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Date Posted: 22:24:28 02/06/04 Fri
Author: J.T.
Subject: Chapter Sixty: "Kiss Your Past Goodbye"

I gunned the engine, following Shitan's directions. When REBB'd be able to meet up with us was unknown, so I wasn't counting on his presence, plus that hit looked like it flung him halfway across town. With Shitan riding shotgun, Jessica and Kay in uniform in the middle seat, and the other three in the cargo hold, there were dozens of vehicle safety laws being flagrantly violated in Ironhide that night. As we passed Cici's Pizza, Shitan pointed to a large building on a nearby mountainside.

"There."

Dammit... The Trade Center's ONLY the biggest building in Dalton, WITH a good vantage point, AND the fight between the bad rip-off of a Valron and REBB pretty much screamed we were coming.

I sighed, "Well, 'The Few, The Proud... The Chumps." I reached between the seats, picked up the old-style police patrol car/present-day police detective car flashing light I had bought a few days before at The Junkman's Son, passed it to my left hand, mounted it on the roof, switched it on, shifted into third as we went past IHOP, and began adding a great many traffic laws to the others being broken.

Reckless Driving, Reckless Endangerment of Human Life, Failure to Signal for a Safe Lane Change, Failure to Stop at an Intersection, Failure to Stop for a Red Light, and who knows how many others...

**==

I pulled another one-eighty when we got there so that the hatch was facing the Trade Center's main enterance and popped it.

"Okay, they most likely know we're here, so Red? Release Alex?"

The four of us up in the passenger compartment didn't miss how Red and Mortimus moved so they'd be behind Alex before they released their death-grips on his collar. I don't blame them, he was so out of control that he charged out of the hatch and had forced the locked doors open so hard they slammed against the walls and shattered their glass, then headed down the main corridor before we could even get out of Ironhide.

"This keeps up, 'Hide's going in the shop at Annapolis to have the body replaced with titanium, I'm getting tired of all these dents..." Kay moaned as he passed the hatch, dinged from Alex's exit.

"'Cut the crap, Cuz. You Army.'" I commented in Torpedo's pidgin instead of my usual personal patois as we entered the building.

"No more of Lady Mako's fics during your late night web-a-thons, bro."

As the six of us began stalking after Alex, I muttered back, "You're just jealous because I look good in Nam-tiger camo and OD green."

"You need to spend more time in the gym rather than the O-Club," Kay looked shotgun first around a corner in the building, "Oh, yeah, three funky looking lizards fit to be made into boots, He definitely came this way."

"I spend time in the O-Club because like Hawk and Duke and General Flagg and Hawk before us, Tomahawk and I are the wardens of the military's largest funny farm." I countered as we turned the corner.

"J.T., you actually looked up what Tripwire's name means, that doesn't say much for your own sanity..." Jessica added.

"Just for the hell of it, what does it mean, anyway?" Wondered Kay.

"...Church Land or something like that..."

Mortimus blinked, "Who the hell are you talking about?"

I chuckled, glancing in one of the rooms, "Codename: Tripwire, Filename: Tormod Skoog. According to him, his 'parents are Scots and they're cruel.' And that's almost a direct quote."

"Uh, lizards? Humans? Whatevers? I think I found Daiko..."

**==

We could have used Esuna, or smelling salts, or a Remedy to wake him, but I have a vengeful streak the size of Trans-Carpathia and a memory as good as Thunder's hearing when it's working right.

I cast Water on him.

Alex sat up with a start and rubbed his head where it seemed he had been hit, "Ugh... Scarface..." He said groggily.

Mortimus chuckled, "I doubt the mob's involved."

Alex shook his head, "No, SCARRED FACE!" He made a slashing motion downward like a scar from his right brow over the eye to his right cheek.

I looked at Kay and Jessica, "You don't think..."

"I do." Jessica answered, sweeping either side with her Desert Eagles.

At this, Kay's leadership ability showed through, "Interdict!"

Ignoring the curious looks from the others, Kay and I automatically flanked Jessica, eyes searching the windows overlooking and the halls intersecting where we were.

"Come on, where are you, Daniel? I know you're here, your warped mind wouldn't let you be anywhere else..." I didn't even think about the utter disregard of the chain of command of Kay giving me an order.

"Come on out, 'Nok. It's time to finish this..." Kay whispered.

As if the summoning of a demon, Kay's words brought forth a crashing sound and a shower of shattered glass as Devasator lept through one of the windows and swung his chainsaw as he landed before us. Even seeing it coming, I could do little but lessen the damage by turning my head so that all I got was a scar over my right eyebrow.

The blonde demon smirked, "A scar for a scar, Magnus."

"I wonder what Honda would say about that?" I nearly snarled, referring to the fellow member of our unit he had killed while defecting to the Dreadnoks.

"Dead men tell no tales."

"You'll become an expert on that very soon."

"And you're gonna be the professor?"

Jessica put a hand on my shoulder, still holding a Desert Eagle, and pushed me out of the way, "No, that's my job."

I put my hand out to stop Alex as he stepped forward, "No, when we reach Amanda, Matt's yours. But this is her fight, same as facing Megiddo shall be mine and Kay's. We each have to face our own demons and conquer them, and that in front of us is her darkest demon."

He nodded and stepped back. I, on the other hand, stepped forward and reached into my subspace pocket, drawing Jy's Buster Sword.

Some may have heard the Klingon legend of how Kahless took a lock of his hair and forged it into the first Bat'leth, the Blade of Honor. The Valrons have a similar legend, it goes like this:

When Insanos, creator of the Valrons took their form as he had given them his he had two offspring Agihoj and Ycrjv, in english, Buster and Hydra. When Insanos passed back to the realm of the gods, he left Buster and Hydra to rule Zeon, but the two saw differently: Hydra's view was that which humans call, quite incorrectly, "Peace with Honor," which basically meant he wanted to simply see Zeon survive, under the rule of whoever. Buster however, was a warrior in his soul, and believed that the best way to lead Zeon was through to focus and harness the strife of the world into a driving force, a belief of "Freedom through Conflict," if you would. Then a warlord arose on the southern continent, seeking to subjugate the planet and destroy the Line of the Creator. Buster challenged the warlord to single combat, and in defeat was allowed to live in humiliation, his sword broken to show that he was powerless before the warlord. As Buster laid in the mud, broken blade in hand, his father Insanos appeared before him telling him to place what remained of his sword blade first in a lava flow and let it go to the sea. Buster did so and followed the flow until the sea, watching the handle of his sword bob in the molten earth. At the coast, Buster reached out and drew the blade from the lava with ease and held before him a completely reforge and reshaped sword. Instead of a three feet long blade in the center of the hilt that was two inches wide, he held a sword five feet long at its longest point, along an edge of the hilt, which went in a straight line from point to hilt edge and a slanting blade from the point to the other hilt edge. The new blade lacked only one thing: Sharpness. Again the god Insanos appeared before his son telling him to beat an edge into the sword, cooling the heat from the hammer with his own blood. For it would be only through this combination of Insanos' power, drawn from the planet he forged, and Insanos' blood, running through Buster's veins that the power the warlord weilded could be stopped. That power was given to him by the dark god who had forever opposed Insanos, Megiddo. When the blade was finished, Buster again challenged the warlord, this time emerging victorious. Bound by his code of honor, Buster allowed the warlord to live on the condition the the former-warlord would lead his armies into battle, as the victories the former-warlord had acheived showed them to be a great warrior. After the new general agreed, Buster was told of the body Megiddo had taken. Upon the Prince and the General's arrival at Trion, capital of Zeon, Buster drew his sword and beheaded the one who had offered his being to the dark god: His own brother. Megiddo swore as he faded away from the physical realm that he would one day see the Line of the Creator ended and on that day return to wreak havoc upon Zeon. You may now be wondering if there was another reason that Buster spared the one who tried to kill him, there was: His code of honor bound him with both "A life for a life" and "Strike not a female." Yes, that warlord was a woman. Didn't you notice that I never referred to a gender while I told you that? It hits harder if I don't, the true strength in the Line... To continue, because both of a love that grew starting then and a common desire to see Zeon thrive, the two were later married, continuing a line that would last through to Jy/Jay and later to Akiko and Jay by Relena. The sword that was forged to defeat Megiddo became known simply as "Buster's Sword," and later as the "Buster Sword." It too passed through the Line of the Creator, defeating Megiddo each time he attempted to rise again, until it entered the hands of Jy's father, killed by Jy's uncle who stole the throne and Sword, and was in turn killed by Jy, Alionis, and Lyncinthis in the War of Liberation. And when Jay among others was merged into me, so was it.

It was this sword that I handed to Jessica to wield against her former love. As great a symbol of our future as the ring on her hand, for only one who is born or wed into the Line of the Creator could weild it, the method of it's creation kept it thus. I stepped back myself, and without visable strain, Jessica lifted the Buster Sword into a fighting stance that Auron must have taught her. I say that because my own fighting stance is based off of Auron's and her's was similar. Across from her, Devastator lifted his chainsaw/sword at her from his side, parallel to the ground.

As they entered a staredown, each waiting for the other to break and attack first, I whispered a silent prayer that came from General Patton, "From pride and foolish confidence,
From every weakening creed,
From the dread fear of dreading,
Protect us, God, and lead.

Great God who through the ages,
Has braced the bloodstained hand,
As Saturn, Jove, or Woden,
Has lead our warrior band.

Again we seek Thy counsel,
But not in cringing guise,
We whine not for Thy mercies,
To slay, God, make us wise..."

Devastator broke first, pulling his blade back across his chest and lunging to swing. Jessica was ready though, and brought the Sword up blade first to block his strike. The blade of the Sword sheared the chain off of Devasatator's weapon when they connected. Jessica twisted the Sword and sliced through the motor compartment leaving Devastator holding a handle and little else. Almost predictably, Devastator tried to stall as he dropped the remains of his weapon and let his hand drift toward the knife on his belt.

"You can't kill me, Parker, you loved me."

Jessica lowered the Sword, "You're right, Jessica Parker CAN'T kill you..." In a flash she had run the Sword through his stomach before he could even question the appearant third personage of her comment. "Jessica Magnus can."

"Heaven truely hath no rage like love turned to hate..." Kay mused...

I ran to her side as she fell to one knee, but heard Shitan's confused ranting, "She's Jessica Parker and Jessica Parker couldn't kill him, but she did so she can't be Jessica Parker but that's who she was introduced as so how can she be Jessica Magnus when she's Jessica Parker and if she's Jessica Parker how could she kill him since Jessica Parker can't, that would make her Jessica Magnus, who she ain't and ARG!!!!"

"'Wow! I broke his brain.'" She muttered as I placed the Buster Sword back into my subspace pocket and helped her up.

"At the risk of going insane like Shitan just did, who is she again?"

Jessica stepped back and pulled my arms around her, "What should we tell them, the truth or something we make up?"

"I think the truth is best... Morti, this is Jessica Parker, soon-to-be-Magnus... My fiancee."

If I had ever had any doubts about Alex viewing Star as a little sister, they were then dispelled as he started cursing at us... well, more at me than Jessica... and charged.

"YOU MISERABLE DAMN BASTARD! NOT ONLY DO YOU GET OVER HOSHIKO, YOU PRACTICALLY VAULT OVER HER! DID YOU EVER STOP TO CATCH A BREATH BEFORE YOU WERE KISSING ANOTHER GIRL!?!?"

To be blocked by the impact of my fist, "YOU YANKEE MORON! I WAS DAMN NEAR IN A COMA FOR THE THREE DAYS AFTER THAT CALL! DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH THAT HURT?! NO! WHY?! BECAUSE AMANDA AND YOU ARE MIND-LINKED! YOU NEVER HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE OTHER NOT LOVING YOU!"

He came up with an uppercut and then caught me in the stomach with his other fist, "YOU SANCTIMONIOUS ASSHOLE! YOU ALWAYS THINK YOU HAD THE WORST LIFE!"

I clutched my gut and slugged his jaw, "WHAT LIFE? I NEVER HAD ONE, IT WAS ALWAYS EVERYONE ELSE'S LIFE!"

I swung again, "NO CHILDHOOD FRIENDS BECAUSE I SPENT MY TIME AROUND LAWYERS AND POLITICIANS!"

Again, "PICKED ON FOR BEING THE BEST AT WHAT I DID!"

Again, "MY FATHER NEVER SAID 'I LOVE YOU' OR 'THANK YOU' OR EVEN 'GOOD JOB, SON'!"

Again, "THE FIRST GIRL I LOVED WAS KIDNAPPED!"

Again, "THE SECOND WAS YOUR 'LITTLE SISTER', STAR!"

Again, "I'M FINALLY NOT ALONE IN THIS WORLD AND YOU THINK YOU CAN BLAME ME FOR BEING JOYOUS? YOU'RE AS BAD AS STAR IS!"

He blocked my next blow and returned me a kick in the ribs, "OH, SO DADDY WASN'T NICE AND THAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO BE AN ASS!? GROW UP!"

I stopped holding back, consequences be damned, "THAT!" Punch. "I HAD TO!" Punch. "BE GROWN UP!" Punch punch. "WAS THE PROBLEM!" And I punctuated it with a roundhouse right and... "YOU CAN'T JUDGE ME!" I took two deep and hard breaths as he hit the ground, "You don't have the right. Only I do." I nodded towards Kay, "Only he does." And Jessica, "Only she does." My breathing lightened to normal, "So unless YOU can honestly tell me that you prefered the hell you lived before you met Amanda, hell is just where you can go, Curtindolph. I'm not in this for you, I'm not in this for Amanda, I'm not in this for anything you'd understand..."

I walked over to where Kay and Jessica had stepped away from the others and took the proffered shoulders to lean on, "'Let's get the hell out of here.'"

And we started to leave...

"Try me."

I stopped, forcing the others to halt, and without turning around asked, "What?"

"You say I wouldn't understand. Try me."

"I'm in this because it's my job. I'm in this for my teammates," at that, I indicated Jessica and Kay, "I'm in this because if I'm not, someone else will have to be, someone without the skills or training and someone could die because of that."

I turned and looked Alex straight in the eyes, "I'm in this because of Strength, Honor, and Freedom. Those three words have defined how I try to live my life: The Strength to change what needs be changed and protect what must be protected. The code of Honor those who went into life and battle before me left for me to follow. The Freedom to make my own choices and live my own life. The three are bound together unbreakably."

"Noice speech, maite. Let's us just see if ya foight as good as ya gabber, eh?"

I looked at the Liberace-wannabe and stepped back, "As I said, Matt's all your's, Alex..."

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