Disclaimer-
Final Flight
Chapter One
Setting: Five Years after Endless Waltz.
Location: In orbit above Southeast Asia.
All you could see from Earth was a number of colored flashes. What it truly was happened to be five people fighting for their lives. An unspecified number of gundamium mobile dolls had appeared and gathered to attack. All the Gundam pilots were now preventers, and were gathered at the Preventer H.Q. for due updates to their Gundams. Heero Yuy, pilot of the gundam Wing Zero. Duo Maxwell, pilot of the Deathscythe Hell. Trowa Barton, pilot of the Heavyarms. Quatre Raberba Winner, pilot of the Sandrock, And Chang Wufei, pilot of the Altron. They were also the most effective team against the remnants of OZ and the Romefeller foundation.
"We can't keep this up!" Exclaimed a frazzled Duo, even as his beam scythe raked in a short arc and claimed yet another doll.
"We have to! Whoever made these still has the capability to make more!" Quatre gasped, as he removed his left heat shotel from a former doll.
"We do NOT give up! We fight with HONOR!" Shouted Wufei, as his trident lanced through three more suits. He was absolutely infuriated that someone would dare to send dolls to earth again.
Another squadron of suits appeared and was destroyed by a volley of missiles from Heavyarms.
'Whoever programmed these things wasn't very skilled.' Trowa thought as he rained bullets on another doll, somewhat puzzled.
'They sure did make a lot of them, though.'
Wing Zero was alternating between short blasts from its beam gating and brutal charges with its twin beam sabers, both were fatal to anything that happened to be in the way. Heero was a machine during battle, and destruction to any threat to himself or his comrades.
" If we don't finish them off soon, we are going to start to lose power." Came a monotone voice from Heavyarms. "I don't have much ammunition left."
"Group them into a small area. I can get most of them." Came the first vocalization in twenty minutes from Wing Zero.
The rest of the pilots began to attack, slowly, then with increasing ferocity. Any doll that came too close met its demise in an emerald streak from a thermal weapon, a superheated slash from sandrock, or a flame burst from Altron. Yells and battle cries from all of the pilots assaulted the com. They were no longer pilots of mobile suits. They were titans, destroying the threat to peace that had dared to converge above earth.
Finally, after another half hour, four of the Gundam Pilots kicked in their reverse thrusters, and, as the rest of the gundams rocketed away from the immediate battle, the rest of the suits were incinerated by a gargantuan beam that was issued from Zero's buster rifle.
"Gee, that was fun." Panted an exhausted Duo. "Let's never, EVER do it again."
An uneasy laughter broke out from four of the five pilots.
The five tired, battered gundams slowly made their way back to preventer H.Q. for a well-earned rest. Upon their arrival at H.Q., they were greeted by the technicians and the rest of the preventers, Which were; Sally Po, the medic, Lucrezia Noin, military strategist, Zechs Marquise, emergency backup, And Lady Une, director of the Preventers.
Lady Une was the first to speak. "Report."
"Mission accomplished. A total of fifty-four mobile dolls destroyed. As suspected, they were constructed of Gundamium. No serious injury sustained, Dr. Po. Just bruises received from the restraining harness."
"Very good, Mr. Yuy. And the status of your gundams?"
"All sustained minor damage, but nothing serious. Refueling and a tune up should be sufficient." Heero stated.
"Good. You are off duty until further notice. The technicians will take care of your gundams. Get some rest."
The five went their separate ways, Heero, as always, would let no one touch his gundam, and would not sleep until repairs were completed. No one wanted to know what he would do if someone DID touch his gundam.
********
Duo was much less tense, and retreated to his quarters. He had just finished his shower and gotten dressed when there was a knock on the door.
' Who the hell could that be?'
He crossed the distance from his room to the door. As he pulled it open, He saw a flash of black hair and was knocked backwards. He looked down at the girl that was now latched to him.
"HILDE!?" He laughed as he returned the embrace.
" What on EARTH are you doing here?!"
"What, can't I visit?" She chuckled as she hugged him tighter.
"You scared the living hell out of me!"
"What? Why? You know the God of Death never fails!" He said as he grinned wolfishly, earning a smack on the arm.
Hilde stood back and ran her gaze appreciatively over the man who called himself Death. He looked none the worse for his mission, though he looked a little worn out. He had some bruises on his arm, and one on his forehead. When she had seen the coverage of the battle in space, she'd rushed to preventer H.Q. to make sure he wasn't hurt.
" You look just as good as the day you left. Oh, yeah, I've got my own quarters here, too. Now at least if you DO come back injured, there'll be more than one person to call you an idiot."
" Ha ha. Very funny. I don't suppose you'd care to come in?" he said, with an over elaborate sweeping gesture toward his quarters.
"Don't mind if I do." she said breezily and strolled into his living room.
He watched her walk in, and gave himself a mental wink, then walked slowly in after her.
********
Wufei stood in the Med Lab, Waiting patiently for Sally to arrive.
'This is not smart. You know how you feel about her. What will you do when you're alone with her?'
'Shut up. I can control myself.'
'You had better hope so. Because if you can't, you are going to be in a VERY compromising situation. And that is the last thing you want.'
'I said SHUT UP.'
"Well, Wufei, let's see what the dolls have done to you." Said Sally, interrupting his thoughts.
"Hmph. Took you long enough, woman. I might as well have gone to bed. The bleeding has already stopped."
"Oh, be quiet, and let me look at that gash." She said, walking past him to open the medical cabinet for antiseptic and bandages, while he peeled off his shirt.
"Oh, my. How exactly did you get that?"
" In battle. You ask some stupid questions, woman."
"And you give some stupid answers. I was asking how you got the gash, not where."
He gave in. "One of the screens in the cockpit broke, and a glass shard flew up and slashed me."
"Ouch. Well, at least now I know to check for glass." she said as she flushed the cut with sterile water. She then soaked it in the antiseptic, and though she knew it hurt, the only reaction Wufei would give to show it was a bare tightening around his mouth.
'Stoic as always. He would never let himself show pain, especially in front of a woman.'
She finished bandaging him up, and he went off to bed. She figured she had better do the same, and, after cleaning up her mess, set off for her quarters.
********
'What the hell is wrong with you?! What is it about that onna?' Wufei silently interrogated himself as he stalked back to his quarters. When she had touched his bare chest, he had had barely enough time to bring his heart rate under control and put out the kindling flame in his nether region before he suffered a fairly serious loss of pride. He had been berating himself about it for ten minutes, and though his mind could not think of an answer, his heart already had.
'You're in love with her. Admit it.'
' No. I will not allow myself to fall in love with her. The gift of my love is a curse.'
His thoughts drifted back to the one woman he had possessed the courage to bestow his love upon, the woman who had died in his arms. With that exception, women were weak. As he laid down and tried to sleep, his mind told him that was a lie. And his heart said there was at least one woman to add to his list.
'Damn.' was his last conscious thought before he drifted off to sleep.
********
While Duo and Hilde caught up on old times, and the rest of the pilots slept, Heero was making small adjustments to his computer system in the cockpit, trying to increase the efficiency of the Zero System.
' If those dolls were any indication, the enemy has other tricks up its sleeve. Whoever the hell they are.'
His lip twitched a little, betraying his irritation, before he consciously brought it under control again.
He was getting tired of not knowing things. They had just barely found out about those damned mobile dolls before they attacked, and had managed to prevent another massacre. Their enemy obviously knew quite a bit about them, and that was unsettling in the highest degree to the perfect soldier. He knew absolutely nothing about them, and that just heightened his annoyance. He would have to try to find something through their database, Avalon. If there was anything to find, that thing could find it. It monitored all colonies, and their activities, not to mention the moon base and Earth. He should know. He designed it himself. The enemy always seemed to be at least on step ahead of them, and he was going to turn that around. They were always unprepared, and that increased their chances of loss or destruction.
He completed the last of the adjustments and headed to his living quarters, knowing there was no more to be done with his mind in such a sleep impaired state, and his body exhausted. But tomorrow, he would be busy. Very busy.
Heero sat in his quarters the next morning, silently staring at his laptop screen while he typed, periodically pausing to read what he had brought up. He was still irritated, though now at least he was doing something to relieve his frustration. He could not stand doing nothing, and was almost as skilled a spy and computer hacker as he was a soldier. He had assigned himself to gathering intelligence while he was not in battle.
"Heero? You in here? Ah, there you are."
'Great. Can't he ever sleep in? It's eight A.M.'
"Heero? Can you hear me? What's so interesting, anyway?" asked Duo, who was beginning to wonder whether Heero HAD gone deaf, looking at his computer screen over Heero's shoulder.
"What the hell is that?" He said, staring at an image from an asteroid base security camera.
"You planning something? HEY! What was THAT?!" exclaimed Duo, looking at a brief shot of one of the mobile dolls they had fought the previous day.
"Where did you FIND this?!
"If you had bothered to look, you'd have found it." Said an annoyed Heero, wondering how Duo had managed to get into a locked room without him noticing. He'd have to replace the lock, and see if he could open it THEN.
Duo gave him a sidelong look, indicating that Duo knew something Heero would more than likely rather go on not knowing, and waited for Heero to say something.
Heero decided to tempt fate and ask.
"What is it, Duo?' He asked, his voice not betraying his exasperation.
"About time. Relena's here. Why don't you go say hi?" suggested Duo, with a demonic grin plastered on his face.
Heero's eyes narrowed. He was seriously considering strangling the other pilot with his own braid. Before he could give in to his temptations, he shut down and closed the laptop, got up and left Duo behind. He began calculating where in this compound Relena would be. Since she had no official business here, and she didn't, or he would have heard about it, she would not be monitored as closely, and was not expected to be anywhere in particular. That would rule out the conference room, and she certainly didn't have any business in the Med Lab. She would not be in the hangar…….wait a minute. She would be looking for him. She had no official business here, and therefore, it must be personal. He was not ignorant of her feelings toward him, and while he would not admit it to anyone, including himself, he felt something, and had no idea what it was, for her, too. Where would she expect to find HIM?………… With his gundam, of course. He gave himself a small smile, the kind he gave himself when he was sure no one was anywhere near him, and headed for the suit hangar.
As Heero walked slowly into the suit hangar, he caught a glimpse of blond hair up on the scaffolding they used to get up and repair, clean, and update the gundams with the latest technology. All of the pilots had undergone extensive training, and all five, plus Zechs, AKA Milliardo Peacecraft, were now proficient in the use of the Zero System, making them an even more formidable team than they were before. Heero had secretly been updating his personal system, and the system was now almost twice as powerful as the original. This version was unknown to the others, and the older version was installed in the other four gundams. Once he mastered it, he would know it was possible to do so, and would introduce the other four pilots to the new system, and they would begin the training sessions he had designed to render them with reaction time almost double that of what it was now. The current system was already enough to take on any doll, but this new version would allow them to take on to take on roughly fifteen suits each, at any given time.
His thoughts wandered back to what he came here for, when he realized that he really had no idea WHY he came there. Duo had told him Relena was here, and the only thing on his mind was to go see her. That was unsettling, not knowing why he was doing something. He had always had a reason for doing everything, whether it was his own or not.
After a moment of thought, he decided to go up to his gundam and rework some of the modifications he had made. On his way up, he caught another glimpse of Relena.
'Called it.' He thought as he remembered his earlier reasoning. There was no way she would voluntarily be in a large room filled with the most advanced weapons of war unless he was somehow involved. As the lift stopped, he got off and headed toward the suits. He walked slowly, and looked around. He couldn't see her anymore……. Wait a second. The cockpit to Wing Zero was open.
'Why the hell would she be in a mobile suit?'
Maybe she was trying to surprise him? If she was, she had done a good job. He was surprised, and that was not an easy thing to make him feel. That was an odd feeling, and he wasn't so sure he liked it. He kept walking, and Relena, as he suspected, was inside Wing Zero, though she obviously hadn't seen him. She was still facing the inside of the cockpit.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Relena started, and whirled to face him. She looked like she thought he might shoot her for going anywhere near his gundam.
"I…I…just wanted to see the place everyone says you spend so much of your time."
Heero's eyes narrowed. He had a pretty good idea who had given her that little piece of information. He'd have to do something a little more drastic than telling that blabbermouth to keep his damn mouth shut.
"What brings you to preventer H.Q.?" he asked, lightening his expression a little. He really had no idea why she would be here. She had more self-control than to come here for the express purpose of seeing him. She would at least have thought of an excuse.
As she relaxed a little, she seemed to try to collect herself. Then she straightened, and took a couple of deep breaths.
'I'm not going to like this. This either an excuse, or it's a legitimate reason to be here, and I'm not going to like it either way.'
"As part of the preventer program, I'm going to be personally overseeing all future missions as part of the peacekeeping effort on the behalf of the Sank Kingdom."
"………….." Heero was absolutely speechless. There was no way she was doing this to him. He had a hard enough time trying to get here out of his mind with only her occasional visits and such. Now she was going to be overseeing every mission? That meant she would have to have her own quarters, which she had no doubt already arranged, and he would be seeing her every day? He did not know how to deal with this. In the first place, he had no idea why the leader of a major kingdom, much less a PACIFIST major kingdom, would be interested in a war machine and a killer, possibly excepting the interest in lynching him, and in the second place, there was nothing he could do about it.
"Heero? What do you think?" she asked, a mischievous sparkle in her eye, which Heero of course did not miss.
"…………." This was definitely not something he had planned for. A legitimate reason that WAS an excuse. There was more to her than met the eye, and he would admire her tact later, though right then that feeling was overwhelmed by extreme distaste for his situation. He would not have objected to her living this close to him in any other situation, but he thought about her enough when she WASN'T living, he could probably expect, what with all the other thought she put into this, a maximum of a hundred feet away from his quarters.
" If you're going to be here, you have to understand something. This place could be attacked or bombed any minute. You are going to have to be prepared. Now let me ask you something. Do you want me to teach you?"
"Teach me what?" Relena asked, with a wrinkling of her brow.
"How to handle yourself. In case one of us isn't here to protect you."
Relena grinned at the prospect of Heero spending his free time teaching her what was taught to him, and pounded into his instincts, no doubt, at a very early age.
"Okay, Heero." She said. "When do we begin?"
"Tomorrow morning. Seven A.M. Meet me at the gym. Dress for a workout. Now, where are your quarters?"
"Right down the hall from yours." Relena answered, obviously very proud of herself.
'I thought so.'
"Now, are your things unpacked, or would you rather watch me work on Zero's circuitry?"
"I think I'll go unpack. I just got here this morning."
"I know."
"How?"
"Maxwell."
"I thought so."
Relena began to walk off, and when she got to the lift, she turned back and called out,
"See you in the morning!"
Heero shook his head and sighed. He wondered what he had just gotten himself into.