Part Five

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Rolling over in the bed I refused to meet the sunshine flowing in through the dingy window, I didn't want to get up this morning. The bed creaked as I attempted to bury my head under the thin covers and the even thinner pillow.

After about ten minutes of an internal debate I managed to push myself up and into a sitting position. Yawning I slipped off the bed and walked over to the duffle I had placed on top of the scarred dresser last night in my exhaustion. Pulling out my laptop I plugged it into the wall socket and began to boot it up. When it was completely running I glanced to the bottom of the screen where the clock was located, it was 9:26 AM. I scratched my head sleepily and started to type in a string of commands. In five minutes flat my screen had become a TV of sorts and I was busy watching a news broadcast.

I grabbed a beer from one of the six packs I had bought at the store last night, what a breakfast. Popping off the top and drinking deeply of the warm brew I kept my eyes glued to the screen and the report being shown, "And now to our main news story, Hilde Schiekber, the woman accused of attempting to murder Vice Foreign Minister Dorlan several weeks ago escaped from the jail she was being held at until her trial, in the process of escaping the three night guards on duty were murdered. Be on the lookout for this dangerous felon, she is believed to be armed and extremely dangerous. If you see her it is advised that you do not attempt any action, quickly call your local authorities."

I grinned as a picture of my face was flashed across the screen several times; oh this was pretty damned rich. By the time I left this hotel to go around no one would be able to recognize me, I didn't buy those contacts and that bleach for nothing. Fishing around in the grocery bag I pulled out the carton of cigarettes and ripped it open. I had tried to quit smoking and mainly succeeded by now I needed one along with my beer.

Lighting the cigarette I took a drag and swallowed some more beer. With the cigarette hanging out of my mouth, I put the beer on the dresser and pulled out the bleach and contacts I had bought last night, it was time for a change.

I walked into the small, grimy bathroom, flicking the cigarette into the toilet, and stared into the mirror. I loved my long, bluish black hair, I hadn't cut it since the Dekim Barton incident and it now reached the small of my back. But desperate times call for desperate measures, shaking my head in sadness I pulled out the knife I had stolen last night, I wasn't looking forward to this. Folding the knife out I gingerly held it up to my hair. With a swift, savage motion I chopped off my long, glorious hair and let it fall to the fall. I looked back up at the mirror, my once long hair was a little bit above my shoulders, the length it had been before I joined OZ.

Turning on the faucet I waited for the sink to fill with a liberal amount of water, once that I was I opened the bottle of bleach and poured most of it in with the water. Taking a deep breath I dipped all of my hair into the sink and waited. After about ten minutes I pulled out, stripped out of all of my clothes, and walked into the shower. The water was tepid but it was ignored, while the bleach was being rinsed out of my hair I soaped down and cleaned up.

Stepping out of the shower I grabbed the box of disposable contacts, ripped it open, and I slipped one of the pairs into my eyes. Blinking furiously I turned my blurry vision to the mirror once again, eyes with light gray irises and a head with a shock of blondish white hair stared back at me, damn I looked pretty good. Rubbing at my head with one of the thin motel towels I grabbed my beer and finished it off.

Now it was time to decide my clothes, clothes defined a person, they were the shields of those who wore them, and often told their personality to any who cared to observe. I was know for my two tone top and snappy fuchsia beret which gave me an aura of innocence and made many believe I had a diverse happy personality, that needed to changed. Picking up my duffle I rummaged through the small amount of clothing I had snagged from the house last night, along with my combat boots I choose a pair of semi-loose fatigue pants and a tight, long sleeved black shirt. Once I was dressed I looked in the mirror above the dresser and judged my new look, something was missing from it. Gripping one of the sleeves I tore the thin fabric completely off. Unfolding the knife once again I cut two strips from the detached sleeve, one was thick in width, the other thin. The thin strip was tied around my neck in a choker style while the bigger of the two was tied wrapped around my wrist to resemble a wrist guard of sorts, with a rubber band I put my now bleached hair into a stubby ponytail and kept a few bangs out the reached my chin.

Looking into the mirror I grinned at my reflection, grinning back at me was a girl with gray eyes, bleach blond hair in a messy ponytail, who was dressed like punk, damn I loved this look. Slipping another cigarette out of one of the packs from the carton I stuck it behind my ear, perfect. I would have to leave soon so I could run some errands and take a look at Relena but first things first, I basically had a little bit of extra time and I planned to use it well. Picking up the laptop I sat on the floor and switched off the TV mode, I booted up the modem and picked my memory for something Duo had once told me about the vast OZ database that had been recovered by the Preventers. I wasn't doing this for anyone but myself, I had to know about the project I had been in and if they were in any old OZ files than the Preventers had them.

// "I'm telling you babe it is a real bitch. There are hundreds of files that still need to be decoded, but Une's deciding to put it off for a while, apparently everything we've decoded so far was the most important, the rest can wait until we have a more advanced decryption program."

"Duo I have a program that can be used, why not let me-"

"No babe, look I really don't want you to get involved with the Preventers, 'cause before you know it they'll be sending you away on missions and what not. I can't stand the thought of you being sent away on dangerous missions."

Sighing I gave up on the old argument.//

It would be no problem to hack into the Preventer system and decode those files, perhaps they held the information I wanted to know about the project I had been in, perhaps they could answer the questions I had about exactly why I had been chosen. Twenty minutes of fast typing and lots of skill I had managed to access the Preventer program the held the encrypted OZ files, there were hundreds of them, and it was going to be a real bitch to read all of those things. It took two hours to load up all of the files and another three hours afterward the decoding program was still running strong. Closing the laptop I thanked myself for remembering to have a full strength battery so I wouldn't have to turn off the laptop to conserve power and the decoding program could keep running.

Standing up I stretched my weary muscles, listening to my back and arms pop, I was sore from the hours of work. Checking in the mirror to see how my new look was holding up I was pleased, I really did like bleached hair, maybe I would consider adding some other bright color for highlights.

Packing everything into the duffle except for the bleach, the beer, and the carton of cigarettes (minus a pack), I took the duffle with me and left the rest in the room. I put the Do Not Disturb sign on the doorknob and locked the door behind me.

Outside I blinked at the harsh artificial light and made my way towards the jeep, I would have to get a new way of transportation today, hell I should probably do that before I went to run my little errands and check on Relena, even though I changed the plates on the jeep they'd probably figure that out soon. I needed to find somewhere I could ditch the jeep but it would have to be pretty far away from wherever I planned to be, I was finding this kind of fun.

Gunning up the jeep's engine I drove out of the motel parking lot and turned the radio to the nearest news station, as I had thought my little jail break was the talk of the town, "Still today's main story is the jail break of Hilde Schiekber, the woman accused of the attempted murder of Vice Foreign Minister Dorlan, so far the authorities have no leads in this case save the stolen jeep of one of the dead prison guards that has yet to be recovered. This station would like to remind all of those who are listening to this program, if you spot this dangerous criminal remember she is armed and dangerous do not attempt to do anything other than contact your local authorities."

Snorting I yanked a cigarette out of the pack with me, the one behind my ear needed to stay there for looks, and lit it with one hand, "Dangerous my ass, they're just pissed 'cause they're security system, or lack of it, sucked ass."

The best place to ditch this jeep would probably be on the other side of the colony, the more distance I put between myself and any evidence the better off I would be. Driving the jeep down the colony highway I turned the channel to a rock station and let Live's "The Dolphin's Cry" blast me with its emotional and intense melody, I needed that right now, just because I was thinking clearly and planning meant nothing, I had barely managed to block the emotional pain for now banishing it the back of my mind, barely. A few hours later I plan the perfect place to put the jeep, a nice little water tunnel that was big enough to store the jeep and not have it noticed for a while. As to why they made such big waters in a tunnel where the rain was planned out and never enough to flood I had no damned idea. Climbing out of the tunnel and up to the road I glimpsed around, no one was around to witness my little deposit, good, very good indeed. I had a few miles to walk before I came across anything I needed such as a motorcycle shop.

I had walked for a good mile before I heard a car coming, to my surprise it pulled up along side me and I received the shock of my life.

Oh my God. Duo.

My once upon a time lover was smiling at me but I could see a haunted look in his eyes, "Hey cutie, need a ride?" He was wearing his Preventer uniform and looked good to eat, unfortunately I couldn't afford to think like that right now, I had more important things to do.

Looking into his eyes I came upon a realization, he didn't know who I was, hell my little costume must be better than I thought. As usual silence tended to unnerve Duo and he spoke again, "Look sorry for coming up like that," His big puppy dog smile flashed across his handsome face but his haunted look kind of ruined the effect, "I'm Duo, Duo Maxwell, and what might your name be cutie?"

Shit, I needed a name and I needed one fast, swallowing deeply I pitched my voice up to match that of an young adolescent, hell I was small enough to try and pull it off, "Hi," I gave a mischievous elfin smile, "I'm Jade, Jade Cerulean."

"Well Jade Cerulean would you like a ride or not?"

I was tempted, I was really tempted to get in and test the limits of my disguise but right now I couldn't chance it, not with the position I was in, I narrowed my eyes with a distrustful look, "You know what Maxwell thanks, but no thanks, my mama didn't raise any dumb ones."

Duo gave a bark of laughter and a bleak smile, "Alright if you're sure, but you be careful alright?"

With that warning, I really couldn't resist to do a little prodding, "You mean because of that lady that broke out of the sector 5 prison last night? That Hilde lady? DO you really think she could be around here?" Getting into my role I made myself give a fearful look around at the surroundings.

Duo's eyes darkened with some emotion I couldn't exactly put hold to, it was either sadness or anger, I was willing to put my money on anger, the night of the "incident" he sure as hell didn't look sad. "Don't listen to everything you hear kiddo, the media tends to dramatize everything a lot."

Duo defending me? I'll be damned.

"Look kid you take care of yourself alright?" With that he drove off.

I watched him drive off my eyes wide; he had just defended me, didn't he?

**********************************************************************

The artificial sunset filled the sky when I had finally reached a used car lot, I couldn't buy one because there'd be a record, I could probably steal one but then I would be back into the same situation I had been in with the damned jeep, well fuck I guess I wouldn't mind walking all that much but it would be damned inconvenient with my equipment.

Sitting on the curb I stared up into the "sky" and started considering my options not that there were many. Buying a car would be a problem with the paperwork, however if I could find a dealer who was crooked enough with a little extra money I could probably get a vehicle without paperwork.

Standing up I hiked up my pants, time to see if my bargaining skills were up to par. The dealer had a used motorcycle for 1,500 for an extra 300 I had the man convinced that paperwork was an unnecessary inconvenience, you really have to love some crooked people.

By the time I was done with my wheeling and dealing was $1,800 poorer than I had been this morning and it was pitch dark outside. Running to the nearest beauty supply shop I bought a box of orange highlights for hair, and got directions to an arms store. At the arms shop I bought a shitload of Winston hollow tip bullets for my magnum, some for the guards' guns and a cheap little pair of binoculars, I didn't need anymore firepower but I would need some more money, that could be taken care of after I saw Relena.

The hospital that Relena was on was on L2 apparently they had been worried about moving her in her condition. The hospital was extremely well guarded, not that I planned on going in to the hospital anyway; I bought those binoculars for a reason.

The building next to the hospital had very few guards and it was a simple task to slip by them and get to the roof. On the roof I sat behind a big concrete slab and pulled out my laptop, the decoder program was finished running so I could read those files later tonight, I figured sleep was not on my To Do list. I hacked into the hospital files and found out the room that Relena was currently residing and being observed in, of course that was after I hacked through 3 fake reports on her whereabouts, they really were being cautious, good. Turning off the laptop I shoved it back into the duffle, took out my new little binoculars and put them around my neck.

Finding the window to Relena's room wasn't easy but I knew the basic location of the rooms by their windows and found it eventually. Holding the binoculars to my eyes I looked through the window and into the room, Relena.

From what I could see she looked really pale, still unconscious.

Oh god please let her live.

Heero was sitting by the bed, holding Relena's hand, Duo, and Wufei were standing behind him with somber looks on their faces. Until I was cleared there wasn't much I could do for her, I could try to find the people who did this and maybe I could go through all of those OZ files and see if they could tell me more about the projects. Other than that all I could do was sit tight, stay out of sight and suspicion, and hope that Relena would wake up soon. With a sigh of sadness at my friend's condition I left the roof building and went down to the street. My stomach grumbled reminding me that I hadn't eaten anything since yesterday; guess I couldn't live off beer alone.

Once on my motorcycle I made my way back to a small grocery store, there I stocked up on apples, that was all I could afford after buying all that stuff earlier, time to make another run to a teller. After 30 minutes I was $1,000 richer and on my way to the motel. In my room I locked the door behind me and dumped the duffle unceremoniously on the creaky bed. I pulled out the highlight box and read the directions, it sounded pretty easy, comb in, wait a while and then wash, I could handle that.

With the highlights combed in I was eating an apple and waiting the 20 minutes for the stuff to work its little color magic. Turning on the laptop again I started the tedious task of reading all the OZ files, it would be my damned luck that most of them were unnamed. Five hours and 50 files later I was no closer to finding out what I wanted to know than I had been when I downloaded the stupid things. I was tired of looking at files so I decided on doing a completely different type of search, after all if the people who attacked Relena were in any way organized they would have some type of computer system that I should be able to find.

Peeking down at the computer clock I realized it was time to rinse out the highlight stuff. In the bathroom I turned the faucet on to the sink and dumped my head under the running water, when all the orange that hadn't settled in was washed out I looked up at the mirror.

Hhhmmmm…Bleach blonde hair with orange highlights, kickass. Not exactly something that would blend in well but I sure liked it. No who knew me would ever consider me capable of doing such a thing to my hair, hell no I realized everything I was capable of after all I had only recently found out about it myself.

Back on my laptop I had yet to find any solid data base but I found whispers in a lot of the unlisted hacker chats about a new military organization that was secretly trying to build up their numbers but recruiting people, not very secret or I wouldn't have found out about it. Finishing my apple I stuck the core in the trash and tried to dry my hair with one of the complimentary towels.

When my hair was dry I didn't even bother stripping down before falling into the bed. Snuggling my face in the thin power I let my tiredness take me away.