Hey-o, and welcome to my Lil' World of Weirdness!!
I state for the record that I don't own Gundam Wing, or the wonderful characters that will be gracing this story. . . I do however lay claim to Ensign Saratone *again*, and I use him here purely as a replacement for your average Nameless OZ Minion. Oh, and Marvin the indestructible extra.
Okay, that's the legal stuff out the way!!
//Thinking//
"Speaking"
*Stress/Emphasis*
~*~
**Gundammit!!**
By Doctor Megalomania
Chapter 3: First Steps . . .
The next two days saw the pilots avoiding their Gundams, none of them felt ready to make the first step of actually going to 'talk' to their Gundam. Howard sighed and stepped down the corridor leading to the hanger, after, once again, unsuccessfully trying to persuade Duo to visit. He rubbed his eyes as he approached the door, not seeing the blonde haired ball of indecision hovering in front of the door.
**Humfpt!**
Howard blinked as he bumped into Quatre, the blonde boy smiled back apologetically. "Sorry Howard, I didn't see you there. . ."
"S'okay, kid, are you gonna go in or are ya chicken like the rest of ya comrades?" Howard joked as he brushed himself off. Quatre laughed, a quiet sound, in the darkened corridor. It was late, very late, even Howard was just stopping by the hanger to say good night before going to bed. The fourth pilot sighed and looked at the door. "Should I go in?"
Howard clapped a hand on the bony shoulder, "Yeah . . . I mean you're gonna havta sometime, might as well get it done."
Quatre nodded, "But what if—"
"Eh!" Howard growled, "*IN*!!"
Quatre sighed again as Howard closed the door behind him. The hanger was pitch black, not even the moonlight was allowed in. he gazed into the darkness pensively, not even his Space Heart could tell him about the Gundams. Truth be told, this was what was putting the pilots off from meeting their Gundams. They didn't know what to expect, they had tried observing the Gundams, but the Gundams were still - not a single movement, nothing to suggest that the Gundams were even aware of anything. Quatre drew a breath, and found his nerve.
"Hello?"
His voice echoed slightly, and then there was silence.
He was almost ready to call out again, when the deck shook. Hard. Quatre threw his arms out to keep himself steady. The deck shook again, and Quatre realised what was happening. One of the Gundams was moving toward him. The small boy pressed himself again the hanger wall, and hoped the Gundam wouldn't come any closer, he didn't want to be squished under a careless foot.
The shaking stopped after a few more steps, and then Quatre felt a sucking wind upwards, as loud creaking, and hydraulics sounded. A bright light blinded him, as the Gundam crouched down. He raised his head when all the movement stopped, and raised his arm to cover his eyes from the blinding white light from all five of the Gundams.
"Please!!" Quatre yelled out, the light was too bright, "Please turn your lights down low, I can't see!!"
The lights dimmed instantly to a more acceptable level as the Gundams stared at him. The red tinting his vision fading quickly, Quatre drew a deep breath and looked up. The five Gundams surrounded him; Deathscythe was down on one knee before him, with the other four behind the black and gold Gundam. "Errrr . . ." Quatre found his social skills desert him, his wit dried up and wilted, "Erm . . . huh-huh-hi . . ."
The Gundams continued to stare at him. Deathscythe started to tilt his head in a curious manner, before slowly turning his head to glance at the other Gundams. A silent conversation took place, leaving Quatre under the impression he was being talked about. "Excuse me . . ." he shouted up, "but I . . . I . . ."
Deathscythe returned his attention to Quatre. The blonde haired boy blinked as Duo's warm laughter filled the huge hanger, and echoed off the walls. The laughter of others quietly flitted out, and Deathscythe shook his head, "Welcome Pilot Four . . . we . . ." he chuckled again, "We are Gundam. We are Gundamn glad to see you . . . and Gundamn lucky you showed up, Heavyarms needs a oil change . . . he's squeaking."
"Hey!" Trowa's quiet voice called out against gentle chuckles.
"You . . . you can talk . . . but Howard told us . . ."
The Gundam clucked again, "well . . . it's kinda tough to talk to the pilot if he hasn't got access to a screen, y'know?"
"Oh . . . OH!!" Quatre felt himself gasp as Deathscythe slowly extend a massive hand toward him, palm up. "My name is Quatre . . ."
The laughter came again, this time a little louder, clearer. "We know. . ." Quatre smiled slightly at the gentle tone of Heavyarms, the orange and gold Gundam leant forward and whispered loudly, "Quatre Rebarba Winner . . ."
Quatre braced himself as he climbed into the offered hand, "Thank you." The young boy tried not to yelp in surprise as he found himself being lifted up in the air, as Deathscythe got off it's knees and stood with the other Gundams. "Eh, heh, heh . . ." Deathscythe chuckled again, "For someone who can take on a fleet of OZ mobile dolls . . . and look Dorothy in the eye and not laugh at her eyebrows . . ." Quatre opened his eyes at this, and looked around, the five Gundams were gathered around. He turned until he came face to face with his own Gundam, Sandrock. Quatre smiled warmly, as his Gundam stared back, "Greetings Sandrock . . . my beloved partner."
"Greetings . . ." Quatre was surprised to hear his own voice echo back to him, Sandrock tilted his head affectionately, "My beloved Quatre . . ."
The two stared at one another for a warm moment. Neither quite believing it. A beautiful sense of security filled Quatre's heart, he was surprised to find he got some sort of emotional sensation from his own Gundam.
"Annnnd . . . they called it Gundam luuuurrrrve . . ." Deathscythe suddenly sang out loud, scaring the hell out of Quatre, and quite promptly putting an end to that mushy moment.
Early, the next morning. . .
Trowa sipped at his coffee, raising only one eyebrow in greeting of the others, as they filed in. "Hey . . ." Duo blinked as he looked around sleepily, "Where's the Q-man?"
Trowa looked up, "I don't know . . . he didn't come back from the hanger last night."
Just then, Quatre walked in, and beamed at them all despite looking like he didn't get a wink of sleep all night. "Good morning . . ." he nodded, yawned, and stretched as he made his way to the coffee machine, and pressed for tea. He leaned against the counter, and looked at his fellow pilots. "They are just like us."
Wufei looked up, "Who are?"
"The Gundams." Quatre smiled as he pushed off the counter, and picked up his tea. He stirred it, and picked out the tea bag. "Just like us in almost every way, but without the training."
"Meaning?" Heero asked quietly, as he tapped away at his laptop.
"Meaning, they aren't as jaded, aren't as blunt, aren't as quiet as we are . . ." Quatre smiled, "Even Deathscythe is more energetic than Duo . . . it's almost like they are who we should be without the war." He smiled and shook his head, "In fact, Heavyarms and Wing are the most talkative beings I've ever had the pleasure of conversing with . . . they are the reason I didn't come back last night . . ."
Heero and Trowa looked up simultaneously, and stared at Quatre. Nerve tendons worked in their jaws as the two quiet boys tried to contemplate the enormity of this fact. Wufei cocked his head as if he was trying to imagine it, trying to see in his mind a version of Heero and Trowa as active talkers, and Duo Maxwell even more . . . DUO than normal. The black haired pilot suppressed a shudder at the thought.
And Duo looked from Quatre, then to Trowa and Heero . . . and just started to laugh his head off.
Elsewhere . . .
Howard frowned as a small commercial jet approached. He checked his radar, the craft was definitely heading towards them. But how could it be?! The PeaceTrillion was hidden from view, OZ couldn't even find them if they tried. The Hawaiian shirted man frowned and stared to bark some orders, whoever it was were not getting onto this ship without showing their intentions first.
And in the hanger . . .
#SNOOOOOREEEEEE#
Marvin had been a technician on Howard's ship for darn near ten years now, he had seen most things, he had seen mobile suits being created and destroyed, he had seen men openly cry and women kick some serious can, he had seen the most beautiful sunrises, and the most hideous of battles . . . hell, he had even seen Howard with his sunglasses off.
But never, in his entire life, ever, ever, ever, EEEEEVVVVEEERR had Marvin seen a Gundam snore in it's sleep.
Poor Marvin.
Certainly didn't expect to be brushed off a Gundam's chest cavity like some insignificant piece of pocket lint as he was cleaning the said Gundam.
"YEEEERRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Deathscythe snorted again and fell in to a deeper stupor. Marvin went hurtling through the air, and was about to become much like The Scream on the hanger wall, when a massive hand reached out and caught him. The save still knocked the poor man unconscious but at least he wasn't wallpaper.
Wing rolled the Gundam equivalent of his eyes – he turned his head compartment the whole 360 degrees around - and looked at the small puny human in his hand. Sighing the massive Gundam lifted the small being onto the gangway. "How many more times do I have to tell you, stop sending people onto Deathscythe when he's sleeping . . ." he trailed off, and rolled his eyes again, "Never mind . . ."
Sandrock shook his head, "I guess they still can't get their heads around the fact we're talking, walking—"
"I wanna talk like you, walk like you . . . oh-bah-doo-be-dooo!" Deathscythe hummed dozily, and fell back asleep, leaving the others just shaking their heads. ShenLong glanced upwards, the open sky was blue, with a few clouds. It was warm and sunshine poured through the open hanger deck. "Where are our pilots? Heero hasn't even come to have his morning poke around in Wing!"
Outside the hanger . . .
Trowa sighed, the others were still questioning Quatre, but Trowa . . . Trowa was curious now. Heavyarms a more talkative version of himself? He sighed and leant against the lift's door as it took him to the gangway's opening. This was something he had to see . . . he frowned, or indeed *hear* for himself.
His jade eyes slid open as the doors parted. "Alright!"
The Gundams fell silent as Trowa's quiet voice echoed throughout the hanger deck, "I wish to be alone with the Gundams for now . . . everyone o—"
Trowa's eyes widen with blatant fear as sixty-five engineers and technicians stampeded toward him, desperate to get out of the creepy hanger.
The circus clown sighed, "Oh no . . ."
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And Now it's Time To Leave it To DOCTOR MEGALOMANIA!!!
DrM: Bong!! Mellow greetings!! Here are two new chapters to make up for my little . . ..
Wild: LITTLE?!! You call a month gap in updating LITTLE?!
DrM: . . .. lack of updating, Gomen ni? It would be nice if there were still people reading this!!
Bluegoo (intruding on story for no apparent reason): KAMUI would SO kick Heero's butt!!
Wing: He would SO not!! [Glances at DrM and the model in her hands] that isn't what I think it is, is it?
DrM: HAI!! I have a WING GUNDAM MODEL!! GOOOOO, MINI-WING-GUNDAM-CHAN!!! [moves mini-wing's legs] it has moving legs!! [moves hands] and hands!!
Wing: [raised eyebrow, unimpressed] isn't this a little demeaning?
Mini-Wing-Gundam-Chan: you're telling me? You're not the one she's been cuddling all day?!
Bluegoo: *Sigh*
DrM: You're so cute, Mini-Wing-Gundam-chan!!
Mini-Wing-Gundam-Chan: Review, please review, take her attention off me!! please!!!!!!!