Chapter 2: The Bird That Danced Above The City.
"Character Talking"
'Character thinking'
As the foreign battleship descended from the atmosphere, its exterior burning from the compressed air. The citizens of the city stared at what they were seeing, some assumed that a meteor was heading straight for them and began to panic, pointlessly making a run for their inevitable demise. Some began to flock amongst friends and loved ones, accepting their fates and opting to spend the last moments given to them with people they were close to. As the people waited for their final moments, the falling object came to a halt.
The battleship floated above the city, the soldiers manning the comms began to update the crew on their current status. Several of the ship's cameras captured images of the vicinity, monitors throughout the ship began to relay visuals to the crew of the city below them. The captain of the ship surveyed the area through the ship's cameras, seeing only panicking civilians staring at them. He smirked when the thought of his prey opting to hide in such a bustling city was a foolish choice.
"Excuse me, Captain," Turning his head to one of the Officers on the bridge. "If I may be so bold as to ask, how did you figure out that our target would be hiding on this planet? With the number of decoys that were spread out last time, I would think that she would search for solace within a safe haven as always, would she not?" The officer asked, puzzled at how the ship's captain managed to figure out where their quarry was hiding.
The administrator of the G-system has been on the run for years across different universes. Making decoys in the hopes of confusing fleets so they could remain undiscovered. Unfortunately for the administrator, her hunters were always two steps ahead of her. They would always resort to violence as they invaded countless universes, relentlessly hunting for their objective. Never caring for diplomatic solutions as it was not part of their mission. The only justification they needed for their actions was that no one but them could know of the value that their target had.
As time passed, the A.I. began to rely on universes whose denizens proved to be a threat to its pursuers. It makes sense that she would try to undermine their efforts by pitting their forces against people who could fight back whilst she continued to run away.
"Maybe she's grown tired of it all as the guilt of endangering innocents became unbearable for her." The captain grinned as he answered his subordinate's question. "The countless horrific experiences finally opened her eyes to the inevitable end, so she visited this planet so she could have one last look at such a peaceful environment."
"I find it hard to believe that our target would suddenly endanger itself and the inhabitants of the planet over such a sentimental reason." The Officer answered with a raised brow.
Brushing off his subordinates' worries, the captain of the ship stood up from his seat. 'It's either that or she honestly thought that we'd always assume she would nestle into a hornet's nest. As if I'd fall for such a routine manner of thinking.', mused the Captain.
"Alright, sound the alarms! Begin bombarding the surface below and ready the mobile suits! If the rabbit won't come out of its hole then we'll snuff it out!" The Captain raised his right hand towards the crew, "The orders are simple, search and capture, destroy anything in your path, expect the natives to retaliate, but don't waste time if they can't put up a fight, our target is the top priority!"
"Yes Sir!" The crew shouted in unison, relaying the message to the rest of the crew. The ship's cannons aimed at the city below, sights lined up, pink lights began to glow from within the barrel.
Deep within the confines of a mobile suits' cockpit, multiple lights began to illuminate the dark space. A young girl sat on the cockpit's seat, her hands holding what seems to be control sticks, her feet resting on pedals. Activating the mobile suit's generator, its green-colored optics flared from within the thick patch of trees, numerous birds resting on top of its head flew away in panic. Several buttons and monitors began to flash as the girl began to check the machine's control system.
The monitors on the front and sides of the cockpit began to show the surrounding environment around the young girl, providing a 180-degree panoramic view of what the Mobile Suits' camera saw, her right hand drifted to the sides, flickering several switches when sudden warnings began to appear on the screen in front of her. Her eye's stared wide at what the screen said, the young girl braced for the incoming tremors.
The cockpit began to tremble from the foreseen impact as the girl clutched onto the seat, 'They're opening fire at a civilian populace without a single warning?! Damn them!' The young girl mentally cursed at such an uncouth tactic.
When the tremors subsided, the girl quickly fastened the seatbelts. Her hands gripped tight on the left and right control levers as she moved them forward. The sounds of gears and pistons moving could be heard as the mobile suits' legs began to move.
The trees began to fall as the bright sun illuminated on what had emerged from within, a white robot with distinct colors of white, blue and yellow, a large jewel fixed in the middle of its chest. Stepping on the left and right pedals, the thrusters throughout the mobile suit spewed hot gas, the wings on its back spread out as it flew into the air in a matter of seconds, causing the grass and few remaining trees to blow away from the force created.
"I'll stop them, with this Wing Gundam, I'll stop this pointless bloodshed!" The young girl said as she flew off in the direction of the countless explosions being set off.
Smoke rose from the city as the citizens fled from the ensuing chaos, beams fell from the sky, hitting the ground, and the buildings caught in its path. Dead bodies littered the streets, countless broken vehicles and debris were scattered everywhere. The battleship that was the cause of this horrific scene stopped its bombardment, providing a moment of respite for the unfortunate citizens who survived the initial volley. Looking at the large monitor in front of his ship, the Captain smiled, 'Surely this will be enough to rattle you into action.' He thought as he turned his head to the ship's operator.
"Any response from our target?" He asked as the Operator scanned the area for anything unusual. After 3 seconds had passed the ships radar pinged an object entering its range, "Sir, an unknown mobile suit is heading our way, it's moving at a faster rate than anything our database has!" The Operator exclaimed.
"And our bait worked perfectly, deploy the mobile suits! Have the ship's gunners ready to provide covering fire! The Zakus will maintain the ground and provide anti-air artillery, Leos will handle aerial combat. Deploy our ships fighter aircraft to provide support to both units."
The ship's mobile suit hangars opened, a wide variety of machines with different designs came into full view, several colored optics flashed as the mobile suits began to launch from the ship's catapult.
"About time we brought home what we came here for men, Look alive! The rabbit is getting close!" The leader of the Zaku unit shouted over the open comms channel. Several men shouted in unison, adrenaline beginning to rush into their heads.
"Rabbit-hunting, huh?" The leader of the Leo unit mused as his unit assumed formation, hovering above the city.
As the young girl piloting the Wing Gundam arrived at the city, the damage caused by the earlier attack came into full view. She hastily brushed off the horrific scenery and focused her eyes on who caused all of this destruction. The crosshairs on her screen zoomed in on the battleship that she's come across time and time again. The Wing Gundam's main camera spotted multiple mobile suits spread out in the air, the sensor located in its chest displayed visuals of multiple ground-type mobile suits in firing position. The monitor had displayed a total of 8 mobile suits currently deployed.
Warning sirens from the monitor began to blare as it detected hostile heat signatures from the ship, in haste, the young girl pulled the levers and stomped on the cockpit's pedals, the Wing Gundam pulled back, evading the shots from the enemy ships' beam cannons.
'It would be too reckless to fire the buster rifle in a populated area, and I only have three shots. I'll need to lure the Leos above the city and make sure I completely vaporize them in a single shot if I don't want any debris falling into the city. I'll also need to be careful in disabling the Zakus on the ground if I don't want the buildings to be caught in an explosion.'
After gathering her thoughts in a span of milliseconds, the young girl pushed the pedal as the Wing Gundam charged at the Leos in the sky. It flew, above the city, maneuvering through the incoming fire from the ship's cannons and the Zakus on the ground. The Leos followed its tail as they aimed their rifles at it, firing in coordination. The Wing Gundam spun and aimed its head-mounted Vulcans and Machine Cannon at its pursuers, the group dispersed, breaking formation as the Gundam fired a volley of bullets at them. The Wing Gundam ceased fire as the Leos scattered in multiple directions, staring down at the battleship, it fired its cannons once again, a curtain of beams tore the sky as the Wing Gundam weaved its way through the danger.
In a short burst, the Wing Gundam flew past the ship, appearing behind it, the Gundam raised its right hand holding the buster rifle as it aimed at the ship's thrusters. Before it could pull the trigger, a Leo charged at it with its beam saber raised. As the Leo swung its beam saber vertically, the Wing Gundam lowered its weapon and leaned to the side. Dodging the slash as it maneuvered behind the grunt and kicked the flight unit that kept it on the air.
With its flight units' thrusters damaged, the Leo began to crash down into the city. Before it could touch the ground one of the other Leos reached out and grabbed its shoulder. The Wing Gundam repositioned itself as the ship's cannons once again turned and began firing toward its direction. Alert signals came from the Wing Gundam's monitor as the remaining Leos charged at it from both sides. It raised its shield to defend itself as one of the Leos fired at it with its 105mm Rifle, the rounds bounced off as it was not enough to penetrate the Wing Gundam's shield. As it was preoccupied from the suppressive fire in front of it, the other Leo equipped with a bazooka, aimed at the Wing Gundam's thrusters, intending to plunge it down into the ground. The Leo let loose a rocket from its bazooka as the wing quickly evaded at the last moment before impact. The rocket flew straight into its ally's direction, the other Leo hastily tried to make evasive maneuvers, but it was too late as its shoulder took a direct hit.
The Wing Gundam spun and aimed its Buster Rifle at the remaining Leo, firing a yellow beam that completely encompassed the mobile suit. Its armor began to melt like butter before it exploded in the air vaporizing whatever remained, leaving nothing behind.
The officers inside the bridge of the battleship were watching the battle closely, one of their mobile suits was destroyed by their target. As the officers thought of what to do in this situation seeing as the majority of their aerial mobile suits could no longer continue fighting, the captain of the ship simply sat in his seat without a hint of worry.
"Operator, what's the update on our current fighting strength?" The captain asked in a calm tone, seemingly unfazed from the recent explosion just a few meters away from his ship.
"The Gundam is too far from our ground forces' firing range, we have only three Leos remaining, two of which have been damaged and can no longer continue engaging the target within the air, sir."
"I see, it's time to proceed to the next phase of our plan. Order the Leos to retreat to the ship now, provide covering fire as they make way to the hangers! And ask the mechanics if the special device is ready to activate."
The Operator began relaying the message to the remaining Leo pilots as the captain hunched in his seat, clasping his hands as he stared at the Gundam.
"The mechanics have given the clear captain, preparation to transmit the virus will begin shortly!" The Operator exclaimed. It didn't matter how many mobile suits they lost, the moment she revealed herself, the trap was already set.
"The Leos are retreating." The young girl said as she effortlessly maneuvered through the enemy ship's fire. With the Leos out of the picture, she turned her attention to the Zakus littered throughout the city as she turned and charged towards their direction. The Wing Gundam flew towards the city, its sensors locked on a new batch of targets when the pilot suddenly felt a head-splitting pain as she promptly let go of the controls and clasped her head.
"I'm losing my connection to the operating system! What is this!" The girl shouted, her thoughts became more and more jarred as the pain worsened with every second. As she screamed from her seat, the monitors' alerts blared continuously as the enemy ships' cannons had already locked onto their target. The harsh sound of the alarms was all the young girl could recall hearing clearly as the Gundam was shot from the sky, piercing pain continued to assault her mind as the Wing Gundam fell towards the ground. It crashed into the ravaged streets, much to the horrified civilians' dismay who were still within the vicinity.
'They used a virus?' The young girl's damaged mind managed to think of what could have caused her sudden breakdown. The Wing Gundam was damaged and she could no longer continue fighting in her current condition. Stretching her hand out to one of the panels, she pressed a button that opened the cockpit's hatch. Unfastening the cockpits seatbelt, the girl struggled as she tried to crawl out of the mobile suit. As her consciousness began to fade, the light that illuminated the dim cockpit from outside the hatch was obscured by a shadowy figure.
'No… I can't let it end here… I don't want to be used to hurt people again…' The young girl thought, fear beginning to grip her mind. She shuddered at the numerous atrocities that she would be forced to take part in should she be captured.
"You're not Heero Yuy, you're that girl from earlier." The shadowy figure said to her as he entered the cockpit. Grabbing hold of her small body, she could faintly hear them shouting, but could not understand a single word coming from their mouth.
"Please… help me…" was all the girl could mutter as her vision went dark.
A/N: This is my very first published fanfiction and I'm open to receiving advice on how to improve. I mostly got the idea of this story from playing the SD Gundam G Generation series and tried making a story where different Gundam universes collided. I'm loosely handling multiple elements from the Gundam series if I'm being honest and my writing is amateurish, if you could point out things that could use improvement (i.e. grammar, story writing, plot holes, etc.) I'd appreciate it.
And just to make things easier for your imagination I'm using the design of the Wing Gundam Endless Waltz (without its extra cartridges) in this chapter.