Disclaimer: I am but a broke high school student who's got ideas, but alas, no G-boys =*(
Through Demon's Eyes
A Gundam Wing Fanfiction
By: Koneko-chan
Italics indicates a flashback or thought of sorts. Also indicates voices and other weird, freaky stuff. ^_^
~*~*~*~*~*~ indicates a change in time
Chapter Three
I was just waiting for my eyes to drop and the snot bubbles you see in the anime cartoons pop out of my nose. After I had undergone all necessary system checks and password confirmations, I sat back and idly watched the screen for anything "out of the ordinary" – as if a flying gundam wasn't enough. Looking into the space ahead of me, I saw nothing but big, fluffy white clouds and the blue sky. It isn't often that we fly missions during the day. Geez, sticking me in the back just because I nearly killed Wu-man... and I don't even remember it. Yare yare.
I was so bored out of my mind that I actually began to think of ways to irritate Heero when his emotionless eyes appeared on the screen – as well as the rest of his features on his face, of course. I greeted him with a cheerful, "Oy Heero! Got any birds you wanna shoot down yet?" His eyes remained untouched at the indirectly insulting comment as he avoided the question and replied, "We are nearing the Oz base. Use the clouds as your cover and land in 210 seconds at the rendezvous point.
"The forest, neh?" A sharp nod of his head indicated his answer and he responded, "Over and out" before disconnecting our vid-link. I patiently awaited the destination point, eager to dive head-first into our current mission.
This mission simple was straight-forward -- my favorite kind. It consisted of infiltrating the base, hacking into some computers and stealing/intercepting some files before blowing the place to bits. A normally quite easy task, considering we *are* gundam pilots, but what I didn't understand was why there was a need for more than two pilots. Sure, this base was larger than most, and sure, it was located in a more secluded area than all the others, but still... throw in Heero with his hacking skills and yours truly for stealth and you've got a few stolen files and a mere pile of has-been Oz rubble. I'm not scared. Not one bit.
Well, that was then, and this is now.
Sure enough, time passed quickly and soon I found myself outside of Deathscythe. A few meters away I saw Heero swing out of his own gundam Wing Zero, and shoulder a pack once he landed on the soft grass. I ran over to meet him, and arched a brow.
"What the heck, I thought *all* your stuff fit into your... spandex," I commented, indicating to the pack on his back. He merely acknowledges my comment with his usual "hn" and replied, "I needed to bring along my laptop to upload the computer files -- the ones we need to steal are too big to load onto a disk." Before I could even make a comment I was seeing the back of his head as he began to walk to the base. I easily caught up with him and managed to keep up beside him. Kid sure does walk fast... "Oy, Heero, where are Quatre and Trowa? Aren't they suppose to be here with us?"
"They'll be infiltrating the base on the other side of this forest -- we decided to pair off instead of going in separatly, for safety precautions." I simply responded with an "oh" before diving into the next question. "So what's the layout like?" When he didn't reply I decided he was annoyed and that I'd hold off from answering any more questions until we got closer to the objective.
About a half hour later after fighting Mother Nature and all those nasty blood-sucking insects, I could finally make out a structure that looked as run-down as the city I use to live in as a child on the L2 colony. We were entering the last thicket of trees and greenery when Heero came to a stop and crouched down. I imitated his action, glancing over his shoulder.
"So, what's the plan?" I'm rewarded with a death glare but before I could open my mouth the stoic boy orders, "Quiet down, you're too loud." I nod, and slightly lower my voice. "Well?" I watched as Heero reached into his pack and withdraw his hand with his trusty laptop. Booting up the little computer he fingers nimbly punched in some passwords and finally a message came up on the screen. Quickly I scanned the message, realizing it was a mission request with very specific instructions.
"We're suppose to wipe out their computer main frame." A sharp nod confirmed my reply. "Well why's *this* mission so different from all the other -- "
"-- Dr. J. contacted me personally." Again, one eyebrow rose. "It seems this 'main frame' isn't what it's suppose to be." I racked my brain for any other possible ideas, but came up sorely disappointed.
"Huh?" Heero looked my straight in the eye and I *swear* there was uncertainty lurking behind his hard prussian eyes. I could feel my mouth run dry, and suddenly I felt all the little hairs on my head stand straight up -- you know, they do that when you get scared. Or have a bad feeling. Or it's cold outside.
It was definitely all of the above.
As quickly as the uncertainty flashed in Heero's eyes, it left. "I'm not exactly sure what Dr. J. meant," he confesses, "but we're 'suppose to know it when we see it' -- that's the exact words he used." I frowned, but then shrugged.
"Well, let's trust the good 'ol docs and get into this piece of crap." Heero nodded, and opened up a new file on his laptop. I watched as a green and black digital map lit up on the screen, and scrutinized to make out all the little lines. "We'll enter through this ventilation shaft," he paused to point at a thin line, "after scaling the walls on the outside. We won't be able to infiltrate through the building on the first floor -- they are too many guards."
"We can't just take 'em out?" The shaking of his unruly hair gave his thoughts away.
"That's a negative. We're to complete this mission without injury to *anyone* -- this mission is a complete stealth mission."
"That means no flying chunks of former Oz base?" I could feel my eyes widen in disappointment. Dame, this mission sucks! He waited for my eyes to shrink back to their normal size before continuing.
"We'll crawl until we reach this duct here," again he paused to trail his finger along the screen, only stopping at a corner in the map, "drop into this room, and from here we can search the corridors freely until we find whatever it is we're looking for." I nodded and then paused. The puzzled look on my face must've been apparent, because Heero muttered a "hn."
"Well.... if we're to be searching the corridors oh-so-freely, won't there be guards or security or cameras or *something* to stop us from prancing around like a buncha novices?" Heero shook his head.
"No, that's what Quatre and Trowa will be busy with -- infiltrating the main security panel and shutting down all the precautions Oz had the liberty of setting up. They will be joining us later to help us -- they'll also be our back-up and if need be, the diversion." I nodded. Well, let's get going. Don't wanna be sticking around this dump too much longer.
I followed Heero behind some shrubs and soon found myself facing a rather vertical and quite intimidating wall of brick and moss. Beside me Heero wordlessly begins to unload some wall-scaling gear, and tosses me a pair of gloves. "Why Heero, you're *so* thoughtful!" Again, I was reminded of Relena, and I swear I saw the "blank wall" blanch. I smirked, pulling the gloves on and reached for a grappling hook.
Within moments we were prying open a really pathetic excuse for a lock, swinging our feet in and crouching down low. I glanced over at Heero who motioned pointed upwards. There above his head was a camera. Quickly I checked my own corner and saw that there was also another one. There was a red light on both and neither were moving. I smirked again, noting that they were unoperational. Looks like Quatre and Trowa have done their job...
"Take the door on the right, I'll check the one down the hall." Before I could comment Heero took off down the hall, leaving me in the dust.
Doesn't waste any time, does he? I shook my head, and strode over to the door on my right. It was a typical steel door, adorned with all these confusing little password locks and laser sensors and blah blah -- as if that would be a problem in the eyes of yours truly. Reaching up I pulled a hair pin out (can never have enough of them bobby pins for missions like this!) and stuck it in the alternate "key hole", working my way in. Within moments a digital password appeared on the panel and I couldn't help but smirk. C'mon, we *are* gundam pilots after all.
I stepped into a fairly regular-sized room with computers lining the walls and no windows. The walls were colorless -- all in dark grays -- and the only lighting provided was from that of artificial lights and the computer screens. A vid-screen on the far left, and a big, steel closet was up against a wall on the right. Oy, Heero would have a lot of fun in here...
Well, that closet looks fairly important. Better go and pry that baby open.
The closet was pretty big -- actually, it was double my size and was only a foot or so off from the ceiling. To my surprise there wasn't some sorta lock to keep it closed or anything. Arching a brow, I reach over to grab the handle... until I felt it again. All the little hairs on the back of my neck were on end. I paused, and held my breath, listening for *any* sign that would suggest someone else near by... but none came. It was just the damn feeling of.... what the hell, I might as well say insecurity but I know myself pretty well and I am *NOT* insecure. But.... I went for my browning anyway, just in case. Yeah, I just like having a gun in my hand. Right.
Anyway, back to the big steel box. I held my breath once more and quickly pulled the door open, nearly squeezing my trigger finger at the big, scary, HAIRY monster within... and when it fell atop me I almost yelped in alarm. Good thing it was only a mop or else I probably would've let off a few shots. Heero wouldn't have been too happy with that, giving away our cover and all.
"Yare!" I heard myself exclaim quietly in relief. Grabbing the mop I set it against a wall gently, and continued on with my examinations.
Nothing out of the ordinary as far as I can see. A bucket, some rags, a pair of rubber boots, a jacket..... better move onto the next suspicious-looking thing, there's nothing here worth noting. I turned to shut the door when a glare caught my eye. Looking up I saw a mirror, hanging in the interior wall of the closet door. I began to turn away again, dismissing the mirror when I noticed something that made the little hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Again.
What the hell -- Just as soon as the mist reflecting in the mirror had appeared did it vanish when I spun around, browning cocked in it's now vacant area. After pausing for another moment, I slowly made my way around the room -- checking out all other possible storage areas, desks, and anything else that looked suspicious, never completely ignoring the weird funky mist spot. I exited the room, coming out empty-handed. Better go find *something* before Heero chews me out...
"Duo." I had no sooner stepped out of the room when the Wing Zero pilot appeared in the hallway.
"Yeah?" Walking towards him I saw a light bouncing off of his frame, from the room he emerged. "You find anything?" The rise and fall of his shoulders indicated his response. How typical.
"Hn." He paused for moment before re-entering the room. I, of course, follow in suit.
"Oy Heero, aren't we suppose to 'know it when we see it' cuz I'm not sure... " That's when I decided to shut up. I let my words trail off, slack-jawed and somewhat wide-eyed. Usually I have a witty comment somewhere stored in my brain and I'm pretty good at improving but the slimey, bare-naked sight I saw floating in a floor-to-ceiling tube before me kinda caught my sense off-guard. I stared at the floating girl for a moment longer before looking to Heero. He appeared as cool and calm as always, as if he saw this sort of thing everyday.
Damn his lack of facial expression.
"H-H-Heero....." Hell, since when did I stammer? Before I could attempt to correct my two-year-old stuttering, my partner stepped closer to the glass cylinder, his eyes never leaving the girl. "Wha-what the hell.... what happened.......... are you -- "
"Pull yourself together, Duo." He had already made his way over to the wall of computers and was rapidly tapping on his keyboard. Well excuse *me* for being a bit spooked, but sheesh -- I may have seen a lot in Eve Wars and as a kid in the L2 city slums, but never a naked chick floating in a test tu -- wait a minute, naked....? Before I could confirm my thoughts Heero's sharp glare brought me back to the situation at hand.
"Ano... so, what do we have -- "
"I took the liberty of hacking into these computer files and at the moment it's downloading the whole program." He paused for a moment, as if hesitating on what to say next. The perfect soldier... unsure? Hesitating?? What the heck, maybe he *is* human... but if he's getting this kinda reaction outta something like this..... well yeah, who the hell wouldn't but still....
"Did you find anything that would explain a naked chick in a tube?" I asked bluntly. And some people say I have no tact.
"There are a few system locks and traps I have to hack through. It would take too long for me to try it here." I raised a brow upon hearing this. Heero Yuy, taking too long? At *hacking* into a couple of *computer files*? I'm doing far too many eyebrow exercises today... I wonder if Dorothy did this many when just meeting Relena -- maybe *that's* how she got them so forky! I noticed he had begun to close his laptop and disconnect two computers. I turned to leave when my eyes caught the cylinder again.
"What... about her?" I asked, jerking my thumb in the girl's direction. Don't know how I managed to keep my eyes from straying though -- maybe it was the fact of not knowing whether or not she was *alive*. Watching Heero's eyes pass over the cylinder again, I couldn't help but tilt my head at the unusual uncertainty I found lurking there. That look in his usually emotionless prussian eyes was enough to make me get the goosebumps.
"We eliminate it." I did a double-take, freezing in mid-step. Once I found my wits again I intelligently stammered, "W-wha-what?" The look in Heero's eyes was unmistakable this time. "B-but Heero, we don't even know if she's -- "
"She *is* alive, Duo."
"And so *why* do we have to kill her?" I could have sworn irritation washed over him at my question. Well c'mon, gundam pilots are *not* known for taking out poor defenseless girls who are asleep and naked.
"She is a project of sorts that suggest Oz has formulated a new plan of action. They've been running some tests on this girl, maybe injecting and rearranging her DNA. We don't know for sure what she is capable of and we can *not* afford to take any risks." As he was giving off his most-likely longest paragraph ever, he was also reaching behind him to reveal a .40 browning much like my own. Without further words I watched in faint horror as Heero swung around and put the unconcious girl in the line of his fire.
Oh shit Heero, I don't know about this....
"I will eliminate all obstacles." Following his words was the loud sound of shattering glass, echoing in the tiny test room. The bluish liquid that once surrounded the girl oozed out everywhere, pooling at our feet. I expected the stripped girl to come tumbling out after the substance, landing with a sickening thud on the white tiles with shards of glass catching on her bare skin.
The thing was, I never heard Heero's gun go off.
*Owari Chapter Three*
Kitty's Note: So! What did you guys think?? Sorry it took me so long but my muse was giving me difficulties connecting my thoughts and ideas with actually putting it down in print! Mou, I *really* hope that the lack of reviews are from the fact that I don't really have that much up! =) It's just nice to hear criticism (I *LIVE* offa that! =) and comments from time to time, neh? ^_^ Reviews are also a *great* motivation for writing too! =) Makes you feel loved.... but anyway, back to the story! I'm still finding it kinda hard to write in 1st person, so please bear with me! Please, review and I'll do my best to crank out s'more chapters at a better pace! Arigato for reading!
Oh yes, on another note -- I wasn't exactly *sure* what type of rating this story was to be, so I just threw in the letter "R" just incase!
