Broken Reflections by Angel Barton
• Chapter Two: Enter the Outsider •
Heero awoke with a start. He was lying face down on a sandy strip of
beach, the waves lightly lapping his feet.
How long have I been out? he
wondered. Grunting, he hauled himself
to his feet. As he removed his helmet,
he turned to look out at the endless stretch of ocean behind him. The
enemy will be out there soon, searching for Wing. Well, they won't get it. He
shifted his eyes to his right, scanning the buildings farther down the coast before allowing his gaze to fall on
the Alliance marina. I'll bet they have something I can use.
As a plan began to form in his mind,
he swiftly stripped off his space suit, leaving him clad in a green tank top,
black spandex shorts, and yellow high top sneakers. After burying his suit in the warm sand, he turned and climbed up
the steps to the road above. He glanced
around till he found the very thing he was looking for. Walking
briskly to the pay phone, he snatched the phone book from its shelf and thumbed
through it till he located the listing he desired. He memorized the address and tore out the map in the back of the
book. Taking a glance at it, Heero
shoved the map in his pocket and began walking down the road towards his next
objective.
• • •
An hour later, Heero shoved open the
heavy oak door of the public library.
As he walked past the secretary at the front desk, he spotted the very
thing he needed. Striding purposely
towards the row of computers, he ignored the curious glances in his direction,
obviously inspired due to his unusual outfit.
He chose the terminal farthest from
the prying eyes of the resident bookworms.
It's a good thing that barely
anyone is here. Otherwise, I might be
finding myself having to eliminate some unwanted obstacles. Slipping the encoded disk he carried out of
his pocket and into the awaiting disk drive, he entered his password into the
system and quickly typed through the disk's programmed security barriers. At last, thanks to the computer's Internet
capabilities and a brief, untraceable satellite relay, he tapped into the
computers at Mission Control.
Almost immediately, his new mission parameters
displayed themselves on the screen.
Scanning the new information, he laughed inwardly. This will destroy it for sure, he thought as a computer diagram of
the tools he needed to compete his mission appeared on he screen..
Deep water torpedoes, guiding functions installed. Stored at the marina weapons warehouse,
that's not far. Perfect. Moving his fingers rapidly over the
keyboard, he keyed in his response.
Mission accepted.
• • •
Heero smiled grimly behind the wheel of his
"borrowed" vehicle. He still clearly
remembered the shocked look on the man's face as Heero had flung open the
driver's door and dragged him out of his seat.
He had left the man lying stunned in the library parking lot as he sped
towards the base. At this rate, he thought, I'll
be there in plenty of time.
• • •
Jeeze,
what luck, thought Peters. I get stuck pulling sub upkeep duty while I
should be out there chasing after those rebels and their new Mobile Suits. "This bites," he muttered audibly.
"I hear ya," said the man at the
control board, checking the electronic equipment. "But who knows? Maybe
we'll get to see some action someday before we die of old age."
Peters chuckled in response. He jerked around as he heard the creak of
the hatch being opened. "What the…!" he
yelled as a small metal cylinder dropped through he open hatch and clanked
noisily against the steel floor.
Seconds later, a small blast rocked
the sub. Presently, a thin turret rose
out of the submarine rose into sight, carrying a single passenger. Heero looked out over the harbor, showing no
sign of emotion over the men's
deaths. He looked to his right, where a
stack of three torpedoes was being lifted into the air slightly above and away
from the moored submarine. Silently, he
turned back to the control panel that had risen out of the tower and began programming
the torpedoes.
He stiffened slightly as he heard the sound of feet
running down the boarding ramp. "What's
going on here? Who are you?" Heero allowed himself a quick glance over
his shoulder. Standing behind him was a
young unarmed woman sporting a outfit suited to that of a secretary. Blast. I had hoped no one had noticed me, he
thought,
But it seems I let my guard down.
Still, his mission guidelines had been clear. Destroy Wing Gundam and eliminate all obstacles. He felt no pity for the young secretary as
he reached for his gun.
"Hey! I'm
talking to you!" The woman's eyes
widened considerably as Heero spun around and leveled his gun at her
chest. "You're in over your head," he
said emotionlessly. "Say goodbye."
A shot rang out from behind Heero. He turned just as the bullet struck him in
his unprotected right shoulder. The gun
fell from his fingers as he flew through the air to land forcefully against the
deck. The woman gaped at the figure
standing at the bow of the submarine.
"What's happening?!" she asked frantically as Heero, holding his hand
over his wound, looked angrily at the stranger and said, "Who are you?"
"It's pretty obvious to anybody that you're the
enemy here, pal," said the newcomer, staring pointedly at the glowering Heero.
Duo had no idea whatsoever as to what was going on,
but he knew a damsel in distress when he saw one. I always considered
myself a knight in shining armor, he
thought. Or would that be gundanium?
Sparing a glance at the woman, he saw her look him
up and down with a mixture of relief and confusion. He knew how strange he must have looked. A 15 year old kid with cobalt blue eyes,
clad all in black, except for the small square of white peeking through the gap
in the collar of his preacher shirt and the rolled-up sleeves just above his
elbows. A black cap and a rope of
braided chestnut hair completed the unusual ensemble. Standing with his feet braced apart and an automatic pistol
leveled before him, he was sure the woman was wondering if she should thank him
or run for the hills.
It turned out she chose the latter. Duo cursed as the foolish girl ran straight
between him and his target in her frantic attempt to escape, giving the downed
guy a chance to retrieve his weapon.
"Move!" he yelled in frustration.
As the fleeing woman cleared his sights, he swore inwardly as he found
his enemy swinging himself up out of a crouch, intending to put Duo right in
his sights.
Before Duo could let off another round, a shot broke
the silence and, to Duo's surprise, knocked the weapon from his adversary's
grasp. The following bullet struck the
guy in the side of the head. Duo gasped
in astonishment as his foe dropped limply to the deck. Searching for the source of the shots, he
turned to catch a glimpse of a dark figure standing in the shadows of the
raised portion of the sub.
"What the…" he murmured. He was startled to hear the alarm go off on his watch. "It's already reached the surface. I must have miscalculated the depth," he
said, averting his eyes from the stranger to glance at his wrist.
Taking his attention off the mysterious stranger proved to be a mistake,
however. Out of the corner of his eye,
he caught a flash of movement. To his
amazement, the stranger executed a perfect double flip to land lightly on the
deck a few feet in front of him.
"Hey! Don't
move!" Duo brought his gun to bear on
the stranger just as the person sprang into a run in the direction of a
suspended stack of torpedoes. He let
off several rounds as the figure leapt towards the hanging explosives. The stranger faltered slightly as he climbed
towards the top warhead. Ha!
Got 'im, Duo thought jubilantly.
His happiness evaporated as the crazy stranger slammed his fist down
onto the launch button on the topmost torpedo.
Instantly, the entire pile of explosives shot out
towards open water and, to Duo's horror, his surfaced Gundam and the one he had
salvaged from the ocean floor. "What
are you doing you fool?!" he shouted.
As the stranger flew backwards off the high-speed weapons to hit the
water with bone-crushing force, the torpedoes sped on to hit the two Gundams
with enormous power.
"NOOOO!!!!!!!!" Duo's scream echoed as the two Mobile Suits
sank beneath the waves in a towering pillar of water.
"Oh man!
That guy knows gundanium's impact tolerance," he said. Looking at the still figure lying face down
in the water below him, he caught his first partial glimpse of his enemy. No
wonder he blended into those shadows so well. The stranger, clad in a loose-fitting black jumpsuit and a black
cap, which had miraculously managed to stay on, could have melted into any dark
spot. Considering the events that had
transpired only moments before, he reached the conclusion that one of the two
unconscious people had to be the salvaged Gundam's pilot. But
which one? he wondered.
Duo looked at the guy lying on the sub deck. The bleeding on his head was beginning to
slow, but it still looked like it required medical attention. He walked over to the prone body and,
grunting, slung him over his shoulder. Well, maybe I'll get some answers out of
this guy. He glanced once more at
the inanimate form floating below him. I'll be seeing you later.
