Chapter Two: Inferno
Duo wandered down the night street of the silent Los Angles suburb. He yawned and sighed, he had been assigned the first shift; how boring.
'I would've thought there would be more excitement than this in LA' he thought gloomily as he continued to drag his feet tiredly. Stopping near a streetlight he squinted at his watch in the darkness. 1:34 AM. He groaned. What sane person would be out on the street of Los Angeles in the middle of the night? What sane person would be out on any street at such hour?
Grumbling, he crossed the street and continued to walk, blind to where or what was going on around him. He only noticed his surroundings when a strange thought occurred to him. It was pitch black.
Stopping, Duo looked around warily. The streetlights were no longer around, and he had obviously stumbled out of the suburbs onto the very outskirts of the city. A tall dark structure loomed far ahead of him, surrounded by a tall fence. Fifty feet, at least, he thought sizing it up with his eyes. There were no lights illuminating the place, no sound reached his now fully alert ears. A creepy feeling crept up the American's spine making the hairs on the back of his neck rise in alarm. Not hesitating a moment, he ran soundlessly toward the building, looking over his shoulder every couple of steps.
In a few moments he reached the fence and was pleased to see he had been right in estimating its' size. He was just about to begin his ascent when a loud explosion erupted through the quiet night. A wave of burning hot air knocked him off his feet, sending his sprawling onto his back in the dirt.
Upon hitting the ground, Duo's eyes darted through the fence and across the field to the now engulfed in flames building. Crimson flames rose up to the night sky, crushing the stone walls with ease.
Jumping to his feet, he was just in time to see a silver mobile suit escape through the crumbling ceiling amidst another explosion. The machine spun in the air before straightening and beginning to speed away. Not two seconds later, a second suit exited in a similar fashion, following the first.
Not wasting a millisecond, Duo grabbed a cell phone out of his jacket pocket and speed-dialed the headquarters.
"What is it Duo?" Trowa's calm voice drifted over the line. "Did you find something?"
"Yeah, there was an explosion
seemingly caused by two mobile suits," he reported rapidly keeping his eye on
the spark of light in the sky.
"What type of MS?"
"I'm not sure. One looked like a regular Taurus, but the second looked like a highly modified Aries,"
"What's your location? Heero's on his way."
Scratching his head, Duo looked around in panic. He didn't have the slightest idea at where he was, and he wasn't thrilled to admit that he had let himself wander without paying attention to his surroundings. If nothing had happened, he would have found his way back and none of the others would ever have to know, but with this recent incident, that option was no longer available.
"I'm not sure.."
Trowa sighed with exasperation. Typical Duo.
"Stay on the line, I'll trace you."
Doing as told, the American stood, phone in hand, waiting for a confirmation that they had figured out his position. In a few moments, his answer came when he saw Wing Zero soaring in his direction. There was a click in the phone and Heero's voice appeared in his ear.
"Which way were the mobile suits heading?" he inquired harshly.
"South." Duo replied and with another click the line went dead.
* * *
Wing Zero's back jets kicked into full power as Heero guided his gundam over the burning remains of the mobile suit factory in his pursuit of the two mobile suits Duo had reported.
In several brief moments the said mobile suits appeared in his line of vision and with a click of a button he had zoomed in on both on his screen. The first was a regular Taurus just like Duo had said, but the second, was unlike anything he had seen. It was definitely Aries based, but other than the shape of its' body, the Aries in it was hardly recognizable. Some of the better parts on it he recognized to be from other mobile suits of, but heavily altered.
His eyes narrowed as he continued to scrutinize the machine. Whoever had worked on it, had done one hell of a job, he thought silently. They had taken the good parts off of numerous mobile suit models, combining it into one.
The pilot must have spotted its predator, the engines of the mobile suit switched gears, giving the suit somewhat more power to therefore achieve higher speeds. Doing the same, Heero easily maintained his pursuit; however modified, simple mobile suits were no match for his Wing Zero.
He heard a beep, and a brief message ran over one of his visual screens.
'GIVE IT UP.'
"What?" he muttered, his eyes narrowing as they ran over the text. With fury, he reached over and hit the intercom button, the computer automatically connecting with the unidentified mobile suit.
"Who are you?" he snapped, and yet received no answer. The mobile suit maintained the escape, its speed unchanging.
"Answer me, don't be a coward." Heero snarled, his fist slamming into the control panel.
A moment passed, and the intercom screen flickered with static for several seconds before clearing. A figure dressed in full black, materialized and glared at him through the single two slits in its black mask.
"You are makin' a mistake." The person's voice was digitally distorted and impossible to tell whether the person was male or female.
"Who the hell are you?" he repeated, his patience growing thin as he slammed on the controls and brought Zero in an orbit to in front of the mobile suit. "Answer or I open fire."
"We are on the same side, idiot." The shadow snapped. "That was an arisin' OZ base."
"What!"
"Yeah, 'what' is right. Now get the hell out of my way."
"You are not going anywhere."
"Wanna bet?"
The mobile suit's outer shell shifted, double machine guns sliding out of the side panels in its' arms and aiming directly at Wing Zero.
Heero's right hand darted to the side control panel immediately, strengthening the gundam's armor and not moving an inch.
"Fine." The mobile suit's pilot scowled. "Have it your way." The machine guns raised and showered the gundam.
Heero smirked, easily avoiding the bullets. He turned just in time to see panels rise in his opponent's suit's shoulders and before he could blink, it fired double missiles straight in his direction.
He cursed and twisted the controls, just barely missing the first missile and loosing stability began falling toward the ground. Gripping the controls tightly, he turned the gundam, just barely regaining control before he slammed into the ground. The second missile exploded directly underneath him, giving Zero a slight boost as it soared once more.
Once back in the air, Heero's eyes swept over the scanners, but the anonymous suit did not show up on any of them.
A/N: Finally! I was afraid I wouldn't get this chapter up before I left for Florida on Saturday. ^^; Hope ya liked it. I don't have time to write anythin' else, I'm in school and the class is almost over. Review and tell me what you think and I'll try to write while I'm tannin' on the beach or somethin'. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year all!
~Arion