The message went out only a few hours later, relayed all
around the world. Of course, only certain people received it, those
who had been chosen by the colonies to bring a great change to the
world below them. The blonde haired, oddly delicate looking young
man sitting in the tent sighed to himself softly, reviewing the data.
"One of us is gone," Quatre Rebaba Winner sadly murmured,
his formal garb odd compared to his surroundings. "I wish.." he
shook his head, running a hand through his short hair. The rose
signet he wore caught the light, glowing red and silver.
"Quatre-sama," one of his lieutenants came in, "it's nearly
time."
Quatre nodded, giving the man a gentle smile, "Then lets
go." He stepped out of his tent, pausing just a moment out there to
look across the oasis at his Gundam, Sandrock.
"It's a most noble machine," the middle-eastern man beside
him said, taking in the suit.
"It's a weapon," Quatre shook his head, "but it's a
necessary one." A slight smile, "Let's get to work, we've got a
mission to complete."
In another part of the world, a group of OZ mobile suits
paused on the pavement, the grayish war machines raising their
weapons. "It's coming!" one said frantically.
"It's just one suit," the commander growled back, "we can do
this! Just be ready."
"Sir," another voice, an edge of panic in his
voice, "incoming!"
Before any of them could even move, a wave of mini-missiles
dropped on their location, hammering them backwards and sending
their formation into chaos. From the smoke the suit appeared, the
massive gattling gun was aimed, then it fired. The weave of metal
slugs tore into the unit, ripping them to shreds.
"I'm sorry," Trowa Barton murmured, brown hair falling into
his eyes, "I just wanted to destroy the supplies depot. But you saw
me, and so your fate was sealed."
A soft chirp reminded him of the data streaming across a
screen even as he popped the suit's breastplate open, revealing two
more cannons that opened up on the surviving troopers. When only
ruins remained, the boy in the pilot seat turned his attention to
the message itself.
"We've lost a pilot," Trowa murmured. His hand tightened on
the control stick involuntarily, and he felt his signet cutting into
his finger.
"Here," the Asian boy passed the briefcase full of money
over to the man in the truck driver's seat, "is everything I ordered
there?"
"Of course," the gray haired fellow nodded to the loaded
trucks, "the weapons and supplies you asked for are all aboard.
Where do you want them?"
"Just leave it here," Wu-fei Chang said coldly.
But.." a young driver protested, "we can't just leave this
stuff with a kid!"
"He's paying us in cash," the older man roared, "he can do
what he wants with it!" His fellow thoroughly intimidated he looked
over at Wu-fei, "Nice doing business with you."
Once the men left he climbed up to check over the gear just
in case, then moved to where he had a small shelter concealed
nearby. There was a message waiting for him on the computer, and he
accessed it quickly, eager for a new mission. He read, then frowned
slightly.
"So one of us is gone," Wu-fei Chang said to himself
darkly, "then he was too weak anyway." He scowled, clenching his
fists, the signet gleaming in the light as he cried out to the
sky, "There are too many weak opponents!"
In a safehouse in another part of the world, Duo Maxwell
smiled to himself grimly as he ran through the message. He had been
the one to notify them, but it was still comforting to see his own
report bounced back to him. He got up from his seat, the ring that
he wore on a chain around his neck bumping up against his chest.
It was the second part of the message that concerned him,
honestly. "Porotect second Gundam," Duo murmured that part to
himself, "use own discretion to find sympathetic pilot." He shook
his head, "They must be crazy. There's no way I can find another
pilot!"
A flash of orange hair in his mind's eye, and Duo winced.
The woman certainly had no love for OZ, that was true, but she was a
complete unknown. Putting Arisugawa in the pilot seat of a gundam
would be a great gamble, one that could blow up in all of their
faces.
Duo smiled to himself wryly as he admitted, "Or it could pay
off big time."
Not so far away, a tall figure strode out of the dorms, her
long orange hair blowing behind her like a banner. The boy's uniform
Arisugawa Juri wore was crisply neat, but there were a few bags
under those intense eyes.
'Wish I could sleep better,' Juri thought to herself grimly.
The last two nights sleep had been fitful, her dreams haunted by the
memory of what she had done. She knew she hadn't much choice, and
she was sure that Heero would have tried to shoot Duo, but... The
man was dead, and she carried at least some of the responsibility
for it.
"Arisugawa-san?" the pleasant voice startled her from her
dark thoughts. Looking down she saw that Releena had fallen into
step beside her almost silently, the brown haired young woman giving
her a worried look.
"I'm sorry," Juri sheepishly apologized, "I was lost in my
thoughts."
"And very grave thoughts they were," Releena said to her
gently, "at least from the look on your face. Care to talk about it?"
"One of those moral issues," Juri murmured softly, "where
there isn't really a right answer and you just have to muddle
through it."
"Those are tough ones," Releena said sympathetically.
Changing the subject she offered Juri a smile, "Thank you for coming
to my party, by the way."
"You're welcome," Juri managed to smile back. "I hope I
didn't manage to scandalize anyone too much by dancing with you,"
she added.
Releena chuckled softly. "The only problem your dancing with
me caused," her eyes twinkled with humor, "was all the disapointed
ladies there were when you left early."
"Oh, really?" Juri raised an eyebrow.
More seriously Releena continued, "I'm not kidding, you
know. I suspect you're goimng to get mobbed by the girls at our next
school dance."
"Now there's something to look forward to," Juri muttered.
Releena chuckled softly. They walked along together, Juri
not really noticing the girls that lined her route to the school.
She looked up at Juri and curiously asked, "I haven't seen Heero Yui
around at all lately, has your nemesis given up?"
"He isn't exactly my nemesis," Juri said a bit
uncomfortably. Keeping her voice as casual as she possibly could she
continued, "He did transfer here rather suddenly, so maybe he had to
leave for the same reason?"
"Maybe," Releena looked up at her thoughtfully.
"Hey, Arisugawa!" a boy's voice cried, and for just a moment
Juri felt relieved at the distraction. Then she saw who it was and
nearly froze. Leaning up against a wall, his brown braid neat with
his boy's uniform stood Duo Maxwell. "Took you long enough," Duo
said.
"What are you doing here?" Juri blurted out.
Releena looked between the two of them, "You two are
friends?"
"We've known each other a while," he grinned before giving
Releena a slight bow, "Duo Maxwell, at your service."
"Sorry, Releena," Juri recovered pretty quickly as she
continued, "I just wasn't expecting him to meet us here."
Releena smiled slightly, "Did you want to talk? I could go
on ahead.."
"Nah, that's not necessary," Duo gave them an engaging smile
as he offered, "Why don't we all walk to our classes together?"
Juri gave Duo a look that would have killed a lesser
man. "Of course," Juri said as they walked off together.
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