Chapter VII: A Battle of Gundams or the Sexes?
Kira finished scrubbing off the bit of bright pink paint on her hands, then turned to Gally, "So how long have you been part of the team here?" she asked.
"Not all that long," Gally replied, drying her hands on the towel, and leaning against the wall. "Only a few months. It was a hard process getting them to accept me though."
Kira smirked, "I'll bet. You should of seen some of the things I did to Heero when we were little. And from Wufei's attitude, it doesn't sound like he would readily accept anyone at all, let alone a female."
"No crap, you should have heard him!" Gally put on a mock Wufei voice, "A WOMAN? You must be joking! I refuse to work on the same team as… as… that! INJUSTICE! You people have no honor!!" She dropped the voice. "I think you get the picture."
Kira giggled, "If he ever tries to pull that with me, I'll give him a fight he won't soon forget. Revenge can be sweet, that little trick ought to teach Duo about breaking into people's homes unexpected."
"Well, me and Quatre didn't do too good a job of that ourselves…" said Gally with a giggle, and just the hint of a blush. "Sorry about that, I wasn't really expecting anyone to walk in… and well Quatre was there, we were alone…"
Kira smiled, "Oh it's not exactly your fault, we walked in on you two. Duo attacked me thinking it was Heero the other morning," with this she shook her head. " Could you give me more information on the Preventers here?" she asked while thinking, 'I'd been gone so long that I missed a lot of what happened in the war.'
"Sure, if you come this way," said Gal, leading Kira back into the main room. "All the info you need is stored on these consoles. Upcoming missions, mission strategy, the entire history of the war. Heero keeps it in painfully good order. It took me ages to get the codes for it... I used to work for Oz you see."
Kira nodded, a little surprised that she had been a member of Oz, but decided not to worry. She followed her to the consoles her eyes taking on a gleam as she sat down before them, already knowing that she would have no trouble with the codes. That was one area that she knew she at least equaled Heero in. "Let's see Past Missions, possible upcoming…What's this...Current Mission??"
"Must be a typo," said Gal lazily, peering over Kira's shoulder at the screen. "We haven't had a new mission in over two months."
Kira continued to type away opening the file, "No it's legit. Here are the stats and everything, some terrorist uprising, but wait... This says that a team has already been dispatched...But who else would they send for something of this level then the guys?"
Gally frowned, and glanced at her watch. "It's nearly lunchtime. The guys are always here by now. Duo's always the first. Come to think of it, where IS everybody? I saw Quatre and Trowa wandering off somewhere earlier..."
Kira punched a few more keys, and frowned. "WHy that stuck up stubborn…" a few more unrecognizable words slipped out. "The guys have all gone on this mission without a word to us. I bet Heero did it on purpose knowing I'd want to go with. OHhh Just wait tell I get my hands on him… or his laptop… or better yet Zero!"
Gally thumped her fist down on the tabletop. "That little... Ugh! When I get my hands on him. I'll ring his NECK! After everything I've done around here to get them to accept that I can handle missions, and they do THIS!"
Kira suddenly turned, "Hey Gally You want to go after them? I'm pretty sure Heero won't be expecting me to have gotten into these files so easily, or this soon. We can pop up, and show them up for leaving us behind."
"It's a good idea..." said Gal thoughtfully, "But we have to be careful. We'll have to move fast if we want to catch up to them."
Kira grinned, "Of course, now where to get supplies? I got all the stats, and it looks like the guys for once didn't take the fastest, and most efficient route."
"Well, that's good at least. On the other hand, there'll be a reason for that, like it'll be more closely guarded or something. We'll have to be careful. Flamesabre's ready to go, I loaded her with supplies this morning. Where are we heading anyways?"
Kira smiled, "Cairo Egypt, The guys are traveling over land through Europe, but we can make much better time going straight through underwater." she told her soon to be partner for this little 'mission'.
"Hmm, easy for some. Sabre doesn't like water too much, but I'm sure she'll be all right, and it'll still be faster than traveling by land, you're right about that. Also if we meet anything on the way, it'll be less noticeable."
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The five gundam guys were either running maintenance, resting, or navigating as they made their way. Heero had smirked at the site of the new paint job on Deathscythe, knowing exactly who the culprit had been. Duo had gone into hysterics but at the threat of cutting off his braid had shut up, and began to clean up the paint on his Gundam. Wufei had simply smiled then gone off to rest before taking his turn at navigating and driving. Trowa and Quatre were currently in the navigation and pilot seats.
Quatre studied the maps, doing his best to keep his mind off a certain lady he had left back at HQ, she was not going to be happy when they got back.
Trowa drummed his fingers on the cockpit controls. He had a few nerves about the upcoming mission, but that wasn't unusual. He couldn't help wanting to glance behind him. Was it really a good idea to leave the girls behind? They were gonna be real pissy later... He glanced over at Quatre. "Not far now," he said.
Heero watched Duo finish cleaning up the pink paint, his mind then returned to the culprit. He was regretting leaving her behind, but none of the guys actually knew what she was capable of, so they would never have allowed it. He just hopped that she wouldn't be too upset when they got back.
"Don't worry about her, Quatre. You can deal with her later, you need to keep your mind on the mission," said Trowa, who knew how Quatre would be feeling at that moment.
Quatre nodded, "Thanks Trowa, better tell the others we'll be there within a couple of hours."
"They're already ready over the intercom. Prep away," said Trowa, continuing to drum his fingers on the controls. Quatre nodded and began the final preps.
Heero headed to Zero, "Duo better leave the cockpit cleanup for later, time to start final prep." he called out as he then began to activate Zero's systems, a message popped up on the screen. "Hey Heero, hope you don't mind I poked around, nice modifications." Heero starred at the blinking message for a minute then closed it and continued to activate systems, He would have to talk to her about that later.
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Gally plugged in a series of codes, and Flamesabre's engines heated up. "Hold on, it's kinda fast. You should be used to that though!" she laughed, pulling back a lever. Sabre transformed into an air suit like the Wing or Zero models, and launched out of the hanger, the force pressing back on the pair in the cockpit like lead weights.
Kira grinned as she sat in a spare seat, laptop in her lap. "So who do you think will be more surprised, the Terrorists? or the guys?" Kira asked as they sped off.
"I don't know, but it'll be pretty close," said Gal with a giggle. "What are you going to do when we get to the battle? I have a feeling that you aren't exactly the type to sit back here while I clobber terrorist butt."
Kira grinned, "Didn't I tell you that I grew up with Heero, meaning I trained with him. I won't be sitting back painting my nails that's for sure."
With a tweak of a few levers, Flamesabre was immersed by the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. "I just hope we can get there fast enough. I'll let you off when we get there. Watch out for the beam cannons. They're pretty nasty even if you do have a gundam to protect you!" she stated with a grin.
Gal turned to look at Kira typing away on her laptop. "Whatcha doing there anyway?"
Kira smiled, "Oh just working on a security program. The codes and security I've seen have been far too easy to crack, computer wise that is. I wasn't Dr. J's niece for nothing."
"Sounds very complicated," said Gally, flicking Sabre on to silent running.
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Trowa was already in Heavyarms' cockpit by now. He had programmed the carrier to auto detonate upon arrival, so the Gundams could get free easily, and immediately begin to kick some ass. "You ready guys?"
Heero just fired the vents on his Gundam, Duo Let out a chipper yup, though complaints about pink were also heard. Altron's arms extended and retracted once, and Quatre nodded from the vid window he had open with Trowa.
"Let's go..." The carrier detonated, releasing the Gundams from them, so they could freefall with the aid of propulsion engines to the ground.
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Kira grinned as she began to type furiously on her laptop, and with that one of the enemy suits that stood before them began to creak, as some sparks began to fly. The pilot suddenly scrambled out of the cockpit as fast as he could and looked back at the suit like it was possessed, which in a sense it was.
Gally looked at Kira. "You're scary, ya know that? You never cease to amaze me. Must be something to do with Heero..." she said with a smile. "Well, if I were you, I'd hop out now and take cover. It won't be safe to have the two of us in here while in battle, and the guys are practically sitting on our laps already... and here they come!"
Kira grinned. Then vacated the Gundam only pausing in her typing for a few seconds as she leapt down and landed on her feet, then scurried out of the way. Two more of the suits began to move, sparks flying, the pilots exiting them as fast as they could. Kira smirked 'nothing like a 'lil 'ol computer virus to do the trick.'
Gally shifted the lever back so the Sabre once again became human shaped, and stepped out from behind the nearest trees just as the five gundams began land. "Hey guys!" she yelled across the comline.
Kira meanwhile was giggiling hysterically as more and more of the enemy suits began to malfunction and their pilots vacated them in utter and total confusion.
Sandrock, Deathscythe, Zero, Heavyarms and Altron skidded to a stop as they recognized the gundam before them, and then saw the increasing pile of malfunctioning suits.
Trowa remained silent for a few moments, before yelling, "HEERO!!"
Heero flinched from the normally silent boy's outburst, "WHAT!?!?!I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!!!" he exclaimed and suddenly realized what he had just said.
The last of the enemy suits began to shoot sparks, and the now 30 odd pilots that had vacated their suits stood in a group unsure of what to do.
"Well, enough standing around," stated Gally. "Do we get these guys or what?"
"Hai!!" Kira called out after shutting down her laptop for the time being. "If you want to watch my back and take care of any more suits that show up, I'll start dealing with these guys!" And with that, the silver haired woman began to creep towards where the enemy pilots stood looking nervously at the six gundams.
Trowa opened, then closed his mouth, unsure of what to say. He decided an extremely slightly different approach. "QUATRE!!!"
Quatre cringed, "Don't Look at me I told you she wouldn't appreciate being left behind!!!"
Duo sat in his suit, jaw open and closing looking much like a fish, he knew that any woman that caught Heero's interest would have to be something, but this was almost too much even for him.
Gal gave Kira a thumbs up, and grinned evilly as she spotted a new wave of enemy suits. "Oh yeah, come to Momma." She powered up the flame cannon and incinerated the closest two suits. She sighed. "Baby, we're in BUSINESS!"
Kira grinned and then sauntered forward to the now suitless pilots, "Ahh did your suits break down?" she asked innocently. The group of pilots turned, not impressed, quickly surrounding the silver haired girl. "Gee looks like you guys want a fight."
"Is she gonna be all right, Heero?" Duo asked, as he launched forward to meet the enemy suits, scythe in motion.
Trowa shook his head, Heero could deal with her, then he heard Gally laughing insanely as she kicked some terrorist butt, and sweat dropped. "You have... weird taste in women Quatre."
Quatre choose to ignore Trowa's comment and instead joined in the fray with the rest of the Gundams, except Heero, Zero had taken a few steps toward where Kira had begun to take out the pilots as they rushed to attack her.
"Damn..." said Gally to herself, upon realization that she was fast running out of gas to power her flame cannon. She hit the release switch, dropping off the main extent of Sabre's left arm, and pulled out her beam cannon, instantly annihilating the three approaching suits who thought she was out of fire power. "Bad move guys. Bad move."
Kira flipped over the head of one of the guys, but then suddenly found another's arms wrapped around her from behind, "Bad move pal.." she whispered before throwing her weight backwards, the pilot loosing his grip as she rolled, and sprung to her feet taking out two more that rushed in.
Heero glared at the group of pilots that were attacking HIS Kira, wait a second, His? He quickly stopped that train of thought, and then exited his gundam to lend her a hand, as a few more pilots had shown up after escaping from damaged suits. No matter what crazy thoughts may be showing up in his head, he was not about to sit here and let her get hurt or even killed.
Quatre soon had maneuvered Sandrock so that he was back to back with Gally, and continued to fire. The number of suits quickly diminishing to nothing.
Gally yawned and stretched her legs out in the cockpit. "Well, that was fun, wasn't it? She peered down at the fray of people going on below. "I suppose we'd better go and help," she said, then swiftly exited her suit.
Kira hissed as one of the pilots with a sword grazed her side, though he really didn't stay conscious much longer, and probably would never have a straight nose, or completely functioning hand again.
'This is just crazy...' thought Trowa as he ran out of bullets just as they ran out of enemies. "We decide to leave them behind because they're weaker, and they take care of more enemies than we do. It's just... ridiculous"
Wufei heard Trowa's comment and scowled. This was not a good day. With a 'hmph', he exited the cockpit to assist in taking care of the pilots, katana at his side.
Heero worked his way closer to Kira and then noticed the blood soaking through her shirt on one side. "Your hurt." he stated, and knocked out 4 more of the enemy tell he was beside her as she continued to fight.
"I'm fine, let's just finish of these bakas," she stated not looking at Heero.
Gally wasn't trained nearly as well in hand-to-hand combat as she was in others, though she still held her own. She much preferred to have a gun in her hand, but sometimes things could not be helped. She flipped one guy rather haphazardly, and kicked another in an extremely painful place, which made him fall over. She couldn't help but grin, but was then caught roughly by the arm, by someone with a very unrelenting grip.
Quatre scurried down out of Sandrock and began to move to get to Gally when he saw one of them grab her, with a cry of anger he dashed forward to knock the enemy away from her.
Gally grinned at him, and would have been more thankful if she hadn't remembered that he'd abandoned her in the first place! She used her telekinetics to blast a ball at several approaching men, who collapsed on the floor rather unceremoniously. Quatre cringed when he saw the others fall, then took out a few more, unsure of what to say to her.
Meanwhile Wufei began to take out some of the few remaining fools, muttering about injustice and weak women the entire time. Duo was just being his usual goofy but deadly self. Trowa back flipped on to the scene, and took care of a few of them with a series of kicks and punches, and a pretty spectacular scissor kick jump which would have been well appreciated by a circus crowd.
Kira sighed when she noticed no more baka pilots, besides the Gundam ones that is, to take care of. She nodded her head, "Hey Gally ready to head back?"
Gally inspected a very sore looking bruise appearing on her arm. "Yeah, I guess we better." She looked to Kira. "You're hurt too."
Kira rolled her eyes, "I'm fine, just a scratch." she stated defiantly and moved over to Gally.
Heero growled lowly and followed closely behind, "How big of a scratch Kira..." he asked not going to be brushed off.
"That's gonna be sore for a while," Gally stated, poking the bruise with a finger and wincing. "You should be more careful. Whether you can whip their ass or not, doesn't mean you're indestructible. Sorry, I'm beginning to sound like Heero! You want scowl at him, or shall I? We're still pissed with you guys for ditching us you know." She pointed a finger at Quatre, "You in particular."
Trowa gave Quatre a sympathetic look and then walked off back to Heavyarms. There were some discussions he knew it was best he didn't hear.
Kira rolled her eyes again and sighed, completely ignoring Heero, "It's not that bad, so don't worry. *Yawn* That was kind of fun though, first time I get to test that program out, worked like a charm."
"It did indeed. Us girls have got to stick together. We owe it to the women of the world." Gally stated firmly. "We'd better head back now. Man, it feels like we only just got here!"
Kira nodded and moved to follow Gally back to her gundam, picking up her laptop.
Duo and Wufei had wisely vacated the scene back to their gundams and where getting ready to head out.
Quatre had taken to studying his shoes at Gally's accusation, "But..but..Keechara...I..."
Gally glared at him expectantly. "Yes? You what? You abandoned me? Why, yes Q-chan, I think you did."
"Kira, let me see your arm," said Heero stubbornly, rapidly approaching her. "You're bleeding, it can't be that small a scratch."
Kira turned and glared, "No, you left me behind, and on purpose. SO what if I got a little scratch."
Quatre finally looked up, "I didn't really Want to leave you behind but… the guys... and then there was… and ... yeah...but...I ....I'm sorry."
"Yes, well we'll discuss your punishment later," said Gally with a cheeky grin as she walked back over to Flamesabre. "You coming with me Kira, or you wanna ride back with that baka of yours?"
"But Keechara….I…" poor Quatre at this point had no clue what to say, he couldn't tell if she was so angry that she looked calm, or wasn't that upset at all anymore and he really had no clue what to say or do.
Gally went back and gave Quatre a little kiss. "I forgive you, baby. Just don't do it again, all righty? Like I said, we'll discuss your 'punishment' later." She grinned and kissed him on the end of the nose, before getting on to the rope lift back to Sabre's cockpit.
"So, I CARE! I would have taken you if I wasn't worried about..." he pointed at her arm, "THIS happening!" Heero frowned. This was totally unlike him to sound so small. He was never wrong. In his work, he couldn't afford to be wrong...
Kira quickly scurried after Gally, grabbing her laptop along the way. But stopped at his words, "Kira slowly walked back to Heero with a small smile, and kissed him on the cheek, "That's very sweet of you Heero, but you should be thankful I didn't decide to upload my virus to Zero." and with that she scurried after Gally. In actuality, she would have gladly ridden with Heero, but he would have had her under careful scrutiny, which she did not need at the moment. For she had indeed been exaggerating the harmlessness of her wound, but she could heal it herself, as long as no one actually knew how bad it was. This she hopped to accomplish on the trip back, she could face Heero's interrogation then.
Heero's eyes widened slightly. She wouldn't... would she...? He thought back to her revenge on DHC earlier, and gulped. Maybe a Gundam-wide diagnostic was in order...
"Gally!! Wait for me!!" Kira exclaimed and then began to scale up the side of the Gundam after her.
Heero looked up after the two young women heading up to the cockpit of the Gundam. He looked at Quatre, but decided not to comment. Quatre sighed, then looked over at Heero, and smiled. The normally emotionless pilot obviously had found someone he really cared about, and from what he could tell they would be quite the match, especially if she could pull this kind of reaction out of him. He silently followed, and let his mind drift to what his little vixen could possibly coming up with for the promised 'punishment'.
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