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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"
Chapter 89 Mars Colony Base Dome Time: 21:40 [Approx 19:30 Sanc time] Zechs “Oh fuck.” Blue eyes widened in sudden flaring panic at that softly uttered curse from the adjacent room. A flood of memory surged to the fore, escaping his carefully constructed retaining walls, blocking out the here and now and filling his mind with the sight of the blood smeared room lighted by the harsh glare of the naked fluorescent light. Flesh stripped from limbs once firm and strong yet soft and gentle, dark hair now dripping with the blood that ran free. Ankles tied together, the rope tied securely to the top most shelf, wrists bound cruelly, hanging limp with her death. Her murderer had not touched her face. Not yet. Her grisly work had been restricted to the lithe body that he knew so well, but the blood was everywhere and that beautiful face was contorted in agony, no longer the face that he knew. She had not died easily. “No. No, it must not be. It will not be.” He tore himself from that haunting glimpse of possible event, the whisper one of denial and Zechs left the doorway. “Giles is here now. It has to make a difference.” The presence of the Raider which had made so much difference up until now was not, he knew, a guarantee that Lucrezia Noin would survive. To hope that in this instance the Raider could make a difference beyond being company for him at the grisly discovery was childish in truth. The man had not featured in the interaction between Noin and McIntyre after all, and to effect any change he would have needed to have taken an active part in the proceedings. Giles was not a guarantee that events could be changed and as much as he longed for it to be true, he knew that he entertained false hope. It was very possible indeed that Giles had found Noin strung up and skinned within the confines of that room and that the man simply did not want to tell him that she was there. He needed to face the grim truth and get past it. Some things he just could not change. The chill metal of the door was under his hands but he could not force himself through the gap that Giles had managed to fit through and he could not even see into the darkened room. He pushed ineffectually at the door, internally screaming in rage that he was too large to force himself through the narrow aperture. He had to reach Noin. He had to know for certain that she was dead and he had failed their children. “Giles?!” He leaned against the chill metal, ignoring the biting cold, almost sobbing in denial and growing rage. “Hang on. I'm a bit busy here just now. Look, is there any chance that you could move the door a little wider for me? I know its going to be awkward but I am not going to have a chance of getting Noin out of here if we can't widen the gap or, better yet, get the door fully opened and believe me, we have to get her out. Soon. It's like a freezer in here.” The man's voice sounded preoccupied, but steady and confident and Zechs froze, waiting to hear confirmation of the death of his lover. Slowly the words began to make sense through the fog of fear that pervaded his senses. '...we have to get her out.' “Noin.” he breathed, hope stirring deep within where a solid ball of ice had been growing in the fog of fear. Was it... dare he believe it was possible? “She … Is she alive?” He could hear movement within the room, the sounds of rustling and a rhythmic sound that was very faint, just on the edge of his perceptions. An odd sound, very slow, very soft. Almost like the rhythm of a tap with a slow drip. Very faint, ominous and suggestive of that option he desperately wanted to deny. “Yeah. Yes she is alive, but I don't know for how much longer. I know enough to know that it is dangerous to move her if there is the chance she is still in Astral form. To move her body could break the link between her physical self and her astral form, her soul or what every you want to call it. I would leave her right here if I dared too, but there is no doubt that the cold would finish her off. It is unnaturally cold in here, but we have no time to figure out what the hell went on in here between these two. First thing is first and we have to chance moving her. Try to get the door open.” The words wove around him, not making sense, but he worked on them, forcing himself to concentrate. Two. Giles suggested there were two people in the room. In his vision there had been only Noin. Dare he hope? “Giles? Noin is alive? Who is in there with you? Talk to me.” he was close to begging and he had to pull himself together. Losing control was not going to help the Raider get Noin out of that room but he had to know and the man was being cryptic. He just needed some straight answers to make sense of it all. “Noin is alive. McIntyre is dead. That's all that I can tell you just now.” //Alive. She is alive. Giles said she is alive. It's not the same. It is not my nightmare renewed. She is alive.// he had to regain control of his shaking hands and concentrate on getting the door open. -------------------- Giles Within the confines of the maintenance room Giles set the small torch he used down beside the body on the floor and knelt over the dark-haired woman who was curled into a fetal position, bloodied hands clasped to her head, fingers constricted into fists, grasping black hair. Her body was stained with blood though on his initial examination it appeared not to be her own, the explosion of the spare parts in the room seemed to have miraculously spared her. To his less frantic and more detailed examination he noted a faint fluttering heart beat and the barest rise and fall of her breasts, but her skin was ice cold to touch and when he touched her he could feel the smallest of tremors continually shook her curled body. “Looks like you found that something extra locked deep within, Ms Noin. You have been a very lucky lady, I think. Luckier than others.” His gaze shifted to the body suspended from and impaled by the twisted remnants of what once had been metal shelving and he could not help but wince at the sight. Shanna McIntyre was a bloody mess, her body impaled not only by the ripped and twisted shelving but by dozens of metallic and glass fragments that had ripped into her with such force that she had had parts of her body severed by the shrapnel. The metal shelving that trapped her in no manner now resembled shelving, being bent and twisted with the ease he would twist thin grade wire with his hands. Blood continued to pool beneath the corpse in slow, steady drips a faint background noise that sent shivers up his spine unrelated to the chill in the room. //I do not want to be here, but I have to admit that it is better me than anyone else on Mars. Who amid the terra formers would have a hope of understanding what went on in here? Who of the team would suspect what it was that strung her up like that?// His attention returned to Noin, and he wiped the blood from her face carefully, seeking some sign of injury and finding none. He was convinced that the blood covering Noin had to be McIntyre's, as did the blood that was sprayed liberally around the room. The red head's body had been violently impacted by the flying shrapnel that had filled the room, powered by whatever force had twisted the metal shelving into deformed pretzels. McIntyre had not died easily for all that he assumed it would have been a quick way to go. If not for the vivid red hair he might have had a difficult time in identifying her as her face was barely recognizable, so battered had it been by the missiles made up of spare computer components. //God Almighty, give me strength to see this day out and please keep her out of the equation from now on.// He discarded the blood soaked cloth he had been using to wipe her face, reaching for another from his first aid kit at his waist. //You had best stay unconscious woman. I know full well that I can not contain you if you have this much potential and I have nothing strong enough on me to put you out. How do I deal with you and with him as well? He will not understand what happened in here. It is likely to push him over the edge and I do not need to have to deal with two of you in crisis.// Under his fingers he felt the faint pulse flutter and deciding that thinking about disaster happening was only going to invite it, he ripped off his jacket using it to wrap around Noin as best he could. It was really only a gesture as the jacket was inadequate to the task of warming her, and he would need to do far more than this if he was to stabilize her. He once had been a reasonable field medic, a skill left over from his training with the military that he treasured but he was a poor medic compared to the needs Lucrezia Noin now demanded. He would be able to find basic first aid kits within the tower but she was certainly going to be needing more than just basic attention, especially if his theory of what had happened in this room was correct. He would need to get her safely sedated as quickly as possible. //How do I explain what has happened in here to Zechs in words that he will understand? Christ, he is close enough to having a break down as it is. Ah, woman, we need to get you out of here, but moving you is a dangerous risk to your physical health, not to mention your astral self. Are you still out of body? There is no way that I can know for certain. I am sorry, but it is a risk that I have to take. I hope that you are back in your body because moving you if you are not could break the tether that links you. I wish I knew more, but I'm not trained as a medic for psychics who have gone into overdrive. I have seen something similar to this once before, but I have to admit it was not quite the same thing.// he scrubbed at his face with his hands, trying to still the trembling, hoping it was just the cold that was so affecting him and not some unknown aspect of this woman's talent. // God, you must have been terrified … or you were in one hell of a rage to have sparked off an explosion of psionic force of this magnitude. Kinetic force did this. It is the only force that I know is strong enough to bend steel like that and not leave evidence of an explosion.// “Giles? Is she alright?” There was the edge of panic in that voice and Giles well understood that he was pushing the man closer to the threshold of insanity by his continued silence, but what was he to say to him? How was he to make the man understand what it was that had happened in here? How would he react if he saw the wreckage Noin had left of Shanna McIntyre? How did he find the words to explain how it was possible when he was not a Master, merely a student himself who just happened to find himself in the worst possible situation? //I can not lie to him. Above all I must not lie. He will be able to see for himself just how bad Noin is when we get her out of here and there is nothing that I can do about that. I need his help to get her out of here and find a place to hide her and get her comfortable. None of us can stay in this tower for any length of time, it is just too dangerous, but where would be safe? All that I can do is hope that he is capable of keeping himself together. // It did not help that he did not know Lucrezia Noin at all, beyond knowing the obvious, who she was and that she shared quarters with Zechs Merquise. He knew nothing of her medical history or of her psychological profile and as for personal history he knew that she had come to Mars with Zechs, unwilling to lose contact with him and that she had been determined to win her way into the man's life in all ways. She was an ex-OZ soldier, an instructor at one time who turned rebel toward the latter stages of the One Year War and that more recently she had been a Preventer agent before coming to Mars with Merquise. He knew the scuttle butt that circulated around the station that suggested strongly that Merquise had not actually invited her into his bed, but he had heard so many rumors about the private lives of the couple that he was certain that no one besides Noin and Merquise actually knew the truth of their relationship. What he did know was that Merquise did care for her and deeply. //I doubt it is what he wanted, but Raydon is going to have to accept that she is going to be going to Station One with Marquise. There is no way that she can be left here, as powerful as she obviously is. I wonder if she did force him to accept her in his bed? I've heard that strong telepaths can do that, but it is tantamount to rape if she did and that will not go down well on Station. Still, if she had no idea of what she was capable of doing then it is confirmation that she can not be left here, untrained. Simply saying she is a danger to herself and to everyone around her while she is untrained does not even begin to cover the trouble she could be in if she should lose control again. If she recovers from this, of course. Why can't life be simple? Why do there always have to be these complications?// “Giles?” “No, she is not really what you would call alright. She is in shock from whatever it was that happened in here, but I think there is more than that we have to consider. I honestly do not think that we should move her, but we can not leave her here and we can not get a medical team to her. What she needs is to be in the hospital, but we will need to do the best that we can considering the circumstances involved. Are you making any progress with that door?” “I'm … getting there.” the answer was soft, almost hesitant. Giles stilled, almost freezing with the surge of fear that quiet reply roused within him. He glanced at the door and chewed at his lower lip considering what he knew of his companion. Merquise was not one to hesitate, nor was he one to stand quietly at the door and do nothing when it was clear that there was an urgent need, but Giles could not hear any sounds of movement from beyond the room. Nothing that suggested the man was moving let alone struggling with that steel plug they needed shifted. “Zechs?” There was only silence, no answer responded to his question and he heaved himself up from Noin's side and slipped to the door, his unease growing. “Zechs?” “I can't feel her.” a whisper. The man was standing beside the twisted ruin of the door, his hands resting at his temples, fingers massaging his skull and his blue eyes looking distant and glazing over. A spike of fear shot through Giles and with a muffled curse he threw himself at the gap in the door, unmindful of his own safety as he hurled himself at Zechs. “Don't you dare lose it on me now, you bastard! We have come too far together for you to trip out on me now!” It was pure reflex and Giles never even saw the blow that took him down. He had known in some remote, far off corner of his mind that it was not a good idea to attack Zechs Merquise, especially when the man was strung out and exhausted, but his only concern was to force him to retain control or knock him out by taking drastic action. With the explosion of pain in his chest cold clarity returned to Giles and he prayed that it had not been a killing blow, though his chest certainly felt that it could not stand him drawing so much as a single breath ever again. He was vaguely aware of steel like fingers gripping his neck and a small voice somewhere deep within himself that called him all sorts of names for being an ass. He had made the wrong move and he was about to pay for it unless he could come up with something very quickly. “You … feel … better?” he should have some great comment to make, a light witty response to the hammer blow to his chest and the fingers constricting his throat, but that was the very best that he could do for now. As a last comment for posterity it was in fact, pretty shitty. His vision dimmed, blackening quickly, turning deep red around the edges and shadowed in the center, deepening toward an approaching final darkness. His lungs did not seem to want to aid in drawing breath and all he wanted to do was lie down and rest. He was very tired and it seemed such a delightful idea because if he rested then the pain would simply go away. He could rest and sleep and when he woke he just knew that there was going to be no pain. //Stupid. Stupid thing to do. Should never have jumped the man. Never.// ------------------ Giles Cold. It was cold. Searing cold, burning icily through his nostrils and down into his lungs. With that awareness of the cold there came a light, dim but penetrating and it was an insistent sort of light. It demanded that he pay attention and with that demand for his attention there arose another awareness. The awareness of pain. There was a pain in what should have been his chest and yet it seemed to be some strange, remote appendage that mistakenly thought it belonged to him. If he ignored it, it would go away, he was certain of that, but with that certainty came a question. He? Who was He? Who was it that was in pain? Who was it that had slivers of ice carving a way through his chest and settling somewhere deep within. Him? Was it … Who was... No, that was wrong. There was something wrong about this awareness. He was … He had a name. Yes, there was a name to go with the awareness and it should not be so hard to think and identify himself. He. He was … Giles. Yes, but not quite right. There should be more to that mystery and to why ice was coursing through him, bringing with it the awareness of pain and was there a voice? Something whispering close at hand? Yes, his name. Haydon Giles and there was some thing else about Haydon Giles that he should remember. Something important that he must remember and never forget again. If he concentrated enough he should remember it. “Giles? Sorry. I'm so sorry. Please breathe.” //Giles? Yeah. Me. I hurt.// thoughts trickled into consciousness and he cringed at the returning awareness. //I hurt and I should be … dead? I made … made … a mistake?// “I'm sorry. I lost control and that is unforgivable. Please wake up. Don't let me have killed you.” Why did he hurt? Where did all of that pain come from? That voice … whispering softly very close to him. Something was... Hands. Hands were touching him … that would be an arm that was being touched and what was that sharp prick and crawling in his veins? Was something covering his face? //Injection. I have been given a shot, but of what? Who would …?// “Giles? I'm sorry. I never meant to do this. God, we don't have the time to make such stupid mistakes. I'm sorry. I need you. I need you to keep me sane. Noin needs you. Everyone on the bloody base needs you.” Base? He was on Station One … No, that just felt wrong. The voice was wrong, too for Station One. That voice belonged elsewhere. So something else then and why did a little voice somewhere that he associated as being within himself continually call him a fool? He did know the voice that whispered somewhere near him, but it did not belong to him nor did it belong to anyone on Station One that he knew. So …who was it and where was he? “Giles? Please, we don't have much time. They could be back at any time. They might be back now. I have not dared check. Please, I need you to wake up.” Something in that husky whisper triggered memory and his eyes snapped open together with a deep reviving arctic breath of air into tortured lungs. The blast of cold in his lungs set him to gasping for air, one hand raised weakly to hold the mask he could feel to his face and icy cold oxygen blasted his face, and was sucked into his nostrils. He was aware enough now to know his need and to open his mouth and suck in more of the wonderful gas that his body needed so much. Coughing and choking in his need he felt arms encircle him and lift him gently until he was leaning against a warm body, strong arms cradling him, hands pressed to his forehead and over his burning chest. “Giles? How do you feel? No, scratch that, you probably feel like shit. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I lost control and that is unforgivable in a commander.” Memory flooded back, expanding his awareness of how and when. Also why. Memory of one of the most desperate and stupid moves of his career danced before him, taunting him with the idiocy of his action. Did he have a secret death wish he had not realized before today? He must have, he reflected, because only someone who wanted to die would have been stupid enough to leap at a strung out and hyper aware Zechs Merquise. “Fine.” he managed the one word, wincing at the rasp that issued from his throat. More of a croak than an actual word. //Jesus. He must have strangled me.// A momentary flash of steel like fingers wrapped around his throat. //Why am I not dead?// “I have given you a stimulant and it should kick in soon and the painkillers too. I am sorry. After everything that you have done, for me to turn on you like that …” More memories were flooding back and he could remember the dark room lighted by his torch and the two women within that room. He had been concerned with getting Noin out of that room and stabilized when he had panicked and forgotten good common sense in favor of making an attempt to win the award for the best demonstration of rank stupidity of AC 198. “Did … you get … the door open?” “Yes. It's open.” a whisper near his ear and a strand of white blonde hair fell over his face as the man supporting him shifted, turning to look at something behind him. “I have taken Noin out of the room. She is beside you, on the couch. I …I don't know what to do for her, but I have done what I can. I know basic first aid, but she seems to need … so much more.” “Yeah.” Memories continued to return in a flood and he could remember only too well the bloodied and broken shelving and the battered impaled body of the red headed agent. Memory of what he suspected had happened in that room and with it the knowledge that he was the only trained psychic on Mars and he had two fledglings in break out and both of them were more than just a little dangerous. What had he done to deserve a day like this? He sought and found crystal blue eyes that met his and winced, noting that those eyes were too wide, the pupils slightly dilated and the man's face was too pale. The tremble in the body that held him, the dilated pupils and the memory of that room and knowledge that Merquise had been in there all added up to Merquise being more dangerous than ever. It seemed a miracle that Zechs seemed to have realized what he was doing and regained control of himself before he actually killed. //Will this day never end? Ah, my chest hurts. He must have broken a couple of ribs when he hit me. Next time I decide to slap someone's face to bring them back from the edge of hysteria, do me a favor and remember this, Giles old son. Remember it and how it hurts and don't repeat the mistake. I thought I was dead. I thought he had lost it and maybe he was not so far gone as I had feared.// “My fault. Water?” He needed to keep the man calm and focused and he needed a little time to steady himself and find out what his physical restrictions now were. He needed a drink, both to ease the pain in his throat and to wash out the foul taste in his mouth. He desperately wanted to sooth his throat and his breathing was coming a lot easier now, the gasps turning to deeper, more regular breaths. His heart no longer threatened to leap from his chest and he was more aware of the man who held him, of the hands that pressed a water bottle to his lips and steadied it as he sipped, almost cringing with the pain as he swallowed. Small sips and swallows and little gasps of pain, and a few minutes of languishing against that warm body, giving himself the chance to allow the medication to work and gradually the pain receded. The painkillers were helping to make him feel more human and less like a ball of agony and the stimulant was returning strength to his limbs. //That is good. I feel stronger. We are going to have to get out of here, where ever here is. I am not sure that I recognize this room.// He took the time to glance about at his surroundings noting that they appeared to be in a small room, an office of some kind. The desk had been pushed up against the door across from where he lay, and he was supported by the body of his partner who was leaning against a couch. By twisting a little he saw that on the couch was the curled up body of Lucrezian Noin, now wrapped in a variety of coats and an oxygen mask covering her face. Two cylinders of oxygen were next to him, one feeding him the life giving gas and the other no doubt feeding Noin the same. He recalled that her body temperature had been too low when she had been within that room and he struggled up to sit without needing support as he remembered his theory on what had happened in that maintenance room. His hand groped for one of hers, seeking to read her pulse as Zechs steadied him, propping him more comfortably against the couch. “Where are we?” “In one of the offices on the ground floor of the Shuttle Control Tower. I brought you down here then I went back for Lucrezia.” Zechs pressed the bottle of water into his hands and began to chew on a sandwich. He chewed slowly and swallowed carefully, as though he feared he would bring the food straight back up. Giles considered the bottle cupped in his hands, sipped again, relieved that the pain in his throat seemed to ease with each swallow. “How long was I out?” Zechs blushed, a flood of colour that considerably improved the look of him, especially when the colour stayed in his cheeks, fading only a little. “You were out for about half an hour since …” he shrugged, a slight lifting of his right shoulder and he motioned to the door. “They are in the building, I think. Well, I am sure that someone is in the building. The lock down has been released so someone is here.” “How long ago was that?” “Just before you woke up.” Zechs began to rifle through his pouches when he finished the last of the sandwich and offered one to Giles. “I'm not sure your stomach will be up to it, but at least take it with you when we leave. Who knows when we will get the chance to eat again? I pretty much cleaned out the rest lounge of food, not that there was much there.” “Thanks. It is definitely not good if we no longer have the tower to ourselves.” Giles agreed, shifting to kneel carefully beside the couch and take the pulse of the unconscious woman, this time grasping her wrist and feeling the flutter of her heart beat. “Still alive” “Yes, but she is very weak. I can't wake her up.” Zechs produced a knife from his pouches and proceeded to rip the carpet toward the centre of the room. “It is a good thing that you did not wake her. Believe me, we do not want her to wake up, Zechs. Not until we can get her to a safe location and make a few preparations and then it will be to put her back out again, under strong sedatives.” he was going to have to explain to this man just what he suspected. Trying to keep the information to himself could possibly land him in trouble with the blonde again and he was not keen on having Zechs turn on him. Besides, it was obvious that the man was not unstable at the present time and Giles was well aware that he was going to have to rely on Zechs to handle the situation. “I believe that Noin was riding a psychic high and that she lost control. I think that woman may have been going to kill her and Noin panicked.” “She was going to skin her alive.” Zechs murmured, widening the hole he was making in the carpet. “Maybe.” Giles turned from Noin and eyed Zechs for a moment, watching the destruction of the carpet with narrowed eyes. “I think that she lost control of her psychic abilities in … an instinctive … What are you doing?” “What I have to do, which is getting us out of here, unseen. We can not leave this room by the door and I can't handle Noin on my own anyway, not with the condition I am in. It will take both of us to get her through the vents.” He crawled around the couch, fussing over some equipment out of Giles's line of sight. Giles closed his eyes, suppressing the sigh. Well, maybe Zechs was not quite so grounded as he appeared to be. “Zechs, there are no vents in the floors, man. You are a little confused. In shock, I'd say and you should just sit down for a while and have something else to eat and drink. Take the chance to rest while you can. By the time someone comes through that door we will both be better able to defend ourselves.” “I am actually rather sane at the moment, Giles, thanks to your effort to slap me back to reality. Almost killing a man who does not deserve it has much the same effect as a bath in ice water on me. At least it was sufficient to bring me back to my senses before I finished the job. No, there are no vents in the floor but there are vents running under the floor of this room. I told you that I probably know the dome and its systems better than most people now living at the base and I was not exaggerating. This tower was built partially over the site of the original control room. Parts of the same foundations for the control centre were used in the construction of this tower, but the lower level was sealed off when this tower was built. I believe that the ducting system should still be intact. I found no records of it being removed and if that is the case then it links to vents in the shuttle bay.” “Noin needs to be in a hospital, under professional care. Being dragged through musty old air vents is not exactly safe, but it has to be better than being stuck here, I will agree with that. Isn't the floor concrete though? How do you intend to get through that?” “Not concrete but a plastic compound only a few inches thick. The blue prints of the changes to the old building and the new tower they were intending to build that I saw, said that they were using a plastic compound so that in the event of opening up the old lower level they would have easy access. Only this room and the one on the left of us are over the lower level of the old tower.” Giles nodded his understanding, moving from the couch to strip the carpet from the floor in the general area Zechs had been working. The flooring beneath the carpet proved to be plastic and he grinned when he glanced up to discover that Zechs had produced a blow torch and gas cylinder and was making the last of the connections. “Put the oxygen mask back on. This will give off toxic fumes and we do not have exactly great ventilation in here.” “Where did you get the oxygen from?” Giles did as instructed, donning the mask and turning on the flow of oxygen as Zechs did likewise with a third tank and mask. “There are emergency stores on the fourth floor of the tower. There is also a mini med bay there, standard feature in the control towers since the buildings can be sealed off should the dome ever be breached. I brought down the three sets of tanks and the medicines I used on you and Noin. The oxygen should last us while we move through the air vents, until we reach the shuttle bay.” Merquise, quite frankly, amazed him. Gone was the man who was wobbly on his legs, weakened by the trials the day had already presented him with. Giles was astounded that he seemed to be over that weakness that had hit him when Noin had made her attempt to contact him and that now he appeared to be as stable as Giles had ever known him to be since arriving on Mars. He slipped out of the way, moving the oxygen tanks well out of the way as Zechs fired the oxy-welder, adjusted the flame and assaulted the floor. The plastic gave off acrid fumes in abundance, black smoke quickly filling the air, but the material melted quickly away from the heat and Giles could not restrain the grin. This was not going to take very long at all to cut through and he checked that Noin's mask remained securely in place while Zechs began to trace a circle with the blue flame. A sickly yellow flame flared from the plastic, following the path of the cutting tool before sputtering out in dark smoky puffs, leaving sharp edged plastic with a respectable burnt edged in its wake. It took only a couple of minutes for Zechs to cut a circle large enough for his body to fit through. The centre of the circle dropped through the hole as the last of the plastic melted and Giles heard only a faint thud as it impacted on something beyond his sight. The blonde dragged ripped sections of the carpet over to the hole and draped sections of it over the edges of the hole to offer some protection from the jagged edges and then lowered himself carefully through, the oxy-welder still in hand. “I'll cut into the vent making a large enough hole to get us into the system. When I am done, you will need to pass Noin down to me. Bring the rope beside the couch as you will need to tie her to me, then we go through the vent to the shuttle bay. Bring the oxygen. We will need that as these vents have been sealed too long.” The man seemed to be efficiency itself, and he certainly had given this escape some thought, but Giles knew that the further they moved Noin the more danger they placed her in. She needed professional medical help and while they dragged her around the base they exposed themselves to added danger. “We really need to find a place for her to be secured, Zechs. She can not take too much of this moving around.” A billow of smoke and light emerged from the hole and it was not until Zechs had cut a large enough hole to satisfy himself that they could enter the vent system with the equipment they needed that he responded to Giles's concerns. “The Emergency Rescue Shuttle should be in bay three, Giles. It has a fully self contained emergency life support system on board and is fully stocked at all times. I thought we could leave her there, in the life support capsule they have on board.” t.b.c.
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