Wings of Destruction
Chapter 21
Shattered Illusions
Uno groaned when she opened her eyes the second she had the strength to do so. The sterile white ceiling tiles greeted her and reminded her of so many months back, when she stayed in the A-A Hangar for her intense training. Without making an effort to move she stayed put and stared at the ceiling, contemplating her events.
You've taken the job and botched it, she tallied up silently. You were warned, ignored the warning, captured, tortured but not for information, raped, then set free to go.
Uno closed her eyes and groaned once again, only this time, louder.
"If you keep that up you minus well tell us you quite," came the remarkably irritating voice of one she wishes to kill. "Now try and sit up and tell me if you can move."
She growled deep within her throat, wishing she shot straight through Professor G rather than the chalkboard when she arrived—
When? The other day? How long has she even been there?
"How long have I been here?" Uno spat out when she managed to get into an upright position. Dr. J hooked something up to a bandage on her arm and injected blood into her arm. Uno cringed, feeling the touches of ice as it splashed against her insides.
"You've been unconscious for several weeks," G replied. Uno gawked at him.
"Are you serious?"
"Quite," J answered for his comrade. "Your recovery took the longest and we couldn't begin our procedures until you healed at least to a minor scale. Then when you were ready, we started."
Uno stared at the ground in silence and waited until the injection of blood finished entering her body. When at last J removed the needle from her arm and ripped the tape off her body she pressed against the tiny pinhole and waited until her blood coagulated it shut.
"What's been going on since I arrived?" Uno murmured. She watched as J returned to G's side and begin jotting down notes from their monitor screens about Angel.
"Well, each pilot received their Gundam and have already been using them on the battlefield," G replied. "I'm waiting to see how well you move out there with it. Your training has been the most effective, as you were able to control all three systems at once."
"Is that so?" She grinned and pushed off the examination table. At first contact with the ground her knees buckled beneath her and she practically collapsed. Luckily, she grabbed hold of the table and held herself up.
"Damn it," she groaned. "What else?"
"Aside from that?" G questioned. "Nothing. Your comrade, Mandy, healed from her bullet wound last week and has been joining the battle on the field with the rest of them. They really need your help out there."
Uno's eyes closed and she smirked, knowing full well what Professor G meant by her helping them; she was the only one capable of handling Synodd and it was her duty alone to take them out.
It was literally what she was raised to do.
"I'm on my way," she murmured and pushed herself up to stand fully prepared. "I've been out for… several weeks, I think I'm ready to return to the battle field."
"Granted you're about to turn sixteen in two months," G reminded her. "I think you need to realize what path you're following."
"What?" Uno froze. "Two months? Only yesterday I turned fifteen!"
Dr. J chuckled and Professor G paused in his data entering to turn and fully face Uno. He stared at her with a worried expression and frowned.
"I can see you haven't quite been attempting to notice anything."
"What?"
"You've been unconscious for one month, in this A-A Hanger, Uno," G told her. Uno felt her blood run cold and her face pale out.
"One month with us—two months with your comrades from the drive by shooting," G explained.
"Your comrades tell their mentor's everything," J expressed sarcastically. "You really ought to start paying attention to how fast your life passes you by, Uno. Do you really want to follow in the footsteps of the wrong person?"
Uno glared the two of them and pushed away from the table. What do they know about following in the footsteps of anybody? They're two old men who should have died twenty years ago! They don't know anything about following anybody else! She was in Duo's footsteps—no one else's! Not her mothers, not her fathers, not Relena's or Hildie's or even Heero!
Uno paused when she reached the door to the hangar and frowned, her hand settling upon the knob. They were right, actually; she was following in the path of Heero.
She wasn't Shinimegami.
She was the Perfect Assassin; the perfect soldier.
"Fuck it," she spat. "I'm out of here."
She shoved open the door and headed towards Angel. Angel was a beautiful creation. It had the feathery wings of Zero but was black like Deathscythe. It had the dragon fang and flamethrower from Shenlong, the twin beam scythe from Deathscythe, the two heat shotels from Sandrock, and a wide arrange and huge assortment of heavy artillery all over its body from Heavyarms. It had the all famous wing Vulcan from Zero, the normal beam saber for last minute attacks, and the switch blade of Heavyarms.
It was literally her angel; the Angel of Death.
She powered up the machine when she sat inside and a vid window popped up of Professor G.
"What now?" Uno growled and began typing away at the commands.
"We're sending you the next mission," G explained. "Unfortunately you have to fight along side with one other pilot so be sure you don't leave her behind."
Uno snorted. "Great; I'm fighting with Mandy."
"Uno," Dr. J stepped in, "the mission objective is at the Tublar Retrieve on the Eartern Territory of old North America on Earth. Don't disappoint us for whatever may happen; you don't want to get caught there."
"Why are you so worried? Is there another spill that might capture me there?"
"Be forewarned," G added in. "You ignored the warning for the other mission—do not ignore this warning. That building is one of Synodd's main science departmental societies; whatever you find there isn't what it seems."
"Alright," Uno finished typing her commands and the machine fully came to life. "Mission accepted. I'm off to return to the cabin for one final trip then I'm off to follow through with the mission."
"Over and out," G finished off before closing the vid window.
Uno stepped into the cabin and frowned when she saw Zechs reading a book. She shut the door and stepped up to him.
"Where have you been?" He asked without even raising his head. "It's been two months and I'm almost out of food."
"Yeah," she nodded. "I'll go out tomorrow; I have a mission in a few minutes."
Zechs nodded. "Where have you been?" He finally raised his head."
"At the hangar," she replied uneasily. "My last mission… I botched my last mission, got captured, and I got tortured and raped for the consequences. They let me go, thinking I wouldn't make it."
Zechs smirked and she frowned. "You're more like Duo than you think."
"What?"
"You made a careless mistake and got captured, did you not?" Uno nodded and he returned to stick his nose in the book. "My point exactly."
Uno frowned and grumbled. "I'm going. I stopped by to check up on you."
"Thank you," he replied. He paused and raised his head. "And happy birthday."
Uno sighed. "A whole year's gone by that fast?"
He nodded. "That fast."
"What happened to it?" She leaned against the table and folded her arms across her chest.
"I'm surprised you haven't noticed."
"Noticed what?" Her brows furrowed.
Zechs paused and pondered her for a moment before shaking his head and returning to the book. "You don't notice the times of things. You spent two months from the shooting; one month from the rape."
"How did you know?"
"You just told me."
"No… I mean, the time?"
"Uno," Zechs raised his head. "I know how to conduct time from the sky without a clock and I keep track of the days. I haven't left this cabin in two years since you've been tending to my every need. I would like to join you out there on the battle field, as I was born to do, but I am no longer capable of fighting alongside with you and I will only bring you down."
"That's for damn sure," she snorted. "Just stay here and when I end the war you'll be free."
Zechs sighed and closed his eyes. His head hung and he felt weaker than he ever had. "If only it were that simple."
Mandy looked up from her packing of magazines into her pouch when Uno stepped into the cabin. She paused and stared at the braided assassin before moving anymore. Uno slowly shut the door behind herself and kept her gaze lowered to the floor.
"Hey," Uno murmured. Justin stood up from the couch and frowned. He dropped the magazine onto the table and furrowed his brows.
"I uh…" Uno swallowed hard, trying to summon up the courage to do what she knew had to be done. "I'm sorry… for… for shooting you."
Mandy's expression softened. However, Vincent wasn't convinced and growled as he came around the corner.
"You think that's good enough an apology to what you did to her?" He snapped out. "You think a little 'I'm sorry' will cut it?"
"Vincent!" Mandy yelled. She glared her lust-mate then frowned over at Justin, knowing he was on Vincent's side. "Just leave her alone! Alright? The apology probably took a lot out of her."
Uno stayed still and stared at the ground in silence. "Right?" Mandy asked. She looked up and blinked, silenced and not knowing what to say.
"Right Uno? You don't apologize that much so it was a hard thing for you to do," Mandy pouted. Uno slightly nodded. "I mean… I kinda' agree with what you did; I shouldn't have jumped in the way, knowing full well that you'd shoot me and all. I knew you could handle anything."
Uno cringed away from that. "Actually I wasn't able to handle it," she murmured. Mandy frowned. She stared at the ground and admitted defeat, one of the hardest things ever.
"They captured me, tortured me, and raped me."
Justin's eyes slowly widened and his mouth partially dropped. Vincent shut up immediately and turned away. Mandy's features softened into pity.
"Oh my God," Mandy muttered. "Uno—I'm so sorry."
"Never mind it," she shook her head and her usual serious attire return to her composure. She raised her gaze back to Mandy's. "Let's go; we've got an assignment together."
"Yeah," Mandy smiled weakily. "Isn't it wonderful?"
"Where's Chris?" Uno turned to Justin.
"He's—he's napping. He just returned from the battlefield. He had to fight a lot of mobile suites and it zapped a lot of strength from him."
"Is he alright from that first kill?" Uno asked, not knowing what happened since she last saw them. "I wouldn't know what's been going on, since I just woke up from the last time I saw all of you."
"Why?" Mandy frowned. "What happened?"
"As I said—they tortured me and raped me and let me go, thinking I wouldn't make it. I had Professor G and Doctor J do to me what Masons did to you but it took a lot longer."
"Oh."
"Come on," Uno turned around and opened the cabin door. "I don't have much time."
When Uno and Mandy first stepped foot onto the premises of the base everything was fine; there were no soldiers noticing them, nothing was wrong, and their Gundam's were hidden perfectly within the forest surrounding the base.
And then a soldier spotted them and all Hell broke loose.
The alarms went off and both girls withdrew their assault rifles immediately. Uno had to admit, however; Mandy knew how to shoot and she had excellent aim. While Mandy fired away at the opposing soldiers Uno through out pineapple grenades and watched the bodies fly.
Then they continued running towards the data control room to follow through with their objection and tore through a door that came up; it was metal and the writing on it was wiped off that they didn't know what to make of it.
"Wow," Mandy muttered when she saw what was inside. Uno frowned and stepped into the room.
"It's a garage," Uno said. She glanced around and paused when she saw a black firebird.
The same black firebird from her past life.
From her past boyfriend.
"Oh my God."
"What?" Mandy asked. She noticed the car and frowned back at her comrade. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"It's… nothing," Uno shook her head. "It's nothing."
It's gotta' be nothing! I won't stand to think of the past!
Uno sighed and looked around the room but found it was entirely empty except for a locked down garage door and the firebird.
"It's all that's in here," Uno explained as she headed to the door they originally came from.
"It's just a car," Mandy's brows creased, not understand Uno's history with the certain black firebird.
"Mandy," Uno spun around and growled. "Just… forget it. Let's go."
"Okay." Mandy followed Uno out into the hallway where the fight continued.
After several rounds of gunfire they continued running down the hall in search of the data control room when they reached another split of the hallway. They came to skidding halt when more guards stepped out of no where. So far they were fine and dandy. Mandy would continue to fire away and cover Uno while Uno through the grenades.
And then the firing from the opposing side slowed down and they thought they were safe. They ran out to continue toward the data control room and stopped when the hall was guarded by a line of soldiers. Both girls instantly dove behind the nearest corner and began firing away, returning their bullets with grenades and other explosives, until their rivals ceased firing.
"What's going on?" Mandy asked as she peeked around the corner. "They stopped firing."
"Let me see," Uno pulled her away from the cover of the wall and stole a glance around the corner as well. She frowned and returned to Mandy. "They're waiting for us."
"What?"
"On the count of three," she told her. Mandy nodded. "One… two… three!"
And the two of them jumped out around the corner and began firing away. But after a moment Uno froze, her eyes catching sight of something she believed to be long since dead.
"Uno?" Mandy frowned and gripped the rifle tightly. "Uno—what's wrong?"
"Oh my God," was all Uno was capable of murmuring. Suddenly, out of no where, a shot rang out and Uno's right kneecap began burning with an intense heat and throbbing pain. Mandy glanced down and saw that a tranquilizer dart had stabbed its way into her comrade's leg and her comrade has still yet to notice it.
"Uno?" She yelled. "Uno what's wrong?"
"It can't be," Uno murmured, her eyes widening in fear and her face paling out. The gun dropped from her arms and clattered to the ground, which only frightened Mandy even more.
"Uno!"
"Well done," Came a deep voice that broke Uno of all her senses. "Well done, indeed."
The man slowly stepped out of the gathering of soldiers and clapped his hands together in a sarcastic try of humoring and a fake round of applause. Each step he took towards the two girls was loud and rattled from his thick sole military boots. The boots laced up to shins encased in black military pants with excess pockets and a heavy artillery belt, then to a strong body encased in more black with strong arms, then finally finishing off with a handsome face and raggedy brown hair.
Mandy stared at the man as he stared back with his cobalt blue eyes and sworn she's seen him somewhere.
But where?
"Men," he paused to let a grin play across his face; Mandy felt her blood run thin. "Take Mandy Simmons, here, into confinement and do what you will to her."
"Yes sir!" Came their responses.
The man turned back to Uno and watched as she tried murmuring words. His eyes twinkled humor and watched as her strength finally escaped her body, leaving her to collapse onto the hard metallic floor below. Uno stared up at him, stunned in the least, unable to move.
"How can this be?" She spat out. "You're dead."
"Uno!" Mandy tried to fire and fight back but the gun was ripped away from her body and she was practically lifted off the ground by several soldiers all at once.
"Uno—kill him!" Mandy screamed out.
"She can't," the man replied through his grin. "She can't kill her boyfriend."
"Uno!" Mandy screamed out once more and her voice quickly faded away as Uno's consciousness began to drift away.
The last thing Uno recalled saying was, "…Ricky?"
Then blackness took over.