Chapter 10: The Way Heroes are Born"Terry, for pity's sake keep down!" Jin told his wounded wingman as he tried to keep his head below a ditch that had been providing him with cover. Terry was still struggling, he saw, but the bullet lodged on his leg kept him from doing much of anything other than to let even more blood pour out of his wounds. "I have to..." Terry started groggily as he tried to get up again, no longer thinking properly. He moaned as his leg once again failed to support the weight and sent him crashing back into the ground.
"Damn it we have to..." one of the pilots started as he raised his head to take a peek at Terry's condition. A bullet quickly struck his forehead, and he quickly fell dead on the ground, splattering some of his blood on the shocked Jin.
"Oh... Oh ****!" Jin muttered as he saw the man's blood covered face. If somebody doesn't get those snipers soon... "Sandra, please!" Ming pleaded as he saw Sandra still running after him, "I don't want you to..." "What? Get hurt?" Sandra shouted back in reply, "Didn't you even think how... how..." "What the hell are you two doing out here?" a new voice suddenly asked the two of them, "A battle is going on! Find yourselves some cover!" Ming and Sandra turned to meet a woman wearing civilian clothes, handling a pistol in her hands. A cap on her head denoted that she was a Federation officer. It was Sylvie. "I said, get some ****ing cover!!!" Sylvie repeated angrily as the two of them stared dumbfoundedly at her. Sheesh! she thought, couples nowadays... "Yes mam!" Sandra quickly replied as she saw her opportunity. Before Ming could object or even struggle, she quickly started dragging Ming out of the way, kicking his wounded leg for good measure as she did so.
"Idiots..." Sylvie muttered as she saw the two seemingly start another argument as the lady dragged the guy off. But she did envy them a bit. And now... "Max... maybe today we might finally meet again..." "Sandra!" Ming bellowed angrily as he finally managed to get himself out of her grasp, "Yes, I AM one of them. I lied to you. I don't deserve any of your help. So leave me alone!" "I can't!" Sandra shot back angrily, "I can't Ming, I just can't!" "Why?" Ming replied, his voice going down a notch, "You've already done your duty as a doctor. And I'm just an ungrateful taker of lives. Nothing will ever change that. So why?!" "I... I don't know Ming. I just don't know..." Sandra said quietly in reply, turning her head away as she did so. "Then if you don't know..." Ming started. "I think I just saw something in you..." Sandra suddenly interrupted, "I don't know what it is... But I feel as if... as if I met you for a reason..." "That's nonsense!" Ming answered in a contemptuous tone, "If you've got nothing better to say, go away! Do it before I have to kill you..." "Then why haven't you done so yet, Ming?" Sandra suddenly asked, "I know who you really are. I could lead the police to you. Why haven't you done it yet, Ming?" It was Ming's turn to turn his face away, not really knowing the reason either, "Because you're the kindest person I've ever met..." he suddenly blurted out, surprised at himself that he could ever say that to an enemy, "But don't push it. I am still your enemy." "How?" Sandra suddenly asked as she moved to face Ming, "How did we become enemies? How?" "Because you people in the Federation are murderers!!!" Ming suddenly shouted in reply, finally losing his temper, "My parents died of sickness because your blasted Colony Management jacked up medicine prices and taxed us till we became impoverished. My two brothers died fighting YOUR soldiers. And my sister... she... she..." "What Ming?" Sandra replied, her face now equally angry and serious, "What did we do to her?" "They killed her in cold blood along with my uncle. And he was a DIPLOMAT. A helpless diplomat..." Ming said slowly and clearly in reply, letting his anger and hate creep into his voice, "It's something that YOU'LL never understand..." "How are you sure, Ming?" Sandra asked as her voice weakened slightly, "How are you sure... that I wouldn't?" "Because you haven't had to go through the lost I had to Sandra," Ming replied, breathing heavily, "You don't know the pain, you don't know the..." Sandra turned away before he could finish that statement, before saying, "You haven't really seen the real me, have you?" A tear then slowly rolled off her cheek as she turned to face him again, "You haven't really seen the real me yet. The one I've been trying to hide from you. The one in me who's still trying to deal with the pain and loss..." "Sandra?" Ming asked, his mouth remaining wide open, shocked at her words. "Just go if you want to Ming," Sandra answered coldly in reply as she turned her back on Ming, "But you won't find what you're looking for. Take it from me. I know."
Ming stared at her for a moment, shocked at her sudden change in personality. It was indeed a side of her he had never seen. But he was free now, wasn't he? He quickly turned to leave. But her last words kept clinging in his mind... "Grenade!!!" a Federal machinegunner screamed as he saw one of the hand held explosive devices start arcing towards his machine gun nest. It fell right beside him and exploded on contact. Pieces of him and his machinegun nest were flying in the air a second later. "Alright, that's it!" Major Gibbons declared as he saw a hole finally develop in the Federal lines, "Stark, get going!!!" Jake just barely nodded as he jumped out of his trench and started darting through the opening in the Federal lines. He was quickly followed by the rest of the pilots and their support team, but before they could get far a grenade suddenly landed in their midst and exploded, killing two of the pilots and three other men. "Take this you Zeek *******s!!!" a new voice suddenly declared from behind as another grenade landed in the midst of the Zeon troops. Before it could explode, one of the soldiers jumped over the grenade and covered it, taking for himself the blast that had been meant for his comrades. "Damn!!!" Jake muttered as he quickly turned around and saw a civilian wearing a Federation cap on his head. He pulled out his pistol a second faster than their assailant, who quickly fell dead with a well-aimed shot to the head. Three other similarly armed and dressed civilians went down in a matter of seconds, gunned down by the group's riflemen. "Oh my God... Tagore!!!" one of his pilots declared as he turned over Tagore's dead body. It had been him that had taken the grenade, and now the field was growing red with his blood... "****! Forget about him!" Gibbons ordered, "We may have hostile civilians in the area! Start shooting armed ones on sight!" Jake quickly grimaced in disapproval before taking a quick look at Tagore. He was certainly dead. Just like how Vince and the rest of his unit back then... They all died because they all didn't have the sense not to turn back and run away...
"Stark! What are you doing?" Gibbons suddenly called in an annoyed tone, "Get to those mobile suits!!!" "Oh ****..." O'Connor muttered to himself as he saw his patrol get annihilated by the resistance group. They HAD killed a few, but now they were all dead. Damn that idiot Jennings!!! he thought angrily. If he wasn't so damn gung-ho all the time... His radio suddenly crackled, and an uneasy voice spoke from his speaker, "This is Captain Romanov. Why aren't the machinegunners responding?"
Great, O'Connor thought, and now this crazy Titans Captain... "This is O'Connor. The machine gun nests just got wasted sir. A few of our troopers are still holding out in their foxholes, but a big group of bad guys are heading right towards you. Fast." "Damn..." Ivan muttered to himself as he heard the report. They'd win if they had mobile suits, but his pilots were stuck thanks to those snipers. The same snipers who were trying to take aim at him as well. Damn those spacenoids, trying to kill him all the time... what am I supposed to... "Sir, we need to help that guy," Lieutenant Kyle suggested as he pointed to Terry, "He won't last long if we don't." "Don't risk your life for a spacenoid," Ivan muttered in reply. "But sir..." Kyle started. "I said DON'T risk your..." Ivan started again, this time letting annoyance creep into this voice. "**** that! Come on! We've been doing nothing but bull**** since we've joined the Titans, Sir!" Kyle interrupted angrily, "Sir, the Titans are here to protect Earth," Kyle declared proudly, "I didn't join this outfit to be a thug. I joined it to protect people. And that's what I'm going to do," he suddenly jumped out of cover and started running towards Terry. Ivan's four other officers quickly shared a look. "This is crazy..." one of them started.
"But... ****! What the hell..." the senior one suddenly said as he quickly followed Kyle. The other three then followed as well, leaving a shocked Ivan all alone in the trench... "Are they nuts?!?!" Jin shouted as he saw five Titans officers, all out in the open and heading for Terry, "Get back you morons, don't..." A shot suddenly rang out, and one of them fell to the ground. "****!" Jin swore as another shot rang out and another one fell to the ground, though the other three had made it to Terry. It was something he had never expected from that sorry bunch. They were trying... really trying... to save somebody else? To be... heroes? Yet another shot rang out, and the blood of a third began to flow on the ground. But Terry was now slowly being dragged away...
"Let's go!" Jin suddenly declared as he jumped out of the ditch and started running all the way towards the hangars. Another Titan fell just as he took a few steps, but this did not deter him any longer. If we're going to die... he thought, it might as well be trying... He was suddenly followed by the rest of the pilots, all thinking the same thing. "Come on..." Kyle encouraged as he slowly pulled Terry out of the harm's way. They were almost there... Almost... He suddenly felt something both hot and cold smashing through his chest, irrevocably knocking the wind out of him. As he started to fall to the ground, his brain managed to note in disappointment that they had failed. They had all died and yet... "Don't give up yet..." a new voice suddenly encouraged as a new hand grabbed Terry. It was Ivan.
"Sir..." Kyle started as he looked into Ivan's face. Ivan looked back with a sad, almost regretful look on his face. Was he... was he trying to say sorry? It was something, he knew, he would never find out... "What a gallant display..." Gustav remarked as he saw the sixth black clad officer start dragging the injured one away. But it would all be in vain... He was just about to fire another shot when he sensed somebody behind him. "Take this you Zeek murderers!!!" Alejandro shouted out loud as he started to swing his shovel at Gustav's head. Gustav quickly turned around and produced a pistol, but before he could the shovel struck his face. He fell down on the ground, dazed and bleeding, but still conscious. Alejandro prepared a second blow, but before he could Gustav suddenly shot him in the stomach, and the old man quickly fell on the ground. "Not bad... old man..." Gustav noted as he tried to get up, still aiming his gun at the wounded Alejandro. "Finish it you Zeek murderer," Alejandro said under his breath as he stared at the pistol aimed at him. Gustav only seemed too happy to acknowledge... "No," a new female voice suddenly declared coldly before a shot rang out, and Gustav quickly dropped dead on the ground. "Who... who..." Alejandro asked as he looked at the woman's sad face. She was trying hard to hide it... but she still seemed so sad... So unlike his own daughter... Was she the angel who had come to pick him up? To let him be with them again? "I'm Lieutenant Sylvie Gressier," Sylvie told him as she set her gun down and tried to help, her hands shaking as she did so. Taking a life had never been this hard for her before, despite her attempts to detach herself from her emotions. Here was real blood. Real people. Not just a bunch of giant robots duking it out in space... "Don't bother with me..." Alejandro replied weakly, "There are still three others like him... My boys are trying to put them away but.. I think they might need your help to..." "I understand," Sylvie replied, "But please, don't worry..." "Young lady..." Alejandro said as he tried to extend a hand out to her. Sylvie quickly took it and held it gently with her own. Just so, he knew, that he wasn't alone... "I've lived long enough I think... Lived long enough hurt and alone... Stop those killers from making more people like me... Please..." Sylvie sighed as she looked at the man's face. It was... so much like her's. Sad. Alone. Just wanting... to be with his loved ones again... She quickly nodded in reply, to which Alejandro returned with one last smile. He then closed his eyes for the last time...
Sylvie quickly wiped away a tear that had welled up despite her best efforts and picked up Gustav's sniper rifle. There were three other snipers still out there, she knew, and she had to get them fast.
"Move faster!" Major Natalie ordered her men as she could see smoke rising from her base. The alert call had come as she had feared, but resistance was tougher than expected. A LOT tougher. She was now on the way with more men, but at the rate they were going... Unknown to Sylvie, Alejandro's men had already done most of the work for her. Two of the offending snipers had already been beaten to death by his crew, while the third had been seriously injured before he could kill his assailant. Unfortunately for him, Sylvie had already spotted him, and had now dialed his head onto her sights... The Zeon sniper had just barely recovered from a blow to his head when a bullet ricochet just inches away from his face. He quickly ducked back down and muttered a curse, realizing that the Feddies now had a sniper of their own... "Damn..." Sylvie muttered under her breath as she tried to keep her hands from shaking. This was one thing she had never tried before. To handle a sniper rifle like Max would have done. And it was scaring her... Scaring her for reasons that she could not understand... The Zeon private quickly grabbed his sniper rifle, and started to crawl from his present location. He needed to find that sniper, fast, and he needed to move to gain an advantage over him... "Was it this hard, Max?" Sylvie thought out loud as she began to control her shaking hand by breathing in slowly, all the while searching the rooftop for the Zeon sniper. She momentarily wondered how it would have been like on the receiving end, not knowing you're being watched and about to be shot... But she quickly shoved those thoughts away. They were distracting her and making her hands shake a bit more, something she could not afford to happen.
"There..." the Zeon sniper thought. Too bad, a pretty woman too... He quickly started crawling to one end of the rooftop, hoping that he wouldn't be noticed... "Damn... I didn't think we'd make it..." Jin remarked as he reached the hangar in one piece, along with the rest of the surviving pilots. The sudden disappearance of those snipers was a welcome surprise, and he wondered who it might be... "Come on! Get on them already!!!" a bloodied mechanic suddenly declared as he arrived with a light submachinegun, "Some of my boys are trying to hold those Zeeks for the moment, but at this rate..." A series of mortar shells suddenly exploded off in the distance, followed by the screams of several men. The mechanic muttered a curse as he realized the death of his comrades. "Alright, we're going!!!" Jin declared as he started ascending towards the cockpit, along with the rest of the pilots who were also manning their Mobile Suits. It shouldn't have been like this, he thought as he looked at the wounded mechanic. He suddenly fell to his knees and collapsed on the ground, succumbing to the shock and his injuries. Those mechanics hadn't been trained for something like this. Their job was just to fix these machines and let others do the killing... But they went anyway... And now they were all gone...
The cockpit of his GM Cannon II finally came to view, and its doors opened in front of him. He quickly stepped inside and started turning on the controls. In any case now, he thought, he wouldn't let it all be in vain... "There you are..." the Zeon sniper muttered to himself as he put spotted Sylvie. He slowly began to extend his sniper rifle, hoping he wouldn't be spotted... Damn... Sylvie thought as her hands shook even more. I don't have nerves like him... I can pilot well enough but... She suddenly spotted a glint to her left and she instinctively brought her sniper rifle around to face it. What she saw next was the barrel of a rifle, now aimed right at her head. And an enemy sniper slowly squeezing the trigger...
Notice: This story and all related material is copyrighted by Thomas E. "Zinegata" Ting, no part of this story may be taken by any other person. If you wish to use any material, please contact me first. Gundam and all related trademarks are owned by their respective companies. |
