Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.
Warning: None
Mindless Babble:
Heero, Trowa, Quatre and Wufei watched over the following days as Duo and Tora-chan, Tora for short, bonded to the point of being inseparable. Or as Wufei said, "Insufferable." The four soon found that Duo and the kitten had come up with a multitude of games. One was a strange game of "Tag". One would chase the other down a hall and on the return trip the roles would be reversed. So long as they didn't get run over, the other four pilots would just chuckle at the sight of their Braided Baka being chased by the tiny kitten. Another game was "Hide and Seek". Tora would hide her toys and Duo would have to seek for them. Usually this game ended with the five pilots going to the nearby pet supply store to buy new ones.
Eventually, Duo joined his friends in going back to work with the Preventers. He was only allowed to work part time, though. Everyone agreed that taking things slowly would be the best. For Duo, it meant being aloud to spend more time with his furry friend. For Tora, it meant long hours of crying for her "Daddy". Many times, on the days that Duo didn't work, the others would come home to find him asleep on the couch, TV on, and kitten curled up against Duo's chest, under his arm, purring contently.
It came as a surprise, then, when all five of them were called into the Chief office for a mission briefing. Usually they were paired up for their assignments. For all five of them to be on the same mission meant something big had come up.
"I called the five of you in here because of your unique backgrounds," the Chief said, watching the confusion set in. He took a deep breath and continued, "You all remember that MS station you destroyed a while back?"
Heero grabbed Duo's hand as soon as he saw his friend's eyes widen with fear. Duo smiled shakily and nodded his thanks. Then he turned his attention back to his superior officer, trying to keep the fear in control.
"Well, we checked into what they kept saying about 'the copies' and found a small MS factory working on the moon. We think whatever they meant, might be in that factory."
"Why did it take so long to find this place?" asked Trowa.
"Two reasons; One- the factory is partially underground, built into the side of a crater. Two- it was supposedly shut down years ago."
"Why do you think 'the copies' are there?" this was from Wufei.
"That's why we chose the five of you. We think those copies are copies of your original Gundams."
"You mean ?" It was highly unlike Heero to be surprised like this, and it disturbed him. "The scientist ?"
"No, they're not involved. Intelligence reports that these terrorist stole the plans on their own."
"So, what is our mission?" asked Heero, once again the Perfect Soldier.
"Find out as much information on those Gundams and destroy the factory. Take prisoners if you can. Ummm... is he alright?" the Chief asked, pointing at Duo.
The boy had a look in his eyes and grin on his face that the other pilots knew very well. Shini-Gami had returned with a vengeance.
The five pilots found themselves hiding in a closet changing clothes with five unconscious pilots. They had booked passage on a lunar flight and then rented a vehicle to drive out to the crater. Breaking in had been surprisingly simple. Taking out the first guards had been even easier.
"Let's split up. Trowa and Wufei, you guys take the explosives. I'll take Quatre and Duo to try and find the Gundams.
The other four nodded. Trowa and Wufei shouldered the duffel bags that held the small explosives. They would take them and hide them around the base. The explosives would be set to a remote control detonator. Wufei peeked out of the closet to check if the coast was clear, then he and Trowa walked out and down the hall.
Heero, Quatre, and Duo followed suite soon there after. It only took twenty minutes of looking before they found the large hanger that housed the five Gundams. Heero sat down at a computer to start hacking into it. He paused long enough to instruct Quatre to watch the door and Duo to check out the Gundams themselves.
After a few minutes, Heero spoke up. "Hey, Quatre. Come here and take a look at this"
The young Arab walked over to the peer over Heero's shoulder. The screen held some of the stats about all five of the Gundams. Heero tapped a section of the screen. The information was about the systems.
"They don't have a Zero system, but they do have something they called a 'Symbiotic' system. In theory it works somewhat like the Zero, but only kicks in if the pilot loses control of his emotions. So far, these guys haven't found anyone who could handle it."
"Looks like they can now be slaved with the other Gundams, in case the pilot looses consciousness. That would have been handy during the war," Quatre said with a smile. He read a little further down and found a surprise. "They're operational?"
Heero nodded. "I think we should take them with us."
Quatre agreed. "I'll help Duo get the Gundams ready for take off. You should see about finding Trowa and Wufei."
"I also found a map of this place so it shouldn't take too long for me to find them."
It actually took him almost a half hour for the three of them to get back. By that time Duo and Quatre had gotten all five Gundams ready. Trowa and Wufei were pleasantly surprised to find Heavyarms and Shenlong waiting for them. Even better was the fact that Duo had found all the weapons for the Gundams.
The pilots got into each of their Mobile Suits and strapped in. Heero pointed his Buster Rifle at the roof and blew a hole in it large enough for the massive Gundams to fit through. The base had only a single level so immediately the air rushed out of the hanger and into the void of space. Four Mobile Suits followed the air.
Heero had chosen to stay behind long enough to detonate the charges. He would have a window of only a few seconds to get out, but he was confident that he could do it. Just as he was about to hit the button to destroy the base, a swarm of Leos and Aries descended on the pilots.
The five Gundam pilots reacted like it was second nature to them, which in a way, it was. Even though it had been a long time since any of them had even been in the original suits, each one moved with a fluid grace that could only be found after years of practice.
Duo spared a second to look down through the hole in the building to see how Heero was doing. He was just in time to see his friend being swarmed in MSs. Something in Duo snapped then.
"HEERO!"
Duo dropped down through the opening and began slicing the metal monsters that were attacking Wing. Rage poured into his veins and fueled his Energy Scythe. An image briefly came to mind of a beautiful woman holding a scythe much like his. The image came and went so quickly, Duo hardly had a chance too acknowledge it.
Suddenly, a haze of red dropped over Duo's vision. His mind seemed to shut down and computer kicked in. It was able to analyze and predict its' enemies' moves. It was a matter of seconds before all the Leos that had been attacking Wing were eliminated.
Inside Wing, Heero was recovering from the triple shock of being attacked, Duo's first word since waking up, and Duo's slaughter of the MSs. Deathscythe hadn't moved after destroying the last Leo and The Japanese pilot was beginning to worry about his friend.
"Duo? Are you hurt?"
Silence answered him. Heero quickly programmed Deathscythe to follow wing. He found the remote detonator and pressed the button. The he and Deathscythe flew out the roof. The others had completed destroying the remaining enemy and were waiting for them.
"We're going home. Now. I think something happened to Duo," Heero said over the radio.
Two hour later, Heero, Quatre, Wufei and Trowa stood around Duo's bed and watched Sally try to examine the boy. A small ball of fluff kept getting in between her and Duo. Finally, she picked up the kitten and handed her to the nearest person, which happened to be Wufei. He looked down at Tora-chan, who looked at him with such a confused and hurt expression, Wufei did the only thing he could think of and hugged her.
Sally finished her examination and sighed. The four pilots braced themselves for bad news. "He's catatonic, which means that basically his mind has shut down."
"Will he come out of it?" asked Quatre.
"I don't know. Maybe after that system has been studied a bit more, I might be able to tell. Right now, though, Duo needs to get some rest."
The five of them shuffled through the door. Wufei tried to hang on to Tora but she wiggled out of his arms and ran to the bed. The last thing Wufei saw as he closed the door was the tiny kitten curled up next to Duo, a paw resting on her "daddy's" shoulder.
