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Part Four: Questions Answered; Ming and Rico's Battle with the Hydra
Char closed his eyes, letting the atmosphere around him explain his surroundings. He concentrated, slightly, and his mind's eye told him what was around him. He drew his saber, and assumed the ready position. The steady stomping of his charging opponent gave away the position to the Red Comet.
"You attack too quickly," he said under his breath. The stomping came to a halt as Char thrust. A dull thud was heard.
Char opened his eyes and looked to the lifeless body on the ground, pierced through the heart by his saber.
"Set and match," he said, turning around to face the applause .
Treize smirked. "I see your Newtype abilities have manifested."
"Nah, I could do that any day of the week."
"Well, its good to know that 1000 years as cold data haven't changed you."
"Nope."
Char exited the arena as the OZ troops cleaned up their dead comrade.
"So how is it that you've brought me back here anyway?" Char asked.
"While I was digging through the texts at the Romefeller mansion, I stumbled across a good deal of books on a time period called the Universal Century. There enclosed with it were a number of data disks, all marked with characters, or so I thought, from the stories. After reading the disks, I discovered that what I previously thought to be fiction was truly fact. The design plans for every single mobile suit in the tales were in numerous engineering books and..."
"Wait, how could you be sure that they weren't actors or something?"
"Your very existence right now is dependent on that fact, Char."
Char groaned. "Well, I know that. So, I died when I was 33, thanks to Amuro Ray. What happened to make me 17 again? I wasn't even a pilot when I was this old."
"Well, that tale is to be answered another time."
"Right..."
Treize entered a large white room, filled with sophisticated computers and various tanks. "Looks like some damn sci-fi movie..."
"Char, your life has been a sci-fi movie."
"Shut up. What'd you bring me here for anyway?"
Treize opened up a file slot and held up a single red disk. "This is your brain." He placed it into the disk drive of the large monitored computer. A great number of ones and zeroes popped up onscreen. "This is your brain on a computer."
"Right... What are you some sorta anti-drug commercial?"
"A wha?"
"Before your time..." Char groaned, flashing back to the old commercial he saw when he studied history at the Zeon Academy. Treize popped out Char's brain algorithms. "Hey! Gimme that!"
"Nope." Char dashed at the former sovereign of the World Nation. Treize held the Red Comet back with a forearm, and held the disk just out of range.
"Hey! No fair!" Char yelled, his arms now a blur of red and white as he scrambled for the data disk.
"My disk."
"My brain!"
"So?"
"I want it back!"
"Nope."
Char gave up his attack and turned away, crossing his arms. Bastard, he thought. Suddenly he had an idea. Focusing slightly, he visualized the disk floating over to him. It got halfway and stopped.
He looked over his shoulder. Treize was glaring at him, the disk floating halfway. Treize was shaking his head. "Bad Newtype. No disk for you."
"How did you..."
"You don't think that I could so easily predict the movements of my enemies by just luck, did you?
"Psst. Treize, just between you and me," he leaned in close to Treize. "I've been dead since UC 0093. I'm pretty clueless on what's going on. Not to mention what in the GAY BLUE HELL YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" With that, the resurrected Red Comet grabbed the floating disk and left.
Treize sighed. He was seriously regretting bring this over-reactive kid back to fight for him. He didn't really seem to have much direction at this point, but Treize hoped that he'd find something to fight for soon.
----
Ming sat in her room, unpacking what few belongings she had. She stopped when she found the rumpled picture that she usually kept on her. It was of a smiling girl, a woman in a lab coat and a Chinese boy with his arm around the girl's shoulder. Her heart ached as it always did when she looked at it.
A bang of brown hair poked past her.
"Nice picture. Friends of yours?"
"What do you mean?! That's me and my family!"
Rico snatched the picture away, looked to it, then to Ming, to the smiling girl in the picture, then the frowning girl in front of him.
"WHATEVER. Time changes huh?" Ming merely glared more at him. "Your face is gonna stick like that, you know."
She snatched back the picture and shoved him out of her room. Her mind wandered back to...must have been two years ago. Her colony had come under attack for suspicion of hiding a new Gundam Model. Her boyfriend, Kusato, was to be the pilot.
While the scientist, Sensei M, and she hid, Kusato went out to protect the Gundam. He was confronted by a man in a blue coat. The man removed the cloak and drew a saber. Kusato responded by drawing his own and they dueled. Kusato put a valiant fight, but lost, taking a bullet from a woman in a burgundy uniform. He fell to the ground and lay still. Ming had intended to rush out and help her fallen love but OZ troops soon came near and they were forced to retreat.
She had become a steel-eyed, cold-hearted killer after that. Her very soul was soon drenched in the blood of OZ as she searched for the pair that killed Kusato.
She snapped back into reality, hearing laughter outside her door. She slid it open a bit, and saw Rico and that hourglass-shaped skank Gabrielle laughing it up with Collins and Hideo. Then almost to spite Ming, it seemed, Rico kissed her.
Ming pulled her head back in, her teeth clenched so hard they should've shattered. "WHO NEEDS PEOPLE, ANYWAY?!" she yelled, to no one but herself.
"You do..." Treize said, trying to keep an even voice. "You do realize how much that thing cost, right?"
The Red Comet was as red as his uniform. A worried grin was spread across his face. "Uh… A thatsahelluvalotta dollars?"
Lady Une looked at the vase that had been shattered on the ground by Char's wide gesturing. "That would be a valid assumption. Now you get to pay for it."
"I guess this calls for some epoxy then… Y'see… I kinda used all that when the Zaku's shield broke..."
"Ok, now you HAVE to let me kill him."
"NO!" cried a saving voice, coming from a young girl in a wheelchair. "Leave him alone, Mom! He let me ride in his Zaku!"
Which was the reason the shield fell off… Char noted to himself. As they had been gallivanting about in Char's Custom Zaku II, Mariemaia had snatched the controls and ripped about 30 feet worth of paint off the Mobile Suit by slamming it into the colony and doing barrel rolls. Needless to say, it played hell on Char's still fragile constitution.
"Yeah, had a great time… or something…" the Red Comet mumbled.
Mariemaia wheeled herself over to her 'dear old dad'. "So it's all good, see?"
"Hmm… Char, why did you let her drive the Zaku?"
"I swear it wasn't my idea," he said shaking his head. "So where's my contemporary?"
"Zechs? He's…" Treize's face dropped. "He's still fighting Virgos…"
The doorbell rang. Une answered it to find a Gundam's head sitting in front of her and a very irritated, and very abused Lightning Count sitting on top of it. The smell of burning metal entered the room along with him as his Gundam finally crumbled to pieces.
"There had better good explanation for this."
"Uh, Mobile Dolls aren't any good against humans?" Lady Une tried.
"We were testing your abilities?" Char threw in.
"Fighting Mobile Dolls is certainly dull?" Concluded Treize.
"Dull, huh? WAS THAT BEFORE OR AFTER I RAN OUT ENERGY FOR MY WEAPONS AND HAD TO BEAT THEM OVER THE HEAD WITH STICKS?!" Zechs bellowed.
"Wow… some battle, huh?" Char said.
"Shut up, kid."
Jestre walked along the streets of L2, after informing his employer of the completed mission.
What did he mean by stay with the other four, but watch out for the girl? Am I supposed to kill her? Should I just watch her? This is no job for an assassin like me. What could I possibly do with that load of metal and gears? It's not easy to be inconspicuous when you're driving a huge robot…
He saw the building that he was taking up residence in. Well, home, sweet home. At least they treat me like more than a weapon here.
As he entered, he saw Rico fly backwards out of a room and hit the wall. Dashing in, more out of instinct than concern, Jestre looked to the interior of the room. In it stood Ming, leg outstretched in a sidekick, as evidenced by Rico's now aching torso.
"WHO IS THAT MAN?!" the Chinese pilot yelled, finally lowering her leg.
"Ugh… His name's… Treize Khushrenada…" Rico groaned. Ming raised an eyebrow. "No relation."
"Pick yourself up, we're going," Ming informed him, walking over.
"Where…?" Rico groaned, standing and steadying himself.
"To find him."
"What in the homosexual Hades are you talking about?" he said.
"You and I are going to get that Khushrenada guy."
"Oh. Why?"
"Just go! I've got my reasons!"
"Fine."
"You gonna let her push you around?" Jestre asked.
"It's not her pushing I'm worried about…"
"Better go, she looks impatient."
Rico gave a two finger salute and dashed away. Gabrielle saw him dashing past and followed him, finally catching up to him as he reached the bay.
"Where…" she asked, slightly out of breath. "Where ya going?"
"Out of breath? I guess you're getting out of shape."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing," Rico groaned, wishing he hadn't opened his mouth.
"You think I'm fat don't you?"
"No."
"Don't lie, you think I'm huge!"
Rico felt his head begin to hurt from her constant ranting about her size, even though her waist was about half her bust, the former being about 19, and same for her hips. She had to be one of the most sought-after women in the colony, despite her being 16 and with a guy a year older than her.
Yet, she still saw a fat, unpopular girl in the mirror.
Rico still didn't understand this part of his girlfriend's psyche. But right now was not the time to argue.
"Yes, you're fat, there and there, but not there. You wouldn't be wearing a half-shirt if you were. You'll excuse me, I've got a mission." He quickly kissed her and dashed off.
Gabrielle sent a hand on her chest where Rico had poked her, and another one on her thigh, quelling what she figured would be a ripple. She crossed her arms in a huff. "Jerk. I had a good rant going and he runs off."
The Tiamut had left by the time Rico got to the hanger, and he wasted no time in leaping into the Darkon. It powered up and he hit the necessary switches to active the vernier trail scanners. The Tiamut's trail lit up and shone bright blue against the numerous other trails. He set the output of his vernier thrusters to maximum burn.
Ming sat up as the alarms went off. Next thing she knew, a black form had come alongside her and gave a two fingered salute.
"Took you long enough. Got stopped by your fat girlfriend?"
"What the hell does that mean? Just because she's got a bigger chest than you and a set of hips to match doesn't make her fat."
The Tiamut's beam glaive lit up and Rico quickly whipped out his kamas.
"I won't tolerate such a wanton assault on my figure! I may not be the biggest out there, but I make up for it by being able to kick your ass!"
"This is true," Rico noted, crossing his kamas to block the oncoming glaive.
"And at least I don't go around showing mine off to everyone!" she continued, swinging the other end around, which lit up. Rico boosted up away from the blades and managed to remain unscathed.
"Why are we fighting about this?"
"You insulted my figure!"
"You insulted my girlfriend!"
"Let's just kill Treize, kay?"
"Ok!"
Char was sitting inside Treize's small home in L1, piecing together the expensive vase he had shattered. He strained through the microscope that had been soldered to his helmet and felt his head start to ache. He would've chalked it up to the stupid scope, but he recognized the feeling as something else.
Newtype sense tingling… DANGER! He pulled off the scope and ran down to the stairs. He grabbed both rails and slid to the bottom, yelling for Treize.
"What's going on now?" the exasperated leader of OZ sighed.
"Two Newtypes, sir, powerful, and inside the colony!"
"What?!" It must be those two…
"Sir, shall I intercept them in my Zaku?"
"No, I'll handle it myself," Treize said pushing past Char towards the hanger. "Besides, you've got a vase to repair."
Bite me. "Good luck, sir."
"I won't need any if my suspicions are correct," said Treize, as he activated the Hydra. The bay opened and the Hydra lifted off.
Darkon and Tiamut had entered the colony, through an MS sized airlock, and were scanning for any signs of activity from whatever military units were stationed there. The Tiamut's reactor suddenly shut down from what Rico could tell and it toppled over.
I can't do this… not with him… Rico heard in his head, through Ming's voice.
"What in the…" Rico said, awestruck at what he just heard. The Tiamut rolled over, and the cockpit opened.
"L-let me do this on my own, Rico…" she said, as she exited. Even with her spacesuit, a skin-tight black one, with red and white stripes wrapping around the legs, arms and body, he could tell by her movements that she was on the brink of crying.
"Hey, you all right?"
"I'm fine," she sniffed. "Don't bother with me."
"Come on, are we gonna get this guy or not?"
"Please…leave..."
Rico flipped out of his Gundam and landed on the Tiamut.
"I'm not gonna leave you," he said, removing his helmet and breathing in the reprocessed air. It was stale and tasted like re-hydrated water, but he repressed his usual comment about it. "In the state you're in, you'd just wind up getting killed."
"It's not your problem, dammit! I--" he twisted her helmet and pulled it off, revealing her long black hair and now-sorrowful face.
"You can't die this early in the game, Ming."
"And why not?!" she yelled back, her tears sparkling around her face. "I can die any damn time I please! You don't need to get involved in this, not get LOST!" she screamed. She stepped backward towards the cockpit, but tripped and would've likely dashed her head on the Mooncrete, had a strong pair of black clad arms not caught her.
Rico instinctively pulled her close and she felt the cold cast of his armor and the rigid, solid lines of his torso as her hand slid across it.
Ming's eyes widened as she realized what was happening. She pushed back slightly, looking up into Rico's tranquil green eyes.
"You should be more careful," he said in a voice barely more than a whisper.
"Why… why are you helping me?"
"Fate," he said in a voice carried by the wings of the wind.
"But if you die… It'll be my fault…" she choked out pressing her cheek against his frigid armor against and allowing herself to be held in his warm embrace.
"I'm not leaving without you, no matter what."
"What about your family?" she asked, now letting herself to open up to a measure.
He loosened his embrace, and took a deep breath. "I have my reasons. All I can tell you now is that it is my final destiny to kill him."
"That's so lonely…" she whispered.
Jestre was not a happy assassin.
He was in fact, exponentially pissed. Granted I should be thankful for still holding on to that emotion after what has been done to me... But right now, I'm irritated at those engines. The massive backpack that held the four high-powered engines called "Torreto Boosters" was incomplete. Damn that Treize for not getting those rockets finished on time…
"Hey, you! Mechanic girl!" he rasped.
"I have a name you know!" Gabrielle hollered back.
"I don't care. Get those engines fixed!"
She stomped over to the masked assassin. "Now, you listen here, pal, I've got about a million other things I could be doing right now, and I'm considering very carefully if I should just overlook that Gundanium beer can you call a Mobile Suit!"
"Why you--" POW! The attack was unexpected, and Jestre had no time to defend himself as a gloved fist connected with his face.
"What up now?!" she raged at the Laughing Man, who was now on flat on his ass, after staggering around for a few seconds.
Jestre fought to keep his own rage down, as he watched the short-skirted mechanic swagger off. The only outlet for his rage was for his eye to twitch uncontrollably, and twitch it did as he seethed inwardly. I CAN'T BELIEVE I GOT DECKED BY A GODDAMN KID!
He hopped up, and looked around. Ok, first things first, gotta get those engines working, THEN I kill her. He spotted the Mantis getting a scrubbing by Hideo with what appeared to be an oversized cotton swab, and Collins reloading his titanic Gatling cannon. A wicked grin spread over the Harlequin's face. Why do it yourself when the parts are right in front of you?
Treize was hovering over the last known location of the two Gundams, when suddenly the Hydra's sensors warned him of an incoming projectile. Treize looked around for where it was coming from, when a flying object clocked the Hydra in the head.
"What in the…" he said as a pillar of smoke trailed up from the ground.
"Wow. I never know a mailbox could be turned into an anti-MS weapon…" Rico said, amazed at Ming's apparent genius when it came to ballistics.
"That's nothing. Let's get back to the suits."
"Why?"
"Trust me."
Treize looked in horror as a multitude of explosions went off on the ground and the Hydra was bombarded with small flying objects, now identified as mailboxes.
"WHY?! WHY ME?!" Treize yelled out to the colonial air.
"BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU DID TO KUSATO YOU BASTARD!" came a very familiar voice.
"You…" Treize managed to gasp before he was slammed in the back by a huge metal foot, sending him crashing into the ground. He flipped over and opened fire with his stalk cannons, hitting the charging Tiamut in the chestplates. He pulled out his Hyper Beam Saber and charged at the Tiamut when a black blur whizzed by and severed his saber arm.
Rico steadied his Gundam after his daring little dancing slash attack. "Ming, you alright?"
"Yeah. Most of the systems are fried though."
"Well get them back online, I'll hold him off."
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the one boy I didn't manage to kill."
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the son of a bitch that killed what little family I had!"
"Hey, I left you a girl, remember?"
The beam cannon swung around. "Orphaned at 15 ain't a way to live, you asshole!" He locked the brackets and plugged in, then opened fire. The saffron streams intertwined and created a massive wave of energy that barely missed the viridian titan, and exited the colony before fizzling out.
"Whoa."
"What's the matter? Forgot how strong you made it?!"
"Rico, stop!" Ming yelled.
"What? Why?"
"Because this battle is pointless! We can't beat him…"
"Why not?!" Ming winked at him over the monitor. "Yeah, I guess you're right Ming…"
"Good," Treize said, a slight sigh of relief escaping him. "Now hand over those Gundams."
The Tiamut reluctantly neared the Hydra and the cockpits opened, forming a bridge. Treize stepped out, despite his nagging feelings that something was wrong, and drew his saber.
Ming was also ready to set her plan into motion, and dashed at him, katana out. Treize spun to the side, dodging the blow, and brought the hilt of his saber into her back. She spun and was parried as he whirled to the side, spinning behind her. As she attacked relentlessly, Treize continued to block or dodge. Much to her annoyance, he seemed rather bored.
She felt the fatigue begin to set in, so she flipped over Treize with almost all over her remaining strength and swiped at his back. He merely whipped his sword over his shoulder and stopped the potentially devastating attack. A shot rang out and Treize's eyes darted around, allowing Ming to plant her feet in his back.
Treize steadied himself and pulled his sidearm, a finely crafted and engraved one-shot pistol. He aimed at Ming, putting the ornate barrel up to her forehead. She shut her eyes and waited for the shot, and the sweet cold release of death, but the sound of a hammer cocking farther back snapped her out of it.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," snarled Rico, who had dropped behind Treize without either of the combatants noticing.
"Rico, no. He would've defeated me."
Treize smiled. "Good girl." He lowered his firearm, but whipped around and shot Ming's savior point blank. Black plastic exploded outward as the bullet penetrated his chest cavity, knocking the Rev Raptor backwards and taking his wind with him. He stumbled backwards and slumped to the metal surface of the cockpit hatch, crimson blood sprinkling onto the makeshift catwalk as he fell.
Ming shoved past Treize, nearly knocking him off the platform. She rushed over to the fallen Khushrenada. She gazed into his shimmering jade eyes as he fought to breathe properly again.
"He's… getting away…" He choked out. Ming looked at him worriedly, surprising the injured pilot. She never had shown any concern for him, until now, but what'd he know? He just met her anyway.
Her instincts took over and, for a reason neither of them could or would figure out, they shared a deep long kiss.