บท 91: A Trellis of Flowers
Narrator: After Colony, 198. With Quatre Raberba Winner figuring out Dorothy is alive, he arrived to Earth to find three new travelers. Eager to take them back, he knows that he must do what he can to take down whatever is left of Revenge of the Lost to free them all for good. Meanwhile, RTL has now sunk it's teeth into the other pilots, and Heero is coming to understand just what is waiting at the end for their loved ones.
Quatre, the only pilot in a place of RTL, is the only one who can make any deal to save the people they care about now. But, will he come to regret his decision?
Quatre's phone was ringing off the hook as he safely got Dorothy and the twins into an emergency shuttle. "Here, just in case something happens." He shoved some money on the side of Zara's carrier.
"You're an idiot," Dorothy warned him. "You're the biggest idiot." She grabbed the money from the carrier and held it tightly. "Go throw your life away, so many others already have."
"I have to check out that base," Quatre insisted. "I'll be straight up after you later. My people will be right there waiting for you. They already know you have memory loss. It's gonna be okay. You'll get everything back, I know it."
"People can't be trusted! Your people and people in general!" she warned him.
"I know, but I have to do this." He had to help however he could. That was a main base where Crystalia and Superior had been. There had to be information in there that could turn this around.
"I just want to stay me. I just want to keep what I have. I'm not going to wish for anything else. It'd hurt too much. Go," she commanded. "Absolute moron."
"I still care for you too." He got up and headed out toward the base address she gave. The code to get inside. She didn't want to, she wanted to get out and for him to come with her.
Not because she cared. She didn't really remember him a lot, but because he had money like she used to have, and her life wasn't safe to go straight to yet. Still, as cold as it sounded, it wasn't.
Because there was something else. Something in her looks. In her gestures. Hiding in her communication. There was something more inside of there that was risking something, that she really did want to help. She just didn't know how to.
Emergency Area 41
When Quatre went in, there were no alarms or anything. He saw a woman just putting together a puzzle. A really young kid's puzzle. She looked toward him, but didn't sound any alarms. Just smiled. "Hello! I am Aquamarine."
Not good, but Dorothy mentioned her. If they left, why was she there? He continued down the way as she went back to concentrating on her puzzle.
"I went from six to twelve!" she yelled at him proudly.
Oh boy. Quatre ignored her and continued on his way, checking for any traps. None so far. It was a decent sized place, but vacant. Once he got past the front, he found a hangar area. "Oh. Hey, Sandrock." He moved into the room. "Deathscythe. Shenlong. Heavyarms. Wing Gundam. Wing Zero. Tallgeese. Just a big old party over here." He looked around them.
Still, no alarms. No one knew or cared he was there. He noticed a lot of flowers over in the corner next to Heavyarms. Lots of flowers. They were strung up on a trellis randomly. Something significant about this. He went to actually check in the Sandrock. Yep. There were some original looking things in there that shouldn't be.
He went over to the control panel and looked at it. He dug around to it. This is all really strange. What are these meanings? The zero system shouldn't be like this. As he was coming down, he spotted his first person. Before drawing any kind of weapon, he took a closer look.
She could have been waiting there a bit. She was young, not as young as the little girl and boy Dorothy sent to him, but still no teenager. "I'm not here to hurt you," he said quickly. "Please don't be afraid."
She wasn't moving. Did she recognize him?
"I'm just looking for some friends. They may have been taken," he said honestly. "They are good people. Ladies, who mean a lot to me and my friends. Like, Platinum," he said. That generated a small shift in her.
"You're the Quatre pilot," she said. "The one who says sorry before you kill people and dresses the funniest."
"That's a description, I guess?" She didn't appear to be a threat, and she wasn't going to fetch anyone. "Who are you?"
"Blue Gemmy. It's not like . . ." She winced looking at the ceiling. "It's not a real gem name, but I don't know many gems. I just picked my favorite color and Crystalia let me use Gemmy."
"Oh. Is Crystalia here?" he asked slowly.
"No. Aquamarine and I are gonna be alone for about five days or so? Maybe three. Platinum should have been watching us after a mission, but they are mad at her, so."
Oh. That explained some of the feelings in Dorothy, but not all. "I can help you get some food?"
"I have food. I have to make it last," she said. "You killed a lot of people. What are you doing here?"
"I did kill," he admitted, "for a sort of peace. But, I refuse to do anything like that now. Why are you here? Is your mommy one of these members?"
"She was," Blue Gemmy answered. "She sent me here for safety. Crystalia said she passed on." She gestured to the flowers. "That's the ones that pass on. I forget what's what for colors. There's a big white board in the back."
"Then, I'd like to see this white board." Oh, this was a really good idea. I'm going to figure out everything about them, and make sure we get everyone back, and they never bother any of us again. Then, he had to get this girl out of here, and the other one. They were in no condition to just be alone for five days by themselves.
"You're not . . ." She was still not exactly wanting to talk to him much. "I'm a gem. You're not gonna hurt me?"
"No, I don't do that. Your mom sent you here for safety, probably from the law," he guessed as he got closer to the doorway she stood at. "RTL's been hurting my friends and I for old, old grievances that were taken in a war. People die in war. There's nothing we can do, a soldier that goes out, knows what's coming. I understand their pain. I understand yours, but staying like this? It's not good."
"Mom said one of you killed my dad," she said.
"In. War." He tried to be gentle. "I didn't come in here blasting off with a gun or anything. I don't want to hurt anyone innocent, and you're definitely in that category. You haven't done anything wrong. Even people who do wrong, we still haven't hurt any of you. Do you understand that?"
"I'm ten," she said. "A lot of the people in my mom's place are crazy."
Good, she saw that. He felt a small sigh give through.
"Not everyone though. I couldn't exactly take on a gundam pilot though. So? I'm gonna go to the front with Aquamarine. You can do whatever. After your done, if you want, you could get us some extra food?"
He could do more than that. "Sure."
"Oh. You're Platinum's boyfriend?"
Well? "I'm the dad to the twins," he admitted. "I'd never hurt Platinum or them."
"No, RTL would." She said it flat out. "White boards in the back. Offices are in the back."
Quatre watched her walk off. Okay, steady. He double checked his phone. Yep, more and more he was glad he silenced it. All of the guys were really reaching out. Trowa was asking if he had any clues where Middie could be. Wufei was clueless and yelling where Mei-Lin could be. Duo was just plain fact aggressive, so plain that it wasn't his style. Heero said Noin actually got involved in it, and?
And Heero said he wasn't doing good. Heero of all people saying that? This is seriously bad! Please, let there be some kind of answers in here to help. He saw the offices, but he also saw the big white board.
It had two sides. There were a lot of properties. Women's Shelters. Children's Hospitals. Oh.
This. This is what was hurting Dorothy. He flipped it over on the other side. The flowers.
He moved onto the offices. There was only one in use. In it, were folders and folders of properties, names, people, places. None of this is helping. He picked up a gigantic folder set that was sat down. Whoah! Crystalia.
Crystalia did care for her family. She had papers that were getting signed and even notarized for her properties to be willed to the entity of the circus. She even had some extra properties that went straight to Catherine, straight to Trowa, and straight to . . . "Alec is yours, Trowa." He placed the folder near his heart. "Your mom's heart is still in there somewhere."
He felt his phone vibrate several more times. Duo's frustration being all the way on Earth. Wufei's frustration he couldn't think of a place Mei-Lin could be kept. I'm trying guys. I really am.
He looked through more of her papers, and found some . . . a lot . . . of problems. He saw a phone that was left nearby too. Your heart is on your sleeve, Crystalia. He tried the password Triton on it, and it opened.
He had to try something. I am Quatre Raberba Winner. I am directly in the line of contact with a physical leader that may be able to do some good. I've spent years learning the business of running everything in the colonies. I have to do this. Some of the guys weren't even getting to them, while Heero was already contemplating ending everything again. Come on, answer. Answer!
"Hello?"
"Hello," he greeted them. "I'd like to talk to Crystalia." The phone was handed straight over.
"Who is this?"
"I want to make a deal," he said quickly. "Your people, for our people." Yeah, there was a rough sigh. "You've got a lot of flowers to fill on that trellis. A lot of innocent people are dying. I understand that, you saved everyone before. Our children were born safely because of you." That threw her off, he could hear it in her 'uh'?'. "There are a large number of lives hanging in the balance, Miss Crystalia Bloom. I know you had all these things set up before you went under. I'll help out everything for five people." No answer. "This isn't a trick, you hold all the cards, and you are ready to terminate the absolute minds of five women by the zero system. Five at the cost of all those people?"
"The hell was I so clueless to leave my stuff?" Crystalia was fuzzy. "Mm. It's . . . I don't run RTL, Superior does."
"You have some sway."
"She doesn't care about the loss of life. She'll kill for the candybar brand you eat. She'll kill for coughing in her presence. She'll kill because she thought your name was something else and she got embarrassed."
"Okay, but you do! You care. You helped out once. Even though it was underhanded and tricky, I get why you did it that way now." Bring her as much to his side as he could. "It saved Catherine. It saved Trowa. It even managed to save your grandson, Alec."
"The control panels are just a chance to see them before they change. It's just a gimmick. I needed something to make Superior happy, and this is all I knew."
Just a chance to see them before they change? "Isn't there some way-"
"No. Each pilot gets three hours to see them. Last wishes. Say goodbye."
"You can't just end them like this!"
"They aren't ending, only who they are now."
"So, what? We find them and we'll smile while they put together children's puzzles?!" No! Quatre banged the wall. "This isn't right. This isn't fair. All those people, Crystalia!" He beat the wall again. "I guarantee, every pilot will help you, if you please just . . ."
"Kill Superior?"
Kill?
"Do you want me to do that?"
No more killing. They stuck to that. They always stuck to that. He heard the loudness of Aquamarine in the distance. All of them, losing so much.
"I want to do better for the burners. They have no one, just us. I want to do better."
"Please. Any deal?" Quatre swore. "I am sure they are going to be willing to make any deal." Sorry. "Please kill her, take over, and make a deal with us to save them."
"You really are desperate. I doubt Superior cares, but you can talk to her if you need to."
Oh. The Superior was probably in the room with Crystalia now. Yeah. "I understand."
"Understand you put someone else first before you. There's a time and place. You chose that."
Um? Was she saying that because Superior was still in the room with her?
"Take that property to Triton. Uh, Trowa Barton. He'll get it to where it needs to go. None of its profitable without money behind it, it's a burden. The money is still heavy, but it will dry up and deterioration of reputation and money will eliminate it slow enough that people won't be thrown out onto the streets. That was a long sentence."
There was more sensitivity in her voice. Dorothy did say she was trying to work with her.
"Superior wants to eliminate their minds, and then give them back. She's crazy. A little crazier than me. I'll make a different deal. Don't think I'll just hand them over. I'll kill for those burner families, but I won't let their minds go if I win."
Quatre wasn't going to give any kind of speech about killing being wrong. He wasn't going to dissuade her. In a way, it was like condoning it. Like, killing Superior himself. But? For so many lives, plus their friends and children, she had to go down.
"Dorothy probably won't recover," Crystalia added. "The women, by the time you get to them. Even with your best times. Best case scenario, Dorothy level. Understand?"
"Yeah." He understood that. Crystalia was the ally but still the enemy too.
"I'll call if I kill her. If you get nothing, expect nothing."
Okay. He started to make the painful texts, while he grabbed some office carts and loaded up all the files. Hopefully, each of them understood he got them the best deal he could.
Heero at least got it. He actually thanked him for taking the chance. That was rare from him.
He also got Aquamarine and Blue Gemmy out from there. He walked with them for awhile before renting a car and getting to the nearest emergency shuttle.
He waited to hear anything on the phone. Until Superior was dead, Crystalia couldn't do anything. I am coming straight home. Dorothy would be okay. His people would be right there waiting for her. It would be okay. He was just nervous. That was all.
Just, nervous. RTL didn't have as much stretch anymore. He had to risk it.
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