On a bench in a Heliopolis park, a strange tableau was laid out. Looming over the trees, an advanced looking mobile suit knelt on the ground. On one of the benches lay a woman wearing orange coveralls - Lieutenant Maria Ramius of the Earth Alliance, wounded earlier in the day by one of the ZAFT commandos who had successfully seized four of the five Mobile Suit prototypes developed jointly by the Atlantic Federation and the Orb Union.
Watching over the Lieutenant was a young woman, Mirialla Haw, who was providing little more than nervous chaperonage to the man tending the lieutenant's wounds. "She's waking," she cried as Maria groaned and rolled her head.
"Ayup," the man replied, knoting off a bandage he'd wrapped around Maria's shoulder. "I'll rely on your testimony as to my conduct then."
Maria's brown eyes flickered and then she reflexively jerked away from the man, recoiling almost off the bench before he caught hold of her with a firm grip. "Don't move yet," he ordered absently.
"Kira!" called the girl, summoning one of the young men who had been attending to the giant robot only a few metres away.
Maria's eyes hardened as she remembered the earlier events of the day - the sudden attack and the loss of the mobiles suits, being shot by one of the raiders and then the desperate fight as first she and then the young man she saw approaching had fought off a ZAFT Jinn in the towering Strike Gundam, only to be stunned when the damaged mobile suit self-destructed almost on top of them.
"I'm so sorry," Kira began, looking ashamed of himself. "It was my fault."
"Keh," the man said dismissively. "Those commando types all running around, shooting guns, and then those giants fighting - the lad's probably the only reason you got off so lightly, and all he does is apologise."
"Have some water," the girl offered and Maria accepted the offered bottle, glad for a moment to think before having to respond to Kira. She was puzzled at why the boy wasn't looking straight at her, then realised that her jumpsuit was open to the waist and had been tugged off her right side. Her reflexive attempt to cover herself didn't do much more than lose the water bottle (Kira caught it before it reached the ground) and elict a yelp as she put pressure on her shoulder.
"I had to open your shirt to get to the shoulder," the man told her calmly after she had steadied herself. "Strictly professional - the lass can vouch for my behavior."
Maria was trying to regain her composure when a snatch of conversation came from the three boys still entranced by the war machine.
"This is a great Gundam. Can you move it or not?"
"You guys, don't mess with it!" called the oldest of them, who remained on the ground. As a wonder, the boy in the cockpit emerged without trying to move it.
"Why is it gray again?" asked the third boy.
"Because the main battery is off," replied the second boy.
"Stay away from it!" Maria shouted, her pistol in her hand almost before she realised it. A warning shot glanced off the armor plate between the pair on the machine and they cringed reflexively. An instant later, the gun was out of her hand and she whirled, eyes tracking it, to see the man who claimed to have treated her wound holding the pistol by the barrel.
"What are you doing?" Kira protested. "They're the ones who brought you out of the machine when you were unconcious!"
Maria ignored him glaring up at the only adult in the group. He returned her stare with an air of amusement, then examined the pistol and tentatively tapped one of the levers, causing the clip to fall to the ground. "Tsk," he said, working the action in a professional manner quite unlike the awkward grip he'd used earlier, and letting the live round eject into the air. "I'm so clumsy today. This is yours, I believe," he added innocently and passed the empty gun to her.
"Who are you?" Maria asked, cautiously accepting the weapon.
"A roll of the dice that went your way," the man replied. Now that she looked at him, he was out of place amongst the little group. Not just in age - although he certainly looked closer to her age than any of the teenagers - but in everything! He was almost painfully thin, his tall frame topped with a ragged beard and shaggy locks of corn-blond hair that was obviously the result of neglect rather than deliberate styling. His clothes were odd - a red leather jacket, tough pants and a shirt that looked like it belonged in a video of the pre-Cosmic Era times - and his eyes... Maria shivered as she looked into those grey-blue eyes. She had never realised how dark that shade could be when the eyes were shadowed by more than just the light. "The name is Thomas Finn."
It was almost a relief as the kids introduced themselves. If nothing else, it gaver her an opportunity to palm a spare clip of ammunition from her belt and slip it discreetly into her pistol.
"I thank you for saving me. My name is Maria Ramius. I am a Second Lieutenant of the Allied Military," Maria told them. "I'm sorry, but that is the military's top secret. It's not something people should touch."
"What? Kira-chan was the one who was operating the machine," protested Toru.
"I cannot let you go," Maria added, raising the gun again, this time keeping the gun pointed squarely at Thomas, who was evidently the major threat.
"WHAT!?"
"Whatever the reason, since you guys saw the secret, you have to stay with me until I have contacted the offical board of directors and receive their orders."
The babble that exploded was almost louder than the sound of a gunfight and Maria was about to fire off another round (into the air this time) to get their attention when there was a sharp crack from the back of the group as Thomas clapped his hands together. "Lieutenant Ramius is correct," he said firmly.
"We're Heliopolis citizens!" Sai protested. "We are neutral! We have nothing to do with the military and those sort of things."
Thomas pointed up at the Gundam. "That was built here wasn't it? For the Allied Military? That doesn't sound neutral to me. I don't think that those commando boys believed it either. They came in shooting - that puts all of us in the middle of a war whether we like it or not. And in any war there are only two sorts of people - those who act and those who are acted upon. The latter are called victims and I don't recommend it."
"But why can't we just go to one of the shelters!" protested Mirialla.
"Because the other side would hunt you down to find out what you know about the Gundam," Thomas said bleakly. "And the lieutenant's side would hunt you down to keep you from telling it. Unless you think you can take them both on, your best shot is to co-operate with one group or another - and she's here and has a gun."
"What about you?" Kira asked.
"She smells trustworthy," Thomas answered. "So I guess I'll trust her. For now, anyway." Then he brightened. "Besides, someone has to look after than gunshot wound of hers. I'm sure that that leaves me with some sort of moral obligation to take off her shirt again..."
Maria almost shot him.
=========================================
Feedback please
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

Just as a heads-up, Richard Lawson has just posted another new fic in the "Thy Outward Part" continuity to the FFML, called "Half A Kiss". I don't know if it's available on his website at www.sterman.org/ , as I just found out a few minutes ago that my workplace blocks that address for some reason.-- Bob
---------
I loot faster. -- Peggy Schroeck, D&D game, in response to a crisis situation that arises while she's searching the bodies of four recent opponents.

"The Invisible Man", by Helloween from Keeper Of The Seven Keys - The Legacy
7:17
[Music & Lyrics: Gerstner]
I am the one who wants to show
You a secret of your cheating world
Wherever I will go - No one can see me
'Cause I'm the invisible man
I'm a creature with one goal
Rise up to heaven when the time has come
I have no body but a soul
Gods law is written on my way, forever
Time by time I think it's over
The malediction I have got
When the world was young
I've been captured in the name of god
To save people, but who cares?
Since a thousand years
Until the holy land will come
Here I am the invisible man
A lost fallen angel helping mankind where I can
My memories are there to save your world
For you I'm just the invisible man
[Solo: Both]
There's the destiny you don't know
I'm a guardian angel and whatever you'll go
You fight through your life not alone
You can't hear me, nor see me
But trust the holy flow
[Solo: Sascha]
Here I am the invisible man
A lost fallen angel helping mankind where I can
My memories are there to save your world
For you I'm just the invisible man
Effect: Effectively removes Doug's body in order to make him invisible; he's just a soul floating around. Handy, since it means other means of visual ID (thermal, x-ray, what-have-you) can't be used either. Unless they have some sort of soul-vision or something. Also makes him utterly soundless.*********
Touched By His Noodly Appendage
www.venganza.org

Well, see, I've been reading a lot of IN fic the last couple days, and...

now, I may not have watched FMA, just read the manga, but this still rocks. Verily.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EtVQEIDg0Q
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

Why is it when any other country in the world suffers a terrorist attack, the right-wingers in the USA are all sympathetic and 'see, it's not just us' and the like...
But when Canada actually *stops* an attack before it occurs we're a haven and breeding ground for terrorists?--
Christopher Angel, aka JPublic
The Works of Christopher Angel

Quote:

---

Chimaera, by Bad Religion
you took a time bomb,
and a case of crackers,
and you made a maelstrom of organic debris,
then you took a work bench,
and a rusty anvil,
and you polished them for everyone to see,
you have created an unhealthy monster,
but you're nowhere but nowhere to be found,
so I guess I'll just cope with my provisions,
from now until the day they lay me down
you took a baboon,
and made him perfect,
you took a lion,
and stripped him of his pride,
then you took a million more varieties,
a scalpel and a sartory,
and you stitched up a horrible surprise,
you have created an unsocial monster,
and you're searched for all over the globe,

and most believe that things would sure be better,
if you'd come down here and tell us what you know
who is to blame for this?
someone tell me please,
his handiwork is flawed,
and it's there for all to see,
mutations, aberrations and blatant anomalies,
they multiply and give rise to this...monstrosity,
you took the most abundant smallest bits of matter,
and you instilled them with affinity,
and then you stratified accumulations,
weeded out bad variations,
and blended up your unique recipe,
you have created a powerful monster,
with direction and purpose all its own,
and if you were here,
would things be any different?
or are you just a mosaic of thoughts alone?

---

...I've incremented the byte count on Chapter 3. Since you asked so nicely on the FFML. -- Bob
---------
I loot faster. -- Peggy Schroeck, D&D game, in response to a crisis situation that arises while she's searching the bodies of four recent opponents.

... but it is a mite annoying. I've lumped "Incarna: Empress' New Robes" into a single file and was commencing some editsu on it because I wanted something mindless and relaxing to do. Whereupon I caught myself thinking 'this is decent, but I could think of a few ways in which it could be so much better' at least about the story flow, which, when I look at it now, sometimes just isn't there.
I've caught myself noticing just how awkward some of it is, and it reminded me of a while ago.
Hence, the decision.
"Empress' New Robes" is going in for a rewrite. Some things will be reused ... hell, I can safely say that most of them will, because I'm not stupid enough to scrap 266 kilobytes worth of perfectly good, if disjointed, text.
I'm not promising a lesser amount of Deus Ex Machina moments - that's pretty much impossible, given the premise - but I'd like to think that I have a better idea how to approach this beast here and now than I did back when Otome was incomplete and it was merely a fun jammage writing job. And what still remains to be written for the project doesn't really change with this reworking. It's just that I hope to make the setup so much better. Or just easier to write. Either. Both. ^_^.
*chuckles* Curiously, Change Dusk is kind of in the same situation, but somehow manages to make it work to its advantage. Heh. Maybe because Nate's had more going into that than I did. I think he's generally got a better grasp of the ... scope ... of a story than I do, anyway.
Also, I've decided on a theme song for this project, just because it fits so damn well.
Chimaera, by Bad Religion
you took a time bomb,
and a case of crackers,
and you made a maelstrom of organic debris,
then you took a work bench,
and a rusty anvil,
and you polished them for everyone to see,
you have created an unhealthy monster,
but you're nowhere but nowhere to be found,
so I guess I'll just cope with my provisions,
from now until the day they lay me down
you took a baboon,
and made him perfect,
you took a lion,
and stripped him of his pride,
then you took a million more varieties,
a scalpel and a sartory,
and you stitched up a horrible surprise,
you have created an unsocial monster,
and you're searched for all over the globe,
and most believe that things would sure be better,
if you'd come down here and tell us what you know
who is to blame for this?
someone tell me please,
his handiwork is flawed,
and it's there for all to see,
mutations, aberrations and blatant anomalies,
they multiply and give rise to this...monstrosity,
you took the most abundant smallest bits of matter,
and you instilled them with affinity,
and then you stratified accumulations,
weeded out bad variations,
and blended up your unique recipe,
you have created a powerful monster,
with direction and purpose all its own,
and if you were here,
would things be any different?
or are you just a mosaic of thoughts alone?

I hereby propose to make it the patron song of crossovers and fusions everywhere.

-Griever
oddly chipper despite the occurance
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

Finally got around to updating a bunch of things:
Top page revised.
Shayne's "IST Holy See World" and Rob's "A Day In The Life" now available.
Assorted little tweaks and fixes, both things I've found and stuff sent to me.-- Bob
---------
I loot faster. -- Peggy Schroeck, D&D game, in response to a crisis situation that arises while she's searching the bodies of four recent opponents.