CHAPTER 4. FIGHT & FLIGHT
DISCLAIMER:
Do you think I own this? Does anyone think that if I owned the rights to something as wonderful as Gundam Wing or Transformers I'd be doing something constructive with those rights? Instead, I offer you this, written purely for entertainment, and not for monetary gain.
AUTHOR NOTE:
Oh yea of little faith, who believed my fanfiction had degraded into scientific waffle and tripe, may yea never view this. For yea faithful, I grant to you this to make up for chapter three. All action, all-fighting. And finally, a Transformer goes head to head with a Gundam, or five. Tis' a momentous occasion in fanfic history.
IMPORTANT: One clever reviewer has pointed out the major discrepancy in my work; that the transformers do not gain earthen modes until waken up by the volcano. Therefore, how does Starscream have an F-15 jet mode? Rest assured this is going to be explained in chapter five. To those who read the TF Dreamwave comics the name Adam Rook and Lazarus Project may ring a bell.
REVIEWS:
Yeah! Ten reviews in five days! You like me! You really like me! Now then, the following are to be thanked for reviews posted on both the GW version and the TF version of this work.
RANEKO: They are going to be surprised, and it's going to happen RIGHT NOW!
RA88: Very kind. Yes, it was the news of Devil's Due
TF/GIJoe comic that sparked off this idea, because when Cobra
Commander enters the ark, I noticed how similar his uniform is
to Treize's. Originally, this was going to be set in the war
with Treize present, but I rewrote it when I decided it really
clashed with continuality.
STELARTRON: Well my brother is proved right. He said an
introduction was necessary to introduce GW to TF fans and he was
right, because you seem to like this. I can't believe people who
only know about half the characters and backstory are reading
this, WOW!
:): You are really too kind, but I agree with you on the Beast
Wars good, Beast Machines crap debate. Optimus became far too
serene and spiritual in BM, but BW was great, particularly the
episodes that starred the original TFs, such as Starscream's
ghost in 'Possession' and the fantastic flashbacks in the last
three episodes of series two.
MATTMAN65: In response to your question, right now.
Thankyou all you wonderful people and I hope this new chapter
lives up to your expectations.
CHAPTER 4.
OFF THE NORTH COAST OF ALASKA
The light wind scattered a small amount of snow over the polar ice cap. The vast flat ice plain was barren and deserted, sparkling under the clear azure skies.
If an observer had been able to see through the thick ice and snow, he would have seen an interesting sight. Rising up out of the frigid depths, a massive black mass shot towards the ice-capped surface with frightening speed.
With a 'KKKRUNNCH' that was most likely heard by the mainland, Genesis' reinforced conning tower and missile desk smashed through the thick layer of ice, coming to rest in the middle of the blank, open, uninhabited landscape, like an inkblot on an otherwise unspoilt peace of paper.
*
Inside the mobile suit bay, the atmosphere was halfway between that of a solemn funeral and a festival. There was a feeling of mute anticipation in the air, an eagerness by the engineers to see what they had slaved over for weeks finally take flight, yet nervousness, knowledge that they were now part of a mystery centuries old.
Howard however, could always be relied on to lighten a situation. As Zechs stepped into the main bay, clad in a flight suit, he was greeted with a slightly unnerving sight.
A red carpet had been laid along the gantry he would walk along to board the Grumman. On the lower deck, the mechanical equipment had been cleared to the side of the compartment so that the whole crew could stand in the centre of the bay.
Each person was wearing red clothing! Over the submarine's intercom, the chorus of 'Gimn Sovetskogo Sojuza' played loudly. As Zechs stepped out onto the gantry, he was accosted by Howard and Noin. Howard had redonned his Captain's outfit, complete with incorrect medals, and Noin was wearing her severe black jumpsuit, complimented by the small fur cap Howard had given her. Both wore serious expressions but were obviously trying to suppress massive laughs.
Howard stepped up to Zechs, and addressed him in a rather convincing Russian accent.
"A great day my comrade. We sail into history."
Zechs looked around, and couldn't help but smile. "You sly devil. Are trying to deliberately put me off?"
Howard adopted a hurt expression.
"Comrade Zechs, surely the maiden flight of the 'Rodina's' most recent achievement deserves some form of ceremony."
While this repartee was being bounced back and forth, they had proceeded along the gantry till they reached the cockpit, "And now I will ask the beautiful 'Starshina' Noin to christen our child."
Noin stepped forward, carrying a litre of vodka. In a stiff, military tone she addressed the suit.
"May you bring swift devastation to our imperialist enemies," she then proceeded to take a hefty slug of the vodka before throwing the bottle at the suit's closed cockpit. As it smashed against the orange glass and the thin liquid trickled down the suit's torso, the assembled audience all dropped any military presence and went into a storm of claps, cheers, wolf whistles and cat calls.
Zechs swung open the cockpit door and Noin gave him a final hug. As she did she whispered into his ear, "don't go away for too long."
"I'll be back."
With that they parted and Zechs climbed into the cockpit. As it sealed itself the massive doors above the suit swung open with a grating noise like nails on a chalkboard. Cold air and a brief flurry of snow swept into the compartment, which was quickly vacated.
Inside the Grumman Zechs sat in silent contemplation for several seconds, his fingers steepled before firing up the controls.
FLUX INGESTION SYSTEM: ACTIVE
FUSION REACTOR: ACTIVE
HYDRAULICS: ACTIVE
ENGINES: INACTIVE, PRIMED
TALLGEESE THRUSTERS: NOT PRESENT
CONTROLS: ACTIVE
CRYOGENIC PLANT: ACTIVE
WEAPONS: ACTIVE
CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT: ACTIVE
SENSOR ARRAY: ACTIVE
FLUX CAPACITORS: CHARGED
ZERO SYSTEM: INACTIVE, BYPASSED
LASER NEURON: ACTIVE, BYPASSED
"Right," Zechs murmured. We're ready to roll.
Slowly, he reached out, and flipped the ignition switch on the engines.
*
Noin and Howard were staring out of the small windows that faced forward out of the conning tower. As they watched, a harsh screaming filled the air. Slowly, but gracefully, the Grumman rose out of the main hanger, suspended on pillars of blue fire. Beneath their feet, the sub reverberated with the impact of the thrusters.
As the Grumman rose high into the sky, Zechs began running some diagnostics to check how the suit was handling with everything at full power. All the batteries and capacitors had a full charge, the fuel tank was on the verge of overflowing, and the engines were running at full power but were barely heating up. The cold fusion thrusters were very fuel-efficient.
'Now then, lets see what this suit can do..."
Zechs pulled right back on the throttles and the transformation lever and the Grumman shot skywards like a rocket, snapping to it's jet mode with the same strange electrical rumble; Below, the observers on the Genesis could only watch in amazement as it disappeared from view in a matter of seconds. The only thing they could see was the cold blue light of the exhaust, now a pinprick in the clear sky. Latta spun from his radio uplink to the suit's computer.
"He just passed the 50,000 foot mark in less than 10 seconds! He's running at near Mach 8 and hasn't even kicked in the afterburners!"
Howard whistled appreciatively, "Whoever designed this suit knew what they were doin'," Noin could only watch numbly while nodding very slowly.
The cockpit altimeter was registering over 100,000 feet above sea level when Zechs cut out the engines and pulled the jet back to mech mode. By that point he was nearly in the upper atmosphere and had a very brief glimpse of the moon before it slid vertically out of view. As he fell vertically back to earth he pulled a number of brisk acrobatic manoeuvres, amazed at the suit's instantaneous response to even the slightest touch on the controls.
'This is amazing. I need not have any worries about my skills surpassing 'this' suit's abilities!'
So thrilled was he with what he had discovered he decided to take a risk. Like a skydiver, he adjusted the mech so that it was now parallel to the ground, horizontal. He tucked the arms in to the sides and waited, as the Alaskan ice plains loomed larger in his field of view.
"What is he doing!?" Latta stared out of the Genesis' small window at the vertical streak high in the sky that denoted the suit's course. It was plummeting straight down.
"Damn fool's going to destroy my beautiful suit." Howard muttered, his usual laughing face now deadly serious, his eyes as usual unreadable, hidden by the sunglasses he never removed.
"Could he have passed out in the cockpit? Because he's now falling at nearly a 1000 ft per second," Latta was on the verge of hysterics, "is he mad?"
"No," Noin smiled, "he's playing the game."
Zechs had now spread out the suit's arms and legs like a professional skydiver, partly to help him manoeuvre towards where he wanted to be most, and also to decelerate. The suit's reaction time to his commands was excellent, but he was not going to completely trust his life to a machine.
'Not yet, not yet, wait for it...'
10,000 feet.
He pushed down on his joystick, now the suit was falling headfirst.
7,000 feet.
'Wait...'
5000...4000...2000.
"NOW!"
Howard, Noin and Latta were privy to a spectacular sight. At less than 1500 feet above the ground, Zechs threw the transformation lever and pulled back on the sticks. The time it took for the suit to become a plane and pull up was near instantaneous with the high airspeed, but by the point that Zechs was hurtling over the ice plains at near eight times the speed of sound, he was less than 100 feet off the ground.
"Phew! Right then Grumman, you've proved your manoeuvrability, now let's see what your arsenal can do."
Zechs reduced the throttles and went into a series of sharp turns to reduce his airspeed. In a few seconds he was cruising slowly over the plains at less than 90 knots, still fast to an observer, but a mere crawl to the pilot.
"Right Genesis, let's give you a little fireworks display..."
Zechs was now bearing down on the submarine from dead ahead, nose down slightly. He flipped a switch, "weapons armed."
"Howard, do you have another pair of sunglasses on you?"
Silently, Howard produced the requested item and handed them to Noin without taking his eyes off the approaching aircraft. Around them, crewmembers were edging back from the windows. Only Howard Noin and Latta stood fast, their faces almost pressed against the nine-inch thick glass. Noin casually slipped them on. Latta glanced at her, and then shielded his eyes against what he had guessed what was coming.
The Genesis loomed larger and larger in Zechs' eyes. He trimmed his height, just high enough so that he would barely scrape over the conning tower. A message flashed up on his main console, "all ballistic and energy weapons cross-linked and ready to fire."
"Very well...Let the show begin."
As the jet swooped low over the nose of the submarine, the missiles released, streaking either side of the conning tower and detonating with enough force to rock the sub. The windows in the tower were facing away from the blast but the glare was enough to make several crew members scream in sudden fear, only to realise they were still among the living.
As soon as the missiles had launched, Zechs pulled hard back on the stick, pulling a half loop and then a barrel role so that he was now flying right way up, away from the Genesis. With a brief hand gesture he fired the charge from all ten banks of capacitors into the lasers mounted under the wings. The resulting purple beams were hot enough to melt the ice it was targeted on before it even struck. Two plumes of superheated steam rose high into the sky as the Grumman shot between them, dropping neat rows of cluster bombs, leaving a blooming trail of destruction in its wake.
As Zechs tipped his wings in an offhand salute, Howard rubbed his chin as Noin handed back the borrowed sunglasses, "Very impressive Zechs my boy."
The other crewmembers were too stunned to speak; they were all seeing purple dots in front of their eyes, which gradually began to fade.
As Zechs came round in a slow bank to transform and land back on the Genesis, a glaring alarm filled the cockpit.
"ALERT! ALERT! INCOMING MISSILE!"
'What!'
By instinct, Zechs slewed the jet to port. It saved his life. As soon as he completed the manoeuvre a missile streaked past, which would have surely hit had he not jinked the plane about in surprise.
As he recovered he flipped the transformation lever and spun the suit around to face his aggressor. His blood ran cold.
'Shit!'
Five sinister figures hovered less than quarter of a mile ahead of him. It did not take a genius to identify the five mobile suits. The bristling weaponry, the elegant bodywork, the ornate armour, the regally crowned heads.
The Gundams had come to play.
For a second the five suits just hovered there, sizing up the opponents. Though Zechs had briefly felt fear, that was a reflex to seeing the familiar suits. The Gundams and their pilots were now part of the Preventers group, used to maintain the peace and deal with those who sought to take control in a relatively unarmed world.
*
Heero Yuy scowled at the suit that faced him. From his seat in the cockpit of the imposing Wing Zero, he could command a military force second to none, and had at his disposal reams of information on every known weapon in the world. But this red suit, was unlike anything he had every seen. And this troubled him.
"What in the heck is that!?" The stunned voice of the braided 'baka' Duo Maxwell, pilot of the sinister Deathscythe Hell cut across his speaker.
"I thought we were coming out here for maintenance, I didn't expect this," the calm, collective tones of Trowa Barton, steadfast master of the Heavyarms.
"Whatever it is, it does not look that impressive. It is surely weak compared to my Altron." Chang Wufei's arrogant voice spoke for itself.
"Can we afford to get into a fight?" the reasoning Quatre Winner cut in, "we're all down on ammunition and we've taken a substantial amount of damage from that battle near Fairbanks."
"Well whatever it is, it was attacking Howard's sub, and that's what we've flown for hours to get to for maintenance. I not letting it go down yet." And with that, the Deathscythe Hell charged at the mystery suit, its deadly beam scythe raised high.
"Duo wait!" But the reckless pilot had already started laying into the Grumman, or trying to, as the suit was managing to evade his every swing with lightening speed.
*
Zechs was amazed with the fury with which the black Gundam attacked, but was also relieved. So angry was the pilot that he was not fighting to the best of his ability. He was surprised at the sudden attack, but hoped that Duo would come to his senses and realise he was not the aggressor. Zechs spun, ignited the Grumman's afterburners and thrusted himself away from the rampaging suit. He twisted, faced the suit, which was preparing to thrust at him again, and fired the EMP rifle.
Duo braced himself for the worst as the mystery suit aimed on him and fired. Nothing happened. Duo smirked and crowed his challenge.
"You thought that would hurt me? I am the GREAT DESTROYER!"
As if proving that pride comes before a fall, the cockpit lights and monitors went out. In the darkness Duo muttered to himself, "Why did I have to open my big mouth?"
*
Zechs watched astounded as the Gundam went limp, the scythe flickering out and dropping from its fingers, the glowing green optics dulled.
'Howard was right about that EMP rifle. Now to finish the job.'
Zechs instantly switched over to the standard laser and dumped the full capacitor charge into it, aiming just below the Deathscythe's torso. Unable to shield itself against the blast, the Deathscythe's entire left leg was blown off at the hip! Smoking, the suit collapsed on its side.
The other Gundam pilots could only stare in amazement. Deathscythe was one of the most powerful weapons in existence and this new suit had managed to wound it with almost no effort.
Only the calm Trowa took action. While Zechs as well stared at what he had accomplished without thinking about it, Heavyarms brought two of it's four massive Gatling cannons to bear, shooting the two lasers off the Grumman's upper arms with a concentrated burst of fire.
Enraged that he had allowed himself to become distracted, Zechs fired a volley of cluster bombs at the dark green suit, which leapt into the air with a deft acrobatic flip as the ground beneath it exploded in a titanic blast. As it reached the apex of it's soar, then Heavyarms pulled a neat backwards somersault before coming right down on the Grumman, kicking it to the ground and standing over it, bringing the four Gatling guns to bear.
"KLIK!"
The four barrels spun uselessly. Out of bullets. As Trowa reached across to fire his missiles, Zechs took his chance.
Trowa's eyes widened as two Gatling barrels appeared out of recesses in the Grumman's torso.
'Damn it!'
The two barrels fired straight into the Gundam's head, shredding it like cardboard, ripping apart the cameras and sensors, effectively blinding the pilot. Zechs kept on firing until the two guns ran empty. As the Gundam's head exploded, Zechs kicked the blinded robot off him, trying to collect himself, only to be knocked to the side by a massive force.
"TROWA!" With an agonised cry as his lover's suit collapsed to the side, Quatre had thrown his suit, Sandrock onto the front of the Grumman, knocking it right down, the Gundam on top of it. Were the situation less deadly it would have been a rather laughable position, but as the two suits locked hands and pushed against each other, the situation could not have been less serious.
Zechs gave a humourless grin as the Grumman strained to lift the Sandrock off it.
"So we're evenly matched." He considered his options. There were none. He couldn't fire his missiles because the blast would severely damage himself. Also, he didn't want to kill Quatre. His defeat of the Deathscythe and Heavyarms were done in a manner so as not to harm the pilot. If his radio signal weren't getting jammed by the Gundams he'd tell them they were on the same side, but he had to fight to defend himself.
He realised there was only one thing he could do to readdress the balance of power, risky as it was. He reached out and flipped two small switches.
ZERO SYSTEM ACTIVE, BYPASS OFF
LASER NEURON ACTIVE, BYPASS OFF
Zechs felt the familiar disorientation as the zero system probed his mind, but this time it was different. A wave of extreme nausea swept over him.
Deep in the Grumman's core, the laser neuron began to fire up, lasers firing rapidly and constantly into the gas core.
*
"Howard, Noin! Look at this!"
The two spun from where they were observing the battle with looks of awe on their faces.
"What is it Chris?"
"Look," Latta pointed towards the bank of consoles relaying information from the Grumman's computer. All had switched to the same screen. A diagram of the suit appeared on the left half of the screen, the right half was divided into two sections. On top, a graphic of the strange purple symbol that decorated the suit's wings rotated slowly. Underneath, a diagnostics box appeared.
DCON. SEEKER UNIT.0384762
INITIATING REBOOT
RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS: 100% SYSTEM PARAMETERS CHECK: 25% MAINFRAME CHECK: 10.5% MAIN MEMORY REBOOT: 1% PERSONALITY REBOOT: 0.2% FINAL REBOOT: 0%
TIME TILL FINAL REBOOT: 5 MINS, 48 SECS.
"Seeker. What the hell's a Seeker?" Howard scratched his head. Latta spoke up.
"I think it's the classification of our mystery suit."
Noin finished scanning over the list, "My God...It's not a suit at all."
"What!?"
Ignoring them, Noin wheeled and ran to the radio uplink to Zechs.
"Zechs! Zechs can you hear me. You've gotta get out of that suit. You've got less than five minutes. Please listen to me!"
Howard checked the uplink.
"He can't hear you Noin. There's so much Gundanium flying around out there that the radio signal's getting distorted!"
Noin pounded her hand against the window in desperation, tears in her eyes, "ZECHS!"
TIME TILL FINAL REBOOT: 5 MINS, 00 SECS.
The wave of nausea passed as fast as it came. Zechs opened his eyes, and smiled.
What he saw was not the cockpit interior, but the Sandrock at his eye level, and he realised he was looking 'through' the suit's optics. He looked down at the suit's arm, no HIS arm and made a fist. He looked into the Sandrock's optics, and very slowly, smiled.
"Quatre sat in his chair, rigid with fright. Before him, the suit's dull eyes had glowed a bright ruby red, and the placid, immobile face had broken into a smirk he knew very well.
"Zechs?" He breathed. "Is that you?"
The suits lips broke apart, and it spoke with Zechs' voice.
"Here's a hint!"
With that, Zechs punched Sandrock in the face with all the force his metal sinews could muster. Quatre's suit reeled back, and Zechs leapt up in the air and with a roundhouse kick, sent the Gundam flying.
The Sandrock fell on it's back and didn't move. Zechs punched the air in triumph and laughed. But it was not his usual calm chuckle, but a manic twisted scream of insane glee.
Inside Sandrock, Quatre stared at nothing.
'I thought we were on the same team?'
4 MINS 12 SECS
Heero and Wufei stared at the suit screaming at the heavens. They had seen lot in their short lives but they knew one thing. No mobile suit was that manoeuvrable, and no mobile suit had ever, ever spoken. Heero felt a chill run up his spine, and he realised with an equally big chill, he was afraid. It was not an emotion he often dealt with, and that scared him even more. But he had to do something.
Zechs stopped laughing and wondered where that insane scream had come from. It wasn't in his nature. His moment of contemplation was cut short however as Wing Zero streaked overhead in it's bird mode, strafing him with missiles. He grinned.
"So you want to play do you?" Zechs murmured, forgetting that he now had the opportunity to call off the senseless fight. There was a new fire in his veins; a desire to kill and destroy that flooded every fibre of his being. And he didn't know where it had come from. He willed the transformation sequence to begin and then felt the odd sensation of his limbs bending in odd directions and his body twisting and changing. With another moment of intense bloodthirsty joy he ignited his engines and took to the sky. Now, he was in his element.
3 MINS 30 SECS
The two aircraft streaked over the snow, equally matched as they danced their deadly game. Below, Wufei began using the Altron to gather up the fallen Gundams and carry them towards the Genesis, which was already spewing crewmen eager to aid the young pilots.
"You're weak."
"What!"
"You're weak Zech Marquise. You only beat the others because you had the advantage over them. Do you dare to duel with me? No missiles, no lasers, just beam sabres."
"Very well. We never finished that duel we started in Siberia, and continued in Antarctica and outer space. I'd say the terrain is pretty much the same. Cold and lifeless" Zechs chuckled slightly, before his gaze went slightly out of focus, "for the glory of the Decepticons, I'LL CRUSH YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS!"
Heero frowned; something Zechs had just said had rang a bell in his head. But it was too late to start analysing Zech's words.
The two massive mechs dropped to the ground near the Genesis and stood up, facing each other. Wing Zero threw away its massive buster rifle and produced a green beam sabre. Zechs pulled one of the energy shields clipped to his wings and attached it to the vacant capacitor port on his left arm. In his right hand he produced a purple sabre.
Heero nodded slightly, impressed with Zech's comprehensive arsenal before the two titans fell upon each other, sabres clashing, flashing and making noise like the harbingers of apocalypse. The two sabres were of even power, and the two suits were also equals in strength, but the speed with which Zechs fought and reacted to Heero's actions was dazzling. It was becoming clear to Heero he was fighting a losing battle.
1 MIN 00 SECS
Zechs bashed the Gundam in the chest with his shield. As the Wing Zero staggered he cut the green sabre from the mech's hand with his own; it flew in the air only to be sliced in half by the purple blade.
0 MIN 35 SECS
With a sweeping kick he cut the legs out from underneath the wing zero and stood poised over it, sabre held over his head like a stake, ready to strike through the Wing Zero's chest and destroy both the suit and the pilot. Heero sat back in his seat and prepared himself for death. He paused. What should be his final words? His lips parted, and he mouthed a brief phrase.
"Goodbye, Relena..."
0 MIN 5 SECS
Zechs screamed a final cry before bringing the sabre sweeping down, "DIE AUTOBOT!"
0 MIN 0 SECS. FULL SYSTEM REBOOT COMPLETE. UNIT ON LINE.
The sabre's tip stopped mere inches from Wing Zero's cockpit. The blade flickered out and fell from the suit's hands, which were beginning to shake and gyrate rapidly. Heero watched on in horrified amazement as the suit clutched at its head, screaming like a wounded beast.
"ARRRGGGHHH!!NOOOOO!!!"
Heero squinted. He could hear two distinct voices in that scream. One was undoubtedly Zechs, but the other was different. A cold, inhuman screech.
Still screaming like the world was ending, the robot transformed to jet mode and streaked into the atmosphere, the screeching cries dwindling as it soared out of view. Heero watched it in horrified amazement, before succumbing to the darkness that lurked at the edge of his vision and slipping into unconsciousness.
*
The aircraft streaked high in the upper atmosphere. It had longed stopped screaming but it was confused. The world below it was an alien one, but at the same time he knew it. Faces swam in it's mind as two consciousnesses combined. Memories from two different worlds collided in its mind.
'Who am I? I don't know!...can't think...must find Mega...find the Nemesis...need to report to Treize, who is Treize? ARRRGHHHH!'
Screaming again, the aircraft nosed down hard, threatening to go into a fatal nosedive, before levelling out and flying steadily. It breathed out. The words were slow and unsteady, but they held a minute degree of confidence.
'We are Starscream.'
TO BE CONTINUED...
AUTHOR NOTE.
It is done. The first transformer has awakened, and more will soon follow in its footsteps. In the next chapter there's a load of action, but after that, I'm dropping multiple bombshells on the transformer side of the fic to make up for the emphasis on GW so far. Briefly, the war is over, but there's two new menaces arising, on that threatens to destroy all Transformers and mankind alike.
CHAPTER NOTES:
Yes, a Typhoon can ram its way through several feet of ice. It was designed to do this to fire its missiles on the decadent west.
'Gimn Sovetskogo Sojuza' is the national anthem of the Soviet Union.
A 'Starshina' is a Russian officer of low-to medium rank i.e. Lieutenant. However, it seems in the future, ranks have changed. Zechs starts out in the TV show and he's second in command of OZ. Also when Treize promotes him he skips straight over the ranks of Captain, Major and probably another one to become a Colonel.
For those who haven't guessed, Zechs is taking the 'Grumman' for a test ride to put it through its paces.
Massive out of characterness for Noin, the ice maiden of Russia!
Mach 8 is eight times the speed of sound. SG1 Starscream could only reach Mach 2.5, so I'm sure he's grateful to Howard's crew for his new AC engines.
Is 100,000 ft altitude high enough to reach a view of the moon?
A skydiving Transformer. I'm either very imaginative, or very deranged/sad/weird. Take your pick.
The missile fired at Zechs came from Heavyarms.
Duo's acting rash even for him.
The Gundams are those of endless waltz, except for Deathscythe Hell, which I imagine in its series form and Wing Zero, which I can't imagine with FRIGGIN' ANGEL WINGS! (I apologise for my uncouth language.)
Yes, a gundam (or two) has been grievously wounded in battle for the first time ever! (Sandrock doesn't count as it effectively committed suicide to protect Quatre)
Once again, Heavyarms comes across it's main weakness. Once it's out of ammo, it's effectively screwed.
Yaoi! I support the 3x4 (QxT) movement. It's practically cannon despite those people who try and set Quatre up with Dorothy EVIL EYEBROWS! Catalonia.
Seeker is a fan name for the decepticon jets, which has now become part of the TF cannon.
Shows how much I love Noin when she's the first to realise that the TFs aren't mobile suits at all!
Film reference(s) should be pretty obvious to TF fans, "Here's a hint" and "I'll crush you with my bare hands" are both prominent lines from the 1986 Transformers movie.
Yes, I believe Heero loves Relena, unlike 75% of the universe who believe she must die including my kid brother. (Sometimes when she waxes long and poetic about the nature of pacifism I agree with him.)
To quote Starscream himself from 'Ghost in the machine' "I live again!" (I cried when he was resurrected from the undead)
To put it simply, Zechs has been binary-bonded with Starscream (re: Headmasters and Targetmasters for TF fans). However, because both are unaware of the other's presence they are both extremely confused when their minds merge (and in a great deal of pain).
To recap on the situation. Wing Zero is battered but active. Altron is undamaged. Sandrock has mild structural damage, but nothing critical. Heavyarms now lacks a head, and Deathscythe Hell has lost its leg!
Starscream's arsenal is now thus:
12 missiles (6 used up in display for Genesis) 4 torpedoes (unused) 2 EMP rifles/null rays (shot off by Heavyarms and not recovered.) Cluster bombs (50% depleted) 2 Mini Gatling Guns (Used up on Heavyarms) 2 Energy shields (present on his back)
Tune in again for the next exciting instalment of my epic saga, in which Starscream/Zechs goes mad, the Genesis is attacked and Duo takes charge (?). Yes, I'm mad.
(Gets weird look in eyes)
Now go.Destroy the Autobot Matrix, and all Mary-Sues!
DISCLAIMER:
Do you think I own this? Does anyone think that if I owned the rights to something as wonderful as Gundam Wing or Transformers I'd be doing something constructive with those rights? Instead, I offer you this, written purely for entertainment, and not for monetary gain.
AUTHOR NOTE:
Oh yea of little faith, who believed my fanfiction had degraded into scientific waffle and tripe, may yea never view this. For yea faithful, I grant to you this to make up for chapter three. All action, all-fighting. And finally, a Transformer goes head to head with a Gundam, or five. Tis' a momentous occasion in fanfic history.
IMPORTANT: One clever reviewer has pointed out the major discrepancy in my work; that the transformers do not gain earthen modes until waken up by the volcano. Therefore, how does Starscream have an F-15 jet mode? Rest assured this is going to be explained in chapter five. To those who read the TF Dreamwave comics the name Adam Rook and Lazarus Project may ring a bell.
REVIEWS:
Yeah! Ten reviews in five days! You like me! You really like me! Now then, the following are to be thanked for reviews posted on both the GW version and the TF version of this work.
RANEKO: They are going to be surprised, and it's going to happen RIGHT NOW!
RA88: Very kind. Yes, it was the news of Devil's Due
TF/GIJoe comic that sparked off this idea, because when Cobra
Commander enters the ark, I noticed how similar his uniform is
to Treize's. Originally, this was going to be set in the war
with Treize present, but I rewrote it when I decided it really
clashed with continuality.
STELARTRON: Well my brother is proved right. He said an
introduction was necessary to introduce GW to TF fans and he was
right, because you seem to like this. I can't believe people who
only know about half the characters and backstory are reading
this, WOW!
:): You are really too kind, but I agree with you on the Beast
Wars good, Beast Machines crap debate. Optimus became far too
serene and spiritual in BM, but BW was great, particularly the
episodes that starred the original TFs, such as Starscream's
ghost in 'Possession' and the fantastic flashbacks in the last
three episodes of series two.
MATTMAN65: In response to your question, right now.
Thankyou all you wonderful people and I hope this new chapter
lives up to your expectations.
CHAPTER 4.
OFF THE NORTH COAST OF ALASKA
The light wind scattered a small amount of snow over the polar ice cap. The vast flat ice plain was barren and deserted, sparkling under the clear azure skies.
If an observer had been able to see through the thick ice and snow, he would have seen an interesting sight. Rising up out of the frigid depths, a massive black mass shot towards the ice-capped surface with frightening speed.
With a 'KKKRUNNCH' that was most likely heard by the mainland, Genesis' reinforced conning tower and missile desk smashed through the thick layer of ice, coming to rest in the middle of the blank, open, uninhabited landscape, like an inkblot on an otherwise unspoilt peace of paper.
*
Inside the mobile suit bay, the atmosphere was halfway between that of a solemn funeral and a festival. There was a feeling of mute anticipation in the air, an eagerness by the engineers to see what they had slaved over for weeks finally take flight, yet nervousness, knowledge that they were now part of a mystery centuries old.
Howard however, could always be relied on to lighten a situation. As Zechs stepped into the main bay, clad in a flight suit, he was greeted with a slightly unnerving sight.
A red carpet had been laid along the gantry he would walk along to board the Grumman. On the lower deck, the mechanical equipment had been cleared to the side of the compartment so that the whole crew could stand in the centre of the bay.
Each person was wearing red clothing! Over the submarine's intercom, the chorus of 'Gimn Sovetskogo Sojuza' played loudly. As Zechs stepped out onto the gantry, he was accosted by Howard and Noin. Howard had redonned his Captain's outfit, complete with incorrect medals, and Noin was wearing her severe black jumpsuit, complimented by the small fur cap Howard had given her. Both wore serious expressions but were obviously trying to suppress massive laughs.
Howard stepped up to Zechs, and addressed him in a rather convincing Russian accent.
"A great day my comrade. We sail into history."
Zechs looked around, and couldn't help but smile. "You sly devil. Are trying to deliberately put me off?"
Howard adopted a hurt expression.
"Comrade Zechs, surely the maiden flight of the 'Rodina's' most recent achievement deserves some form of ceremony."
While this repartee was being bounced back and forth, they had proceeded along the gantry till they reached the cockpit, "And now I will ask the beautiful 'Starshina' Noin to christen our child."
Noin stepped forward, carrying a litre of vodka. In a stiff, military tone she addressed the suit.
"May you bring swift devastation to our imperialist enemies," she then proceeded to take a hefty slug of the vodka before throwing the bottle at the suit's closed cockpit. As it smashed against the orange glass and the thin liquid trickled down the suit's torso, the assembled audience all dropped any military presence and went into a storm of claps, cheers, wolf whistles and cat calls.
Zechs swung open the cockpit door and Noin gave him a final hug. As she did she whispered into his ear, "don't go away for too long."
"I'll be back."
With that they parted and Zechs climbed into the cockpit. As it sealed itself the massive doors above the suit swung open with a grating noise like nails on a chalkboard. Cold air and a brief flurry of snow swept into the compartment, which was quickly vacated.
Inside the Grumman Zechs sat in silent contemplation for several seconds, his fingers steepled before firing up the controls.
FLUX INGESTION SYSTEM: ACTIVE
FUSION REACTOR: ACTIVE
HYDRAULICS: ACTIVE
ENGINES: INACTIVE, PRIMED
TALLGEESE THRUSTERS: NOT PRESENT
CONTROLS: ACTIVE
CRYOGENIC PLANT: ACTIVE
WEAPONS: ACTIVE
CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT: ACTIVE
SENSOR ARRAY: ACTIVE
FLUX CAPACITORS: CHARGED
ZERO SYSTEM: INACTIVE, BYPASSED
LASER NEURON: ACTIVE, BYPASSED
"Right," Zechs murmured. We're ready to roll.
Slowly, he reached out, and flipped the ignition switch on the engines.
*
Noin and Howard were staring out of the small windows that faced forward out of the conning tower. As they watched, a harsh screaming filled the air. Slowly, but gracefully, the Grumman rose out of the main hanger, suspended on pillars of blue fire. Beneath their feet, the sub reverberated with the impact of the thrusters.
As the Grumman rose high into the sky, Zechs began running some diagnostics to check how the suit was handling with everything at full power. All the batteries and capacitors had a full charge, the fuel tank was on the verge of overflowing, and the engines were running at full power but were barely heating up. The cold fusion thrusters were very fuel-efficient.
'Now then, lets see what this suit can do..."
Zechs pulled right back on the throttles and the transformation lever and the Grumman shot skywards like a rocket, snapping to it's jet mode with the same strange electrical rumble; Below, the observers on the Genesis could only watch in amazement as it disappeared from view in a matter of seconds. The only thing they could see was the cold blue light of the exhaust, now a pinprick in the clear sky. Latta spun from his radio uplink to the suit's computer.
"He just passed the 50,000 foot mark in less than 10 seconds! He's running at near Mach 8 and hasn't even kicked in the afterburners!"
Howard whistled appreciatively, "Whoever designed this suit knew what they were doin'," Noin could only watch numbly while nodding very slowly.
The cockpit altimeter was registering over 100,000 feet above sea level when Zechs cut out the engines and pulled the jet back to mech mode. By that point he was nearly in the upper atmosphere and had a very brief glimpse of the moon before it slid vertically out of view. As he fell vertically back to earth he pulled a number of brisk acrobatic manoeuvres, amazed at the suit's instantaneous response to even the slightest touch on the controls.
'This is amazing. I need not have any worries about my skills surpassing 'this' suit's abilities!'
So thrilled was he with what he had discovered he decided to take a risk. Like a skydiver, he adjusted the mech so that it was now parallel to the ground, horizontal. He tucked the arms in to the sides and waited, as the Alaskan ice plains loomed larger in his field of view.
"What is he doing!?" Latta stared out of the Genesis' small window at the vertical streak high in the sky that denoted the suit's course. It was plummeting straight down.
"Damn fool's going to destroy my beautiful suit." Howard muttered, his usual laughing face now deadly serious, his eyes as usual unreadable, hidden by the sunglasses he never removed.
"Could he have passed out in the cockpit? Because he's now falling at nearly a 1000 ft per second," Latta was on the verge of hysterics, "is he mad?"
"No," Noin smiled, "he's playing the game."
Zechs had now spread out the suit's arms and legs like a professional skydiver, partly to help him manoeuvre towards where he wanted to be most, and also to decelerate. The suit's reaction time to his commands was excellent, but he was not going to completely trust his life to a machine.
'Not yet, not yet, wait for it...'
10,000 feet.
He pushed down on his joystick, now the suit was falling headfirst.
7,000 feet.
'Wait...'
5000...4000...2000.
"NOW!"
Howard, Noin and Latta were privy to a spectacular sight. At less than 1500 feet above the ground, Zechs threw the transformation lever and pulled back on the sticks. The time it took for the suit to become a plane and pull up was near instantaneous with the high airspeed, but by the point that Zechs was hurtling over the ice plains at near eight times the speed of sound, he was less than 100 feet off the ground.
"Phew! Right then Grumman, you've proved your manoeuvrability, now let's see what your arsenal can do."
Zechs reduced the throttles and went into a series of sharp turns to reduce his airspeed. In a few seconds he was cruising slowly over the plains at less than 90 knots, still fast to an observer, but a mere crawl to the pilot.
"Right Genesis, let's give you a little fireworks display..."
Zechs was now bearing down on the submarine from dead ahead, nose down slightly. He flipped a switch, "weapons armed."
"Howard, do you have another pair of sunglasses on you?"
Silently, Howard produced the requested item and handed them to Noin without taking his eyes off the approaching aircraft. Around them, crewmembers were edging back from the windows. Only Howard Noin and Latta stood fast, their faces almost pressed against the nine-inch thick glass. Noin casually slipped them on. Latta glanced at her, and then shielded his eyes against what he had guessed what was coming.
The Genesis loomed larger and larger in Zechs' eyes. He trimmed his height, just high enough so that he would barely scrape over the conning tower. A message flashed up on his main console, "all ballistic and energy weapons cross-linked and ready to fire."
"Very well...Let the show begin."
As the jet swooped low over the nose of the submarine, the missiles released, streaking either side of the conning tower and detonating with enough force to rock the sub. The windows in the tower were facing away from the blast but the glare was enough to make several crew members scream in sudden fear, only to realise they were still among the living.
As soon as the missiles had launched, Zechs pulled hard back on the stick, pulling a half loop and then a barrel role so that he was now flying right way up, away from the Genesis. With a brief hand gesture he fired the charge from all ten banks of capacitors into the lasers mounted under the wings. The resulting purple beams were hot enough to melt the ice it was targeted on before it even struck. Two plumes of superheated steam rose high into the sky as the Grumman shot between them, dropping neat rows of cluster bombs, leaving a blooming trail of destruction in its wake.
As Zechs tipped his wings in an offhand salute, Howard rubbed his chin as Noin handed back the borrowed sunglasses, "Very impressive Zechs my boy."
The other crewmembers were too stunned to speak; they were all seeing purple dots in front of their eyes, which gradually began to fade.
As Zechs came round in a slow bank to transform and land back on the Genesis, a glaring alarm filled the cockpit.
"ALERT! ALERT! INCOMING MISSILE!"
'What!'
By instinct, Zechs slewed the jet to port. It saved his life. As soon as he completed the manoeuvre a missile streaked past, which would have surely hit had he not jinked the plane about in surprise.
As he recovered he flipped the transformation lever and spun the suit around to face his aggressor. His blood ran cold.
'Shit!'
Five sinister figures hovered less than quarter of a mile ahead of him. It did not take a genius to identify the five mobile suits. The bristling weaponry, the elegant bodywork, the ornate armour, the regally crowned heads.
The Gundams had come to play.
For a second the five suits just hovered there, sizing up the opponents. Though Zechs had briefly felt fear, that was a reflex to seeing the familiar suits. The Gundams and their pilots were now part of the Preventers group, used to maintain the peace and deal with those who sought to take control in a relatively unarmed world.
*
Heero Yuy scowled at the suit that faced him. From his seat in the cockpit of the imposing Wing Zero, he could command a military force second to none, and had at his disposal reams of information on every known weapon in the world. But this red suit, was unlike anything he had every seen. And this troubled him.
"What in the heck is that!?" The stunned voice of the braided 'baka' Duo Maxwell, pilot of the sinister Deathscythe Hell cut across his speaker.
"I thought we were coming out here for maintenance, I didn't expect this," the calm, collective tones of Trowa Barton, steadfast master of the Heavyarms.
"Whatever it is, it does not look that impressive. It is surely weak compared to my Altron." Chang Wufei's arrogant voice spoke for itself.
"Can we afford to get into a fight?" the reasoning Quatre Winner cut in, "we're all down on ammunition and we've taken a substantial amount of damage from that battle near Fairbanks."
"Well whatever it is, it was attacking Howard's sub, and that's what we've flown for hours to get to for maintenance. I not letting it go down yet." And with that, the Deathscythe Hell charged at the mystery suit, its deadly beam scythe raised high.
"Duo wait!" But the reckless pilot had already started laying into the Grumman, or trying to, as the suit was managing to evade his every swing with lightening speed.
*
Zechs was amazed with the fury with which the black Gundam attacked, but was also relieved. So angry was the pilot that he was not fighting to the best of his ability. He was surprised at the sudden attack, but hoped that Duo would come to his senses and realise he was not the aggressor. Zechs spun, ignited the Grumman's afterburners and thrusted himself away from the rampaging suit. He twisted, faced the suit, which was preparing to thrust at him again, and fired the EMP rifle.
Duo braced himself for the worst as the mystery suit aimed on him and fired. Nothing happened. Duo smirked and crowed his challenge.
"You thought that would hurt me? I am the GREAT DESTROYER!"
As if proving that pride comes before a fall, the cockpit lights and monitors went out. In the darkness Duo muttered to himself, "Why did I have to open my big mouth?"
*
Zechs watched astounded as the Gundam went limp, the scythe flickering out and dropping from its fingers, the glowing green optics dulled.
'Howard was right about that EMP rifle. Now to finish the job.'
Zechs instantly switched over to the standard laser and dumped the full capacitor charge into it, aiming just below the Deathscythe's torso. Unable to shield itself against the blast, the Deathscythe's entire left leg was blown off at the hip! Smoking, the suit collapsed on its side.
The other Gundam pilots could only stare in amazement. Deathscythe was one of the most powerful weapons in existence and this new suit had managed to wound it with almost no effort.
Only the calm Trowa took action. While Zechs as well stared at what he had accomplished without thinking about it, Heavyarms brought two of it's four massive Gatling cannons to bear, shooting the two lasers off the Grumman's upper arms with a concentrated burst of fire.
Enraged that he had allowed himself to become distracted, Zechs fired a volley of cluster bombs at the dark green suit, which leapt into the air with a deft acrobatic flip as the ground beneath it exploded in a titanic blast. As it reached the apex of it's soar, then Heavyarms pulled a neat backwards somersault before coming right down on the Grumman, kicking it to the ground and standing over it, bringing the four Gatling guns to bear.
"KLIK!"
The four barrels spun uselessly. Out of bullets. As Trowa reached across to fire his missiles, Zechs took his chance.
Trowa's eyes widened as two Gatling barrels appeared out of recesses in the Grumman's torso.
'Damn it!'
The two barrels fired straight into the Gundam's head, shredding it like cardboard, ripping apart the cameras and sensors, effectively blinding the pilot. Zechs kept on firing until the two guns ran empty. As the Gundam's head exploded, Zechs kicked the blinded robot off him, trying to collect himself, only to be knocked to the side by a massive force.
"TROWA!" With an agonised cry as his lover's suit collapsed to the side, Quatre had thrown his suit, Sandrock onto the front of the Grumman, knocking it right down, the Gundam on top of it. Were the situation less deadly it would have been a rather laughable position, but as the two suits locked hands and pushed against each other, the situation could not have been less serious.
Zechs gave a humourless grin as the Grumman strained to lift the Sandrock off it.
"So we're evenly matched." He considered his options. There were none. He couldn't fire his missiles because the blast would severely damage himself. Also, he didn't want to kill Quatre. His defeat of the Deathscythe and Heavyarms were done in a manner so as not to harm the pilot. If his radio signal weren't getting jammed by the Gundams he'd tell them they were on the same side, but he had to fight to defend himself.
He realised there was only one thing he could do to readdress the balance of power, risky as it was. He reached out and flipped two small switches.
ZERO SYSTEM ACTIVE, BYPASS OFF
LASER NEURON ACTIVE, BYPASS OFF
Zechs felt the familiar disorientation as the zero system probed his mind, but this time it was different. A wave of extreme nausea swept over him.
Deep in the Grumman's core, the laser neuron began to fire up, lasers firing rapidly and constantly into the gas core.
*
"Howard, Noin! Look at this!"
The two spun from where they were observing the battle with looks of awe on their faces.
"What is it Chris?"
"Look," Latta pointed towards the bank of consoles relaying information from the Grumman's computer. All had switched to the same screen. A diagram of the suit appeared on the left half of the screen, the right half was divided into two sections. On top, a graphic of the strange purple symbol that decorated the suit's wings rotated slowly. Underneath, a diagnostics box appeared.
DCON. SEEKER UNIT.0384762
INITIATING REBOOT
RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS: 100% SYSTEM PARAMETERS CHECK: 25% MAINFRAME CHECK: 10.5% MAIN MEMORY REBOOT: 1% PERSONALITY REBOOT: 0.2% FINAL REBOOT: 0%
TIME TILL FINAL REBOOT: 5 MINS, 48 SECS.
"Seeker. What the hell's a Seeker?" Howard scratched his head. Latta spoke up.
"I think it's the classification of our mystery suit."
Noin finished scanning over the list, "My God...It's not a suit at all."
"What!?"
Ignoring them, Noin wheeled and ran to the radio uplink to Zechs.
"Zechs! Zechs can you hear me. You've gotta get out of that suit. You've got less than five minutes. Please listen to me!"
Howard checked the uplink.
"He can't hear you Noin. There's so much Gundanium flying around out there that the radio signal's getting distorted!"
Noin pounded her hand against the window in desperation, tears in her eyes, "ZECHS!"
TIME TILL FINAL REBOOT: 5 MINS, 00 SECS.
The wave of nausea passed as fast as it came. Zechs opened his eyes, and smiled.
What he saw was not the cockpit interior, but the Sandrock at his eye level, and he realised he was looking 'through' the suit's optics. He looked down at the suit's arm, no HIS arm and made a fist. He looked into the Sandrock's optics, and very slowly, smiled.
"Quatre sat in his chair, rigid with fright. Before him, the suit's dull eyes had glowed a bright ruby red, and the placid, immobile face had broken into a smirk he knew very well.
"Zechs?" He breathed. "Is that you?"
The suits lips broke apart, and it spoke with Zechs' voice.
"Here's a hint!"
With that, Zechs punched Sandrock in the face with all the force his metal sinews could muster. Quatre's suit reeled back, and Zechs leapt up in the air and with a roundhouse kick, sent the Gundam flying.
The Sandrock fell on it's back and didn't move. Zechs punched the air in triumph and laughed. But it was not his usual calm chuckle, but a manic twisted scream of insane glee.
Inside Sandrock, Quatre stared at nothing.
'I thought we were on the same team?'
4 MINS 12 SECS
Heero and Wufei stared at the suit screaming at the heavens. They had seen lot in their short lives but they knew one thing. No mobile suit was that manoeuvrable, and no mobile suit had ever, ever spoken. Heero felt a chill run up his spine, and he realised with an equally big chill, he was afraid. It was not an emotion he often dealt with, and that scared him even more. But he had to do something.
Zechs stopped laughing and wondered where that insane scream had come from. It wasn't in his nature. His moment of contemplation was cut short however as Wing Zero streaked overhead in it's bird mode, strafing him with missiles. He grinned.
"So you want to play do you?" Zechs murmured, forgetting that he now had the opportunity to call off the senseless fight. There was a new fire in his veins; a desire to kill and destroy that flooded every fibre of his being. And he didn't know where it had come from. He willed the transformation sequence to begin and then felt the odd sensation of his limbs bending in odd directions and his body twisting and changing. With another moment of intense bloodthirsty joy he ignited his engines and took to the sky. Now, he was in his element.
3 MINS 30 SECS
The two aircraft streaked over the snow, equally matched as they danced their deadly game. Below, Wufei began using the Altron to gather up the fallen Gundams and carry them towards the Genesis, which was already spewing crewmen eager to aid the young pilots.
"You're weak."
"What!"
"You're weak Zech Marquise. You only beat the others because you had the advantage over them. Do you dare to duel with me? No missiles, no lasers, just beam sabres."
"Very well. We never finished that duel we started in Siberia, and continued in Antarctica and outer space. I'd say the terrain is pretty much the same. Cold and lifeless" Zechs chuckled slightly, before his gaze went slightly out of focus, "for the glory of the Decepticons, I'LL CRUSH YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS!"
Heero frowned; something Zechs had just said had rang a bell in his head. But it was too late to start analysing Zech's words.
The two massive mechs dropped to the ground near the Genesis and stood up, facing each other. Wing Zero threw away its massive buster rifle and produced a green beam sabre. Zechs pulled one of the energy shields clipped to his wings and attached it to the vacant capacitor port on his left arm. In his right hand he produced a purple sabre.
Heero nodded slightly, impressed with Zech's comprehensive arsenal before the two titans fell upon each other, sabres clashing, flashing and making noise like the harbingers of apocalypse. The two sabres were of even power, and the two suits were also equals in strength, but the speed with which Zechs fought and reacted to Heero's actions was dazzling. It was becoming clear to Heero he was fighting a losing battle.
1 MIN 00 SECS
Zechs bashed the Gundam in the chest with his shield. As the Wing Zero staggered he cut the green sabre from the mech's hand with his own; it flew in the air only to be sliced in half by the purple blade.
0 MIN 35 SECS
With a sweeping kick he cut the legs out from underneath the wing zero and stood poised over it, sabre held over his head like a stake, ready to strike through the Wing Zero's chest and destroy both the suit and the pilot. Heero sat back in his seat and prepared himself for death. He paused. What should be his final words? His lips parted, and he mouthed a brief phrase.
"Goodbye, Relena..."
0 MIN 5 SECS
Zechs screamed a final cry before bringing the sabre sweeping down, "DIE AUTOBOT!"
0 MIN 0 SECS. FULL SYSTEM REBOOT COMPLETE. UNIT ON LINE.
The sabre's tip stopped mere inches from Wing Zero's cockpit. The blade flickered out and fell from the suit's hands, which were beginning to shake and gyrate rapidly. Heero watched on in horrified amazement as the suit clutched at its head, screaming like a wounded beast.
"ARRRGGGHHH!!NOOOOO!!!"
Heero squinted. He could hear two distinct voices in that scream. One was undoubtedly Zechs, but the other was different. A cold, inhuman screech.
Still screaming like the world was ending, the robot transformed to jet mode and streaked into the atmosphere, the screeching cries dwindling as it soared out of view. Heero watched it in horrified amazement, before succumbing to the darkness that lurked at the edge of his vision and slipping into unconsciousness.
*
The aircraft streaked high in the upper atmosphere. It had longed stopped screaming but it was confused. The world below it was an alien one, but at the same time he knew it. Faces swam in it's mind as two consciousnesses combined. Memories from two different worlds collided in its mind.
'Who am I? I don't know!...can't think...must find Mega...find the Nemesis...need to report to Treize, who is Treize? ARRRGHHHH!'
Screaming again, the aircraft nosed down hard, threatening to go into a fatal nosedive, before levelling out and flying steadily. It breathed out. The words were slow and unsteady, but they held a minute degree of confidence.
'We are Starscream.'
TO BE CONTINUED...
AUTHOR NOTE.
It is done. The first transformer has awakened, and more will soon follow in its footsteps. In the next chapter there's a load of action, but after that, I'm dropping multiple bombshells on the transformer side of the fic to make up for the emphasis on GW so far. Briefly, the war is over, but there's two new menaces arising, on that threatens to destroy all Transformers and mankind alike.
CHAPTER NOTES:
Yes, a Typhoon can ram its way through several feet of ice. It was designed to do this to fire its missiles on the decadent west.
'Gimn Sovetskogo Sojuza' is the national anthem of the Soviet Union.
A 'Starshina' is a Russian officer of low-to medium rank i.e. Lieutenant. However, it seems in the future, ranks have changed. Zechs starts out in the TV show and he's second in command of OZ. Also when Treize promotes him he skips straight over the ranks of Captain, Major and probably another one to become a Colonel.
For those who haven't guessed, Zechs is taking the 'Grumman' for a test ride to put it through its paces.
Massive out of characterness for Noin, the ice maiden of Russia!
Mach 8 is eight times the speed of sound. SG1 Starscream could only reach Mach 2.5, so I'm sure he's grateful to Howard's crew for his new AC engines.
Is 100,000 ft altitude high enough to reach a view of the moon?
A skydiving Transformer. I'm either very imaginative, or very deranged/sad/weird. Take your pick.
The missile fired at Zechs came from Heavyarms.
Duo's acting rash even for him.
The Gundams are those of endless waltz, except for Deathscythe Hell, which I imagine in its series form and Wing Zero, which I can't imagine with FRIGGIN' ANGEL WINGS! (I apologise for my uncouth language.)
Yes, a gundam (or two) has been grievously wounded in battle for the first time ever! (Sandrock doesn't count as it effectively committed suicide to protect Quatre)
Once again, Heavyarms comes across it's main weakness. Once it's out of ammo, it's effectively screwed.
Yaoi! I support the 3x4 (QxT) movement. It's practically cannon despite those people who try and set Quatre up with Dorothy EVIL EYEBROWS! Catalonia.
Seeker is a fan name for the decepticon jets, which has now become part of the TF cannon.
Shows how much I love Noin when she's the first to realise that the TFs aren't mobile suits at all!
Film reference(s) should be pretty obvious to TF fans, "Here's a hint" and "I'll crush you with my bare hands" are both prominent lines from the 1986 Transformers movie.
Yes, I believe Heero loves Relena, unlike 75% of the universe who believe she must die including my kid brother. (Sometimes when she waxes long and poetic about the nature of pacifism I agree with him.)
To quote Starscream himself from 'Ghost in the machine' "I live again!" (I cried when he was resurrected from the undead)
To put it simply, Zechs has been binary-bonded with Starscream (re: Headmasters and Targetmasters for TF fans). However, because both are unaware of the other's presence they are both extremely confused when their minds merge (and in a great deal of pain).
To recap on the situation. Wing Zero is battered but active. Altron is undamaged. Sandrock has mild structural damage, but nothing critical. Heavyarms now lacks a head, and Deathscythe Hell has lost its leg!
Starscream's arsenal is now thus:
12 missiles (6 used up in display for Genesis) 4 torpedoes (unused) 2 EMP rifles/null rays (shot off by Heavyarms and not recovered.) Cluster bombs (50% depleted) 2 Mini Gatling Guns (Used up on Heavyarms) 2 Energy shields (present on his back)
Tune in again for the next exciting instalment of my epic saga, in which Starscream/Zechs goes mad, the Genesis is attacked and Duo takes charge (?). Yes, I'm mad.
(Gets weird look in eyes)
Now go.Destroy the Autobot Matrix, and all Mary-Sues!