Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Gundam Wing Infinites - Heero Yuy ❯ Chapter 3

"And what does that one do," Relena asked Duo, sitting on the edge of Deathscythe's torso, legs and attention in the cockpit. Duo, like Deathscythe itself, was on his back in the cockpit chair, checking over his buddy's systems. Despite Lucrezia's protests, he knew that some kind combat was going to occur. And he wasn't going to be caught unawares.

"Uh… that one," Duo stammered, not wanting to describe the self-detonation switch to the girl, knowing it would provoke thoughts of Heero. "That one's the… uh… cloaking field. That's right, it's supposed to be the cloaking field. Damn thing doesn't work, though."

"And that one?" Relena asked again, pointing to a series of knobs and switches. To Duo, she seemed to be taking an unhealthy interest in a war machine, especially for a fifteen-year-old girl who was supposed to be the princess of some long-dead pacifist nation. `Sunk Kingdom' or something?

"Controls for the scythe. Alter the direction of the beam, little fine-detail work," he explained, remembering the time he'd used his beam scythe to disable Heero's Gundam's self-detonation sequence, on the bottom of the sea. Come to think of it, that was just before I first met Relena, Duo mused. She distracted him; she was shivering in the cold Antarctic air. They should have been only an hour or so away from the base, if Lucrezia could be believed.

He quickly shucked off his long-sleeved priest's top, and ignoring the bite of the icy air, threw it up to her. "Wrap that around you. It isn't much but it'll keep you a little warmer." He smiled to himself as she obliged, turning his focus back to the bug he'd discovered in the targeting systems. He still felt the need to protect her for Heero, never mind that Heero was dead. The God of Death worked in mysterious ways, and seemed to ignore the simple fact that a white, cotton t-shirt was not advised attire for the icy land of Antarctica.

"I've got something better," a voice announced. Relena lifted her head up to observe the voice. Duo stood up on the back of his chair, barley able to see over the rim of the cockpit. He saw Lucrezia Noin walking towards them, down the body of Deathscythe, carrying two thick parkas. Another OZ soldier followed her cautiously, carrying several mugs of something steaming. "Put these on, I can't have our special guests catching a cold," she quipped.

"Hey!" Duo yelled. "Watch the paint!" Lucrezia's response was to drop one of the parkas on his head. This friendly `hatred' between the OZ officer and the Gundam pilot had grown into a binding force since Pagan had brought the boy up to the mansion to meet `Miss Relena'. To the outside observer, it appeared they were at each other's throats all the time, but Relena, Duo and Lucrezia knew it was little more than a joke. Relena sniggered at the sight of a mock-outraged Duo as she pulled her white parka on, accepting a drink from the solder before he deposited the tray and walked off. She seemed to enjoy it, so once Duo untangled himself, he grabbed the mug that had been left on the edge of the cockpit. He grunted in satisfaction as he took a sip, the hot chocolate pleasantly burned a path down his throat, restoring feeling to his body.

"How much further to the OZ base," Relena asked, as she sat back down on the edge.

"Another twenty minutes, and we should be able to land," Lucrezia advised. "As soon as we land, we'll move my Aries and the Gundam into the underground hangers, and see about organising quarters for you two."

"And what about my brother?" Relena asked. It was her bribe for being here, the chance to meet her `legendary' brother.

"He should be by soon enough," Lucrezia assured. To Duo's ears, it sounded like the one Lucrezia was trying to assure was herself.

An officer burst out of the front section of the plane, leaning over the rail of the catwalk that ringed the massive suit hold. "Lieutenant Noin! We've detected one of our craft, and it's being followed by a large number of carriers!" he shouted down to the three

"Damn it, they found us," Lucrezia swore. "Any idea who's assigned to that carrier?"

"It's the Colonel's," was the simple reply. Lucrezia snapped into battle mode.

"Relena, up to the forward area, please," she requested. Relena nodded acceptance, and ran for the ladder leading to the hatch the young officer had appeared from. As soon as she was gone, Noin began barking orders, rapid-fire. "Pilot Capstan, report to the suit hanger! We'll drop the two Aries; they will escort the Colonel's carrier. This carrier is to continue to base; our job is to deliver our guests safely. Once there, they can send additional troops to protect the Colonel."

"I could deploy Deathscythe," Duo offered, but a glare from Lucrezia told him that it wasn't on the cards.

"Capstan and I will take the Aries. They will be enough until we get reinforcements from the Antarctica base," she explained, clearly not used to explaining orders to subordinates, which Duo effectively was.

"You're going to take on whatever they're throwing at your Colonel Zechs in two Aries?" Duo asked, sceptically. "You're nuts!"

"My mission is to get you to the destination safely, the OZ officer responded firmly. "The method is up to me alone." There was no talking her out of it. Duo could only watch as she and the other pilot deployed the aerial suits, falling into the clouds before heading off to fight for their leader.

**********

"Sir," one of the carrier crew reported to Zechs. "We've picked up one of our carriers, and it's deployed two Aries suits."

"ETA?" the colonel asked.

"Four minutes on the suits if they're uninterrupted," was the dismal reply. "The Une faction carriers will be on us in three." Zechs' enemies had been dubbed the `Une faction', as it was Lieutenant Colonel Lady Une who was the first in this wave of aggressive combat styles plaguing OZ, making them no better than the weak Alliance they had supplemented two months prior. The fact that they had the full support of Romerfeller, and Colonel Treize seemed unable to control his organisation any longer, had led Zechs and his small band to secede.

"Ready Zero-One for deployment. I'll meet them myself," he instructed. Ignoring the replies of his followers, he quickly moved from the cockpit to the mobile suit hanger, leaping onto the hull of the Gundam and slipping into the cockpit. As soon as Zechs closed the hatch, the carrier's rear door opened, and the hydraulic catapults shot Zero-One into free-fall over the frigid Antarctic landscape.

**********

"Three of the carriers are changing course," Pilot Capstan reported to Lucrezia. "They're vectoring for us." The two Aries suits were hiding in the cloud layer, trying to get as close to Zechs' carrier as they could. It looked like they were out of options. Their only hope was to cause enough of a fuss to distract them.

Lucrezia watched as the carriers deployed their own Aries and moved into optimum strike range. "Let's go," she ordered, launching her Aries out of the clouds. Capstan stayed on her port wing, and they opened fire simultaneously on the lead carrier. Their machinegun fire sheared off two of the engines, sending the carrier spiralling towards the ground.

"Carrier One's going down," Capstan cheered.

"Spread out!" Lucrezia ordered as the Une faction's Aries broke formation and came after them. They split, Capstan drawing fire as Lucrezia shot at the enemy. She was rewarded by an explosion, which emanated from one member of the leading wing pair. Following her course around, she looped up and over the second carrier, causing non-fatal damage along the wing top and one of the engines.

"One more shot and Carrier Two will go down," Capstan reported, dodging a trio of missiles and a hail of machinegun fire as he spoke. Lucrezia continued her path, destroying two of his pursuers.

"Get back into the clouds and be patient," she ordered.

"No, I'm going for it!" he replied. She was about to reprimand him, when an enemy suit rose from the clouds and opened fire on Capstan, blowing off his right leg. Under a hail of fire, Capstan fell back into the cloud layer, trying to regain control of his suit. Lucrezia followed, landing beside the wrecked suit of her wingmate.

"You need help," she asked.

"I'm sorry," he began to apologise. "That was careless of…" He was interrupted by the proximity alarms from his IFF system. The enemy carriers had released all their suits, and it appeared reinforcements were coming from the larger group pursuing Zechs. It was snowing mobile suits. "Lieutenant…" he stuttered, trying desperately to provoke a response from his wrecked suit.

"Backup troops?!" Lucrezia cried, half-cheering, half-frightened. They'd succeeded in diverting some attention from Colonel Zechs, but at what cost?

Carriers crossed over the stormy Antarctic sky, dropping Aries and modified Leos in a web designed to trap Lucrezia and Capstan. They opened fire…

**********

The enemy didn't stand a chance against Zechs Merquise and the Gundam Zero-One. Mobile suit after mobile suit fell to his dober gun, and the Une faction carriers weren't faring much better. Just as the next wave was about to attack him, the dober gun decided it no longer appreciated the Antarctic weather and refused to fire. Without a word, Zechs transferred it to the back mount, out of the way, and hit the control to eject the beam sabre.

His comm crackled to life, having trouble receiving signals due to the icy storm interference. "Sir," an officer aboard his carrier reported, "The two Aries who had come to relieve us are pinned down by vastly superior Romerfeller forces."

"So?" Zechs asked, lunging forwards and bisecting a Command Leo.

"We've confirmed the identity of one of the pilots. It's Lieutenant Noin."

**********

"Damn it!" the communications officer swore. "We have to rescue Lieutenant Noin!" he called into the cockpit.

"Isn't that against your orders?" Relena asked.

"I don't have to take that crap from the likes of you," the comm officer yelled, scaring Relena. "Turn us around!" he yelled again at the carrier pilots; causing Relena to try and retreat into Duo, someone she trusted to protect her from angry rebel OZ soldiers.

"No!" Duo responded firmly. The comm officer looked like he was about to hit the insolent American, but Duo didn't give him the chance. "Your orders were to take this carrier to the OZ base, then send reinforcements to protect your precious Colonel. However…" he trailed off suggestively.

"However, what?" the officer demanded. Duo put a reassuring hand on Relena's shoulder; this guy was scaring her witless.

"However, I have no such orders," he continued. "I can't have orders, I'm not a member of OZ." It didn't take much to detect the scorn in his voice when he mentioned `OZ', but the officer ignored it. The boy sounded like he was talking sense. "You guys can deploy Deathscythe. You carry on, follow your orders, and I'll save Lucrezia. How about that?" he asked diplomatically.

The officer considered it. "Get in your suit," he replied, almost scornfully. "I shouldn't trust you, but you make sense." Duo ignored him, whispering a quick reassurance in Relena's ear before tearing down the length of the carrier for the suit hanger and his buddy.

**********

The Une faction mobile suits opened fire on Lucrezia and Capstan. They appeared to be warning shots, penning the two Aries in, but Lucrezia knew that a slight shift in the aim could change that.

"I'll cover for you, Lieutenant Noin," Capstan offered. "Get outta here while you still got a chance!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Lucrezia snapped back. "I don't abandon my men."

The trails of ammunition slipped closer… closer. A stream of shots impacted on Capstan's Aries, blasting away his weapon and one remaining leg.

"Alright! That's enough!" Lucrezia called to the Une faction troops. "We surrender!" Suiting action to words, she threw her suit's machinegun into the ice.

"Why, Lieutenant?" Capstan asked.

"There's no point continuing to fight," Noin responded, before opening a channel to the enemy forces. "We have thrown down our weapons, we surrender. Just stop attacking us."

"Do you seriously think that normal rules apply to someone who has betrayed Romerfeller?" the leader of the Une faction forces replied. "But I might consider it if you hand over the Gundam to us as proof of Zechs' betrayal."

"What?" Lucrezia asked, shocked.

"Unfortunately for Zechs, that's not going to change his destiny. We're finishing him off right here, and as my reward for defeating him, my superior skills will finally be recognised," he gloated.

"I'd never let you scoundrels get near Zechs!" Lucrezia spat back.

"Aha!" the enemy commander concluded. "So Zechs is here after all! Is he in the carrier we were pursuing?" he asked, victory in his voice.

"Damn you!" Lucrezia swore. She shouldn't have said anything.

The enemy troops advanced, intending to eliminate the two surrendered pilots. They were about to open fire when two of them were cut in half, going up in an explosion as their reactors were punctured. Lucrezia took the distraction as a chance to lunge for her discarded weapon, killing another two Leos as soon as she had the Aries' hands on it.

"Did I miss anything?" Duo Maxwell asked on an open channel, as Deathscythe stepped from the storm. The Une faction forces shifted their aim towards the Gundam, the greater threat. Deathscythe weathered everything thrown at it, and Lucrezia was able to shoot apart several more suits while they were distracted.

"Duo? Why did you come back?" Lucrezia asked. "I ordered you to stay with the carrier!"

"Your mission is to get me to the base safely," Duo quoted. "Now how are you supposed to do that if you get killed by OZ?" He lunged for another knot of suits, scything them apart. "Damn," he swore. "There's too many of them!"

"We have to kill them all, now," Capstan commented. "We can't let them know that there's a Gundam down here."

Duo pulled Deathscythe back, using the Gundam to shield the two Aries from the worst of the fire. The Une faction troops had finally pulled their act together; presenting a wall of fire that even he would have trouble penetrating. He shot the propelled shield at one of the suits, the energy beam drilling into it, but it was only one suit. He silently cursed Professor G for not putting any decent ranged weapons on his suit… except one.

"Get outta here," he ordered, opening a videocomm channel to the two Aries. "I'm about to pull a Heero, and I don't want you two tagging along to meet the God of Death."

"No, Duo!" Lucrezia pleaded, shocked. Duo just flashed his death-dealing smile at her and Capstan.

"Go," he replied darkly, severing the connection. He watched his tactical displays, nodding to himself when the signals representing Lucrezia and Capstan made a fighting retreat. He then began to advance towards the enemy suits, doing his best to ignore the incoming fire.

"Gundam Zero-Two, surrender or we will destroy you," the Une faction commander demanded.

"Sorry, but not the way I do things," Duo replied in cocky American style, activating his self-detonation controls. "Now I hate to be a copycat, but tag along…" He raised his clenched fist over the actual detonator switch, "on my journey into… Huh?" he paused, surprised.

His surprise was justified, as an Aries and four Leo suits detonated in rapid succession. The incoming fire slacked off, finally allowing Duo to send off a few effective shots with the shoulder-mounted machine cannons, critically damaging a few more suits. He checked his scanners, trying to find the mysterious person who'd just saved his bacon. Through the haze of the snowstorm, he saw the outline of an approaching mobile suit, an approaching Gundam. As it moved closer, he was finally able to recognise the Gundam. Heero's Gundam

"That suit, isn't that Heero's suit. But Heero's dead…" Duo thought aloud, before the answer hit him. "And that bastard stole his suit! Whoever you are, I'm gunna kill ya!" he declared to the world, charging forward and dismembering every Une faction mobile suit that stood between him and Heero's Gundam.