CHAPTER VIII- Tools

A/N: This is a LONG chapter! Hooray! At last! Thank you Padme for taking time out of your busy schedule…(hey other people reading: she’s really busy and she reads these anyway, isn’t that nice?) Oh, and Honey Shine- Ariel hates Heero mainly because his birth killed their mother. And to all of those consistent and new readers out there, thanks for reading!!!

BTW, this chapter is a touch disturbing. Sorry!

"Well, do you know?" Doctor J asked his pupil, holding up the model of the machine in one claw and one hand.

Doctor J had always been the leader in experiments with machinery and the human mind. Is researchi n bio organic machinery had always been cutting edge, and the first test subject to the technology had been himself.

Doctor J used to be blind, but even his lack of sight did not hold back the genius that lurked in his mind. Doctor J could only read the bumps on paper with his one hand, and the sounds and smells of the world around him. He had never witnessed compassion or kindness, never had someone take care of him.

He was born deformed, without a limb or the eyes to look upon his disfigurement.

But Doctor J had fixed that. Doctor J had used science to earn him back those gifts that nature had stolen from him, used electricity and heat sensing technology where neurons and electrons failed him.

His experiences without sense would later help him develop excellent war training programs. He would deprive his students of a sense, forcing them to adapt to become stronger individuals.

He could still remember the first day he had gained the gift of sight. There had been a war, at the time, and he remembered walking out of the colony hospital with the colony of L1 in ruins around him, with orphaned children nursing open wounds and people crushed under the weight of rubble.

And that was the time when he experienced an epiphany- he would use his intelligence to try and eliminate such horrible disasters.

Thusly, Doctor J joined several organizations, and became a key component in the horrible plan- Operation Meteor. Doctor J readily realized that he was not a leader, but he was also not a compliant follower. He convinced the others in charge of training the Gundam pilots- originally soldiers supposed to take over Earth after a colony was dropped onto the planet’s surface- to give the pilots the choice to create peace on their own.

He realized that he would never be able to achieve the things he wanted with his frail, useless body, so he took advantage of others heartlessly. He would use whatever methods necessary to bend others to his will, for he was certain that his ideals, his dreams for peace, were more important than a few human lives.

Heero Yuy had been his prodigy, his first success- a soldier, completely mentally dependent upon his leader. Doctor J forced his beliefs upon Heero so rigorously, that he took them up as his own. Heero Yuy fought for what he believed was right, and in turn, it ewas exactly what Doctor J wanted as well, fo the scientist had almost made them into the same person, devoted to the same causes.

But even Heero Yuy had had flaws.

Namely, interest in Relena Darlian-Peacecraft, and the eventual rejection of the controlling drugs he had been given.

Doctor J had labelled the determining factor of these flaws to be Heero’s age. He had been in the middle of his teenage years, with hormones and a broadening intellect (oh, what a fatal combination) affecting Doctor J’s control.

It wasn’t that Doctor J believed independence to be a bad thing, just that it was not advantageous.

The child before Doctor J smiled and traced the path into the machinery with a small hand, "This ishow I enter, Doctor J."

"Correct, Tyrone."

He nodded, drawing up his four feet of height proudly at the compliment, and Doctor J signaled him to leave, "You will be rewarded. Go back to the training room and call Lasca in."

"Yes, sir."

Yes, Doctor J decided, the key had been the age.

Ariel Yuy collected artwork. She was said to have a spectacular private collection. It was her private weakness, and so when the much-appreciated artist, Yasuo, had invited her to his most recent show, she had eagerly accepted.

She was not expecting the boy who stood beside the masterful artist, wearing simple clothes and the crest of an apprentice of the House of Yasuo. She had blinked once or twice, and then bowed to both of them.

He nodded his head, the closest she had ever seen to him bowing.

"Yasuo-sama, you’re art show is very beautiful," she said in formal Japanese, eyeing her brother carefully.

"Thank you, Ariel-san."

She smiled, "And is this boy your newest student? What is his name?"

He shrugged, "He goes by the name of Deshi, and refuses to be referred to as anything else," he was smiling to himself about that, "However, he is also the reason I invited you here. Come look at this!" he said merely, tugging Ariel by the elbow to the large painting of an angel.

The face, dark and silhouette-shaped, could be no other. She smiled. So Heero Yuy stile had an infatuation with Relena Darlian-Peacecraft. How interesting.

"How much are you asking for it?" she asked, watching a slight glint in her brother’s eye flicker quickly into and out of existence, "Such masterful work should be appreciated properly."

"It’s not for sale," Heero said coldly. He did not understand the life of an artist. He did not understand why his paintings, the extensions of his much guarded soul, had to be taken away and put somewhere, to be seen by people who could not understand how important the picture was to him.

Yasuo waved a hand, "Nonsense, Deshi, while you are still my apprentice, every work you create belongs to the House of Yasuo. This is where you begin to pay us back of the cost of training you. How does one thousand federal notes sound, Senator?"

She grinned pointedly at Heero, "It sounds just fine."

Later that evening, she would ask Yasuo to keep a very close eye on the boy’s whereabouts, even if he chose to leave.

Heero was glaring at the man he had come to regard as his teacher, "The painting was mine to keep."

He shook his head, "No, it wasn’t, Deshi."

He bent back down and began rolling up his mat, "It doesn’t matter, I have to go now anyway."

"You knew her, didn’t you?"

"Who?"

"Senator Yuy."

"No, I did not, Yasuo-sensei."

The elderly teach slapped the boy in the face, sending him sprawling, for he far outweighed the teenager in experience and weight, "Do not lie and call me ‘sensei’ in the same sentence!"

Heero picked himself up, pressing one hand to his cheek, "I can guarantee you I won’t be calling you ‘sensei’ ever again." He looked at the older man with disgust, "I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you. Everyone in my life uses me. I should have learned my lesson."

The teacher shook his head, "You must learn that you cannot only take from this world, deshi, you must also give back."

"You believe that I have not contributed, Yasuo?" he growled, "I gave up my soul for the world! I gave up everything so that you could sleep comfortably without fear of death or persecution. You have no idea what I had to go through to do that," he added, almost heart-brokenly, "So don’t go telling me I cannot understand."

He left without another word, unaware of the tracer that had been placed on his bedroll.

Yasuo sighed, "I’m sorry, deshi."

Ariel Yuy was in a conference. No, it wasn’t a trade conference, a peace conference, or even an environmental conference. In fact, the whole entire meaning of the meeting was to talk about one person, and one person only- Senator Ariel Yuy.

The air was full of smoke, the night air warded off by brightly burning lights. Several men were seated around the table with the senator, take long drags on their cigarettes and scoring notes on paper as they spoke.

"Ariel, your major contender for the Imperialist party nomination, the former Marquis de la Jour, has been boasting about his knew solution to the uprising on the outer colonies." One of her advisors said, scratching his chin, "It seems as if he’s taking an almost militaristic stance, which should be expected from the leader of the Preventers."

Ariel nodded her head in consideration. Her smooth brow was draw and her yellow gaze focused, as she looked back upon the situation with the outer colonies.

She had only been to one once before, the majority of them were orbiting or attached to asteroids, built with second rate equipment and prone to computer failure or annihilation from neighboring asteroids. There was a saying that if you ever wanted to be reckless, you became a space miner- for it was a job no one took up voluntarily, unless they were mad.

She had gone to an outer colony as a child on the memorial day of her father’s death. She had been paraded around the hard worn people with blackened faces and bleeding hands to show them that there were far more beautiful things in life than black coal or diamonds minded in the depths of cold rocks in the middle of space.

"It seems then, that in order to show the public how we are better than him, we will have to take up a mission of peace."

"Yes, Senator Yuy, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Relena Darlian has not only reinstated, but promoted to the full status of Foreign Minister. She, and a peace delegation, are headed to the colonies right now."

Ariel’s blood was fit to boil with fury, "Your point?"

"We have contacts in the mob that controls the outer colonies. They’ve just recently organized, Ms. Yuy, and have heard about the approaching shuttle. They will shoot it down."

Ariel laced her fingers and put her elbows up on the table, "I see."

"If we were to intercept them and save the Foreign Minister, your popularity points will shoot up. You wouldn’t have to worry about getting the nomination anymore, the presidency would be handed to you on a silver platter."

She frowned, "But?"

"But to strike them directly would mean loosing our contacts on the outer colonies. The mob doesn’t take kindly to informants, and they would be easily traced and destroyed."

"So we must get someone else to do our dirty work…someone who will be associated with us, but will not be directly affiliated with me."

"Someone intelligent enough to look like he had figured it out on his own."

Ariel smiled. Of course!

"The boy is sleeping in Henna Park." He replied, "Now, may I buy back the painting from you?"

She smiled, "Yes."

Heero woke to the sounds of footsteps approaching, and rose quickly from the park bench, ready to escape into the woods.

"No need to run, my brother." The assailant said calmly, in that tone of voice that meant she had important news, "I thought you might be interested in something I have learned."

"I have no interest in anything you have to say."

"Of course not," she said, "Not even about Relena Darlian?"

Thirty minutes later, a shuttle was hijacked from a space port on L1, and was tracked on a course towards the outer colonies.

The officer that discovered this wondered vaguely why anyone would every want to go there.