By: Shadow Chaser
Previously on Gundam SEED: Entropy Rising…
"When you're paid that much money, you don't complain. You just do your job. Come on. Captain's going to be calling a meeting in a few minutes. Let's go crash it early."
"Be careful down there, Lacus. There may be Blue Cosmos activity at work in Orb that we don't know about."
"It's all right…Cagalli's fine…"
"How do you-"
"It's a twin thing."
"Lacus…can you sing for me?"
"Kira's fine. He's been having nightmares, of what, I don't know, but Lacus is with him at the moment so he should be resting fine."
Athrun shook his head, "You're alive. After you get out of the hospital, its for the people that are still living to pick up the pieces and help those who are dead to find out who did this to them, okay?"
To his employers, his codename was Griever, a skilled jack-of-all-trades. He crawled quietly away from the vent he was looking from, retracing his steps back to the janitor's room on the heavily guarded seventh floor of the main hospital on the island. So the Princess had someone special to her, and he happened to be the son of the late Patrick Zala. Getting past him would be hard as he could immediately assess from what he saw and heard, Athrun Zala would protect Cagalli Attha with his life – he knew that.
Phase Five – Assassination
Murrue Ramius considered herself to be a fair captain, but an unfortunate woman. She since was a little girl; tragedy had always found her through her loved ones. Her father and mother died in a car accident when she was just a young girl, sending her off to live with her grandparents.
During her military service, she had fallen in love with a fighter jet pilot, but lost him in the beginning of the war with ZAFT. She had vowed then that she would never fall in love again, but when she met the gentle and caring Mu LaFlaga, she had found herself drawn to him.
Sadly though, he sacrificed himself to save her and the crew of the Archangel from the Dominion's Lohengrin's firepower. She was beginning to think that she had a black widow's curse, which was why, even two years after the cease-fire; she had never allowed herself to fall for any man.
Before she resigned her commission in OMNI there had been no fraternization between various commanders of the other warships, but now, as one of the highest ranking members of Orb's LF, some of the OMNI captains thought she was available since she was part of a different military force and sent her greetings day in and day out that she barely even responded to any of public comm calls.
She had her own personal link to her ship, the Archangel, which Orb had claimed immediately after the cease-fire as their own since it belonged to Morganroete, and her own personal comm channel in case any of the crew members needed to contact her. Her public channel, she just let it stew and rot in her quarters aboard the ship.
She sat in one of the briefing rooms aboard the Archangel, lost in thought. Their mission had been scrapped due to events in Orb, and now, were receiving reports from the Kusanagi that had been sent to Februarius 3 to quell the situation there and provide support to ZAFT that things were getting under control. Not bad for the LF's newest commanding officer of the Kusanagi. Granted there were more ships within the LF, the Kusanagi was only recently reactivated to provide support.
It had taken some time to choose the ship's new captain, but Murrue had recommended Quinn Misali, not because he was known as the Kingfisher in OMNI, but because he was a good man and she knew that from experience. Quinn had been one of her fellow classmates in the Academy where she had attended on the Ptolmaeus base on the Moon, and though he had a bit of a pirate-like air that got him demoted and written up so many times, he was charismatic and a damn good tactician and negotiator.
She didn't know if he had fought ZAFT during the war, but bet that he probably did, but didn't ask when he was announced to be the new captain of the Kusanagi. They both respected each other, and Murrue knew that Quinn always respected her wishes, not because she was a woman, but because she was a captain and his senior officer.
In a way, she wished the Archangel had been assigned to Februarius 3 so she was able to watch the Kingfisher in action, but she knew that her duties to Orb and to the LF was far greater here than in space at the moment. There were stirrings of a potential for another attack, this time a possible sabotage within the technological research department, the new name for Morganroete, either that LF's sources were hinting at a Heliopolis-like attack by some unnamed group.
Murrue seriously hoped that it wasn't Blue Cosmos, but she didn't really know if the anti-Coordinator group had gotten back on its feet since their leader, Azrael was dead and his conglomerate in pieces. This was also the reason why the Atlantic Federation was so jumpy lately – as the Azrael Conglomerate was one of its major military contractors and now with the lack of a new leader funds were dwindling rapidly – which meant no new mobile suit production and henceforth a twitchy Atlantic Federation.
That was also probably why the news, at the moment, was so harsh as a majority of the Earth senators had ties with the Atlantic Federation or the Azrael Conglomerate. She had sent out some of her crew to check with their own contacts about possible retaliation against PLANT, Orb, or even the Earth and had contacted a few of the higher-ups in OMNI herself that she had kept in contact with after she resigned her commission.
She knew that many in OMNI found her to be a rogue captain after her actions in Alaska, and branded her a traitor to the Earth Forces, but there was some support in the high chain of command from those who were more moderate and levelheaded. That was why she and her crew never got court-martialed even though they should have.
"Captain," her comlink beeped and she picked up it.
"Ramius here, what is it?"
"Kingfisher for you on channel 34. Shall I patch it through?" Miri Haw, her communications officer, said.
"I'll take it here, video and audio," she replied and moments later, brought up a screen that was static before Quinn's face appeared. He sported a mustache that gave him a roguish look – a mustache that would have never been allowed in OMNI, but LF's regulations were a bit more lax.
"Greetings Captain from the nice little zone of Februarius 3," Quinn mock bowed his head to her and Murrue rolled her eyes.
"What's your status," she asked.
"Everything's in the clean up stage. Apparently, it's not Blue Cosmos causing the problems here, but some radical Coordinator group who claimed they've been wronged in the war and wanted to get revenge by destroying those Coordinators who sympathized with the cease-fire. A bit messy, but we got the job done. I'm having some of the crew check the background of those involved to see if Blue Cosmos did fund them."
"Aren't Blue Cosmos supposed to be anti-Coordinator?"
"Apparently you weren't too up to date during the war. Remember Azrael?"
"Yes," Murrue frowned.
"During my time in OMNI's special ops, I overheard a conversation between him and one of his Cosmos flunkies. They've been trading information with some Coordinators – kind of ironic for a group proclaiming the end of Coordinators, don't you think?"
Murrue blinked, "I suppose stuff like that happens all the time."
"Yeah, but just want to make sure none of these Februarius peeps actually are tied. But if they are – we know who to go after next," Quinn replied.
Murrue nodded. "So what else?"
"What do you mean, what else?"
"Quinn, cut the bullshit. I know you didn't make this call just for that bit of information," she said and Quinn grinned slightly before his expression sobered into seriousness.
"There's something funny about all of this. First Orb, now Februarius 3. I think the next target is somewhere on Earth. I mean, it doesn't seem right, but get this…one of the people we took down started screaming about how Coordinators and Naturals were all messed up and everyone should die."
"That's twisted, what about it?" Murrue asked.
"Well, the odd thing was that the rest of his group didn't say the same thing. They were all gung-ho about taking down their fellow Coordinators and this guy comes along proclaiming that everyone should die. He even popped a few of his own people which didn't make any of his teammates happy."
"So they have a rogue person, and…?" Murrue wondered what Quinn was getting at.
"It's just a hunch, but I think the guy who's been demanding the deaths of everyone is part of something bigger that we should be keeping tabs on. Some of PLANT's scientists are going over the guy's autopsy right now so we should have the information within a couple of days."
Murrue raised an eyebrow at her fellow officer's deductive work. "Nice theory. Once you get the results, you might want to come back and brief the Princess on it."
"Oh, she's up and about?" Quinn looked cheered at the prospect. "That's good news."
"She should be out of the hospital by tomorrow," Murrue replied, "hope to see you in a couple of days."
"Roger that Captain. Kingfisher out," the link was terminated and Murrue sat back in her seat. What Quinn said about the rogue terrorist was disturbing…and it reminded her of her talks with Mu after they left Colony Mendel when he was resting up from his wounds.
During one of their conversations, Mu had said something that disturbed her to the core. 'That place is a place of hell. Where people begin to hate the whole world and destroy everyone around them because of it.' Was Colonel Mendel a part of everything?
Kira awoke feeling a lot better and found himself lying back on his pillow. He remembered falling asleep to Lacus' singing…and turned his head to see if she was there, but there was no one. Tori was perched on one of the monitors, robotic eyes closed and cooing softly to itself – asleep. He sighed, a bit content, and scrunched up his shoulders to stretch before relaxing his muscles. He felt a lot better; maybe the doctor would let him go today?
Lifting up his own blankets and his shirt, he pressed gently down on the stitches he had received and felt a slight twinge of pain, but that was about it. He had always healed fast and wondered if it was partly in his genes that his parents made him a Coordinator… There was a sudden knock on his door and Kira settled down his blankets before looking up to see the door crack open and a female doctor poke her head in.
"Ah, I see you're awake, Mr. Yamato," the doctor said in a pleasant voice, before coming in and checking the monitors that were hooked up to him. She made a few humming noises, waking Tori who stared inquisitively at her. Kira saw the doctor pet his robotic bird and Tori mimicked affectionate enjoyment before the doctor returned to looking at the monitors, making notes on a clipboard and folder she was holding.
She finally turned and stared at him. "Well you seem quite healthy, Kira Yamato. I'd like to keep you here for one more night, but you're free to walk around if you feel that you have the strength to. I'm Doctor Rowland by the way."
Kira nodded, "Um…why do I need to stay one more night?"
"Well, we just want to make sure that you're completely healed before we send you out. Your stitches will be taken out within a couple of weeks, so no seriously strenuous activities like lifting heavy cartons or running. You can jog, but take it easy," the doctor tapped her clipboard, "you were lucky to survive a puncture wound like that Kira. Others wouldn't have been so fortunate. Your surgeon told me that you were a Coordinator, right?"
Kira started slightly, surprised but Dr. Rowland smiled at him, "It's okay," she continued. "If you were a Natural, you wouldn't have survived your wound – you're lucky that your parents gave you the normal requisite of fast healing ability."
He didn't say anything as she gestured for him to lift his shirt up and pressed a stethoscope to his chest, checking his breathing before she pressed gently down on his stitches. After she was done she made a few more notes in her notebook and then handed him a pass of sorts.
"Ambassador Clyne told me to give you this when you awakened. Apparently, she's cleared you to go see Princess Cagalli. Fancy that," the doctor winked at him, "I'm actually quite jealous. You must have saved her from the explosion or something like that young man."
Kira nodded absently as he took the pass and set it on his end table. "Um, Dr. Rowland," he started, "are my parents here?"
"The police chief Kisaka convinced them to go home to get some rest. They've been here since you had your operation a few days ago. They should be back soon," the doctor replied. "Well, I've got a lot more patients to check up on, so please do take care of yourself Kira." She gave him a wave before leaving his room, closing the door behind her.
Kira glanced at the pass that the doctor handed to him before swinging his legs over to one side of his bed. He felt the cold bare floor before something fuzzy brushed against his foot. He started slightly, fearing that it was an animal of sorts, but looked down and saw hospital slippers were the only fuzzy thing on the ground. Stepping on the ground once more, this time putting his slippers on, he stood up shakily…his legs unused for the past few days.
He stood there for a few minutes, letting his legs get used to his full body weight again and moved his arms- He hissed suddenly in pain as he glanced at his left arm and saw that an IV needle was stuck in it. Pulling it out, he wrinkled his brow at it – and put it on the bed. He stretched and looked towards the end of the bed and found a long robe to cover his shorts and tee shirt.
Putting the robe on, being careful not to make any sudden jarring moves that might affect his stitches, he cinched it tightly and grabbed the pass Dr. Rowland gave to him before heading out of his room with Tori perched on his shoulder. Reading it, he noted that Cagalli was only two floors above…and headed towards the elevator at a slow walk.
Getting into the elevator, he pressed the seventh floor button and seconds later, the doors opened – followed by a crescendo of safeties being taken off of guns pointed at him. He stepped out and blinked, surprised at the number of men and women dressed in black suits, all of them staring at him.
"State your purpose here," a man came up to him and Kira held up his pass.
"I'm Kira Yamato…um, Ambassador Clyne had one of the doctors give this to me."
The man stared at his pass for a second before he gestured for him to follow, "So you're the one who saved the Princess. You're pretty lucky that the Princess is allowing you to see her."
Kira frowned at the man's words. If they only knew…he thought as the man led him to a door and knocked on it. "Princess, a visitor."
"Come in," he heard Cagalli's muffled voice and the man opened the door and Kira peered in.
He blinked in surprise as he saw that Athrun was also there before a grin crept up his face. Apparently both Cagalli and Athrun were shocked to see him, but Cagalli recovered first and leapt out of her bed.
"Kira!" she collided into him full force, knocking him to the ground as she hugged him and Kira winced slightly as pain rippled from his wound through his nervous system. He managed not to bump his head, as he lay sprawled on the ground.
"Princess!" a few of the men and women in black exclaimed, reaching down to her, but just as quickly Cagalli pulled him up and dragged him into the room before closing the door on their faces.
Tori flew to perch itself on Athrun's shoulder while Cagalli plunked him into a seat before sitting on her bed, staring at him. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"
"Ow…" was all that he could manage as he rubbed his side, trying to alleviate the pain. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Athrun trying to hide a grin and glowered at him.
"Aw, don't tell me you're all bruised up just because I knocked you down. Come on, you're supposed to be more hardy than that," Cagalli tapped him lightly on the arm and Kira sighed before a smile appeared on his face.
He was about to reply when he felt something odd in his mind…like a déjà vu sense or something of that nature. Looking up and around, he wondered what was it that was he feeling…it felt like a presence of sorts…but then…
"Kiiiirrraaaa," Cagalli waved her hand in his face, snapping him out of his funk and he turned back to see her sit back on her bed, staring at him. "You okay?"
"Oh…yeah," Kira decided to ignore whatever that déjà vu thing was and scratched his head, "just slightly distracted by…um…the décor."
"Yes, it's the same as yours," Athrun spoke up next to him, a bit dryly.
"Kira, stop spacing out and tell me when you're leaving. The doctors said I can leave tomorrow…"
Griever cursed silently to himself as he hastily backed away from the vent he had been peering from. His father had warned him of this and he hadn't heeded his father's advice until he had seen Kira Yamato stare around, trying to pinpoint him. Father had warned him that he and the one who called himself Kira Yamato were almost one in the same, if not exact and so would be able to sense each other.
Well, it seemed that Yamato hadn't mastered his own powers, which gave Griever an advantage for tonight's mission. He had scouted out the hospital at night and found it to be the best of his choices since the clock was ticking and he didn't have that much time.
Dropping down into the janitor's closet again, he straightened his uniform and grabbed a few cleaning supplies before putting his cap on, adjusting the brim to cover a majority of his features. It wouldn't be good if the stupid doctors and nurses thinking him to be one of their patients blew his cover. He would report to his employers before making the hit tonight then go after the other council members.
Stepping out of the closet, he pushed a wheeled yellow bucket down the corridor, occasionally stopping to mop up a puddle he saw on the floor. Security was still heightened in the Princess' floor, but when at night, guards were usually less alert, even the ones who slept during the day and patrolled the night. It was the only slight advantage he knew he was going to get and he dare not waste it.
He turned slightly to mop up the floor, putting his back to everyone, but his ears were as sharp and paid attention to every thing around him. He listened as some children ran about, while emergency crews rushed other patients into the emergency room…
"Mommy…why can't I go home now?"
"Mr. Chan, I apologize, but your father has passed away now…"
"Can't I…"
"-I need an air tank plus some IV connections now!"
"Doctor it's a hot one! The kid's been shot twice!"
"Emergency room now!"
All the voices faded into his mind, but he kept strict tabs. After all, he had a perfect memory…until a voice suddenly pierced through his mind and he jerked bit before turning his head slightly to his left.
"…so he would be allowed to go home tomorrow?"
"That's right, ma'am."
"I'm so glad…thank you Doctor, thank you so much."
Griever watched as three adults walked by, one of which he didn't really care for, the female doctor. The man he registered in his mind as just another civilian, but the woman…the man's wife a part of his surmised, how dare she be here?!
He watched her walk by out of the corner of his eye and narrowed them ever so slightly as she turned and for a second both of their gazes met. Griever broke contact first, turning back to continue his work. Father never told him that she would be here…
Perhaps before he executed his mission, he would contact his father to tell him of the new development he discovered. Of course, it wouldn't affect his original mission; it was just a side story, so to speak.
Kanoko Yamato stared at the janitor they had passed by for a long moment before her husband tapped her gently on the shoulder and she turned back to him. He looked so familiar…almost like Kira in a way…but that couldn't be, could it? Katherine had made sure that all of them were dead before she herself perished by her husband's hand.
But Colony Mendel was abandoned, correct? She had heard from Kira that they took refuge in there, but he hadn't mentioned anything about discovering Dr. Hibiki's work so Kanoko had assumed that it had been completely buried and abandoned.
But just now…it couldn't be could it?
"Dear?" her husband asked again and she blinked before turning to look at him.
"I'm sorry…what did you say?"
"I asked if you were okay…you seemed a bit disturbed about something…"
"No, no," Kanoko shook her head, "I'm fine. Just worrying over nothing…"
"Okay," her husband looked a bit skeptical, but Kanoko gave him a smile.
"It's okay. I'm just a bit overwhelmed by the news that Kira's going to be released tomorrow."
"Yeah…" her husband smiled back at her.
Night had fallen and visiting hours were already long over. As the night crew stretched into the middle of their shift, some, even though they had been sleeping during the day, were already feeling the effects night had on the human body. It was common for the janitorial crew to finally be able to go to work without having to deal with people and patients spilling or damaging things in the hospital – unless of course there was some emergency, so they went to work.
Griever also went to work, telling the others in the janitorial staff that he would be on his way after he gathered a few supplies and as they all exited out, he hung back, waiting until they were far away before he took out a handgun with a silencer on the muzzle out of the mop bucket he had been using. All the murky water had concealed his gun perfectly and now, he wiped it dry before sticking it inside of his uniform.
There was more weaponry in his bucket and around it, but he wouldn't need it until he reached the Princess' floor. As he stepped out once more, he headed towards the elevator, the other janitors ignoring him as the all went up and down the elevator during the night to clean the floors.
Pressing the 7th floor button with a gloved hand, he waited patiently and brought out a lighter. Just as the elevator pinged to signal his floor, he lit up the lighter and dropped it into the murky water… To which the water suddenly burst into flames – not water at all, but gasoline of sorts – and as the doors fully opened, he kicked the bucket of flame out and it rebounded against the wall across from the elevator sliding to the side.
He heard the shouts of a few guards and ducked into the inner confines of the elevator as the flaming yellow bucket suddenly unloaded its deadly payload and exploded.
Screams filled the air and Griever took out his gun, flicking the safety off before he dove into the flames that burned along the walls. He was cool and calculated as he took down those guards that were still alive, a shot to the head for each guard. He could hear beyond the distant roaring of the fire alarms being sounded and knew that he would have to be fast to accomplish his mission.
As he approached the door where the Princess was sequestered, Griever didn't hesitate and kicked the door down. The cool breeze of the room plastered his face, but his eyes scanned the room through the dimness of the moonlight that was filtering in. Stepping in, Griever pointed his gun at the bed…and was puzzled that there was no one on it…
Suddenly he sensed something behind him and raised his gun to point at the face of Athrun Zala who had tried to ambush him.
Athrun ducked as the assassin fired a bullet at him and immediately brought his left arm up and knocked the gun away from his hand. He couldn't really get a good look at the assassin as he wore a cap, but he didn't care. Blocking a blow, he retaliated with a jab towards the stomach and twisted slightly, pushing the assassin back into the room.
Cagalli had asked if he could stay with her and had even told the doctors that he was staying past visiting hours and he reluctantly agreed. He wasn't too sure if he was breaking any rules, but figured if the Princess of Orb spoke, then it was the Princess' words. Now, he was glad that he stayed…
The assassin suddenly leapt at him and Athrun twisted out of the way, defending himself before he retaliated with a few strikes of his own. He grunted in pain as the assassin clipped him across his side with a punch. Lashing out, he struck back, but the person avoided his leg. Athrun knew that as a Coordinator, he had enhanced strength and speed, but the assassin was avoiding most of his blows…which meant that he too was a Coordinator…
Which meant that someone at PLANT or ZAFT must be out for blood against Orb. "Who are you!" he demanded as he stepped back a few steps, assessing his opponent, the two of them circling slowly.
The assassin didn't answer…a professional he summarized, which meant that this was very serious. Of course, Athrun took everything seriously, but this was the first time he had to deal with an assassin. Back when he was in ZAFT they had taught basic self-defensive techniques just in case they had to deal with Natural assassins and pitted against each other to train.
He suddenly noticed a shift in stance from his opponent and took the opportunity and charged at him. They both crashed into one of the chairs on the far side of the room and Athrun rolled away, crouching on the balls of his feet as he watched the assassin slowly rise…his hat falling away…revealing his features.
What the… Athrun felt his jaw drop as he stared at the assassin. He looks exactly like Kira…no…wait…there's a scar… Indeed there was a long vertical scar running from the middle of the assassin's right eyebrow straight down to corner of his lip. "Kira…" he whispered and saw the corner of the assassin's mouth turn up in a feral smile before he leapt at him.
Athrun barely had time to bring his hands up in order to catch a knife from being stabbed in his head as he was pinned to the ground by the assassin. He found it hard to breathe as the person who looked like Kira dug his knee into his stomach, trying to force the knife down on him. He gritted his teeth in an effort to keep the knife from going any further and pushed up against the assassin's hand with all of his strength.
"Athrun!" he glanced quickly to see Cagalli, who had been hiding by the side of her bed suddenly charge at the assassin.
"No! Cagalli, don't!" he called to stop her.
"I'll deal with you later," the assassin spoke, and Athrun was startled to hear Kira's voice come out of the mouth. He paid for his inattentiveness as the knife slipped a few inches closer towards his face. He saw the assassin lash out with one of his legs and suddenly kick Cagalli who was in mid-charge, crumpling her to the ground.
"You bastard," Athrun managed to get out as he pushed against the hand that was holding the knife.
He struggled to draw breath, but with the assassin's knee digging painfully into his stomach and putting pressure on his abdomen, his legs pinned beneath him…he was beginning to see white splotches and knew that he couldn't keep this up for long.
Suddenly the assassin was bowled over to the side by a charging white blur and Athrun felt that he could breathe again. He sat up and his eyes widened as he saw that it was Kira who had saved him.
Kira clutched his side as a twinge of pain ran through it. He knelt down on one knee as he watched his opponent carefully. There was something familiar about the person that had been holding a knife to stab Athrun…something… His eyes snapped to stare at the assassin who laid sprawled on his side as he started to laugh.
"I should have known…Kira Yamato…" the assassin suddenly sat up and turned to stare at him.
Kira recoiled…shocked…that face…his…face…? That couldn't be…unless… Rau Le Creuset lied! He said that he was the only one who was a success…there couldn't be another one of him…that was why he felt so familiar because the person sitting across from him, his purple eyes lit up in an insane manner, was…him…
No! It wasn't him, it was just…a…
Those eyes bore into him and said forbidden words that Kira didn't want to hear. I am you…you are me…
His mind was numb with shock, so paralyzed with images of what Rau had told him during that fateful meeting, and with his dreams flitting through his mind, that he didn't even notice Athrun shouting as the assassin suddenly broke through the window and jumped out, dropping seven stories to the ground.
He didn't even acknowledge Athrun shaking his shoulder or his twin sister calling his name. All he could think about was the fact that there was another like him…another twisted experiment…
Griever dropped to the ground and rolled a few somersaults to absorb the impact of his fall. Seven stories wasn't that far of a fall, as he knew that he could survive it, whereas no one else could. Dammit…the mission was a failure due to Kira Yamato's intervention. He hadn't even sensed the boy's presence until it was too late…
As he ran, avoiding the strobe lights of the hospital coming awake, he hid under bushes and ducked past police who were rushing to the hospital, too busy on getting to their destination to notice him. He ran to the seaport where he finally stopped at a fairly empty and quiet beach and pulled out a long distance communicator.
Tapping a few buttons, he waited as his call was processed and a face appeared.
"Report, Griever," the face was hidden in the shadows, but he knew who it was.
"Mission failed. The Princess was not eliminated due to intervention by Patrick Zala's son, but there is one good news. Yamato knows that he's not alone."
"Good," the person on the other side of the line replied, "make your exit and come back here. I will have things taken care of to force their hand."
"Roger that," Griever terminated the link and pocketed the communicator before staring out into the ocean, illuminated by the moonlight. It was a wonderful night indeed.