Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Chapter Zero ❯ The birth od Death ( Chapter 2 )

* Standard disclaimers:See first chapter.

* Author introduction: What could I say about the following piece? Well, I've to admit that, at least on the beginning, I hadn't any intention of writing it, but I really couldn't resist. How could I forget my favorite character? And most of all, how could I pretend that my celluloid counterpart didn't exist?!?! ^_~

So...it is with great honor and supreme pleasure (and incommensurable scare ^.^''), I'm going to introduce you, the second part to the animated series, so...please, fasten your seatbelt, and get prepared for a little trip to L2!!

Thank you so much to everybody who reviewed my last chapter. I almost cried tears of joy! And a special hug to Estrange, for her priceless help.

~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~° ~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~ 6;~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~&# 176;~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~

Chapter Zero

By Darkwing

Part two: The birth of Death

Along the rusted wall of the service hallway, fallen into disuse, a dark and shifty shadow crept quick and silent; it stopped for a brief moment, and then started again to stealthily shift inside the maze of ducts and narrow passages that wound in the battered bowels of the L2 colony. It was most unlikely that someone had followed him, but Duo Maxwell didn't want to be in any danger, so he changed his direction more than once, before heading towards his destination.

Even the most hidden and less frequented corners of the town didn't conceal secrets to from him - after all, those streets had been his only house home for most of his life - so, even if he had allowed himself a little detour, he wouldn't loose his way. On the contrary, if someone had tailed him, now he would have completely lost his sense of direction.

A small devious smile bent his lips as he kept on making his way amid the darkness of that familiar place. He thought that it would have definitely been the most amusing theft he had ever performed, and besides, it would have been a real piece of cake.

He approached an electronic lock and quickly typed the pass code. The shutter rose, followed by the whistle of the hydraulic rams, and it shut again as the sensors sensed the young man's passage. Before switching on the torch he carried, he instinctively reached for the gun he hid under his perfectly black shirt. Actually he knew it couldn't be somewhere, but there were cases in life when being careful wasn't enough. However he trusted he didn't need to use it; at least not there.

The absolute darkness and the silence the hangar was plunged in created a surreal atmosphere, charged with the tension that forebodes a storm. Nobody was at work at that time of the night - since the launching was programmed for the next day - nevertheless, keeping his guard up, he cautiously lit the torch to its lowest intensity.

He didn't want in any way to show his presence before the right moment, and after all he didn't need a bright light to make his way inside the laboratory. He had worked and lived there for six years, since he had been hired as a pilot, and he knew the place like the back of his hand.

He confidently made for the control room to the upper floor, and he inserted his permits into the central computer memory. The screen immediately answered his touch, coming back to life, and illuminating the small room with a ghostly azure-green light. Duo didn't take too much time to find the data professor G had promised him.

Yeah, professor G. He had never understood the real reason why that freaky old man - with a hooked nose similar to a bird beak, and those mischievous eyes always hidden under that excessive white mane - didn't want to tell his real name. He always thought he was a bit paranoid, but he couldn't say he wasn't a genius; a cynical and pitiless genius, even a bit twisted, but always a genius. He couldn't be anything less the man that designed a technological jewel like that.

Duo stayed a moment in contemplation of the plans of the war mobile suit that, at least for its creator, was the better that had been constructed. As an unholy artwork, it was a worthy mouthpiece of the sinister personality that had conceived it and, with haughty pride, had nicknamed it Gundam XXXG-01D Deathscythe. The young pilot's eyes lit up with wicked pleasure, like two unusual blue gems shading into violet, as he thought that a technological terror like that had been devised just for him.

"We're leaving for a wonderful trip, ol' buddy." He said, talking to the black metal giant, lying still inside the carapace of the space capsule below.

A thrill of excitement run across his spine at the mere thought of the impending travel towards the earth. Soon he would have his chance. He would finally obtain his revenge against OZ, and justice would be served for all the innocent lives that had been struck down during the occupation.

After he had finished his mission there wouldn't be any other war orphan like him; no other child would have to live among the streets, neither he would have to steal to live, and above all, no one else would have to be forced to fight and to stain his hands with blood.

Quickly he loaded all the data that would someday be useful to him onto a disk and drove it inside his pocket; then he converted the permissions so that the decompression chamber's hatches and the sliding block of the elevator could be piloted from the cockpit of the mobile suit. As he finished, he proceeded to the deletion of the whole database of the main computer, and he shut down the terminal. Now, without those plans, whose only copy was inside the disk he had just done, it would be impossible to build another Gundam like that.

He smiled once again, amused by the old scientist's sharpness of mind and by the irony of the situation. Duo didn't know every detail, but he knew G secretly obtained the funds for the Deathscythe construction from someone that was very rich and, in some ways, close to OZ.

The engineer used them for fifteen long years, but when it had been completed he took back the reins of his work. A few hours before he called him and he announced that the moment to do what they worked for all that time had come. G ordered him to 'steal' Deathscythe, to lead it to Earth, and to use it against OZ in a guerrilla of attrition.

Duo suspected that, in all probability, that mission on Earth would have been a single ticked trip, but he didn't mind, he wasn't afraid of death. He didn't have any bond of affection, so nobody would miss him if he didn't come back; besides if heremained on L2, what kind of life he would live under the Federation's dominion? They all were treated like slaves, and he certainly hadn't anything to lose in that attempt. They couldn't take away from him anything more than they had already stolen.

'Who knows, maybe this is the reason why G chose me. Because I'm expendable.' He thought with a bitter smirk. For some strange reason, he found that this knowledge was more comforting than frightful. The idea to be able to control a dramatic situation, in which he just had been a simple victim until that moment, was a sensation that filled him with reckless self-confidence. It made him feel like he could have destroyed OZ all by himself.

Until then his existence hadn't any value for anybody - besides who could be interested in the destiny of a paltry pilferer living on the fringe of society? But on board Deathscythe he would be someone and, if he could not find purpose in his life, then he would find it by fighting to his death.

He shrugged and checked the time to verify the work schedule.

The professor recommended him to be faithful to the program, even if he didn't tell him why it was so important. Maybe the scientist considered that in that moment the launching would go easily unnoticed, or that it would be more difficult for the federal patrols to intercept him. Duo nodded to himself. Everything was going like copybook.

He put on his anti-g space suit and let himself down into the cockpit; he closed the capsule's hatches and the mobile suit ones and, before wearing his helmet, he started an accurate and quick check up of Deathscythe's control systems and armaments.

Under his skilled fingers monitors and consoles come to life again and surrounded him with a familiar constellation of coloured leds and fluorescent panels. As the computer finished every diagnostic test, it transmitted the results with a reassuring faint blink of green lights: the fuel level and the life support were at maximum levels, and so the light guns' and vulcan's ammunitions. He made sure the laser weapons' power supply cells were charged and that the stealth devices were operating. At the end everything was in perfect shape. He could leave.

On the main screen he scrolled a map of the North American Region and he programmed a route so that his impact on Earth was in proximity to his first target: a mobile suit factory.

A new window appeared on his left screen and a winkling spot showed a place along the Pacific coast. That would be his next stop, that is to say his operating base while he remained on the Earth.

"Howard...Who knows what sort of fellow is he? If he's like G, he's stark raving mad!" He told himself, while observing the map and remembering what the professor told him about that man, when he gave him his last instructions. He still had in front of his eyes the old scientist's scarred face, as he talked with that insinuating tone.

"Along the Pacific coast you'll find a floating platform. It belongs to an old friend. His name's Howard. Introduce yourself to him as the God of Death. He'll give you a hand." He made a pause, and then he started to talk in a vaguely sinister and menacing way. "A last thing. Remember, Duo, in this mission there isn't any rule. Kill, before you get killed, and destroy OZ. This is all I can tell you."

The thought of that conversation made him shudder. He didn't like G at all; the scientist was a dangerous and an untrustworthy man and, in some ways, he was disgusting and corrupt. The young pilot sneered and put on his head the helmet, hiding inside his space suit the long chestnut braid in which he used to gather his wild hair. Not that he couldn't be dangerous - 'Soon OZ will have a tasting!" - but he didn't like to take orders from the professor. He would act on his own account.

"All right, pal," he said finally, talking to his vehicle, as it had been able to answer him. "Together with you I'll become the Death itself. Thanks to you I'll take those OZ cowards straight to Hell with me."

He quickly typed the command codes that activate the elevator and, with a slight shake, the capsule started to move and was easily dragged inside the decompression chamber. As the airtight hatches were closed and the air was completely sucked away, the shutter on the outer space opened, sliding into opposite directions, similar for shape to the toothed mouth of a giant metallic monster. The soft glare of the stars greeted the leaving pilot.

Perfectly at his ease, Duo clenched the control joysticks and, as he received the green light from the main computer, he pushed them firmly forward. Inside the cockpit he could immediately hear the propeller's roar raise their tone, until the injection inside the combustion chambers didn't trigger and the gas propellant's blaze didn't erupt from the rear nozzles.

Duo was pushed against the seat by the strong acceleration, and half closed his eyes, savouring the euphoria that he always felt for the sudden increase of the blood pressure, during the take off. He took a deep breath and relaxed again as the gravity disappeared, signalling the end of the thrust phase. Finally he was on his way. A faint arrogant smile bent his lips.

"Goodness knows how they will be happy to see us!" He exclaimed, charging himself with adrenaline. "An unexpected guest is just what they need to enliven the party...I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun, ol' buddy!"

He softly caressed the shooting controls. The optical sensors of his artificial alter ego immediately sensed the gloved hand's presence and they obediently answered to their owner's touch. They automatically oriented their position to adapt themselves to the pilot's grip and confirmed their activation with a short electronic trill.

Duo sighed and slackened his fingers. Unfortunately that wasn't the moment, but the time was near. Soon the whole world would learn to bring respect to him and to the space colonies.

He called back on the main screen the Earth image, recorded by the outer cameras, and admired the breathtaking view. He sweetly bended his lips staring at this sparkling beauty in front of his eyes and, for a brief moment, he deceived himself to be allowed to gain pleasure from the sight, such as every other man could do.

'The light...it's a beauty, but it's also a stranger within my world.'He thought, with a bitter coldness, openly contradicting his relaxed attitude. He switched off the screen and the lighting system, letting the poisonous gleam of the control panels to light up the cockpit.

His changeable glance hardened again. "This isn't the moment to play tourist. I'll be allowed to do it another time..." He said. After an instant of hesitation he raised a thin eyebrow, winking cynically to himself. "Perhaps."

TBC...(?)

~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~° ~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~ 6;~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~&# 176;~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~

AN: Here we are at the end of this short paragraph. Medal number two for those that read this one too!

I can't hide the doubts I've about this piece. But I won't list them, otherwise I'd steal you the pleasure to take your revenge against me. Please, give vent to your feelings about this. You can also throw me tomatoes...I've always loved a good sauce! But also lasagne, spaghetti, pizza and ...ah-ehm...Ok ok, I'm blabbering again. ^_^;;

That's all folks!

See you soon for the next pigout...ehm...fiction. ^_~