Defenders Once More

by Digidynasty

A new generation of gundam pilots have been chosen to fight the organization White Fang. Read along on this fanart supported fanfic! R+R!! (My first gundam story, done by me and my friends)

5. Family Disputes

Defenders Once More

Chapter 5

Dan stayed by Kitsune's side as the last of the doctors left the room. She had been really close to death, and although Dan believed she would have been perfectly happy if that had happened, he was relieved that she had not gone down that path. They still had a lot they had to do. Taking down WFO was not going to be easy. They would need her help. She had proved herself a dependable comrade, and Dan took that in the highest of respects. He admired her will to go down for the sake of others. Maybe that was why Alexia and her got along so well. Alexia was loyal too, and Dan saw that clearly. If the moment came, she would be willing to die for the team as well. Maybe they had lost a member of the group, but Dan didn't care anymore. If he paid enough attention to them all, maybe he could learn a thing or two.

Dan released his grip on Kitsune's hand, which he had been holding onto for the last four hours, and slowly stood up. He looked down at her, seemingly asleep, yet bandaged from head to toe to cover all of her multiple burns. "We did it." He said. "We took down the depot and showed them what we're really made of." He moved some hair out of her eyes. "You can rest now. You're job is done." Then he got up and left. He needed a good workout, some sleep, and maybe some good meditation. He only hoped Ben and Alexia got out of there okay…

Alexia's deep brown eyes opened to a spinning world that was drastically out of focus. She moaned and waited for her vision to clear. She observed her surroundings critically, trying to find anything she could use as a weapon or even a way out. The room was an off-white color, with only one bed, which she now laid on. She observed it closer, and saw it was bolted securely down to the concrete floor. "So much for that idea." She said, despairingly.

There was only one door and no windows. So… She thought. I'll have to knock out the first guy that comes in here…

When she tried to get up though, cold metal, attached to her wrists and ankles, slammed her back down to the bed. Her concussion from before acted up, causing her to wince in mounting pain. She pulled on the chains to test their durability when the door opened…

"Ah, you're awake, princess. That eliminates the use of the smelling salts."

Alexia growled at the intruder. "Don't you dare call me that." She replied in a low, menacing voice.

Kamran smiled. "But the title suits you. And I assure you; you will be treated with the utmost of care. Allow me to introduce myself. I am General Kamran Yarseea, supreme commander of White Fang's military forces and second in command to only one other."

Alexia frowned. "So, there's someone above you?"

"Indeed there is." Another voice said. The man stepped out from behind Kamran. Alexia's breath caught in her throat. "It's been a while, Alexia."

Her blood ran cold and she found herself unable to think, move, or barely comprehend who had just presented him self to her. She whispered in a hushed voice. "Father…"

Sweat poured off of Dan Crimson's face as he swung around in the air, landing a solid kick on the black punching bag in front of him, nearly snapping it's chain. Grunting with exertion, he fell into a crouch and hammered the bag with his fists, each time in rapid succession.

The heavy contraption swung wildly about as Dan landed blow after crushing blow on it. A snap-kick, a vicious jab, and a powerful chop caused it to bounce on its chain, and still he did not let up.

Going into a low crouch again, he fired the coiled muscles in his powerful legs, which were taught like springs. Using his momentum, he whirled around and delivered a lethal roundhouse kick to the bag, then pummeled it with a sharp right, a mean left hook, and a right uppercut.

His body was covered with abrasions from his having pushed his limits beyond what his epidermis was willing to take. Pain was like a double-edged sword, he thought as he continued the relentless attack. It is something to be avoided, but it toughens you.

Banishing the thought, he focused his razor-sharp mind once more onto his task of taking out his 'opponent.' One more furious punch, and Dan was satisfied that this would be enough to dispatch an opponent at least temporarily. In fact, it would have been enough to kill many men several times over.

Wiping sweat from his brow, Dan took a deep breath and began concentrating on his breathing exercises. Sitting down on the floor, cross-legged, he willed his breathing to slow, focusing on a slow, rhythmic pattern.

His pulse began to drop, and his body began to flush the lactic acid from his muscles and purge the adrenaline from his blood. Only now a dozen small points of flame began to burn their way into his skin, physical reminders of his skin's limited ability to take punishment.

He was much tougher than his skin, however, and a few minor injuries did not concern him. In his mind, they were just another annoyance that he would learn to overcome, like a splinter one simply cannot remove and must accept as a temporary inconvenience.

He was barely two minutes into his breathing exercises when he heard the door of the gym hiss open. Ben Salazar burst in, out of breath and near frantic.

Dan looked up, calmly smiled and remarked. "You're supposed to be out of breath after you work out at the gym."

Ben shook off the remark instead of becoming angry.

"They took… they took…"

Dan realized there was something horribly wrong, and he asked quickly. "What is it? Who took what?"

"The White Fang Organization. They've kidnapped Alexia."

Dan shot to his feet and pounded his fist into his other hand.

"Those bastards." He growled. Dan shoved past Ben.

Ben called out. "Wait! Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find Alexia and kill the sonofabitch that abducted her." He snarled at Ben.

Ben started after Dan and reasoned. "Alright, wait. Let's do this together. We'll have better chances of finding her if we look for her both at once."

"Fine. Whatever." Dan didn't break his brisk stride, and even though Ben was much taller than him, he had to jog in order to keep up with him. Coming to the Gundam hangar bay, Dan leapt into Gundam Lone Star's cockpit, as Ben climbed into Zeon Legacy's cockpit.

Keying up his comm. system, Ben addressed Dan. "Dan, let's split up. We'll have a better chance of finding her if we do."

Dan grunted his acknowledgment and seized the controls of his Gundam.

"Dearest daughter…" Daiken Lucar said, standing beside Kamran. "How are you these days?"

Alexia glared at him. "You…are in charge of WFO, aren't you." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yes I am. You are a bright one." He said.

"Oh, cut the bullshit. What the hell do you want? Why don't you just kill me and get it over with?" She said, coldly.

"Now, is that any way to talk to your father?" Daiken asked.

"You are no father of mine. You never loved me, or cared for me! I was just one of your toys to play god with!" Alexia shouted. She wanted to run at him and beat the crap out of him, but the chains cut into her wrists and kept her in her place.

"But I did you a favor, dear. I made you more agile, swift, and…"

"You made me a freak!" Alexia shouted. "I trusted you! And in return, you made me into something the other children could be afraid of! Something that was different!"

"I blessed you with capabilities the normal human being cannot yet possess." He reasoned.

"I never wanted, nor asked for them." Alexia said, gritting her teeth.

Alexia remembered back when she had trusted her father. Before he broke that trust…

A five-year-old Alexia was playing with the neighborhood kids when her father came up. She smiled and ran up to him, hugging him around the knees. "Daddy!"

"Hello Alexia." The man said. "You want to grow up to be big and strong for your daddy and mommy, right?"

The small girl with long black hair nodded enthusiastically. "Yep!"

Daiken smiled. "Good, I'm glad. Now come on. You and me have an appointment to keep."

Alexia frowned, but this was her father, and so she followed him into the black van that took her away from her friends…

They went to a building with lots of people that wore white masks over their face, and all the rooms were white and completely sterilized. She was scared, and clutched to her father, tightly.

Three men, dressed up in white doctor's robes, wearing the white masks down around their necks, so they could talk, walked up. "Is this her?"

Lucar nodded. "Yes, this is she, Project TPS1." He replied. "Take her and begin the treatments immediately."

The men nodded and picked up Alexia swiftly, carrying her away from her father…

"Daddy! No! Let me go!" Alexia screamed. "I don't want to go! Daddy! Don't leave me alone here!" She called out, but her father turned his back to her…and left her there.

She went through months, then years of treatments. Where the men at the Barton DNA Researching Plant injected Alexia with several different strands of DNA to begin to make Project TPS1, or The Perfect Soldier #1.

It was painful and Alexia cried every night, wanted her daddy back and not knowing where he disappeared to. After they thought they were done and satisfied with the result, they tested her. Putting her through strenuous obstacles, trying to activate the new instincts inside her.

It was believed to be a failure, because the little girl showed no signs of change at all. At the age of nine, she ran away from that plant, and lived on her own from that day on… She learned of her powers and never told a soul about them.

Lucar sent out his men to search for her and bring her back, to continue testing and see where they went wrong, but they never found her… until now…

Lucar now smiled at his daughter, all grown up and full of energy. He could begin again…creating the perfect soldier. "Take her to Testing Room 4. Project TPS1 will begin at once."

Alexia went pale. "No! I won't go through that again!" She pulled on the chains, and they began to break away from the wall, still deeply cutting into her wrists. "Let me out of here! NOW!"

"Restrain her! Immediately!" General Yarseea commanded.

Soldiers came in behind the two and one fired off a sleep dart at Alexia, which hit her arm, making her pass out instantly.

Kamran leaned into Daiken, as the men carried Alexia out of the room. "Do you think subjecting her to more experiments will give you the results you want?"

Lucar nodded. "I always believed it was because she was too young. Her mother was too old, and that was why the treatments killed her. But Alexia is different. She will not disappoint us."

Kamran nodded, but he was unsure. The gundam pilot didn't look like much. If she proved any of his superior's theories, it would be a miracle.

After being exposed to several injected fluids and radiation rays of different wavelengths, Alexia was thrown into a room, by herself, barely conscious and partially delirious. She bit back the pain and forced herself to a sitting position. Father…after all this time…

She could feel the foreign fluids running through her veins, trying to activate abilities that she already knew were there. They had asked her several times to tell if she had experienced certain traits and was promised to be left alone if she told them the truth. She said "no" each time and they would continue the barrage. She wouldn't let them know all she could do. She couldn't. To do that would prove her father's theories right, and they would never let her go.

She wasn't sure if she would be let go anyway…if she would see Kitsune, Dan, or even Ben…ever again. But she would stay strong, and she would not let them win.

"Alexia?"

Alexia gasped and looked up through half open eyes. Standing before her, with short auburn hair and bright green eyes, was Corrin Lucar, Alexia's mother. "M-mom?"

The women smiled. "Thank goodness you are alright." The women came up and lovingly wrapped her arms around her daughter. "I thought you were dead."

Alexia buried her head in her mother's warmth. "Mother…"

Suddenly though, men appeared behind Corrin, and pulled her away from Alexia. "No! Let me go! Alexia!" She cried out, struggling against the guards.

"Mom!" Alexia jumped to her feet, immediately washed over with a wave of nausea. "Let her go!" Alexia's eyes seemed to crackle with energy and when she threw her hand forward, the guards were slammed back into the bulkhead by an invisible force.

Alexia whipped her head around, sensing another aura behind her. She jumped at an inhuman height into the air, and landed in front of her mother. "Just try it, asshole, I dare you." She glared at the last soldier in the room.

He let out a cry of challenge and ran at her, gaining speed quickly. Alexia raised her hand to eye level and made a fist. Immediately, the man stopped in his tracks, grasping at the hidden force clamped around his neck. Alexia raised her hand over her head, lifting the man into the air. He gasped and struggled, trying to get even an once of air into his depleted lungs.

Alexia ground her teeth, to emphasize her point. "If you ever touch my mother in any way…I will kill everyone you hold dear." She twisted her hand and the man's neck cracked. She let her 'grip' on him slacken and he fell to the floor, dead.

Alexia suddenly felt dizzy and collapsed to the floor, breathing heavily. She hadn't used her powers in such a long time that it took a lot out of her. Her "mother" came up and smiled down at her. "I knew you wouldn't let me down."

Alexia couldn't ask what that meant, because the next thing she knew, she was surrounded by blackness, and she passed out.

Her "mother's" image faltered and the body of Solo Reiki replaced it. He had short brown hair and icy blue eyes, which made the change between him and Corrin Lucar easy. "So…she had the abilities all along." The DNA researcher commented.

Daiken and Kamran walked in. "That was a brilliant idea, Solo." Daiken said.

"So, they are activated by emotions." Kamran observed.

"Exactly." Solo said. "That is why I used her mother as the stimulant."

"So, how do we test her further?" Kamran wondered.

Lucar smiled. "I have an idea."

Alexia once again woke up in the room she had been kept in before, except this time, she wasn't bolted down. Either these guys are very stupid, or they have something up their sleeves.

"You miss Corrin, don't you." Alexia whipped around and saw her father sitting in the corner, holding a clipboard.

Alexia thought back to when she saw her mother…and the men attacked. "Where is she? What did you do to her!?" She demanded, standing up.

"She died."

Alexia blinked. "What?"

"She died. Sixteen years ago." Daiken said, straight faced.

Alexia shook her head in disbelief. "No, no…I-I just saw her…I saved her…"

"Replica. It was a holographic image of your mother. She is long since died and is buried six feet under." He replied coldly.

Sixteen years…she could hardly believe it. "How?" She dared to ask.

"Project TPS, of course. She was too old when I began to experiments and they ended up killing her." He said, as a matter of fact.

Alexia couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You…killed her?"

Daiken nodded. "It was a slow and painful death. I am only sorry we didn't get to try again. That was why we decided to try someone younger." There was no hint of remorse in his voice.

Alexia stepped back from the man who was her father. She remembered…she remembered her mother's failing health just days before they had taken her to the plant…

Alexia walked out of her room and came into the living room. "Mom…when's dinner going to be ready? I'm hungry." She walked up to her mother.

Corrin Lucar was in a chair, trembling, almost thrashing in pain. She moaned and cried, and never heard her daughter's request.

"Mommy!" Alexia ran up to her mother and hugged her, trying to calm her down.

Corrin slowly stopped shaking and wiped some of the sweat from her brow. "A-Alexia?"

"Are you okay, now? Mommy?" Alexia asked, with a worried expression.

Corrin nodded. "I'm really tired right now, dear. I think I'm going to rest a bit." She got up and went into her room, closing the door.

Alexia went over and put an ear to the door, hearing crying and sobs coming from the room. She left her mom after the crying stopped and went to the kitchen, to find something to eat. She heard talking outside, and carefully peaked her head out to see what was going on.

"Yes…no, I don't think it's working…" She heard her father's voice talking to someone on the phone. "She had another episode again…No, don't get someone else…I already have the perfect patient in mind…"

He hung up and Alexia dropped back down. She frowned. "What is he talking about?"

Now, Alexia knew. He had planned it since that day. He planned to take her away from her mother and mold her into Project TPS1. Alexia bit back a sob. "When? When did she die?" She asked.

"The day you left. It was that morning, as I recall." He replied.

Alexia tightened her jaw and wiped away more tears. How could anyone be so inhuman and subject their own family to such pain and suffering? How? "How!" She demanded. "How could you do this to us!? We were a family!"

"We were nothing! I needed a wife and kid to show "family traits" and get the funding a needed! Your smile and cute face got me the funds I needed, but it was going to be what you became that would prove most useful." He bellowed.

Alexia turned around several times. She had to get out. Had to get away! This man was the devil! Playing god and ruining lives for no other reason than to satisfy him self! She couldn't stay here! She had to get away! Far, far away! In response to the dozens of emotions traveling through her brain at once, two stubs on Alexia's back grew…

Daiken raised an eyebrow. Interesting… He began to write more down on paper.

Alexia wrapped her arms around herself, trying to will the change inside her to seize, but with everything he had just told her, she couldn't control it. She screamed out and the stubs on her back erupted…

Bloodied white wings burst forth from her back, filling the room to a wingspan of 15 feet at least. Her back was covered in blood and pain shot through her body, emanating from her shoulder blades. She was emotionally and physically exhausted…and passed out once more.

Daiken finished his notes and pulled out a walkie-talkie. "You may come in now." He said.

Kamran Yarseea, followed by Solo, walked into the room. Upon seeing the display before him, Kamran opened his mouth in shock. "Wings?"

"A result of the DNA we injected her with." Solo responded. "So, the operation was successful?" He asked Daiken.

Daiken nodded. "Let's see how long it lasts." Then he, and his associates, left the room, leaving the helpless Alexia, trapped in her state of unconsciousness.

Ben pressed his back against the wall as he waited for the sound of marching footsteps to fade from around the corner. He'd come to this WFO facility, after learning that it was primarily used as a prison and interrogation complex by the enemies of the Colonies.

Hoping he was right, he'd snuck inside and proceeded to look into each prison cell he could find. Luck was with him that day. The troops had gotten sloppy, keeping lax security in the main prison cell bay, and he'd managed to infiltrate them by wearing a stolen guard's outfit.

Coming to cell AA-20-3, he peered inside the tiny view port and saw Alexia, unconscious… or worse… on the floor inside. Containing his emotion, he argued with the door's command-code locks, then took out a small pistol and fired a round into it, opening the door.

Stepping quickly inside, he faced Alexia's unmoving form. He was shocked at what he saw. Two white, red stained wings retracted into her small form, and disappeared into her back. What the hell was that? He wondered.

Kneeling close, he felt for a heartbeat, and listened for breath. Sure enough, battered as she looked, she was alive. Her chest rose and fell slowly, indicating life flowing in and out of her lungs.

She sported a bruise on her arm, and a scratch near her temple, around which traces of blood were evident. Ben put his arms around her and whispered, "I'll make the bastards pay for what they did to you, but right now we need to get out of here."

Feeling relieved that Alexia was alive, Ben now focused on another fear: getting out alive himself. Coming into the prison sector in disguise was easy enough, but getting out with one of the prisoners would be significantly more difficult.

Dan had come to the same facility as Ben, but a few minutes later than he. For Dan, finding a prisoner would be a great deal easier, if only he could obtain access to a computer terminal.

Sneaking into a corridor, he found a door marked, "Main Computer Room". Dan looked at this for a moment and almost laughed at how ridiculously convenient this seemed, then reconsidered.

They don't know I'm coming, and even if they did, they wouldn't know I could hack like I do. Even if they knew that, they still couldn't just move their main computer core like that, just to trap me.

He looked furtively around and clenched his fists, ready to dole out a jack hammering attack if someone spotted him. When no one came through the corridor, Dan dashed forward.

Noticing a chrono on the wall, Dan noted it was a sleep cycle, which meant fewer guards around to see him. Padding towards the door in his heavy combat boots, Dan studied the command-code lock on the door for a second before punching a few keys and inserting a code-breaking algorithm into the lock's circuitry.

A few tense moments later, the lock clicked and swung open as it accepted the pass code. Dan grinned as he thought to himself. They can't seriously believe that simple code could be enough to keep the likes of Dan Crimson out!

He stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

The room was cold, sterile. Cooled air circulated through the room, lowering the temperature noticeably. A quiet hum ran through the room as it echoed off the blank white and titanium colored walls.

Wires, cables, and conduits of all sorts ran through the room in a helter-skelter mess, plugs connected to computer ports, terminal end ports and connection sockets. A large, cylinder-like unit sat in the center of the room, which had part of the floor cut out so it could extend below ground level.

All of the wires and cables eventually ended here, linked to the main computer core. Small blinking LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) and other indicators showed it's operational status. A large computer terminal was affixed to a rail around the core, which Dan presumed to be the main interface console.

Going to it, he sized up the task in front of him. The computer was encrypted with a fragmental algorithm phase code, a considerable foe in the world of a hacker. But Dan was up to the challenge. He'd tackled bigger problems before and had always come out on top.

Dan held an unofficial award for never having been unable to hack into a computer he set into. No matter how long the task had taken, or how hard the code was to break, he'd never failed. He was quite entitled to the honor.

Ignoring the chair that sat on the floor a short way off, Dan began typing furiously at the console, entering precise calculations and code sequences. Data began streaming over the display, which Dan's sapphire eyes took in rapidly. They flicked back and forth at the numbers, letters and words ticking off on the screen, informing his brain of what he should do next.

Dan spent the better part of a ten-minute cycle hacking and slicing into the computer mainframe, and finally…

[PASSCODE ACCEPTED]

[FULL ACCESS GRANTED]

Dan smiled and waited for a second as the system began opening files.

[ENTER SERACH REQUEST]
Dan typed "Alexia Lunaria" and hit a button. The computer began cycling and spit out an answer. It mentioned Gundam Pilots, and he saw five models of Gundams…that weren't theirs! They…no way! Gundam Slayers. They have their own set of pilots!? And they plan to make Alexia one of them? Are they crazy!? He quickly copied the information onto a thumbnail sized chip, and stuck it into a hidden pocket on the outside of his pants.

Suddenly, cold steel was pressed to the back of his neck, followed by gruff words.

"Freeze! Who are you?"

Dan backed away from the computer slowly, and put his hands in the air. Fast reflexes he may have, but no one could outrun a bullet. He knew when to wait for a chance to strike, and when to actually fight.

Luck may favor foolish men, but then again, I'm not foolish…just ready to make my move.

They dragged him out and stuck him in another prisoner's cell.

Ben held Alexia's limp form close to his body, cradling her head against his chest. He wasn't sure how he was going to get away, but he would have to think of something.

He looked around the corner, and when he didn't see anyone, he moved down the hall at a quick pace, retracing the exact steps back to the hanger. It would be difficult to fit two people in the cockpit of Zeon Legacy, but he would manage.

"Halt! Where are you taking TPS1?" A guard said.

TPS1? Ben slowly turned around and spotted 3 guards, weapons pointed at him. "Um…"

"Is she scheduled to be transported to another lab?" Another asked.

Ben nodded. "Yeah, I am taking TPS1 to the hanger for transport."

They nodded crisply. "Very well. Good luck." They walked past him and down the hall.

Ben let out a sigh of relief. "That was close."

He ran to the hanger, snuck outside, and dashed to a nearby forest where Zeon Legacy was hidden. He jumped up the legs of the gundam with amazing ease and opened the cockpit from the outside.

"Sound the alarm! The prisoner has escaped!"

Uh oh…my cover's blown. He carefully strapped in Alexia, and jumped in himself, grabbing the controls and moving the giant machine away from WFO headquarters. Dan, I hope you get out of there safely…

Meanwhile, Dan was seized and captured; pain and suffering are the only things that await him…