15: B l i n d T a r g e t
[Author's note: The Gundam vs. Gundam scene might suck. It's the first time I've ever written a mobile suit battle. Sorry if it does]
Inside the battle shaken Building of the Corsica base, Trowa lead Wufei, Quatre, Relena, and Hilde through the smoke filled hallways. Their only guide were blinking bulbs inside ceiling lamps above them, but even that wasn't enough, the hallway was so full of smoke from debris and falling pieces of plaster that it felt as though they were walking through a fog bank.
Trowa kept his hand to the wall to make sure no exit or open door way could evade him in anyway. Behind him Quatre and Wufei lead Hilde and Relena by the hand through the smoke trying their best to focus on Trowa's body figure so they couldn't lose him. "Where [cough] are we Trowa?" Hilde cried sounding a bit worried about the situation. Trowa shrugged although he knew she couldn't see him do it.
He was more concerned about getting out of the building before it came down on top of them, not to mention Heero and Duo would have his and Wufei's head if anything were to happen to the two people they cared about the most. Trowa sighed this was the first time he felt helpless since he was a small boy, and that was eons ago. "I'm not sure, Hilde," He replied careful not inhale any smoke. Hilde sighed as she lowered her head in defeat before something registered in her head.
With a glint of hope as dim as a dying fire in her heart Hilde opened her mouth. "Hey Trowa, did Duo happen to join you by any chance?" She asked timidly. "Yeah," He responded. "He and Heero are in the main part of this building probably." Hilde's eyes lit up for the first time in hours; Duo was alright and knew where she was! Relena breathed a sigh of relief knowing Heero was somewhere nearby. "How's Heero?" Relena directed her question toward Wufei.
Wufei grunted thinking back on Heero's reckless driving earlier. "Heero's been a bit edgy as of late. I think its because of the mission," Wufei replied. Relena a noise that indicated worry, Wufei prepared himself for more questions but surprisingly none came. He stared at what he assumed was Relena in a pondering state while thankful she didn't ask any more question. Relena couldn't understand what Wufei had told her, Heero was edgy because of the mission? When it came to missions, Heero was the master of calm, he was never worried about anything from what she had seen save her safety and her whereabouts.
When Trowa didn't hear a peep out of either women he knew Wufei's comment had them thinking long and hard. Which gave him more time to find an exit with no pestering questions or inquiries. As he hand continued to glide across the wall his fingers brushed up against something on the wall, Trowa paused having felt it. Stepping back he searched the wall for whatever he had brushed and found it. What this here I wonder, Trowa thought hopefully. He pressed his palm against it hard, the object sank far into the wall.
The Latin American prayed nothing bad would come of his pressing whatever it was he had pressed. The sound of something being dragged across the ground altered Trowa, he pulled out his gun and tired to pinpoint the exact location of the noise. "Wufei stay where you are and watch them," He ordered. Wufei halted in his tracks and waited word to move. Hilde and Relena stood behind the silent Chinese preventer, their nervousness was evident and it was making Wufei uncomfortable.
Trowa followed the moving wall through the thick layer of smoke trusting in his senses to guide him through the dark. He entered through the entrance where the wall used to be (after discovering it was a wall moving out of its place) with his gun in hand and slowly traveled deeper into the room. The smoke was thinner and it was slightly easier to see through. Trowa then realized he was inside a demolished control room, sighing he stepped back to inform the others and bumped into someone.
Trowa turned in an instant and pointed his gun at the person before realizing it was just Quatre. The blond Arab shrank back in sudden surprise careful not to make any sudden moves, Trowa finger was pressing against the gun's trigger and he'd to be the one to eat a bullet. "Hey its' only Quatre, Trowa," He responded nervously. "Quatre?" Trowa grumbled in surprise. He withdrew his gun at once mentally reminding himself that he had more than one partner behind him.
"Sorry, about that, I guess." He said sheepishly. Quatre shrugged, he was just glad Trowa put his gun away. "Its' alright Trowa, honest mistake," Quatre replied with a forgiving smile. Trowa turned away from his friend, and headed toward what he figured was a door. Quatre turned toward the wall entrance and motioned Wufei and the girls to follow. Wufei grabbed Relena by the hand and began to advance toward the door. Hilde followed for a brief moment then paused in mid-step, there was something beyond that wall entrance and she hated not knowing if Duo was all right despite the situation. Swallowing her pride and fear, Hilde dashed down the hall passing Wufei and Relena by.
"Where you are you going?! Hilde!" Wufei yelled as he tried to see through the smoke to pinpoint where she was but the deeper he would look the darker it was. For all he knew Hilde was out of hearing range. Relena stared into void smoke and hoped her friend was alright on her own. Hilde's mind focused on what was at the end of the darkened hallway. She could only pray it led to Duo.
"It sure is taking them long to contact us," Noin grumbled worriedly under her breath. "Not to mention destroying those MS-factories." Zechs shifted his sight toward his partner in question as to what she meant. Noin kept her eye on the huge digital map in front of her display on the plasma screen. The two of them had returned from their mission not too long ago and decided to monitor the progress of the Preventer 5.
The red blinking lights on the map indicated the Mobile suit factories were still in commission and untouched, multicolored lights on the map near or farthest from the MS-factories indicated the comunnication/homing-beacon devices sewn into the ex-gundam pilots.
Zechs flopped down on a bench below the plasma screen with an optimistic look about him as he examined the map. "They probably ran into some trouble," He said offhandedly. Noin, who stood with her arms folded across her chest gave him skeptic look. "You mean, like you did?" She asked curiously. Zechs glanced at her with a shrug of his shoulders before staring back up at the map, pretending to be interested in it.
Noin sighed in defeat and turned to leave the room. This caught Zechs' attention, he turned his attention to his partner's retreating figure. "What's wrong, Noin?" He asked. Noin turned her head toward him with a weary look. "I'm tired is all Zechs," She replied. "I'll be in the lounge, alright?" Zechs pondered her attitude for a moment then nodded slowly. Not another word was spoken between them, Noin left the room in a bit of a hurry with her hand pressed against her forehead. Zechs began to wondering what was bothering her and rose to chase after her, but his better judgment warned him not to. He sat back down shifting his eyes toward the ceiling before closing his eyes.
Jin mowed down the last line of Aries in one swift swing of his beamsaber severing them all in half. His eyes darted left and right as he tried to figure out where the next enemy would strike again.
He stared at the radar intently before he began to see a split image of red targeting device. What the.....? The eleven year old was baffled by this sudden development, he rubbed his eyes to make sure they weren't playing tricks on him when Wing Zero was struck in the side by barrage of machine gun fire from Leo mobile suits. "Damnit!" He cursed.
Wing Zero launched forward at top speed with his shield in front of him, the Leo continued to fire until it was rammed by the Gundam taking the brunt of the blow to the midsection. The Leo crashed to the ground hard destorying its camera. Jin smirked as he activated the beamsaber and charged the three remaining Leos that continued to fire on Wing Zero.
Jin fired on the mobile suit in the middle causing the other two Leos to drop their guard, accelerating his speed he closed in on them and severed their midsections. The mobile suits were obliterated in a ball of flame. Jin smirked at his handiwork until something in the main screen caught his eye. Shrouded in the shadows of space resided a mobile suit aiming its beam-rifle at an unsuspecting colony. The barrel of the rifle came to life in an instant and fired on the colony at full power. No sooner than it did, the colony was gone in a blinding flash of light.
Jin's onyx blue eyes snapped shut in disbelief. Where'd that come from....? He thought in confusion as he hesitantly opened his eyes again. The targeting system was darting across the radar monitor locking onto anything within range. What the hell is this?!!! He cried out mentally as he looked back up at the main screen. His breath was caught in his throat at what he saw.
He found himself staring at Tomeki aiming a gun at his head wearing a sadistic smile on his face. You picked the wrong guy to mess with Jinny-boy........ His mouth trembled in fear as his former friend pulled the trigger and his arms went stiff with numbness. Jin screamed in agony as unbearable pain split through his skull just as a Vergo mobile suit fired on the back of Wing Zero.
The mobile suit lunged forward toward losing it footing as it was bombarded by enemy fire, Jin however, was in a paralyzed-state of mind as images of his mother and father were engulfed by the burning wreckage of the colony. Duke Dermail demanding a large army of Vergo mobile dolls to be sent down on the Treize faction. Jin watched as past events flash through his mind causing the agonizing pain invading his mind to grow tenfold.
Heero pressing a gun to his head. Duo reassuring him that he would be okay. His mother smiling down him as they traveled through the park of the colony. His father showing him how to drive a nail in wood with a hammer. His body flying through a window shattering glass and the horrible suction of space pulling him out of the colony saving him from a fiery death.
Out of his mind, Jin yanked the mobile-control of Wing Zero back, activating its boosters on his legs on his back (minus the wing boosters). The Gundam rose from the ground up into the ground and turned to the meet the army of Vergo mobile dolls. Jin stared at them with dullest expression in his lifeless onyx blue eyes before he launched Wing Zero forward activating its machine guns.
The Vergos activated their shields blocking his attacks, but it did not stop him. Placing the beam saber back into its compartment, Jin removed his the shield from Zero's left arm and armed himself with the buster-rifle. He fired on the Mobile dolls in an attempt to weaken their shields, the mobile dolls were unaffected and began to march toward Wing Zero.
Jin landed the Gundam and dropped the buster rifle onto the ground, the compartment for the beam-saber revealed itself and Wing Zero grabbed the cylinder shaped weapon. The second the saber came to life, the Wing zero charged the mobile dolls. The MD's came to a screeching halt just as Zero landed in front of them. Jin slashed through the line with speed, his grin was growing wider with each mobile suit he destroyed when a shower of machine gun fire rained down on several unprotected mobile dolls destroying them.
The alert system sounded off, an arrow appeared on the screen pointing skyward. Jin looked up and spotted another mobile suit hovering in the air, when the camera zoomed in on the machine Jin was surprised to find Wing Gundam descending slowly to the ground. But really puzzled him was that there was no one (besides himself) on the base that could pilot a Gundam..... unlesss.....
Duo landed Wing Gundam with a bit of difficulty, the machine's functions were nothing like Wing Zero's or Deathscythe's. Which meant he was going to have a hard time getting used to the controls, and that time was something he didn't have. "Damn, Heero was right," He grumbled scanning the cokpit. "This is unlike anything I've ever piloted before. I can see why they called him the perfect soldier." He averted his eyes toward the Wing Zero, the mobile suit stood in a dorment like state several feet away from Wing Gundam. Its head was turned to the right as if it were looking at something in the distance.
The sense of dispair was welling up inside Duo as he opened his channel to Wing Zero. "Hey Jin! Jin can you here me? Jin is that you in there?! Jin!" He called. There was a brief moment of silence, Duo was beginning the young man was not inside and it was just a mobile doll until he heard the sound of exhaling. His coalbolt eyes widened with a spark of hope coming back to life in that instant. "Jin?" He repeated quietly.
"I can hear you, Duo," Came Jin's voice. Duo breathed a sigh relief and maneuvered Wing Gundam forward toward the still Wing Zero. "Hey, kid what's up with you? Heero tells me your assiocated with the rebels causing all the trouble, is that true?" Duo predented to be obvlious to Jin's recent doings. Nothing but silence filled the line as the American paitently awaited the eleven year old's response. "Duo...... this machine killed my parents...... it ruined my life," Jin mumbled. "Those responsible for my parent's death must pay the price."
"Kid, revenge isn't the answer!" Duo exclaimed. "Your too young to be ruining your life anymore than it already is!" Jin's chuckle was his response to Duo's exclaimation. And before the Braided preventer knew it, Wing Zero was coming at him at top speed wielding its beam saber. Grunting, Duo slammed his fist against a yellow and blacked striped button removing the beam cannnon from it's hand, releasing its beam saber.
Wing Zero brought the saber down onto Wing Gundam's shield unfortunately missing it's shoulder. Duo struggled against the forceful shoving of the Wing Zero as he tightened the grip on his beam saber. The cylinder weapon came to life in a burst of green light obviously catching WZ by surprise, with one thrust upward of the mobile suit's right arm, the saber came in contact with Zero's wrist that gripped the beam saber damaging it servilely.
Wing Zero jumped back dropping it's weapon, its hand went limp and it was utterly useless to him now. Jin scowled at this predicament realizing he could only use his buster rifile as one weapon instead of two. He's helping him, the person responsible for your parent's death! Destroy him now! His consciousness cried out in rage. The Wing zero jumped to the side and grabbed the buster rifle from off the ground with its operable hand. Wing Gundam fired on Zero with its vulcan cannons in an attempt to stop him but to no avail.
Wing Zero rose from the ground and began to lock its target on W.Gundam when the alert system activated again, the arrow pointed to the left. Jin shifted the mobile suit toward the right and spotted a figure rushing out of the mobile suit hangar then came to a halt, just an inch away from the hangar's entrance.
Both Gundam's camera zoomed in on the person and revealed Hilde. Duo almost stopped breathing when he saw her. Hilde! She's alright!! Was all he could think, nothing else would register in his mind. Jin locked his target on the distracted W.Gundam's shoulder and fired on him. The blast knocked W.Gundam off its feet sending it crashing to the ground. Duo's head hit the back of the cockpit seat knocking the wnd out of him, leaving him dazed.
Acting quickly Jin locked the target on the top of the hangar entrance and fired at full power.
[TBC]