29-Sep-2001
Title: Chasing the Crown, an Extended Family Fic
ExFam Authors:
RavynFyre - ravynfyre@hotmail.com
von - sablexo1@yahoo.com
bonnejeanne - bonnejeanne@yahoo.com
*Special Guest Writer! Nixie the Pixie!*
Nixers - Nixerchan@aol.com
Category: yaoi, AU
Rating: NC-17 for now, that will change
Pairings: 1+2+5, 3+4
Spoilers: Series, Endless Waltz, Mission: Arcadia
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing characters and universe are the property of the copyright owners.
Kenny, Duan, Wufan, Tryan, Carter, Jack and the Ripper, and everything relating to Rip & Jack's universe are ours. No money being made here.
Feedback: Any and all comments, feedback, critiques welcome, be they short or long.
Please feel free to direct feedback to any or all of the authors!
WARNINGS: AU (Alternate Universe), Original Characters, LEMON in some sections. Kiddie-Angst.
WARNING THIS SECTION: Angst, Suspense
Kenny woke in the cockpit of a mobile suit.
The seat supported his body. His limbs were not restrained or strapped down in any way, but his hands had been placed resting on the controls. Circling his head, he felt something like a slight, warm weight. He was less aware of a visor that covered his face. Someone familiar with the face-covering helmet from Epyon's control system might have noted some similarities, though this device was smaller and lighter.
Kenny, however, was unaware of these details. He felt a warm band around his temples that almost seemed to shift from time to time. There was a faint vibration that almost registered as a near-inaudible, low hiss. His eyes opened to a world that was somehow flatter, and brighter, where shapes were hard-edged, and colors seem to be bled away.
Stalking about the control center with a predatory step, Marcus wandered from console to console, pausing occasionally to peer out the lexan windows into the massive bay beyond. The Cobra stood idle, online but not active yet, while its pilot slowly awoke.
With a small smirk, Marcus detoured over to one console in particular, peering over the technician's shoulder at Kenny's vital signs, noting new fluctuations.
"Looks like he's waking up again," Marcus commented to no one in particular.
The behemoth in the bay beyond the control room remained quiescent for the moment.
"Doctor, the Cobra is signaling its readiness... the subject's physical readings are... well we're getting a 99% adaptability. The most we ever got from previous tests was 72%." The technician read off the information from the readouts with a touch of surprise.
Leaning over the main console, Dr. J smiled. "This time it's going to work," he predicted. Behind him, a couple of the members of the splinter group of Ex-White Fang rebels exchanged glances. The level of excitement in the room increased, along with a barely discernable sense of anxiety.
In the cockpit, Kenny opened his eyes wide and surveyed the area around where "he" seemed to be sitting. His *mind* didn't have to recognize or deduce where he was. He knew and identified it: Mobile Suit Testing Bay XZ398. To his left, a rack supporting a number of identical mobile suits. The system identified them: Cobra clones, mobile dolls that could be activated and controlled from this cockpit.
To his right, a double-thick transparent observation window separated the bay from the control room. He could see consoles, men. Fixing on one in particular, his visor enlarged the image.
The Cobra stood up. It turned to face the control room. As the technicians observed and called out system readings, one of the suit's arms lifted and pointed to the window. The reticulated extending arm, modeled after Shenlong and Altron's weapons, shot forward and struck the transparent barrier hard enough to shake the walls and floor, directly in front of where Marcus was standing.
A startled yelp burst from Marcus's throat as he tumbled to his knees for a moment. Tossing a quick look at Dr. J, he climbed back to his feet and edged away from the transparent barrier, placing a few more technicians between him and it.
"He seems to be adjusting quickly enough," Marcus commented to J in a voice that was a touch too high and quick.
The scientist ignored the man's comment, his attention focused on the readings. Secretly, he smiled to himself. It the attack had been directed against himself, they might have opted to end the test. However, J deduced that the attack against Marcus was being allowed because the Cobra deemed him non-essential personnel.
"Give the system permission to come fully online," J instructed. In a few minutes they would know whether the experiment was going to be a success.
Kenny retracted the arm and prepared for a second blow, calculating how many direct hits it would take in a single spot to rupture the armored glass. Then the hissing in his head seemed to get louder. He felt something coil around his chest, squeezing air from his lungs for a moment. Gasping, he fought to breathe, and felt it relax... only as much as it took to allow oxygen into his lungs. Then it tightened again. As he dealt with feeling this new adjunct to the simple process of respiration, cold information began to uncoil in his mind. Intelligence. Tactics. Placement of opposition strength and weapons. Unpredictable elements. The components of a conquest.
Complete the task.
There was something wrong. Kenny could feel it. He couldn't see it, he couldn't think it, but he could feel it. Something... he tried to take a deeper breath, to clear his head and felt the tightening around his chest. At the same time, the warm weight around his temples seemed to shift.
Focus on the task.
For a moment, the boy's stubbornness held, seeking a way to locate what it was that felt wrong. There was something... The cold information filled his mind again. Objective: remove obstacles. Obtain controlling position.
This time the mental struggle had desperation in it, and fear, and a sinking touch of despair. The cold information seemed to feed on these things and become sharper. Kenny felt something beginning to disappear and tried to understand what it was. The coil around his chest tightened just enough to make him fight for each breath, drawing his strength.
As the last part of Kenny began to lose its grip on the struggle, something flared from the forgotten spark of gold in the back of his mind. Before everything that was Kenny dispersed in the cold mind around him, a fragile veil reached out from the tiny spark and cast itself around him, holding him together. He felt the touch of a hand in his own, saw a flash of a blue green gaze. For barely a second, he looked out of eyes not his own and saw a small boy kneeling in front of a door, his face creased in concentration. A chestnut braid trailed down the little boy's back. Beyond him, another boy watched, his Asian features serious and grave, and his hand held tightly to the hand of a little girl, who's red hair capped an equally serious, yet somehow excited expression.
It was gone in a flicker. But it left something behind, something not a part of the cold information that seemed to go on for ever.
The Cobra's arm lowered and the suit turned from where Marcus had dodged.
"System integration complete," said a small boy's voice, devoid of expression. Then Kenny rattled off a string of code that would tell Dr. J that the system was in control of the pilot.
"Doctor, we are not showing any of the signs of instability that were present in the previous test," one of the technicians commented, a touch of awe in his voice.
"Excellent," J replied, with deep satisfaction. The madman's dream was about to come true.
Once J had received the correct codes from the now assimilated pilot of the Cobra, Marcus smiled with satisfaction and slipped into an empty set before a small bank of consoles.
"Initiating the next phase," he commented as his hands flew expertly over the boards for a few moments.
Attention split equally between the strings of codes and commands he was inputting, and another monitor filled with dozens of rows of small red icons, Marcus triggered the second half of the virus he'd uploaded to the Preventer's mobile suits. After a few minutes of furious typing, he settled back in the chair, eyes riveted to one of the monitors.
By ones and twos, the icons began blinking red, before settling into a satisfying steady green as suit after suit was brought under Marcus's control. Within a few more minutes, a gratifyingly large portion of the screen was filled with green icons, while the rest of the red ones slowly blipped out and vanished.
"Approximately 50%, sir. As predicted. Apparently the rest of their mobile suits are totally offline. Shall I initiate your doll program now?" Marcus asked, looking up towards Dr. J.
The goggle-eyed scientist answered with a question. "Are the Preventer's spy satellites under our control? I know that Heero will find a way to get around your little road blocks. I don't want to waste the dolls on a Gundam pilot, don't initiate until he is off planet."
"Understood," Marcus replied, already keying in sequences of commands to direct the satellite feeds to the control room.
"Detecting three civilian shuttles launched from the Preventer pad near Noventa within the last few minutes," he relayed, glancing back up at the scientist. "They should clear the atmosphere in under ten minutes."
"Send instructions to the concealed fighters, then initiate the doll program on Earth." Dr J gave the orders in a tone devoid of enthusiasm. His attention was focused on the Cobra and the fight he knew was coming with an almost feverish anticipation.
Marcus made up for J's lack of enthusiasm with a wicked smile of his own as he followed the old scientist's instructions. With half the Earth's mobile suit troops now under their control, and scattered across the globe in tiny groups at strategically important centers of population, they were all but assured of victory. When the now mobile dolls turned on their comrades and began fighting, the chaos would be unimaginable.
Once the troops concealed throughout the upper atmosphere and surrounding area finished off the launched shuttles before they could debark their cargos, they would descend onto the helpless planet and further the cataclysmic pandemonium.
Leaving things ripe for Cobra to sweep in and seize control of the demoralized and defenseless Earth.
"Program initiated," he declared as he finished keying in the proper commands. "And by the end of the day, the colonies will finally be free, and never again suffer under the yolk of the Earth's oppression," he continued for the benefit of the loyal members of the remains of White Fang who were present.
And when the Earth was finally under their control... He spared a darting glance at Dr. J. Old men die so easily. A pity. With the loss of the irritating old scientist, the White Fang sheep would need a new shepherd. Marcus's lips curled into a small smile.
Not so big a step then, from 'obedient dog', to shepherd.
Once the shuttles launched, Noin returned to the big hangars where the Preventer cadets were working on the space-fitted Taurus suits. The remaining suits, intended for use only on Earth or inside a colony, stood in silent ranks as if observing the rehabilitation of their space-going brethren. Noin knew that she'd have the same job to do over with those suits, but when the immediate problem was in space and on the Moon, that was a job that would have to wait for a better time.
With a slight chill, she shoved aside the idea that she might have to do it in an even greater hurry - that would only happen if they failed to stop the opposition with the first attack, something she didn't like to consider. However she was too experienced a soldier not to have the thought. They knew so little about what they were facing.
"Agent Noin, all of the space Tauruses are up to 75% complete on the re-initiation," a young man told her as she approached, with more than a touch of excitement, and not a little pride. They were cutting the estimates to less than half the time it might have taken.
"That's excellent, Shaw," she gave the deserved praise. "Start powering up, the weapons and guidance systems can warm up while the system is finishing the final 25%, those are the combat and tactics systems."
The cadet nodded and ran off to give the instructions to the rest of the group, and Noin climbed up into the Taurus she'd picked for hers and checked the status. She smiled, recognizing a familiar touch on the adjustments. The reduction of elapsed time had been brought about by intersession of a certain mobile suit designer who favored floral attire.
As she began to power up the weapons and guidance systems, she used the suit's communications console to make contact with Preventer headquarters through a old Oz channel, rather than the Preventer frequencies.
In Preventer's Headquarters, Lady Une activated her comm. "Noin," she said, "What you status?"
"Preventer Wind and 01, 02, 03 and 04 have lifted off. The space Tauruses will be ready to back up Preventer Wind much sooner than we'd estimated. We should be able to load on the transports provided by Gemini within the hour," Noin reported. "Any luck in getting in contact with our intelligence satellites?"
"No, I'm afraid not," Une replied. "I'll pass along the good news to Miss Relena. Good luck, Noin."
"Thanks, I'm afraid we might need it," Noin answered, but her voice was confident. She tested the inter-suit communications channel, sending a message to the other active suits. "As soon as you are mobile, move out to the shuttles to begin loading."
The message was received and acknowledged and white mobile suits began moving in good order towards the pad where the civilian shuttles waited to be loaded.
Watching, Noin used the suit channel to send a message to the Tallgeese. Not sure if he would be out of the blackout zone yet, she sent, "We'll be there before you have time to miss us."
As she was completing the message, her eyes caught something on the Taurus's screens that seemed out of place. She turned for a closer look and her eyes widened as lights came on across the row of dormant planet-bound suits. A chill hit the base of her spine. "Who activated the other suits?" she called across the channels, hoping it was a simple mistake. Even as she asked the question, her gloved hands settled on the firing controls.
"Agent Noin," a voice called back over the comm. "We've got mobile suits remotely activating in all areas. Is this procedure? I say again, mobile suits, land based, activating in all areas. Is this a go?"
Noin saw a suit at the end of the line raise a weapon and point it at one of the cadets' suits, moving away and towards the hangar door. Raising her own Taurus's weapon with reflexes rather than thought, she fired.
"The planet bound suits are not under our control!" she said, sending over all channels. "Repeat, the suits are to be considered hostiles! Protect yourselves!"
"Roger that!" the voice called out, followed closely by a report of fire.
In the mobile suit bays, people scattered as the rogue suits began battling their counterparts. Mechanics and technicians dodged blasts and debris as they sought cover.
In her suit, Noin heard a frantic call over the comm channels. "All emergency shut down procedures locked! Take evasive action!"
Horrified, Noin watched as several of the cadets were attacked by the hostile suits, and cut apart before they could turn to engage an enemy unexpected. Wading in, she tried to block the hostiles from getting out of the hangar, only to see and hear the back wall being blasted open. She saw several of the suits under unknown control take to the air. The direction they were taking was that of the Sanc Palace.
"God, NO! There's nothing at the Palace that can stop a mobile suit! Une! They've got to get Relena out of there!" she yelled, as two of the hostiles closed on her.
The loaned shuttle handled the exit better than most, Zechs had to admit. No, probably better than any he'd used, military or otherwise. While in amidst the pressure, roar and rattle of the enclosure was still no place to dare moving about in, it wasn't quite the same prize fight between velocity and gravity that it usually was.
As the Earth finally gave up her grip on the shuttlecraft, the noise deadened suddenly, signaling the entrance into true space. The main thrusters followed after, leaving only the navigationals, and the murmur of an open com line.
"Preparing to open cargo hatch, sir," Hilde's voice came back, across the insistent noise from the incoming signal.
About to give his go-ahead, something in the staccato of the overlapping communication caught the attention of his recovering hearing. An audible crash, the distinctive whine of metal being twisted, overlaying, as the sound got sharper, shouts and orders.
The original message had already been translated into text on the monitor. 'We'll be there before you have time to miss us', followed closely by the computers garbled attempts to transliterate the chaos that had followed on the open line. Then Noin's distinctive voice could be heard quite clearly.
/The planet bound suits are not under our control! Repeat, the suits are to be considered hostiles! Protect yourselves!/
The sounds of weapons fire followed, and other noises that Zechs recognized instinctively as the destruction of property caused by mobile suit battle. He could almost visualize the Preventer agent engaging, then the comm issued a gasp and another exclamation.
/God, NO! There's nothing at the Palace that can stop a mobile suit! Une! They've got to get Relena out of there!/
Zechs froze for a heartbeat, trying to get a grip on some division between the past and what was unfolding. The hesitation shattered as he opened his side of the line to the pilot. "Forget the hatch, prepare for reentry," he said as soon as the connection was made. "Relay a message to the other shuttles that there is an immediate situation in Sanc. The inactive Preventers suits are in the control of the enemy. I'm on my way to intercept. End of message."
"Holy... er, yes sir! This is going to be tricky!" Hilde answered quickly, sending the message to the other shuttles. She checked her screens and then said, "Um... *very* tricky.... I've got targets heading in our direction from the other side of MO2. Hold on!"
The shuttle lurched as Hilde used her maneuvering thrusters extravagantly, turning them for re-entry. She added a last message to the end of the first, for only one of the remaining shuttles. "Too bad, Duo, I was hoping to see you in action again!"
Then she hit her main engines for a short burst, sending them back into the grip of Mother Earth.
Violet eyes widened in sudden shock as the relayed message reached the two Gundams preparing for their own exit from their shuttle.
"Hilde? What the fuck? What the hell are you..." he growled to himself, his shock at hearing her voice from Zechs' shuttle as great as the surprise at the message she was relaying. Opting not to distract either her or Zechs by sending a reply, Duo returned his attention to HellsBane.
"Damnit, Hilde... Watch your ass out there," he muttered as he called his gun to his hand and watched it melt into the console in preparation for combat. "So much for staying out of trouble."
"We seem to have some company, gentlemen," Ari called back. "Coming in from the far side of MO2... I scope ten blips so far." There was a shudder that ran the length of the big ship. "...and they don't seem to want to chitchat. Opening cargo bay!"
"As soon as we're clear, you get your ass outta here, Ari," Duo ordered, a familiar hyper calm settling over him.
"My plans exactly! Try not to get dead, ok?" the shuttle captain answered as the cargo doors folded back on both sides, giving the Gundams access to space.
"Death can't die," Duo shot back with a dark chuckle as he slammed on HellsBane's thrusters. "Let's go kick some ass, koibito!"
Heero frowned deeply, hearing the report. Checking his controls, he felt the calm settle over him as he prepared to fight.
"Hai," he replied.
Looking up, Heero heard the warning signal for an approaching vessel. "Look alive," he said, guiding Zero II towards the enemy, weapons at the ready.
As soon as Duo's Gundam cleared the shuttle, the newly formed scythe flared to life, parrying a shot meant for their transport. "Come on, HellsBane, old buddy... Let's show these bastardized grandchildren of a rusty soupcan what the hell we can do," the braided pilot said, opening the bat-like wings of the Gundam to shield as much of the departing shuttle as he could.
The pilots in the approaching ships blinked in surprise. They had been expecting some resistance, but the last thing they expected were two Gundams, seeming back from the dead.
"What's that?!" one of the pilots called out as he watched the great dark wings unfold.
"Cut the chatter, you've got one right above!" another warned.
Heero moved towards the mobile suit, identifying it as one of the old Alliance model suits. "This is Zero II to mobile pilot. What are your intentions?" he asked, evenly.
"Zero II, this is Adam of the White Fang. On behalf of the Colonies, we demand the surrender of the Earth!" the pilot returned.
A muscle in Heero's cheek twitched. He blinked once. "That war is over," he replied.
The great machine unfolded its wings as Heero moved in. With one great sweep of his weapon, the White Fang mobile suit was disabled and drifted in space.
"Get that, Duo?" Heero messaged.
"Yeah, I got it," Duo replied, "That war's been over a couple of times now. Guess the third time's a charm."
With the shuttle finally out of weapons' range, Duo pulled the scythe in close and furled HellsBane's massive wings, engaging the ECM system. With a wicked chuckle, he watched the enemy suits falter in their formation as the Gundam vanished from their sensors and visuals. "Maybe I shoulda just named you Ghost, old buddy," he murmured before diving into the fray.
"Have you guys considered surrendering, lately? It has a longer shelf life than squaring off against a couple of Gundams and a few pissed off Gundam pilots," Duo inquired on an open channel as he left another enemy suit disabled and floating like so much junk.
The two suits were only the first of an assault group of ten, which quickly split up to surround the two pilots. They also transmitted the images back to their headquarters on the Moon. Whatever they thought about unexpectedly encountering Gundams in space, all the fighters, former White Fang revolutionaries, were too far committed to their radical cause to consider the wiser course of retreat.
Blood pounding in his ears... The weight of the controls in his hands... Steel and polymer molded specifically for his grasp, rasping over tough ridges of callus on palms and fingers... Heart crashing in his chest... The flicker of light over the readouts and screens... An annoying trickle of sweat from bangs to the crease of the soft skin beside his right eye, flung away by a quick shake of his head... Blood thundering through his veins... Soft blips and squeals of the computers... The rush of his breath exploding from him as HellsBane whirled and cavorted through space, throwing him hard into the bite of the harness straps... His heart hammering into the quiet...
His heart...
Duo's eyes darted to a minimized corner of one of his screens, spotting Zero II far enough away that the Gundam was little more than a white blur amidst the darkness of space. The occasional flash of pale crimson and a soft flash of flame heralded another enemy suit disabled.
HellsBane's wings enfolded the Gundam once more, flitting back out of the range of a desperate shot from one of them enemy mobile suits even as Duo re-engaged the ECM and the massive black Gundam vanished again.
His heart, dashing through the Void, racing towards Destiny.
This was too easy. It felt like they were merely flying, pausing only now and then to reach out and stab or slice at unmoving statues of mobile suits. These White Fang rebels were totally unprepared for one Gundam, let alone two. Nice to see that they could apparently surprise J, still.
His heart...
Ripping his gaze from the darting flash of white dancing with the fools in the distance, Duo stared at their target, the heaving bulk of the moon ahead lying lifeless in the upper quadrant of one screen. A gray pallor hung over the natural satellite, like a fetid fog hanging over a graveyard. Always a graveyard.
He could feel his mouth press into a thin line as his eyes narrowed dangerously in thought. Little good they'd done, by bringing the children here. Rescued from one hell, only to end up in another. J would die.
Duo felt a cool wind rush into him, a whirlwind of chill calm even as a bitter smirk twisted the edges of his lips up.
"Father Maxwell... Sister Helen... I'm sorry. But I'm not gonna let them win," he murmured. "I was never so good with those Commandment things, anyway."
HellsBane ghosted out of the darkness, materializing behind an enemy suit like a nightmare given form in Gundanium and righteousness. Scintillating rainbow fire flickered over the yawning maw of darkness the wings cast, flaring as the scythe sheared through vacuum and rent the enemy suit in two. The explosion rocked HellsBane back a few meters, the fireball flaring out quickly as the onboard oxygen was consumed in a flash.
"'And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death,'" Duo intoned gravely. [1]
Violet eyes flickered to another screen, taking in the chaos of the enemy suits dodging their inevitable oblivion at the end of scythe or saber with a measure of frighteningly comfortable calm. It seemed like no more than a matter of days ago that he'd been in this very cockpit, or one similar enough not to matter, with the shudder of weapons fire erupting around him and the pull of the g-forces pressing him into the seat like a comforting hand. It felt like coming home.
For one wild moment, he wondered if he'd imagined the last two years, if he'd conjured the illusion of warmth and love and family around him to hold off the arctic chill of space and loneliness. Had he actually awoken that morning, sliding out of his tiny cramped bunk on the Sweeper's ship to go pester G in the hanger before blasting off into space to thwart Oz once again? Or was the memory of awakening cradled against Heero's legs, watching Wufei slowly dress before the three of them eventually joined the children for breakfast the reality?
Memory shifted once again, realigning itself correctly as he flicked on the thrusters and charged another mobile suit.
"Guess Death really can't die, buddy," Duo murmured to HellsBane as reality reasserted itself in his mind.
The mantle of pilot and terrorist was simply too well ingrained to be set aside so lightly, even after a year of neglect. Would it ever subside into disuse? Or would it forever hover, just under his skin, waiting for its chance to escape and burn free once again? If only the Gundam and the whirling chaos of battle hadn't felt as much like home as their house on L2 and the family within that he'd come to depend upon.
"Come on, HellsBane... We've got work to do."
Heero caught the blast out of his periphery and felt a cold chill down his spine. In space, the white-winged Gundam turned with the grace of a dancer to see its dark companion set against the dwindling orange of the targeted mobile suit. Thoughts fell through his mind like a domino chain reaction.
'It's happening again... The war is over... There are people out here...We can't let IT win!!'
"Duo! NO!" Heero heard his voice call over the comm. "There are people in these suits! They don't understand what's happening!"
"They understood well enough not to surrender when we gave them the chance," Duo countered darkly. "I may be going to hell, but I'm sure the fuck not going to let them take humanity there."
"You're not listening to me. People. They are a part of humanity too, Duo. You're going to kill people, innocent people, to save humanity. It doesn't make sense," Heero replied, feeling his heart clutch inside his chest.
"We tried the soft approach last time... Look where it got us," Duo said, although he went for a disabling shot as HellsBane streaked past another enemy suit, rather than the easier kill shot. "How can they be innocent if they're willing to kill millions in another senseless war? It plays with us, Heero... But we have to have it inside ourselves for It to mess with in the first place."
Heero swallowed hard. He felt his tone shift. A part of him ached with what his thoughts and feelings were telling him. Closing his eyes briefly, Heero felt resolve take hold. If he had to ride this alone, do what had to be done alone, then that was the way it had to be.
"You're right, Duo," he said, evenly. "But we were willing to kill millions, too. We all have darkness inside, but to use it as an excuse to kill is pathetic. These people are from Colonies. They're just like you. They're fighting for what they believe in. But unlike you, they haven't been to Arcadia. They haven't seen or have any clue what they're really up against. You do," he said, as the thought of Duo's soft hair slipping through his fingers came back in a sweet memory. Heero felt all of the tension drain from his body. "Death is not all you are, Duo."
/Quatre reached out and gripped Duo's arm briefly. "Don't forget who you are, Duo," he said quietly. "*All* of who you are."/ Duo shook his head harshly, fingers losing their white-knuckled grip on the controls.
A pair of too wise eyes in face that was too young flickered across his mind hard on the heels of Quatre's voice. She'd never told him her name, if she'd even had one, before he'd left her at the shelter. But the image of her eyes as she peered at the gang he'd 'dealt with' chilled him.
Eyes that were curious and surprised, but not shocked or afraid. Even after what he'd done. Eyes that had been the same startlingly vibrant shade of deep blue as Kenny's.
/"Death is not all you are, Duo."/
"...oh jezus," Duo breathed, a stab of icy fear racing along his spine.
HellsBane rocked as a direct hit shook him out of his thoughts, slamming him hard back against the seat. He could almost imagine the bruises already blossoming under the flightsuit from the crush of the restraining harness holding him in place. Engaging the ECM, HellsBane vanished once more, slipping out of the fray long enough for Duo to check the readings quickly and clear his head a little.
/It plays with us, Heero... But we have to have it inside ourselves for It to mess with in the first place./ 'Looks like I got that part right, at least,' he thought sourly to himself. Taking a deep breath and fixing the image of his lover firmly in mind, Duo took up the controls once more, moving to back Zero II up again.
"You're right, koi. Arigato," he said softly.
Inside the cockpit of Wing Zero II, Heero lowered his head. His hand moved to the control panel, opening a frequency he hoped would reach to whoever was listening. "To all pilots in the area. This is Heero Yuy, pilot of Wing Zero II from the Colony of L1. We, the colonial citizens are not at war. I don't know who your commander is, but whoever he is, he's wrong," he said.
Bringing the white machine even with HellsBane, Heero opened a visual to Duo. "Omae o korosu, koi," he said.
Warm violet eyes crinkled around the corners as Duo offered Heero a thankful, if slightly shaky, smile. "It's my destiny. Remember?"
"Gundam pilots!" a voice over the frequency Heero had used came back as the remaining three suits regrouped ahead of them, clearly placing themselves between the Gundams and the Moon. "You're the ones who are wrong! The Colonies have been brainwashed by Earth rhetoric! The people will wake up when we end the tyranny of the fake 'peace-loving' regime! The existence of your Gundams proves what a lie the 'non-military' Preventers are! We know we can't stop you... but that wasn't our mission. Now you have to answer to Cobra while our forces complete the mission on Earth!" It was the tone of another nameless fanatic, and as he concluded his speech, the three suits broke formation in front of them and darted off in opposite directions.
"Sounded like White Fang," Heero said over the comm.
"Hn," Duo agreed, already realizing how pointless it would be to attempt to reason with the retreating suits. "Shall we stop 'em, or go see what else that whack job has in store for us?"
"Hn," Heero replied. "I'm going to the moon. He said that Earth was being attacked. It's your call."
Duo flicked a couple of switches, eyeing the massive bulk of the Earth behind them, the fiery trail of Zech and Hilde's re-entry a faded memory. G's warnings about J's new Gundam floated to the front of his mind, filling him with a cold sense of dread.
"Cobra. Hn. How fitting," Duo snorted, locking gazes with Heero. "Think we've got a date already lined up to dance, koibito. Let Zechs play with the fanatics. Maybe then he'll quit feeling so guilty about that whole blowing a hole in the Earth thing finally."
"Maybe," Heero said, with a slight smile. "Of course, we might be dancing with the supreme whack job, himself. Something tells me Doctor J is making an attempt to move up in the world."
"I figured he was making an attempt to *blow* up the world, not *move* up in it," Duo replied with a shrug and a wry grin. "Boy are they gonna feel sheepish when they figure it out," he continued, eyes taking on a wicked sparkle as he hitched his voice to sounds somewhat lamb-like on the word 'sheepish'.
Heero shook his head. "Sheep. Never get away from the sheep again, will I?" he said.
Just as he'd finished his statement, a signal lit up on his and Duo's boards simultaneously. The frequency was one that Heero had not remembered using before. "What the..?" he began.
"Fuck," Duo completed, turning his attention to the incoming signal on a frequency he hadn't seen used in long enough that he didn't recall the last time.
As both pilots touched their controls, a familiar voice was heard in both cockpits.
"May day! May day! This is ... Moonbase calling Gundam pilots. Gundam pilots do you read me?" Duan said.
"Duan!" Duo shouted, "Where are you?!"
"Duo!" Duan answered, then lowered his tone somewhat. "We're on the Moonbase. We escaped and got a line out. They got Kenny. We gotta bust him out. We're securing the base and waiting on you to get here and spring us!"
"We're on our way, kiddo. The cavalry is coming," Duo said, not trusting the security of the old frequency to explain that Wufei was already far ahead of them. "Keep your head down and stay safe. Do you know which base? There were a few up there."
"We'll light a match for ya," Duan said, not trusting the integrity of the line. "We're a little banged up, but we're all ok... for the most part."
"Like Duo said, we're on our way," Heero said.
"Hi Heero," Duan said, feeling somewhat excited and relieved. "We'll try and hold 'em off, you..." he attempted and heard the signal shut down.
"Fuck!" Duo cursed as the signal went dead. His hand suddenly began to ache, and he realized that he'd punched the armrest of his cockpit seat hard enough to dent the metal and break the skin over his knuckles. "Let's go. And Heero? Human or not... J and McCormick are dead."
"Roger, that," Heero said, guiding the mobile suit towards its rendezvous with the moon.
Marcus's dark eyes remained firmly fixed on the three blips of shuttles breaking free of the Atmosphere just after he'd initiated the Doll program J had created. Right as the shuttles approached the fringe of the weapon's range of the concealed White Fang troops, one of the shuttles suddenly altered course, almost swapping ends as it circled back so quickly before diving back into the atmosphere, cargo still inside.
The White Fang mobile suits who had broken cover and descended weren't quite quick enough to prevent the nearer shuttle from purging its cargo before beginning evasive escape maneuvers. Not believing the readings he was getting, Marcus quickly navigated his way through the surveillance satellites until he found one near enough the initial combat to give him clear images.
"Holy shit..." he breathed, before turning in his seat and calling to the scientist standing nearby. "Dr. J... You need to see this."
The white-haired scientist didn't seem particularly perturbed by the images on the screen. "Interesting. It would appear that someone has rebuilt Gundam Wing Zero... I wonder who could have done such a thing." He studied the images for another moment, turning his attention to the other suit, which seemed to appear and disappear. He watched it for a bit longer than he had the white-winged Gundam. A slight frown creased his forehead. "That's... hmmm.... is it possible that the little gutter boy had this prototype hidden away? Unlikely.... perhaps... yes, it must have been the Sweepers, or perhaps his friend, the Tallgeese designer." He watched for another moment, his frown smoothing away and then returning. "Interesting weapon..." Glancing at Marcus, he resumed his customary, if slightly psychopathic joviality. "Nothing to get your feathers ruffled about. Cobra will take care of them."
Marcus continued observing the battle on the screen for a few moments longer, before glancing thoughtfully out the window into the empty bay beyond. "Yes, of course," he agreed with a hint of a smirk teasing at his lips. "Guess you were right about him finding a way up here."
J returned a look that was anything but indulgent. "I know my tools," he said with a return smirk that was far chillier than anything Marcus could ever muster.
A sharp stab of fear slid down Marcus's spine at J's confident declaration. He covered it quickly by returning his attention to the console and the communications array, darting the occasional glance at the satellite feed in morbid curiosity. He frowned as he noticed an anomaly in the communications from the base. Pointing to it, he caught the attention of one of the nearby technicians.
"This signal... Where is it coming from, and why?" he demanded.
The man turned and looked at the console, then shrugged. "It's probably a malfunction. That's a channel no one uses any more. And it looks like it's originating from one of the unused areas. Probably some glitch activated a recorded message or something from when this was an Oz base."
"Malfunction?" Marcus replied suspiciously, "Open it up, listen in to be sure."
Shrugging, the man flipped a switch. A child's voice came over the speaker. "Hi, Heero! We'll try and hold 'em off..."
With a muffled curse, Marcus's hands flew over the keyboards, shutting down the signal and cutting the child off. "A malfunction?" he snarled, turning to J. "We have a security breech. I'll see to it," he continued, rising from his seat and unconsciously checking for his sidearm.
J barely glanced up. "Yes, see to it," he muttered, his attention focused on another monitor where the golden, glittering form of the Cobra mobile suit hung in space. It was so beautiful... like a golden mechanical god...
"Doctor?" Marcus asked, his voice hopeful, "Do we require the contingency pilots any longer?"
J blinked and turned, his goggle eyes gleaming. He seemed to listen to something inaudible to the rest of the room for a moment. "Don't be so bloodthirsty, Marcus," he said. "They still have value as potentials. Once this test is successful... perhaps we'll build *more* Cobras... more command suits. Think how lovely that would be?"
Something in the scientist's tone cause the technicians close by to look away uneasily.
Marcus suppressed a slight shudder, one finger absently tracing the precise red scab just under his jaw. "Very well, sir," he replied, turning away and heading out the door. Once he had control of the Earth, he'd put that insane old man out of his misery, and *then* he'd take care of the brats. And if Chang managed to live through the coup, Marcus would be sure to send him what was left of his precious little family, gift-wrapped. A hard-edged smile crossed Marcus's lips. Yes. That would be perfect.
TBC
[1] The Bible, Revelations 6:7
End of Part 54
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