The Beehive: Chapter 8 (The Assault)
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2003 8:59 am
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing; I am simply borrowing some of the characters for a nonprofit story that I’m writing for jollies.
AN: Sorry this chapter took so long to write. Aside from some other factors, which hindered my progress, I had a case of writer’s block when I got to the fight scene.
The Beehive
Chapter 8: The Assault
DATE: February 19, 203 AC
LOCATION: The Beehive’s Underground Facility
~*~*~ TIME: Unknown ~*~*~
“Where are you leading us?” Her voice echoed through the dark hallways, directed at the man ahead of them.
Tyler walked ahead of them at a steady, mechanical pace; his feet making a resounding thump with each step – due to the extra weight his implants added. Both of them had a clear view of the back of his head, where bone was fused with metal and a mass of wires fed from his scull to a device on his back. “You wanted to know how I was planning on fulfilling my ideals and so I’m going to show you.” He stopped and directed their attention to a door, which soon slid open. “Through this room is a marvelous super computer of my own design”, he explained, “It will allow me to make the calculations and examine my test subjects.”
“Test subjects?” inquired Relena.
“Don’t worry, not you two”, he assured them, “now look, if that is what you truly desire. I warn you though, you’ll likely not find the image pleasant.”
Relena stepped into the room, braced for the worse. Upon entering she gasped out loud as her expression shifted to that of disgust. She cupped her hands over her gaping mouth and backed out, her cerulean blue eyes stayed wide, unable to divert themselves from the horror they beheld.
Heero stepped in, to see what the matter was; his face shown with disgust.
The room’s contents were that of people, former people at least. Now, they were more infused with machinery then Tyler himself. Each individual suspended in a capsule of wires and circuits, all of which feeding into their heads and bodies. They were all naked, completely shaven and pasty white. None appeared to be conscious but occasionally one would death twitch.
“You bastard”, Heero commented.
Tyler had to protest, “Oh really, it’s not that bad.”
“Are they……?”, Relena began.
“Dead?”, Tyler finished for her, “No. Well, scratch that, they might as well be; I’ve simply linked their brains together to form a type of supercomputer and database. I can look into every aspect of their memory – even the ones they couldn’t consciously recall themselves – and I have complete control over their brain’s operations. Many of them were scientists that I captured along with you two, people involved in rather unscrupulous research, at best. This guy for example”, a tendril shot out of Tyler’s arm to point at one of the pods on the second level, “was responsible for the invention of YO-448, a biological weapon.”
“Are you trying to justify this to us or yourself?” jeered a very disturbed Heero. Though, he had seen plenty of awful things during the war, he had yet to see anything quite like this.
“Hmph”, snorted the annoyed cyborg.
“Tyler”, Relena was still trying to reason with him, “please, this doesn’t make any of this right. I’m not trying to justify their actions but don’t you see, what your doing isn’t any better.”
“To defeat the devil, one must become the devil himself”, Tyler retorted. “You’re the one who doesn’t seem to have a clear view on things; in order to achieve a true peace, all of this is necessary. You said it yourself; to achieve peace we must unite as one; to do that, the will of all humanity must be consolidated and to do that we have to fix the basics – the basics being the fundamental nature of humanity.”
“No, Tyler”, Relena shot back, “people can come to an understanding by talking things out. None of this is necessary.”
“You’ve already tried that, it didn’t work. The proof is all around you.”
Frustrated by her old friend’s tenacity she clenched her fist and tried to come up with a new angle to try and persuade Tyler with. She stopped, however, when one of the figures in a capsule caught her eye, “Oh, my god! Is that Mr. Almond?”
“And Mr. Darter, right next to him”, confirmed Tyler. “Oh, spare me your speeches. Mr. Almond was the one behind the whole accounting scandal, you know”
Heero and Relana’s heads turned in surprise.
“They were in cahoots the whole time”, he continued, “They would conquer the Earth Sphere using the Beehive technology and make themselves rulers. Of course, they needed more funding then what the government allotted, so they borrowed a few here, a few more there, until you got that report on your desk five days ago. Of course by then it was too late; that is, if it wasn’t for me. What do you say?”
Heero’s middle finger was his response.
A tentacle shot out of Tyler’s back device and snapped its metal jaws mere centimeters away from Heero’s finger. “Careful their, you wouldn’t want that getting cut off, now would you? And I’ll have to refuse. I appreciate your offer but I don’t swing that way”, Tyler put on a wicked smirk at his own joke and retracted the claw.
“Why are you doing this Tyler”, Relena shook her head in despair, “It’s clear you’re not after wealth or power so why?”
“Why, I thought we had already been over this princess”, ridiculed the pale man, “To fulfill your ideals, in creating a world of true peace. Your speech to the Romefeller Foundation made quite an impression on me. I was shocked to learn that your mind was capable of even beginning to comprehend what true peace would curtail; I had been under the impression that your mind was only capable of calculating how to use people to serve your own interests. I had even gone as far as to examine your DNA to see if I could determine how inbreed you are.”
That angered Heero significantly, “What!?”
Tyler shrugged, “well she is royalty. Turns out her genes aren’t as stacked as I initially predicted. That certainly doesn’t stop her from using people like us though, does it?”
“Tyler, that happened a long time ago”, a very emotionally distressed Relena protested, “I’m not proud of what I did. And I really didn’t want to hurt you like………”
“Yes, I know”, cut in the maniacal cyborg, “but the fact remains, you only struck up a conversation with me to use me; get me to tutor you. The fact that you found my friendship to be more real then that of your other friends is irrelevant compared to the fact that you would have never even talked to me if you weren’t planning to throw me aside once you were done in the first place. You used me, just like you used him”, he motioned to Heero.
“Tyler, I don’t use Heero!”, she practically screeched, that was a low blow as far as she was concerned. “Just because you’re smart doesn’t give you a right to mock us like this!”
“Just because you’re little miss queen of the world by birthright, without ever doing a damn thing to deserve the title doesn’t mean you know best. You were handed life on a silver platter, you barely had to do anything to make it this far. All you’ve ever done is preach an ineffective concept you borrowed from your daddy and sit back while the rest of the world does all the dirty work for you. If it wasn’t for this, and a handful of other people you used – your brother included – Romefeller would have killed you long ago. You’re nothing more then a face that sweet-talks the people.
“So, you say all this is unnecessary to achieve peace? How about you try getting something done yourself for a change. Just, don’t come back and bitch at me about right and wrong if you can’t do it.”
His words were a javelin, which he buried deep into Relena’s heart; Tyler had known exactly what to say. Secretly, she had always been sensitive about that very fact, she was always the one being saved. A heated anger boiled its way to her face; a small tear began to well in eye socket. “SHUT UP!”
“Or what?”, asked a particularly pompous Tyler, “What could you possibly do to me?”
At about that time Heero came in with a right jag directed at the cyborg’s scull. The fist made full contact, but due to the metal pieces reinforcing Tyler’s skeletal structure Tyler came out almost undamaged while Heero’s knuckles felt like they hit a brick wall.
A self-satisfied smirk stretched across Tyler’s face, “And this time, your little Heero won’t be able to bale you out. These particular implants were initially designed for battle. Like it or not, this is the only way the dream which you claim to advocate can become reality; and like it or not, as soon as the test subject arrive my experimentation will commence.”
“And what the hell is that supposed to mean?” Heero grunted through his teeth, still cradling his fist.
“I’m emptying the prison system of its most wicked residents; that’s what I mean”, explained Tyler. “Once the Preventers give in to my demands I’ll receive my shipments. I figure; if I unify the worst of humanity, I’ll have succeeded.”
“They aren’t going to”, Relena stated with confidence.
“No”, replied Tyler, “I’m sure they will. First they’ll attack this place but once they witness my power they’ll have no choice but to submit. Right now, we’re playing a game of chicken; whoever blinks first is defeated. The catch is, I have nothing to lose and whether you want to believe it or not, societal scum is a small price to pay.”
Some unknown sensations seemed to surprise Tyler a bit and he paused for a moment; the sound of moving machinery soon followed. “Speak of the devil”, he commented.
“What now?” the furious bodyguard grumbled.
Tyler smiled invitingly, “They’ve started an attack; care to watch?”
~*~*~ TIME: 8:00 AM ~*~*~
The small, ragtag fleet advanced across the desert. The Tallgeese – piloted by WuFei – was in the lead, followed by two White Taurus – piloted by Trowa and Quatre. Duo was using a Leo that had been refitted with the advanced mobile option for flight. The attack squad also consisted of three Aries and four additional Leos – one of which piloted by Sally.
It seemed as though the only thing in the way of the Preventers and the Beehive Facility was a sun baked desert road and miles of golden sand.
“I’m not seeing anything yet”, announce WuFei. “Maybe I should just charge in ahead of you; get this over with quick.”
“Negative”, Replied Sally, “We know for sure that they have a new model of mobile dolls at their disposal and we don’t know what else.”
The Chinese pilot snorted a bit; Tallgeese 3 was the fastest and most powerful mobile suit left on Earth, so even if the enemy did have some kind of trap planned he’d be the best candidate to set it off. Still he knew he had to follow orders; it was what he hated most about not going it alone, like he did in the old days.
“Oh come on”, Duo cut in, “It can’t be that bad; it’s just a laboratory.”
“No Duo, Sally is right. We have to proceed cautious………” Quatre was cut off when several tentacles burst out of the arid ground beneath him, crashing into and constricting several of the suits around him. One wrapped itself around the leg of his Taurus while at the same time a beam cannon turret popped out of the ground and began picking off the constrained suits.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“You see”, explained Tyler, “Mobile suits are versatile but they have the same basic weakness as a human; if their limbs are constrained they’re helpless.” His voice became very haughty at that point, “So I figured, the best way to have an advantage in mobile suit combat is to have additional limbs. Quite ingenious if I do say so myself.”
“Tyler, I beg you, please stop this”, Relena protested.
Tyler retorted with a small snort, “Tell them to stop, they’ve come to kill me”
Relena shook her head, “No, they came to save me.”
“And I’m not going to give you up so they’re going to do it by force; just like any other government would”, Tyler’s smirk bowed back up again.
Relena gasped in frustration.
Heero, however, had been looking around his surrounding when he noticed that there were some discarded metal bars nearby. ‘These could be used as a weapon’, he thought. Tyler appeared to be too busy to notice him, so it was worth a shot.
Tyler continued his pretentious rant, “So, I never really came up with a name for these new mobile dolls. Of course, they just have to be named after a constellation, that’s standard”
‘That’s right, just keep talking’, Heero silently mocked as he carefully lifted up one of the bars and hid it behind his back.
“Hm……… How about Sagittarius? I like that name. What do you think, Ms. Darlian?”
Relena grabbed the side of her face like she was trying to tear something off of it, “I don’t care what you name the damn things; I just want you to get rid of them”
Tyler let out a fake gasp, pretending that he was shocked and appauled by the blonde’s language. “My, my, my……… you such language, from the president of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation too. How ever do you live with yourself?”
The frizz in Relena’s poorly groomed, golden hair seemed to literally double in her aggravated state; her frustration, fatigue and anxiety radiated from her cerulean glare; all of which seemed to explode out of her mouth in a single phrase, “JUST SHUT THE HELL UP TYLER!!!”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
BOOM! A stream of yellow burned through the head of an Aries. SHING! A nearby Leo loses its legs.
Quatre frantically pressed the throttle of his Taurus as he viewed the cannon taking aim at his suit, but he couldn’t break free. Just then, a series of short beams cut a line through the line holding Quatre’s suit, across the sand and to the small cannon that had been targeting him.
“They’re underground”, Trowa confirmed, in case anyone had trouble figuring that out.
“Thank you Trowa”, Quatre responded, very relieved. ‘How could I have been so stupid?’, he silently berated himself, ‘We’re in the desert, the Maguanac Corps used this tactic all the time’
Quatre looked around for a moment to examine the situation. Besides the suit that had grabbed him – which was emerging from the sandy ground – there were three others. Two of which, Sally and WuFei were fending off while Duo and the other remaining suits were fighting the third.
That initial strike had been devastating, Quatre noticed that another Aries and another Leo had been crippled by one of the other three suits and could notice some visible damages on many of the still functioning ones. Their forces were down to seven. If they were going to win this, they couldn’t lose another suit. They knew that the enemy had a lot more of these suits and they could be anywhere.
WuFei, beam saber out, chained one of the mobile dolls he was facing with Tallgees’ heat rod, while Sally pelted it with shots from a dopper gun. The suit fell on its back, maimed by the barrage, and WuFei turned his attention to the second suit. The Tallgeese opened its back vernier rockets and a bright blue flame ruptured out, propelling it, shield first, into the second suit, throwing it off balance. After it crashed into the sand WuFei was quick to drive the fiery pink energy blade into its frame.
The remaining Aries unloaded a missile pod on the suit Duo was facing, each rocket bursting to flames on its back, disjointing one of its arms. Duo tossed aside the beam rifle his Leo carried and opted for the beam saber. The Mobile doll swung its remaining, clawed arm at Duo’s Leo but the advanced mobile gear provided the extra booster power needed for Duo to dodge the intended blow. A beam cannon opened up on its belling but a barrage of bullets from one of the support Leo’s machine gun maimed it before it could do any damage. Duo then directed the full power of the additional rockets to ram his Leo into the opponent – much the same way WuFei did – and cut a deep fissure down the center of the doll. However, Duo didn’t anticipate that the Doll had another tentacle port at its disposal, which took advantage of the two suit’s intimacy by launching into the Leo’s chest. A horror-struck scream was heard over the intercom but was soon cut off as the, thin, spiked tentacle popped out of the Leo’s head. There was no explosion; the two suits just fell together, as if they were a pair of poorly balanced dolls. A cloud of sand kicked up where they landed.
“Duo!”, Quatre cried as it finally registered that it was his suit; his Taurus thrust to the side, dodging one of the tentacle’s strikes. His grief turned to anger, focused into his beam rifle as he and Trowa pelted their target with one last barrage.
That wasn’t the end though, another yellow beam cut across Trowa’s line of sight, it came from the distance; another followed it, from the other side. They had been surrounded; all around them more of these gigantic monkey-like suits had emerged from the sands and had begun showering them from all sides.
“We have to retreat”, Trowa announced, “We’ll be picked off if we stay here.”
“Agreed”, Sally replied, “bring everyone you can back with you. WuFei, cover our retreat.”
“Right”, replied WuFei as he charged the Tallgeese mega cannon. He unleashed the massive wave of energy to the flank, tearing apart two of the suits that had cut off there retreat. Before following, however, he cut Duo’s Leo free from the enemy suit – which had already begun to repair itself – and took it under his arm. With Duo’s presumed coffin in hand, he let lose one more cascade of burning doom from the mega cannon and retreated, full force.
The mission was a failure, a failure of the worst kind.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“That’s it?” Tyler was aghast, “That’s all the mighty Gundam force could muster? That’s pathetic; I didn’t even get to use my nano-weapons.” He turned to his two stunned guests in an over exaggerated pout, “But I did get to make my point, don’t you think?” The screen that they had been watching the battle on went blank.
Heero charged forward, muscles prepped, target set, his cobalt eye flared with fury, completely focused. An imaginary corsairs seemed to encompass the cyborg’s head as the bar tore a path to Tyler’s skull.
Tyler was quick though, one of the back tentacle weapons shot out and caught the three foot pole.
“Careful hotshot”, mocked Tyler, “These implants were originally designed for fighting; you don’t stand a chance without a gun.”
“Let him go!”, screamed Relena.
Heero’s hand was released while Tyler took the bar in his hands and broke it in two with the aching sound of bending metal, “I really shouldn’t leave these lying around, now should I?”
Heero was blind with rage “How many did you kill?”
“None; that I know of”, replied Tyler, “I took care not to hurt the pilots if I could. Now, that was just to disappointing though, there was no sport in it whatsoever”, Tyler continued his rant, “all the better I guess, though. They have to give in to my demands now”
“Bastard”, responded Heero.
“Oh really now Heero, I don’t think we’re that different at all. We both fight for peace after all; the only differences are that I actually have a plan for after the fighting ends and I don’t have the blood of the innocent on my hands”
Heero growled something inaudible.
“Did I lie?” chided Tyler, “Here let me pull up some records for you: Lieutenant Whiler, 20 years old, graduated head of his class in high school; Private Charleston, 18 years old, new recruit finally got his first assignment; Lieutenant Broom, 32 years old, doctor, mother of two children; the list goes on. What do all these people have in common? According to records they all perished in a Gundam attack by Gundam 01 in the opening stages of the war. How about you look at yourself before you villainies me? Hm……?
“Now come; back to your confinement, it’s meal time and I think and I’ve had the cafeteria chef prepare pancakes”
“Chef?”, Relena asked.
“Where do you think your food was coming from, blondy ?”, Replied Tyler, “What else was I supposed to do with the innocent employees that worked here?”
~*~*~*~*~*~
AN: This chapter wasn’t as long as the others but I got everything done I wanted to. Hopfully the next chapter won’t take so long to write.
AN: Sorry this chapter took so long to write. Aside from some other factors, which hindered my progress, I had a case of writer’s block when I got to the fight scene.
The Beehive
Chapter 8: The Assault
DATE: February 19, 203 AC
LOCATION: The Beehive’s Underground Facility
~*~*~ TIME: Unknown ~*~*~
“Where are you leading us?” Her voice echoed through the dark hallways, directed at the man ahead of them.
Tyler walked ahead of them at a steady, mechanical pace; his feet making a resounding thump with each step – due to the extra weight his implants added. Both of them had a clear view of the back of his head, where bone was fused with metal and a mass of wires fed from his scull to a device on his back. “You wanted to know how I was planning on fulfilling my ideals and so I’m going to show you.” He stopped and directed their attention to a door, which soon slid open. “Through this room is a marvelous super computer of my own design”, he explained, “It will allow me to make the calculations and examine my test subjects.”
“Test subjects?” inquired Relena.
“Don’t worry, not you two”, he assured them, “now look, if that is what you truly desire. I warn you though, you’ll likely not find the image pleasant.”
Relena stepped into the room, braced for the worse. Upon entering she gasped out loud as her expression shifted to that of disgust. She cupped her hands over her gaping mouth and backed out, her cerulean blue eyes stayed wide, unable to divert themselves from the horror they beheld.
Heero stepped in, to see what the matter was; his face shown with disgust.
The room’s contents were that of people, former people at least. Now, they were more infused with machinery then Tyler himself. Each individual suspended in a capsule of wires and circuits, all of which feeding into their heads and bodies. They were all naked, completely shaven and pasty white. None appeared to be conscious but occasionally one would death twitch.
“You bastard”, Heero commented.
Tyler had to protest, “Oh really, it’s not that bad.”
“Are they……?”, Relena began.
“Dead?”, Tyler finished for her, “No. Well, scratch that, they might as well be; I’ve simply linked their brains together to form a type of supercomputer and database. I can look into every aspect of their memory – even the ones they couldn’t consciously recall themselves – and I have complete control over their brain’s operations. Many of them were scientists that I captured along with you two, people involved in rather unscrupulous research, at best. This guy for example”, a tendril shot out of Tyler’s arm to point at one of the pods on the second level, “was responsible for the invention of YO-448, a biological weapon.”
“Are you trying to justify this to us or yourself?” jeered a very disturbed Heero. Though, he had seen plenty of awful things during the war, he had yet to see anything quite like this.
“Hmph”, snorted the annoyed cyborg.
“Tyler”, Relena was still trying to reason with him, “please, this doesn’t make any of this right. I’m not trying to justify their actions but don’t you see, what your doing isn’t any better.”
“To defeat the devil, one must become the devil himself”, Tyler retorted. “You’re the one who doesn’t seem to have a clear view on things; in order to achieve a true peace, all of this is necessary. You said it yourself; to achieve peace we must unite as one; to do that, the will of all humanity must be consolidated and to do that we have to fix the basics – the basics being the fundamental nature of humanity.”
“No, Tyler”, Relena shot back, “people can come to an understanding by talking things out. None of this is necessary.”
“You’ve already tried that, it didn’t work. The proof is all around you.”
Frustrated by her old friend’s tenacity she clenched her fist and tried to come up with a new angle to try and persuade Tyler with. She stopped, however, when one of the figures in a capsule caught her eye, “Oh, my god! Is that Mr. Almond?”
“And Mr. Darter, right next to him”, confirmed Tyler. “Oh, spare me your speeches. Mr. Almond was the one behind the whole accounting scandal, you know”
Heero and Relana’s heads turned in surprise.
“They were in cahoots the whole time”, he continued, “They would conquer the Earth Sphere using the Beehive technology and make themselves rulers. Of course, they needed more funding then what the government allotted, so they borrowed a few here, a few more there, until you got that report on your desk five days ago. Of course by then it was too late; that is, if it wasn’t for me. What do you say?”
Heero’s middle finger was his response.
A tentacle shot out of Tyler’s back device and snapped its metal jaws mere centimeters away from Heero’s finger. “Careful their, you wouldn’t want that getting cut off, now would you? And I’ll have to refuse. I appreciate your offer but I don’t swing that way”, Tyler put on a wicked smirk at his own joke and retracted the claw.
“Why are you doing this Tyler”, Relena shook her head in despair, “It’s clear you’re not after wealth or power so why?”
“Why, I thought we had already been over this princess”, ridiculed the pale man, “To fulfill your ideals, in creating a world of true peace. Your speech to the Romefeller Foundation made quite an impression on me. I was shocked to learn that your mind was capable of even beginning to comprehend what true peace would curtail; I had been under the impression that your mind was only capable of calculating how to use people to serve your own interests. I had even gone as far as to examine your DNA to see if I could determine how inbreed you are.”
That angered Heero significantly, “What!?”
Tyler shrugged, “well she is royalty. Turns out her genes aren’t as stacked as I initially predicted. That certainly doesn’t stop her from using people like us though, does it?”
“Tyler, that happened a long time ago”, a very emotionally distressed Relena protested, “I’m not proud of what I did. And I really didn’t want to hurt you like………”
“Yes, I know”, cut in the maniacal cyborg, “but the fact remains, you only struck up a conversation with me to use me; get me to tutor you. The fact that you found my friendship to be more real then that of your other friends is irrelevant compared to the fact that you would have never even talked to me if you weren’t planning to throw me aside once you were done in the first place. You used me, just like you used him”, he motioned to Heero.
“Tyler, I don’t use Heero!”, she practically screeched, that was a low blow as far as she was concerned. “Just because you’re smart doesn’t give you a right to mock us like this!”
“Just because you’re little miss queen of the world by birthright, without ever doing a damn thing to deserve the title doesn’t mean you know best. You were handed life on a silver platter, you barely had to do anything to make it this far. All you’ve ever done is preach an ineffective concept you borrowed from your daddy and sit back while the rest of the world does all the dirty work for you. If it wasn’t for this, and a handful of other people you used – your brother included – Romefeller would have killed you long ago. You’re nothing more then a face that sweet-talks the people.
“So, you say all this is unnecessary to achieve peace? How about you try getting something done yourself for a change. Just, don’t come back and bitch at me about right and wrong if you can’t do it.”
His words were a javelin, which he buried deep into Relena’s heart; Tyler had known exactly what to say. Secretly, she had always been sensitive about that very fact, she was always the one being saved. A heated anger boiled its way to her face; a small tear began to well in eye socket. “SHUT UP!”
“Or what?”, asked a particularly pompous Tyler, “What could you possibly do to me?”
At about that time Heero came in with a right jag directed at the cyborg’s scull. The fist made full contact, but due to the metal pieces reinforcing Tyler’s skeletal structure Tyler came out almost undamaged while Heero’s knuckles felt like they hit a brick wall.
A self-satisfied smirk stretched across Tyler’s face, “And this time, your little Heero won’t be able to bale you out. These particular implants were initially designed for battle. Like it or not, this is the only way the dream which you claim to advocate can become reality; and like it or not, as soon as the test subject arrive my experimentation will commence.”
“And what the hell is that supposed to mean?” Heero grunted through his teeth, still cradling his fist.
“I’m emptying the prison system of its most wicked residents; that’s what I mean”, explained Tyler. “Once the Preventers give in to my demands I’ll receive my shipments. I figure; if I unify the worst of humanity, I’ll have succeeded.”
“They aren’t going to”, Relena stated with confidence.
“No”, replied Tyler, “I’m sure they will. First they’ll attack this place but once they witness my power they’ll have no choice but to submit. Right now, we’re playing a game of chicken; whoever blinks first is defeated. The catch is, I have nothing to lose and whether you want to believe it or not, societal scum is a small price to pay.”
Some unknown sensations seemed to surprise Tyler a bit and he paused for a moment; the sound of moving machinery soon followed. “Speak of the devil”, he commented.
“What now?” the furious bodyguard grumbled.
Tyler smiled invitingly, “They’ve started an attack; care to watch?”
~*~*~ TIME: 8:00 AM ~*~*~
The small, ragtag fleet advanced across the desert. The Tallgeese – piloted by WuFei – was in the lead, followed by two White Taurus – piloted by Trowa and Quatre. Duo was using a Leo that had been refitted with the advanced mobile option for flight. The attack squad also consisted of three Aries and four additional Leos – one of which piloted by Sally.
It seemed as though the only thing in the way of the Preventers and the Beehive Facility was a sun baked desert road and miles of golden sand.
“I’m not seeing anything yet”, announce WuFei. “Maybe I should just charge in ahead of you; get this over with quick.”
“Negative”, Replied Sally, “We know for sure that they have a new model of mobile dolls at their disposal and we don’t know what else.”
The Chinese pilot snorted a bit; Tallgeese 3 was the fastest and most powerful mobile suit left on Earth, so even if the enemy did have some kind of trap planned he’d be the best candidate to set it off. Still he knew he had to follow orders; it was what he hated most about not going it alone, like he did in the old days.
“Oh come on”, Duo cut in, “It can’t be that bad; it’s just a laboratory.”
“No Duo, Sally is right. We have to proceed cautious………” Quatre was cut off when several tentacles burst out of the arid ground beneath him, crashing into and constricting several of the suits around him. One wrapped itself around the leg of his Taurus while at the same time a beam cannon turret popped out of the ground and began picking off the constrained suits.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“You see”, explained Tyler, “Mobile suits are versatile but they have the same basic weakness as a human; if their limbs are constrained they’re helpless.” His voice became very haughty at that point, “So I figured, the best way to have an advantage in mobile suit combat is to have additional limbs. Quite ingenious if I do say so myself.”
“Tyler, I beg you, please stop this”, Relena protested.
Tyler retorted with a small snort, “Tell them to stop, they’ve come to kill me”
Relena shook her head, “No, they came to save me.”
“And I’m not going to give you up so they’re going to do it by force; just like any other government would”, Tyler’s smirk bowed back up again.
Relena gasped in frustration.
Heero, however, had been looking around his surrounding when he noticed that there were some discarded metal bars nearby. ‘These could be used as a weapon’, he thought. Tyler appeared to be too busy to notice him, so it was worth a shot.
Tyler continued his pretentious rant, “So, I never really came up with a name for these new mobile dolls. Of course, they just have to be named after a constellation, that’s standard”
‘That’s right, just keep talking’, Heero silently mocked as he carefully lifted up one of the bars and hid it behind his back.
“Hm……… How about Sagittarius? I like that name. What do you think, Ms. Darlian?”
Relena grabbed the side of her face like she was trying to tear something off of it, “I don’t care what you name the damn things; I just want you to get rid of them”
Tyler let out a fake gasp, pretending that he was shocked and appauled by the blonde’s language. “My, my, my……… you such language, from the president of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation too. How ever do you live with yourself?”
The frizz in Relena’s poorly groomed, golden hair seemed to literally double in her aggravated state; her frustration, fatigue and anxiety radiated from her cerulean glare; all of which seemed to explode out of her mouth in a single phrase, “JUST SHUT THE HELL UP TYLER!!!”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
BOOM! A stream of yellow burned through the head of an Aries. SHING! A nearby Leo loses its legs.
Quatre frantically pressed the throttle of his Taurus as he viewed the cannon taking aim at his suit, but he couldn’t break free. Just then, a series of short beams cut a line through the line holding Quatre’s suit, across the sand and to the small cannon that had been targeting him.
“They’re underground”, Trowa confirmed, in case anyone had trouble figuring that out.
“Thank you Trowa”, Quatre responded, very relieved. ‘How could I have been so stupid?’, he silently berated himself, ‘We’re in the desert, the Maguanac Corps used this tactic all the time’
Quatre looked around for a moment to examine the situation. Besides the suit that had grabbed him – which was emerging from the sandy ground – there were three others. Two of which, Sally and WuFei were fending off while Duo and the other remaining suits were fighting the third.
That initial strike had been devastating, Quatre noticed that another Aries and another Leo had been crippled by one of the other three suits and could notice some visible damages on many of the still functioning ones. Their forces were down to seven. If they were going to win this, they couldn’t lose another suit. They knew that the enemy had a lot more of these suits and they could be anywhere.
WuFei, beam saber out, chained one of the mobile dolls he was facing with Tallgees’ heat rod, while Sally pelted it with shots from a dopper gun. The suit fell on its back, maimed by the barrage, and WuFei turned his attention to the second suit. The Tallgeese opened its back vernier rockets and a bright blue flame ruptured out, propelling it, shield first, into the second suit, throwing it off balance. After it crashed into the sand WuFei was quick to drive the fiery pink energy blade into its frame.
The remaining Aries unloaded a missile pod on the suit Duo was facing, each rocket bursting to flames on its back, disjointing one of its arms. Duo tossed aside the beam rifle his Leo carried and opted for the beam saber. The Mobile doll swung its remaining, clawed arm at Duo’s Leo but the advanced mobile gear provided the extra booster power needed for Duo to dodge the intended blow. A beam cannon opened up on its belling but a barrage of bullets from one of the support Leo’s machine gun maimed it before it could do any damage. Duo then directed the full power of the additional rockets to ram his Leo into the opponent – much the same way WuFei did – and cut a deep fissure down the center of the doll. However, Duo didn’t anticipate that the Doll had another tentacle port at its disposal, which took advantage of the two suit’s intimacy by launching into the Leo’s chest. A horror-struck scream was heard over the intercom but was soon cut off as the, thin, spiked tentacle popped out of the Leo’s head. There was no explosion; the two suits just fell together, as if they were a pair of poorly balanced dolls. A cloud of sand kicked up where they landed.
“Duo!”, Quatre cried as it finally registered that it was his suit; his Taurus thrust to the side, dodging one of the tentacle’s strikes. His grief turned to anger, focused into his beam rifle as he and Trowa pelted their target with one last barrage.
That wasn’t the end though, another yellow beam cut across Trowa’s line of sight, it came from the distance; another followed it, from the other side. They had been surrounded; all around them more of these gigantic monkey-like suits had emerged from the sands and had begun showering them from all sides.
“We have to retreat”, Trowa announced, “We’ll be picked off if we stay here.”
“Agreed”, Sally replied, “bring everyone you can back with you. WuFei, cover our retreat.”
“Right”, replied WuFei as he charged the Tallgeese mega cannon. He unleashed the massive wave of energy to the flank, tearing apart two of the suits that had cut off there retreat. Before following, however, he cut Duo’s Leo free from the enemy suit – which had already begun to repair itself – and took it under his arm. With Duo’s presumed coffin in hand, he let lose one more cascade of burning doom from the mega cannon and retreated, full force.
The mission was a failure, a failure of the worst kind.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“That’s it?” Tyler was aghast, “That’s all the mighty Gundam force could muster? That’s pathetic; I didn’t even get to use my nano-weapons.” He turned to his two stunned guests in an over exaggerated pout, “But I did get to make my point, don’t you think?” The screen that they had been watching the battle on went blank.
Heero charged forward, muscles prepped, target set, his cobalt eye flared with fury, completely focused. An imaginary corsairs seemed to encompass the cyborg’s head as the bar tore a path to Tyler’s skull.
Tyler was quick though, one of the back tentacle weapons shot out and caught the three foot pole.
“Careful hotshot”, mocked Tyler, “These implants were originally designed for fighting; you don’t stand a chance without a gun.”
“Let him go!”, screamed Relena.
Heero’s hand was released while Tyler took the bar in his hands and broke it in two with the aching sound of bending metal, “I really shouldn’t leave these lying around, now should I?”
Heero was blind with rage “How many did you kill?”
“None; that I know of”, replied Tyler, “I took care not to hurt the pilots if I could. Now, that was just to disappointing though, there was no sport in it whatsoever”, Tyler continued his rant, “all the better I guess, though. They have to give in to my demands now”
“Bastard”, responded Heero.
“Oh really now Heero, I don’t think we’re that different at all. We both fight for peace after all; the only differences are that I actually have a plan for after the fighting ends and I don’t have the blood of the innocent on my hands”
Heero growled something inaudible.
“Did I lie?” chided Tyler, “Here let me pull up some records for you: Lieutenant Whiler, 20 years old, graduated head of his class in high school; Private Charleston, 18 years old, new recruit finally got his first assignment; Lieutenant Broom, 32 years old, doctor, mother of two children; the list goes on. What do all these people have in common? According to records they all perished in a Gundam attack by Gundam 01 in the opening stages of the war. How about you look at yourself before you villainies me? Hm……?
“Now come; back to your confinement, it’s meal time and I think and I’ve had the cafeteria chef prepare pancakes”
“Chef?”, Relena asked.
“Where do you think your food was coming from, blondy ?”, Replied Tyler, “What else was I supposed to do with the innocent employees that worked here?”
~*~*~*~*~*~
AN: This chapter wasn’t as long as the others but I got everything done I wanted to. Hopfully the next chapter won’t take so long to write.