Fanfic Name / Nombre del Fanfic: Choices and Aces

Chapter / Capitulo: Chapter 24

Author / Autor: Anonymoose_Au

Rating / Clasificacion: AP15 (For Teenagers = Para Adolescentes)

Romance

Action / Accion

Alternate Universe / Universo Alterno

Fanfic: “Well, it’s nothing that a knife-fight won’t cure…” A quote arising from the following events 
 
*** 
 
Finding a good quality coconut had not been as easy as Roy thought. He had ended up having to go to the other side of town past a multitude of screens that were all displaying the latest interview with Minmei and Lynn Kyle, which he certainly had no interest in. 
 
But now he had the coconut in hand and was heading back to the base when suddenly the sound of running footsteps and an unintelligible scream pierced the night. 
 
Whirling around Roy’s eyes widened in disbelief, a woman was running at him her arm raised high above her head, light from a streetlight glinting off… 
 
'A knife?' 
 
The woman’s arm arched forward and something came flying right at him, Roy leapt out of the way, but slightly too late. A searing pain shot across his shoulder. 
 
“Ugh!” The coconut fell from his hand as he reached out and clutched his left shoulder. All ready blood was seeping through his jacket. “What the Hell?!” 
 
The woman in front of him quick as a flash produced another knife and continued coming right for him, letting out another scream. 
 
She hit him with a force that seemed disproportionate to her size, and they fell to the pavement. 
 
“What are you doing?” 
 
The woman did not answer, instead the slashed at him with the knife, the blade heading right for his throat. 
 
His hands came up and grasped her wrist tightly, halting the knife’s path, the woman grunted and put her other hand on the knife handle exerting even more force. 
 
His shoulder screaming in pain he put up his left hand too, struggling against her. 
 
“You’ll pay,” the woman was snarling, “you’ll pay.” 
 
“Who are you?” Roy hissed, trying to push her off him. Was this woman on drugs or something? 
 
Suddenly she lashed out with her right hand her long fingernails gripping his injured shoulder, with a cry of pain he let go of her wrists and the knife slashed down. 
 
Somehow he dodged the blade and out the corner of his eye spotted the coconut. It had to be the most ridiculous weapon, but desperate times… 
 
He flipped over onto his stomach, surprising the woman and causing her to falter in her attack. But he was pretty sure though she was going to go for the back of his neck. 
 
But he had the coconut in hand and twisting struck her as hard as he could across the side of her face sending her head snapping back. 
 
“Argh!” The knife fell with a clatter. 
 
But before he could get out from under her, her hands went around his throat. 
 
He couldn’t believe this, he had no idea what was happening…where the Hell had this woman come from? And why the Hell was she trying to kill him? 
 
Reaching out he grabbed at her hair, yanking it. 
 
Her hands released his throat and he scrambled trying to get to his feet, but she was still trying to bring him down. 
 
“Get off!” He threw back an elbow catching her hard in the stomach. 
 
He saw the knife on the ground, wondering should he grab it?  
 
Should he really try to kill this woman? She obviously wanted to kill him… 
 
“You can’t escape,” the woman hissed in his ear, “you may have defeated me in mecha, but not hand to hand.” 
 
They fell to the ground again, and Roy ended up with his face been pushed hard into the pavement. 
 
'Defeated in MECHA?' 
 
There was a scraping sound, she had the knife again, he was sure. 
 
Suddenly he rolled out from under her, just in time to miss the blade which struck the ground. 
 
On his feet again, Roy ran for it. 
 
But the woman was on his heels and she launched herself at him, no doubt wanting to tackle him to the ground again. He lunged out of her way, and she rushed past by almost immediately whirled on her heel and was right in front of him. 
 
“What are you talking about?” He shouted at her, holding his shoulder. “Are you completely insane?!” 
 
“I am Quadrono Leader, Miriya Parina! Zentraedi Air Force.” 
 
Roy stared at her, it was almost incomprehensible. “Zentraedi?” 
 
With a scream she rushed at him the knife slashing at him again. He flung himself out of the way, tripping and landing sprawled on the ground. 
 
She was coming right at him again and kicking out a leg he tripped her. 
 
“Listen, whoever you are, I don’t want to fight you,” he gasped as he scrambled to his feet. 
 
“I am the Zentraedi’s greatest pilot!” The woman was on her feet again. “And I will not be humiliated by a mere micronian!” 
 
And she was at him again. 
 
Roy had never fought a woman before, despite the increasing numbers of women in combat positions in the military these days, it wasn’t really considered proper to. But obviously there was nothing for it… 
 
As the knife slashed towards him, Roy grabbed the woman’s wrist and twisted it hard. 
 
With a cry of pain she dropped the knife, but at the same second she brought her left hand across in a slicing motion striking his throat. 
 
The air was knocked out of him, but he ducked and delivered the hardest punch he could at the woman’s abdomen. 
 
She ended up on her knees as well, but he could tell by the look on her face she wasn’t going to give up any time soon. 
 
The surrounding streets were completely deserted and Roy was beginning to feel light headed as the blood continued to pulse from the wound in his shoulder. 
 
*** 
 
Max fiddled with his red tie, wondering if he really should have taken Rick’s word on it. Since joining the military he hadn’t seen his friend in civvies very often, and when he had ‘fashionable’ had not been the first word that came to mind. 
 
But it was too late to change his clothes. 
 
Then again it might be too late for the date. 
 
Pulling back the sleeve of his blazer Max checked his watch for what had to be the twentieth time. It was half past nine and Miriya was nowhere in sight. 
 
Max heaved a sigh and shoved his hand back into his pocket. 'I must be a total fool. Why would a girl like that what to go out with me? After all I made a total fool of myself in the arcade.' 
 
Still Max was not prepared to leave yet, after all, it was not as if he had anything else to do and he’d wait for Miriya forever. 
 
He walked over to the Peace Fountain, and hunted through his pocket, thinking maybe tossing a penny in and making a wish would bring his green haired soul mate into sight. But in his haste to get to the park on time, he had forgotten his wallet, which was certainly going to be embarrassing to explain if she finally did show up. 
 
Then he froze a sudden wave of fear coming over him, he clapped a hand to his forehead. “Oh God, what was I thinking asking her to meet me here in a park? A girl, alone at night? She could get mugged or something!” 
 
But that didn’t seem right either…firstly the streets of Macross City were very quiet this night, secondly, muggings weren’t something that happened in Macross. There was crime, but the violent sort was very rare, after all there weren’t many places to hide on the fortress. 
 
'Nah, no-one would mug her,' Max consoled himself, 'she’s too pretty for that anyway.' 
 
For a moment he wondered if perhaps she had gone to the wrong park, at the time Max had not considered that aside from Macross Park, there was another smaller park (which was more a patch of dirt with a couple of trees on it) on the other side of town. 
 
But surely not… 
 
Then again, that park is closer to the arcade…maybe she just assumed… 
 
As soon as the thought occurred to him, Max was certain that was what happened and even though he was a pretty sure she certainly wouldn’t have waited for him, he broke into a sprint. 
 
Maybe, just maybe he’d be lucky this time… 
 
*** 
 
'Friends, huh…so after everything that happened, we’re just friends…I should have known, I mean Rick Hunter, bad luck they mean the same things.' In complete disgust Rick flung himself back down on his bed, folding his hands behind his head and staring at the ceiling. 
 
He thought of Max, who had stopped by to ask about what tie he should wear on his big date. It certainly hadn’t occurred to him that the whole thing might go to Hell that the girl – Miriya, Max had said her name was – might not like him, or she might not even show up. 
 
But Rick hadn’t said anything like that, after all, why bring Max down? 
 
For a moment he considered switching the TV back on, it had been more than half an hour, surely the Minmei and Kyle interview wouldn’t still be going on.  
 
'Then again, what else the media have to say on this damn ship,' Rick thought, sitting up and punching his pillow. And he certainly didn’t want to turn the set back on so he could see Kyle taking the next step after admitting that he’d thought of proposing to Minmei…actually popping the question. 
 
Rick felt sick just thinking about it…remembering how, another life time ago it seemed, way back at the beginning of this war. How he and Minmei ended up trapped in a disused part of the SDF-1, how for nearly two weeks they had worked together to survive. How eventually, it all seemed hopeless and Minmei had mournfully told him how much she wished she could be a bride. 
 
At that time she’d been willing to go through a mock ceremony with him, they had even shared an all too brief kiss. Now though, Minmei had nothing to say except that he was ‘just’ a friend, obviously not a very important one. 
 
For a moment Rick felt like doing a lot more than just punching his pillow. He wanted to find and smash Lynn Kyle’s face.  
 
But Rick could not blame Kyle, things between him and Minmei had been all but non-existent by the time Kyle even arrived on the ship. No, whatever had made Minmei turn from him, it had nothing to do with Lynn Kyle, loathe as Rick was to admit that. 
 
Finally he decided he might as well go for a walk, or maybe even a run, he sincerely doubted he’d be able to get to sleep otherwise. 
 
He didn’t bother to change though, his uniform shoes were comfortable enough to run in, so leaping from his bunk he started jogging as soon as he feet hit the floor. 
 
Within minutes he was he was jogging out of Barracks B and out the gates of the RDF Base, passed the complex that housed the Zentraedi defectors. Rick briefly wished he was one of them, after all they were so excited about human society they’d been willing to risk death. Rick hadn’t been excited about anything since… 
 
'Since I thought about asking Lisa out to dinner,' he thought, slightly shocked. He never would have believed it, but it was true. Just the other night he had wondered about how to ask her and where they would go (not the White Dragon that was for sure). 
 
But of course, Lisa was now back on Earth, out of reach as much as Minmei was. 
 
'Love stinks.' 
 
*** 
 
Her father had sent her another letter, but Lisa hadn’t even bothered to read this one before tearing it into a thousand pieces. 
 
She couldn’t believe it, she couldn’t believe her father would do this, in all the time she had known him…she never would have expected him to buy into those pathetic old ideals of ‘gunboat diplomacy’. In fact she recalled when she had been in school before their relationship had become so strained, Lisa had been studying the history of the Cold War. 
 
The very idea of ‘gunboat diplomacy’ has escaped her and when she had brought it up with him, her father had agreed. 
 
'I guess it’s true what they say then,' she thought, bitterly, 'power corrupts.' 
 
She was sure her father had not become so close minded, so cold until he was elected to the United Earth Council. Before then, he had been busy, but he had always been willing to listen to her and to Gloval. But within a few years, that had all changed. Lisa had always assumed that it had had to do with Karl, after all, his views had been in complete opposition with her father’s, or at least as opposed a man in the military could be. 
 
But Lisa now saw that it was the influence of the Council and the position itself that had changed her father. 
 
Getting to her feet, Lisa paced the room. 
 
She had not even been here for a day and she all ready hated the place. Her quarters on the SDF-1 certainly hadn’t been able to claim a beautiful view, but the fact she was on Earth made the lack of windows and being underground all the much worse. She felt like she was in some sort of rabbit hole, like she was some sort of coward. Safe and sound below the earth while the real heroes faced danger every second of every day. 
 
She was not about to stay that way, stalking to the desk in the corner of the room, Lisa yanked out the chair and sat down. Opening the top desk drawer she found some stationary with an Alaska Base letterhead. 
 
'How homely,' she thought with disgust, grabbing up a piece and from the desk top picked up a pen that lay there and with the pen biting into the paper with the force of her anger she wrote a note to her father…no, to the Admiral. 
 
Dear Sir, 
Having presented my report to you as required by the orders given to me by Captain Henry Gloval, I request immediate transfer back to my post on the SDF-1. 
As you well know, my term of duty there is for four years, and I’m certain you would never consider ignore what is clearly a necessary duty. 
I await your reply. 
Commander Lisa Hayes 
 
Folding the letter, she stuffed it into an envelope, and grabbing up the nearby phone dialled a number. 
 
“Lieutenant Johansson,” her father’s aide answered. 
 
“Lieutenant Johansson, could you please come to my quarters on Level Thirty-Five,” Lisa said in a tightly controlled voice. “I have an urgent message for my father.” 
 
*** 
 
Miriya’s arms were trembling she was putting everything she had into killing the ‘Skull Leader’, into finally ending her torment. But he his hands were wrapped around her wrists, holding her at bay yet again. 
 
But he clearly did not have the strength to overcome her, just as she didn’t have the strength to overcome him. 
 
The very thought of it infuriated her. 
 
With a bloodthirsty snarl she kicked out with a boot heel, striking him in the shin. He flinched from the pain, his grip slackening slightly and she pressed the advantage, but he took advantage of her momentum pulling her off balance and sending her half falling to the ground. 
 
In her mind it had all been so easy, she would catch him unaware and slit his throat. 
 
But like the arcade game with that blue haired micronian it had not happened anything like that. Instead she and her enemy had struggled, she did not know for how long, but it seemed like an eternity. 
 
He was trying to get away from her, but the blood loss from the wound she had managed to inflict upon him was slowing him down. 
 
But she was disorientated as well, she had no idea what he had struck her with early in their fight, but whatever it was had almost sent her into unconsciousness and she was struggling now not to fall into it. If she did, he would surely kill her, never mind his claim he did not want to fight her. 
 
She lunged at him with the knife, but misjudged her swing, missing him completely, she reached out with her other hand and grabbed his injured shoulder, causing him to shout in pain and stumble. 
 
The two fell to the pavement again. 
 
“It’s no use,” she ground out through panting breaths and the haze that threatened to envelope her. “You’re no match for me…I’ll kill you…” 
 
He swung an arm at her knocking the knife from her grasp again. It was now slick with blood and hard to keep a hold of. 
 
At the same time they lunged for it neither managing to grab it. 
 
“I don’t want to kill you,” she heard him say, “I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but I don’t want to kill you.” 
 
Miriya shook her head, not so much to dispel the haze, for that seemed to be a permanent fixture now, but to dispel his words. What did he mean that he didn’t want to kill her? How could he not? She was his enemy and she realised she had in a way defeated him as he had defeated her in that battle. There was only one reason she could think of for his words. 
 
'He doesn’t believe me,' she thought, and the thought made her angry…or what she thought was anger, she wasn’t even sure now. 
 
“Then I will finish you,” her voice was hoarse, her fingers finally finding the knife handle.  
 
Gripping the knife as tightly as she could with both hands so she would not lose her grip she raised it high over her head. 
 
Despite his words the ‘Skull Leader’ like Miriya herself, was not willing to give up, though she pinned him down, he still managed to grab her forearms with both of his hands. 
 
'Why can’t I defeat you?!' Miriya thought desperately as they struggled once more. 'Why?' 
 
Suddenly there was the sound of running footsteps. 
 
“Hey! What is all this?!” A voice cried out, a familiar voice…Miriya looked up almost against her will. 
 
It was the blue haired micronian, the one who had defeated her so soundly at the simulator… 
 
“No,” she cried out weakly, the ‘Skull Leader’ was her equal that she knew, but this blue haired micronian…he could defeat her easily, it was over, it was all over. 
 
The knife fell from her hands. 
 
“Miriya?” The micronians eyes were wide behind those blue glasses. “Miriya, what?” 
 
The strange feeling in her chest came back, just looking at him…the dizziness and haziness that she had been battling almost overwhelmed her. 
 
She staggered to her feet. If she had to die, and she was sure she would, she would do so with dignity, with all her warrior spirit. 
 
But the blue haired micronian made no move towards her, towards the knife just metres from him. Instead he went to the ‘Skull Leader’ and took in the blood. 
 
“Why have you done this?” His voice had an odd effect on her, suddenly she didn’t know what she was doing and it had nothing to do with having been struck. These…these…feelings were unlike those she knew, were ones she could not identify. 
 
As he crouched down beside the ‘Skull Leader’ looking over the shoulder wound, Miriya realise they were both off guard…All she had to do was take up the knife and kill them, the blue haired one first…he wasn’t even looking at her… 
 
But Miriya couldn’t move. All she could do was watch as the blue haired micronian pulled one of those portable communication devices from his jacket and dial a number. 
 
She didn’t know what was wrong with her, she didn’t know why, but she couldn’t do it, her opportunity was right there, every Zentraedi instinct screamed at her to fulfil the goal she had been so fixed on. 
 
But she couldn’t, she just couldn’t. 
 
Staggering, she turned and began to run, but she knew she wouldn’t get far, the corners of her vision all ready becoming dim and then finally dark.

Continue / Continua: Yes / Si