Chapter 183: Arresting Gundam 2
Saint Lady deliberately put footage of Duo on the news as well, claiming the driver's identity was still under investigation and that, based on this clue, they would spare no effort to hunt down the remaining terrorists.
In fact, exposing Duo's existence was intentional — meant to lure other Gundam pilots into rescuing him, effectively drawing them into a trap. Of course, there was also the possibility that Heero might come straight in to kill them both and cover his tracks.
Heero continued moving around inside the colony satellite to rescue Duo. Through repeated inquiries he discovered that, whether in terms of MS performance or the support of the colony's civilians, they were at an absolute disadvantage.
Still, he managed to reach the cell where Duo was being held. When he opened the cell door, Duo looked at Heero with a face full of relief and said, "Don't scare me like that, Heero. You really are impossible to find."
But when Duo saw Heero raise a handgun and aim it at his head, he sighed and said helplessly:
"Fine. Sooner or later the Gundam and I will both be used by them. If that's the case, you might as well kill me — it'd be quicker."
Duo stood up, leaned against the wall, closed his eyes, and put on a martyr's expression as he continued, "Come on, free me."
He waited a moment. Seeing Heero actually as if about to pull the trigger, he half-jokingly said from the bottom of his heart, "Hey Heero, you're not seriously planning to shoot, are you?"
Heero answered Duo with a completely serious expression: "If that's what you want, I will."
Then Heero lowered the handgun and tossed it to Duo, taking up a submachine gun himself. He detonated a pre-planted bomb, and the two prepared to escape together from OZ's military stronghold.
Hearing the explosion, Tolle pretended to know nothing and asked the nearby soldiers loudly, "What happened? Where did that explosion come from?"
"Report, sir: someone infiltrated the supplies storage area and planted a large number of micro-bombs there."
"What about the Gundam? Quickly beef up the guards where the Gundam pilot is being held."
At that moment a soldier in the monitoring room radioed through: "This is the monitoring room. The Gundam's pilot has escaped — confirmed external assistance."
Tolle kept acting, feigning extreme agitation as he said, "What? Then where's the Gundam?"
"There was also an explosion near the Gundam, but no intruders were detected."
Tolle issued an order to the soldier beside him: "Play back the footage of the blast locations."
"The supplies storage area and the main gates received concentrated attacks. Combat MS were not damaged."
"Where could the enemy escape to? Send out MDs."
"But, sir, targeting inside the colony may introduce instability."
Tolle of course knew assigning MDs might go wrong — otherwise how could Heero and Duo have escaped? He continued to the soldier: "MDs aren't some low-grade system. They're perfect killing machines. Deploy them — quickly."
So the soldier, having no choice, followed Tolle's orders and sent out the unmanned drone Taurus to attack Heero and the others.
At the same time, Zhang Wufei, piloting his modified Shenlong Gundam, charged toward the Barge Fortress — he was also there to rescue Duo.
The Shenlong Gundam fired its shoulder vulcan cannons and head machine gun continuously at the distant Space-Type Leo; after all, those were the only two effective long-range weapons it had in space.
Although Zhang Wufei had slightly modified the Shenlong Gundam to improve its maneuverability in space, it was still no match for the Space-Type Leo, and getting close enough for melee was not so easy.
After exchanging fire, Zhang Wufei was forced to dodge and retreat; even Shenlong's tough armor couldn't take sustained rifle fire forever.
But he still seized an opportunity and used the Dragon Claw to destroy one of the Space-Type Leos.
Right then, the shuttle carrying Saint Lady was preparing to leave Barge Fortress for a scheduled meeting at the colony satellite.
Tolle grumbled that she sure picked her timing — never leaving before, never leaving later, but of course she departed right when a battle broke out. Dangerous. Still, he'd better protect her; if anything happened, it would be hard to explain to Trelis.
"Hurry and send Taurus out to engage — Lady is in danger." Saying that, Tolle rushed out the door and sprinted toward the hangar.
He immediately piloted a Taurus to the shuttle beside Saint Lady and began escorting her.
Meanwhile, Zhang Wufei had been drawn by a group of Space-Type Leos toward the muzzle of the Barge Fortress's main battery — a large beam cannon.
An OZ non-commissioned officer decided to use the large beam cannon to eliminate the Gundam. Even though many friendly units were within the firing range, he fired without hesitation.
Unfortunately the Shenlong Gundam dodged in time, but its right arm was blown off; those Space-Type Leos, however, were not so lucky — they were turned to stardust in space.
At that moment Saint Lady ordered her shuttle to move beside the Shenlong Gundam and provide cover.
After all, Zhang Wufei had spared her once before, and Tolle and Trelis had both admired him. So now Saint Lady wanted to save his life. She tried to persuade him to stand down:
"Please stop. This senseless fighting — embrace the new era. Lay aside your belligerence in this age; the world of the future doesn't need such a heart."
Tolle tentatively asked Saint Lady, "Lady, should we attack?"
"No. Please stop. This is a senseless fight. The cosmos is peaceful."
Tolle could see that Lady's condition was worsening. The more she used her saintly state, the stronger her presence of will became.
So he gave no order for the Taurus drones to attack the Shenlong Gundam; instead they all guarded close to the shuttle.
Still, other nearby Space-Type Leos continued to attack the Shenlong Gundam.
Zhang Wufei was ruthless — seeing his thrusters were not fast enough for escape, he drove the beam long blade into his own Shenlong Gundam.
Using the armor's hardness and the repulsive field generated by the blade's restraint field, he turned the beam long blade into a makeshift thruster, propelling the Shenlong Gundam quickly away from Barge Fortress.
At that moment the Barge Fortress issued an order to Tolle to pursue the Shenlong Gundam. Tolle smiled and said to them:
"Sorry, you don't have the authority to command my actions.
I only follow the orders of my direct commander, Lady Ann. For me, her personal safety comes first.
You can send people yourself — I'm not exactly indispensable anyway."
The commander stomped his foot in fury. But what did that have to do with Tolle? He had no idea whether he would appear on the Taurus's accidental kill list.
If Tolle didn't die, and someday he made me angry, I'll just wipe you out — and if that doesn't satisfy me, I'll destroy your fortress.