Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, but I do own their wings. Heh, get it? Yeah, I thought that was lame too. This chapter's mainly a lot of scene setting, giving you an idea of where the pilots and their friends are at, and what kind of predicaments they're in.

Chapter 46

Where to start. . .well, perhaps home would be the best place. . .if it's even close to my home. Rachel thought as she floated over North America and what she knew as the United States of America. But it was quite different. In this world it wasn't led by the president she knew, or even a president at all. During the wars, the democratic republic fell and gave way to a dictatorship. Though it was a fair rule, it wasn't the people's rule and that gave Rachel an uneasy feeling.

"I guess. . .no one's free anymore. . ." Rachel said in a whisper, looking over the expanse of land in pity. Closing her eyes, she searched Florida for any signs of OZ.

"There's some in Orange County. . .well, better get started! There's a lot of ground to cover here. . ." Rachel said, taking a deep breath, as deep as she could at her present altitude, and teleporting to her first battle.

"Let's see. . .wow, there's a lot of countries in South America!" Duo said, scratching his head as he stared out at the lush landscape. With a smile, he said, "It is beautiful, though. . .I'd hate to see some of it ruined by OZ." With a sigh, he turned and said, "Might as well start from the top and work my way down! Just remember, Duo: Don't drink the water!" He disappeared and reappeared in Mexico.

As she floated over the mid Atlantic Ocean, Relena said, "Great. . .I have NO idea where to start! How did I get stuck with random duty? Well, maybe if I use my powers to search for them it won't take as long. . ." She concentrated hard on anything OZ related and couldn't find any on remote islands. There were signs on Australia and she took a deep breath.

"Alright, one fight alone can't be that bad. . .I'll be okay. I'll just be careful not to hurt any of them. . ." She said, reluctant to start any fights. As she flew lower to the water's surface, she spotted a pod of whales breaching the surface, fountains of mist spurting from their blowholes as they took breaths before diving down again. She giggled at a playful baby leaping and nuzzling its mother to play, rolling around in the waves the adult whales were making.

At least I get the scenic job. . .Relena thought, watching the whales disappear below the surface before teleporting to her destination: Down Under.

"I must work quickly, there's much to do and doing it without Nataku will be quite a challenge. There's a fleet of mobile suits invading Beijing right now, might as well start there." Chang figured as he drifted over the sky, his wings barely flapping as wind currents carried him. He tilted his wings to the south and headed to his first stop, nothing but battle on his mind.

It's been a little while. . .this place is still as dismal and dead as a graveyard. But being what it is it's only suiting to feel this way. Milliardo thought as he looked around the eerie grounds of the Sanc Kingdom. He gazed at the crumbling embassy in lost thoughts of memories painful to recall. Looking down at the ground, he said quietly, "I can almost hear my dead past calling me. . ." A breeze swept around him, tossing his blonde hair around his face and shoulders. With the soft scent of ocean mist, the wind carried with it the giggle of a young child. Milliardo looked up quickly and whipped his head around, searching for the source of the faint voice. Off in the distance, a child playfully dashed across the field toward the building, stopping in one of the many doorways and staring at Milliardo. He waved and giggled again, disappearing into the building.

"Hey, come back!" Milliardo shouted, running after the little child.

"There aren't many troops here, I'll finish and check in on Relena." Heero said to himself, flying toward Hiroshima to start. As he flew over fields and forests, he saw a group stationed near a small town, crouched in the cover of the close by forest. Heero swooped in and landed quietly on a tree branch, scanning over the huddle of mobile suits to create a plan of attack in his head. As he prepared to launch himself off the branch, showers of arrows rained on him, knocking him out of the tree as they buried themselves in his left leg and side. Tumbling to the ground, he attempted to fly but broke on too many branches, giving way finally to the ground. As he staggered to his feet painfully, something appeared out of nowhere and slammed into his head several times, bringing the world to darkness.

Trowa landed the plane in the forest near their cave, quickly leaving it and taking flight.

I need to take it easy, I'm still a little weak. Why am I feeling so hot. . .it couldn't be more than 79 degrees Fahrenheit. . .Trowa thought, pulling at his collar.

"At least there's a breeze. . .that leather jacket was killing me!" He said quietly, wiping the sweat from his brow. As he soared higher and higher to get a good view of the land, he got lightheaded and began to fumble in his flight.

Woah, what the. . .that was weird. I wish I could set these things on autopilot. . .what's wrong with me? Oh no. . .did. . .Quatre make me sick? He grit his teeth nervously as his vision began to blur again.

It wasn't the donation that made me dizzy. . .it's the flu. I can't do this. . .not like this. . .He shook his head and flew off toward the nearest invaded city.

"There's a great concentration of mobile suits in Eritrea, what are they doing?" Noin wondered as she flew toward the country. As she neared the location, her eyes grew wide at the sight.

A factory in the middle of a salt flat? What are they up to? Noin wondered as she flew higher to avoid being seen. As she seeked a point of entry to get an inside view of what was going on, she was spotted by two mobile suits, locking onto her position.

"Oh great. . .okay, let's see what these babies can do." Noin said, veering away from the approaching Taurus suits. They began to fire their beam rifles at her, missing many times but coming close more than she would have liked. With a quick nosedive, Noin dodged the suits and bobbed up behind them. Growling in annoyance, she brought her hands up in front of her, fire forming between her palms. With a scream, she forced her hands forward and let a spiral of flames explode through one of the suits, sending it to the ground. The second Taurus buzzed by her, clipping her wing and throwing her off course.

"AAH!" Noin screamed as she barreled rapidly toward the ground.

"This place looks so dreary, how can people live with themselves after creating such destruction?" Quatre said as he flew through an attacked village. The burning buildings and rubble left behind made Quatre's heart ache.

If only I could have come sooner. . .wait. . .Quatre looked up suddenly, hearing commotion nearby. A female voice echoed through the wreckage, something in a language he couldn't understand. Like a moth to a flame, Quatre quickly sought out the source of the plea. In the middle of what looked like a town square, a mobile suit was hunting down a group of woman in long, concealing veils running for their lives. One stumbled and fell to the ground in front of the Mobile suit.

"Oh no, look out!" Quatre yelled, speeding toward the mobile suit. He rammed into the side of it, setting it off balance as it stumbled to the side. It swatted at Quatre like he was a fly, catching him briefly in the side and sending him flying into a building.

"GAH!" Quatre exclaimed in pain, sliding to the ground. He winced and touched his side in agony as he looked up to see the fallen woman screaming in terror, crawling desperately away from the Leo. Growling under his breath, Quatre kicked off and flew toward the mobile suit, the whole way building up sand and wind around him. He began to fly in circles around the Leo, generating a whirlwind that quickly formed into a tornado, lifting the suit off the ground and carrying it up into the sky. As it spiraled higher and higher, the woman watched on in wonder and fear, shielding her eyes from the dust and sand getting flung everywhere. The tornado soon moved off away from the civilians and dissipated out by the buildings, dumping the Leo in a heap among rubble. Dizzy from the spinning, Quatre staggered back toward the Town Square to make sure the woman was alright.

"Fever. . .hot. . .where. . .am I. . ." Quatre muttered, losing strength and falling to the ground, tumbling through the dust for a few feet before coming to a stop.

"Leave them alone, you monsters!" Rachel screamed, lightning flying from her hand and consuming two Leos that had been chasing some children. Their circuits fried, they fell limply to the ground, twitching now and then from aftershocks. She swooped down and picked up the little children, carrying them toward a group of people hiding out in an abandoned building. She carefully set them down and said, "Stay out of sight, I'm going to take care of any other OZ in the area."

"Tank you, ange'lady!" One of the little girls said. Rachel smiled and nodded to her, quickly turning to fly away. As she left the shelter, a Leo flew up from nowhere and slammed into her. She screamed in pain and pushed off, tumbling back and crashing into a roof, sending tiles flying every which way. She weakly pushed up with her hands, her arms shaking as she looked up to see the Leo hovering in front of her, its 105 mm rifle pointed at her. Her eyes widened and turned white as she began to glow, ghostly white flames arcing around her body as she stared down the mobile suit. It opened fire on her and the flames expanded out in a circular form, reflecting the bullets away from her as a shield. She rose on a gust of wind, her hair flying around her wildly in the wind within her shield. She put out her hands and her sword grew slowly from them, gleaming in the noon sunlight. She brought it up and pointed it at the Leo, lunging forward and bringing the sword back. With a hard swing, she sliced the suit's head off, sending it flying into the air. Without it, the Leo was blind and staggered off course, crashing into a nearby building and causing the walls to collapse. The rubble came down around the Leo, burying it in about 3 feet of rock and debris. As the dust settled, Rachel scanned the horizon for any more attackers that might try to sneak up on her. The area was secure, giving her the opportunity to heave a sigh of relief and catch her breath as she put the sword into its sheath, which had appeared on her back when the sword was created. She landed on the ground, stumbling a little as she leaned against a builder for support. In the quiet of moment, the little girl came tottering up to Rachel, grabbing her capris at the bottom and looking up with her big blue eyes. Rachel smiled down to her and slowly knelt down, meeting her at eye level.

"Are you awigh?" The little girl asked, blinking innocently. Rachel gently ran her hand down the girl's head, resting her palm on her chubby cheek with a soft smile.

"Yes, I'm just fine. Are you okay?" Rachel responded in a tender tone.

"Uh huh! gasp You hur'!" The girl pointed desperately at a cut on Rachel's arm and bounced up and down, looking close to tears. Rachel glanced at it and said, "Oh, it's nothing. Don't worry, it doesn't hurt." The little girl grabbed her hand and tugged at it, backing up as she said, "Come, I help you!"

"Oh no, I couldn't!" The girl stared at her with puppy dog eyes. Rachel softened her expression with a smile and reached for the girl, lifting her up and sitting her on her hip. She walked toward the building the others were hiding in and was quickly greeted by the child's mother.

"Heather! I told you to stay with your big brother!" The mother said, her voice sounding shaky as she reached out to her. The girl stretched out her arms to her mother as the woman took her from Rachel, hugging her close and she slowly rocked back and force, holding the girl's head against her chest.

"Mama. . ." The girl muttered softly, playing instinctively with the woman's brown curls. The mother looked up at Rachel and said in a grateful tone, "Oh thank you, you truly are a guardian angel!"

"Just be careful, I don't know if I've gotten every mobile suit in the area. I must be going now. . ." Rachel said, turning to leave.

"Oh, but you're hurt! Please, let us help you, it's the least we can do!"

"Thank you but I can't stop, others need my help. . ." Rachel said over her shoulder. The mother nodded and said, "I understand. . .if you ever need help you can count on having a friend to back you up!" Rachel smiled and nodded back, letting her wings flap out and take her off into the air.

"Oh yeah! Well, I got somethin' for you too!" Duo yelled at a group of Taurus mobile suits on his tail, firing at him with their beam rifles. He closed his eyes and folded his wings down, diving headlong toward the ground. Spinning rapidly, he gained speed and finally flashed open his eyes, revealing their blackened state. He whipped out his wings, taking a sharp turn back toward the sky and rocketing past the mobile suits, heading toward a dark cloud forming in the sky. Following in hot pursuit, the Taurus headed straight into the darkness with him. Duo darted through the ash puffs and haze, hiding from sight and dodging their sensors. The storm cloud began to grow, lightning building up within the cloud's walls and jumping from rolling hill to hill of cloud. The Taurus suits danced around, seeing the brewing threat growing too close to them, finally unleashing a bolt on one of the suits and frying it. The others watched on in terror as it crumbled to the ground in a smoldering pile of burnt and mangled Titanium. They split up and searched through the cloud for Duo, trying to get rid of him so they could get out of there before it was too late. Little did they know that their time for escape was gone long ago.

I can't see a single thing in here, it's too dark! One of the pilots said to another, leaning forward to see into the black mist. As he turned around to look behind himself, a lightning bolt nearly smashed into him, sending him flying away in fear. As he looked back at his narrow escape from death, he didn't see the shadowed form floating up in front of him. With a smirk, Duo ignited his scythe, unleashing the extreme green glow that eerily reflected off the Taurus' armor. The pilot barely turned in time to see the blur of light hack off his head.

Ben, can you hear me, over? OVER! Is anyone still out there? the last Taurus suit desperately called to the nonexistent pilots in vain. Suddenly, a dark form floated up next to the suit, waiting for it to turn to face him. The pilot slowly turned to stare at Duo with fright in his eyes, sensing his nearing doom. Duo ignited the scythe and bowed his head slowly, glaring at the Taurus with an evil glint in his eyes.

"I'm out here. . .but that doesn't help you any." Duo said, his voice echoing terribly into the pilot's cockpit, causing him to scream.

"It's the voice of Death!" He screamed, about to the point of peeing in his pants. He tried to run, in vain, heading for the closest wall and exit out of the cloud. An explosion of lightning crossed in front of his path and blocked his escape, sending him running back the other way. Another crossing blocked his path and another, until finally he was trapped in a cage of light and death. Looking around wildly, he saw his predicament and realized. . .there was no way out. Suddenly, it grew silent around him, the lightning disappearing without warning.

"Is. . .is it over?" The pilot muttered to himself, looking around with wild eyes.

"It's never over." Duo said, appeared out of nowhere and decapitating the mobile suit. As it fell from sight, Duo stared after it, saying, "Haven't you ever heard of the calm before the storm?"