(AN): Thank you to all who reviewed.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed or Destiny.

Chapter Twenty Five

Pursue

Hanger and Space

"Let's go," Kira said as he started his suit up which wasn't at all named. Kira saw something in the disk he had on these suits which was found in the control room so he would read more about them later.

All he knew was that his armor worked but beams were still down, he still had the saber, but he was hoping not to use any of it yet. Kira then started to move it towards the hatch and it felt very natural to him.

The suit was ready to launch and Kira looked one last time at Lacus, "From here on, we will be in a very critical spot."

Lacus smiled, "We will and we will get through it."

Kira smiled as he launched the suit while pressing the detonator and the two others did exactly what he wanted and blew up their key parts and all major equipment, Kira kept looking back as they launched and he was pleased the reactors didn't go off, so he set it up perfectly.

Kira turned the armor on and they flew off, knowing all to well this was just the beginning of their journey, they both knew that many hardships were still to come.

After Kira and Lacus launched out into space, Kira knew he had to get distance on the Plants; this suit wasn't ready for all out combat yet so he maxed out the power as they left the hanger.

Kira was surprised at its speed, and he knew that with this they shouldn't run into any trouble. With everything cleared that he looked at Kira started bringing up the coordinates to the Mendel colony, at first he didn't find anything but that didn't surprise him, not many even knew it existed anymore, after all it hasn't been used supposedly in eighteen years, plus Patrick did his best to keep it out of any conversation or anything on paper so it was literally forgotten.

After a little work however Kira did get the coordinates to the colony and turned his machine in that direction.

Lacus watched what Kira was doing and she agreed that checking out this colony was the only thing they could do right now, they had to learn more about what Patrick was up to and since it began here they hoped to at least find some information on what he was up to.

"I have the coordinates entered so with this machine we should be their in a matter of eight to ten hours," Kira said as they were going to be stuck inside this machine for that long.

Lacus who was sitting on his lag just rested her head on his chest the best she could, "What do you hope to find?"

"Hopefully something that he is up to…and it wouldn't surprise me if he isn't still using that colony for something so we will have to remain on guard…you should rest while you can we have a long journey," Kira told her as she smiled.

Lacus agreed as she rested herself against him giving him room to work as well, Lacus was wore out and it didn't take her long to fall into a slumber while holding on to Kira.

Kira started working on the mobile suits computer to get the full understanding of the machine, several things were different than ordinary machines and it seemed Patrick's engineers were able to make great changes to the data Kira gave them awhile ago and now they had these machines from the results.

Kira checked the radar often and he noticed that they weren't followed but that doesn't mean they were not being tracked and he couldn't check inside the machine so he would have to wait until they arrived…at the colony Kira also hoped to complete this machine, but that would depend on the equipment they had at the colony and if abandoned for this long chances were their wasn't going to be anything.

Kira finished up with all he could at the moment as he looked at the sleeping face of Lacus and smiled, he gave up everything for her and now he wasn't regretting a single thing, Kira smiled again as he silent looked out the screens awaiting the chance to see the colony.

Secret Facility Zala Plant

As per Patrick's orders Rau finally arrived at the underground dock through an entrance only he and Patrick knew about.

As soon as Rau arrived at the front of the facility he was greeted by the high ranking officers in charge and Rau could tell they were not looking very easy which meant something went wrong.

As Rau stopped in front of them all of them saluted.

"What's your status?" Rau asked already knowing the answer.

The captain looked at him, "The targets…were able to flee commander," the captain said hesitantly.

Rau did show any emotion, "What is the damage?" Rau asked as he knew there was only one way out of this facility so they had to take one of their new suits.

"From what we gathered sir, they took one of our main three," the captain replied.

Rau looked at him, "Take me in and show me everything…the leader will not be too pleased with what has transpired here today."

The captain knew that and they started making their way inside the facility, once inside the captain took Rau around showing him the entries and where else Kira and Lacus infiltrated.

"They started off in the storage warehouse then made their way towards the equipment room," the captain said as they were headed for the hangers.

Rau looked around and noticed that Kira's skills were still as deadly as always, "That is understandable he went to the weapons storage, now he probably has enough ammo to last awhile."

The captain knew that made sense, "After this they easily penetrated into the hanger where I guess the girl went in disguise while the main target worked from the shadows killing more of my men."

Rau smiled slightly, he was one of the main trainers of Kira.

They made their way towards the back of the main room and now were entering the first hanger where all of the new standard mobile suits were being manufactured. Rau could see that most mechanics and engineers were now abandoning their work on these to help with the others which meant they were either destroyed or really damaged.

As they made their way towards the classified hanger docks the captain opened the door as Rau saw the damage.

Classified Hanger

Once the doors opened Rau and the captain walked in, and saw the extent of the damage, luckily the explosions from Kira's weapons worked like he planned or they would have had a nuclear explosion…or they would have caused cracks in the wall leading to space, but Kira's design worked like he wanted and his explosives only took out what he wanted.

Rau and the captain walked straight up to the two remaining main mobile suits.

"As you can see sir…they are totaled," the captain said.

Rau looked them over, the cockpits were completely destroyed as well as the main joints to the legs and arms, their cores were luckily unharmed but the systems to use the power were destroyed making the body frames useless, if they tried to fire them back up they would cause a meltdown, in order to fix this problem they would have to build it all over again and stick the core in the new frame, Rau knew that Kira knew exactly what he was doing and now they would have to waste more time and capitol rebuilding these units.

"Just when we almost had them complete," the captain said.

Rau looked over at him, "Can anything be spared?"

"Just the nuclear core sir…the rest has to be rebuilt," the captain replied.

Rau turned around looking at the other five they were constructing, "What about damage to these machines?"

The captain looked at them, "These were never close to being finished…however the explosions from the other two did cause minor structure damage to a few machines and some small parts need to be replaced but other than that we can still build on these…we were focusing fully on the three other machines but now…" the captain said.

"I will have to report this to the leader…but first are your teams tracking the other machine?" Rau said.

The captain smiled, "We started immediately sir…we equipped three homing devices on all three of these machines…this was something only ordered by the leader that was never placed in the record so I doubt our targets know about them yet."

Rau smiled as Patrick had built in small homing devices so they could keep track of these machines at all times when they were being used for missions.

"Good keep an eye on them and give me their location when they stop…is their any chance they will find the homing device?" Rau asked.

The captain looked at him, "Not while flying sir…but if they run a scan on the systems or try to complete he will run across it."

Rau looked at him, "Then we don't have much time, take me to the control room," Rau said as the captain obeyed and they entered the control room.

Once inside the captain had all of his technical teams working on finding that mobile suit.

Rau walked in and looked at the radar they were using.

"They got that far already…that things faster then we thought…do you have a determined location yet?" Rau asked.

One technical member looked at him, "It is hard to say sir…they appear to be changing directions ever few seconds…but it is defiantly away from L5...they are either heading towards the moon or L4...and since there is nothing in L4 I believe they are headed for the moon."

Rau smiled he knew other wise, "So he is heading there…Patrick will not be too pleased," Rau said to himself as not many knew of L4 anymore.

Rau knew it was time to contact Patrick and he knew Patrick wasn't going to be to pleased, "Keep up the tracking and get word to me when you have a location," Rau said as he went to the other side of the room and picked up the phone dialing Patrick's office.

Patrick's guys weren't the only ones to track a mobile suit leaving the Plant, there was another group that got wind of this and they picked up the phone to.

Zala Plant Military Headquarters

Patrick's Office

Yzak and Dearka started walking in after they got the orders from Rau to report here and Athrun followed as the other two took Nicol's body into the facility. They walked to the leader's office where the door was open and all stood at the door and saluted as Athrun was a little late with his.

Patrick could tell that his son was divided but he wouldn't hear of it.

"Enter and sit down," Patrick said in a demanding voice.

They walked in and a soldier outside the door closed it as they sat down and looked into the angry eyes of Patrick, but what Athrun noticed was that they seemed almost pleased to and he was eagerly looking forward to hearing what his father had to say.

"I want your report Joule," Patrick said as he was ignoring his son at the moment.

Yzak stood to give his report as he saluted, "Sir…we successfully infiltrated the mansion of the traitor…once inside the Zala squad split up with myself and Dearka taking the bottom floor while Athrun and Nicol took the top floor…the target was on the top floor and easily killed a member…it was bad luck that the weak half of the Zala unit encountered him sir…my half would have done better," Yzak said trying to save his position.

Patrick wasn't at all thrilled, and Athrun wasn't saying anything yet.

"I will not hear excuses…apparently you cannot handle that position!" Patrick stood and shouted as he was in no mood.

Yzak and the rest went silent as Patrick continued.

"I give all four of you one simple task and you fail it…he was only one man and my elite unit couldn't even get near him, all of you are just as worthless as naturals!" Patrick shouted in anger as he sat back down placing his hands on his head.

Yzak looked at him, "Give me one more chance sir and I will succeed…I will not lose to him," Yzak said as he wasn't going let Kira beat him again.

Patrick looked up at him, "I am tired of giving chances…and now he is infiltration one of our secret facilities on this Plant."

All three looked at him with confusion, they knew nothing of it, but this must be where the commander went.

"Send us sir…and we will finish it," Yzak said again.

Patrick glared at him, "Enough! All of you will head back to the base and await further orders…now get out of my sight," Patrick said as all three stood and saluted as they started walking out.

"Not you Athrun," Patrick said as Athrun knew this was coming and he stopped while turning around and facing his father. Yzak and Dearka left to follow their orders leaving Athrun alone here.

Athrun turned and looked at him.

"I take it you know what you have to do from now on," Patrick said sternly.

"Why did you break your word to him father?" Athrun asked as Patrick grew very angry.

"I have already told you why fool…that girl was too dangerous to be left alive and now Amalfi has paid the price…he only does for that girl now Athrun, don't forget that," Patrick said to him seriously.

Athrun stared at him saying nothing.

Patrick looked at him, "You will pull the trigger next time you see him Athrun…I will not accept anything other than that from you…he will not hesitate to do the same to you of that I truly believe."

Athrun looked at him, "I don't know what to believe anymore!" Athrun fired back.

Patrick was growing flustered, "Listen here boy…the election is only days away and I will not have you screwing things up by turning soft, you screw this up and you will join him!" Patrick said as he wasn't going to have his own son walk around disobeying orders or at worst failing.

Athrun looked at him, "What happened to you father? Mother will not be pleased at any of this."

Patrick was in fury now, "I am doing what is best for our race you fool…and you will do the same…after all I did for both of you one turns on me and now you question me…I will not put up with any of it!" Patrick shouted again.

Athrun stared at him, "Do what you want father," Athrun said as Patrick wasn't cooling down.

"I grow tired of you…this is what will happen, when I send you guys out again you will be the one to pull the trigger…no one else refuse and I will have you declared a traitor with him!" Patrick shouted again.

"I never said I wasn't pulling the trigger father, Nicol never did anything to anybody, he didn't even want to fight, you made him and Kira killed him…I'm am tired of all of it," Athrun said as he started walking out but Patrick wasn't done.

"Remember my words boy…do not cross me," Patrick said as Athrun left.

Patrick sat back down for awhile deep in thought and a while he got a call from his secretary, "What!" Patrick screamed into the phone.

"…sorry sir…but the press conference you called is waiting," Patrick's secretary said.

"Very well," Patrick said as he was about to stand but got another call.

Patrick saw this time it was Rau, "Go ahead," Patrick said.

"They escaped just as I suspected sir," Rau told him.

Patrick shut his eyes, "He got through my top security base like nothing!" Patrick raised his voice.

"Correct sir, not only that but he stole one of our main three machines and destroyed the other two," Rau reported to him.

Patrick didn't think this day could go any worse, "Both machines are completely destroyed?" Patrick asked.

"Yes sir, the nuclear cores are still in tack but the rest of the machine has to be completely rebuilt, they are totaled, the other five only received some structure and minor damage but they were no where near completion," Rau told him.

Patrick sighed again, "Of all timing just when I was about to put the order into action, now we will have to hold off on the first part."

Rau knew what he meant, "Shall I order completion and rebuilding of the machines?"

"Proceed with that matter…however having them steal one of the main three isn't necessary a bad thing…are you tracking them?" Patrick asked.

Rau smiled, "As we speak sir…from the coordinates it is either the moon or somewhere in L4...and I think you and I both know where he will head."

Patrick didn't like what he was hearing, "If he is headed their he may learn a little to much…prepare your ship and any personal you need, follow them at once and carry out what my unit failed to do."

"What shall I do with them sir?" Rau asked.

"Finish them of course…but try to recover our lost machine I don't want to rebuild all if possible…I take it you will not fail like the Zala unit did," Patrick replied seriously.

Rau smiled, "I will leave at once sir," Rau said.

Patrick smiled, "I am about to issue a statement to the press, I will use Amalfi's death as a means to turn the remaining people who still support Clyne…even they will not be able to stay with him after I show the latest footage."

"Brilliant sir…people are still swayed by Lacus Clyne, so this should work, or at least make others doubt them brining Clyne's chances of reelection to almost nothing," Rau replied praising him a little.

"Precisely…having the Zala unit down a member will make people see just how dangerous having those two on the loose is and it will show people I am doing everything in my power to stop the traitors, which is why I will say they stole our new machine," Patrick told him.

"Are you sure about that sir?" Rau asked.

Patrick smiled, "I won't say exactly what they stole but it is a matter of Plant security so this should be the completion to my election campaign, Clyne will look like a fool and I will be the new leader Plant needs."

"Very good sir…I am preparing my ship and should be out within the next few hours, we should have them in no time," Rau said.

Patrick hung up the phone as everything seemed to be going his way for now, Patrick got up and started heading down now to do his press conference he called.

Near the dock

A team was also watching the mobile suit escape also got on the phone, "Correct sir…a mobile suit just left and from what we gather was not cleared…plus it looks strange."

The one on the other line was intrigued, "Did you get a visual?"

"Yes sir, shall I send the data to you?" the team leader said.

"Do it…great work and keep up the lookout if there is anything else get word to me I will contact him now," the man said as they hung up while the man that just received word phoned another number.

Clyne Plant

Inside the Clyne manor Siegel was at his desk looking over all the data Andrew had sent him from their last conversation and it wasn't much to go on.

Siegel was looking at this stuff for hours and that was when he got a call.

"Yes," Siegel said.

"I have news sir," Andrew told him.

Siegel placed what he was doing down, "Did you find her?"

"I believe so sir…from what we gather a mobile suit just launched from the Zala Plant and from the explosions we got after it left I do believe she was in it," Andrew told her.

Siegel was hopeful, "Any idea where it is going?"

"From the direction we can guess either the moon or L4 but that is speculation…I want you to send me a team, and I have an idea," Andrew told him.

"Go on," Siegel replied as he wanted to reach his daughter before Patrick.

Andrew smiled, "I can tell you that the suit was a brand new type from the images and I believe Zala will have it followed…so when they leave I wish to trail them."

Siegel thought for a second, they knew Zala was up to something and these new suits were not supposed to be built without a vote from a council in fact nothing new military was supposed to be built without a vote from the council, but now they at least had a way to get to Lacus.

"I will send you all support from the Clyne faction…whatever you need take it and go after her," Siegel said not caring that he was violating an order to let Patrick handle the matters of Lacus and this other guy, but it was his daughter and he didn't care about the consequences no matter what the council voted.

Andrew smiled, "Alright sir I will send you a list now…and we have to do this fast they could leave at any time."

Siegel agreed and started working on getting Andrew the supplies and manpower he needed. Andrew had sent Siegel an image of the mobile suit and his eyes went a little big, it was something he had never seen before for the moment it was all grey, which meant Kira didn't activate the armor yet, Siegel knew that his daughter had to be aboard and he will get to her first, but having to trail whatever Zala sent meant that they might have to engage each other, but their was nothing he could do about that now.

Siegel got Andrew what he wanted and started working on a few matters when he got an alert saying Patrick was having a press conference.

Outside Zala Plant Military Headquarters

Patrick walked out of the headquarters to the podium that was set up and all cameras flashed as he walked up to the microphone about to speak. Patrick stopped at the microphone and started looking over the crowd as he spoke.

"I have come to give everyone an update on the hunt for the traitor Lacus Clyne and the wanted killer she employs," Patrick said.

All reporters were either writing something down or listening carefully.

"On a tip we received our special Zala squad personally went to take the two into custody and upon arrival all units were brutally murdered by the traps this man set up…our Zala team wouldn't let this continue so they went in personally in an attempt to capture the criminals however that was when the brave Nicol Amalfi was shot and killed by the hired gun of Lacus Clyne…It was a terrible and tragic loss for the Zala unit, I know some still believe that this girl can do no wrong but I say to you we were all deceived by her lies and how can you ignore the evidence," Patrick said as the images seen from Nicol's camera were shown and their they were with a little doctoring to the tape, it showed Lacus giving the order as Kira shot him dead, Patrick also left out a few details and it showed Lacus pointing at Nicol as Kira shot him and then the statement Kira said was played with small doctoring.

As it played Patrick watched as the reporters were stunned at what they saw, and he could see their opinions starting to shift, Patrick had to be careful not to show too much or it would look like he was exploiting Nicol's death and he couldn't have that.

The Zala unit was all known around Plant and everyone knew the members, so having one fall would make people want to take more serious action.

Patrick had the tape stopped before it showed to much, "As you can see people all of us were deceived, our chairman as well but he refuses to take action…it wasn't only this after the death of a hero they broke in to a secret military facility and stole a valuable machine that was designed for the security of the Plants…I will not let these actions continue, we believe she is trying to sell this information to the earth alliance and we will not stand by so I have ordered the recovery of our machine as well as capture of Lacus Clyne and her companion by any means necessary."

The reporters were writing like crazy and others were eagerly awaiting the chance to ask questions.

"We will not let the sacrifice of a great hero go in vain, we will bring justice to the traitors…that is all for now, I hope to bring better news at the next conference," Patrick said as the reporters immediately stood up and went to work.

"Is their any identity to the man that travels with her?" one reporter asked.

Patrick decided to take a few questions, "Nothing yet…all we know is that he is well trained and extremely dangerous."

"How is it possible that one man got through the famous Zala squad?" another one asked.

Patrick looked at him, "Like I said he is very dangerous and well trained…that is all I have on that matter."

"Do you believe this will help your election campaign days away?" another one asked.

Patrick glared at this one, "This has nothing to do with politics, it is about bringing the traitors to justice."

The reporters kept going and Patrick kept answering questions that was all he could do at the moment and he was handling the situation well as he was pleased he was able to turn the events around.

Siegel watched the whole press conference and was appalled at the events Patrick said, he knew none of that was true, sure the evidence was their but that wasn't his daughter, Siegel knew Patrick had the support of the people and he would without a doubt lose the election but all on his mind was finding his daughter and he hoped that Andrew would make it in time to at least help his daughter out of a situation they might be wandering into a trap.

All over Plant reaction was really starting to swing towards Patrick's favor, with a famous Zala member killed they knew they had to put trust in Zala. Many now were starting to really doubt Lacus and her father, they believed Siegel was an incompetent ruler and it was time for a change. Patrick really seemed to use that conference to his advantage as everything he wanted was seeming to come true.

Patrick finished up with the press conference and went back to his office, with the events that transpired today he was going to be delayed in his all out plans, but he should still get the election so if he had to wait so be it for now. For a few hours Patrick started working on what he was going to do once everything was back in order and finally Rau got word he was ready to launch and Patrick gave the order as the ship left.

With Rau

Rau got everything he wanted from Patrick and boarded his ship, once inside all the equipment and main power was loaded and since it was short notice it took a little longer, but once he had everything he was cleared for launch and they were off.

Rau had several infantry units, along with several mobile suits, Rau had everything he needed for now as it would take a little longer to arrive at the Mendel colony, He calculated that Kira had about a day or maybe a little less on the colony before they could send teams in so he believed that Kira wouldn't be able to find everything but he would still have enough time to do damage so he was going to put the teams on alert once close enough to save time.

With Andrew

Siegel did the same thing for Andrew that Patrick did for Rau, and Andrew was actually prepared to go first, but he had to wait, and after a little while like he predicated he saw a ship launch and not just any ship but that was Rau's ship, and Andrew knew if he was going then that had to be Lacus and that guy they were after.

Andrew got word to Siegel and Siegel cleared them to launch, Andrew waited as the ship got out of range and then slowly took off, they had to stay out of radar for a little while so they were taking a risk, but Andrew didn't mind.

Andrew his team and everything else he requested were now silently training Rau to lead them to Lacus hopefully.

Outside Mendel Colony

Like Kira predicted the journey took awhile, and Kira never fell asleep, he kept changing the directions of flight as precaution, which made it take longer but it was safer and this suit was incredible with speed so he didn't mind.

Lacus who was exhausted never woke up once until the colony got in Kira's sight.

Lacus awoke as she looked up to see Kira smiling at her, "How long was I out?"

Kira looked at her, "A while."

"How far are we?" Lacus asked.

Kira smiled again, "Were already here," Kira said as Lacus turned her head and looked out only to see a broken down colony that looked decayed from not being tended to, but then she remembered this was where Kira was born, and it was probably not used since then.

Kira looked at the place, he knew about his birth, but he never thought of ever seeing this place, but hopefully the answers they needed would be here.

Lacus looked back at Kira who seemed deep in thought, as she took his hand in hers, causing him to look at her.

Lacus smiled at him, "We can do this," Lacus told him.

Kira looked at her and smiled, "Your right, we have no choice lets go, from now we will only become stronger," Kira replied as they both looked at the colony again as Kira saw the opened dock and being cautious flew right in.

To be continued…

(AN): I hope you liked this chapter not one of my best, the next chapter takes place inside the colony and down on earth. It should be up soon. See you later.