New Beginning

*Disclaimer* I do not claim to own gundam wing or any of it's characters. Don't sue me, please! By the way - this story has a few slight changes to the real Gundam Wing - Zechs had a brother - Solo Peacecraft (he has no qualms about fighting under his real name) - neither of which are linked to the Sanc Kingdom. Relena still exists, but she has no links with Zechs or Solo. That's all you really needed to know - so enjoy!



The year is After Colony 195, and the colonies are now under Oz' complete control. Resistance from the gundams in minimal - tree of the pilots are in and Oz prison on the Lunar Base, another is working for Oz, and the last is unaccounted for. Duo, Heero and Wufei are under heavy guard, along with the five scientists. Quatre has disappeared, and Trowa is now an elite Oz soldier.





Everything was quiet. Wufei, stretched out along the floor, appeared to be meditating, Heero was sat quietly in one corner of the cell, and Duo, as had been his constant practise since he had been flung in there two weeks before, was working hard to remove his handcuffs - to no avail. Heero looked on in what could almost be termed as amusement as Duo strained to tear the cuffs apart, perspiration pouring down his brow as he grunted with the effort. Wufei took no notice. He had hardly moved once, only stirring to partake in the scanty, stale bread they were provided with once a day. All of a sudden there was a noise behind the cell door. Still, Wufei did not stir and Heero also seemed to take no notice. Duo however, knowing that Trowa, or maybe Solo, was standing outside, stood up and started yelling.

'Hey, let us out, or you're gonna be sorry, I'll see to that. Just you wait, the Great Shinigami's gonna rip you to shreds. Don't even attempt to open that door unless you're ready to die! I'm warning you, as soon as.'. His threats dwindled as several uniformed officers filed though the door, guns loaded and ready to fire if any of the captive pilots so much as blinked. They formed a semi-circle around the open door through which Zechs now emerged, also armed. No was taking any chances - they all knew, mainly from experience, how dangerous the pilots could be, even cuffed and without weapons.

Trowa also slipped into the room and positioned himself next to Zechs, his pistol trained on Heero. Each knew how skilled and dangerous the other was, and Trowa hasn't about to hand Heero and invitation to attack. They watched each other intently. Wufei, still on the floor with eyes closed, took part in none of this, and the other guards, with one in particular, took to trying to aggravate Duo. It was almost working - only the knowledge that either Zechs or Trowa would have a bullet though him before he could cover half the distance to the door stopped him from throwing himself at the officers. If it wasn't for them he could have raised Hell before the hapless guards realised what was happening. He turned his head and glared at Trowa - the traitor. To think he - the Great Destroyer - had not so long ago fought alongside him. Duo shook his head in disgust.

'Which do you want?' Zechs soft voice echoed eerily around the room as he posed the question at Trowa. He looked at each of the pilots, watching each for several seconds, unflinching at the hate he encountered in Duo's eyes. Heero simply returned Zechs' gaze, whereas Duo filled his eyes with venom and tried to outstare Zechs. It had no effect. Suddenly there was a slight noise from the back of the room.

'You're taking 01 again, aren't you?' Wufei asked as he climbed to his feet. He looked towards Heero, how remained seated where he was, and then to Trowa, who nodded.

'Yes, I need 01 again. He's the only one of you who's piloted the Mercurius.' He turned to Heero. 'We received a report that 04 is going to attack L3 colony sometime around noon tomorrow, so I need you to pilot Mercurius, like before'. At this Heero rose. He knew the drill by now. It wasn't the first time he'd been called to fight in the gundam Mercurius, designed for Oz by the captive scientists, alongside the Vayeate which either Solo or Trowa would pilot. It was those two gundams which had got him caught in the first place. Heero started moving towards the door, but was stopped by Duo.

'What do you want him for? I'm a better pilot than 01, take me. You always take 01 - give us other pilots a chance'. He moved forward, blocking Heero's passage. The guards trained their guns on him, unsure of what to do. 'Here goes' he thought to himself. 'If I can get out, then maybe I have a chance of escape. I gotta try - I'm going NUTS stuck in here'. He moved forward some more. 'Come on, let me handle 04, I could take him out single-handed.' He stood up straight, hoping to be chosen in Heero's place. Even if he was unable to escape, he could cause an awful lot of damage in a gundam, and anywhere was better than the cell they were stuck in.

'Maybe next time. For now I need 01, but if he doesn't come back you'll get your turn. Don't worry 02, you'll all get a go' Trowa's voice was calm and un-nerving. Duo sank down dejectedly, there was no sense in arguing the matter - decision made, case closed. Heero continued forward again, disappearing out of the door flanked by the guards. Zechs was the last to leave, his gaze lingering on Duo for a moment before he too turned and left. Duo sighed - it looked like it was just him and Wufei again. Talking of Wufei, he had promptly lain back down and appeared dead to the world.

'Great' muttered Duo. 'I'll just sit here with Mr Zombie and do nothing'. He resigned himself to also lying down, soon sinking into a deep, dreamless sleep.



Heero flexed his now free wrists and looked up at the gundam before him - the one he would shortly be piloting. Mercurius stood tall and imposing, ready to fight in the oncoming battle. The surrounding guards kept their guns trained on Heero and he ascended into the gundam's cockpit, in case he decided to bolt, which was unlikely - Heero didn't do things Duo style. He took the controls, checking everything with a practised eye, making sure everything was in order. Then he waited until on of the guards gave the signal to move out.

Accompanied by ten other soldiers in their Taurus suits and, of course, Solo in the Vayeate, Heero set of on a course for L3 colony. Oz was also sending a ship with the group, containing mobile dolls for in case things really got out of hand. If that happened the soldiers would be needed to evacuate the colony - the mobile dolls would continue to fight in their places. The party travelled along in near silence, moving swiftly to avoid any unnecessary risk to the colony due to a late arrival.



Two and a half hours later they arrived at L3, relieved to find that 02 hadn't beaten them there. Everything appeared quiet - the radar's failed to locate any unregistered suits in the area. Now all they could do was wait.

Not everyone was content to just sit there with a potentially dangerous gundam pilot in their midst.

'You sure he can be trusted General Solo Sir? Is it really wise to let him fight? What if he turns on us? I don't trust him'. The soldiers were all nervous. 04 had caused a lot of destruction, his actions appeared almost maniacal - and they were about to fight him. If that wasn't bad enough - they were expected to team up and fight on the same side as 01! What if 01 suddenly decided to change sides? Everyone felt this way - they murmured their agreement with the pilot who had spoken up. Heero took no notice - his eyes were fixed on his vid screen, slightly to the left of one of the more distant colonies.

'Don't worry - he'll be no trouble' The words were supposed to be reassuring, but still the soldiers remained doubtful.

'How can we be sure of that?' another of the bolder soldiers spoke up. 'After all of the trouble he's caused Oz, you're letting him out in a GUNDAM! He's just as dangerous as the one on the loose'. Again others voiced their agreement.

'I'm sure because I have his self-destruct button here with me' Solo's voice was still calm. 'One wrong move and he'll be blown to pieces. Besides - we're all fighting the same enemy here. 01 has been fighting to protect the colonies which 04 is now destroying. We have to work together'. Solo closed his eyes and leaned back. 04 wouldn't get away this time - not if he could help it. Solo would win, or die trying.



It was a long wait, and the silence was intense. Most of the soldiers began to relax, reconing that it had been nothing more that a false alarm. 04 wasn't going to show after all. Though relieved, none voiced this theory; Solo was not known for his patience, and a long wait for nothing would not improve his mood. Solo was beginning to doubt as well, though, despite remaining alert to all movement on his radar. With the gundam pilots it was wisest not to take chances. The slightest lapse in concentration would cost most, if not all, of their lives. Still, despite his outwardly calm composure, Solo was loosing patience fast, seething at the thought of returning to the base, to his brother, with nothing to report. 'Still' he thought, 'there's a chance that he'll turn up soon, so we can't go back yet. Not until we're absolutely cirtain that the colony is safe.' He settled back in his seat and continued his survey of the sector.

Likewise, Heero was watching his screen intently. Quatre would attack, he of all people knew that. And he knew where he would attack from too. Ever since they had arrived his eyes had been fixed on the same spot, to the left of one of the colonies. He knew his patience would soon be rewarded, it was just a question of when. All any of them could do was just sit back and wait. Quatre wasn't thinking straight - he was attacking the very things he had been sent to protect - but he was still very smart. And possibly desperate. Desperation lends strength - and Quatre was already a strong fighter, even if his heart wasn't always in it. Deep down Heero knew that one of them would most likely not live through this battle - and he didn't intend to be that person.



Meanwhile, back at the Lunar Base, things were getting interesting. A coded transmission had arrived, but either the signal was being jammed, or the sender was purposely making it impossible to receive. It was a simple voice message, as far as anyone could work out, but with so much interference it was hard to tell. Trowa had taken over control of decoding the message - he was the most experienced in hacking and programming - but even he was finding it near impossible.

'Any luck?'. Zechs seated himself beside Trowa on the consul. Three hours had passed since the message had been received, but still no real headway had been made. The interference was proving difficult to sift out, so Trowa had been trying his luck with the decoding instead. So far he had established that it was a recorded voice message, but that was it. Male? Female? Robot? Impossible to know at this stage. 'Whoever sent this certainly didn't want anyone else to hear it'. Trowa was matter-of-fact, as always, and Zechs nodded. For a kid he certainly knew what he was about - like his own brother. This one hadn't been originally trained as a gundam pilot for nothing - Zechs was just grateful that he was on Oz's side. Now it was just a question of 04. His thoughts turned to Solo - what was his brother doing? Sure, Solo was a skilled pilot, but against gundams, and their pilots, that wasn't going to be enough. Zechs sighed. All he could do from here was hope that 04 was outnumbered, and that 01 would come through for them - otherwise it would be a massacre. Maybe this message would prove to be something about the elusive gundam pilot terrorising the colonies.

Trowa, working at his consul, suddenly stopped tapping at the keypad, turned the speaker on, and sat back. The message was by no means free of static, but it was much improved. And, with a lot of work, he had finally managed to decode it.

'My name. Lyre. contacting. Gundam pilot. of as. number. to attack. destroy the gundam. Oz. sending. you in stasis. cause havoc if. stopped - something which. with. be in touch soon to. you of my.'

Here the transmission trailed off into a mass of static, and the rest of the message was lost. The room was silent, except for the fuzzy noise being emitted from the speakers. It was cryptic, the part of the message that could be heard. Zechs turned to Trowa.

'How much more of the static can you filter out? He enquired. It was imperative that they know what the remainder of the message said. None of it made sense like this - split into two or three words at a time - but with the rest of the message they might find out something about 04 that would be of use. The message was obviously concerning the gundam pilots - maybe something that would help them defeat or destroy 04. He watched as Trowa began to tap away on the consul again. After a moment he was granted a nod - it was possible to filter out most of the static. But how long would that take?

'It's gonna take time though.' Trowa said quietly, confirming Zechs' fears. They both watched the screen as various symbols whizzed across it. 'Maybe a day, slightly less. I'll have to have some help though.' He looked to Zechs for affirmation, who nodded thoughtfully. The rest of the room took this as an end to the matter and went back to their regular duties.



Duo awoke suddenly, aware that something, or more likely someone, was outside their cell. He got up silently and positioned himself next to the door, tensed to spring. This was the chance he had been waiting for - anyone foolish enough to enter the cell alone would make an easy target. Finally - a chance to escape! He hardly dared breath, scared that he would alert the foolish person on the other side of his trap.

There was another soft noise outside, then a voice.

'Move away from the door.' It was a command, not a request. Duo took no notice - he didn't obey people he couldn't see, and didn't trust. He remained where he was.

'I said move away.'

'Fat chance' thought Duo, preparing himself. There was no way he was giving up this chance. Even if his cover was blown he still had a shot at freedom. Like he was gonna give that up!

'Come in and face me, coward. Or are you scarred of being beaten by the God of Death?'. Duo, Shinigami, God of Death, the Great Destroyer, 02, that was him - and he was breaking out of this cell! No one kept him locked up without paying dearly for it. Ohh, Oz was gonna be sorry - he would see to that. First, though, he needed to get free.

He glanced quickly around the cell, checking as he had done so many times before that there was nothing of use - say a chair or a metal pole maybe. Noting. Zechs had done a good job of making sure that nothing would be to the imprisoned pilots advantage - the room was completely bare, except for Wufei of course, who was now sitting up and watching Duo.

There was a jingle of keys from the outside door, then the sound of a code being keyed into the electronic lock pad. Duo tensed - how could anyone be that stupid? Oh well, this was his chance. The door slowly opened and Duo flung himself at the fool emerging through it. His flight was cut short by the barrel of Zechs' gun pressed between his eyes.

'Back up to the wall and don't say anything.' Duo did as he was told - he wasn't ready to die just yet. Why did this always happen? 'Great' he thought to himself. 'It just HAD to be Zechs, didn't it? Bang goes another escape plan.' He sank down against the wall, eyeing Zechs warily.

Wufei in turn got up from the floor and stood leaning against the wall, watching Zechs intently. Zechs still had his pistol aimed at Duo, but he was keeping a well-trained eye on Wufei as well. He knew this wasn't the wisest thing he had done, coming in here on his own, but he felt fairly confident that he was safe. From his position he had the advantage - there was enough space between him and them to allow him to put a bullet through both pilots before they covered half the distance to the door. Or at least he hoped there was. There was a moment of absolute silence, no one moved - each occupied with his own thoughts. Duo was busy working on another escape plan - one that didn't involve getting shot. Zechs was contemplating forgetting the whole thing - why had he come to the pilots? It hadn't been a wise move. Wufei was simply watching Zechs, curious as to why he was here, and why he was alone.

'Aren't you worried that we'll try to escape?' he asked. Everyone in the room knew that the answer was yes - though it was unlikely that even Duo would try anything with Zechs standing there. 'Why are you here?'

Zechs turned to look at him, pondering the question for a moment. Why had he come? He was no longer sure. Why come to the pilots? He shook his head in reply, and turned to leave.

This was Duo's chance. It was so out of character for Zechs to leave his back open that it took Duo a moment to register what was happening - by the time he saw the opening Zechs was nearly through the door. Duo lunged at his legs, trying to knock them from under him. Zechs however realised his mistake about the same time. He whirled round and let fly a single, well-aimed bullet. There was no way he could have missed at such close range. The bullet hit Duo in the right shoulder, the momentum taking it right through and out of the other side, and immediately a dark patch appeared on his shoulder, spreading fast. Zechs left, now carefully keeping Wufei covered with his pistol. The door closed behind him.

The impact had knocked Duo backwards, and he lay where he had fallen, a dazed look of surprise on his face. The wound was bleeding profusely. With an effort he struggled slowly upright and edged back to the wall, which he leant against for support. Wufei made his way over to the wounded pilot. Tearing a strip from his long coat he tied it around Duo's shoulder, as tight as he could manage with the handcuffs limiting his movement. Then he sat down beside Duo.

'You shouldn't have bothered. You're lucky he didn't kill you, you know.' They were the only words he had spoken to Duo since his arrival two weeks before in the cell. Duo looked at him, his face pale.

'Thanks for the advice. Maybe next time you could say something sooner.' He retorted. His attitude certainly hadn't been damaged.



Everyone was in high spirits. The party, which had sat in space for over 24 hours, was due to start back soon. 04 had not shown up, and the relief was almost tangible. The soldiers were joking back and forth among themselves, remarking on how 04 was just 'too scarred to come and fight'. They knew this wasn't true - but it sounded good. Only Heero and Solo took no part in any of this. Heero was still monitoring his vid screen, and Solo, thought more relaxed, was doing likewise. Sure, it would be embarrassing returning from a 24-hour stakeout with nothing to report, but, like many of his soldiers, he did feel relieved. A fight with 04 was something he looked forward to - a chance to prove to Zechs that his skill was great enough to bring down a gundam pilot, to prove that he could take charge of Oz - but he also knew the risks, that he would likely be risking his life. Still - that was the stakes with most battles - and he felt almost cheated. The chatter of the soldiers was beginning to grate on his nerves. He wanted to tell them to stop - the noise didn't feel right - but he couldn't. Not when he felt the same relief they did.

He tapped on his control panel and an image of Heero appeared on the screen. He was looking at one of the distant colonies, as he had been every other time Solo had checked on him. It was unnerving. Solo didn't trust 01, not by a long shot. It wasn't 01's style to bolt or simply turn on them - but there was something else that Solo couldn't place, something that made him feel uneasy. Suddenly Heero leaned forward, seemingly getting a better look at his screen. Then he sat back, and drove Mercurius forward. He had seen something that the others had failed to recognise in their state of relief - a small object moving closer, right where he had know it would be. The Oz soldiers looked on, amazed and unsure of what to do - what was happening? Solo figured it out and moved them into action.

'Follow him - he's leading us to 04' he ordered. Outwardly he was composed, but inside he was buzzing. This was it. He watched his men move forward, knowing that more than just a few would never make it out of this battle alive. 'Not me' he thought 'I'll take 04 down, and I'll live through it'. His hands tightened on the controls and Vayeate shot forward, after 01.

Heero was the first to enter range of the new mobile suit. He stopped, letting loose a series of warning blasts from his gun. Quarter didn't respond, not even to return fire. There was no movement for a moment. Then, slowly and deliberately, the new gundams arm raised, pointing his beam gapling at the nearby colony. Then he fired.

Heero had just enough time to drive Mercurius forward, knocking Quatre's gundam off balance. The beam shot of into space, narrowly avoiding the colony.

They locked in combat, struggling to overpower one another. The Oz soldiers entered range and pulled up, unsure of what to do. Fire? Attack? They couldn't, not with 01 in the way. Sure, they didn't trust him, but without 01's help they had no chance of defeating 04. They watched the two engaged I furious combat. Suddenly Heero pulled back. Quatre had the advantage - the new gundam was strong, and Quatre's skill appeared much improved. Mercurius was a strong model, but it was no match for Quatre's superior speed and strength, not up close. This battle would have to be won by skill rather than force.

Quatre lunged forward, and Heero drew his beam sabre, deflecting the attack. The opposing gundam swerved, avoiding Heero's blow and racing towards the trembling Oz pilots. The Quatre pulled up again, turning and firing with the immense power of his twin buster rifle.

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Ok, that's my first chapter - I know it's similar to the series at the mo - but I promise that's all about to change. I just needed a base point. Please, read on, and don't forget to review the story for me - I need your input! Thanx!! (