Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed or Gundam Seed Destiny or its characters and names. This is a work of fanfiction, not for profit.
All's Fair in Love, War and Journalism
10
He watched carefully from behind the glass at the interrogation room, studying the features of the man held inside. Yzak had been in there with Yamato for a good hour now, trying to get a response out of the brown haired young man. But so far aside from his initial denial about being Clotho Buer's murderer and providing an alibi for that night, Kira Yamato had remained completely silent and still. All of Yzak's shouting and threats did absolutely nothing to faze the amethyst eyed man. The frustration on Yzak's face was about to hit an all time high.
"His alibi pans out." Dearka reported back to him as he joined Athrun's side. "Andrew Waltfeld, the café's owner, confirmed that Kira Yamato was working with him that night at the Sahara café."
"He was working at 2am in the morning?" Athrun quizzed skeptically.
"Apparently they were stocking coffee beans which had just arrived from South America. There's a log of a shipment from the South American States arriving at Heliopolis earlier that night."
Dearka turned his attention back to the double mirror in front of him. Yzak looked like he was close to losing his mind as his voice incessantly increased while Kira Yamato remained still and serene, like he hardly noticed the silver-haired lieutenant's presence at all or the shouts that could probably blast his eardrums to smithereens.
"What do you think?" Dearka asked glancing sideways towards Athrun. He watched as his captain's lips pursed in thought.
"He's very well trained." Athrun noted. It was impossible for anyone to stay so composed with an angry and irate Yzak Joule breathing down your neck. Not a flinch or twitch of the muscles. Not even when Yzak got in his face and pulled him up by the scruff of his collar only to throw him back down again. "But trained by who or for what, is the question."
Who are you Kira Yamato?
Athrun let that question linger in his mind as he brushed past Dearka and pushed open the door to the interrogation room.
Yzak's head turned abruptly in his direction when the captain walked in. Athrun came around to his lieutenant's side and placed a firm hand on Yzak's shoulder signaling that his time was over. The silver-haired lieutenant did not look very pleased to be relieved as he stalked out of the room in a huff, a scorn clearly on his face.
Athrun came around the table and plopped down a folder he was holding before sitting himself down opposite Kira. He could feel the other man's violet eyes focused on him intensely. He placed his hands in front of him on the table as he leveled Kira's gaze. Sitting in an upright posture he offered the brown haired man a curt smile.
"Mr Yamato," he began, "we meet again."
To his surprise, Kira smiled in kind back at him. "Captain Zala," he greeted in a calm manner, "it's nice to see you."
The first words he had spoken in almost an hour. And Athrun noted that it did not hold a hint of frustration or tenseness. How much longer could he keep it up, Athrun wondered.
"Is it really?" Athrun queried, his earlier politeness disappearing. "You're here for questioning on the murder of Clotho Buer, so far you haven't answered any questions, which leads to the suspicion that you have something to hide."
"I gave you my alibi, which I'm sure you've found out by now, checks out."
"It doesn't explain why you were at Mr Buer's place the day before he died, or seen with him in the weeks leading up to his death."
At this Kira remained silent and chose to seal his lips. Athrun continued on.
"2 weeks to be precise, was when you were first spotted by Mr Buer's neighbour to be conversing with the victim in the hallway of his apartment building. Do you know of the Alliance Bar?" He paused to give Kira a chance to respond, then continued on. "It's a hub of where the city's most notorious crooks and corrupted authorities congregate. Mr Buer happened to be a VIP member of this bar, placing him in connection with Heliopolis' underground. It just so happens that his last visit was 2 weeks before his death and resulted in an argument between Mr Buer and one of the heads of a criminal organisation. Roughly around the same time you started to visit Mr Buer in his apartment. Rather a coincidence wouldn't you say?"
Kira's lips remained closed, and Athrun noticed that he had also schooled his expression to neutral. A trained response, he deduced, a neutral expression was still an expression, and Yamato was concentrating on keeping his face calm, lest he let slip a hint of emotion that could give away his game.
"We have reason to believe that you are affiliated with the criminal organisation, and it was this organisation that's responsible for Clotho Buer's death. Which means you could be a conspirator to his death. That could put you away for a very long time, even if you weren't the one who killed Mr Buer."
Kira's lips curved up slightly, his purple eyes were assessing Athrun, just as much as Athrun was assessing him. "You're making assumptions Captain Zala. Assumptions can't be held as truths."
To this Athrun frowned, Kira knew they had nothing on him. Nothing that they could use to put him away. Yet.
"Then enlighten me with the truth, Mr Yamato. Are you or are you not working for Blue Cosmos?"
His eyes registered a slight enlarging of pupils against violet irises at the mention of Blue Cosmos. The slightest of reactions but a reaction none-the-less. Athrun shifted his eyes to the folder in front of him. He unlinked his hands and opened it, taking a file to read.
"It says here that you ran away from home when you were 16. Managed to live on your own for 2 weeks. How were you able to survive even 2 short weeks when you left with nothing but the clothes on your back and no money?" Athrun questioned. "When the police found you, you were in the company of Adam Vermilyea. Mr Vermilyea happens to be a known Blue Cosmos member who was visiting Orb at the time. He was arrested by the authorities at the same time they found you and charged with smuggling new recruits to the Atlantic Fed. Was that when you first developed your connections with Blue Cosmos?" He chanced a glance at Kira before flipping to the next page and continued. "5 years ago, all traces of a Kira Yamato became untraceable. I had one of my best men look into it, and even he couldn't find a single address, student record, bill, paycheck, anything under your name. It was as if Kira Yamato had disappeared off the face of the planet. That or he was living under a different identity at the time. It was only 6 months ago when Kira Yamato resurfaced again in Heliopolis, curious that a month after you appear the first victim, killed in the same way Mr Buer did, happened in Heliopolis. Would you care to explain to me where you've been and what you have been doing in the last 5 years?"
There was no reply.
Athrun frowned. "Your silence is only making you look more guilty."
"Innocent until proven guilty, captain. So far you haven't proved anything."
Athrun narrowed his eyes, his frustrations were beginning to rise but he did not allow them to consume him like it had his lieutenant. "Then let me hazard a guess. For the past five years you've been living under a different alias, one supplied to you by Blue Cosmos, to help conduct illegal activities on their behalf. Whether you've been doing it of your own free will or coerced into doing it, is another question." He pulled out another file, and this time laid it on the table so it was visible to Kira. A photo of a middle-aged couple could be seen. "Your parents, Caridad and Haruma Yamato, we haven't been able to find any records of them for the past 5 years either."
Kira's eyes shifted to the photo of his parents and a pang rang out in his heart. It had been half a year since he saw them last. How much longer he did not know. He only prayed that they were safe. He wondered just exactly how much had Athrun Zala uncovered about him?
From across the table, Athrun gazed at him with curious green eyes. For a brief moment he had recognised longing in Kira's eyes as they landed on the photo of his parents. Perhaps this was the opening he needed.
"Kira." He addressed him, using his given name for the first time and deliberately softening his voice. "If Blue Cosmos is holding your parents hostage to force you into doing their biddings, this is the time to speak up. The Heliopolis PD will do everything in our power to ensure their safety." He focused Kira with his eyes, green staring into purple. It was only wild speculation on his part but some part of him wanted to believe that the brunet sitting in the interrogation room with him wasn't the villain. Kira's eyes did not look like the eyes of a murderer. Perhaps Cagalli saw the same thing in him, which was why she was always so unguarded around him. Or perhaps he wanted his speculation to be true, only so that it meant Cagalli wasn't associating with a purposely malicious person.
Once more Kira remained silent.
If it were true, he did not want Athrun's help. Athrun moved onto the next item in his folder. This time a grimly serious expression settled on his face, as he pulled out another photograph.
"What were you doing outside Cagalli Yula's apartment on September 23?"
The photo he showed Kira was the same one Dearka had snapped of the figure looking up at Cagalli's window. There was no way to tell for certain that the hooded figure in the shadows was actually Kira Yamato, but Athrun did not offer up any explanations as to how he came to the conclusion, nor did Kira question his assumptions. Instead Kira's eyes focused on the blonde visible in the photo from the window and a noticeable frown formed on his lips.
He returned his eyes to the police captain, now a troubled look on his face, causing the police captain to wonder why, out of everything he had spoken of, including his parents, it was Cagalli that received the most reaction from the brown-haired man in front of him. A surge of anxiety flooded through his veins as he felt his heartbeat quicken. Athrun felt himself losing control of his forced calmness as a scowl grew on his face.
"Answer me." The police captain almost growled out.
The brunet opposite him sat there watching as the captain's previously cool demeanor changed into open hostility and knew that this was personal to Athrun Zala. Cagalli was personal to Athrun Zala.
"Believe what you will of me," Kira replied, not backing down from Athrun's glare, "think the worst of me. I know you already have your suspicions, and they're unlikely to change, but know this," his violet eyes were unwavering as his tone turned just as serious as Athrun's, "I would never hurt Cagalli. She is the last person on this earth I would ever want to hurt."
When Athrun exited the interrogation room almost an hour later, he hadn't managed to get another word out of Kira Yamato since Kira had told him indirectly what Cagalli meant to him.
"That was a waste of time." Yzak commented, he had since calmed down from his tirade earlier.
"At least the captain got him to talk, which is more than I can say about you." Dearka chirped beside him.
Yzak directed him his most intimidating glare. "Don't for a minute forget Elsman that I am your superior."
"You remind me everyday, how can I forget?" Dearka then quickly turned his attention to his captain, avoiding whatever reprimand Yzak was about to spew at him. "So what'd you think cap?"
Athrun who had been in deep thought since he exited the room finally spoke up.
"He's telling the truth."
Dearka's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "He hasn't said anything."
"Whatever he has said is true." Athrun turned around from where he was gazing at Kira Yamato through the glass and eyed his sergeant and lieutenant. "We're basing everything on assumptions and speculations, we don't have enough evidence to hold him here."
"We're going to let him go?"
"We don't have a choice."
The words were gritted out painfully and both Dearka and Yzak knew that the captain did not like it one bit.
"Do you want me to follow him after he leaves?" Dearka offered.
Athrun shook his head grimly. There was no point. Kira Yamato had already proved himself capable of shaking off Dearka whenever he pleased. And Dearka was not by any means incompetent.
"I have a few new leads for you to look into." Athrun eyed Yzak who pulled out a folder and handed it to Dearka. "Lieutenant Joule was able to identify two other men seen entering the warehouse Sutherland and Yamato were at. Trace their movements and look into their backgrounds." The captain ordered.
"Yes boss." Dearka comprehended then left the room on his new assignment.
Yzak turned to Athrun and arched an eyebrow at him. "You realise you'll have to tell her now."
A heavy sigh escaped Athrun's lips. "I know." He uttered in defeat.
Now that Yamato knew they were onto him, keeping her in the dark would only jeopardize her safety. Not telling her was no longer an option. He only prayed that she would listen to reason.
"Cagalli, I know you're still mad at me. That's probably why you're not answering my calls, but this is important. Meet me at The Tasty Fries, 8pm tonight. Please."
She wasn't sure why she came. She wasn't entirely mad at Athrun anymore but she wasn't ready to forgive him just yet. He had still hurt her and betrayed her trust. However there was something in his voice in the voicemail he left her that made her come. A desperate graveness in his tone and a plea for her to hear him out.
As she entered she spotted him already waiting for her at their usual table. His deep green eyes spotted her and enlarged in surprise, as if he didn't expect her to show. Cagalli inhaled, gathered her will and approached him.
"Did you ask me here to finally apologise?"
The pursing of his lips suggested that was not the reason and Cagalli frowned as she sat down in front of him.
"Why am I here then?" She quizzed, confusion and irritation mixed in her tone.
Athrun looked impossibly good sitting across from her, which only angered her more. She was not supposed to be distracted by his good looks right now.
"I'm honouring my end of the deal." He spoke up. The calmness on his features were but a façade to the turbulence he was feeling on the inside seeing her still hurt and angered by him. That ease and carefree-ness they associated with each other in the past had been lost, in its place a strained tenseness he didn't know how to expel. "The last time we were here, we made an exchange. You offered me a witness and in return I promised you the identity of the suspect." Athrun continued then pushed a folder across the table towards Cagalli.
Cagalli's heart thumped in her chest. She knew where this was going and dreaded its direction.
Athrun continued. "Earlier yesterday, the suspect was identified." He paused to gaze into her round amber eyes. There was a desperate plea in his emerald orbs for her to listen to him, "I'm sorry Cagalli, but our primary suspect in the death of Clotho Buer is Kira Yamato."
She did not react in the way he anticipated. Or rather she did not react at all.
"Did you hear me Cagalli? Kira Yamato is our murder suspect."
"He didn't do it."
Athrun visibly flinched at her words. Was she going insane? She was defending a murder suspect. Somewhere in the deep recesses of his heart, he felt its walls constrict. Was she going to take Kira's side over his?
Athrun opened the files in front of her, since she had made no indications of doing it on her own and intended to lay down the facts for her. He pulled out the sketch from the sketch artist, followed by pieces of background information connecting Kira with Blue Cosmos and finally the grainy photos Dearka snapped of Kira, in front of her apartment and exiting a Blue Cosmos hideout.
As he delivered his evidence, there had been no change in Cagalli's expression. She did not register shock or fear or anger. It felt so surreal to see her so calm in light of what he had just revealed when normally she was so animated. He couldn't understand why she wasn't taking in the evidence against Kira. Couldn't she see how worried he was about her, and how much her life was in danger?
Cagalli averted his gaze in guilt. She knew why Kira was connected to Blue Cosmos. Kira had told her, confided in her, and sworn her to secrecy. He had made it explicitly clear that he didn't want the cops involved and she could only respect his wishes. She knew how to keep the secrets of her sources and she wasn't about to betray that trust. Not even for Athrun.
"I'm sorry Athrun."
She watched as dismay overcame Athrun's features. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, worry and exasperation. She didn't believe him. That or she believed Kira over him.
"This isn't like you Cagalli." Athrun accused. "The Cagalli I know works with facts." He had laid out the facts, plain and simple in front of her, unless Kira told her something different. "What are you hiding from me?"
She remained silent, unable to lie to the police captain, knowing he could detect it if she did, but unable to tell him the truth.
Despair started forming at the pit of his stomach as he contemplated what her actions could mean. Could Dearka have been right? Had he unknowingly lost her to him?
"What is your relationship with Kira Yamato?" He asked, his words strained. The Cagalli he knew worked with facts but was often blinded by emotions.
"We're friends." She replied earnestly. "I trust him." She got up to leave but was stopped by his hand over hers.
"Is that all he is to you?" He pinned her with his gaze, a silent desperation behind his eyes.
"Yes." She answered as she pulled her hand free from his.
"Where have you been all day?" He was confronted the minute he stepped inside the warehouse.
Kira's face soured. He didn't like the way the other got into his face. "What's it to you?" He asked pushing Shani out of his personal space.
The green haired youngster did not back away, instead circling around him like he was eyeing off prey. "You were supposed to be here earlier to help us load."
"I was held up by the Heliopolis PD. Ask them for an apology."
"Why were you at the Heliopolis PD?" William Sutherland's voice came over from where he sat behind them.
Kira brushed past the green haired youth and came to stand before Sutherland. "They found out I was visiting Buer."
"And why were you visiting Buer?"
Kira narrowed his eyes, Sutherland knew why. "I was reminding him of the consequences of leaving Blue Cosmos, like you told me to."
"You sure you weren't whispering threats in one ear and words of encouragement and betrayal in the other?" Shani had managed to get close to him again, as he whispered the taunt near his ear. Kira ignored him.
A frown formed on Sutherland's face as he sat contemplating. "What does the police know so far?"
"Nothing. They suspect Blue Cosmos of the murder but have nothing to tie it to Blue Cosmos or me."
William Sutherland nodded his head then pinned Kira with a stare. "If the police know, are we to assume that Cagalli Yula is also aware of your visits to Buer, given how close she is with the Heliopolis PD?"
Kira schooled his face and said in a flat tone. "I've already taken care of that. She won't pose a problem."
A curious eyebrow rose up. "How?"
His lips curved up in response. "Psychology 101, you tend to believe what you hear first. I got to her before Zala did. Spun a little lie. She believes me over him."
"You're confident of this?"
"You forget, she's also my sister. Twin sister. Even though she doesn't know it, she's biologically more inclined to believe in what I say." His eyes then narrowed as his tone turned dark. "Not to mention she's endeared to me because I saved her twice when you tried to have her killed." Kira bit out the last part, anger lacing his voice as he glared at Sutherland.
It only caused William to chuckle. "Good." He said sternly after his mirth died down. "Then you haven't forgotten what lies at stake if you ever betray us." He then eyed Shani and the other men in the room with them. "Shouldn't you boys be getting to work?"
"Hey hey! Rusty wake up!" Shinn gave his comrade a jab in the shoulder. The other detective jolted awake from his position.
"I thought you were taking first shift." The orange head complained as he yawned.
"There's movement down there." Shinn noted as he handed a binocular over to Rusty. "Looks like they're getting ready to move out. Call Aiman, he should still be in the vicinity."
Shinn had just relieved Miguel of his shift and was settling in for an overnight watch while Rusty who had already been there for the last 24 hrs took a rest. If they were lucky Miguel hadn't gone far and will be able to back them up.
His eyes, trained on the street below, watched as the warehouse's roller doors opened and a truck drove out.
"They're heading out." Shinn squinted his eyes, he could barely make out the logo on the truck as it passed a street lamp. "In an Orbit cargo truck." He turned his eyes away from the binoculars and faced Rusty. "Were you able to get to Aiman?"
"Yeah, he said he's still nearby, if we give him our route he can follow us."
"Let's go then."
Shinn and Rusty jumped to gather their things and headed down to the car in pursuit of the truck.
Athrun pulled up hastily in front of police headquarters. He jumped out of the car and quickly made his way to the basement. When he got there, Yzak and Dearka were already inside waiting for him.
"Where are they now?"
"Highway 59. Headed East." Yzak answered and indicated to a spot on the map that had been thrown over a table in the command centre. None of the monitors were set up yet. "Asuka and Mackenzie are in pursuit. Aiman is apparently out there as well."
"Do they know they're being followed?"
"Communications with Mackenzie seem to suggest that the target hasn't caught on yet." Dearka answered.
"I've notified the patrol cars along that route to stay alert and prepare to back them up if necessary." Yzak added before turning back to the map. "Where could they be going?" He puzzled. There was nothing out in the direction they were traveling to.
Athrun took a good look at the map before him and pointed to a sizable perimeter of land. "There's an abandoned airstrip here that was used by the Air Force twenty years ago."
"They're trying to fly out the cargo they're carrying." Dearka concluded for everyone then seeing Athrun hastily move out of the room shouted after him, "Where are you going captain?"
"I know a shortcut to get there. Yzak stay here and coordinate, Dearka come with me." Athrun yelled back not bothering to turn around leaving Dearka to scramble after him.
The airstrip was on the outskirts of the city. The route they were taking took them around the backstreets of the city and then through a stretch of unoccupied land.
"I don't remember this road being on the map." Dearka commented as Athrun sped them down a deserted dirt road.
"That's because it's not. It's the route the military used to get to the strip."
"And you know this how?" The sergeant arched an eyebrow at him.
Athrun chanced him a small smile. "I used to tour army bases with my father as a kid. He took me to this one quite a few times since I was interested in planes." He found it amusing that while normal fathers took their sons to amusement parks and zoos, his father took him to military bases around the country.
Dearka had almost forgotten who Athrun's father was. When the young Zala was first made captain, there were a lot of vicious rumours from those who had been envious that he only made captain at such a young age because of who his father was. He knew Athrun had a hard time in the beginning. His authority was questioned at every chance by those who held contempt. In time he had proven that he was a capable leader deserving of his rank. Dearka on the other hand had never given Athrun's father a second thought until now.
"Your old man must've been pissed off when you decided to join the academy instead of the military." Dearka remarked causing Athrun to laugh.
His father, Patrick Zala was the Minister for Defence, but before that he was a decorated general in the military.
"It's part of the reason why we don't speak anymore."
They drove in silence for a while before Athrun spoke up again.
"I almost joined though." He said solemnly. "The Air Force. Even tested for a pilot."
"Why didn't you in the end?"
"I read an article in the paper, condemning and exposing the military for bombing civilian areas in order to squash rebel groups in Northern Africa." His tone turned serious. "It wasn't Orb's military but I realised that one day I might be ordered to do the same thing. And instead of protecting people, I would be killing people." Then a faint smile graced his lips as he looked on at the road in front of them. "Funny how some words on a paper could change your whole perspective."
Seeing the smile on his captain's face, Dearka chanced a guess. "Did Miss Yula write that article?"
"It was the first piece she ever wrote."
They were about 10 minutes out from their destination when a faint gunshot resounded against the quiet night. It was quickly followed by succeeding gunshots in the distance.
Athrun swerved the car around abruptly and rammed the pedal towards the sound of the escalating gunfight, causing Dearka to grab onto the handle of the car to steady himself from the inertia.
"What's going on out there?" Athrun asked as one hand reached for the radio establishing connection with headquarters.
"Sir, it seems like the Asuka team has engaged the target before the intended destination." A female voice responded on the other side. "Their location is roughly 2km south of your current location." Shiho informed as she tracked their locations through the GPS on their cars. "Lieutenant Joule established contact just earlier and they're requesting back-up."
In the background he could hear Yzak's voice screaming into his phone for a response. It seemed like he had temporarily lost contact with the others. A deep worry seeded into Athrun when he faintly made out static coming through his radio and then through the background noise a panicked voice.
"Officer down! I repeat, officer down!"
A/N: Oh look, something is actually happening in this fic…Also, my favourite scene is in this chapter; the car conversation between Dearka and Athrun. And to clarify, Athrun read that article before he ever met Cagalli. Imagine his surprise when he did finally meet Cagalli and discovered that the reporter that had changed his direction in life turned out to be a pain in the ass; a fiery, spunky, courageous and gorgeous pain in the ass (and then imagine his confusion).
Anyways, I hope you liked it, reviews are appreciated, thanks!