Part 2 Gw Ouroboros: The Other Side

Chapter One

The vibrations from the nearby explosions shook the MS LEO. Beta grunted and grabbed desperately for the mobile suit's arm controls but had difficulty reaching them. He was only a small child and the suit had been designed for a much larger, adult-sized soldier. He reached down to unclasp his five-point harness and scooted to the edge of the seat and gripped the upper arm controls in attempt to lock onto his target again.

Another blast from the vicinity of his suit's left foot caused the mech to lurch. He was tossed in his seat but managed to cling tightly to the handles. The Leo's balance gyros were whirring loudly. He toed the right foot lever as hard as he could to shift the suit's weight and compensate for the loss of center balance. The Leo wobbled but didn't fall. He stomped on the left foot lever to force the Leo's left foot to catch the shifting weight before attempting yet another lock on target. This lock was a success. He grit his teeth and snarled as he twisted his wrist to allow his thumb enough clearance over the fire switch. He pressed it and watched as the engaged enemy ship burst into a kaleidoscope of shrapnel and combustive vernier fuel. He watched with satisfaction as the destruction rained streams of fire through the air and down onto the sandy earth below.

He checked the status of his suit. He had taken more damage than he should have, and that was worrisome. He scanned the open desert that had been established as his new Earth terrain training area. This was the first time he had been to Earth, and battle in a higher gravity environment had proven to be quite a challenge for him. He had never needed to compensate for balance in battle before. Stabilizing thrusters on the space-type MS LEO had always been enough. Having to worry about which way was was up and keeping the suit upright at all times was something Beta had never even considered before.

He wasn't enjoying this. He scanned the field again for any new enemy suits or ships but found none. There were no other targets assigned. He released his death grip on the controls and let himself slip back into the deep pilot seat and waited obediently for orders.

Part One

Waking from cryosleep was nothing like rousing from a nap. The process wasn't a sudden thaw and recovery of consciousness. To thaw required time and a long adjustment period for the subject. To counter this Dr. J had programmed the timer to gradually transfer Heero from cryosleep to a medically induced state of torpor* so that he would function at a higher level once he was finally released. It had been nearly twenty four hours since the process had started.

Heero had been dreaming. He was startled out of his dream by the shifting of the pressures within his chamber as the torpor mode had finally overrode the cryostasis function.

He had total awareness and knew exactly where he was. Eventually he could crack his eyes open and take in his surroundings. His hearing returned followed by his sense of smell and taste. His mouth felt extremely dry despite the bitter moisturizing gel coating that the scientists had used to thickly coat his mouth before he had gone under. It had been the main reason he couldn't talk to Duo before he was loaded into the chamber and why he had resorted to sign language to communicate a final farewell to him.

The thought of his friend heightened his alertness and chased away the dullness of his mind. He closed his eyes and began to focus his thoughts on the former Deathscythe pilot. He could feel the tingling of his thought center synapses communicating with increasing speed as his frontal lobe began to fully activate.

In his mind's eye he could see his friend's face through the curve of the chamber glass as he banged on it and demanded to know what he had said to him.

Heero frowned. The expression caused the disused muscles in his face to sting.

No, he didn't want to think about that. He had felt guilty for asking Duo to wait for him. A year was nowhere near as long as the original cryostasis proposal had been, but it was still a lengthy amount of time. He hadn't wanted to leave him alone. He also knew that he hadn't actually asked, because a request would have allowed Duo to reply with at least two potential answers. He knew that his partner would have never denied any of his requests.

It was difficult for Heero not to take advantage of that fact.

He could feel the cooling pad against his back beginning to warm as he was brought slowly out of torpor. His body was cold but the thin metal halo that had encircled his head contained probes that prevented his body from shivering despite its chilled state.**

He felt his fingers twitch at the mention of ASL***. His voluntary muscle movement was beginning to return. It began with the most distal portions of his body and gradually spread to his torso. Finally he could tilt his head back and forth. He turned his head weakly to inspect the inside of the capsule. The sound of oxygen replacing the clathrate hydrate-forming gases used in the cryostasis filled his ears with pressure and drowned out the sound of his own raspy, shallow breathing. His muscles felt weak and there was an unusual disconnect from his limbs as if he were sending a message across a vast distance rather than directly through his cerebellum.

Soon the pressures within the chamber equalized with those in the Preventer vault and the clear, frosted lid disengaged and began to slide down away from his face. He forced himself up onto his elbows and bit his lower lip as his muscles burned in protest.

The vault was dimly lit and to his right he could see Relena's corresponding chamber lying parallel to his own. The crowd of wellwishers who had seen them off in what only felt like only an instant before were now gone and a thin layer of lunar dust had settled on the floors and gas storage tanks nearby. If things had gone according to plan it would be exactly one year ago that they were put into cryosleep.

Hopefully the rest of the plan had gone as outlined. If it had the scientists and Howard would be waiting for him in the asteroid field between Mars and Jupiter with the new retrofitted Lennon intervention ship. He wondered if Duo was there, too.

There was only one way to find out. He slid carefully from his tube and made his way slowly to the side room that he and Relena had been prepared in the year before, leaving faint dark footprints in the silvery lunar dust. The side room housed a row of lockers with various items he would have needed in the event that he was activated by Preventer.

They made this too easy, he thought smugly as he opened the nearest locker to inspect its contents. He pulled out a standard Preventer flight suit that was vacuum sealed. He opened it and slid it over his gauzed body. He checked for anything else he could use and found a sealed bag brimming with nutrition pouches and protein pastes. He tucked them under his arm and grabbed a round, plastic pouch filled with water from the bottom shelf and opened it. He rinsed his mouth clean of the moisture gel and spat the remnants on the dusty floor before downing what remained.

He found a pair of boots and put them on before grabbing gloves and a helmet and gathered them together into a Preventer duffle bag. He forewent the communication headsets and bluetooth devices, knowing that he would no longer need to contact Preventer for anything.

Finally he spotted a locker detached from the others with a thumb scan covered in a clear plastic film to protect it from the lunar dust. He peeled back the film and scanned his thumb. The lock beeped loudly and permitted him access to what was an sizeable payload of weapons and ammunition. He snatched up two handguns and their corresponding full magazines before carting his prizes back into the dingy vault.

He shouldered the bag and walked to the rear wall of the vault where he found another scan panel on the wall, this time for a palm. He peeled the seal from the top and pressed his right hand firmly to the lens. A green light illuminated the underside of his hand and the entire wall split down the center and opened to reveal the mobile suit hangar behind it.

He watched as the face and upper torso of the completed Snow White Gundam revealed itself to him.

He knew that this plan was a final step for isolation. If he took this suit now he would never be able to return to the casual lifestyle as a Preventer agent. He was giving up on a mission he had been offered just after the Eve War. Everything he had done for Preventer would have been for nothing. By leaving with the mobile suit and Relena he was leaving the organization essentially powerless.

It had been a hard choice to make. Heero hardly ever went back on his decisions, but he knew that this time it was necessary. Duo had been right about Preventer for some time now, but he had failed to see the truth. The American agent was always distrustful of everyone and he complained constantly, so this reality had flown under the radar for a while. He knew he should have taken Duo more seriously, and he regretted it.

I have a new mission, Heero ordered himself. I will protect Relena, I will ensure that she is able to greet the future … and I will apologize to him.

He walked into the hangar and to the mobile suit with confidence and proceeded to pull off the the most spectacular heist that the Lunar Base had ever experienced.

Part Two

Lennon was situated in the middle of the densest cluster of asteroids between the planets Mars and Jupiter. Heero had put Snow White on auto direct and decided to try and sleep^* before he arrived. The cryochamber may have suspended him for a year, but it had done very little to provide adequate rest to his body. If anything the process had only stressed it.

As his suit closed in on Lennon's coordinates it began to wheen and alarm loudly. His eyes snapped open and he reflexively grabbed the controls and overrode them to land the suit into the docking hangar manually. He never trusted automatic piloting options with the fine work of close quarter maneuvering.

Once inside the ship he set Relena's shielded^** capsule on the hangar floor and straightened the Gundam to a full stand before deactivating it. As he did the cockpit plunged him into darkness, the basic ZERO system discontinuing its broadcast to him through the pilot-system interface. The cockpit began to slide open silently to reveal the interior of the hangar. He took off his helmet and clipped it onto a tether beside his seat before kicking off of the floor to float carefully out of the now darkened cockpit and hooked a hand on the external chest panel to keep himself from floating up into the air. He peered down at the suit's feet and saw that Relena's capsule had landed safely on the hangar floor.

He saw movement from an upper catwalk and immediately recognized the figure swooping down from the upper level towards the cryochamber. Duo had landed against the ground below and looked up at him.

Heero knew that a year had passed but he still couldn't help but marvel at the changes in his partner. Before he went under Duo had been gaunt, skinnier than he had ever seen him. Heero knew that depression had played a huge role in that transformation. He had lived with that guilt, knowing that the former Deathscythe pilot's abrupt retreat from Preventer had been directly a result of his own refusal to back him up when their last mission had gone awry. He had known that Duo would take his sentiments harshly, but he had never expected such an extreme transformation.

He recalled when he'd seen him ranting and raving at the Colony Police in X-18999's spaceport. Initially he had only seen him from behind, and he'd immediately noticed his smaller stature. It wasn't until he had apprehended him to keep him from getting arrested and dragged him into the stairwell that he had seen the true extent of that change. He looked tiny and weak compared to the last time Heero had seen him at Preventer. Seeing his friend so fragile had caught him off guard. They scuffled and his defensive punch had knocked the former Deathscythe pilot off of his feet, leaving him feeling like a total asshole. When Duo's normally impenetrable happy mask disintegrated in his hands and those energetic and happy eyes filled with tears Heero had experienced the worst heartache he had ever felt before. He had decided to try and make it up to him, and vowed he would never abandon Duo like that again.

He'd broken that vow when he asked him to wait for him while he went into the cryochamber. The entire flight to Lennon he had worried about what state he would find Duo in, so seeing him smiling up at him from the floor looking strong, healthy and radiant was a relief.

Heero watched with amusement as Duo's hands danced through the air in front of him, telling him enthusiastically how much of "fucking jerk" he was.

He supposed he deserved it, and was pleased that his friend had taught himself to sign, even if it was just to hurl an insult at him.

Despite the fact he had only been "gone" for a considerably shorter time than Duo had experienced he had missed him. He told him so with his hands and watched the fluid and shifting expressions of pleasure and disbelief illuminate the other pilot's face.

Their exchange was soon interrupted by Jay's voice from a nearby catwalk. He followed the sound and saw the old man smiling widely at him in greeting, flanked by Howard and Professor G.

"Alright, you kids. It's time to get to work!" Dr. J announced.

"Your download with Aurora will have to wait. We have a mission for you and the Gundam," Professor G added gruffly.

Heero sighed and straightened to stand along the edge of Gundam Snow White's cockpit hatch. Unfortunately this was always how things were with Jay. Mission first, personal things later. It had become a constant theme in Heero's life.

"Mission accepted," he said in acknowledgement. He vaulted himself over the side of the cockpit hatch and floated down to land on the floor beside Duo. The other pilot grabbed the front of his Preventer flight suit to keep him from bouncing from the floor. He could see Duo had braced himself against Relena's cryochamber as he caught him.

He was surprised at how strong the former Deathscythe pilot's grip was. He was greeted with an anxious smile. He knew Duo wasn't used to their new arrangement. Up until just before he had been put into cryosleep they had kept a quiet, casual relationship and public displays weren't something that normally transpired between them. Heero saw him nervously glance up at the scientists on the catwalk overhead as if he were checking for permission.

His hesitation was irritating. Heero grabbed his face and forced him to look at him for a long moment before smothering him with a rough kiss. As he pulled back he resisted the urge to kiss the stunned and dazed American again and let his hands drop from the sides of his face.

"What are you waiting for?" He asked as he watched Duo trying to compose himself.

"Eh? What-" the other pilot began, confusion plainly playing across his face.

"Get in the Gundam," Heero commmanded.

"Wait a sec, what? Me? I thought you were gonna-"

"Haven't you been training with Aurora in simulation?" Heero asked casually. He felt Duo's hand drop from the front of his flight suit.

"Yeah, but-"

"Then go." Heero interrupted. He watched as Duo's expression transformed from panicked confusion to that of confident determination. He was smiling widely.

"Any day now!" Professor G yelled from overhead.

"But what about you?" Duo was hesitating again. Heero cast a glare up at the grinning Dr. J who was leaning over the catwalk railing watching them.

"Didn't you tell him anything?" Heero snarled up at the old man. Jay laughed and shrugged his square shoulders.

"I thought you would want to," the old doctor said cheerfully. Heero looked down to see Duo's confusion had returned, and was colored by blatant irritation.

"Shit, now I know where you get all that cryptic crap from," his partner was muttering. He had put his hands on his hips and was staring at him as if demanding an explanation.

"You are Snow White's pilot, Duo. I am only going to assist."

He watched Duo's dark violet eyes widened to three times their normal size. "What!?"

"I mean… if you can't do it I guess I could ask Wufei," Heero added, watching as Duo nearly jumped out of his skin at the idea of losing this chance to pilot.

"Woah, hold your horses! Hell no, I can pilot this thing." Duo's expression was bordering on devious.

"Prepare for a bond through Wing-One. You'll need to switch into the ferroelectric flight suit," Heero informed him. Duo nodded and smiled brightly as he gave him a playful salute.

"Roger that."

Footnotes:

* "Torpor is a state of decreased physiological activity in an animal, usually by a reduced body temperature and metabolic rate". - Wikipedia. AKA Induced sleep state, as opposed to suspended animation.

** Posterior hypothalamus, primary motor center controls shivering. NASA has proposed a torpor plan that would suppress the body's want to shiver. By doing this they would be able to maintain the body at an ideal temperature of 10°F, which would reduce the body's metabolic rate by 50-70%.

*** ASL, American Sign Language.

^* Heero always sleeps away every extra moment he has in the show. When Frozen Teardrop called him "sleeping beauty" I couldn't stop laughing because it is an accurate representation. For tactical reasons we can excuse this off as he knows how to manage and recharge his energy.

^** I'm assuming the ornate exterior panels on the capsules were intended to block out radiation.

/AN: I felt horrible for leaving some people hanging with the end of the last story, so I am going to go ahead and post this as a placeholder for the next story in the series. Enjoy, and thanks again for the feedback! /