Disclaimer: I am a fifteen year old kid. Therefore it should be pretty damn obvious that I don't own Gundam Wing or any affiliated characters. Enjoy.
Duo: The Great Destroyer Never Again
CONCLUSION
The Earth hung suspended in space like a blue green jewel. A million stars stretched into in to infinity like so many small diamonds. From this perspective all looked well. There was no indication of the turmoil and conflict embodied on that small planet.
But there were other details within this scene omitted from the above description. Hundreds of small metallic shapes gathered opposite each other. They seemed to be waiting for something.
Then an ardent beam of white hot light cut through the silence. Following this stream of super heated ions to its final destination reveals an explosion and the scream heralding the loss of human life. Immediately following that shot a million more crisscrossed in a deadly light show. The final battle for Earth had begun!
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Within the Wraith's transport barge, the final units were being launched. Cobalt's Gundam had not yet been launched but all the Tauruses were gone. Those fifty mobile suits would be joined by seven renegade squadrons from Earth and five hundred mobile dolls, newly shipped from the lunar base.
Duo stood on the flight deck and checked his watch. Another hour till his Gundam arrived. General Cobalt jogged across the deck wearing a flight suit with his helmet under one arm.
"Why are you still here Walker?"
"Suit's not here yet. When its in range I'll take one of the pods out and intercept the transport."
"All right. But I refuse to have you standing here idle. Report to the bridge and look for a tactical weakness."
"Sir." Duo tossed a salute.
Cobalt returned it and sprinted towards his waiting Gundam. Clambering up the ladder, he closed the hatch. The crimson suit's eyes blazed green as it stepped away from its supports. The drive sections on the feet blazed blue-white as the Gundam blasted away toward the battle.
Duo watched it for a moment and growled to himself, "I'll be damned if I do one thing to help you." With that he turned and strode swiftly toward the elevator.
Quickly, Duo made his way towards the barracks. Along his way he passed the access corridor for the private shuttles. A light flickered at the end of the darkened shaft. Drawing his gun Duo crept silently to the corner. Sneaking a swift glance around the corner, Duo saw Dorothy Catilonia hunched over the security panel. Obviously, she was trying to get away.
Duo planted a foot and pivoted into the center of the corridor, gun raised. Dorothy gasped and spun around in surprise. "Trying to escape?" Duo asked in an ironic voice.
"Duo! What are you doing here?"
"It's your fault she's dead!" Duo cocked the gun.
"What?!" Dorothy looked incredulous. "You mean you're not with Cobalt?"
Duo pulled the trigger. Dorothy's hand snapped to her chest and she fell to the floor, face frozen in an expression of surprise. her lips moved feebly for a moment and Duo bent near to hear her words.
In a dry and quiet voice she croaked, "I'm sorry Quatre. You've been right all along. I'm sorry..." Her eyes fluttered shut. Duo nodded.
Standing he looked down at her thin form, "I will tell him."
With that he spun around and sprinted back to the main corridor. He did not look back. Quickly he made his way to the emergency pod racks. Glancing around furtively he pulled his duffel bag from where he had stashed two days before. Inside were his priest clothes and his old flight suit. Swiftly he changed into the comfortable clothing. Then he grabbed his helmet and scrambled into the nearest pod.
The oblong craft blew its release bolts and the thrusters blazed. Slowly at first, but gaining momentum, the pod blasted away from the huge transport shift. Inside, Duo manipulated the controls as best he could in the low grade cockpit. Finally the blocky craft was oriented correctly. Duo pushed the main thrust button. His new suit and his battle for vengeance were only an hour away.
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Lucrezia Noin Peacecraft stared in horror at her display. Reaching over to her comm, she snapped it on. Swearing vehemently, she screamed into the mic, "Damnit Zechs! I came here so you wouldn't have to! How can I protect you if you if you can't stay away from the battle?"
After a short pause, her husbands voice came through the static. "Agent Wind to Agent Fire. Noin You can't protect me from the demon in my heart. Please don't worry about protecting me. Protect me by protecting yourself. Then I will have a reason to regain my humanity. I love you. Wind out."
Noin stared at her comm, then nodded. Now she understood. The fire in her heart calmed and was hardened into a cold resolve. Now she would protect her husband. The Talgeese leveled its cannon at the oncoming wave of mobile dolls...
As she was about to fire she noticed something odd. The head suit appeared to be an new model Taurus. This meant it was piloted since all the mobile dolls were Virgo IIs.
"Lead suit of in coming Oz squadron. This is Agent Fire of the Preventer Agency. Stand down or you will not survive your attack."
The suits kept coming. Sighing Noin adjusted her angle and fired. The beam of burning destruction cut through the squadron to the lead suits left, barely missing the Taurus. Shifting again, she fired once more. The suits on the right disappeared in a flurry of red-orange explosions. The Taurus slowed, as did the squadron's remaining three Virgos.
Noin switched to her tactical frequency. "White Shield, split up and go to where you're needed. I'm fine here." A double click confirmed her order and her fifteen companion suits veered off towards the different rings of explosions that denoted the continuing struggles for dominance.
Her comm clicked back to the broad band frequency and a familiar voice filled her cockpit. "Why are you stopping me Agent Fire?"
Noin starred at the crimson suit in shock. "Lady Une! What are you doing?!"
Une sounded weary, as if she was fighting an internal battle of her own. "I am doing what his excellency wishes."
"You can't mean that! Treiz is dead!"
Une's voice took on an ironic tone, "After all this time you don't understand me?"
"I don't see why you're fighting for a man who died two years ago. What if this isn't what Treiz wanted? What if Cobalt's merely using him as a figurehead? Is that how you want honor him? By being manipulated?!"
The retros on the Taurus fired. To Noin's surprise, a purple bladed beam saber ignited in its hand. The three remaining Virgos formed a shield perimeter and the quartet closed on the white suit at a horrific rate.
In response, Noin fired her own boosters, pushing the suit for all its legendary and mortifying speed. The Dober cannon detached from its shoulder mount and drifted away as the Talgeese pulled its fiery blade from its alcove.
The distance between the suits closed within mili seconds, both sabers swung and...
They passed each other. One of the Virgos found itself separated from its torso and detonated in a shower of sparks and an angry ball of flame. The suits rounded on each other again. Both Virgos leveled their cannons. Two beams of deadly light cut through the abyss in quick succession, each drilling a precise hole through one of the escort Virgos. Noin took advantage of the pause, aimed, and fired. The lavender saber went spinning into oblivion, still gripped by the now useless hand.
The crimson Taurus hung in space with an air of disappointment. Rising up behind it was a blue and gray suit, Dober cannon still clutched in hand. Noin threw a silent nod of thanks as her comm crackled to life. "Is everything all right here Agent Fire?" came the emotionless voice.
"Everything's fine Trowa. Resume your battle, I must finish business here." Never one to waste words, Trowa merely activated his boosters and rocketed away. The only indication of his having been there was a slight ion trail of blue-white that swiftly faded and the flash-frozen bits of melted metal the marked the demise of a pair of soulless machines.
Noin watched the blaze of light that marked his swift departure for a moment before turning her attention back to the crippled figure before her. The Taurus hung still. It slowly pulled the cannon off its back. In a seemingly reluctant manner, it flung the weapon away where it spun away out of view. The suit seemed to have an air of dejected defeat. Electricity crackled from one contact to another and crept and leaped across the smoldering stump that had been the arm of the suit.
Noin's comm was activated once more, this time a face appeared. Une cried openly. Her tears sparkled in minuscule droplets that floated freely in the zero-g confines of the cockpit. Sobs shook her body and she trembled with the effort of some supreme internal struggle. "It... It must be... How could it not be what he wanted?" Une looked up into the camera, her eyes sparkling in pain and sadness. Her chocolate brown hair and come free of its braids and a few strands drifted in front of her face. "He left his orders... How could this be wrong?"
Noin cleared her throat gently and asked, "Why?"
"Because I... I loved him. I still love him!"
"Then don't do this. He died so that there might be peace. Peace for you, peace for all mankind."
Une smiled faintly through her tears. "Now I understand. Thank you. I finally understand."
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Zechs Marquise was in his element. Legions of enemy suits fell before the fury of his monstrous suit. And more came. Always more. The heat whip lashed out into space, slashing through a crimson Taurus. His beamsaber was a blur of blazing destruction. He knew that other Preventer pilots were having trouble with the lack of sensor capability, but Zechs was a born fighter. He relied on his own senses and skills.
Through the whirling confusion of the battle, he saw a blur of crimson, larger than the other suits. Cracking a feral grin, he boosted after the Wraith. The demonic suit slashed its way clear of the battle with blinding speed. The Talgeese III swiftly pursued it. The Wraith spun and hung there waiting.
Zechs knew that the suit was too fast for his Talgeese to match. Feinting as though to follow, he brought his cannon to bear. The nuclear fury of a billion stars welled within the black shaft. The beam shot through space at blinding speed. Wraith dodged easily and flew in a tight arc to come up behind the Talgeese. Zechs swore savagely and brought his amethyst blade around so fast that the arm servos groaned in protest. Wraith boosted up above the blade, its own saber raised high in preparation for a downward strike. Zechs boosted backwards and brought his own blade up to counter. Their blades locked for a moment and sparks poured into space as they tested each other. Each pilot pushed to the extreme and, within his cockpit, Zechs felt Cobalt giving way. The Wraith boosted backwards. Zechs screamed into the mic, "Coward!"
Then he lit his burn thrusters and continued their deadly dance.
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Quatre Rabberba Winner hated battle with a passion. But these things that he was destroying had no soul. No life was lost by their demise. And so it was with a clear conscience that he flung himself at the oncoming masses.
His heat sickles quartered a suit easily. The motion never stopped, bisecting two more Virgos and bringing them back into position for another strike. He had long ago used the last of the ammo in his neck machine guns and he worried about Trowa's situation with ammunition.
Quite suddenly, he found himself in a patch of calm. The next wave had not yet arrived. Things seemed to be going well. Then he checked his screens. The preventers had sustained 47% losses already. The inability to sense their opponents was causing serious havoc. He quickly identified the location of his friends. To his surprise he saw that Zechs was fighting the mysterious Wraith Gundam. He appeared to be doing quite well too. Wuffie was in the thick of things, as was to be expected. Trowa seemed to have developed a pattern of dropping into the center of an enemy formation and opening fire, then quickly boosting to another before the stunned opponents could react.
Then the next wave was upon him and Quatre had no more time for thought.
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Trent Jacobs sat in his cockpit and stared in terror at the horror around him. He had never before experienced this level of carnage, nor seen anything as terrifying as three Gundams united in battle.
Then he remembered his orders. Swallowing hard, he activated his comm to the Preventer's tactical frequency.
"To Preventer Agents Wind, Water, Earth, or Fire, this is Trent Jacobs of the Wraith Organization."
Sally Poe's face appeared on his screen. "This is Water, what do you want?"
"I have a message to deliver. You are asked to stand down in your battle against the Wraith Gundam. I have been asked to inform you that this will be taken care of by agent Death."
An expression of shocked confusion passed over Sally's face. "Duo?" she whispered.
Trent nodded solemnly, then continued in a businesslike manner, "I have also been ordered to transmit the following sensor settings that will allow you to detect our suits." He reached over to the comm controls and entered an exact frequency pattern. Taking a deep breath, he hit the transmit button.
In her cockpit, Sally watched the display a series of numbers and letters appeared on her screen. Over the comm she heard Trent say, "Try it now. Can you see them now?"
Sally nodded an affirmative. Trent cleared his throat. "One other thing," he said.
"Yes?"
"I want to join you. Could you please identify me as a friendly so I don't accidentally get shot by one of our own?"
Sally smiled and tapped a few keys on her display. "No problem. It's done."
Trent nodded his thanks and said, "May the stars watch over you, Agent Water."
Sally turned her attention back towards the battle, "And you Trent Jacobs." Swiftly she switched to the tight beam tactical frequency. After imposing a sever encryption to prevent interception, she transmitted the scanner settings across the band.
With that task finished she turned and boosted towards the next wave.
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Commander Darris Trager watched with the struggling opposition with quiet amusement. Didn't they realize how futile it was? There was no doubt of their courage, but they lacked enough skill to fight properly without scanners.
His wave descended on another group of Preventer suits. One of the suits to his left suffered a hit and disintegrated into cloud of heated vapor and metal splinters. They began firing and it seemed both sides were determined to hold lines, as opposed to disintegrating into a confusing mass of dog fights.
His comm flickered as it received the wash from a transmission on another frequency. There was a pause among the preventers and it almost seemed that they were about to give up. Then, they opened fire as one, this time with deadly accuracy.
Trager gathered his group around him and prepared to charge when suddenly, a huge suit boosted into their midst. Trager gasped in surprise as a mechanical dragon head reared up in front of him. Then his world went white...
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The alarm on the console let out a quick succession of beeps, bring Duo to full wakefulness. He had dozed lightly on the way to the rendezvous point. Pulling on his helmet, he glanced out the viewpoint. The transport boosted through space ahead of him. The main thrusters glowed bright blue white as the huge ship lumbered towards the battle. As the pod came around the curvature of the Earth the flurry of explosions that marked the battle came into view over the horizon.
Duo locked the pods thrust control for one last burn, then made his way to the hatch. The last command kicked in and oriented the pods hatch to the transport.
Duo put his back to the hatch and put his hand over the control. He quietly mumbled to himself, "Gee Heero, You know how I hate copying you, but its gotta be done. I'm sure you understand." With that he hit the hatch release. The hatch blew into space. The air in the pod exploded into the vacuum, carrying Duo with it and propelling him towards the transport. He flew at the ship at an angle that, if followed, would bring him past the ship's nose and off into oblivion.
Duo did not plan to follow that trajectory for long. From a holster on his belt, he pulled a magnetic grapple and reel. As he drew level with the airlock, he fired and watched the small disk hurtle towards its destination. The grapple hit and stuck right next to the hatch control. Rather than risk loosing it as it came taut, Duo began to reel it in immediately. He activated the magnates on the palms of his gloves as he sped towards the ship. The line came taut and threatened to pull itself from his grasp, but he held firm. Duo hit the hull none to gently and bounced away for a moment, then he slammed his hand against the metal armor. The magnets stuck and Duo opened the hatch. Pulling himself into the airlock he closed it again behind him.
The airlock cycled quickly and Duo pulled off his helmet. In zero-g environment he drifted across the hold. His new Gundam lay strapped to a transport block on the deck. He would need it soon enough, but first he needed to make a few adjustments to the final coordinates. Drifting to the bridge, he swiftly commanded the ship to turn a few degrees. With the new change, the transport would come strait into the center of the battle.
Only ten more minutes...
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General Cobalt was getting tired. He knew that Zechs Marquise was the better pilot and stronger warrior of the two. It was only through constant use of his suit's superior speed that he remained unscathed.
He spun the suit around. The Talgeese was far away but closing quickly. Cobalt brought a contingent of twenty five mobile dolls between himself and the oncoming suit.
A blip on his sensors caught his eye. A suit transport was making its way towards them at top speed. Cobalt hit his comm switch, "General Walker, is that you?"
"Yes." came Duo's reply.
Cobalt cracked a malevolent grin. "Good, show me your new toy. I hope I'll be surprised."
"Don't worry about that." Cobalt wondered at the grim tone he heard in his subordinate's voice. The transport was directly in front of him, passing laterally about five kilometers away. At first nothing seemed to happen, then...
A red line glowed diagonally down across the side of the transport. The ship exploded. Cobalt watched in horror as the silhouette within the fireball threw open its black wings. The fire subsided revealing a jet black suit with glowing green eyes. It had an impressive wing span. In its hands it clutched a beamscythe with a blade of epic proportions. At the base of the shaft, another scythe blade flared to life.
Cobalt gasped into the mic in terror, "You... you're... You're dead!"
A grim voice replied simply, "Surprise."
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Duo stared out of his cockpit in hatred at the Crimson suit before him.
Cobalt screamed over the comm, "I killed you! How are you alive?!"
In the same flat voice Duo replied, "Death cannot die." Then he arced his beamscythe into a blaze of destruction and shot towards the Wraith Gundam. Wraith blocked with its sword and flew a complex series of turns to evade the next slash.
Too any one watching the battle it would be impossible to distinguish more than blurs of crimson, black, and green rebounding off each other. Neither pilot wasted time with words.
Duo was infinitely more skilled and his suit had stronger armor. But it could do nothing to compare with the sheer speed and maneuverability of the Wraith. Cobalt was milking his suit's thrusters for all they were worth.
Duo spun around in an anticipatory block just in time to stop a killing slash to his power pack. Duo reversed his grip and attempted to cut Wraith diagonally, but the suit was already gone.
Then it was behind him again. Its sword knocked the beamscythe away. The weapon spun away in a glowing circle that swiftly vanished. Duo comm crackled with triumphant laughter, "Haven't we played this game before, Maxwell?"
With a desperate lunge, Duo slapped the sword away. As the Wraith activated its boosters to flee. He came up behind it and circled his arms around its chest.
Cobalt screamed in frustration, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
The two suits went spiraling upward, drive sections blazing under the strain. Over the comm, Duo heard Quatre scream, "Duo! What are you doing?!"
As he struggled to hold onto the twisting suit before him, Duo grunted, "Dorothy says you were right all along. She's sorry."
Cobalt cut back onto the line, "Just what do you think you're going to accomplish?! You have no weapon!"
Duo closed his eyes and pushed a red button on his elbow console. Hilde's face drifted before his eyes. Calmly he said, "I will be the great destroyer never again."
The drive sections on the Wraith gave one last surge and died from the strain. The two suits hung suspended on a diamond studded backdrop. The outlines of Duo's suit began to glow red, followed by the armor plates themselves. Red, brightening to white and...
BOOOOOOOOOOM! The suit seemed to expand into an all engulfing ball of light that swallowed not only itself, but the Wraith as well. The explosion burned brightly for a moment, then inevitably it faded. Cold cinders and twisted fragments of molten metal were all that marked the resting ground of the God of Death.
From somewhere across the cosmic expanses, beyond human comprehension, Duo's soul smiled. A blaze of glory suited him just fine.
END