| OK, for simplicity sake, I have decided to refer to the series as Nocturne in emails. Hope nobody minds but it�s just easier to do and people seem to be less confused. Alright then, moving on.... A little thanks and dedication. I�ve been reading Katsu no Miko�s wonderful fics and was inspired as to my gun choice. I hope she doesn�t mind�� I just think they are cool�.. Violence be here, people! This is a fight scene and there is blood and death�. But nobody we know or really care about dies, so don�t worry too much. I have been requested to inform you, dear reader, that the character of Taylor is *not* a coward or a wuss. The person she is based on was most unhappy with the impression I was giving people. Remember, she a rich girl; she�s never really encountered violence before. Kelly, well��that�s another story for later in the fic. Thanks go out to all the regulars (you know who you are) and the nice people who sent me emails praising me to the stars and promising some very nasty things if I�d didn�t continue�.. C&C desperately required for the will of this writer to continue�� [email protected]; please? I�m waiting. ------------------------------- Disclaimer: Gundam Wing or Shinkidousenki Gundam Wing is copyrighted and trademarked by Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency and associated parties with all rights and privileges. The characters were used without permission for the purposes of entertainment only. This is not meant for sale of profit. Any characters not created by those listed above are mine and hereby considered the sole property and copyright of the author. ------------------------------- DARK BEGINNINGS PART 4 By Lady DarkAngel ------------------------------- Dead silence prevailed in the room. Kelly blinked rather stupidly at Ward before asking in a hesitant voice, �I think I�m hearing things. Maybe you can confirm that. Did you just say�..gundams?� Heero stared at the two fixedly as he waited for the response. <I�m hearing things too then. Because he *did* say gundams. But how�..> �Yep! I had them rush so they�d be done for you soon and I just got the call! We�re to come and inspect them. They�re sending someone�..� �*WE*?! What�s all this *WE* stuff?! And what the hell�s a gundam?! Will someone please tell me what�s happening here?� Kelly ignored her friend and trained oddly haunted eyes on Ward. �You�re joking. Tell me this is a joke. A sick one but�.. Please, Nicky, you�re not serious, are you?� �Of course I am! Why; is something the matter?� The answer came in the form a backhand blow to the side of his skull that knocked him flat on his back. Ward reared back, shocked, as Kelly went in for another strike. Her face was livid, fury to the point near-tears. �You miserable bastard! Do you have any *IDEA* what you�ve done?! I should kill you for this!� She leapt towards him, only to be restrained by Taylor and Duo. She struggled against them, limbs and curses flying. The two�s combined strength was barely enough to keep the furious girl in check. Taylor was shouting reassurances to her friend, but to no avail. Heero watched as Ward stood up again and looked at Kelly, hurt plainly etched on his face. <Weakling. Not only is he working with OZ, he�s stupid to boot. And from the way they�re reacting, these girls had nothing to do with this. She may have designed them but obviously she never intended them to be built. He must have stolen the plans from them.> He watched, fingers poised above his gun waiting any false move on Ward�s part. <He *is* the enemy. Maybe we should just let her tear him apart. Be easier that way. No, scratch that. We need information and apparently he�s the only one with it. The mission comes before petty revenge. She can kill him when we�re done with him. > The two combatants across the room looked eyes and began yet another staring contest. Ward�s expression of hurt seemed to fade even as Kelly�s eyes turned to icy steel. He tried once again, �Kelly.......Starheart? What�s wrong?� His face retained the puzzled look for a few seconds before it too turned fierce. Rounding on the Gundam pilots, he rather ineffectively growled, �You! You must have caused this! What did you do?!� He tried a death glare and failed miserably. �What did they say to you to make you so upset? Answer me, Starheart! Ryn! What the hell happened here?!� he pleaded in a desperate voice. The Wing Zero pilot sneered at the sniveling sound of the boy�s tone. <Pathetic. He�s like a puppy, begging for their attention and approval. Looks like he�s not going to get it, though. Perhaps a rolled-up newspaper to the head but definitely not the endorsement he�s asking for.> Upon receiving no response, he committed a foolhardy act and stepped between the disturbed Kelly and Taylor set and a royally pissed-off Duo. �Go away,� he hissed to them all in general and the Deathscythe pilot in particular. �You�re not wanted here! You�re just causing problems�� You�ll ruin everything! Leave before I�m forced to do something drastic.� The harsh sound that emerged from Duo�s throat was by no stretch of the imagination a laugh. Even Heero, as unversed in emotions as the Perfect Solider was required to be, recognized that. �No, I think we�re the ones who are gonna do somethin� drastic.� In one smooth motion, he whipped out his gun and had it trained on Ward�s head. �So you�re the punk working for OZ. Been looking everywhere for ya. Gave us a helluva time trying to confirm. Well, we need to have a little talk�..� Heero noted that Kelly stiffened as she heard the word �OZ� and made a gesture that looked suspiciously like she was going for a gun. His own hand twitched in response and she retracted the gesture. Taylor merely mouthed it in confusion. Duo continued, �Now, are we gonna do this the easy way�..or the hard way?� His lips twisted into a bitter smile. �In my experience, hard�s always more fun. At least for us, anyway. You might now like it, though. What�s it gonna be?� Ward�s eyes shifted and his hand twitched. �Neither,� the smaller boy said with firm conviction. �You�re the one who�s going to get it the hard way. Help is coming and you are going to die.� Moving more swiftly then Heero would have given him credit for, he grabbed Kelly and pulled her to him. �Don�t move,� he hissed, although to Duo and the pilots or to Kelly, it was unclear. The Wing Zero pilot was sure. Duo stepped back but his aim never wavered. Ward began to back away with her as Taylor let out a strangled whimper of fear. �Take the shot.� That shocking little bit came from the braided girl. The Japanese boy lifted his gun to comply but found his view was obscured. <I�ll hit her or the other girl. Unacceptable risk. Can�t take that chance just yet.> The others followed suit. Both Taylor and Quatre looked like they were going to cry. Duo�s glare could have fried lead. When it became obvious no one was going to take her up on it, she took matters into her own hands. She stomped on his foot, elbowed him in the gut and bought both hands up in a fist to smash him right under the chin. She danced out of his reach and went for the object in the small of her back like before. She twisted and put herself between Taylor and the now gasping-for-air Ward. Duo raced in to help but never made it. An explosion occurred that ripped the outside wall clear off. The shockwave sent them stumbling about and the building creaked ominously as bits of plaster rained down on them. Shadows appeared in the smoky haze and a shot rang out. Duo cursed and his gun arm dropped, covered in blood from an upper arm wound. He dropped to the floor and everyone else scattered. Heero searched for the source of the shot and found it in the mass of bodies that came swarming out of the dust cloud. <Damn. Reinforcements are here.> -------------------------------------- Suddenly, chaos reigned. Duo dove for cover as he brought his gun to bear on the intruders. Heero and Wufei had already sighted them and were blasting away from their hiding spots behind the support beams. Quatre was running towards the injured American pilot before Trowa caught him and pulled him down to safety next to a couch. Taylor was screaming bloody murder and cowering behind the hastily-turned-over table where Kelly had dragged her. Her cries could barely be heard over the echoes of gunfire being exchanged. Ward had vanished through the now-gapping hole in the wall and had been replaced by a battalion of gun-toting Ozies. They were giving it (and the pilots) every bullet they had and they were packing some serious hardware. More then what they were carrying, Trowa was sure of it. As he pressed Quatre against the couch so the Arab boy wouldn�t do anything stupid, Trowa dimly thought he heard Ward shriek, �NO! Leave the girls alone! They�re on our side; get them out of there!!� A young solider tried to do just that and grabbed a sobbing Taylor roughly by the arm. The Heavyarms pilot felt a quick rush of anger, but before he could react, Kelly pounced. She delivered a quick elbow strike to his right temple and, grasping his wrist, swiftly pulled and cracked it in the *wrong* direction. The unfortunate man screamed as his wrist snapped like a dry twig and released the shorthaired girl, who promptly punched him in the gut hard. He went down with a muffled thud. Trowa felt an irrational sense of gratitude to the grey-eyed girl and pride in her lovely companion. <They can take care of themselves. That is, unless a bullet gets them first.> He returned his attention to exchanging gunfire, occasionally popping his head up to shoot off a few rounds. Next to him, Quatre was calling out to their friends to see if everyone was alright. A swift glance confirmed no one was dead yet and, with the exception of Duo, were all unhurt. Even the bleeding Duo was ignoring in favor of shooting off rounds didn�t seem so bad. <Must be a flesh wound. He�s lucky.> It also revealed the sight of Kelly firing at the OZ soldiers with twin Browning .40 Hi-Power IIIs with total abandon. <Where in the *HELL* did she get those?!> he wondered incredulously. <She had them the entire time and never pulled them?! Damn, she had us outgunned and we didn�t even know it! She could have�.. But she didn�t. Why?!> The girl was a damn good shot too; each and every one of her targets fell, the victim of a head or upper body hit. But no matter how many they shot down, the soldiers just kept coming. <Suicidal bastards! If this goes on much longer, we�re going to run out of ammunition!> Sure enough, his clip sounded empty and Quatre tossed him a spare. Wufei cursed; the same had happened to him. They were almost out of bullets; consequently, almost out of time. A startled gasp drew his attention in time to see a phlanx of soldiers rush Kelly and Taylor�s position. The grey-eyed girl whipped around and fired. *Click* *Click* She was out on both guns. And they knew it or they never would have risked such a stupid stunt after witnessing her kill ratio. <They�re unarmed, vulnerable. Get to them to get to us.> he thought angrily as he fired in that direction before they could reach the girls. Duo, noticing what was going on, joined in with a murderous look on his face. Between them, they managed to pick off a few but five made it to the barricade. They surrounded the two girls and began to manhandle them towards the door. Amazingly, the remaining OZies stepped in front of them, forming a human shield. <They are protecting them. Why? Where are they taking them?! We can�t let this happen but we can�t fight back! We might hit them!> Both girls put up a struggle. Taylor was easily overcome and was put into an awkward position with her wrists pinned firmly behind her. She kicked, screamed and thrashed futilely, cussing on the top of her lungs. She did manage to injure a solider by biting his hand hard enough to draw a decent amount of blood. They were having a bit more trouble with Kelly. She was fending three off who couldn�t get within a foot of her. All three were bruised and bloody with obvious broken body parts, while Kelly remained unharmed. <But for how long?> Trowa divided his attention between that fight and the one he was engaged in. Finally, one solider disregarded the �No injury� rule that seemed to apply to the girls and delivered a sharp blow to the base of her neck while she was distracted by his comrades. She sensed him too late and tried to turn, but was unable to avoid it. Her necklace was ripped off and went flying through the air as she hit the ground hard. Duo let out a growl of rage and tried to get up, but was pinned down by a hail of bullets. The soldiers carried their hostages out off the room and retreated, laying down cover fire as they went. Soon, it was all over as suddenly as it began. The pilots all got up and quickly surveyed the situation. <What a damn mess we�ve made of this mission. Now OZ has the suits AND their designers! This is going to end very badly, I know it.> He watched as Duo went over and picked up Kelly�s necklace, which had been so cruelly taken away. <Like they were.> came the thought before he could stop it. Duo�s face was a swirl of emotions but most prominent was something like grief and rage mixed together. Quatre came forward and placed a hand on his friend�s shoulders. �Don�t worry. I�m sure they�ll be fine. The soldiers seemed like they didn�t want to hurt hem�.� He looked to the others for confirmation and got affirming nods. �We�ll get them back. We have to.� Glancing at his fellow pilots, Trowa saw the same resolve he felt filling his entire being. �We *will* get them back.� Duo spoke in a quiet, deadly tone. �And that bastard has a date with Shinigami.� The only sound was the agreeing of five clips being emptied from the guns and new ones from the fallen solders clicking into place. -------------------------------------- So, what did ya think? I want C*C people, not just demands for more! In the next part, we�ll see the new Gundams and meet a brand spankin� new villain that�s responsible for this whole damn mess��. See ya then! Lady DarkAngel ---------- Chibi Duo's Babysitter Moderator of Duo's Sugar Intake Keeper of Duo's Nice Rear-end Co-Keeper of Shinigami's Wings (with Meela) Keeper of Heero's Homicidal Intentions Keeper of Quatre's Teacup Keeper of Trowa's Mask Keeper of Wufei's Sense of Honor Co-Keeper of Duo's Chatter (with Tomanaiya) Co-Keeper of Heero's "Hn" (with Tomanaiya) Co-Writer of Wufei's Rants (with Tomanaiya) Leader of the Inspirationally-challenged Muses: Alisande, Rynvi, and Kiagara Co-Keeper of a real-life hamster named Heero Yuy (Hee-chan)(with Tomanaiya) Keeper of the Hit List Proud member of SDDI, the Society of Defending Duo's Intelligence Member of the Society Against the Complete Bastardization of Heero Yuy Occupant of the Happy Hentai House Master Hacker of the Shinigami Organization Happy to be a member of the DuoML Member of 1x2, 2x1 Fan Club and ML DarkAngel's Gundam Wing Fanfiction Library http://ladydarkangel_1.homestead.com/Main.html |