EDIT: OK, I've completely redone this chapter.. I looked back and re-read it… and er.. god was it painful!!! My writing really showed my age . I started writing it in 2004 and it's 2009!!! SWEET JESUS!! Lol I was what, 16 when I wrote it, and now I'm 21! Ok.. I'm gonna try really hard to write what's been in my head all these years. (re-watching the Gundam Seed Destiny completely rekindled the fanfiction desires in me!) SO! Re-read everything!!! I'm editing all chapters I have. I'll be slow with posts.. I'm sorry. I've got a lot school between me and writing.. ok well anyway!!! NEXT STOP, BETTER CHAPTER! (hopefully)
The GDP (Gundam Development Project) Massacre
Several years before the Cosmic Era (C.E.) There was a man named George Glenn. He was an intelligent man and always thought that mankind could do better. That the world around us had evolved but we ourselves had stayed very much the same. He thought that, that should change. Glenn lived and went to school in Heliopolis, the biggest colony currently in existence. He later realized that he was special, different than a normal person. He had evolved, he was the first.. but not the last.
Glenn was the first Coordinator, a person with heightened mental and physical abilities through genetic engineering. A Coordinator's body is stronger, faster and virtually immune to disease compared to that of a normal person. After Glenn studied himself and learned how to make other people Coordinators he released the information so everyone could benefit from his discovery.
Glenn married and had a son, Marcus Glenn, unbeknownst to anyone at the young age of 19. The marriage was kept in secret due to the rising prejudices and anger towards genetic engineering. Marcus was the second generation of Coordinators and in truth was a little stronger than his father, a little faster, a little smarter; he had advanced. Marcus was 12 when his father left Marcus and his mother for the space voyage to Jupiter. After 14 years George Glenn returned with Evidence 01. Evidence 01 was proof of extra-terrestrial life. Both father and son did research and studies on the bones but found little.
When my father, Marcus Glenn, turned 23 his father was assassinated by a Natural. A Natural: a person who has no genetic enhancement at all, and is.. well.. normal. The man had been jealous that he had not been born a Coordinator, and ever since this event there have been tensions between Naturals and Coordinators.
My father married Tair K. Lahara and adopted her last name to cover up his identity. My father was sure to keep the experiments of Evidence 01 going but he was determined to make a name for himself.. like his father had. Only the people within the units knew who my father truly was and so kept him as the leader of the company. The name Glenn soon faded and memories of him died in the riots in the street and the killing done in the name of purity.
My father believed in his late fathers ideas. He knew that the human race was ready to move forward. So he started his own project, The GDP or the Gundam Development Project. I was born 3 years before the project officially got under way. I don't remember much but as I got older my father constantly regaled me with the details of how "difficult" it have been with a toddler and having to handle a few thousand employees in a secret society.
The project was soon well underway and I grew quickly among the busy machinery and scientists. My father was attempting to build mobile suits, or Gundams (General Unilateral Nero-link Dispersive Automatic Maneuver). They were simply fascinating, so intricate. I fell in love with working with them, taking them apart and putting them back together. I wondered at how gracefully they moved and had a hard time believe they were still machines. Just wires, belts, gears, bolts, sheet metal, and glass all put together in what I considered a master piece.
Naturally we had many people working within project. Everyone was set to a task that they specialized in. There were particular groups that were good at making and working with the Gundams, these people were named 'Knowledgeables'. They're named were never listed and named mentioned. My father and I were amount the 200 Kowledgeables. My father headed the department and handed over responsibility of other factions to those he deemed worthy. The co-leader of the Gundam faction was my father's best friend Azuma Kayne. He was like the grandfather I had never had and I loved and treated him thus. He was actually one of the men who voted against my father to keep me out of the project to keep me safe. He felt it was my right and duty to know the workings of what I would one day inherit. My father was only mad about being outvoted for a little while and then all was forgiven and work resumed.
I was talented, which was another one of the main reasons Azuma had so strongly supported my joining the Knowledgeables. I was smart for my age, and I was 11 at this point. I was treated as an equal and my opinions and input on improvements were valued as if they had come from an adult. I was proud and very happy.
My father was a man of many close friends and he trusted them dearly. So, of course he made sure they took on the most important jobs and one of our most important and prominent concerns were security. This job was given to his high school buddy Gabriel Vasser. He was a decent man, well mannered and as my mother called him "proper". He was one of those guys that always said "Yes sir.", "No, sir." It aggravated me a little but we got on fine.
The project plowed on with out problems and created some of the finest technology ever seen. We made many Gundams like the Justice, Forbidden and Freedom. They were my father's pride and joy, his first almost perfect successes. Then there were my favorites, the Aegis and the Strike, mostly because my father and I worked on them together and almost no one else had touched them. Of course we had many others like the Raider, Buster, Duel and Blitz. The too were well made thought their abilities weren't as widely ranged as the others. I was proud of my father who had made all of this possible and soon we would be releasing them for greater space exploration. I was really sad about letting go of the things that I had invested so much of myself in and that I had made with my family but had promised that we would keep Aegis and Strike. I was quite frankly thrilled.
It was warm outside. Spring was coming and growing things were beginning to bud. A soft breeze wafted through the semi-underground hanger brining with it the scent of the cherry blossom trees growing outside. Many were staying late, which was not unusual. The rest had turned in to the residential quarter wing to sleep or enjoy the rest of a late evening. It was also my birthday. Well, it was almost my birthday. It was late but not yet the next day. I was sitting on the ledge of the cockpit doors of the Aegis with a computer in my lap. The OS was unfinished and I'd been working on it for days. Usually it was my dad or Azuma that worked on it but as a birthday gift dad was going to let me finish it myself! My father stood below, reclined in a chair his feet on the table. A pile of papers lay in his lap but they were ignored. His eyes were on his wife who stood at his shoulder. She was speaking, making animated gestures, obviously telling him an engaging story of something that had happened in town. Heliopolis was usually inactive and Tair rarely came back with anything more interesting than how the weather was.
"Goodness they were everywhere!" she was saying.
"How many?" Markus asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, honey if they were everywhere then that means they were EVERYWHERE!" she chuckled.
"Very odd. Heliopolis is a place of peace. A neutral colony; why would there be a riot about Coordinators here?" Marcus sighed sadly. His eyes unfocused as he thought of other things. Tair laid a hand on his shoulder an expression of understanding. Marcus smiled absently and kissed her hand and returned to his papers. Tair laughed quietly and headed several stations deeper into the hanger clipboard in hand.
I looked down at my dad. He flipped through the sheets on his lap, bright light from his left pouring over him outlining his strong profile. His vibrant green eyes scanned each page thoroughly before quickly flipping to the next. He adjusted himself in his seat brushing his red-blond hair from his face. He absently looked up and my father and my eyes met. He winked at me.
"Stumped? Want some help?" he called playfully.
I flushed a mildly angry red, "No, of course not!" I shouted back. My frown quickly drifted into a smile. Dad grinned back at me and with another wink returned to his work. Pushing my violet hair back from my face I turned my attention back to the laptop in my lap.
Hours felt like minutes to me. I flew through my work and hardly noticed the yelling when it started.
There was yelling in the main entrance and then gun shots. All the workers fled to their stations and began to arm themselves. Dad flew from his chair and ran to the man closest to him. There was screaming and shooting and panicking everywhere
"What's happening?!" I hear my dad shout. Cale, a young natural boy who had been my friend since our younger days, grabbed my dad's arm. He had a small cut on his left cheek.
"Sir, I-my god. They're shooting! I dunno who they are! There's many though sir!"
Still having a hold on Cale my dad turned quickly to look up at me, "Leer get down here now!" I'd never heard his voice sound like that, ever. It shook me to my core. Almost dropping the laptop I ran to the ladder that led to the floor level. Once below I ran to where they were.
"Stay with Cale, Leer." he commanded.
"No! Dad where are you going?! I'm NOT staying here!"
"No honey!" he grabbed my arm holding me away from him, "Please, listen to me!" The expression on his face, I could place it.
"I-"
He released me and ran off. I stood dazed staring after him until Cale grabbed my arm.
"Come, we can't stay here! We'll be fodder for those gunmen." he dragged me back the scaffolding of the Aegis.
Our people were making their best effort to arm themselves and fight back by getting into the mobile suits. I swear, if just one person had gotten into one all those men would have been ditched into a mass grave. The gunmen must have been well informed for they shot all who went near. My father wasn't far off fighting. A man fighting next to him fell to the floor, limp. Dad dodged behind a pillar avoiding bullets.
The invaders didn't miss a beat. They were scouring the place. There was no mercy for anyone, no prisoners. They were just shooting everything they saw.. anything that moved, breathed.. lived.
"None of these bastards leave this place alive!" one of the invaders shouted.
They began to advance towards us. Azuma came running to us, "We have to get out of here! They're killing everyone.. Absolutely no mercy.." he panted.
Dad ran back to us.
"Take her! Please.. Azuma.. protect her.. keep her safe." Azuma nodded and took me by the wrist. I'd had enough of being dragged around in a daze. I was being a fool. I could help! I could save people! My friends, practically family were being killed. I HAD to do something.
"No! Dad! I'm not leaving anyone!"
"Go Azuma!" Dad waved at us. Cale seeing the line of invaders advancing gave an sickened, angry look and fled down one of the many passages of the hanger.
I heard yelling and chanting. It sounded much like a victory chant. Dad a gun in his hand had it pointed at the line. They all had their guns set on him. Many more men were pouring around us going deeper into the hanger. My eyes were for my dad only.
"No." I whispered.
"Leerah! No come back!" I'd ripped myself free of Azuma's grip. I heard him give chase for a moment but then his footfalls faded. I stopped a few feet behind my dad.
"By Gods Marcus. You've put up much of a fuss. And for only giant hunks of metal that can walk?" the apparent leader said, "Hello Mark." I was Gabriel.
"Gabe… w-why…"
Gabe turned to a man, whose gun was set on my father "The exits are sealed. Make sure you finish the job. We can't afford to slip, it is a deep precipice we're on and we shall not fall to ruin. Not like this washed up has been." He nodded at my dad, his arms calmly behind his back. He rocked back and forth on his heels a slight smile on his face.
"This sinful place will be purged!" the man he had spoken to saluted and took a portion of the force with him.
"Purge.." my father sputtered.
"Yes the purge of you freaks, you Coordinators. You should have never existed! It was not meant to be! What the hell was Glenn thinking when he released such information to the public?! He made a super-race that would one day be bent on destroying us!" mutters of agreement went like a wave through the group.
"We cock and bull have you been listening to Gabriel…?" my father wide eyed with disbelief, his weapon still poised for action.
"Your intentions are hidden! It's in all of you! Those damn genes! All you rats think your better than our lot! I'll show all you morons who the better is!" Gabe advanced and bashed the gun from my dad's numb hands. He then backhanded him. My dad took a few falter steps back and he bumped into me. He gasped, not in pain but surprise. He hadn't known I was there.
"Yeah! Coordinators will ruin the world!" a member of the group shounted.
"Leer!" he hissed grabbing my arms, his grip was painful, "What the hell are you doing-" He was cut off as Gabe smashed the butt of his pistol into the back of my dad's head. He gasped and fell to all fours but didn't pass out. I stood stunned and looked up at Gabe. He stood casually before me. He stood easy with a gun in his hand and blood on his hands.
"My Lady." He gave a faux bow. "Where they going to make you a Princess?" He grabbed me and dragged me forward. "LOOK AT YOU!" He threw me down before the soldiers. Half their guns were on me now the other on my dead. "A god damn freak of nature!" he crouched down next to me. "You're a sin. Did you know that? You aren't suppose to exist. A mistake that was never meant to be."
"Leer!" it was my mothers voice. I looked over Gabe's shoulder to see 4 men leading her to us, her hands tied behind her back. Her dark violet hair a mess, her lip broken and bleeding.
Gabe ignored the newcomers, "You all need to die." He said softly, serenely. He took a piece of my hair and toyed with it. I couldn't move. My mind was functioning but I couldn't move. My eyes stayed on my mom. I was scared…
"DON'T YOU DARE TALK TO MY DAUGHTER LIKE THAT!" my dad roared and tackled Gabe. They grappled. A shot was fired.
My mother and I stared at each other for a split second. Everything froze, time stopping to those it mattered most. The expressions said so much, shared so much. Love, affection, fear, compassion ..longing. Wishing for more time. Tair fell to the floor, limp, dead.
"No…" I whispered; the tears began to fall.
Dad had frozen, both he and Gabe clinging to each other. Dad stared at Tair, on the floor still bleeding but already long gone.
"Wha.. N-no.. TAIR!" he flew from Gabriel and to his wife's side. "Tair.. my love.. speak to me.. please.." he rested one hand on he top of her head the other on her cheek.
"Pity.. I truly did fancy her but I guess that would have been quite hypocritical of me to take her as my own in the end. Alls well that ends well I suppose." He smiled again straightening his clothing.
My father was weeping over mom. I was having trouble processing anything. Why was it so hard to move? It felt like I had tons of sand on top of me, hindering my movement and that lack of oxygen was making my mind sluggish. Gabe loomed over me his back to me facing my dad, talking. All I could so is listen.
"You're the one that has lost hold on humanity Gabriel.. look at what you've done!" my dad sobbed.
"I've done the world a favor this day. And the world should know she owes Gabriel Vasser this day and for all days! I'm a life saver Mark, a peace bringer. People will be shouting my name in the street for I've spared them the terror that was to reign down upon them." I'd managed to sit up at this point.
"What terror! You're MAD!" my dad looked into my mothers face the whole time. He was just as lost as I was.
"Madness or a ringing truth?!" Gabe raised his recovered gun.
"TRUTH!" all in company shouted. Gabriel fired hitting my dad in the ribs. He gasped and leaned heavily on Tair. He grimaced, his breath coming fast. He laid his head on Tair chest facing me, his eyes growing distant.
"Run my dearest.." he whispered softly. A faint smile played on his lips and then faded. Gabriel fired twice more on him and gave a sigh or relief.
"It's done. Finally the monsters are slain." He was talking more to himself than the company about him. His eyes were looking upon something far into the future in his mind as he turned back to face me. He ignored me has he spoke to his man.
"Report."
"The living quarters had many as you said. We had several loses there but nothing that can't be replaced easily."
"You've been taking inventory of to be sure you have them all?"
"Yes sir, all that we believe to be left is.." the lieutenant looked down at me.
I'd snapped out of my stupor a bit. My father's dying words had helped. Every inch of me tingled and ached. My heart raced though I had been on the floor the whole time. My gaze shifted from the lieutenant to Gabriel. New tears rolled down my face.. friend.. he was a friend. What had happened?
"Oh.. yes. I shouldn't forget the most important." He turned to me and raised his gun.
"W-why." I met his eyes, I tried not to tremble.
"I already told you foolish child." He said coldly, angrily. He shot my right shoulder. I didn't remember screaming though I probably did. I rolled onto my side, the fiery pain flooding my system. I grunted suddenly the pain was gone; as quickly as it had come. I opened my eyes. I look up at Gabe. He was staring at me intently, probably expecting more of a show out of me.
"I-I.. won't.. be as easy! You stinking excuse for-" I didn't bother to finish, I was on my feel flying at him. I jabbed him hard in the face. I heard a satisfying crunch but rather than stop I jabbed with my right. His nose was next to break. By this time he'd finally caught up to what was going on. I must have moved fast.. I couldn't remember, but to have gotten two hits on him and hardly any reaction.. He flailed out and caught me in the stomach. I fell back and rolled away.
"Bitch! Look at what they've created! Super soldiers and this is only a child!"
"You brought this on yourself!" I snarled my voice unshaken, steady, and hard.
All his men turned and aimed their guns at me.
"You really think this is a fight you can win?" Gabe laughed. He spread his arms in a welcoming gesture. "Now I'm suddenly being swept up by some charitable compassion within me!" he paced back and fourth slowly before me. "I'll give you a chance to run. What say you to that?"
"First I say, 'Go to hell.' And second I say, 'Never mind, you're going there anyway!'" there were a few yards between us my roll had put a lot of distance between us that I hadn't intended. It wasn't far for 3 more bullets. Two of the shots hit me, one in the leg the other in my side, the third going high over my left shoulder. The world tilted. I envisioned myself falling like mom did, unceremoniously. It sure felt slow and graceful to me. Everything softened, and then darkened. I never even felt the floor.
------
I woke some time later. I ached. My body and heart as one, mourned. I was covered in blood long dried so I assumed that I had been out for several days. I looked around.
The hanger had been cluttered with work. Work that we had poured our lives into, our hearts. It was all gone. The only thing that cluttered the floor now was bodies. I lay back on the floor looking to the side to see my dad kneeling, bowed over, his face still resting on mom's chest as I'd last seen him. His eyes glazed, distant. Dead. I started crying. Crying, crying, and crying. It hurt but as much as my heart hurt. My wounds were gone; I didn't know how nor care. I crawled over to my fallen parents. I laid my father down properly and noticed he was wearing his dog tags. I took them and clung to them for I knew.. I couldn't stay here. Weeping so hard I could hardly see I made my way out of the hanger.
My mind was raving despite my sluggish, drunken steps. Gabriel…Gabriel.. how could he lie to us.. now could he shoot his best friend.. and then his wife and child! I was sure I had been left for dead. I had survived and god would I make it worth it. He wasn't human, he couldn't be and he'd do this to other people with no remorse. He had to be stopped and I made it my duty. I would be the one to end him. Revenge.. was I still too young for the concept? No. I think not.
My birthday, it had passed. I stopped at an overturned table and noted the satellite clock. 4:43pm April 1st. So it was my birthday. Hardly any time had passed at all. April fools. God, did I feel like one. I was 12. Too young to feel revenge? I think not.
