Eternal Flame

Disclaimer: I don\'t own the G Boys, I just borrow them from time to time and return them a whole lot happier ne? :) I do however own Shane, Paul, Colin, Mickey, Benny, Toby, Fayah and any other unfamiliar characters that crop up. I also own the plot if you can call it that.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Sap, angst, OC, Lemon, Lime, abuse, violence, language.

Pairings: 1x2x1, 3x4x3, 5xS, OC x OC and maybe some more... check each part to be sure ;)

Archive: http://gundam-wing-diaries.150m.com
http://sweetlysour.net
http://www.adult-fanfiction.org
http://www.theforsakenwk.com/

Status: Work in progress.

Beta: DBZVelena... *huggles*

Author: ShenLong

Authors notes: *sigh* Well here I am again caving into pressure. I know it has taken a while to get to this and for that I apologize but I could not come up with a plot I deemed worthy enough.... until now. This is yet another sequel... this time to United Hearts. I did promise I would write the wedding for you all and I intend to do that. For those that haven\'t read United or Lost Souls I recommend that you do, otherwise this sequel will not make much sense. All of your favorite characters are back and up to as much mischief as possible.
This is set fourteen months after the end of United and all the children are older now. The Gundam Pilots are all 20yrs, Shane and Fayah are 16, Paul is 15, Colin is 14, Mickey is 12, Benny is 10 1/2 and not forgetting that little rascal Toby who is 10.
Thank you to all those who supported me through the writing of United, I hope you enjoy this just as much.

\"Eternal Flame\"

April 2003 ShenLong

Chapter 34

Alarm bells began ringing in the bridge and Grant spun round in his chair, his face red with anger. \"What the fuck was that?\" he yelled.

\"Not sure yet, sir.\"

\"Then you\'d better hurry up and find out!\" Grant\'s temper was on the verge of spiraling out of control.

\"Working on it, sir!\"

The bridge was a hive of activity, technicians scanning the data on the consoles and desperately trying to find out what the hell was going on. Grant fumed in his seat.

\"Sir!\"

Grant spun around. \"What?!\"

\"I think you should take a look at this.\"

Grant got up and strode over to the console. \"Fuck!\" He slammed his fist against the console. \"Call all the guards and find that bastard... NOW!!\"

\"Yes, sir!\"

On the console screen the face of Eagle One glowed back at him, smirking almost. \"I\'ll get you, you fucking piece of shit, if it\'s the last thing I do,\" Grant growled. \"Search the ship, find the intruder and shoot him on sight! I want that bastard\'s corpse!\"

The guards all scattered, determined to find the person who had dared to infiltrate the ship and spark their boss\' anger.

~ * ~

Heero moved carefully along the corridor, staying in the shadows and alert for any form of security. He\'d found none so far. Not that that meant anything though. Cautiously he progressed from one corridor to another, body tense, ears straining; suddenly he froze. There was the sound of someone in the corridor that was coming up on his left. Pressed against the wall, inch by inch, Heero slid along until he could see around the edge of the corridor. He pulled back quickly, his ears listening intently.

\"Think yourself lucky you haven\'t been shot out into space yet for that stunt you pulled up on the bridge. Whatever the boss decides to do with you, I hope I\'m the one that gets to carry out the orders.\" There was a muffled thump and then a grunt of pain followed by the slamming of a door and the sounds of retreating footsteps.

Heero waited a few moments and then peered around the corner again. All clear. Cautiously he slipped along the wall until he came to the door the guard had slammed. A look to either side confirmed he was alone and he dropped to his knees to study the locking mechanism. His eyes narrowed and a grin spread over his handsome features. This should be a piece of cake. He reached into his pocket and removed a set of lock picks. A birthday present from his lover.

Sometimes it paid to be the partner of an ex thief.

It only took a few seconds for him to jiggle around and release the tumblers inside the mechanism, the lock giving up easily and letting him enter. Popping the picks back into his pocket he wished Duo could have seen how well he\'d taken notice of the braided man\'s lessons. He carefully pushed the door open, a thin sliver of light penetrating the dark room. He glanced around, eyes finally alighting on the figure hunched on the small cot. He quickly sized him up and deemed him to be no threat. Still with extreme caution he approached the bed,. Gun drawn, finger on the trigger and ready to shoot.

The figure looked up, pain and blood covering the face. \"W..... who..?\"

\"Silence.\" Heero\'s eyes darted about.

\"You, you\'re the one that...\"

Heero moved to the bed and clamped his hand over the mouth. He leant close and whispered. \"There could be bugs. Are you Martins?\"

Bob nodded.

\"Heero Yuy. Security?\"

\"None in here that I know of,\" Bob whispered back.

\"Status?\"

Bob looked at the young man through tired, pained eyes. \"Fucked.\"

Heero raised an eyebrow. \"Can you walk? What is the damage?\"

Bob sighed. \"Not too sure, I\'m not a doctor. All I know is I\'m going to have a lovely black eye,faceface feels like it\'s been through the mincer and I suspect a couple of broken ribs and a sprained wrist. Last time I checked my legs were still functional but I don\'t know about internal damage.\"

Heero nodded. \"Which way to the bridge?\"

Bob dragged himself up to sit on the edge of the cot, the room spinning a little. He gasped and grabbed the edge to steady himself and fought against the rising tide of nausea. Once the room stopped rocking he gazed at the young man. \"I\'ll take you there.\"

Heero frowned. \"You\'re not in any condition to be moving much. This will be dangerous and I don\'t need you slowing me down or getting in the way.\" While maybe the words were blunt and cruel, they were also true.

\"If you leave me here, they are going to kill me; if you take me with you, the chance is that I will still be killed but at least I will have the opportunity to take a couple of them out with me. I was a soldier once myself during the war before I worked on the Epyon program, I might be able to help.\"

Heero had to concede that Bob had a point. \"Hn. How many guards?\"

\"Twenty soldiers, roughly ten technicians. There\'s about another ten people on board too, all with various other jobs. That includes Grant and myself.\"

\"Forty, all up?\"

\"Pretty much.\"

\"Most on the bridge?\"

\"Grant and the techs will be on the bridge, the guards...\" Bob shrugged his shoulders and winced in pain. \"Who knows? I\'d say they\'re aware of your presence by now, so no doubt Grant has dispatched them to look for you.\"

\"Hn. Here,\" Heero passed him a gun. \"Stay behind me, cover our tails and do exactly what I say. I cannot be responsible for you once we get to the bridge. My objective is to arrest Grant... alive.\"

\"I understand.\" Bob took the gun. \"You do whatever it is you have to do, I\'ll take care of myself.\" Bob stood up. \"Thank you.\"

\"Hn.\" Heero went back to the doorway and checked. All clear. \"Which way?\"

\"Left. Through the doors and take the second right. We need to go up one level; through two more sets of doors and another left and that will bring us to the bridge.\"

\"Stay close, and do exactly what I tell you.\"

Bob nodded and followed the young man out of his cell. The adrenaline kicked in and Bob was able to mask a lot of the pain with the hormone\'s release. His mind felt calm and clear and his soul lightened. At least he was being given the chance to make up for some of the wrongs he had committed. He stuck to Heero like glue, watching their backs and doing precisely what he was told to do.

~ * ~

\"Take that yer piece of shit! I\'ll teach yer ta try an carve Shinigami up like a turkey,\" Duo\'s maniacal laughter followed the words as he destroyed another of the dolls.

The thermal flame from the dragon\'s mouth made short work of the doll that was trying to attack Wufei. \"Now that is what you get when you try to attack me in your underhanded way. It does not pay to fight without honor!\"

Trowa gripped his controls and spun the heavy Gundam around like it weighed nothing, sending another volley of bullets and a couple of missiles into the doll that was doing its best to wipe him off the face of the universe. Hercules shook with the back wash of the exploding doll and Trowa was once again introduced to the immovable parts of the Gundam\'s cockpit as he collided with a couple, despite the harness. Of all the things he missed about a Gundam, this was not one of them. He hoped that Howard had a good supply of painkillers on the Zodiac; he was certainly going to need some.

The tables had turned and slowly but surely the Gundams were defeating their opponents. Wreckage floated around, sometimes offering protection but mostly getting in the way. Duo dodged around a couple of large pieces and set the bats off again, whooping as they cut through another \'victim\'. He finished the doll off with a sweep of his scythe and turned to see how the others were faring. Wufei looked s if he had everything under control, the trident spinning in his hand and carving through a doll while the dragon arm took out another. Trowa was giving them all a wonderful fireworks display; the rockets, bullets and missiles combining to light up the area with orange, red and yellow flashes. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a doll raise its beam rifle, Hercules in its sights.

\"Fuck! Look out, Trowa!\" Duo immediately hit the thrusters and Reaper responded as best it could, shooting across the space and colliding with the doll. The beam went off course and cut through the arm of Hercules and not the cockpit that it had been aiming for, but the force of the collision though, threw the doll into Hercules and the two banged together, then bounced apart.

With the right arm of the mecha swinging uselessly by the Gundam\'s side, attached only by a few cables, hydraulic fluid spraying out to add to the floating mess, Trowa did his best to turn and fire off the missiles.

The mecha refused to respond.

Alarms were sounding, lights on the console flashed as the damage report filed across the computer screen. Trowa watched in horror as the doll raised the rifle to fire again, aware that his suit was pretty much useless at the moment.

Reaper recoiled from the collision, the force having pushed the suit into a reverse spiral. Duo fought the mecha and brought it back under control, spinning quickly to see what had happened. His eyes widened as he saw the damage to Hercules and witnessed the sparking, useless arm. Fear lodged in his gut as the doll raised the rifle to shoot again. Duo ran the calculations through his head while his fingers raced across the keyboard of the mecha. There was no way in hell he could get Reaper back into the fight given the distance he was away from the two suits. But he had to try. Hercules was obviously a sitting duck and Duo wasn\'t about to let his friend die without making some effort to save him.

He hit the thrusters, scythe flaring as he forced Reaper to give everything it had.

As the beam shot out of the rifle there was a blur of silver and green, then a large explosion.

\"TROWA!!\" Quatre screamed down the com link.

~ * ~

Heero approached the right turn with caution, ears straining, eyes scanning. He carefully peered around the side of the corridor and recoiled, colliding with Bob as a bullet whizzed past his head and embedded into the wall.

\"Shit! They know we\'re here.\"

Bob just sighed.

\"Is there any other way to get to the bridge?\"

\"No.\"

\"Fuck!\" Heero thought for a moment and then turned to Bob. \"Cover me. I\'m going to roll across to the other side. Unfortunately it looks like we\'re going to have to shoot our way through but try to disable, not kill.\"

Bob nodded. \"Okay.\"

Heero dropped to a crouch and with a nod to Bob he sprang forward, tucked and rolled across to the other side. Bob stuck his gun around the corner and began to fire off several rounds as the young man completed the action. As gunfire was returned so he retreated back behind the safety of the corner, noting that Heero was clear on the other side.

With a confirming nod, Heero stuck his gun around the corner and began to fire, Bob imitating him. They made sure to keep their heads low and rely on quick glimpses of their enemy to tell them where to shoot. Heero figured that there was about six of them, all collectively gathered at the end of the corridor. He gave a smirk and reached into the small pocket on the belt pack he wore. He pulled out a small canister, ripped the pin out with his teeth and tossed it down the hall, pulling back quickly and motioning for Bob to hit the floor.

Bob watched as the canister went flying and then threw himself down as Heero had indicated. There was the sound of a muffled explosion followed by silence. Bob peered across at Heero and noticed the man staying flat on the ground but his body tense and ready to move at any second. Bob waited for further instructions.

Heero gave the canister three minutes and then deemed it safe. He rose to his feet and crept to the corner, looking around it cautiously. His lips quirked as he spotted the fallen soldiers. Touching Bob\'s shoulder he spoke quietly. \"Let\'s go. The canister was filled with a high density quick acting sleep gas. The air will have cleared enough for us to safely pass through.\"

\"Sleeping gas?\"

\"Preventer issue,\" Heero replied and assisted the man to his feet. They stepped down the corridor, wary in case there were any other surprises awaiting them. When they reached the end, six soldiers lay slumped upon the floor, guns scattered around them. Heero quickly dragged them to the side and removing their belts, used the items to secure the soldiers.

Bob watched the efficiency with which Heero tied up the men and his admiration grew. This guy certainly knew what he was doing. Once the \'prisoners\' were secure, he assisted Heero in retrieving the weapons. \"That way,\' Bob said quietly.

Nodding, Heero proceeded in the direction of the bridge once more.

~ * ~

Quatre gripped the edge of the console, his knuckles turning white as his eyes scanned the monitor for any sign of what had happened. \"TROWA!\" he screamed down the com link again, he was rewarded with a bunch of ear splitting static. Yanking the headphones off, he dropped his head into his hands, fingers curling into the sweaty blonde bangs and tightening painfully. The burning in his scalp helped to anchor him a little and he took a couple of deep breaths, forcing his wildly beating heart to steady. With tears in his eyes he raised his head to stare at the screen once again, reaching for the headphones and tugging them against one ear. \"03, this is Control. Do you read? Repeat, this is Control, do you read?\"

More static.

Quatre fiddled with the dials and tried again, the desperation clearly in his voice. \"02, 03, 05... This is Control. Do any of you read? Answer me, god dammit!!\"

The line crackled. \"Did anyone get the number of that truck?\"

\"TROWA!!! You\'re all right.\" Quatre nearly wept with relief. Through misted eyes he focused on the screen, the haze from the explosions beginning to thin and allow them to see what had transpired.

Hercules remained where it had been before, the severed arm still hanging limp and useless. There were a couple of new scorch marks on the suit but the main body was intact. Reaper was to one side, battle weary but still operational. The doll....

Puff had gotten there just in time, Wufei using the dragon arm to take the majority of the beam rifle\'s blow. The doll was neatly impaled on the end of Wufei\'s trident, sparks still showering the void around them but the dragon arm had paid the price. Nothing much remained of it but a few twisted pieces of gundani
I
It was as if time stood still, history repeating itself. Slowly Wufei withdrew the trident and the doll, still showering sparks, floated off into space. There was an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds as each person recalled their own set of memories. Then Howard broke the moment.

\"Status reports!\"

That shook everyone out of their reverie.

\"Reaper sustained damage ta upper left leg causing hydraulic failure. Some body damage but suit appears ta be respng ong okay so far.\"

\"Puff...\" Wufei swallowed and cleared his throat. \"Dragon arm completely destroyed. Right arm sustained damage but still operational.\"

\"Trowa?\" Quatre waited patiently for 03 to report. When the report came is was quiet but efficient.

\"Fucked.\"

Duo began to laugh, his rich tone coming through the com link. It helped to lighten the mood a little. \"Couldn\'t yer wait till yer got back ta Zodiac fer that?\"

\"Duo, shut up. Trowa, repeat, damage report.\" Quatre couldn\'t help the amusement that slipped into his voice, he was so relieved that his lover was alive and despite telling Duo to shut up there wasn\'t any malice in the words.

\"Hydraulic systems down, appendages inoperable, twenty percent fuel and thrusters barely running. I may have just enough power and navigation control to limp back to the Zodiac.\"

\"In other words, yer fucked.\"

\"That\'s what I said,\" Trowa sighed, then he spoke with a l ton tone. \"At least I didn\'t run out of ammo this time.\"

Even Quatre had to laugh at that sentence. \"Reaper, can you and Puff finish off the last two dolls?\"

\"Yup, Reaper can take \'em out, no problem.\"

\"Affirmative. Trident is still operational.\"

\"Good. You two finish of the remaining dolls then stand by for further instructions. 03, you are ordered to return to the Zodiac, keep in contact so we can assist you if necessary.\"

\"Roger that, Control. 03 returning to the nest.\" Trowa managed to coax the Gundam back to life, barely, and began the slow journey back towards the Zodiac. Reaper and Puff went to finish off the remaining two dolls, the end coming swiftly for the pair.

~ * ~

Heero followed Bob\'s instructions and the pair of them were now approaching the final corridor that would lead them to the bridge. They\'d encountered another five guards when moving up the stairwell from the lower floor. Two were dead, the other three injured but not fatally so. Bob was wheezing quite a lot, his cracked ribs giving him hell but he wasn\'t about to give in to the pain, not now, not when they were so close.

Heero had another bullet graze, this one to his upper arm and while it oozed a little it didn\'t bother him. Carefully he peered around the end of the corridor; he could see the doors up ahead that signaled the entry to the bridge. There were two guards on the outside. Heero pulled back and spoke to Bob. \"Two guards.\"

Bob nodded. \"How are we going to get past them?\"

\"Here\'s what I plan to do....\"

The guard looked up as he heard the small cry for help. His eyes narrowed and he looked at his partner and then back down the corridor. The cry came again, this time a little louder and more desperate. The guard frowned again and turned to his partner. \"What the?\"

The other guard shrugged his shoulders and looked suspiciously down the corridor.

Bob dragged himself partially around the corner, using the wall to hold himself up and pretending to be in great pain. Not that he had to act much. \"Ahhh... Help me...\" he moaned and paused for a second. \"The... the guy, he\'s back down....\" Bob let himself sway a little and then slump against the wall, toppling backwards and sliding down to the floor and just back behind the corner.

The two guards fell for it and came running down the corridor and around the corner where they were met with the barrel of a gun. Two quick squeezes to the pressure points and both guards slumped to the ground. \"Too easy,\" muttered Heero. \"Sloppy, just sloppy.\" He couldn\'t believe that trained soldiers would fall for a gag that old, but as Duo always said, sometimes the old methods worked best.

Pocketing the soldiers guns he turned and headed for the doors that would take him to the bridge and ultimately Grant.

~ * ~

\"Report!\" barked Grant.

\"Guards are still looking for the intruder, sir. We haven\'t had contact with them for a while though.\"

\"Then raise them. I want to know what\'s happening.\" Grant spun in his chair to face one of the engineers. \"Why aren\'t we moving?\"

\"Sir, the main engines will not respond. When that, that, whatever that thing is forced its way in it damaged the relay wiring and some of the circuits to the engines. It\'s going to take a couple of hours to track down the exact damage and repair it.\"

\"I don\'t want to hear excuses, dammit! I want to hear results. Get your fucking crews onto it now and get this heap of junk moving!\"

\"Yes, sir!\" The engineer scrambled to the console and redoubled his efforts in trying to pinpoint the exact damage and repair needed to get the ship mobile.

\"No response from the guards, sir.\"

\"Shit! What the fuck is going on here?\"

\"Sir, I think you should take a look at this.\" The timid voice of the technician that had been assigned to the task of running the mobile doll program spoke over the noise of the bridge.

Grant curled his hands into fists, his teeth gritted as he moved to see what the fuck the technician was going on about. \"Shit! Fucking god dammit all to hell! What the fuck did Martins do? Why aren\'t those Gundams destroyed yet?\"

\"Sir, I think the dolls are losing. The Gundams appear to be changing tactics and unfortunately the dolls can\'t keep up with the new moves or anticipate them. In effect, they\'re confused.\"

Grant\'s control snapped. His fist shot out and the technician went reeling to the floor, scrabbling to get away from the man whose eyes flared with the flame of madness. The bridge went quiet as everyone turned and then sought cover behind anything they could as their boss gave vent to his fury.

Grant smashed his hand against the console and then put his fist through the monitor. He screamed his rage as the electricity bit back and he yanked his hand back, blood streaming down his arm from the cuts the glass had inflicted upon his flesh. Incoherent babblings fell from his mouth as he let his anger blind him. So lost in his madness, the pain of his injuries failed to penetrate his mind. He could focus on one thing and one thing only...

Finding that prick of a pilot that was the cause of all his problems.

~ * ~

Heero motioned for Bob to remain on one side of the doors. \"I have no idea how many people are going to still be in here nor how many will be armed. I want you to stay undercover and away from the action. Cover me if necessary, but stay down.\"

Bob nodded.

Heero\'s hand paused above the button to release the doors. \"Leith would be proud of you.\"

\"He\'s okay?\" Bob looked at the young man. Given the recent circumstances he\'d forgotten about Leith, but with those words thoughts of his son came tumbling back.

\"He\'s... \" Heero swallowed. / How to put this without lying? / \"He\'s being looked after and desperate to see you again.\"

Bob felt as if a huge load had been lifted from his shoulders. / Leith was all right. He would get to see his son again. God willing. /

\"Ready?\" Heero asked as he raised his gun.

Bob cocked his own gun and took up position. All thoughts of Leith were forced to the back of his mind. There would be time for that later, right now he needed to focus on the task at hand. He looked at the Preventer agent. \"Let\'s nail that son of a bitch!\"

Heero gave a smirk and thumped the button, the doors swept open and Heero stepped a little to the side, gun aiming into the room and stated calmly. \"This is Preventer Agent Light. Drop your weapons and raise your hands above your heads. You are all under arrest for violation of the UES peace treaty as well as several other charges.\"

Grant paused in his demolition of the console and turned slowly towards the door. His eyes burned with madness as his ears listened to the words. His face broke into a manic smile as he pulled his gun from the shoulder holster, released the safety and fired.

\"I think not.\"

~ * ~

tbc.....