Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam
It returns, with an important chapter, long awaited first meeting of Shinn and Stella, and the shocking confrontation between Vincent and Jone Yuridate. I'm going to make this fic one of my focuses from now on, to finally finish it.
Credit for editing goes to 00virtuezero
Gundam Seed Destiny Or Liberty
Chapter 34: Fakes
Vincent held onto the collar of Jone's shirt tightly. He didn't want to kill the man yet, he wanted him to know exactly why he would die. He wanted to see the realization cross the man's face, as he remembered their first meeting. How he laughed at Vincent for trying to save people at Onogoro, how he deliberately went out of his way to kill Shinn's family, how he laughed about it, how he enjoyed every kill he ever got. But Jone's face didn't change, he was just looking at Vincent in fear.
"I'm not who you think I am," he said.
"Bullshit," Vincent snarled.
He slammed his fist into Jone's gut, then kneed him, once, twice and a third time. It knocked the wind out of him, but Extendeds were tougher than ordinary humans, it hurt Vincent just to hit the man. But he would not stop until he brought out the man's true self, Saint Yuri. He punched Jone across the face, throwing him into the road. Vincent began to walk towards Jone, cracking his knuckles together.
"Stop this please, I'm not who you think I am," Jone said again, this time his voice was more desperate.
"How did you survive, no one should have been able to survive in space like that," Vincent picked Jone up by his collar and threw him against the rocks behind them.
"You're right, no one can survive that," Jone gagged as Vincent took him by the neck.
He squeezed, tempted for a moment, to strangle the life out of him. For a moment he wanted to throw aside his beliefs, he wanted to murder this man. It didn't matter if he remembered, he was Saint Yuri, he was the one who put Shinn down the path he was on now. The one who killed so many innocents at Onogoro, and would have gotten off on nuking the Plants. But slowly, Vincent dropped Jone, glaring at his back as he took in the precious air.
"You will remember," his voice was still so full of anger.
Raising his leg, Vincent stomped down on Jone's back. He lifted his leg again, stomping it down on him.
"I'm going to beat you until you remember," he stomped again, and again.
"I'm going to put you through the same agony you put so many others through," he kicked Jone in the stomach and grabbed him by his hair.
"I'm going to beat you until you admit the truth, Saint Yuri," Vincent snarled as he delivered multiple punches to the young man's face.
Jone gathered his strength and slammed his elbow into Vincent's groin. The commander of Sensou reeled back in pain, fury still underneath his helmet. Jone crawled across the ground at first, before breaking off into a run. There was pure terror written across his face, he ran for his life, for Vincent was clearly after it.
A savage exchange was taking place on the top of the cliff, but in the ocean below, something much more tender was about to happen. When Shinn landed in the water, he swam to the blonde haired girl. She was terrified, flailing her arms around, not doing herself any favours and certainly not giving Shinn any. When he wrapped his arms around her waist, she scratched him, acting as if he was attacking her. Diving underneath her, Shinn avoided her kicking legs and grabbed her waist again. Kicking strongly, he swam to the shallows, carrying the girl with him.
Her legs touched the rocks, and she calmed only slightly, panting like Shinn did. He touched the scratch mark on his cheek and cursed. Putting his hands to his mouth, he bellowed out for Vincent. No response came however, so out of frustration, Shinn turned to the girl.
"What the hell were you doing, do you want to die?"
The panic she showed on the water, paled in comparison to the terror that spread across her face. Her eyes seemed to dilute, any strength left in her arms faded as she went limp. She was still standing though, walking through the shallows and looking up, as if Shinn wasn't there. It was as if she wasn't there anymore, but instead somewhere else, somewhere that terrified her.
"Die, no," Shinn heard her whisper.
He got up, his look of anger replaced by one of shock. Seeing the look of fear across her face, made him regret his short temper.
"I don't want to die, no, don't want to die," she said, over and over.
Shinn took a few steps towards her. She let out a horrified scream, collapsing, trying to get away from him.
"No, the monster's going to kill me, I don't want to die," she crawled back, then turned away from Shinn.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he said, but again she reacted as if he wasn't there.
Taking a bolt step forward, Shinn grabbed her, keeping her hands from scratching her. The girl screamed, tears flowing from her eyes as she fought against him.
Stellar feared the inevitable more than anything. She feared the monster that brought death to so many. The monster looked like a man, but was more like an animal, hair grey like a wolf's. She lashed out at the monster, trying to keep it away. But the monster was stronger, putting her hands on her side and gripping the back of her head. Then, she felt it on her chest, the gentle and still heartbeat.
"It's all right," the monster's snarls turned into a gentle voice, one Stellar found herself captivated by.
'Neo,' she thought, for a moment.
But it wasn't Neo, he was shorter, his hair dark. He held her, resting her chin on his shoulder and rubbing the back of her head.
"It's all right, you're safe, I won't let anything happen to you, I'll protect you," he said, over and over.
She believed him.
They were rolling across the dirt now, their clothes drenched. The sun was beginning to set, and still Vincent was no closer to getting him to confess. Every time he got his hands around Jone's neck, the man was able to kick him off. His helmet was beginning to be more of a hindrance than a help, limiting his vision, he needed something better. Putting a pin in that, he continued the chase through the woods.
"SAINT YURI!" he yelled.
"It was you wasn't it? At Armory One, you took the Gundams didn't you, you and those other, what are they called?" he tapped his head, trying to remember. "God damn it, Blue Cosmos altered you, turned into weapons!"
"We never asked for that," Jone retorted, then instantly regretting it.
Vincent began stampeding towards his hiding place, stumbling at first, then he dived and tackled Jone. They rolled down a hill top, hitting their backs on tree branches. Jone landed on his back and Vincent on his head, further blurring his vision, he couldn't hear for a moment. But he began to see Jone, trying to talk to him, his facial expression and the movement of his hands, told him he was trying to justify himself and the other extended. Vincent let out a yell, punching Jone across the face.
"SHUT UP! How many people are dead, because of you, and THAT BITCH!" Vincent yelled, grabbing Jone's arm and attempting to break it.
Jone quickly slammed his other elbow into the side of Vincent's head, knocking him off balance. Then he tackled Vincent, and again the pair rolled down a hill, mud and blood staining their outfits. When they landed, Vincent ran at Jone again, throwing a flurry of punches, which he was barely able to block. Jone countered with a right cross, only for Vincent to recover and hit him with a left hook. Vincent and Jone both let out yells as they slammed their fists together.
Shinn softly wrapped the ribbon on the girl's cut ankle. She seemed calmer now, looking at the piece of cloth with a childlike intrigue. Looking up the cliff, Shinn tried to get a view of Vincent.
"HEY VINCENT!" he yelled.
When no reply came, he shook his head in frustration. He snapped his emergency beacon and decided to wait. As the sun began to set, Shinn set up a fire.
"Those clothes are soaked, if you keep them on you'll catch a cold," Shinn said.
"CLOSET PERVERT!" a voice yelled from above them.
Shinn blinked in confusion, before looking up. At the top of the cliff stood Silver Mask. He was holding a sound receiving microphone, and had a wire attached to his helmet.
"Silver Mask, why are you carrying spy equipment?" Shinn asked.
"BECAUSE I'M SPYING ON PEOPLE OBVIOUSLY!" the masked man huffed.
"Where's Vincent?"
"HE'S...HOLD ON!" Silver mask pointed the receiver to the forest, took a moment to listen, and then nodded his head. "HE'S CURRENTLY INDISPOSED!"
"WHAT!?" Shinn yelled up.
"Oh don't worry about it," Silver Mask shook his head as he turned away from the cliff. "Two people who hate each other, fighting with everything they have, fighting until they make each other bleed, that sounds very familiar," the mercenary explained, chuckling underneath his mask.
Meer looked at her hero, the man who had helped her accept what she had become. Gekido sat in the ZAFT transport, his arms crossed, eye opening to look at her. She turned away and blushed, Athrun and Gekido, strong men who were both apparently involved with Lacus, with her. One her husband, the other her lover. Before she knew it, Gekido was sat next to her, her bodyguards and agents maintaining a hesitant distance.
"Gekido-san," she gasped as he took hold of her chin.
"You remember Lacus, how yours and Athrun's relationship broke apart?" he asked.
Hesitantly Meer nodded her head.
"Yeah, you knew what needed to be done before Athrun did, it was expected to happen, rebelling against Patrick Zala. Lacus, you've always known what the right thing to do is, you're the only righteous person in this war," Gekido explained.
"I don't think I..." Meer whispered, overcome by how nervous she was.
"So modest, always so modest too, it's what made me fall in love with you," Gekido said, kissing Meer's cheek.
She blushed, her hands trembling. Gekido relaxed on his seat and smirked.
"A fake, that's all they'll see, the day will come when the fake is smiling and happy, and delivering the lines that her puppet master has given her. Then, the real one will come, to take away everything the fake has gained. Oh she'll play the understanding, sympathetic card, she's Lacus Clyne after all, she understands everyone. She'll say, that the fake can keep her name, but then she'll switch it around, she'll say that the fake can only be who she is. She'll sound so convincing, that the fake will take a bullet for her."
There was anger in his voice, but the very things he said filled Meer with fear.
"She'll kill the fake with her kindness," Gekido turned to Meer, putting his arm around her. "Unless, the fake is actually more real than her, that she's better at being Lacus Clyne than her. That she's so better, that there are people willing to do ugly things for her, unforgivable things. All to protect her, because they love her," Gekido whispered the last part in Meer's ears, and she nearly melted into his arms.
'Is it Lacus he loves? Or me? No, it's definitely me, I am Lacus, I am Lacus,' Meer thought.
She took hold of Gekido's hand as the transport shook.
"It's all right Lacus, I've got you," Gekido said, letting the girl rest her head on his shoulder.
Engineers from the company known as 'The Spire', nervously watched their employer drink his coffee. He had come to them days ago, hiring them to make adjustments to his mobile suit. The man had requested repairs, a recharge of his batteries and spare ones. He had also organized through a separate company a plane to transport his suit. The dark haired, purple eyed youth took the occasional sip, his shoulders tensing slightly as he noticed someone coming up behind him.
"Unless you're one of the workers telling me they're done, leave me alone," he said.
"Canard Pars," the person behind him said.
Canard turned, seeing a brown haired, blue eyed young man standing in front of him.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"You can call me Noda Hier, I'm working for an old friend of yours," the young man said.
"You seem familiar, we haven't met before have we?" Canard asked.
"It's a long story, but our old friend wanted me and my suit," the boy pointed over his shoulder, to a truck where a blue armored civilian Astray had been placed, "to go wherever you go, and to tell you that everything your brother and Lacus Clyne are saying about Durandal is true, that he's one of the real threats, perhaps more so than Djibril," he explained.
"I didn't need a mystery person to tell me what," Canard huffed.
He closed his eyes, thinking as he leant against the wall. When he opened them, he seemed calm and more collected than he usually was.
"Is he alive?" he asked the young man.
"Barely, he'd rather no one see him, but he understands the reality that, the story he has to tell is one that needs to be told in person," Noda said.
"Maybe I'll get to hear it someday, anyway, once the plane gets here, get your suit loaded onto it," Canard commanded.
"Where are we going?" Noda asked.
"Eurasia, time I meet my old friend's family!"
Jone and Vincent were holding onto one another, bashing each other against the ground, against trees. They rolled away from one another, and tried to punch each other again. Only this time, Jone retreated back, and slammed his leg against Vincent's helmet. The helmet cracked, and finally split apart. Vincent immediately covered his face, and Jone looked at him in shock.
"Go ahead, go ahead and laugh Saint, ask me how much it hurt, laugh at the agony I went through," Vincent snarled.
Jone shook his head as he turned away.
"I don't want to fight you, I don't enjoy fighting," Jone said.
"And yet here you are," Vincent scoffed.
"Yeah, here I am, a prisoner, just like all the others!"
"Don't try to make me feel sorry for you," again Vincent scoffed, this time with more anger in his eyes.
"I'm not trying to make you feel sorry for me, I just want you to understand that none of them have a choice, the new Extended, their circumstances are worse than the previous generation. Blue Cosmos didn't just tamper with their bodies, make them chemically dependent on the drugs, but actually altered the very chemistry of their brains," Jone explained.
"Brainwashing?" Vincent asked.
"I suppose that's the best term that could be used to describe it, I'm not entirely sure about the science behind it but, after traumatic experiences, the new extended are put into chambers that alter their brain chemistry. Hell, sometimes the scientists put them in there when something they don't like happens, like they've attached to an officer, I suspect poor Stellar will be put in the chamber after this."
"Do you really think I'm going to let her leave? Or you for that matter?"
"My life isn't dependent upon the drugs, Stellar and the others will die if they don't get their fixes," Jone said.
"I know...I think, what are their names...Shani? Orgus? Or was it Orga? One was Lotho I think..." Vincent scratched his head in frustration.
"Shani, Orga and Clotho, the original extended that Intelligence confirmed work for you now, did you cure them?"
"Can't remember...you don't need to know...anyway damn it, you're coming with me," Vincent took a step towards Jone, who raised his hands.
"Vincent, I know that my original caused you so much pain, but I'm not like him believe me. That's why I wanted you to know, that us? The extended, we're only the surface that Logos scratched of genetic manipulation, they've done a lot worse and..."
Puff
Vincent looked at Jone in shock. The man's face, so much like Saint's, had been frozen in eternal shock. He fell to the floor, the clean hole on his forehead leaving no blood on the leaves. A second shot hit Vincent in the shoulder and threw him down the hill. As he fell, Vincent broke his emergency beacon.
Stark smirked as he raised his rifle. He lifted it onto his shoulder and looked to Lucifer. The Ultimate Extended, former pilot of the Annihilation and current pilot of the Fallen. He looked at his watch and nodded his head to Stark.
"Well, at least we got rid of one flawed one," Stark said.
"He'll always be replaced," Lucifer shrugged his shoulders.
"Dr Smith sure is handy that way, annoying too to give us so many unstable team mates," Stark began going through the process of disassembling his rifle, putting the pieces back in his duffel bag.
"When it's just the two of us, let's just call him by his real name, Ullen Hibiki," Lucifer said.
Branden had been in town, eating at a cafe when he saw them. He raised a newspaper, pretending to read it, but actually covering his face with it. Meyrin, Vino and Youlan, he couldn't tell the two techies apart. The three of them were in civies, just walking around and enjoying their shore leave. He peeked over the newspaper, quickly hiding his face under it again, as Meyrin looked towards him.
'Please don't come over, please don't come over, please don't come over!' he thought.
"Yo Branden!"
'DAMN IT!'
Meyrin and the 'two stooges' as Branden identified them as, were both standing at his table.
"Hey," he said, devoid of any enthusiasm.
"Enjoying your time off?" Meyrin asked.
"Hmmm, yeah I suppose," Branden said.
His eye twitched as the three coordinators sat at his table. The girl had a smile on her face, setting her shopping bags down.
"It feels good to finally have some time off," she said.
"You guys must really be soft if this is how you react to time off. Mere shadows compared to the Archangel team, or so I've heard," Branden huffed.
"What do you know about the Archangel team?" Youlan asked.
"Our director told me a few things, they got breaks, but not exactly shore leave, so they couldn't really cut loose. They spent months together on the same ship, with minimal crew, so everyone knew everyone. Which meant that tempers flared, so scores had to be settled pretty quickly," Branden explained.
"Were you Earth Alliance too?" Vino asked.
"Special forces, spent one part of the war in the Middle East, using rocks as pillows, little technology other than a radio to receive commands. Another part was in space, in the colonies," Branden said.
"That must have been nice," Meyrin said.
"Not really, well I suppose," Branden corrected himself.
"What do you mean?" Youlan asked.
"Like any nation in the world, what you see and how 'nice' it is, depends on where you're going, the colonies are no exception. They have their rich quarters and poor quarters, some colonies are so well funded that the upper class live like kings, and the poor have to live in hovels if they're lucky, some make their homes in the ducts and airlocks. I visited Jupiter once, they complain, but they're better off than some of the pioneers," Branden explained.
"What about the rest of the war? Did you join Sensou then?" Meyrin asked, her voice eager.
"No, I didn't join until after Jachin Due, took my mobile suit with me cause, technically it doesn't exist."
"Why did you join?"
"None of your business really," Branden huffed.
He grimaced as a hurt expression crossed Meyrin's face. Though he didn't know why, with a sigh he elaborated.
"I got tired of the hypocrisy, wherever I went in the military I heard the term 'pure blue world' and yet, time and time again it was proven to be bull shit. That Lohengrin cannon, a classic example, positron cannons leave harmful amounts of Gamma radiation," he stated, frowning as Vino shook his head.
"Later positron cannons don't have that problem anymore," the engineer blinked as Branden laughed.
"That is naiveté, they still generate gamma radiation, even the Minerva's positron cannon is still generating radiation. On the Minerva and the Archangel, they're disasters waiting to happen, in fact it already did happen," Branden explained.
"What do you mean?" Meyrin asked.
Branden crossed his arms remaining silent, the three coordinators looked at him and waited for the answer. When it seemed clear they weren't taking the hint, he again elaborated.
"On my last mission, I was part of a team to provide relief work to an area ZAFT once occupied."
"You on relief work," the two mechanics laughed.
"Youlan, Vino," Meyrin chided them.
"No they're right, I'm completely ill-suited for that kind of work, that's what the official story was. ZAFT had set up a complex for genetics research, not a clinic for birthing coordinators, but a health centre. They believed that certain enzymes in fruit that grew in that area, might be able to solve the problem of third gen coordinator sterility. It wasn't being run by ZAFT anymore and there were other projects there, treatment of viruses and diseases and what not. There was virtually no coordinator presence there, and with the treaty about to be signed, they wouldn't be able to get a cease and desist order," Branden explained.
"What happened?" Meyrin asked.
"The battleship we were using had a positron cannon on it, one of the only naval vessels to be retrofitted with one. I and a few others would pilot stolen Ginns programmed with a natural OS. That way ZAFT would be the party in trouble and not us, we 'attacked' the ship. At this point my questions concerning my presence were answered. I and a few of the other pilots had started to doubt the Atlantic federation military, we were going to leave once the treaty was signed and our tours were complete. The captain ordered the positron cannon to be fired," Branden shook his head, banging his fist on the table.
"That close to a civilian region?" Youlan asked.
Meyrin put her hand to her mouth and gasped, whilst Vino's face was frozen in shock.
"The shot killed most of my squad, and coincidentally destroyed the health centre. People who lived there now have health problems. But that wasn't the end of it," Branden said.
"What do you mean?" Vino asked.
"Remember how I said Positron cannons were disasters waiting to happen? Well one of the survivors of my squad fired at the cannon, damaged it and resulted in a military disaster on top of the civilian one," Branden looked away for a moment, with only Meyrin noticing the withholding look in his eyes.
An awkward silence fell over the table, what Branden had revealed hung over it. He seemed to be ignoring them, reading the local paper and paying little attention to the three coordinators around him. They were about to leave when Branden's phone rang. He took the device out of his pocket, slid it to active status and pushed it to his ear.
"Branden here, what is it Kojiro?" he asked.
Kojiro had been reading a book when he received the message. Sheryl had been the first to receive the message when it went out however. She had been overseeing construction/equipping of the suit she intended to give to Vincent.
"Take care of the main unit, it's the one part of the suit we want intact at all time. Add some of the extra alloy but watch the neural processor, and no contaminating the arc alloy," she explained.
Her phone was connected directly to her headphones, so when she heard the emergency beacon, she called her assistant over with her hand. Over the loud sounds of the mechanics working, Sheryl pulled off her mechanic overalls and walked over to the small phone. A call was already waiting for her, Noah's face appeared on the main screen.
"You're kidding me," Sheryl said, leaning against the wall with the phone between her ear and shoulder.
"I'm not too happy about it either darling," he said.
"Vincent's emergency beacon has gone off."
"Same for Shinn's, maybe we'll get lucky and it'll turn out Vincent will have killed Shinn, I know a guy in the coroner's office, great for covering things up," Noah explained.
"I'm just getting additional data, they're in separate locations, odd that they're in trouble at the same time," Sheryl commented, one hand on her chin as she thought of the likelihood.
"I've got it too, wait, there's more," Noah paused and then began to laugh.
Rather than entertain the man, Sheryl looked at her own monitor. But then she cursed, a string of them echoing into the hanger, making the Sensou mechanics stop their work. A moment passed before the youths carried on. Noah had a grin on his face, whilst Sheryl had a crushing grip on the phone.
"A Sensou team recovers Shinn whilst a ZAFT one recovers Vincent? What bull shit is this?" Sheryl asked.
"Straight from the chairman, Rey will apparently recover Vincent, and he wants you to pick up Shinn," Noah said.
Sheryl grit her teeth together in frustration. It wasn't that she didn't like Shinn. He thought he was something special, but he was just like every other hot shot Sheryl had seen. The people who thought they knew everything and had it figured out, she'd educated her fair share. What she didn't trust was Durandal himself, clearly he had influence over Vincent's treatment. Rey was also devoted to the man, like a son to his father. She didn't want Vincent to end up in Durandal's care again.
"Okay Noah, thanks," Sheryl said, grudgingly.
Noah rolled his eyes before he cut communications. it was then than Sheryl sent a message to Kojiro and Branden, two people she trusted to do the job right.
"Vincent and Shinn are in trouble, Shinn's at a single location, but Vincent's beacon was last picked up here," Kojiro pointed at the map as he and Branden walked to the car park in town.
They both had bikes, fully prepped and paid for. A jeep however suddenly pulled up, with Luna in the driver's seat and Vino, Meyrin and Youlan in the passenger seats.
"We can help," Luna said.
"We've got this, trust us," Branden said.
"Additional people will be able to cover more ground," Kojiro added.
"No, I'm sure we've got this."
Shaking his head, Kojiro took Branden by his shoulder, moving him out of hearing range of the ZAFT soldiers.
"I can check where the beacon was found, but if Vincent fell in the river, you'll need to find him, before Rey and his men do. Rey will be less likely to dispose of you if you have additional witnesses with you," Kojiro explained.
"Are you serious? Rey take me out?"
"Rey is actually quite a competent soldier."
"Well thanks for the vote of confidence," Branden huffed.
"It's simple logic Branden," Kojiro said, confused over the man's anger.
Branden shook his head, turned to them and smiled stiffly.
"Thank you for the offer," he said.
He got into jeep, sitting between Vino and Meyrin, his arms crossed and face uptight. Meyrin was blushing, whilst Vino had a nervous look on his face.
"There's a good chance that Vincent was washed up in the river, this is where it ends," Branden gave the map to Luna. "Try to drive like a man, we need to get there fast," he said.
"Drive like a man?" Luna grinned. "We wouldn't get there fast if I drove like that," she revved the engine as Kojiro took off on his bike.
"Look maybe I should, WAAAGH!" Branden yelled as the jeep dashed forward.
It cut up a car going past the park, and weaved between several slow vehicles. Having seriously underestimated Luna's driving, Branden gripped two hands tightly. Vino was red in the face, taking deep breaths as Branden crushed his fingers. Meyrin's blush had deepened however. She put her other hand on Branden's, stroking it for a moment. Luna looked through her rear view mirror, frowning slightly as Meyrin and Branden's eyes crossed, the girl rested the palm of her hand on Branden's fist.
A fire was raging, and the water was peaceful. The night was peaceful, and the girl was safe. Shinn had used nearby sticks to make a stand to hang the girl's clothes on. He added his own wet shirt to it and sat back to back with the girl, close to the fire. Finally she was calm, knees pushed against her chest and resting her arms on them. She seemed childlike, innocent, but still Shinn thought of her reaction to death. So scared, just like he and his family had been at Onogoro.
"Are you from the city nearby?" he asked her.
She remained silent, as if she didn't understand the question.
"What's your name?"
"My name..." she paused as if confused, "Stella, city...I don't know," her voice droned slightly.
"Are you and your brother alone?" Shinn asked, adding wood to the fire. "Where are your mom and dad?"
"I'm with Neo, Sting, Jone and Auel," she said. "I don't know mother and father...no brother, no, have no brother," her voice was emotionless, eerily so.
It only told Shinn what he had originally thought.
"You both must have gone through a scary ordeal too," he said.
"Scary?" she turned to look at him.
"You're safe now, I'm staying to protect you," Shinn said, quickly, nervously too.
"You'll protect me? I won't die?" she asked.
"No, you'll be fine, you won't die," Shinn looked at her with a smile.
She looked away from him again, a small smile across her face.
"I'm Shinn, Shinn Asuka," he said.
"Shinn?"
"Yes Shinn, can you remember that?"
She put her hands together, her smile growing bigger as she stood. She walked over to her clothes, taking something from the pocket and turning to Shinn. He quickly shuffled and cast his eyes away from her naked form. The girl's hand crossed over his eyes, and she opened the palm of her hand.
"Here," she said.
"For me?" Shinn asked and Stella nodded.
It was a piece of a shell, something that obviously meant a lot to her. Taking the small piece, Shinn thanked her and sat in the opposite direction as her. She took a seat beside him, hugging her legs, but keeping her head high, smiling and no longer afraid. It put a smile on Shinn's face too, and for once in a long time, he felt great.
The boat arrived by the time their clothes had dried. Shielding their eyes from the light, Shinn looked closely at the boat, and got a glimpse of Sheryl.
"Chief Mercis," he said.
"You just can't keep out of trouble can you, and with a pretty girl too," Sheryl teased him.
"It isn't like that, where's commander Rach?" Shinn asked.
"Don't know, we lost track of him too," Sheryl said, wrapping a blanket around the girl.
"I think the girl is part of an orphan group," Shinn said.
Sheryl nodded her head, it was a common occurrence after the war. Groups of children found one another, slipped through the social system and began living and travelling with one another.
"Stella!
"Hey Stella you fool, where are you?"
The girl's eyes lit up, looking towards the cliff and the two boys looking for her. Sheryl took note of their appearances, a blue haired boy, and a slightly older green haired boy. They returned to shore and began driving back to the cliff, when they passed a silver car.
"Stop here," Sheryl said.
The two boys seemed confused, looking towards Stella. There was a third passenger in their car. Darcel grinned as he got out of the car, telling Sting and Auel to stand back. Lucifer called ahead and told him the plan.
"Thank you for finding her, we were worried sick," he said.
He placed a hand on Stella's shoulder. She was hesitant to go away from Shinn, but once she looked up at Darcel she smiled and joined his side.
"I'm Darcel, Jone and I do a bad job of looking after Stella, Auel and Sting," he said.
"Do you need any more help, where's this Jone person?" Sheryl asked.
"He's at the hospital, that man in the mask who was with your friend, he's quite un well, he suddenly attacked Jone," Darcel explained.
"What?" Shinn frowned just like Sheryl did.
Though they did so for very different reasons. Shinn always thought that Vincent was unstable. Sheryl however was more skeptical of Darcel's account, and if it was true, it gave her more reason to doubt Durandal.
"Anyway, we all need to rest after today, thank you for your help, I am in Sensou's debt, Jone told me of how a boy jumped in after Stella, was that you?" Darcel asked.
"It was," Shinn said.
"Might I ask your name?"
"Shinn Asuka!"
"A good name, I'm in your debt too Shinn, thank you," Darcel bowed his head, before walking with Stella to the car.
She was still looking at Shinn as Darcel helped her into the car.
"We'll see each other again Stella," Shinn called out to her.
Darcel put his belt on and nodded to Sting, who continued to drive. He grinned, patting Stella's head.
"Don't worry Stella, we'll see Shinn again, in fact, I'm certain of it!"
When Kojiro arrived at the site, he found not just a body, but several armed men waiting. Hiding behind one of the trees, he spied the armed men prepping a body bag. They were a disposal team, definitely not ZAFT, ZAFT wouldn't need to be camouflaged in a city they had liberated, and were loved in. Pulling his pistol and knife out of their holsters, Kojiro took a count of his odds. Four enemies on the north perimeter, two on the south, two stood up with their guns at the ready, and two more with their guns at rest. They were going through the effort of putting the dead weight into the bag.
'Armed men at site, not ZAFT, EA? Black Storm, need Intel,' Kojiro typed a message out and sent it with his phone.
He heard a trig click behind him, and the clicking of a gun's safety. Kojiro began his turn, knowing there was a good chance he was going to get shot regardless of his speed. Suddenly there was a puff, and the man trying to sneak up on him fell, taking a bullet to the chest. Kojiro put one in the man's head, the shot echoing through the forest.
"TARGET! DROP HIM!" the commander yelled.
Kojiro dived for a thicker tree, bullets flying past him. He stayed behind cover, hearing more puffs, and the screams of the men. When the firing paused, he popped out of cover and fired, didn't bother with the aiming. Two men were already dead, another had a bullet in his leg, and Kojiro himself had managed to hit another in the neck. He was bleeding out, not a threat to him. Chunks of the tree were blown off by the gunfire, but Kojiro remained calm. Nearly hugging the tree, he curled his arm around it and fired his pistol. Another few puffs rang out when the gunfire paused. They ran out in quick succession, a rapid fire function. Moving swiftly to another tree, Kojiro counted the enemies.
'Two wounded, one incapacitated and one healthy,' he analysed and planned.
He listened, even as the men fired wildly into the bushes. Hearing one of them approach his tree, he shot him in the foot, then lunged his knife into the man's throat. Taking him of the man's body, Kojiro shot a second one in the back, then got on the floor, using the body as a shield as the other two fired at him. One had a bullet in his leg, the other had a bleeding arm, but could still shoot one handed. They turned in opposite directions, one firing into the bush, the other at Kojiro.
"For the preservation of our pure blue world," one of them called out.
Kojiro heard the man, but it felt forced out, insincere. If the man was Blue cosmos, or an Earth alliance soldier with that ideology, then it was simple. If not, then things were truly complicated. A shot rang out, and a bullet popped through the mouth of the man shooting Kojiro. With the break in fire, Kojiro threw the body off, grabbed the rifle and aimed at the soldier in front of him. He swung around, but Kojiro pulled the trigger, emptying the clip into the man's chest and head. Breathing deeply, and still on the defensive, Kojiro stood quickly and took to cover.
"It's all right, they're dead," a voice rang out. "Wait," a gunshot then echoed, "All right, they're all dead now!"
Poking his head from cover, he saw Silver Mask standing in the distance. His rifle had a silencer, night vision scope and motion detector attached to it. The masked man delivered a two fingered salute to Kojiro before he walked off. Kojiro reloaded his pistol and crouched by the body. He removed his phone and took a picture of the body's face.
'Send to Intel, confirm ID,' he typed out and sent the message to Sheryl.
Vincent was soaked, out of breath and nursing a bleeding shoulder. He leant against a tree, eyes on the floor and regaining his strength. Lights flashed in his face and he stepped back in shock.
"STAY BACK!" he yelled.
"Commander Rach, it's us," Rey said.
He was with several other men, all of them in ZAFT gear. Vincent glared, spreading his legs out and holding his arm.
"Where's Sheryl?" he demanded.
"The chairman tasked us with finding you and getting you medical care, we believe you may be in shock from what you've experienced, and you've gone without your medication haven't you?" Rey asked.
"I don't need the chairman's help, now KEEP BACK!" Vincent yelled at the men as they got closer.
"You heard him," a voice said behind the group of men.
Silver Mask stood there, his arms crossed as he matched gazes with Rey. He walked past the man, raising his hands reassuringly to Vincent. More lights flashed and Branden's group arrived, all of them with torches, Branden with his pistol.
"Rach, it's Kamal, I brought help," he said.
He stopped, face frozen in shock as he looked at Vincent. It was a sentiment shared by the other members of his group. The lights shining at him revealed his face.
"DON'T LOOK AT ME!" he yelled.
"Vincent, your face its..."
"I KNOW I'M HIDEOUS!" Vincent interrupted Branden.
Silver Mask produced a phone from his belt, turning on its mirror app. He put it towards Vincent's face, and he recoiled.
"My face, don't make me look at it," he whispered.
The eye on Silver Mask's helmet glowed, glaring at Rey.
"I don't understand," Vino said.
"Was he lying to us?" Youlan asked.
Branden shook his head in denial. Something wasn't right. Vincent had his hair, although he wouldn't be growing side burns anymore. There was still horrific burn marks near his ears, along his neck and chin. There was also white scarring on his face, beginning from his cheek, along the bridge of his nose and splitting at the right corner of his head. But other than that, his face wasn't nearly as disfigured as it had been originally claimed.
'Yet Commander Rach, he actually thinks he's deformed,' Meyrin thought, looking uneasily at Rey and the soldiers with him.
"It's all right Vincent, go with Branden and the others, I'll take care of this," Silver Mask said.
Vincent shook his head.
"Trust me," the masked man said.
He pushed a button on the side of his helm, and part of it lifted up. Youlan and Vino began slowly tip toeing around Vincent and Silver Mask. The former had a look of shock on his face at first, then nodded his head in understanding. Both mechanics fell flat on their faces as the mask dropped down, before they could catch a peek. Vincent walked towards Branden, nodding his head at Silver Mask, who turned to face Rey. Leaving them to their confrontation, Branden got out his phone and called Kojiro.
"I got Vincent before Rey could, looks like we owe Silver Mask," he said.
"What do you mean?" Kojiro asked.
"The guy helped us, kept the Zafties back," Branden stated.
"Really? He must be a fast runner, did he threaten them?"
"No, just stood there with his arms crossed."
"No rifle?"
"What are you getting at Kojiro, and what do you mean fast runner?" Branden asked.
As Sensou loaded Jone's body into a bag, Kojiro looked at where Silver Mask had gone. In the opposite direction Vincent had been carried. He reached for his phone again and typed out another message for intelligence.
'Silver Mask? More than one?'
Next Chapter 35: Sword of the Blue Skies
Are you guys shocked? :)
Hope the update was worth the wait, I'm going to try to get the next one up soon