Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam.
Once again, huge shout out to LW for beta-reading this. I believe this chapter required the most work yet and she really worked hard on it with me, so thank you!
Gundam Gemini
Episode Twenty-Three
The Wolf of the End
Part B
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Things should have been looking up for Milos Hartmann.
In a short period of time, the Research Expedition had managed to restore their engines, weapons and navigation systems to working order due in no small part to the assistance provided by Professor Hyde and the Eureka's brilliant scientists. Meanwhile, LIRA was still suffering from the Dionysus bombs' EMP effects and could barely fly in a straight line. Taking the initiative, the Lionheart shot down one more Crow-class cruiser and launched another silo of Hellfire missiles at the floundering Wargs before the last Crow beat a hasty retreat. Choosing not to pursue it lest they ran into LIRA reinforcements, Milos ordered their own withdrawal and the Lionheart covered the Eureka and the Jian as they all departed from the Chronos Asteroid Field.
But despite having successfully protected the Eureka, Milos shifted in his seat with a tight fist pressed against his lips for retreating to fight another day meant leaving his adopted daughter behind. And while this was far from the first time Laura had gone radio silent, something in his gut told him this time really was different – that unless he did something, Laura was not coming back.
He could already hear Admiral Turner telling him from beyond the grave to just listen to his gut and go rescue his daughter already but the Lionheart couldn't just up and leave the Research Expedition – not when it was this vulnerable. Bending under the crushing weight of his responsibilities, Milos grit his teeth and played the role of the dispassionate captain. Under the surface, however, the father was being eaten alive by worry.
"Captain, someone is on our emergency channel!"
The operator's news had Milo jumping out of his seat and the entire bridge listened in anticipation.
"Is it the Orthrus?!" Milos asked, barely keeping his cool as he floated behind the operator's seat.
"Negative. I don't recognise the source…"
"Patch it through anyway."
The operator opened the channel on the main screen and a hush fell over the bridge. At first, all they could see and hear was static but like a clearing mist they soon made out a familiar face. Finally, Milos heard the voice he had been dying to hear.
"…Lionheart, do you read? This is the Orthrus, over!"
"Laura!" Seeing his daughter appear on screen alive and well, the father in Milos rejoiced and his heart soared. "Where are you?!"
"I'm still in the asteroid field!" Laura answered and began to explain. "LIRA used some weird EMP weapon to make the Orthrus almost inoperable! I've got my thrusters back online but that's about it!"
"Laura! You have to stop doing this to us!" Freya appeared onscreen and angrily shouted at her friend but the Diva was clearly relieved. "It's not good for our hearts!"
"Seconded…" Alice materialised next with a hand over her chest as she sighed with relief. "But thank goodness you're alright, Laura."
"Laura's okay?!" an ecstatic Junko abruptly joined them, having been shamelessly listening in to the bridge's communications again. "Alright! Wait, what was that about an EMP weapon?"
"I knew you were fine the whole time, Lieutenant," Ray squeezed in with a grin. "LIRA's fancy new mobile suits can't even hold a candle to the Gundam."
"Orthrus, how are you communicating with the Lionheart?" Sofia added her authoritative voice to the mix with her inquiry. "Furthermore, what happened to LIRA's new mobile suits? Are you still in danger?"
'Here goes nothing…' thought the blonde pilot and she took a deep breath. "Listen, you won't believe this but… the Fenrir came to my rescue."
"Wait, what?!" Ray blurted out, already turning green around the gills.
"The Fenrir?!" Freya snarled at the mere mention of the name and the bridge crew gasped. "You mean Vega Aurelia?!"
"Affirmative. Those Hatis – LIRA's new stealth mobile suits – captured the Orthrus and were about to kill me but then Vega arrived and…" Laura paused at the memory she still could not believe had happened only moments ago. "…She killed her own allies to save my life. Now she's helping me escape and, despite everything, I think we can trust her."
"What are you saying, Laura…?" Freya whispered, scarcely believing what she was hearing. "Are you sure this isn't some kind of trick?"
"By the sounds of it, if the Scarlet Wolf had really wanted to kill Laura she would have already done so," Alice logically countered while beside her the muted portrait of Ray retched into a paper bag. "It follows that her goal really is to help Laura."
"But why? What reason could she possibly have?" Junko muttered, furrowing her brow. "And to go so far as to switch sides… Could she be…?"
"Whatever her motivations, we can't let the Gundam or Lieutenant Hartmann fall into the enemy's hands," Sofia interrupted and Milos nodded in agreement.
"What's your heading, Laura?" he regained his composure and asked, knowing time was of the essence. "What's the plan?"
"We're headed for the southern pole of the Chronos Asteroid Field. Can you rendezvous with us there?"
"The Lionheart is already on its way. Stay safe until then, Laura."
"Are we really going to trust that she-wolf, Captain?" Freya questioned the decision at first but relented when she saw the dogged look on Milos' face. "Wait for us, Laura… and watch your back!"
Laura nodded and everyone disappeared from the main monitor which returned to a view of outer space.
"Turn us around and make a heading for the southern pole of the asteroid field," Milos ordered as he sat back down on the captain's chair and readjusted his cap. "And inform the Research Expedition to retreat to safety without us."
"And if they ask why?" Sofia asked.
Milos responded with a dark glint in his eyes.
"Tell them I'm picking up my daughter."
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"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS, COMMODORE?!"
General Maddon screamed at the old man on his monitor with all the elegance of a barn animal. He was so enraged his pig face was positively beet red and what little hair he had was a mess from his frayed moustache to his unstuck comb over which floated comically above his bald head. When he stopped squealing at last and started panting for breath, the object of his fury was finally allowed to get a word in.
"I have no idea, General," Sparrhorn replied, surprisingly calm as delayed spittle slowly hit the screen. "I myself have only just received word that Major Aurelia had gone missing… after disabling her entire squadron."
"After which she then proceeded to destroy the remainder of my Hatis! Do you have any idea how long it took to procure them?!" Maddon thumped the arm of his chair as a bulbous vein on his forehead threatened to burst. "And now she has the Gundam! After all our efforts, she'll hand it right back to the RDF… along with the Fenrir! Can you imagine the fallout should that happen, Commodore?!"
"It would be a turning point in the war."
"Yes! Lux's defeat! And the history books will blame me!" Maddon slammed his chair several more times in an uncontrollable rage and the Iago's bridge crew pretended not to see anything as they waited for the storm to pass. When the Mad Boar had finally had his fill of beating the innocent fixture and his breathing steadied, he made a decision. "…We'll have to give up on the Eureka. Send out the order! Every LIRA ship and mobile suit is to chase down the Fenrir and the Orthrus until we have captured both – to the ends of space if need be! And I want Vega Aurelia's head!"
"Yes, General. I will redeploy the Space Wolves immediately," Sparrhorn assured his superior, neglecting to mention that they were already in hot pursuit.
When the Space Wolves had finally restored power to their Wargs and heard what Vega had done, there was nothing Jonas could have done to stop them from going after her. Having been betrayed by their leader, they were adamant to catch her first before anyone else did so they could learn why. Feeling some sympathy, the Lunar Fox decided to keep Maddon informed as a way of helping them.
"See that it is done…" Having finally lost its fury, Maddon's voice dropped to a tired whisper before the monitor switched off and he bent over with his head in his hands.
He had been so close. The Eureka had been at his mercy as had the Gundam. But now, thanks to Vega Aurelia's inexplicable and treacherous actions, both were lost. Having failed to achieve either objective so far – not to mention the loss of most of their Crow-class stealth cruisers, as many Warg teams and a full squadron of the brand-new Hatis – Operation Heracles was on the verge of becoming an absolute disaster. Forget a medal from the emperor; this could be the end of his military career.
"Was that really a wise decision, General?"
The pompous voice interrupting Maddon's marathon of self-pity was the last thing he needed and he glared at the face on his chair monitor.
"Need I remind you, Narick, that you are only here at the request of your father," the general spat, having little time for the brat of House Ambion. "Now what is it?"
"Send me, General Maddon. I will bring you Vega Aurelia's head along with the Orthrus Gundam," Narick boldly declared.
"You?" Maddon would have laughed had the situation not been so dire.
"Think about it, General. There is no way the Space Wolves will have the mettle to strike down their old comrade – their precious leader – Vega Aurelia," Narick argued, uttering Vega's name with pure hatred, and the handsome blonde leaned forward so his superior could see the fire in his blue eyes. "I, however, have no such quandaries."
That caught Maddon's attention enough that he sat back upright in his chair. He recalled that Narick had a one-way rivalry with Vega whose superior skills and reputation had repeatedly wounded the young noble's ego. The Scarlet Wolf turning traitor would undoubtedly be viewed by the scion of House Ambion as a golden opportunity to reverse his flailing fortunes – an opportunity he would not allow to slip away. Revenge and glory were such good motivators, the general smugly thought as his plump fingers formed a steady bridge.
"Can you do it?"
"Don't insult me, General," Narick smirked. "Not only am I a pilot of some renown, I have the best squadron that House Ambion's money could buy. Not to mention this little surprise I will be piloting…"
Maddon cracked a tiny smile under his tattered moustache. Perhaps he shouldn't discount that medal yet after all.
.
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The current situation was uncanny to Laura.
Sure, she had joined forces with Vega once before at the Lycia ruins but at that time they'd had an army of murderous, virus-infected, zombie Gorgons and an oversized scorpion mega-weapon to deal with. It was supposed to have been a one-time affair – a temporary pact to ensure their mutual survival before they would start freely shooting at each other again. This time was different, however, and not just because they were fleeing from Vega's own side instead of a third party like the Gorgons. For Laura, she was cooperating for her own survival… so what was in it for Vega?
Watching the Fenrir on her monitor as it led the way through the Chronos Asteroid Field, Laura's curiosity went into overdrive and she grew impatient. At Lycia, Vega had talked to Laura non-stop even when it was obvious she disliked it but now the masked woman had barely said a word since they had departed. Stranger still, Vega was acting more like an overprotective bodyguard rather than the charismatic flirt she knew with the way she was piloting the Fenrir familiarly close to the Orthrus to match its slower speed as they hurtled through space. The silence was slowly driving Laura mad and soon she could stand it no longer.
"Vega…" she hailed her nemesis over the comm and got straight to the point. "Can't you tell me now? Why you saved me?"
"Because…" Vega began with a playful curve of her red lips. "To lose a creature as beautiful as you was a tragedy I could not allow to pass. Your golden locks and your milky skin, those alluring lips and those piercing purple eyes… Everything about you has bewitched my heart, Laura Hart–"
"Cut the crap, Aurelia," Laura snapped with a roll of her eyes, seeing straight through Vega's act. "You gave up everything for this. Why?"
Vega's features softened and when she next spoke her voice had lost some of its dramatic flair.
"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you…" she contended with what appeared to be a self-pitying smile. "Trust me, Hellhound; you don't need the distraction."
"I'm nothing but distracted. Still, if what you say is true, it must be one hell of a reason…"
Laura wracked her brain trying to think of what could possibly have caused the Scarlet Wolf to change her nature. What was it that made people sacrifice their own interests for others anyway? She thought of Tully who had conquered her fears to save Laura's life… and the answer she concluded was indeed unbelievable.
"…Did you really fall for me?"
It was a shot in the dark and Laura fully expected Vega to just laugh it off. What she did not expect was for her to laugh quite as hard as she did. The masked woman chuckled softly at first but gradually she built herself up to a lyrical crescendo that echoed inside both their cockpits and Laura could feel her cheeks turning pink. Eventually, Vega stopped to catch her breath and sighed wistfully before turning to her rival with a smile.
"I told you before but when we get out of here alive… when you are finally safe and sound down to every hair on your precious head… I promise I will tell you everything."
Vega's solemn oath stirred Laura's heart once more and her breath caught in her throat. This time, the feelings of warmth and comfort overflowed inside her like a dam threatening to burst and she closed her eyes. Sensing a memory, she tried to recall where this feeling had come from but it was as if it had been locked away. When the blonde opened her eyes again, she found herself gazing at Vega with her necklace in hand and somehow she instinctively knew another fact about the Scarlet Wolf.
Laura could trust her with her life.
Alarm bells sounded from within the Fenrir's cockpit, effectively bringing the conversation to an end. Snapping to attention, Vega checked her radar and discovered a whole squadron of Wargs were homing in on the runaways.
"What do we do? Fight?" Laura readied her Solar Rifle and Shield which she had recovered from the Hatis, knowing that the Orthrus could never hope to outrun the Wargs in its current condition.
"No. You go on ahead to the rendezvous point," Vega instructed with a grim expression. "It's me they want."
Realising what she meant, Laura's eyes widened.
"The Space Wolves…" she whispered, hesitating with her next words. "Are you… Are you really going to fight them?"
"You don't have to worry. We're just going to have a little chat…" With the falsest of smiles, Vega reoriented the Fenrir in the direction of her former comrades and engaged her thrusters. "Go! I'll catch up with you later!"
Like a fiery red comet, the Fenrir took off into the distance and left behind an agape Laura who wondered why she even bothered worrying about her former enemy.
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The major had always been the one to lead them into battle, Ursula realised.
She was, after all, Vega Aurelia. The invincible Scarlet Wolf. Their goddess of victory who would soar through the battlefield on blood-soaked wings while shadowed by her loyal pack of Wargs. She was their leader, their mentor and their comrade. If she so asked, they would have gladly followed her to the ends of the universe and beyond.
But never in her wildest dreams did Ursula think that there would come a moment like this… a moment where the one bearing down on the Space Wolves would be the Scarlet Wolf herself.
Erupting out of the distant asteroids, the Fenrir appeared like a blazing red demon and carved a fiery path through the darkness of space as it charged straight at the Space Wolves. Despite seeing the mobile suit take aim at the centre of their formation, the Space Wolves hesitated and for that they paid the price. Without letting up on her speed, Vega fired the first shot and the beam pierced the head of the Warg directly behind Ursula. Witnessing flames and shrapnel burst out of their headless comrade, the faces of the entire squadron immediately reeled with horror.
This was not the Scarlet Wolf they were hoping to find.
"What's wrong, Space Wolves? I don't remember teaching you to fight like this!"
Hearing their former leader provoking them on their comms only served to unnerve the pilots further – as Vega had no doubt intended – and they hastily scattered to the four winds. But like a bird of prey, the Fenrir picked out one of the fleeing Wolves and swooped in for the kill. With a single shot, another head unit burst into flames and a second decapitated Warg drifted lifelessly in space as the crimson mobile suit flew on by.
"God, she's serious!" Luke swore and tried to rally the others only for the blood to drain from his face when he saw who Vega was after next. "Charlotte, look out!"
The warning wouldn't have made a difference. The moment Charlotte spotted the Fenrir, she and her Warg froze up like a deer in the headlights. With her ruby-red eyes taut with fear, the blonde simply stared at her monitor and shook with indecision as the red mobile suit closed in. Unable to comprehend reality, Charlotte's mind raced with confused thoughts. 'Is Lady Vega really going to shoot me? Are we going to fight? Why do we have to fight? Does Lady Vega hate me now? Even though I love Lady Vega this much?'
Even with the Fenrir aiming its rifle directly at her Warg, Charlotte still refused to believe Vega had betrayed her.
"L-Lady Vega…?"
"Prepare yourself, Charlotte…" Vega warned as her targeting reticule lit up… only for a Warg with a shield to get in her way. "…or should I say, Pavel!"
Unlike his comrades, Pavel didn't hesitate for a second and opened fire at their former leader. But Vega merely grinned, having accurately predicted that Pavel would come to Charlotte's defence, and the Fenrir effortlessly strafed around the Warg as they exchanged a fierce volley of red beams. While they fought, the other Space Wolves were left watching in awe. If anyone could match the Scarlet Wolf in talent and experience, it was the veteran Pavel.
Unfortunately, Pavel was not of the same mind. Vega was taking advantage of Charlotte's paralysis and forcing his Warg to keep its shield between them lest the cub was shot. Unable to freely maneuver, Pavel grunted as he tried to keep up with the agile Fenrir while protecting Charlotte at the same time. But with his shield melting away under the ruthless barrage, the veteran pilot knew his defeat was imminent.
"Your steadfastness to your allies knows no bounds, Pavel…" Vega complimented her very first recruit to the Space Wolves as she took aim at his molten shield. "…But you'll never protect anything by staying on the defensive!"
Squeezing her trigger, she blasted Pavel's shield with a single shot and to the shock of all, the beam penetrated straight through it. By repeatedly aiming at the exact same point, Vega had created a weak spot in the anti-beam material, rupturing the shield to such an extent it was blown off the Warg's body along with its left arm. Despite that, Pavel kept firing until his rifle was shot out of his hand, whereupon he immediately drew his beamsabre and the two mobile suits rushed at one another.
The one-armed Warg swung but missed when the Fenrir disappeared from its line of sight. Sliding beneath the black mobile suit, Vega used her red beamsabre to sever its legs out from under it with one swing. Following the law of equal and opposite reactions, Pavel flipped upside down just in time to see the Fenrir on the backswing as it sliced off the Warg's other arm before puncturing the head unit and leaving him in complete darkness.
"P…Pavel!"
The sight of her protector's Warg reduced to a dismembered torso was too much for Charlotte to bear. Though she was loath to admit it, Pavel had intervened to save her life on more than one occasion but not once did she ever think he would be hurt. Now there was no one to protect her – not Pavel and certainly not Lady Vega.
Recalling the presence of the Scarlet Wolf, her red eyes darted about and saw that the Fenrir was already on its way back. Dread almost took hold of her again but Charlotte suddenly remembered her years as a homeless street urchin. Back then, no one had been there to help her either; she'd had to lie, cheat, and steal just to survive. She'd only had herself to rely on…. and it was as true then as it was now.
Clenching her teeth, Charlotte grabbed her controls and shoved her throttle forward, propelling her Warg headlong into the Fenrir on blue contrails. Both dual-wielding a beamsabre and a rifle, they slashed and shot at one another repeatedly at extremely close range while nimbly maneuvering with rapid bursts of their thrusters. Blades clashed and beams missed by a hair constantly in their intense duel, and it was a testament to Charlotte's abilities as a technopath that she could keep up with Vega.
However, she had abandoned the elegant piloting style of her idol that she so loved to mimic. Instead, Charlotte was like a beast acting on pure instinct as she fought for her life, screaming and panting wildly with every attack. She was a broken, emotional wreck and tears were bubbling uncontrollably out of her feral eyes. The stunned Space Wolves could hear her on their comms and her cries were like daggers in their hearts. These were screams of fear and sadness. Of anger and defiance. But more than anything, of unforgivable betrayal.
Vega heard everything and accepted it all.
"Charlotte… it seems I've spoiled you rotten. Like you were my own sister…" she whispered almost tenderly before her eyes flashed like a hawk's. "But now it's time for you to leave the nest!"
With an incredible burst of speed, the Fenrir miraculously dived past both the Warg's beams and blade and kicked it right in the chest. Inside her cockpit, Charlotte shrieked before she suddenly had the wind knocked out of her when her Warg crashed into something. She had been so caught up in her emotions that she never noticed the asteroid to her back and her mobile suit bounced off the giant boulder, causing chunks of rocks to fly everywhere. Momentarily dazed, she tried to get back into the fight but the moment she saw the Fenrir storming towards her on the monitor she screamed, covered her eyes and curled up into a ball.
Shooting off the Warg's arms in mid-flight first, Vega followed up with another kick but this time she drove her protégé back into the asteroid with a brutal crunch. When the hail of rubble finally dispersed, the triumphant Fenrir was standing over the Warg's misshapen body which it finished off by stomping on its head unit.
Having witnessed the Scarlet Wolf defeat two of their best pilots without so much as breaking a sweat, the morale of the remaining Space Wolves couldn't have been lower. Only Luke managed to gather his courage as he called on the others to take a stand.
"Surround her!" he ordered and led by example by going in first. "We might not be a match for her one-on-one but as the legendary Space Wolves we still stand a chance!"
Believing there was logic behind Luke's inspiring words, the remaining Space Wolves roared into battle and faced the challenge that was their ex-leader head on. Using the very training Vega had imparted to them, the Wargs surrounded the Fenrir in a flying encirclement, cutting off every axis of escape. But even when surrounded by her former comrades as they took aim, Vega merely chuckled.
"Better… but still not good enough!"
The Wargs fired all at once only for the Fenrir to weave through their beam volley like a serpent from hell. With rifle and beamsabre in hand, the Scarlet Wolf went to work and dismantled her former brothers- and sisters-in-arms with ruthless efficiency. Heads were blown clean off, limbs were severed and chaos reigned as the Fenrir danced from hapless victim to hapless victim. Like so many prey before them, the Space Wolves' superior numbers were actually to their disadvantage as Vega cruelly used her quarry as human shields before scrapping them and moving on to the next target. With her exceptional speed, agility and technopathic reaction times, Vega was like a conductor in the middle of a raging whirlwind and one by one the Wargs fell.
Watching his allies succumb to the Scarlet Wolf until only one remained, Luke realised this was his worst nightmare. Because of him – because of his foolhardy attempt at leadership – the Space Wolves had been mercilessly decimated. It was both karma for the countless squadrons they themselves had wiped out and a painful reminder of why he had rejected his responsibilities in the first place. If only he had spoken up before Pavel and Charlotte had been defeated, they might have stood a chance… but he had been too indecisive…
Wallowing over his own shortcomings, Luke heartlessly used his last ally as a distraction and fled from the battle like a coward while they fought tooth and nail. Once he was far away enough, he tried to snipe at the Fenrir from afar, believing Vega could never breach the distance between them. But the Scarlet Wolf had eyes in the back of her head.
"As always, too little too late, Luke…" Shaking her head, Vega kicked the limp Warg off her beamsabre and took aim into the distance. "Here's some free advice: If you want to be a leader, start by believing in yourself!"
It should have been impossible for a beam rifle to match the range of a sniper rifle. But as he looked down his sights, the last thing Luke saw was the Fenrir chillingly pointing its gun right at him before there was a blinding flash of light. Displaying superhuman precision, Vega pierced straight through the barrel of the sniper rifle with a single shot and the red beam exited out the other end into the Warg's head unit, exploding both in a vicious chain reaction.
Observing through her monitor, Ursula silently gritted her teeth as Luke's shattered Warg drifted lifelessly into space along with the others. Devastated by Vega's treachery, the captain had been left a petrified bystander who could do nothing except watch the one-sided battle. But while the Fenrir had summarily dismantled the Space Wolves in a matter of minutes, she knew its masked pilot had gone easy on them. After all, Vega had left all of her victims alive and she hadn't even used any of the Fenrir's powerful Relic abilities.
Biting her lip, Ursula felt anger begin to well up from inside of her. Did Vega think so little of them? Was that why she had been able to betray them so easily? Because everything had been a lie? Now, as the last remaining Space Wolf, Ursula had no choice but to fight her… and she realised Vega must have planned it that way from the very beginning.
Burning with resentment, Ursula finally shook off her indecision and reclaimed her controls. On her monitor, she spotted the rifle of a fallen comrade floating in space and took off towards it. She knew she didn't stand a chance in hell against the Scarlet Wolf but if a duel was the only way to let her feelings be heard, so be it. Even if she didn't win, she at least wanted to know why.
"Where are you looking, Ursula? I'm your opponent!"
The Fenrir was already roaring towards her, tearing an azure trail through space as it hunted down its sole remaining prey. Ursula waited until Vega was right on her tail before she suddenly spun her Warg around, revealing she was equipped with two rifles. Before today, the brunette couldn't have even imagined pointing a loaded weapon at the Fenrir but now she let loose with two, firing the rifles on full automatic.
The wild spray of beams took Vega by surprise and as a result her rifle was blown out of her manipulators. But even without a ranged weapon, the Scarlet Wolf was still a force to be reckoned with and she retaliated by throwing her beamsabre. Ursula quickly redirected one of her rifles to shoot down the spinning plasma disc only to miss completely. Her misfortune cost her dearly and she was forced to abandon her rifles when the weapon sliced through both their barrels. Clenching her teeth, she reverse-thrust away from the explosion and whipped out her beamsabre just in time to block Vega's spare sabre as it cleaved through the smoke.
The Fenrir and Warg immediately began trading blows with dazzling speed, creating a whirlwind of red sparks which billowed to the rhythm of their rapid manoeuvres. The two pilots had trained together long enough to know each other's patterns like intimate dance partners and Ursula was reminded of their waltz at the Aurelia Soirée. But what had once been a treasured memory was now a tainted illusion in Ursula's fiery eyes and she attacked with renewed fury.
"Vega!" Ursula shouted over the comm, her emotions finally boiling over as their beamsabres clashed and bound to one another. "Why, Vega?! Why have you betrayed Lux?! Why have you betrayed us?!"
"Betrayed Lux? I was never loyal to them in the first place!" Vega scoffed, pushing their beamsabres apart before binding them again with a crash. "From the beginning, I have always followed my own ambitions!"
"Then what about the Space Wolves?! After everything we've been through together… Was that all a lie too?!" Ursula screamed and swung her blade wildly. "I thought you loved us! I thought we were family!"
Vega momentarily went silent and the Fenrir appeared to be weakening under the Warg's ferocious assault. Suddenly, however, the red mobile suit went on the offensive and knocked both the Warg and its blade backwards with several powerful swings. A thunderous collision followed and their beamsabres fused together, generating a red cloud of shimmering lightning in space. Trying to overpower one another with sheer force, azure infernos erupted from their overtaxed thrusters like giant wings and their head units almost touched.
Inside her cockpit, Ursula struggled to maintain her concentration through gritted teeth. She wasn't just locked in battle with the Fenrir; she was also wrestling against the heat from the beamsabres, the blinding light on her screen and, to top it all off, her own turbulent emotions. But amidst the chaos of battle, there was a buzz of static and she unexpectedly heard Vega speaking softly to her through the comm…
"Listen to me, my dear Ursula… There is something more important than king or country… something that transcends camaraderie and even our own lives…" As she spoke, Vega's sincere and soothing voice gradually began to change, taking on a passionate feeling of conviction that Ursula had never heard before. "I thought I had lost it forever… but now that I have finally found it again… now that I have found her again, I will never let her go. I will always choose her over everything… Always!"
Looking back, Ursula wasn't sure what happened next. Either the Fenrir had finally overpowered her Warg or the weight of Vega's words had disrupted her concentration. What she did remember was a moment where she had become numb to everything – the heat, the noise, the duel, the betrayal, her own feelings – and could only watch as a flurry of red lines blurred her monitor.
Seeing her own Warg get dismembered by the Fenrir's beamsabre in three brutal swings – first the arms, then the legs and finally the head – was like watching a movie without the sound and in slow motion. But when Ursula came to, she realised it had not happened to someone else; it had happened to her. The Scarlet Wolf was already gone and her Warg had been left a drifting torso floating amongst its own mangled limbs along with the other Space Wolves.
"Vega…" Whispering in the darkness of her cockpit, Ursula finally allowed her tears to fall. "I would have chosen you too…"
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Vega had been gone for a while, thought Laura idly before she caught herself.
Wait, why was she thinking about her sworn nemesis? Was she actually worried about her? Laura dismissed the notion with a shake of her head. She was always being thrown for a loop whenever she met Vega in person but this time was even worse than usual, not least because of the Luxite's truly bizarre behaviour. It also didn't help that, for reasons she simply could not comprehend, thinking about the masked woman was making her feel all warm and… and gross inside…
Giving her head another good shake, Laura put matters of Vega's weirdness aside for now. The sooner she got back to the Lionheart the better, she concluded. Unfortunately, the handicapped Gundam was still flying along at a snail's pace and its Relic abilities remained sealed. If the Orthrus were attacked now in its current condition, Laura would be defenceless…
On cue, a high-pitched alarm assaulted her ears and the Orthrus' barely functioning radar flashed with a dozen red blips rapidly closing in from behind. The blonde cursed her rotten luck. Was it the Space Wolves? How had they gotten so close? Was the Gundam's scrambled sensors even worse off than she'd thought?
Whatever the case, beams were already shooting past the Orthrus like red rain falling through the asteroid field. Laura manoeuvred the Gundam as best she could but it was like steering an overweight ox. The torrent of beams was only becoming more accurate and soon she realised there was no way she would outrun the enemy at this rate.
Gritting her teeth, Laura spun the Orthrus around just in time to soak up the beam barrage with her Solar Shield. As soon as she felt the heat dissipate, she whipped out her Solar Rifle to return fire only to receive yet another surprise. The things firing on her were not mobile suits but small, funnel-like drones armed with compact beam weapons. Although the size of the black drones meant their beams had a shortened range, there were many of them and they were extremely agile.
After getting over her initial shock with a few blinks, Laura fired on the swarm but they quickly dispersed. Cursing, the technopath realised her targeting system was off by a mile and she tinkered with the OS while simultaneously trying to keep the drones at bay with her Vulcans. Of all the days for LIRA to show off their newest military innovations it had to be today, she bemoaned as her fingers typed as fast as they could.
Suddenly, the barrage stopped and the funnels disappeared from the Orthrus' radar only for another warning siren to go off.
"What now?!" cried Laura as she checked her instruments with confusion.
By the time she saw that something big was on her radar, it was too late. A pair of metal feet collided with the Orthrus' shoulders and the Gundam was sent flying off into space. Reeling from the impact, Laura tugged at her controls until everything stopped spinning, leaving her in a daze as she tried to identify what in the hell just hit her. When she did, she couldn't help but gawk at her monitor. Something was shining in space like a bright star and upon zooming in she discovered it was a giant mobile suit the colour of gold.
"That wasn't even a challenge!" Narick flicked back his impossibly slicked hair – fixed into place with copious amounts of hairspray – and smirked inside his cockpit.
The arrogant pilot had finally been bestowed a mobile suit that matched both his massive ego and his gaudy tastes. Painted entirely gold from head to toe, the prototype machine was much larger than other mobile suits – Laura estimated it to be at least thirty-metres tall – with powerful-looking appendages and thick, bulky armour. Its visible armaments consisted of a heavy beam rifle, two generous missile pods attached to its oversized pauldrons and, curiously, two gargantuan shoulder cannons. However, because of the size of the shoulder cannons squeezing it on either side, its head unit was comically small.
That wasn't all. The funnels that had attacked the Orthrus returned to their masters and Laura spied two dozen black shapes behind the gold mobile suit. These new mobile suits were almost Fenrir-like in appearance with their sleek armour and demonic head units but were clearly imitations judging by their huge pauldrons. There were four funnels to each suit and they slotted into ports in the shoulders, presumably to recharge and rearm.
Outnumbered by a supersized squadron of LIRA's latest mobile suits, Laura eyed them warily and clicked her tongue when she saw they had brought two more Gleipnirs just for her.
"Behold, White Hellhound! How do you like LIRA's newest weapons?" A pompous and unfamiliar voice offended Laura's ears through her comm. "You've already tasted the sting of the state-of-the-art Skolls with their many Fangs, but you have yet to feel the full power of the most advanced mobile suit ever created! Feast your eyes, Hellhound, on the Goliath! The mightiest and most beautiful machine in the known universe! Piloted by none other than your one true nemesis – Narick Ambion!"
Having finished his glorious speech – one he had painstakingly practiced for weeks to get just right – Narick crossed his arms and waited conceitedly for the Hellhound's terrified reaction. Unfortunately, such a response existed only inside his bloated imaginations and the entitled scion was about to get a harsh dose of reality.
"…Who?" Laura asked, cocking her head and staring blankly at her monitor, and the blood drained from Narick's face in record time.
"…W-W-W-Whaaaaat?!" The scion stuttered like a broken record and pressed his face close to his screen with pure disbelief. Surely this must be a mistake! "Narick Ambion! The one and only heir to House Ambion! Lux's rightful ace and victor of a hundred battles! We personally fought each other several times in the ZU! Surely, you must remember me!?"
"Never heard of him…"
The words cut Narick deeper than any beamsabre could. To think that after all this time, the White Hellhound didn't even know who he was... Him! The great Narick Ambion! Impossible! Surely, she must be… yes, she must be a fool! Slamming his fists into his console, Narick's shock quickly transformed into white-hot rage. Just like Aurelia and the rest, she was too foolish to recognise his superior skills and enjoyed making a laughingstock out of him with her lies.
Growling, Narick recalled why he was here and smirked malevolently. General Maddon might have ordered him to recapture the Gundam but there was no way he was going to pass up this golden opportunity. The White Hellhound would pay for her insolence and he would finally have both his revenge and his glory.
"Enough! After all the humiliations you've foisted upon my good name, if you think you can still insult me and get away with it, you are gravely mistaken!" the nobleman bellowed with a bitter snarl as he thumped several buttons. "You've humiliated me for the last time, White Hellhound! I, Narick Ambion, will finally do what Vega Aurelia never could and make sure everyone knows it – I will end you!"
The Goliath's immense shoulder cannons dropped down and pointed directly at the Orthrus as they charged with intense energy. Laura's instincts screamed for her to escape and she jerked at her controls. But the Gundam wouldn't respond and she realised the kick must have re-scrambled its control system. The blonde drummed at her keyboard in a wide-eyed panic, desperately trying to recalibrate her thrusters in time.
But it was too late. Blinding light from the monitor filled her cockpit and Laura's fingers froze. Looking up, she saw a potent mass of angry red plasma bearing down on her. As everything went bright, she inexplicably found herself thinking about Vega…
Suddenly, a large shadow fell over the Orthrus and blocked the pillar of light like an eclipse. Recognising the mobile suit's silhouette, Laura instantly knew who it was.
The Fenrir took the blast of energy head-on, allowing its body to be scorched by the hellish inferno in the place of the Orthrus behind it. Inside her cockpit, Laura was nevertheless still rocked by violent shockwaves and intense heat but all she could do was stare at the Fenrir's back as it protected her. Despite the threat to her own life, Vega would not budge even an inch, and Laura found herself feeling both awe and fear for her nemesis.
When the massive beam finally dissipated, Laura's purple eyes widened even further with shock at the state of the Fenrir. Once sleek and beautiful, its motionless body was now slightly twisted and its shredded armour had been charred black except for a few remaining strips of red. Catching sight of a fading maroon glow on the surface of the armour, Laura realised Vega must have used a powerful Gravity Shield to bend the massive beam around them. However, it hadn't been enough to spare the Fenrir completely and the mobile suit had still taken the brunt of the blast. Like her ravaged partner, the Scarlet Wolf couldn't have gone unscathed after a direct hit from the twin beam cannons… yet somehow, she still managed to speak.
"…Thank god… I made it in time…" a raspy voice whispered through the static of the Orthrus' comm and Laura's jaw dropped.
"Vega!" she screamed. How the woman managed to stay conscious after almost being burnt to a crisp the blonde did not know. "Vega, why?!"
"I told you…" Vega breathed deeply, ignoring the flashing red lights and wailing sirens inside her cockpit as she licked blood from her lips. "I will protect you. I swore it…"
Laura felt her heart stop and she grabbed her necklace. The masked woman's words had triggered that clouded memory again but this time she felt pain. 'I promise I'll protect you…' a familiar voice whispered inside her head and the blonde suddenly felt searing heat. When she closed her eyes she saw fire everywhere even though she was in the safety of the Gundam's cockpit and she was abruptly overwhelmed by a wave of emotions. Emotions that she could have sworn belonged to someone else… specifically a child.
"Vega Aurelia! Perfect, I'll end you as well! Die, you traitor!" Narick's furious snarl at the sight of the errant Scarlet Wolf twisted into an opportunistic smirk and he readied his beam cannons for a second shot. But just as the twin barrels were beginning to slowly recharge with energy they suddenly shut down and the enraged nobleman was beset by unexpected warning signs on his screen. "Overheat?! Damn this piece of junk!"
While Narick worked furiously to get the Goliath's beam cannons operational again, the sight of the stalled giant did not escape Vega's eyes. Clenching her teeth, she drew on her remaining strength and seized the Fenrir's controls.
"This is your chance! Go!" she commanded Laura over the comm.
"But…!" Laura protested, her eyes darting between the damaged Fenrir and the throng of Skolls lurking behind the Goliath. "I can't leave you!"
"You must!" Vega angrily shouted before her voice dropped to a forceful whisper. "I have to do this… I was born to do this… Leave me and live, Laura Hartmann… You must live!"
Vega's determination to sacrifice herself was so fierce that Laura was left stunned. On the one hand, she didn't know what the masked woman was talking about but on the other she felt strangely compelled to obey… like an obedient child. Realising the foreign emotions of her other self were still plaguing her muddled mind, she tried to fight it only to discover it was a losing battle.
"Go! Go now!" Vega screamed.
Caught between her confusion and her fear, Vega's pleas finally spurred Laura to do what she would forever be ashamed of: She fled. She quickly finished recalibrating her thrusters and piloted the Orthrus away from the battlefield, leaving Vega Aurelia to die a certain death.
"Don't let the Gundam get away! After it!" Narick, still mashing his controls, ordered his mercenaries who reacted immediately by chasing after the white Relic before it disappeared into space.
"I won't let you!" Vega countered and leaned over her controls. Using her technopathic powers, she tried to awaken what was left of the Fenrir. "Please, Fenrir… just one last time…"
"It's futile, Aurelia!" Narick's slimy voice gloated over the comm. "Soon I will be the hero who took the heads of both the White Hellhound and the Scarlet Wolf! The world – nay, the universe – will know the name of Narick Ambion!"
The noble paused to bask in his own self-importance but his moment was ruined by the sniggering he heard on the other end of the comm.
"Too bad, Ambion…" Vega sneered, sending shivers down the scion's spine. "Even half-dead… I'm more than a match for you!"
The Fenrir's eyes reactivated, glowing a terrifying yellow, causing Narick to yelp and instinctively flinch in his seat. Vega rammed the throttle forward and the blackened Fenrir roared back to life, leaving blue contrails in its wake as it charged straight towards the Goliath.
"F-Forget the Gundam! Destroy the Fenrir! Get back here and protect me!" Narick spluttered to his mercenaries while simultaneously activating his reverse thrusters to get as far away as possible.
Seeing the Skolls reverse course on her cracked radar in order to save their inept leader, Vega forced herself to steady her breathing. Now all she had to do was keep them busy until Laura reached the rendezvous point and the safety of the Lionheart. However, with two dozen Skolls armed with four Fangs each and the Goliath all gunning for the Scarlet Wolf, by her count that was akin to one hundred and twenty-one enemies. Meanwhile, the Fenrir was alone, unarmed and running on borrowed time after the damage it had suffered. The odds clearly weren't in her favour… yet Vega could not help but grin.
If she was going to die, it wouldn't be as a candle blowing in the wind; it would be in a blaze of glory.
Fraught with terror at the mere sight of the black wolf speeding towards him, Narick lost his nerve and fired every available weapon at his disposal. The Goliath's erratic shots from its beam rifle were easily evaded by the nimble Fenrir but it was the dozens of cluster missiles launched from its shoulder pods that posed the greatest threat. Vega immediately spun around so she was speeding the other way and the warheads homed in on the escaping Fenrir like a swarm of hornets. Other pilots might call her situation perilous – even hopeless – but Vega saw only opportunity and led the missiles straight towards the returning Skolls.
Taking stock of their lone opponent, the Skolls spread out and fired their Fangs as well as their rifles in a concentrated barrage. Vega found herself the unwitting star of an intense and deadly laser show with over a hundred red beams coming at her from an equal number of directions. However, like a true star of any show, the Scarlet Wolf danced her way through the passing beams with extraordinary agility as she avoided them seemingly with ease.
Watching as hot plasma rained past her monitor, Vega had to praise Nova Industries for improving on the drone design based on her instructions and unwittingly causing her to break out in a sweat at the moment. However, the Valhalla System which controlled the funnels was only as good as the technopaths using it as her current opponents were demonstrating with their poor, uncoordinated aim. Still, their overwhelming advantage in numbers was severely troubling – even daunting – to the ace.
Knowing the Fenrir would not survive another hit, Vega steeled herself. Victory under these conditions would require her to take risks. Explosive ones, to be precise.
Waiting until the last moment, Vega pulled off a daring manoeuvre that allowed her to guide the beams of the predictable Fangs directly into the path of the cluster missiles. With there being so many of them gathered behind the Fenrir, it only took a few to detonate the missiles and subsequently cause a volatile chain reaction. Like a blossoming field of deadly flowers, the fiery explosions ballooned out from behind the mobile suit in milliseconds and threw the unexploded cluster munitions even further out before they too ignited to form a massive smoke screen.
The Fenrir disappeared into the haze and the Skolls and their Fangs stopped firing, bracing themselves instead for the massive shockwave that followed. Although they had been prepared for it, the black mobile suits were still shaken violently and their funnels were tossed around. However, the explosions had blown the cloud of smoke directly into their formation and consequently blinded them.
Believing the Scarlet Wolf had surely perished in the explosion, the mercenaries let their guard down and waited patiently for the smoke to disperse. It was only after a chilling scream circulated through their comms that they realised they were gravely mistaken. When their vision returned, they saw the blackened Fenrir standing amongst them like the Grim Reaper and a lifeless Skoll with a bloodied cockpit was floating at its feet. Startled, they immediately started blasting away and almost hit one another in the chaotic crossfire but the Scarlet Wolf was finally blown to pieces.
Or at least, that's what they had been led to believe. Upon closer inspection, they discovered charred bits not from the Fenrir but from one of the other Skolls. It was then that the truth dawned on them: They had just killed one of their own after being fooled by a realistic hologram of the damaged Fenrir.
"Holo Mode!" Narick exclaimed, recognising the deception as he watched on from afar. "Careful! She must be nearby!"
Using their infrared sensors, the mercenaries cautiously checked their surroundings but the Fenrir was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, they were startled by another scream and saw one of the Skolls had impaled another from behind with its beamsabre. The Scarlet Wolf had been hiding in plain sight all along and not just anywhere but right in their midst.
"There! Fire!" Narick ordered but the mercenaries could not properly unleash their full firepower with the Fenrir at the centre of their formation. More importantly, however, their Fangs had run out of ammunition and thus returned to their charging ports.
Throwing off her Skoll disguise by deactivating Holo Mode, Vega smirked. Her enemies might be equipped with the latest military hardware but it was obvious they had been given only minimal training in operating them. Now, without their funnels, they were just like any other mobile suit squadron: prey for the Scarlet Wolf to dismantle piece by piece.
Kicking the impaled Skoll off her stolen beamsabre, Vega plucked its beam rifle out of the void in one fluid motion before launching the Fenrir towards her next victim. The other Skolls fired their rifles but the close quarters allowed the Scarlet Wolf to limit the number of opponents who could target her at once. Zigzagging freely across the battlefield, Vega revelled in the chaos as she instigated friendly fire all while she returned fire herself.
After blowing up a few of their friends, Vega found herself being tailed by a cohort of Skolls as they shifted from defence to offence. Putting them through their paces with several twists and turns at extremely high g-forces, the ace observed the advanced Skolls to be quite agile – she shouldn't have expected anything less of mobile suits based off the Fenrir – and knew they would not be shaken off so easily. Delivering a plasma payload to the nearest enemy, she zoomed through the resulting explosion and immediately pulled up, using the smoke as cover to somersault back into the passing Skolls from above. With two blinding cuts of her beamsabre, Vega sliced two Skolls at once and they exited the cloud in four sections before exploding.
"These poor imitations are based on the Fenrir? Don't make me laugh!" Vega goaded the mercenaries only to have her rifle shot out of her manipulators in mid-flight. Whirling her eyes around, she saw dozens of Fangs were already back in action and had surrounded her.
Clicking her tongue, the noblewoman took evasive manoeuvres and bravely ran the gauntlet of red beams. While the addition of the Fangs gave her more opportunities to engineer friendly fire incidents, even a technopath of Vega's calibre was finding the situation a little too hot to handle. Compared to before when the funnels couldn't even hit a barn door, they were deadly at close range with the way they were flanking her at every angle in an attempt to entrap her. Worse yet, the Fangs were applying constant pressure on her and trying to wear her down by operating on alternate shifts.
Cursing her own involvement in developing these powerful weapons, Vega looped back directly into the Fangs and executed her next strategy by shifting modes. The sudden disappearance of the Fenrir left the funnels without a target and they stopped firing as a result. Shortly after that, however, the mobile suit reappeared just as quickly as it had vanished and sliced an unsuspecting Skoll in half from behind. The second the Skoll exploded, four of the deployed funnels fell limp even as the Fenrir disappeared back into the aether presumably to repeat the process. As it turned out, Fangs had many advantages but without a pilot controlling them they were as good as useless.
"Ghost Mode!" Narick grimaced, never anticipating that the Fenrir could still Mode Change after sustaining so much damage. "Deploy the Gleipnirs!"
At the edge of the battle, the purple spheres separated and released dozens of orbs which chased after an invisible quarry like magnets. Gritting her teeth, Vega deactivated Ghost Mode and the blackened Fenrir reappeared in mid-flight. Without a Pandora signature to hunt, the Gleipnirs stopped in their tracks and hung inert in space. Now that the Fenrir was exposed, however, the Skolls resumed their beam barrage, forcing Vega to flee and seek refuge behind a gigantic asteroid.
"Suppression fire! Pin her down!" Narick ordered, grinning. "Now I have you right where I want you, Aurelia!"
Having cooled down enough that they were operational once more, the Goliath's shoulder cannons recharged with energy and unleashed twin rays of death upon the asteroid. The crimson blast melted straight through the centre of the rock like butter before shattering its outer shell into a million pieces which flew in a thousand different directions into the void. The Skolls braced as they were hit by the resulting shockwave and the hail of debris that followed but when it was over, they were horrified by what they saw. The giant asteroid was no more, having been reduced to a sea of space rubble, and it was a scene of total devastation. Nothing could have survived that – not even the Scarlet Wolf.
"I… I did it… I did it!" a jubilant Narick shouted, scarcely believing his own eyes. "I finally defeated Vega Aurelia! At long last…after all these years! The Scarlet Wolf has finally met her end at my hands… at the hands of Narick Ambion!"
The heir to House Ambion laughed long and heartily like a weight had finally been lifted off his shoulders. No longer would that she-wolf be there to humiliate him by skewering him with her barbed tongue or by stealing his thunder. The long-suffering indignity of constantly having his achievements compared to hers or fielding questions from her many admirers would also be a thing of the past. And best of all, Narick would never have to lay eyes upon that smug smile of hers ever again. Now there was no one to stand in his way of becoming Lux's one true ace and hero.
Unfortunately, Narick's deluded fantasies were cut tragically short when he heard a woman chuckling on the comm and his face turned deathly pale. Low and husky, the bone-chilling voice laughed uninterrupted on the static-filled channel, sending shivers down the spines of everyone listening. At last, the woman wrapped up her laughter with a long sigh and she finally spoke…
"…Did you really believe you had killed me… Narick?" Vega spat with utter contempt.
"I-Impossible!" Narick screamed like he had heard a ghost. "Vega?!"
The Goliath and the Skolls frantically checked their radars and sensors to see where the Scarlet Wolf's bodiless voice was coming from but they found nothing.
"No matter how many of you there are… No matter how advanced your weapons might be… I will not be defeated…" Vega continued, her voice unyielding despite the fact that she sounded out of breath. "Especially not by the likes of you…"
"Y-You're bluffing! She's bluffing!" Narick shouted over her and tried to rally his anxious mercenaries. "There's no way she could possibly fight anymore!"
"Am I bluffing?" Vega chuckled again before her voice suddenly dropped an octave and she sounded deadly serious. "Allow me to quash that erroneous belief… by showing you how far apart we really are…"
Almost immediately, Narick and the mercenaries were beset by an ominous feeling as if the very air around them had changed. When they finally noticed the remains of their fallen comrades were drifting away from them along with the debris from the asteroid, it was too late. Soon a swirling maelstrom of rock and scrap was forming right in front of them, forcing the mercenaries to use their reverse thrusters to try and escape as an invisible force pulled even their Skolls towards it. Gazing into the centre of the storm with dread, they saw a pair of eyes glow red.
"Time to even the odds with a storm…" Vega whispered before unleashing her counterattack. "Gravity Storm!"
Out of the darkness and shining with the brilliant maroon glow of Gravity Mode, the Fenrir finally reemerged, battered and burnt but unbroken. Gesturing with a twisted claw, the mobile suit directed the debris swinging around its orbit to accelerate straight towards its enemies. The storm of gravity-propelled projectiles bombarded the Skolls with relentless intensity, pummelling and shattering against their armour like bullets. Forced into a hasty retreat, the black mobile suits launched their Fangs and fired upon the incoming rocks and scrap in a desperate attempt to protect themselves. It wasn't enough, however, for those caught out in the open and they exploded into balls of fire after having their armour repeatedly breached.
"K-Keep firing and hold on!" Narick cried as the Goliath hid behind the protective screen formed by the mercenaries' beam barrage. "She can't keep this up forever!"
At the same time, the Gleipnirs reactivated and flew into the storm, homing in on the glowing Fenrir's Pandora Particles. But even the purple orbs couldn't get close as they too were swept up by the pull of artificial gravity and missed their target entirely. Swinging around the Fenrir's orbit instead with the rest of the debris, they were sent right back where they had come from and flew straight into the path of the Skolls.
Before the mercenaries knew what was happening, their beam barrage had destroyed the Gleipnirs and unleashed an EMP shockwave. Their Fangs were instantly rendered useless, allowing the flying debris to obliterate the funnels before hammering into the defenceless Skolls. In mere seconds, the hi-tech mobile suits were reduced to half their number as they were either ripped apart by the storm or pierced through by multiple speeding projectiles, causing them to explode one by one.
But just when it appeared the Scarlet Wolf was about to finish off the Goliath and the Skolls for good, the Gravity Storm prematurely ended. Uncovering his eyes and ears, Narick was surprised to discover his gold mobile suit was still intact as were a half-dozen or more Skolls floating amongst the inert debris on his monitor. The black mobile suits were battered and bruised while their rifles, funnels and Gleipnirs had been destroyed but they could still fight. Zooming in on the source of the departed Gravity Storm, the nobleman spotted the motionless form of the Fenrir and smirked.
"She's out of power! This is our chance!" Narick gleefully shouted and ordered the mercenaries to attack. "The Scarlet Wolf is nothing without her Relic abilities! Finish her!"
Watching the Skolls pull themselves together before drawing their beamsabres and launching an all-out attack, Vega smiled and rubbed the side of her cockpit. Despite being burnt and beaten, her poor Fenrir had held out all this time and had even been able to Mode Change. Sadly, Gravity Mode had been the last straw as it had been unable to sustain the powerful mode after all the damage its armour had taken. Still, Gravity Storm had at least destroyed most of the Skolls and all of the Fangs, leaving only the Goliath and a half-dozen of the Fenrir's poor imitations to deal with.
"Looks like we're going to have to finish this the old-fashioned way, Fenrir…" Vega whispered affectionately as she tracked the approaching Skolls on her radar. "Show them… Show them the power of the wolf of the end…"
As if hearing its master's words, the machine's eyes glowed and its engine roared with renewed vigour. The Fenrir might be a shadow of its former self but there was nothing more dangerous than a cornered animal.
The Skoll at the head of the pack charged straight at her, brandishing its beamsabre to cut down the maimed wolf. But as the mercenaries would soon discover, the Scarlet Wolf had lulled them into a false sense of security. Now she had her prey right where she wanted them.
"Don't underestimate me!" roared Vega, reactivating her thrusters and accelerating without warning.
With a delicate touch of piloting, she slid underneath the path of the beamsabre and grabbed the Skoll's arm, ripping it off as she passed. Immediately pivoting back, Vega swung both the severed arm and its beamsabre at once, cleaving the Skoll in half and causing it to explode. Two more Skolls rushed at Vega from behind but she brought their approach to a screeching halt when she instinctively threw the severed arm still in the Fenrir's grip. The flying arm and beamsabre pierced one Skoll, gutting the pilot, while Vega charged into the other, shattering the cockpit with a well-placed kick.
The Fenrir's cracked radar flashed with more incoming red dots and Vega quickly grabbed one of the Skoll's beamsabres.
"What are you doing? Kill her! How hard can it be?!" Narick, having lost all his composure, started firing his beam rifle and the last four Skolls split up, attempting to surround the Scarlet Wolf. If they hoped the Fenrir would simply roll over and die from its injuries, they had another thing coming, thought Vega as she bared her fangs. Burning a crimson trail, she flew into battle on the Fenrir's battered thrusters and the Skolls lunged at her all at once.
Holding a masterclass in close-quarters combat, Vega piloted with mere tilts of her controls and avoided the blades by nanometres before striking back with lethal force. She swung around the first Skoll and slashed it in the back before kicking it into the path of its comrade's beamsabre, skewering it through the chest. The second Skoll attempted to engage Vega head on but the masked ace simply activated another stolen beamsabre on the Fenrir's thighs and burned a hole in the pilot's cockpit before they could even touch her. Whipping the same beamsabre out, she threw it at a third Skoll looming behind her and the spinning projectile sawed the mobile suit into two halves which both detonated a second later. From the resulting explosion, a fourth and final Skoll burst through the smoke with its beamsabre at the ready.
Both mobile suits pulled their arms back, threatening to dispatch the other with their dazzling sabres in one strike. But while the Skoll aimed for the Fenrir, Vega aimed for the hand. Severed in mid-swing, the manipulator flew off, spinning into space while still clutching its beamsabre… until Vega used the momentum of her slash to twirl the Fenrir and kick it straight back at the stunned Skoll, impaling it with its own weapon. Wasting no time, the Scarlet Wolf blasted off and became a black silhouette when the last Skoll exploded behind her in a burst of hellish flames.
Now only the Goliath remained.
"N-No! Stay back!"
Narick's eyes bulged when he saw the Fenrir come for him and it was like a vision of Death itself. He fired wildly but none of his beams would hit. He tried to run but the Goliath was not made for speed. Beads of sweat filled his cockpit – his golden coffin – and when an alarm suddenly wailed, Narick Ambion shrieked along with it.
Before he knew it, she was already right in front of him.
Screaming for his life, Narick jammed his rifle into the Fenrir only for the barrel to be sliced off just as he pulled the trigger. The weapon exploded in his hands, sending reverberations throughout the Goliath's body but Narick used the smoke as cover to pull back and activate his shoulder cannons.
"Die!"
Twin beams flooded the space in front of the Goliath with a sea of red plasma and the smoke dissipated in a bright flash of light. But out of the inferno, a blackened mobile suit spiralled around the edge of the mass of energy like an angel of death. Bypassing the beam, the Fenrir crash-landed right on top of the Goliath's shoulders and flattened its cannons into useless junk.
Propelled by the impact, Narick screamed again as he was sent careening into space. He attempted to right his mobile suit only for its arms and legs to suddenly become unresponsive. By the time he realised what had happened, a weight had already collided with the front of his cockpit and he was left feeling completely helpless.
Already being driven ever closer to the brink of madness by the flashing red lights and howling alarms around him, Narick made the mistake of daring to look up at his monitor and was further terrified by the molten face of the Fenrir. The charred metal monster was still red-hot after surviving the blast that should have vaporised it and its appearance was the stuff of nightmares. Like a bloodied hunter standing over their subdued prey, the Fenrir had pinned the Goliath's dismembered torso in place with a clawed foot and its red beamsabre was raised above its head, poised to strike.
"N-No… Don't!" Narick begged for his life.
"You know, Ambion… since the first day we met…" Vega whispered nostalgically over the comm, paying no heed to Narick's pleas, the sweltering heat and the Fenrir's emergency sirens so she could enjoy every second of the kill. "…this is what I've always wanted to do to you!"
Vega plunged her beamsabre into the Goliath's chest, engulfing Narick in a ray of light and silencing his screams. As sparks danced across the severed torso, its pierced reactor began to hum and build towards an alarming crescendo as it radiated increasing amounts of heat and energy. Vega kicked herself off the glowing Goliath and activated her thrusters in time to witness it detonate like a mini supernova at a distance via her rear camera. The spectacular explosion of golden light sent a ring of fire that expanded through space and Vega realised too late that she was not far away enough to avoid getting caught in the rapidly-growing blast radius. The next thing she knew, a powerful shockwave had slammed into the Fenrir and sent it careening off course before it was swallowed up by a tsunami of flames.
Shattered and burned beyond recognition, the Fenrir's already weakened frame was torn limb from limb as it was hurtled into the void. Inside her cockpit, Vega endured searing temperatures and was shaken like a ragdoll but her harness held firm. Just when she thought she would ride the explosion out, however, the straps holding her down snapped and she was thrown from her seat. The momentum caused her to smash her helmet against the console with enough force to knock her out.
By the time she finally regained consciousness, the violent shockwave had already passed and she was floating serenely above her seat. Through her cracked visor, she could vaguely make out emergency lights flickering, random sparks dancing and a siren shrieking but the cockpit didn't seem to have been compromised. Despite her own injuries, Vega's first thoughts went to the state of her beloved machine for she knew in her heart that the Fenrir would never fly again.
If she could see the damage for herself, she would surely weep. Almost nothing remained of the barely recognisable mobile suit except a carbonised torso and a molten head unit. Only the faint hint of a red finish on its blackened armour suggested that the wreckage had once been the legendary Fenrir piloted by the Scarlet Wolf.
"Thank you, Fenrir…" Vega whispered, mourning her loyal partner with a heavy heart.
Soon, Vega began to struggle for breath and she felt her cheeks sting from the coldness of space as the temperature inside the cockpit plummeted. Meanwhile, the sirens had faded to a whimper and the red lights on the console were flickering with decreasing frequency. It could only mean one thing: Her life support was failing along with her emergency power. So… this was the end, she thought.
But she had no regrets.
"I… finally kept my promise…"
It was growing dark. Behind her mask, Vega's eyes closed. When she did, she swore she could almost hear Laura's voice calling her name. The sound caused her lips to curl into one final smile.
The Scarlet Wolf couldn't have wished for a more pleasant dream before the end.
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"Vega! Answer me, Vega!"
Surveying the remains of the battlefield with frantic purple eyes, Laura called out for Vega over the comm again and again but there was no response. Upon seeing the massive explosion on her rear camera, the technopath had felt compelled to go back against her better instincts. When she returned to where she had last seen the Fenrir, a gasp escaped her lips as she found herself wandering into a horrific graveyard. Shattered rubble mixed with wrecked Skoll parts now littered the asteroid field along with gold scraps which she presumed had belonged to the Goliath. Vega had clearly not gone down without a fight… so where was she?
Spotting a faint glimmer of red amongst the debris, Laura hurried over and discovered a charred but familiar mobile suit torso.
"Vega…!" she gasped, seeing what remained of the once magnificent Fenrir. "Talk to me, Vega! Tell me you're still alive!"
The blonde yelled desperately into her comm but there was no answer. However, just when she thought Vega was well and truly dead, she heard something.
"…Li…ly…"
"Vega! Hang on!"
Grabbing hold of what remained of the Fenrir with the Orthrus, Laura cradled it with her to the rendezvous point with as much speed as she could muster. If the Fenrir's life support systems hadn't failed yet they would soon but Laura refused to allow herself to think like that. All she knew was that it was a race against time to get Vega to the Lionheart before she… before she died. As the possibility loomed over her mind, the Gundam pilot realised just how strangely she was behaving.
All this time, Laura had been trying to kill the Scarlet Wolf but now she was doing all she could to save her. All she could think about was saving her. The fact that Vega had killed Tully didn't even seem to register as she hauled the Fenrir through space. She just knew that she had to save her no matter what or else… or else she would regret it forever.
Finally, after a heart-stopping journey that felt like an age, a trio of welcome voices lifted the blonde's spirits.
"Laura! You made it!" Freya's voice practically jumped out of the comm with happiness and the Gundam's monitor showed three familiar Garms coming to its rescue.
"Laura! Thank goodness!" Alice cried with relief when she saw the Orthrus was still intact.
"Did you have a pleasant trip, Lieutenant?" Ray innocently joked, unaware of what had transpired.
"Freya! Everyone!" Laura replied in a panic, not ready to celebrate just yet. "Please, help her!"
The welcome party finally noticed what the Orthrus was towing under it and they collectively gasped.
"Oh god… it really is her…" Ray murmured as he clutched another brown paper bag.
"Lionheart, are you seeing this?" Freya relayed the Fenrir's dismembered image to the bridge, shocking the crew. "What should we do?"
"She saved my life, Milos!" Laura quickly declared, forgetting military protocol in the heat of the moment. "Please!"
Hearing his daughter's pleas, Milos wasted no time in handing out his decision.
"Bring the Fenrir aboard and ready the medical bay! I'll take full responsibility," he ordered. If he was right, they all owed Vega Aurelia a debt of gratitude… himself most of all, being Laura's father.
"I'll inform security…" Sofia quietly added, warily eyeing the wreckage that was once the Fenrir and wondering how anyone inside could have possibly survived.
Grabbing hold of both the Orthrus and the Fenrir, Freya and Alice towed them back to the nearby Lionheart while Ray covered their rear. As they entered the ship through the mobile suit bay doors, a gaggle of onlookers were already waiting for them outside the airlock and the sorry sight of the Fenrir's remains immediately rendered them speechless. Ignoring the crowd, Laura ripped off her helmet and leapt out of the Gundam as soon as it was set down, not even stopping to talk with Junko when the maintainer called out to her.
Landing directly on top of the Fenrir before anyone else, she attempted to open the cockpit hatch only to discover it had been fused shut. Grabbing its charred sides, Laura swung back and kicked the hatch repeatedly. Finally, it swung open with a groan and the wide-eyed blonde threw herself inside the cockpit.
"Vega!" she screamed and found the ace hovering lifelessly above her seat.
Immediately taking Vega's floating form into her arms, Laura cradled her as she frantically checked for signs of life. After carefully removing Vega's cracked helmet and discovering that the masked woman still breathed albeit shallowly, the blonde sighed with jubilant relief. It was ridiculous but she felt like she had been holding her breath this whole time. The tumultuous state of her emotions having finally come to an end, Laura suddenly came to her senses and realised she was embracing her mortal nemesis. It should have felt wrong… but for some odd reason it didn't and she allowed the tranquil moment to linger.
Now that she could look closely at Vega's face, she saw that the noblewoman was extraordinarily beautiful. Flawless white skin that glistened in the faint light, long silver hair which flowed from her head like waves of silk, full red lips that could be both stern and playful… Everything about the Scarlet Wolf was mesmerising… almost familiarly so, Laura found herself thinking. It was only her eyes that she could not behold, hidden as they were behind her white mask.
As Laura stared into that mask, she noticed a crack on its surface. And another. And yet another. She watched them grow and grow until the mask disintegrated into glittering shards which drifted out of the way. The eyes they had previously veiled stirred and when their long lashes unfurled, Vega awoke to the same sight as Laura.
Amethyst eyes staring back.
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END OF EPISODE
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Next Episode Preview
LAURA: Sometimes, the truth and what we believe are two separate things. Lies – lies told to us by others and lies we told ourselves – blur reality and we are left questioning what is real and what is fiction. But once the falsehoods crumble away, we are left with a choice: Do we live with the lies? Or do we live with courage and face the truth… knowing that we can never go back?
Next time on Gundam Gemini,
Gemini.
When Tully saved me that day, she changed two destinies. Now, so long as I can muster the same courage, the hands of fate will change again…
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AUTHOR NOTES
I hope you enjoyed the conclusion to the penultimate episode of Gundam Gemini.
When I first started planning GG, I wondered how I could write a story unique to the franchise and what you have read is just one of the pieces to that plan: The antagonist unexpectedly saving the life of our protagonist under mysterious circumstances and finally being unmasked at the end with a twist. I'm very happy with the way the ending turned out and I hope it makes you as excited for the last episode as I am.
But with only one episode to go, astute readers are probably asking (screaming, if I may be so bold) how I plan to possibly resolve everything in only one episode? What about Lemuria? The Phoenix Ark? And all the other mysteries and characters? All I can say is that I have not forgotten these things and I hope you will read on.
I'm halfway through rewriting Episode 24 and hope to have both parts out before the end of the year. Until then, this will be your last chance to guess what Vega's true motives are. Why did she save Laura? And why does she share the same eye colour as her? I'd love to hear your answers.