mkay! so i started this story months ago, when i first got into GW, so it takes place in the earlier bit of the series...
and for those of you reading 'Ethereal Life', i will be updating it soon. i'm sorry i havent been working on it like crazy for a few days, but it ain't goin away yet!
WARNING: this fic contains slight yaoi/shonen-ai (boy's love). if you dont like it, dont read it! mkay?
Control: Lost
Heero clamored into the cockpit of his mobile suit, Duo quickly following. He tried to stay calm as he fumbled with the harness, buckling it as fast as he could. He typed in his Gundam's start up code and grasped the controls.
On the screen to Heero's right, a video link popped up, showing Duo.
The American glanced up at the camera, "Oi Hee-chan, you better be up for this!" joked Duo.
Heero looked up from the controls at his partner, glaring into the camera. From the other end, Duo glanced up again, smirking.
Heero turned back to the controls, his nerves calming slightly with the familiar hum of his mobile suit.
The pair barely had time to get their suits up and running before the airplane hangar around them was engulfed in flames. There was a series of earsplitting cracks as the hangar's supports buckled and fell.
Shadowed by the smoke and flames, the two Gundams rose. Raising their enormous weapons, the pair faced the endless armies of Leos and Aries.
"Damn, we really got our work cut out for us, huh Hee~ro?" gawked Duo.
Heero merely ignored his partner, charging toward the enemy. He fired several shots from his blaster, destroying dozens of Leos in each attack.
Duo raced forward, slicing through many mobile suits with his scythe. He laughed, glancing at Heero through the camera, "No matter how many of these guys they throw at us, they go down just like that!"
Heero ignored the American once more, completely focused on his mission, and leaving his personal life behind… for the moment.
***
Meanwhile, in a shuttle hovering over the battle, were Zechs and Noin.
"This is the day that all our research finally gets paid off," said Zechs, a smile creeping onto his masked face.
"Yes," agreed Noin, nodding. "I'm just glad that no more innocent lives will be lost."
Zechs turned to a soldier at the control panel. "Initiate Operation Black Scythe." The pilot then rushed to the end of the room, sitting in a high tech control set. He grasped the joysticks and the screens in front of him flickered to life.
In the main screen, a video feed showing Duo's point of view popped up. The screen to the left showed a series of numbers and percentages, while the screen at the right showed Duo in his suit's cockpit, completely oblivious to the impending doom.
From the other end of the room, came Noin's voice, "Zechs! Operation Black Scythe is a go!"
Zechs smirked, taking complete control of the Deathscythe.
***
Duo and Heero continued to fight. They took out many mobile suits with every blow, but the opposing forces were endless.
Heero, who had already taken to using his beam saber, sliced a handful of Leos in two. Behind him, Duo swung his giant scythe, destroying a dozen Leos as well.
Just as Duo was about to attack the next round of enemies, his mobile suit seized up.
"What the—?!"
Much to the American's surprise, his Gundam began to power down, all its systems going black. As gravity took over, the Deathscythe fell face-forward to the ground. Also following gravity's orders, Duo hung limp in his harness, his face inches from the screen in front of him.
He remained there, suspended, for several moments, dazed and disoriented.
***
Heero, who was oblivious to Duo's predicament, didn't even notice when the video link connecting the two disappeared. It was only the sound of the Deathscythe crashing to the ground that alerted him to the disaster.
The white Gundam turned, seeing Duo's suit lying face-first on the beaten earth.
"Get up, Duo!" called Heero, but there was no response.
***
Back inside the Deathscythe, Duo looked around dazedly. The cockpit of his mobile suit was in complete darkness, giving it an almost surreal feeling.
"Wha—what happened…?" mumbled the braided pilot, putting his hand to his forehead.
Blindly, he fumbled for his mobile suit's start up controls. However, before he even found the keypad, the Gundam began to power on.
On its own, the Deathscythe rose from the ground. As the monitors flickered on, Duo saw that all the remaining Leos had seemingly frozen.
Scooting back in his chair, he grabbed the controls and had his Gundam turn around. It didn't budge.
"What—?"
The Deathscythe remained still for many moments, no matter what Duo did. He pressed all sorts of buttons, giving his mobile suit a long list of random commands. But they were all in vain.
After a few moments, a video link popped up on the screen.
"What the hell just happened to you?!" questioned Heero, his angry voice contradicting the confused and worried look in his eyes.
"Hee-chan! I've lost control of Deathscythe! No matter what I do, nothing works!" replied Duo, his voice tinted with fear and worry.
Just as Heero was about to reply, his partner's Gundam suddenly moved on its own.
***
Back up in the shuttle, Zechs watched Duo's almost comical reactions intently. He waited to follow through with his mission, letting the baffled pilot try to assess his situation.
Finally, Zechs took control of the Deathscythe. He spun the mobile suit around, raising the giant beam scythe. He brought the weapon down at the other Gundam.
***
Heero watched in shock as Duo brought his scythe down at him. He managed to block the attack with his shield just in time.
"Duo! What the hell are you doing?!" he yelled, glaring daggers at the other pilot through their video link.
Duo was just as shocked as Heero. "I'm not doing anything, Hee-chan, I swear! Deathscythe is acting on its own!" static filled the connection as Deathscythe delivered another attack.
Heero swiped his beam saber at Deathscythe several times, hoping to make the other Gundam back off a bit.
Surprisingly, the onyx mobile suit leapt into the air, landing heavily behind Heero. The blue eyed teen spun around as fast as he possibly could, stopping Duo's scythe with his saber.
***
Noin watched the battle between the two Gundams closely. She could tell, just by watching, that Zechs had taken advantage of the fact that he was not the one inside Deathscythe. His fighting style was much more reckless and daring.
Even though he was an enemy, she hoped to god that the defenseless pilot in that mobile suit was alright.
***
Duo let out a cry of surprise as his Gundam suddenly leapt into the air. When Deathscythe landed, the back of his head smacked against the seat, sending pain exploding across his vision. Seeing stars, Duo moaned quietly. He momentarily let his hands fall from the non-responsive controls.
Duo snapped out of his stupor as an earsplitting screech rent through the air. His head snapped back up, eyes focused on the scene unraveling in front of him.
His Gundam's scythe was slicing into Heero's shield. The white mobile suit struggled to break free, but it was to no avail. The next moment, Heero raised his beam-cannon at the Deathscythe. In a split second, the weapon charged up and let out a huge blast.
"No! Heero!!" cried Duo as he was shot back with incredible force.
***
Heero quickly put up his shield, blocking Duo's scythe. He growled, fighting with the controls to stop the other's weapon.
"Dammit," he snarled, trying to pull away from the onyx Gundam. Thinking quickly, Heero contemplated his attack options.
He glanced at the screen displaying his weapon stats. Even though he hated the thought of attacking Duo, he could still get a few more shots out of his buster rifle. Pressing a series of buttons, Heero had his Gundam sheathe his saber and call back the oversized blaster.
He brought the buster rifle up to Deathscythe, yellow electricity crackling out of the end. In under a second, a huge, golden light exploded from the weapon. He would never be able to forgive himself.
Duo's Gundam was enveloped in the yellow blast, sending him flying. The beam lasted several seconds, finally fizzling out as it burned up the last of its power.
Dropping the cannon once more, Heero yanked the giant scythe from his shield. He tossed it carelessly to the side.
Finally, Heero looked up. He was awfully troubled that he had to fight his friend like he did, but it was all he could do to stop the Shinigami.
A good forty feet away, Deathscythe lay in a mess of sparks and smoke. Almost all of its shiny metal plating was now a charred black.
Even through Heero's hardened emotional state, he couldn't stand the sight before him. He had to look away. It was just too hard to see the result of what he had done.
***
Zechs leaned back in the controls, watching as Deathscythe lay motionless on the ground below. He hadn't expected for Heero to use such force against a comrade. Nonetheless, with the way things were going, at least one of the two Gundam pilots would not make it out of this alive.
Just then, Noin came running to the control center, "Zechs! You have to stop this! You'll kill them!"
The masked pilot looked up at her, the expression in his eyes hidden behind the glass. "That is exactly what I intend to do, Noin."
Tears were forming in her eyes, "But they're only kids!"
"I know…" Zechs sighed. He turned back to the controls, forcing the beaten Gundam to rise.
***
Deathscythe was in bad shape, inside and out. In the cockpit of the onyx mobile suit, several wires had come loose. They hung from the ceiling and walls, their ends giving off sparks.
Duo sat motionless in the control seat, violet eyes closed, his arms hanging limply behind him. His breath came in short, labored gasps. After a few moments, the Shinigami let his eyes slide open halfway; he stared ahead blankly.
The screens in front of Duo faded in and out of static. Many alarms were going off in the cockpit, alerting the braided pilot to all the damage that had been done to his Gundam.
"Deathscythe…" mumbled Duo, a thin line of blood trickling down his forehead. "What are you doing, aibou? Wh-why are you fighting Hee-chan…?"
There was no reply. But then, Duo didn't really expect one anyway.
Duo shut his eyes as he felt Deathscythe begin to lift itself from the ground. He didn't know why, or how, any of this was happening. All he knew was that he had to stop his Gundam before Heero got hurt… or even worse, killed.
Already knowing that it wouldn't work, Duo reached for the Self-Destruction button. "Sayounara…" he whispered as he pressed the ominous red button.
Nothing happened.
***
Heero watched as Deathscythe began to rise. The onyx Gundam raised its left arm at him, ready to fire its last weapon.
Heero merely held up his shield, deflecting the projectile with quite a bit of effort. However, his Wing Gundam managed to hold it off without too much damage. Deathscythe was out of weapons now… except for the self-destruction device.
In the next moment, however, Heero was in front of Duo's Gundam, the pointed end of his shield stabbing right into the core of the onyx mobile suit.
Even then, Heero had jabbed his shield into a part of the other Gundam where Duo would not be seriously harmed, and the suit would not explode, merely shut down. And that is exactly what it did.
***
Duo watched blearily as Deathscythe fired another attack at Heero. He wanted it all to stop, he wanted it to stop so badly, but there was nothing he could do.
Suddenly, Duo's eyes widened in shock and betrayal. Heero was rushing toward him, ready to impale his Gundam with his pointed shield.
The braided pilot didn't even get a chance to brace himself as the sudden force of Heero's Gundam ramming into his rocketed through the cockpit. Duo jolted back, his head snapping forward and giving him a nasty case of whiplash.
His vision instantly blurred again as pain shot up and down his spine and shoulders. His arms went numb, giving him the feeling of being assailed by pins and needles.
The last thing Duo saw before he was overcome by blackness, was Deathscythe completely shutting down, losing all its power.
***
Zechs cussed loudly at Heero's attack. He knew instantly that he had not killed Duo with his blow.
The masked pilot growled as he began to lose connections to Deathscythe. There was only one more thing he could do to save the mission.
Self-destruct.
There was a very small chance that either Gundam pilot would survive such an explosion.
However, as Zechs was reaching for the self-destruction device in his control panel, a hand fell over his, stopping him.
"Enough, Zechs. I will not allow you to murder those two children," ordered Noin, turning the masked pilot to face her.
Zechs frowned, "You have no say in this matter. Those two pilots are our enemies and therefore must be destroyed." He pulled his hand away from hers, placing it over the self-destruction button.
"It doesn't matter if they are our enemies or not," she said, with a serious voice and expression. "Forcing those two boys to fight to the death, while you pull the strings from behind, is inhumane. I will not allow you to follow through with this."
Zechs glared at her behind his mask, however, he knew what she said was right. The mission had to be stopped if he ever wanted to live past his personal guilt trips.
The masked pilot lifted his hand from the self-destruction device, "Abort operation!" he ordered, "I repeat: abort operation Black Scythe!"
Noin's expression softened, "Thank you."
***
Heero pulled his shield from Deathscythe, watching the other Gundam crumple to the ground. "Is it finally over?" he wondered aloud, guilt clouding his cobalt eyes.
And indeed it was; as Deathscythe lie motionless on the beaten earth, its nearly inanimate pilot hidden away inside.
Without hesitation, Heero carefully lifted up the other Gundam and flew off, heading somewhere close, but safe to hide. It wasn't long until he found the hangar where the other Gundams were being stored.
Heero placed Duo's Gundam flat on the ground, and then did the same with his own. He then opened up the cockpit to his mobile suit, climbing out and rushing up to unbolt Deathscythe's.
Opening the cockpit to the onyx Gundam, Heero found Duo, lying unconscious in the control seat. Undoing his partner's harness, he lifted the braided pilot up, holding him carefully in his arms.
Carrying the Deathscythe pilot, Heero snuck out of the hangar, making his way to the nearby safe house.
***
Sometime later, Duo finally regained consciousness. His arms were tingling and his body felt weak, and there was a constant ringing in his ears; but he was just glad to see Heero leaning over him.
"H—Hee-chan…" his vision was blurred, and the pounding headache at the base of his skull wasn't making it any better, but Duo could just make out the silhouette of a worried Heero.
The Wing pilot held the other's hand in his own, glad to see that he was finally awake. "Don't worry, Duo," he said quietly, "Everything's okay now."
END
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