Authors Note/Disclaimer: I forgot to mention this in the last chapter, I do not own GW or any of their characters or MS desings. The only things I own are Marcus and the design for the Dark Angel. Also, though this story takes place after Endless Waltz, the Gundams still look like they did at the end of the original series. The only thing from Endless Waltz is Tallgeese III. And oh yeah, give me your opinions. But no flames, flames will receive an extreme revenge.
After Colony 200. The Earth Sphere has been shaken to its core by the surprise attack of a group of rebels. The L2 colony has fallen under the fist of the Mars Crimson Rebels. As this new force announces its intentions, the four Gundam pilots receive a gift from their mysterious savior. Beneath the city of Pittsburgh, the Gundams rise from the ashes of destruction. However, with the revelation of Zechs and Noins betrayal, can the addition of the LTI heir, Marcus Leeper, give the earth a fighting chance?
Gundam Wing: Of Many Minds
Episode 2: Weapon of Choice
It had taken four guards and the threat of tranquilizers to calm Duo. Everyone sympathized with him, with his rage. Noin had been one of their staunchest allies, a friend through everything, and Zechs, well... he at least had their respect. But they had thrown all of that out of the window, for what, an obscure ideal, a rambling speech, some dream of a "new type of human race"?
Quatre sat looking at a photo he had taken of Miss Noin and Relena Peacecraft a few months after the defeat of the Barton foundation. The two young women looked so peaceful, so serene. Noins Preventers unit had just been given extra funding and even Relena backed them, despite her pacifistic ideals. Starring at the frozen image, the young Winner heir asked himself just how his Peacecraft friend would handle this new situation. As he slowly fell into deep thought, Quatre could swear he heard the voice of the Vice Foreign Minister.
The light from the T.V. caught his eye, and the young man looked from his picture, only to find the face of the young Peacecraft heiress on the screen.
"Miss Peacecraft, Miss Peacecraft." The young reporter before the Minister called out.
"Yes, Mr. Gordon."
"What is your reaction to your brother leading the Mars Crimson Rebels?"
"My brother died in the battle of Libra during the Eve wars. This man who calls himself Zechs Merquise bares not the Peacecraft name, nor its ideology. His motives and reasons are unknown to me."
The sea of reporters erupted again, each newsman attempting to get Relenas attention.
"Yes, you there." The young woman pointed to the short old man in the middle of the throng of newsmen.
"Thank you Miss Peacecraft." The old man looked up at the podium, his deep chocolate brown eyes piercing the Vice Foreign Minister. "What stance do you plan on taking with these new Rebels?"
The young blonde woman was shaken by the haunting familiarity of the older mans voice, but quickly recovered her composure.
"Yes, well, as always I stick by my philosophy of total pacifism. We must show these people that there is no need for violence, and that we can work out a peaceful, and bloodless end to this conflict."
"And what if they refuse to listen to your ideals, Miss Peacecraft?" The reporter asked flatly.
Relena paused at the tone of the mans voice, cold yet comforting to her.
"If they persist on this course of action... then God help us all." Relena finally answered. Turning to make her way off of the stage, the young Minister made her way out of the pressroom as another bureaucrat made his way to the podium.
Relena made her way into the master bedroom of her Brussels palace. She sat in the ivory lined chair before the massive mirror of her bureau as one her aides began running a comb through her long blonde hair.
"Is there a problem Ms. Relena?"
"Huh? No, there's no problem." Relena waved off the young aide, wishing to be left by herself. The heiress stared up at the ceiling, "Heero..."
"...where are you?" The pilot of the Deathscythe Hell starred anxiously up at the massive red white and blue suit before him. Wing ZERO, the ultimate weapon, but only when flown by the ultimate pilot-a pilot that has chosen to remain in the shadows, even as the flames of war began to build again.
"Heero will make his presence known when he deems it necessary." Wufei looked up from his resting-place against the far wall.
"I think it's pretty damn necessary!" Duo snapped at his comrade.
"Calm down." Trowa slowly made his way into the room. He carried a hand held computer as he ran through data.
"Whatcha got there?" Duo asked, turning from ZERO's imposing visage.
"Some information on our savior." Trowa replied flatly, turning his attention back to the machine. "Marcus Leeper, Born May 9th, AC 180. Father: Peter Leeper, Mother: Maria Leeper, deceased. Born on the L2 colony, an American, heir to Leeper Technologies Incorporated."
"That's all fine and dandy Trowa, but we already know that."
"That's the problem Duo, this is all there is. All other data, especially medical, is sealed, impossible to access. There's something he's trying to hide.
Marcus stepped out of the cockpit of his Gundam, sweat beading down his for-head. Turning a corner, he slipped into a darkened alcove. Slumping to his knees, the young heir gripped griped the sides of his head. The young man shook with a combination of fear and pain, his eyes wide with a terror unseen. With a violently shaking hand, Marcus reached into his trench coat, and pulled out syringe filled with a semi-clear liquid. Slowly, Marcus raised the needle to his jugular vein. The trembling young man pressed on the plunger as he drove the syringe into his neck. His breathing steadied as the drug began to take its toll. He would be found nearly an hour later by one of the soldiers on the base and taken to his quarters.
L2, Administrators Building
Zechs and Noin sat together on a large leather couch in the main office of the large building. An officer saluted them as he entered the room. The pair waved off the salute as the man began his report.
"Forces from Mars report that all preparations for attack have been made sirs."
"Have our contacts reported in?" Noin turned her gaze from Zechs to the new arrival.
"Yes ma'am, all contacts within the space colonies have reported in. All of the colonies are prepared."
"Excellent." Zechs dismissed the young man, and turned his attention back to the raven-haired woman beside him.
"You know Relena just denounced you at news conference broadcast throughout the colonies." Noin turned back to Zechs.
"Relena is a strong willed woman, I can't expect her to see things the same way we do."
"She said you weren't her brother, that he died at Libra."
"If that helps her to cope, the people will support her as they always have. She is still their queen to them, for now."
"Are we doing the right thing Zechs?" Noin stared longingly into his eyes.
The Lightening Count returned her stare, looking down at her through his mask, "We're doing what must be done Noin, history will reflect that.
The pair drew closer, lips touching just barely.
"I have to contact our superior." Zechs reluctantly broke their tender moment as he pushed himself off the couch.
"Which one?" Noin laughed to herself as Zechs exited the room.
Earth Several hours later
Marcus set the phone down and surveyed the scene before him. The Gundam pilots seemed to be responding well to the new surroundings. Trowa was at one of the many computer consoles going through God only knows how much information; Wufei was working out with the V.R. simulator; Duo was running through the printout on his Gundam; and Quatre, well, he was still in his room, starring at his picture of Noin.
Marcus made his way over to the pilot of the Deathscythe Hell.
"So, how is everything?"
"Huh? Oh, everything's looking' fine."
"That's good, we're gonna need it, the rebels have just taken the L1 colony." Marcus spoke, his voice flat with seemingly no concern for the colony's inhabitants.
"What!?! Damn it, we could have stopped them if we were up there!" Duo protested. "You've been keeping us down here when we could have been up there protecting the colonies!" Duo grabbed his host by his jacket, catching the attention of the surrounding soldiers.
Marcus raised one hand, calling off the surrounding guards, "Calm down Duo. Even if we were up there, we wouldn't have stood a chance."
"Wha, what are you talking about?" Maxwell slowly lowered the young Leeper.
"Think about it, how did the rebels surprise an entire Preventers detachment? How did they get passed the colony's exterior defense systems? And how did they enter the colony without breaking through its outer wall?"
"Th, they had people on the inside." Duo's eyes widened at the realization.
"They knew when to attack and where. They had a way to get in without causing a ruckus. If we'd have been protecting the colonies, they'd have known about it, and they'd have brought even more suits. The only reason they didn't spot me on L2 ahead of time was because I had almost as many men there as they did, it wouldn't have been the same on the other colonies. They would have wiped us out." Marcus finished his speech as the other Gundam pilots gathered around him.
"How is that even possible?" Wufei spoke up. "How is that can they have amassed an entire army, complete with spies without anyone noticing?"
Marcus turned his head to the young Chinese pilot, "They had a corporate backer."
"Mars Battle Tech." Quatre spoke up from the back of the group, the realization hitting him like a Leo.
"That's why your company opposed their bid for the Preventers' contract." Trowa added.
"Exactly. My family has more than enough money, we only threw our hat into the ring because we knew what their intentions were."
"And just how did you come across such information?" Duo asked accusingly.
"That's one of my little secrets, one you all will find out when the time comes." Marcus turned from the group and headed towards his Gundam.
Duos eyes followed the young heir as he made his way into the massive machine, "Yeah, but it may be to late for us when that time does come."
L2, Administrators offices
"L1 has been taken sir." The captain at the computer terminal turned to the officers behind him.
Zechs and Noin looked on at the computer screen, several red dots showing the locations of several rebel units.
"How many suits did we loose?"
"None sir. But several Preventers suits tried resisting and were destroyed."
"I wish they would just give in." Noin spoke up, slightly noticeable sadness in her voice.
"Actually, ma'am, it would seem some of them have come to the realization that we can not be stopped. Our contacts in the L4 and L5 colony clusters report that the Administrators of the two colonies wish to negotiate peaceful surrender. However, it would seem the L3 colony is still going to resist us."
"We will have to show them the error of their ways."
"It shall be quite an easy task with the Lightening Count against them sir."
Under his mask, Zechs blushed slightly as Noin chuckled at his reaction.
Back on Earth
The four Gundam pilots had gathered in the bases gigantic mess hall. Duo made his way to their huge booth carrying a tray full of extremely greasy hamburgers.
"Yum! It's been to long since I've had myself a good burger." Duo lifted the grease dripping burger to his mouth and chomped down on the massive meat patty.
The horde of soldiers in the mess hall jumped to attention as warning sirens began blaring through out the base.
"Scramble, scramble!" a voice came over the PA system, "All pilots scramble, the Neo will be lifting off in thirty minutes."
The other three pilots leapt from their both and made their way quickly out of the hall, leaving Duo sitting alone.
"Bu, but, my burger." Duo stammered his mouth still full of half-chewed ground beef. "Aww, God damn it!" Duo threw down his burger and made his way to the ship. When Duo arrived, he found Marcus overseeing the loading of the Gundams on to the massive warship.
"What's goin' on? Why are we taking off?"
"Contacts within the L3 colony cluster report that several Preventers units escaped there from the other colonies and Mars. Word is they're trying to resist the rebels, we're heading out to support them."
"Finally, I was getting' bored down here." Duo ran past the young Leeper and into the ship.
Another patch of ground lifted up as the Neo slowly made its way out of the ground and up into the sky.
Marcus and the other Gundam pilots were gathered on the bridge of the ship, watching the world move slowly passed them.
"How long will it take for us to make it to L3?" Quatre turned to Marcus.
"As soon as we clear the launch pad we'll be able to move at full speed," Marcus hoisted himself into one of the large chairs and strapped himself in, "we should be there in a few hours." As if one cue, the thrusters on the Neo exploded to full power, knocking the four Gundam pilots of their feet.
"Gee, a little warning would have helped." Duo snapped, with Wufei muttering something about injustice.
Marcus smirked just slightly at the other pilots' reaction as the ship made its way through the atmosphere.
The space around the L3 colony was filled with carriers from the escaped Preventers units.
"This is unexpected." Zechs spoke up from within the Tallgeese 3.
"They had to go somewhere Zechs." Noin responded through a vid link. "Word is that the Preventers were already fairly strong in L3."
"So I had heard. They have several Research and Development labs in the colonies here. This will complicate things, but we will still be triumphant."
"Of course Zechs, of course." Noin closed the vid link as the carrier from the L2 colonies made their way to the battlefield. As the fleet drew closer, the bottoms of the ships opened up to release their deadly payload. Led by the Tallgeese 3 and Noins white Taurus, the horde of Scorpios made their way towards the colony.
Zechs flipped a switch in the cockpit and signaled the colony's defenders, "This is Chief Admiral Zechs Marquis of the Mars Crimson Rebels. Surrender your suits and stand down and no harm shall come to you."
The carriers ignored Zechs' order and silently released their payload of suits.
Zechs stopped short at army of mobile suits before him. Only they weren't suits, they were dolls, Virgo mobile dolls. The soulless machines deployed their planet deffenser beam shields into one gigantic, impenetrable barrier. The dolls raised their beam cannons, the chargers on their shoulders spinning, wafts of energy swirling into the barrels, then released the blasts of energy tearing through several of the rebel carriers and suits.
Zechs and Noin shot off from the pack of suits, dozens of Scorpio units following their lead.
The massive cannon of Zechs suit pointed to the heart of the enemy forces, charged to full. The cannon opened up, letting lose a bright yellow wave of destruction towards the mass of Virgos. The beam slammed into the shield with a blinding flash. When the light died down, the Virgos had broken formation, flying at the rebel forces. The forces clashed with deafening explosions. The ESUN dolls tore into the Scorpios, the power of the mobile doll system giving the machines a slight advantage.
Slowly, the Scorpio units began to turn the tide through sheer force of numbers. As the Virgos continued to fall, a warning light flashed on Noins screen.
"More of them on the way Zechs."
"I'll handle these toys Noin, you make your way to the colony."
"Yes sir!" Noin pushed her Taurus full speed to the colony as Zechs leveled his massive beam cannon at the oncoming squad of eight Virgos.
The yellow swath of destruction rocketed from the mouth of the cannon, and screamed strait for the squad of suits. Before the blast reached the charging suit, the squad split in several different directions.
Six of the Virgos went off and into the heat of the battle. With their beam cannons firing, the seemingly soulless monsters fought off the rebel forces with strangely human reactions
Zechs eyed his target as it moved across his view screen. Uncoiling the active heat rod, the Tallgeese swung at the Virgo, catching nothing but the blackness of space.
The Virgo ducked under the swinging whip. With movements too quick for a doll, the Virgo swung its cannon up, and let lose a small blast that took off the massive suits whip.
"How is this possible, dolls can't move that way." Zechs asked no one in particular, his voice slightly shaky, yet his eyes set firmly on the target.
One of the Virgos slammed on its thrusters, crashing into Noins Taurus. As the white suit shook itself free from its attacker, Noin swore she heard something from the Virgo that seemed impossible, a human scream.
The Virgo came screaming at the Taurus again, crashing into the white suit.
Noins eyes shook as the enemy suit opened a video link. There on her screen, eyes flaming with rage, was Sally Po.
"Damn you! You traitor!" The young Chinese woman screamed as she lifted the Virgos beam cannon.
//A converted Virgo. That's what they were working on.// Noin thought to herself as she barely managed to dodge Sally's blast. Noin fired her beam riffle at Sally's Virgo, only to have the shot bounce off of the suits beam shield.
"Damn it Sally! Why'd you have to get involved? This has nothing to do with you!" Noin drew her suits beam saber, tossing the riffle aside.
"Nothing to do with me, you were my friend, and you betrayed me, you betrayed all of us." The Virgos beam shield reformed tightly around the large black suit as she prepared for Noins next attack.
Zechs reached the right hand of the Tallgeese under the machine's shield, drawing out a beam saber. Charging the attacking Virgo, Zechs swung his sword across the chest of the Virgo. The saber crashed into the Virgo with a blinding flash. When the light died down, the Virgo still stood, its planet defensors wrapped around its right arm like a shield.
"That's it, this can't be a doll." Zechs concluded as the Virgo pushed itself off. Zechs charged the suit again, bringing the beam saber down at the suit.
The Lightening Count was caught off guard when the Virgo blasted the beam saber from his grasp. As he readied the second beam saber, Zechs realized the reasoning behind the pilots last attack. Before the errant beam saber could float off into space, the Virgo reached out and grabbed it with its free hand.
Zechs smirked at his enemy's actions, "He's good, he's real good."
The Virgo activated the saber and turned to the Tallgeese. The two suits stood silently in the blackness of space, a vision of a battle long past.
Zechs smirked at the image of the suit before him, "He's back."
The sheer mass of the Scorpios began to overrun the Virgos, and as the dolls began to fall, the Scorpios turned their attention to the piloted ones. The hordes of red suits unleashed their beam riffles at the six Virgos before them, as Zechs and Noin held off Sally and the unknown Virgo pilot.
"Sally please, just leave here, I don't wanna fight you." Noin pleaded with her old friend.
"You gave up that right when you betrayed us." Sally blasted her beam cannon at the head of Noins Taurus. The white suit ducked under the yellow blast just before it crashed into its head.
The two beam sabers clashed with blinding fury. Zechs and the Virgo exchanged sword blows again and again, neither gaining an advantage. The stalemate continued until a small light drew both pilots' attention.
The computers in all of the suits zoomed in on the oncoming object. Black with white, and armed to the teeth, the huge warship made its way to the battlefield.
From within the cockpit of the Dark Angel, Marcus gave the final orders to the captain of the Neo.
"Lay down cover with the missiles. As soon as we clear the ship, blanket the battle field with the mega particle cannons." Complying with his masters orders, the captain saluted and closed the video link. Marcus turned to the front of the cockpit, eyes transfixed on the battle field before him. The Dark Angle loaded on to the launching pad, Sandrock and Heavyarms beside it, Altron and Deathscythe Hell on the two outer pads bellow it.
The missile bays opened, releasing their deadly payload and granting the Gundams a clear launch path.
"Launch away!" The Leeper heir ordered, his voice now deep, cold and menacing, just as it was when he had first made his appearance.
The launch pads shot the Gundams forward and into the melee. As the five behemoths flew towards the fray, Quatre began giving the orders.
"There are 50 suits already deployed, more still in the carriers. I'll take the left flank, Duo you take the right, and Trowa and Wufei, you two make sure they don't take the colony. Marcus..." Before Quatre could advise the new pilot, the Dark Angel blasted off from the group and towards the unemptied carriers.
Duo rocketed into a group of Scorpios, the Deathscythe Hell's twin beam scythes burning with power. The blades tore into a single Scorpio, slicing down the middle. Spinning to its left, the massive black Gundam ripped through three more Scorpios. A shot from one of the enemy suits shook the Gundam for an instant. Turning to face his attacker, Duo launched one of his buster shields, the beam blade ignited. The weapon spun into the chest of the enemy, ripping it to shreds.
"Don't mess with the God of Death." Duo quipped his signature line as the enemy burst into flames.
"Duo, Duo?!? Is that you Duo?" A call came from one of the piloted Virgos Duo had rescued.
"HILDE! You made it out!" The Deathscythe pilot reacted in shock to the sound of his friend's voice.
"I'm not helpless Duo." Hilde snapped.
The dragon fang on the right arm of the Altron snapped into place. Wufei shot the weapon forward, grabbing one of the Scorpios by the head. Pulling the unit forward, Wufei brought the tail beam riffles to bare. Blasting a hole in the cockpit of the red unit, the Gundam spun to left, tossing the useless heap away. The light from Natakus twin beam trident flashed to life as the pilot within sent the Gundam into a group of enemies.
"You can't escape Natakus justice!" Wufei ripped through one of the enemies before the pilot could react. Twirling it weapon like a trained martial artist, the Altron Gundam turned to face the other enemies.
Marcus grunted as the ships before him let loose their suits. The Scorpios fired on the Dark Angel with relentless ferocity. The hail of beam blasts knocked the charging Gundam back on its heels. With thrusters blazing, the massive beast flew into the sky. Leveling the Particle Beam Accelerator, Marcus let loose the clear yellow wave, tearing through the center of the armada.
The Heavy arms blasted through a group of Scorpios, turning once past the enemy. Leveling the gattling guns, Towa strafed the group of suits knocking them back. Opening the suits missile bays, Trowa blanketed the enemy battalion with the warheads. The suits were ripped to shreds within the blinding light of the warheads' explosion.
The Sandrock hurtled into the group of Scorpios surrounding Noin and Sally. Crashing into one of the enemies, the sheer weight of the Gundam pushed the suit back into one of its cohorts. Before the Scorpios could react, Quatre lifted the shield arm of his suit to behind his back, setting the heat shottles in place. The scissors like weapon shot forward, slicing off the heads of the two suits.
"Miss Noin!" Quatre shouted, his voice full half with anger and half with sorrow.
The scream caught Noins attention, drawing her gaze from the battle, and giving Sally the opening she needed.
Duo pressed on; the vulcan guns on his suit tearing into the enemies as Hilde gave him cover with her Virgo. The pair pressed through the enemies, finally reaching the center of the rebel group, the dueling black and white suits.
The superiority of the Tallgeese began to take its toll on the Virgo and its mystery pilot. Zechs smirked to himself as he swung his suits heat rod, taking of one of the Virgos arm and the beam saber with it. The Tallgeese raised its beam saber and brought it down for the killing blow, only to be stopped by the flash of Deathscythe's beam sickle.
"Get out of here!" Duo ordered the unknown pilot as he held back the Tallgeese.
Ignoring Duos order, the Virgo blew past the Deathscythe Hell and slammed its left shoulder into the gut of the massive whit mobile suit. As the Tallgeese recovered from the Virgos attack, the black suit readied its beam riffle, blasting the white suit square in the chest. Deflecting most of the blast with his shield, Zechs raised his beam cannon and fired on the Virgo. The pilot within the suit was caught slightly of guard, and was barely able to bring up its planet deffenser shield. The yellow wave slammed into the shield, lightening and energy crackling off the shield generators. Unable to withstand the onslaught anymore, the suits shield cracked and snapped with electricity for an instant then gave way to the power of the blast. The wave tore through the Virgo, ripping off its other arm and most of its right side.
Zechs readied his beam cannon again, when the weapon exploded, shredded by Duos second buster shield.
Duo charged at Zechs with Hilde firing at the Tallgeese from behind him. "Damnit! Get out of here, now!" Duo ordered as he slammed into the Tallgeese.
"Hn." The flat response of the mystery pilot as he turned his Virgo and rocketed from the battle drew Duo and Hilde's attention from their opponent. The Tallgeese swung its heat rod upwards, relieving Duo of his beam scythe.
"All forces, return to the ships." Zechs called out as he blasted off from the battle and back to what remained of his ships.
"Oh no you don't." Duo grunted as he prepared to give chase. But before the Gundam could fire its thrusters, it was slammed backwards when a large black and white object slammed into it.
The Dark Angel picked itself out of the pile it had made with the Deathscythe Hell. With little more than a grunt from its pilot, the beast blasted into the mass of Scorpios that had sent it into Duo, its beam saber drawn slashing through the group. All the while, Duo could only watch as Zechs steadily made his way out of Duos range.
Noin barely avoided the barrage of shot's from Quatre's beam pistol, the superior speed of the Taurus keeping her safe, that is until the entire suit was shaken by the force of a shot from Sally's Virgo.
"I can't let you get away Miss Noin!" Quatre swung his right sickle, slicing off his enemy's beam saber arm.
Reacting to the attack, Noin readied her Taurus's beam cannon. Blasting her way backwards, Noin finally caught the end of Zechs' retreat order.
"Sally, Quatre... I'm sorry." Quickly converting the suit to its fighter mode, the raven-haired beauty ran from those she once called friends.
"Damn it! Get back here!" Sally screamed as she fired her weapon without care, trying to catch Noin.
"Sally, SALLY! Calm down!" Duo put his Gundam in the path of the fiery Chinese pilot.
As the remnants of the attacking rebels made their way back to the L2 colony, The battered Gundams and the ESUN Virgos limped into the L3 cluster.
While the ESUN pilots celebrated their first victory over the Rebels, the Gundam pilots, with Sally and Hilde, sat in quiet contemplation, until Duo broke the silence.
"Just who the hell was that other Virgo pilot?" The braided pilot turned to Hilde sitting next to him.
"Huh? The guy that was fighting Zechs? I'm not sure he should be over there with the other elite unit pilots." Hilde gestured to a group of men gathered at around several bottles of liquor.
"Elite unit, huh? Must be why you guys got those supped up Virgos."
"Yup, that's why Duo. When me and Sally escaped L2 and came here, they were just throwing the unit together, and thought themselves blessed to have the two of us joining them."
"Gee Hilde, your ego hasn't grown at all." Duo chuckled, though he was soon nursing a large welt on his head.
Suppressing a bit of laughter, Quatre looked up at the elite unit. "Wait a minute, there were eight of you guys in the fight and none of you died, so why are there are only five guys?"
"Huh?" Sally looked over at the group. "Lets see, Ryu, Hiato, Kai, Jobe, and I think that tall gangly one's called Jimbob. The colony reps. Said that the last pilot had just singed on when we got word of the attack, we never met him."
"But you are sure it was a male pilot?"
"Yes Wufei, I'm sure it was a male pilot." Sally rolled her eyes.
"So where on Earth is he?" Duo asked, to no one in particular.
"Exactly." Marcus spoke up; his head still buried in a palm computer. "Reports have it that a mobile suit transport ship made its way to Earth shortly after the battle carrying one damaged Virgo unit."
"How?" Quatre asked the young heir.
"I've told you before, I have my ways. But as for right now, we've got more important business to take care of. The rebels have control of Mars and all colonies but this one. Not counting this colony, the ESUN's only remaining strong holds are the Lunar Base and Earth. The Lunar bases defenses are strong and consolidated enough to hold off the rebels for a while, but the Earth is fat to large for their forces alone to protect."
"But how do we decide which to defend; Earth, or space?" Trowa asked flatly.
"If done properly, we can defend both, it a; depends on our weapons of choice. Duo and Wufei's Gundams are both suited for space combat, whereas Trowa and Quatre's both function highly on Earth. Being based primarily on Wing ZERO, the Dark Angel can function equally in either area."
"So, with me and Wuffers here..."
"Don't call me that!"
"Right... so with the two of us up here with the Preventers backing us, we take on the Rebels, while you three go down and protect the Earth?"
"That's about it."
"I'm staying with Duo!" Hilde screamed at the top of her lungs as she grabbed Duo around the neck as the young Gundam pilot developed a huge sweat drop on the side of his head.
"Well, I guess that settles it." Marcus got up from his seat; "I'll ready the Neo and as soon as repairs are complete."
Several hours passed and the gigantic warship Neo slowly made its way out of the large colony and towards Earth. What battles and mysteries await the Gundam pilots on the shining blue marble? What is the fate of the space colonies? And who is the mysterious escaped Virgo pilot? All questions to be left for the next episode of Gundam Wing: Of Many Minds.
After Colony 200. The Earth Sphere has been shaken to its core by the surprise attack of a group of rebels. The L2 colony has fallen under the fist of the Mars Crimson Rebels. As this new force announces its intentions, the four Gundam pilots receive a gift from their mysterious savior. Beneath the city of Pittsburgh, the Gundams rise from the ashes of destruction. However, with the revelation of Zechs and Noins betrayal, can the addition of the LTI heir, Marcus Leeper, give the earth a fighting chance?
Gundam Wing: Of Many Minds
Episode 2: Weapon of Choice
It had taken four guards and the threat of tranquilizers to calm Duo. Everyone sympathized with him, with his rage. Noin had been one of their staunchest allies, a friend through everything, and Zechs, well... he at least had their respect. But they had thrown all of that out of the window, for what, an obscure ideal, a rambling speech, some dream of a "new type of human race"?
Quatre sat looking at a photo he had taken of Miss Noin and Relena Peacecraft a few months after the defeat of the Barton foundation. The two young women looked so peaceful, so serene. Noins Preventers unit had just been given extra funding and even Relena backed them, despite her pacifistic ideals. Starring at the frozen image, the young Winner heir asked himself just how his Peacecraft friend would handle this new situation. As he slowly fell into deep thought, Quatre could swear he heard the voice of the Vice Foreign Minister.
The light from the T.V. caught his eye, and the young man looked from his picture, only to find the face of the young Peacecraft heiress on the screen.
"Miss Peacecraft, Miss Peacecraft." The young reporter before the Minister called out.
"Yes, Mr. Gordon."
"What is your reaction to your brother leading the Mars Crimson Rebels?"
"My brother died in the battle of Libra during the Eve wars. This man who calls himself Zechs Merquise bares not the Peacecraft name, nor its ideology. His motives and reasons are unknown to me."
The sea of reporters erupted again, each newsman attempting to get Relenas attention.
"Yes, you there." The young woman pointed to the short old man in the middle of the throng of newsmen.
"Thank you Miss Peacecraft." The old man looked up at the podium, his deep chocolate brown eyes piercing the Vice Foreign Minister. "What stance do you plan on taking with these new Rebels?"
The young blonde woman was shaken by the haunting familiarity of the older mans voice, but quickly recovered her composure.
"Yes, well, as always I stick by my philosophy of total pacifism. We must show these people that there is no need for violence, and that we can work out a peaceful, and bloodless end to this conflict."
"And what if they refuse to listen to your ideals, Miss Peacecraft?" The reporter asked flatly.
Relena paused at the tone of the mans voice, cold yet comforting to her.
"If they persist on this course of action... then God help us all." Relena finally answered. Turning to make her way off of the stage, the young Minister made her way out of the pressroom as another bureaucrat made his way to the podium.
Relena made her way into the master bedroom of her Brussels palace. She sat in the ivory lined chair before the massive mirror of her bureau as one her aides began running a comb through her long blonde hair.
"Is there a problem Ms. Relena?"
"Huh? No, there's no problem." Relena waved off the young aide, wishing to be left by herself. The heiress stared up at the ceiling, "Heero..."
"...where are you?" The pilot of the Deathscythe Hell starred anxiously up at the massive red white and blue suit before him. Wing ZERO, the ultimate weapon, but only when flown by the ultimate pilot-a pilot that has chosen to remain in the shadows, even as the flames of war began to build again.
"Heero will make his presence known when he deems it necessary." Wufei looked up from his resting-place against the far wall.
"I think it's pretty damn necessary!" Duo snapped at his comrade.
"Calm down." Trowa slowly made his way into the room. He carried a hand held computer as he ran through data.
"Whatcha got there?" Duo asked, turning from ZERO's imposing visage.
"Some information on our savior." Trowa replied flatly, turning his attention back to the machine. "Marcus Leeper, Born May 9th, AC 180. Father: Peter Leeper, Mother: Maria Leeper, deceased. Born on the L2 colony, an American, heir to Leeper Technologies Incorporated."
"That's all fine and dandy Trowa, but we already know that."
"That's the problem Duo, this is all there is. All other data, especially medical, is sealed, impossible to access. There's something he's trying to hide.
Marcus stepped out of the cockpit of his Gundam, sweat beading down his for-head. Turning a corner, he slipped into a darkened alcove. Slumping to his knees, the young heir gripped griped the sides of his head. The young man shook with a combination of fear and pain, his eyes wide with a terror unseen. With a violently shaking hand, Marcus reached into his trench coat, and pulled out syringe filled with a semi-clear liquid. Slowly, Marcus raised the needle to his jugular vein. The trembling young man pressed on the plunger as he drove the syringe into his neck. His breathing steadied as the drug began to take its toll. He would be found nearly an hour later by one of the soldiers on the base and taken to his quarters.
L2, Administrators Building
Zechs and Noin sat together on a large leather couch in the main office of the large building. An officer saluted them as he entered the room. The pair waved off the salute as the man began his report.
"Forces from Mars report that all preparations for attack have been made sirs."
"Have our contacts reported in?" Noin turned her gaze from Zechs to the new arrival.
"Yes ma'am, all contacts within the space colonies have reported in. All of the colonies are prepared."
"Excellent." Zechs dismissed the young man, and turned his attention back to the raven-haired woman beside him.
"You know Relena just denounced you at news conference broadcast throughout the colonies." Noin turned back to Zechs.
"Relena is a strong willed woman, I can't expect her to see things the same way we do."
"She said you weren't her brother, that he died at Libra."
"If that helps her to cope, the people will support her as they always have. She is still their queen to them, for now."
"Are we doing the right thing Zechs?" Noin stared longingly into his eyes.
The Lightening Count returned her stare, looking down at her through his mask, "We're doing what must be done Noin, history will reflect that.
The pair drew closer, lips touching just barely.
"I have to contact our superior." Zechs reluctantly broke their tender moment as he pushed himself off the couch.
"Which one?" Noin laughed to herself as Zechs exited the room.
Earth Several hours later
Marcus set the phone down and surveyed the scene before him. The Gundam pilots seemed to be responding well to the new surroundings. Trowa was at one of the many computer consoles going through God only knows how much information; Wufei was working out with the V.R. simulator; Duo was running through the printout on his Gundam; and Quatre, well, he was still in his room, starring at his picture of Noin.
Marcus made his way over to the pilot of the Deathscythe Hell.
"So, how is everything?"
"Huh? Oh, everything's looking' fine."
"That's good, we're gonna need it, the rebels have just taken the L1 colony." Marcus spoke, his voice flat with seemingly no concern for the colony's inhabitants.
"What!?! Damn it, we could have stopped them if we were up there!" Duo protested. "You've been keeping us down here when we could have been up there protecting the colonies!" Duo grabbed his host by his jacket, catching the attention of the surrounding soldiers.
Marcus raised one hand, calling off the surrounding guards, "Calm down Duo. Even if we were up there, we wouldn't have stood a chance."
"Wha, what are you talking about?" Maxwell slowly lowered the young Leeper.
"Think about it, how did the rebels surprise an entire Preventers detachment? How did they get passed the colony's exterior defense systems? And how did they enter the colony without breaking through its outer wall?"
"Th, they had people on the inside." Duo's eyes widened at the realization.
"They knew when to attack and where. They had a way to get in without causing a ruckus. If we'd have been protecting the colonies, they'd have known about it, and they'd have brought even more suits. The only reason they didn't spot me on L2 ahead of time was because I had almost as many men there as they did, it wouldn't have been the same on the other colonies. They would have wiped us out." Marcus finished his speech as the other Gundam pilots gathered around him.
"How is that even possible?" Wufei spoke up. "How is that can they have amassed an entire army, complete with spies without anyone noticing?"
Marcus turned his head to the young Chinese pilot, "They had a corporate backer."
"Mars Battle Tech." Quatre spoke up from the back of the group, the realization hitting him like a Leo.
"That's why your company opposed their bid for the Preventers' contract." Trowa added.
"Exactly. My family has more than enough money, we only threw our hat into the ring because we knew what their intentions were."
"And just how did you come across such information?" Duo asked accusingly.
"That's one of my little secrets, one you all will find out when the time comes." Marcus turned from the group and headed towards his Gundam.
Duos eyes followed the young heir as he made his way into the massive machine, "Yeah, but it may be to late for us when that time does come."
L2, Administrators offices
"L1 has been taken sir." The captain at the computer terminal turned to the officers behind him.
Zechs and Noin looked on at the computer screen, several red dots showing the locations of several rebel units.
"How many suits did we loose?"
"None sir. But several Preventers suits tried resisting and were destroyed."
"I wish they would just give in." Noin spoke up, slightly noticeable sadness in her voice.
"Actually, ma'am, it would seem some of them have come to the realization that we can not be stopped. Our contacts in the L4 and L5 colony clusters report that the Administrators of the two colonies wish to negotiate peaceful surrender. However, it would seem the L3 colony is still going to resist us."
"We will have to show them the error of their ways."
"It shall be quite an easy task with the Lightening Count against them sir."
Under his mask, Zechs blushed slightly as Noin chuckled at his reaction.
Back on Earth
The four Gundam pilots had gathered in the bases gigantic mess hall. Duo made his way to their huge booth carrying a tray full of extremely greasy hamburgers.
"Yum! It's been to long since I've had myself a good burger." Duo lifted the grease dripping burger to his mouth and chomped down on the massive meat patty.
The horde of soldiers in the mess hall jumped to attention as warning sirens began blaring through out the base.
"Scramble, scramble!" a voice came over the PA system, "All pilots scramble, the Neo will be lifting off in thirty minutes."
The other three pilots leapt from their both and made their way quickly out of the hall, leaving Duo sitting alone.
"Bu, but, my burger." Duo stammered his mouth still full of half-chewed ground beef. "Aww, God damn it!" Duo threw down his burger and made his way to the ship. When Duo arrived, he found Marcus overseeing the loading of the Gundams on to the massive warship.
"What's goin' on? Why are we taking off?"
"Contacts within the L3 colony cluster report that several Preventers units escaped there from the other colonies and Mars. Word is they're trying to resist the rebels, we're heading out to support them."
"Finally, I was getting' bored down here." Duo ran past the young Leeper and into the ship.
Another patch of ground lifted up as the Neo slowly made its way out of the ground and up into the sky.
Marcus and the other Gundam pilots were gathered on the bridge of the ship, watching the world move slowly passed them.
"How long will it take for us to make it to L3?" Quatre turned to Marcus.
"As soon as we clear the launch pad we'll be able to move at full speed," Marcus hoisted himself into one of the large chairs and strapped himself in, "we should be there in a few hours." As if one cue, the thrusters on the Neo exploded to full power, knocking the four Gundam pilots of their feet.
"Gee, a little warning would have helped." Duo snapped, with Wufei muttering something about injustice.
Marcus smirked just slightly at the other pilots' reaction as the ship made its way through the atmosphere.
The space around the L3 colony was filled with carriers from the escaped Preventers units.
"This is unexpected." Zechs spoke up from within the Tallgeese 3.
"They had to go somewhere Zechs." Noin responded through a vid link. "Word is that the Preventers were already fairly strong in L3."
"So I had heard. They have several Research and Development labs in the colonies here. This will complicate things, but we will still be triumphant."
"Of course Zechs, of course." Noin closed the vid link as the carrier from the L2 colonies made their way to the battlefield. As the fleet drew closer, the bottoms of the ships opened up to release their deadly payload. Led by the Tallgeese 3 and Noins white Taurus, the horde of Scorpios made their way towards the colony.
Zechs flipped a switch in the cockpit and signaled the colony's defenders, "This is Chief Admiral Zechs Marquis of the Mars Crimson Rebels. Surrender your suits and stand down and no harm shall come to you."
The carriers ignored Zechs' order and silently released their payload of suits.
Zechs stopped short at army of mobile suits before him. Only they weren't suits, they were dolls, Virgo mobile dolls. The soulless machines deployed their planet deffenser beam shields into one gigantic, impenetrable barrier. The dolls raised their beam cannons, the chargers on their shoulders spinning, wafts of energy swirling into the barrels, then released the blasts of energy tearing through several of the rebel carriers and suits.
Zechs and Noin shot off from the pack of suits, dozens of Scorpio units following their lead.
The massive cannon of Zechs suit pointed to the heart of the enemy forces, charged to full. The cannon opened up, letting lose a bright yellow wave of destruction towards the mass of Virgos. The beam slammed into the shield with a blinding flash. When the light died down, the Virgos had broken formation, flying at the rebel forces. The forces clashed with deafening explosions. The ESUN dolls tore into the Scorpios, the power of the mobile doll system giving the machines a slight advantage.
Slowly, the Scorpio units began to turn the tide through sheer force of numbers. As the Virgos continued to fall, a warning light flashed on Noins screen.
"More of them on the way Zechs."
"I'll handle these toys Noin, you make your way to the colony."
"Yes sir!" Noin pushed her Taurus full speed to the colony as Zechs leveled his massive beam cannon at the oncoming squad of eight Virgos.
The yellow swath of destruction rocketed from the mouth of the cannon, and screamed strait for the squad of suits. Before the blast reached the charging suit, the squad split in several different directions.
Six of the Virgos went off and into the heat of the battle. With their beam cannons firing, the seemingly soulless monsters fought off the rebel forces with strangely human reactions
Zechs eyed his target as it moved across his view screen. Uncoiling the active heat rod, the Tallgeese swung at the Virgo, catching nothing but the blackness of space.
The Virgo ducked under the swinging whip. With movements too quick for a doll, the Virgo swung its cannon up, and let lose a small blast that took off the massive suits whip.
"How is this possible, dolls can't move that way." Zechs asked no one in particular, his voice slightly shaky, yet his eyes set firmly on the target.
One of the Virgos slammed on its thrusters, crashing into Noins Taurus. As the white suit shook itself free from its attacker, Noin swore she heard something from the Virgo that seemed impossible, a human scream.
The Virgo came screaming at the Taurus again, crashing into the white suit.
Noins eyes shook as the enemy suit opened a video link. There on her screen, eyes flaming with rage, was Sally Po.
"Damn you! You traitor!" The young Chinese woman screamed as she lifted the Virgos beam cannon.
//A converted Virgo. That's what they were working on.// Noin thought to herself as she barely managed to dodge Sally's blast. Noin fired her beam riffle at Sally's Virgo, only to have the shot bounce off of the suits beam shield.
"Damn it Sally! Why'd you have to get involved? This has nothing to do with you!" Noin drew her suits beam saber, tossing the riffle aside.
"Nothing to do with me, you were my friend, and you betrayed me, you betrayed all of us." The Virgos beam shield reformed tightly around the large black suit as she prepared for Noins next attack.
Zechs reached the right hand of the Tallgeese under the machine's shield, drawing out a beam saber. Charging the attacking Virgo, Zechs swung his sword across the chest of the Virgo. The saber crashed into the Virgo with a blinding flash. When the light died down, the Virgo still stood, its planet defensors wrapped around its right arm like a shield.
"That's it, this can't be a doll." Zechs concluded as the Virgo pushed itself off. Zechs charged the suit again, bringing the beam saber down at the suit.
The Lightening Count was caught off guard when the Virgo blasted the beam saber from his grasp. As he readied the second beam saber, Zechs realized the reasoning behind the pilots last attack. Before the errant beam saber could float off into space, the Virgo reached out and grabbed it with its free hand.
Zechs smirked at his enemy's actions, "He's good, he's real good."
The Virgo activated the saber and turned to the Tallgeese. The two suits stood silently in the blackness of space, a vision of a battle long past.
Zechs smirked at the image of the suit before him, "He's back."
The sheer mass of the Scorpios began to overrun the Virgos, and as the dolls began to fall, the Scorpios turned their attention to the piloted ones. The hordes of red suits unleashed their beam riffles at the six Virgos before them, as Zechs and Noin held off Sally and the unknown Virgo pilot.
"Sally please, just leave here, I don't wanna fight you." Noin pleaded with her old friend.
"You gave up that right when you betrayed us." Sally blasted her beam cannon at the head of Noins Taurus. The white suit ducked under the yellow blast just before it crashed into its head.
The two beam sabers clashed with blinding fury. Zechs and the Virgo exchanged sword blows again and again, neither gaining an advantage. The stalemate continued until a small light drew both pilots' attention.
The computers in all of the suits zoomed in on the oncoming object. Black with white, and armed to the teeth, the huge warship made its way to the battlefield.
From within the cockpit of the Dark Angel, Marcus gave the final orders to the captain of the Neo.
"Lay down cover with the missiles. As soon as we clear the ship, blanket the battle field with the mega particle cannons." Complying with his masters orders, the captain saluted and closed the video link. Marcus turned to the front of the cockpit, eyes transfixed on the battle field before him. The Dark Angle loaded on to the launching pad, Sandrock and Heavyarms beside it, Altron and Deathscythe Hell on the two outer pads bellow it.
The missile bays opened, releasing their deadly payload and granting the Gundams a clear launch path.
"Launch away!" The Leeper heir ordered, his voice now deep, cold and menacing, just as it was when he had first made his appearance.
The launch pads shot the Gundams forward and into the melee. As the five behemoths flew towards the fray, Quatre began giving the orders.
"There are 50 suits already deployed, more still in the carriers. I'll take the left flank, Duo you take the right, and Trowa and Wufei, you two make sure they don't take the colony. Marcus..." Before Quatre could advise the new pilot, the Dark Angel blasted off from the group and towards the unemptied carriers.
Duo rocketed into a group of Scorpios, the Deathscythe Hell's twin beam scythes burning with power. The blades tore into a single Scorpio, slicing down the middle. Spinning to its left, the massive black Gundam ripped through three more Scorpios. A shot from one of the enemy suits shook the Gundam for an instant. Turning to face his attacker, Duo launched one of his buster shields, the beam blade ignited. The weapon spun into the chest of the enemy, ripping it to shreds.
"Don't mess with the God of Death." Duo quipped his signature line as the enemy burst into flames.
"Duo, Duo?!? Is that you Duo?" A call came from one of the piloted Virgos Duo had rescued.
"HILDE! You made it out!" The Deathscythe pilot reacted in shock to the sound of his friend's voice.
"I'm not helpless Duo." Hilde snapped.
The dragon fang on the right arm of the Altron snapped into place. Wufei shot the weapon forward, grabbing one of the Scorpios by the head. Pulling the unit forward, Wufei brought the tail beam riffles to bare. Blasting a hole in the cockpit of the red unit, the Gundam spun to left, tossing the useless heap away. The light from Natakus twin beam trident flashed to life as the pilot within sent the Gundam into a group of enemies.
"You can't escape Natakus justice!" Wufei ripped through one of the enemies before the pilot could react. Twirling it weapon like a trained martial artist, the Altron Gundam turned to face the other enemies.
Marcus grunted as the ships before him let loose their suits. The Scorpios fired on the Dark Angel with relentless ferocity. The hail of beam blasts knocked the charging Gundam back on its heels. With thrusters blazing, the massive beast flew into the sky. Leveling the Particle Beam Accelerator, Marcus let loose the clear yellow wave, tearing through the center of the armada.
The Heavy arms blasted through a group of Scorpios, turning once past the enemy. Leveling the gattling guns, Towa strafed the group of suits knocking them back. Opening the suits missile bays, Trowa blanketed the enemy battalion with the warheads. The suits were ripped to shreds within the blinding light of the warheads' explosion.
The Sandrock hurtled into the group of Scorpios surrounding Noin and Sally. Crashing into one of the enemies, the sheer weight of the Gundam pushed the suit back into one of its cohorts. Before the Scorpios could react, Quatre lifted the shield arm of his suit to behind his back, setting the heat shottles in place. The scissors like weapon shot forward, slicing off the heads of the two suits.
"Miss Noin!" Quatre shouted, his voice full half with anger and half with sorrow.
The scream caught Noins attention, drawing her gaze from the battle, and giving Sally the opening she needed.
Duo pressed on; the vulcan guns on his suit tearing into the enemies as Hilde gave him cover with her Virgo. The pair pressed through the enemies, finally reaching the center of the rebel group, the dueling black and white suits.
The superiority of the Tallgeese began to take its toll on the Virgo and its mystery pilot. Zechs smirked to himself as he swung his suits heat rod, taking of one of the Virgos arm and the beam saber with it. The Tallgeese raised its beam saber and brought it down for the killing blow, only to be stopped by the flash of Deathscythe's beam sickle.
"Get out of here!" Duo ordered the unknown pilot as he held back the Tallgeese.
Ignoring Duos order, the Virgo blew past the Deathscythe Hell and slammed its left shoulder into the gut of the massive whit mobile suit. As the Tallgeese recovered from the Virgos attack, the black suit readied its beam riffle, blasting the white suit square in the chest. Deflecting most of the blast with his shield, Zechs raised his beam cannon and fired on the Virgo. The pilot within the suit was caught slightly of guard, and was barely able to bring up its planet deffenser shield. The yellow wave slammed into the shield, lightening and energy crackling off the shield generators. Unable to withstand the onslaught anymore, the suits shield cracked and snapped with electricity for an instant then gave way to the power of the blast. The wave tore through the Virgo, ripping off its other arm and most of its right side.
Zechs readied his beam cannon again, when the weapon exploded, shredded by Duos second buster shield.
Duo charged at Zechs with Hilde firing at the Tallgeese from behind him. "Damnit! Get out of here, now!" Duo ordered as he slammed into the Tallgeese.
"Hn." The flat response of the mystery pilot as he turned his Virgo and rocketed from the battle drew Duo and Hilde's attention from their opponent. The Tallgeese swung its heat rod upwards, relieving Duo of his beam scythe.
"All forces, return to the ships." Zechs called out as he blasted off from the battle and back to what remained of his ships.
"Oh no you don't." Duo grunted as he prepared to give chase. But before the Gundam could fire its thrusters, it was slammed backwards when a large black and white object slammed into it.
The Dark Angel picked itself out of the pile it had made with the Deathscythe Hell. With little more than a grunt from its pilot, the beast blasted into the mass of Scorpios that had sent it into Duo, its beam saber drawn slashing through the group. All the while, Duo could only watch as Zechs steadily made his way out of Duos range.
Noin barely avoided the barrage of shot's from Quatre's beam pistol, the superior speed of the Taurus keeping her safe, that is until the entire suit was shaken by the force of a shot from Sally's Virgo.
"I can't let you get away Miss Noin!" Quatre swung his right sickle, slicing off his enemy's beam saber arm.
Reacting to the attack, Noin readied her Taurus's beam cannon. Blasting her way backwards, Noin finally caught the end of Zechs' retreat order.
"Sally, Quatre... I'm sorry." Quickly converting the suit to its fighter mode, the raven-haired beauty ran from those she once called friends.
"Damn it! Get back here!" Sally screamed as she fired her weapon without care, trying to catch Noin.
"Sally, SALLY! Calm down!" Duo put his Gundam in the path of the fiery Chinese pilot.
As the remnants of the attacking rebels made their way back to the L2 colony, The battered Gundams and the ESUN Virgos limped into the L3 cluster.
While the ESUN pilots celebrated their first victory over the Rebels, the Gundam pilots, with Sally and Hilde, sat in quiet contemplation, until Duo broke the silence.
"Just who the hell was that other Virgo pilot?" The braided pilot turned to Hilde sitting next to him.
"Huh? The guy that was fighting Zechs? I'm not sure he should be over there with the other elite unit pilots." Hilde gestured to a group of men gathered at around several bottles of liquor.
"Elite unit, huh? Must be why you guys got those supped up Virgos."
"Yup, that's why Duo. When me and Sally escaped L2 and came here, they were just throwing the unit together, and thought themselves blessed to have the two of us joining them."
"Gee Hilde, your ego hasn't grown at all." Duo chuckled, though he was soon nursing a large welt on his head.
Suppressing a bit of laughter, Quatre looked up at the elite unit. "Wait a minute, there were eight of you guys in the fight and none of you died, so why are there are only five guys?"
"Huh?" Sally looked over at the group. "Lets see, Ryu, Hiato, Kai, Jobe, and I think that tall gangly one's called Jimbob. The colony reps. Said that the last pilot had just singed on when we got word of the attack, we never met him."
"But you are sure it was a male pilot?"
"Yes Wufei, I'm sure it was a male pilot." Sally rolled her eyes.
"So where on Earth is he?" Duo asked, to no one in particular.
"Exactly." Marcus spoke up; his head still buried in a palm computer. "Reports have it that a mobile suit transport ship made its way to Earth shortly after the battle carrying one damaged Virgo unit."
"How?" Quatre asked the young heir.
"I've told you before, I have my ways. But as for right now, we've got more important business to take care of. The rebels have control of Mars and all colonies but this one. Not counting this colony, the ESUN's only remaining strong holds are the Lunar Base and Earth. The Lunar bases defenses are strong and consolidated enough to hold off the rebels for a while, but the Earth is fat to large for their forces alone to protect."
"But how do we decide which to defend; Earth, or space?" Trowa asked flatly.
"If done properly, we can defend both, it a; depends on our weapons of choice. Duo and Wufei's Gundams are both suited for space combat, whereas Trowa and Quatre's both function highly on Earth. Being based primarily on Wing ZERO, the Dark Angel can function equally in either area."
"So, with me and Wuffers here..."
"Don't call me that!"
"Right... so with the two of us up here with the Preventers backing us, we take on the Rebels, while you three go down and protect the Earth?"
"That's about it."
"I'm staying with Duo!" Hilde screamed at the top of her lungs as she grabbed Duo around the neck as the young Gundam pilot developed a huge sweat drop on the side of his head.
"Well, I guess that settles it." Marcus got up from his seat; "I'll ready the Neo and as soon as repairs are complete."
Several hours passed and the gigantic warship Neo slowly made its way out of the large colony and towards Earth. What battles and mysteries await the Gundam pilots on the shining blue marble? What is the fate of the space colonies? And who is the mysterious escaped Virgo pilot? All questions to be left for the next episode of Gundam Wing: Of Many Minds.