"I got nothin' left. But our self-detonation devices could take out about half of the remaining suits."
"No," came the reply almost immediately. "Detonation should be done away from them. We need to limit casualties to just ourselves."
For what seemed like hours the stalemate went on, three Gundams, the Tallgeese, and White Taurus simply standing surrounded by a sea of over seventy serpent mobile suits. A total of five minutes had passed before communication finally occurred.
"By order of Ms. Marymaya Kushranata herself you are to be executed for opposing the rightful government. Open the cockpits to your mobile suits now and step out with your hands above your heads and your sentences will be reduced to life imprisonment. This is the only path which doesn't lead to death."
Duo growled and looked at the twin gattling guns leveled at his cockpit. "What do you think? Can we bust out of here before we die?"
"Maybe you can," came the reply, "But White Taurus and myself aren't made of Gundanium Alloy. We'll fall apart after the first few hits."
"I guess you're right," Quatra answered. "Much as I hate this battle and all of this death, we need to inspire everyone else on Earth to maybe end this quickly. We need to go out fi-" The youth was interrupted as a light on the console in front of him began to blink in sync with the beeping of his radar indicating the arrival of another mobile suit.
"What?"
"Where?"
"Above us!"
"That's… That's Ntaku. Wufei's still on their side. Heero failed," Trowa murmured. "This will become bloody, yet."
"Ma'am, another Gundam has arrived- it's Gundam Zero Five!"
Zero Five, Daacom thought, Damned Oz troops like to do things the same way as they did a year ago- the wrong way.
"This is good," Marymaya said into the hand-held radio in her hand, "You now have a very powerful ally in the event that these rebellious fools continue to resist."
"Zero Five is not slowing down and has not altered course for the Gundams. He's headed for the outer part of- OH GOD!" A hiss static went back over the com system.
"All troops, eliminate the pilots and mobile suits which have stopped fighting, then concentrate all fire power on the new Gundam!" Daacom yelled, his voice taking on more than enough authority to keep them from running. Loyal as his troops were to him, there were those who were apprehensive about dying. Facing an enemy who only wounded was like fighting to first blood- one would not be a great fighter if that was all that was fought to, but they would not fear death. It softened them up, and this new Gundam was fighting to kill and would begin scaring them instantly.
This bastard is going to fight against us? Damn you, you are a soldier under me not even Marymaya exerts control over you! You are mine!"This evil…" Ntaku swept the burning blade of its staff through a Serpent suit, slicing it from upper left shoulder to lower right hip and creating a brilliant explosion, "It has to go away…" He stabbed upward with the pitchfork-dervish, the three prongs erupting through this suit just above the cockpit and lifting it from the ground before Ntaku's arm stopped and inertia kept the suit flying.
"The only way to eliminate this evil is to destroy it…"
The left dragon shot out to smash into the head of a Serpent foolish enough to boost himself above his fellow soldiers and crushed the head into so much molten metal.
"Is to kill it all!" The right arm swept out again to cut through the next three mobile suits rushing him. Igniting the boosters in his back Ntaku surged forward, flame spewing from both dragons.
"Every last one of them!" he yelled, punctuating each word with the destruction of an enemy.
"I have become evil itself, and now I fight until evil is no more!" A missile blast detonated in the side of Ntaku sending slightly off balance and prompting a growl from the pilot's throat. "I fight until I am no more!" he cried out, slashing his bloody symphony once more.
"Open fire, open fire!" The voice belonged to captain James M. Truluck of the 31st Earth Serpent Division under Marymaya's command, but the words belonged to Daacom. Tightening his finger down on the triggers for both his gattling guns and the two remaining missiles in his arsenal he fired on the suit in front of him, the Tallgeese mobile Suit.
As his rain of destruction poured out he detected movement in the corner of his eye. Something white was headed directly into the path of his barrage.
"No, Zex, No!" Noin pushed her suit as quickly as it's battered frame could handle, dodged her own rain of death and destruction to trade it for that of her lover's.
"Noin! No! Don't do this Noin!" His words came too late to save her, not that they even could. The woman's life had already been taken away, her body consumed by an enormous fireball.
"No…" The word was a weak whisper, said as his body took over for his shattered mind to steer him away from danger. Vernie engines were fired without conscious thought and he sped to safety along with the three Gundam pilots whom he could only assume were doing the same.
"No… NO!" The word came again, growing louder with each repetition, kept repeating it until the word had become a shout, and then a scream.
Coming back to his senses immediately Zex Merquis exchanged head for foot on his mobile suit and rocketed back toward Earth.
"You bastards won't get out of this! Not with your lives at any rate!"
So, a lot has happened in this chapter and I'll sum it up very quickly and make everyone including the author realize that really hardly anything at all happened: Heero died, and thus did not show up. Wufei, on the other hand, did. He decided to fight to kill right up until he died because he wanted to destroy all evil. Meanwhile the Serpent Suits were ordered to open fire on Zex, Noin, Duo, Trowa, and Quatra. Noin sacrificed herself for Zex, the Gundams took a beating, but still got out okay, primarily because the Serpents were distracted by Ntaku. Zex, upon having Noin's death sink in, goes a little kookoo and has now decided to attack and kill those who have taken Noin, who he now realizes he loved, away from him. Are we clear? Cool.