Hi everyone! So sorry about the long delay. Part of this was from Wufei's point of view, and I haven't written him before so I was having severe writer's block. Then Hurricane Ike hit and took my power away and it's been crazy ever since. Anyway, hope you still remember this story, heheh. This will be the last one with this song... it took much longer than I intended to finish this one up. Anyway, enjoy!
Sweet berries ready for two ghosts are no different than you.
Ghosts are now waiting for you.
Are you...
Dreaming! Dreaming the night! Dreaming all right!
- Question! - System of a Down
Wufei
Wufei had been drifting in space for over two days. He was rationing his food and water, but it wouldn't last much longer. Luckily, he'd almost reached his destination. He'd had just enough fuel left to adjust his course when necessary over the past few days, and his velocity was high enough that he didn't need to waste any more of it on acceleration.
His time in space had been mostly uneventful. He wasn't sure quite what he'd expected, but whatever it was, it had involved a lot more action. Aside from the brief confrontation he'd had with Space Fortress Barge and one mission order from Master O, he had had absolutely no contact since he'd left Earth. Somehow, he'd gotten used to being surrounded by people, or at least being in contact with the other pilots from time to time. The solitude and silence had been erie.
His mind wandered to the skirmish with Space Fortress Barge. He'd had no illusions that he could take on the spaceship single-handedly, but had wanted to get its measure, so he'd attacked. Barge had sent out a token squadron of Leos to retaliate, and then destroyed the squadron when they'd tried to hit him with Barge's beam cannon. As if a Gundam couldn't maneuver away from such an assault! It was if they had never faced a Gundam before... which was perhaps true, at least in outer space. But it still offended Wufei how much OZ tended to underestimate him.
But that they would destroy their own troops! And for nothing, since Wufei had escaped. And then there was the mysterious woman who had been shouting about peace. If he didn't know any better, he would have identified that voice with Colonel Une, who had threatened to destroy a colony during the battle in Siberia. It couldn't be, though. No one so ruthless could change into such a die-hard pacifist so quickly.
He'd had to retreat, of course. He was low on fuel and had gathered the information he'd needed about Barge... and about just how ruthless OZ was prepared to be in order to destroy the Gundams. Whoever that crazy woman was, it didn't much matter. Her pleas obviously hadn't averted OZ's attempts to destroy him, so she couldn't be anyone important.
A sensor on his control unit beeped, and Wufei was brought back to the present. He'd thought he was getting close. Just five hours after he'd left Barge behind, he'd received a missive from Master O instructing him to assassinate the mobile doll's Chief Engineer. Luckily, he had already been heading in the direction of the Lunar Base.
Securing the food and other items he'd taken out of a small storage locker, Wufei readied himself for battle. There wasn't much he could do, given that he was almost completely out of fuel and had no bullets left. No harm done if he could take out a few dolls before he was captured, though, right? Wufei grinned in anticipation. Perhaps it would be better to say harm done, but good riddance.
As far as he knew, the scientists were all prisoners at the Lunar Base. With any luck, OZ would want them to make improvements on any captured Gundams so they could use them for their own ends. He would bide his time in captivity, then escape when his Gundam was complete and destroy the whole base, killing the Chief Engineer in the process.
More sensors started beeping, and Wufei watched as a squadron of mobile suits approached on his radar. Saying a quick prayer to Nataku, he grinned at the coming attackers. "That's very kind of you, Mr. Chief Engineer. Nataku, you and I have to become a lot stronger. I hear they have a factory. Maybe they'll help us get stronger." Wufei laughed at his own joke as he exploded into action. He would take out as many suits as possible before he let them capture them. He would inflict on them the greatest possible pain.
The battle hadn't lasted very long. He'd managed to destroy three suits before he was subdued. Now, his hands were shackled and pulled behind his back painfully as he was marched through the hallways of the base, escorted by five soldiers. At least they weren't underestimating him anymore.
They turned a corner and came to a door that required a security code. Clearly, they were entering a secure area. Perhaps the holding cells? Wufei's suspicion was quickly confirmed when they stopped in front of another door. Once opened, he was thrown inside.
"We'll be seeing more of you soon, don't you worry!" one of the soldiers called after him before shutting the door, plunging the cell into darkness.
Wufei looked up, trying to make out the walls of his cell through the gloom. He tensed when he realized he wasn't alone, backing up to one of the walls and crouching defensively.
"It's okay, Wufei, it's just me," said a voice, and Wufei relaxed immediately, recognizing it as Heero's.
Wufei grunted in response, then made his way slowly in the direction of the voice.
"Have you been here long?" he queried.
"A day or two, it's hard to tell," Heero replied.
Wufei's eyes started to adjust, and he realized he was just a few feet from Heero, who was sitting against one of the walls. He scrutinized Heero's face, wondering at the pain in it. Heero looked painfully disappointed and the same time that he seemed intensely relieved. Had he been expecting someone else? Someone he wanted to see, but didn't want captured? Wufei didn't have long to wonder, as Heero noticed his scrutiny and carefully schooled his features into an indifferent mask.
"Did you accomplish what you came for?" the pilot of Wing asked.
"Not yet," Wufei replied. "I need to give the scientists a chance to work on Nataku before I can carry out my mission."
Heero nodded.
"How about yourself?"
Heero grimaced. "No." He didn't elaborate.
"Have you had any contact with the others since you've been in space?" Wufei asked.
Heero hesitated before responding. "Yes. Last I knew, Duo was on L3 recovering from captivity. Trowa is here in the base, under cover in OZ."
Wufei's eyes widened. He'd never imagined trying to infiltrate OZ for more than a quick mission. That Trowa had done so without raising any suspicion was more than impressive.
"The scientists have created two new mobile suits - the Mercurius and the Vayeate - that Trowa and I have been piloting. They're the extremes of offense of defense. I pilot the defensive ones, of course. Together, they are the equal of two gundams, or perhaps even better."
Wufei frowned. He wasn't surprised that the scientists had developed new suits for OZ, but so quickly? Would OZ even bother improving Nataku if they were satisfied with these new suits? He didn't like that prospect.
"What about Wing Gundam?" he asked.
"I left it on Earth," Heero said, without explaining.
Wufei supposed that made sense. There wasn't much point to the Gundams if the scientists were designing better suits, anyway.
Just then, the door to the cell opened.
"Get out, 01."
Heero stood up and headed for the door. Wufei tensed. Between the two of them, they could probably take whatever group was out there. Heero shook his head minutely, and Wufei looked to the doorway. There stood Trowa, watching him. He clenched his teeth. How could Heero be so sure that Trowa hadn't betrayed them? Wufei wasn't about to let his guard down just because Trowa had been an ally in the past.
Heero stepped through the doorway and the cell door shut immediately. Sighing, Wufei leaned back against the wall to rest. He might as well do something useful while he was here.
Wufei awoke to the sound of the door opening. Heero stepped into the cell and the door clicked swiftly shut behind him. He looked at Heero questioningly, wondering what he'd been doing.
"Another test run for the new suits," Heero explained.
Wufei nodded in acknowledgement. So the new suits weren't completely finished. That at least was good news.
"What are the specifications of the new suits?" he asked.
"They're made of Gundanium alloy, of course," Heero began. "The Vayeate is the offensive suit, the Mercurius the defensive. The Vayeate's only weapon is it's beam cannon, but that's not a problem since it's always deployed with the Mercurius. The beam cannon is massively powerful, probably capable of destroying an entire colony."
Wufei's eyes widened. That was definitely more powerful than the original Gundams, and far too dangerous to be in the hands of OZ.
"The Mercurius is armed with a beam saber," Heero continued, "but it's most remarkable attribute is its defense system. It's called a planet defensor, in which ten disks controlled by remote emit a force field that can reflect force as powerful as the beam cannon in the Vayeate. It's meant for close combat, with it's defense capabilities and beam saber, while the Vayeate is mostly intended to hang back and take out large adversaries."
"The Mercurius can withstand an attack that would destroy an entire colony?" Wufei asked, incredulous.
"That's right," Heero confirmed. "They are the complete opposite of one another, contrary in every aspect. The only difference right now is that the Mercurius is equipped with a self-destruct devise controlled by the Vayeate, so Trowa can destroy me if I get out of line."
"That's logical," Wufei commented, still trying to wrap his head around the new information.
"I had hoped that OZ would want the scientists to improve Nataku so they could use it here in outer space, but with these new suits, it seems unlikely that they would desire such a thing."
"As far as I can tell, OZ has released both Deathscythe and Shenlong to the scientists without requests for improvements or even research. If I know anything about J, though, they'll be working on them without OZ's knowledge, hoping to return them to their rightful pilots."
"I hope you're right, Heero. Nataku will need a lot of improvements to fight in outer space, especially against mobile dolls and these new Gundams. Without the scientists' help, I don't know if I'd stand a chance."
"We'll just have to wait and see," Heero replied.
Wufei nodded. Clearly, there wasn't much more they could do.
Wufei looked up at the sound of footsteps in the hallway.
"Another test run?" he asked.
"Probably," Heero replied.
The footsteps drew nearer, and Wufei backed up against the wall in a defensive crouch, just in case. He saw Heero doing the same.
But when the door opened, there was no summons for the other pilot. Squinting against the bright light, Wufei saw what looked like another prisoner, sagging against the guards in apparent pain. The soldiers tossed him in without comment and swiftly shut the door.
As the figure fell into the room, Wufei noticed a long braid trailing behind him. Duo. He looked over to Heero, who was frozen in place with a look of both horror and relief. Heero noticed Wufei's scrutiny, however, and quickly schooled his features.
"Botched your mission? You couldn't destroy the base and you didn't kill Dr. J and the others."
Wufei was surprised by the callousness of Heero's greeting. Judging by the look on Heero's face, Duo was the one he'd been thinking about when Wufei had been thrown in the cell... but now Wufei couldn't be sure.
Duo groaned, snapping Wufei out of his musings. "How about a little sympathy?" the braided boy said, pushing himself up into a sitting position and wincing in obvious pain.
"In any case I'm still glad I decided to come here. I've got good news," Duo continued, focusing on Wufei. "Your Gundam and mine are being rebuilt as we speak, you know. I can hardly wait until their done! Nnnn..." Duo winced, arms cradling his chest. Broken ribs?, Wufei wondered.
"Looks like OZ will be keeping us alive for a while. It's a good chance, so don't die yet," Heero said, voice dispassionate as ever. Wufei looked at him askance. Was that the glimmer of concern in those blue eyes?
"Don't worry about me, pal!" Duo replied. "I have no intention of dying that easily. There's the colonies to fight for. Just watch me. I'll become the God of Death once again! But right now... I need some sleep." Good as his word, Duo laid down in the middle of the cell, wincing again at the movement. Within a few moments, Wufei could hear soft snores coming from the other pilot.
"He's not in very good shape," Wufei commented quietly.
"No. He hasn't had time to heal since the last time he was captured," Heero replied, looking away. This, Wufei could tell, was clearly upsetting to Heero. Maybe it had been Duo all along. Either way, Heero didn't seem interested in talking about it.
"Sleep's a good idea. I think I'll join him," Wufei said, lying down and getting as comfortable as he could on the cold concrete floor.
Do we, do we know
When we fly?
When we, when we go,
Do we die?
Duo
Duo woke in pain. He blinked his eyes open, surprised to find himself completely in the dark. Trying to sit up, he winced and lay back down, noticing the cold concrete beneath him. Events of the previous day started to filter back to him... or at least, he thought it was the previous day. There was no way to tell in the dark of the cell.
Duo breathed deeply, testing his ribs. Sharp pain told him the fight had only made them worse, undoing any healing he'd managed to accomplish before the attack. Cautiously, he moved his foot to see how his ankle was faring. It was sore, but no worse than it had been. Good. He was sure he had myriad cuts and bruises in addition to those injuries, but nothing that was serious.
That's when Duo remembered that he wasn't alone. Heero and Wufei were in the cell too. Heero. He hadn't seemed hurt, but Duo had hardly had the chance to look him over before falling asleep. At least Heero couldn't be any worse off than Duo was himself, or he was sure he would have noticed. Somehow, Duo found himself intensely relieved to know that Heero was okay. Not knowing whether Heero had been dead or alive... Duo shuddered. It had been bad enough after Heero self-destructed, but somehow this time was worse.
Shaking those thoughts out of his mind, Duo carefully rolled into his side so he could sit up. He found himself staring into cobalt eyes.
"How are you feeling?" Heero asked quietly.
Duo looked around and noted that Wufei was asleep.
"Alright," he replied, just as quietly. "Not nearly so bad as when you busted me out last time. My ribs are worse again but my ankle is better." Duo shrugged, regretting the action immediately. "I could use some more time to heal, but what can you do?"
Heero scowled. "You shouldn't have come. You should have stayed in L3 to recover."
Duo scowled right back. "Well excuse me if there's a war going on right now. It's not like I can just check out for a few broken ribs and a bad ankle."
"You could have waited a little longer," Heero insisted.
"Look, an opportunity came up that I didn't want to miss, okay? Besides, I wasn't about to just sit around doing nothing while you were off getting into god knows what kind of trouble," Duo replied crossly. "What's it to you, anyway?" he challenged.
"It's important that we pilots take care of ourself so we can continue to fight. You risked serious injury—injury that could have removed you from the war completely, or even have killed you—just for this mission," Heero said, voice rising with intensity.
Duo scoffed. "Of course I did! I do that—you do that for every mission! We're Gundam pilots, of course we're risking our lives!"
"This risk was unnecessary. You should have waited," Heero reiterated.
"Yah, yah, whatever. I wasn't about to pass up a good opportunity. I'm not accountable to you, anyway, so quit your nagging. I'm a little worse for the wear, but no big deal. The important thing is that I'm here so I'll be ready when the scientists finish with Deathscythe."
Heero just looked at him, still scowling. Duo rolled his eyes, turning away. What was with him? Unnecessary risk? A this from the guy who self-destructed his own Gundam! It was ridiculous!
Duo noticed Wufei scrutinizing him from where he lay on the floor. He must have heard the whole exchange. Not that Duo cared. He was sure 'Fei would side with him anyway.
As if to confirm this, Wufei raised an eyebrow and nodded in Heero's direction, questioning. Duo just shrugged, trying to convey just how clueless he was about Heero's problem. Wufei considered this for a moment, then shrugged himself and closed his eyes again.
Duo decided to lie back down. There wasn't much else to do and his body could sure use the rest. Heero's behavior bothered him though, and if it weren't for the concrete and the broken ribs, he was sure he'd be tossing and turning in his attempt to get to sleep. Why on earth was Heero so upset?
This time, Duo remembered where he was when he woke. Blinking his eyes open, he looked around for the other pilots. Heero was sitting against the wall, apparently asleep, and Wufei was standing up, doing some sort of yoga.
Duo sat up gingerly and watched Wufei for a while as he switched from position to position. He'd never realized quite how flexible the other pilot was before.
"What's that called, Wufei?" Duo asked, tired of just watching.
"Tai Chi," Wufei responded without missing a step.
"It looks painful," Duo commented.
"It would be with broken ribs," Wufei replied. Duo chuckled.
"So how long've you been here now?"
"A few days, give or take. It's hard to tell since we're in the dark all the time."
"Huh," Duo replied. "Sounds boring."
"I guess."
Duo waited a few moments, but Wufei didn't seem forthcoming.
"So, there anything to do besides Tai Chi and sleep?"
"Not really," Wufei replied. "At least, not for us."
"What do you mean, not for us?"
Wufei looked at him, apparently done with his exercises, then sat down across from him.
"Heero has been piloting one of the new Gundams the scientists designed. As far as I can tell, they take him out once a day for test runs."
"They're letting him pilot it?" Duo asked, incredulous. "Why hasn't he busted out yet?"
"There's a self-destruct device in his suit. If he does anything suspicious, they'll trigger it."
"Ahh. Got it. How are the new suits?"
"Pretty impressive," Wufei replied. He explained the stats on the Mercurius and the Vayeate, watching Duo's eyes widen just as his had done.
"It can destroy a whole colony? No way!"
"That hasn't been tested yet, but Heero seems very sure."
"That's terrible... OZ should never be allowed to wield that much power."
"I agree," Wufei said. "But there's nothing we can do about it right now. We'll just have to be satisfied that they're doing nothing more than test runs right now."
"So who's piloting the other suit? Some hotshot OZ soldier?" Duo asked.
"No. Trowa Barton. He's infiltrated OZ and gained the trust of Colonel Une. He's the one who controls the self-destruct device in the Mercurius. Heero's convinced that he's on our side, but I'm not so sure. So far he hasn't done anything to betray us, though."
Duo nodded, thinking. "Well, we'll just have to be on our guard... as much as it's possible locked away like this. I wonder if he knows about our gundams...?"
"I have no idea," Wufei replied. "We weren't sure about them until you told us. I guess it depends if the scientists trust him enough to have told him themselves."
"I guess so," Duo said, sighing. "I don't like this, but there's not much we can do but wait. Man, I hate sitting around!"
Wufei looked at him thoughtfully. "How bad are your ribs, really?"
"Pretty bad. Why?"
"There are a few exercises I can show you. They'll hurt, but they'll help strengthen you so you can heal. Are you interested?"
"Hell yah! Anything's better than doing nothing!" Duo replied, grinning.
Wufei smiled softly, standing up. He extended a hand, which Duo took gratefully. Once on his feet, he looked to the Chinese pilot expectantly.
"Okay. First, place your feet just so." Wufei nodded when Duo did as instructed. "Now, bring your arms up like this. Right. Next, you're going to bring your hands around this way. Right. Okay..."
Wufei continued instructing him, and Duo followed along as best he could. Wufei had been right, the exercises did hurt, but they didn't hurt too much. He could tell they'd help with his flexibility and strength, even his balance. He was grateful to Wufei for the opportunity to stay busy. Painful as it was, it sure beat sitting around doing nothing.
Duo was sitting down, resting after the exercises, when the door opened again.
"Get out, 01." Squinting, Duo thought he could make out Trowa's face. Grinning, he thought he'd have a little fun.
"Come on, how come him again? I'm a better pilot than 01 is, you know! Let me take care of the next battle!" he said, standing up.
"You can't do it in your shape," Trowa replied. "Even a Gundam pilot runs the risk of being killed in this next mission, because it's a Gundam pilot you'll be fighting."
"What?" Wufei asked, stunned as the rest of them.
"Apparently it's a new model," Trowa continued. "He wiped out a whole OZ division with one suit."
"What are it's characteristics and weapons?" Heero asked.
"The engineers asked the same questions. That shows that you're familiar with them," Trowa replied, declining to provide any details.
"Okay, let's go," Heero said. "With that red one, the Mercurius, this should prove to be quite a fight."
"You're coming, like it or not."
"And you'll just stand back and watch as the two Gundam pilots fight each other!" Duo yelled. "Hey, 01! Don't do it! It's probably a suit performance test! Don't help them out!" Trowa moved towards Duo swiftly, punching him in the gut. Duo grunted at the pain, bending over as the wind was knocked out of him.
"You guys just better keep quiet there. You'll get your turn eventually." With that, he nodded to Heero and left the cell, closing the door upon Heero's exit.
"I don't think that guy was acting," Wufei said. "We have to assume that he really has betrayed us."
"We don't need to worry about that. He's one guy we can trust," Duo said, grinning despite the pain.
"What makes you so sure?"
"Because no traitor's gonna bring us a gift like this that so much thought's been put into." With that, Duo lifted up a small device, then pressed a button and pointed it at the wall. Instantly, a beam of light emitted from the device, showing a picture on the wall.
"Hey, that's...!" Wufei exclaimed.
"Duo Maxwell and Wufei Chang," Trowa's voice said, emanating from the small device. "This was given to me by Master O. Use it to kill time."
On the wall, schematics of the improved Deathscythe and Shenlong were flashing before them with each click of the button.
"Son of a gun," Wufei said, shaking his head.
"Awesome, right?" Duo replied, sitting back to look through the images. "I heard it'll be completed in one month. Now that Quatre is back, we're going to be busy again."
"I have no intention of thinking of an unconfirmed Gundam as an ally of ours," Wufei said as he scrutinized the schematics.
"But the Gundam is defeating OZ's troops, right" It's gotta be an ally."
"I certainly do hope so... but I've got a bad feeling."
"If you say so," Duo said, happy to let the subject go and study the new data they'd been given.
"Is it just me or is it getting stuffy in here?" Duo asked, not taking his eyes away from the images on the wall.
"It's not just you. I suspect they've shut of the air," Wufei replied.
"Seriously?!"
Wufei just nodded.
"Damn! What a dinky way to kill us all off! Man, I sure wish I could've gone to battle today instead of Heero," Duo said. Not that he was entirely sure of that. Heero would probably survive whatever battle he was fighting, while there didn't seem to be any chance of surviving this. Trowa was with Heero, so there could be no help from that quarter, and it was likely that the scientists were in the same position they were.
Wufei, meanwhile, had continued scrutinizing the schematics of their Gundams.
"What are you doing, Wufei? There's no sense studying that now."
"Stay calm if you want to live a little bit longer," Wufei replied, calm as his advice.
"We don't stand a chance unless something pretty drastic happens!"
"I'm doing everything I can in case "something drastic" does happen," Wufei insisted.
"Wufei!" Duo said, exasperated. "Sorry, but I'm gonna throw in the towel. Oh, this is such a lame way to die! This is so not cool!" Duo lay down, throwing his arm over his face. This was unbearable. Not only was Heero out there fighting a mystery Gundam that was clearly very powerful, he and Wufei were gonna die in this stupid cell for the lame reason of running out of oxygen. They weren't even gonna go out fighting!
"Ugh!" Duo sat back up and picked up the small device, clicking through the differing images.
"I never would've guessed I'd be dying like this. Hey, Wufei, my Deathscythe is pretty cool, don't you think? I'll demolish OZ with this in no time at all!" When Wufei didn't respond, Duo looked over to see him lying down.
"Wufei?" No response. "What's wrong? Are you dead already? Wufei!" Duo crept over to the other boy, panic creeping into his voice. "Don't be deserting me at a time like this. You've gotta stick with me right to the bitter end!" Duo reached Wufei, then noticed his chest was rising and falling minutely as he breathed.
"Amazing," he said to himself. "He's almost totally stopped breathing. He's in a state of suspended animation. The guy really is unbelievable." Sitting back, Duo decided to lie back down. Of course Wufei would refuse to give up, right to the bitter end. It made perfect sense. Who would want to die like this, anyway? The Gundam pilots... the Gundams can't afford to loose at this point... not now...
Duo woke to a shake from Wufei. His head was pounding. "Wha...?"
"The air is back and the door is open. Looks like someone else around here is on our side."
Duo looked up to see the cell door wide open with no one in sight.
"All right! Let's get out of here!"
Duo got up swiftly, ignoring the pain from his ribs, and followed Wufei out of the cell. They hurried through the halls, careful not to attract any notice. Whatever was going on, this part of the base seemed to be deserted.
They arrived at the hanger with their Gundams and swiftly entered the cockpits. Duo booted up the cockpit system and warnings started beeping at him from the diagnostics system.
"It's only 70 complete. Our abilities to fight are limited!"
"It's amazing enough that we're even alive. Can't be choosy."
"Well, shall we escape?" Duo asked.
"After we pay them back, eh?" Wufei replied.
"Sounds good to me!"
With that, Deathscythe and Shenlong exploded from the hangar and turned, firing on the base. More alerts started beeping, and Duo saw mobile dolls approaching from two sides.
"I guess we'll have to split up. Go destroy some stupid dolls, Wufei!"
"Until we meet again, Maxwell," Wufei replied.
tbc
The planet defensor was the name for the system listed on AboutGundamWing . com
I apologize for any typos, I wanted to get this up as soon as I could since it's been such a long time. Please let me know what you think!