Intruder - Part Thirty-seven
Sector F56...
They stood around the tape player and ran the message.
"Gundam Pilots. You have succeeded in destroying several of my so-called 'Intruders'. However, I will not tolerate further resistance from you. You surrender now, or you will be destroyed, in anyway I see fit. I am amassing an army of intruders, which even you will be unprepared to stop. I will expect you soon, at my factory. If any of you has the slightest bit of intelligence, you will find it, and come to surrender to me. That is all."
The five guys who had been standing around the player had gone, faded away.
The five pilots who remained were serious. Each of them wore the same expression.
Determination. Stubborn and unwilling to be broken by any one or any thing.
The Perfect Soldier broke the silence.
"I'll check on the database to find any abandoned mobile suit plants with a high power usage. That should give us the target."
The Dragon spoke next.
"We should check the Gundams before take off. They may have been interfered with."
The others agreed.
"This mission is serious. Possibly more dangerous than the final battle with Zechs and Treize. But we will all return, if it takes all the skill we have, we will return."
"We'll need to be very lucky too."
"Luck? Do you believe in luck?"
"Yes."
"Yeah, luck's the only thing that's kept me alive this long."
"Then perhaps there is something else we should do, before take off."
"What?"
"Not until take off."
They left for the hangar.
01 was checked, active and online. The pilot was engrossed in energy readouts and lists of power companies' grids and bills.
"...Found you."
The other three looked up at this.
"Sector F56."
~ Must have had a good view from there. ~
02, 03 and 04 Gundams were cleared for launch. Just then, 05 returned from his room.
They were about to ask what he'd been doing, when he pulled a large blade from his belt. Then they knew what it was for. Luck.
~ So if we don't survive - no don't think about that, of course you will. ~
Trowa sighed, he was arguing with himself again.
~ This could be interesting. ~
Usually it was done in twos, across the palm. But that wouldn't work with five of them.
They all gathered in the center of the hangar floor.
The knife shone in the light.
~ They'd all better come back ok. They owe me for this. ~
Hilde was standing next to Charlie while Katherine got into the decorating idea.
"And the walls could be blue, proper blue, not pastel wash. And the white ceiling and..."
Charlie looked up at her, then to Hilde.
His big eyes wide with something, but she couldn't tell if it was confusion, interest, or sorrow.
~ No, of course it's not sorrow, what has he got to be sorry for? Nothing. ~
"...and yellow borders with - Hilde, are you listening to me?"
"Yes, yellow borders and blue walls..."
Katherine noticed her voice was a little shaky. As she came closer, she could also see her eyes were glistening slightly too. She was upset.
"Aw Hilde I'm sorry, don't you like blue and yellow?"
Hilde smiled, and wiped her eyes with the corner of her shirt sleeve.
It was white. She didn't own a white shirt. Looking down proved it.
The buttons were on the wrong side - it was Duo's shirt.
This made her eyes water again, but she blinked away the tears to be.
She must be strong, for Katherine.
"I like blue. I love blue. Proper bright but dark blue, which sparkles, and contrasted with black, or white, or even red."
She realized what she had described. Duo's eyes were blue, and his clothes were often red, black or white.
Katherine also realized. She was worried for Trowa already, as always, and the strong one who she looked to for support, was worried too.
"It's alright, Hilde. They'll come back, they always do. I've never known anyone as stubborn or lucky as my brother and his friends."
"I know they will, but I keep thinking, what if they've used all their luck?" she sniffed.
"Don't worry. They're not here right now, they can't see you cry."
"I don't care anyway..." She blinked away the salty water from her eyes. "If they can't see what we do - we could do anything..."
Hilde smiled and Kathy understood.
They dried their eyes, keeping busy was the key.
"So, what kinda of havoc would you like to wreak?"
They all had calmed down now, for the purpose of the battle and the purpose of the ceremony that was to be performed. With surgical precision, Wufei Chang, heir of the Dragon Clan, slid the knife blade along the inside of his forearm. The result was similar to drawing a mark with a board-marker. A thin line appeared behind the blade, and lay on his arm as he held it still. He looked to the next.
It was Duo. Duo Maxwell, sole survivor of the Maxwell Church Tragedy, God of Death and Destruction. His shirt, as ever, was rolled up around his elbows, leaving his lower arm bare and open. He held out his arm flat, just as Wufei had done, and the blade traced a line along his skin. He stayed still, as the knife was moved away.
Trowa Barton, the Silencer. His face was as emotionless as ever as he carefully watched the silver edge draw down towards his wrist.
Beside him, Quatre had a long sleeved shirt on, which was pulled back, up to his shoulder. Quatre Raberba Winner, heir of the Winner family, the peacemaker. The deep red of the stripe contrasted highly on his pale skin.
Heero Yuy, the perfect solider. Assassin, born and bred. He held out his arm almost carelessly, and watched as the red ribbon appeared on his left arm too.
All done, they put their hands towards the roof, and pressed their forearms together, until the blood dripped into a puddle on the floor.
Wufei said something in Chinese. They didn't hear it, but knew what it meant.
"Blood brother."
"Sangre hermano."
"Sang frère
"Kyoudai chi."
They each removed their arm from the group, and tore a strip from their shirt to bind it with. Once this had been done, they then each ascended to their respective cockpit.
The hangar echoed with the roar of fusion reactors as they took off, and flew out through the hatch in the roof.
Hilde looked up as she heard the noise, and looked out of the 'window'. Katherine joined her, as they both watched the Gundam fleet leave for battle.
"So, what do you want to do now?"
"Go to sleep! I'm exhausted, this whole visit has been chaos."
"Go to sleep!?" she echoed loudly "Well, I suppose you could go to sleep, but I'm not tired, what would I do?"
"You must be tired, you've been up for ages and I know it's a long flight all the way out here. Maybe you just haven't realized it yet."
Hilde yawned widely. It was contagious, Katherine copied her.
"Oh, maybe you're right, and I am."
"Well, it's not like it'll get much quieter around here than this. And I doubt we'll sleep too long, the reactors will wake us up on their return."
"Don't you guys know what sound proofing is?"
"Yeah, but I opened the door so I could hear them."
She smiled. "Ok. We'll be bright and ready to welcome them home."
"Are you sleeping in your room or on the couch?"
"I'll go next door, if that's ok with you?"
"No problem, it's your room."
"Good night."
"Night."
Katherine went out, and left the door open, so Charlie could come in and out if he wanted. Hilde climbed into bed, and stared at the ceiling for a while.
~ You'd better come back. ~
"Hey, Heero, we nearly there yet or what?"
"What."
"Ha. Ha. Funny. You gotta work on that one a bit."
"Duo, how can you think about joking when we might not come back?"
"Well, simple really, I don't wanna be remembered as a boring silent type. An' anyway, I'm not getting' blasted by one of these stupid MD's."
"They are well programmed for MD."
"Yeah, but I think he's only seen us blowin' up mines an' stuff, which is how he's got the battle data. An' we never play really rough with those guys."
"Nearing Sector F. Area 56 is a while away yet."
'Wonder if there's a welcoming party.'
"Probably."
Duo smiled. "Well you guys can relax, it'll just be a couple Taurus dolls, and maybe some Virgo 2s. Me an' Deathscythe will clear 'em up nicely for you."
"You, tidy? You got to be kidding me Duo."
"Funny. You know what I meant."
"Yes, but I have no intention of letting you have all the fun. We'll soon be in visual range, then we'll see what kind of 'welcoming party' we have planned for us."
"Fair enough."
"I certainly hope so."
"Entering F50." Heero's monotone came over the com-link again.
~ Not long now...~
"Entering F55."
Carefully watching the screens showing his companions, Wufei noticed Heero's expression change slightly, for less than a second. Then Duo's did too.
"...Whoa! We're gonna have one massive party!"
"What?"
"Duo, what are you talking about?"
"Switch to mid range scan and check out all those dots."
"Five, six, seven, eight-" Quatre began.
"At least twenty." Said Trowa, but still no recognizable emotion on his face.
Wufei frowned. If the enemy wanted them to surrender, he was going in completely the opposite direction of which to do so.
Putting more targets out meant they'd be more likely to fight. Heero, Duo and Trowa and even himself perhaps, the more they destroyed the less danger to both the Colonies and the Earth. Even Quatre would involve himself dutifully in this battle, as they were meaningless dolls to be destroyed, rather than human pilots lives.
"Entering F56" Heero said.
"Yeah, an' we're sooo happy t' be here."
"Ah, and I'm glad to hear it. Welcome to my world. I do hope you're here to surrender, as if you are not, you will be destroyed."
'That's my line.' Duo growled at the disembodied voice.
"Oh, so it was, Duo Maxwell, so it was. But if you are here now, you must surrender, or, at the hands of my army, meet your maker."
On the screens of his companions, Duo's eyes narrowed, and the happy care free pilot was gone. Now it was serious. He made no reply, merely sat and stared defiantly out of the view window.
"01, Heero Yuy, as you seem to be the leader of this assorted group, I shall speak with you. I hope I shall like what you have to say."
Quatre looked at Duo. Ordinarily, he would have disputed the fact that Heero was their 'leader'. They had all been sent separately, and worked together through mutual agreement, and for purely higher success and newfound friendships. But he did not.
"I will answer to no one." Heero said.
"Am I then to assume that you have not come to surrender?"
"There is not one in our number who even contemplates this idea."
"Then I am truly disappointed. I should have liked to employ you."
"As what?"
"Assistants of my empire to be."
'Slaves.' Quatre spat.
"As you wish, Master Winner, if it is a fight you want, then it is a fight you shall have."
A small message appeared at the top of their view screens. While the others had been listening to the pointless banter, Wufei and Trowa had found that their enemy had been listening in to their transmission frequency. Rather than bothering to jam it, they simply found a new frequency, and told it them over the view screen messaging than over the com, as he would have heard it. They switched.
Back at the base, Hilde, Charlie and Katherine were all now sleeping, blissfully unaware of the battle that was about to unfold.
Sector F56...
They stood around the tape player and ran the message.
"Gundam Pilots. You have succeeded in destroying several of my so-called 'Intruders'. However, I will not tolerate further resistance from you. You surrender now, or you will be destroyed, in anyway I see fit. I am amassing an army of intruders, which even you will be unprepared to stop. I will expect you soon, at my factory. If any of you has the slightest bit of intelligence, you will find it, and come to surrender to me. That is all."
The five guys who had been standing around the player had gone, faded away.
The five pilots who remained were serious. Each of them wore the same expression.
Determination. Stubborn and unwilling to be broken by any one or any thing.
The Perfect Soldier broke the silence.
"I'll check on the database to find any abandoned mobile suit plants with a high power usage. That should give us the target."
The Dragon spoke next.
"We should check the Gundams before take off. They may have been interfered with."
The others agreed.
"This mission is serious. Possibly more dangerous than the final battle with Zechs and Treize. But we will all return, if it takes all the skill we have, we will return."
"We'll need to be very lucky too."
"Luck? Do you believe in luck?"
"Yes."
"Yeah, luck's the only thing that's kept me alive this long."
"Then perhaps there is something else we should do, before take off."
"What?"
"Not until take off."
They left for the hangar.
01 was checked, active and online. The pilot was engrossed in energy readouts and lists of power companies' grids and bills.
"...Found you."
The other three looked up at this.
"Sector F56."
~ Must have had a good view from there. ~
02, 03 and 04 Gundams were cleared for launch. Just then, 05 returned from his room.
They were about to ask what he'd been doing, when he pulled a large blade from his belt. Then they knew what it was for. Luck.
~ So if we don't survive - no don't think about that, of course you will. ~
Trowa sighed, he was arguing with himself again.
~ This could be interesting. ~
Usually it was done in twos, across the palm. But that wouldn't work with five of them.
They all gathered in the center of the hangar floor.
The knife shone in the light.
~ They'd all better come back ok. They owe me for this. ~
Hilde was standing next to Charlie while Katherine got into the decorating idea.
"And the walls could be blue, proper blue, not pastel wash. And the white ceiling and..."
Charlie looked up at her, then to Hilde.
His big eyes wide with something, but she couldn't tell if it was confusion, interest, or sorrow.
~ No, of course it's not sorrow, what has he got to be sorry for? Nothing. ~
"...and yellow borders with - Hilde, are you listening to me?"
"Yes, yellow borders and blue walls..."
Katherine noticed her voice was a little shaky. As she came closer, she could also see her eyes were glistening slightly too. She was upset.
"Aw Hilde I'm sorry, don't you like blue and yellow?"
Hilde smiled, and wiped her eyes with the corner of her shirt sleeve.
It was white. She didn't own a white shirt. Looking down proved it.
The buttons were on the wrong side - it was Duo's shirt.
This made her eyes water again, but she blinked away the tears to be.
She must be strong, for Katherine.
"I like blue. I love blue. Proper bright but dark blue, which sparkles, and contrasted with black, or white, or even red."
She realized what she had described. Duo's eyes were blue, and his clothes were often red, black or white.
Katherine also realized. She was worried for Trowa already, as always, and the strong one who she looked to for support, was worried too.
"It's alright, Hilde. They'll come back, they always do. I've never known anyone as stubborn or lucky as my brother and his friends."
"I know they will, but I keep thinking, what if they've used all their luck?" she sniffed.
"Don't worry. They're not here right now, they can't see you cry."
"I don't care anyway..." She blinked away the salty water from her eyes. "If they can't see what we do - we could do anything..."
Hilde smiled and Kathy understood.
They dried their eyes, keeping busy was the key.
"So, what kinda of havoc would you like to wreak?"
They all had calmed down now, for the purpose of the battle and the purpose of the ceremony that was to be performed. With surgical precision, Wufei Chang, heir of the Dragon Clan, slid the knife blade along the inside of his forearm. The result was similar to drawing a mark with a board-marker. A thin line appeared behind the blade, and lay on his arm as he held it still. He looked to the next.
It was Duo. Duo Maxwell, sole survivor of the Maxwell Church Tragedy, God of Death and Destruction. His shirt, as ever, was rolled up around his elbows, leaving his lower arm bare and open. He held out his arm flat, just as Wufei had done, and the blade traced a line along his skin. He stayed still, as the knife was moved away.
Trowa Barton, the Silencer. His face was as emotionless as ever as he carefully watched the silver edge draw down towards his wrist.
Beside him, Quatre had a long sleeved shirt on, which was pulled back, up to his shoulder. Quatre Raberba Winner, heir of the Winner family, the peacemaker. The deep red of the stripe contrasted highly on his pale skin.
Heero Yuy, the perfect solider. Assassin, born and bred. He held out his arm almost carelessly, and watched as the red ribbon appeared on his left arm too.
All done, they put their hands towards the roof, and pressed their forearms together, until the blood dripped into a puddle on the floor.
Wufei said something in Chinese. They didn't hear it, but knew what it meant.
"Blood brother."
"Sangre hermano."
"Sang frère
"Kyoudai chi."
They each removed their arm from the group, and tore a strip from their shirt to bind it with. Once this had been done, they then each ascended to their respective cockpit.
The hangar echoed with the roar of fusion reactors as they took off, and flew out through the hatch in the roof.
Hilde looked up as she heard the noise, and looked out of the 'window'. Katherine joined her, as they both watched the Gundam fleet leave for battle.
"So, what do you want to do now?"
"Go to sleep! I'm exhausted, this whole visit has been chaos."
"Go to sleep!?" she echoed loudly "Well, I suppose you could go to sleep, but I'm not tired, what would I do?"
"You must be tired, you've been up for ages and I know it's a long flight all the way out here. Maybe you just haven't realized it yet."
Hilde yawned widely. It was contagious, Katherine copied her.
"Oh, maybe you're right, and I am."
"Well, it's not like it'll get much quieter around here than this. And I doubt we'll sleep too long, the reactors will wake us up on their return."
"Don't you guys know what sound proofing is?"
"Yeah, but I opened the door so I could hear them."
She smiled. "Ok. We'll be bright and ready to welcome them home."
"Are you sleeping in your room or on the couch?"
"I'll go next door, if that's ok with you?"
"No problem, it's your room."
"Good night."
"Night."
Katherine went out, and left the door open, so Charlie could come in and out if he wanted. Hilde climbed into bed, and stared at the ceiling for a while.
~ You'd better come back. ~
"Hey, Heero, we nearly there yet or what?"
"What."
"Ha. Ha. Funny. You gotta work on that one a bit."
"Duo, how can you think about joking when we might not come back?"
"Well, simple really, I don't wanna be remembered as a boring silent type. An' anyway, I'm not getting' blasted by one of these stupid MD's."
"They are well programmed for MD."
"Yeah, but I think he's only seen us blowin' up mines an' stuff, which is how he's got the battle data. An' we never play really rough with those guys."
"Nearing Sector F. Area 56 is a while away yet."
'Wonder if there's a welcoming party.'
"Probably."
Duo smiled. "Well you guys can relax, it'll just be a couple Taurus dolls, and maybe some Virgo 2s. Me an' Deathscythe will clear 'em up nicely for you."
"You, tidy? You got to be kidding me Duo."
"Funny. You know what I meant."
"Yes, but I have no intention of letting you have all the fun. We'll soon be in visual range, then we'll see what kind of 'welcoming party' we have planned for us."
"Fair enough."
"I certainly hope so."
"Entering F50." Heero's monotone came over the com-link again.
~ Not long now...~
"Entering F55."
Carefully watching the screens showing his companions, Wufei noticed Heero's expression change slightly, for less than a second. Then Duo's did too.
"...Whoa! We're gonna have one massive party!"
"What?"
"Duo, what are you talking about?"
"Switch to mid range scan and check out all those dots."
"Five, six, seven, eight-" Quatre began.
"At least twenty." Said Trowa, but still no recognizable emotion on his face.
Wufei frowned. If the enemy wanted them to surrender, he was going in completely the opposite direction of which to do so.
Putting more targets out meant they'd be more likely to fight. Heero, Duo and Trowa and even himself perhaps, the more they destroyed the less danger to both the Colonies and the Earth. Even Quatre would involve himself dutifully in this battle, as they were meaningless dolls to be destroyed, rather than human pilots lives.
"Entering F56" Heero said.
"Yeah, an' we're sooo happy t' be here."
"Ah, and I'm glad to hear it. Welcome to my world. I do hope you're here to surrender, as if you are not, you will be destroyed."
'That's my line.' Duo growled at the disembodied voice.
"Oh, so it was, Duo Maxwell, so it was. But if you are here now, you must surrender, or, at the hands of my army, meet your maker."
On the screens of his companions, Duo's eyes narrowed, and the happy care free pilot was gone. Now it was serious. He made no reply, merely sat and stared defiantly out of the view window.
"01, Heero Yuy, as you seem to be the leader of this assorted group, I shall speak with you. I hope I shall like what you have to say."
Quatre looked at Duo. Ordinarily, he would have disputed the fact that Heero was their 'leader'. They had all been sent separately, and worked together through mutual agreement, and for purely higher success and newfound friendships. But he did not.
"I will answer to no one." Heero said.
"Am I then to assume that you have not come to surrender?"
"There is not one in our number who even contemplates this idea."
"Then I am truly disappointed. I should have liked to employ you."
"As what?"
"Assistants of my empire to be."
'Slaves.' Quatre spat.
"As you wish, Master Winner, if it is a fight you want, then it is a fight you shall have."
A small message appeared at the top of their view screens. While the others had been listening to the pointless banter, Wufei and Trowa had found that their enemy had been listening in to their transmission frequency. Rather than bothering to jam it, they simply found a new frequency, and told it them over the view screen messaging than over the com, as he would have heard it. They switched.
Back at the base, Hilde, Charlie and Katherine were all now sleeping, blissfully unaware of the battle that was about to unfold.