Resistance of steel

by Valsion

Guardian Angel

Resistance of steel

Chapter 14 Guardian Angel

In the photon power labs, all robot pilots were gathered, as Heero wanted to tell them something important. As everyone was assembled, he started his explanation. "I will have to leave for a while. I am still disguised as a student at a school near the border. To maintain that disguise, I will have to show up at a social event, I was invited to." His thoughts went to that Relena girl again. As she invited him to the party, she made it clear that she knew everything about him. Including his participation in operation meteor. She was a danger to the mission and hopefully, he could eliminate her.

"Well, have fun at the party then Heero." Sayaka wished him. "I wish I would have to go to a party for those reasons. If I left without good reason to just celebrate, I'd feel kinda guilty though." Spike could not agree more. He still felt kinda guilty that he couldn't stay awake to help, as Twilight and the others went against Nightmare Moon. At that last thought, he glanced towards Luna, who was just looking out a window at the sunset.

"Since your cover relies on everyone at the school thinking you're a student, I give you permission to leave. But here, take this." With that, Professor Yumi handed Heero what looked like a wristwatch. "These watches have a built in alarm signal. If there is any trouble over here while you are gone, they start to vibrate and blink red. Just in case something else comes up. I have more for all of you as well." Out of his pockets, he drew even more of these watches and handed them out. Luna, who was still unfamiliar with modern technology, despite the Vorlent, first had trouble to put it on, until Sayaka helped her.

Kouji, who managed to finally calm down somewhat after he and his brother got to the labs, gave Heero a friendly slap on the back. "Try to pick up a cute girl while you're at it. No reason not to have some fun." Sayaka rolled her eyes at this, while Heero's expression remained unchanged. "Negative, personal relationships only endanger the mission." Was the stoic teens only answer. Kouji concluded that Heero did not have a stick up his ass. It was an entire damn tree.

Princess Luna meanwhile, had a bad feeling about that party. She did not entirely trust Heero yet and she was not sure, if he really just wanted to keep the act up. "May I accompany him? With some illusion magic, I can disguise myself as a student as well. After what happened here lately, the Britannians must be riled up. He may encounter problems along the borders." She suggested. Luna also carefully monitored Heero's reaction. As she suspected, there was a slight flinch.

"That is an excellent idea, Heero, you will take Luna and Spike with you." While Heero and Luna exchanged glares, Spike was more than happy that he would get to go to the party. Not taking her eyes off of Heero, Luna prepared the illusion. She turned Spike into a human child, roughly ten years old by the looks of it, with a suit and green, spiky hair. She herself turned into an elegant looking teenager, so she would look about Heero's age. She already was wearing a midnight blue party dress, while her hair stayed the same, light blue color. "I am ready."

Everyone was speechless at this show of magic. Even though Luna has already told them about her abilities, shared by many unicorns in Equestria, it was still magnificent to behold. "Excellent, maybe this particular spell will prove useful in the future as well. Now, while you are there for a mission, I still wish you three have fun at the party." Professor Yumi said, with a warm smile on his face.

That settled that, Luna and Spike would now accompany Heero. Princess Luna did not miss the glare though, that he sent her way. It confirmed that he planned something, now the question was what he planned.

After preparing their mechs and rehearsing their cover story, the three of them flew low, to avoid radar detection. Heero already knew a route that would allow for undetected flight and lead them to the school.

---

Heero's school was almost like a castle, Luna and Spike mused, as they looked out the window. Party preparations were complete it seemed and everyone was waiting for the start. The Princess was a little nervous though, since it has been so long. Even during the Grand Galloping Gala, she preferred to stay in her room that night. Now she was not only going to attend a party, she would do so while maintaining a disguise.

Next to her, Heero sat at the desk, typing away at one of these machines, a computer. It was strange for both Luna and Spike, since they did not get the knowledge how to operate it fed directly into their minds. At least Heero seemed to know what he was doing, as he erased all of his files. "Tell me Heero, even when you delete all your files, won't the other students know that you're gone?" Spike asked him, looking over the teens shoulders.

"I did my best avoiding contact, in order not to endanger the mission. Because of that, they won't have any strong memories about me and forget that I have ever been here." He answered. Right now, Heero kinda reminded him of Twilight, before they came to Ponyville. Only focused on the task, not interested in any friendships. He could hear the voices from the students outside, all looking forward to the coming party.

With his task of deleting the files done, he allowed himself a look outside. "Sometimes even short distances can mean the world. If it was not for the news, the battles of yesterday might as well not have even existed here." He mused. Then he saw her, Relena Darlian.

Luna was a little confused, as the blonde girl stepped out. Immediately everyones' eyes were on her. People were whispering amongst themselves and looked at her with sadness and pity. Some other girls went over to her and started talking. "Heero, do you know what happened to her?" She asked him.

"Her name is Relena Darlian, her father was liaison between the Earth and the colonies. He represented the nations, not part of the Britannian empire or allied with them. During a visit to a colony, he was assassinated." Heero answered, before starting to pack up his belongings. Now he needed to figure out how to lose the two of them, so he could take care of her.

Hearing those news greatly saddened Luna and Spike. It must be very hard for this girl, to lose her father all of the sudden. As she looked back though, it seems the girl has already left. Luna couldn't help but think about her. While she was sad, she seemed to possess great inner strength, allowing her to not let this tragic loss break her.

While Heero thought of an excuse to leave for a while, Luna and Spike helped him pack. As they were done and almost left though, the door opened up and the girl, Relena came into the room. "You are off to fight again, are you?" She asked Heero sternly, before seeing Luna and Spike. This seemed to surprise her, as she was under the impression Heero worked alone.

A clicking noise brought her attention back to Heero, who pulled a gun on her. Luna immediately dropped her illusion upon seeing this and focused on the gun. With her magical grip, she fixed it into place, so he could not even pull the trigger. "I knew you were up to no good. Forget about this, we will go now!" The alicorn princess half snarled.

Relena was prepared for Heero to point a weapon at her but this? Now the boy who piloted the Gundam was accompanied by something she thought was a mythical creature. This may be bigger than she anticipated. "Heero, who is she?" Relena asked, not taking the alicorn. A small part of her wanted to ignore the danger and pet her.

Angrily, Heero turned towards Luna. "This girl knows too much, she might tell OZ about my identity and now about you and they will tell the Britannian Empire." He explained to her. "Are you willing to endanger all the others just for her?" He asked, nodding his head to Relena.

"I've met Dr. J." Relena the said, causing Heero to let out a surprised gasp. "So you can be surprised too. Ever since I met you, it's always been me who gets surprised." She continued, while walking closer to Heero. Luna and Spike meanwhile wondered, who this Dr. J was and how he was connected to Heero. "If you kill me now, you'd cause quite a commotion and your friend here won't be pleased either. That is, if she wasn't holding you back right now."

She had a point. If Relena hadn't gotten the drop on him, he could have planned this out much better. Also, after she met the Dr., Heero wasn't so sure if he should kill her at all anymore. This was not a lucky guess, he would have to wait for her explanation. Luna could feel him relax his grip on the gun and in turn, released her magical grip on his arm. The gun was lowered again. "There is a nice party going on, you should at least stay until after the dance." Relena then said, before walking away again, shooting one more look towards Luna and Spike. Heero got the hint.

---

Later that night, Luna and Spike stood near the buffet, while Heero danced with Relena. It was obvious the two needed to talk and a dance was the perfect opportunity to do so. Luna watched the two of them nervously after what happened in Heero's room. Spike on the other hand, happily munched away at the buffet. "You really got to try this Luna, it's really good." He invited her. The princess smiled, she wished she could forget her worries as easily.

A stranger then caught her eye, as he continued to glance in her direction. This put the alicorn on high alert, was this a spy of the enemy, who caught on to her? He approached her and Luna could feel goosebumps on her skin. She looked over to Heero, who was still talking to Relena. She couldn't get his help without attracting attention. Before she could formulate a plan B though, the young man already stood in front of her. Swallowing a lump in her throat, Luna greeted him. "H-hello."

Something was amiss though, this guy seemed just as nervous as her. "Hello there Miss, I was just wondering..." For a moment he seemed to think about his next words carefully. "Would you care for a dance?" He held out a hand, smiling at her. He then noticed her surprised expression at his invitation. "Well... I think you are a very beautiful lady, I would be honored to have this dance."

Suddenly Luna felt her heart flutter. Even if this was an illusion, she still felt warmth flowing through her at the compliment. "Thank you, I will gladly accept." She said, giving the man her illusions hand. It may feel a little stiff to him but luckily, Luna could also give the illusion of touch, while he lead her to the dancefloor. This was a party in a foreign land and she was a princess, not accepting at least one dance would be terribly rude she thought.

Spike watched, as Luna and the unknown man went to the dancefloor, as he happily munched on some of the treats. Due to his upbringing by ponies, he steered clear from anything that looked like meat though. Then the young dragon could feel some people standing behind him. Slowly he turned around, to see some girls. One wore a pink dress, the other a bright red one and the third wore a blue dress. Other than the colors, all looked pretty much the same to Spike. Rarity would have most likely noticed some finer details. "Hello there young boy, are you a student here? You look a little too young to be one." The one in the blue dress asked.

The sudden attention made this Spikes turn to be nervous but he remembered the story he and Luna had for these situations. "I'm Heero's little brother, my big bro invited me and our sister Luna there to the party." He pointed towards the two, as he mentioned their names. Luna could see, that he had some attention himself now and prepared Spikes illusion, so it would feel real too.

"Ah, I didn't know he had siblings." The girl in the pink dress said, causing some sweat to go down Spikes forehead. "Especially such a cute little brother." The dragon blushed at the compliment, momentarily forgetting that it was directed at an illusion. Then the red dressed girl chimed in. "Well, Heero is a bit cold but still a pretty cute guy himself, it would make sense that his little brother would be adorable."

Heero looked at his two partners, who were obviously enjoying themselves. Relena just announced, that she was on his side in the conflict. The question here was, is she telling the truth? And if yes, what could she possibly accomplish? A loud howling noise broke him out of his thoughts. "What's this?" He asked, looking in the direction the noise came from. The other guests heard it too, as an object came closer from the horizon. "Oh no, that's an OZ suit carrier. They've caught on to this place." Heero exclaimed.

---

As Luna noticed the carrier too, she shouted for everyone to run. Her dance partner first wanted to drag her with him to safety but only grasped empty space, as Luna teleported herself and Spike away, before dismissing the illusions. Heero was also caught in the teleport, as she brought them back to their robots. "Heero, we can't let them hurt any innocent party guests, we need to stop them now!" She ordered, as she climbed into the Vorlent with Spike.

Two of the enemy mobile suits descended from the carrier, by the time the Wing Gundam and the Vorlent started up. Both were purple in color and very boxy in design. Even the head featured no face but a rectangular, yellow screen. One of them also was equipped with a flight pack, allowing him to remain airborne while his partner descended onto the ground. One thing Luna and Spike also noticed, that they were significantly larger than the Knightmare Frames. The two Leos, as Heero called them, stood as tall as their own mechs.

This means trouble, as they are most likely tougher too. And the one that could fly, also had the advantage of mobility. Heero wasted no time though. The moment the groundwalking enemy touched down, he already had the Wing Gundam's shield raised to protect himself. The airborne Leo, Aries type as Heero called it, opened fire and the energy beams of its rifle painted a line of destruction before them.

While Heero relied on his shield, Luna told Spike to activate Vorlents thrusters, so they could take the battle into the air. She aimed the Orgone Rifle at the Aries and opened fire, as it also had to dodge the Wing Gundam's gatling gun. The Aries fired at her and while they managed to evade his fire, a look back made Lunas and Spikes blood run cold. The party guests were in a panic. While they were still far enough away to avoid endangering innocent civilians, they were close enough so the shockwaves of their battle knocked some of the feeling people off their feet. Any closer and casualties became a possibility.

The Leo on the ground was not tackled by Heero, throwing it on its back. One problem down, Luna knew she had to end this as soon as possible. If the enemy suit was too good at dodging rifle fire, maybe close combat was the key to victory. "Spike, re-route energy from the rifle, to the blade." She ordered.

"The blade? But he might hit us if we get too close." The young dragon protested, yet he still followed the order.

"The Vorlent can take a few hits without too much trouble, the civilians down there can't." Was Luna's explanation. The green glowing energy blade formed on the Vorlents wrist, as Spike also put more energy into the thrusters. Luckily for them, this maneuver seemed to take the enemy pilot by surprise, as his aim was way off. Just before the Vorlent was close enough, so it couldn't dodge anymore though, it flew downward. The OZ pilot tried to readjust his aim but Luna rose up right behind him again, slashing the Orgone Blade upwards through the suits legs. Above it, she kicked the thrusters, damaging them and sending the enemy hurling towards the ground.

For a moment it was silent again. Luna was thankful, that they managed to protect the partygoers, as well as Relena. "Alright, that was all I think." She said, surveying the area. It seems they could avoid direct damage to the building, although the surrounding forest became a mess. "Fluttershy wouldn't be happy. Think about all the critters that lost their home... or worse." Spike said, as they looked around.

"It's not over." Heero then chimed in, pointing towards an aircraft. Smaller crafts were exiting through the hatch. Quickly they recognized what they were, more Aries units. The Leo on the ground also managed to stand up again. He barely managed to get out a few shots though, as Heero moved in with his beam sabre. The mobile suit was cut in half, eliminating all possibilities of it interfering again.

In the same moment though, the Aries units started their attack. Two of them were firing at the Wing Gundam, while the third went for the Vorlent. Heero activated the wing thrusters, propelling himself backwards to avoid the shots and missiles, although he was now standing right in front of the building. "Fools, you will never hit my Gundam." He mumbled, as he jumped up and swiped his beam sabre at the two Aries, which got too close.

After their destruction, he noticed something on the ground. A person was still standing there, a magnified image revealed that it was Relena. "What in the world is she still doing here?" Heero wondered, as a stray missile of the remaining Aries hit the side of the building, right where Relena was standing. The girl was knocked off her feet and rubble fell down. For a moment she thought that this was her end, as the heard the sound of stone clashing with metal from above.

In the last moment, Heero moved the Gundams shield over Relena, protecting her from the rubble. "What the heck am I thinking? I would be better off without her." He was moving, as if on autopilot. Without even registering his own actions, he moved himself in a vulnerable position to protect this girl. The Aries landed behind him and continued firing at the Gundams exposed back.

Luna reacted quickly and had Spike re-route energy back to the rifle. A blast of Orgone energy, connected with the suit at the shoulder, destroying its arm. "Now that were all, but what is Heero doing there?" Spike wondered. Luna moved the Vorlent closer, where they could see it. A small smile crept on their faces as they saw Relena, protected by the Gundams shield. "It seems that our friend changed his mind." Luna said softly. But now they would have to take Relena with them.

---

The journey back to the Photon Power Labs was filled with tense silence. For safety reasons, Luna insisted that Relena would travel in the Vorlent. It was understandable for Heero, even though he doubted that he could have done anything after all. He himself couldn't quite understand what was happening. He was supposed to focus solely on the mission, so what was happening to him?

Finally, Spike broke the silence. "So Relena, I imagine seeing me and Luna is quite a shock to you." He asked, wanting to bring at least some topic to break the ice. This was the best he could come up with, since Relena still eyed them with awe the entire time.

"You can say that again." She responded. Despite all the stress recently, first with her fathers death and then the attack on her school, she found herself disarmed by the magnificent sight of the two. A real dragon, who she found surprisingly adorable and a winged unicorn princess. "I have never expected to meet a baby dragon and a winged unicorn princess."

"Alicorn." Luna interjected. "My species is called alicorn. Although there are only three of us. Me, my sister and my adopted niece, princess Cadance." The latter was a big surprise for Luna as well, since she was... not there when Cadance became an alicorn. Her expression became sour again. Spike, Twilight and the others could return to Equestria someday. But would she ever see her sister again? Banished to this wartorn planet was not the lonely stasis from the moon but it might as well be.

Relena saw her expression and recognized it from herself. Loss. She has gotten the quick explanation from them, why Luna was here to begin with. Luna might never see her sister or niece again. "I'm sure your sister misses you too. I know what it feels like, I miss my father very much." As she said this, Relena put an arm around Luna.

The princess was thankful, that she had found a friend that could sympathize with her. The thought of staying with people like her, eased Lunas mind. She wanted to thank her, as a large, purple beam almost hit the Vorlent. Heero immediately transformed his Wing Gundam back into mobile suit mode, as they aimed their weapons at the sky, where the shot came from.

"I am Tieria Erde, Gundam Meister of Celestial Being. As instigators of conflict, your mechs will now be destroyed. If you wish to survive, put down your weapons, land and exit your mechs." The pilot of the bulky mobile suit ordered. The large Gundam had its weapons charged and aimed right at the Vorlent.

Tieria had gathered the info from the Veda supercomputer. The transformable mobile suit, according to their intel, belonged to operation meteor, so he would participate in many more terrorist strikes if he wasn't destroyed. The other mech was dangerous for a different reason. There were absolutely no information about it, who developed it, how their tech works or who the pilot was. If Veda was to create a plan of action, such unpredictable variables couldn't be allowed to exist. "You have on the count of three to put your weapons down." He warned again, the muzzle of his beam cannon glowing.

"Luna, I will take care of this. You get Relena back to the labs." Heero ordered.

"But Heero, what about you?" Luna asked, worried about him. They couldn't endanger Relena but she wanted to help him.

"NOW!" Heero bellowed the order, as he fired the Wing Gundams vulcan cannons at the Gundam Meister. He knew that this won't do a thing but it would give the others an opportunity to escape. As predicted, the Gundam of Celestial Being opened fire upon Heero.

Now they really couldn't squander the chance. Spike rerouted all energy into the thrusters, as Luna set them back on their course. In the rear camera they could see, that their new enemy has noticed their escape and took aim at them, only for the Wing Gundam to appear in front of him, buster rifle raised.

The two Gundams were now locked in a faceoff, both their weapons charged and ready to fire. "We know all about you. In order to prevent future combat scenarios, brought on by you, your mobile suit will now be destroyed." Normally, Celestial Being only performed armed interventions when the battle was already underway but made exceptions when future battled were guaranteed.

Heero tried to calculate the strength of the enemy weapon, based on the size of the explosion, the last shot caused on the ground. It was not the best method but his estimate placed it around the same level as his buster rifle. "Negative, I will kill you."

Both pilots pulled the trigger at the same time, firing their immensely powerful weapons.

The paradox was, what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, this however was more like what happens, when two unstoppable forces met. Even though they managed to get far away by the time the shots were fired, Luna, Spike and Relena could see the bright explosion behind them. It was, as if a miniature sun has formed and quickly died.

The hearts of the three sank, as they feared the worst for Heero. Relena put her hand to the monitor, that showed them the explosion behind them. "Please be okay Heero, I need you." She whispered weakly.

The force of the blast had reached the ground and propelled a lot of dirt into the air, forming a thick cloud of smoke. Luna stopped the Vorlent and turned around. Even with the danger this presented, she wanted to know if Heero survived. He took on this risk for their sake, this was the least she could do. Despite all the issues she had with him up until now, he proved himself to be a good friend after all.

It was only a few seconds, although they felt more like hours, until something came out of the smoke. Luna raise the orgone rifle, fearing their attacker to be back. Her fears were put to rest however, as she instead saw the sleek frame of the Wing Gundam. All three of them cheered, as he flew towards them.

The Wing Gundam was heavily damaged, as it was caught in the blast but at least Heero was still conscious. The Vorlent flew underneath the Wing Gundam, in case the engines gave out but that won't be a problem. Back at the Labs, they could do the repairs, while Heero would rest.

Back at the battlefield, another figure rose into the sky. "Tieria Erde, reporting. The destruction of the operation meteor mobile suit failed, returning to the Ptolomeus for repairs." As the Virtue Gundam flew towards space, the pilot was distraught by his failure. "I failed, because of me, Veda's plan was messed up. This was not supposed to happen..." The rest of the way, the distressed mutterings of Tieria Erde would continue.

Comments

[Tythen]

Speaking of SRW J, I am also in the process of a story regarding its characters.

[Tristar]

You know it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Trowa wasn't part of the same program that produced a bipolar gundam Meister. I'm curious if your going to do endless waltz and Gaogiagar final.