Pheonix Rising Hi, minna! Here's part 2! I'd like to thank ShadowHawk for allowing me to use his character Id in my story! I was totally shocked that someone would actually want to help me with one of my fics! Thank you, ShadowHawk for your assistance with Id and plot ideas for the fic!
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Pheonix Rising
by Ratha

Part Two: Defection

"Heero? HEERO!" Duo shouted into the comm.

No response.

"Oh shit," Duo muttered as the fun drained out of the situation and he began slicing a path through the mobile suits furiously. "Shit shit shit shit shit..."

The girl was silent behind him, watching the screen intently as he cleared a rather large cluster of Leos blocking his way with a single blow. The Wing ZERO was revealed. Duo felt his chest tighten with dread and the girl gasped softly in shock. Wing ZERO was badly damaged; the motions were jerky, the beam sword flickering in and out of existence. With agonizing slowness, the huge head turned toward the Deathscythe. Duo smiled slightly in relief. Of course Heero was still fighting. Of course. Nothing stopped him.

Another wave of dizziness washed over Duo, but he ruthlessly fought it off. No time for that now. Gripping the controls a bit tighter, he thrust toward the Wing ZERO, cutting down Leos along the way. "I'm comin', I'm comin'," he muttered as he approached. "Just hang on a little longer-"

It was in vain. A Leo performed a kamikaze on the damaged gundam. With the slow responses of his gundam, Heero didn't get the beam sword around fast enough, and the Leo crashed into the chest of the much larger Wing, exploding on impact. The Wing was flung backwards...and did nothing.

"NOOOOO!" Duo screamed when the Wing ZERO remained motionless. But before he could do anything, something hit the back of his head forcefully and darkness engulfed him.
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The girl grabbed the comm and shouted, "This is soldier 1934! Stop your attack at once!"

The Leos immediately stopped.

"I have immobilized the pilot of this gundam. Maintain your positions until further orders."

"Yes, Commander," one of the Leo pilots replied. It was the only red Leo in the group.

The girl winced. Id. Damn! How am I going to avoid him? She closed the comm-link. "OZ is so gullible," she muttered, then dragged the unconscious Duo out of his seat. She strapped him into the seat she'd been in, then took the pilot's seat. Gripping the controls, she turned the gundam toward the Leos and reopened the comm-link. "Id, tell Lieutenant Zechs I have a message for him: I QUIT!" She gunned the thrusters and shot toward the startled Leos, slicing them down before they could react, leaving only the red Leo untouched. "Now get out of here, Id. I don't want to have to kill you, too."

"This is treason, Commander," the pilot growled. "You WILL face death for this."

"No shit, Id. Now get lost before I make you leave!"

The Leo suit silently turned and jetted away.

The girl nodded curtly and turned toward the downed gundam, briefly noting the warning lights on the Deathscythe's controls.

"Damn, a fuel leak," she muttered. "He's gonna kill me if it's not fixed." Her eyes abruptly glowed an unnatural blue-green and the warning lights turned green one by one.

"Uhhhn...Didja get the number of that MS that hit me?" Duo groaned.

"Just in time, boy," she said smoothly. "You can help get your friend out of his gundam before Zechs gets my resignation."

"Your what? What are you talking about, lady? Who are you?"

"My name's Eiko Ryushi. Codename: the Pheonix."

Duo paled in shocked horror. "You're the Pheonix?" he squeaked. "But you're a girl!"

"Did I just stutter?" she asked, turning to face him with an exasperated look. "I'll explain later unless you want your friend to die or the both of you to be captured."

"Can I trust you?"

"I'm trusting you, aren't I? Look, if you don't trust me, just shoot me now."

Duo was startled when his gun floated to his hands.

"I'm ready to die if it means you and Heero will live. It might be better if you put me out of my misery. As powerful as I am, I can barely control it. Any of it. I'm lucky I'm still sane and not a babbling idiot in a mental institution."

He looked from his gun to her and back. She was serious, he could read it in her eyes. "Man, I hate these tough decisions," he complained. "I'm gonna go against my common sense again and trust you, though. Let's go get Heero."

She smiled faintly and stepped back to let him get back into his seat.

"So can you tell if he's alive, Eiko?"

She looked briefly startled. "Alive, but unconscious. YOU might not want to see what he looks like at the moment."

"Then you can get him."

She nodded and climbed from the Deathscythe's cockpit to the Wing ZERO's. It was a few minutes before she returned with Heero. As soon as Duo saw him, he felt slightly sick. The unconscious boy was covered with cuts and bruises. One arm was splinted with a spare antennae and both legs were splinted with thick sticks. Eiko had grabbed a First Aid kit, emergency rations, and the Wing ZERO's self-detonation device.

"We've gotta jet fast," she said. "OZ is not gonna be happy to lose me and Zechs has already discovered my double-cross. He's sending two keeps of Leos and a Taurus squad to either stop me or destroy me."

"And the fun continues," Duo said sarcastically. "Hurry up so we can get outta here."

She nodded and strapped the unconscious Heero into the spare seat, then stood behind Duo's seat. "Ready," she said shortly.

"Prepare for turbulence!" the braided pilot grinned, leaning over the controls. "There's nothing we can do for the ZERO, Eiko, so as soon as we're out of blast range, activate the ZERO's self-detonation."

Eiko was silent and to Duo's shock, Heero's gundam began to move.

"What the hell?" Duo gasped and looked over his shoulder at Eiko.

The girl's eyes were closed and a thin sheen of sweat covered her skin in intense concentration. Her hands were gripped tightly on the back of his seat. She was trembling slightly from great effort.

Duo turned back to stare, slack-jawed, as the Wing ZERO rose fluidly. "Oh my God..." he whispered in awe, glancing briefly at Eiko. "Heero wasn't kidding. Can...Are you sure you can handle it, Eiko?"

"Yeah," she grunted through gritted teeth. "Try not to distract me, okay? Now get going! It's hard to control it as it is!"

"Gotcha." Duo maneuvered his gundam into the air, not startled now to see the Wing ZERO following. "Just hang onto it as long as you can, Eiko!"

There was no response. Then Eiko's image appeared on the screen. "The Wing ZERO is fully operational now. Temporary pilot: Eiko Ryushi. Codename: Pheonix. Preparing to activate ZERO system."

"What the-? Eiko, no! You can't handle the ZERO system!" Duo yelled.

Her eyes flickered, then began glowing. "I was raised in a ZERO system," she said emotionlessly, sounding like Heero. Then she grinned. "Let's go! I don't wanna go back to OZ!"

"Sounds like a plan. I'm not even gonna ask how you got over there."

"Later. Lead on, Shinigami!"
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Id Kushrenada walked silently down the OZ' base hallway to Lieutenant Zechs' quarters, his long red hair flowing like fire down his back and his red eyes hard with slight fury. He disliked speaking with the masked man, but his father had ordered him to report all events concerning the Pheonix to Zechs. The young pilot knocked on the door.

"Come in," called Zechs' voice from inside.

Id opened the door and stepped inside. "Lieutenant Zechs, I have a report and a message from the Pheonix."

Zechs looked up in sudden fear at Id's voice. "Lord Id!" he said, jumping to his feet and bowing to the younger man. "I didn't know it was you. You have a message from the Pheonix?"

"Yes. She said to tell you she quits. She has joined the gundam pilots."

Zechs stared at him in shock.. "She what?"

Id nodded curtly. "Yes, Lieutenant Zechs. She used one of the gundams to destroy the rest of my platoon. She said to tell you she quits, and she helped the two gundam pilots escape."

"Could you identify the two gundams?"

"They were the Wing ZERO and the Deathscythe Hell, Lieutenant."

Zechs nodded curtly and turned to the door. "Thank you for reporting this to me, Lord Id."

"My father ordered it," Id said shortly, preceding Zechs out of the room.

Zechs walked to the control room. "Assemble as many keeps as possible of Leos, Aries, and Taurus suits immediately!" he barked at a nearby soldier.

"Yes, Lieutenant!" was the reply.

Id stood silently in the hall, looking out a window toward space. "Eiko..." he whispered, then turned and went to find his father to ask if the two special mobile suits were ready to be used.
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"Hey Eiko! We're almost back to base!" Duo announced. "how ya holding up?"

"Fine. How's Heero?" Eiko replied.

"Still out like a light."

"Good. You know, I know his name, but not yours."

"Really?" he asked in surprise. "Can't you read my mind?"

"I've tried twice, but both times I hit an instinctive shield. It's like hitting a brick wall at sixty miles an hour."

"Ouch. Wufei would say it's because I don't have a single thought in my head," Duo grinned. "Well, I'm Duo Maxwell. The Shinigami. Or Bakagami, as Heero and Wufei call me."

She was silent a second. "Did-Did you say Wufei?" she asked hesitantly. "As in Chang Wufei?"

"Yeah, why? Do you know him?"

She grinned wickedly. "Do I know that arrogant baka? Of course, I do. I'll explain later, though."

"Okay. Hey, what time is it?"

"One minute to 500 hours. Why?"

"I gotta radio in. Hang on." Duo opened the link to base. "Yo, Quatre! Mission accomplished and then some!"

"That's good to hear, Duo," the blonde pilot smiled.

"What do you mean 'and then some'?" Trowa asked.

"Our dynamic duo has become a terrific trio! Not only did we destroy the OZ base and get the info on the Pheonix, but Heero picked up a boatload of injuries and I picked up something better!"

"What? A girl?" Quatre teased.

"I've got the Pheonix." Duo grinned at their shock. "If it weren't for the Pheonix, Heero and I would be either dead or captured."

"Are you sure it's safe to trust him, Duo?" Quatre asked worriedly.

Duo tried not to laugh. "Yeah, I'm sure. Seeya when we get to base! Duo out." Duo grinned at Eiko's image on the screen. "They think the Pheonix is a guy!"

"So did you," she pointed out with a wry smile. "Let's go."

They arrived at base and docked the two gundams, closing the docking bay doors before exiting the gundams. Duo told Eiko to wait in the Wing ZERO's cockpit until his signal. She agreed with a giggle as he jumped down from the Deathscythe Hell's cockpit.

"Hey Quatre! Get some of those Maganacs to help me with Heero! I got him in the Deathscythe!"

"Then who's piloting the Wing ZERO?" Quatre asked, craning his neck around to look at Heero's gundam, but he couldn't see inside its cockpit.

Duo grinned mischievously and turned toward the white gundam, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Yo, Pheonix! Give them a face to go with your codename!" he yelled.

Trowa and Quatre looked at each other, then up at the cockpit. Needless to say, the were shocked when Eiko came out.

"Hello!" she called brightly as she hopped down. "I'm Eiko Ryushi, the Pheonix. I'm pleased to meet you." She bowed respectfully in greeting.

"You're the Pheonix?" Quatre gaped. "You don't look that dangerous..."

"Neither do you, Quatre," Trowa pointed out.

Quatre grinned shyly at the comment. "Yeah. Good point." He looked at the unconscious Heero as the Maganacs carried the injured pilot past and the blonde pilot shuddered involuntarily. "What happened to him?"

"Some damn fool Leo pilot did a kamikaze on him," Duo scowled. "The Wing ZERO is pretty bad, too."

"I don't see how it could have even functioned in its current state," Trowa murmured.

Duo frowned at the normally silent boy, then abruptly rounded on Eiko. "Stop that! You're freaking me out!"

She grinned sheepishly and put a hand behind her head. "Sorry, but after being with you, Mr. Brick-wall-for-a-mental-shield, it's like-"

"Okay, okay! I get the point! Just stop making Trowa a jabber jaw! It's not him!"

Quatre looked at them in confusion. "What's going on?"

"Eiko's a telepath. She was manipulating Trowa to make him talk." Duo glared a mock threat at her. "And don't start on Quatre, either!"

She shook her head. "Never. He's too sweet."

Quatre blushed as the others laughed.

"You're not going to warn her not to manipulate Heero and Wufei?" Trowa asked with a faint smile.

"Naw, I'm counting on her to keep them from trying to kill me."

"I'm more worried about Heero trying to kill ME," she replied with a grin. Then she grimaced. "I don't want to be a bother, but could I borrow some clothes? I don't want to wear this lab coat I borrowed forever."

"I think there's some clothes you can borrow, Miss Eiko," Quatre said shyly. "At least until you can get some more."

"Could you show me, please?"

The blonde pilot blinked. "Uh...sure. Come on."

"Thanks, Quatre."

"So what's your opinion of her, Trowa?" Duo asked after they'd gone. "I think she's nice enough."

"'Nice' doesn't equal 'trustworthy', Duo," Trowa replied quietly. "I don't trust her totally. She not only can use her powers to manipulate people, but she can also say just the right thing to people she can't mentally control to get them to do what she wants. I would suggest being careful what you say around her. For all we know, this could be an OZ trap."

"That's what I figured. That's where this little baby comes in!" Duo grinned as he held up a small metal box that had a small screen with a blinking light. "It'll tell us where she is at all times."

"But how can it stop her from contacting OZ mentally?"

"Eh, good point. I dunno."

"Then that's a chance we'll have to take at the moment."
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"Id!" squealed Mariemaia as her brother entered the room. She happily ran toward him and he picked her up, smiling at her.

"Hello, Mariemaia," he smiled. "Where's Father?"

"He's in there." Mariemaia pointed toward Treize Kushrenada's office. "Where's Miss Ryushi?"

Id didn't answer her, only walking to knock on the door of his father's office. Not waiting for an answer, he entered. "Father? I have unpleasant news."

Treize turned away from the window. "Oh? What is it, Id?"

"The Pheonix has defected OZ and joined the gundam pilots. I request permission to take one of the prototypes out to bring her back."

Treize frowned slightly. "Are you sure she defected and wasn't kidnapped?"

"I'm sure of it. At one point she was controlling one of the gundams and used it to destroy the rest of my platoon."

"Very well." Treize moved to sit at his desk. "But don't take your Leo or the new Aries prototypes. I have something much better that has just been finished being repaired. A mobile suit was found several months ago in an abandoned colony. A very unique mobile suit, yet made from gundanium alloy." He picked up a stack of papers and a photograph and handed them to Id. "The files call it the Gundam Versago."

Id briefly glanced over the information on the gundam and his eyebrows lifted in surprise at one piece of information. "It has a ZERO system? Similar to..."

"The Wing ZERO and the Epyon. Yes. If you wish to use it, I'll have it delivered here at once. It will be yours, and yours alone."

Id looked at the picture of the gundam, then nodded curtly. "I'll take it."

Treize smiled. "Very well. Call in Lieutenant Zechs in and I'll have him retrieve it."

Id nodded. His very own gundam...He would teach those upstart pilots to regret ever crossing OZ!