26-January-2002
Title: Disgustipated
Author: Mikkeneko
Rating: PG
Warnings: violence, evangelism
Disclaimer: Yea, although I walk through the valley of Gundam Wing, I
remain untouched by lawsuits, for I own nothing and lay claim to
nothing. So mote it be.
Authors Notes: This is a songfic that really, really needs its song.
You've gotta hear it to understand. The song is Disgustipated, by
Tool, and it comes in three parts: a sermon, a song, eight minutes of
silence, and a monologue at the end. you'd really have to hear it.
Oh, well. /lyrics/
/And the angel of the lord came unto me
and snatched me up from my place of slumber. /
Duo came awake in the darkness without making a motion or a sound.
He rolled to his feet in the dim light shed by the LED displays, in the quiet hum of hydraulics and ventilation surrounding him. It was 0500. He and Deathscythe had someplace to be.
His Gundam was waiting for him in the hangar bay, silent and immense and endlessly patient. He spared his partner a smile as he mounted the cable line into the cockpit, sealing the hatch that would close him into his own little universe. In space, in fire, underwater, he would remain untouched. They launched, silent as only Gundam 02 could be, into the deeper silence of the void.
/And took me on high, and higher still
until we moved to the spaces betwixt the air itself.
And he brought me into a vast farmlands of our own midwest. /
Earth was big. The atmosphere was even bigger, and space was bigger yet. No-one saw him as he hurtled towards the beautiful blue-green planet, their motherland. Earth was not his enemy -- only the people who lived there.
Gravity took him where he wanted to go, and Duo's hands rested easily on the Gundam's controls, humming quietly like a heartbeat. He glanced down at the tracker screen, every now and again rechecking to make sure he was on the right entry vector. His target was in North America -- locally, the place still recalled its ancient name of Kansas.
If Duo understood colony history right, his ancestors had once come from those heartlands.
No matter, no matter now.
/And as we descended, cries of impending doom rose from the soil.
One thousand, nay a million voices full of fear. /
The atmosphere began to scream about him; if Duo wasn't careful, sometimes he could imagine that it was the Earth screaming at him. Maybe the planet knew, like the colonies never did, that he had come to kill her children. Her winds pushed him away, struggled to burn him into nothing before he could shed more blood on her soil.
Duo flew on. He had some more ghosts to make today.
/And terror possessed me then. And I begged,
"Angel of the Lord, what are these tortured screams?" /
The sphere beneath him spread and spread, inverting into a bowl like the shape of the colonies he knew. He dropped into the center of the bowl, and if his heart beat a little faster and his breathing sped up as he fell endlessly to Earth like an angel out of heaven, then no-one would ever know it but him. Certainly a Gundam Pilot could never show fear to his enemies, nor doubt, nor indecision. Certainly not the God of Death.
/And the angel said unto me, "These are the cries of the carrots,
the cries of the carrots! You see, Rev'd Maynard,/
His target came into view then; the central nexus by which Oz spread its control over the Great Plains. His eyes narrowed as he focused on it, and unconsciously the tip of his tongue touched his lip. His muscles slowly tensed as he leaned forward in his harness, hands flexing on the controls, making just the tiny adjustments that would bring the killing machine down on the compound with the maximum damage. That was the target. The mission -- destroy.
Shinigami could oblige.
/"Tomorrow is harvest day, and to them,
It is the holocaust."/
He could see them now, crawling like ants along the ground, or scuttling like beetles in their mobile suits. They, of course, could not see him, nor would they until it was too late.
Now it was only a matter of time, measured in heartbeats and the endless clicking of machinery. As was his custom before a battle, he let his eyes slip half-closed, and let the training take over his body as he focused inwards, readying himself for the slaughter.
"You who are about to die," he whispered, "I salute you."
/And I sprang from my slumber drenched in sweat
like the tears of one million terrified brothers /
Every one of those ant-like figures was a person. A human life, infinitely precious; eighteen years of school and family and love poured into such a fragile little vessel. Every death would tear out the souls of a dozen other people, mothers and children and lovers who would suffer because of this war.
/and roared, "Hear me now, I have seen the light!
They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! /
"I do not want to have to kill you."
He was much closer now, enough that the mobile suits looked almost human, although the humans were still tiny dolls.
/Damn you!
"Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers!"/
"But I will."
Close enough that he could tell buildings apart.
/Can I get an amen? /
"And I will enjoy it."
They saw him at last, and their flock scrambled in terror.
/Can I get a hallelujah? /
"Because I am the Shinigami."
/Thank you Jesus./
He opened his eyes, and was Death.
"It's a Gundam! IT'S A GUNDAM!"
/this is necessary/
He hurtled into the base like a meteor, green-glowing scythe unfurled and smoking already. His first pass carried him through the ranks of mobile dolls, slicing through the titanium armor as though it were paper. Panicked screams filled the radiowaves almost to whiteout, cut off almost as quickly as they began. The Gundam slammed into the pavement, leaving a crater of cracked concrete even as it rebounded, spinning like a cat as it sought its next victim.
/this is necessary/
The other suits turned around so slowly, encased in shock like glue. The ones close by the Gundam's landing point never had time to react as the energy weapon savagely twisted around and sliced once, twice, again, each death taking no longer than a heartbeat. The base erupted into turmoil, panicked orders crackling over radios that nobody listened to. The first guns began to fire, pattering rapidly from all directions and pinging off the Gundanium armor.
/life feeds on life
feeds on life feeds on life
feeds on/
Bullets ricocheted uselessly off the diamond-sharp armor; red-hot metal scraps, shards of concrete, shrieked through the empty space and sliced unarmored soldiers to ribbons. Waves of heat boiled outwards from the center of explosions, fighting against each other to create their own circles of fire. Some men dissolved into ashes in the shock of the explosions; others were left seared by the light and suffocated by the choking wave of smoke that followed in its wake.
Panicked men scrambled towards the imagined shelter of buildings or their own mobile suits; those who stopped to help their fallen comrades were overwhelmed and annihilated. Those who could, fought their way towards the compound buildings, leaving the fight to the hollow artifacts.
When the smoke finally thinned, lit from beneath and within by the blazing remains of the mobile suits, the Gundam was still there.
/This Is Necessary/
The first of the Oz mobile suits closed on the Gundams; one by one or in tiny dictated clusters. Some of them knew their own death looming before them, and hoped that they could buy time for their comrades, their commanders, their base. Some were untested, and only knew the terror of the black Gundam and its burning scythe looming up in their cameras an instant before they saw nothing at all.
Death did not care which. Sooner or later he would destroy all of them. Shinigami screamed with laughter as he tore through the armor, leaving the energy cores to burn outwards, slagging plastic, twisting metal, flesh and blood evaporated. The soldiers just screamed.
/This
Is
Necessary/
He was through them at last, and focused on the buildings. One of the gun turrets swiveled and locked on him, spitting a steel and fire rain from the top of the tower. Unlike the hail of bullets the Mobile Suits produced, this could even be enough to damage the awesome destruction of the Gundam. Deathscythe raised its own cannons, paying back like to like, and locked on target. For an instant two empty grey eyes of fire stared at each other, and then the missiles streaked through the air. Bolted to the buildings, there was no way to dodge, and the cannons and their gunners dissolved into an inferno as the tower broke and crumbled.
/Life feeds on
Life feeds on life
Feeds on life/
He went for the buildings themselves, next; pristine steel and mortar skin recoiled from the green hellfire blade, revealing the soft and ugly guts of the buildings themselves inside. Rooms and corridors collapsed under the crushing force; soldiers off-shift stumbling from their sleeping quarters in a daze, wounded and terrified seeking refuge in the building from the holocaust outside, civilian staff and guests in a panic. There was barely time to realize the end of the world when it came.
He knew when he'd reached a warehouse building, though, because it sparked and lit up on its own when touched by destruction. Tons on tons of death-dealing ordnance consumed itself with the heat of a small sun; even the Gundam was tiny and lost against the glare. Thick, roiling smoke and burnt exploded in the wake of the fire, and the black metal mobile suit disappeared from radar.
When the static and noise cleared from their screens, still there was no sign of their enemy. Dust and smoke still filled the air, sight was impossible, but still -- their radar showed nothing, nothing.
"Base! Where's the intruder?" One voice crackled over the radio, a voice of command that momentarily overrode the panic and babble.
"Unknown! There aren't any readings on him..." An anonymous, panicked reply. The mobile suits moved jerkily, uncertain. Not knowing where to shoot. If to shoot.
"Could the Gundam have been destroyed by the explosion?" another voice put in, barely concealing hope.
"Unconfirmed..." The radio failed them, briefly. There was still a lot of static.
"Alpha two -- above you! LOOK OUT!"
The only warning was a pair of glowing green eyes, out of the dimness, before the wrath of hell came down from above. It was still there.
/This is necessary --
This is necessary --/
Those with the strength to survive the pandemonium surrounded its agent, an uneasy circle of the hounds closing on the wolf. The air groaned heavy under the weight of dust and cinders, low red flames licking up to feed the boiling, rising mushroom clouds. The high blue Kansas sky vanished from sight, closing the fighters in a field of ruin. Unarmed, exposed, he would have been easy prey to the older and stronger men around him; in the heart of the black Gundam he was their death.
The first closed on him, yanking out its beam saber as it half-stumbled across the broken ceramic. The energy weapon screamed and sparked against the gundanium hide as the Gundam locked it into an unbreakable grip. For the space of three heartbeats the machines strained against each other, but the strength of humans did not matter. The larger mobile suit pushes its enemy back on one hand, and in a flash twisted its own frame to bring about its buster shield. The hungry edge of the shield rammed through the Leo's cockpit, and the suit fell crumbled as a broken doll on the tarmac.
/Life -- feeds on life --
Feeds on life -- feeds on
Life -- feeds on/
The Gundam leapt clear, whirling to face the second bravest. Its beam scythe was in the wrong position to cut, but the handle came back with brutal force. The Leo slammed to the tarmac, and the Gundam followed after it, pinning the cockpit under the blunt end of an energy weapon. It took seconds, only seconds, for the weaker mobile suit's structure to collapse under the killing pressure.
/This is necessary --
This is necessary --/
Another Leo had stayed its distance, dropping the useless drum-fed guns in favor of the till-now holstered beam rifle. The bright shots vanished into the black haze as the Gundam twisted and dodged impossible fast, zig-zagging the distance between them in a heartbeat per thundering step. The Leo shifted back, grimly settling its footing for a wrestling match.
The Gundam lifted off the ground with a protesting scream of air and mortar, thrusters carrying it just far enough above the ground to make a mockery of flight. The Leo paused to shift its aim upwards, and in that instant the Gundam slammed into it, carrying it into the black cloud. Once hidden in the smoke, the other soldiers could see nothing of the Gundam -- after a moment, the radar blip signaling a friendly suit blinked out.
/Life feeds on life
Feeds on life/
It swept back onto the ground like an echo of a meteor, dropping the shattered corpse of the Leo to bounce on the pavement as it descended. but this time the mobile suits were waiting for it. One more Leo toppled lifeless to the ground, but two more converged from either side, hammering it from either side with the strength of a volcano.
"Learning a little, aren't you?" Shinigami hissed from the green-lit darkness of the cockpit. "But you ain't learned enough -- you can't keep a good Gundam down!"
/feeds on life feeds on this
Is necessary,
This is necessary/
Something slammed into him from above, throwing him forward in the harness until the nylon strained. His own screens went dark for an instant, sparking bright as a beam saber drilling relentlessly through the armor plating. A curse rattled from his lips, as he struggled against the controls. "Kuso! Attacked from above? That's my move!"
For a moment the Gundam staggered, weighed down by enemies -- but the metal hands spasmed on the handle of the beam scythe, and the green-glowing energy snapped up and over its head, boring a hole straight through the Leo clamped onto his back. Deathscythe shook itself like a wounded dog, and fired the buster shield through the arm of one mobile suit; the machine staggered and lost its hold, and Deathscythe brought its freed arm around to clash against the OZ pilot's beam saber.
They weapons sparked and ate against each other before their pilots swung them wide to bite once more. Shinigami moved too fast, and the long metal handle batted the Leo's defenses wide open. One more heartbeat brought the beam scythe straight through the cockpit, and still smoking drove into the crippled mobile suit and dissolved it into an inferno.
/Life feeds on life feeds on
Life feeds on life
Feeds on life
(feeds on)/
The sixth OZ pilot used Shinigami's own move against him; firing his beam cannons behind him to gain momentum, the Leo overbore the larger machine and slammed it to the ground.
The Gundam screamed in protest; wires and joints snapped all throughout the artificial frame. Something burst in the Gundam's cockpits, and burning oil sprayed out in an arc across the small space. Bound into the pilot's seat, Shinigami could do no more than snap his head to the side to avoid the worst of the scalding liquid. Still, a feral grin stretched his face into a ricture of a smile -- the Leo was right in front of him.
Deathscythe fired both of its vulcans point-blank into the Leo's face, exploding the shell from the inside out. The shock wave washed over the Gundam, burning through where the armor had been cracked and scorching even to the cockpit shell.
/This is necessary!
This is necessary!/
"Mission complete -- almost. Mission complete -- almost." Duo chanted as he struggled his Deathscythe to their feet. "Keep going. Only a few left. Then out." There was a rendezvous waiting for him not too terribly far away, and he would be safe there -- unless the reinforcements arrived unexpectedly.
Two of the Leos were attempting to flee. Shinigami snapped into place once more, and the buster shield was lost, buried in the torso of the farther MS. He fired the last of the missiles after the second one, gambling that it would do enough damage to prevent escape. It did. Deathscythe was not as fast as he had been, but he still crossed the field to finish the crippled Leo. Never leave enemies alive behind you.
/Life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on
Life!/
Done. Done. The beam scythe guttered, and Duo placed it back on the recharge rack. No enemies were left standing, no buildings. The base smoked and seethed under the blackened sky, and Deathscythe hobbled across the wrecked field in the direction his Gundam blindly promised was freedom.
The false, deadly peace was shattered as a massed wave of beam cannon fire rolled out across the field, swallowing the Gundam whole. Duo screamed in shock as his Gundam rocked like a leaf in a storm, the blast overwhelming even Gundanium armor.
Shadowy shapes moved in the blackness, swiftly approaching through the haze. Reinforcements!
He sought flight, thrusters whining and shuddering as they fought the sooty air, protesting the damage done in the dogfight. Curses fell steadily from Duo's lips as he struggled with his injured Gundam, lurching gracelessly across the rubble of the building until he finally clawed his way into the air.
No wonder the sky had been black -- the plains were burning. Something, could have been anything, had caught the tinder-dry grass, and God only knew when the conflagration would stop. Duo rose as high as he could into the smoke, riding on the infernal heat waves as much as he could as he scrambled to avoid the fire that still poured after him.
Half an hour later he had lost his pursuers, for now at least. Climbing into a slightly rockier area, the fire had at last thinned out, leaving the landscape beneath empty. The rendezvous point was nearby.
Deathscythe's engines stuttered, threatening to cut out entirely, and Duo wiped a shaking, sooty hand across his face as he realized what he would have to do. There was a lake nearby -- Deathscythe would crash there, and wait for him to return. Oz would never find it.
The meeting point, the end of his mission, was close. Carefully, coaxing as much response as he could from Deathscythe's overtaxed navigation system, Duo brought the suit as low as he could without crashing through the treetops. With shaking hands he undid the harness, tearing and ripping at the places where the fabric had fused to his clothes. Free, he checked one last time -- that Deathscythe's would remember this one last command if nothing else -- opened the hatch, and jumped.
He landed, and rolled down a steep embankment, and blacked out. Deathscythe screamed overhead, streaking like a missile to its last target. It hit the lake in one final explosion of steam, and vanished.
Slowly. Slowly, the steam collected and settled into fog, creeping onto the shore and into the trees. Presently a carrier craft passed overhead, slowly searching for something.
All unconcerned, the world went on./It was daylight when you woke up in your ditch.
You looked up at your sky
That made blue be your color.
You had your knife there with you too.
When you stood up there was glue all over your clothes.
Your hands were sticky.
You wiped them on your grass, so now your color was green.
Oh Lord, why did everything always have to keep changing like this?
You were already getting nervous again.
Your head hurt and it rang when you stood up.
Your head was almost empty.
It always hurt you when you woke up like this.
You crawled up out of your ditch onto your gravel road and began to walk,
waiting for the rest of your mind to come back to you.
You can see the car parked far down the road and you walked toward it.
"If God is our Father," you thought, "then Satan must be our brother."
Why didn't anyone else understand these important things?
You got to your car and tried all the doors.
They were locked.
Out across your field, you could see two tiny people walking by your woods.
You began to walk towards them.
Now red was your color and, of course,
those little people out there were yours too./
Owari
Mikkeneko
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