MOBILE SUIT
GUNDAM:
THE BATTLE OF ANGELS
DEADEYE
Chapter 4: Resurrection of Heroes
A darkness…totally surrounding…cold…deathly cold…was this what it meant to die? Suddenly, a light poured out in front of him, he tried to reach out and touch it but he found he couldn’t move his arm. Then something blocked it partially. He tried to focus his eyes, but found them to be unresponsive as well. He then heard a voice.
"He’s coming to." One of the voices said, it was on his right, and unfamiliar.
"His vitals are leveling out, I think he’ll be okay." Said another to his left, also unfamiliar. At this point he started wondering why his body was so much resembling a paper weight while his mind was perfectly operating, that meant he had plenty of oxygen…he was alive…the fact of that spread over him like a warm blanket.
"Are you alright?" Said a voice directly above him, that thing blocking out the light partially must be a head. The voice sounded familiar, a girl…Relena. His eyes began focusing again, it was now a semi clear picture rather than a simple blurry mix of colors and light. He tried to move his arm again but a sharp pain shot up it and into his shoulder, his nerves seemed to be operating once more.
"what…where…am I?" He finally managed to squeak out, he was totally drained of all energy. Things started coming back to him, let’s see, he was shot in the shoulder and upper chest. Yeah, that was it, which explained why his mouth still tasted slightly of his own blood.
"You’re at the St. Clarence Memorial Hospital in Oregon sir, you were checked practically DOA with gunshot wounds to the shoulder and chest, the shoulder was bleeding badly and the bullet to the chest had collapsed a lung. You’re lucky we were able to resuscitate you sir, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was some sort of divine intervention." Said one of the unfamiliar voices, he still could not see who it was. At the same time he was wondering why God would make any kind of attempt to save his pathetic life, one who has wallowed in sin. Maybe he still held some kind of purpose…but this was pondering for later, right now he needed to find out exactly what the hell happened.
"wha," "You should rest now sir, you’ve had a long night." Said the same unfamiliar voice, his eyes were perfectly focused now. The light before had been the overhead light in an operating room. Relena wasn’t overhead anymore, he assumed she was somewhere at his side.
"Sounds like he did some pretty gutsy reasoning in there Miss Peacecraft, you’re lucky to be alive along with him." Said a gruff voice, again unfamiliar, it sounded like it was coming from outside the room to his left. "But, considering he IS after all a criminal who should be executed without a trial, you might not want to risk getting involved here." The voice continued.
"Look, I don’t know why I saved him either. But please, keep this under wraps will you? He saved my life, and between that and what he reportedly did at the end of the Plague Wars I’m pretty convinced he’s a changed man, and I don’t think he should pay his dept to society quite yet. He still might have time to make up for them." Relena replied, he wondered why she did save him. Then a fact coming back to him hit him like a freight train, Tyler was on earth, God only knows how long he’d been out of action and what Tyler was up to at this point, if only he could somehow contact Kert for more than 5 seconds…
UESA Research Center, Mojave Desert, CA
"kert…kert…KERT!"
"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!……" Kert looked around to find Doctor T standing in his doorway. "Damn I wish I had an alarm clock…is it time to get up already?" Kert replied as he rubbed his eyes.
"Yeah. Oh by the way the ‘thing’ I’ve been setting up for you is complete and ready to go." Doctor T replied, grinning slightly. Mixed emotions filled Kert, like was this gonna be exciting…or scary…
"Well let me get some coffee first…" Kert said as he dragged himself out of bed and put on his shirt. He walked down the hall into the lounge where the coffee maker was waiting. "So what exactly is this ‘thing’ you’ve made?" Kert said as he put some Coffee Mate French Vanilla Cream into his coffee, he would probably gag on black coffee, and besides he wasn’t TOO groggy.
"Well…I’m not telling." Doctor T replied, grinning still.
"Why not?"
"It’s a surprise."
"You’re not making this any easier on my psyche."
"heh heh heh."
"…oh shit, he’s got that look again…" Kert muttered under his breath and took a sip of his coffee. After Kert had gotten washed up and was not a walking zombie anymore, Doctor T took him to see the ‘thing’.
"So, what are your plans for this Newtype research?" Kert asked.
"Well, since that was a simulator of a mobile suit, I figured it may be wise to continues research with a REAL mobile suit." Doctor T said, having still the odd grin.
"So what, a mobile suit, is that what you’ve been so smug about all this time?" Kert said, rather let down.
"Well…not quite…we’re here." Doctor T said as the came by a door with both a code card slot and three key locks.
"Damn, think this door is tight enough?" Kert said.
"For good reason, only a hefty payment allowed me to do this." Doctor T replied as he took out a code card, slipped it through the slot, and put it back in his pocket.
"Well, something illegal then?" Kert said as Doctor T got a key out of his pocket and unlocked the first key lock.
"Not quite, just not really legit in the eyes of the UESA." Doctor T replied as he unlocked the second.
"Let’s see…a mobile suit…not quite legit…probably means it’s really powerful…" Kert muttered as Doctor T unlocked the last one and opened the door, it was complete darkness, Kert walked in. "You seem to have a knack for hiding stuff in dark rooms." Kert said in a humorous way. A audible click was heard and Kert’s eyes went as wide as dinner plates. In front of him was a work of military masterpiece, armed with both an array of projectile weapons, guided ballistics, and beam weapons, as well as having state of the art defensive and particle blocking technologies and fields.
"Tha..that’s…that’s my gundam!" Kert gaped as he looked up to the very top of the large red mobile suit, known to you, me and everyone else as…Heavy Zero X. "How the hell did you manage this?" Kert exclaimed, still looking up in awe.
"Well, it took a while, and a lot of resources. The UESA didn’t want this leaking out so it was hard to mask the shipments of gundanium that have been arriving." Doctor T replied as he also looked up at his masterpiece.
"I’m surprised you could make such a powerful suit. It could be able to dominate a few of the original gundams" Said a voice behind them, Kert whirled around to see a boy about his age, he had on a blue shirt and had the weirdest hair due he’d ever seen.
"T…Trowa Barton?" Kert said in complete shock. "okay I give up, what the HELL is going on here?" Kert continued to Doctor T.
"Well, with a gundam in your training I thought it only fair for your sparring partner to be only the best." Doctor T said, grinning broadly now.
"They rebuilt mine as well, take a look." Trowa said as he pointed over to the other end of the room. Sure enough, Heavy Arms (Endless Waltz version of course!) stood there covered with construction braces and catwalks while workers went over the final check.
"Wow…" Kert said as he walked over to it, "I never thought I’d ever see one of the originals up close."
"Well, in comparison, Heavy Zero X seems to have the advantage in pure power." Trowa said, looking up at Heavy Zero X.
"Yeah, but this is the same gundam that fought in the Eve Wars and in the Mariemeiah incident."
"Believe me, someday this one will be as famous, maybe even more famous as mine." Trowa replied. Then he went to overlook the final checks on his gundam.
"How on Earth did you get him?" Kert said, dumbstruck.
"It wasn’t too hard, he was with the circus. Of course the ring master wasn’t happy about losing him for a time, we compensated him for that though." Doctor T said, admiring his handy work.
"So what will this all be for?" Kert asked.
"We plan to see just how powerful a Newtype is, we’ll monitor brainwaves, gather battle data, and even test a few new prototype Newtype technologies."
"When do we start then?"
"Today"
2 days later, Oregon.
"You don’t know how hard it was to get you out of that hospital without attracting the authorities, I don’t know why Miss Peacecraft even bothered saving your ass, if it were me in command you’d be ground into a bloody pulp." Said one of the guards as he pushed Plague out the gate and slammed it behind him.
"Now I remember why I hated people…" Plague muttered as he looked back at the guard with a nasty look. He still could not believe that Peacecraft girl had let him go without turning him in, and even through the fact that she realized if the info leaked she’d let him go would land her in deep trouble with UESA as well as generate a large PR shit storm. Currently, he could only show his gratitude by disappearing for a while then relocating to a spot far away ASAP, how he would do that was still to be planned, but he knew where he’d go. In exchange for not telling the UESA about Relena’s little escapade (which he wouldn’t of done anyway) she’d told him the location of the UESA Research Center, in Mojave Desert CA. Let’s see, he was in Oregon right now. He could hijack a car and get there in six hours max, but then again he didn’t want Grand Theft Auto attached to his already reputable file in the UESA Bureau of Investigation. He’d have to make his own way there, but how long would that take? "Dammit." He said out loud as he recalled the many connections he USED to have around everywhere, he could’ve been there in a day at least, this legit stuff was tougher than he had originally assumed, he smiled at that thought. Guess he’d have to get a bus…
New York City, New York
"Now, let’s see what these idiots have been up to." Tyler thought as he dropped a few coins in the slot and got a newspaper, it was a waste of money really but he couldn’t even afford a good book at that point, but he could afford a few cents. He tucked the paper into a inner pocket in his coat and walked on, looking for a place to eat, evidently the hotel he’d gone into didn’t have room service (which to tell the truth did not surprise him in any way). He found one, walked in, and took a seat, after a while a waitress walked up with a menu.
"I’ll be back in a minute." She said and smiled politely, then walked off to tend another customer, Tyler looked over the menu and picked out a breakfast meal. Then he took out the paper and unfolded it, turning to the business section first.
"hmm, Anaheim Electronics went up another 10 points, damn, should’ve kept that one." He thought, remembering how he’d sold his share of the stock when it went downhill, this was before he’d gotten promoted to among the highest ranks of the UESA Board of military. He chuckled at the thought of him worrying about a stock, seems daily life in a city was taking a hold on him, oh well, let it be for bit, it was nice to enjoy a normal life style if it was only for one meal. The waitress came back.
"Have you decided what you’d like sir?" She said, note pad at the ready.
"I’ll have a shortstack of pancakes, some eggs over medium, and some bacon." He said as he handed the menu to her.
"Would you like some coffee with that too sir?"
"Yes please." The waitress nodded and walked off, Tyler looked around, spotted a television mounted above the bar. It was a news report.
"And we’ve received accounts that the guard who single handedly rescued Vice Foreign Minister Relena Peacecraft from a terrorist operation of some sort on her way to earth from a meeting at L5 has disappeared for yet to be known reasons." Tyler suddenly gained an interest in the report, L5 was the one Plague was on…wasn’t it?
"For those of you who’ve missed our last reports here is the footage obtained from the incident once again." It began rolling the film, a man stood in front of a gagged and bound Relena Peacecraft, suddenly he took a look at his watch and got a look of horror as the man behind him stabbed him in the face with a knife (censored for TV of course) the man then stood in front of the camera and said something, Tyler shot up in his seat…that voice was Plague’s…
"Um, sir…sir?" Tyler snapped back to reality, the waitress had arrived with his breakfast.
"Oh, thank you." Tyler said as she put down the plate. He picked up his fork and skewered a pancake, calm had returned to him and he was now thinking about the situation, analyzing it, turning it over in his mind with a new acuteness he’d never experienced before. It was a bit unnerving to say the least. There were a certain amount of variables that could predict where Plague was now, let’s see, that shuttle was bound for England…but there was an emergency. Tyler ran into a unknown variable then, where the hell were they when the incident occurred? The protocol was to make an emergency landing at the nearest spaceport in the event of an emergency, but where were they when it happened? Then the thought occurred to him that Plague was probably dead by now anyway, shot by a guard in the shuttle or else dragged out of it and shot then thrown in the ditch when they landed…but then again Plague had after all made a reputation upon being able to evade the authorities, was he underestimating him? "Damn this for now, I’ll think over it later…" Tyler thought to himself as he continued eating his breakfast.
UESA Research Center, Mojave Desert, CA
"Okay Kert, we’re ready for the first test!" Doctor T yelled from the platform over looking the vast and rocky desert field they regularly used for the testing of mobile suits. Kert gave a wave from his spot on the open cockpit hatch to confirm he’d heard them, he’d be able to talk over the radio after they got up and running. He walked back into the cockpit and sat down, it felt good to get back into a REAL mobile suit after so long. He flipped the hatch switch and the hatch swung shut, sealing him in darkness. After about two seconds of humming the system started up, the cockpit was illuminated by the holographic head camera display in front of him and the various knobs and switches. He took a look around, in place of the usual two joysticks were two glove like devices wired into the computer, at his feet were two pedals, surrounding his head were three round sensor looking things, Doctor T’s face was displayed in a window that popped up on screen.
"Alright Kert, any questions?" Doctor T said smirking.
"That question was unnecessary." Kert replied, "Yeah I have some, first of all, what are these glove things where the joysticks used to be?"
"That is the finger manipulation system, when it’s in use, rather than the hands being controlled by the computer, each hand is manipulated by sensors in the gloves, so whatever your hand does, the mobile suit’s hand does." Doctor T answered, looking proud.
"Hmm, interesting. Okay, I recognize the petals, they control the throttle on the legs, but what are these sensor things around my head?" Kert said, pointing at them with his thumb.
"Those are brain wave amplifiers."
"Say what?"
"I have theorized that the brainwaves of a Newtype are enough for these things to pick up and translate into electronic signals which would then control key aspects of the mobile suit. Someday I hope to create a mass production mobile suit that goes entirely off a Newtype’s brainwaves."
"Nifty. Okay then, how do I activate the finger manipulation system?" Kert asked putting on the gloves.
"There should be a button by each of the spots where the gloves were, these will bring up some joysticks to control the Mark II Super Verniers. There’s a button on the palm of each glove, press it when you want to take control of that hand for whatever reason."
"Right." Kert nodded and pressed the button by were the gloves used to be, a panel opened up and the joysticks came out, Kert gripped them, he’d get used to this new system but first he wanted to just operate it the old fashioned way. At the moment he was thinking about the way Trowa had been acting yesterday, like his suit was fodder for Kert’s gundam, normally Kert would have let that go to his head but this was not your average person to simply admit he’s not powerful enough.
The more he turned the thought over in his mind the more it made sense. It was a slick little move. Trowa was most likely throwing a bluff at him at the true power of the Heavy Arms at the moment. Though Kert knew Heavy Zero X could’ve ripped the guts out of Heavy Arms when it was in the state it was in normally, he guessed that Doctor T took the liberty of adding a few things on, originally he was gonna take it easy on Trowa, but now he knew he would either have to go all out on him or find somewhere in between. He made a quick decision at somewhere in between as Doctor T’s voice came back through the intercom.
"Alright Kert, Trowa is ready, he’ll be coming out of the hangar hole about 100 yards North-East of your position." Doctor T said and went off again. Kert took a look at the spot the hangar hole was in. There were 2 rock formations for cover, and he KNEW Heavy Arms would need cover. But what other hangar holes were there? The only other one they could’ve used was the one directly opposite…but that was more strategically sound, there were rock formations built up like a fort and a ridge Heavy Arms could move on without risk of being hit, that was it, they were gonna come out of there.
"This is Trowa, I’m activating." Trowa said through the intercom. Both of the holes began opening up…more mind games…Kert reacted on a hair as Heavy Arms shot up like a bullet out of the one he’d predicted and began showering Heavy Zero in a spray of ammunition.
"Hmm, he wasn’t caught off guard, seems our mind games didn’t work on him." Doctor T said to an assistant by him as he watched the beginnings of the battle from the observation tower safely out of range.
"So, what modifications did Doctor T make?" Kert said casually as he pushed both joysticks forward and took off at Heavy Arms.
"That’s for you to find out." Trowa replied as Heavy Arms dodged out of the way of the charge and missed a barrage of bullets by mere millimeters. Trowa figured he’d give himself a quick escape route and unloaded a few missiles.
"Those aren’t the standard amount of missiles." Kert said to himself and took off after Heavy Arms, dodging the missiles which exploded behind him causing a massive glow. "Blinders, clever." Kert commented as he landed Heavy Zero behind the ridge, the blinders were at his back making it difficult for Trowa to trace where he’d gone.
Suddenly he heard a dull metallic clang to his side and looked to see a gundam scaled grenade ticking away at his side, he reacted on it immediately and flew up into the air, firing at Heavy Arms’ position to keep it pinned down while he found some cover. So they had grenade launchers too! He continued the barrage for a few more seconds then found a rock formation near enough that he could let off on the barrage and still not risk being hit by a counter attack. The moment he let up the barrage however, Heavy Arms had both it’s double beam gatlings fixed on him and firing. They didn’t call him a gundam pilot for nothing.
Kert was caught out in the open, he put both his gatling shields up to fend off the bullets while the planet defensors levitated into place. He took a quick glance at the damage……only minor, a small dent of the armor in the leg. Heavy Arms stopped it’s barrage, Kert dropped the planet defensors and rushed in at full speed. However, when he looked there were two Heavy Arms! Not standing side by side…they were overlapping, one was clear, it stood slightly crouched pointing one of the beam gatling at him, but there was a barrel in-between the gatlings……the grenade launcher! In a move that countered his common sense Kert stopped and moved into a position where he could dodge the grenade, in a flash, the clear Heavy Arms image as the real Heavy Arms assumed the same position and fired a grenade, but Kert was already out of the way and made an attack at Trowa’s flank with a hail of bullets from his shoulder cannons, a bullet managed to pierce one of the ammo stores in the left gatling and exploded, what was left of the forearm was a wiry stump. The two pilots stood a moment to regard each other.
"How the hell did he know where the grenade launcher was?!" Trowa thought, Doctor T had not told Kert about it, and he couldn’t have been able to make a rough estimate simply on the first grenade. Was this one of the advantages of a Newtype…what the hell was it?!
Kert was in a state of puzzlement as well. What had the clear image been? Why was it there? Why was it in the same stance that Heavy Arms was in moments later? Suddenly, there it was again, it stood there, leg missile compartments open…
Trowa decided that he’d bring an end to this pause and suddenly unleashed a hail of missiles from his leg compartments. But before Trowa had even fired them Kert dodged out of the way and they flew harmlessly past, detonating in a rock formation. Once Again Kert was at his flank, but Trowa was prepared this time. He brought up his good arm to block the imminent barrage and charged, he was only about ten yards away. But at the moment he started charging, Heavy Zero crouched and grabbed Heavy Arms around the waist and threw it over it’s back. Heavy Arms slid across the terrain for a few seconds before coming to a halt. What the hell was that kid?! It was like he was on the Zero System…but this was different, his actions betrayed no amount of the usual psychotic thought patterns characteristic of a Zero System user.
Trowa got right back up to his feet, well, they had one more surprise for Kert.
Inside the cockpit of Heavy Zero, Kert sat poised at the control sticks. He’d seen the clear image again, when Heavy Arms had charged. There it was again! But surprisingly, underneath it’s right shield there was an enormous beam saber rather than the gatlings! Kert dropped both gatlings from the shield and activated the shield sabers at the exact same moment Trowa did the same and charged. Kert was ready for the attack and easily blocked it, and did so for several attacks after the first. Heavy Arms then brought back the saber for a stab but Kert saw another image doing a mid air kick at his gundam’s head. Heavy Arms did not stab, but jumped into the air and kicked straight at Heavy Zero’s head, rather than the intended results though, it promptly had it’s leg cut off and was hurled to the ground as a shield rammed into him. Trowa looked up to see Heavy Zero was already standing above him with one of his shield sabers in a position to promptly cut off Heavy Arms’ head.
Kert sat there, waiting, he saw no images…except Heavy Arms on the ground, looking up at him.
"The match is mine." He declared outright.
A Bus, Bound to California
Plague sat at the very back. It’d keep him out of view of most everyone and he did NOT want to be identified. However at the moment he was considering getting another seat. The person sitting in the seat ahead of him was smoking, and it conveniently floated back. Plague could not understand why people smoked, why did they start in the first place?! He had tried it once when he was about 13, and promptly dropped it. He put a hand over his face. Here he was, Plague, the most skilled fighter on earth at one time, and here he was at the back of a bus griping in his mind about how people smoked. It was so ironic it was almost sickening.
The bus stopped and a lady sitting in the seat to his side got up and left, Plague got up and sat down in that seat. Ah, fresh air again. Let’s see…they were just entering California. He planned to stop in Los Angeles and find some way there, maybe he’d find the number to the center and have someone bring him. He’d find someway there, even if he had to damn well walk the entire way.
New York City, New York
Tyler sat there watching TV, seeing if he could find out any more details about the incident. Specifically where they were when it happened. He switched the channel to another new station and watched. There was a knock on the door and he got up and looked through the peephole.
"What is it?" He asked, his voice toned to instill within them the desire to leave.
"We are here to collect your rent." Said a man dressed in perfectly normal clothing.
"Shit." Tyler thought, he had no money to pay it with, he’d settle something right now and be done with it.
"Alright, come in." Tyler said and opened the door, another man who had stood to the side came in, and then one of them said something totally unexpected.
"Tyler Maddison I presume?"
The sound of a 9mm cocking itself was heard as Tyler whirled around and brought the gun’s sight to bear on the man’s face, another gun was heard as the second man brought out a .45 and brought it to bear on the side of Tyler’s head.
"What the hell is it to you?" Tyler asked harshly through gritted teeth. He wasn’t in a good position.
"Ah no, not just to me, to you, you see Tyler, we both have a pair of common enemies." Said the man. Tyler paused, he thought he knew who he meant but did he mean them?
"Tell him to leave." Tyler said, motioning towards the gunman with the .45. The man made a motion towards the door with his head and the gunman holstered his weapon in an unseen holder in his trenchcoat and walked out. From the sound of it he stood guard outside. Tyler holstered his weapon.
"Which two common enemies would we be talking about here?" Tyler asked.
"You know them, the UESA and Plague." The man replied, Tyler cocked an eyebrow, he’d left one out. "Oh of course, I can’t forget your unique enemy as well, that little bastard who almost took you out in the Plague wars. He may become our enemy as well." Tyler nodded.
"What’s your name?" Tyler asked.
"My name is Umitsu Tachonan. We were the one’s who tried to kidnap the Peacecraft girl. However, our operation was promptly brought to an end when Plague took me out and hid me in a closet, taking over my role. Needless to say it went downhill from there." Umitsu continued, they regarded each other for a moment, then Umitsu broke the silence. "Well, after we heard about your little escapade in L5 we were very interested to say the least. So my superiors sent me down to Earth to find you. I hope we can come to some sort of an agreement for your services as a high ranked officer of our organization."
Tyler looked at him for a moment. This was too good to be true, he’d spent so much time trying to come up with a plan to get back his power and here it was, practically gift wrapped and dropped into his lap.
"That of course, depends on how much power you actually have." Tyler stated in a questioning sort of way.
"Oh we’ve got hardly any at all at the moment…" Umitsu looked at Tyler for a response, but didn’t get any. "…however the seed has been planted, and nourished properly it will grow into a great tree of might." Tyler eyed him some more.
"How do I know your plan, what ever it is, will work?" He asked. This could be his ticket back into power, but it had to be handled carefully.
"I’ll have you see it for yourself. You can then make any modifications to it that you think are necessary." Umitsu said. Tyler nodded.
"Well, when do I start?"
Kert has discovered a part of the full extent of a Newtype, Plague is steadily on his way to the research center in California, and all seems to be at peace for the moment. However, unbeknownst to anyone, Tyler makes a vicious move that will catapult him back into the position he once was. Will Tyler be able to carry out his war on the UESA, Kert, and Plague after all? Find out next time on The Battle of Angels…
The Ballistic Exchange