Rising From the Ashes

• Title: Rising from the Ashes
• Chapter: 1
• fandom: Gundam Wing
• Summary: A young woman gets more than she bargained for when she goes off into the ruins outside of Reverent City. While snapping some shots of a thunderstorm and of nature, she stumbles across a military operation. And her curiosity is about to get her caught up in a scrambled race against time.

Location: Fifteen clicks outside of Reverent City. Time stamp: 9:06 A.M.

There’s a thick caked on layer of dust and sand on the outer walls of the ruins, but ignoring this, a pair of muddy boots trod their way across the edge line of it. Overhead the sky was a darkening gray, and rain fell upon the city in sprinkling droplets, only further blurring it’s appearance. A drenched young woman flicked her head side to side, looking for an over hang or some kind of shelter. Her hair was a a rich black, and hung down in long tufts that stuck to her body. She was in a small town, what was left of it at least.

Around her neck bobbed a bulky black resistant bit of plastic. It was water – proof, she’d made sure of that. It was supposed to be just a routine shoot. Get in, get out sort of thing. If any of them asked, she’d tell them an excuse. She was photographer, and she’d stumbled on some great shots of some of the nature around here.

A blinding light flashed in her lens as a tall man smiled at her holding a flare to blind her view. “You lost mam? Or are you looking for something else?”

She jumped a bit, muttering out as she rubbed her eye with her palm, holding the camera with her other hand. “Ahh! Geez! Did you have to blind me? And, neither really. I just heard tale of some great bird shots around here!” She told him.

He shook his head. “You and I know it’s a pretty bad day for bird watching with all this weather, but more than that..” He revealed a gun, pointing it at her. “The only birds you’ll see here are made of metal. I’m gonna have to see that camera of yours.”

She groaned, reluctantly holding out the camera, after taking it off from around her neck. “Seriously, all I’ve been doing is nature shots. Besides that, it’s a great day for water shots and the lightning!” She smiled sheepishly, but rubbed the side of her cheek.

A tall skinny man in a uniform walked behind the first one and took the flare. “That’s enough, Duwell. The general’s calling you for the next test.”

The first man blinked and looked to him. “Say what? You mean its about to start?”

He nodded. “The other pilot has died. It is your turn.”

He blinked and closed his eyes, putting away his gun. “Man! Don’t say that so cold. You scare even me when you do that. What about this girl then?”

He looked to her. “Let her go. As far as U.D.A.C* is concerned one girl has no real threat to us.”

She blinked, looking to them nervously. “Can I have my camera back then..?”

Duwell smirked and tossed the camera to her. The other man looked at him coldly. He blinked and waved his hands. “Should have said please. Alright, alright, Loen, I’m ready. Sheesh.. I’m going, I’m going.” He turned around, after looking to her with a small evil smile, and laughed as he walked away.

She blinked, and caught it quickly as he tossed it. “Ahh! Crap! Geez! Sorry then! And, thank you!” She called after him, putting it back around her neck, but blinked when he gave her an evil smile, shivering a bit. Shaking her head, she bowed. “Sorry for the trouble! I’ll just be going now!” She backed away quickly, and started to circle around so she could try to head back.

At least, that’s what she should have been doing, heading back that is. Instead she’d trucked on in the forest, though she did circle around, before shimmying her way up a pine tree. She figured it would keep her hidden from view, and let her try to sneak a peek over the way at what the guys might be doing in there. She lifted her camera up to her eye, closing the other, and zoomed it in.

From a top view large boxes were circled around a covered figure. It was bigger than a house but the cover on it made it hard to see. A quick gust blew as the top flew off a bit revealing what seemed to be a large metal head of some sort. She panned the camera down, looking at the metal head curiously while she could. “Huh.. that’s strange.”

People quickly covered it up as a man’s voice was heard over a loudspeaker. “Don’t bother with it.. the weather is so bad that no one will be able to see it. It might be good to run some tests right now.”

She blinked, but whispered quietly. “But what sort of tests do they mean?” She climbed out a bit on the branch, trying to get a better view, as she kept her lens on the people and what was covered.

His voice continued. “Now testing PMX-001 codename ‘Revived’… 5…4…3… ” The hums of engines could be heard as underneath the sheets lights began to turn on.

She snapped her settings on her cam to adjust, as she stayed looking at the cover, snapping a couple pics. “Revived, huh? I wonder what happens when we get to zero?” The cam beeped and a message appeared saying ‘no film’. She groaned. “Ah! What happened to my film?” She set it down, and hurried to pop in another film from her shoulder bag. She replaced the back and hurriedly looked through the lens once more.

The voice continued. “ 2…1…initiate radiant wave shock engine.” A large boom was heard as a shock wave was sent out in all directions. The lights suddenly went dark all over the area as electricity crackled in the rain. “Damn! Shut down, shut down! EMP blast recoil fried all nodes.. initiate manual shut down! ”

She let out a shriek as the shock wave blew past, and clutched at the tree trying to not fall off. “Ahhhh!”

Small spotlights came on as figures moved all around. A voice on a mic boomed. “At least it was still covered. All operations shut down for now. Get the scientists to figure out why the reactor imploded. The rest of you know what to do next. Anyone who comes around to figure out what happened will be removed from the premises. Duwell Xam and Awtro Numeva report to HQ command. ”