Disclaimer: If I owned Gundum Wing, do you really think Duo would have wound up with Hilde? sigh At least there are original characters. Take that Hilde!
I'm No Angel
Chapter 10
If you were a king up there on your throne, would you be wise enough to let me go
For this queen you think you own
Wants to be a hunter again, wants to see the world alone again
To take a chance on life again, so let me go- Dido
It came out of no where. It sliced through the sky above Angel's head, casting a brief shadow over her upturned face. She loved birds. The gyrfalcon was her favorite. The Red Bird of Paradise had been her mother's favorite.
Look Kat, look at the pretty birds. They're the birds of Paradise.
Snapping out of her reverie, Angel continued across the Delta Vista campus, unnoticed and alone. Many of the students were enjoying the prime colony spring on the quad or in the city since it had been only a half day. For a moment, she allowed herself to envy them, happy little Neo-Icelandic teens going to movies, skateboarding, gabbing on the phone, struggling with homework, fighting with best friends...
She smiled wryly. She had had lots of that in her life. Be they piloting mobile suits or posing as Oz soldiers, she and Kurt were always at each other's throats. When they were in constant competition. On the job, a silent battle of wills often occurred when they discussed who would take the most dangerous mission. Despite his belligerent nature, Kurt was always trying to protect her, as any surrogate brother would. Even now...
Upon reaching the inside of the long neglected south wing, Angel stopped thinking. She walked to the entrance of the Gunthur's underground base of operations. Her breathing slowed. She closed her eyes, then opened them. And everything clicked.
When Angel walked into the war room, Duo could tell that something was different. There was a hardness to her gaze that would make any other guy flinch or look away. But he was no other guy. And he wasn't about to let her just forget about him and their kiss.
A conflict on Earth had forced Relena to return to her duties. The others had gone with her, knowing that their friends needed no distractions. Now all that was left was to prepare the gundums. Wing Zero was ready. The Inferno needed some work as a previous scuffle had resulted in some exposed wires on the left leg and arm.
Angel worked on Inferno after changing from her uniform to black boots, black pants, and a green tank top covered by a worn black dress shirt. With Miki's help, Inferno's arm had been patched up quickly. It turned out that the Japanese boy was not only a book worm, but a gifted mechanic as well. He chatted animatedly with Angel while they worked on the damaged appendage, suspended by strong cables attached to a ramp several feet above the gundums' heads.
Hanging upside down and tending to Inferno's leg, which wasn't as bad as the arm, Angel pretended not to notice Duo walking beneath her. She silently prayed that he would continue walking but when he stopped directly under her, she sighed and released the device keeping her stationary on the line. She plummeted until she was nearly face to face with him, stopping herself by resetting the latch of the device attached to her waist. She was a little disappointed that Duo hadn't batted an eye at her abrupt action and a little flustered when she felt his warm breath upon her skin. She quickly masked it with anger.
"What?" she snapped.
"What's wrong with you?" he queried, quickly running his eyes over her face. She was pissed and upside down and, God, but she was beautiful. Her vibrant red hair, flushed face, full frowning lips, and vivid greed eyes were a distraction unto themselves...wait, green eyes?
"Your eyes are green," he said dumbly.
"Well, I don't like flying with contacts on," she answered huffily, angry that his distractedness had distracted her from being angry.
"But-contacts?"
"I came to this school undercover during the war. It would be stupid of me to show up with violet eyes for two years and then green eyes the next day. I don't like my identity questioned."
Which is what I've been doing this whole time.
When he only stared at her eyes, she growled lowly. Her eyebrows drooped sharply and her voice became thick with exasperation.
"Look Duo, not that I haven't enjoyed our little chat, but I'm about 10 minutes away from finishing Inferno here, saddling up and blowing the shit out of that Drake wanker. So yeah, with all my Anglo-Saxon blood, my bloody eyes are green, okay? So-"
She was forced to swallow the end of her tirade when Duo suddenly grasped her face in his hands and slanted his mouth across hers, catching the upside down Angel quite by surprise.
Her lips, which had been in an 'o' of surprise, were quickly plundered by Duo's amorous tongue which mad a thorough sweep of her moth before he reluctantly dragged his lips away from hers.
"You're beautiful when you're angry," he murmured huskily. "So don't bother trying to be mad at me. It'll only encourage me."
With that, he gave her a roguish smile and left her to her work.
"-so...sod off," she whispered, scarlet to the roots of the hair.
Nonplused, Angel slowly reversed her cable device which pulled her up. When she reached her previous location, she held up her torch to finish the job but only hovered there, starring at the gleaming metal but not seeing it. Tentatively, her hand moved to her lips where she slowly traced the skin Duo had branded with his kiss.
Suddenly, Inferno's CD player began to shuffle the CDs within it. When Blue Oyster Cult's "Burnin' For You" began to play, she let out a noise that was between a groan and a whimper. She turned herself right side up in her harness and turned to see Miki on the catwalk across from her mech. He was smiling slyly and looking very pleased.
"First you explain yourself to Elizabeth and then you smooch a la Spiderman with Mr. Maxwell."
Angel blanched. He had seen her exchange with Beth?
"My baby's growing up!" he sobbed.
"One word of this, Miki..."
"I know, I know. You'll grind up my bones to make your bread," he said solemnly.
Angel just glowered at him, suspicion evident in her gaze.
"But seriously," he said, "You've got to pick your launching music. The new sound system I installed is the best yet."
On the other side of the Delta Vista campus, far away from Angel and Miki, Kurt's thoughts were not unlike Angel's had been as he watched Anthony Rico and his friends hanging out on the stone steps of the senior dorm. Not long ago, Kurt had envied Anthony. Anthony was cool, confident, and charming. He was someone you could have fun with. Someone you could be friends with. Someone you could trust. Like Angel. He sighed and turned away from his friend.
Thinking of Angel made him think of Duo and the mission. He didn't really dislike the American. It was just that he didn't want Angel to get hurt. He knew she could take care of herself physically (he bore a few scars as evidence). But of the two of them, Angel was always the most normal. The most human. And humans were prone to distraction.
She could not be distracted.
She was an excellent spy and when she had a gun...she could be scary. He loved that about her. While he overtly dangerous, Angel was a hidden threat. Her soft eyes, easy smile, and slight frame had gotten the best of their enemies in the past. But after two years of peace and mild activity with the Preventers, she was bound to be a little off her game pilot-wise. So he'd just have to keep her on her toes.
"So you all know the mission," said Illyana.
"Sure thing," Kurt deadpanned, "We blow shit up."
"Before curfew," Torin chimed from his seat at the control console.
The pilots were in their gundums while their fellow Preventers were in a room above from the hangar. Gunthur anxiously scanned each mobile suit through the large window in front of the console before he put on a pair of ear phones and sat down next to Torin who opened the doors of the hangar, causing the ceiling to divide. As the machines that operated the door whirled, the football field above them became visible.
As Gunthur began the countdown, not noticing Miki watching him out of the corner of his eye.
"In T-minus 10...9...8...7..."
At six, Zechs ordered the colony itself to prepare for the gundums' take off.
"...3...2...1..."
Dead blow with the life from the low
Out of no where, a deafening audio melee assaulted Gunthur's ears and his ear phones were thrown from his head as he fell out of his chair . Miki and Torin fought to contain their laughter but they lost the battle. As the mechs took off, laughter as well as Queens of the Stone Age could be heard via the radio from Inferno's cockpit.
I'll
be massive conquistador
Give me sword, show me the door
Metal
heavy, shocked at the core
Gimme toro, gimme some more
Pressurize,
neutralize
Deep fried, gimme some more
"Really Angel, that was terribly naughty of you," Torin said as he fought down giggles.
"You know me," came the smug reply.
Space
flunky, four on the floor
Fortified with the liquor store
This
one's down, gimme some more
Gimme toro, gimme some more
Illyana took Gunthur's place, gingerly stepping over him, amusement dancing in her eyes. When Gunthur composed himself, he glared at her.
"I wonder where she got that from," he said, his Norwegian accent thick with his anger. She simply shrugged.
Once they were out of the colony's air space, Angel changed the track from "Millionaire" to "Go With the Flow".
She
said "I'll throw myself away,
They're just photos after
all"
I can't make you hang around.
I can't wash you off my
skin.
Outside the frame, is what we're leaving out
You won't
remember anyway
"That
was really wrong of you, Angie," Duo mock-scolded. Despite her
ire toward him, Angel could not help but giggle some more.
"
But it was the perfect opportunity. How could I not take it?"
she said.
I
can go with the flow
But don't say it doesn't matter anymore
I
can go with the flow
Do you believe it in your head?
"That was a good one, Red," Kurt said. But then he was all business. "So where are we going?"
Heero keyed in their destination and sent it to each of the pilots. "L6 cameras caught Drake and his men coming and going. Although they temporarily fried each colony's systems that they visited, Torin was able to access the auxiliary security systems after he got the virus out of Delta Vista's computers. They were heading toward Mercury."
"Mercury? But there's nothing there," said Kurt.
"There's a BioGyn facility there," said Quatre as he sent them all satellite photos. "Preventer satellites from Mars have shown a structure attached to the station between Earth and Mercury. The station is about the size of a colony and scheduled for destruction in two months. Since no one's there, it would be a perfect place for them to run their operations."
It's
so safe to play along
Little soldiers in a row
Falling in and
out of love
With something sweet to throw away.
But I want
something good to die for
To make it beautiful to live.
I want
a new mistake, lose is more than hesitate.
Do you believe it in
your head?
"So we check out this station and flush 'em out if they're there?" asked Angel.
"Yes. And we also have to do a thorough check of all of their weapons and data. BioGyn's been known for its weapon's manufacturing as well as its genetic research. They wouldn't have started this unless they had something."
I
can go with the flow
But don't say it doesn't matter anymore
I
can go with the flow
Do you believe it in your head?
When they came upon the station, they found their intel to be correct. Not letting the element of surprise escape them, they burst into the station, immediately causing chaos as the BioGyn employees scattered. To Heero's chagrin, there were no mobile suits to fight with. However, there were plenty of armed men to evade and dispatch as the gundum pilots made their way through the cannon fodder and advanced to the heart of the station's central building.
What they found stopped them in their tracks quite effectively.
Behold! The Cliffhanger!
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...inhale HA!
Seriously, you have no idea how hard it was to stop here. I was going to go on but then I typed that last sentence and I thought, That sounds like a good end to the chapter. So that's the end. But the story will go on! I promise you, one more chapter, and I can consider this baby finished!
Once more, dear friends, into the breach!
"Go With the Flow" and "Millionaire" by Queens of the Stone Age