Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Phases of Memory ❯ Aftermath ( Chapter 2 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Disclaimer: I don't Gundam Wing, or the characters from Gundam Wing. I do own the minor characters and non-GW people.

Warnings: Some violence, some cursing, and possible gore, but not sure at this point.
Pairings: Definitely non-yaoi, 100%! 1xR, 2xH, 3xMU (?), 4xD, 5xS, 6x9
Surprises: Definitely going to have some. Not telling you what they are. ^_~
Genre/Categories: Sci-fi (most definitely), drama, some amount of action, and occasional humor.

AN: In case anyone is curious, I'm not writing this story saying that I'm against biogenetic research and stuff. I'm all for it in all honesty. HOWEVER I'm writing this story because just like every other advance in technology and science, humans find a way to screw things up and end up killing and destroying millions of people because they irresponsibly used their knowledge. So this story is dedicated to a better future.

Gundam Wing: Phases of Memory
Phase 02-Aftermath
By Sailor Celaeno

AC 183
Maria had suspected that her baby would have the powers. Maria realized this when she saw the test results in his office. She had learned and read up on Linner's Theorm of New Type Factors. It frightened her knowing that her own mentor was using her for his experiments.
According to the theorm, the New Type factors were recessive genes that appeared in human DNA in the last 200 years. Dr. Arliss Linner believed that artificial environments caused minute mutations. However, only a small percentage of the human population possessed these mutations. Linner believed that at some point they would naturally develop in the human population as part of the natural evolutionary process. Unfortunately for Maria and her child, it was happening now.
She had met Andie Morrison two years ago at a campus protest rally. Andie was glad that a future member of the scientific community joined her views against genetic experimentation. Andie was there for her when she found out about Cassandra. The little girl played in her sandbox while the friends talked. "So, Maria. How has Cass been handling the new house?"
Maria sighed. "Better than I expected. I'm just scared."
"Scared? Why?" Andie furrowed her brow.
"I think that Linner was right… about New Type humans."
Andie frowned. "Is she exhibiting powers?"
Maria nodded. "Just the other day, the neighbor's dog barked. She got startled and…"
"And?" Andie was getting nervous.
"She vanished."
"Vanished? What do you mean vanished?"
"She ended up back in her room. She has some kind of teleportation ability."
Andie frowned again. "Teleportation? This is serious."
"She could have more powers and not realize it."
Andie nodded. "Right. So far we've heard of various anomalous things going on involving children. It's possible that Linner experimented on other families besides yours and that other family you mentioned."
"The Nahiras," Maria replied quietly. Raul Nahira… Cassandra's biological father.
"We've gotten reports of three other children just like Cass. They're developing powers just like she is. There are other strange activities that haven't been connected to New Type children. At least not yet…"
Maria paled. "I hadn't realized there were others like Cass."
Andie nodded. "A boy name Yuri Virtec appears to cause fires. There's a girl that has the ability to walk through solid objects. But an even more dangerous child is Cassandra's sister."
Maria stared wide-eyed at Andie. "They had a girl?"
Andie continued. "Her name is Hikari Nahira. She has hyper-telekinetic powers."
"What does that mean?" Maria began trembling.
Andie cleared her throat. "Basically it means that her telekinetic abilities are extremely powerful. She's already shown signs of having dangerous potential. She can lift objects three times her weight, overload electronic devices, and shatter objects when she's angry."
Maria couldn't help staring at Cass as she played in the sand. "You mean her sister is that destructive?"
Andie only replied. "I had to warn you. If Hikari can be this powerful, then who knows what Cass is capable of. So far it looks like Hikari is the most powerful one, but that doesn't mean that Cass can't have intense powers as well. They have the same father. It's possible Cass could develop stronger powers. However Hikari is unusually powerful at this age. Cass is the same age and isn't as strong. We can only assume that Cass won't be as strong."
"What has happened to those children?
"Yuri has already been institutionalized by UESA. The other girl has been taken too. Hikari hasn't been institutionalized just yet." Andie snorted, "It seems that UESA hasn't confirmed that they can contain a child with her abilities."
Maria frowned, "So it's a matter of time before they find Cass."
Andie paused for a moment. "I'm not going to pressure you, but you have to realize that as she grows older, she might get more powerful. She could get out of control."
Maria rubbed her temples. "I know Andie. I've been struggling with that since she teleported. I'm frightened about what will happen to her. I can only do the damn best I can. I haven't done such a horrible job so far, have I?"
Andie had a slight smile and shook her head. "No. You did the finest damn job that I could ever expect from anyone. And you're sure as hell braver than most other women would be." She tossed her short, red curls as she flashed a warm smile.
"I'm glad you believe in me." Maria smiled back.
"Cass has the best mom."
Cass looked up. She stared at Andie for a minute. Even though she couldn't understand it, she had a funny feeling that Andie wasn't quite what she appeared to be. But like any other child, she quickly forgot about that and went back to her toys.

AC 198
Duo tapped his pencil on the table. Describing Duo as being bored was an understatement. He hated having to wait for staff meetings to begin, but that was the downside of his job. He stared at the faces of his long-time friends. It may have only been two years that he had known everyone in the room with him, but that didn't matter. They were close with their common pasts during the war. It was like a sacred fraternity that they had together.
Une soon made her appearance. "I apologize for being late. I had a conference call that took longer than expected." She sat at her chair and looked through her stacks of files and grabbed a large stack of stapled papers. She split the papers into two piles and pushed each pile to the people sitting next to her. They all passed their piles down until every had their own copy.
"New case?" asked Zechs as he glanced at the cover sheet.
Une nodded. "Dr. Arliss Linner is being honored with the Scientific Award of the year for his genetics experiments. His latest theories are being applied to new medical procedures that could potentially save thousands of lives."
"Death threats?" asked Sally.
Une nodded. "It seems that he has been receiving some threatening messages from an underground organization called PAGE. People Against Genetic Experimentation."
"I just don't get it," frowned Duo.
"What?" asked Hilde, who sat next to him.
"If this guy did such good stuff, why is he stirring up so much anger?"
Sally had been following up on the latest technological and medical advances. "There are rumors and unsubstantiated claims that the nature of his experiments are… well… let's just say… questionable."
"Like what? On humans?" Duo asked half jokingly.
Sally glanced at Une and Une returned the stare. Duo's mouth dropped in disbelief. Everyone else were clearly surprised, but not as strongly as Duo.
"You mean people were forced to be guinea pigs," Noin replied matter of factly.
"That's if you believe the rumors," Une added.
Wufei flipped through the file. "I would wonder where these rumors came from."
"Some scientists question the sources of data from his earlier experiments since they weren't able to replicate the experiments without doing some illegal practices to accomplish the same results," replied Sally.
Heero grunted. "I'd see why people wouldn't like him. If any bit of those rumors were true."
Une cleared her throat. "Unless it is proven that he used involuntary human subjects, we can't ignore his request for protection. We also need to investigate these threats to Dr. Linner. This is a priority one case, so I wanted to pick the best people for the job."
Trowa quickly skimmed through the documentation. "I can watch him."
"Thank you Trowa. I appreciate you volunteering."
"Hilde and I aren't working on anything major. We can investigate PAGE," replied Duo.
Une had a slight smirk. "Of course Duo." She quickly made note on her copy of the file. "Now for the next item on the agenda…"

**********

Nichola tugged on the uniform she had been given. It was comfortable, but still a little snug as it fit her quite too perfectly. "So, this is my uniform?" She continued staring at the mirror. Her mind was going a mile a minute. Her thoughts rushed and she was still wondering. "Nichola… or Miranda? Just who am I anyway?" Nichola frowned miserably. "Am I either one of those two women?" Nichola shook her head as she sighed again. She straightened the uniform again. With a quick stride, Nichola reached the door and turned the knob. She came out of the locker room and soon saw Kelly waiting for her.
"Just as we left it, 'Miranda'," Kelly smiled.
"I can't believe that I'm a Preventer," Miranda shook her head.
"That's right Agent Fielding." Kelly cleared her throat, now that we're back at Headquarters I can stop calling you 'Miranda'." There was a slightly smirky look on Kelly's face that "Miranda" failed to notice.
"I'd been dying to know for months what it really is."
"Your real name is Nichola Fielding and you have been with us since the Preventers began a few months ago. In fact, that's been 2 years now."
"Miranda" or Nichola Fielding, as she discovered her name was, concluded that Kelly couldn't have been lying since she had read up on history in the three months she spend recuperating at the hospital. It was June AC 198, and she recalled that the Preventers were formed in April* of AC 196. So far the story checked. Nichola had this instinct not to trust people. She trusted the medical staff because they were caring for her. Outsiders were harder to trust.
"Are you my supervising officer?"
Kelly nodded. "I'm in charge of your department. I'm your connection to Lady Une."
"Was I on a mission when I lost my memory?"
Kelly nodded. "Yes. Your mission was to gather information on Dr. Linner. We have reason to believe that Dr. Linner has been performing unethical experimentation on human beings."
Nichola gasped. "How horrible."
Kelly darkened. "Very horrible indeed. We have information suggesting the possibility that it's true, but we need more concrete evidence. That is where you came in."
"How did I end up in that accident that wiped out my memories?"
Kelly took a deep breath. "Well, you were on a reconnaissance mission at one his labs. You were caught and there was an explosion."
Nichola nodded as she could figure out what happened afterwards. "Did I find anything there?"
"You found evidence of experimentation." Kelly then frowned, "Of course the explosion destroyed all evidence. However, we have a theory that you can still find proof."
"By spying on Linner himself?"
"Right. Your new mission is that you will disguise yourself as a lab assistant. Your employee credentials will allow you access to all sorts of information that we need to prove his crimes."
Nichola nodded. "But I've heard that he has other Preventers protecting him. Why are we helping him?"
Kelly paced a little before answering. "Simply this. Since we have no evidence of his guilt, we can't just ignore his request for protection. In fact…" Kelly looked around before continuing. "In fact… these are orders that came from higher up in the government. Most of the other Preventers aren't even aware of this. That's why no one you ask will know a single thing about this mission."
"So it's just you and me?"
"Exactly Nic."
"When do I begin?"
"Whenever you're up to it."
"I'm ready."
"Good. I'll leave you with this data you'll need to know. I'll have some fake documents to let you into his lab."
Nichola nodded as she sat at a desk that Kelly said belonged to her.
Kelly walked away from Nichola. "Perfect. I have her in the palm of my hands. Once I get her on the inside, she'll send me all sorts of information to bring him down." Kelly walked down a hallway off to her office.

AC 187
Cass had long blond hair that was reddish in the light. She stretched her arms as she walked around in the school yard. The birds did a spring song and Cass never felt better in her young life. They had been living in New Hyde for nearly two months. She had high hopes she could keep friends this time. But she still felt bad that she couldn't share her secret.
Maria warned Cass never to tell anyone about her powers. Never tell anyone that she could sense things. Never tell anyone that she could teleport herself. Cass felt lonely whenever the subject came up of why she and her mom moved around so much.
Cass walked to the field in the school yard. The kids could play sports and have gym class here on the warm days. She could feel the sun at her back and the wind blowing through the tall, green grass. The air had a sweetness that made her feel strange. It made her sick. The sweet smell made her ill, not happy like she'd thought.
Her heart began pounding in her chest. Her sixth sense about things were telling her something was very wrong about the smell. Her eyes began filling with tears as she struggled to open her mouth. She wanted to scream, but her throat was quiet and dry.
The sky was quickly changing. It was no longer the happy fair weather, but it grew dark and stormy. Cass was growing more frightened. "What's going on?" She could hear inside her head. It was her own voice, the only comforting thing she could feel. "I don't want to be here anymore." She began crying. Her eyes was imploring for the darkness to stop.
The wind picked up and howled in response to the child's pathetic pleas. Lightening struck through the sky and Cass began to run. Her feet pounded the ground as she furiously raced to get away from the story. All she could hear was the thunder, her gasping breaths, and the continuous pounding in her chest. Her heart was fighting for freedom. It didn't want to be in her chest anymore.
Cass ignored those things. "Something is out there. I have to get away!" She tried racing faster. Until she saw a dark figure approach and then she shrieked.

**********

Maria sat by Cass's side. She had screamed during the night. Maria frowned. "I don't know what to do." Maria gently stroked her daughter's hair.
This was the third night in a row that Cass had a horrible dream. The first dream had Cass playing in her room, when suddenly a beautiful woman calls her to the mirror. When Cass approached it, the mirror woman pulled her in. The second dream she was in a space station, and suddenly she found herself running from a huge fireball rushing through the hallway.
Maria frowned. They were more than just nightmares or the overactive imagination of her daughter. She knew in her heart that they were visions. They were visions of something horrible in the future, but she wasn't sure what they could really mean.
Cass sat up. "Mommy?"
"Yes Cass?" Maria reached and touched her daughter's hand.
"I saw a girl, who looked a little like me Mommy."
"What?" Maria frowned as she had an odd feeling about this dream. "A girl that look just like you?"
Cass nodded. "Uh huh… She just stared at me with horrible eyes and her head was bleeding."
Maria comforted her daughter as best as she could. It was clear to her that this was only the beginning.

*-I'm making up this date. I have no clue when they really formed, but play along. ^_^

Next time: So now you know what becomes of Midii, who Kelly Gallagher really is, and how Dr. Linner gets into the lives of our favorite GW characters. Next chapter: A little at home time with the Peacecraft family; and some more about the pairings that I mentioned were in this story. I apologize to the 1xR fans that I didn't put them in. The chapter was getting ungodly long. Next time in Phase 03- Set Into Motion.

AN: I promise that Phase 03 and 04 will be longer chapters.