Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, G-Gundam, any movies or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

Notice to Readers: To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required.

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing:

Children of the Gundam

Chapter 8: Rats in the Maze

*

The New Preventer had seen the Silencers land, or at least that's what William Maxwell had reported on the new COM channel. This was their version of Radio Silence, using a very special channel that was developed by Valos who oversaw the developments of all the Gundams. He felt that in such covert situations the team still needed to communicate with each other so he invented a new type of COM system that used a different wavelength. William had reported.

"The Silencers suits are down." He smiled

"Good work." Id had complemented, "Now is the time to face them in hand to hand combat. Everyone get ready."

"Right." The New Preventers acknowledged and suited up in a very different way.

William Maxwell had gotten out the very special Cross-Punisher that was designed by his father. The others got out their beam weapons as well as a very unique weapon that was designed by Kazuki and Id, a little gift for the New Preventers. Each of them had gotten out of their MTS suits and into combat clothes designed for Mars, in other words Martian camouflage. They knew that the Silencers couldn't take their Gundams. The reason behind this was because of the cockpit system, only one who had been trained enough in how to use it would know what to do. Otherwise, someone not knowing enough would simply break every bone in his or her body trying to harness it. With the knowledge of the security in mind they went out to meet the Silencers face to face.

* * *

"I think we should stay together." Angelina said to her comrades

"Why is that?" Ivan asked as he brought out both of his pulsar blasters like twin six guns.

"If we separate, it'll play in their favor." She explained, "There's no telling what they have planned for us in here."

"I see the logic." Anton took Angelina's side, "This place is probably booby-trapped and it is also possible that they know this place better than we do."

"So what do we do?" Ivan asked rather annoyed

Angelina looked at the terrain around her from behind the black T-shaped cut in her helmet. It truly was the Devil's Backyard from a ground point of view. All the rocks seemed impossible to climb; jagged and sharp. The only paths that lay before them were three, left, right and center. All of them cutting through the rocks like game paths by some unknown Martian animal. She then took the antenna from her helmet and pulled it down over her visor. Inside it she could see the terrain but she also tried to find any heat signatures that would indicate to her that the Preventers were close. She received no sign, so she allowed herself to guess. She looked down the paths, and she looked left.

"Let's go this way." She said as she drew out her blasters with her fingers on the triggers ready to fire. She walked down the left path with her comrades following behind both with their targeting computers on inside their helmets and their guns ready to kill anything that moved.

* * *

The Preventers saw their chance. They knew where they were coming from and what paths they were going to take. It was part of their training during the one-month that they had been on Mars to know that part of the red planet. With all the paths that had so many twists and turns in them it seemed so easy to get them to loose their sense of direction. This is when they would employ their greatest task of "divide and conquer".

Since there were three Silencers, the Preventers divided themselves up into three groups.

"Leto, Julia, you'll come with me and we'll be Gold Team." Id commanded, "Hikaru and Paul, you'll be Blue Team. And William and Kaworu, you'll be Red Team. All of you try to split the Silencers up as much as you can."

"Yes, sir." The new Preventers responded as they split up into their own separate groups.

* * *

The Preventers had split up into their groups and had made their way over the tops of the hills within the Devils Backyard. Hiding behind the rocks they found the Silencers huddled together like scared animals. They moved slowly through the maze, each holding out their guns ready to shoot at anything in any direction, but little did they know of the planned trap that they were just walking into. They came to a three-way intersection in the Martian sand; the three teams watched them patiently like a praying mantis waiting for the right moment to grab its next meal. The intersection had spread outward like the bottom Y-section of a peace sign. They made the decision to go for the path down the middle of the forking paths. It was time to make the move.

William (accompanied by Kaworu) in the Red Team picked up a small stone and chucked it down the left path of the Silencers. It ran down the slopes of the hills and crevices but it was loud enough to catch the attention of one Silencer. So much that one of them broke away from the group and went down the same the very path that William had tossed the stone.

The Blue Team, consisting of Hikaru Yuy and Paul Marquise had done the exact same thing except it was for the right path of the Silencers. And the Silencer had bit into the bait, hook, line, and sinker. The plan was working. All that was left was just that one little Silencer that was going down the center path. The one in the Center path was left for the Gold Team, for Julia, Leto and Id.

* * *

For the Silencers, the trip within the Devils Backyard had been a grueling and hellish journey. All they saw in every direction were red rocks, all of them having the sharp heart beating within them coupled with the paranoia of what may come down those slopes. Each of them had tried to contain their fears from what they had learned through all the years of training to be Silencers. Unfortunately it wasn't so for all of them. As Angelina had made the decision the go forward in the three-way intersection, her teammates didn't exactly have any optimism about any of this.

Ivan was truly high strung about this, he didn't even know who these people were. That was the most annoying part to him was the part of not knowing who his enemies were. At least when he fought the Preventers, he knew who they were and why he was fighting them. He didn't even know who attacked them.

"We are the New Preventer", one of them had said.

But he always thought that the ones he defeated were all that Preventer had. Then again, thinking was never his strong suit, only killing and using brute strength. That was his profession in this field.

He held onto his guns, his glance kept looking from the ground then quickly darting around the rocks. He wanted nothing more than to take his helmet off and swipe the sweat away from his face. The mixture of cold and hot sweats swirled like coffee and cream inside his helmet. He just wanted to holster his guns and wipe the sweat away, but he couldn't because he didn't want to give them a chance at killing him. He simply allowed the sweats to roll down his face as he continued to carefully trek along the path. I shouldn't be here. I should probably go back. He turned his back for a moment to look behind him to see if any of his comrades were with him. There was only emptiness of the Devils Backyard, red sand, and rocks.

The chance was open and William Maxwell took it.

Ivan suddenly felt a sharp rumbling and a great crash from behind him. He spun around with his fingers ready on the triggers getting ready to shoot at anything that was about to move. He was expecting a lone person to be standing there in the path like a challenging gunslinger in a Western novel. Only it was transfigured into shock when he saw a tidal wave of rocks coming down from the slopes, they blocked his way down that path. Immediately he turned to go the other way, but it was too late for another tidal wave of rocks blocked him in that direction. He felt trapped in that cage of rocks, nowhere to go, only up, and who knows what was up there. Fear and panic swirled everywhere inside him, he even forgot about the jetpack that he could use to get out.

William Maxwell and Kaworu Nagisa came tromping around the edge of the rock pen that held Ivan Danko prisoner.

"Feel trapped, my little rat?" William asked holding out his Cross-Punisher. "Amazing." He shook his head, "I have you trapped and I didn't even have to fire a shot. But this time, you're not going to run away. Silencer, you're charged with attempted murder of my father, you have the right to remain dead!"

William took the Cross-Punisher and aimed it down at the trapped Ivan. It was a good thing that he never saw Ivan's scared-shitless face, then he probably would have been a little softer when dealing with him. He aimed the long gattling end of the Cross-Punisher down into the pit that was formed by the falling rocks that were set up, but then something else intervened. A hand reached out and pulled down the aiming Cross-Punisher. William looked into the face of Kaworu Nagisa who was shaking his head at William.

"Shouldn't we wait for the others before you do this?" He asked

"Whose side are you on?" William contended and then sneered, "Would you like to join them?"

"I'm just saying that we should wait."

Ivan was rather surprised by what had just happened. Not only had he been captured, but captured by two kids. Were these the ones who were piloting the Gundams? If so, then Ivan felt less like a man than he ever did in his entire life. To be defeated by Children! The worst part of it was that one of them was a former comrade, a teammate whom Ivan had shared his life with. Traitor! But wait…while the two children of them were arguing about the timing of capturing the Silencer, Ivan Danko saw his chance in the moment. He tightened his grip around his twin blasters and raised them to the arguing kids. He took aim and he was about to squeeze the trigger and kill the one that humiliated him along with the one who betrayed the Silencers.

Kaworu's red eyes would dart down into the ditch to make sure that Ivan didn't try anything. He knew that Ivan would always take the best advantage that would be available to him. He only saw Ivan standing there in the rocky rage in shock as to what happened but then his quick mind registered something. Ivan was about to shoot. Kaworu's hands reached out to Williams shoulders and shoved them down as he threw himself against the Martian rocks.

"Down!" He said as he threw himself and William to the ground.

Both of them felt the sharp and dull pains that the rocks had made in them. William didn't know what was going on or why it was happening at all. One moment he was just debating over the issue with the captured Silencer, the next he was shoving him down as if they were in a wrestling match. In the sudden spontaneity of the moment William had accidentally pulled the trigger of the gattling gun on his Cross-Punisher. As he fell to the rocky ground he heard the gun go off but he didn't know in which direction it would go. His mind was only focused on what was going on with Kaworu. He also heard a sound that could be only be described as sounding like something out of Star Trek, a phaser-like sound. When the bullets from the gattling stopped he looked to the side where Kaworu had gone face down into the dirt.

"What the hell's wrong with you?" He asked as he got up onto his knees leaving the Cross-Punisher lying in the dirt and brushed off the Martian sand off of his clothes. He picked up his weapon and looked down at Kaworu, who got up with William.

"I was protecting you." He said, "He was about to kill you. He had his guns drawn."

"But look at him, he's just standing…" William paused as he looked down into the ditch to prove his point. Yet when he looked down what he found was completely unexpected. He found the body of the Silencer that was captured, dead. His body lying on his back with a multitude of bullet holes going in an upward direction from his waist to his shoulders. His blood spilling out onto his clothes and into the iron soaked soil around him, a deep red mixing with a sandy red. William made the immediate connection. He lost his grip on the Cross-Punisher, which fell into Kaworu's hands, and he fell onto his knees. His mind was trying to grasp what had happened, he killed someone…he actually killed someone. He suddenly felt sick and dropped to his knees, his arms clenched over his stomach as he began to gag into the rocks.

Kaworu came up behind the sick William and patted his back. "Hang in there, William." He said softly

"It wasn't supposed to happen like this." William gagged

"It never is." Kaworu shared his sentiment.

* * *

Over on the slope of the hill that led down into the right path, the Blue team (Hikaru and Paul) heard it in the distance. The repeating tat-tat-tat noise, which could have only come from William Maxwell's gattling gun. They only looked in the distance for one second as they were hiding behind the rock formations on the top of the hill, while the Silencer below walked down into it. They watched as the Silencer was in their grasp, but the noise of the gattling brought his attention away and was starting to walk away.

"Oh damn." Hikaru cursed, "We're going in."

She hopped out from behind the rocks and slid down the slope keeping her eyes on the Silencer. She brought out her beam saber and switched it on while it sent its blue glow across her cheeks as she charged into battle. She went forth just like Id had taught to her, desperate times call for desperate measures, and the plan wasn't going the way that they had hoped it would.

Sliding behind her was her comrade and friend, Paul Marquise with his blue beam saber already out and charging down the hill after Hikaru. He felt charged with the adrenaline that was rushing through him. He felt even better with the fact that his friend and comrade, Hikaru Yuy was with him.

They watched as the Silencer turned around and began firing his blasters at them. Hikaru only smirked when she realized that this was a great time to use her new toy that was given to her by Id "the Lion" Kushrinada, but it wasn't her beam saber. It was the thing that was clasped around her wrist. The beam from the gun that the Silencer drew was heading right for Hikaru but then it bounced away from her like a beach ball. The Silencer watched in absolute astonishment when his shot was deflected leaving a light blue elliptical wave around Hikaru. He looked as the ellipse shook like the surface of water when wind passes over it. That ellipse that enveloped Hikaru was the weapon that was designed by Id "the Lion" Kushrinada and Kazuki Peacecraft. It was in the simplest of terms a shield, a shield that uses the same types of ideas that power the beam saber as well as the beam rifle. Only it uses a different frequency that can repel energy.

"Nice, huh?" Hikaru smiled as the ellipse faded away.

The Silencer was stunned as if someone had knocked out all his responses in his body. His strong arms that once held up his twin blasters ready to kill his enemies had fallen to his sides. As he stood in shock, Paul and Hikaru drew closer with their beam sabers ready to fight if they needed to. But the Silencer was unresponsive, he didn't move, he didn't speak. He just stood there looking out from behind his helmet at what happened.

Hikaru waved her hand in front of the T-shaped visor hoping that the person inside would acknowledge what was going on around him. Still nothing, the person behind that domed helmet said and did nothing. Hikaru only shrugged at this and turned around to Paul.

"I don't know what's wrong with him." She said

Anton Simeonov had watched what happened from behind his helmet. He saw the blast that was deflected away by that transparent blue ellipse. His logical mind was locked. He couldn't figure out how or even why this was happening. The shock froze him in place as the girl who deflected his shot came up and tried to take him out of the shock coma that he was in. Then he saw her turn away. Immediately he tried one last desperate move and raised his left arm and pointed it right at Hikaru's turned head. His focused eyes didn't even see what was going on around him. He only wanted to do his job. To follow his orders.

Paul's eyes went wide with fear as he warned his friend, "Hikaru! Look out!"

Hikaru spun around. The world around her seemed to be in slow motion, just like the effects that they do in movies when they want to capture action in frame by frame motion. In this speed and state of mind that Hikaru had become trapped in like a mousetrap she saw the blaster. Its barrel pointing right into her face standing ready to implode it and explode the back of her head across the Martian soil. She never saw into the eyes of her attacker and it was probably a good thing. If she did she would be looking into the wide frightened eyes of a madman, desperate for a solution.

Hikaru didn't feel the actual motion in her body when she made her move. She only felt a twitch. A twitch that sent her beam saber flying against the attackers arm and in that frame-by-frame action moment she watched as her beam saber made a clean cut out of his arm. There wasn't even any blood for the sheer heat of her weapon had sealed his wound. The scream that Anton Simeonov made from the agony of loosing his left arm sounded distant, distorted, much like as if Hikaru had heard him screaming underwater. Hearing the Silencer scream had the world around her speed back up. She heard the screaming become louder and closer, yet even the voice sounded robotic as if no human vocal chords could make such a sound.

"Damn you!" The Silencer cursed, "Damn all of you to hell!"

Hikaru couldn't respond everything was such a blur in that slowed down state of mind that she was in that she looked down at the beam saber as if it was a sword that she was trying to find blood to confirm what she had done. The only thing that confirmed her deed was the arm. The lifeless left arm that once belonged to the human calculator, Anton Simeonov. It lay against the Martian soil still gripping onto the blaster.

"I…" Hikaru uttered with her throat dry as a bone, "I…"

She then watched as the Silencer cradled his left arm toward his stomach while he holstered his blaster and used his free arm to take off his helmet. She watched the helmet fall off and then saw the face of the one that had attacked Preventer. The one who helped the attempted slaughter of her father, but even with that fact far away and distant in her mind she still couldn't believe that she could take such action against another person. She deactivated her beam saber as she looked at her victim. She saw his face streamed with tears, eyes red, and his hair mussed from being inside the helmet.

"My name is Anton Simeonov." He spat trying to contain the pain of his arm which stun like made, like a thousand bees and hornets stinging him at once. "I am a Silencer and I shall never surrender."

He took out the blaster again, but he didn't aim it at his attackers. He raised it to his own head.

"Don't!" Hikaru pleaded, but it was too late.

* * *

The noises that the Gold Team heard only lasted a couple of seconds, but it didn't matter. Their plan was well underway, they had surrounded the Silencer who had traveled down the straight path. She tried to stall time as Leto, Julia and Id surrounded her from all sides. She had her blasters ready to fire, but the new Preventers had their beam sabers out and ready to be used.

"Who are all of you?" She asked, her voice sounding robotic under her helmet.

"We're the New Preventers." Julia announced to her

"Hmm." Angelina smiled underneath her helmet; "I'll introduce myself. I'm Angelina Lestat of the Silencers. Remember this, when you send a Silencer the job gets done."

All of the Gold team saw it. They saw the pack that was on Angelina back. Leto knew what it could do, with is beam saber drawn out he reached down for the D-Ring. He tried to remember the directions that Id gave to him only a few hours ago. It's amazing how such simple information could be lost in the heat of battle. Stay cool. Stay cool. Remember take the D-Ring and twist it…oh no…was it clockwise or counterclockwise? Clock…counter-clock. Clock…counter-clock. Damn it! Which is it…Stay cool, Star Fox. He held the D-Ring in his hand as he watched the flames and the exhaust coming from the funnels that stuck out of the Silencers pack he desperately tried to remember. Damn, I have to figure this out! My time is up! Clock or counter-clock? Time keeps marching forward. The answer was instant.

"Clock." He said to himself as he twisted the D-ring and watched the green blade of his weapon made its dramatic turn downward. The boomerang was ready as Angelina took to the sky. "Here it comes!" Leto shouted as he threw the boomerang at the Silencer as if it were a Frisbee.

The saber turned boomerang spun and spun, faster and faster in the air as it made its climb upwards. It didn't just become a piece of metal with a high-energy beam coming out of it. The object became a disk of green light, much like a regular run-of-the-mill flying saucer. It came within good distance of Angelina who had tried to escape from her captures by the use of the jetpack. She and the others always had it, but the problem was that it only had limited fuel and range. She saw the flying green disk and tried to shoot at it, but all her blasts were for nothing. They only bounced off of the disk. She felt panic seeing her end come too quickly, but the disk missed her.

On the ground Leto had his left hand reached out to the sky where the disk and the Silencer were engaged in a deadly dance. With the control watch on his wrist he had the sheer will and concentration to control the beam boomerang. He had it at a good distance as Angelina was trying to escape with the little fuel and time she had. That was when he made his attack and went straight for the jetpack, he sliced the pack in half, but made sure that he didn't kill Angelina. Yet, the cut in the jetpack exploded and sent Angelina tumbling to the Martian soil below. Thank God for her it was only 20 or so feet to the ground, and to the sandy instead of the rocky ground at that. She landed like a bowling ball landing in sand, her impact sent up the Martian soil, and the Gold team celebrated in knowing that they had won their fight, except for Id.

He couldn't explain it, he felt that there was something more to this, something hidden like a treasure that had been left behind that no one considered taking. He went over to where Angelina had landed, her legs were sprawled out, her hands had partially let go of the blasters, and her head landed on one of the rocks. To Id's surprise there was no blood, but he had to make sure of something. He reached down and ripped off the clasp that held her helmet in place and pulled it off like a sock off of a foot. Instantly he found Angelina attractive. Her brunet hair pulled to the back of her into a small bun. Her face seemed so innocent in such a sleeping state, but Id brought his concentration back to make sure that either she was dead or knocked out cold. He reached his hand down to her neck feeling how warm it was, but suddenly he felt…nothing. There was no pulse there. He then felt pity for the girl since she was cut down in what Id gathered to be the prime of her life. It's a shame that neither he nor the others in the New Preventer could reach her like the ones in the old office. With his hand still on her neck he felt a sudden bump, a fast one followed by another and another. Instantly the dark eyes of Angelina Lestat opened and she reached for Id's neck and got up to her feet.

"Alright, kiddies!" She shouted, "Either you let me go, or I blow his brains out!"

The celebration held by Leto and Julia stopped as they looked at what had turned into a hostage situation. Leto and Julia armed their sabers into their special positions of the beam boomerang and the beam bow. Julia already had her sights set on Angelina as the cannon began to charge.

"Come one, kiddies." Angelina laughed, "You don't have the guts to kill one of your own kind."

"Look whose talking." Leto sassed, "Who kicked your ass back up there? We did. That was just a bitch slap. So don't push us."

Id giggled as Angelina's hand pressed against his throat, "You're in a no win situation. You have two choices. You can kill me and they will kill you or they will kill you right now. Some choice you have. Unless your willing to surrender."

"I don't think so." Angelina snarled into Id's ear as she pressed the barrel of the blaster deeper into the side of his head and tightened her grip on his throat. The whole situation seemed a little unreal to Angelina because in the past she would normally try to seduce people to get her way. Then again she never did like to loose, at least she never lost gracefully. This hostage situation that she grabbed onto was evidence of how she could never loose gracefully. Still, in her mind she was set upon completing the mission, and that was all that mattered. She didn't care if she had to sleep with someone or kill someone, as long as the job gets done.

"Even if we let you go, we will still find you." Julia pointed out, "So this has to be settled here and now."

"Come on, Girly-girl." Angelina pursed her lips to Julia; "You're just a big pussy, like most of Preventer. You should have heard them when they were screaming and begging for their lives." Angelina's voice sounded sadistic, it was unusual even for her that she would take such drastic measures, even with the skills that she has.

"That's not true." Julia said her voice containing a small crack showing a sign to Angelina that she was loosing her nerve.

"Oh yeah." Angelina nodded with psychotically wide-open eyes and a smile exposing her teeth, "They were crying for their mommies like little pussies."

Julia pulled back harder on the drawstring of her beam bow. She remembered the control that was within the beam bow that Id told her before they left for the mission. It was the beam width control. It was located on the art where her left hand held it; it was only a thumb distance away. She carefully moved it and lowered the beam width from its widest setting to its narrowest. She kept her eyes targeted on Angelina's head that continued its psychotic laughter.

Angelina continued her psychotic bragging, "Probably the biggest pussies were Heero Yuy and Johan Rodriguez."

That was the straw that broke Julia's nerve. She had a very high opinion of her father as well as Heero Yuy. She knew that they were all great fighters, Heero Yuy, Johan Rodriguez, and Wufei Chang. She knew this from all the training she did with Leto in all those months and summers she spent with them. Hearing that insult coming from that psychotic bitch was enough for Julia. The timing couldn't have been more perfect, the cannon was charged and her sights were set. She didn't hesitate as she let go of the D-ring. From the end of the beam bow, it sent out a very thin line that crossed the distance between herself and Angelina.

Angelina didn't know anything had hit her, until she felt everything in her body collapse. She had let go of everything and slipped quietly into the darkness. This is how her world ended, not with a bang, but with a collapse.

To be continued…