Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Reprieve ❯ Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Rush, rush, rush…

It was what Heero Yuy lived for; what he had spent his whole life training to do. All memory amounted to one event; this one; this feeling of complete adrenaline-driven breath. This second of action, of maddeningly attractive panic. For moments on the run.

Wing rushed toward the fortress like a thing possessed, and perhaps it was, soldiers can do that to machines at times. Time was ticking, running out. There was no time to spare, think, feel, care. You just had to do, and doing was what Heero Yuy did best.

Focused entirely on his mission, Heero let Wing uncurl into its full-body mass and hurtled through the hole it was obvious Duo had made earlier. The truth was, he did not know what to do. If he blew the fortress the debris could slaughter the colony cluster as effectively as if it fell on top of them, which is where it was currently headed. His Gundam did not have the strength to belt the thing off its trajectory. He needed his buster rifle, but he had lost that sometime ago, battling Tallgeese.

Cursing the days events, Heero slammed his way through the fortress, feeling the pressure build, searching for anything that might give him a clue as to what he should do. He needed a gun; something large enough to push the fortress back, away from the colony, before bellowing it up. Something like a buster rifle but with a thinner radius.

He moved toward the outer sections of the fortress, reasoning weapons would need to be kept in hangars where they could be easily accessed by suits, not that the fortress appeared to have had any living pilots. Everything he saw was mechanical; machines.

Something gleaming caught his eye and he turned to see a small beam cannon resting against the wall, still half in its crate. In the distance the sun was rising.

*

Duo didn't bother following Heero, knowing the other pilot would find whatever it was he was after. Duo had to get Dorothy before Heero found it or they were all dead, so he didn't bother with doors and walls, blasting through them all in a straight line for the bridge.

It was in chaos. The majority of the consoles had been shattered by falling chunks of the ceiling. Dorothy sat huddled in a corner, the Zero helmet still on her head as she struggled to b them as much time and assistance as she could. Duo had never actually seen her as being one dedicated to the cause, but she may very well have won the war for them. It was the most disconcerting thought he had had all day.

"Dorothy, time to go!"

She removed the helmet immediately and ran for the lift that was already descending.

"Seems you're making a habit of that," she remarked as she passed Hilde and Duo on the pilot's seat and took Relena's place in the rear compartment. She was taller than Relena, which only served to make it more uncomfortable, but her longer legs were able to brace better against the walls and the Gundam's shaking did not throw her around as hard.

"Seems you're making a habit of needing a quick rescue," Duo retorted, closing the hatch again and heading back out the way he had come, slightly amused by the still smoking ruin of wall, door and floor. He really had been in a hurry.

"What's going on?" Dorothy asked, wishing she could see the controls and the sensors.

"Heero's going to destroy the fortress. It's fallen into the direct path of the colony cluster."

"Holy fuck."

Duo did not think he could have said it any better so he didn't try.

*

Wufei swore loudly and colorfully as the new Gundam threw itself against him; hard. They tumbled together until he managed to get an arm between them and push away. Smacking a fist against his blasters he let them drop off completely and he floated, waiting patiently for his opponent to make he next move.

A small communications screen requested notice. Wufei scowled, but switched off the Zero system momentarily to allow the external interference. He could not believe his eyes when he realized who it was.

"Kushrenada."

"05, I presume. Lovely."

Wufei did not reply, could not find his tongue had he wanted to. What did this man want? What was his meaning, contacting him like this?

"I wish to thank you."

"What?" Wufei growled low in the back of this throat. Had the man lost his mind completely?

"You are helping me create a peaceful world. Thank you."

He was not serious, surely? Furious, Wufei shut the window, slammed the Zero system back into place and let Quatre feed him a game plan. But no game plan came.

"Quatre?" Wufei could not keep the rising fear from his voice as he turned the external sensors to the view behind. Sure enough, there was Sandrock, completely enveloped by mobile dolls. Heavyarms was busy with Tallgeese…Deathscythe and Wing were nowhere to be seen.

"Shit!" Slamming a foot down on the back thrusters, Wufei prayed his Gundam had recycled its fuel and that the claw was once again active. It was all or nothing. He felt the pressure building beneath him and smacked a fist onto the forward gears, throwing himself at Kushrenada, the dragon claw screaming around from one side, his other fist shaped like a claw as it grabbed around behind Tallgeese 2.

Hitting the button on the wall with his elbow as he piloted, Wufei bellowed his delight as fire raged free, enveloping the Tallgeese 2's chest and outer sensors, hiding his fist as it smashed under the two overlapping plates at the rear of the spine and rushed into the groin, fisting about the lower spinal cables and snapping them loose.

"I hear dead weight sucks, Kushrenada!" He snarled as he retreated once more, analyzing the data the Zero system was supplying and heading straight for Quatre.

He was almost there when his vision was enveloped by white light and his Gundam floated in a moment of stillness. Then all hell broke loose and was being thrown into the mass of whirling, twirling mobile dolls, all of them jumbled through space in the echo of the explosion.

"YUY!" Wufei bellowed over the network, finally wrestling his Gundam back under control and turning to see what had happened.

The fortress had broken into three pieces. One, the largest, had been pushed back the blast and tossed out of the colony's orbit. The second was still sluggishly moving toward the hub of the cluster. The third piece had slammed into a satellite and both were slowly burning into nothing. Wufei's heart leapt to his throat.

"Duo…"

*

Heero snarled as the fortress, too internally damaged to handle the full brunt of the canon, broke into pieces that literally flew in all directions, including straight at him, clipping one of his wings and sending him hurtling dangerously close to the outer edge of the colony cluster. He felt his collar bone fracture against the belt as it struggled to keep him from crashing into the console and hissed in a mixture of pain an annoyance.

Then he saw Deathscythe flash past, a glimpse of dark metal disappearing as the hyper-jammers came online, and then he was gone. Heero looked off in the direction Duo had headed and realized the fool was headed for the chunk of fortress headed for the colony.

"Damnit, Duo!" He hauled on the controls, pulling Wing upright and slammed the controls forward, racing after where he guessed Duo was. His sensors were picking up a faint trail of heat, but it was fading quickly and Heero knew it would soon be gone, Duo lost to the anonymity of space once more.

A thought came to Heero, completely unbidden, and he knew it was Quatre's. He had not heard anything from Quatre for some time and had assumed he had been overrun during the battle, or Sandrock damaged and forced to return to the Peacemillion, but there he was, in his head through the Zero system, huge in the network compared to the rest of them, Gundam still whole and relatively active, mind still contemplating the way to victory.

"Peacemillion, Heero. Ram it with Peacemillion!" Quatre bellowed over the network and Heero didn't even bother replying, just turned aside and raced toward Peacemillion, hoping Duo had heard the plan and was getting out of the way.

Switching off the Zero system, Heero ran a link to Peacemillion and the bridge immediately responded.

"Howard….ram it with the ship."

Howard just gaped at him, hands clutching at the sides of his pilot's seat. Heero saw the desperate need to keep his ship safe and sound, and then it was gone and Howard the guerilla fighter was there, ready to do what needed to be done.

"Roger that, 01."

Heero might have replied, but Tallgeese chose that moment to throw itself in his path. Checking his sensors Heero saw that Heavyarms was facing Tallgeese 2. Quatre was still free to battle with the Zero system, and Duo was out there somewhere. He had time to fight; to play, if he was honest with himself. Heero was always honest.

*

"Jax, shields up!"

"On it," came the reply, Jax rushing about the bridge, making sure everything was perfect. If they were going to ram that chink of junk they intended to make sure they did as much damage to it as possible without destroying the Peacemillion. It was not an impossible task. They had rammed worse in much smaller vessels and been able to salvage.

"Gunners, clear us a path!"

And they did, cracking through the minefield of dead dolls. Howard couldn't help but contemplate how much each one of those suits would be worth after salvage. Their fortune was sitting there, just waiting for them to pick it up.

Picking up speed, Howard opened his mouth to give the order to ram when the Oz ships moved into their path, guns open and ready to fire. Howard narrowed his eyes at the audacity of such a move, but he was not yet out of ideas. Marching to the communications panel Dorothy had tampered with, he typed several commands and waited for the hard-drive to open.

He was not as surprised as he thought he would be when the Zero system booted up, custom designed to run the Peacemillion. It was so obviously the combined work of Heero and Hilde it was almost scary, but Howard let it read through the situation, let it load all the sensory information it could, and then he let it tell him exactly what to do.

"What are they doing?" Jax, as confused as everyone else, started feeding the Zero system the new information as quickly as possible.

"They're playing for time."

The bridge was silent once again as everyone turned to face Relena. They had, in fact, completely forgotten she was there. He moved forward to be closer to the screens and then she punched in a communications code none of them recognized and brought up a screen. A hand held device some into view, shuddering wildly in its owners hands, but Dorothy Catalonia was easily recognizable.

"Relena, now really isn't a good time."

"The ships."

"We're on it. Duo and Hilde are arguing about the best way to take care of it. Give us a minute."

Howard smiled faintly as he listened to Hilde and Duo bickering in the background. He wondered who would win.

"What's the communications code for Oz?"

Dorothy blinked, thought about it a moment and then winked, rattling off the code as Relena punched it in.

"Have a fun negotiation, Miss. Relena." And then she was gone, the connection severed from her end.

Howard looked from the blank screen to Relena and then back to the screen as it came to life once more, this time with an all-too familiar face.

"General," Relena nodded her head in greeting.

"Miss. Peacecraft. It's a pleasure to see you again."

Howard highly doubted that but didn't interfere. If Relena could get them out of this mess then that was fine with him; he wasn't about to quibble. They had to stop that piece of space-fortress. Soon.

"Move your ships General."

"I am afraid I cannot do that."

"Move your ships, General!"

Kushrenada looked a bit annoyed as he glared back at her.

"Why should I?"

"Because I have the first of your lovers and another is currently at the point blank range of a Gundam."

Howard gaped, not believing his ears. Relena Peacecraft was making threats…and they were good ones! He actually felt faint, knowing full well it had to be the end of the world as they knew it.

"We are not afraid to die for your cause, Miss. Peacecraft."

Howard thought the negotiations were over, but Heero entered the conversation for a split second, just long enough to have his say.

"Good."

And the screen went blank. Outside, the sensors showed them a wild explosion. Only Wing emerged from the flames.

The Oz fleet opened fire.

"Fire!" Jax bellowed and suddenly the ship was a shuddering mass of metal enveloped in red flame, the sound of racketing bullets the overpowering audible element.

Howard grabbed Relena and pushed her into the pilot's chair, strapping her in and grabbing hold of the arms as he tried to command the ship over the noise.

Outside he kept catching glimpses of Wing crashing into the Oz fleet but they were too well armed. Then he saw the central ship explode and clear the way for them, but there appeared to be no cause for the explosion. It seemed Duo and Hilde had finally come to an agreement.

"Through that opening! NOW! All thrusters forward, ram the fortress!"

And they were, the Peacemillion lurching once into speed and then gliding through the flaming debris, rushing at the chunk that remained, each of them hurtling together toward L5.

"This is for the Sweepers!" Howard bellowed. "Brace for impact!"

"For peace!" Relena screamed, hands over her head as she curled up on the seat.

"For the colonies!" Quatre and Trowa's voices came over the Zero network.

"For a dream," Heero added softly as the Peacemillion collided.

There was noise, chaos, madness…all manner of horror. Then it was quiet, and the world settled and there was a knowing as they looked out at open space, the colony far behind them, that they were alive. And that they had won.

And then a lone, quiet voice came over the network.

"For a reprieve," Duo whispered.