Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Good Luck and Goodbye ❯ Shadow Girl ( Prologue )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Gunshots rang out in the seemingly deserted hallway. Cursing, then a
girl ran out. The silver disk in her hand flashed under the florescent
lighting. She breathed out a few more obscenities as she sprinted, her
black combat boots making clomping sounds that echoed throughout the
dim halls. Following her closely, too closely, were numerous soldiers.
The youth spared herself a quick glance behind, noting the number of
soldiers and their distance. "I can take out the leader before they
realize I have a gun, and probably a few more, but if I slow down,
well, lets not think about that just now." She thought. "Damn it, I
can't outrun them forever! Since when was their security system so
tight?! I cant take `em all with my gun, I probably could with my
knives, but then I'd have to drop the disk! I can't do anything!" So
she did the only thing she could. She ran

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gemini leaned against the hard cement wall, her black ensemble
blending into the shadows. Her breathing came in fast, shallow pants,
her throat was dry and sore, and her lungs felt like they were going
to burst with flames. A small, black cell phone buzzed at her belt,
she sighed, then winced in pain, and turned it on.

"Did you get it?" the voice on the other end asked without preamble.

"What do you think?" Gemini responded, grinning cheekily and spinning
the silver disk in her fingers. "The mission was a success."

"Great, we'll come pick you up, unless you want to take Trinity Star."

Gemini looked at her mecha; it was completely black and armed with
more firepower than an OZ fleet. "Yeah, I think I'll take Trin. Their
security was tight, I barely got away. Looks like the OZies are
cleaning up their act. I'll probably get some resistance, and I don't
want to bring a passenger ship into it."

"Ok, and the explosives?"

"Taken care of." She thought about the carefully placed bombs and
smirked. "That ought to show those OZ bastards for messing with me!"

The voice laughed. "I wouldn't expect any less from our best agent."

Although she knew the other person couldn't see her, she nodded. "Damn
right!"

"Good luck."

"Thanks, not that I need it." Gemini clicked a button, and slipped the
phone into her back pocket. She walked over to the towering, ominous
silhouette of Trinity Star. It was blacker than night, and as cold and
as hard of ice. The girl leaned against the solid, freezing mass,
sighing softly to herself. Not as hard, charred, and frozen as she
was. Gemini shook her head, trying to clear it of tortured memories
from her past.

"Duo. . . . . ." she whispered into the night, "How could you die? I
miss you so much." She looked up into the starry night, wishing that,
somehow, someway, he were still alive. Gemini shook her head once
more, swishing her waist long golden brown braid, and climbed up the
giant, shadowy bulk that was her mecha. She reached the hatch, and
pulled herself into the cockpit. She flicked a switch, causing all the
controls to light up, and, with a muttered order, flew off into the
vacuum of space.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hn." Heero looked unblinkingly at the computer screen. "That's odd."

His roommate, Duo, walked across the dorm room and over to where Heero
sat, a goofy, lopsided smile plastered on his face and his arms
crossed over his black-clad chest. "What? Whats odd?"

Heero nodded at the screen, fingers still typing. "There have been
numerous break-ins of OZ facilities in the past month or so. They
haven't been able to catch the cause of them. Their only lead is that
every time there is a break-in, a virus is left on the main computer,
completely destroying the computer system of the whole base. On the
main computer it says `Don't mess with the Gundams,' and then the word
`SHADOW.'"

"So the guy thinks he's a Gundam pilot. Big deal!"

"Girl."

"Huh?"

"Shadow's a girl. They've only managed to see her once, during her
last break-in."

Duo put his hands on his hips and tilted his head cockily. "They've
only seen her once? The girl's better than the lot of us! She's
probably a Gundam pilot, where else `ould she get the training?"

"Not necessarily. I did a background check. She's pretty well
protected; I couldn't find her real name anywhere. She's fifteen-"

"Well that leaves only a quarter of the girls in the galaxy-"

Heero continued talking and typing. "-And she was a first class bounty
hunter at the age of 11."

Duo voiced a soft "Oh!" of surprise. "Well, are there any pictures of
this `Shadow' person?"

"Yes. Only one; it's blurry and dark. Pictures of her mobile suit were
taken during battles. I'll bring them up." Heero typed with amazing
speed on the keyboard. Pictures of the black mecha flashed on the
screen, the weapons firing, laser sword blazing a silvery black.

Duo let out a low whistle. "Nice."

"It's called Trinity Star. Here's that picture of Shadow." A dark
picture flashed on the screen over the pictures of the mobile suit.
The girl showed up as a black silhouette on a slightly lighter
background. The only part of her that could be clearly made out was
the glint of light off her small glasses, and the same light
reflecting off a silver cross at her throat.

The door creaked open, then was shut gently. A slender, sandy haired
boy walked over to the group. "What are you guys looking at?"

Duo waved in welcome. "Hey, Q-man! New Gundam pilot." He pointed at
the screen.

Quatre looked at the screen in awe. "Really? Whats his name?"

Heero glared lightly at him with piercing cobalt eyes. "HER codename
is Shadow. I haven't been able to find HER real name. SHE-"

"I think Quatre gets the hint, Heero." Duo uttered in frustration.

"Hmm. . . a girl Gundam pilot. It's about time we've gotten one!"
Quatre said thoughtfully.

"She might not be a Gundam pilot." Heero said, typing away at his
laptop.

"I hope she's cute!" Duo voiced with enthusiasm.

"She might not be a Gundam pilot." Heero said, typing away at his
laptop.

"I'll go tell Trowa. He'll be so happy." Quatre said.

"She might not be a Gundam pilot." Heero said, typing away at his
laptop.

"Or as happy as Trowa gets. I swear he's not human. But don't tell
Wufei without me. I wanna see his expression." Duo said with
amusement.

"She's battling." Heero said, typing away at his laptop.

Quatre and Duo chuckled. Then they looked at each other, then back at
Heero. "WHAT?!"

"I said, she's battling." Heero said, not even a hint of amusement in
his dead pan voice.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Duo flashed a cheeky grin before
sprinting out the door, his waist long golden brown braid swinging
happily behind him.

Quatre sighed. "I hate battles. Why can't we have peace?" But he ran
out the door too.

Heero clicked a few more keys, then walked out the door. On his way
out, he glanced back at the picture of Shadow, still on his laptop
screen. "Hn." He said, completely without emotion, as always.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heero walked silently through the hallways, dressed in his usual green
tank top and black spandex shorts. His mission was to destroy the OZ
facility. This facility was the main supplier of Leo suits. He was to
make sure they didn't supply anymore. He walked up to a wall-mounted
computer terminal, punched in a few access codes, and the heavy metal
door swooshed open. He was about to walk down the hallway when a voice
piped up behind him, a little rough, low enough to be male, but with a
musical undertone, as though the words were sung.

"That's the wrong way."

He was surprised. He was better at espionage than that, he should have
heard someone behind him. But he wouldn't let the enemy get the
advantage, so he didn't say anything.

The girl behind him pressed closer. "You're looking for the Leo
hangar, right? It's down this way." She pointed to her right, and,
when he didn't acknowledge her presence, she took hold of his right
forearm. "I don't know who you are or where you come from, but I'm not
letting you screw up this mission."

At the word mission, something clicked in Heero's mind. He turned
around and looked at her. She was short, only about 5', and athletic
looking. She was gothic; she wore a camoflauge halter top, black
leather pants with fishnet stockings showing through the holes, black
combat boots, and black leather fingerless gloves. She had a gold _
slung across her chest, and she was wearing a small pair of glasses
low down on her nose. Her hair was golden brown and held back in a
waist long plait, with spiky bangs brushed to the sides a little and
hanging down to her cheekbones. Her ears had three small hoops in each
lobe, and a little ball in one cartilage. She had a silver ball nose
ring. Her face was heart shaped, almost elfish, and she had small
features, except for her eyes, which were large, beautiful, and very
light lavender. Her dark ensemble and makeup gave them a haunting
effect and made her tannish skin seem paler. She looked like a pixie;
short, pale, and almost too cute with those big watery eyes. She stood
with one hand on his arm, the other on her hip. When she noticed him
looking at her, she gave him a cocky tilt of the head and a cheeky
grin. "Shadow." He said, more of a statement than a question.

The girl smiled broader. "Smart boy. Which one are you?"

Heero tilted his head lightly, a little confused by the question.

"Which Gundam pilot? What's your name?"

"I pilot Wing." He didn't intend on giving his name, but something
about the way she waited, smiling, pastel violet eyes twinkling, made
him want to trust her. "She's familiar." He thought. "She reminds me
of someone I know, but I can't think of who. I can't believe this is
the pilot that won that battle. I don't think she even needed our
help." "Heero. Heero Yui."

She let go of his arm, and crossed her arms, apparently thinking.
"Heero." She said lightly. Then she smiled crookedly again. "I like
it. Heero." He smiled at the way she pronounced his name. She said it
like hero, without rolling the "r." A distinctly American accent, the
only other person he knew who said it that way was the braided
Deathscythe pilot, and even he rolled the "r" now. "Well then, Heero,
the hangar is down this way." She pointed to the right again. "Lucky I
came across you. I have to go this way for a bit, then I take a fork.
We'd better hurry, Dr. J isn't exactly known for tolerance." Then she
took off at a sprint, and Heero quickly caught up. Heero marveled at
her skill. She moved so fast he could barely keep up, and she was
completely silent. She looked almost inhuman, like a shadow flickering
on the walls. Silent, black, and fast. "Of course." Heero thought,
"That's her codename, after all." They ran for a while, until she
stopped at the hall she had to go down. "This is where we part ways.
Thanks for the company, Heero Yui! I hope we meet again!" She gave him
a two-fingered salute, and then was gone, as quickly and silently as
she had appeared. Heero found himself staring down the corridor she
had disappeared down. "Funny girl. I wonder where I know her from. I'm
sure I know her. . ."

He continued running down the hallway, coming to the hangar. He
quickly set the explosives, and, when barely a safe enough distance
away, he clicked the detonator. The fiery explosion completely
demolished the hangar, and part of the base. He walked calmly through
the flames to his Gundam, Wing Leader. He held on to the black cord,
letting it pull him of the way up before simply jumping the rest of
the way to his cockpit. He flicked a bunch of switches, his fingers
moving in a blur, his mind barely even considering the choices he
made. He was a soldier, a perfect soldier, and perfect soldiers don't
need to think. The Gundam flew off into the sky.