DISCLAIMER: Gundam Wing belonged to Sunrise and co. I’m not making any profits out of this, so don’t sue. Oh, those you think you’ve never heard before belong to me. And feedback is very welcome, people! ☺
TIMELINE: The story takes place after Survival of the Fittest, I’d say almost two years. This is the second installment of the “Shattered” duology.
NOTE: To avoid confusion, I have italic-and-bold the clones’ name. Hopefully, that could help you understand who’s who.
SHATTERED WALLS VIII: A MIRACLE.
By Arayelle Lynn.
“The enemy has been waiting for us,” Agent June reported.
“What?” Lady Une came to her. “Impossible. Unless…” Something dawned on her. ‘We still have a spy!’
“Don’t worry about them. They’ll make it through,” said a quiet voice, coming from the doorway. Lady Une watched in surprise as Kylie came, wheeling in. Her eyes were staring at the screen, ignoring the worried looks everyone threw at her. “The Gundam pilots won’t let the mission fail. Even if it should kill them.” This she said with a strong conviction.
>>>@@<<<
“You’ve just signed your death warrant, Winner,” said Quatre’s clone, slamming into Sandrock. Quatre rolled away just in time to avoid being whipped by Kylie’s clone.
“Hello, lover,” she said, in a way of greeting.
Quatre gritted his teeth as he faced the two Gundams. Not far away, Altron was engaged in a fierce battle with Gundam Poseidon as Wing Zero was tangled in a mad dance with Gundam Zeus. Farther away, he saw that Duo’s clone had chosen Trowa as his opponent. Of Trowa’s own clone, he couldn’t find any sign of him.
Suddenly out of his peripheral vision, Gundam Nemesis and Ares threw him a double shot from their rifles. Before Quatre could dodge, he was slammed back into his seat, hard. Biting back a cry, Quatre willed his vision to return to normal as his mind tried to figure out what hit him.
He didn’t have to try very hard. A second later, the answer came to him.
“Pay attention, Winner. We can’t lose you yet,” said a deep voice. The one who pushed him out of harm’s way.
“Zechs!” he gasped as he watched Epyon swung his heat chain at the two clones. Then, he continued to press his attack on Gundam Nemesis. “What are you doing?”
Zechs spared him a look. “Thought you could use a hand. I’ve been meaning to test out this new system.”
It was then Quatre realized that Zechs had the Zero-Infinity system on. A glance at his screen also shown that Wu Fei and Heero had theirs on too. Saying a quick prayer, Quatre switched on the system.
For a moment nothing happened. Suddenly, he was swallowed by a blinding white light as his body started to lose its gravity. No, not his body. His mind no longer registered his body! Then his world started to expand as he saw the stars looked a lot clearer than before.
A strange sensation washed over him. He felt free, as if he could do anything. Then came the familiar feeling, a feeling he had never experience before but it was strangely familiar. Sandrock?
A strange thought, or a presence or something… acknowledged him.
‘I’m merging with Sandrock!’ he figured out at last. ‘Is that what the system does?’
>>>@@<<<
“Good, he’s learned one of its secrets,” Kylie’s whisper did not go unheard by Lady Une and Dorothy. They both turned to her.
“What do you mean?” Dorothy demanded, stalking over her. “What’s happening?”
Kylie tore her eyes from the screen, which featured the fierce battle that took place between Sandrock and Ares. Only now, Sandrock had the equal chance as its cloned pilot. “You should be proud of your fiancé.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “Quatre managed to do something even the other Gundam pilots failed to do. Figuring one of the system’s many secrets.”
“What does that mean? What’s the secret?”
“That would be telling,” said Kylie, pulling back the arm that Dorothy had grabbed.
Seeing that Dorothy was about to blow up, Lady Une interceded. “Kylie, tell us what do you mean?”
The girl scowled. “It means that Quatre’s the only person, other than Heero, who has fully mastered the system,” she answered. Seeing their blank faces, she continued. “It means that he’ll be okay, so chill,” she retorted, giving Dorothy a warning look.
Fortunately, Dorothy was too relieved to take note of her tone. She slumped into an empty seat but her eyes stared at the screen again. This time, she was less anxious than before. She knew that Kylie would never say that if she wasn’t sure that the boy they both loved was going to be fine.
“Noin’s group is in position,” June reported, attracting their attention.
Lady Une went to her. “Good. Initiate phase two.”
>>>@@<<<
As he fought Kylie’s clone, Zechs kept his eyes on his men as well. He nodded in satisfaction when he found that they were hanging on fine, even by a thin thread. Though the Preventer agents had been ready and well-trained, their number was a far cry from Winteridge’s army. And to top that, Winteridge’s army used gundanium-made mobile suits against neo titanium-made Taurus of the Preventer’s.
Zechs couldn’t help but wonder how Winteridge had convinced so many people to work for him when the world was already embracing peace. He knew that many people were left dissatisfied over the end of the Telrhani war but Zechs knew that they shouldn’t be enough to create an army as big as this!
‘Of course!’ an inspiration hit him. He dodged another blow from Nemesis and sent one of his own. Then he went over to destroy another enemy’s mobile suit. ‘He could have them cloned! Why didn’t I think of it earlier?’
“Sir! Squad 15’s been totally wiped out,” came a report through the comm. Zechs cursed but kept his cool.
“Get Decker to back up the rest of the squad in the area.”
“Roger.”
“Wind, Fire’s in position,” said Lady Une, appearing on the screen much later. “Entering phase two.”
“Roger.”
“What the…” Zechs heard Kylie-clone cursed. Something had hit her from behind. Suddenly, a series of white light trailed over the battlefield and hit the enemy’s mobile suits. A squad of Winteridge’s exploded almost simultaneously.
Tiny specks of lights dove into the battlefield.
Zechs could only smile.
>>>@@<<<
“The Maganacs!” Winteridge admonished, almost delightfully. “I’ve wondered when they’ll be making their reappearance.”
Suddenly the whole room shook, nearly throwing the occupants off their feet. The crew looked at each other in shock while Instructor D glanced at his employer. “What happened?” he demanded. A crewman ran his fingers on the console before reporting. “It’s… an attack!”
“Confirm that,” said another crewman, listening to the earpiece. “A group of our workers attacked our soldiers. They’ve full control of most sections!” she gasped, astonished.
Instructor D looked at her. “I suppose these workers are the ones from L2, right?”
Her shock confirmed his suspicion. He looked at Winteridge. “This must be Winner’s work.” His words were followed by another explosion, this time it came from the outside.
“The Preventers have broken through our defenses.”
Both Winteridge and Instructor D exchanged knowing glances. “Your Grace,” said a crewman. “At this rate, both Preventers and the traitors will capture our base! What are your next orders?”
>>>@@<<<
“Okay, you all know Master Quatre’s plans,” Rashid started, yanking the throttle to one side to avoid the rain of bullets. “While Agent Zechs and his Preventer team secure the right flank, we will secure the left. Let’s give the Gundams plenty of room to breathe at the center.” He looked over the screen. “Abdul, I want your team to secure Agent Noin and her team. Make sure they reach the surface safely.”
“Thank you, Rashid,” came the reply from Noin’s shuttle. She was sitting in the co pilot seat, next to Duo who was piloting the shuttle. He expertly maneuvered the shuttle through the hails of missiles, without hitting one.
“Good luck to you all.”
>>>@@<<<
“Okay, hang on everybody!” Duo yelled as the shuttle broke through the atmosphere. The shuttle shook from the stormy weather of Jupiter before it finally descended low enough to the surface. A tiny speck began to appear in the horizon and from it, came tinier shimmering lights. Instantly, they knew what that was. Winteridge’s main headquarters.
The comm. crackled as an Arabic face appeared on the screen. “We will take on the Furies. You continue your way towards the target.”
“Roger that,” said Noin, gratefully. “Thanks for the cover, Maganac.”
“Just get Winteridge and we’ll call it even.”
“Will do,” Duo answered for her. His eyebrow furrowed in concentration as he ducked through the hails of missiles. Though the Maganac had provided them with a perfect cover, they still have to go against the assaults from the base.
Next to him, Noin shot down any missiles that came in their way. Like Duo, she too was lost in concentration. Mylin, on the other hand, leaned back in her seat with her eyes closed. The other Preventer agents glanced uncomfortably at her, wondering how calm she could be being in such a perilous state.
“Better grab onto something,” Duo’s voice interrupted their thoughts. He had found a point of entry and was poising to ram into it. Noin quickly spotted his aim and fired at the steel door, creating a hole large enough for the shuttle to squeeze through.
They made a none-too-gentle landing but Noin had expected nothing better from the Gundam pilot. Unstrapping herself, she swiveled around to regard her agents. They were all preparing their rifles, removing the safety clips. “Alright, this is it,” she began. “You’ve all been divided into your own teams. Alpha Team will come with me to secure the command center. The rest of you will rendezvous with the other agents and secure the rest of the base. Remember to secure all exit points.” She nodded at them for the last time. “Let’s move!”
With that, she led them to the exit. The agents followed her in an orderly manner. Noin raised her eyebrow when she found that Mylin was already at the exit, looking outside. She gave Noin a nod saying, “The coast clear.”
Noin acknowledged her report. “Right, let’s go.” When the door was open, Mylin stepped out even before Noin could stop her. Then taking a deep breath, Noin rushed out, weapons ready and full.
>>>@@<<<
“Wind is in,” June reported, receiving the updates from the battlefield. “The Maganacs on Jupiter are holding themselves well as their comrades in space.” Then came another report. “Squad 8 has broken through the enemy lines. They’re assisting the Maganacs.”
“And the Gundams?” Dorothy enquired, a look of deep concern etched on her beautiful face.
“Still engaging the enemy Gundams,” the agent replied. “Gundam 05 and Epyon have each deactivated the Zero-Infinity system. Gundam 04 has twenty seconds left and Wing Zero has yet to activate the system.”
Kylie nodded in understanding. The pilots and she had agreed that they would deactivate the system the minute their time was up. Once they have turned it off for ten minutes, they are allowed to activate it if they need to.
“What about Barton?” she inquired, watching the screen.
June turned to regard her before giving her report. “He’s not doing well in defending that sector. Our agents there had taken the worst hit.” Then her eyes widened. “Wait! Epyon is breaking away from Nemesis. He’s heading towards Barton. And Nemesis is following in pursuit.”
‘I applaud your quick actions, Zechs,’ Kylie thought, noting Dorothy’s sigh of relief. ‘By abandoning your fight with my clone, you had cleverly lure her away from Quatre. And not only are you able to keep her away from Sandrock, you would also made it possible for your squad in that sector to gain the upper hand.’ But as she thought of that, her eyes went to the Taurus that Trowa was in. Again, she was disturbed by the weakness of the pilot’s assault on Gundam Hades. ‘Is it because of his mobile suit? …Or something else?’
Her musing was rudely interrupted by a loud rumbling sound, followed by an earthquake. They were all thrown to the floor and some of the consoles exploded. The room was plunged into darkness before the emergency supply kicked in. By then, black smoke filled the air as agents picked themselves up from the floor and rushed over to the consoles with fire extinguishers.
“What the hell happened?” Lady Une yelled to an agent. The base shook again as something in the base exploded.
Agent June stared at the screen in disbelief. She turned to Lady Une, her eyes wide. “We’re under attack!”
“What!” Sally dropped the empty fire extinguisher. “By whom? Does Winteridge have an Earth troop?”
Paling slightly, June shook her head. She reached over and pressed a button, activating the view screens. They each showed strange but familiar looking mobile suits attacking the base’s surface. They gasped, recognizing the suits at last.
“The Telrhani!”
>>>@@<<<
“Right on time,” Winteridge whispered, watching the Preventer Earth base’s predicament. A second later, he heard the sounds of rifle shots echoed on the other side of the door. His crewmen glanced at him, uncertain in what they should do to rectify the situation. But instead of giving orders, Winteridge smiled even wider, drumming his fingers patiently.
“Right on time,” he repeated, sparing a glance at his right-hand man.
Instructor D bowed at him. “As you have planned, my friend.”
Then the door burst open.
>>>@@<<<
For the first time ever, Duo found himself fighting side-by-side with someone he still considered an enemy. Because this time, both of them had the same enemy, Winteridge. Under other circumstances, Duo would’ve snorted at the very notion but that day, he was nothing but serious.
Sensing that they would only slow the two down, Noin had allowed Duo and Mylin to take the frontline. Their job was to scout ahead and get to Winteridge before he escaped. That task would be difficult for others but not for a Gundam pilot and a trained alien assassin.
Shifting the rifle in his hand, Duo signaled Mylin. She nodded, for she too had seen the guards stationed along the corridor. But before Duo could beckon her over for a plan, she jumped for her hiding place and ran towards the guards, weapon shooting away.
Duo cursed. He had meant to surprise the guards but now that he recalled the way he rammed into the base, he reminded himself that the whole place already knew that they were there. Gritting his teeth, Duo jumped out and followed the alien.
Within a few seconds, all the guards were down. Duo and Mylin found themselves heading for the next corridor when suddenly they heard running footsteps coming from behind. As one, they whipped around, only to see Noin leading the other agents towards them.
“All clear?” the Preventer officer asked.
Duo gestured at the door at the far end of the corridor. “That’s the command center. My guess is we’ll find Winteridge there.”
Noin nodded. “Good. Let’s go.”
They started to move. That was when Duo saw Mylin stiffened and stopped. He saw her tapping at something in her ear. “What is it?” he heard her whisper. Duo realized with a start that the alien was talking to a comlink.
Suddenly Duo saw her paled. A frown appeared as her voice shook in utter surprise. “What! How did it happen? What’s the target?” At the response, Duo saw Mylin went even paler. Her face turned to anger. “How dare he. He’ll pay for this.”
Before Duo could ask what upset her, Noin’s team broke through the heavy steel door. And hell broke loose again.
>>>@@<<<
“Something’s wrong,” Zechs heard Quatre said over the channel.
“What is it, Quatre?” Heero prompted, slashing his saber at Gundam Zeus. He then turned around to cleave a sneaking Furies into two.
“I’ve just lost contact with base,” his friend answered.
“What?” Zechs startled, checking his comm. as well. But he received nothing but static. “What’s going on back there?”
“I don’t know but I don’t like it.”
>>>@@<<<
Once they burst into the room, they were surprised to find Winteridge sitting there all alone. He was leaning back against his seat, fingers drumming fingers, looking relaxed and well-composed. He raised his eyebrow as an agent pointed a rifle between his eyes.
“What took you so long?” he said, calmly. It was as though he was merely greeting an old friend.
Noin stepped forward. “Give it up, Winteridge. We have you surrounded.”
He raised his eyebrow again. “Indeed?” Then he raised both hands. “Alright, I surrender.” An agent came to cuff him but stopped at Winteridge’s next words. “Of course, you might rather want to worry about something other than myself.”
Noin’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t trust this guy. “What do you mean?”
“Your base for once,” he responded, smiling slyly.
“What is your game, Winteridge?” she prompted, fingers tightening around the trigger.
He shook his head. “No, no game. It’s the truth and if you’re not quick enough you might lose more than this war.” His eyes gleamed as he smiled snidely. “Right at this very second, a troop of soldiers are attacking your Earth base.”
“What?” Noin started towards him. She didn’t believe a single word he said. “You’re bluffing.”
“See for yourself,” said Winteridge, nodding at the screen just above his head. They looked and gasped. As one, they turned to Mylin who was entering the room. She seemed disturbed but when she saw what was beyond the screen, she froze, balling her fists.
The Earth base was under attack!
>>>@@<<<
“Ready all cannons!” Sally shouted so she could be heard over the blaring alarms. “Fire!”
“Send out all remaining mobile suits,” Lady Une instructed Agent Grant. He nodded, before began issuing orders to his own men. “Damage report!” she barked at June, as the pretty agent went through the words on the screen.
“Sector 2,3,4,5 and 19 suffered heavy damage. We’ve lost sections 9 through 15 and the outer buildings are in verge of structural collapse.” Again the base shook. Une bit back an angry curse. “Correction, we’ve just lost section 2 and most of section 3.”
“Ma’am, we’re through,” said another agent. Lady Une turned to see Kylie moving away from the console. She had been helping the agent to patch through a secret channel in which she occasionally used to contact Heero.
“Earth base come in!”
Crackle.
She rushed over. “Zechs! Status.” Despite of being under attack, Une was more concern over the mission.
“We’re progressing. What the hell happened?” he enquired, for a moment forgotten who he was addressing to.
Crackle.
“We’re under attack. The Telrhani just took us by surprise,” she answered him. “We’re holding on at the moment though we don’t know for how long.”
Suddenly, the base took another hit. The whole structure shook and groaned. Debris from the ceiling started to rain on them. Une gripped the edge of the console as the shakings subsided. That had been too close!
“Oh no!” June gasped. “They’re after the communication tower. Without it we’ll lose all contact.”
“Damn!” Sally cursed, seeing the enemy converging towards a tall tower on the surface. “They’re cutting us off from the rest of the world.”
Une knew that she had to work quickly. The tower will not hold for long. And even then they were losing the signal. “Zechs! Concentrate on your mission.”
“But…” the protest came from Sandrock. Dorothy’s heart made a leap at the desperation in it.
“Secure Winteridge first and then you may send anyone available to assist us,” Une spoke quickly, ignoring Quatre. “If we fall, regroup at the New Edwards’ base.”
Before Zechs could respond, the screen went dead. But they managed to capture one word that came from Sandrock. “Kylie!”
Dorothy felt as if she was hit in the gut. She stared hard at the screen, where both Zechs and Quatre’s faces had appeared a moment ago. Her throat started to constrict as the truth finally sank in. Quatre was still in love with Kylie! And he cared about her more than the girl he was marrying!
She turned around to see Kylie’s reaction to this. But to her surprise, she found the girl missing.
>>>@@<<<
“Make your choice,” Winteridge prompted calmly. “Me or your base.”
Noin stared at him. Beads of sweat started to roll down her cheeks as she contemplated over what she was seeing on the screen. The Earth base wasn’t doing any good, for most of its agents were in space, fighting in another battlefield.
‘What should I do? Which should I abandon? The mission or the friends I left behind?’
The answer came to her a second later. Zechs’ voice came through the comm. “Secure Winteridge. That’s an order, Noin.”
Hearing his words, Noin became certain. Winteridge shook his head, disappointedly. “Well, can’t blame a guy for trying right?”
Suddenly a shot rang out. Surprised, Noin and her agents watched Winteridge melted away and vanished. “A hologram! Damn it, he fooled us again.” She kicked the seat in frustration. “I should’ve known.” Then she turned to Duo. “How did you know?”
He shrugged. “He was talking waaa…ay too much. It’s either he loves to listen to himself or he’s stalling.”
“Great! You could’ve told me earlier,” she muttered, then turned to the rest. “Scout the area. Find the duke. “Carlos,” she called the agent who had rushed towards one of the consoles. “Patch me through Zechs immediately. The sooner they knew we’ve secured the base, the sooner they can return to Earth.”
>>>@@<<<
“Agent Wind! We’ve secured the base. I repeat, we’ve secured the base.”
“Roger that,” Zechs responded, killing his last Furies. He turned around; expecting Nemesis attacks but to his surprise, found that Kylie’s clone was gone. In fact, all the other clones had disappeared from the battle. Apparently, they had ordered the Furies to distract their opponents so they could rejoin Winteridge.
“They’re gone!” he heard Wu Fei cursed. He could tell that the Chinese pilot was still hungry for blood.
“I don’t care. I’m going back,” said Quatre, heading towards Earth at top speed. In his mind, he kept on repeating. ‘Hang on, Kylie. I’m coming for you.’
>>>@@<<<
“Lady Une, you better take a look at this,” said Grant, bending over a screen.
“What is it?” Une inquired as she came over.
Grant frowned. “It’s the 5th hangar, the one we store the Gundams. It’s opening!”
“What!” Sally gasped. “Could it be that someone is trying to steal the Deathscythe?”
“Can’t be. The person had all the valid access codes to open the door.”
The head of Preventer was about to remind him of the spy when a thought suddenly came to her. Spinning around, she searched for one face that she had not seen for a time. “No, she can’t be,” she whispered, causing Sally and Grant to turn to her, deeply concern. “It’s Kylie!”
>>>@@<<<
The comm. blinked crazily as a voice broke through. “Kylie! Stop what you’re doing. It’s dangerous for you to pilot a Gundam in your present condition!”
“I can handle it,” she responded, tonelessly.
“But how will you move it? The foot pedal…”
She gritted her jaw, feeling the sting in the words. But then, Mylin’s words came back to her.
“What’s stopping you?”
At the time she couldn’t say it but now she will show her that she had never let anything stop her before. “It’s been taken care. I’ve reprogrammed it to go automatic. I can control all Deathscythe’s movements with the throttle.”
“But it’s too dangerous. At least wait until…”
That struck something in her. She glared at Une, growling. “I will not allow myself to be protected like a useless invalid! Especially by…” she cut herself off as the words System Ready appeared on the screen. The next words were said tonelessly. “I rather be dead.”
‘I don’t need you Quatre. Stop protecting me!’
With that, she launched.
>>>@@<<<
“What the hell!” Duo jumped, seeing a familiar MS appeared on the screen. It was fighting against the Telrhani, taking most of the brunt of the attack. “Deathscythe?” he blinked. When that did not work, he rubbed his eyes. But seeing the image held, he stood gaping. “Who on Earth could fly a Gundam? My Gundam!” he spoke to himself, ticking off all the possible pilots. But they were all in space except…
Duo released a chain of curses that so shocked Noin that she came over to him. “What is it, Duo?” she asked, looking up and saw the image of Deathscythe destroying a Telrhani suit with its scythe. “Who’s piloting that?” she asked, marveling at the skills and precision of the pilot’s control. “We don’t have an agent who’s capable of piloting that well.”
“That’s not just your average pilot,” said a new voice. Mylin walked over to the two. She regarded the image first before smiling to herself. “It seems that the warrior in her still lives.”
Noin looked at her. “What? Who?” Then a thought came to her. “No, it can’t be.”
“I’ll make her pay!” Duo hissed, giving Noin his confirmation.
Noin quickly turned to an agent. “Patch me through to Winner. He has to know.” The agent obeyed.
Mylin, meanwhile, ignored the rest. She stared at the screen calmly. ‘Welcome back, my old rival.’
>>>@@<<<
“Quatre, what’s your ETA?” Noin’s voice suddenly broke through the comm. She sounded strangely urgent.
Quatre glanced at the time before answering, “Twenty minutes.” He accelerated his Gundam even more. He knew that he must get there as fast as he could. Then, remembering the distress in Noin’s voice, he asked, “What is it?”
There was a moment of hesitation. “It’s Kylie. We believe that she has commandeered Deathscythe and is piloting it to battle.”
“What!” Quatre almost brake then, if such was possible for a Gundam. “What could she be thinking? She’ll only endanger herself.”
Before Noin could answer, something flew passed him. Startled, Quatre looked at the screen and saw Wing Zero, shooting down like a meteorite.
>>>@@<<<
Going back into battle had never felt this good. The adrenaline rush, the danger, the kill all contributed to the thrill that she was feeling. She had fiercely missed this. The freedom, the thought of being the one determining other people’s fate by the barrel of her weapon, all of this felt good. It was as if she was home!
Then it happened. It was just a tiny glitch at first and then her whole world started to fall apart.
She heard a cry.
Then a maniacal laugh.
She blinked, trying to determine where the sounds had come from. A second later, she saw a shadow coming at her, rushing towards her. Then, he raised his filthy hands towards her.
Kylie’s heart clenched then. She found herself frozen in time. The hands continued to come upon her. When it brushed her, something inside her snapped. “No!” she screamed, unconsciously cleaving a Telrhani suit into two.
She turned to face another. This time, the man was holding pieces of bloodied clothes in his hand. He was still laughing. “I will kill you!” she growled, cutting another enemy. She spun; nearly slicing one of the Preventer’s suits had not something stopped her.
She shook her head, willing it to clear. ‘Don’t do this, ZERO!’ she thought, fighting for control against the dangerous system. She had expected that it would happen again since she had never mastered the system before.
‘Show me my current enemy,’ she ordered it. ‘I’ll deal with him later.’
Then she was in control again.
>>>@@<<<
Sally Po watched the battle above, open mouthed. By the request of Lady Une, she had taken a Taurus to back Deathscythe up. But she hardly expected to find the terrible state they were in.
Presently, the Preventers defense force was greatly diminished. The base had lost all cannons and the Taurus team was down to fifteen. And they were all now defending the base with all they got. The only person fighting in the middle of the thick foray was Kylie, in her borrowed Gundam, locked in a ferocious battle.
Again, Sally found herself marveling at the girl’s skills. She was deeply impressed that the girl’s lack of mobility and time away from battles hadn’t affected her ability to control a Gundam. It was as if the old Kylie Rayden was back.
But the tide soon changed for when Deathscythe managed to cause the most damage to the opposite team, the Telrhani decided that it was a threat to be eliminate first. So while they pressed against the defenders, most of the Telrhani troop flew over into the chaos to deal with the one and only Gundam.
‘No!’ Sally found herself shouting as Deathscythe took a nasty hit. Shaking herself free from her thoughts, she pushed her Taurus forward to back Kylie up. But no sooner had she appeared on the battle field, she was targeted.
>>>@@<<<
Kylie grunted as she was thrown against the screen. She bit back an angry curse as she struggled to clear off the haze in her head. The cockpit was glowing with red lights, alarms blaring, deafening her. Ignoring the biting pain on her back, she pushed the throttle forward.
Something flashed on her screen and Kylie released the curse that would’ve even made Heero frowned. She tried to bypass the command but failed. The words continued to dominate the screen.
Current settings offline. Switching to default mode.
Not good. She had just lost control on the foot pedal. This means that she was earth-bound and would not be able to fly or move quickly.
Again something hit her. Kylie cursed, slamming her hands on the keyboard. It was then she felt a slight flicker. And she felt a profound calm filled her. She may be decapitated but the Zero System was still with her.
Letting out a war cry, Kylie spun and impaled the next Telrhani suit.
She failed to notice a ray of light hitting the other Telrhani behind her.
>>>@@<<<
When the clouds finally opened up before him, Quatre gasped at the devastation the battle had left on the Earth base. The outer buildings were totaled and a part of the underground base had caved in. Everything was burning, including the forest that surrounded the base. The ground was littered with decapitated Tauruses and Telrhani’s fighters and Mican Troop. The ones left standing were so very few that he could count them in one hand.
He gasped when he saw Deathscythe among the fallen, lying on the ground, motionless.
“Kylie!” he cried, swooping down to land next to Wing Zero. He saw Heero leaping out, making his way towards the fallen Gundam. Quickly, he released his straps and got out. As he descended, he saw the others made their landing as well.
“Heero!” he ran up to join Heero. The stoic pilot threw Quatre a glance. “Heero! Could she be…?” he couldn’t continue the thought.
Heero shrugged but there was a slight change in his eyes. “Beats me,” he answered. He watched as Quatre cupped his mouth with his hands and called out. “Kylie!” When there was no answer, he steeled himself for a climb.
Suddenly, the cockpit door hissed open. Both Heero and Quatre stopped and looked up. Kylie emerged from the cockpit, her face turned to the skies, watching the remaining Telrhani retreating. But that was not the thing that surprised them.
Kylie was standing! On her two feet!
Only then did Kylie notice the eyes on her. She frowned, looking down at her own legs. Then her eyes sought Heero’s. They betrayed the look of total confusion and shock. “Wha…?” she began. It was then her legs buckled under her.
Before anyone could comprehend anything, Heero moved. He made a giant leap onto Deathscythe and caught his twin sister before she fell. Prussian blue eyes met winter blue ones. “Wha… what happened?” but before she could finish the sentence, her eyes fluttered close.
TO BE CONTINUED…
AUTHOR REPLIES: Now before you guys start throwing dangerous projectiles towards the little old innocent me for the late update, let me clear this up for you. This time, the delay is definitely NOT my fault. The chapter was ready a long time ago, the problem lies when I couldn’t upload it in my FF.Net account. Yup, I’m one of those affected by the recent misgiving. Ai!
And wow! Looks like things are finally getting interesting. And I ruined it with a cliffhanger! Don’t worry, I’m about to ruin it for you guys more with this announcement. Since my classes are about to start in another week or so, I’m afraid I’ll only have enough time to update “Wings of Destiny” some time next week. (I hope! ) So that means, I won’t be able to update “Shattered Walls” in near future.
But, I will still try to update at least once a month. Just pray for me and keep the reviews coming because they boost my motivation, you see. Okay, end announcement, let’s go to my replies.
Ookami Kage: What? Hit Duo? No, don’t hit him! My sister will kill me. She’s a big fan of Duo and would not like it if she finds out I turned Duo into a wimp! Hmm…Trowa and Dorothy, a couple? We’ll see. Quatre and Kylie? Let me say this. Everything is subject to changes (btw, my muse told me to type this)
Galilean: Leaving this story unfinished!! My dear, I LIVED for Gundam Wing. Can’t get the boys out of my mind. If I leave this story unfinished, they will drive me INSANE!! It may be a slow going but never unfinished. I have planned so many things for our boys *evil grin*
Kill off Quatre? Wow, can I be so unkind to myself? Like you I LOVE the little blond Arab. But… geez… I don’t know about killing him off. My muse’s not talking. As for Duo’s reason not to fly, heh, you’ll find out sooner or later. But I did throw in a clue or two, I guess, they were too subtle. Kylie, a victim of sexual abuse? If you have time, go read “Circle of Wishes” the prequel to my fics. You’ll find clues lying around. If not, you’ll just have to wait. Me, kill off Trowa? I think he would kill me first before THAT happens!! I don’t know. Again, my muse is not talking.
Elizabeth: He..he.. I think almost everyone I know wants to kill Duo for not flying. Don’t. I still need him. Yeah, things do point towards a Trowa-Dorothy relationship. Since there were so many Trowa-Quatre and Quatre-Dorothy out there that I was tempted to try something new. But who knows, things could change. Still, thanks for the review.
Steven_L: Yes, Zechs and Noin are married. But no, they haven’t any kids. Yet.
Oh, before I forget, Happy Independence Day.
