Your Kind….
Chapter 5: Machines
By: Jen "The Stampede" Motou
I sat in the cockpit of the Enemy Machine as Athrun looked around eyes wide. "It's….It's totaled." He spat, seeing the poor condition of our enemy machine's interior. "So what is it?"
I locked eyes with him for a moment and then looked to my right. "Look at the console, Athrun. The right side is totally destroyed…" He climbed in further to see better, and ran his finger along the sharp edges of the metal. "It looks almost like it exploded...doesn't is?" Athrun only paused a moment at the comment before he looked at me. "It probably did. The doctors said most of his cuts had metal or plastic buried deep within them." I knew as those words slipped out of Athrun's mouth my golden-brown eyes grew wide. "Oh my god!" I shouted as I placed my left hand over my mouth. I sat there for a moment, soaking it all in as Athrun poked around in the cockpit, Dearka standing just outside. I could hear Athrun grumbling as he laid down on his back to see under the console, hoping to find something new I guess.
Then he sat up quickly and looked at me. "Alright, what else did you find out? I mean other than the fact that there's blood covering everything, and the right side Console exploded." At this time I got up from the pilot's seat, and stepped behind it. "Set down." I said to Athrun and then Focused my attention to Dearka. "Would you move please? I need to close the cockpit doors to show him this." Dearka just smiled slightly and jumped off. "Have at it." He said as I reached for the buttons to close the doors. As they came down, and the front panel slide up yet again, Athrun gasped. "What the hell?!" He spat seeing that the blood covered screen, was shattered. "He seemed to be taking more of a beating than we assumed." I noted, as Athrun leaned forward running his hand through the blood, it following a crack in the glass. "It looks like he got smashed into it." "Yeah It shattered on impact I'd assume." I added after Athrun's pervious comment, he seemed to only be becoming more enraged, but I think he was just as confused as the rest of us.
I slipped my hand over the buttons again, opening the doors. Dearka was waiting outside. "So what was it Athrun?" Athrun looked at me and smiled, but there was an unmistakable air about him, a deep sadness was resting in his heart. "You coming, Nicol? I can't be here anymore. I need something to eat." I smiled at his offer, but instead, replaced myself in the pilot's seat. "No thanks, Athrun. There's something bugging me about all this. Maybe I'll come down later." He smiled at my respond, with those teary eyes again. "Alright." Was all he said before he left with Dearka.
I knew there was something wrong, but I couldn't pin what. The strike may have been an enemy machine but ours' were as well right? I mean they were all part of the "X-Series." When Yzak's cockpit exploded it was caused by a direct blow to the cockpit it's self. It didn't seem like the Strike's should have done it too. 'We never got in any blows to the cockpit right? What else was there?' I sat there for a moment and tried to remember when Athrun pulled him from the cockpit, but mostly screaming was what came to mind. But then it hit me. Athrun had came falling out with a rod, a bloody rod. I assume it was the cause of the hole in that pilot's left arm. 'But where did that rod come from?' My eyes scanned the small area, searching for where it could have come from, my eyes trailed upward. 'Maybe it was one of the handle supports from the ceiling…No it was too large to be one of those, and straight. What was it?' As my eyes trailed the ceiling I noticed that seemingly everything was intact –for the most past anyway. "Ow!" I shouted aloud as my hand slid over the metal of the right console instinctively cutting one of my fingers. I then placed my finger in my mouth and began to suck the blood from my wound, much like a child would do. (Wait…I AM a child.) I let out a sigh, removing my finger from my mouth and left the cockpit. There was something missing, something wrong with this. 'But what? The pilot of the strike was sloppy, and off center. We took him down far too easily. Why did that console explode? And that rod….' I grumbled as I floated away from the machine, I knew something was wrong, but figured it was better to not give myself a headache worrying about it. I'd check it out later, something was wrong.
I was walking to the Infirmary, still sucking on my finger, trying to stop the bleeding. When I got there I went to door I stopped—hearing voices. It was Commander Le Creze, and Yzak? They were talking about that pilot, so instead of entering I froze, threw myself against the wall and listened…..
To Be Continued...