Disclaimer: Well, let me see. No, now that you mention it, I don’t own Gundam Wing or its characters. But if you want to know what I would be doing to them if I did…Just read on!

Warning: This episode is a bit longer than my usual- I am such a sadist!- and pretty graphic. Lots of pain…Lots of blood…LOTS OF ANGST! If you are uncomfortable with life threatening injuries or just don’t want to see our Perfect Soldier subjected to some serious pain…then this is not for you! To you fellow sadists out there- read on!!!

Legacies of Victory and Defeat by Luvspook

Episode 5: Attack on Zero

Trowa and Quatre had boarded their Gundams as soon as the carrier had come under attack, surprising the small army of flight suits that had mistaken it for an easy target. Heavyarms was quick to decrease their numbers, unleashing a phenomenal array of explosives that spared none in its path, as Sandrock descended on the unsuspecting unit of Taurus suits on the surface. Its heat shotels gleamed like molten steel as he sliced through suit after suit, using the powerful wing vulcans to crush the remaining forces in their attempts to retreat.

Duo continued his destructive reign over the skies, never losing sight of Heero in the midst of so much chaos. Despite Heero’s blatant dislike of his kind-hearted optimism, he knew that Heero understood him better than anyone. The two of them shared a mutual goal that had led them each down the same path… a path that, unfortunately, held the same lonely fate.

"That stubborn streak of yours is going to get you killed someday, Heero…" Duo chided to himself, stealing a fleeting glance at the two Gundams still holding center stage in the open sky. Flashes of the not-too-distant past replayed the events of Heero’s self-detonation, which, despite the knowledge that Heero had somehow managed to cheat death, still served as a reminder of the pilot’s strong will to keep fighting…to never give up. "I’m countin’ on you to make sure that today’s not that day..."

* * * * *

Heero could feel his strength wavering. The intense pain in his arm was dulling his senses, and undoubtedly, his reaction time, but he didn’t dare let his guard down. The new gundam was hovering ominously in the distance, not more than 500 feet of war zone lying between the two.

He needed a plan.

…The beam canon might be strong enough to destroy Dasenya and that new Gundam of hers, but I run the risk of destroying the entire colony along with her. There’s got to be another way…

He quickly scanned Wing Zero’s diagnostics for damages, taking full advantage of the fact that the enemy had stopped attacking…at least for the moment. Although he still had limited flight capability, Zero’s main thrusters were fast approaching critical levels. Its left arm and back had absorbed the majority of the damage, leaving the suit’s ability to transform in question. That had obviously been Dasenya’s intention all along. Without flight capability, he would be unable to escape. One of them would not be returning from this battle.

"That’s just fine by me." Heero stated, coldly, brandishing Zero’s beam saber in answer to her challenge. "But I won’t stop until I’ve destroyed you."

The proximity alarm flashed inside the cockpit as reinforcement troops blackened the sky overhead, dropping from the carriers positioned at the outskirts of the battle.

"Reinforcements! I should have known…" Heero growled, momentarily preoccupied with the fact that the others still hadn’t finished off the first assault group yet. The brief distraction was all Dasenya needed to move in.

Pulling her thermal weapon, she closed the distance between them in an instant, leaving him little time to react. Shielding himself from her initial swing, he brought up his beam saber, just in time to block a vicious attack intended for Zero’s head. The thermal weapons flickered menacingly, and Heero gritted his teeth against the shivering torment that rushed through his wounded arm as he held off her attack.

"Why have you started this war?!" Heero demanded, still struggling to defend himself.

"I didn’t start this war!" She screamed in reply, delivering a swift and powerful blow to Wing Zero’s right side. "This war was started by a vengeful era. One motivated by the assassination of a leader and messenger of peace. Now it will end the same way!"

The two mobile suits performed their deadly dance together in the sky, clashing and dodging each other in measured intervals, as the frenzied battle between the gundams and Dasenya’s armed mobile suits, raged around them. Both gundams were evenly matched in strength and speed, the perfect compliment to their human counterparts, and it seemed that neither of them would be claiming an easy victory.

"You see, you and I are cut from the same cloth, Heero Yuy." Dasenya hissed, lashing out at her opponent repeatedly. "Revenge solidifies our determination to fight. It is the driving force that unites us as well as defines us as enemies. That reason alone ensures the necessity of our battle."

"Then why involve the colonies at all?…" He retorted, countering her attack with a deep slash across her Gundam’s left side, sending sparks cascading to the ground below. "Your fight is with me!"

"It’s with all of you. You Gundam pilots!…" She screamed in disgust, obviously infuriated by her inability to gain ground against the younger pilot. "You are so pure. So naive! Revenge is a continuous cycle. One that began and must therefore end with the destruction of peace. The history of battle between Earth and the space colonies is the direct result of people avenging the death of humanity’s innocence. Years spent in retaliation against ourselves and the inevitability of our own death. Revenge is what created the gundams and brought them to Earth, fueling the war and spreading their vengeance like a disease. The gundams destroy OZ to create peace, in turn instilling in OZ a newfound desire for revenge. You pilots brought this peace, therefore, you pilots must die for that cycle to be completed…Only then will those accursed by your vengeance, finally be allowed to rest."

Punctuating her final attack with newfound determination, she threw the full weight of her gundam straight at Wing Zero, embedding her thermal blade deep into the thick gundanium shield fixed to Zero’s left arm. She pursued her attack relentlessly as Heero recovered, answering her assault with one of his own as he smashed against her right side, knocking her off balance.

The two gundams collided with shocking force and a violent surge of electricity tore into Heero’s body, eliciting a scream that brought pain to the other three pilots.

"Wing Zero!…" Quatre gasped, his eyes wide with disbelief. "…Heero!"

"NOOOO!!!!" Duo screamed, his eyes transfixed with a horrified helplessness on the two Gundams hanging perilously in the sky overhead, their giant mechanized bodies bound within a massive ball of energy. He could feel the adrenaline rush tingling in his veins as he moved to close the gap between them, swinging his scythe with such tremendous force that the two mobile suits he was fighting exploded on contact.

Trowa also fixed his gaze on the two mobile suits, breaking off his attack on the enemy in an attempt to make sense of what was happening overhead. He allowed an unexplained urgency to overtake him, despite the fact that he knew, perhaps better than anyone, the extent of Heero Yuy’s strength and determination. Heero’s words came back to his memory as he tried to quell his nauseating concern.

"…When the time comes, I’ll fight, as I’ve always done. I’ll kill Dasenya. Even if it kills me…"

The frantic spray of bullets that rushed past him brought him back to the present, his eyes narrowing on the unit of flight suits headed in their direction.

"Duo!…Quatre!…" Trowa called out, training his sights on their corresponding Gundams. "We’ve got to regroup. There’s more troops headed this way."

"But what about Heero?!?…" Duo asked, crushing two more Aries suits that had the misfortune of getting in his way. "He needs our help!"

"Duo, wait!" Quatre screamed, fighting diligently to destroy a small cluster of Taurus suits that had taken cover behind the hills. "Trowa is right… there’s just too many of them! If we split up, they’ll isolate us and attack us one by one. We’ve got to regroup and eliminate their numbers first. DUO!!!"

"I’m not leavin’ him!!!" Duo yelled in reply, his focus set on what seemed the only course of action.

The two Gundams remained frozen in place like a photograph, both pilots paralyzed by the mysterious surge of power that, for the moment, had fused their mobile suits together.

"What?…What is this?…What’s happening?…" Dasenya stammered, her entire body flooded with exhilaration and fear.

The control system scintillated before her eyes, assuming an existence entirely its own, as volts of electricity flooded the interior of the cockpit.

She shrieked uncontrollably as the current invaded her body, racing through every ounce of skin, bone, and blood, until its crushing force stifled even her voice.

"How…is this…possible?…" She whispered, her voice taut with pain, as she struggled to dislodge her fingers from the controls. "This…can’t…be happening…"

An image appeared mysteriously inside her mind. An image that had no place there, yet somehow, managed to claw at her soul with its wretched, bony fingers. An image of her enemy and everything he held of value in the world. An image that penetrated every fiber of her mind, heart, and soul…

One that would haunt her through a lifetime of eternities…

His strength and determination ebbed inside her, spilling into her bloodstream like a drug, so overwhelmingly intoxicating, yet undeniably addictive at the same time.

"What?…What is this power?…"

A sequence of images converged in Heero’s mind and his pain intensified, immobilizing him, and robbing him of breath.

He could hear Dasenya’s words echoing like a quiet reminder of his pain, yet he couldn’t move…couldn’t breathe…couldn’t escape. The scene was unraveling far too quickly before his eyes and he was powerless to stop it. Fire swept through his body, tiny beads of sweat breaking out across the surface of his skin, and he felt consciousness slipping from his grasp.

…Is this the end?… He thought to himself as images of sandy blonde hair and her wide, blue-eyed expressions filled his mind.

"…Relena…"

* * * * *

The pain struck her from out of the blue…like twisting spasms that simultaneously touched every nerve in her body with agonizing speed. An exasperated cry escaped her lips and she grabbed her head in a desperate attempt to silence it. Nevertheless, it tugged at her sadistically, stabbing her mind and heart with thoughts of him.

"…Heero…" She whispered, her face twisted in a mask of agony as tears flooded her eyes, streaking her face with unbridled emotion.

Noin looked on worriedly, unsure of what was happening, and not knowing how to help. She slammed her foot on the brake and the car shuddered to an abrupt halt, both women bracing themselves against the dashboard.

"Miss Relena!" Noin cried, searching for the source of the young girl’s sudden attack. "What is it, Relena? What’s happened?…"

"Heero!" Relena replied, cryptically, her heart and soul consumed by the certainty that something was horribly wrong. "Please, Miss Noin. We must hurry!"

* * * * *

The initial boost from Deathscythe’s main thrusters was all Duo needed to carry him the distance to the two gundams, removing any and all obstacles from his path with a single swing of his beam scythe.

Unable to suppress his rage any longer, he launched himself at the energy barrier, burying his thermal weapon deep within the sphere, dislodging the two suits. A fraction of a second later, the sky exploded, and fluorescent orange flames bathed everything in blinding light.

The two Gundams were thrown clear as the explosion sounded, shaking the colony, violently. Duo followed Wing Zero’s unstoppable descent with eyes full of panic, cringing as the Gundam crashed to the surface, void of any sign of life.

"Heero!…" Duo called out, desperate to receive a visual reading on the reckless young pilot. "HEERO!"

…Come on…Come on… He chanted softly to himself. …Come on, Heero, you’ve pulled through way worse than this before…

"HEERO!…" He beckoned again, his hope for a response fading beneath the heavy burden of his growing rage.

Dasenya’s Gundam certainly didn’t appear to be much of a threat now, its mechanized circuits still recovering from the apparent overload, but…

…At least the suit and its pilot are still in the air… Duo noted, bitterly.

Now she was going to pay…

"DAMN YOU!!!" He screamed, lunging at Dasenya, the instinct to kill overriding all other emotion.

The blast from an approaching Aries blindsided him, throwing Deathscythe off balance, effectively thwarting his attack. Duo reset his sights, focusing them on the overwhelming number of mobile suits heading in his direction, and was surprised when several of the suits descended, unexpectedly, on the fallen Wing Zero. Duo immediately changed course, raising Deathscythe’s defense shields as he blocked the path to Heero and his gundam.

"I don’t think so, pal. You want him…you’re gonna have to go through me first…" Duo challenged, with an arrogant smile. "But I gotta warn you though… Death takes no prisoners. I suggest you turn back now, while you still can…"

One of the approaching flight models ignored the pilot’s warning, performing a kamikaze dive at the Great Destroyer, who effortlessly cut the suit cleanly down the middle.

The other soldiers hesitated slightly before barraging the gundam with their chain rifles and heat sensor missiles, landing a number of hits before meeting the same fate as their comrade.

Dasenya watched, numbly, as her mobile suit forces were effortlessly dispatched one by one, until only a third of them remained.

She could still feel that pilot, still sense him, like a shadow of defeat inside her mind. Observing the fine tremor of her own hands, she closed her eyes, trying to shake free of the chill still penetrating her body.

"All remaining troops retreat!" She ordered, abruptly, shocking both ally and enemy alike.

"Did she say to retreat?" One soldier questioned, disbelievingly.

"You heard the Commander…" Another responded. "All forces retreat now!"

"There will be another day, Gundams…" Dasenya vowed, quietly, as the remainder of her units reassembled, and regrettably abandoned their attack.

"Should we go after them?…" Duo questioned, the thirst for blood still pulsating in his veins.

"We’re in no shape to be launching any kind of attack right now." Quatre answered, quietly. "Who knows how many suits we’d be facing if we followed them back to their base. Besides, we’ve got to see if Heero is okay, first!"

"Right!…" Duo agreed, beginning his descent to the surface beside Heavyarms and Sandrock.

Quatre was already out of his Gundam by the time Duo landed, racing urgently toward the decimated Wing Zero. The gundanium armor was scorched in several places where it had been bombarded with missiles, its surface severely scarred from the recent battle, not to mention the crash.

…I hope Heero is in better shape than his Gundam is… Quatre thought, worriedly, his pace doubling by the time he reached his destination.

"Heero?!?…" Quatre shouted, expertly scaling Zero’s side to punch in the encoded sequence of numbers that would provide access to the cockpit. "Heero, are you all right? HEERO!!"

The hatch opened reluctantly, and the sound of metal scraping against metal sent a shiver down Quatre’s spine. There was an unnerving and almost claustrophobic silence present as the kindhearted Arabian pilot dropped inside the cockpit beside his gravely wounded comrade. A silence that made his soul tremble and his heart ache.

The cockpit looked like a demolition site, cluttered with debris and misshapen scraps of metal that twisted around Heero’s unconscious form, imprisoning him like an enormous metallic crypt.

In that single moment, time stopped, and Quatre felt the cold hand of death close over his heart. A single moment that the air grew too thick for him to breathe and spots swam before his eyes. That single moment that brought realization to Quatre’s memory that he had never really seen the perfect soldier seriously hurt or bleeding before…never like this, anyway.

Suddenly, time raced up on him and he doubled over, feeling every bit like fate’s personal punching bag. It felt like he had just been kicked… and kicked hard. It was the same feeling that had overwhelmed him the day Heero self-detonated. That same helpless feeling that squeezed his heart painfully whenever he thought about the day his own blinding madness had nearly destroyed Trowa. The same feeling that had forced him to recognize, so long ago, his true hatred of war.

"No more…" He vowed to the essence of death still lingering beside Heero’s broken body, his once bright turquoise eyes, brimming with tears. "War has taken too many of our loved ones from us, and I won’t accept it any more…"

Voices from outside shook Quatre from his reverie, as he refocused all of his energy on getting Heero to safety.

"Quatre?!?…" Duo called from outside, an almost indiscernible hint of concern evident in his overly anxious tone. "Hey! Come on, Quatre! Are you guys still alive in there or what?"

The not knowing was making Duo crazy as he hovered impatiently on the open cockpit door of the Deathscythe, keeping his eyes open for any of Dasenya’s troops that might take the time to circle back for one final attack.

…Of course Heero is okay… He reassured himself, nervously. …I mean, he survived a fall from a good twenty or thirty story building, and walked away to reset his own broken leg. Of course he’ll be okay…

Trowa had easily made the climb to the edge of Zero’s cockpit, and was silently monitoring Quatre’s efforts, when Duo called to them again.

"Hey! Come on, you guys. You mind telling me what’s going on over there?…"

Within minutes, Duo could see the two pilots emerging, and a lump formed instantly in his throat. Quatre was supporting the bulk of Heero’s weight as Trowa pulled him free of the wreckage, laying him gently across the gundanium plating of Wing Zero’s massive chest.

Even from a distance, it was obvious that Heero was in bad shape. From his position, Duo could see all too clearly the bright crimson streaks lining the right side of his face, which was alarmingly pale in color. His left arm had been draped weakly over his midsection and was scarred with several deep lacerations that coated the surface of his skin with fresh, free-flowing blood.

He swallowed hard, releasing the breath he was unaware he had been holding, as Trowa and Quatre carefully lifted the young pilot to his feet, making sure not to jostle Heero too much in the process. Duo caught himself flinching, half-expecting Heero to react when Quatre moved his injured arm, but there was nothing…no reaction at all. And that worried him even more.

By no small miracle, Trowa and Quatre somehow managed to get Heero safely transported down the side of his Gundam, lowering him to the ground a short distance from the wreckage.

Duo’s heart was thrumming so loudly inside his chest that his ears were beginning to ring, and he found his hands curling into tight fists at his sides. His insides were screaming, the blood rolling to an angry boil in his veins, and he fought to suppress the cry of vengeance, demanding to be heard.

His eyes searched the horizon, almost wishing that Dasenya would return, so he could make her suffer. Death would be far too kind a fate for her.

His thoughts shattered apart as he glimpsed the familiar pink car rapidly approaching from the distance…

Calculating the amount of time he had before the car reached them, he grabbed the descending cable that would safely lower him to the ground, and jumped from the cockpit.

He bridged the distance to the other three pilots in a matter of seconds, yelling to them as soon as he was within earshot.

"Trowa!…Quatre!…"

Quatre knew exactly what Duo was trying to warn them about, as he too, recognized the Vice Foreign Minister’s car, only moments away.

"What is it?" Trowa asked, sharply, still kneeling on the ground beside Heero.

"Miss Relena…" Quatre replied, uneasily, as Duo skidded to a stop beside him, obviously sharing his concerns about the situation. "We can’t let her see Heero like this."

The car pulled to a jerky stop at the edge of the road, about thirty or forty feet away, and Quatre immediately rushed to intercept Relena and Noin.

Relena darted from the car, not even bothering to shut the door, before sprinting down the small hill, heading toward the towering Gundams in the distance. Noin was at her side instantly, the soldier in her, mentally recording the images in her view, as she would on any battlefield.

She could see three of the Gundams standing together, the fourth laying a short distance beyond, and knew instinctively which one of them was Wing Zero. Quatre was rushing toward them, his expression grave and his eyes haunted, and she found a silent prayer reaching her lips.

…Please don’t let him be dead. For all our sakes, don’t let me be too late…

"Quatre!…" Noin shouted, attempting to sound every bit as strong as her rank would suggest. "Is everyone all right?"

He didn’t answer, waiting instead until he was almost directly in front of the two young women before voicing a reply.

"Are you hurt, Quatre?" Noin questioned, examining the faint traces of blood that had soaked into his lavender shirt and vest.

"No…" He replied, sadly, lifting his soulful eyes upward to meet her own. "…Not me."

Noin immediately noticed the difference in the Arabian boy’s eyes. A deep penetrating sorrow resided where his kind smiles and gentle laughter used to be. A sorrow that she had seen only briefly, once before. The image of that day surfaced in her mind; a day spent talking with Quatre in the Sank Kingdom. She had listened to him play his beautiful, haunting melodies on the piano for hours, both of them bearing their souls in the quiet need for understanding.

Now, that same lost and tortured expression touched her soul, and again, she understood.

"Relena, stay here!" Noin ordered, forcefully, ignoring the girl’s desperate pleas, as she took off running again.

"No! I want to see Heero! I have to see if he’s okay…Miss Noin!…"

Noin really didn’t know what she was going to find when she reached the location of the fourth Gundam, but judging from Quatre’s expression, the situation had to be grim.

She could see Trowa and Duo huddled on the ground, a mere ten feet away, and called to them before quickening her pace.

"Is he conscious?"

"No." Came Trowa’s solemn response, and Noin marveled at the way the Heavyarms pilot could always remain calm and unemotional in a crisis.

Duo jumped to his feet, making room for Noin to get in close, knowing that he could nothing to help, and she immediately filled the void at Heero’s side.

Her stomach turned at the sight of more blood than she had seen since Wufei’s attack on the Lake Victoria Base. She had long forgotten that the real losses on the battlefield were the lives of the soldiers who fought on them. After all, machines couldn’t bleed.

His tousled brown locks could do nothing to hide the numerous cuts and bruises on his face, which was ghastly white, nearly the entire right side, painted bright with his blood.

The forest green tank top that had made up the young pilot’s usual attire was now saturated in blood, tiny tears in the fabric exposing even more angry wounds that ebbed his life force. His arms and legs displayed a scattered variety of cuts and abrasions that fortunately, did not appear life threatening, but would still need time to heal.

She silently thanked whatever God might be listening for Heero’s unconscious state. If he were awake, she imagined he would be in a great deal of pain. Pain that even the perfect soldier wouldn’t be able to ignore.

"What the hell happened?" Noin inquired, harshly, as she subconsciously reviewed the basic medical training from her days at the Academy.

"There’s really no way of knowing for sure." Trowa replied, calmly. "I don’t think they themselves knew what kind of reaction their two mobile suits would have on each other, until it happened."

"We saw the explosion." Noin commented, dryly. "You mean Dasenya’s Gundam did all this damage?"

"It was like some kind of power surge or something…" Duo chimed in, drawing Noin’s attention, momentarily. "It probably fried out the controls and caused the crash…I shoulda gotten there quicker. Then maybe none of this would have happened."

"You can’t blame yourself, Duo." Trowa responded, sincerely. "No more than any of us can."

Until that moment, Noin hadn’t really realized how deeply everyone had been touched by the whole ordeal. Duo looked like he had aged ten years, to her. The color from his typically cheery face was gone, the mischievous twinkle in his eyes, fading away like a distant star within the depth of his violet orbs.

Even Trowa, who had remained his usual detached self, had not left Heero’s side for a moment, and Noin thought she could see his piercing green eyes soften slightly, as he followed her thorough examination of the injured boy.

"Has he been unconscious the entire time?" Noin asked, scanning the span of Heero’s body for any other life-threatening injuries.

"Yeah…" Duo replied, fully expecting that, in and of itself, to be a bad sign. "…Ever since they pulled him out of his Gundam."

Noin steadied her hands before tenderly lifting the boy’s left arm from where it laid useless at his side. The entire length of his arm, from shoulder to fingertips, was adorned with a wide range of bruised lacerations, some small and insignificant, while others still teemed with fresh blood.

His breathing was shallow and labored, and there wasn’t even the slightest hint of a reaction as she moved his wounded arm. Heero was effectively dead to his surroundings; shrouded in some dark place where not even pain could reach him.

"We’re going to have to do something about that arm, if this kid is going to survive long enough for us to get him to Sally." Noin stated out loud, trying to keep the emotion from reaching her voice. "Either one of you have something we can wrap it with?"

"Yeah!" Duo replied, the mere mention of Sally Po’s name, seeming to brighten his spirits, slightly. "Traveling anywhere with Heero, you need a first aid kit sooner or later."

He flashed her a crooked smile before turning and jetting off toward the Deathscythe, his long, braided hair trailing behind him as he went.

"Heero will never survive the trip to Earth to see Sally, and you know it." Trowa whispered, callously. "I don’t think we should be fostering any sort of false hope right now."

"Sally’s not on Earth anymore." Noin countered, catching Trowa off-guard. "I’m not the only one who thinks that Relena will eventually become a target for Dasenya and her mercenaries."

"But, she didn’t mention…"

"Relena doesn’t know about it. The conflict here in space has made even the delegation meetings far more dangerous than she realizes. Sally, Une, and I have been fighting for a solution to peace for so long now that we’ve taken the only stance that we can. We formed a shadow organization that Miss Relena would have no way of knowing about. An organization that would protect her and her lasting vision of peace for future generations…both on Earth and in the colonies. We always knew that another threat to peace would arise someday, and ever since the assault on L4, we’ve been doing everything in our power to follow Dasenya’s movements and prepare for her next attack."

"You’re taking quite a risk bringing her out here then." Trowa stated. "All your little secrets will be out in the open now."

"With the current situation, that outcome was unavoidable. The important thing now is getting Heero the help he needs…I think we can all agree on that." Noin replied, abrasively, glaring at the Heavyarms pilot in anticipation of his response.

Trowa could see Duo returning from the Deathscythe, the small plastic medical kit gripped in his left hand, and he slowly nodded his head.

Noin smiled gently at Trowa’s response before lowering her eyes back to the task at hand. "Sally will know what to do…"

END

Was it too much? Was it not enough? Please, please, pleeeeease review. I'm dying to hear what you're all thinking!