Gundam Wing: Vengeance
Gundam Wing: Vengeance The Special Edition

Chapter Four

By Wing_zero_pilot

www.geocities.com/wing_zero_pilot195

Nope, I don't own Gundam Wing or anything else already owned by Sotsu Agency and its affiliates. And all those other people who claim to own Gundam Wing. If I did own GW, I wouldn't be writing this. It would be a full-feature movie!!!!!!

A.C. 189

L1 Colony

Secret Gundam Pilot Training Camp

That blasted boy is at it again! Doctor J thought as he raced down corridor after corridor, trying to muster up enough pilots to fight off the attacker who was trying to board the colony.

There's no doubt about it. That's Two attacking! Doctor J frowned. He must be after the Gundam!

Sprinting down the hallway came One, headed towards the Gundam's hangar bay. Doctor J smiled as he thought of what would happen next.

Waving at a passing lieutenant, Doctor J assumed a serious tone. "You, over there!"

"Yes, sir?" The twenty-year-old officer saluted him.

"I want you to cancel the orders for deployment of all the pilots, except for One."

"Uh, are you sure that's wise, sir?"

"Absolutely. Contact One and tell him to report immediately to Hangar Zero-One-Alpha. Tell him to use his own suit."

"What? His own suit?"

"He'll know what I mean."

"Hey, you! One!" The young officer soon flagged down the ten-year-old pilot. It wasn't that hard, considering he was the only ten-year-old in the secret installation.

"What is it? I'm busy." The young child's tone was completely devoid of emotion, save for a hint of annoyance.

"It's Doctor J. He's ordered all other pilots except you to not engage the target attacking. He wants you to use, uh, your suit. I believe that was his message." Shifting his weight about awkwardly, the lieutenant obviously found it strange to be ordering around a ten-year-old, much less saluting one, which he did as soon as he stopped talking.

"Understood." Turning around on the heel of his right foot, he sprinted away towards the Zero-One-Alpha hangar bay.

"I truly hope that kid knows what he's doing."

A.C. 204

Former Sanc Kingdom Capitol Newport City

"Are the repairs finished yet?" Heero looked up from the medical cot he was lying in at Relena. His entire torso and right arm had sustained significant wounds during his fight with Two a few days ago.

Smiling, Relena sat down at the foot of Heero's bed.

"No, not yet. The technicians say they'll need your help for a majority of the repairs. You've changed so much of the inner workings of the suit that the original plans don't really apply anymore. At least that's what they tell me."

"Well, it is Duo who's heading the repair process. It sounds like something he would say." Looking out the window to avoid Relena's puzzled gaze, he turned his attention on a pair of birds chriping away incessantly on a nearby branch. One of the birds was trying over and over to get the other's attention, but to no avail. The other bird just kept on looking away at the sky.

I know how you feel, poor bird, Relena thought to herself. Unsure of whether Heero had just tried to tell a joke or not, she quickly changed the subject.

"What do you plan on doing, when the repairs are finished? Are you going to wait for the Earth Sphere Intelligence Agency to get data on what kind of forces this Two has in store for you and the other Gundam pilots?"

"Considering the ESIA's name is more of a contradiction with what it is in charge of, the answer is no. We have to act now, before he can rebuild any more forces than he already has."

That, of course, was referring to the massive amounts of Taurus, Virgo, Virgo II, and even Serpent mobile doll troops had suddenly appeared around the once-abandoned Lunar Base from OZ's glory days. It was very surprising, considering there was only one person responsible for the reconstruction, reprogramming, and reconditioning of that many suits in such little time.

"Yes, I suppose you're right." Trailing off, Relena watched in amazement as the two birds finally began to chirp together, side by side, outside the window.

A premonition, perhaps? Or is it merely a glimpse of what I hope to happen between Heero and myself?

"I know how you are about battles, Heero. I know you won't hesitate to use the self-detonation on your mobile suit."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm having the self-detonator in your suit removed, Heero. I won't have you killing yourself just to settle the score with this enemy from your past."

"Hmmm . . . You were right about one thing, Relena."

"What was that, Heero?"

"In the past, I wouldn't have hesitated to self-detonate. Now, however, after going through it twice, I've been having second thoughts about it."

"What? Do you really mean that, Heero?"

"Yes, I do. After this battle, if we win, I will have something to come back to, something guaranteed to me."

"What's that?"

Turning back to face her, he gazed into her eyes with his own Prussian-blues.

"Peace."

After getting out of his medical bed, Heero went directly to the primary repair hangar, underground. Upon seeing the sheer number of technical crews hard at work trying to figure his single suit out, he became very annoyed.

What a waste of manpower. I'm only 24 years old, and it would take me less than a day to finish all these repairs. The only parts damaged were the arms, torso, and battle computer systems. It's not as though I'm rebuilding the whole thing again.

Frowning, he pulled one of the senior techs aside.

"I want you to send these men back to something they know how to do," he said to the man impatiently.

"Sir? These are among the best technicians and engineers in the Earth Sphere."

"I don't care," Heero replied dispassionatly. "I will finish the repairs myself."

"Are you sure--" Then, looking at Heero's death-glare for a while, the man simply left it at that. He ran off, issuing orders as he went. Flagging down another senior tech, he looked back at his damaged suit as he spoke.

"I want to know exactly what you have done to this suit so far."

"I tell you what, that Heero is something else!" Duo said as he stretched out in the hallways outside of Relena's office.

"What do you mean by that, Duo?" Hilde asked from the bench where she sat. She motioned for him to sit next to her.

Duo happily complied. "Well, first, he just got out of the medical bay, right? So, right after the doctor tells him to go home and get some rest, he marches straight into the repair bay, orders all of the techs out, and tells me to scram! Talk about being ungrateful!" Slouching, he put his elbows on the back of the bench. Leaning his head back, he shut his eyes, frowning.

"You know as well as I do that that's just the way he is," Hilde countered. "You knew that he would do just what he did. Face it. You were asking for it!"

"Well, you're a lot of help."

Both heads turned as the door to Relena's office opened. From her meeting with Quatre's Maganac Corps, she did not look happy. The thirty-odd soldiers looked as though they had just been through a rough interrogation, Rasid especially.

"Hey, what's up guys? What's the matter? You look pretty bad." Duo tried to help, but the Maganacs didn't seem to want any help getting cheered up.

"Relena happened," answered Abdul, looking morose. "She sure blistered our ears for keeping our mobile suits! If I were you, I'd run before she gets ahold of you!"

"C'mon guys! It's Relena, for God's sake! How bad could it have been?"

It wasn't long until Duo had to eat his words. After getting called into her office, Relena paced about in front of the massive windows that made up an entire wall of the room. She was quiet, but forceful. Very forceful.

Walking through the corridor, waiting for Relena, Heero only caught bits and pieces of her lecture to Duo and Howard.

"I would hate . . . this to you . . . if . . . ever find . . . you've . . . mobile suit . . . arrested. Understood?"

Heero's eyes widened. Never, ever had he heard Relena threaten anyone with arrest before. She'd never even so much as spoken a single bad word about anyone, save for certain OZ soldiers, but now she was threatening Duo and Howard--two of the people she trusted the most--with arrest!

Times certainly have taken their toll on Relena, Heero thought. She certainly isn't as naive as she was when I first met her.

After the door to her office opened wide, Duo, Hilde, and Howard marched out of the room. Duo's eyes were opened very wide and Howard's jaw still hadn't quite yet recovered from the shock. It still hung open.

"Enjoy your talk with Relena?" Heero asked casually, tossing a glimpse at the three poor souls.

"Smartass," Duo answered. "You're lucky. Your suit was sponsored by the Earth Sphere."

"I never thought the girl had it in her, to be honest." Mouth still agape, Howard pushed his sunglasses back up to the top of his nose.

"Even I know better to go behind Relena's back nowadays," Heero said matter-of-factly.

"Hey! I had nothing to do with the reconstruction of my suit! It was all Howard!"

"I know."

"What?" His jaw dropping even more, Howard looked straight at Heero. "How did you know? It was just me and my crew working on that suit! We had maximum secrecy!"

"It wasn't your security. When Duo came in his Gundam, I knew that he couldn't have rebuilt it without bragging to someone. Thus, the only other people with access to the complete technical readouts on the Gundams were the five scientists, Dekim Barton, Cannes, Treize Kushrenada, who are all dead, myself, and you, Howard. I remember when you pulled the technical plans to the Wing Zero on the Peacemillion. I didn't have to think very hard to believe that you had done the same with the rest of the Gundams, as well."

"Well, how did you know I pulled the plans?"

"Nothing gets by my notice when it comes to accessing my Gundam's database."

"Oh. I wondered what that unaccessable algorithm was in your computer. Must have been one of those non-erasable recording programs that show everything accessed on the Gundam's computer. I remember installing something like that in the Peacemillion."

"Except mine wasn't easy to hack into."

"Yeah--Hey!"

Before Howard could yell at him any more, Heero entered Relena's office and shut the door.

"You wanted to see me?"

Looking up from her laptop monitor on her desk, Relena smiled wearily. "Yes, Heero. I want you to look at this."

Walking over to her desk, Heero turned the laptop around, looking intensely at the screen.

"Two."

"Yes. He's attacked another metropolitan area. This time it was Brussels. The Earth Sphere President made it out with a few scrapes and bruises, but the rest of the population wasn't so lucky."

"How many casualties?"

"Nearly two and a half million. This time he used a twenty-five Virgo mobile dolls and fifty Serpents."

"He relies on mobile dolls as the primary part of his offensive and defensive forces. He's no better than OZ or White Fang."

"Heero, there's something different about these mobile dolls. Their capabilities don't match those of the past mobile doll systems. In fact, they are much, much higher."

That got Heero's attention. "What do you mean?"

"Well, one of the mobile dolls landed hard enough on the ground that the legs were damaged. It couldn't lift off or even walk. We managed to get a good look at it before it self-detonated. Somehow, it knew that it had been captured. It thus took certain actions, for confidentiality purposes, I believe."

"What did the crews find?"

"I don't know how he did it, but he managed to adapt something vaguely similar to the ZERO system into the computer systems of the mobile dolls. Don't ask me for the details. I only know what the senior technician said in the transmission before the suit went off. Its explosion killed the entire work crew, so his transmission was the only data we have on these advanced mobile dolls."

"Hmmm . . . ZERO system and mobile dolls." Standing straight again, Heero looked straight at Relena. "I need to ask a favor of you, Relena."

"Absolutely, Heero. Ask anything." Hope filled her eyes as she looked back into Heero's.

"I want you to call the other Gundam pilots. Tell them that I'll be going alone on this mission. They are not to accompany me."

"What?! What if you become injured? What if those advanced mobile dolls damage your suit to the point where you can't fight Two? He'll kill you!"

"Perhaps. Also, I want you to have a full spread of cannons and beam weapons prepared."

"Heero, you know I can't--"

"Listen. Should I fail, you will be forced to completely raze the moon's surface. Nothing else will stop Two. Not even the other pilots."

"Are you sure Heero? Are you certain that the others can't--" Looking at his icy-cold stare, she trailed off.

"Do you really think the others would stand a chance against me in the Wing Zero with a full complement of those advanced mobile dolls at my disposure?"

"Oh. I see."

"I believe you do. That's why I'm asking you, Relena. Only you and I can truly see Two's destructive capabilities with that kind of firepower. Do what you must, but be sure to be prepared. Given the fact that he has already defeated me once, it's highly likely that he'll do so again. You must be ready."

"I will, Heero. I promise."

Ploping himself down on the nearest bed, Quatre sighed contently as old memories of the last time he stayed there flooded his mind.

It's been such a long time since then. It almost seems like a dream, like it happened to someone else.

But it didn't happen to someone else. It happened to me.

Getting up and turning off the air conditioner, he let an easy smile bloom onto his face.

So much has changed! Last time I was here, OZ still existed, we were constantly in one battle after another . . .

He let his mind trail off for a while, thinking of what times were like those nine years ago.

KNOCK KNOCK!

His smile began to wane. Sighing, he knew who it was before he even answered the door.

And Dorothy didn't follow me everywhere I went. Then again, she was pretty much obsessed with stalking Heero at the time, so it's no wonder she never noticed me until after the wars.

Opening the door, he had to muster up as much of his diplomatic prowess as he could to avoid shutting the door in her face.

After such a long day, I'd hope to find some peace, to nap for a while.

Looking at her eyes gleaming below those eerie split-eyebrows of hers, he forced himself to smile.

Then again, if I can't get rid of her by living in the desert, how can I expect to lose her here on the shorelines?

"Yes Miss Dorothy?"

"Hello Master Quatre. I noticed that it has been a long day for you. I fixed you your usual herbal tea, just like you like it." Holding a tray with a steaming cup in a [trembling?] hand out in front of her, she smiled.

"Thank you, Miss Dorothy." Stunned, Quatre took the cup off the tray.

Maybe I'm looking at this from the wrong point of view, he thought. I know she's not out to annoy me. I'm just . . .

His mind searched for a word to properly describe how he felt around her, but couldn't find it right away. Smiling back to her, he sipped at the tea in his hand, leaning on the doorway with his right shoulder.

"Mmmm . . . What blend is this? I don't believe I've had this kind before."

"It's a special plant, found only in this area, Master Quatre. I took the liberty of preparing it myself."

Realization dawned on Quatre. Wait a minute! I know what she's been trying to do!

"Thank you, Miss Dorothy. You have been more help today than you know."

All this time, I thought she was trying to outdo the other employees of the company, when, in fact, she was trying to impress me!

"If that's all, then, I'll be on my way," Dorothy said, turning around. Quatre thought he saw a glimmer of liquid at the corners of her eyes, but he couldn't be sure. Placing his cup of exotic tea on the nearest table in the room, he walked behind her.

"Wait, Dorothy."

"Yes, Master Quatre?" she asked, not daring to turn around, lest she reveal her weakness.

"Would you like to take a walk? Together?" Smiling, he put his right hand on her left shoulder.

"Yes, yes I would," she replied, turning back around. Tears began to trace lines over her face, but they were not tears of sadness.

Offering her his arm, he walked up beside her. As she slipped her arm underneath his, she smiled bravely.

Then, at that exact moment in time, Quatre noticed something. In all the time he had lived, nothing had ever seemed just so right to him.

"Dorothy?" he said to her, almost at a whisper.

"Yes, Master Quatre?"

"You can stop calling me 'Master.' If you want to, of course."