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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 19:03 [Approx time 16:53 Sanc] Simpson He considered the view from the window and the eerie blood glow that bathed everything. The emergency alert lights were stuck on for the duration of this drama, and there was nothing he could do about them. At least for the moment. With the bulk of the computer system suffering the effects of the planted virus there was no means of cutting the emergency alert systems short of shutting down the entire computer system that allowed people to exist on Mars. To his every test only the systems vital to support life on this desolate world were operating, and for him to shut those down was unthinkable. Unthinkable because it would kill his own team. Without the great dome and its intricate systems for supporting life it was doubtful that his team would survive long enough for the Wellington to arrive for their pickup. Besides, he still had those brats to collect and keep healthy and shutting down the life support systems was not a good way to fulfill his mission. Babies were fragile in space and it would be more than his life was worth to fail this mission. //It should have been far easier than this to bring the pair to heel. Had the proper ground work been laid it simply would have required my men to walk in, announce our presence and intention and place the man in confinement. The terra forming team might have thought about questioning us, but I very much doubt that anyone on the team actually would have had the courage to front us. It might have been necessary to confine Noin, of course, until the Wellington arrived and we departed. It should not have become a blood bath.// His eyes flicked from the view of the base that overlooked the massive bulk of the two most recently constructed hydroponics domes and beyond them to the distant original dome used to produce the teams food. Aesthetically not the most pleasing view, admittedly, but at least he did have a good clear view of a wide expanse of the main assembly area, and that allowed him to keep watch without fearing that someone could sneak up on them. Sneaking up on the Shuttle Control Tower was almost impossible, he reflected, and that was one of the primary reasons he had chosen this tower. No building was closer than fifty yards. The designers had been aware of the need for space in the main terra forming dome. They had built the Base Dome to be spacious, the original designers knowing the need to give space to the future inhabitants and the need for massive storage of building materials in the early days of construction. There was also the small matter of relieving the problem of claustrophobia that was part and parcel of living in enclosed environments. The great dome above his head was tiny compared to the massive enclosed city under the Alpha Dome, but the lessons learned in the constructing of the Base Dome had allowed the Alpha Dome to be raised and the Mars Colony to be a success. The closest thing Base Dome had to a park was the recycling dome, Hydroponics Dome Three. The Alpha Dome was graced with no less than ten massive parks, not counting the food production domes and the massive rainforest dome that acted in the same manner as HD Three. They had learned their lessons in the construction of the base dome, and they had channeled all of their new knowledge into the Alpha system. It was a pity that it was going to be necessary to damage a goodly portion of the domes. It was going to be necessary to kill so many and destroy so much because the ground work had not been laid. Merquise should never have been permitted so much freedom. He should never have been allowed to become a part of the team. He was, after all, a prisoner and not even the illusion of freedom should have been permitted. //I should have been able to walk in, get a report on the last years of his confinement and then walk out with the children and the man in my custody. It should have been that simple. If things had been done properly. Then, too, Noin should not have been permitted in the same room with the man. Fraternization should never have been allowed.// If Merquise had been treated as a prisoner in the first place and if Merquise had been confined to a room or rooms and permitted an exercise regime that stated clearly his position here. Prisoner. But no, no that had not been the way it had happened. Merquise had been given the opportunity to make himself useful to the terra formers and had earned the run of the base. Oh, they assured him that he had been kept away from all vital systems, that he was allowed little in the way of computer access and no radio communications at all other than monitored communications with his sister, and that on very rare occasions. He believed Merquise had spoken to his sister only on three occasions in the time he had been on Mars. No. Correction. He had to get this right. Merquise had not spoken to his sister since he had departed from the Earth. The reports he had read stated that it had been Noin who had spoken to Ms Darlian, giving concise and very brief reports that her brother was well. Merquise had never actually been allowed to use the radio, even on those three occasions where he was slated to contact his sister, an assurance to her that he was alive and well. From their agents reports Merquise had not refused to contact her, instead Noin had found a means on each occasion to have him otherwise occupied and taken the calls herself. //Pushy bitch. Overprotective too. Rather a frightening woman, that one. I wonder why he permitted her to go as far as he did? Maybe the psyche reports are right. He is insane. Then again, I have no real means by which to judge him, as yet. He may have actually asked her to speak to his sister for him. Surely he would not have appreciated the performance the brat put on when they met in Preventer Headquarters. Bloody Harpy. Weird family.// The most contact the Vice Foreign Minister had had with her brother since he had departed from Earth had been video footage, dated and timed, to prove that he was alive and well. The video footage and Noin's brief, bluntly worded reports had been designed to ensure that the Minister knew that the ESUN Security Agency had not loosened their control of the situation. It was made clear to her that they could close their fingers around the situation very quickly indeed should she over step the boundaries they set about her. His eyes swept the tarmac that surrounded the tower and he tried to ignore the bloody glow that bathed everything. It was functional here on Mars. Everything was functional, nothing purely decorative existed here, he was certain. He had noted nothing that was not functional in some manner, even to the garden dome. Water filtration and oxygen generation as well as a psychological respite from the metallic shell they all lived within, was served by the existence of HD Three. A door slammed deeper in the building, followed by two others in quick succession and he sighed. The red-haired Harpy was still on the prowl, searching for her most desired prey. The door behind him was flung open and then slammed with undue force and he ground his teeth together as he turned, piercing McIntyre with a glare. Since their return to the control tower the woman had been bumbling around looking for Noin, determined to exact revenge on her. He watched her sweep the control room with a fiery glare, noting all the little signs that her psyche training was falling apart into uncontrollable rage. It happened quite often in the ranks of the psyche conditioned operatives, especially if the psyche training had been to sink the killer psyche deep. The Sleepers on Mars had been affected by the stresses of the isolation and hardships associated with the construction of a new colony. That now activated conditioning was not coping well with the changes wrought since the conditioning had been set so many years before. In some cases the conditioning had been set more than a decade in the past. To his knowledge none of the psychiatrists who had frequented Mars had been trained by the ESUN Security division to monitor, maintain or adjust psyche conditioning. It was a sure fire recipe for disaster. He stirred when her eyes settled on the door leading to a maintenance room where spare components for the control stations were kept. That would not do. He needed to turn her attention away from there. “I told you to keep out of here, McIntyre. We can not afford to have you delay the work being done here. It is delicate work and it takes long enough to perform it without having you disrupt my man. Get out.” Shanna McIntyre spun and glared at him, red hair wild and eyes spitting fire. In the time since they had come to the shuttle control tower she had searched the building from top to bottom and she had found no sign of the bitch that had strung her up and made her hurt as she had never hurt before. She owed a debt and she would pay that debt of pain in full. Just as soon as she found the bitch who had dared think herself better than Shanna McIntyre. “Where is she? Where is that bitch? I know she is here somewhere.” “The lady is safely out of your reach, my dear. I have already informed you that I have a use for Ms Noin, that does not include your revenge. Until I am finished with her, you will not touch her.” “Oh, I won't touch her. Not yet.” her eyes glistened a bright blue green, sly and very unattractive. Simpson grunted and shook his head, nodding to the door she had so recently slammed. “You will leave the control room and kindly perform your little search elsewhere. We are rather busy here and if you can not make yourself useful to us, then you will kindly make yourself scarce. Until we have a need that requires your presence, I do not wish to see you. However, since you are here now, you can give me your progress report. Have you reached any of your people?” Frazier shifted amid his nest of wires and cables, tapping quickly on a keyboard, eyes flicking to the confrontation going on not too far from his position. Carefully he shifted his nest a little closer to the maintenance room door, careful not to draw her attention to his actions. By moving some strategically placed equipment just that few extra inches from his position and unobtrusively wiggling himself after the components, he effectively blocked her. McIntyre would have to go through the middle of his equipment to reach that door and he did not think she would dare to chance Simpson's anger. For all she was clearly insane she was smart enough to stay on the good side of the man. “I have made contact with five of my people.” she smiled, her attitude shifting from fire and revenge to cold professional in an instant. “And?” He hated dealing with psychos and this one was too changeable to be considered safe. “To date there are forty seven confirmed kills in the upper base, not including the Control Tower or the Shuttle Control Tower.” //And you would be proud of that, yes? Yes, you look like a cat that found a saucer of cream unguarded. You sicken me. Not a single honest kill in the entire slaughter, no doubt. Not matches between warriors, but sly, sneaking cold blooded murder.// “Your people have been busy.” his voice was dry and did not betray his displeasure or his disgust. He needed to remember that the bulk of these Sleeper agents were Psyche Conditioned and they needed very particular handling to manage them. There were a disturbing number of reports of conditioned agents killing their controllers. Those who were not conditioned to be cold blooded killers would have had natural tendencies along the same lines, to go into this line of work, he reflected. He was of the opinion that the confinement in the habitat domes was causing problems with the conditioning that no one on Earth involved with their assignment here had contemplated before. Everyone who lived in sealed environments went through claustrophobic tendencies that sent them somewhat mental at varying stages. Nor were the psychological problems confined to merely claustrophobia, though that was the most common ailment to rear its head. There were always a good number of psychologists amid the staff of sealed communities and everyone on the terra forming team would have had regular appointments to be assessed by the on site psychologists and also by rotated visiting psychologists. “Where are they at this time?” “Two of my people are in Hydroponics Dome Two, currently following your target.” her smirk was meant to be seductive, he was sure, but it came across as something else entirely. Something far from pleasant to look upon. “Yes, Merquise is there right now. It appears that he is headed for HD One, though what he could be intending to do there escapes me. He also appears to have found a side kick.” Simpson's eyes flashed, narrowing at the news and his gaze swept to the dome clearly visible through the window. So, Merquise was definitely on the surface and loose in the enviro dome, and had acquired company. That was disturbing considering the man's psyche profile suggested he would be likely to trust no one on Mars. Now who might have earned that type of trust and what experience might they have to call on? He did not like unknown elements. It was hard to plan for such unknowns. “Do you know who?” “Not at this time. My people did not recognize him, but when we gather them in we will be able to ask him a few questions. I personally can't see Merquise hooking up with just anyone. He's not known to be a trusting soul.” //Is it any wonder? From what I've heard he's been given little cause to trust anyone, even before he was dispatched to Mars. I would think that he would not even fully trust Noin, regardless of their history. Possessive bitch. She has kept him more effectively isolated from contact with the Terra Formers than his assigned jailers.// A flash, quick as a lightning strike. Blue light, there and then gone in an instant. So fast, in fact, that he wondered if he had not imagined it. He frowned, leaning his weight on the window sill, staring intently at the second of the big domes. He had been facing the dome directly and a quick glance at McIntyre suggested that she had noticed nothing. She seemed far more interested in edging towards Frazier and his pile of components. A smile twitched at his lips and died before she might notice. “Did you instruct your people to follow and not to approach him?” There was no repeat of the blue flash. The dome sat there, as it always had, bathed in the red glow of the emergency lights. He waited for her to comment on the flash, for if she had noted it she surely would be curious if he had seen anything. The only response from her he received was a grunt that might or might not have been an affirmative to his last question. //Somehow I think she is down an agent or perhaps two, but the question is how was it done? That flash of light … It was high up in the dome, I'm sure. In the scaffolding and the system pipes, perhaps? If it was her people taking Merquise or his new friend down, then they surely would be sending word of their success by now. // “You had best ensure that your agents understand to keep their distance from Merquise. I have a plan to bring him to us when I am ready for him. Then we can snare him.” “Don't think that for an instant I have forgotten about Noin. She is mine. When we get Merquise I get Noin.” He chuckled softly, turning from the window and smiling. He was sure there would be no repeats of the flash of light. Whatever it was, it had done its work and one way or the other, events had moved on. If Merquise and his companion had taken out their hunters, then they would not be inclined to linger over their kill. “Now how could I possibly think that you would forget Ms Noin? You might want to check on your agents in HD Two. I would think that if they get too close to Merquise he is likely to be a little violent with them. I will thank you to keep out of the control room until Frazier has the panels reassembled and we are ready. These interruptions are delaying the work and we are pushed for time.” “How long before it is ready?” McIntyre glanced at the man on the floor, surrounded by a nest of wires and delicate tools. “Another thirty minutes or so. Of course, if there are no interruptions then less time will be required.” Simpson returned. //Now why don't you be a good little psychopath and run along and talk to your people, hmm? Then you can learn that you have lost another one or two and you will have another reason to freak out and ruin my day.// “How do you intend to use Noin?” her voice turned soft and sultry, her stance altering from threat to seductive display of her bodies charms in an instant. //Saints, spare me. It's a bit late to try seduction, don't you think? Just stop batting your eyelids at me, woman. I always thought that was a ridiculous thing for women to do. So obviously transparent. So false.// Regardless, he responded with a smile intent on keeping her settled and out of Frazier's hair while that delicate work continued. “I intend to use Ms Noin to trap Merquise, of course. It stands to reason that he will come for her, but I want him to come when I am ready. He will accept my invitation to a little party I am arranging at the appropriate time. Now would you leave us to get on with this work? Time is precious, my dear.” A disdainful and most unladylike sniff and Shanna McIntyre almost oozed out the door, eyes flashing, slender body poised and flowing with a deadly grace. Simpson repressed a shudder as the door slammed behind her. She was losing it. Whatever conditioning she had been given was undergoing changes, and they were not going to be pleasant changes. She must have been halfway psychotic when she was chosen for this type of work, he reflected. There was a history of that type of conditioning breaking down and leaving the recipients of it dangerous to all living things. He could see the signs in her and he had no doubt that she would become a killer, unmoved by any emotion except hate. Her kind grew to hate everything that moved and breathed. Eventually there would not even be a reason required for her to kill. It would simply please her to bathe herself in the blood of others. //I think I will need to take out Ms McIntyre before very much longer.// “Frazier?” He turned to his tech expert and grinned seeing the migration of component parts back to their original location, leaving a clear path to the maintenance room door. “Fifteen minutes, Sir.” He strode over to the door, punching in the key code that Frazier had programmed in to the electronic lock before they had left the control tower in search of McIntyre. It had taken precious time to install and program the independent lock, but he had been determined to keep his precious key safe. He pulled the door open, leaning through the door and smirked. /Comfy, Ms Noin? I don't think I will need to worry about you for a little while yet. You are going nowhere for a long time.// He knelt beside the body shivering on the floor, reaching to rest fingers along the slender neck, reading her pulse and he frowned. Erratic, but as yet not too dangerous. Considering the reports he had read and the tests on the subjects he had witnessed, she was taking this rather well, but he could not afford to lose her just yet. Her temperature was high and her pulse could have been steadier, but as yet he did not think it too dangerous. She was not likely to die within the next hour or two. They had time. //I had best check on her a little more frequently, though. The most dangerous phase of the recovery period is now approaching, where most of the test subjects died. While I do not particularly care if you die, Noin, I do care about when you die. Brace up, my dear. Prince Charming will be along soon to rescue you, and when he comes, the wicked Sorcerer will snare him.//
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