Gundam ShadowStalker

( Hiya! I just wanted to point out reall quick that my chapters will vary in size. Some will be longer than usual and others will be incredibly short.

InuGuardian: Thank you for your review and I hope you continue to enjoy the story! =]

Also, my mind diverts itself alot to different things frequently, so you might see alot of that in my writing. If this bothers anyone at all I appologize and will try to keep it down to a minimum.

Now onward to Chapter Three! )

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"This must be my lucky day."

Zane efficiently swiped a good outfit from the sales rack and went into the bathroom. No one noticed the young man with a black cap swagger away cheerfully from the store. He rather liked his new shirt and black jeans. Much better than the tan uniform he was forced to wear at any rate. The clothing was as non decript as possible; he didn't need to attract unhealthy attention.

Making sure his pistol remained concealed but within easy reach he looked around with the curiosity of a seven year old. It had been so long since he'd been on Earth that he almost forgot what real fresh air smelt and felt like. Yet things weren't that much different from five hundred years ago. Well, except for the high paced technology and flying vehicles, but hey, at least there were ones still on the ground. He tried to keep the oohing and ahhing to a minimum, but Zane couldn't help squealing when he spotted the Mustangs. No one could blame him for stroking their shiney exteriors, but they did run him off when he threw himself on the hoods.

A man bumped into him and swiftly appologized while walking on, but not before Zane pocketed the guy's wallet. He was positive the expensively dressed business man wouldn't miss a few hundred bucks. There was something he was iching for that he knew still existed.

ICE CREAM!

In record time he tracked down a ice cream parlor. Giddily he licked at the three scopes of chocolate and winked at the cashier, who blushed prettily. Sometimes it was a good thing being a guy because Zandra would have gotten nasty looks for pulling that stunt. Chocolate soothed the beast, so to speak, and he relished the cold sliding down his throat. It was a craving he used to get as a girl, especially during his monthly, and now he could eat it for pure enjoyment. At the beginning he'd freaked out thinking they'd missed something and he would bleed from unmentionable places. That scare came to an end when two months had passed and still no cramps or other nasty surprises.

After exploring around Zane figured that he was somewhere in Maine. And while he liked it here, he also wondered if his -or Zandra's- house was still intact. He would never find out though, because his hands were so bloodied that he refused to taint those loving memories anymore than he already had. The salty smell of the ocean drew him like a moth and he sat on the beach for hours.

While the sun sank below the horizon he merely watched it fall with sorrow filled eyes. It had taken him longer than F thought to get over the life he lost. All because he couldn't keep his nose out of trouble and had to go snooping around. But he learned from that hard mistake and would never repeat it for as long as he was alive.

"It's funny," he murmured so softly that it was barely a whisper. " When we're young we want so much to become something like this. To fight in bloody wars, steal the girls, and die with glory on the battle field. For excitement, the rush of doing a thing that no one else would, and live through it with our heads held high..."

Silent tears fell down his pale cheeks and Zane brushed them away half heartedly. "And come to find out, it isn't worth losing everything."

A blood curling scream rent the air and he turned away from his meloncoly thoughts. Sharp eyes pinpointed the figure of a small boy desperately struggling against a man twice his size. Quickly he moved, keeping to the shadows, and placed his pistol right beside the man's temple.

He pulled the hammer back with a click.

The boy was sobbing uncontrolably, his private parts exposed, and staring at him with pleading blue eyes. Huge hands held the boy's hips in an effort to keep him still and the big man froze as he registered the cool tip of the muzzle against his flesh. "Hey na," was slurred drunkenly." I was jus tryin ta 'ave some fun."

Zane raised his eyebrows. "Why of course, silly me. You were only trying to have fun with a child who looks more than willing to participate," here he dug into the skin with his gun harshly and growled. " I know all about your type of fun and the kid doesn't seem to want to play either, so I suggest going back to whatever hole you came out of before I send there without a head."

The man high tailed it out of there without a word, leaving the two alone in the alley way. Zane turned to the kid, who gazed back at him warily, and sighed. "I ain't gonna hurt ya, kid. Can you find your bottoms and get those back on?"

Hesitating he did as he was told and slid into tattered shorts. He looked the kid over. A few bruises and a scraped knee had him determining he would live. Just as he was about to walk away, a tiny hand slipped into his own, and the raven haired young man blinked stupidly. Narrowing his eyes he firmly dislocated the hand and knealed down so that they were almost eye level.

"Where I'm going, kid, you ain't allowed. So, go run on home to your mommy and daddy before the police start lookin' for you, if they haven't already."

Thinking he'd gotten the point across Zane turned once more only to stop at the light, wavering voice. " Ma name's June, an ma parents is dead."

He rubbed a hand tiredly across his face and frowned. No, he was not taking the welp with him, no matter how much his heart told him to do so. There lay nothing ahead of him except for blood and death; no kid needed to be brought up with that. Motherly insticnts reared their ugly head, but quieted when his common sense beat it into submission.

"Then go find an orphanage or a shelter to live in. They will give you clean clothes, good food, and a warm bed to sleep in."

He only made it a few feet when June bumped into him. Growling he snarled at the boy, who took quite a few steps back in fright, and continued on his way. Acutely aware that little feet were slowing padding their way behind him. Zane lifted his hand and brought it down like he was going to strike the kid, but held it in place a few inches away as those aqua eyes looked at him solemly. Jesus, the boy was ready to get hit just to stay with him?!

"Kid, June, you cannot come with me."

"Why?"

Patience wearing thin he spat. " Because you'll get killed, is that what you wanted to hear?! Now get, before I make you and you won't like it if I do!"

June snorted. " Ya saved me 'rom gettin' molestered and din't hit me. I dun think you'd do it."

He wanted to take the kid and wring his scrawny little neck until he did believe him, but Zane couldn't do that. Even if he wasn't a female physically, those damn maternal instincts kicked in again and he gave up. " Fine, but if you get hurt, your on your own."

That tiny hand clasped his once more and he decided to leave it be for the time being. Right now he had to worry about finding a place for them to sleep and with the cops looking for him they couldn't afford a hotel. Then he needed to feed the kid and himself....get June some new clothes....repair his Gundam.....shit!

God must be rolling around on one of those poofy clouds laughing his dead ass off.

-------

"Hey Zane..what 'cha think?"

Looking up he nodded as the boy twirled about. " That looks good on ya June. Now come sit down and get some of this food before I eat it all."

He didn't think he'd ever seen a kid run that fast, Zane thought with amusement. Sliding some of the sandwich over to the skinny boy, he frowned when June tried to shove it in his mouth. " Stop, stop, stop, your going to get sick eating like that when your so skinny. Try little bites, don't forget to chew, and do not talk. You wouldn't want a piece of bread to get lodged in your throat, now would you?"

June paled dramatically and ate slower, tucking half of a sandwich away before he declared that he was full. The little body snuggled under Zane's coat, which surved as a make shift blanket, and eyed the teen who finished his meal in silence.

"Why'd ya save me?"

The question caught him off guard. "Huh," he said intelligently then shurgged. " I honestly don't know, kid, but if you don't go to sleep your going to find that I can get rid of you just as quick as I found you." Those baby blues shut. Shaking his head at the absurdity of it all he squated down next to the kid and stared at the wall. They were in an abandoned wear house on the outskirted of town, but he did manage to get June some descent clothes. A dark navy shirt and blue jean pants; simple but effective for his purpose.

Now that the boy was fed, clothed, and sleeping he dozed off himself. Arms crossed over his chest and head tilted down in a comfortable position. The Gundam Pilot fell quickly into sleep, everything finally taking it's toll out on him, and he didn't rouse from the exhausted slumber. Nightmares gripped him, decayed faces that leered at him, their soft haunting voices rising in a unearthly shriek. " MURDERER!" Zane tossed about, eyelids fluttering rapily as he murmured incomprehensible words throughout the night.

A finger poked at him repeatedly and Zane groaned, pushing it away. "Lemme 'lone. Wanna sleep..."

"Wake up. Someone's coming..."

This made the soldier snap to attention, eyes wide and alert as he watched for any sign of movement. He slowly stood, putting a finger to his lips to keep June quiet, and slinked towards the door. Hushed tones reached his sensitive ears and Zane listened as they discussed something. Two men obviously, one in his early 20s to mid-30s, the other probably in his 60s or above.

" When do you think their going to tear down the old place, hm," one of them asked, blissfully aware that they were being spyed on.

The older male clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. " More than likely it'll be sooner than later. No matter how long it takes they won't forget to do it; makes them more money that way, ya know."

"Yeah, but still...I mean, what harm is it doing just sitting here?"

"Them street rats like to take over the palce to spend the night. There might be one of them in there right now listening to us."

There was a snort of disbelief. " No one is sane enough to chance your shooting them in the ass by staying here. Anyways, do you think all the hyper about another war is valid?"

"I pray to all that is mighty it doesn't come to that," the withered male said. Wondering where this talk of a new war came from Zane zeroed in as the man continued. " Peace for only two years probably wasn't what them higher ups were expecting, but you saw it on the news. The huge whatchamacallit fighting against other ones in space and then crash landing in the Atlantic Ocean."

An exasperated sigh. " It's called a Gundam, Sall. I'm sure everyone on Earth saw it and mobile suits yesterday on the news. Actually it's surprising that the Government let them broadcast that video instead of leading all of us into a false sense of security like last time."

" I have to agree with ya, but I think them Preventors are trying to get the flyer of that...monster under arrest before he can wreak havoc on us all. And I hope they catch 'im and hang him by his scrawny neck. Now come on, lets go see if my wife will rustle us up some grub."

As they left Zane huffed indignantly. Scrawny?! That piece of old dinosaur shit had the nerve to call his neck scrawny! Rubbing the bridge of his nose he processed the new information. So they knew that ShadowStalker was on Earth, but couldn't identify the controler of the suit? He'd have to be very careful retrieving the Gundam, especially with Preventor agents scouring the country-side for him. Not only had the commander and chief of the organization been apart of the war, she also contained a very nice ace up her sleeve.

The five former Gundam pilots.

Their names repeated in his brain and Zane wondered why F didn't included a picture of the five when he impanted all of that knowledge into his head. Sometimes the scientist was brilliant in a Frankensteinish sort of way, but then he did things like that which made him question the intelligence. Or insanity. He only knew their names, what they accomplished during the war, and that they were extremely dangerous.

Blowing a strand of hair away from his eyes the fighter moved back to June, who watched him with fear in his eyes. " It's alright, " he whispered, tossing him a reassuring grin. " Just a couple of fogey's discussing this beat up old place, nothing to be scared of. "

June sputtered. " 'M not scared."

" I appologize, must have been my overactive imagination, " he conceaded, mirth apparent in his tone. Slowly he gathered up their meager belongings and stuffed them into a ratty pack that he nicked from the house up the road. If Preventor agents were out looking for him then they needed to disappear without drawing any attention.

Even if he regretted them Zane knew that those missions F sent him on would help greatly with his plan to blend in and fade away. Stealth was one of his specialties and he would cruise just under their radars. It could take years at the very least before his 'mentor' built another Gundam to match ShadowStalker's abilities, and he will be waiting. But in the meantime there were things he needed to do and one of them was to get the warning out. He hated humanity in general, but leaving the people of Earth -his people- to be killed like pigs at a slaughter house was unacceptable.

Slinging the pack over his shoulder an idea hit him and he turned to June, " How do you feel about moving temporarily to New York?"

-----

Trowa slowly sipped his tea. He was the only one in the kitchen, but he could hear noise from various parts of the house. Outside Quatre was hanging up their clothes to dry and normally he would help his blonde lover with the task. Except this time he was shooed away. So here he was, sitting at the table reading the newspaper, and all was eerily quiet.

"MAXWELL!"

There went the silence. He watched as Duo bounded down the stairs and twirled the long katana above his head. The braided agent cackled madly and ran just as Wufei jumped into the kitchen. He nodded a greeting to Trowa, who raised his hand in return, and took off yelling curses in Mandarin. Crashes, raised voices, and doors slamming made his lips quirk upward. A gun shot echoed through the house and he chuckled. The two must have barged in on Heero, who was busy typing up a report for Une, and did not like to be disturbed. Ever.

His guess was proven correct when said man stalked into the kitchen, a furious scowl on his face, one long braid clenched tightly in his hand. A sqwaking Duo stumbled after him whining about the miss treatment of his hair, and smirking Wufei shut the door behind them. Heero sat in his customary seat and dragged the violet menace into the chair next to him. Quatre burst in, aquamarine eyes wide with worry, then he stopped. Looked around at their faces and sighed before saying." How many times do I have to tell you not to steal Wufei's katana, Duo?"

Duo held a hand over his heart dramatically. " You wound me, Q-bean. How do you know it was me that stole the precious sword and not Hee-chan?"

Everyone gave him blank looks of disbelief and he shrugged as if to say 'it could happen'. Trowa stood as the arabian took a seat and set about making them all some breakfast. The smell of pancakes, eggs, hash browns, and bacon made more than one hungry stomach rumble. Quatre took over the newspaper and his lover's abandoned tea before spitting it back out. " Allah, did any of you read this?! 'Yesterday what looked like a meteor crash landed into the Atlantic Ocean. Experts have no idea what could have penetrated the Earth's atmosphere at such an alarming speed, but Military personnel divulged this information. 'From an L-7 satelite transmission we have confirmed that an unknown Gundam has appeared on Earth. As of this moment we are entering Delta-Con Seven and everyone is advised to remain indoors until the pilot has been apprehended. This machine is extremely dangerous and if anyone has any knowledge as to it's where abouts they should contact the police immediately'. I seriously hope this is some kind of joke...another Gundam.."

They were silent as a beeping sounded and Heero left the room. He returned a moment later, cobalt eyes narrowed, and grabbed his jacket. " That was from Une. She wants us at Headquarters as soon as possible."

Each of them left in seperate vehicles except for Trowa and Quatre who choose to ride in their Mercedes together. Neither spoke of the new threat to their home and wondered how long before they were once more on the front lines. He grasped the pale hand reassuringly and receieved a strained smile for his effort. The uni-banged pilot felt weavy with the weight from the war resting on his shoulders. Questions were chasing tail in his mind and he frowned darkly as they pulled in at the Preventer HQ. Trouble was coming, that he could be sure of, and he felt that their role in this had just begun. As he watched the blonde smile politely at the receptionist he felt anger boil his blood; nothing was going to take their new found happiness away from them.

---

People dodged to the side as a whirlwind flew past them down the hallways. A long, snake-like braid bouced with the man's footsteps and mischievious violet eyes sparkled as he ran. When they'd gotten here he needed to take a break to the boy's room and forgot to ask where the meeting was going to be. Asking person after person for almost a half hour paid off when he finally found someone who could help him. There was a pause in his hastey run before he turned a sharp corner and burst into a conference room.

" What'd I miss," Duo Maxwell asked calmly, even with four guns aimed at him.

Une sighed as the guns disappeared and her last agent took his seat beside his boyfriend. There were times when she wondered how just a spirited, joking young man like him could ever be cut out to be one of the famous Gundam pilots. Yet, she knew he was just as on par with the others when he completed each of his missions without fail.

" Since you all read the news, you five are aware of what is the top story right now, " at their nods she turned. The room went dark as a hologram of the battle in space played out before their eyes. " At 0900 hours yesterday one of Earth's satelites captured this and sent it directly to us. As of right now we have a National Security breech and a rogue Gundam on our hands."

" Why in hell would someone want to create another Gundam?"

Wufei snorted at the braided agent. " Use the brain you were given and think, Maxwell. The obvious conclusion is that whoever made that Gundam is trying to start back up the war. "

They all watched as the Gundam fought against five mobile suits and fell as it got caught in Earth's gravitational field. " If my calculations are correct, that suit should have landed somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, " the blonde said.

Une nodded at the arabian. " Yes, that is what we figured as well. We have no idea what the exact quardinants to it's location is or what happened to it's pilot. During the fight it was damaged by the combined fire power and I believe that the one behind the machine is still alive."

There was a long silence as they contemplated this turn of events when the usually quiet Trowa spoke. " Our mission is not to locate this person and elliminate them."

" No," Une replied with a sigh. " Over the past seven months there has been whispers of information reaching our ears. None of it is conclusive or relevant. From my sources a scientist, who was scorned and ridiculed for his theories of a better mobile suit than Wing Zero, went to L-7 to build the Gundam away from watchful eyes."

The prussian eyed male stared coldly at the screen. " Considering negotiations for peace were being discussed, it is no wonder that his ideas were rejected." The world had just started rebuilding itself and many people were still healing from the loss of loved ones. Whoever the scientist was must have hoped that demolished cities, dead bosies litering the streets, and smoke filling the air wouldn't have made a difference.

" This is the only voice recording we could get from the satelite transmission, " Une tapped a button on the holo-progector.

Furious gun fire began as it replayed, screams and panicked questions from the mobile suit's pilots being cut off by explosions. Then a barritone voice, undoubtbly male, started singing cheerfully. " Do do do, another one bites the dust, " Duo laughed loudly. " I like this guy!"

Even the others couldn't withhold their amusement. " Yes, it seems like he could be the regular jokester, but it does not sound as if he were a teenager like you five. "

" He is between the ages of 18 and 22, " Trowa stated confidently.

Quatre stood and moved in front of the image of the black Gundam. " Trowa is more than likely correct, especially with the size of the chesthatch. We were all given hormones that stunted our growth so we could fit inside of the cockpit, but this one looks like it could hold an adult of six feet and four inches very comfortably. The gundam must be at least 59 to 61 feet in length. "

"And look at that thermal nuclear whip! It doesn't have anything on my scythe, but I wouldn't have minded having one of those!"

Crossing his arms the chinese young man frowned. " There is something about this that does not add up, " at their questioning looks he explained. " The Gundam came from L-7, correct? Meaning that their must be an organization working to keep it's creation under wraps until their plan, whatever it is, came into effect. Yet those mobile suits were from the same colony and attacking the gundam almost as if to stop it."

Eyes wide, Une disgested this information and nodded. " I think I can see where you are going with this, Wufei. Aries, Pisces, and Cancer mobile suits have been banned in the colonies. Whoever made the gundam must have also remade the mobile suits as well."

" Which means that the gundam was not supposed to come to Earth until a later date, " Heero concluded. " No news of attacks or civillian casualties have occured outside of the norm."

Winner raised a finger to his lips. " Perhaps, and this is just a theory, but what if the gundam was stolen."

" What, you mean like when I took DeathScythe," the violet eyed pilot asked.

" That is exactly what I mean, Duo, " he noticed Une's sceptisism and elaborated. " For whatever reason, whether it be revenge or something else, the young man found the gundam and took it."

The woman shook her head. " I find that kind of hard to believe, Quatre. They would have to have had some form of knowledge on how to operate a machine of that size before getting inside of it. Yet it is a good, and right now, very possible theo-" she stopped speaking as a soldier walked in and saluted.

" There is a call on line one for you, Commander."

" Thank you, Mr. Barkins, I'll have it patched through," sitting down at her desk she taped the line and put it on speaker. " Une speaking. "

" Hello Lady Une, " their eyes widened at the familar voice from the transmission. Heero immediately opened his laptop and hacked into the phone call, trying to locate where the signal was coming from. " It won't work so I'd just give up now if I were you. "

Shocked she pushed her glasses up her nose warily. " What, exactly, 'won't work'?"

There was a chuckle from the other end. " Why, tracking this call of course. I know for a fact that you have some of the best military officers there attempting to find me."

" He is correct, " Yuy said after a moment. " There's a unidentifiable signal interfering with the tracer."

Duo whistled appriciatively. " Man he's good."

" Thank you for the compliment, Duo Maxwell," the amused tone set all of them on edge. " I bet your each thinking 'how does he know that'? It's that same way I realized that all five of the famous gundam pilots are currently listening to this call."

The stoic woman frowned. Just like all of them this man was intelligent, covering his tracks and making sure he couldn't be found. While she was impressed, the former Oz soldier was angered by his arrogance. " What do you want?"

" Nothing at all. However, I'm possitive Preventor personel would greatly appriciate the following warning: War is on the horizon and, even though I have a two ton killing machine, it's not me who will set off the fireworks."

" The one who built the Gundam, " stated Trowa. Silence came from the other end then a strong, " Yes."

Wufei crossed his arms over his chest. " Then why bring the Gundam to Earth if not to bring conflict and mayhem?"

" Simply because I prefer to be a pain in the ass than an obidient dog, " he answered with a laugh. " Besides, there are people here who are apart of that crazy asshole's plan and they need to be dealt with. I've bought some time, since making another gundam could take years, but I'm not sure what he might have up his sleeve."

"Who is he," Quatre asked, hoping to get more information out of the man.

" Classified. Even if I did tell you the name I know him by it is most definately not his real one. I'm sure you could find anyone you wanted, given your histories with hacking, but this is one man I can guarantee you won't ferret out."

" Shouldn't you just bring us the gundam and let trained agents handle the situation," Une asked.

" Please don't insult my intelligence. If I turned myself and the gundam over to you I'd be incarcerated before I could whistle dixie. And how do I know that some of your precious, caring, kind hearted agents aren't compromised?"

" Are you saying that my Preventors would aid a madman in starting another bloody war? Every individual here has taken an oath to uphold the peace and have never shown anything other than the desire to help anyone in need!"

The man's voice was full of sarcasm when he retorted," While you can control a person's actions, you can't control what they think or do outside of your organization. I'm not just saying that, I learned the hard way that loyalty can change at the drop of a dime. If you haven't figured that out from the previous war, then you are a fool!"

Quatre interupted before Une could reply. " Stop this, arguing will not solve anything nor help the current situation," he grabbed his partner's hand for strength and continued. " Did you take the suit in order to keep this nefarious plot from occuring?"

The man was silent only for a moment. " And if I say I did?"

" Then you have no fear of being persecuted and can help us bring the prepatrator to justice," replied the chinese young man sharply.

" Thanks, but no thanks. With the mecha hidden no one but me can find it and I'm keeping it that way. It was nice chating with you all, but I have bases to destroy and people to kill. I'll try to keep civilian casualties to a minimum, that's all I can promise. Peace." There was a click and the phone went dead.

Une sighed in agrrivation and took her seat once more. " Well, that was the most informative phone call I've receieved all day. Do you believe him?"

Duo answered. " Yeah, I actually do. There's still a chance that he made this story up to lower our guard, but I think he's telling the truth."

" I agree with Duo," Heero said. " We will keep on the look out for any suspicious characters and take him into custody for questioning when captured. If he knows whose behind this, then we can take them out before it happens."

Nodding she watched as the five agents trailed out of her office. This was the reason why she made the Preventor organization; to protect the world and promote harmony amoungst fellow human beings. Yet there were always men and women who would see that slim thread of hope cut into ribbons. The mysterious gundam pilots words repeated themselves in her mind. 'I'm not just saying that, I learned the hard way that loyalty can change at the drop of a dime. If you haven't figured that out from the previous war, then you are a fool'!

" I know that, " she conceded quietly even though he couldn't hear her. " And I also learned the hard way, but is it so wrong to wish the best of everyone?"

Dead silence was her only answer.