Indigo shifted in the seat of the Gundam Venus. They were getting ready for their first mission.
"Hey guys!" Jason’s smiling face popped up on everyone’s screen. "We’re gonna be close to my place!" he grinned. "Maybe I can get my foster Mom to make me a care package!" He joked.
Indigo rolled her eyes. She looked over to the Gundam Tyrant next to her. She saw Helen in her cockpit. She shook her head at Jason on the screen.
"I saw that Helen!" He cried. Helen just smiled sweetly and gave him the finger.
"That’s not very nice, Helen." Jason whined.
"Cool it guys," Noin called to them. "You all know you’re mission right?"
"No," Jason said. "I forgot."
Noin rolled her eyes. "Are there any serious questions?"
"I don’t think so, Noin." Jasmine growled.
"Fine then, get out of here!"
The six mobile suits burst from the base.
"OK everyone, during the tour please keep all body parts inside the Gundam at all times. No cats, dogs or other animals, food, drink or flash photography please. Have a nice day." Jason said in a singsong imitation of a woman’s voice.
"Will you shut up?" Jasmine and Helen both screamed at the same time.
"Oh, I’m jinxing you both!" Joel chuckled.
"If you guys don’t knock it off we’re going to miss our destination." David scolded them.
"What would happen if we did?" Indigo asked.
"We would have to wait for the Earth to rotate again." David explained.
"All right then David, we’ll leave the navigating to you then." Helen said.
"OK, prepare for entering Earth’s atmosphere." David announced. "Put on your heat shields."
The six teens activated their heat shields and followed David towards Earth. The mobile suits plummeted towards the Earth at an incredible speed.
"Wheeeeeee!" Jason laughed. He was the only one really enjoying their fall to the ground. Indigo felt like she was about to throw up. She could hardly handle roller coasters, let alone this! The sensation of falling at light speed towards the Earth from thousands upon thousands of kilometers above it was pretty frightening. David was having a hard time as well. He held his breath in an attempt to keep his stomach from flying out of his mouth. That was what it felt like his stomach was doing at the moment.
"There’s no way the simulators could prepare you for this!" Helen screamed. She shut her eyes tightly and waited for the fall to be over. Joel was unfazed by the fall, he watched without expression as the Earth rushed up to meet him. Jasmine bit her tongue so she wouldn’t scream. She didn’t want her brother and father thinking she was weak.
"Turn on your thrusters when you reach 500 feet." David ordered as they got closer to the ground. Jasmine peeled her eyes open and looked at her monitors. She waited with her hand on the switch as the numbers on the altitude meter went down. 500 feet didn’t leave too much room for error. The instant the meter hit 500 she flipped the switch and the thrusters turned on. The mobile suit slowed so suddenly that her stomach dropped back down her throat. It made her sort-of woozy. She let out her collective breath as she felt her Gundam hit the ground. She watched as the other five did the same.
"Last one down is a dirty rotten egg!" Jason laughed as he landed.
"That would be you, Jason." Helen growled. Jason looked around; he WAS the last one down.
"Bummer," He said.
"Where is this base, David?" Jasmine asked.
"About 60 miles north of Houston." David replied.
"And where are we?" Jasmine continued.
"About 30 miles south of Houston."
"Cool," said Jason. "We’ll get to go right over my hometown." Jason grinned.
"You lived in Houston?" Helen asked.
"Yup," Jason grinned again.
"Let’s keep moving everyone." David ordered. "We can’t just stand here all day!"
"Hey, who made you the boss?" Jason complained. "MY Dad was the boss before."
"Yeah well, YOU’RE not competent." Helen growled.
"HMPH,"
David rolled his eyes and started to move his Gundam, slowly at first so the others would follow. When they did he sped up.
"We’re getting close to Houston." David announced after a few minutes. "Try to remain inconspicuous."
Jason grumbled a bit, but David and Indigo put on their invisibility cloaks. Jason decided to fly. Helen said she was going to take a detour around the city and encouraged the Chang twins to do the same.
Jason hummed happily as he flew over the city he used to live in.
"Look, there’s my Gramma’s house! And there’s that convenience store I stole from!"
"You stole from a convenience store?" David asked, sounding shocked.
"Of course, haven’t you?"
Helen grumbled and told them both to talk about something useful or shut up. Jason and David stopped talking. Jason saw something in the distance that wasn’t there before. Smoke was rising from somewhere and there weren’t anymore tall buildings. Jason gasped. "That’s where my house is…was." Jason examined the ruins closely. It looked like the entire area had been bombed! He recognized his school, a few of his friend’s houses and then his street. He landed his Gundam in front of what used to be his house.
Helen looked at her map and noticed that Morpha had stopped moving.
"Hey Jason, what’s the deal? Why’d you stop?" She snorted.
"You guys might want to take a look at this." Jason answered. He looked back down at his house. If he looked carefully he could make out Pluto’s doghouse, his kitchen table, and even the remainders of his room. He jumped down from his Gundam and started to search the area more closely. He heard another mobile suit come beside him. He looked up; it was Helen. Jason ignored her and turned back to his house. He started looking for survivors. He pulled rocks away from big piles searching for any sign of his foster parents.
"Over there," He heard Helen’s voice through the intercom. "There’s something alive over there, and its still moving."
Jason looked in the direction of where Helen was pointing. He found where she was talking about and started to yank rocks off someone. He gasped when he found not one, but two people.
"Dad?" He asked. He saw his foster Father clutching his Mother. But his Mother wasn’t moving.
"Jessica please, wake up." His Father cried. Jason watched him cradle his mother in his arms.
"MOM!" Jason cried. He jumped beside his Father and tried to help him. His Father hardly seemed to notice him.
"No heat coming from her," Helen whispered. But even in a whisper, the voice from the mobile suit was very loud.
"She’s gone Jason," Jason’s Father whispered. "She’s gone." Jason felt a lump form in his throat. His Mother was gone. She was dead. Murdered because of him. His eyes started to water and tears streamed down his face, but he didn’t cry. Helen jumped down from her Gundam and watched Jason and his family. She thought of her own adoptive family in Toronto. She hoped the same thing didn’t happen to them. Four more additional suits landed not long after.
"What the hell…" Joel jumped out of his Gundam.
"This place was bombed!" Jasmine gasped, joining him on the ground. David and Indigo leapt out as well. David immediately started analyzing the situation.
"Indigo," He said. "Get the twins and start searching for survivors."
Indigo nodded and rushed over to the twins.
Jason was still staring wide-eyed at his foster Mother lying lifeless on the ground.
"Come on Dad," He whispered. He grabbed his Father’s arm and took him out of the pile of rocks and away from his wife’s body.
"Jason," He gasped finally, once he had peeled his eyes away from his wife. "Where have you been?"
Jason smiled at him. "I’ve been around Pop." His Father gave him a big hug and refused to let him go.
Helen felt like she was going to cry too. Jason’s Father cringed and Jason let go of him.
"What’s wrong?" Jason asked urgently.
"I…don’t know." He choked. Helen ran over to them and help Jason sit his Father down.
"Will he be alright?" Jason asked Helen. Helen shrugged. "I’m not a doctor. But I bet David is," She snickered. "I’ll get him." She jumped up to find David.
For the first time, Jason’s Dad noticed six mobile suits. He gasped at them. "Mobile suits…" He said terrified.
"Don’t worry about them Dad," Jason chuckled. "They’re ours."
"Yours?" He repeated.
"Yeah, we pilot them."
"Who are we?"
"Me, Helen, David, Jasmine, Joel and Indigo. The children of the original Gundam pilots." Jason smiled at his father’s shocked face.
"Any survivors?" He heard Helen ask.
"I found a cat with three legs." Indigo called back. She was holding a completely black cat in her arms. She had wrapped its stump for a leg with a piece of cloth.
"A cat does not count as a survivor!" Jasmine sighed.
"Sure it does," Indigo pouted. "It survived, didn’t it?"
Jasmine rolled her eyes. "Helen, get in the Gundam and use the heat detector to help us out."
Helen nodded and climbed into her Gundam. "I see someone…that way." She pointed her giant hand. She followed as the people on foot rushed over there.
They continued searching for hours until the entire area had been searched. They only found six people. Jason didn’t know anyone else.
"What do we do with him?" Joel asked David. He pointed at Jason’s foster father.
"We could call Noin," David suggested.
"Right, you go do that." Joel said. David nodded and hopped up into his Gundam to make a call to Noin. Jasmine was talking with Indigo and petting the cat. Jasmine spoke with Indigo quietly, but her eyes were focused on Jason and Helen. They were sitting a little ways away from the rest of the group. Helen and Jason were in a circle with Jason’s Father.
"Hey guys!" David called as he hopped out of his Gundam. The other people looked up at David. "Noin is sending a shuttle to transport the survivors to the base." He nodded towards the group of six people not far from him. "We’ll figure out what to do from there. The shuttle should arrive soon but we still have a mission to complete. So one person has to stay here with them until the shuttle arrives. The rest of us need to get going."
"I’ll stay," Jason said quietly. David looked at him and smiled.
"I figured you would."
The rest of the pilots climbed back into their Gundams and started to head off once again.
"You gonna be OK?" Helen asked Jason. She put a friendly hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah," Jason replied. "I’ll be fine."
"OK…" Helen smiled she hopped into her Gundam and dashed off with others.
Jason and his Father sat in the ruins and watched the Gundams take off.
"When did this happen Dad?" Jason asked.
"A few days ago," He replied. "A bunch of mobile suit just came and blew up…everything." He waved his hands around the remainders of that part of the city. "They sent rescue crews but they didn’t find us."
Jason just nodded.
"So," His Father said, trying to change the subject. "That Helen seems like a nice girl." He grinned.
Jason snorted. "Hardly,"
"Is she a good kisser?"
"Very good," Jason replied. "I mean…" But it was too late. Jason’s Father began to laugh. Jason laughed along with him.
"Yeah, my dad…uh…real Dad, wasn’t too happy about that though. Come to think of it, neither was hers."
His Father started at him. "You met your real Father?"
"Yeah," Jason replied.
"Well…?"
"Well what?"
"Was he the one making the calls?"
"No," Jason replied. "He didn’t even know I was going to be there."
"Then who was it?"
"Some creepy guy with goggles. He found all of us."
Jason’s Father shook his head. "This is too confusing."
"Your confused? What about me? I’m the one with two sets of parents here! And I expect birthday and Christmas presents from all of you."
His Father laughed.
"Blow it up David!" Jasmine screamed. David was hesitating to destroy a mobile suit.
The Gundam Tyrant came up from behind it and sliced it in half with its double-scythe.
"Thanks Helen," David choked.
"No problem Dave."
Helen left again and started to slice up more suits. In about two minutes she had finished off nearly fifty suits. Noin wasn’t lying when she said Helen was fast. Joel and Jasmine were also doing pretty well. They had reacted quickly when the mobile suits ambushed them. Indigo proved she was more than a match for a few suits at a time. She was constantly switching weapons and finding interesting ways to slice and dice the suits. David was the one having problems with his reaction time. The ambush had scared him half to death.
"Shake it off David," Indigo encouraged him.
David shook his head free of his fears and leapt into action to help. Together they finished off the last of the suits.
"I’ll get the bomb." Joel announced he pressed a button in his Gundam that set off and explosion from a bomb Jasmine stuck it in there just as the mobile suits started to appear. The base exploded into flames.
"We should get out of here before the flames hit the fuel storage." David said. The others immediately agreed and left to go back to Houston.
Jason watched as a big jeep came rolling across the ruined city. It stopped right in front of Jason and his Father.
"Need a lift?" Noin smiled as she hopped out of the jeep. "Is that all there was?"
"Yeah," Replied Jason. "There were others but my Dad tells me another rescue crew came by. These are just the people they didn’t find."
Noin nodded and looked over at Jason’s adoptive Father. "I’m glad Jason went to a good home." She said. "And I’m sorry for what happened here."
Jason’s Father smiled weakly.
"Guess what Jason," Noin’s face brightened suddenly. "I figured out which one of you was allergic to something!"
"Oh yeah, who?"
"Indigo! She’s allergic to peanuts. And ZECHS was the one allergic to dogs!"
Jason chuckled. "Your own husband and you didn’t even know he was allergic to dogs?"
Noin nodded. "He never told me,"
Jason heard someone grumble from inside the jeep.
"Hi there Zechs," He smiled. "I’m glad I finally know why you hate my dog."
"Get the survivors and lets get out of here you cheeky little brat." Zechs growled.
"Yes Sir!" Jason saluted. He marched off to round up the six people.
"So you’re who they sent him to hun? I pity you." Zechs said to Jason’s Father. He shot Zechs a confused look.
"Hey guys…I’m surprised you didn’t get here sooner." David’s voice came from no where. They looked around but didn’t see David’s suit. David took off the stealth cloak.
"That thing would be great to play hide and seek in." Jason chuckled as he returned with the survivors. The other four dropped out of their mobile suits behind David. "You guys gonna be OK to get back to the base on your own?" Noin asked. "We don’t have enough room for all of those Gundams."
They all nodded. "Great," Said Noin, "Jason, you can load up yours and ride with your Father if you like."
"Cool, thanks Auntie Noin." Jason grinned. He dashed to his Gundam so he could take it to the shuttle.
"You’re his Aunt?" Jason’s adoptive Father asked.
"Sadly," Zechs growled.
"Don’t mind him," Noin smiled. "He didn’t have his coffee this morning."
The lucky seven survivors and the six pilots, Noin and Zechs arrived at the base a few hours later. The shuttle got there first and then they had to wait a minute for the Gundams. Jason hopped out of the shuttle with his Father. (We’ll just call him ‘Gary’ because I’m getting tired of writing ‘Jason’s adoptive Father.’)
"Come on Dad, you can meet my Dad." Jason said. He grabbed Gary’s arm and pulled him down the halls.
"I need some sleep," Jasmine announced. She left with Indigo to the rooms. Joel and David headed towards the kitchen. Helen decided to go find her Father. She walked in the same direction as Jason went but she never found Jason or his foster father. She turned a corner and found her father with Heero. Only Heero had a gun to him,
"This time I’m going to do it." Heero growled.
"Um Heero, are you sure you want to do this? I’m your best friend, which by the way doesn’t say much for your popularity if you kill me."
"I don’t care." Heero said solemnly.
Helen smiled and turned around.
"Hey Helen wait, help me!"
"I am," Replied Helen, "I’m going to get Relina."
Heero gulped and replaced the gun.
"Is that woman the only one who can save me? I’m going to stick by her until Heero gets over this ‘kill Duo’ phase." Duo choked.
Helen heard someone laugh behind her. It was Jason and his father Gary.
"You should have shot him, pop. Maybe then I could have gotten another kiss from Helen." Jason laughed. Helen face turned bright red.
"You jerk!" She screamed. She pounced on him and pinned him against the wall.
"OK, OK," Jason laughed. "I was just kidding Helen!"
Helen threw Jason halfway down the hall and growled with frustration. Duo laughed loudly. Gary just stared on in horror. Jason’s father was a gun-wielding maniac! That couldn’t be good.
"Your Mother doesn’t hear a word of this." Heero pointed at his son.
"Got it," Jason mumbled. He looked back and forth between his two Fathers. "Oh, Real Dad, substitute Dad. I would like you to meet…each other. Gary, Heero. Heero, Gary. Now that you’ve met I’m going to go find Mom incase you pull out that gun again."
"That won’t be necessary Jason," Heero growled. He held out his gun and emptied the bullets on the ground.
"Aw, see that Dad…substitute Dad. He emptied his gun for you!" He turned to Heero. "Now the rest of them."
"Only keep one with me when I’m not in a mission." Heero replied.
"You’re lying." Jason retorted.
"How would you know?"
"Because that’s not the same gun you just had to Duo."
Heero cursed under his breath. "Damn kid, has his mother’s good eyes." He mumbled. He pulled out six more guns and a dagger from various places in his clothes, then he turned and walked away.
"Where does he keep all that?" Gary gasped.
"No one knows," Duo said. "We’ve all been trying to figure that out for years."
