Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or its characters nor do I own the song "Supergirl". I also do not claim that Heero could beat Duo in a duel nor do I claim that Rachel could beat Heero, I just say she can…

Chapter 8

"Now bank right to avoid being hit. . .no, right! I said right, not left!" Heero said, sounding a bit irritated.

"I'm sorry, I don't have much sense of direction!" Rachel said in equal irritation.

"Your weakness will only get you dead on the battle field."

"I know which way not to go, I just can't tell which way is which!"

"That didn't make sense."

"Neither does your instructing!"

"You begged me to teach you, this is how I teach."

"I didn't beg!"

"I recall you saying 'please, just one chance', or am I losing my memory?"

"grumble Smarty-pants grumble. . ."

"I heard that."

"Good!" Quatre and Duo stood watching the two gundams seem to bicker back and forth for several minutes before the Deathscythe turned and stormed away from Wing leaving it to shake its fist after it.

"Geez, I don't think this is going so well." Duo said, sweating as he watched Deathscythe swing its scythe at the ground making rubble fly up in all directions.

"Maybe Heero's not the best person to be teaching her how to pilot a gundam in battle." Quatre said, watching Wing fight the urge to grab its beam saber and go after Deathscythe.

"I don't think Heero's fit to paper train a puppy! Maybe she really isn't good at piloting. . ." Duo said, marveling at the ditch his gundam's scythe had created.

"Hmm. . ." Trowa said as he watched as well. They looked at him as he looked deeply at the gundam, as if musing about something. Blinking, Quatre said, "Trowa. . .what's, um, up?" He looked over at them for a second but didn't respond. Sweating, Quatre scratched his head and walked away to get away from the blank stare. Duo strolled over to Trowa's side and said, "Hmm."

"Hmm. . ."

"Hmm."

"Okay then. . ." Duo walked over to Quatre who was watching the. . .conversation. . .closely.

"So, what did he say?" Quatre asked as Duo stroked his chin thoughtfully. He suddenly looked over at Quatre and said, "Oh, I don't know, he wouldn't say anything. I was just admiring Rachel's backswing. . ." Duo said, watching Rachel hack away at the ground more. Quatre stared and then said, "Hmm, yes, nice form. . ."

"She's hopeless! I can't train her!" Heero said as he stalked up in Wing and stood in the cockpit with his arms crossed. Duo looked up at him and then looked at Deathscythe, suddenly having a grin on his face as he ran up to the Gundam and said, "Call Rachel for me, I have an idea!" Still with a look of disgust, Heero punched the com button and said, "Rachel, get over here, your boyfriend has an idea." The color ran out of Duo's face like Heero had just flushed it down the toilet with Duo's voice. Quatre slapped his hand over his mouth and turned away as giggles bubbled up from his stomach. Trowa just glanced over and cocked an eyebrow at the white sheet in Duo's priest outfit.

"My what! I don't have a boyfriend! Whom are you referring to?" Rachel responded with a hint of embarrassment in her voice.

"Just get over here." Heero said, trying not to laugh himself as Duo's jaw almost hit the ground. Deathscythe ambled over to the group and Rachel popped out, a little red in the face.

"What's up, I was diggin' to China!" Rachel said, trying to lighten the mood. Heero looked down at the sheet and said, "Well?" Duo gulped and said, pointing, "Quatre thought you might learn better by watching a battle or two!" Quatre's color disappeared too as he opened his mouth to protest.

"DUO-" Duo slapped his hand over Quatre's mouth and said, "Oh don't be so modest, it was a great idea! Okay, if you're afraid of battling Heero I'll do it for you!" Quatre wriggled about as Duo held him in a headlock to keep him quiet. Rachel jumped down and said, "Well, if you think it'll help."

"Of course! Nice idea by the way, Quatre!" Duo said, slapping him on the back and taking off like lightening across the ground to jump into his gundam. Just like that, Duo was inside and ready for battle. Trowa walked up to Quatre who was coughing as he straightened up and grit his teeth. With a bump of his elbow, Trowa whispered, "Way to go, loverboy. . ."

"I don't like her!" Quatre exclaimed and covered his mouth as Rachel walked up and said sarcastically, "I'm hurt."

"I, uh, er, but he, I don't, I mean I-" Quatre stuttered. She smiled and turned to watch the battle as the Gundams faced each other a few hundred feet away. Quatre sighed and muttered, "Why me. . ."

"Why did you say I was her boyfriend, Heero!" Duo yelled over the com as he lunged forward with his scythe ready to take a chunk out of Wing gundam.

"Well, with all the rolling around in the fields and giggling and such, I figured you were. . .you know." Heero taunted, stepping to the side as Duo swung his scythe and missed.

"It's not like that! She's just my friend!" Turning Duo came at him again and brought his scythe up to take another swipe at Heero.

"Oh? You talk to her an awful lot for just a friend." Wing reached up and grabbed the scythe, wrestling with Deathscythe, pulling back and forth.

"I'm just trying to get to know her!"

"In the biblical sense?"

"That's NOT FUNNY!" Duo pulled away and kicked Wing, forcing him back a few feet.

"Geez, those two are taking this demonstration a little too seriously, don't you think?" Rachel said as she watched them go at it like it was a battle to the death.

"Um, yeah. . ." Quatre said, sweating a little.

"Who said I was trying to be funny?" Heero smirked.

"Why you insane-" Heero punched the comlink button just before Duo could curse him out. With a grunt, Heero kicked the scythe out of Deathcsythe's hands and pulled his beam riffle out, shoving it into Deahtscythe's chest plate.

"Checkmate." Heero said in a cocky tone of voice. Duo grit his teeth and growled, putting his hands up as a sign of surrender.

"Heero can't be beat." Quatre said, amazed by the talent of the young pilot.

"You'd be surprised." Rachel said, seriously. Deathscythe stomped back to the group and Duo leapt out, an extremely cross expression on his angry face. He stormed away from them and headed toward the carrier plane. Rachel turned and shouted to Duo's back, "Wait, please watch me fight Heero!"

"What are you talking about! You can't fight him, he's more experienced than you, he'll pin you in two seconds if you challenge him!" Duo yelled back to her. She frowned and said, "I'll show you." Running over to Deathscythe, Rachel jumped in. Duo's eyes widened and he screamed, "What are you trying to do, humiliate yourself!" She didn't hear him as she flew back over to Wing and landed in a combat pose. Wing faced the gundam and Heero said, "Came back for more?"

"Let's dance." Rachel said, a determined tone in her voice.

"You? What are you talking about, I'd wipe the floor with you."

"Just shut up and put your gun where your mouth is."

"If you insist." Heero readied himself and made the first move. Pulling his beam saber out and turning it on, he took a swing at Deathscythe's arm. Like lightning, Deathscythe jumped out of the way and zipped around behind Wing. Equally as fast, she whipped out the scythe and ignited it, swinging it around and resting the staff on Wing's side, the blade in front of the waist of the gundam, right where Heero's cockpit was.

"Checkmate, if you want to live." Rachel said in a cold voice. Duo's mouth fell open and Quatre said, "She pinned him in two moves!"

"Impressive." Trowa stated quietly. His eyes wide, Heero said, "How. . .did you do that?"

"Like I said, I'm a quick learner." Rachel said, grinning. She withdrew the scythe and spun it quickly before replacing it in its spot on the Gundam's back. Rocketing away, she joined the small group of watchers, jumping out and joining them. Duo ran up to her and said, "I thought you couldn't pilot like that!"

"I couldn't, I had to watch you do it first." Rachel said with a smile.

"Wow, that was awfully good luck to have ended the battle so quickly!" Quatre said as she walked up to him.

"Luck nothing. You can't just become an expert in a matter of minutes without any previous training." Heero said, jumping down from his gundam and walking up to them.

"But you were teaching me before that, remember? Training. . ." She said with a wink, holding up a finger matter-of-factly. Heero grunted and turned away, walking back to his gundam.

"We need to head off to the next OZ fleet." Heero said over his shoulder.

"I'll load up." Trowa said, running off to walk Deathscythe over to the cargo planes. The rest walked over to the planes as they chattered on about what happened.

"So, you have some promising talents, Rachel, ones you would never get a chance to use in your dimension. Are you going to use them for good or for OZ?" Trowa asked. He leisurely sat in a chair, leaning an elbow on the armrest and resting his other arm on his knee, his foot propped up on the edge of the chair. Rachel sat sideways in the chair with her legs dangling over the side of the seat as she played with the hair draped over her shoulder.

"Good, of course. OZ needs to learn a thing or two about not being so power hungry, and I think we're just the people to teach em a lesson." She said, smiling at her friend.

"But where are we going to get you a gundam to pilot? I don't think we have the time to build one and in case you haven't noticed, we don't have any extra ones just laying around." Duo said, glancing over at Rachel as he steered the plane.

"I know, I've been thinking about that. Actually, I've been planning my Gundam's design in my mind and I've already thought of a name." She said, leaning back to look at Duo upside down.

"What will you call it?" Trowa asked.

"I'm gonna call it Gundam Verein." She said, sounding very proud of the name she had picked for it.

"Verein?" Duo said, sounding a bit confused.

"Yeah. Verein is German for 'association', and my Gundam will be a combination of parts associated with all your Gundams, including Tallgeese. It's mainly modeled after Wing Zero Custom but that's because it's really cool. My Gundam's gonna have three pairs of wings and two beam sabers that are pink-"

"Pink!" Duo said, giving Rachel a "What the-" expression.

"Yes, that just happens to be my favorite color, thank you very much. The walls in my bedroom are pink, the floor is pink, the curtains are pink, my blanket is pink with flowers on it. . ." Duo made a gagging noise and Rachel frowned at him, saying, "Hey!"

"I'm sorry but. . .pink walls!"

"In case you haven't noticed I am a girl, and most girls like pink. So there." Rachel said, giving him a raspberry.

"Fine. Any posters on your walls?" Duo asked.

"Yes, I have kitty, bird, fish, and horse posters amongst my many pictures and my door is covered with posters and pictures of mainly Gundam Wing characters and Fair project ribbons. . ." She said, thinking about her cluttered room.

"Oh? Any characters in specific?" Duo said, trying to get some info on who she possibly likes.

"I have one of each Gundam Pilot-the best picture in my collection, I might add-and I think I might have two of Quatre, you, and Trowa but that's because I couldn't decide which picture to pick."

"Riiiight. . ." Duo said, looking around innocently.

"I think Duo's trying to insinuate that you like us." Trowa said, looking at Duo's face as he whipped his head around to glare at Trowa. Rachel laughed and said, "Well now, he's free to insinuate at anything he likes, I'm not going to admit to any of it though so he'd just be wasting his time."

"So you don't like any of us?" Duo asked.

"I didn't say that."

"Then you do?"

"Didn't say that either."

"So you're a lesbian?"

"Duo?" Trowa laughed and Duo and Rachel stared at him in surprise. He stopped and blinked, saying, "What?" With a giggle, Rachel said, "Nothing; you should laugh more often." Trowa looked away and gazed out the window, not looking like it but acting embarrassed. She smiled and said, "So, maybe I can make my Gundam at the next stop we make, shouldn't take me too long!"

"Right, like you're going to build something like that in an hour or less." Duo said.

"2 minutes flat." She said, closing her eyes and lacing her fingers together behind her head with a smile.

"What? You gotta be kiddin' me! What do you think you are, Supergirl!"

"Yeah, Duo. ♪I'm Supergirl, and I'm here to save the world, but I wanna know, who's gonna save me?♪" Rachel sang. With a laugh, Duo said, "Not Heero." They all laughed and Rachel thought to herself, who is gonna save me?

"Heero, why are you so mad at Rachel? She could be the best thing that came along for us and all you can do is complain." Quatre said to his crabby company. Heero let out a low growl and Quatre sighed, leaving the pilot alone.

She is the best thing, right? Or is she our worst nightmare? Can she be both? Quatre pondered as he stared out the window at the endless sky.