Chapter 147: Gathering 1
Seeing Heero's arm bleeding, Relena immediately asked with concern.
"Heero, are you alright?"
But Heero didn't even look at her. Instead, he questioned Duo, the one who had attacked him.
"Who are you?"
Wearing a hat and keeping his head low to hide his face, Duo did not answer Heero directly.
"In a situation like this, anyone would think you're the bad guy.
Miss, you aren't hurt, are you?"
Duo had originally planned to play the hero saving the beauty, but to his surprise, Relena showed no gratitude at all. She ran straight over to Heero, asking anxiously:
"Heero, are you okay?"
But Heero showed her no gratitude either. Taking advantage of Duo's inattention, he leapt toward his own handgun, intending to strike back.
Duo was faster—he fired a shot at the surface of Heero's right leg, knocking him to the ground, then slowly walked over to Heero's gun and said,
"Don't push yourself too hard. You're already injured."
At that moment, Relena bravely stood in front of Heero, spreading her arms to shield him.
"Please stop. He has no grudge against you."
Duo was speechless. He came here to save this girl, yet the other guy clearly wanted to kill her—so why was she protecting him instead? This was like a real-life version of "The Farmer and the Snake."
"Hey, Miss, you…" Duo watched as Relena ignored him completely, tearing her own dress to bandage Heero's wound.
Heero stared in shock. He had tried to kill Relena, yet she held no grudge and even treated his injury. Repaying resentment with kindness—this didn't make sense.
Duo muttered helplessly to himself, "Damn it, how did I end up looking like the villain here?"
Then he glanced at his comm watch.
"Crap, they're already here. Looks like I miscalculated the tide."
Relena looked in astonishment at the Deathscythe Gundam and Wing Gundam surfacing from the ocean.
"Wh-what are those?"
Duo immediately tossed a flashbang, trying to stop her from getting a clear look at the two Gundams.
"You mustn't look. Alright then, beautiful lady—whatever other questions you may have, please leave this place immediately. It's for your own good."
Just then, Heero, wounded as he was, managed to sprint and leap onto a nearby torpedo.
Duo, now anxious, fired repeatedly at him. "What are you trying to do!?"
Crouched on the torpedo, Heero muttered to himself as he looked at the Wing Gundam.
"So it really is my machine." He then triggered the torpedo's thruster and rode it straight toward the Wing Gundam.
Tolle marveled at his recklessness. Heero was dodging bullets while riding a live torpedo, even using it to propel himself.
Wasn't he afraid the torpedo would explode from Duo's bullets—or that he wouldn't have time to jump away before it detonated?
But at the moment the torpedo hit the water, Heero backflipped into the air.
Duo shouted in alarm as he saw the torpedo streak toward the Deathscythe Gundam and the recently salvaged Wing Gundam.
"Damn it, what are you doing!?"
Heero, midair, smiled as he replied, "Now everything is truly over. Mission accomplished."
The three torpedoes struck the two Gundams, creating a massive explosion. But instead of destroying them, the blasts only forced them back into the deep sea.
Looking down at Heero floating on the water, Duo scowled.
"Unbelievable… this kid actually knows the Gundams' damage threshold! Don't tell me he's the pilot of that machine."
Relena also looked at them in confusion. "Who exactly are these people?"
Od, noticing that the port workers were rushing toward them after the explosion, slipped away quietly, leaving Relena alone at the scene.
The workers quickly hauled Heero out of the water and called for medical rescue.
Soon, medics transported him to a special hospital of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation military for treatment.
But Heero's actions had been far too conspicuous. His identity was quickly exposed by the military, and he was secretly imprisoned in the hospital.
Tolle sighed. Heero had almost gotten himself killed by showing off. If Duo didn't end up rescuing him, he might really be finished.
Tolle decided not to meddle in Heero's affairs anymore. Once Relena returned, he bid her farewell, and the six of them secretly headed to the undersea base constructed with the neo DG cells.
There they produced six compressed-space wristbands, each containing a nano pilot suit and a modified Phantom Machine Kai.
These upgraded Phantoms incorporated VF-1 Valkyrie fighter tech, PS armor, Mirage system, vernier wings, defensive field generator, and all the technologies they had acquired so far.
Tolle distributed the compressed-space wristbands to Ange, Zola, and the others—standard equipment for each future full member.
After completing all preparations, he decided to go destroy an Earth Sphere Unified Nation military base for fun.
Not because he wanted to provoke OZ, but because their base was too far away. Piloting the Tallgeese Gundam all that distance would take too long.
He also decided that once he was done using this Tallgeese, he would remodel it into a transformable Gundam like the Zeta—able to operate in atmosphere as an MA-type unit. After all, normal MS would never be as fast as an MA.
That way, traveling would be much easier, without worrying about wasting so much time en route.
Tolle piloted the Tallgeese Gundam from the ocean depths to the vicinity of a military base in Nippon.
When he was less than a kilometer away, Tolle fired up the Gundam's thrusters, bursting up from the sea in an instant.
From high above, he rained beam fire across the base. Before the Nippon forces even had time to react, Tolle had already destroyed most of it.
Phantom Machine Kai (Modified)
Small-class, Rank B unit
Terrain Adaptability: Sea B / Land B / Air A / Space B
Fixed Armaments: 1x physical combat sword; 2x laser machine guns; 2x cryo grenades
Optional Weapons: Beam sniper rifle, throwing knives, twin laser cannons, rifle…
Special Equipment: Mirage system, advanced deuterion reactor, anti-neutron jammer, PS armor, vernier wings, energy defense field, Gundanium alloy
———
Tragos
Rank C unit
Terrain Adaptability: Sea — / Land B / Air — / Space —
Standard Armament: 2x cannons
Optional Armament: 1x rifle; 1x short-burst automatic rifle
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