Chapter 163: Missile Self-Destruct 2
At that moment, Sally's voice suddenly came over the broadcast again.
"I believe that with your abilities, you should be able to escape this base. But please—humor one selfish request of mine: stop this explosion, Heero."
The moment Heero heard there was another mission, he immediately seemed recharged, like someone had injected him with adrenaline. He transformed his Wing Gundam into MA mode and flew toward the storage area for the large missiles.
Duo, thinking Heero was trying to run off, shouted at him angrily.
"Heero, you bastard—are you trying to run off by yourself? Damn it!"
Quatre watched Heero's flight path and hurried to explain.
"No, Duo, he's not trying to flee. He's heading toward the large missile launch port."
Duo studied it for a moment and indeed confirmed that was the case; he muttered to himself.
"What the hell does that guy Heero think he's doing?"
Quatre watched the Wing Gundam's heading and said, "Got it. I'm willing to bet my life on you."
Trowa watched them helplessly, deciding he didn't want to get involved in this drama. He called to the two of them.
"Uh—are you going to leave or not? If you're not leaving, I'll go ahead. Anyone want a ride?"
Seeing the two of them locked in indecision, neither speaking, Trowa put on an act of noble self-sacrifice.
"Sigh. If you're all willing to wait, then I'll wait too. My unit still has some energy—I'll go clear out nearby MS. If Heero succeeds, it'll make our retreat easier."
Feeling a little guilty, Trowa shut off his communicator and tried to reassure himself.
"Anyway, my Savior Vanguard Gundam's defense is strong. If there's an explosion, I'll push the PS armor to maximum output.
If that still isn't enough, I'll take the materials from storage and wrap myself up with them.
I refuse to believe that piling up all those materials won't be enough to save my skin.
But Heero—pull through for me. I'm not Mu La Flaga; I can't tank a Solar Electron Cannon and survive.
Don't screw me over."
With that he piloted the Savior Vanguard Gundam out into the enemy ranks. As usual, he fired rapid bursts from the beam rifle in his left hand while switching the beam saber in his right to a relentless mowing-down mode.
Quatre and Duo followed up and began helping clear nearby enemies. Before long, Duo noticed that in the shuttle hangar Wufei and the others had breached earlier, there were still several shuttles available.
He immediately piloted the Gundam Deathscythe over to check, then muttered to himself after looking things over.
"Great—there are still three shuttles intact and usable. That's enough for the four of us."
He turned on the shuttle's comm and called to Quatre and Trowa.
"Hey, there are three shuttles we can use. Quatre and I will each take one, and there's an extra. Trowa, does your Gundam have enough fuel? Want to take one?"
"Hm, hold onto it for now. You two go first; I'll stay and help clear the enemies and obstacles near the runway."
Quatre shook his head. "No, my Gundam Sandrock still has some ammo. I'll stay and help clear—more hands, more strength."
Duo looked at the Wing Gundam crouched in the distance and said,
"Aren't we doing all this for nothing? Heero, you absolutely have to make it back, or we'll all die."
Quatre fired pursuit missiles at incoming enemy units and answered Duo.
"Also, Duo, could you do me a favor and take the other Gundam with you? I figure its fuel's almost gone—it'll probably need a shuttle, too."
"Ah, come on. Are you really sure he'll make it?"
Quatre, busy hacking at enemies with his electro-thermal blade, replied coolly, "Yeah."
Inside the shuttle cockpit, Duo put his feet up, as if settling into a comfortable pose to wait for death.
"Heero—sir! We're counting on you."
Quatre's face was resolute.
"Even if his chance of success is only 10%, I think he'll find a way."
Heero, meanwhile, piloted the Wing Gundam to a point directly above the missile launch port. Using his beam saber, he forcibly cut a gap in the launch hatch on the ground, jumped out of the cockpit, and slipped through.
He then used a small grappling anchor to rappel down from the hole more than a hundred meters high and landed safely on the floor. Following Sally's instructions, he proceeded along the hidden passage to the control room to disable the remotely-locked missile detonation program.
True to expectations, at the last critical moment Heero successfully pulled the control wiring for the self-destruct device, stopping the countdown at the final second.
With the self-destruct neutralized, Quatre, Duo, and Heero each boarded shuttles and took off immediately.
Trowa went ahead and grabbed the remaining shuttle, placed the Savior Vanguard Gundam inside, and piloted it back to base.
After all, he couldn't have come all this way for nothing—he needed to take some souvenirs home, otherwise he'd feel cheated. And he planned to have Nami start building an R-level Leo so he could use it to conceal his identity within the OZ Forces.
Elsewhere, Lady Une reported to Treize.
"Report: our mission to destroy the Gundams has—unfortunately—failed again."
"Hm. Our master is over there; failure was inevitable. But I'm curious—how exactly did you try to deal with those Gundams?"
"I ordered the activation of the large missile detonation device at New Edward Base. I intended to wipe the base and the Gundams off the face of the earth."
Hearing the report, and suspecting Lady Une intended to take Trowa out as well, Treize—who had been looking down at a book—suddenly felt a headache. He looked up at her and asked,
"Did you notify our master in advance? How did it turn out?"
"Yes, we did notify him in advance, but he didn't leave. He should be capable of directly facing that level of explosion. However, the Gundam pilots disabled the self-destruct, so the missiles didn't detonate."
(If Trowa knew they were thinking that, he'd surely say, "I have some damn ability? That was gambling with luck and life—I almost didn't make it. It would've been the endgame; you could've been free.")
Treize stood up, looking sternly at Lady Une.
"Never mind our master for the moment—the Gundams saved you this time.
Earth's space is limited and precious; it cannot be polluted casually. Humans are too insignificant; anyone can kill one person. So you mustn't do that again. And this time we owe them our thanks.
Lady Une, you should spend more time studying OZ."
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