Seaside Research, Development and Experimental Station, Cinq Kingdom
"Hand me one of those thing-a-ma-bobs." When there was no response to the command, an arm dangled from the hatch above.
The highly trained technician viewed the waving hand with contempt. He had many years of university education, more years in the most sophisticated laboratories in the world and in space. He could make calculations that would boggle any mind…
"Yo, dude, hand me that thing-a-ma-bob!"
The technician picked up the delicate instrument cursing the fates that paired him with the buffoon now giving him orders. The instrument was snatched out of his hand and the arm disappeared back in the hatch.
"That instrument is for calibrating…" His explanation was cut off by a clanking sound and he was horrified to realize it was being used as a hammer. He would have shrieked, but a firm hand on his shoulder prevented a sound. Turning, he saw Major Sally Po smiling.
"Take a break, Sam. I want to talk to Duo."
A long braid appeared before it was followed by a smudged face. Duo Maxwell was grinning. "I am almost done! By tomorrow, I will be finished upgrading the propulsion system."
"By tomorrow Sam will be pulling his hair out!" Sally could not help but laugh as Duo dropped out of his gundam mobile suit with the agility of a monkey. "Remember, Sam is here to do that work. I thought you had plans for the evening."
Duo scratched his head in thought for a moment. "Nothing important!"
She raised a brow.
Well, thought Duo, at least not important to him. Maybe to Hilde, but then she surely realizing his beloved Deathscythe was more important than…
What were they planning to do that night? He couldn't remember.
"Where is Heero?" asked Sally. "Commander Noin will be arriving in approximately fifteen minutes…"
"And twenty seconds?" finished Duo with a snicker.
Despite herself, Sally also chuckled thinking of the clumsy courtship of Prince Miliardo Peacecraft
and Commander Noin. "Find Heero and send him down. She will be arriving in Epyon and is expecting Gundam 01 to join her. They will be investigating an object approaching the atmosphere."
Duo gave her a thumbs up and walked to the elevator that would take him up to the complex where he and his fellow pilots lived. This laboratory was hidden deep in the cliffs and only a select few knew the five teenagers for whom Sally Po was guardian in the name of the Cinq Kingdom were actually the highly trained pilots of the gundams that were Prince Miliardo's insurance of peace. They lived double lives in order to protect that peace.
As the elevator opened, Duo could hear the sweet notes of a flute, and stepping out, he saw Trowa slouched in a chair, his booted feet resting on a glass tabletop as he played his flute. Quatre was not playing his violin, nor was he humming as he did yoga, nor was he sighing as he wrote poetry. Odd.
"Hey, buddy, where is Quatre?" he asked Trowa.
A response came from the other side of the room were Chang Wufei looked up from the thick book he was taking notes from. "He went out."
"Went out?" Duo laughed. "Poor Quatre. Dorothy is back from vacation?"
"We have a test tomorrow," Wufei stated, returning his attention to the book.
Duo scratched his head, frowned, then said, "Hey, what's another flag to add to the collection?"
"Your collection is getting bigger than the collection of flags around the World and Space Alliance building." Wufei hadn't bothered to look up after that remark, so Duo looked back to Trowa.
"Where is Heero?"
Trowa nodded toward the sliding doors that were open to the garden. Knowing that Heero would never sit among the flowers of Quatre's garden unless coerced and recognizing the mischievous gleam in Trowa's eye, Duo winked.
"Hey, I hear you loud and clear!" Duo bit his lip to keep from laughing as he crept to the door and the flute music covered the crunch of his footsteps on the cobbles. Finally, he spied them sitting on a bench: Heero Yuy and Relena Peacecraft.
"Heero, you are taking me to the Stardust Ball!" Relena was moving closer to Heero on the stone bench that was under a rose-covered arch.
"Do I have a choice?" Heero inched away.
Duo wished he had a hidden camera for just such an occasion.
Relena reached out to put her hand over his, but he was quicker, jerking the hand away. "You know you want to take me."
"If it is on Saturday…"
She didn't give him a chance to finish before throwing herself against him and planting her lips on his.
They tumbled off the bench into the flowers behind and Duo could not stop his outburst of laughter.
Relena's blond head popped up first. "What do you want?" She was glaring at him.
"I was looking for Heero." Duo tried not to laugh even as Heero's dark head came up and his face was smeared with pink lipstick.
"He is busy!" announced Relena.
"I see that!" Duo saluted him. "Sorry to disturb you! I'll tell Noin you can't leave right now."
Heero would have said something, but Relena put a hand on his chest and shoved him back into the flowers. "You do that!" She lunged after Heero.
Duo would have liked to see how his friend was going to fare in that battle, but he remembered Noin would soon be arriving, so he returned to the lab, pausing only to give Trowa a high five.
When she saw him climbing up to his gundam, Sally Po tried to stop him. "Your gundam isn't ready yet! Noin is expecting Wing Zero."
"Heero is occupied right now," he called out to her before ducking into the cockpit of his gundam and pressing a few buttons and flipping switches that would awaken the deadly Deathscythe. "Don't worry about us! We are just doing a little snooping."
"Don't do anything foolish," warned Sally.
He waited only long enough for the door facing the sea to slide open before igniting the boosters and leaving the lab behind. A blip on his radar alerted him to Epyon's position and when he had the other gundam in view, he opened communications.
Noin's face appeared on his screen. "Gundam 02, what are you doing here?"
"Hey! Nice to see you too!"
Noin laughed. "Sorry, Duo. I was expecting Heero."
"He is pretty tied down about now." He winked at Noin.
She laughed. "Let me guess. Relena Peacecraft."
"She just doesn't know when to quit!" Not that Noin didn't already know that.
"Hmmm. Another Peacecraft I know doesn't know when to start." Noin looked away to her radar, then reported,
"Object at coordinates zero-eight-nine in the Y quadrant."
Duo saw the object appear as a flash on his own radar. Deathscythe was rapidly scanning.
"I have visual contact," said Noin.
"It is descending at a dangerous speed." Duo had trouble keeping up with the data he was receiving.
"Going to check it out."
Duo switched his screen to view her approach. "Careful, Noin. It's picking up speed. It might be out of control."
He watched the Epyon draw nearer a craft that appeared to have bird wings.
"It's a mobile suit!" he warned Noin as Deathscythe analyzed its design and displayed it for him.
"Unregistered mobile suit, identify yourself," ordered Noin.
An unearthly voice answered her. "Those who gaze upon the Shadowhawk become its prey!"
An alarm drew Duo's attention back to his data. "Noin! Get out of there! It's a gundam!"
But he could do nothing as the unidentified gundam suddenly stopped and unfolded. With fluid, lightening speed, the intruder reached behind and pulled what appeared to be a bow.
"Unidentified gundam, we mean no harm. State your purpose," came Noin's calm, authoritative voice.
"To destroy!"
Deathscythe warned of an impending energy surge, but Duo had no time to act as the enemy gundam nocked what appeared to be a pulsing arrow in its bow and sent it flying through the atmosphere toward the unprepared Epyon.
"Unidentified gundam," he heard Noin repeat, then there was nothing but static.
"Noin!" shouted Duo. "What is your status? Noin?"
There was no response but the static, and switching the view to the outside cameras, he saw the Epyon spiraling down to the earth, and there were no power readings according to his scan. But Duo had little time to worry about Noin. The Shadowhawk gundam was turning toward him, and he quickly jammed the scan that was running on them.
The Deathscythe was able to avoid one of those deadly arrows, and he quickly turned to fire on the gundam, but his shots were deflected when it turned one of its wings into a shield.
This guy's good, thought Duo, then to his gundam he said, "Let's pluck that hawk and serve it up for supper!"
The wicked scythe activated and he raised it as he hit the boosters to charge forward, but suddenly he was losing power and he remembered too late that he hadn't finished wiring the circuit board.
The Shadowhawk had put away the bow and now swung what appeared to be a flail that radiated energy beams so powerful it made Deathscythe warning system wail. Duo unbuckled from his seat and threw himself across the cockpit.
As he quickly worked to re-route the power supply, he heard the menacing laughter of the Shadow hawk pilot.
"Is that the best you can do? What were you planning to do with that puny hoe of yours?"
Just as Duo flipped the last switch, the flail flew out striking Deathscythe in the chest and sending it rolling back. Duo put out his arms to grasp anything, but he was knocked about until his head smashed against the control panel.
As darkness descended upon him, he heard the sinister laughter of the Shadowhawk.