The Crow: Dark Avenger
By Ashe
Disclaimer:
Gundam Wing and its characters are trademarked and copyright by Ban Dai. The Crow created by J.O. Barr. This is a work of fiction and is not intended to make money so do not distribute it with that purpose in mind!
Warning:
This story contains violence, bad language, shonen ai, and references to the supernatural. Do not read if your parents won't let you go to a PG-13 movie!
Dark Avenger
By Ashe
Chapter Thirteen "Offerings and Refusals"
After Colony 210, July
"What I've felt, What I've known
Never shined through in what I've shown
Never be, Never see
Won't see what might have been
What I've felt, What I've known
Never shined through in what I've shown
Never free, Never me
So I dub thee Unforgiven."
-"Unforgiven" - Metallica
Relena walked behind her brother, Milliardo. She should have been fuming at his arrival now but she'd realized long before why he hadn't come to assist the Gundam pilots. He had chose to stay at home to be with his family and protect them if Dorothy had taken her plans of conquest to the stars. That was why he was here now, to prevent that event from coming to pass. Despite their past differences she was glad to see him.
"Where exactly are you taking me?" she asked after walking across the main courtyard of the Sank Kingdom on her brother's heels.
"I have…a gift for you Relena. Since I'd heard Duo talking about you I'd figured out that you were going to get more involved in the situation here. So when I asked Duo for a ride to Earth I brought along something that I thought might come in useful."
Relena looked up to see the Spaceport looming before them as the pair walked towards it. "But I already have a Spaceport," she said jokingly.
Milliardo's lip curled into a smile. "I see you've developed a sense of humor."
"I always had one, there was just never an appropriate time to really show it off," said Relena.
"I see," Milliardo answered quietly as he stepped up to the shuttle he'd arrived in. He took her by the hand and led her inside to the cargo area. Reaching out to a nearby panel, Milliardo began to turn on the interior lights.
Relena's eyes went wide as she realized what lay on its back before her.
"Tallgeese," she whispered as if it would reach out and grab her. "You're giving me Tallgeese?"
"What good is it doing me?" the former pilot asked. "If you have the will to tame it, I can show you the finer points in piloting it. From what I gathered from Quatre, Noin and Sally Po you've become quite the pilot."
"It must run in the family," she murmured as she climbed up the gleaming white Titanium hull to the pilot's compartment. Milliardo followed after.
"You have to be careful. It tends to get out of control. Tallgeese demands respect, but it does fly off the handle like a spoiled child if not kept in check."
"What do you mean?" asked a confused Relena.
"Tallgeese uses a very primitive form of the Zero system," Milliardo answered quietly. "Are you familiar with it?"
"Only what Quatre told me about it," she answered grimly. He said it gets into your mind and shows you your enemy, but that also sometimes it shows your friends as enemies as well. He also said it's not very pleasant either."
"The system's that were installed into the Gundams were like that, yes. Tallgeese's is less advanced, but don't let that fool you. It can be a bear."
"Show me," Relena said as she ducked inside.
"I was hoping you'd say that."
***
Howard paced frantically in the Gundam hangar in front of the main doors. Quatre was supposed to have been here already. As was becoming the french-arab's style however, he was fashionably late. Howard could feel the tension in the air today like the calm before the storm. With the break in Dorothy's siege, it was growing closer to the time when she'd choose to openly attack again.
Howard stopped to check his watch again.
"Damn," cursed Howard. "Where is that kid?"
Howard started pacing again for about thirty seconds before he felt the need to look at his watch again.
"Damn. Damn!"
Just then Quatre came walking up the path from the Gundam pilot's gravestone below. Howard suddenly felt very foolish for his impatience.
"Quatre, Sandrock is finished."
"So they tell me. May I see him?" asked Quatre.
"Of course. Follow me, although I believe you know the way."
Howard led Quatre into the hangar passed Deathscythe who stood now like a guardian for the pilot's lost souls. The scythe was held in one hand and deactivated, but Howard swore he could still feel those green eyes following him. A chill ran up his spine as he forced himself to look forward. Had those orbs flashed with energy? Impossible. He continued onward into a better-lit area of the hangar.
As Quatre walked up, the lighting seemed to grow brighter and began to highlight the white and yellow surfaces of Gundam Sandrock. The Scimitars sat holstered on its back and a long cloak spread out across its shoulders and down past its knees. A tear fell down Quatre's cheek.
"Thank you for this Howard," he smiled and looked at the engineer. "The cloak is a nice touch."
Howard returned the smile and tossed something wrapped in cloth to Quatre. "I believe this is yours too. Rashid gave them to me before he went out on patrol with the other Maguanacs. He said you'd know what to do with them."
Quatre laughed a little after he'd unwrapped the cloth and removed a new pair of goggles. "I'll have to thank him when I get out on the line." Quatre slid the goggles on over his head and left them up. He wouldn't need them for awhile.
Ascending the drop line, Quatre leapt into his pilot seat, settling back into what felt like an old friend.
"I missed you Sandrock. Let's protect what's ours."
Sandrock's thrusters fired up and it flew out of the hangar to join the Maguanac Corps already on patrol.
"Good luck," called Howard after the leaving Gundam. "You're all going to need it."
***
Dorothy sat quietly at the head of the glossy black table. Davis sat to her left, Christo to her right. The lighting had been set lower more for effect. General Catalonia wanted to inspire some confidence in her troops before their all out attack the next day. Surveying the faces of her eight commanders she could see the meeting was hardly necessary. They were already prepared, except for one who appeared somewhat nervous. No matter. Dorothy would return his confidence.
Quietly, she eased herself from her chair and placed her hands on the table. Tossing her head back, Dorothy's hair caught the fan's gentle breeze and blew it back behind her.
"We've been out here a long time my friends," began Dorothy. "Relena and her prissy little defense force have put up quite a fight. While I was away recruiting new blood I heard plenty of rumors circulating about Emerald Green. Do you know what I heard?" She raised her hands from the table and began to walk around, her hand placed thoughtfully on her chin.
"I have heard we are weak! I heard we are soft! Now I know this is not the case. Emerald Green is strong and united we can conquer the world and eventually space. Our results here have been unacceptable! We should have been crushing Relena's corpse under our mobile suit's heels a year ago!"
"We've tried our best, General," said the nervous lieutenant.
"Your best isn't good enough apparently!" she screamed, slapping the lieutenant across the face. Dorothy slammed her hands on the table next to the startled man who was now clutching at his cheek. The lieutenant tried not to squirm as Dorothy sneered at him. "I demand your best and I give rewards to those who give me their best! I want victory here! Total and absolute! No exceptions."
Dorothy took a step back from the table with her arms raised like a gross interpretation of Christ on the cross. "I want you people to be able to look me straight in the eye again and say 'Are we having fun or what?'"
A pair of flapping wings and the squawking sound of a black crow cut Dorothy's revelry short. General Catalonia turned to see it land in the center of the table and squawk again.
"How in the hell did that get in here?" Dorothy asked.
As if in answer to Dorothy's question, the meeting hall doors burst open as a dark figure with a painted face entered the room. It moved with gracefulness and purpose and what appeared to be large bat-like wings extended from either side.
"You're along way from Kansas, General Dorothy, ma'am," said the crow, loudly.
"And just who are you?" Dorothy asked.
Everyone in the room looked extremely tense and Christo and Davis looked ready to leap across the table to get at the wraith. Dorothy knew that no sidearm was untouched, but wouldn't be drawn until she gave the order, or until he moved towards her.
"I am the Dark Avenger that you've heard so much about," the figure smiled. "I am the one who has nearly crippled your new forces. My name is Shinigami, pilot of Deathscythe and Deathscythe Hell. I am the right hand of Vengeance, and the boot that is going to kick your sorry ass to death's door, dammit. I am death incarnate, and the last living thing that you and your friends here are ever going to see. Heero Yuy sent me."
***
Milliardo had left Relena alone with Quatre to finish off her training. The chemistry between the two had been incredibly charming and made him long for Catherine's willing arms. He sighed to himself and headed across the courtyard to the Dorlan Medical Center.
Quatre had been brief and to the point when he'd laid it on the line about the past year's events. Milliardo knew Noin was better off where she was now with Sally and not chasing after him. He wasn't planning on meeting with her, but he was prepared for the inevitable. What he'd heard about Une's accident had troubled him, and even though she might have seemed happy with Jessie, at least according to Quatre, Milliardo thought he had a solution. He only hoped his solution would go over well with both of them.
The nurses at the front desk were more than helpful when they found out who Milliardo was the brother of. His looks may have also had something to do with it. They usually did. When he first arrived at Une's room he wasn't quite sure if he should enter. Jessie and Une were sharing a private moment together. After what felt like an appropriate amount of time, Milliardo sighed to himself and pushed open the door with a knock. Jessie and Une looked up at the sound.
"Zechs," Une cried happily. "You managed to make it. A little late, but it's good to see you again."
He smiled and entered the room to give her a large hug. "It's Milliardo, now, permanently," he corrected politely.
"I never liked that name, Zechs," she chided jokingly. Her paralization hadn't killed the sense of humor she'd obtained working in the Preventers. "What brings you to my lovely Hospital Room of Death?"
Jessie sat back, realizing that these two needed a little re-acquainting time, and that he'd get his chance to speak soon enough. It always amazed him how Une could utterly dominate any conversation with just a few simple sentences.
"Quatre told me about your condition and your new friend," said Milliardo as he offered his hand to Jessie. Jessie took his hand and shook it warmly. Une smiled at the two and clasped Jessie's hand tightly in hers.
"We're very happy," she said. "Despite the wonderful news coverage." Une gestured to the muted television set in the corner that was set on the World News Channel. The broadcaster was talking about Emerald Green and the situation with the Sank Kingdom.
"They don't' understand what's at stake here," Milliardo said quietly. "That's partly why I came here. How would you like to go with me to space? It won't matter there that you can't walk. The offer is extended to both of you of course. There are low gravity colonies, and in their center there is no gravity at all. You two could live out your lives peacefully there."
"I appreciate the offer, but it seems like we'd be running away," Jessie declined.
"No, I wouldn't consider running away. I want to see this to the end as much as you two do."
Une wiped a tear from her face. "We'll think about it Zechs. It's definitely something to consider. Thank you."
***
"Shoot him!" shouted Dorothy as she moved for her sidearm. The others in the room went theirs, including Duo. For the first time since he'd picked up Heero's pistol, he now wielded it with the intention of ending someone's life. He pulled it out with lightning quick speed and had the weapon trained on Dorothy's head before she could even draw.
Life.Innocence.
Justice.
Victory.
Death.
Duo sensed something different in the mantra this time. Death didn't carry his voice this time, but it was something or someone vaguely familiar. The change worried him, but his aim never faltered.
Life.
"Let's see if the Emerald City can stand up if Dorothy's Tin Woodsman rusts." Duo pulled the trigger and was already moving into a body flip into the air before the bullet connected with its intended target; the room's lighting switches. The damage done to the panel shorted out the wiring and plunged the room into darkness.
Innocence.
It didn't matter to Duo as the crow was seeing everything for him. Duo continued through the air, finishing off his flip on the table into a run. His run ended with a dazed looking Christo as he spread his wings wide and flew up to the rafters, his pray in his arms. Shinigami holstered the gun and pulled the knife he'd lifted from Mueller's corpse. He held it to Christo's throat.
Justice.
"Shhh," whispered Duo. "We wouldn't want them shooting at us up here would we?"
Christo's eyes slowly adjusted to focus in on the freakish gothic clown make-up the winged demon had on.
Victory.
"What are you?" mumbled Christo.
"I believe the appropriate question you should be asking here, is whom. I'm the braided one in the big black Gundam. Like the wings?"
Death.
"Maxwell," Christo breathed as his eyes went wide.
"Guess it's just not a good day to be a bad guy, eh Christo?" Duo slowly drew the blade across Christo's throat, cutting open the life-pumping arteries and veins that supplied Christo's body. Duo quickly held Christo back over the table with his arms spread wide. "Happy landings."
Duo let Christo go and watched, as he seemed to fall in slow motion towards the table below. The lighting in the room had been restored and they were slowly turning on to full. Duo wanted to revel in this one's demise and closed his eyes. There was only pain in that darkness for Shinigami. There he saw Christo fire on a Gundam that was already downed. The pilot was still alive inside the pilot's compartment and was trying to exit quickly.
The mini-missiles Christo had launched streaked towards their target, blowing the once proud pilot of Wing Zero off his Gundam. The heat and concussive blast vaporized large portions of the body leaving little left. Only Wing Zero's presence would later let them know who it was that had died there. When Duo opened his eyes again they were filled with tears, but he could hear Christo's body strike the table and smash the glass. The shards flew everywhere, glass chunks spraying the command staff clustered there.
Death.
Duo perked up. He knew that voice. It was the voice of Professor G. Deathscythe's programmed voice
Death.
Who are you?
Death.
Why do you want me?
Deathscythe.
"So you want in on the action too old buddy? I wouldn't want you to miss out."
Duo spread his wings wide and headed for the open skylight and his waiting motorcycle outside; Black Death. The crow followed him from the room and began flying towards the hangar and the waiting Gundam.
Inside the meeting room everyone was still too stunned to move.
TO BE CONTINUED…