Zero Conclusions:
A Gundam Wing story
Part two "Searching for Dust"
Fanfiction by Heather Ann the Kachan
"They call me Zero..."
The girl gasped. Duo couldn't help it anymore. He pushed Heero's arm aside and ran to her side. He wrapped an arm around her to hold her up. If he didn't, he feared that the girl would surely die on her feet. Heero focused his eyes on her behavior. He didn't seem to show any signs of pity towards the girl. Electic waves through her eyelashes could be seen in the dark alley.
"Zero?" Heero asked, "Are you one of us?"
Zero was too far gone to comprehend. She sluped to her knees in exaust.
"Yes, she is." Another voice answered. Wufei and Heero turned around and faced Trowa and Quatre...slightly older verions. Trowa continued, "Quatre will explain later, but we must get her to lie down for a bit."
"Zero!" Quarte ran over to the fading Zero. "Its okay, you'll be alright."
"...I...know..." She whispered back...to no one in perticuar...
The five pilots, now reunited, had a "meeting" in Quatre's hotel room. They tossed the unconsious Zero on the sofa after Quatre so delicately tended her injuries. They sat around a dinner table drinking soda, like Aurthur's knights in a court and tried to put pieces of this puzzle together.
"Are you sure that idiotic woman isn't dead?" Asked Wufei, peering at the carcass still sleeping.
"No," laughed Quatre, "She's just restoring energy. You've certainly taken a lot out of her. Especially self-destructing Deathscythe while she was still in it."
"Hey!" Duo corrected, "Heero told me to do it!"
"Calm down, Maxwell, You did the right thing. Now we can figure out why this menace of an onna exsists." Wufei reassured.
"Quatre, perhaps you should explain for the others why she is still alive in the first place." Trowa suggested to Quatre, who was keeping an eye on Zero.
"Well," He started, "She's just like us...but completely different. Like most of us, she was born a soldier, trained to kill ruthlessly. But on the other hand, she has neural implants of ZERO technology..."
"What?!" Duo inturrupted, "ZERO technology in her head? Wouldn't that make her go insane?!"
"She, being a woman, would have had a psychotic episode years ago." Wufei commented.
"True," Heero concluded, "She has emotions. Only perfect soldiers with no emotions can control that type of technology."
"Yes," Quatre added, "But because the technology was with her durring her state of birth, she seems to have complete control over it. She can turn it on or off whenever she wants. So instead of being trained physically or academically, she was trained empathicly."
"Therefore, she can sense emotions." Trowa translated for Duo, who looked a little lost.
"...most of them..." corrected Quatre, now turning a bit red.
All of the other pilots gave Quatre a skeptical look. Quatre in love? Could there be such a disturbingly cute thing? Duo chuckled at him as asked,
"Okay, lover boy, how did you get to meet our beloved Zero?"
Quatre, now turning deeper shades of red, knew the only way to respond...honestly...and promptly.
"Umm...well...we..." He paused, took a deep breath, and started again...now almost cursing himself for the comment that Duo just made, "Okay, when I started to work on the ZERO system, she was assigned to assist me. The scientists had origionally quit the ZERO project because of its affect on people, however, it was because they were testing it on people. Zero, was the only survivor. Anyway, she helped me develop and test Wing Zero. She was more natural at it, and I guess I got a little jealous. She could control the hallucinations and I couldn't... And that was the last straw on the camel's back. That's when I was obsessed with developing the ZERO technology. However, when I got to the major and final plans of the system, I got a note, saying that she had already left for another mission."
"That's it?" Asked Heero, looking deep in thought...and concerned.
"Oh no.." Duo muttered, knowing that look Heero had. That frightend him a bit. "What is it Heero?"
"That girl is still on a mission." He explained, "She's probably trying to keep us from something...distracting us...blowing time..."
All was silent for a minute. Each pilot thought deeply. What could they have to protect....
"KISAMA!!!!" Wufei finally screamed, "NATAKU!" He jumped out of the chair and rushed out the door, almost knocking Duo over. It was then, when Duo realized,
"DEATHSCYTHE!!!! I left all of those parts in the park!"
Duo quickly ran after Wufei, as if he didn't have enough exercise earlier that day. Quatre quickly turned his head to wake and question Zero. He looked back over to the sofa to find it empty. Heero was not surprised one bit.
"So now what do we do?" Asked Trowa, looking at the two remaining pilots. Heero looked rather nervous, for Heero. Quatre looked his usual worrisome self. He further analized the situation, "Zero has possession of at least two Gundams... No doubt, all five by now. All she needed were the last two and we brought them right to her. Now what does she want with us?"
"She must be destroyed." Concluded Heero, eye-ing at the empty sofa.
"Zero can be a kind civilian like ourselves," Quatre spoke on Zero's behalf. "She has priorities, though. Whatever mission she is carrying out, we should listen to first."
"Fine." Heero agreed, "We'll hear what she has to say...let's just hope that Wufei and Duo don't find her and kill her before doing so..."
"SHIMATTA!!!" Wufei screamed in frustration.
Sure enough when the pair went to find their wreckage of Gundam parts, they found the whole place clean. Not a single piece of Gundanium lay in New York City. It was all long gone by now, and there was no trace of someone taking it. Not that they were surprised that their would be. After all, New York is the most populated city in the United States to date.
"This really sucks." Duo muttered as he walked beside Wufei on the walk back to the hotel.
"Stupid woman isn't so stupid afterall... she kept us away long enough for whoever to take our mobile suits." Wufei grumbled.
Duo chuckled and looked at Wufei with a slight smile.
"I wouldn't say that she was stupid...she kicked your butt in my Gundam, afterall."
Wufei felt that burn. With an annoyed tone in his voice, he replied,
"I was fighting perfectly well. She would have been defeated if Nataku's controls didn't freeze. I wonder what happened then, anyway. They weren't overheated or anything..."
Wufei paused to listen to Duo's not-so-innocent whistle as he looked away.
"What did you do?" Wufei demanded. Duo feared for his life and refused to answer. He immediately held his braid in defense away from Wufei. Wufei, not liking this response, grabbed Duo's shoulder and held onto a pressure point. Duo screetched in pain,
"OWIE OWIE OWIE!!!"
"Tell me." Wufei demanded in monotone.
"OWIE OK! Owch..."
Wufei released Duo and awaited his answer. Duo rubbed his shoulder and responded.
"Well, as soon as I started rebuilding Deathscythe, I found out that you got the funds to rebuild Nataku. Everyone was still a little nervous about that last incident with you teaming up with Mariemaia, so I took things into my own hands..."
Wufei narrowed his eyes. "How, exactly?"
"Well, heh," Duo reluctantly continued, "I snuck over to where you were building your Gundam and hid a shut down devise in it... and installed its controls in Deathscythe."
Wufei looked like he was going to go homicidal. However, he knew that's what Duo would expect. So he calmed down and looked at Duo's point of view, rationally. That lasted only a few seconds. He soon turned to throtle the braided idiot.
"Don't you ever touch Nataku again!!!!"
Wufei's angry voice was quickly inturrupted by a massive explosion down the block. People were flooding the streets running away.
"What the hell was that?" Duo asked suddenly
Wufei didn't respond. He began to lunge forward, but both he and Duo were pushed back by the panicing crowd. The sea seemed to overpower the two pilots in a rush. Even swearing and pushing through the crowd did anything. After getting knocked over, Duo looked up to see that he was next to a bus stop overhang. He struggled on to his feet and began to climb up ontop of the overhang. He automatically started skimming the crowd for signs of suspicious people. He saw one in perticular... not so much suspicious, but definitely familiar. The girl with the brown hair and scar on her face. The one called Zero.
She had spotted him before he spotted her. She was unmoved in the crowd. They all seemed to scatter around her. She slowly raised her arm to eye-level. She was holding a gun. The crowd didn't seem to care that she was. Then again, it wasn't uncommon for a young lady in New York City to carry a gun.
"Duo! What do you see?" Wufei called from down below.
Duo didn't respond. He had to keep his full attention to the gun in Zero's hand. It meant his life. He didn't move nor panic. He waited to see what she would do. Sure enough, Zero's cheek tugged at the corner of her mouth into a smile as she pulled her fingers close to fire the gun. The bullet sounded from the pistol and charged at Duo. Duo remained unmoved. The communication between him and Zero remained to be as still as he was. Much to his surprize, the bulled whipsered right next to his ear...a centimeter of air separated Duo from death. It seemed to be the first time for Duo that death was separated from himself.
Zero held the gun down from where she had it. Her eyes were somewhat sincere and curious at the same time. The people around her departed from the scene, leaving a lone girl on the street. This moment was cut short when Wufei rammed into Zero and tackled her into the pavement.
"GODDAMN IT! What the HELL is YOUR problem? Honestly! Can I go anywhere without you?" Zero bitched.
"Not as long as I know that you are the cause of that bombing just now." Wufei responded.
Duo, now on the ground, ran over to the feuding pair.
"Zero, why did you bomb that building over there?" Duo asked, pointing at the wreckage. Zero looked up at him from the sidewalk. Her arms were being held back by Wufei, who pinning her down the whole time.
"The same reason I destroyed that other building with Deathscythe. They contained anti-pasifist politicians that...OW!"
Wufei pushed higher on Zero's arms as he inturrupted her thought.
"Try again, Onna, there are no more anti-pasifists. That ended in the last war. Its time you started reading newspapers. Then we wouldn't have to deal with punks like you."
"Look, Jerk." Zero called above herself to Wufei, "I'm under RECENT orders to do whatever. What I do know is that there is another conflict coming and I am bound to assure peace...even if I have to do the opposite."
Wufei and Duo didn't know what to say. From Wufei's expression, he didn't believe her story one bit. Duo, however, sympathized with her, figuring that she was just a lost, insane individual. Zero sighed.
"Look in my back pocket." She commanded, resting a tired forehead onto the dirt.
Wufei, sitting on her legs, held both of her arms with one hand and dug into her back pockets.
"Hey, don't get too fresh back there." Zero joked.
Wufei was mildy amused...even if he did look a little flushed. He found a few photographs and a piece of paper. He handed them to Duo.
"I don't believe this...you won't believe this!"
"What is it?" Wufei asked, looking over at the papers, keeping his senses on Zero.
Wufei looked at the photos. They were pictures of mobile suit manufaturing bases. The pictures were dated...a week ago. At first, Wufei still didn't believe her. Then Duo started talking again.
"This document..." Duo held the sheet of paper nervously, "it confirms the sign of an organisation building. Someone with great financial power is now putting their funds into mobile suit production..."
Wufei looked down at the girl. She was a soldier just like the rest of them. However, for some reason she didn't make an appearance during the earlier wars...
"Why didn't you involve yourself in the earlier wars?" He asked, feeling her pulse incase it changed to the answer of the question. She wasn't in the best physical shape, so it would probably be hard for someone like her to keep her pulse steady.
"I was... but because they didn't want me in enemy hands, I had to remain perfectly hidden. For example, when Quatre supposedly killed Trowa, I went into space to pick him up and get him to medical help...and dropped him off with his sister, without being seen, of course. Then there was the time when you two were captured and I snuck food into your cell..."
"Hey, I don't remember that!" Wufei snatched....then looked at Duo...
Duo took a few steps back as if he had horns and a tail...
"It doesn't matter," Wufei grunted, "You're destroying peace with your meathods. You should be killed!"
"Go ahead." Zero snapped, "Go ahead if it serves your justice. However, I have possession of all five Gundams. If you destroy me, then I garentee someone much worse will come along, and I don't thing that they will spare your lives like I have."
Wufei didn't know what to think, so he just got off of Zero. Zero bitched to herself as she stretched to get up. Then further commented on how heavy Wufei was for such a scrawny guy. Duo helped dust the dirt off of her clothes. He laughed with her while doing so. Wufei rolled his eyes. Duo was flirting with a fellow American... how predictable.
They began to walk back to the hotel.
"So, who is the mysterious organization, anyway?" Duo asked in curiousity.
"They call themselves the Blood Hounds. Their leaded by a guy named...Diaz..." Zero responded.
Wufei looked at the woman. It was interesting how she said "Diaz". It sounded like how he would pronounciate the word "Treize". She really was just like himself or the other pilots. However, her appearance was astoundingly similar to Duo's. As they walked and talked all the way back to the hotel, he noticed a lot of similarities... like the same exact hair color, tone of voice, build (if Duo was a girl), and other little things. However, her bangs were longer and curved around her face, maybe a little longer... And worst of all, did she dress like a bum! Duo had his usual black ensamble, but Zero was dressed in blue jeans, platform shoes, a blue tank top and a matching plad shirt. One would think that a woman of such free will would dress more of her age, Wufei thought.
"So that's it." Heero commented as he listened to Duo's explanation of why Zero was terrorizing the city. They surrounded her outside of the hotel asking questions. She tried to answer them all fully, but she was getting tired, fast. Zero finally concluded her situation with her mission statement:
"My real reason for coming here isn't for assassination. I've come to recruit you all to pilot your Gundams again. They are on Colonly L1 right now..."
"No." Heero inturrupted, "If we put away the weapons and soldiers, there won't be reasons for war."
"Oh please! Then people will be throwing stones at each other! If people want to fight, then they will fight until they die!"
"Zero, are you sure that you're really willing to fight in this?" Quatre asked in an innocent tone.
"I do what I have to." She blankly replied, like a soldier.
"You enjoy it, don't you?" Heero examined, "The killing?" His eyes glared at her.
"I don't have to explain my motives to you." Zero looked away from his glare.
"Calling you a woman is an insult." Wufei commented, "You're not even human."
Zero shut her eyes and took the insult in. She expected this much respect from the pilots. She was a dangerous weapon capable of starting a war that they didn't want. They all could kill her in an instant if she didn't have the Gundams. I guess they are saviors, afterall, she realized. She also knew that she would have to sink to Wufei's level to get her point across to the ex-pilots.
"True, my hands are as blood stained as the rest of you. However, I didn't need a Gundam to get my missions complete. And you call yourself a man, hiding behind a machine?"
Wufei fumed. He narrowed his eyes right into her face. Trowa had to put an arm infront of him to keep Wufei from killing her. He backed up when he realized that he was, over reacting.
"At least I, unlike you, Onna, have the ability to control myself to stop. I have learned how pointless bloodshed is!"
Zero looked back at him, feeling threatened. She snapped back,
"And I haven't? Like I told all of you, I have reasons to fight, but they don't consern any of you!"
Stupid woman doesn't know what she's talking about. War is much more than deep phillosophy. Wufei wanted to smack the girl. However, there was no telling how she would react...or everyone else for that matter. He wondered if anyone of the others wanted to smack him. It wasn't worth finding out.
"I've had it for the night." He announced, "I'm going back to my hotel down the block. If you need me, I'm there."
Wufei spun around and started walking down the street.
"SO!" Zero cheerfully focused her attention back to the guys. "Who's room do I get to stay in?"
They looked at each other clueless.
A Gundam Wing story
Part two "Searching for Dust"
Fanfiction by Heather Ann the Kachan
"They call me Zero..."
The girl gasped. Duo couldn't help it anymore. He pushed Heero's arm aside and ran to her side. He wrapped an arm around her to hold her up. If he didn't, he feared that the girl would surely die on her feet. Heero focused his eyes on her behavior. He didn't seem to show any signs of pity towards the girl. Electic waves through her eyelashes could be seen in the dark alley.
"Zero?" Heero asked, "Are you one of us?"
Zero was too far gone to comprehend. She sluped to her knees in exaust.
"Yes, she is." Another voice answered. Wufei and Heero turned around and faced Trowa and Quatre...slightly older verions. Trowa continued, "Quatre will explain later, but we must get her to lie down for a bit."
"Zero!" Quarte ran over to the fading Zero. "Its okay, you'll be alright."
"...I...know..." She whispered back...to no one in perticuar...
The five pilots, now reunited, had a "meeting" in Quatre's hotel room. They tossed the unconsious Zero on the sofa after Quatre so delicately tended her injuries. They sat around a dinner table drinking soda, like Aurthur's knights in a court and tried to put pieces of this puzzle together.
"Are you sure that idiotic woman isn't dead?" Asked Wufei, peering at the carcass still sleeping.
"No," laughed Quatre, "She's just restoring energy. You've certainly taken a lot out of her. Especially self-destructing Deathscythe while she was still in it."
"Hey!" Duo corrected, "Heero told me to do it!"
"Calm down, Maxwell, You did the right thing. Now we can figure out why this menace of an onna exsists." Wufei reassured.
"Quatre, perhaps you should explain for the others why she is still alive in the first place." Trowa suggested to Quatre, who was keeping an eye on Zero.
"Well," He started, "She's just like us...but completely different. Like most of us, she was born a soldier, trained to kill ruthlessly. But on the other hand, she has neural implants of ZERO technology..."
"What?!" Duo inturrupted, "ZERO technology in her head? Wouldn't that make her go insane?!"
"She, being a woman, would have had a psychotic episode years ago." Wufei commented.
"True," Heero concluded, "She has emotions. Only perfect soldiers with no emotions can control that type of technology."
"Yes," Quatre added, "But because the technology was with her durring her state of birth, she seems to have complete control over it. She can turn it on or off whenever she wants. So instead of being trained physically or academically, she was trained empathicly."
"Therefore, she can sense emotions." Trowa translated for Duo, who looked a little lost.
"...most of them..." corrected Quatre, now turning a bit red.
All of the other pilots gave Quatre a skeptical look. Quatre in love? Could there be such a disturbingly cute thing? Duo chuckled at him as asked,
"Okay, lover boy, how did you get to meet our beloved Zero?"
Quatre, now turning deeper shades of red, knew the only way to respond...honestly...and promptly.
"Umm...well...we..." He paused, took a deep breath, and started again...now almost cursing himself for the comment that Duo just made, "Okay, when I started to work on the ZERO system, she was assigned to assist me. The scientists had origionally quit the ZERO project because of its affect on people, however, it was because they were testing it on people. Zero, was the only survivor. Anyway, she helped me develop and test Wing Zero. She was more natural at it, and I guess I got a little jealous. She could control the hallucinations and I couldn't... And that was the last straw on the camel's back. That's when I was obsessed with developing the ZERO technology. However, when I got to the major and final plans of the system, I got a note, saying that she had already left for another mission."
"That's it?" Asked Heero, looking deep in thought...and concerned.
"Oh no.." Duo muttered, knowing that look Heero had. That frightend him a bit. "What is it Heero?"
"That girl is still on a mission." He explained, "She's probably trying to keep us from something...distracting us...blowing time..."
All was silent for a minute. Each pilot thought deeply. What could they have to protect....
"KISAMA!!!!" Wufei finally screamed, "NATAKU!" He jumped out of the chair and rushed out the door, almost knocking Duo over. It was then, when Duo realized,
"DEATHSCYTHE!!!! I left all of those parts in the park!"
Duo quickly ran after Wufei, as if he didn't have enough exercise earlier that day. Quatre quickly turned his head to wake and question Zero. He looked back over to the sofa to find it empty. Heero was not surprised one bit.
"So now what do we do?" Asked Trowa, looking at the two remaining pilots. Heero looked rather nervous, for Heero. Quatre looked his usual worrisome self. He further analized the situation, "Zero has possession of at least two Gundams... No doubt, all five by now. All she needed were the last two and we brought them right to her. Now what does she want with us?"
"She must be destroyed." Concluded Heero, eye-ing at the empty sofa.
"Zero can be a kind civilian like ourselves," Quatre spoke on Zero's behalf. "She has priorities, though. Whatever mission she is carrying out, we should listen to first."
"Fine." Heero agreed, "We'll hear what she has to say...let's just hope that Wufei and Duo don't find her and kill her before doing so..."
"SHIMATTA!!!" Wufei screamed in frustration.
Sure enough when the pair went to find their wreckage of Gundam parts, they found the whole place clean. Not a single piece of Gundanium lay in New York City. It was all long gone by now, and there was no trace of someone taking it. Not that they were surprised that their would be. After all, New York is the most populated city in the United States to date.
"This really sucks." Duo muttered as he walked beside Wufei on the walk back to the hotel.
"Stupid woman isn't so stupid afterall... she kept us away long enough for whoever to take our mobile suits." Wufei grumbled.
Duo chuckled and looked at Wufei with a slight smile.
"I wouldn't say that she was stupid...she kicked your butt in my Gundam, afterall."
Wufei felt that burn. With an annoyed tone in his voice, he replied,
"I was fighting perfectly well. She would have been defeated if Nataku's controls didn't freeze. I wonder what happened then, anyway. They weren't overheated or anything..."
Wufei paused to listen to Duo's not-so-innocent whistle as he looked away.
"What did you do?" Wufei demanded. Duo feared for his life and refused to answer. He immediately held his braid in defense away from Wufei. Wufei, not liking this response, grabbed Duo's shoulder and held onto a pressure point. Duo screetched in pain,
"OWIE OWIE OWIE!!!"
"Tell me." Wufei demanded in monotone.
"OWIE OK! Owch..."
Wufei released Duo and awaited his answer. Duo rubbed his shoulder and responded.
"Well, as soon as I started rebuilding Deathscythe, I found out that you got the funds to rebuild Nataku. Everyone was still a little nervous about that last incident with you teaming up with Mariemaia, so I took things into my own hands..."
Wufei narrowed his eyes. "How, exactly?"
"Well, heh," Duo reluctantly continued, "I snuck over to where you were building your Gundam and hid a shut down devise in it... and installed its controls in Deathscythe."
Wufei looked like he was going to go homicidal. However, he knew that's what Duo would expect. So he calmed down and looked at Duo's point of view, rationally. That lasted only a few seconds. He soon turned to throtle the braided idiot.
"Don't you ever touch Nataku again!!!!"
Wufei's angry voice was quickly inturrupted by a massive explosion down the block. People were flooding the streets running away.
"What the hell was that?" Duo asked suddenly
Wufei didn't respond. He began to lunge forward, but both he and Duo were pushed back by the panicing crowd. The sea seemed to overpower the two pilots in a rush. Even swearing and pushing through the crowd did anything. After getting knocked over, Duo looked up to see that he was next to a bus stop overhang. He struggled on to his feet and began to climb up ontop of the overhang. He automatically started skimming the crowd for signs of suspicious people. He saw one in perticular... not so much suspicious, but definitely familiar. The girl with the brown hair and scar on her face. The one called Zero.
She had spotted him before he spotted her. She was unmoved in the crowd. They all seemed to scatter around her. She slowly raised her arm to eye-level. She was holding a gun. The crowd didn't seem to care that she was. Then again, it wasn't uncommon for a young lady in New York City to carry a gun.
"Duo! What do you see?" Wufei called from down below.
Duo didn't respond. He had to keep his full attention to the gun in Zero's hand. It meant his life. He didn't move nor panic. He waited to see what she would do. Sure enough, Zero's cheek tugged at the corner of her mouth into a smile as she pulled her fingers close to fire the gun. The bullet sounded from the pistol and charged at Duo. Duo remained unmoved. The communication between him and Zero remained to be as still as he was. Much to his surprize, the bulled whipsered right next to his ear...a centimeter of air separated Duo from death. It seemed to be the first time for Duo that death was separated from himself.
Zero held the gun down from where she had it. Her eyes were somewhat sincere and curious at the same time. The people around her departed from the scene, leaving a lone girl on the street. This moment was cut short when Wufei rammed into Zero and tackled her into the pavement.
"GODDAMN IT! What the HELL is YOUR problem? Honestly! Can I go anywhere without you?" Zero bitched.
"Not as long as I know that you are the cause of that bombing just now." Wufei responded.
Duo, now on the ground, ran over to the feuding pair.
"Zero, why did you bomb that building over there?" Duo asked, pointing at the wreckage. Zero looked up at him from the sidewalk. Her arms were being held back by Wufei, who pinning her down the whole time.
"The same reason I destroyed that other building with Deathscythe. They contained anti-pasifist politicians that...OW!"
Wufei pushed higher on Zero's arms as he inturrupted her thought.
"Try again, Onna, there are no more anti-pasifists. That ended in the last war. Its time you started reading newspapers. Then we wouldn't have to deal with punks like you."
"Look, Jerk." Zero called above herself to Wufei, "I'm under RECENT orders to do whatever. What I do know is that there is another conflict coming and I am bound to assure peace...even if I have to do the opposite."
Wufei and Duo didn't know what to say. From Wufei's expression, he didn't believe her story one bit. Duo, however, sympathized with her, figuring that she was just a lost, insane individual. Zero sighed.
"Look in my back pocket." She commanded, resting a tired forehead onto the dirt.
Wufei, sitting on her legs, held both of her arms with one hand and dug into her back pockets.
"Hey, don't get too fresh back there." Zero joked.
Wufei was mildy amused...even if he did look a little flushed. He found a few photographs and a piece of paper. He handed them to Duo.
"I don't believe this...you won't believe this!"
"What is it?" Wufei asked, looking over at the papers, keeping his senses on Zero.
Wufei looked at the photos. They were pictures of mobile suit manufaturing bases. The pictures were dated...a week ago. At first, Wufei still didn't believe her. Then Duo started talking again.
"This document..." Duo held the sheet of paper nervously, "it confirms the sign of an organisation building. Someone with great financial power is now putting their funds into mobile suit production..."
Wufei looked down at the girl. She was a soldier just like the rest of them. However, for some reason she didn't make an appearance during the earlier wars...
"Why didn't you involve yourself in the earlier wars?" He asked, feeling her pulse incase it changed to the answer of the question. She wasn't in the best physical shape, so it would probably be hard for someone like her to keep her pulse steady.
"I was... but because they didn't want me in enemy hands, I had to remain perfectly hidden. For example, when Quatre supposedly killed Trowa, I went into space to pick him up and get him to medical help...and dropped him off with his sister, without being seen, of course. Then there was the time when you two were captured and I snuck food into your cell..."
"Hey, I don't remember that!" Wufei snatched....then looked at Duo...
Duo took a few steps back as if he had horns and a tail...
"It doesn't matter," Wufei grunted, "You're destroying peace with your meathods. You should be killed!"
"Go ahead." Zero snapped, "Go ahead if it serves your justice. However, I have possession of all five Gundams. If you destroy me, then I garentee someone much worse will come along, and I don't thing that they will spare your lives like I have."
Wufei didn't know what to think, so he just got off of Zero. Zero bitched to herself as she stretched to get up. Then further commented on how heavy Wufei was for such a scrawny guy. Duo helped dust the dirt off of her clothes. He laughed with her while doing so. Wufei rolled his eyes. Duo was flirting with a fellow American... how predictable.
They began to walk back to the hotel.
"So, who is the mysterious organization, anyway?" Duo asked in curiousity.
"They call themselves the Blood Hounds. Their leaded by a guy named...Diaz..." Zero responded.
Wufei looked at the woman. It was interesting how she said "Diaz". It sounded like how he would pronounciate the word "Treize". She really was just like himself or the other pilots. However, her appearance was astoundingly similar to Duo's. As they walked and talked all the way back to the hotel, he noticed a lot of similarities... like the same exact hair color, tone of voice, build (if Duo was a girl), and other little things. However, her bangs were longer and curved around her face, maybe a little longer... And worst of all, did she dress like a bum! Duo had his usual black ensamble, but Zero was dressed in blue jeans, platform shoes, a blue tank top and a matching plad shirt. One would think that a woman of such free will would dress more of her age, Wufei thought.
"So that's it." Heero commented as he listened to Duo's explanation of why Zero was terrorizing the city. They surrounded her outside of the hotel asking questions. She tried to answer them all fully, but she was getting tired, fast. Zero finally concluded her situation with her mission statement:
"My real reason for coming here isn't for assassination. I've come to recruit you all to pilot your Gundams again. They are on Colonly L1 right now..."
"No." Heero inturrupted, "If we put away the weapons and soldiers, there won't be reasons for war."
"Oh please! Then people will be throwing stones at each other! If people want to fight, then they will fight until they die!"
"Zero, are you sure that you're really willing to fight in this?" Quatre asked in an innocent tone.
"I do what I have to." She blankly replied, like a soldier.
"You enjoy it, don't you?" Heero examined, "The killing?" His eyes glared at her.
"I don't have to explain my motives to you." Zero looked away from his glare.
"Calling you a woman is an insult." Wufei commented, "You're not even human."
Zero shut her eyes and took the insult in. She expected this much respect from the pilots. She was a dangerous weapon capable of starting a war that they didn't want. They all could kill her in an instant if she didn't have the Gundams. I guess they are saviors, afterall, she realized. She also knew that she would have to sink to Wufei's level to get her point across to the ex-pilots.
"True, my hands are as blood stained as the rest of you. However, I didn't need a Gundam to get my missions complete. And you call yourself a man, hiding behind a machine?"
Wufei fumed. He narrowed his eyes right into her face. Trowa had to put an arm infront of him to keep Wufei from killing her. He backed up when he realized that he was, over reacting.
"At least I, unlike you, Onna, have the ability to control myself to stop. I have learned how pointless bloodshed is!"
Zero looked back at him, feeling threatened. She snapped back,
"And I haven't? Like I told all of you, I have reasons to fight, but they don't consern any of you!"
Stupid woman doesn't know what she's talking about. War is much more than deep phillosophy. Wufei wanted to smack the girl. However, there was no telling how she would react...or everyone else for that matter. He wondered if anyone of the others wanted to smack him. It wasn't worth finding out.
"I've had it for the night." He announced, "I'm going back to my hotel down the block. If you need me, I'm there."
Wufei spun around and started walking down the street.
"SO!" Zero cheerfully focused her attention back to the guys. "Who's room do I get to stay in?"
They looked at each other clueless.
