Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Dream To Reality ❯ The Black Lotus [Part 2/3]: The Vision ( Chapter 14 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing

Author Notes: In this chapter… Jessica has the first encounter with the devil that is the Zero System. And it doesn't turn out well… for her.

Chapter #14: The Black Lotus [Part 2]: The Vision

The gundams were anxious by the time their pilots arrived. "The aliens are still at the factory, their lines are divided into aerial assault and ground assault troops." Wing Zero spoke in a cold monotonous voice. "Leave the air combat to me, Phoenix fights best in the air," Jessica spoke. Heero glanced at her, still a bit wary of the girl and the fact Phoenix has the Zero System. "Amber…" he began. "Backup… I know, don't worry, she wont go Zero around me," Amber cut him off.

The gundams moved out, Wing Zero leading ahead. "My ice tanks are still empty, I can't just freeze anyone," Sage added. "Activating Nitro-Collectors," Absolute Zero spoke as soon as they were clean of the cave. "What the?" Sage asked in shock. "Don't worry mistress, I am capable of converting Nitrogen from the atmosphere into liquid Nitrogen, it will take some time as my tanks are large, but I estimate it would take me an hour or so," the gundam replied.

Somewhere in Chicago, Michael Bailey, simply known as Mike to all his friends came to his little bachelor pad after work. He slumped on his couch and grabbed the newspaper and the headlines instantly jumped in his face, "Holy shit!" he exclaimed. "Damn sis… you forgot to mention this to me," he looked at the pictures closely, noticing there were ten gundams; he knew that his sister had always a wish she could pilot her own gundam. But when he saw the five belonging to the male pilots, he grinned lightly, "Jessie wont stay an Amazon for long with him around," he spoke to himself looking at Heavyarms that stood with it's back to the camera, but was still distinguishable since of it's distinct twin gantlings. He got up and threw a few things together, deciding he was long overdue to visit his favorite, and only, cousin.

At the factory, the gundams were once again within the hiding of the forest. "I detect no alien life forms from within those fighters," Wing Zero reported. "Heh… they're like dolls, even better… no actual killing involved," Mandy said since she heard Wing Zero. "Doll still can be deadly," Heero replied coolly. The fighters this time were different; they were bigger and more streamlined, looking like aerial fighters. "Is it just me… or do those look like… those black manta ray fighters they supposedly have down in Area 51?" Amber wondered. "Supposedly? Girl I saw them parked there while I had that encounter with those F16 fighters," Jessica replied. "Cool man… rumor confirmed," Mandy added. "No human life in the factory," Wolf Zero suddenly spoke over the mild chatter. "Good… if we accidentally trash the factory, no one is going to get hurt," Duo added. "Try not to trash anything guys," Quatre spoke. "Let just get to trashing those fighters," Jessica spoke. Phoenix took a step foreword, out of it's arms it's flame canons appearing, a second later it vanished from view and sensory. The other gundams moved too.

General Aeros sat in his own fighter, watching the autonomous fighters below. He knew that the humans would fall for this trap, and it would be their downfall, the fighters were quick and agile, their response time was twice as fast as the usual humans. Suddenly one fighter erupted in flames before it could take off, "They're here…" he mumbled. All the other fighters took off and assumed battle formation. The gundams appeared, Phoenix once again decloaked between the ranks of the fighters and began to shower them with bullets from it's head vulcans, the armor was thick, but the bullets were somehow going through and she shot down three fighters.

"One fighter sushi salad coming right up," Duo declared as he got to work slashing the fighters to little bits with his scythe, they had no shields, so the beam blade went right through their armory. Sage watched the nitrogen tanks slowly fill up, she was glad for the collectors, the tanks were eighty percent full now and technically she could already discharge them, but she decided to wait. Instead the girl used her twin blade energy staff. A bunch of fighters in a 'V' formation veered around and avoided the hellstorm of fire coming from Phoenix; they flew right at the gundams down below. Hellraiser avoided them Absolute Zero took down two. Altron however deployed its dragon fangs, and literarily crushed two fighters down the middle, causing them to explode.

Jessica didn't pay attention to what her Zero system was doing, "Phoenix tone the Zero down… you're going to give me a migraine again," she spoke to her gundam. Phoenix didn't reply. "Phoenix?" Jessica wondered. The other pilots watched as Phoenix froze in the air. "Something is up," Heero said, his senses were on high alert. "I am unable to raise com links, they are blocked," Wing Zero added. At that Heero knew something was wrong, the sentient Phoenix was acting up, either that or Jessica picked a fine time to play a practical joke.

A bunch of fighters veered off again assuming a tight arrowhead formation, this time they moved right at Heavyarms, strategically since the gundam couldn't hurt them at close range without risking recoil damage. In that instant Phoenix dove down, like a charging hawk. A Staff matching that of Absolute Zero appeared, the gundam separated it into two sabers and flew right in the ranks of the fighters, causing them to scatter. A second later all five spontaneously exploded. Phoenix veered off sharply, heading right up, the pilots stared they didn't see Jessica use moves like those before, mainly because moves like those generated massive G-force stresses, F16 pilots often had trouble taking G-force whenever their planes turned in mid-flight.

General Aero's fighter took off, he had the biggest of them all, also the most deadly. He had enough of the carnage, somehow these humans were matching response times with his best fighters, he was going to give them something to worry about, particularly the one that just took down five in a single swoop. Commanding a wing of fighters to join him he moved at the gundam.

Phoenix was still watching the ground below, there were only about twenty fighters left. "Incoming attack from the back," Phoenix warned in a cold voice. Jessica turned around just in time to see five fighters open fire on her, with another large one hovering over them. Phoenix on impulse brought it wings around itself and cocooned.

The other pilots watched in horror as a fireball erupted around the phoenix. "Jess!" Katie called in shock. "She'll be ok," Sage said, she knew about Phoenix's protective wings. Suddenly a bird shriek pierced the quiet air, Phoenix erupted out of the fireball, it's jet boosters bright, it froze in mid air, the buster rifle behind it's back jolted up a bit, "My turn…" they heard Jessica utter. Phoenix grabbed its rifle and pointed it downward; a swirl of energy formed on the twin barrels and suddenly a beam erupted with explosive force.

General Aeros veered away, shocked, he watched as the fighters that were around him were destroyed on contact with the weapon. He underestimated the humans, this particular weapon was more destructive then anything else they had, and he just happened to attack one of the strongest of them. The general commanded retreat and all the fighters, abandoned chase, but they wouldn't have it that easy.

Jessica was in her cockpit, totally cold, the cockpit around her had an eerie yellow glow to it. Phoenix transformed and gave chase after the fighters, only ten remaining. Swirls of energy formed on the twin barrels of it's buster rifle again, a second later a beam erupted. The large fighter once again veered away, only the tip of its wing caught in the beam; five other fighters weren't that lucky.

The other pilots watched, "I doubt she's in control any more," Heero spoke, watching Phoenix chase the other fighters. "Oh dear…" Quatre spoke he didn't like this one bit. "Yuy, I can't believe you let a weak onna keep the Zero System!" Wufei barked at Heero.

Jessica shook her head, she was beginning to hallucinate, she landed the Phoenix and continued to mentally fight with Phoenix, her hands were too numb to open the cockpit and she couldn't feel her legs any more. The other gundams gathered around her, all of them worried for her. Jessica opened her eyes in that instant the cockpit flashed red as the strongest hallucination impulse hit, before her eyes materialized a single… black flower, huge in size, it's petals open wide, Jessica stared in shock at the black lotus, all too aware what this symbol meant.

She shut her eyes, trying to block out the visions. She felt dizzy, undoubtedly due to G-force stresses; she wasn't trained to handle sharp banks at nearly mach one flight. The other pilots were still waiting for a sign that the girl was ok. Phoenix gathered itself up, it's limp wings folded up, and it put the rifle back in place, behind it's back where the hold fluently slid down and out of reach, out of harm's way. Jessica appeared on their comlinks, her features looked tired, "Sorry to bother you guys, Phoenix decided to give me a surprise, but I think I have the upper hand on it now, let's go home," she whispered. Trying not to grimace at the pain in her arms and the discomfort in her feet and legs.

So they took off, everyone brought Jessica's façade, all but one person. He knew something was wrong with her, he wasn't the observant one for nothing, he noticed her eyes lacked their usual sparks of flames, the usual sparks that foreshadowed the true intensity of the flames, of the emotions Jessica had within her soul. He kept a watchful eye on the Phoenix; the gundam seemed to fly rather clumsily. Often it would drift up, or down, as if the pilot couldn't keep a steady control on it. Trowa decided that he would have to keep an eye on her for a little while longer, just to make sure she was ok, although he had no clue why he wanted to do that all of the sudden.

Sage also noticed Jessica's clumsy flying. The times she saw Phoenix fly it was always with pride, steady and with almost as much splendor as a real Phoenix would have had. But not this time, she knew Jessica the longest time, and right now she knew something was wrong.

Jessica welcomed the sight of the cave, her nausea was becoming worse, and the pain in her arms has spread to the rest of her body, she was more then exhausted, she wanted to drop and die right there. But she had to endure, she had to master the Zero System, she had to prove to Heero that he wasn't as high and mighty as he posed himself to be. She eased Phoenix into a somewhat smooth landing; the gundam stumbled a bit since the girl couldn't control her legs pretty well. The pain in her body was becoming unbearable.

The other pilots noticed her stumble, they noticed that the machine was dragging its two feet along; it looked about ready to keel over and collapse. As they entered the secret chamber Phoenix assumed its place, Jessica was still quiet. Phoenix was worried for it pilot, she could sense pain, but yet the girl refused to let Phoenix fly on autopilot, she insisted on piloting the gundam herself. The other pilots exited the cockpits, leaving their gundams to rest and cool down after a battle. Jessica was last to exit she lowered herself carefully. Her head was splitting, and she could feel odd pressure within her chest cavity, she knew it meant only one thing, fractures and possible internal bleeding. The others approached, "Got to hand it to you Jessica, you can master the Zero System… I was-" Heero began but was cut off, when Jessica looked up at him with dull, lifeless eyes, they promptly rolled to the back of her head as the girl succumbed to her injuries and lost consciousness…

Author Notes: Cliffhanger! Will Jessica be ok? And what is the meaning of the Black Lotus? Why did phoenix show her a black lotus?