Chapter Two: The Arrival
"All RIGHT! I don't care what you say, Quatre, this is fun!" Duo screamed wildly as Deathscythe Hell, under his instruction, ripped apart an OZ MobileDoll.
"How can you find killing another human being fun?" Quatre asked severely, his boyish face frowning over the communications screen.
"The MobileDolls have no human controllers. They're entirely computer operated." Duo pointed out while slicing a MS to shreds with his Gundam's scythe.
"But destroying is not something to be enjoyed." The earnest young Arabian persisted. "It is only needless violence, and I wish I was not needed up here, fighting."
"Right." Duo replied sarcastically. "That's why you, the gentle one, have destroyed more MobileDolls than me, Heero, and Trowa combined." Quatre looked startled as his blue-green eyes scanned the hard kill input, and then pretended he hadn't heard Duo's comment.
"Look, there's a colony up ahead." Trowa called to his fellow pilots in his normally soft voice. He shifted his Gundam so that the viewing screen brought the colony fully into his sight. "That must be OZ's target." A small flip of controls and thrusters began to bring the Gundams closer to the colony.
"Hey, has anybody noticed that Wu-chan hasn't spoken since we set out on this mission?" Duo commented out of the blue. "If he hadn't killed so many MS, I wouldn't know he was even here."
"Do you have any idea just why OZ had targeted this specific colony?" Wufei told him, anger hiding just beneath the surface of his calm voice.
"They just do," Duo shrugged. "Why should we care why they attack places? It's just our job to stop them."
"Be realistic. It's too far for them to capture and use for production, and it's too small to pose a significant threat to their operations." Wufei continued. He pursed his lips and looked thoughtfully at the colony ahead, uncharacteristically lost in thought. Without seeming to notice it, he murmured, "I hadn't thought they would be so bold…"
"Who would be so bold?" Quatre asked, frowning. "It's not really unusual for OZ to target colonies." Wufei looked at him with a start.
"Not OZ," he began just a little bit harshly. "Others. Those from the legends…" again he trailed off in nothing, his mind working furiously though his face betrayed no sign of his inner turmoil.
"Legends? Have you lost it, Wu-chan?" Duo asked dubiously.
"When I was five, Master O took me aside and began to train me in martial arts unlike any that the civilized colonies have ever seen." Wufei said, still looking lost as he stared into the depths of space. "This was the training for those destined to take the long, hard path of a Hunter. I was taught me how to hunt and kill Vampires." He glowered at the colony. "On that colony, there are cities full of the innocent, being preyed upon by dark creatures thought by many to be only myths. Few know that Vampires are a star-traveling race, hunting down and consuming their weakest prey, growing in size until they have sufficient numbers to take on larger and larger targets. OZ wants to just destroy it outright, to rid the stars of them forever, but there are innocent citizens on there, and I won't let them. Vampires cannot be so easily destroyed. Besides, this is a Vampire Hunter's job." His face set into hard lines and he stared stonily at the giant mechanical wheel in space.
Silence ensued. Finally, Duo couldn't help himself. He burst out laughing and began to pound his fist on the control panel of Deathscythe Hell, accidentally sending a missile off into the depths of space, where it detonated some light years off. Duo didn't seem to notice, and if he hadn't been strapped into a chair in a Gundam, he'd have been rolling on the floor with convulsions of laughter.
"V…V…Vampire Hunter?" Duo laughed hysterically. "Oh, man, that's hilarious! Oh my…" Duo began to shake with laughter, his eyes wide as he clutched at his stomach. "VAMPIRE HUNTER! THAT'S SOME PRETTY FUNNY SHIT!" he roared.
"I'm dead serious." Wufei said calmly, that eerie thoughtfulness still playing around him like an aura. Duo cut off in mid-laugh.
"Wu-chan? You feelin' okay, man? Maybe you need a doctor or something." Duo said in a worried tone.
"You'll see." Wufei replied, still remarkably composed. Then he activated the communications system and hailed one of the OZ MobileDolls. "Relay this message to OZ, code VH1: You will discontinue your attack immediately. Retaliation will be swift if this is not complied with. Authorization: Chang Wufei." All the Gundam Pilots stared at AltoLong Nataku. Even Heero was staring agape at the seemingly sanity-challenged Wufei. Trowa sucked in a quick, startled breath, and Quatre gasped as the MobileDolls abruptly turned around and headed away from the colony.
"Oh. My. God. They turned around. They turned around. Wufei, are you on OZ's side? You can't be serious about this Vampire stuff. It's nonsense." Duo said, his face a shade paler than usual.
"As I said before, I am dead serious." Wufei shook his head. "The colonists require my assistance."
~*~
The doors of the colony spaceport hissed open to the black of space, revealing a poorly lit docking arena. A few ships were stationed at the large, multi-ship ports, but most were seemingly abandoned. The hustle and frantic activity customary to such a large port was nowhere to be seen. In fact, there wasn't a least bit of movement anywhere.
"Spooky." Duo said aloud, his voice soft. The five Gundams drifted in slowly, settling down at different stations, their titanic bulks dwarfing those of the remaining ships. In silence, the pilots went through docking procedures, soft clicking and tapping filling the intercoms as automatic commands were sent and processed.
"This doesn't look safe," noted Trowa as he surveyed the dark bay. "I'm going to stay with our Gundams, for safety precautions." Duo contemplated making a stab at his courage, but her knew the Latin pilot was really more concerned with the safety of their Gundams than he was about his own personal safety.
"Wilkommen an Bord." A surprisingly pleasant mechanical voice received them in German as the four teenagers stepped out of their hatches and floated gently down to a walkway. Quickly grabbing hold of the railing, they propelled themselves towards the lobby doors, Heero turning and giving a solemn wave of acknowledgment to Trowa.
"Well, almost there, Wufei!" Duo said cheerfully, breaking the silence with a laugh. Wufei nodded imperceptibly and stepped forward, pressing the small red button beside the door so they could enter.
Nothing happened.
"Huh." Heero stepped forward with a frown and pressed the button a second time. An ominous rumbling could be heard from the doors, but they still remained shut.
"Dammit!" Duo roared, slamming his foot against the door with all his might.
With a protesting creak and a load groan, the doors slid open to reveal the empty lobby.
"After you." Duo gestured for Quatre and Wufei to enter with a sweep of his arms and a mock bow. The four pilots filed into the lobby, spreading out to explore.
"It's cold," Quatre shivered, wrapping his arms around himself. His breath made small clouds in the frigid air. "What's happened here?"
"It has all the signs of an abandoned colony," Wufei mused, pressing a finger to a bulkhead. When he brought it away, it was covered in dust. "Three months, perhaps. Maybe more, maybe less."
"How can you tell?" asked Duo, absently scrawling his name across the dusty metal.
"It doesn't matter," Wufei shook his head. "Let's get going." He crossed the room and walked down a dimly lit hallway that bore a green arrow, an obvious sign for an exit.
None of the pilots heard to soft breathing hidden in the shadows of the alternate hallway. Its breath framed a pale face in a mist, dark eyes shining with reflected light. With only a soft brushing of cloth, it whirled around and disappeared farther into the darkness.
~*~
"Oh, shit." Meike uttered a venomous curse under her breath and crouched in the shadows, trying to flatten herself against the wall at her back. Less than twenty feet away, a Vampire stood, its nose lifted to the air. Why do they have such a good sense of smell? Meike wondered absently around the haze of fear that encased her mind. The shadows weren't going to help her any if it caught hold of her –
"Argh!" the Vampire roared in triumph, wheeling directly towards her. With another curse, Meike launched away from her hiding spot, straining for a head start. The Vampire gave chase.
Dammit dammit dammit, Meike thought viciously. Idiot, idiot, idiot. Her feet pounded the ground in rhythm to the words in her head. Faster, faster, faster. Her breath came in short gasps as she frantically increased her pace. I think I'm losing him! The though rang in her mind as the echoing footsteps behind her slowly faded away, and her feet seemed to get lighter with the knowledge. The building were just whizzing by, blurring with her speed.
Speed? She snorted inwardly. That's your head, genius. Her head was throbbing, and her vision was blurring. The lump on the back of her skull was beating a heavy staccato right into her brain. Right around the corner. Home is just right around the corner. She forced her feet to keep their pace. Shouldn't have gone out, you knew you weren't completely recovered… Her neck now bore a small, thin white scar, but the back of her head was still tender and running made her dizzy.
And she was running for her life now. I swear, I won't go out again for six months, she promised herself fervently as she rounded the last corner before her street. Maybe even eight. Twelve even sounds–
"Oh, fu-" She skidded to a stop two houses down from her own home, breaking off the expletive before any of the twelve Vampires surrounding her house could hear her, but it was too late. One of the Vampires caught sight of her and turned with a yell, pointing. The others grinned maliciously and started for her. Behind her were the steps of her previously encountered Vampire.
Meike broke right, dashing away from the evil creatures as fast as she could go. You're going to pass out, she told herself almost giddily. Wouldn't that be funny? Falling over on the ground and just letting them get you.
She ignored her own twisted humor and ran faster. The city limits of New Berlin weren't that far away, and if she got there - well, she didn't know what she'd do if she got there. There wasn't anything there that could really help, anyway. Unless the keys of one of the transport trucks is still there. She knew how to drive. Well, sort of. She watched her mother drive all the time.
The thought of her mother – her parents – made her wince with a sharp pain in her chest. She hadn't known she could miss a person – people – that much.
Shoving those thoughts from her mind, she concentrated on running. Farther and faster she went, blood pounding in her ears, and she was certain the back of her head was going to burst.
A small building loomed in her hazy vision, framed by a large expanse of nothing but tall grass, waving in the artificial colony wind. Several small trucks sat beside the building, all red as with the white emblem of Government Transport. Risking a glance backwards, Meike saw that the Vampires were still following, but were perhaps a hundred feet away.
Desperately she dashed between the trucks, peering in the windows and checking the seats and ignition for the keys.
"Score!" she cried, flinging open one of the trucks' doors and leaping inside, twisting the key in the ignition. The truck roared to life, made with reinforced steel and the latest technology from Old Earth. It wasn't just a truck – this was an assault vehicle.
Slamming her foot down on the gas, Meike jumped as the truck shot forward with incredible speed. It tore over the field of grass like a demon, mowing down the weeds like they weren't even there. Despite her terror, Meike whooped and shouted as she rode the truck across the plain. At this speed, it would take her a little less than ten minutes to reach the other side.
A glance in the rearview mirror showed her two identical red trucks racing after her, two Vampires in each. She grinned and stuck her tongue out at them. They couldn't catch her now.
The truck swerved and Meike shifted her view from the mirror to the plain in front of her. It wouldn't do to kill herself in a rollover after escaping.
With an almost carefree attitude, she switched on the radio of the truck and started blasting the first station she found. It was an interstellar radio, broadcasted directly from satellite to satellite from Old Earth itself, and the music was definitely strange, but it had a good beat, and she sang as loudly as she could. Her head wound remained a distant pain as the truck sped across the grassy field.
~*~
"Argh! It's a damn maze!" Duo shouted, beating one fist against the wall. "Where the hell are we?" He pouted cutely, glowering at the impassive steel walls.
"For the love of God, Duo, please shut up." Quatre complained loudly, sticking his hands in his hair and groaning. "We didn't know the last seven times you've asked, so how would we know now?"
The American pilot was taken aback at Quatre's peeved tone. The Arabian pilot was hardly ever anything but friendly. I must really be annoying right now, he thought absently. He lifted one hand and let his fingers trail the cold metal idly, preoccupied with rather startling thoughts. Startling thoughts, eh, Duo? He asked himself mentally. Yeah, I guess they could be called that. Who would've known that cheery old Duo Maxwell would lose his nerve? His eyes darkened at the thought. Lost your nerve. That's just a fancy way of saying you turned coward. You're a coward, Duo. Face it. You don't have the heart to stay a pilot.
Angrily Duo shook his head, brown bangs flying around his frowning face. The thought of killing more people was beginning to sicken him. In the beginning he had been cavalier about going out and fighting for the good of mankind, roaming the stars with his Gundam and righting wrongs where he went, but now.. Now it was only needless violence, and hurting others seemed to almost… hurt himself. And still his battle-driven mind taunted him, mocking him with words of cowardice and fear.
And still he put up his cheerful façade, pretending for the others that Duo Maxwell, the self-proclaimed god of death, was still alive and kicking… when in truth, he was really six feet under. And while it was also true that Duo always retained his hard, sharp-minded killer's focus that surfaced during each and every battle, it just wasn't the all-encompassing mindset he had acquired during his more… grimmer years of piloting.
It also wasn't like him to walk along in silence, pondering deep thoughts, either. Duo shook off his dark thoughts and exclaimed with a cheery laugh, "More and more hallways! We could starve in here, you know." His outburst startled Quatre nearly out of his wits, and the blonde boy sent Duo a pained look. Duo flashed him an apologetic smile and shrugged.
"Ridiculous." Heero snorted. "All we need to do is find a way out."
"All we need to do," Duo mimicked, then shook his head. "Oi, Hee-chan, how do you propose we find such a way out?" He sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets, giving a dark look to the wall beside him.
"Assuming there is one."
~*~
"Ow." Meike muttered out of habit as the back of her head hit the truck roof for what seemed like the hundredth time. Her cheery mood had dissipated once the level, grassy field had become a tumultuous plain of scattered rocks and hidden ditches. "Isn't there supposed to be – "
The truck abruptly skidded across grit and gravel as it shot onto a sudden expanse of hard pavement. Meike clutched at the wheel, forcing the truck to stay on the road.
" – a road out here somewhere?" she finished, shaking her head. Glancing into the rearview mirror, she saw the single red truck still following her. The other one had encountered an extremely deep pitfall in the middle of their journey across the field, plunging into a hole and swallowing the entire cab and part of the truckbed. The thought of her truck vaulting so quickly into an unexpected ditch made her shudder, but she'd pushed the thought out of her mind and continued.
Now that she was on a flat surface, she floored the gas pedal and practically leapt across the ground. Where she was going, though, she still didn't know.
I can just drive on and on until I lose them, she thought absently. Or until I run out of gas. She straightened up with a sharp cry. How much gas do I have left? Glancing at the meterstick, her heart plummeted as she realized she was practically on empty. As if to spite her, the little arrow dropped another fraction of a centimeter right as she watched, nearing that glaring, ominous green 'E'.
Trash that, she thought morosely. Last ditch is: the Spaceport. Insert threatening music here. The huge black building that touched all the way to the colony ceiling loomed not too far away, separated from her by a large expanse of black parking lot.
"Brace yourself, Meike," she whispered out loud, not really hearing herself. Behind her, the other truck accelerated across the pavement. The black building grew closer and closer.
With a tremendous squeal of tires, Meike slammed her foot down on the brake, shoving the stick into park and leaping out of the cab. The instant her feet hit the ground she sprinted away, praying that the doors were open.
She flung the door open with such force she nearly hit herself, dancing backwards and into the dim, cool hallways.
~*~
"That way." Heero pointed down another hallway, just as indistinct as the last one. Wufei nodded.
"How can you tell?" Duo asked, a plaintive note of whining in his voice. Heero permitted himself a small smile. Duo was really getting frustrated at Heero and Wufei's silent agreement to keep the pilot in suspense as to where there were – and how close they were to an exit. The solemn Japanese pilot found a little bit of sadistic glee in seeing his annoying, chatterbox friend being annoyed. Not that he would ever admit it.
"We've been down eighteen flights of stairs already," the braided pilot moaned. "I'd think we were in the basement if we hadn't passed that about ten floors ago." Duo grabbed his long brown braid and began plucking at the ends, sighing forlornly and trying to elicit sympathy from Quatre. Quatre, however, was in no mood to give sympathy.
"We shouldn't have left Trowa," the Arabian pilot fretted. "Why don't we go back and get him? He shouldn't be all alone back there. What if something happens?" Quatre tried to hide his growing concern for the tall, Latin boy, and failed profoundly.
Heero, as well as Duo and Wufei, knew that Quatre and Trowa were lovers. However, Quatre didn't know that they knew, and kept valiantly laboring to keep their partnership a secret. They are a cute couple, Duo thought rather fondly. He himself had contemplated many a time a similar relationship with Heero, or possibly Wufei, but always dismissed the thought. You are indeed walking the straight and narrow, my friend, he told himself cheerfully. And how he enjoyed it, too! He chuckled softly at the many times he'd ended up at the receiving end of a slap.
"I bet something's happened," Quatre continued, looking as if he was about to start gnawing on his nails. "I bet some of those Vampires have attacked and-"
"I thought you were against gambling," Duo interrupted. Quatre gave him a withering look.
"That's not the point here, Duo." He said. "My point is that Trowa is all alone back in the docking bay, and what with all of Wufei's Vampires running around, they could have done something to him." His young face was caught in a frown that made him look years older.
"Calm down, Q-chan." Duo made a show of yawning profusely. "Tro-chan is going to be fine."
"Shhh!" hissed Heero from ahead, motioning for them to stop. "I hear something." Echoing footsteps could be heard from a hallway nearby, accompanied by heavy, gasping breaths.
"It could be a Vampire," Wufei growled, placing a hand on the wooden stake at his side. "Be ready…" The seventeen-year-old boy crouched a little bit, backing up against the wall as the footsteps came closer.
"Oomph!" Duo let out a startled gasp as the footsteps thundered around the corner and a brown-haired girl hurtled into him. He skidded backwards with the girl huddled on top of him, arms thrown around her small form, coming to stop with a faint thud against the wall.
More footsteps came from the hallway, and a tall, burly Vampire skidded to a stop as it rounded the corner. It was followed by another smaller, but still formidable Vampire. Instantly Wufei sprang into action, whipping a long sword out from its sheath and twirling it towards the taller one's head, skillfully decapitating it with a single stroke.
"Nein!" cried the girl as the smaller one tried to turn and run, leaping out of Duo's arms and rushing it towards it. She nearly ripped off the stake attached to Wufei's belt as she rushed past him, flinging herself at the Vampire and bringing him down. A twist of her arm sent the stake down into its chest, and it burst into a pile of foul-smelling dust. "Unnhh," she moaned as she dropped through the suddenly empty space beneath her onto the floor, her shoulder taking the brunt of her fall. She curled up around herself protectively and tried not to cry.
"Oh, my God!" Quatre cried as the strange teenaged girl let out a painful cry. He ran forward and knelt beside her, reaching out and gently placing a hand on her shoulder. The girl retaliated and shrank back, moaning again.
"Let me," Duo said, shouldering his way past Quatre and carefully turning her onto her back. Soft gray eyes blinked up at him; a shroud of dark brown hair draped across her face. "What's your name?" he asked her. The girl blinked.
"Sprechen sie Deutsche nicht?" she asked him. Duo shook his head.
"No Deutsche," he told her.
"English. Okay," she said, closing her eyes. "My name is Meike Scwartz." Her voice was heavy with a dark German accent.
"Meike. Got it. Now, what's wrong with you? What hurts?" Meike gently placed one hand on the back of her head. "A bump on your head?"
"Concussion," she said softly. "Three months. Not better. Got worse." The German girl gritted her teeth as Duo's probing fingers encountered the tender spot of her head. He brought his fingers away sticky with blood.
"We need to get her out." Heero said firmly. He looked at Wufei. "You can lead us out?" Wufei gave him a sharp nod. Duo nodded as well, gathering Meike in his arms and standing up. Her head rested gently against his shoulder, and she tried to stop the hot tears brimming in her eyes.
"That way," Wufei directed, setting off at a more hastened pace. His three fellow pilots followed silently.
~*~
Meike slowly realized exactly where she was. She was being carried along by a strange, English-speaking boy, who she had slammed into minutes before. The back of her head was a dull furnace, throbbing with pain, and she winced involuntarily as the boy's steps shook her just a bit.
"Does that hurt?" he asked her, his dark amethyst eyes meeting her gray ones. She looked silently up into those beautiful violet eyes, and the boy shook his head. "I'll try to walk smoother," he told her, and she simply nodded mutely.
"Set her down there." Meike heard one of the other boys – this one with a faint Japanese accent – direct her boy to lay her down on a row of airport chairs. "Wufei, this is the lobby, there should be a medical office somewhere. You take Quatre and try and find it."
"I think I know where it is." The boy he had called Wufei answered, a small Chinese accent coloring his words. "Come on, Quatre."
"Let me up," Meike said as she struggled to sit up, the boy who had carried her trying to make her lie down again. "I need to see."
"All right, all right," her boy told her in an amused tone. "We've got ourselves a feisty one, I see."
This one is definitely American, Meike thought to herself. There's no mistaking that kind of voice. She gave the American boy a dark look, and he chuckled. "At least we don't have to worry about you collapsing. Now hold still." He extracted a small white handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at the back of her head. It came away stained with blood, and Meike's eyes widened.
"Was?" she asked, looking at the cloth. "When did that…?"
"Hey! Heero! We've got some supplies!" Wufei and a blonde boy came running across the lobby, the blonde boy's voice lilting with an Arabian accent.
"Oi, Q-chan!" her American boy waved cheerfully. "You have any painkillers?"
"Right here, Duo!" Q-chan held up a small white box Meike recognized as a MedKit.
"Let me see it." Meike said firmly. Duo gave her a skeptical look. "Like you'll understand German," she told him crossly. He laughed again and took the kit from Q-chan and handed it to her. "Bandages, and some painkillers." She muttered as she extracted things from the bag. The American took the bandage and began to wrap it around her head. Meike quickly swallowed the two painkillers as well.
"Now." Said Heero. "We need your help."
~*~
Fifteen minutes and a short explanation later, Meike was asleep across the spaceport chairs, knocked out from a combination on painkillers and exertion. The Gundam pilots were trying to hold a soft conversation a few meters away.
"She's a liability," argued Wufei. "We can't bring her along – she's hurt, and she's weak."
"So you propose leaving her here?" Duo flared. "To fend off Vampires by herself?"
"Of course not. We just need to leave her in the care of others that can defend her and themselves." Wufei replied.
"We still bring her with us, though." Quatre reminded him. "From what she's told us, there's not a living person around the Spaceport for a couple of miles. It's abandoned."
Wufei pursed his lips. "You're right," he conceded. "But we leave her with someone after that. We can't have her around."
"I'm in no position to argue," Meike said, sitting up. "But I'll show you to where the Vampires have been meeting. It's a sort of headquarters for them. After that, you'll be free to leave."
Heero nodded. "That's best," he concluded. "We'll go from there."
"But for now," Duo interjected, "We sleep. Meike here is about to collapse, and we haven't gotten any sleep since the night before. We need to crash too." Taking his own advice, he stripped off his outer shirt and made a pillow of the black material, curling into a semi-comfortable ball. After a few minutes of arranging for suitable resting-places, the other pilots settled down as well. Almost as an afterthought, Duo added, "I hate airport chairs." Meike snorted softly and drifted off to peaceful slumber.