Codename: Lightning
A Shin Kidou Senshi Gundam
W fanfic by Preventer Void
Chapter 4: A New Threat
"Take her down nice and slow."
"Right."
Relena tapped at the keyboard of the Preventer shuttle, adjusting the angle of descent. The laser sensors mounted on the craft's underside measured the distance to the Moon's surface, giving her an idea of how to change the verniers' output. With a soft thud, the ship settled on the pale, dusty planetoid. She turned to Heero. "So, shall we suit up?"
He nodded. "Let's."
The two of them went into the back of the shuttle and put on their astrosuits. They were basically the same standard-issue Preventers suit, but each was specifically personalized. Relena's was dark gray and had dirty green shoulders, each lined with dull gold and bearing Preventer's logo, along with silver pads on the elbows and knees. What made hers distinctive was that its center was colored dull gold and featured a stylized bolt of lightning on its left breast. She pulled a cap over her head to keep her long hair out of the way, then secured her helmet on tightly and turned on her oxygen supply. She turned to Heero, who was in an identical suit, save the fact that his was black and had a silver-edged nebula as its insignia. "I'm all ready. Let's go."
He pulled the handle on the door, the sound of it opening already being lost in the airless void of space. He held the door open and made a gesture to her, as if to say "ladies first". With an ironic grin and a curtsey, Relena hopped out of the shuttle and landed feet-first in the thick moondust. Heero closed the shuttle door behind him and kicked off the hull, coming down next to her. They began trotting towards the large crater in front of them. According to the information they had uncovered, there used to be a big MS manufacturer here.
Relena looked up at the sky and saw Earth, partially obscured by shadow. She had been in space before, but this time it felt colder. She reached out and took his hand; even through the heavy material of the astrosuit, it reassured her to know that he was there. He looked over at her.
"Is something wrong?" he asked, slight confusion tingeing his voice.
She shook her head. "I just feel like holding your hand."
He smirked. "Hardly a date."
"Well, I like it all the same."
They continued on for some time, not saying anything. When they finally reached the crater that had once housed Anaheim Electronics' research and development facility, they saw the shattered remnants of the building, perfectly preserved in the Moon's airless atmosphere. As they slid down towards the wreckage, Relena inwardly wondered who - or what - caused all the destruction and decided that she would rather not know. They dug around the broken fragments for several minutes until she heard Heero make a startled noise. She ran over to him and saw a metal door built into the ground.
"Must have been where they did all the hard work," he said as he swept the dirt away with his hand.
She nodded in reply. "The question is, how do we get down there?"
The two of them began digging around the surrounding area, searching for an access panel. A couple of minutes' search gave them one, and Heero pulled off a nearby plate to get at to the inner wiring for the door. He tinkered with the wires and circuits for several minutes and was rewarded by the panel lighting up green and the door opening, revealing a set of heavy metal stairs. Rising, he gestured towards the darkness below.
"After you, madam."
A quirky smile on her lips, Relena said a quick "Thank you" before switching her helmet-mounted searchlight and descending into the depths. Immediately, they split up and began looking through the labyrinthine hallways on their own. She came upon a door with a nameplate reading "Thinktank" and, to her amusement, a drawing of a brain with treads and a pair of cannons mounted on it. Cracking the door with the emergency handle, she went in and saw row upon row of cubicles, some still with information and incomplete schematics. One cubicle in particular caught her attention. Stepping inside, she saw two halves of a soccer ball-sized orb, colored pea green and marked with a pair of eyes and circular flaps on its upper half. She picked up a nearby printout - apparently a planned press release about the product - and began reading through it when she got a call.
"I've found the Motherlode. You're going to want to see this."
Grabbing an empty printer paper box, she shoveled the ball and all the nearby circuitry into it, taking care to scoop up anything that seemed like documentation for its assembly and completion. Putting the lid on securely, she left the thinktank and went looking for Heero. Following his directions, she found herself at another metal door, this one open. She walked inside and was immediately stunned by her surroundings.
Inside the enormous hangar - for that was all the room could possibly be - was an incredible collection of Mobile Suits. The majority were unmistakably Gundams, but they were all in pristine order, save a layer of dust. She went over to one Heero was looking at, a rather boxy-looking Gundam, and read aloud from the museum plaque in front of it.
"'RX-78-2 Gundam, the first Mobile Suit to bear the name and the first to use beam weapons. Piloted by the civilian Amuro Ray, the Gundam quickly became the symbol of the Earth Federation and was a constant threat to the Zeon Zaku.' Feels odd, doesn't it?"
He looked down at her; while she was reading, he had jumped up to the open cockpit and was examining the instruments. "What do you mean?"
"Well, in a sense, we're looking at Wing Zero's ancestor. This is the first Gundam, after all."
Heero nodded. "I guess." Without another word, he leapt over to begin investigating the other MS collected nearby. While he went down the row on the left, she checked out the right.
"RMS-108 Marasai...MSN-00100 Hyaku-Shiki (man, that's gaudy)...MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam...MSZ-010 Double Zeta Gundam...This is pretty impressive."
"Nh."
She turned to where Heero was and started over for him. There was an empty space between two Gundams, and the plaque had been removed entirely.
"You think they got rid of one?"
He nodded. "Yeah, but the question is, why?"
She looked over at the Gundam to their immediate left. "RX-78GP01 Gundam, codename Zephyrantes."
"...And the one to the right is the GP03S Gundam Stamen."
She strode back over to the empty platform and examined the plaque again. "So logically, this would be the GP02...whatever that's supposed to be."
He looked at her, finally noticing the box tucked under her arm. "What's that?"
"Hm?" Looking up, she took a second to realize what he was asking about. "Oh, this. I found it in their workspace. Apparently, it was some kind of toy robot they were planning on selling. I was hoping we could talk Duo or someone else who's mechanically astute to complete it."
Shrugging his shoulders, Heero went down the line until he reached the very last Mobile Suit. "'MS-50A Zaku 50. Designed as an anniversary MS, the design bears little in common with its ancestor but was nonetheless intended as a throwback to the Zaku II of the One-Year War."
Relena took a good long look at the room, row upon row of MS standing like so many soldiers, standing at attention, waiting for orders that would never come. The thought that their legendary pilots were long dead - that, in fact, these were mere copies of the originals that were gone for centuries - was sad and humbling all at once. Only because of her hunch and their mission to that base in Oddessa had they learned about these people. Would people remember what Heero, her brother, and the others had been through when the next century rolled around, or would they also be lost to the fickle flow of the river called Time?
She was snapped out of her meditative silence by Heero's hand settling on her shoulder. "I found the doors that lead to the lunar surface. How about we get back to the ship and call in for some transports to load these up, and you can take a nice hot bath when we get home."
Relena forced herself to smile, shaking off the depressing thoughts she had just put herself through. "Sounds like a plan to me."
Once more, the senior Preventers members (sans Noin, who was still on maternity leave) were gathered around the meeting room. Lady Une looked around at the assembled soldiers with mild annoyance on her face.
"Would someone be so kind as to tell me where Miss Lightning is? The last time I checked, she was considered a senior member."
As if in reply to her question, the door burst open and in came Relena, toting the cardboard box from the ruined building and sweating profusely. "I'm so sorry I'm late, but I was working on this thing and when I looked up, I was already five minutes late."
With a sigh, Lady Une shook her head. "Forget it; we have some more important matters. With all the new data we've obtained recently, it looks like we could make substantial steps in the field of MS development. Thankfully, the ESUN bigwigs haven't decided to complain about all those inactive MS you all have found since their reactors are long dead. But after serious consideration, they've accepted our proposal. We've been officially licensed to build new Mobile Suits to test this new technology."
There was a stunned silence around the table as the notion sank in. Trowa was the first to speak up. "What about all the historical records we've uncovered? Have they made any move to make the information public?"
Their boss shook her head. "Not yet. It's going to take them a while to compile everything first, and then they'll release it formally."
Wu Fei raised his hand for attention. "What about the new technology we're testing? Can you give us any particulars?"
"We're going to make some testbed units to see if we can make the technology compatible with our current manufacturing processes. If they're successful, we'll see about making new MS."
Zechs nodded. "Sounds good to me. I'd like to imagine MS using this shotlancer weapon in colony defense, so we don't have to risk any hull breaches."
"That would be the last thing we would want to happen." Une glanced around at the other Preventers. "So, are there any other orders of business?"
With that, all eyes turned to Relena. She looked around nervously. "What? You want me to talk about this thing?"
Heero smirked. "Well, to be honest, I don't think I've seen you so into something as you have been with that little robot. Weren't you going to let someone like Maxwell look at it?"
"I was...then I started cracking away at it myself, and I just couldn't put it down." She pulled the lid off the box and lifted out the object in question. Now completely assembled, the robot was 25 centimeters in diameter and marked with a curved line around its middle, four flaps, and a pair of red light-up eyes. Duo reached into the box and pulled out the press release she had grabbed along with the assembly instructions and read from it.
"'Haro Revival Edition. One hundred years ago, the original Haro was constructed by Gundam's pilot Amuro Ray and ended up among the motley crew of White Base. Now we offer you this, the first new Haro model in 20 years. Most versions are scaled down for children, but this model is identical to the original in its outward appearance. New features include advanced artificial intelligence, hologram projection, audio and video recording, data storage and processing and a myriad of other features. It's the perfect combination of pet and PDA, and only a limited number will be made. Get yours today!' Wow, sounds like a regular wunderkind, doesn't it?"
Relena shook her head. "Assuming I got everything installed properly. Here we go..." With that, she flipped the ball over and clicked on the power switch on its underside. All at once, the robot began rocking and beeping violently. Everyone jumped from his or her seats as if the sphere would spontaneously self-destruct then and there. Relena placed it on the table right-side-up and backed off. It spun around, still shaking, until it ended up with its plaintive red eyes staring right at Heero.
"HELLO, AMURO." came the digitized voice from the ball. The flaps on top of its head wagged a couple of times.
"...What did it just call me?"
The eyes flashed as it replied, "AMURO. AMURO. AMURO."
Duo looked back at the paper. "Um...that's the name of the first Gundam pilot and the guy who made it. Maybe it's programmed to call you that the first time it activates, or something."
The perfect soldier shook his head and pointed at himself. "No, Heero."
"AMURO."
"Heero."
"AMURO."
He grunted in frustration. "Advanced AI my ass, I think a couple of circuits must be loose."
Relena giggled and picked it up. "Well, I think it's adorable."
"PRETTY GIRL. PRETTY GIRL."
"Suck-up."
She stuck her tongue out at Heero. "Jealous."
With a dry chuckle, Wu Fei stood and made for the door. "As riveting as this is, I think I'll leave the lot of you to this and get back to work. Have fun with your talking paperweight."
Only after the door had completely closed did Haro turn towards it and chirp out, "JACKASS." Everyone blinked a couple of times before anything happened. Duo was the first to speak. "Guess it's smarter than you gave it credit for, eh Heero?"
For reasons he hadn't discerned yet, Zechs Marquise preferred working in darkness...literally. As he clicked and clacked away at his PC, the only light in his office came from the underpowered desk lamp. So engrossed was he in his work that he didn't hear the knocking on his open door. His guest went unnoticed until he leaned over the desk and waved his hand in between the monitor and Zechs' face.
"Well, I've heard a lot of things about the Lightning Count, but his going deaf wasn't among them."
Hearing his old title made Zechs start slightly. He looked up at his guest and received another shock.
"Well well, it's quite an honor to have someone as high up in OZ's ranks come to me for a friendly visit. And what can I do for you today?"
Rosshe Natono put his hands on his hips. "I'm surprised you even acknowledged me, Zechs Marquise. You were certainly busy there."
Zechs looked back at his monitor for a second, and then smirked. "Things have been a little interesting lately. So, what brings you here?"
The former Prize officer leaned on the desk. "You've probably heard that the exploration and resource mining ships heading out from MO-V have been vanishing a few days after launching."
"I have."
"Well, the latest one managed to get back some images from before it was destroyed. I figured you would want to see these in person." He slid a disk across the desk. Zechs put it into the hard drive and loaded up the video. They watched as the shuttle came under attack from a trio of unfamiliar Mobile Suits. After the video stopped, the two men looked back at each other.
"In all the time I was in OZ, I never saw anything that looked like that. I was hoping you Preventer boys could fill in the missing gaps."
Rubbing his chin in thought, Zechs looked at a still of the mysterious MS. It looked vaguely similar to Virgos, but the picture was too blurry to make any definites out, and there seemed to be some unaccounted-for changes. He mused over the image for a few seconds, and then turned back to the former knight. "To be perfectly frank, I can't tell you what it is. It looks a little like something OZ would build, but we checked their records after Barton sprung the Serpent on us. There ARE no more unbuilt OZ Mobile Suits."
"I see." Without another word, Rosshe stood up and started for the door. "Well, I've done what I came here to do. Take care of yourself, and Instructor Noin too."
"Wait a second." Zechs reached out and grabbed the knight's shoulder. "You know, I can understand that feeling of unease you have. I had it too, before I joined."
A wry smile lit upon Rosshe's face. "You're asking me to join your little band of space cops? Doesn't that seem like a step down from Prize?"
"Not if you think of being Dermail's secret police so highly."
The blonde man jerked out of Zechs' grasp, annoyance on his face. "Don't group me in with those ignorant lackeys. I was more than a lapdog to the old man...but apparently he didn't want anything more."
"I heard. Things didn't exactly go smoothly at MO-V, did they?"
Rosshe chuckled dryly. "You didn't hear all about it?" When Zechs shook his head, he grunted. "I suppose you were with those rebels at that point. Anyway, things were going fine until they decided to call in the Dark General. One of my fellow Knights decided to kill me...and he would have succeeded, had that Gundam pilot stood by and done nothing. Even after all I had done to destroy their colony, they were fine with my joining their self-defense forces, where I stayed up through the final battle."
"Sounds like you had about as much fun as I did. So, what's stopping you from joining us now? It's obvious that you knew which was the right side."
The Stardust Knight looked over at the Lightning Count with a speculative eye. "To be honest...I don't know. Give me some time to sleep on it. Maybe I'll come back and join."
Zechs smiled. "And I'll be right here, waiting for you."
Relena knocked on the door to Lady Une's office and waited. After a momentary pause, she heard the commander's voice saying "Come in" through the heavy oak. Taking a deep breath, she pulled it open and peeked in.
"You wanted to speak with me?"
Lady Une looked up from a fair-sized pile of paperwork to see who had spoken. "Good, you're here. Take a seat, I have to fill out these forms in quintuplicate or the President will have my butt on a platter."
The young Preventer giggled. "Nothing personal, but I'll never miss those days. I honestly think being shot at and getting into MS battles is preferable to all the red tape." She walked into the room and sat down in one of the leather-upholstered chairs in front of the desk.
"Well, it's more straight-forward, I'll give you that."
The two women shared a laugh, then Lady Une went back to finishing up her work. When she finally looked up, she saw a familiar green orb in the other chair. "Is that...?"
With a sigh, Relena looked over at Haro. "We're still working on the 'stay' command. He just wants to go everywhere with me like some kind of watchdog."
"HELLO, LADY UNE."
"I see its vocabulary is improving at the very least."
"It still hasn't called Heero by his right name yet, though." She laughed again. "It's 'Hello, Amuro' this and 'Hello, Amuro' that."
"HELLO, AMURO THIS AND HELLO, AMURO THAT."
"...And apparently, that's how it learns more words."
Lady Une shook her head as she slid the papers into a side drawer. "Anyway, the reason I called you here is to ask if you wanted to participate in the testing of the new prototypes we're building."
"You have to ask if I want to do that? You know I'll say yes."
The boss held up a hand to stop Relena. "You didn't let me finish. If you agree to pilot, your MS will be based off of the one you brought back from that base. We're still trying to figure out how to make those funnel weapons work."
"I..." Relena leaned back, looking up at the lights in the ceiling. "I wish I could explain how I used those things. All I remember is this feeling of pressure just before I blacked out and..."
"Don't worry about the details. If it works, it does. If it doesn't, it doesn't. And are you sure you want to do this?"
She looked her boss in the eye and nodded. "If it helps me figure out how those things work, I'll do it."
Lady Une nodded. "Then I'll contact you when everything is ready."
She had been anticipating this for over a month now...so why did she have butterflies in her stomach? Relena paced around the hangar of the Pegasus in front of the Gundam she was going to test pilot. She glanced up at it for what seemed like the millionth time. Its outward appearance looked like nothing so much as a streamlined version of the Gundam Mark II they had pulled from their historical records. However, like its three twins, it had been made to test a specific new technology; in the case of her Unit 2, they had literally ripped the cockpit and Funnel System out of the captured Quebely and installed it in the nameless Gundam so they could try to figure out its mysteries. But she knew that she hadn't even meant to use them back at Oddessa, when the mysterious weapons had saved her life, so how could she expect to use them intentionally?
"If you don't stop, you're going to wear a hole in the catwalk."
That voice snapped her out of her deep contemplation. Spinning around rapidly, she almost smacked into Heero, who had come up behind her while she wasn't paying attention. "Oh, Heero, I..."
He nodded. "I know, you're nervous. Don't worry, it'll be just like when I taught you how to pilot and the piloting competency tests you took when you joined. No pressure, since your targets will be asteroids."
She looked into his eyes. "Easy for you to say, your test unit doesn't have any weapons with massive unknown factors like mine."
Almost in unison, they glanced over at the Unit 1 he would be piloting. Deciding that the Gundam F91 had multiple useful technological advancements, Heero's machine borrowed all of them that Preventer intended to test: the VSBRs, beam shield and shelf nozzles.
"Right, and if those beam rifles malfunction during the test, you might end up paying for that apartment yourself." Heero shook his head. "Definitely not a way you want to go."
Relena sighed, and then looked towards the floor. Out of nowhere, she started giggling.
"What's so funny?"
She looked up at him, unable to keep a straight face. "I love the outfit. Is it standard issue, or are you just happy to see me?"
Heero looked at himself. He was wearing the standard pilot suit for Preventer, which was similar to the astrosuits except that it was much closer-fitting. He shook his head again as he looked back at her. "Well, as long as our minds are in the gutter, maybe you could tell me how cold it is in here...oh, wait, you already are."
Feigning shock, Relena covered her breasts with one arm and mock-slapped his cheek. "You pervert! You're worse than Duo!"
"...Except that it's nothing I haven't seen before," he said with forced lechery in his voice
She crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from him in an exaggerated show of anger. "I don't think I want to talk to you right now."
Grinning, he leaned over her shoulder and whispered in her ear: "Would a nice romantic dinner tonight improve your mood?"
"...It might." Despite her false resistance, Relena couldn't keep the smile from showing on her face. She turned her head enough to catch him in a brief kiss, then reached around and pulled him closer for another, deeper one.
"Eeew...get a room, you two!"
Still looking into those deep blue eyes that captivated her so much, Relena said, "If you don't like it, you can shove it, Maxwell."
Trowa couldn't resist a little jibe: "He's just jealous that he doesn't have Hilde along with him on long missions or stakeouts the way you two do."
"English translation: Duo misses booty."
The three Gundam pilots blinked in surprise at that last taunt. Their female companion saw their expressions and batted her eyelashes innocently. "Just trying to be one of the boys."
That drew laughs from the guys. Heero put his arm around her waist. "Just don't become too much of a boy, dear. I love you, but that is a severe turn-off."
Just then, Zechs walked in from the front of the ship. The Pegasus, one of many ships Preventer had seized from old stockpiles, was a Leo Mothership which had been altered so that while it held half as many Mobile Suits, it wasn't limited to only Leos. Originally, the ship had been identical to the fleet OZ had produced between the Leo's mass production and Romafeller's collapse. But after accessing the historical records and learning of White Base, the Gundam pilots had suggested giving the ship a paint job similar to the legendary carrier whose name it unintentionally bore.
"Nice to see everyone in good spirits," he said as he looked at the grins on their faces. Relena saw his expression harden slightly when he saw Heero's arm around her waist. Even though they had explained things to him, he still thought of the Gundam pilot as his rival and it bothered him seeing his little sister with his rival. Moreover, like all big brothers, he probably would never approve of her dating for fear of losing the image of his innocent baby sister in his memory. She hoped that he wouldn't be giving her the same stern looks of disapproval on her wedding day; she wanted him to walk her down the aisle.
She pulled herself out of a happy daydream when he turned to her. "You'll be testing in B field. A couple of escort Tauruses will take you out there. Once you're out there, test out the weapons systems on the asteroids marked with beacons."
"Right."
He went on, assigning Duo and Trowa to their areas. After everything was set, the four pilots climbed into their Gundams and strapped themselves in. Relena pulled on her helmet and activated the Gundam's systems. The doors on the outside of the ship opened up, revealing the inky blackness of space. She pressed down on the right foot pedal, and her MS began gently thrusting out of the carrier. Checking the screens, she found a group of white Tauruses floating some distance away. Leaning the left-hand control stick, she turned her Gundam to the left, and then stepped on the pedal again, moving up to the pair she assumed was her escorts, using the left pedal to bring herself to a stop.
A communications window appeared on her monitor, showing another person in a Preventers uniform. "Miss Nakajima?"
Relena nodded. "That's me."
"Follow us."
The two Tauruses turned and lead her into a section of the asteroid belt marked off with yellow beacons. On her heads-up display, she saw a 3D map that outlined her section, as well as the guys' and the targets. After leading her to the middle of the section, the Tauruses began pulling away. "We'll be directing the targets by remote from a distance. Happy hunting."
"Thanks, but somehow I doubt asteroids are in the same league as OZ pilots...they don't scream as much, anyhow."
The Taurus pilots laughed as they flew off. Relena sat, waiting, trying to get herself psyched up. She still had her initial fears about this, but talking with Heero always made her feel better. Before she could continue, the buzzer signaling the start of the exercise came in over her speakers.
She waited, watching the 3D radar for the red dots that indicated the "enemies". In preparation, she used the right control stick to set her Gundam to shooting mode. The alarms beeped as an asteroid came in from above and behind her. Whirling the Gundam around, she didn't even wait to get a target lock before pulling the trigger. The beam saber stored on the underside of the right arm shot out a small burst of beam fire, blowing the asteroid to pieces. Feeling a bit showy, she targeted all the smaller pieces and, in a couple of bursts, reduced them to powder. After a couple of seconds, another rock came towards her. She switched to melee mode and the saber hilt slid into the Gundam's hand, the beam blade issuing forth like flames on a match head. When the asteroid came close, she pulled the trigger, slashing downwards...
...And missed. Stunned at first, she saw the apogee motor on the asteroid's side firing, pushing it to the left. Rolling her eyes, she opened her communications monitor and spoke to the Taurus pilot from before. "Real cute, guys."
The young man, who had been chuckling before, let out a nasal laugh. "Sorry, I couldn't resist."
Relena sighed. "Well, real enemies don't just sit there and let you kill them, so I suppose it's more realistic." Targeting the rock again, she dashed towards it this time and managed to halve it. She let out a ragged breath, fogging up her helmet. Frustrated with herself, she pulled it off long enough to wipe the inside clean before pulling it back on and sealing it.
Then Relena realized that it had been about a minute since the last asteroid had been sent at her. She went back to communications mode, but all she got from the Taurus pilots was dead air. Now she was worried. Changing the frequency, she connected to the Pegasus.
"Lightning here, my escorts aren't responding. Is something wrong? Over."
"Wind here. It seems that way...they just disappeared from our displays as well. Something mig..." Then static filled the line, washing her brother's voice away. She looked around the field; in the distance, she could see the explosions from the others' exercises. She tried contacting the others, but all she got was more static.
Just as she was about to head back to the ship, that feeling shot through her mind. This time, however, something was different. In the past, all she had gotten from that feeling was an indication of danger. Now, she could tell that a Mobile Doll was behind her, preparing to fire a beam cannon at her Gundam's back. Spinning around partially, she extended the Gundam's left arm and fired the beam gun, which punched through the MD's chest and set off its reactor. For a second, the bright flash blinded her. Then, the static subsided and almost instantly, monitors from the Pegasus and the other Gundams began cluttering the spherical cockpit display.
"Guys, I just got attacked by a Mobile Doll. I think my Tauruses were also destroyed by it. I couldn't even detect it until it was right on top of me. Something is definitely up."
Then all Hell broke loose. The communications faded once more. Thrown off her stride, Relena took a second to calm herself down. In less time than it took to blink, her alarms began screaming. Looking around the empty space, she saw shimmering, mirage-like images resolve themselves into what were unmistakably Virgos. She made sure to get a screen capture of one of them; the fact that they were silver and much bulkier than previous models, especially around the legs, was definitely worth noting. They deployed their planet defensors and began firing at her.
Knowing what they were planning, Relena boosted upwards quickly, avoiding the shots. However, a ray of beam fire shot right in front of her Gundam and she had to stop to avoid being hit. All of a sudden, beams came from all around, most keeping her pinned down while the others hit her Gundam dead-on. She did her best to dodge, but at least six of the Virgos were working to keep her immobile so the other three could attack her. Rattling around in the cockpit, she was thankful for the harness that kept her in place and prevented the violent motions from snapping her neck. She tried to fire at one of the Virgos, but her beam shots dissipated harmlessly against its defensor field. Angry and running out of options, she ignited both beam sabers and threw them like darts, slicing off one MD's gun arm and punching through the head of another. But the shots kept coming. And then...
Just as suddenly, the fire began slacking off, then came to a halt altogether. She opened her eyes and saw something that caught her as completely off-guard as the Virgos had.
"...A red Tallgeese?"
The pilot, whose voice held a bit of a British accent, chuckled darkly. "Gundams are overrated...who needs them when you have a good old Leo? Are you alright in there?"
Breathless, Relena nodded. "Other than a couple of bruises, I'm alright. This Gundam's seen better days, though. Thanks for the assistance."
Rosshe leaned back in the Tallgeese-S's chair and looked down at himself. More specifically, he looked at the dark gray and silver Preventers pilot suit he now wore. Still feeling a bit out of place, he replied, "That's what teammates are for, right?"
"Right. I..." Suddenly, something clicked in her mind. She pulled up the image she had taken of the Virgo and looked closely at it. At the sight of a pair of gold boxes on its shoulders, she ground her teeth. "Whoever built those things gave them hyper jammers. That must be why my communications were so spotty."
Rosshe started to say something, but Relena completely missed it. She felt a pain in the side of her head so sharp that she reached up to check if she wasn't bleeding. Instantly, she knew where the hurt was coming from: "Heero!"
She turned her Gundam towards the gray field he was testing in and rocketed off towards his location, leaving the former knight alone. He started after her, but a shot passed under the Tallgeese's arm, tearing a hole in its cloak. Spinning around, he found himself confronted with two more teams of Virgos. Rosshe reached for his Gundam's hip and drew out a beam saber, its handle shaped like a fencing saber. "Well boys, do you want to see how your programming stacks against my skills? En garde!"
Relena knew she was burning away propellant, but she didn't care. Her body was sore with injuries she was sure were coming from Heero. Before she got too close, she could see countless silver shapes crowded around his Gundam, keeping him locked down the same as they had done to her. Her blood was boiling; who was doing this, and how did they manage to make such powerful MD without attracting Preventer's attention?
She blinked. In her mind's eye, she saw herself, battered and fading into unconsciousness as those Mobile Suits from a bygone era closed in on her. She remembered that sensation of pressure just before she passed out. Her last thoughts had been of Heero, actually longing for the days when he was always there, like her own personal superhero. And now, he was actually in danger of losing his life and she was the one doing the rescuing.
"I can't fail. I can't. I refuse to lose him. But how do I fight those things?"
When Relena opened her eyes, she had the answer. She concentrated on one of the Virgos, trying to imagine one of the funnels flying up behind it and firing a shot through its back, destroying it. She blinked again, but when she opened her eyes this time, one of the MD exploded in front of her. She was shocked until she saw the white, cone-like shape hovering in open space. Instantaneously, she concentrated on the other Virgos surrounding Heero. The remaining seven funnels launched off of her Gundam's back and joined their fellow, split up, and began buzzing around like a swarm of hornets, eluding the Virgos' fire and occasionally taking shots when they found an opening. In a matter of seconds, they were all gone. She flew up to the battered Gundam and opened a channel.
"Heero? Are you there?"
For the longest ten seconds of her life, there was nothing. Then she heard his strained voice; he sounded breathless. "Yeah, I've taken some hits. They managed to crack my helmet, so I had to take it off. How are you?"
"I'm fine." Silently, Relena thanked God for keeping Heero alive despite someone's best efforts to the contrary. She started to reach out for his Gundam, but it leveled one of the back-mounted beam rifles at her. She flinched instinctively, afraid that something was wrong...
...Until a beam, as thin as a pencil, passed right above her Gundam's right shoulder. Looking at the rear monitor, she saw a Virgo with a shot clean through its camera eye fade into view. She pulled out of the way and he rained more shots into it, piercing the defensor field and shredding it. She grabbed his heavily damaged Gundam and rocketed away from the explosion and back towards the ship. Along the way, they were joined by Duo, Trowa, and only three of the eight original Tauruses. They docked in the Pegasus, and the second she was out of her Gundam, Relena ran over to Heero's. She opened the emergency release for the cockpit and let him out of his harness while he tried to stem the flow of blood from a wound on the side of his head. One of his arms over her shoulders, she helped him outside, where Sally took him off of her and Zechs looked at the damaged Gundams - and beaten pilots - with concern.
"Just what the hell happened out there?"
Before anyone could reply, the sound of someone stomping down the catwalk drew their attention. Rosshe pulled off his helmet and brushed a few strands of platinum blonde hair out of his eyes. "You'll get the chance to find out for yourself. I managed to short out one with the screw whip, so most if its systems will be intact. But as much as we've gathered, these were completely new MD...based off of the Gundams."
Relena looked at the retreating form of Heero as he was lead off to get medical treatment, and then back at her brother. "I don't get it. Nobody knew about those tests except us, so how could they have sent those MD to attack us?"
He was sitting at his desk, filling out another unnecessary form when the computer beeped, signaling a videophone call. Taking a second to check the sender, he went and locked the door before sitting back down at the desk. Using the mouse, he clicked on the "Accept" button. A video window appeared, showing a man in a mint-colored astrosuit with several of the silver Virgos behind him.
"I'm sorry to bother you at work, sir, but we lost thirty Virgo-Quads today."
"Really?" Rather than the annoyance one would expect, interest filled the man's voice. "Who decided to wander all the way out there and disrupt their auto-response systems?"
The engineer checked his displays one more time before replying. "From the markings on the MS and the intercepted transmissions, it was Preventer, testing out some new MS. And apparently, they're using designs taken from our database at Oddessa."
"Shit, I knew that was going to come back to bite us in the ass. Well, I guess we know what we have to do now."
"Sir? Are you saying that you plan on eliminating Preventer? But they've got the Gundam pilots and Zechs Marquise, and apparently Rosshe Natono has joined them as well."
The man snorted. "You just get to work on those new designs, especially the Helios. I'll deal with the brats and the traitors. After all, it's my job."
"Yes, sir." The link terminated, leaving the man alone in his office once more. He rose from his chair and looked out the window at the bustling city streets beneath him. He knew that 01, the pilot of Wing Zero, was in Preventer. He fought back the urge to punch the window when he remembered that face.
"I should have shot you when I had the chance back then...it would have made my life a whole lot easier."
Without another word, he unlocked the door and went back to work.