Chapter VI
Apocalypse Please
Declare this an emergency
Come on and spread a sense of urgency
And pull us through
And pull us through
And it's time we saw a miracle
Come on, it's time for something biblical
To pull us through
And pull us through
Proclaim eternal victory
Come on and change the course of history
And pull us through
And pull us through
And this is the end
This is the end of the world
Heero's Leo and Jason's Taurus clashed together as they fought. Jason was a trained pilot, but couldn't possibly match the fighting skills Heero possessed. However, Jason didn't seem to realize what he was up against, fighting as over-confidently as he talked.
"You're not so hot, Heero Yuy!" Jason screamed as he landed a blow.
"I'm going to take you down with this blasted colony!"
Heero struck back. "I'd like to see you try!"
Jason was fighting a losing battle, and now he knew it. If he could just get to the beam cannon, he could finish off Yuy easily and still succeed in his mission to destroy L2-74. Heero could tell that this was what Jason was thinking, and did his best to keep his enemy far from the cannon. Heero figured he could disable Jason without actually killing him, and then make his way over to the cannon to destroy it at his leisure.
It would sure be a lot easier if he had Wing Zero; he could just fire his twin buster rifle at the cannon, and the fight would be over. Nevertheless, mobile suit battles were supposed to be a thing of the past, and Heero was fighting to keep it that way. But I never wanted my last battle to be in a Leo, Heero thought warily.
Duo, who never got the confirmation message from Heero, decided to fly over to Heero's side and see what was holding him up. When he got there, he saw that the rest of the mobile dolls factory had been destroyed.
"I wonder where he went now." Duo wondered aloud. He decided to venture outside the colony to see if Heero was in space. Duo accidentally flew into the middle of their fight. "Uh-oh!" That Taurus was getting creamed by the Leo. "Well, no question who's piloting the Leo! Heero, any way I can be of assistance?"
Heero and Jason halted their combat and faced one another. If they had been out of their suits, their eyes would have locked right on one another's, because they each knew the other's thoughts.
"Duo- the cannon- Now!"
"Oh, no you don't!" Jason raced Heero to the beam cannon.
Duo trailed behind them, ready to help Heero destroy it. Jason beat the two Leos there and pressed the keys to enable to the beam cannon.
"Nooo!" Duo screamed. This was his home... Hilde was there... He had to stop this cannon! He leapt in front of the beam, hoping to absorb most of the blast so the colony would only be slightly damaged. Heero recognized Duo's plan and contacted him.
"Duo, if we both self-detonate, the mutual blasts will be enough to counter the beam and destroy the cannon."
Duo sighed. "It's nuts, but I want to save this colony more than I want to live. Let's do it, Heero."
Heero flew over and positioned himself next to Duo. The beam was headed straight for them, and Heero let his gaze settle on it, unflinching. He was only thinking of Relena, hoping what Jason had told him was untrue, and that she was still alive. If not, he hoped he would end up in heaven so he could see her again. Heero prepared the self-detonation device and braced for impact.
"Goodbye, Hilde... I'm sure gonna miss you," Duo sighed.
"That's it, then." Heero murmured. "Detonation in ten, nine, eight..."
"NO!" Jason's Taurus came barreling at them. "I won't give you the satisfaction of dying for this colony! It's going down with you!" Jason stopped in front of them and tried to battle them out of the way.
"You fool!" Duo yelled. "Now we're ALL gonna die!"
Not unless... "Fight him, Duo!" Heero switched off the detonation device, since it would no longer matter now that Jason had pushed Duo out of the way. However, the beam was still headed for the colony at full speed. Heero pulled out the Leo's beam sword and flew directly at the cannon.
"Why are you still fighting me?" Duo screamed at Jason. "Heero's gonna destroy the cannon! You've lost!"
"It's not over till its over!" Jason, however, was now directly in front of the beam, and it devoured him in its path toward the colony. The Phoenix soldier went out with one final scream. "NOOOOO!" His Taurus was vaporized.
Duo's eyes widened. "Whoa... That was scary!"
Just then, there was another huge explosion as Heero destroyed the cannon with a swipe of the Leo's beam sword. The blast set Heero's Leo flying backward, but he quickly recovered and flew back toward Duo.
"Too bad he got in the way," Heero said tonelessly. "I might have let him live after we captured him and pumped him for information."
"Yeah... It's a real shame." Duo looked back to the spot where Jason had just been. All that remained of him and his Taurus looked like stardust.
"That was one powerful beam," Heero muttered. "I would've hated to see what it could do to the colony."
"That's for sure!" Duo agreed. He crossed himself thankfully. "Now let's get the heck outta here."
The two pilots guided their stolen mobile suits back to the colony. When they reached the Phoenix base, they hit the self-detonation devices in the Leos and hopped out. After making a call to the colony's police about the Phoenix soldiers they found, the two began to plan their exit.
"Now for a ride home," Duo said.
"I've got a Preventer shuttle on the base's top level," Heero answered. "But we can't head home just yet; we should see how Trowa's faring."
"Oh yeah! That's right. If he's encountering anything on LX-316 like we did, he could probably use a hand."
The two went to where Heero had landed his shuttle, only to find it was demolished.
"Unreal!" Duo cried, scratching his head.
"Looks like Phoenix didn't want me to escape," Heero said coolly.
"So much for that idea!" Duo threw his hands up in the air. "Now what?"
"Duo!"
"Huh?"
The two Preventers turned around to see Hilde running at them. She stopped short when she saw the results of the explosions.
"Wow... What happened here? Are you guys ok?"
"We're fine, babe," Duo answered, grinning. "How are you doing?"
Hilde gave him a wide smile. "I found something I gotta show you! Come with me, quick!"
She grabbed Duo by the arm and started to run. Duo shot a helpless glance toward Heero, and he had no choice but to follow. Within a few minutes the three of them were standing in Hilde's scrap yard, gazing at an untouched light-speed Aries.
"Hey! Nice Aries! Where'd you find that?"
"Thanks! I found it near where you guys just were, in between some abandoned buildings. No one was in it, so I took it! I figured I'd do my part to ensure disarmament for the future and scrap it. It's the least I could do to help Relena."
"Relena..." Heero closed his eyes at the mention of her name. You'd better be alive when I get back! He thought. I was the one who was supposed to die now, not you. You have a future to protect.
Duo watched Heero curiously for a moment, then turned to Hilde. "Sounds like this guy's anxious to get home. Since you're just going to scrap this suit anyway, would you mind if I borrow it first? I promise to blow it up as soon as I'm done."
"Sure, Duo, do what you want with it," Hilde said with a shrug. "Do you need it for your mission or something?"
"You could say that. We're about to go bail out a friend of ours... That is, if he even needs our help."
"Well," Hilde said with a smile, "call me if you need anything. I'll be here."
"Thanks, babe." Dou grabbed her in a fierce hug. He held her for longer than she expected him to, and she pulled away with a slight laugh.
"Are you okay, Duo?"
"I'm fine. I'm just really happy to see you again."
"So am I. But be careful out there, okay? Come back in one piece... You are coming back here, aren't you?"
"I'll see what I can do. Our visit was kinda cut short, and I'd like to spend some more time here."
"Come back whenever you want, Duo. I'll be here waiting."
"Thanks, Hilde. See ya later!" With that, Duo jumped inside the Aries. "You coming, Heero?"
Heero was momentarily distracted, staring up at the colony's manufactured sky. "Hn? Oh." He nodded to Hilde and joined Duo inside the mobile suit.
Hilde waved goodbye with a smile on her face as the Aries took off for space.
"You see, Heero," Duo lectured as Heero flew the suit to LX, "that's how you should treat a woman. You could learn a lot from watching me and Hilde. Might help you out the next time you encounter Relena."
"If there's a next time," Heero muttered under his breath, but the remark didn't get past Duo.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Heero's braided friend retorted. "Are you planning to die out here or something?"
"Something like that." Heero didn't want to say anything about Relena's possible condition so as not to worry Duo.
Duo sighed and shook his head. "Did you at least say goodbye to her first?
Heero checked the status of the Aries' velocity. "No."
"Well, geez! If you're gonna die, you at least say some romantic things before you go!" Duo paused. "Have you kissed her yet?"
"Shut up."
"Geez! I'm just asking a question! Can I have my head back now?"
Heero mostly ignored Duo for the rest of the trip, unless it had to do with their mission.
The girl that continued to haunt Heero's ragged mind was on her way to the same colony he was.
"Relena? It's time to wake up. We're almost there," Noin spoke to her softly.
"Huh?" Relena stirred from her position in the seat beside Noin. "Gosh... How long did I sleep?"
"Pretty much most of the trip. Your body must have needed it," Zechs answered.
Relena nodded and turned her face to look out the window. They were flying past a cluster of colonies at rapid speed, but it was still possible to see the white outlines of the stars. They were so much brighter in space, and Relena wished that every person on Earth could have the chance to see them from here. Her thoughts then turned to Heero. Everyone was saying that Adrian had Heero lured away to the L2 area to be killed, but Relena didn't believe anyone was capable of ending Heero's life, other than God or Heero himself. She thought of the secret Heero had shared with her and Duo—his ability to regenerate from mortal injuries. He was much stronger than anyone could estimate, and often hid his true power from his opponent.
Relena had a sneaking suspicion that her brother was the same way. She had heard the word "Newtype" used to describe both of them before, but she had no idea what it meant. Zechs was very vague with his answer, and Relena never asked Heero about it. At any rate, Relena was confident that Heero possessed the skills necessary to outwit any enemy and was probably safe wherever he was right now. Relena was comforted by that thought and began to concentrate on the situation at hand.
Their shuttle soon reached the LX area, and Zechs, Noin and Relena landed at a space port in LX-316.
"Now, did Dorothy give you a specific location of this place?" Noin asked as they began to scan the perimeter.
"No, she just told me it was here on LX. It's supposedly hidden. No one would want a secret MS factory to be detected, after all."
Zechs frowned pensively. "Well, we should begin at places we know used to contain MS and work our way from there. I suppose you want to shut them down in a non-violent manner, right?"
"Correct," Relena confirmed. "I'll do what I've done every other time. I'll go in there and state that...
"I'm Relena Darlian, Vice Foreign Minister of the Earth Sphere United Nation." Relena presented her hand to the man in front of her, who was the manager of Orion Corporation, an industry that once specialized in mass-producing mobile suits. Relena and Noin decided to come here first, while Zechs checked out another possibility.
"Welcome to Orion, Miss Darlian. I'm Morris Shibley. May I offer you a beverage while we meet together?"
"No, thank you. We are here because we've heard rumors about a mobile suit factory that is still producing mobile dolls, even though the last war has been over for more than a year now. Would you happen to know anything about it?"
"Why, no, Miss Darlian. I haven't heard anything like that. As you know, Orion used to be a prime supplier to the Alliance military and was eventually bought by Oz, but we have not produced any suits since the conclusion of the Eve Wars. We now specialize in building high-quality civilian shuttles."
"I am relieved to here that, but would you mind if we had a look about the area?"
"Not at all; I'll give you the grand tour myself."
Noin and Relena surveyed the premises, but found no signs of illegal manufacturing. They thanked Mr. Shibley and headed on their way.
"Well, that's one, Relena," Noin sighed. "Do you know where else we can go?"
"Yes," Relena said decidedly. "Let's try a former military base; there would be lots of places to store mobile suits there."
They headed to a former Alliance base; upon arrival, they found it under heavy construction.
"They're tearin' this old base out to make room for a shopping center!" A gruff-looking man reported to the two Cinque women.
"May we have a look around?" Relena had to shout to be heard over the whir of the machines at work.
"What's that?"
She made an effort to raise her voice. "I said, may we have a look around?"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"WE'D LIKE TO LOOK AROUND!" Noin finally yelled.
"OH! Sure, you can! Just be real careful now, ladies." The man walked away, chuckling to himself.
Relena and Noin conducted as thorough a search as possible, only to find that the construction worker was telling the truth.
"This is harder than I thought it'd be," Relena sighed.
"I guess we'll just have to keep looking. Maybe Zechs is having better luck."
"Maybe..."
The two disheartened women visited more military bases and industries that used to produce mobile suits, but continued to come up empty. They searched abandoned warehouses and anything else they could think of; still, nothing was found.
"What about civilian areas?" Relena inquired.
"Civilian? Wouldn't that be too noticeable? That's a hard thing to miss when it's going on right under your nose."
Relena tapped Noin's nose and giggled. "That's what I'm getting at."
Noin thought for a second, and the meaning behind Relena's words hit her. "Oh, I see. Well, lead on, Minister Darlian!"
The two ventured toward the downtown section of the colony. It was easy to locate the North Star building, since is stood at an imposing height of eighty stories. The sign out front revealed that this place served multiple purposes and was home to many practices, including financial, law and medical offices. It also boasted a bank and four-star restaurant.
"See?" Relena said breezily to Noin. "Everyone must come here, so..."
"...any MS production would be going on right under their noses," Noin finished for her.
The two women agreed not to question anyone this time, but to start investigating by themselves; that way, they wouldn't get pulled into a lengthy tour of the building. They stepped into the elevator, and Relena pushed the button for the lowest level.
"We'll work our way up from the bottom," she explained needlessly.
They soon entered the basement, which could be described in few words: large, dark, and empty. Noin and Relena spread out to search for possible clues. Relena felt along a wall, hoping to find some sort of secret panel, when her hand ran across something square-shaped.
"Noin!" She hissed. "Over here!"
Noin's eyes widened at the sight of the small electronic box, something she had seen herself many times at military bases. "Relena! This is it! Now we just have to figure out their code."
"Code? What on earth could it be?"
The two women puzzled over it for a while, punching in whatever they could think of.
"Why don't we contact Zechs?" Noin suggested at last.
"I'm one step ahead of you," a raspy voice said from behind them.
"Milliardo!" Relena cried happily. "Thank goodness. We have to figure out the code to get in here. What do you think—"
Before Relena could say another word, Zechs was in front of the box, inspecting it closely. "Hmph. There's no need to punch in a code when you can work around it," Zechs murmured. "We had one of these at a few Oz bases. There's one code that disables the password sequence, which just about every soldier has to memorize and never changes. That code is..." Zechs quickly punched in a series of numbers, and the floor dropped beneath them. Relena let out a startled gasp as they began descending down a long metal slide.
"Why didn't I think of that code sooner?" Noin called to Zechs.
"Beats me," Zechs replied as they fell. "We're going too fast," he called to the two women. "Try to sit up as straight as you can."
They obeyed him and began to slow down. They landed quietly in a room swarming with the same soldiers Duo and Heero had seen in the red and black uniforms. Despite their discreet entrance, Noin, Zechs, and Relena were immediately noticed. The militant group surrounded them and drilled them with questions.
"Who are you, and what do you think you're doing here?"
Relena shrugged off one of the soldiers who had come up behind her and tried to grab hold of her. "I'm Vice Foreign Minister Darlian of ESUN, and I demand to know what is going on here. You are the ones who need to tell me who you are."
"We call ourselves Phoenix," a man in his thirties approached them, speaking with a thick British accent. "I'm Nathan, head of this operation."
"Would use please explain the purpose of your operation to me?" Relena glared at him.
"There's only one thing that you really need to know," Nathan said with a cryptic smile, "and that is that we have no use for you. Part of our assignment was your disposal, and I'm delighted to say that I will see to it myself." With that, Nathan produced a gun and pointed it right at Relena. She merely stared at him, unflinching.
"So, you're the ones who have been trying to kill me all this time. Wufei and Dorothy were both right," she said, nodding to Zechs and Noin. "And now you want to start a war with the colonies."
"Very observant, Miss Darlian, but your smarts won't save you now." Nathan pulled the trigger. Zechs and Noin both reacted instantly, pushing Relena out of the way.
"That's all right," Nathan grinned and blew on his gun's smoking barrel. "I've got plenty more shots where that came from."
Zechs glared at the man before rushing him. Nathan fired, but Zechs managed to dodge every bullet. He kicked the gun out of Nathan's hand, but found himself surrounded with more gunfire from the other soldiers.
"Zechs!" Noin screamed. She raced to join him in the fight after urging Relena to hide.
"Hide? Where?..." Relena stood by helplessly for a moment, until two soldiers grabbed her arms from behind. Relena, however, did know a little self-defense, thanks to her brother's urging that she learn to protect herself. She used the soldiers' arms as if they gymnastic bars, kicking them in the face as she flipped backward. The two men were so stunned that they fell over, giving Relena ample time to escape.
She ran hurriedly up a flight of metal stairs onto a landing high above everyone else. More soldiers saw her and ran up after her. Relena swung her head around, trying to find another place to run. She felt something on the wall behind her—A ladder! She began to climb up it as the soldiers scrambled after her. Occasionally she could here bullets coming from behind, but she dared not look down for the life of her. She found herself on a roof-like landing, just beneath the ceiling. The pursuing soldiers were closing in on her.
Relena found a few metal rods and began tossing them downward, hoping they would harm the soldiers enough to stall them, but not wishing to inflict any serious injuries. She looked up to see rafters above her; they were so thin, Relena was certain that none of these soldiers was smaller enough to stand on them. Good thing her childhood gymnastics classes had made her well-adverse in using a balance beam!
Relena grabbed hold of one and swung her legs over so she was sitting on the beam. Relena took a good look around her; the beams spread out all over the ceiling, and ran adjacent to the room's fluorescent lights. If Relena got too close to them, she realized, she could be burned. The biggest challenge, however, was being certain not to fall. The beam was only about four inches wide; Relena could judge that much. All it would take to tumble was one false step. Beads of perspiration broke out across Relena's forehead. She could hear the soldiers coming closer; when they reached her, they could probably grab hold of her easily and cause her to fall.
I can't let that happen. I'm going to climb higher! Relena could hear her heart pounding loudly in her ears. She slowly stood up on the beam and swung up to the one above her the same way she had gotten on the first one. The soldiers were unable to reach her now, but they could still fire at her.
Relena's only option now was to move as far away from them as possible- without losing her balance. Somehow I doubt this is
like the gymnastics class at St. Gabriel! Relena stood up again and began to slowly walk across the beam, one foot in front of the other. She kept her eyes straight ahead of her, imagining she was on a normal balance beam, which stood only four feet off the ground. Relena didn't want to think about how high up she was now; last time she checked, Zechs looked to be about the size of her pinkie finger. Just hang in there, she told herself. You're doing just fine!
That's when she heard the gun shots. One of them hit the beam she was walking on, just a precious few feet behind her. The beam shook, but Relena held her balance. She looked around frantically, but there was nothing for her to grab hold of; she could only continue to move across slowly, now a little shakier than before. The shots continued to come from behind her, the bullets edging closer to Relena with each passing second; she even saw one as it whizzed past her head.
Keep going! Keep going! There was nothing else she could do. Finally, the moment she'd been expecting arrived; one of the soldier's bullets grazed her ankle, sending a wave of shock and pain up Relena's body. She suddenly felt paralyzed, and could do nothing as she slipped off the rafter. Her deafening scream reverberated off the walls, and Zechs and Noin watched in helpless horror.
"RELENA!"
Her body was completely out of her control as she tumbled at incredible speed. One thought screamed through her mind in those crucial seconds… Heero.
At that moment, mere seconds after she had actually been shot, a pair of strong arms caught her. Relena could neither see her savior nor say anything to him; she merely buried her face into his chest and kept it there. Relena could feel she and her rescuer making sudden twists, turns and flips in the air, before landing with surprising solidity on what she thought was another metal rafter.
Relena was breathing hard, trying to keep from crying, as a calm voiced soothed her. "Shh... It's okay, Relena. I've got you."
Relena recognized the smooth voice. "Trowa!" She looked up into the face of none other than the circus acrobat himself. Then she chanced a glimpse down. Relena gasped. This was no four-inch steel beam they were standing on—it was a single wire rope! Where did Trowa get a tightrope? Relena was stunned.
"I always carry one with me," Trowa answered the question in Relena's eyes, following her gaze to his rope. "They tend to come in handy, especially in situations like these."
Relena just shook her head in amazement and let Trowa carry her to safety. Trowa had managed to rescue Relena because he was hiding out on the rafters himself, waiting for an opportunity to attack the soldiers and get to the mobile suits. When he saw Relena ascending, he stayed put, not wanting to draw any extra attention to her. However, when the soldiers began to fire at her, Trowa made his way across to her, beam by beam. He was still too far away when she was shot in the ankle, so he threw all his chances and pulled out his tightrope. He had designed it with a grappling hook system so that it would attach to wherever he aimed it, then do likewise at the other end, creating a straight line. Trowa then jumped down after Relena, grabbed her, and flipped over to the tightrope, landing squarely on his two feet.
The whole ordeal began and was over within seconds; Trowa had executed his plan very quickly in order to save her. It was a feat no one normally would have imagined possible—but anything was possible with a former Gundam pilot.
Trowa leaned down and whispered in Relena's blonde hair, "Relena? I'm going to swing us down to the lower level now, okay? Zechs and Noin have taken care of most of the soldiers, so you should be safe."
Relena tried to reply, but the pain surging throughout her body seemed to rob her of her voice; the only sound she could make came out as a whimper. Trowa carefully dropped off the tightrope and, holding Relena with one steady arm, grabbed hold of the rope with his free hand. He detached the end of the rope they were standing on and began to swing to the other end. Trowa couldn't control their speed and knew they were going to hit the wall. He turned himself around mid-swing so that he would slam into it with his shoulder. He did this successfully, then began to shimmy down the rope to the floor. When he finally reached solid ground, Noin was applauding.
"That was just about the most daring rescue I've ever seen! Nice work, Trowa."
Trowa nodded and handed the wounded Relena off to Zechs.
"I told you that you shouldn't have come," Zechs murmured to his sister.
Tears stung Relena's eyes, and she didn't utter a word.
"Relena's the one who found this place, between the two of us," Noin pointed out. "The only other people to find it were you two, and you're former Gundam pilots. I think that's saying a lot on her part."
"She's right," Trowa agreed.
"All right, Relena. Looks like you win." Zechs held his little sister in his arms. "But we still need to take care of that wound of yours."
"The bullet didn't go through, just grazed her ankle. We should be able to treat it right here," said Trowa.
"I'll take care of Relena," Noin volunteered. "You guys need to find those mobile suits and get rid of them."
The two former pilots nodded at Noin's plan and raced to find the MS hangar.
"Don't worry, Relena," Noin whispered. "This will all be over soon."
Relena opened her mouth as if to say something, but only a gasp came out.
"It must hurt you a lot. The first gun wound's always tough. If you were a soldier, I'd tell you to get used to it," Noin said with a smile. "After you've been shot, guns aren't so scary anymore."
Relena just glared at Noin, who smiled in return.
"Oh, that's right, I forgot. You're not afraid of anything, are you?" Noin thought of the stories Relena had told her of staring down barrels of guns that Heero had pulled on her, and countless other times when her life had been threatened with a gun in her face. Just a while earlier, that soldier Nathan had shot at her, and Relena didn't even flinch.
"You're a crazy kid, Relena," Noin muttered as she wrapped Relena's wound with some scraps of her own clothing. "Crazy... but brave, nonetheless."
Relena tried to smile, but winced as Noin put pressure on her bleeding ankle. It seemed that it was oozing more than it should have for a minor wound.
Noin began to look worried. "I know Trowa said the bullet only grazed you, but goodness… You're losing quite a bit of blood." Then Noin realized how severe Relena's injuries from only a few days before had been; she had lost a lot of blood from her head, which was always dangerous. It was unlikely that her body could stand to lose much more.
Sweat broke out on Noin's forehead. Dear God… She's going to need a transfusion. Noin finished wrapping Relena's ankle, only to watch helplessly as the blood immediately soaked through the cloth. Noin tried not to panic, but only one thought dominated her mind: Can we make it to the hospital in time?