his boxers, “What is your problem?”
A silencing kiss was her response.
Heero could already feel his will begin to wane as her tongue slid into his mouth; he couldn’t miss this small window of control though, he’d have to use force.
Relena wasn’t particularly out of shape, there were a few small pockets of fat tissue on her belly and legs that she fret about but she was still a very healthy female specimen. Compared to Heero though, who had trained long and hard in the arts of war and assassination from his youth, she was a twig that could be snapped at leisure. And the fact that she had turned into a malleable puddy in Heero’s arms didn’t help her situation as she found her arms pinned above her head and her lip bond with the former Gundam pilot severed. She knew it made no difference in the darkness but she shot Heero’s outline a questioning glare of discontentment.
“What is wrong with you?”, he finally sputtered out as he began to truly realize exactly how thin the fabric of his boxers and her panties really were.
“What’s wrong with you?”, she angrily echoed back, emotions still chaotically flaring like someone lit a match in a fireworks depot. “I know you want this; I can literally feel it!”, she continued.
After a few moments, taken to gather his thoughts – a cesspool of angry, naughty and generally irrational ideas – he decided to ignore most of them and continue with what he was planning on saying when this whole indiscretion started. “Relena, I wanted to tell you something………”
Just then the padded floor dropped out from under them and they rolled out onto a large much larger padded platform, in a tangled heap with their drenched, discarded clothing.
As the platform began moving the two disoriented lovers managed to untangle themselves and get to their feet. The air was, thankfully, cool and of a tolerable humidity. There was light too; it was dim light but it was enough to see. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a settling sight they beheld. The platform they were on was square, about three yards on each side, and being carried away from the mobile suit that they had just dropped out of by clusters of tentacles and mechanical arms, at a not entirely slow, yet not entirely fast pace. The platform was kept amazingly steady, considering how it was always being passed from one set of arms to the other. What was also amazing was the room they were in, it was enormous. It seemed to be some underground mobile suit hanger, initially at least, but there were so many mechanical hands and tentacles hanging from the walls and ceiling it was hard to see most of it.
A chill took effect on Relena, whom wrapped her arms around her mostly bare body in an effort to keep warm. Heero was cold too but their cloths were still too wet to be of any use. As they continued to move, Heero had begun digging through his pile of cloths until pulling his gun out.
The platform had finally been snapped up against a small catwalk – extending to an unseen point in the distance – where it settled, still held up by the tentacles.
Heero’s deep blue eyes wondered the area, gun ready to shoot at the first sign of trouble. For a moment those eyes couldn’t help but rest on the woman he was meant to protect, he hadn’t really been able to see her before. For an instant his eyes tracked up the smooth skin of her gorgeous legs to where they met and disappeared under a laced fabric. He eyeballed her even tummy indented on the sides before meeting the rib cage where her arms folded over her chest and shoulders. Her head cautiously turned from side to side, apparently as taken back by their ghastly surroundings as he; her disheveled honey blond tresses flowing from side to side. This lovely moment was short lived, however, and as quickly as it had trailed off, his mind was back on track. He cautiously stepped off the platform, to the catwalk scanning the long, narrow bridge to its end at, what looked like, a small doorway; no one was there.
He still held his firearm carefully but relaxed slightly before turning to his charge; “This doesn’t make sense”, he verbally pondered, “There’s no one here.”
Relena looked up at him, blinking in uncertainty, “Maybe we’re supposed to walk over there”, she suggested.
“Either way, we’re holding our position”, Heero assessed as he noticed one of the small orbs that tipped several of the tentacles above them, glowing an unsettling shade of robin’s egg blue.
“An act of wisdom”, echoed an unidentified, yet strangely familiar voice.
Both nearly naked captives thrashed their heads about, looking for the source of the voice.
“Who is this?”, the now firmly composed female president demanded.
“Oh come now, ‘princess’, you recognized me before. Or has the notion of jumping your poor bodyguard so completely consumed you mind that you no longer recall your old friend.”, the voice smugly cackled.
“T, Tyler……?”, Relena sputtered in disbelief.
“Precisely”, the voice answered back as an almost human figured dropped down, in front of the platform. He was extremely pale, lined with metallic blue veins. His chest and legs were covered in a black, tough looking fabric, integrated with an array of circuitry and other devices. His arms and legs were mounted with pods, which sprouted tentacle like devices similar to those networked around the gigantic hanger. On his back was mounted a large, black, metallic, backpack, sprouting even more tentacles and feeding a number of wires into the back of Tyler’s metal grafted skull. Two metallic brown eyes, also implanted with circuitry, narrowed on the two prisoners in amusement.
Heero immediately unloaded two shots into the arrogant figures chest but they seemed to have little effect. The impact didn’t even seem to phase him and once the bullets were lodged in, the wounds seemed to fade.
“Not a good idea”, Tyler interrupted Heero as he changed his aim for Tyler’s head.
Heero paused for a moment in surprise.
“If you shoot me in the head it may hinder this particular vessels computing power but I have a backup”, he calmly informed, “and this installation’s computer system is programmed to load my backup into a compatible vessel if this one is destroyed.” A pallid smile bowed on Tyler’s lips, “I think hers will do.” He didn’t need to gesture to Relena, he knew Heero knew what whom he was talking about.
Heero’s pause continued as he tried to absorb what his target just said. He was cut short, however, as a pointy tentacle shot through Heero’s weapon, tearing it away from his hand.
“It’s a good thing you hesitated”, Tyler mocked, “No such system exists. Had you pulled the trigger you would have undermined this whole operation.” The tentacle crushed the gun in two and let the pieces drop to the floor, far below the platform. “Of course”, Tyler continued, “The Beehive would no longer have a coherent direction so there’s no telling what would happen. It might have even consumed the whole world.”
While a fuming Heero restrained his urge to jump that cocky bastard right then and there, the coolheaded politician stepped in-between the two to prevent Heero from doing something stupid.
“The Beehive?”, she asked, “What’s going on?”
“Well, its quite simple”, the cyborg answered, glad to finally be able to talk to someone who was still thinking rationally, “The Beehive Project was actually intended to be used by the Darter Corporation, for military purposes, in a planned coup, which aimed to conquer the Earth Sphere more completely then ever before imagined. Through my own genius, I was able to subdue Mr. Darter and the other scientists involved with the original Beehive Project and turn the Beehive to my own devices. Any questions?”
The bluntness of his response left the two dumbfounded. Something about the way he proudly presented the information as if it were some every day event that they actually understood demanded a queer look.
“Isn’t the Beehive that thing with the microscopic machines?”, Heero finally commented.
Tyler’s annoyance was apparent in his tone, “Yes, it’s a supercomputer that organizes and coordinates the activities of trillions of specially made nano-bots, known of Bees.”
The two of them stayed silent for a few more moments before Relena finally broke it. “Why did you bring us here?”
“Where is here?”, Heero dryly added.
“You’re in a hidden underground section of the Darter Corporation’s Desert Lab in Africa, which they were planning as using for a base of operations”, was his immediate response. He gestured to Heero, “I wasn’t on planning on any stowaways. Which reminds me, I’m terribly sorry for the discomforting trip. I didn’t design that thing to account for two people.” He looked at Relena smuggly, “As for you, First, being the president of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation you’re an effective hostage; second, for my own personal entertainment; it’s so very lonely down here.”
Heero glared at Tyler while protectively pulling Relena back behind him.
“Oh come now”, Tyler patronized, “I’m not a barbarian; that would be against my very purposes for doing this in the first place. And even if those were my intentions its not like you could stop me. I just plan on tormenting you, gloating and the like.
“Now if you’ll excuse me; I have a few demands to make. If you follow the catwalk there it will take you to the restroom facilities and remind me to feed you later.”
Tyler’s voice was, to say the least belittling. ‘Bastard’, Heero silently commented.
“I heard that!”, Tyler piped up mockingly. “Oh, one last thing. I know you’ve noticed those blue spherical objects; you see, they let me read your mind.”
Relena was pretty angry at this point as well, “W, what? You’re telling me that you can invade our most private thoughts.”
“Well, sort of………”, the mechanical maniac replied straightforward, “I can only read what you’re thinking about but that’s about as good. This for example, bed wetter!”
Silence, only tainted by the echoes of mechanical sounds in the background, stretched between them for several minutes as the two enraged young adults tried to comprehend what he meant by “bed wetter”.
“See”, Tyler tauntingly broke the silence, “Now I know that you”, he looked at Relena, “had an incident where you wet the bed at the age of seven. Really now, I thought you were a big girl.”
Relena sheepishly shrunk back as her face turned several shades of red.
Tyler responded with a menacing grin of self satisfaction. “Anyway, don’t try anything funny or I’ll know about it.” As he began to be carried away by the tentacle devices around him he stopped for a moment; “Oh, by the way, put your cloths back on for Peat’s sake! I’m trying to induce evolution here, not reduce humanity back to savagery.”, he commented before disappearing in a see of darkness.
A little embarrassed, now that they were reminded of their state of undress, the confused and somewhat disoriented couple began laying out their cloths to dry.
“Ass hole”, Heero snorted, not surprisingly a resentment was already clear and present on his part.
Relena, on the other hand was much more hushed. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She had only been Tyler’s friend for a week or so, and that was years ago, but he seemed like such a nice kid. And the way he talked about Mr. Darter and the other scientists, it was as if he thought he wasn’t guilty of the same crimes. It was all very confusing. What did he mean by ‘induce evolution’? ‘What are you up to Tyler?’, she pondered as her bare feet began carrying her to the catwalk.
Heero looked up at her in concern, “Where are you going?”
“We were cooped up in that mobile suit thing for hours; I have to go”, she answered, somewhat annoyed to be questioned by her bodyguard right now. “Unless you want to come too, that is.”
Heero sighed a bit as he stood up and followed his employer down the long dark bridge; He wasn’t about to leave her alone in a place like this. Besides, he was realizing about then that he could use some relief himself.
DATE: February 17, 203 AC
LOCATION: Preventer Headquarters
~*~*~ TIME: 1:00 PM ~*~*~
It had been the worst security breach since the Mariemeia incident. Someone, somewhere had developed and produced a new and powerful model of mobile dolls. To make matters worse, they were able to abduct the president of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation, and all of this, right under the noses of the Preventers. Needless to say, Lady Une’s office was in an uproar.
“Okay, Earth, We’ve confirmed their location.”, the red headed Preventer handed Une a clipboard and scurried out of the office. No one wanted to stand idly unless ordered to when a situation like this happened.
The long haired brunet scanned the document in front of her with her contact fitted eyes before turning back to the vidphone monitor. “They’re in Africa”, she informed, “It looks like a lab of the Darter Corporation.”
“The Darter Corporation?”, projected the voice of Sally Po from the phone, “So is the Darter Corporation behind these attacks? What else do we know?”
Une was skimming the second page, “The Darter Corporation had been working on something called The Beehive Project. It was government funded; not secret but they don’t appear to have made much noise about it either. It looks like it has something to do with nano-bot technology.”
“Well, we definitely didn’t encounter a nano-bot, that’s for sure.”, Sally commented.
The woman behind the desk sighed, “But you said that mobile doll was able to repair itself?”
“Yeah, that’s right”, Sally confirmed, slightly confused by what her commander was trying to get at, “What does that have to do with anything though?”
“It says here that The Beehive could use nano-machines, called Bees, to as regenerate an arm on a human being.”, replied a more then mildly concerned Lady Une.
Sally considered this for a few seconds, “So you’re saying, that the Darter Corporation may have found a way to apply this to mobile suits?”
“I sincerely hope not. Water, return to HQ before going to Africa, and tell your partner. They haven’t made any demands or declarations yet but we may need to pull the “emergency supply” out of storage before this is over.”
“Roger”, replied the blonde Chinese woman, “We’ll return to headquarters immediately, Water out.”
Another line on Lady Une’s vidphone began ringing and was likewise opened by her graceful index finger, “Earth, we have a transmission from the terrorists. They say they want to speak with you.”
‘Speak of the devil’, Une mumbled under her breath, pumping herself up to speak with the most vile and manipulative of terrorists imaginable. “Patch it through”, she ordered.
“Yes ma’am”, the voice answered back.
As the commander of the Preventers and a former ranking member of Oz, Lady Une, was well trained and experienced in dealing with the most violent and vile of terrorists as well as hostage situations. She didn’t even feel it was necessary to ask for their demands; they were likely money, power or both. In the old system the answer would have been simple; the Alliance and Oz never made it a common policy to negotiate with terrorists but The Earth Sphere Unified Nation prioritized human life over victory, making these situations so much more complicated. Another problem was that the main hostage was the president; furthermore, since the Earth Sphere Unified Nation didn’t have an organized military it could very well be that the enemy had more fire power too.
“Greetings”, sounded an unsettling voice from the speaker, “I hope you don’t mind that I’m not sending a visual; I didn’t see the necessity in it.”
“Who are you and what are you after?”, demanded the Preventer commander.
A sigh resonated from the speaker, “Oh come now, no chit chat? Oh well, I’m sure by now you’ve determined my location. My first demand is this; the general public doesn’t know much, if anything about the Beehive, see that it stays that way. There’s no need to start a panic.”
Lady Une narrowed her eyes and double checked to make sure the conversation was being recorded, it was. ‘What’s the point in that? Why would terrorists want to keep people from panicking?’, she pondered. “We’ll see what we can do”, she answered, “But you must understand, we have certain policies that we have to follow; we can’t keep everything from the public.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll find a way”, replied the self-confident, half mocking voice, “according to this you’ve done a fine job keeping that emergency, store of mobile suits a secret. A rather measly force over all, but still highly illegal by your own laws. But what I really love is how you hid them in the open; clever, no one would expect a working military force to be showcased in a museum, now would they?”
This situation was new; never before had she come across a situation quite like this. First, the enemy wasn’t trying to incite a panic; second, the enemy had somehow been able to find out some of the most confidential information the Preventers held. It was true, they purposely kept most of the mobile suits displayed in certain museums in almost full operating condition.
“As for demand number two”, the voice continued, “I’ll be sending you a list of certain supplies and individuals I would also like delivered to said locations”
“You should be well aware that we aren’t about to give you more hostages to bargain with”, interjected the firm and cool headed brunette.
“They aren’t hostages, neither will I be bargaining with them, nor should you be concerned. At least consider my offer. I doubt that you want to see what I’m capable of doing with the Beehive.”, the voice paused for a moment as Lady Une considered the threat, “Oh, one last word of warning. Any attempt to infiltrate or attack this facility will be met with resistance. Don’t throw away the lives of your men.”
The connection ceased leaving Lady Une to ponder the unusual demands. The moment was short lived however, and she was soon issuing orders to agents worldwide.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
AN: I almost have Ch7 done. All what's needed is some proof reading and revisions.
