Title: "Scars"
Author: Demeter
Disclaimer: All rights and privileges to Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing are trademarks and property of Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and associated parties. All the characters belong to them, and all stories, relationships, ideas are fiction. They are not related to the original plot. The story, the relationships and original characters within the fic are copyright of the author Demeter.
Part Twelve: So We Meet Again
The first decisive battle. The two new pilots meet a person from the past, a man who knows all and is called a clown by his friends, and "The Silencer" by his enemies.
~*~*~*~*~*~
It was time.
The two generals had already determined that they three of them were to attack an off-site colony in order to draw a bit of attention; not a whole lot, but enough so that the Preventers would be sure to notice. Shade agreed to the point of attack and filled Sight and Snow in. The two perused the map and plan, gave their thumbs-up (or in Snow's case, a slight nod) and they prepped to go off.
Reveling in the comfort of the machine, Shade strapped herself in and settling in with the various sounds of the suit warming up, she said, "Engage."
The pit flared to life.
Wires appeared from nowhere and slithered like serpents over her flesh. A visor untangled itself from the mechanical mayhem and warped her world through the eyes of a gundam. Patiently waiting for the sensation to assimilate itself into her brain, she allowed the wires to lock her lithe body into place.
"Retrieve."
The Gundam shuddered as it's massive frame rose from the floor, it's once dead eyes flaring to life with artificial intelligence. Shade spoke through the vidcom, allowing her voice to grow cold. "Ready?"
"Ready."
"More than ready to kick some ass!"
Shade hid her smile and as the three Gundams launched themselves quietly, nearly silent, toward the outer colony.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Take that, you bastards!" Sight crowed in delight.
"Slow down. We don't want to overwork the Gundams on the first fight." Shade admonished
"Too late! This is one hell of a machine!"
"Speaking so much isn't great for your air supply."
"Look who's talking, Ms. Lets-all-sigh-together."
Snow stiffened audibly.
"Shut up."
"Stop fighting, both of you."
Automatically, they responded at the same time, "Aye aye Captain." Snow usually relaxed a margin when she was around Shade or Sight.
Shade shook her head, before realizing they couldn't see her.
So far, the mobile suits of the off-site colony could not even come close to matching their skills. They had carefully done what Shadow had ordered. They rescued each pilot and put them onto the plane they had set nearby. No lives were to be lost yet, under orders.
After all, they were waiting for someone.
"How long do we gotta wait?"
"Not too long. The news has already been sent to L4 that there are Gundams nearby."
"Snow, how accurate is that?"
"Pretty. It was one of their supposedly secure lines."
"Ah."
"Secure for them or us?"
Shade turned on the comm, and glared disapprovingly at Sight. "Don't get to cocky on the first fight. These were flies compared to the skills of the Gundam Pilots."
"Ah, their all fogies anyways."
"They're the same age as us all. Do not get cocky."
"That old..."
Snow tried to muffle her laughter. Shade's age was a tender subject to pounce upon.
"Sight..." Shade said warningly.
"Yeah, yeah. I hear ya. Stop your yakking."
A beep interrupted Snow from her laughter. Scanning the radar, she saw the object they had been waiting for. A mobile suit from the L4 colony.
"Incoming."
Shade immediately turned her own radar on.
"Which one is it?" Sight's curious voice cut in on the sudden quiet.
"The pilot inside is Barton."
"Who's going to get him?"
They eyed each other through the screens. Shade was the first to respond. "One of you two can take it."
Snow and Sight stared at each other.
A sudden smile broke Snow's scowling face. "If you do my laundry for a week, you can take it."
"Agreed!"
Gundam Freude took the battle stance as the other two faded respectably back.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"How's it looking Master Trowa?"
"So far nothing. No Gundams that were reported to be seen."
Trowa scanned the night sky, half-expecting to see rubble dotting the night-sky. People were still edgy about the Gundams, and any mass of unidentified material would lead to the conclusion that a Gundam was attacking the colony. It was a pain in the butt, but he could understand their fear.
Sight sneered from the background covering of darkness. She knew that for now, Freude couldn't be seen, but she exercised an extraordinary amount of patience and wariness in order to prevent the first battle from becoming a shod. She may have been cocky, but not cocky enough to take on a Gundam pilot who had been regaled as one of the best. Smirking, she closed her eyes and visualized her target within her eye-mind. She remembered the beautiful arms, legs, head of the mobile suit. She saw the glass eyes, revealing nothing of the mastermind within.
And she heard the pilot murmuring softly.
Yes.
With a deafening battle cry, she launched herself forward at the suit. Trowa turned half-way around, hearing the scream. He barely brought his shield up fast enough to prevent her from slashing through his armor. Quickly dancing around the blade, he faced with the gundam for the first time.
And he stared.
The model was almost exactly like that of Duo's… but with touches of Heero's too. Which was strange, considering how vastly different Deathscythe and Wing were at times. He could vaguely ascertain that the pilot was a woman… but other than that, he was clueless. The systems within the new Gundam was far different from the old ones.
A sudden chuckle broke through the intercom.
"Surprised, are we? Thought the Gundam technology was lost in the AC 196 war, hm? Assumed that the world was at peace right?" Sight couldn't resist the mocking words as she lashed out continuously at the mobile suit. No matter Trowa was one of the best pilots; the suit couldn't measure up to the performance of a highly tuned and newly created Gundam.
Within an inch of taking his life, she stopped her saber.
They stood there, locked in a frozen snapshot of time.
With bated breath, realizing for the first time, he was sweating with fear. Not just battle fear, but a different fear.
Her voice was familiar.
Too familiar.
"Show your face. Only a coward fights the enemy with no identity."
There was a pause, an astonished silence. Then the laughter broke out. The eerie laughter that brooked no argument in the idea that perhaps Trowa had finally met a match to be reckoned with. Without any break in giggles, Sight sneered, "You wish to see me? What difference does it make? You're still going to lose."
"I would rather lose to someone I see and know, then to a ghost."
This time, the silence stretched ominously.
"A ghost? Good one, Trowa Barton. I can see why people called you the Silencer." There was a pause. "Very well. The general didn't say I couldn't show you what I look like… but don't bother running a search through the national data bank… because effectively, within the confines of Earth and Space… I don't exist… so perhaps you're right. "
She switched the screen on, her face wicked with humor.
"I am a ghost."
Trowa got the split-second look he needed to meld her features within his mind. Without warning, her face was cut off, with an indignant shriek tearing from her.
"Shade! What the hell do you think you're doing!?"
"Saving your ass. Finish him. We need to get back."
Sight sighed and raised her sabre. Murmuring a short prayer, she effectively rendered the suit into enough pieces so that repair would be impossible. But at the same time, she managed to do it without hitting any of the main circuits, preventing it from blowing up and killing himself and possibly harming others.
The last view he had of them was the three flying off, and the carefree, mocking voice of the pilot he had just battled with.
"Adieu until next time, ma petit chere."
~*~*~*~*~*~
"What in the hell were you thinking?" Shade's voice was low, laced with anger.
Snow leaned against her suit, quietly waiting for the explosion. Her green eyes were indifferent to the fact that Sight had nearly blown their cover.
"I was having a little fun. You know me. I couldn't resist a little jibe."
"First of all, Sight, in this battle, I don't care how TEMPTED you are. You will follow orders as commandeered. Even if you don't like them. There's too much at risk here."
Sight narrowed her eyes at Shade. If there was one thing she hated, it was to take orders without any reason. Especially orders she hated. "And if I don't?"
Shade pulled her gun out and cocked it at the other pilot. "Then I'll be forced to render you useless for battle."
A face-off seemed inevitable before Snow cut in quickly. Her cold eyes silenced both of them enough so that they listened to her words. "If you fight now, then we've already lost." Her curt words lashed into both. Shade snarled and stalked through the corridor to her room, muttering oaths.
Sight leaned back against the Gundam with a loud whoosh of exhaled breath. "Thanks for the save. I thought I was a goner for sure."
"You'd best apologize to Shade. You were in the fault."
"Aw man, I know! But damn it, that guy was HOT!"
Snow's lips twitched as if she was trying to hold back a smile. "Of course only you would notice."
"Hey! I resent that!"
The bantering continued, but the apology lingered in Sight's mind. She knew that before the next battle, she needed to talk to Shade and clear things up with her. Or as Snow said, things would get more than a little complicated.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The opponent smirked, trying his hardest to rip her off her feet. Shade, never taking her eyes off him, cocked her gun. With a quick flash, they both released their bullets. The only difference was that Shade had managed to do that in the split second she leaped to the side also. Resulting in the destruction of the computer image and her safety.
Exhaling, she called out, "End simulation."
Grabbing the slightly damp towel from the chair she briskly dried off the sweat when she heard, "Angry?"
Her cerulean eyes turned coldly toward the voice. Sight was leaning against the doorframe, her deep blue eyes expressionless. A cold wind seemed to brush against both their faces as they gazed at each other. Sight tossed a drink bottle toward Shade and the leader caught it, still no other appearance gracing her eyes. She popped the can open and took a long gulp.
"Feel better?"
"You should know how I feel."
Sight huffed impatiently and hopped forward. "Are you insane? It's not a big deal."
"Are YOU insane? This is the biggest chance we'll ever get."
"I know that. But it doesn't mean that we have to forget that they enemy we're battling are humans too."
"I did not forget that!"
Sight exploded. "You could have fooled me! Shade, you fucking idiot! Have you completely forgotten that these are the Gundam Pilots we're fighting? They're not about to just go away with one battle. You're dreams about a single-battle war is a complete sham!"
Shade gave an angry hiss. She lashed back out, "I don't care if that's a dream! I want this all to end quickly! I hate the idea that we're killing the very people we're trying to return a war too!" The young woman stopped, her face hardening. Refusing to look at Sight, she grabbed her bag and was about to leave when Sight's soft voice found itself chasing after her.
"Shade. I know. But face the truth. We're going to kill many people. Including soldiers. In this way, we won't feel that we're just taking their lives."
The pilot paused in the door, her back rigid. The sand-colored hair that had been curled into a tight bun only hours before, were now trailing around her neck, a tangled mess. She turned slightly toward Sight, the mocking tone not undetected. "This is a glorious moment for all of us. It's the moment I've been waiting for nearly all my life. As I know it was for you and Snow. And yet, you know what?" She paused, her voice coloring with derision, "I'm not all that happy."
Shade shut the door with a bang, leaving a silent Sight, her own feelings forbidding her from speaking. Sight assessed the wall with a critical eye. Feeling that the granite was durable enough, she brought her fist back and slammed it hard against the stone. There was enough force to crack the area and to leave her knuckles bleeding. Sight gave a satisfied snort.
Pain was such an easy way to deal with anger.
~*~ Part 12 ~*~
~*~ FINIS ~*~
