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"Alternative Directions: Options "Written By: Karina Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or the lovely
boys and their girls in the series. Wish I did. Please don't sue me.
I haven't even got a brass razoo to give you. Rating: Deffinately PG in Australia, at the moment,
but probably safer to say R for later chapters. Not sure about international
ratings Warnings: It will be 6x2, even though it does
not start out that way. After all, Zechs and Duo never met in Gundam
Wing and only spoke briefly over a com line in Endless Waltz. I've
tried to keep them in character as I saw them in the series. A bit
of language creeping in under stressful conditions. Pairings: eventual 6x2, past 2xH, 2+H,6x9, 1+R
Summary: Directions is set post Endless Waltz
and roughly 2 years have passed. Zechs and Noin are on Mars and Duo,
after spending some time with Hilde in a relationship leaves L2 to
join Preventers. Hilde was not happy about his decision. I guess enough
said. Here t'is, and I hope you like it. This is also AU for the standard
setting, as well as the series and Endless Waltz. Spoilers: Gundam Wing Series and Endless Waltz Many thanks to Dulin for volunteering to beta this. //... // thoughts
"Alternative Directions: Options"
Mars Colony Base Dome Date: 1st March AC 198 Time: 13:25 MST [Mars Standard Time] Noin //That bloody man has got to be more trouble than he is worth. Talking in riddles half the time and when he is coherent he just looks at you as though you should know exactly what he's talking about. For hours he will sit in one spot and stare into space, ignoring the world around him and you may as well not be on the same planet as him. Then he acts as though nothing has happened and your talking drivel when you ask if he was off in Never Never Land with Peter Pan. With the way he has been pushing for me to stay out of this I'm beginning to think he wants me to hand over the children to these bastards.// Lucrezia Noin marched down the corridor, temper stewing to greater and greater heights. There were days when she could not help but wonder why she had to be so madly in love with that blonde fool. Over time it was getting worse, these spells where he seemed not to be in the same room with her. He rarely made sense lately. Slipping further and further into a world of his own. He seemed even worse than the time when she had broken her own self imposed rules. Hands off, she had told herself. Hands off until she was certain she had won him. It had been a long struggle, but when they had come to Mars she was certain that she had won. When she had given him that ultimatum during the Barton Incursion his one word response had given her hope that she had broken through to him. Yet after it was over, when he had had a chance to rest, he had said nothing, even refusing to tell her Relena was banishing him to Mars, presumably for his own safety. So he believed, but she knew better. It would be oh, so inconvenient to Relena to have her brother resurrected from the dead. Political factions would cause uproar and yes, likely they would arrest and prosecute him. She had foolishly believed Relena when she had said she would work to have him returned to Earth. She should have known better. Not even after Relena had learned his identity during the One Year War had she asked about her brother. Not once had she wanted to know more about him, concentrating instead on her infatuation with the pilot of Wing Gundam. Zechs had resisted her every advance for many years, gently turning aside the worst of her advances and quietly ignoring the hints constantly thrown his way. During the flight to Mars it had been the same, though he had spent time trying to convince her to return to Earth on the shuttles return flight. He'd resisted her a long time, but she had determined she would break his shell and when she had... It had been a strange day. She had felt that something was brewing, building up to an explosive point. He had been quiet and withdrawn for weeks, each day getting worse, drawing into himself, ignoring everybody. He had performed his assigned work as usual, but the minute his work was completed he had vanished into his assigned room. She had felt furious with him for some reason that day. She had expected to get him to herself for the three months of the flight, and failed miserably to get him to so much as kiss her, let alone take her to bed. He had been polite, reserved and the perfect gentleman, not once taking advantage of their isolation. Three months was a hell of a long time to be together and not take advantage of the situation. No, it had not been until that night, after work, when she could not help but drown her sorrows with Mako that it had happened. Drunk, bemoaning his damn honorable ideas to Mako and how much she just wanted to jump his bones. Mako's * "Well for god's sake why the hell haven't you taken the initiative?" * had burst the dam of long held emotion. Whether he knew it or not her blonde was going to get propositioned in very dirty language, she had determined. She had broken the sanctity of his quarters, violated his right to privacy and ignored the fact that he probably needed a doctor or psychologist because of the depression he was feeling and she had plied him with drink. It had not taken much for her to get him pliable, draw him out of his thoughts and get him to stop pushing her hands away. //God. What a night. Glorious body. Gorgeous face. Gorgeous everything. Noin, you sound like a love struck teenager. Fool. You had him. In the literal and biblical sense, girl. You had him, but you didn't win him. You still haven't.// she sighed. //I am beginning to think that I never will. He holds himself so bloody aloof. He won't let me in, to the deeper parts of him. Why? After all that we have been through, why does he still hold himself back? He does not love me. Not as I want him to. Yes, we are lovers, but its not the fire and passion I wanted from him. He's just not able to give it to me. I've got him now and I don't regret forcing the issue that night. He does not love me, but he does love the twins. I'm not wrong about that. He would not let anything happen to the children. He would not let the ESUN have our children.// He was due to be in the engineering bay at this time, working on the last of the mobile suits that needed repairing for that trip to the solar collectors on the high plateau slated for tomorrow. With the Alpha Dome now into the last stage before open colonization began, they needed to be doubly certain of the power grid. Martian sand storms wreaked havoc on the solar collectors and wind generators and there was always maintenance needing to be performed. And as for the dust. Well. The less said about the dust getting into everything the better. It literally got into everything. Whether or not he was actually doing the work he was slated for today, she was uncertain. She hoped he would be doing something to counter the agents prowling the base. "Hey, Lu. Heard anything from Alpha Dome on those ESUN agents?" "Hello, Jenny. The shuttle landed hours ago. They are supposed to be setting up an office there before they bother us. Might be a day or two before we have trouble. If we have trouble at all." no need to worry Jenny that there were intruders already on the base. She was not their target. Jennifer Santos, leading geologist of the team and all around nice girl grinned. "So long as they stay there, in the Alpha Dome. We don't need their kind at Base Dome. No trouble here of our making." She was an attractive dark haired woman, some seven years older than Noin. The difference in age had not stopped them from forming a close relationship and Jenny had baby sat for Noin on a few occasions since the twins had been born. Now that they had a crèche of sorts there was less need for a baby sitter, but Jenny occasionally called around to see the children. She would make a good mother Noin thought. "That's true." Noin replied. "If they would just stay away from the Base Dome, all would be well." //Only too true. If they stayed there and left on the shuttle and did not disturb my nice little world. No one gets their hands on my children and no one gets their paws on my man. They will learn that if they dare to come here.// "How are my babies?" Jenny had a million credit grin and it beamed now, green eyes gleaming. "Just fine. Time to feed them, actually, that's where I'm going now." Noin answered the grin with a smile. "Your so lucky, Lu. You have two wonderful kids and the best looking stud on Mars warming your bed. How do you get it all?" a wistful sigh punctuated her remark and she fluttered a hand playfully over her heart. "Planning, Jenny. Planning." Noin laughed as she waved, walking on down the hallway. "Got to go feed the kids. See you tonight, in the rec room?" "Would think that would depend on whether or not you have that stud of yours in bed, heh? Honestly, Noin, if I had him he'd never be out of my bed. I'd do the horizontal tango with him every chance I got." The parting comment drew a bark of laughter from her as Noin turned down an adjacent corridor. Planning indeed. Just look at what her planning had accomplished? Not what she had intended, true, purely and simply because she could not stick to the plan she had settled on. The `don't touch' rule had gone out the window and because of that she had two wonderful kids and access to His bed at will. It was wonderful, but it was not the one thing she had intended above all else. His heart was not hers. Sorrowfully it seemed to belong to no one. When she had dared to question him he had made it plain that he had emphatically NOT had a sexual relationship with Trieze Kushrenada. He had stressed that they had been friends. No relationship that should threaten her with His Excelency, nor with anyone else, for that matter. To know that she had been the first to savor that delightful body was heady stuff indeed, yet it sobered her to know that he had kept himself aloof, isolated from everyone emotionally. Why? Had his childhood affected him that much? Had he really needed to isolate himself from others to the exclusion of all but working relationships? His need to hide who he was from everyone would place distance between anyone near him a necessity, she supposed, but surely he could have been allowed to love. There was no need for that aloofness now, at any rate. Those days were long gone and he had to acknowledge that. A rasping sound warned her moments before the overhead vent access buckled. Startled she leapt backwards, as with a harsh rending of metal the access hatch gave out under the excess weight and a huge man in full battle gear fell with a sharp crack to the floor and deep grunt of pain, directly in front of her. She glimpsed dark hair, a dark combat suit and the automatic weapon clattering as it hit the floor, skidding a little down the corridor away from her. Noin hissed in rage. She needed no formal introductions to know who this man was. One of the ESUN agents loose in the compound. One of the bastards who had come to spirit her children away from her care. One of the bastards who had come to disrupt the happy little world she had been working so hard to create. Rage clouded her vision as she took a quick step forward and lashed out with one foot, solidly connecting with the dazed man's jaw. "Bastard! Think you'll steal what's mine, do you? I have news for you!" His head snapped back, his eyes crossing as he slumped unconscious from the kick, his head snapping back to hit against the nearest wall with a sickening crack. Noin snorted, fuming, adrenaline pumping through her. She waited for her target to move, to get up and face her, but he did not move again and she snarled with frustration. She so badly needed to hit something now. Preferably another couple of these bastards. "Bitch. You'll pay for that." She spun, dropping to one knee as she did so, swinging her free leg out and around. Pure reflex. The second agent grunted as his swing with the butt of the weapon he carried missed her by an inch, and her foot slammed into his solar plexus. Noin hissed as the weapon he carried fired in a brief burst, fiery pain lancing along her upper arm. He was going down, gasping for breath, but she was enraged. How dare they invade the dome and attempt to snatch her babies. This had been hanging over her head too long for her to let it go at a simple kick. Besides, he was only winded, stirring even now. He was a better target than his friend who was still unconscious. Noin had been spoiling for a fight for a long time and a sore gut and a little shortness of breath certainly was not sufficient punishment for the crime. "Its impolite to call a lady a bitch, bastard!" she snarled snapping out a hand curled into a fist. Gasping for air he managed to roll with the punch, gaining himself a few precious seconds to gasp for more air. The Amazon stalked towards him, blood staining one sleeve, violet eyes deep with rage. He recognized her with a sinking feeling in the pit of his gut, somewhere behind the pain. All the warnings he had been given about Lucrezian Noin flashed through his mind as he scrambled for just a little more distance. He just needed to get his breath back under his control. "You... ain't... no... Lady." he gasped. "Lesson one. Don't waist the breath you need for fighting." Noin faked a blow with her right arm, at the last moment spinning and dropping to one knee, her right leg connecting solidly with his chest. Ribs cracked audibly. His weapon fell from nerveless fingers. "Lesson two, never point a gun at a lady. It's considered bad form." Completing the turn she lunged, caught the gun and reversed her momentum, slamming the stock between his eyes, producing a sickening crunch. He went down with something that vaguely resembled a whimper. "Lesson three. You wouldn't know a lady if you attacked one. Which you did." Straightening from her crouch when he did not move, she stepped cautiously closer to check on him. Something caught her eye and she froze, staring at it. A sense of impending disaster reared within her as she stared at it. Two large dark letters were stenciled on the wall. She had walked past the letters hundreds of times since coming to Mars. After the first week she had not notice them any more and before this moment they had never filled her with cold dread. Never before. Never had her heart stopped to see them. Before now. A3. * "If you walk down corridor A3, you will kill directly two of his men, and cripple Jenny Santos, who will be caught in the cross fire." * Cold, chill fingers crept along her nerve endings, racing throughout her body. In a daze she bent over him, searching, feeling for a pulse. Almost desperate to find it. Nothing. Her blow with the weapon's stock had shattered his nose, sending bone slivers into the brain. He was dead. With a strangled sob she turned, eyes going to the first of the intruders. The other lay on the floor, neck at an odd angle and she remembered the crack that had sounded as he had hit the wall. Just the wrong angle. Dead. Neck broken. With growing terror she looked up and back the way she had come. "Oh God, no. Jenny." Jenny Santos lay in a growing pool of blood at the turn in the corridor, hit by that brief spray of bullets that had caught Noin in the arm. Having overheard the struggle, brief as it was, she had come to investigate. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zechs Zechs Marquise closed his eyes, for a fleeting instant pain clearly visible on his face. He lowered his head, blonde bangs falling to shield his eyes from anyone who might have been watching and he drew a shaky breath. His senses shifted, altered. Realigned. Settled into a path from which he felt no divergence, only certainty. "You would not listen." a whisper. "I tried to tell you. Lu, you would not listen." A moment later alarm sirens began to scream throughout the base. "Medical Emergency. Corridor A3. Security Alert. Intruders in the Dome. Repeat. Hostile intruders in the dome. All personal to emergency stations. Medical Alert. Corridor A3." With a sigh Zechs turned away from the engineering section he had been about to enter. There was no going back. There was no choice for him. She had not wanted them to get the children. For her, for his Lucrezia, he would ensure that it would happen as she wished. He would keep the twins out of the hands of the ESUN. It just would not be as blood free as he had hoped. "So be it." ~ * ~
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