Chapter 15: Protecting a Friend
Kevin and Cagalli entered the hanger together, at a run; neither knew what was going on, but if the ship was under attack, they were getting airborne.
Murdoch spotted them immediately. "Wait a minute!" he said to Cagalli as she neared Skygrasper 2. "This one's not ready yet!"
She snapped her fingers in annoyance. "Oh, man!"
Snake ignored the exchange. "What can you give me, Chief?"
The mechanic shook his head. "Punisher ain't ready; tell you the truth, I think you'd be crazy to fly it again anyway, repaired or not."
"Noted," the pilot snapped. "What else?"
Murdoch jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Skygrasper 3's already spotted and preflighted; the Aile Striker's still under repairs and the Commander's using the Launcher, so we gave you the Sword. Not sure how much good it'll do, but..."
"It has its uses; thanks." Kevin glanced back at Cagalli. "I'd let you fly this run and take my chances with Punisher, but Skygrasper 3 is set up for me; I've got a higher G-tolerance than anybody else, so the turns she'll pull would probably kill you. Sorry."
"Be careful out there, Kevin."
"Aren't I always?" he said with a grin, then sprang into his plane. "Okay, Mir," he called, checking the fighter's instruments. "Skygrasper 3, ready for launch."
"Roger that, Snake," Mir replied from the Bridge. "You're go for takeoff."
"Affirmative. Sai, sitrep."
There was a moment of delay as a more senior crew member translated sitrep to "situation report" for the bemused Sai. "Two atmospheric-flight mobile suits, confirmed as DINNs," he reported after a moment, "and two submarine units we believe are GOOhNs." Another pause. "And by the way, Snake, it'd make my job easier if you'd speak English."
"I do, Sai," Snake replied, taxiing into the catapult. "Hardly my fault if you haven't studied military-speak yet. Any signs of the Red Queens unit?"
"No no sign of the Red Queen." Sai confirmed.
"Alright" Its about time she wont show up, she has been in every battle we have had so far, besides that attack that cost Ahmed's life. Snake thought as he flipped the last of the switches. "Snake, lifting off," he added, pushing the throttle forward.
La Flaga was already airborne, racing for the incoming DINNs. "Glad you could join me, Snake," the Commander said dryly. "What, did you stop for lunch?"
"No, our fearless ECM guy just doesn't know fighter-talk yet, sir." Kevin settled into wingman position behind the other pilot's plane. "Now how about we take these guys down? I've never fought a DINN with a Skygrasper before, but I can't imagine they're much better than any other mass-produced suit."
"Let's find out."
Behind them, the Strike stood on the starboard catapult deck, with a shield and beam rifle. He was attempting to snipe the UMF-4A GOOhNs, but without much success. So there is something worse than BuCUEs, he thought, missing another shot. If I never meet another submarine, it'll be too soon.
"ZAFT sure is persistent, eh, Commander?" Snake said, diving in on a DINN. "This is, what, the third distinct team we've fought since leaving Heliopolis?"
"Yeah," La Flaga agreed. "First Le Creuset, then Waltfeld, now this guy. Whoever he is, though, he doesn't seem as bright as the last two."
Kevin thought for a moment, bringing to mind the various ZAFT teams he'd learned off while studying under Waltfeld. "If he's who I think he is," he said after a moment, "he's not. Commander Marco Morassim, a submariner if there ever was one. I heard about him awhile back, and he's apparently not real good. One of those guys every military seems to have, who gets rank through connections, not ability. Compared to Le Creuset or Andy, this guy's no big deal."
"Glad to hear it. Has anybody gotten around to telling himthat?" La Flaga sideslipped and fell back a little, allowing the younger pilot to take lead. "First shot's yours, kid. I'll cover you."
"As ordered." Snake punched buttons, opening his missile bay and arming a missile. "Snake, Fox One."
By this time, Kira was convinced shooting submarine suits from the Archangel's catapult was an exercise in futility. "Chief Murdoch!" he called over the radio.
"Yeah, what is it, kid?"
"Didn't we get a bazooka with our supplies from the Eighth Fleet?" He snapped off another fruitless shot.
"Yeah, we did." Murdoch appeared perplexed. "So what? Why're you asking?"
"Please get it for me." Kira ducked back into the ship. "I'm goin' underwater."
"Diving?" the mechanic protested. "But you can't do that, kid, the Strike'll-"
"I know that!" Kira cut him off. "But we have to do something!"
Pulling a turn that would have knocked a normal human unconscious, Snake glanced back at the Archangel, wondering where in blazes the Strike had gotten too.
The distraction was nearly fatal; he pulled away just in time to avoid a shotgun blast from a DINN. "Oops. Take this. Fox Two." Inhumanly calm, Kevin launched another missile, only to see it blown out of the sky. "That can't be Morassim, Commander," he commented to his wing leader. "Too good a pilot."
"I'll take him," the Hawk replied. Then, "Wait a sec."
Under attack from too many places at once, the DINN strayed into the fire from one of the Archangel's Igelstellungs and vanished in a bright ball of flame.
"Whoever fired that shot, good work," the Snake radioed. "How's Kira?"
"He just entered the water," Mir reported.
"Is he crazy? Never mind; just tell him to watch his back. Something about this doesn't smell right."
"Roger that, Snake."
Beneath the waves, Kira was already having problems; his bazooka, while it worked, wasn't very accurate, and the GOOhNs were actually better than the Strike in this environment.
"In a space model?" one of the enemies laughed.
"You'll never beat our GOOhNs underwater!" the other taunted.
Let's find out.
Even as the bazooka and shield were blown from his hands, Kira snatched out his hip-stowed Armor Schneiders. When one of the submariners got too close, he grabbed it and drove the blade deep into its armor; on the surface, this would have been minor damage, but at these depths, the slightest crack in the skin of the mobile suit allowed the water pressure to crush it like an eggshell.
The other was a very different proposition; with a succession of torpedoes, it succeeded in blasting the other knife away. "Oh, no!" Kira boosted away, evading the advancing GOOhN while frantically searching for another means to destroy it with.
"Get back here!" the enemy pilot roared.
A moment later, Kira found what he was looking for: a disembodied DINN arm drifted down to him, still gripping a shotgun. He grabbed the arm, pried the weapon loose, and jetted back toward the GOOhN.
The pilot's eyes widened when the Strike grabbed him and put the shotgun's muzzle just below his suit's optical sensor. "Wha-" He never had a chance to finish the sentence; the second GOOhN rapidly suffered the same fate as the first, crushed by water pressure.
Above the waves, Snake and La Flaga engaged in a lethal aerial ballet with Morassim, trying to blow him out of the sky, but without much success.
Then Morassim made his mistake; detecting the second explosion, he looked down. "What? Hans' GOOhN has been destroyed?"
That was when the hyper-impulse blast blew off his left wing. "Take this!" La Flaga shouted.
"Time to retreat." The remaining DINN took flight, chased by a hail of gunfire, and was soon out of sight.
Beneath the surface, the Strike ascended. I hate this, Kira thought, Waltfeld's face appearing before his mind's eye. But unless I destroy them, we'll all be...
Kevin brought his Skygrasper to a stop in the hanger, shut down, and opened the canopy. Climbing out, he pulled off his helmet and ran a hand through his ragged sandy hair (rumor aboard ship had it that he cut it with his enormous Bowie knife; of course, nobody had the temerity to ask).
"That wasn't so tough, eh, kid?" Murdoch said, waving for another mechanic to take charge of the aircraft. "We've been in worse scrapes before."
"That's true." Snake unfastened his flight suit's collar. "I'm pretty sure that was Marco Morassim, and he's not exactly known for being brilliant. If he's the worst we've got ahead of us, we'll make it to Alaska, no sweat."
"Then we go back to space and face Le Creuset again, right?" The big mechanic knew the Snake was one of their experts on ZAFT personnel.
"Probably," the pilot conceded. "He's not the worst; I think Andy was actually a better strategist. But he is a shrewd and deadly adversary. Never underestimate the Man with the Mask. Or the woman." He said thinking of Aelan as she wasn't part of the battle. I still can't believe she is a destroyer though. Kevin thought.
"Survived another one, huh, Kevin?"
Snake turned and smiled as Cagalli approached. "Wasn't exactly the toughest battle in my career, tovarisch especially as the Red Queen wasn't part of the battle. Kira did the hard part. But I'm about due for some rack time; didn't get enough sleep." He headed for the hatch.
"Nightmares?" she said softly, following him out.
He raised a surprised eyebrow. "How'd you know?"
Cagalli chuckled. "You forget I've known you all your life, Kevin; I figured out your door lock the first day out of the desert." She sobered. "Kira said you hadn't been sleeping well ever since you came aboard, so I checked on you last night. Are you okay?"
Kevin sighed. "Not exactly. Your bullet back in Africa knocked some sanity back into me, but I can't control it when I'm asleep. As soon as my conscious mind relinquishes control, I remember... Remember the death and destruction that lies in my past. The worst, the bloodiest, the most horrifying parts of my past come back to me at night, making sleep rather less than restful. I haven't gotten a decent night's sleep in over a month," he admitted.
She put a hand on his shoulder. "If there's anything I can do..."
He squeezed it. "You'll be the first to know, I promise. But..." Snake turned away, heading toward his quarters. "How do you face your demons... when you are the demon?" he said softly, and disappeared into the labyrinthine corridors.
It was happening again. Snapshots of death and destruction, blood and gore, flashing through his unconscious mind. He relived that horrible night anew, static pictures of violence as the beast within erupted to without.
His claws disembowel a uniformed lab technician; his teeth ripped a man's head off. A feral roar tore from his throat as he ripped free from his restraints.
The rampaging man-tiger was suddenly among his fellows; Charlie Evans, codename Talos, smashed to a bloody pulp; Erica Hawke, codename Scylla, impaled on the torture device; Simon Priest, codename Cerberus, torn in half...
Then the most horrible moment, as the raging beast approached Rachel Carver, codename Medusa; ignoring her expression of horror and his own puny human mind, screaming at himself to stop, his fangs tore out her throat, killing her almost instantly.
The scene changed; he was human once more, staring in horror at what he had done, back in his right mind for the first time in six months, free of brainwashing and raging instinct. He stood with the laboratory's self-destruct system, a multi-megaton thermonuclear fusion bomb, at his back, stricken eyes viewing the carnage he himself had caused. Frozen by horror, his mind recalled everything that had been done to him, and he realized he could not remember who he was. But he knew what he was, knew that ZAFT had turned him into a monster.
He knew that he had been turned into a super-soldier by Patrick Zala. He couldn't live with what he had just done, and become; he couldn't allow this to happen to others. He could not allow himself to live.
He turned to the destruct system, set it for immediate detonation, and felt the searing heat...
Then a vision of a still living Rachel was being held by a woman in her arms as she was thrown through the room. Silent voices were heard as Kevin awakened when something strange happened. Aelan, standing beside a man with Jet black hair stood infront of him. The man changed into a wolf Zoanthrope as Aelan and the hybrid creature pounced for him in an attack.
Kevin jerked awake with a gasp, soaked in sweat, with his metal claws extended. "Not again," he gasped, "not again."
He stood and walked to the viewport, noting it was still night; according to his internal computers, he'd slept only five hours.
"Not again," he repeated, staring out at the water. "It has to end. How many more times must I relive that night?" But Snake already knew the answer: he could not rest until those who had made him what he was were dead. Of them all, only one remained. "And who was that Zoanthrope? and how does he know Aelan?" Kevin asked himself.
The man who had authorized Project ABADON is the last one to kill him Knowing he wouldn't get any more sleep this night, Snake pulled on his off-duty black, slipped his Colt .45 into the shoulder holster, Peacemaker into the thigh holster, and slid the combat knife into its sheath before pulling on a pair of sunglasses.
He left his quarters, stalking the dark corridors with no more noise than a snake, past the closed doors behind which most of the crew still slept peacefully. There would be a skeleton crew on the Bridge, nothing more.
Snake ghosted past Kira's door and paused for a moment. Kira, you need to snap out of it, before Flay's machinations get you killed.
He silently made his way up to the rear deck, expecting to find it unoccupied at this hour; it was 0300, after all. But to his surprise, Kevin found someone already there.
He squinted into the darkness, adjusting the light-gathering on his bionic eye. "Tolle? What are you doing up here at three in the morning?"
The ship's copilot and Kevin's closest friend besides Kira of those who had joined the ship at Heliopolis turned. "Probably the same as you, Snake. Kinda hard to sleep with all that moaning coming through the walls."
Kevin winced; he'd forgotten the bunk room his classmates shared was right next to his quarters. "Sorry about that. Hope I didn't wake anybody else."
Tolle waved a hand. "Nah, don't worry about it; I'm a light sleeper, that's all. So what's with the creepy noises? Something bothering you?"
Snake pulled off his sunglasses and looked him right in the eye. "Tolle, if I told you, youwouldn't get any sleep, either. It's not something I like to think about -and I don't, when I'm awake- because it's very, very bad. Let's just say that my past is far darker than you know."
The other pilot looked at him strangely, then shrugged. Having the Snake keep secrets was hardly anything new. "If you say so." Tolle turned back to the ocean. "That was a tough one yesterday, wasn't it?"
"Not for me," Kevin replied with a ghost of a smile, "but then I'mnot trying to fly a ship the size of an airport while simultaneously being shot at from the water and sky. Believe me, Skygraspers are a lot more maneuverable, and more fun to fly, than this big hulk."
"I guess you're right." His friend grinned. "That's one reason I'm trying out the simulators a lot." Tolle turned sober. "Think they'll attack us again?"
"Probably," Snake said frankly. "We beat them pretty soundly yesterday, but Marco Morassim ain't exactly known for knowing when he's beaten. Not very bright, but he could try overwhelming us."
"Maybe we'll end up in Orb," Tolle said hopefully. "They'd be able to handle these submariners, and I've always wanted to go back." He, like his classmates, was an Orb national; though Kuzzey had never seen the homeland with his own eyes.
"I hope we don't get there, Tolle," Kevin said quietly. "They're neutral, remember? They'd be quite likely to blow us out of the sky if we entered their waters. Besides..." He turned away, heading back belowdecks. "My life could be in grave danger there."
At that moment, at Carpentaria base where, Aelan was transported with her unit had a nightmare of her own.
Aelan watched as her friends were killed by the monster that Kevin Walker had become. All her friends were there being slaughters at the ABADDON facility, even her friends Andy and Aisha, watching each of them be slaughterd. Aelan awoke with sweat going down her face as she clenched her fists. A few nights before she had given Michael a proper burial. Her fists were clenched do to anger towards Walker. Then she smiled as she knew the course of the Archangel from Reports. And her commander had put her with the new Zala team that consists of the other G-Pilots. "I will destroy you soon you monster." Aelan told herself.
Days later, Snake wandered into the cafeteria, in search of lunch; super-soldier or not, the lack of sleep was taking its toll on him, so he compensated by eating more and spending hours in martial arts meditation, a state in which his past disturbed him not.
The others took little notice of him; they were studying a navigation chart. "We could reach Orb without even much of a delay," Tolle was saying.
Kevin walked over. "Still thinking about that, eh? Look, guys, even if the Captain were willing to make the detour, which she isn't, showing up in Orb in an Earth Alliance warship is one of the dumbest things you could do. Their fleet would wipe us out without breaking a sweat."
"How do you know so much about Orb?" Kuzzey said suspiciously; he hadn't forgotten who their comrade had once been.
Snake laughed quietly. "Have we been here so long you've forgotten? I was bornin Orb, Kuzzey; I haven't been back in years, but I recall quite clearly how capable their military is." He shook his head, collecting his food. "No, tangling with Orb is a very bad idea. I know you guys want shore leave, but I don't think it's gonna happen."
He glanced toward the hatch, noting Cagalli and her bodyguard, Kisaka, conversing in low tones. Probably warning her about keeping her identity secret again, he mused. Like it'll matter if we get anywhere near Orb. I wonder how much the good Colonel knows about me?
"Still... Our parents are in Orb," Mir said. "Doesn't that matter?"
"Not to me," Kevin said, walking through the hatch. "I have no family."
The young warrior smiled to himself as Kira passed and exchanged cheerful greetings with Cagalli. All these rumors going around about the two of us, he thought in amusement, retracing his steps back to his quarters, and nobody even notices how those two act around each other. I guess my close friendship with her is just more visible; but I'd rather see him with her than with Flay. Besides... she deserves better.
"What's so funny?" Cagalli asked, coming up behind him. "The rumors again?" She'd heard them, too; and while she wasn't very happy about it, she conceded it was better than the blatant assumptions the Orb aristocracy had had about the two of them. They'd both resented that.
"Something like that, tovarisch." For himself, Kevin found the rumor mill to be amusing; the notions he'd heard the mechanics came up with were especially interesting to him, given the superstitious nature of such people. When he'd heard one of Murdoch's people muttering about a "pact with the devil", in reference to his knife skills, he'd found it most hilarious. "So, Kisaka give you another lecture?" he said, changing the subject; he had no intention of telling her what really amused him. She'd probably deny it hotly, then throw him through a wall.
"Yeah," she admitted. "As if I didn't get the idea the first hundred times. Besides, it's not like I can hide it forever; you got found out, and you're the best actor I've ever seen. And sometime I might have to reveal it."
"That's true. A secret is only a secret until it becomes expedient to reveal it." He grimaced. "One reason I don't like politicians."
Further conversation was cut off. "All hands, Level One Battlestations!"
Kevin dropped his lunch and broke into a run, racing for the hanger. "You with me?" he called back. "The Chief's got Skygrasper 2 back up and running."
Cagalli followed him. "We can't leave aircraft in the hanger, can we? Of course I'm going with you."
"Now this," he muttered as they ran, "is what a war is really all about: nine tenths boredom, one tenth pure terror." He shook his head. "One of these days, I really ought to retire. Not that's it's gonna happen."
Snake entered the hanger without slowing down. "What have you got, Chief?"
Murdoch jerked a thumb at the striped mobile suit behind him. "Punisher's as fit as it's gonna get. I still think you're crazy, but-"
"But I'm gonna do it anyway." Leaving Cagalli to argue with the mechanic over flying Skygrasper 2, he leapt up to Punisher, swarming up it as if it were covered in vines.
"Bridge to the hanger," Snake heard in his ear as he powered up. "What's ready to fly?"
"Snake here, Mir." He strapped in. "Strike, Punisher, and Skygraspers 1 and 2 ready for flight."
"Roger that, Snake. Mobile suits to the starboard launch bay, Skygraspers to port. Launch when ready."
Proceeding into the catapult behind the Strike, Snake flipped his visor down. "Sai, sitrep."
From the Bridge came a resigned sound. "I guess I should get used to it," Sai muttered. "Snake, we've got two GOOhNs, a ZnO, and a Vosgulov-class submarine carrier. The Strike's going for the ZnO, and the Skygraspers should be able to take the carrier. Assist with the GOOhNs."
"As ordered." His hands tightened on the controls. "A Vosgulov, eh? Must be Morassim's. Which means he's probably piloting that ZnO." He saw the Strike launch ahead of him, carrying the Sword Striker. "Bridge, X401 Punisher launching."
The catapult launch pressed him back into his seat, and then Snake was in full control, flying his bastardized mobile suit into battle for the first time in weeks. Its maneuverability was nothing compared to his Skygrasper, but it was a welcome change nonetheless; its firepower, what with two beam sabers, a beam rifle, anti-mobile suit katana, and a hyper-impulse cannon, was far greater than that of a mere fighter craft.
"Punisher airborne," he reported. "Now engaging." He watched the Strike plunge beneath the waves, searching out his own target, and angled his Punisher toward the other submarine suits. "Position?"
"Difficult to tell," the sonar operator, Jackie Tonomura, reported. "They keep diving. Can you go under?"
Before Kevin could reply, Murdoch broke in. "Absolutely not! Kid, if you try that, you'll sink like a rock. That ain't just dangerous, that's suicide
Snake hissed in frustration. "Copy that, Chief. Sorry, Archangel, but there's nothing I can do here. The beam rifle won't penetrate the water very well, and I can't dive."
"Affirmative, Punisher." There was a pause as Mir conferred with Jason. "Snake, new orders from Jason. You're to aid Commander La Flaga and Cagalli against the Vosgulov. Jason will be joining you in # 4"Mir told him.
"Roger, wilco. Commander, Punisher is inbound."
"We could use the help, kid," La Flaga told him. "Your girlfriend here is having some trouble."
"Commander," Snake said, pushing the throttle forward, "I don't mean to be insubordinate, but if you say that again I may have to break you in half. I'm getting just a little tired of refuting those bloody rumors, okay?"
"Whatever." The older pilot sounded highly amused; which, of course, made Snake want to rip his throat out. "Just hurry up, will ya?"
"On the way." As he left the Archangel's vicinity, Snake noticed the ship was rolling over, bringing the Gottfrieds to bear on the GOOhNs. "You know, I almost feel sorry for those guys," he muttered.
The Punisher arrived on the scene of the Vosgulovjust in time to be utterly useless: the ship exploded under La Flaga's hyper-impulse fire. "Glad you could make it," the Commander said dryly. "You're just in time to make sure no ZAFT shrapnel can attack the ship."
Snake snorted. "What this tells me, sir, is that Punisher was unnecessary for victory, not that I'm always late. Not my fault my orders were changed too late."
"Yeah, yeah. By the way, did the girl get back alright?"
Kevin went cold. "What are you talking about?"
La Flaga frowned. "Her navigation system got hit, so I sent her back to the ship. You didn't see her?"
"No." The super-soldier closed his eyes for a moment. "Sir, I suggest we RTB and regroup. Something's not right here."
"Agreed."
A couple of hours later, Snake stood on the Archangel's Bridge, face a mask as he stared out the viewport. Cagalli...
"Any sign of Cagalli?" Ramius asked behind him.
"No, Ma'am," the radar operator, Romero Pal, replied. "All we can tell for sure is that she's left the combat zone."
"Shall I list her as MIA, Captain?" Badgiruel asked. The Captain glanced at her sharply, Snake turned, eyes frozen.
"What does 'MIA' mean?" Sai asked softly.
"The Cursed saying of Missing in Action." Jason said with his arms crossed as when he got to his Skygrasper the battle was already over.
"But what it really means is that we don't think they're coming back." Tonomura replied.
"I think you're jumping to conclusions, Lieutenant Badgiruel," Ramius said finally. "We don't know for sure that she was shot down yet." She sighed. "We'll send Ensign Yamato back out to look for her."
"But, Captain-"
Ramius turned. "If you object, you can write it in your report!" she barked. The entire Bridge crew jumped at the anger in her voice. "I can't give up on Cagalli," she said in a softer voice. "I just can't."
Neither can I. Almost unnoticed, Snake slipped off the Bridge.
"How long until sunset?"
"About an hour, Ma'am," Mir reported after a moment.
"All right." Ramius activated her intercom, connecting with the Strike. "Sorry to send you out again so soon, Ensign. I realize you're tired. I'd send Snake, but he's in no shape for it."
"That's okay, Captain. I'm fine."
She doubted that, but didn't argue. "It'll be dark in about an hour; you have two hours to search. We can't afford to have you too fatigued, so be sure to return after two hours."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Mir tapped commands into her console. "Kira, we're ready when you are."
"Strike here. Let's do it!"
La Flaga was wandering the hanger when a figure in a black flight suit appeared, carrying an equipment bag. "Snake?" He frowned. "What are you doing here?"
"Not your concern, Commander." Snake strode over to his Skygrasper and tossed the gear bag into the cockpit; his voice was inhumanly calm.
La Flaga grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. "Just what do you think you're doing? You're in no shape to fly, Ensign."
"Let go of me, Commander. I won't warn you again."
"What are you talking about-" The older pilot broke off as Snake pushed him back into the wall with far more strength than was apparent in his lean frame.
He shivered as the other pilot's right eye suddenly blazed red instead of green, and he realized another of the young man's secrets. Only a bionic eye could possibly be pointing a laser aiming system at him.
"I told you, Commander, get out of my way." Snake leapt into the fighter and closed the canopy. An instant later, it started taxiing toward the catapult.
Still in a state of shock, La Flaga ran to an intercom. "Bridge, this is La Flaga! Snake's taking Skygrasper 3 up! Can you stop him?"
"We're locking down the hanger," Mir said. "That should be enough- Wait a minute, the override was just canceled!"
"What?"
On the Bridge, Mir was hitting every override she could, but they were canceled almost as they started. "Captain, I don't understand. I can't keep it locked down! Something's disabling the overrides!"
"So that's it," La Flaga said in sudden understanding. His comm switched to a private channel with the Captain. "Captain, there's no point in trying. It won't work."
"What are you talking about, Commander?"
"I'm talking about the fact that we have the sole survivor of Project ABADDON with us," he replied forcefully. "We've got the world's only cyborg on our hands."
"Project ABADDON?" Ramius blinked; she'd heard rumors of the program, as had most within the Alliance military. But there was no hard data on what the project had been, and every indication that it had been shut down without any successes. "Commander, are you sure?"
"Shit, there has been a Destroyer on this Ship all this time!" Jason called as he was once with ZAFT knew of the super soldier project project. But the Nexus project however he would never heard of.
"Sure as I can be. I knew the kid was strong, but he just threw me into a wall like I didn't weigh anything, and I can tell you right now his right eye's bionic." La Flaga sounded grimly amused."All this time, all the things we've seen him do, and it never occurred to us that it might be more than genetics. Captain, one of the few things Alliance Intelligence was fairly sure of about the Destroyers was that they could interface with computers using their minds; that's why we can't stop him from taking off. Our systems aren't designed to defend against that kind of invasion, and he's literally disabling them at the speed of thought."
Ramius nodded as her conversations with Snake finally began to make sense. His hatred for ZAFT, his allusions to them having turned him into a super-soldier... and the superhuman feats he'd performed. Kira had mentioned seeing him take a bullet to the head without hardly noticing.
She turned to CIC. "Crewman Haw, cease your override attempts. It seems it's not going to work."
Kevin angled his Skygrasper across the sunset sky, frozen jade eyes restlessly scanning the water and his instrument panel, searching for any sign of his friend. Cagalli... Where are you?
He knew he'd given himself away to the crew by pulling this stunt; by now they doubtless all knew what he was, after his display of strength and hacking skills. But he didn't care right then; all he cared about was finding Cagalli. "I won't leave you out here, tovarisch. I will find you. I promise." Setting his autopilot to a search pattern, he opened the gear bag and checked its contents.
It contained an extra gun, a pair of hand grenades, and numerous explosive materials; he was, among other things, a demolitions expert. Also within was extra ammunition and rations.
Snake barely noticed when he overflew the Strike; he figured Kira was unlikely to find Cagalli tonight, so he ignored him completely. His mind was focused on his goal; everything else was irrelevant.
It was nearly four hours after takeoff that he picked up the distress signal.
On the deserted island where he had crash-landed, Athrun Zala jerked awake as he felt his gun being pulled from his belt. At the same time, a blanket fell on him, giving Cagalli, his nominal captive, a chance to reach the other side of the cave.
The distraction was momentary; an instant later he was free, with a wicked switchblade in his hand. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I don't want to shoot you," Cagalli said, holding the gun high. "But I will if I have to." She jerked her head at the Aegis, knelt powered-down outside the cave. "I realize Orb is at fault for making them, but that thing, that mobile suit will hurt more innocent people if I let you go!"
Athrun's eyes narrowed; this girl had no idea he could kill her before she could lower the gun to firing position. "I won't let you take my machine," he said softly, dangerously. "And if you try to shoot me... then I'll take your life!"
"Try it, and I will break you in half."
Athrun barely managed to stay still as the cold, slightly distorted voice spoke from behind him. The gun barrel pressed against the back of his neck gave him added incentive. "Who are you?"
Cagalli moved the gun uncertainly, not knowing who was the greater threat: the ZAFT pilot, or the helmeted figure in the black flight suit, who pressed an antique Colt automatic to her captor's neck. Then she saw the patch on his shoulder: the King Cobra. "Snake!"
"Precisely." With his free hand, he yanked off his helmet and tossed it away. "You didn't think I was gonna give up on you, did you?" Snake prodded Athrun with the gun. "Now, Athrun, turn around. Very slowly."
Still holding the knife, he did what he was told. And when he saw the scarred face, he realized just who had captured him. "Kevin. So you've survived the Red Queen in the Desert."
"What, you thought I'd actually die on the way here?" Snake shook his head. "No, it's you who's going to die. I'd really rather not have to explain to Lacus why I blew your head off, but I swore an oath; and I take my oaths very seriously."
"How do you know Lacus?" Athrun was getting angry.
"We go way back. In fact, I've probably known her longer than youhave. I'm also somewhat acquainted with your father." Kevin looked disgusted. "Why your mother married a bastard like Patrick Zala is beyond me."
That did it; Athrun elbowed his former friend in the gut, snatched the automatic, and buried his switchblade in Snake's chest.
He started to raise the pistol, then noticed two things: first, the gun's magazine had been ejected during the scuffle, and there was no round chambered. Second, the super-soldier was not behaving at all like someone who has just been fatally stabbed.
"You know, Athrun," Snake said calmly, yanking the knife out of his chest, "there's something they apparently neglected to tell you in training: knife-murder victims tend to have so many stab wounds because it really isn't that easy to stab a man to death. And besides: it is virtually impossible to seriously injure me with a knife."
To Athrun's utter shock, Kevin snapped the switchblade in half and dropped the pieces to the ground. "What in the-"
The super-soldier settled into a martial arts stance. "Believe me, Athrun, you have no idea at all what you're dealing with. I am far beyond you." He smiled coldly. "Now, are you just gonna stand there gaping, or are you gonna fight?"
The ZAFT saw he had no choice; and besides, that crack about his parents made him angry. He lunged at his opponent, raising the pistol like a club.
Kevin sidestepped, raised his right hand in the disarming strike he'd used on Cagalli in the desert, and struck, sending the empty weapon flying. "You'll have to do better than that, old buddy."
Even Kevin Walker, elite of the elite and former commander of the Destroyers, was not invincible, as demonstrated in Banadiya. Even with his augmentation fully online, he could be hit; especially by someone like Athrun, who had watched him practice his chosen art many times, in years past.
So Kevin, while mildly annoyed, was not terribly surprised when Athrun got a kick past his guard, catching him in the chin. He was also, however, not inclined to take that lying down. His retaliatory backhand knocked Athrun across the cave.
Dazed, the blue-haired pilot picked himself up, shook the cobwebs out of his head, and moved back into position. This time, he tried a stiff punch to the gut.
He underestimated Kevin's speed. The sandy-haired youth grabbed the incoming fist, fell onto his back, and pushed hard with both legs at the moment he released his grip. Once again, Athrun went flying.
Neither felt like waiting for the next move. They charged each other, and Cagalli watched the brief blur of hands and feet. This time, there was no doubt as to who the victor was, for Kevin was suddenly kneeling on Athrun's spine, powerful hands gripping the prone pilot's right arm.
"Two more pounds of pressure," he said conversationally, "and your wrist will snap." His right hand was suddenly holding another gun, his Peacemaker. "You know what they call this? It's a New York reload. Also known as a second gun." Releasing Athrun's wrist, he pressed the revolver against the back of the pilot's head. "These bullets are filled with mercury. One shot and your brains will turn up as far away as Gibraltar."
Athrun grimaced, resigned. "If you're gonna shoot me, then shoot me. And to tell you this if you do, The Red Queen will have one more reason to hunt you down"
"What information do you have on Red?" Kevin asked.
"Easy she is the second in command of the Le Creuset Team. And she is far stronger than any of us has ever seen." Athrun told him. "Now if your going to shoot me then do it."
"With pleasure." Snake increased pressure on the trigger.
"Wait!" Cagalli called out. "Don't!"
Kevin looked at her in surprise. "What are you talking about? Give me one good reason I shouldn't blow him away."
"If it weren't for him, I might not be alive right now." Cagalli grabbed his arm. "Come on, Kevin. This isn't a battlefield. There's no need for this here."
He considered the matter. "Athrun," he said finally. "I'll let you up, if you give me your word you won't try anything."
Athrun managed a tight smile. "How do you know I won't lie to you?"
"Because, whatever my problems with you may be, I know you're not a liar."
He considered that. "Okay. I give you my word."
"Good enough." Snake stood, holstering his gun. "Just remember, if you try anything..." He raised a hand, extending his claws toward Athrun's throat.
"I see," the ZAFT pilot said, swallowing. "Kevin, what are you?"
The claws vanished. "To put it simply, a super-soldier. There is literally no human being besides one in existence, Natural or Coordinator, who's better than me on the ground. You might have the edge in mobile suits, but you're no match for me on foot."
"Well, if you're all finished threatening to kill people, I think we should all call it a night," Cagalli said. "Assuming neither of you wants to fight a duel to the death or something."
"Not here, not now," Snake said. "Maybe in battle, but not here."
"So Aelan speaks the truth, from her rantings on you, you had no honor and in a way you just proved her wrong." Athrun said rubbing his throat.
It was not to be a completely undisturbed night. In the middle of it, both Cagalli and Athrun were awakened by moaning and faint shouting.
Athrun jumped to his feet, searching for the source. "What the-"
"It's Snake," Cagalli said, standing. She pointed to where the super-soldier lay, writhing in his sleep and making the moans that had awakened them. "He gets that every night."
"Why?" He moved to awaken the tormented young man.
"Don't!" Cagalli warned. "Not unless you want to die."
Athrun froze. "Care to repeat that?"
"Waking him up when he's having that nightmare can be very dangerous," she explained. "I've seen what he's done to things when suddenly awakened during that. He'd probably kill you, judging from how much he seems to hate you right now."
"What could be doing this to him?" The fact that they were enemies meant little at this moment; they had agreed not fight here, and it still bothered him to see someone who had once been a close friend being tormented this way. "What happened to him?"
Cagalli looked at him with a measure of disgust. "ZAFT did this to him. ZAFT made him what he is."
Athrun instantly shook his head. "No, ZAFT would never do this to anyone! If he's been turned into some kind of super-soldier against his will, it couldn't have been ZAFT."
"Ask him yourself," she challenged. "Ask him why he doesn't sleep at night. Ask him why he hates ZAFT so bitterly. Ask him why he's the deadliest person in the world."
That gave him pause; while he pondered it, Cagalli moved to Kevin's side.
She carefully shook him. "Come on, Kevin, snap out of it. Wake up."
He woke very abruptly, and she nearly lost her head for her troubles. "What? What? What's-" Snake relaxed, sheathing the claws he'd unconsciously extended. "Sorry. I was doing it again, wasn't I?"
"Yeah. The same nightmare?"
"Yeah." He took several deep, calming breaths, gradually bringing his heart rate back to normal, with a little help from his augmentation.
Athrun finally spoke. "Kevin, what are you?"
Snake turned to his former friend, eyes jade ice. "I am the Abaddon," he said softly, bitterly, "one of the last remaining Destroyers. I was designed to be the most lethal human being in history." He stared right into Athrun's eyes. "I am what your father made me!"
Athrun jerked back in shocked denial. "What are you talking about? My father never-"
"I saw the paperwork for the Project, Athrun," Kevin said coldly. "Patrick Zala personally authorized Project ABADON. I saw his signature. More to the point, I saw him when he visited the lab. Back then, I was a perfectly loyal soldier, thanks to the brainwashing. But I remember quite clearly seeing your father there, saw the approval on his face."
"It... can't be..."
"It is. Ask him yourself, Athrun. Ask him about the twelve Coordinators he had turned into monsters." Snake's fists unclenched suddenly, and he smiled coldly. "I was created to destroy the world. Instead I fight to save it, and to destroy my creators."
"My father... He'd never..." Athrun was torn between knowing that Snake had never lied to him about anything besides his identity, and the belief that his father was incapable of such a thing.
"He did." Snake laughed quietly, with a trace of genuine amusement. "They designed me to be the deadliest human being in history, and they succeeded. The project wasn't canceled because they failed, Athrun. Oh, no. It was canceled because they succeeded beyond their highest expectations... only to discover the hard way you can't keep a zoanthrope brainwashed forever." His levity vanished. "So forgive me if I seem a little unkind toward ZAFT. That's why I stuck with the Archangel, old buddy. It is my mission in life to annihilate ZAFT, and let me tell you: killing is something I'm very, very good at."
Cagalli wasn't sure she liked the direction this conversation was taking; she had no love for ZAFT, either, but she didn't want anyone to die here. Not even the pilot who had captured her, and she had no doubt he would be the loser of any fight. "This isn't a battlefield, okay?" she broke in, dispelling the tension. "Kevin, are you going to get any more sleep?"
Snake shook his head. "Probably not, so I'll stand watch. That's okay; I don't need as much sleep as normal people." He moved to the cave mouth and opened the gear bag he'd left there. From it he withdrew the M4 he'd used in Banadiya, then leaned against the rock wall, eyes roving across the rainy landscape. "By the way, Athrun," he said over his shoulder. "Don't try to steal my plane; I wouldn't even bother to shoot you. A., it's about out of fuel, and B., it's wired with enough explosives to blow you to orbit without a mass driver. In addition to being the team leader, I was the Project's demolitions expert."
Athrun swallowed again; his cheerful friend from Copernicus had clearly become something far more frightening in the intervening years. "I understand," he managed. "Look, Kevin," he added, "I really don't want to kill you. This is war, not personal."
"How nice," Snake replied conversationally. "Unfortunately, I do want to kill you. But, as Cagalli said, this isn't a battlefield."
Chilled by the calm, almost cheerful words, Athrun and Cagalli returned to the cave, the ZAFT pilot thinking about how much his friend had changed. The easy way he spoke of death... Kevin, are you a sociopath? Or is there more going on here than I can see? And why go to such lengths to protect this girl who isn't even with the Earth Forces?
Dropping back to an uneasy sleep, he wondered if those questions would ever be answered for him. Athrun came up to him one more time. "Kevin, who is the other Destroyer?" Athrun asked.
"Hmm, I think you know her rather well, as you both fought me in Orbit." Kevin told him.
"You mean, Aelan!" Athrun said in shock as Kevin nodded in agreement.
The next morning, Athrun woke suddenly, checking the small device on his wrist. Leaping to his feet and running past the curious, suspicious Kevin, he got aboard the Aegis. The buoy he'd deployed had detected a ZAFT helicopter.
"Athrun, can you hear me?"
He keyed his mike. "Nicol? Is that you?"
"Glad to hear you, Athrun. I'm on my way."
As Athrun descended, Cagalli and Snake walked over to him. "Something up?" the super-soldier asked suspiciously.
"There's a ZAFT rescue party coming," he replied. "They'll be here soon. I've also detected an Earth Forces aircraft, and something coming from underwater." Athrun jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "I'm going to go hide this machine; I don't want this to turn into a battlefield."
"Right," Cagalli said. "I'd better return to my aircraft; I'll find someplace to hide."
Athrun smiled in polite disbelief. "Yeah, right."
"Bye." She started to walk away, back toward where her Skygrasper had crashed.
"Hey!" he called after her. "You sure you're not with the Earth Forces?"
Cagalli shook her head. "Nope; I'm not."
As she went on her way, and Athrun moved toward his machine, Snake suddenly spoke. "Athrun."
He turned, curious. "What?"
"I want you to give the Duel's pilot a message from me." The jade eyes were cool, but not frozen. "That shuttle he blasted in orbit? Those weren't soldiers. Those were civilians, refugees from Heliopolis that Kira and I protected all the way to Earth orbit, only to see them slaughtered."
Athrun's eyes went wide with dismay, remembering Kevin's bitter words that day. "No... Refugees?"
"That's right." He smiled coldly. "And tell him this: if we meet, he dies. And tell Aelan that she will die as well when next we meet."
The other pilot hesitated, then nodded. "I'll do that. Be warned, though: Yzak Joule is not the kind of enemy you normally want to make. But then, of course, you don't fear people, do you?" Snake gave him a silent shake of the head. "By the way, Snake, if that's what they're calling you now. Why did you spare my life?"
That took Snake slightly aback. "It wasn't for old times' sake," he said slowly. "You know I don't do things for that reason. Part of it was Cagalli; I don't know exactly why she didn't want you dead, but her opinion carries considerable weight with me. More than my own, in fact; I trust her judgment more than mine. But mostly?" He smiled, a look of pleasant recollection, instead of sarcasm or malice this time. "As Andrew Waltfeld once said, this isn't a battlefield. We don't meet this day as enemies."
Athrun blinked in surprise. "How did you know Commander Waltfeld?"
"He was my mentor; he taught me the art of war." Snake looked slightly saddened, a very unusual expression for him. "It was with great regret that I fought him. But, lucky for me, it fell to another to kill him." He turned away, heading for his fighter. "See you on the battlefield!"
Soon, the island was deserted once more.
A/N: I did not change this area because well, Athrun and Cagalli were having the same conversation as back in the show, until she pulls his gun on him and so on and so on.
Dragoon Swordsman: Yes, Jason does know it, Lacus told him when Kevin left them the first time but I didn't add it ;), Kevin doesn't know that he knows until after she says it when they are at the clyne residence.
White Shadow: I'll be waiting for that Sequel
Solid: To Ironwall, he didn't know of Zoanthropes Which can transform at will, but he heard of Lythanthropes which are the same thing but have no control over themselves during a full moon. Thats the way I see him as, And know he wont be around for Jack's severe beeting, when the Aegis blows he goes to the Clyne Residence with Kira and Kevin and stays to work on his own mobile suit and protect her when Invictus isn't around. And as you can see in this chapter his reaction when he finds out Kevin is a destroyer. And to tell you in a way without explaining how he knows of them will be revealed when Kevin has his confrontation with Flay, where he actually defends her.
Now for Aelan's reason to fight for ORB, heck I will be surprised when I find out how I am going to do that.