Chapter: 10 The New Desert Enemy
A finger pointed to a blue-colored section of map. "This is Alaska, and this-" the finger moved to a red area, in north Africa "is ourlocation; right in the middle of ZAFT-controlled territory." Mu La Flaga shook his head. "We couldn't have picked a worse place to land."
They were in the Archangel's Captain's office, going over their situation, and Murrue Ramius sighed. "We didn't really have a choice. It was that or lose the Strike, and we couldn't afford to let that happen."
The newly-promoted Lieutenant Commander nodded wearily. "Yeah. So how is Kira, anyway?"
"The Doctor says reentry heat knocked him out," she replied. "His fever is still running high, but he should be fine in a couple of days."
"The sooner the better we get the kid up the better chance of our survival, and Now I am guessing that this ship would really need my help now." Jason said who was also in the room.
"Indeed we are Jason." Murrue said as she was the only officer that has not called Jason by his Nick Name.
"Be glad the kid's a Coordinator." La Flaga sipped from a coffee mug. "Which reminds me: has there been any sign of Blade?"
Ramius shook her head. "No, unfortunately. We know he was intending to come here, and his descent vector matched up with it, but we haven't found any trace of him. Of course, with the N-jammers it's hard to see much of anything, and the sand dunes might be obscuring him, but..."
"Yeah." Kevin Walker, the enigmatic college student/super-soldier, had joined the ship at Heliopolis, played a perhaps critical role in getting them to Earth, and then left, taking his newly-upgraded mobile suit with him several hours before ZAFT began its attack on the Eighth Fleet.
But that had not been the last they saw of him. He'd turned up again halfway through the battle, destroying three GINNs in the process and providing them with escort until they reached atmospheric reentry. At that point, he'd broken off his attack on the Aegis and Hyperion as he departed for the surface himself, and he hadn't been seen since. They knew, however, that he should be somewhere nearby; there was apparently someone in the African Community that he had a serious grudge against.
"Well," La Flaga said, setting down his cup, "I'm gonna go see how the kid's doing, then get some sleep." On his way out, he glanced back over his shoulder with a teasing look. "You should get some shuteye too, you know. The Captain mustn't get herself all worn out and exhausted; not good."
Cagalli Yula Athha kept watch over the sole other occupant of the small cave, in the Desert Dawn's base camp. Her eyes were locked on his unconscious form, and her emotions in turmoil. He's alive... But how? What's happened to him?
On Heliopolis, he had stunned her when his face was revealed, and his name spoken. She'd known him under another name, but Kevin Walker was a known alias, and the face was unmistakable. The only problem was... he'd been dead for two years.
She looked again at the distinctive face. The sandy hair was considerably shorter than when she'd last known him -he'd once worn it as long as ZAFT's Rau Le Creuset did- but the jade eyes were the same as ever. And if the wicked scar was new, it at least made sense; the last time Cagalli had seen him, there were bandages covering the right half of his face.
The clothing wasn't a surprise, either. "You know, Kevin," she'd told him once, "you have a heart of gold, but your fashion sense has gone over to the Dark Side."She herself hadn't quite understood the reference, but Kevin was an old movie buff, and laughed about it. It was true, though; for all his concessions to his noble birth, he never had worn anything resembling bright colors. It was always black, or, very occasionally, crimson.
That was all to be expected. But if it weren't for those few things, Cagalli would have thought this to be an entirely different person.
Just for starters, he was extremely heavy; even her huge bodyguard Kisaka hadn't been able to lift the lean young man unassisted. Besides that, his body was one huge magnetic anomaly, causing compasses and even wristwatches to go crazy. Clearly, his body held deep and bizarre secrets.
Then there was his weaponry. When the guerrillas pulled him out of his flight suit -they'd dressed him in one of several identical outfits found in his bag- they'd found him practically covered in knives. Throwing knives up both sleeves, a 20-centimeter tanto-style combat knife strapped to his right leg, a Bowie knife on his belt -it appeared this was responsible for his current haircut- and even a boot knife. Then there was the pair of Colt Single Action Army, a.k.a. Peacemaker, .45 caliber revolvers tucked into his shoulder holsters, and the Colt 1911 auto pistols in his bag. Not to mention the Claymore directional mines. And yet they did not know about the deadly weapons that layed inside his body.
Yet all of this paled beside the fact that Cagalli knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this young man, who had once been her best friend, was dead.
It had been two years ago, she remembered. A year before, he'd gone back to space, telling her that this was the last time; after this one last diplomatic mission with his parents, he was coming home and staying there. Then his parents had died in a mass-driver accident engineered by Blue Cosmos, and Kevin himself had disappeared within days.
Then, a year later, Cagalli stumbled upon him in one of Orb's main hospitals, recovering from surgery. He seemed to be in a bad way, as if only now recovering from something considerably worse than whatever wounds had put him in the hospital.
He'd still recognized her, though, and she soon dragged him off to an outdoor restaurant to get the whole story from him... but he never had the chance to explain.
Flashback
Cagalli sat at a table across from her friend and leaned forward, gazing intently into his remaining eye. "So where've you been, Kevin?" she demanded. "A whole year, without a word? How could you?"
"I'm sorry," Kevin apologized, looking old far beyond his years. He'd just turned fifteen, yet something had changed. "It wasn't exactly my idea." He sighed wearily. "I don't even know where to begin. So much has happened since then..."
He broke off then, and Cagalli looked at him in concern. He was glancing about the area, as if looking for some kind of threat. "Kevin, what's wrong?"
He didn't reply at first. Then, "Down!" Kevin shoved the table at her, knocking her off her feet just as the first gunshot went off, narrowly missing Cagalli's head.
She stayed down, confused. "What's going on?"
He said something vile in Russian. "It's a bloody sniper," he muttered, drawing a ZAFT standard-issue machine pistol from under his jacket with literally inhuman speed. With reflexes faster than a rattlesnake, Kevin whirled, raising the pistol. "They've found me, the bastards!"
Two more shots sounded as one; there was not a fourth.
A figure on a rooftop across the street collapsed; Kevin's single shot had done its job, entering through the sniper's nose and blowing his brains and the back of his head off.
But Kevin was also falling, blood seeping from his chest. The sniper's second shot had not missed, and the youth's heart was gone.
Cagalli caught him as he fell. Not more than four seconds had elapsed, and he was, incredibly, still alive... though he wouldn't last long. "Kevin! Kevin, speak to me!"
His remaining jade eye, as unnaturally bright as ever, fluttered open. "Don't be... so sad, tovarisch," he managed. "It's... okay. I'll... be fine. Just a... just a... flesh wound. Don't worry about me..." His hand reached up, touched her face, and fell back. The young noble later to be known by his alias, Kevin Walker, was dead.
By the time medical help arrived, it was all over, and Cagalli cradled the motionless body in her arms, weeping.
End Flashback
"They've found me,"Cagalli could remember him saying, that awful day. But, though she'd looked, she'd never learned who "they" were. And to make her loss complete, a proper burial had been impossible, for Kevin's body had simply vanished somewhere along the line. For two years, she'd simply assumed someone had managed to misplace it somehow; but, since his unconscious but very clearly living body was lying not two meters from her now, it appeared there was something else at work.
She looked over at him again, and smiled. She knew not how he came to be here, battered but alive, but she didn't really care. All that mattered was that her best friend had returned to her at last.
Born on the same day, the daughter of Chief Representative Uzumi Nara Athha of Orb and the son of one of his political allies had grown up together. Although Kevin left for the Moon when he was six, he had returned to his homeland often, and the pair remained close friends throughout.
During this time, he'd begun his career as a fencer, quickly rising to the very top of the ranks. His skill was unrivaled, and he bested many an opponent twice his age or older. They'd given him a nickname then, and he'd been famous for it... but this career had led to unintended consequences.
The choice of such a gentlemanly pursuit, combined with their long-standing friendship, gave rise to an assumption among Orb's upper crust that Kevin Walker -who was not then known by that name- would, when they were old enough, be the consort of the Princess Cagalli Yula Athha.
That assumption rankled both of them very deeply. Oh, certainly, they were close, and Cagalli had entertained thoughts of that nature from time to time, but it was nothing more than a fleeting thought, and such a casual assumption...
Then came the day Kevin returned to Orb, to change shuttles on his way to the PLANTs. He'd told Cagalli then that this was his last trip before he came home for good...
Flashback
"I'll be back soon," Kevin said, standing next to the shuttle he would soon be taking from Kaguya. "Dad promised me this is the last time, and then I'll be moving back home."
Cagalli smiled. "Great. Oh, yeah..." She dug into a pocket, and pulled out a gold ring. "Here," she said, handing it to him. "Don't forget us Earthbound while you're up in space."
Kevin examined it, noting the entwined K and C initials engraved upon it, and slipped it on. "Have I yet? I've spent more time in orbit than Orb, you know; but thanks." He gave his friend a quick hug, and stepped back. "I'd better go; don't want them to leave without me."
She snorted. "When you're the only passenger? Hah!" She was still smiling, though. "Hurry back, okay?"
"Sure thing."
End Flashback
That was the last time Cagalli had seen or heard from Kevin for a full year. Then, one day, she stumbled upon him in a hospital, half his face covered in bandages following the loss of his right eye and a good chunk of his face. There'd been a haunted look in his remaining eye, but he'd recognized her. It seemed as if things were finally going right for them.
Then he was shot, and the future became a bleak thing indeed.
Now, though, he was back. Badly scarred, perhaps -there were some truly amazing scar patterns over his entire body- but very much alive.
It was obvious that the surgery Kevin had been recovering from that time had been more than merely repairs; the doctors had clearly managed to replace the missing eye, along with however much flesh had been blown away. As handsome as ever, Cagalli thought fondly. Not sure about that hair, though...
She knew her mind was avoiding the one glaring difficulty that still remained: Kevin seemed to have no memory of her at all, now. On Heliopolis, there had been moments when he appeared on the verge of remembering, but the signs of recognition had quickly faded from his eyes; and before she could try to help him, Kevin's companion had shoved her into a shelter.
Cagalli had thought she would never manage to find him again, but now here he was, having crash-landed in the same stretch of desert she and her comrades now occupied. Now, perhaps, she could get some answers.
One particularly burning question pertained to his body; for even as she watched, the burns he'd suffered during reentry were healing themselves at a breakneck pace.
Cagalli shook her head and returned to her vigil. Whatever happened, Kevin would soon be awake; and she would be ready.
"So, Hydra, you've come back to Earth," that insidious voice said in Kevin Walker's mind. "How perfect! The very hearths of the Naturals are within your grasp, Hydra!"
Shut up, Oracle. Get out of my mind; I vaporized you over two years ago.
"Oh, but I made sure I would live on in you, my greatest creation. I ensured that my work would not die with me. I knew there was a chance a group as inherently unstable as your Destroyers might one day turn on me, but it was a price I was willing to pay, for the glory and liberation of the Coordinators!"
Get out of my mind! A ghost has no power over my Fate any longer!
"And what of the ghost of Medusa? Does Rachel Carver yet haunt you, Commander Walker? Do you still remember her screams, as you tore out her throat with your own fangs?"
Don't remind me of that, you bastard! And it was all your fault, anyway! You made me what I am!
"A monster, you mean?"
Yes, curse you, a monster; but a monster who fights for what he chooses! A monster who ensured no others will have their lives ruined as you ruined mine!
"That's enough, Hydra! Now, it's past time you were about your mission: the extermination of all Naturals!"
Shut up!
Cagalli had nearly dozed off when something caught her attention. A feeling, almost subliminal... something most people would never have noticed at all. Even for her, it took a few moments, because it had been so long since she experienced the unique sensation.
She was one of a very few people alive who knew Kevin Walker's deepest secret, that of his zoanthrope power. And because she knew, because he'd taught her how, she could tell when he awoke.
Outwardly, he had not changed at all; even the rhythm of his breathing remained constant. But Cagalli could feel his suddenly questing mind, seeking out with his empathic sense -which seemed somehow stronger than it once had- for presences. Ordinarily, only a zoanthrope could have sensed the probe, but Kevin had taught her much; and she struggled to recall mental exercises he had demonstrated.
Cagalli opened her mind, allowing his searching mind to sense her welcome and joy at his survival; and that was sufficient to make him drop the charade.
"That's impossible," the familiar voice murmured, sounding almost dazed in his confusion. "No normal human being should have been able to feel that."
So it's true, she thought with a pang. He doesn't remember me. "You taught me, Kevin, a long time ago. Remember?"
"No, I don't..." Jade eyes opened, and Kevin Walker cautiously sat up, cataloguing his injuries through his cybernetics. "Where... am I?"
"The African Community," Cagalli answered. "The Libyan desert. This is the Desert Dawn resistance group's main camp."
"The Desert Dawn... Should've figured I'd run into them again out here." He shook his head, trying to clear it, and carefully stood. Now more or less awake, his eyes were focused intently on her, his mind turned inward, searching. "That just leaves one question: who are you?"
"Don't you remember?" She couldn't believe, even now, that he could somehow have forgotten his best friend. "It's only been a couple years, Kevin."
Kevin rubbed his temples. "I know that I know you," he whispered, "but I don't know how, or why." He raised one hand to forestall comment. "My memory isn't working right, okay? It got wiped a while back, and I still haven't recovered all the pieces."
So that explains it, Cagalli thought with sudden anger. "Whoever did this to you is going to die," she hissed. "Slowly, and painfully."
He managed a weary chuckle. "You're a little late, I'm afraid... They died thirty months ago. Those I didn't kill personally were incinerated by the nuclear blast."
"That's something, at least." So how do I help him? If just seeing me didn't do it... "You're name isn't Kevin Walker, right? Your real name, I mean?" She got a nod, and plunged ahead. "And you used to be a fencer, in Orb. The best, right?"
"That's right," Kevin concurred. "Until my noble parents got their noble guts squished into human-flavored toothpaste by Blue Cosmos sabotage."
She sighed in relief. "Well, you're definitely the right guy, then." A thought occurred to her. "How much do you remember about what happened two years ago?"
"Two years ago..." He didn't need to think long. "Two years ago, I was chased through the Debris Belt by a gang of pirates, descended from orbit, and crashed someplace. I vaguely recall a hospital, where I suppose I got my face fixed, and then nothing until I woke up in a fightcraft over the Pacific Ocean, with a scar over my heart."
"So you don't remember dying, then," Cagalli said, as much to herself as to him.
"Dying?" Kevin's gaze sharpened. "So that's what happened... must've reactivated whatever traces remained of the memory-wiping chemicals... So how did I die?"
She winced. "It was an outdoor restaurant, in Orb. I'd just run into you in the hospital, and we went there to talk. You were about to tell me where you'd been, when..."
Her words triggered a surprising reaction: he collapsed to his knees, holding his head as the mother of all headaches threatened to split his head apart.
"It's a bloody sniper," Kevin hissed. It must be ZAFT, he thought. How did they find me?It didn't really matter now. He came to his feet, spun around, and yanked out the machine pistol he still carried. "They've found me, the bastards!" His unnaturally-keen eyes spotted the sniper, and his pistol went off with unerring accuracy.
At the same instant, he felt his chest burning, and realized he'd been hit. A normal human being, even a Coordinator, would have bled out in four seconds. With his augmentation, he would last eight. Either way, he was a dead man.
He was vaguely aware of his best friend catching him, shouting at him, pleading with him to say something. His breath failing him, he managed to gasp something out, and then the pain, the all-consuming pain engulfed him...
"The sniper," Kevin whispered. "I got him, and then I came back, dragged away his body, and left that note... I remember now..." He pulled himself upright, a look of vast relief and -finally- recognition in his eyes. "Cagalli, I-"
That was as far as he got before Cagalli threw herself at him, knocking him off his feet in a fierce embrace. "I thought you were gone," she whispered. "I thought I'd never see you again, and then there you were, on Heliopolis..."
"It's okay, tovarisch," he said soothingly. "I'm not going anywhere now. If anything ever tries to get between us again," he added, long-forgotten feelings, feelings he would never admit, smoldering back to life, "they'll be very, very dead by the time I'm through with them."
A little later, Kevin leaned against one wall of the cave, looking pensive. "I guess you've got a couple of million questions for me, right?" he said finally.
Cagalli glared at him, though she couldn't really put any strength in it. "Of course I do. Like where have you been, and how did you pull off those moves I saw on Heliopolis? Even a Coordinator shouldn't have been able to do that, and I know you couldn't three years ago."
"That's true, I couldn't." He shrugged. "Well, answer one question, and I answer the other. The tales are inextricably linked, one and the same."
She rolled her eyes. "I see you still like to speak in riddles."
"I have my moments," Kevin admitted. "Well. Where to begin? First off, like I told you two years ago, my disappearance wasn't exactly my idea." He looked up, an odd look in his jade eyes. "Tell me: have you ever heard of Project ABADON?"
Cagalli frowned. "Orb Intelligence heard rumors about something like that. Some kind of super-soldier program ZAFT was running, involving some pretty horrible experiments. We were never able to confirm its existence though; so how do you-?" She broke off, eyes wide. "Oh, Kevin..."
He nodded, smiling humorlessly. "That's right, tovarisch. Over three years ago, a man who went by the codename Oracle presented a plan to his superiors in ZAFT; a plan to use the best and brightest Coordinators that could be found as the basis of a new, elite unit. Using the latest, most cutting-edge technologies, a group of twelve young Coordinators would be cybernetically augmented, and trained via experimental chemical-learning techniques. The plan was approved, and recruitment began right around the time my parents died." His face twisted with remembered pain and hate. "Oracle found me then, saw how much my abilities exceeded even other Coordinators, and he had me kidnapped. Officially, of course, all the members of the unit were volunteers. The truth, however, is that one test subject was kidnapped... and then tortured, for about two weeks."
Cagalli gasped. "What kind of sick madman would...!"
"Oh, he was a madman, all right," Kevin agreed. "Mad as a hatter, the stereotypical mad scientist. He was also brilliant, which was probably the only reason ZAFT tolerated him. But despite his brilliance, it took him two weeks to realize torture wouldn't turn me into the loyal ZAFT soldier he wanted; that's where all those scars come from. When he finally did realize his error, he turned to mind-wiping drugs. With my memory gone, it was a relatively simple matter to mold my mind into the proper form." He smiled again, this time with an edge of malice. "But, brilliant though he may have been, Oracle didn't think to run a test for zoanthrope genes."
She winced, at the same time feeling a certain satisfaction. "And that means, after a while, you..."
"Right." There was definitelymalice in his eyes now. "As Oracle knew, but didn't think to connect with me, chemical brainwashing doesn't last that long on zoanthropes. So six months into the Project, I woke up one night with no memory of my identity, but plenty of memories of torture and indoctrination... and I went berserk." A shadow entered his eyes now, and he actually shuddered. "I don't like to remember that night. And usually, I don't. But the things that I did... I'll never forget." He met her eyes. "I slaughtered them, Cagalli. I broke out, and I killed everyone in the lab. I transformed, destroyed everything and everyone in my path; and those I didn't kill myself, I vaporized at the end of it all. The lab was out at L2, you see, beyond the moon; so nobody was likely to really notice if someone set off a nuclear device... such as the five-megaton thermonuclear fusion self-destruct device the lab was equipped with. I set it off, that night." And yet still unknown to him, Rachel kept alive Aelan through the Blast.
Cagalli stared at him, trying and failing to imagine what kind of horrors her best friend had experienced. "So that was it?" she said softly. "You triggered the bomb, and got off before everything exploded?"
"No," Kevin said, surprising her. "I didn't get clear at all. In fact, my last memory of that place is feeling the searing heat of the blast. Then I woke up a few hours later, in an escape pod." He chuckled dryly. "Death doesn't like me, I guess." He shrugged again. "And after that, well, I started my globe-trotting under various identities, fought off a few dozen Blue Cosmos attacks, and eventually ended up being taken in by a friend's family, on Heliopolis."
"And you were there for, what, a year before the attack?" she mused. "But you still haven't told me exactly how you did those things during the fighting."
He gazed thoughtfully at his right hand, absently flexing one powerful arm. "Project ABADON," he said finally. "The codename is the Hebrew word for Destroyer, and that's what we were. Super-soldiers, in essence. And what made us what we were was a process known as cybernetic augmentation." He straightened from his place at the wall. "My body is approximately twenty-percent mechanical these days; my skeleton is nearly unbreakable, being reinforced with mobile suit-grade battle armor. My musculature is comparably enhanced, with powered actuators increasing my strength far beyond human norm. I can literally tear apart battle tanks with my bare hands, and my reaction speed is well beyond that of a rattlesnake. Additionally, they outfitted me with nanotech repair systems, allowing me to heal so fast it takes an extraordinary blow to kill me, and I'm capable of generating an electromagnetic field on a peculiar frequency in order to deflect fast-moving metallic objects... like bullets. That's all the basic package; I also have a computer implant, utilizing technology that allows me to direct-link with computers, a method of hacking which is both unstoppable and untraceable by current technology. Add in little things like an internal pharmacopoeia with things like coagulants, painkillers, and reaction-enhancing drugs, and you've got a Destroyer." And yet unknown to him completely, Aelan shared ever one of the same traits, as at that moment she awakened in the Tigers Lair.
Cagalli gaped. "You're serious?"
"As a heart attack." Kevin picked up a chunk of rock from the cave floor, held it in one hand, and squeezed. Dust and gravel fell from his grip. "I know it's hard to believe -and believe me, I wish I didn't have to believe it, either- but it's the truth... and it's why I've been on the run for years."
Her eyes narrowed. "Two years ago... it was ZAFT that killed you, wasn't it?"
"I presume so; aside from Blue Cosmos, I can't think of anyone with that much of a grudge against me, and those bastards would have claimed responsibility for the hit." He looked away. "Cagalli... the boy you knew is dead. You know that, don't you?"
Cagalli frowned at the abrupt change in his demeanor. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that I'm a monster, tovarisch." Kevin's eyes were filled with a pain not of the flesh. "Monsters we were named for -my codename was Hydra- and monsters we were. I proved that, the day I killed them all, and the proof remains an integral part of me. Curse it!" He slammed his fist into the rock wall. "Oracle's work corrupted us all, and I may well be the worst! All the people I've killed... everything I've done... a monster such as I has no right to exist!"
"Get hold of yourself, Kevin!" she snapped. "What someone else did to you isn't your fault!"
"Oh, really?" He clenched his fists, extending the lethal claws with which he'd killed several of Gerard Garcia's men. "You have no idea what I did, Cagalli. No idea at all. First I killed -murdered- my fellows, people who trusted me with their lives, and then I traveled the world, killing again and again and again to survive. Over three hundred people have died at my hands, Cagalli!" He hissed, trembling; whether from fury or revulsion, she couldn't tell. "You'd be doing the whole world a favor if you shot me, you know."
Cagalli considered that, and what he'd just explained to her, for several moments. I won't lose him again, she promised herself. Not this time!
Finally, her hand reached toward her belt. "Okay." She drew the sidearm she always carried in the desert.
Under any other circumstances, it would not have worked. Had Kevin not been distracted, had his EM field been set up to protect his armored skull, it wouldn't have worked. But since neither was the case, Cagalli's bullet caught him in the middle of his forehead.
Kevin cut off mid-rant and dropped like a rock to the cave floor.
She held her breath for several seconds, praying that she'd been right about how well his skeletal reinforcement would protect his head against bullets... praying that she hadn't just killed him herself.
Then, finally, Kevin rose unsteadily to his feet. "You... shot me..." he whispered.
"Well, you told me to, didn't you?" Cagalli shot back. "And did you really think I was going to give up on you now? But maybe you're right," she went on, raising the gun again. "Maybe the boy I knew is dead, and maybe you should die. In that case..."
This time he reacted, hand moving in a blur to strike her wrist. "No!" The pistol went flying, only to be shot in midair by the revolver that had suddenly materialized in his other hand.
"Now that's more like it," Cagalli said, satisfied. "That's the Kevin I know." Then she winced, rubbing her wrist. "But you know, that really hurt."
"How do you think I feel?" Kevin demanded. "You just gave me the worst headache I ever had." He slumped against the cave wall. "Thanks."
She moved over to lean next to him. "Feeling better?"
"Yeah." He rubbed his head, feeling the spot where the fast-moving projectile had struck him. "Can't say that was the most pleasant thing I ever had happen to me, but I think it worked; seems to have finally kicked Oracle out of my skull. I don't know what the crazy bastard did, or how he did it, but he's been haunting me ever since I killed him. It was starting to drive me mad. Literally." The super-soldier glanced at the gun that now lay on the cave floor, looking the worse for wear after being shot. Makes me think of how Cap'n Ramius and I met. "I seem to have ruined your sidearm," he said aloud. "Here."
He reached into his jacket, disconnected one of his holsters from its rig, and handed it to her. "This is an antique," Cagalli murmured. "I've never seen anything like them outside a museum, or your collection back in Orb; and I'm pretty sure you haven't been back there in a while."
"True enough," Kevin concurred. "A Russian friend of mine gave them to me. And don't underestimate it simply because it's old. This is the greatest handgun ever made: the Colt Single Action Army." He drew his remaining revolver and spun its cylinder. "Six bullets; more than enough to kill anything that moves. I should know, I once had to test it on an elephant, in a Beijing zoo. Rest assured, that ammo will kill anything."
"Liquid Teflon hollowpoints, huh?" She lifted one of the bullets. "You don't mess around, do you?"
"No, I don't. Especially since there's the remote possibility that more Destroyers could someday be created; if they are, I don't trust any other ammo to kill them."
"I can see that." Cagalli holstered the weapon and attached it to her belt. "But you know, you never used to be a gunfighter. You preferred swords, before."
"Yeah. Before." Kevin shrugged. "What can I say? A rapier doesn't have anything for range, and a gun is a lot easier to haul around -and conceal."
"I guess so." She smiled suddenly, looking over at him. "So tell me what's been going on, the last few years, how you've been. You're as handsome as ever," she added, lightly punching him in the shoulder.
"Handsome? Me? Hah! Yeah, right." He grinned back, feeling better than he had in years. "You're not so bad, yourself, you know. But as for how I've been doing, well... rotten, at least until this last year. Things on Heliopolis weren't so bad, though..."
Miles away at Banadyia, Aelan awakened In a large room as she layed in the bed. She still wore her mask but she wouldn't actually know if someone had taken it off. Aelan had just awoken from another nightmare of the slaughter of her friends back at L2. In her room though were two ZAFT soldiers that were standing guard so no one would disturb her. She began to sit up as she noticed that she wore a blue gown rather than her usual wear. "So someone decided to change my clothing when I was out." She said as the door opened and the guards let the person through.
The person who came into the room was a woman wearing a rather beculiar blue clothing. It made Aelan think that the woman was wearing a blue jumpsuit. Her hair was a greenish blue and had two orange clumps of her hair that went down to her temples. "So its good to see you awake, its been a while Aelan."
Aelan nodded her head to a friend of hers that she met a while back on a trip to Earth In fact, Aelan never admitted this to Rau, but she has allowed Aisha to see what is behind the mask. "Well now that answers two questions that I was wondering in my head." Aelan said as she got out of the bed.
"Hmm I know I can think of one, the 'Where am I question?" Aisha said with a small laugh.
"Yeah, and the second would be, who changed my clothing." Aelan said as the two girls shared a small laugh. "So how long have I been out?" Aelan asked as Aisha thought on that.
"Not long" came a voice from behind her as Andrew Waltfeld came from behind Aisha. "Its good to see you are awake Aelan, you gave us quite a scare when we found you in that mobile suit." Andy said as he held a coffee in his right hand.
"Its been a while Andrew." Aelan said with a nod to him as he nodded back.
"So what brings you to Earth?" Andy asked her as she looked outside the Window where a GINN stood on guard of the mansion. "I came in pursuit of a man." She said as Andy got a smile on his face.
"So you found someone to settle down with." He asked her.
"Ha as if, I came to settle the score with that man, and from the projectory of his machine he is somewere in this area," Aelan said holding her arms. "The man hurt me without any mortal wounds instead through my feelings, the man killed my friends, and he will pay for it." Aelan told them.
"Well we may be able to find this man, when we go check out that ship that came down in the desert last night." Andy said with a shrug.
"You mean the Legged ship? Ok where that is he isn't far from it, so when do we leave?" Aelan asked him.
"In a few hours, well I got to go set up, the two of you tell your stories of what you have done in the last while since you seen each other last." Andy said with a wave leaving. "Be seening you two later." He said heading out.
Kilometers away, on the Archangel, Kira Yamato was being tended in the Infirmary, by Flay Allster, while his friends consulted with the ship's doctor, Calvin Hibson.
"...so, like I was telling you," the Doctor was saying, "there seems to be no internal damage. All we can really do for now is give him plenty of liquids and try to lower his body temperature."
"That's it?" Sai Argyle questioned, worried.
The doc shrugged. "Well, this is the first time I've ever had to give medical treatment to a Coordinator, but I know the basics. He may look like the rest of us, but his internal capabilities are completelydifferent. He has a body capable of a greater strength, and a mind capable of acquiring more knowledge, and so on. Did you hear about the temperatures he was exposed to inside his mobile suit's cockpit?"
Miriallia Haw blinked at the apparent non sequitur. "No, we didn't, actually."
"Well, I can assure you none of us would have survived." Hibson shrugged eloquently. "This fever's nothingcompared to that. Coordinators are very durable, you know. Oh, a bullet might prove fatal, and he may get sick occasionally; but it would be a greater danger to us than to him."
A frightening thought suddenly occurred to Tolle Koenig. "But, if that heat was so great, what about Blade? Wherever he ended up, I know he wasn't as well shielded as even Kira was, and with that weird mobile suit he was flying..."
The Doctor shook his head, smiling reassuringly. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about him, if I were you. I never had the opportunity to examine him -he seemed to avoid the Infirmary like the plague while he was aboard- but I cantell you that there is something very strange about young Mr. Walker. I'm reliably informed that he's survived things much worse than even atmospheric reentry, so wherever he is, I doubt it did much more than knock him unconscious for s few minutes."
"I... see..." Sai said softly. He glanced over at Kira, still being watched by Flay. "His capabilities are completely... different..."
"La Flaga here," said a voice at the hatch. "I'm coming in." The hatch slid aside, and La Flaga stepped in. "Is there... something I should know about?" he asked, seeing the volunteers gathered there.
"Oh, not at all," Hibson assured him. "I was just taking the time to explain to these young people about Ensign Yamato's health..."
Far away, in space, an armored man stood in Rau Le Creuset's office on the Nazca-class Vesalius. "May I have a word with you, sir?"
His employer raised an eyebrow behind his mask. "Yes, Invictus? What is it?"
"It's time, Commander." Invictus leaned against the bulkhead, metallic voice serious; behind the helmet, his jade eyes were calm and purposeful.
"And what time would that be?" Le Creuset asked, though he had a good idea of it. He'd been expecting it for some time now.
"I told you the day I entered your employ, sir, that I could not accept hire on permanent retainer. I told you that one day, circumstances would change, and it would be time for me to leave." Invictus paused. "That day is now, Commander. I feel it is time for me to take my leave of your employment."
"I see." The Commander steepled his fingers. "Going freelance, then? Or do you have a more specific goal in mind?"
"Respectfully, sir, I decline to answer that question," the assassin said calmly. "All I can say is that I believe it is time for me to move on."
Le Creuset nodded slowly. "Very well, then, Invictus. I'll have your shuttle prepped immediately. Will you be heading directly for the PLANTs, will you be traveling aboard the Ziegler as she returns to port?"
"My shuttle doesn't have that kind of range," Invictus pointed out dryly. "The Ziegler will be fine. But if you'll excuse me, I'll travel armed."
"Still don't trust me, eh?" The masked man chuckled. "Hardly surprising; I don't trust you entirely, either." His former employee didn't react; both had known from Day One that neither fully trusted the other. "Well, in any case, your mission here proved to be a moot point," Le Creuset conceded. "I never thought it possible that the legged ship to be that much of a problem, particularly with it seeming so shorthanded, and with only two mobile suits and a mobile armor."
"Let this be my final piece of advice for you, Commander," Invictus said, turning toward the hatch. "Don't underestimate a ship with Coordinators aboard... and never, ever use the word 'impossible' when Commander Walker is involved."
"Granted," his former employer admitted. "Well, Invictus, good luck."
"I don't need luck," the assassin replied as the hatch closed. "I'm Death Incarnate, aren't I?"
"Yes..." Le Creuset said to himself, after his former minion had gone. "Yes, I suppose you are. But your usefulness has come to an end." He tapped a key on his desk's intercom panel. "Prepare to relay a message to Committee Chairman Zala's agents onboard the Ziegler," he ordered.
"Oh and tell your daughter that I hope she gets over her little vendetta problem." Invictus said before he left the room.
The assassin known as Invictus watched his instruments very carefully on the way to the Ziegler. He had a feeling that all was not right in his personal corner of the universe, and he, like Kevin Walker, had long ago learned to trust such instincts.
At the moment, his instincts were telling him that someone was about to try to kill him. He didn't think they had anything to do with his old boss -though he knew he could be wrong- but he rather suspected Patrick Zala, one of the few aware of his existence, was not very fond of him. The head of ZAFT obviously had no idea who or what the assassin really was, but if he saw him as an obstacle to his plans, or even a potential obstacle, he would not hesitate to have the armored man removed.
Nearing his destination, Invictus closed his eyes, stretching ahead with his extra senses. Like Kevin Walker, he was a zoanthrope... and his abilities were slightly different from those of his physical duplicate. He was more attuned to those who would do him harm; he might perhaps not be as good at dealing with them, but he could usually feel those who would do him harm long before they attempted it.
Aha, the assassin thought. I'd better be ready... and I think I'd better lift for Earth, not the PLANTs...
On the Archangel, Kira's eyes fluttered open in the Infirmary. Wha... Where... am I...? The last thing he could remembering was searing, unbelievable heat...
The curtain next to his bed slid aside, revealing Flay. "So you're finally awake," she said, with a peculiar smile. The smile immediately turned to a look of concern when he tried to push himself upright. "Oh! You shouldn't try to sit up so quickly!"
Kira allowed himself to be lowered back to the bed; he realized now that he really did need the rest. "Flay...? Where am I?"
"In the ship's Infirmary," she replied. "You've been asleep for hours."
He noticed about then that he actually had weight. "Gravity... So we must have landed safely, right? After the battle?"
Flay nodded. "We landed on Earth, in a desert; we arrived sometime last night." She paused. "The Doctor says you'll be fine soon; you just need plenty of rest."
"Right..." Kira remembered something else, from the battle. "Hey... Has there been any sign of Blade? I know he was headed down, too..."
Something flickered in her eyes, but it was gone before he could notice. "No, nothing. He never came back to the ship, so I guess he must have come down on his own. But the Doctor said he should be all right, wherever he is."
"Good..." He managed a weak smile. "Thanks."
As long as he doesn't show up here again, Flay thought. I've heard what those shape-shifters can do. He might figure it out, and ruin everything...
"Jason and I went over the manual last night," La Flaga was saying in the hanger, "and this baby sure looks like a lot of fun."
"Top of the line," Chief Petty Officer Kojiro Murdoch assured him. "Latest model."
The pair were looking over one of four new additions to the Archangel's hanger: a quadrouple set of FX-550 Skygraspers. They were atmospheric fighters, not unlike the craft Kevin Walker had flown a time or two. Unlike those, however, these were state-of-the-art, designed specifically to support Kira's Strike.
"I'm sure they are," La Flaga said in reply, "and it's great that the Striker packs can be mounted onto them, but what am I now, a delivery boy?" He sounded rather plaintive, though he knew as well as the mechanic that while the Skygraspers were intended in part to resupply the Strike mid-battle, they were also capable of the using the Striker packs' weaponry themselves.
"Well, Lieutenant -whoops, sorry, Commander," Murdoch corrected himself, "at least with you in the cockpit, all deliveries are guaranteed, whether day or night."
The Hawk snorted. "I'm grateful to the Admiral for the promotion," he commented, examining the plane's underbelly, "but little good it does me in this situation." He proceeded to kick the front tire (an exercise which was rather pointless in this day and age; with modern aircraft, the air pressure in the tires was so great that kicking them provided no information other than the fact that it was there; but, traditions were stronger than rational arguments). "I mean, the pay raise is gratifying and everything," he went on. "But when can I spend it?"
"Well, your back pay should be pretty impressive, when we get back to friendly territory." Murdoch chuckled. "Hey, even the kid's won't be bad; they've made him and Ensign already. Guess it makes sense; he is a pilot, after all."
"And the rest are all Crewman 2nd class." La Flaga shook his head. "Man oh man."
"Ah, they'll turn into great soldiers before you know it." The mechanic raised an eyebrow. "By the way, how's the kid's fever?"
"I hear it went down a little while; they tell me he's even awake." The pilot shook his head again. "Honestly, I'm not sure whose construction is more impressive: the Strike's or that youngster's." He paused, scratching his head. "By the way, do you have any idea why Kira keeps referring to that mobile suit as the 'Gundam'?"
"Oh, that." Murdoch laughed. "It appears on the activation screen. General Unilateral Neurolink... something or other. Anyway, take the first letter from each word and that's what you get." He shrugged. "Makes more sense than the military simply calling them G-weapons."
"That's true. Say..." La Flaga said, remembering something, "do you think Blade's okay? The Strike got pretty hot as it was, and it was able to use the Archangel as a shield most of the way down. How well would that weird hybrid thing you came up with have dealt with it?"
"Well..." Murdoch looked a little unhappy. "To be honest, Commander, if it weren't for how durable that kid is, I would've told him not to even try it. I'm sure Punisher held up, but it probably got more than a little toasty in there. But I remember you told me something about seeing him in action as the Crimson Tiger, and I was there when he blitzed Garcia's aide, so I figured he could probably handle it."
"You're probably right." The Hawk frowned. "But where is he now, I wonder?" And for that matter the woman that decided to go to earth after him in her machine.
In the Archangel's cafeteria, four of the six students remaining on the ship were discussing Kira's condition. "Really?" Mir was saying. "Kira's already regained consciousness?"
"Yeah," Tolle confirmed. "It happened just a little while ago."
"The Doctor says he's okay," Sai continued, "so they transferred him back to his quarters. Flay went over there a little while ago to take his meal to him."
At that moment, the hatch opened and Flay herself entered, carrying a pair of empty meal trays. "Hello, everyone."
"Hi, Flay," Mir greeted. "So how's Kira?"
"He seems to be recovering nicely," the red-haired girl replied. "His appetite didn't suffer, anyway; I just finished eating with him." Then, under her breath, "It's vital that Kira gets better as quickly as possible."
Mir couldn't quite make out the words, though they made her feel vaguely unsettled. "Well, I'm glad to here he's okay."
"You must be tired," Sai commented. "You were by Kira's side all night, weren't you? You should get some rest, too."
"I'm doing just fine, really," Flay assured them. "Besides, it's not like I have an actual job on this ship yet; not like the rest of you." Under her breath: "His body really is different... the things he can do..." Had Kevin Walker been present, he would doubtless have been very suspicious... particularly since his still-evolving empathic abilities had begun to allow him to sense emotions, as well as presences... "Anyway," she went on aloud, "I'm going to go back to his quarters to check on him. He's had a rough time."
Unknown to them Jason was just outside the hatch to the Cafeteria, thanks to Lewis, he was now able to walk through out the ship. The main reason is that the more he knows of its capablities, he can make better defence tatics for the ship.
Flay headed for the hatch, and something about her tone caused Sai to get up and follow her. "Uh, Flay-"
Her reaction startled everyone. "What?" She seemed almost... angry at her fiancé.
Sai drew back a step, startled. "Well, nothing really, but..."
"Sai," she said, voice low but still audible to everyone, "our relationship was something arranged by my father. But as you can see, he's no longer around. So I don't see any reason why we should remain bound by it." She turned to look at him, a peculiar smile on her face. "It was just a verbal agreement, that's all. We might as well just forget it." And with that, Flay left.
"Flay, I-" Thoroughly perplexed and worried, Sai turned away. What's going on?
Mir looked over at Tolle. "I wish Blade was still here," she said softly. "I don't know what's going on... but I bet he could figure it out."
"Yeah," her boyfriend agreed. "They say zoanthropes are mild empaths; and everything I ever saw of him said he was stronger than most."
"Or maybe he was just a clever bastard," Kuzzey muttered under his breath. He hadn't fully trusted the enigmatic super-soldier since learning of his previous identity as the Crimson Tiger. Being thrown halfway across the ship when caught eavesdropping had sealed it; and the utter lack of sympathy from the others hadn't helped.
"Zoanthrope? I thought they were only legends like the Lycanthropy curse." Jason wondered to himself as Flay went by him without paying no attetion to the man who shot her with a tranq. Maybe I should follow her? He wondered as he walked behind the girl still not quite used to the Gravity.
In his new quarters (he had solo accommodations now, since he was an officer), Kira sat on the edge of his bunk, Birdy on his finger, brooding.
An interesting reversal of roles, he knew. Used to be, it would be his good friend Kevin brooding, off in some distant corner of the ship. Kevin would have stopped the Duel, he thought moodily. Nothing ever stopped that guy. But it was me, wasn't it? I was the one who failed those people. I'm useless! A flash of resentment. Maybe Kevin could've done it; but he's gone now. He left us!
Even after all the times they'd talked on the way to Earth, Kira hadn't truly believed Kevin would abandon them like that. And when Kira enlisted, he'd somehow expected Kevin to do the same. After all, they'd been through a lot together, and the one time they'd really been apart, it apparently hadn't been Kevin's idea.
But this time, the departure had been entirely deliberate, and a part of Kira couldn't help but suspect that he'd arranged things like this intentionally. He didn't care about those civilians, he thought bitterly. All he cared about was getting to Earth to go kill people he thought needed killing.
A moment later, Kira winced, ashamed of himself for thinking something like that. No, that's not true. Kevin did the best he could; with the Commander and me busy, he was the only one who could defend the Archangel. And if he isn't here now, it's because there's other things he needs to do. One thing of which Kira could be certain: Kevin Walker did not abandon his friends. Ever.
But what is he up to?Familiar puzzlement took over, along with the undirected rage he felt whenever he considered what had happened to his friend. Kira didn't know exactly what it was, or who had done it, but something had changed his easy-going, live-and-let-live buddy into this dark, moody creature who seemingly lived only to exact vengeance. Who did it to you, Kevin? And what did they do?
Something Kevin had said during their last talk with Athrun, after freeing Lacus Clyne, came to mind; something he'd puzzled over ever since. "If you think a mere Coordinator such as yourself can kill me, Athrun," he'd said, "then you are welcome to try."
"Mere Coordinator", Kira thought, frowning. What's that supposed to mean? He's a Coordinator, too, isn't he? And if he isn't, then what is he?
He remembered something La Flaga had mentioned from even earlier, a discussion on the Bridge regarding Miss Clyne. As Kevin was leaving, Badgiruel had said, "Besides, I'm not even sure that you're human."
Blade's response had been very cryptic: "Did I ever claim to be?"
That, combined with everything he'd seen the youth do in the last three weeks, left Kira very confused. Kevin had to be human, after all; there was certainly no doubt of that! But if he wasn't a Coordinator... Did he mean he's really a Natural? Kira wondered, then instantly dismissed the thought. No way. Not with the things he can do; and he wouldn't be talking about "mere" Coordinators then.
He finally gave up trying to understand the Mysteries of the Universe, as Personified by Kevin Walker. Kevin was fallible, and that meant he was just a Man, whatever his fancy tricks; and that was really all that mattered, wasn't it?
But that brought Kira right back to his original dilemma. Because of his fallibility, dozens of civilians were now dead... and it was all his fault.
Blaming the pilot who actually did the deed did not, of course, occur to him.
Kira was still wallowing in self-hate when a voice spoke at his door. "Kira?"
It was Flay Allster.
In Banadyia, Aelan was being led by a Martin DaCoasta. An officer that serves the famous desert Tiger. "So, you guys actually kept my unit even after I left for space again?" Aelan asked. A year ago Aelan was somewhat stationed in the Desert and had her own machine to boot for it.
"Yeah we did, we will be giving it back to you until we can repair the machine you came in." DaCoasta told her. They entered the hangar and they saw a Red BuCUE, "from the last time you were here we equipped the machine with a twin beam sabre.
"Ah yess new technology from the PLANTs I see." Aelan said as she got closer to what her Earth days mobile weapon was. "Any Idea when the Hyperion will be ready to fight again?" She asked DaCoasta.
"Give it about three days alright, till then you will have to use this machine." DaCoasta said then he cringed. "If you feel like fighting that is." He said with a shrug.
"Oh don't worry, if the man I am hunting takes part, as will I." She said as she climbed into the cockpit. After so long she decided to check the Machine OS before she was to go with Andy and DaCoasta to scope out the Legged ship.
Kilometers away, Kevin Walker and Cagalli Yula Athha finally left the cave, where they'd spent the first night and most of the following day talking. After that, they'd both gotten some much-needed rest; and now that it was night once again, Sahib Ashman had called for them both.
"Something I think you should see," he told Cagalli, out of earshot of the other guerrillas. "Maybe you can tell me what it is." He noticed Kevin's approach. "Ah, finally awake, eh, Baron?"
"Don't call me that," the noble soldier snapped. "Especially not where others might hear. The desert has ears, Sahib, and I hate that title with a passion. As far as the Desert Dawn is concerned, I am Kevin Walker, or Racher, if you prefer."
"Understood," Sahib agreed. A friend of the Athha family, he'd come into contact with the youth many a time, and knew well his hatred of his own noble birth. "Well then, Racher, shall we away, ere break of day?"
I hate it when he starts quoting Tolkien at me, Kevin thought gloomily.Just because I happened to say something about "Now for wrath, now for ruin, and a red dawn" the last time I was out here under my own name... Ugh. Sahib Ashman was a man of the desert, and therefore rather grim, but he did possess a sense of humor. Unfortunately.
"To claim our long-forgotten gold?" he quoted back. "All right, then, let's go." Anything to shut him up...
An hour later, even as most of the Archangel's crew slept, even as Flay Allster comforted a heartsick and guilt-ridden Kira Yamato, all the while plotting to weave her webs of deceit and vengeance, the small group of Desert Dawn guerrillas watched the ship.
"I've really only seen pictures," Cagalli murmured, looking at the great white vessel through binoculars, "but I'd still stake my life on it. That is the Earth Forces new Mobile Assault Ship, constructed at the former Orb resource satellite of Heliopolis. It's known as the-"
"Archangel," Kevin finished for her. "You're right, tovarisch, that's the ship."
"How did you know?" she demanded; they hadn't yet gotten to that part of his tale.
"What, you didn't think I came all this way from Heliopolis in that GINN, and modified it myself, did you?" His right eye was currently in telescopic, showing him his friends' vessel in all its detail. "I... hitched a ride on her, till we reached orbit. Then I left and headed here. I have no idea what the Archangel is doing here, though."
The communications gear in one of the group's jeeps beeped, and young Ahmed went to answer it. "Yes, what is it?" he asked.
The reply was clearly heard by all. "The Tiger has left the Lesseps," the caller reported. "He's heading toward that ship, with seven BuCUEs."
The guerrillas glanced among each other, concerned; but Kevin, wearing a black cloak of his own against the cool desert night, looked quite calm. "I assume that's the Desert Tiger you're speaking of?"
"That's right," Ahmed answered. "This could be trouble."
"You don't know the half of it, kid." The super-soldier stepped to a higher sand dune, gazing out across the landscape. "I know Andy Waltfeld. He's an honorable man, avoids civilian casualties as much as possible... but very, very cunning. If he'd been the one chasing the Archangel, instead of Le Creuset, we might not have made it."
Cagalli blinked. "You know the Desert Tiger?"
"Better believe it. Before I ran into these guys, the man was my mentor in the ways of tactics, strategy, philosophy... and coffee." Kevin turned back to them. "If you could lend me some transportation, I need to return to my mobile suit. If Andy's attacking the Archangel, he'll be expecting just the Strike... and he might well succeed against it, with the force he's sending. I can't let that happen." His eyes, behind the sunglasses, were very cold. "Mentor or not, Andy is not blowing up that ship." But unkown to him, the seventh machine was providing Escort to the Jeep that Andrew and DaCoasta were now in. The Machine was a Red Variation of the original, piloted by none other than Aelan Le Creuset while her machine was in the shop.
A/N: Aelan Rides a Red BuCUE as her Machine gets repaired. Now how good is she within such a machine.
Well time to answer the only review I got lets see Solid
Solid: Sorry for the power outages, I was staying awake until I got it lol, which is about 3 in the morning, I don't got nothing better to do, as I am unemployed after all.
Bye Bye Eighth Fleet ha ha. I liked how I made Aelan fight the man that has murdered her friends, you just got to wait when he destroys Nicol, especially as his name is so close to his sisters own name. And that you already Killed another Realtive of his, I wont mention it to keep it hidden for A Call to Arms.
About her reaction to the Civilians, she aint no monster, she hates civilian casualties because it reminds her of the slaughter Kevin gave to the others.
This Chapter isn't as modified as you have seen. They are still close, but she has yet to meet Athrun, and Kevin is trying to have her with someone else.