Chapter Ten: What Goes Up Must Come Down
Heero sat on the ground next to the two mobile suits, Wing 001 and Angel Fire. He studied the strange girl sitting next to him, leaning up against her mobile suit, Angel Fire. He only knew her name, D, and that she was a good pilot. A beeping came from Wing 001's radio. "Time to attack," was all he said. D barely nodded and stood up. They each went to their Gundams and climbed inside. They waited thirty seconds before starting up and beginning their attack.
Trowa looked up from under his dark brown bangs, only one of his forest green eyes visible, and it was betraying no emotions as he gazed up at the sun. His strange partner was sitting up in the boughs of a nondescript tree. She was a bit upset about not being allowed to wear her long cape, but that was life. Her red eyes seemed to gleam with anticipation of the battle that was to come. Neither bothered to look at their mobile suits. Her Gundam was the storm gray Fuyu Karasu, the Winter Crow, with its flame red beam trident somehow hidden from sight. Trowa had gotten a new Gundam. He named his the Megaton. It's gigantic beam canon arms and missile launcher shoulders dully gleamed in the bright sunlight. He allowed himself to think of his sister, Cathy, and the circus. His thoughts were interrupted when the beeping came from Ririku's radio. Neither saying anything, they silently boarded their Gundams. It was time.
When he ran into the room to tell Denizen of the attack, Duo fumed inwardly when he saw how they had treated his girlfriend. She looked half dead, hanging limply from the ceiling. Her once long and shiny reddish brown hair had whitened into a silver color. Denizen hit him, nearly knocking him off his feet. He managed to get himself under control enough to tell Denizen about the attacking mobile suits. Duo had been at the base for two days, and this was the first time he had been allowed to see the prisoner. It was relatively simple; he made sure he was at hand when they were attacked, and that he had nothing to do. He ran into the room, looking scared senseless. Denizen ran out of the room with Linder when he heard of the attack, commanding Duo to make sure she wouldn't escape. Duo waited until he couldn't hear the two men anymore, then took off his hat, revealing his long brunette braid. He looked up at her, grinning broadly. "Did ya miss me?" Eschaton realized it was him, then before she could stop herself, called out his name, "Duo!" Duo looked around, then smiled once more when he saw no one had heard her. "Nekomon, you really must learn to control yourself." He searched for the controls Linder had been using to lift Eschaton up. He couldn't find them. She had her old mischievous gleam in her eyes. "I can get down, don't worry."
Eschaton felt rejuvenated when she saw Duo. She slowly turned herself, pulling her shoulders out of joint for a moment before she flipped. Her hands, which had been tied behind her, were then tied above her. Jerking against the chain to knock her shoulders back into joint, she then pulled herself up, turning upside down and clinging to the chain with her legs: they had untied her feet when she was being questioned. She extended a claw on one finger, and after a few moments had freed herself. She clung upside down to the chain for a moment, measuring the distance from the chain to a hanging light fixture. Six feet, easy. Swinging on the chain to get momentum, she let herself slip from it, hanging by one hand before letting go, flipping like an acrobat and grabbing onto the light, her long silver hair fanning out behind her. She did the same thing with the light, swinging over to the other two lights. She had finally reached the scaffolding on the walls. Making a last jump over to it, she climbed down as quickly as she could. Duo watched her proudly. She could still get around after everything they had done to her.
She pounced on him as soon as she got close enough, hugging him ecstatically. "Duo! Duo, Duo, Duo! I missed you!" Duo laughed, then grabbed her by the waist and tossed her off of him. She landed sprawled out on the floor, laughing. "What happened to your hair?" she grimaced a moment before smiling again. "Denizen decided he wanted me to give him my phone number, but I didn't want to tell him. I don't want to talk about what he tried to do to get it." Duo nodded understandingly. "We'd better hurry up, I think your friends want to destroy this place.?" Eschaton stopped laughing and looked startled for a moment. "But what about Jenison! He's not bad! We have to get him!" Duo looked down into her face, studying it intently. She was worried. "Alright, we'll get him. But you go ahead and get to Quatre. He has Phoenix ready and waiting for you." Eschaton looked at him angrily, her tail lashing. "No, I'm not going to be sitting in Phoenix while you risk your life trying to get someone you don't even know! I'm coming with you, and don't you doubt it!" Duo sighed; when she was like this, a nuclear bomb wouldn't change her mind. He gave in to her, although he admitted later that he had wanted her to come with him.
They snuck together through the base, Eschaton leading Duo to the cell she had been imprisoned in for so long. Jenison was still in the cell. "Damn." She whispered. She didn't have her blasting cards. Duo interpreted her crestfallen look. "Here, I thought you might like these." He carefully tossed her a deck of cards. Smiling as though it had just become her lucky day, she caught them, and took out the Jack of Clubs. Putting it in between the doorway and the door, she stepped back a few paces and pulled Duo with her. The lock was blown up in a small and strangely quiet explosion. "Ok, Jenison, are you there? Jenison?" Jenison was there, dead, with Denizen standing over him, clawed hands dripping blood, a maniacal smile on his face.
"Hurry up! I can't believe I'm in here waiting for you!" Wufei was leaning against the door frame, arms crossed with a revolver in his right hand. Sage was busily typing on her laptop, which was connected by a linking cable to Base Terra's main computer. "I'm almost in…" she muttered, more to herself than to Wufei. She clicked on the "Enter" key. "Got it!" Numbers began streaming on her laptop screen. "It's about time," Wufei muttered darkly. "No, it's about programming. Now will you shut up for a minute? I need to install this program." Sage pulled a c.d., seemingly out of nowhere, and inserted it into her laptop. "Why should I be quiet? If I have to stand here making sure some stupid hacker doesn't get captured, I should be able to talk!" Sage shot him a murderous glare, then smiled suddenly and pulled one of her many weapons into view. Ebony. She pointed it at Wufei, then pulled the trigger. Click! Wufei jumped in surprise, and Sage began laughing. "Idiot, couldn't you tell Ebony wasn't armed?" She had already turned back towards her computer. She clicked a few times, and a crude skull and crossbones appeared on her computer screen, hovering over a glowing green tube that seemed to slowly fill up. "It's uploading, I'll only be a minute longer."
Quatre sat patiently, waiting for Duo and Eschaton. He looked back once again at the doors to the cargo bay, wondering at how Eschaton had designed Phoenix to be so advanced. He sighed as he forced himself to look at the instrument panel once again, waiting for Duo's signal.
Eschaton froze for a moment, her hazel eyes blazing with rage. "You…" she snarled menacingly. Duo had never seen her truly angry before. Maybe a little annoyed or upset, but never truly angry. Her tail lashed, and her long, black curved claws were extended. Her sharp teeth were revealed when she spoke. Denizen gave her a chilling leer. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did you like him? Oh well, I can always send you to be with him!" Duo pushed Eschaton out of the way and slammed the door, hitting Denizen as he lunged. "Run!" Denizen practically ripped the door from it's hinges, chasing them.
Duo was having to basically drag Eschaton away. "Nekomon, come on! We've got to go!" She calmed down slightly, nodding her head and turning to follow him. Duo led her out of the base, but Denizen appeared in front of them. He was smiling gruesomely, and held a gun in his hand. Eschaton rushed at him, speeding up in her anger. Denizen shot her, and although she put a hand out in an instinctive attempt to block it, the bullet passed through her hand and into her side. Falling to the ground, Eschaton didn't move.
Wufei and Sage snuck around the base, dodging behind corners and doorways when panicked soldiers ran past them. They made it out of the base, running to the shuttle Quatre was waiting in. Sage looked around. "Where's Duo and Eschaton? They should have been here by now!" if Sage had known where they were, she would have boarded Dark Phoenix herself and found Denizen.
Duo looked at Eschaton lying on the ground, her right hand a bloody mess. He reached for his gun, but found he had dropped it. Denizen menaced him with the gun. "Should I go ahead and kill you now," he mused, "or wait and see if your girlfriend will wake up so she can watch you die?" Duo's voice was cold and shook with rage. "How could you do that to her? You god damn bastard!" Denizen shook his finger at Duo, as though chastising a young child. "Now, now, now. Remember your language. But you gave me the wrong answer. I think I'll kill you now. Then I'll make sure your girlfriend isn't far behind. Goodbye, little Gundam." Denizen squeezed the trigger.
Duo leapt to the side, being grazed on the side of his head as the bullet whistled past his ear. He lifted up Eschaton, threw her over his shoulder, and ran with her to a depression in the side of the mountain. Denizen had not followed, but was instead running towards Base Terra. Duo carefully laid Eschaton in it, then knelt down beside her, shaking her. "Nekomon, wake up Nekomon! I know you can hear me, you have to hear me!" Her hazel eyes flickered open, the strange burning lights gone. She gazed at him for a moment, then looked down at her mangled hand, a frown on her face. "My hand…it…hurts." She looked away, staring resolutely into the sky, watching the battle.
"I want to find him, Duo. I want to fight him and destroy him. Is Phoenix here?" Duo nodded. "Then help me get to her." Duo put his hand out, stopping her from struggling to her feet. "You're hurt too badly. You can't pilot a mobile suit! Look at yourself, damn it!" She pushed his hand away with her left hand and got to her feet. "I'm going to fight him, and I'll fight him today, before he can forget what he's done to me, and what he's tried to do to me!" tears were in her eyes, and she seemed to be trapped in her mind for a moment. Shaking her head violently, she continued. "I can't just go, besides, they need my help! Denizen's created mobile suits that are equals to the Gundams! Not the Scorpios, no, they aren't half as strong. Denizen has ten Libras at his command in this base! If he thinks he can't win, he'll order them out to fight! I DON'T want to watch my friends get killed!"
Duo nodded his understanding, then put his arm over her shoulders and led her to Quatre's shuttle. "I can fight, you know. I can fight without my hands. I have a program. It hasn't been successfully tested, but I know I can make it work. I'll be okay, you'll see. But when I tell you, make sure everyone gets out of the way, in fact, tell them to get back to the solar base. I might need help to get back. Get on your radio and see if Peter can send a shuttle to Earth so I won't have to pilot Phoenix out of the atmosphere." Duo was a little unbelieving. "It takes days to get here from the sun! How could he send a shuttle and you get back within a week?" Eschaton smiled secretively. "You don't actually think the little golden button on Deathscythe Eternal has no function, do you? It's a teleport button. Once you get into space, you can teleport yourself to about ten miles from the solar base in less than a day. You can travel through like matter in less than a tenth of the time it would take you to travel it normally." Duo agreed, resolving to tell Quatre and the other pilots this. They reached the shuttle, and Eschaton immediately ran into it and through the cargo bay doors, not even stopping to say hello to Sage. "Figures. We come all the way down here to get her out of here, and she runs past me without even saying hello. How completely and unbelievably typical!" Quatre ignored her ranting and opened the doors, freeing the Phoenix.
Duo ran to where he had hidden the Deathscythe Eternal. In reality, he had landed in the middle of an open field, but the cloaking device on the Deathscythe was highly advanced. Pushing a button atop a small device he had hidden in his braid, he jumped into the now visible Deathscythe Eternal. The new mobile suit was and looked deadly. It's glossy black Elendium alloy shell provided amazing protection. When Eschaton had first told him what it was made out of, he had been surprised that she didn't call it an Elendium instead of a Gundam, but she had explained that everyone was so used to calling them Gundams, that the name just stuck. The curved black wings had strange markings on them, an acid green scythe and a flame red whip, resting atop a white crescent moon. The beam scythe was acid green, and there were green flames running all along the black body. He fired up the mobile suit. "Come on, Deathscythe, we have to go meet up with the others!" he flew through the air towards the awesome explosions the battle was causing.
Heero destroyed another two mobile suits with his beam cannon, being matched suit for suit by the other fighters. He looked appreciatively at the two mobile suits piloted by Ririku and D. They really were good pilots! Trowa was coolly manipulating his mobile suit, causing one missile to take out two mobile suits. Eschaton was good at designing mobile suits. She was able to use the least amount of power to inflict the most amount of damage. He saw something flying towards him. Now that it was being compared to other mobile suits, it was easily the smallest of the Gundams, coming up to the shoulder of Megaton when it flew past him. Eschaton's face flickered onto the screen. "You might all want to go now. I'm not sure how this is going to turn out, and I don't want to risk destroying anybody." The pilots were all confused. Ririku, D, Trowa, and Heero turned their mobile suits away, flying towards Quatre and the shuttle, the agreed meeting place after the battle. They landed by the shuttle, coming out of their mobile suits and standing around, Ririku was talking about how glad she was about having her red target contacts to Trowa while he just stood and nodded a few times. D and Heero merely watched the silver Gundam, wondering what was going to happen. Duo flew over the shuttle in the Deathscythe Eternal, landing in between the four standing mobile suits. Jumping out and standing alone, which was very strange for him to do, he watched in silence.
Eschaton clumsily dodged a few attacks. It was difficult to fight with only one hand. She knew the others had to think she was crazy for fighting like this and refusing any help, but she knew the risks of Morpheus XIII and didn't want to risk them happening. She activated the particle shield, setting it to full strength and deflecting some of the attacks. "Phoenix, activate Morpheus Thirteen!" the feminine monotone voice of the computer began the sequence. "Retinal scan and voice imprint commencing. Give your full name." Opening her eyes wide and speaking clearly, she allowed the laser to scan her eye, saying, "I am Eschaton, the end of days." "Voice imprint and retinal scan completed. Password." She blinked her eyes, shaking her head to stop the flashes caused by the laser. "Random Apocalypse." "Morpheus Thirteen Activated!"
White mist filled the cockpit as a blinding light flashed. When the light and mist dissipated, Eschaton's eyes had changed. The green in her eyes were bright, glowing in the dim cockpit. The amber around her slit pupils was intensified, a bright golden red color. A helmet slowly lowered over her head. The Phoenix itself changed. The blue lenses that were its 'eyes' had become the same as her eyes, creating an eerie human-like appearance, but the rest of the head was in such sharp contrast that it seemed supernatural. The dragon-like wings seemed to grow, lengthening into something that could shield her, but could also be used as weapons; they were edged like knives. Phoenix's fingers sprouted long, curved silver talons. The body of the Phoenix glowed in multiple colors, like an opal. Eschaton felt strength, defiance, and the drunken feeling of invincibility flow through her veins.
Denizen looked in disbelief at the face on the vid window. How could she still be alive? "Hello there, my pusillanimous pal, did you think you would see me again?" She turned off the connection so Denizen wouldn't answer her. Denizen didn't try to reply, sending a missile straight at her. Her eyes were closed, but she envisioned the missile through some sixth sense. Her mobile suit swung its whip, decimating the missile before it could strike her.
While Denizen couldn't see or speak to Eschaton, Duo and the others gathered around the small vid radio Ririku always carried could. They watched in amazement as Denizen directed his men to attack her. "How could she have her eyes closed the entire time and still fight like that?" breathed Ririku. "That's not what I want to know. I want to know how she could fight like that period. Especially after being injured so badly." D turned towards Duo, worry in her voice. "Injured, what do you mean? How was she hurt?" Duo shook his head in disbelief at the sphere of destruction Eschaton was causing with her whip. "I think Nekomon would rather tell you herself. But I'll say one thing. I'd hate to be Denizen after what he did to her hand, in fact, I'd hate to be Denizen PERIOD! He killed Jenison, and she's mad at him for that." Sage couldn't believe her ears. "What? I thought she hated Jenison! Isn't he the one who killed all of the people she cared about when she was younger?" Duo shook his head. "I'll let her tell you herself when she gets back."
Eschaton could feel every movement of her enemies in her mind, sometimes reacting before she was even attacked. She was in a world of her mind. In her mind, she was Phoenix, and all of the attacking mobile suits were around her. She lashed out with the double scythe in her right hand, sweeping off the legs of three mobile suits. Denizen struck her from behind, causing her to roar in anger. She then began fighting at a speed no one had ever seen. The whip was a blinding silver flash, her double scythe a flaming sweep. Moving the whip to her right hand so it would swing with the scythe, she slashed a mobile suit in half with the talons on Phoenix's hand. Two lustrous throwing stars came from the slit in Phoenix's palm. She threw them, and the swept around her like twin boomerangs, returning to her after they shattered four mobile suits. Eschaton threw them again and again, slicing through the ranks of mobile suits surrounding her.
Denizen looked at the silver mobile suit in terror. He could no longer see the actual form of the Gundam; it was moving too quickly, appearing as a glittering blur. He decided to escape, but sent a "present" to Eschaton. "Send out the Libras!" He sped away as the ten mobile suits streamed out to attack Dark Phoenix.
Heero sat on the ground next to the two mobile suits, Wing 001 and Angel Fire. He studied the strange girl sitting next to him, leaning up against her mobile suit, Angel Fire. He only knew her name, D, and that she was a good pilot. A beeping came from Wing 001's radio. "Time to attack," was all he said. D barely nodded and stood up. They each went to their Gundams and climbed inside. They waited thirty seconds before starting up and beginning their attack.
Trowa looked up from under his dark brown bangs, only one of his forest green eyes visible, and it was betraying no emotions as he gazed up at the sun. His strange partner was sitting up in the boughs of a nondescript tree. She was a bit upset about not being allowed to wear her long cape, but that was life. Her red eyes seemed to gleam with anticipation of the battle that was to come. Neither bothered to look at their mobile suits. Her Gundam was the storm gray Fuyu Karasu, the Winter Crow, with its flame red beam trident somehow hidden from sight. Trowa had gotten a new Gundam. He named his the Megaton. It's gigantic beam canon arms and missile launcher shoulders dully gleamed in the bright sunlight. He allowed himself to think of his sister, Cathy, and the circus. His thoughts were interrupted when the beeping came from Ririku's radio. Neither saying anything, they silently boarded their Gundams. It was time.
When he ran into the room to tell Denizen of the attack, Duo fumed inwardly when he saw how they had treated his girlfriend. She looked half dead, hanging limply from the ceiling. Her once long and shiny reddish brown hair had whitened into a silver color. Denizen hit him, nearly knocking him off his feet. He managed to get himself under control enough to tell Denizen about the attacking mobile suits. Duo had been at the base for two days, and this was the first time he had been allowed to see the prisoner. It was relatively simple; he made sure he was at hand when they were attacked, and that he had nothing to do. He ran into the room, looking scared senseless. Denizen ran out of the room with Linder when he heard of the attack, commanding Duo to make sure she wouldn't escape. Duo waited until he couldn't hear the two men anymore, then took off his hat, revealing his long brunette braid. He looked up at her, grinning broadly. "Did ya miss me?" Eschaton realized it was him, then before she could stop herself, called out his name, "Duo!" Duo looked around, then smiled once more when he saw no one had heard her. "Nekomon, you really must learn to control yourself." He searched for the controls Linder had been using to lift Eschaton up. He couldn't find them. She had her old mischievous gleam in her eyes. "I can get down, don't worry."
Eschaton felt rejuvenated when she saw Duo. She slowly turned herself, pulling her shoulders out of joint for a moment before she flipped. Her hands, which had been tied behind her, were then tied above her. Jerking against the chain to knock her shoulders back into joint, she then pulled herself up, turning upside down and clinging to the chain with her legs: they had untied her feet when she was being questioned. She extended a claw on one finger, and after a few moments had freed herself. She clung upside down to the chain for a moment, measuring the distance from the chain to a hanging light fixture. Six feet, easy. Swinging on the chain to get momentum, she let herself slip from it, hanging by one hand before letting go, flipping like an acrobat and grabbing onto the light, her long silver hair fanning out behind her. She did the same thing with the light, swinging over to the other two lights. She had finally reached the scaffolding on the walls. Making a last jump over to it, she climbed down as quickly as she could. Duo watched her proudly. She could still get around after everything they had done to her.
She pounced on him as soon as she got close enough, hugging him ecstatically. "Duo! Duo, Duo, Duo! I missed you!" Duo laughed, then grabbed her by the waist and tossed her off of him. She landed sprawled out on the floor, laughing. "What happened to your hair?" she grimaced a moment before smiling again. "Denizen decided he wanted me to give him my phone number, but I didn't want to tell him. I don't want to talk about what he tried to do to get it." Duo nodded understandingly. "We'd better hurry up, I think your friends want to destroy this place.?" Eschaton stopped laughing and looked startled for a moment. "But what about Jenison! He's not bad! We have to get him!" Duo looked down into her face, studying it intently. She was worried. "Alright, we'll get him. But you go ahead and get to Quatre. He has Phoenix ready and waiting for you." Eschaton looked at him angrily, her tail lashing. "No, I'm not going to be sitting in Phoenix while you risk your life trying to get someone you don't even know! I'm coming with you, and don't you doubt it!" Duo sighed; when she was like this, a nuclear bomb wouldn't change her mind. He gave in to her, although he admitted later that he had wanted her to come with him.
They snuck together through the base, Eschaton leading Duo to the cell she had been imprisoned in for so long. Jenison was still in the cell. "Damn." She whispered. She didn't have her blasting cards. Duo interpreted her crestfallen look. "Here, I thought you might like these." He carefully tossed her a deck of cards. Smiling as though it had just become her lucky day, she caught them, and took out the Jack of Clubs. Putting it in between the doorway and the door, she stepped back a few paces and pulled Duo with her. The lock was blown up in a small and strangely quiet explosion. "Ok, Jenison, are you there? Jenison?" Jenison was there, dead, with Denizen standing over him, clawed hands dripping blood, a maniacal smile on his face.
"Hurry up! I can't believe I'm in here waiting for you!" Wufei was leaning against the door frame, arms crossed with a revolver in his right hand. Sage was busily typing on her laptop, which was connected by a linking cable to Base Terra's main computer. "I'm almost in…" she muttered, more to herself than to Wufei. She clicked on the "Enter" key. "Got it!" Numbers began streaming on her laptop screen. "It's about time," Wufei muttered darkly. "No, it's about programming. Now will you shut up for a minute? I need to install this program." Sage pulled a c.d., seemingly out of nowhere, and inserted it into her laptop. "Why should I be quiet? If I have to stand here making sure some stupid hacker doesn't get captured, I should be able to talk!" Sage shot him a murderous glare, then smiled suddenly and pulled one of her many weapons into view. Ebony. She pointed it at Wufei, then pulled the trigger. Click! Wufei jumped in surprise, and Sage began laughing. "Idiot, couldn't you tell Ebony wasn't armed?" She had already turned back towards her computer. She clicked a few times, and a crude skull and crossbones appeared on her computer screen, hovering over a glowing green tube that seemed to slowly fill up. "It's uploading, I'll only be a minute longer."
Quatre sat patiently, waiting for Duo and Eschaton. He looked back once again at the doors to the cargo bay, wondering at how Eschaton had designed Phoenix to be so advanced. He sighed as he forced himself to look at the instrument panel once again, waiting for Duo's signal.
Eschaton froze for a moment, her hazel eyes blazing with rage. "You…" she snarled menacingly. Duo had never seen her truly angry before. Maybe a little annoyed or upset, but never truly angry. Her tail lashed, and her long, black curved claws were extended. Her sharp teeth were revealed when she spoke. Denizen gave her a chilling leer. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did you like him? Oh well, I can always send you to be with him!" Duo pushed Eschaton out of the way and slammed the door, hitting Denizen as he lunged. "Run!" Denizen practically ripped the door from it's hinges, chasing them.
Duo was having to basically drag Eschaton away. "Nekomon, come on! We've got to go!" She calmed down slightly, nodding her head and turning to follow him. Duo led her out of the base, but Denizen appeared in front of them. He was smiling gruesomely, and held a gun in his hand. Eschaton rushed at him, speeding up in her anger. Denizen shot her, and although she put a hand out in an instinctive attempt to block it, the bullet passed through her hand and into her side. Falling to the ground, Eschaton didn't move.
Wufei and Sage snuck around the base, dodging behind corners and doorways when panicked soldiers ran past them. They made it out of the base, running to the shuttle Quatre was waiting in. Sage looked around. "Where's Duo and Eschaton? They should have been here by now!" if Sage had known where they were, she would have boarded Dark Phoenix herself and found Denizen.
Duo looked at Eschaton lying on the ground, her right hand a bloody mess. He reached for his gun, but found he had dropped it. Denizen menaced him with the gun. "Should I go ahead and kill you now," he mused, "or wait and see if your girlfriend will wake up so she can watch you die?" Duo's voice was cold and shook with rage. "How could you do that to her? You god damn bastard!" Denizen shook his finger at Duo, as though chastising a young child. "Now, now, now. Remember your language. But you gave me the wrong answer. I think I'll kill you now. Then I'll make sure your girlfriend isn't far behind. Goodbye, little Gundam." Denizen squeezed the trigger.
Duo leapt to the side, being grazed on the side of his head as the bullet whistled past his ear. He lifted up Eschaton, threw her over his shoulder, and ran with her to a depression in the side of the mountain. Denizen had not followed, but was instead running towards Base Terra. Duo carefully laid Eschaton in it, then knelt down beside her, shaking her. "Nekomon, wake up Nekomon! I know you can hear me, you have to hear me!" Her hazel eyes flickered open, the strange burning lights gone. She gazed at him for a moment, then looked down at her mangled hand, a frown on her face. "My hand…it…hurts." She looked away, staring resolutely into the sky, watching the battle.
"I want to find him, Duo. I want to fight him and destroy him. Is Phoenix here?" Duo nodded. "Then help me get to her." Duo put his hand out, stopping her from struggling to her feet. "You're hurt too badly. You can't pilot a mobile suit! Look at yourself, damn it!" She pushed his hand away with her left hand and got to her feet. "I'm going to fight him, and I'll fight him today, before he can forget what he's done to me, and what he's tried to do to me!" tears were in her eyes, and she seemed to be trapped in her mind for a moment. Shaking her head violently, she continued. "I can't just go, besides, they need my help! Denizen's created mobile suits that are equals to the Gundams! Not the Scorpios, no, they aren't half as strong. Denizen has ten Libras at his command in this base! If he thinks he can't win, he'll order them out to fight! I DON'T want to watch my friends get killed!"
Duo nodded his understanding, then put his arm over her shoulders and led her to Quatre's shuttle. "I can fight, you know. I can fight without my hands. I have a program. It hasn't been successfully tested, but I know I can make it work. I'll be okay, you'll see. But when I tell you, make sure everyone gets out of the way, in fact, tell them to get back to the solar base. I might need help to get back. Get on your radio and see if Peter can send a shuttle to Earth so I won't have to pilot Phoenix out of the atmosphere." Duo was a little unbelieving. "It takes days to get here from the sun! How could he send a shuttle and you get back within a week?" Eschaton smiled secretively. "You don't actually think the little golden button on Deathscythe Eternal has no function, do you? It's a teleport button. Once you get into space, you can teleport yourself to about ten miles from the solar base in less than a day. You can travel through like matter in less than a tenth of the time it would take you to travel it normally." Duo agreed, resolving to tell Quatre and the other pilots this. They reached the shuttle, and Eschaton immediately ran into it and through the cargo bay doors, not even stopping to say hello to Sage. "Figures. We come all the way down here to get her out of here, and she runs past me without even saying hello. How completely and unbelievably typical!" Quatre ignored her ranting and opened the doors, freeing the Phoenix.
Duo ran to where he had hidden the Deathscythe Eternal. In reality, he had landed in the middle of an open field, but the cloaking device on the Deathscythe was highly advanced. Pushing a button atop a small device he had hidden in his braid, he jumped into the now visible Deathscythe Eternal. The new mobile suit was and looked deadly. It's glossy black Elendium alloy shell provided amazing protection. When Eschaton had first told him what it was made out of, he had been surprised that she didn't call it an Elendium instead of a Gundam, but she had explained that everyone was so used to calling them Gundams, that the name just stuck. The curved black wings had strange markings on them, an acid green scythe and a flame red whip, resting atop a white crescent moon. The beam scythe was acid green, and there were green flames running all along the black body. He fired up the mobile suit. "Come on, Deathscythe, we have to go meet up with the others!" he flew through the air towards the awesome explosions the battle was causing.
Heero destroyed another two mobile suits with his beam cannon, being matched suit for suit by the other fighters. He looked appreciatively at the two mobile suits piloted by Ririku and D. They really were good pilots! Trowa was coolly manipulating his mobile suit, causing one missile to take out two mobile suits. Eschaton was good at designing mobile suits. She was able to use the least amount of power to inflict the most amount of damage. He saw something flying towards him. Now that it was being compared to other mobile suits, it was easily the smallest of the Gundams, coming up to the shoulder of Megaton when it flew past him. Eschaton's face flickered onto the screen. "You might all want to go now. I'm not sure how this is going to turn out, and I don't want to risk destroying anybody." The pilots were all confused. Ririku, D, Trowa, and Heero turned their mobile suits away, flying towards Quatre and the shuttle, the agreed meeting place after the battle. They landed by the shuttle, coming out of their mobile suits and standing around, Ririku was talking about how glad she was about having her red target contacts to Trowa while he just stood and nodded a few times. D and Heero merely watched the silver Gundam, wondering what was going to happen. Duo flew over the shuttle in the Deathscythe Eternal, landing in between the four standing mobile suits. Jumping out and standing alone, which was very strange for him to do, he watched in silence.
Eschaton clumsily dodged a few attacks. It was difficult to fight with only one hand. She knew the others had to think she was crazy for fighting like this and refusing any help, but she knew the risks of Morpheus XIII and didn't want to risk them happening. She activated the particle shield, setting it to full strength and deflecting some of the attacks. "Phoenix, activate Morpheus Thirteen!" the feminine monotone voice of the computer began the sequence. "Retinal scan and voice imprint commencing. Give your full name." Opening her eyes wide and speaking clearly, she allowed the laser to scan her eye, saying, "I am Eschaton, the end of days." "Voice imprint and retinal scan completed. Password." She blinked her eyes, shaking her head to stop the flashes caused by the laser. "Random Apocalypse." "Morpheus Thirteen Activated!"
White mist filled the cockpit as a blinding light flashed. When the light and mist dissipated, Eschaton's eyes had changed. The green in her eyes were bright, glowing in the dim cockpit. The amber around her slit pupils was intensified, a bright golden red color. A helmet slowly lowered over her head. The Phoenix itself changed. The blue lenses that were its 'eyes' had become the same as her eyes, creating an eerie human-like appearance, but the rest of the head was in such sharp contrast that it seemed supernatural. The dragon-like wings seemed to grow, lengthening into something that could shield her, but could also be used as weapons; they were edged like knives. Phoenix's fingers sprouted long, curved silver talons. The body of the Phoenix glowed in multiple colors, like an opal. Eschaton felt strength, defiance, and the drunken feeling of invincibility flow through her veins.
Denizen looked in disbelief at the face on the vid window. How could she still be alive? "Hello there, my pusillanimous pal, did you think you would see me again?" She turned off the connection so Denizen wouldn't answer her. Denizen didn't try to reply, sending a missile straight at her. Her eyes were closed, but she envisioned the missile through some sixth sense. Her mobile suit swung its whip, decimating the missile before it could strike her.
While Denizen couldn't see or speak to Eschaton, Duo and the others gathered around the small vid radio Ririku always carried could. They watched in amazement as Denizen directed his men to attack her. "How could she have her eyes closed the entire time and still fight like that?" breathed Ririku. "That's not what I want to know. I want to know how she could fight like that period. Especially after being injured so badly." D turned towards Duo, worry in her voice. "Injured, what do you mean? How was she hurt?" Duo shook his head in disbelief at the sphere of destruction Eschaton was causing with her whip. "I think Nekomon would rather tell you herself. But I'll say one thing. I'd hate to be Denizen after what he did to her hand, in fact, I'd hate to be Denizen PERIOD! He killed Jenison, and she's mad at him for that." Sage couldn't believe her ears. "What? I thought she hated Jenison! Isn't he the one who killed all of the people she cared about when she was younger?" Duo shook his head. "I'll let her tell you herself when she gets back."
Eschaton could feel every movement of her enemies in her mind, sometimes reacting before she was even attacked. She was in a world of her mind. In her mind, she was Phoenix, and all of the attacking mobile suits were around her. She lashed out with the double scythe in her right hand, sweeping off the legs of three mobile suits. Denizen struck her from behind, causing her to roar in anger. She then began fighting at a speed no one had ever seen. The whip was a blinding silver flash, her double scythe a flaming sweep. Moving the whip to her right hand so it would swing with the scythe, she slashed a mobile suit in half with the talons on Phoenix's hand. Two lustrous throwing stars came from the slit in Phoenix's palm. She threw them, and the swept around her like twin boomerangs, returning to her after they shattered four mobile suits. Eschaton threw them again and again, slicing through the ranks of mobile suits surrounding her.
Denizen looked at the silver mobile suit in terror. He could no longer see the actual form of the Gundam; it was moving too quickly, appearing as a glittering blur. He decided to escape, but sent a "present" to Eschaton. "Send out the Libras!" He sped away as the ten mobile suits streamed out to attack Dark Phoenix.