Fifty-Four

Checking

      I shot another round at the men running after us. We were deep in the x18999 base, and, as Wufei had predicted, Nikol had been waiting for us.
      There had been an instant of shared glance, then we’d been moving...and followed, but not by Nikol. He hadn’t moved...I’d watched him...
      They had hurt her...I wanted nothing more than to kill the sorry bastards.
      Her arm wasn’t bleeding heavily, it was just skimed...but still...I ignored my own arm wound, it was nothing...trivial...
      We turned a corner and hit a dead-end. I stood in front of Nikki, noticing all the exits. Not many, the best way would be for us to climb through the ventilation system.
      “Go up.” I told her, shooting at the man who tried to turn the corner.
      “All right.” she was calm, not even unnerved...
      That was good, all I needed was for her to panic...then we’d be dead.
      The grating fell to the floor with a loud kling and I could hear her crawl in.
      “Let’s go.” she said, shifting so her gun was un-obstructed.
      I jumped and grabbed the side of the hole, still shooting at the others as she waited.
      “Which way now?” she asked.
      I looked around as I pulled out the detonator, “Toward the ship.”
      She nodded and started in that direction.
      We moved on in silence as I watched for landmarks through the passing vent openings, we were near the first bomb I had laid, thus the last that would be a problem.
      “Go down the next vent.” I muttered.
      She didn’t say anything as we reached it. She yanked up on the grating, moving it aside with ease, then checked for people, and flipped down moving out of my way. I jumped down, my eyes everywhere.
      She continued her silence as we moved to our ship.
      “Check it before we board.”
      “Tcch...I know.”
      I smiled, she knew what she was doing.
      Guards began to appear near the doors of the port as she stopped and ran a check at the door.
      I wasn’t looking at her as I watched the building for signs of us being spotted, “You have your helmet on, right?”
      “Yes.” she was silent a moment and I could hear beeping from the panel, “It’s all clear. Let’s go.” the door opened and we boarded the ship.
      “They haven’t spotted us yet.” I informed her as I started the ship.
      “I’ll open the doors.” she replied, her hands fast on the console.
      The doors opened as people began to file out into the port and I got ready to launch, “We’ve been spotted.” I noted, pushing down on the button.
      Loud explosions came from all around us.
      She laughed lightly, “I couldn’t tell...”
      I grinned at her as we started out, “Do you think there’ll be pursuit?”
      She smiled at me, “I certainly hope so.”
      I wasn’t sure how to take that.
      Her grin widened, “I would be upset with Nikol if there weren’t. Don’t worry, it won’t be hard to throw off...”
      I noticed an access screen.
      “What...”
      She smiled, “I like playing with computers, Ai.”
      I had to smile at that, “Of course...how silly of me to forget...”


      “The base isn’t there.” I informed them all as we entered the study. I had pulled off my spacesuit and grabbed my bag, Heero had been ready by then and we’d started down the hall, guns in hand.
      It wasn’t too hard to...ignore...the burning sensation in my arm.
      We’d gained quite an odd look from the people we’d passed.
      Evidently they didn’t appreciate armed people approaching their employer.
      “I didn’t think it would be.” Sam said calmly.
      “But I did get this...” I pulled out the disk I’d made on the colony. It was information on their inventory and lists of bases.
      “What is it?” Duo asked, squinting slightly.
      “A disk...”
      He made a comment along the lines of ‘obviously...’ but I wasn’t listening...and he mumbled it.
      “It’s a list of their supplies, of everything. It might have their base location...”
      “Keep in mind,” Sam interrupted, “That this may be a diversion, they may move their things to x18999 now, since we don’t think they’re there. We’ll have to keep an eye on it.” she thought a moment, “And we can’t completely trust that information. It could be a ruse to mislead us.”
      I nodded, realizing the truth of her words, feeling slightly crestfallen.
      “Come on, let’s go to the medical wing.” Heero said firmly.
      I turned to him, “What?”
      He smiled at me, “You may not have noticed, Omaesan, but you were kind of shot. We need it cleaned. It might need stitches...”
      I shifted my arm, looking at it, “It’s fine...”
      “Now.” Kris added, “We have plenty of time to talk.”
      I glanced at her, not sure how to respond.
      “Come on.” Wufei said, standing and approaching me.
      “I’m fine.” I repeated.
      Instead of listening to me, Wufei lifted me and hung me across his shoulder.
      “Wufei!” I protested.
      Heero was grinning as we started down the hall.
      “You guys make me mad.” that was all I could think of to say.


      “What are you going to do?” I asked Nikki since no one else was paying attention to me and she was being quiet...she didn’t say anything. I looked away, a little irritated.
      “Hmm...Duo?”
      I looked back to her, blinking...okay she was just thinking... “What are you gonna do?”
      “I need to check this information...” she replied, looking at the disk again.
      I nodded, agreeing.
      “What are you gonna check it on?”
      “Well...” she started, taking a breath as she thought.
      “Use an individual machine,” Trowa cut in, “That way, if they’ve put a virus in it, then it won’t infect all of Quatre’s...”
      Quatre was nodding in an annoyed sort of way, “She knows that.”
      I shook my head as I watched.
      Nikki was sitting in her normal armchair and they, all but Nikki and I for a while, were discussing what had happened.
      Quatre turned from where he rested against his desk and picked up the phone, dialing something. After a moment, he began to murmur, then hung up.
      “All right, they’ll bring up that lap-top I got for you.” he was talking to Nikki.
      “What lap-top?” she asked, looking slightly surprised.
      He smiled, “You’re going to be my assistant, right?”
      She nodded.
      “So I’m not going to give you some second-rate piece of shit. Especially with your skills. The machine I ordered can be hooked into my system from anywhere. It’s linked to my satellites, but it works just as well by itself...”
      “When did you order that?”
      “The day before you called your parents.”
      She grinned wryly at him, “Thanks.”
      He shook his head, “No problem, you’ve been helping us without hesitation the entire time, and you’ve been through a lot because of us.” he shrugged, “So I decided to get you something.”
      She nodded, looking to Sam with a slightly pointed look.
      He grinned, “I’m not stupid. I’ve got you all something. Don’t worry about it.”
      The door slid open and the butler appeared, carrying a lap-top. He handed it to Quatre, then pulled an envelope out of his pocket and handed that over too.
      “Thank you, Ray.” Quatre said, smiling at the man.
      The man returned the smile and nodded, “No problem, Mr. Winner. Good day.” he told the rest of the room, we all smiled and nodded.
      As the door closed, Nikki walked to Quatre, eyeing the machine.
      He offered it to her and she hesitated a moment, then accepted it.
      “All right...I’ll look at what it has...” Nikki said absently, “The disk...I mean...” she started to her seat and I exchanged a grin with Heero.
      She would be distracted a while.
      “Wait...” Quatre said, opening the envelope.
      She turned, looking at him questioningly.
      He pulled out a bunch of credit cards and looked them over, then handed her one, “These are in case of emergencies.” he said, “I got one for all of you. You don’t have a limit, but please don’t go insane with’em.”
      I smiled, “Oh I won’t...” I accepted mine, “Only a few hundred dollars...”
      He gave me a look and rolled his eyes, “Whatever.”
      We all accepted them from him.
      “Thank you...”
      Quatre seemed very proud of himself.


      “I think the real location is on that list. We have to check them all.”
      “Check them all?” I demanded, the list had at least fifty different places, “Nikki, how are we going to do that?”
      She gave me a level look, “Heero-ai, we aren’t the only two who can check bases. Everyone but Kitty has the training...”
      “I’m not going to ask them to place themselves in danger...”
      She gave me an arch look.
      “And I’m not going to let you come with me anymore...”
      That annoyed her.
      “Because after they shot you I just wanted to kill the fuckers...”
      We were in our room, and she had been messing with her lap-top all afternoon.
      She liked her new toy.
      “That’s sweet, Ai...” she kissed me.
      I grinned at her, “Wanting to kill is sweet?”
      She rolled her eyes, “No. Not that part, the part where you got that way because of me...”
      I shook my head, “You’re not going.”
      She laughed slightly, “I’d like to see you stop me.”
      I winked, “That could be fun.”
      She laughed again and refocused on the screen.
      “I’m going. And I’m sure the others will want to help...”
      “Not if they don’t know.”
      She smiled at that, pulling her eyes from the screen to meet mine. “I’m not going to stay silent.”
      I rolled my eyes, “Omaesan, I don’t want anyone in danger. I’ll check’em all...”
      “No.” she told me firmly, “You won’t.”


      “We need to weed out all the ones we can be sure of.” Trowa told Nikki.
      “But that’s just it,” she replied, “We can’t be sure of any of them.”
      He nodded as the others watched and listened silently, “We can be reasonably sure of some of them. I doubt they’ll have a base in a colony with a high population...”
      She thought about it for a moment, then nodded agreement, “So we can check the ones with lower populations...” she was typing, “That still leaves...thirty possibilities...”
      “I don’t think they’ll have any where the Earthsphere has a strong holding...” Sam added.
      Nikki nodded, typing, “That leaves twenty that we need to check, but we should check them all...”
      “And we still have to keep an eye on x1.8...” I added.
      They all looked at me, surprised. I usually stayed silent...I had no training and no real advice to help.
      I smiled shyly, I hadn’t intended to speak up.
      “We should ask Zechs to help...” I hated it when they all looked at me like that...
      A few eyebrows rose, but Quatre was nodding, and I could tell they all approved, I tried not to blush.
      Quatre was on the phone already, calling...someone to get him...
      “That’s a good idea, Kitty...” Wufei muttered and I could feel myself try to blush more. “The Preventers should be able to help.”
      I smiled at him.
      He winked.
      Trowa moved closer to me, “That was a good idea...it would have taken forever for any of us to think of it...”
      I blushed at that and we started to talk.
      Something was at the edge of my awareness, but I resisted looking, focusing on it...it took a while before I realized what it was.
      Wufei and Sally were muttering back and forth in Chinese...or so I assumed, it made sense, after all...


      “She’s so cute...” I muttered to Sally, watching Kitty as she talked to Trowa, “She reminds me of a child...”
      Sally chuckled, “I’m almost positive she’s not one though...and I’m sure she’s not as naive as she’s acting...”
      I grinned, “We could ask Trowa...”
      She laughed again, “No, that’s all right, I’ll just remain suspicious.”
      “So are we going to...”
      “No, Wufei, that’s a bad idea.”
      I wasn’t quite as sure as she was about that.
      “I know I couldn’t leave you, and I doubt you’d leave me, so we’d be screwed if anything happened...I’ll go alone, or with Noin.”
      I sighed, annoyed, Heero and Nikki had been fine. Of course, the five years of association had helped...they could understand cryptic information and mumbled words...not like Sally and I couldn’t...
      “You do realize that Heero just wanted to kill them all when she was shot, right?”
      I blinked, I’d forgotten that bit of information.
      He had been pissed. Even when her arm was being worked on, he had refused to let anyone look at his own wound until she was done. He had continued pacing just about the entire time.
      Sometimes he would mutter to himself, or stare at something, like a book, and suddenly it would be flying across the room and smacking a wall.
      Then he was telling me all about it...he’d kept slipping from English to Japanese. Or both...it was odd to hear a sentence in two different languages...I’d never seen the man so absolutely pissed.
      Later, Nikki had told me that she had to get his attention so they could get away.
      I nodded to Sally, “I know. And I understand. If anyone hurt you, then they’d be dead.”
      She smiled at me, “I appreciate the thought, Lover, but...”
      I smiled, “No buts.”
      She laughed at that, “Maybe we should...”
      I nodded, “At least once.”
      “But what if...”
      “What if the colony suddenly blew up? What if...” I thought a second, “What if we ran out of oxygen? What if Heero left Nikki...what if...”
      “All right, all right. I get it.” she grinned slightly, “That’ll never happen, you know.”
      I grinned, “Why do you think I mentioned it? Don’t start with the ‘what ifs?’, no one has all the answers. It doesn’t help to go looking for them, especially when you don’t really know the questions.”
      She smiled at me, “Philosophy?”
      I grinned at her, “Oh, hush.”
      She laughed then, her eyes sparkling as she took in the room.
      For some reason, I was extremely happy.


      “You got the disk?” Duo demanded under his breath.
      “Of course I do...” I hadn’t forgotten any of the other times.
      “Did you...”
      “Damaru.”
      He frowned at me.
      I shook my head, “I need to think.”
      Information flashed across the screen, I was choosing what to copy.
      “Just get it all,” he hissed, “She can weed out all the crap...”
      “Damaru.” I repeated clearly.
      He let out an exasperated breath as he paced back and forth near the door, occasionally checking the hall.
      “Stop opening it, Baka.”
      “Would you stop with the Japanese already...” he demanded.
      I chuckled.
      “Heero...” he wanted to be annoyed, but was too distracted to focus on it.
      “K’so!”
      “What?”
      “Shit...shit...shit...shit...”
      He came up behind me, “What?”
      “Kuso!” I started to go on, but he gave me an odd look.
      “In English...Kisai...” he smiled slightly.
      I smiled and shook my head, “Sorry...it’s just...”
      “I know, you hear it and you’re stuck in it. I got ya, now what?”
      “There’s a lock on this one, which means we probably want it...and I don’t know if we have enough time to get it and get out.”
      “I told you to just copy the shit and let her deal with it...”
      I snorted, “I was trying to be nice.”
      “She’ll know and understand. Besides, she likes to be challenged like that. Now copy the shit...”
      I rolled my eyes but was nearly done copying the rest already.
      When it was done we started down the hall, acting like normal college students... actually, we were over-doing it a bit. We didn’t need to watch the girls that obviously...the cat calls were a bit excessive...but hey, they needed their self-confidence boosted...we only did that to the ones who really needed it, after all. We also didn’t need to try and see who could get more numbers...but that was only to be expected...with us.
      We reached the space-port.
      We were in a college-based colony...mainly female...much like the one we lived at...well, used to live at...it being college based and all. The security was a bit lax...which was also to be expected, seeing as most college students were more interested in other things than keeping an eye on an office...
      Sort of like that hour-glass figure...I stopped walking to watch her, getting Duo’s attention.
      “Hey, Baby...” he called.
      “Little sweet thing...” I added.
      She turned to look at us.
      “Want to come our way?”
      She blushed, hugging her books to her chest as we approached.
      “You busy tonight...”
      Of course, it took about three seconds for us to realize she was about fifteen. But a number was a number...it was a good thing that she’d demurred his offer. I was almost positive that she glowed a bit as she walked off. She knew we were watching.
      “That was...interesting?” he muttered as she disappeared around a corner.
      I nodded agreement, putting my hands in my pocket. It encountered a handful of papers, “How many’d you get?”
      He mumbled something.
      “Nani?”
      He shot me a look of daggers.
      “Sorry...” I muttered quickly, “Gomen...”
      Now he turned and gave me a level look. “If you weren’t doing it to annoy me, then I wouldn’t care.”
      I grinned, “All right, I’ll stop now. I got...” I counted the slips of paper quickly, “Twenty-seven, you?”
      He shook his head, “You better stop, or I’ll tell Nikki...” he stopped and thought about it, “I wonder what she’d say...”
      I chuckled, “I doubt she’d really care...” I paused, if he told her that, she would care...
      He had already reached that conclusion and his grin was a bit complacent.
      “Well...” I couldn’t really think of anything to say that would pacify her on this...
      He laughed slightly, “Twenty-eight.”
      “What?” I stopped to look at him.
      He laughed a bit harder, “Twenty-eight.” his eyes were a bit too bright...
      “Bull shit...give me those...” I grabbed his handful of slips and started counting.
      He looked like...a cat who had gotten into the cream...
      I passed the slips back, shaking my head. When I couldn’t think of anything to say, I started to re-check my pockets.
      Duo died laughing, “Twenty-eight to twenty-seven...” he watched me continue to check my pockets, “You’re a bad loser...”

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Kyeian