Gundam Wing: The Second Chapter Part 3
Tainted Allies
On Colony Y453, the furthest colony in space falling close to Pluto, the people were awakened to the sound of sirens that screeched everywhere. Opening their windows and pouring into the streets, they listened to the announcement over the loudspeakers. "Citizens of Colony Y543, we are under attack. We repeat: Colony Y453 is under attack. No shuttles will be able to leave as they will be shot down by OZ. We are surrounded and doing our best to stop the aggressors. Please lock yourselves and your families in your homes. We are being hit an many places and cannon guarantee your safety if you are in the open."
Panic-stricken people ran into their houses gathering their children and everything important to them to keep in from harm's way. Only a small handful of men and women went to see if they could fight. The remainder of the citizens stayed huddled with their families in their dark homes. One child, the age of ten, looked to his frightened mother and asked, "Are we going to be okay, mommy?"
The woman kissed his forehead and whispered, "We'll be just fine, sweetheart." He held onto her tightly.
The Minister of the Colony stood to the window of his large building as it overlooked the vast field where one of many battles would be taking place. He watched as his soldiers went off to line with their backs to the building as they watched countless OZ mobile suits fall from the sky and line before them. The attack began not seconds after they came from the sky.
A computer lied on his desk as it beeped on. A young man in uniform saluted, "Minister Caffey."
The old man sat at his desk in his brown suit. "Yes. What word have you received?" he asked calmly. His white hair and beard were trimmed short and brought out the broad features of his face.
His adviser on the screen replied, "As of now, there are five major sites of battle."
"Make sure every able man and woman to fight is out there," the old man said sternly.
The young soldier nodded, "We are doing all that we can. But sir, what of Kumi Yuy and Sette Devion?"
Shaking his head, Caffey frowned, "They were heading to Earth not too long ago and OZ has destroyed our chance to contact anyone beyond five miles around the Colony. Even if we could contact them, it would take days for them to arrive here."
The face on the other man turned white as he whispered, "Y-Yes, sir."
Caffey sat taller in his seat, "I know they would be here if they could, soldier. They never let us down before. At this time, they are fighting with the other Gundam pilots against the same enemy. We'll do all that we can on our own. Don't give up yet, Private."
"I won't Minister Caffey," the other stated before disappearing from the screen.
The old man walked back to his window to look at the fight in the vast field before him. He whispered to himself, "OZ will never get us to surrender, no matter what the price. We fought too hard to get where we are now. Wherever you are, Kumi, Sette, know that we'll stand by your sides to the end."
* * * * * *
That afternoon, an emergency meeting had been called upon by Lady Une, the head of the Preventers, Sally Poe and the Gundam pilots. The only people to know about it were those who were to attend. Being the organizer, Lady Une stood in the center of a large meeting room aboard a ship built for the sole purpose of providing a private place for such meetings.
Pacifists, members of defense and respected leaders of every colony and civilization on Earth were invited. Heero and Kumi Yuy represented the Gundam pilots as they sat beside each other in the audience. Sally Poe sat with The Earth's King and Queen further back in the arena. As everyone took their seats, Heero and Kumi scanned all of the participants.
The silver-haired girl whispered to her cousin, "I'm surprised that there aren't more representatives from the Colonies. Less than half of them are here."
Heero whispered back, "Perhaps our enemy managed to scan more part of space than we thought." Kumi nodded once.
Relena held her husband's hand as she sighed and thought to herself, 'I just pray that Kumi and Sette were wrong about how terrible this war will be. I couldn't imagine anything being more devastating than the first war.' She looked to the members of the congregation. Barely half of the two hundred seats had been filled.
'If this is a sign of what is to come,' she continued to think, '...I fear that their prediction was right after all.' She felt her husband's hand squeeze hers tightly for a second to assure her that things would be fine. She closed her eyes and rested her head on Brian Weatherall's shoulder. He kissed her forehead.
"It'll be fine, Relena. We'll get through this," her husband said soothingly.
Sally Poe looked around and felt her own head grow heavy. "There aren't too many here, but it's a start at least," she thought aloud.
Lady Une stood at the podium in the center as the room filled with applause from the audience. The young woman smiled as she turned to see two of her pilots. Heero and Kumi gave soft smiles and nods to her as they continued to applaud.
The Commander's smile grew and she lifted a hand to end the welcoming sound. Once the applause died, a pin drop could be heard as the people sitting were ready to begin. "Thank you," she began. "As we all know, we are facing a grave time. OZ has returned with great strength and they have already managed to destroy the foundation of peace and hope on Earth, the castle of Earth's King and Queen.
"This assault is a true sign that there will be a great deal of retaliation and violence like this. We cannot sit here any longer than we have if we hope to put an end to their brutality."
* * * * * *
Back on Peacemillion, the Gundam pilots all sat together in a lounge. Quatre and Trowa were playing chess at the table. Delapan was lying on a couch looking to the ceiling. Duo was looking out the window to the Earth. Sette and Novem were playing card games on the floor and Wufei was lifting small dumbbells.
"I wonder how long that meeting is going to be?" Delapan finally sighed.
Duo smiled, "Just be patient. You know that meeting will take a long time. Heero and Kumi will be back with the others soon enough."
Novem rested a chin on her hand as her elbow rested on a crossed leg. She stated, "I'm anxious to fight again. Will we be getting our first missions when they return?"
Sette laughed, "Girl, you need to calm down. War isn't a game. If you get too excited about fighting, it'll carry you away."
The blonde pilot closed her eyes and smiled, "I just want to see action again. I was forced to only watch from the side anytime there was a battle. Now that I have the chance to fight myself, wars are even more beautiful than I first thought that they were."
Sette's eyes widened and she turned to the pilots playing chess. "Are you sure she's on our side?" she asked. Quatre shook his head, "Dor-Novem, you of all people should know exactly how painful war can be. I thought that you were tired of living in the past. Now you're just going back to the way you were."
"Only because now I can fight in a suit of my own. I won't go astray. I just want to put my Gundam to good use," the girl with very long, blonde hair replied.
The blue-haired princess shrugged, "Whatever helps you sleep at night."
Across the chess table, Trowa chuckled and shook his head. The tall pilot rested a knight down. "Checkmate, Quatre," he said quietly.
The Arabian smiled, "Well done, Trowa."
Wufei shook his head, "I have a bad feeling about this meeting."
"You don't think something will happen there do you?" Quatre asked as he looked at his friend with concern.
The Chinese pilot replied, "No. But the news that is brought back can't be anything good. You saw the numbers we were up against last night. That was only the enemy's first offensive."
Delapan sat up and asked, "D-Do you think that we might be attacked tonight, here?"
Her brother assured her, "Don't worry Catherine. We're all here if anything does happen. I doubt that they'll attack tonight."
Duo laughed as he turned to him, "Trowa, you do realize that you just used up your word quota for the next two days with those three sentences, don't you?" All of the pilots laughed, including Trowa. Duo winked, "You know I'm kidding with you." His tall friend smiled and nodded.
"Leave it to Duo.... Even at a time like this, he can't help but crack jokes," Quatre stated with a warm grin.
Sette replied, "I should get you to talk to Kumi. I can never get that girl to open up and let loose a little."
"Kumi's not normal," Delepan chuckled.
"Look, Monkey Girl," Sette frowned as she pointed the red-haired pilot. "If I want your opinion, I'll ask for it."
The redhead sighed as she fell back on the couch. "The name is Catherine," she growled. "Not Monkey Girl, not Carnie, not Big Top, not even Delapan... It's Catherine."
"Sure thing, Red," Sette grinned. Catherine rolled her eyes. The other pilots looked to the princess with different looks. "What!?!" she asked innocently. "She does have red hair, doesn't she? Unless it's as fake as her circus routines-" Sette didn't even get to finish her remarks as Catherine jumped from the couch and lunged at the young woman, screaming.
Trowa managed to jump ahead of his sister to grab her while Quatre held Sette back as she was stalking up to the redhead. The tomboy sneered, "You want to go? Come on! I'm not afraid of you!"
"You have a lot of nerve calling yourself a Gundam pilot," Catherine shouted. "You have no respect for your comrades."
"You never had respect for any of us! Why should I treat you any differently now!?!" Sette screamed. Quatre and Trowa were struggling with the girls they held back. Novem aided Quatre as Wufei helped Trowa. Sette broke her yelling to look to Quatre and whined, "Let go, Quatre! Come on!"
"You can't fight like this, girls," the Arabian hollered.
"Just sit down and relax for a minute!" Trowa shouted. The shouting continued as the girls screamed louder and louder over their friends who tried to stop them.
Duo stood between the two forces with an enraged look on his face. "That's enough!" he screamed over all of them. Everyone froze where they were as they looked to the American. "Wake up!" he snapped. "If we fall apart, we don't have a chance at stopping OZ. If you can't understand and respect that, get the hell out!!!" With the last shouted part, he pointed to the door.
Sette lowered her head shamefully, "I'm sorry, Duo. You're right."
Catherine lowered her head as well. "I-I didn't mean to lash out like that," she whispered.
"Fine," Duo nodded as he stepped to the door himself. "This is going to be a long enough war against OZ to have to worry about fighting amongst ourselves as well." He left the room without looking back to any of his friends as they watched him leave.
The male pilots bore the most shocked faces. The girls were let go finally, but they never looked at each other as they crossed their arms and closed their eyes. "Sorry, Catherine," Sette sighed with anger, stressing her name.
"Don't mention it, Sette," the other pilot replied the same way. They went to opposite sides of the room while the young men stayed in the center of the room, Novem joining Sette in their game again.
They looked back to the door Duo walked out of in amazement. "I knew that Heero would make him a great leader," Quatre whispered low enough that the girls couldn't hear. "But I still can't get over it when he can take charge like that."
Wufei nodded and answered just as quietly, "I never thought I'd see Heero loosen up the way he has, but Duo helped him with that, too."
Trowa smiled, "That's why they're the perfect match. They bring out the best in each other." They returned to what they had been doing before the fight.
* * * * * *
Back on Colony Y453, the battle between OZ soldiers and the Colony's forces was intensifying as countless soldiers fell at both ends. "Goddamn you, OZ!" a soldier cried from his suit as he went to slash his opponent. His attempt was futile as the OZ soldier took their Virgo's gun and shot through the cockpit.
The battle was intensifying as reinforcements were coming to aid both sides. "Where are they all coming from!?!" another soldier from Y453 shouted as he was soon killed as well.
An OZ soldier laughed hysterically as he cried, "I thought you were supposed to be good pilots here!" Using his suit's beam cannon, he took out three more soldiers single-handedly.
The Foreign Minister was still in his large office, watching the fight from his window over the battlefield. "This cannot be happening," he whispered hoarsely to himself. Soon, the computer on his desk beeped on to reveal the young Private again. The soldier seemed lost in fear. "What is it?" his leader asked, trying to stay calm.
The young man almost couldn't bring himself to answer, "I-It's OZ. They're breaking through our defenses on all of the battlefields. We'll lose every soldier and mobile suit we have if we keep up much longer."
Placing a hand over his white beard, the minister closed his eyes and whispered, "I see."
The young man swallowed hard before suggesting, "Sir, if we agree to meet OZ's terms-"
He couldn't finish his plea before Caffey hollered, "We will not surrender to OZ! We will never fight with them, not after everything that they have done to millions of lives. It would be best to die than to take that initiative."
The young man nodded slowly, "I-I am sorry, sir. You are right to say that. I am sorry that I even thought of doing such a thing."
The minister sighed sadly, "It's okay, Private. We're all frightened. But we stand to the end."
His young soldier saluted, "Yes, sir. No matter what happens, it has been an honor knowing and fighting with you for this Colony."
"Thank you, Private. God speed," the other man whispered. The computer went out.
The Minister's computer had not been for a moment before it beeped on again to reveal the image of the young man who took over OZ. Again in a business suit, the red-haired man smiled, "Foreign Minister Caffey," he began, "You are still refusing to side with us?"
"Go the hell," the old man snapped.
The leader of OZ clicked his tongue and shook his head, "Now, now, minister. That wasn't very nice."
"We'll never sign with you. Not one soul on this colony wants to ally with you."
"Pity," the young man sighed. "And all this time I thought that we could become good friends, like so many other colonies that have sided with us...You do realize that you're backing the wrong horse by putting your foolish faith in those Gundam pilots."
"It's not foolish to believe in them," the minister growled. "You may put an end to us, but those Gundam pilots are the purest soldiers out there. You don't stand a chance against them," he continued with a proud smile.
"I suppose old age does not make man wiser after all," the younger man laughed.
The battle not far from the building was getting closer and it was becoming clear that OZ was to become victorious as countless soldiers from the colony were dying. "We'll fight to the last of us," the old minister whispered.
"You are a fool," the young man growled. "Then again, I could use the destruction of your colony to my advantage. Farewell, old man." he chuckled lowly. The screen went black. Before the minister knew it, every OZ soldier took off to the sky at great speed.
"A-Are they retreating?" a young soldier asked from his cockpit as he gasped for air and wiped sweat from his brow. None of the Colony's pilots knew what was happening in their leader's office to understand that they were in grave danger.
The minister sat at his desk and lowered his head as he folded his hands together and closed his eyes. "Kumi, Sette, thank you for all your help to keep us together. I pray you and your fellow Gundam pilots put an end to this nightmare." In a moment of seconds, there was nothing left of the large, beautiful Colony.
* * * * * *
Kumi's eyes widened as she gasped for air suddenly in her seat. Heero grabbed her and whispered with concern, "Kumi?" His cousin's eyes closed as she groaned quietly and shook her head. "Daijoubu ka?" he asked.
After a pause, her blue eyes opened to look in his own. "Hai. Arigato," she nodded. Heero gave a look of uncertainty to her. The young pilot forced a smile to show that she was fine, "Gomen. Just nerves." Kumi was well aware that something had happened, she felt like someone she knew was suddenly wiped out. But, the feeling came and went so fast that she knew there wasn't anything that could be done. The meeting had been going on the whole time. Heero let go of her and nodded when he saw that she was okay.
On the enormous monitor behind Lady Une, star maps showing the hundreds of Colonies were being shown. "While we have no feedback as to where the source of this attack came, we are certain that it is hidden in the furthest reaches of space. There is also more than enough reason to believe that there is more than one source to worry about. OZ has never been able to stop increasing the size, speed and, unfortunately, their obscurity of their ships. As far as the Preventers are concerned, we have enough forces to hold our own in at least half of the Colonies and parts of the Earth. If this were enough, we would not be here now," she said grimly. There was a lot of concerned discussion between the members of the audience as they feared this news all along.
Heero and Kumi scanned the room as they understood the concern that everyone had. Lady Une lifted her head with a soft smile. "But we have a chance to win thanks to the united Gundam pilots. We have Heero Yuy, the pilot who helped save the Earth along with his cousin, Kumi Yuy, who united and protected hundreds of Colonies during the first war against OZ. They are here now, representing all of the pilots. Heero, Kumi, please rise so that we can show our appreciation for all that you have done and all that you continue to do," she said kindly.
The cousins looked to each other with wide eyes. They smiled to each other and shrugged as they rose from their seats. Lady Une clapped slowly when they did so. Her applause was joined with Relena, Brian and Sally Poe's as they clapped faster. Soon, the applause spread and increased rapidly as cheers began to come from the crowd. Soon, everyone in the room rose to their feet to give the pilots a massive standing ovation.
Heero and Kumi's nervous smiles grew as they waved and nodded to everyone in gratitude. After several minutes of loud cheers and claps, the room fell silent as everyone returned to their seats. "I know that we can put our complete faith and hope in these young warriors. Remember, they cannot be expected to handle all of the weight of this war. We all must aid them to the best of our abilities and not allow them to face this alone. They have done enough for us as it is." Everyone present agreed. "Now that we all know the rolls we must play in this fight, is there anyone here who will not agree to accept the responsibility needed of them?" There was complete silence in the room. After nearly a minute of dead silence, everyone started laughing as applause sounded again. "Very well, then," Lady Une nodded. "Thank you, everyone, for coming." Everyone rose and began to empty the room.
Down the back hallway, Heero and Kumi walked to their small shuttle that would take them to Peacemillion. For the sake of protection and obscurity from possible spies, they had to act apart from Sally Poe, Lady Une and the King and Queen of the world when they were not on Peacemillion together. They walked silently until Heero stopped at a large window to look at the Earth.
Heero was wearing a thick gold band on his right ring finger. 'He must have been wearing that all the time,' Kumi thought to herself as she could she the imprint that the ring made in his finger from never taking it off. Had she given it a closer look, she would have realized an inscription that read, 'To the man who saved me, my Heero All My Love, Duo.' Realizing that she was starting to be concerned with something other than the situation at hand, she shook her head.
Kumi stood beside him and said quietly, "I wish that I could have spent more time there. I never got to see the Earth until the three weeks that we spent there training Zes, Novem and Delepan."
Heero nodded, "It is beautiful. While the colonies are nice, I've been happier on Earth than I have been anywhere else."
The young man looked to his cousin with concern. "It wasn't nerves that caught up with you back there during the meeting," he stated more than questioned.
The other pilot sighed sadly, closing her eyes, "No, it wasn't."
"What do you think it could have been?" Heero asked gently.
Kumi shook her head, "I don't know. I never felt anything like that before... There's no way of knowing exactly what happened to cause that back there."
Heero lowered his head and said sadly, "This war... It's going to take everything we have to defeat OZ this time. And there is going to be a great deal of loss on the Earth and in the Colonies."
"We'll stop them, Heero. Don't doubt that," his cousin whispered as she placed a hand on his shoulder.
He gave a small smile that faded quickly. With a sigh, he nodded, "My biggest fear is that something will happen to you or..." he stopped, realizing that he had never mentioned the fact that he and Duo were lovers.
Kumi smiled, "Or the one that you love. You don't have to worry about me. And as for the person you love, I understand if you don't want to tell me right now, since the chance to be very happy doesn't exist right now. But I am sure that they'll get through this war in one piece as well."
Heero smirked, "Thanks, Kumi... By the way, I found something earlier today." Kumi's eyes widened as Heero took out a handful of folder papers. "I thought you gave up on this project," he said quietly.
Kumi took the papers from him and placed them inside her long, purple cape. "I know that there's a risk involved with this plan. But once I get these blueprints to work out, we could be looking at the deciding factor of who will win this war."
The young man gently grabbed her shoulders, facing her to look in his eyes. "I understand that, just make sure that you realize there is a risk involved. It's taken you years to try and come up with the right solution for the suits."
The silver-haired pilot nodded, "Yes. But, if anything can aid us in winning this war, we can't afford to overlook it."
Her cousin let go of his loose grip on her. He gave a look of understanding as he replied, "All right. We better see how the others are." As they walked down the hallway again, Heero laughed. "I wonder if Sette and Delapan are still in one piece?"
His cousin chuckled, "Luckily for them, the other pilots are there to keep them from killing each other. They need to get their acts together for this battle."
Heero smiled, "They will. They're both too stubborn not to."
"This is true," Kumi agreed.
* * * * * *
At one of the large OZ ships, a good number of soldiers bowed before a woman in an OZ uniform. Her short, black hair fell to her shoulders and brought out the deep blue of her eyes. She paced before the bowing men and women, twenty in total, and stopped before the man bowing ahead of all of them. "You are the one responsible for calling the retreat of last night's attack, Captain?" she asked coldly.
The blonde man looked up to her with frightened, brown eyes. He pleaded "Please forgive me, General Stanton. It was just-"
"Did those Gundams frighten you?" she asked as if she was trying to sooth a frightened ten-year-old.
The young pilot gasped, "They were more powerful than what we first thought."
The woman stepped up to him and kicked him in the face with her heeled boots. The soldier's body flew backwards from the force. "You are a poor excuse for a soldier. And you betrayed the OZ organization by your actions," she stated with anger in her voice.
The man got back to his knees, a bruise on his cheek from where he had been kicked. He lowered his head, "I am sorry, General."
"That's not good enough. We must make an example of you," the young woman replied. The man gasped as she pulled a gun from her belt and aimed it at his head.
"General, No! Please!" he cried.
"I'm not concerned...You're easily replaced," she sneered. With that, she pulled the trigger and a bullet ripped its way through the man's head, exiting out the back. His body fell heavily as blood poured from his open skull.
The other soldiers there fell further down in their bowing states as they feared their own lives at this point. "Let this be a lesson to all of you. And let every OZ soldier know that anyone who runs from a fight is a traitor and will be treated as such," Stanton announced to all of them. "Now get out of my sight." Everyone jumped to their feet and ran out of the room.
The woman walked to the dead body and stopped just short of where the pool of blood began. At this point, the puddle was spreading quickly. "Who would have thought that we have so much blood in us?" she chuckled to herself as the ooze continued to flow. "Private," she called and another solder ran to her side. He saluted, paling under her gaze. "Get this cleaned up. I don't want any blood on my nice boots," she ordered.
"Yes, General," he nodded as he went to do as he was asked.
She sighed as she looked to the body again. She walked to the door and when it opened, a man stood on the other side with his arms crossed. His short, brown hair gave bangs that almost covered his green eyes. He smiled when they stood before each other. He kissed her cheek as she smiled al well. "Did you take care of our little problem, Stacy?" he whispered.
Stanton nodded, "Yes. We won't need to worry about any more cowardice on the battlefield. Not unless we have fools for soldiers." The man chuckled with his deep voice.
"When will we take the offensive again?" the woman asked.
"Not long from now. While we know that The Gundam pilots are on Peacemillion, getting to them will be a bit of a challenge for now. We'll just get them to come to us, as we've planned from the beginning. As far as the Colony situation is concerned, everything is working out beautifully."
"Good," the woman sneered. "Thank you for the good news, Carter. It's much better than what I had to put up with just now." Stacy sighed, "The people of Earth and the Colonies are so pathetic to think they can stop us."
Her boyfriend replied, "The people of Earth and the Colonies believe in those damn Gundams and the Preventers... Don't worry, dear. Before long, everything God, if He exists, and man created will be under OZ's control. And we'll be there to claim most of the power," Carter said with certainty.
Stacy kissed his cheek, almost coldly. "I look forward to that."
"As do I," the young man stated.
* * * * * *
A young female reporter from Colony S21 was recording data from her computer in a dark, desolate newsroom late that night. She gasped at what she managed to find. To herself, she whispered, "Colony S21 has agreed to fight with OZ... Twenty hundred men and women sent out to enlist... My God. This can't be right." A man in an OZ uniform stepped out of the shadows. Almost falling out of her chair, the girl got to her feet and gasped, "I-I was just-"
The man put an index finger to his mouth, whispering, "Shhhh." and she became quiet. Swiftly, the man removed a gun from his belt and shot her three times. The reporter's body fell as blood poured all around. The soldier stepped out of the television station as he pressed a small detonator in his right hand. The whole building went up in a massive explosion.
With the destruction of Colony Y453, the Colonies that lied nearby soon feared they would share the same fate. The OZ organization acted upon their fear as the Colony leaders had no choice but to sign treaties with them. In return for their lives, the Colonies sent hundreds upon thousands of soldiers to fight with OZ.
Other Colonies signed secret treaties with OZ over the simple fact that their leaders were corrupted and hungered for the power and wealth that would come from a sure OZ victory at the end of the war. They also sent troops from all corners of space while Gundams and Preventers were gathering their forces. They had no way of knowing that hundreds of the thousands of Colonies that they were certain stood against OZ had allied with them. Every news reporter was killed off before long in the allying Colonies as there were to be no chances taken that OZ's foes would know what they were up against.
* * * * * *
Heero, Kumi, and their friends returned to Peacemillion later that night. Relena joined the pair as they found their friends back in the lounge, with the exception of Duo. With that, Heero knew that something must have gone down. He gave an angry look as he crossed his arms, "What happened?"
Sette and Delapan pointed to each other and shouted together, "She started it!" Kumi sighed as she shook her head.
"Don't worry," Quatre smiled. "Duo let them have it."
Heero's angered look softened when he heard this. He almost smiled as he closed his eyes. "I better go find him," he said quietly as if to himself.
Kumi didn't notice the change in his expression as she looked to the two pilots who could not get along. She sighed, crossed her arms and closed her eyes. Sette gave her a nervous smile as she timidly waved. "Good to have you back, Kumi." The silver-haired pilot shook her head.
"How did the meeting go?" Trowa asked her.
"Well, over half of the colony representatives never came to the meeting. We can't be too certain where OZ is at this point. Their crafts have developed an advanced EMP that blocks off any radar that can pick them up," the cobalt-eyes pilot answered.
Relena sat beside Catherine on the couch as she sighed, "I don't like the fact that so many representatives were missing. It's not a good sign."
Quatre nodded, "I don't like the idea of that, myself. But, I am certain that they'll know we'll do all we can to stop OZ. They know we've never let them down before."
"I think that's what might have them concerned," Wufei shrugged. "Maybe they think our time has finally come."
"Don't talk like that, Wufei," Catherine shuddered. "... not this early on."
Dorothy nodded, "Exactly. We haven't even been given a chance to retaliate. They were the first to hit. We'll have to try and hit them back next."
Trowa shook his head, "We can't until they come from hiding again. They won't do that until they intend to hit us again."
Kumi then turned to Sette, who was still sitting next to Quatre at the table. "There is a possibility that Demetris is fighting with OZ in this war," she stated mechanically.
Sette jumped to her feet and gasped, "You're serious!?"
Her partner nodded, "Some of the tactics in the first attack were similar to his own strategies in the first war."
Knowing the truth in that, Sette fell back in her seat and covered her face with her hands, growling, "I'm such a baka."
"Who is Demetris?" Quatre asked as he looked to the troubled princess.
Sette looked up and stood on her chair, raising her hand over her head shouting, "He's huge for one thing! And he's one of the nastiest serial killers out there."
Kumi continued, "We had been hunting him down for quite some time and I finally caught him almost a year ago. I was about to kill him."
"What happened?" Relena asked.
Sette sat down and curled her legs to her chest as ways of retreat. All eyes were on her. "All right!" she yelled. "I kept her from killing him because I wanted to see him behind bars. He would have spent his life there easily."
"So you let him go," Wufei sighed in anger.
"No! I got him placed behind bars," Sette replied. "He escaped months later."
"Like I said," Wufei nodded. "You let him go."
Kumi gave the Chinese pilot a 'look', but was never happy about the fact that her comrade didn't allow her to kill that monster when she had the chance. Now, he was a possible threat in the war. Sette lowered her head onto her knees and closed her eyes.
Quatre felt bad for her as he could see she was disappointed in herself. He rested a hand on her shoulder for comfort. Sette gave a soft smile to him before answering, "I never thought that he would have gotten out of that prison. If I did, I would have let Kumi finish him off."
"I doubt that," Wufei snickered.
"What do you mean?" Sette asked, frustration growing in her expression.
"Wufei, don't you dare," Trowa warned, knowing what his comrade was about to say.
Wufei smiled, "You're a woman."
"What!? What the hell does that have to do with anything!?" Sette hollered as she jumped to her feet again. Quatre already was holding her back, though she was not prepared to lash out against the other pilot.
Wufei chuckled, "Women and bleeding hearts are all the same. You're weak and hate the thought of killing unless it's mandatory."
Before Sette could react, Kumi hollered, "Stop!"
All the pilots looked to the 'Perfect Soldier'. Her face was growing red as she yelled, "I thought you all heard enough about working together from Duo earlier today." Everyone fell silent as they lowered their heads.
"We've been stuck in here all day waiting for a few words about the meeting," Quatre sighed as he sat in his chair again. "We're all nervous about this war, Kumi," he whispered.
Kumi looked to them with something that almost seemed to be understanding. Closing her eyes, she nodded and said quietly, "All right. While that doesn't make an excuse for the fighting, it does make it easier to understand." The door to the lounge opened suddenly.
Lady Une walked in with a saddened look on her face. Kumi's frowned, "What happened?"
The young woman looked to the pilots and whispered, "Colony Y453... We lost contact with them and it doesn't look good." She paused before being able to continue. "We believe that the Colony was destroyed," she finally stated. The pilot's gasped as some stood and others fell back where they were sitting.
"What?" Kumi asked breathlessly, somehow managing to remain on her feet.
Lady Une frowned deeply, "It's next to impossible to have a definite confirmation... Communication between us and most of the Colonies has been cut off. However, there is a good chance that everything and everyone from the Colony is gone." Kumi's face hardened as she clenched her fists together tightly.
"General Caffey," Sette whispered sadly as she lowered her head in her hands.
Kumi closed her eyes, "I felt something during the meeting... I just didn't know anything like this." She sighed as she shook her head. It was clear that the pilot was trying not to become emotional in anyway. "We can't let them win," she said quietly.
"We won't," Trowa said with assurance. Kumi looked to the tall pilot. Trowa nodded to her for added support.
"We won't," she echoed to Lady Une.
The Commander sighed, "Thank you. I am sorry to have to give you such distressing news like this. Would you be sure that Heero and Duo are told as well?" The silver-haired pilot nodded and Lady Une left the room.
The pilots remained frozen as they were in silence. They stayed like that for a moment before the only pilot on her feet turned back to her comrades. "Get some rest," Kumi told the others. "We'll need it for tomorrow."
The pilots slowly rose and filed out of the room. Sette was the last to leave as she looked to her friend, who still bore an emotionless face. "This is going to be hell," the princess said grimly.
"Worse than that," Kumi replied coldly. Sette nodded slowly before stepping out of the room.
Kumi remained there to take in everything that had happened that day. "Much worse than that," she whispered to herself.
* * * * * *
Heero found Duo lying on Deathscythe's right shoulder as it stood in the hanger. The American had his eyes closed as he lied on his back and looked up to the ceiling. Heero couldn't help but chuckle deeply to himself as he looked up to him from the suit's feet. The scene reminded him of an old fairy tail that his lover told him about years ago. He couldn't resist. "Duo, let down your hair," Heero called up with a wide smile on his face.
Duo opened his eyes and laughed loudly as he looked down to his lover. "My prince has come for me!" he called cheerfully.
Duo got to his feet and made his way to the floor as Heero smiled to him. The couple hugged tightly as they gently kissed each other's lips. Heero sighed in deeply as he breathed in Duo's scent, his smile grew. Looking into his lover's blue eyes, he said quietly. "Quatre told me you that you handled a situation earlier today."
His lover nodded, "I know that everyone's nerves are shot with everything that's going on, but we can't fall apart like this."
Heero kissed his forehead gently and whispered, "Good work. I'm proud of you. I knew that you'd be a great leader."
The American almost blushed, "I learned from the best."
Heero's eyes softened even more as he held Duo to him again. As he did this, the image of Deathscythe being destroyed in the nightmare he had came back. He closed his eyes tightly as his hold on the braided pilot tightened as well. Duo responded by wrapping his own arms tighter around Heero. They looked to each other's eyes again.
"How was the meeting?" Duo asked.
Heero smiled, "I wish you could have been there. Kumi and I were given a standing ovation that was meant for all of the Gundam pilots."
Duo's eyes lit up, "Really?"
Heero nodded with a soft smile. "I know we'll always be treated as odd from others, but thanks to Lady Une, we might have a chance to be treated a little better by people of Earth and the Colonies."
The braided pilot nodded, "At least it's a step in the right direction... What about the word on the battle to come?" His lover's face changed a bit to a look of uncertainty. Duo's eyes slowly closed at his partner's facial reaction and silence. "I was afraid of that," he whispered.
Heero bit his lip as he recalled something. His face grew even more concerned as he sighed, "Kumi had a reaction to something while we were in the meeting."
His partner tilted his head in curiosity. "What do you mean she had a reaction?" he asked nervously.
The Japanese pilot responded, "As the Soul of Outer Space, she can feel things. She has a strange attack as we sat listening to Lady Une. We'll get filled in on what happened soon, I'm sure."
The Wing pilot closed his eyes as a soft yawn escaped him while he covered his mouth. The American chuckled deeply and whispered, "Aw. My koi's tired."
Heero's eyes remained closed as he nodded slowly, "Long day." He felt his lover lift him in his arms as he walked him out of the hanger.
"We'll both need all the sleep we can get," Duo whispered as he kissed his love's forehead gently. Heero sighed contently as he rested his head over Duo's chest and listened to his heartbeat. The braided pilot's heart always had a soft, soothing beat that would take away any and all of Heero's fears from him. He would make it a point to listen whenever he got the chance.
* * * * * *
"That's it," a deep voice whispered. Carter was typing away at the computer and his eyes lit up. "I solved the puzzle," he sneered, rising to his seat. He looked to several glass tubes of liquid shaded in different colors. Taking a tube of green liquid and one of purple, he laughed, "An enemy that those pilots can't fight with their suits."
The man in the business suit walked into the lab and asked, "How are the preparations coming along?"
Carter nodded, "Only a matter of days now."
"Excellent work, my friend. I knew that I could count on you," the other smiled.
"It's even stronger that the plague that spread throughout L2. And it's much more difficult to find a cure. I should have enough to wipe out a Colony before long."
The young man's eyes lit up as if he were some kind of wild animal as he looked to the liquid, "Just what I wanted to hear."
TBC...
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