Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. I also don't claim that Quatre knows nothing about sports, it's just something stupid I put in. Don't hurt me. . .covers eyes You can't see me now, so you can't kill me . . .moo-haha. . .
Chapter 29
"Okay, you're all better now." Rachel said, stepping back from Chang. He jumped up off the bed and tested his leg, saying, "Nice work, I'll go run around to make sure it's better." He jogged out of the room and Rachel smiled, thinking, You're welcome, Chang.
"So, since obviously they know where we are, maybe we should move? You know, so we don't get attacked again." Duo commented. Heero looked up from Relena's lap and said, "Where, there's nowhere to hide."
"Maybe we can hop from town to town for a while till we find a good place to stay." Quatre suggested.
"You can't, Treize has soldiers based in every city for a radius of 150 miles. Unless you're brave, or stupid, I wouldn't do that." Zechs stated.
"Apparently you know a lot about Treize's plans, perhaps you can fill us in on a few? We let you stay with us, being rebels as well, and you tell us Treize's maniacal plans." Heero said.
"It would be better for us to just stay together, seeing that there's more than one reason to stay." Noin whispered to Zechs.
"More than one?" Duo asked, hearing her comment.
"Well, yes. Obviously Relena is at danger but also Rachel, if Treize ever found out about what she can do he'll hunt her down. We have to keep her powers a secret, for all your safety." Noin said.
"I wouldn't be of too much help, I pass out if I use too much energy, I'd never be able to live long enough to do things he may want me to." Rachel added.
"Oh, he'll find a way around that, nothing can stop his plans from coming to life." Zechs said.
"We will." Heero said.
"No doubt you'll try. He's got an army building that is unstoppable, if you have a plan I suggest you put it into action now before he gathers his powers to destroy your hopes and dreams."
"So far the 6 of us have Gundams but two of them are damaged, they wouldn't be of any help in a battle situation, and one is out of fuel." Trowa put in.
"6 Gundams?" Zechs looked over at him in surprise.
"She has one, it's stored away at the moment but its abilities are far superior to any of our Gundams."
"All levels of attack, ammunition, maneuverability, and armor are at 160, the highest of any gundam built yet." Rachel stated.
"How could you build such a powerful Gundam! Not even the creators of the original five could make one of such power! Who built it?" Noin asked.
"I did."
"I see you're an endless enigma; building a gundam alone is a feat in itself." Zechs said.
"It wasn't so hard. But we need to discuss our situation at hand, we have four functioning Gundams at our disposal and two that need repairs. I think the first thing we need to do is repair Sandrock and Deathscythe, and Tallgeese if we have time since it is a powerful mobile suit."
"I don't know much about your Gundams but I can repair Tallgeese by myself if I had the proper tools to do so, but there's not much in the way of a workshop around here for miles."
"I can take care of that part since I know nothing about mechanics and would just get in the way. Whatever you need I'll give you, don't be afraid to ask. But I will need to see what it looks like if I don't already have a mental picture of it because I can't create it otherwise."
"I can arrange that with my laptop, since I'm not able to do any manual labor for a few days." Heero said, slight grumbling in his voice.
"Alright, we should fix our Gundams up first before deciding on anything, shall we?" Duo said, walking toward the door.
"My gundam needs the most repairs, the hatch is crunched in so I can't get in very easily." Quatre commented.
"Yes, we'll start on yours first. Let's go." They all walked out, Relena helping Heero out as he slowly followed. He sat down on one of the deck chairs and waited while Relena went to get his laptop. He looked up at Rachel as she approached and said, "I'm still not happy with you."
"You don't have to tell me, I think I could figure it out on my own by the dirty looks you keep giving me. But I guess you would have preferred me to die instead, maybe I shouldn't have tried to live a little longer."
"Whatever, you know you can't make me feel guilty." Heero glared.
"Who said I was trying?" Rachel looked away and stared down at the boys, watching them bring Sandrock out of the trees to be repaired. Chang retrieved his gundam to pull out Deathscythe since it was immobilized. While the ant-sized mechanics went to work, Rachel watched and waited for a request for tools. She saw Duo below her shouting and frowned.
"Hmm, I can't hear him from here." Rachel said to herself. Then, she created a walkie-talkie and clicked it on, saying, "Repeat that, Duo?"
Oh, cool! Duo said, finding the other walkie-talkie in his hand, Well, we need a sledge hammer and a power drill. She heard Quatre shouting at him about the sledgehammer and laughed.
"I think Quatre has some complaints about that order." Rachel said.
Yeah well it's the only way to get the dent out. Oh, and we need some new bolts to attach the hatch back on, and a pry bar to get the old bolts off. Duo said. Rachel turned to Heero as Relena walked up with the laptop and said, "What do these bolts look like?" While Heero typed on his computer, she sent the other requests down to them and they started on their work. Zechs jumped up onto his Mobile suit, assessing the damage while Noin ran over to Duo to retrieve the walkie-talkie.
"Rachel, this is Noin, over." Noin said.
Yes, do you need something? Rachel responded.
"I don't know yet but I do think he'll need a welder, is that possible?"
Sure! A welder appeared by Noin and she looked down in surprise.
"Thanks, I'll be in contact soon, Noin out." Noin said. Rachel smiled and said, "She's really official with her communications talk, definitely a soldier."
"Hmm." Heero just grunted and typed some more before saying, "This is what they need." Rachel peeked over his shoulder at the screen and said, "Okie dokie." She sent the needed bolts down to Duo and he waved. Rachel smiled and relaxed on the railing, crossing her arms and enjoying the breeze. Relena sat down next to Heero, looking down at the deck. He looked up at her and stared at her face, trying to read her mood. Rachel sensed that she wanted to be alone with him and said, "I'll be right back, I'm gonna check on something." She walked away and Relena looked up, watching her go.
"What's wrong." Relena looked back and saw Heero staring at her expectantly. She looked into her lap and said, "Everything's moving so fast, I feel like. . .I'm in the way."
"Why?"
"I don't know, I just feel that way. And now I find out that I have a brother, that I'm not alone. It's just going faster than I can figure things out." Relena hid her face in her hands in frustration. Mellowing, Heero set his laptop on the table, saying, "Relena, don't worry about things, I'll take care of you." She looked up and blinked.
"You. . .you mean you're not going to leave me somewhere? Dump me on my brother?"
"I don't trust him, he worked for Treize and that's enough for me. Besides, I thought we were. . .together. I can't just leave you out in the cold if we are, what kind of a boyfriend would I be if I did?"
"A real jerk of one." Relena said with a smile. He still had an emotionless face but she knew he was smiling inside with her. He patted his lap and said, "Come here." She got up and sat in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck as he held her, hugging her as he rested his head against her. Closing his eyes, he said, "This might be difficult but we can make it, our love will survive no matter what, I promise you."
"But won't it get in the way? I mean, you have a weakness now, that's a bad thing, right?"
"I don't care, my lifetime mission now is to protect you and always be with you, forever."
"Forever? As in what? Just staying boyfriend and girlfriend or. . ."
"Depends." She smiled and said, "Good enough for me."
"Hey Duo, hand me that bolt over there." Quatre said, working on putting the hatch back on his Gundam.
"Sure, catch!" Duo tossed the bolt to him and Quatre caught it. As they attached the door, Chang helped Trowa make minor repairs to Deathscythe, patching it up where needed. Zechs and Noin worked on putting the hands back on his mobile suit, welding the connections back together that had been severed. Rachel returned to her post by Heero and he started to pull away from Relena. Relena hugged his neck tighter and said, "Oh, she doesn't mind if we hug, right, Rachel?"
"No, not at all." Rachel said with a smile, "Heero, I don't care what you do, you won't look any less impressive if you show affection for your girlfriend." Heero leaned his head down and hid behind Relena, snuggling into her blouse. She giggled and played with his hair, curling the dark brown locks around her index finger intently. Heero purred quietly and pulled her closer, nuzzling in more and breathing in her scent, sighing. Rachel smiled at them.
They're so cute together, I never would have expected Heero to be the loving, cuddling type. . .
Rach, you up there? Rachel looked down at the walkie-talkie and pulled it up to her mouth, saying, "Yeppers, what can I do you for?"
Oh, well. . .heh. . . Duo responded with a sly grin.
"What did you call up here for." Rachel said, rolling her eyes.
Oh, Chang was wondering if you had by any chance the ability to refuel Deathscythe, since that's the only real big problem with it.
"Sure, it's done."
Really? Just like that? Suddenly they heard Deathscythe roar to life and test mobility, flexing its arms and legs.
"Yep, just like that." Rachel smiled.
Hey, thanks! At this rate, we'll be done before sundown! Duo out!
"Well, that's good news. Let's see how Zechs and Noin are doing." Rachel said, walking over to the railing to peer over at them. They had 3 fingers from the right hand reconnected and functional and were working on the rest. She teleported a walkie-talkie down to Noin and called her.
This is Noin, over? Noin responded to the beeping.
"This is Rachel, how's the repair work going?"
It's going. We might have most of this done by nightfall, if we're lucky.
"If you need a hand I can call over Trowa and Chang, they're done with Deathscythe and Duo and Quatre can handle Sandrock's repairs on their own."
That's okay, we already have a hand but thank you. Noin said sarcastically.
"Gee, I didn't know you were so funny."
Oh sure, but I hide it a lot, not many opportunities to express my humor. Noin laughed.
"Right. So, do you need their help? It'll get the job done faster and Trowa is pretty good with mechanics of all sorts."
That would be great, I'll tell Zechs we have help coming.
"Great, I'll send them over. Rachel out." She walked over to side where the boys were and whistled to Trowa and Chang who had just joined Duo. Duo tossed the radio to Trowa and let him respond since he had his hands full.
This is Trowa, did you call? Trowa responded quietly.
"Yes, Noin and Zechs could use a hand finishing their repairs, head on over there."
Affirmative, Trowa out. Trowa handed the radio back to Duo and the two boys started their journey over to Tallgeese's still form.
"Affirmative, humph, sounds like a computer's response." Rachel muttered to herself.
"Close enough." Heero muttered.
"Oh, haha." Rachel said, walking toward the opposite side of camp where the broken railings were. She started repairing the damage, resorting to manual labor to save energy. She finished about 20 minutes later when the others finished up their work. Duo snuck up behind Rachel, grabbing her around the waist, swinging her up and around in his arms. She looked wide-eyed at him when he set her down and said, "Man, you have a lot of energy for having repaired a gundam in less than three hours!"
"Awe, and at least you could have squealed, I would have felt better." Duo said, fake pouting as he grinned.
"I don't squeal, that's what pigs do." Rachel said with a less than amused look on her face, poking him in the stomach.
"Don't, I'm hungry!" Duo whined, his stomach confirming his claim by growling.
"Woah, no kidding. Maybe I can whip up a little something for everyone, if we have enough food. Let's go see what we've got." Rachel smiled and dragged Duo down the walkway to the first hut containing their rations. They found enough to feed the entire group and relaxed for the evening, watching the beautiful sunset together. Duo had his arm around Rachel, saying, "Wow, this is turning out to be a pretty nice day, there's only one thing that can make it better."
"What's that?" Rachel asked. Duo jumped up and shouted, "FOOTBALL!"
"Football! Are you insane or just high on something, Maxwell!" Chang said, not sounding as enthusiastic about the idea of the game.
"Awe, come on! There's nothing better to relax before bed like playing a nice game of football!"
"Yes, I've always found running like an idiot and bashing people into the dirt while fumbling around this strange shaped ball very relaxing." Zechs mused sarcastically.
"Well, no one said you had to play, but I wanna do something! Pleeeaaaase, someone play with me?" Duo begged.
"I'll play, I could use a good exercise after that meal." Trowa said, standing up.
"I haven't played Football before, how's it played?" Quatre asked.
"Heh, don't worry, you'll find out, you in?" Duo grinned.
"Sure, why not!" Quatre stood up as well. Heero looked up and said, "I'll play maybe one game but I don't think I could play too much."
"We'll go easy on ya then, don't want to take advantage of you in your weakened state." Duo winked.
"Omae o korosu, Duo." Heero growled, giving him the death stare.
"Wufei, join us, it'll be fun!" Duo said, a broad grin on his face.
"Stop smiling like an idiot and maybe I will." Chang said, standing up reluctantly.
"Okay, fine. Hey, so you gonna sit up here and watch, Zechs?" Duo asked, not smiling anymore.
"I never said I wouldn't play." Zechs grinned.
"Great! Let's go downstairs and have some fun!" Duo started running toward the elevator when Chang yelled to him, "BAKA!"
"What!" Duo yelled back over his shoulder.
"That's sad that he would just let Chang call him that." Quatre commented to Trowa.
"What's sadder is that he responded." Trowa whispered.
"Aren't you forgetting a key part of football? Like. . .let's see. . .THE BALL!" Chang said, crossing his arms.
"Oh. . .uh. . ." Duo looked stupidly around. Suddenly, a football flew at his face and he caught it in surprise.
"There, have fun!" Rachel said from her chair. Duo ran back to her and said, "Come on, we need some cheer leaders!"
"Hey, I don't cheer, I'm not an airhead." Rachel said, sounding insulted.
"It's either that or you play with us, get sweaty and smelly. . ." Duo said slyly.
"Go, Duo, Go! Ra Ra Ra!" Rachel cheered with imaginary pompoms. With a laugh, everyone headed down stairs to watch and play the game. The girls stood by the sidelines cheering like idiots while the boys started the game, splitting into two teams of three.
