Gundam Wing: Purple Grass
"Heaven Sent"
V. 1.1
06-19-01
Author's Note: Ok, this section actually turned out longer than I expected, so I cut it in two. Hope you like it.
Dedicated to: My cat, James. You've been the inspiration for more characters than I'd care to admit. And to John, who got me this great computer. Your skills of BS are without parallel man, but did you have to play with it first? Thanks for volunteering to be "the voice".
"The earth has asked for more time to debate on deposing their Blood Red Queen. That they have not immediately thrown out such a vile traitor to peace and humanity makes it obvious to us, the colonies, that Queen Relena has cast earth under her venomous spell."
"This guy only waited two hours to announce this. He had this planned from the beginning!" Duo slammed his fist down on the armrest. Heero and Duo had quickly packed their things, what little they actually had, and arrived at the multicolored shuttle, the Bisco, to find Noin waiting for them, a simple duffle bag slung over her shoulder. Now underway, Ispep Cavalier, the new representative of the colonies, was making his second speech. Heero and Trowa observed the speech in silence as Duo and Noin openly debated it while Cavalier was still speaking. "This guy is an idiot!" Duo concluded.
"No, actually he's quite intelligent. It was a bold, if reckless move. But what he wants right now is the publics' attention."
"Attention is all well and good, but for whatever he's maneuvering towards he'll need the publics support as well."
"He already has it. He was voted into office by an overwhelming majority."
"Now has come the time, my brothers and sisters of the colonies, for us to rise up against the Queen of Evil, Relena Dorlin, and forever remove her! The earth has refused to do such, and now we must do it for them! They have cast their lot with a demon, and I herby condemn them for it. Rise up! Rise up my fellow colonist, against the cursed earth and their vile Queen! I, in the name of the colonies, by the power given to me by the colonies, and by the life given to me by the great Zidane itself, announce that the colonies suceed from the earth in all it's forms, and declare war upon it! Let all who oppose this decision, or in anyway think me wrong, speak now or forever hold their peace."
For a moment, silence reigned in the small passenger room, as each person allowed this turn of events sink in. Trowa was the first to speak.
"So Duo, who's minding the store while you're off playing?"
"Oh, I left it with Thomas."
"Good kid."
Heero simply observed the receding colony from his window. Noin stared at Duo and Trowa, who continued to talk about everything but the revolt.
"What's wrong with you guys?"
"Huh? Oh, you mean the war." Duo shrugged. "Eh, there's not much we can do until the next move is made anyway."
"I wonder why nobody's broadcasting a rejection of Cavalier?" Catharine spoke up for the first time.
"He's probably killing them off. That last line was an invitation to death."
"Eh, I don't remember throwing a party..." Duo grinned at the pun.
"Looks like the party is coming to us." Heero pointed out five incoming mobile suits. They looked similar to the old space Tarsus MS, pointed head but with gleaming white paint. Their beam cannons were held at the ready.
The view screen flickered to life, again showing Cavalier's now familiar face.
"None have stepped forward to publicly denounce my decision. Therefore, I will assume I have the colonies support in this crusade to rid humanity of it's evil! I now declare the colonies a closed border. All of those leaving the colonies are obvious cowards and traitors and must be put to death!"
"Umm, does this ship have any weapons?" Noin asked Catherine Bloom.
"Not really, Nothing that could compete with mobile suits anyway."
"Surrender now, and be bathed in the purifying flames of Zidane! Refuse and die, horribly!"
"What a choice. Surrender and die, fight and die." Duo shook his head. "Do you supposed it's multiple choice? There's got to be a 'none of the above,' there always is."
"So what are we going to do, Heero?" Trowa absently put an arm around Catherine's shaking shoulders.
"We die."
Outside, the five Zidane MS encircled the shuttle, bringing their beam cannons to bare. The lieutenant in charge of this particular squad, Hikaru Seki, smiled sadistically. He could see into the shuttle's cockpit where Duo Maxwell and Trowa Barton were hurriedly taking over the pilots' seats.
"All your vaunted piloting skills won't be enough to save you from Zidane's wrath." Lt. Seki watched as two more people entered the cockpit. One was obviously female, the black hair with a white streak allowing Seki to recognize her as Lucrezia Noin. The second one anybody would have recognized from a kilometer away.
"Heero Yuy. My name will go down in history for being the man who brought down the perfect soldier. I'm going to enjoy this." As Lt. Seki aimed his first shot to go directly into the cockpit, he hesitated. Heero was looking directly at him, as if the brown haired young man could see straight through the mobile suit's main camera and into Seki's cockpit. "It- it's nothing. It doesn't matter." Seki tried to push down his sudden irrational fear.
Heero casually lifted his arm up, pointing his finger directly at the snow colored MS. Dropping his thumb forward and snapping his wrist back, he imitated the motions of a gun being fired. Smiling, Yuy mouthed the words, "Bang! You're dead."
Visibly shaking, Seki reached for the MS's trigger. He never reached it. In shock, he stared down at the massive blade protruding from his chest.
"Should have kept your eyes off the prize and on the road, Seki." A face appeared on the screen that had previously held the image of Heero Yuy. White-blonde hair, the tips died blue. The eyes were purple but there were three odd yellow triangles rotating around the pupil, almost covering the iris. "You didn't even die for your God. I'm sorry."
"Damn you..." Seki coughed, covering the screen with his life blood.
"Goodbye, old friend." The gold and silver MS that had stabbed the lead Zidane MS through the back, ripped the blade out, the white MS being engulfed in it's own death flames.
As the explosion faded, the three former Gundam pilots and Noin saw the new MS clearly for the first time. While similar in design and size to the now retired and destroyed Tallgeese, the differences were too staggering to ever confuse the two. While the Tallgeese once had a Mohawk, this new MS had a golden mane of hair. Where Tallgeese had it's infamous black verneya engines, this suit had three sets of wings, totaling six in all, each matching the color of it's hair. The suit even had an overall feminine appearance. The trained eye could tell that the gun mounted on it's left arm was merely for how. The sword in it's right hand, while appearing ornamental at first, burst into flames, bathing the blade in white fire.
"Let all who think themselves worthy, test their righteousness against the power of the Seraphim! Come form me now, you worthless copies!" The four remaining Zidane MS charged the Seraphim.
Dodging the opening barrage, Seraphim flew forward with the grace of a bird. Ducking into the formation, Seraphim swiftly removed the left arm of one MS, which bore it's beam cannon. Snatching up the beam cannon, Seraphim quickly annihilated two others, the remaining one shooting the cannon right out of Seraphim's hand. Seraphim quickly flung the burning sword at the final MS, decapitating it by luck alone.
For a moment, Seraphim simply hung in space, it's sword lazily turning in end over end.
"Marix, decloack and being scavenge operation."
"Acknowledged." A squeaky voice replied. A ship, only slightly smaller than the circus's ship, rippled into view. A large hatched opened on it's underbelly, two long arms extending out. Methodically, the ship began sifting through the wreckage for salvageable parts.
"Attention unknown MS." Trowa's face appeared on the Seraphim's screens. "On behalf of the Bisco and her crew, I thank you for your assistance."
The Seraphim's pilot appeared on the Bisco's monitor. "While your thanks are welcome, I'd much prefer it if you bought the first round. Besides..." A flashing light alerted the pilot to the completion of the scavenging. "I've got two only slightly damaged MS that I'm sure the new head of the Preventers is just dieing to get her hands on. You're welcome to come aboard."
"Forgive our hesitation." Noin's face replaced Trowa's, "But you seem pretty well informed... and too well armed for our comfort."
"You've got Heero the hero, what could you possibly be afraid of?" there was a slight edge to the pilot's voice. "The invitation stands. you have ten minutes to accept before I decide to move on. Seraphim, out."
"It could be a trap." Duo suggested.
"No, I don't think so." Noin looked out of the cockpit, watching the Seraphim enter the Marix through an entirely new opening in it's side. "that MS is powerful enough alone to take out this ship if he wanted to kill us. If he wanted to take us alive, his ship is more than capable enough to do the job."
Heero's harsh laughter brought the other three around. "He's holding all the cards. He has the power and the information. He's demonstrated both to us, and now is offering to share it with us."
"I'm just wondering what the price is going to be." Duo scratched the back of his neck.
"I'm more curious about his mobile suit than I am the new ones." Trowa quietly chimed in. "There was something odd about it."
"Let's hear what he has to say, even if it is on his terms." Noin looked to Duo, who stood from the pilot's chair and flipped his braid over his shoulder.
"Man, I know I'm going to regret this."
Five minutes later, four figures in space suits made the jump across the abyss of space to the black ship, the same hatch that had swallowed Seraphim waiting open for them. As soon as all four were in the MS hangar, the outer doors swooshed shut, air rushing in to feel the void. Once the light above the door blinked green, the four friends began removing their helmets. A sudden sound of clapping made them all jerk towards the silent form of the Seraphim, it's cockpit setting open. The blue tipped - silver haired pilot sat on the door to the cockpit, his legs dangling over the edge.
"Lucrezia Noin, former OZ soldier and now head of the Preventers. Duo Maxwell, former pilot of Gundam 02, the Deathscythe in all it's incarnations, now Noin's 'left hand' in the Preventers. Trowa Barton, former pilot of Gundam 03, Heavyarms. And Heero Yuy, former pilot of Gundams Zero and 01, one of only three men ever to master the ZERO System, and former love of 'Queen' Relena. Took you long enough to get here."
"You know us, but we don't know who you are. Care to grace us with your name and occupation?" Noin's left eyebrow twitched, this guy knew too much.
"Yeah, buddy. Just who the hell are you?" Duo demanded.
"Me? I'm just a concerned citizen of humanity." the pilot laughed and pushed off in the zero gravity, landing smoothly by the door. "My name is James Hittori. Step into my parlor."
"Said the spider to the fly." Duo mutter under his breath.
The small group was surprised by the slight gravity when they stepped through the hanger doorway and into the ships main hallway that connected all the rooms on the ship. While it wasn't earth gravity, it was close.
"Come along now. Marix tells me that both Zidane pilots survived the battle, but he didn't tell me how alive they are."
"Yes, we noted a decompression from one of the mobile suits' cockpits." Noin matched Hittori step for step.
"I was being a little heavy handed with the sword today." Hittori shrugged. He suddenly turned left, the door swooshing out of his way. The room they entered was huge. Duo absently wondered if it was large enough to hold the now defunct Magna Corps. Two massive mechanical arms were folded up against a wall. In the center of the room the two surviving Zidane MS stood, facing each other. Between them a raven haired woman sat, her peach colored uniform stained with red blood, though not her own. The source of the blood was an identical woman, her head cradled in the first woman's lap.
Hittori's fast pace turned into a sprint, Trowa and Noin hot on his heels. Duo was about follow suit, but Heero grabbed his arm, holding Duo back while shaking his head.
Hittori skidded to a stop, Trowa's foot stopping inches from Hittori's. The uninjured woman blankly looked up at the three newcomers. Noin dropped to her knees, quickly checking the second woman's pulse.
"She's not breathing, but there's a weak pulse." Noin announced. She reached for the bloody top, pulling it back. She gasped as the light first glinted off the chunk of metal buried in the woman's chest. Noin gingerly ran her fingers across it's jagged edge. "Left lounge's collapsed. Probably the right one too. Do you have a medical bay?" The last was directed at Hittori.
"It's small but well stocked. I'll take her legs." As Noin carefully lifted the injured woman, Hittori turned to Trowa. "Take this other one to the rec room, there's a fresh pot of coffee in there. She's going to need it as soon as the drugs start to wear off." By this point, Noin and Hittori had lifted the woman up and were toting her out of the cargo bay.
"Where's the rec room?" Trowa called out.
"Ask Marix!" Hittori responded, just before the doors' smoothly shut behind him.
Duo and Heero's footsteps echoed in the empty room.
"An odd fellow." Trowa commented.
"Tell me about it." Duo rolled his eyes. "First he tries to kill them, than he tries to save them. Talk about unpredictable."
"No, everything he's done has been as I expected." Heero's voice, while low and quiet, grabbed both the other pilot's attention. "His whole deal has been to get information. That injured girl is no good to him dead, but could be invaluable alive."
"Just like us." Trowa closed his eyes and smiled. "Hittori's moves have been perfect, so I have no doubt as to what his next move will be."
"Care to clue the rest of the class in, Mr. Barton?" Duo sarcastically asked, crossing his arms across his muscled chest.
"Hmmm... I'd rather let things play out." Trowa gently caught the elbow of the woman. "Come on, let's go. I'm told there's a pot of black coffee with your name on it."
"Man, I don't know which one of them is stranger." Duo turned back to the captured mobile suits once Trowa was gone.
"He's simply scared and unsure. Scared of missing the future, but unsure of what part to play to get into it."
"And Hittori?"
"He already has his part chosen, and he's already memorized the lines."
"On, now isn't that just poetic."
"You shouldn't talk, Duo. We've both been handed our parts. Hittori is making his part, and Trowa would rather choose his own." Heero looked up at the silent mobile suit. The main camera was closed. The scorch marks almost made it appear to be crying.
"Yeah, well, play whatever part you want, Heero." Duo turned and walked away, waving over his shoulder. "I'm just gonna be myself and see how things turn out. Think I'll go find that pot of coffee, it's been a rough day."
Heero watched his friend leave. Turning back to the mobile suit, he again thought of it as crying.
"Everyone's chosen their roles, Relena, and the stage is set. We're all waiting on you, so what role will you play?"
Next episode:
Quatre's voice: The mysterious new MS pilot, Hittori, shares what he knows with the former Gundam pilots. The Marix, Hittori's ship, quickly makes the transit from the colonies to the Skyhook, a huge tower built on earth that reaches all the way into space. At the Skyhook, an old friend awaits, with some distressing information. Next time, on Gundam Wing: Purple Grass; "Babel"