Sensou Tenshi Usagi (War Angel Usagi) ~ III


Midnight of Shadows

You know what I find extremely perplexing? It took me a year to write 9 chapters of Crossover to my World and it took me two weeks to write three chapters of this! Tell me that's not strange.
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            "Are you sure this is the right mission?" asked Duo while holding a sheet of paper in front of him. He flipped it over, turned it upside down and sideways to get a new angle on it. Heero tossed a backpack of supplies into the open cockpit of his gundam plane while Duo stood to the side, dressed and ready to go.

            "Why would I give you anything besides the right one," he said between gritted teeth. Duo cheesed and folded the paper in four, stuffing it in his back pocket.

            "Thought maybe you'd try and get rid of me. I know you're still mad about the picture incident." Heero frowned as he recalled the dreadful prank. Duo had hung pictures of Relena on every single wall in Heero's room. From roof to floor and door to window the pacifist queen of the Sanq Kingdom surrounded him. He damn near had a heart attack when he saw it. He'd been extremely pissed at the Deathscythe's pilot and almost killed him. Come to think of it, he was still mad, but now was not the time to get revenge. Missions were taken seriously.

            Without answering Duo he climbed into the back of Wing Zero and closed the hatch. Flipping various switches and turning knobs he powered up the gundam. The countdown began as he revved the engines. He typed a few commands into the console and the newly replaced screen lit up to display the mission log.

@==New data received: RETRIEVE TOP SECRET FILES FROM ALPHA BASE 20290. PILOT ONE WILL INFILTRATE THE BASE AND GATHER THE KALONG DISK. IF ANYTHING SHOULD HAPPEN TO IT OR IF IT IS MISSING--ABORT. ONE COPY IS ALL THERE IS, TOP SECURITY AND AROUND THE CLOCK GUARD. PILOTS 02 AND 03 ARE TO DESTROY MOBILE DOLL STOCK. PILOTS 04 AND 05 ARE TO RECOVER WEAPONRY STOLEN FROM SANQ KINGDOM ARMORY. WEAPONRY STORED IN SECTION 6 OF THE ALPHA BASE. QUICK AND SILENT, DO NOT BE SEEN, KILL ANY WHO DETAIN YOU. WHEN ALL HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED, BASE IS TO BE DESTROYED COMPLETELY, NO SURVIVORS.==@

@==ACCEPT? =@= DECLINE?==@

            Heero pulled the visor of his helmet down as he gripped the acceleration handles. The gundam exited the hanger, followed close by the other four and started down the runway. Heero glanced to the screen, mission log still on it, as they shot through the atmosphere. His blue eyes were cold and his face emotionless.

            "Mission: accepted."

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            The sound of her boots hitting the ground echoed in the halls of the base. Her braid whipped against her back harshly as she sprinted down the long corridor, the dim lighting making it difficult to see. Her breaths were labored and sweat dripped off her body only to be carried away on the wind of her momentum. Her vision was slightly blurred as she ran, the blond bangs matted against her forehead and making it difficult to see. The sounds of boots drummed behind her, the deafening noise only causing her to increase her already record-breaking trot. She rounded the corner and cursed as she had to spring over boxes, her stride never faltering as she landed and continued the pounding pace. The gun in her holster clattered loudly against her leg and wracked her nerves, but she couldn't stop to fix it. She had to keep going, had to get away. If they caught her....

            She shuddered in fear as thoughts of what they would do to her flooded her mind. High treason, that's what she would be convicted for. And they had good reason too. No one dared to steal from Oz, no one, yet something had possessed her to do it. Her hand gripped the thin metal object tighter as she ran. All the risk, all the danger, for this. She knew it held the answers she sought, but if she got caught, she'd never find out.

            She gritted her teeth as she approached the building nearby, the one she had come from only hours before. If she could only make it...

            She put all her strength into her legs and dashed forward, slamming into the door and throwing it open. She closed it behind her and locked it. It was then that she took the time to breathe, gulping in air as the pain from her sprint hit her. She searched around the room frantically as the sound of boots approached. She had to block the door or they would find her. An old metal desk in the corner was her answer. She walked behind it and heaved and shoved until she got it against the door.

            She stepped back to review her handiwork and realized it wouldn't be enough. If one girl could move it, certainly twenty oz soldiers could. Another examination of the room revealed an iron trunk full of bullet shells, and a cast iron cabinet full of expired files. She added these to the door. It was after she moved the cabinet that she noticed the door in the wall.

            Knowing it to be the only way out, she opened the door and stepped out as a multitude of footsteps approached the blockaded door. Fear once again arose in her as she heard the door being rammed and she shot off down the hall, not heeding caution or exercising common sense in the dark corridor.

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            "Kuso!" Heero stepped back from the computer in anger as he slammed the keyboard down. Gone. It was gone. The whole thing. The whole file was gone, the one and only copy removed and any data of it on the CPU erased. This was bad. If the disk was missing then the mission was a failure.

            Heero backed away from the computer and headed through the open door. There was nothing he could do now; he had to abort the mission. He peered out into the dark hall and started down the dark doorway, his mind running with a million and one questions. Where was the disk? Had Treize moved it to another location? If not Treize, then who? Who had gotten it to it before him? Where was it?

            So preoccupied in his thoughts he didn't even hear the sound of boots hitting metal ahead of him. Before he knew it, a blond haired girl appeared out of the darkness, her speed too fast to stop in time. He braced himself as they collided.

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            *BAM*

            Usagi's vision swam as she ran into the boy and they landed on the ground. She lay on top of him for a while, her muscles too sore to move. Prussian met sapphire as their gazes met, so close they were nose to nose and she froze in recognition. With a surprised yelp she sprang off him. He rose up slowly and dusted himself off, never taking his glare off her.

            She took a good look at the boy, her eyes sweeping over him as he stood before her. It was him, the one she had shot. The one she had seen the night of her capture. He was the one who stole the files, she knew, it had to be him. Only an enemy would want them. If he stole them then that makes him an enemy of....

            A light of understanding flicked in her head and hastily she pulled an extra gun from beneath her armor, his gun, he noted.

            She rushed up to him and shoved two items into his hands, him not even flinching as her hands encircled his. Her sapphire eyes gazed into his own, pleading with him to accept her offering.

            "Please take this," she choked out, her breathing labored from running so hard, "Take it and go! Please!" With a gentle squeeze of her hands she separated from him and stepped back several feet. Heero's head whipped around as he heard footsteps approaching from the other end of the hall. The girl gasped and he looked back at her, but she was already sprinting down the hall again, not even glancing back.

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            He looked between the direction she had gone and the one she had come from. With a final glance he tore off after her, it being the only suitable way out. The girl was already far ahead of him, her slim legs taking her further and further away. He rounded a corner as she continued straight, obviously running in desperation. He was back in the room where the disk was supposed to be, the window he'd climbed in still open. He looked out cautiously and hopped out, dashing in the opposite direction towards the hanger where his plane was stored. He took the time to open the thin metal object as he ran and stopped dead in his tracks as he read the label.

            This was it. The disk. The girl had it all along.

            KALONG stood out in bright red letters against the white cover of the minidisk. Why? Why did she have it and why had she given it to him?

            He resumed running and soon was at the hanger. He paused in the doorway to peer inside and his eyes focused to the darkness.

            'Damn,' he thought. Four soldiers were around his gundam, poking at the plane and asking questions amongst themselves. Heero pulled his gun out and checked the clip for bullets. There were four left. He had to make this perfect or the whole mission would have been for naught. Quietly he placed the gun in his sweats behind his back where the low light would be unable to shine off the metal and betray his presence. Stealthily he crept into the open door, keeping to the shadows as he searched for the best way to approach them. He studied their movements, noted the way they held their rifles and shifted amongst one another. They had no radios on them. This meant they hadn't reported the unusual plane yet. At least one good thing was happening. A closed door was on the opposite side, obviously the way they had entered.

            As quietly as possible he left the obscurity of the wall and headed towards the soldiers. Their backs were turned, even better. Slowly, inch by agonizing inch, he came closer, intent on getting the perfect shot. If he could get near enough he could take out the four in no time.

            The soldiers never turned as he neared. He was only ten feet away. A little closer....

*squeak*

            The soldiers whipped around as the rat squeaked, scurrying by Heero's foot and running for the walls. Heero froze, knowing he was trapped as the soldiers raised their rifles and aimed at him. There was no way he could outrun that many bullets. Of all the bad luck....

            "Identify yourself!" shouted a soldier as he cocked his rifle.

            "Raise your hands and step into the light or prepare to be terminated!" Heero stepped back. A rifle cocked as a soldier raised it higher on his shoulder.

             "You have five seconds,"

            Heero reached behind his back...

            "One,"

            He closed his hand around the gun...

            "Two"

            He pulled the lever until a click was heard...

            "Three,"

            Slowly he drew it from the waistband in his black pants...

            "Four,"

            His hand tightened around the trigger...

            "Fiv-"

            The soldiers whipped around as the door flew open. It was the girl, her body heaving for air and her eyes wide as she surveyed the scene. The troops froze for a minute, surprised to see her.

            *BANG*BANG*

            Two dropped by Heero's gun. The other two were shocked into action.

            *BANG*

            One shot the girl, a syringe hitting her in the stomach. Tranquilizers. The other turned his rifle on Heero, but the pilot was gone. He swung around bewildered and never saw the blade until it was firmly lodged in his throat, the black hilt standing out against his skin as he hit the floor. The other raised his rifle and shot the girl again, this time hitting her in the side as she tried to dodge. He turned to flee but stopped as something cold rested on his temple. His wide brown eyes stared into cold blue ones as sweat rolled down his forehead and into his eyes.

            "Boo," whispered Heero and pulled the trigger. Blood and brain scattered everywhere, some of it splattering on Heero's gundam. Heero stepped back as the lifeless pilot fell forward, his body hitting the ground with a thud.

            "Oh kami," Heero whipped his head around to stare at the girl, her eyes full of horror. Blood was splattered on her white armor, tarnishing the angel image. She stood slowly to her feet and shakily walked towards him. He never moved as she came closer, her legs wobbling as she became weaker. Tears streamed from her blue eyes and rolled down her fair cheeks. Tears of horror, tears of shock.

            She stopped in front of him, clutching her stomach in pain as wide eyes stared into his own.

            "It's you," she whispered and promptly passed out. Without knowing why, he caught her, her lithe frame resting against him as he wrapped his arms around her small waist. He stood there for a moment, listening as her shallow breaths echoed in the large hanger.

            What now? His mind told him to leave her. She would only impede on his mission, hold him back. He reached up an arm and tilted her head back, brushing the sweat matted bangs on her forehead back. A brow arched in curiosity as he spotted the glowing crescent moon. What the hell was she? Dr J never said anything about War Angels having crescent moons on their foreheads. What should he do with her? If he left her here she would be destroyed with the base and no longer a problem. If he took her, than maybe he could find out information, figure out the mystery behind her. She might have valuable secret information that would help in this war.

            With that last thought he made up his mind. He hefted her up in his arms and over his shoulder. Careful not to harm her, he boosted up onto his plane and opened the cockpit. He didn't sit and instead remained standing as he activated it. He pressed the blue button.

            With a display of mechanics shifting and weapons positioning, the plane changed into the Wing Zero gundam. It was then that he placed her on the floor behind his seat and took his spot in the driver's position. He put his helmet on and activated the booster rockets. The gundam blasted out the hanger and into the space sky, the hole in the hanger creating a vacuum to any thing left inside. He pulled a control from his pocket and flipped the top back. A red button glowed and he positioned his thumb over it. With one last glance at the base, he pushed the button.

            *BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM* *BAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGG*

            The base exploded in sections, all courtesy of the explosives planted there. Heero swung his gundam around and headed towards the deeper sectors of space, knowing the others were on their way home.

            Suddenly a vid link popped up on his screen. Duo's panicked face appeared, his features melting into determination as a blast was heard in the background.

            "Heero get your ass up here now! There's some new type of Mobil Dolls up here and they're hitting us hard. Trowa's already lost both arms on his Heavyarms and Wufei's Altron isn't fairing too well either. We're surrounded!" Heero's hard expression never faltered.

            "How many," he said, his voice flat.

            "Fifty, maybe sixty now, and more still coming. We never counted on the base being this protected. That disk you have must be pretty damn important." The screen shook as Duo's gundam was hit. He gritted his teeth and turned his head.

            "Haul ass Yuy!" he growled and blinked out.

            Heero speeded up and blasted through the atmosphere. He was greeted with a sight he never hoped to see. Dozens and dozens of Mobil dolls surrounded the gundam pilots. Duo hadn't been kidding when he said the situation was bad.

            Heavyarms was indeed fairing unwell, both arms nothing more than debris floating in space. The only weapon left was the army knife, but even that would become ineffective sooner or later.

            Altron had lost part of the armor on it's back, the alloy melted down to the circuits. Still, Wufei used his beam trident to take out suits left and right. It did no good, for any suit he took down, two more took its place.

            The god of death plunged his gundam into a pack of suits, his scythe taking them out by the dozens. Pieces of armor crashed into various other mobile dolls and caused massive damage.

            Quatre was fighting for all he was worth, but five dolls tackled his gundam. Heero piloted Wing Zero over to Sandrock and blasted two of the dolls. The other three turned to face him and met a sound blow to the heads. Maneuvering the arms, Heero punched through two of them and kicked out at the third. Quatre finished it off with a rocket blast. The blonde's face appeared a moment later on Heero's screen.

            "Thanks Heero," he said smiling and blinked out. Seconds later he rushed over to Trowa who was steadily being pounded. Heero whipped his gundam around as ten mobile dolls rushed upon him. He gripped the handles and set a grim face. Time for battle.

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            Things were not going good. Heero gritted his teeth as blood dripped into his eyes. They were losing sorely, almost to the point of being obliterated. Trowa had gone offline some time ago, most likely knocked out cold. Wufei had undergone a major head injury, barely able to stay conscious. Quatre was defending the weaponless Heavyarms, his own gundam bashed repeatedly. He wouldn't hold out too much longer. Duo was nowhere to be found. A thick pack of Mobil dolls exploding soon turned him up. His scythe was the only weapon with energy still left, but even that was wearing down fast. The bright glow of energy had dulled. Heero was left with one last weapon, his last resort. His weapon supplies were low. He could take out the rest of the dolls but he only had one shot. He could use his beam cannon.

            'If I miss, we're doomed,' the thought loomed ominously in his head. It was indeed a huge risk. His energy reserves were down to 15 percent, just enough to operate the cannon, but he only had one shot.

            Heero was brought out of his thoughts as an explosion caught his attention. It was Duo. Two dolls had crashed into Deathscythe, tearing off a piece of chest armor and an arm. Moments later, he went offline, the gundam nothing more than a lifeless husk floating in space. Heero pulled up the stats screen. There it was, Duo's heartbeat, irregular and weak, but still going. He was semiconscious. Wufei's jumped erratically while Trowa's was barely discernable. It seemed only he and Quatre were still good. Quickly he made up his mind. One shot was all he had.

            "Quatre," he said through the link, the blond pilots face appearing on the screen, "Gather the others together and get behind me. I got one shot at this. If I miss, get out of here" Quatre's eyes widened in horror.

            "Heero that's suicide! You can't!" Heero's eyes remained cold and his face emotionless.

            "I don't care," he said and Quatre was taken aback.

            "Heero, if you miss you'll die. Don't do i-" he was cut off as Heero blocked the link. He waited awhile and finally Sandrock gathered the idle gundams, helping Altron over to Deathscythe and Heavyarms and all gathering together in a group behind Wing Zero. Heero's jaw clenched as he focused on the advancing dolls. Perfect, they were all together, their numbers greatly reduced. Where there had been 200 before, there were now only sixty. Heero gripped the handle to fire and tensed his body.

            "One shot," he whispered and fired.

            BWOOM

            The beam shot away from his gundam and he watched in horror as it sailed past the dolls, only taking out two.

            He missed.

            The one shot he had, he missed. He bowed his head in failure as anger surged through his veins. Suddenly his head whipped up and grim determination lit in his eyes. Only one thing left to do. Slowly he reached his hand out and placed it on the red button.

            Last resort.

            For the first time in his life, he hesitated.

            Why now? After years of being the perfect soldier, why hesitate now? He mentally slapped himself and raised his hand. With a final breath he lowered it.

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AAAAHHHHHHHHHH cliffhanger! Thought it'd be interesting to leave yall in suspense. Well stayed tuned. Is Heero gonna self destruct?

Review please! I want at least 10 reviews before the next chapter.

I promise it'll be good! Peace

Midnight of Shadows ~ email me Quimon7@hotmail.com if you don't fell like reviewing and instead wanna say sumthin personal.
Warning: flames will be disregarded, printed, and burned. *cheez*
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