Chapter Four

By Raven

Email: SandDruid@aol.com

Disclaimer: I don’t own Gundam Wing or the concept of the zero system or anything close to it, please don’t sue I’m not even remotely rich. However, I do own my own characters, you’ll know them because you never heard of them before. On to Part four of my epic.

In Africa:

The girls and Valise were walking toward an open clearing. Misty jogged up to where Valise was.

"I don’t mean to be the pain in the ass, but how much longer? We’ve been walking for three hours?"

Valise gave Misty a look that revealed nothing.

"Soon."

Misty stopped walking so Morgan and Relena caught up with her and she turned to them.

"She said that one and a half hours ago."

Relena spoke to Misty.

"Patience Misty, pass the time thinking about battle strategies and most of all how we can crush the CWD’s."

"Personally, I don’t want to think about war, because I’ll start thinking about dying, and I don’t want to think about dying."

Relena just shook her head and kept walking. Morgan walked next to Misty, and looked at her with a serious face.

"You know you could trip on a rock and die tomorrow."

"Thanks, that makes me feel a whole lot better about going into war."

Morgan smiled.

"You're welcome."

As Morgan and Misty were bickering, Valise and Relena were quietly walking next to each other.

"Do those ever stop fighting?"

Valise caught Relena off guard, since her thoughts where elsewhere.

"I’m sorry, what?"

Valise kept looking straight ahead.

"You must be thinking about something important…or someone?"

Relena turned her head quickly to look at Valise when she said this statement.

"Ah, looks like I hit the target."

Relena laughed nervously and turned back to looking at the sunrise.

"What’s his name?"

Relena remained stubbornly silent for a few minutes until she realized that Valise was probably not going to let up.

"Heero."

Valise smiled at Relena.

"Do mind me asking why he’s not with you?"

Relena turned away because she felt tears threatening to spill on to her cheeks. She looked at Valise and spoke in a shaky voice.

"He……he didn’t want me."

Valise looked surprised and smiled sadly.

"I sure it was for the better, my dear."

Relena smiled.

"I’m sure it was."

Valise turned back to Morgan and Misty.

"You guys can stop your complaining now, we’re here."

At the CWD base:

The captain of the prison base was talking to the leader of the organization.

"I'm sorry sir, it looks like three prisoners escaped."

The leader was a handsome man, at the comment he waved his hand.

"No matter, I want you to organize an attack in one week. I want you to attack a meeting that the New Kingdom is conducting on colony L1. Milliardo Peacecraft’s right hand man or should I say woman is going there, to help the colony slowly get back under control. I want you to let them know we’re here. Send out the Mobil suits from the old war, I don’t want them to see our new ones yet, we must give the impression that we are under equipped. Oh, and kill the woman. Her name is Noin."

The Captain looked to the floor than back up at the monitor.

"Sir, are you asking me to send some men on a suicide mission? You know the Gundams might show up."

The leader thought for a moment.

"I would say that it would be a suicide mission after they killed Noin. As for the Gundams, we’ll deal with them when they come. Why do you think I’m sending out the old suits instead of the new ones? It will be nice to know what we are up against. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir, I‘ll get them ready in exactly one week."

"Excellent."

The leader cut the transmission, and the captain sighed heavily.

In Africa:

Misty, Morgan, and Relena all had their jaws dropped open. They were looking at a quite small house. Morgan recovered first.

"I’m sorry, is that where you keep the Gundams?"

Valise looked at her like she was stupid.

" Yes, where else would I keep them? "

Misty looked at Relena.

"I think we got a loony toon on our hands."

Relena looked slightly irritated.

"Hold on, I think there is something else."

Meanwhile Morgan was talking to Valise.

"I don’t understand, aren’t Gundams……oh, I don’t know……like THREE HUNDRED FEET TALL."

Valise gave Morgan a smile.

"Morgan…looks can be deceiving."

With that she opened the house and they walked inside. Valise lead the way to a bedroom. The girls followed, and Valise walked over to statue she had on a dresser and twisted the body, she then went to the closet and walked inside all the way to the back, she placed her hand on the back wall of the closet. The closet wall opened and revealed an elevating platform. The girls were dumbfounded again. Valise walked onto the platform.

"Come on, you want to see them don’t you?"

One by one the girls climbed on and with a jerk the platform went down. As they went the closet closed and light exploded around them, when their eyes adjusted they saw the biggest place they could ever imagine underground. As they landed on the floor, they saw many people, children, adults just living around the grounds. Relena looked at them.

"Oh my God, what happened?"

Valise walked off the platform and the girls followed.

"These people’s homes were destroyed from the war, they have no place to go, I could only fit about 75 here."

Morgan was almost crying.

"You’re a good person, Valise."

Valise smiled at Morgan. As they made their way through the underground house. The people were openly staring at them. Finally as they walked farther on, there started to be less light and people. They stopped in front of a door. Valise put her eye close to the identification system and her hand on the print identification. The door opened and she ushered the girls inside. They were faced with another wall which she typed in a code. Misty looked surprised.

"Do you think you have enough security?"

"My gundams are very important to me."

"No kidding."

The door opened to reveal another huge space. Valise walked forward followed by the girls. It was a huge room with 4 hallways around them.

"This is where you’ll live, your rooms are down the south hall. The food is down the west. The exercise and anything else is down the east hall."

Relena looked at the fourth hallway. "Let me guess the Gundams are down the north hallway."

Valise pointed her finger at her. "Good guess."

Relena started to walk down the north hallway. "I want to see them."

Valise and the girls followed Relena. "Naturally."

They walked about two minutes when Relena came to a complete stop and stared in amazement. Three beautiful Gundam’s were enclosed in a metal casing. Morgan walked to one at the end. It was maroon and a deep brown.

"Unbelievable."

Valise walked to Morgan.

"That one Morgan is called Meltam."

"He’s beautiful."

Morgan was gazing at the Gundam. Valise leaned against the railing to and explained what Meltam could do.

"He has a beam cannon, a bow saber, machine guns connected to the shoulders and helmet, double thrusters, and flying capability."

Morgan looked at Valise and smiled. "I want him."

"Then he’s yours."

They walked to the next one that Misty was at. This Gundam was red and black. Valise stood next to Misty.

"Now this one is called Canic. He is almost identical to Meltam but instead of a bow saber I gave a saber sword. This one is where I started to experiment. If you ever get into trouble all you turn the heat magnetic attachment."

Misty gave her a funny look. "The what?"

Valise thought for a moment on how she was going to explain it.

"Uh, there is a mechanism inside when activated to brings all energy substances to your gundam at close range very quickly. All you have to do is hold on to the enemy and Canic will bring the temperature of his body to extreme heat and melt your enemy."

"Hold on a minute if that happens, I’ll be barbecue, right?"

Valise looked at Misty. "Theoretically………yes, but don’t worry that’s where my experiment comes in."

Misty raised her eyebrows and Valise made her way quickly to Relena.

"Now this………this is my baby."

Relena was staring at a Gundam that was white and ice blue.

"I’ve never seen something that I felt so needed to have and so connected to right away. What can he do?"

"I’m glad you asked. He is called Polartic. The most powerful beam cannon I could put on him with a tracking system, twin machine gun lasers on the arms and shoulders, and two sword sabers."

Relena walked closer to Polartic.

"He does something else doesn’t he?"

"Yes, he does. As you can guess from the name he can create anything to drop to a sub-zero temperature and freeze all you have to do is touch it."

Relena was almost entranced with the Gundam, she couldn’t take her eyes off it. Valise turned to Misty and to Relena.

"There is a catch. The melting and freezing system will only work for a couple of minutes, you have to power up the system each time you use it."

Misty walked to Relena.

"Hey Sage, she told us that in order for me to not to look like I came out a oven and I’m guessing also in order for you not to become a meat Popsicle , that she has an experiment to help us out. What do you think about that?"

Relena spared Misty a glance away from her Gundam. "I don’t know what to think, all I know is that I have to fly this Gundam."

Valise talked to the girls. "We have a lot of work to do, you girls should get some rest."

As they were walking out, something caught Relena’s eye. A large figure as tall as the Gundams in the corner. "Valise……is that another gundam?"

Valise looked to the corner. "Yes, it was the prototype for these three. It’s not as powerful but powerful enough."

Relena gave her a sly look. "It still works right?"

"Yes, why? I don’t know of anyone else that could fly it, they have to be familiar with the old models. Do you have someone in mind?"

Relena smiled. "I might, this person was an ex-soldier."

Valise walked to Relena. "Well, if you think they are good enough, I’ll welcome them, just don’t give me a speech on how wonderful and desperate this person is okay?"

"Sure, I’ll contact the ex-soldier right away."

Valise walked off and Misty and Morgan looked at Relena. "Who is this person Sage?"

Relena looked at her Gundam. "An old friend."

At Duo’s Junkyard:

Hilde had just got up from sleeping and notices her computer screen blinking. "I wonder who that could be, I hope it’s Duo."

Hilde sat down and started to read the message. "Relena?"

Hilde couldn’t believe it, she thought that Relena was gone forever. She went on reading the message. She suddenly stopped. "WHAT?!"

In Africa, the next day, 4 o’clock in the morning:

Relena was in her room staring at the ceiling thinking about her life and how she turned out the way she did. "Relena what are you doing? How can anyone ever love you now? God, I'm so pathetic."

Relena got up and walked out of her room and down the hall to the cafeteria. Misty and Morgan were already there. Relena looked at them and smiled. "Couldn’t sleep either?"

"No, I came here about four hours ago, and Morgan just came about two hours ago. It’s just a lot to think about. I mean Sage, we are going into battle and we might not come back out alive."

Relena sat down at their table. "I know, but I have to do this. If you guys have any doubts, then you should go."

Misty stared at Relena for a moment then broke into a grin. "You're not getting rid of us, I said I was just thinking."

Relena laughed at her. Valise walked into the cafeteria. "I thought I heard you guys. Couldn’t sleep?"

Morgan stood up. "I guess you could say that we’re a little anxious."

Valise sat at their table. "While you're all sitting here so I might as well tell you about this experiment that Sage, you and Misty will have to go through."

The girls were all silent to let her continue. "This experiment connects you to your Gundams through your mind and body. It’s an enzyme that goes through your bodies and when your Gundams are activated you can almost become it."

Misty got a confused look. "Wait a minute you lost me."

Relena looked at Valise. "It’s like the zero system isn’t it?"

Valise was very surprised. "You're familiar with it."

Relena leaned back in her chair. "I’ve heard of it."

"I designed that system, until that good for nothing Professor J took the credit after I left."

Relena hid her surprise but a million thoughts were going through her head. She had no idea that Valise and Professor J knew each other. Morgan interrupted. "You were saying."

"Oh yes, what I trying to say is for instance Sage your body will drop to sub-zero temp so you can survive the attack that your Gundam creates and basically even if you are not in the gundam it will obey your command. There is a down side, I don’t advise you to fire or fight outside of your Gundam, since you have to be able to see it to fight it, if the enemy finds you and kills you they can activate it to themselves. It has a cleaning mode that when their pilot dies basically anyone can configure it to themselves."

Relena thought hard. "So you're saying by activating our Gundams we can just give them the command to fire and they will?"

"Yes, and if there is a malfunction in the system you can check the system through your mind. Just concentrate on where the malfunction is and you’ll find it, the Gundams will basically be an extension of yourselves."

Morgan spoke up. "Then why do they even need to learn to pilot their Gundams? All they need to do is tell their Gundams to fight right?"

"That’s half correct, the Gundams need them as much as they need the Gundams. Just like if your doing a puzzle for a long period, your minds will get tired and so you should only connect your mind to the Gundam only in trouble or if your Gundam has a malfunction. It will be very dangerous and powerful to use your mind, you’ll like being connected so much that you wouldn’t want to leave. So, when you fight you have to do that based solely on your skill."

Misty’s eyes widened and Relena stared at the table. Morgan looked at both of them. "God, sucks to be you."

Valise looked at the girls and Relena looked up to her eyes. "When do we get started?"

P.S.- if anyone gets a little confused, tell me, and I’ll explain it better in part 5.

END OF PART 4 (In PART 5, the battle begins)