Infinity's End

Chapter 6

 

Preventer Headquarters

Earth

 

                Quatre waited patiently with Colonel Une for the other pilots to arrive.  Heero walked into the conference room.  A dark glare flashed from the first Gundam pilot's blue eyes.  Quatre shook his head.  It had been a long time since he had seen such a look in Heero's eyes.  The loss of Arys had caused Heero to revert back to his behavior before meeting the dark-haired girl.   Heero hardly ever spoke anymore, and there was a tense set to his shoulders.  Did he think that Arys was lost to them?  Heero sat next to Quatre, his intense eyes studying the Preventer chief standing in front of the projector screen.  Quatre placed a hand on Heero's shoulder.  His gaze turned on the blond pilot, and Quatre had to suppress a shiver at the bitter anger he saw in that gaze.

                "We'll get her back, Heero.  Arys is a tough girl."  Quatre squeezed Heero's shoulder.

                Quatre felt the tension in Heero's shoulders relax slightly.  Some of the anger faded from his eyes as well.  "I know, Quatre."  Heero swept a hand across his forehead, a familiar gesture when he was troubled.  "It's just that... somehow this is worse than the time after she self-destructed.  She's become the soldier she was during her time with OZ.  It will be harder to reach her."

                Quatre recognized the thoughtful tone to Heero's voice.  "You have an idea."

                Heero nodded just as the rest of the pilots filed into the room. Quatre let go of Heero's shoulder.  Trowa and Wufei sat down at one end of the table.  Duo sauntered in, wearing a pair of sunglasses.  Trowa and Wufei both eyed him with disgust.  Duo plopped into the chair on the other side of Heero and leaned back at a dangerous tilt.  Heero gave Duo a withering glance.  The braided pilot ignored him.

                Colonel Une flicked off the lights and the projector light flashed on.   A map of the L-1 Colony Cluster appeared on the screen.

                "Thank you for coming so promptly.  I'll get straight to the point.  Arys' attack on Colony X-000051 has blossomed..."

                "Wait."  The hard tone of Heero's voice was enough to stop the Preventer Chief in her tracks.  

                "What is it, Heero?"  Colonel Une put a hand to the delicate glasses perched on the bridge of her nose.  It was not a nervous gesture, only a silent warning to the young agent that he had stepped over the line.

                "I can reach her..."

                This time, Colonel Une stopped him with a raised hand.  The slight uptilt of her lips told Heero that she had been waiting for just this opportunity.  "Allow me to finish, Heero.  Then, you can have your say."

                The authority in her eyes was enough to cause Heero to lean back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest in grudging acceptance. 

For a moment, the room was silent, making even Duo squirm a bit.  His chair squeaked.  Trowa glanced over at Duo and shook his head.   Finally,

Colonel Une spoke again.

                "As I was saying, Arys' attack on the Colony X-000051 has blossomed this situation into something more than we expected.  Infinity has made good on her declaration of war, and the colonies want to fight back.  I have just returned from a meeting with the colony leaders.  Their vote on the solution to the problem was unanimous."  Colonel Une paused, a frown crinkling the corners of her eyes.

                "What was the solution?" Trowa asked quietly.

                Colonel Une looked down at the floor and then back up at the pilots.  The frown was now present in her eyes along with a lingering sadness.  "Arys Walker is Infinity's link to the real world.  If Arys is killed, Infinity will be helpless.  Their solution is that Arys must be eliminated."

                A loud screech filled the room as Duo crashed to the floor.  His chair had finally given out underneath him after he jerked in surprise at Colonel Une's announcement.  For a moment, he lay sprawled, semi-conscious.  The other pilots hardly noticed Duo's fall because they had leaped to their feet, protesting the solution angrily.  Colonel Une raised her hand again for silence just as Duo regained his balance and stood to his feet.  The other pilots sat down, leaving Duo standing in the midst of them.

                "Did you want to say something, Duo?" 

                Duo rubbed the back of his head and nodded, before straightening to his full height.  "Arys is one of us, Colonel Une.  We can't just let the government army kill her."  He pulled off his sunglasses and gently set them on the table, and the other pilots saw the somber look in his blue eyes.  "I'm sure Heero has something up his sleeve that will help us get her back."

                Heero nodded.  Colonel Une glanced at Heero and motioned for him to stand.  Heero stood to his feet, back stiff, face filled with hard determination.  "I can reach her, Colonel Une."

                Colonel Une called up the lights, shifting a bit uneasily under Heero's unyielding stare.  "And how do you plan to do that?  You've already tried once before and that attempt failed."

                "The Zero System."

                The other pilots nodded in agreement. 

                "Heero's right.  He and Arys have used the Zero System before to link.  He should be able to talk to her using it."  Trowa leaned back in his chair, green eyes studying the preventer chief's facial expression.

                Colonel Une sighed.  "All right.  We've determined Infinity's next target.  Colony U-571 in the L-2 Colony Cluster."

                The pilots stood to their feet in unison, waiting for Colonel Une to dismiss them.  She flicked off the projector, realizing that she hadn't even used it for the conference.  She took off her glasses and carefully folded them before speaking again.

                "You have 12 hours, pilots.  If Arys Walker is not in our control 12 hours from now, I am going to give the colony leaders permission to kill her."

                Heero walked to the door and turned around, meeting Colonel Une's eyes.  His voice was soft.  "You won't have to."  He walked out.

                The other pilots followed him silently.

                Colonel Une fingered her glasses and placed them in her pocket.  She glanced up at the conference room door, which had swung closed.  She shrugged and gently put a hand on top of the conference table.  "Dismissed."

 

 

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The Lunar Base

 

                Arys leaped up onto her gundam's cockpit door.  The moon's low gravity allowed her to use her own strength to reach the cockpit platform instead of using her portable haul line.  She walked out onto the catwalk connected to the platform and turned around, gray eyes narrowing as she studied the sea of mobile dolls standing at attention before her.   Even now she could feel the influence of the Zero System,  the computerized minds of the mobile suits in front of her, and the entity she knew as Infinity.  Infinity had devised a way for Arys to remain connected to the Zero System even when outside her mobile suit.  It was an exhilirating experience.

               

                It is time for the Queen of Hearts to take control, Arys.

 

                Arys smiled as the thought flashed across her mind effortlessly.  She had spent so much time with Infinity that its thoughts had become her own. 

 

                So where does the rabbit hole lead?

 

                Arys heard Infinity's laugh in her mind.  The mobile suits in front of her straightened, eyes glowing yellow.   Arys' laugh echoed Infinity's, the hard sound bouncing off the cavernous ceiling.  In the back of her mind, the laughter stopped and Infinity's reply replaced it.

 

                Where else?  To Infinity.

 

                A smug grin bloomed on Arys' face.  And somewhere in cyberspace, Infinity smiled.