Lhasa, Tibet

"Kalsang!" The boy heard his mother call out on as the noon sun looked down upon the city. He looked back and ran to where his mother was sitting to catch her breath. "Not so fast child..."

"Sorry mother..." The boy apologized, watching his mother caress her enlarged belly. "Sorry brother and sister..."

"We forgive you." She said with a knowing smile. "Now your father on the other hand..."

Kalsang's eyes widened in horror. "Please don't tell father..."

"I won't." Kalsang gave a small cheer as his mother stood up and took a second to balance herself. "Now come on! Or we'll miss Father Choden's mass."

"Yes mother." Father Choden was a nice man from Yanjing who'd been friends with his father. Kalsang couldn't read most of his books since they were either in English or Latin. But he hoped to be able to once he started learning about other languages like English, Japanese or Chinese.

His father Rabten was a staff officer in the Earth Federation, so he couldn't be home as much as Kalsang would have liked. So it was up to Kalsang to look after his pregnant mother and soon, he'd have to help her care for his twin siblings. The doctor said that one was a boy and the other a girl.

Personally, Kalsang hoped for two brothers.

As he walked alongside his mother, he suddenly felt a small tingling in his body. He looked up at the noon sun above and swore that he saw a light blue blink somewhere past it. Kalsang rubbed out his eyes and looked back up, only to see nothing at all. So he decided not to pay it any more mind.

And then it happened.

Kalsang felt everything and yet he felt nothing. A great wind poured through and around his body, stripping him first of his clothing, then his skin shriveled and then his eyes melted within his sockets. His flesh and bones merged as one until what remained of his body became a standing dried statue which soon blew away into white hot dust.

Choden sat in prayer and the name of God was the last word he uttered. His soul departed from his body within a second, sparing him and his family of the pain they would have endured as they were stripped of flesh and bone and reduced to ash.

Rabten heard the great crash which was destroying his home, but he saw nothing within the Federation bunker. Everyone around him merely stood still in shock and terror until the storm found them. Then many tons of steel and concrete vaporized into a hot steam which caught him. He tried to scream, but the steam entered his lungs and burned him from the inside as well as the outside, choking and burning him until death claimed him mere seconds later.

Tashi and Tenzin were now joined in body as they had been in heart and soul. Despite the terror and the great fire which consumed them, they were willing to face their death and the oblivion which would follow together.

A disciple of the Dalai Lama sat in mediation upon the mountains south of Tibet, watching a mighty fireball rise up in the sky and send forth a mighty wave across the earth. Once a developer of weapons and death, the disciple knew well that he was doomed to die. That which had destroyed Tibet had impacted the earth with the force of 10,000 nuclear warheads. Already, he could see that within 60 kilometers was pancaked under a massive weight. The great weight had then exploded into a massive fireball which sent heat and energy across a 120 kilometer radius.

Bodies were reduced to flesh and bone, buildings disintegrated into dust and powder, and all else that remained was thrown and sent through the air by the force of a great pressurized hurricane that ran about the earth for a hundred and sixty-two miles.

The Force of the happening was so great and terrible that cities and buildings as far as four hundred miles were destroyed and shaken from their foundations. Vehicles lifted and thrown upon each other; glass, debris, fire and blood pelted millions; and the air itself became a moving wall before which everything bent.

Everything except for the mountains.

Though they were shaken and avalanches threw rock and stone upon the valleys below, the great range of the himalayas had seen worst cataclysms and still endured. Those living behind the great mountains were unknowingly protected, believing that the shaking of their homes and the ground below them was the sign of a minor earthquake.

The disciple was not one of those protected.

As he exhaled his last breath, the great wave of air and power threw his body up many hundreds of feet slammed him into the side of the mountains.


Balearic Islands, Spain

"No biting!" Sayla laughed as an embarrassed Amuro pushed her out of bed. "What?"

"You were all over me with your teeth!" Sayla stood up and grabbed her breasts to show all of the spots were Amuro's teeth left their mark. "So man up and let me get even!"

"I'm not letting you bite off little Amuro!" Sayla laughed more and lied across Amuro's lap, who smiled despite his annoyance. "What the hell am I gonna do with you?"

"The same thing that you've been doing to me for years..." Amuro leaned down and tenderly nibbled Sayla's neck. "Hypocrite..."

"Guilty as charged." Amuro brought his lips onto Sayla's, massaging her tongue with his own as he held her against his chest. He gasped when he felt Sayla grab his erect pecker with more than a small amount of strength. "Sore about losing last night-"

"Guess I can get an early start." With no objection from Amuro, Sayla bent down and swallowed his shaft all the way up to the hilt. His thoughts went to very happy places as he gasped and soothed his hand over Sayla's hair, quietly urging her to go faster.

"You're the reason I'm dead." Miss Matilda rose up to his face holding something in her mouth. Amuro's joy turned to terror as she opened and revealed a crimson river that sprayed all over Amuro's face.

"So things have gone to shit and you need to-" Kai Shidan grimaced and took out a camera just to capture this scene. Not for lustful purposes, but so he could humiliate his friends at the right moment. With Amuro enjoying Sayla so much that he was staring at nothing and Sayla enjoying Amuro too much to bother looking up, Kai snapped a silent picture and then sat in a lounge chair to relax. "So where's the butler?"

Amuro blinked and looked over to the new guest. "Kai!" He gasped and Sayla shook from Amuro's climax while having one of her own. "How long have you-"

"Less than a minute." To his credit, Kai looked away from the couple and turned on the tv to see a commercial about some pocket monster craze in Japan. "Don't let me stop you."

Sayla stood up and took a deep and loud swallow before happily looking to Kai. "Hey Kai! You're lucky that Mr. Irons is out on his morning jog."

Amuro turned to Sayla in confusion. "Sayla...why are you being so casual about Kai breaking in while we were having sex?"

"Cause she knows that I left you both alone last night." Kai remarked and chuckled when Amuro covered his crotch and quickly grabbed one of Sayla's boobs to hide it and the other one. "Yeah, too late for that. I already saw everything."

Amuro held out his hand. "The camera."

Kai snapped his fingers and tossed his camera to Amuro. "So much for getting even."

"Really people?" Amuro gasped in surprise when Fraw Kobeyashi entered the room and hung up her long-coat. "You should make your bed when guests are present!"

"You stormed in without invitation-"

"Didn't have time, you both surprised us." Sayla answered to Amuro's continued shock. "Relax Amuro, Fraw's seen us have sex before."

"I don't need to be reminded." Fraw remarked, still a tad bitter about that incident on White Base when a younger Fraw walked in on her ex-sweetheart pounding Sayla in the Gundam's cockpit. The heartbreak made the memory last longer than it should have. "Also, the honeymoon's over anyway. I got a call from Mirai, Bright's calling all hands on deck."

"Last I checked, we were on vacation after a job well done." Amuro countered and saw Fraw exhale and sit right next to the still naked Amuro. "You don't need to be this close..."

Fraw pinched her nose. "You haven't seen the news."

"What news?" Amuro inquired and looked to Kai who wasn't offering any help. "Well? What happened?"

"Federation HQ got wiped off the map." Bright Noah as he entered the room, further annoying Sayla and embarrassing Amuro. "At least that's the story right now. We don't know exactly what hit Lhasa except that it cratered the city and everything else within 700 kilometers of Lhasa. So get dressed, get washed and come with me, the Top Brass wants the brightest and smartest to figure out who did this and how they did it."

"Char..." Amuro bitterly said, he just knew that this was Char's revenge. That was too easy of a guess. "What's the damage this attack?"


Earth Sphere Federation Council

"Forty and a half million civilians are dead." Supreme Commander Tomino reported to the assembly of generals, admirals, and other high ranked officers and officials in attendance. Several chairs were empty while others were occupied by holograms of those who could not be present in person. "One hundred and fifty thousand Federation personnel were incinerated in the blink of an eye. Tibet is in a state of emergency due to tectonic damage to the region and millions wounded or displaced. Every other nation on Earth is in a state of panic and they're putting all of the blame on me."

Something that got on Tomino's nerves significantly. In fact, Tomino still remembered verbally bitch-slapping the UN chairmen when they accused him negligence. Tomino went into great detail about how this incident was an unknown factor that no one could have prepared against and that moving the Federation's command staff to another classifed location was the only reason why Lhasa's destruction didn't leave the Federation headless.

That said, Tomino lamented that he didn't have Lhasa evacuated more quickly. If he had, less chairs at this council would be empty. Instead, all of those Federation personnel had been killed by a destructive force approaching 1000 gigatons of destructive force which created a massive 690 km blast radius that wasted much of the area. Lhasa was currently nothing but a wasteland dotted by a 60 kilometer crater; the Bhuta province had been devastated; A powerful shockwave had caused great damage to lives and infrastructure in Assam, Nagaland, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Tripur and Manipur; and committed relatively less devastation across half of Bangledesh, Nepal, the rest of Tibet and a significant part of South-West China.

"So can someone please explain to me what just happened?" Tomino waited for someone to break the silence that followed his question. Unsurprisingly, no one was brave, stupid or bold enough to speak first. "Who hit us? How did they hit us? What did they hit us with? Why couldn't we stop them? Can they do this again? When will they do this again? And where will they strike next?"

"All of our resources are being put towards answering your question Supreme Commander-"

"But you don't have an answer now. Do you Solomon?" Tomino looked right at Admiral Solomon whom paled and uncomfortably shifted his gaze away from the Supreme Commander. "Anyone else?"

"The skies above the planet have been analyzed to find trace amounts of element zero." Vice Admiral Maxwell Reed reported with surprise. "This compound is not native to the Sol System and is harmless unless acted upon by an electric current. However, first response units have made confidential surveys of survivors and determine that 20% of all survivors were irradiated with element zero during or after the Lhasa Bombing."

"It's not just the people, ground zero of the impact crater is filled with very active element zero. Or eezo as its called by the Covenant." Major General John D. Rico reported as a video of the crater was displayed to the meeting. In the video, a very deep crater was seen smoking with blue electric currents dancing back and forth through ground zero. "The compound reactions are expected to die off as energy is expended, but the ground there will remain unstable for no less than ten years."

"That's insane." Admiral Steven Hackett's hologram gasped in shock. "My scientists test and confirm that even the most dense eezo fallout should dissipate within 4 months. How can this energy remain erratic for ten years?"

"It's possible that another substance is acting along with the eezo and catalyzing its effects." Commodore Serin Osman answered. "However, further research will be required to confirm this hypothesis."

"Dr. Strangelove, you have a new project." Tomino said to the old and erratic doctor who deviously smiled at the Supreme Commander. "I'm sending Professor Gill, Dr. Kabuto, and Dr. Gilmore to help you test this hypothesis."

"Of course Commander...however..." Strangelove began with a small chuckle. "I must ask why you assign cybernetic and biological engineers to my disposal? Perhaps for another purpose?"

"I know their strengths and yours. Between the four of you, you should be able to find out what's happening in Lhasa." Tomino answered firmly. "If you require other resources or personnel, then they will be provided."

"Of course. Though...it's clear as to who is responsible." Strangelove commented, smirking as he looked from face to face. "Who hit us? Why couldn't we stop them? Those are very simple questions child! Who else other than Zeon would strike us! Huh?"

"Preposterious!" Captain Del Rio of the Minor Mouse objected. "If Zeon had the capacity to hit us with such a weapon before, why didn't they do so until now?"

"That comes down to one of two possibilities." Field Marshal Paul Noventa deduced. "One, they couldn't and two, they wouldn't. And since they have no reason not to, I'd assume that whatever Zeon has struck us with is a new weapon."

"Which means that the attack on Lhasa...was a test..." Admiral Freemont realized, his unstable hologram fading in and out of view due to a low signal. "And we still don't know what they hit us with while they can hit us again at anytime and we can't stop them..."

"If they can hit us again then why haven't they?"

"Why should they?" Vice Admiral Ibanez answered Colonel Holland. "They just wiped out our HQ and a good many officers and support staff whom cannot be replaced anytime soon. They'll hit us again with their boom stick when they damn well want to. The only thing we can do now is find out what this weapon is and stop it before more millions die!"

"That's not all we can do." General Buck Scott joined in, the rest of the council looking upon the man to see what he had to say. "I have just a few points if you don't mind, Commander."

"Go ahead General Scott." Tomino said with an amused stare. "Speak your mind."

"One; Zeon has acquired destructive capabilities that branch into biological, chemical and nuclear warfare unlike any that we have seen before." Scott enthusiastically began. "Two; we have no way of ascertaining as to whether or not Zeon can repeat such an attack again. Three; the Sides still house a strong percentage of their population whom either support Zeon, retain strong anti-Federation resentment, or harness spacenoid superiority ideologies which could align them with Zeon. Four; With our losses to the Sol Armada and the Colonial Armada being focused upon the outer colonies, it is highly likely that the sides will choose to openly side with Zeon. Five; If at that time, we have not made necessary precautions and taken essential actions against such a possibility, we will be caught in a war within the Earth Sphere which will further decrease our ability to destroy Zeon. Six; It is likely that Zeon is aware of this possibility and already has multiple spies and agents in place to rile the people against the Federation. Seven; if this sequence of events continues as I have outlined, the Federation will be vulnerable to assault by Zeon's Triumvirate and they will slaughter us with our pants down."

While some officers nervously whispered and murmured to one another, Tomino was more humored by Scott's analysis. "Then what do you propose in response to this threat?"

Scott nervously smirked and brought out a black folder. "Now...this may not be the most popular or politically correct solution. But it seems to me that until Zeon is defeated, the Sides must be secured against terrorist fermentation and growth. With that in mind, I propose that we send five Federation Divisions to patrol and monitor the Sides under Martial Law. We can then search out and find every dissenter within the colonies before their poisonous ideologies can take root. And in the event that an entire colony is found to be harboring or supporting Zeon agents, the colony will be placed under military lock-down. Resistance to this lock down will authorize the usage of deadly force which will also deter other hidden sympathizers from joining Zeon."

"That sounds like a recipe to increase support for Zeon." Noventa pointed out. "We cannot let paranoia allow us to antagonize and oppress the colonials for something that they might do. We tried that before with the Titans and look what happened General. No, we ought not turn Char's Triumvirate into a Quadrumvirate. Despite anti-Federation sentiments, relations with the Sides are well on their way to repair. Your proposal would undo five years of persistent diplomatic action."

"Diplomacy dies when guns are drawn, Field Marshal." Scott countered, agitated by Noventa's argument. "This is a bloody precaution sir. A proactive stance which could escalate tensions and lead to violence. I won't sugarcoat things...thousands could die and if things get bad enough...millions could die. But that's still a better result than having tens of millions or hundreds of millions die! In one single stroke, Zeon killed 40 million people and couple this with the events of Zeon's latest military assault, the Federation is bleeding and blood attracts sharks! The sharks in the Sides are getting off on the smell of our wounds and they're pumping themselves up to clobber us! They see a future opportunity to hurt us and bring about Spacenoid dominance over Terrans. If we let them set themselves up, they will pounce and after they pounce, Char will pounce on us again and this time even the Unicorn won't be able to save us! So the way I see it Field Marshal, we have two terrible and bloody paths which are set before the Federation. One where tens and hundreds of millions die upon a Spacenoid uprising, clearing the way for the Triumvirate's victory! The other where we bite the bullet and perform a lesser evil for greater good where thousands...might...die and maybe even millions...but that's only a possibility! And that's still less lives lost, so who can complain?"

"Go take your meds Buck." Rogard laughed out loud, clearing up some of the tension in the room. "We won't create more enemies in our backyard by making Joseph Stalin look like a Boy Scout."

Scott nervously chuckled. "As you say, Field Marshal. But I warn you sir, if the colonials do jump on our wounds, then don't look to me because I warned you. And all the deaths that occur from that uprising will be your shoulders, not mine! Cause I'm not a pussy whose afraid to do his job because he doesn't wanna hurt someone else's feelings-"

"I've heard quite enough from you, General." Tomino declared with Scott daring not to challenge him.

General Heathrow snapped a pen and slammed his hand on the table. "Excuse me gentlemen...but last I checked, we'd just whipped the Triumvirate's ass! Is our security so lacking that they could smuggle a bomb onto the planet?"

"I hope you're not pointing fingers General." Brigadier General Mark Septum stated. "Security was on the highest level of alert after Zeon's last assault. Besides, there's no proof to indicate that any detonation took place in Lhasa."

"So I'm just imagining the big fireball that consumed Lhasa?" Heathrow sarcastically asked as he rounded on Septum. "Unless you'd...like to infer that Zeon shot out us with a really big gun? Now that's just not possible-"

"Why not?" The officers turned as three very recognizable figures entered the assembly. "You're talking about an organization who frequently throw rocks at us. Is it far-fetched to think that they built a space gun and just tested it on us? Especially with Covenant assistance? Underestimating Zeon is the worst thing that we can possibly do, gentlemen."

"Commodore Bright Noah, Captain Amuro Ray, and Major Sayla Mass." Tomino said as the Londo Bell Operatives saluted. "Glad you could all make it. Take a seat, this is going to be a long meeting."

"Um...sir..." Scott started, looking right at Sayla as she sat at the round table. "Do you realize that you've invited a commandant officer into the War Room? To...sit with the Top officials of the Earth Federation?"

Tomino stared at Scott without emotion. "Yes, General. I am aware of this."

"Do you recall that only flag officers are allowed to participate in the Admirality?" Scott fumbled through his papers, quickly trying to hide all of his doodles and notes from the newcomers. "Now...Commodore Bright I can understand and maybe even Captain Ray considering his promotion's long overdue...but...you are aware of Sayla's connection to Char? She is Char's sister after all..."

"Correct, I am aware of this." Tomino blunted. "Is there a problem?"

"A problem? Is there a problem?" Tomino snatched his playboy magazine from the table and stuffed it in his jacket before pointing to the intel upon the screen. "She'll...she'll see everything...She'll see all of our fleets! Our armies...our units...She'll see everything on the big board!"

"It is a big board, sir." Sayla quipped casually.

"She's only a Grade 3 Major...she doesn't belong here! She shouldn't be sitting at the table! The table belongs to the top brass!" Scott continued. "What gives her the right to sit with the Top Brass at the Round Table and look at everything that's on the screen and the big board!"

"Arcadia, General." Tomino mused with Scott about to counter, but stopped upon further thought. "In any case, Major Mass possesses knowledge concerning the Triumvirate's leader and therefore, I felt it appropriate for her to be present despite her low rank."

"So tell us Major Mass." Admiral Meru began. "What is the motivation behind your brother's attack on Lhasa? And if he could've done this before then why didn't he?"

"Because he didn't want to Admiral." Sayla answered and stood as she addressed the Admirality. "My brother is a precise attacker who prefers minimizing his own losses in any occasion. Casval only committed forces to the battle above Earth to screen against any resistance against his colony drop. But when that failed, he was forced to use this new weapon to even the scales. Whatever this weapon is, Char used it to staunch the momentum which the Federation gained from our recent victory. He wants to demoralize us and make us afraid of the unknown to buy himself more time before he makes his next strike. All while working towards his true goal."

"What goal is that?"

"He wants to force humanity into the stars." Sayla replied to the gasps of her superiors. "Char has always been an adherent of my father's contolism idelogy also known as Ere-ism. They both believed that humanity is destined to leave the Earth and make a new home in space where they'll evolve mentally and spiritually while Earth returns to its natural state. But unlike my father who wished for a gradual migration, Char believes that the only way to achieve Contolism's dream is to force the people of Earth to leave the planet...or destroy them entirely."

"Incredible...horrible, but..." Grand Admiral Hood shook as he grasped the magnitude of Char's ambitions. "How could Char decide to commit such an action Sayla? Why does he believe that humanity must die to achieve his dream?"

"He doesn't want humanity to die, he just wants the corrupt filth to be cleansed." Amuro joined in. "He believes that Earth society is reaching an inherent dead end and that the people within it are inherently wasteful and toxic. He points to our pollution, warmongering, greed, discord and so on as signs that Earth requires a clean slate and he's not asking us whether we'd like to be wiped off the map. So for him, killing the people of Earth is necessary to save humanity from itself."

"And how exactly do you know this?"

"He told me his beliefs the last time that we met." Half of the room deadpanned Amuro as he paused and cleared his throat. "At the time, Char had no pending warrants for his arrest and thus I had no reason to arrest or apprehend him. Besides, we were allies of a sort against the Princess Mineva Lao Zabi."

"I see...the two of you teamed up against a common enemy." Scott commented. "Understandable. After all, 2 is better than 1. You get to save the world and Char gets to complete his revenge on the Zabi family. Though, you were the one who killed her, but he was probably satisfied from watching her die, right?"

"General, that's not relevant to this situation." Amuro sharply countered. "My point is that Char believes that humanity is sick and that he's the cure. And he's dedicated to curing us, even if it means hacking off limbs and forcing his medicine down our throats."

"An odd way of administering medicine, don't you think?" Another newcomer added as he made his presence known. The Admirality looked with shock and fury at the brown-haired and blue-eyed Japanese man wearing a Black trench-coat over his Officer's uniform. "I would have arrived earlier but...I didn't want to..."

"General Yanzaki..." The Commander eyed the newcomer with caution and distrust. "Take a seat, Kenjiro."

"Certainly, Supreme Commander." The General saluted before he strolled to a seat and sat. He looked over to where a puzzled Amuro looked upon Yanzaki. "Well? Continue..."

"Uh...right!" Amuro found his bearings and continued his briefing. "Lhasa was a test, a warning to see if Char's new toy can fulfill his goals. But I don't know if this secret weapon is a giant gun or some other Covenant device. We won't be able to know about that until further analysis and intelligence is gathered-"

"Beat you to it!" Yanzaki abrasively announced, earning the ire of his fellow admirals and generals. "What? Why waste time with further intel when we only have 40 days until Char turns his secret weapon on Earth again."

"What?" Kota asked in shock. "Explain yourself! How the hell do you know about that?"

"I know people." Yanzaki responded. "And these people know other people. It's like the pay-it-forward nonsense, except everyone pays me and I give out nothing. And these friends of my friends are aware of a discovery which the Triumvirate made about 5 months ago. I believe that this discovery is directly related to the attack on Lhasa and Char will try again with bigger ammunition in 40 days."

"Go on General." Tomino waited with a neutral glare. "What is Char's secret weapon? What is he going to use to purge the filth?"

"It would be more effective to show you rather than tell you." Yanzaki stood up and snapped his fingers. Instantly, multiple screens began to display a massive station out in the middle of space.

"A Mass Relay..." Amuro recognized the repeating video feed. Sayla had been exploring the ruins of the civilization who are said to have created these massive devices. In the last safari to Europa, Amuro had found ancient carvings and murals which described the relays as the "Gateway unto the Stars". The nameless civilization who created the Relays used them to explore and settle the galaxy and then left them behind for other sentient species to advance their technology and knowledge. Exactly how long ago this civilization existed is unknown, only that it was destroyed in a devastating civil war that lasted many millennia and also predated the ancient Forerunner empire whom the Covenant worship as gods.

A stunned Bright turned to Amuro. "You know what this is?"

"This is what I was studying on Europa." Amuro explained Bright and turned to the interested and Major Mass went on a few archeological searches and found murals about these "Star Gates. Consisting of two 15 kilometer arms binding a set of revolving rings, the relays contain a massive core of energy believed to be eezio. According to the ruins, these relays are the earliest means of hyperspace travel across the galaxy and were used as the basis for technological advancement-"

"That's all very interesting, but somewhat irrelevant." Amuro was really starting to hate this arrogant punk. "Besides, some of the gentlemen present already know about Relays. We have one relay here in the Sol System, even if it hasn't been fully operational for a very long time."

"Information about the Charon Relay is classified above your rank, General." The Grand Admiral asserted. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't have you arrested and put on trial for breach of security?"

"Arrest me and you can kiss your only hope of saving the Earth good-bye." Yanzaki boosted and the Commander motioned for the Grand Admiral to stand down. "Also, it was the Supreme Commander who authorized me to research the Charon Relay when I convinced him to let me test my theory."

"Theory?" Scott muttered in disbelief. "So...you knew that Char had a giant hyperspace engine at his disposal and you decided not to warn us about it till it was too late?"

"Precisely." Kenjiro smiled as Scott gathered all of his willpower to keep from leaping at his fellow general. "Also, it was a theory at the time. I needed more information before I could come before all of you as I have now. That would also buy me the necessary time to ascertain the appropriate means with which to stop this machine. And...here I am...with a plan."

"Alright, lets here it." Admiral Iga sat back as Yanzaki basked in the apparent control he had over this conversation. "How do we blow up the relay?"

"We can't sir." Sayla answered. "In all of the research I have conducted, there has only been one recorded instance where a mass relay has ever been destroyed."

Scott blinked in confusion. "There's a contradiction there-"

"It may sound like it, but my research ascertains that the so-called Alpha Relay was destroyed by special circumstances which remain unclear. An outlier that cannot be relied upon." Yanzaki stated. "Otherwise, the relays have been bombarded by enemies of their creators, hijacked and some even experienced supernova level catastrophies, but the relays themselves remained completely intact. Which is great because blowing up the relay wasn't my plan."

"Then what is your plan sir?" Amuro's patience for the general was wearing thin. He felt himself almost choking from the sheer density of this man's ego. "And how exactly is Char using this Relay as a weapon? According to my research, a relay can only transfer objects to another relay-"

"Your research is wrong." Kenjiro stated and brought everyone's attention to the relay on screen. "The relay you are looking upon is called the Taetrus Relay. A research and development team came upon it three years ago and conducted multiple tests to determine the relay's capabilities. During these tests, the team concluded that a Relay could indeed send an object to a system that does not have a relay present...if the objects size, density and mass are pre-programmed into the Relay's guidance programs and if the galactic destination of the orbit is entered into the Relay's targeting system."

"As you can see here..." As the meeting watched, a lone GM was charged with blue energy and then shifted into nothingness as the Relay sent it across the stars. On another screen, the GM impacted into an asteroid causing the asteroid break apart and destroy other asteroids around it. "Naturally, the process is meant for ships capable of standalone speed control and navigation capabilities independent of the Relay. But testing demonstrates that a sufficiently hacked Relay could operate outside of normal parameters."

"That's strange, didn't Zeon bring an asteroid out of hyperspace..." General Rico inquired. "Why would Zeon need the Mass Relay for something that they can already do on their own."

"5th Luna's jump was a short-jump through slip-space." Amuro admitted. "One system to another adjacent system and it was done indirectly through the other ships in the Triumvirates fleet. The Mass Relay cuts out the middle-man and directly sends its target to the destined system."

"Precisely, captain. But this unorthodox method is a boon for us." Yanzaki stated as he continued. "Normally, relay coordinates are set in stone and thus its no problem to fly from relay to relay as long as the relay on the other side is sufficiently powered. But relay-to-planet or relay-to-system travel has its problems. For one, the galaxy is in constant rotation around the galactic core and each system is constantly orbiting around its star and several planets have their own orbital rotations with satellites and moons. Which means that everything has to line up perfectly for the object to hit exactly where its meant to hit."

"But that's not why Char has to wait 40 days to hit Earth." Yanzaki stated. "Fortunately, the ammunition that he needs to cleanse Earth is too unstable to be able to be transferred through hyperspace. So his forces must take the object to the Relay manually which has its own risk of delays and interceptions by the Colonial Armada; Pirate Fleets; or Covenant forces disloyal to the Kaidon or the Prophet of Dominion."

"Which Relay is Char using?" Sayla asked.

Yanzaki paused for a moment before he answered. "The Mu Relay."

Sayla gasped and grimaced. "Damn it!"

"Major? What's wrong?" The Supreme Commander inquired. "Do you know where the Mu Relay is?"

"Its not a matter of where it is...its getting there...sir..." Sayla answered as a galactic map appeared above the meeting table. "The Relay is an ancient novelty...its not only still active, but could connect to multiple relays at once. It's original position is unknown, but we do know that it was pushed from that position by a supernova. The ancients recorded that the Mu Star Gate settled into the Pangea Expanse...a remote star cluster with only 3 planets in total..."

"And it's situated right next to the galactic core." Admiral Hackett cursed for the same reason that Amuro gripped his fist. Every single vessel that has tried to explore the galactic core or got too close to it has been destroyed. The gravitational well of the core is so great that entire stars have been observed to break apart and get sucked into the Core with nothing left. Some theorize that there is a massive black hole within the Core, but no one has ever gotten close enough to see that for themselves.

"So what's the problem?" General Scott asked to the surprise of the other officers. "What? We know where the bastards are, let's go get them!"

"It's not that simple general."

"Looks simple enough to me-"

"Then go back to science 101." Amuro shouted at the indifferent General. "With all due respect, you fail to understand the gravity of the inherent danger with traveling remotely close to the galactic core, general. It is a gravitational death-trap from which there is NO escape! It's a miracle that Char found the Mu Relay and found a safe passage...because the odds of doing so should be impossible! The only reason that the Pangea Expanse is intact is because its own gravity field is strong enough to not get sucked in any further and who knows if that will even last another thousand years?"

"I'll admit Captain, Science was not my best field." General Scott admitted. "So no, I don't quite understand why we can't get to the Mu Relay."

Amuro exhaled and calmed himself. "General...its a no-go zone in every sense of the word. It means that Char is free to hit us and there's nothing we can do to stop him without killing ourselves in the process. Even if General Yanzaki's plan was sound enough to stop the Relay from destroying all life on Earth, it's useless because we can't get to the Relay."

"What if we could?" Yanzaki poured himself a cup of wine before he continued. "What if I told you that there is a way past the Galactic Core? Would that make my plan obsolete?"

"Sir? How would you do that?"

"It's all part of my plan." Yanzaki stated and sipped from his wine. "As soon as I realized that Char might use a Relay against us, I prepared a contingency to be enacted against him. And since I always prepare for the worst, I assumed that Char would use a relay that would be the most difficult to reach. That way if I'm wrong, at least I'd be better prepared and if I'm right...well...I'm right."

The room grew silent as all eyes turned to the Supreme Commander. "What is your plan?"


Federation HQ Lounge

"That fucker is insane!"

"Decorum, captain." Bright chided Amuro as he paced back and forth in the lounge hall. Sayla sat nearby watching Amuro with concern. "You were going to go after Char anyway."

"True...but..." Amuro grimaced in frustration. "I just hate that man!"

"So do I." Bright admitted. "Not to mention he's playing us all to advance himself. He's so obvious about it because he knows we can't stop him."

"And he's using us as pawns for his game!" Amuro shouted. "Why the hell does he need me when he's got his own corps to toy with?"

"Marketing." Sayla bitterly replied. "Not only does he get more power and influence, but he also gets credit as the man supplied the heroes. Enough to campaign a future bid for Supreme Commander...who better than the heroes of Londo Bell and Amuro Ray?"

Amuro growled and stared at a nearby wall. As Sayla stood up to calm him down, Bright stretched his arms above his head. "I understand your concern Amuro and I don't like it anymore than you do. But we can't stop Char on our own...we need help and Yanzaki's plan seems sound to me."

"It's a sound plan...its just..." Amuro inhaled, flinching when Sayla began to massage his back. "He's throwing everything on us like we're going to pull a miracle out of our asses and save the day. He's taking us for granted and hugely overestimating our capabilities."

"To be fair, our careers started with a miracle-"

"But we've only gotten this far because we had a good team." Amuro continued. "If we're the best in the Federation then that's only because we've worked with the best. Yanzaki's an idiot if he thinks Londo Bell can handle this mission on our own."

"That's precisely why I've been scouting for help." The group turned to see Yanzaki shamelessly glowering over a naughty picture of a cute black-haired girl in a skimpy bikini. "Don't mind me! It's just that I miss the touch of my precious Kiyomi and this photo tithes me over...barely..."

"Cute...you're not such a heartless bastard after all." Sayla remarked to one of the richest and most powerful men in the Earth's Sphere. "So about this help...what did you have in mind, general?"

"Names." Yanzaki produced a great folder from his jacket and handed it to Bright. "The best of the best of the Federation's active, inactive and retired personnel both commissioned and enlisted. Including those who are incarcerated or committed to an institution. They're all at your disposal."

"Our disposal?" Amuro's disbelief couldn't get any larger. "So it's completely up to us as to who we bring with us and who we don't?"

"The Supreme Commander gave me that impression...or he was still livid about how I'm nailing his daughter." Yanzaki laughed. "Not sure why he gets to be mad, he did ditch the poor girl on the streets of Calcutta...he's not exactly entitled to being angry that Kiyomi fell in love with me. Or that I fucked the girl cross-eyed and she loved it so much she begged for more and is gonna have my son soon-"

"Too much information, general." Bright said with annoyance as Yanzaki shrugged un-apologetically. "As for all that stuff you said in the meeting. Is it all true or is some of it bullshit?"

"No...I may be a shameless, self-righteous, arrogant and egotistical bastard, but I know my details to the letter." Yanzaki assured with a flare of confidence. "My development corps is among the best in the Federation. If you give me the manpower and the talent, I'll give you the weapons, ships, mobile suits and supplies to make your magic possible."

"Including all of the intel that you've gathered on the Triumvirate?"

"Intel so in-depth that you'll know whose cheating on their spouses and touching little children in ways that they shouldn't be touched." Yanzaki replied to Sayla's disgust. "To be fair, your brother weeded out all of the known child-rapists...the only ones who he hasn't caught are the really discreet and subtle ones. Feel free to castrate, murder or bitch-slap them as you please."

"With pleasure." Sayla replied with focus. "And we'll have full mission autonomy?"

"As in...I won't screw you up for any of my own ambitions?" Yanzaki asked and received three glares. "One of the lessons that my wise alcoholic father taught me was that you never get in someone's way when they're doing a good job. And I'm confident that you'll do a great job, so why get in your way?"

"What if you're wrong?"

"Then Char wins and humanity is fucked." Yanzaki replied without care. "At least no one can say I didn't try to stop it."

Amuro looked to Sayla and Bright and then back to the General. "Fine...we'll be your champions...how long until we can launch?"

"I'll need 24 days...maybe less..."

"You want us to prepare a small fleet to be ready for combat in 24 days?" Amuro asked in exasperation. "Most of the people on your list haven't seen combat in years! Do you know how much training they'll need to be acclimated to the changes in combat since their tours of duty? Some of these people haven't been in a mobile suit since the One-Year War!"

"I do have a simple solution to that...but first you need to bring me the chumps." Yanzaki replied. "And of course, if your team is judged to be unsatisfactory then I'll be happy to lend you one of my battalions-"

Bright slapped his hand on Yanzaki's shoulder, shocking the man enough to wipe that smile off of his face. "Kenjiro...you underestimate me...I'm the man who turned a whiny bitch into the best ace that the Federation has ever seen."

Amuro shrugged. "He's right...I was a bitch..."

"And have you ever heard the saying...'Once you learn to ride a bike, you never forget it?'" Bright inquired to the listening General. "Surprisingly, the same principle applies for mobile suits."


An Hour after Lunch Break

"Damn it all! When you meet him then tell him that Amuro Ray is looking for him." Amuro slammed down the phone in exasperation. "Worst part about leave? Everyone scatters to the four corners. Does Nigel even have his own home?"

"He drifted from rented home to rented home." Sayla replied while looking over the Tri-Star squad leader's file. "And he's recently made a hefty purchase..."

xx

"Mercy Star here, yeah I ordered the pizza." Nigel replied from aboard his newly purchased private life-ship. He'd spent 4 years saving up for the ultimate mobile home and still had boxes piled up to fill half of his storage compartment. "Fine! I'll go for the 3 for 1 deal! But it all better be fresh or else! I have my own gundam you know!"

Nigel laughed when he hung up. The gundam line was always a kicker that kept him laughing even as he answered his ringing phone. "Yeah? Nigel speaking-"

"Lieutenant Garrett, you are to report to the following coordinates within 72 hours." Nigel grimaced, knowing that this monotone voice came from one source. "Do you copy?"

"Loud and clear Overlord..." Nigel slammed his fist on the console and unknowingly turned off the artificial gravity. "Gives me a day to work out this ship's kinks."

xx

"It's unpopular, but I understand why Americans keep their inactive servicemen in-state with their base." Bright commented as he looked over another Londo Bell Operative. "At least Kayru's already accounted for..."

xx

"Amuro! You ungrateful bastard!" Kayra heard her lover protest as he beat out one of many dents in the badly damaged Re-Gz's alloy. "He snags my prototype, customizes it with equipment that its not meant to have and expects me repair the damage he let it take? Judau was more considerate!"

"Hon! Don't push yourself too hard!" Kayra shouted and felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. "Gotta take this call...Hello? Commodore? I see...I'll be there soon."

"At least I got the power stabilized!" Astonaige cheered and looked down at Kayra. "What's up?"

"All hands on deck." Kayra answered and looked up at the mobile suit Amuro had given her. "We're taking this bad boy with us."

xx

"So if we're reactivating all hands on Londo Bell then why outsource to mercenaries?" Sayla inquired and saw a name that caught her interest. "Who the hell is Lowe Guele?"

"A friend of Kamille's, I met him during the first Neo-Zeon War." Amuro explained. "He's pretty laidback, but he's not called the best mechanic in the Junk Guild for nothing. Nor is all of that ability just for show..."

xx

"Alright! Let her rip Cloud!" Lowe cried out to the blond spiky haired fluke running the freighter that they'd finished repairing. When Cloud hit the ignition, the thrust exhaust of the ship flared with smoke and then the ship died as green fluid blasted out of the exhaust tubes. "No! You were supposed to remove the capacitor you idiot!"

"Sorry..." Cloud shook his hair and then looked out and jumped out of the hatch. "We need to ditch! We've got company!"

"Nice try. I'm not falling for that again." Lowe was too mad about the millions of dollars wasted by this fluke's mistake. But he looked where Cloud pointed to see a line of Federation officials looking upon him. "Oh, it wasn't a trick."

"Lowe Guele?" Their apparent leader asked as Cloud pointed to Lowe. "You're coming with us."

"What if I don't wanna?"

"We're armed."

"You make a very fantastic point."

xx

"Sir!" A communications officer reported. "Sighted the Immortal Brigade!"

"Ex-titans turned into guns for hire." Amuro read off and looked through each individual profile. "Bernard Monsha, Chuck Keith, Chap Adel, Alpha A. Bate, Papa Doc and Bandit Bear. Monsha and his wing-mates Bate and Adel served in the 4th MS Team under Lieutenant South Burning during the One-Year War. They were thrown into heated contests, but never lost a single member or convoy. That's how they got the name "Immortal Brigade.""

"Do they have the skill to back up that name?"

"It gets better." Amuro answered a curious Sayla. "During the Gryps Conflict, Monsha and his comrades along with Doc and Bear were pursued by the Titans 23rd Eos Division. The whole Division has been officially considered MIA ever since..."

Bright smirked. "Bring them in."

xx

"That's them?" The Federation enforcer said to his partner, looking upon a group of drunk idiots prattling about like a flock of drunken sailors. "Are you sure that's them?"

Keith was salivating on a lone poster of a famous stripper while singing. "What do I do when my love is away?"

"Does it worry you to be alone?" His drunk buddies joined in an oddly decent chorus.

Chap jumped onto a table holding a broken trophy in his scared hand. "How do I feel by the end of the day?"

"Are you sad because you're on your own?" The other drunk folk in the bar asked in a loud chorus.

"No!" Monsha got right up on the table next to Chap and threw a bottle into the ceiling. "I get by with a little help from my friends!"

"Mm..I get high with a little help from my friends!" Keith added as he joined his friends on the table.

"Mm...gonna try with a little help from my friends!" The rest of the brigade declared in song, completing the set on the table and dancing haphazardly as they slurred and made up words. Because they were too drunk to remember the rest of the famous Beatles song.

"Talk about the wrong stuff." The enforcer remarked, more than entertained by these drifters. "Oh well...orders are orders..."

xx

"What about Judau?"

"That's the easiest catch." Sayla remarked. "Leina's graduating from Europa's Zeta University this week."

"Wow...already graduating from college at her age?" An impressed Amuro chuckled happily. "I can imagine Judau's reaction."

xx

"Magna Cum Laude, Leina Nichole Ashta!" The sixteen year old nervously stepped up to the podium and received her diploma amidst the cheer of thousands of spectators.

Judau was too overwhelmed to cheer. "My baby sister..." Some looked on the whimpering and tearful man like he was a pansy. But he could care less. Leina waved at her big brother and he waved back, wishing only that his mother could have been there to see them.

As for their father? Screw him.

"You must be very happy." A man in uniform replied next to Judau. "My name's Larison and I represent the Earth Federation-"

"Don't care, sister's graduating." Judau quickly replied, looking upon his sister who had decorated her hat with a odd, but thoughtful gift from an absent Puru.

"The fate of the Earth is at stake-"

"Don't care, don't live there."

"You're coming with me-"

"No I'm not, I'm enjoying my sister's graduation." Judau firmly answered. "After that, I'm going to the graduation party and eating lots of delicious cake. Wanna join? There's going to be cinnamon cake!"

Realizing that he wasn't going to win this fight, Larison rolled his eyes. "Cake sounds lovely."

xx

"And Puru?"

"Hates big crowds." Sayla replied. "And after what happened in the last fight, she's probably taking some alone time."

"For what?"

"Centering herself." Sayla answered. "All three of herself."

xx

"Little girl, I need you to-"

"Go away." Puru warned, still seated in a meditative stance. Practically ignoring the Federation agent who'd arrived at the clinic to find her.

"Little girl, this is an order-"

"I don't work for you."

"Elpeo Puru, if you do not come with me-" Then Puru just glared at the man. Such was the terror and unstated hatred of this girl's face that the agent shook his head and just walked away.

"Huh? Judau's going to Earth soon?" Puru said to herself and jumped to her feet in excitement. "I'll just go there ahead of him and surprise him!"

"Puru! Puru! Puru!" Five moments later, the agent watched in utter confusion as Puru ran out of the clinic uttering her name over and over again.

"Well...at least I did my job..." The agent would have chased after Puru, but he was scared of her.

xx

"As much as I hate to admit it...but we need Kai." Amuro admitted. "I still can't believe he took down a Zeon Magna Musai by himself with a leo. He hadn't been in a mobile suit for years."

"He kept his skills sharp with that gunpla thing-" Bright heard Amuro grumble under his breath. "What? You should try it sometime. It's-"

"Marketing what we do as a game for children." Amuro replied in disgust. "Gunpla or not, if Kai can still pull stunts like that in retirement, he deserves another chance to shape up."

"Wait...why didn't he come with us?" Sayla asked and already figured out the answer. "How many speeding tickets does he have now?"

xx

"You've gotta fight!" Kai shouted as he sped down High 70 while being chased by no less than fifty police cars. "For your Right! TO PARTY!"

"Sir! Pull over your vehicle!" A Helicopter pilot shouted down to Kai's Road Warrior Custom Car. "This is your last warning!"

"You said that an hour ago pigs!" Kai roared back and then he realized one important problem.

He was running out of gas...and speed.

"Should've gone with Bright when I had the chance..." Kai lamented and was brought to an abrupt halt when a mobile suit stomped on the roof of his car. "NO! LEAVE MIHARU ALONE!"

"Kai Shidan, you're coming into Federation custody or Miharu gets it!" The Jegan pointed its rifle at the car to prove its point.

"Hey! He's our man!" A cop protested and then quickly balked and gave up when the Jegan looked at him and the rest of his fellow officers. "You can have him..."

Kai smirked. "Thanks for having my back, Bright."

xx

"Yuu Kajima?"

"Already on his way." Bright answered and looked over another file. "This is one of Yanzaki's picks, but I've never heard of him."

"Shiro Amada, 2nd lieutenant of the Kojima Division listed as MIA after Southeast Asia was liberated from Zeon." Amuro explained. "There was also a pending inquiry on this guy for the charge of treason and consorting with the enemy."

"You mean Aina?" Sayla remarked happily. "The latter part is true depending on your point of view. But the treason part is false...unless desertion counts as treason."

"You've had contact with Amada?"

"The Sahalins were friends with my foster father." Sayla admitted. "But if you want to drag Shiro back then that's gonna be an uphill fight. He's got nine mouths to feed-"

"NINE?"

Sayla nodded to the two shocked men. "And last I heard, they're expecting a tenth anytime soon."

xx

"Daddy and Mommy are home!" Little Sakura cheered as her parents opened the front door. "Mommy! Daddy!" She happily ran over and latched her arms around her mother's legs with her father patting her on the head.

"Daddy! Mommy!" Sitachi and Satoshi cried out as one and also hugged their parents legs. They looked at the bundle in their mother's arms and beamed in delight. "Is that our new brother?"

"His name is Saruto Norris." Aina said as the boys cheered and little Sakura pouted in slight disappointment. Soon after, the other kids all cheered and embraced their parents. Little Ayumi; Shino; Kurono; Hanata and their oldest daughter, Niata were quick to welcome their new brother.

"Commander!" Michael shouted and walked up to give his best friend a pat on the back. "Congratulations you two!"

"Thanks." Shiro remarked as he picked up 4-year old Ayumi and set her on his shoulder. "Where's Akira? Out with his new girlfriend?"

"Actually he's behind you." Michael pointed and Shiro looked to see his white haired firstborn smiling upon his newborn brother and happy mother.

"Mother...Father..." Akira pecked his mother on the cheek and carefully took his baby brother into his own arms. "Baby brother...more like Big Baby Brother..."

"That's not funny, he was really heavy." Aina commented as she saw the family phone ring. "Huh...that must be Terry or Karen."

"Or Eleanor...or even Kiki...wonder how she's enjoying Nepal right now." Shiro laughed and answered the phone. "Hello? Yes, this is Shiro Amada...Can you say that again?"

xx

"The mercenary?"

"Gai Murakumo, leader of the Serpent Tail mercenaries." Amuro reported. "Former Federation officer whose assignment and division is classified. Whatever happened, he killed everyone who pursued him and formed his own company. He uses equipment from multiple factions and works for the highest bidder."

"So why the hell should we trust him?"

"I don't know where Yanzaki gets his money...but the amount the general is offering is enough to buy a small country." Bright answered Sayla. "And that's just half of the full fee..."

xx

"Well enjoy Jaburo." Murakumo mused to his captive as he turned him over to the Oni agents who'd hired him. As the ex-spartan deserter was hauled away, Gai smiled as a briefcase filled with 100,000 credits worth of gold was handed to him. "Always a pleasure."

"Indeed." Agent Smith replied and put a finger on his earpiece. His eyebrow raised and then he looked at Gai with his sunglass covered eyes. "It appears as though there is another offer which would interest you."

Gai rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm flattered but if I take all of the jobs in the galaxy then there won't be any work without competition-"

"The client is General Yanzaki." Smith smiled as dollar signs appeared in Murakumo's eyes. "Will you at least hear his offer?"

Gai smiled a very toothy smile. "Well, I am interested."

xx

"Louka?"

"She'll be late, but count her in." Sayla said without second thought. "Killing Toto has its merits after all."

xx

"This really wasn't meant for light-speed travel-"

"Then try and stop me!" Roux declared before closing the hatch to her custom Zeta gundam. Having heard that Amuro Ray was calling for support, Louka wasn't going to miss the next battle and let Judau get all of the fun like he just did recently. "I'M NOT MISSING THIS PARTY!" The Waverider flew out of the space station orbiting Jupiter and latched onto a light-speed docking ring before jumping into light speed.

xx

"This guy?" Amuro shook his head and flipped it out of the pile. "Toss it."

Sayla caught the file and read it before addressing the Captain. "Amuro? The recommendations are made for a reason-"

"After his failure, Kou Uraki is lucky that he wasn't hanged." Amuro spat in disgust, having heard of this man's story many times from many sources in the past ten years. "If Yanzaki thinks I'll put my life in the hands of the Stardust Failure, then he can kiss my ass."

Sayla looked right into his eyes. "Don't you believe in second chances?"

Amuro wasn't about to budge however. "Aren't you the one who said not everyone deserves a second chance?"

"Well I say we ask him." Bright interjected, drinking a cup of tea given to him by Fraw. "I'm the commanding officer of this mission, remember? You're just the hero who gets all of the public attention. I've already sent my most diplomatic officer to check him out and ascertain his capabilities."

"What about Amada?" Sayla brought up. "With an active bounty for his head, Shiro will see our invitation as a trap. He needs to be assured that we're not gonna take him to a firing squad as soon as he reveals his location."

"I've already thought ahead of you." Bright said with an obvious flare. "I'm sending a deputized civilian to deal with Shiro and offer a full pardon."

"That just leaves..." Amuro looked on one of the key names in the many files that he'd looked through and softened his tired features. "Kamille."

"What the hell was the general thinking here?" Sayla inquired in surprise. "Kamille swore off fighting or any violence after the Gryps Conflict. Especially with that coma he was in, how can we be sure that he's as capable as he was before? Or that he'd ever want to work with the Federation again? The same Federation that killed his mother."

"We owe Kamille too much not to at least ask him." Bright declared with respect for the former AEUG hero. "Last I checked, he's working at a hospital-"

"At Pluto Luna." Amuro finished for Bright. "I'll talk to him...I owe him that much."


Author's Notes:

The Tone Shifts of this chapter are pretty crazy.

That was my point and also the point of the whole story, but still pretty telling after all is said and done. I don't think I've ever gone all over the board like this in such a frank and blunt manner before. Normally, I put in some kind of a transitional phase from one tone to another with past stories that I've written.

That's probably because this is a much more "mature" and "adult" story than I usually write, so it's just inevitable. Note that I didn't say edgy or dark...even though there is some dark stuff here, at worst I'd say that there's more dark comedy than there is dark drama.

Feel free to rip me apart about any scientific inaccuracies that I just invoked because much like General Scott, Science is not one of my strongest subjects.

Another challenge in this chapter was the introduction of a key character in both this story and in the background of my other flagship story. If Kenjiro Yanzaki seems like a complete and utter asshole who you just want to smack in his face, then I've done my job exactly as I wanted to do it. Even later when there's some elements to the character that make him a bit more human and likable, I won't be surprised or mad if you still hate him, because that's kind of my intention. He's an antagonist without actually being an antagonist, though I can't remember the literary term for such a character. Even the term rival doesn't count since Yanzaki isn't competing with the heroes, rather he's using them because he knows that they won't have any other choice, but to let him do it.

But enough rambling, stay tuned for the next chapter. That chapter's going to focus on some other key characters in this story and their own personal themes along with them. Then we can bring the whole gang together and send the suicide squad on their counter-charge.

Later.