Gundams and Roses
Chapter One
"Is everyone alright?" The girls wearily rose from where they had landed. After the mass had hit them, they had been tossed this way and that, until they landed with a thud on a solid surface. So far, Sailor Mars, Venus and Mercury and Rini were conscience. Jupiter was still on her back, rubbing her head and Tuxedo Mask was out cold.
"I think so"
"Where's Sailor Moon?"
"She's not here?"
"What do you mean she's not here?"
"Hold on, calm down. She's gotta be around here somewhere. Let's look for her, but don't go too far, ok?"
"Someone has to stay here with Tuxedo Mask and Rini."
"I'll stay." Mercury offered. The rest accepted her offer and split up, calling their leaders name.
"Ungh..what happened?" Mercury looked down to see Tuxedo Mask rubbing his forehead groggily. He looked around, taking in his surroundings.
"Where is everyone?"
"Venus, Mars, and Jupiter went to..check out our surroundings." The girl lied, not wanting to tell him the truth.
"Where's Sailor Moon?" It was the second time that question had been asked, and each time, the pang it caused grew worse and worse. Mercury stared at her computer, pretending to analyze the ground while she gathered her thoughts carefully. Tuxedo Mask watched her, apprehension growing on his face.
"Mercury, where is she? What happened to Sailor Moon? What happened to Serena?"
"She's..we don't know..the girls are out looking for her.", her voice died down into a whisper, as she looked at his face. He paled, jaw set in fury and pain. Abruptly, he pushed himself up, agitatedly pacing. He stopped only when the others returned. Their sad and worried faces told the story.
"Well?"
"We.we can't find her." Mars replied.
* * *
She faded in and out of consciousness, vaguely aware of someone or someone's talking above her.
"What are we going to do with her?"
"Why not leave her here? We have no time for weaklings."
"Wufei, geeze! We can't just leave a damsel in distress in the middle of nowhere at this hour and she is most definitely a damsel in distress!"
"Say what you like, Maxwell, she's nothing but a weak onna."
"Hmph. What do you think, Heero?"
"Hn. Let's get her to the scientists. They can handle it from there."
"Ok, let's get her into the truck.."
The voices faded out as she slipped into unconsciousness again.
* * *
Slowly cracking her eyes open, she was first aware of a pounding in her head, followed by a dull ache in her body. She tried to move her hand up to her forehead, but found it to be firmly restrained. Alarmed, she lifted her head and looked about. Her other hand was also fastened down to the chair she was on, as well as her feet. Pulling at the bonds proved to be fruitless and only caused pain. She was dressed in only a pair of shorts and a sports bra.
At the sound of a door closing, she looked up, startled, to see five men enter the room. The first had large goggles on and a robotic arm. Following him was a man with the oddest haircut that strangely resembled a mushroom. Next came one who was in serious need of a nose job, after which came a bald man. Finally, one with a strange mustache entered, closing the door behind him. They lined up in front of her, critically analyzing her.
"She's perfect."
"I suppose she'll do. But is she strong enough?"
"We'll soon find out."
"And this time we won't fail, will we Doctor J?"
The one with the robotic arm glared.
"No, this time we won't. This time we will create the perfect soldier."
She looked at them, alarmed. What were they talking about? Where was she? What happened?
"What is your name?" Dr. J asked.
"It's.." Terror stuck in her throat as she tried to recall the answer to the simple question. 'What was it..oh my God! What is my name!?'
"I can't remember."
"Can't?"
Averting her eyes to the floor, she shook her head. The doctors looked at her, before huddling together. Muttered phrases rose from the group.
".head trama.."
"..amnesia.."
".no memories.."
".perfect.."
* * *
3 hours ago
* * *
The doctors looked up as the five boys filed in, Duo and Trowa carrying a girl in between them.
"And to what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?" J asked.
Heero nodded in the direction of the girl.
"We found her."
"And you brought her here?"
"She's suffered a head injury and she was alone." Heeros' voice was monotone, giving no indication to his feelings on the subject.
"And what do you want us to do with her?"
G pulled on J's sleeve, saving Heero from having to answer. The scientist's exchanged a look before retreating back a few feet, whispering to each other.
Eventually they turned back to the boys.
"We'll take her. You will wait outside. We will be out to talk to you later." The boys nodded and handed the girl over to the scientists, before leaving the room.
* * *
".no memories.."
..perfect.."
The men turned back. She looked up at them, swallowing nervously. Her heart was racing and she was sure that it would soon break free of the confining ribcage.
"Well, first things first," J began, "That hair has to go."
* * *
Heero leaned up against the wall, next to the door. The rest of the boys were scattered around the room. Wufei sat in a chair and was looking royally pissed to have to play any part in this. Trowa was staring blankly at his lap. Quatre, who had just arrived, kept shifting his gaze between the door and Trowa. Duo, unable to sit still, was pacing up and down the room until Wufei grabbed his braid and tied it to a chair. Duo glared at him, picked up the chair, and resumed pacing.
Unknown to the doctors, Heero could hear everything they were saying from his vantage point at the door. His eyes widened as the words "perfect soldier" and "she'll do" floated into his hearing range. 'They were going to.no!'
"No!"
The rest looked up, startled at the boys exclamation, and even more so when he began to kick down the locked door.
"Heero, what are you doing?"
The boy grunted as the oak door splintered and gave way. He charged in, just in time to see Dr. J holding a pair of scissors over one of the girls ponytails, ready to cut it off. The scientists looked up, startled at the intrusion and even more startled when they realized who it was.
"Heero! What are you doing?" The boy said nothing and pulled out a gun, training it on J. The scientist's, boys, and the girl alike stared at him in shock. Heero's eyes narrowed and he nodded at the girls bonds.
"Undo them."
J watched him carefully, calculating the odds of getting out of there with minimal injuries. He had trained the Perfect Soldier..he wasn't so sure that he could control him.
"And just why should we do that?" Without a flinch, Heero pointed the gun at the floor near J's feet and fired. The small room echoed loudly with the report.
"Because next time, I won't miss."
The scientist's looked at each other, self preservation warring with the desire to complete this new experiment. J slowly pulled the scissors away from the girls' head.
"You see Heero, we can't really do that. Now, before you shoot me, let me explain why." Walking over to a nearby computer, J motioned for the boys to follow him. He pulled up a file and turned the screen to face them.
"This is the Selenatron. She's a new Gundam, modeled after TallGeese, but obviously smaller in size. Her speed makes up for her lack of stature however, and she is equipped with a thermal disk, guns, and is also capable of handing a thermal staff. The problem is, due to her small size, none of you," J took a moment to wave his hand around at the group, "would be able to pilot her. This girl however, is perfect. We will train her and she will become your equivilent, if not more so, as the Perfect Soldier."
'What is it,' Duo thought, 'that these guys have with the word perfect? Jeeze, are they this picky over their morning coffee?' He promptly had to repress a snicker at the thought of the scientist's measuring the coffee grain by grain for that 'perfect' mixture.
Heero seemed to be battling his own inner demons. It went against every degree of his training to even be thinking this. What was he thinking? A ready voice gave him the answer. 'To keep another innocent from his hell.' Still.another Gundam..the soldier in him argued that another Gundam and pilot would be a good resource. The thoughts ran through his head over and over, until he firmly buried both of them, putting his mind on autopilot.
Duo looked over at his friend, seeming to see what was running through his head. Duo was the only one who could do that. To anyone else, even Enigma couldn't crack Heero's code(A.N. Enigma was a machine in WWII that the Germans used for coding. It was considered to be state of the art and uncrackable, until a group of code crackers from the Allies worked their butts off somewhere in Britain and figured it out. Good job guys!). Stepping forward, Duo interrupted the scientists, who had gone back to muttering amongst themselves.
"Hey, why can't we train her?",Everyone, except Heero, looked at him like he'd just grown another head. Duo looked at them all and pushed on, "Seriously! On the job training. We teach her, she helps us nuke OZ, we all go home happy."
Wufei looked from Duo, to Heero and then back to Duo. Well he'd be damned. Maxwell had actually come up with a plausible idea. And what's more, Wufei could actually see the possibilities to it.
"So," J began, "you think the five of you could do a better job than us?" Heero stared at him for a moment before nodding. J smiled meanly as the other scientists undid the girls bonds. Finished with that, they forced her to stand, shoving her at the boys. Duo caught her as she stumbled, allowing her to use him for support. Heero glared one last time, turned on his heel and left, followed by the others.
* * *
"Where could she be!?"
Mercury looked up from her computer, where she was searching for any life forms on the dimensional plane. The machine beeped a few times before the words 'No results' flashed across it's screen. She frowned.
"Guys?"
Everyone turned to her expectantly. All the girls were looking haggared, but Tuxedo Mask was the worst. Someone might have thought that he'd had a fight with a nervous breakdown and lost, he was so taut and jumpy. Several hours, perhaps even days of searching with no results hadn't helped any.
"Either..either she's on a totally different plane..or she's no longer in the time warp.which means.."
"Which means she could be anywhere in time." A new voice interrupted. Everyone looked up to see Pluto walking towards them.
"Puu!" Rini ran towards her friend and hugged her. Pluto hugged her back before turning her attention back to the group.
"Mercury is right. She's no longer in the time warp. I can't tell you exactly where she is. This storm has caused the threads of Fate to become tangled and blurred, so I can't read them." She frowned and added, almost to herself, "it's almost as if..someone.",Shaking her head, she continued, "The important thing now is that you find her as quickly as possible, before time is affected any more. I can send you in the right direction, but the rest will be up to you." Waving her Time Staff, she opened another swirling portal. The group looked at each other and nodded before stepping through.
* * *
(AN. Considering that the scouts were in a time warp, nearly a year has passed with the G-boize..and gurlz now that I think about it..)
"DUO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GET BACK HERE WITH MY HAIR TIE!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!"
The brunette grinned and took off at hyper speed.
"Gotta catch me first, Des!"
"Why you little!" The two dashed through the safe house, both of them narrowly avoiding furniture and pilots alike. Eventually, Destiny paused, took a sharp right and cut across the house, before sliding to a stop and waiting. A few minutes later, Duo came dashing by and with lightning speed, she reached out and grabbed him by the braid. She was dragged a few feet before he came to a complete halt.
"OW! Destiny! That hurts! HEERO!!! HELP!"
Heero, who was walking past the room, looked over and shrugged.
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Heeee-rrrroo!!!!!" He rolled his eyes and walked over. First he gently pried the hair tie out of Duos hand before removing Destiny's hand from the baka's braid. Des smiled at him and triumphantly waltzed out of the room. Heero and Duo looked at each other for a moment, a uneasy silence settling over them. Duo cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak when the reedy sound of a siren cut him off. Wufei, Quatre and Trowa all ran past the room on their way to the hanger, followed by Destiny, braiding her hair as she went. She slowed when she saw them.
"C'mon guys! Mobile dolls about 50 miles north of here. Looks like OZ wants to play. Save the confessions for later, we've got work to do!"
"Gotcha!" Duo followed after her, Heero behind him. Feelings would have to be saved for later.
* * *
The scouts stumbled out of the time portal, only to be knock to the ground by what felt like a small earthquake. Fire flew overhead in the sky and the noise reached unbearable heights. Metallic giants were scattered all over the ground, firing at anything in sight. The group jumped out of the way, just avoiding being hit by a collapsing building. Tuxedo Mask dropped down and looked over to Mercury, who had landed near him
"What the hell is going on here? Where did Pluto send us off to? World War III?"
"I don't think you're far off", Mars replied.
"What are those?" Rini asked, pointing at something in the distance. Six new machines were flying towards the field. They were different from the others, and each had a distinct antennae..including one with a cresent moon.(AN. It wasn't my idea.my friend came up with it..not that I don't like it.) Jupiter watched as the new comers set to work, quickly clearing the field of the other machines, and she'd be damned if she weren't sure that they were having a blast doing so. Suddenly, one of the machines, the one with the cresent, turned towards them and "looked" at them, before striding in their direction.
* * *
Destiny was having a blast. She didn't worry when it came to the dolls because they didn't have any pilots. To her, no pilots meant no guilt afterward. Suddenly, something showed up on her scanners. Turning, she zoomed in on the signal, turning on a visual. Five girls, and a guy.
".In a tux? What the hell are civilians doing on a battlefield?!" Turning Selenatron, she began to walk over towards them, intent on getting them out of there. She'd had enough blood spilt by her hands, she decided. She wasn't about to be responsible for six more.
* * *
"Uh guys..I think that things coming this way." The girls tensed, ready to attack. Without taking her eyes off the machine, Mars spoke.
"We all realize how nuts this is, right?"
They all nodded.
"And we do realize that it would probably be a good idea to scatter and run.right?"
They nodded again.
But they were frozen to the spot in fearful fasination. Rini shrieked as the machines hand suddenly came down toward them and scooped up the ground they were standing on. Tuxedo Mask, on instinct, threw a rose at it's "face". The rose stuck in the metal, but did nothing.
"So now what do we do?"
"We wait."
* * *
Destiny scowled at the flower that was stuck on the glass in front of her.
"I hope you know I just got that sheet replaced." She muttered to herself. Jetting her Gundam away from the fight, she stopped near a forest, about 100ft away from the battle. Grabbing a gun, she stepped out of the cockpit to face the group in front of her. Ignoring them for a moment, she reached up and yanked the flower off her gundam. 'A rose? You gotta be kidding me.' Turning back toward the group, she tossed the flower back at them. They stared at her, mouths open. She began to ask them who they were and what in hell were they doing in the middle of a battlefield when she was cut off by a transmission in her gundam. Quatres voice came over the system.
"Des.Des, are you there?" Sighing, she pulled herself back into Selenatron. Flipping a switch, she opened her end.
"Yeah Quat, I'm here. You guys need me back there?"
"No, whatever gave you that idea? There's only about a few hundred of them and five of us.I think we can handle it..oh and did I mention that Trowa's out of ammo.again?" Duo's voice interrupted, sounding staticy.
"Ok, ok, I get the point. I'll be there in a moment." Sticking her head out of the cockpit, she yelled down to the dumbstruck group, "I'm gonna dump you off here. Don't go anywhere,k? I'll be back later." With that, she closed the cockpit door and slowly, Selenatrons hand let them down.
* * *
Tuxedo Mask shakily looked at the other girls, unconsciously detranforming. They followed suit, looking just as shaken.
"She.looks just like."
"Serena.pilot one of those things? Yeah right!"
"Yeah but."
"Maybe."
"Ami? Could you run a scan?"
"At the moment, no. I don't have enough data."
* * *
Destiny yelled in triumph as yet another doll blew up, before she was jammed hard against her harnass.
"Oof!" She turned to see that another mobile doll had decided that she would make a good target, "That does it! No one uses my ribs for a punching bag and gets away with it!" She threw her thermal disk, a move that was strangely natural to her, at the doll, hitting it with deadly accuracy. The machine stood still for a moment, as the disk returned to Seleantron's hand, before exploding.
Eventually the whole field was cleared, leaving only the six gundams and smoking piles of scrap metal. Destiny reopened her transmission, sending a signal to the other five gundams.
"Hey guys, I'll be right back."
"Sure thing Des. Where ya goin?"
"I'll explain later. Just cover me and watch out for flying plant life."
"Huh?"
"Like I said, I'll explain later." She closed her end of the signal and turned her gundam back towards the woods. Stopping a few feet short, she opened the cockpit door, grabbing another gun as she did so. Being prepared, she decided, never hurt. Lightly jumping down, she looked around. Now where could they have gotten to? She shook her head. Trust civilians,probably tourists at that, to not stay put.
"Hello?"
Slowly six heads peered out from behind various trees. They watched her, and she wondered what was causing the odd looks on their faces. Hadn't they ever seen a soldier?
* * *
Darien stared at the girl. She was so familiar, despite the braid and clothing. But could this be 'his' Serena? She seemed so different, so self assured and then there was the fact that she didn't look like she'd have the slightest problem blasting their heads off if she felt threatened. He sneaked a glance over at Rei. It looked like she was having the same thoughts.
Slowly, they stepped forward, until Mina broke rank and dashed towards the braided girl. Throwing her arms around her waist, she began incoherently babbling at hyper speed.
"Serena! It's you! IknewitwasyouIknewitIknewitIknewit!!!!!!!!!Ohmygod,Ican'tbelieveit,it'sactua llyyou!!!"
The girl looked down for a moment, a puzzled expression on her face. Slowly she pried Mina off her ribs and stepped back. Looking over the group, she shook her head, though she didn't know what she was denying anymore than they did. Lita took a step forward and Destiny responded by taking another back. Darien, near tears, swallowed hard, before speaking.
"Serena? Don't you remember us? It's me, Darien."
She frowned, trying to place his face. He and the girls looked on hopefully. Slowly, she shook her head, noting the crestfallen look on their faces with a twinge.
"No, I'm sorry. I've never seen you before in my life."
Chapter One
"Is everyone alright?" The girls wearily rose from where they had landed. After the mass had hit them, they had been tossed this way and that, until they landed with a thud on a solid surface. So far, Sailor Mars, Venus and Mercury and Rini were conscience. Jupiter was still on her back, rubbing her head and Tuxedo Mask was out cold.
"I think so"
"Where's Sailor Moon?"
"She's not here?"
"What do you mean she's not here?"
"Hold on, calm down. She's gotta be around here somewhere. Let's look for her, but don't go too far, ok?"
"Someone has to stay here with Tuxedo Mask and Rini."
"I'll stay." Mercury offered. The rest accepted her offer and split up, calling their leaders name.
"Ungh..what happened?" Mercury looked down to see Tuxedo Mask rubbing his forehead groggily. He looked around, taking in his surroundings.
"Where is everyone?"
"Venus, Mars, and Jupiter went to..check out our surroundings." The girl lied, not wanting to tell him the truth.
"Where's Sailor Moon?" It was the second time that question had been asked, and each time, the pang it caused grew worse and worse. Mercury stared at her computer, pretending to analyze the ground while she gathered her thoughts carefully. Tuxedo Mask watched her, apprehension growing on his face.
"Mercury, where is she? What happened to Sailor Moon? What happened to Serena?"
"She's..we don't know..the girls are out looking for her.", her voice died down into a whisper, as she looked at his face. He paled, jaw set in fury and pain. Abruptly, he pushed himself up, agitatedly pacing. He stopped only when the others returned. Their sad and worried faces told the story.
"Well?"
"We.we can't find her." Mars replied.
* * *
She faded in and out of consciousness, vaguely aware of someone or someone's talking above her.
"What are we going to do with her?"
"Why not leave her here? We have no time for weaklings."
"Wufei, geeze! We can't just leave a damsel in distress in the middle of nowhere at this hour and she is most definitely a damsel in distress!"
"Say what you like, Maxwell, she's nothing but a weak onna."
"Hmph. What do you think, Heero?"
"Hn. Let's get her to the scientists. They can handle it from there."
"Ok, let's get her into the truck.."
The voices faded out as she slipped into unconsciousness again.
* * *
Slowly cracking her eyes open, she was first aware of a pounding in her head, followed by a dull ache in her body. She tried to move her hand up to her forehead, but found it to be firmly restrained. Alarmed, she lifted her head and looked about. Her other hand was also fastened down to the chair she was on, as well as her feet. Pulling at the bonds proved to be fruitless and only caused pain. She was dressed in only a pair of shorts and a sports bra.
At the sound of a door closing, she looked up, startled, to see five men enter the room. The first had large goggles on and a robotic arm. Following him was a man with the oddest haircut that strangely resembled a mushroom. Next came one who was in serious need of a nose job, after which came a bald man. Finally, one with a strange mustache entered, closing the door behind him. They lined up in front of her, critically analyzing her.
"She's perfect."
"I suppose she'll do. But is she strong enough?"
"We'll soon find out."
"And this time we won't fail, will we Doctor J?"
The one with the robotic arm glared.
"No, this time we won't. This time we will create the perfect soldier."
She looked at them, alarmed. What were they talking about? Where was she? What happened?
"What is your name?" Dr. J asked.
"It's.." Terror stuck in her throat as she tried to recall the answer to the simple question. 'What was it..oh my God! What is my name!?'
"I can't remember."
"Can't?"
Averting her eyes to the floor, she shook her head. The doctors looked at her, before huddling together. Muttered phrases rose from the group.
".head trama.."
"..amnesia.."
".no memories.."
".perfect.."
* * *
3 hours ago
* * *
The doctors looked up as the five boys filed in, Duo and Trowa carrying a girl in between them.
"And to what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?" J asked.
Heero nodded in the direction of the girl.
"We found her."
"And you brought her here?"
"She's suffered a head injury and she was alone." Heeros' voice was monotone, giving no indication to his feelings on the subject.
"And what do you want us to do with her?"
G pulled on J's sleeve, saving Heero from having to answer. The scientist's exchanged a look before retreating back a few feet, whispering to each other.
Eventually they turned back to the boys.
"We'll take her. You will wait outside. We will be out to talk to you later." The boys nodded and handed the girl over to the scientists, before leaving the room.
* * *
".no memories.."
..perfect.."
The men turned back. She looked up at them, swallowing nervously. Her heart was racing and she was sure that it would soon break free of the confining ribcage.
"Well, first things first," J began, "That hair has to go."
* * *
Heero leaned up against the wall, next to the door. The rest of the boys were scattered around the room. Wufei sat in a chair and was looking royally pissed to have to play any part in this. Trowa was staring blankly at his lap. Quatre, who had just arrived, kept shifting his gaze between the door and Trowa. Duo, unable to sit still, was pacing up and down the room until Wufei grabbed his braid and tied it to a chair. Duo glared at him, picked up the chair, and resumed pacing.
Unknown to the doctors, Heero could hear everything they were saying from his vantage point at the door. His eyes widened as the words "perfect soldier" and "she'll do" floated into his hearing range. 'They were going to.no!'
"No!"
The rest looked up, startled at the boys exclamation, and even more so when he began to kick down the locked door.
"Heero, what are you doing?"
The boy grunted as the oak door splintered and gave way. He charged in, just in time to see Dr. J holding a pair of scissors over one of the girls ponytails, ready to cut it off. The scientists looked up, startled at the intrusion and even more startled when they realized who it was.
"Heero! What are you doing?" The boy said nothing and pulled out a gun, training it on J. The scientist's, boys, and the girl alike stared at him in shock. Heero's eyes narrowed and he nodded at the girls bonds.
"Undo them."
J watched him carefully, calculating the odds of getting out of there with minimal injuries. He had trained the Perfect Soldier..he wasn't so sure that he could control him.
"And just why should we do that?" Without a flinch, Heero pointed the gun at the floor near J's feet and fired. The small room echoed loudly with the report.
"Because next time, I won't miss."
The scientist's looked at each other, self preservation warring with the desire to complete this new experiment. J slowly pulled the scissors away from the girls' head.
"You see Heero, we can't really do that. Now, before you shoot me, let me explain why." Walking over to a nearby computer, J motioned for the boys to follow him. He pulled up a file and turned the screen to face them.
"This is the Selenatron. She's a new Gundam, modeled after TallGeese, but obviously smaller in size. Her speed makes up for her lack of stature however, and she is equipped with a thermal disk, guns, and is also capable of handing a thermal staff. The problem is, due to her small size, none of you," J took a moment to wave his hand around at the group, "would be able to pilot her. This girl however, is perfect. We will train her and she will become your equivilent, if not more so, as the Perfect Soldier."
'What is it,' Duo thought, 'that these guys have with the word perfect? Jeeze, are they this picky over their morning coffee?' He promptly had to repress a snicker at the thought of the scientist's measuring the coffee grain by grain for that 'perfect' mixture.
Heero seemed to be battling his own inner demons. It went against every degree of his training to even be thinking this. What was he thinking? A ready voice gave him the answer. 'To keep another innocent from his hell.' Still.another Gundam..the soldier in him argued that another Gundam and pilot would be a good resource. The thoughts ran through his head over and over, until he firmly buried both of them, putting his mind on autopilot.
Duo looked over at his friend, seeming to see what was running through his head. Duo was the only one who could do that. To anyone else, even Enigma couldn't crack Heero's code(A.N. Enigma was a machine in WWII that the Germans used for coding. It was considered to be state of the art and uncrackable, until a group of code crackers from the Allies worked their butts off somewhere in Britain and figured it out. Good job guys!). Stepping forward, Duo interrupted the scientists, who had gone back to muttering amongst themselves.
"Hey, why can't we train her?",Everyone, except Heero, looked at him like he'd just grown another head. Duo looked at them all and pushed on, "Seriously! On the job training. We teach her, she helps us nuke OZ, we all go home happy."
Wufei looked from Duo, to Heero and then back to Duo. Well he'd be damned. Maxwell had actually come up with a plausible idea. And what's more, Wufei could actually see the possibilities to it.
"So," J began, "you think the five of you could do a better job than us?" Heero stared at him for a moment before nodding. J smiled meanly as the other scientists undid the girls bonds. Finished with that, they forced her to stand, shoving her at the boys. Duo caught her as she stumbled, allowing her to use him for support. Heero glared one last time, turned on his heel and left, followed by the others.
* * *
"Where could she be!?"
Mercury looked up from her computer, where she was searching for any life forms on the dimensional plane. The machine beeped a few times before the words 'No results' flashed across it's screen. She frowned.
"Guys?"
Everyone turned to her expectantly. All the girls were looking haggared, but Tuxedo Mask was the worst. Someone might have thought that he'd had a fight with a nervous breakdown and lost, he was so taut and jumpy. Several hours, perhaps even days of searching with no results hadn't helped any.
"Either..either she's on a totally different plane..or she's no longer in the time warp.which means.."
"Which means she could be anywhere in time." A new voice interrupted. Everyone looked up to see Pluto walking towards them.
"Puu!" Rini ran towards her friend and hugged her. Pluto hugged her back before turning her attention back to the group.
"Mercury is right. She's no longer in the time warp. I can't tell you exactly where she is. This storm has caused the threads of Fate to become tangled and blurred, so I can't read them." She frowned and added, almost to herself, "it's almost as if..someone.",Shaking her head, she continued, "The important thing now is that you find her as quickly as possible, before time is affected any more. I can send you in the right direction, but the rest will be up to you." Waving her Time Staff, she opened another swirling portal. The group looked at each other and nodded before stepping through.
* * *
(AN. Considering that the scouts were in a time warp, nearly a year has passed with the G-boize..and gurlz now that I think about it..)
"DUO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GET BACK HERE WITH MY HAIR TIE!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!"
The brunette grinned and took off at hyper speed.
"Gotta catch me first, Des!"
"Why you little!" The two dashed through the safe house, both of them narrowly avoiding furniture and pilots alike. Eventually, Destiny paused, took a sharp right and cut across the house, before sliding to a stop and waiting. A few minutes later, Duo came dashing by and with lightning speed, she reached out and grabbed him by the braid. She was dragged a few feet before he came to a complete halt.
"OW! Destiny! That hurts! HEERO!!! HELP!"
Heero, who was walking past the room, looked over and shrugged.
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Heeee-rrrroo!!!!!" He rolled his eyes and walked over. First he gently pried the hair tie out of Duos hand before removing Destiny's hand from the baka's braid. Des smiled at him and triumphantly waltzed out of the room. Heero and Duo looked at each other for a moment, a uneasy silence settling over them. Duo cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak when the reedy sound of a siren cut him off. Wufei, Quatre and Trowa all ran past the room on their way to the hanger, followed by Destiny, braiding her hair as she went. She slowed when she saw them.
"C'mon guys! Mobile dolls about 50 miles north of here. Looks like OZ wants to play. Save the confessions for later, we've got work to do!"
"Gotcha!" Duo followed after her, Heero behind him. Feelings would have to be saved for later.
* * *
The scouts stumbled out of the time portal, only to be knock to the ground by what felt like a small earthquake. Fire flew overhead in the sky and the noise reached unbearable heights. Metallic giants were scattered all over the ground, firing at anything in sight. The group jumped out of the way, just avoiding being hit by a collapsing building. Tuxedo Mask dropped down and looked over to Mercury, who had landed near him
"What the hell is going on here? Where did Pluto send us off to? World War III?"
"I don't think you're far off", Mars replied.
"What are those?" Rini asked, pointing at something in the distance. Six new machines were flying towards the field. They were different from the others, and each had a distinct antennae..including one with a cresent moon.(AN. It wasn't my idea.my friend came up with it..not that I don't like it.) Jupiter watched as the new comers set to work, quickly clearing the field of the other machines, and she'd be damned if she weren't sure that they were having a blast doing so. Suddenly, one of the machines, the one with the cresent, turned towards them and "looked" at them, before striding in their direction.
* * *
Destiny was having a blast. She didn't worry when it came to the dolls because they didn't have any pilots. To her, no pilots meant no guilt afterward. Suddenly, something showed up on her scanners. Turning, she zoomed in on the signal, turning on a visual. Five girls, and a guy.
".In a tux? What the hell are civilians doing on a battlefield?!" Turning Selenatron, she began to walk over towards them, intent on getting them out of there. She'd had enough blood spilt by her hands, she decided. She wasn't about to be responsible for six more.
* * *
"Uh guys..I think that things coming this way." The girls tensed, ready to attack. Without taking her eyes off the machine, Mars spoke.
"We all realize how nuts this is, right?"
They all nodded.
"And we do realize that it would probably be a good idea to scatter and run.right?"
They nodded again.
But they were frozen to the spot in fearful fasination. Rini shrieked as the machines hand suddenly came down toward them and scooped up the ground they were standing on. Tuxedo Mask, on instinct, threw a rose at it's "face". The rose stuck in the metal, but did nothing.
"So now what do we do?"
"We wait."
* * *
Destiny scowled at the flower that was stuck on the glass in front of her.
"I hope you know I just got that sheet replaced." She muttered to herself. Jetting her Gundam away from the fight, she stopped near a forest, about 100ft away from the battle. Grabbing a gun, she stepped out of the cockpit to face the group in front of her. Ignoring them for a moment, she reached up and yanked the flower off her gundam. 'A rose? You gotta be kidding me.' Turning back toward the group, she tossed the flower back at them. They stared at her, mouths open. She began to ask them who they were and what in hell were they doing in the middle of a battlefield when she was cut off by a transmission in her gundam. Quatres voice came over the system.
"Des.Des, are you there?" Sighing, she pulled herself back into Selenatron. Flipping a switch, she opened her end.
"Yeah Quat, I'm here. You guys need me back there?"
"No, whatever gave you that idea? There's only about a few hundred of them and five of us.I think we can handle it..oh and did I mention that Trowa's out of ammo.again?" Duo's voice interrupted, sounding staticy.
"Ok, ok, I get the point. I'll be there in a moment." Sticking her head out of the cockpit, she yelled down to the dumbstruck group, "I'm gonna dump you off here. Don't go anywhere,k? I'll be back later." With that, she closed the cockpit door and slowly, Selenatrons hand let them down.
* * *
Tuxedo Mask shakily looked at the other girls, unconsciously detranforming. They followed suit, looking just as shaken.
"She.looks just like."
"Serena.pilot one of those things? Yeah right!"
"Yeah but."
"Maybe."
"Ami? Could you run a scan?"
"At the moment, no. I don't have enough data."
* * *
Destiny yelled in triumph as yet another doll blew up, before she was jammed hard against her harnass.
"Oof!" She turned to see that another mobile doll had decided that she would make a good target, "That does it! No one uses my ribs for a punching bag and gets away with it!" She threw her thermal disk, a move that was strangely natural to her, at the doll, hitting it with deadly accuracy. The machine stood still for a moment, as the disk returned to Seleantron's hand, before exploding.
Eventually the whole field was cleared, leaving only the six gundams and smoking piles of scrap metal. Destiny reopened her transmission, sending a signal to the other five gundams.
"Hey guys, I'll be right back."
"Sure thing Des. Where ya goin?"
"I'll explain later. Just cover me and watch out for flying plant life."
"Huh?"
"Like I said, I'll explain later." She closed her end of the signal and turned her gundam back towards the woods. Stopping a few feet short, she opened the cockpit door, grabbing another gun as she did so. Being prepared, she decided, never hurt. Lightly jumping down, she looked around. Now where could they have gotten to? She shook her head. Trust civilians,probably tourists at that, to not stay put.
"Hello?"
Slowly six heads peered out from behind various trees. They watched her, and she wondered what was causing the odd looks on their faces. Hadn't they ever seen a soldier?
* * *
Darien stared at the girl. She was so familiar, despite the braid and clothing. But could this be 'his' Serena? She seemed so different, so self assured and then there was the fact that she didn't look like she'd have the slightest problem blasting their heads off if she felt threatened. He sneaked a glance over at Rei. It looked like she was having the same thoughts.
Slowly, they stepped forward, until Mina broke rank and dashed towards the braided girl. Throwing her arms around her waist, she began incoherently babbling at hyper speed.
"Serena! It's you! IknewitwasyouIknewitIknewitIknewit!!!!!!!!!Ohmygod,Ican'tbelieveit,it'sactua llyyou!!!"
The girl looked down for a moment, a puzzled expression on her face. Slowly she pried Mina off her ribs and stepped back. Looking over the group, she shook her head, though she didn't know what she was denying anymore than they did. Lita took a step forward and Destiny responded by taking another back. Darien, near tears, swallowed hard, before speaking.
"Serena? Don't you remember us? It's me, Darien."
She frowned, trying to place his face. He and the girls looked on hopefully. Slowly, she shook her head, noting the crestfallen look on their faces with a twinge.
"No, I'm sorry. I've never seen you before in my life."