2010-04-28 - Prison Visit

The hospitality of a squalid Turkish prison quickly wore out after the first hour, not to even speak of the four excruciating months Allelujah Haptism had spent in that sty. At least, he thought it had been that long...between the frequent bouts of sensory and sleep deprivation, not to mention infrequent meals, unsanitary conditions and worse had all rather made the passage of time meaningless in exchange for the must bleaker outlook of a single Hell without end.

It was a terribly easy mindset for the Gundam Meister to fall into, prone to maladies of the mind as he was. Easy to think that he was a fool to believe he'd ever truly escaped capitivity, that a place like this wasn't exactly where a broken creature like him belonged. It had been foolish in the first place to cross borders and leave his gundam behind, to try and make contact with a resistance cell in the area, walking right into an ambush. Celestial Being would have no idea where he was in an off-the-radar locale like that, they'd probably replace him by now...he hoped so. Replaced him with someone more fit to the role, had he no doubt Sumeragi would choose well.

The Supersoldier had been a malnourished, haggard wreck when they pulled him out and loaded him onto a transport (he'd long since learned not to ask or care about questions) to somewhere else. Dully, he'd reflected on the way that whatever local group of government-backed thugs had grabbed him likely hadn't realized what they had, taking him for just another freedom fighter. It was the only reason he could think why he'd been kept in such a place for so long. But someone, somewhere in the bureaucracy had finally read a report slowly making it's way through the pipe and probably messed their pants on the spot, considering this commotion.

He wasn't sure how long it took to get there, wasn't really paying attention. The place he was in now was...cleaner, he supposed. He'd been allowed a wash and shave, a small meal, before fitted into an outfit more befitting a mental patient than a prison and promptly...muzzled, for lack of a better word. Something else, too...something that blocked his mind. He couldn't hear Hallelujah's cajoling and complaints. Once again, appropriate. He put up no resistance.

But he could expect an interrogation, and for this at least he had prepared. 'Allelujah Haptism. Gundam Meister. Celestial Being.' The mantra repeated over and over in his mind until it became all he knew, all he would know. This was his own just punishment, not anyone else's. He wouldn't even pretend to cooperate as he did the last time. Let them ask all they wanted, make their threats, carry them out...it was no less a reward than his personal sins deserved.

SOME TIME AGO

Revive Revival is in his office aboard the Shirogane. A sharp tone emits from his fax machine. He thinks this is strange, because this office didn't /have/ a fax machine, last time he checked. "Huh."

The Innovade walks over and tears off the sheet after it finishes printing out. He skims it quickly.

"Son of a /bitch/!"

NOW

Revive Revival knows Soma Peries is down about something or other, but doesn't really care and thus hasn't asked the entire trip to Earth -- just him and her in a little shuttle. Quiet trip, but it could be worse -- could have been a loud one.

From the Shirogane to the spaceport, from the spaceport to the capitol, from the capitol to the provinces, from the provinces to the prison -- it's like a progression of things getting shittier and poorer until the prison looms over the desolate, uninhabitable terrain, a landscape that promises death to any fool escape. "Are you sure you're prepared for this, Lieutenant Peries?" Revive Revival asks, somewhat glibly, as he steers the Neo Jeep they're in toward the front gates.

"Granted, it's a bit late if you're not." The Innovade grins.

If Soma is looking down, it might be due to her recent defeat at the hands of a Katharon transport's escort. She did have a long time to fume over that while she was waiting for a pickup. In the dark, with no power in her suit save for emergency life support. That's enough to get anyone down, right? She's rather glad that Revive hasn't tried to ask her about it, though. It's hard to say how she'd respond.

Most of the trip has been spent in silence, as Soma now has to worry about two things weighing on her mind. They aren't even unrelated, which makes this all the worse. Amber eyes gaze out of the windows at the inhospitable terrain and the approaching prison. "Of course I am ready, Captain." She takes a breath, glancing back at Revive as he makes what she assumes to be a joke. "I do not expect this to be pleasant." One hand falls down to the holster where her square gun sits. "Before we enter, I will give you my sidearm. Judging by what happened the last time I came into close contact with Subject E-0057, I should not be trusted to hold a weapon."

A small viewport slid open from the steel door, unveiling a pair of uncompromising gray eyes followed by a voice even more so, "Visitors coming for you. Better get those lips nice and loose, newbie." And quickly shut, offering no chance for response.

Not that Allelujah had been given much a chance for one (or that he would take it). His arms and legs were shackled to the chair that confined him; someone had read up enough about him and decided to take no precaution even if seemed a man without will from every angle. Clever, he thought, for a gifted individual could easily pantomime his broken spirit, waiting for lapse sufficient enough to strike.

He feels a brief pang, a stabbing memory that threatens to grow but instead swiftly subsides to nothing more than that: a memory. Whatever they'd put under skin near the back of his head was doing it's job, it seemed...but the sensation begin to gnaw at him. It was...that girl, wasn't it? The one he always seemed to run into, the one who always had that effect on him, who brought out the...other him.

But why? Why was she here? A stupid question, but the supersoldier is still coming off a steep stint in the best justice system the third world had to offer; cut him a break, huh? It didn't matter anyways, and he let his head sink back down into reflection upon his laps, wallowing in his own noble sense of self-pity and sacrifice, all the while singing the same stalwart tune in his head.

'Allelujah Haptism. Gundam Meister. Celestial Being. Allelujah Haptism. Gundam Meister. Celestial Being...'

Revive Revival takes Soma's gun, gripping it by the barrel and nodding gravely as he surveys the thing. It's a nice gun, Revive notes to himself. Could really do some damage with it. A smile crosses his lips -- and luckily Revive is able to spin it somewhat, as he looks up at Soma, gazes her directly in the eyes, and says, "Don't worry. I'm here."

Soma Peries is almost certainly not aware of how much she /should/ be worrying right now.

The trip into the prison continues. The Neo Jeep is discarded inside -- the long walk through the corridors is both faster than it should be and still seems to take forever. Revive has tucked Soma's square gun into his belt. It looks vaguely inappropriate, and yet somehow he still manages to pull it off.

And then they're there -- the door. No name. No number.

A guard opens it up, and Revive Revival stands in the doorway before Soma can have a chance to enter. For a long moment, he savors the sight -- Allelujah Haptism. Gundam Meister. Celestial Being. Prisoner. Doomed.

"Well," Revive's feminine voice trills happily. "Hel-/lo/."

When Revive puts her gun away, Soma gives him an approving nod. She wants to keep control, especially in front of Captain Revival, but she'd rather be safe and lose a little face than risk hurting someone she shouldn't.

Something has been tugging in the back of Soma's mind for the last few minutes of the drive, getting slowly but gradually stronger. By the time they step out of the jeep, it's become more intense, and she takes a moment to close her eyes and breathe deeply before following Revive into the facility. The closer they walk, the stronger she feels it, and the Super Soldier has to put forth more and more willpower to not become angry, to not shove aggressively back at the mental pressure.

When they arrive at the door, she presses a hand against the wall and closes her eyes again. "This is... definitely.. him. Please give me a moment, Captain." Several more deep breaths are taken. Control. Hold down those emotions. He'll notice them... they both will notice them. She must remain calm. After more than a minute, she finally stands up straight and steps to the doorway behind Revive. "Subject E-0057!" That came out a big harsher and less calm than she had meant it to. Thanks to the taller 'cyber-newtype' most of Soma is still obscured from sight. How convenient!

The door opens, and visitors arrive. The third Gundam Meister looks up, but his eyes are still not used to the light. Even squinting, he can only make out two silhouetted figures, one mostly obscured by the other, and their voices. The first one, he wasn't sure...a woman? The build seemed lithe enough to be ascribed to the fairer sex, but...well, he supposed it didn't matter.

It's the second voice that gets Allelujah's attention. The number that used to be his only foundation, spoken with such stern declaration that his mind is almost snapped back to the sterile corridors of his youth, of life withing the building housing the super soldier project. But more than, he knows without a doubt this is the woman who had piloted the Tieren Taozi and other mobile suits against him, that same presence he'd dimly felt earlier...she was here to see him after all.

His head bolts up, eyes flaring wide...too wide. Too much light at once overwhelms his vision and she quints those eyelid shut near immediately, his head dipping low again in discomfort. It's not that he means to be rude or anything necessarily, but he can't exactly respond to their greetings when someone has taken the liberty of, you know, muzzling him like a mad dog.

Not that he did plan to say much, though being around that pilot would be difficult. He could feel the implant, chip or whatever it was, working overtime to suppress his quantum brainwaves.

"Of course," Revive Revival says to Soma, like an indulgent mother. He steps toward Allelujah casually, walking right up close, to survey him like he'd just been won in a contest. Revive peers right into Allelujah's eyes, squinting, smirking like a cruel doctor. "Like I said before, I'm sure you have /so/ much to catch up on. But here. Let's see if he has anything to say /back/ to you, hmm?"

Revive Revival is loving this. A human, bound for his amusement! Well, not strictly for that, but that's certainly part of it /now/. He undoes Allelujah's muzzle, dropping it to the floor as he lifts the Meister's chin with two fingertips. "Now play nice for the Lieutenant," Revive commands, as if he was speaking to a toddler or a dog -- and then, just like if Revive Revival were speaking to a toddler or a dog, his other hand swings up to strike the failed Super Soldier's cheek with a pride-obliterating bitchslap.

Turning and walking over to one side of the room to observe, Revive notes casually, "Lieutenant, you have the floor."

Even with that chip in place, Soma can feel Allelujah's presence very strongly. Her eyes close again, though she can almost see what Revive is doing anyway. The sound is easy enough to follow, and she's learned enough about the man to know his mannerisms. One hand comes up, pressing against her forehead as she steps into the cell, conveniently obscuring her face from the prisoner. "Subject E-0057..."

Another pause, another breath taken, and Soma lowers her hand, looking straight into the prisoner's face. She starts slightly, getting the feeling that she's seen this face before... but not knowing exactly -where-. Still, the familiarity on top of the slight buzzing of Quantum brainwaves is bothering her. "Subject E-0057," she repeats, amber eyes focusing on him. "You are a Gundam Meister for Celestial Being, pilot of the Winged Gundam, Kyrios. Correct?" She can't explain why, but just being here in the same room as him, looking at him, fills her with all sorts of emotions. Anger, of course. Yet for some reason she is unable to understand, a tiny corner of her mind feels... happy? Soma pushes that away for now. "I did not expect to find someone like you in a prison like this. How did you come to be here?"

Fortunately, Allelujah didn't have much pride to be obliterated at the moment. Of course, that didn't mean Revive's reverse-Bright Noa bitch slap didn't sting like all hell; the gundam meister's face is jerked to the side, the struck cheek nursing a quickly raising imprint of the Innovade's offending hand. Al made no visible reaction, neither anger nor fear, and simply turned his face to the approaching Lieutenant. It was hard to look directly at her. He could feel the paint throb in the back of his head...not overwhelming, but potent, still there. She was talking, he heard words, questions, answers he'd already decided not to give. His eyes slowly adjust to the light as he opens his mouth to speak, "Alleluj-"

His name dies in his mouth.

Because right there, standing in front of him, is the girl who gave it.

The reaction is likely wholly unexpected: the supersoldier turns pale as a ghost, his eyes seemingly stuck wide open, filled with a mixture of shock and elation. His voice, trembles, falters and everything he'd planned to say, to not say, is utterly forgotten, "M...Marie?" It all floods back to him, it all makes /sense/. She was the only one who could do this to him. Why...why hadn't he /realized/?!

"Marie!" He says her name again, emboldened by the repetition, pulling his restraints with unanticipated strength, his face surging forward, "It was you?! You were alive all along?! I don't understand..." The rollercoaster of emotions flits from one to the next, but not fast enough for reality to weigh down on the whole affair, "Why...why are you a soldier? You hate fighting."

Revive Revival leans against a wall of the cell, folding his arms and bringing one of his feet up to press flat against the wall behind him. He raises an eyebrow as he stares at the display unfolding before him. 'Marie?' What? He can feel the sheer quantum intensity being thrown around the room -- he doesn't like it. Makes it hard to figure out exactly what's going on. So he continues to watch, in silence.

When he begins to speak his name, Soma narrows her eyes. "-Subject E-0057-," she intones sharply. He is a monster. Because of him, her comrades were... He doesn't deserve a name! He... is calling her a name that is not her own.

And yet, when she hears that name, another flood of thoughts washes over Soma's mind. She hunches over in pain, eyes squeezing shut, and clamps her hands to the sides of her head. "Nnnn.." Hearing that name alone, with that voice speaking it, is bringing back memories of things she never knew. Visions of things she never saw. She sees Allelujah as a small child... she sees, somehow, -herself- as a small child, lying within a glass case. How... why? She doesn't remember any of this!

The confusion and the pain bring with it anger, though, and Soma forces herself to stand straight again. It's bad enough that she showed weakness in front of the Captain, but she's also shown weakness in front of the prisoner. It's time to re-assert herself. "I don't know who Marie is." Liar. Lies. She knows. She doesn't know how but she knows. "I am Lieutenant Soma Peries, designated Super Soldier 001 of the Neo-China Superhuman Institute." In the dark cell, her yellow eyes almost seem to be glowing as she glares at Allelujah. "You will answer my questions, Subject E-0057!"

No...something isn't right. Something all about this is just /wrong/. They changed her, did something to her. For the first time in what seemed like...ever, Allelujah felt what must be anger stir in the pit of his stomach. Not Hallelujah's, but his own. Anger at what had been done to the girl he thought dead, to the trials she must have had to face after he left her. He had no choice, it was true...but the pill was no less bitter for it.

"That's wrong." He insists, barrelling straight through the Lieutenant's pointed questions, "Don't you remember? We talked are the time when we were children, back in the Supersoldier project. Your name is Marie, Marie Parfacy!" There was a definite tone of desperation to his insistence, of a man who come upon an oasis and suddenly realized he had been dying of thirst.

He continues to struggles against his restraints. Futilely, but there's something to it nontheless: ther chair moves forward perhaps an inch of the give it had, being bolted to the floor and whatnot. "Don't you remember? Allelujah Haptism! You're the one who gave me that name! I wanted to save you back then, but I.." Well, it was certainly clear the Lieutenant's presence was affecting him severely, negatively by the A-LAWS standards. Just not in the people may have come to expect. Her demands continually fall on deaf ears, it's like he's not even interested in hearing it.

The anger at his refusal to answer her is helping to keep that pain at bay, but the emotions radiating out from her mind are still varied and conflicting. "I don't remember anything. I've never seen you before in my life." Soma levels a stern glare at the Gundam Meister. "Do not call me that! My name is Soma Peries!"

Marie Parfacy. That name hits her mind like a cannonball, and it takes all her will to not double over again. More memories come back. Why does she keep seeing herself as a little girl? She doesn't even remember anything from more than six or seven years ago anyway... so why does she suddenly remember this?

"You are Subject E-0057. I am Lieutenant Soma Peries." She lifts her hand and reaches out, grabbing hold of Allelujah's collar. "Do not avoid m--" As soon as skin touches skin, she feels it even more strongly. Releasing him again, she does double over this time, hands clutching her head. "Nnnng!" More visions. Things she never knew. A feeling of friendship. A feeling of loss. Loneliness. Anger. Rage.

And when Soma looks up again, she lets out a wordless roar and rushes forward, hands moving to close on Allelujah's throat. "Rrrraaaaaaa!"

"No." His eyes were strangely calm, full of a certainty he'd not had within him since...perhaps well since they'd lost control of Veda, "You are Marie. And..." He sems to shrink inwards, gaze trailing a bit off to the side, "I'm...i'm not just a number, not anymore. Thanks to you." So he thinks, so he says. But he really feels may be quite different after all.

She grabs hold of him, and for a moment their minds try to link, synchronize. The supersoldier seethes against his own pain, nearly feels the tendrils of his other half ensnare themselves about his mind...but then scatter away like darkness from the light, the ghost of Hallelujah leaving little more than a scowling memory and curse in his mind. The technology was good, but nevermind that, he thought he was getting through to her, could see the doubt written on his childhood friend's face, "I know you remember something, Marie! Don't run away from it, don't hi-"

And now he has a wholly /different/ problem to worry about, as those fine-boned hands close about his throat and apply far more pressure than you'd think a lithe young woman like the Lieutenant would be capable of mustering. "Gkkk..." He struggles to breathe, but his windpipe his closed, his pupils shrinking. Light becomes and intense once against and he tries, vainly, to reach his hands up around her wrists, "Ma..kkg..." He tries to say her name, but chokes the words back down. Was this how he was going to die? How tragically poetic...was this God's way of punishing his sins..?

A thin, graceful hand comes up from behind and closes around Soma Peries' wrist. Revive Revival is stronger than he looks -- he's not Superman, but he definitely has more power than his girlish shape would indicate. "That's enough of that, Lieutenant. He might still be useful to us yet." Revive pulls back at Soma's wrist, his other arm coming up to try and arrest the smaller woman in a half-nelson to drive the point home.

Staggering backward with his Super Soldier cargo, Revive says to Allelujah: "Thank you for your time. I'll try and make sure you're not beaten /quite/ so viciously. For a day or so, anyway. Mister Haptism." And that's Revive attempting to literally drag Soma out the door and hold onto her until it can be slammed shut and locked--

--and all the way back to the jeep, if need be. Touching humans -- it's a distasteful job, but someone's got to do it.

This feels so wrong. She shouldn't be attacking him. But she -has- to. She has this horrbly pressing impulse to kill him. For the sake of her precious departed Pitaya, she thinks briefly. For the children he had a hand in kidnapping. For the people he's killed. Or maybe because she knows he's the source of the pain shooting through her mind.

Soma Peries is a Super Soldier. She's much stronger than she looks, thanks to her training, conditioning, and the nanites within her body. Still, there's something to be said for both surprise and leverage, and Revive has both of them, on top of his surprising strength. There's some resistance, but he's able to pull her hands away before she does any permanent damage to Allelujah's throat.

There is struggling as well, wordless growls of rage as she's held back from the hated Meister. Fortunately, she doesn't need to be dragged the whole way. Once they're a short distance away and Allelujah is out of sight, Soma starts to calm down. "I..."

All resistance leaves her, and she lowers her head as soon as she's released. "I apologize, Captain. I don't know what came over me. I will take further precautions in the future." Some things were verified today, but even more mysteries have arisen. Why did he call her Marie Parfacy? Why did he act as if he knew her? And why did she have such a strong negative reaction? These thoughts weigh heavily on Soma's mind as the drive back away from the detention facility. She isn't even sure who she can ask about it... but maybe she just needs time to think.

Allelujah was struggling, gasping, perhaps even dying. He didn't have the heart to resist her, to bring harm to her..perhaps Marie was the most appropriate instrument of all to deliver justice to him. But...while he may deserve it, she had done nothing to earn such stained hands. That was something he could not accept, would now allow. And that why, he realized as the oxygen deprivation nearly claimed his consciousness, he couldn't simply die here, nor waste away!!

The choking grip is gone at that very moment, and the meister gasps for lungful upon lungful of precious air, the marks around his neck already settling into a dark bruise. He looks up just in time to catch Marie being dragged away, the senior officer making some pith comment to him. He doesn't parse it, only manages to get a few haggard words out, "MArie, no! Don't take her away!!"

Too late. The door slams shuts, and Al is left again in the darkness with nary more than his own thoughts to keep him company. "Marie..." He stares at nothing, thinking of all the times he nearly killed her, that she nearly killed him, "Hallelujah..." His voice is weak, hesistant, "Did you know..?"

There was no answer. The supersoldier's other personality was trapped in a prison of his own, for the moment.

So much changed within him a single revelation, the world now seemed different than it had a day ago. Literally minutes before he'd been prepared to accept his fate, to give up the ghost, no longer. For now nebulous, festering thing had taken root in the base of his soul, spreading throughout atrophied limbs, filling them with strength and purpose anew. He felt it embrace him now, and knew it for what it was. That most bitter of human delusions: Hope.