Disclaimer: I do not own this or any other anime. But all original characters belong to me.

A/N: This and all future chapters will contain violence, crude language, etc.

Child of Fire: Now it’s Teela’s turn to have a little spat with the Gundam pilots! She may be a little OOC, so beware. BTW, this may be my longest chapter. And this also means that the first part of the trilogy is almost over. (Yes, this story is a trilogy.) Also, remember that one of Reiko’s (Reina) arms is wounded. (She was shot, remember?)

Chapter eleven: DISASTER! The Truth Comes Out

As soon as they were alone, Thomas pulled out a silver canteen from the inside of his jacket and took a long draught from it. When he finished, he offered the canteen to Revord.

"Whiskey?" Thomas asked.

Revord shook his head. "No. I don’t drink."

"Straight arrow."

"Thomas," Dr. Revord interrupted, "why are you here? You know that you and your Gundam pilots are prohibited from entering the Goddess territories."

Thomas snorted, and took another sip of whiskey before speaking. "I don’t give a damn. Besides, if we hadn’t shown up when we did, your pilots would have been torn to shreds, although I do kinda regret saving that kid with the green hair. Damn Amadou, why’d he stop me? I would’ve shown that stupid kid a piece of my mind. Stupid kid-"

"Thomas," Revord interrupted, "You still haven’t answered my question. And will you stop drinking that?"

"Fine, fine." Thomas put the canteen away. "So…ya wanna know why I’m here, eh? Well, I got some news for ya about them VICTIMS. And let me tell ya, my old friend, ain’t none of it is good."

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Ikhny walked dizzily past the other candidates in the cafeteria, ignoring their suspicious glances or approving looks. She didn’t know why, but the minute she walked out of the observatory, her head started to throb. Damn it, it hurt like hell…but Tak’s table was nearby.

As she approached him, he looked up right before she reached his table and gave her a smile.

"Hello Miss Ikhny! Are you feeling well?"

"N-no…" Ikhny tried hard not to swoon. "I feel…really sick…like I’m going to explode…and I keep hearing these voices…Tak, what’s happening to me? To my EX?"

Tak didn’t answer. He had a very strange expression on his face, almost like a smirk. But it was quickly replaced by a worried look, and immediately he stood up and took her out of the cafeteria.

"I know exactly what’s happening," he said in a low voice as he pulled her through the halls. "I’ve seen it happen before. But you can’t tell the instructors or staff members or anyone about this, because if they do, they’ll think you’re a danger and throw you out."

Ikhny’s blood froze at his words, and it took a while for her to regain control of her voice. "What about my friends?"

Tak gave her that strange look again. "Ikhny," he said in a sickly sweet voice, "I’m your friend. Your only friend. Well…just me…and Master Chaos."

As soon as he said the word "chaos," the voice in Ikhny’s head, the voice that she tried to fight, grew to a scream. It tore at her body, at her every nerve, until finally, her strength gave out and the world around her turned black.

As Ikhny lost control of her body and slipped back into a trance-like state, Tak smirked. It was finally time.

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Teela stood outside Revord’s door; not knowing whether to barge in or to stay put. Pilots or not, she did not trust the newcomers at all, and she certainly did not trust the one that was with Dr. Revord right now, especially not after his row with Gareas. She was on the verge of barging in when she heard heavy footsteps behind her, followed by a strange African accent.

"You need not worry, child," the speaker said. "Reynolds will bring no harm to your leader."

Teela turned slowly to find herself face to face with the black colored man. His sheer presence stated that he could overpower her in an instant, but his face, his eyes, held wisdom that Teela had seen in very few.

Yet she still did not trust him.

"You are Amadou, are you not?" Teela asked quietly. Amadou nodded. "Are you second in command to…that man?" Amadou began to nod again, but stopped.

"I…I am second in command at the moment," Amadou said. "So…I guess that is correct."

Teela gave him a cold stare. "Why are you second in command ‘at the moment?’ Are you hiding something?"

Amadou’s eyes narrowed at her statement, and he returned her glare with one of his own. "Even if I am hiding something," he said, "what makes you think I’ll tell you?"

"And what makes you think I will allow the likes of you to stay at GIS any longer if you continue to be secretive? As far as I’m concerned, you could very well be the enemy in disguise. And I will not allow that!"

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"So this Chaos person," Revord asked curiously, "He created the VICTIMS?"

Thomas nodded.

"And he also created these new creatures that attacked us? These…"

"STRIKERS," Thomas filled in. "They are the masters of stealth tactics. They can’t be sensed with EX either. They’re a lot smarter than the VICTIMS are, I’ll tell you that. Only way to find’em is through their body heat. They tend to generate a lot of heat."

"I see. May I ask you how you obtained this information, Thomas?"

Thomas raised an eyebrow. "Don’t trust me, Revord? Even after I helped ya build the Errn-Laties?"

Revord frowned. "That was ages ago."

"Whatever. Anyway, I have spies everywhere. Most of them have died, but not before sending us the information that we needed." Thomas stopped when he saw the horrified look on Revord’s face. "Don’t look at me like that! They knew that if the mission went haywire, they’d have to die! Besides, we couldn’t have saved them even if we tried."

"Alright, alright. Now, tell me why this…Chaos…person is sending over new VICTIMS."

Thomas shifted uneasily in his seat. "I can’t tell ya that."

"Why not?"

"I can’t tell you anything else until you remove the law that the colonies put up to prevent us from fighting in space."

Revord frowned. "Thomas, I can’t—"

"Why the hell not? It’d be a lot easier if we can fight them here! I mean, if we try to fight the VICTIMS on Earth, we won’t be able to stop them!"

"Thomas…"

"Come on, Revord!"

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Reiko’s good arm was sore from sawing the thick ropes, but she kept going. She had to escape.

Tak, you bastard, she thought venomously, when I get out of here, I’m going to shoot the bloody daylights out of your bloody little body, rip off your bloody little balls, and feed it to the VICTIMS!

When the knife cut through the last bit of rope, Reiko took the opportunity to check her wounds. Her back felt better, but her right arm was completely covered in blood, and she could hardly move it thanks to the bullet wounds.

Groaning, she managed, with difficulty, to reach the inside pocket of her jacket and pulled out a very small handgun.

"Thank god Tak never double checks his captives," Reiko muttered as she held the gun clumsily in her left and fired at the door until the hinges and handle were gone. Then she kicked the door down and ran out of Tak’s room.

I must find help, she thought. I must not give up. I must—

CRASH!

"Ow…Watch where you’re going,. You zedding pansy!" Reiko yelled, forgetting to revert back to her "Reina" accent.

Hiead groaned, and rubbed the lump on his head. "Well I wasn’t the one running through the halls, you little bitch," he retorted. "I was looking for you everywh—wait a minute. What happened to your voice?"

"Huh?" Reiko gave him a confused look before realizing with horror that she had given herself away.

"What’d ya mean, Hiead?" She asked in her "Reina" voice. "There’s nothin’ wrong with ma voice." She laughed nervously and hoped he would buy it.

He didn’t. Instead, his eyes fell on the handgun she was holding.

"What’s that?" Hiead asked. Reiko looked at the small weapon in her hand and sweat dropped.

"Oh this? I…uh…" Reiko racked her brains desperately for an excuse, but her mind went blank when she heard a familiar voice.

"It is almost time…"

Reiko turned to where the voice had come from and saw Tak carrying and unconscious Ikhny in the direction of his room. He was going to give Ikhny to Chaos now. Time had run out.

Forgetting about Hiead, she ran towards the pair and aimed her gun at Tak’s head. "Hey!" Reiko yelled as she ran. "Release the girl and put your hands in the air NOW!"

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Tak stopped dead when he heard her voice. How did she escape? This was seriously putting a dent in his plans…

"Reina!"

Perfect timing, Gner, Tak thought. I owe you one for this.

"Reina, what the hell are you doing?" Hiead demanded, distracting Reiko long enough so that neither she nor Hiead saw a shadow lurk behind them.

"Stay out of this Gner, " Reiko said in her British accent. "I’ll explain everything later. Now get out of here!"

Hiead ignored her and turned his attention to Tak, who was still holding Ikhny. "And what do you think you’re doing with Allecto? Get your hands off her!" Hiead advanced menacingly towards Tak, but Reiko grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"I said get out of here!" She yelled. "This is Zion business, and I will not let some…some colonial get involved!"

"Zion business?"

"I said I will explain later," Reiko said through gritted teeth, then redirected her attention back to Tak, who was quietly creeping away. "And I told you to drop the girl, damn it!"

Tak stopped and growled in frustration at his situation. If Ikhny didn’t get to Chaos soon, the sleep spell would wear off, and Ikhny would then be too powerful too control. But if he tried to get away now, Reiko would shoot his head off. He was on the verge of giving up when he saw something that would tip the odds in his favor. He then smiled and laid Ikhny gently on the floor.

"All right, little sister," he said as he backed away from Ikhny’s body. "You got me. I surrender."

"You do?" Reiko gave him a blank look before looking triumphant. "I mean, of course you do! Now put your hands up and walk slowly towards me. SLOWLY!"

"Of course," Tak said. "But first…Reiko…Hiead…look behind you."

"What?" Reiko and Hiead asked in unison before someone rammed something hard and heavy against their heads. The effect was instantaneous; both were knocked out. Copy Reina, who was stood over their unconscious figures, pointed Reiko’s original gun at their heads.

Tak smirked and put his hands down. He walked over to copy Reina and put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to lower her gun.

"Lock them up first," he said. "You can kill them after the ritual."

With that, he scooped up Ikhny and headed for his room.

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Child of Fire: To be continued….DUN DUN DUN!