Gundams And Roses
Chapter 5
Destiny headed straight to the hangar as soon as she and Duo got back. It was just like Duo said. A couple hours, she'd be back and that would be the end of it.
"Figures. I get first mission jitters instead of first date jitters." She mused to herself as settled back into the cockpit of her gundam, preparing to take off.
Inside, Quatre and Heero met Duo.
"Where is she?" asked Quatre.
"Already getting ready to go. This is her first real mission, isn't it?" Duo asked as he stripped out of his jacket.
"Yeah, it is."
"Gee, our little Des is growing up and going out on missions already…sniff…"
"Hn."
"Ok, ok, Heero. I'll lay off on the jokes until she gets back. Geeze bud, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were worried about her."
Six pairs of blue eyes glared at Duo. 'Wait a minute,' he thought, 'six?'. Looking behind Heero, Duo finally noticed a very confused, very peeved looking Darien. The dark haired man cleared his throat.
"Would someone be so kind as to tell me what is going on?"
"It's not much really," Duo began, "she's just on a mission. She blows up a base and comes back home."
Darien smiled a frighteningly sweet smile. "And wouldn't this base be…oh, I don't know…guarded?"
"Well yeah…maybe by a couple units, but it's nothing Des can't handle."
"A couple units? What kind of units?"
"Oh, I dunno…some soldiers and their guns…maybe a couple Leo's…not much more than that."
Quatre winced at Duo's lack of tact. Darien looked ready to strangle Duo right there and then.
"You mean to tell me that a whacked out bunch of old fogies with more bells and whistles than a cappuccino machine have sent my girlfriend and fiancé ALONE to certain attack and possible death without backup?"
"Well…actually…" Quatre began, "They probably wouldn't kill her. The Gundams and their pilots make for really good hostages. And that's if they even suspect her of piloting it. No one else knows that we have a female pilot."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"Or us?" came a chorus of voices.
The group turned to find the rest of the girls standing behind them, hands on hips, glaring(AN: All in all, a pretty scary sight ^_^*)
"Uh….well…heh…yes?" Duo stuttered, a hand rubbing the back of his neck. Not that he was one to be intimidated, but six angry females can have that effect. Especially when said females are known to have superpowers.
Wufei, leaning against a doorway, spoke up. "You'd have to let her fight on her own sooner or later anyway. We all have our own battles where no one can help and this is one of hers. She'll come away stronger for it."
Duo blinked at the Chinese boy. Was it just him or did Wufei just almost…sort of…give a girl a compliment?
Destiny surveyed the building before her from behind her coverage of trees. It was small. Heck, she could go after it with her gundam if she wanted to. Still, if someone had a camera, she could just imagine the media coverage. The guys would have her head. After all, she was their secret weapon, so to speak. No one knew there was a female gundam pilot, not even that Relena girl that was always asking about Heero. Des grimaced remember one time Relena had shown up and assumed that she was just another of Quatre's servants…
'C'mon girl, you're getting sidetracked. It should be a simple matter to sneak around the grounds and get this set up. Half the building isn't even done yet. You don't even have to detonate until you're in the air.'
Sighing, Des gathered her supplies and hopped down from the gundam.
Thirty minutes later, Destiny snuck back to her gundam, nursing some sore knuckles. She'd had to take out a guard by the west side of the building. He hadn't had a chance to cry out, but she had bruised herself slightly when she knocked the gun from his startled hands. It didn't matter though. He wouldn't be missed with all the damage. Slowly climbing into her gundam, she prepared for take off, fingering the detonator in her hands.
'It's the first time I've done this…the first time I'm going to kill without a fight. It doesn't seem quite right. They don't know this is coming…'
"But they will if you just keep sitting here, girl. What are you trying to do? Purposely fail a mission? And your first at that?" Resolutely, she tightened her grip on the detonator and then with a deep breath, set it off.
There was a momentary pause before explosions went off one after another. A slight surge of power flowed through Des. Had she just done that? It was terrible, awful…and addictive. She suddenly understood why Duo could laugh on a mission. It wasn't a pleasant job, but when things went right, it was almost worth it. 'Almost.' She reminded herself. With a deep sigh, she flipped a few switches and took off.
"Mission completed" she tiredly echoed Heero's words.
***************************************************************
She arrived home about an hour later, 1:00AM by the hangar clock. She stumbled about, fixing up her gundam for the night before heading for the house.
"Ugh. That is the last time I go clubbing and on a mission on the same night." Silently opening the door, she stepped inside the semi dark house, quietly closing the door behind her and locking it. Seeing a light in the den, she slowly walked towards it to investigate.
Darien, who had been sitting on a sofa reading, looked up at the sound of shuffling feet. Destiny stood in the doorway, watching him with a bemused air.
'What in the world is he doing up this late?' She wondered as she walked over and plopped down onto the sofa next to him. Gods she was tired. Sparing a glance at Darien from the corner of her eye, she shrugged before leaning over and resting her head on his shoulder. 'I can always blame it on exhaustion'
"Sorry."
"It's…uh..alright."
"Hmm…ok. You know, you've got a comfy shoulder."
"Huh?"
Des smiled lightly, snuggling in a little more comfortably. She felt Darien's arm move around her and used the shift to her advantage.
"Well, ya see, Duo can't sit still for more than five minutes and even then…" she paused to yawn, "he fidgets. Heero…well, that's like trying to sleep on a rock. Trowa's too bony and anyway, usually he and Quatre are busy…speaking of Quatre, he's too short and I get a crick in my neck."
"What about Wufei?" Darien asked, as she paused to yawn again.
"Are you nuts? I do value my life to a certain extent."
"Oh, I see."
"But you, you've got a nice comfy shoulder…g'night." Destiny's voice trailed off as she fell asleep.
Darien looked down at the girl who leaned up against him and smiled. With a rueful shake of his head, he pulled a blanket off the back of the sofa and covered the both of them before settling down to sleep himself.
*************************************************************
"Aw…look at the cute couple!"
"Yeah, don't they look so sweet?"
Darien eyelids reluctantly rose, taking in the four girls in front of him. They stood around the sofa in a circle, with giant goofy grins on their faces. Looking down, he smiled slightly himself when he saw Destiny, who was now sprawled across his chest and sound asleep. She stirred slightly as Rei poked at her calf and tried to pull the blanket over her head.
"Go 'way Duo. It's not time to get up. Iss Saturday."
Darien chuckled before speaking.
"It's not Saturday Destiny and she's not Duo."
Slowly the blond girl raised her head, blinking groggy eyes. She looked at the people standing around her, rubbed her eyes and looked again. With a groan, she grabbed a nearby pillow and flopped back over on the other side of the sofa, head under the pillow.
"Well go 'way anyway. It's gotta be an off day."
"OH DEH-ES!!!!!!!"
Destiny moaned as a loud and rather obnoxious voice rang out from the hallway. Pulling the pillow off her head, she gazed up at the ceiling, as if pleading for a few more minutes of sleep. As the voice rang out again, she glared before swinging her legs off the sofa and stalking out of the room, her thoughts bent on strangling a certain braided baka and it certainly wasn't herself.
"Well, that was certainly interesting." Ami commented.
"Yup!" Rei grinned, "Some things never change! She's still not a morning person."
Destiny trudged towards the kitchen. 'I. Need. Coffee! Blah! And that is so the last time I sleep in stretchy pants. I think they're stuck!' And so she continued as she poured herself a cup of coffee and leaned sleepily against the counter. Once she had a few sips in her system, she set down her cup and settled down to the task of untangling her hair from everything else. Pulling it out of its holder, she slowly ran her fingers through it, thoughts lazily drifting. She had a mission report to write, she reminded herself, and after that, maybe she'd go for a swim or perhaps head for the weight room. It would be nice to work out the kinks she had accumulated during the night.
"C'mon girl, it's not like you did anything that awful. I mean, no one was even hurt…well, except a few bricks," she reasoned aloud.
"Are you alright?" Destiny looked up as Trowa walked in and over to the fridge.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just have a tough time getting used to blowing things up for some reason. There's the initial adrenaline rush, but afterwards…"
"You wonder why you even bothered? What did it really change? When is this silly game of tit for tat going to end?"
"Yeah, I guess. But hey, we all have to deal, right?"
"Perhaps some of us weren't meant to deal with it."
Des looked at him, confused.
"Whaddya mean?"
"We're out of milk." Trowa said before he walked out of the room.
Chapter 5
Destiny headed straight to the hangar as soon as she and Duo got back. It was just like Duo said. A couple hours, she'd be back and that would be the end of it.
"Figures. I get first mission jitters instead of first date jitters." She mused to herself as settled back into the cockpit of her gundam, preparing to take off.
Inside, Quatre and Heero met Duo.
"Where is she?" asked Quatre.
"Already getting ready to go. This is her first real mission, isn't it?" Duo asked as he stripped out of his jacket.
"Yeah, it is."
"Gee, our little Des is growing up and going out on missions already…sniff…"
"Hn."
"Ok, ok, Heero. I'll lay off on the jokes until she gets back. Geeze bud, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were worried about her."
Six pairs of blue eyes glared at Duo. 'Wait a minute,' he thought, 'six?'. Looking behind Heero, Duo finally noticed a very confused, very peeved looking Darien. The dark haired man cleared his throat.
"Would someone be so kind as to tell me what is going on?"
"It's not much really," Duo began, "she's just on a mission. She blows up a base and comes back home."
Darien smiled a frighteningly sweet smile. "And wouldn't this base be…oh, I don't know…guarded?"
"Well yeah…maybe by a couple units, but it's nothing Des can't handle."
"A couple units? What kind of units?"
"Oh, I dunno…some soldiers and their guns…maybe a couple Leo's…not much more than that."
Quatre winced at Duo's lack of tact. Darien looked ready to strangle Duo right there and then.
"You mean to tell me that a whacked out bunch of old fogies with more bells and whistles than a cappuccino machine have sent my girlfriend and fiancé ALONE to certain attack and possible death without backup?"
"Well…actually…" Quatre began, "They probably wouldn't kill her. The Gundams and their pilots make for really good hostages. And that's if they even suspect her of piloting it. No one else knows that we have a female pilot."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"Or us?" came a chorus of voices.
The group turned to find the rest of the girls standing behind them, hands on hips, glaring(AN: All in all, a pretty scary sight ^_^*)
"Uh….well…heh…yes?" Duo stuttered, a hand rubbing the back of his neck. Not that he was one to be intimidated, but six angry females can have that effect. Especially when said females are known to have superpowers.
Wufei, leaning against a doorway, spoke up. "You'd have to let her fight on her own sooner or later anyway. We all have our own battles where no one can help and this is one of hers. She'll come away stronger for it."
Duo blinked at the Chinese boy. Was it just him or did Wufei just almost…sort of…give a girl a compliment?
Destiny surveyed the building before her from behind her coverage of trees. It was small. Heck, she could go after it with her gundam if she wanted to. Still, if someone had a camera, she could just imagine the media coverage. The guys would have her head. After all, she was their secret weapon, so to speak. No one knew there was a female gundam pilot, not even that Relena girl that was always asking about Heero. Des grimaced remember one time Relena had shown up and assumed that she was just another of Quatre's servants…
'C'mon girl, you're getting sidetracked. It should be a simple matter to sneak around the grounds and get this set up. Half the building isn't even done yet. You don't even have to detonate until you're in the air.'
Sighing, Des gathered her supplies and hopped down from the gundam.
Thirty minutes later, Destiny snuck back to her gundam, nursing some sore knuckles. She'd had to take out a guard by the west side of the building. He hadn't had a chance to cry out, but she had bruised herself slightly when she knocked the gun from his startled hands. It didn't matter though. He wouldn't be missed with all the damage. Slowly climbing into her gundam, she prepared for take off, fingering the detonator in her hands.
'It's the first time I've done this…the first time I'm going to kill without a fight. It doesn't seem quite right. They don't know this is coming…'
"But they will if you just keep sitting here, girl. What are you trying to do? Purposely fail a mission? And your first at that?" Resolutely, she tightened her grip on the detonator and then with a deep breath, set it off.
There was a momentary pause before explosions went off one after another. A slight surge of power flowed through Des. Had she just done that? It was terrible, awful…and addictive. She suddenly understood why Duo could laugh on a mission. It wasn't a pleasant job, but when things went right, it was almost worth it. 'Almost.' She reminded herself. With a deep sigh, she flipped a few switches and took off.
"Mission completed" she tiredly echoed Heero's words.
***************************************************************
She arrived home about an hour later, 1:00AM by the hangar clock. She stumbled about, fixing up her gundam for the night before heading for the house.
"Ugh. That is the last time I go clubbing and on a mission on the same night." Silently opening the door, she stepped inside the semi dark house, quietly closing the door behind her and locking it. Seeing a light in the den, she slowly walked towards it to investigate.
Darien, who had been sitting on a sofa reading, looked up at the sound of shuffling feet. Destiny stood in the doorway, watching him with a bemused air.
'What in the world is he doing up this late?' She wondered as she walked over and plopped down onto the sofa next to him. Gods she was tired. Sparing a glance at Darien from the corner of her eye, she shrugged before leaning over and resting her head on his shoulder. 'I can always blame it on exhaustion'
"Sorry."
"It's…uh..alright."
"Hmm…ok. You know, you've got a comfy shoulder."
"Huh?"
Des smiled lightly, snuggling in a little more comfortably. She felt Darien's arm move around her and used the shift to her advantage.
"Well, ya see, Duo can't sit still for more than five minutes and even then…" she paused to yawn, "he fidgets. Heero…well, that's like trying to sleep on a rock. Trowa's too bony and anyway, usually he and Quatre are busy…speaking of Quatre, he's too short and I get a crick in my neck."
"What about Wufei?" Darien asked, as she paused to yawn again.
"Are you nuts? I do value my life to a certain extent."
"Oh, I see."
"But you, you've got a nice comfy shoulder…g'night." Destiny's voice trailed off as she fell asleep.
Darien looked down at the girl who leaned up against him and smiled. With a rueful shake of his head, he pulled a blanket off the back of the sofa and covered the both of them before settling down to sleep himself.
*************************************************************
"Aw…look at the cute couple!"
"Yeah, don't they look so sweet?"
Darien eyelids reluctantly rose, taking in the four girls in front of him. They stood around the sofa in a circle, with giant goofy grins on their faces. Looking down, he smiled slightly himself when he saw Destiny, who was now sprawled across his chest and sound asleep. She stirred slightly as Rei poked at her calf and tried to pull the blanket over her head.
"Go 'way Duo. It's not time to get up. Iss Saturday."
Darien chuckled before speaking.
"It's not Saturday Destiny and she's not Duo."
Slowly the blond girl raised her head, blinking groggy eyes. She looked at the people standing around her, rubbed her eyes and looked again. With a groan, she grabbed a nearby pillow and flopped back over on the other side of the sofa, head under the pillow.
"Well go 'way anyway. It's gotta be an off day."
"OH DEH-ES!!!!!!!"
Destiny moaned as a loud and rather obnoxious voice rang out from the hallway. Pulling the pillow off her head, she gazed up at the ceiling, as if pleading for a few more minutes of sleep. As the voice rang out again, she glared before swinging her legs off the sofa and stalking out of the room, her thoughts bent on strangling a certain braided baka and it certainly wasn't herself.
"Well, that was certainly interesting." Ami commented.
"Yup!" Rei grinned, "Some things never change! She's still not a morning person."
Destiny trudged towards the kitchen. 'I. Need. Coffee! Blah! And that is so the last time I sleep in stretchy pants. I think they're stuck!' And so she continued as she poured herself a cup of coffee and leaned sleepily against the counter. Once she had a few sips in her system, she set down her cup and settled down to the task of untangling her hair from everything else. Pulling it out of its holder, she slowly ran her fingers through it, thoughts lazily drifting. She had a mission report to write, she reminded herself, and after that, maybe she'd go for a swim or perhaps head for the weight room. It would be nice to work out the kinks she had accumulated during the night.
"C'mon girl, it's not like you did anything that awful. I mean, no one was even hurt…well, except a few bricks," she reasoned aloud.
"Are you alright?" Destiny looked up as Trowa walked in and over to the fridge.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just have a tough time getting used to blowing things up for some reason. There's the initial adrenaline rush, but afterwards…"
"You wonder why you even bothered? What did it really change? When is this silly game of tit for tat going to end?"
"Yeah, I guess. But hey, we all have to deal, right?"
"Perhaps some of us weren't meant to deal with it."
Des looked at him, confused.
"Whaddya mean?"
"We're out of milk." Trowa said before he walked out of the room.