Chapter 15
It was close to eleven, and he was tired. Sighing, he hefted his rifle a little higher and once more scanned the area around him. A tumbling of small stones sounded to his left, and he turned abruptly peering into the dark night beyond the base. His eyes widened as they accommodated as much light as possible, and he picked out five indistinct shapes in the gloom. He blinked once, trying to see more, and the shapes had disappeared. Shaking his head, he turned and went in search of coffee.
*****
The air at the south corner shimmered, and five pairs of glowing eyes shone in the darkness. Pax's violet eyes scanned the area, searching for sentries.
"Clear." She murmured. "Establish remote uplink with primary targets." A button on the arm of their suits released a headset that fit snugly around the girls heads. Hilde felt the microphone arm snake round to sit level with her mouth, and the vid screen in front of her flashed once, twice, and on the third time looked down on an empty hangar, guarded by five soldiers.
"This is incredible." Dorothy breathed in her ear. "Can you feel the latent power these suits have?"
"Don't get any ideas – they have to be returned as soon as possible." Relena murmured, flexing her hand experimentally. Inside the hangar, Wing Zero's hand flexed slowly and silently.
"I know, but Dorothy's right." Catherine murmured. "I can see why they love piloting these so much."
"Enough chatter." Sally hissed, moments before a guard passed along the ridge in front of them. Hilde powered up Deathscythe, and smirked when a guard saw the glowing eyes that betrayed its activity.
"Mark." Relena murmured, and inside the hangar, the Gundams began to move.
*****
It had been a long night, and he didn't relish the idea of guarding an inactive Gundam all night. Midnight was fast approaching, which meant the end of his shift and an overdue appointment with his bed. As he turned to check the silent Gundam behind him, his gaze travelled up the sleeping suit, and he soon realised that it wasn't asleep. It's green eyes glowed fiercely at him, and he shouted an alarm as he backed away, the suit beginning to raise its deadly scythe. The five guards began to fire as all five Gundams awoke, their mechanical hands reaching for their weapons.
*****
The girls let out a breath they didn't realise they had been holding as the Gundams proceeded to destroy the hangar.
"Escape programme loaded. Targets continuing as ordered." Hilde affirmed, finishing off the uplink order.
"Compartmentalising link with targets. Proceed to stage two." Relena commanded. The other suits pushed the uplink with the suits to the side as they prepared to move out. Their link to the Gundams now existed to make sure that no damage came to the larger suits while they continued on their pre-programmed course. Shouts sounded as the patrolling guard rushed to help subdue the renegade Gundams, and the girls took their chance.
Moving swiftly, they entered the base. They flitted along the corridors in a leapfrog formation, checking for soldiers and waving each other on when the coast was clear.
"North-east corridor." Tumble muttered.
"Scorn, Rebel. Take point." Pax commanded quietly. "Ebony, Tumble, with me." Bringing up a counter on her vid screen, Relena counted down the seventy two metres she needed. "This one." She murmured. Ebony nodded, and Pax and Tumble took up defensive positions either side of her.
"Five heat signatures. This is them." Tumble confirmed. Ebony opened and Hilde stepped out. "We got you girl, go to work." Hilde nodded and bent to the electronic lock, removing the cover.
Footsteps ran along the corridor to the south, voices yelling as the base shook from the Gundams attack.
"Hurry!" hissed Scorn as she shrank back against the wall.
"Not helping." Hilde growled as she pulled out her clippers. Holding the casing with one hand, she studied the wires attached between it and the wall, took a deep breath and clipped the blue one. She breathed a sigh of relief as no alarm sounded, then clipped the black wire. Replacing the cover, she quickly stepped back into Ebony and nodded to Pax.
"Go for it." Pax reached out and pressed the open switch, and the door slid back effortlessly. She stepped inside, turning on her night vision. The others came running to her side at the strangled cry that issued involuntarily from her.
The five pilots had sprung to their feet at their entry, but they relaxed as they saw their rescuers. Their bodies were mottled black and blue, and the skin had broken in places. Blood flowed freely from the deeper cuts, and the shallow cuts had crusted up with dried blood, dust and dirt. Trowa's leg was bandaged in a makeshift splint, indicating that they had broken his leg at some point, and Duo's head had a deep gash across the side. Heero was topless, his tank top wrapped around Trowa's leg, and his chest was blistering badly from untreated burns. Quatre and Wufei's wrists bore red raw marks from chafing manacles, and Quatre was limping, favouring his left hip, a sure sign of dislocation.
"Check out time is five minutes ago people." Relena grinned. The pilots smirked, and the girls rushed to their partners.
"We can walk." The pilots shied away from the arms of the shifters.
"Yeah, but not fast enough." The girls waited, their arms outstretched. Seconds ticked by as the standoff continued, and the base shuddered as the Gundams continued their rampage. "Well, we can do it our way, or we can wait for the base to fall down around our ears." Dorothy sighed.
"For gods sake, swallow your pride and let us help you for once!" Relena almost yelled. Heero's eyes flickered with the ghost of a smirk and his shoulders dropped.
"Fine." He stepped into her waiting arms and Pax picked him up bridal style. Around them the others did the same. "We are never speaking of this again."
"Fine by me, as long as we get you guys out of here." Relena growled.
"I have no honour left."
"Can it Wufei!" Sally cut across him.
"Let's go!" Hilde called. The girls turned and raced out of the room, cradling their precious cargo in their arms as softly as holding a feather.
They raced along corridors, senses alert for any movement of soldiers. As they neared the hangar, they ducked into an empty room.
"Re-establish uplink." Relena commanded. Their vid screens flashed, and the girls headsets once more patched into the Gundams central system. "Return to primary position. Safeword enabled. Uplink terminated." The screen flashed again, and Relena once more faced her fellow shifters. Distant thunder gradually got louder as the Gundams came to find them. The girls stayed alert, listening for trouble as they waited for their larger counterparts. Abruptly they set their partners on their feet, then turned to face the walls, surrounding the unprotected males with a wall of metal shifters. Within seconds, the room was full of armed soldiers, their rifles aimed at the shifters.
"Give up the prisoners and we won't kill you." The sergeant snarled. On their screens, Catherine snorted in laughter.
"Wonder how long it took him to come up with that little gem?" She chuckled. Sally grinned.
"At last, I've been itching for a good fight." Hilde flexed her fingers and her gaze hardened.
"We make a hole people. The important thing is that the pilots get to their cockpits." Relena murmured. "Ebony, Scorn, take the left flank. Tumble, Rebel, the right. I'll take the centre and pass Heero the safeword. Ready? Let's go!" The Shifters moved, and the fight began. Pax turned to the pilots. "Move your asses!" She picked up Quatre and Trowa and slung them over her shoulder then raced out of the door towards the hangar. Stopping at the entrance, she set them on their feet again. "GO! They will be here any minute!" The four pilots took off, supporting their wounded, and Heero waited. Relena opened her suit and stepped out quickly. They stared at each other for a moment, then Heero grabbed her shoulders and crushed her mouth to his, his tongue arrogantly seeking entrance to her mouth. Her lips willingly parted and they delved into each others mouths. It was heated, raw, and passionate, and they clung to each other like life rafts in a stormy sea. They pulled apart quickly, and Heero murmured in her ear.
"Come back to me." Relena smiled, a half smile that took his breath away, then reached up on tiptoes and whispered in his ear. A look of shock crossed his normally composed features, and then she was gone, in her suit and running back to the battle before he could stop her.
*****
He entered the hangar as the Gundams arrived, and quickly crossed to where the others waited. As the Gundams resumed their original positions, their targeting systems locked onto the five pilots in front of them, and they readied themselves to fire. Heero walked calmly out in front of them and stared them down. A tense few seconds passed, then Heero spoke slowly and clearly.
"I will survive, my love."
There was a pause, and the silence was so deep you could have heard a pin drop.
"Safeword accepted. Powering down." The suits lowered their weapons and the light in their eyes faded.
"Quickly." Heero ordered, and each pilot hurried to their suits. Once inside, the suit powered up automatically.
"Hey, what's going on?" Duo complained as the suit rushed him out of the hangar.
"I have no control." Trowa stated, calmly trying combinations of buttons.
"None of us have." Quatre replied, watching his screen. "We seem to be heading away from the base."
"A remnant of the program they uploaded. To get us to safety." Wufei stated as the suits stopped. The five Gundams watched as booms broke out from all areas of the compound, and the base exploded in a fireball.
*****
The girls stood panting as the last of the soldiers fell to the floor, unconscious. By unspoken agreement, they flew to the hangar door, just in time to see the Gundams leaving the bays. Pax whirled around.
"Set the charges. No trace." They split up, one to each of the corners, while Rebel flew to the central control room. Minutes later, she was joined by the others.
"Charges set?" She asked. Her team nodded.
"Lock onto the Gundams." Pax commanded. "Three. Two. One. Shift." The base exploded as they shifted, the shockwave rippling through them.