Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Inter-Mission ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

Author: Kairu

Title: Inter-Mission

Rating: R

Warnings: Violence, blood, gore, bad language, shounen-ai

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Gundam Wing cast. I do not own any of the E's cast. Gundam Wing is property of Sotsu Agency Sunrise ANB, Yoshiyuki Tomino, and Hajime Yatate. E's is property of Enix and Satoru Yuiga.

Prologue.

"Flowers? For me?" asked a tiny voice in delight.

"Your brother sent them since he couldn't stop by to see you," answered the dark-haired man arranging the vase of violet orchids and white lilies on the nightstand beside the bed.

~~~~~~~~~

"Heero, you got four on your seven![1] I got two on my tail, can't intervene!" Duo glanced at the display screen for behind him, lips pulling back into a smirk.

"Copy," came the unconcerned reply from his communications unit.

"We're off to see the wizard, guys!" Duo yelled in excitement as he crashed through the simple, chain-link fence standing around the complex. "Follow me!"

~~~~~~~~~

"Can you read me another story today?" asked the small girl tucked into the bed beside the nightstand.

"Of course. What would you like to hear?" The dark-haired man settled into the easy chair nearby the bed.

~~~~~~~~~

"I don't want to do this...." Quatre looked sadly at the Aries type mobile suit he was rapidly descending on. The suit turned its 'head' towards him as it sensed its impending doom. Was the soldier inside staring at him in horror?

"Fi aman-i-Allah."[2] The small prayer was whispered in Sandrock's cockpit as he cleaved the mobile suit in half with one of his shotels[3], wires short-circuiting and igniting the fuel lines.

~~~~~~~~~

"One with a princess in it. And a brave prince." The little girl hugged her teddy bear closer to her linen and lace-covered chest.

"Let me think a moment." The dark-haired man rested his forefinger against his lips a moment, and reached under the chair, producing a book. "I think I know of one."

~~~~~~~~~

Trowa's eyes flickered to the digital numbers keeping track of his ammunition reserves. The green LED numbers kept rapidly decreasing. Too fast to make out any individual numbers, just a flickering blur. His enemies, however, didn't seem to be doing the same as the numbers. One wouldn't have expected such an unimportant-looking and secluded location to have such back up security. It only belied what was hidden here.

~~~~~~~~~

The girl beamed as the man opened the book, thumbing through the pages, and finally stopping in the middle of the book. "There once was a girl named Little Daylight."

~~~~~~~~~

"Do they skip the tactics course now days?!" Wufei demanded of his communications unit as he dodged an oncoming missile with a spin of his Gundam, completing the spin by smashing the edge of his beam glave into the side of the offending and exposed mobile suit. Shrapnel flew and wires sparked, the suit losing balance from the large section missing from its side. It fell with a ground-trembling crash.

"No cover, no teamwork, no tactics!" Wufei ranted as he turned to meet another mobile suit charging him straight on. Considering the size of the New Malmstrom base, barely more than a small complex resembling a radar station with a few extras, the newest recruits must cut their teeth here. Weak opponents were dissatisfying. Like slapping babies.

"It just makes our job easier, Wufei!" a jovial voice answered him over the comm. "Why are you whining?"

~~~~~~~~~

"Because of the curse, Little Daylight could no longer enjoy her beloved sunlight. Her beauty withered away during the day, making her look like an old crone. But at night, her beauty returned in all its splendor."

~~~~~~~~~

Heero slammed bodily into a mobile suit, pushing it forward ahead of him with his momentum, and using it as a shield to crash through other suits trying to block his way. The suit took a missile to the back and he flung it at the offender, slamming into both of them a moment later.

Just a few more doors, a few more suits, and he'd reach the underground missiles they'd come to destroy.

~~~~~~~~~

The girl suddenly coughed again and again, her small chest racked by the coughing fit that ensued.

"Hikaru...." The man dropped the book as he rose, reaching for the girl to help her, as the coughing fit appeared to push the girl into convulsions.

~~~~~~~~~

"There's a reason the missiles were placed in that part of Michigan. In the case of accidental detonation, the thick veins of copper and silver around those underground silos would melt and entomb them, completely neutralizing any danger of radiation leakage and keeping the explosion underground. Your mission is to detonate these missiles. Once initiated, you have ten minutes to evacuate the premises."

Heero narrowed his eyes as he climbed out of his Gundam. All around him, tall, silent sentinels, waited the sleeping dogs of war.

~~~~~~~~~

"Hikaru! Try to control it!" The dark-haired man started pulling the girl from the bed as she choked and rasped, hands flailing wildly.

"CONTROL IT!" he screamed as he wrapped his body around her as if trying to protect her from some unseen menace. "Initiate the shields, Chigaya!"

~~~~~~~~~

The alarms went off, red lights flashing, and Heero retracted his key from the console. Lowering his gun from its position, he shot a cold look at the shaking scientist that still had his fingers locked on the other key a few feet away.

"You have ten minutes," Heero told him, and the scientist turned eyes that were much too wide to him. His face had lost all color, his lower lip trembling.

Heero didn't waste any more time on him.

~~~~~~~~~

"CHIGAYA!" The scream tore from the man's lips as he was flung backwards from the girl as if thrown by a giant hand, blood flying in a great arch as he impacted against the wall.

The little girl screamed from her hunched position on the floor, hands to her head.

~~~~~~~~~

"Heero! You've got two minutes left!" Quatre announced in worry as he sliced another suit in half. The bunker that lead underground had been eerily silent since Heero went into it, yet seemingly endless opponents kept appearing from the surrounding forest.

"One minute, forty-two seconds," came the tense reply, and Quatre grit his teeth in worry.

"Come on, Heero, you can make it!" Duo's voice yelled over the comm.

Trowa watched the count of his ammo drop into the triple digits and his lips thinned into a line.

"I will not forgive you if you make me die from radiation!" Wufei snapped over the comm.

"It won't leak, Wufei, shaddup! Hurry the hell up, Heero!"

One minute, three seconds. Heero smashed into another mobile suit attempting to block his escape.

~~~~~~~~~

"Are the shields holding?!" screamed the head scientist as she turned her face away from the light filling the room on the other side of the glass, the girl still screaming in one continuous sound.

"We can't see!" came the shrieked reply.

~~~~~~~~~

Twenty-three seconds. Wing Zero burst out of the reinforced bunker, hearing calls from the others in triumph.

"Retrograde!" Heero yelled into the comm.

"Gotcha! Run like hell!" Duo echoed him.

Sandrock disengaged his opponent, pulling a shotel free as Trowa watched his ammo count hit zero across the board.

"Last one out will glow in the dark!" Duo announced as he sliced off the leg of a suit determined to keep chase as they took off through the trees.

"I hate you, Maxwell!" Wufei barked, only hearing laugher in response.

The entire mountain shuddered under them, and then imploded on itself.

[1] At seven o'clock if one were facing twelve o'clock.

[2] (Leave) In the protection of God.

[3] a.k.a. Sandrock's scythes.

Author's Notes: The Prologue is only set up. Gotta explain how they got there, eh? More to come. Thanks to trowako for beta work!

Final Draft 11/18/02