บท 77: Prisoner With a Side of Games and Snacks
Duo and Hilde's Junkyard Home In the Colonies
Hilde didn't understand it at all. Cuffed, and taken home? Not to any temporary residence. Home, home. Why? She was brought out of the car and headed inside. The familiar look of how everything was when they last left. "Home."
She had new guards that had switched off on her twice. One pair when she went to the colonies, and one pair when she came home. "What am I doing here?" They didn't stay inside the house section for long.
They were taking her somewhere that they hadn't dealt with for basically years. It was used more for storage of extra junk parts, with just a little room, just in case the worst thing happened and- "What?"
No way. It couldn't be. Duo blew his Deathscythe up so long ago. "RTL can't have Deathscythe, he watched it get blown up himself. This isn't possible."
"It's not the one he blew up," one of the guards explained as she was escorted up with much more pressure, like they expected her to buck. "Gundam Deathscythe isn't an object, it's a blueprint. This one is different in another way."
Another way? "I don't get it. It's a mobile suit." In what way was this different? Hilde felt them put her in and buckle her up. They took off the cuffs and closed the lid of the mobile suit.
Um? They knew she knew how to drive a mobile suit, so this didn't make much sense. "Well, go for it anyway. I'll figure it out." She started to turn things on. It was all connected. She started to activate the hands. "I'm not really cleared for riding a mobile suit, but if it gets me out of here."
She didn't know their plan, but she went ahead and tried to move the legs. "Yeah, okay, not working." Operations were sealed that way. "Why did you put me in here?" Hmm.
She checked her oxygen levels. Fine. She tried to open or exit, but those were cut off. "Are you just keeping me in here for some reason?" She opened up her camera view. It was only locked on one location, the visual prompter down below. She saw her guards, looking proud of themselves. "What's the deal?"
"Look at your arm," one of them goaded her. "You're a soldier, now and forever. A worthless soldier, that's gonna die as a soldier."
Death. "If you wanted to kill me, you would have just straight blew me up. Are you going to press some self destruct button of this mobile suits or something?" she asked. "If so, I don't care. You're all just mad you couldn't put a baby in me, so now you think putting me in Duo's baby will somehow be revenge? How much stupider can you get?"
She turned off the camera. How dumb. Nothing happened. Five minutes. Twenty minutes passed. She turned the camera back on. Only one guard was still there? "What is this?"
"The slowest activation ever, but we wanted it to be a slow burn for you," the guard said to her. "Right now, it's just a mobile suit. It's nothing really special. When you start to get going though. When your heart starts to race and it wonders 'what is going on'? Then, it'll kick in. It'll be over soon after."
What were they even talking about? "I was ready to sacrifice my whole self when I tried to steer my first mobile suit years ago." If they thought she would go out pleading and begging? No way. "Just blow it up already."
"We aren't blowing it up. Revenge of the Lost doesn't just cast revenge. It's fitting. You are right, our first wave didn't work. Apparently you can't have kids or something. Pretty weak, I can't believe it. Looks like you'll never know the experience of having a wonderful, precious being in your arms."
"Really, trying to belittle me as a woman? Wow, you guys are just scratching to get anything now." Hilde turned the camera back off. She turned it back on. "Do you guys have any games or something? It's going to get boring in here, just waiting." Wait?
No one was there anymore. Maybe they went to the bathroom. It was fine.
Hilde waited another thirty minutes and checked. No one was still there? Did they got to the bathroom again? Why were they just leaving her in there unsupervised? "Hey, I hope one of you gets back from the bathroom soon, because I have to go." What a joke.
"At precisely 1400, the suit will open for thirty minutes." One of them came back over to the outside of the gundam. "You can use the bathroom, get some food, and stretch your body. It'll open exactly at 0200, 0600, 1000, 1400, 1800, and 2200. You must be back by 1430."
By 1430? "Why?" she asked.
"Right now, we'll escort you and watch you. Later, you will be watching your own time very carefully, and not want to take a step over it. Even if you really, really want to."
Sketchy. Weird. She would get out every four hours? "Why am I getting out every four hours, is Deathscythe like my new home or something?"
No answer.
Okay? "Your revenge against Duo, is having me live in Deathscythe for a long time." What? How was this supposed to do anything? "I don't get it." She turned off the camera to stop seeing their weird faces.
She looked at the internal clock on the gundam. "Every four hours." Why? What was this all about? "I don't get it. They don't want to kill me easily. They don't want to blow me up. They clearly gave up on getting me pregnant. What gives?" What were they wanting?
Time passed by. She took her first break, with the guards watching. She went in their house and fixed a sandwich, guards didn't mind or say anything. "So, can I go ahead and call a friend on my break? Do I get paid on my breaks too, or is the bill covered by the company?" she joked.
No laughter. Fuddy duddies. She drank some pop, finished her sandwich, and relaxed until it was time to get back to the Deathscythe. She climbed in again, this time with a dumb game she stole. She wanted to see if they cared.
They didn't. Hilde played on the little mobile game for the next couple of hours. Her body wasn't used to the strange positioning, so she took a nap. She was woken up when the mobile suit opened at 6:00 PM. She didn't really need anything again, but she got out, grabbed some music, a small bag of chips and a few other mobile games.
She was back in with an extra bag of chips and the mobile suit closed up at 6:30 PM. She set the games to the side, listened to her music and adjusted the settings of the mobile suit to the colonies satellites TV to watch her shows. It had been awhile being locked up since she got to catch up on her favorite shows. But?
Hilde didn't get it. This wasn't even any kind of torture. She could use the bathroom every four hours, take a break every four hours, play games and music all day, watch TV in there all day, and sleep whenever she wanted. Where was the . . . revenge? What was all of this supposed to do?
///Hilde watched the mobile suit open unexpectedly and a hot poker came straight at her eye///
"Agh!" What the hell?! "What the hell was that?!" She felt her heart soaring. The mobile suit compartment was closed, it wouldn't open until 2200 again. "Not until 10:00 PM." But? What was that? She wiped the sweat off her brow. Nightmare. Just a nightmare.
///Hilde watched the mobile suit open and three women appeared with sharp knives, all coming at her at the same time with a scream.///
Hilde grabbed her arm, she had smacked it against something. "What?!" The knives didn't happen, but she definitely smacked her hand on something in the excitement. She placed her hand on her head. "Another vivid dream." She stroked her cheek, trying to find a way to calm down.
///Hilde looked dead ahead at a colony, starting to fly to it. Closer. Closer. She didn't stop. She wouldn't stop. She couldn't stop. Faster. Faster. Faster.///
Hilde screamed to the top of her lungs. "What's going on?!" She started to beat on the door. "What is going on, what are you doing to me?! Why are you giving me nightmares, how are you doing that?" They were so vivid, they felt so real. It felt like she was going to crash head first into a colony. "What are you planning for me? Are you going to crash me into a colony?" No one spoke to her.
She turned the camera on. No one was out there again.
/// "Hilde, you don't have to do it, don't do it!" Duo's voice echoed in her mind. He was right there, in front of her. Defenseless, with no mobile suit.
Hilde touched around her. She was on the outside of the house, right inside the colony. "Duo?"
"Hilde, please!" He yelled at her again. "Don't do it!"
Hilde raised the Deathscythe's special scythe weapon. It came crashing down on Duo, splitting him in two.///
Outside of the Mobile Suit.
"She's already crying out worse than I hear the branding had been," one of the women said proudly. "This was a fantastic idea. Superior is the most wise. The pilots are all going to feel the pain here, whether they wanted kids or not. Whether the girls were pregnant or not."
"I heard the zero system without training wheels makes people go crazy. The documentation over it from the scraps was insane. A lot of people think Superior went crazy because of it," another one spoke. "Rightful end."
Another agonizing scream. "Yeah, it hurts, doesn't it?!" One of them yelled out at her. "Now you know how we felt when you took everything from us too!" She started to rub her eyes. "This is so much better than just killing off that little joker. I don't care if it's not elegant, it was worth it."
"She'll be out of her mind in three days I bet."
"Oh, she won't know who she even is in an hour. Her mobile suit experience is limited. An experienced mobile suit fighter absolutely lost it when he was just planning on doing tests with it I think. That might be hearsay, it wasn't in our data, but I wouldn't doubt it too much."
"Well, if we have to tone it down here and there, we will. She'll learn to live with it, or find a way we haven't thought of to kill herself."
Smiles. So many smiles as Hilde let out another agonizing scream along with the words, 'What is real' over and over like a mad woman.
Hilde looked outward as the mobile suit opened. She didn't move. She didn't know if it was real. She didn't know if anything was real. Everything felt real. That could be real. But it might not be real.
Some guards came over and plucked her out. Maybe they were real. Maybe they weren't real. They led her around the house and dropped her beside the bathroom.
Was that real? Usually she didn't dream of toilets. She touched it. Everything always felt real. Maybe it was real. Maybe it wasn't real. Maybe nothing was real.
"She is so out of it," she heard one of them say.
Was she out of it? She wasn't out of it, she just didn't know what was real. A meteor could start careening straight toward them at any minute and she might find herself in the mobile suit again. There was no telling what was real.
She was back in the mobile suit again. Was being carried out real? Did she use the bathroom, was that real? Or did she just wake up again, and just in the mobile suit? "How can I tell? How can I tell? How can I tell? If I don't figure it out . . ." She would go insane. "Duo."
Duo.
Duo.
"Duo." Duo watched one of the top guys come toward him. "We found something about Hilde."
Yes! Gaw, yes! A whole month of nothing, and less than what, three days? "Where is she, who got her? McMillan? Georgie? Phillip?"
"Phillip isn't one of the best, he's newer, Sir?" he pointed out.
"Yeah, but a Phillip Phillips sounds cool." Duo was feeling better than he had in ages. "Where is she?"
"McMillan found a recording in one of the locations you sent him to. After hearing it, he connected with another Phillip that was in the colonies. He went to check your estate," he said.
Oh boy. "Junkyard being called an estate, now I've heard everything." The Junkyard.
"They think she's in your old hangar area. They don't want to approach, as per your instructions. She is guarded."
Good. "Home, she's been at home in the hangar." Weird.
"McMillan is sending you a download of the recording right now."
Ooh, good. Duo watched his phone, waiting. "Fun of waiting for downloads." What was it? Ransom? Trick to get him to come? If the survey crew said they believed she was in the hangar, it was a trick worth getting tricked for. When he got it, he played it right away.
"Um?" Hilde's voice was on the recording. "Duo. You are supposed to somehow get this, so I guess? Hey, I've been fine, so I hope you've been doing great, Duo. RTL never managed to get anywhere with me, isn't that great? They hate it. Until today I've been just kind of hanging out in their jail cell. Anyhow, for some reason, they say they are taking me home. I can't think of what that means except the junkyard. I don't know if it's a code, or what. I miss you, Duo. I really do."
"I miss you too, Babe," he spoke back to the recording. Damn! It was good to hear her voice, and hard. She'd been okay, and that made him feel real good. She sounded good. "I'm heading up. Stay in touch. Tell McMillan not to make a move unless he suspects something really bad." He was heading up straight away.
Hilde. At home. Just, at home, in the hangar. Why the hangar, why did RTL leave her in the hangar with the guards? It was mainly a place for minor repairs and great extra storage for the junkyard. Why was she there?
Duo left quickly, he'd pay for an emergency ticket, fast but expensive. Worth it. If he talked to the right people, he could probably get a straight ride there, but he wanted to go on his own way.
As he took off, he went ahead and sent off an email to Quatre. That guy could take care of spreading the word. Hilde was up on the colonies, and he had no idea what to expect.
Noin's Home
Noin had her chess board set up for the night. Zechs had been there for chess, or so he said. He probably wanted to know about her sister and her safety. There was no way to see her except through the elevator, and no one went down that elevator. It was only for supplies.
She also could just call in advance, but Heero would probably still be there with a gun. Relena only had one more month left before RTL's ultimate revenge plan would fold, and they were almost ready to give up the ultimate proof to stop it all.
She smiled as he came to sit down. She made the first move. "Nice to see you again, Zechs." That annoyed him sometimes. He had taken code names here and there, but she was always more used to Zechs. "Did you want some food too?"
"No." He looked at the floor, then back at her. "Everything has been fine, Noin?"
"Yes, everything's been great here," she insisted. "Something to drink?"
"Sure," he agreed. She went to her fridge and got something. She came back and saw him staring at the ground again. "You won't hear if they are doing something you wouldn't approve of, there's a lot of sound proofing. I always wanted to make sure your sister didn't have to walk softly on pins and needles if I had to have her here."
Of course, that didn't please him.
"They probably aren't," she said, at least to make him feel better. "I don't really know though." That lit him straight up again. He took the drink. "They also can't hear if I'm getting into a tussle up here, so it works both ways."
"Are you having fights up here, Noin?" he teased her.
"No, not really. Haven't found the right one to practice tussling with." She smiled at him with a slight tease.
"They can't stay down there forever. She's been cleared. We have to figure out how to help her, without trapping her anymore," he insisted.
Oh. "Big brother syndrome still has you hard. Her knight in shining armor will have them out of there soon." Another tease. She sat back down and enjoyed the time playing a game with him. Of course, he only wanted one game. Zechs had always kept himself so distanced from everyone. Even with his 'friends', a simple game, and mainly it was just to be near Relena for a few minutes.
It stung a little, but it was okay. Zechs loved his sister, and this was just the way he had always been. "Zechs. You could have given me a little give."
"You know that a great player doesn't put in 'give'," he said with the slighest of smiles. He stood up. "It was nice to see you, Noin."
"It was nice to see you, Zechs." That tall, wonderful man who could do just about anything, and hold her heart away from anyone else, would be gone in a few minutes. "Like fairy dust sometimes."
"What did you say, Noin?"
"Nothing." She closed her eyes. "Goodbye, Zechs." She heard him leaving outside. She went toward the door and watched him leave. Leave in his simple car. She barely liked to leave the house, but whenever he stopped by? Just for a little while, she lingered, to watch him leave.
Not on alert. Just by the door. Just gazing out after a comfortable time.
"It's over."
Oh! Noin jumped briefly. She saw Heero right behind her, holding out the tablet. "You scared me." She came back into the house and closed the door.
"You should have had more training. Here." He gave it to her. "Crystal clear."
It was ready. "Nice to hear. That was fast."
"Trowa Barton did most of the work," Heero said. "I'll keep Relena here for some time longer, until everyone involved is charged."
"I'm so glad it ended this way." She looked at the tablet. "It'll be good for Miss Relena to get some air on her skin again." She looked toward Heero. "One more month. Have you decided what you'll do about the baby? I know Relena would want you to stick around."
"We have our own arrangements," he answered. He turned and walked back away.
Well? It was doubtful he would take on the roll full-time. Even a small visit here and there from Heero though. It would do her heart so much good. Maybe. Sometimes, the ones you can't catch, shine bright enough that just seeing them every once in awhile was enough.
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