She slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room. It wasn’t the hospital room that she had awakened in so many times before, but the room that she had spent the night with Junior in. She sat up slowly but stopped when the pain became too much for her to handle.
She let a small moan of pain slip out as she swung the heavy covers off of her. She slowly put her feet to the floor and looked at what she was wearing. It wasn’t her nano suit. She could feel it. She frowned as the memories of what happened washed over her. Zechs…shot her. But with what? Why didn’t the suit pick it up? The only thing that could’ve done that was a metal laser. Those aren’t even made yet. She stood slowly gripping the banister for leverage. She walked slowly down the hall, but managed not to make anyone realise that she was up, they were all in the living room, talking quietly. She made her way to the hangar and looked up at the giant god like statue of her gundam.
She slowly crawled up her gundam and the cockpit opened without her asking. The hair on the back of her neck stood as she felt the eerie presence. She shrugged it off and stepped inside and it closed. She sat down heavily in the seat and reached under the seat for a small pack. She opened it and pulled a small mass of moving liquid out. It slowly crawled up her arm and covered her white night gown. It immediately started to heal the broken flesh of her body and the dull pain that racked her body slowly melted away.
She closed her eyes and feel into a deep black sleep as the suit busily worked on mending her broken body and setting adjustments to suit the needs of her body.
Her eyes flew open as she felt the usual tingling as the suit connected to her, without her making it do so. “What are you doing?” She asked, but the cockpit went black and she thought that the lights went out but she soon realised when she had blindly searched for the cockpit button to open the door, she heard the hiss of the hydraulics as the door opened and she stepped out and realised that she couldn’t see…to her horrors…she was in fact, blind. She tripped and fell out of the cockpit and felt a sharp yank as the wires met their limits. It yanked her back into the cockpit and closed the cockpit door.
“Blackwing, what are you doing?” She whispered, the fear was saturated in her voice.
<I AM IN CHARGE> in green letters appeared in the blackness.
“What are you talking about?” She asked.
<YOU ARE WEAK>
“No, I’m just sick, I’ll be alright.” She said as she felt around to see what wires had connected to her. Down her spine, shoulders, temples, and sides of her necks.
<I WILL HELP YOU>
“I…don’t need help.” She argued but she felt something prick the skin on her forearm. She felt sleep come over her, not a natural sleep but a thick and groggy haze.
“HERA??” Junior looked around the room frantically.
“What’s going on?” Quatren asked as she walked in the room. She looked at the empty bed. “Oh no.” She muttered. Heero, Duo and Trevor where in the room staring at Junior as he slumped onto the bed.
“Check everywhere.” Junior said as he got up and walked past them. He ran down to the hangar and opened the door. Blackwing stood silently, glowing almost…Junior’s visor went over his face. “Oh shit…” He muttered as he looked up into the cockpit. He saw Hera’s body heat. He crawled up the gundam and opened the cockpit. He felt a jolt of energy surge through his body and he flew across the hangar slamming against the wall. He landed in a heap of charred clothes.
“Quatren…I need help…” He gasped as he got to his hands and knees. He tried to breathe slowly, smelling the charred clothes and skin. The clothes reformed themselves and began on the task of healing his burned and blistering skin.
“Jesus Junior what the hell happened?” Quatren demanded as she got on her knees in front of him.
I went to open Hera’s gundam and she must have put a guard on it…all I remember was being thrown across the room.” He said as he stood up slowly.
“Are you okay?” Ai gushed as she ran to him.
“Yeah…I’m alright.” He mumbled as he looked up at the gundam in front of him.
“She’s in there isn’t she?” Ai whispered as she clutched tightly onto Junior’s shirt.
“Yes.” Junior said as he took her hands away from him gently. He walked quickly to his gundam which stood on Hera’s left. He quickly climbed up and got into the cockpit. He hooked up to the suit and opened all his communication lines towards Hera’s suit.
“Hera! Hera!” He yelled frantically. There was no answer and there was no visual. Just static. “Please, Please answer me! Are you alright?” He pleaded.
There was a clicking as if she was struggling to open the line. The screen in front of him flashed and Hera sat with wires wrapped around her body. Her blacksuit was covering her head leaving her face exposed. She had a far away look in her eyes. “Help…V-virus…” Was all she said before all the communication was shut off.
“SHIT!” He screamed and thrashed around in his gundam. The tears streamed from his face.
“DUO! GET A GRIP ON YOURSELF!” Ai screamed from the foot of his gundam. She could her him screaming in rage. “Now.” Her face appeared on his visor. “What’s going on.” She asked calmly.
“There has been a virus transferred, Ai…a fucking virus…” He muttered as he wiped the tears from his face.
She went white and there was shear horror in her eyes. “Virus…” She muttered as Quatren came up on the visor’s screen.
“A virus!” Quatren said in disbelief. “But how? Trevor!” She said and then Trevor’s face showed up.
“Yeah?” He asked.
“There’s a virus in blackwing and Hera’s in there.” Quatren said as she frowned.
“Jesus Christ. I don’t know what we can do…this is so rare…I didn’t bring anything…Fuck.” Trevor cussed.
“The only option left is to go in with a anti-virus program isn’t there.” Junior muttered.
“even if we did set up a good program…there is still a chance that it could be transferred.” Trevor dismissed the idea.
“Not if I use an independent unit and not a gundam right?” Junior asked.
“What are you implying Junior?” Ai asked “You’re not planning on going in there are you? You could be killed or taken over. Forget it. There’s gotta be a different way. It’s too risky.” Ai said frantically.
Quatren shook her head sadly. “Ai, there’s no way…actually the only other way is to destroy the gundam…” She said quietly.
“Get ready, get me a laptop and some cable, we’ve gotta hook up.” Junior said as his visor flashed off and he stood and crawled out of the cockpit, looking at Blackwing thinking about the precious cargo, dying in the cockpit. He jumped down and met Heero and Junior there.
“What’s going on?” Heero asked looking at Blackwing. Duo stood silently looking at Heero with a deep concern in his violet eyes.
“Someone or something put a virus in Blackwing and Hera’s being taken over by it. We’ve gotta get her out before it gets into her completely and takes over her body and all of the controls to the suit.” He said as he walked pass them.
He walked to the table that the three pilots were surrounding. They were all typing on computers and connecting wires.
“We’re done here.” Quatren shrugged as she looked at the dizzying mess of technology.
Junior took a deep breath. “What have I got to do?” he asked as he sat in the chair besides the table.
“Just find her…I don’t know what your gonna see there…or what you’ve gotta do but…just find her and then kill the virus…” Trevor said as he leaned over him and clicked the wire in the back of Junior’s neck. The visor went over his eyes. But, this time it wasn’t the clear yellow glass but black and it cover his eyes and there was no light shed through the cracks. Junior heard Trevor’s voice as it talked him through. “We’re turning it on now, you won’t hear or see us and we’re going to break it off when we see that you’re in trouble. Five seconds, four, three, two, one….”
There was a great flash of light and Junior was standing in the middle of a room. It had beautiful bay windows with fluttering silk curtains. He looked out the window to see the earth and moon glowing brightly in the black velvet sky.
He turned and looked around the room. There was a huge canopy bed with white silk hangings and embroidered white satin sheets spread with large pillows strewn about. There was a figure clad in a red satin slip sleeping on the bed. He stepped forwards and the figure sat up and looked at him.
It was Hera. She looked different though. Her lips were scarlet and her hair was long again and it was in rich brown ringlets framing her face. She smiled at him and then in a blur she was in front of him, their faces were inches from one another’s. There was a glint in her blue eyes as she leaned in seductively. “Let the games begin.” She whispered in a low voice.
Junior backed away from her. “Hera, we’ve gotta get you out of here” He said frantically as he took her hand and dragged her to the door.
She wrenched her delicate wrist out of his grasp. “I’m not going anywhere with you.” She hissed. Her eyes were gleaming with hatred. She took a step back. “Why the hell should you care about me? I don’t love you! I never did!” She laughed. “Is that why you came for me?” She asked disbelievingly. She put her hand to her mouth and looked sincere. “Oh it is isn’t it? How sweet!” She said. Then she started to laugh. Junior’s mouth went dry as he watched the girl’s evil behaviour. It’s already taken over! It has to be! Her hands started shaking and her expression changed. She had tears in her eyes and pain was on her face.
“H-H-HELP ME!” She screamed as she fell to the ground. Junior ran forwards to help her but he felt hands wrap around his neck. It was her hands, her face was glistening with tears and her face was contorted in anger. “NOTHING CAN STOP ME!” She screamed in a shrilly voice. Junior was gasping for air. “YOU STUPID BOY! I AM INVINCIBLE! I CREATED A RACE THAT WILL CONDEM THIS RACE!! BOW TO ME OR DIE” She yelled in his face as her lethal grasp tightened and eventually cut off his air.
He brought a fist up. “G-G-gomen!” He gasped as he drove the fist as hard as he could into the girl’s face. Her grasp loosened and he fell in a heap in front of her. He scrambled to his feet as the girl recovered. The room was dissolving away to swirling masses of grey filmy fog. There were two figures suspended in mid air. The girl in front of him changed into a boy with blond hair and ice blue eyes.
“Zach…” Junior muttered in disgust.
The boy laughed. “What a perfect disguise, huh? Who would have ever thought that this boy could hold me! A god of a race!” Zach sneered. “You humans are not as stupid as you make yourselves out to be…”
“Fuck you! You bastard!” Junior growled. He was loosing his temper quickly. He ran forwards and punched the other boy in the stomach. He then went to bring a foot up to hit him in the face but Zach grabbed his foot and twisted. Junior flew through the air and landed on the hard ground in front of the two figures. He looked up to see Hera. She wasn’t suspended in the air, she was being held up by wires that were plugged into her. The woman besides her had long black hair and her slender form was held up like Hera’s.
He felt a sharp pain around his neck and he was yanked off his feet. Wires wrapped themselves around his body, making it impossible for him to move. The blond on the ground laughed and floated in the air towards him. “Nothing can stop me, Junior. I am a god.” He laughed. Tears of pain and despair fell down his face as the cold icy eyes glared into his violet ones.
Then, there was a growl, nothing human, like a wolf or a tiger and the blonde’s face went white and his eyes went wide. Junior smiled as he looked at the figure that appeared over Zach’s shoulder. Its red eyes met his. The point of a sharp dagger stuck out of Zach’s stomach, blood welled over his lips. Junior felt a gush of air and he landed on the ground. Hera and the woman landed on top of him. Junior struggled out from under them and laid them out. He looked at Hellhound who was standing in front of him, as a man, holding the bloody dagger and Zach’s head in his other hand.
The man in front of him had long black hair and blood red eyes. His skin was a dark tan and his build was an athletic one. He stood close to six foot and what was odd was the bat wings that came out of his back. “Duo, you have got to be more careful.” He said as he walked passed him and stooped down to check the women’ pulses. “The virus is gone, but they are very weak.” He said as he stood.
“Who is the other woman?” Junior asked as he looked at the two females.
“Blackwing.” The man said. “You better get out of here and get Hera unplugged before Blackwing dies…she might not but she’s got to save her strength for mending herself instead of maintaining Hera. Now Go.” He said as he pointed up.
“Just one question.” Junior said as he stopped in mid air.
“What?” The man asked.
“How’d you get here?” He asked.
“I am always with you. Where ever you go, I’ll never leave you.” He smiled as he looked up at the boy.
“Thanks again Hellhound.” Junior smiled.