Disclaimer and crap: Yep. They ain't mine. I wish they were, because than I could use them to rule the world, but since they're not, here I am. C&C always welcome. Go ahead and flame me if you want to, 'cause I'm a little like Relena in the sense that "omea o korosu" is a major turn on and I'll probably mail you back demanding that you kill me. Go ahead and write me at bluefire_7@yahoo.com

Ja ne!

by Bluefire

Chapter 3

"If you wanted to interrogate me, why didn't you just say so?" Karina demanded, stamping one foot lightly on the steel floor to further impress her point. "Instead, you try all these little mirages of friendship to get me to tell me whatever it is you want to hear, which obviously isn't what I've told you so far or all of you wouldn't still be giving me that death glare."

Four pilots glanced at one another, shifting their feet slightly as the smaller of the two Maxwell's scowled at them. She was obviously more than a little upset that they hadn't been forward with her. They had to admit, sending Quatre to talk to her like a friend didn't work out quite the way they planned. She had guessed their motive immediately, and Quatre was staring rather dejectedly at the floor at the moment. She did have somewhat of a sharp tongue, they were learning.

"Are you going to say anything, or are you just going to look at me with that 'I'm a gundam pilot' blank look?" She had to look up at all of them, and crossed her arms, letting her eyes narrow to slits. The hallway's fluorescent lights helped nothing in the scene, and the steel hallway outside of the medical ward had a small echo to it.

"We have a right to know where you learned to do things like what you did today," Heero's voice was as monotonic as ever. His face could have been chiseled from stone, and his eyes from ice.

She tapped her foot, studying his face carefully, as if that would render her an answer. "You don't trust me. I can understand that. After all, you did only just meet me. And I stole a gundam. But is it the piloting that bothers you the most, or the way I repaired Deathscythe, or even the way I found the access codes to the hanger? I wonder."

"That depends. Do all those questions have the same answer?" Trowa's eyes were shaded by his outcropping hair, giving his skin a darker hue than it should have been.

"In a context; yes. I told you already, I've worked with mobile suits before. I've never worked with a gundam before, but I learn quickly. It wasn't difficult to get the access codes, considering that when Quatre was in a hurry, he left his fingerprints on the key pad."

"That answer is too vague," Wu Fei met her stare for stare. "You are wasting your breath with those words. You have still told us nothing."

"When did you work with mobile suits, and why?" Quatre finally forced his eyes to rest on her. "We don't know a thing about your past. You could be anyone; a spy for 1-Z even. Duo's sister or no, you've been doing unusual things ever since we all met you. "

"We want an explanation. In detail." Heero crossed his arms, his pose an imitation of the girl's.

She sighed. "You're very difficult people, you know that?" She sighed a second time, and muttered something unintelligible under her breath. "Alright, I'll talk. What do you want to know?"

An hour of arguing and she just agrees to talk like it's the weather? Heero looked down at the brunette, who was looking from pilot to pilot expectantly. I smell a rat. "How did you escape the massacre at the Maxwell church?"

She winced slightly, barely noticed but to the most trained eye, at the question, but looked up at him completely clear eyed. "The soldiers who burnt the church found me playing outside. They took me with them when they left." She stopped, choking off on her last word, and swallowed a large gulp of air.

"And?" Wu Fei prodded, drumming his fingers across his folded arms. She looked down, clenching her fists to her sides.

"Look. . . I'd rather not talk about it. You wouldn't understand. But maybe you'll at least see that I'm not with 1-Z. I have my own reasons for hating them." She looked up again, her jaw muscles twitching slightly with the effort of keeping her teeth clenched. "I have no proof that I am not any number of things you might accuse me of but my word. I haven't told you a lie yet, what makes you think I'll start? You can trust me or you can kill me."

The five people gathered in the hallway fell silent. The faint humming of electric lights and air blowing through vents did nothing to fill the gap of missing voices.

Finally, after what seemed much longer than the few moments it, in all actuality, was, the four boys nodded to one another and turned to leave.

"Wait here," Heero ordered as they moved off down the hall.

" 'Wait here' ", she mimicked, rolling her eyes. Muttering things that were not quite lady-like in nature, she turned and strolled off in the opposite direction down the hall to the medical ward.

* * *

Quatre rubbed his temples in an attempt to ease the headache that seemed to have settled there. The other pilots were silent now, each concerned with his own thoughts. Personally, Quatre would rather just believe Karina and go to his quarters so he could sleep. He had a million things to worry about, and she was a tiny speck in all those things. He had sent for the maguanac troops to come to this desert base, and he still hadn't been able to contact many of them, since they had scattered somewhat after the war. But tomorrow, the base would be a mess with all the new people arriving, and he still had only about a bazillion piles of paper work to do at home . . .

Heero's head snapped up. "Is it possible that Duo knows anything he isn't telling us?"

Wu Fei shook his head. "No one's even told the baka that his sister stole his gundam. We're fools for not asking him sooner." He rose at once, prepared to tell him now.

"Wait. It's late; he's probably sleeping," Trowa's voice was as flat as ever. "We should wait until he's awake and thinking clearly."

The others nodded, and the hush came upon them again. Quatre glanced at the faces of his comrades, wondering if they were each sharing the same load that he was. "Let's get some sleep while we can. We've got a lot ahead of us tomorrow."

* * *

When the vid link opened, it cast an eerie glow about the metal room, which was otherwise darkened. The face that appeared was impatient, with taut lines drawn across it's white surface.

"The girl stole the gundam." The girl on the screen crossed her arms, her tone irritated. "I already knew that. You'd better have a good reason for contacting me on this channel, Quatre."

Quatre ran one slim hand through his blond hair, staring at the screen unblinkingly. "Look, I know you're busy, Psalm. But I need you to run a background check on her. Maxwell. Karina Maxwell."

"You're lucky I'm a nice sister, and I hope you realize that," she smiled faintly. "I'll do it, Q, but it won't be ready for at least another hour or two."

"That's fine. I'll call back in about three hours." Quatre smiled back, an incredibly weary shadow of the bright smile he'd had while the war was over. "Get back to the base. They probably can't manage long without you."

"The Terraforming Project is doing just fine, thank you. I'll see you soon." The link died, plunging Quatre's quarters into darkness.

* * *

Heero gulped down the pills, and then turned back to his laptop. Thank God for caffeine.

'Search: Files on Maxwell, Karina. Matches 0 of 0.' Heero scowled at the monitor. He couldn't dig up a thing on her. That was unheard of. He could even find things on the gundam pilots themselves if he looked hard enough.

Heero heard Trowa's soft tread on the metal floors before the other boy spoke. "Find anything?"

"Hn." Heero let out a soft grunt. "She probably wasn't even using her real name. I can't find a thing on her."

"She's not going to tell us anything now. How do you suggest we find out who she really is?" Trowa crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe of Heero's quarters.

"I'm not sure." Heero shook his head. "But we can't just let her keep walking around here with access to everything. We need to---"

"Guys, you'll never believe what I just found!" Quatre almost bowled Trowa over as he came rushing into the room. A thick stack of loose-leaf papers were not quite rumpled in one fist, and his eyes burned with excitement. "I'm fairly certain it's a lead on Karina."

~End Chapter 3~