Disclaimer: Mobile Suit Gundam and Gundam SEED is not mine.

"Speaking"

"Radio"

'Thoughts'

Flashbacks

WARNING: This Story contains spoilers to my Path of Redemption series, do not read if you have not read Path to Redemption as you may not be able to follow the storyline effectively.

Chapter Three: Tiger's Fangs

Terminal Base New Platea

"You sure you're up for this Quattro?" Ryu asked Quattro as the pair were loaded into the catapults along with Kira "I mean sure you did really good in the sims, but..."

"I'm certain sir." Quattro confirmed as he relaxed himself in the cockpit of a red Custom High Mobility Type Patriot "I don't remember anything, so I want to be useful to you guys for taking me in."

Ryu sighed "All right than," He finally agreed "We are heading to Northern Africa to meet up with a friend of mine, we will assess the situation from there."

"Yessir." Quattro confirmed "Quattro Bajeena High Mobility Type Patriot Launching!"

"Ryu Yamato, Dragon-X, Engaging."

"Kira Yamato, Strike Astray, Let's Do It!"

Quattro sighed again feeling oddly comfortable in the cockpit of the Patriot as his mind drifted back to when he met the Yamatos

Flashback

Quattro had just finished his medical checkup by the women known only as 'Professor'. It was quite apparent from the start that aside from his name he remembered nothing about himself or the world around him, he knew the basics, but nothing else, they both looked up as the door opened and two people entered, a male and female, the male looked to be slightly taller than himself while the female was a couple inches shorter than him.

"Ah Ryu, Kira come to check on our guest?" asked the Professor as she straightened herself from testing Quattro's reflexes.

"Yeah we're wondering how he was doing," Ryu said "So how are you doing?"

Quattro nodded wincing as he felt a buzzing at the back of the head, seemingly originating from the pair "Ah, well enough I suppose," He said hesitant "But am I supposed to know you two?"

Ryu and Kira blinked in surprise and looked at the Professor who shrugged "Amnesia," She explained "All he remembers about himself is his name, thankfully."

Kira smiled reassuringly "Don't worry, this is our first time meeting," She assured "My name's Kira Yamato, this in my husband Ryu."

Ryu nodded and grinned at the man "My name is Quattro Bajeena," He said "Umm, Why do I feel a buzzing in the back of the head centered around the two of you?"

Ryu blinked in surprise as the others blinked in confusion "So you are a Newtype," Ryu murmured "Huh, don't worry about it, there is nothing wrong with you, essentially what a Newtype is the next stage of the human evolution, theoretically anyways, we have higher spatial awareness than the average human, some have such a high degree they can predict the future, myself, I can kinda predict the movements of the enemy, and that phenomenon we experience back with Halberton's Fleet Kira, where our minds melded together(1), that was a Newtype phenomenon."

Quattro and Kira blinked as the Professor took down some notes "Wicked." Was all Kira said.

Couple of Days Later

"Alright let see how well you can do in a simulator Quattro!" Ryu said as said blond was entering the mobile suit simulator, the Yamatos had taken him under their wings and had been teaching him everything they knew, they had also provided him with a history text for the last couple of centuries, Quattro was both fascinated and disgusted at how Coordinators came to be about and how they were severely mistreated, he secretly prayed he was never one of the Blue Cosmos fanatics. Aside from the common knowledge he had forgotten the pair had also begun showing him how to repair, maintain and upgrade mobile suits, letting him help them as they worked on their own mobile suits. He had felt an odd familiarity with mobile suits and asked if there was a possibility of him piloting one.

So that was how he got here in the cockpit simulator of the TMSF-081 Patriot, Quattro cycled through the choices of the equipment he could use and finally settled on a High Maneuverability Type and on a gut feeling had it colored red, the screens flashed to life as the simulation came on and breathing deeply he experimentally began moving the mobile suit.

For some reason he felt at home in the cockpit and soon enough he was performing complex aerial maneuvers surprising everyone watching at how the supposedly amnesiac pilot slaughter the current high score with ease.

A beeping warned him of an incoming enemy along with a flash of danger from his senses allowing him to move just in time to dodge several beams trying to pierce his suit "Not bad rook," He heard Ryu say over the radio and nearly cursed as he saw his new opponent appear in a Patriot Zero "Let see how you can do against a living opponent though."

Now Quattro would like to think he did well against the seasoned veteran, but while he lasted twenty minutes, he was shot down because he had arrogantly demanded Ryu to stop holding back, Ryu complied and within seconds Quattro had the words 'SIMULATION OVER' flash across his screen indicating his loss. Still he proved himself enough of a capable pilot for the Base Commander, an eccentric man by the name of Drake Falcon to offer him a Combat Agent posting in Terminal, under Ryu and Kira if he wished, and so Quattro Bajeena the Red Flare of Terminal was unknowingly born.

END FLASHBACK

Northern Africa, Hidden Rebel Base

Amuro was slightly confused as he followed the Bridge officers of the Archangel into the rebel planning center, a deal had been brokered, after an... altercation between the three Archangel pilots and a blond haired girl over the recent death of two of their comrades, he winced at the memory of the simmering regret in the blond haired Lieutenant, what few people knew was that Amuro could actually feel the emotions and 'aura's' of fellow Newtypes, he had immediately recognized Mu and Chris as Newtypes, and one of the people who resided in the room he was in now was one as well, and the other one in the room was close to awakening as one as well. 'The Archangel is turning out be something like the White Base back during the One Year War.' He thought to himself and mentally winced as it brought up memories of Lalah Sune, and that brought up memories of what Char said 'Really a mother, that brings up bad thoughts if things turned out differently and me and Lalah actually began a relationship?'

"Hey kid you alright?" Mu asked seeing the newest addition to the Archangel crew pale suddenly "Hey Amuro!"

Amuro snapped out of his bad thoughts "Sorry, extremely bad thought that I'll be repressing now." He said shivering lightly making Mu raise an eyebrow.

"Then please don't come to me about it," He pleaded faking a scared look "Especially if it's that bad."

Amuro nodded in agreement chuckling 'He kinda reminds me of Char during the AEUG rebellion,' Amuro mused 'I wonder how Kamille is doing, I hope he survived Luna 5 crashing.'

The group came out into a rough tactical planning room filling with various maps of Northern Africa with key locations circled Sahib nodded to the youth that guided them as he left "Thank you for accepting our offer," Sahib said gratefully "Although you are in a position where you would have to accept."

Murrue mentally sighed knowing he was right, sure they fought off the Tiger, but they wouldn't be able to once they ran out of supplies and ammo, which was what the rebels were offering to help obtain "Of course," She agreed "You said you had a plan to get us out of Africa."

Sahib nodded and gestured over to the map "As you can see you are in a pretty bad place right now," He commented sipping some coffee "The easiest place to break through would be here," He circled a mountainous area with his coffee cup "It will lead you straight to the Red Sea."

"What's the catch?" Amuro asked curiously staring at the man "It seems too easy."

Sahib nodded "This is the operation area of the Desert Tiger." He announced folding his arms.

"That is a pretty big obstacle," Mu said frowning as he looked at the map "And going any other way would be a serious drain on our resources."

"We also have word on a munitions stockpile in this area here." Sahib said pointing at another place on the map "If we manage to take that it could hurt the Tiger enough to push through."

Amuro narrowed his eyes at Sahib "What is there you are not telling us about the munitions stockpile?" He demanded staring at the man unnerving him.

Sahib sighed relenting "There are rumors of a mobile suit stockpile of BuCUEs and ZuOOTs there." He admitted "We were hoping of using them as even just artillery in our bases."

Murrue sighed and looked at the map "We'll help you take the stockpile, but we will expect you help with getting past the Tiger." He said glaring at He HeHhjklsjdfasjkfj

Sahib nodded in agreement as they started forming a plan.

Archangel, Hanger, Next Day

Amuro sighed as he rolled his neck with settling himself in the Nu Gundam, the Archangel was en route to where the supposed supply base of the Desert Tiger was, the plan was fairly simple, the Archangel, along with the Nu Gundam and the recently finished Lightning Eclipse will assault the base from directly in front, while the Rebels along with the Raven and Zephyr would attack from behind, the entire thing relied on speed, so long as the Raven and Zephyr could take out the heavy weapon emplacements and the majority of the mobile suits before they launch the Archangel was golden.

"Mr. Ray are you ready to launch?" Mir asked over the radio.

"Ready, and call me Amuro, only my dad is called Mr. Ray!" Amuro shouted as the Nu Gundam was loaded into the Catapult "Amuro Ray, Nu Gundam, Heading out!"

"Mu La Flaga, Lightning Eclipse, Taking to the skies!" Mu shouted as the Lightning Eclipse launched following the Nu Gundam and taking flight into the skies.

With Chris and Liz

Chris breathed deeply to calm his nerves as he and his sister flew over the clouds readying themselves for the initial strike "Are you two ready?" Asked their liaison, Cagalli Yula, the pair had been surprised to see the girl they had rescued from Heliopolis during ZAFT's attack was a member of the Desert Dawn, their 'reunion' wasn't a good one as she had demanded answers as to why they were piloting the Gundams before mocking their dead friends.

"We're good." Chris answered coldly "Beginning our attack runs now." Chris cut the link as both he and Liz pushed their mobile suits into a dive and fired their missiles.

ZAFT Base

For Michael Ignatieff his day as a ZAFT base commander was like any other, get up with the dawn, oversee supply operations, sign a couple of orders, an average day, that was until he looked up at the clouds and saw something making a beeline right for his, squinting his eyes he shadowed his eyes from the sun for a better look only for one thing to come out of his mouth "Fuck." He said right before a missile impacted right on top of him exploding. All hell broke loose as several weapon emplacements were destroyed in the first wave of attacks before the ZuOOTs even got moving, by the time they were the emplacements were destroyed by the two aerial mobile suits when they saw it.

It was the Legged ship coming straight at them from the front of the base with a mobile suit standing on the deck and another flying above it as a watchdog the sounds of gun fire could be heard as several trucks full of Desert Dawn fighters busted through the east and west fences and began attacking the defending soldiers. Just as quickly it started it ended as the defenders of the base began to surrender to the resistance fighters and the Archangel, Sahib had ordered the men to execute no one, and every prisoner was to be frisked for any weapons and placed in the bunkhouse after it was searched through for any weapons.

"That went rather smoothly." Amuro commented looking around from the cockpit of the Nu Gundam.

"A bit to smoothly," Mu agreed "I think we are about to be surprised by something."

10 kilometers out

Andrew Waltfield cursed as he read the report in his hands about the supply base being overrun by the Legged Ship and the local Resistance "Men mount up in your BuCUEs!" He shouted running for his TMF/A-802 P-Mod BuCUE Custom, and brought it online "Let's go!"

Archangel, Bridge

"Ma'am several contacts in bound on radar!" Sai shouted "Confirming signatures, their BuCUEs!"

"Alert the pilots and the Desert Dawn!" Murrue ordered "All hands level one battle stations!"

Mu

"Fuck!" Mu shouted as the Lightning Eclipse leapt back into the air with the Zephyr and Raven "Where the hell did they come from?"

He gunned his suit forward leading Liz and Chris forward as the Nu Gundam 'Jumped' Behind them "Hey Commander, what's with the lead suit?" Liz asked curiously seeing an orange painted BuCUE with two 'Fangs'.

Another sharp curse was heard from Mu "Fuck you have got to be kidding me, the Desert Tiger himself?" He asked in shock "Stay tight this guy is a pro!"

Diving Mu brought out his 'Agni' Cannon and fired at the squadron of BuCUEs forcing them to break apart as the leading orange unit made a straight run towards the Nu Gundam, Mu himself was set upon by a pair of BuCUEs that launched a Series of missiles at him only for the Natural Ace to respond with his Igelstellungs destroying the missiles before they could impact with him and returned fire with his beam rifle only for the beam to skew slightly 'Shit Heat Distortions!' He thought in a panic 'Guess it's close combat for me.' Diving his mobile suit Mu drew out his two Heat Shotels and slashed at one of the BuCUEs only for it to accelerate out of the way as the second shot another salvo of missiles that hit.

"Son of a bitch." Mu growled "This is going to take forever."

Chris

Chris swore as he raised his shield blocking the missile salvo before firing his Igelstellungs destroying as Helicopter as it tried to close in before transforming into Mobile Suit mode and firing his own salvo of missiles at a BuCUE only for the quadruped mobile suit to dodge and fire a rail blast at him. Barrel rolling his suit Chris narrowed his eyes and transformed back to MS mode firing his Hyper Velocity shield Mounted Rail Cannons Hitting the BuCUE just before a flash ran through is mind. Reacting quickly he cut the thrust to his Verniers dropping like a stone as missiles streaked through the space he was occupying only seconds ago, activating his Verniers again he skimmed along the ground throwing a cloud of sand up obscuring the vision of the remaining two BuCUE's in the area.

Oddly Chris could 'feel' where his opponents were without having to see them, capitalizing on this Chris remained in the cloud and fired his cannons at one of the BuCUEs who was killed not even know what ad hit him. The other pilot realizing that their opponent could see them in the cloud broke free of the cloud and faced Chris as he came out.

'This will not be easy.' Chris predicted as he and the BuCUE faced down.

Liz

Liz snarled as she raised her shield taking a rail blast on it instead of letting it hit her, activating the Zephyr's Verniers she boosted forward just as a cluster of missiles closed in on her former position exploding harmlessly behind her as she transformed into MA mode and fired her own missiles at the enemy units forcing them to scatter before quickly transforming back into mobile suit mode and firing her beam rifle rapidly as the BuCUEs narrowly dodged the deadly beams.

Landing Liz cursed as she leapt back avoiding the missile cluster that impacted against the sand sending sand exploding into the air. As she skidded backwards she drew out her beam saber and boosted forwards towards the closest BuCUE and before the pilot could react he found himself bisected by the agile mobile suit.

"One down." Liz muttered to herself narrowing her eyes at her remaining opponent.

Amuro

Boosting the Nu Gundam forward Amuro avoided the missiles fired by the Custom BuCUE that was piloted by the enemy Commander before firing his beam rifle forcing the quadruped mobile suit to dodge the shots 'These mobile suits...' Amuro thought raising his shield to block the foreleg spikes of the mobile suit as it closed in on him 'These are far better at ground combat than the Federations earlier attempts.' Amuro quickly dropped his rifle and pulled out his beam saber and slashed at the BuCUE only for it to move out of the way 'And the pilot is no slouch either, if only I had the Nu Gundam's Funnels'

Ducking his suit he allowed the orange BuCUE to pass him over head trying to slash at his suit again. Pushing up with his shield he threw the mobile suit past him and quickly took advantage of his opponents opening and struck out with his beam saber cutting off one of the legs and a piece of the BuCUE's 'wing' as it recovered "Dammit, so close." Amuro cursed boosting away.

Waltfield

'Dammit he's good,' Waltfield thought narrowing his eyes at his opponent before taking a quick survey of the battlefield and cursed as he saw half of his forces destroyed "Everyone Fall back, we lost this fight!" He ordered as he turned his mobile suit and gunned it "Tch, we'll get them next time."

Amuro

Amuro sighed in relief as he saw the enemy mobile suits fleeing from the area as his beam saber deactivated and he collected his discarded beam rifle "Damn that guy was tough." Amuro said with a sigh as he drank from the water he had in the cockpit.

"He is a ZAFT ace for a reason," Mu said in agreement "Still you did DAMN good to make him retreat like that!"

Amuro chuckled as the group headed back to the Archangel for a well deserved rest.

Gamow, Bridge

"You're to be transferred to the ground and assist Commander Waltfield with his operation to destroy the Archangel." Victor ordered to a group consisting of Lev, Yzack, Dearka, Jacques, Naleen and Mark "Nicol you're returning back to the PLANTs on leave with Athrun and Rau, once my suit is repaired I'll be rejoining you all back on the ground."

The red coats saluted before leaving the bridge "I hate that guy," Naleen declared once they were out of earshot "Didn't even approve of a Search and Rescue for Yuuka."

Mark sighed "Still orders are orders," he said "But at least we'll be working with a reasonable commander this time."

"You mean Waltfield right?" Yzack asked "He and Commander Crueset were the ones to defeat the Dragon right?"

Mark nodded "Yeah, not only that he's one of the few honorable Commanders I've met." He explained "He tries to not cause civilian or noncombatant deaths."

"He's also obsessed with coffee." Jacques added quietly "He makes it pretty well too, he often sends me a bag of his coffee."

The younger red coats blinked and looked at the silent pilot who ignored them while Mark smirked and Naleen giggled.

Next Day

Chris, Liz and Cagalli sat in the Jeep with Chris and Liz in their casual clothes, albeit without their sweaters, as it headed into the main town that also happened to be the Tigers main base of operations, there was an uncomfortable silence between them "Listen you two," Cagalli said suddenly "I wanted to apologize for what I said the other day, I didn't realize that they died."

Liz sighed as she drew her knees up to her chest "Ryu was our pillar of support," she explained "While Kira kept our moral up by smiling, Ryu tied so desperately to keep us alive that we didn't realize it till after he was gone."

"I always keep expecting to hear him shouting at the mechanics about something whenever I walk into the Hanger," he added "No one has actually gone into their room and boxed their stuff yet."

"He seem immortal," Liz continued "The way he dominated in every fight, even when he was in a losing fight he would always be unflinching."

"Heh, remember the time we decided to build a support suit?" Chris asked his sister with a small laugh.

"Yeah he was so pissed when he walked in," she giggled "He ranted for a half hour before the professor showed up, then there was another hour added to the rant."

Cagalli smiled as the sibling reminisced until they entered the town where they and Cagalli got off "Keep safe." Kisaka ordered.

"I will, you too," she said "Al-Jairi is someone to be careful with."

"Ensigns-, ah you two be careful now." Natarle said slightly embarrassed at her slip up while Jackie in the seat next to her face palmed himself.

The two siblings nodded as the jeep took off "So what's first?" Chris asked as they started shopping, little did he know how much he would loathe those words.

Archangel, Hanger

Amuro yawned widely as he sat on the foot of the Nu Gundam looking over the specs of this dimensions known Gundams that the captain provided him 'Phase-Shift armor,' He mused mentally reading the entry 'An extremely durable armor reliant on the battery of the mobile suit to stay active, extensive in terms of power consumption but useful at the same time, it's similar to the Gundanium used in the original Gundam.'

Turning the page he saw this worlds original Gundam, the GAT-X000 Dragon, a prototype multi-mode general purpose mobile suit that later became the GAT-X000BF Dragon Berserker Frame, looking through the specs of the mobile suit he didn't notice Murrue Ramius enter the hanger as she approached him.

"Ah yes the Dragon," She said seeing the entry Amuro was reading giving him a small start "The pilot Ryu Hisanaga was actually the one who originally designed it, it didn't have the phase-shift or the IWS(Integrated Weapon Shields) System, but had two containers for the DRAGOON Fangs that his old mobile used."

"They certainly are impressive in their own right," Amuro said approvingly as Murrue sat down beside him "But this Phase-Shift can definitely be a double edged sword, once you run out of power..."

Murrue sighed "It's happened before," She revealed "We nearly lost the GAT-X105 Strike and its pilot that day."

Amuro nodded in understanding "The operating systems you had installed originally though, they were crap!" he exclaimed "Why is that?"

Murrue shrugged "We made the mistake of trying to back engineer the OS system used by a former Coordinator Ace of the EA after he left," She explained "Ended up such a mess it took the pilots five minutes just the move the mobile suit a single step."

Amuro winced "Ouch," he commented "That is not good."

Murrue giggled slightly "I was one of the ones overseeing the project," She said "So I got to hear all the wonderful complaints of everyone."

Amuro chuckled weakly "That does not sound like fun." He agreed smirking as she rolled her eyes in an exaggerated fashion.

"You mind Showing the cockpit?" Murrue asked pointing up to the Nu Gundam "It's been bugging me since you arrived."

Amuro chuckled as he stood up offering her a hand up "It would be my pleasure." Amuro replied with a grin as he lead her to the elevator.

With Chris, Liz and Cagalli

Chris groaned as he was loaded down with bags from their shopping while the girls haggled over prices with the vendors "Let's take a break and get something to eat." Cagalli advised much to Chris' obvious relief as they took seats at an open air cafe next to a group of four.

"I'm glad to set those down." Chris sighed in relief "Never again am I going shopping with either of you."

Liz and Cagalli giggled at a scowling Chris as the waitress set three plates in front of them along with two bottles of yogurt and chili sauce "What are these?" Liz asked curiously.

"Kabobs!" Cagalli answered enthusiastically "There great with chili sauce try some."

"WHAT!" One of the men sitting next to them shouted, he was wearing a sunhat and sunglasses making it hard to see his facial features "Chili sauce on Kebobs are you nuts."

"There he goes again." The other male sighed, he looked to be around eighteen with short dirty blonde hair and brown eyes, he was wearing a loose uniform that was mostly Dark green with red shoulders, and on each shoulder was a white asterisk above a pair of crossed swords, the other male who wore the same uniform as the first looked to be in his late twenties with blond hair wearing a pair of shades that covered his eyes, the last one was a girl around their age with waist length crimson red hair a light blue eyes, she was wearing the same uniform as her companions "Dang it Andy, can't you leave peoples tastes in food be?"

"No I cannot Roku!" Andy retorted "Not when their committing such an insult to the food."

The female sighed and face palmed herself "You said he was eccentric but this is a whole other level Roku." She complained glaring at her sheepish companion as the fourth chuckled.

"Sorry Saya." He apologized "I forgot he could be this bad."

"Forgot he was this bad or didn't want to remember sir?" The male asked chucking again.

Chris looked oddly at the two younger ones 'Their voices seem so familiar,' he thought to himself before shaking his head 'Probably just my imagination.'

Meanwhile Cagalli and Andy had been arguing over which of the two sauces where better and ended up pouring both over Liz's Kebob, she actually proceeded to eat it "Hey this is actually pretty good." She announced and cheerfully took another bite while the two stared at her.

Roku laughed "She got ya there Andy." He teased grinning widely, before turning to the group "Sorry about Andy there, he's a bit of a fanatic when it comes to food and coffee, I'm Roku Masamune, this is my fiancé Saya Murasaki and our wing mate Quattro Bajeena."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Liz, this is my brother Chris and our friend Cagalli." Liz said introducing everyone.

However before the conversation could go any further someone shouted "For a Blue and Pure World!" and fired a missile directly at the group.

"Get down!" Andy shouted as he kicked the table over as Chris tackled Cagalli and Liz out of the way with both of the girls getting drenched in yogurt and chili sauce "Roku! Saya! Quattro!"

"We're fine!" Roku shouted back as the trio returned fire at the terrorists "Damn Blue Cosmos bastards!"

Chris cursed as he left his own gun behind, moving to grab one of the fallen guns he froze when he saw another terrorist sneaking up from behind "Watch out!" he shouted dashing forward tackling the terrorist into the wall before kneeing him in the solar plexus knocking him out cold.

As soon as the firefight started it ended with several soldiers rushing onto the scene executing the remaining survivors "Commander are you all right?" One of the soldiers asked running up to Andy who nodded.

"We're fine thanks to that kid there." He admitted nodding to Chris as he removed his hat and sunglasses revealing his face.

"Andrew Waltfield," Cagalli whispered in shock "The Desert Tiger."

ZAFT Command Headquarters

Chris, Liz and Cagalli sat in the back of Waltfield's jeep nervously as he drove them through the gates of the Central Command for Africa almost expecting for the guns to be turned on them, only for the soldiers to politely smile and nod at them as they drove by. Roku, Saya and Andrew sat in the front with Roku having his feet up on the dashboard and Quattro sat behind the teens "This is our stop," Roku exclaimed as they neared the Hanger "Nice meeting you kids!" He shouted with a wave that Saya and Quattro mimicked as they jumped off the jeep and entered the only closed Hanger.

"Really you don't need to do this," Chris protested as they pulled up to an elegant manor "We're fine."

"Nonsense!" Andy protested "Not only did I interrupt your meal but I also put you in danger and got these two girls socked in kabob sauce, it would be against my principles to just let you go in that state."

Chris just sighed realizing that he would not be able to argue with the man as they followed him inside "Aisha!" Andy shouted as a beautiful black haired women with two orange highlights and a blue one piece "These are the two I told about over the phone, mind working your magic on them?"

"Kebob sauce?" Aisha asked as the appraised the pair while Chris stood nervously in the doorway "Go on in the office and talk with Andy, I'll bring these two back in no time."

Chris hesitated for another second before walking through the open door to where Waltfield was pouring some coffee "Take a seat." He said over his shoulder and Chris moved to do so when his eyes caught something on the Mantle of the fireplace "Evidence 01," Andy said as he walked up next to Chris handing him some coffee "Not the real thing of course, but the supposed evidence of life out in the galaxy, they called it a whale, doesn't look it with those wings there."

Chris smirked a little as he took a sip of the coffee and winced "Bitter." he complained 'How could Ryu drink this stuff so often?'

Andy chuckled "Ah you're still too young to appreciate a good cup of coffee." He reassured smiling "But still bringing that back shows how far humanity has progressed, but that is the root of war." He revealed as he and Chris sat down.

"The root of war?" Chris repeated confused.

"Yeah." He confirmed before a knock on the door interrupted him as the door opened to Aisha waving in the two girls "Well well."

The two girls walked in, Cagalli reluctantly and embarrassed while Liz felt out of place in the elegant emerald green dress that emphasized her eyes(Cagalli's is the same.) "Wow." Chris said appreciatively "You two look like princesses."

Liz smiled at her brother while Cagalli blushed making the two adults laughed, the two girls were seated in short order with a coffee in their hands "You look like you grew up in dresses like that." Andy complemented Cagalli "Like that is your true appearance."

"Say what you want." Cagalli snapped back taking a sip of coffee to hide her frown while Andy chuckled.

"Almost perfect save for her mouth." He amended smiling.

"Are you really the Desert Tiger?" Cagalli accused "Or is this some kind of hobby of your to dress girls up and go into town incognito?"

Andy sighed as he set his coffee down "The one who gave you the dresses was Aisha," he explained "And what do you mean 'my hobby'? Because as you've seen I am a marked man by Blue Cosmos, as is every coordinator."

"Don't mess with me!" Cagalli shouted slamming her hands on the coffee table.

"Cagalli." Chris said in warning shooting her a look she ignored.

"How about evacuating towns and burning them!" She accused sharply.

"Would you rather they died too?" He asked before looking at Chris and Liz "You two, what do you think? What must be done for this war to be over, as pilots to mobile suits?"

All three of them started "How did you?" Cagalli questioned in shock.

Waltfield laughed as he stood shortly followed by the others as Chris moved them away from the table and behind him "It's a problem to be uptight all the time," he advised as he moved over to a end table and started rummaging through a drawer "But isn't war like some kind of sport without a time limit or scoreboard?" He asked "Then how do you decide who the victor is?" He suddenly whipped around pointing a pistol at the three of them as Chris narrowed his eyes "When the enemy is dead?"

Chris gulped and started looking for an exit or a weapon "Don't bother," Waltfield advised "Even with those berserker powers of yours you would never be able to kill us all and escape, especially since we are all like you, Coordinators."

Cagalli looked surprised at the revelation "You two are?" she whispered while the other two tensed further.

"I've seen you in combat twice," The Tiger continued "Your reflexes, your ability to change to the situation, all scream Coordinator, not even the fabled Hawk of Endymion was able to react with your timing, you two have exceptional abilities, even for Coordinators, you there," he said pointing to Chris "I bet you can sense peoples presences can't you?" He asked making Chris start "Don't be too surprised, I've had many conversations with Ryu Hisanaga after he left the EA about phenomenon's like that," He sighed "And it is because of my friendship with him that I will let you go," he said putting the gun away as he hit the call button on the Intercom "I owe Ryu a lot for what he has done, he may have believed that he will never have found his redemption, but I don't think it was even necessary." Aisha opened the door and Andrew waved them out "May we meet again on the battlefield."

Chris paused at the doorway "You're wrong," he whispered "Ryu did find his redemption, it was protecting us, and our friend, especially her." He whispered before following the other two out to a Jeep being supplied to them that had their supplies and cleaned clothing as well.

Roku leaned against the doorway after they left "Thanks Andy." He said looking over to the Tiger "I owe you one."

"No you don't," He denied "I'm just repaying the favor, Dragon." Roku simply smirked and left without another word to the Hanger.

Next Day, ZAFT Headquarters, Hanger

"God this dust-ball is even worse than I thought!" Yzack complained bitterly as they entered the Hanger.

"It's not that bad Yzack," Naleen reprimanded "There are some places here that put anything the PLANTs created to shame."

"It's true," Mark confirmed "Before the war started North America was beautiful, amazing scenery."

Yzack only snorted "They say you have to live in the desert in order to truly appreciate it." Andy said walking up with Aisha, both of them wearing their pilot suits, Roku, Saya and Quattro who were wearing their uniforms "It isn't all that bad when you know where to look, there are some nice oasis' around."

"If you don't mind I think I'll stick with an air conditioned room thank you." Dearka inputted making the group chuckle.

Mark grinned "Good to see you again Commander Waltfield," he said saluting "This is the Crueset team, Yzack Joule, Dearka Elsman, Jacques Maddox and Naleen Lynn."

Waltfield nodded to all of them "I'm Andrew Waltfield," he said returning the salute "this is my fiancé Aisha, and these two are Terminal Agents Roku Masamune, Saya Murasaki and Quattro Bajeena"

The three nodded in greeting "We better head out Andy," Roku said turning to Waltfield "We just got orders for our next assignment so we're off."

Andrew nodded as the trio walked off to a familiar pair of mobile suits "What!" Yzack yelled seeing the suits "T-those are!"

Waltfield nodded "Yup those two bought them from the Junk Guild," he explained "Then they upgraded them themselves."

"Do they know what happened to the pilots?" Mark asked almost hopefully.

The Tiger shook his head in denial "Nope," he said "They didn't ask and the Guild never said."

Mark sighed but nodded anyways "So what is the plan?" He asked as they moved to the planning area.

Archangel

Chris breathed deeply as he sat in the cockpit of his mobile suit, all work on upgrading was put on hold until after this coming battle as they would need the suits in the air 'Waltfield called me a berserker,' he thought to himself 'They were mythic warriors who went almost crazy in battle, reacting faster than before, stronger and more agile, is that what I am? A Berserker?' His thought were cut off by the Level One alarm "Chris Dante, Raven, Ready to launch!" He informed as he sealed his helmet and in short order his and Liz's suits were moved to the Catapult "Chris Dante, Raven, Taking off!"

"Liz Dante, Zephyr, Launching!"

In short order Mu was in the Catapult behind them "Mu La Flaga, Lightning Eclipse, Let's go!"

"Amuro Rey, Heading Out!"

Flying through the air the first thing Chris noticed were the multiple BuCUE and ZuOOTs on the field waiting for them "This is going to be a bitch." He predicted as he transformed into Mobile armor mode and together with Liz rained a series of missiles down upon the suits, the BuCUEs easily dodged and returned fire while the ZuOOTs mostly were unable to dodge removing them from the fight.

Mu

Mu brought out his Agni cannon and took aim at another group of ZuOOTs blasting them away before dodging a high powered beam blast announcing the arrival of Lev and the Grizzly in its Bear mode "Playing with the big guns are we?" Lev asked as his suit walked forward "Try mine on for size."

"Dammit." Mu swore as he put away the Agni cannon and drew a Heat Shotel with his shield arm as well as extending the Murasame blade "But I will not be as easy as last time."

"Maybe, Maybe not." Another voice cut in as the Phantom appeared in front of Mu with only his honed reflexes saving him from being dissected "But you are facing two of us now."

Liz

Liz snarled as she looped through the ground fire with an unreal agility before transforming to suit mode and opened up with her beam rifle destroying a couple of ZuOOTs and BuCUEs, only for her next shots to be interrupted by larger amount of missiles forcing her on the defensive as the Hawk kept up the fire adding in her sniper fire as well while the Buster combined his rifles and fired the massive blast narrowly missing the Zephyr "Dammit, of course we never get it easy do we?" She asked

"We try not to make it easy." Naleen admitted a smirked evident in her voice.

"Although we could say the same thing to you." Dearka chipped in aiming at the Zephyr once more.

Chris

Chris grunted as the Duel impacted with him forcing him to the ground where the Slash was waiting with the duel swords at the ready only for Chris to transform his suit at the last minute to escape and put some distance between them "You are always dogging our steps aren't you?" Chris asked in frustration as he transformed back and fired his rail cannons only for the pair to dodge as they attempted to close in on him while Chris kept out of range "No way am I taking both of you on close range."

"Heh," Yzack laughed "Learning aren't you?"

"Yeah, something you ought to do sometime Yzack." Marked teased as he fired off a couple of shots with his beam pistol.

Chris blinked as he realized they were bantering "Didn't you get mad at every little thing?" He asked in confusion as he tore past them firing his short ranged cannons.

"Not anymore," Yzack claimed "I learned being angry all the time will blind you to the things around you."

"Funny," Chris mused "Ryu said the same thing to me once."

Amuro

Amuro was once more facing off against Andrew Waltfield only this time the desert tiger was piloting the TMF/A-803 LaGOWE Mobile suit that fired its beam cannons at the white mobile suit, raising his own rifle he snapped off a couple of shots before rolling out of the way as the LaGOWE charged forward with its twin Beam Saber activated nearly cutting off the arm of the Nu Gundam.

Amuro was forced to continually dodge the beam cannons on the back of the commanding mobile suit as they swiveled along with the LaGOWE as it weaved through the beam fire from the Nu Gundam "A gunner in the mobile suit?" He asked quietly "Just like the Guntank."Boosting up over the mobile suit he fired straight down only for the orange mobile suit to dodge out of the way. Landing Amuro was forced to dodge again as the LaGOWE nearly bisected him in half.

'This is going to suck balls.' Amuro predicted as he squared off against the Desert Tiger.

Mountains

A trio of mobile suits sat hidden in the mountains as they watched the ensuing battle "They'll get slaughtered." Saya, the pilot of the blue-white suit claimed as she moved to launch.

"Just wait." Cautioned Roku in a green-black suit that had a large red X emblazoned on the chest "They can do better, I know they can, if not, we still have this." He reassured hefting a cannon like rifle. Saya bit her lip but relented nonetheless "They need to learn," Roku whispered "They need to learn their limits and abilities, just like you did, just like I did."

"Does it have to be this way?" Saya asked softly.

"Unfortunately," Roku confirmed with a grimace "Our greatest abilities only awaken in the stress of life or death, it is unfortunate, but that is the way it is right now."

Saya sighed as she turned back to the battle her hands gripping tightly on the controls while Quattro remained silent feeling a somehow familiar buzz in the back of his head as he watched the unknown white mobile suit.

Chris

Chris swore as he narrowly avoided another swipe from the Duel, he was approaching his limits, his mind felt overloaded as he tried to track the progress of his allies while battling with the two in front of him, unfortunately in a minute of distraction of shooting a BuCUE about to crush a jeep gave the Slash the moment he needed to cut off the gun arm of the Raven "Fuck!" Chris yelled as he drew a beam saber with his remaining arm unable to go into Armor Mode with the damage he sustained, he moved desperately as he tried to fend off the two close combat model Mobile suits only to be easily over powered "NO, I WILL NOT DIE!" He shouted as the grayish-green seed exploded in his mind. Suddenly calm he saw the Slash moving behind him as his senses reached out feeling the presences of the pilots around him as he reacted instantly flipping backwards over the Slash shocking Mark as the Raven's saber flashed twice disarming the suit before turning to the Duel as Yzack charged in the saber flashing forward only for Chris to duck under the saber and sever the legs from underneath him, just as the Raven ran out of energy using the last of it to distance himself from the pair.

Roku and Saya

"It begins." Roku whispered quietly "They are awakening."

Amuro

Amuro blinked as he felt something rush through his mind, turning his head he felt, rather than saw Chris tear through is enemies "The Hell is that!" He asked in shock as he continued to dodge the LaGOWE's Beams

Liz

Liz began to panic slightly as she desperately evaded the combined fire of the Buster and Hawk, unfortunately she could only dodge for so long as when she was going to transform the Buster nailed her suit's left leg sending her tumbling to the ground 'No,' she thought to herself 'This can't be it, I can't die here,' Images flashed through her mind, her friends, her remaining family, Kira and Ryu's final moments, Yuuka 'I will NOT allow it to end HERE!' a light green seed floated through her mind before exploding causing her pupils to dilate, flipping her suit around she landed on the one leg before boosting forward dropping her rifle as she drew her saber instead weaving through the missiles and beams with a renewed skill that amazed the two pilots as she closed in on the pair destroying their weapons before cutting the heads off and distanced herself from them before her suit collapsed from energy loss and the damage it sustained.

Mu

Mu's eyes widened as he saw the two pilots collapse and the nearby BuCUEs close in like hyenas to a corpse and moved to defend them only for the Phantom to block him as Lev tackled him in his bear form in an attempt to tear his suit to shreds with the Grizzly's beam claws only for Mu to shoot the Murasame's beam pistol at one of the arms joints close range severing it quickly before dodging another swipe from Jacques. His eye widened as he saw the BuCUEs close in on the two suits 'No, not again.' He thought to himself.

A pair of BuCUEs leapt at the Raven only for a massive pale yellow almost gold beam to hit both suits removing them from existence as all fighting froze in shock while a trio of new suits arrived, two of them hauntingly familiar to the crew of the Archangel "This is Kira Yamato calling to all Archangel units and all members of the Desert Dawn!" An extremely familiar voice called out as the Strike-like suit hovered over the Zephyr "Fall back to the Archangel! We will finish this battle!"

The entire battlefield was frozen before the fight restarted as the Strike-like suit grabbed the Zephyr handing it off to Mu as he passed by while the Dragon-like suit grabbed the Raven and handed it off to the Nu Gundam as it quickly flew it back to the Archangel.

Saya/Kira

Kira sighed in relief as her friends made it safely to the Archangel before focusing on the remaining suits on the field as targeting recitals stared appearing on her 360 degree Pananormic cockpit as a pair of plasma cannons on her suits back unfolded and she raised her beam rifle and shield that had a gatling barrel attached up before rapidly firing with her weapons quickly destroying over half of the suits currently on the field before boosting forward drawing her ever present Katana and started slashing through the remaining suits in rapid succession and grabbed the Beam Boomerang attached to the shield and threw it cutting off the legs of a pair of BuCUEs while the remainder of the forces started to panic "Like shooting fish in a barrel." She mused before ducking under an orange LaGOWE.

"Not bad Saya," Andrew Waltfield's voice broke through the radio "Or should I say Kira Yamato, Valkyrie of Heliopolis?"

Kira only smirked "Whatever you feel comfortable with Andy." She retorted making the Desert Tiger laugh.

Quattro

Quattro shot forward in his Custom Red High Mobility Type Patriot as he fired his Barracuda Assault Rifle at the approaching BuCUEs, narrowing his eyes he pulled back just as a pair of beams swept past him and turned to see the Grizzly charging at him in it's MA mode, firing his rifle he cursed as his bullets barely fazed the heavily armored suit before rolling out of the way of lumbering beast of a mobile suit. dropping his rifle and shield he quickly drew out both of his beam sabers and charged forward attack the Grizzly as it turned to charge him again.

The beam sabers burned a line across the side of the mobile suit as Quattro cursed seeing the minimal damage and continued to dodge the heavy mobile suit. "Aren't you a tough one." He commented as they squared off.

A snort was heard through the radio from Lev "The Grizzly can storm through a fortress and come out undamaged, what chance to you have?"

Quattro grinned "A big one." He admonished as he charged foroward again as the two suits continued to clash.

Roku

Roku grinned as he leveled his suits oversized rifle at one of the destroyers flanking the Lesseps and fired, while it wasn't as big as the last one it was still large enough to pierce through the destroyer obliterating it. Roku lost his smirk however when he dodged a materializing Phantom "That is a very dangerous weapon you have there." Jacques said "It's best a weapon like that be destroyed."

"I agree," Roku said simply "However there is a need for this weapon, and so long as there is a need I will use it."

"I see." Jacques responded as he readied himself while Roku placed the rifle on his back and drew out a bayoneted rifle.

The pair squared off for a minute before Jacques leapt forward clashing his scythe against the bayonet while his shield rushed to the suit only to be blocked by Roku's Murasame unit while the two suits struggled. Roku broke the struggle with a kick to the Phantom's midsection sending the suit staggering back while Roku backed up and unfolded a pair of cannons on his shoulders and fired nearly catching the Phantom's head in the blast before snapping his rifle up and fired a burst of three shots in rapid succession surprising the opposing pilot as his units arm was caught in the beams destroying it and crippling the Phantom. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor Jacques went over to the legless Duel and with the help of a ZuOOT he started dragging it back to the Lesseps as they fired the retreat signal.

Saya/Kira

Kira grunted as the LaGOWE that Waltfield was piloting slammed into her suit's shield sending her skidding back as she returned fire with her beam gatling guns forcing the LaGOWE on the move or be shredded "You can still leave Andy." Kira offered as they squared off against each other.

"Don't you know?" Waltfield replied "It never end till you enemy is dead!"

Kira sighed as he charged forward before meeting his charge with her own slashing out with her Katana destroying the cannons of the LaGOWE before dropping it and drawing out her beam rifle "Forgive me than." She whispered sadly as she pulled the trigger nailing a critical spot causing an internal reaction.

LaGOWE

"Sorry Aisha." Andy whispered as they passed the Strike-like suit.

"I chose this Andy." She whispered back as she leapt out of her seat and hugged him while their cockpit exploded.

Archangel

The bridge crew sat in shock as they witnessed the two battles, the Strike-like suit sat there for a minute staring at the wreckage before joining the Dragon-Like suit in boarding the Archangel "Allow them to board but have a security at the hanger." Murrue ordered as she headed to the door "Heliopolis students I can understand you wanting to make sure it is your friends, but let us make sure of it before you get your hopes up."

Hanger

"They look like the Strike and the Dragon," Murdoch mused to the four pilots "But they've both been heavily upgraded."

Mu nodded as he stared at the suits in a mix of anger and hope as the top of the chests open up and the three pilots came out wearing helmets, they seemed to confer with each other for a second before the descended to the ground and approached the pilots and Murrue who had just arrived, reaching up they started pulling off their helmets revealing a Kira with crimson red streaks through her hair and a Ryu with blond streaks through his as Quattro meerly smirked at the surprised expressions on everyone's faces. "Yo." Ryu said simply as he grinned "You all looked like you seen a ghost."

Amuro however was staring at Quattro in a mixture of Shock, disbelief, a slight amount of relief and some anger "Char!" He exclaimed in shock as everyone turned to him as he pointed at Quattro "You're alive!"

OoOoOoO

1- Refer to Path to Redemption Chapter Nine

OoOoOoO

Mobile Suits

Model number: TMF/A-802 P-Mod.W
Code name: BuCUE Waltfield Custom Type
Unit type: commander's custom ground assault mobile suit
Manufacturer: ZAFT (Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty)
Operator(s): ZAFT; Junk Guild; Serpent Tail
First deployment: C.E. 70
Accommodation: 2 pilots, in standard cockpit in torso
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
Armor materials: unknown
Powerplant: ultracompact energy battery, power output rating unknown
Equipment and design features: sensors, range unknown
Fixed armaments: 13-tube 400mm missile launcher, mounted on back; 2 x head spike; 4 x foreleg spike; 2 x cutter
Pilot: Andrew Waltfield