DISCLAIMER: With the exception of Sette Devion and Kumi Yuy, none if the Gundam Wing characters are mine. Well, you'll be able to tell the originals from the ones that I created!
To Beekay: I'd love to talk to you about this series! (cyclone2996@hotmail.com) It's thanks to fans like you that I love writing this story! Thank you for the support!
Love, SkyLark
Gundam Wing: The Second Chapter
Episode 19: Day of Infamy
with help from: Snodin, Traci 14, Stormy, Sam, Sky 0 and Beekay 0
Quinze Khushrenadah awoke early in the morning and rose from his bed to look out the window. With a smug grin on his face, he sighed deeply, "It's going to be a beautiful day." With the same smile, he turned back to prepare for the day's events.
* * * * * *
On Earth, Brian Weatherall was in his cell, lying on the cot the room provided. He was looking to the ceiling, trying to get his thoughts together. The door at the top of the stairs opened and he sat up. One of the two men who had been planning to help the young king walked down the stairs. Brian looked to the young blonde and asked, "Carl? What are you doing here?" The young man sighed and replied, "Hello, your majesty. Scott and I are working to try and get a hold of Lady Une."
The young king gasped quietly as his eyes widened, "Then you believe I'm innocent?" Carl smiled and nodded, "I know you better than most people. Scott knows that you were betrayed as well. Somehow, we'll get you out of this." Brian smiled and extended his hand through the bars. Carl took at as they shook firmly. Brian smiled, "Thank you, Carl. Please tell Scott that I appreciate everything that you're doing to help me, whether or not it helps get me out of this alive."
Carl replied as they lowered their hands again, "We'll do whatever we can to see that you do get out of this alive, your highness." The prisoner chuckled deeply, "Brian. We're friends, after all." The blonde smiled and nodded, "Brian." With that, he walked back up the stairs quickly to find Scott. Brian sighed deeply and sat back on the cell's cot. "Thank God there are people here on Earth that still believe in me."
* * * * * *
Carl ran back into a small office where Scott was working away at his laptop. "Any luck yet?" the blonde asked. His friend shook his head as he continued to work his hands quickly over the keyboard, "Not yet. I have to patch into a signal that was sent through the colonies. It's much more difficult to do that since that damned Reynolds cut off every signal coming to or from the Earth."
As Scott continued to work, Carl took a deep breath and whispered, "Let's just pray we can contact Peace Million before it's too late. We only have a few hours to get something through." His friend nodded and stated, "If the king is killed, God help everyone on the Earth and in Space. I don't even want to imagine the consequences if he dies."
The two men looked to the monitor closely to see what progress they were making, if any. Outside of their office, a figure stood at the doorway, leaning closely to the door as he listened to the conversation. A nasty sneer crossed their lips and they went off down the long, empty hallway.
* * * * * *
On the desolate Colony Q67, Kumi stood on a large hill that overlooked a factory miles away from where she was. Using binoculars, she scanned the area. As expected, there were OZ soldiers all over the place as they walked around the facility. What caught her attention in regards to the massive building was the crates that were being shipped inside. "There's enough PC there to take out a whole Colony with one shot."
The silver-haired pilot lowered the binoculars and stood there silently. "Looks like those rumors about the construction of that laser were true after all." The wind was blowing her hair and cape to the side as the Gundam pilot stayed in silence like that for a moment. Then, a small sneer crossed her lips as she chuckled deeply and closed her eyes, "This should be interesting." She walked back to the woods behind her.
* * * * * *
Heero and Duo stood walked hand-in-hand from the ship that Sera and the Preventers provided as they made their way to Deathscythe. Duo asked quietly, "So in order to successfully complete our missions, you and I have to activate the system as the same time?" Heero nodded, "Yea. Sera found that out not long before we came to this Colony." The American replied, "Well, I could always crash on V10 for a while once I arrive. It'll be easy to find work in a shipyard or something like that since this war will make those places busy." He smiled, "It's been a while since I got to get down and dirty with machinery like that."
The Wing pilot chuckled deeply, "I prefer when you get down and dirty with me." Duo laughed and kissed his lover's lips. "Nothing is better than that, koi," he winked. Heero stopped, causing Duo to pause with him. Heero caressed the braided pilot's cheek and said with concern, "Just be careful when you're on the Colony, Duo. We won't have any way of meeting up from now until our mission is over."
The American smiled lovingly and nodded, "I'll be careful. You better do the same... no more stunts like the one I had to pull your ass out of yesterday, all right?" Heero laughed sharply then nodded sincerely, "For you... anything." Duo smiled again and said gently, "Good. Let's make sure we keep that promise we made to each other about staying alive through this war." Heero nodded, "Yea."
The pair soon made their way back to Deathscythe and the pilots embraced tightly. "We'll be back like this again soon," Duo whispered in his partner's ear. Heero smiled as they held each other and replied quietly, "I know....Ai shiteru, Duo." His lover smiled and whispered back, "Ai shiteru, Heero." They kissed passionately and looked into each other's eyes. As he caressed Heero's cheek, Duo smiled and winked one last time before running off to climb up to his cockpit.
Once he reached the opening, Duo smiled and waved to his partner. Heero smiled back and waved in return. The braided pilot jumped into his seat. Once the hatch closed, Heero stepped back a bit and watched with a heavy heart as his lover's Gundam flew off and disappeared. Both pilots hated saying 'good byes.' All that they could do now was hope that they would be saying 'hello' again before long.
As he watched the sky, Heero felt something that his right hand absently clutched onto once Duo jumped into his cockpit. Looking down to his chest, Heero saw that it was the gold cross his Duo always wore and had given to him the first time they had to leave for their missions. The Wing pilot looked to the cross and gently ran a finger over the edges. He placed the pendant under his shirt again. With one last, long look to the sky, Heero placed his hands in his jean pockets and walked back to Sera's ship.
* * * * * *
Back on Peace Million, Lady Une was working with Lieutenant Keiser, Noin, Sally and Milliardo as they looked over reports and discussed where they all stood at this point. Wind began as he opened folded his hands for his head to rest on. "As far as Novem is concerned, It's been more than twenty-four hours since she left the ship. It's next to impossible for any of us to try and locate where she could have gone."
Fire shook her head, "I can't believe that she would do anything like this unless there was a reason behind it." Water nodded, "I also feel that way. Novem will come back before long. Apparently, she knows something that we don't." Keiser huffed, "You're all going to regret backing those thick-headed pilots up. The only way we're going to win this war is through numbers. And the only thing we have to provide that is through myself and the Preventers."
Milliardo growled deeply, "Stop being so damned disrespectful of those pilots, Keiser. You're really pissing me off." Keiser sneered, "And what are you going to do about it? You know that I'm right." Wind was about to stand suddenly to show what he would do when Noin grabbed his wrist. She shook her head to her husband. At the same time, Lady Une stated, "Let's drop this now before both of you piss me off. We're not here to argue amongst ourselves." Millardo and Keiser turned their glares from each other and agreed to continue with the subject at hand.
Lady Une looked to Sally and asked, "Any word on where Wufei is at this time?" Water nodded, "He's a few days away from the ship now. We can expect to see him soon." Une sighed in relief, "Good. That'll leave Sette, Quatre and the Maquanauts, then." Noin replied, "They'll be here not long after Wufei. He has about a three-day lead over them."
Milliardo continued, "Trowa should be at R58 to complete his mission in less than a week from now. A Preventer that had seen him arrived at the ship for supplies. Once Trowa completes that, four of the seven missions will be taken care of." The head of the Preventers was more than happy to hear this, but she gave a look that was still filled with uncertainty.
The brown-haired woman gathered her reports and placed them in her folder as she stated, "That's all we can worry about for now. We'll go through the next weeks one step at a time as we wait for the Gundam pilots to return." The others took their own reports and began to file out of the room. Sally, however stayed behind and looked to Lady Une, who remained at the table.
"Is everything all right, Lady Une?" Water asked kindly. Her friend looked up to her and nodded, "I'm fine, Sally. Thank you." As she rose and walked to the window that overlooked the stars, she sighed, "It's just that everything with these missions seems to be working out almost too easily."
Sally walked to her and nodded, "I was thinking the same thing. I don't want to think that it means something terrible is still waiting to happen. But at the same time, we can't go on pretending that every mission will end the way that the last three have."
Lady Une lowered her head and said quietly, "If anything happens to those pilots..." She shook her head sharply. "I can't think like that." She turned back to see her concerned comrade. "They mean a lot to me...all of them." Sally smiled and nodded, "They know that. And they know that they mean a lot to all of us here."
The commander of the Preventers smiled and nodded back after a pause, "You're right, Sally. Thanks for the talk." Water wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulder as they walked to the door as she replied, "Let's just take it one step at a time, like you said." With that, the two young women left the room and turned the light out.
* * * * * *
"IT'S A GUNDAM!" an OZ soldier screamed from within the base where the newest laser was being built. An angel-winged Gundam suit flew straight through the building. Once inside, every soldier ran to avoid being sliced by Excalibur's laser blade. As many of the soldiers left the building, they ran to mobile suits that had been hidden outside of the base.
Kumi looked around the destruction that she caused within. The flames and explosions from the machinery along with the running and screaming soldiers didn't phase her. Several solders who were in the balconies, shooting at the suit with semi-automatic weapons.
The pilot looked up to them and shouted, "That's not going to work, YOU FOOLS!" At this, she sliced through the balcony. The soldiers who were not killed by the blade fell into the pit of flames below them as they screamed. Kumi spun quickly to continue cutting through the plant. As she did this, many of the mobile suits were beginning to make their way to her.
A Leo plowed into the suit in attempt to knock the Gundam off balance. While a bit surprised by the sudden hit, Kumi quickly recovered and stabbed the suit down the middle. Seeing that there were a good number of soldiers making their way to her, the silver-haired pilot removed the Buster Riffle and took out the first five suits that were closest. As the young woman fought off the soldiers, she also continued to destroy the factory along with everything inside.
After ten minutes of fighting like this, the young pilot knew that she needed to find another approach of destroying this site. Scanning the area, Kumi said aloud, "I know they have to be storing that PC around here somewhere." Her thoughts went back to the fight and she took out two opponents as she plowed and sliced through. Excalibur's wings allowed the Gundam to shoot up for a moment. The mobile suits were quickly behind her.
The black Gundam shot through the building's roof. Looking below, Kumi focused on the sight of the soldiers who were still alive as they seemed to be heading down several hidden steps in the ground floor. Kumi sneered. Just then, the soldiers following her made their way to the Gundam. Without thinking twice, Kumi shot an opening through them as she nose-dived back down to the plant.
Using the same opening she made to fly above the factory, Kumi shot inside again. When she was a moment away from crashing into the ground, she fired the Buster Riffle to make an entrance in the hidden storage room. When she entered, Kumi looked around the huge room and saw countless tanks of PC. The soldiers who were working to protect it continued to shoot with whatever guns they had. Others attempted to run back out of the base.
No matter what the soldiers attempted at this point, none of them would escape alive. To see that this was the case, Kumi shot into one of the many tanks. She gave a slight nod at the discharge and shot her Gundam up at great speed. The screams of the soldiers within increased as they watched the beam hit the silver container. On impact, the tank exploded. This caused a chain of countless explosions like it from the other large PC containers.
The soldiers in the mobile suits did not fly off quickly enough. A wide beam of flames shot straight up, taking everything with it. Soon, even Excalibur was surrounded by flames. Being so close to reaching space, this caught the pilot within off guard. Kumi growled deeply and attempted to control her suit. She was burning up within the cockpit and was sweating badly as she struggled to work the controls.
Excalibur was beginning to falter in its flight up to the stars and Kumi was groaning in her efforts to stay in flight. Her eyes widened as she saw the power in her controls going out. There wasn't anything that she could do now to keep herself alive, except for one thing. With a hard punch into a small green button beside her seat, Kumi released her hands from the controls.
The instant that the button was pressed, the large white angel wings of Excalibur folded and encased the suit in a shield of Gundamimum feathers. Inside, Kumi held onto the sides of her seat tightly as her suit continued to shake violently within the heart of the massive explosions as they continued. She couldn't see anything, being within her Gundam's last line of defense, which had never been attempted before. The only thing that was reassuring to the pilot was that the inside of her cockpit was beginning to cool down a bit.
After a good five minutes helpless like that, there was no longer any shaking. And there was no sound of explosions from far below, either. Kumi wiped a good amount of sweat from her brow before pressing the small green button again. The wings of her suit slowly opened and fanned out again. Kumi's eyes widened as she looked below where the colony once was. With all of the PC that the factory held, there was nothing left of the massive colony now but fragments of debris.
The stunned Gundam pilot fell back in her chair for a moment to start breathing again. Her shock soon faded and she laughed madly. When the laughter subsided, she sighed deeply with a small smile, "You have to love Gundamimum ...It's the strongest shit there is." With a deep chuckle, she flew through the debris of Colony Q67, and off to M29 to accomplish the mission that would give the Preventers and her friends another small victory...One step closer to ending this war.
* * * * * *
Lady Une and Sally were with their friends, walking back to the control room. Suddenly, the sirens and red lights of the ship gave off the warning that something terrible had happened. They ran off to the room to find that Lieutenant Keiser was already there when they arrived.
"What happened?" Sally shouted over the sirens. Keiser replied, "There is a Colony a few miles from here that's being attacked. I've just sent a good number of soldiers out there now. They'll reach the Colony before long." Lady Une and the others understood as they went to computers to see if there was anything they could gain from their visuals.
Relena then ran into the room along with Catherine and Derek. They all looked to the confusion around them, but quickly picked up on what was happening as the Preventers around them talked amongst themselves. The sirens had died down as well as the red lights so that everyone could now focus on the matter at hand.
Milliardo was working at a computer next to Noin. He was soon able to get a good visual of the Colony. "It's G698," he informed the others once he recognized the Colony being invaded. The area was being hit by all kinds of soldiers and at great numbers.
Wind's eyes narrowed and said to himself, "I don't understand how they could possibly have all of these soldiers...Unless they're back to using mobile dolls." At this, he zoomed the monitor onto a Space Virgo.
As Milliardo typed to see if there was any heat coming from inside, the test result came back positive.
Milliardo repeated this step several times and all of the results came back the same. With a low growl, he said quietly, "It doesn't make any sense...None of these seem to be mobile dolls at all." Wind continued to try and see if there was more he could gather from the site when something caught his eye.
Taking a closer look to the monitor, the Preventer saw that there were two silver streaks making their way to the Colony at great speed. Noin had been sitting beside him the whole time and she, too, saw the streaks. Their eyes widened as they focused more on them. "Gemini," Noin whispered gravely. Her husband rose from his seat quickly and ran to the hanger.
Relena didn't manage to hear what her brother discovered and ran to where Noin was sitting. Looking to the monitor, the young queen turned pale and gasped, "Oh my God." She quickly turned and ran to the hanger to follow Wind. Fortunately for everyone, Keiser was too busy to even see them leave.
* * * * * *
It was nearing nightfall back on the Earth and the two men working to save Brian were beginning to grow desperate. Scott hissed, "Damn it. I still can't get through. The execution will take place in less than two hours." Carl shook his head, "Don't give up just yet. There has to be something that we can do."
The man at the keyboard swore that he heard something moving outside of the door. He stopped his work at the computer and looked to his friend with panicked eyes. "Did you hear that?" he asked in a hushed whisper. Scott shook his head, "I didn't hear anything." His friend wiped some sweat from his brow and sighed deeply, "Must be my imagination." Upon saying this, he went back to work at the computer.
* * * * * *
Back on the Colony being attacked, the people there were doing all they could to avoid being killed from the soldiers who came from nowhere. The destruction that they were causing was bringing down ever large building onto crowds of screaming victims. The fire and explosions were continuing as the first sign of relief arrived. The Preventers that had been sent from Keiser made it to the battle zone and began struggling against the OZ soldiers.
Many of the people who were hiding now had the opportunity to make a run for safety outside of the city. The Preventers were holding off on their own for a long time as they went on attacking. More of their comrades came from other, nearby Preventer crafts. Thanks to Quatre, Sette and Wufei, every craft before the Milky Way could now be reached as well as the colonies there.
It was not long before another crew of OZ soldiers was sent as well. The fight was not leaning favorable for either side as they battled for a long time. It was not long before two silver Gundam suits made their way to the Colony's surface. Azrael shrieked as she stabbed through a Preventer's suit, "YOU'RE ALL MINE!" Her brother shouted as well while he took out many of the men and women defending the city.
The two Gundam pilots went onto the town as they continued where their comrades left off. Cutting through more buildings and causing more explosions, they were in their glory. Fighting with all the madness in them, they worked until the last few tall structures remained before returning to fight with the other OZ soldiers.
Fifteen minutes passed after the two suits had arrived at G698. One of the few things that had not been destroyed was a large, marble statue of a dove bearing an olive branch. This symbol was the same on every Colony, in respect for the soldiers who died in the two wars prior to this time. It also stood as a reminder to try and prevent wars like this from happening. Abrasia bushed back some sweat-coated bangs of his straight, blond locks. "How sweet," he chuckled deeply to the stature.
He flew his Gemini to the dove and lifted his weapon high. As Abrasia was about to slice through the monument, a golden Gundam shot right in his path, blocking the strike with its twin bladed rod. The young man looked with awe to Euphoria for a moment. Then his look of shock and almost astonishment faded into one of sly anticipation. "Look who finally decided to show up," he sneered to the other Gundam.
Azrael stopped her advances on the Preventers when Calvary plowed into her from the side. With a cry of shock, she looked to the Gundam and smiled wickedly, "It's about time, Relena...Or should I say Zes?" The young queen's eyes narrowed as she replied harshly, "I prefer Zes when I am with my Gundam." Azrael shrugged and prepared to attack, "As you wish, your highness." The two pilots battled intensely along with Milliardo and Abrasia.
* * * * * *
Lady Une was with Noin and Sally as they watched the battle. Something was interfering with the frequency and the screen was beginning to show static. Noin's eyes widened and she tried to get the frequency clear. "Someone is trying to contact us from the Earth," she informed the others. Lady Une and Sally ran to watch from behind the their friend's shoulders.
As they all looked to the screen, the image of Scott appeared on the monitor. Noin recognized him immediately and gasped, "Scott Markson? But how-" The young man whispered, "It's good to see you, Fire, Lady Une and Water. I can't talk long. Brian is in danger." The young ladies looked to him in shock but allowed him to continue. "He was framed for a murder of one of the Representatives and is to be executed out of the Council square in just over an hour." Noin and her friends couldn't breathe.
"If there's any way that we can-" the man's words were cut short when there was the sound of a door slamming open. Scott was heard screaming, "No. DON'T-" the sound of a gunshot ended his words a second man was heard shouting and his words were silenced as well by another gunshot. The screen went back to only static.
* * * * * *
Reynolds walked to the two bleeding corpses in the small room. He chuckled deeply as he replaced the gun as he walked to the door. "And I was beginning to worry that this execution was going to be dull." He locked the door and walked back down the long hall to his own room with a smug smile on his face.
* * * * * *
Sally informed the others, "Even if one of the Gundam suits was to go back to the Earth, they would be cutting it too close to the execution time. And the fact that they are to be destroyed if they're seen anywhere on the Earth is just too risky." Noin shook her head firmly, "But the Gundam suits are the only ones that can fly fast enough to make it in time."
Lady Une growled deeply and stated, "Tell Relena that she has to go back to the Earth for Brian. If anything happens to him, we're all lost in this war. I am sure that Milliardo could handle Gemini along with the Preventers that are still standing." Sally nodded, "All right," and worked quickly at her computer to pass the information along.
* * * * * *
Relena was blocking all of the hits that Azrael was thrusting upon her Gundam. As she went on fighting against the insane pilot, Sally's image plinked on the small screen beside her. "Zes, you have to return to the Earth immediately. Brian is to be executed in the Council square in less than an hour." The queen gasped loudly and shouted, "WHAT!?! NO!"
Azrael laughed loudly as she intercepted the message. "Long live the king!" she shouted as she attempted to stab her opponent. Relena just managed to block the assault. Struggling to get through the fight, she shouted to Sally, "Is there anyone who can help Milliardo? He can't handle both of these Gundams by himself!" Her brother cried to her in the midst of his personal fight with Abrasia, "Zes! You have to go save Brian. I'll handle take care of these pilots."
Reluctantly, Relena nodded and pushed forward with everything she had onto her controls. The red-eyed Gundam against her stumbled back for a moment. Calvary shot up through the air, taking advantage of the saved time. "You're not leaving that easily!" Azrael laughed loudly as she quickly took off after the young queen.
The two suits entered space and Relena was about to be tackled from above by the Gemini. She prepared herself for a rough impact. Azrael was laughing madly as she was inches away from the other suit. Just before she was about to knock Relena from the sky, the silver Gemini's wait was wrapped by a long, sharp green whip made of Gundamimum and pulled back fiercely.
"WHAT!?!" the blonde woman shouted as she looked to see who dared to protect the royal Gundam pilot. Relena paused a moment with wide eyes as she turned to do the same. Before them was a green Gundam, also known as Slither. Zes shouted win amazement, "Delapan!?!"
Catherine chuckled and replied, "You know, I never thought I'd actually like that name." Relena smiled brightly and Delapan nodded to her, "Get going, Brian needs you. Besides..." Turning to Azrael, she sneered, "We're old friends." Zes smiled and nodded as she flew off quickly towards the Earth.
Azrael removed the whip that had wrapped around her suit. She chuckled deeply to the redhead, "I never thought that I'd see you again." Catherine growled quietly, "Shut up and fight." At this, she darted towards the other Gundam. The blond young woman welcomed the fight as she pulled her bow in half to reveal the two large, metal blades. The two Gundams battled feverishly.
* * * * * *
Relena was focused on returning to the Earth as quickly as possible. Fortunately, Colony G698 fell closer to Earth than Peace Million. Still, she would be cutting it close to the time of the execution. "Hang in there, Brian," she said aloud quietly. This was to be her first time alone with her Gundam.
As she flew off towards the planet, Sally Poe appeared on her screen again. "Zes, I'll be watching everything. You'll need an extra set of eyes to get to Brian and away from the Earth safely." The young queen smiled and sighed in relief, "Thank you, Sally. You're right about that."
* * * * * *
"I have to hand it to you," Abrasia laughed to Milliardo. "You're a hell of a better than I thought that you would be." Wind growled deeply and charged towards the silver Gundam. The two pilots had been at this for a long time, but neither was growing tired. And they had given their opponent an equally difficult time to defeat the other.
Abrasia managed to punch Euphoria in the chest. Milliardo gripped his controls tightly and regained command of the suit quickly. As he was about to return the favor, the green-eyed Gundam stopped him in before he could touch him. From there, the two pilots battled with their weapons again.
Catherine and Azrael were fighting as they flew down to the surface of the Colony. Delapan shouted, "Nice try running. I'm not going to let you hurt the Colony and further!" Azreal slashed at her as they continued to plummet. While she made contact, Delepan was very briefly taken back. The OZ pilot cried, "You should have stayed in hiding while you had the chance, girl! Now I'll just have to kill you!"
The two Gundams battled as they neared the surface of the Colony. They locked onto each other in a wrestle for the rest of the fall. Neither one of them had been paying attention to how close they were to crashing into the ground. As her Gundam was falling back-first with the Gemini suit over her, Catherine looked to her monitor. She gasped loudly and struggled to break free of the other Gundam's grip on her.
Once the redhead did with difficulty, at the last moment, they broke and swooped upward over the ground below. Once they were airborne again, they remained in the Colony's atmosphere and close to the ground as they continued the fight. As all this went on, the Preventers were still fighting the OZ soldiers who had begun the fight.
* * * * * *
Relena was making her way to the Earth as Sally continued to monitor her progress closely. "If you find any resistance, don't be afraid to fire back," she informed the Gundam pilot. The young queen nodded and said sternly, "I won't be." The only thing that Relena was concerned with was getting her husband away from the Earth safely.
Soon, Zes came to the ozone layer of the planet. The red haze of heat formed around her suit as it fell from the sky. For a moment, she struggled to keep control of her suit. Once she was able to pilot without difficulty, the young pilot made it through the hardest part of the descent. Now past the ozone, she was able to fly to the site where the execution was to take place.
* * * * * *
Brian Weatherall was led to the circle of buildings that housed the Councils that represented the world powers. There was a massive crowd present, anxiously awaiting the event to come. Those who still supported the king remained quiet as they stayed back with pained hearts. The young man was led through a narrow part in the audience. His hands were linked in handcuffs and his clothes had been torn badly prior to now.
Brian was being hit with stones and other rough items from the crowd as they shouted all sorts of things to him. The deafening shouts and cries from the crowd continued on even as Brian was forced onto the wooden stage before in the center if the square. Looking to the people as the table behind him was being set up, the king held his breath and sighed inwardly. From what he could see, there wasn't a friend to be found in the mass of faces before him.
After several minutes that seemed like an eternity, Brian was taken to the stretching table. He was lied on his back and each arm was cuffed over his head while his feet were chained below. The crowd began growing louder, if that was possible as they looked to the helpless soul in front of them. Then they shouted louder still when Senator Reynolds walked on stage. He smiled and waved to the crowd with a nod.
Finally, the crowd fell silent and Reynolds spoke into a microphone. "My people, this will go down in history as one of the greatest moments in time. We will finally begin to rid ourselves of the Gundam pilots that have brought nothing but harm to all of us on the Earth and in Space. And we start at the source of the problem..." Turning to the chained man behind him, Reynolds sneered, "The very person responsible for allowing those pilots and their suits to be seen as heroes instead of the monsters that they are."
Brian's eyes narrowed as they watched and listened to the Senator. The tall man continued and looked back to the crowd. "On the grounds of treason and murder, we find that the only fair end to our king's crimes is dismemberment." The crowd shouted and cheered at this as they applauded as loudly as they could. Reynolds raised his hand and stated, "As your future king, I promise that I will not allow myself to become corrupted the way that this young man has."
The king glared at Reynolds in such a way that it sent chills up the spines of the people who witnessed it in the crowd. The Senator then asked, "Does the prisoner have any last words to say?" The crowd silenced and Brian complied. The microphone system was close enough that it was able to pick up his voice.
With a clear voice, he looked to the people and said loudly, "All of you have been misled. And there will be a day when the Gundams will come to rectify your mistakes. They are not the monsters in this war. People like Reynolds and the OZ organization are. You all will learn that soon enough."
There was a great amount of rumbling in the crowd as the people spoke amongst themselves. Most of the people looked uncomfortable and taken back by what was said, though they still felt that the king was guilty of the crimes he was to be killed for.
Still, were the Gundam pilots the real problem in this war? Nobody was certain. They needed to point the blame of this war on someone. It just made sense that it should be pointed at the Gundams.
Finally, Reynolds chuckled deeply, "Thank you for those kind words." He turned to the executioner, dressed in black from head to toe, and nodded. The strong man took to the wheel that worked the chains. With several quick turns, Brian winced as his arms and legs began to burn in pain.
After another minute, the chains were forced further. The young king bit hit lip fiercely, refusing to let out any cry of pain for the crowd and most especially not for Reynolds. Still, the pain was worse than anything he ever felt before. Again, the chains yanked further still. The crowd continued to shout and cheer as they watched.
Just as Brian was about to lose his strength to keep from shouting, a strange, dark shadow came from overhead. Not many people noticed it as they were too occupied at the time. However, one young woman looked up. Her green eyes widened into large ovals and she screamed at the top of her lungs in a shrill cry, "OH MY GOD! IT'S A GUNDAM!"
The crowd looked to the sky instantly to the direction the terrified girl pointed up to. They all screamed and ran from a brown Gundam suit. Calvary shot towards the stage and the executioner ran from the site, screaming. He got away just before the suit landed and sliced at the chains that were linked to the wheel. Brian sat up and looked to the Gundam. He smiled and sighed in relief, "Relena."
The young queen smiled and sighed back in relief as she looked to her husband. She took him into her suit's hand and flew him to the top of the highest building. Relena looked down and sent a spray of bullets to the stage, ripping it to shreds. The crowd continued to run in terror. However, there were some members of the Council who looked to Unit 06 in elation and relief.
There was a crowd of people up there who used the building tops as the only place where they could watch the execution. When the Gundam made its way to them, they ran screaming. Relena landed and began firing upon the air fleets who came to destroy the Gundam. The brown Gundam went on to cut through the large battle planes and tanks from below with its huge sais. Brian was left on the deserted roof of the stone building as she fought. Sally Poe helped Relena when she couldn't see more soldiers approaching.
As she battled for a good few minutes, Relena flew to the top of the building again. The sights and sounds from the fight continued to worsen as the crowd below became a riot. "We have to get out of here," Relena said to her husband as she lowered Calvary to one knee and scooped Brian in her suit's right, metal fist.
One young man who was watching the execution on top the building that the queen landed on waved to the cockpit. He called to the pilot and the king, "Your majesties, there's a good number of ships five mines west of here!" The brave your man's words were cut off as a bullet shot through his back. The man fell backwards off the fifteen-story building.
Relena and Brian shouted in shock. When they turned, they found Reynolds, smiling wickedly as he walked from the shadows with a semi-automatic gun strapped over his shoulder. "I'm not going down without a fight!" he shouted with maddened eyes. He aimed the weapon at the king and bulled the trigger. The pilot screamed, "NOOO!" The other hand of her suit helped block the bullets from hitting her precious bundle.
Reynolds continued to shoot, laughing insanely as he no longer cared what happened. When the bullets of the gun ran out, he threw the weapon to the ground and shouted with his hands raised, "COME ON, RELENA! NO MATTER WHAT, YOU AND YOUR GUNDAM FRIENDS ARE DAMNED BY THE PEOPLE OF EARTH!" The man laughed on and Relena's vision turned red. With a loud scream, she flew forward and cut Reynolds to size with her left sai.
The remainder of the Senator's body collapsed and the queen looked to the destruction all around. Both she and Brian were panting for air as they tried to regain their thoughts. Just then, Brian gasped loudly and shouted, "Relena! Reynolds gave away the location of Peace Million! OZ is going to destroy the ship!"
The queen screamed, "What!?!" The king replied, "Reynolds told me not long before the execution! We have to warn the others to get away from that ship now!" Relena gasped, "My God, no." At this, she patched through to Peace Million as she flew herself and her husband to where the ships nearby awaited. All the while, she was fighting all sorts of soldiers who continued to try and destroy the suit.
* * * * * *
On Peace Million and in the Gundams that fought the Gemini suits, Relena's image appeared as she shouted, "TO EVERYONE ON PEACE MILLION, GET OUT NOW! OZ IS GOING TO DESTROY THE SHIP!" Lady Une, Sally, Noin and all of the soldiers onboard the craft looked to their monitors in shock and disbelief as they shouted and screamed.
Noin had been holding her baby, thankfully when the message arrived. Along with Lady Une, Derek and Sally Poe, they ran to the hanger along with the crew as quickly as they could in the madness.
* * * * * *
As all this happened, Milliardo and Catherine froze in terror after the announcement from Relena. Azrael and Abrasia laughed loudly and shot off before their opponents could blink. Catherine hissed, "Damn it! They were sent to distract us!" Milliardo shouted, "COME ON!" At that, they flew off as quickly as they could back to the ship, a good ten minutes away.
* * * * * *
On Peace Million, some ships were just beginning to quickly pull out while countless more soldiers screamed and tried to reach other ships in time. Suddenly, the large craft was engulfed in a golden light and shattered. Only a small handful of chips managed to get out safely before Peace Million was destroyed.
* * * * * *
Wufei was flying towards Peace Million, unaware as to what had happened. Still a good two days away, he decided to patch into the ship's signal. "This is Wufei calling Peace Million," he began. "Does anyone read me?" There was nothing to answer him but interference. His dark eyes narrowed as he tried again. "This is Wufei Chang for Peace Million. Is anyone there?"
A deep, male voice chuckled, "Oh, I'm sorry, Wufei. But I'm afraid that your friends are no longer with us." The Chinese pilot growled loudly, "Quinze?" The young man appeared on his monitor. The OZ leader was on the monitors of all the Gundam suits.
"To my dear Gundam pilots, I have the following footage to show just how hopeless your efforts are." His image vanished as all of the pilots had their eyes glued to their screen. The visual of Peace Million just before and during the explosion appeared.
The faces of the Gundam pilots bore faces of shock, disbelief, fear and loss as they cried out helplessly. After several minutes that felt like an eternity, the OZ leader's voice chuckled deeply, "Sleep well, my friends."
* * * * * *
Wufei doubled over in his cockpit as he gasped for air. He couldn't breathe. Tears fell from his eyes and he whispered sadly, "Sally." He allowed himself a moment to grieve a his body shook with emotion.
With a loud cry, the Chinese pilot got out just some of the burning feelings wrapped around his heart. His eyes narrowed and he vowed in a deep growl, "I'll avenge you... All of you...I swear it with everything in me." Nataku remained stationary in space as the pilot within plotted his next move to carry out his word.
TBC
To Beekay: I'd love to talk to you about this series! (cyclone2996@hotmail.com) It's thanks to fans like you that I love writing this story! Thank you for the support!
Love, SkyLark
Gundam Wing: The Second Chapter
Episode 19: Day of Infamy
with help from: Snodin, Traci 14, Stormy, Sam, Sky 0 and Beekay 0
Quinze Khushrenadah awoke early in the morning and rose from his bed to look out the window. With a smug grin on his face, he sighed deeply, "It's going to be a beautiful day." With the same smile, he turned back to prepare for the day's events.
* * * * * *
On Earth, Brian Weatherall was in his cell, lying on the cot the room provided. He was looking to the ceiling, trying to get his thoughts together. The door at the top of the stairs opened and he sat up. One of the two men who had been planning to help the young king walked down the stairs. Brian looked to the young blonde and asked, "Carl? What are you doing here?" The young man sighed and replied, "Hello, your majesty. Scott and I are working to try and get a hold of Lady Une."
The young king gasped quietly as his eyes widened, "Then you believe I'm innocent?" Carl smiled and nodded, "I know you better than most people. Scott knows that you were betrayed as well. Somehow, we'll get you out of this." Brian smiled and extended his hand through the bars. Carl took at as they shook firmly. Brian smiled, "Thank you, Carl. Please tell Scott that I appreciate everything that you're doing to help me, whether or not it helps get me out of this alive."
Carl replied as they lowered their hands again, "We'll do whatever we can to see that you do get out of this alive, your highness." The prisoner chuckled deeply, "Brian. We're friends, after all." The blonde smiled and nodded, "Brian." With that, he walked back up the stairs quickly to find Scott. Brian sighed deeply and sat back on the cell's cot. "Thank God there are people here on Earth that still believe in me."
* * * * * *
Carl ran back into a small office where Scott was working away at his laptop. "Any luck yet?" the blonde asked. His friend shook his head as he continued to work his hands quickly over the keyboard, "Not yet. I have to patch into a signal that was sent through the colonies. It's much more difficult to do that since that damned Reynolds cut off every signal coming to or from the Earth."
As Scott continued to work, Carl took a deep breath and whispered, "Let's just pray we can contact Peace Million before it's too late. We only have a few hours to get something through." His friend nodded and stated, "If the king is killed, God help everyone on the Earth and in Space. I don't even want to imagine the consequences if he dies."
The two men looked to the monitor closely to see what progress they were making, if any. Outside of their office, a figure stood at the doorway, leaning closely to the door as he listened to the conversation. A nasty sneer crossed their lips and they went off down the long, empty hallway.
* * * * * *
On the desolate Colony Q67, Kumi stood on a large hill that overlooked a factory miles away from where she was. Using binoculars, she scanned the area. As expected, there were OZ soldiers all over the place as they walked around the facility. What caught her attention in regards to the massive building was the crates that were being shipped inside. "There's enough PC there to take out a whole Colony with one shot."
The silver-haired pilot lowered the binoculars and stood there silently. "Looks like those rumors about the construction of that laser were true after all." The wind was blowing her hair and cape to the side as the Gundam pilot stayed in silence like that for a moment. Then, a small sneer crossed her lips as she chuckled deeply and closed her eyes, "This should be interesting." She walked back to the woods behind her.
* * * * * *
Heero and Duo stood walked hand-in-hand from the ship that Sera and the Preventers provided as they made their way to Deathscythe. Duo asked quietly, "So in order to successfully complete our missions, you and I have to activate the system as the same time?" Heero nodded, "Yea. Sera found that out not long before we came to this Colony." The American replied, "Well, I could always crash on V10 for a while once I arrive. It'll be easy to find work in a shipyard or something like that since this war will make those places busy." He smiled, "It's been a while since I got to get down and dirty with machinery like that."
The Wing pilot chuckled deeply, "I prefer when you get down and dirty with me." Duo laughed and kissed his lover's lips. "Nothing is better than that, koi," he winked. Heero stopped, causing Duo to pause with him. Heero caressed the braided pilot's cheek and said with concern, "Just be careful when you're on the Colony, Duo. We won't have any way of meeting up from now until our mission is over."
The American smiled lovingly and nodded, "I'll be careful. You better do the same... no more stunts like the one I had to pull your ass out of yesterday, all right?" Heero laughed sharply then nodded sincerely, "For you... anything." Duo smiled again and said gently, "Good. Let's make sure we keep that promise we made to each other about staying alive through this war." Heero nodded, "Yea."
The pair soon made their way back to Deathscythe and the pilots embraced tightly. "We'll be back like this again soon," Duo whispered in his partner's ear. Heero smiled as they held each other and replied quietly, "I know....Ai shiteru, Duo." His lover smiled and whispered back, "Ai shiteru, Heero." They kissed passionately and looked into each other's eyes. As he caressed Heero's cheek, Duo smiled and winked one last time before running off to climb up to his cockpit.
Once he reached the opening, Duo smiled and waved to his partner. Heero smiled back and waved in return. The braided pilot jumped into his seat. Once the hatch closed, Heero stepped back a bit and watched with a heavy heart as his lover's Gundam flew off and disappeared. Both pilots hated saying 'good byes.' All that they could do now was hope that they would be saying 'hello' again before long.
As he watched the sky, Heero felt something that his right hand absently clutched onto once Duo jumped into his cockpit. Looking down to his chest, Heero saw that it was the gold cross his Duo always wore and had given to him the first time they had to leave for their missions. The Wing pilot looked to the cross and gently ran a finger over the edges. He placed the pendant under his shirt again. With one last, long look to the sky, Heero placed his hands in his jean pockets and walked back to Sera's ship.
* * * * * *
Back on Peace Million, Lady Une was working with Lieutenant Keiser, Noin, Sally and Milliardo as they looked over reports and discussed where they all stood at this point. Wind began as he opened folded his hands for his head to rest on. "As far as Novem is concerned, It's been more than twenty-four hours since she left the ship. It's next to impossible for any of us to try and locate where she could have gone."
Fire shook her head, "I can't believe that she would do anything like this unless there was a reason behind it." Water nodded, "I also feel that way. Novem will come back before long. Apparently, she knows something that we don't." Keiser huffed, "You're all going to regret backing those thick-headed pilots up. The only way we're going to win this war is through numbers. And the only thing we have to provide that is through myself and the Preventers."
Milliardo growled deeply, "Stop being so damned disrespectful of those pilots, Keiser. You're really pissing me off." Keiser sneered, "And what are you going to do about it? You know that I'm right." Wind was about to stand suddenly to show what he would do when Noin grabbed his wrist. She shook her head to her husband. At the same time, Lady Une stated, "Let's drop this now before both of you piss me off. We're not here to argue amongst ourselves." Millardo and Keiser turned their glares from each other and agreed to continue with the subject at hand.
Lady Une looked to Sally and asked, "Any word on where Wufei is at this time?" Water nodded, "He's a few days away from the ship now. We can expect to see him soon." Une sighed in relief, "Good. That'll leave Sette, Quatre and the Maquanauts, then." Noin replied, "They'll be here not long after Wufei. He has about a three-day lead over them."
Milliardo continued, "Trowa should be at R58 to complete his mission in less than a week from now. A Preventer that had seen him arrived at the ship for supplies. Once Trowa completes that, four of the seven missions will be taken care of." The head of the Preventers was more than happy to hear this, but she gave a look that was still filled with uncertainty.
The brown-haired woman gathered her reports and placed them in her folder as she stated, "That's all we can worry about for now. We'll go through the next weeks one step at a time as we wait for the Gundam pilots to return." The others took their own reports and began to file out of the room. Sally, however stayed behind and looked to Lady Une, who remained at the table.
"Is everything all right, Lady Une?" Water asked kindly. Her friend looked up to her and nodded, "I'm fine, Sally. Thank you." As she rose and walked to the window that overlooked the stars, she sighed, "It's just that everything with these missions seems to be working out almost too easily."
Sally walked to her and nodded, "I was thinking the same thing. I don't want to think that it means something terrible is still waiting to happen. But at the same time, we can't go on pretending that every mission will end the way that the last three have."
Lady Une lowered her head and said quietly, "If anything happens to those pilots..." She shook her head sharply. "I can't think like that." She turned back to see her concerned comrade. "They mean a lot to me...all of them." Sally smiled and nodded, "They know that. And they know that they mean a lot to all of us here."
The commander of the Preventers smiled and nodded back after a pause, "You're right, Sally. Thanks for the talk." Water wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulder as they walked to the door as she replied, "Let's just take it one step at a time, like you said." With that, the two young women left the room and turned the light out.
* * * * * *
"IT'S A GUNDAM!" an OZ soldier screamed from within the base where the newest laser was being built. An angel-winged Gundam suit flew straight through the building. Once inside, every soldier ran to avoid being sliced by Excalibur's laser blade. As many of the soldiers left the building, they ran to mobile suits that had been hidden outside of the base.
Kumi looked around the destruction that she caused within. The flames and explosions from the machinery along with the running and screaming soldiers didn't phase her. Several solders who were in the balconies, shooting at the suit with semi-automatic weapons.
The pilot looked up to them and shouted, "That's not going to work, YOU FOOLS!" At this, she sliced through the balcony. The soldiers who were not killed by the blade fell into the pit of flames below them as they screamed. Kumi spun quickly to continue cutting through the plant. As she did this, many of the mobile suits were beginning to make their way to her.
A Leo plowed into the suit in attempt to knock the Gundam off balance. While a bit surprised by the sudden hit, Kumi quickly recovered and stabbed the suit down the middle. Seeing that there were a good number of soldiers making their way to her, the silver-haired pilot removed the Buster Riffle and took out the first five suits that were closest. As the young woman fought off the soldiers, she also continued to destroy the factory along with everything inside.
After ten minutes of fighting like this, the young pilot knew that she needed to find another approach of destroying this site. Scanning the area, Kumi said aloud, "I know they have to be storing that PC around here somewhere." Her thoughts went back to the fight and she took out two opponents as she plowed and sliced through. Excalibur's wings allowed the Gundam to shoot up for a moment. The mobile suits were quickly behind her.
The black Gundam shot through the building's roof. Looking below, Kumi focused on the sight of the soldiers who were still alive as they seemed to be heading down several hidden steps in the ground floor. Kumi sneered. Just then, the soldiers following her made their way to the Gundam. Without thinking twice, Kumi shot an opening through them as she nose-dived back down to the plant.
Using the same opening she made to fly above the factory, Kumi shot inside again. When she was a moment away from crashing into the ground, she fired the Buster Riffle to make an entrance in the hidden storage room. When she entered, Kumi looked around the huge room and saw countless tanks of PC. The soldiers who were working to protect it continued to shoot with whatever guns they had. Others attempted to run back out of the base.
No matter what the soldiers attempted at this point, none of them would escape alive. To see that this was the case, Kumi shot into one of the many tanks. She gave a slight nod at the discharge and shot her Gundam up at great speed. The screams of the soldiers within increased as they watched the beam hit the silver container. On impact, the tank exploded. This caused a chain of countless explosions like it from the other large PC containers.
The soldiers in the mobile suits did not fly off quickly enough. A wide beam of flames shot straight up, taking everything with it. Soon, even Excalibur was surrounded by flames. Being so close to reaching space, this caught the pilot within off guard. Kumi growled deeply and attempted to control her suit. She was burning up within the cockpit and was sweating badly as she struggled to work the controls.
Excalibur was beginning to falter in its flight up to the stars and Kumi was groaning in her efforts to stay in flight. Her eyes widened as she saw the power in her controls going out. There wasn't anything that she could do now to keep herself alive, except for one thing. With a hard punch into a small green button beside her seat, Kumi released her hands from the controls.
The instant that the button was pressed, the large white angel wings of Excalibur folded and encased the suit in a shield of Gundamimum feathers. Inside, Kumi held onto the sides of her seat tightly as her suit continued to shake violently within the heart of the massive explosions as they continued. She couldn't see anything, being within her Gundam's last line of defense, which had never been attempted before. The only thing that was reassuring to the pilot was that the inside of her cockpit was beginning to cool down a bit.
After a good five minutes helpless like that, there was no longer any shaking. And there was no sound of explosions from far below, either. Kumi wiped a good amount of sweat from her brow before pressing the small green button again. The wings of her suit slowly opened and fanned out again. Kumi's eyes widened as she looked below where the colony once was. With all of the PC that the factory held, there was nothing left of the massive colony now but fragments of debris.
The stunned Gundam pilot fell back in her chair for a moment to start breathing again. Her shock soon faded and she laughed madly. When the laughter subsided, she sighed deeply with a small smile, "You have to love Gundamimum ...It's the strongest shit there is." With a deep chuckle, she flew through the debris of Colony Q67, and off to M29 to accomplish the mission that would give the Preventers and her friends another small victory...One step closer to ending this war.
* * * * * *
Lady Une and Sally were with their friends, walking back to the control room. Suddenly, the sirens and red lights of the ship gave off the warning that something terrible had happened. They ran off to the room to find that Lieutenant Keiser was already there when they arrived.
"What happened?" Sally shouted over the sirens. Keiser replied, "There is a Colony a few miles from here that's being attacked. I've just sent a good number of soldiers out there now. They'll reach the Colony before long." Lady Une and the others understood as they went to computers to see if there was anything they could gain from their visuals.
Relena then ran into the room along with Catherine and Derek. They all looked to the confusion around them, but quickly picked up on what was happening as the Preventers around them talked amongst themselves. The sirens had died down as well as the red lights so that everyone could now focus on the matter at hand.
Milliardo was working at a computer next to Noin. He was soon able to get a good visual of the Colony. "It's G698," he informed the others once he recognized the Colony being invaded. The area was being hit by all kinds of soldiers and at great numbers.
Wind's eyes narrowed and said to himself, "I don't understand how they could possibly have all of these soldiers...Unless they're back to using mobile dolls." At this, he zoomed the monitor onto a Space Virgo.
As Milliardo typed to see if there was any heat coming from inside, the test result came back positive.
Milliardo repeated this step several times and all of the results came back the same. With a low growl, he said quietly, "It doesn't make any sense...None of these seem to be mobile dolls at all." Wind continued to try and see if there was more he could gather from the site when something caught his eye.
Taking a closer look to the monitor, the Preventer saw that there were two silver streaks making their way to the Colony at great speed. Noin had been sitting beside him the whole time and she, too, saw the streaks. Their eyes widened as they focused more on them. "Gemini," Noin whispered gravely. Her husband rose from his seat quickly and ran to the hanger.
Relena didn't manage to hear what her brother discovered and ran to where Noin was sitting. Looking to the monitor, the young queen turned pale and gasped, "Oh my God." She quickly turned and ran to the hanger to follow Wind. Fortunately for everyone, Keiser was too busy to even see them leave.
* * * * * *
It was nearing nightfall back on the Earth and the two men working to save Brian were beginning to grow desperate. Scott hissed, "Damn it. I still can't get through. The execution will take place in less than two hours." Carl shook his head, "Don't give up just yet. There has to be something that we can do."
The man at the keyboard swore that he heard something moving outside of the door. He stopped his work at the computer and looked to his friend with panicked eyes. "Did you hear that?" he asked in a hushed whisper. Scott shook his head, "I didn't hear anything." His friend wiped some sweat from his brow and sighed deeply, "Must be my imagination." Upon saying this, he went back to work at the computer.
* * * * * *
Back on the Colony being attacked, the people there were doing all they could to avoid being killed from the soldiers who came from nowhere. The destruction that they were causing was bringing down ever large building onto crowds of screaming victims. The fire and explosions were continuing as the first sign of relief arrived. The Preventers that had been sent from Keiser made it to the battle zone and began struggling against the OZ soldiers.
Many of the people who were hiding now had the opportunity to make a run for safety outside of the city. The Preventers were holding off on their own for a long time as they went on attacking. More of their comrades came from other, nearby Preventer crafts. Thanks to Quatre, Sette and Wufei, every craft before the Milky Way could now be reached as well as the colonies there.
It was not long before another crew of OZ soldiers was sent as well. The fight was not leaning favorable for either side as they battled for a long time. It was not long before two silver Gundam suits made their way to the Colony's surface. Azrael shrieked as she stabbed through a Preventer's suit, "YOU'RE ALL MINE!" Her brother shouted as well while he took out many of the men and women defending the city.
The two Gundam pilots went onto the town as they continued where their comrades left off. Cutting through more buildings and causing more explosions, they were in their glory. Fighting with all the madness in them, they worked until the last few tall structures remained before returning to fight with the other OZ soldiers.
Fifteen minutes passed after the two suits had arrived at G698. One of the few things that had not been destroyed was a large, marble statue of a dove bearing an olive branch. This symbol was the same on every Colony, in respect for the soldiers who died in the two wars prior to this time. It also stood as a reminder to try and prevent wars like this from happening. Abrasia bushed back some sweat-coated bangs of his straight, blond locks. "How sweet," he chuckled deeply to the stature.
He flew his Gemini to the dove and lifted his weapon high. As Abrasia was about to slice through the monument, a golden Gundam shot right in his path, blocking the strike with its twin bladed rod. The young man looked with awe to Euphoria for a moment. Then his look of shock and almost astonishment faded into one of sly anticipation. "Look who finally decided to show up," he sneered to the other Gundam.
Azrael stopped her advances on the Preventers when Calvary plowed into her from the side. With a cry of shock, she looked to the Gundam and smiled wickedly, "It's about time, Relena...Or should I say Zes?" The young queen's eyes narrowed as she replied harshly, "I prefer Zes when I am with my Gundam." Azrael shrugged and prepared to attack, "As you wish, your highness." The two pilots battled intensely along with Milliardo and Abrasia.
* * * * * *
Lady Une was with Noin and Sally as they watched the battle. Something was interfering with the frequency and the screen was beginning to show static. Noin's eyes widened and she tried to get the frequency clear. "Someone is trying to contact us from the Earth," she informed the others. Lady Une and Sally ran to watch from behind the their friend's shoulders.
As they all looked to the screen, the image of Scott appeared on the monitor. Noin recognized him immediately and gasped, "Scott Markson? But how-" The young man whispered, "It's good to see you, Fire, Lady Une and Water. I can't talk long. Brian is in danger." The young ladies looked to him in shock but allowed him to continue. "He was framed for a murder of one of the Representatives and is to be executed out of the Council square in just over an hour." Noin and her friends couldn't breathe.
"If there's any way that we can-" the man's words were cut short when there was the sound of a door slamming open. Scott was heard screaming, "No. DON'T-" the sound of a gunshot ended his words a second man was heard shouting and his words were silenced as well by another gunshot. The screen went back to only static.
* * * * * *
Reynolds walked to the two bleeding corpses in the small room. He chuckled deeply as he replaced the gun as he walked to the door. "And I was beginning to worry that this execution was going to be dull." He locked the door and walked back down the long hall to his own room with a smug smile on his face.
* * * * * *
Sally informed the others, "Even if one of the Gundam suits was to go back to the Earth, they would be cutting it too close to the execution time. And the fact that they are to be destroyed if they're seen anywhere on the Earth is just too risky." Noin shook her head firmly, "But the Gundam suits are the only ones that can fly fast enough to make it in time."
Lady Une growled deeply and stated, "Tell Relena that she has to go back to the Earth for Brian. If anything happens to him, we're all lost in this war. I am sure that Milliardo could handle Gemini along with the Preventers that are still standing." Sally nodded, "All right," and worked quickly at her computer to pass the information along.
* * * * * *
Relena was blocking all of the hits that Azrael was thrusting upon her Gundam. As she went on fighting against the insane pilot, Sally's image plinked on the small screen beside her. "Zes, you have to return to the Earth immediately. Brian is to be executed in the Council square in less than an hour." The queen gasped loudly and shouted, "WHAT!?! NO!"
Azrael laughed loudly as she intercepted the message. "Long live the king!" she shouted as she attempted to stab her opponent. Relena just managed to block the assault. Struggling to get through the fight, she shouted to Sally, "Is there anyone who can help Milliardo? He can't handle both of these Gundams by himself!" Her brother cried to her in the midst of his personal fight with Abrasia, "Zes! You have to go save Brian. I'll handle take care of these pilots."
Reluctantly, Relena nodded and pushed forward with everything she had onto her controls. The red-eyed Gundam against her stumbled back for a moment. Calvary shot up through the air, taking advantage of the saved time. "You're not leaving that easily!" Azrael laughed loudly as she quickly took off after the young queen.
The two suits entered space and Relena was about to be tackled from above by the Gemini. She prepared herself for a rough impact. Azrael was laughing madly as she was inches away from the other suit. Just before she was about to knock Relena from the sky, the silver Gemini's wait was wrapped by a long, sharp green whip made of Gundamimum and pulled back fiercely.
"WHAT!?!" the blonde woman shouted as she looked to see who dared to protect the royal Gundam pilot. Relena paused a moment with wide eyes as she turned to do the same. Before them was a green Gundam, also known as Slither. Zes shouted win amazement, "Delapan!?!"
Catherine chuckled and replied, "You know, I never thought I'd actually like that name." Relena smiled brightly and Delapan nodded to her, "Get going, Brian needs you. Besides..." Turning to Azrael, she sneered, "We're old friends." Zes smiled and nodded as she flew off quickly towards the Earth.
Azrael removed the whip that had wrapped around her suit. She chuckled deeply to the redhead, "I never thought that I'd see you again." Catherine growled quietly, "Shut up and fight." At this, she darted towards the other Gundam. The blond young woman welcomed the fight as she pulled her bow in half to reveal the two large, metal blades. The two Gundams battled feverishly.
* * * * * *
Relena was focused on returning to the Earth as quickly as possible. Fortunately, Colony G698 fell closer to Earth than Peace Million. Still, she would be cutting it close to the time of the execution. "Hang in there, Brian," she said aloud quietly. This was to be her first time alone with her Gundam.
As she flew off towards the planet, Sally Poe appeared on her screen again. "Zes, I'll be watching everything. You'll need an extra set of eyes to get to Brian and away from the Earth safely." The young queen smiled and sighed in relief, "Thank you, Sally. You're right about that."
* * * * * *
"I have to hand it to you," Abrasia laughed to Milliardo. "You're a hell of a better than I thought that you would be." Wind growled deeply and charged towards the silver Gundam. The two pilots had been at this for a long time, but neither was growing tired. And they had given their opponent an equally difficult time to defeat the other.
Abrasia managed to punch Euphoria in the chest. Milliardo gripped his controls tightly and regained command of the suit quickly. As he was about to return the favor, the green-eyed Gundam stopped him in before he could touch him. From there, the two pilots battled with their weapons again.
Catherine and Azrael were fighting as they flew down to the surface of the Colony. Delapan shouted, "Nice try running. I'm not going to let you hurt the Colony and further!" Azreal slashed at her as they continued to plummet. While she made contact, Delepan was very briefly taken back. The OZ pilot cried, "You should have stayed in hiding while you had the chance, girl! Now I'll just have to kill you!"
The two Gundams battled as they neared the surface of the Colony. They locked onto each other in a wrestle for the rest of the fall. Neither one of them had been paying attention to how close they were to crashing into the ground. As her Gundam was falling back-first with the Gemini suit over her, Catherine looked to her monitor. She gasped loudly and struggled to break free of the other Gundam's grip on her.
Once the redhead did with difficulty, at the last moment, they broke and swooped upward over the ground below. Once they were airborne again, they remained in the Colony's atmosphere and close to the ground as they continued the fight. As all this went on, the Preventers were still fighting the OZ soldiers who had begun the fight.
* * * * * *
Relena was making her way to the Earth as Sally continued to monitor her progress closely. "If you find any resistance, don't be afraid to fire back," she informed the Gundam pilot. The young queen nodded and said sternly, "I won't be." The only thing that Relena was concerned with was getting her husband away from the Earth safely.
Soon, Zes came to the ozone layer of the planet. The red haze of heat formed around her suit as it fell from the sky. For a moment, she struggled to keep control of her suit. Once she was able to pilot without difficulty, the young pilot made it through the hardest part of the descent. Now past the ozone, she was able to fly to the site where the execution was to take place.
* * * * * *
Brian Weatherall was led to the circle of buildings that housed the Councils that represented the world powers. There was a massive crowd present, anxiously awaiting the event to come. Those who still supported the king remained quiet as they stayed back with pained hearts. The young man was led through a narrow part in the audience. His hands were linked in handcuffs and his clothes had been torn badly prior to now.
Brian was being hit with stones and other rough items from the crowd as they shouted all sorts of things to him. The deafening shouts and cries from the crowd continued on even as Brian was forced onto the wooden stage before in the center if the square. Looking to the people as the table behind him was being set up, the king held his breath and sighed inwardly. From what he could see, there wasn't a friend to be found in the mass of faces before him.
After several minutes that seemed like an eternity, Brian was taken to the stretching table. He was lied on his back and each arm was cuffed over his head while his feet were chained below. The crowd began growing louder, if that was possible as they looked to the helpless soul in front of them. Then they shouted louder still when Senator Reynolds walked on stage. He smiled and waved to the crowd with a nod.
Finally, the crowd fell silent and Reynolds spoke into a microphone. "My people, this will go down in history as one of the greatest moments in time. We will finally begin to rid ourselves of the Gundam pilots that have brought nothing but harm to all of us on the Earth and in Space. And we start at the source of the problem..." Turning to the chained man behind him, Reynolds sneered, "The very person responsible for allowing those pilots and their suits to be seen as heroes instead of the monsters that they are."
Brian's eyes narrowed as they watched and listened to the Senator. The tall man continued and looked back to the crowd. "On the grounds of treason and murder, we find that the only fair end to our king's crimes is dismemberment." The crowd shouted and cheered at this as they applauded as loudly as they could. Reynolds raised his hand and stated, "As your future king, I promise that I will not allow myself to become corrupted the way that this young man has."
The king glared at Reynolds in such a way that it sent chills up the spines of the people who witnessed it in the crowd. The Senator then asked, "Does the prisoner have any last words to say?" The crowd silenced and Brian complied. The microphone system was close enough that it was able to pick up his voice.
With a clear voice, he looked to the people and said loudly, "All of you have been misled. And there will be a day when the Gundams will come to rectify your mistakes. They are not the monsters in this war. People like Reynolds and the OZ organization are. You all will learn that soon enough."
There was a great amount of rumbling in the crowd as the people spoke amongst themselves. Most of the people looked uncomfortable and taken back by what was said, though they still felt that the king was guilty of the crimes he was to be killed for.
Still, were the Gundam pilots the real problem in this war? Nobody was certain. They needed to point the blame of this war on someone. It just made sense that it should be pointed at the Gundams.
Finally, Reynolds chuckled deeply, "Thank you for those kind words." He turned to the executioner, dressed in black from head to toe, and nodded. The strong man took to the wheel that worked the chains. With several quick turns, Brian winced as his arms and legs began to burn in pain.
After another minute, the chains were forced further. The young king bit hit lip fiercely, refusing to let out any cry of pain for the crowd and most especially not for Reynolds. Still, the pain was worse than anything he ever felt before. Again, the chains yanked further still. The crowd continued to shout and cheer as they watched.
Just as Brian was about to lose his strength to keep from shouting, a strange, dark shadow came from overhead. Not many people noticed it as they were too occupied at the time. However, one young woman looked up. Her green eyes widened into large ovals and she screamed at the top of her lungs in a shrill cry, "OH MY GOD! IT'S A GUNDAM!"
The crowd looked to the sky instantly to the direction the terrified girl pointed up to. They all screamed and ran from a brown Gundam suit. Calvary shot towards the stage and the executioner ran from the site, screaming. He got away just before the suit landed and sliced at the chains that were linked to the wheel. Brian sat up and looked to the Gundam. He smiled and sighed in relief, "Relena."
The young queen smiled and sighed back in relief as she looked to her husband. She took him into her suit's hand and flew him to the top of the highest building. Relena looked down and sent a spray of bullets to the stage, ripping it to shreds. The crowd continued to run in terror. However, there were some members of the Council who looked to Unit 06 in elation and relief.
There was a crowd of people up there who used the building tops as the only place where they could watch the execution. When the Gundam made its way to them, they ran screaming. Relena landed and began firing upon the air fleets who came to destroy the Gundam. The brown Gundam went on to cut through the large battle planes and tanks from below with its huge sais. Brian was left on the deserted roof of the stone building as she fought. Sally Poe helped Relena when she couldn't see more soldiers approaching.
As she battled for a good few minutes, Relena flew to the top of the building again. The sights and sounds from the fight continued to worsen as the crowd below became a riot. "We have to get out of here," Relena said to her husband as she lowered Calvary to one knee and scooped Brian in her suit's right, metal fist.
One young man who was watching the execution on top the building that the queen landed on waved to the cockpit. He called to the pilot and the king, "Your majesties, there's a good number of ships five mines west of here!" The brave your man's words were cut off as a bullet shot through his back. The man fell backwards off the fifteen-story building.
Relena and Brian shouted in shock. When they turned, they found Reynolds, smiling wickedly as he walked from the shadows with a semi-automatic gun strapped over his shoulder. "I'm not going down without a fight!" he shouted with maddened eyes. He aimed the weapon at the king and bulled the trigger. The pilot screamed, "NOOO!" The other hand of her suit helped block the bullets from hitting her precious bundle.
Reynolds continued to shoot, laughing insanely as he no longer cared what happened. When the bullets of the gun ran out, he threw the weapon to the ground and shouted with his hands raised, "COME ON, RELENA! NO MATTER WHAT, YOU AND YOUR GUNDAM FRIENDS ARE DAMNED BY THE PEOPLE OF EARTH!" The man laughed on and Relena's vision turned red. With a loud scream, she flew forward and cut Reynolds to size with her left sai.
The remainder of the Senator's body collapsed and the queen looked to the destruction all around. Both she and Brian were panting for air as they tried to regain their thoughts. Just then, Brian gasped loudly and shouted, "Relena! Reynolds gave away the location of Peace Million! OZ is going to destroy the ship!"
The queen screamed, "What!?!" The king replied, "Reynolds told me not long before the execution! We have to warn the others to get away from that ship now!" Relena gasped, "My God, no." At this, she patched through to Peace Million as she flew herself and her husband to where the ships nearby awaited. All the while, she was fighting all sorts of soldiers who continued to try and destroy the suit.
* * * * * *
On Peace Million and in the Gundams that fought the Gemini suits, Relena's image appeared as she shouted, "TO EVERYONE ON PEACE MILLION, GET OUT NOW! OZ IS GOING TO DESTROY THE SHIP!" Lady Une, Sally, Noin and all of the soldiers onboard the craft looked to their monitors in shock and disbelief as they shouted and screamed.
Noin had been holding her baby, thankfully when the message arrived. Along with Lady Une, Derek and Sally Poe, they ran to the hanger along with the crew as quickly as they could in the madness.
* * * * * *
As all this happened, Milliardo and Catherine froze in terror after the announcement from Relena. Azrael and Abrasia laughed loudly and shot off before their opponents could blink. Catherine hissed, "Damn it! They were sent to distract us!" Milliardo shouted, "COME ON!" At that, they flew off as quickly as they could back to the ship, a good ten minutes away.
* * * * * *
On Peace Million, some ships were just beginning to quickly pull out while countless more soldiers screamed and tried to reach other ships in time. Suddenly, the large craft was engulfed in a golden light and shattered. Only a small handful of chips managed to get out safely before Peace Million was destroyed.
* * * * * *
Wufei was flying towards Peace Million, unaware as to what had happened. Still a good two days away, he decided to patch into the ship's signal. "This is Wufei calling Peace Million," he began. "Does anyone read me?" There was nothing to answer him but interference. His dark eyes narrowed as he tried again. "This is Wufei Chang for Peace Million. Is anyone there?"
A deep, male voice chuckled, "Oh, I'm sorry, Wufei. But I'm afraid that your friends are no longer with us." The Chinese pilot growled loudly, "Quinze?" The young man appeared on his monitor. The OZ leader was on the monitors of all the Gundam suits.
"To my dear Gundam pilots, I have the following footage to show just how hopeless your efforts are." His image vanished as all of the pilots had their eyes glued to their screen. The visual of Peace Million just before and during the explosion appeared.
The faces of the Gundam pilots bore faces of shock, disbelief, fear and loss as they cried out helplessly. After several minutes that felt like an eternity, the OZ leader's voice chuckled deeply, "Sleep well, my friends."
* * * * * *
Wufei doubled over in his cockpit as he gasped for air. He couldn't breathe. Tears fell from his eyes and he whispered sadly, "Sally." He allowed himself a moment to grieve a his body shook with emotion.
With a loud cry, the Chinese pilot got out just some of the burning feelings wrapped around his heart. His eyes narrowed and he vowed in a deep growl, "I'll avenge you... All of you...I swear it with everything in me." Nataku remained stationary in space as the pilot within plotted his next move to carry out his word.
TBC