Title: Dog of War 8
Pairings: 5+4
Warnings: None, except for my syntax poor
Author: Ben Spigel Baronben@home.com
Archive: Fanfiction.net search for Baronben, or just ask
"I failed." Wu Fei though, "I failed. I failed. I failed"
Shen-Long sunk in the water, air bubbles sliding along the scared Gundainum armor. The Gundam sunk faster then the ships around it, water replacing air through the holes in their sides. "I failed." repeated to himself, "Nataku I failed you. My only goal in life was to never fail you again. I failed you."
He replayed the entire day in his head in an instant, looking at his every mistake, his every miss-step. It had started off as he planed. He met Trowa and gave him the information on Quatra, who read it and then burned it. They both set off to New Edwards Air Force Base, but stayed back and let the other pilots do most of the work, saving them selves for the battle at sea. Amazed at the other pilots stupidly, he saw the pilot known as Heero Yui kill all the remaining doves in the Federation. Still on plan, he told the rest about what happened, and then he and Trowa stole a transport plane and left for the Armada off the West African coast. He later heard on an open radio channel about Treize arming the nuclear missiles.
At first the attack had gone as planed, 3 ships sunk in the first barrage. He had left Trowa to deal with the remaining ships as he attempted to board Treize's ship. Lady Une had presented an unexpected obstacle, but her weak suit and weak will were easily dealt with.
Then the battle; the way Trieze presented himself, the way he held his saber demanded hand to hand battle. Wu Fei replayed the battle in his head. Every move that he made was perfect, every attack parry and repost was technically perfect, executed with the speed and skill that he had gained though a life time of work. While Treize was also a proficient fencer, Wu Fei saw no problem with the fight. Then the mistakes happened. He dodged a quick cut from Treize and retreated back to a wall, which he used to jump off of to start a quick attack, one that he had practiced over and over again in space. Then he felt the coolness of steal on his neck, and knew immediately that he had failed. There is no way to escape a saber on one's neck, no matter what way you move, no matter how fast, the saber is always at your neck.
"How? How did I lose? Every move that I made was perfect! What did I do wrong? Answer me Nataku! Why didn't you just let him kill me? I'm worthless now, worthless to you, worthless to the colonies, worthless to my home. Nataku, why didn't I die instead of you? You could have done this, you could have killed Treize, you could have saved the colonies from OZ. But I can do none of these. I can kill only when I have the advantage that Shen-Long gives me. When I am on an equal level with my opponent, I am useless.
Through his closed eyelids he could see the red warnings lights that signed that the pressure was beyond all tolerances. He could hear the grinds and moans of the metal being crushed by the weight of water. He could feel his body responding to the pressure as well. At the edge of his sight he could see black slowly moving to the center. He could feel his breathing become more labored, he could sense his heart beating as hard as it could to try to force the blood up through his veins. "Just let me die Nataku! I failed you. Just let me die!" he yelled before lowering his head and whispering, "I just want to be with you again." Black overtook his eyes as he blacked out from the pressure
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"Sir!" Lady Une yelled as she drew to attention and saluted to Treize. She had already been berated for her use of nuclear arms against the pilots. In her hand she carried a think folder marked "Compartmentalized/Top Secret".
"Sir," she repeated, "here is the psychological profile of the subject Chang Wu Fei." as she handed it to Trieze, who was sitting in a plush leather chair in his office, which was recently decimated by the Gundam. "I just want to apologize for not killing Chang when I had the chance. I will not pass up the opportunity again. He will die"
"I trust that you are capable of stopping him Lady. Give me a quick rundown of the profile if you will." Treize replied.
Une opened up the folder and flipped through a few pages. "Sir, the doctors who analyzed him say that he was created as a military machine. His body is primed for battle; his muscles are developed to their maximum level possible with out compromising his speed. EKG shows that his reflexes are beyond human. Either he is genetically modified or has gone through some sort of training that is beyond anything that we can conceive of.
As for the psychological review, they warn us that it may not be complete because they could never actually interview him, but they were able to give us something. You may know that during his recuperation he was often heard muttering the word 'nataku'. Some research shows that nataku is the name of an Chinese women warrior from antiquity, believed in by the Long Clan."
"The Long Clan. They where exiled to the L5 colony a century ago, if I recall." Treize interrupted.
"Yes, Sir." Lady Une continued, "The psychologists seem to think that he has some sort of obsession with the image of this nataku, either in a purely historical context or, more likely they believe, as the personification as a real human being."
"So he loves her, I take it?"
"That's what they believe sir."
"Is there anyway that we can use this?"
"Well, Sir, it seems to suggest that Chang comes from the L5 colonies and is associated with the martial arts cult Long Clan that resides there. I would suggest targeting the colony for demolition ahead of schedule, and using the vulnerability of the colony to missile attack against Chang."
"Lady, I trust you to do what is necessary to protect the Earth."
"Yes Sir." Lady Une said as she drew to attention and then turned on her foot and left the room, leaving the folder behind with Treize who started to leaf through it.
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Wu Fei woke up and felt the uneven heat of a fire. "Your awake" he heard Trowa say.
"Why didn't you let me die?" he asked, forcing each word out of his damaged throat.
"That would not be beneficial to the mission. The Federation may have been destroyed, but considering that OZ activated nuclear weapons, they need to be destroyed also. I will not let an asset destroy its self."
Wu Fei slowly sat up and positioned himself on a log around the fire, as did Trowa. For a while they sat in silence, reflecting on the day's mission. After they had both eaten the soup given by the girl whom Trowa claimed was his co-worker in the circus that he used for a cover Wu Fei spoke. "What are we going to do now?"
"…" Trowa replied
For another hour they sat in silence, the stillness only interrupted by the girl refilling they coffee. Wu Fei spoke up again. "What did you want with that Quatra person?"
"He is part of my mission" Trowa answered. Something in his voice demanded that Wu Fei not follow up further.
"My Gundam…" Wu Fei started to say.
"…is safe, hidden in the forest" Trowa uncharacteristically snapped. He seemed angered and put on guard by the last question."
Wu Fei took this as a sign to say nothing. Trowa started the next conversation 2 hours later. "What should we do now?"
"I'll take my Gundam and try to avenge Nataku. Treize will not survive." With that he got up and walked away to Shen-Long
"Do not forgive me, Nataku. What I did was beyond forgiveness. I failed you once again. The first time I failed you I promised rather to die then to do it again. And now I have. I deserve to die, but death is to good for someone like me. I will wander this earth until I can avenge you, then maybe I can bare to see you in the West."
To be Continued