Fore-warning

This chapter is terrible and almost completely filler. I kinda ran out of ideas and lost steam and I'm just posting it so I can move on. I will make it up to you all soon I swear. Maybe with another intermission chapter to show you all what I have been thinking of?

I apologize for the grammatical and spelling atrocity you are about to read. *gets on my knees with my hands put together and raised* please…forgive me. The next few chapters will be much better. I`m just posting this to move on…

On the wings of an angel

With as loud a sound as he could without shattering the cup Noah put his cup and plate down and slowly stood up. The abrupt action seemed to startle even waltfeld. After all just a moment ago he had been sitting on the couch like none of this worried him.

"I'm assuming you have an answer then?" asked waltfeld as he turned the gun on Noah, originally not intent on using it but he was curious if he had angered the boy suddenly. After all he seemed to not seem TOO worried as he stared waltfeld down.

"Yes I do….the answer is simple and exactly what you stated that my group was here to bring about…but flipped around. Originally my team, my small group was to become such a destructive force, so terrifying to both zaft and the alliance, that you`d both lay down your arms and either make peace or come after us under a ceasefire and afterwards realize working together was more to your benefit than anything else." He said as he took a step towards waltfeld.

This seemed to worry the veteran for a moment.

"The answer instead is that this war will come to a bloody and brutal end. A no holds bar brawl between both sides where each lays out their secret toys they have been developing and humanity will see war for what it truly is. A horrible thing that can only be ended once someone finally has the guts to end the cycle…the end the endless waltz of war, peace, and revolution….TO FUCKING LAY DOWN THEIR GOD DAMN GUNS!" he yelled at the end, actually causing the coffee coinsurer to drop the gun and take a step back as he took a step forward.

This made Noah blink for a moment till finally waltfeld reacted by laughing. Nervously at first…but…laughing

The coordinator stopped slowly and held his hand out to Noah.

"In the days to come we will meet on the battlefield. Either you and me, or me and the kid. Win or lose…"

Noah shook his hand slowly.

"I'm counting on you two to end this war. But make no mistake. Out of the three pilots in this room…no matter which of us faces off…know that only one of us can survive. So promise me this…"he said, looking more at Noah then he was Kira, even tightening his grip on Noah's hand.

"You won't hold back…against me…or anyone else." He stated as he let Noah go.

Did he know? Like Flay, had he seen what happens to him? Well seen what HAPPENED? Or maybe he had already seen the future? His eyes look full of determination towards Noah…but he could see it swiftly flash to sorrow then back to determination when he glanced at Kira.

Did he know he was going to have to fake his own death to continue on? Or did he already know what moves Kira would use and knew how to kill him?

Noah was perplexed by the fact he may have…he was a solid man, both in mind and body. Yes he only had a few episodes in the series before he "died" but still…does that make his "life" short enough to peer into the void beyond? Did he know how this conversation was going to go?

Finally they let go of each-others hand and he put the gun away before buzzing for Aisha.

Before they left him and Noah's eyes met once more and Noah knew it then and there. It didn't matter from the zero system if he had seen everything or not. He was a smart man, he knew where to put his money. He knew from the start Kira would kill him, he was betting on it.

He wasn't suicidal, he wasn't looking for an adrenaline rush to try and stop him, and no…no he could see KIRA was the hero. Kira was the one who would change the whole game of this war. He knew Kira's kind heart would dominate in the battle and allow for him to win.

He nodded to the desert tiger and left.

He'd see him again…on the battlefield.

On wings of an angel

Nina kicked her helmet off the gangplank. "FUCK! WHY THE FUCK CAN'T I GET IT RIGHT!?" she screamed as she turned and kicked at her cockpit door.

She had been running simulation after simulation of one based on their data on EX-caliber. Even now with its busted door factored in and the pilot's tendency to "lose its cool '' that Heine stated after being flanked she couldn't get around the machine's excellent balance between range, defense, and CQB. The machine always had a back-up plan. She even ran a few WITH her "team" with all their machines linked and waltfeld intended forces for the fight put into the simulation. With the way the blitz fought in orbit factored into the simulation, the buster and duel were sent after the other two proto-types and failed for one reason or another, at one point the buster's pilot managed to remove the blitz from the equation, but her and Heine's own quarry had proceeded to enter an almost berserk state as it turned red and took the buster out from range and trashed Heine before blasting past her to eliminate the duel.

All in all out of 25 simulations with her team they only won ONCE, and managed to achieve all objectives…but not without her and her "semi-nuclear powered" machine being the only thing that came out on top. And even then they all had to hit one target at once in a charge attack, taking the strike out first, then the blitz, and finally they overwhelmed EX-caliber and slaughtered the archangel. But for each target they lost someone.

Yzak got cocky and fell to the strike when it seemed to berserk as he got close and it used it's aile pack, it's most commonly used pack, to out maneuver him but as it did so the buster got off a shot with it's combination hyper impulse cannon, clearing out the strikes cockpit before turning around right onto the blitz's waiting beam saber.

She had found the ONE simulation they won ironic simply because the prototypes took out one after the other with beam weapons to bypass the phase shift armor till it was her and Heine vs the blitz and EX-caliber. From that point on the fight turned into a 2 on 2 brawl, the blitz fell only due to it trying to flee after its battery ran out.

From there EX-caliber had managed to tango with them both rather evenly, its sword and shield fighting style holding up well as the loss of its comrades seemed to spur it into action. Finally Heine fell due to a sword to the back and being used as a "human shield" for one of her rifle shots.

Then they had both risen above everything and proceeded to go toe to toe with their blades. This had lasted a while, after all Nina was getting better at countering his moves. Finally she led him into a dive and managed to get ahead of him. Switching hands for her beam ax and drew a beam saber and ditched her shield and climbed up against him.

Surprised, the pilot had tried to switch to a climb or move out of the way while raising it's shield but instead she used her beam ax to knock his shield out of the way and as they switched places and he tried to fall on his back towards the surface, she boosted down at him and drove her beam saber through his cockpit.

She had been so happy to see him explode in the simulation she had forgotten to keep an eye on her own power meter. Her N-jammer canceller had freaked out from all her maneuvers that the draw on the reactor was too great and she found herself falling quickly afterwards and watched as the archangel was sunk. But before the simulation could conclude as complete she hit the ground with enough force…she went up in flames and the simulation was deemed a failure.

This last one she had been alone against EX-caliber and she threw everything she had at him. She almost had him but she got caught off guard by his red glowing super speed berserk like state.

She sighed and looked up at her machine's face then back at the spot she kicked. She felt oddly bad and she walked off to get a rag and some cleaner with the look of a child having been chastised and punished.

On the wings of an angel

Murrue smiled as she looked at the set-up she had organized. They had a small makeshift command center, the skygraspers simulator, and the strike, blitz and EX-caliber synced up for a training exercise.

She had informed them of this team set up an hour ago, after it was all set up. The desert dawn was giving them another day to get things squared away and she intended to take full use of it for this.

She glanced to the screen that was split into four and showed each of their own main monitors. The simulation program was a crappy mash up of nicol's knowledge of zafts machines, and what little they knew of this new prototype. At the moment Noah was holding off the prototype and doing better than he had before.

Nicol and Kira were taking on the forces they estimated waltfeld to have including himself and the gat proto-types and mu was running recon for them and using the launcher striker pack for hit and run missions.

She gasped when finally once again the prototype got an edge on Noah and soon his simulator failed when no one could get to him in time to help pull the prototype off him and she tapped the mechanic's shoulder who was manning it and motioned for him to end the simulator.

This time Noah came out and punched the railing for his gangplank. "FUCK! It's a fucking prototype with FIVE minutes of battery life…FIVE! It isn't even as fast or strong as the freedom or justice…why the fuck am I losing to a prototype gundam…I mean it's a freaking half and half of the two strongest gundams in the cosmic era…"he was yelling so fast and turning to beat on EX-caliber's door as he yelled.

Thankfully he was yelling so fast and was moving to the point everyone was looking at him confused.

Murrue was wondering what this "freedom" and "justice" were. This was a prototype for these machines? But…with that many lasers and that speed…was he right on the battery life? But how did he know so much about this machine?

Nicol walked over and smacked him. "Noah! Get yourself together man!" he yelled at him and it got the young man to stop. "What are you even talking about? I mean seriously what the fuck is all that?" he asked and Noah shook his head.

"None of you are ready for it. Just…let's run it again!" he shouted to murrue who shook her head.

"No come down here!" she yelled angrily and Noah groaned.

"Fine…"he said and the three pilots headed to meet with her. Mu got out of the flight simulator and sighed as they all gathered around her.

"What's up captain?" asked Noah as he crossed his arms, clearly unhappy with the fact they weren't practicing.

Murrue closed her eyes and sighed. "I'm not sure what that outburst was but what is going on Noah? Ever since your fight in orbit with rau le creuset you have been freezing up whenever you get flanked. Were you trained that much to depend on a team?" she asked as she looked Noah in the eyes.

He shrugged. "I'm not sure. I just…it's been a problem for a while. Even before I joined up with you. In my last training sessions with my team I would freeze up and…yeah I kinda depended on them to bail me out." he said as he sighed and looked down. A blatant lie but one that could keep his cover intact.

He should have known this would happen eventually. He was a one man army against most opponents mainly because he knew his machine inside and out, he ran sim after sim in the gunpla arena's to perfect its OS. He prided himself on being one of the top contending underdogs originally who was not using a fancy machine that had a bunch of plavsky particle based special abilities like an absorb system or particle resonance equipment.

But here, In seed….he had been counting on his GN drive based tech to keep him on top. His knowledge of the series as well would have come in handy. But it seemed his old nemesis was catching up to him….

Arrogance.

His worst trait and one that cost him the world champion title. He was a master of tactics, while most utilized their gunpla's speed, power, and strength, whatever to win battles, he was always thinking 3 moves ahead and thinking of how to beat that aspect of their gunpla. Some others used strategies but most were conventional tactics, easy to pick up and counter.

But China and her custom wing zero EW. She had capitalized on its wings to make it a beautiful gunpla, even winning a couple art contests with it. But when she fought with it….those wings…he couldn't get around them. She had somehow made them react like funnels and always set them on the defensive.

Her reaction time had been exquisite, sei clearly trained her well and she had obviously watched Gundam wing a few times.

But when he remembered that fight…it was no contest she'd beat him when it came down to what it did.

Noah grit his teeth as he boosted behind a building as a torrent of yellow energy filled the place he had just been.

He was panting. The match was five minutes old and his opponent, the recently wed china LORI was spanking his ass like he had just started playing. He was using his original "masterpiece edition" EX-caliber. It was leagues behind anything her or her husband could make but still it and his skills had gotten him here, past Riccardo Fellini and his rinascita, past Mao and his crossbone x maoh, past numerous other challengers of world class caliber…

And this woman was beating him as if the others had been noobs for him to slaughter.

He glanced around the corner and had to pull back and boost back to avoid a beam saber spearing his head.

He jumped into a climb and towards the other side of the colony that was the map. She was holding back on the twin buster rifles power in order to try and not have the map change.

He turned as she followed and fired off a few shots from his GN repeater. As before her wings swung around to block them before opening to flap and give her a boost as she again tried to attack him in close quarters.

Soon the battle became a dance. Them dodging and weaving between buildings, trading blows from beam sabers and swords as well as fire from her twin buster rifle and his own rifle.

Every time he thought he had an edge by using a tactic he had used on other wing zero custom variations and even on extra hard difficulty simulated target models of that gundam she would find a way around it.

Finally they had 3 minutes left and he had managed to land a few blows on her body but her defense was just too good.

He was down to just his right wrist saber/Vulcan. She had torn his gundam up, lost his right leg, left arm, right shoulder, his head was crushed from being kicked into a building….he was toast. He had no clue how to beat her but he was running out of time and weapons.

He had tried to match or even out pace her speed using trans-am and she just managed to react fast enough to block him.

Finally his trans-am clock alerted him it was ready for use again and he glanced to his one wrist as he leant against a building. This was it. One final gambit. He had a few steps planned out and a few contingency plans…but it was a long shot.

He grit his teeth and popped around the building spraying fire from his Vulcan….but she was nowhere.

He looked around, at his radar. Nothing. He growled and began to scour the city. Was she going to time out? Would she really stoop to that? He suddenly had an intense dislike for her…

Then it happened. He hovered around a building that was too small to hide a gunpla like hers…and she just materialized out of no-where. Her twin buster rifle was right in front of him, the barrels already glowing.

What could he do? "Think Noah think!" he shouted in his head but all he managed to do was stand and watch as his gunpla was blown away.

He had learned later that sei had helped her layer the inside of her wings with a modified death scythe cloak. It was a last resort measure if she came against an opponent like him and he could have had her if he didn't keep running from her and hiding. That was what ultimately let her cloak.

She then explained he could have used a trans-am to move and due to the stress on the gunpla during a full power shot like that, which she had intended to instead use to shoot him through a few buildings, she would have been stuck for a few more seconds. He could have maneuvered around her…and easily stabbed her in the back and won.

Noah sighed as he came out of his thoughts and looked up to murrue as she explained that he needed to tell his team everything EX-caliber could do and its limits, NOW.

How could he do that? It was a builder's worst nightmare for someone to know everything about their gunpla. It rubbed him the wrong way to even think about it. "I can't." he said and mu growled.

"So what, you're just gonna freeze up again next time? What can we do to help you if that happens if we don't know what all you can do? What are we supposed to do when the tiger and the other gat series have we all tied up…and you freeze? "He asked angrily as he grabbed Noah's shirt and got in his face.

Nicol gently pulled him off. "Commander getting angry isn't the solution. I`m his subordinate and even I don't know his full capabilities. "He said before turning to Noah. "How about this…what would you normally use to get out of a pinch like this guy tends to put you in? Or what the commander did if you didn't freeze?" he asked as he tried to help his boss.

It was still new to him to have Noah as his commander and he was adjusting to it…but he still felt odd answering to him and even calling him sir or even taking the occasional order from him. But to have to help him get over a novice's cold feet basically….this was new…

Noah sighed and took a step back from Nicol before turning around to look at his gundam. "Trans-am…the same thing I DID use to get away from rau le creuset. It's a system where my GN drive goes into overdrive, dumping every single particle it can into increasing my movement speed, my gunp-gundams reaction speed, and its combat effectiveness. It's essentially pushing my GN drive to the red and when it ends my machine is dangerously low on particles and needs time to spin back up to its normal particle generation rate." he said and turned back to them.

"The reason it turns red is because it becomes saturated in particles and triples my output on everything, speed, combat effectiveness, and defense. It's also this reason that when I use it you`ll see me leave behind after images. Anyways essentially trans-am is my strongest factor into my gundam because it makes me too fast for most machines to keep up with and I'm too strong for anyone to stop. "He said as he raised an eyebrow to Nicol.

"So what's it got to do with my issue? "He asked

Nicol smiled. "So it's not a specific weapon…it's a system that so long as you have yet to activate it you can at a moment's notice? "He asked

Noah nodded and Nicol snapped his fingers.

"That's it then. If any of us notice you're about to freeze up we can just shout to you "trans-am" as a reminder of it so you'll use It." he said and Kira blinked, unsure of what was going on. Noah deadpanned. It was a simple plan but the best they could do with only a day to train.

Mu shook his head and slowly smirked. "It's just stupid enough to work…"he stated as he nodded. "Ok we need to run some simulations and use it…but…"he turned to Kira and Nicol. "I want you two to use the simulator to run a few fights against Noah. He knows how to fight…and you both could use some pointers." he said before poking Kira's chest.

"You specifically kid. He was right when he yelled at that cagalli girl. You constantly seem to forget to keep an eye on your battery, then YOU get in situations where YOU need bailed out due to a lack of power." he said and Kira looked down at the floor, defeated as he nodded.

Murrue nodded at that point. "ok…I want you all back to work running simulations till we can get you all synchronized enough that maybe we can do more than just fend off zaft strike teams…maybe even do more than just survive attacks. I need to go take over to natarle but I want you four to update me when you're done. I want another 4 hours of simulations then you can all get some rest. You're doing great already…but it needs to get better."

They all nodded and headed to their machines to practice more. They were like an MMO strike group.

Mu had slid into being a team player naturally, having originally fought with a squad and just needed to work on being what accumulated to being the team's healer by supporting each mobile suit depending on what was happening with them.

Nicol was obviously the rogue/secondary dps. He was learning to use his knowledge of battery use compared to Kira to switch in and out of his mirage colloid. While it wasn't as much of an advantage in the sand it was still good practice for him in general. He was to help Mu handle the Bu-CUES and other MS while Kira and Noah handled the HVTs.

Kira was their main DPS and secondary tank. He'd be using his aile strike pack as usual and would be waltfelds distraction. Once they were either in a safe…well safer zone he was to try and use what power he had left to power the aile pack and join them.

Noah…Noah was their tank. He'd be handling the proto-type and once that was done he'd run a solo screen of defense for their escape…

That was if everything went like they thought it might…

On the wings of an angel

Waltfeld sighed as he sipped his coffee. It was almost 3 am and he was watching the town of Tassel burn. While on one hand the fire was a beautiful contrast to the midnight blue sky and as he enjoyed his coffee he could help but admire its beauty. But at the same time he could help but sigh sadly.

All this to draw out two mobile suits. He had watched as the town evacuated, his men telling everyone to blame the desert dawn for bringing them into this. Once everyone was gone, his men checking every building he had the lesseps open fire. With a single Salvo the town lit up like a Christmas tree.

Behind his group stood the "white knight of zaft" , the paladin. Standing almost a head taller than the ginns it was a sight to be sure. Currently grayed out and dull, the gundam was a prototype of prototypes. Almost everything on it was so advanced he may as well have gotten a dossier on it filled with black ink.

Inside its cockpit sat Nina yong. A young coordinator but brilliant at the same time. He had to admit it perplexed him just how little was really known of her and the machine, but they may very well be zafts best option against EX-caliber and he intended to swing everything he had at the mystery machine in time.

But for now…he heard DaCosta come over the radio stating the desert dawn was on their way.

He glanced up to the new machine and nodded. Time to let her flex her muscles. They would be jeeps and RPG's…but she had to start somewhere.

He sighed. Tonight was gonna be a disappointing one if the strike and EX-caliber didn't show up. Hell he'd be happy if just one showed up.

On the wings of an angel

Noah couldn't help but growl as he looked to the remains of the desert dawn convoy. He saw cagalli with the one boy…he never could remember his name. Kira was clearly having the same reaction as him as the strike landed near them. For the moment it was quiet and the remaining members of the convoy were given a moment to mourn their fallen.

But that peace was broken as Noah's alarms went off to signal a missile strike. He grit his teeth and moved ex-caliber next to the strike as both machines stood in front of the desert dawn group and raised their shields. His cockpit shook as he took a few missiles on his left arm shield, Kira taking the rest.

He opened a comm line with the kid and sai, "Kira, you distract them on the ground, I'll hit them from the air." Said Noah as his words told Kira which strategy he intended them to use. During the earlier training he had worked with Kira as to how to work together. They had come to the conclusion that Noah would take to the air and Kira would hover at best on the ground. This conserved the strikes battery in terms of using its thrusters, and plus Noah could then take any of zafts DINNs they'd eventually encounter while Kira and Nicol could handle the gat series and he'd eventually deal with the prototype.

As Noah climbed his suits alarms blared as he somehow had an imminent collision apparently. Thinking it was a Bu-Cue that was trying to jump and hit him he climbed faster. He was surprised though when his screen filled with white and a large zaft symbol. And he found himself flying to the right with a cry of pain as his suit was rocked with a second hit.

"That idiot….he must think he can finish this in close quarters…." Grumbled Noah as he finally gained his barings, only to have to raise his shield to block a set of beam rifle shots. As he looked at his opponent he was surprised to see a white sinanju. It was mainly customized in its paint scheme, a white mono eye looking at him in the black darkness of its visor.

He fish mouthed as he tried to find the words….a custom sinanju here. He swore under his breath as he found himself having to climb to avoid another round of beam rifle shots. The rifle seemed like it couldn't decide its power output as with each shot the beam size varied.

He guessed this was another sign of the zero system breaking. But to put its own machine in the series….was the zero system trying to stop him? Was his own creation trying to kill him?

These questions would have to wait though as the pilot seemed to realize they had lost the element of surprise and ditched the rifle, drawing a beam ax off its shield and charging at noah.

Like full frontal before them they capitalized on the sinanju's speed, Noah hardly having a chance to bring up his GN sword to block. At that moment he nearly froze as from his viewpoint he saw a giant crack suddenly run along the width of the blade almost dead in the middle. Shit he needed to fix his gunpla somehow.

The other pilot must have noticed this as when he tried to back away and switch to blocking with his shield they ditched the ax as well and not exactly to Noah's surprise, drew a beam saber from the wrist under their shield and boosted towards Noah again.

These fights seemed to just not be his to win….because this time he had yet to even have a chance to go on the offensive. And now as he watched almost in slow motion as he was forced to block once again with his sword….he blocked the beam saber and watched the crack…become the sword breaking in half.

His world froze and literally went in slow motion, he could feel the slow motion cinematic of the series take him as the enemy pilot drew back their blade and moved to thrust it into his cockpit.

This was it. This was his end. He likely had saved Nicol for nothing…and to think he was just adjusting to living the merc life.

He was freezing again and for a moment he saw China's twin buster rifle once more, the yellow glow covering the beam saber. His body screamed to move, to do SOMETHING. He thought of trans-am but his hands wouldn't move. He thought of the beam saber in his own shield…again his hands wouldn't bring up his arsenal. So many options on his gunpla and he was stuck watching as he was about to die…..

Till he heard it…"NOAH! TRANS-AM!" shouted Nicol over the comms and Noah watched as three beams flew past him and forced the sinanju back followed by a Lancer dart which had a wire attached.

Noah glanced to his left and saw the blitz standing in the sand, he could feel Nicols determination as it fired a few more shots to keep the sinanju off him. At that moment Noah found his drive again and grinned. "Good thinking Nicol….when I can pay you remind me to give you a raise." He stated over comms which caused Nicol to sweat drop. He wasn't being paid?

Noah, with a new drive, swung his GN sword back into its locked position…well what remained of it. No one, not even him had noticed how the broken part had seemed to shatter into blue and green particles as it fell.

But as the sinanju watched the Lancer dart retract towards the blitz it moved to again charge Noah. But he was ready.

As it got close the sides of his GN shield opened up and a series of small missiles fired from it, all of them shooting out and quickly turning towards the universal century machine. It was forced to raise its shield and as it came down it found itself being charged, Noah's GN beam saber coming from the emitter hidden behind the extra targeting lens aimed to strike its own cockpit.

The pilot brought up their beam saber and blocked, bringing a leg up to kick ex-caliber back but it renewed its assault quickly after as it righted itself and with a shower of sparks from its arm ejected the shield from its left arm. Unlike the sword however the shield fell to the sand and landed, just barely missing the Bu-Cue that waltfeld had commandeered shortly before and had been intent on attacking the strike with.

Without the shield blocking it Noah brought his left arm up and fired a volley of red death at the sinanju, again forcing it to go on the defensive before he charged it and slashed at it with his beam saber.

Still holding its shield up the shield took the blow and gained a nasty gash as the pilot boosted back and seemed to falter…

On the wings of an angel

Nina smiled as she saw the enigmatic ex-caliber take to the skies. The moment it did she took off after it

Heine wasn't taking part in this operation as it was decided he would only hinder her here. On top of that this mission was merely meant to draw it and the strike out along with sending a message to the damn desert dawn.

She raised her shields as it seemed the "angel of death" hadn't noticed her and rammed it, shoving it to her left and turning and raising her rifle. She smirked as she let loose a flurry of green death. She wasn't surprised when her enemy jinked to the left. She had been counting on it and quickly fired a second volley. This one forced the machine to climb and she realized she would never hit him with such a weapon so she disengaged it before drawing one of her beam axes and pushing her thrusters to max as she came at ex-caliber.

As she came to meet the gundams sword with her ax she found the sword gave a little. She smirked. That meant only one thing. Poor weapon maintenance.

With this revelation she ditched the physical blade as the gundam tried to back away and she drew her beam saber. She brought it up to strike at the gundam and when her beam blade met his own physical one…..the blade broke. She smiled as the gundam seemed to freeze. She did it, she caused him to flinch. With that she brought her blade back for a thrust.

She just might win this. She just might kill a menace that has plagued zaft for far too long already. As she thrust her blade forward her attack was interrupted with her machine warning her of incoming fire. She boosted back to dodge a salvo of beams from an unknown source.

She turned to see the blitz just in time to dodge its Lancer dart. It seemed to have modified it as she watched it retract. She smirked. First she'd deal with ex-caliber….then she'd eliminate Nicol.

She moved the charge ex-caliber again but was forced to bring up her shield just in time to block a series of missiles it seemed to have been hiding in its shield. She groaned as her machine shook and she found herself closing her eyes for a moment. When she opened them she moved to lower her shield but she watched as the gundam came at her with again a hidden weapon, a beam saber this time. She blocked it easy enough and as she kicked it back she watched it disengage its shield.

Now it was her time to gape. Really…..this….it wasn't ex-caliber. This wasn't the machine that had single handedly crippled the Vesalius. This wasn't the pilot that was known to freeze if he was out maneuvered. No…this pilot was more aggressive. He wasn't holding back anything. Not just standing there and waiting to attack…he was truly on the offensive.

This was made even more apparent when he raised his arm and from a port on its wrist she found herself raising her shield to block a flurry of red beams. She was about to drop her shield but instead she found herself blocking another saber strike. She had to grit her teeth on this one as she could tell it left a mark.

Suddenly a new alarm blared inside her cockpit. She swore as she had to boost backwards and looked at her power gauge. It was fluctuating. Her n-jammer canceller was failing. She cursed this prototype tech and pushed her thrusters to their limit even as one sputtered and whined, threatening to break on her as she sadly ran from her fight.

Next time….next time she'd beat him…

On the wings of an angel

Waltfeld grinned as he dodged a shot from the strike. This was turning out better than he'd expected. He maneuvered around the agile gundam and lept at it, his missile pod gone already but found himself being shield bashed back. He was all that was left after Kira seemed to enter his berserk state and had trashed them all. He had been lucky to grab this one from one of his troops before he lost his chance to test Kira.

He had been surprised though when he had to jump to the right to dodge a falling shield….ex-calibers shield. He had smiled, thinking Nina was trashing the gundam. But as he maneuvered to attack Kira again he found himself instead halting as he heard DaCosta come over the radio stating Nina was retreating.

Had she not just been trashing the gundam? He opened a communication with the strike. "Good job kid….almost had me. Sadly I have to go. But we'll see each other again soon enough." He said before turning his bu-cue around and driving away from the strike just as it turned gray and he caught sight of the blitz jumping over him to join Kira, likely in case more of his men showed up or he turned to attack the now defenseless gundam.

He looked up and saw ex-caliber hovering in the sky, watching Nina flee. It looked like it had taken a beating but, he had to admit the mystery machine was holding strong. He was tempted to grab its shield but knew Nicol would be on him the moment he turned around and his bu-cue was in no condition to go toe to toe with a fully powered GAT series, even if it was the blitz.

On the wings of an angel

Noah sighed as he sat in his cockpit. Kira had just given Cagalli a piece of his mind, as well as the surviving desert dawn members. Nicol had found a way to siphon power from the blitz to give the strike enough to get back to the ship so they were waiting on that. Till then Noah was sipping on a water pouch, his gundam holding its shield in its hand like a skater holding his board. He was contemplating how to fix his sword.

Normally he'd simply remove it and put a new one in its place obviously, but this was making something he knew was coming very much a real threat.

Ex-caliber was breaking and he had no way to fix it.

Barring Ian vasti and celestial being randomly appearing he had no way of fixing the gundam until he could get to his gunpla again.

He sighed. Maybe it was time to come clean. At least to a select few. Murrue and Murdock were obvious choices, likely mu and Nicol as well. Maybe when they reached orb Erica could help him create a device to access his gunpla.

Noah glanced at his monitor and saw a fighter on the horizon. Seemed mu was late to the party but also was toting a sword strike pack. With that they could get the strike powered sooner and get going….back to the air conditioned ship.

"Mental note, add some form of air conditioning to the cockpit." He thought as he opened a communication line with mu.

"Hey kid….looks like your suit took a beating…." Said mu as he did a fly over of their area. He whistled as he saw all the destroyed bu-cues. "You and Kira kid….you two sure can become real demons on a battlefield." He stated as he circled back once again. He must have already talked to Kira as he watched the strike drop the aile pack and shield and like many times before jumped perfectly to catch the sword striker pack. A moment later the strike's phase shift armor regained its color and it stood up, grabbing the aile shield and following Nicol in the blitz as they began to move their suits towards the direction that Nicol came from. Both suits would have to walk to conserve power as they made their way back to the ship.

Noah however waited and watched the desert dawn move their wounded out. He was also trying to make a list of everyone who needed to know ex-calibers true weakness….the fact at its core….it was just a plastic model. With another sigh he set the water pouch down and maneuvers his gundam to reequip his shield. As he lifted off he looked over the battlefield as well and with a silent prayer he prayed that all this would turn out to be a horrible dream that he'd passed out in the simulator and was laying on his bed….or in a coma in the hospital.

While he was enjoying piloting a gundam, the fact he nearly died almost an hour ago had brought him to a revelation. This was as real as it was going to get. No more parlor tricks, no more holding back. He needed to get his head in the fight here. If he didn't…well he didn't wanna test just how real it was when it came to what would happen if he got shot down. And the fact with every destroyed MS he was killing someone….did that make him a murderer? Or just another soldier killing the enemy?

As he flew quietly back to the ship he tried not to think too hard on all this.

On the wings of an angel

Nina sat in her cockpit as multiple people tried to get her to come out. She had her head in her hands, helmet still on. She was shaking from how that fight went.

She remembered the feeling…the feeling of impending victory….she was about to win….and he stole it from her. This fight taught her that there was still more to be learned about that machine.

She had also been humiliated to find in her surprise at his change of combat tactics and his rapid assault….she had wet herself in fear….

No not in fear…in a realization of…something….and it all came back to her hazy past. She finally finished sulking and heard everyone leave her be.

She didn't wish to leave her cockpit. This chair….the controls, the straps holding her in, the hum of the monitors…it felt more like home then the apartment she woke up in. She could only describe it as if the suit was her mother, the cockpit its warm, comforting womb. The hum of the machine her mother's heart beat, the screens and speakers were the little access a child had to the outside world before its birth. She never wanted to leave her cockpit…. It was her safe place…

Finally she closed her eyes and fell asleep….not wanting to leave even after she knew she could have left her cockpit with what little dignity she felt she had, not knowing just breaking that sword had earned her fans throughout the lesseps, her new mobile home base.

On the wings of an angel

Noah had stood before Murdoch, mu, Kira, murrue, and Nicol for five minutes now silently. They were the only people he felt he could trust with this secret. He knew Kira could help find a way to break the zero systems hold on him, Nicol would help as well, murrue was the captain of the ship and needed to know while mu was his team mate now and deserved to know he was flying with damaged goods, a pile of plastic waiting to break.

He had been silent for five minutes now as they all stood in murrue office and he contemplated his words. Natarle wasn't include due to her detailed reports and he knew if blue cosmos ever learned about both plavsky particles and his system they could try to come after him for it, use gunpla as a means to get advanced tech, or make wild creations and bring it to life…..that could not happen.

Finally Murdoch sighed and stepped forward to leave but Noah put his hand on the grizzly mechanics chest. The man looked down at him and growled slightly, "look kid….I know your sword broke and you're likely gonna apologize for it and say you'll fight better or some shit…but I need to tend to the strike and find a way to fix that thing since you won't tell us. Screw your whole self destruct threat. You've done no nothing but been good to us and it's time I repaid that favor." Said the man but Noah pushed him back gently.

"Please….just one more minute. I have to word this very carefully." He said quietly and Murdoch took his place amongst the group once more. He, mu and murrue's eyes went wide when they heard that. This was likely to be big….

Finally Noah spoke with a sorrow tone, "EX-caliber can not be repaired…." This made them all gasp, Nicol more than most. The suit that bested him in a matter of minutes, that made dearka think twice about rescuing him, that his former commander had hunted in orbit just to have a one on one fight with….was dying?

When no one spoke up Noah pulled out his gp-base and activated it, opening his files and pulling a cord from within, hooking it up to the monitor in the wall. Shortly after the screen sprang to life and instead of a symbol signifying celestial being as they expected…the symbol for yajima trading came to life.

After the 7th world championship they had taken over the gunpla battle and plavsky particle industry and the fiancée to the ceo's daughter, Nils Nielsen, the boy wonder from America, had recreated plavsky particles when they thought it was lost to the world after the discovery of the crystal that had made them and its destruction.

Shortly after the symbol filled the screen it turned black and a neon blue writing began to come onto the screen. Shortly after that finished an image of ex-caliber came up…but it looked different. Almost like a toy.

Noah took a deep breath and spoke once more, "I am not of this world….and neither is my gundam. I can't go too into detail…but the ex-caliber standing in your hangar is fake…or real or…I'm still trying to figure it out. Suffice to say the EX-caliber I claimed to have helped build from the skeleton up…does not exist." He stated and closed his eyes, waiting for everyone to begin yelling at him or swearing…or to be thrown in the brig…again.

Now everyone was looking at him for answers…answers he wanted too. But with his machine degrading…they all needed them.

On the wings of an angel

Ok so sorry for the wait, this chapter…I feel I failed, majorly. Not just because of the wait, but because the ending I feel like I had to cut myself off. The next few chapters I think are gonna be tough for me to write just because I'm losing steam here but I wanna get to a certain point in the story I have planned. If you all hate the story by then lol or you just don't feel like reading…or reviewing, then I don't know what I'm gonna do.

Anyways so yeah…Ex-caliber now has no main blade. But Noah at least has a bit more confidence while fighting. And the new mobile suit threw him off his game enough he's starting to loosen his tongue a bit.

Oh yeah and the zero system seems intent on killing him lol