The vessel slowly moved through space, crawling its way through the dark vastness. The silence was deafening. Lucrezia Noin was at the controls and steadily steered forward. Trowa was silent as usual; he only exchanged words with Quatre. Duo looked out of the window, seeing nothing but the dark carpet covered with stars. I don’t belong here. I wish you were here Heero, but you can’t make it better for me. I must do it myself.
A red light started flashing.
“Incoming message,” Trowa read out loud, voice monotonous. “It’s a message for... the Deathscythe?”
“Huh?” Duo immediately looked up. Trowa engaged the video link and an image appeared. An elderly man, dressed in a horrible Hawaiian t-shirt and wearing sunglasses, aimed his greeting at Duo as if they were old friends.
“Greetings and salutations to you, pilot 02!”
Duo looked at the screen. He had a strange feeling of déjà vu.
“Howard? Howard, is that you, old man?”
The smile beamed at him was enough to send him into a spaz.
“You recognize me! Come to the Peacemillion, kid, where I can refuel and repair your Gundam just like in the good old days!”
He signed off before Duo could ask what the ‘good old days’ were. He looked frustrated at the screen and Noin turned around in her seat.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” he brusquely answered her. Howard had triggered something inside him. The professor used to talk about him, saying that I was going to meet him when I descended to Earth, eventually. Even though his experience with the ZERO system had shown flashes of his past and his future, he still felt he was missing pieces of the puzzle. He didn’t suffer from memory loss, but he knew he had suppressed a lot-- especially to fulfil his goal, his revenge, that had left him even more at a loss than he could ever imagine. That’s about to change. I’m going to fulfil my real goal. He grinned wickedly. Deathscythe would assist him and Howard would help him-- those were the good old days, he felt it.
Trowa suddenly stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t remember who you are and your face certainly isn’t familiar to me,” he said, “but I share the sense of feeling lost, unfound and unwanted. If there’s anything I can do...” His voice trailed off. Duo was thankful for these words.
“Thank you,” he murmured and went back to his chair. “I appreciate it.” He sat down and resumed looking out the window. Lost, unfound and unwanted. Well, that’s all going to change.
During their conversation, Noin had discussed options with Quatre. “We have to go to the Peacemillion. We can’t stay much long outside anyway. We have to rely on other measures to get Wufei or Heero back. We don’t have enough fuel to drift around and OZ forces are in the vicinity.”
“Set course for the Peacemillion,” Quatre confirmed. “Sandrock needs a good repair and I want to see Howard. Heero told me a lot about him.”
Duo felt suddenly quite envious. Heero had already met the man who was supposed to be his contact? He curled himself up into a ball. His emotions were a jumble and he couldn’t really distinct his true feelings at the moment-- despite Heero’s talk about ‘act upon your emotions’ he wasn’t so sure about what to do next. He hated this feeling. It felt vulnerable, and that was something he didn’t want to feel ever again.
----------
Peacemillion was a gigantic space ship with plenty of room and supplies. Upon arrival, the Gundams were loaded out of the spacecraft and stored in the bay. The minute they were docked, the man with the Hawaiian shirt came running towards Duo. Before he knew it, Howard was enthusiastically pumping his hand.
“I’m so glad and honoured to meet you! Deathscythe accepted you as its pilot, no doubt about that. Do you still go by your name, Duo Maxwell?”
“Yes, why?” Duo was taken aback by the energetic attitude of the man, not to mention his arm was starting to get dislocated from the enthusiastic pumping. Howard let go of his hand.
“So many things have happened, young pilot. You so suddenly disappeared after the raid and many messages reached us that you were serving the case of OZ. It made us very sad and desperate.”
Duo shivered. “I don’t belong to OZ any more.”
Howard nodded. “I know. You made it so swiftly through the ranks that it made us proud. Yes, we kept tabs on you, looking and wishing for an opportunity to win you back. You showed no sign of recognition, even when I managed to walk past by you.”
Duo felt his face flush. “You were at an OZ base? When?”
“I was at the Nairobi base, just before Operation Daybreak. After that, things got heated up. I even met Zechs and his Tallgeese and I offered him help, as he was a Gundam pilot. I was under the impression that Zechs could turn out to be an official Gundam pilot, but it all turned out for the worse.”
“Zechs? What’s he doing?” Duo’s head rolled with all the information and rising questions.
“I don’t know,” the elder man answered. “He’s with White Fang, as far as I know. Every faction is claiming to voice the true feelings of the colonies.”
“White Fang? How do you know Zechs… and Heero?”
“While we were waiting for you, I was assigned to be Heero’s contact person when he descended to Earth. An intense young man, but he has his heart dedicated to the good cause.”
“I’m not for the good cause. I was an OZ officer... I don’t know where I belong.”
“You’ve got a lot to sort out, young man,” Howard continued, sounding sincere. “You pilots need the rest whenever you can, so I suggest you get some. You can always ask me questions later if you want to.” He grabbed Duo at the shoulder.
“I always knew you would come back to us, Duo. You wouldn’t be someone who betrayed his own nature. Diverge, maybe, but not betray. Welcome back.”
------------
Dinner was served and Duo hungrily wolfed the hot food down. Trowa and Quatre were having a conversation, but he didn’t participate-- he noticed the two were sometimes so close that he felt like a fifth wheel. When Duo was finished, he excused himself and went to look for Howard. He was at the bridge, behind the main controls and wasn’t in the least surprised to see Duo looking for him.
“I’m over here, kid.”
“Hey, Howard. How’s the situation?”
“Tension’s rising, son. White Fang is hunting down OZ troops who were formerly hunting down Alliance forces. It’s a big mumbo jumbo out there; we better not stick our head in it.”
“What’s with the White Fang?”
“A colonial independence movement, who has resorted to violence. Lead by Quinze and Milliardo Peacecraft, who you’d know better as Zechs.”
“What? That means... Zechs is related to that Relena girl? How?”
“They’re siblings,” Howard explained. “Relena has obviously chosen for the pacifist way, and Zechs for the violent way. Both ways have their advantages and disadvantages. Relena is still head of Romefeller in name, but Duke Dermail’s just using her as a charm offensive against Zechs. He has a lot of good soldiers on his side, though. White Fang wants to take over...”
“Barge,” Duo filled in the blank. “The last symbol of OZ in outer space. Whoever gets control over Barge, controls outer space.”
“Very good.” Howard grinned, as if he hadn’t expected anything else. “I know why we wanted you to become a Gundam pilot. We’re heading for Barge, but I don’t know if we’ll make it on time. White Fang has been sending a lot of mobile suits there.”
“A splinter faction has the disposition of mobile suits?”
“They’ve taken over the Lunar Base. You didn’t know? Tubarov was killed.”
“Lady Une?”
“Presumed dead.”
“God, everything and everyone is going mad.” Duo was horrified. Nichol was probably dead by now, and if he were at Barge, he’d soon find his death at the hand of White Fang... or the Gundams. Duo never really liked the man, but didn’t wish for his death. He felt terrible.
“We must keep Barge,” he finally decided. “I don’t care if I’m fighting in name of Earth, OZ, or my own... we can’t let Barge fall into the hands of White Fang.”
“I agree with you there, buddy,” Howard said, totally relaxed. “Get some rest. It’ll take time before we’re there, and the White Fang troops won’t make a move before they get there either.”
“Howard?”
“Yes?”
“How’s the professor?”
“Presumed dead.” Howard turned around to face Duo. “I’m very sorry, kid. The last thing I heard from him was before he got arrested by OZ and taken to the Lunar Base. Execution orders have been issued, but I don’t know if they’re… well, you know.. executed. Communication is difficult, especially between the colonies. News travels slow. Too many troubles in this godforsaken war.”
“Don’t you want to know why I left?” Duo twiddled with the end of his braid.
“Those are your reasons,” Howard answered him. “This is a war, Duo Maxwell. Everybody has his or her reasons. I don’t need to know them.”
“I betrayed you all for an empty promise,” Duo said. He was angry with himself. “Lulled by empty words and a hollow promise of… of…”
“Like I said, this is a war. Nothing is easy in a war. You’re back on track now, with us. That’s all that matters to me.”
Howard turned back to the controls and Duo nodded, unbeknownst to the elder man. He knew the conversation had ended and he turned to leave the bridge.
-----------
Duo was half asleep when the alarm sounded. His nightmare had made him scream in horror with memories of the dreadful Zero System and he was glad to be woken up. He scrambled out of bed, dressed himself in his usual black and white attire and jumped to the door. Quatre was already in the hallway, dressed as well.
“They’re assaulting Barge! Come on! Zechs will be there as well.”
Duo followed him and noticed the two pilots waiting with the white Taurus suits. Trowa, and Noin. Men were scrambling to clear the platforms and orders were hollered back and forth.
“Are you sure, Miss Noin?” Quatre looked at her as if he expected her to back out. She was struggling to keep her emotions under control and it took a precious moment for Duo to figure out that she didn’t know how to react to Zechs’ actions, the man she so obviously was in love with. She finally managed an “I’m sure”, though less confident as he knew her to be. Duo made a mental note to ask her later about her experiences in the war. He wanted to know what made her choose the side of the Gundam pilots.
He opened the locker and pulled out his space suit, changing and dressing himself with ease. Duo heard Quatre talking to Trowa, who stubbornly wanted to go with them, if only to be the back up.
Quatre objected that the firepower in Trowa’s Taurus wasn’t nearly enough as in his original suit, the Gundam called HeavyArms. Duo never saw it in person, but he recalled the pictures of the Gundams that Zechs had shown him. 03 was the one with the red and orange colours... and the massive gattling gun on its left arm. He shivered. He took out his helmet and quickly made his way over to Deathscythe.
“I’m back again, buddy,” he whispered and chortled while he was buckling himself up. God, I’m really expecting an answer from him.
“Duo, are you ready?”
He flipped open the communication line. “Ready whenever you are.”
“The battle’s already in progress. Be warned – there are lots of Mobile Dolls.”
“And Deathscythe is here,” Duo mumbled. The wings of the cloaking device spread out as if the suit wanted to affirm his remark. Stealth had no use right now, and Duo and Quatre hacked their way through the unmanned mobile dolls, who were already swarming around the Peacemillion. Quinze and his White Fang must’ve figured out the space ship was a symbol for the enemy as Barge was a symbol of OZ’s power. The intensity made Duo sweat and he cursed aloud when his proximity meter went off.
“Gundam detected,” he yelled, and his cameras were picking up an image of a suit in bird mode.
“Heero?” It came out as out of sigh and Duo cursed himself for sounding like a damsel in distress. Quatre’s voice came hesitant. “It doesn’t look like Wing in bird mode..”
The suit passed them with such a high speed, that it threw them both off balance. Climbing into the sky, the Gundam transformed into suit mode and Duo and Quatre gasped. A demonic, crimson red Gundam stood before them, heating up its main weapon; a dangerous looking energy rod. It attacked them. Duo swung his scythe to cut the whipping rod, but he was too slow. Deathscythe suffered a major blow when the red Gundam pounded at him with the rod.
“This isn’t Heero!” He yelled and screamed in pain.
“You’re here,” a masculine voice echoed in their cockpits.
“Zechs?!” Duo was baffled.
“Lieutenant Maxwell, what a pleasant surprise. I already wondered what happened to you after Treize sent you to the Lunar Base. He sure is a good nanny.”
“Shut up,” Duo snarled.
“So, you’ve now switched sides?”
“Look who’s talking. You’re a hard man to track, Zechs, because you seem to switch sides every day.”
“Interesting… you have a Gundam as well,” Zechs responded, chatting as if they were having a tea party. “Treize was right after all.”
“What do you mean? Answer me!” Duo didn’t notice he almost leaned out of the pilot seat. “What has Treize to do with it?”
“You don’t remember much of the raid, now do you? It was a raid to flush out the engineer… that professor of yours. The Alliance suspected him longer of building suits illegally, and they wanted him dead. Treize wanted to use him for OZ, but the old man escaped. We took his apprentice to see if he passed on any knowledge. Though you served us well, we didn’t learn as much about Gundams as we hoped to.” Zechs sounded amused.
“Used me… you all used me…” Duo snarled. Fuck!
“Enough,” the man snapped back. “You’re not needed here. The...” He couldn’t finish the sentence as a white Taurus, sneaking up from behind, took him into a head lock..
“Go to Barge!” Noin yelled over the intercom. “They’re firing their main cannon!”
“Miss Noin!” Quatre yelled back, but Duo immediately turned Deathscythe.
“We’ve got no time for this Quatre, let’s go!” Thank you Zechs, now you’ve certainly made my goal clear. I’m going to fight you and Treize, and everything OZ, Alliance or White Fang.. for peace, and for myself!
They hurried, leaving the former lovers to their own. A massive slew of unmanned Mobile Dolls had taken on an offensive position and it took both pilots precious time to get to Barge.
“We’re not going to make it!”
“Not again!” Quatre sounded horrified, and Duo knew why-- the space fortress was trying to fire again. Barge’s main cannon were so ridiculously strong that a single fire could wipe out an entire colony. The epitome of a man’s deluded thirst for power. Barge had fired before; that hit had severely damaged a nearby colony. Duo didn’t know how he felt. Where did his liabilities lie? I’m judging everybody for taking lives of people, but am I not one dealing death myself?
“No, damn you, no!” He struck down another Mobile Doll. He wanted to fire his buster shield, but it wouldn’t damage the main cannon much. Quatre would have more chance of maiming the cannon with his main weapon, but they were too far away.
“Incoming!” Quatre yelled a mere second before something went rushing past them.
“Zechs?” Duo sat on the tip of his chair, blinking eyes rapidly to keep the sweat out. The Gundam swirled upwards, taking out a beam sabre. It turned around to face Barge. It dawned on Duo what Zechs was going to do and he couldn’t make a noise- his throat was hoarse.
“There is no need for you in outer space!” The communication link was open and everybody heard Zechs’ cry in outer space. Duo didn’t know what to say. His eyes went wide. The crimson Gundam swirled the beam sabre above its head and plunged it into the space fortress. The powerful plasma beam cut through Barge, exploding on impact. The heat meters were screaming silently and Duo saw the last bastion coming down before his own eyes. The intensive light of the final explosion almost blinded him but he forced himself to look, to look how it came down. The ultimate power symbol of OZ was coming down hard and the final explosion ripped it to pieces. Zechs was nowhere to be seen.
“We better get back to the Peacemillion,” Quatre’s voice came, hitched. Duo hesitated.
A part of him wanted to flee, flee far away from this. I’m not used to this. I can’t do this. Barge was going under. Duo picked up the radar spots of a few fugitives in escape pods, but there weren’t many of them. Would Nichol be on one of them? I’m not carved out of the right wood. I can’t do this. I’m not a real Gundam pilot.
“Duo?” Quatre’s voice sounded cranky. “Are you coming?”
“Yeah,” he answered, almost too soft to be heard. He moved his hands over the controls and turned Deathscythe around to follow the others. They boarded on the Peacemillion, docked, and locked the Gundams down. Noin was as white as a sheet, but when Quatre walked up to her, she made a motion with her hands that she wanted to be left alone. He respected her wish and went away with a confused Trowa. With the loss of his memory, he probably wouldn’t remember anyway what Noin and Zechs meant to each other. It must’ve been a hard blow for the woman.
“It certainly was,” Howard said, close to him and Duo jumped.
“Jeez old man, could you make some noise, will ya?”
“I was here all the time.” He grinned. Duo realized he had voiced his thoughts aloud and could do nothing but to shuffle with his feet.
“What now, Howard?”
“Zechs has chosen for the path of violence, and the Gundams are going to make a stand too. We have always fought for the colonies, but maybe now there is the time that we should fight for Earth. Not even the colonies wish for total destruction of Earth, something Zechs advocates. He wants everybody to see the horror of war, and he has chosen to embody that horror himself.”
“I’m not one of you,” Duo objected. “I don’t belong here!”
“Yes you do. I believe in you.”
“You’re the only one who does, then. Why?”
“I’ve seen you as a young kid Duo, and you have the ability to make good choices. Whatever happened that made you choose the side of OZ is for you only. You don’t have to talk about it. I’ve always known you’d come back to us.”
“Like a lost sheep returning to the flock,” Duo mumbled.
“Something like that. I’ve got good news for you-- Heero is on his way to here. He’s probably got news for you, and you get to see him again.”
Duo didn’t know why this wave of nausea hit him and his knees buckled. Heero. Now you return, and what are you hoping to find? Who are you hoping to find, if I don’t know who I am myself?
----------
The alarms went off, one again depriving everybody of their sleep. Duo hurried out of the bed, scrambling for his clothes.
“What’s the matter?” He screamed while running down the corridor, meeting Quatre half way.
“We’re under attack from a large fleet. White Fang is attacking us. Get in your Gundam!”
Duo climbed up to Deathscythe and he entered commands in his console desk with practiced ease. It felt like he was home every time he stepped into the cockpit, and he felt close to this old friend. He winced. I’m not supposed to feel like this. Peacemillion opened its outer hatches and Duo lifted Deathscythe’s feet from solid ground.
“Let’s go buddy,” he said. The pilots all went outside into the dark vastness of space. Duo felt comfortable and steered Deathscythe along the others. Nataku drifted away from him. Chang Wu Fei was very determined not to acknowledge his existence. Duo shrugged. The fifth Gundam pilot had made no secret of his disdain for Duo, but he seemed to treat everybody with the same disdain. He had erected a shell too thick to crack; Duo had decided to leave him alone until things went better.
The Mobile Dolls came in sight, forming a huge swarm of suits. Nataku sprinted forwards, dashing the beam glaive towards the first upcoming doll.
“Wufei, wait!” That was Quatre’s voice. Duo didn’t hesitate for a moment and motioned the massive Gundam forward. He saw Sandrock and HeavyArms coming from behind, but at one moment the red Gundam swayed away, longing to attack the other upcoming flow of mobile dolls. The HeavyArms had been recovered thanks to a certain Sally Po; Duo hadn’t met her in person yet, but from what he gathered, she was a big name in the resistance. Trowa hadn’t shown any sign of recognition when he saw the Gundam; he was only glad that it was far, far superior to the Taurus suit.
“I’m going to help him!” Duo dashed forward, without awaiting Wufei’s usual objection.
“No Duo, wait!” He ignored Quatre’s voice too.
From a distance, he still saw Heavyarms, but his main focus was Nataku, who didn’t seem able to get through the hordes of mobile dolls. Duo didn’t have his communication link to Wufei open; the guy didn’t like him anyway. Duo operated his scythe and sliced his way through the unmanned suits. Slowly but steadily, they managed to get the upper hand. Duo was extremely busy, when he suddenly heard his communication link crackling to life.
“Duo! Duo, are you there?”
“What the hell?” He recognized Hilde’s voice. She was supposed to be on L2, guarding her junkyard and staying out of trouble, as far as he knew. He gritted his teeth.
“Duo, go to her!” Quatre’s voice was as much as an order, especially because they heard her scream. She was under attack. Duo consulted the heat seeking controls and located her- she was floating in a heavily damaged Taurus, surrounded by Mobile Dolls who were targeting her
Duo yelled back. “What about you guys?”
“We can handle it from here, go to her!” Quatre put down another Mobile Doll. Duo didn’t hesitate for a second and sped forward. He found the Taurus, drifting and damaged.
“Hilde?”
“I’m here,” she whispered. She must’ve been in pain, as her voice was hoarse and raspy.
“What are you doing here?” He couldn’t hear her answer. Two Mobile Dolls locked onto her and fired. With a last sprint, Duo reached her suit and pulled up the upper wings of Deathscyhe’s cloak to shield her from the blast.
“Are you all right?”
“Okay, I guess.” She sounded a bit chipper already.
“What are you doing here?” He repeated the question.
“I have data for you on the Libra,” she answered, heaving a sigh and coughing. Info on the battle ship of the White Fang? Duo was stunned, but then his attention was directed to something else. Two mobile suits were approaching, and they were not ordinary dolls. One was a huge red machine, equipped with a deflecting shield consisting of separate units, and the other was a blue suit, equipped with a monstrous huge cannon. Duo was immediately taken in a pincer movement, with the blue suit firing at him. He lowered the cloak and it deflected the shot, but it took more effort than with the ordinary beam cannons. Duo was rocked in his chair and the straps of his chair were cutting in his flesh.
“What the hell?” He swung his scythe to no avail. The separate shielding units of the red suit ducked his every move. “They’re way to powerful for just mobile dolls!”
“Duo!” Hilde had overheard him. With a rasping breath, she told him that the mobile dolls were programmed with data of the Gundam pilots; the blue Vayeate to Trowa’s data, and the red Mercurius, to Heero’s.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” He swung again and used the speed of his Gundam to get away from them. Quickly he spun around and chopped the Vayeate in half, slashing the separate shielding units of the Mercurius and finally defeating the red suit with one gash.
He felt triumphant, especially now he knew that the suits were programmed after data of the other two Gundam pilots.
I must be a real Gundam pilot if I can defeat those two. He yelled aloud, rather brash: “Next time you’re better off trying to program to my data!”
His triumphant mood quickly disappeared when he realised Hilde wasn’t answering any more. He screamed in her communication link and finally she gave a sign of life, albeit weakly. He had to take her to the infirmary fast. Duo made sure his suit clamped on the damaged Taurus and started to tow the suit. Sandrock Gundam was waiting patiently for him; the battle had been short, and in favour of the Gundams. A test. It was either a test, or White Fang is trying to wear us out.
--------
Back on the Peacemillion, Hilde was taken into the sick bay to be properly attended to. Duo looked at her lying in the bed with IV’s attached to her.
“We can’t let the data she brought us go to waste,” Quatre said. Duo nodded. He wished that Heero already were here.
“What are you planning to do with it?”
“I’m going to study it. You can help me, if you want.”
Duo looked at Quatre, because this was the first time he openly asked for his help. Well, not asking for help, but merely offering him an opportunity to help.
“Thank you,” Duo said and followed Quatre to his room. He ignored Wufei’s snort and wondered once again how long it would take before the Chinese young man would accept him.
“Don’t worry about Wufei,” Quatre said.
“How did you know I was thinking of him?”
Quatre laughed shortly. “I’m sort of an empath, Duo. I pick up the strongest emotions from people. You were worrying so hard about him that it was impossible for me to miss.”
“Oh… okay.”
In Quatre’s room, they booted up his laptop and studied the lay out plans for the Libra until midnight. When both were only looking with eyes half wide open, they decided it was time to go to bed and they parted.
“Thank you for asking me, Quatre, even though I wasn’t much of a help.” Duo swung the door open. Quatre nodded.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Duo. You’re a very competent young man. However, your past will be playing a significant part in how people are treating you.”
“I wouldn’t trust someone like me either,” Duo said and it came out more bitter than he’d intended to. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to sound as if I’m feeling sorry for myself.”
“You don’t sound like it. Your heart is in the right place, Duo. I’m confident that everything will work out just fine. Don’t feel so insecure. You’re not the person to feel insecure about yourself.”
Duo mumbled goodnight and when the door slammed shut, he muttered: “You’re more confident then me.”
Chapter 8 | Chapter 10 |