Chapter 10: Say It Ain't So, Bernie (Part 1)
In case you haven't noticed by now, I should mention that I wrote a whole bunch of these chapters in advance before I began to post them. So, this means that this chapter was written when I finally got some feedback and reviews on this story here. Thanks for the comments, you guys! I'll keep on trying to deliver an enjoyable product for you all, and try to factor in some suggestions I got. Trust me, I'll do my best to keep you all entertained. But enough about me, on with the story!
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The now-deeply ironic theme song to Gundam 0080 plays at the top of the episode. After the events of the previous episode, the parts of the scrolling mural shown in the opening credits make much more sense, showing a battle between Zeon and Earth Federation forces as depicted in children's graffiti.
What comes next is a recap of what occurred in the last episode: the complete and utter devastation of Misha's Kampfer at the hands of the Gundam Alex. As was seen before, the torso and cockpit of the Kampfer were utterly shredded by the large cannons hiding in the Gundam Alex's forearms. It was hardly a fight at all, in the end.
"Talk about devastation…" Blake murmured to herself.
"While that thing was fast, it couldn't keep up at all in face to face combat." Jaune observed.
"I tell ya, that Gundam thing is just a plain monster! I'd love to get my hands on one…" commented Torchwick.
Meanwhile, on the Moon at Granada, Colonel Killing of the Zeon Mobile Assault Force is being driven towards a hangar bay by a subordinate.
"Reporting. Operation Rubicon has failed. Gundam still in Side 6. Status of Cyclops Team unknown. Over!" we hear in a voiceover.
In the hangar bay, we see a gathering of Zeon soldiers and officers, the most senior among them being Major General Rugens, Colonel Killing's superior officer. They are looking at a mini-MS handling what appears to be a large warhead of some kind, and is in the middle of loading it into a missile.
"No!" protests General Rugens. "I said stop, get away from there!"
"But the commander ordered it!" says a Zeon technician.
General Rugens then turns his attention to the vehicle that just pulled up. "Killing! What's the meaning of this?!"
Colonel Killing steps out of his jeep. "What do you mean, sir?" he asks rather smarmily.
"You're using nuclear warheads?! I never gave you permission!" the general seethes.
"Nuclear?" Ruby asked to the room.
"It's a kind of energy," Weiss explained. "It just doesn't get brought up too much, since Dust is a more effective source of power."
"Although from the sound of it, Zeon has harnessed its power to make weapons out of it." Winter added. "It would be a rather horrible weapon too, since the radiation inherent in it would cause its effects to linger over time."
Ruby at least knew what radiation was. "Wow. So it's a lasting kinda thing?"
Winter and Weiss nodded. "Yes, it can cause things like tumor growth, hair falling out, bleeding out of skin pores, losing the ability to think properly, and many other devastating side effects." Winter further explained.
Ruby gulped at the sound of it. "I'm glad we don't have anything like that in Remnant…"
Ironwood made sure not to mention the nuclear weapons currently being researched by a few of the Atlesian military's R&D departments.
"Well, I never asked for your permission, sir." is Colonel Killing's response.
Now fuming, General Rugens yells, "Damn it! Are you planning on breaking the treaty?!"
Colonel Killing smugly adjusts his glasses. "Are you aware that Side 6 is not a signing member of the Antarctic Treaty?"
"That isn't the point, Killing!"
Unabated by the general's complaints, Killing continues on with "Furthermore, if I'm not mistaken, my actions are outside of your jurisdiction."
General Rugens begins to say "I am the chief commander and—" right before he's shot in the chest by Colonel Killing holding his pistol. He falls face first to the floor, dead from a bleeding wound clean through his heart.
"Commander!" one Zeon soldier screams in shock.
The Zeon soldiers who were standing alongside Major General Rugens also draw their sidearms and prepare to kill Colonel Killing for this act of treason. However, before they can train their sights onto the traitorous colonel, the colonel's own men kill Rugens' guards with rather messy shots to the head.
Ironwood's cybernetic fist slammed against his chair's armrest, causing it to splinter and crack. "Inexcusable…" he seethed.
"These Zeon are detestable!" Winter declared. It would be hard to find anyone who would disagree.
"I guess Killing's name is pretty accurate, eh?" Yang said, noticing the name pun. Nobody else cared to comment on that one.
"I suppose this series couldn't always be subtle…" noted Blake.
The camera pans up from General Rugens' unmoving corpse up to Colonel Killing, who is standing over the corpse with a cold-blooded expression on his face. "Continue the loading. As of this moment, I am in command of Granada." he orders.
Elsewhere, on Side 6/Riah's Libot colony, Christina is being briefed by Professor Lumunba about the current situation.
"The police? Here?" she asks, surprised.
"They said they wanted to hear it directly from you." explains the professor.
"I see," says Chris, "Where are they?"
"They're next to the Zeon mobile suit." answers Professor Lumunba. "They demanded that you meet them there. I'm not sure why."
Outside, some mini-MS are covering up the Gundam Alex with a tarp, given that it's still a classified project that not very many people should be seeing. Not too far away is the remains of the Kampfer, which we can now see to be as being completely torn to pieces. Scorch marks and bullet holes have left plenty of marks all over the body of the Kampfer. Also seen is the cockpit chair, removed from the mobile suit and now sitting on the ground. The fact that it's covered in blood and riddled with bullet holes leaves little to the imagination of what happened to Misha.
"Eugh…" Nora groaned at the sight.
"I'd have to be the guy who cleaned all this up." said Jaune. He was looking a little green just thinking about it.
"You said it." Pyrrah agreed, equally disgusted and horrified.
"They probably had to take his body out with buckets." Neo quipped. She then mimed scooping up something in a container, and then dumping it out. Based on the smile on her face, she thought it was funny. Based on the looks on everyone else's faces (excluding Roman), they didn't.
Christina walks up to a group of Libot colony detectives, who were talking near the hulk of the Kampfer's destroyed body. Their faces twist into grimaces as they see her walk towards them in her uniform.
"So, a cute girl like you is the pilot of that mobile suit, huh?" the oldest detective asks. The then flashes his badge. "I'm the head detective on this case."
Chris nods. "Lieutenant Mackenzie, sir."
"So you were the one who brought this thing down, eh?" the head detective then asks.
Chris nods again. "Yes sir."
The head detective gets an odd, vaguely smug look on his face. "Two surviving Zeon soldiers fled this area. We need to find them. We're wondering if you can recall anything that might help us, Ms. Mackenzie."
"No. Nothing at all, sir." replies Chris.
"Anything at all would be helpful now." cajoles the head detective.
"I'm sorry sir, I don't recall." Christina firmly states.
"Ah, the classic defense. Got me off in court a few times using that." Roman reminisced.
Ruby leaned over to Yang. "Are our courts really that bad?"
Yang gave Roman a nasty look. "Clearly."
The detective sighs. "Well, you see, we have information suggesting that there was inside help on this attack. What do you think, lieutenant?"
Christina furrows her brows slightly at the insinuation. "I'm afraid I have no comment, sir."
"This is getting us nowhere…" a younger detective complains in the background.
"Is that all, sir?" Chris asks the head detective.
"No, it isn't!" he suddenly barks. "If they move again, more innocent people may die!"
Christina can only glare at the detective. Clearly she isn't liking what this investigation is starting to suggest about her and how she does her job.
"It's strange, don't you think?" the detective continues. "How the Zeon began to attack a neutral colony? Coincidentally, just after you people showed up! Amazing! Why do you suppose that is?"
"I don't know, sir." Chris says, this time with her voice having a bit of an edge to it.
"Oh, you know the answer, Lieutenant Mackenzie." insinuates the head detective. "You just won't say it."
"She's in a hard position." Ren observed. "Either she comes clean and gets the police off her back, or she breaks military doctrine."
"It also doesn't help that none of this should've happened in the first place. Neutral ground and all that." added Jaune.
"It's hard to place blame completely on someone here." Pyrrha said. "Do you either blame the attackers in the first place, or the people who defended the place just as recklessly? Being neutral between these larger powers must be very hard. I only wish that people wouldn't have to be caught up in it in the first place."
Chris continues to glare at the head detective while he gets closer to her, practically right in her face.
"The Federal Forces have been secretly developing mobile suits in a neutral colony! The public is just told that they're stationed here! Right?! That's why the Zeon came! Isn't that correct!" the detective seethes at Christina. The other detectives can't help but watch on with a bit of disbelief at it all.
"Just as I said." Pyrrha commented.
"No comment, sir!" Christina glares.
"246 people dead, 572 people wounded! That's just yesterday's casualties… I don't want that amount of people getting hurt or killed again, Ms. Mackenzie!" the detective says, before walking off back towards the Kampfer.
"Listen, detective," Christina then says, this time a bit more diplomatically. "If we didn't fight, there would be even more people killed! It couldn't be helped…"
The head detective looks back over at Chris, who has her first curled up and trembling in frustration as she looks at the ground. "I know what you're trying to say, but nobody should ever have to die because 'it couldn't be helped', if I had it my way… These aren't just numbers." he says, before him and his group of investigators walk away completely. Christina is left starting at the ground, frustrated at how things have turned out. She can't help but feel that the man had a point with his accusations.
"Ugh, all of this moral ambiguity is making my head hurt…" Nora complained.
"There really is no simple way to parse it." Ren agreed. "Both sides are in the wrong, to varying degrees."
"Yeah, but Chris only fought the big blue one at the base!" chipped in Ruby. "She wasn't involved in the fighting in the city."
"Doesn't matter, Red." said Roman, snuffing out his cigar and propping his feet up on the seat in front of him. "Sometimes a uniform is enough to put a target on someone."
"If they're someone like you, maybe." Winter spat.
Roman shrugged. "Whether or not you agree with me personally, you know my point still stands."
Elsewhere in the colony, Al is rather determinedly getting a takeout order from a burger place, running down the street with his sack of hamburgers. On his way to wherever he's going, he suddenly passes by a building that was reduced in the Kampfer's attack the previous day. A small crowd of both onlookers and rescuers are gathered around the former entrance to the building. They can't help but comment on the destruction they see before them."
"This is horrible!"
"I can't believe it!"
"I heard some surviving Zekes got into the city…"
"If I find them, I'll kill them!"
"They didn't have to fight in the colony! What were the Feds thinking?!"
Al pauses along his path to take a look at the rescue in progress. From the looks of it, the rescue personnel are pulling someone out of the rubble.
"It's a kid!" one onlooker shouts.
"Oh no!" another one cries.
It's the corpse of a blonde child, completely battered and covered in blood.
Nora grabbed Ren's arm with a crushing grip. Her breathing picked up, until she was hyperventilating after a minute or so. Seeing the corpse on screen started giving her some nasty flashbacks to Kuroyuri. "I-I-I…" she moaned.
"Nora!" Jaune cried. He and Pyrrha leapt over to their teammates' side, while everyone else short of Roman and Neo looked on in concern. The video on the screen paused, as if the ones running the theater were giving them room to assist Nora.
Ren placed a reassuring hand on top of Nora's and let his Semblance do his work. He gestured for Jaune and Pyrrha to keep some distance as his ability began to calm down Nora. It was if her body became grayscale, and her breathing slowly began to return to normal as the grip on Ren's arm slackened.
"It's okay, everyone. I can handle this from here." Ren explained, a weary tone in his voice. "She… well, she has a bad reaction to seeing things like this. Bad experiences."
"Are you sure?" Pyrrha asked.
"Yeah, we can always help more if you want it. Right, everyone?" said Jaune, looking over at Team RWBY for assistance. The all-girl team gave a chorus of yeahs and yeses, in addition to all of them nodding their heads.
"Thank you for the offer, but my Semblance will take over from here. Just leave it be for a few minutes." nodded Ren, thankful for the offer of help.
Sure enough, a minute later Nora leaned her head against Ren's shoulder, her breathing normal. If anything, it just seemed like she was tired from the sheer state of how much she worked herself up. The color returned to her form as Ren disengaged his Semblance on her.
"Just let her rest a while, and she'll be fine." instructed Ren in a reassuring voice. He made sure to adjust Nora's head so that it was comfortable against his shoulder.
Jaune and Pyrrha quietly returned to their seats, both taking care not to disturb Nora's rest. As soon as they reached their seats, the episode began to play again. It seemed like the forces at work were satisfied that everything was under control at the moment. At least enough to continue the show.
From the way the body is limp, it's clear that the child has been dead for some time now. Al looks on in horror, dropping his takeout order in shock and disgust. He's trembling at seeing the gravity of the situation. Then, realizing that he dropped his order, he picks up his bag and runs away even faster than before from the ghastly sight.
At the place where Bernie's Zaku II originally crashed in episode 1, Bernie himself is packing up his things into a nondescript luggage bag. He also has a tripwire covered in soda cans set up as a makeshift alarm system set up around himself. He's a wanted man now, and for good reason. Nearby is a grave marker underneath which lays the corpse of Steiner Hardy. Bernie can't help but reflect upon what happened the other day in his mind as he looks at the informal grave.
"Bernie…" Steiner groans in pain. "Did we… the Gundam… did we get it?"
Steiner visibly struggles to look up at Bernie, sweat pooling on his forehead. Bernie nervously considers what to say to his dying leader.
"Uh, um, sir… it's… Misha destroyed it." Bernie finally settles on. This can't be any further from the truth, as the Gundam Alex is within fill view, relatively unharmed, as the shot pans out. "C'mon, we've gotta try to get you out of here!"
Steiner picks up his head more to look Bernie in the eyes. "Bernie… you're a terrible liar."
At that, Steiner finally succumbs to his wounds and goes limp in Bernie's arms. Bernie endeavors in vain to shake his dead commander to wake him up.
"Captain! Captain!" Bernie calls out.
"Bernie said the right thing, even if Steiner thought otherwise…" Ironwood uttered. "He at least tried to respect his leader in his last moments."
"Even if it was all pointless…" Winter added.
"At least Bernie gave him a burial." said Ruby. "He'll be someone to carry on a memory of Steiner. He isn't truly dead that way."
Weiss nodded along to what her partner was saying. "That's a mature way of looking at it, Ruby."
"Thanks!" Ruby smiled lightly. Although, that experience did come from a place of loss herself. The grave of Summer Rose is what taught her that lesson in the first place.
Back in the present time, Bernie can only mutter "Captain…" at the painful memory.
Another flashback occurs, this time with Bernie talking to the Zeon intelligence agent that Garcia and Steiner met earlier, Charlie, at the bar that he owns. "Hardy is… I can't believe Steiner's dead…" the bartender says to himself. Then, looking at Bernie, he adds, "What about Misha?"
"Dead." flatly states Bernie.
"How about the young fellow with the black hair?" Charlie then asks, obviously referring to Garcia.
Charlie sighs, "I see…" Then, he tells Bernie, "Use that passport, son, and escape now. Immediately!"
"I thought I would wait a little for the head to die down first…" Bernie suggests.
"No, no! You have to leave right away!" Charlie cries.
"I thought it would be safer to wait a while." repeats Bernie, confused.
"I know, but…" Charlie trails off.
Bernie asks, "But what?"
Charlie doesn't immediately answer, instead folding his arms behind his back and walking forward a bit. "Now listen carefully. If the Gundam isn't destroyed by Christmas night, an entire fleet from Granada will come here, straight to this colony. They're going to destroy this whole place with nuclear missiles!"
Bernie is taken aback by this news. "But, no sir! They wouldn't do that!"
"They absolutely would." Blake bluntly stated. "Well, Killing would anyway."
"I think Zeon would regardless. We've seen how ruthless they can be." posited Jaune.
Blake hummed in agreement. "Yeah, that's true."
"God help us…" Charlie mutters, before grabbing Bernie by the shoulders. "You have to get out of here, boy! While you have the chance!"
"And you sir? What about you?" inquires Bernie.
Charlie lets go of Bernie's shoulders and closes his eyes. "I'm an old man, son. And you see, I've lived my whole life in this colony…"
"And he'll die in it." Blake finished the sentence for him.
"That sucks, don't you think?" Yang asked her partner.
"It's his choice. And like he said, he's old. He must feel like he lived a long life already." was Blake's reasoning.
"At least he's got the choice of where he's dying, I guess." Yang shrugged.
In the present, Bernie understands what Charlie was intending to say with that statement. He lived his whole life in Side 6, and he was going to die there too. That much as understood. It didn't make the situation feel any better overall, however.
Suddenly, Bernie's tripwire alarm goes off, with cans rattling wildly. Bernie immediately gets to his feet and draws his pistol, hiding behind a tree. However, it isn't an enemy that's approaching.
"Bernie, it's me! Al! Hey!" the boy's voice calls out in the forest as he comes out from the trees.
Bernie breathes a sigh of relief and drops his pistol. There's no need to keep his guard up around Al. Now they they're together, Bernie eagerly digs into the takeout bag that Al brought him. "You were careful to watch your back?" Bernie asks. Al nods and hums in reply.
"Are the police looking for me?" then asks Bernie. Again, Al gives a nonverbal reply, shaking his head. "I see… Let's eat." says Bernie, sitting down in front of his burgers. Al follows suit.
Al is sitting with his head bunched up to his knees, an upset and sullen look on his face. Bernie takes notice of this. "What's the matter?" he asks. Al doesn't say anything, instead just looking off into the distance. Bernie doesn't push it, and waits for Al to answer on his own time while he eats his burger.
"It seems like people die really easily, don't they?" Al finally says, breaking the silence.
"They sure do!" Neo's Scroll said for her.
"I'm still alive, aren't I?" Yang smugly taunted at Neo.
Neo silently scowled at Yang. She furiously typed something into her Scroll, deleted it, and then typed in something completely different.
"You got lucky, bitch. Try me again sometime soon, and maybe someone won't bail your ass out then." was what Neo typed out to be said.
"Oh what? Did the little ice cream girl get melted from how hot that burn was?" Yang shot at Neo.
Neo's lips turned into a nasty snarl. She tried to get out of her seat to fight Yang, but she was being held in place by an invisible force.
"Why can none of you learn this lesson? No. FIGHTING." the mysterious voice of the collective unconsciousness said. "Next time, the punishment will be more severe."
Both Yang and Neo gulped with nervousness. At that, the both of them settled back in their seats to watch the show. They weren't quite ready to challenge the mysterious voice's powers just yet.
"Are you at that again?!" Bernie snaps. "Stop thinking about it!"
"But—" Al starts.
"People die just because they get unlucky, okay?! You can be a captain or a nobody! When your luck runs out, you die!" shouts Bernie. At this point, it sounds like Bernie is trying to convince himself of this more than anything. "That's how war is, understand?! Here!"
"He's not wrong, really." Roman said. "Luck is a real bitch sometimes."
Bernie shoves a burger at Al, but Al only glares at Bernie. Seeing that Al isn't taking the bait to end the conversation, Bernie grunts and opens up the burger's wrapper for him. "Eat already!"
The meal continues with Al taking a bite of his burger. However, Bernie puts down his to start talking. "Al, I have to get out of here." begins Bernie. "I have to leave this colony today."
"What'd you say?" Al asks in surprise, his mouth full. He swallows before speaking again. "You're running away?!"
"Yes…" Bernie mutters.
"But why?!" Al confusedly asks. "What about the Feddie mobile suit, Bernie? You're just giving up?!"
"I understand how you feel, but sometimes it's better to get out than try to, uh…" is Bernie's non-answer. Even he feels unsure about what he's doing.
"We can still do it!" Al shouts, leaning in towards Bernie. "What about everyone who died because of this?!"
"It's hard to cut losses sometimes." Ironwood admitted. "But when the odds are stacked against you like that, it's understandable to want to retreat."
"Even if your friends died for nothing?" Ruby asked.
Ironwood gave a sad, slow nod. "Even if they died. It doesn't make it hurt any less, but that's what it is."
"Listen to me, will ya? In three days, if the Gundam isn't destroyed by Christmas night, then a fleet will come in from Granada." explains a distinctly unhappy Bernie. He leans his head on his knee and wraps his arms around his leg. "They're going to nuke the entire colony, do you have any idea what that means for all of you?" he then says, his voice audibly cracking.
"Ah, uh…" Al verbalizes, trying to take that news all in. Instead, Bernie continues his emotionally compromised rant.
"It means that this colony is going to be destroyed, alright?! There's nothing we can do! You have to leave Al, you and your mom have to get off this colony right away!"
"No way! It's alright, we just have to destroy it by Christmas!" Al declares, his confidence coming back.
"How does he even still have confidence even after everything just happened?' Weiss asked, incredulous at Al's words.
"Never underestimate optimism!" Ruby beamed at her.
"Optimism is nice and all, but there's absolutely no way to win in this situation at all!" Weiss protested.
"Naaaah, I'm sure they'll do something about it." said Ruby, confident in her own words.
Weiss crossed her arms. "And how do you know that?"
"We've got another episode left." Ruby simply stated.
"…Okay, you've got me there…" Weiss admitted. Yang and Blake couldn't help but snicker slightly at the heiress' expense.
"I'm not doing that, you idiot!" Bernie screams at Al.
"You can do it, Bernie! I know you can!" pushes Al.
"No, there's absolutely no way I can beat that new monster!" Bernie insists.
Al stands up and talks down to Bernie. "Yeah, it's new, but it's just a little faster! If we fix the Zaku, it'll work!" he explains with the confidence of naïve child.
"If we fix it, then what?" is Bernie's challenge to Al's statement. "Are you gonna be the pilot?"
"Huh?" Al looks at Bernie, confused.
"Exactly, Al!" Bernie cries, standing up beside Al. "The truth is that I've never shot down one mobile suit! So there!"
"Hmph!" Al pouts. "You said you needed only one more kill to be an ace!"
"I did not!" shouts Bernie, putting his hands on his hips.
"Did so!" shoots back Al. He steps forward towards Bernie, stepping on some of the food he had brought only moments earlier.
"Awww, not the orange soda…" Nora lowly grumbled in her half-awake state. It was kinda weird that the spilled soda was the one thing she latched onto for this entire argument thus far.
"I'm a rookie, Al! A fifth wheel, got it?! I'm just over here for the ride!" hisses Bernie, before turning his back at Al and walking away.
"That's a lie!" Al protests. "You're just lying because you're scared and afraid you're gonna lose!"
"I'm scared, alright?!" admits Bernie. "I'd be crazy not to be! Go on, call me a coward or whatever you want!" he then says, stomping off.
"Fear is what keeps ya alive in some situations like that." Roman observed.
"Fear also attracts Grimm, no thanks to the stuff you do." huffed Ruby in response.
Roman moved his hand like it was a balancing scale. "Meh. It's a give and take when you put it that way, Red."
"Bernie, get back here!" Al growls, chasing after Bernie who has gone back over to his luggage.
"Shut up, will ya?!" Bernie then yells, before being enveloped by a hug from Al. Clearly he wasn't expecting that to happen.
"Bernie, we both know you're good right?! You can beat 'em, I know you can!" pleads Al.
Bernie pauses to look down at Al for a moment, before pushing him off. He then reaches down to pull off the patch that was given to Al earlier in the series, back when he involved himself in helping Cyclops Team. "Hey!" Al protests. Wordlessly, Bernie tears the patch in half and reveals the small listening device that was hidden inside. He then makes sure to show Al what was inside.
"Look, you were wired, Al. We listened to everything you said because we were afraid that you would tell someone about this. I was never your friend, it was a lie." he explains in a low tone, his voice still cracking here and there. At that, Bernie tosses away the remains of the patch and the listening bug, before cupping Al's face gently with one hand. "Al, listen. If you wanna stay alive, run. Get off this colony."
Al shakes his head in disbelief. "But what about everyone else? C'mon, I'm sure we can still beat the Gundam. We can do it!"
Bernie turns away from Al's gaze. "I've made up my mind, and I'm running."
A look of sadness and anger comes across Al's face. "Bernie, I hate you!" he screams, before grabbing his stuff and running away. Bernie closes his eyes in sadness for a bit, before Al comes back and throws the pilot badge that Bernie gave him at his face. Bernie catches it before it can actually hit him, however.
"I'm gonna go straight to the police!" threatens Al.
Bernie counters, "And then they'd execute you, Al. You're an accomplice, remember that!"
Weiss raised an eyebrow. "I doubt they'd do that for a kid."
"I'm not sure, Weiss," said Winter. "He did act in full knowledge of who Cyclops Team was. Although they maybe wouldn't execute him until Al was an adult. We have no ideas what the laws are like in space."
Pyrrha audibly expressed her disgust at the idea. "Al hasn't even hit puberty yet! He wouldn't deserve that, no matter what!"
"Again, that's assuming that's what the law is in the colony they're in. It's probably not the case, at least." reassured Winter.
Still glaring daggers at Bernie, Al leaves again, this time for real. Bernie closes his eyes with a pained expression clear on his face. His fist still clenched around the pilot's badge, he hits the tree he's leaning against out of a combination of frustration and hopelessness.
A short time later, Al is seen traveling through the streets of the colony's city area. It seems like everything around him is blissfully ignorant of their upcoming demise, with Christmas parade floats being inflated, holiday songs playing over speakers, and people walking around as they typically do. Al ducks inside an arcade to try and get his mind off of things.
Inside the arcade, Al is enveloped in the sounds and scenery of video games being played. In particular, he pays attention to one game, where a giant mech is blowing up a city. Upon seeing it, his imagination grips him in the worst way possible, and he starts to think about Libot being nuked. He sees the city being vaporized in a massive sphere of light. Residential buildings combust and get blown apart from the sheer heat and force of the explosion. His classmates at school try to flee their classroom, but they have no chance of escape. Instead, they instantly carbonize into blackened humanoid shapes from the heat before they too are caught in the blast.
Everyone was silent upon seeing the horrors that a nuclear weapon could cause. The quietest of them all was Ironwood, considering he already knew that Atlas was researching the concept of nuclear weaponry. He knew the projected outcomes of such a potential weapon, and yet it was still an unpleasant sight to see. Even people with Aura wouldn't be able to survive such an intense blast. He tried to shove those thoughts aside and focus back on the show. If Atlas needed such a weapon to ensure the safety of the kingdom and potentially all of Remnant, so be it. He'd be willing to take all that blood upon his hands.
Al is only pulled out of this nightmarish vision of the future by a security guard shaking his shoulder. "Hey kid, something wrong with you?" Al looks like he's about to tell the guard about what he knows, but then he hears Bernie's words about being executed as a traitor echo through his mind.
"What's your name?" the guard then asks. Al, now terrified out of his mind, pulls away and runs out into the street. "Hey, come back here!" the guard calls out after him, but otherwise doesn't follow far.
INTERMISSION CARD
XXX
We're heading directly into the endgame of this short series now, folks. Emotions are running high, along with the stakes. Man, Colonel Killing is one hell of a bastard, wanting to nuke a neutral colony to just get rid of a Gundam. I can't feel bad about the fact that according to side materials, he killed himself the minute he heard about Gihren Zabi being dead. Sure, he should've stood trial for what he did, but I can't exactly disagree with him dying, even if it was by his own hand. People like him simply shouldn't exist. But enough about me musing on Gundam characters, and let me just say that I hope you liked this chapter.
This has been The Draigg, and I'm signing off for now!
