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Gundam Wing: Lady Gundam
Written By: Jumper Prime
For Disclaimers see prologue
Chapter 2: Six Gundams Confirmed
In the morning, Relena went to the Alliance Medical Facility where she had taken Heero the night before, intending to check on him, but ran into difficulties almost immediately.
"No visitors allowed?" Relena managed to keep her voice calm "Are his injuries that serious?"
"Oh, you're that girl that brought him here, aren't you?" the nurse said "Wait here for one moment."
A moment later, a female Alliance officer with a slightly unusual hairstyle approached.
"Hi, my name is Major Sally." she greeted Relena "Could you give me a little more information about that handsome young man you brought in?"
"About him?" Relena blinked *Uh oh. This does not bode well.*
"We can talk on our way up."
Major Sally Po led Relena to an elevator and pressed the button.
"I'm very interested in that young man." Sally Po said as the elevator rose "He has a wild look about him, but I sense an inner strength."
"I haven't noticed anything different about him." Relena answered "He's just your average young guy, that's all."
"Mind if I ask your name?"
"No, of course not. My name's Relena Darlian."
"You're not related to the Vice Foreign Minister, by any chance, are you?"
"I'm his rebellious daughter." Relena's voice held no hint of the mirth in that statement. She had just admitted to being a rebel, yet this Major had no clue that she was a literal rebel
"I hope you'll forgive me, it seems I've said something to upset you."
"No, don't worry about it. Can I go and see Heero now please?"
"Heero? Are you sure that's really what his name is?"
"Uhhh." *Oops! Gotta go for broke.* "Yeah! I am a close friend of his and we're in the same class."
Just then, the elevator doors opened onto an observation room.
"Any changes?" Sally asked the technician in the room
"Nothing to report, Major Sally." the technician answered
Relena dashed to the glass and looked into the room below. She narrowed her eyes as she saw Heero strapped to a table.
"Heero! What do you have him tied down for!?" Relena demanded "Let him go immediately!"
"We're unsure of him. He's much too strong for us. That's why we've got him tied down in restraints like that." Sally explained "We have a number of questions we want to ask him, but once we get some things cleared up, at least we'll be able to unbuckle him."
"So he's not part of the Alliance military." Relena had her confirmation
"Let's go downstairs."
Relena nodded and walked to the door. As they walked down the stairs towards the room Heero was in, Relena was mentally berating herself.
*Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!* she mentally lashed herself *Dr. Z taught me never to do the obvious, even regarding medical attention. Heero was injured during some sort of Op at an Alliance base, so what do I do? I take him to an Alliance Medical Facility where they restrain him and plan to question him! It's my fault Heero got captured, so it's my responsibility to rescue him. It looks like that room is close enough to the exterior wall for Lady Gundam to reach in and grab him. If I move fast enough, we can be out of here before any mobile suits can be-*
Relena's train of thought was interrupted as the stairs shook from an explosion, almost causing her to fall as a klaxon started to blare.
"Are you alright?" Major Sally asked
"Yes, I'm alright." Relena answered *Looks like someone beat me to the punch.*
Major Sally went down the remaining steps as fast as she could, with Relena right behind. When they reached the bottom, they ran down a short corridor to a door at the end. Major Sally pulled out a keycard and inserted it in a slot in the wall. She frowned when the red light above the slot stayed lit. She pulled the card out and inserted it again. Again the light stayed red. Major Sally pulled out the card again, checked to make sure she was putting it in with the proper orientation, and inserted it a third time. The red light seemed to mock her as it stayed lit.
"Dammit!" the Alliance officer swore
"What's wrong?" Relena asked
"The lock's been scrambled, probably by whoever set off that explosion. My key won't open the door!"
"Do you think they're after Heero?"
"Probably. Perhaps one of his comrades here to rescue him. Or maybe they just scrambled every lock in the building to hide their real target."
"What else could be a target in a hospital? Are there more suspected rebels here?"
"Not to my knowledge," Sally answered as she kicked the door, trying to get it to open "But we also store certain biological agents here, as well as valuable medicines."
After several more kicks, the door finally opened. Relena figured that she could have opened the door herself with one well-placed kick, but she wanted to give Heero's rescuer as much time as possible to get him out. Both women entered the room to see the table empty and a large hole in the wall. Relena gasped as she saw the puddle of blood around the remnants of one of the straps but said nothing.
"He's gone!" Sally stated "He and whoever freed him must've gotten out through that hole."
Sally dashed to the hole, with Relena right behind her. Just as they reached it, another explosion went off, making the floor vibrate a little. They ran in the direction the explosion came from and soon came to a hole that opened onto the outside, the ground 50 floors below. Looking down, both women saw a pair of falling figures, one descending slowly with some sort of hand-held rocket device and the other plummeting headfirst.
"They must have jumped off from here!" Sally said
"Oh my god!" Relena cried out as she realized who the plummeting figure was "HEERO!"
As though Relena's scream had shaken him from a deep sleep, Heero immediately pulled the ripcord on his parachute. But as the parachute began to billow out behind him, it was obvious that it was far too late for him to slow down enough to survive, the voice of the other figure wafting up on the wind stating just that. Just before Heero reached a sloped outcropping of rock, he ditched his parachute and rolled down it and then the beach before coming to a stop. Both Relena and Major Sally were very surprised when he stood up almost immediately.
Heero!" Relena gasped as she saw that the unusual boy was alright
"He's still alive!" Sally exclaimed "Incredible! I really hope he's not one of our enemies."
*I have a feeling that his primary enemy is OZ,* Relena thought *Which would only put you in his sights if you work for them.* She blinked as the other boy landed and helped Heero walk to an approaching boat, during his descent, Relena had seen that he had a long braid and wore black. *That's got to be the same guy. I don't get it. First he shoots Heero, then he helps him escape.* Relena stepped away from the hole as Heero and the other boy got on the boat and it chugged away. *Maybe he rescued Heero because they're both Gundam pilots. Neither knew who the other one was, just as I didn't know Heero was one and he doesn't know I'm one. There were six shooting stars the day Operation Meteor happened. Does that mean that there are three more Gundams with pilots I haven't met?*
The man piloting the boat nodded to Duo as he and Heero came aboard and guided the boat away from the beach and out to sea before Alliance patrol boats could intercept them.
"Good news," the helmsman said to Duo once they were safely away "The camera drone found your Gundam right after you called. The ship should be in position to raise it by the time we rendezvous."
"That's great!" Duo smiled "What about the other Gundam?"
"They landed right next to each other. Shouldn't be any more difficult to bring it up than yours."
"You hear that, pal?" Duo turned to Heero "Looks like your Gundam should be OK too." Heero remained silent "Sheesh, don't give yourself laryngitis thanking me. Anyway, what's your Gundam like?"
"You want to know its capabilities?" Heero said coldly
"No man, what's its personality like? Is it really dull like you or is it a wild and crazy guy, living vicariously through you?"
"It's a mobile suit, not a person. It doesn't have intelligence or emotions."
"You're kidding me. Deathscythe, that's my Gundam's name, is a little bit wacky and thinks he's a real god and that your Gundam is his brother. He's pretty fun to be around though. That Beta System's pretty neat, huh?"
"Beta System?"
"Yeah, y'know, the AI gizmo responsible for a Gundam's intelligence."
"My Gundam has no such system."
"Really? Man, no wonder you were able to try to destroy your Gundam without hesitation. It hasn't got a part of you inside it like Deathscythe does with me."
"You're not making sense."
"The way the Professor explained it, the Beta System programs itself from the pilot's brainwaves to create an electronic assistant of sorts. Since Deathscythe's personality was formed from my brainwaves, it's like he's part of me. So, if your Gundam doesn't have a mind, does it at least have a name?"
"Its formal designation is XXXG-01W Wing Gundam."
"Wing Gundam, eh? I can see where that name came from, what with the wings on its back. Despite your attempt to destroy your Gundam and mine, we should have em back with us soon."
Meanwhile, Gundam Sandrock and the Maganac Corps were in striking distance of the Corsica Base, but were astonished that their target was already under attack.
"Who'd be crazy enough to take on all those soldiers alone?" Abdul wondered
"Someone with a very powerful mobile suit." Quatre responded as he studied the scanner data
[He is my brother.] Sandrock said
"What? Your brother? What do you mean?"
[Are you blind, Quatre!? Can you not see the resemblance between us?! His basic design, his face, the royal crest upon his forehead, and most certainly his strength! All are similar to mine.]
"You're right. It's definitely a Gundam... But how?" As they spoke, Gundam Heavyarms exhausted the ammunition in its beam gatling, gatling guns, and machine cannons, and it dropped its gatling shield, left with only its army knife to fight with. "He's out of bullets." Quatre realized as an Aries flew straight at Heavyarms in what seemed like a kamikaze maneuver "Ahmad! Take out that Aries now!"
A Maganac mobile suit with heavy shoulder and skirt armor immediately leveled its beam rifle and fired. The beam speared into the back of the Aries's head and out through its camera eye right before the mobile suit exploded.
"Everyone open fire on the OZ mobile suits." Quatre ordered and the Maganacs let loose a barrage that quickly decimated the remaining Aries, leaving only one that continued to fire its chain rifle from high up.
Quatre triggered Sandrock's jets and it shot through the air towards the Aries, on the way up assembling its backpack, shield, and heat shotels into the pincer weapon Quatre called the Cross Crusher. Gundam Sandrock caught up with the Aries in moments and closed the heat shotels around the body of the Aries, the massive pincers squeezing inward with enough force to crush almost any mobile suit.
"Sorry." Quatre's voice was heard only by Sandrock as he apologized to the mobile suit pilot he was in the process of killing
The Aries exploded in Sandrock's grip and the Gundam descended back down to the ground. It faced Gundam Heavyarms inside a circle of Maganac mobile suits.
"Master Quatre." Rasid transmitted
"I don't need any help." Quatre replied
"It seems he's already used up all of his bullets."
"That pilot isn't relying on any sort of firearms." Quatre's attention was momentarily drawn away by a mobile suit carrier taking off "Crap! There goes an OZ aircraft!"
[Quatre! Look out!] Sandrock warned as Gundam Heavyarms's army knife locked into place and it shot towards Gundam Sandrock
Gundam Heavyarms slashed with its army knife, which sunk into the underside of Gundam Sandrock's left shoulder, somewhere around the joint. Sandrock moved its arm to trap the heat blade, grabbing Heavyarms's right arm with its left hand. Sandrock pulled on the arm hard and sparks flew from the other Gundam's elbow joint, indicating damage. Heavyarms brought its knee into Sandrock's midsection, forcing it back several steps. Sandrock threw a punch with its free right fist, which was caught by Heavyarms's free hand. The two Gundams struggled against each other, more or less equal.
[It feels strange, fighting my own brother.] Sandrock commented
"This isn't right." Quatre muttered to himself "It's not." Quatre pushed up his goggles, opened his hatch, stepped out onto the platform, and called out to the other pilot "You and I shouldn't be fighting each other!" The eyes of Gundam Heavyarms went dark and its cockpit hatch opened. A boy with brown hair that hid one side of his face came out with his hands raised in the universal pose for someone surrendering "Put your hands down. I was the first one to surrender and come out, remember?"
"Master Quatre," Rasid's voice came from the comm unit in Sandrock's cockpit "Reinforcements are being flown in as we speak. I suggest we depart before they arrive."
"So, what now?" Trowa asked
"We're going to bombard the factory and then pull out." Quatre answered "I'd like for you to come with us. Our mobile suits look similar to each other. I assume you came here on the same mission as me. There must be a reason. Perhaps we were meant to meet?"
"Alright."
Both Gundam pilots went back into their respective cockpits and the hatches closed. Sandrock and Heavyarms disengaged from each other, Heavyarms's army knife retracting back into its arm once it was free of Sandrock's shoulder. Gundam Heavyarms picked up its gatling shield and followed Sandrock as it walked out of the circle of Maganac suits, the Maganac Corps following the Gundams as they walked towards the factory.
"All cannon and missile-equipped Maganacs get in position to bombard the factory." Quatre ordered then waited until all the referred to Maganacs reported their readiness "Commence bombardment!"
Almost before Quatre finished giving the order, the Maganac mobile suits equipped with missiles or cannons opened fire on the factory. Within minutes, more than half the factory was destroyed by the mass fire tactics. Once the bombardment was finished Quatre ordered the Maganac Corps to withdraw and they started on the route towards their base, Gundam Sandrock in the lead and Gundam Heavyarms a short way behind it.
Meanwhile, offshore in the JAP area, Gundam Deathscythe now lay on the deck of the ship that served as Duo's base of operations and Duo himself was working the salvage crane. The head and shoulders of Wing Gundam broke the surface, cables running between it and the crane.
"There, I pulled yours up too." Duo said "You could at least show a little gratitude. Huh? What's he doing?" Duo blinked as he saw Heero lying on the deck, pushing his leg against the railing. A cracking sound was heard as Heero set his own broken leg "Ugh. I can't take much more of this. He just goes and puts a broken bone back in place. Man, it totally grosses me out just thinking about it."
Duo watched as Heero tied some bandages around his now set leg and walked over to gaze at his recovered Gundam. Duo studied Heero's expression as the unusually reserved boy stared at the Gundam he had tried to destroy the night before.
*Maybe he does care for his Gundam after all* Duo mused to himself *The way he looks at it, maybe he does regret trying to destroy it Or maybe he's just glad he can go on more missions now that he's got it back. Oh well. Not like he'll answer me one way or the other. That guy makes clams seem talkative, won't even tell me his name.*
At that same time, in her bedroom, Relena Darlian was typing away on her computer, hacking her way into the Alliance Medical Center's computer.
"Let's see now." she muttered to herself as she bypassed the security protocols "Backdoor accepted. Patient records opened. Accessing patient records for building three, 50th floor, treatment room one. Records classified I don't think so." A few taps of the keyboard unlocked the file "Patient: John Doe. Approximate age: 15. Attending physician: Major Sally Po. Injuries: yadda yadda. Hmmm. What's this? Unknown computer disk found hidden on patient's person. Unable to access contents. Disk sent to Alliance Decoding Center for decryption. Well, we can't have the Alliance getting their hands on whatever information Heero was carrying. But first thing's first. Time for some technical difficulties." Relena pulled out a disk and inserted it into her floppy drive. She tapped in some commands and uploaded a file into the mainframe. "Say hello to the Pac-man virus." Relena smiled as she took the disk out and put it back in a box along with several other floppies "In two minutes it'll start gobbling up data, including Heero's file and the fingerprint & DNA records inside. I hope their antivirus software is up to date."
Relena severed the connection and accessed the computer at the Alliance Decoding Center. Hacking in required more effort than the Medical Center's computer had demanded, but she still gained access quickly. After a few minutes of searching, she found the files relating to the disk received from the Medical Center, including the data file holding the computer's progress on decrypting it. Relena found the information on the disk's physical location, then started some sabotage. First she downloaded the data file to her own computer, then she stopped the decryption task and erased the data file.
"Now to make sure they don't start again any time soon." Relena smiled as she took out another disk and uploaded the contents "Meet the ReCryption virus. The Alliance Decoding Center is now temporarily out of business. They won't even be able to decrypt their own files until they get rid of my little creation, and by the time they do that, the disk will no longer be in their possession."
That night, a black-clad figure crept through the shadows near the Alliance Decryption Center. All that could be discerned about the figure's identity was that it was female as she was clad from head to toe in black clothing, including a black ski mask which left only her violet eyes visible, some light brown hair spilling out from under it in the back. She had bypassed the outer security perimeter by clinging to the underside of a truck and now was about to make her way inside.
A few minutes work with some specialized burglar tools had a window open, its alarm sensor disabled. The figure crawled through the window and gently shut it behind her, reenabling the sensor before easing open the door and creeping down the corridor. She walked in a crouch, making virtually no sound until she reached the door, which led into the room containing Heero's disk. It was the work of moments to pick the lock. The door squeaked slightly as it opened and she walked into a small room containing a chair and a desk with a terminal on it. The figure opened the disk drive and removed the disk, slipping it into her pocket. As she was about to exit, she heard footsteps coming and eased the door closed.
"Probably another false alarm." The approaching guard muttered "Nobody'd be crazy enough to try to breach our security."
The guard opened the door to the very room the figure was hiding in, and was knocked down by a kick to the face as soon as he pressed the light switch. The figure dashed out of the room and down the hall as the dazed guard gathered his wits.
"Intruder alert!" He called into his radio "Intruder in section B-3!"
The figure swore quietly as the hall lights popped on and a klaxon started to sound
*So much for a simple in and out.* she mused
"Stop right there!" A guard shouted as he came around a corner in front of her, flanked by several others who leveled their guns.
Only one way out was visible: The window to her left. The closed window to her left. Without hesitation, the black-clad figure dashed towards the window and jumped through, the glass shattering around her. She tumbled along the ground before rolling to her feet and took off running as the guards fired through the broken window. Sighting a parked jeep, the figure ran towards it, knocking out the guard standing next to it before he knew she was there.
She jumped into the jeep, started the engine, and floored the accelerator, driving towards the main gate. Bullets thudded into the front of the jeep, a few hitting the windshield and shattering the headlights, but they weren't enough to stop it from smashing through the barrier and speeding away. More bullets hit the back end of the jeep, its driver huddled down to provide the smallest target possible while still being able to see the road.
Just when the figure thought she had gotten away clean, the ground in front of her exploded, prompting her to hit the brakes. She looked up to see a pair of Leos walking towards her. She jumped out of the jeep and ran into the woods along the road as one of the Leo pilots ordered her to stop. The figure wove in and out among the trees, just managing to stay ahead of the pursuing Leos, who were slowed by the heavy foliage.
Beneath her mask, the black-clad figure smiled as she caught sight of white metal. She put on a burst of speed and jumped up on top of the prone mobile suit. It took only a moment to open the cockpit hatch and climb in. She pressed buttons and switches with practiced ease, closing the hatch and powering up the Gundam's systems. When the hatch was closed and the systems were coming up, she pulled off her mask to reveal the face of Relena Darlian and settled back in the chair, gripping the joysticks as Lady Gundam came to life.
Lady Gundam stood up, becoming visible to the Leos as she threw off the camouflage net that had been covering her and broke through the trees. Relena smiled as she imagined the looks on the faces of the Leo pilots.
"It's a Gundam!" one of the Leo pilots radioed as Lady Gundam drew her beam sabers and ignited them
"Don't be stupid." Relena whispered "If you know what I am, then you know you can't beat me." The Leos did not hear Relena's words and simply opened fire with their machine guns. "Are all Alliance soldiers suicidal!?"
Lady Gundam shot towards the two Leos and passed directly between them, swinging her beam sabers through the midsections of both mobile suits, the top half of each starting to fall off the bottom half right before they exploded. Lady Gundam flew into the air and was met by a squad of Aries flying towards her. The Gundam raised an arm to point a Buster Gauntlet at the approaching mobile suits and fired a single beam that destroyed all of the Alliance mobile suits flying in close formation.
After destroying the Aries mobile suits, Lady Gundam turned and flew away from the base, finally returning to the cave containing the Gundam's spare fuel and ammunition, and Relena's motorcycle. After dismounting from Lady Gundam, Relena rode her motorcycle back to her home and went up to her room, only then taking the disk out of her pocket and admiring it.
"What secrets do you hold?" Relena wondered
"Hey Relena," Renee's voice preceded her entry into the room, giving Relena just enough time to stash the disk back in her pocket "Went down to the arcade again, huh?"
"Uhh, yeah. I guess I've gotten addicted to those games."
"Maybe not that addicted. I was at the arcade not too long ago and I didn't see you. And those clothes look like something a cat burglar might wear. You're hiding something, sis. I don't know what, but something's different about you now."
As soon as she was finished talking, Renee turned and walked back out of Relena's room, leaving her sister staring at the door.
*Oh Renee," Relena thought *I'd forgotten that you're smarter than you let people think you are. Always intentionally missing questions on tests so you won't get a perfect score, pretending that you're not paying attention when you've really memorized every word that's been said. I'm going to have to be more careful around you. I don't know if you'd understand if you found out what I'm really doing.*
End of chapter 2
Another one finished. At the start, Relena shows that she's not quite used to espionage when she makes a flub or two, but she should improve as she grows used to living a double life. I don't think we ever found out in the anime what was on that disk Heero was carrying when he was captured, or even what happened to it after Operation Daybreak trashed the Alliance. I figured I'd pick up that loose thread and weave it into my fic.
Oh, one thing about the design of the Buster Gauntlets. The Buster Gauntlets attach to the sides of the forearms, much like the shields worn by the Endless Waltz version of Gundam Deathscythe Hell, the nozzles jutting a little over the fists but not far enough to interfere with the beam sabers.
Here's a link to Gundam Project's entry for the Endless Waltz version of Gundam Deathscythe Hell, which includes a picture that shows the shields which helped me visualize the Buster Gauntlets, in case you need help visualizing how they're attached:
http://www.gundamproject.com/mecha/endlesswaltz_gundam02s.html
Written By: Jumper Prime
For Disclaimers see prologue
Chapter 2: Six Gundams Confirmed
In the morning, Relena went to the Alliance Medical Facility where she had taken Heero the night before, intending to check on him, but ran into difficulties almost immediately.
"No visitors allowed?" Relena managed to keep her voice calm "Are his injuries that serious?"
"Oh, you're that girl that brought him here, aren't you?" the nurse said "Wait here for one moment."
A moment later, a female Alliance officer with a slightly unusual hairstyle approached.
"Hi, my name is Major Sally." she greeted Relena "Could you give me a little more information about that handsome young man you brought in?"
"About him?" Relena blinked *Uh oh. This does not bode well.*
"We can talk on our way up."
Major Sally Po led Relena to an elevator and pressed the button.
"I'm very interested in that young man." Sally Po said as the elevator rose "He has a wild look about him, but I sense an inner strength."
"I haven't noticed anything different about him." Relena answered "He's just your average young guy, that's all."
"Mind if I ask your name?"
"No, of course not. My name's Relena Darlian."
"You're not related to the Vice Foreign Minister, by any chance, are you?"
"I'm his rebellious daughter." Relena's voice held no hint of the mirth in that statement. She had just admitted to being a rebel, yet this Major had no clue that she was a literal rebel
"I hope you'll forgive me, it seems I've said something to upset you."
"No, don't worry about it. Can I go and see Heero now please?"
"Heero? Are you sure that's really what his name is?"
"Uhhh." *Oops! Gotta go for broke.* "Yeah! I am a close friend of his and we're in the same class."
Just then, the elevator doors opened onto an observation room.
"Any changes?" Sally asked the technician in the room
"Nothing to report, Major Sally." the technician answered
Relena dashed to the glass and looked into the room below. She narrowed her eyes as she saw Heero strapped to a table.
"Heero! What do you have him tied down for!?" Relena demanded "Let him go immediately!"
"We're unsure of him. He's much too strong for us. That's why we've got him tied down in restraints like that." Sally explained "We have a number of questions we want to ask him, but once we get some things cleared up, at least we'll be able to unbuckle him."
"So he's not part of the Alliance military." Relena had her confirmation
"Let's go downstairs."
Relena nodded and walked to the door. As they walked down the stairs towards the room Heero was in, Relena was mentally berating herself.
*Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!* she mentally lashed herself *Dr. Z taught me never to do the obvious, even regarding medical attention. Heero was injured during some sort of Op at an Alliance base, so what do I do? I take him to an Alliance Medical Facility where they restrain him and plan to question him! It's my fault Heero got captured, so it's my responsibility to rescue him. It looks like that room is close enough to the exterior wall for Lady Gundam to reach in and grab him. If I move fast enough, we can be out of here before any mobile suits can be-*
Relena's train of thought was interrupted as the stairs shook from an explosion, almost causing her to fall as a klaxon started to blare.
"Are you alright?" Major Sally asked
"Yes, I'm alright." Relena answered *Looks like someone beat me to the punch.*
Major Sally went down the remaining steps as fast as she could, with Relena right behind. When they reached the bottom, they ran down a short corridor to a door at the end. Major Sally pulled out a keycard and inserted it in a slot in the wall. She frowned when the red light above the slot stayed lit. She pulled the card out and inserted it again. Again the light stayed red. Major Sally pulled out the card again, checked to make sure she was putting it in with the proper orientation, and inserted it a third time. The red light seemed to mock her as it stayed lit.
"Dammit!" the Alliance officer swore
"What's wrong?" Relena asked
"The lock's been scrambled, probably by whoever set off that explosion. My key won't open the door!"
"Do you think they're after Heero?"
"Probably. Perhaps one of his comrades here to rescue him. Or maybe they just scrambled every lock in the building to hide their real target."
"What else could be a target in a hospital? Are there more suspected rebels here?"
"Not to my knowledge," Sally answered as she kicked the door, trying to get it to open "But we also store certain biological agents here, as well as valuable medicines."
After several more kicks, the door finally opened. Relena figured that she could have opened the door herself with one well-placed kick, but she wanted to give Heero's rescuer as much time as possible to get him out. Both women entered the room to see the table empty and a large hole in the wall. Relena gasped as she saw the puddle of blood around the remnants of one of the straps but said nothing.
"He's gone!" Sally stated "He and whoever freed him must've gotten out through that hole."
Sally dashed to the hole, with Relena right behind her. Just as they reached it, another explosion went off, making the floor vibrate a little. They ran in the direction the explosion came from and soon came to a hole that opened onto the outside, the ground 50 floors below. Looking down, both women saw a pair of falling figures, one descending slowly with some sort of hand-held rocket device and the other plummeting headfirst.
"They must have jumped off from here!" Sally said
"Oh my god!" Relena cried out as she realized who the plummeting figure was "HEERO!"
As though Relena's scream had shaken him from a deep sleep, Heero immediately pulled the ripcord on his parachute. But as the parachute began to billow out behind him, it was obvious that it was far too late for him to slow down enough to survive, the voice of the other figure wafting up on the wind stating just that. Just before Heero reached a sloped outcropping of rock, he ditched his parachute and rolled down it and then the beach before coming to a stop. Both Relena and Major Sally were very surprised when he stood up almost immediately.
Heero!" Relena gasped as she saw that the unusual boy was alright
"He's still alive!" Sally exclaimed "Incredible! I really hope he's not one of our enemies."
*I have a feeling that his primary enemy is OZ,* Relena thought *Which would only put you in his sights if you work for them.* She blinked as the other boy landed and helped Heero walk to an approaching boat, during his descent, Relena had seen that he had a long braid and wore black. *That's got to be the same guy. I don't get it. First he shoots Heero, then he helps him escape.* Relena stepped away from the hole as Heero and the other boy got on the boat and it chugged away. *Maybe he rescued Heero because they're both Gundam pilots. Neither knew who the other one was, just as I didn't know Heero was one and he doesn't know I'm one. There were six shooting stars the day Operation Meteor happened. Does that mean that there are three more Gundams with pilots I haven't met?*
The man piloting the boat nodded to Duo as he and Heero came aboard and guided the boat away from the beach and out to sea before Alliance patrol boats could intercept them.
"Good news," the helmsman said to Duo once they were safely away "The camera drone found your Gundam right after you called. The ship should be in position to raise it by the time we rendezvous."
"That's great!" Duo smiled "What about the other Gundam?"
"They landed right next to each other. Shouldn't be any more difficult to bring it up than yours."
"You hear that, pal?" Duo turned to Heero "Looks like your Gundam should be OK too." Heero remained silent "Sheesh, don't give yourself laryngitis thanking me. Anyway, what's your Gundam like?"
"You want to know its capabilities?" Heero said coldly
"No man, what's its personality like? Is it really dull like you or is it a wild and crazy guy, living vicariously through you?"
"It's a mobile suit, not a person. It doesn't have intelligence or emotions."
"You're kidding me. Deathscythe, that's my Gundam's name, is a little bit wacky and thinks he's a real god and that your Gundam is his brother. He's pretty fun to be around though. That Beta System's pretty neat, huh?"
"Beta System?"
"Yeah, y'know, the AI gizmo responsible for a Gundam's intelligence."
"My Gundam has no such system."
"Really? Man, no wonder you were able to try to destroy your Gundam without hesitation. It hasn't got a part of you inside it like Deathscythe does with me."
"You're not making sense."
"The way the Professor explained it, the Beta System programs itself from the pilot's brainwaves to create an electronic assistant of sorts. Since Deathscythe's personality was formed from my brainwaves, it's like he's part of me. So, if your Gundam doesn't have a mind, does it at least have a name?"
"Its formal designation is XXXG-01W Wing Gundam."
"Wing Gundam, eh? I can see where that name came from, what with the wings on its back. Despite your attempt to destroy your Gundam and mine, we should have em back with us soon."
Meanwhile, Gundam Sandrock and the Maganac Corps were in striking distance of the Corsica Base, but were astonished that their target was already under attack.
"Who'd be crazy enough to take on all those soldiers alone?" Abdul wondered
"Someone with a very powerful mobile suit." Quatre responded as he studied the scanner data
[He is my brother.] Sandrock said
"What? Your brother? What do you mean?"
[Are you blind, Quatre!? Can you not see the resemblance between us?! His basic design, his face, the royal crest upon his forehead, and most certainly his strength! All are similar to mine.]
"You're right. It's definitely a Gundam... But how?" As they spoke, Gundam Heavyarms exhausted the ammunition in its beam gatling, gatling guns, and machine cannons, and it dropped its gatling shield, left with only its army knife to fight with. "He's out of bullets." Quatre realized as an Aries flew straight at Heavyarms in what seemed like a kamikaze maneuver "Ahmad! Take out that Aries now!"
A Maganac mobile suit with heavy shoulder and skirt armor immediately leveled its beam rifle and fired. The beam speared into the back of the Aries's head and out through its camera eye right before the mobile suit exploded.
"Everyone open fire on the OZ mobile suits." Quatre ordered and the Maganacs let loose a barrage that quickly decimated the remaining Aries, leaving only one that continued to fire its chain rifle from high up.
Quatre triggered Sandrock's jets and it shot through the air towards the Aries, on the way up assembling its backpack, shield, and heat shotels into the pincer weapon Quatre called the Cross Crusher. Gundam Sandrock caught up with the Aries in moments and closed the heat shotels around the body of the Aries, the massive pincers squeezing inward with enough force to crush almost any mobile suit.
"Sorry." Quatre's voice was heard only by Sandrock as he apologized to the mobile suit pilot he was in the process of killing
The Aries exploded in Sandrock's grip and the Gundam descended back down to the ground. It faced Gundam Heavyarms inside a circle of Maganac mobile suits.
"Master Quatre." Rasid transmitted
"I don't need any help." Quatre replied
"It seems he's already used up all of his bullets."
"That pilot isn't relying on any sort of firearms." Quatre's attention was momentarily drawn away by a mobile suit carrier taking off "Crap! There goes an OZ aircraft!"
[Quatre! Look out!] Sandrock warned as Gundam Heavyarms's army knife locked into place and it shot towards Gundam Sandrock
Gundam Heavyarms slashed with its army knife, which sunk into the underside of Gundam Sandrock's left shoulder, somewhere around the joint. Sandrock moved its arm to trap the heat blade, grabbing Heavyarms's right arm with its left hand. Sandrock pulled on the arm hard and sparks flew from the other Gundam's elbow joint, indicating damage. Heavyarms brought its knee into Sandrock's midsection, forcing it back several steps. Sandrock threw a punch with its free right fist, which was caught by Heavyarms's free hand. The two Gundams struggled against each other, more or less equal.
[It feels strange, fighting my own brother.] Sandrock commented
"This isn't right." Quatre muttered to himself "It's not." Quatre pushed up his goggles, opened his hatch, stepped out onto the platform, and called out to the other pilot "You and I shouldn't be fighting each other!" The eyes of Gundam Heavyarms went dark and its cockpit hatch opened. A boy with brown hair that hid one side of his face came out with his hands raised in the universal pose for someone surrendering "Put your hands down. I was the first one to surrender and come out, remember?"
"Master Quatre," Rasid's voice came from the comm unit in Sandrock's cockpit "Reinforcements are being flown in as we speak. I suggest we depart before they arrive."
"So, what now?" Trowa asked
"We're going to bombard the factory and then pull out." Quatre answered "I'd like for you to come with us. Our mobile suits look similar to each other. I assume you came here on the same mission as me. There must be a reason. Perhaps we were meant to meet?"
"Alright."
Both Gundam pilots went back into their respective cockpits and the hatches closed. Sandrock and Heavyarms disengaged from each other, Heavyarms's army knife retracting back into its arm once it was free of Sandrock's shoulder. Gundam Heavyarms picked up its gatling shield and followed Sandrock as it walked out of the circle of Maganac suits, the Maganac Corps following the Gundams as they walked towards the factory.
"All cannon and missile-equipped Maganacs get in position to bombard the factory." Quatre ordered then waited until all the referred to Maganacs reported their readiness "Commence bombardment!"
Almost before Quatre finished giving the order, the Maganac mobile suits equipped with missiles or cannons opened fire on the factory. Within minutes, more than half the factory was destroyed by the mass fire tactics. Once the bombardment was finished Quatre ordered the Maganac Corps to withdraw and they started on the route towards their base, Gundam Sandrock in the lead and Gundam Heavyarms a short way behind it.
Meanwhile, offshore in the JAP area, Gundam Deathscythe now lay on the deck of the ship that served as Duo's base of operations and Duo himself was working the salvage crane. The head and shoulders of Wing Gundam broke the surface, cables running between it and the crane.
"There, I pulled yours up too." Duo said "You could at least show a little gratitude. Huh? What's he doing?" Duo blinked as he saw Heero lying on the deck, pushing his leg against the railing. A cracking sound was heard as Heero set his own broken leg "Ugh. I can't take much more of this. He just goes and puts a broken bone back in place. Man, it totally grosses me out just thinking about it."
Duo watched as Heero tied some bandages around his now set leg and walked over to gaze at his recovered Gundam. Duo studied Heero's expression as the unusually reserved boy stared at the Gundam he had tried to destroy the night before.
*Maybe he does care for his Gundam after all* Duo mused to himself *The way he looks at it, maybe he does regret trying to destroy it Or maybe he's just glad he can go on more missions now that he's got it back. Oh well. Not like he'll answer me one way or the other. That guy makes clams seem talkative, won't even tell me his name.*
At that same time, in her bedroom, Relena Darlian was typing away on her computer, hacking her way into the Alliance Medical Center's computer.
"Let's see now." she muttered to herself as she bypassed the security protocols "Backdoor accepted. Patient records opened. Accessing patient records for building three, 50th floor, treatment room one. Records classified I don't think so." A few taps of the keyboard unlocked the file "Patient: John Doe. Approximate age: 15. Attending physician: Major Sally Po. Injuries: yadda yadda. Hmmm. What's this? Unknown computer disk found hidden on patient's person. Unable to access contents. Disk sent to Alliance Decoding Center for decryption. Well, we can't have the Alliance getting their hands on whatever information Heero was carrying. But first thing's first. Time for some technical difficulties." Relena pulled out a disk and inserted it into her floppy drive. She tapped in some commands and uploaded a file into the mainframe. "Say hello to the Pac-man virus." Relena smiled as she took the disk out and put it back in a box along with several other floppies "In two minutes it'll start gobbling up data, including Heero's file and the fingerprint & DNA records inside. I hope their antivirus software is up to date."
Relena severed the connection and accessed the computer at the Alliance Decoding Center. Hacking in required more effort than the Medical Center's computer had demanded, but she still gained access quickly. After a few minutes of searching, she found the files relating to the disk received from the Medical Center, including the data file holding the computer's progress on decrypting it. Relena found the information on the disk's physical location, then started some sabotage. First she downloaded the data file to her own computer, then she stopped the decryption task and erased the data file.
"Now to make sure they don't start again any time soon." Relena smiled as she took out another disk and uploaded the contents "Meet the ReCryption virus. The Alliance Decoding Center is now temporarily out of business. They won't even be able to decrypt their own files until they get rid of my little creation, and by the time they do that, the disk will no longer be in their possession."
That night, a black-clad figure crept through the shadows near the Alliance Decryption Center. All that could be discerned about the figure's identity was that it was female as she was clad from head to toe in black clothing, including a black ski mask which left only her violet eyes visible, some light brown hair spilling out from under it in the back. She had bypassed the outer security perimeter by clinging to the underside of a truck and now was about to make her way inside.
A few minutes work with some specialized burglar tools had a window open, its alarm sensor disabled. The figure crawled through the window and gently shut it behind her, reenabling the sensor before easing open the door and creeping down the corridor. She walked in a crouch, making virtually no sound until she reached the door, which led into the room containing Heero's disk. It was the work of moments to pick the lock. The door squeaked slightly as it opened and she walked into a small room containing a chair and a desk with a terminal on it. The figure opened the disk drive and removed the disk, slipping it into her pocket. As she was about to exit, she heard footsteps coming and eased the door closed.
"Probably another false alarm." The approaching guard muttered "Nobody'd be crazy enough to try to breach our security."
The guard opened the door to the very room the figure was hiding in, and was knocked down by a kick to the face as soon as he pressed the light switch. The figure dashed out of the room and down the hall as the dazed guard gathered his wits.
"Intruder alert!" He called into his radio "Intruder in section B-3!"
The figure swore quietly as the hall lights popped on and a klaxon started to sound
*So much for a simple in and out.* she mused
"Stop right there!" A guard shouted as he came around a corner in front of her, flanked by several others who leveled their guns.
Only one way out was visible: The window to her left. The closed window to her left. Without hesitation, the black-clad figure dashed towards the window and jumped through, the glass shattering around her. She tumbled along the ground before rolling to her feet and took off running as the guards fired through the broken window. Sighting a parked jeep, the figure ran towards it, knocking out the guard standing next to it before he knew she was there.
She jumped into the jeep, started the engine, and floored the accelerator, driving towards the main gate. Bullets thudded into the front of the jeep, a few hitting the windshield and shattering the headlights, but they weren't enough to stop it from smashing through the barrier and speeding away. More bullets hit the back end of the jeep, its driver huddled down to provide the smallest target possible while still being able to see the road.
Just when the figure thought she had gotten away clean, the ground in front of her exploded, prompting her to hit the brakes. She looked up to see a pair of Leos walking towards her. She jumped out of the jeep and ran into the woods along the road as one of the Leo pilots ordered her to stop. The figure wove in and out among the trees, just managing to stay ahead of the pursuing Leos, who were slowed by the heavy foliage.
Beneath her mask, the black-clad figure smiled as she caught sight of white metal. She put on a burst of speed and jumped up on top of the prone mobile suit. It took only a moment to open the cockpit hatch and climb in. She pressed buttons and switches with practiced ease, closing the hatch and powering up the Gundam's systems. When the hatch was closed and the systems were coming up, she pulled off her mask to reveal the face of Relena Darlian and settled back in the chair, gripping the joysticks as Lady Gundam came to life.
Lady Gundam stood up, becoming visible to the Leos as she threw off the camouflage net that had been covering her and broke through the trees. Relena smiled as she imagined the looks on the faces of the Leo pilots.
"It's a Gundam!" one of the Leo pilots radioed as Lady Gundam drew her beam sabers and ignited them
"Don't be stupid." Relena whispered "If you know what I am, then you know you can't beat me." The Leos did not hear Relena's words and simply opened fire with their machine guns. "Are all Alliance soldiers suicidal!?"
Lady Gundam shot towards the two Leos and passed directly between them, swinging her beam sabers through the midsections of both mobile suits, the top half of each starting to fall off the bottom half right before they exploded. Lady Gundam flew into the air and was met by a squad of Aries flying towards her. The Gundam raised an arm to point a Buster Gauntlet at the approaching mobile suits and fired a single beam that destroyed all of the Alliance mobile suits flying in close formation.
After destroying the Aries mobile suits, Lady Gundam turned and flew away from the base, finally returning to the cave containing the Gundam's spare fuel and ammunition, and Relena's motorcycle. After dismounting from Lady Gundam, Relena rode her motorcycle back to her home and went up to her room, only then taking the disk out of her pocket and admiring it.
"What secrets do you hold?" Relena wondered
"Hey Relena," Renee's voice preceded her entry into the room, giving Relena just enough time to stash the disk back in her pocket "Went down to the arcade again, huh?"
"Uhh, yeah. I guess I've gotten addicted to those games."
"Maybe not that addicted. I was at the arcade not too long ago and I didn't see you. And those clothes look like something a cat burglar might wear. You're hiding something, sis. I don't know what, but something's different about you now."
As soon as she was finished talking, Renee turned and walked back out of Relena's room, leaving her sister staring at the door.
*Oh Renee," Relena thought *I'd forgotten that you're smarter than you let people think you are. Always intentionally missing questions on tests so you won't get a perfect score, pretending that you're not paying attention when you've really memorized every word that's been said. I'm going to have to be more careful around you. I don't know if you'd understand if you found out what I'm really doing.*
End of chapter 2
Another one finished. At the start, Relena shows that she's not quite used to espionage when she makes a flub or two, but she should improve as she grows used to living a double life. I don't think we ever found out in the anime what was on that disk Heero was carrying when he was captured, or even what happened to it after Operation Daybreak trashed the Alliance. I figured I'd pick up that loose thread and weave it into my fic.
Oh, one thing about the design of the Buster Gauntlets. The Buster Gauntlets attach to the sides of the forearms, much like the shields worn by the Endless Waltz version of Gundam Deathscythe Hell, the nozzles jutting a little over the fists but not far enough to interfere with the beam sabers.
Here's a link to Gundam Project's entry for the Endless Waltz version of Gundam Deathscythe Hell, which includes a picture that shows the shields which helped me visualize the Buster Gauntlets, in case you need help visualizing how they're attached:
http://www.gundamproject.com/mecha/endlesswaltz_gundam02s.html