Heliopolis, January 25, CE 71
"I'm within two kilometers of Kaohsiung, where the fighting has continued on for several days now," the reporter said into the camera, wearing a flak jacket. Behind him, a ZAFT ZGMF-1017 GINN walked through the city, firing at the ground. "ZAFT forces began their attack five days ago, and by now, have taken the spaceport."
Huh. Not that surprising. What'd they expect, after attacking Copernicus like that? The young man thought to himself, angry at the Earth Alliance for what they had done.
Aleksander Kolodziej closed his eyes and tried to clear his head. Thinking about this right now was going to do more harm than good.
"Alex!"
He ran a hand through his brown hair and looked at his two friends.
"Tolle, Miriallia, hi. Something wrong?"
His green eyes bore into them, almost as if he was searching for something.
"I don't really know. The professor wants to see you, though," Miriallia Haww responded. Beside her, Tolle Koenig spoke up.
"He told us to grab Kira, too. He's doing something for the prof, too."
"Hmm. Well, we won't find out what he wants by just sitting here," Alex said, getting up and closing his laptop.
"You guys go ahead. I'll just put this away and catch up," he finished, opening his sports bag.
"Okay. See you later," Miriallia smiled and followed Tolle.
Alex sighed and zipped up the bag. Then he unzipped the other side of it and checked his other belongings. A ZAFT issue knife and a pistol were concealed there. And under them was a ZAFT pilot uniform and a picture.
A picture of himself and another young man, with similar green eyes and blue hair.
Athrun…He shook his head and zipped it back up, rushing after his two classmates.
"Kira!" He heard Tolle's voice up ahead, and saw the teenager lift his head up. Kira Yamato smiled as he saw his friends.
"Hey, Tolle. Miriallia. Good thing you made it, Alex. I was getting swamped here," Kira said, relief in his voice.
"Professor Kato dumped more work on you, huh?" Alex asked, smirking.
"Yeah. I'm still working on yesterday's batch," Kira sighed. Tolle came and looked at Kira's screen. He noticed the news report that was coming in.
"Great. Now Kaohsiung? That's a bit close to home," he muttered.
Alex smiled reassuringly.
"Don't worry, Tolle. Orb's neutral. And they're stubborn about it, what's more. ZAFT won't attack it. They're not that stupid," he said to his friend.
"Where are you going?" Miriallia asked, watching as he turned around.
"Oh, I have something I have to do. I'll be back in a few minutes," he said, walking away.
Miriallia turned back to the others, as Alex made sure they weren't looking. Beyond the group, he noticed someone.
Flay Allster. And some friends.
He looked at Kira, who was facing her, not moving.
Ha. So that's the girl you're interested in. Don't think she knows you, though, he thought, smirking. Then he turned back and picked up his pace. He didn't have much time. He passed a group of people, a woman and two men, and something clicked in his mind. Then he dismissed it. He rushed towards the factory district, wondering if what he and his counterparts had heard was true.
Some time later, Kira and his friends were inside a building, Tolle apparently bugging Kira about something.
"Come on, just ask!" Tolle said to him.
"Stop, Tolle. I'm not asking," Kira replied, an annoyed expression on his face as a door slid open, revealing another classmate, Sai Argyle.
"Ah, you finally made, Kira," he said, smiling at the group of friends. Kira had noticed another person in the room, back pressed to the wall, wearing a hat that hid the features.
"Who's that?" Tolle asked his friend Kuzzey Buskirk in a hushed tone.
"Oh, a visitor. She was told to wait here…"
Meanwhile, Alex had finally found what he was looking for. He pulled out the laptop and sent a message out to his other friends.
Then the alarms went off.
Back in the computer room, Kira and the others looked outside.
"Hey, what's going on?" Tolle asked, seeing everyone going downstairs.
"It's a ZAFT attack! Mobile Suits are inside the colony. Hurry up and get to the shelters!" Someone hastily explained. The young person with the hat gasped and immediately and ran down the corridor, catching Kira's attention.
"Hey, wait! Where are you-?"
He broke off, heading the same way.
"Kira!" Tolle yelled.
"Go on ahead! I'll catch up!" Kira yelled, then turned back.
Alex shut off the laptop and ran out, grabbing a railing as an explosion shook the ground.
"W cholere," he hissed. He opened his backpack, pulling out a holster for his gun, which happened to be a Desert Eagle .50. He put the safety on, holstered it, and then withdrew his ZAFT issue knife. He resumed running, going as fast as his legs allowed him. He saw the end of the corridor, and sighed in relief. Then the light hit him, and he saw what was below him. Three mobile suits, all dull gray. He looked down, noticing Kira and a girl on the level below.
"Father, I knew you betrayed us all!" She yelled, and an Earth Forces officer heard it, training her rifle at the two.
Alex cursed and jumped down, landing behind the two and instantly pushing them to the ground, the bullets pinging behind them.
"Brilliant. Wanna alert anyone else of our location?" He groaned, the three getting up and running to the end of the walkway.
"Kira, get her into the shelter. I have something I have to finish," Alex said, gritting his teeth. That jump had really hurt.
"What are you gonna do?" Kira asked, worried for his friend.
"Relax. I'll catch up. I just have to do one more thing," Alex answered, jumping onto the edge of the walkway, then dropping straight towards the ground. Kira pulled the ground, determined to do what his friends said.
Alex ran through the chaos below, a truck exploding behind him. He pulled out the knife, noticing three ZAFT ground soldiers with rifles.
"Hey!" he yelled.
They turned, weapons aimed. He leapt into the air, higher than the average human could ever hope to get, landing right behind the trio. Immediately, his knife flashed, tearing through flight suit and flesh. The three dropped, and Kevin grabbed a rifle, checking the magazine.
He looked to his left, noticing some carts he could use to get higher. He jumped from one to the next, seemingly without effort. He noticed three individuals on the leg of one of the mobile suits, and he cursed as he recognized one.
Kira. Didn't I tell you to…He broke off, finally getting on the head of the same mobile suit. He ran towards them, and leapt again, landing in front of the ZAFT soldier. He spun around, his knife catching the edge of the rifle just as it fired.
The young woman in front of Kira groaned as the bullet hit her shoulder. The trooper's rifle flew and he pulled his own blade as Kira and Alex recognized the soldier.
"Athrun?" They asked in unison?
The helmeted figure gasped.
"Kira? Alex?"
The lieutenant finally managed to raise her pistol, firing two shots, forcing the ZAFT infiltrator to back off. Alex looked back in time to see her and Kira fall into the Suit.
"Oh, that's not good," he muttered, jumping off, just as the massive leg moved. Alex ran towards the third unit, noticing Athrun as he got into the second. An unfortunate ZAFT soldier happened to wander in Alex's way. Alex just jumped up, his foot smashing into his face, using the footing to leap onto the frame of the remaining Suit. He ran up, opening the hatch and jumping in just as an explosion sent smoke and rubble flying into the air.
Alex strapped himself in while watching the OS boot up.
GeneralUnilateral
Neurolink
Dispersive
Autonomic
Maneuver
Synthesis System
Huh. Leave it to the Naturals to give a machine its own scientific name, instead of just slapping on a code nu-oh, there it is.
The second part of the program booted, displaying diagnostics and weapons readouts.
"GAT X-106 Blade, eh?" He muttered to himself. "Wonderful, it's designed for the kind of fighting I love. Personal."
He then noticed something else.
"Phase shift armor? Oh, this'll be fun."
He activated it and the dull gray Suit's optical sensors were filled with blood red light, the armor itself shifting into almost a silver color.
He hoped the others had gotten their assignments finished, because they were out of time. Next to him, another Suit stood up, blue and white in color, its body and head similar to his, but sharper and more angular.
"X-105 Strike," he muttered again. "Hope you're ready, because what happened here was child's play compared to what'll happen now."
The two Suits stood side by side, and Alex knew his life was no longer the same.