[Gundam 00] The Subtle Grace of Gravity (Arc 4)
Title: The Subtle Grace of Gravity
→ Arc 1: Waking
→ Arc 2: Return
→ Arc 3: Learning
→ Arc 4: Surprise
Fandom: Gundam 00
Characters/Pairing: Primarily Lockon (Neil)/Tieria. Kati/Patrick cameo.
Rating: PG-13 for now, eventual NC-17.
Wordcount: 4,093 (fourth part)
Notes: Part four of nine. Sorry for the delay!
Summary: Danger visits the lunar complex, and the consequences are not quite as expected.
Once Lockon was back, things began to settle, strangely, into routine once more. Tieria occasionally found himself opening his mouth to tell Lockon how much he'd missed him, but then the moment passed, and he'd still said nothing. After a while, it grew too late to say such a thing without seeming strange. Tieria didn't wish to bother Lockon like that, so at that point, he let it go.
Tieria had found a new cache of data on how to restore the Endymion, the moonbase's support ship. He absorbed himself in that, although he was oddly reluctant to leave Lockon alone for long. He comforted himself by passing the task of connecting the newly downloaded schematics to physical structures within the lunar complex to Lockon. That way, he had an excuse to watch him. It felt odd to come up with excuses and know they were excuses. Although he was human, he was also an Innovade; surely excuses were a human thing he could do without.
Lockon also had his standard duties of monitoring nearby space for enemies passing dangerously close. In the nearly six months since Lockon had arrived at the complex, no such danger had presented itself. In its current state, the moonbase hid itself too well. So Tieria was quite startled when he received an urgent message from Lockon on that duty.
"Tieria. Wake up now."
It was funny, how Lockon referred to emerging from Veda as "waking up." Tieria normally took the time to be pleasantly perplexed by that, but now he was too alarmed. He downloaded himself back into his physical body in just under five seconds--a record speed, and that after he'd spent almost a full second checking to make sure he hadn't left anything behind. He got up immediately and started for Lockon's location, near the newly unearthed docking bay of the base.
As he ran, he opened a channel to Lockon. "What is it?"
Lockon's tone was more serious than usual. In fact, it had been a long time since Tieria had heard him being this serious. "There's a contingent of ships headed our way. They have A-LAWS insignia."
"Impossible," Tieria said. "A-LAWS disbanded over a year ago." But he was already reaching into Veda for information, and to his dismay, he found it in less than a second. "No. They will be one of what is estimated to be seven splinter groups determined to carry out A-LAWS' original mission of unification and suppression despite lack of official support. Only two of these splinter groups are large enough to pose a significant--"
He reached the docking bay. It was still strewn with debris from the excavation that had revealed it. Lockon's duties there had been cleaning that up, and he had only just started. Two of the six Menae had been refurbished enough to be moved in, and they were the only clean things in the great echoing chambers. The two of them, and Lockon.
It took Tieria a long baffled moment to realize what Lockon was doing. He was currently inputting the code to prepare the first Menae for launch.
"Lockon!" Tieria launched himself across the floor, the low gravity of the moon doing nothing to slow him in his approach to Lockon. "What are you doing?"
The door of the Menae opened, and Lockon stepped halfway in. "They're close enough that they've already made us out, Tieria. They won't leave without doing some damage. I'm going to lead them away as far as I can. You should seal off this place as well as you can, then retreat into Veda and cut all connections with here. You'll be safe there, and you can start rebuilding the base again once this group is taken care of."
Tieria felt his chest go indescribably tight. Breathing was difficult. "Lockon." He reached out and grabbed hold of Lockon's wrist. He realized (with, somewhere inside, an apologetic start) that he was holding him hard enough to bruise.
"Hey!" Lockon tried to shake him free. "Let go of me, Tieria. It'll be all right; I'll lose them once they're far enough away and go to ground on Earth for a while. I'll contact you as soon as I can."
Once Tieria would have trusted him. But he was long past that point. Now he knew that Lockon was lying. "There's no chance," he said. "They'll kill you or capture you, torture you, and then kill you."
"Ah," Lockon said. "You don't have to be so blunt about it." He leaned forward a little to touch Tieria's shoulder. "It's possible. But your access to Veda and the information here is more important. It's all right. I can make that choice."
It was like Tieria had feared: there was nothing he could do to protect Lockon now. Numbing hysteria rose up in him, and he wasn't sure he could even try to stop it. And then there was a distraction. At the edge of his awareness in Veda, he felt the heat of a message being transmitted openly across nearby channels.
"They're sending a broadcast," he said. He couldn't say anything else. He was too frozen to even pick up the communication. His mind raced for ways to stop Lockon, to keep him here and safe, but he came up with nothing.
Lockon glanced at him, taking all of that in with a look (doing with one eye what Tieria would not have been able to do with two) and yet somehow not understanding that he needed to stop what he was doing. "Put it through," he said firmly. "But don't answer."
"Of course," Tieria said. He connected the message to the docking bay's audio, while simultaneously transforming the clearest wall of the huge chamber into a screen showing the approaching ships (two) and mobile suits (five, all GN-XIII units that appeared to have some more recent modifications).
"--the rightful remaining command of A-LAWS ordering you to surrender. We have received information indicating that Celestial Being is hiding in this location. You are surrounded. This is the rightful remaining command of A-LAWS ordering you to surrender. We have received information indicating that Celestial Being is hiding in this location. You are surrounded. This is the rightful remaining command..."
"That doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know," Lockon said. He swung the rest of the way inside the Menae. "I noticed something, Tieria. When you launch from the docking bay, it sends you out at an angle that's at odds with the rest of the base. If I launch now, it'll misguide them. It'll be easy to lead them away."
"No," Tieria said. "I won't let you do it." But his voice faltered at the end and he was sure there were tears in his eyes, tears Lockon couldn't see because he was already examining the Menae's controls to take stock of its limited weaponry.
Lockon's voice was a little rueful, but mostly, it was serenely determined. "You are technically in charge here. So you're going to have to mark me up for insubordination when this is over."
"That isn't what matters," Tieria said. "Lockon, I--" He stopped there. Something entirely unexpected was happening on the screen displayed in front of them. Suddenly cutting off the A-LAWS forces was one of the newest GN-XIV units. It moved in great, irrational, wasteful swoops and bounds, as if piloted by someone more interested in showing off than actually defeating foes.
Inside the Menae, Lockon paused. "What happened?"
He got his answer as a new communication came over the audio. "On orders from Colonel Mannequin, I won't ever let you through!"
Lockon poked his head back out of the little ship. "Colonel who? Isn't she a general?"
"Yes," Tieria said, grateful that Lockon had emerged even that little bit. Maybe he could be talked out of this yet. "This man is clearly not entirely rational. Notice his piloting style--" And there Tieria cut off, because that piloting style was familiar. Without access to Veda, he wouldn't have been able to identify it specifically, but his connection swiftly matched the style and provided him not only with a name, but all the previous battles this Patrick Colasour Mannequin had engaged in. Tieria froze in place.
"It's a little familiar, isn't it?" Lockon said. "I can't help but wonder if we've fought that guy before."
"It's not relevant right now," Tieria managed to say. "He'll take care of the situation. We should seek shelter further inside the moonbase. Both of us."
On the screen in front of them, two of the modified GN-XIII units cornered Colasour's GN-XIV and blasted an ugly hole in its shoulder. He was still talking to them over the open channel, indignant now. "Who told you you could defeat me? I'm the Immortal Colasour, now called Patrick Mannequin in honor of the Colonel's beautiful kiss! I'll hold my ground for as long as she tells me to."
Another voice, this time from the A-LAWS contingent: "One new mobile suit piloted by a joke isn't going to stop us from eradicating Celestial Being."
"It's like I said," Lockon said. "I have to go out there. Sorry, Tieria." He started to get back in the Menae.
Tieria cried out, embarrassing himself with his own inarticulateness, and reached for Lockon's hand. He missed it by a matter of centimeters, and then Lockon was inside the Menae, starting up its controls. Though he'd heard the cry, he hadn't even seen Tieria reaching for him; that was on his blind side.
A new voice lit up the network of communications unraveling far above their heads. "This is Brigadier General Kati Mannequin. We may lack the force here and now to finally round up you and your outlaws for good, but we can stop your current attack."
Lockon stopped, the controls falling into inactivity once more beneath his hands. Tieria turned back to the screen. A new ship was approaching the A-LAWS forces, with two GN-XIV units flanking it. Like she had said, it wasn't enough to completely defeat the two ships and five upgraded GN-XIII mobile suits, but it was enough to severely damage them. An already unsupported force couldn't afford to risk that.
One of the voices from the A-LAWS communications shot back to Mannequin over the open channel, "Celestial Being are far more outlaws than we are, General."
"If Celestial Being were here, you might have an argument," Mannequin said. "But even so, I wouldn't cooperate with you. It's your choice. Get out now, or we can engage in combat."
Lockon finally emerged from the Menae, and in his immense wash of relief, Tieria almost missed what was happening on the screen: the A-LAWS contingent was withdrawing. As they went, the general's husband followed them in his GN-XIV until they were past her forces, then rejoined them.
Tieria watched in silence, Lockon at his side and also unspeaking, until the A-LAWS splinter group had vanished from view. Then he reached out with his mind to turn off the screen. It had barely flipped off when a new message pinged his consciousness, and this one was directed specifically at them.
"General Mannequin is contacting us," Tieria said. "Lockon--"
Lockon laid a hand on Tieria's shoulder, and Tieria could not even begin to express how grateful he was for it. But still, a spark of anger kindled in him, much to his surprise. How dare Lockon be so willing to throw his life away again, only to act like nothing had happened? He didn't even seem to be aware of how badly he'd upset Tieria. "I'd like to hear it," Lockon said. "Put her through."
"Of course," Tieria said, and he connected the audio--but not the video. There was some information they didn't need to share.
Mannequin was brusque and entirely to the point. "I've been assured that the work you're doing there is scientific and not military in nature." Her voice was grudging, as if she didn't approve of what she herself was doing. "Prove me wrong, Celestial Being, and I will destroy you more thoroughly than that sorry band of reactionaries could have managed."
"Don't worry about it," Lockon said. Tieria started as he realized Lockon was actually responding, then set the words to transmit anyway. "We're pretty harmless here, so we shouldn't give you any reason to hurt us. Thanks for saving us instead."
She made an impatient noise. "It wasn't for you. If Kujou hadn't..." She trailed off. Then she said, "See to it you don't give me that reason. Mannequin out."
* * *
Lockon realized, as he made his way back towards the common areas of the base, that his wrist hurt. It took him a little while to remember why. In fact, he only remembered when it occurred to him that he could hear Tieria's quiet footsteps following his.
Ah. Tieria's hand on his wrist, that broken look in his eyes. He hadn't given himself the time to be surprised in the heat of the moment, but now he could feel it catching up with him. Tieria had seemed so changed over the years, and Lockon had been pleased about that--had been proud of him, even. Now that Tieria had Veda back, there was no reason for him to still cling to Lockon and the ideals he'd passed on to him, and yet he remained human in his own way. But after all this, he should no longer need to be so dependent on Lockon.
It worried Lockon, that neediness and dependence. Tieria should be beyond that. He should leave this place, he realized, and let Tieria grow out of it. But the idea emerged from him only with great reluctance. He gave a rueful little chuckle. He had to admit it: he enjoyed the way Tieria depended on him, even if it was wrong.
At that sound, Tieria fell into place beside him. "Lockon."
"Sorry about that, Tieria," Lockon said. "I might have made it a little more stressful on you than it needed to be."
"Yes," Tieria said, flushing hot in the cheeks. "You did."
"You need to know, though," Lockon said. "Sometimes I'll have to put myself at risk, even now."
"I know," Tieria said. "But I don't want you to. Lockon--"
Lockon stopped. The hallway suddenly felt narrower to him, with the two of them standing there beside each other in it, even though it was the same size as it had been yesterday. The open space that had been transformed into a common area lay only a few meters up ahead. He wished they'd made it there before Tieria had spoken to him in that tone of voice. But all he said was, "What's wrong, Tieria?"
"There were other things we could have tried," Tieria said. "You've said yourself that the lunar complex has defense systems. We could have used them while sending a distress signal and resolved the political situation later."
Lockon frowned. "That would've been too much of a risk to Celestial Being. But it's good that you're thinking of these--"
"The other plan was too much of a risk to you," Tieria said sharply. He took a deep breath (and Lockon was startled to note that he seemed to tremble a little as he did so). "You're too important to me to allow you to risk yourself so carelessly."
Lockon startled. Of course it made sense for Tieria to say such a thing, but somehow, the words were strange to hear. After a moment, he decided that it was because he still had trouble accepting the ways Tieria had not changed. He was still clingy, still at least a little dependent, and Lockon would have to learn to accept that and work to change it only slowly. "Tieria," he said. "I didn't mean to upset you so much, but--" Where was the 'but'? What could he say to make it better? It was more difficult than usual, somehow. "Sometimes it isn't careless, it's necessary."
If he had startled before, he almost jumped now, because suddenly Tieria had curled a hand around his wrist--the other one this time. He took another deep breath, this time without trembling. With obvious effort, he said, "No. In this matter, your judgment is flawed."
Lockon blinked.
Tieria continued, his grip on Lockon's wrist stiff, his whole body rigid as he steeled himself. "I don't question your judgment in other matters, but in regards to your own life, you are--" He choked a little. "You are unfit to make that decision."
It wasn't exactly a regression. It obviously took Tieria intense effort to scold him so (and it was scolding, Lockon realized now). The person who might have said those words carelessly and dismissively was long gone. But Lockon still didn't understand why he felt such a need to say them at all.
Tieria turned, still holding Lockon's wrist (was he bruising by now?), and took a fumbling step closer to him. "I wasn't certain, at first, if this was the case. But your actions just now have proven a hypothesis I created only reluctantly."
"You made a hypothesis about me?" Lockon said. He wasn't quite reeling; he knew that so long as Tieria was looking at him so intensely, he would stay stable. There was something grounding about having that desperate look fixed on him, even as there was something unsettling about it. He didn't entirely understand either part. But still, he wasn't sure what to do. His mind raced as he stalled for time, searching for something he could say or do to reassure Tieria.
"Yes," Tieria said. "I believe you place too low a value on your own life."
A fleeting thought: Of course I do. That's the point. My life hasn't been valuable in a long time. Not since I had more family than my brother to protect. Then it was gone, because he couldn't afford to think that way around Tieria. He had to be what Tieria needed of him. He sighed. "Tieria, you can't start policing how I think about my life. Learning to let go is also part of being human."
Tieria caught his breath. "I thought I had let go," he said. "As much as I could. I had vowed to live on, no matter how much it hurt without you. But now that you're here--" He tipped his head back to look up at Lockon. His eyes were so bright, Lockon realized with a start; almost as if he was about to cry. Reflexively, he leaned in closer, wanting to do something to make sure the tears didn't start.
Tieria leaned closer as well, as if he wanted to hear what Lockon was saying--and then he was moving closer still, and now, still moving on reflex, Lockon matched that closeness, and Tieria--
Tieria kissed him. The way he pressed his mouth to Lockon's was hopelessly awkward, like he'd read about the gesture but didn't understand the kind of pressure you were supposed to apply, the subtle motions you were supposed to make. Without thinking, Lockon kissed back, trying to show him the right way to do it. Tieria's mouth still felt stiff and strange against his own.
Then the reality of the situation caught up with him. He was kissing Tieria. Something, somewhere had gone very wrong. His initial impulse, when kissed, was to kiss back, but now his better judgment had set in. This was a mistake. He started to pull away.
And Tieria's hand was on his back, pulling him closer. Suddenly, where before he'd been instinctively awkward and stiff, Tieria was kissing back fervently. He was still awkward, of course, but he was eager. Lockon was taken aback, so he kept kissing, trying to reason it out before he stopped. Well, Tieria had been more than a little upset. Maybe clinging like this was just his natural reaction, as much as anything was natural with him.
In the end, it was Tieria who broke the kiss, but not for several more seconds. He stared up at Lockon with wide eyes for a long moment. Lockon said nothing. Once again, Tieria had him unsure how to respond. That was happening more often lately.
Tieria solved the problem for him. He released Lockon's wrist and turned away. He was blushing.
"Tieria--" Lockon grinned at him. "It's all right. We both got worked up and started acting irrationally. It happens sometimes, when you put two people in one place for long enough. It's nothing to be embarrassed about."
"Of course," Tieria said curtly. "Lockon, I won't press you on this subject any longer." He turned and strode away, and it was only when he'd turned a bend in the corridor that Lockon remembered what "this subject" was. Then he was relieved. He really hadn't wanted to talk to Tieria about it any longer. In fact, he was a little relieved that Tieria was leaving, period. Somewhere in the back of his head something was trying to connect. He wasn't sure he wanted to see where it led.
* * *
For the next three days, Tieria felt as if he could not catch his breath.
Performing his duties in Veda was all but out of the question. He fumbled his way through a single layer of encryption, nearly botching it in the process as he thought of the feel of Lockon's lips when he should have been thinking only of pure numbers. Then, knowing he had set a goal of decrypting and inspecting seven separate encodings for this twenty-four hour period, he gave up. It was useless.
He drifted in the digital ether. Nearby, he could feel Regene's amusement lapping at him like waves: mocking digital laughter. He was surprised Regene was not more disappointed in him than amused, considering how badly he'd allowed humanity to compromise him here. But the other Innovade (the one who was not human as well) gave him no explanation, although he could surely feel the direction of Tieria's thoughts.
Tieria let his work pile up, and instead he considered what to do about Lockon. A little research into unlocked sections of data on Innovade biochemistry had explained to him what had happened. It was far easier, when creating an Innovade, to include in them all the neurological and hormonal systems that existed in normal humans and simply switch the unnecessary complexes off than to remove them entirely. In combination combat/espionage models such as himself, the system that prompted sexual desire and the ensuing romantic feelings was by default switched off.
Somehow, Lockon had switched it on.
This was a problem. Lockon had said, We both got worked up and started acting irrationally. But a single moment like that in the midst of a stressful and adrenaline-filled situation was nothing compared to the feelings that ran through Tieria now, that had run through him almost since Lockon had first come to the lunar complex. It seemed absurd now that it had taken him so long to realize it.
Are you going to tell him? wondered Regene somewhere. Tieria could feel him smiling. Or are you going to play more games? Humans can be entertaining when they do that, but you should be above it.
Tieria refused to respond directly, but he knew that Regene was right, even if only accidentally. He couldn't keep this a secret now that he knew, because he would never get anything done. He had to do something about it. He just wasn't sure what it was he wanted to do.
He stayed in Veda for as long as he could, and he drifted. When he left to take care of physical matters, he avoided Lockon, although it made him ache to do so. Even inside Veda, his mind kept returning to the way Lockon's mouth had felt on his, and how much, to his shock, he had liked it. Tieria wanted more, and he wanted to do something that Lockon would like just as much. He knew a little about the rituals of romance, gleaned from stray conversations with the rest of Celestial Being, but it was all distant secondhand knowledge. Studious research turned up little more of use. The custom of dating was dependent on location, and Tieria could not leave the moonbase in this body. There were chances to gain food from Earth, or synthesize their own, but to waste resources on flowers would have been unjustifiable. And after all that, it always led to the same thing.
Tieria decided to dispense with the preliminaries.
→ Arc 1: Waking
→ Arc 2: Return
→ Arc 3: Learning
→ Arc 4: Surprise
Fandom: Gundam 00
Characters/Pairing: Primarily Lockon (Neil)/Tieria. Kati/Patrick cameo.
Rating: PG-13 for now, eventual NC-17.
Wordcount: 4,093 (fourth part)
Notes: Part four of nine. Sorry for the delay!
Summary: Danger visits the lunar complex, and the consequences are not quite as expected.
Once Lockon was back, things began to settle, strangely, into routine once more. Tieria occasionally found himself opening his mouth to tell Lockon how much he'd missed him, but then the moment passed, and he'd still said nothing. After a while, it grew too late to say such a thing without seeming strange. Tieria didn't wish to bother Lockon like that, so at that point, he let it go.
Tieria had found a new cache of data on how to restore the Endymion, the moonbase's support ship. He absorbed himself in that, although he was oddly reluctant to leave Lockon alone for long. He comforted himself by passing the task of connecting the newly downloaded schematics to physical structures within the lunar complex to Lockon. That way, he had an excuse to watch him. It felt odd to come up with excuses and know they were excuses. Although he was human, he was also an Innovade; surely excuses were a human thing he could do without.
Lockon also had his standard duties of monitoring nearby space for enemies passing dangerously close. In the nearly six months since Lockon had arrived at the complex, no such danger had presented itself. In its current state, the moonbase hid itself too well. So Tieria was quite startled when he received an urgent message from Lockon on that duty.
"Tieria. Wake up now."
It was funny, how Lockon referred to emerging from Veda as "waking up." Tieria normally took the time to be pleasantly perplexed by that, but now he was too alarmed. He downloaded himself back into his physical body in just under five seconds--a record speed, and that after he'd spent almost a full second checking to make sure he hadn't left anything behind. He got up immediately and started for Lockon's location, near the newly unearthed docking bay of the base.
As he ran, he opened a channel to Lockon. "What is it?"
Lockon's tone was more serious than usual. In fact, it had been a long time since Tieria had heard him being this serious. "There's a contingent of ships headed our way. They have A-LAWS insignia."
"Impossible," Tieria said. "A-LAWS disbanded over a year ago." But he was already reaching into Veda for information, and to his dismay, he found it in less than a second. "No. They will be one of what is estimated to be seven splinter groups determined to carry out A-LAWS' original mission of unification and suppression despite lack of official support. Only two of these splinter groups are large enough to pose a significant--"
He reached the docking bay. It was still strewn with debris from the excavation that had revealed it. Lockon's duties there had been cleaning that up, and he had only just started. Two of the six Menae had been refurbished enough to be moved in, and they were the only clean things in the great echoing chambers. The two of them, and Lockon.
It took Tieria a long baffled moment to realize what Lockon was doing. He was currently inputting the code to prepare the first Menae for launch.
"Lockon!" Tieria launched himself across the floor, the low gravity of the moon doing nothing to slow him in his approach to Lockon. "What are you doing?"
The door of the Menae opened, and Lockon stepped halfway in. "They're close enough that they've already made us out, Tieria. They won't leave without doing some damage. I'm going to lead them away as far as I can. You should seal off this place as well as you can, then retreat into Veda and cut all connections with here. You'll be safe there, and you can start rebuilding the base again once this group is taken care of."
Tieria felt his chest go indescribably tight. Breathing was difficult. "Lockon." He reached out and grabbed hold of Lockon's wrist. He realized (with, somewhere inside, an apologetic start) that he was holding him hard enough to bruise.
"Hey!" Lockon tried to shake him free. "Let go of me, Tieria. It'll be all right; I'll lose them once they're far enough away and go to ground on Earth for a while. I'll contact you as soon as I can."
Once Tieria would have trusted him. But he was long past that point. Now he knew that Lockon was lying. "There's no chance," he said. "They'll kill you or capture you, torture you, and then kill you."
"Ah," Lockon said. "You don't have to be so blunt about it." He leaned forward a little to touch Tieria's shoulder. "It's possible. But your access to Veda and the information here is more important. It's all right. I can make that choice."
It was like Tieria had feared: there was nothing he could do to protect Lockon now. Numbing hysteria rose up in him, and he wasn't sure he could even try to stop it. And then there was a distraction. At the edge of his awareness in Veda, he felt the heat of a message being transmitted openly across nearby channels.
"They're sending a broadcast," he said. He couldn't say anything else. He was too frozen to even pick up the communication. His mind raced for ways to stop Lockon, to keep him here and safe, but he came up with nothing.
Lockon glanced at him, taking all of that in with a look (doing with one eye what Tieria would not have been able to do with two) and yet somehow not understanding that he needed to stop what he was doing. "Put it through," he said firmly. "But don't answer."
"Of course," Tieria said. He connected the message to the docking bay's audio, while simultaneously transforming the clearest wall of the huge chamber into a screen showing the approaching ships (two) and mobile suits (five, all GN-XIII units that appeared to have some more recent modifications).
"--the rightful remaining command of A-LAWS ordering you to surrender. We have received information indicating that Celestial Being is hiding in this location. You are surrounded. This is the rightful remaining command of A-LAWS ordering you to surrender. We have received information indicating that Celestial Being is hiding in this location. You are surrounded. This is the rightful remaining command..."
"That doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know," Lockon said. He swung the rest of the way inside the Menae. "I noticed something, Tieria. When you launch from the docking bay, it sends you out at an angle that's at odds with the rest of the base. If I launch now, it'll misguide them. It'll be easy to lead them away."
"No," Tieria said. "I won't let you do it." But his voice faltered at the end and he was sure there were tears in his eyes, tears Lockon couldn't see because he was already examining the Menae's controls to take stock of its limited weaponry.
Lockon's voice was a little rueful, but mostly, it was serenely determined. "You are technically in charge here. So you're going to have to mark me up for insubordination when this is over."
"That isn't what matters," Tieria said. "Lockon, I--" He stopped there. Something entirely unexpected was happening on the screen displayed in front of them. Suddenly cutting off the A-LAWS forces was one of the newest GN-XIV units. It moved in great, irrational, wasteful swoops and bounds, as if piloted by someone more interested in showing off than actually defeating foes.
Inside the Menae, Lockon paused. "What happened?"
He got his answer as a new communication came over the audio. "On orders from Colonel Mannequin, I won't ever let you through!"
Lockon poked his head back out of the little ship. "Colonel who? Isn't she a general?"
"Yes," Tieria said, grateful that Lockon had emerged even that little bit. Maybe he could be talked out of this yet. "This man is clearly not entirely rational. Notice his piloting style--" And there Tieria cut off, because that piloting style was familiar. Without access to Veda, he wouldn't have been able to identify it specifically, but his connection swiftly matched the style and provided him not only with a name, but all the previous battles this Patrick Colasour Mannequin had engaged in. Tieria froze in place.
"It's a little familiar, isn't it?" Lockon said. "I can't help but wonder if we've fought that guy before."
"It's not relevant right now," Tieria managed to say. "He'll take care of the situation. We should seek shelter further inside the moonbase. Both of us."
On the screen in front of them, two of the modified GN-XIII units cornered Colasour's GN-XIV and blasted an ugly hole in its shoulder. He was still talking to them over the open channel, indignant now. "Who told you you could defeat me? I'm the Immortal Colasour, now called Patrick Mannequin in honor of the Colonel's beautiful kiss! I'll hold my ground for as long as she tells me to."
Another voice, this time from the A-LAWS contingent: "One new mobile suit piloted by a joke isn't going to stop us from eradicating Celestial Being."
"It's like I said," Lockon said. "I have to go out there. Sorry, Tieria." He started to get back in the Menae.
Tieria cried out, embarrassing himself with his own inarticulateness, and reached for Lockon's hand. He missed it by a matter of centimeters, and then Lockon was inside the Menae, starting up its controls. Though he'd heard the cry, he hadn't even seen Tieria reaching for him; that was on his blind side.
A new voice lit up the network of communications unraveling far above their heads. "This is Brigadier General Kati Mannequin. We may lack the force here and now to finally round up you and your outlaws for good, but we can stop your current attack."
Lockon stopped, the controls falling into inactivity once more beneath his hands. Tieria turned back to the screen. A new ship was approaching the A-LAWS forces, with two GN-XIV units flanking it. Like she had said, it wasn't enough to completely defeat the two ships and five upgraded GN-XIII mobile suits, but it was enough to severely damage them. An already unsupported force couldn't afford to risk that.
One of the voices from the A-LAWS communications shot back to Mannequin over the open channel, "Celestial Being are far more outlaws than we are, General."
"If Celestial Being were here, you might have an argument," Mannequin said. "But even so, I wouldn't cooperate with you. It's your choice. Get out now, or we can engage in combat."
Lockon finally emerged from the Menae, and in his immense wash of relief, Tieria almost missed what was happening on the screen: the A-LAWS contingent was withdrawing. As they went, the general's husband followed them in his GN-XIV until they were past her forces, then rejoined them.
Tieria watched in silence, Lockon at his side and also unspeaking, until the A-LAWS splinter group had vanished from view. Then he reached out with his mind to turn off the screen. It had barely flipped off when a new message pinged his consciousness, and this one was directed specifically at them.
"General Mannequin is contacting us," Tieria said. "Lockon--"
Lockon laid a hand on Tieria's shoulder, and Tieria could not even begin to express how grateful he was for it. But still, a spark of anger kindled in him, much to his surprise. How dare Lockon be so willing to throw his life away again, only to act like nothing had happened? He didn't even seem to be aware of how badly he'd upset Tieria. "I'd like to hear it," Lockon said. "Put her through."
"Of course," Tieria said, and he connected the audio--but not the video. There was some information they didn't need to share.
Mannequin was brusque and entirely to the point. "I've been assured that the work you're doing there is scientific and not military in nature." Her voice was grudging, as if she didn't approve of what she herself was doing. "Prove me wrong, Celestial Being, and I will destroy you more thoroughly than that sorry band of reactionaries could have managed."
"Don't worry about it," Lockon said. Tieria started as he realized Lockon was actually responding, then set the words to transmit anyway. "We're pretty harmless here, so we shouldn't give you any reason to hurt us. Thanks for saving us instead."
She made an impatient noise. "It wasn't for you. If Kujou hadn't..." She trailed off. Then she said, "See to it you don't give me that reason. Mannequin out."
* * *
Lockon realized, as he made his way back towards the common areas of the base, that his wrist hurt. It took him a little while to remember why. In fact, he only remembered when it occurred to him that he could hear Tieria's quiet footsteps following his.
Ah. Tieria's hand on his wrist, that broken look in his eyes. He hadn't given himself the time to be surprised in the heat of the moment, but now he could feel it catching up with him. Tieria had seemed so changed over the years, and Lockon had been pleased about that--had been proud of him, even. Now that Tieria had Veda back, there was no reason for him to still cling to Lockon and the ideals he'd passed on to him, and yet he remained human in his own way. But after all this, he should no longer need to be so dependent on Lockon.
It worried Lockon, that neediness and dependence. Tieria should be beyond that. He should leave this place, he realized, and let Tieria grow out of it. But the idea emerged from him only with great reluctance. He gave a rueful little chuckle. He had to admit it: he enjoyed the way Tieria depended on him, even if it was wrong.
At that sound, Tieria fell into place beside him. "Lockon."
"Sorry about that, Tieria," Lockon said. "I might have made it a little more stressful on you than it needed to be."
"Yes," Tieria said, flushing hot in the cheeks. "You did."
"You need to know, though," Lockon said. "Sometimes I'll have to put myself at risk, even now."
"I know," Tieria said. "But I don't want you to. Lockon--"
Lockon stopped. The hallway suddenly felt narrower to him, with the two of them standing there beside each other in it, even though it was the same size as it had been yesterday. The open space that had been transformed into a common area lay only a few meters up ahead. He wished they'd made it there before Tieria had spoken to him in that tone of voice. But all he said was, "What's wrong, Tieria?"
"There were other things we could have tried," Tieria said. "You've said yourself that the lunar complex has defense systems. We could have used them while sending a distress signal and resolved the political situation later."
Lockon frowned. "That would've been too much of a risk to Celestial Being. But it's good that you're thinking of these--"
"The other plan was too much of a risk to you," Tieria said sharply. He took a deep breath (and Lockon was startled to note that he seemed to tremble a little as he did so). "You're too important to me to allow you to risk yourself so carelessly."
Lockon startled. Of course it made sense for Tieria to say such a thing, but somehow, the words were strange to hear. After a moment, he decided that it was because he still had trouble accepting the ways Tieria had not changed. He was still clingy, still at least a little dependent, and Lockon would have to learn to accept that and work to change it only slowly. "Tieria," he said. "I didn't mean to upset you so much, but--" Where was the 'but'? What could he say to make it better? It was more difficult than usual, somehow. "Sometimes it isn't careless, it's necessary."
If he had startled before, he almost jumped now, because suddenly Tieria had curled a hand around his wrist--the other one this time. He took another deep breath, this time without trembling. With obvious effort, he said, "No. In this matter, your judgment is flawed."
Lockon blinked.
Tieria continued, his grip on Lockon's wrist stiff, his whole body rigid as he steeled himself. "I don't question your judgment in other matters, but in regards to your own life, you are--" He choked a little. "You are unfit to make that decision."
It wasn't exactly a regression. It obviously took Tieria intense effort to scold him so (and it was scolding, Lockon realized now). The person who might have said those words carelessly and dismissively was long gone. But Lockon still didn't understand why he felt such a need to say them at all.
Tieria turned, still holding Lockon's wrist (was he bruising by now?), and took a fumbling step closer to him. "I wasn't certain, at first, if this was the case. But your actions just now have proven a hypothesis I created only reluctantly."
"You made a hypothesis about me?" Lockon said. He wasn't quite reeling; he knew that so long as Tieria was looking at him so intensely, he would stay stable. There was something grounding about having that desperate look fixed on him, even as there was something unsettling about it. He didn't entirely understand either part. But still, he wasn't sure what to do. His mind raced as he stalled for time, searching for something he could say or do to reassure Tieria.
"Yes," Tieria said. "I believe you place too low a value on your own life."
A fleeting thought: Of course I do. That's the point. My life hasn't been valuable in a long time. Not since I had more family than my brother to protect. Then it was gone, because he couldn't afford to think that way around Tieria. He had to be what Tieria needed of him. He sighed. "Tieria, you can't start policing how I think about my life. Learning to let go is also part of being human."
Tieria caught his breath. "I thought I had let go," he said. "As much as I could. I had vowed to live on, no matter how much it hurt without you. But now that you're here--" He tipped his head back to look up at Lockon. His eyes were so bright, Lockon realized with a start; almost as if he was about to cry. Reflexively, he leaned in closer, wanting to do something to make sure the tears didn't start.
Tieria leaned closer as well, as if he wanted to hear what Lockon was saying--and then he was moving closer still, and now, still moving on reflex, Lockon matched that closeness, and Tieria--
Tieria kissed him. The way he pressed his mouth to Lockon's was hopelessly awkward, like he'd read about the gesture but didn't understand the kind of pressure you were supposed to apply, the subtle motions you were supposed to make. Without thinking, Lockon kissed back, trying to show him the right way to do it. Tieria's mouth still felt stiff and strange against his own.
Then the reality of the situation caught up with him. He was kissing Tieria. Something, somewhere had gone very wrong. His initial impulse, when kissed, was to kiss back, but now his better judgment had set in. This was a mistake. He started to pull away.
And Tieria's hand was on his back, pulling him closer. Suddenly, where before he'd been instinctively awkward and stiff, Tieria was kissing back fervently. He was still awkward, of course, but he was eager. Lockon was taken aback, so he kept kissing, trying to reason it out before he stopped. Well, Tieria had been more than a little upset. Maybe clinging like this was just his natural reaction, as much as anything was natural with him.
In the end, it was Tieria who broke the kiss, but not for several more seconds. He stared up at Lockon with wide eyes for a long moment. Lockon said nothing. Once again, Tieria had him unsure how to respond. That was happening more often lately.
Tieria solved the problem for him. He released Lockon's wrist and turned away. He was blushing.
"Tieria--" Lockon grinned at him. "It's all right. We both got worked up and started acting irrationally. It happens sometimes, when you put two people in one place for long enough. It's nothing to be embarrassed about."
"Of course," Tieria said curtly. "Lockon, I won't press you on this subject any longer." He turned and strode away, and it was only when he'd turned a bend in the corridor that Lockon remembered what "this subject" was. Then he was relieved. He really hadn't wanted to talk to Tieria about it any longer. In fact, he was a little relieved that Tieria was leaving, period. Somewhere in the back of his head something was trying to connect. He wasn't sure he wanted to see where it led.
* * *
For the next three days, Tieria felt as if he could not catch his breath.
Performing his duties in Veda was all but out of the question. He fumbled his way through a single layer of encryption, nearly botching it in the process as he thought of the feel of Lockon's lips when he should have been thinking only of pure numbers. Then, knowing he had set a goal of decrypting and inspecting seven separate encodings for this twenty-four hour period, he gave up. It was useless.
He drifted in the digital ether. Nearby, he could feel Regene's amusement lapping at him like waves: mocking digital laughter. He was surprised Regene was not more disappointed in him than amused, considering how badly he'd allowed humanity to compromise him here. But the other Innovade (the one who was not human as well) gave him no explanation, although he could surely feel the direction of Tieria's thoughts.
Tieria let his work pile up, and instead he considered what to do about Lockon. A little research into unlocked sections of data on Innovade biochemistry had explained to him what had happened. It was far easier, when creating an Innovade, to include in them all the neurological and hormonal systems that existed in normal humans and simply switch the unnecessary complexes off than to remove them entirely. In combination combat/espionage models such as himself, the system that prompted sexual desire and the ensuing romantic feelings was by default switched off.
Somehow, Lockon had switched it on.
This was a problem. Lockon had said, We both got worked up and started acting irrationally. But a single moment like that in the midst of a stressful and adrenaline-filled situation was nothing compared to the feelings that ran through Tieria now, that had run through him almost since Lockon had first come to the lunar complex. It seemed absurd now that it had taken him so long to realize it.
Are you going to tell him? wondered Regene somewhere. Tieria could feel him smiling. Or are you going to play more games? Humans can be entertaining when they do that, but you should be above it.
Tieria refused to respond directly, but he knew that Regene was right, even if only accidentally. He couldn't keep this a secret now that he knew, because he would never get anything done. He had to do something about it. He just wasn't sure what it was he wanted to do.
He stayed in Veda for as long as he could, and he drifted. When he left to take care of physical matters, he avoided Lockon, although it made him ache to do so. Even inside Veda, his mind kept returning to the way Lockon's mouth had felt on his, and how much, to his shock, he had liked it. Tieria wanted more, and he wanted to do something that Lockon would like just as much. He knew a little about the rituals of romance, gleaned from stray conversations with the rest of Celestial Being, but it was all distant secondhand knowledge. Studious research turned up little more of use. The custom of dating was dependent on location, and Tieria could not leave the moonbase in this body. There were chances to gain food from Earth, or synthesize their own, but to waste resources on flowers would have been unjustifiable. And after all that, it always led to the same thing.
Tieria decided to dispense with the preliminaries.