AN: Hey everybody, lyokoMARVELanime here with another exciting installment of Shield of the Cosmic Era. We've got a lot going on this time around, and there's no shortage of drama or action here. Or at least, I'm hoping there isn't.

AXL999: Hey this is only the first few chapters. There's more to come later on.

AN: Can't argue with you there, AXL my man.

Yzak: How about you two just stop yapping and get on with it. I'd like to get to the point where the story really gets interesting some time this century. You know, the part where Captain America meets...

AN: DAH! SPOILER!

AXL999: Well...night Yzak! [shoots Yzak with a couple tranquilizer darts]

Yzak: [snoring loudly like an elephant]

AN: Well, let's get on with things then, shall we?

Neither myself or AXL999 own anything from any of the Gundam or MARVEL franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.

Chapter 3: Horrors of the New Age

There was only one word to describe Steve's current thoughts at the moment: bewilderment. The reason for this was actually the young woman by the name of Lacus Clyne, because the entire time he and the Archangel's commanding officers had been speaking to her, she honestly did not show even the slightest hint of being afraid like most people would in her situation. Most would think that it was probably because she was not completely aware of her situation, but Steve could tell that Lacus had at least a little bit of an idea about what was happening around her, even if it did not seem like it, so Steve had to believe that Lacus was either really good at hiding how afraid she really was behind a cheerful voice and a small, yet bright smile or she really was as happy and hopeful as she seemed to be no matter what happened to her at least normally. The entire time they had been talking to Lacus, she had not once shown any sign of being frightened of them and only smiled and talked like she was speaking to some good friends, answering all their questions with very little hesitation.

During that conversation, they learned that Lacus's ship had actually been out in the Debris Belt doing a survey of the Junius Seven ruins for a memorial ceremony that the PLANTs were apparently planning to hold in a few days when they suddenly came into contact with another Earth Forces ship. After the crew of said ship had learned of why Lacus's ship was out there, an argument had started and quickly escalated to the point that one of the crew had placed Lacus into the life pod for her own safety. Lacus was not aware of what had happened to the other crewmembers of her ship after that point, but Steve and the other officers did not want to tell her that the ship was destroyed and she appeared to be the only survivor. That did not mean they could hide it from her, so they had the unfortunate duty of telling Lacus of the news, which did seem to put a damper on her happy mood for a few minutes until she smiled a little once again and said that she would be sure to pray that they would have a peaceful rest, something that actually brought a smile to Steve's face as well, because it truly showed that this girl really cared a great deal for others regardless of who they were or where they were from.

After that, they left Lacus in her room to rest, locking the door due to the fact that she was technically a prisoner aboard the ship even if she was a civilian, and then left things there. During the conversation, the fact that Lacus was apparently the daughter of the leader of the PLANTs had quickly come up, which told Steve that he needed to hurry up in his research on the current events in the area of politics and that Lacus would no doubt be considered as a valuable asset to the Earth Forces. Given that Lacus was the daughter of someone in such a high position in the PLANTs, it honestly would not surprise Steve that the Earth Forces would quickly use it to their advantage in ending the war, and the mere thought of using a civilian girl like Lacus as a hostage did sicken Steve, but as a soldier he was more than able to understand that such things were likely to happen and were unavoidable unless something happened that allowed them to return Lacus to her people before they reached the Lunar Base.

Such thoughts had been plaguing Steve's mind quite a bit, keeping him from doing much good work, so he decided to wander the corridors of the ship for a bit in order to clear his head. It was not much of a peaceful stroll, as the word had quickly spread through the ship that Captain America was alive, well, and now a member of the ship's crew as well as the ship's newest mobile suit pilot, so nearly every time he encountered a group of people, those same people would stop and stare in awe and wonder at him while sometimes whispering in astonishment over the fact that they had actually seen him. Steve could not help but smile a little at how highly all these people seemed to regard him despite the fact that he was supposedly just a legend to the people of this era, and while he did not mind the attention, he would be lying if he said that he did not honestly wish he had something to wear at the moment other than his uniform that so many people recognized. Natarle and Murrue had both offered to let him have an Earth Forces uniform, but Steve politely declined saying that he preferred his own uniform over anything else if he had to wear a uniform at all. Still, he would not deny that some casual clothes would be rather beneficial, at least in the way of allowing him to wash the red, white, and blue suit or if he wanted to avoid such attention.

As these thoughts and others ran through his mind, Steve suddenly spotted a sudden dash of pink in the hallway, and upon glancing up, he saw that Lacus had actually left her room and was now looking around the ship. This actually surprised Steve, as he was sure that the door to the pink princess's room was locked, but he quickly shook it off as something to wonder about later and immediately moved to lead her back to her room. He had almost caught up to Lacus when he heard what sounded like an argument coming from the mess hall, and from the sounds of the voices, it did not take long to figure out that the ones arguing were Miriallia and Flay. Seeing that Lacus was headed in that direction, Steve elected to hang back a little and see how the argument would play out.

"No way. I'm not gonna go anywhere near a Coordinator," Steve heard Flay say in a tone that clearly meant she would accept any arguments. A minute later, that tone of voice became a little quieter, so he was not able to hear what she had said next, but he could tell that she did say something.

"Flay," he then hear Miriallia snap in reprimand.

There was another moment of silence before Cap heard Flay say, "You're different Kira, I know that much for sure, but that girl is associated with Z.A.F.T." This served to tell Steve that Kira was in the room as well, but was more than likely just keeping quiet and staying out of the way as best as he could, even as Flay continued on with her small rant. "Coordinators…they're not only smart, but they're gifted with other things like better reflexes. What would happen if I were attacked? Right?"

"Flay Allster," Miriallia then snapped again.

Steve ended up tuning out the rest of the conversation as he heard Kuzzey step in and try to reason with Flay, for what little good it did when he noticed that Lacus had just reached the entrance of the mess hall. Before Steve could do anything, Lacus had already spoken up, getting the attention of all four of the kids in the room and silencing the argument completely, clearly indicating that she was the source for the conversation and the subsequent argument. "I apologize if I caused a commotion," Lacus said, thinking that her sudden appearance was the cause of all the worry that the four were going through. "I was just thirsty and really hungry, that's all. Would this be considered the dining room? I'd be very grateful for a bite to eat."

"Hey, hold on a minute," Kira told Lacus, trying to get her to stop before she ended up doing something to further upset the situation, though it did not seem that Lacus heard him.

"This is nuts. Who would let someone from Z.A.F.T. wander on her own," Flay demanded, none of them noticing when Steve had moved to stand in the doorway and look on what was happening.

"But I didn't mean to leave without permission. I even called out so that one of you might hear me," Lacus insisted, quickly demonstrating how she had called out and what she said immediately afterwards. Steve just barely suppressed any need to laugh at the girl's actions, as it did seem rather ridiculous, but he could do nothing about the amused smile that reached his face. "Let me assure you, I am not with Z.A.F.T.," Lacus then continued. "Z.A.F.T. is the name of the forces. You see, it actually stands for Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty."

"That makes no difference! You're still one of those Coordinators," Flay shouted over Lacus just as she was finishing, causing Steve's smile to instantly vanish and be replaced by a solid frown of disapproval.

Lacus did not seem to let this bother her though as she calmly argued, "There is a significant difference. You're right of course that I'm not a Natural like you, but I don't belong to the forces." Lacus then paused to take in Flay's appearance before she slowly added, "And you're not with the forces either, are you? So if you think about it, you and I are the same."

Steve had to admit that the girl's logic may have seemed naïve to some people, but in reality it was actually very accurate, as from what he had heard, Flay's father was a person in the Earth Alliance's government as well just like Lacus's father was, so there really was not that much difference between the two. He found that such an assumption was much more wrong than he could have realized when Lacus tried to introduce herself and extended a hand of friendship to Flay, only for the redhead to immediately shout out, "Just keep your distance! You must be nuts. Why should I shake hands with somebody like you? I don't want any of you Coordinators acting friendly with me!"

That was enough to stun everyone into frozen silence, as it seemed that Flay had forgotten just how much of an effect such a statement would have on Kira, while the girl herself simply huffed and turned away, clearly not caring if she had hurt anyone's feelings while never realizing that her words and actions were only getting a certain super soldier all the more angry. She quickly found out the latter fact soon enough when Steve finally made his presence known and leveled a very angry look at the redhead before he slapped her, much to everyone's shock. "That was out of line," Steve scolded. "If you don't want to like an enemy force then that's fine, but don't take it out on the people that make up most of it, or the civilians who happen to be on the same side. More importantly, I was under the impression that such childish prejudices were dropped years ago, but it seems that the world hasn't changed as much as I thought. The only difference is that there's one more prejudice than there used to be."

Steve then paused for a moment to let that sink in, but it did not seem to be doing so all that much, at least in the case of Flay, while the others were clearly thinking over his words with much attention. Steve then took Flay's stubbornness as a sign to continue as he added, "This young lady has done absolutely nothing to antagonize you, and yet you just decide to lash out at her over something that was beyond her control. Doing something like that only makes you into nothing more than a bully, and I doubt I need to tell you that no one likes people like that. Now, I suggest you apologize to our guest for your actions and your attitude, and I expect you to do more than simply say it like you mean it."

Flay just stared at the captain like he was out of his mind for a minute before she turned away and silently sat back down in her seat, clearly saying that she was going to make no such apologies, so Steve just sighed in irritation before looking from the untouched tray of food, to Lacus, and then finally to Kira before he walked over to the young man and said, "Mind helping me escort Miss Clyne back to her quarters? I'm sure she'd appreciate the company."

Kira silently nodded to Steve before grabbing the tray of food that was meant for Lacus and then following the captain with Lacus out of the mess hall, leaving Miriallia and Kuzzey to deal with Flay in the meantime. In truth, Kira was rather grateful for Steve's intervention and for what he did, as Flay's words did hurt him quite a bit, much more so than they seemed to have Lacus, but that was likely because Flay was supposed to be one of Kira's friends like Miriallia and the others while Lacus had only just met the redhead. Still, he had to admit that he had not expected Captain America to stand up for Coordinators like that, especially when you add in the fact that he slapped Flay, but after thinking about it for a minute, it began to seem like less and less of a surprise, as he had heard Steve tell Garcia back at Artemis that he did not like bullies, and this just proved that he clearly meant it. Seeing that Captain America disagreed with the way Flay and likely others acted towards Coordinators in general made Kira feel that maybe others would take that as a sign that something was wrong with that kind of attitude sometime in the near future, but at this point it was only something to dream about.

"Must I stay here in this room again," Lacus suddenly asked, bringing Kira out of his thoughts, as he realized that they were now in Lacus's room without him even realizing it. Looking over at Steve, he saw that the super soldier had a small, knowing smirk on his face which led Kira to think that Cap had gotten the wrong idea about what Kira was previously thinking of a minute ago.

Kira just gave a mental shake at Steve's suspicions before he smiled at Lacus and said, "Yes, you have to stay."

"That's just no fun," Lacus protested. "I'm all alone here. I'd much prefer to enjoy my meal over there while talking with everybody."

"I'm afraid that wouldn't be possible Miss," Steve informed Lacus. "This ship belongs to the Earth Forces, and from what I've seen, there's a lot of people who don't place a high regard on the status of Coordinators whether they're soldiers or civilians."

Kira wished that Cap was wrong about that, but he could not deny what the facts were, so he felt that he had to add, "Simply put, the two sides are enemies."

"That's a shame, don't you think," Lacus asked as Haro bounced up into her lap. Neither Steve nor Kira responded to her thoughts, but they did not deny that it was true either, which led Lacus to smile and say, "But so far the two of you have both been very kind to me. I'm grateful."

Steve nodded in reply to Lacus's thanks for that while Kira just blushed before he shyly revealed, "Well…you see, the truth is…I also happen to be a Coordinator."

"Is that right," Lacus hummed in response. "Well, you know the reason you are kind. It's because you are you." Kira immediately perked up a little at this, which made Lacus feel that he had cheered up a bit, which gave her the opportunity to ask, "If you don't mind, would you please tell me your name?"

"Uh…I-it's…it's Kira. Kira Yamato," Kira stuttered while absently raising a hand to the back of his neck in nervousness, much to Steve's amusement.

"Well thanks so much Mister Yamato, and you too Captain Rogers," Lacus nodded in reply to both.

"It's our pleasure Miss Clyne, and please, call me Steve," the super soldier insisted.

"Very well then. In that case, you can just call me Lacus," the songstress told Steve, to which he nodded in acceptance before standing up and moving to leave along with Kira. As soon as they had walked out the door, they saw Kira's friend Sai approaching, clearly appearing as though he were looking for one of them.

"Miri told me what happened," Sai revealed, bringing a damper on Kira's previously uplifted mood. "Don't let get to you, okay," Sai then reassured his friend. "I'll have a talk with Flay later."

"You can if you'd like son, but sooner or later that young lady is going to have to face the harsh reality that her attitude is only going to ostracize her from others or even lead her to do something she will more than likely regret later on," Steve told Sai. The glasses wearing boy just looked at the captain in confusion, not entirely understanding what he meant, but Steve did not have the time to explain at the moment as he did have work to return to after he got a small meal for himself as well.

The three men were all about to leave when they suddenly heard a very beautiful singing voice ring out from Lacus's room, drawing all of their attention as the song that was being sung continued. In Steve's opinion, it was a rather lovely tune, and it was quite clear by the way that Lacus was singing that her whole heart was in every single word as she sung. This fact seemed to be noticed by Kira as well, as he soon gained a peaceful smile after listening for a few minutes, until Sai suddenly spoke up. "What a beautiful voice," the young man said. "But I wonder, is that voice the result of fiddling around with her genes?"

"I doubt that, son," Steve immediately argued, grabbing both boys' attention. Seeing that the two were confused, Steve just smiled and remarked, "Clearly you never heard that a lot of singers from the Twenty-First Century were rumored to never use their actual singing voices, at least in the case of the ones that were in movies, and such. You don't need to tamper with genetics to have a good singing voice or be good in anything. Sometimes you just have to be that naturally gifted or put in a good deal of effort in order to be that good."

Kira smiled in thanks to Cap for his comment, knowing that Steve had said it as a way to prevent him from feeling a little upset by Sai's previously voiced thoughts, and then joined both his friend and the super soldier in returning to the mess hall so that they could eat as well before returning to their duties.

By the time that Kira and Steve had finished eating their meals and returned to the hangar to do some maintenance work on their mobile suits, the Archangel had long since left the Debris Belt behind. By the time they returned to the ship's hangar, news had spread throughout the ship that the Archangel had received a coded message from the Earth Forces' Eighth Fleet, which said that they were sending an advance fleet to meet up with them. Kira was very glad to hear this, as it meant that the Archangel would soon receive the crew members that it had been lacking for so long and that soon enough he would no longer have to worry about piloting the Strike and killing anyone like he was another soldier ever again. If he were being honest though, Kira was actually a little sad that his adventure on the Archangel would soon be over, but only because he was just getting to know Steve as more than just the legendary Captain America, and he would not deny that being able to spend time just talking to said legend was also really cool. The only other real reason he would have for wanting to stay with the Archangel though, was that there was also a chance that he would see his friend, Athrun Zala again, especially considering that the last time they met was during that last battle they had before the ship had reached Artemis, but neither reasons were enough to make Kira even consider fully volunteering to fight in the military.

Steve actually understood that Kira did not want to stay with the military and that the young Coordinator would be more than happy to leave the Archangel and the life of a soldier behind the first chance he had unless given a good reason not to leave, so he did not begrudge Kira for his wish to no longer keep fighting while hoping that Kira's fight would be over when they finally met up with the advance fleet. Still, Steve could not help but feel that there were some things on Kira's mind that the boy probably thought he could not resolve unless he stayed with the Archangel, but since such matters would be of a personal nature, Steve did not bother to pry. This was also partially because Steve had a bad feeling about what would happen when they finally made it to the rendezvous point, a feeling that he could only associate to ones he had during some of his toughest battles in the past, and he did not want to worry the young man more than necessary.

Despite not wanting to worry Kira, Steve still felt that he should at least make sure Kira did not start making any plans to depart so soon, knowing that things could drastically change in an instant during a war, so that was what led him to float over to the Strike's open cockpit where Kira was working diligently on the mobile suit's OS and then wait for Kira to pause before saying anything. "What's up, Cap," Kira finally asked after a couple of minutes.

"I just thought I should let you know that even if there is a chance that this will likely be the end of the war for you, it would be a good idea to make sure you're ready to launch again just in case, even if it is only for one last time," Steve told the young man.

Kira stared at the captain in silence for a minute before he finally nodded in reply and began to continue his work. Steve was about to turn and move away when Kira suddenly asked a question that made him pause for a minute. "Do you think I should stay and keep fighting? Some of the others around here seem to think I should, so I was wondering if you thought the same thing as well," the young man said.

Steve looked back at Kira, and it did not take more than a minute after making eye contact with the young boy for Steve to realize that Kira was really desperate to know what he honestly thought that the Coordinator should do. To be honest, Steve had not had as much experience with either watching or fighting alongside Kira to really give that much of an honest answer outside of that battle at Artemis, so he found it a little hard to answer Kira's question based off of how well Kira could fight, but that did not mean that Steve did not have an answer at all. Steve let the silence between them linger for another minute before he finally replied, "When I was trying to enlist in the army back in the days of World War II, I wasn't the super soldier you see before you now, but even so, I wasn't doing it because I felt I had something to prove. I was doing it because there were men laying down their lives and I felt I had no right to do any less than them. Not only that, but I didn't enlist because I wanted to kill anyone. I just didn't like bullies no matter where they're from, and that same fact is still true today. If you want to keep fighting then that's your decision and no one else's, and if anyone disagrees with that decision then that's their problem. Whatever you decide, I'll support you in that decision and I'll honestly think that your decision will make you stronger in one way or another."

Kira thought over the captain's words for a minute, letting them run through his head as he processed them, until he finally looked Steve in the eye again and nodded in thanks before returning to his work while Steve did the same in the case of his own mobile suit. When Kira finally finished he left the hangar to return to his quarters and start gathering up his things for when he and his friends finally departed, while Steve on the other hand kept working. This was not because Steve was not skilled enough to handle doing a little programming, it was just not at the same level as Tony Stark or some of the other geniuses he had ever known so he was a bit slower than Kira or any of those others were. When he finally did finish, Steve moved to the locker room where all the pilot suits were kept so that he could run a quick check over his equipment, demonstrating just how much of a vigilant soldier he was to any who saw this, and he was just finishing up with polishing his shield when the ship's alarm sounded and he heard an announcement saying, "All hands, Level One battle stations. I repeat, all hands, Level One battle stations."

Steve may have been confused by why the ship was preparing to go to battle stations, but he was not so confused that he did not listen right away, so he quickly grabbed the helmet he wore the last time he went out in his mobile suit, activating the blue visor that allowed him to use its built-in oxygen mask as soon as it was strapped on, slid his shield onto his back, and immediately jumped into the Patriot. As soon as he was strapped into his mobile suit, Steve immediately contacted the bridge and asked, "What's going on?"

"The advance fleet is under attack by Z.A.F.T.," Miriallia reported to the captain while Steve quickly began running through the Patriot's start-up systems. "Despite receiving orders to retreat from the area, the captain decided that we would engage the enemy, seeing as we recognize the Z.A.F.T. Forces that were attacking as the ones that have been pursuing us since Heliopolis and who stole the other prototype mobile suits that the Earth Forces were developing."

"Understood," Steve replied as he felt his machine being moved over to the catapult, where it would be equipped with its usual armament before launching. "What's the enemy's fighting strength?"

"I know this may not mean much to you, Cap, but the enemies you'll be facing are a Nazca-class ship, a number of GINNs, and the stolen mobile suit that's known as the Aegis," Miriallia reported. She then paused for a moment to give Mu the all-clear to launch before speaking to Cap again, saying, "Steve, Flay's father is with the advance fleet, so please make sure you all do your best to make sure that…"

Steve looked at Miriallia for a moment, understanding what the girl was asking him, but he knew all too well that nothing in war was ever guaranteed, so he did not intend to make any promises on the matter and simply replied, "I'll do my best to make sure we save as many people as we can, Miriallia. That's all I can promise."

Miriallia nodded in acceptance of this and allowed for Steve to finish making all the final checks on his mobile suit's launch preparations. When the super soldier was finally ready and Miriallia confirmed that the way was clear, Steve closed his eyes for a minute, mentally preparing himself for the battle ahead which would officially see him entering another war, and then snapped his eyes open once more as he announced, "Steve Rogers, Captain America. Patriot is launching now!"

A minute later, the red and blue machine was soaring the air alongside Mu's Mobius Zero mobile armor, with the Strike following up from close behind them, all of them ready for the battle that lay ahead.

As much as he hated to admit it, Athrun was finding the battle a little too easy for his liking. He could not argue what Kira had said to him a while back when the two had met once again back at Heliopolis, as he truly did hate everything about war, but he felt that he had to fight as a soldier after he lost his mother at Junius Seven, and that was why he was now a Z.A.F.T. red that was sent to secure the Earth Forces mobile suits that were being developed at Heliopolis. He knew full well that their actions had inadvertently caused the collapse of the colony, and they never intended for that to happen, but it still did and there was nothing that could be done about it now. Truthfully, he wished that they were not dealing with this battle at all, as their original mission was to search for and locate Lacus after her ship went missing.

Athrun was especially worried about the pink songstress, as the two of them were engaged to eventually be married, so he was really hoping that nothing would keep him or the ship he was assigned to from doing everything they could to find her, but when their sensors had picked up the small fleet of Earth Forces vessels, it did not take long for Commander Le Creuset to figure out that the fleet was sent to meet up with the Earth Forces Legged Ship, and since it was a serious target for their forces and his team, Athrun could not deny that ignoring this would be unwise, so now here he was, piloting the Aegis against a small fleet of enemy ships and mobile armors that were barely able to hold a candle to what was once their own machine and the rest of the Z.A.F.T. mobile suits that were with them.

Athrun was just about to bring the red mobile suit around to take out another target when his proximity sensors suddenly went off, alerting him to something that was heading his way. Athrun barely had time to so much as turn when he was suddenly hit a red, white, and blue blur, knocking him off balance just as it rebounded between some of the other GINNs and did the same while occasionally causing some to lose their grip on their weapons. When the blur finally stopped, it had ended up returning to the hands of the blue and red mobile suit that he had heard about in the report from Nicol and the others, revealing the blur to be a large shield that was colored red, white, and blue with a silver star in the middle. Before anything could be done in response to the new arrival's attack, the machine had brought up the weapon it was carrying and fired a quick volley of beam blasts at a pair of GINNs that were close to Athrun's position. Thankfully, neither of the GINNs were destroyed, but they did suffer some significant damage in their attempt to dodge the attack, and that had left them wide open for when the red and blue machine snapped the blade of its weapon out and slashed through them with relative ease. The Vesalius then opened fire on the machine, but it merely raised its shield and deflected that attacks with ease before tossing the shield once again, this time right through the ship's exposed weapons. As the shield was soaring through space, some of Athrun's comrades thought that this was their chance to hit their new opponent, but that turned out to be a big mistake as a Mobius Zero mobile armor suddenly blasted onto the scene and took out of the GINNs with its gun barrels, while the red and blue mobile suit evaded the others' attacks with the skill of an acrobat and then landed a few hard punches and kicks into some of them while using the sword to fully disable the machine before it finally caught the shield as it returned to its arm.

Athrun found himself unable to do anything but watch in awe at how skilled the pilot of the new mobile suit seemed to be, as it seemed like he was operating his machine in a way that seemed like it were responding to the very movements that the pilot himself would make if he were fighting head-on, but he did not watch for long, as he quickly spotted the Strike approaching him with its rifle ready to fire. Not wasting another second, Athrun immediately maneuvered the Aegis out of the way before firing his own rifle at Kira's mobile suit just as Kira had done the same, both of them missing their targets by mere inches. Eventually, the two ceased trying to hit one another with their long range weapons, and immediately switched to clashing with their beam sabers, each of the pilots grunting in frustration as they clashed with each other.

From the Patriot, Steve caught a quick glimpse of Mu's Zero receiving a hard hit that forced the lieutenant to return to the ship, along with the last remaining ship from the advance fleet receiving damage to some of its weapons, but paid it little mind as he had his own battle to focus on. In truth, he was finding his skills in piloting the Patriot to be much more efficient than when he first drove the machine, and he was actually a bit surprised that he was able to make it fight so much like he did, but that was something that he decided he would think about later as he brought the machine's shield up to block another blast from one of the remaining GINNs and returned fire with his sword-rifle. He then made the Patriot perform a quick flip to avoid being hit by a rocket that one of the remaining few GINNs had fired, and then tossed the Patriot's shield at the offending machine, knocking the GINN's weapon out of its hand and throwing it off balance long enough for the Patriot to swoop in and deal a final blow with its sword. After snapping the sword back into rifle mode, the Steve then fired a few round from both his machine's Vulcan guns and the rifle itself on the approaching enemies as he retrieved the Patriot's shield from where it had stopped and then used the shield to either slam into or slice through some of the enemies that he was facing. He was about to move on to his next target when something terrible finally happened.

A massive explosion lit up the darkness of space, and he turned to see that it resulted from the enemy ship being able to land one last shot from its damaged weapons on the last ship of the advance fleet, causing the vessel to explode in a blaze of fire and smoke, leaving only himself, the Strike, and the Archangel as Z.A.F.T.'s remaining opponents. Steve then prepared to bring the Patriot around and eliminate the two GINNs that were making a run for the ship, when he was cut off by the Aegis's energy cannon. The mobile suit itself then appeared before the captain while the Strike moved to float alongside it, ready for action against the red Gundam, but before any of the three could make so much as one move, an announcement was made from the Archangel that horrified Kira and disgusted Steve.

"Attention Z.A.F.T. Forces, this is the warship Archangel of the Earth Alliance Forces," Natarle's voice called out. "Presently under the protective custody of this ship is PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Seigel Clyne's daughter, Lacus Clyne. By chance we came across a life pod with her inside, and we brought her aboard as a humanitarian gesture. However, should you decide to attack this vessel, we shall consider that an abandonment of your responsibility to protect Miss Clyne. We will then be forced to take matters into our own hands."

Steve then found himself snarling in disgust of Natarle's actions, as while he understood that sometimes it was necessary to use such tactics in a war, it still infuriated him to even think of the notion of using a rescued person as a hostage bargaining chip, especially when the person in question was just a young civilian. Apparently, his distaste for these actions was shared by the pilot of the Aegis, as he heard Athrun shout, "What monsters you are! Using a rescued civilian as a hostage…so, do you still feel justified in fighting by their side with these cowards, Kira?"

"Athrun, I…" Kira tried to say, but he was too shocked by what they had all just heard from the Archangel to really say anything in his defense. He was extremely thankful that someone else was able to.

"Believe me, soldier, it was never our intention to use her as a hostage, and we're both just as upset with this as you are," Captain America said over the same frequency, leading Athrun to pause for a moment and wonder who this person that was now speaking was before he just snarled and promised that he would rescue Lacus as he turned the Aegis around to return to his ship.

Steve could only watch as the red mobile suit departed for a few seconds until he told Kira that they should return as well, to which Kira could only nod in response before he turned the Strike towards the Archangel. As they were returning, Steve glanced at Kira's machine for a minute as he wondered to himself, How does that pilot know Kira, and why did it sound like they knew each other personally?

AN: In all honesty, I knew all along that Cap was not going to be a very big fan of Flay's attitude towards Lacus and Coordinators in generla. In fact, originally he was going to react a little more harshly and say that Flay was acting no better than the Nazis of WWII, but AXL999 and I talked it over and figured that it was a little too soon to be making such a harsh judgment on that so I dialed it back a bit to what you read here.

In addition to this, I did not specify how many GINNs were in the battle this time because I felt it would be too much trouble to try and effectively keep track of them while allowing Cap to show off the skills he has in the Patriot. I know it may seem like Cap's learning how to pilot a mobile suit a little too quickly, but given that he's a soldier, it really should not come as that great of a surprise that he's picked up on such tactics so quickly, especially when you consider that he's had plenty of time to read up on how his machine and its armaments work.

Finally, I wanted to make it a little more clear how the Patriot was customized specifically for Captain America by having it fight in a way similar to how Cap would fight, and I really hope that I did it justice, because the whole time I was writing the action sequences for the Patriot I was picturing some of the fight scenes that Cap was in from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, along with a number of the other movies from the MARVEL Cinematic Universe. Now that all that's been said and done, Onto the Preview!...

Steve discovers the full truth of Kira's history with Athrun, and after learning the full reason for Athrun's anger at hearing that Lacus was being used as a hostage, he assists Kira in bringing the songstress back to Z.A.F.T. Though it does lead to a not-so-fond farewell between friends, Kira does not have long to worry as the ship is soon attacked once again by Athrun's teammates. How will the super soldier and the young Coordinator fare in this new battle, and just what will await them in the events that are still to come? Next time on Shield of the Cosmic Era…Chapter 4: Test of Warriors. Show that potential that has yet to be unleashed Gundam and Captain America!

Please read and review, and I'll see ya next time, Gundam believers!