Author:
Desi Sky

Prologue:
It was a good day in Fiti Amuro's life. Relena, the little lost princess had been found at Oz HQ and was being rescued as she spoke into the camera, narrating to the general public, making sure the seriousness of the situation became obvious to anyone watching this spy broadcast. Fiti grinned cockily and then suddenly realized she'd been neglecting to watch her back when a punch by none other than Lady Une landed on her face.
"Fiti...Amuro...signing...offfff..." She managed to get out before everything went blank.

Part one:
Fiti awoke with a mouth full of cotton balls and one helluva headache. She moaned and tried to rub her temples only to find her wrists bound behind her back and her legs tied to the legs of her chair. She started testing her bonds, jerking about; she did find out that her waist was also tied to the chair. Those Ozzies sure were efficient. So Fiti was going to be left there alone tied to a chair to entertain herself. She shrugged, or at least tried to. Not that it would matter how long she was here; she didn't mind being alone occasionally. Fiti blinked and found her hair sticking to a small cut over her left eye. Ok, that's it. As soon as I get out of here, I'm taking a shower. She thought to herself trying to lighten her own mood and failing substantially. Fiti was not fit for alone time. She was lucky though; she didn't have to wait there long. A few minutes later Lady Une walked in and sat across from Fiti patiently waiting for her to stop swearing at herself in several different languages.
"What do you want from me Une? As if I didn't know."
"I'm sorry Ms. Amuro, but I'm afraid I'll be asking the questions today." Lady Une replied with a mock sweetness.
"Now, what is your connection to the rebel pilot known as Heero Yuy?" Une replied, any hint of compassion gone.
"As if I'd tell you anything." Fiti replied. Une stood up and turned.
"Have it your way. I'm afraid that any hope of living you had a moment ago is now gone unless you decide to talk. I'll be back later." With that Une left and some lackeys walked in, one put a plate of food and a glass of water on the floor; the other untied her wrists, ankles, and waist and then stood guard at the door waiting patiently for her to eat. Fiti took a bite and immediately suppressed the urge to vomit. What is this stuff? she thought to herself.
"My compliments to the chef." She said rather nonchalantly then gasped and choked as she was hit over the back of the head with the butt end of a gun. She put her hand over the back of her head, feeling it moist with her blood. She pulled her hand back in front of her face and looked at it. Sure enough it was brilliant crimson in color.
"Shut up and eat," one of the soldiers said. Fiti was stunned. She was very rarely caught. She'd learned how to evade the Ozzies a long time ago and was very rarely caught, if ever. And she always managed to get out before any interrogation began in earnest. She couldn't bring herself to eat but managed to choke down about half the goo and the glass of water. She was then strapped back into her chair and tied down.

Three days later Fiti was getting very sick of this same old routine. The armed guard came in today and once again she was unstrapped and fed.
She hadn't eaten since this happened yesterday and managed to get most of the goop down without tasting it. She then drained the water, was tied back and when they left this time she started picking at her ropes.
She'd begun picking ropes with her fingernails. Probably one of the best things about being female in her line of work was the long fingernails. She picked and picked but the ropes didn't seem to want to budge. Then suddenly Fiti felt a tugging on the ropes and then they slipped off and fell limp. She was incredulous. This was to good to be true. She grabbed her ropes and looked at them, there was a slight fraying where she'd picked at them and then in another area it was cut straight through. Fiti looked at her wrist and realized what it was; the diamond bracelet on her left wrist had severed the rope when she accidentally rubbed it against the rope. Fiti looked up and mouthed the words 'thank you' to nobody in particular. She then untied the ropes from her waist and legs and stood up stretching her muscles before finally settling in front of the door looking at the locks trying to figure out how she could jimmy them.

A half-hour later Fiti was rewarded with the clicking of the locks disengaging. Fiti decided that was probably the most beautiful sound she ever heard. She practically laughed for pure joy as she left her cell swiftly and made her way down the hall keeping silently to the shadows. While walking by a window she saw it was dark, and she saw stars and things like that. She shrugged Must be kinda late then. She decided. Then suddenly she realized that the moon looked rather large Fiti practically shrieked and took two big steps backwards pressing her face into the window. Night or not, she was in outer space! She peered a bit farther and saw not only the moon, but the Earth as well. She was going to have to find a shuttle of some sort to escape, maybe even a mobile suit. And as much as Fiti hated to admit it, the self-sufficient twenty-one year old reporter could barely fly. She had always had autopilots and assistants to do that. She just hadn?t ever had time. Now she was suddenly regretful that she?d never made the time.
Fiti was horribly frustrated. She decided to do something totally unconstructive and impulsive. She kicked the wall. Then she muffled a scream and started hopping around on one foot. Then she heard someone. Fiti almost fell over and ducked back into the shadows. She took a deep breath and held still in a small space provided by two columns of electrical wiring running along side each other. Then Fiti saw the person behind the noise.

I could have sworn I heard something. Aiko Leala thought to herself. The fourteen-year old tech had been with Oz since her father decided that her technical skills could best be used outside of her home. From a very young age Aiko had shown remarkable technical skills; she had been the first kid on her block to figure out how to dissemble and reassemble every single thing in her home. Although her mother hadn't always appreciated the skill behind dissecting a remote control device her father had watched his youngest daughter with some sort of curiosity, and that minimal attention was enough motivation for the awkward young girl to follow her instincts and set herself up as one of the more intelligent children at her private school. But for all her technical genius Aiko still couldn't figure out where that noise had come from. She continued to look but realized she was coming closer and closer to the confinement blocks. Aiko had just about decided that it was her own imagination when she suddenly looked into an out cropping of shadows just in time to catch a flash of hazel colored eyes, red-blonde hair, and bloody clothing.

They locked eyes for a split second before the girl reacted. She started to exclaim
"Wh...who are you?" she said. Fiti rushed forward and grabbed the girl's head and pressed her hand over her mouth and whispered "Shhh" Fiti repeated over and over again until the young girl finally quieted down. "I'm going to let you go, but if you scream again I won't let you talk. Do you understand?" Fiti whispered, the girl nodded, her eyes wide with fear. "Ok." Fiti said releasing the girl's head.
"Who are you?" She asked the young girl quietly.
"A...Aiko." The girl whispered back.
"Ok, Aiko, can you fly Mobile Suits or shuttles?" Aiko nodded the affirmative and Fiti almost smiled relaxing.

Aiko was puzzled by that last question. Why would she want to know that unless...Oh no. Aiko realized She's going to take me with her! Suddenly the woman's head snapped up and she looked around. The woman looked extremely familiar to Aiko but she couldn't place her, at least she couldn't place her in the dim light of the corridor. The woman grabbed Aiko again and pulled her into the shadows covering her mouth with her hand.
Just then several men in Oz uniforms walked past. They looked around the hallways a bit, although not thoroughly, and then began walking down another hallway. As soon as their footfalls were out of earshot the woman released Aiko's face and both stepped out of the shadows. Then suddenly, as if on cue it finally occurred to Aiko that the woman's hair had been tied behind her head and fell down to mid-back, that was when Aiko realized that she hadn't been picturing the woman with hair, and that was when she finally sputtered out:

"You...you...you're..."
"Fiti Amuro, Rebel Reporter extraordinaire.? Fiti said lightly, giving a small bow to Aiko, it had certainly taken her long enough.
"You're in prison!" Aiko said loudly, a little to loudly, as if Fiti didn't already know that.
"Just tell the whole station why don't you?!" Fiti hissed at her. "Look, I'm sorry but I can't let you tell anyone where I am just yet." She said quietly, Aiko got a look in her eyes. She obviously thought Fiti was going to kill her. So that's the propaganda they've been feeding new recruits lately. she thought bitterly to herself. Suddenly, before she had time to try to calm Aiko down, she slapped Fiti across the face and tried to run. Fiti grabbed her and pulled her down, Aiko started screaming even louder then she had before and Fiti heard the sound of others coming to Aiko's aid. Fiti had her pinned solidly to the ground, she was also at least six inches taller then Aiko. She could kill her if she wanted to. It wouldn't even have taken that long.
But Fiti couldn't. She looked at Aiko and saw something, deep in her eyes, it was, fear. Fear of death, fear of being killed by Fiti. There was also something else, it was, innocence. Aiko was an innocent in this entire war. She'd probably been recruited by Oz through no fault of her own. What right did Fiti really have to harm Aiko? Besides, innocence like that was rare. Especially this day and age, and Fiti didn?t want to be responsible for making it rarer. Fiti took a deep breath and stood up, releasing Aiko, just in time for the other Oz soldiers to show up. They grabbed her hair and she received a blow to the stomach. She tried to drop to protect herself but they just pulled her hair and forced her to stand.
"So, rebel" he snarled the last word as if it were an insult or something "Got caught trying to escape huh? Good thing our officer was here to stop you!" Fiti considered breaking their hold and killing this one right here, but what purpose would that serve anyway? Besides proving to them that she was really who they said she was. So Fiti didn't fight back. Not as the orders "Take her to her cell!" were being given, not as she was dragged to another small room and thrown in, and not as they took her jewelry and checked her for hidden weapons. Fiti blinked the blood out of her eyes and wished she had on more then a tank top and a pair of pants, this room was cold. She pulled herself up to a sitting position and leaned against a wall, wrapping her arms around herself and pulling her knees up to her chest. She looked up, hair from a ponytail that had fallen out when they grabbed her, spilling over her face impairing her vision. The last thing Fiti saw before the door slammed shut was the look of utter and total horror on Aiko?s face. Poor kid, probably never even saw somebody get beaten like that before. With that Fiti finally lay down and closed her eyes, at least now she could get some rest. She decided with a yawn.

"Very good Miss Ikiru." The man in charge said "Oh that's right. You don't like your last name do you? Should I call you Captain Leala then?" he said, his voice mocking her. She was a captain, a captain without privileges. All she got was the pay and the title. Nothing else. It was mostly an honor title designed to keep her father happy so he wouldn't blackmail anyone. She was pretty much a glorified ensign. Aiko sighed, she really didn't like this man. She made a mental note to add him to her list of people to arrest when she eventually took over the world. It was a stupid list and had no meaning since she was never going to take over the world. But it was still fun to think about, and it helped her relieve stress.
"Thank you, sir." She said giving him a short salute. Her voice sounded labored, she was mostly forcing herself to do it. She hated having to call people like him 'sir'. "But I'm afraid it's late, and I've just had a very draining experience. If it's alright I'd like to retire to my quarters now." The man nodded and Aiko left. She didn't care if he got her in trouble. Why should she? What was the worst they could do? Kick her out? She'd been kicked out of nicer places then Oz. The Sanc/Gabrielle School for children came to mind. As did several boarding schools.