28-Sep-2000
Presenting a GW/Gatchamen Fusion
Pairing: 1x3, 6x1 (implied, unrequited)
Rating: R
Category: OOC, AU, Humour/Action
List of characters in AU world appears at the END of the fic.
Track 3.
Best Laid Plans by Katana
Afterwards Duo admitted privately to Heero, and only to Heero, that maybe, this once, just maybe, it had been his fault. Still, he pointed out, with some justification, as even Heero allowed grudgingly and reluctantly, that if Raven and Quatre hadn't overreacted, that things wouldn't have gotten so out of control. What was undeniable though was that they had left behind a terrible mess this time. Duo had to agree when Heero pointed out that they had been fortunate in finding Widget at that crucial time when everything went critical.
<flashback>
Dressing room 1.
Duo scowled crossly as for the umpteenth time he struggled to tuck his long braid into the small helmet. He had been trying to find a helmet that would fit over his braid for over half an hour and he was rapidly losing his patience. He also had no intention of following Falcon's less than helpful suggestion that he cut the braid off. He threw down the helmet in his hand and picked up the next biggest in size.
'You do realize that even when you eventually find the one that fits, you'll probably end up looking like a twit, with an oversized head.'
'Shut up Falcon.' Duo snapped back without turning his head as he started the laborious project of trying to tuck his long, thick braid tightly around his head, and then trying to cram the helmet down on top. 'Just remember, this wasn't my idea.'
'Yeah, yeah. It was our two brain trusts who came up with the brilliant, yet obvious plan, of confusing our, not overly bright, enemies into seeing double vision of the Raptors.' Falcon yawned and stretched his arms behind him. 'Are you going to take, like forever, getting the helmet on? Because I'm getting really bored here.'
Duo swore sulphurously as he slammed down yet another helmet and grabbed for the next biggest in size.
Falcon stifled another yawn as he idly wondered whether any of the other Gundam pilots had finished getting dressed in their copied versions of the birdstyle costumes yet. Surely, none of the others were having this much trouble.
Dressing room 2.
'No.'
'Absolutely not.'
'I'm not wearing any padding!'
'No and no and no!'
Owl sighed unhappily and bit into his hamburger. It looked like it would take some time before they managed to calm Wufei down. He guessed he couldn't really blame the poor guy for not wanting to be stuck in some inflated suit. He munched automatically even as he started to reach out for a second hamburger.
Dressing room 3.
Quatre looked at his image in the body-length mirror and frowned disapprovingly. There had been a couple of minor discrepancies that he and Eagle had forgotten when they came up with their plan. Like the slight difference in body size between a thirteen year old and an eighteen year old.
'The Galactors are going to know that I'm not the Falcon.' Quatre pointed out to Eagle who was also looking rather dubious as he studied the facsimile Falcon, who was quite obviously taller and larger than him, let alone the slim thirteen year old.
'Maybe if you try to hunch your shoulders a little bit more? And just keep moving so that all they can see is your colours?' Eagle suggested hesitantly. He had to admit that he was beginning to have a few doubts about the viability of their plan. It had seemed like such a good idea at first, to take advantage of these doppelgangers, to increase the fear and confusion in the Galactors. Eagle really hated the thought of throwing out such a good plan.
Dressing room 4.
Hawk stared anxiously at his counterpart and waved a hand in front of his visor.
'Are you sure that you can still see?'
Trowa nodded, grateful that he was used to seeing out of only one eye. His bang had completely filled one half of the visor, cutting off the vision on the other side. He inclined his head to try to get a better view of himself in Hawk's blue and white costume.
'This isn't going to work, is it?' He pursed his lips as he continued to move his head, trying to find a better position in order to increase his range of vision.
Dressing 5.
Raven stared at the mirror image of his Commander, feeling unnerved by the uncanny resemblance. Heero presented an exact copy of the white winged Eagle, down to the dark blue thigh high boots and the cool glint in the large eyes behind the pale blue visor.
Heero shifted uneasily in his costume. He was used to wearing tight clothes but the birdstyle costumes of the Raptors left him feeling somewhat. exposed. Also his peripheral vision had been cut off by the close fitting helmet and he was trying to get used to the heavy weight of the wings dragging on his shoulders and neck. Worst of all though were the ridiculous thigh-length boots. He wondered why they had put heels on the damned boots.
'I can't move in this thing.' Heero said at last in flat tones.
Raven suddenly grinned, amused by the discomfit in Heero's voice and posture. 'Don't worry.' He tucked a friendly hand around Heero's shoulder, momentarily forgetting that he wasn't speaking to the real Eagle. 'You won't have to move, much. Just stand around and look cool. That way, no one will be able to tell the difference between you and Eagle.'
Heero swung his head sharply and Raven hastily backed off, just in time to avoid being swiped by the beak-like visor.
'I want to see Eagle. Now.'
Raven blinked at the grim hardness in Heero's voice and nodded reflexively before dashing to the door.
Conference Room.
Eagle beamed around at the assembled Raptors, feeling a strange surge of pride as he gazed upon his friends, and the new additions to the team. It had taken a bit of work, and some ingenious modifications by Doctor J in a few instances, but now here they were. The Raptors and the Shadow Raptors. The Hakase's last minute intervention had saved his wonderful plan. And he felt confident that the Galactors would never pick up on small differences, like Wufei's slimmer figure, or Duo's slightly larger head, or the smaller wings on Heero's costume, or the modified helmet on Trowa, or that Quatre is taller, bigger and yes, obviously a few years older than Falcon. Eagle refused to worry over such small details. The sheer psychological impact of seeing the Raptors in more than one place simultaneously would be so great that the Galactor goons would never stop to consider any minor differences.
'I swear, seeing you flashing teeth is beginning to seriously get on my nerves.' Duo whispered sourly to Heero, who simply grunted and tucked his arms behind the wing cape.
'Well now that we are all ready, why don't you read the descriptions of your detail in this mission? They are outlined in the manifest placed before you. I suggest that you read thoroughly and carefully and make notes where you want to ask any questions. When you've had a chance to finish reading, I'll lead off and give you all an overview of our mission perimeters, followed by Quatre, who will elaborate on the secondary objective. Then we'll hold a question session to check that we all understand our functions and objectives exactly.'
Duo stared incredulously at the ten page thick manifest in front of him. He turned his head to look at Raven, curious to see how his volatile alter self reacted, and his jaw dropped involuntarily as Raven picked up his copy and started to read intently, occasionally jotting down notes. He then looked around the table and saw the all the Raptors were reading earnestly, as were his friends. He sighed and picked up the manifest and started to leaf idly, then when Heero discreetly nudged him with his elbow, he sighed again and picked up the pen, also provided next to the manifest, and started to read, carefully.
The Phoenix.
'There aren't enough seats.'
'Give him a gold star. He can count. To five anyway.'
'Hey I wasn't talking to you, Mr we don't need anyone else.' Duo snapped at his mirror image before turning belligerently towards Eagle who had started to chew his underlip. 'Didn't you guys think about where we were going to sit before you decided to cram us in here with you? I'm telling you right now, I'm not spending six hours sitting on the floor.'
'This is our ship. There's no way I'm going to be sitting on the floor.' Raven snarled as he settled down in his chair. 'You are just going to have to lump it for the trip. For god's sake is there anything you don't complain about?'
'I don't know why you keep butting into a private conversation.' Duo hissed back, 'I keep telling you, I'm not talking to you. Well, what are you going to do?' He turned back to Eagle, his hands on his hips.
Eagle looked around the suddenly small and cramped looking cabin and shrugged helplessly. 'We'll take it in turns to sit on the ground.' He managed weakly. 'Except of course for Owl. He is our pilot after all.'
'Oh I don't mind sharing my chair with Trowa.' Owl volunteered happily, 'I don't really have to stay in the chair the entire time anyway.'
'See?' Eagle brightened immediately, 'as long as we try to co-operate with each other it's really not that big a deal. I don't mind taking turns with Quatre. If that's okay with you?' Eagle turned to the tall Falcon who nodded absently.
Quatre fidgeted uncomfortably, for some reason, he kept on feeling that someone was staring at him. But every time he turned around to look, he couldn't quite catch anyone with their eyes on him. He agreed with Heero about the problem with losing peripheral vision when wearing the damned helmet. He was feeling increasingly unhappy at the prospect of going into battle with such a physical handicap. He twitched and turned around quickly again, but was unable to spot who had been staring at him this time either.
'So I guess we're sharing chairs.'
'Guess again.' Falcon retorted sharply, swivelling around in his seat to face Duo. 'I don't let anyone sit on my chair except me.' He smiled smugly.
'Oh yes you will.' Hawk came up beside them just as Duo aimed a kick at the dangling legs of the teenager, and missed. 'You are going to share with me.' He turned and pointed to a chair behind the secondary console, next to Raven. 'Why don't you use my station Duo, with Wufei?' He suggested calmly. 'Ands you don't mind letting Heero share your chair, do you Raven?' He asked with pseudo sweetness.
Raven scowled, then shrugged. 'Yeah. He can sit down. We'll take it in half hour turns.'
'Okay.' Heero agreed coolly, he hadn't particularly cared that much whether he sat in a chair or on the ground. In front of the cabin they could hear the excited Owl explaining all the functions of the controls of the Phoenix to Trowa, who nodded politely whenever the Owl looked at him.
'This is the control for Honotori and this one I only use when we're underwater and...'
'You guys really have this thing about birds don't you?'
Heero and Raven sighed in unison as Duo came up behind them and sniggered.
Galactor Headquarters.
(Duo & Falcon)
'Oh my god! It's the Raven. We're going to die!'
Duo smirked under his helmet, he hated to admit it but he was rather enjoying the effect he had on the Galactor men in his borrowed identity. It was kind of fun to see people scream in fear and run away as soon as they caught sight of his black uniform. He and Falcon had settled into a routine, where he'd jump down first and scatter the Galactors, and wait for Falcon to mop up any brave remainders left in the room. He felt an urge to clap when the orange blur came to a stop and all the men in green and brown uniforms were lying on the floor.
'Don't just stand there like a lump.' Falcon snapped, 'seal this level down. Why do you wait for me to tell you every little thing?'
Duo swallowed a hot reply, his admiration melting away in the face of Falcon's ire. He trotted to the control console and started the lock down sequence that would cut off the possibility of bringing in reinforcements from the Galactor troops stationed on the ground level. The technology of the Galactors had proven to be surprisingly sophisticated, a legacy from the alien invader who founded the group. Much to his chagrin, Duo had discovered that his expertise with the systems back in his world did not give him as much of an advantage as he had expected.
He and Falcon had the role of playing interference. To hinder and delay, to confuse and to destroy, had been Eagle's curt reminder to the pair, just before they all left the Phoenix. Duo had been intrigued to learn that the Raptors were pretty much set in a routine distribution of roles on missions. Basically, the Eagle, and this case with Quatre, would head for the centre of command on the Galactor base, while Raven, with Heero would try to take out the communications nexus. And Hawk, with Trowa's able assistance, were to take advantage of the chaos that would result from the Raptors entry, to quietly set explosives in all the critical areas, with a timer set to a prearranged time limit. Then when Hawk's team was finished, the Raptors would pull out and head for the Phoenix.
'That's it. Lets head for the next level.'
Duo nodded his assent and fell in behind Falcon, impressed by the business-like tone of the younger Quatre, despite himself. He groaned automatically as Falcon began to move faster, and tried to pick up his pace. Unfortunately, though he and his friends had been issued with birdstyle costumes, they lacked the enhanced abilities of the Raptors. Duo knew that he was a pretty fast runner but Falcon left him dead whenever he picked up the speed a little. Then there was the problem with the flying.
(Eagle & Quatre)
An eerie whistle sounded through the corridors and the Galactors, as one man, cringed. A white blur sped through the room and the Galactors standing in its path dropped like rocks.
'The white shadow.'
A Galactor soldier cried out, fear and awe commingled in his voice, and as if on a prearranged signal, all the Galactor men put up their rifles and started to shoot wildly.
'Birdrang go.' A young clear voice echoed through the corridor, following by a faint humming sound as a small metal object flew through the room, dropping the Galactors where they stood, blood spurting out everywhere.
Quatre watched with dazed eyes, trying to reconcile this picture of wholesale butchery with the charming, smiling young man he had gotten to know during their stay at Centre Crescent. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he tried to reconcile the flashy costume and the way they had cute bird nicknames for everything, with the deadly reality he saw before him. He had totally underestimated this Heero before this mission, thinking him to be softer, and automatically weaker than their Heero, simply because he had a more congenial personality. But their Heero had never killed with the casual, almost careless air that the Eagle took when he eliminated the obstacles, as he termed the Galactor soldiers, in their path.
'This is Eagle 1.' Eagle finally revealed himself, standing tall and pristine white, not a drop of blood on him, in the middle of the room. He murmured softly to his wrist communicator. 'Level 3 is now clear. Repeat, to all teams, level 3 is clear. Proceeding as planned.' He put down his wrist and looked up to the ceiling where Quatre was peering down at him from the open air-vent and smiled innocently. 'Do you need a hand getting down Quatre?'
(Raven & Heero)
The long corridor was empty save for the two men dressed in usual green Galactor uniforms. They stood at rigid attention in front of a featureless double door, their rifles held firmly behind their shoulders.
'How much longer till the end of our shift?'
One Galactor man whispered out of the corner of his mouth to his companion. The other man just grunted wordlessly in reply, making sure his eyes remained glued firmly on the opposite wall of the corridor.
'Do you think I'd get into trouble if I scratched my nose a little?' The first man whispered again, sounding slightly agitated.
'Don't talk to me you idiot.' The second man answered at last, trying to talk without moving his mouth. 'You know how his high and mightiness gets if he thinks we are slacking off while on guard duty.'
'Yeah but it's been over four hours.' The first man's voice had picked up a distinctive whining tinge by now. 'My legs, not to mention the rest of me, have totally gone to sleep. I'm going to topple over if I have to keep standing like this for a few more hours.'
'We all have our problems.' The second man spat bitterly, a faint trickle of sweat appearing under his half mask. 'I need to go. Real bad. So don't distract me anymore.'
'Oh. Right. Sorry.' The first Galactor man responded cheerfully. There was nothing like knowing that someone was in greater misery to make one feel better.
A few minutes later, the two soldiers started in unison as a loud thumping sound came from behind the doors they were guarding. They swallowed and looked at each other with trepidation.
'Um. we are supposed to guard this door from anyone trying to get in on our side, right?' The first Galactor man swallowed nervously, his rifle shaking in his numb hands.
The second Galactor man looked at the door, which had now picked up some dents, and at the black smoke trailing out from the seams of the doorway and after a moment, nodded. 'That's right.' He confirmed, 'our job is to guard the door from this side. No one said anything about us being authorised to open the doors. Under any circumstances.' He finished with relief.
'Just checking.' The first Galactor man returned to his position, trying to ignore the screams and yells from the other side of the closed doors. 'Do you hear anything?' He asked the second Galactor man, whose attention had not wavered from the doors, which had picked up couple more dents since.
'Well. I thought I heard someone scream out something. that sounded a little like. Raven. And possibly. I might have heard someone mention Eagle in between a few shouts...' The second Galactor man muttered reluctantly, his problems with his bowels completely forgotten thanks to the new emergency. After a moment of reflection, during which the two men heard few more screams and shuddered in unison, carefully avoiding each other's eyes. 'Nah.' He turned around firmly, returning to his own position. 'I'm sure I was just hearing things. You know, what'd they called it in our psychological adjustment training sessions. y'know how they warned us to be careful not to be caught up by projection of our fears? That happens when you work in a high stress environment.'
'I know what you mean.' The first man nodded sagely, his eyes glued to the nice, bland white walls, ignoring the black smoke that started to gather around his feet. 'Do you know that I've been diagnosed with avian-phobia?' He whispered confidentially. The second man jerked slightly, then shrugged wordlessly. 'No joke. Every time I see a bird's shadow, I start sweating like mad. And whistles. Don't know the name for that phobia. But I've got that too. And I'm really not fond of certain colours anymore. Like white. And especially. black.' He grimaced as he mentioned the dread colour. 'I've forbidden my wife from wearing or buying any more black dresses. I don't care if pink makes her look fatter.'
The second man shrugged again. 'Occupational hazard.' He answered stiffly. 'At least we get great medical and life insurance.'
The first man gave his companion a scathing look from behind his mask, which went totally unnoticed. 'I'd much rather get higher hourly rates. I'm kind of keen on keeping all my limbs, not to mention my life.'
'So what the hell are you doing here then?' The second man asked impatiently, 'didn't you pay attention when the recruiting officer explained that this was a high-risk job? High risk.' He scoffed scornfully, 'huh. Talk about understatement. Do you have any idea how many funerals I've been to since I've started?'
'I don't go to funerals.' The first man muttered, shifting his feet around a little, 'I don't like them. All that black.' He shuddered involuntarily. 'I hate black. I really, really hate black. Of course,' he added thoughtfully, 'I'm really not at all fond of white either. And blue. I don't like blue.'
The second man gave his partner a searching glance, his voice suddenly turning sympathetic. 'Have you met. them?' He asked hesitantly. 'I had no idea that you had already been in action.'
'Them? Oh. Them.' The first man smiled broadly. 'Nah. I've never met. them.' He flinched involuntarily as he paused emphatically on the last word. 'If I had. I'd be dead.' He started to laugh good humouredly, tickled at the thought of having survived an encounter with the terrible bird ninjas.
The second man glared at his jovial friend, before adding in a surly voice, 'well, why the hell are you so touchy about them then. With all your silly babblings about colours.'
'It was the briefing.' The first man sighed dismally. 'You know the obligatory information debriefing we have to attend when we first join? When I saw the way those horrible bird like creatures just attacked and killed all those poor helpless men. well. I've been having nightmares about them since. And that whistle sound.. I can't describe it. it just goes straight thorough your spine like. like.' He stopped, turning white as an eerie whistle sounded through the corridor.
'Excuse me,' he managed to whisper in a dying voice to his partner, who had immediately begun whirling around frantically, his rifle in his hand. He managed to add a barely audible, 'but I'm going to faint now', before crumpling on the floor, suiting action to his words.
The second man turned around and glared at his prone friend, his skin prickling uncomfortably all the while he remained standing. Starkly aware of how exposed he was, standing alone, in the empty corridor. Then after a minute, he dropped his rifle, and struck his empty palm with his fist triumphantly, as sudden inspiration struck him. He looked around uneasily again then slowly toppled over, making sure he landed heavily on the unconscious man, rather than on the hard floor.
The whistle sounded through the corridor one more time. Then the doors behind the two limp bodies of the Galactor guards swooshed open, revealing a tall dark figure standing in its midst.
The Raven looked out into the corridor and smirked under his visor. Then he looked down and frowned upon seeing the two bodies on the floor. He lifted his hand with the feather shuriken, only to be stopped by a blue-gloved hand that closed firmly around his wrist.
'They're harmless.' Heero stated flatly, 'we've done enough. Lets keep moving.'
Raven curled his upper lip scornfully as he glared at the intense blue eyes of his erstwhile companion. It had been a surprise to discover that this version of Eagle was considerably more squeamish when it came to finishing off their opponents. He shrugged carelessly, not particularly interested in wasting his time on continuing the pointless debate on relative morality.
'You do realize that everyone will die once the explosives go off.' He reminded Heero grimly.
Heero nodded calmly, noting that the second body on the ground had twitched slightly at the mention of the explosives. 'Then, you really don't have to waste your time trying to finish them off. Do you?' He asked in an emotionless voice.
Raven laughed shortly, before grudgingly admitting, 'guess you're right.'
Heero released his grip on the wrist and breathed a faint sigh of relief when Raven's hand dropped back to his side, his feather shuriken still resting firmly between his fingers. The two men turned around and started to run down the corridor, their capes billowing behind them like huge wings. After a few minutes the echoing clicks of their heels died down and the two bodies on the ground stirred.
'So you didn't really faint.' The second man remarked in a slightly chilly voice as he got up and started to dust himself off.
'Nah.' The first man grinned triumphantly as he stretched luxuriously, 'I thought this up during the mandatory hand to hand training sessions. I figured that if I played dead, I'd be safe.'
'Only just.' The second man muttered sourly. 'That Raven. What a cold-blooded bastard. I think I'm beginning to develop a severe allergy to black myself.'
'Yeah? Well, I think I may be getting over my unreasonable fear of white.' The first man clapped his hands together as he spoke. 'That Eagle. What a nice guy. I can't believe the way the PR rep got it so wrong about him. He's a true humanitarian.'
'Humanitarian my ass.' The second man muttered sulphurously, 'it sounded to me like he just couldn't be bothered wasting his time on a couple of nobodies. And any way,' his voice turned brisk. 'Lets get out of here.'
'Now?' The first man responded blankly, 'but our shift doesn't end for another 3 hours.'
'Forget the shift, you moron.' The second man snarled as he grabbed his companion by the arm and started to drag him along. 'Didn't you hear what they said? They are going to blow this place up! We have to get out of here. Right now.'
'Wow. That's right. Oh my god! I haven't thought of any plans for dealing with being blown up by a bomb.' The first man struck his forehead in dismay.
'I have.' The second man retorted crisply as he started to run. 'It's called running away.'
The first man stared at his friend, who had broken into a full sprint, for a brief instant before tucking his arms firmly around his sides and breaking into an even paced trot, overtaking the man in front with ease. He called out cheerfully as he passed his partner, 'I've been in training since I first joined this outfit. Always be prepared, that's my motto.'
The second man shook his head in resignation before copying the first man's posture, down to the briskly pumping arms and trotted after him with grim determination.
(Trowa)
'We've finished setting the explosives in level 4.' Trowa reported in a soft voice to his wrist communicator.
'What? But we haven't cleared level 5 yet!' Trowa winced painfully as Duo's shriek echoed in the narrow air vent. 'Don't you dare blow anything up till we're through. Do you hear me! Don't blow up level 4 yet!'
'It's okay Duo.' Trowa hissed softly, wondering what Galactors did to their prisoners and if it could possibly be worse than having to crawl through narrow dark tunnels, while suffering undue levels of stress from hoping that your loud voiced friend didn't get you discovered, and killed. 'There's a timer. You've got 24 minutes to get down to level 2, before the bombs go off. And please,' he pleaded desperately, 'try to keep your voice down. You are going to get all of us captured.' Especially me, he thought nervously, as the sound of marching feet came to a stop in front of his vent.
'You'd better have gotten the timing right.' Duo warned threatening, hardly bothering to drop the decibel level as he spoke. 'If I get blown up on this mission, you are going to pay. And pay. And pay. I warn you right now. I have no intention of being seen dead in this stupid outfit. And.'
Trowa cut off the signal with a soft curse, scrambling backwards with all his might as he heard the soft murmur of voices floating up to the vent. He was having a hard time trying to move around in such a small place, especially with the added hindrance of trying to cope with the unaccustomed drag of his cape, not to mention his problems with the helmet, even with the modification. He came to a stop with a thumping heart and waited patiently till the voices faded away, followed by the sound of marching feet. He wondered where Hawk had gone. Last time he had seen his doppelganger had been when they had come to a split of ways in the air vents. He wished he hadn't agreed to separate from Hawk.
The wrist communicator beeped urgently and Trowa turned it on, hoping that it would be from Hawk.
'How dare you cut me off you.'
Trowa turned the wrist communicator off again with a sigh. Ever since Duo had figured out how to work the communicators during the mission, it had been impossible to talk to anyone else. 'I have a feeling that Eagle's really regretting having agreed to train us on the use of the communicators,' Trowa thought ruefully.
(Eagle & Quatre)
'Get off the communicator.' Eagle hissed urgently. 'You are endangering the mission.'
Quatre rolled his eyes, his head resting on top of his hands while he sat cross-legged on the nearby chair and waited patiently for Eagle to finish arguing with Duo.
'Don't be ridiculous.' Duo's voice answered back cheerfully from the wrist communicator. 'I'm only trying to make sure that we all keep in touch. Don't you know how important it is to keep contact during a mission? Especially one like this? Where we are all scattered god knows where? What do you think Heero? Tell Eagle not to be such a stick in the mud.'
'Shut up!' Quatre sighed, as Raven's enraged voice screamed out from the communicator, forcing Eagle to jerk back in surprise. 'You moron! How dare you waste your time on this inanity? Eagle, tell Falcon to kill that nincompoop! Now! Before he get us all killed.'
'What!' Duo's voice shrieked back, 'why you.'
'Enough.' Eagle snapped out suddenly, breaking into Duo's tirade at last. 'We are going to communications blackout mode from now on. Text messages only. And Falcon.' He added swiftly, 'if you show Duo how to use the text message system, I'm personally going to wring your neck and then I'll let Raven deal with you. Do you copy?'
'Yeah, yeah.' Falcon's voice drawled out from the com and Quatre found himself grinding his teeth as his irresponsible younger self giggled unrepentantly. 'You guys have zero sense of fun. You know that? Falcon out.'
Eagle breathed hard, trying to regain his temper even as his wrist com finally fell silent. He looked over at Quatre who shrugged helplessly and spread his hands open in mock surrender.
'You have your Duo. We have ours. Lets just leave it that.' Quatre advised sagely.
Eagle held his breath as he opened his mouth to argue then paused and thought that through, finally acknowledging his agreement with an unwilling nod and a resigned sigh.
'Excuse me.' Quatre pointed out politely as he got to his feet with a sigh, he hated to admit it but the boots were killing his feet. 'Your wrist com is blinking.'
Eagle groaned as he raised his wrist again, biting back a curse as he looked at the shimmering coloured surface of the wrist com. Then he gasped. 'Oh no.'
Quatre chewed his underlip nervously, 'what is it?' He asked with a sinking feeling.
'It's Hawk. He's in trouble.' Eagle answered grimly. 'We have to get to him. Now.' Without another word, the white winged figure spread his cape and jumped into the air, gliding weightless over the console and through the broken window, down to the half open doors leading to the next level down. He touched down lightly on one foot, then blurred as he broke into a flat run, disappearing from sight within the next instant.
Quatre looked down through the broken frame with dismay, sighing dismally when he saw the ten-foot drop to the next level.
'And what does he expect me to do now?' He muttered acerbically to himself.
(Falcon, Duo & Quatre)
'This is all your fault, you know.' Falcon hissed from the side of his mouth as he ran effortless down the long, empty corridor.
Duo panted breathlessly as he ran with all his might, trying desperately not to lose sight of the bright orange blur in from of him. 'Don't..be. ridiculous.' he gasped painfully, '. it's.not. my .. ..fault!' He managed to wheeze out faintly, feeling black dots start to appear in front of his eyes as he concentrated on moving his legs faster and faster.
'Heeeey.. Wait.. Oh forget it.' Duo skidded to a halt, barely stopping just before he reached the edge of the corridor. 'There's no way I'm jumping.' He snarled defiantly to the empty air as he peered down at the disappearing orange dot below. He slumped down into a heap, wondering whether he should take off the blasted thigh length boots and massage his aching feet.
He stared solemnly at the changing swirling patterns on his own wrist com and blinked blankly.
'How the hell do they communicate with this?' He muttered to himself, baffled by the way Falcon had managed to gain information on not only the specific member of the team in difficulty but location as well from, what had seemed to him to be sheerly random, shifts in the colours and shapes.
Duo sat silently, staring at the long drop below his dangling legs, while he tried to decide on his next course of action. On the whole, he wasn't too unhappy at the prospect of being left behind by Falcon, he decided at last, kicking his legs idly while he thought about his options. He had been getting pretty tired from having to run more and faster than ever before in his entire life anyway. At least, now he finally got a chance to catch his breath a little. And to do a little reconnoitring on his own, Duo smirked to himself.
'Well, well. What do we have here?'
Duo tensed and slowly turned his head when he heard the rich, creamy voice ring out confidently behind him.
'Shit.' He blurted involuntarily upon seeing the smug, confident young woman holding a gun pointed directly at him.
'Tsk, tsk. Language, my dear Raven. I always said that stress brought out the best. or in your case, the worst, in a man.'
Duo bit back a groan as he stared helplessly at the icy blue eyes of the girl he knew as Relena Peacecraft.
'I gather that we've met.' He ventured weakly, as he slowly got to his feet, obediently following the quick jerking motion of the gun held steadily on his face.
Mara raised one eyebrow in mild curiosity as she stared in contempt at the man she thought to be Raven.
'Really, Raven. It's so unlike you to be coy.' She shrugged carelessly, her eye and gun unwaveringly on the slim black clad figure before her. 'And step away from the edge. Now.' Her voice sharpened suddenly.
Duo jerked back in alarm as Mara's gun went off and a bullet sped past him, barely missing his feet by centimetres.
'Hey, watch how you use that thing!' He shouted angrily as he shuffled away from the edge, his hands held high above his head. 'I could have been killed.' He muttered shakily to himself while staring hard at the still smoking gun, once again firmly pointing in his direction.
Mara frowned in confusion at the edgy, nervous man standing before her. There was something not quite right about the Raven. Something that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Surely by now, he would have tried to attack her directly, or failing that, have escaped with the usual diabolic cunning that these Kagaku ninjas invariably produced when backed into a corner. And where, she wondered with growing tension, were his friends? The Raptors always ran as a pack. Mara was starting to suspect a trap. She kept her eyes and gun focused on the unmoving figure before him and fought the urge to look around her for one of the other Raptors.
'Um. how long do I have to keep standing here like this?' Duo asked at last, his arms starting to ache from the strain of their unnatural position.
Mara glared at the Raven with undisguised fury, beginning to be convinced that her earlier suspicion had been correct and that this unusual cooperativeness of the Raven was some kind of a ploy, to probably lull her into a false sense of security. She had no intention of allowing one of the pesky Raptors to play her for a fool. She hesitated, the gun trembling slightly in her hands while Mara considered all her options for a minute longer then spat a curse at the unmoving man, before whirling around and running back through the doors, slamming them shut from the other side.
'What's her problem?'
Duo stared blankly at the closed doors that sealed him into the round chamber that he had found himself in, when he dashed after the Falcon, and then around the smooth blank surface of the walls lining the platform that he was currently on. He then peered down and sighed at the number of similar platforms beneath him. Duo peered up at the equal number of platforms stretching out above him and sighed again.
'These people are going to be the death of me.' He muttered grimly as he reluctantly started to climb over the thin waist high bar that signified the end of each platform. Duo swallowed hard as he found himself on the other side of the bar, feeling his legs starting to shake as he braced himself for the coming fall. Apart from the escalators running between levels, which since the Relena look alike had sealed him away from the rest of the level, he no longer had access to on the level he was currently on, the only other way to move between levels was by jumping from one platform to the next.
Piece of cake, Duo snorted with disdain, when you could fly, like those damned Raptors. But as an ordinary mortal, he was going to have to do this the hard way. Duo muttered a fervent prayer under his breath as he braced himself and swung hard inwards, even as he kicked off the platform he had been holding on to, and muffled a scream as he found himself hurtling down towards the second platform.
'What the hell do you think you're doing?'
Duo slowly and stiffly moved to his knees, his heart still hammering madly beneath his chest, and started to feel over his body, jerking his arms and bending his legs, still stunned by the lack of broken bones.
'Gee, thanks Quatre.' He growled crossly as he lurched painfully back on his feet. 'Glad to know that you are just so overwhelmed with concern for my health and well-being. Is that all you can think of saying? At a time like this? What the hell do you think I'm doing?' Duo snarled at the orange clad figure staring at him disapprovingly.
'I don't know.' Quatre replied in his driest voice. 'Since I'm not quite sure why you just tried to break your own fool neck, or at least a leg, when there was a perfectly usable stairway that you could have accessed.' He added sweetly, pointing to the handhold bars that ran down the side of the wall of the round chamber behind him. 'But I'm sure you had your own reasons for deciding to risk a ten foot drop to this level instead.'
Quatre walked off to the handhold bars and started to descend down to the next level. 'I hope you don't mind if I don't join you in a repeat of your foolhardy but admittedly faster way of going down.' He called back breezily as he slowly and carefully worked his way down the ladder.
Duo simply stood and stared wordlessly at his friend before limping painfully to the iron bars embedded firmly into the walls.
'It'd serve him right if I fall on top of him.' Duo muttered sotto voice as he grabbed hold of the bars and swung himself on the ladder. 'Excuse me for having missed seeing thin bars, coloured exactly the same as the walls, in a facility I have never been to. Mr I'm so perfect and I never make any mistakes.'
(Heero & Raven)
Heero ran steadily, keeping his eyes firmly on the black wings spreading widely behind the sprinting figure in front. He hated to admit it but he was beginning to get seriously tired. He knew that Raven had been deliberately slowing his pace to allow him to keep up but he also knew that soon, his aching legs were going to have to give out from the punishing speed he had been pushed into. Heero considered telling the Raven to go ahead without him, or even to just fall behind without a word but given the close watch that Raven had kept on him from the beginning of the mission, knew that it would be a waste of time.
They swung around the corner and Heero winced when he saw the green uniformed men scatter before their path. He sighed wordlessly as the Raven, without breaking his pace, moved his arm three times and the Galactor soldiers fell to the ground, spurting blood. Heero instinctively jumped over the forming pools of blood, feeling bile rise up through his throat as he ran past the dead and dying bodies. He felt his breath grow ragged from the continuing strain and gritted his teeth, feeling his chest tightening from the lack of oxygen.
Raven immediately slowed down even further, falling back till he was side to side with the white winged figure.
'If you can't keep up, I can carry you.' Raven offered in flat emotionless tones.
Heero shook his head wordlessly, trying to conserve his energy for the running. He was determined to prove, especially to this particular Raptor, that he and his friends were more than capable of pulling their own weight on this mission. He opened his mouth to tell Raven to go faster when metal cables suddenly shot out from beside them, snaking themselves around his arms and legs. Heero desperately tried to avoid being ensnared in the first two that had exploded from the walls, only to be caught by the next four that came immediately behind.
The cables wrapped around Heero's wrists and ankles tightly then dragged him back until he slammed against the waiting wall, hard, and grunted, his breath forced out from him by the force of the impact. He blinked painfully, trying to clear his vision when he heard a loud high-pitched laughter echoing around him. He turned his head fitfully, trying to locate the source of the annoying sound and breathed a silent sigh of relief as he saw the empty cables squirming purposely on the ground, bereft of their second prey, who had vanished with their coming.
'What a delightful surprise.' Katze purred happily, stepping forward into the corridor from the wall panel that swung around, revealing a hidden room behind him. 'And to think that Sosai sama thought my little mantrap was a waste of time.' He gloated openly as he approached the bound figure on the wall. 'I must say I was a little surprised to have snared you though, Commander. You are usually a lot lighter on your feet. Still, we all have our off days.' He giggled gleefully, savouring this moment of triumph over his white winged nemesis.
Heero remained stoically silent, his eyes unwavering from the purple-garbed man standing in front of him. He was experiencing difficulty in maintaining control for the first time in his life. Heero fought desperately to try to keep from laughing as he stared incredulously at this strange version of Zechs. The voice had been a dead giveaway, though he had never imagined he'd ever be hearing the usually deep tones, punctuated by an occasional high pitched laugh. And he stared in appalled fascination at the bottom of Zechs, or rather Katze's face visible under the Doberman shaped three quarter mask. 'Lipstick?' Heero couldn't help thinking blankly. Unfortunately for Heero, Katze's monologue continued unabated, testing the limits of his self-control.
'This is the end of your infernal meddling.' Katze stepped even closer to the bound figure, until he was almost face to face with the slender man bound firmly on the wall. 'You and the rest of the Raptors will soon be nothing but a closed chapter in the glorious history of Galactor.' He leaned in even closer, forcing Heero to turn his head to the side, his voice softening, turning more intimate as Katze contemplated the delicate profile visible under the blue beaked visor with growing interest. 'Of course,' Katze murmured thoughtfully, 'I could always offer you a place beside me. Just imagine, what a team we could make. I do know how to appreciate talent, even when it's working for the wrong side.'
Heero tensed suddenly, a dark flush staining his cheek as he registered the exact position of Katze's hand. He swung his head, hard, slamming the protruding beak shaped visor on his helmet against the side of Katze's head, and heard a loud yell, and noted the immediate removal of the hand on his upper thigh with satisfaction.
'How dare you strike me!' Katze ranted hysterically, his hand still held against the trickling blood next to the exposed cheek on his face. 'I am the sacred Avator of Sosai-sama, the great leader of Galactor. You will pay for this indignity. Dearly.' He screeched loudly at the impassive figure on the wall, whose complete failure to show any fear or repentance infuriated him even further. 'I'll have you. urk!'
Katze stared into the implacable eyes of the Raven with terror, silenced by the iron-like hands that had closed around his neck.
'Hello Katze. I've been looking forward to this.' Raven smiled humourlessly, slowly increasing the pressure of his hands around Katze's neck, completely indifferent to the frantic kicking against his legs, and the clawing hands that struck desperately against his unmoving arms.
(Eagle, Hawk & Falcon)
Eagle surveyed the wrecked room with satisfaction and barely concealed amusement. He had been somewhat concerned when he received Hawk's priority one alert but his and the Falcon's timely arrival had proved sufficient to turn the tide of battle and the three Raptors had been the only ones left standing after a few minutes. He smiled beatifically at the tall blue winged figure, relieved to see that Hawk had managed to escape with only minor lacerations after his encounter with the fierce Devil Stars.(1)
'It's so unlike you to have been this careless.'
Eagle had been horrified when he had first arrived and found an entire platoon of Devil Stars swarming in Generator room, and a desperate Hawk in their midst, fighting valiantly against impossible numbers.
Hawk tightened his lips grimly, annoyed by the implied rebuke from his Commander. 'Unfortunately, you forgot to warn me that you were going to engage in a screaming match with our Ravens over the com channel, in the middle of our mission and I was careless,' he hissed crossly, 'enough to open the link in the middle of sneaking through the Generator room,' he glared at Eagle, who coughed uncomfortably, 'so that I could check in on everyone's position. It was so careless of me,' he ground out coldly, 'to have thought about warning the rest of our team before I set my explosives.'
Eagle felt a warm blush creep down his neck as he wilted visibly before the furious Hawk. 'That was unfortunate timing.' He responded weakly at last. 'I got here as soon as I got your message.' He added defensively.
'Yeah.' Falcon piped up, 'and we even ditched our passengers getting here, we were so worried about you. You should be grateful instead of.'
'Oh my god.' Eagle cried out in sudden horror. 'Quatre. I've left him on level 5.' He looked down at his chronometer.(2) 'And Trowa's set the timer to go off in another. oh my god.' He repeated again, in a hollow voice, '20 seconds.'
'20 seconds!' Falcon cried out, sharing a look of horrified guilt with Eagle, 'but. but I left Duo. On level 6. We'll never get to them in time.'
'We're going to have to try.' Hawk pointed out grimly.
The three Raptors turned as one and started to run towards the doors, blurring out of sight as they picked up speed.
(Duo, Quatre & Trowa)
'Is it me or do these boots hurt like hell?' Duo panted out heavily, as he wearily continued his climb downwards.
'Shut up and keep moving.' Quatre called out impatiently from below. 'Just remember, we have to reach at least level one in order to keep clear of the after effects of the blast. We only have a few seconds before Trowa's bombs go off.'
'Eleven seconds.' Trowa pointed out helpfully as he got off the ladder and waited for his friends.
'Stop saying that.' Duo snapped peevishly, as he picked up his speed surreptitiously, almost stepping on Quatre's fingers in his haste to get off the ladder before the bombs exploded. 'And didn't you tell me that I only needed to get to level two, last time we talked?' He glared hostilely at the tall blue winged figure who simply shrugged silently in response.
'I can't believe they just left us up there.' Quatre shook his head in disapproval, even as he stepped onto the level one platform with a sigh of relief.
'Come on.' Duo jumped off the ladder, wincing painfully from the impact of his fall on his sore feet. 'I want to get behind those doors before the bombs go off and we only have.'
'Four seconds.' Trowa supplied helpfully as he followed Duo into the adjoining corridor and waited for Quatre to scramble in behind them. 'I hope that the others have managed to get to a position of safety.' He added, sounding concerned, as the heavy doors slammed into position.
Duo sagged with relief as soon as the doors closed, then as a stray thought struck him, he started to peer up at the ceiling with anxious eyes. 'Y'know.' He mused out loud, 'I wonder if it was sensible of us to have come to a level below the level that's going to blow up? I mean.' he looked at Quatre and Trowa in sudden appeal, 'we're not going to end up being buried down here or anything afterwards are we?'
Trowa shifted uneasily as Quatre and Duo turned their eyes on him. 'I. ehh. set the exact number of explosives that Hawk recommended for a level closure. Of course he did suggest that I use a couple of extra sets of explosives than he usually uses when dealing with the mechas. Since this is a base.'
Duo exchanged horrified glances with Quatre, then both men turned again on Trowa and opened their mouths to yell. and cried out in shock as they heard the muffled sound of an explosion in the distance and the walls and the floor suddenly shuddered violently.
(Raven & Heero)
Raven swore vociferously, still furious at having lost his grip on the damned Katze, even momentarily. The wily leader of the Galactors had taken immediate advantage of the briefly loosened grip around his neck to kick out with all his remaining strength, forcing the black Raptor to take a step backward. Just enough to allow him to duck back behind the wall panel, which slammed shut in the nick of time, leaving the raging Raven on the other side.
Heero waited patiently while the Raven screamed and ranted, kicking and cursing the unmoving wall. Then realizing that the Raven wasn't going to calm down on his own, he coughed politely to remind him of his presence. The Raven turned around and Heero shivered involuntarily at the pure look of hate he saw in the fierce eyes under the golden coloured visor.
'Do you think you can help me get down?' Heero asked at last, as the Raven continued to stare at him unsettlingly, though the initial look of rage had begun to fade from the familiar countenance. He indicated the metal cables still wound tightly around his wrist with his head. 'Unfortunately, that tremor didn't have any effect on these things and I'm still stuck.'
Raven walked closer to the bound man and Heero suddenly felt a little nervous of the powerful figure approaching him. He wasn't used to feeling so helpless and he didn't like having to wait to be rescued, even if it was by someone who looked just like his best friend. Raven reached out his hand and a faint smile curved his mouth when Heero flinched involuntarily. Without a word, the Raven took hold of the utility belt around Heero's waist and opened the small pouch on the side, taking out the small explosives. Then he flicked his hand with seeming casualness, taking painstaking care with his placement of the bombs, which exploded on impact with the metal cables, and grabbed the falling man around the waist snugly, as the cables snapped loose.
Heero gasped as he fell into Raven's waiting arms. He looked up at the man in silent query and waited until the steel like arms loosened their grip and he stepped out of Raven's embrace.
'I used all my explosives on the way here.' Raven offered, with a grin.
Heero simply grunted softly in reply, still feeling mildly uncomfortable next to this man, who all of sudden, had seemed totally alien, despite the overwhelming familiarity of the face beneath the helmet.
(Eagle, Falcon & Hawk)
The three Raptors halted abruptly, arrested in motion as the walls and the floor around them shook violently.
'We're too late.' Eagle spoke grimly. He stood up gracefully from the crouched position he had paused in and his voice turned brisk as he turned to face his two companions. 'We'll return to our original mission and split up again. I'll rendezvous with Raven and Heero on sublevel two and the three of us should be sufficient to take out the central communications and command nexus of this base. Hawk, you can proceed down to sublevel five and try to see if you can find Trowa on the way. He should be on his way to the Power Core as well. Falcon.' He stopped and sighed heavily.
Eagle walked to the silently crying youth and placed his hands on the shaking shoulders gently. He shook his head when Hawk started to approach them and indicated that the other man should be on his way with a silent look. Hawk nodded and blurred out of sight.
'Falcon.' Eagle spoke softly. 'I'm sorry. I know you liked Duo. This isn't your fault. It's not anyone's fault that they are dead. And anyway, we don't know that they are dead for certain. The Gundam pilots struck me as very resourceful people and I'm sure they've managed to get away before the bomb went off. They were at the briefing and they knew what the risks were. Okay? Falcon? I think you better stay with me for the rest of this mission. Okay?'
Falcon managed to nod at last, swallowing his sobs and still rubbing his eyes vigorously. He had been trained to face death and the prospect of his own death without flinching but he was finding that the possibility of losing his friends, was something that he could never be prepared for. He clung to the desperate hope that Eagle had offered, that somehow Duo may have survived the explosion and would turn up out of the blue with that impish grin he had grown so fond of, during the short time he had spent with the cheerful counterpart of Raven.
End Part 7
Kat's notes: Oboy oboy oboy. I'm over 9000 words on this one and I'm still nowhere near finished. I'm sorry but I'm bailing on this part at this point. Basically y'all will have to wait till Part 3, 'Rising from the Ashes' for the (hopefully) conclusion to the Raptors' world. So. you'll just have to wait till then to find out the answers to:
Who was staring at Quatre on the Phoenix?
Did the two Galactor Guards (from the first 'Raven &
Heero' segment, take a bow guys, for all the nameless
extras who also serve etc.!) make it safely out of the
Base?
And most of all, where the hell is Wufei? (no one
really worries about the Owl. Do they?)
The only thing is. I have to get back to RL so I won't
be able to finish Part III till oh. December? Unless
^_~ I get some lovely fanmail to get me motivated
earlier. Ja neh.
Notes:
(1) Okay, I'll probably have to explain this one. I
don't know whether the Devil Stars are 'officially' in
the anime series but in Gatchamen fanfics, they are a
group of female only Galactor soldiers. ^_^ They do
say that the 'fairer sex' is also the more dangerous
after all. I just thought they sounded cool so I
borrowed them for this brief cameo.
(2) The Gatchamen, and of course, hence the Raptors
wear these coloured wrist bands that perform multiple
functions. Don't blame the poor fanfic writer for any
inconsistencies.
List of AU characters:
The ISO personnel:
Eagle: Heero Yuy (18 years old)
Raven: Duo Maxwell (18)
Hawk: Trowa Barton (18)
Falcon: Quatre Raberba Winner (13 years old)
Owl: Wufei Chang (18)
Hakase Treize Khushrenada
Doctor J
The Galactors:
Berg Katze: Zechs Merquise
Mara Katze: Relena Peacecraft
Katana
Please send comments to: apriori21@yahoo.com