Seaside Laboratory Gundam Hanger
"It is important for the pilot to concentrate on the battle."
Noin heard the note of admonishment in Howard's voice as she removed the visor from her eyes. She had borrowed some clothing from Sally Po's drawers and now sat in the cockpit of the Valkryie. Work might take her mind off her miserable personal life.
"Did I make a mistake?" she asked as she set aside the visor.
Howard sighed as he reviewed the data from the simulation she had run. "No, you did not, Commander, but you will admit that not all variables were accounted for in the simulation I prepared."
"Such as?" she raised a brow.
He brushed a thumb under her eye and it came back dark. Noin had forgotten to wipe her smudged makeup. "Pilots on the zero system don't have the luxury of crying over their insensitive princelings." He leaned close and looked into her eyes. "Do you know what your mission is, Lucrezia Noin?"
"Of course I do!" She put herself nose to nose with him. "Protect the Cinq Kingdom." She sat back and turned her attention back to the controls. As Howard explained operating the arms, she tried not to think about Lady Une and Miliardo, but failed miserably. Noin knew Miliardo Peacecraft wanted to withdraw the Cinq Kingdom from the World and Space Alliance. Despite the peace, there were reports of repression to opposition to the Alliance's dictates. Miliardo had anticipated such repression. He understood that ruling so many people of diverse cultures meant doing so with force. That was why he chose to hide the gundams rather than destroy them and to protect the young pilots while trying to humanize them. The gundams were essential to keeping his Cinq Kingdom independent once he withdrew it from the Alliance.
Lady Une was a threat because she clearly didn't trust the former Zechs Merquise. Noin had no right to complain about how Miliardo chose to deal with that threat. But she didn't need to be told or to hear again that she was nothing more than his friend. Noin felt foolish as she remembered all her failed attempts to seduce a man who clearly did not return her feelings.
She flipped on the scanners and just when she detected an energy fluctuation near the lab, there was a flash on the radar.
"Howard!" She contacted him through the telecom. He had already left to continue work on the Epyon. "Did you see something on the radar?"
"Indeed. Listen to this, Commander."
Now she heard a voice she would never forget on the communicator.
"Wing Zero, come out to fly with the hawk!" The Shadowhawk's pilot laughed and Noin shivered.
"Commander, you will have to move the Valkryie," Howard told her. "It's blocking the entrance. Heero Yuy will be here in a matter of minutes."
Noin was strapping into the Valkryie when the doors to the hanger opened and she saw a helicopter hovering. Heero Yuy allowed himself to be lowered halfway before leaping the rest of the way to the ground. Noin smiled as the elegantly white clad young man tossed off his jacket and loosened his tie and hopped on the cable to take him to the entrance of the Wing gundam. Relena Peacecraft must be furious. But the smile faded when she remembered Lady Une's presence at the ball.
"Howard, get that gundam out of the way!" shouted Heero as his gundam powered up.
Noin flipped the switches to activate the Valkryie. Its fluid movement amazed her as she left the hangar.
"Howard, who is piloting the Valkryie?" asked Heero.
"All in good time!" chuckled Howard and Noin smiled.
The Wing gundam stepped onto the beach and faced the Valkryie as if in challenge. Noin remained silent. Now more than ever she could not reveal herself, especially with the Shadowhawk in the skies above.
The Wing gundam blasted off. Noin monitored its progress, noting the location of the Shadowhawk almost a hundred kilometers away. But as Heero approached it, the dot representing the enemy gundam disappeared. She consulted the scope sweeping for anomalies in energy and quickly located the gundam.
"Howard, did you get a chance to make the modifications on the Wing gundam's sensors?"
"No, not yet."
"Can you see Shadowhawk on radar?" Noin already knew the answer.
"Not on the radar."
Noin realized she was the only person who could see it. "I have it on the energy scope. Heero can't see it. I am going up to help." She activated boosters and spread the Valkyrie's wings.
"No!" shouted Howard. "Don't do it!"
"Sorry, Howard. Heero needs me." She flipped off the communication from Howard, then blasted away. The Valkryie was easy to control, even easier than the Epyon. In a matter of minutes, she arrived to find the Wing gundam hanging indecisively in the air.
Noin expected it, but to see empty space where the energy scope indicated the shape of the Shadowhawk was unnerving. Without warning Heero, Noin raised her shield and directed lightening blasts at the object on her scope. For a split second, it appeared, then quickly disappeared.
"So you want to play?" The Shadowhawk pilot laughed. "How about tag? I guess I'm it!"
A burst of energy came from the void, and Noin raised her shield to deflect the pulsing stars. She checked the scope and saw the Shadowhawk moving. Fearing discovery, Noin scrambled her voice.
"Heero, it's behind you!"
Without questioning, the Wing gundam spun and sent a blast from the beam rifle. The Shadowhawk appeared and disappeared again. So it was having trouble maintaining the cloak and protecting itself at the same time! As Noin was congratulating herself on her discovery, the Shadowhawk reappeared swinging the flail. Noin didn't react fast enough and took a hit on the shoulder. The Wing gundam immediately attacked with its shield and followed up with the saber. The Shadowhawk was flickering now.
Noin took the pike and swung, but the Shadowhawk darted out of reach. She swore. Her reaction time wasn't fast enough! Heero was attacking with almost no reaction, the Shadowhawk countering with the same. Noin was handicapped with her human reflexes. As she watched the Shadowhawk completely appear, Noin realized that together they could defeat the Shadowhawk!
With no regard to the consequences, Noin flipped on the zero system. Although she had practiced with it on the simulator the night before while Miliardo slept off his excessive drinking and again this evening with Howard, Noin was unprepared for the shock of the actual waves pulsing through her brain. She fell back against the chair as her mind was filled with data, and she was finding it almost impossible to focus.
Howard's words came back to her suddenly. "It is important for the pilot to concentrate on the battle."
"Concentrate on the battle," she whispered.
The Valkryie charged the Shadowhawk and slashed across its chest with the pike, and passing by, turned and delivered a blow to its winged back. Heero slashed with the saber.
"Do you know your mission, Lucrezia Noin?" Howard's words were flowering through her mind.
"Protect the Cinq Kingdom!" she cried as she started toward the Shadowhawk again, the pike raised to spear.
"I must protect the Cinq Kingdom!" Noin thought of Lady Une. She was a threat!
The Valkyrie suddenly rose high, spread its wings, then blasted away.
"Protect the Cinq Kingdom!"
"Valkryie pilot! What are you doing? Where are you going?" The voice was Heero Yuy. Noin barely heard it.
"Protect the Cinq Kingdom." She said softly. "Vice Minister Une is a threat to the Cinq Kingdom. She must be destroyed!"
Miliardo didn't return to the ballroom after Noin left. He stayed at the pond, staring at the reflection of the moon as he forced his nerves to calm. Noin didn't realize how difficult it had been to come to her. Lady Une had been amazingly easy to avoid, but Miliardo had little courage where Lucrezia Noin was concerned. Her devotion to duty was a stumbling block. He wanted more from her than that single-minded dedication to the Cinq Kingdom. She had helped him fulfill his life's ambition, but now that it was in his grasp, he felt empty. Only Noin could fill that emptiness.
But she was gone now, and without giving him a chance to speak to her, to tell Lucrezia Noin that she was part of his heart and to ask her to share his life.
And she had pointed a gun at him!
"Trynity!" Miliardo turned to see Duo Maxwell approaching. "Hey, Zechs, did you see Trynity Stryfe run past here?"
Miliardo sighed. "In the first place, Maxwell, I'd like you to remember that I am Miliardo Peacecraft, not Zechs Merquise. And no, I have not seen her."
Duo shoved his hands in his pockets. "Women!"
Miliardo chuckled. "They are a mystery of the universe." They both laughed, then Miliardo asked, "Having trouble with Miss Stryfe? She looked very lovely tonight."
"Too lovely," grumbled Duo. Miliardo could sympathize. At how many men would he have liked to fire a beam rifle for touching Noin while he was forced to dance with others?
"I apologize for my sister's behavior," he said to the younger man. "And I appreciate that you brought Trynity to the ball."
Duo rubbed his cheek. "Damn, that hurt! What goes through a girl's head anyway? One minute we are in paradise, then next, whamo!"
Miliardo laughed. And the next minute she is pointing a gun at your heart. "If I knew the answer to that question, Duo Maxwell, I wouldn't be standing here with you."
A flash of lightening in the far distance drew his attention. "Looks like its going to rain."
Duo followed his gaze. "I don't think so."
Miliardo was startled when he saw bright flashes like explosives light the far sky. "What is that?"
A thin bright thread appeared.
"Beam rifle," said Duo.
Miliardo started back to the ballroom with Duo on his heels. Before he was out of the park, Sally Po caught him. There were soldiers already hustling the young men and women out of the gardens and into transport trucks.
"What is going on?" demanded Miliardo. "Why wasn't I informed?"
"Shadowhawk," Sally told him breathlessly. "I couldn't find you, so I made the decision to send Wing Zero myself."
"That is exactly what it wanted," Miliardo pointed out.
"Heero Yuy is our best pilot and the Wing is our strongest weapon." Sally put her hand up to her ear as she was receiving information. "My God! Howard, please tell me you are joking!"
Miliardo waited.
"Do what you can from your end. Get me Heero Yuy. Heero, leave the Shadowhawk. Your mission has changed." She glanced at Miliardo, then sighed and looked away. "Stop the Valkyrie."
"Stop the Valkyrie?" repeated Miliardo. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.
Sally Po looked at him. "There is no time to explain, Zechs. Get Lady Une out of here. Now!"
"Should I get the Deathscythe?" asked Duo anxiously.
"No. It's too late. Find Trynity and get her away from the conservatory."
As Duo ran back into the park calling her name, Sally took Miliardo's arm and dragged him toward the building.
"What is the Valkryie doing here?" he demanded. The Valkyrie was supposed to be at the Dover Base where he last saw it two days ago.
Sally did not answer him. "Get Lady Une out of here."
Miliardo seized her shoulders and forced her to stop and look at him. "I am not taking another step until you tell me what is going on!"
An explosion in the sky startled them. He looked up to see the pale form of Wing Zero high in the sky with a darker shape Miliardo was dismayed to recognize. He watched the Wing gundam attack with the saber and the Valkryie parry with the pike, spinning it and smashing the Wing along the head.
"Sally?" he whispered hoarsely. He couldn't take his eyes from the duel in the sky.
Sally's voice was shaking. "Noin had the Valkyrie brought to Seaside."
"Noin?" There were screams as missiles exploded in the night sky. Miliardo watched the incredible speed of the fighting gundams and he knew without being told that the Valkyrie was using the zero system.
"By whose authority?" he asked.
Sally put her hand on his arm. "Yours." Then she added. "Yesterday."
When he was drunk? Howard would not have done such a thing without his consent. Miliardo now had a vague memory of speaking to Howard at the restaurant before Noin took him home. Noin, how could you do this to me, to us?
"Zechs, get Lady Une away." Sally's voice jolted him.
"Noin is up there, isn't she?" He watched the lightening flash, quickly followed up by the pike. The Wing gundam defended itself from the onslaught.
"Why is she here? Why isn't she fighting the Shadowhawk?"
"Howard, where is the Shadowhawk?" Sally listened for a moment, then told Miliardo, "Noin has the zero system in the Valkryie. She must have lost her concentration. Howard says she believes her mission is to protect the Cinq Kingdom and that Lady Une is the threat." She listened further. "The Shadowhawk has left the atmosphere."
"Contact Colonel Nelson and tell him to pursue," Miliardo ordered. He was torn and felt sick inside. Noin had to be stopped. She couldn't be allowed to kill Lady Une, but to stop her, the gundam would have to be destroyed and her with it. Millions who lived under his rule would suffer if Lady Une were killed in the Cinq Kingdom. The World and Space Alliance would be merciless in its retaliation.
If Noin were killed, only he would suffer.
Looking at Sally, he saw tears in her eyes. She knew what had to be done as well as he did.
Miliardo watched the battle raging in the sky, then said, "How soon can the other gundams get up there?"
Sally gave the order for 03, 04 and 05 to pursue and destroy the Valkyrie. She looked at Miliardo. "Trowa, Quatre and Wufei followed Heero back to Seaside anticipating action against the Shadowhawk." She put her hand on Miliardo's arm. "I am so sorry, Zechs."
"What is going on here?" demanded Lady Une as she approached.
Realizing that her communications were open to Seaside and probably monitored by the Valkryie, Sally quickly put her hand to her throat, but it was too late.
Missiles launched at the Wing gundam and as it defended itself, the Valkyrie spun to fire the lightening beams to the earth. Sally threw herself at Miliardo, knocking him to the ground, and the blast struck down trees and left the area engulfed in flames. Miliardo expected to see Vice Minister Une's charred remains, but she was lying several feet away from the impact, protected by Lieutenant Benton's body.
They all quickly scrambled to their feet, and Miliardo ran to seize Lady Une's arm. He looked briefly at Benton. "Good work, Colonel."
Benton's eyes widened, and he saluted.
Miliardo saw the Valkyrie diving for another attack, but it was cut off by the arrival of gundam 03. It unloaded hundreds of rounds of hot bullets into the Valkyrie's back, but its wings had quickly folded in to protect it. She was a damn good pilot, thought Miliardo, and the suit had been designed to bring out the best in Lucrezia Noin. Taking it down would be difficult and bloody.
"What is going on?" demanded Lady Une. Her eyes widened as she watched the fight in the sky. "Those are gundams!"
Gundam 04 charged out of the night sky with charged shotels bearing down on the Valkryie. Miliardo looked away, heard the blast of missiles, and didn't know who to pray for.
"Explain, Zechs Merquise," Lady Une shouted at him.
"You can have my damn report tomorrow!" said Miliardo through gritted teeth. "That is, if you are still alive." He grabbed her arm and dragged her through the ballroom. That the soldiers had efficiently evacuated the dance was nothing short of a miracle. Explosions from outside echoed eerily in the huge, empty building.
Noin! His heart was broken. Miliardo didn't want to live without her, and yet he knew he must.
They burst out the front entrance just in time to see the Wing gundam crash to the earth shuddering from a blast from the charged tip of the Valkryie pike. The Valkryie slashed at the blasting Heavyarms, knocking it into the
Sandrock gundam, then launched missiles at both. As they tumbled away, the Valkryie dropped gracefully to the ground, landing atop and crushing Vice Minister Une's limousine.
Miliardo and Lady Une stood beneath the towering gundam. Behind them Wing was rising from the crushed ballroom. Fire raged everywhere and destroyed pipes were exploding. Sandrock and Heavyarms returned, but held fire because Miliardo was in danger of being hit with their attack.
The Valkryie raised its pike and began to thrust down, but Miliardo stepped in front of Lady Une. He would rather die than watch what would happen to Noin.
The glowing, pulsating tip stopped above his heart. His body hummed with the energy that it threw off. He could smell his hair singeing.
"My mission is to protect the Cinq Kingdom." The voice was disguised, but he knew it was Noin. The heat radiating from the tip made him feel faint.
"What is it talking about?" demanded Lady Une who stayed hidden behind him.
Miliardo looked upwards. Did Noin see him? If she did, could she recognize him?
"Put away your weapon. There is no danger here."
"Step aside. The threat is behind you. I must destroy."
He did not move.
"My mission is to protect the Cinq Kingdom. Step aside," and she paused, "or I will destroy you."
"Don't even think of moving," snarled Lady Une and he felt the barrel of a pistol jammed into his back. "If you so much as itch, Zechs Merquise, I will blow you in half."
Bitch! he thought angrily. What kind of dishonorable man did she think he was?
But he did not betray his danger to Noin. Instead he stared upward, willing her to look at him. "You won't hurt me," he said. "You cannot."
The pike jerked back as if preparing for a downthrust.
Suddenly over the trees came the two heads of the Altron gundam. Miliardo would never know if Noin would have thrust the pike downward. The dragon claws clamped onto the Valkryie and lifted it away. Noin did not fight it. The other gundams blasted after it, and Miliardo realized Sally must have issued new orders to the pilots or he would have seen it destroyed here and now. He felt such intense relief that he almost dropped to his knees.
The gun was still in his back. "Now, I think you have an explanation to make, and I have no intention of waiting for your report in the morning."
"I'm afraid you will have to," he heard Sally Po say. Then Lady Une's body crumpled to his feet
Turning he saw Sally put her gun away, and she smiled at him. "Is there a promotion in this for me?"