02-Nov-2000
revised: 12-Jul-2001

R, AU, OOC, Continuation, 4x1/2x1

Minuet by Katana

Part Nine

'This wasn't a great idea.'

'This wasn't my idea.'

'True.' Duo grinned suddenly, his eyes dancing with amusement. 'But who was it that insisted on coming with me?'

Quatre made a face, half annoyed, half amused by his friend's refusal to give up to despair even in the worst of situations. 'That's because I didn't trust you.'

'Really?' Duo drawled lazily as he looked around the small cell, 'and here I thought that you were coming with me just to make sure that I wasn't going to come back.'

Quatre paused for a moment, before replying tartly, 'that's not a bad idea actually.' He added with a sweet smile, as Duo raised a curious eyebrow, 'I'll try to keep that in mind, if I get the opportunity.'

'So much for friendships, eh 'best' friend?' Duo shrugged carelessly, leaning back against the wall on his narrow bunk, one leg dangling over the side, the other pulled up to his chest.

'You were the first, the best friend I ever had.' Quatre spoke quietly, surprising himself as well as Duo, with the depth of his sincerity apparent in his voice, 'and I wish from the bottom of my heart that we still were friends. But...'

'But...' Duo repeated mockingly, his eyes hooded behind the long dark lashes. He stared coldly at the blond man, who fell silent and refused to meet his eyes. 'Please... don't waste any crocodile tears on me, Quatre. I've heard your phoney laments before. And besides which, now is really not the time for a heart to heart confession. We've got to get out of here before Trowa and Wufei are discovered. Otherwise we really will be in trouble.'

'As compared to now?' Quatre retorted unenthusiastically, lifting his manacled wrists to emphasise his point. 'I would say that we're already in trouble. Unless you've got a way to 'magic' us out of here...'

Duo grinned wordlessly and tucked his hands into the thick hair behind his ear and produced a small thin pin like tool with a smug superior air and as Quatre watched in bemusement, freed himself from his own manacles within seconds.

'I'm impressed. I must say that I don't tend to plan contingencies for being captured and thrown into the brig. Obviously an oversight on my part.' Quatre couldn't help commenting dryly even as he held out his own wrists and waited for Duo to release him from the thick manacles.

'Unfortunately, I've had a couple experiences on past missions, 'of being thrown into the brig' as you put it. And it's taught me to always be prepared. After all, it's not like I had a personal little army running after my tail, trying to protect me.' Duo replied casually as he started to examine the lock of their cell carefully. He hummed lightly under his breath as he worked with the lock, focusing all his attention on trying to manoeuvre his tool around the locking mechanism.

Quatre looked on in silence, not liking the faint sneer in Duo's voice when he mentioned 'personal army' and impressed, in spite of himself, by the smooth expertise with which Duo had released them from the manacles. The same expertise that allowed him to step back from the door with a smug air as they heard the faint click and the door swung open.

'How much longer do we have to wait?' Camille growled impatiently through the intercom, again, and Brite valiantly fought the urge to snarl at the immature brat to shut the hell up.

'We have to wait until the covert team signals us. Weren't you listening during the briefing?' Amuro's voice was taut with excitement and annoyance.

'Hey, I didn't ask you.' Camille snapped crossly. 'And besides which, I'm getting totally, and I mean, totally bored just sitting out here. Do you realise that it's been over half an hour already?'

'Actually, it's been 37 minutes and 40 seconds and if you don't shut up, you aren't going to be alive in another 15 seconds.' Amuro hissed back furiously, trying to contain his temper.

'Make me.' Camille swung the Zeta Gundam around so that his gun ports were now facing Amuro's NuGundam directly.

Brite swore sulphurously under his breath as Camille's Zeta unit and Amuro's NuGundam started to move towards each other and leapt to his feet, only to pause as a brilliant beam of light streaked between the two machines.

'Heero!' Camille screamed out loud, fury and fear intermingled in his voice, 'how dare you shoot at me!'

'Next time, I'm not aiming to miss.' Heero aimed his beam rifle directly at Camille's Zeta as he spoke, 'if you interfere with the mission any further, you will be eliminated.'

'You cold son of a bitch!' Camille choked out in rage, even as he turned his Gundam away from Amuro's NuGundam, 'I'll give you eliminated. Shitty bastard. I hope you die in your own vomit you lousy...'

Heero reached out and turned off the intercom with a rueful sigh. At least he had prevented the young hothead from starting a fight just before the mission. He wondered how much longer it would be before the signal came through from the team that had boarded the Sigma satellite.

Heero looked at the tiny dot of light in the distance and his chest tightened with fear as he thought of his friends. That's where he should have been, with his friends. Instead, he was stuck babysitting a couple of precocious teenagers, one of them, a trigger-happy idiot, while waiting for word to start the foray against the Imperium mobiles stationed nearby.

Amuro fidgeted nervously in his seat, trying to find a more comfortable position, all the while feeling a nasty prickling sensation at the pit of his neck. He didn't want to die. For that matter he wasn't too happy about the thought of killing someone else either. He swallowed dryly, and gripped his armrests tightly, trying in vain to slow his rapid heartbeat.

Amuro had almost welcomed the diversion Camille had provided, for a brief instance, he was so annoyed that he almost forgot to be afraid... Damn. Doctor Ikari had never told him about what it would be like to have to wait, to feel the long seconds ticking slower and slower, while waiting for someone else to tell him it was time to start fighting, to know that it was possible that someone he knew could die, that he... could die...

That was a staggering prospect to face when you were only seventeen. Amuro was having trouble accepting the possibility of his own death. The brown-eyed boy shook his head firmly. He ran his hand through the tousled thick reddish brown curls, and pushed aside his fears as he continued to wait....

'How much longer...' Wufei fell silent as Trowa held up a warning hand and tried to curb his rising impatience as he waited for his partner to finish at the console.

Trowa let out a soft sigh of relief as he completed the downloading of the virus and checked that the signal to Brite had been sent without being detected. 'It's done. Lets get out of here.' He spoke flatly, his emotionless voice not giving away the inner excitement and turmoil that twisted inside him, as he tried to avoid reflecting on the irony of once again working with his old 'friends'.

In silent unison, the two men turned to the door and quickly fell into a brisk walk as soon as they entered the corridor, not bothering to check their chronometers as they kept count under their breath, and moved towards the emergency stairwell, as quickly as was possible without breaking into a full run. Trowa kept his head down, focusing his attention on the pad that he was carrying, carefully noting the exact position of the communications lab that they had just left and checking the distance to the launching bay where they were to rendezvous with Duo and Quatre, providing the other two had been successful in their mission.

As they reached the stairwell, a sudden explosion rocked the walls of the corridor and Trowa and Wufei exchanged looks of grim satisfaction and began to climb as fast as they were able. All elevators leading to and from their level would have been automatically shut down by the emergency systems when their small explosives went off and it would take at least 20 minutes of steady climbing before they would reach the level where hopefully, Duo and Quatre would be waiting for them in a shuttle.

'Who are you?'

Trowa blinked in confusion and came to an abrupt stop as the childish voice repeated its demand, and he twisted around until he was braced against the ladder and stared in amazement at the small form floating in front of him, the long blond hair spreading out behind her.

'I'm Trowa.' He answered at last, in a soft voice. 'And who are you?' He added curiously.

'You are lying.' The little girl responded solemnly, her large green eyes glimmering coldly. 'I can hear you thinking that it doesn't matter because it's not your real name. And I'm Elaine. Elaine Morgan. Why do you want to kill me?'

'I don't want to kill you.' Trowa answered instinctively, and suddenly felt his insides go cold as the little girl's eyes began to glow with power. 'And I hope that you don't want to kill me.' He added swiftly, even as he tensed and readied his hand next to the gun on his waist. 'It's not right to kill people.'

Elaine cocked her head to the left as she thought about that then nodded. 'It's not right to kill people.' She repeated with serious earnestness. 'I didn't know that.' She looked down at where Wufei was waiting silently on the stairs, her eyes locked on the gun in his hand. 'He does. He's agreeing with you and thinking about where he would shoot me at the same time. How can he do that?'

'He doesn't want to kill you.' Trowa responded hastily, 'he's just trying to protect me, and himself. He's not going to shoot, not unless he thinks that we are at risk.'

'At risk?' Elaine repeated slowly then broke into a proud grin as she glanced from one nervous man to the other. 'You are afraid of me. Both of you. I can hear you. And you can't hear me. You can't do anything.' Her voice turned contemptuous as a pale white glow began emanating around her small form. 'You aren't dangerous. Kaworu's made a mistake.'

Trowa and Wufei turned their heads away sharply as Elaine's body was wrapped in brilliant white light that burned their eyes and vanished.

'Teleportation.' Wufei muttered grimly. 'I don't remember anyone mentioning that particular little complication when we were discussing this mission.'

'So you didn't know about this either?' Trowa didn't bother to hide to scepticism in his voice.

Wufei glowered up indignantly, momentarily forgetting that Trowa would be unable to see his face clearly. 'No, I didn't.' He answered firmly. 'It looks like Howard's made further progress in his research into Vajira since his last report to the Foundation.'

'What about Duo?' Trowa added tersely, 'how much did he know about this?'

Wufei shrugged uncomfortably, hesitating before deciding that honesty in this case, probably was the best policy. 'I don't know. I know that he's been in touch with Howard, both before and since Imonoyama's takeover of Sigma, but...' he trailed off reluctantly as the two men began to resume their climb. 'Duo wouldn't withhold information from us, especially if there's a chance that Heero could be in danger because of it.' He finished confidently.

'Maybe.' Trowa admitted grudgingly, adding silently to himself, '... maybe not.'

'Zeta Units One and Two, proceed to Sector 7, Grid G-2. You are to engage the enemy mobiles and eliminate them before the reinforcements from Sigma arrive. You have a window of 17 minutes and 56 seconds to complete this mission. NuGundam is to proceed ahead to Sector 6, Grid E-9 and intercept the mobiles from Sigman and engage them in battle, until Zeta Units One and Two can join you. You are reminded that your role is to attract as much attention as possible and to occupy the enemy mecha so that Zechs and his team can proceed directly to Sigma without interference. Acknowledge.'

Camille smiled fiercely, baring his white teeth as he immediately directed his Zeta to the co-ordinates supplied by the White Base navigator. 'Camille in Zeta Unit One. Mission acknowledged. Hurry up Heero, last one there's a monkey's uncle!' He laughed happily as the other mobile swooped in behind him, and took up position on his left side.

'Heero in Unit Two. Mission accepted.'

'Good luck, Camille. Take care him please Heero.' Amuro called out, his own heart hammering loudly as he readied the NuGundam.

'Don't be such an old maid Amuro.' Camille retorted crossly, as he and Heero's Zeta Units transformed into the plane mode, and their boosters kicked in. 'If you don't hurry in that slow bucket, we aren't going to leave you any mobiles. So get moving.'

'Amuro in NuGundam. Mission acknowledged and moving out.' Amuro tried to steady his trembling voice as he threw a farewell salute to the beautiful white ship rapidly falling behind him. He was still scared but now, he was finding that he was also feeling an exhilarating sensation of freedom and power as he felt the stars streak behind him, his eyes glued to the tiny dots on the far end of his screen, aware that every second brought him closer and closer to his enemies.

Amuro felt his senses slowly expanding away from the tiny cockpit of his NuGundam as his mecha empathy melded his consciousness with the navigation system and all his fears and doubts faded away, and he experienced a rising surge in confidence and clarity.

He examined the flashing dots that danced and circled around each other on his viewer with detached interest, an occasional burst of coloured lights indicating that a mobile suit had exploded, and knew that he was watching Camille and Heero battling with the first division of Imperium mobiles. He could almost 'hear' the voices of the other two pilots, a constant faint buzzing sound that soothed and reassured him, as he focused on his own coming battle. All his experiences in the simulators had not prepared him for the sheer exhilaration that overwhelmed him and Amuro fought the urge to start laughing as he unconsciously urged his NuGundam to go faster and faster...

Heero frowned and shook his head, trying to clear the voices that kept on intruding in his mind. He used all his considerable powers of concentration to focus only on eliminating the targets from his screen. He refused to acknowledge or respond to the voices that continued to buzz in the background of his mind, insisting on his recognition of their presence. And to think that he had thought that it had been hard to try to keep his mind separate from the Zero system...

'Heero. Amuro.'

Camille called out over and over again, his blue eyes glittering wildly with excitement and, he hated to admit it, trepidation, as he tried to force the voices in his mind to respond to him. He was flying better than he had ever done in his entire life, and he was stunned by the sheer awkward ungainliness of the enemy mobile suits, as they tried desperately and futilely to avoid his and Heero's attacks.

He moved automatically, not bothering to waste his time on concentrating his attention on such weak and clumsy foes, wishing only to make them disappear from his screen as soon as possible. He felt a tiny flicker of awe as he studied the deadly grace of Zeta Two as it fired its beam rifle in rapid succession while turning, slicing the enemy mobile suits in two as easily as though they had been made of clay. He pulled out the beam saber from the shoulder holster of his Zeta and started to move towards the remaining two suits when a glowing white figure appeared in front of him.

'What the hell...' Camille's cry of surprise was cut off as he was slammed against his seat by a sudden impact, knocking all the breath from his chest.

Heero turned around with satisfaction, the last of his targets vanishing from his screen with a brief pyrotechnic flare, and bit back a cry as he saw a gleaming green armoured figure tear through the leg of Camille's Zeta. He threw away the beam rifle, and drew out his beam saber and swiftly moved to intercept this strange newcomer to their battle.

'You son of a bitch!'

Duo glared coldly at Quatre until the furious blond finally released his grip on his collar.

'Name calling isn't going to help anyone in this situation, Quatre.' He readjusted the collar and smoothed down the front of his shirt. 'I'm just as sorry as you are that Howard is dead but I don't think that blaming me is going to improve this situation any.'

'You knew. My god, you knew all along that Howard's been dead for over two months and that this communiqué was a set-up. And you let us walk straight into it. You are such a bastard. I can't believe I still believed in you.' Quatre spat acidly, as he glowered at the peaceful countenance of the dead man inside the frozen capsule.

'Actually, only my body is dead. Technically, the 'real' me is still here Quatre. And please don't blame Duo too much. I was afraid that if you knew that you were coming to rescue a 'mere' brainshell that you might not have agreed to help. And we needed you too much.'

Quatre fought back a shudder as he listened to the hollow metallic tones of the voice generated from the small speaker at the base of the glass dome housing what was left of the brilliant scientist.

'And think about it this way,' Duo added flippantly as he gathered up the small container in his hands, carefully. 'It's much easier to smuggle Howard out at this size. Imagine the trouble we'd have trying to disguise his looks. He's too old to be a soldier or even one of the lab techs. And that distinctive hairdo would have gotten us all in trouble.'

'Hey! I resemble that remark.' Howard-brain retorted mildly, his amusement evident even through the harsh distorted artificial voice.

Quatre glared at the grinning man and avoided looking directly at the grey pulsating flesh in the glass dome. 'Is there any other 'surprises' that you haven't told me about yet?'

Duo raised a curious brow, 'why Quatre. Don't you trust me?' He asked mockingly, only to stiffen as Quatre raised his gun and pointed it directly in his face.

'No.' Quatre answered shortly.

'Well... if you put it that way...' Duo shrugged and started to carefully pack the glass dome into a carrybag that he had brought with him. 'Where do you want to start?'

'What?' Quatre asked involuntarily, as he paused in the act of putting away his gun.

Duo laughed, 'you did ask me to tell you about more 'surprises' right? Where do you want me to start? And by the way, I hope you don't mind talking while we walk, because we do have a shuttle to catch. Unless,' his voice drawled arrogantly, 'you feel like hanging around here when the power core reaches critical mass and Sigma goes up in flames?'

Quatre heaved a deep sigh and started to walk briskly towards the door of the laboratory. 'I knew that coming with you on this mission was a mistake.'

'Awww... you're hurting my feelings.' Duo retorted mockingly, though without malice. 'And besides which, look at all the fun you would have missed if you hadn't 'tagged' along.' He stifled a faint laugh as Quatre shot him a dirty look before ducking his head out into the corridor, to check that it was clear.

'Are you two still fighting?' Howard whispered in a scratchy voice, the sound almost muffled by the cloth of the bag surrounding his container.

Duo tapped the glass lightly and whispered back to him to stay silent until they reached the shuttle, then carefully sealed the carrybag and adjusted the shoulder strap so that there would be minimum amount of jarring for the fragile passenger. He followed quickly behind as Quatre motioned to him to leave the lab, not before turning a last wistful glance at the frozen corpse, whispering a silent goodbye to the white frosted face visible behind the glass frame.

'How long have we got?' Quatre asked absently as he started to pry open the lock mechanism of the elevator and began to reorder the wires.

'Five minutes till the lab blows. Fifteen to get to level four. If we hurry, we might be able to get there before Trowa and Wufei. The shuttle has to take off in twenty minutes or we won't be able to reach safe distance from the blast from the explosion when the power core detonates.' Duo answered tersely, as he looked at his wrist chronometer.

'And if Heero and the others have been successful in their missions, then we should be able to return to the White Base in approximately an hour's time.' Quatre completed with satisfaction and stood up as the elevator doors opened.

'No problem.' Duo quoted Heero's favourite line with a smirk.

Amuro blinked slowly, trying to catch his ragged breath as he blearily stared at his clenched fingers around the control stick, then at the debris filled space surrounding his immobile NuGundam. He felt himself shaking as a cold sweat broke out all over his body, and hot tears prickled his eyes. Amuro gulped back his sobs as he stared and stared at the metal shrapnel that swirled across his screen, feeling his guts twist into knots with guilty and horror.

It had been so easy... too easy...

Ten minutes earlier...

The NuGundam posed an imposing sight as it burst into the midst of the Imperium mobiles, small triangular bits flying from its back to form a lethal barrage of energy that swirled around the black and white mecha, absorbing all energy blasts from the startled mobiles, as it readied the powerful beam rifle and fired. Over twenty mobiles were destroyed within minutes and the remaining few mobiles scattered in terror, only to be hunted down with methodical precision by the implacable NuGundam, and destroyed one after another. And Amuro had wakened from his battle fugue to realize himself the lone victor of the devastated space.

'I'm sorry...' Amuro whispered softly as tears streaked down his face, 'I...' he bit his lips, swallowing the taste of bile that rose in his mouth as he tried to figure out what he was trying to say... to try to understand what he had just done. This... carnage wasn't right. Amuro knew that somehow there had been something wrong with what had just happened. That even though he had been up against superior numbers, that somehow, it hadn't been a fair fight. This wasn't what he wanted... Hell, he didn't know anymore what he wanted. Just that he didn't want to kill helpless people.

'What do I do now?'

Amuro muttered to himself dully, laughing hollowly as the chronometer in his NuGundam told him that he had accomplished his mission ahead of time. He didn't want to stay in this... graveyard that he had created, a minute longer than he had to. He wiped the tear streaks from his face and thought about his options, then decided that he would attempt to rendezvous with Heero and Camille by travelling towards their co-ordinates rather than wait for them here.

'I hate travelling in elevator shafts.' Quatre muttered under his breath as he grunted from the effort of pulling himself up onto the slender metal beam.

'I think you need to exercise more regularly.' Duo commented with a sly grin, and laughed when Quatre merely scowled at him. 'Hey this is par the course for a couple of hotshot terrorists like us. Do you realize how many elevator shafts and air vents that Heero and I used to...' He trailed off uncomfortably, a sudden flush on his cheeks as Duo thought about his next words and who he was talking to. 'We better hurry.' He ended stiffly.

Quatre, who had involuntarily jerked up his head at the mention of Heero's name, stared at the brown haired man for a few minutes before nodding. He thought about the unusual reticence Duo had just displayed and felt his heart sink as he realized the vastness of the gulf that separated him from his once close friend.

'So, the Howard that I spoke to was really a computer simulation by the Sigma IPU?' Quatre spoke diffidently, trying to dispel the sudden tension between him and Duo.

'Yeah.' Duo replied shortly. 'I was just as horrified as you when I first found out that Howard had been assassinated.' He continued smoothly, ignoring the soft grunt of surprise behind him, 'it was Doctor Nagisa.' He said, answering Quatre's unspoken question. 'He and Doctor Ikari both worked on Project Gamma, you know, the one you blew up?' Duo added light heartedly.

'You knew?' Quatre asked flatly, not feeling overly surprised that Duo had figured that out. 'I kept my involvement down to a strict minimum on that one. I don't think even Heero knows.'

'He does.' Duo answered coolly. He paused and looked down at Quatre, whose face had suddenly twisted in rage. 'I asked him. He wasn't too happy about what you did, or that you deliberately tried to keep him in the dark about it.' Duo snorted scornfully, 'and I thought that you were such a slick operator. I can't believe you made the same mistake I did.'

Quatre reddened angrily and tightened his grip on the side-beam. 'Since when did you become Heero's confidante? Was it when I found him with you at Epsilon? Why the hell was he with you anyway?'

'Oh... you mean... Heero's not talking to you?' Duo snickered rudely, before settling himself down on the narrow beam and offering a hand to Quatre, who silently gripped it, and pulling the tall blond over on to his side. 'That's the most annoying thing about that guy. Whenever he gets mad at you, he stops talking to you.' Duo's voice grew soft as he reminisced. 'That's what used to drive me crazy. You can't argue with someone who doesn't say anything.'

Quatre looked down at his lap where his hands lay tightly clenched and closed his eyes for a second, trying to calm himself. 'So... why was he with you that time?' He asked in a small voice, hating himself for asking and unable to resist the need to know.

Duo looked at Quatre and noted his pallor, he turned his face away as he answered coldly. 'He was in trouble. Some punks were chasing him and he needed me. As for Epsilon, he came because I asked him to. And I don't know why he didn't call you so don't bother asking me.'

Quatre swallowed painfully, feeling a sudden hot lump in his throat. 'I believe you were telling me something about a Doctor Nagisa.' He managed at last, not wanting to discuss Heero any further.

'Doctor Nagisa.' Duo repeated tonelessly, 'oh yeah. Our machiavellian scientist friend who engineered the little accident that officially killed Howard and at the same time allowed him to perform the 'miraculous' surgery that preserved Howard's mind. He and Doctor Sakurazuka are quite the diabolical twosome. If I had known how dangerous they'd become, I'd have organised little accidents for them ages ago myself.' He finished grimly as he stood up and cast up the rope to the next beam.

'Sakurazuka...' Quatre repeated with a puzzled frown before his eyes suddenly cleared, 'I know that name. He works for Dorothy at Omega, are you telling me that those two are involved in all this? I knew that we should have placed her project higher on the priority list.' He added to himself in a quiet undertone.

'I'm afraid that contrary to your expectations, I'm not exactly the mastermind in all this.' A light ripple of laughter ran beneath Duo's voice as he again offered a hand to Quatre, who shook his head this time, and stood back with amusement, as the blond man pulled himself up on the beam, huffing and grunting with effort. 'So I don't have all the answers but... I do have a fondness for collecting odd bits and pieces of information. After all, you never know when they might come in handy. And I do have a little talent for putting pieces together, even if I do say so myself.'       'Can anyone stop you?' Quatre grinned with malicious humour. 'I don't know anyone who loves the sound of their own voice as much as you do.'

'Ouch.' Duo feigned mock horror, 'don't tell me, I talk too much...' He laughed suddenly, his face lighting with real amusement as he looked at Quatre who started to giggle uncontrollably at his last words. 'You know, I missed you.' Duo blurted out and then stopped with a surprised look on his face.

Quatre stopped laughing instantaneously, a look of pain distorting his smooth features.

The two friends stared at each other silently for a long minute then in wordless unison they turned away and started their climb again.

'Get away from me! Heero! Help me!' Camille was terrified, trying to figure out exactly what this new threat was. The right leg on his Zeta had been completely shredded and the small green figure was darting around him, far too fast for him to get a target lock with his guns, or to bring his beam saber into play.

Heero hissed impatiently as once again, the green creature moved away from him, trying to get closer to Camille's damaged Zeta. He had never seen anything like this before, the creature was only a third the size of a Gundam but it seemed to be even stronger. And those strange glowing wings on its back.... Heero couldn't quite figure them out either. Its movements were far too smooth to be that of a machine, its reaction speed was closer to that of a living thing but how could anything alive function unprotected in vacuum.... Heero gritted his teeth and fired his guns again, this time, placing his fire along a projected path rather than aiming directly at the creature, in the hopes that he might get lucky.

'Camille!'

Heero and Camille looked up, momentarily distracted as they saw Amuro's NuGundam swoop in, the bits detaching themselves from his back, like small fighters breaking from a mother ship.

Heero heaved a sigh of relief as Amuro's bits started to chase after the green creature, their smaller size allowing them to match it in speed and manoeuvrability. He wiped the beads of sweat from his brow and turned his attention to Camille, noting that apart from the loss of the leg, the Zeta unit had sustained only minor damages.

'Camille. Return to the White Base for repairs.' Heero ordered curtly. 'Amuro and I will take care of this creature and proceed ahead to the rendezvous point with Zechs.'

Camille bit his lips angrily, biting back a hot retort to Heero, and settled back in his seat, wrapping his arms around himself to stop the shaking. He didn't want to admit how frightened he had been by the strange creature that had attacked him. Or that what had scared him the most about it was that it had been strangely... familiar. The weird piercing cries that the creature had emitted while attacking him had almost sounded like words... Much as he hated to admit it, this time Camille knew that Heero was right. And Camille didn't want to stay anywhere near the green being that had torn apart the leg of his Zeta as though it had been made of paper.

'Look out!' Amuro screamed out loud as the green creature veered sharply away from his bits and flew directly into the path of Camille's Zeta unit.

'No...' Camille gasped out in mingled terror and shock and automatically threw his hands up in front of his face, in vain attempt to shield himself as he saw the green creature fly directly towards his cockpit. He screamed as a brilliant white light shone for a blinding instance before fading away and leaving him staring blankly at empty space.

'Wha... what happened?' Camille stammered out in confusion, trying to reorient himself, and fell silent as he began to realize that he was alone...

'Heero?' Camille called out in a timid voice, as he frantically scanned the nearby space, 'Amuro!' He screamed out desperately, hoping that someone would respond to him. 'Heero! Amuro! Answer me! Where are youuuu.....!'

The single Zeta Gundam twisted and turned clumsily in space, one of its legs trailing awkwardly behind, held to the main body by only a few inches of metal, as it began to move, slowly at first, but gathering momentum as it continued. And a young boy's voice screamed out again and again into the silent darkness.

'That girl...' Trowa began hesitantly as he started to program the shuttle's navigation system.

Wufei paused his calibration of the communications console and looked up with a guarded expression. 'What about her?' He asked at last as the silence continued.

'Is she a part of this Vajira experiment?' Trowa asked in a deliberately neutral voice.

'Would you believe me if I said I'm not sure?' Wufei answered with a cool stare. After a long minute, he put his face into his hands and rubbed his eyes tiredly. 'You still don't trust me do you?' He said in a weary voice.

Trowa hesitated as he warred with himself over whether or not he should risk being open with someone who had betrayed him once before... Finally, he shrugged and folded his arms over his chest as he leaned back in the chair to regard Wufei, whose face was still buried in his hands.

'Don't forget that you also work for the Foundation. As Director of Project Delta. You will have to excuse me if I seem a little doubtful of your intentions in helping us destroy Sigma. I'm not even sure why you agreed to help us in the first place.'

'Because...' Wufei looked up and Trowa felt jarred by the dept of sincerity shining from the black opaque eyes. 'We, Duo and I, never stopped believing in peace, or freedom. The only difference between us and you, is that we chose to do something about it, instead of waiting around until someone else comes along to replace Treize and Mariemaia. Someone like Nokoru Imonoyama. Ironic isn't it? That you and Quatre chose to waste your time trying to fight us, instead of turning your attention to the real menace?'

'As defined by you?' Trowa snapped back, with uncustomary zeal, his green eyes blazing coldly. 'Only you and Duo can make the right choice as to who our enemy is or should be? Don't you understand that by taking away the right to choose, the freedom to simply be, you and the Foundation's pet Projects pose a greater threat to humanity than anything else?'

'You mean like that little girl?' Wufei retorted in a surly voice, an angry scowl on his face.

'The one that can read our minds and teleport? And what if she has even more powers than that? Are you telling me that you would class a philosophical difference of opinion as a higher threat then the development of potentially limitless and lethal espers as weaponry? Of course not.'

He scoffed scornfully as he answered himself. 'And that's why we are helping you. Because Duo and I don't want that any more than you do. Because the last thing we want is to deliver such power into Nokoru's hands. And that's why we're helping you take out Sigma.'

'Because it suits your agenda. For the moment.' Trowa's face was bleak as he muttered the response. 'And that's why I don't trust you.' He added tonelessly. 'Because I don't know when your agenda will change. Again.' He turned back to his console and busied himself with finishing the navigational computations.

Wufei opened his mouth then closed it again as he realized the futility of arguing any further. Especially since, he admitted to himself, he couldn't really deny what Trowa had just said. He sighed heavily and turned back to his own task, wondering why and how he and Trowa had drifted so far apart since that first time when they met and shared a quiet commune over the small fire....

Amuro gasped as the white light cleared from his screen and he stared at the suddenly crowded space around him. Then a brilliant burst of light came from behind him as Heero's Zeta pulled forward the beam saber and sliced open the nearest mobile. He watched in a daze as his own bits began to swoop around him, forming the energy barrier to protect him from enemy fire, even as he saw his own hands move of their own accord, directing the powerful NuGundam's gunports on the nearby mobiles and firing.

The green creature also turned and attacked, but to Amuro's surprise, its target were the Imperium mobiles, rather than himself and Heero.

'Zechs. Come in. This is Heero. We're at Sector 9, Grid A-14. We require immediate assistance. Zechs. Respond.'

Heero programmed his communicator to resend the signal over and over until it received a reply and turned his attention back on the raging battle around him. For some unknown reason, the green creature had chosen to teleport to this co-ordinate, bringing himself and Amuro right into the midst of a group of Imperium mobiles. He couldn't see Camille's damaged Zeta anywhere and assumed that he must have been left behind at the original co-ordinates. He scowled thunderously as the green creature zipped by him, tearing into an unfortunate enemy mobile who had taken aim at his Zeta. He couldn't figure out what it was or why it now seemed to be on their side.

'Heero?'

Heero turned the communicator back on line immediately when he heard Zechs' puzzled voice over the intercom.

'We're on our way. But how did you get there so fast...' Heero sighed ruefully as the rest of Zechs' message was lost from the buzzing scramble that indicated that Minowski particles had been released in his area, cutting the group off from communications with either side for some time. 'How long do you think it'll be before they get here?' Amuro asked tersely as he cut through yet another mobile that bore down on him.

Heero pursed his lips as he calculated Zechs' group's ETA and frowned grimly as he realized that help would only reach them when it was too late....

'Not for another fifteen minutes at least.'

He answered quietly as his Zeta adroitly avoided a crushing blow from a vibrating axe and stabbed the bold mobile through the middle with his beam saber, ducking away at the last minute to avoid the miniature explosion as its power core went critical.

'Then we're going to have to finish this on our own.' Amuro felt his heart thud to a stop as he checked his rapidly dwindling energy level and his almost emptied weapons bank.

'There's only twenty-four of them left... make that twenty-two.' Heero corrected drily as he finished off his opponent and saw the green creature burrow through yet another. His Zeta unit moved so that it stood back to back with Amuro's NuGundam, taking shelter behind the barrier erected by Amuro's bits, as the remaining mobiles drew back into a circling formation.

'And then there's our unreliable ally...' Heero added worriedly as the green creature also drew back and hovered near them. 'I can't figure out what that thing's going to do next.' Heero chewed his lower lip anxiously as he turned off his beam saber, trying to conserve as much energy as possible before the final foray. 'All I know is that I hate that thing... I just wish I knew why...' Heero pushed his heavy fringe away from his forehead impatiently.

Amuro stared intently at the strange green being, admiring the iridescent glowing wings on its back, and wondering why he felt a strange sense of déjà vu whenever he looked at it. Unlike Heero, he didn't feel a need to destroy the unusual, and he admitted to himself, strangely beautiful, creature. Amuro held out his hand to the creature's image on his viewer screen and traced its outline in an unconscious caress. He felt drawn to it somehow... as though it was a part of him...

The green creature threw back its head and howled, a piercing shrill cry that seemed to slice through his very centre and Amuro shuddered violently. Then he gasped as he saw Heero's Zeta break away from him and fly towards the creature, the beam saber activated and held up high above its head. He screamed and immediately broke into pursuit... to rescue Heero or the creature... he didn't know. Then Amuro screamed again, this time in horror as the green creature began to glow once again...

Heero swore loudly to himself as he slammed the Zeta into a stop and transformed into the plane mode. He didn't know why he had acted so impulsively when the creature had cried out, all he knew that when he heard the hideous screech, everything went black and all he wanted to do was to wipe the creature from existence. He tried not to panic as the white glow started to envelope the nearby space and kicked in the boosters, this time, he had no intention of being caught within the energy. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see the NuGundam also fleeing as fast as it could as the white energy expanded behind them. The Imperium mobiles were slower and one by one, Heero saw them being swallowed within the energy, and the small bursts of explosion that followed.

The white light finally stopped expanding once it had consumed all the Imperium mobiles and it pulsated for a few seconds then dwindled rapidly and vanished.

Heero forced the Zeta to brake and turned around, his body still trembling from shock and fear, as he activated his long range sensors and swept the area. 'It's gone.' He heard the obvious relief in his voice and raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his face.

'What is that thing?' Amuro's voice shook noticeably with relief and awe. 'What the hell was that? And how do we fight something like that?' He asked plaintively, his confidence badly shaken by his encounter with the creature.

'I think...' Heero hesitated briefly, 'it may be a Vajiroid. If it was then Project Sigma is closer to completion than any of us thought. I hope this doesn't spell trouble for the others. And I have no idea how to fight something like that.' Heero finished with a troubled look towards the tiny glitter in the distance. The creature's teleportation had brought them closer to the Sigma satellite.

End Part 9

Katana

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