The halberd shaped beam glaive of Wufei's Gundam cuts up the door to the hangar, and he wrenches it open by sheer force.Even though the sun is about to set, there is no indication that the fighting at New Edwards will end soon.
Not yet grasping the situation, i.e. that there is a OZ rebellion, the Alliance mobile suit troops keep turning up endlessly in order to defend the base. To protect the representative of each country, it was important to multiply the normal arrangements by five.
Wufei, heading first towards the cargo plane hangar, and Trowa, following him and understanding his intentions very well, finally reach their destination while fighting off the enemy attacks.
The halberd shaped beam glaive of Wufei's Gundam cuts up the door to the hangar, and he wrenches it open by sheer force.
In the pitch-dark hangar are five cargo planes.
"Explosive devices with an infrared trigger?"
Trowa looks at the interior through the infrared monitor and watches how red lights run from the ceiling to the floor. It's probably a precaution to prevent escape from here.
"I don't care! I'll follow him!!"
As soon as he has said this, Wufei plunges his Gundam into the hangar.
A few minutes later, Duo watches how two cargo planes lift off from the hangar which is bursting into flames. Then he opens a communication with Quatre's Sandrock which is right beside him.
"Let's follow him too! If we go now, we'll still make it!!"
"That's thoughtless!"
Duo raises his voice impatiently at Quatre's answering voice.
"Don't stand in the way! Do you want to be shot?!"
"The mission was originally to attack and exploit their weaknesses. But now the enemy is a favourable position. Besides, we don't have weapons..."
At Quatre's bitter words, Duo throws a glance at the suit data indicated in the submonitor, and lets his shoulders slump at the result. The remaining bullets in the head's Vulkan as well as in the shoulders' machine guns are zero. Therefore the only weapons are the beam scythe and the buster shield fitted in to the shield of his left arm. They are not in a position to do great battle.
"Damn... it seems to be as you said."
As the angry Duo is answering, he is showered with bullets from a distance.
"There are still survivors annoying me??!!"
The monitor displays Leos from a fresh force.
"Let's leave here at any rate."
"Okay."
After agreeing to Quatre's proposal right away, Duo looks at his monitor because he wants to send a message to Heero. In that moment, he opens his eyes wide with astonishment.
"What's he doing!" raises Duo his voice.
Standing around without resistance, Heero's Wing is showered by bullets and loses its balance. It's as if a person, who is in a mobile suit for the first time and cannot control the manuals, lets the suit stagger.
After having taken off from New Edwards, Treize's private shuttle approaches a double hull war carrier navigating through the Atlantic Ocean. Igniting the vernier engines, the shuttle lands vertically on deck. The flight deck is so vast that the huge shuttle resembles a biplane from ancient times.
Descending to the deck swaying in the sea breeze, Treize narrows his eyes and takes a deep breath, as if he were feeling well. It seems he is only listening half heartedly to the operation's progress report of Lady Une, who has followed him.
"I have ordered Lieutenant Zechs to bring the Alliance Head Quarter in Luxembourg under his control. They are still offering resistance."
"Ah, Luxembourg.... This might be very good for him."
Treize whispers this mysterious answer to Lady Une's words and nods "It's no mistake to leave this to him."
Lady Une poses one more question "What shall we do about the Gundams at New Edwards?"
"I'll leave that to you. I wish to return to the ship."
After telling her this, Treize heads, led by a soldier, towards a helicopter in order to go to his private warship.
"Yes, Sir!" Lady Une stands at attention and salutes, then she heads up to the bridge.
After taking over the terminal from the communication's soldier on the bridge, Lady Une calls to the base nearest to New Edwards, the Sacramento base.
"We have this base completely under control. Permission to attack New Edwards!"
"Permission to attack? There is no such need. All you need to do is to start the self-destruct mechanism on the nuclears missiles at New Edwards. There is certainly a remote control from where you are. So, hurry up!"
This is the end of the Gundams. There will be nobody on Earth who will stand in the way of Sir Treize.
Lady Une shows a cold smile.
At the same time, there's an Alliance cargo plane flying south towards the New Edwards base. It's purpose is to transport medical supplies and a medical team in order to rescue the basis' injured.
"What's this chaos?"
Commander Sally Po murmurs this as she sees the situation at the airport of the Sacramento base which has just passed before her eyes. There are so many cargo planes arriving that the runway has not enough capacity. There are also many planes in the air, watching and waiting.
"There is no end to the planes asking for permission to land. These are probably the people fleeing from New Edwards."
Sally frowns at the reply of the co-pilot.
No matter how many Gundams are said to have appeared, this kind of haste is not normal.
As if answering her, the communication soldier raises his voice.
"Major Sally! We have intercepted a message from OZ. They intend to let the nuclear bombs at New Edwards self-destruct through the remote control in the Sacramento base!"
"What did you say??"
"It seems they want to blow up the Gundams together with the base."
"Land immediately! With this desert, a crash landing is feasible."
Sally immediately issues her orders.
"But it's already too late now for the self-destruct mechanism!"
"No, there are many security levels to set the self-destruct mechanism. There still must be time."
Shaking off the shock of the crash landing, Sally leaves the craft and runs with a few of her subordinates towards the desert base. With the base being controlled by a lucky OZ and the soldiers of the medical team hardly noticed, they can advance smoothly.
Be in time!
While praying so mentally, Sally jumps into the command room of the base. Two OZ soldiers are handling the control panel. Sally points her gun at their backs.
"Wait! Are you aware of the fact that there are still colleagues of you as well as wounded officers and men at New Edwards?"
The soldier having his finger on the button turns around towards Sally and smiles. "This is what a honourable death is all about!"
"Crazy...."
Simultaneously with Sally's murmuring, the Special's soldier pushes the button.
"Removal of the last security installation. Thirteen minutes until explosion." says the computer voice heartlessly.
"Damn it...."
Sally sprints towards the communication device after her subordinates have tied up the two OZ Special's soldiers.
"Major Sally, what are you doing?" asks her subordinate. Is he asking what she still wants to do now?
Additionally, as if to attack a routed enemy, the OZ soldiers are sneering.
"The system has been locked. It's hopeless from here."
"Whatever you do, it's in vain! It's another ten minutes until the base ceases to exist!!"
"There is one human being there strong enough that you can't destroy him, no matter how much you want to."
"Is it the Gundams?"
"A pilot in whom I'm interested must have intruded. When I thought about meeting him again somehow, I certainly wasn't thinking of this...."
Connecting to the communication system inside the New Edwards base, Sally raises her voice into the microphone.
"Heero! Heero Yuy!!"
The New Edwards base....
Heero's Wing continues to be hit by the enemy fire without putting up any resistance. No matter how strong Gundanium is, there is a limit. As it is, it seems that he will be destroyed soon.
"Hey! Don't be more of a burden!"
While counterattacking, Duo shouts this into the communication device.
"Your acquaintance has received too much of a shock!"
Quatre raises his voice at Duo. Based on the situation the Gundam is in, the feelings of its pilot Heero are clear to Quatre. He should wipe out he OZ leaders and return to the colonies, but he has finished blocking the way to peace.
But more than that, failure in a mission is something very serious for Heero.
Failure in a mission means death. But he can't die under these cirumstances.
This conflict blocks Heero's actions.
The Gundam takes a direct hit by a cannon and is thrown away. The Gundam falls forward and in its cockpit, Heero's face twists in pain as the harness cuts into his shoulders.
"Heero!"
In that moment, he has the feeling that he is hearing Relena's voice.
Unconsciously, Heero lifts his head and shakes it.
What am I thinking?
But he certainly has heard a call. It is transmitted into the base by the loudspeaker system.
"Can you hear me, Heero? Listen to me!!"
The voice, which is audible from outside the cockpit through the exterior microphone, has been heard by Heero before.
That's right, it's the military doctor who examined me when I was a prisoner in the military hospital.
As if she was waiting for Heero to remember, Sally hurriedly continues.
"The self-destruct mechanism for the ICBMs in the base is now active! In order to erase you, OZ wants to blow you up together with the base!! Only ten minutes remain!"
Hearing the voice, Quatre immediately calls the base's information onto his submonitor. His eyes running through the letters, Quatre's face freezes.
"I confirm! There are 47 ICBMs stored in this base, and they have nuclear warheads on board. In case all of them explode... everything within a 300 kilometer radius will evaporate in an instant."
"No kidding! We should escape right away!"
Quatre shakes his head at Duo who is shouting from the submonitor.
"There's not enough time until the explosion! There's no way we can move away 300 kilometers."
Sally's voice continues.
"It's a selfish request, but please listen. Stop the explosion, Heero!!"
Heero steps onto the pedals and lets the control stick glide forwards. Propping itself up on both arms, the Gundam rightens its huge body.
"Mission accepted."
Heero murmurs this returning to his usual expressionless face. Then he shoves a lever above him forward and and lets the Gundam transform into its flight form. With full capacity he rises quickly.
"Hey, Heero, wasn't it?! You feel like fleeing!?" calls Duo out unconsiously.
"Wrong, he does not want to flee!"
Quatre knows that in the direction the Gundam took off to the silo for the ICBMs is located.
"Agreed. I'll rely on you."
In order to analyze in more detail the data on the screen, Quatre enlarges the pictures and sends them after Heero's Gundam.
Heero has the incoming base pictures displayed on the submonitor and confirms.
"The self-destruct mechanism has been set with the biggest type of missile, the 304. The system is set up in such way that the other missiles will explode by being linked to the 304. Please hurry to the control room of the 304!"
Heero nods silently at Quatre's voice, then lets Wing descend on top of the slide shutter for the silo. After transforming into mobile suite form, he draws the beam sabre from the shield. Then he strikes the thick shutter with the sabre. If it had been a mobile suit armour, he would have cut through it in a moment, but this is a more than ten times as thick. He can only let it dissolve slowly through the heat.
When he finally regards the crack as being ready, he drives both arms of the Gundam into it and broadens it by pressing to the left and to the right.
Heero comes out of the cockpit and jumps towards the crack.
Below, there's nothing.
Falling down more then sixty meters, Heero grasps the grip he had in his hand with a jerk. A wire jumps out with great power and the magnet at its tip fastens itself to the iron frame surrounding the huge missiles. While extending the wire, Heero descends towards an aisle visible below.
The surroundings are lit by red warning lights, and the huge missiles rise like a little forest. The control room of the 304 is visible beside the missiles, but the door of the passage leading there is blocked. It's not possible to access from there.
Heero discovers above it a ventilation opening and runs there. Grasping onto small holds with his fingers, he climbs the wall, essentially like rock climbing. Then he pries open the grating of the ventilation opening and slips into a hole so narrow he can barely squeeze through his shoulder.
"Over there...."
Heero progresses, twisting his body towards the control room that he can see beyond the ventilation opening.
Slipping through the attack of the Leo troops still resisting in the base, Duo moves two cargo planes out of the hangar near the runway. They're meant for escape.
"All right! I've secured two planes!!"
Duo has opened a communication from the cargo plane to Quatre.
"We can use the runway in just a moment!" calls Quatre while fighting with the remaining mobile suits. However, Duo plops down into the pilot's seat and sighs heavily.
"Isn't it in vain to do such things?"
"Oh, then please make another plane ready as a possibility to depart."
"Eeeh?" exclaims Duo, as if he had gotten tired of it, when Quatre's voice comes out of the communication device.
"He will need one too. He probably won't have any fuel left either."
"You do positively think that he will succeed."
"Yes."
At Quatre's naturally sounding reply, Duo reluctantly gets up from the pilot's seat.
"Mr. Heero, I rely on you."
In his clothes imitating a priest, Duo murmurs this as if praying to Heaven. Then he runs past the hatch, down the gangway.
"The probability of success is ten percent. But if it's him, it will work out."
While Quatre hacks down the last Leo with his beam shotels, he states this with conviction for a partner of whom he has only seen the face on the monitor.
If it's him..... if it's him who understands the pain of the colonies.
In the Sacramento base, Sally straightens to her full height with the counter before her eyes. The counter towards self destruction, which keeps decreasing from second to second.
It's already at thirty seconds less.
"It won't work! The explosion system does not stop!!"
"Major Sally, I still cannot believe that a person exists who can stop the explosion in that base!"
The Alliance officers raise their voice at Sally as if they were wailing.
However, Sally answers standing firm.
"Well, I guess nobody believes it. But I can believe it. I want to boast of knowing him.... of knowing Heero Yuy, who managed to stop the explosion."
In the moment that Sally says this and laughs as if she were proud, the counter stops with 1.45 seconds remaining.
Sally beams, seeing it indicated on the monitor that the self destruct mechanism has been cancelled.
Escaping from the silo, Heero clenches his fists and his whole body shakes.
"It was miserable work.... It was... it was my fault!!"
The two planes with Duo and Quatre on board are taking off into the evening sky, through which Heero's shout booms.