Chapter 41 - Turning Pages
By Cille
"That... is a fabulous hat."
"You like it? My Kira bought it for me today. Isn't he a sweetie?"
Kira cringed a little despite appreciating the sentiment behind the sarcastic sappiness, wondering if Emiri realized he could still hear her as he headed away down the hall. But Emiri was too busy showing off her new fedora to a drooling Angel to pay any attention to her departing escort.
"You know, that shade of red matches my hair perfectly..." Angel pointed out suggestively.
"Yeah, well, if you can find yourself a sugar daddy, maybe you can get him to buy one for you," Emiri shot back with a grin.
Angel was just about to try putting on her best pout when Clarice hurried down the hallway past them, not even pausing to acknowledge the other two women.
"Hey, where's the fire?" Emiri asked.
"Yeah, is something going on?" Angel added.
Clarice stopped and let out an exasperated sigh. "Hikki's freaking out about that broadcast. He thinks he's a dead man now that Ozzal has pegged him as the Syndicate's leader. So I'm going to go get him some tea and hope that that helps calm his nerves."
"Oh, come on, Ozzal isn't that scary. He can't be that worried," Angel laughed.
Clarice rubbed her temples. "For the last hour he's been rocking back and forth and babbling in French, except when he randomly goes 'I MUSTN'T RUN AWAY!' or stops talking altogether and starts trying to nibble on his hair. I'd say he's pretty freakin' worried."
"Well geez, it's not like he's got the most badass fighters ever here to protect him," Emiri said snarkily.
"Yeah, we keep trying to tell him that everything'll be fine, but he's just not getting it right now. So... I guess we just have to keep reassuring him until he either calms down or passes out." Clarice started down the hallway again. "I'd better get back there before he decides to use Samson as a security blanket."
Angel and Emiri watched her go, and then Emiri snorted in disgust.
"What's the matter?" Angel asked.
"Everyone around here is in like... emo mode or something. I mean, I can get everyone being depressed over Jake, but since then we've done some major asskicking and even got Ozzal crapping her pants. I know 'we haven't won yet,' but you'd think we could be at least a little bit happy about what we've accomplished in the last few days. But everybody's still being all serious and freaking out and it's just bringing the whole place down."
The two of them were silent for a few moments, and then they simultaneously looked at each other with thoughtful expressions.
"You know what we need around here?" Emiri asked.
"I think I do," Angel answered. "I'll get the booze, you get us the biggest empty room you can find."
Emiri grinned mischievously. "I knew there was a reason I needed a new hat today."
**********
"A... what?" Hikki asked dazedly.
"'You are cordially invited to a celebration of our awesomeness,'" Clarice repeated. "'Time: Tonight, from 9 until we can't stand up. Location: Follow the balloons. Be there or we'll kick your ass. Love, Angel and Emiri.'"
Clarice handed the slip of paper to Samson.
"A party?" he said skeptically. "Do they really think we can afford to waste time getting drunk when Ozzal could be breathing down our necks at any moment?"
"Good lord, Samson, don't say things like that," Clarice admonished. "You'll make him start hyperventilating again."
Hikki, fortunately, didn't look like he was processing much of what his friends were saying, and continued to stare off into space.
"Anyway," Clarice continued, "if they want to throw a little shindig, we should probably let them. Maybe it'll be good for morale, and I don't want to be the one to tell Emiri and Angel that they can't have their party after they've made their minds up."
Samson winced. He wouldn't want to have that job either.
"Well they'd better keep in mind that we're going to start training even harder tomorrow," he said authoritatively. "We may have a break in the action while we wait for Ozzal to make her next move, but we've got to be ready to go the moment she makes it."
"Agreed. I'll tell Kaia and Mustang to be ready to blow reveille."
"And... do you think he'll be okay with it?" Samson asked, with another worried look at Hikki.
"Oh, we'll put him in something pink and frilly and he'll be fine. With any luck he'll have so much fun that he'll totally forget about the broadcast."
"I... hope so..." Samson said uncertainly, as Hikki started mumbling to himself in French again. "I'm not going to volunteer to get him dressed, though..."
**********
Kay El kicked the snow off of his boots as he felt around in his pocket and pulled out the keys to the suite he shared with his best friend. It had gotten colder in the few days since he had been out of Comdot Estate, but he was still glad to have gotten out for some fresh air and walking. Zeus hadn't felt much like going anywhere after their trouncing a few nights earlier, but Kay El had finally had enough of sitting around and went out to grab something to eat.
He closed and locked the door behind him, and then surveyed the living room. Sure enough, Zeus was still slumped on the couch, and looked like he hadn't moved a muscle the whole time his friend was gone.
Kay El took off his coat and boots and ambled into the room. "Hey, I got you a burger at Wacdnald's. Fresh off the grill."
"Thanks. I don't think I'm hungry. I'll save it for later."
"Mmkay."
Kay El plunked down in his favorite cushy chair and dug into the takeout bag. Zeus might not feel like eating, but he was starving. Probably because they'd been surviving on beer and stale churros for days.
They sat in silence for a long while. Kay El munched on his French fries, occasionally looking over at his sullen comrade and wondering if he should say something.
"Ozzal was on the TV at the burger place," he finally commented.
"Was she?" A slight edge belied Zeus' attempt at nonchalance.
"Mm-hmm. It was a big broadcast, all over the city. She was talking about the Syndicate. And how they're a bunch of traitors and she's the one who the people should trust."
Zeus snorted. "Well, she's got the traitor part right. Only an idiot would trust her, though."
"You still think the Syndicate is wrong?" Kay El asked gingerly.
"Why wouldn't I? Listen, just because Ozzal stabbed us in the back doesn't mean the Syndicate is suddenly our friends. They're still a bunch of fools turning against their own country. Besides, it's not like they would ever accept me after I killed their leader."
Kay El furrowed his brow. He wasn't entirely sure about the matter, but he knew that it was probably best to just drop it for now. After being betrayed so many times, the one thing Zeus hated the most was a traitor. That was why he hated the Syndicate, hated Emiri, and now hated Ozzal. And he was too proud to admit that he might have been wrong about the rebellion, especially after he had opposed it so strongly and done harm to it that he could never undo.
"I don't get it..." Zeus continued pensively, as if talking to himself. "I killed their leader... I killed Blaken, and that should have been the end of it. There's no way those morons could go on without him... So how..."
He scowled and slumped farther down in his seat. Kay El understood his frustration. He had been so jubilant after killing Landon Blaken and seeing the Syndicate scattering like roaches from the burning mansion. Everything seemed to be going his way - and now everything was turned upside-down.
"So... what do you think we should do?" Kay El asked quietly.
Zeus remained silent and thoughtful for a few more moments. Then he sighed, and stood up resolutely. "Pack up whatever you want to take out of this place. We'll leave tonight."
Kay El nodded. "Where will we go?"
"It doesn't matter. There's nothing left for us here, so I'm not going to keep sitting around pretending to wait for our next order. We'll figure the rest out as we go."
Kay El nodded again, relieved to see his friend looking more like his old determined self. Zeus stretched, and then started out of the room with a glance at Kay El and the greasy paper bag in his lap.
"I gotta pee," he announced. "Don't eat my burger before I get back."
The bathroom door slammed shut, and Kay El couldn't help smiling as he took one of the wrapped burgers out of the bag and tossed it onto the couch.
**********
Father Sadar arrived fashionably late to the party. At least, that's what he might have said if he were at all concerned about appearing fashionable. As it was, he had been out taking care of some business following Ozzal's broadcast, and had only just returned to the base and discovered the huge sign inside the door proclaiming "PARTAY!!!" and pointing to the trail of balloons leading to this large storage room.
A large space had been cleared out in the center of the room, and the equipment and boxes that still lined the walls had become impromptu chairs and tables for the assembled partygoers. There was music playing, and Sadar had to chuckle when he realized that it was coming from Tres, who apparently had a cd player and speaker system built in.
Sadar surveyed the room and saw that most of the combined forces of the Syndicate, Order of Glass, and GAR Street Bar regulars were there. He wandered through the room, observing with some amusement the various conversations and activities going on.
He saw Cille talking with her brother Raef and his girlfriend Starry, who had recently arrived at the base with her seriously injured manservant. He was mildly surprised not to see Cougar with them, until he noticed the Alter user nearby comparing pink sunglasses with Kamina.
Elizabeth was showing off her guns to a crowd of admirers from the GAR Street Bar.
Bruce Herman and Jean Pierrot were having an arm-wrestling tournament, and were being cheered on by some of the other GAR Streeters.
Zoro was leaning against a crate fast asleep with his three swords propped up next to him.
Cid and Proof were talking animatedly to some of their comrades from the Order of Glass, and Sadar guessed from the way they were jumping around that they were demonstrating some of their newly-learned Knightmare moves.
Aoi, Ishida, Roxie, and Kirara sat off to the side having an impromptu meeting of their book club.
Sadar passed Larry and Lloyd, who were having an involved discussion about Yggdrasil Resonance as Winry listened intently.
Angel and Emiri were having their own conversation, punctuated with raucous laughter, which seemed to revolve around a comparison of how their boobs looked in their respective outfits.
Izuru Kira was standing off by himself, looking quite sheepish and self-conscious as he tugged at his noticeably shorter-than-usual bangs.
Even Spice was there talking to April and Cowboy, after Samson and Hikki had determined that she had completely recovered from the effects of the stimulant drug and was no longer a threat to her comrades.
And there was Hikki standing next to the hors d'oeuvres table with Samson and Clarice, looking like he had been partaking quite liberally of the French wine and cheese that Angel had provided for him.
Sadar approached them and decided to address the more sober of his associates.
"Ah, Samson, just who I was looking for," he said jovially.
"Oh? It's a wonder you could even find me in this mob," Samson replied with a laugh.
"I've got some interesting information for you. Ozzal has some plans in the works."
Samson glanced behind him at Hikki, who had fortunately been too busy inspecting the tray of cheese on the table to hear what Sadar had said.
"Um... why don't you tell us over here," he said, quickly ushering Sadar and Clarice a little further away. "We're trying not to remind Hikki that Ozzal's after us."
"Ah. Okay... you can fill him in later, I suppose." Sadar was a bit puzzled, but he was more than used to his friends' eccentricities by now.
"So what's up?" Samson asked.
"I found out from certain of my contacts this afternoon that Ozzal has already put out the order to recall her troops from Rantonia. We're not certain just how many of them will be coming back, but it may be nearly the entire force. Apparently you've made quite an impression on her."
Samson furrowed his brow. "The entire force? So you mean... we're going to be facing down Ozzal's entire military?"
"Minus whatever outposts she leaves, since she'll probably want to at least maintain some presence in the area. But yes, it seems that she's desperate enough to want as much military force as she can get here."
Samson looked worried and thoughtful. Clarice could tell that he was already racking his brains trying to figure out how they could possibly handle this situation.
"Do you have any idea when this will all happen?" she asked.
"It won't be immediate; it will take some time for the troops to put their current business to rest and travel back to Orly, and then of course Ozzal will need to organize them and put her plans into motion. So we have possibly a few weeks... maybe more, maybe less. It's really impossible to put a real deadline on it at this point."
"But... we do have some breathing room," Samson said hopefully.
"Yes. You can still afford to let everyone have their fun tonight," Sadar said with a grin.
Samson sighed, feeling a little rueful at the irony of their situation. It was taking some effort to keep from succumbing to his worries and calling off the whole party right now, but he didn't need Clarice to remind him that getting everyone all worked up now would just cause more problems than it was worth.
"Thanks for the heads up, Sadar," he said. "We'll see what we can do from here."
"I have no doubt that you'll come up with something," Sadar said confidently.
He was just about to head for the food table for a snack when Cille came up to them.
"Hey, Samson, Clarice, I've got a question for you. I was going to ask Hikki, but he seems kind of... distracted." She glanced over at the Frenchman, who was busy arguing with Holland about the proper way to tie a cravat. "So I thought maybe you could help me."
"What do you need?" Clarice asked.
"Well, I've been thinking that if I'm going to be helping coordinate our missions, I really ought to know more about the Syndicate and its resources, and whatever we have on Ozzal and her army. That'll make it much easier to develop strategies and such."
"You want... information on the Syndicate?" Clarice shot a worried look at Samson, and she could tell from his troubled expression that he was thinking the same thing she was. They both remembered the story DangerCille had told them, about how her own inquisitiveness had led to the Syndicate's downfall in her time. And now their Cille was asking for the same information...
Seeing their looks of concern, Sadar spoke up. "You'll need every advantage you can get if you're going to stand up to Ozzal and her military. I think Miss Compton will be quite adept at handling intel, and it's smart of her to want to prepare now. So I wouldn't be worried about letting her take on the task. I can even provide some of our own files on Ozzal's army and her past actions, if you would like to look through them."
"Yes, thank you. I'd appreciate that," Cille said.
"Well... maybe you should focus on Ozzal for now," Clarice said cautiously.
"Um... okay, that's fine. I'm sure there's more than enough on her to go through," Cille replied with a laugh.
"Speaking of, Sadar," Samson began, "I want to hear more about what we can expect when Ozzal's army arri-"
"HEY HEY HEY HEY! WHAT THE HELL KIND OF PARTY DO YOU THINK THIS IS?!" a female voice roared behind them.
A startled Samson turned around to see Emiri and Angel bearing down on them. Emiri was wearing a black and green gothloli dress, and Angel was decked out in a red leather corset and tight pants along with Emiri's new red fedora. They each carried two glasses of wine, which they wasted no time in handing out to their four guests.
"Save the war crap for later," Angel said. "Right now is for fun. And drinking."
Samson sighed. "You do realize, Angel, that in the morning -"
"Yeah, yeah, but it ain't morning yet, so you'd better stop wasting time and get enjoying yourself."
Samson sighed again, and grudgingly took a sip of his wine. One glass couldn't hurt, he figured, especially if it would get the two of them off his case.
"Hey, that's a nice hat," Cille commented to Angel.
"Thanks, my Kira bought it for me," Emiri answered. Cille looked slightly confused, and Emiri and Angel looked at each other for a moment and then both burst out giggling hysterically.
"Excuse me, Angel."
Roy Mustang had approached the group, looking good in a sweater and slacks. Angel had been so busy having fun with Emiri that she hadn't even noticed him at the party, although he had certainly been noticing her tight outfit.
"I couldn't help admiring how lovely you look tonight," he continued, "and I was wondering if I might have the honor of enjoying your company for a while. Perhaps for a little quality alone time."
Emiri whistled. This guy was smooth.
Angel smiled at him coyly, swinging her hips a little as she turned toward him. "Well, only because you asked so nice," she answered playfully.
She looked back at Emiri. "Hey, you mind if I borrow your hat for just a little while longer?"
"On one condition." Emiri leaned closer to her friend. "That you tell me all about it later," she whispered.
Angel winked back at Emiri, and took Roy's arm as the two of them walked away.
"I hope I'm not taking you away from anything important," Roy said.
"Oh, nothing that's more important than some quality time with an attractive man," she replied. "I can talk to those goofballs anytime I want. I haven't gotten to spend nearly enough time with you."
"Well, I see we've been thinking on the same wavelength," he said with a grin. "I've been almost at the point of asking you to consider joining my platoon. Of course then I'd never be able to keep all of those brutes in line with them all ogling you."
"Oh sure, like you wouldn't be the one doing the ogling," she laughed.
"Hey, a military man has to restrain himself, maintain a professional appearance." He lowered his voice. "At least in public."
Angel smiled. She liked where this was going.
They had reached a relatively secluded corner of the room, where a couple of small storage boxes would make perfect seats for a cozy conversation. No one would be able to listen in on them here, and they were also largely out of sight thanks to the tower of manliness that Pierrot and Kenpachi were trying to make nearby with some of the larger GAR Streeters.
The two of them sat down quite close to each other. Angel crossed her legs and leaned in even closer to Roy, ready to hear more of what was on his mind - and to share at least some of what had been on hers. She was finding it very easy to let down her guard around him, especially with the mellowing effects of the wine. It felt fabulous. She didn't even mind that she wasn't the one totally in control. He was fascinating, strong, unbearably sexy...
"I've noticed that we have a lot in common," he was saying. "Although it seems I don't need to convince you of our compatibility," he laughed.
"Oh, it never hurts to tell a woman what you like about her," she said flirtatiously.
He grinned, as if accepting her challenge. "Well, for one thing, we clearly both share an appreciation for the finer specimens of the opposite sex."
"I'd say we have similar taste in my sex too," she joked.
Roy looked puzzled. "Wait, what? ...Are you talking about Riza?"
Immediately Angel's danger sensors clicked on, clearing the effects of the wine out of her head. How could she let herself get carried away like that?
"Well, um... I just mean that she was a beautiful girl, and um... I can see why you liked her so much."
"Oh. Okay," he said, and for a moment Angel dared to hope that she might have dodged the bullet. But...
"Angel... is there anything you need to tell me? About Riza?"
"About Riza? Why, what would give you that idea?" She laughed, and it came out sounding more nervous than she had intended.
"Every time we talk about her I get the sense that there's something more that you're not saying. So if there's something that you want to tell me... I wish that you would just say it."
Angel shifted uneasily in her seat. She really didn't want to be having this conversation right now, and it would have been very easy for her to just laugh it off and change the subject. But she knew that if she lied to him now, she would never have the chance to come clean to him about what she had done with Riza. And she couldn't stand the idea of having that guilt hanging over her head every time she saw him. Especially since if she had her way she'd be seeing him an awful lot.
"Well, you see..." she began, feeling very uncomfortable, "when we were together... I mean, when I knew her, we shared some... intimate moments."
"Intimate? You mean..."
"We were close." She sighed and let it come right out. "Sexually."
He laughed uncertainly, as if he weren't quite sure what to make of this. "Did her husband know about this?"
"Her husband wasn't in much of a state to know much of anything at that point. If you know what I mean."
"I see."
He took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. Under any other circumstances Angel would have been compelled to pounce on him.
"Are you... okay?" she asked.
"Well, yeah, it's just... kind of a strange thing to have to process," he said. "I mean I never even knew she swung that way."
"Well, um... remember how I told you we had a special connection? Well... yeah."
He didn't say anything more, and seemed to be studying his glass of scotch thoughtfully. All of the scenarios that Angel had thought out for this conversation had vanished. All that was left was nervousness over what he would think of her - this amazing man, one of the few who had ever made her interested in more than a one-night stand.
"I remember you saying you comforted her," he said finally. "She must have been terribly upset after her husband's death."
"She was, yeah," Angel replied uncertainly. "It was really rough for her."
"Then... I appreciate you taking care of her. If you made her a little bit happier... that's what's important."
Angel was a little bit shocked. "Then... you're not upset about me getting with your woman?"
He laughed, a little bitterly. "She stopped being my woman a long time before you met her. If there's anyone to blame for that, it's certainly not you."
Angel couldn't help but be relieved that he wasn't angry about her sudden revelation, but she sensed that there was more baggage here than Roy would like to admit.
He sighed. "Well... this wasn't quite the way I expected the evening to go."
"Tell me about it..." she mumbled, propping her chin on her hand.
"I hope you're not too disappointed. And... I hope you don't think I don't like you anymore or something. It's just... something I'll have to deal with."
"Yeah, I know. I guess this means we'll have to put off our quality alone time."
"Yeah."
They looked at each other, and couldn't help sharing wry smiles despite their mutual disappointment - or perhaps because of it.
"I... think I'll call it a night now," he said, standing up to go. "I hope you'll enjoy the rest of the party."
"I'll try," she replied. With another good look at her (which may or may not have been largely directed below her face), he turned to go. She longingly watched him walk away, and then slumped back against the wall, inadvertently pushing the fedora over her face. "Bloody hell..." she murmured, reaching up to rub her temple.
"Hey," Emiri's voice said next to her. "What the hell is going on? Aren't you supposed to be leaving with him?"
Angel tipped the brim of the hat up wearily to see her friend standing over her. "Things didn't go quite the way they were supposed to," she answered.
"Well what's going on? Is everything okay?" Emiri asked anxiously.
"I don't know... maybe it will be, maybe I just totally blew it... I just don't know."
"What happened? What did you say? What did he say?"
"Look, I -" Angel stopped herself from getting worked up. "I don't really want to talk about it right now. For all I know everything's fine and we're just... we're just putting things off a little. But I don't really want to make a big deal of it now."
Emiri looked at her with concern for another moment, and then nodded her head resolutely. "Right. Now is for fun and drinking. And if you don't get to spend your night getting it on with a hot man, then you're going to spend it getting drunk with your friends."
Angel laughed. "That's the spirit."
There was a crash behind Emiri, followed by the sound of several very manly men shouting and grumbling. The two women looked to see that Pierrot's tower of manliness had just come to a sudden and rather disastrous end, and now looked more like a disorganized pile of manliness.
Emiri looked back at Angel, and saw that the playful smile had returned to her face.
"Well if nothing else we're getting a bunch of men writhing around on top of each other," Angel said. "This might not be such a bad night after all."
Emiri laughed and held out her hand to help her friend up.
Once she was on her feet, Angel straightened her shoulders and settled the fedora back onto her head. She might have just had a little romantic setback, but she wasn't about to let that stop her from being fierce. And if the morning's hangover had a little tinge of heartache in it... well, she didn't have to think about that now. This was her party, dammit, and she was going to make the most of it.
"You boys call that a tower?" she called tauntingly, sauntering toward the heap of men with a hand on her hip. "I've seen my granny make more impressive towers with a deck of cards."
There was a collective "ooooOOOOOOoooooh" from the portion of the room that was within earshot of Angel's challenge, and someone in the crowd shouted "Oh no she didn't!" A few of the men let out whistles and grunts as they pulled themselves out of the pile.
"Maybe you should try it again," Angel continued. "Whoever ends up on top gets to know where I hid the good stuff," she said with a wink.
The grumbling changed immediately to hoots and cheers as the men scrambled to rebuild their tower, each ready to compete for the promise of even more quality booze. Angel watched the scene with an immense feeling of satisfaction.
Yes, this might actually end up being an okay night after all.
**********
Professor M. Matrix was not a happy camper.
Things had been going steadily downhill for a while now. First Larry had taken off for good, and then Matrix's lab had been invaded by the geek squad and their headmistress from the Land of the Sacred Cows. And if he had thought that trading a sullen nerd for a blonde babe was a good deal, those delusions had been almost immediately shattered.
Rakshata Chawla hadn't wasted any time asserting herself as the new head honcho of Comdot Estate's research facility. And as much as Matrix enjoyed S&M, he was not at all pleased with this particular dominatrix's methods. Her first order of business was to have all of Matrix's works in progress cleared out of the lab, declaring that they were "in the way of real science." Matrix was only barely able to scramble around and get most of them spirited away to a storage closet before they went into the trash.
Having a strong-willed woman around wasn't necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, of course. Matrix knew very well from experience what kind of sparks could fly when two strong personalities clashed, and he could almost envision the sexual tension threatening to send the lab up in flames bigger than the time Amy thought it would be funny to fart right next to a Bunsen burner after having Taco Bell for lunch.
But as eager as he was to challenge Rakshata, and either put her in her place or let her put him (sexily) in his, he ran into one small problem: she didn't seem to care or even notice that he was there. It was as if she had completely forgotten that the territory she had barged into belonged to someone else, and she was simply going about her business as if she had always owned the place. When she did pay any attention to Matrix, it was just to give him another bit of grunt work to do in the little corner of the lab that she had relegated him to. Despite her apparent penchant for calling the shots, she seemed to always regard him with an air of bored disdain, as if she were thinking "why are you still here?"
Matrix always tried his hardest to prove that he still deserved to be there, of course. He was always ready to offer his expert opinion on any subject she happened to be discussing with her team, and he didn't even complain (at least out loud) about being stuck with the drudge work. But every time Matrix made a suggestion, Rakshata shot it down or even pretended not to listen to him. A few times she even laughed at him, with a maddening trill of a laugh that he might have found adorable coming from anyone else, but that grated every nerve when she used it against him.
And as hard as he worked on his assignments, she always found something to criticize. It wasn't his fault that it had been a while since he had done these sorts of jobs, since Larry had always taken care of the menial tasks that were beneath Matrix's intellect and skill level. And just to add insult to injury, she kept rejecting his mech designs for completely bogus reasons, even though he was the one who had come up with the idea of giant fighting robots in the first place.
Matrix couldn't even rely on his own assistant to back him up. Amy seemed to enjoy having another girl in the lab, and oddly enough Rakshata didn't seem at all fazed by Amy's impish behavior, so the two of them got along splendidly. And of course none of Rakshata's techie minions would ever disagree with her, and most of them were so busy with their work that they wouldn't give Matrix the time of day even if they wanted to. Which Matrix was pretty sure they didn't.
And then came Ozzal's big broadcast the previous day. Normally Matrix would have been excited about the prospect of creating new implements of destruction for Ozzal's war on terror, but now the extra hubbub only meant more of him being treated like slave labor while everyone else ignored him. Which did not excite him at all.
And now he was on his way up to the Head Governor's office, reduced to playing messenger boy for his new boss. And needless to say, he was not looking forward to being in the same room as Her Highness.
He vaguely toyed with the idea of conveniently taking a wrong turn, and slipping away into the city the way Larry had... but no, that lab was his, and there were too many of his brilliant creations tucked away there to just leave it all. Especially before he had wrested control of his domain back from that blonde harridan.
He reached the door of Ozzal's office and stopped. He stared at the door for a good minute before he finally sighed, decided that he might as well just get this over with, and knocked.
"Come in!" said a voice from the other side. Matrix reluctantly opened the door and stepped into the office.
Ozzal was sitting at her desk reviewing some paperwork. She seemed surprised to see him.
"Matrix? What are you doing here?"
"Um... you asked for an update from the research and development team."
"I know I did. Where's Rakshata?"
"She said she didn't feel like walking up here, so she sent me to talk to you."
Ozzal grumbled and crossly sat back in her chair with her arms folded. "Fine, then, give me your report. And make it quick."
Before Matrix could begin, there was a blunt knock on the door.
"Come in!" Ozzal shouted.
There was what sounded like scraping on the other side of the door, and some mumbling, and finally Ozzal huffily rose from her chair and went to open the door herself. On the other side was a guard holding a precariously large stack of cardboard boxes.
Ozzal looked him up and down with bewildered disgust. "What the... Pizza boxes? Where the hell did these come from?"
"Um... they kind of just showed up here, Madam," the man said nervously.
"Well who ordered them? I'm sure as hell not paying for them all..."
"Well you see... they're empty."
"Empty? Who the hell would send me empty pizza boxes?"
"Um... they appear to be from disgruntled citizens."
"Disgruntled who?"
"Well... none of them have names or return addresses, but they all have messages written on them... like 'Save Actonia' and 'We need our sleep.' Whoever sent them sure wasn't happy."
Ozzal's eyebrow twitched. She had enough problems without having to care about what some crabbypants commoners thought.
"Get them out of here. Burn them or something. Maybe a nice bonfire in the middle of town will send those disgruntled citizens a message."
"Yes, Madam."
Later that afternoon, passersby would notice a girl with long chartreuse hair and a gothloli outfit clutching a large yellow plushie and staring into the blaze with an expression of shock, despair, and irritation.
"Okay, back to business," Ozzal snapped as she slammed her office door and returned to her desk. "What's going on with my giant robots? How soon can we start blowing crap up?"
"Well, the design and manufacturing process is proceeding gradually but steadily... of course, it'd be going faster if Rakshata wouldn't keep rejecting my proposals..."
"I can't imagine why she would do that," Ozzal said sardonically. "Let me guess... do those proposals of yours feature tentacles as prominent design elements?"
"Well... maybe..."
"Say no more," Ozzal replied. "So have you got any good news for me?"
"Actually, there has been some excellent progress developing pilots for our mechs," Matrix said proudly. "There's one in particular who's looking to be a real ace. He's a former officer by the name of Jeremiah Gottwald, who was critically injured in a battle in Rantonia. He was nearly dead when he arrived back here, but I was able to replace a few body parts that he had lost and bring him back to life in my resuscitation tank. He's a little off in the head, maybe, but he hates the rebels with a passion. Apparently he heard that Hikki Follet was wearing an orange tie in a previous chapter, and it just set him off."
"Well that's just fantastic," Ozzal commented dryly. "But I trust we have more than one mech, right? And you're training more than one pilot?"
"Well... yes, of course," Matrix answered. He was somewhat dismayed at Ozzal's lack of enthusiasm for his achievements, but on the other hand he had come to expect this sort of response from her.
"There's another one who seems quite promising," he continued, trying to sound more chipper. "He's a former Syndicate member who was brought to us after getting impaled by one of your Echelon agents and having a random fantasy dream sequence about going to a therapy session. I fitted him with a new cybernetic ass, which I'm now recalibrating to interface directly with his mecha unit. He'll be able to control his machine directly through his ass. Isn't that awesome?"
Ozzal rolled her eyes. "I can hardly contain myself. You can spare me the life stories, though. All I want to know is when will my mech armada be able to move out, and how much damage will they be able to do, and - why are you fidgeting?"
Matrix tried to stop fidgeting. "Well um... I'm afraid I don't actually know, for sure... Rakshata doesn't really include me in her team meetings, and she wouldn't show me any of her plans, so um..."
"You mean she sent you up here even though you don't actually know anything? Am I surrounded by incompetence?"
"Well, you were in such a hurry for an update, and she said everyone else was busy..."
One of those x-shaped agitation marks appeared on Ozzal's forehead. "Okay then," she said a little patronizingly, forcing herself to calm down. "Tell Rakshata I want her to write up a real report, and have one of her people bring it up here. I'd just as soon hear from someone who actually knows what's going on. And the next time you show your face in my office, you'd better be carrying something salty and laden with calories."
Matrix was beginning to lose his patience - and, against his better judgment, his temper. "You know, Head Governor, if you no longer have any use for me I'm sure I can find a place to better put my talents to work elsewhere. I turned down several prestigious offers to accept this position, and -"
"Now Matrix, you're not actually considering leaving me, are you?" Ozzal's voice was suddenly oddly sweet.
"Well, I - no, I'd rather stay here in my lab, but if you'd only -"
"Well that's good, because I would hate to have to confine you to a cell somewhere to keep you from running around blabbing all of my secrets. You don't need to worry - that head of yours is still quite valuable to me, at least as long as it's still attached to that body."
If Matrix were a more paranoid person, he might have sensed something subtly ominous in those last few words. And in fact something about her tone of voice made him think that maybe it was a good idea to nod his head and let the matter go.
"Well... okay then," he said, nodding his head. "I'm... glad you still have a little faith in me. And I'll do my best to live up to the high expectations you have for my work. And... if you have a little time, perhaps you could glance over some of my design schematics and give them your stamp of approval? It would greatly expedite the process not to have Rakshata keep stonewalling my proposals, and -"
"Fine, whatever, good god," Ozzal exclaimed in supreme exasperation. "Put them in a file and have them sent up here with Rakshata's report."
"Right, of course," Matrix acquiesced, trying not to give away the sinking feeling he had that that file would remain buried in the paperwork on her desk - or immediately tossed into the recycle bin. "Is... that all?" he asked, suddenly wanting to be anywhere but there.
"Yes, that's quite enough. I'm sure we both have very important work to get back to," she replied, slightly snarkily. "You're dismissed."
"Thank you, Head Governor." He made a beeline for the door, trying not to overtly look like he was running away. Once he was safely on the other side with the door tightly closed behind him, he let out the tremendous sigh he hadn't realized he'd been holding in.
He had made it through the dreaded meeting, but oddly enough he didn't feel much of a sense of relief. What he did feel was a keener version of a feeling he'd been having for a while, to a small extent even before he had been demoted: Ozzal didn't care about him, didn't truly appreciate his brilliant scientific mind, didn't even really want him around. She only kept him there to protect the secrets he carried around in his magnificent brain. He might as well have been a talking head in a glass jar on her shelf for all she cared. Except that then he wouldn't be able to fetch her her Hot Pockets.
With another, more disheartened sigh, he headed back down toward the lab - his lab, he had to keep reminding himself. He had to admit that it was getting harder to stay motivated with all of these setbacks. But the more he thought about it as he meandered down the hallway, the more determined he became to show everyone how wrong they were about him. Professor M. Matrix was not one to shy away from a challenge. He would stick to his guns, do his job as well as he could, find ways to make himself important and needed and appreciated. He would prove to them that he was more than a snack lackey with a tentacle fetish.
"I'll show you all," he muttered resolutely. "You'll see what Professor M. Matrix can do."
**********
Cille leaned back in her chair and stretched. She had been sitting at the small desk in her room poring over files and scribbled notes since early that morning, and the tedium was catching up with her.
"Lord, it's like a college cram session all over again..." she mumbled to herself.
She rubbed her eyes and glanced at her watch. It was only mid-afternoon, but without any windows in her room it might have been the middle of the night for all she knew. Kirara had thoughtfully brought her some lunch a few hours ago, but otherwise she had been all alone with the huge stack of papers all day.
And now, she decided, it was time for a break.
She grabbed her coat and headed through the maze of hallways toward the main entrance to the bunker. She passed by one of the Syndicate's main training rooms, where Roy Mustang was trying to whip a group of hungover GAR Streeters into shape. In another smaller room, Kaia was busy instructing some of the women on hand-to-hand combat techniques.
Cille reached the bunker entrance and was met with a whoosh of cold air as the large door heaved open. She took a few deep breaths of the fresh air, and immediately felt better and more relaxed.
She didn't have anywhere particular to go, so she started wandering around the outside of the base. She stopped to watch one of the Knightmare frame pilots going through maneuvers, as Lloyd frantically waved his arms and yelled directions into his radio transmitter. Several other pilots-in-training stood nearby, and Cille noticed Hedwig sneaking up behind Proof with a handful of snow that was probably destined for the back of his friend's shirt.
"So they finally let you out to play, huh?"
Cille turned to see Straight Cougar coming toward her.
"Something like that," she said with a smile. "There's only so much cramming a person can take in one sitting."
"Heh, I was just about to come see if you were ready to take a break. It's a nice day for a walk, if you'd like to join me."
"I'd love to. It seems like we've barely seen each other since we started getting more involved here. I feel like we need time to catch up."
They started off into the snowy woods surrounding the bunker.
"So you think you've found your role in the Syndicate, eh?" Cougar asked.
"Yeah, I think so. Helping coordinate missions seems like it'll suit me a lot better than being out there fighting," she laughed.
"Heh. You're probably right. And I can't say it makes me unhappy to know that you'll be out of harm's way."
"Well, yeah, there is that. Not that there won't be any pressure, knowing that any mistake I make could put my friends in even greater danger."
"Do you think you'll be able to handle the job?"
"Well, I feel a lot better about it now that I have some information to work with. The Order of Glass has compiled an unbelievable amount of intel on Ozzal, even going back to her time in the military academy. I can't even imagine how long it'll take to go through it all." She laughed. "It's actually making me wish I had Eric here to help me study. He knows more about military history than anyone I know. I used to tease him about being a nerd, but I sure could use his insight now."
"Hmm... I can see about trying to track him down, but he's been gone for so long that it'd be hard to find him at this point. Especially since no one knows just what he was going off to do."
"Well, I'm sure it must be something important for him to leave like that. And really it's just wishful thinking on my part to want him here. I'll have to process this stuff myself, one way or another."
"I'm sure you'll do just fine. And if there's anything I can help you with, don't hesitate to ask."
"Thanks, I appreciate that," she replied. "So what have you been up to?"
"Well, I had an interesting conversation with Father Sadar this morning." He laughed. "That man is even more well-informed than I am."
"You'll have to tell me about it later. I'm not sure my brain can handle any more information right now," she said wryly.
"Of course," he answered. "It would be good for both of us to just get away from all of that for a while and think about other things."
As they continued walking, Cille found herself admiring the snow-covered landscape.
"It's too bad I haven't been able to get out here more often," she remarked. "It's really quite peaceful."
"Indeed. Although I admit that I'm usually speeding through here too fast to be able to really appreciate it. So the walk was a good idea, if I do say so myself."
They went on in silence, making their way through the labyrinth of bare trees.
"Oh, there was one thing that Sadar thought might interest you," Cougar remembered.
"Oh? What was that?" Cille asked.
"Apparently there is a small underground resistance movement in Comedia that's been keeping an eye on Ozzal, especially since rumors of her world takeover plot started getting around a few months ago. They got suspicious when they noticed their army assembling near our border, and did some digging to find out what was going on. Essentially they did on their side what Jake did on ours, and the Order of Glass was able to put the two pieces together and come up with that news broadcast that put Ozzal out of business."
"Wow. I didn't realize there were that many people in Comedia involved in this thing."
"Well, there certainly are Comedians who see what Ozzal is doing and don't like it. Most of them prefer to just stay quiet and uninvolved, but there are a few who are willing to actively help our cause. One of those people is someone you know, in fact. She was quite a good friend of yours, I believe."
Cille thought for a moment, and then gasped. "You mean... Luna?"
Cougar grinned. "That was why she left so suddenly when she did. She got our intel about Ozzal's plans for Comedia and decided to do what she could over there, just in case anything came up." He laughed. "Apparently her new cafe is quite a popular hangout."
Cille shook her head incredulously. "I should have known she'd have something up her sleeve," she said with a laugh. "I am glad to know that she's okay, though. I can't help thinking about her from time to time."
"Well, from what Sadar said it sounds like she's been quite successful in starting over there. Although I'm sure she does miss her old friends here."
"I wonder if she knows I'm still alive," Cille mused. "I wonder if she has any idea at all how much has changed since the last time we saw each other."
"I can ask Sadar how he feels about passing your regards on to her. He might not want the news of your presence here to get out that far, but it's possible he'll make an exception for your friend."
"That'd be nice, thanks."
"Does it bother you that you have to stay out of sight here?" he asked.
"In a way it's freeing not to be in the public eye. A ghost doesn't have to worry so much about keeping up appearances," she laughed. "It is kind of strange not being able to go anywhere without disguising myself, though. But I've just accepted that my life is different now. And if I get to feeling too cooped up, I can always just take a nice walk in the woods."
"Heh. That's true enough," he assented.
They continued silently again, and before long they came upon a small clearing in the woods. It made for quite a picturesque scene, with five or six trees almost forming a circle around them and a few scraggly berry bushes filling in some of the gaps. A couple of small animals that looked like some strange combination of squirrels and foxes gazed out at Cille and Cougar from underneath one of the bushes, and then quickly scampered away as they came closer.
As if simultaneously feeling like this would be a good spot to take a short rest from walking, the two of them paused there and took the opportunity to just look around at the quietly pretty grove and the white-blanketed wilderness beyond.
After a few moments Cille put her hands into her coat pockets, thinking that it would have been a good idea to find some gloves before she left the bunker.
"You're cold?" Cougar noticed.
"Um... not terribly." She shivered involuntarily. "I... guess it's a little chillier out here than I expected."
"Well... maybe..." he began, and finished the thought by moving closer and placing an arm around her shoulders. She smiled appreciatively, allowing her body to lean in closer to his. The move surprised her a little, but it was just like him to try to offer comfort when she was feeling cold. And sure enough, almost immediately she noticed that she was starting to feel warmer.
They stood in renewed silence for a little while longer, continuing to look out at the snowy landscape. But Cille felt her attention being unconsciously drawn to the presence of the man beside her. Maybe there was another reason for the warmth spreading through her body...
She had realized some time ago that she couldn't keep ignoring or trying to talk herself out of her growing feelings for Cougar. Even as she avoided talking about him to the girls, and acted like there was nothing going on between them, she was constantly thinking about him and trying desperately to figure out what to do and how she should be feeling.
She knew that she cared for him, of course. He had always been a good friend to her, and they had grown even closer during their time together after their escape from Comdot Estate. But she could never shake the feeling that it was dangerous for her to get too close to another man, especially after being so completely betrayed by one who had once seemed as wonderful and trustworthy as Cougar did now.
But... there he was, quietly doing amazing things for her and asking for nothing but her friendship in return. And he seemed to understand that she needed a certain amount of emotional space, and had never pressed for more than she was able to give him.
But even without any sort of advances on his part, she couldn't help being drawn to him and noticing what a wonderful man he was. She admired his integrity and the way he committed himself to helping his friends, no matter what the personal cost to himself might be. She loved his wit, and his badassitude, and his sense of humor, and his appreciation for culture... Even at the party the previous night, when he and the ever-shirtless Kamina had been treating the entire base to a round of boisterous songs, she found that Cougar was the one she couldn't take her eyes off of. She had even come to find his many eccentricities endearing, and often found herself laughing delightedly while others were groaning or rolling their eyes.
But most of all, he was someone she could trust, when that was what she desperately needed.
And now he was standing close by her side, with his arm around her and his warm breath brushing past her ear. And in that perfect moment, when it should have been so easy to finally open up to him, she found herself completely at a loss for words. How would she even begin to bring the subject up? He had certainly never said anything to suggest that he thought of her as more than a friend. For all she knew he was always just being nice to her, or pitied her, or -
"Ms. Cillie..."
"Hmm?" She almost jumped, wondering how long they'd been standing there in silence while she was lost in thought - and if he had any inkling what those thoughts had been about. But he seemed preoccupied with thoughts of his own, and it took him a few moments to continue.
"Are you... happy like this?"
Her face turned a little redder. Was he...
"You mean... being here with you?"
"Yes."
She couldn't help feeling nervous about where this might be leading. But if he really was trying to reach out to her, she owed it to him to be as honest as she could.
"I can't remember ever being as happy as I am when I'm with you."
She thought she felt a kind of tremor go through him, and looked up to find him looking back at her. His face was slightly flushed, making her even more aware of the burning in her own cheeks. He drew his arm away from her shoulders and turned to look her in the eyes.
"Ms. Cillie, I..."
He hesitated, still wrestling with his uncertainties, and searched her face. She looked back at him expectantly, mentally willing him to go on, to find the courage she knew she lacked.
After a moment she smiled at him sympathetically, as if she understood if it was too difficult to continue. But he seemed to make up his mind, and began to move slowly toward her. Then he hesitated again, and she finally felt she understood what it was she should do. Impetuously, she leaned forward and closed the distance between them.
Neither of them could have told how long they stood there with their lips pressed softly together. There was only the warmth, and the sweetness, and the gentle feeling of two souls meeting. And when they finally parted, all they could do was stand there close to each other, still lost in the moment.
Their eyes met again and they just looked at each other, still trying to catch their breath. A shy smile began forming on her face, as a big goofy grin spread across his. Once again she wondered what she should say.
And once again she didn't need to say anything at all.
"YAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOO!!!" he whooped, scooping her up and racing through the forest. She just clung to his neck and laughed harder than she ever had before, feeling as giddy on the inside as he seemed on the outside. Somehow they managed not to smack into any trees, and almost as quickly as they had gone they came to rest again, collapsing into the snow and laughing and gasping for breath.
As they began to recover from their delirium, Cille carefully raised herself up and looked down at Cougar. For another few moments they just gazed at each other again, a new appreciation shining in their eyes. Then she smiled and reached out to put her hand on his, and he drew her into a close embrace.
The sun was sinking down toward the horizon, casting ever longer shadows through the trees, but neither of them noticed the dwindling daylight. They just lay there together in the snow, not even feeling the cold, telling each other things that they never could have said until that moment.
**********
Recurring characters:
Angel Sarcasta - mgangel1124
Emiri - _Boxers_
Clarice Rowe - QueenoftheDorks
Hikki Follet - Kohikki
Michelle Ozzal - Mike Lazzo
Samson Monroe - MasterSamson
*Jake Thompson - SportsMaster
Kaia Namek - namek_kaia
Kay El - Kagomes_Luver2789
Zeus - zeus_the_angry_god
*Landon Blaken - Blah_canbespanish
Father John Sadar - FurionTassadar
Lucille "Cille" Compton - Cille
Raef Compton - Maenos
Starry Ozzal - starryjelly
Elizabeth Saurie St. Gaurdsmen - EdSpikeSesshyGirl
Bruce Herman - bherman
Jean Pierrot - pierrot-le-fou
Cid - cidthekittyisfun
Proof - NoProof91
Roxie Goldsmith - anime_goddess05
Kirara Amour - kiraralove
Larry Zorin - LAZY17
Spice E. Spamton - spiceweasel228
Cowboy - CowboyCadenza
April - LirpaYamEnujYluj
*DangerCille - Cille
*Heero Yuy (Riza's husband) - HeeroYuy135
Professor M. Matrix - matrixman124
Amy - Amalgam
*Harold P. Gottel, aka Got-ass the Assborg - lgott23
Hedwig - Shins?
*Eric Ominae - OMNI-Enforcer
*Luna Monegossde - MoonGoddess17
Izuru Kira - Bleach
Roy Mustang - Fullmetal Alchemist
Tres Iqus - Trinity Blood
*Walter Dornez (Starry's manservant) - Hellsing
Straight Cougar - s-CRY-ed
Kamina - Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
Roronoa Zoro - One Piece
Aoi - Ghost in the Shell
Uryuu Ishida - Bleach
Lloyd Asplund - Code Geass
Winry Rockbell - Fullmetal Alchemist
Holland Novak - Eureka seveN
Kenpachi Zaraki - Bleach
*Riza "Hawkeye" Yuy - Fullmetal Alchemist
Rakshata Chawla - Code Geass
New characters:
CC (the distraught bonfire-watching girl) - Code Geass
Cheese-kun (the yellow plushie) - Code Geass
*Jeremiah Gottwald - Code Geass
And you could call those two squirrel/fox critters that Cille and Cougar met in the woods relatives of Squirly.
*Characters marked with an asterisk are mentioned in this chapter but do not have an active role in the story.
New locations:
Wacdnald's - Inuyasha
Land of the Sacred Cows - India
References:
"I mustn't run away" - Shinji's catchphrase from Neon Genesis Evangelion
CHURROS! - Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo
"I HAD TACO BELL FOR LUNCH!" - Venture Brothers
Pizza boxes - Send Lazzo Pizza Boxes, For Great Justice
Talking heads in glass jars - Futurama
"That... is a fabulous hat."
"You like it? My Kira bought it for me today. Isn't he a sweetie?"
Kira cringed a little despite appreciating the sentiment behind the sarcastic sappiness, wondering if Emiri realized he could still hear her as he headed away down the hall. But Emiri was too busy showing off her new fedora to a drooling Angel to pay any attention to her departing escort.
"You know, that shade of red matches my hair perfectly..." Angel pointed out suggestively.
"Yeah, well, if you can find yourself a sugar daddy, maybe you can get him to buy one for you," Emiri shot back with a grin.
Angel was just about to try putting on her best pout when Clarice hurried down the hallway past them, not even pausing to acknowledge the other two women.
"Hey, where's the fire?" Emiri asked.
"Yeah, is something going on?" Angel added.
Clarice stopped and let out an exasperated sigh. "Hikki's freaking out about that broadcast. He thinks he's a dead man now that Ozzal has pegged him as the Syndicate's leader. So I'm going to go get him some tea and hope that that helps calm his nerves."
"Oh, come on, Ozzal isn't that scary. He can't be that worried," Angel laughed.
Clarice rubbed her temples. "For the last hour he's been rocking back and forth and babbling in French, except when he randomly goes 'I MUSTN'T RUN AWAY!' or stops talking altogether and starts trying to nibble on his hair. I'd say he's pretty freakin' worried."
"Well geez, it's not like he's got the most badass fighters ever here to protect him," Emiri said snarkily.
"Yeah, we keep trying to tell him that everything'll be fine, but he's just not getting it right now. So... I guess we just have to keep reassuring him until he either calms down or passes out." Clarice started down the hallway again. "I'd better get back there before he decides to use Samson as a security blanket."
Angel and Emiri watched her go, and then Emiri snorted in disgust.
"What's the matter?" Angel asked.
"Everyone around here is in like... emo mode or something. I mean, I can get everyone being depressed over Jake, but since then we've done some major asskicking and even got Ozzal crapping her pants. I know 'we haven't won yet,' but you'd think we could be at least a little bit happy about what we've accomplished in the last few days. But everybody's still being all serious and freaking out and it's just bringing the whole place down."
The two of them were silent for a few moments, and then they simultaneously looked at each other with thoughtful expressions.
"You know what we need around here?" Emiri asked.
"I think I do," Angel answered. "I'll get the booze, you get us the biggest empty room you can find."
Emiri grinned mischievously. "I knew there was a reason I needed a new hat today."
**********
"A... what?" Hikki asked dazedly.
"'You are cordially invited to a celebration of our awesomeness,'" Clarice repeated. "'Time: Tonight, from 9 until we can't stand up. Location: Follow the balloons. Be there or we'll kick your ass. Love, Angel and Emiri.'"
Clarice handed the slip of paper to Samson.
"A party?" he said skeptically. "Do they really think we can afford to waste time getting drunk when Ozzal could be breathing down our necks at any moment?"
"Good lord, Samson, don't say things like that," Clarice admonished. "You'll make him start hyperventilating again."
Hikki, fortunately, didn't look like he was processing much of what his friends were saying, and continued to stare off into space.
"Anyway," Clarice continued, "if they want to throw a little shindig, we should probably let them. Maybe it'll be good for morale, and I don't want to be the one to tell Emiri and Angel that they can't have their party after they've made their minds up."
Samson winced. He wouldn't want to have that job either.
"Well they'd better keep in mind that we're going to start training even harder tomorrow," he said authoritatively. "We may have a break in the action while we wait for Ozzal to make her next move, but we've got to be ready to go the moment she makes it."
"Agreed. I'll tell Kaia and Mustang to be ready to blow reveille."
"And... do you think he'll be okay with it?" Samson asked, with another worried look at Hikki.
"Oh, we'll put him in something pink and frilly and he'll be fine. With any luck he'll have so much fun that he'll totally forget about the broadcast."
"I... hope so..." Samson said uncertainly, as Hikki started mumbling to himself in French again. "I'm not going to volunteer to get him dressed, though..."
**********
Kay El kicked the snow off of his boots as he felt around in his pocket and pulled out the keys to the suite he shared with his best friend. It had gotten colder in the few days since he had been out of Comdot Estate, but he was still glad to have gotten out for some fresh air and walking. Zeus hadn't felt much like going anywhere after their trouncing a few nights earlier, but Kay El had finally had enough of sitting around and went out to grab something to eat.
He closed and locked the door behind him, and then surveyed the living room. Sure enough, Zeus was still slumped on the couch, and looked like he hadn't moved a muscle the whole time his friend was gone.
Kay El took off his coat and boots and ambled into the room. "Hey, I got you a burger at Wacdnald's. Fresh off the grill."
"Thanks. I don't think I'm hungry. I'll save it for later."
"Mmkay."
Kay El plunked down in his favorite cushy chair and dug into the takeout bag. Zeus might not feel like eating, but he was starving. Probably because they'd been surviving on beer and stale churros for days.
They sat in silence for a long while. Kay El munched on his French fries, occasionally looking over at his sullen comrade and wondering if he should say something.
"Ozzal was on the TV at the burger place," he finally commented.
"Was she?" A slight edge belied Zeus' attempt at nonchalance.
"Mm-hmm. It was a big broadcast, all over the city. She was talking about the Syndicate. And how they're a bunch of traitors and she's the one who the people should trust."
Zeus snorted. "Well, she's got the traitor part right. Only an idiot would trust her, though."
"You still think the Syndicate is wrong?" Kay El asked gingerly.
"Why wouldn't I? Listen, just because Ozzal stabbed us in the back doesn't mean the Syndicate is suddenly our friends. They're still a bunch of fools turning against their own country. Besides, it's not like they would ever accept me after I killed their leader."
Kay El furrowed his brow. He wasn't entirely sure about the matter, but he knew that it was probably best to just drop it for now. After being betrayed so many times, the one thing Zeus hated the most was a traitor. That was why he hated the Syndicate, hated Emiri, and now hated Ozzal. And he was too proud to admit that he might have been wrong about the rebellion, especially after he had opposed it so strongly and done harm to it that he could never undo.
"I don't get it..." Zeus continued pensively, as if talking to himself. "I killed their leader... I killed Blaken, and that should have been the end of it. There's no way those morons could go on without him... So how..."
He scowled and slumped farther down in his seat. Kay El understood his frustration. He had been so jubilant after killing Landon Blaken and seeing the Syndicate scattering like roaches from the burning mansion. Everything seemed to be going his way - and now everything was turned upside-down.
"So... what do you think we should do?" Kay El asked quietly.
Zeus remained silent and thoughtful for a few more moments. Then he sighed, and stood up resolutely. "Pack up whatever you want to take out of this place. We'll leave tonight."
Kay El nodded. "Where will we go?"
"It doesn't matter. There's nothing left for us here, so I'm not going to keep sitting around pretending to wait for our next order. We'll figure the rest out as we go."
Kay El nodded again, relieved to see his friend looking more like his old determined self. Zeus stretched, and then started out of the room with a glance at Kay El and the greasy paper bag in his lap.
"I gotta pee," he announced. "Don't eat my burger before I get back."
The bathroom door slammed shut, and Kay El couldn't help smiling as he took one of the wrapped burgers out of the bag and tossed it onto the couch.
**********
Father Sadar arrived fashionably late to the party. At least, that's what he might have said if he were at all concerned about appearing fashionable. As it was, he had been out taking care of some business following Ozzal's broadcast, and had only just returned to the base and discovered the huge sign inside the door proclaiming "PARTAY!!!" and pointing to the trail of balloons leading to this large storage room.
A large space had been cleared out in the center of the room, and the equipment and boxes that still lined the walls had become impromptu chairs and tables for the assembled partygoers. There was music playing, and Sadar had to chuckle when he realized that it was coming from Tres, who apparently had a cd player and speaker system built in.
Sadar surveyed the room and saw that most of the combined forces of the Syndicate, Order of Glass, and GAR Street Bar regulars were there. He wandered through the room, observing with some amusement the various conversations and activities going on.
He saw Cille talking with her brother Raef and his girlfriend Starry, who had recently arrived at the base with her seriously injured manservant. He was mildly surprised not to see Cougar with them, until he noticed the Alter user nearby comparing pink sunglasses with Kamina.
Elizabeth was showing off her guns to a crowd of admirers from the GAR Street Bar.
Bruce Herman and Jean Pierrot were having an arm-wrestling tournament, and were being cheered on by some of the other GAR Streeters.
Zoro was leaning against a crate fast asleep with his three swords propped up next to him.
Cid and Proof were talking animatedly to some of their comrades from the Order of Glass, and Sadar guessed from the way they were jumping around that they were demonstrating some of their newly-learned Knightmare moves.
Aoi, Ishida, Roxie, and Kirara sat off to the side having an impromptu meeting of their book club.
Sadar passed Larry and Lloyd, who were having an involved discussion about Yggdrasil Resonance as Winry listened intently.
Angel and Emiri were having their own conversation, punctuated with raucous laughter, which seemed to revolve around a comparison of how their boobs looked in their respective outfits.
Izuru Kira was standing off by himself, looking quite sheepish and self-conscious as he tugged at his noticeably shorter-than-usual bangs.
Even Spice was there talking to April and Cowboy, after Samson and Hikki had determined that she had completely recovered from the effects of the stimulant drug and was no longer a threat to her comrades.
And there was Hikki standing next to the hors d'oeuvres table with Samson and Clarice, looking like he had been partaking quite liberally of the French wine and cheese that Angel had provided for him.
Sadar approached them and decided to address the more sober of his associates.
"Ah, Samson, just who I was looking for," he said jovially.
"Oh? It's a wonder you could even find me in this mob," Samson replied with a laugh.
"I've got some interesting information for you. Ozzal has some plans in the works."
Samson glanced behind him at Hikki, who had fortunately been too busy inspecting the tray of cheese on the table to hear what Sadar had said.
"Um... why don't you tell us over here," he said, quickly ushering Sadar and Clarice a little further away. "We're trying not to remind Hikki that Ozzal's after us."
"Ah. Okay... you can fill him in later, I suppose." Sadar was a bit puzzled, but he was more than used to his friends' eccentricities by now.
"So what's up?" Samson asked.
"I found out from certain of my contacts this afternoon that Ozzal has already put out the order to recall her troops from Rantonia. We're not certain just how many of them will be coming back, but it may be nearly the entire force. Apparently you've made quite an impression on her."
Samson furrowed his brow. "The entire force? So you mean... we're going to be facing down Ozzal's entire military?"
"Minus whatever outposts she leaves, since she'll probably want to at least maintain some presence in the area. But yes, it seems that she's desperate enough to want as much military force as she can get here."
Samson looked worried and thoughtful. Clarice could tell that he was already racking his brains trying to figure out how they could possibly handle this situation.
"Do you have any idea when this will all happen?" she asked.
"It won't be immediate; it will take some time for the troops to put their current business to rest and travel back to Orly, and then of course Ozzal will need to organize them and put her plans into motion. So we have possibly a few weeks... maybe more, maybe less. It's really impossible to put a real deadline on it at this point."
"But... we do have some breathing room," Samson said hopefully.
"Yes. You can still afford to let everyone have their fun tonight," Sadar said with a grin.
Samson sighed, feeling a little rueful at the irony of their situation. It was taking some effort to keep from succumbing to his worries and calling off the whole party right now, but he didn't need Clarice to remind him that getting everyone all worked up now would just cause more problems than it was worth.
"Thanks for the heads up, Sadar," he said. "We'll see what we can do from here."
"I have no doubt that you'll come up with something," Sadar said confidently.
He was just about to head for the food table for a snack when Cille came up to them.
"Hey, Samson, Clarice, I've got a question for you. I was going to ask Hikki, but he seems kind of... distracted." She glanced over at the Frenchman, who was busy arguing with Holland about the proper way to tie a cravat. "So I thought maybe you could help me."
"What do you need?" Clarice asked.
"Well, I've been thinking that if I'm going to be helping coordinate our missions, I really ought to know more about the Syndicate and its resources, and whatever we have on Ozzal and her army. That'll make it much easier to develop strategies and such."
"You want... information on the Syndicate?" Clarice shot a worried look at Samson, and she could tell from his troubled expression that he was thinking the same thing she was. They both remembered the story DangerCille had told them, about how her own inquisitiveness had led to the Syndicate's downfall in her time. And now their Cille was asking for the same information...
Seeing their looks of concern, Sadar spoke up. "You'll need every advantage you can get if you're going to stand up to Ozzal and her military. I think Miss Compton will be quite adept at handling intel, and it's smart of her to want to prepare now. So I wouldn't be worried about letting her take on the task. I can even provide some of our own files on Ozzal's army and her past actions, if you would like to look through them."
"Yes, thank you. I'd appreciate that," Cille said.
"Well... maybe you should focus on Ozzal for now," Clarice said cautiously.
"Um... okay, that's fine. I'm sure there's more than enough on her to go through," Cille replied with a laugh.
"Speaking of, Sadar," Samson began, "I want to hear more about what we can expect when Ozzal's army arri-"
"HEY HEY HEY HEY! WHAT THE HELL KIND OF PARTY DO YOU THINK THIS IS?!" a female voice roared behind them.
A startled Samson turned around to see Emiri and Angel bearing down on them. Emiri was wearing a black and green gothloli dress, and Angel was decked out in a red leather corset and tight pants along with Emiri's new red fedora. They each carried two glasses of wine, which they wasted no time in handing out to their four guests.
"Save the war crap for later," Angel said. "Right now is for fun. And drinking."
Samson sighed. "You do realize, Angel, that in the morning -"
"Yeah, yeah, but it ain't morning yet, so you'd better stop wasting time and get enjoying yourself."
Samson sighed again, and grudgingly took a sip of his wine. One glass couldn't hurt, he figured, especially if it would get the two of them off his case.
"Hey, that's a nice hat," Cille commented to Angel.
"Thanks, my Kira bought it for me," Emiri answered. Cille looked slightly confused, and Emiri and Angel looked at each other for a moment and then both burst out giggling hysterically.
"Excuse me, Angel."
Roy Mustang had approached the group, looking good in a sweater and slacks. Angel had been so busy having fun with Emiri that she hadn't even noticed him at the party, although he had certainly been noticing her tight outfit.
"I couldn't help admiring how lovely you look tonight," he continued, "and I was wondering if I might have the honor of enjoying your company for a while. Perhaps for a little quality alone time."
Emiri whistled. This guy was smooth.
Angel smiled at him coyly, swinging her hips a little as she turned toward him. "Well, only because you asked so nice," she answered playfully.
She looked back at Emiri. "Hey, you mind if I borrow your hat for just a little while longer?"
"On one condition." Emiri leaned closer to her friend. "That you tell me all about it later," she whispered.
Angel winked back at Emiri, and took Roy's arm as the two of them walked away.
"I hope I'm not taking you away from anything important," Roy said.
"Oh, nothing that's more important than some quality time with an attractive man," she replied. "I can talk to those goofballs anytime I want. I haven't gotten to spend nearly enough time with you."
"Well, I see we've been thinking on the same wavelength," he said with a grin. "I've been almost at the point of asking you to consider joining my platoon. Of course then I'd never be able to keep all of those brutes in line with them all ogling you."
"Oh sure, like you wouldn't be the one doing the ogling," she laughed.
"Hey, a military man has to restrain himself, maintain a professional appearance." He lowered his voice. "At least in public."
Angel smiled. She liked where this was going.
They had reached a relatively secluded corner of the room, where a couple of small storage boxes would make perfect seats for a cozy conversation. No one would be able to listen in on them here, and they were also largely out of sight thanks to the tower of manliness that Pierrot and Kenpachi were trying to make nearby with some of the larger GAR Streeters.
The two of them sat down quite close to each other. Angel crossed her legs and leaned in even closer to Roy, ready to hear more of what was on his mind - and to share at least some of what had been on hers. She was finding it very easy to let down her guard around him, especially with the mellowing effects of the wine. It felt fabulous. She didn't even mind that she wasn't the one totally in control. He was fascinating, strong, unbearably sexy...
"I've noticed that we have a lot in common," he was saying. "Although it seems I don't need to convince you of our compatibility," he laughed.
"Oh, it never hurts to tell a woman what you like about her," she said flirtatiously.
He grinned, as if accepting her challenge. "Well, for one thing, we clearly both share an appreciation for the finer specimens of the opposite sex."
"I'd say we have similar taste in my sex too," she joked.
Roy looked puzzled. "Wait, what? ...Are you talking about Riza?"
Immediately Angel's danger sensors clicked on, clearing the effects of the wine out of her head. How could she let herself get carried away like that?
"Well, um... I just mean that she was a beautiful girl, and um... I can see why you liked her so much."
"Oh. Okay," he said, and for a moment Angel dared to hope that she might have dodged the bullet. But...
"Angel... is there anything you need to tell me? About Riza?"
"About Riza? Why, what would give you that idea?" She laughed, and it came out sounding more nervous than she had intended.
"Every time we talk about her I get the sense that there's something more that you're not saying. So if there's something that you want to tell me... I wish that you would just say it."
Angel shifted uneasily in her seat. She really didn't want to be having this conversation right now, and it would have been very easy for her to just laugh it off and change the subject. But she knew that if she lied to him now, she would never have the chance to come clean to him about what she had done with Riza. And she couldn't stand the idea of having that guilt hanging over her head every time she saw him. Especially since if she had her way she'd be seeing him an awful lot.
"Well, you see..." she began, feeling very uncomfortable, "when we were together... I mean, when I knew her, we shared some... intimate moments."
"Intimate? You mean..."
"We were close." She sighed and let it come right out. "Sexually."
He laughed uncertainly, as if he weren't quite sure what to make of this. "Did her husband know about this?"
"Her husband wasn't in much of a state to know much of anything at that point. If you know what I mean."
"I see."
He took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. Under any other circumstances Angel would have been compelled to pounce on him.
"Are you... okay?" she asked.
"Well, yeah, it's just... kind of a strange thing to have to process," he said. "I mean I never even knew she swung that way."
"Well, um... remember how I told you we had a special connection? Well... yeah."
He didn't say anything more, and seemed to be studying his glass of scotch thoughtfully. All of the scenarios that Angel had thought out for this conversation had vanished. All that was left was nervousness over what he would think of her - this amazing man, one of the few who had ever made her interested in more than a one-night stand.
"I remember you saying you comforted her," he said finally. "She must have been terribly upset after her husband's death."
"She was, yeah," Angel replied uncertainly. "It was really rough for her."
"Then... I appreciate you taking care of her. If you made her a little bit happier... that's what's important."
Angel was a little bit shocked. "Then... you're not upset about me getting with your woman?"
He laughed, a little bitterly. "She stopped being my woman a long time before you met her. If there's anyone to blame for that, it's certainly not you."
Angel couldn't help but be relieved that he wasn't angry about her sudden revelation, but she sensed that there was more baggage here than Roy would like to admit.
He sighed. "Well... this wasn't quite the way I expected the evening to go."
"Tell me about it..." she mumbled, propping her chin on her hand.
"I hope you're not too disappointed. And... I hope you don't think I don't like you anymore or something. It's just... something I'll have to deal with."
"Yeah, I know. I guess this means we'll have to put off our quality alone time."
"Yeah."
They looked at each other, and couldn't help sharing wry smiles despite their mutual disappointment - or perhaps because of it.
"I... think I'll call it a night now," he said, standing up to go. "I hope you'll enjoy the rest of the party."
"I'll try," she replied. With another good look at her (which may or may not have been largely directed below her face), he turned to go. She longingly watched him walk away, and then slumped back against the wall, inadvertently pushing the fedora over her face. "Bloody hell..." she murmured, reaching up to rub her temple.
"Hey," Emiri's voice said next to her. "What the hell is going on? Aren't you supposed to be leaving with him?"
Angel tipped the brim of the hat up wearily to see her friend standing over her. "Things didn't go quite the way they were supposed to," she answered.
"Well what's going on? Is everything okay?" Emiri asked anxiously.
"I don't know... maybe it will be, maybe I just totally blew it... I just don't know."
"What happened? What did you say? What did he say?"
"Look, I -" Angel stopped herself from getting worked up. "I don't really want to talk about it right now. For all I know everything's fine and we're just... we're just putting things off a little. But I don't really want to make a big deal of it now."
Emiri looked at her with concern for another moment, and then nodded her head resolutely. "Right. Now is for fun and drinking. And if you don't get to spend your night getting it on with a hot man, then you're going to spend it getting drunk with your friends."
Angel laughed. "That's the spirit."
There was a crash behind Emiri, followed by the sound of several very manly men shouting and grumbling. The two women looked to see that Pierrot's tower of manliness had just come to a sudden and rather disastrous end, and now looked more like a disorganized pile of manliness.
Emiri looked back at Angel, and saw that the playful smile had returned to her face.
"Well if nothing else we're getting a bunch of men writhing around on top of each other," Angel said. "This might not be such a bad night after all."
Emiri laughed and held out her hand to help her friend up.
Once she was on her feet, Angel straightened her shoulders and settled the fedora back onto her head. She might have just had a little romantic setback, but she wasn't about to let that stop her from being fierce. And if the morning's hangover had a little tinge of heartache in it... well, she didn't have to think about that now. This was her party, dammit, and she was going to make the most of it.
"You boys call that a tower?" she called tauntingly, sauntering toward the heap of men with a hand on her hip. "I've seen my granny make more impressive towers with a deck of cards."
There was a collective "ooooOOOOOOoooooh" from the portion of the room that was within earshot of Angel's challenge, and someone in the crowd shouted "Oh no she didn't!" A few of the men let out whistles and grunts as they pulled themselves out of the pile.
"Maybe you should try it again," Angel continued. "Whoever ends up on top gets to know where I hid the good stuff," she said with a wink.
The grumbling changed immediately to hoots and cheers as the men scrambled to rebuild their tower, each ready to compete for the promise of even more quality booze. Angel watched the scene with an immense feeling of satisfaction.
Yes, this might actually end up being an okay night after all.
**********
Professor M. Matrix was not a happy camper.
Things had been going steadily downhill for a while now. First Larry had taken off for good, and then Matrix's lab had been invaded by the geek squad and their headmistress from the Land of the Sacred Cows. And if he had thought that trading a sullen nerd for a blonde babe was a good deal, those delusions had been almost immediately shattered.
Rakshata Chawla hadn't wasted any time asserting herself as the new head honcho of Comdot Estate's research facility. And as much as Matrix enjoyed S&M, he was not at all pleased with this particular dominatrix's methods. Her first order of business was to have all of Matrix's works in progress cleared out of the lab, declaring that they were "in the way of real science." Matrix was only barely able to scramble around and get most of them spirited away to a storage closet before they went into the trash.
Having a strong-willed woman around wasn't necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, of course. Matrix knew very well from experience what kind of sparks could fly when two strong personalities clashed, and he could almost envision the sexual tension threatening to send the lab up in flames bigger than the time Amy thought it would be funny to fart right next to a Bunsen burner after having Taco Bell for lunch.
But as eager as he was to challenge Rakshata, and either put her in her place or let her put him (sexily) in his, he ran into one small problem: she didn't seem to care or even notice that he was there. It was as if she had completely forgotten that the territory she had barged into belonged to someone else, and she was simply going about her business as if she had always owned the place. When she did pay any attention to Matrix, it was just to give him another bit of grunt work to do in the little corner of the lab that she had relegated him to. Despite her apparent penchant for calling the shots, she seemed to always regard him with an air of bored disdain, as if she were thinking "why are you still here?"
Matrix always tried his hardest to prove that he still deserved to be there, of course. He was always ready to offer his expert opinion on any subject she happened to be discussing with her team, and he didn't even complain (at least out loud) about being stuck with the drudge work. But every time Matrix made a suggestion, Rakshata shot it down or even pretended not to listen to him. A few times she even laughed at him, with a maddening trill of a laugh that he might have found adorable coming from anyone else, but that grated every nerve when she used it against him.
And as hard as he worked on his assignments, she always found something to criticize. It wasn't his fault that it had been a while since he had done these sorts of jobs, since Larry had always taken care of the menial tasks that were beneath Matrix's intellect and skill level. And just to add insult to injury, she kept rejecting his mech designs for completely bogus reasons, even though he was the one who had come up with the idea of giant fighting robots in the first place.
Matrix couldn't even rely on his own assistant to back him up. Amy seemed to enjoy having another girl in the lab, and oddly enough Rakshata didn't seem at all fazed by Amy's impish behavior, so the two of them got along splendidly. And of course none of Rakshata's techie minions would ever disagree with her, and most of them were so busy with their work that they wouldn't give Matrix the time of day even if they wanted to. Which Matrix was pretty sure they didn't.
And then came Ozzal's big broadcast the previous day. Normally Matrix would have been excited about the prospect of creating new implements of destruction for Ozzal's war on terror, but now the extra hubbub only meant more of him being treated like slave labor while everyone else ignored him. Which did not excite him at all.
And now he was on his way up to the Head Governor's office, reduced to playing messenger boy for his new boss. And needless to say, he was not looking forward to being in the same room as Her Highness.
He vaguely toyed with the idea of conveniently taking a wrong turn, and slipping away into the city the way Larry had... but no, that lab was his, and there were too many of his brilliant creations tucked away there to just leave it all. Especially before he had wrested control of his domain back from that blonde harridan.
He reached the door of Ozzal's office and stopped. He stared at the door for a good minute before he finally sighed, decided that he might as well just get this over with, and knocked.
"Come in!" said a voice from the other side. Matrix reluctantly opened the door and stepped into the office.
Ozzal was sitting at her desk reviewing some paperwork. She seemed surprised to see him.
"Matrix? What are you doing here?"
"Um... you asked for an update from the research and development team."
"I know I did. Where's Rakshata?"
"She said she didn't feel like walking up here, so she sent me to talk to you."
Ozzal grumbled and crossly sat back in her chair with her arms folded. "Fine, then, give me your report. And make it quick."
Before Matrix could begin, there was a blunt knock on the door.
"Come in!" Ozzal shouted.
There was what sounded like scraping on the other side of the door, and some mumbling, and finally Ozzal huffily rose from her chair and went to open the door herself. On the other side was a guard holding a precariously large stack of cardboard boxes.
Ozzal looked him up and down with bewildered disgust. "What the... Pizza boxes? Where the hell did these come from?"
"Um... they kind of just showed up here, Madam," the man said nervously.
"Well who ordered them? I'm sure as hell not paying for them all..."
"Well you see... they're empty."
"Empty? Who the hell would send me empty pizza boxes?"
"Um... they appear to be from disgruntled citizens."
"Disgruntled who?"
"Well... none of them have names or return addresses, but they all have messages written on them... like 'Save Actonia' and 'We need our sleep.' Whoever sent them sure wasn't happy."
Ozzal's eyebrow twitched. She had enough problems without having to care about what some crabbypants commoners thought.
"Get them out of here. Burn them or something. Maybe a nice bonfire in the middle of town will send those disgruntled citizens a message."
"Yes, Madam."
Later that afternoon, passersby would notice a girl with long chartreuse hair and a gothloli outfit clutching a large yellow plushie and staring into the blaze with an expression of shock, despair, and irritation.
"Okay, back to business," Ozzal snapped as she slammed her office door and returned to her desk. "What's going on with my giant robots? How soon can we start blowing crap up?"
"Well, the design and manufacturing process is proceeding gradually but steadily... of course, it'd be going faster if Rakshata wouldn't keep rejecting my proposals..."
"I can't imagine why she would do that," Ozzal said sardonically. "Let me guess... do those proposals of yours feature tentacles as prominent design elements?"
"Well... maybe..."
"Say no more," Ozzal replied. "So have you got any good news for me?"
"Actually, there has been some excellent progress developing pilots for our mechs," Matrix said proudly. "There's one in particular who's looking to be a real ace. He's a former officer by the name of Jeremiah Gottwald, who was critically injured in a battle in Rantonia. He was nearly dead when he arrived back here, but I was able to replace a few body parts that he had lost and bring him back to life in my resuscitation tank. He's a little off in the head, maybe, but he hates the rebels with a passion. Apparently he heard that Hikki Follet was wearing an orange tie in a previous chapter, and it just set him off."
"Well that's just fantastic," Ozzal commented dryly. "But I trust we have more than one mech, right? And you're training more than one pilot?"
"Well... yes, of course," Matrix answered. He was somewhat dismayed at Ozzal's lack of enthusiasm for his achievements, but on the other hand he had come to expect this sort of response from her.
"There's another one who seems quite promising," he continued, trying to sound more chipper. "He's a former Syndicate member who was brought to us after getting impaled by one of your Echelon agents and having a random fantasy dream sequence about going to a therapy session. I fitted him with a new cybernetic ass, which I'm now recalibrating to interface directly with his mecha unit. He'll be able to control his machine directly through his ass. Isn't that awesome?"
Ozzal rolled her eyes. "I can hardly contain myself. You can spare me the life stories, though. All I want to know is when will my mech armada be able to move out, and how much damage will they be able to do, and - why are you fidgeting?"
Matrix tried to stop fidgeting. "Well um... I'm afraid I don't actually know, for sure... Rakshata doesn't really include me in her team meetings, and she wouldn't show me any of her plans, so um..."
"You mean she sent you up here even though you don't actually know anything? Am I surrounded by incompetence?"
"Well, you were in such a hurry for an update, and she said everyone else was busy..."
One of those x-shaped agitation marks appeared on Ozzal's forehead. "Okay then," she said a little patronizingly, forcing herself to calm down. "Tell Rakshata I want her to write up a real report, and have one of her people bring it up here. I'd just as soon hear from someone who actually knows what's going on. And the next time you show your face in my office, you'd better be carrying something salty and laden with calories."
Matrix was beginning to lose his patience - and, against his better judgment, his temper. "You know, Head Governor, if you no longer have any use for me I'm sure I can find a place to better put my talents to work elsewhere. I turned down several prestigious offers to accept this position, and -"
"Now Matrix, you're not actually considering leaving me, are you?" Ozzal's voice was suddenly oddly sweet.
"Well, I - no, I'd rather stay here in my lab, but if you'd only -"
"Well that's good, because I would hate to have to confine you to a cell somewhere to keep you from running around blabbing all of my secrets. You don't need to worry - that head of yours is still quite valuable to me, at least as long as it's still attached to that body."
If Matrix were a more paranoid person, he might have sensed something subtly ominous in those last few words. And in fact something about her tone of voice made him think that maybe it was a good idea to nod his head and let the matter go.
"Well... okay then," he said, nodding his head. "I'm... glad you still have a little faith in me. And I'll do my best to live up to the high expectations you have for my work. And... if you have a little time, perhaps you could glance over some of my design schematics and give them your stamp of approval? It would greatly expedite the process not to have Rakshata keep stonewalling my proposals, and -"
"Fine, whatever, good god," Ozzal exclaimed in supreme exasperation. "Put them in a file and have them sent up here with Rakshata's report."
"Right, of course," Matrix acquiesced, trying not to give away the sinking feeling he had that that file would remain buried in the paperwork on her desk - or immediately tossed into the recycle bin. "Is... that all?" he asked, suddenly wanting to be anywhere but there.
"Yes, that's quite enough. I'm sure we both have very important work to get back to," she replied, slightly snarkily. "You're dismissed."
"Thank you, Head Governor." He made a beeline for the door, trying not to overtly look like he was running away. Once he was safely on the other side with the door tightly closed behind him, he let out the tremendous sigh he hadn't realized he'd been holding in.
He had made it through the dreaded meeting, but oddly enough he didn't feel much of a sense of relief. What he did feel was a keener version of a feeling he'd been having for a while, to a small extent even before he had been demoted: Ozzal didn't care about him, didn't truly appreciate his brilliant scientific mind, didn't even really want him around. She only kept him there to protect the secrets he carried around in his magnificent brain. He might as well have been a talking head in a glass jar on her shelf for all she cared. Except that then he wouldn't be able to fetch her her Hot Pockets.
With another, more disheartened sigh, he headed back down toward the lab - his lab, he had to keep reminding himself. He had to admit that it was getting harder to stay motivated with all of these setbacks. But the more he thought about it as he meandered down the hallway, the more determined he became to show everyone how wrong they were about him. Professor M. Matrix was not one to shy away from a challenge. He would stick to his guns, do his job as well as he could, find ways to make himself important and needed and appreciated. He would prove to them that he was more than a snack lackey with a tentacle fetish.
"I'll show you all," he muttered resolutely. "You'll see what Professor M. Matrix can do."
**********
Cille leaned back in her chair and stretched. She had been sitting at the small desk in her room poring over files and scribbled notes since early that morning, and the tedium was catching up with her.
"Lord, it's like a college cram session all over again..." she mumbled to herself.
She rubbed her eyes and glanced at her watch. It was only mid-afternoon, but without any windows in her room it might have been the middle of the night for all she knew. Kirara had thoughtfully brought her some lunch a few hours ago, but otherwise she had been all alone with the huge stack of papers all day.
And now, she decided, it was time for a break.
She grabbed her coat and headed through the maze of hallways toward the main entrance to the bunker. She passed by one of the Syndicate's main training rooms, where Roy Mustang was trying to whip a group of hungover GAR Streeters into shape. In another smaller room, Kaia was busy instructing some of the women on hand-to-hand combat techniques.
Cille reached the bunker entrance and was met with a whoosh of cold air as the large door heaved open. She took a few deep breaths of the fresh air, and immediately felt better and more relaxed.
She didn't have anywhere particular to go, so she started wandering around the outside of the base. She stopped to watch one of the Knightmare frame pilots going through maneuvers, as Lloyd frantically waved his arms and yelled directions into his radio transmitter. Several other pilots-in-training stood nearby, and Cille noticed Hedwig sneaking up behind Proof with a handful of snow that was probably destined for the back of his friend's shirt.
"So they finally let you out to play, huh?"
Cille turned to see Straight Cougar coming toward her.
"Something like that," she said with a smile. "There's only so much cramming a person can take in one sitting."
"Heh, I was just about to come see if you were ready to take a break. It's a nice day for a walk, if you'd like to join me."
"I'd love to. It seems like we've barely seen each other since we started getting more involved here. I feel like we need time to catch up."
They started off into the snowy woods surrounding the bunker.
"So you think you've found your role in the Syndicate, eh?" Cougar asked.
"Yeah, I think so. Helping coordinate missions seems like it'll suit me a lot better than being out there fighting," she laughed.
"Heh. You're probably right. And I can't say it makes me unhappy to know that you'll be out of harm's way."
"Well, yeah, there is that. Not that there won't be any pressure, knowing that any mistake I make could put my friends in even greater danger."
"Do you think you'll be able to handle the job?"
"Well, I feel a lot better about it now that I have some information to work with. The Order of Glass has compiled an unbelievable amount of intel on Ozzal, even going back to her time in the military academy. I can't even imagine how long it'll take to go through it all." She laughed. "It's actually making me wish I had Eric here to help me study. He knows more about military history than anyone I know. I used to tease him about being a nerd, but I sure could use his insight now."
"Hmm... I can see about trying to track him down, but he's been gone for so long that it'd be hard to find him at this point. Especially since no one knows just what he was going off to do."
"Well, I'm sure it must be something important for him to leave like that. And really it's just wishful thinking on my part to want him here. I'll have to process this stuff myself, one way or another."
"I'm sure you'll do just fine. And if there's anything I can help you with, don't hesitate to ask."
"Thanks, I appreciate that," she replied. "So what have you been up to?"
"Well, I had an interesting conversation with Father Sadar this morning." He laughed. "That man is even more well-informed than I am."
"You'll have to tell me about it later. I'm not sure my brain can handle any more information right now," she said wryly.
"Of course," he answered. "It would be good for both of us to just get away from all of that for a while and think about other things."
As they continued walking, Cille found herself admiring the snow-covered landscape.
"It's too bad I haven't been able to get out here more often," she remarked. "It's really quite peaceful."
"Indeed. Although I admit that I'm usually speeding through here too fast to be able to really appreciate it. So the walk was a good idea, if I do say so myself."
They went on in silence, making their way through the labyrinth of bare trees.
"Oh, there was one thing that Sadar thought might interest you," Cougar remembered.
"Oh? What was that?" Cille asked.
"Apparently there is a small underground resistance movement in Comedia that's been keeping an eye on Ozzal, especially since rumors of her world takeover plot started getting around a few months ago. They got suspicious when they noticed their army assembling near our border, and did some digging to find out what was going on. Essentially they did on their side what Jake did on ours, and the Order of Glass was able to put the two pieces together and come up with that news broadcast that put Ozzal out of business."
"Wow. I didn't realize there were that many people in Comedia involved in this thing."
"Well, there certainly are Comedians who see what Ozzal is doing and don't like it. Most of them prefer to just stay quiet and uninvolved, but there are a few who are willing to actively help our cause. One of those people is someone you know, in fact. She was quite a good friend of yours, I believe."
Cille thought for a moment, and then gasped. "You mean... Luna?"
Cougar grinned. "That was why she left so suddenly when she did. She got our intel about Ozzal's plans for Comedia and decided to do what she could over there, just in case anything came up." He laughed. "Apparently her new cafe is quite a popular hangout."
Cille shook her head incredulously. "I should have known she'd have something up her sleeve," she said with a laugh. "I am glad to know that she's okay, though. I can't help thinking about her from time to time."
"Well, from what Sadar said it sounds like she's been quite successful in starting over there. Although I'm sure she does miss her old friends here."
"I wonder if she knows I'm still alive," Cille mused. "I wonder if she has any idea at all how much has changed since the last time we saw each other."
"I can ask Sadar how he feels about passing your regards on to her. He might not want the news of your presence here to get out that far, but it's possible he'll make an exception for your friend."
"That'd be nice, thanks."
"Does it bother you that you have to stay out of sight here?" he asked.
"In a way it's freeing not to be in the public eye. A ghost doesn't have to worry so much about keeping up appearances," she laughed. "It is kind of strange not being able to go anywhere without disguising myself, though. But I've just accepted that my life is different now. And if I get to feeling too cooped up, I can always just take a nice walk in the woods."
"Heh. That's true enough," he assented.
They continued silently again, and before long they came upon a small clearing in the woods. It made for quite a picturesque scene, with five or six trees almost forming a circle around them and a few scraggly berry bushes filling in some of the gaps. A couple of small animals that looked like some strange combination of squirrels and foxes gazed out at Cille and Cougar from underneath one of the bushes, and then quickly scampered away as they came closer.
As if simultaneously feeling like this would be a good spot to take a short rest from walking, the two of them paused there and took the opportunity to just look around at the quietly pretty grove and the white-blanketed wilderness beyond.
After a few moments Cille put her hands into her coat pockets, thinking that it would have been a good idea to find some gloves before she left the bunker.
"You're cold?" Cougar noticed.
"Um... not terribly." She shivered involuntarily. "I... guess it's a little chillier out here than I expected."
"Well... maybe..." he began, and finished the thought by moving closer and placing an arm around her shoulders. She smiled appreciatively, allowing her body to lean in closer to his. The move surprised her a little, but it was just like him to try to offer comfort when she was feeling cold. And sure enough, almost immediately she noticed that she was starting to feel warmer.
They stood in renewed silence for a little while longer, continuing to look out at the snowy landscape. But Cille felt her attention being unconsciously drawn to the presence of the man beside her. Maybe there was another reason for the warmth spreading through her body...
She had realized some time ago that she couldn't keep ignoring or trying to talk herself out of her growing feelings for Cougar. Even as she avoided talking about him to the girls, and acted like there was nothing going on between them, she was constantly thinking about him and trying desperately to figure out what to do and how she should be feeling.
She knew that she cared for him, of course. He had always been a good friend to her, and they had grown even closer during their time together after their escape from Comdot Estate. But she could never shake the feeling that it was dangerous for her to get too close to another man, especially after being so completely betrayed by one who had once seemed as wonderful and trustworthy as Cougar did now.
But... there he was, quietly doing amazing things for her and asking for nothing but her friendship in return. And he seemed to understand that she needed a certain amount of emotional space, and had never pressed for more than she was able to give him.
But even without any sort of advances on his part, she couldn't help being drawn to him and noticing what a wonderful man he was. She admired his integrity and the way he committed himself to helping his friends, no matter what the personal cost to himself might be. She loved his wit, and his badassitude, and his sense of humor, and his appreciation for culture... Even at the party the previous night, when he and the ever-shirtless Kamina had been treating the entire base to a round of boisterous songs, she found that Cougar was the one she couldn't take her eyes off of. She had even come to find his many eccentricities endearing, and often found herself laughing delightedly while others were groaning or rolling their eyes.
But most of all, he was someone she could trust, when that was what she desperately needed.
And now he was standing close by her side, with his arm around her and his warm breath brushing past her ear. And in that perfect moment, when it should have been so easy to finally open up to him, she found herself completely at a loss for words. How would she even begin to bring the subject up? He had certainly never said anything to suggest that he thought of her as more than a friend. For all she knew he was always just being nice to her, or pitied her, or -
"Ms. Cillie..."
"Hmm?" She almost jumped, wondering how long they'd been standing there in silence while she was lost in thought - and if he had any inkling what those thoughts had been about. But he seemed preoccupied with thoughts of his own, and it took him a few moments to continue.
"Are you... happy like this?"
Her face turned a little redder. Was he...
"You mean... being here with you?"
"Yes."
She couldn't help feeling nervous about where this might be leading. But if he really was trying to reach out to her, she owed it to him to be as honest as she could.
"I can't remember ever being as happy as I am when I'm with you."
She thought she felt a kind of tremor go through him, and looked up to find him looking back at her. His face was slightly flushed, making her even more aware of the burning in her own cheeks. He drew his arm away from her shoulders and turned to look her in the eyes.
"Ms. Cillie, I..."
He hesitated, still wrestling with his uncertainties, and searched her face. She looked back at him expectantly, mentally willing him to go on, to find the courage she knew she lacked.
After a moment she smiled at him sympathetically, as if she understood if it was too difficult to continue. But he seemed to make up his mind, and began to move slowly toward her. Then he hesitated again, and she finally felt she understood what it was she should do. Impetuously, she leaned forward and closed the distance between them.
Neither of them could have told how long they stood there with their lips pressed softly together. There was only the warmth, and the sweetness, and the gentle feeling of two souls meeting. And when they finally parted, all they could do was stand there close to each other, still lost in the moment.
Their eyes met again and they just looked at each other, still trying to catch their breath. A shy smile began forming on her face, as a big goofy grin spread across his. Once again she wondered what she should say.
And once again she didn't need to say anything at all.
"YAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOO!!!" he whooped, scooping her up and racing through the forest. She just clung to his neck and laughed harder than she ever had before, feeling as giddy on the inside as he seemed on the outside. Somehow they managed not to smack into any trees, and almost as quickly as they had gone they came to rest again, collapsing into the snow and laughing and gasping for breath.
As they began to recover from their delirium, Cille carefully raised herself up and looked down at Cougar. For another few moments they just gazed at each other again, a new appreciation shining in their eyes. Then she smiled and reached out to put her hand on his, and he drew her into a close embrace.
The sun was sinking down toward the horizon, casting ever longer shadows through the trees, but neither of them noticed the dwindling daylight. They just lay there together in the snow, not even feeling the cold, telling each other things that they never could have said until that moment.
**********
Recurring characters:
Angel Sarcasta - mgangel1124
Emiri - _Boxers_
Clarice Rowe - QueenoftheDorks
Hikki Follet - Kohikki
Michelle Ozzal - Mike Lazzo
Samson Monroe - MasterSamson
*Jake Thompson - SportsMaster
Kaia Namek - namek_kaia
Kay El - Kagomes_Luver2789
Zeus - zeus_the_angry_god
*Landon Blaken - Blah_canbespanish
Father John Sadar - FurionTassadar
Lucille "Cille" Compton - Cille
Raef Compton - Maenos
Starry Ozzal - starryjelly
Elizabeth Saurie St. Gaurdsmen - EdSpikeSesshyGirl
Bruce Herman - bherman
Jean Pierrot - pierrot-le-fou
Cid - cidthekittyisfun
Proof - NoProof91
Roxie Goldsmith - anime_goddess05
Kirara Amour - kiraralove
Larry Zorin - LAZY17
Spice E. Spamton - spiceweasel228
Cowboy - CowboyCadenza
April - LirpaYamEnujYluj
*DangerCille - Cille
*Heero Yuy (Riza's husband) - HeeroYuy135
Professor M. Matrix - matrixman124
Amy - Amalgam
*Harold P. Gottel, aka Got-ass the Assborg - lgott23
Hedwig - Shins?
*Eric Ominae - OMNI-Enforcer
*Luna Monegossde - MoonGoddess17
Izuru Kira - Bleach
Roy Mustang - Fullmetal Alchemist
Tres Iqus - Trinity Blood
*Walter Dornez (Starry's manservant) - Hellsing
Straight Cougar - s-CRY-ed
Kamina - Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
Roronoa Zoro - One Piece
Aoi - Ghost in the Shell
Uryuu Ishida - Bleach
Lloyd Asplund - Code Geass
Winry Rockbell - Fullmetal Alchemist
Holland Novak - Eureka seveN
Kenpachi Zaraki - Bleach
*Riza "Hawkeye" Yuy - Fullmetal Alchemist
Rakshata Chawla - Code Geass
New characters:
CC (the distraught bonfire-watching girl) - Code Geass
Cheese-kun (the yellow plushie) - Code Geass
*Jeremiah Gottwald - Code Geass
And you could call those two squirrel/fox critters that Cille and Cougar met in the woods relatives of Squirly.
*Characters marked with an asterisk are mentioned in this chapter but do not have an active role in the story.
New locations:
Wacdnald's - Inuyasha
Land of the Sacred Cows - India
References:
"I mustn't run away" - Shinji's catchphrase from Neon Genesis Evangelion
CHURROS! - Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo
"I HAD TACO BELL FOR LUNCH!" - Venture Brothers
Pizza boxes - Send Lazzo Pizza Boxes, For Great Justice
Talking heads in glass jars - Futurama