Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Defenders Once More ❯ A New Playing Field ( Chapter 8 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 9
Alexia hobbled over to the broken window and looked down at Tamashii. "Then I guess it's true. Cats always land on their feet." She jumped down and tried to land on her good leg, but put too much pressure on her bad one and let out a scream in pain, falling back down to the floor.
"Alexia!" Both Dan and Ben shouted, trying to run against the retreating crowd to their friend.
Alexia gasped as she saw Tamashii come down on her. She quickly rolled to the side. Tamashii's punch made an impact in the porcelain floor. Thinking fast, Alexia twisted her leg again, screamed a deafening cry, and popped her bone back into place. She stood up as Tamashii dove for another attack.
Ben and Dan finally made it into the clearing. The site of two women fighting so viciously struck them with awe.
"Oh…wow." Ben managed.
"No shit, man." Dan replied.
"Gundam pilots!" Someone new shouted.
Ben and Dan turned and saw Xi Char and two twins besides him.
"It's you!" Ben exclaimed.
"Yes." Xi Char said. "I am a Gundam Slayer, under the command of Daiken Lucar. These are the Matrix Twins. You may be good at piloting your gundams, but in hand-to-hand combat, we will win!" With that, the three jumped in after Dan and Ben. Xi Char picked Ben and that left both twins to Dan.
"Oh yeah, gang up on the little guy." Dan said.
The Matrix Twins, a dangerous duo. They had short brown hair with blond streaks. They both also had eerie green eyes. One was named Krissan and the other was named Shinri.
Thankful she had worn boots under her dress, and that the dress was low enough to cover them, Alexia fought the DNA enhanced WFO agent. She attacked with a left kick, right punch, right kick, and then dipped down for a nice rising roundhouse.
Tamashii flew back and hit the podium, turning it into splinted wood. She picked up a piece of glass from the previously broken window and threw it like a ninja star.
Alexia raised her hands to block it, but it made contact with her arms and embedded itself in her forearm. Alexia winced and pulled out the glass. "You're half cat and that's the best you can come up with? Pathetic!" She shouted. Alexia pulled off the shawl she had on her arms and threw it forward. It wrapped around Tamashii's neck and when Alexia pulled, Tamashii fell face first to the floor.
Tamashii growled and used her claws to cut the shawl to shreds. "You'll pay for that!"
Ben dodged the flame crazy Xi Char, but the arm of his tuxedo was singed. He threw off his jacket. "What are you?"
"I am Xi Char. A patient of project TPS." Xi explained.
Ben gasped. "TPS?" He whispered. No way. They had stopped that a long time ago, didn't they? The building had exploded, so…what was this guy doing alive? Ben glanced sideways and saw Dan had his own trouble.
Krissan had turned elastic and had wrapped around Dan's body like a human rubber band. His brother, Shinri, had his fingers pinched, kinetically closing Dan's windpipe and cutting off his air.
Ben got an idea and jumped in front of Dan when Xi aimed at him. The flame came forth from his hand held flamethrower and Ben jumped-flipped out of the way. The flame hit Shinri and he released his hold on Dan.
Dan breathed in fresh air and pushed out with his arms, breaking Krissan's hold around him. He got a quick kick to Krissan's neck and sent him up into the air.
Ben flipped over to Dan. "We can't fight here with the civilians around."
Dan nodded and watched as out of the corner of his eye, the three ran down one of the hallways. "Hey! I didn't say you had permission to leave yet!" He started after them.
Kitsune ran inside and Ben threw his head towards the escaping Dan to indicate to the bomb mistress to follow them out. He turned to Alexia. "Alexia! We're leaving this party! Come on! Let's go!"
Alexia nodded and backhanded Tamashii down to the floor. "Remember this fight, feline. Next time, I'll find more than one way to skin you alive." She glared a moment longer and then fled with Ben after Dan.
Tamashii punched the ground. "Chikuso!" She ran off on all fours to her own gundam.

Dan ran down the hallways, disappearing around the corner. Kitsune, right on his heels, followed his distorted path, the confrontation with her old associate, Solo, in the back of her mind. Kitsune's breath never faltered or slowed in any manner, until her senses suddenly picked up a very distinctive smell. One she knew well.
No! It can't be!
Kitsune broke her stride and zoomed down an adjacent hallway, leading her away from her comrades, Ben and Alexia, which passed down the same hallway, after Crimson, not noticing Kitsune's absence.
Kitsune raised her nose to the air, smelling the distinctive scent of an explosive nearby. She nodded in confirmation of her own conclusion. No doubt about it. That's C-6 and a lot of it, too.
She came to a closed and locked door. It's in there all right. She reached down to the pistol strapped to her leg and pulled up the weapon. Taking less then a second of aiming, she fired and blew off the doorknob. She kicked the door open, revealing a professionally and dangerously made bomb. And it had less than 10 minutes left before it went off.
No problem. Dr. J didn't train me for nothing.
She examined the fragile explosive. No doubt it was planted by WFO in another attempt to frame and deface the Defenders, ultimately turning the people against them. It didn't matter what their motive was, she'd disable it in no time.
She took out some wire cutters and looked at the wires. There was a blue one, a green one, and the ever-present red wire. How simple. She reached in and clipped the blue one.
The bomb beeped 3 times and the timer jumped down to 5 minutes.
Oh…shit…

Terrik ran out of the ballroom's building and outside. He looked around for some sort of escape vehicle. He spotted a truck and ran towards it.
"Terrik Avalon!" A voice shouted.
Terrik turned and saw Kamran behind him. "Defecting from WFO was not a good idea." Kamran took out a gun and quickly shot Terrik.
The bullet lodged itself in Terrik's shoulder. He retaliated and took out his knives…but stopped.
"What's the matter?" Yarseea questioned. "Oh, that's right. Your training restricts you from attacking a superior officer, doesn't it?"
Terrik tried to get up, but the General kicked him hard in the side, making him double over again.
"Project TPS1: The perfect soldier, the master weapon with no mind or heart. Designed only to take orders." Kamran pulled him up by the hair. "Failure." He growled. "I have no more use for a failure." He took out his revolver. "Au revoir."
Suddenly, LoneStar faced off with Xi in SunFlame and burst into the clearing. Terrik took this moment of distraction and ran towards the truck.
Kamran recovered and fired off a round of shots, but none hit their target. Terrik pushed the truck into fourth gear and sped towards the General. Yarseea dove to the side at the last moment and fired off his last two shots, only managing to his one of the tires. "Damn!"

4:45
4:44
The time slowly clicked away as Kitsune searched for the correct wire. Usually, the blue one would have disabled the explosive. But apparently, they had switched the colors of the wires to confuse anyone who aspired to bring their plans to a halt.

The Defenders' four gundams were camouflaged in the vast forest behind the Peacecraft Mansion.
Dan still in LoneStar, switched on the comm. system, and attempted to find the duo, which had disappeared just a moment ago. "Where are you, you mangy sons-of-bitches!" He shouted over the open comm. channel.
Suddenly, two new gundams Excelsior (Shinri) and DeathSong (Krissan) landed in front of LoneStar.
"We're right here!"
Dan blinked back his surprised. "Oh shit!"
Both twins took out their beam sabers and attacked Dan full force.
Dan used his one dragon claw and clamped down on Excelsior's hand, while he pulled out his heat whip and lashed it forward, wrapping it around the other saber. Both Shinri and Krissan let out a roar of frustration. "What's the matter? Gundam got your sabers tied?" Dan taunted.
There was a moment of silence before both twins, in unison, pulled their beam sabers back, wrenching LoneStar forward.
Dan let out a surprised yelp and fell face first in the nearby parking lot, crushing Relena's pretty pink Barbie limousine.
"Eat asphalt, weakling!" Krissan shouted back.
"Why don't you come and join me!?" Dan pushed forward on the levers inside LoneStar and grabbed both gundams' legs, pulling them forward, and making crashing them down next LoneStar.
There was a mighty crash, and then the sound of flying burniettes filled the air, as PsychicSoul flew over them, and rammed its shoulder into Nekoka (Feline), piloted by Tamashii.
Nekoka went flying back and Tamashii hissed. "I will crush you with one fatal blow!" She reached behind her back and pulled forth a buster rifle, very similar to the buster rifle designed for Wing Zero. Slowly, she leveled it in front of her, aiming it at Alexia's Gundam.
"I know humans don't have nine lives!" She cackled maniacally, and Alexia wondered half-heartedly if Tamashii had taken lessons from Dorothy…

4:01
4:00
Chikuso!
There was only one way to find out which one was the real one…strip the wires of their insulation. She unsheathed a knife concealed in her boot. She gingerly plucked the green wire up between her fingers, poised to wield her knife to the insulation…
…And paused.
Maybe this wasn't the best way to find out…
There were thousands of people still in the vicinity. If she slipped up, she would leave only enough of them to smolder. She took a deep breath and clinked to clear her vision and mind. She gently plied the knife to the bright colored plastic, dragging its tip slowly down the center. (Not even, you little perverts!)
She peeled the tubing away to reveal wires roped with iridescent red streaks. Okay. That was bad. If she had gone to cut the green wire, there wouldn't be enough of her to identify her by her dental records…
She sliced clear through the red wire, muttering prayers to herself. She watched expectantly, and only had time to gasp before…
The clock stopped and she fell to the floor in anime shock.

Nearby, Ben was struggling to hold his own against Kentos and Xi. He found himself tiring: every time he blocked one attack he had to whirl around to block another. The sweat poured down his face, yet he didn't dare to move a hand to wipe it away, unless they pulled an unexpected attack while he was thusly preoccupied. Whirling about to block a blow from the camouflaged Xi, he caught the distinctive glint of Gundanium and steel. "She wouldn't…" But she did have every intention of blowing bits of Alexia to all five colonies.
Ben was renewed by his yet undefined love for Alexia. Releasing a grunt of anger and fear combined, he pulled his saber hand back and snapped it into the chest of SunFlame, sending it crashing into Kardes Inferno, and sending them both careening into the dense foliage, and eventually slamming hard to the forest floor, jarring them in their cockpits.
"Ah, damn! Get off me you idiot! We've been assigned to destroy that Gundam bastard, and you failed!" Kentos screamed into his intercom. The comment made Xi seethe.
"I wasn't the only one to screw up here! You were just as fallible as I am! You're gonna be called into the General's office as soon as I am!" With that he levered himself to his elbow and from there to his knees, and then he heaved himself to a standing position, not bothering to give his partner a hand up. "Haul your ass up and help me!"
Ben tromped his way to Alexia, his saber at the ready. He heard the high-pitched, barely audible sound of a charging thermo weapon. He let out a cry as he shot up into the sky and came slashing down at the startled Tamashii. His saber didn't succeed in destroying her weapon, but it did knock it clear of her grasp, sending it flying out of her metallic fingers and into the thick foliage below.
The weapon landed hard and loud on the dark road. Terrik, making his escape to god knows where, swerved to avoid the large junk of gundanium alloy slammed into the asphalt right in front of him. The truck went careening off the road until it smacked into a tree. Terrik was thrown out of the windshield and he struck the pavement hard and rolled onto the nearby lawn, covered in blood and losing his grip on consciousness. Tamashii let out a low feline growl as she hissed (not literally), "Dammed Gundam pilot! Always trying to destroy the plans of the righteous! The weak shall perish under the hands of the strong!" To give her statement emphasis, she sent her fist crashing into the Gundams head, disabling its Main Camera.
"Oooooohhhhh shhhhhiiiiiitttttttt!" Ben exclaimed as he was jostled in the pilot's seat.
Alexia saw that the Defenders had met their match. With this new change of events, staying around and fighting would be pointless, especially with all the people in the building watching.
The building…
Kitsune!
"Where the hell is Kitsune?" Alexia shouted into her comm.
"She was right behind when we left!" Dan shouted, blocking another attack from Krissan's heat saber.
"I'm back!!" Kitsune shouted in Hellbringer. "The God of Death is back from hell!!" She came down from the sky, burniettes propelling her downwards at an incredible speed. She slammed down on Shinri Matrix and rammed him into Krissan. "There ya go, Shorty." She said to Dan.
Dan muttered under his breath, upset he couldn't handle the two seemingly amateur gundam pilots on his own. "Yeah, thanks."
Alexia pushed Tamashii to the ground and whirled to face the other pilots. "This is pointless! We aren't going to make it if we stay! We've sustained enough damage already! Retreat! Ben, take a hold of Kitsune's Gundam and she'll take you home! Let's away ere break of day!"
Ben gripped the ankles of Hellbringer as she shot up into the sky, heading back to HQ.
Alexia looked over at Dan, who was all the way over across the battlefield. "Get over here and let's split!"
Dan nodded and wrenched at the controls, pulling out his own buster rifle and firing a quick, low powered shot at the Matrix Twins, melting Excelsior's right arm and DeathSong's left arm. "I'll deal with you two later!" He turned his back to them and took one step towards PsychicSoul when he suddenly stopped.
Alexia growled as Tamashii struggled to get Nekoka in an upright position. "Dan! Hurry it up!"
But LoneStar didn't move. Not one inch.
Dan looked down at the fallen truck before his gundanium feet. There, still unconscious, was Terrik Avalon. Dan began to go into some serious contemplation. I can't just leave him here… He seems pretty banged up. But, didn't he defect? He announced it to everybody and he even defended us. No, Dan, he's the enemy. If you save him, he'll just come back to kill you and everyone else.
"Dan! I can't wait forever!" Alexia got into a fighting chance as Nekoka finally got to her feet.
Still, Dan hesitated. Then… Terrik's voice came back to him…

Lucar glared at Terrik. "Avalon. Get down."
"No! I will not take orders from you anymore! I plan to think with my own mind from now on!" He shouted in defiance. "These pilots are not merely military trained soldiers! They are different! I found that out by one that was severely tortured, but because of his strong heart…he did not break!"
Dan gasped as Terrik met his gaze for a split second.

Crimson shut his eyes against the memory. That split second had done so much to him. In those icy blue eyes Dan saw pain, uncertainty, and trust. He also saw a lot of himself in them too.
He's just a kid. WFO will probably kill him and torture him for his actions tonight.
"Crimson!!" Alexia dodged a heated swipe from Nekoka.
He…saved me. He didn't have to, but he did. I owe him!!
That thought was all he needed. He bent down in Lonestar, hefting the small form of Terrik in his hand, and began running towards PsychicSoul.
Alexia saw him coming and got her burniettes flying. Tamashii growled and made a dive for Alexia. Dan, holding tight to Terrik, yelled and jumped, catching PsychicSoul's foot and rose into the sky.
Tamashii barely missed the fleeing duo and landed hard on her face, roaring in frustration. "No!!!!"
Dan laughed into his comm. and looked down at the gundam below. "Next time we meet, you'll know what it means to have a gundanium wedgy! Yee hee hee!!" Then the two disappeared into the sky.
In the infirmary once more, Dan Crimson watched over the sleeping Terrik Avalon. His fellow pilots had addressed their concerns to him, but he was firm in his decision. He had saved Terrik and given the WFO agent his trust enough that when Terrik woke up, Dan believed he would not try anything. Something about the way Terrik talked that night made Dan want to help him.
"Hey." Someone said softly behind him.
Dan turned around and faced Alexia. "Oh, hi."
Alexia walked in and closed the door behind her. "He still out?"
"Yeah." Dan sighed. "Three broken ribs, compound fracture on his left leg and some other minor bruises."
Alexia grimaced. "Strange how anyone could survive that."
Crimson nodded. "It is amazing."
They both turned their gaze to Terrik and gasped as he moaned and began to awaken.
Alexia took a step back. "I'll check back later." She left just as quietly as she had come.
When Terrik opened his eyes, his training made him go back through the last few hours before he passed out, so he wouldn't be in shock when he discovered his surroundings.
The speech…Lucar…I defected. Gundams…a battle…the crash!
Terrik was now fully awake and flashed his turquoise eyes open, making Dan jump. Terrik spotted him and narrowed his eyes. "Where am I? Have I been captured? If you plan to get any information out of me save your strength. I will not-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, who said anything like that?" Dan interrupted him. "You went down in a truck crash last night, at the ballroom. You were injured pretty badly, so I brought you back here."
Terrik observed the man before him more carefully. "C-Crimson?"
Dan nodded. "The one and only."
Now Terrik was confused. "Why did you save me?"
Dan smirked. "Just returning the favor."
Terrik tried to get into a sitting position, but the pain from his injuries made him wince.
Dan gently pushed him back down. "Don't try and move just yet. You've been through a lot. Just rest."
"Why? Once I do, I'll just come after you and the other enemy pilots." Terrik said, trying to convince himself more than anyone.
Dan shrugged. "Then you do that. But I don't think you will." Dan took his seat beside the bed. "For now, get some rest. I can promise you that no one will try and harm you while I am here."
Terrik blinked in confusion. The enemy, had taken him back to their base, and were trying to heal him? If WFO had done anything like that, they would have killed the person outright. So what was going on? "How can I believe you?"
Dan pretended to think. "Well let's see…you can try and trust me. Ever tried that?"
Cocking his head to the side, Terrik looked at Dan inquisitively. After a moment, he put his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes. "Very well. For now I will…" He paused. "Trust you."
Dan smirked and watched Terrik go back to sleep. This has definitely changed the war. We'll just have to wait and see how much…