Wings of Destruction
Chapter 23
Recap and Revive

Vincent covered Justin as Chris held open the metal door on the wall of the battlefield-hallway they were fighting within. When Justin entered Chris tossed him a steady glare before shutting the door and returning to the fight. Justin had to admit, the boy matured in less than month.

"Aren't you happy to see me? Aren't you happy your boyfriend's still alive?" Justin froze and frowned when he heard a man's voice over the whimpering sound of—

Uno?

He swallowed hard and ran down the narrow hall for a few seconds before coming to a halt and seeing a huge window before him. Uno was on the other side of it and a man that looked very much like him was kissing her neck. Uno was shivering as he pinned her against the wall and forced himself on her.

Justin frowned and realized where he seen the man before. It was the same man he had read about in Winner Academy.

Ricky Tanners? Ricky is alive?

Justin mouthed the name then raised a hand and put it on the window. Uno never noticed him on the other side; rather, she kept crying and staring up at Ricky, mouthing incomprehensible words.

"Ricky… this isn't you," she murmured. Justin heard her voice crackly and he raised his head to see a speaker up in the high corner of the hallway. He bit his lower lip and returned to the window.

No… it's not a window; it's a mirror-window. A looking glass on one side and a window on the other.

He removed his hand from the glass and gripped the gun. He wasn't even sure if he could break it and he wasn't even prepared to put Uno's life in danger if he had, if Ricky saw she had reinforcements.

"This is every inch me," Ricky growled into her ear. Justin turned away to ignore the scene of Ricky pushing himself on her body and felt himself growing angrier by the second. No body should treat a woman that way. Even when he lived on the streets in his old street gang he knew to treat the ladies with respect.

It was a fact that street gangs followed to keep them alive. A rule of the Gods who once ran the streets: the pimps and the gruff-necks.

"I am alive!" Ricky snarled. Justin watched as he flung Uno to the other side of the room and ascend on her. "And because of Synodd keeping me alive I have the second chance I needed the first time to kill you!"

Justin growled and gripped his rifle even tighter as he watched Ricky sending blow after blow into Uno's sudden frail body. He felt his vocals rising to a high pitch to scream then paused when he heard Uno explain herself.

"Because you weren't supposed to be fucking born, that's why! If you were never born then Synodd wouldn't have a threat keeping it from becoming a big hit!" Ricky screamed out before kicking her again.

"I was adopted," Uno cried. "Duo took me in off the streets when I was five. He only wanted to raise me to be just like him in case of another war. I only joined up because they died and they needed a fighter who had the training."

Justin's heart began pounding behind his ribcage and his breath came in jagged gulps. He had to get in but not yet; he didn't want to struggle breaking in and give Ricky enough time to kill her. No. He had to wait it out for the right moment and use that waiting time to conjure up a quick and safe way inside.

Safe for him.

Safe for her.

Safe for the both of them.

"Did Theresa know this?" He heard Ricky mutter out in shock.

"No. We told no body."

"Why did you want to be like him?" Ricky whispered out.

"Because… because I had no family and I wanted to make him proud." Justin felt his heart plummet just then and stood there, watching her sob into the floor. Uno had no family. She had no body to return to when this war ended.

That's why she cared more about the war and getting it done.

That's why she always took their assignments and never let them do their own jobs.

Justin swallowed his drying saliva that stuck in his throat and licked his parched lips. Ricky screamed suddenly before kicking her again and Justin's blood began to boil. He watched as Ricky yanked Uno to her feet by use of her braid and tugged endlessly, knowing it was causing her more than just a migraine. Justin watched as Ricky purposely flung her into the wall before hurling her across the room, screamed, then charged at the window with his rifle up in the ready. Nothing happened and the glass didn't even rattle.

"What the fuck!" He spat out, clearly stunned. "What type of shit is this? I can't break through!"

"You fucking bitch! You're so fucking selfish and you don't think about anyone except for yourself! Sure, you gave me those papers but that was it! You should have kept your nose out of this war! I would have come back for you eventually—but no, you had to join the fight, didn't you!" Ricky slammed another fist into her stomach and Justin saw the pain on Uno's face to know that he had broken several ribs. When he withdrew the knife from his back pocket and sliced at her face Justin understood the deeper meaning to friendship.

And relationship.

"Uno!" Justin screamed out. He tried again with hitting the butt of his rifle up against the window but got no where. Again he tried and again, all the while screaming out her name.

"You stupid girl," Ricky spat. Justin stopped screaming and charging at the window. He took a deep breath and cooled himself off, knowing that if he finally broke into the room in such a rage he would be killed and Uno would only be in more Hell than she already was.

"Yes, I'm sure they would appreciate having two assassins, two of which are excellent sharp shooters and whatnot, but… I don't think they'd want your memories fogging up your assignments." Justin growled and wiped the saliva away from his lips.

"Stop this!" Uno screamed out past the tears that blurred her vision. Justin gawked when Ricky actually stabbed the knife into her stomach and he felt his heart stop beating and his body run cold.

Ricky stabbed Uno. He actually stabbed her?

"No," he muttered out. "Uno—no. No!" Justin screamed again and through a fist at the window but it only stung his hand more than even rattle the glass. "No!"

"My God Uno," Ricky breathed out. Justin stopped trying to break into the room by the window and glanced around. The only visual proof that there was even a door was an electronic door besides the window but with one notice of the locks on the outside he knew it would be nearly impossible to break it.

Not worth it, in his eyes.

"My God you look fucking hot when you're in pain."

Justin's lips remained parted as he watched Ricky near her even more.

He's going to rape her, he heard himself say silently. He's going to rape her—that sadistic fuck is going to rape her!

"Uno," Justin murmured. "Uno—fight back."

But he knew Uno couldn't fight back; especially when Ricky ripped the knife out of her body and her blood drained out of her faster than her breath when she got punched.

"God I need to fuck you badly. I think it'll be good for us; help us settle our arguments. I've heard couples who always fight best solve their problems in bed." Justin gripped the rifle and growled.

"You're going to rape me," Uno breathed out in shock. Justin swallowed hard and clenched his teeth shut but his lips were still flared as he breathed roughly.

"And you're going to love every minute of it."

That killed it for Justin's patience and without another minute to spare he growled and squeezed his fists, pulling the trigger with it. The bullet's sprayed out everywhere and shattered the glass into a million shards. Ricky ducked his head to shield his face away from the blast and Uno collapsed to the ground, finally losing the battle of wits to remain standing. When the glass finally landed Justin lifted up his right leg to step through the window and into the room then brought in his left, keeping the aim of his rifle targeted directly on Ricky's head.

"What the hell?" Ricky spat out when he saw Justin.

Justin raised his head and frowned now that he got a closer look at Ricky and what Ricky really looked like. "What the hell?" He heard himself copying.

Ricky looked just like Heero!

"Justin," Uno whimpered. He glanced down and saw her bruised and battered body crying and remembered what he was doing. With that reminder in mind, he returned to the scope and glared at his rival.

"Ricky… so nice to see you alive," he murmured in sarcasm.

Ricky growled down at Uno. "Cheating on me, I see? I'm gone not even a full three years and already you're fucking with another guy?"

"Let her go," Justin commanded with an amazingly easy cool. "I'm giving you one warning before I open fire."

But Ricky ignored him and begun laughing. "What a whore you are, Uno! A little slut!" Justin growled and Ricky turned back to him. "So this tramp decided to evacuate her past and make way for the future, eh? How slutty!"

"Let her go." Justin readjusted his finger on the trigger of the gun. "I won't tell you to do that again."

"Justin," Uno cried. Justin's eyes narrowed as he forced himself not to take his eyes off of Ricky. He knew that if he turned to face Uno Ricky would strike.

He also knew that if he turned to face Uno he would break down in tears as well.

"Let. Her. Go." Justin snarled.

To his amaze, Ricky shrugged, "Fine." Then without any warning, flung her to the side and towards the windows. Uno screamed and reached out for something to grab hold of but her hands found nothing in return and she soon was flying through the window.

"Uno!" Justin screamed out at the top of his lungs.

Both guys watched as she flew out the window into mid air and began descending rapidly towards the ground. Justin practically lost all thought from that point on and charged at Ricky. He screamed and rammed the butt of the gun into Ricky's chest before flinging the weapon up and knocking him backwards by the chin.

Ricky regained his balance and rubbed the bottom of his chin with his fist and chuckled. "My, my, my you sure are the devil of the games, aren't you? You think hitting a man older than you will win her back?"

"You," Justin snarled, "fuck!"

Ricky laughed and side-stepped in a circle around his opponent. "Would you look at yourself? You're a mess! You've dived into save the damsel in distress and instead you've caused her death and now you're angry with yourself."

"Shut up!" Justin screamed out and fired his gun but missed out of sheer madness. "You threw her out of the window!"

"And I'm sure she's enjoying Hell right as we speak," Ricky spat back. "She always wanted to call herself Shinimegami and become the Goddess of Death. Look at it this way she's with Duo right now."

"What do you know of Hell?" Justin spat. "What do you know of missing a loved one?"

"I know quite a lot of Hell," Ricky stopped circling and frowned. "The question is, what do you know about Hell?" Justin narrowed his eyes.

"Hell is when you have to be nine-years-old and enroll into a school to learn about your target. Hell is when you have to be nine-years-old and have your target as your best friend. Hell is when you try and assassinate that target—you're best friend—and botch the assignment by killing the target's best friend—your best friend—and eventually yourself!" Ricky was now screaming. "Hell is when you fall in love with your target and you can't finish your life goal! I was created to exterminate her! I was born when word about her existence got out!"

That stumped Justin. "What?" He frowned and raised his gaze from the scope of his rifle.

"You were what?"

"My father, Daniel Tanners, created me when Uno was five-years-old. When news about the ex-Gundam Pilots adopting a little girl got out he knew it wouldn't be good for Synodd and thus I was born. He had the science division create an outstanding assassin by the seed of the best fighter ever known and the egg of the brightest woman alive."

"You're… a test tube child?" Justin murmured. Ricky nodded.

"I've kept the truth hidden from even my brother, Johnson. He was my father's true son and he had to die because he got too close into my work and found out what we do for a living," Ricky turned and glanced out the shattered window. "Now I'll admit I still miss him today; my brother never was around much but whenever he was he would take care of me like any other. When I was too little to drive my father would have him drive me around, knowing that if we were seen together—my father and I—then it would be dangerous should we be seen together at work."

"You've had this whole thing set up all along," Justin muttered in disbelief. "You led Uno and her family on to believing you were some innocent little boy this whole time."

Ricky nodded then sighed. "It was a hard task," Ricky explained. "Hard because I had to keep it low for my whole life—well, the life I had up until I shot myself in the head because I couldn't pull the trigger in point-blank range. There were times where I thought they had found me out, especially Heero, because he would take a knife to me closely or question me about my father's job and who he was but as the years moved on I soon learned that they trusted me with their life for Uno. They trusted me!" He choked out with humor. "I couldn't believe what I was hearing when Uno told me they trusted her with no one else!"

"And you let them down," Justin growled. He narrowed his eyes and glared his opponent. "You led them on until the very last minute until you dropped it just like a bat out of Hell."

"Rather an Angel straight out of Heaven," Ricky corrected him with a smirk. "Yeah but I loved every minute of it. I don't know, there's just something about playing mind games on people that turns me on."

"You sadistic little fuck," Justin growled. "You wanted to rape her after you cut her up."

Ricky shrugged as if the topic were blown off. "Eh, she'd want it in due time. I must say though, being her boyfriend, we've only kissed once and it was hard for me not to fuck her in the past."

"You're not her boyfriend," Justin snarled out. "Her boyfriend died three years ago in the back of the movie theater. Her boyfriend shot himself in the head."

"You mean this scar here?" Ricky raised his hairline to point out the scars on both side of his head. "Yeah—the science division loved me so much they brought me back home and returned me to my original state. But I must say… since I blew away that little part of affection I felt for her—literally speaking, I add in—I no longer feel anything for her. Granted, if I locked her up in a cell until this war ended and had the science division remove those pesky memories from her brain I would more than likely keep her for myself."

Justin took a heavy breath to sooth his pacing heart and his boiling blood.

"Though I'm afraid I may also be too busy fucking her rather than getting my job done," he added in.

"You fucking prick!" Justin screamed out before firing again. He missed once more and Ricky only laughed.

"Keep that up and you'll run out of bullets."

"Try me," Justin spat. He aimed clearly now and squeezed.

But all he heard was the click of an empty round.

"Aw, now would ya' look at that?" Ricky pouted. "He's out of ammo."

Shit!

"Goodbye Justin Stevens," Ricky withdrew a gun from behind his belt and cocked it in Justin's face. "May you forever fuck in Hell with Satan."

"There's just one thing," Justin murmured as he lowered the gun and let it drop to the floor. Ricky frowned and cocked his head to the side in question. "Do you know who you're true parents are?" He raised his hands into the air in defeat.

Ricky rolled his eyes. "You want to know the truth before you die? Is that it?"

Justin shrugged and forced a smirk. "Well… yeah."

"Fine," Ricky grumbled then rolled his eyes. "I didn't know, anyways. I had to look it up; Daniel wouldn't even explain it to me, said I didn't need to know. My genes were deprived from the sperm of Heero Yuy and the egg of Sarah Cleaver."

Justin frowned. "The fighter Heero Yuy? Uno's family member?"

Ricky nodded. "I never knew until I was sixteen when I looked it up on my own agenda. Since then I was always quiet around him and whenever he tried to talk to me I would remain forcibly nice and act as if I didn't know a thing about life—as their little, innocent Ricky was as sweet and charming as a little grade school boy."

"And Uno never knew?" Ricky shook his head. "Oh well; she knows how. I mean, if what they say is true, that when you die you know the truth of everything, and then she knows who I came from."

"Well," Justin nodded and swallowed, "I thank you for telling me; it now will let me rest in peace."

"Any time," Ricky grinned.

Justin nodded. "Goodbye, Ricky."

"Goodbye, Justin."

Then a bullet rang out loud in the entire floor of the building and silence came afterwards. Heavy breathing of one man left standing was the only sound to be heard and it would only come from the room where the largest fight and conversation mattered. A gun clattered to the floor with the body of a strong build, lips parted and quivering, and eyes as wide as saucers.

"Why… how… what the…?"

"As I said," Justin lowered the gun to take aim at Ricky's face and narrowed his eyes. "Uno's boyfriend died three years ago so I have no worries about shooting this imposter. Goodbye, Ricky."

Duo lowered his head and glanced around at his surroundings while Heero stared out at the bayou with Trowa by his side. Quatre returned to the three of them with his soda in his hand and smiled before handing Duo a candy bar.

"All they had was this," Quatre explained. Duo frowned down at the Snickers in his hands before shrugging it off.

"Oh well," he mumbled. "Good enough."

"I almost forgot what it felt like to be in the city," Trowa murmured. Heero nodded and sighed.

"Two years can do a lot to somebody," Heero muttered. "Especially when you're being followed."

"Well we're not being followed now," Quatre smiled. Duo frowned up at his friend before smiling back, accepting Quatre's warm heart and kindness to even the worst times.

"And we're still unsure whether or not these new Gundams are our allies or our enemies," said the voice of the television news broadcaster. All four of them frowned and turned to face the huge video screen above one of the buildings besides them and watched the news. "Again, these images being shown are Gundams fighting Synodd's mobile suites and—this just in, these images you are seeing here are enemy mobile suites that are causing our great nation to go into war. Synodd is doing their very best in removing this threat from our lives." The images changed to that of the old Mareimaia War pictures and the older Gundams from the original five male pilots. "If you remember, when…" The media carried on.

"I can't believe what's going on," Duo muttered and turned away from the screen. He ripped open the Snickers and took his first huge bite of the candy bar. "It's almost as bad as how they treated us."

"Actually I think its worse," Trowa muttered. He frowned when he saw a rerun of Wing Zero blowing up the ground of the mayor's mansion. Heero frowned and turned away from the memories that flooded his mind.

"I wish it wouldn't have come to this," Quatre sighed. "Uno was so sweet. I hope she's alright."

"Yeah," Duo agreed before taking another bite. "But if what Justin said is true—then she's become entirely opposite and only turned into a machine like Heero was."

Heero shut his eyes in repent but opened them the moment he heard an explosion hit. Screams sounded suddenly when the four of them raised their sights to the sky they saw glass flying down onto the large crowd that formed beneath the vid screen.

"What the hell?" Heero muttered. They saw a body flying out of the building from high up and it looked as if it was reaching out for help, trying to grasp the sides of the building but flying too far out to grasp anything at all. When the body began descending towards the ground they noticed the shape of it.

And the braid.

Duo's eyes shot open and his heart froze in his chest. When the body got closer to view he screamed out, "Uno!" But it looked as if she hadn't heard him for her eyes were shut and she splashed into the disgusting bayou of one of Earth's most popular cities.

Duo through down his candy bar, gripped the railing of the pathway, hoisted himself up over it, and leapt in after her.

Anyone expect that ending? (grins) Stay tuned for more... what do you think Uno will do when she wakes up and see's Duo?